tbh I think a lot of the transmasc Jax hate comes from a place of people not really clocking that the transfem and transmasc experiences are not actually that meaningfully different.
I often see people bring up Jax pushing away things that can be perceived as feminine, as him avoiding and pushing down the part of him that already knows he's transfem, but a lot of these instances can also be interpreted as Jax rejecting the feminine roles forced on him by society, even if they aren't things he nesscessarily hates, to be seen as a "real man" (an experience I am all too familiar with myself). The whole torture scene in episode eight has become popular transfem Jax evidence too since the episode dropped, and honestly, I do think it works. But the thing is, it also works in a transmasc way. There isn't really anything you can take that "proves" transfem Jax that couldn't also "prove" transmasc Jax (YES, even the progesterone thing. Transmasc people can and do take progesterone and even estrogen, just as transfem people can and do take testosterone).
The trans experience can't really be separated because there are so many ways to be transgender. Anything I experience as one type of transgender person can also be experienced by a completely different type of trans person. I feel like seeing transfem and transmasc as opposites with nothing in common comes from a very bioessentialist viewpoint where a man is one distinct thing, and a woman is another distinct thing, when really, there's nothing that actually divides them but language used.
There's also something to be said about the coopting of nonbinary language by binary people here and it's that way too many people discuss transfem and transmasc Jax and mean "MTF vs FTM Jax". You don't have to have been amab to be tranfem or afab to be transmasc because that language was designed to be agabless. If you mean MTF or binary perisex trans woman, you can just say that (and the same for FTM or binary perisex trans man).
Even if transfem Jax is confirmed, transmasc interpretations should still exist.
Technically still Trans Visibility Day for me. I want to get out there that the toxicity around the trans interpretations is something that shooed me away from joining. If transfem Jax is revealed objectively in the episode, if transfem Jax transitions on screen with extended dialogue, if it is unambiguous and flagrant, if everyone who ever worked on the show comes out and says "Yeah, the whole show is about Jax being transfem and transitioning", transmasc Jax would still be valid. Same with non-binary or even cis readings.
I am a 100% transfem Jax truther. I want it to be explicit in the finale with no room for doubt. I think it's even likely, but I will continue to stand with that reading if it's not. I wish I had a character as trans coded as Jax growing up, it would've helped me.
An interpretation or depiction of a character is valid even if it's non-canon. If something resonates with you in art, for any reason, that's art doing it's job. It's to make you feel and relate. A character is a lens that ultimately focuses on you.
I think of Mulan. Mulan is a movie ostensibly about a cis woman trying to pass as a man as an escape, the character isn't meant to be trans. Yet trans interpretations and opinions are the ones I love the most.
I mostly see transmasc interpretations, some wonderful articles on the subject. It lends itself so much to a transmasc interpretations than transfem interpretations in my opinion, and obviously the intended one is to empower cis women not conforming. Mulan is not just one of my favorite animated movies, it strongly resonated with me before I knew why.
A girl pretending to be a boy is exactly what I was, even if the details didn't align. Seeing someone rejecting femininity to fit in with men is something that affected me deeply, and only later did I realize why. It doesn't matter that the movie is Mulan wrestling with femininity and a society imposing it on her, I still had a relation to that movie that helped me understand myself. It helped me question my gender.
Jax having completely rejected his femininity and embrace toxic masculinity is interesting. It adds a different depth to the character. It doesn't matter if not every single atom of TADC aligns with that reading. What matters is that someone felt that connection emotionally. GLITCH or Gooseworx comes out and says otherwise, it doesn't matter. They own a version of the character, but you own yours.
So if Jax makes you connect to your own gender questions or insecurities, celebrate it. If to you it feels like Jax is a transmasc character, go for it. If you believe he's cis but nonconforming, even if you only relate to the broad strokes of an identity issue and denial, keep it.
Jax is a fictional character and an escape to view things about ourselves. Caring so intensely about canon and intention when engaging with a story removes the emotional connection someone might have outside that scope. The emotional part is why we like art, even if it's just for fun. Hell, even if you hate Jax and everything about Jax, that's a valid opinion. It's why I don't care much for strictly literal interpretations or theories, it doesn't add to that emotional aspect.
The division is so sad. We don't need people railing on some trans people and we don't need people to go to trans posts and attempt to justify liking an interpretation more. We are all people first and foremost, we don't really need more tribalism.
I felt like I needed to get this off my chest before really diving into the community. I'll give my own readings of Jax later, but more importantly is that every reading still matters. It's fiction, it belongs to both the authors and ourselves.
One of my friends went to an ice protest at their school, there's a lot of videos about it and it created a significant impact which genuinely inspired me so much and it gives me hope that we will all get through this🙂↕️ I love you guys and I hope you are all safe
Fuck ice, Fuck Trump, Fuck epstein, and Fuck the system of oppression
