…he/him lesbians…

offs!

Not THIS shit, again!

“Lesbian” is an adjective, not a club. If you say people that aren’t homosexual women (cis or trans!) can be lesbians, then the word becomes pointless.

I’m done with commenting on all things forever online. Sick of shit like this.

Iirc, author said it was a story about teens being troubled about their sexuality, NOT their gender.

There isn't a speck of evidence Mitsuki ever wished to be a guy. She's just not conforming to the standard of girls around her, be it what she wears or what music she likes, but that doesn't make her any less of a girl. People equating "dressing/acting like a guy" with "wanting to be a guy" are trying to erase butch lesbians from existence.

Wow… ummm…

What’s that high-pitched ringing?

Oh, a dog whistle!

Someone is confused about SOMEONE ELSE’S [gender identity] and shenanigans happens.

This story in a nutshell.

And the statement that it's "essentially a trans story but without actual trans characters" seems like an obvious oxymoron--wouldn't the "essence" of a trans story be . . . the presence of actual trans characters?

well no, because sometimes stories use metaphors or allegories or subtext or themes to engage with these subject matter without explicitly referencing them, and this is especially common with explorations of queerness.

This story is pretty grounded and clearly about what is actually happening.

I haven't really read up on the current conversation mind, I have no thoughts on that. But queer themes don't need to be, and are very often NOT, explicit. Especially considering how people treat trans people. I dunno if I personally would call this a trans story but I see nothing wrong with someone taking it that way, right?

By this logic Moby Dick is a trans story if someone wants to read it that way.

Authorial intent does matter. If you need to mangle the story to invent metaphors out of it, then it’s not worth doing.

last edited at Nov 13, 2022 5:16PM

Just because someone is a "tomboy" does not make them any less feminine or somehow automatically one questioning their gender.

Which is funny bc at the final ch of that series the Tomboy i dont remember her name XD actually wanted to use a wedding dress too and not suit so yeah not very trans at all

Bit of an oversimplification of gender…

Someone is confused about SOMEONE ELSE’S [gender identity] and shenanigans happens.

This story in a nutshell.

And the statement that it's "essentially a trans story but without actual trans characters" seems like an obvious oxymoron--wouldn't the "essence" of a trans story be . . . the presence of actual trans characters?

Yeah.

There isn’t even anyone to reasonably head canon as such, and it wouldn’t be relevant, anyway.

So, i want to add my 2 cents to the story so far as a whole....

This story is kinda similar to Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl, in that its esentally a trans story but without actual trans characters. Mitsuki's situation feel kinda to me, as a transfem, like if a trans person didnt tell their potential new partner that theyre trans, for any of the diffrent reasons trans people sometimes act like that. Obviously, mitsuki isnt trans and probably wont be, but you get what im saying, right?

Oh I totally get you. It's part of what makes "low-end" gender fucky premises like this so silly on their face.

I do appreciate the clear representation of Mitsuki's attractiveness correlating with her level of comfort, and the ways certain public spaces are regulated to make that more difficult for her.

Gender confusion is an old trope, much older than trans being taken seriously

!וי געוואַלט
As a trans woman with 4 decades of life behind me I can say with absolute certainty that nothing in this exchange has made any sense whatsoever.

In order:
False equivalency
Blanket statement followed by incomprehensibleness
Poorly-formed sentence that could easily be interpreted as degrading

Could people STOP comparing this to being trans? No one is dealing with their gender identity.
Someone is confused about SOMEONE ELSE’S and shenanigans happens.

לך לשלום

Her rap name would be Dim Smoothness

This looks like a kids story book. I'm a librarian, and we actually do have trans-positive kids books like this.

Absolutely adorable though. I really love all the trans manga coming on here recently.

Youve actually got me curious, could u name some trans-positive kids books ?

How young of a target audience?

I’ve not read many, because I’m 40, and my (step)daughter hasn’t needed one since she was 4.*

There are a couple autobiographical ones out there, I’ve seen some other ones around…
I snagged a physical copy of “Magical Boy” by The Kao. Targeted at early teens+, but I wanted to support something like that getting published by Scholastic.

*She grasped the concept pretty quick. Just had to explain the idea of *phobia occasionally, because she’s gay, has two moms, one trans, and multiple friends she has are queer. Every time she’s been like “what’s wrong with some people…?”

