Why do we read trans fiction?
I’ve been posing that question to a number of different people, and here are some of the responses I’ve received. (Disclaimer: The ‘poling’ I’ve been doing, if you can even call it that, is not in any way scientific. I did not ask for demographic information, and this anecdotal collection was self-selected from people who do read trans fiction to begin with.)
- I never had the courage to come out & someone else forcing me will probably always be just a fantasy.
- There is no sexual stimulation in reading these stories(for me) & the sexually explicit ones are sometimes a turn off. I think, for me, it is just good reading about subjects that are near & dear to me.
- [Trans fiction] stories help me have an imaginary life like I really want.
- I do not think that I am alone to have those stories with us when we have gone to bed. I just hope that they have been as inspirational to others as they have been to me.
And, of course, the seven ‘E’s:
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Explore – reading to find new ideas or expressions, to help figure out where one is on the gender continuum.
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Experience – to share the thoughts and feelings others have about themselves.
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Expand – to widen one’s horizons about the various lifestyles and choices.
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Erotic – to engage in a sexual experience which may result in another E – Ejaculate.
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Escape – to lose oneself in the fantasy of others when there is no chance of it happening in real life.
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Evolve – to help oneself move forward toward a real life goal.
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Excuse – to let someone else take charge – to not be responsible for your actions.
How about you, gentle reader? Why do you read trans fiction? (Or write it? Or don’t read it? Or any other thoughts on the subject?)
As a reminder, I’m collecting my thoughts on, and links to, trans fiction here. Enjoy!
-R
Themocracy
The key theme I see running through my favorite authors’ works is the human spirit surmounting adversity. Needing to overcome prejudice, one’s own fear, others’ changed perceptions before during and after major life changes, and society’s strictures are hurdles common to us all, but Trans people are especially affected in western culture.
I write trans fiction because I have failed to pass, find myself attracted to feminine people, and am most comfortable in the company of women as an equal. That points directly at a secondary reason I like to read and write trans fiction, which is to live vicariously through these stories.
I guess that means I like stories where I can escape through characters who exceed the expectations of themselves, their family, their friends, their enemies, their detractors, their society, their circumstances and/or their world.
Thanks for the comment, Eclectic Kitty! I haven’t posted about trans fiction in a while, but definitely have some stories I’ve been reading that I should share.
I think you’re spot-on that good trans fiction deals with some of the social and emotional effects of transitioning, even if the causes (and motivations) behind the “transition” are often outlandish.
Likewise, good entertainment of all types can function as escapism. (I don’t play videogames because of I actually think I’m Mario, for example, but it’s still good fun!)
What stories or authors do you like? And would you be willing to share any of your own?
I started with Ellen Hayes’ “Tuck”. It was linked from a webcomic list of links (Closet Space or Venus Envy or The Wotch or El Goonish Shive or Misfile; I can’t remember which) and I fell in love, reading it all within about a week and a half.
From there, I ran into Bek D Corbin’s Jade in Whateley, then Russell Gold’s “Take A Lemon”, and Lilith Langtree’s “Either Do It Right or Don’t Do it at All”.
After that, I found “No Half Measures” and read that as slowly as I could bear, not wanting it to end.
Before all that, there was Ranma 1/2 and Kasimasi.
Kasimasi or Kashimashi is more shoujo-ai than gender bender and I kept with it for the love story, more than the TG element, because it was pretty much a non-issue, unfortunately.
I tried other stories on for size all around and was deeply disappointed to find some of the more perverse stories of kiddie porn/romance and/or forced feminization through brute force. I don’t even touch the stuff that is labeled with humiliation or femdom or anything that is degrading.
In my own stories, I strive for slice-of-life realism with a hint of fantastic luck. The one exception was my submission for BC’s November Story Challenge.
I guess sections of “String of Pearls” were considered masturbation material, but they weren’t intended to be so. They certainly weren’t for me, as I was caught up in the emotions of my characters, but not the sexual thrill, though my experiences were certainly a strong basis for those scenes.
Meh. So be it. It’s not up to me to tell the reader what they are reading, it is up to me to convey my story well. If some people got off instead of getting gushy, then I accomplished less than half my goal.
Thanks for the links! I’m checking out “Either Do It Right…” and “No Half Measures,” and definitely stayed up too late last night reading “Take A Lemon.” =p
In your mind, is forced feminization by fate (like in Take A Lemon) different than forced feminization by another character in the story? I have issues with forced feminization, too (although I often read ‘em anyway) but feel like 99% of the trans fiction out there is about some situation/person/event outside the main character forcing them into femininity…
And I’ll have to check out your stories as well.
I think it’s more the forced feminization like when a (child, usually) is threatened or even mutilated.
