@FlowerTree
@pawb.socialUsually, different system members have different appearances. Sometimes, different system members may have different bodies to each other-- even as far as having different gender or species. But with only one physical body, it's hard to represent or tell every members with the same body in physical space. So, how does your system handle that?
How do you tell apart or represent different system members in physical space? Do you only differentiate in headspace-- each members' physical form exist in headspace while the real life self remains the same regardless of who's fronting. Maybe you use subtle cues like arm ring color or necklace. Or maybe you use different clothes for different headmates-- though that would be difficult if you switch front while being outside.
Perhaps it's the different behavior like walking style, gestures, or manners. Or, just through the different personality each system members may have while fronting.
For us at least, we don't differentiate that much physically-- we like to think our body is separate from our headspace identity so it doesn't need to match our headspace form. We're also closeted about being plural, so we don't try to cue the fact we are more than one person.
Most fursonas do wear clothes. But putting aside the aesthetics factor and focusing more on the practicality-- would a furry anthro in an anthro society wear clothes?
Focusing solely on mammalian anthros with fur. Well, they have fur, so temperature regulation and the elements aren't really reasons to wear clothes given that they have natural, furry clothes already. Wearing clothes on top of that might be too warm, especially in the summer.
The thing I'm wondering is, would anthros figure out to make clothings themselves? And if they do, how would they look? Having their body completely covered in fur might make shirts and pants irrelevant, which means they might never develop them in the first place. I suppose other articles of clothings like armbands, headbands, etc would still exist, and so would practical items like glasses or watches.
Of course, clothing serves more purpose than just covering bare skins. They serve aesthetic purposes and shows our identity. For example, police anthros might wear some sort of stuff to distinguish themselves. And much like humans, anthros would probably have a culture around clothing, but how their clothing would look and how much it'll cover is the question.
Would most anthros only wear head and armbands? Maybe just something to cover their bottoms and nothing else? Or would they wear clothes similar to us?
Furthermore, different animals have different fur with different thickness, length, shapes, forms, etc. These different furs require different clothing. Anthros with thicker fur may wear less clothing than ones with thinner fur. Even more, different anthros will have different body shape and size. Clothing for rabbit sonas may not fit bear sonas.
Anthros might have different size standards for different species to account their differences. Imagine how hard it'd be to manufacture all the different variations, though. Any clothes store would have to take into account multiple species and multiple sizes for that species.
Well, I think that's interesting to think about.
[TW: Mentions of sexual dimorphism in animals. TWed just in case]
Most animals are sexually dimorphic, which means male and female individuals are different from each other beyond their bottoms. But for some animals, the differences are even more starking than humans.
For example, the different feather colors between male and female mallards. Male mallards have green heads while female mallards are mostly brown.
Other animals takes it further. Such as how all workers of a eusocial insect (ants, bees, and wasps) colonies are female and the males are just drones. There are many other examples in the wild.
When we turn these animals into anthros, we tend to keep their dimorphism, at least most of the obvious ones like how anthro deers have antlers, male anthro lions have manes, etc.
Now imagine if these anthros were transgender, how would it work out? How would they transition?
For example, how would transgendeers deal with their antlers? Would they wear fake antlers (for FtM deers) or cut their antlers (for MtF deers)? And what about anthro animals where the male and the female individuals have different fur/feather patterns? Would they have to paint their fur?
I suppose hormone could play a part in dimorphism even for animals, so much like humans, HRT may exist for anthros. But how would they work and what's the effect for anthros, especially for non mammals like insects, avians, and fish sonas?
But aside from that. I think the biggest hurdle would be size differences. Many male animals are larger than their female counterparts, sometimes as far as being twice their size. That could be a problem even worse than height dysphoria.
Of course, all of this can be hand-waived. Just like how anthro bears and anthro rabbits are often drawn the same size despite being a bear and a rabbit, we could also make male anthros and female anthros the same general size.
Besides, most animals don't have visible tops, yet most female anthros do.
But, I think this is an interesting topic to think about.
[Content Warning: mentions of transphobia]
Long story short, our persecutor have been trying to repress our transfem host, to the point where she rarely fronted nowadays. Maybe it was internalized transphobia, which sometimes caused us quite a problem.
While she's not the only transfem in our system, I couldn't help but to feel bad that she might felt unwelcome here, in her only safe space. She's also pretty empty and unresponsive ever since she started to disappear.
A bit of a fun post, so no need to be serious.
Which fursona species do you think has heavy vibes with trans people? Which fursona species do you think many trans people would make or at least relate to?
Here are some of my suggestions:
What other species do you think would fit on this list?