is it just me, or does Salem REALLY want to be a trans woman?
I know this sounds insane but just let me explain.
(putting this under a read more because it got super long.)
We all know back in his Twitter days he would purposely mislead people into believing he was transfem, so that's a bit of evidence there, but I'm not just talking about that.
The way he always talks about trans woman/transfems incredibly postively, but neglects to do the same for any of his other trans siblings, and any time he mentions trans people as a whole it always includes "(ESPECIALLY trans women!!)", he's so focused on getting validation from his klansfem mutuals who only view him as their token black / transmasc friend.
The fact that he always tries to compare his struggles to trans women's (i.e. saying that black people experience the same type of smear campaigns that trans women do. which I am NOT denying that his point may have some truth, I am just using it as an example for my point.) and how his followers/mutuals refer to him as a "Honorary TMA" and "The first transmasc to be TMA" to which he seems to take as more proof that he's 'just like' trans woman are. Even when his account got deleted, there were SEVERAL people claiming it was transmisogyny and it's because Salem is TMA. There were even several people who THOUGHT he was transfem and just used he/him pronouns. Now, how other people perceive him is not at all his fault, but it does make you question—what exactly is he doing to be perceived that way by so many people?
Another thing is his clear aversion to masculinity. Let me state before I even get into this: I do not think that femininity is equivalent to womenhood, or that Salem not liking masculinity means he isn't a trans man. I am mentioning a pattern in his behavior that could be viewed as evidence to him wanting to be transfem due to the fact that femininity is commonly associated with woman, and that Salem himself seems to associate femininity with woman and masculinity with men ("but he's the gnc artist!" I'll explain that later). not because it means he is a woman for liking fem things.
Salem does not like masculinity. That's obvious. From the fact that he called transmasc art "twink slop with top scars slapped on", or the fact that all of his ocs really aren't masculine (yes, even Hitomi), or that any character in any media he likes has to be 'feminine enough' to appeal to him. We've even seen how anytime he makes a masculine character, he either feminizies them later on, or completely drops them. The few 'masc' ocs he has are always seen as more sad than the feminine ones, which could obviously mean nothing. and they definitely don't get the same treatment as his feminine ocs. Not to mention, femininity seems to mean "long hair and (boy)boobs" to him, while masculinity means "they're wearing pants!" To elaborate on that, he seems to specifically relate femininity to a character's body, while he relates masculinity to a characters clothing. (and also body, just not to the same degree as his fem ocs.) We've already seen how he calls his transmasc ocs "fem bodied", another thing worth mentioning is in one of his many hitchtomi arts, he called Hitch a "boy whos girlshaped" (along with calling Hitomi "boyshaped.") THIS is what I meant by he relates femininity to womanhood and masculinity to manhood. He sees Hitch, a trans man's, body as "girl shaped" and "feminine". This also explains why he doesn't have any gay couples, only lesbian and straight couples. A gay couple would be too masculine for him just on account of being two men.
(a little side tangent relating to Hitomi more: he doesn't seem to do this as much to Hitomi as he does to Hitch, though he does it in a bit more subtle way. Calling Hitomi non-passing and visibly trans, when she could very well pass as a cis woman, we all know he just means she has a "masc" body. I also saw someone on one of the other salt blogs mention Salem's aversion to showing Hitomi's chest, most likely because she doesn't have breasts and he views that as masculine.)
How does this relate to me believing he wants to be transfem? It's the fact that he sees femininity as a 'woman thing'. It's how he only makes hyperfem trans men, only puts them in relationships with women (because he can't stand two men being in the same vicinity, too much masculine energy!!!), and then makes endless paragraphs about how they’re just like him. it makes you think about how he views himself, or better, how he wants to be viewed. He doesn’t want his femininity to be viewed as cis. He wants his femininity to be viewed as trans femininity. (hence why even when he didn't id as a trans man, he pretended he was transfem.) Which is fine because he is a trans man, after all, therefore his gender expression is trans. but I think he also doesn't like being a trans man because it feels too masculine to him. Ever consider why he only calls himself a boy and not a man? calling yourself a man is more associated with "growing into a man", being more masculine, etc. calling yourself a boy is more juvenile, which means less of that toughness that's associated with masculinity. I do genuinely believe he is a trans man, and this isn't me trying to say otherwise. What I'm trying to say is that with all these behaviors considered, I think he wishes he was a trans woman instead. But he knows he can't be because, well, he isn't a woman. And even if he was, being a woman would make most people view him as cis, which is not what he wants.
Okay this got waayyy too long. Even though I just said this, I'm going to reiterate this ONE more time just because I know people love to deliberately misinterpret others words—Salem is a trans man. If he says he is, he is one. I am not implying he isn't. Just need to make sure people have that in their heads after reading this.
Everyone talks about the downfall of Hitch, and while he DEFINITELY got worse, I feel like Hitomi also got butchered and not a lot of people mention it. My poor girl went from an interesting character with hobbies and personality to "quiet girl but loud when hot oh and shes super badass and dangerous"
okay, I'm not going to fake claim him, but this is really strange behavior. if CJ really doesn’t like 'being acknowledged', maybe don't post about him to your thousands of followers?
"He's making a big fuss rn" you mean he's rightfully upset that you're disregarding his boundaries? If he's REALLY so traumatized from the internet, it wouldn't be a stretch that he doesn’t want to be online. why are you ignoring that?
personally, if any of my alters didn't want an online prescene, I wouldn't be mentioning them and showing them off on my account. that's just straight up disrespectful to them.
of course the other option is that CJ isn't real and therefore Salem will do whatever he wants with him, but I said I wasn't going to fake claim him, so...
Not to be petty and dog on his on art, but I do have something to say. See i actually like this art from Salem. It shows how much of his skill comes from his excessive rendering and not actually his drawings. he uses it as a shield to pretend hes the best artist ever, but without it, his art looks dull, like there was no passion put into it.
(also maybe he could learn a thing or two about anatomy first.)
Does anyone else remember the full name of Paws Crossed? Because I honestly think even Salem forgot it. Originally, he called it Paws Crossed and said it was short for "My Paws Crossed With You" or something like that, but he hasn't mentioned that it months? Nor is the full title even on the official cover art for the comic.
I dont know, I just found it interesting he can't even be bothered to remember the actual name of his comic that he loves so dearly.
