#hes the first transfem transmasc with no assigned gender at birth

[autisminfinite]

he/she umbra is so real im such a genius for that

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Idk why but lately I've been thinking a lot about a reader who is some flavor of trans/didn't vibe with their assigned gender at birth. Maybe in a scenario where they were kinda neglected with the X-men they were worried being different like that would only make them more isolated/get reader in trouble. So in a scenario like in fallen snow au where they are separated from the yans for an extended period of time and find themselves free and living on their own, reader just goes all out with dressing and presenting themselves in a way that they feel like they couldn't before. Like, they look completely different from when they left/ran away from the mansion.

When the yans do find reader? Reader has gone all out, they realized theyre transfem? Reader is wearing all the girly clothes she always wanted to but was too scared to try. Reader realized theyre transmasc? He's cut his hair, has a binder and models his look after like- Ryan Reynolds or something. Reader realized theyre nonbinary? They be rocking the most slaying fit that reassures them of their androgenous identity.

Idk just- the x-men finally finding reader after a long time only to realize just how little they all really knew reader. The yans realizing just how badly they messed up bc only when reader was alone and away from the mansion did reader feel confident/comfortable enough to come out. Heck, maybe reader DID try to come out but the yans were just that neglectful.

The real question is if the yans overcorrect themselves and slather trans!reader with affection or just act like reader always presented as their preferred gender and the yans try to pretend they didnt mess up as badly as they did.

I was thinking about this as well-

If Creed Reader (or any Reader) was trans (transfem/transmasc/transenby), they'd feel like they could breath, could just be, foe the first time they're alone amd on their own. They have no one to please, no reason to pretend, nothing to hide or standards to reach or anything holding them back. So they get creative. Go all out.

They're transfem? Good bye nether region, hello lipstick and sleek dresses and skirts and appearing more feminine! They adore feeling this way, and enjoy becoming more of themself each day!

They're transmasc? Good bye chest, and welcome extra hair everywhere and wearing only shorts and trying different suits on and appearing more masculine! They appreciate the warmth they feel, and accept their new changes with open arms!

They're transenby? Well, they're doing whatever they want! Don't want a chest? It's gone! Don't like their lower regions? They're changing them! They want to wear tank tops and shorts and not be too curvy or muscular? Ha! It's no problem! They like being them, not necessarily a male or female, just them, scars and flesh and soul and all!

The platonic yans, upon seeing Reader for the first time in awhile, are shocked.

Reader is... a guy/woman/envy?

They know even less about them then they thought!

The platonic yans are bending over backwards to try and get their pronouns right, trying to appeal to their preferred wants and likes, calling them pretty or beautiful or handsome or gorgeous or cute or stunning, whatever makes them smile or feels good, they'll do it, just tell them! Reader likes skirts or shorts or pants? Oh, look, a whole closet full, each in varying lengths and styles and colors! Reader likes certain body sprays or perfumes or scents? Here's a new one to try each day of the year, in enough scents that any body or beauty store woukd be jealous! Reader wants to appear a certain way? Let them help! Be it braiding their hair or trimming it or shaving it off or growing it out or whatever they want, let them know, amd they'll accommodate it!

They're all so, so eager, and very, very overzealous in their efforts. They will NOT fail this time. And if anyone gets Reader's gender wrong?

That person will find a very p*ssed-off Sabretooth, Wolverine, Charles Xavier, Morph, and a whole herd of unhappy teens about to beat their *ss.

Reader is THEIR little sunshine, so they better treat them with respect!!!

[maochira]

hello everything is fine? I saw that requests are open and I would like to know if you can write paternal headcanons with (noa, lavinho, snuffy and chris) with the reader who is the only girl in blue lock? (does the fem reader have a calm, balanced and analytical personality?) Thank you in advance.

Hi! I only write fem!reader if reader is a lesbian, so...

Tags: fem!lesbian!reader, dad!character, something with periods (not reader getting it), I didn't exactly stick to reader's personality like in the request I'm sorry, I got very carried away with this one

Additional characters: non-binary!afab!Kurona and Isagi (Bastard München), transmasc!Chigiri and transmasc!Reo (Manshine City), non-binary!amab!Bachira and Otoya (Barcha), transfem!Aryu and transmasc!Sendou (Ubers)

Dad!Noa + non-binary!Kurona and Isagi

Because Noa and Ego know each other, you got to join Blue Lock right at the start of the second selection. You never bothered to hide the fact that you're a girl. In the beginning, your fellow players were confused but at the end of the day, they really didn't care since all they wanted was to become the best striker. They only saw you as another obstacle to overcome. Because of your gender, they figured you'd be easier to beat than the other guys. But they were very, very wrong.

Nobody expected you to win the second selection, where you ended up in a clearing team with Shidou, Igaguri, Reo and Kurona. You and Kurona became great friends quickly, as the two of you were able to bond by sharing experiences from growing up being treated as a girl, which all of the other boys in Blue Lock could never relate to. And now in the Neo Egoist League, together with Isagi you've become an unstoppable trio that's constantly talked about on social media as "Kaiser's and Ness' biggest rivals."

In the first few weeks of your participation in Blue Lock, Noa was very unsure if he made the right choice by letting you go there. Of course, he gave you the choice, but he had the final say. He was mainly concerned about what Ego's approach to soccer might do to you, and he was worried that that might make you lose your passion for soccer. The moment your father got to see you again in the Neo Egoist League, he realized his worry was unnecessary because your new, egotistical approach to soccer didn't end up changing anything about the you he knew before.

Dad!Chris + transmasc!Chigiri and transmasc!Reo

You came along when your father travelled to Japan, but participating in the Neo Egoist League wasn't your original plan. But during your first conversation with Ego, he mentioned even though you play for a girl's team back at home, he thinks highly of your skills and would like you to participate.

Although, you found yourself regretting that decision very soon. Only being surrounded by boys you didn't know made you uncomfortable. Combined with your rather shy personality, that led to you never talking to anyone outside of soccer training and matches.

Despite Chris' attempts to get you to befriend any of your new teammates, you preferred to stay in your room whenever you could. That changed when one evening, you heard a knock on the door to your room. When you opened it, you were met with Chigiri and Reo awkwardly asking for a pad because Reo got his period. You were confused for a moment before the dots in your head connected and you realized Reo must be assigned female at birth. You didn't waste any time and quickly brought Reo an extra pack of pads. To avoid any uncomfortable silence, Chigiri laughed a bit and mentioned he would have given Reo a pad, but he only had tampons left and Reo was uncomfortable with those.

You started complaining and joking about your period as well, which quickly led to the three of you becoming friends. Even though you were so intimidated by everyone around you when it came to any interactions outside the field, this situation broke the ice and finally made you comfortable with at least two of your teammates.

Dad!Lavinho + non-binary!Bachira and Otoya

Lavinho took you along to Japan without even mentioning the reason. No matter how many times you asked, he would always respond by saying it'll be a surprise.

And a surprise it was. You were overjoyed when you found yourself in the Blue Lock building. You had previously seen the Blue Lock Eleven vs U-20 match and were impressed by their skills.

