who's allowed to make art?
If you don't have twitter, 1) good for you, and 2) you probably haven't seen the discourse surrounding this comic called "welcome to the internet, transvestite", which was created by an 18-year-old artist who's a trans man.
The discourse around this comic, from what I've seen, is mostly one of two things - trans women critiquing or praising the art for it's ability/inability to capture trans womanhood before transitioning OR trans men claiming "Trans Men can't have anything".
My own thoughts on "Welcome to the Internet, Transvestite" vary. I think the storyline is haunting, the art is good, but it's an unrealistic portrayal of what it's like to grow up as a dysphoric teenager/kid. It read more as torture porn than anything to me, Ripley engages in compromising acts to put it nicely in order to feel a sense of femininity.
"Welcome to the Internet, Transvestite" isn't representative of ... anything, really. Sure, there are conversations to be had about wanting cis male validation as a young trans woman, but the comic doesn't do it justice, nor does it really touch on that idea at all -- and I'm not entirely convinced if an 18-year-old trans man could accurately portray something that's rooted in internalized transmisogyny.
It has got me thinking, though -- who's allowed to make art of minorities? What if they don't belong to that minority group?
My answer is: anyone should be allowed to (with a little asterisk). But, there should be thought, time, consideration and research being taken into account. TV shows, for example, with trans characters usually have a few trans or queer writers on staff to make sure the story is accurately written. The same should've been true for "Welcome to the Internet, Transvestite." Without all that time and research and revision put into it, the work doesn't mean anything. It becomes irrelevant and a gross mischaracterization at best and downright offensive at worst.
Do I think it's good that a trans man made art of a trans woman? Yes, absolutely! But, at the same time, it wasn't made with any consideration for trans women or our experiences -- and that's sad, especially in this political climate in the U.S. and U.K. right now.