#...because i was taught that being trans is bad. i was taught that looking trans is a curse that nobody should EVER inflict upon themselves
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Your fears that you don't have a body that will transition "well" are, sure, understandable, but there isn't truly such thing as a body that's unworthy of transition. Perhaps your changing body won't suit everybody's taste, but would you rather live for yourself or for the whims of random people who don't care about your happiness as long as they're attracted to what they see?
Transition is for anybody who wants it. It's okay to be fearful. It's okay to be uncertain. But it isn't the end of the world. You are in control, and if you choose to transition to any capacity, it should be at your behest. You and your body are worthy of transition. I hope you are able to seize transition and do what you truly want for yourself.
#trans#transgender#lgbt#lgbtq#ftm#mtf#nonbinary#have been seeing a small resurgence in some trans spaces that there is such thing as an 'untransitional' body#there are people out there who cannot transition for medical/financial/social reasons but that isn't what people often mean#kill the person in your head that says you need to adhere to cishet standards. it's okay to be trans and *look* it if you want#transition because it makes you feel happy or fulfilled. transition because it is something *you* want#while yes it's complex because appearing trans can be dangerous i ultimately want people to have the freedom to make decisions solely...#...on what *they* want y'know?#i have seen this idea that some people just aren't 'able' to transition because they won't 'appear cis' for years now and it's heartbreaking#like i used the whole 'i don't look cis' against myself because it's impossible for me *to be* cis...#...i will never be non-trans. i will never not be a transsexual and i used to hate that about myself...#...because i was taught that being trans is bad. i was taught that looking trans is a curse that nobody should EVER inflict upon themselves#and that the goal was to essentially distance yourself as far away from transness as you can#and it's okay for people to not want to 'look' visibly trans. it's neutral. what was harmful was the idea that TRANS was bad#there's a huge difference between 'i don't want to be visibly trans' and 'i think being trans and looking it is bad'
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#so many theyfabs wanna be dolls so bad#like every single theyfab and transmasc i know when their egg first cracks#make CONSTANT jokes about being a 'man in a dress'#looking like a girl with a dick#etc.#and yeah it gets more quiet and less blatant over time but i don't think that that mindset and desire ever really goes away#instead it's sublimated and transferred onto the trans women in their lives#either in the form of fetishization or violent unspoken hatred#this also doesnt just happen with trans ppl#ive seen cis men speak about trans women bitterly as men who are weak#vs. them who wants to express emotion and softness like we do#but are afraid of the violence that would bring into their lives#and so they inflict that violence first#and I've seen similar with cis women who see our unabashed love of our gender and resent us for it#because they've been taught to be ashamed of anything they like about themselves#trans women exist as a class who do reproductive labor#by being the recipient of other genders' gender frustrations
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The discussions about transfem "visibility" as some kind of privilege compared to transmasc experience of invisibility and erasure are so absurd. The visibility of transfems in the media and society is widespread transmisogynistic demonization.
Like I imagine these transmascs imagine societal awarenesss of transfems existing makes it easier for transfems to realize who they are? But that's so far from the truth, because the media depictions are so negative that they scare transfems from transitioning in ways not that different from a total media erasure would. These are not positive or nuanced depictions of people you can relate to, but crude demonizing caricatures that make being transfeminine look really bad. Like i probably knew what a "MTF transsexual" was in vague terms as a teenager, but it was from seeing The Silence of the Lambs. And that movie taught me I was creepy for being who I was. And so did my father whenever he mentioned trans women.
And like being visible as a non-passing trans woman is also Not Fun, for reasons that are all too obvious. Being visible as a transfem means other people will stare with contempt and disgust, at best.
And transmasculine people being "invisible" seems like a talking point that is like almost a decade out of date. One of the focus-points of transphobic discourse for about the last 6 years is fearmongering about young transmasc transitioners. The ROGD and Irreversible Damage type of stuff. Transmascs are no longer invisible, and it is not good.
That's because being visible as a trans person in a transphobic society makes you a target for transphobia. This is something that transfems knew very well, and it's not a privilege.
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hey i know your post about your mom was mostly just a personal vent, but i have to say, do you realize that also happens with trans girls and their fathers? literally happened to one of my friends. i’m not trying to downplay your experience or something but i found it strange that you seem to think this is something that only affects transmascs
i have one question for you: so fucking what?
i don’t doubt that trans girls have experienced similar things and yeah, that’s bad too, but what the fuck does that have to do with me and the specific things i’m facing as a result of being a trans man? i never said “look at this thing that happens to ONLY trans men and NO ONE ELSE,” i just said “hey, isn’t this thing that happens to a lot of trans men, including myself, fucked up?”
i would also like to point out that what you’re talking about is in fact a different (albeit similar) thing. the way cis people treat trans people can differ dramatically based on the cis person’s gender because their commitment to gender roles is, like, a major part of problem. the specific way a cis mother reacts to her trans son’s transition is often going to be very distinct, while a cis father will likely respond to his trans daughter in a different but equally distinct way.
what i’m talking about is a very specific kind of ownership and control and self-victimization and total lack of boundaries masquerading as love and care and maternal concern that cis women (i would argue white cis women in particular) project onto their transmasc kids when we do literally anything to our bodies. i’m talking about a phenomenon which is closely related to the way moms often pass eating disorders onto their daughters (or children they view as daughters) because they see a body that looks something like theirs and project all of their insecurities and ideals onto it. i’m talking about a form of parental transphobia and projection that’s specific to the dynamic of a cis mother and her child who was “supposed to” be her daughter.
if you’ve never felt that, you’re not even remotely qualified to tell me shit about how i should be talking about that experience, and if you couldn’t recognize that experience when you read my post, i’m guessing you probably haven’t experienced it because the replies to that post made it very clear to me that anyone who has experienced it firsthand immediately knew exactly what i meant.
like, yeah, cis dads also project onto their trans daughters, but are they likely to have a reaction like running away with actual tears streaming down their face? do you expect them to passive aggressively make comments about how sad their kid’s transition makes them, how it’s such a difficult emotional time, how it’s so tragic because their kid’s body was so beautiful before? do you think their go-to transphobic reaction will be weaponizing their emotions? i’m sure there are some dads out there who are like that, but i think we can agree they’re in the minority because that’s not how cis men are taught to react and parents like this tend to be pretty damn committed to following the gender roles they were taught.
and even if i’m wrong and our experiences are exactly the same, let me reiterate that i never said this was an experience exclusive to trans men. all i said is that it happens to us. that’s just a statement of objective fact.
this started in my life when i got my hair cut short for the first time almost a decade ago and it has not stopped since. i’ve watched my mom cry over me changing my name and respond to being asked if my happiness matters more to her than my name by saying “i care about both”, i’ve watched her melt down in a mall over me getting a suit for prom and give me the silent treatment for days after, i’ve heard her plead with me to stop t because it “looks unnatural” and she’s just so “concerned for my health”, i’ve watched her stare at me post-op and say “my poor baby” over and over like she’s looking at my corpse in a casket. i’ve watched her turn herself into the victim of every single aspect of my transition. i’ve had to live with this for 9 years and spent the early years of the pandemic literally locked in a house with it. this has been my entire adolescent and adult life, and the question of if i’ll have to cut her off someday (and maybe never see my cat or my little cousins who i love more than anything in the world ever again as a result) haunts me every single day.
who the fuck are you to tell me how to talk about that?
