I feel like even in trans positive spaces trans men are seen as less authentic than trans women, because we supposedly have something to gain by transitioning or wanting to be men. (social power.) It's reflective of how we look at historical people that by today's standards we would see as trans men (Joan of Arc) or fictional characters that live as men while secretly being women. (Naoto from Persona, Sheik from Zelda.) And this is going to be an uphill battle until we get rid of gender essentialism in our spaces completely.

TVDU needs a more diverse representation of feminine strength

Can we leave behind this idea that woman have to exhibit stereotypical masculine traits to be "badass"?

We see this with nearly ever female character in TVDU. While, yes, there are women who have these traits naturally, TVDU forces this idea that femininity is bad and every woman responds to trauma or grows as a character by adopting masculine traits. This is referred to as the "tomboy" trope. We often see the feminine characters portrayed as naïve or ditzy and the masculine characters as strong and brave.

We have these characters in the beginning of the show that are nice, gentle, caring, all these things that we associate with femininity. But when they "grow" as a character, the become cruel, harsh, and selfish. They become their male counterparts.

Again, this isn't saying that woman are not just as capable of these traits as the men, they are. It's also not saying that all men behave this way. And there is nothing wrong with mixing and matching traits and characters, however, we need to see more diversity shown in a positive light. I wanted to see the show glorify more strong "girly" female characters or even strong, feminine men. We see Stefan tend to exhibit more compassionate traits, but he is often mocked for it or it is shown as a reaction to his addiction, rather than a natural way for men to behave.

Katherine is a great example of women taking on more "masculine" tendencies. While she may have started out exhibiting strong feminine qualities when she was human, her fighting to survive made her leave behind her feminine qualities and adopt more masculine ones. We also have to acknowledge how naïve they portrayed Katherine as a human. She was not only kind and compassionate, but easily manipulated by Klaus. We don't see the cunning woman that we see in present time. But this can make sense since she had five hundred years to harden. We don't see her go through it all, but the way she talks about her life, the audience can understand how she changed. The writers saw how much people loved Katherine and really just said copy/paste. All of the women go through so much that they just keep applying this same formula to each of them.

Elena essentially becomes Katherine for a few seasons. I love early seasons of Elena and then the very end when she turns human again. But as a vampire, she loses, ironically, so much of her humanity. The thing that made her character special. She was a caring person and her friends and family were her whole world. She wanted to be a doctor and save people and help those around her. She didn't want to harm anyone or be cruel. But as a vampire, she becomes so wrapped up in her personal life that she neglects everything else. She compromises her morals over and over again and you see her becoming Katherine at a much quicker rate. It's also worth noting how often Elena's autonomy is stripped away from her as a human versus the independence she can only seem to get by being a stereotypical vampire.

I know the writer's racism is the reason we didn't see Bonnie go down this path because they didn't want to give her a main storylines. If they had, they likely would have done the exact same thing, because it was all they knew how to do with women. But I love that Bonnie was always a caring person. Yes, it was frustrating to watch people take advantage of her, which they often do with caring characters. But it was refreshing to see her fight against the stereotype of needing to be a selfish, angry person in order to be a badass. She was an amazing, strong character and it was rooted in her compassion. Most of the women, in TVD specifically, have periods where I just don't like the characters, but Bonnie never does. And she isn't given enough credit for actually standing up for herself. But because she does it in a compassionate way, it is overlooked. Bonnie set healthy boundaries, rather than cutting people off or trying to kill them. She was the humanity of the entire show.

Bonnie and Cami to me play the same role in the show. They are the moral compass for the audience. They help remind the audience that the vampires are still the bad guys even if they are the main characters. While I understand Cami's vampire era, I hated that they made her go "dark." We've already seen this way of dealing with trauma. I would have loved to see someone handle their trauma in a healthy way. The show seemed to think the only way to handle life was to get angry and hard. They essentially try to push Cami to be more like Klaus. Whether this is because they felt like she needed to be more "badass" to be with Klaus or because they were attempting to turn the audience against her, I don't know. But they took a character who's strength came from her hope in humanity and twisted her to be just another angry vampire.

