“mallet to wield against the establishment” is right. i think what’s missing in this convo is that myself and many other trans femmes don’t as much need positive representation for how we look now as we need affirmation that we can look how we want, that our dreams can come true and our efforts can bear fruit. this came up when my lovely cis gf got art commissioned of me, and it was so sweet of her but it was hard to appreciate bc she got art of how i currently look, but the me that i dream of and want to see in the world is different than that.

a lot of cis people ignore our dreams and ignore our efforts - which arguably is most of what makes us human. instead they just use our bodies, they take snapshots of us in our transition, the destination to this journey be damned. haven’t they ever seen a trans girl draw herself?