#i hope you weren’t expecting me to take this in good faith and give a nice measured response#because just so we’re clear you didn’t have a chance in hell of doing anything other than pissing me off#like in case you forgot i am a real person who this is happening to#in what world did you think i’d care about how an anonymous stranger feels about how i describe it when im the one who has to live it#idk man. some of y’all clearly do not see me as an actual person capable of emotion and it shows#also like. using a friend’s experience is wild bc 1) how do you know it was the same if it didn’t happen to you#and 2) would that friend really want you using their experience against another trans person experiencing something similar?#anon hate#ask answered#examples of transandrophobia#transandrophobia#transandromisia#transmisandry#virilmisia#virilphobia#anti transmasculinity#transmascphobia#trans men
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Art by @shes-an-iso – commissioned by me and posted here with permission
Realization.
It is ten years ago and I am watching Frozen.
It is ten years ago and I am watching Elsa transform herself into her truest self, watching her spin threads of blue around herself, seizing power for herself – radical self-actualization.
The glint of Elsa’s ice dress reflects in my eyes as I watch Elsa strut into the sunlight – and I do not have words for why I am so moved.
I do not have words, but the shimmer stays.
It is ten years ago and I am choosing to become a part of the Frozen fandom.
I have lurked in fandom circles before, but never posted a thing, never made an account.
It is my first time being part of an online fan community – and, as awful as fandoms can be at times, this fandom – for me – ten years ago – is truly a community.
I begin to make friends in the Frozen fandom.
Some of these friends are trans.
The gleam of Elsa’s hair in the rose-gold dawn shines again in my eyes, and shyly, I begin asking questions of my friends.
Realization is nothing without the words to process it – and my friends give me words, my friends help me to understand.
I am a trans woman.
It is in this online space that I first take the name Liza for myself, since this online space is the only place that I can allow myself to be.
I build for myself. My blog is my own ice palace. What I cannot sculpt in daily life, I carve within online spaces – offering my writing, my thoughts, my edits, my soul to the world.
Everyone here knows me as Liza.
Even as I’m in the closet to my family for years, in here, I am Liza. My friends know me as I am, and as Liza is all they will ever know me.
But I am in the closet. For years.
(It’s why Do You Want to Build a Snowman still breaks me.)
In the closet more out of some misplaced sense of duty to my family than out of dread, though I am scared. Always scared. And then in the closet because I feel it’s better if I bury this. Not better for me, but for them. If I’m bleeding inside, it doesn’t matter. I can put on a show. I have fine-woven gloves. Well-taught decorum. Be the good girl you always have to be, etc.
(Maybe it’s my fault I’m in the closet for years. Anons on this site have told me that in the past. I don’t have it as bad as others in the closet, I’m just a coward, the fault is mine, the fault is mine…)
Fuck off.
(People blame Elsa for the thirteen years in the same way, placing the blame on her and not the tutelage that trained her, because her parents loved her, you see, and love becomes a convenient means of shifting blame to the victim.)
In June 2016, after the Pulse shooting, I make a post about how I’m never going to come out. I am terrified, heartbroken, mangled by grief – but my friends are there for me. My friends send me messages of support, of compassion.
I still cherish the memory of those.
Years pass. When I finally come out to my father, I can barely say the words, barely look him in the eye.
It is ten years since Frozen and I have come out to my family – far too late. I have been on HRT more than a year now.
(My dad still misgenders me when he thinks I’m out of earshot. He resents when I get frustrated with him over this.)
It is ten years since Frozen and I am Elsa on the North Mountain, staring into the whirlwind of an uncertain future, defiant and scared.
And I know – I know – that I didn’t process I was trans because of the film – it was because of the friendship of fellow trans people, trans people who happened to be Frozen fans a decade ago – but my journey of self-realization, my time in the closet, my creation of a sense of self, are so entwined with memories of Frozen that I can’t help but think of it when thinking about my own transition…
Can’t help but think of Elsa, hips swaying, arms outstretched, flashing, radiant –
Happy tenth anniversary, Frozen.
And thank you. Thank you.
(This is okay to reblog. In fact, please do. It is a sliver of my soul that I offer to the world.)
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i think all the time about how hard it is to be a kid even in the best case scenarios. like yeah as a kid you have very few responsibilities and youre innocent etc but i think the thing is that adults (at least in the USA) largely do not consider you to be a human.
i remember when i was a kid, my parents were nice to me and supportive and so on-- i didnt have a bad childhood. but there were times where my dad would just take things from me, or interrupt me on the computer/tv, not because i had exceeded screen time or anything but just because "im the dad and im more important so i can do what i want". i remember how powerless i felt when adults would shout at me, especially if it was over something i didnt understand and/or hadnt been taught.
i remember adults laughing in my face sometimes when i was crying or upset, and i think about this when i see those 'toddler/kid freakout' tiktok videos mocking a child's reaction, even if it is for something "stupid" like they dropped their candy or whatever.
even the most well-meaning adults will often write off your pain and negative emotions as 'overreactions', and this goes triple if youre neurodivergent. i had pneumonia as a child and my doctor thought i was just being dramatic.
your input on things is largely seen as worthless. if your parents want to travel the country in a van, but you want to go to school and have friends and have your own bedroom, they'll just pack you up and take you in that van because you're the child and you're their property. i think about this when i see those 'van life' families, and i think about this as i'm reading the Wavewalker book about the girl who was forced to live on her parents' boat with little to no schooling for 10 years.
if your parents spank you and hit you, largely thats seen as their "choice" as parents, no matter how many studies tell them it traumatizes children. and youre dependent on the adults around you and if those adults suck, or if youre in a bad situation, you have very little to no ability to change that and you just have to endure.
and thats what drives me insane about desantis is that we see more and more rhetoric like "the rights of parents" and "protecting children" but these kids are being told that they do not have rights. its as if people truly believe parents deserve to know everything, even if the child doesnt feel safe telling them. people think parents deserve to control their kids' every choice and every move. but when it comes to protecting kids from gun violence and protecting gay/trans kids and especially kids of color, republicans could not give less of a shit. hell, even the grand majority of democrats barely care.
