#trans panem

I usually go back and forth but mostly i always imagine that (in the capitol, at the time of tbosas at least) actually getting the resources for transitioning is a very very bureaucratic and medicalized ordeal that has the capitol putting pressure on people's bodily autonomy, probably informed by the heteronormative we see in the book, while simultaneously parading the fact that you even CAN technically transition as benevolence on their part and as a mark of civil society that you "can't really get in the districts", or something vague like that.

I'm sending this right before falling asleep so if there are any mistakes that's on me lol.

Have a nice day !! ^^

It's funny because I wrote my answer the same day you sent this question, the thing is that to translate and publish then there was no time. I'm not complaining either because I think or I hope my answer is now more coherent because I summarized and ordered it.

So I totally agree with what you say, there is only one detail in which I would like to deepen. In general when I think of Queerness in Panem, I tend to think there are 3 major times (that clearly could be more if you think about it in more detail but since I tend to be almost exclusively someone who talks about TBOSAS, these serve me well.)

Ravinstill (Before the dark days), Transition (Post war) and Snow (Rise to power 1QQ). There is a lot to say but briefly about Ravinstill:

> Low Birthrate (in the Capitol and Districts it was a concern).

> Interconnectedness of Panem (Allowed people in the districts to move up in social class or seek better quality of life).

> Queerness is not criminalized but expected to assimilate to heteronormativity.

I think the trans experience in Panem is often reduced to transmedicalism. You need a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, the label is usually reduced to people on hormone treatment and there is pressure on practicing surgeries, not like for real people pressuring others but as you say the bureaucracy is hell and I think it's quite likely that if you don't pass, they will put more obstacles in your way.

I also think in this the Capitol and the districts were not that different. There are obvious benefits to being from the Capitol, I think they have the privilege of being able to transition younger, in the districts you need the age of majority, likewise I think there are certain districts where the process exists and is easier than in others. Personally I think before the war people could leave D12 say to move to D4, in theory you could transition in your district of birth but the bureaucracy is probably more robust, people in the ability to do the process maybe need to borrow a doctor from D13, you have to fill out the application for them to come in and adapt to their schedule, etc. I'm making things up but I mean there are districts (the poorest and most brutalized) where the process is practically impossible but then there are others where it's simpler, and I think that would promote a migration like creating support groups, people maybe helping others, which is bad in the end for your authoritarian government ah.

As transmedicalism is a thing, whether we want it or not, I think it's very much related to the medical service in Panem and I tend to believe that after the war they put great restrictions on access to medications, health care in general, so any hormone/surgery issues for the districts get totally buried. Or excessively limited, it happens gradually, until there is nothing.

The games influence because they are totally binary, so years later unless you are someone in the district filthy rich and you plan to transition to fully assimilate into the stereotypes of gender, there is no way. On the case of being trans specifically bureaucratically and institutionally it is something that ceases to exist in the districts.

Not really of course, people will live the experience, people will leave the binary of the conception of male and female gender, will go from one side to the other and it will be something else, but talking about can you change your name in your documentation? Mostly by the time Snow gets there the answer is an absolute no.

Because that's not real. And if it's not real there's no reason to waste resources on that.

In a similar way I think it happens to gay marriage, as of course in theory it exists, you can do it but it doesn't grant the protections or the pseudo property rights or benefits that heterosexual marriage does. So does it exist? Is it real?

Not so much. Not like in the past at least. No one will stop you from doing it but it will be so bad that it will discourage many from doing it, on the other hand being trans is something that Capitol will boast of owning because this rebelliousness of "escape the gender," this freedom to modify your body is something that only "evolved" people have the right to, but they are the ones that can conceive of.

If I like to think maybe for 2QQ or Katniss the Capitol allows more neutral or androgynous expressions, but a little exotified, a little going beyond the limits of the body, more where the body is altered for pure aesthetics and property value. I think out of those big old money families, the other capitols are not owners but their body is their currency. A little bit Bowery where a lot of people see it and think it's idle. That vibe but also male and female can expand, they can get bigger to be able to capture as many as they want in those boxes, something to take into account.

I hope some of this makes sense.

