Femmephobia: What’s the Impact?

About This Post

Part one of a two-part series exploring how femmephobia manifests across the LGBTQ+ community. Mommertz examines three key areas — trans-misogyny, gay male culture (including "no fats, no femmes" dynamics on Grindr), and bisexual/pansexual erasure — drawing on C.J. Pascoe's sociology research and Hoskin & Blair's work on femme invisibility.

Key Takeaways

• 83% of young girls have experienced sexual harassment at school (AAUW, 2001) — femmephobia is deeply tied to gendered violence from adolescence onward
• Masculinity is defined through the rejection of femininity — this framework keeps femininity in a subordinate position across all genders
• In gay male communities, pressure to be "masc" and "straight-acting" leads to higher rates of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders
• 63.7% of femme-identified people in Hoskin & Blair's research reported having their sexual identity questioned or treated as inauthentic by other queer community members
• For parents: The school harassment statistics and the way boys are socialized to distance from anything "feminine" are directly relevant to how children learn gender hierarchies early on

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Femmephobia: What's the Impact? — Trent Arthur

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