#a3! trans

[voulez-valentine]

has this been done before

[riddlerosehearts]

while my mind is still on the subject of transfem genderfluid taichi. i very recently got around to reading SSR family and my main takeaway after getting through all the backstage stories for it, and then especially after also reading citron's backstage story for devil maid's holiday, was this:

[akaikami-cherryblossom]

Spoilers for new a3! characters

I can’t be the only one who’s just a little disappointed that the fem-looking one isn’t a woman, right?

[coverednstars]

Ever since I joined my local theatre I wondered if Weird shit happening is just normal in theater I only assumed A3 was just joking but no one of our leads for our musical was kidnapped by her brother, one of our directors was recently arrested for using and selling coke to ppl including one of my crew mate, 3/5ths of us all genuinely believe our theatre is haunted with people having multiple experiences, One of our cast members literally being in a hit and run where the hey both left where he did bc he was late to the show and all of this was just within the last show season

[satoumafuyuss]

should i make a video about how fandoms have a really bad habit of enforcing gender roles onto characters when they hc them as trans

like "this character paints his nails so hes a woman" or "this character isn't traditionally feminine so she must be a man"?

i see it way too often. i wanna make a video about it.

[a3prideflags]

Trans flag color picked from Itaru Chigasaki!

[xo8ball]

the biggest influences on my gender have been an anime boy with dog traits with an absolutely pathetic skater boyfriend aesthetic and a real singer with many queer allegories and probably queer themselves that is a married father and icon of the emo culture who kissed his guitarist a little too many times. what does this mean.

[mogai-headcanons]

Tsuzuru Minagi from Act! Addict! Actors! is a gay asexual trans man who uses he/him pronouns!

Misumi Ikaruga is an autistic panromantic asexual trigender age regressor with a special interest in triangles who uses he/him, it/its, tri/tris, she/her, and xe/xem pronouns!

Yuki Rurikuwa is a demiromantic asexual transmasculine nonbinary person who uses he/him, they/them, and it/its pronouns!

Muku Sakisaka is a panromantic asexual trans man demiboy who uses he/him, prince/princes, they/them, love/loves, angel/angels, and dream/dreams pronouns!

Kazunari Miyoshi is a GNC pansexual person with ADHD who uses any pronouns!

Kumon Hyodo is a panromantic asexual demiboy with severe anxiety and panic disorder who uses he/him, they/them, and it/its pronouns!

Taichi Nanao is a pansexual girlflux trans woman who uses she/her, they/them, pup/pups, ve/ver, and shey/shem pronouns!

Sakyo Furuichi is a heteroflexible asexual trans man who uses he/him and it/its pronouns!

Azami Izumida is an autistic GNC demiromantic asexual trans demiboy with a special interest in makeup who uses he/him, they/them, hx/hxm, and shey/shem pronouns!

dni link

[fatuiharbinger11]

i love that almost every joseimuke also has a cunty transfem/nb person to balance things out

[catboirights]

you af

https://www.tumblr.com/legthief/709717995122982912/i-have-a-disease-of-sorts?source=share

Quite literally me before I realised it was gender envy happening

[lyraofthestarsss]

SOMEONE PLEASE DROP THE NAME OF THE EVENT I WANT TO READ THIS SO BAD

Here's another bonkers A3! thing I completely forgot about, but there was an event where Muku had to dress as a girl and compete (on behalf of the company) in a "best wife to be" contest against Citron's childhood fiancee for his hand in marriage

[theeniebeanie]

fat trans Toya sketch on my big ass a3 sketchbook I dropped my apple pencil and it needs a new nib which is soon but they're not in my possession yet. anyway read @silly-goose-kid girltoya fics they made me normal. I'll draw girltoya properly at some point this is is just for Now. whatever heart ❤️

[kaiasky]

If you think basic feminism of “hey centering men as a distinct victim class of hegemonic power structures is bad actually” is “boys vs girls cootie wars” and “trans women’s oppression can be fixed by removing the stigma around their perceived masculinity” is real I think there is no saving you actually

I think maybe we are speaking towards the same goal in different ways. Like yeah, I'm wholly uninterested in "men are equal victims of patriarchy" shit. & certainly I'm not particularly interested in "ooh we have to make feminism appealing to men we have to encourage Positive Masculinity" stuff I just truly do not care. base and superstructure and all that, if you want to make change you focus on "do dv & homelessness shelters accept trans ppl" and "pass antidiscrimination and bodily autonomy laws" and "build up power and support in ur local area" etc. not "masculinity can b good".

