#also yes grell's pronouns are she/her I am aware

[thegirlinthecher]

[bluelizze]

Ok so having black butler grell brainriot so I completely scrapped all my old black butler ocs to make a sorta self-insert oc kinda situation

(Click to read more about this handsome fella)

Some basic info

Elliott Allen (might change last name idk)

He’s transmasc and goes by he/they pronouns

He’s a vampire (I love vampires and I am one)

Works at a tailor with someone whom he known since their great grandfather (bc some backstory shenanigans)

He loves making outfits as a way to express himself and his feelings

Backstory

Not everything is set in stone but these are just some ideas I have

Obviously, Elliott was born a girl and for the most part was fine except that they felt more masculine on the inside while still enjoying feminine stuff

elliott was also known to be pretty fragile (ik very cliche) so he picked up sewing to pass the time but eventually starts to like it

I have no idea how elliott would become a vampire tbh, so if u have any ideas, lmk

anyways, what made elliott realized that he’s a man was a nice tailor he met when he was window shopping

he and the tailor became good friends and later he learned that it was ok to be a man while accepting his femininity

I should note that he met the tailor after becoming a vampire

He soon became a sort of assistant/apprentice and continue on doing so for every generation pass down

At one point, the tailor built a separate room for Elliott so kinda like a studio but adding a bedroom in the same room bc they learned that Elliott never really comes out of the shop (at this point, lives in the shop)

madam red and her husband were one of their regulars so elliott had some sort of attachment with them

which kinda leds to the next part

AKA MY FAV PART (AKA A PART WHERE SOME OF YOU MIGHT WANT TO STOP IF YOU DONT LIKE)

OC X CANON FT. GRELLE SUTCLIFF THE QUEEN OF REAPERS

The two met shortly after grell became a full ledge reaper and basically elliott was like “omg you are the one I need for this outfit I’m working on” and particularly pushed grell to their tailor to try on the outfit and omg grell looked so pretty

after that, grell would frequently stop by at the shop during closing hours bc she’s aware that that’s when elliott is pretty much active (she doesn’t know they’re a vampire yet)

it would mostly just grell talking about her work and complaining while elliott measures her for his next week or making the outfit has he actively listens

nothing really changes once the two learn of each other’s true nature but it just made the two fell of each other even more

well… for elliott. it takes grell even longer to kinda realize it

bc grell had always fancy other men, it made elliott somewhat jealous and insecure of himself for not fully being the man she wanted

which somewhat led to having the worst gender dyphoria of his life

grell later catches on and basically realizes that elliott was the man she wanted all her life

bc he did not care about the fact that she used to be a man, and loved her as a women and treated and cared for her like one

she realizes that elliott was basically treating her the way she has always dreamed of, for who she is inside and outside

buuuttt it took a while for her to get to elliott bc he was so emotionally closed off

this is where madam red comes in, she was sorta the stepping stone to help grell realizes elliott's pining love for her

she also helped grell by telling elliott that the commission was from someone she knows very well

anyways, elliott just made the dress as he was told only to find out that the person that madam red was talking about was grell and grell basically was like "sooo.... i didn't realize how much i was hurting you and i didn't really mean it..." (idk how to write this without making her out of character)

grell put on the dress and basically fell in love with elliott even harder and basically confessed her love to him by hugging and kissing him (yes in those cartoon fashion ways where lipstick stains was all over elliott's face as he gots heart eyes)

after that, elliott slowly becomes more open with his life and his emotions with grell

he does eventually learn that just because grell fancy other men, doesn't mean she feels any sort of romantic feelings towards them

it doesn't fully stop with elliott possessiveness and jealously towards other men but it wasn't as bad as before

pov: elliott grips grell's waist and basically says "trying to eye my lovely grell aye?" as grell shivers at the possessiveness in elliott's tone

when elliott meets sebastian, the jealously went somewhat off the roof

he was relieve when sebastian verbally shows that he isn't intersted in grell

but elliott was still jealous of him bc sebastian is partically elliott's dream masculinity (if you know what i mean)

it took some time for elliott to open about it with grell and when he did, grell basically spoils him for the rest of day

also yes, elliott does drink blood from grell and ofc grell enjoys it, a little too much but hey, it's a win win for the both of them

elliott did not fully liked the idea of sucking off from other people before he met grell

he still doesn't but he wouldn't mind if it's grell bc he loves her and she enjoys it

even tho it’s not rlly official (they both don’t know when it will be official), they like to call each other husband and wife

