#and this is in no way to compare my struggles to binary trans people and other trans ppl who are openly like

[cherrysnax]

I wish my gender was easier for me to talk about

[lttleghost]

seeing another "I love trans women who are genderfluid/gnc/ect..." post from a transandrobro and once again infuriated by knowing this positivity isn't full of actually understanding their struggles as this person wouldn't aknowledge how being tma makes all of those things different compared to tme trans people and is also said in seemingly a jab to "binary" trans women, I've complained about this before but holy fucking shit

I'd really love to see a support post for my gnc and multigender sisters and sisters who are a direct mirror of me without it being used as a cudgel against other transfems, like if you notice that there's less out girls that present in gnc ways or talk about multigender and nonbinary identities than guys maybe look inward and see if there's any differences in how transfems are treated that are *gasp* WORSE than transmascs and other cafab trans ppl that might make them more likely to hide that we do, understand and fight against that opression instead of spitting out words of positivity but continuing to actually contribute to said opression

[eva-does-their-best]

You are NOT immune to fear tactics just because you are on the minority side. In fact you are particularily vulnerable to them.

Shit, you know how much the influence of terfs affects us? I've grown to distrust cis women, to be afraid of them, even cis lesbians. And that can easily be reinforced with discourse to become hatred.

And that can be done to make you opposed to anything and anyone:

men (not even being trans or queer in any way makes you immune to the radfem acid spit, and this is specially serious when it causes you to discriminate against any form of masculinity, be it cis or trans or the masculine expression of someone who is not even a man)

women (be it in a misogynistic way or simply opposition caused by the fear of the power they've held upon us, used to harm others too many times. Within our community when it comes to us trans women we have failed other identities quite a lot and even been bullies at times, this is not a call for guilt but a call to be responsible and understand why others within the queer community may feel that way towards us)

fellow trans people (see all the discourse against trans men and the denial of the transandrophobia they experience, see all the transmedicalism, see the scrutiny placed upon non binary people, etc..)

intersex people (Ignoring them when they tell you you are being intersexist, being indifferent towards their struggles and the atrocities commited towards them and even fucking denying their experiences. If this is how you all behave when you are the majority comparatively then you are no better than the people who opress and discriminate us, y'all realize that, right?)

queer identities outside of the basic ones (fearmonguering about unseriousness and how "oh this will make them take away our rights, not take us seriously, you are hurting our fight" and all that kind of discourse, usually containing arguments used against us.)

Expression outside or against the binary (if you all can't even accept a woman with beard and body hair or a man with tits on a dress or a she/her man or a he/him woman you are siding with the people who forcefully impose the binary and its stereotypes onto us, often with stricter rules than those perisex cis people must follow.)

Queer people from other cultures or ethnicities (Context matters, someone else or some other group of people having a different experience with their orientation/identity/expression and talking about it is not an attempt at invalidating yours or proving you wrong, it is literally their experience and their circumstances and they should be listened to and respected. We're fucking white europeans/americans, we have to swallow our pride and admit and consider our privilege even if we are part of a discriminated minority, that does not invalidate your pain it just opens you up for empathy towards others.)

Disabled people (the sickening need to determine who is disabled and who is not, equal to what we face as queers too, the lack of care for accesibility, the denial and minimization of their experienced struggles and even traumas caused by medical professionals, etc.)

I did not expect this post to get this long, i guess I just had a lot to get out of my chest. I'm not a part of many of the identities and specificities I mentioned and probably did not represent what they go through accurately and maybe even talked way out of line, so PLEASE listen to people who actually talk about these issues as a part of those communities, don't just read this post and be done with it, i'm begging you to connect with all these people, because we are all people beyond our specificities, and come together in allyship to get vaccinated against hate discourses.

[gonzo-rella]

Headcanons: Being Alexis Rose's Trans Boyfriend

MASTERLIST | AO3

NOTE: While this was written more with binary trans men in mind, I hope this is also suitable for AFAB nonbinary trans people who are masc, male adjacent or otherwise identify with masculinity in some way. I consider myself nonbinary and possibly transmasc, and I wrote this with myself in mind, too. I'm also working on an Alexis x nonbinary!reader set of hcs, for AFAB and AMAB enbies alike, so if this doesn't work for you, stay tuned for that!

Relationship(s): Alexis Rose x transmasc!reader (romantic)

Warnings: Dysphoria, other slightly negative trans-related stuff. (Let me know if I need to add any)

(A/N: So, I'm currently going through a transmasc crisis. Like, I still consider myself nonbinary, but I'm also considering the possibility that I'm more on the dude side of things. I always use the analogy of Kermit the Frog, who's technically a guy, but it's weird to class him as a man because he's a frog puppet thing. To help me experiment and explore, I'm writing some fics with a transmasc reader, since the thing that's got me stumped is struggling to imagine myself as a masculine person in a romantic relationship with any gender. I've already written a set of headcanons using this prompt about Wallace Wells, but I really want to write some more of these for a wider range of characters. I chose to write about Alexis because I'm honestly so in love with her, but I'm struggling to picture myself as a guy sorta thing in a relationship with a feminine woman. So, if you're a trans guy or transmasc looking for some more representation in the fanfic space, feel free to peruse my fandom list and send in a request! My last Schitt's Creek fic flopped but I'm also considering writing a short piece about being Roland and Jocelyn's trans kid and them being confused but supportive, so let me know if you'd be interested in that!)

Alexis has a pretty colourful dating history, as part of her pretty colourful life.

So, being trans doesn’t make you stick out like a sore thumb when comparing yourself to her past boyfriends.

What does make you stick out is the fact that you’re just some guy, and not Brad Pitt or Jared Leto or a prince of a country you probably wouldn’t be welcome in.

Alexis wouldn’t mind that you’re trans.

Even if you don’t pass or don’t present in an overly masculine way, it won’t even cross her mind that you’re trans until you eventually tell her, which would probably be when you’ve been friends for a while.

The revelation won’t change things between you, until you mention something trans-related that she isn’t that familiar with, like dysphoria or something.

I feel like Alexis has some blind spots when it comes to trans people.

She’s experienced a lot in her life, and I imagine she’s been acquainted with at least a few trans people in her time.

But, being trans isn’t her lived experience, and she can be a little oblivious to things that aren’t part of her lived experience.

So, when she can’t do or say anything to help you and can only pretend that she understands, she decides that she needs to learn more about trans people.

She’s too embarrassed to admit to you that she isn’t that knowledgeable about trans people beyond a surface-level understanding.

She’ll try to fill those gaps by asking David questions that he’s mostly equipped to answer as a queer guy who’s been around and dated plenty of trans people, including trans guys.

(She’ll act like she’s not asking for you, though David will quickly realise that’s why she’s so interested in trans people all of a sudden)

But, if/when she starts asking questions about what your transness means specifically for you, he’ll groan and send her away, suggesting that she ask you if you’re open to answering her questions.

She’ll also spend a few late nights on her phone and laptop doing research into trans people and how to support them, and as sweet as David finds it, he does not appreciate the noise of Alexis typing keeping him awake until 3am.

Her sincere curiosity is unexpected but endearing, and if you do end up having a talk with her about your transness, it will be a catalyst in getting you two together, because seeing how much she cares about understanding you makes your heart melt.

