The Transgender Dictionary

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Transandrophobia

(also: anti-transmasculinity, transandromisia, transmascphobia, transmisandry)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Unfortunately, transphobia is virtually inescapable in today's society as a transgender person of any gender. Transphobes are the people who perpetuate this bigotry. Some of them, such as TERFs dedicate a lot of their time to harming transgender people. Some people do it casually. It is not uncommon for these people to use slurs in place of polite language to refer to transgender people. Even when they appear to be polite, they can cause serious harm.

While any rational person is able to recognize that gender identity is not linked to morality, there are those who seek to characterize those who fall under the category of transmasculine as deserving of being the victim of violence or other forms of discrimination on the basis of being transmasculine.

General Content warning: This page will be discussing violent acts, hateful experiences, discrimination, etc that may be upsetting or triggering for some people. External links at the bottom of this page may also contain triggering discussion regarding hatred or violence regarding transgender men. However, if you are in an appropriate headspace, I would suggest checking out these various resources for deeper insight and understanding of the experiences being discussed if they are topics with which you are unfamiliar with. Understanding and learning to recognize discrimination is very important when it comes to supporting the transgender men in your life. Clicking on underlined words/phrases/terms/etc throughout the main body of this page will lead you to other parts of The Transgender Dictionary with relevant information.

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General Information

Transandrophobia refers to discrimination and transphobia directed at transgender men (or anyone who is outwardly perceived to be a trans man). It is the fear of men, and the hatred of anyone who aspires to be one. It is often the assumption that anyone who wants to be a man must be doing so for nefarious purposes; such as to enact violence or to gain the coveted "male privilege" (a thing which still eludes many cisgender men who are disabled, neurodivergent or not white).

Transgender men are often seen as and treated as "failed women" or "man lite" in an explicit dismissal of their experiences. Trans men are often treated as "lesser than" cisgender men. Even the LGBT+ community is not exempt from excluding transgender men, treating them as though they are a danger based on their gender identity.

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Access to Hormones

While access to any form of HRT can vary wildly based on location, it can be much more difficult for transgender men, access to testosterone can be difficult as it heavily regulated. Though the version and dosage used by transgender men is much lower than the steroids used by some cisgender male athletes; misunderstanding regading these hormones results in them being treated as though they are the same thing.

Furthermore, the hormone known as dihydrotestosterone is virtually impossible to get for transgender men living in the united states. This hormone cannot be converted into estrogen, and greatly helps with androgenization (similarly to how transgender women take progesterone to aid with feminization). While it is sometimes possible for trans men to access this hormone through compounding pharmacies; most physicians are extremely reluctant to perscribe it due to the lack of information on the topic and dubious legality.

Some lawmakers would try to define the effects that testosterone has on the genitalia as "mutilation" despite these changes being highly desired by the men who take these hormones.

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Autoandrophilia

Autoandrophilia refers to pleasure, sexual or otherwise, derived from imagining oneself as a man. This term was proposed by Ray Blanchard as a counterpart to autogynephilia, though it has not been as widely used. This is due to Ray Blanchard not even believing in the concept of transgender men.

Regardless of the skepticism of the the person who proposed the word itself, and the overall less frequent prevelance of the words usage, the concept it described is still weaponized against some transgender men. Some transgender men may be accused of transitioning purely for sexual purposes, or even worse, accused of transitioning to reinact sexual violence they'd experienced by the hands of others.

Click to jump to external links regarding autoandrophilia.

Click to jump to [autogynephilia] section of [transmisogyny] page.

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Exclusion

By the virtue of being a man, transgender men are often excluded from spaces that are meant to benefit them; due to the assumption that they must be there to cause harm on the basis of their gender identity.
They are treated as though they have transitioned to become the enemy.

It is not uncommon for gatherings specifically meant for queer people to exclude transgender men, treating them as outsiders instead of part of the community on the basis of identifying as men.

Some particularly vocal queer women will use transgender men as a scapegoat to vent frustrations regarding unrelated men who harmed them. In this way, transgender men are treated like punching bags for the crimes of the worst cisgender men. They are often treated as 'deserving' of such abuse simply for being men. Simply for being the same gender as someone else who happened to cause harm.

Some transgender men are even denied access to resources regarding homelessness or domestic violence on the basis of being men; and the assumption that they must be there to harm women.

Click to jump to corresponding external resources at the bottom of this page regarding exclusion.

