#transgender media representation

[nekhcore]

HEY YOU!

Yeah, you! Are you trans? Do you like reading books? Or watching movies?

Do you like media about trans men/transmasculine characters but don't know where to find it?

That's sooo crazy because I have this little spreadsheet I'm working on where I'm trying to document all media with protagonists/major characters who are FTM or transmasculine.

The spreadsheet currently has 400+ entries spread across the following categories:

Books

Manga

Memoirs and non-fiction

Movies

TV Shows

Graphic novels / Comics

Webcomics

Audio dramas

Books and movies are also sorted by:

Which character is trans (MC, love interest, antagonist, etc)

If the trans character is POC

The trans character's sexuality (Because I saw lots of transhet guys sad about only being able to find gay romances)

If the author/actor is also trans (if we know for sure)

It's free to use, and free to add to as well! Editing permissions are on, and I check on the spreadsheet every now and then to make sure everything is in order and to clean up.

If you know something that isn't on the list, please add it! You don't have to fill in every single column, but fill it to the best of your abilities.

If you don't want to use the big ass long link below, you can also use: bit.ly/FTM-protags

I made this because I want it to be a community resource. So even if you're not a trans guy or transmasculine person, please reblog!

[a-map-of-gays]

More queer media that doesn't focus on being bullied and harrassed. More queer media that doesn't centre around cis gay men. More queer media that features aros and aces. More queer media that isn't about suffering. More queer media that has genderqueer people. More queer media with characters who use multiple sets of pronouns. More queer media that has supportive parents (especially fathers). More queer media that isn't about wanting to be 'normal'. More queer media that represents all the facets of drag. More queer media that represents the whole queer community

[randomalistic]

MY MINI ANALYSIS IS READY !?!??! it's about disability rep and also trans shit

Put it on in the background lemme know if you Enjoy :) (also turn on captions if you want some extra silliness)

[jeypawlik]

TRANS COMICS

Let me thread you up some TRANS COMICS I've worked on over the years!

Gender Slices is my autobio comic that I started in 2016 which became a graphic novel upon it's completion. I'm currently doing a small HRT Diary follow up!

Pages are up for free at: topazcomics.com/genderslices/vol1

I have oh so many comics about trans joy over on ohjoysextoy.com/category/jeypawlik and I am so grateful to Oh Joy Sex Toy for giving me so much space to autobio about being trans!

My one page comic for the "When I Was Me" anthology. A moment between myself and one of my niblings at the cottage. He was quite pleased when I'd told him I did a comic about us! www.quindriepress.com/books/p/wiwm

My first big anthology was "We’re Still Here: An All-Trans Comics Anthology" (that won a 2019 Ignatz) I'd written this during the limbo period between names and waiting for my new birth certificate.

Given & Taken is a short fancomic written by @octokracken and might still be one of my favourite comics we've done together.

It's "Jigen is trans and Lupin finds out" the comic.

It's for sale as a PDF or physical copy https://topazcomics.com/shop/product-tag/given-taken/

Trans media is important and if you can't find them from the big corps, remember there's always indie folks who're doing the good work! Representation is out there!

I'm cookin' up some stuff over on Patreon, and my work is ALWAYS going to be queer!

[cepheusgalaxy]

(You don't know for how long I've been thinking on doing this)

LGBTQIA+ representation on media be like:

ID: The meme with an adult holding up one child in a pool while the other drowns, and underwater is a skeleton. The adult is labeled "LGBTQIA+ "representation" in media." The kid being held up is labeled "gays" with an asterisk of "sometimes, lesbians and bi people." The drowning child is labeled "Transgender and other sexualities/romantic orientations." The skeleton is labeled "Intersex people." /end ID.

(Edit: id by @aromanticsky)

[barbthebuilder]

What do y'all want to see more of in genderfluid media?

Like, let's say there will be a new character in your favorite show who just happens to be genderfluid. How do you want them to represent themselves? In what ways you want them to show their genderfluidity?

This is question mainly to genderfluid folks but if you're not genderfluid you can speak up too! Just make sure to state that you're not genderfluid first.