“why, this dress is for my lovely wife in red 😙”

“Isn’t my dress lovely 🥰? My hubby made it just for me 😘😘😘”

Trivia

besides the whole vampire aestheic, he was partically inspired by phantom of the oprea

he can dance, specically he can do ballet

he loves doing the waltz with his mannequin in dresses, but now he does it more with grell whenever she models for his outfits

══════════════════

edited: N/A

[haledamage]

World Building Whenever - Riykas

tagged by @queen-scribbles and you know I had to talk about Rika again 😊 I think I did this with Ves/Marii/Kade a few years back, gotta have the complete collection!

B A S I C S

• Full name: Riykas (RYE-kiss) Chana  • Gender:  Female  • Sexuality:  demiromantic/demisexual, I’m pretty sure • Pronouns: She/her

O T H E R S

• Family: Nadia Grell, former padawan (YES SHE COUNTS) • Birthplace: Coruscant • Job: Barsen’thor of the Jedi Order, Jedi Master, Alliance Commander • Phobias: being cut off from the Force, losing or missing out on something because she was too patient, being left behind or forgotten, touching Bad Textures • Guilty pleasures: Fighting, especially opportunities to go crazy with her (extremely powerful) Force abilities; sometimes a girl just wants to rip a dreadnought out of orbit or crush a dozen skytroopers with her mind. Extremely complex competitive strategy games (she and Theran, and later she and Lana, have an ongoing game of something like 5D Chess). Dropping the Aloof Jedi facade and letting herself be silly; having an impromptu snowball fight with her companions was especially memorable (Zenith took it way too seriously and Tharan complained about the cold the whole time, but it was still fun. Felix won.)

M O R A L S

• Morality alignment: At the beginning of the story, Lawful Good. By the time she wakes up out of carbonite, Chaotic Good. It’s a gradual descent into chaos, but she’s aware of it the whole time.  • Sins: lust/greed/gluttony/sloth/pride/envy/wrath • Virtues: chastity/charity/diligence/humility/kindness/patience/justice

T H I S - O R - T H A T

• Introverted/extrovert • Organized/disorganized • Close-minded/open-minded • Calm/anxious • Disagreeable/agreeable (can go either way tbh. She doesn’t argue for the sake of arguing, but she doesn’t just go along with things she disagrees with either, and will argue until she’s blue in the face for things she believes in) • Cautious/reckless • Patient/impatient • Outspoken/reserved (she’s the personification of that one Patrick Rothfuss line: “There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”)  • Leader/follower • Empathetic/unempathetic (too much so, sometimes) • Optimistic/pessimistic.  • Traditional/modern (both? neither? She’s a pretty even balance between the two) • Hard-working/lazy

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

• otp: Riykas/Zenith. I AM MANIFESTING THIS. They are opposites in so many ways, and they help each other grow as they learn to meet somewhere in the middle. It takes them a long time to get there, but they’re nothing if not patient. • ot3: none • brotp: Riykas & Nadia. I think Nadia is, in a lot of ways, the reason Rika opened herself up to love, in any form. Nadia was full on “we’re best friends now” from the moment she stepped onto the ship. She always treated Rika as a person first and a Jedi a distant second, and that helped her see herself as more than just her Destiny. Also, Riykas & Arcann. Zenith may have stolen her heart before Arcann could get there (it’s okay, my SW has already called dibs lmao), but they still have an undeniable connection. He’s a hurricane and she’s the calm at the eye of the storm, except when they’re the other way around. • notp: I don’t think I have one? except the usual suspects

and I’m gonna tag... @rannadylin​ 💖 it’s been too long since I last asked you about your lovely babies

[akumadeshitsumon]

[[Hey everyone, I’d like to drop a quick side note about Grell Sutcliffe, as I’ve had a couple of questions about her by now. This is not in any way aimed at anyone who asked said questions, so please don’t worry! This is for future reference.

TL;DR: Grell Sutcliffe is a woman. If you don’t like that, please keep your opinion to yourself. I’ll leave you alone if you leave me alone. If you can’t keep it to yourself, you know where the unfollow button is. I do not tolerate transphobia or identity policing on my blog. At all. If you want to talk to me about this post, my PMs are open, but any sort of transphobic or aggressive rhetoric WILL get your ass blocked and removed.