In a word:
Awwwwwww

I’m sure some people read this and learned something about trans people.
I’m rereading it for the nth time after nearly 7 years of not thinking about it trying to understand straight girls.
But seriously, cute story.

Oh…
Ok. Fair enough. Place to start or a place to end?
We can find out, maybe?

EDIT: I would pay real money to hear this cover.
I love it when people sing in a language that isn’t their first. Sometimes they can have virtually no accent, because singing is different to speaking. Sometimes it’s unintelligible and sounds like an impression of the language.
Either way, I love the chutzpah.
My fav musician, Eikichi Yazawa, did 2.5 albums in English. The first two were this slurred mess, but he sang his ass off (as always) the album that was only half English he sounds great, but unfortunately he had to record line-by-line and do multiple takes. It’s also super 80s. He got pretty synth-heavy sometimes.
All his studio stuff and some live complications are on Apple Music, by the way, in case anyone wants to BE the one listening to rock music from across the pond. He was always better live, but there’s some kick-ass albums in there. Don’t Wanna Stop, I Love You OK, Gold Rush, Rock n Roll, Twist, Only One…

Just good rock and roll.

last edited at Oct 30, 2022 9:17AM

I can’t think of any 90s music/band (I still see Foo Fighters etc as 90s. It’s burned into my teen years sense memory) that had love/apology songs. It was an age of angst and anguish.

…why we are “they sure are close in some way” in 2022 current year argument?
Dorothy and Ozma had a more clearly-defined relationship.

I wouldn’t be upset by any answer, I just wish we knew!

Siiiiiiiigh.

Accurate to my experience.
Woman saw me on twitters. Slid into my DMs. 5 months later we got married.
5 years, still together and happy.

I gotta ask what kinda twitter post wins you a wife

First thing she replied to was me looking for better bras, but apparently she saw my profile pic and said “well, I am not straight” and followed me.

I don’t think I’m all that attractive, especially not that photo! Oof… OOF!

So I think it was a literal miracle.

Accurate to my experience.
Woman saw me on twitters. Slid into my DMs. 5 months later we got married.
5 years, still together and happy.

Are people screaming about how problematic loli is every time it gets posted?

Weirdly enough, that's like the one thing the admins don't want people arguing about.

…yikes.

I’m confused why there’s all this analysis on “she’s good at sport”.
She’s one of two people that run a business that has a lot of stock turnover in short periods. New album dropping means getting all the stock ahead of release, then setting it up in time for customers, and so on. That on top of normal restocking etc and you’re gonna either get a solid core or injure yourself.

“Trope stereotype oh noes”
Yeah, because butch women are super uncommon irl.

“She doesn’t want to stand out, so she should avoid participating in a class” because that’s not conspicuous…?
“Basic level of participation while looking basic” is the best way to coast in Japan, socially.

Why all the “discourse”?!?!

What’s this queer-Twitter “anyone can be whatever they want but not if it’s common or traditional” mishegas?

“LOOK HOW PROGRESSIVE I AM!!! I DON’T APPROVE OF THINGS THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED WITHOUT NEOLOGISMS!!!”

You are absolutely correct—you are very confused.
…about why someone would have a negative opinion of her being good at sport.

I swear to The Gods everyday this thread found a new silly thing to argue about

Pretty much.

It’s bananas.

The bleeding edge of progressive is and always has been completely insane and up-in-arms all the time even when it doesn’t need to be.

That’s how it works. It’s necessary, but so are reality checks.

This feels very emotionally realistic and grounded, and has stuff that could easily happen in real livfe.
So people latched onto it as a chance to say “depictions of reality should not have things like that. They should depict my ideals” not realising that this is exactly what they disapprove of.

A guy admiring a person as a person isn’t problematic, nor is a butch being casually butch.

It’s all (in the actual definition, not the common misuse) virtue signalling. Looking for something to publicly disapprove of.

What’s next? People saying their liking Western music is cultural appropriation?

Let the gay teen drama be a gay teen drama.

Are people screaming about how problematic loli is every time it gets posted? I just roll my eyes, shudder and scroll past it.

last edited at Sep 20, 2022 12:18PM

I’m confused why there’s all this analysis on “she’s good at sport”.
She’s one of two people that run a business that has a lot of stock turnover in short periods. New album dropping means getting all the stock ahead of release, then setting it up in time for customers, and so on. That on top of normal restocking etc and you’re gonna either get a solid core or injure yourself.

