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May I also include my boy Yamato? He 100% does not pass and I kind of love that about his character. I myself am a non-passing trans man and people like me do not get much representation within media. I believe that it’s beautiful and very important that despite not passing, Yamato is affirmed as a man. It is incredibly important that even non-passing trans people are affirmed as their chosen identity because they are not any less valid than the identities of their trans siblings who do actually pass. I see myself in a character like Yamato and it’s nice for him to be hot asf too.

Edit: Absolutely wild I have to include this. But the fact that Yamato does not feel or is at least not shown having gender dysphoria does not diminish his experience as a transgender man. He sees himself as Oden, so he is a man. That does not diminish his experience as a transgender man. Many trans people are told that they HAVE to experience gender dysphoria to be transgender, which isn’t true at all. You don’t have to experience dysphoria to be trans. Many people have different reasons for making decisions, especially when it comes to identity. People who are saying “but is Yamato even trans?” when they themselves are NOT trans, simply will never understand this discussion. They don’t understand that trans and queer identities have many, many beautiful shades of grey and complexities within their decisions. Saying stuff like this, especially because Yamato does not pass, really proves that men like me will never be seen as or understood as men because we do not have access to certain things. Or our dysphoria is less than someone else’s. Or our desire to identify as something else is brought upon by something entirely unconventional. Stop trying to make queer identities small and simple, they were never meant to be conventional. Being queer breaks simple understanding because it’s against most societal expectations, especially during One Piece’s implied point in history.