Thread for cis authors who want to write trans women or transfem/AMAB non-binary characters (esp. in romance)!

I encourage reading the whole thread as my point may be more than it seems at first.

I’ve noticed trans women written by cis authors tend to be assume to have had GRS

GRS = genital reconstruction surgery, in this case being a vaginoplasty.

I’m not saying this is per se bad, but it struck me as a pattern

I think of some books I’ve read where there’s one part of the character backstory: she faced hardship as a kid or teen because of being trans, she struggled with poverty, and came a long way to find any security.

All very realistic!

But then there’s another part of that narrative which goes “and she saved up for surgery in her late teens/twenties.”

Okay that . . . requires more suspension of disbelief.

Not that it doesn’t happen! Some girls and fems and non-binary people DO get that.

But a struggling transfem teen or young adult (which again is a normal thing) would have a harder time paying for surgery and getting access to the surgeon.

Especially if she’s also having to pay for college, etc.

And there are other procedures like FFS, orchiectomy (way cheaper than any GRS), etc, that usually aren’t included in the character backstory.

So here I imagine a cis author may think “am I supposed to have my MC have other surgeries then if any?”

Of course you don’t. However, if they seem unnecessary but GRS seems like a given to include in her backstory, it’s worth thinking about why.

Part of the cultural mythology around transfems is that vaginoplasty is one of our defining features—that we all probably want it, are in pain without it, are saving up for it, have had it, or aren’t “full” trans women without it.

Consider this cultural baggage as you write

TERFs often say “most M2Ts want to keep their penises!” which is a gross creepy way of distorting something that is basically true: the majority of transfems and other AMAB trans people haven’t had or aren’t having GRS.

This might be for financial/practical reasons, and/or for personal reasons. Not everyone wants GRS, some want it but have others reasons for choosing not to, etc.

The fact that not everyone wants it is key.

Please understand I’m not saying “if you write your trans woman MC as having GRS, that’s transmisogynist!”

Certainly not. But it’s worth asking yourself:
Did it feel wrong to you NOT to write her that way?
Did not writing her that way seem like not writing her as female?

And does it make sense for your character’s socioeconomic situation?

IOW, is this something that made sense for this character, or did it just seem like having GRS was a logical part of writing a transfem character?

It doesn’t have to be. It’s helpful to introspect

Another question worth asking is “did I write her (if she/her) with a vagina so it would be easier to write a sex scene?”

If so, I get it. But maybe sit with that a minute.

I gotta admit when I read a book with a transfem MC by a cis author I tend to think “I wonder how they will handle any sex scenes” knowing it might make or break the book’s rep.

If it seemed wrong, or possibly insulting, to write a woman who has a penis in a romance with sex scenes, it’s important to consider why.

Note that this doesn’t mean that you SHOULDN’T write her as having GRS.

I want more rep of trans fems, AMAB trans people, and all trans people in books, with all kinds of bodies and all variations of transition.

It’s not bad to have trans women characters who’ve had GRS!

But it’s vital to think about what our unconscious defaults are and why we have them, and who we may he leaving out with them.

Also I’d like to stress, I am not saying transfems with vulvas are privileged or “taking up too much space.” Not at all.

There’s a TON of fetishizing of “pre-op/non-op” transfems (pardon the language) but this doesn’t mean transfems with vulvas are an elite or aren’t fetishized

Please RT if you feel inclined for visibility to cis authors!