“Monsters have always defined the limits of community in Western imaginations.” 1

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In technology, the concept of the Uncanny Valley describes the arc of human connection to artificial representations. With the example of an industrial robot at one end, and a healthy human on the other, the arc of affinity steadily rises as it heads toward the healthy human. Right before it reaches the look of a healthy human, the arc plummets below the affinity it started with. Likenesses that fall in the valley tend to elicit an abject horror. The point right before reaching the look of a healthy human is considered unsettling because it pretends to be human, but something about it is not right, not human. Examples that fall within the uncanny valley are corpses, zombies, some humanoid robots, and 3D animated characters that border on realism. Robotics designers attempt to design their humanoid robots to fall outside the Uncanny Valley, either cartoonish or as close to realism without dropping into the valley. 

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This example is relevant because the gap in affinity connects to the way that some cisgender people see and relate to trans people. The valley is larger for trans people because the expectations of gender presentation are more specific and specialized. Many categories need to be perfected and fulfilled in order to “pass”.  When a trans person does not fit all elements of gender presentation that dominant social norms presuppose, there can be a disconnect where the cisgender person feels horror or revulsion at the transgression of the binary. Trans women especially are victimized when they cannot meet the standards of femininity. There is an interplay between recognizability and threat when one is partially recognized, but something feels off.  In the media, the trope of the surprise crossdresser-coded transsexual person has been used as a plot twist for ages. The trans character gets their choice of being a punchline (Ace Ventura), a tragedy (Boys Don’t Cry), or the viewer's worst nightmare (Silence of The Lambs, among many others).