[ SECRET POST #2360 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2360 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 044 secrets from Secret Submission Post #336.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - take it to comments ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

As much as I like this mangaka's stuff, a lot of it is still off-putting because it tends to resort to stereotypes like these. Of all manga I've read, I'd have expected this one to not fail at nuance as hard as it does, and I don't really trust the issue to be fleshed out with much depth.

Especially not after Aoi Hana *SPOILER AHEAD* pulled the usual thing where the girl's a lesbian because she had a deeply damaging experience with a male and now hates men.

The presentation just makes my respect tank each time I go back and catch up.

[(Anonymous)]

This, basically. Every time I think I've found a manga that actually handles sexuality or gender with real sensitivity, I invariably get shot down.

I'm so tired of lesbians only being "a phase", or, like you said, only that way because of a traumatic experience with men. I'm tired of gay relationships being portrayed as completely unhealthy or fetishistic. I'm tired of transgender/non-binary genders being treated as confused tomboys or guys that are just gay and didn't know how to handle it.

It all comes back to a ridiculously heteronormative/cisgendercentric storytelling that just disappoints me further and further the more it happens. I'm ready to give up on manga entirely at this point.

ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

A big +1 to all of this, too. Well put! I feel this a lot, myself.

Although as an unsolicited rec, you might like Double House if you haven't read it. It's got some issues, but it's still one of the only manga out there that makes me think the mangaka must have actually talked to some queer/trans* people.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't even know if you'll see this, but... look up Plica. It's a cute slice-of-life comic about a young lesbian in Japan, and her group of friends - hinted to be based on its creator's own life at least in part. Seriously, it's like the antidote to all the terrible straight-dude-written stuff that's got you exhausted!

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, I know what you mean. I love characters that don't conform to gender stereotypes, especially characters that crossdress or are trans*, but so often the source material treats those behaviors as something that needs fixing.

The only recent manga I've seen that treat crossdressing/trans characters are Kuragehime and Love*Com. The main characters in Kuragehime are a crossdressing boy and a group of 'unfeminine' girls (in that they're nerdy and unstylish). The 'problem' with these girls is not that they aren't interested in traditional femininity--it's that they suffer from incredible social anxiety and need practice interacting with other people. The issue of crossdressing is never presented as being problematic (except by more conservative minor characters). Love*Com is a decent high school rom-com, and one of the secondary characters is a transwoman named Seiko. There's the standard "that girl you kissed is really a guy!" punchline, but it's immediately followed by Seiko explaining that she's never thought of herself as a boy and that her genes just got mixed up. The other characters like and support her, and they encourage her to keep living as Seiko even when she thinks her voice is changing.

tl;dr there are a few manga out there that do a decent job with gender ambiguity/fluidity, so it's not all bad...?