Post #1236514

2026-03-28 09:00 UTC

@Azuaron do you know? You're the first cis person I've spoken to willing to seriously entertain this thought experiment. Most cis men make jokes about boobs, and most cis women focus on the privilege aspect. But almost everyone seems to falter at the deep imaginative act of their body being wrong for them. I'm really glad you commented, because it's heartening to know that this sort of empathy is in fact possible— and that it plays out exactly as I would imagine, panic and all. Thank you.

Replies (4)

@EI3JDB@mastodon.radio 2026-03-28 09:32

@Tattie @Azuaron He's not the only one. Another occasional author here, and another who has pondered waking up as/being polymorphed into a different body. Talking to friends (I also do TTRPG) I hear that the depth of dysmorphia people would experience would vary, but it is real body horror stuff. Also useful for understanding and building empathy now I have a non-binary child. Thank you for putting it so well. :-)

Open ##1236515
@Azuaron@cyberpunk.lol 2026-03-28 12:00

@Tattie Yeah, that doesn't entirely surprise me. The problem of the privileged is that they're very rarely confronted with this kind of thing--hell, as I said, I stumbled into it accidentally. But, when I'm not being too nihilistic for my own good, it gives me a bit of hope. I am, generally, a somewhat unusual person, but I don't think I'm particularly "special" or "good" in this regard, and that means other people could get there. I feel like I could speed run most guys. Not that I could necessarily turn guys all the way around, but, so much of man culture is, "Look how not-feminine I am! I am not weak and feminine!" (Unhealthy, yes, wrong in so many ways, yes, but that's what it is.) I could be aggressive enough walking them through the scenario that we'd quickly get past, "Haha, boobs," to, "Oh no, my body's wrong and I'm not myself," just by leaning on their existing fears.

Open ##1236516
@BernieDoesIt@mstdn.social 2026-03-30 05:58

@Tattie @Azuaron I had a hard time empathizing with trans people when I thought I was cis because imagining things like that didn't do anything for me. Then I realized that it would have if I was cis but things made a whole lot more sense if I assumed I wasn't cis.

Open ##1236517
@flashzelle@kinkycats.org 2026-03-30 19:54

@Tattie @Azuaron I'm not sure if I'm 100% cis, but my doubt is only about the social aspects (i.e. maybe partially being some kind of enby). If I were to wake up magically swapped into a typically "male" body, I would also panic and feel like something is very wrong. I wouldn't even think about the privilege aspect, even though I frequently hear other cis women (?) talking about it. So I can relate a lot to what Azuaron said... and for me it also feels nice to know I'm not alone in this.

Open ##1236520