[meta, A:tLOK] Trans characters? In MY fandom?

[kaberett]

Avatar: the Legend of Korra, sequel series to Avatar: the Last Airbender, is now on episode 8. It's had its ups and downs, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

What I'm enjoying rather less is the fandom commentary. Unfortunately, people seem to have decided that one of the characters is trans* -- and a lot of the speculation and conversation around this topic seems to me ill-informed at best. (Obviously, I don't and can't speak for all trans* people.) Most of the points I'm making arise from blab's essay on the topic (spoilers up to and including ep 8), but this is mostly because that's how I first became aware of the conversation, and I don't feel up to seeking out more examples.

To be clear: I'm queer and trans*, and specifically I'm non-binary (see icon!). I would love for Korra to contain trans* or queer characters. It would make my year. As a result, much of this mini-essay is deeply personal, which is why I've written it up in my own journal, rather than leaving at as a comment in a place that isn't "mine"; I'm happy for people to discuss the points I make in comments, but I ask you to respect the fact that I might not be able to engage in all threads myself.

There are two key areas I want to address in brief: the language being used in the discussion, and the actual details leading people to speculate.


Point the first: language/framing
This section is a general primer and contains no spoilers.

A lot of the language being used in this conversation is not language that trans* people tend to use about themselves. This is a pity; it would be awesome if the ongoing conversation were a little more sensitive. Particular examples include:

• "transman", "transpeople", "transwomen", etc. Preferred terms are generally "trans man", "trans people", "trans women", as discussed by Transkitten and recommended by Press for Change.
  
• speculating over whether or not someone is trans* full stop is generally considered disrespectful and in poor taste. Yes, it's different (sort of) if it's a fictional character, but some of the conversation feels to me like it's edging into skeevy Erika Moen-style fetishisation, and people need to watch that.

Point the second: the character in question

This speculation appears to be chiefly centring on Tahno, a male pro-bender, as discussed in blab's post above, on the grounds that in a shot in episode 8 we see an individual with a similar hairstyle and apparent breasts. The following commentary concerns the specifics of this spectulation:

• to start with, speculation seems to have been sparked by the similarity of hairstyles. I find it... unlikely that a hairstyle worn by a famous pro-bender would not be considered fashionable and worth imitating.
  
• it is posited that Tahno would detransition as a result of losing his bending, in order to gain "anonymity". This feels totally, totally wrong to me:
  
  • the times when I feel most like some other aspect of my identity are being undermined are precisely the time when I will put most effort into my gender presentation, as something that I can (and need to) control and be secure in.
    
  • transitioning is a very great deal of effort. Getting people to use the right name and pronouns? Not easy. The idea of putting myself through the hell of getting people to switch back to the wrong ones is just awful, and (apparently cis) people casually speculating that someone might do this instead of, e.g., getting a haircut, makes me recoil.
    
  • Tahno would, according to this theory, be known by friends, family and people who'd been following his career for a while by his birth name and gender, and journalists would be likely to make a big deal out of his trans* status: it's not something that would give him anonymity.
  
  
• I’m irritated by the idea that an apparently male person presenting in a feminine manner means they must be queer, or genderfluid, or otherwise trans*: why can't he just be feminine? (More to the point, I think, is the question of why "feminine" is being coded as "bad" - as per Tarrlok and Tahno - in a show that unfortunately seems to be rather more prone to fan-service and rather less prone to calling out the sexism of its male characters than its predecessor.)

Frankly, I would be absolutely astonished (though delightedly so) if even a show as generally non-faily as A:tLA/A:tLOK featured a trans* character without making it visible, as they did Toph and Teo's disabilities; and I think (again, speaking only for myself) that in order to remain respectful of and safe for trans* fans, any speculation in this area needs to remain aware of that context.

edit: I've been asked (out of band) why (or whether) I am reacting so differently to this suggestion vs queering canonically heterosexual characters. I don't inherently object to fic (or other media!) containing trans* characters (I've written some), because seeing representations of People Like Me is nice. What I do object to is the are-they-aren't-they that's going on regarding canon: this kind of speculation is used to undermine trans* people's expressed identities every day, directly and indirectly: among social circles when you're not there, as street harrassment -- if you can think of it, it happens. Consequently, seeing it done by my fandom? Makes me pretty uncomfortable.