Ah just wanted to add that I always say post war makes Panem a stricter, more solemn, more heteronormative place. Mentors to me grow up in a more rigid world than their parents but with their children and grandchildren it becomes "open" again but well that's only for a few in Panem. During the war specifically when there is the siege people from the Capitol later demanded reparations because if they were receiving hormone treatment it was stopped during this time, then I can see how with pensions people that were affected they gave compensation but in a very limited way ah, a very shitty way.

i also think transness in the capitol would be held to an almost "stylistic regard," dehumanizing it into a fashion choice rather than a personal euphoria. in the districts, it's more shunned & looked upon as wrongful experimentation. people in the districts would be more likely to harm themselves with bodily mutilation due to not having the resources that the capitol have in order to affirm themselves.

would love to know if you have any more thoughts ika! you help to sustain a queer panem way more than anyone i know 💗

Well first I apologize for the delay I'm usually quite turtle when answering questions and also when they are about a topic that I have too many thoughts about I do something like verbal vomit in chat, then I see the mess and I have to let it rest but we are back!!!!!

In general yes, I totally agree, as I'm pretty dumb with hard science stuff I usually stay away from proposing more specific things (because I love the futuristic aspect in Panem, really a trait that I feel we don't explore enough just that I usually steal stuff from sci-fi sagas hahaha because again proposing them myself from 0, it's kind of scary for me because I recognize the limits of my knowledge) but what you say I think makes a lot of sense. Especially in the efficiency of the procedures, I really think that for example if we talk about hormones, I think maybe they are still being used but in faster ways, it's like I knew something that once they were injected, then taken and now there are in gel, surely byt that moment they have other less intrusive applications, and the effects, what would take us years for sure in them translates into a month, a few weeks even.

The same with surgeries, as I think several would still exist but again it is only more efficient, the recovery times are certainly shorter, there are several gender affirmation surgeries (and in general plastic surgery) that usually need very long recoveries but it is quite possible to put on cat ears takes the time to inject the lips, or one close to. And I think especially with what you say about prosthetics, and the dna thing, how it would work for transmasc because I have seen that some people consider their procedures are more limited at least for today, sure they have more facilities for that time, plus I am part of the group of “Gaul created the mpreg,” because she could, as she would put uteruses to those who want, and at least with one oc I have, Hadrian and his child Erinna, I got to talk about that I think babies in lab (and eugenics) would be very popular in Capitol.

What you say about "dehumanizing it into a fashion choice rather than a personal euphoria." more like really is an interesting point because I think if we go something like transmedicalism, plastic surgeries, and trivialization, it's kind of like you know the controversy that's usually involved when certain people get their noses done, like poc people erasing their ethnic traits (and the nose is usually one very indicative of let's say of these traits), that distinguish them and a lot of times replacing their noses with noses that we know a specific group of people have (very much a white american), because I think maybe there could be a trivialization of trans there couldn't there?

Where just more than people looking to be true to themselves, to who they want to be (I think of this cute line from a movie, you are most authentic when you look like what you dream), it's just something that people will change just to be trendy, to fit in society (like kylie lips? those kind of trends, where all of a sudden people take a trait that would normally be mocked in a group and now it's a “thing” that everyone can have and should have because it makes you more attractive?) ironically, for the sake of being attractive, and so maybe certain groups in general would downplay the value of such an experience, since "you're not really trans, you just want to be this trend" or worst "be trans is just to be trendy."

I don't know if it makes a lot of sense but I think it's an interesting concept how there's a bit of this double-edged sword of some pressure to assimilate (as want simply go from A to B, those very rigid gender expressions and other topics), and those who don't assimilate are seen as totally shallow people who can't be taken seriously. And at the same time some people accept and promote that, unconsciously that they are not people, that they are more objects of consumption and that's fine as long as they feel comfortable with their look but is that how they are really comfortable? do they really feel more free? (for example. sexualization - objectification and people trying to get gender euphoria from it and tend to end in relationships with people that deshumanize them bc people usually tell them they are undesirable).

Regarding the districts, yes!! I think it's plausible there would be cases, and it would also be an argument that could be used against people who express dysphoria or dissatisfaction to the rigid genders and want go beyond. It could be related a little, perhaps even with a certain ableism, as there is rejection and dehumanization of people who are disabled, so the idea that someone wants to change their own anatomy / did try and end affecting such body is seen with great rejection and even considered something totally crazy to do because "if you're healthy, why do you want to mutilate yourself?" It's a bit reminiscent of the fact that any body that is not 100% functional has no value, and if it goes outside a certain norm, it loses it again such worth.

I also think it would be a vulnerable group with high suicide rates, more than anything because in the face of inaccessibility to transition, that's what usually happens, such as the possibility of clandestine businesses, people falsifying documents. In small districts maybe not, but think about the larger ones. Moving internally, as far as I remember, was not prohibited, so there could be many cases like those that are recorded in past, of people who, until they were dead, were "discovered." And that's it, I think, sorry in advance if something is confusing, hope you like my answer and thanks!! thats very sweet from your part.