Harry is a Girl

Fan Theory
Fan Theory:	Harry is a Girl
Synonyms:	Harry is a Woman, Harry is Trans, Harry isn't Cis
Origin:	lapelosa
Fandom(s):	One Direction
Dates:	2012 - Present
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On Twitter, TikTok, and Tumblr, it's common for fans of male celebrities to call them wife, babygirl, mother, girlfriend, and so on as a joke. However, when an unknown percentage of Harry Styles fans call him a woman, they really mean it. These fans genuinely believe (or at least entertain and promote the belief) that Harry Styles is secretly a transgender woman.

Many believers of Harry is a girl (in later years, known as "Harry is a woman") on Tumblr, TikTok, and Twitter have combed through massive amounts of publicly available information (everything from interviews to candid photos to song lyrics to tattoos) to find evidence that Harry Styles is a closeted transgender woman or transfeminine person. Believers do not generally offer up reasons why they believe Harry would do this outside of the general atmosphere of transphobia around the world, and sometimes with vague handwaves at management if they are Larries. Not all people who believe in this theory are Larries, but most of the people who curate information about the theory are Larries. In this way, it is an effective and intentional pipeline for trans people and allies to eventual belief in the larger Larry conspiracy theory.

This theory was originally created by Larrie blogger lapelosa who christened it "Harry is a girl" in 2012. Other Big Larries on Tumblr who believe, entertain, and/or promote this theory include twopoppies (known for creating Larry fanfiction recommendations), thisiskatsblog (creator of Rainbow Direction), bottomharrykingdom (a bottom Harry Styles fetish blog), jlf23tumble (another fanfiction recommender), non-binharry (prominent theorizer and fanfiction recommender), too-old-for-this-ship (masterpost creator), and metal-eye (masterpost creator). While this theory is rampant on other platforms, all of the radicalizing content originates on Tumblr. No prominent believers of this conspiracy theory are transgender women, and most of the biggest Larries who push it are cisgender women. Many of these believers will claim that they believe that Harry is non-binary or transfeminine, not a transgender woman, or that they are simply trying to be inclusive of trans fans. However, the rampant misgendering of Harry among its most aggressive adherents suggests that this is merely a radicalizing tactic designed by big Larries to mask the truth of their conspiracy theory. Larries often use this theory to recruit trans people (usually trans men, transmasculine, and non-binary people) into becoming Larries, direct messaging them masterposts of "proof" that is progressively more extreme.

It is important to note that "Harry is a girl" is not a traditional conspiracy theory as it does not directly invoke powerful and sinister groups in its explanation for why Harry might be a closeted transgender woman. "Harry is a girl" is instead an on-ramp to more traditional conspiracy theories, typically Larry, Xarry tinhatting, or belief that Harry's girlfriends are PR stunts without any shipping explanation at all. Despite proponents' claims of the progressiveness of the theory, believers often express extreme levels of misogyny towards Harry's girlfriends. Fans who are against the "Harry is a girl" theory claim that believers frame trans women as ideal bottoms, and that the theorists seem to believe that transfemininity is innately gay. They argue that this is very transmisogynistic against trans women and trans femmes attracted to men and have suggested that the people who believe in this theory have a fetishistic attitude towards trans women.

Naming

This Fanlore page is named "Harry is a girl" as a convenient shorthand and to acknowledge the origins of the theory. Most of its adherents in the 2020s would not refer to it as anything other than a transgender headcanon or fan theory. Adherents may alternatively refer to this theory as "Harry is a woman," "Harry is non-binary," "Harry is trans," "Harry isn't cis," all of which will redirect here.

History and Beliefs

The first archived post about this conspiracy theory was created by lapelosa (a cisgender woman) on June 25th, 2012. While this post did not take off at the time, many core arguments and speculations in the post would be lasting elements of this conspiracy theory:

1. Harry has compared himself to a girl numerous times
2. Other people have compared Harry to a girl
3. Harry has pretended to give himself breasts on occasion
4. At one point, Harry expressed discomfort with painting his nails on camera
5. Harry could, in lapelosa's imagination, cross dress while having sex with Louis

Lapelosa tagged this post #harry's a girl, a tag which would be controversial until it was retired. By February 2015, Lapelosa's #harry's a girl tag was 50 pages long. In November 2014, an anonymous ask to lapelosa's blog laid the groundwork for how actually, speculating about Harry's gender is very progressive:

Regarding Harry, I obviously do not know how he identifies but as a trans person myself a lot of the things he does would read to me as at least him being genderqueer or something similar. Either way it is important to combat cisnormativity by challenging the assumption that everyone is automatically cis, so even if we can't really know with Harry it's important to acknowledge the possibility.

 anon

Hiddensymposiarch (a cis woman) also gave a defense of the "Harry's a girl" tag in January 2015:

