# Futa Porn: A Measured Defense
#sex #politics #essay

!! If not obvious from the title, talks about pornography and offensive trans terminology.

## Motivation
A while back,[^yrs] r/GWAsapphic banned the term "futanari". GWA (Gone Wild Audio) Sapphic is one of vanishingly few subreddits that I actually like. It's audio porn made by queer women, for queer women, and it's great, 10/10 would hitachi again. There are a bunch of subreddits for women that claim to be trans-inclusive but really aren't — most glaringly Two X Chromosomes, which is cissexist before you've even read past the name. GWAS isn't like that at all. From what I've seen (as a lurker), they are genuinely inclusive, and this is reflected in [[their rationale for the futa ban|https://old.reddit.com/r/GWASapphic/comments/l9vqzk/a_ban_on_the_terms_futa_and_futanari/]]:

> We welcome gender expression in different forms, but the term "futanari" or "futa" has become rooted in the fetishization of transgender women, and its presence on the subreddit risks alienating a large part of our community.

I found this rather curious as a trans woman who visits the sub and is often happy to see futa stuff.

## Marginalization/Fetishization
It's obviously true that the genre is about fetishizing trans women, and I'm not here to call out GWAS five years later;[^yrs] it's their call, and it seems like they're making a real, rare effort to welcome trans women, and I appreciate it.

It's just kind of a weird feeling to have someone try to protect me from something I seek out intentionally. It reminds me a little of how I can always make cis people uncomfortable by saying "tranny"; it's like there's this dark, seedy aspect of trans existence that everyone is more comfortable sweeping under the rug than acknowledging, encapsulated by a term that emphasizes how trans women are socially marginalized.

Because that's really where the fetishization originates and why it feels so ugly, right? I mean, if trans women held an equal social status, people wouldn't feel the same shame for being attracted to us; people's attraction to trans women wouldn't be shoved off into a separate "weird fetish stuff" box; disrespectful terminology wouldn't be as big of a deal. But we don't hold an equal social status. People's attraction to trans women gets funneled into some odd and unsavory directions; we get reduced to caricatures, bit players in other people's psychosexual dramas. What is the appropriate response to a cultural concept that is both an expression of oppression of trans women *and* a socially transgressive expression of appreciation for them?

Like, how many avenues *are* there for people to say women are hot when they don't have the standard equipment? I mean, you probably wouldn't want to *date* somebody who was fixated on your genitals to the exclusion of all else. But for *porn*? It's nice to know your general body type is appreciated. It's unfortunate that this frequently comes with the side effect of othering trans women from womanhood writ large, but this comes along with most approaches to porn categories. GWA Sapphic themselves use both "F" and "TF" categories, which I don't find any less offensive than "futa"; in both cases, I've been marked as atypical, and it's no less likely that the content gives me the ick.

## Let's Get Uncomfortably Specific
What makes "futanari" any different from "shemale" and similar porn terminology that is clearly just degrading and unacceptable? Well, for one, I've never encountered "futa" as a slur,[^jp] but all the others I have. Also, here's a list:
- Futa porn is presented as fictional, with a sci-fi or fantasy premise; often the subject is a victim of a curse or mysterious illness.
- The subjects are presented as *women with penises*, not feminine men or a third sex.
- Everyone is super into the girl's dick and she gets crazy horny. She's often embarassed of it and reluctant, then comes like a zillion times. I guess this is kinda just hentai in general but like... the hentai-ness of it seems distinctive.

Ok, so, why do I like it? Am I just a dumb self-hating tr*nny? Look at all the obvious issues!
- The women are *cursed*: being trans is a *disease* or *calamity*.
- Even worse, trans women don't actually exist; people like them only come about as a result of nefarious magicks.
- The only characteristic that separates a futanari character from a cis woman is her dick, which emphasizes objectification on the basis of genitalia. Often it's drawn ridiculously oversized or anatomically inaccurate in other ways.
- The penis is depicted as an intrusive element with some sort of "male energy"  that makes you into an unstoppable fuck machine; sometimes this even involves depicting the woman as sexually predatory.

Phew, sounds pretty bad! I definitely have bad taste in porn![^fan] What could possess me to ever look at such a thing?

