#sorry its not concise lol... its hard to explain this stuff simply

[magical-agatha]

ive seen a lot of other ppl saying something similar but im not sure its appropriate in this context to make a comparison between trans women and men based on our genitalia.

its too close to the logic of transphobes who force us to tuck in the first place for my comfort. the reason many trans women are forced to tuck or feel safer tucking (even when it hurts), is because cissociety firmly believes that genitalia = gender, penis = boy, vagina = girl, aka gender essentialism or the myth of biological sex. obviously, thats not true, genitalia has no bearing on gender as gender is a purely social construct.

because of cissociety's undying belief in gender essentialism, many cis ppl feel like trans people are disgusting and deserve to die, and some of those cis ppl decide they have the right to kill us bc we're trans. something that happens disproportionately to trans women. all because of the belief that whats in our pants means something about us and cis ppl think they deserve to know whats down there and do something evil about it.

so while i understand your logic and i dont think you think trans women are men or anything like that, in the context of this post thats a dangerous comparison to make, and i also think it misses the point i was trying to make.

i think a better comparison would be that if cis women dont have to force their genitals up into their body and risk their health in order to pass as women, neither should trans women. this isnt an issue about genitalia, this is about a specific class of women and the oppression they face. this is about mysogyny, specifically transmisogyny.

the point if this post is that trans women shouldnt have to tuck to be seen as women. the point is that we shouldnt be scared for our lives because we're not cis. the point is that our genitals shouldnt matter and no one should be looking at our crotches without permission.

and its also that we shouldnt be sexualised for our default state of being! ever since this post got popular i keep getting followed by violent perverts who want to dehumanise trans women and reduce us to a fetish. tucking is a complicated and difficult thing to do, just like shaving constantly or vocal training or wearing makeup. i dont want to do any of that stuff. i shouldnt have to. its expensive and painful and its my body. anyones genitals should be no ones business but their own, and no one should care whats in my pants but my girlfriend and my doctor.

i should be able to leave the house without being scared im not passing bc i cant tuck and dont want to. i should be able to go to the beach in whatever i want without being scared some bastard is gonna attack me or scream at me or drag me somewhere and kill me or worse. all because society teaches him im a freak and deserve to die and that he has the right to exterminate me. the point of this post is that trans women deserve to live in peace and safety and shouldnt be expected to tuck or feel safer tucking or risk violence for not tucking.

please reblog this version of the post! this addition is rly important. thank u for spreading it as much as you all have i never expected it to get this much traction! all the ppl saying supportive things restored my faith in humanity a little bit, thank u!

trans girls not tucking needs to be seen as a completely normal and nonsexual thing. chasers go die.

trans women’s genitals are not so repulsive that they need to be totally hidden through our clothes at the expense of our health and safety and for the sake of your comfort.

if cis men don’t have to tuck then neither do trans women.

[otomeshistarlight-blog]

your thoughts on the latest bnha chapter? lotsa pretty interesting stuff going on and I really enjoy the way you reason shit so 👌🏻

*deep breath* Boi … 

I’m so glad to have been asked this question because I have a lot of things to say about the new chapter. I’m going to do my best to keep things concise but, as with everything, I have a tendency to ramble so please bear with me. The TL;DR version is simply that the Endeavor arc is in full swing and I couldn’t be any happier about it, I fully believe that if the Dabi-is-a-Todoroki theory is true then it will be revealed quite soon and I’m really, really hoping we get the entire lore for this family because I’m dehydrated af fam. 

Keep reading for my in depth analysis on the matter! 

So first things first, we’ve officially met one of Shoto’s older brothers which is quite exciting in and of itself. Not only do we now have a name to the face but we also have another perspective into past events. He seems like a relatively laid back, easy going fella who (unlike Shoto) doesn’t appear to have a chip on his shoulder. He does however shed some insight into how the other siblings feel about their father and, assuming Dabi is indeed the conveniently missing brother (more on that later), Natsuo should theoretically offer an interesting comparison to Dabi’s downward spiral into villainy. That is to say, as the two oldest brothers, what exactly happened to make Dabi choose the path he did whereas Natsuo is going to college and even seems to have a girlfriend. I’ve seen a few interesting possibilities crop up out of this chapter and my two favorites are:

(1) the theory that, having inherited both his looks and quirk from his father, Dabi rebelled and even went so far as to self mutilate his body in order to distance himself from Endeavor 

(2) the theory that Natsuo and Dabi are actually twins which I like because how interesting would that be if Rei’s first pregnancy resulted in two babies whose quirks were split evenly between the two parents? This would lend itself well to a two-sides-of-the-same-coin comparison as, just like fire and ice, they’re polar opposites who made vastly different decisions in life.

The thing I’m really digging about this little glimpse into the Todoroki’s is that we now have definitive proof that Fuyumi and Natsuo have been visiting their mom in the hospital since she was admitted. She’s not at all surprised to see them and we can conclude a few different things from this fact. One is that the children were never barred from seeing their mother which means that, for ten years, Shoto made that conscious decision not to visit her. Which is completely understandable when someone pours boiling water on your face (more on that later, lol) and most of us already suspected as much but its nice to have that confirmation. 

