#so yeah it may be toxic may be loathsome

[sproutingpotato]

The Sticker ending for Greg may be gross and horrible in the audience's eyes, but for the character personally? Gregory I-have-suffered-cold-violence-all-my-life-by-the-male-adults-I-pay-respect-to Hirsch? Getting cared for and given a shit about and included and heard would be the best form of love to him, no matter how sick that love is gonna be.

[balanceoflightanddark]

With Me or Against Me

It cannot be overstated of how the effects of growing up in the militaristic, imperial Fire Nation can have on a young mind. Especially if you grow up as the Princess of Fire Lord Ozai. Azula has shown time and time again in the series that she has a militaristic mindset. That she and her friends are soldiers first, people second, often to the point that her ability to socialize outside of her most immediate social groups are...

...limited.

Okay, so what does this mean for the character herself?

Well, I believe one of Azula's problems that's pretty dang indicative of how the Fire Nation operates is...she has a sort of black-and-white morality view of the world. Where everyone who is part of the Fire Nation and a loyal servant of Fire Lord Ozai is an ally, while traitors and others are enemies.

Now obviously this isn't an attempt to condemn Azula since this problem is pretty damn rampant in the Fire Nation. Evidence of this is right in the education system. Remember how in "The Headband" when the schoolteacher claimed that the Air Nomads had an army that was planning to attack? And how Aang called out the bullshit she was propagating since the Nomads were...you know...pacifists?

The Fire Nation was in-universe known to rewrite history to make themselves look heroic and everybody else as enemies standing in the way of progress. A view which they share to all of the other nations. That they're the honorable harbingers of civilization, while everyone else is backwards savages not above pulling some of the dirtiest tricks in the book.

And how the treacherous and deserters are possibly among the most loathsome people you can find.

Azula was more than likely raised with that mindset like everyone else. Even more so when you consider she is the daughter of somebody who did effectively backstab his brother to ascend to the throne. So naturally, she's going to have some trust issues. That almost anyone can be some enemy out for blood.

Something that of course can be tempered into absolute loyalty to one person such as her father. After all, she can have friends if she wants, but she needs to remember that only her father understands her. That she needs to keep a close eye on all her allies, lest...

...yeah. Even if Azula handled that poorly, the betrayal only just reinforced this "everybody outside of Ozai is an enemy" mindset.

And again, she's not unique in this regard. Part of the Fire Nation doctrine is literally all about displaying fealty and loyalty to the Fire Lord:

"My life I give to my country. With my hands I fight for Fire Lord Ozai and our forefathers before him. With my mind I seek ways to better my country. And with my feet may our March of Civilization continue."

Loyalty to the Fire Lord is one of the core tenets of the Fire Nation oath, along with them claiming themselves to be the marchers of civilization. So it wouldn't be a stretch to say that anybody who opposes said march, be it rival nations or Agni forbid traitors, are naturally enemies of civilization. And so should be met with the same mercy that they would surely inflict upon them.

After all, the Fire Nation is guilty of propaganda, and one of the chief tactics of propaganda is turning their enemies into literal monsters. Azula is just the chief product of this toxic mindset of turning kids into soldiers.

To make matters worse, Azula just became the Fire Lord and Zuko's challenging her to the throne. Who at this point is a traitor in the eyes of the Fire Nation. Also he showed up with Katara. And...guess what happened with the last coup attempt?

One dead Fire Lord, and one mother who gets banished for being a traitor and doing some pretty underhanded things.

Even if Zuko wanted to do things honorably, Azula sure as hell isn't going to accept that. He's a traitor, and traitors cannot be trusted. Something that's practically written in the DNA of the Fire Nation. And if she backed down, there's no telling what he might do to her and the Nation.

Or what he arguably does do in the comics.

The common sentiment is that Azula was power hungry. That she had a grudge against Zuko for being Ursa's favorite. But if her whole childhood is saying that those that betray the crown are monsters that will stab you in the back for showing even the slightest amount of pity...is it pure spite or indoctrination that fueled Azula's fire in the Last Agni Kai?

[truethingsiwishicouldsay]

What is your opinion on trans people? Like, the trans people who have transitioned and such?

OK, well, here are my thoughts, which are pretty nuanced so this gets long. I have bolded the main points to help break up the textwall.

First, the surgery thing. Whether or not a trans person has had gender reassignment surgery does not change my basic perception of them as a human being. They do not “qualify into womanhood or manhood” by getting surgery. They are not more or less valid as people because they treat their dysphoria with surgery or treat it in some other way. That’s an individual choice that should between them, their doctors and their loved ones. 

It may change their bodies to inspire people at large to treat them according to their gender identities, which in turn helps their dysphoria. But I honestly feel like the FIRST goal of all people who are considering surgery that drastic shouldn’t be surgery to get others to accept your womanhood or manhood so you can accept yourself. It should be radical self-acceptance. You cannot afford to define yourself by others’ perception of you. There are just too many shitty people in the world.

If you can get to the place where you can truly say, “other people’s issues with me don’t define me” and have a basic foundation of self-respect to stand on, you’re in a better headspace to contemplate things like whole-body surgery, or deal with the side effects of a lifelong hormone regimen.

Now for the rest of my thoughts.

Unless they’ve done something awful, like Yaniv, I don’t come for individual trans people. Anyone who does that is a huge asshole and an actual transphobe. If I have a problem with a trans person it is 100% with something they did or with their politics, not their transness.

