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An FYI re: Hickman’s claim: it doesn’t seem like income is a foolproof way of preventing transgenderism per a 2025 study. $50,000 to <$75,000 household income has about same odds as $200,000 or higher. Probably the best bet is to ban effeminate anime at home and give child a more exciting identity and “quest” to latch onto in adolescence. I looked and there doesn’t appear to be a relationship with religiosity in household either.
FtM or MtF transgenderism? These are meaningfully different things.
That study didn’t separate the two. IMO anime and similar media plays a role in causing MTF, I have no idea what causes FTM though
Surely all the LGBT stuff in schools and the internet valorizing trans for being brave, coming out with their real selves is the real cause, plus those groomer discords. US military service is heavily correlated with transgenderism (about 2x general population) and that's presumably because of all the LGBT propaganda in the US military.
Anime doesn't even have a pro-trans message on the whole? Maybe hentai/gooner stuff but anime on the whole seems to cater more for straight men. And if anime were the main cause, wouldn't there be the most trans in Japan or Korea or China where they're way more into anime?
Then again, I don't watch much anime. I watched some of the most normie shows like Edgerunner, Hunter x Hunter, Death Note, Frieren, Kill la Kill. The only thing I could think of is the saga of Tanya the Evil which has a genderbent protagonist but its core idea is 'wouldn't it be cool if there was a dubiously sane evil loli flying ace fighting for not-Germany in not-WW2?' and deliberately desexualizes Tanya. Maybe there are other anime that are what you're thinking of.
Anime is actively anti-trans, but don't tell BreadTube that. (Or maybe do; I'm tired of the shitty takes.)
What they usually miss is the fact that most cross-gender characters aren't trying to make it everyone else's problem, which is the root of the issue that most people have with the subject (including, or complicated by, the excitement derived therefrom, including the sexual aspect thereof).
I found Ranma 1/2 to, interestingly enough, be a relatively good example of that. It is incredibly anti-trans; Ranma sees gender-changing as a disability (except when it's convenient to distract enemies with boobies) to be removed or worked with at best rather than something to heavily embrace. If I recall correctly there's one arc where he does discover a way to undo it, but ultimately chooses to destroy it for Akane.
That's not something you'd ever see in modern "trans-affirming" media. But then again, "anime has gender fuckery therefore it causes transgenderism" is the low-information version and generally outs the speaker as someone who's either not paying attention or is unwilling/unable to understand sexuality beyond the base level. [Which is also why all of the reactionaries are, correctly, dismissed.]
Ouran High School Host Club is kind of the same way, but Haruhi's father is basically a walking stereotype who retains most stereotypical male attitudes and Haruhi herself is... more of an accidental pick-me[1] more than anything else (Western women complain about tonal whiplash with respect to Kyoya- but that's caused predominantly by initial confusion about it being a story about a Modern Liberated Woman due to its initial premise, so those who liked it specifically for that are thrown far harder out of the story).
Kodaka's works are a bit different for a reason I really don't want to get into (I suspect this to apply to Tetsuka purely based on how his art looks, and subject matter that has a lot to do with gender-changing, but I haven't seen it so I can't positively draw that conclusion), but Chihiro actively treats femininity as instrumental and Halara Nightmare is the mirror image of that (where she intentionally confuses the issue and uses androgyny as that instrument instead- or basically, how one would imagine a non-uncanny trans person taking advantage of the privilege to use mis-identification as a scalpel rather than the traditional social sledgehammer Western audiences appear to prefer).
[1] I mean this more in the sense that she just happens to find herself in -> get along relatively well in a niche with a bunch of boys, not that she's doing it intentionally.
From how the character looks I believe this assessment is correct (I haven't watched the show).
Topically for transgenderism, though, there's a particular 'you only think it's desexualized because what the sexualization actually is won't be coherent to you' thing that over time people (particularly men) might hopefully be starting to understand. Steven Universe does it with the 'fusion dance', but most people get frame-trapped by seeing the Fusion dances, going 'it's obviously sex, they're teaching kids to have sex', and ending the scan there.
