#he plays very straight into masculinity so he's not like. nb or questioning or anything like that. He Is Extremely Guy either way | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

south-park-meta · 3 years

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why do you think cartman is abusing stan? they get along ok

I think Cartman's abusive towards everyone with Kyle and Butters getting the worst of it. But I have come around more to the way Cartman's abusive to Stan than when I made my initial analysis of their relationship. I said there that Cartman attacked things that mostly Stan's not bothered by, and some of that's true. Like, attacking him for caring about animals isn't something that affects him very often.

But with that said, there IS a core of attacking Stan for (lacking) masculinity and that actually does seem to be something he's anxious about...just not to Cartman directly. Cartman regularly calls him a pussy, gay, weak, seeming like a girl. The Cissy is probably the best example of the name-calling because it encompasses basically all of it

Do you know your girlfriend's going around tellin' everyone that you're gay?! [Stan looks around] Oh yeah! She's got the whole school believin' that she's attracted to girls, but she's dating you! So what does that make you, Stan?! A girl! STAN-AN'S A GIR-RL! You'd better curb your dog, Stan! You'd better curb your dog before people start ripping on you!

He tells Stan he's too weak to control his girlfriend, that he's gay, and that he's a girl all at once. Stan actually has a reaction (looking around, looking nervous, and he does end up talking to his dad and Principal Victoria. Cartman GOT a reaction, just not one he wanted).

The thing is, Stan's masculinity IS the thing he's most defensive of, and is his 'weak point' in relation to Kyle being Jewish, Kenny being poor, Butters being naive. He gets nervous about seeming gay and has to overcome it. He does get ripped on/ name-called/dismissed for not being manly enough or seeming gay by both his uncle, who he looks up to, and his dad, who he does (for most of the show) have a mutually loving relationship with. MOST of the 'Stan has a moment of character growth in the way of accepting who he is' comes down to him being okay with shirking stereotypical masculinity. Cartman is a master at honing in on weaknesses and he ABSOLUTELY has Stan's down.

So, then, why doesn't Cartman really tear the shit out of him more?

The thing is that Stan doesn't rise to the bait in angry outbursts. Kyle does. Kenny does, sometimes, too. Butters is specifically dismissed as a Kyle punching bag replacement because he doesn't. But Cartman also can't just casually abuse him constantly the way he does Butters, or put Stan's dick in his mouth while he sleeps, or give him a poop moustache, because Stan would up and leave the friendship, or actually physically beat him up. It has to be a verbal or emotional, non-physical attack. Stan doesn't get ripped on by Cartman more because he doesn't tend to take the bait in a way that would be fun and would let Cartman continue to feed off of it and really tear him to pieces.

So why doesn't Stan take the bait? Is he not upset by it?

The thing is he DOES get upset about this kind of thing. He just tends not to confront it directly. Instead he tends to want to compensate for the accusations. He tries to force Sparky to be straight. He doesn't play along at the wild west show because Wendy's there. He shoots and kills Skuzzlebutt. He becomes hypercritical of Gary and chews him out for Mormonism. And in each and every one of these cases, the best choice is consistently for him not to worry about seeming like anything except what he is. I think The Cissy is a step forward for him in, instead of outright denying who he is, he just sits down and questions it instead. Personally I think there hasn't been another comment on it since he came to the conclusion he is a boy (I know there're nb headcanons for him and I won't pick at it too much because I don't think it runs contrary to his character per se, I just don't agree with it. I see it as more of another masculinity introspection than really specifically a gender one), but I think it's a step forward for his character growth. He has multiple times gone through an arc of 'hide who you are, then realize who you are is really an asset', and sometimes that gets to a point of 'fuck what people think' but often it just kind of is what it is and he doesn't really do anything with it. He still cares about not being manly enough, and often the lesson of it is 'yeah you ARE kind of a pussy but it's fine, people will like you anyway, or being a pussy is beneficial to helping people'. While the recent seasons have made Stan more depressed and miserable, he's also FINALLY starting to get to a point of-- instead of worrying what makes other people like him, what makes him an asset to other people-- 'What makes me like myself? What makes me who I am?'

ANYWAY with all that said, the reason Cartman doesn't get much out of moments like this is that Stan often doesn't have a reaction, period. Sometimes it's because he probably literally doesn't care. He doesn't always value Cartman's opinion, and he does seem able to let a lot of comments go as just being bullshit. The other thing is that if it actually gets to the point of GETTING a reaction, it's not one that would be fun for Cartman. Literally the only thing that's ever come out of Stan reacting to the insecurity that Cartman harps on (whether because of Cartman or not) is that he either suppresses or questions it, and decides he likes himself more as he was to start with. Like he very consistently has improved himself through being criticized on this very point.

So does he have a point that Cartman can hurt him on?

Absolutely, and that point is Kyle.

