#because it was so affirmingly drawn i can't describe it properly

[reitziluz]

psa: happy trans headcanons are radical and good

there’s nothing wrong in portraying different struggles, but you don’t have to include great struggle and suffering to your trans headcanon - trans people can have easy and happy lives, and it’s more than ok for your headcanon to be a happy escapist thing.

you don’t have to always center your headcanon around transitioning struggles or the character being denied access to treatments that they need and want. it’s good and radical to portray trans people who are post-transition (whatever that means to them!!) and in a good place in life. this goes double for trans adults - there are many of us who are autonomous and independent, who have overcome the hurdles between them and the treatments they want. it’s a good thing to portray characters like this to give hope, to remind people that yes it is possible, the future isn’t hopeless! 

i love the representation of different experiences regarding especially medical transitioning in fandom that mainstream media lacks. recently, however, i realized my discomfort with certain portrayals wasn’t just linked to my personal experiences with dysphoria, but to the way especially adult trans headcanons tend to focus on the characters being in a perpetual state of being denied the treatments they desperately need, instead of portraying for example non-op trans men through an affirming lens, as men who made and own their own decisions. this is talking about adult characters who in canon are independent, financially well-off, and otherwise in a very fortunate position to pursue medical transition!! why do we do this? why can’t we allow being trans to be a happy thing and trans people being successful even when everything in canon is enabling that? 

so especially my fellow trans folks, don’t feel like your headcanon is “too idealistic” or “too perfect” or any of that shit! if you don’t want to discuss the hardships or struggles, don’t! happy stories are useful and valuable too, especially when reality is often the opposite.