Fuck Yeah Cute Trans Chicks. The name speaks for itself.
The brainchild of two trans women, FYCTC started from a simple question: "What sites exist to show how awesome trans women can be?" When few sites came to mind, they started a Tumblr. In the span of two months the site has exploded in popularity; over a thousand people now follow the blog. Their mission:
Too often trans women are berated on our appearance or told that we're ugly. Those of us that blend in are often treated with such phrases as "But you're so pretty, how can you be trans?" or "You're really cute, for a trans girl."
Well it's time to show the world the cuteness that trans women can achieve. Fuck Yeah Cute Trans Chicks dedicates itself to showing that our cuteness and sexiness does not match cisgender expectations and those expectations can fuck right off.
Part of the blog's charm is its simplicity: twice a day, FYCTC posts a picture of a cute trans girl submitted by readers. There is no comments system beyond tumblr's default "Like" and "Reblog" options, reducing the ability of trolls to take over the conversation. What discussion does take place happens through the "ask" feature and is directed to the site, not the women in the photographs. There are no discussions, no shocking news bites, no harrowing stories. We have plenty of places for that. The site specializes in one thing: showing how cute trans women can be.
The whole affair began when Aria Bellows and Kinsey Hope realized that nothing of this sort existed. Says Aria:
We were talking and throwing the idea around of a body positivity thing. We'd both heard a lot of "What! There's no way you're trans, you're too pretty!" and "oh, I can ALWAYS tell a trans girl."and just complete and utter... honestly, crap is the only word for it. We'd noticed that there were quite a few tumblrs around trans men and body acceptance and everything. It seemed like something for trans women that would help people. That's pretty much the short version. Kinsey didn't want to run anything like it on her own because of time commitments, and I'm way too nervous to try and run anything on my own because of self confidence issues, but I volunteered to help too, so.. I think that covers most of it!
Over a thousand people following it. I keep being pointed to it by people that don't realize I'm one of the mods and they're like "Hey have you seen this?" It makes me smile, a lot, especially when it's with a "Oh man, finding this has helped so much" tone.
I just wanted to show how cute we could be and basically just inspire a few people. I honestly never expected it would take off like this. It's gotten huge.
The most surreal part for me is how different [FYCTC] is from the traditional work I do. Most of my writing deals with the harsher elements of life that oppressed people face. Now, I'm not even writing for this blog, I'm just an admin. It's an odd experience. People will be like, "Wait, Kinsey is doing something not requiring yelling?" But I really do prefer working on FYCTC.
This kind of site is what the community needs more of: we've got "victim" down pat, but many of us have not yet discovered how to be beautiful. How be loved. How to lead. How to demand respect. Nobody will give this platform to us; in fact, many groups actively work to remove trans women from dialogue. It's up to us to create spaces where trans women can be seen as genuine people worthy of respect and humanity. We need more FYCTCs to show the world what we have to offer.
In the meantime, I dare you to look through the archive and not smile. Seriously. It's just a beautiful, positive space. If you are trans, please think about submitting a picture. They really want to create a community-wide, multicultural site for empowerment and affirmation. It's a place where we are beautiful, no questions asked.
What's not to like?
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