We recently published a briefing about the controversy surrounding Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, which involved a number of prominent figures mislabelling the athlete as Trans. This was a particular instance of the practice known as “transvestigation”, in which internet sleuths accuse high-profile figures of being trans. From Michelle Obama to Donald Trump, to Taylor Swift, to Andrew Tate; the tranvestigation conspiracy alleges that high-profile figures of all kinds are in fact secretly trans.

While this conspiracy theory might seem absurd or amusing, its implications are much darker. In this briefing we provide some examples of this conspiracy theory at work on various social media platforms, and explain its connection to homophobia, misogyny and antisemitism. We conclude that social media platforms should view content that pushes the Transvestigation conspiracy as hate speech, and should make efforts to remove it from their platform.

Transvestigation is transphobic. It expresses a fear towards trans people which implies they are a threat to society and need to be rooted out. It also denies trans people a right to privacy, as users try desperately to “out” people they think are trans. But this conspiracy theory can also be homophobic, misogynistic and antisemitic. Below we give a number of examples of this conspiracy theory in action, and discuss how this transphobic narrative feeds into various other kinds of hate. 

Examples

One of the most long-running subjects of transvestigation is Michelle Obama. Skepticism about Michelle Obama’s gender identity has been online since 2008, and has been propagated by prominent figures like Joan Rivers and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Accusations that Michelle Obama is secretly a trans woman are often “substantiated” with images that have been doctored to give her more traditionally masculine features, or with false reports about how she is referred to by her family. Though multiple fact-checking groups have found no credibility to the claim that Michelle Obama is trans, this claim is still routinely made in certain corners of the internet.

The following post on Instagram links to a news story with a quote from Michelle Obama, in which Obama says that she can still see what’s “wrong” when she looks in the mirror. The article is in fact discussing Obama’s struggles with menopause, but the comments on the Instagram post all imply that Michelle Obama is actually trans.

Similar allegations have been levied against Brigitte Macron, wife of the French President Emmanuel Macron. In France two women were found guilty of slander after claiming that Brigitte Macron is trans, and alt-right political commentator Candice Owens has said that she would stake her “entire professional reputation” on this being true.

In this next post, a Telegram user implies that German Chancellor’s wife Britta Ernst is trans:

Why are people claiming that wives of prominent political figures are trans? One explanation appeals to homophobia. Accusations that Michelle Obama is trans often run hand-in-hand with accusations that Barack Obama is gay. This suggests that transvestigation is a way of casting doubt on the sexuality of the partners of those who are being investigated. This is simultaneously transphobic, because it implies that an attraction to trans women is at odds with heterosexuality, and also homophobic, because it aims to besmirch someone by implying that they are gay.

Another common target of transvestigation is Taylor Swift, who is frequently accused of being trans by the transvestigation community.  In the following post from Telegram, a user has posted several pictures of Taylor Swift with parts of her body circled in red. The text reads: “Taylor Swift exposed as a MTF [male to female] Tranny.”

The red circles highlight the supposedly masculine features of Taylor Swift, which the user thinks is evidence of her Trans identity. This indicates the misogyny inherent in many transvestigations. An impossibly narrow understanding of femininity and womanhood is adopted, and anybody who falls outside of this range is deemed not to be a “real” woman. Intense scrutiny over their physical features, and the extent to which they conform to traditional standards of femininity, is a form of misogyny to which famous women are subject on a regular basis. The Transvestigation conspiracy turns this up to 11 by claiming that these prominent figures are in fact insufficiently feminine to be “real” women. 

Below, we see the same logic being applied to Jennifer Anniston, with a post from Telegram that uses a pseudo-scientific account of women’s anatomy to suggest that Anniston is actually Trans:

Why do these conspiracy theorists think that so many prominent figures are trans? On some readings, transvestigations are closely aligned with other conspiracy theories that posit a shadowy group of elites who aim to control society. According to some transvestigators, “gender inversion” is part of the ritualistic initiation that celebrities must undergo in order to gain membership to the inner circle. Transvestigations is therefore partially fuelled by a paranoid, conspiratorial view of the world as being controlled by some kind of “New World Order”. These conspiracies are notoriously associated with antisemitism, with the “controlling elites” oftentimes being code for “jews”. Anti-trans conspiracies like transvestigation are therefore implicitly related to antisemitic tropes about jews secretly running the world. 

Because transitioning is viewed as the price of entering the inner circle of power, any high-profile figure is the potential subject of transvestigation. If the only way you can gain power is by becoming trans, then anyone who has power can be viewed as a suspect. 

And, the more you look into this conspiracy, the more you realise that nobody is safe. Anyone who has any kind of media coverage is liable to be accused of being Trans. Below we screenshot a 45 minute video from Bitchute entitled “A COLLECTION OF TRANNY PHREAKS”, in which Rob Kardashian is accused of being trans on the basis of their “tiny girl feet”. In another image, an Instagram user accuses controversial alt-right figure Andre Tate of being trans on the basis of an unflattering photo of Tate in his bathers. Another image is from a video titled “THE OLYMPICS WERE JUST ONE BIG TRANNY PAGAN CULT EVIL SICK CEREMONY!”, in which a myriad of prominent athletes from the recent Olympics are subject to transvestigation. Finally, a post from Instagram warns users against putting their trust in Andre Tate, Elon Musk, Donald Trump or Kanye West, because these “women” are all “part of the theatre”.

Conclusion

The Transinvestigation conspiracy is absurd. Like conspiracies about flat earth or lizard people, it is very easy to dismiss these narratives and feel sorry for the communities that perpetuate them. But transvestigation is actually closely connected to transphobia, homophobia, misogyny and antisemitism. As such, it is about time that social media platforms start moderating content that feeds into this harmful narrative to reduce the spread of online hate.