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cardhamine · 1 year ago

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*Sighs and unpacks my entire write-up for William Afton in this AU*

WE ARE NOT DISCUSSING THE WAFERS

See Read More for Will's entire history prior to the fic, essentially. <3

TWs - FNAF-relevant child abuse/murder, Antisocial Personality Disorder discussed, cursing (but really that's it except uhhh trans Henry ig but I'd say that's not a trigger as much as just something that some people hate the idea of)

- William was born in 1947 as the only child of two products of Old Money from England. They were not in love and viewed their marriage as a business transaction, but they were amicable otherwise. Their marriage was open as long as no one found out. Business troubles required that they move to America when William was a teenager.

- William is a 3rd. His father William II (did go by Bill) was a difficult man who also treated his son as a branch of his business.

- William's mother's name was Juliet. She was a stay-at-home mother, but she was not affectionate. She kept up with most of the family's finances.

-The family business was originally from his mother's side. They were semi-famous toy makers. Father's side were investors. Both families worth a million or more. (Not as impressive in 2023 money but a big deal then).

- William's family emphasized the importance of LEGACY. If you don't leave something memorable behind, you may as well have not existed. You will rot in the dirt and be forgotten. Your life will have meant nothing. (Plus you were supposed to continue the legacy of your forefathers, so now you've fucked that up, loser)

- That gets in Will's head but manifests into a drive for work and fear of death that develops into a phobia before he's even reached college age.

- The Aftons were angry at William for wanting to go into things like puppetry/robotics/engineering instead of just taking the business, but he spun the idea as a continuation/evolution of the family toy making business and they chilled somewhat.

- (He didn't actually care much about the family business but he did genuinely enjoy circuitry and engineering.)

- Will meets Henry in university when he was pre-transition (still being referred to as Henrietta or, preferably, Henri). Henri is brilliant with design and Will with the technological aspects (building, engineering, etc).

- They date (not SUPER seriously bc William is aware his family wouldn't approve) for a couple years. Henri meets a nice woman named Marysol (Mary) in classes, and they end up getting married after a 3 year courtship.

- William stays close friends with Henry (post-transition after wedding, at least socially if not surgically/chemically). Mary is perfectly fine with this, although she can tell there's something off about William.

- (There is something similarly off about Mary. Henry really knows how to pick 'em. Or maybe he has a type. Either way, both William and Mary lie on the antisocial personality disorder spectrum.)

- In regards to their APD symptoms, the two share a lot of the same traits: impaired capacity for empathy (both had better cognitive empathy than affective empathy), lack of respect for social norms/expectations, deceptive behaviors. On the other hand, Mary had some features William lacked, such as violent urges/tendencies and a complete lack of guilt/remorse. (She may have been involved in some violent crime, but she was never found out.) However, she very badly wanted a family and had a larger capacity for affective empathy than William which displayed in her care for Henry and, eventually, Charlie. However, her capacity for AE was VERY person-specific.

- William had a far diminished capacity for affective empathy comparatively (if the average person has 70% capacity to empathize with others, Mary had 35% and Will had 20%). However, that didn't mean he wanted other people to suffer. He preferred for others to be successful, so long as their success didn't inhibit his own. Partially because when people were successful, they were happy, and when they were happy, they didn't trouble him with their problems; partially because he did have that smidgen of empathy. He also experienced guilt, though that often made him more irritable than apologetic.

- William goes through a semi-arranged marriage to a very sweet woman named Violet who is also the child of an old money family but who wanted to be married to someone she loved. She did end up loving William, and he was fond of her.

- William and Mary are aware of their similarities immediately. They eventually have a meeting about it. Mary insists that they agree to never bring one another's families into any of their activities. At the time, Will has literally never done or even considered doing anything she's implying. But he agrees. She emphasizes that she will ruin his family if he ruins hers. He says, "Ditto."

- Fredbear’s Family Diner is opened by William and Henry around 1971.

- Michael William Afton was born a couple years after the two married. He looked a lot like William and like Bill, and that was something that made it difficult for Will to be overly fond of him. He also represented the family legacy that Will felt was thrust upon him his entire life. On top of that, he was a rebellious child who caused Will a lot of irritation, and Will was not very forgiving of that. Overall, they had a miserable relationship.

- They had two more children after Michael because Violet wanted them, even though the Afton side of the family viewed it a waste of resources, given they already had a male heir. William felt real affection for the first time at the birth of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Viola Afton. She looked like Violet but was precocious and intelligent like William.

- Shortly thereafter, the Emilys adopted Charlie, and the two girls eventually became inseparable.

- Evan was born 2 years later. He was a quiet, nervous child. Michael's irritation at being unloved by his father was mostly taken out on Evan, because 1. Lizzie was very protected by her father but also 2. Michael also loved his little sister too much to hurt her.

- Evan Cecil "Cece" Afton was Violet's "favorite" (though she loved all of her children too much to make that obvious.) She doted on him a lot, since he was the baby.

- William develops the Talking Fredbear plush with an internal radio so that the children can communicate with him without barging into his workshop and bothering him. (Cece uses it the most.)

- William and Henry open the first of the Freddy's establishments around this time.

- Things go smoothly until Cece's accident in 1983 (as in, "The Bite of"). He was 8. Though Michael was only teasing his brother, an electrical short caused Fredbear's jaws to clamp down, leading Cece to sustain a critical injury to his frontal lobe. The family is devastated. He is kept in a medically-induced coma for several months. William did adapt the Talking Fredbear plush so the family and he could record messages which would play every once in a while for Cece when they were not at the hospital.

- Unfortunately, he does not recover and eventually passes away from hospital-acquired pneumonia.

- Violet does not take the incident well and must be hospitalized for stress-induced psychopathy shortly thereafter. She passes away for unclear reasons while hospitalized.

- William's phobia of death engulfs his life. He throws himself into his work and spends every waking moment either keeping his business afloat or trying to "solve the death problem". His ideas become more and more psychotic. He learns about the theory of Remnant and begins making plans. He reminds himself to eat and sleep just so he can keep appearances up for Elizabeth. This goes on for a year or so until he develops his theory to use remnant to transmute the soul to a sturdier body that won't die. He just needs test subjects.

- Mary can tell that Will is becoming worse. She reminds him of their agreement: they’re to keep both their families out of any of their bad behavior. William agrees and intends to keep the promise.

- (1985) The Missing Children Incident occurs. Charlie sees William tossing his bloodied uniform in the dumpster next door and returning to the building that night after police have already done primary investigation (questioned him/searched the place and found nothing). He cares at least a small bit for Charlie and is somewhat aggrieved about what he "has to do." He makes it quick and painless.

- The Emilys are devastated, and Mary knows immediately what happened. She doesn't say anything, just plans.

- William DID develop the sister location (Circus Baby's Pizza World) to collect subjects to continue his experiments. His children are NOT allowed to set foot on the premises, and he impresses upon Michael that he should do what he can to make sure Elizabeth never does. He emphasizes that Michael has the responsibility to make up for what “Michael did” to Cece and his mother.

- Not a month later, Mary got her revenge on William by "bringing Lizzie to see Daddy at work as a surprise". William did not know Elizabeth was there, and Mary directed her to Circus Baby when no one else was in the room.

- William goes absolutely bonkers after this.

- (Henry never has any clue William or Mary were involved in their children's deaths - until a decade or more later when he accepts William's involvement in the other children's disappearances/murders. He never realizes Mary killed Lizzie and forever blames her death on William.)

- (Michael essentially goes to live with Uncle Henry and Aunt Mary until he leaves for college, and it helps the three heal a lot. Henry likely lives through these events due to having Michael to watch after/set an example for.)

- (1987) The details Will described to Vanny when defending his murderous behavior were accurate. The DCI did occur at a birthday party for children from the hospice wing of the local children's hospital. William intended to transmute their souls to the animatronics. They were 100% a science experiment, and that was a very disgusting thing to do. He had convinced himself that the ends justified the means. He said the "curing death for everyone" bit as an excuse/manipulation for Vanny's sake, though, as he at no point ever cared how his research might improve the lives of others. He was only obsessed with escaping death personally and would do almost anything to make that happen

- The deaths are thoroughly investigated but inevitably it was impossible to prove William was to blame, despite him being brought to trial. He did step down as co-CEO of the company at this time.

- Sometime after this, while attempting to harvest remnant from the suits he stuffed the DCI victims in, he's Springlocked.

- By the end of his life, William had directly killed 12 children (including Charlie) and indirectly (via the Funtime Animatronics) killed an unclear number more.

- His methods of murder were generally quick and painless. These methods are also easiest to clean up and hide. He had no reason to be overly cruel, as he was not studying Agony and had not discovered it before his death.

- Springtrap is a whole other ballgame. William's soul and remnant did inhabit the Spring Bonnie suit for decades, but his consciousness was not as clear due to the Agony created during his violent, torturous death also impacting that form's feelings and behaviors. This is one reason Springtrap is so often recklessly violent/homocidal.

- Glitchtrap is a much purer form of his consciousness not as manipulated by Agony, so he's more like his original personality.

- Overall, William (in Breached) is a deeply troubled man suffering from APD but who also allowed himself to excuse some of the worst possible human behaviors. He tried to excuse himself by blaming his evil actions on his personal fears. Then, he tried justifying them through half-baked promises of breakthroughs in science/healthcare which were entirely fabricated (i.e. they were not preconceived on his part, just an afterthought). He would have committed all his atrocities even if the outcome would have only benefited him, regardless of what he said to gaslight Vanny into feeling guilty for questioning his actions.