[theluigianapurchase]

lowkey really sad about transmasc rep rn i wanna watch a show or a movie with a transmasc character and the closest I've ever seen is Darcy from heartstopper

[nightcolorz]

in my experience bad and problematic representation will always connect with me more then representation that is considered inoffensive and positive. I’ve seen myself in trans and gnc characters played by cis actors cross dressing offensively, but I’ve never seen myself in an animated cartoon character voiced by a trans person with articles written about them praising the accurate trans rep. The more pandered to I feel, the less able I am to find relatability or enjoyment. Idk, am I alone in this? I’ve always found representation more special when the sincerity and relatable emotion in it feels accidental. The uneducated nature implies that there was someone behind it who felt something and put it into a character in a messy way they weren’t supposed to. That’s real! If I’m able to find myself in an offensively written queer character from the 90s, if I’m able to see the real queer emotion in a story that had no pandering motive behind it, then I know I’m listening to the voice of someone like me, and not the chatter of a boardroom

[polverineseventeen]

yall can we stop babygirlifying trans guys? like, as a trans guy, i dont want all portrayals of me as a twink, yk? femininity isn't a bad thing, no matter what gender you are, but with a community that was born into a feminine role and mindset and then realized that they were men, representing them as fragile, uwu, smol, twinks, kind of pisses me off. also how most of the transmasc representations is a lot of us that are gay? which is fine because, like almost every other community, gay people exist lol. but i want more portrayals of those of us that are straight, aroace, bi, pan, etc. but that is a conversation that is different because everyone under the queer umbrella is underrepresented or misrepresented unfortunately. its hard to find transmasc representation, save perhaps for a few rare headcanons, so i feel like we should be more correctly represented. unfortunately, this same babygirlification is placed on amab nonbinary and/or gay representation. i also want more asexual rep cuz im ace lollll. and more rep with identities under the aromantic umbrella bc im idemiromantic and biased. also for trans rep in media, if the character has a romantic relationship why is it so like un-normal? like, if i ever get a girlfriend lol id tell her im trans and i assume we'd just carry on as normal. anyways, ive been yapping for too long...have a great day and/or night!

[ellowynthenotking]

Totally fixed several plotholes in one swoop by adding a little bit of rep to the main character, I don't know why I didn't think of it before!

[nyxsealia]

An example of why LGBTQ+ representation in media matters, especially children's media.

As a child I didn't know LGBTQ+ people existed. There were no queer people in my family, or in family friends. (At least, that I was aware of) I remember one time we went to the library and there was an educational table set up outside with information about pride. I asked my mom what all the rainbows were for. I don't remember what she said, other than I remember her mentioning one of my older brother's friends who apparently had two moms. I was very little. I forgot about that conversation and was no more aware of queer people.

I don't remember seeing queer characters in media. The first time I can remember seeing LGBTQ+ people depicted in anything was in the music video for Avichii's "Addicted to You" the plot of the music video follows a pair of female robbers who are explicitly in a romantic relationship. I was absolutely fascinated by this music video when I saw my brother watching it. I was eleven. This music video follows a lot of the common queer TV tropes. The women are criminals, the "bad guys" and they die in the end. But this was the first time I can remember seeing lesbians.

Even as a teenager, I don't remember seeing much LGBTQ+ characters in media. I was intrigued when the token gay side character would show up in a TV show, but that wasn't really representation. I still knew nothing about queer people. A boy in my art class came out to me as trans. The exact words he used were "I'm a trans guy." and I legitimately didn't know if that meant ftm or mtf. I accidentally misgendered him once because of it.

In my early teens, I said some pretty ignorant things. Luckily just to my family, but still. It wasn't until I started questioning my sexuality in my late teens that I actually started to learn anything about the LGBTQ+ community. I did a lot of research, not all related to figuring out my sexuality, just about LGBTQ+ experiences and identities. I watched videos by LGBTQ+ YouTubers, listened to podcasts, read articles, all by queer creators.

I especially made a point of understanding transgender people, because that was something at the time that greatly confused me. So I looked for videos, podcasts, articles etc, made by transgender people themselves where they talked about their feelings and experiences. It made a huge difference. I wasn't confused anymore, I couldn't relate to how they felt, but I had understanding and empathy. I went from confused and unaware, to understanding and supportive. Just from a bit of research.

But even at this point, there was still little to no LGBTQ+ media representation. When I came out at 18 and felt comfortable picking movies focused on queer characters, I had a heck of a time finding any. I did find some, and while a lot of them weren't great, I did find a few really good ones. (Saving Face and Late Bloomers are two of my favourites)

Things are getting better, slowly. We're starting to see more media focused around LGBTQ+ characters, and children's media including the topic. It's long overdue and we're still not quite there yet. You're gonna have a hard time finding media focused on LGBTQ+ characters that aren't white, able bodied gay, lesbian, or bisexual characters. Representation for trans, non binary, asexual and aromantic identifies, queer people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, religious queer people, and disabled queer people, and any combination of the above, is still lacking. We still have more work to do.

Having these kinds of shows and movies would have made a big difference for me growing up, and it will make a big difference for thousands of other kids who are growing up right now.

This isn't a negative post to complain about the lack of media, it's an example of it's importance and optimism for the future. I do believe this will continue to get better, however slow that may be. This is just my little reminder of why it needs to.

I hope anyone who reads this is having a good day. You're valid and loved, no matter who you are. Stay safe.

