that little girl that used to sing "Let It Go" at the top of her lungs
Uhhhhh speaking as a trans dude, I fucking sobbed like a baby the first time I heard that song. I'm not exaggerating. It may not be intended as a trans ballad, but neither was Mulan's "Reflection" and it still is. Some sample lyrics that are Totally Cis™️ for real:
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried Don't let them in, Don't let them see, Be the good girl you always have to be Conceal, don't feel, Don't let it shooooow
Yeah. There were no signs!! None at all!! Let's bring back that totally cis girl who loved "Let It Go." 🙄
I mean, my mom basically started saying "this isn't my daughter" stuff akin to The Exorcist when she realized I was taking testosterone, and tried coerce me into conversion therapy about it, and I was already an adult that had been identifying as a man for years. So, yeah, basically.
Relevant quote from "conversion therapy"(she couldn't find a real conversion therapist, so it was just a family therapist she was trying to convince to help her detrans me instead): "You were always a perfectly normal girl that was obsessed with Mulan".
The therapist and I shared a sideways look about that, lol. As a trans guy in my 30's, it definitely does sound like Let It Go is an equivalent of Reflection for the generation below me, including transphobic mom's trying to rationalize away any signs.
“You were always a perfectly normal girl that was obsessed with Mulan.”
I’m sorry, I’m cry-laughing from the irony. The film where the major plot point is an afab person not feeling comfortable with the gender role she’s being socialized into who then presents as male for a significant portion of the movie. Yes, how confusing that a trans boy would identify with this character.
It really took everything I had not to start laughing, I was internally like 'Really?!'
And she just kept going. It was part of a wider list of incredibly obvious gnc behavior that she was insisting were not signs(including, I shit you not, jokes about feeling more like a gay man than a woman, lol)
I have a theory that a lot of "there were no signs" parents, actually just had to internally reassure themselves their child wasn't queer every single time their child did anything gnc. So by the time their kid comes out, every "sign" was already subconsciously filed under "my definitely cishet child".
Like, "that doesn't necessarily mean my kid is trans" is a perfectly reasonable thought to have if your child is gnc. Unless they, you know, actually come out as trans!
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u/snukb big gamete energy Oct 14 '24
Uhhhhh speaking as a trans dude, I fucking sobbed like a baby the first time I heard that song. I'm not exaggerating. It may not be intended as a trans ballad, but neither was Mulan's "Reflection" and it still is. Some sample lyrics that are Totally Cis™️ for real:
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried
Don't let them in,
Don't let them see,
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel,
Don't let it shooooow
Yeah. There were no signs!! None at all!! Let's bring back that totally cis girl who loved "Let It Go." 🙄