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Infantilization

Infantilization is when one is treated as though he is an infant, or otherwise simply younger than he truly is. There are many potential reasons for the infantilization of transgender men. Perhaps it is due to the fact that many transmasculine people who are early in their hormonal transitions tend to go through an unfortunate phase of physically looking a bit on the younger side. Perhaps it is an extention of the misogynistic concept that women are too silly & childish to possibly know what's good for them being graciously extended to those who are transmaculine. Regardless of the reason, the effects of infantilization are felt by a great many of transgender men.

On the surface, being treated as though you are younger than you are may not seem that bad. After all, there is the prevailing sentiment in society that it is a positive thing to be seen as younger than you truly are. Scratch the surface, however, and the true effects of this treatment is a lot worse than may initially seem. Infantilization means being treated as though you are too childish to possibly know what is good for you.

Transandrophobes often describe transgender men as "confused little girls" cutting off "perfectly healthy breasts" and otherwise "mutilating" their bodies through the "posion" of testosterone. This verbal vitriol is not limited to interpersonal spats, however. Infantilization is, in part, used to reduce transgender men and boys to simply their ability to reproduce. It is used to treat trans men as though they are too stupid or naive to understand the meaning of transition. It is used to justify violence and forced detransition.

Disabled transgender men in particular are often treated as though they could not possibly understand that they are "really" women. They are treated as though being disabled (either mentally or physically) prevents them from even comprehending the intricacies of gender. They are treated as though they must really just be victims who have been led astray instead of proudly transmasculine people simply trying to be happy and comfortable with their bodies.

Infantilization of transgender men often overlaps with the misconception that transgender men only transition to escape misogyny and the patriarchy. If only that worked! Alas, it does not. Good thing that no one actually transitions for that reason anyway.

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MPreg

The topic of "mpreg" is not a topic that is often discussed in polite conversation. The term itself originated from content that was purely for fetishistic purposes, and as a result it is not usually discussed with any level of seriousness. The purpose of this section is to discuss the topic in a serious matter.

However, before I continue on with this section, I would like to add a small disclaimer. There is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying fictional mpreg for sexual purposes. There is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying real pregnant men in a sexual context. There are plenty of cisgender women and some transgender men who enjoy pregnancy in a sexual context. Sexual activity and content occurring or being shared among consenting adults is nobody else's business. It is harmless was well as being a conversation that is very separate from what is about to be discussed (aka the way society as a whole tends to treat pregnant men).

The idea of someone who appears to be a man giving birth is something that most human beings find to be unbelievable. There are varying degrees in which this disbelief will manifest. Some will outright say that it is not possible. That claiming such a thing could happen comes from a place of delusion. That someone who so much as claims such a thing could happen must be mentally ill.

Others, barely a step above in the realm of vague knowledge of transgender people, will try to rationalize this unbelievable claim via substituting "pregnant transgender man" for "lying and delusional transgender woman." This occurs in situations where someone is completely unaware of the concept of hrt & how testosterone can alter a female's appearance. The idea that someone who was born with a uterus but looks like a man does not register. The general awareness of transgender women is far more common than the general awareness of transgender men - resulting in a substitute explanation for the phenomena of someone who is masculine claiming the experience of pregnancy.

In a way, this creates an experience that overlaps with transmisogyny in a way it would be rare for a transgender woman to experience. While uterus transplants have been successful with cisgender women, the jump has not been made to allow transgender women to undergo pregnancy (if this changes, someone please contact me so I can link an article and revise this section, cause that'll be cool when it happens). Transgender women (though I'm sure there's someone out there to prove me wrong) do not go around claiming to have been pregnant. Yet, when transgender men (specifically ones who previously went on testosterone then paused to undergo pregnancy, and thus pass as men) claim to be pregnant, the assumption to some people is that the transgender man must have been amab and is thus lying about being pregnant (or having undergone pregnancy, in the case of those who choose to voice that reality after later having the child and resuming/starting medical transition).

This misconception can have negative consequences.

Even in situations where the bigot in question does fully understand that the person they are speaking to is a transgender man and knows the concept, this can still have negative consequences.

This is because what separates a bigot from an ally is what someone does with full knowledge of what is in front of them. Discrimination faced by seahorse dads varies in severity depending on one's life and circumstances and location. Scrolling through the in memoriam page of this website will bring you to a few worst case scenarios.

