What is Internalized Transphobia? How to Spot it & What to Do?
Internalized transphobia is inevitable—Dr. Z breaks down what it means, how to spot it in yourself, and what to do about detoxing it.
Here's the reality: internalized transphobia means you're taking all the negative, stigmatizing, oppressive stereotypes floating around about transgender people and you're believing those things are true about yourself. The older you are, the more inevitable this becomes because you've been saturated with transphobic messaging your entire life. It's embedded in the fabric of society—turn on the news, see a conservative commercial, encounter Matt Walsh's documentary—transphobia is everywhere, which means it's almost impossible not to be affected by it.
It manifests in two ways: First, in your relationship with yourself. When you feminize for the first time and think "I'm a man in a dress, I look hideous," that's internalized transphobia speaking—echoing society's descriptions back at yourself. Second, through projections onto other trans people. When you judge another trans person harshly without knowing them, those judgments are your own internal fears.
Watch to understand why detoxing is constant work (society keeps pushing new layers), how to catch yourself in the act and reframe, and why awareness is the first step toward course-correcting your brain.