Fast-forward to when you’re together.

Johnny and Moira are also a little unsure about the whole trans thing when they find out about it.

Unsure as in ‘we haven’t met many trans people’, not doubtful of its validity.

They’ll go to David to ask him (since he’s the queer one in the family), but Alexis proudly and confidently answers them, much to everyone’s shock and amazement.

David is especially impressed.

Alexis is the epitome of that ‘if I had a lameass boyfriend I would hype him up so much’ post.

You’re literally just some guy, but she introduces you as her boyfriend with so much pride.

She is so supportive of you.

She will not let you be down on yourself, or she’ll absolutely try her best.

She showers you with compliments on a regular day, and this quadruples if you feel particularly dysphoric.

It means a lot because she is completely sincere with everything she says, and she’s naturally very good at saying the right things to make you feel better, even if you might expect her to put her foot in her mouth.

If you’re unhappy with your style, she’ll be beyond excited to take you shopping for new clothes.

If you’re not comfortable going clothes shopping in a physical store, she’ll send you links to clothes she thinks will look good on you but also fit in with your desired style.

David will also gladly offer his assistance, since he considers himself an expert in men’s fashion.

But, they will both reluctantly shut up if their input proves unhelpful to you and goes against what you want to wear.

I’d like to think that most of the residents of Schitt’s Creek would be indifferent to you or supportive of you, but on the off chance that you encounter any transphobia, Alexis will come to your defence with an “um, excuse me?”

If you need a gender affirming haircut, she’ll look into trans-friendly hair stylists and barbers in the area.

If you’d like her to, she’ll accompany you to your appointment, and if you’re more passive, she’ll be assertive on your behalf, because sometimes hairdressers suck at listening to what trans clients want and she will fight for you to have your ideal haircut.

And, when you get the haircut, she’ll give you a kiss and tell you how handsome you look.

If you want to get top surgery, she’ll happily help you do research into different surgeons and look into how to help you when you’re recovering.

Basically, she’s already more than willing to spend half of her day on her phone, and she’s happy to spend a lot of that time looking into trans-related things for you.

It’s more than clear how much Alexis loves you.

She’s your biggest cheerleader, and she’ll always be there to support you.

At the end of the day, you’re her boyfriend, and that’s all that matters.

[redditreceipts]

Can I pick your brain for a minute?

I’m a trans man, been on hormones for a year and a half, but I’ve identified as trans for ten years. I began my transition when I was an adult just to make sure I was really sure with my identity. This thought came naturally to me, I’m an empiricist so I don’t see my own thoughts as ironclad facts about how I feel. I’ve always been this way.

I’ve been in the trans community for awhile, 2014 to now, and I’ve had a few ups but many, many downs with interacting with other trans people. And sure, a few negative interactions may weigh more on you than positive, but over the years I feel that other trans people are just. Insane. I’ve struggled with mental health, every human has their moments, but I’ve always held onto this empiricist frame of thought. There was a long time where I was stuck, deep in what 2014 tumblr would call “tucute-ism,” where I felt pressured to validate other people no matter how strange it was. At the time I was thinking “they’ll probably just grow out of it” but as I aged…they did not. Over time I began to feel more and more alienated from the community, but by far, my worst interactions I had with other trans people were trans women and non-binary people of both the female and male sex. Even when I was in that phase I did not use neopronouns, nounpronouns, or hell, emojipronouns. Overtime as a younger generation discovered their ‘transness’ I witnessed that wow, those same “you’re fucking crazy” barriers of the mid to late 2010s were gone completely and in its wake was a bunch of children combining letters into “words” I knew I’d never understand how to use. It’s all just a form of counterculture to me. But people defended this by comparing it to the 60s where trans people would identify as “genderfucks” or “feminine water lilies” and that we went back to the 60’s was “cool” and “awesome.”

But that period of time in the trans movement was the most ineffectual and self harming era of the trans community, soon followed stonewall and the following riots which set the LGBT community at large back for a few decades. Which ultimately killed millions as a result of the rise of the AIDS crisis. So now I wonder if through our own fuck-up and counterculture existence screaming “down with the USA” we’ve made the present rhyme with history and that down the road, possibly with the reelection of Trump (or later, Vance, as a successor), that we have solidly and utterly fucked ourselves.

So I wonder that if, by the end of this re-run of nonsense, where we’re stuck in a more perilous position where the insane ones are forced to step in line, if the gender-critical movement or “TERFism” would fade out of existence, or at least, temporarily. Because ultimately I see the world in cycles and every group of people goes crazy sometime or another, minority groups are no exception.

So essentially, do you think the gender-critical movement is reactionary in some way shape or form? That it only exists out of the actions of a few-many trans people? I see social movements as a tug o’ war, where at some point a group of people drop the rope and the other side falls backwards. If there is nothing propelling your criticisms of the trans community, what’s the end result? And hopefully not, but if by next year anti-trans violence ramps up (as it has been in regard to anti-trans laws) what do you think many gender critical people may feel?

Hello :)

First of all, the fear you have had in your ask (which you sent before the election) apparently became true and now, Trump is the new president of the United States. My condolences :(

I don't think that gender critical feminism is reactionary. I personally think that the identity focused movements of the past decade or two have not improved the material conditions of the marginalised people they were intended to help, and I think that they are a cheap way for neoliberalism to act as though it is a progressive ideology when the entire identity politics thing is just a way to sound progressive without actually doing anything for these groups (like free education, healthcare, etc.).

I also don't think that radical feminism and its stance on trans rights stems from a few trans people who are using neo-pronouns or behaving ridiculously (even though that's what makes a lot of people interested in our opinions). I am obviously kinda annoyed by neopronoun users, but it's nothing compared to the eradication of women's rights and our disappearance from the public conscience as a sex class.

Also, for me, the end result would be to abolish gender and to abolish patriarchy, and in the best case, capitalism with it (yeah I know but I'm allowed to dream).

And I don't know what every gender critical person feels if anti-trans violence ramps up, but I personally see anti-trans violence as violence against individuals who are perceived to be gender non-conforming or homosexual (in the case of non-passing trans people), and violence against individuals who are perceived to be women (in the case of passing trans women). I am obviously against homophobia (duh), and also against violence against gender non-conforming individuals. That's why I am gender critical, I hate gender and I hate violence against people who seem not to conform to gender norms. The only way to fight this is, in my opinion, to recognise that we can look however we want and do whatever we want regardless of our biological sex. Violence against gnc people is one of the many reasons as to why I hold the position I do; gender is bullshit and so it violence against those who don't adhere to it.

And for you saying that it is counterproductive to say stuff like "down with the USA", I have to say that I'm not too familiar with US politics and how this kind of behaviour might influence public perception. So I guess that it's bad optics, but look at how Israeli settlers are behaving (literally killing people and perpetuating a genocide), and they are still receiving aid from the government of the US. So idk whether the US government makes their decisions based on violent slogans or whether they support you if you are aligned with their foreign policy interests. But I'm sure that you can judge this better, as I don't know a lot about US culture.

