#yes even if ur cis. just mind to not be a dickwad but idt that's a lot to ask

[gnostic-heretic]

i know as well as yall that no one comes here for my hashtag thoughts posts but for the low budget anime people (of which there will always be lots do not worry) but since this is kind of relevant to the last post i was making re: writing things that are niche (in this case, writing about trans characters) it’s also kind of relevant to the entirety of my hetalia content productions so bear with me

i’ve started thinking about something (and when you read this you know you’re in for some useless, long winded shit) and it might seem like something irrelevant, overthinking about semantics and so on, but two things in the arc of these past few hours have caught my attention and they were both posts made by trans women on this website:

the usage of the word “trans”, how it’s often used not as an adjective but as a signifier that you’re talking about a completely separate and different class of people, ex the use of “trans men” vs “men” immediately evokes a different meaning into most people’s heads (cis or not: i am guilty of the same thing, often) when it shouldn’t. op proposed that instead we use, as a sort of lingustic protest, “men” vs “cis men” as opposed to the opposite and usual language.

another trans woman reclaiming the use of the words “dysphoric female” to describe herself. which is, honestly, a genius move. i wonder how much we as gay trans people can reclaim of gay cis people’s language before people start getting pissed off, even if the language technically does apply to us (example: i’m a dysphoric gay trans man. however, if i said “dysphoric gay man” in my description, people would probably assume i’m cis, despite me never specifying that bit anywhere). if you leave out the signifier “trans”, however, people will start taking issue with it and i wonder why that is-

it got me thinking about a problem i run into costantly when posting trans content: the posts (fanfiction, fanart, headcanons) i tag as trans character, transtalia, etc receive way less interaction and attention than the posts i don’t tag as such.  people feel awkward about reblogging that art. reluctant about reading those fanfictions. and while part of me is like “well, it’s just because it’s different!”... so are aus. so is nyotalia/genderswaps... so are really seemingly popular things i don’t get at all like 2p hetalia and hell even stuff like omegaverse... more than questioning people’s individual intentions when thinking “meh, not into this” i would challenge the fandom-wide assumption and mentality that writing about trans characters is something really that much different from other forms of canon-divergent content... everyone seems to be fine and dandy with canon divergent headcanons and LGB headcanons until that headcanon involves the character being trans, then it’s bad and “op” is really pushing it too far, apparently. 

however at least as far as my own “content” goes, that doesn’t necessarily mean the characters are cis in posts where it’s not specified: au contraire, i usually still think of certain character as trans, it’s just not relevant to the subject matter of the post. “cis” is just assumed by the people viewing it, even when it was never my thought or vision, by virtue of there not being any trans-related tag.  it’s almost as if, when i specify that in the post x character is trans, people view it as a completely different character. “trans aph hungary” is not the same in people’s mind as “aph hungary”... and so on.  when in fact, it’s a distinction that i do not make in my head: whether i write a character as trans, cis or up to interpretation and anyone’s personal discretion it’s always the same character i’m writing about, with a few differences (on the same level of “difference” between the same character but in different aus).

when it’s assumed that i’ll be fine with people interpreting characters in my fanwork as cis unless otherwise specified (the real answer: it depends), i wonder what kind of reaction it would provoke if i did the opposite. it raises some interesting questions yknow.

can i see a character as trans in other people’s work, if it’s never specified they were meant to be cis? would the person be fine with it, just as it’s assumed i’m fine with people reading any of my works as not part of a trans narrative unless i lay it out nicely for everyone to see and skip past it? (as if me being trans doesn’t influence literally everything i create.. in a way, any narrative i come up with is a trans narrative, if only in a small percentage)

if i told people “certain characters are not cis in my fanwork unless i specify it”, would those “unspecified” drawings/fics/etc still be well received, or suffer the same fate of the art/etc that i specifically tag for trans headcanons? how much would a good reception depend on the fact that most people will not know about me or my intent anyway?

would refusing to tag any trans content as “trans” specifically (see above: instead of “trans hungary” vs “hungary”. if i tried to change it into “hungary” vs “cis hungary” as far as my content functions) be a power move, or would it be taking away visibility from a community of content creators that is already small and marginalized?

i wonder i wonder... but my conclusion at least at the moment is that i feel way more affection towards the small transtalia community that exists than spite towards a faceless (and probably too big for me alone to challenge) fandom-wide and really, society-wide norm so i’ll keep my tagging system and all, and i’ll keep writing trans characters, and if anyone doesn’t like it idk. they can go outside and pet a cat i guess. do something productive instead of reading terribly verbose and useless posts written by me on niche issues like this

#really long post /// #i'm sorry if this seems unapproachable in facts anyone's thots on this are appreciated and even encouraged. #yes even if ur cis. just mind to not be a dickwad but idt that's a lot to ask