It seems that whenever a character comes out as trans, it provokes an intense wave of transphobia in anime fandoms. For example: non-binary person Hanji Zoe from Shingeki no Kyoujin/Attack on Titan and trans woman Grell from Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler.
Being a trans person is pretty frustrating in this society because we're still viewed as "freaks" or "unnatural." We're even thrown under the bus by cisgender (people who's gender agrees with the sex they were ASSIGNED AT BIRTH) members of the LGBT+ community! As a result, we get very little positive representation, and when what little positive representation we get is being ripped apart or discarded by transphobic people in fandoms, we get angry and upset, but rightfully so.
For Hanji Zoe, the creator, Isayama, literally says that Hanji Zoe is neither male nor female. Isayama requests that Hanji be referred to with gender neutral pronouns like they/them, or use he AND she EQUALLY. What does the fandom do? Throw a hissyfit over it, of course! I spent at least 2 hours last night on tumblr calling out binary transphobia in the fandom with nobody coming to my defense. I was even attacked by someone who I thought was my friend! It just shows that when trans people are being attacked, not even our cis (short for cisgender) "allies" will come to our rescue.
For Grell, it's even worse. The creator of Kuroshitsuji literally has Grell say that she's a trans woman and to use she/her pronouns. Trans women are some of the most oppressed people in our society. And yet right away people come out of the dirt and misgender her. Trans women are treated poorly by almost everyone-some cis feminists called TERFs (trans exclusive radical feminists) insist that trans women still have male privilege, even some trans men are horrible to trans women.
It's seriously not cool to be transphobic. If you're transphobic then you are my enemy. No ifs, ands, or buts. I refuse to be around people who will misgender me and my trans siblings.
Source for Hanji Zoe:
http://novyymir.tumblr.com/post/52666729829/on-misgendering-hanji-zoe-2-0 (this person says it better than me)
Source for Grell:
http://dweebzilla.tumblr.com/post/55901735862/this-is-a-character-confessional-written-by-yana
Hi MAtt,
ReplyDeleteInteresting how real life issues like transphobia can manifest through fictional characters like in anime. I guess that's the power of literature. We will learn about a few different topics that might apply to this such as: ingroups/outgroups, stereotypes, culture and gender. Feel free to apply anime or transgender to the topics we cover as an ongoing theme if you'd like. In the meantime, hopefully we will create a respectful atmosphere in class. In my experience, I think most students have not had the opportunity to personally get to know a transgender individual and so they don't understand. You might not be able to change to world all at once or change all of the anime community but you can influence the people you see on a daily basis. That makes a difference and you have no idea how far that influence might go.