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Just got a random spike in activity on my trans!ghost fic on ao3. To those readers and everyone else in the cod fandom - happy pride month!!! Writing that fic to process some of my own feelings re: transition, fathers, and the military was incredibly rewarding and important for me, and I’m so glad it resonated with so many folks. I go back and read the comments often - Not a day goes by when I don’t think about you all.
Pokemon Headcanon
Lugia is definitely Female In the Movie, both American and Japanese versions, Lugia is depicted with a Masculine sounding voice, but this was a corporate decision because Pokemon 2000 was meant to be an "Action Adventure movie! Lugia Needs to be Masculine", but the head writer of the Movie and the Pokemon Anime at the time Takeshi Shudo had very different ideas. Lugia was the first pokemon not created by Gamefreak, it was created by Takeshi himself for the movie. While coming up with the concept of who Lugia is, he would stare out at the ocean and think deeply about what kind of being the Sea is. He decided the Sea had to be a Woman; It is a life baring maternal force of nature from which all life on earth originated and still depends on, he couldn't imagine the Sea or Lugia any other way and it hurt him in a very personal way that they had changed the pokemon he created from Female to Male. In the movie Lugia doesn't show up and dominate the other legendary birds with overwhelming force, they don't demand that they look up to Lugia and obey their will cause they are stronger or more threatening. Lugia calls for the fighting to stop. Lugia intervenes where they can and helps along the way, but against all 3 of the legendary birds who are bent on domination, Lugia gets overwhelmed and is defeated by them. Takeshi compared this to what he believed to be the difference between a mother and father when their son or sons gets into a fight. A Father adds a sort of lit powder keg to the scenario, while a Mother tries to break up a fight. A lot of this is based on assumed gender roles which not every person fills perfectly, but this was back in the 90s. I think Lugia should be considered Female. We can be mature enough to see female characters as strong and nurturing, and I want to respect an artist who put his heart into this Pokemon.
at this point im like if your scifi doesn't have trans people in it there's something wrong with the ecosystem. no funky genders? not even one? no wonder your apocalypse crops are dying.
We all, on some level, hold a childlike fantasy that someone else has figured it out and can provide us a direct map to ourselves. And that's what the trans narrative does. It promises to guide the follower to their essential, authentic self. But this, unfortunately, doesn't happen, because the essential self, whatever that is, is not created from another's road map, but can only be comprised of the trails we forge ourselves.
-Lane Anderson, “Exiles in their Own Flesh: A Psychotherapist Speaks” in Female Erasure
barbie as a trans narrative. someone who no longer fits into the world they were assigned into. she has to go places she never thought she would go, meet people she never thought she would meet. she discovers a new exciting world where she is both dehumanised, objectified and abused but also feels more alive than she ever has before. she experiences earth shattering new things she never thought she would be able to experience. the severe difficulties of this new world breifly make her want to go back to her old one, but when given the option to be put back in a box and live her life exactly the way she used to, she knows she cant do it. she wont do it. she meets other people like her, who support her into self discovery and self acceptance. "Its like I'm a woman already' 'Welcome!' 'God, Is this what it's like?" "I don't really feel like Barbie anymore" "Being [a woman] isnt something you ask for or even want, its just something you discover you are?" being euphoric at going to her first ever quote-on-quote 'female' medical appointment, and being so excited to use her brand new name at the reception. accepting her new life with all its joys and all its hardships bc she knows it's the best possible life for her."I want to be the one imagining not just be the idea". CMON BARBIE LETS GO PARTY 🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️
[CWs: sexual assault; murder; human trafficking; harvesting humans]
under the skin (2013)
the plot is simple enough: there are aliens on earth and they're harvesting humans.
but the film is really about what it means to be human, explored through the eyes of an alien sent on a resource extraction mission.
scarlett johanssen plays the bait whose role is to lure men back to the harvesting plant. she performs her job efficiently and tenaciously for a while, but a series of incidents erode at her conscience, eventually causing her to identify with her human form.
one of the most fascinating aspects of how this is explored is that her identification with femininity and humanity is to her own detriment.
even as she actively preys upon men, she finds herself their target.
