Passing-Centrism
Another example where language presupposes that transsexual and cissexual genders are of inherently different worth is the use of the word “pass.” While the word “pass” serves a purpose, in that it describes the very real privilege experienced by those transsexuals who receive conditional cissexual privilege when living as their identified sex, it is a highly problematic term in that it implies that the trans person is getting away with something. Upon close examination, it becomes quite obvious that the concept of “passing” is steeped in cissexual privilege, as it’s only ever applied to trans people. For instance, if a store clerk were to say, “Thank you, sir,” to a cissexual woman, nobody would say that she “passed” as a man or failed to “pass” as a woman; instead, we would say she is a woman and was mistaken for a man. Further, we never use the word “passing” to describe cissexual men who lift weights every day in order to achieve a more masculine appearance, or cissexual women who put on makeup, skirts, and heels to achieve a more feminine appearance. Yet, because I’m a transsexual woman, if I roll out of bed, throw on a T-shirt and jeans, and walk down the street and am generally recognized by others as female (despite my lack of concern for my appearance), I can still be dismissed as “passing” as a woman.
The crux of the problem is that the words “pass” and “passing” are active verbs. So when we say that a transsexual is “passing,” it gives the false impression that they are the only active participant in this scenario (i.e., the transsexual is working hard to achieve a certain gendered appearance and everyone else is passively being duped or not duped by the transsexual’s “performance”). However, I would argue that the reverse is true: The public is the primary active participant by virtue of their incessant need to gender every person they see as either female or male. The transsexual can react to this situation in one of two ways: They can either try to live up to public expectations about maleness and femaleness in an attempt to fit in and avoid stigmatization, or they can disregard public expectations and simply be themselves. However, if they choose the latter, the public will still judge them based on whether they appear female or male and, of course, others may still accuse them of “passing,” even though they have not actively done anything. Thus, the active role played by those who compulsively distinguish between women and men (and who discriminate between transsexuals and cissexuals) is made invisible by the concept of “passing.”
It should be mentioned that this view of “passing” is further supported by the use of the word with regards to other social class issues. For instance, a gay man can “pass” for straight, or a fairskinned person of color can “pass” for white. Sometimes people work hard to “pass,” and other times they don’t try at all. Either way, the one thing that remains consistent is that the word “pass” is used to shift the blame away from the majority group’s prejudice and toward the minority person’s presumed motives and actions (which explains why people who “pass” are often accused of “deception” or “infiltration” if they are ever found out).
It has been my experience that most cissexuals are absolutely obsessed about whether transsexuals “pass” or not. From clinical and academic accounts to TV, movies, and magazine articles, cissexuals spend an exorbitant amount of energy indulging their fascination regarding what transsexuals “do”—the medical procedures, how we modify our behaviors, etc.—in order to “pass” as our identified sex. This passing-centrism allows cissexuals to ignore their own cissexual privilege, and also serves to privilege the transsexual’s assigned sex over their identified and lived sex, thereby reinforcing the idea that transsexual genders are illegitimate.
Ironically, it has been common for cissexuals to claim that transsexuals are the ones obsessed with “passing.” Such accusations dismiss the countless transsexuals who are not concerned with how they are perceived by others and also make invisible the fact that both parties have disparate vested interests when it comes to transsexual “passing.” Specifically, while cissexuals have no legitimate reason to be concerned over whether any given transsexual “passes” (other than as a means to exercise cissexual privilege over them), transsexuals understand that being taken seriously in our identified sex has extraordinary ramifications on our quality of life. Living in this extraordinarily cissexist (and oppositionally sexist) world, transsexuals recognize cissexual privilege for what it is: a privilege. Being accepted as members of our identified sex makes it infinitely easier for us to gain employment and housing, to be taken seriously in our personal, social, and political endeavors, and to be able to walk down the street without being harassed or assaulted.
Cissexuals (not transsexuals) are the ones who create, foster, and enforce “passing” by their tendency to treat transsexuals in dramatically different ways based solely on the superficial criteria of our appearance. If a transsexual does not “pass,” cissexuals often use it as an excuse to deny that person the common decency of having their self-identified gender acknowledged or respected. Sometimes cissexuals even use these situations as if they were an invitation to openly humiliate or abuse transsexuals. And those of us who do “pass” are undoubtedly treated better by cissexuals, although not necessarily with respect. As a transsexual who “passes,” I find it quite common for cissexuals, upon discovering my trans status, to praise me using the same condescending tone of voice that people use when praising gay people who don’t “flaunt” their homosexuality (i.e., who act straight), or racial minorities who use “proper English” (i.e., who act white). In other words, these are backhanded compliments designed to reinforce cissexual superiority. The most common of these comments, “You look just like a real woman,” would clearly be taken as an insult if it were said to a cissexual woman. Another common comment is, “I never would have guessed that you’re a transsexual,” which essentially praises me for looking cissexual-like, once again insinuating that cissexuals are inherently better than transsexuals.
Because the term “passing” creates a double standard between cissexual and transsexual genders and enables cissexual gender entitlement, we should instead adopt language that rightfully recognizes this phenomenon as a by-product of gendering and cissexual assumption. Therefore, I suggest using the term misgendered when a cissexual or transsexual person is assigned a gender that does not match the gender they consider themselves to be, and the term appropriately gendered when others assign them a gender that matches the way they self-identify. And, as mentioned previously, the term conditional cissexual privilege ought to be adopted to describe what has historically been referred to as “passing” privilege.