Unlike your father, you weren't a soccer player. You had always aspired to become a coach, though. Lavinho promised that he would let you take over as a coach in the Neo Egoist League, and that he would simply stay at your side to make sure everything was going alright and occasionally give you advice.

You and Bachira became best friends the moment you looked at each other for the first time. It was like platonic love at first sight. And as Bachira's best friend, you would spend all your free time with them, playing soccer together, despite your miserable skills on the field, and talking about anything on your mind.

Occasionally Otoya would attempt to flirt with you, despite your frequent reminders that you're only into girls. At some point, it became a running joke within the team and everyone would start flirting with Otoya, quoting the exact things he said to you.

Dad!Snuffy + transfem!Aryu and transmasc!Sendou

Being in the Ubers team is like being at a big family reunion. Just without the awkward questions about what you plan to do in your future and everything else relatives like to ask. All the dynamics within the team resemble some sort of typical family stereotype.

The dynamic between you and Aryu is the one of an older sister teaching her younger sister all sorts of things about clothes, make-up and talking about dating. Although, the roles of who's the younger and who's the older one keeps changing all the time. Sometimes it's you giving Aryu dating advice, sometimes it's her teaching you how to use make-up properly. The two of you frequently have what you would call "girls night" and stay up way too long.

Despite Sendou being a little older than you, you've become like an older sister figure to him. Sendou often gets insecure about his body, and you're always there to comfort him. With you and Aryu as the only other girls around, you've become his safe space.

Before coming to Blue Lock, Snuffy was worried about how you might handle the new environment and how it could influence you negatively. But now he's more than happy to see how well you get along with everyone.

[heartscrypt]

Do you have any headcanons for transfem Riddle

OH BOY DO I EVER. sorry this is going to be a HELLISH long post i have been saving all my thoughts

- before riddle realizes she's a girl she does the thing of like. "mother i want to be like you" and mimicks her mother a lot (this is because her mother is the only female figure in her life and riddle doesn't Actually want to be her mom she wants to be what her mom Is which is a WOMAN). her mother, being an overbearing control freak, is far too pleased by this (because she enjoys the idea of a child who is a second version of her)

- never goes as far as trying to wear her mother's dresses or putting on her mother's makeup because touching her mother's personal items feels like a death sentence regardless of how badly she wants to dress up. instead settles for encouraging her mother to buy them matching clothing so that riddle can dress a little more femininely while also flying under the radar

- she realized she was a girl around the time she started sneaking out to see chenya and trey. mostly because they would start talking about themselves when they were playing. chenya especially has always been ambiguously gendered even as a kid (and occasionally i think of trey as transmasc) so they were kind of her gateway to the concept of "you don't have to be the gender you were assigned at birth"

- she grew up with a very black and white view of gender though so she initially refused to come to terms with the fact that she was transfem when chenya + trey brought it up as a possibility. denied it adamantly and insisted that maybe it wasnt true for them but She was confined to the gender she was at birth despite however she felt

- in response chenya just started referring to her using she/her anyways. lol. sending this girl into a crisis by using her proper pronouns before she even comes to terms with the fact that those are her proper pronouns

- approached the subject of wanting to be a girl Once with her mom. her mom reacted like ?what and riddle got scared and immediately backed down

(note: this is because riddle is terrified of her mom's reaction to literally Anything that doesn't fit her vision of what riddle Should be, not necessarily because riddle's mom is transphobic. it's an easy route to say she's transphobic since she's. You know. The Worst. but i have to remind you all that you can be a shitty person even if you're not transphobic and also i think transphobia hcs in fictional universes where transphobia could plausibly not exist are cornyyyy boooooo why would you want transphobia to exist in canon /hj)

- socially transitioned as soon as she came to nrc. like marched up to crowley's office as soon as freshman orientation was over and demanded to change her gender on all school documentation. girl relax its been like an hour

- has not had the means to medically transition yet (her mother has complete control over her medical records) but has been researching the effects of hrt on her own time. it's part of her "studies to be a medical mage" (wink)

- in her freshman year she's still not used to being socially out despite having charged into it at full speed so. she uses heartslabyul rules as a cover of sorts so she can justify to herself things like putting on eyeliner and wearing heels (because that's tradition for the heartslabyul housewarden, not because she wants to. Obviously). fighting invisible demons

- the last time trey saw riddle was when she was still trying to fit into her assigned gender at birth so she's so incredibly nervous meeting him again this time with the knowledge that she's a girl. she knows he'll be accepting because hes. Trey. but it still feels strange. however he is her biggest supporter 🔥🔥🔥 one of her first gender euphoria moments is when he introduces her to cater as one of his childhood best friends and uses the correct pronouns the entire time while referring to riddle's past closeted self. she nearly cries

- deuce (cis) is way too enthusiastic about being an ally. he wears his he/him pronoun badge with pride. addresses riddle as ma'am. drinks his respect women juice. maybe puts a little Too much emphasis on riddle being a lady to the point where riddles like Ok this is too much.

- riddle and vil are baby transfem + elder transfem solidarity. this is honestly just canon if you read the halloween riddle vignette. but im gonna take it one step further and say vil helps riddle gradually feel more comfortable with her identity without feeling the need to justify her actions with some arbitrary rule. also instructs her on how to do makeup because riddles never done anything like that pre-nrc

- cater (genderfluid, loves to experiment on both sides of the gender spectrum when it comes to fashion) definitely regularly insists on taking riddle out to buy cute clothes and dresses. riddle bristles at the idea of being so frivolous when the only thing she Needs to wear at nrc is the uniform but she actually finds herself enjoying the little outings. after they go shopping they'll go to a nice cafe so that riddle can get a cute sweet treat and cater can post it on his magicam without actually having to consume anything sweet himself. they are friends :')...

- ohhhh thinking about their shopping trips is so </3 i love them so much. riddle has old lady fashion taste (tfw your middle aged mom is the only female figure in your life for 16 years and all she wears is dresses that look like theyre from the 17th century) and cater is just a little appalled. says the clothes riddle picks out aren't even vintage they're just Old. riddle retorts that the clothes cater picks out make no sense style-wise. she thinks things like crop tops and ripped jeans are stupid as a concept ("where's the rest of the shirt?" and "why would you want to buy damaged pants?" are common questions cater must endure when shopping for any type of modern fashion with riddle around)

- ace (transmasc guy) likes to torment riddle with gender-affirming misogyny. it's a joke that it is only funny to him. like he'll go "girls 🙄 all they do is nag" (he says its funny because he used to be a girl ok he's allowed to say that) whenever riddle starts bossing him around and riddle gets sooo fucking madhdDGDHHFH

[intersex-questions]

as an afab trans intersex person, i usually find myself greatly relating to transfems more than any transmasc i know (like having intense dysmorphia/dysphoria over not being perceived as feminine for traits i have, feeling like i have to feminise myself more than cis women to be considered feminine, having people think im a guy due to my features and/or voice, ect) but i always worry that since i am in fact afab its weird or inappropriate or even disrespectful to relate at all to their experiences, even when i fairly commonly get mistaken as transfem (happened even yesterday the day im writing this)

so is it weird to that i relate to transfems more due to my masculising intersex traits? is it bad that i do?