**********************
this is the order of events leading to the alien's self-discovery:
[NOTE: i am purposefully using she/her pronouns for clarity, but i don't think the alien starts identifying with any form of humanity or femininity until the climax of the film] first, she witnesses (and greatly compounds) a tragedy:
she is stalking a czech man who is camping on a beach in scotland. in the background we see a family with a dog, a child, a man, and a woman. after a while a drama starts to unfold in the background. the dog has gone too far, so the woman tries to save them, but the tide is too strong and she's struggles. her husband panics and follows her into the water, but she's too far away and the waves are too strong. the czech man notices and runs into the water, saving the man. but the man can't stand it and goes back in to save his wife, leaving the exhausted good samaritan on the shore. the alien walks towards him, grabs a big rock, and smashes the czech man on the head. the baby screams in the background.
hours later, the alien's supervisor/handler goes back for the evidence. once finished, he passes by and ignores the crying child, leaving them stranded on the beach to die.
some time later she's in her car with the news on. they're talking about the man who washed ashore with a missing wife and child. her face is unreadable. shortly after, she is walking down a busy street and falls on her face. she lays on the floor while passers-by ask her if she needs help. she lays there for an uncomfortably long period of time. is she embarrassed? did she feel pain when she fell? i don't think we'll ever know. she is then shown stalking a man walking somewhere at night. she follows him until she hears a large group of women. they pass her and decide to bring her along with them to the club, where the man is also headed. the audio sounds loud and muffled; she is overstimulated and confused. too many noises at once and she can't distinguish between them; a stark contrast between the quiet solitude of her van and the empty void of the harvesting plant. after entering the chaos of the club she runs away through winding hallways, leading to a quieter section of the club. while there, she runs into the man and successfully lures him back to the plant.
this is the first time she definitively shows vulnerability. hearing about the family from the beach obviously shook her, but it didn't cause her to emote. and falling on the ground in front of people was somewhere between a new and transformative experience for her; but again, she didn't display the kind of affect most humans would have. in the middle of the film she finds herself surrounded by thugs trying to intimidate her out of her van. she seems confused and a bit shaken, but drives away unscathed. this is the first time she is actively harassed by men. after the van incident with the hooligans, she is shown picking up another man from the street after asking him for directions. he is portrayed by adam pearson, an actor with neurofibromatosis. unlike the other men she has captured, he is reserved and shy, although he does steal a brief glance at her.
she has learned enough about human behavior to know that it's unusual for someone to get groceries so late in the evening, and when she asks him about it, he says that people in the community are ignorant.
she asks him if he has any friends. he doesn't.
"what about a girlfriend?" he stays silent, looking ashamed.
she asks him when the last time he touched anyone was. silence and shame again.
at a certain point she tells him that he has nice hands, "beautiful hands." and then she asks him if he'd like to touch her. she places his hand on her face and neck, and eventually she takes him to the plant.
the scene plays out as usual: she walks backwards, removing her clothing items, one by one. by the time he sinks, she is completely naked, the only difference so far.
she gets dressed, goes downstairs, and after catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror of a dark hallway, she gazes at herself for a long time.
she is then shown pulling the man, naked and alive, out of the house in a rush and jumping into her van alone.
as she escapes, he is forced to walk home naked. but the ever-efficient handler beats him to it and kidnaps him back to the plant.
**********************
the next portion of the film is where she really begins to explore her own humanity and womanhood.
but first, i want to talk about my trans narrative theory:
i still dislike scarlett johanssen for feeling as though she can play anyone [e.g. a trans man and a japanese woman (and no, idgaf that the major has a full cyborg body)]. but regardless of this, i view this film as a trans narrative.
in this case, her character is a trans human woman.
now, i want to be perfectly clear: trans women are women, regardless of anatomy or presentation. and i have a pretty easy time identifying this particular character as a woman due to the experiences i've listed, as well as the experiences she has later on in the film.