Stan consistently has stronger, more hurt, more violent reactions to Cartman when it's Kyle that Cartman's going after. When Cartman makes a comment that Kyle's going to die, Stan tells him not to say things like that (even though people regularly die or talk about death around them). When Cartman's treating Kyle unfairly and Kyle can't do anything about it himself, Stan rights it. Even when Stan and Kyle aren't getting along, multiple seasons after Stan told Kyle that he was destroying the last thread of friendship they had left by siding with Cartman in the GOT arc, he still takes tit-for-tat revenge on Cartman in Band in China for Kyle's sake.

The way to get Kyle to respond in a fun way is for Cartman to attack Kyle.

The way to get Stan to respond in a fun way is for Cartman to attack Kyle.

I think it's noteworthy that when Cartman checks out on the 'broship' it's after Stan has checked out on Kyle, and pointedly stayed out of Kyle's fight with Cartman even after Kyle asked him to get involved with it. It's not worth keeping Stan tied in to the group because he's not coming to Kyle's defense, so there's no fun to be had in Stan hanging around. It's ALSO noteworthy that Kyle is equally blindsided by both of them.

But, okay, Cartman is nice to Stan sometimes. He's probably nicer to him than he is pretty much any other character. I think Cartman was playing a balancing act and lost.

He wants Stan and Kyle to be friends, because their friendship is important to get them both riled up. But he wants himself to be the most important to both of them, and that means he HAS to knock them down a peg in each other's opinions. They need to be friends with each other, good enough friends that Stan wants to defend Kyle when Cartman's mean to him and Kyle can't defend himself. It's no fun if Kyle's literally defenseless and Cartman gets jack for a reaction. But they have to be best friends with Cartman, because Cartman has a massive ego. This is a pretty damn hard line to walk.

But here are some nice things that Cartman's done for Stan:

-He came and hung out with him on Tegridy, and had solo activities bonding with him through board games and things like that.

-He helped Stan with the drug ring in Hummels and Heroin

-He saved the pangolin

The first two things are a clear spit in Kyle's face. Kyle is the core group who seems most disconnected from what's going on on Tegridy. Cartman is very clearly trying to take Kyle's place as Stan's go-to. Around(ish, keeping in mind the show's internal timeline) the same time, through the GOT arc, he is focusing his attention on bonding with Kyle.

Likewise, Kyle tells Stan outright he's not going to help with the Hummels problem in the second case. Cartman gets involved because Stan says he 'needs' him. He's willing to help because it puts him in direct competition with Kyle; he's helping Stan when Kyle told him to figure it out himself. He is weasling in on the best friend role.

In the last case, I think it's because he still wanted the 'broship' to work, and like I said I think he did up until Stan gave up on his friendship with Kyle. Stan's having a complete mental breakdown, which would cause issues and not be enjoyable on Cartman's end, so he'll give him a bone and let him maintain his sanity so Cartman can keep having fun pitting Stan and Kyle against each other while being besties with them both. He just flew too close to the sun and lost with it because Stan was teetering on the edge for the friendship since YGO and the next episode pushed him over.

In conclusion, Cartman's actions with Stan are 100% meant to manipulate him and emotionally destroy him. It just happens that Stan takes attacks on himself pretty internally and might even come out stronger for it. So for the most part if everything else is going fine, he's a tough nut to crack. The stuff that really fucks him up and tears him apart mentally is attacking Kyle, or attacking his friendship with Kyle.

#long post

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time-to-write-and-suffer · 5 years

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@the-crows-have-teeth replied to your post: Ok well I’m having a bad time at 3 AM because I...

Wait what’s wrong with that game? I love it �� please inform me

I’ll just tell you the stuff I personally find questionable because I don’t want to spread more of the just super unconstructive “callout” crap at this point. You can make up your own mind about it or continue to live in blissful ignorance if the game brings you joy. (Especially since it’s free. I’d be more wary of supporting things that were sold. But I suppose some might make the argument that publicly supporting the game is already bad enough. Be your own judge.) I think it’s vital to be critical of the things you enjoy but it shouldn’t veer into shaming people or hating yourself for enjoying it. No creation or creator is flawless. If we were to wait for a perfect piece of media to fall into our laps none of us would be making or experiencing or enjoying literally anything ever. That being said:

1) The romance options feel very fetishy to me at times? It’s very clear the devs were interested in writing male romance options and male romances primarily and tacked on a token female option plus a suspiciously-man-looking NB option (HEADS UP: I WILL GO INTO THIS IN A LATER POINT AND I’M ALSO NON-BINARY MYSELF SO FEEL FREE TO DISAGREE WITH ME BECAUSE I MYSELF DON’T QUITE KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THIS.)

2) The writing is quite bad in many places, but this is a question of taste, I think, and isn’t really “problematic” per se.

