#and this is without going how femininity is assumed boring and lacking depth in fandom...

[bitter-rabbitholes]

petty grievence, I wish people stopped portraying lizzy as a basic prep girl without ever engaging the complexities in how she present femininity. usually it's just "oh she's just default girl trait"

But we don't ever go into how lizzy herself doesn't believe she conforms to what she thinks is the ideal femininity, especially the strict margins of femininity in the victorian age or how that clashes with our concepts of femininity now.

she strives to become a perfect lady, modeled after her mother, a mature, well-mannered woman, but her wants and needs are always clashing. she doesn't wear high heel shoes for girls her age, envious of them, and instead wears flats to foil her fiancé's mature appearance. she used to consider herself flawed as a girl, for attending fencing lessons instead of dancing halls. she's terrified of appearing scary, like her mother, and disarms herself outwardly as possible.

and the facts are, lizzy's a natural hyper, bubbly girl (and girls being energetic is something to be punished) so even when she's trying to fufill the model of a lady, she's so enthusiastic that it often blows up in her face.

But yeah I guess she likes the color pink and bows... is that all worth investigating???

Like what is she into mainstream stuff? genuinely or does she just follow trends because she's afraid of standing out?

does she like extravagant lolita fashion, overdone with flowers and sparkles and bows? to find comfort in femininity when she has to sacrifice elsewhere? to hide her maturing body in childish accessories?

does she prefer to look like the older women in her life she's admired for so long instead of playing as a "girl" all the time? modest like her mother? mature like her aunt ann? perfect like rachel?

does she actually prefer to wear pants at times because she's gotten so used to it? is she more of a tomboy than what's she comfortable to admit? has lizzy ever presented as she likes?

#like lizzy not living up to a 'default girl' is exactly why she's in so much turmoil rn #writing this after witnessing hundreds of kuro aus and hcs #with so much details for all the characters and how they would act in say a modern au #and just shoving lizzy in as 'girl' likeee #I don't think she would wear miniskirts lol #and this is without going how femininity is assumed boring and lacking depth in fandom... #its so interesting delving into femininity and how it's structured just trust me guys #take my hand #a whole new world #kuro #elizabeth midford #b.txt

[pa-cha-ran]

trans leorio?

So, if you only wanted my own headcanons or a simple “yay!/nay!” response from this, I’m super sorry, but I’ve actually never brought up trans headcanons or trans topics in general in my fanfiction work to date or on this blog. So, basically, I’m gonna over-explain.

Forgive me my–perhaps inevitable–lack of proper vernacular. I haven’t kept up with American English vocab for social issues as it’s evolved. I suspect I’m missing a significant amount of the current vocabulary, but I’m going to try to share my opinion to the best of my ability.

First, for my perspective on trans anyone, ever, in fanwork (bias to fanfiction):To me, at the end of the day, a writer will write a lot of themselves into their work. It’s an important step in development, especially if more character-driven stories are the goal, because it helps force you to reflect on yourself and your opinions and how they were formed so that you can create believable character depth. So like, you should include topics and themes that resonate with you, and which will motivate you to create and connect and reflect. If making a character trans is important to a writer, and it’s something they want to represent or work through in their writing, then they should go for it. Why should anyone stop that?

At the moment, tho, I approach a lot of trans centered work in fandom [as much as in real life] with kinda low initial expectations. Like a lot of social issues, trans headcanons got sorta trendy and performative on tumblr before, and there were some bad takes that got embedded in how some people without a ton of real life experience thought trans topics should be framed. Since fanwork tends be done by primarily amateur creators with varying levels of real-world experience in anything, it’s sometimes hard to tell until you’re reading/experiencing a fanwork if it’s actually going to be a worthwhile representation, straight up fetishization, or just another mediocre thing that is a repetition of everything that already exists and is popular and has unofficially become “the [safe?] way to write trans characters” for that a fandom. (The last one is what I mean when I say it feels like a performance sometimes–by performance I DO NOT mean that “kids/teens” are deluded or trying to be popular. It is more like you feel as a creator you are walking on eggshells, like you have look up the proper script of a group’s representation or you will be told you are representing that group wrong regardless of your own experience.)

This all said, I’ve mainly only had an issue with the tendency a while ago (dunno if this is still popular now) to get aggressive with headcanons (trans or otherwise–you guys gotta calm down) and impose them on others to try to get a rise out of them. (Or so I assume because I legit have no idea what the goal is when folks antagonize people for zero gain online except for like? In-group clout points?) I also get a bit wary when characters canonically possessing characteristics different from those assigned by [Western?] society to their canon specified gender are way widely headcanoned as trans. At its most harmless, it just gets very boring to see the exact same trans headcanon over and over, or the same exact character always trotted out as the fandom approved trans representation, so that every fic you see with trans themes has this one character in it, always the same.

Since you want to know my feelings on trans Leorio above all other trans characters:As long as Leorio’s still the loving, caring, “attacking an old lady and then goddamn Hisoka with sticks within the span of two days” character that we know and love, then I care just the same as always. It’s Leorio; whatever gender Leorio was assigned at birth is irrelevant to me personally. If he looks me in the eye and says he’s male and uses male pronouns, I don’t go splitting hairs over it. I’m not the one who gets to set the definitive verdict on allowable degrees of masculine and feminine in someone’s gender identity. If a fan makes a headcanon of Leorio as trans, then they can go ahead and do that, because ideally Leorio would be Leorio regardless. He’s not better or worse if he’s trans, he’s just altered to what a particular fan creator feels is valuable and worth representing in their own work, be that work art, fiction, or headcanon crafting.

If you are asking if I think trans!Leorio is canon, then well, for all fanon things, it isn’t until Togashi says it is. When it comes to anything related to fanwork, however, I don’t see canon as the be-and-end-all that must be aligned with perfectly, but rather more of a jumping off point or foundation for the fan creator’s own work. I come to fandom and fanworks for reflection and to explore things that the canon will never be able to freely to delve into. Adhering to the canon so closely would be boring, because if I want to experience the canon, I can just revisit the source material.

Would I read trans Leorio? Yeah, sure, every day of the week.

Would I write trans Leorio?If I did, I would want the representation to be a bit more nuanced than mentioning he has a binder and then tossing in a few micro aggressions or something of that nature. I’m against lazily using “trans” as a trait to add interest to a character, as if diversity is some kind of an accessory you add, throw a couple bones to, and then blow off. I get to see more than enough shallow, accessorized diversity from the mainstream media itself, so like, I’m good. 

Do I have any trans Leorio headcanons? No, but then, I don’t really have any specific headcanons besides what you could infer from my fanfics, and none of those headcanons are immutable anyway.

Do I mind if people share trans Leorio headcanons with me? Nope, I don’t mind.

#patxaran replies #spritepipis #sorry i don't have a concrete answer #my issue is more how trans is current dealt with in fandom #like i don't think fandom created trans characters represent real life trans situation #but on tumblr there is always the worry people don't differentiate #actual trans representation from fanwork and trans headcanons #leorio paladiknight #trans #my opinion #ask reply #trans leorio #hxh