however, to also identify her character as human feels a bit more complicated, especially since she participated in such a vile form of human subjugation. while many so-called humans have also participated in utterly vile forms of human subjugation, i think her attempt at redemption and starting a new life is what earns her the badge of human for me. now, back to our regularly scheduled programming:
she is in her van driving far away. she stops (maybe because she runs out of gas?) in a desolate area on a foggy road.
she gets out of her van and ends up in a small town diner, ordering a slice of chocolate cake. she delicately cuts a piece, puts it in her mouth, tries to chew and swallow, but quickly vomits it up. this attempt at performing a typical human behavior has failed. but there are many disabled people that can't eat regularly, so i don't hold it against her.
as she walks aimlessly through the village, she passes by a man smoking a cigarette while leaning on a rail. after she passes him, he tells her that the bus stop is, "over there." she pauses, considers the information, and goes to the bus stop across the road from the man. he doesn't bother her.
while on the bus, the driver tells her that she has on the wrong clothes for the weather: it's cold and she's only wearing a thin sweater. she looks shaken, but says nothing.
eventually, the man from the bus stop moves closer and asks if she needs help. after a while, she says she does, and he gives her his jacket. they end up going to a store together, and then to his home. he gives her a room, toiletries, and some clothing, and leaves her alone to sleep.
the next day they go to a cave. she seems scared, so he helps her up and down some narrow steps. eventually, they kiss.
i don't know if this was his game all along. but even if it was, i think she very much wanted it, as it is an expected human behavior and she has very limited knowledge and options.
they go back to his place and start to have sex. but when he tries to penetrate her, something goes wrong. she panics and grabs a light and mirror, looking into her vagina: there is nothing there.
**********************
here is where she dies a violent death:
she is next shown running away in panic into the forest. i don't know what her plan is, if she has one. maybe she went to the forest to bide her time and figure out her next steps.
either way, she runs and runs, until she runs into another man in the woods. he is 'very nice,' asking her the same questions she used to ask her prey. "do you live around here?" "are you alone?" "what are you doing walking here?" until they part ways.
she keeps walking, but seems weary of the man, unsure if he is really gone. finally, she reaches a refuge for hikers and lays down to sleep.
unfortunately, she wakes up to the man SAing her until she fights him off. she runs into the forest again, eventually reaching a 16-wheeler on the road. she attempts to drive it away, but the keys are gone, and the man turns up: it's his truck. she runs away again, but he catches her and tries to SA her again.
in the process, he ruins her skin suit.
he backs away confused.
she staggers forward, removing the suit, and revealing an almost vanta black alien body. she gazes at her scarlett johanssen mask, clearly in pain.
the man comes up behind her, throws gasoline on her, and lights her on fire.
she dies in a clearing in the woods. it is implied that the handler will eventually find her and dispose of her body due to the smoke signal caused by her burning body.
**********************
and this is why i think she dies as a human woman, regardless of her alien body.
she chose humanity. she chose to stop harvesting humans. she chose to save that man and run away, knowing that her handler might find her. she chose to live as a woman, even after experiencing some of the horrors of being female-coded in society. and then she died as a woman after being SA'd by a man.
everybody shut the fuck up the transgender ferengi is the most important character on Star Trek everyone else can die
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Persona 4 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Persona 4 Protagonist & Investigation Team, Dojima Nanako & Persona 4 Protagonist, Dojima Ryotaro & Persona 4 Protagonist Characters: Persona 4 Protagonist, Investigation Team (Persona Series), Dojima Ryotaro, Dojima Nanako Additional Tags: Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Queer Themes, Domestic Themes, Canon Rewrite, atlus wronged my children, I'll fix it, Fix-It of Sorts, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Long Live Feedback Comment Project Summary:
Through a twist of fate, Ryotaro Dojima asks his sister to send her son to Inaba a week early, so that he and Nanako can adjust to having a stranger in their lives before the school year starts.
Then they discover his sister had no son at all, but a daughter instead.
Orihime Narukami is ready to start over fresh in a town that knows nothing about her struggles or her history. Is Inaba ready for her?