I'm also happy that you have recognised what type of people help you and I believe that you should take care of yourself and whom you spend your energy on. I hope that you are happy with where you are now and I wish you all the best :)

[curseof-thefold]

PINNED POST FOR INFO AND SHIT

hi, i'm robin, i also go by jude or judie. i'm a 22 y/o from Romania with a Bachelor's Degree in Universal and Comparative Literature, with a minor in English Language, Culture and Literature from the University of Bucharest. i specialised in 20th century american literature, especially horror novels and their adaptations

i don't support censorship of any kind and in any circumstances. i don't believe in immoral art. all art is important and should be preserved. i believe the attitudes in fandom that lead to fights, harrasement and even real world harm, all over the perceived morality of the way some ppl choose to appreciate art is frankly disgusting and i abhor anybody who takes part in such behaviors

i'm a non-binary transneutral person and i use they/he/it/she pronouns. i'm also gray asexual and aromantic, my aromantic identity is very important for me and i talk about it often. i'm not as implicated in discourse as i used to be, but i support trans unity, the use of the term transandrophobia and its iterations (transmisandry, anti-transmasculinity etc), i don't support exclusionism and the presence of radical feminists in queer spaces as i view them as inherently hostile

i'm a feminist and personal pacifist although i believe violence is necessary and sometimes justified in class struggles and in the fight for human rights, i'm just not willing to ever harm another living being outside of self defence. i believe in collaborative effort and civic actions before any drastic action. i don't support people who make a mockery out of activism and treat it like a joke and i'm highly skeptical of people who are more interested in creating community infighting rather than advocate for their communities. i also don't believe in the idea of unique opression, i believe it's impossible for a form of opression to only ever be directed towards some groups and never others. some might call those other groups "collateral damage" but i believe that that it's unfair to the people who deal with those struggles

i reject the idea that the feminist fight is women vs men as it is a reductive, useless and childish understanding of feminism. the actual fight is everyone vs patriarchy, and patriarchy =/= men, but the toxic mysogynistic, sexist, classist, amatocisheteronormative system that hurts everyone regardless of assigned sex, coercively assigned sex or self identified gender

i hold a special place in my heart for the transmasculine community as i used to be part of it. i might be using most regular pronouns online, but irl i use exclusively masculine pronouns and i'm often lumped in with their community. many of their struggles are also mine and the ones i don't share i still intimately understand. that being said i don't allow intercommunity fighting, any trans masc/man who badmouths trans fems/women will be swiftly blocked, this goes for any queer on queer slander

i'm professionally diagnosed with ADHD, severe depression, OCD and BPD, i will not tolerate any villanizing of mental illnesses, regardless of circumstances. yes, this even goes for the other personality disorders from the B Cluster (Narcissistic, Anti-Social and Histrionic), and all the disorders under the Schizofrenia umbrella

DNI/DO NOT INTERACT

please remember that first and foremost DNI lists and respecting them are a courtesy and not a right. they are part of an unwritten set of rules created to help everyone have a safer and more pleasurable internet experience. this code is nowadays either misused or completely disregarded. i value this code and respect it, i ask others to do me the same courtesy

if u read what i explained above you will understand the reasons behind this list, the things i didn't mention above will be explained

minors (i reblog NSFW)

zionists (as a pacifist i obv don't support genocides)

anti-shippers/anti-fiction

exclusionists

pro contact radqueers (not implicated in this discourse so i won't add more)

radfems

ppl against the term transandrophobia

ppl against transunity

ppl who endorse terms like "narcissistic abuse" "bpd abuse" misuse psychopath, generally use mental disorders to describe abuse or abusers that have not been recognized as such by themselves or a medical authority

modern day self described marxists or leninists who don't come from a post-communist country (they have a tendency to be very disrespectful towards the struggles of the ussr and ussr-adjacent countries from the 20th century)

pro-russia, pro-putin (do i have to explain)

pro-censorship

natalists (i find them to be extremely classist and a tad eugenicists as a group)

find me on ao3 if u like bad fanfic

curseofthefold

https://archiveofourown.org/users/curseofthefold

[rinaerat]

Even as someone who identifies as a trans woman, it sometimes surprises me how many of us there are. Like, with trans men, it's very easy to understand why that would be appealing. Being raised as a woman sucks, being a woman means being seen as inherently inferior. Saying, "fuck this, I'm not a woman, and you can't force me to be one" makes perfect sense.

Of course, I also understand why so many people coercively assigned female choose to remain that way. It's easier to be what society wants you to be, even if that role is one of disadvantages and dehumanization. And of course, even though i firmly believe nobody has any inherent predisposition towards assigned gender roles, social conditioning works, even when you don't want it to. That's what makes the binary gender system work.

Cis men are simplest of all. For them, the easiest path is also the most socially rewarding. It's no mystery why men choose to remain men.

But trans women are an exception, one that can't be easily explained by rational self interest. Most trans women I've met have described their time living as a facsimile of a boy have told me that they were acutely aware of the way women are treated worse than men, in a way their male peers often weren't. I certainly know this was the case for me, I felt immense shame and disgust whenever I noticed myself being treated by boys as if I was one of them, like we were both in an exclusive club that made us better. It's similar to being a white person who hasn't let themselves slip into blissful ignorance. You feel a disgust with your peers, especially from the fact that it's so clear that they don't care, that they either don't acknowledge the unjust privilege they hold, or if they do, seem to be shockingly unbothered by it.

There's a big difference between maleness and whiteness though, while they are both socially constructed categories, white privilege asks nothing of you, you will be treated better than your non white counterparts by default, no matter how you present. Maleness though requires a level of buy in, and if you don't buy into it, if you visibly deviate from what a "man" is supposed to be, you will lose that privilege, and not only that, you'll become something worse in the eyes of society than a man or a woman, a faggot. A third gender that exists as a threat. If male privilege is the carrot, being seen as a faggot is the stick. It's an incredibly efficient system. People raised as men will either slot into their cushy roles easily, or they will struggle. And if they struggle, the stick is there to beat them back in line, to punish them for showing any amount of human decency.

In that sense, being transfeminine is an act of dissent. By embracing the femininity that is used as a threat, it undermines everything the patriarchy insists is inherent. And it's shockingly easy to shed your masculinity. Sure, we may be called men, but only once they think it will hurt us. They don't see us as men, we're unworthy of such a title.

And while being a trans woman opens you up to the nastiest violence the patriarchy has at its disposable. But at least for me, I take great satisfaction in spitting on the manhood I was offered, treating it as the vile, cruel thing it really is. To choose womanhood, even when everything in this world will punish me for it, proves that being woman is valuable, even when it isn't treated as such.

Living as a woman has made my life better, it's made me happier, it's made me a better person. The hollow cruelty of cis masculinity could never compare, and it's so freeing to find happiness in the one thing we're warned most not to be, because it means they don't have anything left to hold over us but petty violence.

