Boypussy
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | boy!pussy, bp, b!p |
| Related tropes/genres | Yaoi Hole, girlpeen |
| See also | Genderfuck, Transfic, Mpreg |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Boypussy is a term popularized by BTS and Glee fandom for AU fanfic in which a male character has a vagina. This trope is not the same as genderswap, always-a-girl, and transfic in that the b!p character may be presented as a cisgender man who happens to have a vagina. The boypussy trope appears almost exclusively in M/M works.
In non-fandom queer slang, boypussy (also known as "bussy") is a term that refers to either a cisgender man's anus or a transgender man's vagina.
Due to its usage in queer slang and the widely varying intentions of individual authors, whether a fanwork utilizing the term "boypussy" means to present their vagina-having male character as cisgender or transgender and/or intersex can only be determined on a case-by-case basis. This is further complicated by its prevalence in tropes that explore sex characteristics without real-life analogues, such as Non-Traditional Omegaverse fanfiction that takes place in a world where all Omegas have vaginas.
Some fans are critical of this trope and see it as sexist, transphobic, and/or derogatorily fetishistic.
Commonly, the b!p character reflects a lot of pent up baggage regarding femininity. It’s almost unheard of for the b!p character to be anything but distinctly and bluntly feminine, often carrying stereotyped traits of femininity that women are often maligned for. it’s not uncommon for the b!p character to be abused physically and sexually by his partner (b!p characters are largely characterized as weak and passive). Power dynamics, much like in g!p works, are commonly present, and often exploited/unbalanced. Plenty of discussion to be had about the messages around toxic masculinity, misogyny, heteronormativity, etc. found in these works.[1]
the fact that bp is almost always written as 100% smut highlights the exact reason why it’s transphobic. it’s using trans bodies for purely sexual purposes, which when being written by cis people, is fetishizing.[2]
However, some fans such as Twitter user @yooniefucks, hold the position that the boypussy trope is "really not analogous to trans experiences":
saying boypussy is trans reduces the experience of being trans (ie transitioning, most likely having dysphoria) down to just having a pussy. especially since boypussy focuses on that, its really not analogous to trans experiences. its just a sex swap. + theyre just... really different concepts. if you were gonna write nsfw fic about a trans character itd be completely different than nsfw about boypussy because theyre completely different. [...] honestly i could argue that saying all boypussy characters should be trans is kinda transphobic because it focuses on what trans men literally dont want which is for focus to be on their genitalia, while erasing every other aspect of what makes them trans.[3]
Further still, many transmasculine and/or intersex people do enjoy and find comfort in the trope. On Youtuber Rowan Ellis' video essay The Rise (And Rise) of Omegaverse, Youtuber bikenesmith comments:
[...] personally, i am definitely a person who sees the ways omegaverse plays with gender, sex, and sexuality as validating and gender/sex euphoric. the way it normalizes "wrong" genitalia + characteristics and men with "female" organs + characteristics is very comforting to me - both in general, and within a sexual context. a world where a man can be pregnant and no one bats an eye or questions their gender for a second! a world where men with breasts and/or vaginas are generally seen as attractive and desirable.[...] but on the critical side - recently i have seen an influx of people interpreting omegas as having vaginas rather than. bussy i guess 😭 which im very glad about because thats more aligned with my way of interpreting it!! however a term that has come up a lot is (struggling not to get this comment banned) boykitty. it can be a synonym for bussy (butt variety) but that it as well as...mean-name-for-kitty boy can be a sometimes derogatory but usually pornographic term for transmascs/our genitalia.
a lot of transmascs reclaim it, including myself, and some of them are the ones using those tags! but one can't be sure, and it can be a problem when something like that term is being used as an ao3 tag devoid of context, especially outside its specifically trans context. in every part of fandom there is a struggle with proper representation and respect of marginalized groups - nothing is perfect. i always make my work unapologetically trans + queer + intersex because i want transmasc + intersex people to feel centered, and for malicious people to recognize that my work is not for them. [...]
External Links
- boypussy tag on Glee Kink Meme's pinboard account
- boypussy tag at Archive of Our Own
- Stultiloquentia's Not-Even-Remotely-Unified Theory of Boypussies - a meta essay on Dreamwidth
- The Rise (And Rise) of Omegaverse on Youtube
References
- ^ thedeadflag. "Post". Archived from the original on 2022-03-25.
- ^ Phoenix. "post". Archived from the original on 2019-09-27.
- ^ Twitter thread [Dead link], August 2, 2019
- ^ Youtube comment