(also… i may send another ask about this but is there any feasible way for someone who seem to have gone through mostly female puberty to medically feminise, in the way transfems usually do? when i find myself relating i usually wish i could also do that)

Thank you so much for sharing these feelings. You are absolutely not alone in how you feel. Many intersex people, and even perisex people, feel the way you do.

This answer is going to have an inclusionist perspective. Exclusionists of both the queer (especially trans) community and intersex community might have a different perspective than I do. I believe myself to be correct, but acknowledge that others will not. I am biased.

First, gender dysphoria among intersex people is incredibly common. Dysphoria is a feeling and experience not limited to gender dysphoria, but it also does often manifest as gender dysphoria in intersex people, including cisgender intersex people or intersex people whose gender aligns closely with what they were assigned at birth. I experience gender dysphoria over my body's gender it was assigned at birth, even though I don't present as that gender and don't wish to.

Second, there absolutely are intersex people who were assigned female at birth (AFAB) and label as transfem. This is a thing in the community. I know many, many intersex people who were AFAB and label as intersex. I know FTM intersex people who were AFAB and also identify as transfem or MTF. I know cis intersex women who were AFAB and label as transfem or MTF. You absolutely are not alone in this.

Third, it isn't disrespectful at all to relate to transfems/MTFs. It is almost never disrespectful to relate to the experience of another group. Many people find solidarity and similarities with other groups. Butch lesbians/sapphics and trans men often find solidarity and share many, many experiences. (For example, my stepdad was a butch lesbian in a lesbian marriage with another lesbian, before he transitioned and is now a trans man in a straight marriage with my mother.) And, that leads me into my next thing.

Fourth, you can just identify as transfem or MTF. Labels are complicated, messy, and mean different things to many people. What being trans to one person means can be totally different than what being trans to another person means. Personal labels, like ones for queer identities, have variation in meaning and usage. They cannot be strictly defined and regulated, although many people (exclusionists, gatekeepers) will try to do so and argue that it might ruin the sanctity of the label or muddle the communication of the language. Labels aren't used as exclusively personal or ascribed to people. It is fair to say that someone fits the definition of transgender, or was historically transgender, going off of the commonly accepted definition of it, but it is also fair for an individual who fits the definition of transgender to not feel as though that label fits them. Labels and terms can be used in many different ways. It is impossible to narrow them down to one definition and keep it that way. Language constantly changes. I know that many queer terms that I was taught by queer people have different meanings that what I found among queer people my age in a different region and online.

There are butch lesbians/sapphics who also identify as trans men/FTM (and vice versa). And this is okay! It's allowed! You cannot truly dictate labels and personal identities of others. Someone's personal identity is something that only an individual can ever truly know and understand. There are exclusionists, like I said, who will argue or push against this, but I think that those people are wrong and need to be ignored.

I'm going to go into discussing various labels/communities. This isn't to say, "you are these things", but to say "these are people who share similar experiences with you."

Genderqueer, genderfucked/genderfuckery are both gender-related labels that encompass so many things. There are genderqueer and genderfucked people who are cisgender. Many genderqueer and genderfucked people may label as transfem and transmasc, transfem as a person who was AFAB and transmasc as a person who was AMAB, FTMTF, or MTFTM. I know many bigender and intersex people who label as transfem and transmasc or things like that.

Transfemmasc/transfemasc/transmascfem is a label people use to mean they are both transfem and transmasc. This is very common in bigender and intersex people. And that's the thing. You can just...do that. You can label however you want. If you want to label as transfem, you just...can.

If you're not comfortable with such an inclusionist view on just labelling however you want, there is still common precedent for intersex people who were AFAB to label as transfem because they do have a transfem experience. Labelling as MTFTM or FTMTF or transfemasc has presedence in both intersex and bigender communities. Bigender people as a whole often accept that it is transphobic to bigender people to not accept such labelling—people who try to binarize things like transfem/transmasc, AFAB/AMAB, inherently ignore and erase bigender people. Bigender people have many things in common with intersex people, as both groups are erased by both the binary concept of sex and gender. Things within the queer community often still function by a binary within gender. Even in nonbinary places (like you see how transfem and transmasc are often seen as wholly separate).

I will encourage anyone as many times as they need: you can label and identify however you want. You can mix and match labels. You can "contradict" labels. Anything at all. If you want to send me another ask and answer by just saying, you can label as transfem, I will.

And, also, you don't owe anyone any information on your personal identity. Just how a trans man doesn't owe anyone information on what surgeries they've had or even want to have, you don't owe anyone information on how and in what ways you are the label you identify as and are.

As to your last question...yes and no? It depends on what experiences you have. Many intersex people who were AFAB with hyperandrogenism, especially with PCOS are prescribed different things to reduce or cope with their hyperandrogenism. For example, some people take oral contraceptives (birth control pills) as these usually contain estrogen.

I take testosterone HRT and used to take estrogen-based birth control pills for my period and generally speaking, this is a bad idea. It gave me hot flashes and caused even more painful periods that lasted over a month with significant blood clumps that were just. Not normal. I experience hyperandrogenism but am still on T HRT to increase my T levels further for transgender reasons. If you are on testosterone, talk with medical professionals before going on any estrogen. But note they might not have an answer. There isn't a lot of published information to rely on.

Breast implants exist for those with small chests. Many MTFs get breast implants. Some people will gain weight to get larger breasts as well. There are also feminizing surgeries such as facial feminization surgeries. All of these have risks and reasons, so research a lot.

So, if you have hyperandrogenism, you can discuss treatments that can lower your testosterone count. If you have physical appearance things like small breasts or facial features, there are feminizing surgeries.

There's also things you can do that are technically "masculinizing" that you can do if you want to have a body more like a pre-transition or pre-OP MTF.

(I have no idea what genitalia you have so apologies if this doesn't apply to you.) Bottom surgery can just be gotten by cis people (although for all these surgeries, I'm not discussing medical or financial barriers). If you want to have bottom surgery to get a penis via phalloplasty, in theory, you can. And you can just think of it as your penis, in a transfem way. Some countries have topical cream you can apply to increase clitoris size (unavailable in USA afaik, as much as I wish it was available). Many people with hyperandrogenism already experience clitoromegaly, however. Metoidioplasty is a form of bottom surgery that "releases" the clitoris to create a penis, which could be done to affirm yourself into having the body you want. (This is a case where some people might label as FTMTF, transitioning to "male" so they can transition to female.)

There is a reason I use trans+ in my post. The + is for anyone who undergoes experiences commonly associated with transgender ones, but aren't necessarily transgender. There are cisgender butch lesbians/sapphics who go on testosterone HRT, who get top surgery, and who get bottom surgery. It is completely okay to get any of these types of things even if you are not transgender or transgender in a traditional way.

Sorry for going on such a ramble that isn't well organized. I hope you can understand what I mean. If you have further questions or need clarification, let me know! I'm just very passionate about this topic. My partner is a transfemmasc intersex bigender and so am I (although in a bit of a different way).

