Lawrence KilliumA social media app has caused quite a bit of anguish in the transgender world by reminding them of that that they’d like to ignore, that there are only two genders.
FaceApp, a new app that has undoubtedly swamped your various social media platforms recently, gives you the ability to change some aspects of your photos. You can make yourself look old, smooth out your skin to make yourself look more “hot,” or, to their horror, switch genders.
I would advise against trans people using the Face App btw. It will definitely fuck with you.
— Katelyn Burns (@transscribe) May 1, 2017
They are complaining that the app is promoting the idea that there are only two genders, because that’s apparently a bad thing…
“The idea of sex and gender falling neatly in a binary is a violent construction that needs to be abolished,” Pagonis, who uses the pronoun “they,” told Vocativ. “The belief in the dogmatic idea that sex and gender exist in a neat binary is one of the main reasons why intersex kids aren’t left alone and are often forced to endure unnecessary intersex genital mutilation.”
According to Vocativ:
Chris Lowrance, who was assigned male at birth and identifies as genderqueer/trans-feminine, told Vocativ that they were initially worried the “female” filter would reveal a “perfect but unattainable…dream face.” Instead, they found the resulting image cartoonish. The “old” filter that aged them, however, struck them as particularly eerie.
“It’s the most realistic, and makes me think of my father,” they said. “It makes me worry it’s going to get harder for me to be seen as ambiguous or femme as I age, really.”
Ok, you’re saying that the “old” photo reminds you of one of your parents, and that’s disturbing? Now you’re just complaining that the app reminds you that there’s such thing as genetics. Of course there’s the possibility that you would share similar features.
Some people, however, said they liked the results, and it helped them overcome some issues. A 17-year-old trans woman (who still goes by “Andrew”) reported that it had helped show what the transformation would look like when everything was complete.
Andrew describes himself as being “masculine” in appearance, looking like “a very normal guy.” FaceApp was not the first service he has used for the purpose of better envisioning what Andrew will look like when he gets to live life as a woman, but it has been the best, he said.
“I was really impressed, and it made me feel better,” he told Vocativ. “With hormones, you don’t really know how you’ll look afterwards. Seeing the results of FaceApp and seeing that it looked like a normal person…gave me hope for the future.”
Despite the occasional review, most people from that community have been pitching fits over it. Twitter exploded with criticism:
that face app meme reinforces limited ideas of gender so please stop sharing it. trans ppl are pointing this out-they shouldn’t have to.
— Lucinda Allen (@tomboyfemme) April 27, 2017
@transscribe THANK YOU. I can barely look at the ones folks are posting without getting dysphoria feels.
— Ana Mardoll (@AnaMardoll) May 1, 2017
@transscribe Phone not room!
— Samantha Payne (@sammiep84) May 1, 2017
@transscribe I hadn’t considered this. Thank goodness I hadn’t tried it. Thank you, Katelyn.
— Stoner Witch 🏳️🌈 (@ICF_19XX) May 1, 2017
I weep for the future…
H/T: Vocativ