Comments

[hairyears]

I think the first thing is that you are. *you*... And, indeed, the one you. How you present yourself, is up to to you: but you are a delight at either pole of the gender binary.

I do wish yhere was more social space to be you - or me, for that matter - some comfortable (or fun) place along the gender spectrum.

[kaberett]

Mmhmm. <3

[lizbee]

Thank you for this post; I read that meta and thought it was quite dodgy in a lot of respects, but don't know enough about trans* issues to say precisely why.

[kaberett]

Thank you for reading and for letting me know it was helpful. It... kinda matters a lot: I'm finding some of the comments elsepost quite hard. (But ugh for ~harshing squee~, etc...)

[lizbee]

That post and associated comments were pretty heavy on the objectification, IMHO. And urgh, referring to Tahno as "this woman". I'm glad you said something.

[go_dog_go]

(Wow, them's some major edits on blab's post since the last time I was there. I hope 2 days isn't too long a time lapse for me to comment without seeming rude.)

I'm with you on the intense doubt that Tahno (if trans) would find life in drag somehow easier than life as a famous not-a-bender-anymore. For pretty much exactly the reason you stated.

Frankly, I'm extremely happy to think of him as a fellow trans creature without pretending the person in the crowd is him.

I'm sorry that any part of this sucked for you. Seems like some decent discussion came out of it, though.

[aiffe]

Wow I just found this post.

I hadn't read the essay this was a response to before, but being a Tahno stan, I'd seen the "maybe Tahno is trans*?" theory floating around. There's even a prompt on the kinkmeme about him using bloodbending to bind or aid with transition, and asking Korra to help with that after losing his bending. Just to clarify, I don't think it was canon, and I don't think the person shown in that episode was Tahno. I think they were just a random background character. So the following stuff isn't meant as any kind of canon interpretation.

However, I had a conversation about this very thing with a friend of mine who is a trans man. We bounced the idea off each other, and in it he becomes so discouraged by the loss of his bending and the severe blow to his confidence that he loses the will to fight back against how society (and his family) want to gender him. It was meant not to show that living as a woman was easier, but that he was that beaten down, that he'd given up, that he'd lost control of his identity and was at the world's mercy. That maybe being knocked down so low, being humiliated and losing his career, he was in a position to be abused by his family, who don't accept his identity. I guess it would use the bending loss to parallel the idea of being forced to be someone he's not, losing his ability to fight back and be authentic to himself.

I think this idea had a lot of personal value to my friend. His identity isn't respected by his family, and when he tried to come out to his mother, she ridiculed and ignored him. He has a lot of self-confidence issues, and has trouble asserting his right to have his identity recognized by others, especially when he's already depressed or feels overwhelmed. The idea was probably too personal for him to write, plus he has a lot of anxiety about sharing his fic online as it is. He told me I should write it, but I felt really awkward about speaking for such a painful trans* experience without being trans* myself.

Even I knew that a trans* character wouldn't detransition just to stay out of the public eye, though. I'm shocked that anyone could read the idea of trans!Tahno detransitioning after his bending loss as anything but a painful tragedy and a further violation of his being.

Basically I wanted to say I agree with all your points here.

[kaberett]

Thank you - this is all really interesting!

And thank you also for reminding me that I'd meant to edit this post to say that the OP of the essay I'm responding to & I continued discussion, and I've actually retreated a lot from this stated position - at least in that I think somewhere along the line what they really think got lost in miscommunication. So while I stand by my broader points about good vs icky ways to read trans* narratives into canon, I definitely think some of my ire was misdirected (& I think it's important to acknowledge that!).

[aiffe]

*nod* I actually saw your conversation with the OP after I left that comment. I do get their point of kneejerking that just because that background character has apparent breasts, people assuming they can't be Tahno. And I guess the genderfluid explanation could work too, though it still seems weird to me in the wake of such a traumatic, identity-shaking event as what Amon did to him. He was basically rewritten as a person (bending being pretty strongly part of one's identity, culture, and spirituality), and adding a change of gender presentation to that, especially a detransition, is going to have implications.

Anyway, both posts turned out to be an interesting read!