“Trope stereotype oh noes”
Yeah, because butch women are super uncommon irl.

“She doesn’t want to stand out, so she should avoid participating in a class” because that’s not conspicuous…?
“Basic level of participation while looking basic” is the best way to coast in Japan, socially.

Why all the “discourse”?!?!

What’s this queer-Twitter “anyone can be whatever they want but not if it’s common or traditional” mishegas?

“LOOK HOW PROGRESSIVE I AM!!! I DON’T APPROVE OF THINGS THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED WITHOUT NEOLOGISMS!!!”

You are absolutely correct—you are very confused.
…about why someone would have a negative opinion of her being good at sport.

This chapter just makes me think that Aya IS attracted to Mitsuki and she knows it, she is just too hurt about being lied to.

Well, yeah. That’s why she had that anxiety attack and couldn’t deal with looking at her for days.
We got to see her denial wall break, but she’s still in the five stages of mourning her (supposed) heterosexuality.

I HAVE FELT THAT FEEL.

last edited at Sep 19, 2022 7:55PM

I’m confused why there’s all this analysis on “she’s good at sport”.
She’s one of two people that run a business that has a lot of stock turnover in short periods. New album dropping means getting all the stock ahead of release, then setting it up in time for customers, and so on. That on top of normal restocking etc and you’re gonna either get a solid core or injure yourself.

“Trope stereotype oh noes”
Yeah, because butch women are super uncommon irl.

“She doesn’t want to stand out, so she should avoid participating in a class” because that’s not conspicuous…?
“Basic level of participation while looking basic” is the best way to coast in Japan, socially.

Why all the “discourse”?!?!

What’s this queer-Twitter “anyone can be whatever they want but not if it’s common or traditional” mishegas?

“LOOK HOW PROGRESSIVE I AM!!! I DON’T APPROVE OF THINGS THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED WITHOUT NEOLOGISMS!!!”

Once the misunderstanding is resolved, they'll become great friends.

I've been saying that for a while, but the romance tag isn't warranted (yet).

But I can feel the pressure on twitter by the readers who want them to become a couple. I wonder if Agu will cave in.

The f-…?
This is a REMAKE.

We know how it ends!

???

Besties!
Roommates!
Some other meme!

Cave in to pandering to …the original version of the story?
What???

last edited at Sep 13, 2022 10:37PM

Ok, Nirvana was great, but music isn’t a zero-sum game.

I like (early) Mötley Crüe AND Nirvana. I was there for when both were topping the charts.
I also like Peter Cetera.
I don’t care if it’s cool. I was listening to Avril Lavigne and Lorna Shore the same day last week.

Worth saying:
Kurt was an amazing vocalist. He needs more credit for that.

If the conservative religious creeps see this series, they'll think cool old rock music turns kids gay and ban it.

They already thought about It in 60's

That is one of the reasons I became a minister, to dispel the outdated belief that being gay is wrong.

I think that’s a reason one of my rabbi became one of the first openly gay people to go to the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Great guy, amazing speaker.

Something behind the scenes like what? Personal stuff? Social stuff? Sumiko has over 500k followers because of her recent work. I understand Japan is conservative when it comes to LGBTQ issues, but hopefully not to the point where she needs to go into hiding?

You don’t need to worry about that, really.

Women in general are more at risk for random violence than queers.
There’s a sharp generational cutoff of people being prejudiced, and even then it’s stuff like marriage. That unfortunately has wide-reaching tendrils that undermine other rights (domestic violence, housing…), but going into hiding? Nah. Not these days.
Not even ten years ago (when I lived there)!
People point, whisper and stare at things that are different, there. Super awkward.

Progressive*, queer manga is in the top five on Pixiv Comics a lot of the time, regardless of gender reading it. it makes two lists for the two most common. Annoying, but relevant here, because it’s not just fujoshi reading BL, or old-school yuri being popular. It’s fukaboku and “Josou Offline Meeting” being huge.
These artists are FINE. They’re making a living being wholesome about queerness.

You can relax.

Totally understandable to be anxious. It’s rough out there these days.

*not to say there isn’t horribly regressive stuff getting popular. A lot of …un-wholesome stuff gets published. Manga is a free-for-all.
I’m just saying that there’s no outcry and there’s a career for people who write queer-positive stories.

Every time I see this title I read it “metzora” and say “ew”.