Trans catgirl ally icon Bench Appearo
How do we feel about this Ferris character? The fact that he is stated to present himself as a girl to trick others into mistaking him gives me conniptions. It feels like a character designed to be looked at, rather than one to give representation, if that makes sense.
Any trans character from Asian media is gonna sound regressive or weird to us in the west, but I totally agree that he’s worse than most.
That’s the thing, though. Is Ferris a trans character? Or just another flavor of anime girl for weebs to oogle over? I understand that the comments under a toiletpaperUSA meme is not the place to be griping about the fetishization of transgenderism but I gotta yell at clouds every now and then.
That is debatable, I think. Japan has very conservative ideas about gender, but the most common way they express a character is trans is in phrases like “they were a boy that became a girl”. Ferris is very explicitly a femboy in the text of the show. But, death of the author, we can decide Ferris is trans if we feel their story is better that way. I think we can agree that it’s not great representation, though.
You’re right, this is the country that gave us “He thinks he’s a girl” Birdo.
I dunno. I’m a boy who wishes he was a girl but seeing perfect, youthful trans people just made me feel like I must only want to transition because women are sexy and, like, who doesn’t think having big fuckin titties would be great? But as I get older, there’s been more graceful trans representatives that show people just being humans. No cat ears, no magic. Just girls who used to be unhappy with how they looked.
I’m just rambling at this point but thank you for engaging.
You’re welcome. It’s sad that sitting down and discussing heavy stuff isn’t the norm.
