On June 1,
XY Media
, the first trans-feminist audiovisual media, launched a pot to finance itself.
Less than eleven hours later,
XY Media
had exceeded its objective by collecting more than 12,000 euros.
In ten days, the donations amounted to more than 36,000 euros.
Behind the
XY Media
project
are six founders, six trans women, Venus Liuzzo, Sasha Yaropolskaya, Carol Sibony, Sofia Versaveau, Anna Balsamo and Charlotte Jourand.
The collective, which now brings together about ten people, posts on its social networks explanatory videos on the representation of trans people, socialist feminism or transmogyny, a form of misogyny that trans women undergo in which sexism and transphobia are mixed. .
20 Minutes
met Sofia Yaropolskaya and Sofia Versaveau, two of the founders, to discuss
XY Media
but also the discrimination that trans women suffer.
How was the
XY Media
project
born?
Sasha Yaropolskaya
: During non-mixed trans-female support groups that I started with another activist, Anna Balsamo, in reaction to the many suicides of trans women that took place during the first lockdown. During our discussions there was a theme that came up often: the media issue of trans people. Every month the French press published an article on transidentity. For example,
Marianne
published a file on trans children which conveyed incorrect words and figures.
There were fears that this keen interest of the French press in trans issues would trigger the same negative media wave that took place in the United Kingdom and which led to very concrete political change: the government of Boris Johnson has banned puberty blockers for trans teens.
In this support group there were both videographers and activists.
I decided to contact these people and combine our forces, both militant and technical, to launch an audiovisual medium made by and for trans people.
What is the goal of XY Media?
Sofia Versaveau
: The goal is to bring the voice of trans people to the public space, because we are not often given it.
We decided to create a space to make our actions and our experiences visible, to defend who we are.
We wanted to have content that does not always present itself in reaction to the discourse of the far right and TERF (term used to designate feminists who believe that trans struggles make struggles for women's rights invisible).
SY
: We also wanted to popularize trans knowledge, to make it accessible to as many people as possible.
The trans academic world exists in France.
There are plenty of academics working on the subject whether they are cisgender or transgender, but this useful knowledge that can help understanding remains hidden in academic journals.
SV
:
XY is
also developing a professional network to help trans people get out of precariousness and gain access to the job market.
These people are talented and they deserve just as much as anyone else to do what they love.
You present yourself as the first French transfeminist media.
What is transfeminism?
SY
: Transfeminism is a very undefined term.
Within our media, it refers to the struggle for the liberation of trans people.
When we look at the statistics on how transphobic violence impacts trans women we come to the conclusion that once trans women are free all women will be free.
SV
: Trans women are a little at the bottom of the social scale, if in addition to their situation criteria of race and economic class are added the difficulties accumulate.
Transfeminism defends the idea that the liberation of cis women cannot do without the liberation of trans women.
What discrimination do trans women experience?
SV
: We are exploited by sex work, we are excluded from the job market, from the right to housing.
We may have to leave our country like Sasha, who is Russian, had to do because our lives are not protected.
There is also the violence we experience in the street, conversion therapy, the family that kicks us out ...
SY
: The people who encounter the most difficulties are trans migrant women who have to prostitute themselves in the Bois de Boulogne.
These women are disproportionately exposed to HIV.
This creates dramatic situations.
These people arrive in France, they have no paperwork and therefore no Social Security.
Access to medical treatment is in fact complicated for them.
You suffered a wave of transphobic cyberstalking after your first transmogyny video.
What are the risks of running a transfeminist media?
SV
: By being visible we also run the risk of being targeted by groups.
SY
: We had a message in Morse code under the video of our appeal for donations that said "Heil Hitler".
This is not the only Nazi message we have received.
These references to Nazism are particularly serious.
Trans people, transvestites and homosexuals have been deported to concentration camps.
When the extreme right posts this kind of message, it is part of a very painful and traumatic story for trans people.
What is your message to journalists who deal with transidentity?
SY
: It's funny because the idea of founding
XY
was born out of a debate we had with a journalist. She had written an article for
Slate
on relatives of trans people, citing a book that claimed that a trans woman is only a woman when she has genital surgery. This person presented himself as sensitive to LGBT + issues. We pointed out the problem to her and she said, “Why don't you start writing instead of criticizing me”. And then finally we took his advice and we set up
XY
(
laughs
).
SV
: More seriously, editorial staff should hire trans people to write on these topics. Even in feminist media, trans people are absent.
SY
: In France, we also usually ask cis experts to talk about trans issues.
The advice I would give to cis journalists is to try to approach LGBT + or feminist journalist associations like AJL or Take the One
.
Try to see if they have any explanatory kits.
They can also check out the Trans Wiki, which is a huge resource on LGBT + issues.
Anyone can access it to improve their definitions and understanding of trans issues.
In 2021, we should no longer have articles on transidentity without any trans expert, no trans association.
It is a non-treatment.
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