Forum › Posts by ceciliasol

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

I'm not going to answer this point by point, just here to say that...

People who have dicks are guys

it is a abnormal state.

Being homosexual doesn't need being diagnosed, but being trans does,

Gender identity disorder is a mental illness

Transgender people have a disorder between their body and mind

...based on the things you say, and on the opinion you have of transgender people, I don't feel it would be productive to pursue this debate with you. Also, funny how you say I'm "imposing" my opinion that trans people aren't sick, but you're doing the exact same thing by saying we are.

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

I find the story in Mermaid Line pretty good, and there's stuff I like in Double House and....um....Honey & Honey I guess?

Double House is beautiful. Someone just commented in the forums about Cotton Candy Love, and it's really nice, although slightly triggering (the sexual harassment bit).

I like Mermaid Line, it's got some really sweet moments, but the way I see it, it also has a few problems (1 - "gender identity disorder" is patologization; 2 - It says several times that Aika was "born a boy", "physically a boy", "born in the wrong body", those delegitimize trans people like me who don't feel in the wrong bodies, just in the wrong imposed gender; 3 - saying that a trans woman using women's clothes is "crossdressing" is odd;). Also, it's hard for me to relate to Aika because she's just too stereotypically feminine, and well, I'm not at all ^-^.

As for Honey & Honey, my only problem with it is transgender men always being referred to as "FtM", rather than as "trans men", but this one's ok, I guess.

last edited at Apr 15, 2017 2:01PM

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

I'd like to comment on a few misconceptions about transgender and intersex people that have come up.

she is just teens highscooler, can't imagine she/he use hormones or surgery.

I know a few cases, usually people do these things on their own, without professional help. I know people who hid their HRT from parents, and I also know some who have been abandoned by family and had clandestine surgeries paid by pimps (thereby contracting unpayable debts). Some of these are as young as 12 years old.

After thinking a bit, she can't be a transmale (a real life one), because the "penis" wouldn't work the way it's hinted it does here. Basic knowledge about post-op transmales.

It's not unheard of.

She responds to being called a girl, but doesn't seem to have problems with using her male genitals to have sex. Which seem odd for a trans woman. Everyone is different, but when you identify as a woman, your male genitals become a reminder of your predicament.

That's not a rule. Some trans women are triggered by their genitals, some aren't. There are those who won't use them in sex, there are some who will use them, but not for penetration, and then there are some who'll use them for either purpose. Also applies to transgender men. Being trans doesn't necessarily mean you have to hate your body or anything (but it happens somewhat frequently).

I'd rather label her as "intersex", because she has features of both genders

Editing because I misread (sorry, my bad). Well, transgender people do have them too.

some are born with biological body that doesn't match their gender identity which can be diagnosed by doctors

Actually, you can't diagnose. Medicine currently uses the DSM and CID classifications of "gender identity disorder" or "transsexualism" to try and separate "real trans people" from those who "aren't real". This approach is flawed, people who have been diagnosed based on medical criteria sometimes detransition, and many people who don't fit the criteria are just as transgender as me or anyone else. There's a strong international movement towards the depatologization of transgender identities (let me remind you that lesbians, gays and bisexuals were once under the same diagnosis criteria, but have since then been recognized as real by most of society without the associated disease stigma).

they win a rare disease

Err... kinda horrible to refer to transgender people as diseased, don't you think?

And if transgender people in Dynasty want to find stories to relate to, I'm sure there's more than enough here already.

