Different Paths, Same Fight: Trans People & Feminism

Feminism has never been about one singular experience.

It’s always been about collective struggle against systems that limit, harm, and silence us – especially patriarchy. When we talk about intersectionality, we’re acknowledging that race, class, disability, sexuality, and other factors all shape how someone experiences gender-based oppression.

But too often, trans people, especially trans women, are left out of that conversation.

Trans women don’t grow up with the same socialisation as cis women, we know that. But that doesn’t mean we are outsiders to womanhood.

After transition, most of us experience sexism in ways such as: being talked over, objectified, dismissed by doctors, paid less, followed home at night, or treated as too emotional to be trusted.

Sound familiar?

What’s striking is how quickly the world shifts once we’re perceived as women. The same systems that have long held cis women down begin bearing down on us too – with the added weight of transphobia.

It’s not the always the same, but it is the same enemy, the same threat.

On the flip side, many trans men – especially those early in their transition, or who haven’t undergone medical changes – continue to be treated as women by society. They’re interrupted more often, expected to be nurturing, or told to “smile more.”

Anti-Trans groups see trans men as “brainwashed” and are therefore “deluded women”. A misogynistic trope if ever there was one, that will be recognised all too well. There’s also a sense that if they are just welcomed back into womanhood, they will see the errors of their ways and reject their trans identity. This is not kindness, no matter what others may think. It’s a dangerous form of conversion therapy.

Some talk about suddenly being taken more seriously once they are seen as men. Others are shocked at how different the world treats them once they’re no longer read as female. This is known as “perception bias“. Trans men note once society sees them as a cisgendered man, they are afforded “privilege ‘on loan'”. But if that ‘veil’ is lifted for any reason, they are once again the victims of misogynistic oppression.

That tells us something powerful: misogyny isn’t rooted in chromosomes or reproductive systems. It’s rooted in how people are perceived – and how the world expects them to behave. Trans men who’ve lived as girls or women know this intimately.

And their insights are invaluable to understanding how gendered oppression works.

Trans people – of all kinds – are punished for stepping outside the rules of binary gender. Feminism has always fought those rules. That’s why we belong in this movement, not as an afterthought or a compromise, but as a central part of the story.

When feminists exclude trans women, or ignore trans men, they’re doing patriarchy’s work for it. Because the real goal of patriarchy isn’t just to control women; it’s to control gender itself. To decide who’s real, who’s worthy, who gets to speak – who gets to exist.

That’s not feminism. That’s gatekeeping.

Intersectionality is about listening to each other and understanding our differences – not demanding sameness. Trans women don’t need to be exactly the same as cis women to belong in feminist spaces.

We share the same adversary.

We experience overlapping harm, threats and treatment.

And we bring vital perspectives to the table – remember, we ‘lived among them’ (like Jane Goodall and the gorillas).

We know how men act and speak when women are not around.

The same goes for trans men and non-binary people. Their experiences of misogyny, of erasure, of being dismissed, especially in healthcare, employment, or education, are part of the broader story of gender-based oppression.

To build a feminism that’s worth anything, we need to build one that sees all of us.

We don’t all walk the same path. But we’re all on the same battlefield.

Trans women, cis women, trans men, non-binary people – we’ve all been shaped and scarred by patriarchy in different ways.

Our stories aren’t identical, but they’re linked by a shared truth: this system was never built for us to thrive in.

Let’s stop fighting over who belongs, and start fighting together for a world that treats all of us with dignity, safety, and respect.