& in that sense I think a correct queer politics is one that places very little political importance on correct identity or presentation. eg almost any sentence that must reference "femininity" or "masculinity" is extremely contingent and is better replaced w more universal values like "peoples presentations are their own" and "consent is important". (note that while these values are neutral, the actions one should take are not since the values conflict with inequalities in society.)

At the risk of sacrificing convincing power for clarity, I'm gonna diagram the argument as best i can and as fairly as I can (since it's hard to talk about while half of the text is sarcastic "not me thinking x")

A. Screenshot

Gender abolition (of some kind) is a goal of the queer community.

Masculinity as a form of expression can be just one form of being.

Within (some) queer communities masculinity is currently seen as something other than "one valid form of expression among others"

People coming to accept masculinity is necessary for achieving gender abolition.

B. Replies

Accepting masculinity is not the most important step for abolishing gender, contra A4

"Accepting masculinity" as queers means accepting patriarchal society, so A2 is impossible.

Gender abolition is a goal (A1) but it does not include accepting masculinity (A4) and involves moving beyond it

C: My reply

One example of A3 is that trans women often receive undue scrutiny to their "masculine" habits/hobbies/appearance.

B2 is false since obviously somebody having "masculine" performance is not in itself predatory.

B2 affirming that masculinity is inextricably patriarchal makes the expression of it essentially a "stain" on somebody's character--a person affirming B2 would be inconsistent if they didn't view butches, transmascs, gay men, etc with suspicion.

This conclusion (C3) means that B as a whole amounts to unproductive infighting.

D: Your ask

C4 misunderstands the context, because A amounts to the idea that men are a marginalized class

C1 amounts to arguing that transmisogyny is entirely due to perceived masculinity.

Things of note:

I don't know who the first screenshot is--I'm taking them at their word, but possibly they're a total shit head in which case I understand the difference in reactions. Notably, A4 just asserts that it's a necessary precondition while B1 calls it the most important one--either that is something A has said elsewhere, or its mistakenly introduced.

I guess I'm not much of a gender abolition believer so A1/A4/B1/B3 don't matter much for me. I think however that broadly I align more with B here in that I don't think gender abolition is something where you can point to specific social preconditions as much as to material conditions that lessen the importance of gender & the strictness of its policing over time.

I'll cop to "boys vs girls cootiewar" not being entirely clear, but D1 is clearly false bc it associates 1-to-1 men with masculinity and supposes that A considers masculinity oppressed globally, instead of rejected by people who might otherwise advocate gender abolition.

WRT D2--C1 gives a limited example and does not claim that this represents most or all of transphobia.

Anyways. hope that makes sense. And more importantly I hope the first paragraphs make sense and are something we share. Shouldn't have posted a snarky reply to a snarky thread--there was no way it would ever be received productively and so the only benefit gained is in being bitter online, a pleasure I probably shouldn't be indulging in. have a nice day anon, if you have concerns or think I misunderstood, feel free to dm me

[lesbiansloveseokjin]

day 20/639 of yoongi's military service

this selca was posted on 130619 with the caption:

Yesterday I finally did the laundry 짝짝짝!! SUGA, the man who always keeps his promises, is now going to Show Champion~ Kookie is leaning on the hyung's shoulder!! eungkyakya

(trans cr: Iraide @ bts-trans)

Yoongi did a short Q&A that day on twitter. Here are the questions he answered:

Hello, It's SUGA, we're going to Show Champion but all the members are sleeping... :( everyone is sleeping in this moment!! I'll receive 3 questions from you and I'll answer them!! eungkyakya

Q1:SUGA, who’s the cutest dongsaeng ?

A1: All the dongsaengs are cute, but SUGA it’s the cutest

Q2: What’s in Yoongi’s (SUGA’s) bag?

A2: All your letters!! When a letter arrives I put it into my bag so I can read it when I’ve time 응캬캬 when I read them my fatherly smile appears :)

Q3: Suga-ya, do you have abs?

A3: I actually have them but I left them on my hometown Daegu… :) I’ll look for them next time 응캬캬

The 3 questions are over eungkyakya the next time I'll let you ask more questions :) let's see at Show Champion~~ ㅎ

(trans cr: Iraide @ bts-trans and x)

Eungkyakya I finally did the laundry!! Doing the laundry it's hard right? :( SUGA, the man who keeps his promises eungkyakya P.S. If you look at this like this it's extremely... e... e... erotic... eungkyakya :)

(trans cr: Iraide @ bts-trans)

[virtualgirladv]

a3!

