Forgive me for being ignorant, but Iāve always been scared about asking this question because itās 2020 and I should be aware by now- but what does trans mean? If youāre a trans-boy does that make you a boy thatās transitioning to a girl? Or a girl thatās transitioning to a boy? Every time I look it up I seem to be getting a different answer. And how does sexuality fit in? I hope Iām not being offensive... I just never learned and havenāt had the courage to ask anyone until now.
Please donāt worry, people are not BORN with knowledge. It is something other people might benefit from remembering too ^^ I can tell you ask the question in good faith, and I am flattered that you thought that I could give you trustworthy information.
The question you have is a very simple and yet complicated question, so PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR SIMPLIFYING THINGS DOWN LIKE THIS.
1. What are gender, sexuality and sex?
Let us first look at this question using a pizza. Dough is one thing, cheese is another, and so is tomato. Together they make up a pizza. But what makes the dough ādoughā,Ā has nothing to do with the cheese.
Cheese NOT on a pizza is still cheese, and the fact that it is cheese is likewise NOT determined by whether the tomato is there or not. All these things are āindividual thingsā that are the āingredients that make up a pizzaā.
This may seem bullshit talk, but this just serves as a metaphor to understand how different things exist on their own, but are indispensable in making up another ācombinationā. (Smart-asses out there, donāt pretend to be smart by being willfully obtuse or pedantic for now, please.)
Now let us look at gender, sexuality and sex, wherein gender is the dough, sexuality the tomato, and sex the cheese.
In humans too, gender, sexuality and sex are three different ākey ingredientsā that shape the basis of who we are (the margarita pizza. Only later we add the toppings like olives, meat, or pineapples (which are kinks! Not for everyone, but much beloved by its lovers.))
In a human too, just like dough, tomato and cheese, āgenderā, āsexualityā and āsexā exist separately, and do NOT determine the ānatureā of the others.
Step 1. There are 3 primary questions to ask.
Q1a: What is your gender? Who do you identify as? Do you identify as man, woman, otherwise, or different genders depending on the day?
Q1b: What type of person are you interested in romantically and/or sexually? Men? Women? Both? All genders that exist? Or are you not romantically/sexually interested at all? (There are too many different sexualities, so I shall leave it at this for now.)
Q1c: What āsexā, or with what primary genitals were you born with? Upon birth, doctors see our genitals and label āboyā or āgirlā on us depending on what genitals they see. Some children are born with āintersexedā characteristics. And depending on the doctor again, someone is then labeled āboyā or āgirlā again. (This too is a topic for another time.)
Step 2. In order to understand what ātransgenderā is, let us look at Q2. āCombine the answers from Q1a and Q1c. Do you identify as the āsexā your doctors assigned to you at birth?
Hypothesis: Letās say you were born with a vagina, and your doctor therefore assigned you to be āa girlā. Are you comfortable with being a girl/woman, and do you feel that correctly reflects your identity too?
Yes. ā”You are probably ācis-genderā.
No. ā” This is a VERY broad thing here, but most crudely, if you feel like being labeled āgirlā because you were born with a vagina does not reflect who you really are, and you identify as āmanā, āsomething elseā or āalso something elseā, you are probably ātrans-genderā.
Bonus: If you identify as āotherwiseā or specifically as āneither man or womanā, this is usually called ānon-binaryā. If you feel like you are sometimes one gender, and sometimes another, that is usually called āgender-fluidā. āNon-binaryā and āgender-fluidsā are two of the many options that fall under the umbrella of ātransgenderā too.
2. Simulation through āBlack Butlerā
I have selected Nina Hopkins as our first example because she is one of the few character from whom we know their gender identity, AND have one clear established gender she is romantically/sexually interested in.
Q1a: Honestly... Nina canāt shut up about how proud she is to be a woman.
Q1b: Given how antagonistic she is towards men and how she fondles women... she probably likes women.
Q1c: For metaphorās sake we shall assume she was born with a vagina. So her birth was probably announced with the words āitās a baby girl!ā
GENDER: Nina is proud to be a woman, and seemingly happy to be assigned as such. Therefore she is a cis-gender woman (or cis-woman).
