a most peculiar fan

I feel this hardcore, and also the reverse (Thor fans who are, uh, disdainful of Loki to put it mildly), and the really maddening thing is that it wasn't always this way. Idk how long you've been around the fandom, nonny, but before TR those were very much both minority opinions, and most people in fandom appreciated both Thor and Loki, even if not necessarily equal amounts, or at the very least gave them a fair shake in their criticisms. I don't know whether things changed because of the death of the ship (it is much harder to flat-out despise one half of your ship, although I'll grant there are some that manage it; generally speaking, if you ship it you kinda have to see them through each other's eyes, and as we all know, if Loki has zero fans it'll be because Thor is dead, and we also all know that no one loves Thor as dearly as Loki does, even if he also hates him sometimes) or if it is due more generally to the way that travesty of a movie fucked up the canon beyond all recognition or imagining, such that people can now fool themselves into thinking that Thor and Loki's stories aren't intertwined in a way that makes them essential to each other. Or maybe it's just that the vast majority of the people who did care about both characters saw the writing on the wall wrt future canon installments and fucked off to greener pastures (probably a smart move, but alas, I am too dug in to leave), so now the voices of the annoying haters are clearly audible where they used to be drowned out by more sensible conversations. (I am still salty about it. Obviously.) Or maybe the whole internet and fandom culture has just gotten shittier in the intervening years. It definitely seems like nuance and thoughtful discussion are on the wane everywhere.

I am not sure which of those options is the truth of the matter. Maybe a bit of this and that and the other? Either way, I feel ya. As a Loki fan who finds Loki almost painfully relatable (and who thus can't not love Thor), seeing Loki fans publicly stroking their Thor-hate boners makes me feel like I'm in the fucking twilight zone. Like how can y'all miss the point so badly. Honestly bizarre.

So my hypothesis here is that what’s gone is the ship, the glorious mass of lovers in the centre who might have a favourite, or related to one of the boys more than the other or whatever, but mostly were here for what they got from the both of them together. They were the art makers and the gif makers and the writers, and the periphery did not ring so loud.

I guess many of those shippers realised the MCU wasn’t going to keep feeding their passion and moved on. I understand. In theory, because I realised that too and I’m still here. And so are a few more of us and I love you all individually.

It’s been a bad few years all around but I still think they are an incredible pair with infinite dramatic and sexy potential and I intend to get back to writing them when health allows. I know there are still readers out there because some write back, bless them. It’s terribly hard having to adjust to being a smallish fandom when your ship was the pride of the armada and the entertainment media shipped it with you, but that’s not why I’m here, and I know that goes for all of you still here.

So a note to put my heart at the feet of the incredible artists still putting out new art and writers writing and gifmakers editing through their own difficulties and overall depressing mood. You guys are more precious and priceless than ever.

Love

I appreciate your tags but like, please don’t do this.

Cis women being transphobic to trans men isn’t Just Transphobia™. Cis women target trans men specifically, because they know they can get away with it in more spaces.

A cis woman being transphobic toward trans women, or trans people in general, is going to be seen as a transphobe. They’ll likely, and rightfully be criticized and/or ostracized from certain spaces because of it- especially in most feminist circles. If they want to be a part of mainstream, non-TERFy feminism, they’re gonna have to meet some bare minimum behavior expectations where that’s concerned.

But when cis women are transphobic to trans men, most people won’t even notice it’s transphobia at all. Plenty of people will even cheer them on:

Trans men get acne and oily skin on T? Men are so nasty! Trans men have bottom dysphoria? Lol, just like a man to be insecure about his penis! Trans men are sexually abused at higher rates than any other gender and we’d like that addressed? Men are so whiny and fragile! Fight the patriarchy!

They’re women! They’re feminists! when they say horrible, violent, stomach-churning, bigoted shit about trans men, they’re just railing against their own oppressors. It’s justice!

There are so many more insidious forms of this, too.

Cis women who infantilize us and try to revoke our autonomy are seen as “allies”, because they’re only trying to protect us!

Cis women who fetishize us as small, soft, effeminite versions of “real men” are still seen as “trans allies”. It sounds so positive; who wouldn’t want to be seen as inherently sweet, safe, and pretty? Who wouldn’t want to be grossly othered and fetishized for qualities we are stereotyped to have? Surely not the men who already have to fight tooth and nail to define our own relationships with masculinity and manhood.

Cis women who quietly refuse to use make reproductive healthcare more inclusive, who go on making that fight about Women’s Bodies, who continue to say things like “men can’t understand misogyny” and include trans men in their “kill all men” jokes… well, they’re just affirming your gender!

Why would trans men want equal access to healthcare? Why would trans men want our suffering acknowledged? Why would trans men, the group with about a 50% rate of attempted suicide, not want to be told that everyone else would prefer we were dead?

Feminism!

This isn’t even touching on the very intentional predation of trans men by cis women. Trans men and transmascs are targeted by cis lesbians in particular for corrective rape, and by abusive cis women as “easy targets” due to the lack of support networks, resources, and community for trans men and transmascs.

These things are said and done by cis women who tout themselves as “trans allies”. These are women who share those “share to make a TERF mad” posts and call themselves “TERF destroyers”. These are women who say “trans women are women”. These are women in your spaces, and in your community; people you follow and admire. They’re even people I follow and admire; women I’ve followed for years have called me a misogynist for pointing out the problems in things like “men can’t know what it’s like to be expected to have children”.

Image #1: The first post edited to say we have really allowed cis to get Far too comfortable being transphobic

Image#2: Picture of a train on its side next to train tracks, i.e. derailed.

Only to find out that that’s not true, because his eyes are red.

When he shifts, his eyes are green because so is his magic, so is his very being.