Reading Steven Universe as A Transgender Narrative & Understanding Why That's Important

Steven as himself and finally understood

Steven Universe is one of my favorite television shows. As someone who works 50-60 hours a week and is taking 9 credit hours, I don’t have a lot of time to watch TV, but I try to make time for Steven Universe. It’s a beautiful show filled with lovely writing and pro LGBTQIA+ themes. It has quickly become a huge part of queer culture. So when this article popped up on my newsfeed, I felt like it was meant to be.

The conclusion to Season 5 of Steven Universe “Change Your Mind” premiered on January 21 and has been hailed as being a truly phenomenal episode. However, Julie Munch the queer i09 Weekend Editor proposed another reason that this episode was so special. In her article "The Powerful Transgender Narrative of Steven Universe", she suggested that the episode can be watched as a “transgender narrative.” Furthermore, she also suggests that framing a transgender narrative within a kid’s cartoon can help people understand what it means to be trans by representing trans narratives in an easily digestible format.

I have watched Steven Universe for a while with a queer lens. It’s honestly pretty hard for me not to watch anything without a queer lens as a queer person. However, I have not specifically considered the show to be a trans narrative. Yet, after reading this article, I’m surprised I haven’t. I’ve considered it as a narrative of identity exploration but not specifically a trans narrative. Now I’m struggling with considering it really anything else, especially when you take into consideration that the creator Rebecca Sugar came out as nonbinary last summer and that Sugar uses the show to “express [themself] through these characters.”

Let’s pause here to give non-Steven Universe watchers a smidgen of background before going further. This fanmade trailer for the show explains the basics of the show.

However, if you don’t want to watch it, I’ll give you a quick rundown. There are aliens called gems that both protect and attack Earth depending on which side they’re on. One of these gems had a baby with a human, but to have a baby, she had to give up her physical form, her gem, to the child. The show follows Steven, the only known child of a gem and a human, as he comes into understanding his gem powers and uncovering who his mom is.

At this point in the show, Steven has been abducted by the rulers of the gem world, the Diamonds. His mother was one of these Diamonds, and the other Diamonds want her back. They do not understand that Steven is not his mother even though he has her gem. As such, they’ll do anything to get Pink Diamond, Steven’s mother, back, even by ripping his gem out.

The rhetoric used by the Diamonds is really similar to that used by people who are unaccepting of trans folx. For instance, the Diamonds refuse to call Steven Steven and instead call him Pink and use female pronouns to refer to him. They refuse to see his transition from Pink to Steven as real, just as many people refuse to see the transition of trans folx as real. White Diamond even goes so far as to say that Steven isn’t a real person.

I picked this article because it struck a chord with me and made me think about why I like the show as much as I do. To be frank, I really struggle with my gender identity. I have never voiced this aloud, but it is something I struggle with a lot. I don't know where I fall within the gender spectrum because going up I was only ever told I had to be a woman. I've never felt fully comfortable with being called a woman, having female anatomy, and, well, really being a woman. Yet, I'd never considered that that wasn't normal. Viewing Steven Universe as a trans narrative has helped me to better understand parts of my own struggle with gender, gender performance, and gender representation. Something about seeing the variety of representations and presentations of gender has helped me to open up to myself about gender and my opinion of my own gender.

In this screencap, Yellow Diamond stands behind Blue Diamond.
Yellow has more typically "masculine" outfit and is drawn
with harsher lines (which is also more associated with
masuclinity). Blue, on the other hand, is rounder and softer.
She also has long hair and wears a dress. Blue is shown to be
the more emotive of the two while Yellow acts more traditionally
boyish by rushing headfirst into things and always being angry.

It’s helped me to understand that identity is fluid. That you don’t have to know who you are this exact moment, that you can change and that’s ok. We see Pink Diamond morph from a Diamond to Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gem rebellion, to Steven, a human/gem hybrid boy. As well, we see the characters constantly shift through fusions and then their outfits and appearances change when they reform after being poofed based on how they feel. Furthermore, it helps demonstrate that there isn't any one way of being a particular gender. Yellow Diamond presents very masculine, while Blue Diamond presents very feminine, yet there is never any question as to either of their genders. They simply exist. 

When we ask about the persuasiveness of narratives, I think of what it must be like to watch this cartoon as a trans child and as the parent of a trans child. It provides a narrative in which being trans is ok, a narrative in which gender and sexual identity are fluid and accepted. It has the potential to change the minds of unaccepting people by introducing them to a positive narrative. It also has the potential to give kids a place of belonging.

Narratives can be persuasive, but I don't think that Sugar necessarily started out with the intention to create a persuasive narrative. Yet, the power of this narrative is evident even here in this blog post in how it has impacted me. This narrative was persuasive enough in its demonstration of acceptance of gender identities that it convinced me to finally share something I've never felt comfortable sharing before.