yes, i get it. parenting is unimaginably hard. the nuclear family is unsustainable especially in today's double-income-not-even-making-rent economy. the world is fucked up. sometimes kids are shitty and it might hurt you as an adult. but kids are not evil, and kids are not adults who are acting with fully developed brains and social skills and empathy and so on and its important to keep that in mind.
on the chance that anyone wants to reply with "well i hate kids :/" look. you dont have to be a parent. but at least be kind to children in your life. let the kid in the park ramble to you about skibidi toilet or fucking whatever. you do owe people kindness, especially children
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Question about your points on the post about TERFs vs TIRFs you made bc it has me questioning a lot of the stuffI've been taught:
Why is it TERF ideology to think that women are oppressed by the patriarchy? Why is it TERF ideology to be intimidated by men if you’ve been a victim of sexual violence at the hands of men? Women (both trans and Cis) face so much violence all over the world, why is it radical feminism to acknowledge that?
I’m genuinely curious because I want to deconstruct any harmful biases but it feels incredibly harmful to dismiss violence against women under the guise of “talking about this is all radfem ideology”.
I'm glad you're asking these questions, and I'm glad you're being critical about that post!
You're absolutely right that it would be harmful to "dismiss violence against women under the guise of “talking about this is all radfem ideology”- and I don't want anyone to take that whole list as A New Set Of Rules without thinking any further about it.
The point of that list was not to say "all of this is Bad", but rather to lay out some logical through-lines and how these ideas all work together to reach harmful conclusions.
Any radicalization pipeline relies on a kind of "rabbithole", or as @psychoticallytrans recently called it, "milk before meat". The idea is that you're given the "easy" stuff first, the stuff that is or feels right, and then those ideas steadily lead into more and more extreme ideas.
Women are oppressed by the patriarchy, and pretty much every branch of feminism is going to agree with you there; that's not a radfem-only idea. What distinguishes radfems from the rest is that they believe "the patriarchy" is embodied by every single living man; every man is The Patriarchy, and every man oppresses every woman. No woman can oppress a man, no woman can harm a man... etc.
You can see where we lose the plot here: is the patriarchy a system, or is it every single man? Who, then, do we count as men? How old is a man? What about other intersecting forms of oppression?
One of my go-to questions to ask, when taking a critical look at some of these ideas, is: under this ideology, are white women oppressed by black men? How? Can white women do harm to black men? How would this ideology answer these questions, and how would they (do they) deal with the archetype of the "Karen"; a white woman using her white womanhood to enact violence on black men through state institutions of white supremacy, like law enforcement? (Hint: radfems tend to complain that "Karen" is strictly a misogynistic insult.)
To answer your other two questions:
Why is it TERF ideology to be intimidated by men if you’ve been a victim of sexual violence at the hands of men?
(For context:)
Short answer: it isn't.
Long answer: My point here was to outline the way that the "inherent woman trauma and justified fear of all men" is weaponized against trans women, first and foremost, but there's more nuance here as well.
There is a difference between a traumatic response that you cannot control and need time to heal from, and a fear being actively encouraged as "justified" and "accurate" by those around you. There is a difference between exercising practical caution (even if you shouldn't have to), and fueling paranoia and a fear of the outside world. There is a difference between grappling with your own personal healing process after a traumatic event, and generalizing a traumatic response to the entire world & everyone in it.
Some people's trauma after a sexual assault latches onto the gender of the person who hurt them. That is understandable. Some people, knowing they are perceived as women, take extra precautions to ensure their safety from potential sexual assault and harassment at the hands of, predominately, cis and straight men. That is understandable. But when that translates to "you should fear all men at all times because any of them can and will rape you given any opportunity to do so", we have a problem.
Again, we should be asking: does this ideology make room for other forms of oppression? Can white women oppress black men? How does this interact with the racist stereotype of the sexually aggressive and dangerous black man? How does this ideology deal with the history of white women accusing black men of sexual assault in order to sic white men and police on them & enact state violence, as well as reinforce white supremacy? (And more! What about trans women and trans lesbians, in particular? Are trans men seen as sexual aggressors instead, if not them? Is either remotely accurate to reality?)
Women (both trans and Cis) face so much violence all over the world, why is it radical feminism to acknowledge that?
This is mostly answered by the above, but again, the short answer here is that it isn't radical feminism to acknowledge misogyny or misogynistic violence.
What is radical feminism is that idea that this violence is enacted by individual men, and not patriarchy as a system of oppression. What is radical feminism is the idea that misogyny is the ultimate form of oppression, and that others only "intersect" in niche circumstances (if at all) that do not need to be included in the majority of these conversations.
In radical feminism, black women's oppression is its own conversation, trans women's oppression is its own conversations, and we can handwave things like "Karens" by saying that's about racism; we don't need to make room for it in feminist theory. When trans-inclusive radfems say "if men could get pregnant", and trans men say "we can", they can respond "you know what we meant"- because they don't believe they need to make space for transphobia in feminist theory.
Another good test: when radfems talk about sexual assault as a woman-specific issue, and transmascs point out that statistically, we face higher rates of sexual assault than cis or trans women (or any other demographic), TERFs will say that's because it's "sex-based oppression" & ignore that our rates are higher, because there's no room for transphobia in their feminism. Trans-inclusive radfems will deny that it's true or important in the first place, because men can't be "more oppressed" than women.
It's not radical feminism to acknowledge misogyny and patriarchy. It is radical feminism to ignore everything else.
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As A Queer who’s made it in the trades, do you have any advice for other Queers, visible or not, to breaking into the sector?
i don't have any advice for women other than shoot your shot and be brave, because every workplace ive ever been in SAYS they want more women but oh gee women just don't APPLY, but if you look like a guy you just show up, don't pick fights, and let people assume whatever they assume.
if you've never had factory experience before you can either lie or make up a dad who taught you lots of home improvement projects or focus on the physical aspects of other jobs that left you with plenty of experience in packing, handling, basic tool use, forklift driving, truck loading, etc. if you want an actual trade skill you should look up college and trade school classes, or see if you can join a union and get classes from a union hall, or, again, lie your way in.
like. so many young men in the trades are so so bad at their jobs, it's expected that every now and then a dumbass on too many drugs is hired and he breaks important things and turns up late and falls asleep somewhere weird for awhile before getting fired again. ive watched at least eight of these men cycle through my factory in the last year. the last one ran over a welding machine with a truck before breaking his leg by dropping a beam on himself and then quitting because he wasn't getting paid enough (mood). so like if you show up and are a dumbass that arrives on time, works late, cleans up their area, and doesn't break anything too expensive, and doesn't mysteriously vanish after a month, you have a good shot at keeping your position forever. im genuinely not very good at my job and at least one guy everywhere i work hates me for being a mouthy little fag, but the state of the trades is that if you're not actively on drugs and fire and trying to punch your boss, you probably get to keep your job indefinitely.
my other advice is: if you're trans, and you work in manufacturing, do your best to pass and never admit you're trans. things get bad weird, very fast, and you're surrounded by big guys with power tools. you don't have to pass very well, because the trades are full of a wide variety of the weirdest men in the world and almost none of them have a functional gaydar, but you do have to at minimum not volunteer the information that you're trans.
like. you can if you want. the results will be educational. but no one will be learning anything they wanted to know from this event.