So, basically, it depends on your intersex variations and what your goal is. You can do things to affirm your body to be more like someone who is a perisex MTF that doesn't have surgeries, such as bottom surgeries to change clitoris appearance or to get a penis. You can do certain things to reduce hyperandrogenism. You can get surgeries that are considered feminizing for the face or even some other places.

Also, it isn't medical, but you can look into ways transfems/MTFs socially transition without medical transition.

I'd really love it if you reached back out to me and gave me your thoughts or let me know if this helped. I know it's odd, but I truly care about every single person who sends an ask here, and I want to make sure I can make their lives better regarding their intersex experience. I very much want to do what I can to make sure you are happy with that.

TLDR; No, it isn't weird, and it's super common among intersex people who were AFAB. There are intersex people who were AFAB that identify as transfem. There are intersex people who were AFAB that identify as both transfem and transmasc. Intracommunity experiences are a thing. You should identify and label however feels right for you. Medical transition depends on your intersex variations, but cis intersex women with hyperandrogenism often take treatments to reduce hyperandrogenism, there are feminizing surgeries for places like the face or chest, and trans+ people who get surgeries that are "masculinizing" (like bottom surgeries to get a more penis type look) in order to feel affirmed as MTF/FTMTF or adjacent to those).

I am interested in no discourse or arguments on this post. I am interested in genuine feedback or additional information or other inclusionist perspectives. If anyone sees information they think was phrased poorly or any typos, let me know! I also jump around while writing posts so let me know if something just flat out makes no sense.

[genderqueer-karma]

a before prosecution/identity headcanon! (under the cut)

i personally hc that manfred is transmasc, and that his wife is transfem.

that being said, i think they met in college in the 70s, but both of them were still presenting as their assigned genders at birth. i’d say that manfred was about 21 when the two of them met and his wife was about 19/20.

they came out to each other a few months after they started dating (which was at least a year after they met) and about a year later they socially transitioned.

the infinitely more important part, however, is that they were both a part of their university’s symphony orchestra. specifically in the first violin section.

why is this important? well, because i think his wife is around two years younger than him, meaning that when she got to be the concert master/first chair in their section, he was … a bit peeved.

he was the best in the section before she showed up, and he wouldn’t give up his spot so easily, especially to someone younger than him.

this sparked a healthy rivalry/competition between the two of them, which naturally culminated in them falling in love. mush, mush, and more mushy mush. the end <3

[humunanunga]

@ask-the-rpg-3 @jakei95 This does raise an interesting point, and it could be worth discussing if it can be done without becoming a brawl. I’ll precede this by mentioning I myself am nonbinary and go by they/them, and this is not an invitation to a dogfight or a dogpile.

The same gender will still look and feel different from person to person between presentation and the experiences that contribute to personal relationship with it. There are enbies who use gendered names or pronouns, some exclusively so. To add to that, some people first come out as nonbinary before coming out as transmasc/transfem or vice-versa. I actually got more connected with my own local trans community because of a senior (whose name happens to be Kris) who came out on Facebook as nonbinary (they/them) and later came out as a trans man (he/him). I have a genderfluid sibling who’s been out as a trans man and currently as a genderqueer butch. Our other brother, meanwhile, has been out as a binary trans man without adjustment.

To quote myself from an art post of sonas with different genders and pronouns (see: /tagged/sonaverse), I’ve wanted to explore how my own relationship with gender could’ve gone differently. I experience very little dysphoria, so there could be timelines where I never made it this far in finding myself, or even grown attached to my assigned gender. On the other hand, there could be alternates of myself with more dysphoria. I also wonder how much greater a role my body would have played if I had a different birth assignment. Would I feel more invested in feminizing myself had I happened to be amab?

There are other enbies for whom this would be more discomforting than enriching, but I personally find that branching out with my alternate sonas’ genders is a safe way to explore my relationship with own canon gender-- not to pick it apart, but to learn more about it. Chances are there are others who feel the same way too, just as there are others who feel the same way ask-the-rpg-3 may feel. (And as it happens, the post with this set of alternate sonas included one based on a dream in which I had an Xtale self.)

Which brings me back to Frisk and Chara. I’ve been an Underverse viewer since the first animation and can confirm that, to my recollection, he/him has been used exclusively for their Xtale counterparts and never for their canon selves. I am willing to believe Jakei when she says she means nothing enbyphobic by Xtale’s kids being masc. It’s true that people can do harmful things without meaning to, and I can recall one such instance of that before, but it’s an outdated receipt and she took it down later the same day. For the sake of not letting myself fall into toxic behavior, I allow people the right to improvement whether or not I decide I want to stick around long enough to see it for myself.

It’d be fair to say that no piece of media is for everyone. It’s fair to say that what one enby or binary trans person finds affirming or relatable could aggravate another’s dysphoria. We’re not a monolith, after all. That these fanworks are both fanart and original creations certainly complicates the matter, but I can respect that Jakei has not retconned the canon Frisk or Chara’s genders or pronouns, only her own au’s counterparts. Which is fair and not unique to the Undertale fandom.

I don’t usually step into discourse, so I’ll be stepping right back out after sharing my input. This doesn’t have to change how you feel about XT/UV, and if it’s still upsetting for you, it’ll be less of a headache to walk away than to continue engaging with it. UTMV is a large collective of fanworks and aus, too many to keep track of them all, and crossovers are a major part of how the community participates, so there’s always a chance of coming across ones that aren’t for you even in the ones you like. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to pick and choose the ones you engage with and set your boundaries with anyone who brings them into your personal space.

[bronanlynch]

choose violence asks: 7, 22, 23

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

so. uh. j///iang c///heng. listen. I was neutral on him when I read the novel and then I really liked him when I watched the untamed the first time and then I read too many posts abt how actually he never did anything wrong literally ever, and was in fact so terribly wronged by wwx who did literally everything wrong ever and. I got very very tired

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

one of the most interesting things to me abt dimitri fireemblem is how desperately unhappy he is as king and how restricted he feels by the prospect (and also generally how restricted/miserable dimitri feels abt his entire life, the expectations that have been placed on him from birth, etc etc) and like. I wouldn't say that everyone ignores that part of his character per se but I feel like the most popular way for people to resolve his character arcs in fanworks is to have him become happy as king and that's not out of character or anything it's just. not really what my preferred interpretation is (the extension of this is that given how dimitri feels so restricted by roles that have been assigned to him his entire life and how hard he tries to fulfill them, I have a hard time reading him as transmasc like. I respect and support people who do, they are my comrades-in-arms in the 'please can we have more trans fanworks' struggle but I can't see him as self-actualized enough or willing enough to be vocal abt his own desires to have already figured out his gender *and* transitioned at any point in the timeline of either game) (transfem dimitri, on the other hand,)

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

tbh I'm a lot more likely to get annoyed w something because of the fandom treatment than I am to have something grow on me once I've finished the source text (like obviously my opinion can and does change over the course of a story but) so like. I truly do not have an answer here

[ponycules]

PONIES ARE GAY!!

hello! i am ponycules and this is my mlp sideblog for all gens (though im partial to g1 and g4).