Please DO NOT start a debate under this post.

If you comment on this post cannot reply to you, as this is a side blog which cannot be used to post comments. Please PM me instead if you want to talk.

Detailed version: Perceptive readers might note that I have not once used any pronouns for Grell while playing Sebastian on my blog. The reason for this is that I (Admin) am well aware that Grell is a transgender woman* and would thus use she/her pronouns when talking about her. However, Sebastian does not know this, and even if he did, I doubt he’d do her the kindness of referring to her by the pronouns she uses for herself, especially given the fact that he first met her when she was disguised as a man. As misgendering is something I personally have a lot of trouble doing even in fiction, I try to avoid pronouns for her in my posts altogether (which kind of works, as Sebastian seems to regard Grell as some kind of creature who is far beneath him anyway - he refers to her as ‘that shinigami’ a lot in the manga, for example). I shall continue to do so as much as I can, and add disclaimers to any future posts in which I might be unable to do so. I know that Grell’s identity is hotly debated in this fandom, but let me make this abundantly clear: Grell’s identity is not a subject I want to debate on this blog. If you think you cannot keep yourself from sending me asks or questions debating this topic, please see yourself out now. Contrary to popular belief, debate about Grell’s identity is not merely a theoretical debate about the content of this manga that we all love (or in some cases, the anime/musicals that we love). When people debate the identity of a transgender person, even a fictional one, they are saying that this person’s identity is not an indisputable fact, but an opinion that is up for debate. In doing so, they are sending a signal to transgender people in the real world that this is the case for them too. This sort of attitude has far-reaching and very real consequences for the transgender people in our fandom and in the rest of the world, and to be perfectly frank: the feelings of transgender people far more to me than the feelings of transphobes who think they know better than author of the manga herself. I have provided evidence below for those who would like to see it, either because they would like to see Toboso-sensei’s thoughts on the matter, or because they feel entitled to ‘evidence’ for my statements.

Confirmation about Grell being a transgender woman from Toboso-sensei herself.

“[We~ell, Sebastian is one hell of a butler. A demon. That is why his signature phrase is something like ‘I am one hell of a butler.’] [Shinigami all wear black suits and glasses, and they all have green eyes. Their weapons are all agricultural tools, such as very long pruning scissors.] [In truth, William is Grell’s favourite. Sebastian is more what one might call an ‘idol’. Yes, Grell is a man, but has the heart of a maiden.] If you explain it like this, female creators will usually say ‘ah, amazing! I understand!]. Women understand that sort of thing, right~ Grell is a boy, but has the heart of a maiden (laughs).” (Toboso Yana’s old blog, Devil’s 6th day. 24-04-2010) Archived here: https://web.archive.org/web/20160408165816/http://d-6th.com/blog/2010/04/index_2.php Note: this was in 2010, and by her own admission at a later date, Toboso-sensei did not know the “correct” terminology with which to refer to transgender women in those days. In Japanese this statement quite unambiguously means to say that Grell is ‘a woman’s soul born into a man’s body**’ --> a.k.a. a transgender woman. (More info on terminology under ‘keep reading’ below).

“Lycoris. This is a nostalgic scribble of Madame and Grell that I drew at the time of the first performance [of Lycoris]. They are like sisters, like partners in crime, a lady and her servant. The second one is a rare image of off-duty Grell, who is wearing round glasses even though her hair is not black.” - Toboso Yana’s official twitter, 7-1-2018. https://twitter.com/toboso_official/status/949993443601690625

“Ah, but this time after the script was completed, I asked the following of Mr. Uehara, who plays Grell. “Please make her like a strong woman” (laughs). Since the Grell from the original work has not made an appearance between the red butler arc and the luxury liner arc, people often think she is a person who cannot do her job. I asked him [Uehara] to please portray her as a career woman in front of her younger colleague.” Toboso Yana’s Twitter, 1-6-2018. https://twitter.com/toboso_official/status/1002533687508910080 As for Grell herself, this is in the 2009 character guide: https://kuroshitsuji.fandom.com/wiki/File:Grell%27s_Confessional_Highlighted.png 

**Note: I am aware that this terminology is outdated in English. However, we cannot deny that this way of referring to transgender people was used for a long time, and that this is likely to have been the phrasing people in Japan would have come into contact with in 2010. I also invite you to consider that in Japanese language context, language surrounding transgender people evolved differently than in English, and we can not measure Japanese language by English standards. What is considered to be ‘correct’ language in Japan is different from what is ‘correct’ language in English to this day, and this was also the case in 2010. Do not make the mistake of assuming that this is not a real statement because the terminology we use these days is different. Language evolves quickly, just as the field of LGBTQIA+ studies evolves very quickly. Just because a word was not yet available does not mean that the concept it refers to did not yet exist!

