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[merrily]

iambickilometer has written a really excellent piece of meta: Five+ Ways Being Transgender in Fandom Really Sucks, and Why I Stick With It Anyway, which I urge all of you to go read. Um. At a more sane hour. (Why am I awake at 1:30 in the morning?)

Excerpt from the piece:

I love many cisgendered characters, mind. Just like I love many straight characters and many non-Latino characters. But I want to be able to love transgender characters, too. And I want other people to love them, to follow their stories and root for them and see them as people and interesting, complex characters that they can ship and analyse. I want people to feel like they can write trans characters even though they're not trans themselves. I want to be able to say I'm transgendered and have people know what that means.

He's got a lot to say about genderswap fic and how it fails, too, which is extremely worthwhile for your consideration, especially if, like me, you've read a shit-ton of it in SGA fandom.

Actually, while we're on this topic -- and if it's a topic that interests you -- you might also want to know that there is an excellent personal essay in Oprah mag this month by a woman who fell in love with a trans guy. She talks about how they've handled the various curveballs society's thrown at them, how she worries about his safety, how they handle strangers (waitresses!) assuming they're both women. I found it deeply affecting. Also, I found the author's fiance smokin' hot, and am extremely curious to know if my bookstore is stocking his novels. (His name is never mentioned, so I don't know.)