my big queer mane 6 headcanons are down below ↓

twilight

she/they transfem bigender demigirl

bi greyce greyro polyam

twilight would describe her gender as "part girl, part something else". what else? she's not so sure herself. a partially masculine and partially androgynous second gender? whatever, they think that bigender demigirl works just fine.

theyre bisexual and dont get sexual crushes or desires very often. they get romantic crushes a bit more, but has to be friends with a pony first. she could call herself demiromantic, but prefers greyromantic. she was the last to realize that everyone was interested in dating eachother, thus creating the twilicule (not her name idea) (everyone else agreed on it because she brought them all together).

applejack

he/she transfem butch

lesbian greyro polyam

applejack prides himself on his gender presentation: not in an appearance way (like rarity), but in more of a "proud to be unapologetically himself" way. she won't change the way he presents for nopony, and she likes being masculine.

he loves women, especially his primary partner rainbow dash, though he doesn't get crushes very easily if ever. it took a while for her to start dating the other four mane six members after the twilicule was formed, even with the constant flirting between the six of them, and she's not looking for any more partners.

rainbow dash

he/they transmasc (sapphic) boy

gay (wlw) polyam

rainbow dash is one of those trans ponies that knew from a young age that he was different, and was known by others as a tomboy. first he thought he was a trans man, and then learned about butch lesbianism. after a lot of soul searching, they concluded that they were a trans man, just in a wlw way.

part of their gender nonconformity, rainbow prefers to call himself gay instead of a lesbian, as he feels the term implies womanhood even if it doesnt mean to.

pinkie pie

any normative pronouns + neos (pronoun hoarder) agender xenogender multigender genderfluid genderhoarder

pan objectum polyam

pinkie doesn't have a gender, but that doesnt mean she can't have fun with it! she is a boy and a girl and both and neither and none of the above. he likes to hoard neopronouns (like fun/funs, party/partys, pony/ponys, i could go on) and xenogenders (like genderfun and smilegender) even when they dont necessarily relate to their gender. honks pan and loves all ponies, and tends to get crushes easily. it loves everyone a ton! they even fall in love with objects, and is dating quite a few of them.

rarity

she/they (gem/gems sometimes) afab intersex transfem femme genderfluid

lesbian polyam

rarity, though being assigned female at birth, identifies as transfem because of growing up with a typical "male" puberty due to her intersex condition. their relationship with gender is complicated due to this, but they like to mix around their presentation depending on how they feel that day (though always keeps a well-kept beard). she uses she/they normally and gem/gems when wearing drag or very extravagant outfits. she considers herself femme no matter what outfit she wears.

rarity is a lesbian and a hopeless romantic, always wanting to go on dates and meet another love of her life. she deals with a lot of comphet and guilt about relationships, but her girlfriends are always there to comfort her. other than the twilicule she's crushing on sassy saddles and coco pommel.

fluttershy

she/they/it/bun/flutter transfem

asexual bi lesbian polyam

fluttershy isn't too interested in labeling her exact gender experience other than "transfem", but she does like expressing herself through pronouns. bun/buns for buns favorite creatures on earth, flutter/flutters for flutters cutie mark and name, and it/its because it finds those pronouns beautiful in their own way.

theyre attracted to all genders, but fluttershy finds that their attraction to women is most important to their identity, so she ids as a bi lesbian. shes not interested in sexual relationships. buns in a qpr polycule with tree hugger, who is an aro bi nonbinary lesbian; and discord, a chaosgender omnipanbi gay lesbian draconequus

[dragonwysper]

Oh man I have so many trans dragons

Two fandragons (Dib and Professor Venomous, respectively). Grabbed them because they had the correct colors and I didn't care too much about their FRAGAH (Flight Rising assigned gender at hatching).

[Shown as they'll look once completed, with silhouette scrolls applied]

Aĺpijskija, nonbinary. Impulse AH buy turned into one of the few lore dragons I have in my lair. They're a mountain climber, and spend most of their time in the Cloudscape Crags. Every once in a blue moon, they return with all kinds of stories and boasts about their most recent adventures. They're also the type of dragon to frequently visit bars they've never been to before just so they can recount their life's history to new faces. Very good storyteller, and embellish a LOT of details.

Unnamed transfem environmentalist Snapper. She's like a sweet old grandma who goes out and plants trees and tends to native plants in her free time. Would murder a TERF or oil brig owner in cold blood though. [Final plans shown]

Wysper, trans man. He was my first project scry, and is now kindof my FR dragonsona. I didn't include his final scry because honestly, I kindof like him as is.

Sal, transmasc. I haven't thought up too much lore for him yet, but ykw, I bet he'd be a lesbian. I am thinking he's a bartender (tbh probably the saloon owner from Rule #15 - Four Aces by Fish in a Birdcage), and he deals with so many shenanigans on a daily basis that managing to surprise him is a feat in it of itself. A few dragons have made it their life mission to do so. All have failed. He probably sees Aĺpijskija show up every few years and was sick of their shit from the first moment they met eachother.

All of this has been thought up right now in this moment, and ykw I'm gonna go with it. [Shown with outfit plans]

Two personal tribute dragons, which makes them inherently trans. I thought it was a little silly they both come out female, because it gives me the opportunity to make them FtM, like me! I haven't decided on scries yet, so they're both shown as is.

Tundra was hatched on the day I got my name legally changed, and Nocturne was hatched on the day I got my name and gender changed on my social security documents! I'll likely have more commemorating the days I get my birth certificate info changed, start T, (maybe, if I have money) get different surgeries, etc. And they will all be trans men, even if they come out male from the start (that just means we distracted the doctor present at the hatching and wrote down male on their birth certificate!)

yall got any trans dragons to show off? bonus if theyre transmasc extra bonus of theyre transmasc lesbians

[bunnywritesmarvel]

Tips for Writing a Gender Neutral Reader

ive seen a recent influx of fics in various fandoms claiming their fics to be "gender neutral!reader," only to start reading and see repeated gendered terminology/pronouns used. heres a (hopefully) helpful little post to curb that and help people be able to make true gender neutral/inclusive fics.

lets start with this; no one is telling you all your fics have to be gender neutral. this is for the people who want their fics to be gn, or people that are claiming their fics to be gn but still include gendered terms and want to fix it.

1. first, lets talk about content warnings/tags/fic descriptions. these are a great way to let your reader know what theyre getting into before they get too far into it and realize theyre wasting their time.

please use these! no one is telling you not to write a white reader, no one is telling you not to write a short reader, no one is telling you not to write a skinny blue-eyed blonde-haired reader, just use warnings and tags!! nothing will make me stop reading a reader insert fic faster than a physically descriptive word that doesnt describe me. it immediately takes me out of the experience.

warnings such as 'white!reader' or 'short!reader' or 'AMAB!reader' are great to get the general point across. in the description of the fic, i encourage you to go into more detail. 'they/them pronouns used. AMAB genitalia descriptions used.' great, i can tell its written with a reader with a dick in mind. i dont have that, so i wont relate to the fic and therefore wont enjoy it personally. will i reblog it to help other readers who will relate find it? abso-fuckin-lutely, you bet your ass i will. writers support writers, right?

tags and warnings also pertain to any kind of explicit/violent content! if your fic includes hard kinks, even softer kinks, or any kind of violence please put warnings down! this could potentially be triggering to some people and putting these types of warnings will greatly reduce the risk of potentially triggering someone who is sensitive to those certain things, but thats an entirely different topic.