[chibimyumi]

I have a question about THE TOPIC. How is Grell being referred to by other shinigami in the original manga?

Dear Anon,

【Edit April 19th, 2019】(some minor typos and vague phrasing)

Throughout the entire manga of Kuroshitsuji, there has not been a single reference to Grell’s gender made by other characters than herself, either during the Jack the Ripper Arc, or after.

NOTE: I have checked the ENTIRE manga for this post. Please note that I am simply stating facts here. Please do NOT start a discussion or spread hate underneath this post.

1. Honorifics - San, Kun, Chan

During the Jack the Ripper Arc, Sebastian did refer to Grell by Mr. Grell in English, but only because the ‘san’ in Grell-san (by which Sebas addresses Grell) cannot be translated into English in a gender neutral way. And at the time, Grell was indeed posing as a male butler.

As Grell was doing a performance as ‘the male butler’, it is only natural to address the role she plays, and not the actress behind the character. Just like how we still refer to 1. Ciel with he/him, while his voice actor is Sakamoto Maaya, a woman. Similarly in the musical, 2. Doll with she/her, while her actor Shitara Ginga is a boy, and 3. Peter by he/him, despite his actress being Kurachi Ayuka, a woman. The same rule would obviously apply to 4. Grell in the musical, who is played by a male actor, Uehara Takuya.

“Ah, but this time after the completion of the script, I had a request to Grell’s actor Mr. Uehara. “Could you please [play her] as a strong woman”, I said (laughs)In the original comics, Grell does not make an appearance between the Red Butler Arc and the Luxury Liner Arc, and therefore people often think she is useless at her job. So I asked [Mr. Uehara] to please portray her as a career woman in front of her kouhai (younger colleague, aka Ronald)” 【Toboso】

Most people have probably seen this post already, but @akumadeshitsumon​ wrote an extensive post about this topic, wherein they also translated this tweet with added explanation.

Chapter 64

Undertaker: “君　どっかで見たと思ったら　マダム・レッドの執事やってた死神クンかあ”

“Kimi, dokka de mita to omottara, Madam Red no shitsuji yatteta shinigami-kun kaa”

“You, I thought I’ve seen you somewhere before, you’re the (junior) reaper who posed as Madam Red’s butler.”

Undertaker refers to Grell as ‘shinigami-kun’. As far as I have understood, in Japanese learning environments, ‘kun’ is usually explained as an honorific used for men. While it is indeed often the case that ‘kun’ is used for boys/men, Undertaker uses this honorific as someone in the position of senpai.

In business settings, many superiors address their juniors with ‘kun’. Especially female workers are usually addressed with ‘kun’ regardless of the status in a workplace. (yes, it does come from a place of sexism.) In short; ‘kun’ is not an inherently male-gendered honorific. Considering how Undertaker is known as ‘the legendary reaper’, he is obviously in his right to assume the position of ‘the senior’ in face of Grell, the junior.

Chapter 124

In contrast, Othello refers to Grell with ‘chan’. ‘Chan’, as most are aware, is usually - though not exclusively - applied to female persons.

Othello: “いやいや　グレルちゃん”

“Iya iya, Grell chan”

It is now more clear that Othello is - year wise- Grell’s senior. But in interacting with Grell, Othello is much more on equal terms, and therefore he does not use ‘kun’ for Grell, but instead ‘chan’. i.e., Othello does not pull rank on Grell.

In a nutshell, the honorifics employed by Undertaker and Othello respectively, are telling the readers something about the rank-dynamics rather than gender-dynamics.

2. Pronouns in Japanese - Null-Subject Language

Japanese is a null-subject language, which means that a sentence does not require to have a subject. In English, we say “I drink tea”. You cannot simply say “drink tea” without it becoming imperative. In Japanese however, it is even considered rather unnatural to include the ‘I’ in the sentence.

私はお茶を飲みます (Watashi wa ocha wo nomimasu)

(Adding the ‘Watashi wa’ will in effect sound like: “It is I, who drinks tea!”Please click here for more about the Japanese language.)

