Crippling fear of walking home alone in the dark. The deafening sound of the biological clock ticking. The ever-growing gender pay gap.
Sometimes it can feel as though there aren’t always many benefits to being a woman in 2025 – as generation after generation are discovering the hard way that we can’t, in fact, ‘have it all’.
But if you were to believe everything you read on internet forums, modern-day womanhood can simply be defined by its perks.
They include cheaper car insurance, free meals and an all-round ‘easier’ life once you’ve bagged a ‘high-value’ man – i.e. someone who is wealthy and attractive, thereby making them ‘deeply desirable’.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that men who fear they don’t meet this criterion are growing increasingly envious of women’s position in the dating sphere – and going to extreme lengths to achieve it.
Welcome to the world of transmaxxing: where ‘low-value’ males, who are struggling with their gender identity or former incels, are transitioning to females to cash in on on the benefits of womanhood.
The ‘Transmaxxing Manifesto’, which was written by the movement’s anonymous Swedish leader Vintologi, outlines how one of the biggest advantages of becoming a woman is the ‘superiority of female aesthetics’ and how this can be used to ‘extract resources from males’.
On top of this, the document, which is readily available on transmaxxing forums, also highlights how the transition gives them ‘access to female spaces’ that are ‘cleaner and generally more pleasant’ – arguing that ‘males are disgusting’.
Pictured: Self-identified ‘transmaxxer’ Sammy, who appeared on the Channel 4 documentary Transmaxxer Life Uncovered in 2024
Reinforcing gender roles for ‘personal gain’
By its very nature, transmaxxing reinforces traditional gender roles, where men are the primary earners and women, who have ‘easier’ lives and less responsibilities, support them.
One section of the manifesto reads: ‘Not everyone can be successful and independent, some individuals need to just be subservient to a master, they exist to be used and give pleasure to other people.
‘This will be the end station for some individuals that transitioned from male to female. Better than homelessness, I suppose.’
Last year, ‘transmaxxer’ Sammy appeared in the Channel 4 documentary Transmaxxer Life Uncovered – where she defined a man as ‘dominant, successful, outgoing, confident and resilient’.
She then added that none of these stereotypical attributes could be used to describe her before her transition – as she went on to characterise her old life as ‘slightly incel-esque’ and ‘isolated’.
Looking back on an old photo of herself during a fishing trip, Sammy – who is in her early twenties and previously always been unlucky in love – added: ‘It wasn’t a great time in my life.
‘I wouldn’t look at that and think, “yeah, that is a masculine dude”.’
Pictured: Documentary maker Ben Zand with Sammy in the Channel 4 documentary Transmaxxer Life Uncovered
Pictured: Sammy with her boyfriend in the documentary. Sammy joked that she had a ‘lot to learn’ if she was going to become a ‘traditional stay-at-home wife’
Looking back on an old photo of herself during a fishing trip, Sammy – who is in her early twenties and previously always been unlucky in love – added: ‘It wasn’t a great time in my life’
But while she was never deemed what is considered a ‘high value’ man, Sammy has reaped the benefits of being a woman for personal gain.
Since being on hormone replacement therapy, Sammy revealed she had been offered ‘a lot’ of free meals and drinks from men – and now has a steady boyfriend.
She added: ‘I don’t want to spend 70 hours a week working or get a personal trainer to become a “true man”.’
Later on in the clip, the documentary subject joked that she had a ‘lot to learn’ if she was going to become a ‘traditional stay-at-home wife’ while she dished out a takeaway.
‘[Transmaxxing] definitely isn’t for everyone,’ Sammy’s boyfriend noted. ‘But if it makes you happier, then I don’t see why some people wouldn’t do it.’
When documentary host Ben Zand highlighted how cheaper car insurance was listed as one of the perks of transitioning, Sammy replied: ‘You should take every advantage given to you […]
‘I don’t think that’s a primary reason to transition but it’s definitely a secondary reason.’
Is it better to be a woman than a ‘low value’ man?
