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White supremacists need rigid gender binaries in order to enforce the public/private divide through naturalized "sex roles." The invention of the cis body is an invention of whiteness acting to constitute the bodies of "good" citizens. https://twitter.com/transscribe/status/1338584623555731459
What do I mean by cis bodies being an "invention of whiteness?" The idea of a "normal" sexed body was first produced by early white #sexologists whose "study" of Black women suggested that they were "less sexually dimorphic" than white women.
They based this argument on the claim that Black women were hypersexual and thus "more like men" than white women. It was frequently used as a justification for r*pe and sexual assault against Black women.
#JezebelTrope #BlackHistory
#JezebelTrope #BlackHistory
Greater sexual dimorphism (or the increased differentiation between animals based on sex) was understood by these scientists as a sign of greater evolutionary progress. Whites were "more sexually dimorphic" than Black people, meaning they were considered more "evolved."
That meant that "higher levels" of sexual dimorphism made whites more evolved than Black people AND required an increased study in "aberrant" cases which would represent a devolution of "the race."
This argument around sexual dimorphism was also deployed in order to control women. The idea that men and women are "naturally" different is a fundamental argument made by male supremacists to justify the political and social subjugation of marginalized genders.
This has meant that #intersex and #trans categories are seen as a threat to white supremacy because they undermine white claims to evolutionary superiority and a "natural" patriarchal order.
When you see TERFs and white supremacists making eerily similar arguments, now you know they emerge from similar anxieties about purging and cleansing the population of "aberrants" in order to bolster their claims on "natural" authority.
Also, because I love sharing resources to back up my posts - I’d suggest reading @CRileySnorton’s “Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity” for more on these early constructions and contestations. https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/black-on-both-sides