Kuroshitsuji is not an exception either. Like I mentioned above, throughout the entire manga, there has not been a single reference to Grell’s gender made by other characters. Please see the following examples:

Chapter 35

William: “本日付けでアレの謹慎が解けるので嫌な予感がしていたのですが…外れたとは僥倖でした”

“Honjitsuzuke de are no kinshin ga tokeru node iya na yokan ga shiteita no desuga… Hazureta to ha gyoukou deshita.”

“As of today, that thing’s confinement is over and I had a very bad premonition… but I consider myself fortunate I was wrong.”

____________

William: “それは残念でしたね　貴方も　アレも”

“Sore wa zannen deshita ne, anata mo, are mo.”

“That is most unfortunate, for both you and that thing.”

____________

Ronald: ”そーいや　サトクリフ先輩なら異常なテンションで別件行きました”

“So- iya, Sutcliff-senpai nara ijou na tension de bekken ikimashita kedo.”

“Welp, if it is Sutcliff-senpai you are talking about, ＊[Grell] went to a different case with unusual energy.”

＊This is an example of how the null-subject quality of Japanese works. In Japanese, because the subject of the sentence is already clear, namely ‘Suttcliff-senpai’, it would be very unnatural to add another reference there, just like in the “I drink tea” example.

In English however, the opposite is true; if the translator wishes to keep the original grammatical structure, it would be very unnatural to not add another reference and translate: “He/She/They went to […]”. In translating Japanese, the translator is often forced to assume what this intended subject is supposed to be.

In one of the English scanlations I found, the translators did manage to excellently dodge the pronoun.

Similarly, neither does Sebastian use any pronouns for Grell, nor does he even use a subject in his language.

In chapter 12, Sebastian says the following:

Sebastian: “では　その害獣に迷惑をかけない様　しっかり見張っておいて下さい”

“Dewa, sono gaijuu ni meiwaku wo kakenai you, shikkari mihatte oite kudasai.”

“Well then, please make sure to keep a watchful eye so that [Grell (Subject)] will not cause this vermin (sentence Object) any trouble.”

In this sentence, the subject - being Grell - is omitted too for natural flow of the Japanese language.

In the Campania Arc, Grell is being referred to as follows:

Chapter 53

Ronald: “ウチの先輩がお世話んなってマース”

“Uchi no senpai ga osewan nattema-su.”

“My senpai has been in your care.”

____________

Chapter 57

Lizzie: “何あの人!?”Sebas: “ただの変態です 近付くと伝染する恐れがありますのでお下がりください！”

Lizzie: “Nani ano hito!?”Sebas: “Tada no ＊hentai desu, chikazuku to densen suru osore ga arimasu node osagari kudasai!”

Lizzie: “What’s with that person!?”Sebas: “[Grell] is just a pervert, there is risk of contagion upon close contact ���[with Grell], so please stay back!”

＊Here gain, Sebas uses the verb ‘desu’ (is/are) without subject, and also without object in the second part of the sentence, for the benefit of a natural flow inJapanese.

____________

Chapter 58 where O!Ciel stops Sebas from chasing Grell.

O!Ciel: “そんな奴に構ってる場合じゃない！”

“Sonna yatsu ni kamatteru baai janai!”

“This is not the time to engage ＊that person!”

＊In Japanese, ‘Yatsu’ is inherently a gender neutral word that refers to ‘that person’ or ‘that thing’. Usually ‘Yatsu’ is applied to men or boys because the word is not very elegant, and it is considered rude to refer to women using ‘Yatsu’. When no respect or elegance is required for the speaker however - such as in O!Ciel’s case - ‘Yatsu’ is universally applicable to men, women, persons of other genders, and even items.

Example:

Q: “Would you like to have the green bag, or the red bag?”

A: “赤のやつ” (Aka no Yatsu) “The red one”

Chapter 64

Ronald: “先輩のが俺より強いし　そっちはおまかせしまっす”

“Senpai no ga ore yori tsuyoi shi, socchi wa omakase shimassu”

“Senpai is much stronger than I am, I will leave the Undertaker to [Grell].

[chibimyumi]

Asks and Grell’s Gender

Dear everyone,

The past few days had been very turbulent for my blog because the topic about Grell’s gender was brought up.