EDIT: start working out though. you NEED to be able to safely lift 30-40lb to start out with and 50-100+ is ideal. if you can't carry around 50 lb for at least a short ways (on and off trucks, on and off tables, on and off dollys) you're risking throwing your back out which is a lifelong bigtime problem. make sure you can lift, bro!
#it took me a while to figure this out#because they WILL yell at you for being bad at your job#but you don't actually have to not be bad at the job#they hate hiring new people more than they hate you#every time
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TALK ABOUT THE TRANSMASCULINE ALLEGORY!!! i want to hear your thoughts
ok. the long awaited oliver quick transmasculine allegory post.
to be so real it is mainly me doing 2 (two things)
-projecting
-using insanely obvious prompts from the text to pull shit out of my ass
i do think that oliver quick's character COULD. MAYBE. be either headcanon'd as trans (BOOORRRINNGG) or a lot of his actions in act one can be closely tied to very common trans experiences.
my biggest thing on 'common' trans experiences as it relates to saltburn, is meeting a cis man and latching onto him with every fiber of your being, because you can't be friends with him, you need to *be* him. the first thing that really prompted me to look at saltburn from this lense was when farleigh goes "[you're almost passing as] a real human boy!", though it's clearly about oliver wearing a rental suit, it's a phrase that i've heard a million times over and over again, and i think that oliver, within this transmaculine concept of his character, dances CONSTANTLY on this imaginary line of "real boy" to "weirdo freak" that i think a lot of trans people can relate to. (i will touch on 'real boy' again later)
theres also an aspect of this incessant watching and dissecting cis men, what they wear, how they talk, how they fuck. and with all of this watching, there's this part of melding your identity into what you're watching, which we see starkly with oliver. at the beginning, when he's this oxford kid, a freak if you will, but he's more or less himself, version A. once he meets felix, he ditches the glasses, the button up shirts, the uptight manner, and turns into this entirely different version of "himself", version B. version B is the version he's taught himself that society will like much more than version A, so it consumes him entirely. version A wasn't someone that girls would fuck, felix would love, and quite frankly be 'enjoyed' by the rest of the world. version A is pre-transition, and version B is post. (all this to say, in relation to irl transition, neither version A or version B are right, good, or bad, they're whatever you want them to be. beauty is in the eye of the beholder)
THIS PART IS JUST WORD VOMIT AND DOESN'T NECESSARILY PERTAIN TO MY POINT OF TRANSMASCULINE ALLEGORY. SCROLL AT YOUR OWN RISK.
for me, another piece i think about a lot is the “you’re just so real” (venetia) but that’s a bit more of a stretch. the reason i think this relates to the main point, is so many trans people have to work and rework their personality so that their 'transness' is socially palatable, real. the catton's have no general perception of a real person, they surround themselves with fake, upper class socialites who lie and cheat. but even if they met a real person, they wouldn't know it. and they don't lol. so when oliver comes around, who isn't this upper class socialite, the initial thought is that he's this "real" and "grounded" person. however, the only reason that the catton's (general society in this case) find oliver (trans people) so "real" and more or less worth accepting into their family is because he has worked and reworked his identity to be so similar and likeable to felix's.
there's also the conversation on cattonquick being a really good representation of what a mlm cis/trans relationship can feel like so much of the time. but i'll only really expand on this if any1 is interested lol. anyways pls dm me or comment on this i really want to talk more about it more.
#saltburn#barry keoghan#oliver quick#saltburnposting#cattonrambles#transmasculine allegory#i love trans people#transgender#i love you all!!!#sorry if this is incoherent#this came to me in a dream#i'm definitely reading into this tho lol
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Genderbent jack howl x fem twst reader please
Thank you. My angel from above.
♡ Reader is female! Men DNI!!! Pure fluff because Jack is a minor (and the goodest of boys). ♡
*Ahem*
~°•♡•°~
Quick headcanon about Fem Jack! That I had, she's definitely that one house plant masc lesbian. Just saying...
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♡- Let's start off with the basics. How you pulled this beauty is an absolute mystery, it doesn't matter how attractive of a girl you are, Jack isn't the kind of girl to fall for looks nor is she the kind of girl to swoon over someone because of status.
♡- When you two started dating, she really didn't know what to do???? She has never had a girlfriend before she met you, but she does take it VERY SERIOUSLY, as wolves mate for life, and she wouldn't be dating you if she had doubts.
♡- She may need some help with planning dates. She's not exactly big on dates as Jack prefers to spend quality time together or do acts of service than to go on dates. Her idea of a date is definitely just running together in the morning or going to look at cactuses (Houseplant lesbian I REPEAT- HOUSEPLANT LESBIAN!!!) But if you prefer romantic dates or something cuter (wdym looking at plants isn't cute enough???) She'll try harder and buy you apology plants.
♡- She'll definitely let you pet or cuddle her tail, just not in public. She's a little bit of a tsundere, so she gets more flustered than you think. Having her around is like having your own fucking pillow. Sad? Tail. Rough day? Tail. You're on your period? TAIL. Did somebody make you angry? MOTHER FLUFFING TAIL!!!! But she would let you brush it and snuggle in it as long as you don't do it in public or around the other girls.
♡- Speaking of Periods, she completely understands, she has really bad cramps and it gets in the way of her athletics sometimes. So she has everything ready, chocolate, heating pad, pain killers, tissues, tampons or pads, and a lil comfort plant to make you feel better :D!! (These lesbians and their mf plants-)
♡- Despite how tomboyish Jack is, she definitely still has a feminine side, and she likes to embrace it at times. She's not the best with makeup but she's really good at nails, body care, and skincare (Mama Vil taught her well). But she loves when you ask her to go shopping, because most girls she was around definitely didn't ask her to do many girl things, Vil was the only one who even bothered when they were children, so she loves when you ask. Even if it's not for girl shopping she'll buy a few things regardless (like a small cactus!)