If you clicked that last link - prepare for some emotional whiplash as I describe some mildly annoying ways in which discrimination can manifest. Trying to explain over and over to an older person that you are pregnant until they assume that clearly you are referring to your fictional wife that must be the pregnant one. Having someone try to explain to you as though you have dementia that no, you are not pregnant. Being told that clearly you have some kind of tumor that must be removed. Being told that you are delusional and treated as though you belong in the psych ward, because clearly you're just fat and not actually pregnant.

It can be being met with confusion when you literally show up to the hospital and want access to the delivery room. It can be everyone assuming that your child must have come from someone else because how could a man give birth? It can be books trying to explain the topic being ridiculed as impossible in comment sections where the idea is introduced.

Well here is a news flash for anyone who has done this sort of thing - you are the one who looks like you have dementia when you insist that a passing transgender man could not possibly know what it is like to have undergone pregnancy (or any of the things that come alongside it). No disrespect to anyone who has disorders which negatively affect their own memory or sanity. This is simply a rhetorical device mirroring the way in which some people treat the very concept of this observable phenomena. Additionally, you don't look a lot better if you insist that a transgender men must just be a woman. Clearly, he isn't navigating through life the way a woman would be if you are making comments like that.

So far, this discussion has been regarding the handful of transgender men who do undergo pregnancy. While there are some transgender men who have kids before realizing that they are indeed transgender, and it is not unheard of that a transgender man will (as previously mentioned) pause transition in order to undergo pregnancy; most transgender men have exactly zero interest in ever having children.

There are chasers who have a vested interest in trying to impregnate transgender men. Unfortunately, this is typically done with the intent of forcing the transgender man to detransition. You cannot be on testosterone during a pregnancy. Pregnancy is a process which heavily feminizes the body. It can ruin the life of someone who is not ready and prepared to undergo it. This process is feared by many transgender men. It's not uncommon for transgender men to seek out hysterectomies to ensure that this cannot happen to them.

Sometimes it ends up happening when it really shouldn't. That's transandrophobia.

More of the story - less time should be spent harassing transgender men, and more time should be spent focusing on developing surgeries that would allow transgender men to gain the ability to impregnate others and for transgender women to become pregnant. Ones who would like to do those things.

Click here to jump to [Author Anecdotes] section [Miscarriage] page.

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Predatorization

Like with all bigotry, the "logic" gets a bit muddled as they will also treat any trans man who has dared to go through with his transition as a sexual predator trying to encourage "precious young girls" to "mutilate their perfectly healthy breasts" - never mind that the psychological torment of living in a body that is not your own isn't exactly healthy.

Transgender men are often accused of trying to coerce little girls into becoming transgender. This is, of course, completely fictional. No one is trying to make anyone become transgender. It is not possible to make someone who is not already transgender to become trans. Transgender men were boys, once, looking for a sense of community.

Click to jump to [Author Experiences] section [The Story About The Snake] page [The Story] subheading.

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Public Restrooms

Transgender men and boys are at an increased risk of harassment and violence when using public restrooms. Transgender men who have complied with laws regarding using the bathroom in accordance to agab often find themselves victims of violence.

Click to jump to corresponding external resources at the bottom of this page regarding public restrooms.

Click to jump to [T] section [Transphobia] page [Public Restrooms] subheading.

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Invisibility/Erasure

Historally speaking, transgender men are often treated as though they were only women pretending to be men. While it is true that there are cisgender women throughout history who pretended to be men in times where it is impossible for women to obtain certain professions, this is not always the case. There are countless transgender men who, upon their deaths, ended up being misgendered against their wishes. Some notable examples include James Barry, and Alan Hart.

The erasure of transgender men throughout history has hardly stopped in the 21st century. It can be quite difficult to obtain accurate statistics regarding the discrimination faced by transgender men. Reports and obituaries often misgender and deadname transgender men, lumping these statistics in with those of cisgender women. The only times when these inaccurate reports are made apparant is when people who personally knew the deceased transgender men; and make enough noise over these reports so that they might be corrected.

Transgender men are often underrepresented in the news and media. While transgender women suffer from the scrutiny of hypervisibility, trans men experience the exact opposite. Many people are simply unaware that transgender men exist. This lack of knowledge results in the oppression of transgender men often being dismissed as nonexistent.

