Like, you don't want to be known as a trans guy. You just want to be known as a guy?

Isn't that kinda reasonable?
I'm not transitioning into a transsexual. I'm transitioning into a dude.

I'm just a dude.

It should be, but humans love labels. And no matter what we do, our past always seems to haunt us. It's not a comparison I particularly want to make, but it's like a criminal whose served their time. People are gonna still treat them differently as an ex-con, just like we treat ex-men / ex-women different .

When I was growing up my generation was all, "We hate labels! Reject labels! No labels here!"

Now kids can't get enough of labels.

It's always been about labels. It'll always be about labels. It's how humans think .

No kidding.

Not to mention the mental wear and tear of one's family and close friends trying to talk one out of it and say is just a phase and we're not really trans because so and so went through a time where they felt like that but found out differently later on. Trying to blame bad relationships as the reason one "thinks they're a guy" even though one know how they feel. I hate that people are seemingly trying to make it a fad now without realizing how it really feels to the people who really truly hate themselves for being born in the wrong shell.

Pardon the mini rant but this journal speaks to me. U.U

It's perfectly fine. I'm sorry if I brought up any bad feelings. You pretty much said everything I was thinking though.

It's alright, I've been separating myself from the people who say those kinds of things to me so it's starting to get better.

I just saw that thread on fv and read through some of the posts; I don't even understand. The creators made the characters the genders they are for a reason I don't see how turning them trans in one's head will help with some finding someone to relate to, there are plenty of other people that they can find that kind of familiarity with whom actually show that they go through the same issues? Like the whole concept is really confusing to me.

Preaching to the choir. Idiots.

I'm kind of a nobody, especially in relation to what's mentioned in this journal, but I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time with people, with experiences, etc. I wish I could offer more than well-wishes and warm thoughts, but I know surviving idiocy like that is rough.

I've got a tougher hide than that. I can survive this.
It's just bothersome knowing that I can't change anyone's mind.

Sadly not, and that's how it seems anymore. All one can do is inform and educate, and the rest falls on the recipient.

I'm not trans, so I don't know if I have much room for speculation, but I imagine it has to be because they want to be able to relate to those characters. There aren't a lot of trans characters in various canons, and so I imagine some people, most likely trans themselves, like to picture certain characters as trans simply so they can relate to them more. Typically people like to relate to the characters they see and enjoy, and when characters don't exist that match themselves, I guess they make headcanons to feel less alone?

This is all just speculation, and I'm not saying this is or isn't what people or doing. I just know I personally like to see traits I have in the characters I enjoy, simply to know it's okay to have them and whatnot, especially when they're traits people would otherwise see as weak or undesirable. I see myself as meek and shy a lot, and so when I see characters that are that way as well, I can get on their level more, and it makes it so much better when they learn to overcome those 'bad' traits and make them their own.

Sorry if I'm just rambling, I certainly don't want to bother you. XP

That's what they said, but I don't see being trans as part of my personality or even part of who I identify as.

I'd rather relate to a character based on what we actually have in common.

Y'know, I know trans people that I don't get along with at all because we have nothing at all in common except that we don't like our underthings.

And if that character isn't really trans, then it doesn't matter what you call them, you can't relate to them in that way.

What's not helping is that people frequently go by stereotype when doing it (example: it's pretty common to see people claim that Zarya from Overwatch is MTF trans), which gives more unfortunate implications than if the character wasn't trans.

What also sucks is that it's not a new thing either, as similar topics of making characters gay just to have more gay characters in media also happenspretty often, again with stereotypes as the common way of going about it (such as how Rainbow Dash from MLP is commonly considered lesbian, reinforcing the stereotype for lesbians despite how the creator of the show's intent for the series was to BREAK stereotypes).

Ignore it and move on, people's idiocy is worth concerning yourself with.

Your feelings are valid and I'm sorry these peoples perspectives and attitudes bother you so much.

... however, I feel I must mention that ones personal feelings about a particular thing should never be put up on a flag and paraded as the one and only "TRUE" way to feel about something, and calling people who see and feel differently about it names, and projecting hate upon them for it is nothing but counterproductive.

- - -

On my profile , one will see that I am identifying myself as "Trans-Curious".

As a young boy, I was ALL BOY. Sports, Toy Guns, Camo Pajamas, a playhouse with a 'No Girls Allowed' sign on it ... I wasn't overcompensating for hidden feelings or anything like that back then. It was who I was back then, and who I wanted to be. Gradually, over the years, girls and women (mostly my sister and her friends) called me out on being TOO Pro Boy and Anti 'Girly', and chip by chip, I felt embarrassed by how often they were right ... shifting to more of a neutral perspective. Then, after a particular self-discovery moment during puberty, I could never again say I was "All Boy" inside anymore. So, for years and years since, I have been quietly reflecting inward and felling this emotional slider slowly move further and further across the gradated color scale out of the deep blue into the purple zone, and now, in just the past year or two, I've noticed I'm creeping dangerously close to that center line where I will feel more girl than boy. I have stopped having any desire to have a MALE avatar to represent me when I am allowed an anonymous identity online, in forums and online games, and just in the past few months, I realized that the thought of someone calling out to me and addressing me as "Miss ..." put's an appealing flutter in my heart in a way it never did before. ... and I'm honestly Starting to PANIC. I don't know what to DO with these feelings.

I have been a Boy/Man all my life and confidently identified as such for most of it. Now I'm starting to think I may want/need to change that in some way in the coming years, if these feelings continue to progress along this path. Who I am inside has changed.

Now, though I have not (yet) viewed a character and fantasized about them secretly being trans, either girl-to-boy, or boy-to-girl, I can TOTALLY understand why someone would, if they identify with that character having characteristics they admire, and would like to have as that gender, or for completely different reasons I don't personally relate with.

Now, because of my personal story, I obviously have NO IDEA how it feels to be someone who has felt they were the Wrong Gender their Entire Life. I DON'T know what it's like to feel that pain and self-hatred every moment of every day. Even the lesser intensity of that I'm feeling now has been slowly building over decades, and only in the past two years or so has begun to feel like more than I can bear in silence.

Because of MY personal experience, if I ever decide to make a public transition, the concept of being known as "Trans" is not an awful, ugly word to me. I am a Man, who has identified as a Man, who is (potentially) 'Transitioning' into a new stage of my life where I am best identified otherwise. The Transition IS my story. It's who I have become, and what my life has made me.

Desiring 'Trans' stand-ins and role models in popular media is not "stupid" or "insulting" ... it is a perfectly valid expression of a DIFFERENT perspective on equally very REAL emotions.

I am a Human Being in a very confusing state of emotional Transition. "TRANS" (or at least "Trans-Curious" at this current stage) is a valid and accurate description of how I feel about myself right now ... and just because the word and idea is painful and insulting to YOU right now, does not mean there are not OTHER ways to feel about it that are Equally, often Painfully Real for others, like myself.

Just my 2 Cents.