Based on this famous cartoon by XKCD
this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Trans Memes
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A place to post memes relating to the transgender experience.
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[CW: Assumes Viewer is Transmasc][CW: Assumes Viewer is Transfem][CW: Assumes Viewer is Nonbinary][CW: Transphobia][CW: Violence][CW: Weapons/Firearms][CW: Disturbing Imagery]
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I still don't know how it became a trans thing. The first time I heard of them was from a picture where a bunch of young dudes went to ikea for the shark. Next thing you know, blahaj was a trans hero. Is it related to that goofy "left shark" from the Super Bowl? Is it because blue sharks have enjoyed a nearly subliminal existence in media, impossible to trademark or and usually not the center of attention, yet always stealing the audience's hearts and minds?
At least we have positive associations with sharks now. They really are adorable <3
I looked into this once, but all I can remember is that supposedly there was an IKEA ad that featured the shark and trans colored bedding or something.
Looking into it more, it seems to be more of the opposite effect: Blahaj seems to have started as a meme on Tumblr (like so many memes do) that was picked up by the trans community in particular several years later, eventually to the point where it became associated with the community. This was further reinforced and acknowledged to some degree by IKEA featuring the shark in some of their LGBTQ themed promotional material - including one in support of the Swiss government legalizing gay marriage in 2021.
One early example from before Blahaj became a trans icon, from the year it was released, 2014:
It makes a lot of sense for a Tumblr meme to be adopted by the LGBTQ community, as the population there runs very... not straight in my experience. I went back after a number of years and found that my feed was almost exclusively filled with bisexual trans furries.
As in, the circles you ran in became bi/trans/furry?
Yeah. Tumblr had always been a home for queer people on the internet (a point that has actually been used to advertise the site), and furries and the LGBTQ community go together like trans girls and thigh highs (or blue sharks), but it was kind of a surprise to come back after about 5 years and see all the people I followed back then that had turned into bi trans women who were horny-posting on main for fictional characters.
10/10, best hell-site on the internet, can't wait for DashCon 2.
Wild how the people I find most interesting end up being queer 9/10