Transgender Inclusion and Exclusion within the Women's March

The 2017 Women’s March was the largest single-day protest in the history of the United States. Though people of all genders attended, women’s experiences were centered. Where then do men and (this study’s focus) transgender people fit in? How were transgender people included and excluded in the Women’s March? This project will focus on the most prominent symbol of the March: the pussyhat. The March claimed to be open to all in support of its cause; but this biological imagery centered an essentialist, binary understanding of womanhood. The prominent symbol of the largest protest in world history was exclusionary, making it difficult to move beyond and focus on the pressing, crucial activism against the Trump administration. Based on 22 interviews with transgender individuals, this thesis will focus on this symbol, with special attention to the intersection of race and gender.