I think it’s left intentionally ambiguous(or might vary depending on the series). They DO leave a lot of signs for Gwen being a supportive figure for transgender people. In Across the Spiderverse, she has a “Protect Trans Kids!” Poster in her room. Her dad has a trans flag patch on his uniform. Her superhero color palette is the trans flag. Pink, light blue, and white is always used when representing her.
Thats not even delving into how her story arc handles those themes/metaphors.
IMO, whether or not Gwen is canonically transgender is irrelevant, because thematically the two are equivalent. Being spider-woman is allegorical for being transgender.
- She knew she was different before anyone else did
- The way that she’s different would affect how others see her once they find out, very possibly putting her in danger, depending on who finds out and how hateful/vengeful they are.
- She could theoretically quash that part of herself and live the way everyone expects her to, but to do so would be to kill a piece of who she is
- She had to “Come out” to her dad (and not by choice, really. She only did so because she was caught with her new clothes.)
- She wasn’t accepted for who she was in that coming out, but knew it would be easier to live without her closest family member’s support than to live without being herself.
- She found a community of others like her, who all have unique but similar experiences and who are eager to support one another.
The colors may be an indication that Gwen specifically is trans, or a hint to the audience that to be a Spider-person is an allegory for being trans. Her character was designed with the white, pink, and blue color scheme in 2014, so it’s not all that unlikely that the color scheme was an allusion to the trans pride flag on purpose. Maybe a writer or character designer clarified somewhere exactly how intentional or coincidental this Spider-Gwen/Transgender connection is, would be cool to see if so.
At the end of the day, the story serves to make people more empathetic to others who have to weigh their identity against their safety, especially in cases where the facet of their identity in question could be intentionally kept hidden.
i think the ambiguity is the point
Gwen is a woman.
If shes a trans woman, shes still a woman. If shes a biological woman, shes still a woman.
They dont need to announce her sex assigned at birth, shes a woman either way
thats how i see it anyway.
just fyi the opposite term for trans woman is cis woman. biological woman isn’t really a thing, and it’s usually used by transphobes so you might unintentionally send terfy signals when you say that. just to be clear I’m not accusing you of anything like that, just trying to help with the terminology.
thats good advice thanks
i dont know any terf signals because i dont talk to those people
i accidentally run into fascist dog whistles on occasion for the same reason.
Ok - help us allies out here for a minute. So a “biological woman” is not appropriate anymore?
What do we call someone who was born a woman and identifies (I think this is the correct way of saying it?) as being a woman? Or vice versa with a male.
Cis man? Sounds like a terrible super hero.
