I first interacted with a “transvestigator” in the particularly repulsive comment section of one of my recent Twitter posts, which had gone somewhat viral among transphobes and MAGA types. They had copied my profile picture, circled my chin, left gaze, and cocked leg in a jovial manner before just captioning it with “inverted”?
I had no idea what this meant, but I assumed it wasn’t a transphobe pointing out how stunning and seductive my features were. I never imagined that I would be included in a larger website crime that included Margot Robbie, Henry Cavill, and Jennifer Lopez. I had just been transvestigated, just like those (also cisgender) stars.
What does “transvestigation” even mean?
Intense attention of celebs is nothing new; it’s the reason why there are paparazzi, why gossip websites and magazines are so popular, and why memoirs were created. We find these wealthy and attractive people fascinating.
Transvestigation pushes this examination deeper into a strange and blatantly prejudiced territory.
According to Dr. Jay Daniel Thompson, a Senior Lecturer in Professional Communication at RMIT University who is currently penning an article about the ethics of reporting on online conspiracy theories, “the ‘transvestigation’ conspiracy involves internet pundits using phrenology to ‘prove’ that apparently cisgender celebrities are in fact trans, even though they pretend otherwise.” I learn that the expression these people use in place of trans, trans, or slurs is “inverted.”
According to Dr. Thompson, “this conspiracy movement has its roots in persistent urban legends and rumors about famous people’s sexual and gendered lives, as well as social panics about transgender and sexual diversity, particularly the reportedly harmful impact this is having on young people.”
He also emphasizes that transvestigation is frequently predicated on the idea that “cis” is a malicious creation of evil forces like Big Pharma or billionaires like George Soros and shares many similarities with other virtual theories. This large “inversion” process is merely one symptom of societal corruption in the eyes of the majority of transvestigators.
According to them, it is a practice that coexists with other common cultural breakdowns, such as child trafficking that resembles Pizzagate and adrenochrome consumption.
According to Dr. Thompson, “The transvestigation idea reads like a mash-up of QAnon, celebrity gossip, and the various anti-trans conspiracies.” According to all of these theories, “innocent” young people are having their livelihood threatened by dishonest, biologically predatory elites. They are obviously asexual but are soon to be homosexual and cisgender. My impression is that the “transvestigation” conspiracy isn’t as well-known as some others, such as QAnon or anti-vaxx. This doesn’t lessen the threat posed by this conspiracy.
Who carries out the transvestigations?
You are quickly introduced to a completely new speech when you linger in transvestigation groups, as I have been doing for the past year, such as Facebook groups, Discords, YouTube, subreddits, and strange Instagram accounts. Over 17,000 people are members of one of the social parties I’m in.
You’ll find terms like “pineal cells” from QAnon and antivax as well as a ton of spiritual allusions, most of which are centered on Satanism. However, modern phrenology, which takes great pleasure in examining the physical traits of celebrities for signs of deviance from arbitrary gender norms, is the mainstay of every post.
An image of a team
The typical post will be an image of Margot Robbie, who is beautiful and stunning, with the caption “Man.” Next, from a perplexing melting pot of various viewpoints, they will be followed by comments supporting this idea.
“Very strong features, square jaw, open arch teeth with very wide grin, wide-spaced eyes, male strength.” “He was unfortunately chosen to portray the BARBIE mannequin!” One post has received many likes.
Some researchers use various “tells” that they rely on in their studies. I came across someone who was looking for what is known as a “wonky eye” and had posted lots of images of famous people squinting in the sun or flashing cameras.
Additionally, these investigations have a wonderfully wide scope and frequently concentrate on famous people like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and the Kardashians. However, every now and then a regional soap star or European politician will find themselves in the same situation.
Another helpful writer adds, “Yes, they do things like encourage ear piercing, which is, I’ve been told, helps distinguish the prefrontal connection, add all the toxins to the air, food, water, and remind us to clean with their neurotoxins twice daily to congeal it, etc.” under the Margot Robbie post.
The national chairman of Queer Unionists and activist-artist Amy Sargeant has even devoted a significant amount of time to these groups.
“I believe Facebook’s engine, which suggested I visit a number of transvestigator groups, was the first way my attention was drawn to transvestigators. I suppose it appears that I belong to some transgender activist organizations and am unable to distinguish between the two. She tells VICE, “I joined a few of them to see what was going on and went down the rabbit hole.”
Their conversations and posts in these forums are frequently hilariously crazy. Many people find it hard to believe there are actually areas of thousands of people who believe this stuff when I post pictures from these groups on Twitter.