♡- Athletic Beastwomen Gf, she definitely picks you up. Carries her cute gf around like a lil burrito. When she works out in her room, she definitely does those cute gym things gym couples do, her tail wags the whole time it's so cute. But point it out and you will get kicked out, like- IMMEDIATELY.
♡- For my trans girlies, she doesn't care. You love her right? She loves you too. It doesn't bother her, as long as you're loyal and loving she couldn't give a damn, she doesn't judge people based of biological gender or body parts.
♡- Overall 9/10 gf, she loves you and is Overall a very chill gf, just don't do too much PDA or point out her wagging tail, and she's fine. She'll probably try to get you to be athletic like her if you're not already out of pure care for your well being, but she won't force you. But definitely one of the best gfs you could ask for. (She got a -1 point because she loves her cactus more than you, sorry, I don't make the rules, that's how them plant lesbians be.)
#twisted wonderland#twst genderbend#fem twst#twst x female reader#jack howl#jack howl x reader#jack howl headcanons#genderbend#genderbend x reader#twst jack#houseplants#lesbian#plant lesbian#jack howl x yuu#🎀
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All of Taylor's albums were tailored to the most popular aesthetic at the time. She didn't make shit popular, she just adapted. Especially when she made the transition into pop music.
True. She's currently jumping fences with rep as well. Making it out to be a goth punk moment and using trendy words like 'female rage'. The album has the most romantic songs she's ever written. C'mon now. The whole record is electropop with some R&B elements thrown into the mix.
She portrays 'Lover' as her social justice warrior era. 'If I was a man, then I'd be the man'. Yeah, we've seen it Taylor. Miss 'me becoming a billionaire is good for the world because I'm a woman'. She makes herself out to be this 'feminist girl's girl' when in reality it couldn't be further from the truth. She's not a feminist and she doesn't want to be the woman that's advocating for women's rights and leads the path for the future generation of women. She wants to be the man at the top. Her motto is literally 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, greenhouse gases'.
Another thing is her queer allyship. She's mentioned it when and only when it was profitable to her. During her tour she hadn't said a thing when the number of states signed anti-trans bills and the state of Tennessee where she says she lives *according to her own documentary* banned drag. I don't think she said anything about the anti-abortion legislation either. Her activist era started and ended in 2019.
Don't get me started on her position regarding the BLM movement. She only posted something because her own fans started calling her out and then declared that she's 'ferociously anti-racist'. She positioned herself as an advocate *by herself* and then immediately dipped when it stopped being as profitable. If you don't want to be dragged for your silence about social and political crises, don't proclaim yourself as an activist. Simple as that.
I've also seen the video on Youtube about TS being a narcissist (someone posted it on your blog earlier I think). And the guy in the video brought up her guitar teacher. So I looked him up and found an article where he talks about his experience with the Swifts which he got sued for later. According to the man, Taylor's mother was interested in him teaching her daughter how to play country music and was just a stage mom in general. And TS says that she'd been begging her parents to allow her learn how to play guitar and that she's self-taught. She wants her success story to be a rags to riches so bad I can't even.
She's a woman with an extremely fragile ego where millions of people could be praising her and a single negative comment would set her off. She can't handle any form of criticism, break ups or inconveniences like a grown woman simply because she doesn't have enough emotional intelligence to do so. Her being surrounded by yes men also doesn't help the situation. If i were her, I'd rather invest in a good therapist rather than 2 PJs. She drowns herself in work and relationships so she doesn't have time to go inwards and sit with her thoughts.
I kinda feel bad for her, honestly. She's been in the industry since she was 15 and her success was almost immediate. She doesn't know what the world's like because she's been sheltered her whole life and then had other people do things for her. I don't think she has many real friends as well. By real I mean people who aren't afraid to tell you the truth and are able to call you out in your face. Instead she has a bunch of people who appease her afraid of pissing her off and ending up on her bad side and as a result her vanity grows and she completely loses any sort of perspective whether in her friendships, romantic relationships or maybe even her own family.
I also wonder what she thinks about her fandom pirating her concert film instead of paying to rent it. I sort of hope that her fans are starting to wake up to her conning schemes. I mean, you've already made a shit ton of money from the theatre release, why charging 20$ more to RENT IT?Not even buy it. Or is it another narrative about how 'no one can own my work but me'?
This woman sells well but her cultural impact is almost nonexistent. She hadn't done any good for the world causes or inspired several generations of performers like Michael Jackson has with his philanthropic endeavors and incredible performing skills. The artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake (bleh) and The Weeknd were hugely influenced by MJ. These artist create their own unique legacy and impact on their communities. Especially the ladies. Gaga's been an avid LGBT+ advocate since the beginning of her career and created a foundation that focuses on issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development. She also participated in anti HIV and AIDS campaigns, spoke against immigration laws in the US, contributed to 2011's earthquake and tsunami relief campaign in Japan. Beyoncé's a huge advocate for the black community and black women especially which always finds its way in her work and visual art in particular. She's been platforming black culture and history for her whole career (2016 Superbowl and Coachella performance are the brightest examples of black american culture and releasing her Lion King album to showcase African artists' excellence). She also has a foundation where she provides black youth scholarships, clean water for communities abroad and housing to families in need in her home state.
What exactly makes Taylor Swift's cultural impact? Thousands of tons CO2 emissions? Music labels putting a clause in the contract so the artists can't re-record their material for 10 years now instead of 5? Making several versions of the same CD or vinyl so the sales are bigger? Mind you, that's all excessive plastic and paper. Some countries and US states are banning gas stoves. Her position regarding artists being paid during the early days of streaming (when the platforms were launching with a free period tial) was right but no one really benefited from it but her. She was shitting on Apple Music, then they offered her money, filmed an ad and released her 1989 Tour DVD exclusively on their platform. She shat on Spotify, then when LWYMMD came out, she was all over their biggest playlists all of a sudden and recorded Spotify Singles later on. Spotify's always promoted her every release like a motherfucker shoving her in every corner of the platform. Especially for the past 3 years. She doesn't have any memorable outfits or unique style to be called a fashion icon either. She's not a trailblazer she thinks she is. She is only popular because a lot of people *mostly ww* who peaked in high school see themselves in her. She's average in everything she does, her writing topes are also the same (only now she started using compound or uncommonly used words to mask it) but she's extremely commercially successful so that those people can see themselves in her. She doesn't have unique music style or chameleon-like discography like Gaga, Bey, MJ, Madonna, Shakira, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus or Nelly Furtado. She doesn't have a unique singing voice like Bjork, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Janis Joplin, MJ or Bob Dylan. She's no instrument prodigy either. And swifties say that 'Michael couldn't play any instruments'. Well, he was an exceptional beatboxer. She can strum 4 guitar chords and play basic piano, that's it. She doesn't have an outstanding dancing and/or vocal skill.
