[ SECRET POST #4724 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4724 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 07 secrets from Secret Submission Post #676.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I agree, the same way that effeminate men are often declared as trans/non-binary. It's not an issue except that it's extremely common and there's no allowance for criticism. The same way there was pushback against butch characters being characterized as always being lesbians, and flamboyant men being gay. When people argued against that, because not everyone can be characterized by a stereotype, there were ears to listen. It's the same case here. Anyone can be trans, but limiting a character to a stereotype is a disservice, pretending it can't be criticized is ignorant, and glossing over genuine triumphs a character makes despite their gender in favour of a label is insulting.

In the case of Mulan, OP has a genuinely good point. She joins the army as a man to save her father, she keeps up the disguise because she has to, and she can make a difference by fighting. She's proving to everyone that a woman can fight just the same, if not better, than any man. By viewing her as identifying as a man it's infringing on most of what makes her story so inspiring. Not because she's trans, but because she isn't doing it as a woman.

I know this isn't always the case, and I'm using examples outside of OP's secret, nor am I doing myself any favours with this explanation, but know that I don't mean any offence with what I'm trying to say here, I'm basing most of this on examples that I've seen in my fandom. Just that there are going to be pros and cons to any variation on a character.

[(Anonymous)]

I think it's important to draw the distinction between criticizing the pattern and criticizing the specific headcanons themselves.

I also think it's easy, and wrong, to fall into the trap that headcanoning less feminine characters as trans / nb is intrinsically harmful to women because it in some way prevents them from existing outside of gender roles themselves.

[(Anonymous)]

But why is it always the less feminine ones who get headcanoned as trans, though? Why can't it ever be the girly-girl, loves makeup and skirts/dresses women who are trans?

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, that question is sort of what I mean by "criticizing the pattern".

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking of stereotypes, "effeminate?" "flamboyant?" There is a bias there.

But more on point: Men and nonbinary people who present as gay feminine exist. Women and nonbinary people who present as butch exist. A whole range of modes that touch on those ideas exist. It is not reducing a character to a stereotype to note that we exist. And frankly, one of the reasons why I'm reading a lot more queer material these days is that at least there characters have lives other than the labels slapped on them.

Frankly, I rarely see the idea that GNC equals trans actually expressed except by chasers and anti-trans strawmen. In the real world around me, trans people are supportive of multiple dimensions of expression and identity.

WRT Mulan: The canon includes multiple songs that skewer the construction of hegemonic femininity and masculinity. That particular trope has been a rich field for exploration by LGBTQ authors. That strikes me as a much more reasonable reinterpretation than your typical Stony ABO fic. And since we are talking about a fictional character, we can make as many reinterpretations as we want.

[(Anonymous)]

When the only ones being headcanoned as GNC and trans are the not-stereotypically-feminine women and the not-stereotypically-masculine men, THEN YEAH, THERE'S A FUCKING PROBLEM AND IT'S NOT THAT YOU DON'T EXIST. It's that you're the only ones fucking visible.

Why is it always Buttercup being trans and not Bubbles? huh? It's always Buttercup or Naoto or Chihiro, and not, say, Bubbles or Rise or Aoi.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, why not headcanon all of the above? I think it's reasonable to reinterpret Yao as trans, since overcompensating through machismo is a coping mechanism as well. But it's a bit of a no-win situation here because when we have difficulty conforming to AGAB we're "stereotypical" and when we don't we're "trending."

Never mind that those criteria were created by homophobic straight people for the purpose of identifying us as targets of violence.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, sure, that's fine. Literally it's fine.

But the complaint I and a lot of people have is that it's always, ALWAYS the "I'm not like other girls" characters.

[(Anonymous)]

I think if you're unaware that all of the Disney Princesses(tm) have been queered in sexuality and gender at least once, you probably haven't been paying much attention.

A fair number of us have years of experience getting shit as "not like the other girls/boys." And we're not obligated to practice some sort of headcanon affirmative action when wrestling with almost complete erasure within major franchises. We pick the subtext and negative spaces we find interesting, and we crack that nut open with a wedge of transformative work.

That's exactly how non-canon shipping works BTW. And if I can skim past the huge mass of fanwork about canonically straight men inexplicably in true love with each other, you can do the same for the relatively smaller volume of trans and genderqueer fanwork.

[(Anonymous)]

I have a nice anthology of queer Beauty and the Beast stories that demonstrate that yes, gender-conforming characters are given queer and trans retellings as well.

[venusundae]

hey i'm kinda late here, but if you ever see this you should link a pal wassup 👀

[(Anonymous)]

In the fandoms I'm in, insisting that the male characters with more "effeminate" traits and interests are 100% trans or NB is immensely prevalent, much more than with any female characters. And sure, I get it, it's the trendy new fetish and you all want to participate in it. But can't you be a little less gender essentialist and enforcing of gender stereotypes with it (and tag your stuff properly while we're at it)?

[(Anonymous)]

This happens in my fandom too. Out of all of the male characters in the fandom, the one who people like to say is trans is the gentle, effeminate one with long hair and a very flamboyant fashion sense, because of course he couldn't be a cis male if he has a number of traits that are typically considered to be "feminine." No one ever suggests that the badass old soldier might be trans.