#trans fairy tales

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Genderqueer Folktales (part 2)

I’ve gathered some new gender nonconforming folktales since making part 1, so it’s time for a new post! Again, please keep in mind these are all translations and products of their time. I will still attempt to put some modern-day labels on them to make them easier to navigate:

The Story of the Maiden-Knight Indian legend, published in 1916, based on the Mahabharata.

[Cw: being outed, threat of violence, awkward use of pronouns.]

A king prays for a son to go to battle his enemy, but the god Shiva reveals to him that he “should have a son who should first be a daughter”. Accordingly the child born to them – Shikhandi – is raised as a boy and married to a princess. When he finds out the situation the bride’s father is furious however, and wants to go to war over it. Shikhandi goes into the forest, in the hope that without him there will be no war. There he meets a kind Yakshas (nature spirit) who is willing to lend Shikhandi his manhood until he has saved his father from this threat. But when the king of the Yakshas finds out about this he decrees that the Yakshas will not get his manhood back until Shikhandi’s death.

The Stirrup Moor Albanian folktale, published in 1895.

[Cw: violence, king attempts to steal son’s wives, some uncomfortable descriptions of a black person.]

A prince, through his many adventures, wins the love of three wives: one human lady, one jinn princess, and one Earthly Beauty (a type of fae-like spirit from the underworld). The latter of the three regularly changes between her supernatural female shape and her chosen human form, that of a black man. In this male shape he is a formidable warrior and helps protect both the prince and the other wives. All four eventually live happily ever after.

The Boy-Girl and the Girl-Boy A Gond folktale from Central India, published in 1944.

[Cw: attempt at being outed, awkward use of gendered terms and pronouns, some doubt as to whether the AFAB protagonist is completely happy with the physical change.]

An AFAB child is adopted by a Raja, who accepts him as his son. Near the palace an old woman raises one of her many AMAB children as a girl and arranges a marriage for her. The young couple is very startled at finding out they have “the same parts” but there are not other repercussions. Later the young wife doesn’t dare to go bathing with the other women and meets the Raja’s adopted son, who has run away and changed himself into a bird. The bird offers to “exchange parts” and both protagonists end the story with a body matching their presented gender.

The Girl Who Became a Boy Albanian folktale, published in 1879.

[Cw: preoccupation with sexual ability, attempts to kill protagonist.]

AFAB protagonist answers the king’s call for warriors, dressed as a man. After several great deeds the young man wins a princess’s hand in marriage in another kingdom. He is liked at the court, but they feel obliged to get rid of him because he seems unable to consummate his marriage. He survives every dangerous task, however, and finally is sent to confront a snake infested church. The snakes curse him to become a boy, after which he returns to the court and all ends well.

With an affectionate mention for the 13th century French poem Yde and Olive, which was brought to my attention by @pomme-poire-peche. You can read about this brave princess-turned-knight married to a loyal princess here.

[patheticbatman]

Day Two of my 53rd Win A Commission Contest! Guess the (European) fairy tale on which this (Alaskan) story is based, win a commission! This picture is not super relevant to the tale, so I’m giving you two hints today!

One: In the original tale, the love interest was turned into a bear by a troll queen. In this story, she can just turn into one at will.

Two: in the original tale, it’s a marriage as a bargain type thing. In this story, the two are very happily and consensually dating, but there is still a gulf of unspoken truths between them.

Day One

[oldtvandcomics]

Happy Queer Media Monday!

Today: Black Trans Fairy Tales Series by S.T. Lynn

I swear I didn’t even realize that it’s trans awareness week when I picked this, I’d just read them recently and they’re AWESOME.

(The three books in order, as seen in my Kindle, after I read them.)

The Black Trans Fairy Tale series consists out of three fairy tale retellings, roughly eighty pages each, based specifically on the Disney version of these stories: Cinder Ella (Cinderella), Mer Made (The Little Mermaid), and Beauty’s Beast (Beauty and the Beast). While they all start out in a familiar way, the stories then quickly take their own path and go off in new and unexpected directions. 

They are written by “S.T. Lynn”, which is a pseudonym for author Tami Veldura.