- Harming anyone, especially children, in any way is horrible, and taking away another person’s agency via emotional abuse/torture is also horrible. My William is definitely an abusive, miserable, evil person. However, I’m leaving out much of the additions from the books, including this Wafer Debacle. This is because I think he is a much more interesting and compelling villain if we are able to see the steps he took to get where he got. Being someone with personal struggles who gives in to desperate, selfish desires to protect themselves from their greatest fears is something more relatable and therefore more insidious, perhaps even more disconcerting to read than someone who makes fear gas for kids because they’re wicked (IMO). Being cartoonishly rotten isn’t my vision for him in this AU. On the other hand, there are real life villains who have perpetrated similar (perhaps not with the sci-fi, fear gas aspects) violence against their own children (See “A Child Called It” book if you want to be nauseated forever until you die but also TW TW TW TW!!!), so it wouldn’t be completely unreasonable to claim a horror game/novel villain would go to such lengths. Just. I’m not going that direction with my William in particular.

- (Malhare was being honest about "not carving up the kids", i.e torturing them like she does her adult victims. Her theory on getting good remnant samples involves torture (leads to her independent ‘breakthrough’ about Agony, before she looks into previous research on the subject by P. Taggart). William’s theory involves the victims being young (remnant is newer/easier to manipulate). From a scientific research perspective, including 2 or more uncontrolled variables in the research would mess with results and make it difficult and possibly impossible to decipher which variable was actually effective. So.)

- Just a fun fact, he did really feel real fondness for Vanny initially. He saw a lot of Lizzie's precocious nature in her, and he loved the ego boost from her gushing over how wonderful his company/designs were. He thought she was capable and had promise in robotics/engineering. He's just a very selfish person who uses people as pawns, whether he likes them or not. And if they start getting in his way, he isn't afraid to let them burn.

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transscriptual · 2 years ago

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[ ID: Various screenshots of The Guardian article titled "'An explosion:' What is behind the rise in [highlighted] girls [end highlight] questioning their gender identity?" Parts of the article have been highlighted by boygirljaden for emphasis.

The screenshots of the article read as follows:

"As the NHS reviews gender refferels, parents, clinicians and young people reveal the social, medical and emotional challenges they face. by Amelia Gentleman."

"'In the past few years, it has become an [highlighted] explosion [end]. Many of us feel confused by what has happened, and it's often hard to talk about it with colleagues,' said London-based psychiatrist working in a child and adolescent mental health unit, who has been a consultant for the past 17 years."

"The psychiatrist added: 'Often those [highlighted] girls [end] are children who are going through normal identity and developmental problems of adolescence and [highlighted] finding a solution for themselves in this way [end].'"

"Increased awareness may well be a factor. But most of the research in this field has been based on predominantly birth-registered males - not [highlighted] females [end].

"The Cass report explained that [highlighted] relatively little was known [end] about the gender dysphoria in [highlighted] girls [end], or the outcomes for those who retrieved treatment."

"Possible influences they cite include [highlighted] childhood bullying, sexual harassment and abuse [end] and the [highlighted] hyper-sexualisation of society, [end] or a child's early understanding of [highlighted] sexism, [end] making them feel it may be easier to live as a man than as a woman.

"Some believe the [highlighted] extended isolation [end] children experienced during Covid is relevant (for example, Google searches for 'top surgery,' double mastectomies, soared during this period)."

"But her views on social, medical and surgical transition evolved as she did more research. She said no when her child asked to speed up the process by going private, which would have allowed [highlighted] them [end] to start puberty blockers.

"'My [highlighted] daughter [end] has [highlighted] barely spoken to me for three years [end] because I haven't continued with the referral process. [Highlighted] Parents are in a very difficult position [end].'"

"Two years ago, a [highlighted] grassroots support group [end] started campaigning for [highlighted] 'evidence-based care' [end]. Called [highlighted] Bayswater Support, [end] it now represents the parents of about 500 trans-identified adolescents - and its membership is growing rapidly.

"The group says around 70 % of the children it represents were registered female at birth; 80 % experienced bullying prior to identifying as trans and more than [highlighted] 50 % had come out as lesbian, gay or bisexual [end]."

"A spokesperson said: 'Our members commonly described their child's trans identity as overshadowing factors such as [highlighted] poor mental health, neurodevelopmental conditions [end] like autism and ADHD, social factors like [highlighted] bullying [end] and [highlighted] not fitting in [end] with their peer group, emerging [highlighted] same-sex attraction [end], serious [highlighted] safeguarding issues [end] - and often [highlighted] puberty [end] itself.'" End ID. ]

Article can be found here (12 ft Ladder used to get past paywall).

Horrific transphobia from the Guardian, which is basically the only actually left wing newspaper in Britain. I feel sick.

Misgendering right off the bat.

Launching straight in with conversion therapy rhetoric.

Infantilisation of transmascs… and saying that being trans is just a phase caused by struggles with puberty…

Not even trying to hide the transandrophobia here, just straight up calling transmascs girls. Also… there’s plenty of research? WTF are they on?

Or maybe… people are just trans.

Using they/them for someone whose pronouns are not they/them is still misgendering, by the way. Also, you’re not in a difficult position. It’s not that hard to love and support your own child. That’s your job as a parent, and you failed. I hope this woman’s son is okay.

The legitimising of Baywater Support Group is strange because… they have zero actual credibility. Also, the fact that a large number of transmascs are attracted to girls makes perfect sense - the vast majority of cis guys are also attracted to girls? Why are they acting like this is some kind of damning evidence against the existence of trans people?

Or maybe, maybe, people are… just trans. God, I hate TERF island.

#long #id #transphobia #transandrophobia #misgendering #degendering

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purpleterror91 · 2 years ago

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Before pride month ends here's a nonbinary Darkwing! I'm trans so I will headcanon my favorite characters as trans too!!

Also most of the doodles in the second image are based off of my own childhood and photos I found. This is my own version of what dwd91 Drake was like as a kid. Still similar to how he was in the time traveling ep, timid until meeting their future self, except he's trans and is a 90s kid instead of idk the 70s which is when that episode took place I assume?? Don't know if I'll ever reveal it, but I got my own little backstory for Drake that takes some of his mysterious past from the original show and I’ve added onto it! Like Paraducks and Clash Reunion are canon to me, but with some changes. Like for example he transitions around the same time they become a superhero, so for their whole adult life he goes by Darkwing Duck. And DW names himself Drake Mallard while recovering in the hospital after the ramrod explosion!

also here's a very self indulgent version of that drawing with my flags! Just have this little AU in my head of him being a nonbinary lesbian and is dating Morgana, but their relationship is actually healthy and they worked issues out I really like morg's first 2 episodes and I think the idea of this ship is cute. Hate how Morgana is written in the rest of her episodes, she deserved better and please no one be mean to me about this silly au :(

#disney #darkwing duck #drake mallard #gosalyn mallard #my art

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flightlessnightingale · 4 years ago

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On Lesbianism

I’ll state it at the top here, because many have not understood my stance. The purpose of this essay is not to say that Lesbian cannot mean “Female homosexual.” Rather, my objective is to show that Lesbian means more than that single definition suggests. Female Homosexuals are lesbians, unless they personally do not want to use that label. Now, on with the show: Lesbianism is not about gatekeeping, and I don’t want to have to keep convincing people that the movement popularized by someone who wrote a book full of lies and hate speech then immediately worked with Ronald Reagan is a bad movement. In the early ’70s, groups of what would now be called “gender critical” feminists threatened violence against many trans women who dared exist in women’s and lesbian spaces. For example, trans woman Beth Elliott, who was at the 1973 West Coast Lesbian Feminist Conference to perform with her lesbian band, was ridiculed onstage and had her existence protested. In 1979, radical feminist Janice Raymond, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, wrote the defining work of the TERF movement, “Transsexual Empire: The Making of the Shemale,” in which she argued that “transsexualism” should be “morally mandating it out of existence”—mainly by restricting access to transition care (a political position shared by the Trump administration). Soon after she wrote another paper, published for the government-funded, National Center for Healthcare Technology — and the Reagan administration cut off Medicare and private health insurance coverage for transition-related care.

Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism is a fundamentally unsustainable ideology. Lesbianism is a fundamentally sustainable existence.

There used to be a lesbian bar or queer bar or gay bar in practically every small town — sometimes one of each. After surviving constant police raids, these queer spaces began closing even Before the AIDS epidemic. Because TERFs would take them over, kick out transfems and their friends. Suddenly, there weren’t enough local patrons to keep the bars open, because the majority had been kicked out. With America’s lack of public transportation, not enough people were coming from out of town either.

TERFs, even beyond that, were a fundamental part of the state apparatus that let AIDS kill millions.

For those who don’t know, Lesbian, from the time of Sappho of Lesbos to the about 1970′s, referred to someone who rejects the patriarchal hierarchy. It was not only a sexuality, but almost akin to a gender spectrum.

That changed in the 1970′s when TERFs co-opted 2nd Wave feminism, working with Ronald fucking Reagan to ban insurance for trans healthcare.

TERFs took over the narrative, the bars, the movement, and changed Lesbian from the most revolutionary and integral queer communal identity of 2 fucking THOUSAND years, from “Someone who rejects the patriarchal hierarchy” to “A woman with a vagina who’s sexually attracted to other women with vaginas”

How does this fit into the bi lesbian debate? As I said, Lesbian is more of a Gender Spectrum than anything else, it was used much in the same way that we use queer or genderqueer today.

And it’s intersectional too.