[archangeldyke-all]

Icl, I’m just seeing the post that everyone is going on about and while I do believe that transmisogyny (and transmisogynoir- I wrote an entire long-form essay my junior year of highschool about this problem actually and I do think that there’s more acceptance to transmascs in general bc- drumroll pls- patriarchy and men thinking its cute that some women would want to “be men” even tho that's like not how it works- whatever. Point is, intersectionality sucks ass when it comes to oppression and our transfem babies usually get the brunt of it bc terfs and patriarchy and transphobia- read my dissertation when I find it) is making the lesbian community hostile and unwelcoming to transfems, I- a non-binary lesbian- have never felt coddled or welcomed into the lesbian space outside of finding your blog actually. When I first was coming to terms with my gender and how I wasn’t sure if I identified as a woman but knew I didn't feel like a man, I remember so clearly having a conversation in the comments of one of those 2019-2020 lgbt/lesbian safe space instagram pages and it was lesbian visibility week and I had commented “hey am I like still allowed to identify as a lesbian if I’m afab non-binary” and there was just comment after comment telling me things like no, read the lesbian manifesto, lesbian is wlw you’re not a lesbian anymore bc you aren't a woman anymore, and amongst it all was ONE one singular person who explained that I could still identify with lesbian however there was actually a flag and term for nblw and that was trixic. From that day on, that was what I identified with. When family members ask, I say I’m queer. When people my age, in the community or not, ask, I say trixic or non-binary lesbian. To this day, I sometimes feel unwelcome among lesbians bc there are many out there who still think the way those people did, but like one of the anons said, the problem with transfem/masc/nonbinary acceptance is more nuanced and boils down to transphobia as a whole if we want to just make it black and white. I hope this didn't come off as me trying to make the convo about me and enby ppl and our struggle but like that other anon said that post felt very black and white and tone wise it felt a little erasive to me. I don't see why we have to erase the struggle of other trans people in the community to uplift and start changing the struggle for another. It’s like the suffragettes doing everything in their power to stop the same black people they helped free from getting the vote before them. It’s a battle of the oppressed when solidarity matters so much more. Instead of saying “well this group has it worse, include them more” we could’ve just said something like “if we’ve got people genuinely thinking about making the lesbian community a safer space for non-women, we can make it a safer space for the women as well, trans or otherwise.” Anyway, i’ve typed and said enough I think so yeah… my thoughts. Be nice about them, I’m willing to take constructive conversation about them.

oh mars, this broke my heart reading. first of all i'm glad this blog has become a safe space for you, and second of all i'm so sorry you went through what was probably a horribly isolating experience on that insta page.

yeah i think i could see how that post was a little black and white-- especially coming from your perspective where you yourself have been unwelcome in lesbian spaces because you're nonbinary. it's like you said: trans women are at that unique intersection of transphobia and misogyny, and i think the main point of that post was supposed to be that even in the most 'inclusive' spaces, trans women can still be unwelcome. but i agree with what you said, comparing oppression to find the biggest victim isn't productive at all, and solidarity is the key!!

[rysingsun]

Hello, I’m Ameera a 23 years old Muslim lesbian who is trying to come out, I’ve been in the closet with my girlfriend for way too long, because of how dangerous and hard it is to come out as a lesbian to a religious Muslim family, but me and my girlfriend have decided to do whatever it takes and risk it all to come out, do you mind supporting and encouraging us?, though I know we all have what we dealing with, so I’m not imposing we just need all the support and encouragement we can get, check my pinned post for more information on how you can support, if you are a Muslim queer and you are out, please help with tips on how to make it less complicated, any word of advice is also really needed, we really wanna come out but we need y’all 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ pride please come through for us, I believe pride is for all

Sounds like we’re about the same age! My family is Catholic, but not especially strict. They don’t really “get it” (especially the non-binary part) but I was lucky enough to not be disowned, which not everyone can say. That said, our family environments are different, so my advice is going to be more general rather than religion-specific. I also don’t know if you also live in the U.S, or in a different country, so again, broad advice that speaks specifically to queerness rather than queer intersectionality (it would not be my place, and I will acknowledge that as an able-bodied, white, culturally Christian queer I have a relatively speaking easy flavor of queerness compared to others due to not facing intersectional discrimination).

I know it can be frustrating to hide who you are, but make sure you are prioritizing your safety. I’m not saying not to come out, that’s up to you, but make sure you have at least one backup plan if things go poorly. Know safe resources, such as a physical location that would be safe to move to if your home is ‘compromised’ and friends or relatives that are supportive and willing to help if you’re in trouble financially or otherwise. Even though things turned out alright for me, it would’ve been smart for me to take those precautions even though I thought things would turn out okay. It’s better to have an emergency plan and not use it than to have no plan and things go badly.

There is nothing wrong with who you are and you should celebrate it and be proud that in a world that’s still not fully accepting, you are existing and not in denial of your self. Regardless of whether there is or is not a God, there are too many queer people to be a fluke, we exist as intended. Gay people and sex-repulsed asexuals who want children often raise children who no longer had parents to care for them. Trans people have encouraged science and innovation to discover so much more about how our bodies and brains function, as well as show the world how important identity is. All queer people challenge the norm by existing and show how arbitrary and strange some societal norms are, and how cisheteronormativity caters to cishets, and even then is rigid and limits self-expression for them as well! You are part of something great and worthy of acceptance and love. But we are also still individuals who are worthy of respect regardless of how we may be “useful” to the world, and those ways I listed queer people help the world go round should not be justification but instead fun food for thought. If that isn’t enough to make you proud of queer people, take a look at queer history. We are certainly not the first generation and we will not be the last. We have PRIDE because our predecessors fought for us to live, not just openly, but to live at all. We’ve come far in some places in the world, but still not far enough. And as long as there is that struggle we will celebrate being alive and queer as a middle finger to all who don’t want us to be. You are part of a demographic of people who are strong because they have to be, who survive when they can and then spite those that hate them by daring to be queer and happy.

You are also an individual, not just part of something greater than yourself. YOU are important, and you know your exact situation better than I do. The fact that you said “dangerous” and not just scary for social reasons makes me think you could potentially be at high-risk of harm by coming out. I’ve heard worst case scenario stories, Muslim and otherwise. It can be tricky to find a good balance of safety and freedom of expression, especially when you’re tired of hiding and want to just throw caution to the wind. Again, you know your situation and your family better than I do. Come out if you think now is the best time. But also take precautions to be safe.

I wish you the best and hope things go as well as they can <3 Be you, be proud, but most importantly, be safe.

[velvetvexations]

just wanted to say i think u rlly should be more careful about the anons u post. its prty well known terfs go and stir up shit in other ppls inbox periodically, so i feel like u should be more careful??? idk i just know that posting incorrect stuff sorta what got this started and since then uve published asks that are just incorrect/untrue (like plaidos didnt compare herself to malcolm x, for example, she was correcting an anon on the use of the word cracker)..... i feel like u should at least make sure the info you post under other peoples names is at least like, idk, true? like u r still tagging her name with asks ab her that are untrue. that might be why these ppl arent taking u as seriously as they should be maybe, and why they got mad in the first place...? idk tho hope this doesnt come off as too mean

I deleted the transmedicalism asks since there wasn't receipts, and though the anon later DM'd me to testify to their claims I will not be making them again absent those reciepts. If she wants to unblock me and debate specific actions she's accused of where people can provide proof of her directly saying or doing something she's certainly allowed to but I'm not going to act like her saying "this is misinformation" automatically makes something misinformation.

