#why am I so gay for the mascs AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[teplavecernice]

there are lesbians who people mistake for men and there are gay men who people mistake for women, but I'm proud to say that I'm a lesbian who people mistake for a gay man

[astronomy-is-cute]

i wish i could pass as nonbinary sometimes

[melviships]

H

[starkissedblade]

there's a chance i might be genderfluid i know ive been just doing the general nonbinary for a while now but genderfluid is something im looking into and im so sad that info on it is a bit scarce im sad i searched it on youtube and the results were mostly negative :(((((

[haunted-house-heart]

i remember when i was 14 i was on this pet collecting game site that had its own little forum and there was an lgbt area in it and it was actually the first exposure i had to like actual queer people and different labels (which led to the Great Queer Crisis of 2016 when i started id'ing as bi and then later as aroace) and the majority of people on there were actually queer and a lot of them used different pronouns and i remember at one point going (before the Great Trans Awakening of 2017) "oh yeah i guess if people wanted to use she/they pronouns for me they could :) ! i wouldn't care :) i like she/her but i wouldn't mind if that's what they wanted :)" and looking back on that now i'm just like. oh sweetie you really didn't have a clue did you

[faggottomcruise]

I really think gay trans guys should step up their game in gender think pieces

[spoopsheepy]

Started off the day with a dream about getting stabbed by a very apologetic Aquaman.

Ending the day with the sudden awareness that I have a crush on Every Superhero.

This has been a wild day, in terms of my relationship to comic characters.

[ratbastarddotfuck]

Okay this one is not gonna be a popular take on tumblr but.

Identity policing is pointless and dangerous and honestly only really works in online spaces. I say this and you might think "yeah identity policing sucks" but I need you to think a bit deeper.

When you get into a real life queer community (and I DO mean queer specifically, radical inclusionist queers) people don't give a shit. You hear this kind of thing a lot on tumblr but I think it is important to specify, because a lot of more general "lgbt+" groups HAVE been poisoned by the online discourse.

I've been a part of a proper queer community for a couple of years now and here is the thing.

Many more people than you think have a constantly shifting sense of identity, or experience multiple, supposedly conflicting identities at once, and they are allowed to express those identities in a way that makes them comfortable.

My partner is a nonbinary trans woman. They date people of many different genders, and generally consider themself to be bi. But sometimes they refer to themself as a lesbian, because they feel like or want to be a lesbian on that day. They are still dating and love me/their other non-woman partners on these days, it's just an identity they resonate with at that time. This is what I mean when I say constantly shifting identity.

I am a gay, bisexual, asexual, genderfluid nonbinary transmasc. I experience so many different identities at once - my gender and my sexuality are informed by each other constantly. I always feel more masc when I am attracted to a masc person, and I always feel less masc (but rarely more fem) when I am attracted to more fem people. Any time I feel attraction I usually consider it gay attraction, even if I feel attraction to multiple differently gendered people at once - I'm bisexual from a technical standpoint, but I'm almost always just gay (but sometimes I truly am just a raging bisexual). I am genderfluid but I am also always nonbinary. My gender goes between multiple, often unidentifiable nonbinary genders, but rarely if ever a binary one.

When I talk to cis people, or less-radical trans people, I generally just say I'm a bi nonbinary person. Nobody needs to know all of that except the people I want to tell it to. BUT those are all facets of my identity that I do experience and I am allowed to express those. Just the other day I tagged a post about how much I love my partner (wife, I said in that post) with "lesbian" - the reason being they were having a lesbian day and I was very much in love with them and feeling pretty much a "gay almost-woman" myself.

(And this, by the way, is why the word queer is so useful and important and you can pry it from my cold dead hands :)

Another thing to think about is how we treat genderfluid people and their attraction in general. There are often posts with a "mlm/nblm" or "wlw/nblw" tag at the end - do these include genderfluid people? Am I allowed to reblog a mlm post when I'm having a man-adjacent day, even if I don't always feel like a mlm? Am I allowed to reblog a wlw post on a woman-adjacent day? My identity can fluctuate minute to minute, am I going to get a callout post from someone who doesn't understand the intricacies of my identity if I reblog a mlm post and a wlw post in quick succession?

And this is bringing me to the next part of this discussion, and the reason it is important to think about: the culture on tumblr (and, i believe, twitter) of calling people out for having what YOU perceive to be conflicting identities, saying that they're "appropriating x identity" or using it for clout or to escape the repercussions of an offhand comment they made that you didn't like (and I can name at least one popular tumblr user who did and still sometimes does experience targeted callouts and harassment for being a "lesbophobe" because they identify as a lesbian in a way the tumblr culture at large doesn't like, but I digress).