2. now lets talk about physical descriptions. we'll cover the basics of hair, skin tone, genitalia, height, and weight, and touch on the tagging subject a little bit more.

avoid hair descriptors! i have straight, medium-length hair. i wont relate to a reader described as having short, curly hair. some people have no hair, surprise surprise! focus on the face, not the hair. “he cupped their cheek” instead of “she ran her fingers through their hair.” people with extremely kinky or curly hair wont be able to relate to that.

you can usually pretty easily avoid skin tone descriptors. but blushing is different! you cant really see (as far as my knowledge goes) blushing on darker skin tones. focus more on heat factors! “heat rose their cheeks,” “their face grew warm,” “they felt their cheek heat up,” etc etc. i personally use the word “flushed” a lot, e.g. “their face flushed.”

now lets go to the genitalia aspect. this will just circle back to the warning and tags. if you’re writing smut and need to use descriptors for genitalia, just make sure you put the assigned sex at birth in the warning! AMAB (assigned male at birth) and AFAB (assigned female at birth) go a long way in helping trans readers avoid sudden dysphoria when reading smut fics, especially if youre writing with a trans reader in mind. tags such as “transmasc afab” or “transfem amab” go a really long way!

theres also plenty of gender neutral anatomy terms. for example, opt for chest instead of breast, or just focus on the nipples!

height!! again, just circles back to the tags, but avoiding phrases such as “they looked up at him” or “you peered down into his eyes” help avoid attaching a height to the reader. “tall!reader” or “short!reader” are great if the fic is mainly focused on that. but just throwing in a “reader is briefly described as shorter than (insert character)” could be helpful!

weight! i know i know, the “he picked me up and spun me around” tropes are so cute, but fat people exist! some people just dont like to be picked up and some people are heavy and thats okay! maybe just opt for the big tight im-never-gonna-let-you-go-again-ever-in-the-history-of-the-world hug, i promise it will still get the point across.

i personally, love to throw some manhandling in my smut fics. im small, so i find it hot if someone can throw me around and move me where they want. this just, again, circles back to adding the proper warnings. just throw ‘manhandling’ or whatever else into the description and let any potential readers decide if theyre into it or not. if its one line, just say ‘brief manhandling’ and some people may be able to just skip over the line or ignore it and not let it ruin the immersive experience. ive read plenty of fics i absolutely adore, and theres one teeny tiny line that doesnt describe me and i have no issue moving on and not letting it pull me out of the fic.

thats all that i can think of off the top of my head! thanks to anyone who read all of it, and anyone more equipped to talk about this subject, please feel free to chime in, add some more tips, or correct me on anything i got wrong!!

please reblog to spread the word! id love to start seeing more inclusive fics for everyone to enjoy!

tagging some people, let me know if youd like to be removed: @phoebe-danvers @murrdxcks @murdicks @waspswidows @h-llfire @matt-erialgirl @wannabemurdock @thirstybitchs @alilfreakydeaky @sobachka-korol

[nightfoot]

So I’m not a historian, but I just finished posting my medieval AU fanfic that included a medieval trans character, so I thought I’d ramble a bit about some of the research I did prior to writing it.  There’s this idea that Western society believed in an absolute binary of men and women until Stonewall happened and introduced Western cis people to the concept of gender not being rigidly set in stone, but that’s just not the case.  So here’s a brief overview of some specific cases I found along the lines of “Medieval and early modern people were thinking about gender too.”

The first is the one I think about most often.  This is actually a little bit after the medieval period, in the 16th century, but still interesting.  There was a person in the little town of Vitry-le-Fran ois who lived as a man. He was married to a woman and worked as a weaver.  Tragically, his marriage lasted only 5 months before someone recognized him as “[birth name]” and he was tried and condemned (for the crime of using a dildo).  But, he was given the option to go back to wearing skirts and live as a respectable woman.  He rejected the offer, and chose to be hanged rather than live as a woman.

I just think about him a lot, and how much I wish he could come to the 21st century and see how the world has changed.  He is also the person I always think about when I see the claim that all trans men in history were just “women trying to live with more freedom.”  Because if it was only about trying to live a better life, then choosing any life at all would be better than death. 

The second story involves another person from France in 1601.  Thankfully, his chosen name was recorded - Marin began sleeping with a woman while they were both working as chambermaids in Rouen, but after a few weeks, he told her he was in fact a man, and proposed marriage.  Before their marriage, though, Marin was accused of sodomy for being a “woman” trying to marry another women.  However, he plead his case and asked for a medical examination, and after a genital exam, the doctor declared Marin had “a hidden but functional penis.”  I read this as him being intersex.  The court demanded he dress as a woman for 4 years in hope that the situation would clear up, but after those 4 years passed, he was allowed to go back to presenting as male, married his wife, and lived the rest of his life as a man.

This story is interesting because it demonstrated that people in 1601 were ready to accept “huh! sex and gender are complicated! I guess it is possible for someone to change from one thing to another!”

And the reason they accepted this is because of the “one sex model,” the idea that male and female are just two ends of a spectrum and all humans fall somewhere on that spectrum with the potential to shift position.  This model is not exactly correct, because they also believed that it had to do with body temperature and that if a woman’s body temperature raised too much she would spontaneously grow a penis, but it is very interesting that 400 years ago, academics realized that sex is much more complicated than “you’re either A or B” but in our enlightened 21st century, we have to argue about that again.

Cross-dressing saints are also common in hagiography.  One example is Joseph von Schönau, a celebrated monk who joined the abbey of Schönau in 1187 after a life of travel in Europe and the Middle East.  What’s interesting is that during his deathbed confession, when he came clean to the priest about all his other secrets and sins in life, he said nothing about his sex.

There is another story I recall that, for the life of me, I can’t find the source for now.  In that one, a saint lives his entire life in an abbey as a man. During his life, a local woman accused him of fathering her child.  He could have easily disproved the accusation by explaining that he didn’t have a penis, but instead accepted the child as his and accepted the shame and disdain from his fellow monks.  They only realized he couldn’t have been the father after his death. 

My next two stories are fictional:

The first is the 13th century French story Roman de Silence.  This is the story of a woman whose father needed a son to inherit, so when she was born, he decided to raise her as a boy.  Throughout the story, personifications of “Nature” and “Nurture” argue over which of them determines who a person is.  Throughout the story, Silence becomes a knight, captures Merlin in a prophecy twist (of the “no man can defeat Merlin” sort), reveals her sex in the end and marries a king.  I actually think it’s more interesting to read Silence as a trans woman, despite being what we today would “assign female.”  She was assigned male by her father, and grows up feeling conflicted about this.

Silence isn’t an example of a real life trans masc knight, but the story overall is exploring the question, “What exactly is it that makes someone a man vs a woman?”  This says to me that Medieval People Were Thinking About This Too, and the idea that man and woman could be more complicated than looking at a baby’s genitals has been around for a long, long time.