While the written words of transphobic laws target all transgender people, there is a disparity of how these laws and the subsequent effects are reported. The media often focuses on how these laws affect transgender women, while the effects on transgender men are treated as barely a footnote. Make no mistake - bigotry has a place for transgender men, despite the lack of reports. Discrimination does not stop just because the news doesn't care when it happens to transmasculine folks. In the day-to-day lives of transgender men, the effects of these laws are experienced, and they are devastating.

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Sexualization/Fetishization

Transgender men are often treated as sex objects; both in terms of being seen as desirable targets for corrective rape/forced impregnation, and in terms of being seen as sexual predators themselves.

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Violence

As with any subset of the LGBTQIA+ community, the unfortunate reality is that most of us will at some point, be met with physical violence. Transgender Men are no strangers to this. The degree of this can vary depending on location. Country to country. City to city. The world is vast. There are so many ways in which human beings have invented methods to commit violent acts

The range of methods is as varied as there are people. As I hope any intelligent reader is aware, most transgender men are able to become pregnant. Not everyone has equal access to proper contraceptives, and testosterone does not prevent pregnancy. Click here for more on this topic.

There are plenty of bigots unwilling or perhaps incapable of wrapping their heads around a transgender man even existing, never mind wanting to be happy. To them, the idea of someone simply going about their lives is worthy of death if that person simply has the wrong combination of sexual characteristics.

These things are often done in tandem with treating the transgender men as nothing more than fetish objects for their own amusement.

https://thetransgenderdictionary.com/a_work_in_progress

will move and reword this section laterTransgender men are no strangers to being victims of domestic violence. This can come in various ways, ranging from partners trying to prevent them from transitioning, to physical acts, to murder. Forced impregnation is a method of forcible detransition, as a transgender man who is pregnant cannot take testosterone. A transgender man unable to access an abortion is effectively detransitioned for a least 9 months, and forced to endure the horrors of an unwanted pregnancy.

Of course, violence against transgender men is not limited to relationships. As mentioned previously, some queer women see transgender men as quite literal punching bags for the crimes of particular cisgender men. They justify their violence against transgender men by saying that it is deserved simply for exhibiting masculinity.

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Examples

ACTIVE WIP

The thing about being a transgender man is that, inevitably, there will be situations where other people have their own views on how you should be treated. Many of these views contradict each other. Sometimes you will find people who hold contradictory beliefs, not caring so long as they have an excuse to harm or disrespect you.

Autistic transgender boys are often accused of being incapable of bodily autonomy, reduced to caricatures of "confused little girls" unable to decipher what is good for "her" own wellbeing. Infantilization is already prelevantly experienced by those who are autistic, as it is a key component of ableism. Combined with transandrophobia, this infantilization is often paired with an unhealthy dose of denial of basic healthcare for the sake of "protecting" imagined purity that would otherwise be altered.
Even as adults these same struggles are still sometimes faced, depending on how lucky or unlucky an individual gets with the geographical location they happened to have been born. Alterations of one's self should be chosen by the individual who will be living in the body that has been changed. Changes to a body should not be dictated by those who are not living in it. Being autistic should not deny anyone the right to this basic courtesy.

I used autistic as an example, because I am autistic (you are looking at a website powered by one singular guy that's in a weird dictionary format, you should have realized that autism was involved with the creation of this thing). That being said, you can subsitute "autistic" for pretty much every single mental disorder, physical disorder, whatever disorder. There are always transandrophobes out there that will for some reason think that if you have anything even remotely considered a disability, you could not also be trans. It is very weird. There are plenty of neurotypical people who are transgender. There are always going to be people who deviate from the norm in more than one way.)

Regardless of physical or mental state, the idea that transgender men (& boys) are are mutilated women (& girls). Male puberty gets treated as though it is some kind of deformity. Specifically, the artificial version caused via the administration of testosterone (which is bioidentical to what cisgender boys - and unlucky transgender girls - go through as teenagers.
Hormones are neutral, conceptually. However, certain levels of certain ones are preferred by certain individuals. There are people out there who get upset whenever someone wants hormone levels differing from what their uncooperative biology forced upon them.

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The resources below have been provided for education, information sourcing, and entertainment purposes. The views expressed in these videos, websites, etc, do not inherently reflect those of The Transgender Dictionary. These resources are not sponsored, nor endorsed.

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See also the pages for; binarism, intersexism, transmisogyny, transphobia.

DIRECTORY DONATE W.I.P.!!! # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z HELPLINES RESOURCES BY COUNTRY MISCELLANEOUS IN MEMORIAM