#(btw im using “female” and “male” here as just the adjective forms of woman and man

[cosmicallydivine]

kevin day, queen of exy

i am a huge fan of the “girl who is also a prince” thing (shocking from a predominantly locked tomb blog, i know) but i love love love when male characters get feminine titles. i think it’s such an interesting way to talk about feminism and the conversation about how “women’s empowerment” in media often comes from women being masculine, which still leaves this implication that things associated with women or femininity are inherently disempowering. because the thing that’s empowering and cool about the “girl who is also a prince” or any fem character taking on a masculine title/position isn’t the masculinity, it’s the departure from a box that the character was forced into. women being masculine isn’t empowering because masculinity is empowering, it’s empowering because it’s a deconstruction of gender binaries and prescribed roles. and a really interesting way to explore that concept is to have male/masc characters be empowered by taking on feminine titles or roles. because that has the same theme of breaking out of the prescribed roles and finding power in that, AND it also presents femininity/things traditionally associated with women as something that IS strong and aspirational, which is a message that is sorely lacking in a lot of media. and also because having afab or fem characters be the only ones who are getting to play with gender and have these titles that contradict their “main” gender identity plays into the idea that masculinity and masculine language/titles positions are the “standard” and anything feminine is an add-on deviation from that norm. it’s like amab biology being taught as the standard, and then afab biology being taught in relation to where it differs from that “norm.” or like how that latin word for girl (puella) is literally a linguistic diminutive of the word for boy (puer). (i know i’m a linguistics nerd just bear with me) or going back to my first sentence, with princess being a derivative of the word prince; the femininity is an add-on, it’s an extra, it exists only in its relation to and deviation from the “norm.” like its far less jarring to hear a female character be called “sir” than to hear a male character be called “ma’am,” because we automatically think of the masculine language as more of a “default.” but all gender roles are equally made up. they’re all equally human invented, they’re all equally fake. it’s the same leap for a fem person to take on masculine language as it is for a masc person to take on feminine language and they’re both really interesting things to explore and i wish that was more explored in media.

so, all of this is to say that i genuinely think “kevin day queen of exy” is one of the most interesting takes on feminism and empowerment i’ve seen in media. because it is such a clear story of empowerment for kevin. it is literally him revolting against his abusers who tried to take his life away from him and it’s him reclaiming his own sense of identity and acknowledging and flaunting to the world how fucking good he is at his sport and he does all of that by taking on a feminine title. i just love it so much.

just- more stories with boys who are also princesses and empresses and queens please!!