You do not and can not know the intricacies of someone's identity unless they tell you. If you read the earlier parts of this post and agreed or understood that people can have multiple "conflicting" identities, then I do not want to see you sharing callout posts for people who ID in a nonconventional way. You don't know, and overall it really does not fucking matter. The oft-repeated line of "how does it impact you if someone is gay/trans/etc", spoken to homophobes and transphobes frequently, is applicable here: how does it impact you if someone identifies in a supposedly nonconventional or conflicting way? It does not. And in real life queer communities, people do not give a shit, because we have bigger problems to deal with OUTSIDE the community, we don't have time for infighting. We have more in common than we have apart.

[tomatograter]

If he has internalized homophobia then why he has no problem telling Dave he used to date a guy? Like, as you said, he cares about his reputation, and we know he really wanted Dave to like him, so that prolly means he was quite careful with what he could or couldn't say in front of him, specifically after he discovered that Bro abused him. So what I'm trying to say, if he cared about being gay, I think he would have avoided telling him he dated Jake? Or at least give it a second thought? I don't see what's the problem with Dirk being against labels, he seems that type of person, he prolly thinks that makes him more intellectual or some stupid thing like that

Hmmm thats not exactly what I said. I don't think Dirk has internalized homophobia so much as <he's afraid of the outside reception to the fact that he's gay, and how people will perceive him based on it>. Dirk knows that he's gay. We know Dirk is aware of that since he was at least 13, because he's already throwing undeniably romantic advances at Jake by then to test the waters. Dirk isn't in cutesy denial about anything here, he doesn't have the time or luxury for that. His problem is more that once you state 'Yes I Am Gay' as a definition of your character, that comes with a Lot of historical baggage and expectations- and from dirk's perspective, both the expectations and historical baggage are something so incredibly divorced from his reality in a future where no human society exists that he's waaaayyyyyy too careful of making that association. It could potentially bust the image he's trying to project.

Again, Dirk's thing is performance. Esp the performance of masculinity. He is the one homestuck character that truly, genuinely, wholeheartedly cares about putting up an image of what it means To Be Masc. He does this because he likes it. He's not forced to do it, he's not under societal pressure to do it, he's not whinning about how much he hates it, he's not doing it at gunpoint; this is a set of parameters he came up with for himself, even in complete isolation. They are a statement and holy boypledge he's making.

He thinks it is Very Cool, and he would like it if you thought it was Very Cool Too (especially if that transmits an image of how strong and reliable he "totally" is). And, again, when you think about our early 2000-10's context of GAYNESS, because homestuck is an extremely time-bound comic, the image "being gay" summons is... really not the one I described above. We're talking about gay men being stereotyped as catty & cowardly & effeminate, about the constant punchlines around 'useless fairies' (a term that was used to refer specifically *to* feminine, submissive, oft gender-transgressive gays ) not incidentally, Dirk's godtier is revealed to him in-comic through a drawing that depicts him as a fairy. He's immediately put off by it. Dirk and Jake's godtiers were called Fagtiers by more than a portion of the fandom. Relics of this are still high up on google images if you search for pictures of their godtiers, lol. Essentially, to admit to his gayness openly and broadly in that timeframe is to be stereotyped as something he doesn't entirely identify as, in an environment that is far from welcoming.

I am pretty open about reading Dirk as a trans man, and what I think is happening here is that together with Roxy's constant insinuations that Dirk Should Have Her Babies, Dirk is ultimately afraid that his claim to being a homosexual paints him as innately womanly. He either gets to be a man or he gets to love men. There's no middleground, or else these social features will cancel eachother out like pemdas. What we see in Homestuck is his haphazard attempt to keep both things intact. His courtship of Jake is only allowed if it is strictly masculine, if it seems like he has a semblance of control, if it looks like they are both just Dudes being Bros throwing it down like Fellow Action Men. This is harmful for Dirk and gives him extreme emotional constipation; not to speak of how tiring it is for Jake to try to keep up with this months-long improv game of Xtreme Axe Bodyspray Marathon when they could just... date. Jake really wouldn't mind if they decided to paint each other's nails or have stereotypical sleepovers or just chill out and have fun like Jane and Roxy are obviously doing. Jake would be fine with being soft so long as he's not being made fun of. But Dirk struggles with letting any sign of dangerous sensitivity show under the assumption that it will be read as a weakness, an inadmissible vulnerability in his set of armor.

Which becomes all the more relevant once you note that when Dirk's trying to convince Dave that he's not a threat and certainly not a monster, one of the first things he admits to is "I like men."

