He's hilarious, is what he is. Beyond that, I don't really care what particular kind of gender fiddling he might be doing or if he's just a pretty boy with interesting fashion sense.
I'm dying. Funniest chapter yet.

Whatever their gender is, I already love our new chaotic gremlin.

Really hope this is "hes a trans man w/o top surgery" and not.. any other option... besides maybe they are misgendering a trans fem character and eventually they will stop doing that

I'm inclined to think Yang is transmasc due to how accepting and queer friendly Peach Town (or at least Mu Xiaoen's bubble within it) has been shown to be so far. Like they have a conversation specifically about how these gendered terms are more important socially than they are strict biological tags, right? Somebody does not need to be your AFAB biological older sibling to be a Jiejie. So surely the labels can be flexible in other ways as well, like respecting the gender of your trans little brother.

Maybe I'm overly cynical but I'm inclined to think exactly the opposite in this case for the same second reason you used. The thing you mentioned with non-family using familial terms is normal in China (and most East Asian or Southeast Asian cultures), or at the least it's very normal in manhua in particular. I've seen many where this happens. Sometimes another character will ask for an explanation of why they use this term for that person, but half of the time I feel that's purely for the reader's sake.

And this flexibility in familial terms does -not- typically extend to other things like sexual orientations or gender identity in places like China (or most East Asian or Southeast Asian cultures). It's obvious for us to connect the extension of one term to the potential extension of others, but it's probably not obvious for the author. I also think that authors in these environments are focusing on inclusiveness but for a sort-of selfish reason - they're often including themselves. A decent chunk of Yuri writers in Japan are lesbians, for example (not even remotely all of them, likely not even 25%, but it seems to be a sizeable minority, especially amongst amateur writers). Writing can be escapism, or it can be intentionally writing something you know is escapism-ish for a community in need of it.

But maybe I'm not giving the author enough credit. We shall see.

Whatever their gender is, I already love our new chaotic gremlin.

Also agreed!

last edited at May 8, 2024 9:07AM

This little "brother" has titties, I wonder what type of explanation we'll get next chapter

This little "brother" has titties, I wonder what type of explanation we'll get next chapter

They don't though? At best it's ambiguous, considering clothing detailing etc.

last edited at May 11, 2024 8:06AM

This little "brother" has titties, I wonder what type of explanation we'll get next chapter

They don't though? At best it's ambiguous, considering clothing detailing etc.

Yeah I'm not seeing the "titties". The brother looks a bit androgynous, in part due to clothing. That's about the only thing that really comes to mind when I think about it, but it's nothing surprising to me as there's a lot of variety to how people dress and look. I was only surprised by the brother announcement because I'm so used to new character introductions in romance series revolving around drama, love rivals, EXs, and so fourth. So my surprise wasn't over the "brother" part and more so that the new character is family haha

This little "brother" has titties, I wonder what type of explanation we'll get next chapter

They don't though? At best it's ambiguous, considering clothing detailing etc.

Yeah I'm not seeing the "titties". The brother looks a bit androgynous, in part due to clothing. That's about the only thing that really comes to mind when I think about it, but it's nothing surprising to me as there's a lot of variety to how people dress and look. I was only surprised by the brother announcement because I'm so used to new character introductions in romance series revolving around drama, love rivals, EXs, and so fourth. So my surprise wasn't over the "brother" part and more so that the new character is family haha

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_dear_lass_ch54#7 here is where it most suggests that? two dark contour lines and the way the light falls in the rendering of the color of their top suggests something there. regardless.

I'm not convinced of this discussion that we shouldnt categorize or impute transness tbh. The idea that gender binary, or at least portions identifiably "Western", of it, are an import, which by extension means misogyny/patriarchy with all the consequence that has upon transfeminine individuals? just doesnt accurately describe many many situations. I get specific terminology doesn't map one to one. but the mechanisms of transmisogyny aren't so disparate. I can show you thousands of women in the western sphere. who on account of transmisogyny, cede their claims to womanhood in the public eye in varying degrees, whether its due to filial pressures or greater societal ones ( the family has long ceased to have been "private"). I mean for fucks sake i rarely correct strangers these days. Like very clearly, the story itself is acknowledging the regime of heterosexuality that yes, is present in China. very clearly an observable fact!! queer and trans people don't fit the measure, it's been underpinning Xingyuan's character for a long time now! I'd love if it shook out to be a transmasc character but like the narrative trope in their introduction is still "wow you sure were fooled by everything about their presentation, from the way they looked and spoke, you were wrong, haha it's a boy actually" is not great. it is in fact falling on transmisogynistic tropes.

again i'll say that i trust this author a lot. that said. its not outside the scope for anybody to drop the ball and default to the impulse of transmisogyny. maybe its 1 misstep in the grand scheme of this portrayal, but its still there and its still a warranted criticism, and one made in the intent to communicate, "hey this reads off to trans ppl" not to moralize ones enjoyment of it or whatever.

last edited at May 13, 2024 5:03PM

This little "brother" has titties, I wonder what type of explanation we'll get next chapter

They don't though? At best it's ambiguous, considering clothing detailing etc.