I am aware that this topic is very sensitive. It is treated as a topic for debate despite there being indisputable proof and me having explained why this evidence is indisputable. However, some asks and PMs have still come in, and it almost makes me feel like I am explaining why the earth is round to Flat-Earthers. The logic is the same: “if I don’t (want to) understand it, it must not be real.”

I know most people so far have sent me really nice asks, and I thank you for that! Honestly. However, I have shut down my Anon for now, because honestly I am pretty tired of defending the legitimacy of not just Toboso’s canon statements, but also the legitimacy of real people’s identities.

The asks regarding this topic I have left in my inbox I shall answer here, but please let this be the end of this topic, because I have ran out of patience.

Yes, it had only been three days, but I have ran out of patience. And for the first time in my life, I have come to realise how tiresome it must be for real transgender people who have to defend their legitimacy on a daily basis, and that this might be the outlook of their future as well.

Dear Asker 1,

I know you probably mean well, but the issue at hand is not ‘accepting each other’s point of views’ and ‘remaining friendly’. The issue at hand is that someone’s identity is not a ‘point of view’. If I were to start saying that Undertaker is in fact a woman and debating the lack of evidence for him being a man, and that people should accept my point of view, I would most definitely become a target for ridicule. As I should be in that case. (Pff, canon Female Undertaker indeed)

If there are any ambiguities left, I would like to invite you to (re)read the posts containing hard evidence here, here, here and here. There is really not much more left I can say that have not already been said in these posts.

Dear Anon 1,

Thank you for this interesting information! I have always been interested in languages and how language influences and shapes thought. When I speak in English, Japanese or other languages, I am still me, but the pattern of thought process becomes very different. It is not like I become an altogether different person, but I do have ‘one side of me’ that comes forward in one language, and ‘another side’ that shows itself in another.

Your example here again attests for just how much influence language - and therefore - translators have in shaping thoughts and understandings.

On another note, I wish to point out that in Japanese, Grell never said: “my body is male”. In case anybody wishes to turn this into evidence for Grell’s maleness; In the original canon, Grell is merely stating a fact that happened to her.

“アタシも赤ちゃんが欲しいのに男ってだけでダメだもの”

“Atashi mo akachan ga hoshii no ni otoko tte dake de dame da mono.”

“I too wanted a baby, but they said that I am a man so I can’t.”

Dear Anon 2,

First of all, as demonstrated in 1.here, 2.here, 3.here, 4.here, 5.here and 6.here again, Yana never used male pronouns for Grell, and there is no ground to stand on that Grell is male.

Secondly, if you are referring to “Yes, Grell is a man, but has the heart of a maiden,” (Toboso, 2010), that was simply the lack of accurate terminology in Japanese for a transgender woman from almost a decade ago. Transgender studies have developed entirely differently than within Euro-American discourse. As such, holding Yana’s words from 9 years ago accountable as accurate NOW in the English speaking community would be Euro-Americentrist at best.

Thirdly, I am not saying that all people who think Grell is a man do it for yaoi; but one cannot deny that among many of such people, they either do it to ship Grell in a context as ‘the male lover’ regardless of the gender of the other shipped subject, or for any other reason for which they “wish” she were male.

Finally, it is not about ‘wanting’ Grell to be transgender, but identifying Grell as a transgender character. Madam Red for one is also a ‘misogynistic anti choice serial killer’, and although in a different way, also a trope character. I however have never seen anybody ‘NOT wanting her to be a female representation’, because her gender is not treated as debatable.

Though from a different series, Sister Krone from ‘Promised Neverland’ is also a ‘problematic serial killer and a trope character’. And for obvious reasons people would also ‘not want her to be black representation’. I have seen nobody disputing the fact that she is a black character, nevertheless.

I wish to stress that a representation is not always a good one. A representation - however problematic - is still representation. Even if Grell were a man, Man!Grell would still be ‘a misogynistic anti choice serial killer’. In this case however, Man!Grell would be a heavily queer-coded or actually queer man who decides who cannot have hysterectomy, and makes a final judgement for his victims.

In short, if Grell had been a man, then instead of a problematic transgender female character, we would have had a problematic queer-coded male character.

Simple maths brings us to: We will always be left with an offensive queer representation, regardless of what Grell’s gender is. So who wins?

In the very least, if we will be stuck with an offensive queer representation, then at least the legitimacy of transgender identity should not be questioned; that is the least we can do to minimise the offence.