Art Post - Trans representation

Felix Hardy - Fiti

It's a fanart of Fiti's male Black Cat design Felix. I like his haircut and it was enough of a reason to draw him lol, I really wasn't expecting him to become one of my most popular art ever. I made this post a year ago or so but I felt like posting it to the actual date rather than the one I made it, like the other arts. I've been reading every comments on every plateform people shared him and I saw a lot of folks praising the chest surgery scars and I'm glad it made some people happy. To be honest, when I genderbend a character I make them trans because it's in the name, genderbend not sexbend. So it was more of what felt like a coherent design choice rather than a mean to be inclusive. I'm not here to debate trans right because for one you don't debate the right to exist to people just because you don't understand them. Second, I couldn't care less if some people feel butt hurted by a fanart.

But I do wanna adress this notion of "natural" and how it's used against LGBTQ+ people. What I'm gonna quickly ask is for you to list me every single natural thing humans do. Dressing up? Working? Phones? Commenting bullshit online? Cooking? Playing games? Reading? Watching movies? Music? Art as a whole? Wedding? God? Capitalism? Social injustice? None of this is natural, none of this can be find in the wild. Hell, even the way we take a shit is unatural. The reason humanity is so fascinating is because of how unatural it is (which certainly will lead to its extinction quicker than any other species before them but y'know). Every single thing that make you a human is unatural. So really, when you tell a trans person or anyone else how they're not natural you're only making them more human than you. Bigots spend their entire life craving power and creating ladders to be on top of them, they defy nature itself but they feel offensed by people they don't see as "natural"? Please. "embrace yourself like God made you", when you cut off or dye your hair, put on makeup and clothes, shave, you modify yourself too. I don't consider myself trans. While I'm uncomfortable with the social vision of genders, I don't feel bad about my body and the way I perceive myself isn't impacted by its shape. But I love the idea of being able to be whatever you are deep inside and to express it physically. People will change the color of their hair, eyes even, they'll tan their skin, they'll remove fat from their bodies, they will lift their face to try to fight the natural process of getting old. They'll paint their face with makeup, they'll pierce it to add jewelries, they'll put ink inside their skin, they'll grow their ass and boobz through chirurgy but they'll complain when someone chop their boobz off to match how they are inside of them?

Your body is the purest form of self expression and therefore your mindset and your vision of Art. You express it through the way you dress yourself, through the way you behave, through the way you style your hair, for some through the makeup and jewelry you add, some through the ink in their skin and some others through chirurgies.

Not being into some of these is part of your own mindset and vision of Art. However, there's a difference between "this is not for me because it doesn't match who I am and how I want to express myself" and "I HATE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS, IT'S GROSS AND SHOULD BE FORBIDDEN". It's YOUR vision and you don't get to impose that to everyone. The same way trans people don't force you to be trans. You don't see a trans person and think "oh shit, I'm feeling trans now" because if you do BOY do I have news for you and it ain't because of them. People don't turn people LGBTQ+, they are this way, that's all. If anything it's YOU who will push them to reject your own norms the same way I rejected gender codes and roles because of the pain and hatred it inflicted to me. I know these words will never change anything, mostly because I don't have bigots in my following but also because they're too far gone in their own egocentrism. But I'm not writing for the transphobes and the homophobes. I'd rather let them sink alone and let their own hatred burn them down far away from me. I'm writing this for you, for you who's not necessarly concerned and don't necessarly understand but still try to be that good ally to people who aren't allowed to be. And for you, for you the trans person reading this and thinking you're a monster, thinking being unatural is a sin. That's what make you human.

You're not the problem, transphobia is. Because even in a world where all trans people are dead, they'll still hate trans people, transphobia will remain and they'll still do their best to prevent you from existing again. The poison is in their mind, not in your body. You are imperfect, unatural and that make you the most beautiful form of humanity. Your will, your NEED to express who you really are is the purest possible form of Art and Art is the material form of humanity. There's nothing wrong about you.

The world is a mess, everyone hate everyone and the future seems hopeless but that's what fascism is about, it's about making you think there's no hope so you stop fighting them and you let them spread. You're their biggest enemy because you defy them, you defy their rules. They fear you because you have the strength, through your existence only, to shatter their toxic ideas, to prove them wrong. Not only are you not a mistake, but you're a necessity. Humanity needs you. And I know it's unfair, nobody should get the weight of the World on their shoulders only to be. This weight the powerful put on yourself and you didn't choose. But I want you to remember this, they put this weight on you because you are needed, they see as a mistake because you defy their laws and ipso facto their power. There's a reason so many social icons are trans and that reason is because you are freedom, that's what you truly represent and what the bigots fear. There's nothing stronger than the will to be free and that's what you are. Even at your lowest, you're still stronger than anyone else because your desire to be yourself and freed yourself from these social chains is still stronger than the need to protect yourself by hiding. Even when you try to hide by suiting in this society, you feel like this desire still burn your heart, but it's not that desire that hurt you, it's how society will punish you for having that flame in your heart, because it's the proof that you're stronger than them and they'll punish you so you don't understand you are. You're stronger than them because you can't live in a lie like they do and pretend to be ok with their fascism and injustices. That's what it means.

So live, outlive them and when you're on your death bed smile, smile because your life mattered. Because you lived it fully and as you wanted, as hard they make it. Don't die out of pain and despair like they want you to. Live, laugh, love, because it's the greatest form of resistance. You are needed.

I'm sorry if it's clumsy and poorly worded, I wanted this to come out as close to my feelings as possible so I didn't really think anything, I just typed what crossed my mind and heart. When I make Art Post, I make post about humanity. So it makes sense to adress this in an Art post. Everyone have the power to change someone's day, life even. It's up to you to choose what kind of impact you'll have in this World. I chose to dedicate my life to help lost and broken soul to find their light so when I see death again, I can leave with a smile and think "my pain was worth it, because it showed the way to at least one person and gave them a beautiful life that will inspire other people". That's why I share, that's why I draw, that's why I write and why I'm so vocal. How do you choose to dedicate yours? You have the greatest power and with great power comes great responsibility, so use it wisely.