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stardust_rifleTrying to explain why I don't like certain kinds of Supernaturally Validated Trans Person stories. Stick with me here.
Okay, so the ones that I do like, or at least I'm okay with, are the ones that star trans people who already know they're trans, like, I think the SVTP moments in School Mermaid/Magical Girl Site were fine (and the one in magical girl site was pretty subtle) and there was one Furuba fic that I really liked with trans girl Ritsu that basically centered around a SVTP moment, but anyway, I'm getting off track.
The ones that I don't like are ones where the Supernaturally Validated Trans Person doesn't know that they're trans and it's the Supernatural Validator, like, reading their soul and telling them "you are A Girl". That just freaks me out.
I think, on some fundamental level, I don't see "your true gender is inscribed on your soul" as being any different from "your true gender is inscribed on your brain" or "your true gender is inscribed on what's in your pants" or "your true gender is inscribed on your chromosomes". It just seems so restrictive. Like, "everyone has one (1) gender, it is something fundamental and inherent to them in their Heart of Hearts and they will always Become that gender eventually" doesn't seem any less restrictive than "everyone has one (1) gender, it is determined by what they were born as, and NO you can't decide to change it for Reasons".
Maybe it's that I just don't like Born This Way as a rhetorical position. Like, it's undeniably effective, or else this author wouldn't stop being subjected to it, but it just doesn't get at the heart of why being queer is okay. "Well, we can't make the queers stop being queer, so I guess we have to stop because it's impossible to unqueer someone, also it isn't their fault that they're queer" just strikes me as. Bad.
It suggests that if someone just up and decided that they would like to be gay or trans or *insert whatever shit we're going to be fighting over ten years from now*, that would be wrong, because, well, if the only reason we're not supposed to discriminate against queers is because they were Born This Way, and if this particular queer wasn't Born This Way, then we can discriminate against them! Right!
*Tangent, but I'd put good money that "whatever shit we're going to be fighting over ten years from now" is going to be legal recognition of poly relationships.
Okay, so the ones that I do like, or at least I'm okay with, are the ones that star trans people who already know they're trans, like, I think the SVTP moments in School Mermaid/Magical Girl Site were fine (and the one in magical girl site was pretty subtle) and there was one Furuba fic that I really liked with trans girl Ritsu that basically centered around a SVTP moment, but anyway, I'm getting off track.
The ones that I don't like are ones where the Supernaturally Validated Trans Person doesn't know that they're trans and it's the Supernatural Validator, like, reading their soul and telling them "you are A Girl". That just freaks me out.
I think, on some fundamental level, I don't see "your true gender is inscribed on your soul" as being any different from "your true gender is inscribed on your brain" or "your true gender is inscribed on what's in your pants" or "your true gender is inscribed on your chromosomes". It just seems so restrictive. Like, "everyone has one (1) gender, it is something fundamental and inherent to them in their Heart of Hearts and they will always Become that gender eventually" doesn't seem any less restrictive than "everyone has one (1) gender, it is determined by what they were born as, and NO you can't decide to change it for Reasons".
Maybe it's that I just don't like Born This Way as a rhetorical position. Like, it's undeniably effective, or else this author wouldn't stop being subjected to it, but it just doesn't get at the heart of why being queer is okay. "Well, we can't make the queers stop being queer, so I guess we have to stop because it's impossible to unqueer someone, also it isn't their fault that they're queer" just strikes me as. Bad.
It suggests that if someone just up and decided that they would like to be gay or trans or *insert whatever shit we're going to be fighting over ten years from now*, that would be wrong, because, well, if the only reason we're not supposed to discriminate against queers is because they were Born This Way, and if this particular queer wasn't Born This Way, then we can discriminate against them! Right!
*Tangent, but I'd put good money that "whatever shit we're going to be fighting over ten years from now" is going to be legal recognition of poly relationships.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-09 12:39 am (UTC)Like, personally, I've found that trying to tell someone "hey you're probably queer" does NOT work. At all. Just leads to a fight or something. I can't imagine that having the authority of reading souls or whatever would change that at all.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-09 09:13 am (UTC)(Seriously, I agree with you.)
no subject
Date: 2022-10-09 10:19 am (UTC)You're right, it really is just more determinism. Like, people can't change your nature is just to be what your nature is, whether it's biological or spiritual or whatever.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-09 01:25 pm (UTC)(would be fun to write something with a trans protagonist where amab people having Verifiably Female Souls is a thing, she doesn't have one, and is going to fucking be a woman anyway)