RE:
( ohumanstar.com/chapter-4-page-45/ ), Enomalie
December 27, 2014 at 6:55 pm
I think you’re using words that are trying to typify a trans experience. Also: I very much want to note that Gender Dysphoria is not synonymous with a trans experience.
To me, Al’s experience has plenty of elements that hint that he might in fact be trans. One of the biggest things is actually related to Lucille and his apparent dislike of her. Lucille is a woman who was (born?) with a body that falls well outside the standards of what an idealized body (especially a “female” body – thanks, misogyny!) is “supposed” to look like. And yet she is completely comfortable and happy with her situation, even going to the point of improving her situation. For Al, if he identifies as female, her situation is how he wishes he could approach his own situation. And when he can’t, he feels powerless and removed and so his frustration turns into dislike. It’s a form of jealousy that many trans people are familiar with – people who don’t pass as well are sometimes jealous of those who do, and there’s often the frequent implications of society that seek to undermine their existence, and they might envy those who don’t have to deal with that constantly.
And obviously whatever happened in Al’s past could be even more specific about his dislike. There might even be the level of jealousy that his attraction to guys would be deemed acceptable if he was recognized as the correct gender.
Ultimately, we won’t know for sure until it’s revealed, but there is plenty there to suggest that he might be. Trans narratives aren’t this thing that follows some textbook, and it really has nothing to do with wanting to align yourself with society’s ideas of what your gender is supposed to be. There are transwomen who hate wearing dresses and like things that we consider masculine things like working on cars, and transmen who love being feminine (but are still men). Some transpeople can be completely comfortable in their bodies, while clearly others aren’t. And that’s not even considering non-binary folks, who aren’t even given a “model” to work for by society.
My reply to above:
it's all rather complicated.
it'n't it, Enomalie?
;-).
i'll make a mental note that trans-sexual/trans-gender ≠ gender dysphoria; i was given the impression that the latter was, in fact, the "proper" scientific term for the former; as i had stated, my knowledge of this part of the LGBTQ-spectrum is not at all in-depth, so i beseech your understanding for my ignorance, there.
(but, let's be fair: if we-all were perfectly-knowledgeable about this kind of stuff, then there wouldn't be a need for blue to create this comic.
what "central conflict" is there, to immerse one's self in, when none of her audience has a struggle, or a desire or a need to glimpse how 'the other side' lives?)
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myself: i'm just a mostly-gay /and probably partly-queer/ man,
• who is mostly confident that i identify with what seems to be the united states of america's "average/baseline"-culturally_normative conceptualization of the male gender,
• who is still trying to figure out the rest of what the hell is going on around him.
i do not claim to speak authoritatively for the rest of the super-outliers of the not-heterosexual spectrum.
i cannot make a claim to having the same sort of insights and experiences which you had, that enable you to even note the cues (to begin with) which may allow someone to conclude al ... is. . . . .
i do wish to offer, that i want to keep an open mind on this specific matter — which, for me, means that while it is true that all of the cues you've picked up on thus far might just be indicative of alastair's being trans,—should i say "being" or "wanting to be"? i am not sure which,—the possibility remains that allie, himself, has no such impulse.
blue, perhaps deviously,—but definitely-notably,—chose not to disclose, from the beginning and/or from her About, of this particular story, that she "weaves the tale of a man who in his original lifetime was too scared to be(come) the woman that his heart and soul told him he is, but had died before he could do anything about it...
...and now finds himself both unexpectedly-revived and unexpectedly-impelled to confront the '2nd Al' who was allowed to follow what 2nd (and by extension, Original) Al believed 2nd Al wants."
(gender and identity is indeed fluid.
as such, just as it is wholly-plausible a person may feel one way, at one point in their life, it is also possible for that same person to want to revert.
or, even, oscillate, until they pass away.
gender and identity is fluid.
just as our Desires are, Enom.)
in my estimation, if it was blue's intention to relay an iteration of the Trans Experience, it should not have been problematic for her to come and declare as much; i'm pretty sure blue identifies as Queer (not bi or gay)—my apologies if i can easily find out this information,—but i don't know if blue identifies with any other Aspects.
i feel i can proclaim, with absolute confidence, blue does not have a mission to conscientiously/maliciously-offend or -alienate, nor incite; anne frankly, blue strikes me as being a pretty-damn intelligent lass, in general..
