okay so. transfem Mulder essay here we Go this is going to be. long
1. Subversion of gender stereotypes.
Unlike most male characters of his time, Mulder possesses a lot of qualities typically assigned to women: he is the more emotional one out of the two protagonists, overly trusting, with his head in the clouds, cries more easily. Mulder isn’t “one of the boys”, so his fellow agents treat him like a joke. I’m not transfem myself, but I’ve experienced a lot of bullying because of my inability to fit in. I couldn’t be “one of the girls” because I wasn’t a girl. Scully tries to be masc enough for both of them, attempting to fit in with her male colleagues, who seemingly respect her, but drop all pretence as soon as she takes Mulder’s side. Thus begins a beautiful and tragic lesbian story.
2. Samantha
Mulder’s whole identity revolves around his lost sister, who’s been missing for decades, but he still doesn’t lose hope of seeing her again. I feel like he clings too hard to the title of an older brother to a sister who’s never coming back, of a son to an uncaring father and abusive mother. Clings to the dream of bringing Samantha home, of his parents finally accepting him. And that is why, in my opinion, he surpresses any and all thoughts of what it would feel like to be a woman. He’s scared of discovering who he is if not Samantha’s brother.
3. Paper Hearts.
In the episode Paper Hearts, Mulder is Alice in a nightmarish Wonderland. He follows the mad hatter instead of the white rabbit, who doesn’t drink tea with the march hare, but kills little girls. I feel like having Mulder wear a pink t-shirt in this episode was a deliberate choice, highlighting his femininity and the fear of growing up. Mulder is Alice who woke up to discover that her sister was nowhere to be found, and had to be confronted with the harsh reality where there’s no such thing as little green men and cheshire cats, but there are child molesters. This is further elaborating on point 2, Mulder asking himself “if I’m not Samantha’s brother, who am I?”, except I want to dissect this even more. In the dream, Mulder hugs his sister, which was obviously intended as him finally finding her, saving her, but we can also look at this from another angle. He’s hugging the little girl who he never got to be. By saving Samantha he heals his inner girl, finally accepting her, only to have her violently ripped from him. This is where Scully would roll her eyes, but Mulder would nod eagerly, so walk with me here. It was obviously not the writers’ intention, but if they make their “male” protagonist play Alice in Wonderland, they better be ready for the consequences.
4. All Things
If you've been following me for some time, you know I never shut up about this episode and its influence on transfem Mulder theory. Gillian Anderson woke up one day and thought to herself: hmmm what if I wrote an episode where Mulder and Scully get compared to a lesbian couple? And what if Scully keeps chasing this mysterious woman, and when she finally catches up with her, the woman turns around and it’s Mulder? There’s just so much to unpack. Scully has a heart-to-heart with a lesbian who tells her that she’d been so stressed about keeping her relationship a secret that she got cancer. And when she allowed herself to be open about it, she was able to get better. Scully, who also had cancer, and who is currently having doubts about her relationship with Mulder, listens to her intently. She lets go of the past (namely comphet), accepts that she’s a lesbian, and Mulder is, in fact, a woman. I’m barely even exaggerating, this is literally the plot of the episode. That’s it, case closed.
5. Denise
But of course. Even though I haven’t watched enough Twin Peaks to actually meet her, she is near and dear to my heart. I personally lean more towards butch Mulder, and don’t think that she’d change much of her appearance, but Denise is an excellent point of reference for just how beautiful Mulder could be.
what is it about ferns that make them so resistant to being houseplants. you are literally popping up as weeds all around my house but the moment i take you inside and coddle you you decide to die. ok
Please save and share this info where possible. This report has since been removed by Amnesty International due to legal threats of libel from JK Rowling. This information is no longer easily accessible.
you invest in a stronger metal muzzle (smart), the frustration makes for great sex but it is a little unnerving feeling the cold bars pressed against your jugular all the time and hearing her teeth going chomp chomp chomp chomp chomp
You can make a movie with where the only white character is a man named Ray Cism whose one line of his 16 seconds of screen time is “I seriously hate women and minorities.” and you’ll find fifty bajillion reader x Ray Cism fanfics and renaissance style drawings of him with a halo of golden light
are people talking about the labor conditions at Taylor Farms yet? like the fact they use enslaved prisoners in their facilities?
are we drawing the connection between worker safety and consumer safety & public health yet?
are people demanding to see the conditions in this place that keeps making us sick? why are the enslaved workers not having the time to use the bathroom or to rest when ill? very few people would shit in front of their coworkers given any choice at all.
in terms of "dead dove" tropes in general one of my favourite ways to pervert an otherwise healthy and consensual relationship is to have one of the characters be responsible for something that was objectively and unsympathetically their fault and that they're determined to spend the rest of their lives making up for, but are unwilling (or unable) to confess to their new partner who only knows them as they are now and not as the shameful fuckup they once were, so they end up convincing themselves that they're essentially committing rape by deception - for the entirely selfish reason that is wanting one genuinely good, stable thing that makes them happy in their life - by concealing it. but because they both desire comfort and don't feel that they deserve it they continue to do so, going so far as to try to prevent their partner from being exposed to any situation or interaction where they might learn the truth, even as it becomes a case of using them and the relationship to self-harm to satisfy their unresolved guilt that only grows with each passing moment.
pedestrians don't seem to realize how exhausting using a wheelchair is, both manual and powered. i had to wheel around a hospital today with several ramps i had to go up and down multiple times, and even with my smoov i ended up with shoulder and chest pain and deep exhaustion.
people look at wheelchair users and think "well you're sitting down all the time that doesn't take effort" no actually it does. pushing a manual chair takes a lot of fucking effort, especially without a power assist. repetitive stress injuries are a huge problem manual chair users encounter all the time. going up hills and ramps is so deeply fatiguing.
this doesn't just apply to manual chair users btw. power chair usage can also be really exhausting, especially for people with complex seating needs. going over bumps and cracks can trigger many symptoms such as spasticity, pressure sores are common, even just sitting upright can be exhausting for many people.
basically don't assume using a wheelchair takes 0 effort, it really really does. getting to "sit down all the time" doesn't mean it's easy.
im gonna need you able bodied motherfuckers to stop comparing the extreme pain and exhaustion that comes with using a manual chair to being in a car for 8 hours. not even remotely the same thing.
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