I am highly critical of modern transactivism and the way it eats away at the rights and boundaries of others, tries to politicize sexual entitlement, fucks with the definition of words, seems to specifically target cis women with demands, boundary violations and antagonism, is homophobic in its demands for sexual “access” to same-sex-attracted people, and encourages behavior such as nailing dead rats to rape recovery center doors, threatening people, and in my sister’s and my case, beating them.

Yeah, I got my ribs cracked by a trans woman tree times my size on the RUMOR that my sister was a TERF. A rumor spread vindictively by a drunk because she wouldn’t cheat on THE AWESOMEST WIFE IN THE UNIVERSE with her. I fucking HATE the TERF patrol. They silence and harm women. But that doesn’t give me the right to hate trans people.

Trans people are human beings who should be able to live their lives without abuse. That includes everything from idiots marching into their journals and bullying them and their partners on up to the Hell trans POC face in places like Brazil. 

There is a difference between biologically-based sex and socially defined gender. “Trans women are women” doesn’t mean trans women are biologically female. Otherwise they would not be trans. 

You can’t deny biological reality to cater to your dysphoria without putting yourself at risk healthwise, and without ending up at odds with pretty much everyone. I will call my trans brothers “dude” and laugh at their dropped-my-packer-in-the-bathroom stories and acknowledge their gender as male, but I’m still going to feel like I should say something if they’re having PCOS symptoms or something and won’t go to a doctor because dysphoria. Your body may not fit your soul, but it doesn’t deserve neglect.

Because gender is socially defined and often toxic, it’s up for grabs. Defy it, redefine it, jump gender boxes, set up new ones, whatever--do you. 

Just don’t scream at people with no experience of it who don’t quite get it at first. I have no fucking idea what gender box you’re sitting in if you give no outward signs at all, so don’t yell at my scramblebrained self for not being psychic. 

I try not to misgender people because I don’t like hurting people who aren’t even part of the conversation. That does not mean I don’t believe there’s no difference between the life experiences of transgender people and (what’s most commonly called) cis people. Of course there is.

Sex criminals who reinvent themselves as trans women to try and get into female prisons are absolutely fucking suspect. 

If you want to change your body to match your sense of gender, that’s your business--so long as you pay real attention to the medical implications. I hear about trans guys hurting themselves with binders and my response is 100% like “Ow, oo honey, please be careful” and 0% like “look at this crazy person blahblahblah here’s some transphobia”

Puberty blockers and transing kids horrify me, in part because I know a kid going through it and he’s already suffering massive side effects. He’s. Nine.

I get pissed off when historical female heroes get transed. Let us have our heroes. Don’t try to redefine every brave, gender-defying woman as a man.

I am wary of self-ident because of the ways it is being abused. 

Dysphoria sounds like absolute Hell. Personally I’m not sure surgery and such is the answer, but it’s not something I have ever dealt with. I certainly don’t think people should be pressured into surgery and hormones as “the answer” or “the only answer”.

Cotton ceiling activists are fighting for the sexual coercion of women and are loathsome. Nobody owes anybody sex, and thinking otherwise is a sign of toxic male socialization, full stop.

Many of the problems such as bathroom bills could be more easily addressed through physical innovation rather than political arguing. What we need is better design of public lavatories to provide everyone with both truly private and accessible public space. This would include everything from protecting from predators and privacy-invaders, to making sure everyone can pee without having a damn sex/gender debate at the door.

Biological males do not belong on girls’ high school or college sports teams, or in women’s competitive sports. Growing up male gave them physical advantages whether they acknowledge it or not. Also if a man in his fifties is on a high school or college women’s sports team because he “feels like a teenage girl” and you don’t think that’s suspect...

Girlhood and sexism are experienced by cis women and non-passing trans men. Boyhood and male privilege are experienced by cis men and non-passing trans women. People treat you according to the sex they perceive you to be, not the gender you perceive yourself to be. How people perceive and treat you determines your socialization and experience of sexism and privilege, not how you identify.

Screaming transphobia because a conversation about biological female health “doesn’t include trans women” is simply irrational. If you don’t have the plumbing or deal with the issues, the conversation doesn’t apply to you. Derailing conversations about female biology to nitpick about the words used is also a silencing tactic.  On the other hand, I will gladly bitch about periods with trans guys and acknowledge that when it happens they’re probably wrestling with an additional burden of heavily triggered dysphoria.

Female erasure is real. The tendency of transactivists to demand that words like “front hole” and “uterus holders” be used on us to spare their feelings COMPLETELY IGNORES WHAT BEING REFERRED TO LIKE THAT DOES TO US. Half the human population should not face dehumanizing language and treatment so that a small percentage of the population can feel a little better.

Feminists have also noticed that 99.9% of the time, it’s women who are expected to give ground, change our language, and change our behavior to accommodate. Men don’t face the same expectations. They are not confronted online, their organizations are not attacked, their buildings are not defaced. Transactivists have a huge sexism problem.

It is absolutely possible to be of the female gender and yet rampantly, blatantly and deeply discriminate against members of the female sex. Any wariness I have of trans women largely stems from negative experiences of trans female sexism and assault against trans men and cis women. 

Sexism, sexual entitlement, out of control tantrum-throwing, taking pleasure in threats and use of violence, demanding to be at the center of every movement you are in (whether transgender or feminist, for example), and the demand that biologically female people cater to you are all signs of toxic male socialization. I used to rather arrogantly say that trans women should jettison these as part of their transition, but the truth is that every human being should. But it’s still causing problems.

TLDR: it really depends on the specific trans issue and how it intersects with Feminism, social pressures, self-image, and scientific fact. Transactivism has huge problems, but trans people are human beings who deserve basic consideration and respect regardless.