..let's, for a moment, work under the assumption blue does not identify as Trans: if, by chance, some element-of-story (which could be seen as a faux pas) does pop up, in her work, it likely would not be major one; concurrently, blue should know by now that her readership, more often than not, will provide an appropriate response and edification, for both herself and for all others who might not have known better.
(you, yourself, seem to be one such person who can provide that kind of support and knowledge, Nommie.)
because blue has not yet publicly "defined" Red Alastair, i opt to allow R.A. the right to be interpreted as a presumed Queer who might simply happened to have some interests and idiosyncrasies that intersect with the idiosyncrasies/interests which Transcendents/non-Binaries also have, until we are shown information which concretely demonstrates otherwise: whether Al is (also) trans-sexual, non-binary, trans-gendered, or is yet another Aspect—all of which, from my perspective, must-needs impart differing manners on how these "cues" and "hints" are to be interpreted,—remains A Mystery.
a mystery, perhaps, by design: to get discussions going, like the one you and i are having.
fair enough.
an astute follower of, and regular-commenter for, ohumanstar (whose screen•name i cannot currently recall, but surely can be found via review of recent-past commentary) did indeed observe that al might not disdain lucy but, rather, envies her. (from that, i went on to opine that al likely-also envies how lucille can interact with and elicit certain reactions from brendan, in ways he himself has not been able to.)
i believe it's been established that Al does not always express his emotions in a constructive nor healthy manner; which in turn had lead al to be disrespectful-without-justification towards miss villas-santos.
(!!
y'know somethin'?
i just read, what one might consider a very significant "hint" in allie's bio: one "person knew [al] as he really was."
really was, you say, Miss Delliquanti?
being a mere Queer or Homo {regardless of mannerism, as long as birth-sex is not altered} is not even remotely-noteworthy nor compelling, for us with Modern Sensibilities; so, just maybe.........)
additionally: blue, very deliberately, and tellingly, has yet to depict al and lu's first encounter; nor has blue, to this day, provided an elabouration of what allus's problem with lucy is.
also notable, of course, is al's not being demonstrated to have a gripe with any <b>other</b> shikz'r, in particular.
allie's just tsundere for lucie.
so, that's our fuschia-elephant in the living room, right there.
"what's so special about lucy?"??
_\|/__\|/_
gender and identity (and, true enough, Sexuality) are quite fluid, enomalie.
i had hoped my previous commentaries had allowed for that, in my theorizations on what'd stopped al from being what he wanted to be (back when i confused gender dysphoria for transcendency).
i had deduced that al's "predicament" was, if al was gonna be Trans—i'm not sure how a desire for "non-binary genderism" may be expressed in this situation,—he wanted to be "≥ 95% passable" Trans; it didn't occur to me Al might have been content with being... ...well, a masculine-Transwoman.
is that what you were getting at?
because, if i am not mistaken, alastair had an interest (whether rational and justified, or not) in not being castigated by society for not fitting in with the Ostensibly Heterosexual Crowd.
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i can only assume that "Original Adult Al" bore ≥ 80% culturally-normative masculine mannerisms (when in public), but i don't know if this information on al is known, either.
(i did speculate, Original Adult Al may be a little effeminate.)
===
al wouldn't (typically) face the sort of ridicule or censure he fears—a sort of denigration which, for some reason, appears to perturb him disproportionately-more than the other types of denigration he could face—if he [falls in line with what he believes] is, either, the comport of a (suitably) masculine man, or if he becomes a (suitably) feminine woman, or whatever other Expression that facilitates his not drawing the attention of potential not-heterosexualphobes.
(so, a potential "conflict" that had arose between brendan and alastair was, alastair's endeavouring to spend an exorbitant sum of, what was designated as their Professional Project Money, for the needed procedures to be that feminine-looking woman which he'd finally grown the balls to actualize).
but, who knows?
i'd assume delliquanti's finished her script for her story a long time ago; going back to make things "more spicy" (in retrospect of whatever knowledge she's since gained) will throw everything off.
i do not want another hiatus (which'd last for 6 - 18 months, this time around).
i do not want to type anymore.
i've said more than enough.
i don't reck'n anyone's gonna read this.
i'll have you know that i am on holiday break right now, so i do have enough "free time" to justify the production of this novel,
okay, everyone?
also, i am invested in ohumanstar.
tsotsumi.