Pictured: German transmaxxer Tina, who decided to transition two days after discovering the online community in 2021
Pictured: German transmaxxer Tina, who said she transitioned to a woman to ‘escape’ the incel movement
In addition, transmaxxing has also become intertwined with the incel movement – as transitioning to a woman is deemed preferable to being a ‘low value’ man.
A 2024 Department of Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy report defined incels (involuntary celibates) as a ‘primarily online sub-culture community of men who forge a sense of identity around their perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships’ and ‘blame society for a perceived failure to include them’.
Elsewhere in the ‘Transmaxxing Manifesto’, the author included alleged ‘success’ stories from ex-incels – who claimed transitioning to a woman gave them access to the ‘high worth men’ they couldn’t be themselves.
Additionally, the document also argues that transitioning to become a woman makes dating ‘easier’ as there are more people who could be romantically interested in them.
A transmaxxer known only as ‘Val’ was quoted: ‘My attempts at dating were abysmal and it impacted my self esteem. I felt like I was a failure as a man and that I would die an incel virgin […]
‘Now currently 9 months on HRT and have been absolutely loving the changes, far more noticeable than what I was doing prior.
Pictured: a ‘transmaxxer’ who claimed on Reddit the men that bullied them are now desperate for their attention
Sharing before-and-after photos of their transition, they claimed: ‘Now the very same alpha males that bullied me bend on their knees just to have a chance of kissing my feet’
‘I love that I am more expressive and in tune with my emotions, I make deeper connections with friends and a much easier time talking to women!’
One wrote: ‘Former incel, current happy trans girl.’
Another added: ‘A huge amount of the reason I was incel was because I was a closeted trans girl.’
In June 2023, German transmaxxer Tina appeared on the Incel podcast – where she revealed she transitioned to ‘escape inceldom’.
The 25-year-old decided to transition in 2021 – just two days after they discovered the transmaxxing community online.
Having studied engineering at school and college, Tina didn’t have much experience with women- but took an interest in a fellow university student he met through a book club.
Speaking to host Naama Kates, she recalled: ‘I tried my best to get together with this girl, which horribly failed.’
Following their break-up, Tina was inspired to research how much success women have in dating versus men – adding: ‘What we can observe across the board is that women, by literally every metric, are somewhat more successful in terms of dating an sexual things than men.’
What is an Incel?
‘Incel’ stands for ‘involuntary celibate’ and is a term used by a certain group of men who blame their inability to form relationships and have sex on women.
Incel groups have been accused of inciting violence and misogyny online and numerous communities and subreddits have been banned over their content.
A cryptic Facebook message posted by Toronto suspect Alek Minassian just before the incident suggested he was part of an online community angry over their inability to form relationships with the opposite sex.
The now-deleted post saluted Elliot Rodger, a community college student who killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2014.
In 2014, Elliot Rodger killed six people and wounded 13 in shooting and stabbing attacks near the University of California, Santa Barbara
Calling Rodger ‘the Supreme Gentleman’, the Facebook post declared: ‘The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!’
Chads and Stacys are names used in internet forums to denote people with more active sexual lives.
The reference to the term ‘incel’, meaning involuntarily celibate, was a term used by Rodger in online posts raging at women for rejecting him romantically.
The anti-women sentiment also recalled Canada’s 1989 massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique, an engineering college in Montreal, when 25-year-old Marc Lepine entered a classroom.
He then separated the men from the women, told the men to leave and opened fire, killing 14 women before killing himself.
In a suicide note, he blamed feminists for ruining his life.
As such, Tina began worrying that her chances of finding love were slim and fell in with men’s rights activists – before later discovering incels online because he was ‘looking for a solution for his social issues’.
He continued: ‘The incel communities, I realised, have fundamentally misidentified the problem.
‘Most incels that I came across think that their problem is women and the lack of attraction women feel towards them.
‘[But I told them] the problem isn’t that women aren’t attracted to you, the problem is you’re attracted to women’.
Following this, Tina tried a series of medications to try and suppress their desire – and discovered transmaxxing after fellow incel began scrutinising the movement.