[shortpplfedup]

Anatomy of a Scene Fantasy of love, or how to get your crush to call you 'honey' a bunch of times and say you're pretty

In which Pat and Pran allow themselves a moment of fantasy.

Bad Buddy, Episode 3 Director: Backaof Noppharnach Chaiwimol Writers: Pratchaya Thavornthummarut, Bee Pongset Laksamipong, Best Kittisak Kongka Cast: Ohm Pawat Chittsawangdee (Pat) and Nanon Korapat Kirdpan (Pran)

Nobody is around, you can talk to me nicely...You didn’t reply to my messages. You weren’t at your dorm. That’s why I’m here...Can’t we just chitchat? Are you as hard on your other friends as you are on me?...Sorry, I’m not your friend...

You can’t just sit and imagine it. You must use someone who actually uses it. Let’s do this. Let’s say we’re friends...Lovers then. To get different perspectives. Let’s say I’m an Engineering hot guy and you’re an Architecture hot girl. We’re in a relationship. And…seeking shelter from the rain and waiting to get on a bus...Why am I a girl? You are.Why so picky? Let’s say we’re both hot guys and we’re boyfriends. You’re the husband and I’m the wife. Okay?You’re such a masculine wife.

Honey, I’m getting wet. It’s raining so heavily. Gosh! People can see through my shirt. What am I going to do, honey? There’s a bus stop. Should we use it as a shelter?The roof should be around this high and curved. It will help keep the rain out.Honey, the rain just stopped but it’s sunny now. My skin is burnt.We should have a solar cell too. It will generate power to use at night. For the fans, the CCTV, and the electronic signs.Honey, you only care about the bus stop. You don’t care about me. I’m sulky now.Here’s a corpse flower for someone so pretty.Jackass! So there’re flowers growing around this bus stop too?It’s an eco bus stop. Flowers are easy on the eyes and they keep people company while waiting for the bus.Who will take care of them?Well…we will have a faucet here and the drainpipe will be directed to the flowers. That’s how we water them.

Do you like it? The new bus stop.I do. I’m just not sure if they will do too.They will. Because I do. My honey is so smart.Stop already. You’re giving me goosebumps.My booboo is the best.

This is a long one so I've excerpted the dialogue, but I wanted to keep the whole thing because there's so much here. There's the subversion of gay media and BL tropes around masculinity and femininity, commentary on said tropes, even a digression on empathy and practical design (my specific field of nerdery so I had fun), all couched within a love fantasy roleplay that these two desperately wish could be real. Pat is trying to make up for his misdeeds here. He should have put a stop to his friends' bullying of Wai at the bar that led to all this, but he's lowkey jealous of Wai being so close to Pran, even if that's not totally obvious yet. Now Pran's stressed out and mad at him so he's gotta fix it somehow.

These two care SO MUCH for each other. Their parents, despite their best efforts, weren't able to poison them against each other; they just simply like each other. And when they're vibing like this, whether it's bickering or playing or just hanging out and being with each other...it's so beautiful. It's also a dangerous game of gay chicken (LOVE this term) they're playing here, with Pat repeatedly putting a toe in the water only to pull it back, leaving Pran hot and bothered but also confused as hell, almost daring Pran to do something about it. This energy is exactly why I now completely understand how we arrive at the bet they make in the trailer. They both feel the pull towards each other, but nobody want to 'lose' by being the first to admit it.

On a meta level, Aof is definitely taking the BL audience to task a little bit here, gently chiding about expectations of strict masc/fem gender roles and the weird fetishisation of a 'top/bottom' dynamic that goes along with that (imagine there are people who won't watch this fantastic show because they can't tell which character is the 'top' and which is the 'bottom'...weirdos). By having Pat the Brick House play the 'wife' in this little scenario, he's almost saying 'See how ridiculous this all is? Anybody can be anything they want.' I like that a lot.

[curlyjoe7]

💜 Hello there everyone! Today I have something special for a certain identity :) 💚

Recently I heard about a romantic/sexual orientation related to being nonbinary and only liking fellow enbies called enbian! I thought that was really cool and didn’t realize we had our own ‘gay’ orientation so I went looking to find the flag for it and saw so many designs but no real set one which is when I got an idea. I got an idea to make one myself that could become the official flag! Now I’m not an enbian but I am a pan enby so I figured I had enough credentials to make one which I hope is okay :)

Here’s my design:

And here is the meaning behind each stripe:

