🌟Rosin🎀

Two things I’m going to talk about: Jax’s view of Gangle, and Jax’s view of women and himself.

TLDR ABOUT GANGLE:

Jax’s main focus with Gangle isn’t that he wants her for pleasure, it’s that he’s able to manipulate her DESPITE him viewing himself as being “lower” on the social hierarchy than her.

The Fast Food adventure MASSIVELY changed how Jax saw Gangle; where before he saw someone who he could bully incessantly with no pushback, that adventure was the one time Gangle actually fought back against his torment of her, and won. She successfully intimidated him into working under her, and when he disobeyed, she actually followed through with a threatening, violating punishment. (And yay Gangle! Go her! I hate Jax.)

The “worker re-evaluation” punishment probably wasn’t meant to be on the level of workplace sexual assault, but because Jax’s mind always takes things to extremes, he interpreted it as such. And thus he began to view Gangle as someone who had humiliated him and stripped away his power, which is his worst fear in the world. That’s why he deflects and masks and runs away from everything- because he’s horrified of being humiliated or not in control.

So when Gangle, someone he previously thought was weak and pathetic, was able to humiliate him, his ego was bruised so badly he had to shift how he viewed her in his head to convince himself he still had power over her. So now he associates he with that challenge, or her being his boss. His confidence comes from being able to manipulate who he perceives as an authority figure, or higher power. It’s not that he actually is attracted to Gangle or wants her in his bed, he wants the feeling of being able to manipulate someone who has control over everyone else. Because that tells him that his control extends beyond the established social hierarchy, and that brings him a lot of satisfaction and comfort.

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NOW FOR HIS VIEW ON WOMEN:

Jax’s closeted transfem identity DIRECTLY INFORMS his misogynistic behavior and mindset. I don’t know why so many people think that trans characters MUST be morally good in order to exist. That’s so dehumanizing imo, because at that point you are ignoring the fact that they are a human being with intelligent thought, and automatically assume that a trans or queer person are inherently more “pure” or “good” BECAUSE of their identity. Bad people exist and are bad people, no matter if they’re trans or not guys. Rant aside- let’s get into it.

Jax was heavily influenced by toxic masculinity growing up, which is why the idea of femininity or even being transfem is so humiliating to him. He was taught that if he can’t be a strong man, then he wasn’t worth anything. His repression of his transfeminity only adds to this, and makes him even more uncomfortable and angry in himself, which he takes out on other women out of jealousy.

Toxic masculinity was a cycle he was caught in from the beginning which is why he’s so hateful to women. He is perpetuating it by constantly bullying and despising all of the girls in the circus. Not only was he taught that women were lesser than men from a young age, but he harbors even more hate because he has repressed his identity for so long. He looks for control in women because he’s unable to control his true identity, and he believes that by asserting his dominance and reaffirming his masculinity, his “urges” will go away, or at least be stifled. Furthermore, because he was raised to be a “strong man”, he represses his emotions, doesn’t know how to communicate, isolates himself, and festers with his internal despair until it all culminates in, as we know, su!cide, or Abstraction. And that’s when he loses all control.

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