Because yeah, it is, but what you're missing is that the interaction is about as physically sexual as piloting a Basilisk from Cyberpunk 2077 is (I'd say it's more Pacific Rim, but I'm pretty sure Gypsy Danger isn't used for sex); it depends far more on emotional state to function correctly (who's actually leading is, if I recall, a question the show avoids) and a bunch of other stuff that's only coherent if you're willing to observe sex as women do. But we've talked about that before.
...you're not going to mention the Siamese? Thailand is famous for its ladyboys, and they didn't even need anime for that!
I'm pretty sure the better relationship with crossdressers Asians have has more to do with the fact men and women there look a lot more similar than they do in other races (and women look way younger for way longer); the more sexually dimorphic a particular race of people, the worse of a relationship with adopting the trappings of the other gender the cultures they create have.
I'm pretty sure mentions of this are just crypto-feminist (more typically labelled "social conservative") psyops trying to discredit perfectly normal things, like talking to young people, because they might see ur peepee or ur boobies and then u will explode, oooooo spooky.
You have failed your opposite-sex young adult offspring if the only sexual outlet they have is strangers on the internet. The corresponding responsibility to your right of veto over your child's sexuality is to actively search for situations where they can get laid. Because if you don't, they conclude they never will and decide to become the wo/man themselves.
This was maybe the case through the 00s, but there are modern examples now like Onii-chan Wa Oshimai that are decidedly pro-trans, or at least trans-neutral. Onimai is definitely not a kids' show though, and it's not the sort of thing that children would randomly stumble onto by chance, unlike how say, a child in the 90s/00s might randomly have been exposed to other "effeminate" anime like Ranma or Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura (granted, everyone is given open access to the internet and Discord from birth now, so, you never know).
The funny thing about Kodaka's games is that they're just a bit... zesty, in general (and this has only ramped up over time with Hundred Line and Shuten Order), and thus have attracted a very large tumblr/fujo type of fanbase in the west, despite being ostensibly targeted at a mostly male audience.
Yeah I'm really fascinated by this. This is a common phenomenon whenever genderbender media breaks containment and gets some mainstream exposure. There were many confused comments online about Onimai, ranging from "why isn't he more pissed off at his sister for doing nonconsensual medical experiments on him and turning him into a girl? That's assault" (lol) to "it's a serious story about the struggles that young women face in adolescence" (infinite omega lol). The answer to all that of course is that you're not supposed to think that hard about it because it's essentially porn; it's just, porn that's transmitting on a frequency that you're not tuned into.
Tanya I can confirm is totally desexualized though. The genderswap is just a plot device to get the story going and then it's essentially never brought up again. There are quite a few isekai and other stories like that now.
I mostly agree with you. I think a lot of people are just genuinely, sincerely flabbergasted by the idea that anyone could ever desire to be the opposite sex, unless they were coerced into thinking that way by external circumstances, and "it's all discord grooming" is their attempt to proffer some sort of explanation that they can make sense of. I don't think grooming plays nearly as big a role as some other people here do.
That being said. I was deadass talking to someone just the other day who told me "this guy in a Rust discord convinced me to start taking estrogen". I'm 99% sure they weren't memeing. They were a couple years into their transition. So my reaction was 1) of course it was Rust lol, and 2) sometimes the conspiracy theories and most damning accusations about your political opponents simply turn out to be true.
This part I don’t really agree with though. I’m a consistent anti-egalitarian to the end. Broadly speaking, if a male can’t get laid on his own, then he shouldn’t be having sex; social engineering efforts to the contrary would be dysgenic. (Although I still support monogamous marriage as a preferable social order over polygamy, and I don’t feel particularly inconsistent in doing so.)