3) The designs of the Characters of Color are ... well they’re ... this is also gonna be controversial I think but they’re basically white folx with a different skintone slapped on. Their features remain strictly white European. There are IRL PoC who look like this but the majority don’t, in fact the opposite (non-white features on pale/white skin) is more common. The tendency to design all your PoC like this is ... bad. It goes beyond but ties into sameface syndrome IMO. Some artists are genuinely not super skilled at drawing varied faces, but at some point you need to stop using white people as your references lmao.

4) Apparently one of the (adult) devs writes questionable fanfic porn? Which is like ... lmao what else is new. However, she seems to have a preoccupation with “teen sex” (legal but like barely legal, aging characters down for the explicit purpose of teen sex) and has defended some of it according to the “callout source”. There’s also apparently the fact that they had a minor working on a NSFW game, but I’m personally more interested in knowing whether they paid that minor or not, because I’ve played the game and it’s not explicit (there’s descriptions of gore and swearing but there’s nothing explicitly sexual or pornographic), so if this dev was an older teen I’d worry more if they got paid or not cuz child labor laws.

5) The “nb rep” is debatable and I’m torn on it personally. Nonbinary people do not owe binary folks androgyny and saying “I’m NB” should be enough to make someone NB, regardless of how “masculine” or “feminine” they look. However, knowing the dev’s preoccupation with hot dudes and focus on male/male romances, I’m less generous with my interpretation, because this enby is literally enby in pronouns only. It feels token, like Asra in The Arcana, who is NB out-of-universe only (another can of worms I don’t wanna touch tbh). Basically it’s the problem of straight women including “nb” options that are conveniently hot-dude-shaped and are dudes in all but pronouns.

5.5) Building on the questionable NB rep and also the “bad writing” thing, the fact that every character, including the player character, instantly know each other’s pronouns despite only having met and exchanged names? It’s fucking weird and utopian at best (are people mind-readers? can they smell preferred pronouns?), absolutely unrealistic and token at worst. I get the desire to include diversity without making it a Thing but you can avoid making it a thing while still acknowledging it? Idk, it’s another one of those debatable things I suppose.

6) There are some unfortunate stereotypes with some of the romance options, with the sexy suave vampire being a white dude while the angry and aggressive werewolf is a MoC. I picked up on this but I guess some of it was dulled because I genuinely liked the werewolf dude and felt like he was more than just an angry dog man, but I can see why people would disagree and I wish the devs had just not gone there instead of “making it work”, which is, again debatable if they did.

In conclusion: I’m tired.

#the-crows-have-teeth #replies

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crackmadhi · 5 years

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Neither Fish nor Fowl

Saturday, 24 November 2029

Nahyuta calmly sat on the couch in Simon’s living room and read one of his manga. It was about a military division called ‘Pumpkin Scissors’ and was a rather old story with an odd style. Still it entertained the man and he had a good time reading it.

The front door suddenly got unlocked and Simon came in. He had come back from the grocery store and went straight into the kitchen to put away the food he had bought. Then he sat down next to his partner, leaned at his side, closed his eyes while Nahyuta continued reading and they relaxed like this quietly for some minutes.

Then Nahyuta felt Simon moving away and looked up from his book. A strange vibe came of his boyfriend and slowly he put down the manga and waited for the man to start speaking about what was going on.

“I’ve got a question for you”, Simon began seriously.

Sceptically Nahyuta frowned at his partner. He kept his mouth shut waiting for him to go on talking.

“You might have realized that in the two last weeks started sometimes referring to you with they/them pronouns from time to time.”

He paused for a second awaiting a reaction that never came.

“You reacted pretty well on that. I had the impression that you even liked it. And if that observation was correct, I’d like to know if you would like me to exclusively use they/them pronouns for you. Also, I could start using gender neutral terms for you, if you would like that better than masculine ones.”

Nahyuta said nothing. His expression was motionless and his look still. He was frozen in this moment.

Then out of nowhere Nahyuta’s mimic grew solemnly dark. He exhaled a wavering breath and looked right up in Simon’s eyes. He was prepared to fight.

“Simon, we will not talk about this. I know where you are heading with this and I’m not going to fall for it.”

Confused and mildly concerned Simon eyed his friend up. Nahyuta believed that he had a hidden agenda, that he wanted to trick him? Should he not know that he would never do such a thing to him?

“I do not want to trick you into something, but if you don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to”, Simon tried to calm him down and brought some distance between himself and Nahyuta to show that he was not trying to invade his personal space.

But that did nothing to clam Nahyuta down. On the contrary it led to him being even more defensive.

“So, you’re not? Do you actually understand what you just insinuated? Do you? You just said that I would be unhappy being called he or him. You just assumed I was dysphoric about that. What I am not. I do not have dysphoria and you do not try to convince me from anything else, got that?”