Furthermore, they lie about me as much on a greater scale on a daily basis. Calling me a crypto-TERF because I think trans men don't have privilege is bullshit and I refuse to let her control the narrative to assert I'M saying untrue things about HER, especially as she's blocked me so I have no way to counter those obviously fake claims I could disprove in literally one interaction.

Like, no, I'm literally not a TERF of any kind, I could literally prove this, but she and her's do not want me to engage with them so I don't and literally am unable to, and then she accuses me of slandering her?

While her followers continue to harass me leaving ableist slurs in my replies and yelling at me to post selfies to prove I'm a trans woman?

Fucking clown.

If she wants me to quit talking about her she can (a) stop talking about me and (b) stop being wildly transphobic in public.

And yes, she WAS comparing herself to Malcom X, the anon didn't say "no civil rights activist has ever said this", theyfab discourse exists because white transradfems are disgustingly envious of the fucked up way they perceive the Black struggle and are happy to tell Black non-binary people that they're basically white people in comparison to them. Which, to clarify, is not me saying that, Black transradfems, that's something I'm taking from the very, very many Black non-binary people who have an issue with that stupid fucking completely bullshit racist comparison.

[heavymachinebun]

Revisiting Shiver's role in Splatoon 3 (An addendum to "Frye is the new Marina")

This is an addendum to "Frye is the New Marina", if you have not read that, please do read it first for context.

A side note first, I've since been informed that Splatsville might be visually inspired by Kowloon, which places it in Hong Kong rather than Japan. This is pretty interesting because it would reframe the Japanese Shiver as also an immigrant, but since Hong Kong is still East Asian she passes much more easily as a native than Frye's much darker South Asian complexion. Frye and Shiver's respective relationships to their race is still mostly unchanged.

Apart from that, I realized that I omitted one other detail about Frye and Shiver in my previous essay that didn't seem significant at the time, but I've come to reexamine its importance. I'll readily admit to having a Frye bias but examining Frye and Shiver as a duo really helped me understand Shiver better and discover reasons to like Shiver, and I've come to the conclusion that I've seriously underestimated Shiver as a character.

I previously said that Shiver should have a gender narrative and be trans or non-binary, and I still stand by that. Shiver displays the signs of a gender struggle and it would be extremely meaningful to a lot of people to see Nintendo do a gender narrative for Shiver. I thought at the time that it would put her on par narratively with Frye, who has a compelling set of traumas and anxieties stemming from her status as an obvious racial minority, compared to Shiver who passes as the majority culture much more easily. However, I've since come to realize that there's another angle to both idols that needs to be discussed, one that gives Shiver a much more compelling role in the design philosophy of Splatoon 3. In fact, the journey to understand Shiver's character has become uncomfortably personal for me in a way that I could not have expected.

1. Opposing Views on Heritage

The one detail I forgot was Frye and Shiver's opposing views on their cultural heritage. Frye had the most struggles with her heritage growing up, but ironically she ends up embracing her upbringing more closely than Shiver. With the new interview we now know that Frye was too busy with dance recitals to make any friends, but Frye ultimately ends up embracing her family's dance techniques whole heartedly and reproducing it faithfully as part of her personal fighting style. Despite struggling to fit in with her small town East Asian community Frye keeps her country bumpkin accent and takes up banditry to give back to the same community that could not accept her. It's in this way that Frye's specialty as a villain shines the most brightly: Frye embraces struggle and loss and recontextualizes them into her strengths.

Shiver is the opposite in every way. Shiver learns a regal theatrical accent to hide the fact that she originates from the same backwaters town Frye is from. Shiver's clan has already changed their older tradition of shark slaying once to shark taming, but Shiver breaks tradition even further by adopting a deranged biker persona and putting motorcycle handlebars on her shark. Shiver dresses extremely unconventionally with a punk fade haircut, visible Sarashi bindings that have connotations with crime and delinquency, and very low cut torn pants. In comparison, Shiver's expression of her heritage feels much less faithful to tradition.

Part of the discrepancy in their personalities is due to the fact that Nintendo is a Japanese company, their audience is more accustomed to Japanese visuals than South Asian. Frye's South Asian aesthetics are inherently exotic and exciting when reproduced more faithfully, but Shiver's traditional Japanese aesthetic needs more modification to be interesting to a Japanese audience. An unfortunate side effect is that Frye feels objectively cooler than Shiver: there's a genuine strength and purpose to Frye's passion for South Asian culture while Shiver's presentation of Japanese culture feels somehow less sincere.

And yet, as I wrote the earlier drafts of this I felt myself drawn more to Shiver than Frye, which took me a little bit  by surprise. It begs the question, what does Shiver stands for, and why would people be drawn to Shiver over Frye? I found that I had little canon lore left to explain my feelings, but it gave me the realization that the tools to understand this must come from my own personal experiences. And so, I'd like to share some of those experiences with you, the reader.

2. Struggling with Tradition

My relationship to my cultural background is complicated. I am an East Asian immigrant in North America, but I was lucky enough to live in areas that were friendly to my demographic. I had a multicultural group of friends and was rarely bullied for my ethnicity.

I say this because the vast majority of my personal anxieties come from my OWN culture and upbringing. I remember a distinct pressure to fit in and not cause trouble, and I was good at it, but I also remember how much it confined my artistic growth until I left the house to be independent. I remember a general unease towards artistic expression in general, the idea that cartoons and games are for children and I should be spending my energy on math and science. I still hide my art from my parents to this day.

I remember, most of all, a grating, xenophobic distrust towards other cultures, and the subtle yet consistent suspicion that anything I did wrong was a result of outside influences. The idea that my progressive politics was a corruption of "Westernization" just because it went against traditional, conservative culture. The often unspoken, but sometimes spoken, fear that my multicultural friends are influencing me negatively through their different cultural upbringings, when those same friends helped me discover my artistic voice in the first place. I remember accusations being made against other POC, some of which are more vulnerable than I am. I remember accusations specifically towards friends LIKE FRYE.

This was the point my analysis into Shiver took a deeply uncomfortable, personal turn, as I started to see my experiences in Shiver. Shiver, who also feels the need to hide a part of her personality that can only be shown to her accepting and diverse friend group. Shiver, who excels at passing for "normal" in a community that is friendly towards East Asians, but has witnessed that same community ostracize the darker, South Asian Frye. Shiver's loose presentation of Japanese culture starts to remind me of all the ways that I myself struggle to celebrate my own culture openly and faithfully, because I've come to associate so much negativity and baggage with it. Through this lens, Shiver's behaviors no longer seem like flaws, but rather defense mechanisms that I have too much experience with.

Now, I have no reason to believe that the original creators of Splatoon 3 had ever intended Shiver to convey such a specifically detailed cultural narrative. What is instead undeniably true is that Shiver ended up representing my experiences in a way that Frye could not on her own. I had previously understood the narrative of Splatoon 3 through a Frye-centric point of view, the huge Frye fan I am, but I am starting to understand that it is an incomplete analysis without considering Shiver's perspective as well. Shiver's role in Splatoon 3 is simply too important to be diminished.