Autism trans mecha girl, so accurate it almost hurts <3

You give e6! :3

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

RANTING ABOUT YAMATO D. ONE PIECE

This turned into my most obnoxious rant of all time.

…So I logged on because I was gonna go on this rant about how Yamato D. One Piece is not a fucking trans man. But tons of people smarter than me have already explained this.

I feel uniquely qualified to speak on this because I am transgender. I’m half White, but I know a thing or two about Japanese culture… 

It is so fucking cringe that people think BOKUKKOS are trans men!!!

It’s all white people too!!! I’m not judging trans people in the Japanese diaspora (or, from an Asian country that Japan colonized). But the white people are really not helping… A lot of them aren’t even trans too!!

Do I really have to explain why Yamato D. Hottest Bokukko in Fiction would be a terrible example of a trans man? 

How much more obvious do you have to make it that you think trans men are women?

If you want to see an actual good example of a trans man in manga, look no further than Sechs D. Battle Angel Alita:

This dude disappears for a bit and when he comes back later, he’s a guy now. 

Nobody gives a shit because it’s the future. 

Also, gender transition is really good in the future… He has a fully functioning dick, balls, and Y chromosome now… He was under 5’ before this, now he’s over 6’... He is arguably the real protagonist of Battle Angel Alita Last Order… This man really is living the dream!

…But as I say this, I also think it is totally fine to theorize that Yamato is transgender. 

How I do explain this? 

I think it is really toxic to insist that Yamato is trans in canon, but that it is equally toxic to put people down for theorizing that she is trans. 

Literally… the most memed thing in the entire One Piece fandom is the insane fan theory that Sir D. Crocoboy is secretly female-to-male transgender, and he gave birth to Monkey D. Luffy. Boys, I’m not even agnostic on this one… I’m just fully atheist. I think this is the craziest, most noncanoniest theory ever, but because it’s One Piece anything is possible… There is a nonzero probability that the Crocomomists are actually right.

With this in mind, is it really that crazy to speculate that Yamato will later turn out to be transgender? Imagine this: At the very end of One Piece, we find out that Yamato met up with Emporio D. Ivankov off-screen, and she’s just a guy now. Would anyone really be that surprised by this? The same fandom that memes the shit out of Crocomom and thinks everyone is secretly Rocks D. Xebec’s son… Is this really that insane of a theory? 

I just think people need to stop insisting that Yamato “is” trans (as in, “is trans in canon; you’re transphobic if you disagree”) but it’s totally fine to make theories, or non-canon headcanons.

* * *

It just dawned on me that I genuinely do have a potentially “interesting” perspective on this, given that I am transgender and also familiar with Japanese culture. I worked for a Japanese company for several years!

…Well, I’m going to reiterate points that smarter people have already made, but here goes:

Being a radically different culture from the West, Japan has different media tropes related to gender. 

Yamato is the trope called “Bokukko” (ボクっ娘): https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%83%9C%E3%82%AF%E3%81%A3%E5%A8%98 

If you cannot read Japanese, here is an English language description of the trope: https://the-dere-types.fandom.com/wiki/Other:Bokukko 

Yamato is also the trope of “girl raised as boy”. This is a very common trope in Asian media.

One of the most famous examples of this in Japanese media is Rose of Versailles. 

The main character is named Lady Oscar. She is not transgender, but a woman who was raised as a boy. 

Compare Lady Oscar

With Yamato

Don’t their hairstyles look a little similar? 

When Yamato first appeared, I thought to myself, “Is it possible that Yamato is inspired by Lady Oscar?”

She actually is!

On June 6th, 2019, Oda actually confirmed that he took inspiration from Rose of Versailles. 

“I finished reading Glass Mask, so now I’m reading Rose of Versailles. Oscar was a woman?!”

Yamato was revealed in 2020. 

This is why I refer to Yamato as “she”. It is not to “misgender” her. She is not transgender, but Oda’s take on “Lady Oscar”!

I think people outside of Japan have this perception that the Japanese fandom is transphobic, but this is not true! Well, not entirely true… Of course, there is a side of the Japanese fandom that is transphobic, but this is also true in the West. Much like the Western fandom, there is also a side of the Japanese fandom that is LGBT friendly!