She said: ‘I just wanted to see what my life would be like if I had a different gender […]
Pictured: Anonymous Reddit user shares ‘before-and-after’ photos from their transition on the ‘transmaxxing’ forum
‘I had very strong evidence that a woman’s life would be socially advantageous as well as sexually and possibly even attracting a girlfriend […]
‘The next possible solution would have been to castrate myself. I was escalating up a risk chain.’
At the end of last year, a fellow ‘transmaxxer’ posted on the Reddit forum – where they revealed they had similarly been ‘rejected by girls and bullied by the alphas for being a virgin loser’.
Sharing before-and-after photos of their transition, they claimed: ‘Now the very same alpha males that bullied me bend on their knees just to have a chance of kissing my feet, my [direct messages] are full of thirsty men begging for my attention, and I’m having more sex than any alpha male ever.’
What’s more, David Bailey’s son Sascha – who also briefly contemplated transitioning to a woman – has also written about his experience with the ‘Maxxing’ community while exploring his own gender identity. However, he never personally participated in transmaxxing.
Pictured: Sascha Bailey and his girlfriend Lucy Brown. David Bailey’s son has written about his experience with the ‘Maxxing’ community while exploring his own gender identity but never personally participated
In his investigation for his magazine FOMA, the father-to-be – who is expecting his first child with girlfriend Lucy Brown – wrote: ‘The pressure of having money, providing, being strong, tall and tough is not something all men can nor is it necessary for them to do, but the perception still sticks.
‘In the end, it is understandable why many will check out from this role as provider or becoming a “high value” male may not even be possible for some, i.e. if you are short, you will never be tall […]
‘The first community I met with was Transmaxxing. The idea on the surface [is], at least for “low value” males, it would be better to just transition and become a girl.’
Origins of transmaxxing with incels
In September 2023, Vintologi also appeared on the Incel podcast – where he revealed he wrote the Transmaxxing Manifesto in response to the growing incel movement.
Vintologi, from southern Sweden, began working on the first Transmaxxing Manifesto in 2016 – having graduated from university with a degree in mathematics.
The 28-year-old, who has never revealed his full name, said the purpose was to ‘reduce the surplus of males’ who were growing increasingly angry over not being able to find a partner.
However, Vintologi said the majority of incels online are not drawn to transmaxxing due to their ‘transphobic’ beliefs.
He continued: ‘Many incels think that if you transition, then you will also need to have bottom surgery and of course you don’t need that, but it’s a common thing I hear.’
Pictured: Plymouth shooter Jake Davison, who killed five people in 2021, shared his own hate-filled views on incel forums on social media platform Reddit
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As such, transmaxxing largely only appeals to people who are already struggling with their gender identity.
Additionally, Vintologi argued that transmaxxing was a more ‘realistic’ path for some men – arguing that you ‘can’t change biology and how ‘priority’ is given to young women in society.
In his manifesto, Vintologi writes: ‘Since females have the upper hand on the dating market, transitioning from male to female will usually improve your options when it comes to getting sex.
‘In addition the sex you enjoy as a female will be of higher quality. The opposite is true for females transitioning to male.
‘Becoming a [male to female] transsexual is a way better option than being involuntarily celibate as a male.’
In 2023, a study by researchers at the University of Exeter found incels are becoming ‘more extreme’ online as they ratchet up their violent and misogynistic rhetoric.
Plymouth shooter Jake Davison, who killed five people in 2021, shared his own hate-filled views on incel forums on social media platform Reddit.
Just weeks before the attack, the 22-year-old posted an ‘unscripted rant’ about his hatred for his mother, who was one of his victims, and his failure to get a girlfriend.
Reddit moved to ban its largest forum for incels in 2017 after it drifted from a support group for men struggling to find a relationship to far more misogynistic content including rape threats.
The study – which looked at the incelosphere between 2014 and 2022 – found users had begun migrating to other online spaces where they were using ‘more misogynistic and racist language’.
Professor Stephanie Baele from the University of Exeter said: ‘We have found clear evidence of a greater volume of incel discussion online over time, including an increasing use of dehumanising labels and words depicting violence.’