Plus, fandom seems to WAY overblow Taakoās femininity? In the show he only ever really *flirts* in a super lowkey way and only in desperate situations (ie Klarg), and his use of pet names is limited almost exclusively to people he doesnāt like and/or wants to distance himself from, while he calls people he ACTUALLY cares about by their real names or some variation thereof. Also in canon Iām pretty sure he only wears a skirt ONCE and itās attached to a pair for shorts. He dresses up as Captain Ron for one of the festival episodes while Merle is dressed as Ursula from the little mermaid ffs.
Ā When he calls LupĀ āLuluā she gets ANGRY at him, and he reacts similarly when she calls himĀ āKokoā, because that is their DISTANCING TECHNIQUE, and Iām not sure he ever once is described as wearing makeupĀ
Yet content creators (and, you know what, your art is your own, do what makes you happy! But also! Letās be aware of these harmful trends!) seem to consistently depict him as overly flamboyant, ALWAYS wearing dresses and skirts, obsessive about makeup (which actually makes no sense in canon, unless Iām forgetting something, because Taakoās wholeĀ āIām beautifulā schtic has nothing to do with makeup or tricks, itās him genuinely and naturally just being the hottest person and most confident person in any given room, and what heās wearing never has anything to do with it), calling everyone by pet names all the time, and generally being LOUD in a manner thatās uniquely gay, even though in canon he doesnāt even disclose that he went on a date with DEATH, the guy who was HUNTING THEM, which would have been relevant to Magnus and Merle also, specifically because Taako is a private person and felt like they didnāt need to know this detail of his personal life.Ā
We all have different interpretations of characters, but Lup is canonically a transwoman who is attracted to men, but sheās so often depicted as so butch itās unbelievable, while Taako floats on Lisa Frank clouds and blows kisses to everyone and wears high heels and miniskirts everywhere.Ā
In some cases this shit isnāt even SUBTLE in how it fetishizes gay men, which isā¦ thatās reductive, yāall! And ignoring the femininity that Lup can lay claim to as a woman, in favor of masculine energy that coincides with her birth gender? Thatās erasure of her true gender identity.Ā
TLDR: Taako as a gay man does not and canonically should not fall in line with harmful stereotypes, and Lup as a transwoman is allowed to dress however she goddamn pleases and there is no canon evidence that sheās allergic to dresses, heels, and long hair.Ā
This justā¦ as a cis female Iām not exactly an expert on either of these identities, but I have friends who are and Iāve encountered plenty of fucked up shit on the way to discovering my own sexuality and feeling confident in my gender identity. Iāve gone into some dark spirals when it seemed like every way I turned, I was encountering other peopleās harmful ideas of what my label meant, or how someone with my label should act, and the idea that if I wasnāt presentationally ostentatious in how I carried myself, I wasnāt *really* what I claimed to be.Ā
Thatās why I canāt read a lot of TAZ fics, because while there are so many great writers out there, and Iāve read some great stories, and theyāre making the art they want to see which is great, thereās the prevailing idea that you have to continually validate Taakoās gayness with behavior like him ALWAYS being the one to wear the dress on his dates with Kravitz, or wearing big heels, and shit like that, and Lup is always some magical butch icon which is a mess all on its own.Ā
This kind of thing turns me off so much because itās so prevalent it seems to invalidate everything about your sexuality not being your entire identity, and it makes Taakoās entire existence revolve around the fact that heās Sparkly! And gay! And fashionable! and if you take that away from fanon Taako, he doesnāt exist anymore.Ā