Simon gaped at him. This had not been what he had said, but obviously what Nahyuta had read in his words. Immediately he had talked about dysphoria, a word Simon had never used in Nahyuta’s presence and he had never heard him use it either. It must have been on his mind. Which was not a good thing at all.

Before Simon could try and calm him down Nahyuta continued to rant as he stood up and stiffly walked in circles: “Also there is no need for something like gender neutral terms. You know that I am a man, so you can treat me as such. No need for ridiculous other terms. None at all. Absolutely not.”

“If you say one more time you don’t care about gender-neutral words, I might even believe it”, Simon let slip up.

Shocked he covered his mouth and saw an equally shocked Nahyuta staring back at him. They stared at each other in complete silence, Simon unable to mumble an excuse, Nahyuta frozen in his movements.

Finally, Nahyuta gulped heavily and broke eye contact with the samurai. Weakly he touched his forehead and sighed painfully. It was so easy to look through him, huh?

Frantically, Simon jumped up and walked over to him. Apologizingly, he started saying to Nahyuta: “I’m so sorry. That was not called for or appropriate. I should not have said it and will not let it happen aga-“

“It doesn’t matter.”

Simon flinched back. The monk looked straight up in his eyes. The jade stinging full of anxious regret and shame, shimmering tears welling up in front of it.

“You saw right through me. Again. I don’t know why I ever try hiding something from you. It’s never working, anyway… …”

Unsure what exactly Nahyuta signalized him to do right now, Simon kept his distance even though Nahyuta’s tears had started falling down now. His instinct was to try and comfort him, but to calm him down had not worked out earlier so maybe he had to try out another approach.

“Why did you start talking about dysphoria. I haven’t mentioned it at all.”

Nahyuta cleared up his eyes with his sleeves before he looked back up to Simon.

“You’re the one with psychological knowledge. You should know I talked about it because it was on my mind. And it was on my mind because I read about gender dysphoria several times in the last two weeks.”

“Why would you read about gender dysphoria?”

“Well, because I find it interesting that people feel bad about their sexual organs, chests or own names and pronouns?! Why do you think I read about gender dysphoria?”

Simon did not answer. He did not need to, for Nahyuta did that himself: “I was looking up what non-binary means. And there they also talk about gender dysphoria. They talk about it a lot in fact… And I know that I don’t have dysphoria. That much is sure.”

Simon frowned deeply at that. Slowly he sat back down on the couch and observed his boyfriend, still standing in front of him. Right now, he was wearing one of Simon’s NASA shirts that was evidently too large for him and boxer shorts. Both made him look smaller and let show the tattoos on his arms and legs, he normally hid so carefully. Everything about Nahyuta was so disclosed and vulnerable in this moment and Simon needed to be gentle with his next move.

“Okay. That’s good, isn’t it? Not feeling anxious about your body or your name and pronouns is a good thing”, he said softly and patted on the seat next to him.

Nahyuta huffed dryly, sat down and answered: “Yeah. It’s a good thing.”

“Very good. What else did you read about? Would you tell me that?”

“That there exist a lot of different words for non-binary genders. A lot of them are fluid and may change over time and so on… There are more pronouns for non-binary folks like xe or ze and… …for being non-binary, you need to have dysphoria of some sort.”

“Where did you read that? Wait, no it’s not even important. Look, being trans or non-binary is not defined by one’s dysphoria. I, as a cis male, cannot understand, even less explain, what makes one trans or non-binary. But trans and nb people can’t tell you if you are non-binary or not. They are surly better at helping you figuring it out, telling you some criteria and experiences most trans and nb fall under, but they cannot tell you what you need to have or not have in order to be trans or not. The only person who can actually say if you want to use the term trans or nb or both is you. Nobody but you.”

Helplessly Nahyuta gaped at Simon. How could he just know this stuff? It never even played a role in his life before, so why did he have all these details? Where has he looked for it and where had he found it?

Apparently, Simon recognized the burning frustration in Nahyuta’s eyes and reacted fast with telling him gently: “Yeah, I know a lot about this stuff. But I had a lot of time to think about it, unlike you. I’m in this for over seventeen years now and queer folks usually stick together, so you meet a lot of them during your life. We have discussed with transgender people and non-binary folks a lot. I’ve heard their own opinions and I know how much they can differ. The important thing with all these labels is that in the end of the day you are happy with yours. If not, don’t use them. You are who you are, with or without them. If you want labels, which help you name yourself to the world, please choose them. But if they stress you, let them be. There is no obligation for you to choose them.”

Nahyuta looked at Simon in utter distraught. He felt so lost, so unsure of what to do and so helpless. The whole discourse weighted heavy on his shoulders and he was unable to let go of his fears concerning the whole label and its weight. But at the same time... He felt that it fit so much better than man ever did. And honestly, by now he felt so guilty for it.