SEXUALITY: Who someone is sexually/romantically interested in is by NO means determined by your sex or gender. So Ninaās sexuality is an altogether separate category. The only part that has SOME role is āgenderā, but ONLY in the ānameā that someone gets. Namely: Nina identifies as āwomanā. Nina likes āwomenā. A woman who likes women is āa lesbianā. Hence, Nina is a cis-gender lesbian.
PIZZA: The pizza identity of Nina is probably a pissaladiĆØre. Caramelised onions, anchovies, garlic and olives? Strong flavour to the point of choking, not for everyone, but VERY beloved by its lovers.
Now let us look at Grell, a character who is surrounded by many controversies, even though she is arguably one of the least gender ambiguous characters in the Kuroverse XD. Unlike for Nina, questions Q1a to c can easily be filled in without too much hypothesising.
Q1a: Grell has said multiple times in the manga that she identifies as woman.
Q1b: Grell likes MOSTLY men with potentially some rare exceptions (Madam Red???).
Q1c: Grell was born with a penis and assigned to be āmale at birthā.
GENDER: We see that Grell was āassigned male at birthā, but is uncomfortable identifying and living as a man. Rather, she constantly calls and presents herself as a woman. Hence, Grell is a transgender woman. (Dear Anon. Yes, we call somebody by their āpreferred genderā, not their āoriginally assigned genderā. Letās just say that Grell for example would never let anybody call her a ātrans-manā. The thing of coming out as transgender is partially to ābreak away from your āassignedā gender and living as your ādiscovered true genderā.)
SEXUALITY: We donāt know for certain whether Grell was romantically interested in Madam Red, but we do know for sure that she is 99% of the time interested in men. Grell identifies as woman. A woman who likes MOSTLY men, but maybe very occasionally other genders, is probably bisexual or pansexual. Hence, Grell is a trans-gender bi-/pansexual woman.
PIZZA: Grellās pizza identity is indisputably PIZZA HAWAII. Fight me. Endless controversies and debates about FUCKING PINEAPPLES!! Not for everyone either, but people who love this pizza will defend it TO THEIR GRAVES!
Sebastian.... is a whole different can of worms, cockroaches and tarantula spiders... BUT SINCE I HAVE OPENED IT BEFORE ANYWAY, LETāS OPEN THIS AGAIN!
In this post I have touched upon how we cannot be sure Sebastian is āmaleā, much less assume he has a gender to begin with. But there are no characters in this series that are confirmed to be neither man or woman, let us use Sebastian just to add to our simulation test here.
Q1a: Sebastian has said that āhe is nothing, but can become anyone.ā
Q1c: The genitals he was born with was probably āblack goop miasmaā, but in his current human form he probably concocted a penis.
GENDER: Eerm... he is āmasculine presentingā, FOR NOW... but as Sebas has also said that āhe is nothing and can be anyoneā, and can take the shape of even a table... Iād say itād be unreasonable to assume he identifies as a gender we know of. Gender, after all, is a purely human construct. (Click here for more details on gender and human society.) Hence, IF according to human standards, then Sebas would be non-binary and/or gender-fluid. As discussed above, these two fall under the ātransgenderā umbrella.
SEXUALITY: So far in the series we have only met 1. humans, towards whom he has not shown any romantic or sexual interest (and as humans are cattle to Sebastian, this is very understandable), and 2. reapers, towards whom Sebas has also not shown any romantic/sexual interest (and since all these reapers are actively after his blood, that is quite logical too.)Ā
āWhat about Ciel???ā Short answer: LOL. Click here and here for the full answer.
āWhat about Beast?ā Short answer: Nope. Click here for the full answer.
PIZZA: The pizza identity of Sebas is CLEARLY a quattro formaggi. Someone as cheesy as him can only be a quattro formaggi.
Welp... I guess thatās the most schematically simplified version I can give on gender, sexuality and sex for now... I hope this helps?
For more, please use this masterpost on gender in Kuroshitsuji.
What is YOUR Pizza identity? Let me know which pizza you are and why (ļ½”ā¢Ģį“-)ā§š