See, if you were to try to ascribe a rigid, biological, or localized model of an identity across multiple cultures, it will fail. It will exclude people who should not be excluded. ESPECIALLY Intersex people. That’s why “Two Spirit” isn’t something rigid- it is an umbrella term for the identities within over a dozen different cultures. In the next two sections, I have excerpts on Two-Spirit and Butch identity, to give a better idea of the linguistics of queer culture: This section on Two-Spirit comes from wikipedia, as it has the most links to further sources, I have linked all sources directly, though you can also access them from the Wikipedia page’s bibliography: Two-Spirit is a pan-Indian, umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a traditional ceremonial and social role that does not correlate to the western binary. [1] [2] [3] Created at the 1990 Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering in Winnipeg, it was "specifically chosen to distinguish and distance Native American/First Nations people from non-Native peoples." [4] Criticism of Two-Spirit arises from 2 major points, 1. That it can exasperate the erasure of the traditional terms and identities of specific cultures. a. Notice how this parallels criticisms of Gay being used as the umbrella term for queer culture in general. 2. That it implies adherence to the Western binary; that Natives believe these individuals are "both male and female" [4] a. Again, you’ll notice that this parallels my criticisms of the TERF definition of Lesbian, that tying LGBT+ identities to a rigid western gender binary does a disservice to LGBT+ people,—especially across cultures. “Two Spirit" wasn’t intended to be interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian"; [2] nor was it meant to replace traditional terms in Indigenous languages. Rather, it was created to serve as a pan-Indian unifier. [1] [2] [4] —The term and identity of two-spirit "does not make sense" unless it is contextualized within a Native American or First Nations framework and traditional cultural understanding. [3] [10] [11] The ceremonial roles intended to be under the modern umbrella of two-spirit can vary widely, even among the Indigenous people who accept the English-language term. No one Native American/First Nations' culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all, or even a majority of, these cultures. [4] [8] Butch: At the turn of the 20th century, the word “butch” meant “tough kid” or referred to a men’s haircut. It surfaced as a term used among women who identified as lesbians in the 1940s, but historians and scholars have struggled to identify exactly how or when it entered the queer lexicon. However it happened, "Butch” has come to mean a “lesbian of masculine appearance or behavior.” (I have heard that, though the words originate from French, Femme & Butch came into Lesbian culture from Latina lesbian culture, and if I find a good source for that I will share. If I had to guess, there may be some wonderful history to find of it in New Orleans—or somewhere similar.) Before “butch” became a term used by lesbians, there were other terms in the 1920s that described masculinity among queer women. According to the historian Lillian Faderman,“bull dagger” and “bull dyke” came out of the Black lesbian subculture of Harlem, where there were “mama” and “papa” relationships that looked like butch-femme partnerships. Performer Gladys Bentley epitomized this style with her men’s hats, ties and jackets. Women in same-sex relationships at this time didn’t yet use the word “lesbian” to describe themselves. Prison slang introduced the terms “daddy,” “husband,” and “top sargeant” into the working class lesbian subculture of the 1930s. This lesbian history happened alongside Trans history, and often intersected, just as the Harlem renaissance had music at the forefront of black and lesbian (and trans!) culture, so too can trans musicians, actresses, and more be found all across history, and all across the US. Some of the earliest known trans musicians are Billy Tipton and Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax—Both transmasculine musicians who hold an important place in not just queer history, but music history.

Lesbian isn’t rigid & biological, it’s social and personal, built up of community and self-determination.

And it has been for millennia.

So when people say that nonbinary lesbians aren’t lesbian, or asexual lesboromantics aren’t lesbian, or bisexual lesbians aren’t lesbian, it’s not if those things are technically true within the framework — It’s that those statements are working off a fundamentally claustrophobic, regressive, reductionist, Incorrect definition You’ll notice that whilst I have been able to give citations for TERFs, for Butch, and especially for Two-Spirit, there is little to say for Lesbianism. The chief reason for this is that lesbian history has been quite effectively erased-but it is not forgotten, and the anthropological work to recover what was lost is still ongoing. One of the primary issues is that so many who know or remember the history have so much trauma connected to "Lesbian” that they feel unable to reclaim it. Despite this trauma, just like the anthropological work, reclamation is ongoing.

Since Sappho, lesbian was someone who rejects the patriarchal hierarchy. For centuries, esbian wasn’t just a sexuality, it was intersectional community, kin to a gender spectrum, like today’s “queer”. When TERFs co-opted 2nd Wave feminism, they redefined Lesbian to “woman w/ a vag attracted to other women w/ vags”. So when you say “bi lesbians aren’t lesbian” it’s not whether that’s true within the framework, it’s that you’re working off a claustrophobic, regressive, and reductionist definition.

I want Feminism, Queerness, Lesbianism, to be fucking sustainable.

I wanna see happy trans and lesbian and queer kids in a green and blue fucking world some day.

I want them to be able to grow old in a world we made good.

#Lesbian #Trans #Transgender #Queer #Queer positivity #Queer history #Police brutality #Gay #Linguistics #Sappho #History #Femme #Butch #R #TERF #Terf friendly haha jk fuck tERFS

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parental-unit-of-chaos · 3 years ago

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Dear Trans-masc individuals,

(Trigger warning abuse, sexual assult and suidical thoughts)

Here is some advice from something who has been trans snice middle school and is now 18, and a senior in high school.

Here is my story..

Never let someone tell you who you are, what you like, or who you are attracted too.

I grew up in an abusive household with my grandparents, I had to be the perfect Christian girl for them, i had to clean the moldy food from the fridge, sometimes eat it. i spelt on a mattress on a floor with dog, cat, and mouse piss stains on it, sometimes it would be fresh. i had to do laundry, take of the pets. i did all of this, at 4 to 10 years old, and more. I would be called worthless, useless, stupid, due to my stutter and having undiagnosed autism.

Along with this abusive behavior i would think about cutting off the growing fat on my body, that was making me more femmine looking. Oh how i wished i looked like my male cusions, i wanted to just a dagger to my body and cut it up.

i got tired of it, i was tired of being used, abused... i ran way at 10 years old i ran away from home when i went back to my parents' house from my vacation at my grandparents. i didn't want to go back.

they took me to a mental hospital, i was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, but the people knew that my grandparents was a trigger. During the mental hospital, i got to relax for a while, clear my head. I reevaluated my life.

after i got out of the mental hospital, i stayed with my parents all the time, and went to middle school for my 8th grade year. I thought a lot about who i was as a person, i got a tablet connected to the internet and i found what being trans was. i finally had words to describe the overwhelming feeling of dread being in my FAB body. i got into smoking weed and drinking alcohol. i also dated a lot of girls.

then we moved to a different state after finishing my 8th grade year.

Arizona was really hot at first and i felt like i was dying due to dry heat when i was use to breathing 70% humidity. during my freshman year of high school i tried being more femmine, trying to deye me being trans due to the hate for trans people and the lack of positive media. i started feeling suicidal again. during my freshman year i met a guy named Brian, he was junior. he needed up sexual assaulting during the first date i ever went on. We broke up.

i got into witchcraft when i was 10, but by this time i was working on shadow work mostly. until, i felt a different presence in my room during my shadow work. A firey bold presence, at this time i did not work with any deity. It was as i know now, Hel, i started being drawn to Norse mythology, and i really related to loki's stories. i started to do research and started to work with him. i was loner after my break up because all my friends took brian's side.

i sat alone again, and one time i sat down at one of my lunch spots and found a boy. His name was DJ and he was a sophomore, we started to talk every lunch, and then i gave him my phone number.

after a couple of months and at the end of my freshmen year i told DJ that i liked him, he said he wasn't looking for a relationship at that moment because he came out of an abusive one. I said, "okay, i'll wait until you are." because i Truely fell in love with him. a couple weeks of still talking and he said he liked me back and asked me out.

We started dating March 20th, 2019.

about a year into our relationship, i couldn't take anymore, i knew i wanted to be a boy, but i didn't feel like a boy all of the time, But i hated being called She/Her. i talked to DJ about it and he had a panic attack. because his abusive Ex started to be abusive once he (the ex) started to transition. We kept talking about off and on and worked through it. He talked about labels he knew about the emotions i explained to him. He was supportive and didn't mind the change because he is pansexual. for a while i went by genderfluid, but after a while figured out Demi-boy was for me. i went by He/They/ and them some neopronouns.

now: i have been a trans macs person, who is in a gay relationship, been practicing witchcraft for 8 years almost 9. and woroking with my patron loki for 7 almost 8.

me and DJ are now enagged and working on getting the wedding in order, and i am finally me.

#lgbtpeople #gay #ftm #lgbtqia #lgbtq community #norse pagan witch #witchcraft #my story

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joezworld · 4 years ago

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📂

What in the HECK happened with Scotsman, Dominion, and Dwight during the Great Gathering?!

(Also, since Dutchess of Hamilton has also been to the US during the 1939 NY World’s Fair, did she get involved?)

Warning - extremely long post below

So, first of all, Duchess of Hamilton never went back to the UK.

Duchess of Hamilton (6229) and Coronation (6220) had their nameplates swapped by the LMS when an engine was sent over to the US. 6229, in the guise of 6220, went to the US.

Streamlined locomotives were all the rage at the time, and railroads practically fell over themselves to get Coronation (as she was now known) onto press trains. The B&O railroad in particular was so impressed with her capabilities that they extended a formal offer of employment to her for service on their streamlined Royal Blue service. The LMS were surprised to get an offer to "purchase" their locomotive, but accepted nonetheless, as it meant a welcome infusion of cash in the dark days during the beginning of WWII.

Coronation fit right in with the Americans, having only been about a year old when she was sent to New York. Following the end of steam traction on the Royal Blue in the late 40s, (the B&O were early adopters of diesels.) she and her B&O coworkers found good employment on the New York Central, where she still runs to this day.

Since then, she's fully "gone native", marrying a J3 Hudson, (yes one of the streamlined ones) adopting both an American accent and three children, and being fully repainted to NYC silver by 1956. Flying Scotsman met her in Albany in 1970, and neither one of them recognized the other.

Actually, most UK expats don't recognize her, to the point where a common interaction is for her to be held up as an example of "look at her, she's integrated well into the US", only for the British engines to say "that's preposterous, she isn't English".