“I can’t do all of this. I don’t even want to care about it at all! Why the hell does gender even matter? Why is it important at all? How the fuck is it possible that there are so many debates and studies on something that’s merely a construct we made and now act like it had been given to us by the gods. That gender was something god made. Whose stupid idea was that? Who the fuck thought that this would be a good idea?”

Nahyuta hid his head in his hands, frustration letting his shoulders slump. Gently Simon drew closer and started drawing circles on Nahyuta’s back.

Simon sighed. He hated seeing Nahyuta like this. He hated being powerless. Exhaustedly he pulled Nahyuta towards him and held him for some seconds. Hugging always helped him calm down. The warmth was like medicine to him and he hoped that it would at least help Nahyuta a little.

Sadly, Simon whispered: “I’m so sorry N’yuta. So, so sorry. I wished it would not be this way. I wished people would not care for such stupid things. I would change it for you and all those who suffer because of it, if I could. But I can’t. Forgive me.”

Nahyuta wiggled himself out of the tight embrace and looked up to the man. A soft smile appeared on his lips and he kissed his samurai on his cheek and then caressed the other one with his left.

He observed how the usual blush appeared in the others face and the strange clarity, which emerged in his eyes as soon as he felt a bit embarrassed. It always made him look so much younger.

Then Nahyuta nuzzled his head into Simon’s chest. With a lost laugh he mumbled into the fabric: “It’s not your fault. You don’t need to try and change humanity for me. I’ll work with what I’ve got. I always did. It’s just so tiring, you know? When I was a child, I just believed that everything would be clear and logical once I turned twenty. How wrong I was.”

“Yeah. Being an adult will not help you with figuring out who you are. I’m thirty and don’t feel like I’m where I am supposed to be on an emotional level”, Simon answered, while stroking his head.

Nahyuta only nodded lightly. He had begun to cry again. Simon felt the wetness on his shirt but paid it no mind. Crying was a way of letting pain out. To process and grow. It was a good thing that Nahyuta still had the energy to cry. It was good that he could show his emotions.

Suddenly Simon heard the front door click. Klavier must be coming. He had a key to his apartment. Carefully he lifted his head to listen more carefully for the door. Yes, boots were taken off and the chain belt was clattering. It was Klavier.

Protectively Simon put hand on Nahyuta’s ear and asked calmly facing to the corridor: “Klav? You here?”

Hesitantly the blond man entered the room looking worriedly at the two. As he came closer Nahyuta sat up and looked right up at him. Klavier froze instantly. Nahyuta’s eyes were red and puffy from crying, his hair messy and some strains stuck at his face from the tears.

“What’s going on?”, Klavier asked shaken taking fast steps towards them and placing himself on the arm rest of the couch.

“I am not a guy.”

…

Simon’s face was filled with surprise and Klavier had shut down from astonishment. Never had Nahyuta been that clear. Never had they expected him to be this clear. Not after the fear and hesitation he had shown because of a simple dress.

“I… Oh, wow – okay – okay. That’s cool, totally cool”, Klavier started and stemmed his hands on his tights, “This is not weird or anything, it just took me by surprise, but I’ll support you, we’ll support you. ‘Kay? ‘Kay. Good, good. Now, uhm… so do you know what you are then? More like a woman? Or … do you not want to use a gender? Am I talking too much? Yes? Would somebody please just interrupt me? I really don’t know how to stop and –“

Simon had stood up shoved him a pillow in his face. It was very effective.

“I like your technique, panda. It’s very stylish”, Nahyuta joked weakly and brushed his hair out of his face.

Simon only nodded and said: “You’re welcome.”

Then he sat down again and waited patiently for Nahyuta to tell if he was able to answer just one of Klavier’s many questions. The monk flattened the wrinkles in his boxer shorts and tried to relax his feet, which had been cramped up.

His mind was clear. His answer was ready. It had been ready for a while now, but only now was the moment to finally announce it.

“I am no man. But no woman either. It would not fit. It never really did, but I also never had the opportunity or time to just think about it, until now that is. First and foremost, I am a human. But honestly, I guess the term non-binary would describe my gender identity just fine. Something that’s not male or female. Not like my father or my mother but … me.”

Both listeners were surprised yet again. The answer they just got was thought through and felt like there was a lot of consideration behind it. It was not the answer they had expected after seeing Nahyuta weeping desperately into Simon’s shoulder.

“This is very specific”, Simon said while having difficulties making eye contact with Nahyuta for once. “You’ve read a lot about the different gender identities in the past days. So, you surly came across different terms. Do you want to elaborate or…?”

Nahyuta nodded. He was prepared. He could give them answers.

“Very early in my research I understood that I was neither genderfluid or genderflux. That was clear from the very beginning to me.”

“Uhm? These mean one’s gender changes … constantly?”, Klavier asked shyly while scratching the back of his head.

