#whatever labeling things as “this was horrible and gross bad representation and should never happen in fiction” is called

[whateverdays-art]

i know a lot of people find mutsuki's story arc to be unfair and gross representation or something but.

cw's for gender trauma, dysphoria, sa, that kinda thing

honestly in a story largely about trauma, i thought there really wasn't anything wrong with it.

i'm mostly non-binary these days, but in the period where i was leaning more towards trans man, a lot of these were all. actually really valid fears, at least for me.

being forcibly revealed for what you "are" (or what others think, anyway). being forced into bad situations. "don't look, don't look" is actually a really on-point thought even still.

and gender is kinda soup and that line, "i'm such a girl" maybe speaks to a frustration with the inability to transition how one wants. the inability to "fit in" to your gender's stereotype, so to speak. (i went through that for a bit. constantly concerned if things were too girly. overly-concerned with presenting as masc.)

and so. with the knowledge that this demographic is super vulnerable, or maybe it's just the survivor in me, no, i don't feel like it's the horrible portrayal everyone says it is.

his story arc reflected some things about my life that were nice to see acknowledged in fiction.

i think if we start deeming certain portrayals as wholly "bad" or wholly "good", we run the risk of erasing stories that are important to people. we run the risk of limiting ourselves, in general to only a certain kind of representation. how often have you seen the "brave of heart, dumb of ass, twink transman" sort of trope in lgbtq+ stories? that's. not all there is to all transmen, i promise. there's as much a variety as there are people.

if it's not good rep for YOU, that's okay!

to say it's "objectively bad representation" is, i think, a bad and possibly dangerous take.