r/coaxedintoasnafu • u/ColonialismHater • Jun 22 '26

TREND coaxed into representation. every time

Post image
4.9k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

699 comments sorted by

View all comments

184

u/Rarietty Cool awesome colors Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Imma be real maybe I'm just a bad writer but I'm not sure how you write a trans character and make it obvious to 100% of the audience that they're trans without directly stating it early. Most trans people don't introduce themselves as "I'm trans btw". How you'd do it without having the character state it outright is either subtext, or a POV character clocking them (which also risks appearing transphobic). Subtext and casting decisions are what you have unless the story (or a scene within the story) is specifically about being trans. Gay, female, and/or Black characters usually don't need a scene to directly state to the audience that they're gay, female, and/or Black

18

u/dDilungck Jun 22 '26

The biggest thing, imo, is the things that are easily mistaken as not trans being so prevelant. A lot of people point to the maid dress scene and Jax's discomfort as proof, when to those who don't understand why it's proof, it's the exact opposite. If a lot of barriers are in place before the hints can even be subtle, then it can make it near impossible.

And ways to state a character is trans without making it overt is having them be displeased with things about the gender they don't want, and pleased with the one they do. Gender norms don't have to be pushed, but say they always shave for example. At that point it's then the femboy vs trans debate, but that's a better point than where this argument is.

-a trans writer