My reasoning for the design is that I wanted it to be colors that could go for any nonbinary gender identity whilst also being more feminine and masculine leaning to represent gender expression. Which is why I chose purple as my feminine leaning, green as my masculine leaning and white of course to represent androgynous. I was very adamant about using colors that weren’t similar to the lesbian and gay man flag (but could still fit with those two flags as like a gay trio) as I wanted it to be original to itself whilst also not making it a redesign of the nonbinary flag either. Though I realize it does resemble the genderqueer flag but I swear that was an accident lol! I felt as though whilst yellow and purple work with gender, yellow does not in regards to attraction as it’s simply too neutral and I wanted a more masculine leaning color that was yet still neutral enough for my masc enby friends. Along with that the tones of each stripe have significance to represent attraction to fem, masc and andro. And they all flow in the order they do to go straight from fem loving fem on the top, andro loving andro in the middle and masc loving masc on the bottom. So let’s start at the top with purple, my femine leaning color. For fem loving fem I used a red-ish (not too much though to not mimic the lesbian flag and remain neutral) toned purple to make it even more feminine, true purple for fem loving andro and blue toned purple for a more masculine version for fem loving masc. Which bleeds into the middle colors with a muted purple for andro loving fem, a white for andro loving andro and a muted green for andro loving masc. Then we’ve reached the green, a yellow toned green for masc loving fem, a true green for masc loving andro and a blue toned green for masc loving masc. As you can tell I used warm tones for fem, cool toned for masc and a perfect mix of warm and cool for andro.

I really hope you all love this flag and choose to use it as I put hours into it, redesigning it three times as I wanted to make everyone in the community happy with it for it to become the enbian flag. I felt the others I’ve seen weren’t representative of everyone in the community so I felt the the need to take matters into my own hands to make the perfect one (or at least the perfect one to me).

[just-antithings]

Trans man here to share a thought on the cuntboy/pussyboy topic! So the reason people don't like it is because it's supposedly fetishistic, right? You're reducing a trans person to their genitalias or whatever. But in my experience, nsfw art labeled as *trans* only and without the previous terms has been more fetishistic. The ones that aren't labeled as anything are usually the best. When I search up cuntboy, it gives me the sense of normalcy* that I sometimes crave. It's just a boy, with a cunt, like me! The whole piece isn't centered around the character's transness, wether it's trough dialogue or heavy implications with the body/body language. Personally, it's just something I'm not into. I sometimes want to forget I'm trans and just be me and, well, these tags help me with that. Also I'm not sure how many of the people complaining are trans mascs. and I do feel it's yet again a group of people supposedly wanting to protect all of the people in a certain group instead of letting them decide for themselves if they are comfortable with something or not.

*normalcy as in being trans is normal and accepted and not questioned

I honestly feel the same way, I know a lot of people seemed to express dislike for male wife for similar reasons. But as I am 1) v masc 2) a stay at home wife & 3) and non-binary he/they its the term I feel most comfortable using while being married. Because at the end of the day I do feel more like a wife than a husband and partner is used so frequently for boyfriends and girlfriends I feel like it's lost weight, and I personally dislike being referred to as spouse and I think it sounds clunky. Me and my husband settled on mife or male wife.

I also when looking up porn with trans people like me tend to actually prefer just regular male oriented porn sites. It's just s*x between someone who looks like me getting fucked my someone I would want to be with. No need for anything other than the sex itself, no excuses or accusations or gatekeeping ect.

Frankly the trans only thing bothers me. So cis bi men and women can't find me attractive? Gay men can't? I would prefer lesbians not like me but that's a matter of I am not a woman, however I do understand and appreciate that queer relationships are different and special as long as a lesbian at the end of the day understands I am not a woman and they aren't bedding me as one, I won't mind. I'm bi and I have mostly been with cis men, my husband is a cis man who respects and celebrates my gender and has a specific preference for androgynous people of all genders. Is he automatically wrong for loving me because he's not trans? Like anon I get you, do these people realize how they sound, trans women are women and trans men are men why do some people other us by trying to tell non trans people can't love us properly. That's not fair to trans people who are with cis people or their partners who love them.

People need to stop policing others personal lives trans people will always decide what language is best for them, there is no point in policing eachother like that in the queer/lgbt+ communities.

[qandgay]

Ello, I'm an Mspec Gay(specifically Omni Gay) I identify as such because I feel attraction to all genderx but in a "conflicting" way.

You see, I am attracted to men and masc presenting in a romantic and Sexual and aesthetic way. I am attracted to androgyn people in a romantic way. And I am attracted to women and femme presenting people in an aesthetic way.(before I continue, my gender also falls on the Not Man but Not Women spectrum due to me being genderflux. As well as due to how I experience gender with being a DID system)

Not only do I experience attraction to all genders (why I use Omni as an attachment to gay) but I also am a Nonwomen who loves Nonwomen I can say I am Gay. (Although I have my own dislikes of the Nonmen Nonwomen binary) and since I experience my attraction in so many different ways and am also multigender the label Gay by itself didn't fit me correctly. And the label Omni by itself does not properly explain how I feel attraction due to how multifaceted the way I feel attraction is.