3. Understanding Shiver as a Rebel

For me, Shiver has come to represent a rejection and reinvention of tradition. I've come to realize that what I had thought to be Shiver's weakness could actually be the core of her strength: her refusal to replicate Japanese traditions exactly. As much as she likes Japanese traditions and presenting like a traditional Japanese girl, she's also the first to put an unconventional spin on everything. Her punk hair, her Sarashi wrap, and her motorcycle shark, all symbolize this. Also, the fact that she wears her shoes on Tatami mat stages (the audacity).

As I said previously, a purely traditional Japanese aesthetic would be boring for a Japanese market, so Shiver's design has become an inherent struggle against tradition and normalcy. Shiver wants to be anything but normal, anything but boring. This puts her in direct contrast to Frye, who ends up being the traditionalist of the pair. Frye even has a preference for traditional analog forms of performance like stage plays while Shiver gravitates towards the newer medium of television.

Shiver's friendship with the culturally different Frye and Big Man is, in itself, a departure from tradition. Frye does not have the conventionally attractive TV features for an East Asian audience, but Shiver wants Frye to be on TV. Big Man can neither dance or sing, but Shiver wants him to appear on stage. Shiver's Rakugo specialty is a solo act, but she's modified it to include both of her close friends so they can be on TV together. I would also suggest that this has a special meaning for Frye specifically, whose personality and skin tone has caused her the most difficulty with fitting into a polite, East Asian coded society. As much as Shiver likes traditional Japanese culture, Shiver has taken steps to avoid replicating Japanese culture in a way that would exclude the exceptionally vulnerable Frye: Shiver refuses to hurt Frye.

This understanding of Shiver ties in well with her perfectionist tendencies. From the new interview we now know that Shiver made Big Man revise Anarchy Rainbow 7 times, she's picky to say the least. However, song lyrics are not the only thing she intends to perfect. Shiver's not content with cultural traditions the way they were taught to her: she's searching for ways to enhance her artistry, but she's also searching for ways to include her multicultural friends in her art forms without harming them.

Ironically her experimental perfectionism is also a weakness: reinventing safe, established traditions is inherently risky and Shiver has some hilarious failures to show for it. Shiver's villain persona is a take on the Bosozoku biker gang subculture of the 80's, also Japanese but notably a criminal counter-culture in Japan's history and a far cry from Shiver's usual polite, civil presentation. It's more than obvious that the biker persona is outside of Shiver's comfort zone, as she becomes clumsy and manic in a way that severely undercuts her ability to be a genuinely intimidating villain like Frye. However, Shiver's failures are entertaining and charming in her own ways, and her willingness to fail in the pursuit of perfection is uniquely inspiring.

4. Contrasting Shiver and Frye

Frye's still my favorite member of Deep Cut: she's peppy and likable, and her design tells the story of a cultural underdog that's extremely sympathetic and easy to root for. She doesn't have to represent my specific personal experiences to be my favorite. That being said, I think I now have the tools to understand the ways that people might find Shiver to be more appealing.

Shiver holds a lot of symbolic power for people that struggle with family and heritage, having seen those things harm either themselves or their friends. Even at a surface level many fans have already noticed the way that Shiver defies basic gender and social norms in her visual design and have found a sense of attachment to that. For people like me, Frye's fearless optimism towards her cultural roots isn't always helpful because I don't want to replicate those cultural traditions the way I have learned them. I'm deeply scared of accidentally replicating the hurtful aspects I've been taught to associate with my cultural heritage in a way that will hurt my friends. I want the inventiveness required to change my traditions into something more positive, and the courage to sometimes fail in the attempt. Shiver passes for "normal" in a society that easily accepts her, but that doesn't make her less interesting than the underdog Frye. Shiver speaks to a set of very real cultural anxieties that is just as compelling as Frye's, and both of their perspectives are required to complete the core narrative of Splatoon 3.

Splatoon 3 is a narrative about many things, but the most compelling narrative of this game is the dual commentary on cultural heritage that Frye and Shiver represent together. Frye is the cultural misfit that wants to be normalized, that wants her culture to be accepted despite being different. She represents an optimistic sense of traditionalism, one that sees the positives of traditional artistry and the value they can bring into the future. Shiver is the culturally normative girl who craves change, who is easily bored of rigid traditions and is eager to reinvent the past. She represents a healthy skepticism towards tradition, one that sees the dangers of harmful traditions but believes in the opportunity to change them into something healthier. The two perspectives form a symbiotic relationship: Shiver helps Frye to imagine a world where the dominant culture changes to be more inclusive of Frye, and Frye helps Shiver identify the positives of Shiver's traditions that should be retained in Shiver's quest for cultural innovation. It's a powerful, mutually-beneficial relationship that helps both artists visualize and achieve their respective artistic goals. It's beautiful.

I would do more to justify Splatoon 3 as a narrative focused on cultural heritage, except I don't actually have to because Nintendo straight up TOLD US their intentions in game. There's a key piece of cultural context in the original Japanese text that is lost in the English localization that really clarifies the design philosophy behind Shiver, Frye, and Splatoon 3 as a whole. We have to discuss the Bankara movement.

5. Bankara

I've written about this before but Splatsville is named Bankara city in Japanese, in reference to the specific Japanese Bankara counter culture movement of the early 1900's. Bankara was created in direct opposition to the Haikara movement, which was a fashion and cultural movement caused by Japan's rapid modernization and Westernization at the time, represented by western style "high collars" (Haikara). Inkopolis is called "Haikara City" in Japanese, in reference to the hip Western style Streetwear and music that previously defined Splatoon. The Bankara aesthetic mostly consists of traditional Japanese garments, kimonos and geta and such, the least Western stuff possible, to signal a discontentment with Japan's assimilation into Western aesthetics. At the same time these clothes were worn in a ratty, disheveled manner to signal a discontentment with traditional Japanese culture as well, as it had allowed the rise of the Haikara movement in the first place. A rejection of the new and the old. Later successors of the Bankara aesthetic include the Bosozoku biker and delinquent aesthetics, which consists of school uniforms worn in deliberately disheveled styles, fused with traditional Japanese elements such as Sarashi wrap and geta (sound familiar?). 

Shiver and Frye's entire city is named after Bankara so of course this duo is themed after the Bankara movement as well, it's so obvious in hindsight. Frye and Shiver together represent the dual focus of the Bankara movement: Frye represents a preservation of heritage in the face of modernization and homogenization, and Shiver represents a rejection of outdated traditional values. Both of them wear traditional garb as a reference to the traditionally Japanese garments that defined the Bankara movement, except Frye puts a twist on the concept by wearing traditional South Asian clothes instead. Shiver's secondary Bosozoku biker aesthetic also falls under the Bankara umbrella. The original Japanese name for Anarchy Rainbow is "Bankara mixed modern" (in English, no less), clearly signaling Deep Cut's design philosophy as a reimagining of the Bankara aesthetic for a modern, multicultural audience.

I must point out that Splatoon 3's take on the Bankara aesthetic is deliberately modified in some key ways. The original Bankara movement was largely a right wing men's movement that centered toxic versions of traditional masculinity and prioritized an insulation of Japan from foreign cultural forces. Deep Cut immediately recontextualizes the goals of Bankara by being majority female led (trans versions of Shiver would not have been considered traditionally masculine, either), and including the multicultural friendship between Shiver and Frye. In this way Splatoon 3 borrows from the aesthetics and themes of Bankara as a counter culture movement without condoning its original goals; Splatoon is intended as a progressive, inclusive space, after all, if the fanbase is any indication.

