Trans Megathread for the Week of 10/21 to 10/27
Trans Megathread for the Week of 10/21 to 10/27
Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XI is the eleventh numbered installment in the… Okay, you know what it is, I’m just going to tell you about one of the storylines!
During the Wings of the Goddess expansion, adventurers will be sent back in time to experience the events of the Crystal War, a cataclysmic event that is the foundation for conflicts of the modern-day timeline. Should an adventurer choose to serve the Kingdom of San d’Oria, they will be immersed in the story of the Young Griffons—a group of children who would see themselves knights, many of whom grow into prominent characters later in life.
Among the Young Griffons, the player will find Bistillot, a shy boy who doesn’t like to be seen. With his penchant for engineering, shy demeanor, and lack of combat potential, Bistillot prefers to spend his time inside of an orcish war machine that he was able to repair to working condition.
He is often seen before he is heard, with his signature phrase, “HAAAALLOOOOOOOOO” being used to hail the adventurer. Through the course of the story, Bistillot finds his way, even contributing to the war effort with his engineering skills.
However, when another member of the Young Griffons is kidnapped and taken to the present day, the adventurer must return to the present day and reunite with the Young Griffons’ present selves! The adventurer’s first contact in the present day is Bistillot. When the adventurer hears the signature “HAAAALLOOOOOOO,” Bistillot approaches the player, but what the player sees is… a woman?? She introduces herself as Bostilette, a “friend of Bistillot.”
After the rescue mission, Bostilette comes clean. She is, of course, the very same Bistillot who was a little boy twenty years earlier. She explains that she was very sick as a baby, so her parents gave her a boy’s name so that she would be stronger and survive the illness. Once she overcame the illness, she was comfortable to reclaim her name and gender. Well, that closes the book on that story, except… I’ve decided that’s bullshit!
I have unilaterally decided that Bostilette is trans, the sickness she had was dysphoria, she stayed in the orcish war machine because she was an egg, and I hope you all agree!
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Whipping Girl quote:
Let's face it: if cissexuals didn't have a subconscious sex, then sex reassignment would be far more common than it is. Women who wanted to succeed in the male-dominated business world would simply transition to male. Lesbians and gay men who were ashamed of their queerness would simply transition to the other sex. Gender studies grad students would transition for a few years to gather data for their theses.
Julia, you must know better than this, I'm sure of it. It's not like subconscious sex is the only thing standing in the way of this... the example of "succeed in the male-dominated business world" bears that out pretty clearly. They're not just unfathomable because on a profound, subconscious level, sex... This is so weird, is she going to go into Gender Accelerationist theory about gender fascism and shit or do I have to fill that part in myself?Also some of those examples are like, step away from the fucking lathe, miss.
By contrast this quote fucking slaps:
Perhaps the most important conceptual change that has facilitated the gradual acceptance of LGB folks over the last twenty-five years is that straight people are no longer able to take their attraction to the other sex completely for granted, to assume that it is the one "natural" form of sexuality. They now recognize that, like queer people, they have a sexual orientation too-they are heterosexual. Similarly, I do not believe that trans people will be fully accepted in this society until cissexual people recognize that they also have a subconscious sex and that, if they are not battling a constant barrage of subconscious thoughts about being the other sex, then their subconscious sex most likely matches their physical one.
This makes me pause and think about all the shrieking cis people do about the label cisgender, or even spicier cissexual. That's right cissies, it's a SEXUAL THING! Does this mean I should be going even harder and bullying every cissie who rejects it? Probably...
So I struggle with "subconscious sex." Do you think it's real? (This was the bit I really wanted to ask about, actually)
On the one hand ... subconscious sex is a possible explanation for dysphoria, but it's kind of rooted in the binary, right? She seems to be using it to describe that mismatch.
On the other hand, sex is made up based on gender, as the GAM says.
I still have this big question - why is dysphoria? Where does that mismatch come from?
I like the concept I think, because it takes that whatever a person says their [gender/sex/etc] to be, that is true. Once again Serano has brushed up against genius here, she says "gender is fuckin fake shit, I changed my sex this past year" in her way. The protip is to read that your sex can be whatever the fuck you want, then it makes more sense! Sex is itself not binary.e
I think the term only seems rooted in the binary because Serano is mired and drowning in the binary. For many people, the solutions to their dysphoria are not expressed in a binary manner. Plus, some things may truly be societally created, y'know. I'm not stressed about it.
hmmmmmm, okay I like this analysis! esp your second paragraph explains why I felt weird about it
Do you think it's real?
[my reaction regarding most concepts that seem to only make sense to allistics:]
Probably not.