At the time of writing, these books unfortunately only exist in ebook format, through Veldura’s website does list physical copies, both separately for each and for the three as an omnibus.

Aside of their website, Tami Veldura can be found in places like Instagram, and of course here on Tumblr as @tamiveldura.

Queer Media Monday is an action I started to talk about some important and/or interesting parts of our queer heritage, that people, especially young people who are only just beginning to discover the wealth of stories out there, should be aware of. Please feel free to join in on the fun and make your own posts about things you personally find important!

[labelleizzy]

You have to understand what is happening on a mythic level, okay? What we have here is a relatively rare phenomenon: advance warning of an imposed culture change. It is critical to understand what the people who are going to be in charge believe to be true.

As you read this, remember mighty Achilles had a heel.

Everyone has a heroic self, and among the leadermen a coming they are strong and smart and capable; unafraid and fearless, they know better than anyone else how things should be done. The heroic challenge - they have been unjustly prevented from setting things right by a thorny poison wall. Through heroic exertion - generally the use of violence, trickery, and expendable companions - victory is achieved. The wall is severed and the hero prevails. The hero is rewarded with buxom adoration, many children, some degree of material success and the regard of the lesser, non-heroic people.

For thorny poison wall, understand laws, regulation, and the acknowledgement of universal human rights.

Within the myth, the hero in confidently invincible. Outside of the myth, confidence does not guarantee success. This can be quite a shock to the system. It is important to push back. The hero may still kill their opponents, but eventually someone will get him. Even immortals die from time to time; it's the rebirth thing that saves their ass.

Why is it so important to this hero to control fertility is because on a very deep primal level they understand it's their only route to divinity. As much as they value innovative accomplishment - and heroes by definition are surrounded by novelty, they are always the first in a strange land - they cannot through their own efforts ascend to being any greater than they are. Women, specifically via the provision of children, make heroes into better men, at a minimum, and via sufficiently obedient behaviors, into the closest to Godhood as they're going to get.

When you say but that's gender essentialism, let me clarify that that's exactly the point. The existential threat inherent in independent women is the disruption of the heroic path to divinity. They may say it is a mission from God, but in fact, it is a mission to be God.

And how do we defeat would be Gods? We don't believe in them. We certainly don't treat them with the fear and dread they desire. There is no respect or veneration due. That thorny, poison wall will hold. They that hold it may bleed, but the wall will hold. It may get cut but as long as one thorn remains, it will grow back. Regulations and laws are written in blood. They are sacred words in their own way. But they must, like all magic words, be used, guarded, and protected.

You may not live long, with what's coming. But in myth, you live forever. Their way of being a hero is not the only way. And somebody has to save our ass.

If you were waiting on a call, this is it.

(author requests anonymity)

[sjbattleangel]

From The Sleeper And The Spindle by Neil Gaiman. Illustrated by Chris Riddell.

Colours by me.

[catgirl-kaiju]

version of Pinocchio where he's told what to do to become a real boy, but constantly struggles to do it until he realizes that he never wanted to be a real boy. he was only trying to be a real boy because it's what she was told by everyone that she needed to do. this whole time, she was actually a real girl acting like a puppet trying to be a real boy. she only stops having a puppet body once she accepts her true nature and asserts her girlhood in defiance of the destiny laid out for her. trans Pinocchio when

[thuesdaynightdykelife]

Seriously, it's like no one wants to tame dragons, kill their evil stepmothers, and ride away into the sunset anymore. What's up with that?

[aroworlds]

I thought Trans Day of Visibility a good time to mention that I have a post collecting my stories with trans aro protagonists. I often feel disconnected from the aro community in that the (albeit very limited!) representation we celebrate and bond over largely depicts cis aros. Characters who seldom encompass, because they are cis, much of how I experience being aromantic.

In order to be seen as aro, I must push my transness into the shadows. The reverse is true in trans-centred fiction, where acceptance--by ourselves and/or others--is often demonstrated via a character's experiences of romantic relationships and love. Time and time again, I must choose which part of me to celebrate and which part to ignore: I can only be transgender or aromantic in the stories about which my communities express delight.

