Sports Illustrated first transgender swimsuit model

[Thegenderbreadperson]

Sports Illustrated are publicising their first transgender (MtF) model. The male followers of sports illustrated are unhappy, are clearly saying they wouldn’t see this model as a partner, and are making lots of misgendering comments. However these posters don’t seem to be getting the aggressive sexualised comments that women who comment on trans issues get, and no threats of fixing or cancelling.
Wonder why that is?

twitter.com/si_swimsuit/status/1281635702392999942?s=21

Yes aesop, I do believe that is how they perceive it.

@FloralBunting

And for those who might be struggling with the point here - yes, that picture is a very fetching example of the feminine ideal in our culture. And it's not a picture of a female. Which only goes to show that with enough cosmetic intervention, a male can look like the feminine ideal - which means the feminine ideal isn't anything to do with innate femaleness.

I am late to the thread. Exactly right Floral.....I look nothing like Valentina (who is very beautiful). I am 100% a woman despite being only 9% of the "feminine ideal".

see I wouldn't class the comments under that tweet as transpobia

i'd say they're homophobia

it's straight dudes worried that someone's going to make them have sex with another man, or 'straight' dudes making a big deal about how they definitely don't want to and have never thought about having sex with another man

Hahahaha!

So they’ve decided to take the fight to the straight men?

Good luck with that one!

and that cover image from the female eunuch, of a stereotypically beautiful feminine body with handles attached has never looked so true has it?

femininity is an act folks! you heard it here first

I have to be honest, I wouldn't have known that model was trans if it hadn't been pointed out

They are exceptionally beautiful, whether it’s surgery or not can’t say.

But they are equally beautiful in the video of them also on the mags timeline. However they are also equally obviously male.

It’s much easier to look like the Sports Illustrated feminine ideal when you’re that thin. Will someone just please give Valentina a sandwich or something?

Come on ladies - don't you realise that it's our fault that these men are making such horrible comments about Valentina. They have all obviously been reading Mumsnet for the last couple of years and that is why they have decided that Valentina doesn't make the cut for their wank bank. If only we had been kinder on here, if only we all went over to that Twitter feed and told these men that transwomen are women, they would all be talking about what womanly, gorgeous wank fodder Valentina is and all would be well.

The 1980's super high leg swimsuit to try to give the illusion of a feminine waistline.

The straight men kicking off would've looked at photo and their brain has read 'women' and 'sex'.
Upon realising the beautiful Valentina is in fact male, the self disgust at finding another male sexually attractive kicks in (like pp said, they react to feeling duped).
They then attack the person who 'duped' them.

Because it's male violence against a male, the shouty death rape threat lot will keep quiet because they only hate women and are afraid of the alpha males who they can't bully into submission.

Men's reactions to trans women is why they refuse to acknowledge them as part of the male category and happily push them into ours. The very thought that other adult males choose to present as women threatens their masculinity. They need them to be 'other'

I suspect the anime avatar bunch also hate Valentina though too.

I suspect the anime avatar bunch also hate Valentina though too

interesting. what makes you think that?

What's interesting to me, is that the more "male" physical traits of this (gorgeous) model, such as the firm jaw line, the broader shoulders, the long hands... Are all physical traits I share. And I'm 100% female. But my natural body type never really fitted stereotypical gender boxes (for instance, I'm "hour glass shaped" if you look at shoulders and hips, or perhaps even top heavy, but my boobs are "too small" compared to my bum). And for a long time this was a source of discomfort.

It's rather bizarre, because stunningly attractive people are often subtly androgynous (think Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt), yet androgynous-phobia is also a thing? (in my experience. Or maybe it's just females can never be feminine enough, whatever they do or are: always too thin or too fat somewhere)

Anyhow, I'm not sure how I feel about seeing that somewhat-differently-proportioned body-type-of-mine becoming (perhaps) fashionable. My younger self would have been mighty confused (especially by the trans aspect!). But nowadays I'd rather just not be on the flesh market ("thankfully" age has added enough extra pounds and wrinkles it's no longer much of a concern )

The comments on that thread are vile.
The fraud reaction is very strong and tangibly violent.
I find myself wondering how much of this is generated by old fashioned biology. The physical signals we (as humans) find 'sexy' are markers of fecundity. A transwoman can ape all these markers and look amazing, yet as soon as a male clicks that this person is not actually female then any prospect of reproduction is out. Whilst the majority of sex is not about making babies, it's that basic instinct behind the behaviours.