What is she gonna be remembered for? Her numerous relationships with famous men? While that might be misogynistic or sexist to some degree, she's the one who makes her relationships the centre of her music and public persona and brings them up even 10 years after they ended. Her public feuds with men and women that she can't get over years after? This woman is certainly can hold a grudge and is extremely vindictive. The leader of a parasocial cult that blindly defends her bigotry? I believe so. I don't think I've ever seen a fandom as toxic and as hive-minded as swifties. And again, it's Taylor's own creation. She's the one that constantly says 'look closely for the easter eggs' in her content making her fans theorize on every aspect of her life, or 'if you're very loyal I might invite you to MY HOUSE and you can listen to the new album early, we'll take pics and I'll bake you some cookies'. Of course they'll follow your any order. I'm glad I escaped.
Oof, I'll stop here. That's a very long one already
sorry hehe
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The thing about the big scary cishet aroallos people seem to be so afraid of these days is that I met many of the sort of person they imagine when they talk about this (which usually isn't someone who doesn't experience romantic attraction but rather just a cishet man with 0 care for other human lives) and trust me most of them would NOT identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. With the stereotypes and societal narratives we're taught it's easy to imagine an aroallo cishet man as some guy who doesn't want to commit and just uses women for sex, which is ironic because in the same breath these types of exclusionists usually criticize aces because they believe we all think allos are sex-obsessed or whatever. Like just because that guy is cishet and allo doesn't mean he wants to have sex 24/7. Maybe he just wants to exist as a single person without getting shit for it or being constantly told to settle down and have a relationship. Like I imagine what it would be like to be a cishet aroallo man and honestly what reason would I have to look at a community that constantly shits on me and seems to hate me and that the other cishet men around me probably try to teach me to hate and go "I'm aromantic and I want to be part of this space" if they didn't struggle with alienation from their peers and the societal expectations placed on them? That's honestly such a big thing with exclusionists because I look at the bullshit that aces, aros, trans people, bi people etc. get from both the LGBTQ+ community and the cishets and ask myself "if I really fit in with the allocishet experience, WHY WOULD I CHOOSE THIS INSTEAD?"
I have to agree with you here. Sure, there's definetly cishet alloaro men out there who are just fuckboys who use women for sex, in any group there will be people who fit the negative stereotypes and that's not a reason to point at them and go "see? They ARE like that!" There is a difference between cishet allosexual men who don't see women as people but rather as sex toys and cishet allosexual men who are aromantic. Being sexually attracted to women without wanting anything romantic is not the problem, it's a neutral thing. The problem is when you don't view women as human beings and the men who are like that would usually see the word 'aromantic' and think it's just some woke sjw bullshit or a mental disorder. I think it's really unfair towards aromantic people as a whole because we're constantly telling people that our lack of romantic attraction does not make us bad people. Is it okay to see aromanticism as an indicator of bad morals all of a sudden just cause the person in question is a cishet man? No. Even if the man is actually a bad person. Because if there are exceptions to the rule then where do we draw the line? If the same thing is gonna be directed at aromantic trans lesbians, something I can see happening, will that also be okay because we're so scared of someone with a penis being sexually attracted to women?
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Small question you're free to ignore but I'm curious.
What are all of your head cannons for Kinger and Queenie? :3
I have SO much so this definitely won’t be ALL of them but ramble time lets go some might be a bit suggestive because silly silly!!
—————
- Kinger and Queenie aren’t actually married, due to circus rules they’d had to have met in the circus because the erasure of memories but yes they were in a relationship and dated.
- While they don’t need to sleep, they still enjoy keeping up the schedule as if they do, in order to not go crazy over it. Kinger and Queenie usually spend their time in on or the others room though, as opposed to seperate.
- Kinger the type of mf to give Queenie a friendship bracelet and her say it’s lame and he almost cries and tries to take it back and then she puts it on her wrist and says no it hers (she cares she’s so bad at showing it)
- Queenie get jealous easily and Kinger can’t wrap his head around the concept of jealousy
- Kinger is Vegetarian and Queenie finds it weird
- Kinger is your token cishet white man
- I lied he’s maybe bisexual but won’t admit it
- Queenie is a trans woman AUGH❗️❗️
- I genuinely love the theory on Kinger and Queenie being the originally beta testers and the first of everyone to enter the circus. And for my peeps that love religious imagery esp tied to tadc- then you could think of them as Adam and Eve, the firsts and Queenie being the first to abstract aka a way to resemble the betrayal of sorts.
- Kinger hates chess and Queenie doesn’t know how to play
- Old music fans ❤️❗️ Frank Sinatra plays and Queenie is dragging Kinger to dance with her
- Oh yeah, good dancers. But traditional dancing of course.
- Kingers “bug” collection is actually glitches within the circus, not genuine bugs. Like the glitched potted plant, he picks up glitched items or “bugs” and collects them in his room.
- Pls pls projecting Queenie was a motorcycle girlie
- Kingers autistic, but Queenie is not
- Kinger also has paranoid schizophrenia and ADHD, Queenie is bipolar
- Made a comic on this one, Queenie always made pillow forts and eventually invited Kinger into them, and taught him to make them.
- they are both married to me /j
- One time they were doing “adult relationship couple things” when Caine called everyone into the hallway and they accidentally rushed out of the room in one another’s robes instead of their own
- Kinger is a horrible liar and Queenie just gives him a look and he immediately spills everything he’s thinking about
- Queenie is a hello kitty fan
- First time!! Kissing!! Kinger leaned in to kiss Queenie for the first time and it was pretty quick and he was nervous, and Queenie grabbed his face and told him to calm down and whispered if he’s ever kissed someone before, and he said he doesn’t think he has so Queenie gave him a good cute little “tutorial” on that.
- Translation: THEY MADE OUT GANG!!
- Anytime there’s a snow themed adventure, Kinger likes to make a Snow Queenie (this applies to before and present day)
- Kinger is little spoon Queenie is big spoon
- Very clingy- they both are very clingy it’s just Queenie is the only possessive one over it.
