OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Blair time to get the fuck OUT Riley is seeing the TRUTH. (that Jaden is way better for her)

Also I love this lighting so much!!!! And These full shots of Apostate!Riley are so <3 <3 <3

I see Jaden is bringing an entire backery today, outstanding move. 👀👌

‘Trans isn’t a choice’, yeah but you’re choosing to force your ideals on someone who’s happy being a butch lesbian

I’m sad about the hiatus but I’m glad you chose to stop here because that last panel is very pretty. Take care and rest. I will miss being here every Sunday, but well, maybe I’ll just reread the whole thing in the meantime. Much love! 🫰

I’m a reader from the other side of the fence who’s kept up with the comic mostly just out of morbid curiosity and fascination. I try not to tap the glass but I’ve just really wanted to yap about Blaire here.

Blaire has been a really interesting and frustrating character honestly, because while she’s clearly meant to represent your ‘ideal trans ally’, she’s actually a really well written example of a bad ally.

She’s been massively out of line and invasive trying to insert herself as the savior helping to crack people’s eggs. She should offer support, but it’s not her job to make strangers ‘realize’ they’re trans based off how they choose to dress or how traditionally masculine or feminine they are.

*It’s not Brick’s job to do this either, by the way. Brick strikes me as someone who has either just recently come into their identity and is over enthusiastic about it, or is using it as an excuse to position themself as an authority figure (ie queer elder) and a way to show how much more woke they are than the other transes. They’re just as out of line as Blaire.

I understand this whole scene is meant to represent Riley embracing trans ideology, but I genuinely agree with her and think she’s in the right here even from a trans-accepting point of view. Jaden being butch/not performing femininity does not mean she is trans. Jaden is clearly content with her womanhood and that’s okay! Blaire IS in the wrong equating the way she dresses with her gender identity.

She even seems to understand the concept that clothing ≠ gender to some extent when it comes to respecting Eli’s identity. We don’t see her arguing that Eli isn’t actually trans because he likes to wear makeup and feminine clothing. It’s the same principle- Jaden and Riley aren’t trans because they’re not traditionally feminine. They’re both comfortable in their womanhood and being percieved and referred to as women and that should be respected just as much as Blaire respects her fellow club members. (I’m sure the intention here is that it’s because Eli is already trans and Blaire just wants to trans everyone because she’s a Good Ally, not because Blaire is a bad ally who fundamentally misunderstands a lot of stuff. I’m looking at her character as someone ‘on her side’, though.)

“We’re helping them find their true selves” is always what has irked me so bad, because you don’t know anything about that persons life, you’re just assuming thats what they want. And isn’t the whole point not to assume? Not to nit pick every little behavior because women can be “masculine” and men can be “feminine”? (I’m writing those terms in quotation marks because there is no such thing, you’re just born how you are, and you develop your base personality and style as you age into something uniquely you)

I also hate how it’s said in a way that makes it sound like Jaden needs ‘fixing’ as someone who’s been in a situation before where people kept telling me i had to get better but never mentioned in specific what it was that needed working on, it was just implied i was somehow “not right”. I wondered, did they mean my personality? Was there something i did in specific that was hurtful? At the end of the day i never got an answer. Just because people consider you weird or different doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you.