So this is a list of aro stories about gender and trans stories about aromanticism, because we deserve recognition as trans and aro.

[alona-draws]

Coming out of the shadows with part 1 of a comic inspired by “The Other Shoe” by @kitkatt0430 on ao3 🏳️‍🌈👑🏳️‍⚧️🌹

[lgbtqreads]

Spotlight on: 2024 Lammy Finalists for Best Anthology

Today on the site we’re shining the spotlight on the 2024 finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Best Anthology! Anthologies are pretty near and dear to my heart, having edited five of them, and I’m thrilled to help showcase these editors, contributors, and volumes before the Lammy Awards take place on June 11th! 2 Trans 2 Furious: An Extremely Serious Journal of Transgender Street Racing…

[elisalon]

So I work at an art museum and the other day I showed a group of 8-10yos paintings of mythical creatures and monsters.

When we talked about the unicorn I also brought up how in old stories only young girls could tame and catch that creature.

One of the kids raised their hand and asked: But what if it is a boy who feels that he is actually a woman.

I answered: let’s think about it… that would work too..

At this point we got interrupted by the arrival of a big tourist group, but I really loved that they brought that up…

And it got me thinking … wouldn’t it be great if that was how you found out? Because you got visited by a unicorn?

So many possibilities for great stories …

[patheticbatman]

(Accidentally posted this early plz excuse me)

Day Three of my 53rd Win a Commission contest! Guess the (Scandinavian) fairy tale this (Alaskan) story is based upon, win a commission! Ends September 14th, midnight EST

As this picture is not very related to the fairy tale, I will give you three hints

One: At the end of the original tale, the love interest turns back human, presumably forever. In this story, they can turn back and forth.

Two: The love interest is a polar bear in both versions.

Three: in the original tale, the main character is a always either a peasant or a failed merchant’s daughter, and the love interest is a prince or king. In mine, the main character is a nurse and the love interest is a counselor.

[oldtvandcomics]

Guys. I found something REALLY GOOD

So. These fairy tale retellings have been on my radar for a little while. The series is called "Black Trans Fairy Tales", and I always find queer fairy tale retellings interesting. Unfortunately, it is a thing that is very easy to get wrong, if the author isn't engaging deeply enough with the source material. You know all those stories that are basically just the popularly known (read: Disney version), with the genders switched around. The three above are based on three of the most popular (read: Disney made a movie) tales, so I was a bit sceptical. This is the kind of story that could go either way.

I just finished reading Mer Made. It is REALLY FRIKKING GOOD.

The basis is clearly still the Disney movie, but the plot has been changed around so much that it has become completely its own story. The writing style is amazing. And it is 80 pages long, which is significantly more than your average retelling. It is actually engaging with the themes it set out to engage with.

In the end, it IS a lighthearted romance with princesses, and has a few small imperfections, but damn. For an independently published fairy tale retelling? VERY good quality.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

if i can get even one person to listen to The Mechanisms i would have fulfilled my purpose

[premaritalhug]

I did it. He looks like he plays Magic: The Gathering.

[bilightningwhumper]

Context below poll, trying to figure out some elements for "Hollow Mirror" (my Alice in Wonderland TNEI fic)

Edit: his name is going to be changed from Phillip to Reid. Fits him better in my head.

Basically, my character Phillip (really considering changing that name too, not loving it). I could do any of these at this point along with knowing how to get both main characters out into the rescue-comfort stage. So I'm just leaving it up to ya'll.

Info for whumpee options: Phillip would be their (it's a polycule of multiple whumpers for this one) punching bag whumpee/protective taking physical punishments for "Alice"/Natalie (who's one of their "prized pets"), as well as for other "pets", depending on what option is picked.

Info for respected son/successor options: He'd become part of the "Merry Men" group or investigative group after meeting Natalie; inadvertently part of the whumping beforehand until he learns otherwise. How well he keeps that secret and is maybe found out is left to the poll.

TNEI Taglist: (not a fic, but relavant, lol)

@scoundrelwithboba @bitchaknso

Let me know if you want to be added/removed from any of the taglists!