Actually, there really aren't. There are just a few transgender stories in here and many of them are really really transphobic. People tend to reproduce several stereotypes when talking about trans people. I've actually related more to "Catulus Syndrome" than to many of the stereotyped trans characters in here.

last edited at Apr 15, 2017 12:12PM

ceciliasol
Transgender discussion 14 Apr 19:41
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

For the sake of the discussion, I'll keep it in English, but I am from Brazil too and cannot even begin to imagine how hard it is to be in your shoes. Mainly because of the seemingly infinite problems appearing in our politics and politicians. To start with, because of all those problems, it doesn't really matter what you call yourself, you're probably going through hardships, adding that on top, and that we need to take care of other problems first, or else our country will simply be hell for everyone and that won't solve your problem either, or rather, it would probably turn it into an even worse problem. I have to say, though, that most of those people, especially here, that say they defend LGBT are just trying to get political support to do whatever corruption business they have in mind, so I'd at least suggest you be really careful with everyone.

The current political scenario isn't very promising for lgbt+ people. Legislative politicians are mostly conservative, even sex education at schools is being banned (let alone lgbt topics). Frankly, I don't have much hope for politics around here anymore.

But I really think we should get on topic now, or nez might get angry at us ^-^

ceciliasol
Transgender discussion 14 Apr 18:50
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

Dear Avery,

As a queer trans woman myself, I support everything you wrote. A lot of it reflects my thoughts as well and it... I don't know, kind of resonates with me. I can feel a bit of your pain in what you said. I've once or twice tried to point out transphobia in Dynasty, just to have almost everyone tell me that I don't understand or that I'm a nuisance for staining a good love story, so I get that feeling. LGBT communities everywhere are far too often a breeding ground for transphobia and biphobia, and most cis people don't care about us at all (heck, I was silenced inside a LGBT community on college even when the topic WAS transgender people).

Having seen worse in terms of online communities, I do say I'm quite happy for the people who have been coming to our support in the forum lately. It probably wouldn't have happened a few years ago, so I guess things are changing. Far too slowly, that's true, but changing. Although I live in Brazil and the situation around here just seems to get worse by the minute (Fora Temer!), it wasn't so long ago (1960s) that the military government patrolled the streets day and night arresting and murdering trans women. A few decades later, we've got minimal health care and I'm even allowed to register my real name at some banks and at college, so things do change.

I can't imagine what it's like being raised by a terf mother. I know what they can be like for people like us. After I came out my family was... well, less than supportive, but they came around with time and it was a big help for me to be able to count on them. I do wish I could give you support as well. I don't know where you're from, or what you're going through, but if I can be of any help, you can count on me (add me fb.com/solentreasnuvens).

As for dates, have you tried going out with other trans people? After I came out, I've dated seven people, five of which were transgender. It is very satisfying to find other people who share similar experiences to your own, and who will no doubt recognize you by your gender identity regardless of your body (precisely because you're doing the same to them). We tend to get rejected a lot by cis women, but trans women have given me nothing but love (although I did fall for a couple of straight trans women and suffered from it lol).

All in all, I hope things turn out well for you (and for your love life). I wish you all the best.
Cecília.

last edited at Apr 14, 2017 6:55PM

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

Actually, we do. Let me remind you all that Tomboy wasn't originally intended as a transgender movie, but it ended up consagrated as so by the transmasculine community. I studied communication theory in college a while back, and one thing I've learned was that the author has absolutely no control over how their work is going to be interpreted by others (see the lovely book "The Open Work" by Umberto Eco for a reference).

I think what they were trying to say was, the tags should be left factual and not based on feeling or opinion. You are free to feel any way about a work regardless of official statement or stance from the author, but factually, the author has the final say.

I understand that. What I meant is that "factual" is relative to the context. In the Tomboy example, if we simply took the director's opinion on the matter, we'd be left without a great movie about trans men. Say, for example, that we had a story with an amab (assigned male at birth) character that clearly identifies as a woman (including, for example, undergoing HRT and seeking judicial name change), but the work itself had been marked as "crossdresser" by the author. It would still be a story about a trans woman, because that's how we would see the character. At the end of the day, how a work is perceived by people is far more important than the author's original intentions.

