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Yamato, Transness, and "Passing"

Now that we're nearly a full arc removed from Wano and Yamato's introduction, I want to talk about the reaction that a subset of the one piece fandom had to his reveal as a trans man/transmasc person, the transphobia behind that reaction, and how the concept of passing plays into that reaction. I'm not going to be arguing that Yamato is a trans man, as I think it is very obvious that he is given how he is referred to in the canon text. This is instead going to be more of a fandom dissection of why (in my personal opinion) so many people refuse to acknowledge Yamato as a man.

When we are first introduced to Yamato, he is dressed in a way that gives him the appearance of a flat chest, and is wearing a mask to hide his face. He looks like a man in a cis-heteronormative way

When Yamato was depicted like this, he was (from what I can tell) mostly referred to with he/him pronouns by the fanbase. This is based on comments underneath his chapter debut and episode debut. There are comments under his episode debut that do use she/her pronouns and refer to him as a woman, but because these episodes have been out for a while, it would make sense that these kinds of comments would be left on his debut after his second design was revealed.

Then, when he removes his mask and outer layer of his outfit, he is depicted like this

After this reveal, more people began to refer to Yamato with she/her pronouns, and refer to him as Kaido's daughter, despite him referring to himself as Kaido's son, as well as the people around him using he/him pronouns exclusively for him. What changed? Well, Yamato went from having a design that looked traditionally masculine to having a more traditionally feminine one. As such people who associate only women with having breasts and more "feminine" features began to insist that Yamato was a tomboy, or a delusional woman, anything but accept that fact that he is a man.

There is a phenomena with trans "acceptance", where a character is accepted as trans only if they look like their gender according to the cis-heteronormative ideal, and questioned and denied if they don't. Kiku, a trans woman who "passes" as a woman did not receive nearly the same level of speculation and denial of her trans identity. (This is not to say that Kiku received no hate or transphobic comments, but that because she looks like a woman to the average cis-het viewer, she was treated as a "real" trans person, whereas Yamato was not).

Yamato has been repeatedly referred to as mentally ill for being a "non-passing" trans man. He has been called bad representation (despite large numbers trans men/transmasc people, myself included, saying that his IS good representation). People have made claims with no canon backing in an attempt to hand wave away his transness because he "looks like a woman", a popular one being that Kaido some how forced Yamato into being a man, despite his backstory telling us the exact opposite.

And the reasoning for all of this speculation is that trans people are held to such high standards in terms of appearance and presentation, even in fictional media. A trans man must have a flat chest, deep voice, facial hair etc. or he isn't actually trans. A trans woman must have breasts, a high voice, a lack of facial hair, etc. or she isn't actually trans. Non-binary people are dismissed entirely. This denies the many different and diverse ways that a person can be trans. Sure, some trans people wish to medically transition, get the "surgery" and go through life as if they were cis. But not all trans people want that. Gender is messy and complicated, its not nearly as black and white a we have been taught to believe. There are many trans people (both binary and non-binary) who will never medically transition. That does not make them less trans, it does not make them delusional. Yet because we have this black and white thinking ingrained in us from childhood, any deviation from the strict boxes of "man" and "woman" are immediately questioned, and that includes gender non-conforming people - both trans and cis.

This type of transphobia is not talked about enough, as the people doing it will so often hide behind the idea that they are protecting "real" trans people, and just want to make sure that they are respected and taken seriously. But, respect for a persons gender identity CANNOT be conditional. It does not matter if they "don't pass". It doesn't matter if they are a good person, a bad person. The second you start dictating who gets to have their gender respected is the second you stop being an ally. And that includes fictional characters like Yamato.

ASL animal AU OOPS! All Coyotes

But only for this picture specifically

Thank you @fluffyartbl0g for coloring

yet another batch of these bc im Abnormal

"oh but your favorite shows are going to be delayed by the strikes" my favorite shows consistently get cancelled after 2 excellent seasons bc of the exploitive corporate greed that these strikes are fighting against

im going to say it and i dont even care anymore:

trans men are allowed to talk about their experiences. trans men talking about trans man experiences is important- it helps other trans men figure out who they are, and helps others who are not understand.

trans men talking about trans man experiences does not take space or ability to speak from anyone else. we are not talking over or silencing other trans people by existing. we are populating the space we rightfully deserve to occupy. we have space within the trans community- our own space, that we specifically speak on. it does not take away from everyone else's space, just like theirs dont take away from ours. we are supposed to occupy space.

if you believe trans men being vocal about their experiences, injustices, struggles, dysphoria and so in is trans men "trying to take over the trans community", admit you sipped the "all men = bad" terf kool aid one too many times. any rhetoric designed to pit trans women and men against one another is terf rhetoric. please be aware of this.

one piece

D&D classes suck. Let's replace them with a different set of 12:

Ghost

Pokémon Trainer

Nerd

Asshole

Furry

Vampire

Lawyer

Pirate

Robot Builder

Clown

Fake Wizard (uses science instead)

Princess

There! I see absolutely nothing wrong with that list.

POP QUIZ DONT SCROLL UP YOURE NOT ALLOWED TO SCROLL UP:

WHAT COLOR ARE HIS TITS- I MEAN TITS- I MEAN TITS- I MEAN TITS - I MEAN

Okay now you can scroll up

Boop?