Transfemme is a website designed to promote healthier dating and relationships between trans women and cisgender men.
Transfemme was created by the Zoe Belle Gender Collective in collaboration with a collective of Australian-based trans women and cis men who have experience in dating or are in relationships with trans women. The content is based on their lived experience. We have used pseudonyms to protect the identities of participants.
The content reflects a range of experiences, perspectives and beliefs. Interviewees included First Nations people, settlers, migrants, sex workers, international students and refugee and asylum seekers. Further funding is required to support the co-design of additional resources that meet the specific needs of these groups.
Trans women and trans feminine people have diverse sexual identities and relationships, and trans and gender diverse people of all genders experience challenges and violence. Transfemme focuses on the experiences of trans women and trans feminine people in relationships with cis men.
Due to the disproportionate rates of violence trans women and trans feminine people experience in these relationships, there is a need for targeted resources, co-produced with specific trans communities to address their distinct experiences. Targeted work is also needed to better understand and respond to the experiences of trans women in relationships with people of other genders, and for other trans and gender diverse communities as well.
ZBGC has developed resources to help support healthy relationships and affirmative consent for trans and gender diverse people of all genders, and their partners. Click here to read more.
The resource contains content that may be considered sensitive including sex, objectification, fetishisation and body dysphoria. Please check out our Support section if any of the content causes distress, or if you would like further support.
“Trans women and trans feminine people” in this project refers to trans women, trans feminine people, women who have a trans and gender diverse history or experience but do not identify as transgender – and other trans feminine culturally-specific identities such as Sistergirls, Fa’afafine and Kinner. When referring to trans women and trans feminine people we have used neutral pronouns.
We have deliberately chosen to simplify the language we use in this resource, particularly in the men’s section, to support its accessibility to cisgender men. We recognise that many cisgender men who want to learn how to be more respectful towards trans women, or access support, may not have a high level of knowledge of trans and gender-diverse culture and language.