Yeah I'm not seeing the "titties". The brother looks a bit androgynous, in part due to clothing. That's about the only thing that really comes to mind when I think about it, but it's nothing surprising to me as there's a lot of variety to how people dress and look. I was only surprised by the brother announcement because I'm so used to new character introductions in romance series revolving around drama, love rivals, EXs, and so fourth. So my surprise wasn't over the "brother" part and more so that the new character is family haha

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/my_dear_lass_ch54#7 here is where it most suggests that? two dark contour lines and the way the light falls in the rendering of the color of their top suggests something there. regardless.

I'm not convinced of this discussion that we shouldnt categorize or impute transness tbh. The idea that gender binary, or at least portions identifiably "Western", of it, are an import, which by extension means misogyny/patriarchy with all the consequence that has upon transfeminine individuals? just doesnt accurately describe many many situations. I get specific terminology doesn't map one to one. but the mechanisms of transmisogyny aren't so disparate. I can show you thousands of women in the western sphere. who on account of transmisogyny, cede their claims to womanhood in the public eye in varying degrees, whether its due to filial pressures or greater societal ones ( the family has long ceased to have been "private"). I mean for fucks sake i rarely correct strangers these days. Like very clearly, the story itself is acknowledging the regime of heterosexuality that yes, is present in China. very clearly an observable fact!! queer and trans people don't fit the measure, it's been underpinning Xingyuan's character for a long time now! I'd love if it shook out to be a transmasc character but like the narrative trope in their introduction is still "wow you sure were fooled by everything about their presentation, from the way they looked and spoke, you were wrong, haha it's a boy actually" is not great. it is in fact falling on transmisogynistic tropes.

Continued:

again i'll say that i trust this author a lot. that said. its not outside the scope for anybody to drop the ball and default to the impulse of transmisogyny. maybe its 1 misstep in the grand scheme of this portrayal, but its still there and its still a warranted criticism

I'm not really sure if you're directing what you're saying at me specifically or if you're making more general statements. As I'm saying I'm not really seeing the breasts my self, art can be tricky to define, and I'm not thinking about the character's gender all that much, outside of the passing thought that the brother looks a bit androgynous to me. My main point was that my initial comment where I was surprised about the new character being a brother was more so specifically that the new character is family. I would have been equally surprised if the character was a sister or any other family relation.

Though I do feel like your comment is in some way meant to correct me and you're angry with me. I don't feel the need to defend myself or apologize as I don't think I've said anything wrong, rude, or offensive. I'm presently going along with the story and seeing how things unfold, I don't have any real assumptions about where things will go from here. Maybe the brother is transgender, maybe the brother is just her brother and that's how the brother looks. I just figure we'll see what happens but I'm not thinking too hard about it myself. All I can say in closing is that I hope if the brother is transgender that the author handles it well.

last edited at May 13, 2024 5:07PM

i was more reffering back to the general discussion around this character being "dont claim this is transgender/dont categorize this person" than you specifically

last edited at May 13, 2024 5:10PM

i was more reffering back to the general discussion around this character than you specifically

Fair enough, have a nice day

i was more reffering back to the general discussion around this character being "dont claim this is transgender/dont categorize this person" than you specifically

Dunno if some posts got deleted or something but I'm not seeing anyone saying anything like that here. I've certainly seen it happen plenty of times on this forum, most recently with "The Guy I Liked Wasn't A Guy At All" and people being weirdly aggro towards anyone with a trans interpretation of Mitsuki. But I've not seen anything like that for My Dear Lass.

Also if you interpret the character's physical depiction as having a more feminine silhouette (and I do at least) then it poses a question about which of these is more likely:
1) a transfem kid in China got HRT but her queer family members do not respect her gender identity, or
2) a transmasc kid in China does not yet have access to any sort of transition care but his queer family members at least respect that he's a little brother instead of a little sister.

2 seems more plausible to me. But I think we'll probably find out the answer as soon as the next chapter is out, lol.

i was more reffering back to the general discussion around this character being "dont claim this is transgender/dont categorize this person" than you specifically

Dunno if some posts got deleted or something but I'm not seeing anyone saying anything like that here. I've certainly seen it happen plenty of times on this forum, most recently with "The Guy I Liked Wasn't A Guy At All" and people being weirdly aggro towards anyone with a trans interpretation of Mitsuki. But I've not seen anything like that for My Dear Lass.

Also if you interpret the character's physical depiction as having a more feminine silhouette (and I do at least) then it poses a question about which of these is more likely:
1) a transfem kid in China got HRT but her queer family members do not respect her gender identity, or
2) a transmasc kid in China does not yet have access to any sort of transition care but his queer family members at least respect that he's a little brother instead of a little sister.

2 seems more plausible to me. But I think we'll probably find out the answer as soon as the next chapter is out, lol.

I don't think there's any comments that have been deleted discussing the recent chapter, at least not to my knowledge anyhow.

just other off site discussions around this as well.

hehehe :3

have i missed something? how can he be her brother if they don't have the same parents? (they're my mom and dad! page 2) or is this just another one of those confusing family terms in chinese? like everyone calls mu xiaoen grand-aunt, even if she's not everyone's grand-aunt.

yeah little bro definitely has tits in this chapter lol

Such a fun chapter. Niu Xiao Yaang makes everything infinitely livelier.

have i missed something? how can he be her brother if they don't have the same parents? (they're my mom and dad! page 2) or is this just another one of those confusing family terms in chinese? like everyone calls mu xiaoen grand-aunt, even if she's not everyone's grand-aunt.

Good catch. Good question.

last edited at Jun 2, 2024 7:01AM