BUT, this is not the case here. This work is pretty ambiguous, and the discussion has been going on for a while, so I agree that seeking the author's opinion could be one way to settle the debate.

ceciliasol
Transgender discussion 14 Apr 15:19
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

a short cute Transgender work, by p-reavz

https://exhentai.org/g/1000754/b709d69ff8/
or
http://g.e-hentai.org/g/1000754/b709d69ff8/

So cute! <3 Thank you very much for this.

last edited at Apr 14, 2017 3:19PM

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

You do not get to decide what this comic /is/ because you are not the author.

Actually, we do. Let me remind you all that Tomboy wasn't originally intended as a transgender movie, but it ended up consagrated as so by the transmasculine community. I studied communication theory in college a while back, and one thing I've learned was that the author has absolutely no control over how their work is going to be interpreted by others (see the lovely book "The Open Work" by Umberto Eco for a reference).

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

I was confused when I saw both trans and futa tags in this. I agree with Nez and the others that this feels more like a trans story. But whichever one it is, it's a nice story. Why did it end so abruptly, though? Only 8 pages?

Oh, Vivian, I'm a trans girl too, nice to meet ya! <3
I get why you're angry, but in this particular case, I'd say it's really not worth the trouble. We need to fight for recognition but we also need to learn to protect ourselves. I'm a medicine student, I get transphobia in lessons every other day, if I'd let it all get to me I'd have quit graduation long ago.

scrhodinger futa

ROFL.

If that's the case, then I definitely agree with the Transgender and Yuri combo.

Yay! <3

last edited at Apr 14, 2017 2:01PM

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

Aww... too bad.
Thank you very much for the response.

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

I'm in love with this story. Are there any still untranslated chapters?

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

Title of the chapter, "導火," is translated here as "Fuse" though a friend told me that it literally means "Starting Fire." If that's the case, it's a really fitting title for the chapter.

I think he's right. I'm still learning japanese, but from some quick research I got this:

One writing for "fuse" is 導火線, which is a compound word (a single word formed by many kanji). The title for this chapter is 導火, which is not a compound word, but two different words together. 導 means guidance, or "to guide", and 火 means fire. "Starting fire" could be an appropriate reading. Could also be related to the fireworks at the end.

Cute fact: the word for fireworks is a compound of the kanji for fire (火) and the one for flower (花). So fireworks (花火) are read in japanese as "fire flowers" <3

EDIT: Oh, by the way, kudos to everyone who predicted that thing about Ichigaya. I'm surprised and delighted that we got this right.

EDIT 2: Just out of curiosity, I checked google translate for 導火, and it gave me "ignition", which makes even more sense.

last edited at Apr 5, 2017 7:25PM

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

I can see where you're coming from. It's a valid example.

I may be wrong though, maybe it is harder for a person like that to love or to open up about their feelings, I don't know. All I can say is that I felt absolutely loved, trusted and cared for when I was with him.

last edited at Mar 6, 2017 7:23PM

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

Like pretty much anything, how people go about these kinds of issues varies depending on the individual. Some people are content with just the "I think therefore I am" approach, but a lot of the others will still feel restrained by the way their body works (for example, male-at-birth children who identify as female but feel impacted by the unfeminine voice brought about by puberty), and it's not some horribly anti-LGBT taboo or something if they want to take an operation or something to give themselves that extra confirmation.

Oh no I didn't mean that at all ^-^
Most trans people have or had body problems, and it's a perfectly valid experience. Each person has a different relation with their body, some feel anxious about it, others feel disconnected from it, and so on. The point is, no surgeries or other medical procedures are going to change who you are, and stating that you had (or will have) surgeries to "become a man/woman" is kinda disrespectful to all the trans people who've fought for recognition and survival for the hundreds of years before any medical intervention was available. And that sort of gets to me, so I lost my temper (sowwy).

I'm not gonna say "forgive me for pointing out transphobic messages in an otherwise wonderful love story", but I do understand there's no reason to push this issue any further, sorry for bothering you people.