I don't actually think that one's pro-trans either; there's a bunch of stuff Mahiro does that doesn't make sense if it was. A guy who plays a thousand ero-novels (or is in it for the sexual pleasure) should know perfectly well how female anatomy works and not be turbo-embarrassed about being the opposite sex (and if it's the line the show wants to push, bigger breasts), but none of those things appear to be true. My assessment of it being anti-trans strengthens when considering what Mihari in particular says and does (where she appears to indicate attraction to the male qualities of female Mahiro more than anything else, which are actively offensive to anyone bearing the modern Western feminist/trans-validation viewpoint which state that anything emblematic of masculinity [in someone who is not currently male] is bad).
Compare that to a show I think is pro-trans, Blend S, specifically because of the way Hideri acts. He doesn't say he's trans but the way he acts is pretty close to the way ex-men do (the boundary-blindness he has is there, but he lacks the uncanniness so it's not as apparent), in contrast to Mahiro who really doesn't. You might say the same thing of Baka to Test considering the entire joke around Hideyoshi and passing in the most inconvenient way possible at the time, but that's generally a throwaway bit to greater degree than Hideri.
It's also one of those things (that I remember you mentioning about Nietzsche, actually) where as soon as you try to take the easy way out by importing a bunch of biases/privileges/facets of reality you're Big Mad about, it renders itself completely illegible. "Sexualization" (and the related "pedophilia" and "muh soggy knees") are the trump cards one typically deploys to fully disengage from a work that exceeds one's capacity for analysis.
Most of the Onimai complaints are like that, it seems- the work is not commenting on those things that don't fucking matter. (Which most of the YouTube videos about it also seem to miss; the fact Mahiro starts as a shut-in is set dressing for the plot, this isn't a serious analysis of the effects here.)
The thing to remember here is not so much that Mihari wants to fuck Mahiro as it is that gender-change swaps the power dynamic to one where it's inherently safe for Mahiro to exercise the [since atrophied] agency, which is the entire reason why Mihari was and is attracted to him[1], which is a key to female attraction (and one that men instinctively discourage one another from seeking because, if you are a man, it's net-negative for another man to understand women better than you- this is the male mirror-image to slut-shaming). Or in your own words,
Which is also why I said that it's the mother's job (or the sister's, if they like you enough, as in Mihari's case- maybe the author has some personal experience of that) to make sure their men recognize this, because clearly, nobody else will (I do agree that it is dysgenic for sons of mothers too instinct-bound to understand this to reproduce). And so any man that feels the need to propagate this information is clearly malfunctioning for the same reason women who want casual sex are- you'd have to be autistic/self-destructive/sufficiently devoid of immutable gender instinct to do those things simply because they are fun and rewarding to do [your instincts cannot account for technology unless they were weak to begin with... a condition more common in the "autistic"].
And it's that dynamic which men don't tend to understand the inherent sexuality of for women (complicated further by certain women having an incentive to not understand it): works can be intensely sexual with scarcely a bulge or nipple exposed (re: Adolescence). But once men get caught in the simplest possible trap of sexuality their body will respond to (i.e. "they see boobies and a guy who is now a girl") it's just the standard impotent rage.
Kodaka obviously understands this; I believe that's why his writing is popular with the types of women who also understand that (generally by writing the protagonist in such a way that he's as emotionally available as you'd want him to be, which is easier in VNs because that's where the narrator lives; his protagonists are like this more often than not- the less this is true, the weaker his writing becomes, in my opinion).
Said protagonist is, at that point, either equal to or slightly lesser to you in the sense that you're not inherently threatened about self-inserting on top of him, but you're not burdened by the requirement to do that; you're still witnessing his ability to actually do the work such that he remains sufficiently interesting to keep playing with.
The V'ehxness route from Hundred Line is this at its most blatant. I found it out of place because from a purely tactical standpoint it makes literally zero sense to do what she does, and every single one of that path's endings involves her actively driving the protagonist to function in a way worthy of her [even though that destroys them both in 3 of the 4 endings, if memory serves]. (Of course, the choice to be that ruthless/worthy begins with selecting Tsubasa to explode simply because it is the choice you make if you only care about your team by the numbers; a very V'ehxness thing to do on its own.)
