Trans Lives Are Not A Conspiracy, So Why Are ‘Transvestigations’ Even A Thing?

Over the past year, anti-trans rhetoric has surged in both politics and culture, and the deeply unfortunate phenomenon of ‘transvestigations’ persists.

From female athletes like Dakota Davidson and Ilona Maher accused of “secretly being men” to Guinness’ World Record holder for world’s tallest woman Rumesya Gelgi, sparking online searches questioning if she’s trans.

Ilona Maher has previously spoken about hurtful comments calling her a man. “Women can be strong and they can have broad shoulders and they can take up space and they can be big”.

I think she’s beautiful as you can see from the video. https://t.co/WflFBTyBPS pic.twitter.com/EBZoD1m0hl

— Irene BritUSA (@irenebritusa) August 28, 2024

Notably, Olympian Imane Khelif faced baseless accusations of being a man, even by problematic influencers, like Logan Paul, Elon Musk and TERF/ possible black mould victim JK Rowling. Do they really not have better things to do rather than sit and spread bizarre speculations?

This dehumanising fixation, the resurgence of the transvestigators, might sound like a delightfully campy horror but the reality is much closer to a dystopian nightmare.

Who are these gender gatekeepers known as transvestigators?

Transvestigators are anti-trans trolls, in every sense of the word, who feel emboldened to dissect others’ bodies to “deduce” gender and sex. They are habitual to dark basements behind a computer, typing away with probably dirty fingernails.

Lurking on Facebook groups, random subreddits and TikTok– despite its 2022 pledge to remove transphobic content, they are united by the ridiculous claim of “We can always tell”. Well, I think ‘we can always tell’ that you probably lack real world-interaction with a trans person or otherwise.

What began as online conspiracy chatter, think pizzagate, has evolved into a coordinated effort to spread anti-trans agendas. Transvestigators thrive in echo chamber of hate, using their pseudo-scientific, very loosely termed, ‘investigations’, as tools of misinformation.

According to GLAAD, the movement began around 2017 initially targeting Black women like Michelle Obama and Serena Williams, accusing them of secretly being men. These claims, steeped in racism and transphobia, aimed to discredit their accomplishments.

Today, transvestigators’ rely on the conspiracy of ‘Elite Gender Inversion’ (it’s giving: shit rolled in glitter) claiming celebrities are secretly trans as part of a shadowy cabal, because why else would anyone be trans, apparently? Their actions are driven by deep discomfort of those who defy ‘traditional’ norms, spreading a harmful and false belief that being trans is a deviant and shameful secret. Spoiler alert: IT’S NOT.

The not-so scientific ‘investigation’ methods of transvestigations

This nonsensical idea generally targets cisgender celebrities, relying on phrenology-like (a racist pseudoscience) ‘evidence’, scrutinising physical features. For example, a woman without stereotypical feminine features, think wide eyed female cartoon with a slender nose and pouty lips, is ‘secretly a man’. Whereas a man with softer features could actually be a quote unquote, woman. You get the idea.

By these standards, Tom Hardy must be a woman with those Princess Peach pout.

A rainbow shirt in Target won’t turn your kids gay but Tom Hardy’s princess peach lips will. https://t.co/nHCvUntFZx pic.twitter.com/JLOe2wKTPK

— Holekage of the Hidden Bussy Village (@CAdreamboy) June 16, 2023

Recently, objectively uber hot cis stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney were targeted by the emboldened scum–Sweeney for her ‘clearly masculine features’ and Powell for his ‘obvious chest scars’. Even Barbie herself, Margot Robbie’s socials have been flooded with comments of ‘man?’, along with Jacinda Arden and Lady Gaga.

Husband trouble in the transvestigation group pic.twitter.com/kbratgwtSr

— 𝒥𝑜𝑒𝓁 “𝓒𝓸𝓸𝔃” 𝒞𝓊𝓈𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝑜 (@blameaspartame) December 27, 2023

Remembering that time when Lady Gaga was tranvestigated and had this to say when Anderson Cooper asked her if she was trans.

Love her so much, and love seeing her open the Olympic Ceremony :)pic.twitter.com/cPJHM9fE0a

— Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com on Bsky (@ErinInTheMorn) July 26, 2024

Yup, my eyes just rolled to the back of my head too.

The irony is glaring: their transvestigations clearly betray their own biases rather than anything remotely factual. Conservatives exploit such narratives to stoke fear, fuel division and gain traction among the misinformed like times of satanic panic.

Projection at its finest, folks–using trans individuals as a weapon in the culture wars and claiming to ‘defend’ gender norms.

Speculation of those in the limelight is nothing new, but it is far more dehumanising to ‘investigate’ someone’s gender, reducing them to physical traits and their sex. This reinforces rigid and boring binaries, despite overwhelming evidence, as noted by GLAAD, that sex is not a binary construct.

