There needs to be more trans representation in media, especially for trans men.
Overtime that I've seen multiple pieces of media, I've noticed that theres more media on trans women rather than trans men, even in media that has a lot of queer characters like heartstopper and I noticed this even more when researching what trans characters were canonically trans. And yes I know there is some trans male characters such as Viktor from the umbrella academy I just feel like there needs to be a bit more. Since there are a lot more for trans women rather than there are for trans men in general media.
This is coming from a trans man, thank you for your time. Have a nice day/night/morning/afternoon :3
<long rant incoming (sorry i have a lot of thoughts on this)>
i feel like trans men are also less known somehow. some people cannot COMPREHEND that they exist. "youll never be a woman" to anyone who says theyre trans plus people trying to make rules restricting bathrooms based on AGAB on the basis of "i dont want them in the bathroom with my wife/daughter/sister/mother" when that is going to get you fully transitioned men in the womens room as well (not even mentioning how it completely ignores the existence of intersex people).
also oftentimes, especially in anime that i have noticed, trans men will often detransition before the end of the anime/manga/what-have-you. this is likely because anime is often designed for the audience to be able to look at characters and go "hot woman ooh"
and when trans men are represented, theyre usually stereotyped, fetishized, or both.
(not to say trans women dont get stereotyped, fetishized, and poorly represented/underrepresented, thats just not what this post is about.)
stereotypes? theyre usually skinny, pale, effeminate. yes, trans men can be those things, but thats virtually all the representation. in relationships, theyre seen as the submissive one, in smut theyre on bottom. do straight trans men exist in media? i havent seen it. creators are pushing the gender roles that have been forced onto women onto trans man characters. please someone find me a media with a buff trans guy.
even if its not directly trans (like in omegaverse) the stereotyping and fetishization is so bad. in omegaverse, its actually incredibly heteronormative- dominant alpha, submissive omega, where the alpha takes the stereotypically masculine role and the omega takes the stereotypically feminine role. omegas anatomy is modeled very similarly to essentially a version of female anatomy that makes them more impregnable (i will not be explaining further because i cant do it concisely) even the males, and mlm omegaverse is often very heteronormative in the dynamics (and allo/amato normative too tbh) in a way that trans men are similarly stereotyped.
and its understood that straight men knowing about trans women through only porn is bad. we get that. why isnt it better understood that straight women also only knowing about trans men through porn (because it does exist, and i am counting mpreg/omegaverse here)is bad? they jerk it to pregnant men until it is an ACTUAL trans man who needs reproductive healthcare, and/or who is pregnant, but then they dont exist apparently.
because apparently trans men are fictional novelties for us (INCLUDING some lgbtq+) to use as goon material. because they dont exist, clearly, and if they do theyre clearly just good for their genitals. its a whole other section of transphobia/chasing, its damaging to actual trans men (because yes, media can affect real-world things, it does so CONSTANTLY) and yknow how transphobes love to say trans people just have a fetish? constantly fetishizing and sexualizing trans people is in no way helping that to stop. and they see it that way because transphobes consume the highest amount of trans porn.
basically, trans men dont get anything in terms of representation, and when they do its virtually only an uwu boy twink, which some trans men ARE, but it becomes a problem when all the trans men you get in media are uwu boy twinks. because the trans men characters i am talking about are made twinks because they are trans. being a twink/femboy/drag queen/dabbling in femininity/being feminine and being a trans man are neither mutually inclusive nor exclusive, and i am sick of seeing media that says trans men are feminine no matter what and society saying trans men arent really trans unless they always try to be as manly as possible. have you ever seen a trans bear in a show/book/movie/whatever? (if you have drop the title)
more trans men characters who are actually people, please.
maybe i cant fully speak on the matter (im genderqueer (i say agender or genderfluid cause the flags are better tho, nonbinary if i dont feel like explaining it all) and use any pronouns since i gave up on trying to figure it out) but trans misrepresentation and fetishization pisses me off, especially since a good portion of it relies on the underlying idea that "ok but well,, are they REALLY men?" which is transphobic. questioning whether trans men are really men is transphobia. if you design all your men hella beefy and your only twig is a trans guy bc theyre trans, that is a problem.
if more and better representation was in mainstream media, i feel like a lot of cissexism could be taken care of after long enough of it. if stuff was NORMALIZED, societal discrimination would not be prevalent.