Feelings of female solidarity: An ethnographic account of trans-exclusionary feminism

Abstract

In this article, I argue for an ethnographic engagement with trans-exclusionary feminism. Using my fieldwork in a gender-critical collective in the United Kingdom as an example, I show how feminist anthropology can give insights into the motivations and emotional trajectories of gender-critical feminists. By contextualizing the highly affective emic notion of female solidarity, I show how feelings mobilize the trans-exclusionary view that womanhood can only ever exist for cis women. I argue that it is a responsibility of feminist anthropology to contribute to knowledge that can be useful in disputing exclusionary feminisms. Taking this research as a case in point, I believe that this is done most effectively through an intentional ethnographic engagement with proponents of exclusionary feminist politics.