My favourite fictional story is Yde et Olive, another 13th century French romance.  This one tells the story of Yde, a princess being forced into a marriage she hates.  Rather than go through with it, they dress as a man and run away.  Over the course of Yde’s adventures, they learn how to fight with a sword, take down bandits, and end up as a knight in a foreign king’s court.  The king is so impressed with Yde that he arranges for them to marry his daughter, Olive.  Yde confesses to Olive that the marriage will never work because of his sex, but Olive says she doesn’t mind and will keep their secret, which, y’know, #Bi Princess.  But someone overheard the conversation! And now the king will have them put to death for same-sex relations! (even though... he’s the one who insisted they marry).  Yde prays to God for a miracle, and God responds by magically transforming Yde into a cis man.  The day is saved and Yde lives happily ever after as a man with his wife.  They have a son named Croissant.

My research mostly focused on transmasc stories, but I have to at least add the suggestion to read up on Choisy, an 18th century French transfem person.  She wrote a novel (Histoire) about a child who was raised as a girl with no idea that having a penis meant people would think she was a boy.  When her mother eventually tells her that she is “male,” she simply does not believe it.  She goes on to marry a Marquis, and realizes she must tell him that she is allegedly male, only for the Marquis to tell her that he is, in fact, "female.”  They go on to live happily ever after as a t4t couple.

Anyway, as I said, I am not a historian and this is not academically rigorous, but some interesting stories I came across while researching.  I wouldn’t say any of these suggest that trans people were common and accepted by broader society throughout history, but they do show that people over the centuries have been thinking about gender, what it means to be a man or woman, and how the line between those can be blurry.  This is far from being a 21st century exclusive discussion.

Unfortunately, hand-wringing hysteria about trans people is also nothing new, because I also came across several instances of medieval writers fretting about the idea of “men disguising themselves as women to sneak into convents and have sex with nuns.”  Truly, the world never changes. 

Sources:

Ferguson, Gary. "Early Modern Transitions: From Montaigne to Choisy." L'Esprit Créateur 53, no. 1 (2013): 145-57.

Hotchkiss, Valerie.  “Clothes Make the Man: Female Cross Dressing in Medieval Europe.” Garland Publishing, 1996.

[oharascholar]

Why Sanji meeting Yamato has LGBTQ+ readers on edge - Scholar’s Summaries #1

(Image originally posted to Tumblr by user Rumenta)

As the Wano arc in One Piece progresses steadily, the cast of the series expands ever more. Amongst the unique cast of new characters, we meet Kaido’s Son - Yamato, a young man who wishes to be just like the beloved ex-hero of the country, a man named Oden.

Yamato is an exciting character to see for many LGBTQ+ people like myself. He is a man who was assigned female at birth, who has plump lips, long eyelashes, and breasts. This, to many LGBTQ+ readers, and definitely to myself, brings up the idea of masculine people being allowed to exhibit traditionally ‘female’ body parts, and a comforting reminder that you can be a man without paying for gender-affirming surgery or binding your chest. This speaks to me as a transmasc nonbinary person - I, too, was assigned female at birth, refer to myself as a man, and have a traditionally female body in the same way. I do not once think of myself as a woman.

(One Piece Chapter 984, page 17 of 17. First published in Weekly Shonen Jump 2020, issue 31)

My opinion of Yamato thus far, as a transmasc nonbinary person, has been entirely positive - I enjoy seeing a man who is openly referred to as a man in universe (for example, ‘Kaido’s Son’), who has features which are traditionally seen as non-masculine. It is how I feel about my own body - I rarely give a second thought to the fact that I have breasts. They don’t make me any less masculine, and I tend not to dwell on them at all. It makes me feel happy to see a character who I can truly relate to on such a personal level.

Yamato is a positively portrayed character in the series, and is a supporting character to our main protagonist, Luffy. He plays an important role in fighting against the main villain of this arc. He was even shown to be good friends with Portgaz D. Ace, one of the most beloved supporting characters in the series - even giving Ace the much important ‘vivre card’ which played a vital role in the Marineford Arc. Yamato is given plot importance within the story as a whole with this, linking him throughout the story.

(One Piece Chapter 1000, page 9 of 19 first published in Weekly Shonen Jump 2021, issue 5-6)

It is also easy, as a transmasc person, to read heavily into Yamato’s situation with his father. Initially, it seems positive - Kaido refers to Yamato as his son openly. To an outsider, Kaido accepts Yamato’s identity... Then enter the ‘Oden’ issue.

Yamato wishes to be just like Kozuki Oden on all fronts, changing his appearance to try and look just like him. This part of Yamato’s identity has caused contemption in Kaido, with Yamato even recounting that Kaido would beat him over it. Ever since Yamato first wanted to be like Oden, from the age of eight, Kaido has kept him shackled up inside of his residence.

Yamato states that he can’t truly be Oden until he is free of his shackles given to him by his father. To many, this strikes as a direct parallel towards living in a transphobic household.

When Luffy, a character who has represented liberation throughout the series, first tries to remove these shackles, Yamato is instinctively afraid. He explains that the shackles will explode, and that they’ve been on him for twenty years. He also ponders if he is being kept in by a lie - wondering if his father would really let his son be blown up for merely leaving the island.

(One Piece Chapter 985, page 9 of 19. First published in Weekly Shonen Jump 2020, issue 33-34)

No matter how you put it, Yamato is transgender. Though it has not been officially stated as such, it seems to be heavily implied that he is a transgender man, without issue.

Yamato instinctively wants to keep the status quo, one which technically keeps him safe, at the expense of his identity and freedom. The danger, of course, is purely created by his father. This something which many transgender people can resonate with, the idea of staying ‘in the closet’ so as to not cause contemption within your family.

Luffy removes the shackles and throws them away, causing them to explode - this event causes Yamato to become enraged and upset, stating that he no longer thinks of Kaido as his father. This is a powerful moment, the act of breaking the ties with an abusive parent who does not accept his identity.

It is important to be aware of why Elizabeth or Tibany was so offensive, whilst Yamato feels progressive. Transgender women in media are often presented as predatory, as if they were men in dresses who only want to prey on young men, and Elizabeth is a prime example of the worst of this transmysogynistic stereotype. Had this character been on their lonesome, along a multitude of other transgender women with different body types, and had Elizabeth not been predatory, this would be a fine character. Transgender women and transfem people as a whole should not feel guilty to exhibit as much body hair as they like, and to have as deep of a voice as they like, without worry of being mocked or ridicule. 

… Or, without issue, so far.

Sanji appears to be on a direct collision course for one Young Master Yamato, which puts a lot of anxiety into LGBTQ+ readers. Rightfully so, as in the past, Sanji has been used as a vehicle for horrific transphobia in the series, as touched on by the One Piece Podcast in text and in audio. This alone brings up multiple concerns - the most worrying of all is the possibility that Yamato has been a long setup for a particularly horrific transphobic punchline. The author, Eiichiro Oda, has been more than capable of writing transphobia into his series before, such as with the character Elizabeth (or Tibany, as this character is known in the manga), a transgender woman coded character who is a walking offensive stereotype - even acting in a predatory way towards young men. There is definitely a certain validity behind such worries.