(this is worded very weirdly, sorry about that. Just wanted to explain the why some people identify as Mspec lesbian or mspec gay. Also other people have no say in how I identify, so there is that as well)

-Zenix, Insomniac Sys

thank you for another perspective on this!! again i really do appreciate it. and thank everyone participating in this discussion for not being hostile!! this is, after all, a place to learn

thank you!!

[diamondcitydarlin]

what do you think about the arguments that lokius is being queerbaited? I want to enjoy and ship it so bad but it seems like im setting myself up for disappointment

And I can't assure you with full confidence that you wouldn't be. I can't be certain I won't be, though I've personally chosen to enjoy what is there and extrapolate from what we are given, even as I know that historically, statistically, it's best to assume a mainstream depiction of a m/m relationship in a Disney-Marvel production is pretty slim. But then...not nonexistent and, in many ways, the likelihood of it actually going there is higher than it's ever been. So there is that.

I've been independently studying LGBTQA+/queer representation in mainstream media for over a decade now. The term 'queerbaiting' is relatively new in fandom spaces (if we're looking big picture, back into the earliest films and TV shows, some of the earliest shipping fandoms like Star Trek), as I only started seeing it maybe around 2012-2014. It's a term I appreciate, because it represented a switch in cultural thinking from holding no expectations of creatives in Hollywood to large swaths of LGBTQA+ fans gaining the confidence to say 'no, this isn't good enough'.

It also represents the switch in Capitalist approaches to LGBTQA+ citizens, from catering solely to the religious, satanic panic morality by pretending gay people simply don't exist, to deciding that gay fans are in fact lucrative and need to be included just enough to feel inclined to monetarily contribute to a brand. They'll write scenes between characters with intentionally confusing, ambiguous energy, give them moments that are meant to be read into deeply, but rarely, rarely, with any kind of payoff that would alienate homophobic investors. The insidiousness of this tactic is in the fact that when payoff does not happen, viewers can be easily gaslit into thinking that was never the intention in the first place, they were the ones who were wrong in their takes. As I've worked professionally in entertainment as actress, director and producer with rather big capitalist brands I won't mention names of, I can assure you this -is- very much a thing, please stop giving corporations the benefit of the doubt.

There is no clean definition or qualification for queerbaiting, despite how often people want to gatekeep how gay viewers use this term. To be clear though, it is an accountability term before anything else. Not an insult, not an accusation that someone isn't good at what they do, it's a reminder that we're owed more than what we're usually given. If we don't speak out, if we don't label things queerbaiting (when they very much usually are), if we don't demand better we will never, ever, ever get it. I promise you that.

Okay, so now that we've established what queerbaiting is at least in my mind...

Do I think Lokius is being queerbaited? Yes, possibly. I'm waiting to see how the rest of the narrative plays out before I come to a definitive conclusion on my own (yes I'm actually optimistic I say as I put on clown make up), but I'm also not going to deny LGBTQA+ fans the right to feel like that's what's happening and voice their opinions. Anyone tasked with writing/creating content for mainstream audiences has a huge responsibility, in that this content will reach millions of people and has the potential to help shape our culture, perceptions- it even has the potential to help normalize and give broad optics of what it means to be queer and have queer relationships, romantic and otherwise. None of this is as trifling as, 'it's just a TV show', because it's never that simple.

As far as Lokius itself is concerned, the show spent a great deal of time first developing their bond and dynamic before (seemingly) switching gears towards elevating romantically the first feminine-presenting character Loki ran into even though there are some clear, uhm...conflicts with the idea of this actually being a thing. If it becomes a thing. It also seemed to first build a solid, unique platonic bond between the 'fem' and 'masc' character that a lot of gay fans would have appreciated seeing playing out before having them mashed together haphazardly as a romantic pairing, as has been done in media for 50+ years now. That's to say nothing of the fact that the most visible feminine character being forced into role of 'love interest' for a broken main character is one we've had to see play out over and over and over and over again too, poorly. People have a right to feel frustrated about that and voice their frustrations accordingly. We expected more of this show than that. (And yes, I am bisexual, I know that it would still technically be a queer relationship, but please consider the broader history/picture here of queer rep in media and the optics of that against that mosaic, please consider the heteronormative lens that so often claims any and every possibility for itself, please consider the long history of how feminine characters are often used as coping tools and objects of lust before they are treated as individuals deserving of their own development)

Now, again, I want to say that I am not convinced of anything really right now. I'm not taking any of the writers at face value because they are all bound by contracts and NDAs and aren't going to come out and say what the outcome of the show will be, so nothing they're putting out on twitter or in interviews is something I will be taking as absolute truth beyond assuming they're trolling, maybe even have been instructed to keep the pot boiling in the fandom through social media antics. Don't rule it out.