## Curse of the Were-Penis
The fictional aspect is the most distinctive thing about this type of porn. Sure, it's othering, but it's weirdly made more approachable by removing it from reality. Nobody ever asks the girl if she has childhood trauma, what her parents think about her, or if she's seeing a therapist.[^real] Nobody asks her pronouns, gives her the number for a suicide hotline, calls her by a male name, or murders her. The only overlap with real life is a coming-out scene, but unlike in real life, it always has a happy ending — in both senses. The fantasy world they construct is primarily designed to gratify cis readers, but in the process, they create something of a utopian environment for trans women.

The average story arc for futa pornography is:
- Woman discovers she's different from other women (though definitely still a woman!)
- She is distraught by this difference and confides in someone
- That someone thinks it's super hot and they fuck a bunch

Isn't that basically the best-case scenario for discovering yourself and coming out of the closet? Wouldn't it be nice if it worked that way in real life?[^rl]

Sure, the penis is represented as a curse, but like... how many trans women *haven't* felt that way before? Not zero, but certainly a small number. Our birth anatomy is the justification for the way we're treated, after all, so even if you're 100% happy with your default equipment, you probably feel some resentment/shame about it (unless you're some kinda Nietzschean badass). And crucially, the "curse" always turns out to be a blessing in disguise in futa porn, what with all the orgasms and such.

## Mega-Puberty
Something I find striking about this is that it reminds me of puberty. No matter how you feel about your equipment, it insists upon itself. It can make you very uncomfortable but also very horny; it can be strange and confusing and overwhelming and horrible, while also providing bountiful hedonic delights. And in futa porn, all this drama happens to a cis woman, whose womanhood is never in question no matter how many times she ejaculates an impossible volume of girljuice.

I sometimes find this oddly healing. It's like there's this thing I went through that is never represented anywhere else, and instead of the miserable parts, they're telling me to focus on the orgasms I had along the way. (While massively exaggerating how good it was... I definitely never had multiple orgasms during my first puberty.)

## Chick With a Dick
I think all the pluses and minuses of futa porn as regards trans women can be summed up thus: if someone called me "dickgirl" or "chick with a dick", I'd obviously be outraged. That would be sexual harassment. They would be reducing my existence down to genitals they presume I have, treating me like a sexual object, trivializing my identity. (I think it is sensible to ban these terms, and perhaps "futa" in the context of GWAS as well.)

But I would also much rather be called one of these terms than something like "shemale", because the fact of my birth that they fixate on marks me as a Weird Woman instead of some untouchable Secret Third Thing. It marks me as different, deviant, exotic; not categorically, uniquely inferior.[^cute] There's something quaint and reassuring about "chick with a dick" compared to other slurs, like maybe there's some level of understanding here buried under a mountain of knuckle-dragging bullshit.

Futa porn isn't really about trans women, it's about chicks with dicks. It's offensive and endearing for all the reasons you'd expect. It's simplistic, unrealistic, and objectifying — like most porn — but it gets this one basic thing right, and surprisingly, that counts for a lot in my book.

## I Don't Know How To End This
I've never writen this many words about porn before. I hope it wasn't too excruciating to read.

Email me your thoughts on offensive trans pornography, and title recommendations for same.


[^yrs]: OK, wow, it was FIVE YEARS ago. I didn't get around to writing about it until now. I really have my finger on the pulse.[^no]
[^no]: Not a dick joke.[^yes]
[^yes]: This is a lie.
[^jp]: Maybe it is in Japanese. Look, I'm not really arguing the validity of the term here, more just trying to elucidate my feelings about the larger phenomenon as I've encountered it.
[^fan]: While this essay might suggest otherwise, I'm not actually a big porn fan. I'm not saying that to sound chaste or whatever, just to provide some context and try to exculpate myself if I say something ignorant.
[^real]: I've seen actual real people porn where they talk about this serious real life Gender Stuff and like... I get that the porn isn't made for me at all and they're trying to educate people and that's cool but also like uuUUUuuUUUuUhggGHhhHhhhHhh nooooot hot! please don't make me think about this right now!
[^rl]: Okay, well, actually, it's good that your family members don't always try to fuck you when you come out to them. That's a definite improvement over hentai.
[^cute]: Also, "dickgirl" is kinda cute. :3