#nightpool

Electric blue water. Midnight air.

“Race you across.”

They dive at the same time.

They surface tied.

“I don’t lose.”

“Neither do I.”

“That’s the problem.”

Some competitions aren’t about winning. They’re about ego.

Timberleg

-Field Colony Mentor-in-Training

Parents: Amberyes and Volefur

Siblings: Lilyfire and Peach

Timber and Fire were the first litter that Ambereyes and Volefur had together. While Ambereyes decided to stay with her kittens as a permanent Keeper for the colony, Volefur couldn’t have shown much less interest in his newborn kittens if he had tried. Timber was sad to not have his father around much, but at least there were so many other wonderful cats to look up to! Timber was much like any kitten, playful and curious, but even from a young age, he enjoyed watching and learning from what he observed adults doing.

When little Night was found on the edge of Field Colony territory, Timber was the first to make friends, at least, after she was no longer confined to Mistysnow’s den. Night had a lot to catch up on to be a New-Claw with him and his sister, Fire. She didn’t know anything about being in a Colony! But that was okay, because it meant that Timber could show off all his favorite places to play, and tell Night all his favorite stories, and show off how fast he could run and pounce things! Becoming friends with Night, and teaching her all the things the Keepers had taught them, was perhaps the first time Timber considered making Mentor his future path.

This is a common misconception—transmisogyny is a term for the intersectional application of both transphobia and misogyny to policing "womanly" bodies and behavior. Since there's not really (in most societies) such a thing as "structural misandry", there can't be an equivalent term—or at least a non-speculative one.

(in reference to my tags on this post. Well, part of them.)

Transmisogyny isn't defined as transphobia that affects specifically trans women, but it's mostly synonymous with such. After all, the intersection of transphobia and misogyny pretty much only affects trans women.

(And other TMA people, but transmisogyny was not actually the focus of that tag commentary, and it was tag commentary, so I hope you'll forgive that simplification.)

More importantly for my commentary, transmisogyny is often used and recognized as the word for anti-transfem transphobia. Regardless of the formal definition of transmisogyny, it's colloquially used that way.

As you say, there's no structural androphobia, so the intersection of transphobia and androphobia isn't a thing in reality. That's why there's no equivalent to "formal" transmisogyny. In turn, that's why there isn't a term that's trickled down to be the equivalent of "colloquial transmisogyny".

But people still want words to talk about anti-transmasc transphobia, which obviously exists and isn't just transmisogyny without the misogyny. (Arguably it's transphobia with a different twist of misogyny, but that's an argument for another time.)

So people who want to talk about that gender-swap the term "transmisogyny" to make something like "transandrophobia". AFAIK, "transandrophobia" and similar words don't have any formal definitions, at least not from people who realize that structural androphobia is not a thing.

Nightpool, Ranger of Field Colony

Only Spottedshadow had ever known the truth. Nightpool had needed to tell at least one Field-lander the true identity of her kittens’ father in case anything went wrong, and she’d known Spottedshadow would understand and protect her secret. She had never been more sure that she’d done the right thing.

Nightpool doesn't really remember life before Field Colony. She barely remembers being a Kitten. Sometimes it feels like she woke up one day as Spottedshadow’s first new-claw.

She truly enjoys her life in Field Colony. It's safe. She has community and order, and the Colony treats her no different than any other member. And cats like Spottedshadow, Timberleg, Lilyfire, Goldenpelt, and Mudnose are so dear to her that she couldn't imagine her life without them.