In light of recent transvestigation and rumors circulating, Hailey Bieber has remained unshaken and unbothered while showing love and support for trans people.
On a recent episode of the podcast In Your Dreams, hosted by actor and singer Owen Thiele, Bieber discusses how some people have been trying to make jabs at her appearance by saying that she “looks trans.” She talks about how these “insults” don’t affect her in the way those harassers think it does: “As if being trans is a diss? Or, like, some of the most beautiful women in the world and men in the world are trans, so I just don’t take that offensively at all.”
With the current political climate towards trans people, and especially trans women, it’s refreshing to hear a cisgender celebrity acknowledge how these insults are baseless and that transvestigation is harmful to everyone regardless of gender. Transvestigation is the “investigation” of cis people to “prove” that they are actually trans and hiding it. This is based on things like physical characteristics, body language, and phrenology (a pseudoscience about skull shaping causing certain traits). It is all based heavily on gender stereotypes, misogyny, and sexism. It predominantly exists in trans-exclusionary spaces to continue a societal standard of transphobia. Bieber is not the only celebrity to face this. There are conspiracy theorists who believe that many influential figures are secretly trans, including but not limited to Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, French First Lady Brigitte Macron, Serena Williams, and Michelle Obama.
It is important for cis people to call this out when it happens and respond similarly to how Bieber did—acknowledging that it’s based on nothing but pure transphobia and uplifting trans people at the same time. Trans people shouldn’t be expected to be the only ones fighting for themselves. Trans people shouldn’t be expected to be their only advocate. Cis people should be stepping up and refusing to stay silent in a culture of transphobia.
Photo courtesy of social media