I also find it interesting that no one says Klaus or Vincent were trying to "change" Cami by reminding her of who she was before like they do with Stefan and Elijah. But that's another post.

A woman doesn't need to shed her femininity in order to be strong and independent. Masculine traits should not be the only ones we value. (I could write another post on how the men are seen as lesser when they exhibit more feminine traits)

We see bits of this with Rebekah in TO. We start seeing more of a compassionate side of her come out. But a lot of it is shown as her being naïve. They belittle her for still fighting for love after all of this time instead of showing the strength it takes to still be able to want to find love after being hurt so many times. She is vulnerable with Marcel and he uses it to figure out where her family is. Anytime she is respected by the other characters, and even the fandom, it's when she is ripping people' hearts out. We also can't talk about Rebekah without talking about how, when women turn into vampires, they are concerned about having children, but we don't see the same conversation with men.

And don't even get me started on the "crazy ex-girlfriend" trope that they reduce even the strongest women down to (Katherine, Qetsiyah, Rebekah, Aurora, Celeste, etc.)

Hayley is a little different because she is introduced in the show and "she's not like other girls." I think a bit of it is she is older and not into the "teen drama." But either way, she was introduced as a tomboy. I do like that they bring out her more feminine sides at times, but it is usually followed up with someone taking advantage of her. I've talked about it a lot, but her autonomy is constantly being stripped away. Anytime she shows any kind of vulnerability, she is immediately stripped of her own rights.

I haven't watched Legacies, but I did watch a few episodes of season 1. I thought they had done a better job of diverse femininity. Hope seems gentle and kind, Josie really plays into her femininity, while Lizzie was feminine but had strong "masculine" traits. But based on the edits/clips I've seen, Josie leaves the show and Lizzie and Hope both just become mini Klauses.

I would have loved to just see a strong woman who never had to compromise who they are and still survive. I really think Bonnie is the only one. This isn't to say there aren't problems with how Bonnie's character is depicted. There are many. The amount of times women in the show, specifically Bonnie, has to sacrifice their very lives for men to survive is ridiculous. I just love that she never had to adopt stereotypically masculine traits in order to survive or be seen as strong. She gained respect because of her love and compassion.

I also purposefully didn't talk about Caroline because I think she is a difficult character to nail down on what her underlying personality is. She is similar to Lizzie where she appears very feminine with strong "masculine" traits. I think a lot of this gets lost in the writing. She tends to be used as plot devises for the men, rather than being her own character in her own storylines. But just the fact that the fandom hates "insecure, human" Caroline and say it's a good thing Katherine killed her says enough about how the fandom views teenage girls and women.

In Tiny Toons Looniversity, Lola Bunny was never intended to be the Acme Looniversity chef at first. According to Ben Siemon, the writer of the episode, “Soufflé Girl Hey”, the show initially planned to have Pepé Le Pew as the chef. This was likely during the development phase and Dave Alverez. They gave him a bio where he now has respect towards women and puts his passion and love towards food instead. He said the idea was turned down because “too much baggage” (probably due to WB’s response of his controversy) and Lola Bunny replaced him. Keep in mind that this was written in 2021 around a time when Space Jam: A New Legacy was huge for the company.

Wow!! Can I please have a link to where you found this info? it'd be really useful! Thanks for letting me know. Reading this, as much as I love Pepe, I think it's better Lola's the chef than him if he was gonna be reintroduced with a (imo, tired) disclaimer. Makes me sad though that Lola's once again not being written in deliberation, it reinforces her whole issue of not rly bein a Tune... just kinda put in stuff n not really considering her character in these decisions (bc well.... she doesn't originally have one. At least, not an authentic one. Looney Tune-y one....)

