Paper Cranes and Pride

sometimes a trans woman wins against a cis woman. sometimes a cis woman wins against another cis woman too. yet only one of them is allowed to win without facing consequences.

free the nipple points out that people with flat chests who get read as men can be shirtless in public, while people who get read as women and anyone with a chest big enough to be considered "breasts" can't, often this is outlawed. "women's nipples" are considered taboo while "men's nipples" are okay. tumblrs own rules do this too . the wording "female presenting nipple" was originally clowed on because it's ridiculous and stupid. but people forgot. a nipple doesn't "present itself" and its not gendered. some fatty tissue on a person's chest isn't ""presentation"" and it's not gendered or sexed or sexual. it is simply a body. equality means everybody should get to take off their shirts on a hot day. and nobody should be sexually harrassed or incarcerated for it.

It's not right that we never hear about people who take T to end up androgynous outside of context of "these are bad shallow transition goals, they're not taking being trans seriously". And it's even worse that we never hear about people who take E to be androgynous, because the dominant narrative is that they don't exist and any depiction of them is a mockery of binary trans women. It all also has an implication of greater safety/privilege sprinkled on top. As if it works like that for literally any trans person at all.

No shirt, no bra, completely bare torso, just like cis men are allowed to

It's about desexualizing breasts and "female presenting nipples" and not being criminalized for our bodies if we want to go topless because it's a million damn degrees out. This was a popular growing movement that was still widely known a decade ago!

in grad school one time I had a conversation with a professor during office hours that ended up with me confessing I was afraid with the rising homophobia and transphobia in the country. she said that I could always just go back in the closet and I wouldn't be a target.

cis women's fight is part of our larger fight, but too many do not want to make these connections. a cis woman will fight for the right to abortion, hormonal birth control, labor protections against discrimination for pregnancy, etc. as entirely disconnected struggles from access to other gendered surgeries, hormonal treatments, and labor protections against gendered discrimination. but they are not disconnected.

this perceived separation between these struggles is only in one direction. for example, the disparity between the percent of trans people who openly defend the right of cis girls accessing abortion at any age without needing parental consent (almost all of us) and the percent of cis women who defend the right of trans kids accessing transition care at any age without needing parental consent is stark. and that is very depressing to me.

whenever I draw obvious parallels, I get notes from cis women telling me how disgusting it is to compare our healthcare to theirs. they tell me in a variety of ways that their politically controversial gendered healthcare needs are obviously legitimate, unlike ours.

but all of our healthcare is getting criminalized and dismantled. you talk to a reactionary and they do not believe your healthcare is a legitimate need either. they also say cis women who get abortions are selfish, sex-obsessed, and a danger to children. this is the same fight and too many cis women refuse to acknowledge it.

whenever I see posts talking about defending pregnant women (not people, but women) the notes are full of transphobic cis women. I saw one the other day where a USian in the notes was saying "this is why women become republicans, because at least the right respects pregnant women." do they? how is that alliance going?

I want cis women to understand that the struggle for bodily autonomy over sexed characteristics is one struggle. insisting on this rhetorical distinction between us is a reactionary move. it calls people with regressive gender politics to your side even if you do not intend for that to happen. it reproduces the conditions that are currently stripping you of your rights, too.

(they can't describe how with any specifics. they usually do not know surgeries are often multiple-stages with multiple procedures involved, and certainly not the names for these procedures. there is never any consideration given that "difference" might be desirable or actively pursued by some, or that anyone wants an end result that does not involve pericis normative genitals at all).

that is what people have unconsciously absorbed culturally before they ever look into it themselves. all information about these surgeries has to first pass the barrier of "but I've heard it's not very good."

there is also a very common prejudice that trans people are manipulative, hiding bodily information, and trying to "lure" people into transness.

when this baseline "common sense" about bottom surgery (that it is bad) is conflicted by information from a trans person (who by default is imagined to be manipulative, hiding information about it, and trying to lure you), people's initial reaction is to assume the trans person is lying and attempting to coerce people into surgery.

it creates this paradoxical position where no one who has actually had these surgeries are taken seriously, and only people who have the least accurate medical information about trans people's bodies are trusted to speak about them. the less you know about healthcare, the more "objective" your descriptions.

[ Click here to participate ]

It's open until 19th July 2026, and it's open to anyone whose gender(s) (or lack thereof) defy the restrictive binary of male/female.

Reblog for SCIENCE~~~

But now I'm post-op and like, what? I just get to feel even more excluded from that sort of celebration? It's mostly just all encompassing, like it is nearly the totality of what constitutes celebrating trans bodies, with a teeny tiny exception carved out for transmasc bodies which I am absolutely not qualified to have an opinion on, not even gonna try, and damn near nothing for post-op transfems.

The thing that gets me the most is porn. Sure, it contributes to the feeling of unwelcomeness that nearly every post that gets slapped across my dash is about The Gock, but I don't seek that out. I'm not out here looking for text posts about how cool gock is, I haven't had one for 7 years. But I seek out porn. And any time I see porn that depicts transfems, even when that porn isn't fetishizing transness, the thing that defines a transfem is her dick. Aside from literally one instance, I never see a girl with a scar on her abdomen, I never see a cross section of a pussy with no womb, I never see someone with two holes and an estrogen patch. It just isn't there.

And on one hand, it feels like I don't deserve to complain, that I'm lucky to have even gotten to have surgery, but on the other hand, fuck you! I get to complain about shit like this, I get to complain that the overall atmosphere of transfem sexuality necessarily including gock, I get to complain that this shit makes me feel like surgery was a mistake even though if I take a couple hours off social media and think hard about it, I don't have any real regrets, I get to complain that when transfem bodies are celebrated, that almost never seems to include my transfem body. I get to complain that trans representation doesn't represent me.

Guys who use trans tape and need more than the two tiny rectangles you can easily ignore that everyone always draws! Guys with massive bazongas who cover their entire chests in tape, and still have boob, just flatter! Like I get where people get the tiny rectangles design, you see pictures of people who can do that all the time on social media and drag kings... but I also see plenty of pictures of people who need loads of tape! Including on trans tape's official marketing and boxes! And yet I only ever see art of one of these things. I wonder why.

But now I'm post-op and like, what? I just get to feel even more excluded from that sort of celebration? It's mostly just all encompassing, like it is nearly the totality of what constitutes celebrating trans bodies, with a teeny tiny exception carved out for transmasc bodies which I am absolutely not qualified to have an opinion on, not even gonna try, and damn near nothing for post-op transfems.

The thing that gets me the most is porn. Sure, it contributes to the feeling of unwelcomeness that nearly every post that gets slapped across my dash is about The Gock, but I don't seek that out. I'm not out here looking for text posts about how cool gock is, I haven't had one for 7 years. But I seek out porn. And any time I see porn that depicts transfems, even when that porn isn't fetishizing transness, the thing that defines a transfem is her dick. Aside from literally one instance, I never see a girl with a scar on her abdomen, I never see a cross section of a pussy with no womb, I never see someone with two holes and an estrogen patch. It just isn't there.

And on one hand, it feels like I don't deserve to complain, that I'm lucky to have even gotten to have surgery, but on the other hand, fuck you! I get to complain about shit like this, I get to complain that the overall atmosphere of transfem sexuality necessarily including gock, I get to complain that this shit makes me feel like surgery was a mistake even though if I take a couple hours off social media and think hard about it, I don't have any real regrets, I get to complain that when transfem bodies are celebrated, that almost never seems to include my transfem body. I get to complain that trans representation doesn't represent me.