#-don't have a significantly worse hand than the transmascs

[cepheusgalaxy]

look guys i very strongly disagree with the "trans men hold privilege over trans women" point of view and i'm finally able to articulate why:

I think trans men don't hold privilege over trans women, because privilege is kind of a consistent thing.

Like, bear with me: I'm an abled person. I have privilege in relation to disabled people. Because, if me and a disabled person are in a Situation where this distinction is relevant in some way...I'm literally never gonna come out with the worst hand. Never. No matter what the situation is. This is a consistent fact.

Now, when we talk about different transgender identities, I think this gets more shady, because the "who has privilege in relation to who" is a relative statement. One example I saw of people explaining why in their view trans man have privilege over trans women is kind of like this: Imagine there are two passing and stealth trans people, a trans man and a trans woman, in a workplace. Then, it comes a coworker, being blatanly misogynist. Regardless of their views on trans people, in this situation, the trans woman is gonna get the worst of it, in relation to the trans man, because he will be viewed as a man.

It makes sense, and I don't think this hypothetical situation is inaccurate or anything, but I'd also like to point out why it doesn't work as a good point to why transmascs have privilege over transfems. Imagine we change about any variable in this situation. Let's say the trans woman is closeted as a guy, and the trans man is openly transgender. The misogynist coworker then would very much target the trans man in their points, especially if they are particularly transphobic. Now imagine both of them are out and openly trans, with the bonus that now both the man and the woman are gnc. Depending on other specifics, the misoginyst coworker might be bigoted to just one or both of them.

Like, do you see? In different situations, the different trans people have the worst hand. So that doesn't mean that because of the first case, trans men have it generally better. Because there are many kinds of trans men, and simply not all of them have privilege over trans women. In some cases, they might even have it worse precisely because they are trans man. So the privilege the trans man in the first example has is not a consistent thing over trans man! Maybe it's common, I don't know, but when we compare it with someone who has real privilege, like me, an abled person, I ain't ever encounter myself in a situation where I'm having it worse because I am abled in comparison to someone who is disabled.

That's why I think trans woman and trans men simply don't hold privilege over one another, simply because it varies. It depends on who the trans men and women are, it depends in what situation they are in, it depends on the people around them, it depends of so much!!! So saying that trans men have privilege over trans women sounds simply surreal!

I think that, also, the different patterns of the situations in which trans woman have it worse are important to be discussed, and that's why we have the word Transmisoginy, to discuss these issues pertinent to the nuanced oppression trans woman face (and on a similar note, that's why it's also important to have fucking words like Transmisogynoir, because a black trans woman's Situations will be different from a white trans woman's Situations and it's important to to recognize that). THAT's why I also think that we need words like Exorsexism and Transandrophobia, to identify the patterns of situations where trans men have it bad precisely because they are trans men and not something else or because nonbinary people have it bad precisely because they are nonbinary.

SO, in short, my opinion on the "trans man have it generally better than trans woman and that's why they have privilege" debate is that trans man don't generally have it better than trans woman, but some trans man in specific situations have it significantly better than trans woman and that in other situations trans woman have it significantly better than trans man and that is basically a case-to-case scenario and that's also why we need the specific words for different shapes and faces of transphobia to better understand these cases and why x happens with y at z situation. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[spin-birdie]

kinktober day 23: body swapping

prompt list

word count: ~550

pairing: tav (oc)/astarion

rating: mature

additional tags: transmasc tav

"Everything's so…itchy. And oversensitive," Astarion gripes from the bed, where he lies dramatically splayed out. "How do you live like this?"

The sound of his voice is so uncanny. It's Thorn's own voice, after all, but with Astarion's distinct Upper City inflection. He's never heard himself sound so…foppish, for lack of a better word.

"I don't know, it's normal to me?" Thorn responds, and he immediately cringes at himself. It feels like he's misusing Astarion's voice. Disrespecting him somehow by using his all-over-the-place accent with it. Would it be better or worse if he imitated Astarion's normal tone? He dismisses the idea with a shake of his head.

"Besides," he continues, "I'm not oversensitive. You're just dead."

He looks in the mirror again, briefly, as he digs his nails into his upper arm. Where he would usually feel pain, he instead feels the mildest discomfort. He's heard about undead creatures being a little bit numb to sensation, but to actually experience it is bizarre. When he runs his fingers along his arms, he has to press quite firmly to get the feedback he's expecting. Probably doesn't help that Astarion has significantly less hair than him.

Hells. If this is how vampires usually feel, no wonder they're obsessed with blood. The dull sensations everywhere else just draw the hunger into even greater focus.

"If this is how you always feel, I see how I'm able to pleasure you so easily." Astarion's distinctive titter sounds even stranger in Thorn's voice.

Thorn turns back to look at him incredulously. "You what?"

Astarion throws his head back at that, releasing a short, sharp howl of a laugh. "You're sensitive everywhere, darling! I can feel my…your…"

He trails off with a playful gaze, and squeezes his legs together. When Thorn connects the dots, he brings a hand up to his forehead.

"Astarion, I know you didn't just say you're horny right now."

A lighter giggle emerges from him this time. He cocks his head to the side and smirks.

"Don't do that," Thorn grimaces, though his lips curl with incredulous mirth despite himself. "Wipe that flirty grin off my face. It's too weird to work."

"Come on," Astarion pouts, swaying his legs. "Aren't you the least bit curious? Haven't you ever wondered what I see when we're together?" His eyes flash with wicked amusement when he adds, "Or are you saying you wouldn't bed a clone of yourself?"

"Aren't clones pretty much always evil? No thanks," Thorn retorts.

Astarion sits up and kneels on the bed. "But who'd know how to fuck you better than yourself?"

That gives Thorn pause. He blinks. Then he cocks his head, seriously pondering the possibilities. The spell does only last for a few hours…probably.

When he looks back to Astarion, he smirks, raising an eyebrow. "You're really not letting this go, are you?"

"Are you going to give me a reason to?" Astarion asks.

They hold each other's gaze for a few moments, silently waiting for one of them to back out. But they don't.

As he slinks onto the bed, not breaking eye contact with Astarion, Thorn says, "I have always wondered how many orgasms my body can handle."

He glimpses an excited grin from Astarion before their lips meet and they tumble into the bed.