But all of his better protagonists are like this. Makoto isn't memed as best female protagonist for no reason (and Takumi is very much Makoto 2.0, much like Hiruko is Kyoko 2.0, Tsubasa is Aoi 2.0, Moko is just Great Value-brand Sakura, etc.). And then there's Rain Code where the protagonist is basically a middle schooler (and treated a lot more sexually than any Danganronpa game treated its protagonists, with the sole exception of V3's love hotel), to say nothing of UDG.
[1] The first close encounter with Momiji only makes sense if she's both younger in apparent age and a tomboy (which she is) specifically because it's too early in the story for Mahiro to be comfortable engaging with anyone else with more developed girl hardware or software. (Actually, all of the girls in the series are like that; you have the girl who only deploys her hardware offensively against 'enemy' women [which is what a gyaru is], the sportier one, the hyper-androgynous one, and the gay one- all of whom a man like Mahiro would find particularly easy to deal with given that those things largely predict an ability to co-operate with men.)
On that note, the later chapters (once the male characters have names) treat said male characters more sexually than the girls ever really are (outside of Mahiro pissing, I guess, but this is more an inversion-of-control thing which I don't feel like explaining further right now).
I mean, if it is anti-trans, it's not for these reasons. This is a very common emotional beat in AGP erotica (meaning, stories that are very explicitly written by AGPs for AGPs). The psychological discomfort is part of the eroticism, it would be too boring if the guy was just totally ok with it right from the start. "Oh nooo I've been turned into a girl, this is so strange and alien, whatever shall I doooo". But of course the guy (usually) comes to like and accept it by the end.
I know there was a chapter later in the manga where Mahiro was visibly uncomfortable when his dick spontaneously regrew, beyond what would be required by simple practical concerns about being "found out".
Frankly, I think it's structurally analogous to how in erotica for straight women, the female character is often just a little bit reluctant before the action starts. "I mean I'm not reallllly into it, and he's kiiiinda pissing me off, and oh who am I kidding yes I'm totally into it haha". Sometimes, you'd just rather feel like you're being coerced into it (even though the final act is ultimately enthusiastically voluntary); the "detour" is important for the eroticism.
That route was fire I'm so mad that it wasn't longer.
My hopes of her getting DLC have unfortunately dropped to zero at this point.
Well the "sense" is that it was just a pretext so we could see her acting like a dommy mommy to Takumi.
I think I missed that one; I got through the first 3 volumes (as in, where the show left off, AIUI).
But then I looked at the latest volumes and the other related doujins (specifically about one of the other boys) completely convinced me that the transness is only important inasmuch it creates space for the development of authority -> 'manliness' on Mahiro's part.
That's the part that's anti-trans (femininity as means, not as end). If it was pro-trans (as in, 'he doesn't want to exhibit the primary/attractive characteristics of a man, and maybe he gets a sexual thrill from not doing that', or 'femininity as end') he would only be participating passively (or get over being terrified with physical contact with the other girls) and that's not quite what I observed.
(Like, look at episode 100. Does the cat-Mahiro imagine spot really scream 'Mahiro is enjoying being submissive and breedable' there? Why would he set himself up as the dominant partner in the exchange if the entire point was getting off on the submission? It's more gay than trans in the sense that the narrative takes pains to clarify that Mahiro [who... still continually appears to perceive himself as a man] is far more interested in being a sexual object to (and by extension, dominating) Yuta/Minato than anyone else [and at least by chapter 50 still doesn't yet see himself as authorized to dominate the girls, which is what I'd expect from a pro-trans fantasy].)
I will admit this is also contingent on a particular definition of 'trans' that isn't just 'changed gender'- it's that plus the mindset. One might even say that it doesn't make sense to evaluate 'definitionally transgender' solely from the male perspective considering the claim that framing isn't enough is literally in the name.
But she really doesn't, though; that's the entire reason I found it strange. If that was the point it'd have ended with Takumi in either permanent chains or something like that, but Takumi's active participation is required for the endings to occur how they do (they either die together, or die fighting each other).
That's not usually how that trope/fantasy goes- or at least, not my understanding. But maybe I'm missing some required reading; I'm sure you could fill me in.
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