Hunter Schafer Addresses Backlash Amidst People Calling Her A 'Transmedicalist'

Euphoria’s breakout artist Hunter Schafer who plays Jules on the show was recently under fire for liking and commenting on a post that the internet deemed furthered transmedicalism. While the artist hadn’t addressed anything for a while, she recently posted a carousel of pictures on Instagram where she commented, “also, while we are here- i hold absolutely no hatred towards non-binary folks- i agreed with another t-girl’s post in which she pointed out an in-balance in the visibility and space-taken up between non-binary folks and binary trans women (particularly those of color and/or those who have resulted to sex work as a means of survival) that i think deserves attention/ re-evaluation (as far as resources and platforms go) within the LGBTQ+ community. i am not a trans medicalist, and my ideology around transness does not align with transmedicalism, nor a disdain towards nb identifying people. ❣️”

The conversation surrounding this issue is of transmedicalism, the philosophy that believes that a person must experience gender dysphoria and/or receive medical treatment to be considered a transgender person. While many are already enraged that Schafer liked a post such as this in the first place, they are now more furious about the fact that she decided to flip the narrative and interpret the original post in a completely different way than it was intended. The original post which has since been deleted, mentioned, “I hope all of the people (enbies) who fought to have trans identities no longer considered a medical condition that requires dysphoria are happy because you’ve won.” 

While this was already falling under the transmedicalism territory, the original poster added, “The red states are beginning to agree with you.”  The post further detailed how since HRT and surgery are not medically necessary, many binary trans people need to pay for these procedures out of pocket forcing them to get into sex work. It is at this point where the poster mentions that perhaps black trans women and binary trans women of color, in general, should take point on the trans rights movement.

In Schafer’s defense, she was probably alluding to the second half of the story which only if taken in isolation would have correlated with the comment she had posted on her Instagram page. For now, however, Schafer has been receiving harsh criticism, one user @surprisebuttspx wrote, “Hunter Schafer completely backpedaled from what the post she agreed with literally said and y’all saying “omg I can’t believe people misunderstood her” bro u been gaslit” Another user @elizabreathe wrote, “The rhetoric that Hunter Schafer has endorsed is harmful to all trans people, making tranness an illness and making it rely upon dysphoria hurts everyone. The best thing to do about it is point how and why it's bad, stop supporting her, and then like wait and see.”

For now, Schafer hasn’t made any other public comment in an interview explaining her stance about this.