Take for instance “Accidental Girl” by Stacy In Love. The main character, a 7-year-old is mutilated into becoming a girl after adults and his best friend coerce him into dressing up again and again. He didn’t want to be a girl, but his mother convinced him after herself being convinced by outside forces. I won’t spoil it by revealing too much, but I was angry after the first few pages.
It mostly was due to the way 7-year-old relationships were handled like teenage romances. Couple that with the fact that the poor kid was being brainwashed as well as having been mutilated and you have the makings of some very sick storytelling.
What makes me scratch my head is how so many stories of talented authors are barely able to scrape 200-300 hits, then this one gets posted and has almost 3000 hits in three days. The reviews are glowing, as well.
As for my story, I’ll need to get cracking on making a web-ready version of the next installment.
The story is told through the reminiscences of three characters, a lesbian couple and a she-male.
Some find jumping along with characters through their memories to be too confusing, even with time stamps, but most do not, thank goodness.
Speaking of stories to share, would you have any fiction you’ve authored, Rebecca?
@Eclectic Kitty
Re: “and a she-male.”
Read this please: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shemale#Connotations
Then consider the people you are talking to here please. Not impressed.
I’d agree that I’m not a fan of she-male, Xoros. Eclectic Kitty, can I ask why you’re using that instead of a different term?
That said, I do agree that there’s a major difference between feminization that’s “forced by fate” and “forced by criminally neglectful or psychopathic caretakers.” But, as you note, there’s definitely a market for it…
What I’ve talked about before is the desire I’ve had for someone outside of myself to take control of my transition and simply tell me what to do. I don’t know that that’s hwere the audience for forced feminization stories are coming from, but it makes some amount of emotional sense to me.
And no, I haven’t really written any fiction worth noting. I try my hand every once in a while, but always get frustrated and give up. Working on my current show, though, has given me lots of food for thought on how to successfully write personal narrative, so I may try some fiction writing again one of these days.
I’m not here to impress or irk anyone. I’m discussing why I read and write TG fiction. You or anyone else choosing to take offense is not within my control. That wiki page article and your comment are the very first I’ve heard of someone being offended by the term.
Then again, the TS people I’ve met who used that term and ‘trannies’ (not to mention a variety of other, more colorful names and epithets) to refer to themselves are also a group of friends and mostly prostitutes, in Oakland. It never crossed my mind that it would be offensive, though I find most labels quite clumsy in any case. In all my time within the gay community, I never heard the word she-male used at all. Perhaps then, you could help me.
At the risk of spoiling part of my own story that others here may or may not read, I will divulge that one of my characters is female in appearance and manner, but has chosen not to have sexual reassignment surgery.
She is not “in transition” nor is she intersexed, not having any internal female parts. She lost her testicles due to a genetic birth defect that her parents chose to view as a function of her “problem” of identifying as female nearly her whole life. She has been on a female hormone regimen since puberty, so she doesn’t exactly have full male characteristics (stunted, somewhat), but her secondary female characteristics are fully developed.
Respectfully, what term would you use? Transgendered? Transsexual? Bi-gendered? Seriously, does any label do justice to her? To anyone?
If the term was poorly chosen, then understand it was out of ignorance of the greater community who seems obsessed with labels. Rest assured that I will merely omit the use of the term from my vocabulary in the future, unless I decide to write about my friends and their sometimes interestingly vulgar banter.
Whether or not I take offense might not be in your control if you don’t know, what counts is what you do once you do know. Thank you for your apology.
Ok some points that might help: shemale is pretty universally seen as very derogatory, especially if it comes from cis people. Some women might choose to try and reclaim it or to use it in an ironic way, however, doing so to a trans woman without knowing if she does is really dodgy ground. You are much, much more likely to offend and upset than anything else. Same as with tranny only generally much more offensive.
Transition is not only or always about surgery. Nor is gender about bodies. I’m a transsexual, transgendered woman. I am on female hormones, not intersexed, have female secondary characteristics, am female in manner and appearance. I have not had and have no plans to have surgery. I’m female, my gender is female. If you ask me so is my body. Gender is not a body, sex is a body. Bodies do not determine gender. So in your example, if she identifies as female, she’s female. If she identifies as neither male or female, she’s other gendered or third gendered, possibly bi gendered. But you say she’s female, so she’s a trans woman, definitely transgendered, probably transsexual.
Shemale is a degendering, objectifying word that reduces trans women to body parts. It defines a trans woman purely as bits and denies her identity as a woman by undermining it and casting her as a hybrid or male. Given my life choices it is a slur that can get aimed at me particularly. You can see why I might have an issue with it.
ps got the right posting name this time.
[...] show, but I’m still feeling like I’m in something of a funk more generally. And, with a recent comment on an older post about trans fiction, I’m reading some new stories and finding them feeding [...]