AHHH. I don't know why I'm having such a mental headache.

(Personal life stuff undercut.)

Today was the day I began to finally have an identity crisis. Okay so most of my life I've identified as female. Just a tomboy because I liked a lot of stuff that's labeled more "traditionally masculine." Violent TV shows and video games, etc. And well most of the time I didn't think too much about gender really. Not unless someone told me I couldn't do something because I was a girl.

So mostly I've just identified as a tomboy, a gender nonconforming woman. But as trans and NB people got more mainstream I learned new terms.

So basically I'm pretty comfortable as a woman, but every once and a while I feel like I'm something else whether it's a boy or just me without a label. It doesn't happen too often but it always makes me feel odd.

Like She/Her pronouns are probably staying for me no matter what I don't think I could get used to being called anything else but for a while I've wondered about identifying as a demigirl. And idk today it's been going back and forth in my brain from tomboy to demigirl to the point I'm getting a headache. Like am I really a demigirl or do I just feel pressured to add a label because of all the fandoms I've been in are heavily LGBT populated and I feel like I need to fit in. I also get freaked out by pretty drastic changes to my life so there's also that. And I only really like men so what's my sexuality then if I'm a demigirl?

Idk usually whenever this has come up in my brain the past few years I usually just be like I'm just a tomboy and then everything goes back to normal, but today it's just causing me distress for some reason.

NINE ‘Tomboy’ Cover

hi idk if you know this but lois has been Asian several times throughout the years most recent in my adventures with superman 😁

Yes, I am aware! Sometimes it's a hit, sometimes it's a miss.

I love the Girl Taking Over graphic novel, but I really want to see that kind of Lois connecting to Superman as an immigrant! It would add an incredible layer to their relationship.

I was very excited for Korean Lois in MAWS! But ended up being massively disappointed in it. The Kebaya/Hope comic I drew was a direct rebuttal to the treatment of Lois wearing a hanbok in ep 4. Wearing traditional clothing as an Asian person in America is a political statement, and yet it holds no narrative weight in MAWS despite touching on themes of xenophobia for Superman. Her outfit is even tossed away and she loses it all for a fanservice scene so Clark can give her his coat. An outfit like that would be so dear to a diasporic person, let alone someone who lost their mom and is estranged from their dad! That's one of the few ties to your culture left. But to MAWS, it's just clothes. Diversity clothes. That's not even touching her relationship with Superman :/

If you've written an Asian American character that can't remotely comprehend why an alien immigrant would hide themselves from an unaccepting world, you've sanitized her identity. She is a white woman in a diverse coat of paint.

JKR Writing Fleur Delacour: So this french bird is super sexy but she's also incredibly shallow and vain and snooty, y'know how the French are. She's high fem which is a bad thing, tomboys are the best. She's also just incredibly annoying and full of herself. Constantly making herself the centre of attention even though nobody likes her and they call her phlegm behind her back. Hilarious, right?

90% of Fanfics when Writing Fleur Delacour: At first she comes off as entitled & full of herself, but as time goes on it's clear she's actually incredibly kind, compassionate and loyal. She also has a keen sense of matters of the heart. For the younger characters she takes on the role of a wise older sister. She's loyal and nurturing and and will always be there if you need someone to talk to. She is from a noble matriarchal race of fierce warriors and will fight tooth and nail to defend what is hers.

Also speaking of Magnus’s memories and him being trans

this is not a cisgender child this is an eggy tomboy. This is a weird girl who will grow up to be a weird man. I know this. I am right.

Me with anyone who shows an inkling of romantic interest towards me

**ENCOURAGES YOU TO GET STARTED ON FBOY JEONGIE* …. boyish!minjeong makes me feel crazyyyyyyy jdbsjsksk - ❄️

omg,, BOYISH!MINJEONG SOON MAYBE IDK I’LL THINK OF SOMETHING- IHAVE OTHER REQS TO DO THO SORRY ANON 💔💔

Mario Wonder animators: So how dainty and feminine do you want us to make Peach?

