Look I am fully on board wih the aims of the Escape the Corset (탈코) movement in Korea. Women don’t need to cater to the male gaze and they shouldn’t be pressured to use all their time and energy to look pretty. It’s a very necessary movement and I hope it keeps up.

That said, there’s also a subset in the movement who are not just escaping the corset themselves but actively shaming women who do wear makeup and saying they’re not true feminists, their minds are enslaved and so on. Yes, anyone can be jerks about a movement and take it way too far, but there’s a clear trans-exclusionary undercurrent to this rhetoric against the reality where trans women are unable to be accepted as women at all unless they perform femininity to degrees far beyond cis women.

To be clear, trans women should not experience these pressures to be hyperfeminine, any more than cis women, and easing the ridiculous beauty pressure is good for all women. This isn’t about discrediting EtC or dismissing those who adhere to it as shrill bullies. It is not okay to invalidate the very real problems that prompted EtC by saying “I wear makeup because it makes me happy!” or such shit. Shut up. Not about you.

At the same time we can recognize that the trans-exclusionary part of the movement is using it to paint trans women as enemies of feminism and male oppressors, when makeup may be necessary for them in a way it is not for cis women.

The EtC movement is admirable and necessary. At the same time, please be on the lookout for ways activism can be co-opted to isolate and demonize some of our most vulnerable sisters. Please don’t forget trans women in your activism.