In these very changes we already see the push and pull between the ideas that Shiver and Frye represents: there's a desire to retain the counter-culture themes and cultural signifigance of Bankara while disregarding its original, dangerously right wing meanings. It's fascinating how much Shiver and Frye's designs naturally reflect the design process behind Splatoon 3 as a whole, whether intentionally or by accident. It's also very frustrating that the English speaking audience kind of has to dissect all the themes of Splatoon 3 the long way around through tiny context clues, when the Japanese audience is given it directly in big shiny text. Either way, Splatoon 3 has succeeded in crafting a dauntingly complex multilayered narrative on the evolution of culture, both as a reinvention of Bankara and as a reinvention of Splatoon as a franchise.

Splatoon is so deep, you guys.

[antiterf]

I saw a terf upload a trans woman's tictoc to make fun of what they said, but what they commented was so oblivious to the struggle that plenty of women go through and the video itself can actually bring nuanced discussion so uh... separate post so the adults can speak.

So here's the tictoc, basically they talk about how putting on makeup, doing skincare, getting dressed, etc is both a pain and affirming. They ask if any other trans people in general go through this.

For me, not so much anymore. Before it was a bit of a process because I needed to hide my hips and my chest, figure out how long to wear a binder, when can I take it off, should I layer instead, should I pack, etc. Now after being on T for a while, a lot of gender affirmation I get is my deep yawn after I roll out of bed and the shirt that's curled up a bit and shows my body hair. Shaving my face is annoying but it's nothing compared to shaving my legs or body. I rarely bind even though I haven't had top surgery because while it bothers me a bit, binding sucks and men can have boobs. And I do take a bit long to get ready bit that's because of two skin conditions and isn't gender related.

But I'm a trans man that presents as masc or gender neutral. Men aren't as expected to take a long time to have the acceptable appearance as men. There's a certain type of masculinity in lazy appearance alone.

So while what they talk about is related to being trans, it's also related to our misogynistic culture. Women can be seen as masc simply for not spending hours doing those things.

And having something be gender affirming to us trans people is generally seen as positive, but I'm sure a lot of us notice that society has an influence on that. Being able to dress in a tuxedo for prom was gender affirming to me, but we can all recognize that's from the expectation of men to wear that. Wearing a dress or skirt would've been more upsetting, but I know that men should be allowed to do that without being seen as any less of a man.

As trans people we still take joy in these little things because they're not granted to us the way they're granted to gender conforming cis people. I can't say for sure with nb people, but us binary trans people want to be included in the boxes of man and woman, and its relieving to get that after being denied. We can learn the general lines of what to do and what not to do, and feel rewarded for following them (may be specific to allistics).

But those of us who know gender roles and know how society influences gender, know that its ultimately fucked up.

Basically, between the expectations for women being pushed hard in society, and trans peoples relationships to being denied gender identity, that's their pain in the ass gender affirmation.

[autumnaaltonen]

I want to start my Pride Month off by talking about the generational/cultural switch my mother and I have experienced.

Living in Vancouver during the 70s-late 80s, my aunt (my mother's sister) came out as a lesbian around my age. When she was hanging out with her friends (also including my mom) she was considered the 'token gay'. And as said token gay, my mother always looked out for my aunt when things got too overwhelming, and also supported her when she would try to share philosophies about homosexual and lesbian identity to their straight friends. She grew up in a time when it was rare (everyone was still in the closet, I know) to be gay/lesbian, and she never really had a community to go to in order to embrace her identity to the fullest. I remember attending her wedding as a child, and being so surprised when I saw her getting married to another woman. That was the first time I learned about being gay/lesbian, and I didn't even see it coming because it was just not a topic of discussion in my family, nor was it for most families at the time. Thank god, things have changed.

Cut to today, 2023, I'm nearing my end of university and have my own large group of friends. Funny thing is though, there is no 'token gay'. Instead, I am the 'token straight'. Turned tables. The vibe in my group is completely different than from what my mother and aunt experienced growing up. We are four-bisexuals, one lesbian/trans-gendered woman, and one gender-fluid. Sexuality, gender and identity are commonplace topics we discuss without filter. However, I don't have much experience to contribute to the conversation, beyond growing up with my aunt and trans-gendered sister, but I try to include myself none-the-less in order to learn. The difference is, the gay agenda is always welcome, but the straight-centric way I do and say things has been a noticeable sore spot for our group. My opinions on LGBTQ+ issues never ring quite as strong in our talks, or are dismissed entirely. (Be aware I've never said anything hateful. I agree with most everything the LGBTQ+ stands for, and the few areas I disagree on are commonplace issues that are widely debated from all parts of the community.)

But now it's my own cis-straightness that has become an issue, rather than being the one gay/lesbian friend. Even my own identity as a cis/straight woman is constantly put into question by my friends, and it really makes me uncomfortable. I almost always dress away from the binary, but I still identify as a woman. I find fellow women attractive, but I'm only romantically and sexually interested in men. So I must be gender questioning, or I have to still be in the closet, right? If I like to dress in masculine clothing, I should change my pronouns to be inclusive. My issues with dating must revolve around the fact that I'm attracted to straight men, who are total trash, no excuses.

I hope you're sensing my sarcasm here.

Just like when my aunt struggled to express her identity to share the LGBTQ+ community while only having my mother for support, I now struggle to express my ideas to support the LGBTQ+ community while being myself. And it drives a big wedge between my friends and I, just as it did for my mother and aunt in the 70s and 80s.

In no way should we compare LGBTQ+ issues with those of heterosexuals and cis-gendered people, there is simply no comparison to be drawn. But I hope that going into June, we all remember to be respectful of one another when are intentions are directed at lifting the LBGTQ+ up, rather than forcing them back into that dingy closet. Straight, gay, cis, trans or non-binary, we need to encourage conversation in order to progress, or else we're forever doomed to go backwards.

And for all the super right-wing skinheads who come into my DMs whenever I talk about things like this: I will find your IP address, steal your confederate flag, shred it, and turn it into glitter for my sister's wedges. I have done it before, I will do it again.

[t4t4t]

Stable housing can be difficult for transgender people to secure due to family rejection, poverty and unemployment, and other discrimination related to being transgender (McBride, 2012). Transgender people experience higher rates of long-term housing insecurity and homelessness due to a lack of financial resources, social support, and other risk factors (Grant et al., 2011; James et al., 2016; McBride, 2012). Results of the U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) the only national transgender survey in the U.S., show that 30% of respondents have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives due to being transgender (12% in year prior to taking survey) (James et al., 2016). At the time of the USTS, 0.53% of transgender people were experiencing homelessness, compared to 0.18% of general U.S. adults (Henry et al., 2016). Further, 9% of USTS respondents were temporarily living with friends or family because they could not afford their own housing. Transgender women of color experienced significantly higher rates of homelessness than their white and transgender male counterparts. In a separate study, 59.1% of transgender people who experience housing-related stress identified as sexual minorities (Henderson et al., 2019). The rate of homelessness nearly doubled for USTS respondents who have engaged in sex work, are living with HIV, have lost their job because of their transgender status, or had been kicked out of their home by their immediate family, as compared to respondents without these life histories (James et al., 2016). Transgender adults who experience homelessness encounter several challenges in the homelessness system, particularly in regard to safety and gender-affirming supports (Ecker et al., 2019). ........