- Kinger randomly mutters to himself “Queenie would love this”
- They aren’t afraid to always perform pda around the others, hugging/kissing/nuzzling into one another and the only one brave enough to comment on it would be Kaufmo who I personally think hates viewing affection in the slightest and he’d later get whooped by Queenie
- Kingers a service top/sub
- Queenies a bratty bottom/top
- They can both be switches why not
- Queenie loves plushies
- I’m getting tired so I’ll stop here this isn’t even most of them or a lot hhhh
#tadc#the amazing digital circus#kinger#tadc kinger#queenie#tadc queenie#headcanons#tadc headcanons#!!!#yuh
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hii!! do you have any headcanons/thoughts/woteva about transfem felix? also your blog is incredible, peace and love <3
of course i have thoughts about transfem! fem + thank you so much for liking my blog!!!! you’re so kind,, peace & love sent your way as well 💕🌟
- has always felt dysphoric about her height since she’s so tall and she’s always been the tallest person in her class though once college started she kinda just accepted her height& how it won’t change lol
- first started realizing signs of her feeling “different” from all the other boys in her class when she would gravitate towards hanging out with the girls in her classes, playing with different toys (literally throwing temper tantrums if she didn’t have the same toys / ability to play dress up with venetia), etc
- dysphoria really started hitting when puberty & middle school started…was always popular and thought to be a “ladies man” by his peers and teachers even though she would only hangout with girls / talk to them about typical “girly things” + having small little crushes on boys she would keep to herself
- venetia was the first person she came out to!! they’ve been close since birth so it was kinda impossible not to tell her,, probably told her after coming home from school (first time she was ever ridiculed for being “too feminine” or a “fairy” etc) and of course venetia listened and comforted her like a good sister would + she always wanted a sister anyway
- as time progresses felix starts growing out her hair a little longer, not thing too long, but shoulder length so she could start tucking hair behind her hair + wear headbands whenever it got too hot outside (no one in her inner circle really questioned it that much, of course there were some bad people though venetia taught felix to really start standing up for herself not letting “those” comments get to her”
- sometimes when it’s late at night (during the summer before meeting ollie) felix sneaks off to venetia’s room where she can snoop around and play with her makeup and clothes,, of course the clothes don’t really fit properly but being able to see herself in something she truly feels more comfortable in helps a lot
- starts to go out shopping with elspeth for more flowy linen shirts, maybe even snagging some from the women’s section to try things out in the name of “fashion” and of course elspeth is fine with it, she was a “fashionista” back in her day, and would ultimately kill felix if she dressed in anything “ill-fitting / drab” (aka no poor people clothes LOL) also felix’s gender isn’t really questioned by his parents all too much?? elspeth knew felix was always different but never felt any sort of way once she started noticing her “son” isn’t really her “son” if you know what i mean
- also (if this wasn’t obvious) felix is fine with her birth name! she doesn’t really get dysphoric from it, only ever really feeling insecure about her body hair & muscles (but i mean the people around her aren’t really complaining about how nice her body looks so she’s kinda okay with it,, she is felix catton after all lmao biggest attention whore of all time)
- manages to dress femininely without being “clocked” for being trans if that makes sense?? like ever since venetia helped her with standing up for herself she doesn’t really take shit from anyone plus no one can really say anything about her because of her status.. for example flowy women’s shirts, button ups etc are always in rotation in her wardrobe same with baggy pants because she really couldn’t be bothered lol though dressing up for dinner is quite literally the bane of her existence
- when first meeting ollie she is essentially head over heels (converse lol) because how could she not be? like ollie is the perfect example of a “save me” “my life is so tragic” story felix essentially gets off on it + she finds him extremely cute
- big jump to when it’s the summer of saltburn and the two are extremely close ollie discloses how he’s trans and felix feels so comforted!! because finally! FINALLY! she’s met someone else who is like her and really can understand what it’s like (to an extent since she’s more of a social butterfly than ollie is)
- cue felix properly trying on a well fitting dress in front of ollie for a party that’s being hosted at saltburn (i don’t know the theme though i know i want to see felix in a dress experiencing the biggest gender euphoria moment known to man) and she is just over the moon!!!!! her and ollie probably sneak off somewhere (even though everyone wants to be with felix) to talk more abt their experiences with gender, getting drunk, and ultimately making out against some wall of some kind)
- loves the way how ollie makes her feel when they are making out,, just treating her so gently yet not feeling scared to take control and hold onto felix’s waist & bite her lip and she’s never EVER had an encounter like this with someone else so being able to share it with ollie is just so special…ollie probably slots his leg between felix’s as they grind on each other making the most delicious sounds everrrrrrrrrr
I LOVE T4T CATTONQUICK !!!!!!!!! TRANS LOVE FOR THE WIN! 😵💫⚧️
#wormswurld answers#ask#ask me anything#ask anything#lgbtqia#saltburn#oliver quick#saltburn posting#felix catton#cattonquick#felix x oliver#saltburn 2023#mtf! felix catton#ftm! oliver quick#t4t#wormswurld brainrot 🌟
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More headcanons because I want to and I need somewhere to put these that are not my brain
Horace, as much as I absolutely love the kid, is not someone who can draw things. (Have you SEEN his drawing in book one? That kid cannot draw.) Because of this, he almost never plans out any clothes he makes. When he absolutely needs to, he goes to Millard and asks him to draw figures for him so he can put very blocky clothes on top of them. Millard is always happy to do so.
Enoch can kind of draw. He likes to sketch out his homunculi so you’ll find little figure drawings everywhere around his room but he will absolutely refuse to admit they’re his.
He/they nonbinary Hugh. I will DIE on this hill.
On a similar vein, AFAB Jacob, Hugh, Enoch, and maybe Millard (I go back and forth with Mill), AMAB Fiona. Alllll the trans kids.
Not a single child on that island is cishet. Fucking. Fight me.
They have a computer Jacob and Noor got and convinced Miss Peregrine to keep in a safe house outside Devil’s Acre. Jacob taught some of the kids how to play Minecraft on it and now if you can’t find Enoch and Horace that’s probably where they are.
On the few instances he leaves the loop, every time Jacob texts someone or types something on his phone and he’s by himself he reads it out loud to himself the way he would’ve said it in a verbal conversation. He has no idea why he does it and only Emma has witnessed this. She just looked at him funny and shrugged.
Horace knows how to ice skate. If you couldn’t tell by the figure skater including this in literally everything he physically can.
Emma and Millard are just as much partners in crime as Enoch and Horace are. The difference is that they’re not dating or crushing on each other and most of their plots outside of Raid the Village are how to make Enoch and Horace as flustered about liking each other as physically possible. (Occasionally Bronwyn joins.)
I like to think eventually Emma was convinced to play Raid the Village with the others because personally she seems too inclined to burn shit to the ground to be as bothered by it as Enoch said she was
Both Miss Peregrine and Sharon are the group parents. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other, but they both individually looked at these children and said “yep, these idiots are mine” and now every time one of them does something stupid (COUGH Emma and Enoch being given access to fire) their immediate reaction is “what stupid kids. Oh shit those are MY kids—”
As described by my boyfriend, Sharon is the bad influence adoptive father who will absolutely drive you somewhere to go commit arson but if you don’t put your seatbelt on he kicks you out of the boat
Around Christmas one year Jacob figured out that outside the loop he could put a speaker in Sharon’s boat and play music so he played The Polar Express (just the one song) on repeat for an hour and now he’s not allowed to play music on the boat anymore. (The speaker is also somewhere at the bottom of the Thames, courtesy of Sharon and also Enoch.)