Amy Sargeant confronts a transgender activist – Supplied
According to Sargeant, one of the more bizarre posts she’s seen just “was going crazy at an AI-generated photo of Emilia Clarke, claiming she was evidently ‘hiding something down there’ and critiquing the proportions of her AI-generated illustration to prove the actress is, in fact, actually a man in disguise!”
Sargeant claims, “It wasn’t even a decent AI image.” “It was a very clear Midjourney posting. I suppose you are more receptive to secretive propaganda if you lack media literacy, and in particular no physical literacy.
Is transvestigationism unsafe or a joke?
Despite the fact that transvestigation is honestly absurd, they also pose a risk. A large portion of that risk is to those who fall victim to these ideas, who are frequently marginalized and at risk, just like molester tunnels and wonderfully smooth earths.
According to Dr. Thompson, “this kind of conspiracy also contributes to a broader culture in which factually baseless information, including conspiracies, disinformation, and ‘fake news,’ has become normative and reported on (sometimes uncritically) by mainstream media outlets.”
The main threat posed by the transvestigation conspiracy, however, is that it may encourage more hostility and dehumanizing beliefs about trans and various communities. Because that is the problem with transvestigation: even though it is defined by extraordinary examples, it also applies the same logic to trans people as it does to TERFs and additional transphobes. It continues to rely on the notion that there is a right or wrong way to express gender; transvestigators have recently determined that this is the result of an extensive, connected celebrity conspiracy.
In the end, it all comes down to policing the appearance and behavior of certain women, which is exactly what more “moderate” anti-trans types continue to do to transgender people and other LGBTQIA+ community members.
Jade Whitla is seen in the picture going for trans fairness.
According to Amy Sargeant, “some TERFs/transphobes who want to manifest themselves as fair advocates for women’s ‘sex-based rights’ would try to tell you that there is a clear difference between their movements and transvestigator conspiracists.” “In actuality, there isn’t.”
The only distinction between a public-facing, high-profile TERF and your typical transvestigator is that the latter are aware that they must carefully build the appearance of their secretive views in order to avoid alienating. In other words, they are aware that a sensible person would find transgender individuals amusing if they heard their true beliefs.
Amy notes that in addition to their anti-trans speech, attendees of the March 2023 rally hosted by pro-protestant Kellie, Jay Keen, Minshull, and Posie Parker, which was famous for having Nazis show up, were also rife with signs opposing QAnon and brands.
The religious notion that misogynistic women have an innate ability to recognize a transgender person is known as the phrase “we can always tell,” which is frequently used to criticize gender. This is a cornerstone of their philosophy, despite the fact that it is frequently and magnificently refuted online. Giggle, an app, yet gained notoriety for attempting to discriminate against specific trans people who tried to join the app by using AI.
Transvestigation is possibly more harmful than misogynistic rhetoric along this TERF, or “gender critical” ideology, which relies on appearing more reasonable and rational. The first is attempting to deceive people into succumbing to anti-trans despair. Some people take the latter seriously because it is simply transphobia with the mask entirely and unsettlingly away. All stigmatization is fundamentally based on conspiracy theory, which is the fictitious notion that transgender people are or might be dangerous.
Certainly it’s a joke, right?
I’ve been using the internet for long enough that I never take anything seriously unless it’s the strangest fandom reference, an inside joke, or the crispiest deep-fried meme I don’t understand. The more I read and watched, the more it seemed utterly improbable that sane people actually believed in these theories, so I had to know if transvestigation was an example of this.
I took the time to approach the Facebook group admins, specific Twitter users, and even some YouTubers, largely asking
if this was a joke. Most of them quickly blocked me, some politely told me to leave, and I was later kicked out of one of the groups.
Spending time in these groups ultimately made me feel bad for these people, especially after realizing that it wasn’t something they were treating as a joke (at least some of them).
Maurice Quirk is a doctoral candidate who has come to a similar conclusion about transvestigators after researching faith and conspiracy theories.
They tell VICE, echoing my discomfort, “I have pity for those who are swept up in subcultures that essentially separate them from the rest of society because I have a background in conspiracy theories and unscientific endeavors, and I understand the cultural conditions and patterns of logic that lead people to subscribe to these perception systems.”
Having said that, I am also aware that no one involved in the transvestigation conspiracy theory intends to treat others with such critical thinking and compassion, mainly transgender individuals. These are individuals who have a preconceived notion of gay people. It’s challenging to feel sympathy for them while also realizing that they couldn’t give you the same humanization.
@PatrickLenton