Another thing is that, at least for the older siblings, this seems to be a group effort more often than not so this begs the question of where is the other boy? Of course its quite suspicious that the red haired child in the flashback has conveniently never been mentioned again, we’ve never seen his face and, during one of the trips to the hospital, he’s nowhere to be seen. Where is this mysterious brother? Why is he not visiting his mother like the rest of the children? The evidence for Dabi being a Todoroki just keeps stacking up - because when you take into consideration the obviously missing child plus Dabi’s eyes that ever so conveniently match Shoto’s and Enji’s in color - yeah, its not hard to take a guess at why the third sibling is MIA. The fact Natsuo has made a formal appearance and the mother now has a name, yet the red haired boy is still a complete mystery, is suspicious as FUCK. I am hyped for many reasons. 

Speaking of, the fact that Rei’s face is no longer obscured in any way is a big move. It sort of solidifies her existence and makes her seem less like a memory and more like someone whose actually alive (in universe) rather than a mere projection. Literally every panel of her in Shoto’s flashback had her eyes hidden which is used to convey distance, either physical or emotional, and I think that speaks volumes about how those events were perceived by Shoto himself. But now that she’s been solidified as a full character and formally introduced to the audience, I can only guess that she will play some sort of role in the current arc. Either she will be featured heavily in one of Endeavor’s flashbacks (I’ve got my fingers crossed for this one) or, if he does turn out to be her son, in one of Dabi’s. Hell, maybe even both. My point is that Horikoshi has revealed her identity NOW for a reason and I’m quite interested to see how everything plays out with the entirety of the Todoroki clan.

That being said, and I’ll have to tread carefully here, I am slightly miffed about how Rei doesn’t seem to be held accountable for her actions. That is to say, yes, Enji’s behavior was reprehensible at best and abusive at worst, but the fact of the matter is that she poured boiling water on Shoto’s face with her own two hands. Enji did not tell her to do that. He did not force her to do that. He had absolutely no input on her decision to do it and whether or not she did it because of a mental breakdown that he was the direct cause of, she was still the person who permanently scarred Shoto for the rest of his life. Even putting aside the fandom itself, even Natsuo is putting all the blame on Enji for those events.

I’m certainly not saying that Rei was completely responsible for what happened but I do think both parents are at fault to a point. By all means, Enji was not helping matters in the slightest but what it boils down to is that, whether or not Rei was mentally stable at the time (which she clearly wasn’t), she was still the person who burnt Shoto’s face. It might be a controversial opinion but I don’t believe that mental illness is a get-out-of-jail-free card. That is to say, yes, there are some things you just can’t control but I’m about 90% sure that taking a kettle of boiling water and holding your five year old son by the hair while you pour it on him is a little past that point. Regardless of her mental state, Shoto could’ve died, either from going into shock or a resulting infection, and she no doubt caused extensive nerve damage to the afflicted area so where is her apology?

Everyone in this fandom is screaming for Enji to tell his family that he’s sorry (while insisting that it would never be enough to deserve forgiveness) but yet, no one is holding Rei to those same standards.

Even in universe, her own children aren’t holding her to these standards and, truthfully, this sort of boggles my mind. A mental breakdown doesn’t excuse the fact that she very well could have killed Shoto doing that shit. The face is a very sensitive area thats full of nerve endings and honestly the fact he’s not blind in that eye is a goddamn miracle. Enji might be responsible for Shoto’s mental abuse but, point blank, Rei is responsible for his physical abuse. And yes, no matter how you slice it, mental illness or not, pouring boiling water on your son is physical abuse. 

This is why I really, really hope we get some kind of flashback to the first time Shoto visited her in the hospital because I want to know how exactly that went. Did she actually apologize to him? Did they talk about it? Did she explain herself? What were his thoughts on the incident? Like, I’m just really gonna’ need a full blown break down of that scene because there are so many questions that still need to be answered and I pray to god that this arc answers them in their entirety. 

But lets back track a little bit to that last panel I posted. 

So far, rather than answering any of the many questions we’ve already been presented, this arc is actually positing yet even more. Assuming that this was not a mistake on the translators part, what the flying fuck is this even supposed to mean? Am I supposed to take it as an indicator that Natsuo (and Dabi??) moved out of the house when Rei got sent to the hospital? Where the hell would they have even gone in that case when Natsuo would’ve been nine at the time? The grandmother in the flashback looked like she could’ve been from Rei’s side of the family so is it possible that he went to live with her? If that IS the case, then why didn’t Fuyumi go too? If the children REALLY have such an issue with the way Enji treated his wife and Shoto, then why is Fuyumi still living with him? To watch over Shoto? Why didn’t Natsuo care enough to stay too? Wouldn’t that seem more like a job for an older brother rather than a sister? Like, this panel fucked me up good and I have no idea how to interpret it. This is some crazy shit and I swear if Horikoshi forgets about a single plot point, I will lose my shit.