Even if people were saying that Harry was definitely non-cis, I personally don’t think it would be an offensive thing for them to say. It might make you feel weird to be wrongly identified as transgender, but I do think that weird feeling itself is probably rooted in deep seated transphobia. It doesn’t make you a bad person! For so many of us, the idea of being transgender or non-binary is new, and therefore a bit foreign and strange and hard for us to comprehend. So we feel “weird” about discussing the possibility that someone may be non-cis. It’s okay to feel that way. But it’s not okay to act on that feeling, in my opinion. It’s just like when people who have not been routinely exposed to non-straight people feel “icky” about the thought of two people of the same gender having sex (usually two men, if we’re being honest). It’s perfectly fine if you don’t want to think about people having sex, but that “icky” feeling should not be used as an excuse to be against marriage equality, or as the basis for saying “don’t shove it in our face!” about a same-sex couple holding hands or kissing.

 hiddensymposiarch

Some users, such as theboyfriends, seemed to both believe Harry might be transgender and have male pregnancy fetishes. As seen in their art tag, art where Harry wore dresses, was pregnant, gave birth, and was a mother to Louis' child were all common around 2014. They also created popular masterposts in 2014 about Harry wanting breasts, Harry being sad that he couldn't get pregnant, and how hot they thought he might look in high heels. In the early 2010s (likely 2013, as that is the earliest findable post of another user using the tag #sasha styles) lapelosa created her #sasha tag for these discussions which would later be picked up by thisiskatsblog and too-old-for-this-ship among many others. According to tumblr user intheseshoestoday, "hundreds if not thousands" of blogs were creating content related to Harry being transgender in 2015. A glance at gotbagsofcharm's #gender fuckery tag confirms the popularity of this theory among a certain segment of larries around this time period.

A text post about this theory, titled "Have a feeling that Harry might be transgender," circulated on Twitter in 2015:

I know I'm way off of making assumptions and shit but I mean come on, seriously look at the signs. 1) His hair (anyone can grow out their hair I know that). 2) He paints his finger nails (painting nails is not assigned to a certain gender but it's more of a girl thing) 3) His girly attire (his flowery shirts and tight pants. Nun uh son) 4) We all know he's into guys and is madly in love with Louis 5) In tight pants he USUALLY has a huge bulge. AND I KNOW everyone has seen him in his white jeans AND LET ME TELL YA THERE AINT NO DICK THERE!!!!!

 bluburrystylinson

Some users decried the perceived heteronormativity of the theory, saying that believers were trying to make Harry the "woman" in the relationship. The blog stopsashastyles was created in 2015 to respond to both the "Harry is a girl" theory generally and lapelosa's "Harry is a girl" tag specifically:

Larries, big Larries. like whatiwishicould and lapelosa and vansandburberry and all yall. I want you all to change the Harry is a girl tag, its extremely offensive and many many trans people have constantly told you how bad it is, and instead of using ur psuedo intelligence and what not. Just listen, to the actual trans ppl, the queer ppl telling you it is wrong! of course, its wrong to speculate that Harry’s gender is cis, but its the same way to speculate he is also trans. same with him being queer or not. Headcanons are exactly what the name is. HEADCANONS! not real life, just head thoughts about a person. Harry’s gender/sexuality is to his own. And yes, i will continue to use he/him pronouns for Harry until he says otherwise. Thats doesnt make me transphobic, it makes me respectful of Harry’s own personal identity

stopsashastyles

Despite the controversy, conversations about the theory persisted throughout 2015. Once One Direction broke up, the theory died for a while. Harry shot Dunkirk, wrote his debut album, and got ready to tour. Many of the Larries who pushed or believed in this theory abandoned the fandom at this time.

"Harry is a girl" began to re-emerge in 2018 with a new bottom Harry fetish blog, bottomharrykingdom. On February 18, 2018, they reblogged a gif of a very young Harry with moving pink hearts around his face and tagged it #princess #femme #lipstick. #Princess would be the blog's official tag for Harry, with #king being the tag for Louis. Tags associated with Harry on the blog in 2018 included (but were not limited to) femme, dainty, makeup, nail polish, tiny, curvy Harry, sub Harry, mpreg Harry, and Harry is a bottom. The blog also openly promoted feminization content, including editing Harry onto softcore images of of women in lingerie. In December 2018, bottomharrykingdom posted the first draft of their she/her Harry bottomharrykingdom fic rec, which they would continually update for three years. Between 2018 and 2021, bottomharrykingdom would share or create 32 pages of trans Harry conspiracy content and 17 pages of she/her Harry conspiracy content. Trans Harry and bottom Harry fanfiction would experience a slight resurgence at this time, and there would also be a resurgence of Harry fans using she/her pronouns for him on Twitter. In September 2019, bottomharrykingdom shared the popular fanfiction Second Spring to their account, which featured a trans woman Harry recovering from a vaginoplasty.

