The Hind End of Space

Why is ‘trap’ considered bad?

relenawarcraft:

mtfproblems:

Answer from the mods at MTF Problems:

““Trap” implies a deceitful trans*girl. It’s very offensive to be called a ‘trap’ because no trans* girl wants to just be “that girl with the penis”, which is what ‘trap’ means. It’s not a nice term, and none of us (the mods) like the term, nor do we agree with it or condone it with our friends, family, significant others, acquaintances, and etc.”

Answer from the lovely Chloe:

““Trap” implies a deceitful trans*girl.” Worse than that, it implies Deceitful Guy pretending to be a girl just to get straight guys to feel attracted to them. It suggests that the only reason we would be Trans* is that we want to trick people into arousal. Trap means, “That guy who looks like a girl.” rather than “that girl with the penis”, I can deal being the latter but not the former. It’s not just suggestive of deceit. It’s invalidation. Self ID as Trap is fine imo, but the term is abused.

REBLOGGABLE BY REQUEST <3

Reblogging this cuz, well, it’s important.

see I was a stupid kid once and used that term for myself.

If you remember me about five years ago, I was a hella camwhore/attention whore. I posted pictures of myself that I really shouldn’t have all just for the attention.

These days, I regret the hell out of it. I damaged any chance of a reputation I could’ve had simply by being a stupid teenager on the Internet. Yeah, we all were, but my face was attached to it. The Internet isn’t written in pencil, it’s written in ink, as they say.

I really wish I never used that term, and could just go back in time and smack myself.

Why is ‘trap’ considered bad?

mtfproblems:

Answer from the mods at MTF Problems:

““Trap” implies a deceitful trans*girl. It’s very offensive to be called a ‘trap’ because no trans* girl wants to just be “that girl with the penis”, which is what ‘trap’ means. It’s not a nice term, and none of us (the mods) like the term, nor do we agree with it or condone it with our friends, family, significant others, acquaintances, and etc.”

Answer from the lovely Chloe:

““Trap” implies a deceitful trans*girl.” Worse than that, it implies Deceitful Guy pretending to be a girl just to get straight guys to feel attracted to them. It suggests that the only reason we would be Trans* is that we want to trick people into arousal. Trap means, “That guy who looks like a girl.” rather than “that girl with the penis”, I can deal being the latter but not the former. It’s not just suggestive of deceit. It’s invalidation. Self ID as Trap is fine imo, but the term is abused.

REBLOGGABLE BY REQUEST <3

Reblogging this cuz, well, it’s important.

see I was a stupid kid once and used that term for myself.

If you remember me about five years ago, I was a hella camwhore/attention whore. I posted pictures of myself that I really shouldn’t have all just for the attention.

These days, I regret the hell out of it. I damaged any chance of a reputation I could’ve had simply by being a stupid teenager on the Internet. Yeah, we all were, but my face was attached to it. The Internet isn’t written in pencil, it’s written in ink, as they say.

I really wish I never used that term, and could just go back in time and smack myself.

“I’m not transmisogynistic, I have FTM friends!” is the equivalent of saying, “I don’t hate black people, I have Asian friends!”

If you misgender one of your trans friends and they call you out on it, do not, I repeat, do NOT get defensive. Why? Because doing so makes it look like you think them being trans is their fault. It is not. If you get called out on this, apologize, tell them you weren’t thinking (not that you “slipped”), and ENSURE that you will not let this happen again. Thinking before you speak isn’t as hard as it sounds.

Thank you.

Homestuck cosplay and double-standards

relenawarcraft:

So I’ve been into Homestuck for about seven months now, and in that time I’ve obviously cosplayed from it several times. Part of my reason for getting into Homestuck was the fact that the fanbase seemed more accepting of trans* individuals. I mean, I used to joke that like 75% of the Homestuk fandom was trans guys, but damn, I sure know a lot of trans guys who like Homestuck. Anyway.