When it's pointed out that she's still obviously an LMS Coronation, the next response is usually screaming.

All that being said, she has no interest to come back to the United Kingdom, and wasn’t asked by the NRM anyways.

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Second of all, the Great Gathering was... an event.

So, there are (officially) 6 preserved Gresley A4s.

Mallard - static, National Railway Museum (UK). Also an asshole.

Bittern - running, private owner, UK based

Sir Nigel Gresley - running, owned by a trust, UK based

Union of South Africa - running, private owner, UK based

Dwight D. Eisenhower - static (officially), National Railway Museum (USA)

Dominion of Canada - static (officially), Exporail (Montréal)

This is the official list, and for the first 4 engines, it's the truth.

However, things are a bit hazier on the other side of the Atlantic...

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So the thing that needs to be made clear right up front that in a sentient vehicle world, museums aren't like the NRM, where locomotives sit static for years on end, although obviously the English have museums like that because of course they do.

Rail museums in the rest of the world are much more like Colonial Williamsburg - a living history center staffed by volunteers who act out a prototypical setting from [insert decade here].

British Rail, being British Rail, didn’t know that and didn’t care.

4496, Dwight D. Eisenhower, having been named after the General-turned-President, had been earmarked for preservation by BR, and was summarily shipped off to the US National Railway Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

In an entirely unintentional move, this donation MONUMENTALLY snubbed the Smithsonian, who refused to have any dealings with BR for decades, even for archival purposes. This, combined with the fallout from Operation Smash Hit, and the fact that the Smithsonian is Petty AF, meant that there was virtually no official trans-Atlantic cooperation between British and US museums for decades.

Dwight hit the shores of the US in 1964 New York City and was greeted by a marching band, a ticker-tape parade, and Presidents Johnson and Eisenhower, who were on-hand to personally make the engine a US citizen.

Always keen to curry favor with the government, the Southern Pacific railroad had a job offer waiting for Dwight right alongside the Presidents and the parade, and when he accepted, he went off to Sunny Southern California - someplace so opposed to Britain the he fell in love with the place immediately and refused to leave!

The ladies may have also had something to do with it as well - while most engine classes fell into a typical 50-50 gender distribution, the SP GS-4 class was all female...

[Pictured above - one of 28 very good reasons to live in California if you're a single British steam engine.]

Dwight does not kiss and tell, but at his wedding in 1974, all 28 GS-4s showed up - and he was only marrying one of them!

Since the 70's, he's become a mainstay in California, having been repainted into Daylight Limited colors in 1969, and retiring from railroad duties in 1999. After that, he went into the movie business, and is currently the head of digital media development at Disney.

His wife Irene (SP 4437) is also an interesting figure as well - following in the wheelmarks of the great female locomotives before her, she had an eye for business and a Stanford education before she married her husband, and was an initial investor in multiple tech companies in Silicon Valley during the 70's and 80's, but stopped doing that after her investment in Apple proved very lucrative. In 1996, she was convinced by a few people in the Stanford Alumni association to invest in another tech startup, this one an "internet search engine" called Google.

So yeah, Dwight Eisenhower kept falling up and up and up all his life, and is now married to the richest woman in the world.

4489 Dominion of Canada was donated mostly by accident, having been forgotten in the back of Darlington sheds until 1966, when she was shipped off to the Canadian Railway Historical Society in Montreal.

As stated elsewhere, the Canadian Government considered any locomotive built in the UK to have UK citizenship, and therefore treated them as commonwealth citizens under existing Canadian law. (remember that Canada was still a colony at that time)

CN, the national rail carrier, was obligated to offer her a job under their charter, and she accepted, moving to Toronto to run intercity trains between Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

Within two years she was displaced from those duties by the introduction of a new, shiny, jet turbine powered train, and was summarily demoted to local commuter runs in the Toronto suburbs.

Moving to suburbia did one thing more than anything else - expose her to the people who live there. They all had complaints, they all had problems, and they all had no idea on how to fix them.

Being a helpful sort, Dominion decided that she could help, and promptly ran for Toronto city council in 1974. She won, and has been a fixture in local Toronto politics ever since - she even got to be Chairwoman of Metro Toronto (the closest thing to being mayor because Toronto's governmental structure is weird) until 1998, when Toronto was merged with the surrounding area to create a massive new region.

Having then done everything there is to do in municipal Toronto government, Dominion went on to become the Chief Executive Officer of Metrolinx, the agency that controls almost all of the transit agencies in Ontario, because, as she puts it, "I'm still a commuter engine at heart".

She's now painted in the current GO Transit paint scheme, and still does commuter runs- which is really weird looking now that there are double deck commuter coaches in a push-pull configuration, with a Gresley A4 doing the pushing.

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Now, I mentioned that those 6 were the only ones officially preserved - there were two unofficial preservations as well...

4486 Merlin was properly Shanghied - he was yanked off the docks in Southhampton by a cargo ship in August of 1965, and was spirited away to parts unknown.

Those unknown parts turned out to be South Korea. There, he was given citizenship by the US-aligned military dictatorship (Korean history is wild) and was employed by the State-run rail operator.

As the military government began a hardcore plan to increase their country's wealth and industrial output, rail lines were being built across the country, and Merlin was soon awarded a position on the fastest train in the network, the Seoul-Busan Saemaeul-ho.

Because of his experience in running high-speed express trains, Merlin not only became the public face of Korean high-speed rail, but also became an "honored elder" amongst the other Korean engines, a position he still holds to this day - as despite being over 70 years old, he still runs daily trains on the fast services, easily keeping time with the Korean schedules as well as training the new high speed trains, including the KTX sets. He's on his 24th boiler by now, and has more parts from Hyundai than Doncaster.

An additional fact - Merlin actually has had a linguistic effect on Korean railroading, as his strange amalgamation of an accent - a strong Yorkshire accent that tried to be Received Pronunciation for 30 years, mixed with almost 50 years of middle-to-upper-class Korean - has filtered down through the ranks of KoRail, because all of his students want to sound like him out of respect. Human British expats in Korea will occasionally hear a locomotive speaking in English, and the engine will sound like a Yorkshireman every time and the Brits cannot handle it.

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4495 Golden Fleece is the only A4 to preserve himself - he saw the writing on the wall in the early 60s, and hopped a car ferry to France at the end of 1962. From there, he bounced around Europe for a bit before making it to the United States in the late 70's.

Of the 8 surviving A4s, he's probably led the quietest life of all - he moved to Miami before it got nice, and basically got in on the ground floor of CSX when that merger happened in 1980. He's now the head of terminal operations for the Port of Miami, but he's generally kept a low profile - not even having a chance to meet Scotsman due to his time in Europe.

He's still in contact with Dwight and Dominion, and has no real bitterness over not being "famous" like they are - he likes the quiet, and still lives in a modest house in Boynton Beach with his long-term girlfriend.

----------------------

Soooo... the Great Gathering.

It was supposed to be a meeting of the 6 surviving A4s - a two year event held at the NRM in honor of the 75th anniversary of Mallard's record-setting run.

"Record setting" is a past-tense term here. While there have been no official runs, every single one of the Pennsylvania Railroad's T1 and S1 locomotives claim to have gone faster than 126 without meaning to, and numerous other locomotives on unofficial attempts done late at night on flat stretches of land across the country have hit 130+.

British Expats have also done better than 126 - Coronation claims to have hit at least 140 on a midnight mail train in 1980, and in Korea, Merlin claims to have hit 128 on a test train, although that was judged by timing mile markers as his speedometer wasn't functioning properly.

Problems arose before any of the engines had even reached the NRM, as Mallard's already sizeable ego had swelled to massive proportions, and several engines in the great hall were planning a justifiable homicide.

Then came the time restraints - none of the foreign locomotives were willing to uproot their lives and jobs for two years just to sit motionless in a shed. A two year exhibition was eventually negotiated down to a 6 month gala, much to the irritation and confusion of the NRM, who could not understand that the engines were still in service.

Then came the extra engines - Dwight and Dominion thought that the NRM knew about Fleece, and were quite insulted on his behalf when he wasn't invited - they threatened to not attend unless arrangements were made for Fleece to attend as well.

An utterly baffled NRM agreed, but also tore their record archives apart, as they knew that Fleece had been scrapped. The fact that his picture was plastered all over CSX's Florida Division website was all the more confusing as a result.

Meanwhile in Busan, nobody knew that Merlin had escaped the scrappers' torch and therefore did not invite him. He was only informed after K-Pop star Psy texted him from London to ask if he knew about the event, which was being advertised on television.

Merlin, having missed his friends from the LNER, decided that he would just crash the party, used some of his many vacation days, and took off for England on a cargo ship.

By sheer coincidence, all four foreign A4s hit the dock in Southhampton on the same day, and were delighted to see each other - especially Merlin, considering that everyone else had thought he'd died.

Meanwhile at the NRM, delight was not the word one would use. Befuddled, confused, shocked even, but not delighted. Their plans had revolved around 6 A4s, most of which wouldn’t be running - only to now discover that there were 7, all but one of which were functioning! (Mallard, the star of the show, was the odd one out, and it drove him crazy)

Then they got a phone call from their man at the docks saying that another one had showed up, looking like he’d driven out of a K-pop album cover, and they just gave up and started screaming.

Screaming is also what happened when the cavalcade of foreigners showed up in York - first of all, the quartet of new engines sounded nothing like they had when they left England.

Dwight had willfully unlearned his Upper Crust British accent by 1971, and had fallen deep into a California accent (quite similar to what Scotsman sounds like - coincidence? No.)

Dominion and Fleece hadn’t tried to unlearn their accents, but 40+ years of living in North America can really dilute the Britishness. It doesn’t help that Dominion has developed most Canadian vocal tics eh?

