Radical feminism begins from a material analysis of sex-based oppression. Its central claim is straightforward: societies organise themselves around the female body in ways that produce distinct forms of vulnerability, regardless of how one identifies. On this analysis, transmen are not outside feminist inquiry. We are included within it.

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At its core, this tradition is not anti-man, nor does it oppose masculinity as a mode of expression. Its critique is directed at the system that links masculinity with dominance and femininity with subordination. It rejects the gender stereotypes that constrain both sexes and recognises a long history of female masculinity, something many transmen have lived.

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Passing as male can change how others perceive us. It can alter social treatment, safety, and institutional recognition. But it does not erase the material realities of female embodiment. Those realities continue to shape vulnerability, access to resources, and exposure to male violence. In this sense, transmen’s experiences are not external to the framework of female oppression. They are one of the places where that framework is tested.

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Sex inequality is systemic rather than incidental. The institutions that structure family life, economic arrangements, sexuality, labour, and reproduction all bear the imprint of male dominance. The goal is not simply equal opportunity within existing systems, but transformation of the systems that produce sex-based subordination. This is what “radical” means: attention to root causes.

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The tradition has therefore focused on bodily autonomy, sex-based violence, sexual assault, marriage and family structures, prostitution and pornography, economic inequality, and sex-based stereotypes. Across these areas, transmen often continue to experience forms of disadvantage associated with female embodiment and social positioning, including poverty, sexual and intimate-partner violence, homelessness, and survival sex. These patterns are not incidental. They show how female bodies remain positioned within a gendered social order, even when gender presentation changes.

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A sex-based analysis brings these patterns into clearer view. It helps explain why some harms continue to track the body across changes in identity, presentation, and recognition. Integrating these insights can strengthen trans-inclusive feminism by grounding it in the material conditions that shape both risk and resilience.