Hugh, Fiona, and Millard hate winter. Anytime they have to go to a cold loop for more than a few days or have to go to the present in winter for more than a few hours they sit and sulk until they can go home.
The three of them also learned BSL for Fiona once everything had calmed down again and they actually had time to do it. The rest of the kids kind of know it, but those three are the most fluent in it, and Millard carries gloves around with him anytime he’s wearing clothes so he can put them on and the three of them can talk shit about the other kids in front of them
Okay that’s all :)
#mphfpc#horace somnusson#millard nullings#enoch o'connor#hugh apiston#jacob portman#fiona frauenfeld#noor pradesh#alma peregrine#emma bloom#bronwyn bruntley#sharon mphfpc#sharon acheron#if that is his actual last name that’s fucking awesome and i love it#enorace#fughllard#i have. so many ideas for these kids#headcanons
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sorry if this is an odd ask to send out of nowhere but i thought your mlp post was really interesting! could you go further into detail about what you think the show does wrong in later seasons? you don't have to, i'm just curious since i really like the show and it's been one of my hyperfixations for a very long time & you have really interesting takes/meta on things in general
thank you for your time!! :3
It very much gets "less about girls" as it progresses. People's background friends/family are suddenly almost always male, for example, with Fluttershy getting a brother, Rainbow Dash's other school friends being male, her dad being more prominently played than her mom, things like that.
This isn't even a bad thing!
While I would argue, and have before, that a show almost exclusively about women is an important thing for the media landscape compared to the glut of All About Men shows?
The reality is that any artistic lens that focuses exclusively on a single gender is going to be worse for it, if for no reason other than where are the trans people.
A truly "gender neutral gaze" would be the ideal, but to be honest I don't even know what that might look like. I can at least conceptualize the female gaze out from existing, limited examples of female led production for a female audience.
But in terms of, IDK, a trans-led production for a genderqueer/neutral audience, I don't even know it that kind of thing exists. It must, because well, trans people are everywhere in the indie arts, but I have never seen it.
Certainly I've never seen it around a kid's show. And one of the things that makes kid media so easy to analyze is, the "allowed" topics are fairly limited. When sex is off the table, you can devote that time to deepening friendships. When men are off the table, you can spend that time deepening female characterization. etc etc.
So anyway, while I would say a female gaze is preferable to a male one in this male dominated society, both have their deep shortcomings. The way MLP handled male characters in S1 by either not having them, or having them be kind of the butt of the joke (Spike) isn't actually a good thing, just a very different one than is common. And there are plenty of ways that the show mistreated Spike particularly for Being A Boy that would make me hesitate to suggest season 1 to, say, trans masc viewers.
But then there are some ways that I can safely say later seasons are just worse.
The fat jokes, for example, were Not A Thing in S1 and as a fat viewer that was a huge relief at first, which became a sharp slap in the face as characters began making fun of heavy eating or using obese background ponies as gross out gags, etc.
On the other hand, the racism very much was present from the beginning, as evidenced by Over A Barrel's portrayal of native americans as literally another species. And that's before we get into the sheer racism of pony colonialism in the first place. Also Zecora the Zebra's... situation. Which was okay as a one off bit in S1, trying if not succeeding at the message of "different=/=bad."
But, like many of these early flaws, the later seasons magnify the problem, especially when the show tries to approach real world issues. Just off the top:
Zecora becomes the magical negro whose mystic knowledge transcends that of the pony gods.
Gryphons become antisemitic stereotypes, obsessed with cash hoarding and isolationism.
Yaks live in technologically inferior wastelands of Yakyakistan, where they are loud, rowdy, and even dangerous.
Dragons are... just... really fucking bad, like by nature, with rare "good ones" going to live among ponies to become civilized.
The fucking saddle arabians apparently just Not Having Perfomance Art and needing to be taught by Trixie.
The kirin being very literally silent to show how zen they are, needing Westerners to give them back their voices.
The sheer audacity to bring Little Strongheart back in the fucking finale and "assign" her as Applejack's token buffalo friend (not even RD???) after AJ and her family nearly wiped the buffalo out and fully never fucking apologized
There's definitely more. Basically every single non-pony species shown to be sapient ends up some kind of a racist mess. At least cows are just like... white people from wisconsin so there's less racism inherent to their depiction but even then...
There are also ways in which the attempts to cater to a male audience weaken the show's overall presentation. Ponies with adult men's human meme images as cutie marks started popping up, for example, which is again not a bad thing, but weakens the overall fantastical world building.
Likewise, the attempts to modernize the setting are... um. Let's go with uneven.
In S1 technology is firmly pre-industrial Euro-Fantasy. I'd put it around 1770-1800 in the human western world.
By S2 there is an electrical grid even in "small" towns like ponyville, something which in the human world didn't take place until about150 years later, with another 50 years to roll out things like video games, which also start appearing.
But only for ponies.
Never for the other species.
I get why they did that. It's a "have your cake and eat it too" scenario where they can keep the pre-industrial fantasy tech level sometimes, but use a modern tech level at other times. It opens up more storytelling options. And it's not like the magical horse universe needs to obey our physics and timelines.
But then why only ponies.
All that does is deepen the racial division between ponies and other species. Which the later seasons LOVe to do. Deepen racial divieds.
After all, in S1 most other species (cows, gryphons, etc) were shown to live in equestria too. But in later seasons, are revealed to live in cloistered ethnostates nominally self ruling but in practical terms subservient to the equestrian state if they want basic rights like the fucking sun.
Which acts to retcon Spike's hatching and adoption from something very heartwarming into something very horrific.
Honestly, the "male gaze" is not the issue I have with late seasons of MLPFIM. It very much comes down to "this show got SO fucking racist SO fucking fast what the FUCK."
And that probably would have happened with all female writers and directors, too, if they were mostly white.
This all makes me sound like I hate MLP, but I promise you, all of this criticism comes from a place of utmost love. This show is really, REALLY good. It is charming, beautifully animated, excellently directed, with passion poured into every aspect of the visuals, the audio, the stories, the characters...
That's what makes these constant missteps so painful to encounter.
Because the highs are so high!
I mean, the movie easily constitutes the best 2D animation out of the western world in DECADES and every track on the album is a banger, and that's just the movie. Cartoon movies aren't exactly noted for their stunning quality, but MLPFIM sure as fuck stuns.
And when the highs are that high, oh man, the lows look lower by comparison.
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