I can’t believe in the year 2020 i’m seeing ‘genderbending is transphobic’ posts on my dash.

As a trans nb person– no. Look. There’s nuance. Saying ‘all genderbending is transphobic’ is just incorrect. 

Are there genderbends done in a way that’s transphobic or harmful? Absolutely, yes. There are people who erase a character being trans or change character’s sex just to make a ship more palatable to them, or just in general are in poor taste or fetishy. There are ones where they change the character and personality completely as if they’d be a different person based on what reproductive organs they have. That absolutely happens.

But a lot of genderbends aren’t that. Plenty of times when I’ve seen genderbends, it’s by trans and nb or questioning people who are using them as a tool to explore gender and sex. Genderbends are a safe way to explore things without outing yourself and while you’re figuring yourself out. They’re good for playing with gender in a harmless way, because the characters aren’t real or hurt by it. 

There are nb genderbends and there are trans genderbends that keep the aspect of their transness because that is important to the character. Artists worth their salt can create genderbends to test themselves and see how well they manage to capture the essence of the character and their personality and important aspects of them, like being trans, while also shifting their gender expression. It’s a tool to further your ability to convey something even with changes, and that can be helpful too in seeing that how you present doesn’t necessarily have to change who you are (esp for people who are genderfluid and the like).

So. unfollow, block or blacklists artists who use genderbending in a harmful way, but try not to throw out blanket statements vilifying everyone who uses them. If they make someone as a trans person uncomfortable, that’s valid way to feel, but that isn’t reflective of all trans people and doesn’t mean genderbends are inherently phobic. Blacklist the tag and the word and ones like rule 63 to avoid seeing it. But try not condemn it just because some people use in a disrespectful way. 

Genderbends are not the issue. it’s the people who use them in a harmful or fetishized way that cause issues. Demonizing the tool isn’t the answer, because it makes people afraid to utilize it when in fact it can be very beneficial as a method to explore gender expression, especially for those who don’t realize they’re not cis yet.  

Honestly at this point “Genderbending is transphobic” reads as a transphobic dogwhistle. After all, what better way to put trans people down then to limit their ability to safely explore gender. Its calculated and hidden under the guise of being “woke”

When I first saw a post about that years ago, I reblogged it, thinking ‘oh i dont want to be transphobic, i better spread the word about this being bad’
And I got responses from trans people about how badly this was hurting them because they could no longer explore gender expression in their art. This was especially bad for those in the closet or were questioning.

Yes!

It’s so easy to make it sound like it’s actually a harmful thing, but that line of thinking does feel like it’s underhandedly trying to remove a tool that a lot of people find helpful that belong to that group. Most trans people i know, including myself, don’t have any problems with genderbends. It can be as harmful or beneficial as any other tool, depending on who uses it.

Genderbender stories helped me figure out a lot about myself, and without them I’d probably still feel like I was defective and broken. I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s true for. 

One of the things that struck me about the first post was saying the point should never be debated or argued. Not even by trans people. Think about that for a moment. Someone saying only my voice matters is someone that doesn’t care about anyone else’s well being. 

By all means, if it makes you uncomfortable you don’t have to read them. You don’t have to like anything you don’t like. But if you tell everyone they’re bad for doing or liking something that has given comfort to gender non-conforming people says more about you than them.