“In a sense yes. In my understanding both terms refer to people whose gender identity can change from day to day, but also the intensity of their own gender perception might change. Anyway, that’s not me. I feel always the same about myself. That’s why I ruled these out. Then there are for examples neutrois, agender or bigender. Out of these agender was rather a good fit, since it could stand for somebody who does not care for gender and identifies mainly as a human. But at the same time, it could also stand for someone who has no gender, or a neutral gender and I did not like that. It doesn’t feel right. Non-binary on the other hand is a pretty wide term and just states that I’m not fitting in the classical binary system. And I like that. Somehow. I mean the discourse is pretty bad.”

“You mean those who are saying that transness and nb stuff only strengthen the gender binary and that all trans individuals are hurting themselves with their transitions and treatments? Did you read about that as well?”, Simon asked worriedly.

The regretting huff followed a faltering nod.

“N’yuta… Why would you do this to yourself? These people cannot look into your minds. They cannot see how all those humans feel. Yes, sure, some might regret their transition after some time. Yes, some behaviours and trends in these circles are questionable and definitely unhealthy, but that does not mean that the whole thing is made from the devil. It’s good to look at the problematic side of these communities and to have a critical look on this, but for finding yourself, this is very unhealthy. Please, try not to look into this discourse for the next few weeks. You should have seen enough for the moment. Okay?”

“Okay. But I still feel bad for choosing such a problematic term.”

“Just don’t. You’re not harming anyone with it, no matter what you’ve heard. This is for you and nobody else. So, would you like us to refer to you with they/them pronouns or other one’s?”, Simon asked gently and took the monks hand.

Nahyuta looked at Simon and smiled in his direction. People could say what they wanted but Simon could be one of the cutest human beings he knew. That was why it almost broke his heart when he told him: “I would like they/them pronouns, but I’d ask you not to use them. Not now, at least.”

“Why –“

“If I want to live my gender, to use these pronouns and dress the way I want, I need somebody to support me in Khura’in. And that would be Apollo. If he accepts me and is willing to help me with it, I would ask you to use they and them exclusively for me, but if not… If not you should stay with he and him.”

As both men stared at Nahyuta in confusion, he turned his head towards the wall and explained with a small voice: “I do not want to start missing my pronouns in Khura’in. Currently it does not bother me being called he or him, but if you would start using they/them, which I actually like a lot more, I might start disliking the male ones and that would be a problem.”

Visibly annoyed Simon slumped back on the couch and massaged his nose bridge. Meanwhile Klavier looked at the monk in pity. What was there to say? They had no way of helping Nahyuta with this. After all, Khura’in was where he spent most of his life. It was the place where he worked, lived, reigned. Where his family and friends were. He really could not start feeling anxious about going back there.

“Nun gut... I’ll do what you asked. I wished I could do more. But I’m sure Apollo will support you. And if he won’t I’ll gonna leave him. ‘Cause seriously, you deserve to live as the one you are and if he cannot support that, I fell in love with somebody else”, Klavier stated determined and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Nahyuta shot him a doubtful look. He did not think that Klavier could ever leave Apollo. Still he was touched by the notion and felt grateful for having Klavier on his side.

“Thank you, Klav. I hope Apollo will be on my side... If not – well, I’ve gone through more horrible things. It will be fine, to put it in his words.”

Then Nahyuta turned towards Simon. The man still looked quite tense and it left the impression as if he was rather unhappy.

“And what’s with you? You will accept my wishes?”, Nahyuta asked him to what the man looked up to him. “You look horribly angry just now.”

At once the samurai threw his hands in the air and blurted out: “I AM angry! I despise this! Why on earth, does your well-being have to depend on other people’s whims? Why do you need their approval? You are not hurting anybody, you are anything but dangerous or evil! So why do they have to sabotage your happiness? And I hate it that I can’t change this. I can’t do a fucking thing. Nada. Niente. Rien. I can’t even argue with your logic! This is so frustrating!”

Frustratedly Simon pressed his arms over his chest and stared intently at the wall. Also, his breathing looked rather heavy but before Nahyuta or Klavier could say a thing the big man already stood up and turned away from them. Neither had seen him this upset in a while.

Nahyuta was about to stand up and go over to his boyfriend, as Simon suddenly said: “I’m fine.”

He turned and looked sadly at Nahyuta. “Do not fret about me. You should not waste your time with such trivial things. I won’t call you they or them. As you asked. But I don’t think it will feel right anymore, now that I know you would prefer something else… Please know, if I could, if there was a way, I’d help you. I’d do anything, so you could live the way you feel most comfortable with. So, I could see and love the person you see in yourself.”

Nahyuta looked at him in deep sadness. Again, he realized what a good man Simon Blackquill was.

