in light of the recent events on sekaitwt,

why assuming mizuki's (or anyone's) gender/pronouns is wrong and why you shouldn't do it: [an informative thread]

disclaimer and content warnings:
- transphobia
- misgendering
- nbphobia

please stay safe

cw // transphobia , misgendering
1. origin of the discourse

several hours ago on reddit a "theory" about mizuki's gender was posted (reference to attached image) and from there, a sudden hate spurt towards them began on both twitter and the subreddit

[1/?]

[continued from 1]
cw // transphobia , misgendering

summarizing said theory: op and the upvoters agree that mizuki is a cisgender male crossdressing but have decided to address them as she/her in the next set of tweets i'll explain why this is wrong in every perspective

[2/?]

2. dissecting the theory (why it's not ok)
cw // transphobia , misgendering , nbphobia

assuming gender identity because of gender expression is disrespectful towards trans people. nb people dont owe you androgyny. by supporting this mindset you invalidate their identities

[3/?]

[continued from 3]
cw// transphobia , nbphobia

also, boku (僕) is not an inherently masculine pronoun; many nb and trans folks use it as gender neutral. japanese pronouns are not classified in gender, but in meaning, later adapted to this concept.

[4/?]

[continued from 4]
cw // transphobia , misgendering

and it's important to quote that the game itself refers to mizuki's gender as unknown, so assuming it and assigning them a set of pronouns is wrong. when you don't know someone's pronouns/gender you use they/them instead

[5/?]

[continued from 5]
cw // transphobia sexism

last but not least, reducing trans-fem people and/or female to the basic attribute of not having breasts is not only sexist and transphobic, but also pretty rude and nasty

[6/?]

3. additional thoughts

there are lots of evidence and hints that support the concept of trans mizuki, but i decided not to dive into that since there is a lot of lore/spoilers/material to analyze. i might make a separate post about it later.

[7/?]

4. conclusion

even if mizuki is a fictional character, disrespecting their identity is also disrespecting their fans. some mizuki stans are trans too, and comments like this can hurt them. so please be respectful and use the right pronouns for mizuki.

[end of the thread]