But, when the only representation in this part of One Piece is predatory people with deep voices and stubble all over, you can see why this is completely different to Yamato exhibiting breasts and such.

(Chapter 543, page 1 of 20. First published in Weekly Shonen Jump 2009, issue 26 / Chapter 994, page 17 or 17, first published in Weekly Shonen Jump 2020, issue 48)

Another concerning path is that Sanji will see Yamato and fawn all over him - only for him to act horrified and disgusted upon hearing Yamato affirm that he is a man. During the infamous Fishman Island arc, Sanji had a life-saving blood transfusion given to him by two transgender-coded women - this alone was enough for him to start screaming and flipping himself around the bed in horror - a truly upsetting act of transmisogyny that many agree should never have been put in the series at all.

However, our combined worries may be for nothing. Oda has also written nonbinary and transgender characters who have been delightful to witness, and have been much accepted and adored by the LGBTQ+ community as a whole - Characters such as Bentham, a character who can shapeshift and monologues about their gender, or Kiku, a transgender woman in the current arc, who has been portrayed respectfully thus far, being in the series for almost 100 chapters. There is still hope that Oda has changed his ways from his dark Fishman Island Days.

In the most hopeful outcome, this meeting will serve as a character growth point - Sanji has matured as a character, and is ready to treat transgender people as human beings. This outcome seems tantalisingly possible to me, especially since characters will openly reffer to Yamato as male without issue.

(One Piece Chapter 979, page 14 of 17. First Published in Weekly Shonen Jump 2020, issue 23.)

Another hopeful outcome is that Sanji will simply not address it - but it certainly seems intentional that Oda has sent Sanji specifically towards Yamato, and I am certain that there is a reason. But, notably, Sanji had a meeting with Kiku in a similar vein, and nothing of note happened in that interaction.

I myself dearly hope that the day will not come where I look at this article and think, ‘This has aged horribly.’. I have a lot of faith in Eiichiro Oda to do the right thing - especially since almost 10 years has passed since his last major act of transphobia and transmisogyny. Surely, in today’s climate, and with the progressive nature of One Piece as a whole, he has learnt and is ready to write the LGBTQ+ characters that are respectful and progressive as a whole, without falling back on poor-taste punchlines.

As for now, only time will tell the true nature of Eiichiro Oda in 2021. Or, as many of us like to put it … "Who knows with this guy?!"

-

The Ohara Scholar / Róisí “Puppy” Law, 17th April 2021

[thedeadflag]

I saw the post about lesbians using he/him pronouns and tbh I think it lacked nuance given every lesbian I've met who does that is a WOC who struggles with being involuntarily distanced from femininity due to racism and/or has linguistic difficulties with English being a colonialistic language that can't really truly convey their specific womanhood. That said, given this is a consequence of racialized misogyny this is a separate issue than white gay men using she/her and I won't defend that.

I mean, as I said in my notes, I’d never personally, individually call anyone out for it, and I get that gender can get complicated for folks, especially across the intersection of race given how femininity in women is positioned in alignment with whiteness, by and large. I won’t pretend to understand that sort of experience. 

I can only speak to my experiences with afab people who use he/him.

And in my experiences, the vast majority of afab folks who have a stable lesbian & woman identity, who also use he/him, have been major transmisogynists and cissexists, similar to the way transmisogynistic/cissexist transmasc folks and trans men in their approach to defining lesbian identity/women’s spaces/lesbian spaces/womanhood/femaleness/etc. (and there is a notable diff between that group’s handling of those concepts and your avg cis lesbian’s) They’re often the first to degender trans women and undermine our womanhood (often coincidentally narrowing womanhood and lesbianism to ‘female experiences’ in ways that almost always distance trans women and keep afab trans masc folks and trans men closer to lesbianism than us) in my experience, far more readily and easily than other lesbians in the community. Anecdotal? Absolutely, and I’m the first to admit that, but that does play a part in how I feel. A lot of the transmisogyny I faced in community spaces came from (or was directed through the community by) folks with he/him pronouns…mostly trans men and trans mascs, but a few butch lesbians, too. 

So that, on top of my own experiences with recognizing that he/him are primarily infused with maleness even if there’s some wiggle room, and that I fought tooth and nail for the she/her pronouns I use as a means of communicating my womanhood?

Yeah, I take some issue with it all. I think it’s a largely cis experience of being able to take up the pronouns of the opposite binary gender and still have a reasonable expectation of maintaining their core gender validity. I think afab nb woman-aligned folks by and large are able to leverage their proximity to their birth assignment in this way as well.  I think this particular form of expression is often cis privilege at play being wielded around often uncritically, with no thought to the existence of trans folks, particularly trans women, and no thought to how that usage impacts trans folks negatively. I think there’s an extensive history of trans dudes and trans mascs using this very reasoning to push trans women and transfem folks out of women’s spaces, out of wlw spaces, and being very successful in the process. I think there’s a link between the reasoning that approves of those pronouns for women and the essentialist bullshit that distances/excludes trans women from womanhood and lesbianism while holding up birth assignment and socialization as essential, and simply tagging on a “this is inclusive to trans butches” does nothing to erase that.  

I can wrap my head around why some would do it instead of opting for gender neutral pronouns given the right argument, and I can even respect some of those reasons well enough, while recognizing there are some reasons I will lack the experience to be able to understand. Still, unless it’s a language barrier issue of someone coming from an inherently gendered language, whose folks have their own way of navigating gender and sexuality through language that don’t translate to English…then yeah, I’m almost certainly going to be uncomfortable and wary around those folks until they prove they can be trusted. 

When the majority of afab non-men I’ve encountered who use he/him have reproduced transmisogyny at the same degree and fervor as trans men and trans mascs, I’m not going to give them the benefit of the doubt. They’d have to make it explicitly clear that they hold no transmisogyny or cissexism inside them before I stop expecting them to behave and think like male and male-aligned folks in the community.

It’s complicated stuff, and I have no doubt it causes a lot of heartbreak and pain and confusion for a hell of a lot of folks. However, I have to prioritize trans women above all others. And I know the impact this sort of thing has had on us, and it’s not good, so I have an obligation to be critical of it and boost the voices of those directly affected (trans butches). A solid chunk of lesbians of colour do use those pronouns (I’ve personally seen more white afab lesbians use them, but I do recognize it’s a more popular form of expression among woc in general), and as a white woman, it’s not my place to tell them they can’t ID certain ways, or can’t express themselves in ways that help them navigate the racialized misogyny they face. 

But any time transmisogyny or cissexism pops up, that’s going to affect me. And while I sincerely hope my past has been an outlier, and things will be much much better in the future within this context, I’ve come to expect a heavy dose of transmisogyny and trans male/trans masc-style bullshit from people in the wlw community using he/him pronouns. Such folks have very rarely managed to avoid sinking down to my expectations, so I’ll refrain from trusting them and will view them as a threat until proven otherwise. I think that’s about as fair a compromise as I could provide on that front.