Has anyone written about how while we don't have many books with trans or nonbinary main characters in speculative fiction as it is, the ones we do get are more often trans men or nonbinary and rarely trans women? Or that most of the trans or nonbinary rep is white? Because it's bare out there. - ThreadSky

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social • 3 days ago

Has anyone written about how while we don't have many books with trans or nonbinary main characters in speculative fiction as it is, the ones we do get are more often trans men or nonbinary and rarely trans women? Or that most of the trans or nonbinary rep is white? Because it's bare out there.

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bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

(I'm not a trans woman and this is not my lane, just something I've noticed.)

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

If you think it's bad in adult spec fic, it's even worse in YA. As far as I can tell, there are only a 6 books with trans fem MCs, a duology, a trilogy, and a standalone, and only 1 is not white. We get 300-350 YA SFF/H books trad pub every year. These books are that rare.

susanlbridges.bsky.social•3 days ago

I’ve been told by an agent and a publisher in the last year that YA sci-fi doesn’t sell. Period.

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

It doesn't...but that's mostly because YA publishers publish so little of it that it's hard to build any momentum. Also because right now most of the adult readers of YA want fantasy and romantasy, and the publishers are catering to them rather than what teens want.

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

That said, of the 3 YAs with trans fem MCs, 2 are science fiction and wracked up a bunch of attention and awards. So.

schomj.bsky.social•3 days ago

the @thetransfemininereview.com has talked about this

schwartzwords.bsky.social•3 days ago

I've only seen @elleoftheball.bsky.social share about this on socials, because it is ridiculously still underrepped in YA

elleoftheball.bsky.social•3 days ago

Profoundly, yeah. And I think part of it is the general market makes it a deeply unsafe age group to work in at that moment

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yep. It's so frustrating on so many levels. I have teens who desperately need that rep and I can barely get it.

kmenright.bsky.social•3 days ago

I do agree that is *mostly* white, it's rare to get a trans character (woman, man, or enby) who is also a person of color

Also as a trans man, it does seem to skew towards trans men, particularly in YA

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yep and yep. Which, like, I'm so glad for the rep. But also I have student patrons who really need trans fem rep in YA, especially BIPOC, and there aren't nearly enough for them.

kmenright.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yeah, come on publishing, I know there are so many great trans women writers out there, let's get them deals!

hearts530.bsky.social•3 days ago

What I also think is really interesting is that with comics, at least the big two (Marvel and DC), the inverse is true —the more prominent trans characters are transfemme. I don’t know why that is either

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

Huh. Interesting dynamic

hearts530.bsky.social•3 days ago

And even then, I have to add, the trans characters are FEW and far between! It’s not like there’s a ton of them at all

thegabecole.bsky.social•3 days ago

YA is so starved for trans femme rep, especially in spec fic. it’s been a problem for years and unfortunately there hasn’t been a ton of correction that I’ve seen so far.

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

It's so bad over here

kylelukoff.bsky.social•3 days ago

I'm glad this exists and hope it does...anything to help https://www.highlightsfoundation.org/trans-women-write-scholarship/

haileypiperfights.bsky.social•3 days ago

I wonder if it's dependent on genre? Because for horror at least, I feel we see more trans women main characters than trans men.

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

Maybe? I don't read widely enough in adult horror to have a sense of the genre dynamics, just what I see on the whole in spec fic.

bookjockeyalex.bsky.social•3 days ago

Do you know any trans fem MCs in horror that are also by and about BIPOC?

haileypiperfights.bsky.social•3 days ago

Chasers by Mariah Darling and Eve Harms

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