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

I'm sure the trans friends I know that I had read this while I was translating it and said he was a well written character are completely out of their minds, right?

I'm curious now though. Didn't they say anything about "in order to gain your favor I don't mind showing up like this in front of you"? That was a red flag for me, it's a really weird behavior for a trans person, given how uncomfortable this situation makes us,0. Or about the scene where the girls take off his clothes by force? Or how the lesbian girl not feeling weird when he touches her and blushing when he flirts kind of implies he's "not a real man"? What did they say then?

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

It's a generalized statement, sure, but I don't see why it's wrong and cruel. Unless you're saying that it's ok for people to not love themselves? It's not that they can't have meaningful relationships, it just means that it's harder for them to open up completely because of insecurities. Love doesn't always have to mean romantic love, it just stands for relationships in general.

It's not a matter of being ok or not if you can't help it, is it? It's wrong to say this kind of stuff because it's not really true, you're completely capable of loving someone, opening up to them and trusting them even if you can't love yourself. This and that are different things. And it's cruel because if the person believes you, they may think it's pointless to seek support in an intimate relationship because of that inability to love themselves, which may actually make things worse :(

This is just one case, but if it serves as an example, I dated a boy in the past who had a couple of traumas and was suicidal. He often said he was unable to love himself. Yet from the very moment I met him, I felt that he trusted me and I that could trust him. We opened up to each other and we've spoken extensively about these things. I'm very sad that I wasn't able to really help but I've never felt anything other than loved when I was with him.

This brings to mind the phrase "no one will love you if you can't love yourself". I hear that often from friends and family and I really used to believe it until someone mentioned how cruel it is to basically say a person's unworthy of love due to their personal struggles.

But I'm not a psychiatrist yet (will be in a few years ♡), I don't have any arguments or examples to back me up on this, I'm just speaking from personal experience, and I understand if you disagree.

last edited at Mar 5, 2017 7:24AM

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

Yeah, I guess so. I was just pointing out some of the trans stuff here is screwed up, I didn't intend on having this huge debate about it, but I guess people felt like I was attacking their beloved series or something.

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

But really people, you don't have to take my word for it. Go ask other trans people about it if you doubt me.

I'm sure the trans friends I know that I had read this while I was translating it and said he was a well written character are completely out of their minds, right? It's like I was curious about what they'd think or something... I also did a bit of research on trans people in Japan at the time; you might be surprised that people's opinion across the pond varies from the West to a degree.

My boyfriend's trans too, I've shown this to him and he agreed with me (in fact his precise reaction to some of the scenes was "what the fuck?!"). I can ask many more people too, if you want. Sure, his character does have some good points, but some stuff is quite bad too. I have no idea about the western transgender community, though.

But yeah, different trans people have different opinions on these matters. I've read a lot of criticism of Transamerica from when it was released, but I know a couple of people who liked the movie. Same with the ending of Tomboy (which is otherwise perfect <3 ). The Danish Girl is probably the most glaring example, it's either love it or hate it within the trans community.

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

I really don't want to repeat myself about how being part of a community doesn't make you an authority on everyone in that community's mind set.

So are you an authority then? If there was any other transgender person here and they disagreed with me, I would take their point in consideration. There's none, just me and a fictional character created by a cisgender person (or "cisgendered" if you prefer XD ). You can't really say a character knows more about the trans community than an actual trans person, can you?

But calling it nonsense because it doesn't follow your idea of what it is to be trans is just hypocritical. Then to blame this mindset on cis people is even more offensive, as if you're saying these types of trans people can't come to this conclusion by themselves.

The opposite happens. People who used to think this way sometimes report on how living with other trans people made them understand this better. I never see anyone defending this position, though. People can come to this conclusion by themselves? Sure. Have they? Nope, never heard of it.

By the way why is it you get to say what's offensive to trans people and what's not?

