What do your trans mc's do to affirm their gender?
MCs' gender affirmation!
omg this was so much fun but took forever LMAO. this is so long, i have so many trans mcs, everyone should get on my level ๐โโ๏ธ seriously though this is insanely long so if you just pick and choose which ones you want to read i don't blame you
@choicespride
Dexter - As part of his transition, Dexter is on HRT, got top surgery and a phalloplasty. So all of those things affirm his gender! He also uses his drag to affirm his gender. Being able to perform as a drag queen helps him feel connected to his younger, pre-transition self and femininity in general.
Jo - A lot of Jo's gender affirmation comes from her sense of style and how she expresses herself. They prefer having short(er) hair for gender reasons. They also like to dress more androgynously a lot of the time, although sometimes they like to lean more masculine or more feminine. They usually prefer dressing hyperfeminine when they dress up for events and stuff like that. She sometimes makes her own clothes! She also prefers a grungy/alternative style. She also uses her art to affirm her gender! She loves doing projects about being queer.
Brooklyn - before medically transitioning, Brooklyn used his clothes to affirm his gender. He dressed really masculinely, although he didn't really like that, it was just the best way to present himself as a man at the time. Once he medically transitions (HRT and top surgery), he starts dressing more femininely because that's what he prefers and he's able to actually pass as a man even with feminine clothes at this point. Eventually he also gets a phalloplasty, but that wasn't as much of a priority for him. Surgeries can be expensive, so he focused first on the stuff that would help him pass publicly while saving up for the phalloplasty.
Jamie - The main way Jamie affirms their gender is through their hair. Jamie is genderfluid so they like to change their hair with their gender. They always keep it short because they find long hair annoying, but they style it in a lot of different ways. Mostly though they change the color! Whatever color feels best to them at the time. Since their hair is short, it isn't as expensive to color. They also just do it themself instead of getting it done professionally to save money. Jamie was blessed with a naturally small chest, so they don't feel the need to get top surgery. If they want to be extra feminine they might wear a push-up bra to accentuate their chest and if they want to be extra masculine, they'll wear a binder. They also use makeup to affirm their gender. They aren't a big makeup person most of the time, but they use it sometimes. They use it more once they're older and aren't dealing with puberty acne.
Matty - Matty's biggest things when it comes to gender affirmation are HRT and voice training. Being in theatre and music, his vocal range is really important to him. Post-puberty he is a tenor, which he likes because that's the vocal range for most male musical theatre lead roles. He also gets top surgery (1) because he just. doesn't want boobs and (2) because you can't really sing very well/safely with a binder on since it compresses your chest aka where your lungs are. I haven't decided yet whether or not he would get a phalloplasty. I think he would but idk. Lastly, he uses his alternative fashion to affirm his gender! His gender itself is against the norm since he's trans and he likes having a fashion style that matches that.
Jackie - I feel like this post gives a good in-depth look at Jackie's gender!!
Reese - Similarly to Matty, Reese uses their alternative style to affirm their gender! Since they're a vampire and thus live a million different lives over their lifetime, they try a lot of different things just to see how it feels. Ultimately they're pretty happy with their body, they don't get any surgeries or hormone therapy. Their gender affirmation mostly comes from how they present themself socially. They don't pay attention to gender roles and just do whatever tf they want. They identify as nonbinary, but learn a lot from Cas and their genderpunk identity, since Cas has had a lot more time to explore their gender.
Jude - Jude is on HRT, although I'm not sure how being a vampire would affect that? He also got top surgery once he could. He eventually gets a phalloplasty as well. His medical transition happened later in his life since he was born in 1952, which is actually around when the first gender affirmation surgeries took place. But even though the surgeries were technically available to him, he couldn't afford them. He started medically transitioning in the late 70s, but had to put it on pause during the AIDS crisis. He finished his medical transition in 2001. He also leans into his vampirism as part of his gender, even using vamp/vampself pronouns. Of course most humans don't know he's actually a vampire, but it also allows him to kind of show off some vampire stuff, like his fangs, without people being too suspicious because he just say it's a gender thing.
Harry - ILITW spoilers for this one! Unfortunately, Harry couldn't do really any medical transitioning before he died at the end of book 1. In high school he wore a binder and did voice training. He also really enjoyed making online friends in high school because none of them knew him pre-transition so they didn't even know his deadname or anything like that and always treated him like One Of The Guysโข๏ธ.
Ollie - Ollie uses their hair a lot to affirm their gender! Once they find a hairstyle that gives them euphoria they tend to stick with it for a whiiiiiile. They also use their fashion to affirm their gender. They like to dress in a grungy, androgynous style. Abel also helps a lot by using a lot of gender affirming language for them :)
Keagan - Keagan likes to use body modification to affirm their gender! They get a lot of tattoos and piercings. They also have gauges. They also grow their hair out which is very gender affirming to them.
Lottie - Slight spoilers for ILW at the end. Lottie uses their hair and fashion to affirm their gender! They also use a lot of gender affirming language for themself - which for them is gender neutral language. Amalia is also really great about using gender affirming language for them. They also like to use fake contacts to make their eye(s) pink!
Ezra - Spoilers for ILW. Ezra is on HRT and gets top surgery! He also also uses packers and strap-ons. He prefers these to a phalloplasty because it lets him change it up from time to time. He also gets facial masculinization surgery, partially for gender affirmation and partially because he doesn't love having a face that looks exactly like his dead sister's ๐
Benni - Benni uses his style to affirm his gender as well as some body modification! He likes to dress masculinely and they get a lot of piercings and tattoos. He also use their Power to change his appearance when he wants to. He often uses it to look less human and more like a Power creature because that's how he really sees himself. But obviously he can't do that in every situation.
Erin - Spoilers for ILW. Erin uses fashion to affirm her gender!! They loooooove getting creative with fashion and exploring different styles. They also find returning to the Power to be very affirming to them. He never felt like he fit into the gender binary and his gender felt very different and almost foreign to himself after the Power incident at that family picnic. Realizing that she's not actually even human made a lot of things make a lot of sense about her sense of self and that includes her gender.
Jupiter - tw: miscarriage. In high school Jupiter wears a binder a lot of the time to help affirm their gender. They also end up going on a low dose of testosterone. Originally, they planned to get a hysterectomy once they could and were thinking about a phalloplasty, but during their senior year of high school they get pregnant and have a miscarriage and after that they don't really feel as comfortable getting those surgeries. They already had such a loss in that area, they aren't ready to face another even if it's something they previously wanted. I think they would still end up getting them further down the line, but not as soon as they originally planned since they needed time to heal from their miscarriage.
Sydney - Sydney mostly uses fashion to affirm their gender! They loooooove dressing femininely, but otherwise presenting masculinely (like in their body) because it gives them a good mix of femininity and masculinity. They also just. really like how skirts feel tbh. and they looooove twirling in them. that's not necessarily gender related, it's just fun.
Quinn - fashion!!!! Quinn is and always has been a fashion girly lol, I mean she literally becomes a fashion designer. She uses her own personal style to affirm her own gender, but she also designs clothing that is made to be both fashionable, comfortable, and accessible to everyone. It's very important to her to have input from others when it comes to her fashion. At least once she learns how to take criticism... She also finds her relationship with Ian very affirming because they are t4t and t4t relationships just hit different... She also uses her power as a wealthy person and especially when she's the Queen B of Belvoire to affirm her gender and her identity. Like yes she is a black, trans woman -- a group of people who are disproportionately targeted -- but she is also the HBIC!!! because she IS That Bitch!!!! And no one can take that away from her!!!!