As stated above, Merlin has a weird fuckin accent, and now he speaks English with a strong Yorkshire accent, but will occasionally and without warning drop into a Korean/Yorkshire hybrid accent.

The screaming also happened because the NRM had wanted to repaint the duo trio! quartet?! into LNER garter blue, and were promptly informed that “we’re painted like this for work! Don’t touch it!” (the sole exception was Dwight, who hadn’t pulled a real train in 14 years, but he liked his Daylight Limited paint), so instead of the new arrivals showing up in LNER colours, they showed up looking like THIS:

Having their long-lost siblings show up looking and sounding like THAT had quite an affect on the A4s and the other NRM engines:

Bittern could not believe her eyes - to the point where she actually began making noise about seeing an optometrist

Union of South Africa almost backed through a wall

Sir Nigel Gresley was speechless for two days

Mallard was so angry that he actually chipped a tooth during one of his rants about “the impropriety of it all!!”

Evening Star laughed so hard that he managed to derail himself without moving

City of Truro almost cracked a piston from shock

Alycidon spent the entire gala coming up with more and more laser focused jabs at Mallard - who was so easy to fluster that the Deltic needn’t have bothered

Oliver Cromwell and Green Arrow made fast friends with the new arrivals, and spent the entire time learning ‘Americanisms’ to annoy the other engines with.

But what about Flying Scotsman? Where was he in all of this? He was generally considered to be the “leader” of the NRM fleet (much to Mallard’s annoyance), and was usually who the other engines turned to when things started getting out of control.

Did Scotsman calm things down? Like hell he did. The inmates were running the asylum from the moment that Scotsman saw the other A4s - more importantly saw Dwight - and immediately greeted them in flawless Californian.

This actually set off the building’s security alarm, as Flying Scotsman saying “DUDES! Wassup?!” caused such an uproar that the noise broke several exterior windows.

----

And all of this was in the first few days - there were six months left to go.

There was one railtour attempt. It was supposed to feature Bittern and Sir Nigel running in tandem, but instead featured Dwight and Merlin, mainly because Bittern wanted to see what would happen.

They exceeded the max speed limit for steam traction within 15 minutes, sparked a thorough investigation by the RAIB, and got all future steam powered railtours for the Gathering cancelled immediately.

On the plus side, the two engines did prove that it was still possible for a steam train to hit 100 safely.

One thing that baffled the other engines was the inordinately large number of people who turned up just to see Dominion, and the one person who kept turning up to see Fleece - it took a lot of explaining for them to understand that Dominion had been married three times, and had children (adopted) and grandchildren from all three marriages coming to see her. A similar amount of explaining was required to explain that Fleece’s girlfriend/partner wanted to see him too.

The normally chatty Dwight and Scotsman would suddenly clam up whenever Dominion and Fleece teasingly tried to ask about their love lives, something which wasn’t unnoticed by the other engines, but got similarly nowhere.

The answer to why they both shut the hell up was explained when a lot of shouting broke out in the yard of the NRM one day about a month into the exhibition:

Irene Eisenhower, not content to sit in California and count her billions, quickly grew bored without her husband, and decided to go to England and be with him. The fact that she definitely did not fit the UK loading gauge was never even a consideration, and so she just showed up in York on the back of a lorry, having informed no-one of her arrival, and content to just pay off the requisite people if a fuss occurred.

A fuss did occur, and it was only ended when Scotsman managed to convince the museum’s curator (who at this point in his life was regretting ever thinking of this damned gathering) that Irene was a ‘temporary donation’ to the museum.

[Scotsman, who definitely hid his Cali accent from museum staff the entire time, has one of the best poker faces in the world]

Dwight was overjoyed, and so was Scotsman, for initially unclear reasons. Then Irene managed to grab both her husband and Scotsman, dragged them behind a shed, and [THIS IS A PG13 HEADCANON] the both of [PG13]. Turns out that while Scotsman may have slept his way across the US a few times, he was actually ready to settle down with Dwight and Irene - they were a throuple way back in the 70s, and those passions haven’t faded. When Scotsman reluctantly left the US in 74, a lot of the reluctance was because of those two.

This bombshell of a revelation went over interestingly at the NRM. Some engines (Green Arrow) were happy for them, some were incensed (Mallard - although it was for anti-American reasons, not homophobic ones), and some were intensely curious about what was going on in the outside world (Bittern).

The ‘foreigners’ (as Mallard had taken to calling them), were deeply displeased at how their fellow engines were being treated - while a lot of them were ‘in steam’, some were not and might never be again, something they found abhorrent. Unable to do anything at that time, as the NRM was not a for-profit entity and therefore did not have anyone to bribe, (Irene’s solution to things is to throw money at the situation) the engines started talking about how life was different in the outside world - namely that engines were still working hard, even when they were over a century old and running on steam power.

This was of great interest to engines like Evening Star and (6220) Duchess of Hamilton, neither of whom were likely to be steamed again, and Bittern, who was growing more and more curious with each passing day. Dissent began to slowly build against the NRM curators, and the culture of the United Kingdom in general.

One thing the foreigners did try do something about was Ellerman Lines. The poor bastard had been sectioned to show his inner workings, much to the jaw-dropped horror of the foreign A4s, who made such a stink about it that he was moved outside the museum by NRM staff, who must have thought that the engines lacked object permanence or something, because that didn’t make it better!

Irene Eisenhower, who was beginning to get really sick of the nonsense that the NRM called preservation, (Scotsman was not in running condition, and had been hastily reassembled mid-overhaul in order to be cosmetically ready for the event, and let’s not forget poor Ellerman Lines) elected to bring the event to a close on her own after only three months. She did this by eventually putting her immense wealth to good use, and called for a haulage service to rescue the engines from the NRM without the knowledge of the museum staff. Aside from the A4s, she also took Ellerman Lines, Scotsman, and Bittern (who had asked to go) with her, and only bothered to inform Ellerman and Bittern - she was not about risk Scotsman having another “think of England” moment and staying.

The haulage firm was efficient and the cargo ship was waiting, so the engines were in international waters before the NRM opened the next morning.

Much swearing occurred in England that day, and the NRM’s image has yet to fully recover from the PR story that they had sold Flying Scotsman (and Ellerman Lines) to a reclusive American billionaire.

Privately though, the NRM does not care, as that story is a lot better than “Someone stole our engines and we’re not allowed to get them back because as it turns out we’re slaveowners, so no international court will help us.”

Also, despite their multimillion dollar “donation" from the I. Eisenhower Opportunity Fund, they still haven’t been able to fully pacify their engines, all of whom have somehow gotten the idea that they should be running in main line service like they live on Sodor or something...

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Dwight, Scotsman, and Irene all live happily together in the sprawling Eisenhower estate in Malibu. Irene is currently lobbying the California state government to legalize polygamy, with moderate success.

Ellerman Lines, after a lot of therapy and a full rebuild, is now working on a short line in Wyoming. He likes the scenery.

Bittern followed Dwight, Irene, and Scotsman to Los Angeles, and used her ‘connections’ (Dwight) to get a supporting role in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Since then, she’s gotten several roles based on her own merits, including an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Appearance in a Comedy.

Merlin spent a few months in LA before he went back to Korea. He is very thankful that he was able to reconnect with his brothers and sisters, and that his homeland has good internet, as he video calls his family across the Pacific almost every day.

Golden Fleece still lives a quiet life in Florida, but finally decided to tie the knot, and married his girlfriend in 2017. The ceremony was supposed to be quiet, but Irene Eisenhower has no idea what that word means.

Dominion of Canada continues to baffle non-local trainspotters when she runs commuter trains into Toronto. She is now a great-grandmother.

7 years later, and the term “Great Gathering” is still a forbidden phrase in the back rooms of the NRM.

#ask response #long #really long #I wrote this for like me and two other people at most #national railway museum #flying scotsman #Headcanon #ttte #ttte adjacent #bittern #mallard #train headcanon #locomotive rights headcanon #extremely specific headcanon #headcanon

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pinkchaosart · 4 years ago

Text

On transphobia towards our Sisters (not just our cis-ters)

(TW: talk of transphobia, misogyny, gender and sex-based violence)

So I went and took a look at the post by @persistentlyfem that’s causing a major fuss, and I thought I’d address it as a lesbian femme myself. I see a lot of the common talking points that get thrown around and I’m seeing some truly toxic replies being thrown in her direction. Eight years ago I might have agreed with the replies, but I think it’s more useful to engage those talking points and maybe we can meet with some kind of understanding.

Now I want to get a few things out of the way first. Persistentlyfem says, if not in the main post then elsewhere on her blog, that she doesn’t identify as a radfem (radical feminist), so I won’t assume that she is one. I will however address the points she raises as being part of the trans-exclusionist radical feminist ideology, as that’s where the ideas seem to have come from.

One of the biggest misunderstanding between radical feminists and liberal feminists is the concept of gender vs. sex and their importance when speaking of identities. TERF ideology is rooted in second-wave feminism of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, which was a necessary step in the feminist school of thought and is the reason we have a lot of our modern rights. Most people who are trans-exclusionary would describe themselves as gender-critical, but in my opinion, I believe that being exclusionary towards trans women is rooted in the resistance to third-wave feminist ideas of individualism and diversity. But we’ll hold that thought for now.

The ideal of radical feminism is to liberate women by tearing down the concept of gender, abolishing it all together. The ideal of liberal feminism is to create equality by creating safe and inclusive spaces for everyone, regardless of gender, via social and legal reform. Basically the main difference between the two schools of thought is one seeks to destroy gender as a construct and the other seeks to expand it to be more inclusive. It’s important to note that being a radical feminist does not automatically mean that you must be trans-exclusionary.