Things really could go either way, but my point is I do not deny the possibility of what this is and I'm certainly not going to gatekeep how other gay viewers feel they're being queerbaited, and I really don't see any reason why anyone else should either.

[vampish-glamour]

Aight, I'm done.

That reply to your post was the nail in the coffin for me. I'm absolutely done supporting anything regarding being "non-binary", "enby" or what have you. I'm DONE.

You are not a "transmasc" "non-binary" "lesbian", you're literally just a masculine person.

It fucking disgusts me. It disgusts me that these people have bust their obnoxious selves into gay, bi, and especially lesbian and transgender spaces. I do not give a single rat's ass anymore. Y'all need to sit the hell down and listen to LGBT people when we tell you some of your bullshit isn't gonna fly and is legitimately harming LGBT people and/or our community. I can't stand that NBs/Q+'s are what people think of when they think of trans people nowadays. I can't stand that NBs are picking and choosing to don LGBT labels for reasons that are NOT valid; reasons that should be corrected, not supported and coddled. But y'all infantilize yourselves to such an extent that people CAN'T take a moment to apply critical thinking and realize how fucked all this is because they are afraid of being labelled anti-lgbt. I can't believe these people have the audacity to march beside LGBT people as if we're at all similar and face the same hate.

For the love of all things good in this world, make your own community. Do NOT piggyback on the LGBT community like any of it means jack shit to you. How dare you. How DARE you. How dare you people have the fucking gall to add some snarky ass reply about how special you are for misusing an LGBT label under a post from a lesbian pouring her whole damn heart out.

It's so annoying. It's tacky. You people literally just inserted yourselves on the ass-end of the LGBT acronym—without any public backlash—solely because you claim to be LGBT. Quite literally circular logic here. "Aha, I can add my valid little self to the end of a community's acronym and I will therefore be part of said community! What do you mean I'm not? Look, my "sexuality"/"gender" letter is right there!"

That said, "Transmasc" as a label should burn; it should be left somewhere dank and dark to rot and be forgotten. It has done so much fucking damage to the public perception of transgender men...as well as gay men and lesbians. Not only does the label itself make no sense ~trans-wise~ (aka: you don't [and can't, in the same way trans men transition from FtM] "transition" to masculinity), people who use the label insert themselves into the transgender community. They equate themselves with trans men. FtM spaces are full of people who say they are not men, but are transmasculine. FtM means Female to Male. You are not FtM if you are NOT a MAN.

TRANS MEN ARE MEN.

You're masculine, not transgender.*

We are NOT the same. Don't you dare lump me and other trans men under your nonsense label because you think all men are inherently masculine. Trans men are MEN. We are not "MASCS". If you see us as equals, YOU are transphobic.

[*Yes, there are cases when an afab person is masculine and also a transgender man. This is the exception here.]

If you're a woman who is exclusively attracted to women, you are a lesbian. If you are not a woman—women being one of the two binary genders—you can not use that label. It is not for you. It does not accurately describe you. It is not yours to claim. If you can't respect that, you need a serious reality check.

Glam, I am...so fucking sorry you had to deal with that shit. I'm so happy for you for finally feeling at home within the lesbian label.

(Regarding this post)

Thank you so much, you’re absolutely right!! 👏 This is a great way to put it, and I feel the same way.

How dare you people have the fucking gall to add some snarky ass reply about how special you are for misusing an LGBT label under a post from a lesbian pouring her whole damn heart out.

That perfectly sums up exactly why I was upset about that reply on the post.

“Transmasc” and “transfem” are such harmful labels, I agree that they should burn. They equate masculinity and femininity with being male and female, and make it sound like you can transition to being masculine or feminine.

I want to respond to every point brought up but then I’d be here for days, because you just hit the nail on the head with each point tbh. I encourage anyone scrolling by this to read the whole ask, because it’s GOOD.

Thank you so much for your support!!! I really appreciate it. 💕💖

[manifestoonmoralmanlove]

What will be in my bag? Pre-ordered Manga. Straight and Lez edition.

Here’s a list of English-released manga I’ve currently got on pre-order, and manga series I ordered before but won’t be continuing with the series.

