this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026
321 points (96.5% liked)
196
6762 readers
2296 users here now
Community Rules
You must post before you leave
Be nice. Assume others have good intent (within reason).
Block or ignore posts, comments, and users that irritate you in some way rather than engaging. Report if they are actually breaking community rules.
Use content warnings and/or mark as NSFW when appropriate. Most posts with content warnings likely need to be marked NSFW.
Most 196 posts are memes, shitposts, cute images, or even just recent things that happened, etc. There is no real theme, but try to avoid posts that are very inflammatory, offensive, very low quality, or very "off topic".
Bigotry is not allowed, this includes (but is not limited to): Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexism, Abelism, Classism, or discrimination based on things like Ethnicity, Nationality, Language, or Religion.
Avoid shilling for corporations, posting advertisements, or promoting exploitation of workers.
Proselytization, support, or defense of authoritarianism is not welcome. This includes but is not limited to: imperialism, nationalism, genocide denial, ethnic or racial supremacy, fascism, Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.
Avoid AI generated content.
Avoid misinformation.
Avoid incomprehensible posts.
No threats or personal attacks.
No spam.
Moderator Guidelines
Moderator Guidelines
- Don’t be mean to users. Be gentle or neutral.
- Most moderator actions which have a modlog message should include your username.
- When in doubt about whether or not a user is problematic, send them a DM.
- Don’t waste time debating/arguing with problematic users.
- Assume the best, but don’t tolerate sealioning/just asking questions/concern trolling.
- Ask another mod to take over cases you struggle with, if you get tired, or when things get personal.
- Ask the other mods for advice when things get complicated.
- Share everything you do in the mod matrix, both so several mods aren't unknowingly handling the same issues, but also so you can receive feedback on what you intend to do.
- Don't rush mod actions. If a case doesn't need to be handled right away, consider taking a short break before getting to it. This is to say, cool down and make room for feedback.
- Don’t perform too much moderation in the comments, except if you want a verdict to be public or to ask people to dial a convo down/stop. Single comment warnings are okay.
- Send users concise DMs about verdicts about them, such as bans etc, except in cases where it is clear we don’t want them at all, such as obvious transphobes. No need to notify someone they haven’t been banned of course.
- Explain to a user why their behavior is problematic and how it is distressing others rather than engage with whatever they are saying. Ask them to avoid this in the future and send them packing if they do not comply.
- First warn users, then temp ban them, then finally perma ban them when they break the rules or act inappropriately. Skip steps if necessary.
- Use neutral statements like “this statement can be considered transphobic” rather than “you are being transphobic”.
- No large decisions or actions without community input (polls or meta posts f.ex.).
- Large internal decisions (such as ousting a mod) might require a vote, needing more than 50% of the votes to pass. Also consider asking the community for feedback.
- Remember you are a voluntary moderator. You don’t get paid. Take a break when you need one. Perhaps ask another moderator to step in if necessary.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Is there more to it than just Spiderverse Gwen having a background in ballet and the artists coding her mannerisms around that (e.g. her costume using ballet shoes)?
It's an autism/ADHD coded behavior.
Now you've got me feeling self conscious about how often I walk around tiptoed for balance...
Also, there are serious textural references to her being trans, and well…
Let’s say I’m aware that there are neurotypical trans people out there but there’s definitely a certain correlation.
I don't think the trans themes in the movies(the color of her dimension mirroring the trans flag/etc) are literal, more that her journey is an allegory for the trans journey.
Her arc involves discovery herself, losing friends, hiding who she is from her parent, being abandoned when her true self is revealed, finding a found family, and finally reconciling with her parent when they finally accept her.
Its a trans arc, but is more shared experience that makes it roots clear than a literal statement of gender.
There is some lorebook tug of war to be sure, but if you take Across the Spiderverse as a stand alone work and don’t consider any of the public back pedaling after the fact, even the literal interpretation is defensible.
More defensible than “she’s def autistic because the ballerina character is en pointe in a few panels”. Yet here we are.
That said: cis or trans, ND or NT, spiderverse Gwen Stacy is the best thing to happen to the Spider-Man franchise in over a decade.
considering she literally has a trans pride flag hanging above the door in her bedroom, i'm gonna say it's a little bit more than just allegory
Being cool doesnt mean youre trans, but I get your point.
I'm happy either way, but I personally don't see it. There isn't enough of the day to day of that journey in the movies, especially with how heavily shes featured in the 2nd one.
We know a lot about her life between the 2 films, and besides her being fucking awesome, no elements touch on her being on puberty blockers or having gone on that specific personal journey of discovery. With how intensely emotional and human these films are, and how focused they are on family, I just can't see them hiding all the literal trans moments to just have allusions and allegory instead.
bear in mind that no matter how progressive the filmmakers are, the Spider-Verse movies are still mass-market movies, and the corporate studio overlords would never greenlight anything which they deem "controversial" and could hurt the film's reception. in the West, gayness is sufficiently widely accepted that the entire MCU was able to get away with a single canonically gay character who says one throwaway line (which is totally inconsequential and can be easily dubbed over for less progressive markets). on the other hand, even in the "progressive" West, the mere existence of a trans person is enough for some people outside of the alt-right to raise a huge fuss - there's no way any major studio would allow an open discussion of a character's transness in one of the most hyped franchises of the past few years, let alone one of the main characters¹. veiled hints and nods are the best you're going to get.
that said, while i sorta understand your skepticism, i think there's enough times throughout the movies where it's just aggressively in-your-face without explicitly saying it that i have no doubt that the writers intended her to be trans. off the top of my head:
again, considering these movies have so much thought put into the most minute graphical elements, i simply cannot imagine a way that they could've managed to accidentally surround a character whose entire story is a clear trans allegory with so much blatantly obvious trans imagery. of course there's no way it could ever be said out loud, but what they've done with Spider-Gwen goes very far beyond the usual "transcoding" or "queercoding" of characters in media.
¹ unless the character being trans is portrayed as a joke in and of itself, in which case it's apparently totally fine!
I think we are viewing the same tells with a different levels of impact. I can see where you are coming from, but I still disagree. I'll say its at least an allegory, maybe more.
Personally, I still think the universe colors/her suit/flags/pin all point to the same allegory, and aren't individual tells hinting at her being trans. I can see it as a "the writers wanted to, but the suits shut it down" situation, which is maybe the same thing, but if its not there, its not there.
Again, cool either way with me, I just dont see her as trans in canon.
At some point I should get evaluated. I could fill some bingo grid about adhd meme. :3
No, not really lol