Nintendo: yes

Trans woman Yata and trans man Saru :3

I imagine the two of them becoming close in this AU because they’re both trans, like Yata wasn’t even sure about why she never felt like a man and Fushimi’s never had his gender identity confirmed by anyone. I imagine Yata being nervous around girls in this AU because it reminds her of her dysphoria issues that she’s trying very hard to ignore, like she acts super masculine because she’s trying to convince herself that she’s actually a guy and there’s nothing weird or different about her. Being near girls though reminds her of what she really wants to be and that makes her all nervous and worried, so she tends to run away from girls. When she first finds Fushimi in the boy’s bathroom she wonders why a girl like Fushimi is there, hushing the mental voice that says this isn’t a bathroom she should be in either, and Fushimi just sullenly replies with ‘I’m not a girl.’ Something about that makes Yata’s heart stir even more than just Fushimi getting revenge on the bullies, that this person maybe has feelings like Yata does but isn’t afraid to say them and isn’t hiding from them.

Yata gets used to always referring to Fushimi as a boy and obviously this is a big thing for Fushimi even though he won’t say so, his dad always mocks him by calling him a girl and if Kisa even knows Fushimi’s trans she was probably like ‘don’t say such stupid things’ and kept treating Fushimi like a girl. Yata understands though so she never thinks of Fushimi as anything but a boy, and eventually Yata’s even able to admit to Fushimi that she doesn’t really think she’s a guy. Imagine the two of them going to Fushimi’s house when they know no one will be home and they trade clothes, Yata getting to wear the girl’s school uniform (Fushimi teases Yata that it’s good she’s so short and Yata doesn’t even get mad, because in this AU she’s probably kinda thankful that the height makes her seem more like a girl) and Fushimi gets to wear the boy’s. Then they’ll like go out to the arcade or an amusement park or something, just walking around together and getting to finally feel like themselves for once.

When they join Homra everyone’s really accepting of them both, imagine Yata in particular becoming more confident in herself as a girl that she can also admit she’s kind of a tomboy and still prefers shorts to dresses or skirts (I could see this being something Yata had previously struggled with, like if she’s not girly can she really call herself a girl). However I imagine seeing Yata being more comfortable with herself stands in stark contrast with Fushimi, who becomes increasingly uncomfortable. Sure, Homra treats him like a guy, but Fushimi always has this feeling like people really think he’s some weak girl and that he can’t be trusted as much as Yata, that it’s just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Especially depending on how things are going medically, like Yata remains short and growing her hair out she’s still mistaken for a girl often even without treatment but imagine Fushimi is getting visible breasts and he just feels like this marks him out as someone different in a way that Yata isn’t, a way that’s just on his own (and maybe part of what’s so tempting about S4 is Munakata mentions that Fushimi can get hormone treatments to finally be more like the self he wants to be, and no one in S4 will ever know Fushimi as anything but a guy).

this shot into my brain

[ID: mspaint drawing of Dewey and Gosalyn from Ducktales. Dewey is looking at Gosalyn thinking, “wow she’s just like Rainbow Dash.” End ID]

i don't know enough about drag culture in korea, but i was just thinking that (g)-idle has awesome songs to perform in drag.

This started because of that one dance move in super lady where they walk forward in a kind of step i've seen drag queens do. But also, how amazing would it be for a drag performance of tomboy? where they lose the wig during it (i would say throw it at the audience but wigs are expensive af and drag queens don't make much money lol) nxde is also a good one!

someone who knows more than me about korean drag culture tell me this exists!

when you were hoping for a relatively chill & creative weekend but your toxic mother decided to pull a disgusting transphobic card and fill your head with anxiety and dysphoria :)))

Have spent the day defending my good sis Arya on r/asoiaf