Overanalyzing Trans Femme Thirst Traps

Spiralling through another shitpost

Quinn McClurg

So… nothing has happened since our magazine’s last release… obviously. So, aside from the gradual awakening and radicalization of the oppressed lower classes within the United States (it’s the upper class’ fault for being SO cartoonishly evil and trampling them regardless of religion, allegiances, or amount of licked boots) (let’s see how long it lasts), I’m here to talk to you about what really matters: thirst traps. But first, context.

Algorithms, right? The entirety of our lives is now inseparable from these little paradoxical black boxes—so much so that a quick look at any app’s “discover” page tells you more about a person than their personality tests, horoscopes, exes, or even unique mixes of mental illnesses / neurodivergences would.

But I’m an old lady. I don’t use TikTok (if it isn’t banned by this article’s publication), and when I rarely use Instagram, I’m stuck in 2015. That’s right—no stories, no reels, no “notes,” no brainrot—just me rawdogging a feed, mostly filled with local artists, activists, and journalists.

But aye, here’s the rub—literally 80% of my recommended reels (mind you, unable to be avoided due to interruptive “suggested” sections) are trans women thirst-trapping, and man… do they get (creatively) explicit (@misscassielove_ is a prime example). Like… go girl!!! But why am I seeing this? I don’t consume horny trans content on main!

Always, and especially recently, trans people have been social minorities, ostracized, ridiculed, and physically harmed for even just existing. Trans women especially are viewed with extreme disgust (exponentially with intersectionality) due to the anemic expectations of masculinity, the tighter constraints of femininity, the terror instilled by homophobia, a fear of the unknown (i.e. anything that breaks the ridiculous binaries (i.e. social structure) that were created to immutable, “natural,” and unquestionable), and the public’s perverse fascination with our genitals. 

In short, marginalized people even casually using social media do not have relative luxuries of anonymity—any innocent post runs the risk of being plastered on dangerous websites like Kiwi Farms, 4chan, X, jkrowling.com, or r/GOONED. But, if you are a marginalized person desiring to be established on social media, you may need to reinforce your career by engaging with trolls / bigots, educating the public (justifying your existence), and/or assimilating as hard as you can. Re-enter the trans femme thirst trap (TTT).

Given a media economy (and general society) where a woman is solely seen as a sex object, TTTs may technically have an assimilatory social function, especially given the degree to which they conform to conventional (perhaps destructive / impossible) beauty standards. However, by virtue of being trans both visibly (noticeable anatomy (voice, height, bulge, etc.)) and theoretically (defying and destroying dominant gender norms by means of radical existence), TTTs could be viewed as anti-assimilatory (or assimilatory in a new and deviant way), and therefore focused instead on engaging with (enraging) bigots or educating (therefore technically normalizing, but not aggressively assimilating) the public that trans people and their bodies exist –  which need to be seen more, especially those which don’t “pass” as well (fuck passing BTW)). 

It’s probably a balance of both progressive and regressive social forces, but what does this mean, especially when most of the content is hyperfocused on the seduction of average, potentially closeted cis-straight men? Is it a seduction-based power fantasy? Should tolerance of an entire group of people be negotiated by the normative giving into their secret, “disgusting” sexual desires?

Well, as long as they have been hated, trans folks have also been fetishized and secretly coveted, perhaps best seen in trans folks’ well-known inclusion in sex work and BDSM. Obviously, we’re hot, but I primarily blame the Death Drive. As summarized by theorist Georges Bataille: “[R]epugnance and horror are the mainsprings of my desire, that such desire is only aroused as long as its object causes a chasm no less deep than death to yawn within me… this desire originates in its opposite, horror.” 

“Corruption” is a terrifying prospect to bigots, yet they lust after it; however, their social investments in the arbitrary constructions of power prevent them from admitting it. But desire reveals the meaninglessness of all normative and hierarchical construction. Looking for your “freaky goth girl?” She’s been inside you this whole time—so be the change you want to see in the world.  

Whatever. Maybe if TTTs were truly committed to social reform, we wouldn’t only see white people making them. Anyways, this was all a means of stating that seeing these thirst traps have actually made me come to accept and desire my own body more, AMAB anatomy and all. Go touch grass.