Transphobia perpetuates stereotypes that clearly impacts everyone.

The hateful anti-trans rhetoric of transvestigations has dangerous real-world consequences

As VICE notes, these narratives seep into mainstream discourse, unfortunately influencing news and political debates.

Transvestigation is going mainstream. https://t.co/cFwJ8F6pcb

— Skeleton Dandy (@skeleton_dandy) November 15, 2024

Last year in Australia, Channel 7’s Spotlight stoked anti-trans sentiment, with a sensationalised episode on detransitioning, weaponising rare cases like Chloe Cole’s to oppose gender-affirming care. Promoted as exposing “uncovering irreparable damage” caused by ‘confused kids wrongly diagnosed as transgender”, the program blatantly ignored the facts: parental consent is required and surgery prohibition before 18.

Such reporting fosters moral panic, demonising an already marginalised group. A national survey found that one in two trans Australians has experienced some form of hate in the last year with one in six facing violence.

So far, transvestigators have targeted only one openly trans celeb: Dylan Mulvaney. Target of the Bud Light controversy and trans icon, Mulvaney was deemed in all tranvestigator wisdom as “double trans’. Deducing that she was AFAB, forcibly transitioned to male and then transitioned back to female as an adult. The sheer grasping for straws and absurdity is beyond baffling.

While we’re on the subject of phobes suddenly deciding that a AFAB person born with a vagina and XX can be a man for arbitrary reasons, do y’all remember when the transvestigators thought Dylan Mulvaney was AFAB, forcibly transed and pulled a double uno on em? Keep going, y’all. pic.twitter.com/DIf2hsOnLn

— (((Anarch)))itect (@Anarchitect918) August 6, 2024

&

The  ‘We Can Always Tell’ dogma

A recent conversation with Star Observor’s Managing Editor Chloe Sargeant, who is non-binary and uses she and they pronouns,  really sums up tranvestigators’ blatant refusal to see reason – or common decency.

Chloe has been targeted by TERFs on X/Twitter in the past. Despite being AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth), Chloe says the countless TERF accounts were insistent she was a trans woman, telling her a common piece of TERF dogma: ‘We can always tell’.

“I’ve always enjoying playing with both femininity and masculinity, enjoyed being both yet neither, flipping back and forth. I have a strong jawline and it always got me booked on ‘avant-garde and androgynous’ style modelling shoots when I was younger,” joked Chloe. “But when I got attacked by TERFs, they based their entire reason on me being trans on the fact I have a strong jawline. Literally, that was their entire reason for attacking me.”

Chloe explains that when they got targeted, it was before they came out as non-binary.

“So at the time I was a cisgender woman, which meant they were cis women yelling at another cis woman, screaming at her for ruining cis women’s lives with her non-cis, but actually cis, existence. It was fucking bonkers,” explained Chloe.

“And no matter what I said, they would scream even louder that I was lying or confused, and they’d tell me over and over ‘we can always tell’. And I tried to get the to see reason, tell them they were hurting people, tell them what they were doing is technically illegal, but nothing worked. They’d just dig their heels in even more, become more and more adamant that I was quote unquote “masquerading” as a woman and somehow therefore impacting their lives. And regardless of my gender identity, I wasn’t impacting their lives at all, I was minding my own damn business, just like they damn well should have been.

“And look, I was happy to cop their bullshit rather than them attack a trans woman, but what would be even more ideal is if these people just stopped trying to ruin trans and gender-diverse lives altogether, because it is honestly inhumane, an absolute horror show, digital pitchforks out to harm a marginalised group. It’s a fucking hate crime, and these people should be ashamed of themselves.”

We need to call transvestigations out – all of us

For all their claims of “We can always tell”, transvestigators fail to be able to tell that trans people are fellow human beings. They’ve made the courageous choice to live authentically– a choice that harms absolutely no one. So why attack them, really?

To any transphobic or hateful loser who reads this, if someone’s identity and comfort in their body makes you uncomfortable, maybe the problem isn’t them-it’s you. So get a life, try touching some grass or even talk to someone.

As a cisgender bi woman, I stand behind the transgender community as an ally. I want to use my voice, not to overshadow or speak for trans experiences, but to highlight the harm caused by transvestigations or other TERF behaviour, especially in a world already rife with misinformation and hostility toward trans individuals. It shouldn’t just be up to trans people to call this behaviour out, we all need to.

Trans people are not mysteries to be solved but individuals deserving of respect and love. They owe zero explanation for their identity and deserve to live without the least fear of being ‘investigated’. Particularly right now, in a time of hate and violence against the entire community of trans and gender-diverse folks, they deserve a world with protection, solidarity and love.

So we must, all of us, of all gender identities and diversities, to stand up and say: this transvestigations shit needs to stop.