lainpilled

Transfeminine readings of Anthy are a good way of weeding out bioessentialists who believe a story about girlhood and patriarchy must strictly be about cis girlhood - when in reality, everything that Anthy represents can just as easily, if not more suitably be applied if she is a trans woman.

She’s able to pass as a man perfectly and no one suspects a thing. She’s held to perform femininity to impossible standards - demure, polite, submissive, never speaking up for herself. Even as she suffers because of it, her womanhood is still very important to her, and she longs to fulfill the ideal of a princess - something she can never have, because The Princess within the context of RGU is a patriarchal construct that excludes her, just as Utena cannot be a prince. She’s constantly bullied, othered and mistreated by the other women and girls in the series, like there’s something distinctly other about her. She’s abused, vilified, sexualized, adultified, and treated like an object. She’s constantly painted as the aggressor, the scapegoat, the witch. Anthy is a trans woman of colour with all that implies.