Hng Ricky someone on my dash has been saying that drawing characters in binders is like drawing them in their undies and it's disrespectful and not every trans person can wear a binder so it's double disrespectful and I was wondering how I can visually represent/draw a trans character so that it's obvious to people (mostly gross cis people) that draw this character as trans whether they like it or not. I don't want to put in every description 'this character is afab btw' ya know?
aha... yeah i saw that conversation going down! idk if there really is an ‘easy’ way to make it obvious to an audience that a character is trans without SHOWING it in that sort of way, because... there’s no way in real life to just KNOW that someone is trans just by looking at them, and the idea that there is is pretty cissexist imo, y’know. i personally don’t mind the whole trans people in binders thing but i do also acknowledge that that really is drawing them in their undies (since binders are an undergarment) and that not all trans people can wear binders and that it’s kind of, like... stripping a character down to an intimate part of them to show how a part of their identity is, y’know?
so y’know, maybe you do have to just kind of get used to pointing out that they are trans in the descriptions. because there aren’t really a lot of ways to just SEE someone being trans, and just trying to SHOW that for representation’s sake is like... you’re making the entire thing about them being trans, y’know, WHICH ISN’T A BAD THING. but being trans is not just about the process and y’know, we’re not always just doing things in our underwear. sometimes we’re trans-ing it up and sometimes we’re just on a walk, existing, and just happening to also be trans, and that kind of art is something you might just have to be like (btw! lil background, so and so is afab!).
plus, the gross cis people who don’t want to accept trans headcanons will not accept it whether or not you try and visually represent it. you may think you’re trying to show an undeniable truth but, trust me, they’ll find a way to bend it. instead just think of all the non-gross people who will appreciate seeing that confirmed in the description if it’s not in the art itself! like, idk about you, but with the characters i headcanon as trans, they’re trans whether or not the arist drew them as such, so when i see a description that agrees with my headcanon i get twice as excited, so!!
that’s my input omfg if anybody wants to add their opinion on this they could cuz i’m really not an artist so idk if there’s any other better way y’know