As a note: Some of these titles have been released but I have not received them yet due to a issues with covid backlog effected how things are released.  I personally find that if you pre-order it tends to get you manga quicker.  It seems there is more pressure to keep up with the new release schedule than chip away at the backlog.

I’m starting with the stuff I’ve already read some of and confirmed enjoyment, then stuff I’m shooting in the dark for, and finally series I have tried recently and have discontinued.

Heteros

My Androgynous Boyfriend

Story & Art by: Tamekou      Publisher: Seven Seas

It is rare for straight shit to end up in my library but My Androgynous boyfriend is an exception that will surprise no-one since it’s pretty queer adjacent.  This story is mostly a couple being lovey-dovey between jokes about sexuality and gender but (so far) isn’t problematic at all.  The female lead is quite enjoyable as she’s well-balanced and has agency throughout. There’s even ace representation! It’s very low-stakes, wholesome, and sweet so far. (Volume 3 is set to release in November.)

My Excitement Level: The gentle about to sink into a bubble bath variety

Yuri/Lesbian

Even Though We’re Adults

Story & Art by: Takako Shimura  Publisher: Seven Seas

Takako is also the creator of Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering son.  I have dipped by toe in to both those series.  I overall find their writing kinda meandering and tepid (might just be me) but technically pretty solid.  I am hopeful for this series since it features adults....if the title didn’t make it obvious.  I was intrigued by the one character being married but the man finding out about the affair quickly and reacting more realistically and interestingly than the average male love interest in a Yuri.  I also found myself relating at bit to Akari’s angst about being unlucky with relationships with women.  I also do enjoy the artwork! This one is the most likely of my followed series to be dropped at some point. (Volume 2 of this manga was set to release in June this year.)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

For more click the jump!

Kase-san and Yamada

Story & Art by: Hiromi Takashima  Publisher: Seven Seas

This is a series I keep going back to.  While it is the very typical low-stakes bubbly, cutesy School age Yuri...it is a very good version of that.  Just warm bubble bath vibes. (Volume 7 is set to release in February of next year.  I think it was originally supposed to be released this May but was bumped back.)

My Excitement Level: The gentle about to sink into a bubble bath variety

NOW ONTO THE SERIES I HAVEN’T READ BUT I’M TAKING A CHANCE ON!

Adachi and Shimaura

Art: Moke Yuzuhara Story: Hitoma Iruma  Publisher: Yen Press

This, as I understand it, is a slow-burn romance about two delinquent girls.  I have heard good things about the novel and the anime series!  However I prefer manga to novels and don’t have a funimation account so I went to snag it in manga form. (Volume 1 was set to release in February this year and 2 in September)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

The Girl I want is so handsome!

Story & Art by:Yuama     Publisher: Seven Seas

The premise is a young lady has a crush on a handsome older girl who’s oblivious to her advances.  When she tries to confess she instead gets roped into being the club manager of the basketball team that her crush is a part of.  So it feels like it may end up cycling through 2 jokes and be so deep in the stereotypical manga bullshit you can easily-predict its beats volumes in advance. HOWEVER that is also a premise that is similar to Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun which is legitimately a hilarious series. Also I fucking love butch/stud/masc-presenting women/AFAB people.  So I’m willing to risk “The same Anime bullshit” for good jokes and a cute lezzy romance with a beautiful butch.  (Volume 1 is set to release of December of this year.)

My Excitement Level: Pretty nervous actually.  I hope it works out!

Monologue Woven for You

Story & Art by: Syu Yasaka     Publisher: Seven Seas

A woman gives up on a career in theater gets tangled in a relationship with a woman passionately pursuing theater.  Since it is set between college age women, and appears to be about more personal and mature themes I am interested. (Volume 1 I BELIEVE is supposed to be released in February of next year.)

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

Mizuno and Chayama (No page yet so far as I can tell.)

Story & Art by: Yuhta Nishio     Publisher: Yen Press

Two daughters of feuding families meet in secret.  This is by the same author of After Hours.  I read a bit of After Hours and found it fine but boring since it seemed without conflict.  Conflict doesn’t seem to be in short supply with a story like this!  While I enjoy the sugary-sweet high school lesbian romances...those are not in short-supply. So I am always hungry for something darker, meatier, more mature. (Volume 1 is set to release next February) 

My Excitement Level: Cautious Optimism

5 Seconds Before The Witch Falls In Love

Story & Art by:  Zeniko Sumiya     Publisher: Seven Seas

It appears to be a playful fantasy about a Witch and Witch-hunter who’s antagonism turns romantic.  This may end up one note and stupid...but I’m always hear for queer romances set in high-fantasy and I haven’t read a Yuri where rivals turns to lovers. (Volume 1 is set to release next February)  

My Excitement Level: Low-key

Catch These Hands! (No page yet so far as I can tell.)