Looks male at first glance at the face, never mind the body (which is as weirdly distorted as most models’).
I was brought up religiously, and many pictures of angels (male) have very feminine faces. I was always confused by this, though not as much as the fact that they had wings that were clearly non-functional, and why would they need them anyway? I later realised that many people will believe anything, however unlikely, if they see a picture of it, read about it, or even hear it being talked about, even intelligent people who I would have thought possessed some critical faculties.

@BernardBlackMissesLangCleg

I suspect the anime avatar bunch also hate Valentina though too

interesting. what makes you think that?

Envy?

Men's reactions to trans women is why they refuse to acknowledge them as part of the male category and happily push them into ours. The very thought that other adult males choose to present as women threatens their masculinity. They need them to be 'other'

I agree with this 100% - I strongly suspect that men no more want transwomen in their safe spaces than women want them in ours. I don’t think it’s because they are concerned that they are gay but because dressing in female clothes is so against what society deems as normal for men they’re worried about what else against social norms a man in women’s clothes would do.

Obviously this same worry isn’t there for trans men because physically they’re not going to be able to overpower a man and it’s more normalised to see women in men’s style clothing and with short hair etc.

interesting. what makes you think that?

Simple jealousy. Let's face it, the youth 'pass' more and Valentina is beautiful and not hiding behind a faceless twitter avatar.
I assume they would also be classed as 'truscum'

I wonder how much ‘work’ and airbrushing the cover models usually have done? It makes you wonder why they don’t just use a shop dummy or a drawing.

I saw the underpants manufacturer campaign recently (I forget which) who also have a trans women model - a much larger and less ‘traditional beauty’ type, so not much ‘work done’ in their face and body (so many comments around why they don’t have plus sized female women in the same campaign).

Let Transwomen do porn then we don't have to. After all they have prostates as teen Vogue say.

Someone in that twitter thread said that she shouldn't have been allowed to be featured, or at least not without a large front page disclaimer that she is trans, because otherwise some poor unsuspecting young straight boy might wank off over her pictures before discovering that she is male which would be "psychologically devastating". I would bet any money that these men give zero shits about how psychologically devastating it would be for a female rape victim to find herself sharing a shelter with a non passing transwomen who the staff insist is really female. Or a female prisoner locked up with a male rapist. Or a parent who has sent their vulnerable daughter off on what they believe was a single sex girl guiding trip only to find she'd been made to share a room with a boy. Or a Muslim woman who can no longer attend her single sex exercise classes because they now accept transwomen. But the idea that men and boys might be tricked into sexually objectifying another man - now that's beyond the pail. Women just exist to be wank fodder, and how dare anyone disturb their pursuit of that.

But yes, as others have said, if men could get over their homophobia, this could be the perfect solution. Het men want someone to perform hypersexualised hyperfeminity. Most women don't want to. Some men apparently do. So let the men perform their fantasy of what a woman is to each other, and leave us all the hell alone to get on with our lives.

@BernardBlackMissesLangCleg

see I wouldn't class the comments under that tweet as transpobia

i'd say they're homophobia

it's straight dudes worried that someone's going to make them have sex with another man, or 'straight' dudes making a big deal about how they definitely don't want to and have never thought about having sex with another man

Yup.

The comments could be “wow! She’s gorgeous, but I don’t do penis, soz.” which would be a fair thing to say but the fear of being perceived as gay for finding a transwoman attractive is quite pathetic.

But of course a lesbian can’t even say the first statement. Hmmm. What a head scratcher.

Dr Haddock hasn’t arrived yet with his hand waving and threats of “valuable lessons” to be learnt. Those comments and gifs are awful, the model, although clearly male - Adam’s apple, jawline, torso, is beautiful and doesn’t deserve to have this abuse. Why aren’t all the usual suspects piling onto the menz posting, defending the trans person and doxing the posters to their employers and demanding cancellation?

Stunning TW. Beautiful.

The only issues come when a pretence is tried that a TW is not a beautiful TW but is a biological female. And this is the petard they're hoisting themselves on: when you try and force the TRA political agenda by making really nasty misogyny ok, popular, widespread, fashionable, in everyone's faces in order to shut women up and control them and their spaces.....

at the same time you empower men to let it hang out ever further. And the massive majority are into biological females, won't hesitate to say so, and hey now it's cool and normal to be really foul and vile to people you disagree with.

Whoops.

Today 11:12AvocadoBathroom

Let Transwomen (males) do porn then we don't have to. After all they have prostates as teen Vogue say.

This. So very much.

Also. What Floral said.

The (males) is my emphasis.