I think it’s left intentionally ambiguous(or might vary depending on the series). They DO leave a lot of signs for Gwen being a supportive figure for transgender people. In Across the Spiderverse, she has a “Protect Trans Kids!” Poster in her room. Her dad has a trans flag patch on his uniform. Her superhero color palette is the trans flag. Pink, light blue, and white is always used when representing her.

Thats not even delving into how her story arc handles those themes/metaphors.

[–] Wilzax@lemmy.world 99 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

IMO, whether or not Gwen is canonically transgender is irrelevant, because thematically the two are equivalent. Being spider-woman is allegorical for being transgender.

She knew she was different before anyone else did
The way that she's different would affect how others see her once they find out, very possibly putting her in danger, depending on who finds out and how hateful/vengeful they are.
She could theoretically quash that part of herself and live the way everyone expects her to, but to do so would be to kill a piece of who she is
She had to "Come out" to her dad (and not by choice, really. She only did so because she was caught with her new clothes.)
She wasn't accepted for who she was in that coming out, but knew it would be easier to live without her closest family member's support than to live without being herself.
She found a community of others like her, who all have unique but similar experiences and who are eager to support one another.

The colors may be an indication that Gwen specifically is trans, or a hint to the audience that to be a Spider-person is an allegory for being trans. Her character was designed with the white, pink, and blue color scheme in 2014, so it's not all that unlikely that the color scheme was an allusion to the trans pride flag on purpose. Maybe a writer or character designer clarified somewhere exactly how intentional or coincidental this Spider-Gwen/Transgender connection is, would be cool to see if so.

At the end of the day, the story serves to make people more empathetic to others who have to weigh their identity against their safety, especially in cases where the facet of their identity in question could be intentionally kept hidden.

[–] AShadyRaven@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 months ago

But spiderman was always my favorite character as a kid, i seemed to really identify with the character.....uh oh

[–] AShadyRaven@lemmy.zip 32 points 3 months ago (1 children)

i think the ambiguity is the point

Gwen is a woman.

If shes a trans woman, shes still a woman. If shes a biological woman, shes still a woman.

They dont need to announce her sex assigned at birth, shes a woman either way

thats how i see it anyway.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 20 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

just fyi the opposite term for trans woman is cis woman. biological woman isn't really a thing, and it's usually used by transphobes so you might unintentionally send terfy signals when you say that. just to be clear I'm not accusing you of anything like that, just trying to help with the terminology.

[–] AShadyRaven@lemmy.zip 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

thats good advice thanks

i dont know any terf signals because i dont talk to those people

i accidentally run into fascist dog whistles on occasion for the same reason.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

(they're the same thing) :)

[–] AShadyRaven@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 months ago

now that one i knew

[–] Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Ok - help us allies out here for a minute. So a “biological woman” is not appropriate anymore?

What do we call someone who was born a woman and identifies (I think this is the correct way of saying it?) as being a woman? Or vice versa with a male.

Cis man? Sounds like a terrible super hero.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

yes, it is cis man. i don't think it's a worse hero than biological woman. i mean, really, your superpower is that you're not mechanical? pfft.

mind that i am also just an ally so take it with a grain of salt as i may make mistakes here but here's what i know:

biological woman is just not a thing because woman is a social term, not a biological one to begin with. also has a slight undertone of "biological" meaning "real" which we wouldn't want to perpetuate.

the technically correct term would probably be "female", but I don't think trans men would like to be called either.

afab / amab (assigned female/male at birth) is more acceptable if needed. so, if a woman is afab she's cis. if she's not, then she's trans.

just keep in mind that trans isn't limited to women amab and men afab, as not only is gender a spectrum, but "biological sex" is too. anyway trans is more broad because it basically means your gender being anything different from what's typically associated with your assigned sex at birth.

any trans people want to correct me on anything please do so

[–] jayk@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 months ago

wow, I missed a lot in the movie! Is there a precedent for comic artists putting fan theories/comics into canon? Would be kinda cool to see this story fleshed out. Although I guess it might retread story beats that we've already seen

[–] P4ulin_Kbana@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 3 months ago

she has a “Protect Trans Kids!” Poster in her room.

She had, until "anti-woke" people invaded her room and stole it. /s