Now …. this page is quite interesting. I know as well as everyone else does that Shoto seems to be under the impression their marriage was arranged and we’ve all been operating under that assumption which is fine. But listen. What I’m saying is that a five year old is not always a reliable narrator so there is every possibility that Horikoshi has done some sleight of hand here and Rei’s dialogue supports my theory much more than I’d ever anticipated. I’ve been wondering for a long time now if Shoto knew for a fact that everything he told Deku was true OR if he’d merely assumed it to be true. Its obvious he wasn’t close enough with his father to sit down and talk with him at any point and the details of your marriage aren’t usually things you go into great detail with a toddler so what exactly was Shoto basing that on? 

The really interesting thing about Hero Academia is that, just like real people, sometimes the characters are wrong about things. They make mistakes just like we do. Remember when Shoto suspected that Deku was All Might’s son? Yeeeeaaaaah.

Actually, Shoto seems to be wrong about a lot of things. He also accused Iida of having a less than picture perfect family and, honestly, Shoto seems to be the one who mistakenly assumes things the most. Is Horikoshi setting him up for the ultimate reveal that he was wrong about his parents marriage? This has been a thought running through my mind for a long time now and this page sort of solidified that suspicion.

Because tell me, the one person whose read this far, if Enji viewed Rei as nothing more than a quirk splicing, baby making machine then why the hell would he remember what flower she said she liked on one occasion?

It would be another matter entirely if she greeted him every day with “good morning, dear! I love daisies!” but she clearly states that she mentioned this once when they first met which, at this point, has to be over twenty years ago. If Enji is as much of a heartless brute that the fandom accuses him of being then there is absolutely no way in hell he would remember such a small detail SO many years after the fact. Like, I could ask someone I work with what their favorite flower is and I probably wont remember their answer tomorrow, let alone two decades later, because I honestly don’t care. But Enji apparently cared enough and that is QUITE telling. 

That she says “It seems like he’s come here many times but we still haven’t met face to face yet” also seems to imply this is not the only flower Enji has sent her. I’m inclined to read it as a hint that, in addition to checking in on her regularly, he also sends her things fairly consistently (gifts other than flowers) but that would be presumptuous of me. But what I can conclusively deduce from this page is that he does care about her on some level. Maybe its not exactly the perfect chick flick romance you imagine in your head but it seems that Enji was not completely impartial to Rei’s plight and he wasn’t just using her for his own ends.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Enji did not have to pay for her to stay in the hospital for ten years. He had Shoto at that point. He didn’t need her anymore so why did he make the decision to send her to some place where she could not only get mental help but also live quite comfortably instead of throwing her in prison? He is a hero after all and, again, what she did is definitely child abuse, so no one would have even questioned him if he’d gone this route. Or he could have even just thrown her on the street and been done with it. 

So WHY? 

Why is he not only paying for her to stay in the hospital but also sending her things if he really doesn’t care about her? I honestly think Horikoshi is going to smack us in the face with a big Shoto-was-wrong-about-almost-everything plot twist and really throw us all for a loop. Like, almost the entire story behind the Todoroki’s is shrouded in mystery and what we DO know of them is based almost completely off the flashback of an at-the-time five year old. I not only want to see those events from the perspective of someone else but I also want to know the exact details of the marriage because I get the distinct feeling that things are not exactly as they seem.

Now don’t misunderstand me on this. Enji was definitely in the wrong for how he treated Rei and Shoto, theres no getting around that fact. However rather than being blinded by a hunger for power from day one, I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe he wasn’t always like that and things just go out of hand. I said before that I think he just let himself become a little too obsessed with surpassing All Might and he sort of lost sight of himself when all he could focus on was just that singular goal and the fact Rei is defending him in her own way seems to support that theory. Why would she stand up for a man who forced her into a marriage and mistreated her? Something just isn’t adding up here, ya’ feel me? 

Incidentally, everyone seems to believe that Enji only recently started trying to better himself and make up for his past deeds, but I don’t think thats necessarily the case. I think the reveal of All Might’s true form definitely made him realize the severity of his mistakes but Rei did not say “recently he’s been here a lot” which makes it sound like its not a new development for him to check in on her. I’m gonna’ take a wild guess and say that he’s always touched base with the hospital to see how she was doing which in turn seems to add credence to my theory that he does indeed care for her on some level. That is to say, he knew he fucked up a long time ago but he was so vindicated in his desire to somehow best All Might that he justified those actions. But seeing the true identity of Toshinori was a wake up call for him that no, in actuality, it was all for nothing in the end. 

Suddenly finding himself number one without having felt like he earned it has forced Enji to reevaluate his goals, whats important to him in life and what kind of person he wants to be. The fact he sat his pride aside and asked All Might - his long time rival - for advice was not only a humbling move on his part but also very indicative of the growth he’s already experiencing as a person. Seeing how far he can takes this, and learning the details about the Todoroki family, is exactly why I was so looking forward to this arc and why I’m so excited to finally be reading it now. I cannot wait to see how this concludes and where Enji, Shoto, Rei and even Dabi are at by the end of it.   

Please, if you have anything you’d like to add to this or an opinion of your own, I’d love to hear it! This is such a fascinating course of events to see in a shonen and I’ve got my fingers crossed that Horikoshi takes this all the way. I want the goods and I want them NOW.