You know I've always found the western trans discourse... kinda baffling tbh. It kinda seems in the west trans people even as a concept is an entirely new thing that just emerged in the 2010s which gets a lot of people all riled up. I won't comment on that much but I find it funny because despite us here seeing the west as this bastion of progressivism compared to us... we're actually far more familiar with the concept here... infact.. While I don't really speak for southeast asia much less asia in general, the most visible default part of the LGBT community is often the trans community... so much so that if you asked a lay person here what their definition of an lgbt person is would be "a man that thinks he's a woman / a woman's soul in a man's body." Sure sure one can say that the stereotypes of gays and such often make em out to be flamboyant crossdressers but there's a lot more to it than just that.
BAKLA (or Becky, Bading, Bayot, etc etc) is the general lgbt catchall term here for lgbt "men" (gay guys and trans women(assigned male at birth)) with the opposite gendered counterpart being Tomboy/Tibo. Not too uncommon here actually to see openly out guys in media and real life but for the most part that more visible part of that spectrum is... well you know the type, flamboyant faggots and drag queens and the like and outright trans people. There's actually a fun parallel here in how the lgbt community shows up in media with the japanese concept of okama... like THAT OKAMA... like it really isn't that different here which does infact contribute to the general perception here.
It doesn't really mean ofc that the gay kids get bullied (quite the opposite really tbh but that's for a different pic later on) but it does mean that to an extent it's not that weird of a concept... or atleast being trans wouldn't be. I remember being low key about being gay and telling closer friends n such and while generally they don't mind a response like "Oh I didn't know you wanted to be a girl" or "Oh but you're quite manly for a gay guy huh? are you like in denial there?" It was a lot easier to just tell people I'm bi or something which given as a teen I was drawing yaoi femboy borderline traps and ship art for friends like... like people bought that (even tho I'm pretty much just gay) because really the concept here of just a regular straight seeming dude that just likes dick (to an obsessive degree in my case) is just kind of new and weird...
One could say that actually there's historical cultural precedent for this. Within the tribal cultures of Pre-Colonial Philippines, where the base religious culture used to be shamanistic and animistic, religious leaders were by default were priestesses, Babaylan as they were called. Not to say tho that men weren't allowed to take up those roles but they had to... fill in the role of a priestess in that case. They dressed like women, acted like women, and were treated like women. Would you call em trans women ? Well modern conceptions of gender and gender identity may not exactly apply neatly to cultures like this with a lot of the non western cultures that often develop these kinds of niche roles in society that are more queer in nature have em be kind of this 3rd gender type situation. (if you were to ask me tho these male shamans I'd probably classify as being gender fluid). This tradition ofc died out when the Spanish brought Christianity to the Philippines but honestly even without that the spread of islam within that region of southeast asia would've probably wiped out that tradition too regardless.
Anyways tho yeah by default the default perception of guys in the lgbt community here is that they're... well... queer... or it was back in my day.
Lord knows zoomers these days have been exposed to the internet all their lives... I know a lot of them are more conscious about "problematic stuff" even over here and it makes me wonder... or rather hope that these kids probably know better know rather than the guys back in my day... and given how as I go out more now I can... kinda see what I think might be a lotta gay couples now together... It seems we're slowly but surely... more accepting... if not just nicer to people in general
... or atleast I hope that's what's happening
but yeah... that's kind of a run down on some cultural stuff here. Might make another pic of how bullying works here at some point soon but I wonder what you guys think about this more simplified art style
"It kinda seems in the west trans people even as a concept is an entirely new thing that just emerged in the 2010s which gets a lot of people all riled up."
You're not entirely wrong that a lot of people suddenly became a lot more aware of the existence of trans people in the 2010s, notably with the popularity of shows like Orange is the New Black, and a lot of conservative backlash has concentrated on trans people in large part because they serve as a convenient wedge that can be expanded (and it WILL be expanded) to define everything LGBTQ as "obscene" and "pornographic" (and thus bannable and prosecutable).
Add to that the rise of TERFs (transphobes that masquerade as feminists) and the general complete ignorance by european cultures (and their western descendants) of non-western approaches to gender identities and... yeah. It's a mess.
"It kinda seems in the west trans people even as a concept is an entirely new thing that just emerge
The current state of the discourse is 100% because the fight for marriage equality was won and the people in charge needed a new, socially-acceptable target to scapegoat because continuing to go after the gays would be bad optics.
The current state of the discourse is 100% because the fight for marriage equality was won and the p
They aren't, my nation as an indigenous man has always had more than two traditional genders. But it's always been a part how bigoetry operates in the west to pretend that concerns are baseless, or new, or something only the privileged can care about as a way to undermine its perception. The language around it has definitely gained new awareness with the advent of social media which allowed people to talk directly after being through traditional media outlets unless through the lens of a sensationalist piece. But any portrayal is obscenity and a threat. And this has its roots in things like the hayes code and all that.
They aren't, my nation as an indigenous man has always had more than two traditional genders. But it
the trans issue is primarly a few bad actors pushing politics that don't fit. Identity politics has completely smeared and tarnished all good pr for trans and LGBQT+ though i'd say given current stats and family court the Lesbians deserve their bad press.
Basically a bunch of Karen's are causing Most if not all the Problems the rest are by a few grifters.
the trans issue is primarly a few bad actors pushing politics that don't fit. Identity politics has
I don't understand how people keep seeing trans people as a novel concept given their have been lots of examples of it happening historically them existing in the past. Wendy Carlos was the composer for the original Tron movie and her contributions to developing electronic music deserves more credit. Their is also Rebecca Heinemen a trans woman who actually one one of the first video game tournaments in 1980 it was the space invader tournament. Also She deserves a fucking metal for almost single handedly porting Doom over to the 3D0 a notoriously difficult game console to develop games for. She is genuinely a very adept programmer.
I don't understand how people keep seeing trans people as a novel concept given their have been lots
It's a bit similar with ladyboys in Thailand I think. Like they don't self-identify with being a woman, they are "a ladyboy", third-gender like you call it
While in the west it is very binary in the current form, either man or woman, which leads to a lot of friction ie. if a straight man won't sleep with a mtf he is transphobic but if he wants to sleep with a mtf because of their characteristics he is problematic
It's a bit similar with ladyboys in Thailand I think. Like they don't self-identify with being a wom