“Simon, no matter what will happen from now on, I will be fine. I have you and Klavier. And honestly, in the end of the day I can live with you two accepting and loving me the way I am. It’s not that important what the world sees in me, when I know that you see me for the person I am.”

Simon only gave him a look. He knew that Nahyuta believed his own words. But he was not so sure if he really felt that way.

Nevertheless, he went over to Nahyuta and took him into his arms. Quietly he asked him when he was going to talk with Apollo about it.

“This evening”, was the determined answer.

“Really?”, Klavier asked in astonishment.

“Yes. I was going to meet up with him anyway, and now I’m going to address the matter. I’m tired of pushing this away, and just want to get it over. Facing stuff head on is not a too bad method after all.”

Simon only shook his head and went into the kitchen getting them some tea, before Nahyuta was leaving them for the evening. He secretly prayed to the gods that Apollo Justice was smart enough to support his brother. Otherwise, he was not so sure if he would not truly become a twisted samurai…

Link to the Fanfiction on ao3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16675948/chapters/39105451

#ace attorney #aa #ace attorney fanfiction #simon blackquill #nahyuta sahdmadhi #Klavier Gavin #blackmadhi #klapollo #My writing #tw: disphoria #questioning ones gender #nahyuta thinks they might be nb #there is a second chapter with apollo in it #have fun with it #my soft boys

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scriptlgbt · 6 years

Note

I have a character who is trans, and I want to make sure I write him properly and as a real person without succumbing to stereotypes. So I was wondering if any of you would be willing to make a list of the most common and/or incorrect stereotypes about trans people? I know it's a lot to ask, and I totally understand if you don't have the time. But you don't know if you don't ask, right? Thanks!!

After a fruitless attempt to find a list for you I have come to conclusion that I’m just gonna have to write one myself… so please forgive me for the disorganised mess this is going to be, I’ve been digging around the internet grabbing whatever I can find. I’ll link to articles whenever I can, and some of these tropes don’t have names yet or have been named by me and the other mods. Also some are beliefs but people apply them to trans characters too. Lets go!

Notes: I’m going to add FIM (fine in moderation) to the ends of tropes that are perfectly fine, but are overused (given the very small amount of transgender representation, these tropes became big problems very quickly but aren’t harmful individually - or at least some parts aren’t)

Bury Your Gays/Punish Your Gays - (here gay is used as an umbrella term for any characters in the community) this trope is where LGBT+ characters are killed or punished and given no chance of a positive future for simply being in the LGBT+ community

Trans Tribulations - this is basically where characters are miserable because they are dealing and facing others transphobia or misconceptions or their own gender dysphoria (FIM)

Forcibly Outed and The Great Trans Reveal - this is where either another character forcibly outs a trans character to others, or when their transness is found out without their consent/forced consent (for example: someone walks in on a trans person while they’re changing to see them wearing a binder or possible even nude, or when a character is injured and when trying to save them others they find out they’re trans.)

Villainous Trans or Gender Non-Conforming Folks (link contains sensitive material) - this is pretty self explanatory, it’s villains who are either coded or explicitly trans and their transness is large part of why they are villainous (and often “creepy”). They’re often made to be predatory and violent

Trans Folks As Victims / Tragically Trans (same link as above) - those poor tragic trans folk who are ostracised, brutally murdered, and forced into poverty/sex work but screw doing anything to actually help them! (this appears a lot in crime dramas)

Not Truly People - when trans/nb characters aren’t treated as real people or are treated as caricatures or objects

Cis Is Better - the belief that being cis is better than being trans/nb so trans/nb folks all obviously want to be cis

Trans Since Childhood - the belief that all trans folk have known they were trans since childhood/got the opportunity to transition at a young age (FIM, some trans people do know since childhood but not all. Some people are figuring this out in their 60s, they deserve as much respect and representation as young trans folk)

Trans = Gay - trans people aren’t really trans they’re just gay and have internalised homophobia! (sarcasm)

The Knowledgeable Ally - this cis ally knows everything to do with trans folk, in fact they know even more about being trans than trans folk do! They kindly share their bottomless knowledge and are always there to correct trans folk. In stories these brave heroes are often at hand to take transmen by the hand and tell them how terrible it is to ace bandage and give them a binder (that despite them not measuring them fits perfectly) and show them a better way to be trans (people should absolutely not use ace bandages to bind but it’s the patronising nature in which this is done that is the problem)

Trans = Gross / Trans Is Misleading - the “I was gonna get with this hot chick but then it turned out she had a penis and I started puking!” thing, apparently it’s supposed to be funny?