So I’d like to talk about some specific talking points. I took a little stroll down Persistentlyfem’s blog to see what her experience has been and so that I can understand where she’s coming from. Normally I wouldn’t engage in this kind of conversation because I’m disabled so I have very little energy to spare, but as a fellow butch-attracted femme, I thought it might be useful to respond to her thoughts. I won’t respond to all the points in her recent post, but I will try to talk about the core ideas.

I see that she’s concerned with misogyny in LGBTQ2S+ spaces. I agree it’s widespread, often in ways that are covert. I see it in how butches treat femmes, how gay men talk about women, and how we speak to fellow gay women who disagree with our opinions. And, If I understand correctly, it’s that internalized misogyny that she believes is responsible for trans women believing they should be included in women-only spaces. I argue that it’s quite the opposite, and that it’s actually misogyny that keeps trans-women from being fully accepted.

What I mean is that I find the argument for “female-only spaces” (assigned female at birth, cisgendered women) quite reductive. It implies that there is only one way to be a woman and it reduces us to our genitalia. I don’t think anyone would say they’re a woman because they have a vagina and mean it fully (maybe you would, I don’t really know you). They would also say that their experiences shape them as a woman as well. And I agree, what makes a woman involves quite a lot of factors, and no two women’s experiences are the same. Persistentlyfem has argued that trans women are raised and socialized as male, but I disagree. Setting aside that trans women aren’t a monolith and have completely different socializations between individuals, I would agree that most trans women are treated as male growing up, but for the most part, it doesn’t quite….fit them. More accurately I would say our culture attempts to socialize them as men.

When I think back to my own experience growing up, I, like a lot of girls, had a “not like other girls” period. Internalized misogyny, great right? Because the socialization of “girl” didn’t quite right, the definition being narrow and rigid. Based on stereotypes. So I found my femininity later in my teens. I argue that this is something that most women go through in some way or another. We find our socialization as women uncomfortable and constraining. Not quite right.

As I said, you can’t speak of trans women as a monolith, but from the stories and dialogue I’ve been involved in, countless stories sound exactly like that. Being socialized into a Gender Box that doesn’t suit you is like watching a video in a language you don’t speak. Internalized misogyny is a universal experience between girls growing up, cis and trans, and it is internalized misogyny that keeps trans women from accepting who they truly are. In fact, for them to run away from woman as their identity would inherently be internalized misogyny.

The idea that trans ideology is based in “regressive stereotypes about ‘boys and girls’” isn’t wholly incorrect. I think we all agree that gender is a social construct. But that doesn’t make my identity as a women more valid than someone who transitioned later in life. It doesn’t follow that a trans’ person’s gender is less real than a cis person’s gender. And while we live in our culture and our current society, gender is something that we interact with on a daily basis, which makes it real in a very real sense. We could argue whether it should be that way, but the situation is currently that gender is an important construct in our culture. Not to mention, the thought that all trans people fall in a strict “man” or “woman” binary is incorrect as there are plenty of people that embody other gender identities. Indeed, there are many wonderful trans people that we could argue are the radfem ideal of aegender and/or non binary.

Now the idea that “lesbians and straight men like vaginas. Gays and straight women like penises” is a bit of a stretch. Again, I think a statement like this is pretty oversimplified, but I don’t think that you’re inherently wrong. Generally speaking, sure. Although, again, I’ve met plenty of straight women dating trans men, and there are plenty of straight men that date trans women. But the inherent flaw in this argument isn’t that you’re wrong, but that it implies that attraction equals validity. Am I a woman because a man is attracted to my vagina? No. Am I less of a woman if men aren’t attracted to me? Again, no. My gender isn’t contingent on other’s attraction to me, and that is the same for trans individuals. I think this kind of argument comes from the pressure that is sometimes felt within our community, that if you’re not open to dating trans people then you’re inherently transphobic. I am not going to get into that argument, as this is a whole other can of worms. But what I am going to say is that nobody is going to force you to date a trans person. You don’t have to date someone if you don’t want to. You don’t have to tell everyone why you don’t want to date them, you can just politely decline.

I’m going to be blatantly honest: I am predominantly attract to butch women and afab non binary masculine people. I have never dated someone who was amab, and generally speaking I don’t find myself attracted to them. But that doesn’t mean I think that trans women aren’t women just because I generally don’t find myself attracted to them.

On top of this I’m going to agree with you: sex based oppression does exist. So does gender-based oppression. I know I have experienced bullying in my own time based on my own gender, my ability, my weight, all that good stuff. Maybe some of it was based around embarrassing period episodes (which I would file under sex-based bullying). But misogyny is not just sex-based, it is also inherently gendered. And if we know anything about trans women, it’s that they are overly targeted with violence based on their gender. Especially if they’re BIPOC. And it’s because their gender is feminine that they’re perceived as being targets; is that not the epitome of misogyny? To hate a person because they’re not perceived as the patriarchal male ideal?

Something else I would like to talk about is the concept that trans women are inherently misogynistic. I would argue that every woman, regardless of what they were assigned at birth, carries internalized misogyny. Cis women, however, have years to grapple with it before becoming women. Trans women tend to not have as much time to unlearn internalized misogyny before they become women. That doesn’t invalidate them as women, it just means that we should be more supportive of them, not less. All of this trans-exclusionary rhetoric only serves to increase their self-hatred and I argue that that kind of talk is a contributing factor to the poor mental health we see in the trans community. Instead of supporting some of the people with the greatest insight into the patriarchy, trans-exclusionists push women away and inflict them with even more gendered violence and gender-based discrimination.

The other thing I want to address is the idea that trans women transitioning is rooted in homophobia. Which seems to make sense if you think of trans women being only attracted to men. The idea that a man decides to be a woman because he can’t deal with being gay doesn’t make a lot of sense, though. Homophobia tends to be rooted in misogyny too, a fear of being less of a man. So it doesn’t follow that the solution would be to “become a woman” much like the solution to put out a fire isn’t to light more things on fire. Piggybacking off of this point, a lot of trans exclusionists will accuse trans women of being predators. In fact, often, they’ll hold these two ideas at the same time. But the reality is that, if a man wants to prey on women, he doesn’t need to become a woman. The sign on the bathroom door isn’t actually a deterrent if a man wants to follow a woman in. And again, it’s a counter-intuitive idea, that a man who wants to prey on women would go through all the legal hurdles, all the social stigma, even some medical treatments just to gain access to women’s only spaces. Besides the fact that this type of behaviour is a myth created by conservative right-wing christian groups to stir up fear, it doesn’t happen and assault is still illegal regardless of what your gender marker is.

I am not going to address anything about surgery or hormones. Those points are only ever brought up as enforcing points, they’re not the main issues. Most of the rhetoric is based in fear-mongering conservative right-wing christian groups drum up and it is, again, a whole other topic that requires nuance that most people don’t acknowledge.

The main point I see Persistantlyfem talk about, and something we can agree on, is the misogyny in LGBTQ2S+ spaces. We all like to think that, somehow through our journeys of discovering our true selves, we shed the misogyny along the way, that our spaces are truly accepting of all genders and presentations. That’s not the case. Misogyny is still a problem in every letter of our community and it will be for a long time. We see it when butches treat femmes as “high maintenance” or like property, we see it in how gay men talk about female bodies. We see it the self-hatred trans people of all gender identities feel towards themselves. We see it when lesbians reject bisexual women.

Throwing around “terf” helps nobody. Calling each other stupid and pretentious is not useful. I know this is a painful topic to many on both sides, but the infighting in the queer community is toxic and needs to come down from a boil if we’re going to make any progress. Most people that sling insults are younger and therefor are more hot-headed. I used to be too, and still can be sometimes but like I said, limited energy means that you tend to focus it more consciously and I hope that this time I’ve spent here can help.

@Persistantlyfem, I see that you were hurt, and I respect and honour your experiences. I suspect that some of those that hurt you were trans women. I understand, I’ve had trans partners hurt me as well. But those experiences don’t allow us to revoke someone else’s right to their own interpretation of themselves. And I’m sorry about all of the toxicity you’ve experienced in these last few weeks, you don’t deserve it. I hope that we can have a conversation in a respectable way, worthy of two adult gays who’ve been through a lot.

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localvoidcat · 2 years ago

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on it. under the line as usual

mark:

he’s a big fan of horror movies i think. kind of guy to watch horror movies and be super excited the entire time despite being chronically anxious

he/him, aroallo heterosexual trans man. family isn’t really a fan of it but he’s been socially transitioned for a while

he has a cat!! senior gray tabby cat named maisie :) he’s had her since they were both really young

cesar:

he likes dressing formally like. everywhere. shows up to a doctor’s office in a suit. at the very least he’s got some kind of dress shirt

any, heterosexual genderfluid guy? they’re just kind of having fun with it idk

i think it was said that he’d have a guinea pig/hamster so. she has one for sure. it wears tiny little bow ties. it’s named napoleon or something

sarah:

has a very big interest in the paranormal (mainly bc of the circumstances around mark’s death), hence why she started bps. i think she likes those found footage ghost sighting videos

she/her, transmasc lesbian 💪

hair was blonde as a kid, but it became darker as she got older

taking this from calico’s hcs but she uses crutches. jonah and adam decorate them with her

adam:

loves going into abandoned buildings and crime scenes and stuff. he’s 70% of the reason why bps is wanted by the fbi

he/him, and honestly. i don’t really know what to think for him. he’s somehow both cishet and a bi trans man at the same time and it varies on which one is funnier in the current context. he insults people in call of duty lobbies either way

tallest out of all of the bps members. freak

jonah:

he’s a gamer. i’m sorry women

he/they, bisexual nonbinary guy but in like. a late 2000s way. how do i explain that

was supposed to go to law school but he just graduated high school and stayed with bps. he regrets this decision constantly

they were a skater boy. she said see you later boy

evelin:

probably like. the most well-adjusted out of everyone involved with bps. did not work well with adam at all

she/her (maybe she/they?), straight aspec maybe?