[queergaygaygaygay]

Trans Spider Gwen Helped Me Come Out

Though there is no confirmation that Gwen is trans, it is reasonable to assume that she is trans given the level of support she gives, the colour scheme, of her outfit and surrounding world, and her story arc which can be easy analysed as a trans allegory. (It is also a fun headcannon.)

I picked up on Gwen’s transness as I was watching the film. I hadn’t seen any trailers properly or seen any theories on twitter or tumblr but I read Gwen as trans.

Seeing a transcoded super hero explain to her dad who she is and then to watch him accept her, despite everything that happened before, made me feel unstoppable.

It was only a couple days after viewing the film that I came out to my mother and she was somewhat confused but accepting and we managed to book an appointment with a GP (I’m British) and we actually got refered to a Gender Clinic. He was very accepting and encouraging- a complete contrast to some of the GPs I had heard about from other trans people. I hope more GPs will become supportive and disregard their personal opinions to represent the policies of the NHS. I was very lucky to find a GP willing to refer me and I’m very thankful for NHS staff who accept trans people.

Of course seeing Gwen Stacy in Across the Spiderverse wasn’t the only thing that made me want to transition and be openly trans around family and friends. I have also been experiencing heavy gender dysphoria due to puberty no longer letting me appear as androgynous or feminine as I would like.

Gwen being incredibly strong and very trans let me believe I could come out and express myself. Never have I seen a stronger trans character in media I have enjoyed and she’s been very accepted by the trans community.

This is just one example of how representation can help real life people feel confident enough to come out and be themselves in an increasingly oppressive society. I hope for more representation, more acceptance and more beautiful queer people.

[purplehalnw]

So, I just want to go on a little tangent here about Angel here.

Okay so when I first watched the pilot I initially thought that Angel was a trans man (because of the chest fluff of course). But later on after reading about him online I found out he wasn't and.... I'm kinda disappointed about that.

Because most on screen media depicts trans people as always dressing in the clothes that are associated with the gender they identify as. Ex: trans women always dress feminine and trans men always dress masculine. So, naturally when I saw Angel I thought it was nice that there was a trans guy character who preferred to dress more feminine.

And also again I didn't know that Angel's chest was just fluff so when he said "this body is flawless" and was you know acting proud of it I thought "oh cool we have a trans character who isn't at least completely dysphoric about their body".

Angel is still queer representation and I still absolutely love him. But there is just so little good trans rep out there (especially rep that isn't all about them being trans) and idk probably would've been groundbreaking to have a character who's a feminine gay trans man especially in a show as popular as this one.

[plantsucc]

I have a lot of thoughts about the lack of transmasc characters in anime and manga, and specifically lack of any hrt. it's always like there's a pressure against it. like they "can't ruin the pretty waifu with evil testosterone which makes her ugly." like the fans always have to be ensured that under all those masc clothes, he can still be a hot girl actually.

and it's never really actually even canonically a transmasc character? it's always ambiguous, unless it's autobiographical.

but it's soooo depressing to talk about it because nothing really changes and I'm just talking into the void, just complaining. nothing I say changes anything, it's just vent in the end.

just kinda feels pointless to say anything. I can't even make my sister do her homework, I can't even convince my father to stop getting scammed, I just feel like I don't have that ability to talk anyone out of anything.

[ssaseaprince]

I feel like Hannibal is an allegory/metaphor for the queer/trans coming out experience in the same way the werewolf genre is.

[cepheusgalaxy]

They are trans and I will die on this hill

Desna (left), from The Legend of Korra

Look, that's seriously talk

Do you know what are bivitelin and univitelin twins?

Univiteline twins are the ones whose embryons are from the same origin

Biviteline are the ones whose embryons are unrelated, but happened to envolve and born at the same time

Biviteline twins often look very different, in what univiteline twins are identical

Obvsiously thought, they even have the same genes

Did you know uiviteline twins also are always the same sex

They are made of the same seed after all

See what I mean?

Eska and Desna as obviously univiteline

And they have different genders: Desna's a boy and Eska is female

I assume Desna is the trans one, since their designs, aside from being identical and giving us a vibe of nobelty and inaproachableness expected of the North Pole prince and princess, tend more to a feminine aesthetic

Also, Bolin thought they were both girls firs time they met lol

In a side note, Bryan Konietzo and Michael Dante Dimartino have a history of representing minorities, such as disabled characters

And brown/black people

As well, as they already have done queer characters (Asami and Korra), despiste the latter's representation abeing way more sutile

So it's natural to guess that the level of sutileness would be the same while approaching another queer character

Logical conclusion: Desna is super trans

Pyotr, from Carole and Tuesday

This guy

Come on, have you heard his music??????

Like, have you heard his music??