For Trans People, Gender-Swap Photo Filters Are No Mere Game

Hit a button, and you’re “transformed” into a woman. beard disappears. face and jaw smooth out. hair floats jauntily around shoulders. 

“Yo this is SPOT ON my mom.” ″Pretty.” ″Are you in a sorority?” 

A swipe and ar . Suddenly you’re a square-jawed man — heavy of brow, sporting five o’ clock show. 

“I look like my bror Jay.” ″Hahahaha Suzie I’m dyingggg.” ″My sisters were like, ‘um... strange. You’re kinda hot’ haha.” 

-bending selfies accompanied by flip or sarcastic comments are flooding social feeds since Snapchat introduced a filter this month allowing users to swap appearances with tap of a finger. But for many people who have longed for a button that would change m in real life, portrait pare isn’t a game. 

“My ’s t a costume,” says Bailey Coffman, a 31-year-old trans woman from New York. “This story that I feel is very real. I lost a lot to be who I am, and I fought really hard for body that I’m in. 

“And when certain people post it and write about how silly it is and how goofy y look with this filter,” she says, “it makes light of trans experience.” 

Ors, though, see possibility in pastime. 

Some argue that filter, which Snapchat calls a “lens,” could be a rapeutic tool that les to self-discovery and even helps ease transition of people struggling with identity once y see who y could become. 

“re are people who haven’t found mselves yet, and this is a great way to say ‘This is really affirming for me’ and to take that next step,” says Savannah Daniels, 32, a military veteran living in Baltimore. She says she realized she identified as female after watching episodes of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” while serving in Afghanistan as a chaplain’s assistant in U.S. Navy. 

Snapchat is t first face-altering app with such a feature; FaceApp, for instance, has h one for years. But users of Snapchat filter unveiled second week of May have ted its high quality. And, of course, very popularity of Snapchat amplifies feature furr. 

Snapchat’s maker, Snap Inc., which has drawn criticism for a Bob Marley filter some likened to blackface and ar that overlaid stereotypically Asian features on users’ photos, commented about its filter in an emailed statement. 

“We understand that identity is deeply personal,” company said. “As we have and continue to explore possibilities of this techlogy, our Lens design team is working ... to ensure that on whole se Lenses are diverse and inclusive by providing a wide range of transformative effects.” 

Jessie Daniels ( relation to Savannah Daniels), a City University of New York professor and an expert in digital sociology, says that for people unfamiliar with concept of as fluid — t innate and t binary; that is, t strictly male or female — such filters can be both rical and transformative. 

“y get a chance to play with in a way that many of us who are LGBTQ have played with our whole lifetimes and understand social construct part of it,” she says. 

That could be meaningful for youths reckoning with identity or, she says, just for putting tion of fluidity on youngsters’ rar. A survey last year by Common Sense Media found that 44% of teenrs use Snapchat as ir primary social app. 

“I do hope this does help some people better recognize ir ,” says Elliott “Ellie” Wheeler, a 16-year-old sophomore at Michigan’s East Lansing High School who, combining words female and butch, identifies as a “futch” lesbian. 

Because most of her social media contact comes with trans people, she says, she hasn’t seen much use of Snapchat filter. But she also doesn’t hold company responsible for any controversy. 

CUNY’s Daniels, though, wonders wher filter is an attempt by Snapchat, which has struggled against competition from Facebook and Instagram , to win back market share. Snap Inc. did t respond specifically to questions about its business strategy, saying in its email only that “we regularly experiment with new techlogies and features as part of our mission to empower self-expression.” 

For people who are finding fun in game, Savannah Daniels urges m t to enjoy it and n simply dismiss “actual living beings that are trans.” She reminded people of that Saturday with a tweet under her moniker, “Miss Clean Legs,” that went viral. 

“se new Snapchat filters got y’all out here having fun with roles, joking about sex with your homeboys, and sporting beards with lashes. All we ask is that you keep that same energy when you interact with actual trans and n-binary ppl.” 

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