Yamato’s gender even caused confusion in the Japanese fandom. In the side that is LGBT friendly, there is some discourse surrounding whether she should be considered “transgender” (トランスジェンダー) or “genderless” (ジェンダーレス). 

The general consensus is that Kikunojo can be considered “transgender” (トランスジェンダー), while it is better to describe Yamato as “genderless” (ジェンダーレス). 

Why Kikunojo is “transgender” (トランスジェンダー): 

This phrase “I am a woman at heart” confirms that her gender identity is female.

This is reflected in her Vivre Card: 

The Vivre Card reads:

性別:男（心は��）

Literal translation:

Sex: Male (Heart is female)

心 literally means “heart”, but in this context it means gender identity. 

This is how the Vivre Card confirms that Kikunojo is transgender.

Why Yamato is not “transgender” (トランスジェンダー): 

Rather than saying “I am a man at heart” or “I am a man!”, Yamato says “Kozuki Oden was a man, right? So I became a man, too!!"

Yamato does not properly have a male gender identity; rather, she literally identifies as Kozuki Oden. 

Oda also describes Yamato as Kaido’s daughter (娘), and her first person pronoun is “boku” (僕). This is noteworthy, as most of the male characters in One Piece use the pronoun “ore” - including Kozuki Oden! This makes Oda’s intent obvious: Yamato is not “transgender”, but a “bokukko”.

This too is reflected in Yamato’s Vivre Card: 

The card simply reads: 

性別:女

No difference from any other female character.

If Yamato was transgender, it would say this instead: 

性別:女（心は男）

We can also tell that Yamato is not transgender from the way she is drawn.

Here is Yamato standing next to Kikunojo:

Oda draws male characters differently from how he draws female characters, not just in terms of body type but also face. Because he is respectful of transgender people, he makes this decision based on gender identity (心). You can discern a character’s gender identity through the visual language of the manga.

Kikunojo’s eyes and facial structure are drawn like a female character. It is a very respectful portrayal. 

Yamato’s eyes and facial structure are also drawn like a female character. If Yamato was a trans man, this would be disrespectful. But because she is not transgender, this is how Oda visually communicates that Yamato is a woman.

A lot of people point to the Vivre Cards as definitive proof that Yamato is not transgender, but I also think the comment regarding Rose of Versailles is definitive. If you’re familiar with Japanese fictional tropes, it’s pretty obvious that Yamato is not transgender. 

Rather than being transgender, Yamato can be described as “genderless” (ジェンダーレス). “Genderless” (ジェンダーレス) doesn’t exactly mean the English word “genderless”; rather, it describes a Japanese cultural trend where people defy rigid gender norms without being part of the LGBT community. It isn’t LGBT representation, but this “genderless” (ジェンダーレス) representation is also important in Japanese media.

Let’s compare Yamato with Sechs (Battle Angel Alita).

Unlike Yamato, Sechs can be described as “transgender”. 

Previously I showed what Sechs looked like in his new body, but this is what he looked like at the beginning of the manga: 

In terms of appearance, it is obvious that he is physically female. But his style, movements, facial structure, and even body structure all appear more masculine. 

His speech is very aggressive and masculine, including his first pronoun “ore” (オレ) which is actually written in katakana to convey the roughness of his personality.

When he reappears a few volumes later, he looks like this:

He changed his body to match his gender identity. Nothing about his pattern of speech changes, because he always had a male gender identity (心は男). Yukito Kishiro was WAY ahead of his time with this one...!

As I’m writing this, I can totally see why this confuses people, especially if you can’t read Japanese. But if you’re going to engage with Japanese media, I highly recommend learning Japanese. Japanese is such a different language from English, a lot gets lost in translation.

At the same time, I don’t think it’s inconceivable that Yamato might change her gender later on. This is gonna blow your mind, but writers can change their mind about a character in the middle of writing a story. It is clear that Oda did not originally plan for Yamato to be transgender, but he could change his mind about this.

If fans were describing this as a fan theory, I would be supportive! That’s actually a fun and interesting theory.

Really, what I object to is this weird “fandom tyranny” that happens on both sides. It’s harmful to be like “You are transphobic if you don’t think Yamato is transgender” but equally harmful to be like “You’re so stupid and not allowed to think Yamato might be transgender.”

Both of these sides contribute to negative perceptions of transgender people in Japan!

Can we just respect each other’s opinions without trying to impose our own?

Thanks for coming to my TEDx Talk!