Upon release of the Fine Line album cover, Tumblr and Twitter users noticed that the colors on the cover matched with the trans flag and began theorizing that Harry was coming out as transgender. Trans interpretations for the song She followed as well as Fine Line and Only Angel. Twopoppies began to give recommendations for fanfiction about being non-binary. Soon, an extensive masterpost was created that updated through 2021, combining photographs of Harry with analysis by fans that bottomharrykingdom enjoyed. These photos suggest the idea of either a non-binary or trans woman Harry, but lean towards viewing Harry as a transgender woman. Metal-eye soon followed with their own masterpost of reasons Harry might be transgender. All of metal-eye's work has also been translated into Spanish. The following list is the updated "proof" that "Harry is a girl" believers will argue supports their theory:

1. Harry's friends have used she/her pronouns or feminine language to refer to him before
2. Harry has worn feminine clothing before
3. Harry has posed or moved in feminine or flamboyant ways
4. Harry has worn and sold nail polish, gender neutral perfume, and makeup
5. Harry's music, in their opinion, references transgender experiences
6. Harry's music videos, in their opinion, reference transgender experiences
7. Harry has, in their opinion, referred to himself as a mother
8. Harry has, in their opinion, expressed a desire to be pregnant
9. Harry has, in their opinion, referenced not caring about X and Y chromosomes
10. Harry has compared himself to a mermaid and has a tattoo of a mermaid, which is a symbol of transgender people
11. Harry uses the nickname "H" and "Sue" among his close personal friends
12. Harry has waved trans flags at his concerts before
13. Harry's album cover and clothes are in the color of the trans flag

The overarching counterpoint to this theory is that Harry Styles has said he is a man many times over the years, most recently in print in a 2022 Better Homes and Gardens profile where he talks about sex, sexuality, and invasiveness:

At the time, there were still the kiss-and-tell things. Working out who I could trust was stressful. But I think I got to a place where I was like, why do I feel ashamed? I'm a 26-year-old man who's single; it's like, yes, I have sex.

 Exclusive: Harry Styles Reveals the Meaning Behind His New Album, 'Harry's House'

However, fans who do not believe in the theory say that there are many other counterpoints to the individual tenets of these theories, as seen below:

1. Harry is attracted to men and women, flamboyant, and has many gay friends. It is common in queer culture for queer men to refer to each other with she/her pronouns and feminine descriptors.
2. Clothing has no gender.
3. Feminine and flamboyant movement has no gender, and hyperanalyzing someone's movements is homophobic and invasive.
4. Makeup and nail polish have no gender.
5. There are alternate interpretations for Harry's music that do not involve being transgender, and many of the examples given such as Fine Line and Only Angel are about women he has dated.
6. Harry's music videos reference gender non-conformity, which is different than being trans.
7. Harry's references to being a mother are simply creative references, jokes, or misinterpretations of the work.
8. Harry putting a balloon under his shirt or rubbing his stomach while addressing an audience is a joke.
9. Harry saying "X or Y" is not a reference to chromosomes.
10. Harry can like mermaids in a way that has nothing to do with being transgender.
11. Many musicians use stage names different than their own. Since Harry was born with the one he uses, it seems likely that using nicknames helps him separate his personal and professional life. Also, see #1.
12. Harry is merely showing support for the trans community.
13. Pink and blue are very common colors, and mixing them could be commentary on androgyny, not being trans. Harry also countered this argument in an interview with the Guardian that he is not hiding secret clues that he is queer in his album cover.

Additionally, Harry has performed gender reveals at his concerts, which fans say he would be unlikely to do if he were transgender. He has also never expressed the personal desire to be a woman. Larries additionally believe that Louis helped Harry explore his feminine side and has been supporting him in this endeavor for years. This is not included in the "Harry and gender" masterpost documents, because they are designed to be accessible to both larries and non-larries.

Through 2022, non-binharry, thisiskatsblog, metal-eye, and twopoppies have become the leading voices in transgender conspiracy theorizing on Tumblr. There is a significant presence on Twitter and has been since 2018, but it generally waxes and wanes.

Example Fanworks

• The Cheerleader Skirt Series: The oldest Harry/Louis fanfic that exists on AO3; crossdressing kink.
• We Put Our Love First: Harry is a trans woman. Louis is asexual. Note the bottom Harry tag.
• Second Spring: Harry is a trans woman who gets a vaginoplasty and Louis supports her. Note the bottom Harry tag.
• fallin' and laughin' at the drinks we spilled: #vanlife Harry/Louis AU where Harry is trans. Note the bottom Harry and Harry in panties tags.
• Time Passed: Louis supports Harry through figuring out their trans identity. Note the bottom Harry and feminization tags.

Fanart and Graphics

• 

  While mpreg is very common in fandoms, the hyperfeminization of Harry in this 2014 drawing by breath-for-fluff (rosketch, on main) is notable.

• 

  Early portrait of a feminized Harry wearing a dress by prettytruthsandlies. Circulated on Harry is a girl tumblr in 2014 and 2015.

• 

  This 2020 manip by halohamilton juxtaposes the lyrics of She with Harry's beauty papers shoot and a description of dress construction. Captioned "she's the first one that I see," it evokes in the viewer the feeling that Harry is "she."