i think she and dave were like. the funniest coworker duo. they’re friends she’s utterly fed up with his music taste she thinks he is so strange he’s like an uncle to her. idk they’re silly

she has a pet snake and a black cat :)

thatcher:

probably was some kind of delinquent before joining the mcpd. became just as emo as before immediately after leaving the mcpd. you can take the man out of the emo phase but you can’t take the emo phase out of the man

he/she (but. only really uses he/him), bisexual transfem. very much denies this, and when she finally does come to terms with it like. years later nothing changes. same name same presentation and good for her

listens to mcr. sorry

physically weaker than both ruth and dave. he’s actually pretty average his friends are just menaces

liked hanging out around the police dog. may have had a dog during vol 4 time?

ruth:

was the first person to befriend thatcher when he first joined the mcpd, they ended up being friends for a while before. vol 333 :(

she/her, bisexual

had a daughter, but said daughter was one of the kids that ended up being taken by the intruder. this took a toll on her, thatcher and dave tried to help comfort her after this happened

calls her friends “babygirl”. this is solely because of that voice clip and also i think it’s hilarious. ruth weaver voice anyway these are my babygirls

dave:

HUGE fan of sci-fi movies. he will explain the plot of 2001: a space odyssey to you in one sitting

any (but mainly just he/him), arospec gay transmasc. no-op, pre-t in vol 333 but a few years on t in vol 4. the mustache is still fake

he has 10 cats! ant made a post with his cats’ names/breeds/ages, i’ve accepted that as my hc

uncle lee real. i think that he was kind of shunned from his family but he stays in touch with mark and sarah as much as he can

after ruth’s death, he ended up helping out thatcher a lot. he dropped stuff off at her place, he checked up on him a lot, they were kind of the only people they had left. as the years went on though, and thatcher still hadn’t moved on from the incident, it just got harder to help until finally, dave told thatcher he was going to move on. and we all know how well that worked out for him

jude:

okay i don’t have serious headcanons for this guy BUT. i think he absolutely had some kind of definitely not a pyramid scheme startup thing. pre-vol 333 he kept trying to get dave to join his startup. dave said no every time

he’s such a bad father but in a funny way. world’s worst dad

he looks like that one eva character that voiceover requiem said he looks like. i also think he dresses in like. frilled shirts and stuff i can’t tell you why. you just have to trust me

girl what happened to you. where did you go

if he was around for them he would love NFTs. sorry

lynn:

again, i don’t have many headcanons for her. i think that when she and jude had adam, they kind of hurried to get married and then. stuff just didn’t work out between them

both she and jude were probably around college age? somewhere in their mid 20s maybe

she’s where adam got his blond hair + blue eyes from. adam takes on quite a bit from his mom

mervin:

better call saul man. i don’t know

brought jonah to the law firm. made him wear suits. jonah hated it

he’s not even a bad dad he’s just. Like That

someone give me . an excuse to drop my tmc headcanons because they are very funny to me

#tmc #DAMN this was long. okay #uhhh. enjoy #lemme know if i missed anyone. you can ask about these

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a-room-of-my-own · 4 years ago

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Hey, I feel kinda bad, I just found out a trans woman was one of Andy Warhol's muses back in the 70s, she sounded very feminine which surprised me, and as I continued reading I discovered the cause of her death was lymphoma... She literally died of cancer from the hormones she took to feminize her body. I'm not anti-trans but honestly I'm starting to realize just how harmful it is to defend transitioning, I'm also reading about the MERMAIDSUK scandal and Idk i guess I don't know anymore.

Candy Darling? Yes she had a tragic life. She was terribly bullied as a young man, became one of Warhol's muses as she wanted to be an actress, but he quickly lost interest in her. She died pretty young, she wasn't even 30. I went to read a little bit more about her, and well, it's pretty clear to me she was a very depressed feminine gay man, who desperately wanted recognition. I read somewhere that she dropped out of school after being almost lynched by classmates I mean... How are you supposed to survive this in the mid 20th century? Tragic tragic life. And the cherry on top in the series of B&W photos, 'Candy Darling on her deathbed', taken when she was sick. Anyway...

As for mermaids, it's a huge scandal, I posted an article not so long ago about a young woman who pressed charges against them I think for endangerment, I'm waiting for other lawsuits...

I'm not 'anti trans' either but modern trans activism is detrimental to people, especially gay youth, and even trans people themselves.

#gender critical

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ourimpavidheroine · 4 years ago

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May I ask why it is you didn't write any homophobia into your fanfic?

You may!

I was born in 1969. When I was a young girl growing up in the 70′s, there was absolutely nothing available to me that referenced anything queer. No books, no media, nothing at all. And by nothing, I mean NOTHING.

Were there queer people in the 1970′s? Oh my yes. But I knew nothing about them because it was just not part of my world. As far as I knew, queer people did not exist.

The first time I learned about queer people was overhearing a conversation when I was about nine or so about my Dad’s co-worker Ernie, a lovely first generation Chinese American man who often came to our house to hang out and who once brought me a beautiful doll from China that had long black hair and a hanfu with lilies all over it. My mother was saying something to my Dad about not wanting Ernie around my younger brother and me because he was gay and my father got pretty pissed off at her about it. I couldn’t understand why Ernie being happy would be such a bad thing, so I asked my Dad later and he explained what that meant. My Dad being the guy he was, he pretty much normalized it for me and I took it at face value.

The summers of 1983 and 1984 I attended acting school in San Francisco and that’s when I learned a lot more about queer people. That was smack dab in the middle of the AIDS epidemic; one of the teachers lost his best friend the night before our class and sat on the floor and sobbed and sobbed about it. It was, you can believe me, a real eye opener.

But you see, this is what the media told me about gay people as a teenager in the 80′s: they all had AIDS and were spreading it to straight people. They were pedophiles. The men were desperate, lonely people or overdramatic bitches that fucked anything that moved. The women were mean and ugly and out to steal other people’s wives or weird hippy pagan ladies that never shaved and smelled. They would all come to a bad end, one way or the other.

My biology/sex ed teacher in 9th grade told us that same-sex crushes were normal for teenagers and that they would go away and didn’t mean we were gay. Oh, I thought. Well then I guess laying awake all night thinking about Annie Lennox in the Sweet Dreams video and that one redheaded girl on the varsity volleyball team is just something I’ll grow out of.

(Spoiler alert: I did not grow out of it.)

I did not think of myself as being queer. For one thing, I still found boys attractive. For another, Mr. Powell told us it was something we’d grow out of. And I wasn’t like any of those women that we started seeing bits and pieces of in the media. So I just didn’t think about it.

I was at university in the late 80′s and early 90′s, studying theater, and then of course I was introduced to plenty of queer people. That was when I realized that yeah, okay, this is not going away. I am attracted to both men and women; I am bisexual. (Pansexual wasn’t something I’d heard of then but it’s how I identify now.)

Were we in the media? Eh...not so much. A glimpse here and there. But again, not much. And when we were in the news? It was Matthew Shephard (oh god, I remember sitting on the floor and hyperventilating when I saw that on the news) or it was Boys Don’t Cry or Will and Grace where Will was played as straight by a straight guy and never had a boyfriend and Jack was played for laughs.

This was not what my life was like.

I did come out to my family in my 20′s when I got a girlfriend; no one liked my girlfriend (god, she was so hot but such bad news; the sex was so so so good but she was so so so rotten, learn from my fail, children) but the fact that I was queer fazed none of them on either side. I come from very liberal stock, however. (Very liberal.) When I divorced my first husband and brought my then Finnish girlfriend around everyone loved her. It was not a traumatic experience for me. It hasn’t been traumatic for me in Finland, for the most part.

Of course I understand that this is not the norm for everyone coming out. I know people suffer from discrimination; I am next door to Russia, I know what the fuck is going on in Chechnya. Trans people in Finland are still required by law to be sterilized before they can legally transition. Gay marriage only became legal here very recently. I know kids get kicked out by their parents, still get sent to conversion camps. I am aware of the kind of violence transpeople are subjected to.

But this is my point. What are people still seeing on the news? What do they see in media? Homophobia, coming out trauma, violence, rejection, people having to engage in political debate for their right to simply exist. Is it better than it was even ten years ago? Oh yes, it really is. Absolutely it is. Is it good, though? Is it normalized?

Nope. Not yet. And I firmly believe that a huge part of that is because queer media is still being produced by straight people. Many of whom mean well, of course. But it’s not their story.

I know it can be very important, especially for younger readers, to read stories about coming out, about homophobia. It’s a way for them to process it and I’m not about to sit here and say that’s wrong. It’s not wrong! But there’s a world of difference between a queer person writing their own experiences as a form of processing and a straight person using those experiences as a means of conflict in their stories.

Do I think Bryke had good intentions writing a whole coming out arc for Korra in the comics? Retconning homophobia into their universe? I do. I absolutely do! I think they are very careful and thoughtful about representation. It matters to them.

But the fact remains that Korra’s coming out and the subsequent retcon of homophobia was written by a straight man in order to add conflict/drama to his story. There is no other reason for it to be there; Korra being queer does not require a coming out storyline nor subsequent homophobia.

Let me repeat this:

Being queer does not require coming out or homophobia. That is something that straight people add to the stories of our lives, both in real life as well as media.

So that’s what I am doing in my fic. I am normalizing queerness. Am I doing it perfectly? Of course not; I’ve been learning to write with my fic, and I’ve made certain choices I would like to go back and change now. But I am making a choice to write the kind of world I think queer people should be living in: I am normalizing us.

My queer characters have negative things happen to them; they are as human as I can make them. They don’t live in a utopia. But the things that happen to them do not happen because of their gender or sexuality. I am not now nor will I ever be killing my gays.