Every transfeminine person that I know has been homeless, is currently homeless, or in between… Most trans people I know have been homeless in some way, shape, or another. But the trans masc people have more stable housing…I think it’s because of transmisogyny, I guess it’s also maybe a class thing. I think also my transfeminine friends have to rely on each other more, and they’re heavily marginalized; it’s a community of people who have less access to resources.

Agender or bigender individual; Black; 26

My friends that are trans women have more struggle. Transmasculine friends definitely struggle but the world is less kind to trans women. Women in general already have to try harder to get well-paying work, and then if you are a trans woman, it makes it harder. Friends that are transfeminine tend to have less stable income and therefore less stable housing, unless they are in a relationship with someone who has stable housing.

Transmasculine, non-binary individual; white; 34

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8726680/

i’m forever feeling gaslit over people who say shit like “TME/TMA don’t make sense, nobody checks what kind of trans you are before hatecriming you” because, actually, if you are transfeminine, that is literally exactly what people do. this has happened to me & many trans women i know.

[lgbtqwriting]

Hello, I'm writing a fantasy story, and one of my main characters is trains, mtf, and I don't know where to even start. I know NOTHING about mtf stuff, and I don't know how to address the character being trans, or if I even should? I really need help, this is really important to me, thank you.

Hello! Hope you are doing well <3

'MtF' ("male to female") is slightly outdated slang referring to trans women and transfeminine nonbinary people. While it's not derogatory or anything, the most commonly used online umbrella term appears to be 'transfem' since it can refer to both binary trans women and nonbinary transfeminine people.

Here are some basic resources to get you started:

Writing transfem characters: avoiding harmful stereotypes, helpful blog recommendations, and textual resources (prev. ask)

Transgender FAQ (GLAAD)

Glossary of Transgender Terms [cw: outdated language, uncensored slurs]

What is 'tucking' and why do trans women do it? How can it be done safely?

Ask a Trans Woman (Queer 101 - Jessie Gender)

How to Write a Trans Character (Riley J. Dennis)

All About Pronouns (Ash Hardell)

My advice for you is to take a roundabout approach to your character's design--make the character from the ground up without any trans-related stuff in mind. If you'd like your character to be a binary transgender woman who uses she/her pronouns (which is usually what comes to mind when someone says 'MtF'), then put a pin in the complex parts of her gender identity and write her first and foremost as a woman.

Once you've finished working on her character design, compare everything you know about her to what you know about real life trans women--that way you know exactly what to tweak! For example, unless you're in a fantasy or future setting, she probably won't experience things like PMS and childbirth firsthand.

You might also have to think about what point in her life she realized she was transgender--was it early on? Did she always know? Has she only recently discovered that she's a woman? Did she have anyone to support her through the questioning and/or transition process? Does she struggle with a significant amount of gender dysphoria?

Depending on your answers, you may have to alter her backstory to include supportive family members and friends (or a lack thereof), how she was treated in school, and whether or not she currently faces social difficulties or even outright harassment due to not 'passing' as a cisgender woman to strangers, presenting masculinely (facial hair, deep voice, flat chest, etc.), and coming out as trans.

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask :)

[g3nosarchive]

before you scroll !! THIS LIST IS BEING CONSTANTLY UPDATED.* please tell me if a link is broken by commenting.

STOP USING AAVE IF YOU AREN’T BLACK.

-> read this post first !*

-> why

-> carrd on aave

-> google doc on aave

-> some other words u need to stop using

some people are confused with this ^ list: yes i know it's a joke, it's sarcasm and etc. should you still listen? yes! the words listed there are aave words that any nonblack person should stop using, especially since a good half of them are now deemed 'cringy' and weird to say after it was taken, misused, and overused by non black people.*

why you should stop saying ‘simp’ and ‘pick-me’ esp as a non-black person

twitter thread of black trans people’s gofundme

black trans people donations masterlist

stop asking people of minority/oppressed identities when you need to learn about said identity + dear (white) people and white friends

-> it’s micro-aggressive, stressing, annoying and dehumanizing. if you need someone to spell out to you every possible mistake you could/have/will ever make regarding handling issues around that identity, that’s an issue. the point of telling people these things at first is so you can start thinking critically for yourself, and google is very free and available. we aren’t your walking web search, and there are hundreds of posts/sites/carrds/articles on these same issues...

why being pansexual is inherently biphobic and bisexuality is not transphobic

-> more on pansexuality*

-> if you are reblogging this just to say u don’t agree with the shit on pansexuality shut up or make a different post for that yourself.

about the indian farmers protest 

stop ‘other-ing’ trans/ non-binary people

-> trans women are women, they are not some new category of people. the same applies to non-binary people, trans men, and other trans gender people.

xenophobic/racist incidents against east asians & ways to help

asian-targeted violence post*

-> some more on this

-> even more

-> examples of asian targeted micro-aggressions

-> “japancore” and some other things (referring to the part with light skin. yes any light skinned person of any culture including east and south asian cultures are privileged compared to their darker skinned counterparts. but light skinned asians are not poc-lite and do not receive the same treatment as white people.)

stop using blm centered terms and black struggles for your own racial struggles

-> black people are not your enemy or reusable resource

trans resources for transitioning and name changing

with a single click you can help

stop watching and supporting wandavision

admit aot is problematic (and stop watching)

DROP AOT AND OTHERS LIKE IT COMPLETELY

stop supporting artists listed + a little on why gender bending is transphobic

why you should stop supporting y*gami yato (her fetishization of multiple things such as the blm movement, latinos as a whole, minors, abuse, self harm and etc) and if u ever supported her block me

taylor swift

white women are still oppressors

please read ++ some reminders below

stop saying w/ch/igga (a stand in for saying nigga to non-black people when it’s basically the intent of saying it without experiencing social consequences)

white people should be calling nobody and nothing ratchet (for obvious reasons)

poc does not mean specifically black & latino and black culture is not interchangeable

don’t comment on boundaries set by black people if you’re non-black

hold kamala harris and joe biden accountable (kamala held early release prisoners for forced labor + more, joe biden is...)

you can never have too much knowledge on social issues, please stop quoting everything from tik tok, stop glorifying things in general, it’s a lot better to realize your mistake and change your behavior than to ignore the problem or apologize and do nothing.

stop using black people/ black struggles to make yourself seem cool and approachable. stop using aave regardless of whether you can use it correctly or not if you aren’t black. talk on the internet like you actually speak (so don’t force a blaccent).

be critical of the media you consume. (it’s impossible for me to ask everyone to drop problematic media but don’t defend or support it and realize why it’s problematic/dangerous instead). if you enjoy aot get off my blog no matter how you watch it you are still consuming media meant to spread a dangerous mentality by a disgusting man.