I love this! Please go more into the topping aspect. I wonder if he'd ever switch for anyone (that first time with arisaka was not consensual at all).
Fucking phenomenonal analysis here.
To add, the manga makes it verrrry obvious that what omegas experience is very clearly just plain old sexism and misogyny but experienced by men. Yet, when other omega's talk about "omegaism" (femininism) and problems faced by omegas Taketora often positions himself as an outsider, rather than someone who can relate to those experiences (he doesn't want to acknowledge that he's also affected by these issues because then it means acknowledging that the world will not affirm how he perceives himself).
When Taketora faces the same issues as other omega's it probably hits doubly hard for him because outside the issue themselves there's also the added weight of dysphoria that comes from havig to experience it while trying to present as an alpha.
Oh I’d be happy to go more into this! Power dynamics and gender play a large role in sex for many people. It’s complicated with men as there is a societally perpetuated association between sexual dominance and masculinity. There a this odd notion (based in homophobic rhetoric and misogyny) that bottoming or being submissive is emasculating. This of course, is not actually true because obviously being gay or being a bottom or being sexually submissive does not make you less of a man. Takatora’s whole character is doing anything he can to assert his masculinity(alpha). For him, bottoming in sex feels like embracing the feminine(omega) parts of his body that he is ashamed of. Many trans men have dysphoria about the private parts of their bodies and as such, bottoming/receiving can cause dysphoria in the same way Takatora has seemed to feel. Everyone has different experiences ofc and also as time passes things change for people. Takatora might grow comfortable in his masculinity enough to try switching again and may even grow to like it! Ya never know!!
Ugh you get it!!! You see the vision! Absolutely agree with what u were saying about how he tries to position himself as someone not affected by omega issues because it means recognizing that he can still fall victim to the same treatment, despite his internal gender identity and presentation being different. I would go even further and say he won’t let himself sympathize/empathize with the omegas and omega issues because that would mean running the risk of becoming a target himself. There have been many cases of trans celebrities in power distancing themselves from the community or even actively turning against the community as soon as they pass.
EXACTLY! Like yes part of it's is internalized....(misogyny? Transphobia? Both?) something from his upbringing but also I completely agree that a lot of his behavior is a survival mechanism to try and protect himself from being the target of discrimination, "don't look at me I'm not like them".
The tragedy, as we see with the latest chapter, is that it doesn't work. It never will truly work. Respectability politics will not change the mind of someone who sees you as less than human.
OMG SO TRUE SO TRUE LIKE THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING THE WHOLE TIME WHILE READING AND IT IS SUCH A PITY
Takatora is a transgender allegory. I’m dead serious. If it’s not obvious to other ppl here is what I mean:
The story starts with Takatora having his omega(feminine) body and sex/gender forced upon him despite having always exhibited the behaviors of an alpha(male) and having always felt like an alpha. To him, the worst thing he can be is an omega and he often takes that resentment out on omegas as a whole. (Worth noting he is more resentful of the biological elements of the omega experience rather than the societal treatment of omegas. It’s personal.) ALSO, literally the same day he discovers he’s an omega he gets a hysterectomy. It’s then mentioned this is not a surgery omega’s can typically get done unless they are sick. If u didn’t know, that is a very common issue irl for trans-masculine ppl. Takatora does pretty much everything he can to still feel like an alpha and have his masculinity reaffirmed, sometimes overcompensating in toxic ways just to have people perceive him as more masculine (I could go into the whole topping thing too but that’d take too long). Finally, HUGE obvious example to me was when he was having sex with Arisaka and realized he was wet, causing him to experience what I can genuinely only describe as gender dysphoria