I figured this would be something I could cosplay and not have to hear rude comments from other fans saying “ARE YOU A GUY???” or whatever. 

Well… those comments didn’t stop.

But it bugs me so much here because there is a LOT more sensitivity when it comes to the trans male side of things. 

I’ve had one friend who IS FTM get asked “Are you FTM?” and another friend who is a cis-female that cosplays male characters a lot hear “What pronouns do you use?”. I’ve never been asked “Are you MTF?” (which, admitted, is still rude, but less rude than ARE YOU A GUY) or if I use a specific set of pronouns. Sometimes, people outright LAUGH AT ME when I open my mouth. That’s goddamn rude.

Keep in mind I’m not trying to put down FTM cosplayers or whatever. Heck, trans guy cosplayers make the best Homestuck boys (what are the Homestuck kids? PREPUBESCENT TEENAGERS. What are FTM youths? Well… PREPUBESCENT). I’m just saying that extra ounce of consideration needs to go both ways. 

Reblogging this in the hopes of signal boosting.

Homestuck cosplay and double-standards

So I’ve been into Homestuck for about seven months now, and in that time I’ve obviously cosplayed from it several times. Part of my reason for getting into Homestuck was the fact that the fanbase seemed more accepting of trans* individuals. I mean, I used to joke that like 75% of the Homestuk fandom was trans guys, but damn, I sure know a lot of trans guys who like Homestuck. Anyway.

I figured this would be something I could cosplay and not have to hear rude comments from other fans saying “ARE YOU A GUY???” or whatever. 

Well… those comments didn’t stop.

But it bugs me so much here because there is a LOT more sensitivity when it comes to the trans male side of things. 

I’ve had one friend who IS FTM get asked “Are you FTM?” and another friend who is a cis-female that cosplays male characters a lot hear “What pronouns do you use?”. I’ve never been asked “Are you MTF?” (which, admitted, is still rude, but less rude than ARE YOU A GUY) or if I use a specific set of pronouns. Sometimes, people outright LAUGH AT ME when I open my mouth. That’s goddamn rude.

Keep in mind I’m not trying to put down FTM cosplayers or whatever. Heck, trans guy cosplayers make the best Homestuck boys (what are the Homestuck kids? PREPUBESCENT TEENAGERS. What are FTM youths? Well… PREPUBESCENT). I’m just saying that extra ounce of consideration needs to go both ways. 

Last week, I made the decision to finally come out on campus after being painfully closeted for… four years.

It’s the best decision I’ve made in recent memory.

I’d like to share one of the most humiliating moments of my life with you, followers.

and by humiliating, I mean that in a bad way. Not in the funny way.

AnimeBoston 2010, mecha panel. This is normally headed by myself and my friends Doug and Lou. Doug’s one of my best friends and Lou is pretty chill. For this panel, we brought some new blood aboard because our friend Todd wasn’t able to come. These two guys were a couple of… mechabros, I guess. We met them the last year and they seemed pretty cool. Until, well, this happened.

We were giving our introductions at the start of the panel, and I said, “Well, I’ve been into mecha for about ten years” and one of the mechabros says “And he’s been a trap for twice as long!”

He laughs, his friend laughs, and the audience laughs. I turn to my friend Doug with this look of utter humiliation and horror. Doug looks back to me with this combined look of, “I can’t believe he just said that,” and “oh god I’m so sorry for letting them on the panel.”

It really ruined my whole panel experience. Frankly, I should’ve gotten up and left right then and there. But I stayed the whole time. At the end of the panel I told him, “If you ever do anything like that again I’ll kick your ass,” which to me seemed like I was letting him off easy. 

The whole ordeal was just so embarrassing. Thanks to this asshole, I feel like my reputation is just. forever stained. This is why you THINK before you talk. This is why you EDUCATE YOURSELF on trans* issues, so you don’t end up like a huge dickbag and embarrass/out someone in front of a group of about 100-200 people!

Needless to say, we don’t let those two on our panel anymore.