Is “Time to Dance” Transphobic?
TLDR: No. Stop saying that it is.
Full answer: “Time to Dance” is often held up as one of the main reasons that Ryan Ross is allegedly transphobic. While this may seem to have some merit and be an alarming piece of evidence, it is misguided and also completely wrong for various reasons.
Before we can truly explain why, it needs to be established that “Time to Dance” is based on a novel, specifically Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk (better known as the author of Fight Club). Invisible Monsters was published in 1999, a time when discourse around homosexuality, transgender issues, women, etc. was extremely different from what it is today. Unsurprisingly, society in general was pretty awful and problematic about these subjects.
Invisible Monsters is a disturbing book. In fact, it was rejected by its publisher on the grounds of being too disturbing until Fight Club hit it big and they gave it another chance. The book is extremely violent and graphic, and uses its shock value to tackle subjects ranging from beauty, revenge, love, gay rights, drug use, and what it means to have an identity.
Here’s where the transphobia rumors begin. One of the characters, Brandy Alexander, is introduced as being a transgender woman. The book pays a lot of attention to this, in fact, and it turns out that Brandy Alexander is not actually transgender, and is instead appropriating the persona of a woman to escape the control of others.
From the Wikipedia page for Invisible Monsters:
“Brandy” divulges that she is not actually transgender—Shane [Brandy’s birth name] chose to become a woman when he does not want to be because he sees it as a way to disfigure himself beyond being in the control of others. (x)
This is what the fans miss. The famous lines from Time to Dance,
“Boys will be boys,
Hiding in estrogen
And wearing aubergine dreams.”
merely refer to a serious plot spoiler. Brandy/Shane was born male, and actually still identifies as male, not as female, and thus is “hiding” his true identity “in estrogen”. (”Aubergine Dreams” refers to Brandy’s preferred shade of eyeliner.)
So what does this mean about Ryan?
It is worth noting that the book resonated with him enough to write a song about it. Your Mileage May Vary as to why, but just keep in mind that Tumblr did not exist when Ryan was a teenager. The kind of thoughtful discourse around gender/sexuality/etc. that we all partake in every day was simply not available to the average teen of Ryan’s generation. And as an open-minded young man who did not adhere to the standards of toxic masculinity (that’s another post entirely) and was beginning to experiment with makeup, Invisible Monsters probably seemed like a relief. Someone actually was talking about these issues, even if we can see the problematic undercurrents of the book today.
In short, “Time to Dance” is not transphobic. The book it’s based on has some problematic elements, but the Panic! at the Disco song does not.
P.S. Big thank you to @badbradwalker and @kissingmyeyez for inspiring and requesting this post! :)
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