#fandomdata

[sagedrawstrees]

Trans A03 Data

Hello,

I've started compiling some data about trans-related tags on A03. This sheet is a work in progress. I thought I'd share it in case anyone is interested or has suggestions for areas of research.

Some interesting finds so far:

The majority of fics tagged trans character are in the category M/M (around 60%).

15% of fics tagged author is trans are also tagged gender dysphoria. Whereas only 6.5% of fics tagged trans male character are tagged gender dysphoria and 5.3% of fics tagged trans character.

Fics tagged trans male character are more likely to be tagged mpreg (1.74%) than the overall M/M category (1.42%).

But! Only 0.99% of fics tagged author is trans are also tagged mpreg.

Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OLXt0pSvydvGnpsE9WMN7w3JgjZeFAIj1HPwnY0Y0yY/edit?usp=sharing

Cheers!

Sage

[sagedrawstrees]

Ratings of fics tagged with "Trans Male Character," "Trans Female Character," and "Non-Binary Character."

Analysis:

As you can see, TMC are the most likely to be explicit, while NBC are least likely. I have a few hypotheses as to why this might be.

1. NBC are seen as more juvenile, and are thus less likely to be written in sexual situations.

2. NBC in canon are more likely to be portrayed either as children, as asexual, or without romantic/sexual plotlines.

3. NBC are more likely to be written as asexual by Non-Binary people, because non-binary people are more likely to be asexual.

*** Note: Being asexual doesn't mean that you don't write sexually explicit works. But there are also many asexuals who are sex-repulsed. And, if you are writing an asexual character, I would think you'd be less likely to write them in sexually explicit scenarios. ***

As to the first, I can't think of a way to check this hypothesis. Let me know if anyone can think of something!

As to number two: I took a look at the list of characters most likely to be written as non-binary. The most common is an original character. However, the second most common is the canonically non-binary character Frisk from Undertale who, as far as I can tell, is portrayed as somewhat child-like. The next two are not canonically non-binary: Lance and Keith from Voltron, who are young but not children. The fifth is another canonically non-binary character: Hange Zoe from Attack on Titan, who is an adult* and is not portrayed as having romantic and sexual interest in anyone.

I would have to do more research into each of these characters individually, but it seems there is a slight tendency in canons to portray non-binary characters as young and somewhat asexual. It's a mixed bag, though, so I won't draw any clear conclusions.

As to hypothesis number three: it seems there is a correlation between asexuality and non-binarism, according to this study, which found that of the 1.7% of sexual minority adults who identify as asexual, 72% also identified as non-binary.

This is also reflected in the archive. In the NBC tag, 5.51% of fics are also tagged "Asexual Character." This is significantly higher than in the TMC tag, wherein 2.35% of fics are tagged "Asexual Character." This doesn't fully account for the difference in ratings, though.

A link to my (kind of a disaster right now) spreadsheet of data. Let me know what you think and if there's any other topics you are interested in seeing data on!

Happy Reading!

Sage

*Edited: post originally said "who, as far as I can tell, is young but not a child." Thanks to @ranbling for the correction.

[sagedrawstrees]

Transfic and Mental Health Part One: Non Binary Character

Hello! I just finished my final essay for my trans sociology class on transfic and mental health tags. I thought I'd share a bit about what I'd found!

***CW: Discussion of mental Health issues, self-harm, suicide, assault, violence, etc. in a non-graphic way.***

I compared mental health tags with trans character tags, noting the percentage of fics in the trans character tag which also used a mental health tag. I compared this with Ao3 as a whole.

Fics with trans characters are more likely to deal with mental health issues.

However, the degree to which it differs varies within specific genders and for each specific mental health tag.

The difference between the gender categories highlights the importance of looking at these genders separately, as clearly authors are writing and imagining these types of characters differently.

Non-Binary Character Tag and Mental Health

There are a few places where the difference is pronounced, mostly around the non-binary tags.

Non-Binary Character (NBC) fics are more likely to be tagged with “mental health issues” in general, and especially suicide, depression, anxiety, panic attacks and violence.

Trans-Specific Tags

NBC fics are much less likely to be tagged with the trans-specific tags transphobia and gender dysphoria.

Warning: Non-Con Tag

NBC fics are also less likely than even the Ao3 to be tagged with rape/non-con.

To compare, the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Report finds that:

“transgender women (21%) and crossdressers (18%) were more likely to have been sexually assaulted than transgender men (9%) and non-binary people (10%)”

In the Ao3, however, trans male character (TMC) fics are much more likely and trans female character (TFC) fics are somewhat more likely to contain rape or non-con.

Why is this, I wonder? Does anybody have any suggestions?

The only thing I can think of is that it could be related to the ratings of NBC fics, which are much less likely to contain sexual content than TMC and TFC fics. You can see my post on the ratings of NBC, TMC and TFC fics here. In that post I wondered that this has to do with the signifigant overlap between non-binary and asexual identities.

Next I will look at the Trans Female Character tag and mental health tags!

Here is the link to my spreadsheet containing the data for this study.

Please feel free to use however you like, and let me know if you do :)

As always, let me know if you have any other areas you'd like me to research, and if there are any mistakes you find. I enjoy your comments and suggestions so much! Hooray for fandom data!