And no, being curious about a trans person is not transphobic. If you are going to get on my case about adding -ed then you might want to check up on what a phobia is.

What happened there was a form of violence, I've been through something similar, it's a horrible experience and NOTHING justifies it. The fact that the trans guy on that scene seems not to mind it at all is all the more evidence to how these forms of violence are naturalized in our society.

We use "transphobia" as a general term for violences aimed at the trans community, regardless of whether they were triggered by fear or not. It's the exact same for "homophobia" and "fatphobia", and a few others. This is the standard adopted by the LGBT rights movements worldwide, and so's the use of "transgender" instead of "transgendered" (nobody trans actually says transgendered, this is a cis people thing).

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

Having just read it, I haven't seen any "phobic" or even "rude" contend regarding him.

So the girls stripping off his clothes in order to satiate their curiosities about his body is not transphobic in the least?

When I say that he thinks he's a woman unless he does SRS, it's because when the protagonist's mother says he fooled ("you're really a woman aren't you?") he replies to that by talking about genital surgery (as if he was saying he's going to become a man).

But really people, you don't have to take my word for it. Go ask other trans people about it if you doubt me.

last edited at Mar 5, 2017 1:12AM

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

You honestly believe that no transgendered person ever thought that way? Being trans yourself doesn't make you an authority on how other trans people think.

It's a stereotype. All medical procedures are supposed to make you feel better or more comfortable with your body, they're supposed to help address problems, they don't change who you are. We're trans regardless of any medical intervention.

I've lived many years of my life inside the transgender community in Brazil. I've met several hundred other trans people, sure there are some of us who speak nonsense like this (and I don't blame them because this is what cis people have taught us) but most of us don't think his way. It's not hard to figure out what's wrong about this way of thinking once you reflect about your own feelings and experiences.

Also, we're not transgendered, because it's not something that happened to us. We're transgender (without "ed") because not conforming with the gender imposed is something that's been with us all our lives.

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

She's trying to be the sister she remembers, but I highly doubt she is going to be the sister that Tomoyuki remembers.

Hadn't thought of that. That was clever. Also, suggests that Tomoyuki will cause a huge impact in Touko and in her plans of becoming her sister (at first I found him irrelevant, should have known better, nothing in this story is irrelevant).

"Eventually (no subject) will become you"

This makes A LOT more sense than "Eventually I will become yours". It's not about Yuu, it's about Touko.

the notion that one can't love others before they first love themself is also relevant

A lot of people say this kind of stuff, it's both wrong and cruel. Some people are simply unable to love themselves - depressed people, suicidal people, people with body issues, or with traumatic experiences they blame on themselves. That doesn't mean they're unable to have meaningful romantic relationships because of that.

Still, that fits this story perfectly.

ceciliasol
Liberty discussion 04 Mar 00:48
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

She's fifty times better than morinaga milk and I'll beat up any girlfriends fan who dares say otherwise.

You are welcome to try, but in my case, I think you'd lose.

Oh, come on, have you read her earlier works? There's a fucking penis-shaped alien in one. Pretty much every NSFW thing she's done is horrible. And I mean, Girl Friends is great, Secret of the Princess is great, but The Secret Recipe's bland, so's Hana and Hina. She did some good stuff but most of her work is... meh.

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

So if a black character shows up and a lot of racist shit happens, it's ok because he's not the main character?

ceciliasol
91174211_215395393136656_8792315491096985600_n
joined Dec 5, 2016

Being transgender myself, I can't help but notice the way this author portrayed a trans man is completely weird, and sometimes outright transphobic. He does and says stuff no trans men I know would. And that bullshit about "his body is female but he's a male at heart" just makes me laugh.

Edit: He seems to think that he's a woman (with a man's heart) until he does the genital surgery. This is horrible, transphobic, completely wrong and it just shows what cisgender (non-trans) people think of us.

last edited at Mar 3, 2017 8:02AM