Story & Art by: Murata     Publisher: Yen Press 

A former delinquent runs into her high school rival.  After losing a fight to her she agrees to her terms...her terms being to go out on a date with her.  I mean the title alone makes me want to pick it up!  It may run afoul of bad anime humor, but I’m hoping with the fact that it’s full of gay adult delinquents that it’ll be a little different.  (Volume 1 is set to release next February)  

My Excitement Level: Medium-key

Series I have discontinued:

I’m in love with the Villainess

Art by: Aonoshimo  Story by:  Inori   Publisher: Seven Seas

A woman gets reborn into her favorite Otome game but she wants to romance the villiain!  I had heard a ton of great things about the novel but I picked up the manga version. (If the novel is totally different I can’t speak to it.)  For me, the writing is ham-handed, the jokes flop 90% of the time, and the fact the lead’s only personality trait seems to be ~obsessed with a bully~ really dampens this title.  Her advances are so aggressive and unwanted I honestly started feeling bad for a spoiled rich bully.  I will say it’s saving grace is the fact that the lead is masochistically into the villainess’ tsundere abusiveness. For me I hate tsundere romances if framed like, “I like you DESPITE your insults.” It is only tolerable if it’s instead, “I like you cause you tell it like it is. I’m a dirty little pig. Please step on this bad little piggy!”

Our Teachers are Dating

Story & Art by: Pikachi Ohi      Publisher: Seven Seas

Well one reason I stopped the series is that cover you see up there.  The sex in this series is fade to black but FOR SOME REASON the 3rd cover has them both butt naked.  But on a less superficial note, the story is about two teachers who start dating.  And while cute at points, I was just underwhelmed.  I think a part of it, is the fact that this behaves like a stereotypical high school romance...and while set in a high school...these are grown ass women not 15 year olds.  So I have less patience with the, “Gosh when will I get to kiss my girlfriend?” bullshit.  I mean, I would hesitate to call it bad...but it’s just not a good version of it’s brand of bullshit.

Breath of Flowers

Story & Art by: Caly                       Publisher: Tokyopop

Absolute train-wreck, this is hands down the worst Yuri I have ever bought.  The story is nonsensical and all over the place.  There is a love rival who’s trying to break the two of them up so she can get with Gwyn...but then switches mid-gear to put in a lot of effort to bring them together intentionally...but she also still wants to hook up with Gwyn...it’s very ????????????  The main conflict of Gwyn is hiding their gender so they can play basketball on the boy’s team (not well explained) is built up hugely and resolved with a hand flick.  There is a melodramatic moment where a school nurse says more or less, “GIVE IT UP YOU’LL NEVER BE A BOY!” And it’s like “OH SHIT! The fact that Gwyn is on the basketball team is cause he’s a transboy trying to live life as a boy! Oh gosh it makes so much more sense now!”  But the author seems to not even know that trans people exist cause the story bumbles along as if that scene never happened.  The closest we get is at the end Gwyn is like, “Look I’m learning to do make-up on myself to make you happy lawl!” Which is I GUESS supposed to be, “NO NO DON’T WORRY ALL OF GWYN’S GENDER STUFF WAS JUST THERE TO MAKE THE MAIN CHARACTER SEXUALLY CONFUSED WHEN SHE DISCOVERS GWYN’S TRUE GENDER!  HER TRUE GENDER IS 100% CIS WOMAN CAUSE SHE DID MAKE-UP ONCE! IT’S FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!” Like whaaaaaaaaat?  And it ends on a very random scene which doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the story.  Ugh just very bad do not interact!

A White Rose in Bloom

Story & Art by: Asumiko Nakamura    Publisher: Seven Seas

At an all girls catholic school a young woman falls for a mysterious foreign student.  I grabbed this cause it’s gay and I overall like Asumiko Nakamura’s work (she also does Doukyusei, double mints, and others.)  However I was just not grabbed with this title.  I just felt like I wasn’t getting what was making the MC pants on head obsessed with Steph.  Also the lead’s mother tells her that she’s getting divorced and therefore will no longer have money to pay for the university and she’s framed like a super bad person for this.  Like I get why the MC (a teenager) would think that something like that is THE END OF THE WORLD! But I remember them really framing the mom like a selfish bitch for this...when like...it’s well established that her mom and dad’s relationship has been toxic for YEARS and that they TRIED SO HARD to fix it.  OH WELL!  This might be good but it just didn’t grab me in the 1st volume.

I’ll make a post on the BL titles later! Take care and Stay Rotten!