TRIGGER WARNING FOR NEXT TROPE

Predatory Trans Women / Invading Trans Women / Trans Women Are Predatory Men (straight or gay) - the belief/ rhetoric that trans women are straight men who want to invade lesbian spaces to to rape cis lesbians ( and to turn them straight). Or that trans women are gay men who want to rape straight men

END

Delicate Trans Boy - the “trans boy are soft and delicate” or “boys-light” thing, it’s basically where people infantilize and fetishise trans guys. (FIM - other than the infantilizing and fetishising thing, don’t do that). These characters frequently can do no wrong or their wrong doings are glossed over/ignored

Trans Guys Are Either Super Masculine or Super Feminine - no in between (FIM - this may be because of societal pressures, please do explore)

Trans Women Are Either Super Feminine or Super Masculine - no in between (FIM - this may be because of societal pressures, please do explore)

Transmen look extra feminine / Transwomen look extra masculine - this is done to establish their non-cisness/show how abnormal trans people are, transmen are all super curvy and soft and all transwomen are all very tall and very hairy ect. This is separate to the above tropes because this is usually used when fetishising trans people and is often done to other trans people from the “normal” cis people

Only Skinny White People Are Trans/NB - our media pretty much only includes trans/nb folks as skinny white, androgynous or hyper masc/fem people. This is beginning to change, but slowly

All Trans Women Are Overly Sexual - a side affect of the Predatory Trans Women trope (this is most likely linked to A Man Is Always Eager and the misconception trans women are men) as well as the fetishisation of trans women

All Trans Men Aren’t Sexual / Are Asexual - it’s an extension of the Delicate Trans Boy trope (most likely linked to the All Women Are Prudes (don’t want to or have interested in sex)) (FIM, there are asexual/non sexual trans men)

Trans Women As Sex Workers (link contain sensitive material) - the most common occupation for trans women in media is sex work, it’s heavily linked to the fetishisation of trans women and to Trans Folks As Victims

Easy Sex Change - the myth that transitioning is one quick surgery away when in reality it can take years, several surgeries, and HRT (assuming the person wants/can transition medically)

Trauma Made Me Trans - the idea that people are trans because of a trauma they’ve suffered, or because they didn’t get enough attention when they were young

My Parents Wanted A Boy/Girl So I Became One - when characters are trans because their parents wanted a kid of another gender and the character wanted to make them happy

“Trans” For Love - when a gay character pretends to be of another gender (sometimes even transitioning) so they can be openly affectionate/love their partner, or when a character pretends to be of another gender (sometimes even transitioning) so their love interest will be attracted to them. (if I’d seen this only once it would have been to many, but no, I’ve had to see it multiple times. do not.)

Love Heals Dysphoria - (the trans version of Love Heal All) It can help some people but doesn’t eradicate dysphoria (unfortunately)

Born In The Wrong Body (narrative) - I don’t have enough space here so here’s a short article explaining the problems with this and a quick quote for those who don’t want to read it “I am not trapped by my body. I am trapped by your beliefs. And I want to reclaim this body from those who want it to breathe and be fed by their dogmas”

Trans = No Body Confidence - when trans characters have absolutely no body or confidence in their appearance what so ever. This is often used with The Knowledgeable Ally and Love Heals Dysphoria, in this scenario the trans character is filled with self hate and lacks any kind of confidence what so ever until their cis friend decides to take pity on them and helps them over come all their confidence/trans related problems (in a very patronising way)

“Required” Medical Transition - the belief that trans people need to undergo surgery/surgeries and HRT in order to be trans or to be their gender. This and it’s problems are very heavily linked to Born In The Wrong Body and Cis Is Better. Here’s an article which covers this and a quick quote “mainstream discourse has viewed cis-gender embodiment as superior and ‘correct’ […] it is as if you are not done until your body looks like a cis-gender body!”

All About Trans - this is where the whole story is focused around being trans, sub-plots included (while there is a place for trans centric stories, there’s more to us and our lives than just being trans). Or when a trans characters whole narrative/development is centred on them being trans

Trans Folk Must (Want To) Adhere To Gender Rolls - no one must adhere to gender roles, trans folk aren’t exceptions

Old Friend, New Gender - while this trope seems innocent enough it’s often coupled with Trans = Gross / Trans Is Misleading. This is typically played out with a cis male who meets this strangely familiar super model looking women who he’s interested in, only to find out she used to be one of his old (”male”) friends. From here we go one of two ways, first the “omg she’s actually a man” repulsion where we’re supposed to find it funny/gross that he was attracted to trans women. And the second is where he has the same reaction but this time, it’s still played for jokes but, there’s a blatant message of acceptance/tolerance and he stops being attracted/interested to her but he accepts her as a women and as his old friend (this is typically handled terribly)

This is a fairly sizeable list, but by no means a comprehensive one.

Please do reblog and add trans/nb tropes and trends as well as links to lists by others!

If you have any questions or would like us to further elaborate on any of these tropes or any other trans/nb tropes, please send us an ask (when the ask box is open).

- Mod Emery

#anonymous #trans #tropes #long #mod emery #thanks mod Al for helping name tropes #rape mention

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