#long post #well this got long-winded didn't it?#more than you asked for probably Anon #but there it is #Anonymous

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fandomshatelgbtqpeople · 4 years ago

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mod a’s lgbt musicals

Hi there! I’m a big theatre kid so I thought for pride month I’d put together a list of LGBTQ musicals. Despite its association with queer people, musical theatre is not known for its amazing representation. I’ve put together a list here of musicals I know of with queer characters. I’ve tried to avoid those where the queer characters are incredibly minor roles or those where the representation is just not good enough to be salvageable (*side eyes Legally Blonde*) I know there are many musicals I will have missed out but these are the ones I am most aware of. Feel free to add more! So without further ado, here it is.

Fun Home

The big Tony winner of 2015! Based on Alison Bechdel, a butch lesbian cartoonist. At the age of 43, she looks for new material by trying to explore her past and her relationship with her closeted gay dad. Looks back at a version of herself when she was 10 and a “tomboy” and at 19 when she came out and got her first girlfriend. Has very cute lighthearted moments as well as very sad moments. Has a beautiful song where small Alison sees a butch deliverywoman. Problems in that since the original broadway cast, Alison’s costume has got less butch. Content warning for suicide.

Here’s their Tony performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAuesRJm1E

The Color Purple

Based on Alice Walker’s novel about black women in the 1930s. Follows Celie who has been abused by men her whole life who discovers she is a lesbian but also makes a journey of self discovery and learns to love herself. Her love interest is a bisexual woman. Won best revival at the Tonys in 2016. Content warning for discussion/implied sexual abuse.

Here’s their Tony performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k2xzQyT2bk

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

A teenage gay boy in Sheffield wants to be a drag queen and go to prom in a dress.Also a nice touch that is does not focus on him having a relationship (since he is sixteen) and him having to come out as he is already out. Focuses on his close relationship with his supportive mother. Has a diverse cast. Jamie is currently played by a black actor and his best friend wears a hijab and has a very diverse ensemble as well. Unfortunately has a part where Jamie responds to a homophobic bully by calling him a bunch of ableist and classist slurs.

Here’s a clip of the most popular song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7C3FuFWDdw

The Prom

Emma is a lesbian teenager in Indiana whose prom is cancelled by the PTA after she requests to bring her girlfriend to it. A group of Broadway actors come down to help her campaign to be allowed to attend prom, as well as styling her, helping her work on her confidence and educating the town’s people. What ensues is basically a two hour musical episode of Queer Eye. Cheesy and fun with so many musical theatre references crammed in. My one issue is that the show is rather harsh on people who are closeted since Emma has conflicted with her girlfriend Alyssa because she is not ready to come out.

Here’s a clip of their Tony performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGcG_r5xv3E

Rent

Probably the most well known on this list. Artists in New York during the AIDS crisis. Two of the main couples featured are queer: Maureen is bisexual and in a relationship with Joanne who is a lesbian, and Angel is a transgender woman of color in a relationship with Collins, a presumably bisexual man. However, she tends to be played bi cis men and there are instances of her being misgendered by the main characters uncritically. In Rent Live (2019), all instances of her being misgendered were removed and her gender identity was confirmed. She was played in this by Valentina, an nb drag queen and has also been played by Pose’s MJ Rodriguez, a trans woman. Very diverse with Jewish characters and people of colour and in the live show, only 1 of the 8 main characters was white. Has been criticised over the years, mainly for its biphobic portrayal of Maureen who is promiscuous and implied to cheat, but in the 90s did a lot for the LGBTQ community and is more progressive than a lot of media even now.

Here’s a clip of Maureen and Joanne from Rent Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06oCfKYYPTY

And here’s some Angel and Collins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hl-M94o_x8

Falsettos

Marvin comes out as gay in the late 70s but decides to move his ex wife and son in with his boyfriend. Addresses AIDS crisis in Act 2. Has “lesbians from next door” in act 2. F Revived on Broadway in 2016. All of the characters are Jewish. Unfortunately, in revival casts, very few actors tend to be Jewish.

Here’s the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjnAHOdMQVk

Come From Away

In the aftermath of 9/11, 38 planes are diverted to a small town in Canada called Gander. Shows people of different races and nationalities bonding in a scary time. Addresses Islamophobia. Has one song called Prayer where prayers from different religions overlap. Has an interracial gay couple called Kevin and Kevin. They break up in the end but are very important characters. Won best direction of a musical in 2017. The Broadway production starred Jenn Colella who has referred to herself as ‘mostly gay’.

Here’s a clip of Jenn Colella singing a song from the musical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8ukgH6U-d0

Head Over Heels

Honestly I don’t quite know what this musical is about, even by reading the plot summary and listening to the soundtrack. I know it’s set in a Tudor fantasy world and that there are wlw couples as well as an explicitly non binary character, played by Peppermint, a trans woman, and that there are interracial couples and plus sized actors. It is a jukebox musical using songs by the Go-Gos and yes the wlw anthem that is Heaven is a Place on Earth is one of them. The soundtrack is fantastic even if you can’t follow what is going on.

Here are some show clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx2qQ7QAPm0

Spring Awakening

German school kids in the 19th century discovering their sexuality. Two of the schoolboy supporting characters, Ernst and Hänschen, have a romance when they have a reprise of an earlier song in Act 2. A BIG content warning as it has graphic discussions of rape and songs about it and a sex scene with very dubious consent. However there was a very wonderful 2016 revival using deaf actors and sign language.

This is another one you can very easily find the full show of on YouTube which I won’t link. However here’s the Tony performance for the revival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSagsMcak4Q

If/Then

A woman named Elizabeth (originally played by Idina Menzel) moves to New York after a divorce and contemplated how different her life would be if she took two different paths. Four supporting queer characters. Her ex-boyfriend is bisexual and played by Anthony Rapp (who is bisexual in real life) and he gets a boyfriend in one timeline. Another of her friends is a lesbian called Kate who marries her girlfriend in the musical. Problems occur as in both timelines, cheating goes on in the lesbian relationship although they stay together in one. Elizabeth also says she doesn’t believe in bisexuals, a view no one ever challenges her on, however Lucas is very clearly bisexual which is some proof for the audience that she is wrong.

I’m not going to link it here but there are many very high quality bootlegs on it on YouTube if you want to watch,

Ghost Quartet

A bit of a weird one. This is more of a concept album. There are four performers who each play instruments and they tell the stories of many interconnected timelines. It is very hard to explain but there are souls travelling through time who keep being reincarnated as different people with different relationships to each other which usually end with one woman killing the other. In the song Soldier & Rose, the ghosts Rose and Pearl are lovers as Rose seduces the soldier for her honey. In the song Four Friends, for one chorus the men sing “I like to put my hand on a pretty girls’s knee” and the women sing “pretty boy’s knee” and then they switch for the next chorus so they’re all bisexual. In general, a lot of fun if you like weird musicals and I mean really weird.

The full show is online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJSaEJm8pCE

Mean Girls

Yes there’s a musical of it. I was not looking forward to it when it was announced but have actually grown to quite like it. It’s hardly lyrical genius but the songs are fun and a lot of the problematic aspects of the film have been fixed. Damian is more explicitly gay in the musical and sings about an ex boyfriend in one song. Janis is heavily implied to be a lesbian (confirmed by actress offstage) and she doesn’t end up with Kevin Gnapoor. She is played by a queer actress in the tour cast. Both queer characters are much bigger roles than in the movie and get several songs each. I’d consider the musical to be quite white feminist but it does address issues such as the sexualisation of teenage girls and the notion that to be ‘sexy’ is ‘empowering’.

Here’s a clip of one of Damian’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-zM6QKkxEQ

& Juliet

An English jukebox musical about what might have happened to Juliet in Romeo and Juliet if she had not died at the end. I haven’t seen it but I’ve listened to the soundtrack and it is mainly comprised of 21st century songs by women. One of Juliet’s best friends is non binary although is played by a cis man as far as we know. Also I went to the same school as one of the actors which is a bonus for me. Very diverse cast.

Here’s a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm2k9nS3o20

In Transit

A capella musical about several people’s adventures on New York public transport. Two of the main characters in this ensemble cast are an interracial gay couple where both are pocs. They are engaged but one of them is having trouble coming out to his mother. I found it refreshing in that his fiance for the most part was not upset with him at his struggles in coming out and they were both able to live fulfilling lives despite this. I am always astonished by the talent of a cappella singers.

Here’s a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhvik6qoass Another one where the bootleg can be found very easily on YouTube

Firebringer

Remember A Very Potter Musical? Well, the company that did that are still putting out new pieces of theatre on their YouTube channel. In 2016, they put out their ridiculous comedy musical Firebringer, about a group of bisexual cavewomen. I won’t spoil the ending but trust me, it’s great. You may know it from the viral clip of one of the main characters singing ‘I don’t really wanna do the work today.’

You can watch the full musical here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmVuNlu0LCk

Special Mentions

Company

Musical by Stephen Sondheim about a man unable to commit to a relationship, surrounded by his friends who are all in couples. However, the award-winning 2018 West End revival chose to change the genders of some of the characters. The main character Robert became ‘Bobbie’ (although all of her love interests were gender-swapped as well). One of the originally M/F couples became an M/M couple. It opened on Broadway for about a week before the Covid outbreak so that will be one to look out for.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtDK03y4gT0

In the Heights

A musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda about the Latin American community living in Washington Heights in New York. The original theatre production has no explicitly queer characters. However, in the upcoming movie version (that was meant to be released this summer but has been pushed back to next summer) it has been confirmed that the characters of Daniela and Carla (Daphne Rubin-Vega and Stephanie Beatriz) will be explicitly a couple.

I absolutely love this musical and the trailer for the movie looks beautiful check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0CL-ZSuCrQ

#mod a #musicals #theatre #lgbtq rep

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