The Gender of Mona Lisa - Vol. 1 Ch. 3 - The Princess Who Loved Insects

[Turtle50UP]

@Petnavis Ok, yeh, so MC probably isn't trans because they, AFAIK, weren't raised to some model of gender

Spoiler

(gonna spoil just in case it's not mentioned yet but manga shows some concept of gendered raising of child)

and also AFAIK the character is concerned about still being not female/male sex but doesn't seem to have a strong desire for one or the other, but it can't really avoid comparisons to some kind of nonbinary/agender experience, and if anything it's like some kind of intersex experience.

Also before going any further you may want to get your definition of trans checked, because it's not required to desire modifying sex organs/having body dysphoria to be considered trans... Literally just being not comfy with the gender identity that people were raised as, body dysphoria is just one way it can potentially manifest.

Also just gonna spoiler anything about story later just in case XD

Spoiler

It's hard to not see connections to trans experiences IRL, especially considering how strong the gender conventions are for those who do end up getting strongly male or female sex characteristics. MC's already pressured to be either male or female by their friends, which is done so via getting the friend to act like a certain gender. Female friend isn't as outwardly guilty of this as the male friend, but both still do it to some degree, esp with their respective dates. They're actively trying to get their friend to act in what their society calls male or female for their own benefit (they do back down a bit later on, tho admittedly I don't remember this manga that well XD) when the MC clearly just wants to vibe with them and only seems to care about their sex because their situation is allegedly abnormal. The MC could be viewed as just nonbinary, but experiencing the pressures that nonbinary people face from society that expects people to behave as a certain gender. And with sex, well, they're being pressured into conforming with one or the other sex too, which could be seen as analogous to experiences intersex people face from society.

Spoiler

Besides, this manga explicitly brings up that body dysphoria exists in this universe (doctor mentions people not happy with the sex their body decided on in puberty), and thus I don't think this can be read without thinking about certain trans experiences, because even the mangaka has some acknowledgement of it, even if it's just in passing.

So yes, MC is not be experiencing trans (tho mainly cus semantics, I got terms wrong, oops), but the MC's experience cannot avoid comparisons to experiences such as intersex or nonbinary. And just to add even more to this, MC's probably also somewhere on the ace aro spectrum, cuz the main conflict is that MC wants to vibe with their friends, but both their friends wanna kiss kiss and rail them.

Ofc you're free to not address it if you don't want to. But I don't think it takes too many leaps of logic to get analogies from this manga.

 

[Yoshiko09]

My rating of Shiori fell down in one swoop. I thought he was apologizing but turns out he's going of trying to pressure Hinase into being a girl. That's a horrid disgusting move .

But the girl, Ritsu, I really like her and I'm sure I'm not the only one. The way she apologized was more sincere.
In all honesty I don't care wether Hinase turns into a boy or girl (or remains as they are). Since this is their story the ultimate decision should be up to them. I guess we'll see how the story goes.

 

[-Kyle-]

hmm
I guess gender stereotypes and pressure would be amplified in this world, wouldn't they?
the whole "but we wanted a boy" thing you saw historically would be so awful too, since your parents could/would blame you
it's interesting that she's a bit of a tomboy but still wanted to be a girl

I now have hope for a good ending since it seems they're painting the guy in a gross light, and it seems fully intentional