The Problem with White Gender Nonconformity

Now that we’ve broken down the binary system and talked about respect, let’s discuss some more pressing matters regarding modern gender nonconformity.

Gender nonconformity encompasses many things, from how someone identifies themselves to how they fit into society’s gender roles— there are a lot of ways to break free of the constraints of gender.

Recently, there has been a surge in men redefining what it means to be masculine. The rise of men playing with femininity gained its foothold on TikTok, as boys on the app started wearing skirts and dresses because, well, they simply felt like they could. 

Acceptance surrounding men redefining their masculinity has soared since the trend took off, and soon after, Harry Styles became the first man to cover Vogue alone, and wearing a dress of all things. 

Of course, there was controversy surrounding both events, but largely, people of all ages and genders were happy to see gender being redefined on a larger scale. It is undoubtedly a wondrous step in the right direction, and the overwhelming support was both astounding and necessary, but by no means is the fight for acceptance over. 

At first, when I saw Styles was on the cover of Vogue in a dress, my reaction was to be elated— I was and still am, don’t get me wrong. But the longer I looked, I realized that his dress, while still a dress, was androgynous— a mere shadow of a ball gown draped over an otherwise very masculine suit. Still, this didn’t bother me much until I realized that a white man was about to become the face of gender nonconformity for donning a garment considerably less feminine compared to something his non-famous, non-white counterparts wear on a daily basis. 

There isn’t an issue with a white, straight, cisgendered man wearing a dress or being on the cover of a magazine doing so. However, the widespread support for Styles has overshadowed trans and gender nonconforming people of color, who have historically lived these identities for much longer and have received much more hate.

Indigenous cultures consist of members identifying as two spirit,  some Indonesian cultures that recognize five genders, Kenya and Tanzania having the term “mashoga” referring to men who adopt the female gender early in life, even the underground ball culture in New York City, which emerged in the early 1920’s and grew more and more racially diverse as the years went on. There are too many others examples to name them all.

So when I saw an article from The Guardian — headlined “How Harry Styles became the face of gender-neutral fashion”– I was shocked. Toting around Styles as the “face” of the gender queer movement is an act of erasure against the cultures that have systematically been harmed for exhibiting near similar behaviors for centuries. 

In an episode of The Trypod, from popular creators The Try Guys, Eugene Lee Yang, a queer creator himself, spoke out about the erasure as well. In their conversation, they discussed how right-wing politicians and supporters speaking against this movement is more detrimental to those of color than it is to the white people they talked about. 

“If you think about what they’re indoctrinating, it’s not, ‘Oh, I’m going to be mad just because I see, like, a magazine cover of someone who I identify as masculine looking wearing a dress. I’m going to be mad when I see a trans person walking down the street,’” Lee Yang said. “‘I’m going to be mad when I see a group of gay people wearing things that are non-binary, and I might actually attack them.’”

He continued, “In the end, the only people that get hurt from this are the people that are already the most vulnerable.”

And I couldn’t agree more. As I mentioned earlier, people of color are at a much higher risk of being attacked for being trans. 47% of Black trans Americans, and 30% of Latinx trans Americans reported being verbally and/or physically assaulted in the past year alone.

Even on TikTok, the videos of boys wearing skirts that are boosted by the algorithm and end up on the “for you page” consist mostly of cisgender white men. This is why it is especially important to have conversations with and support trans and gender nonconforming people of color. 

Issues of race, gender, and sexuality are all intersectional, and even though issues of race may have taken the forefront of human rights and civil rights movements this year, it’s imperative that we as a community make an effort to understand the other issues affecting the queer community — especially those members who are at a disadvantage due to their identity.

Acceptance is not difficult. It just requires both learning and unlearning transphobic sentiments. However big or small they might be, we all have them, and we can do better — we just have to take the time to listen. 

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Here are some links to resources to transgender rights activists, resources to better understand how to be an ally to transgender and gender nonconforming people, and trans-inclusive media.

Resources:

Tips for Allies of Transgender People

Understanding the Transgender Community 

How to be a better ally to non-binary people

A list of gender identities

Activists:

Indya Moore 

AC Dumlao

Angelica Ross

Alok Vaid-Menon 

Jennicet Guitérrez

Media:

Pose (TV show) 

Disclosure (Documentary) 

Transparent (TV show) 

Paris Is Burning (Film)