Random Things Turn Out Professor Snape Is Transgender (14 items)

• 

  (#1) It All Starts With The Fact That Snape Rejects Wands

  In an essay titled, "Harry Potter: Severus Snape as a Representation of Female Heroism," author Racheline Maltese cites a key moment from the text that sparked the "Trans Snape" theory. She argues that Snape's comment in the first book about there being "no foolish wand-waving" in potions class is a clue that "this character is, on some level, a rejection of masculinity, especially in light of the many moments of phallic humor wands provide us throughout the series."
• 

  (#2) The Identities Of Other Characters Were Complex

  The theory that Snape is trans is not so outlandish when you consider that Rowling revealed Dumbledore to be gay in 2007. The Trans Snape community points to this example as evidence supporting their argument.
• 

  (#3) Snape Was "Coded" To Be Female

  Speaking to Broadly, Tumblr user Fatuma said, "if [Rowling] had written Snape as a cisgender woman, no part of Snape's story would be greatly affected."

  Basically, there's no way to disprove that Snape is trans based on the text, and the Trans Snape community believes that to be intentional.
• 

  (#4) Snapes Affinity For Potions Is Further Proof

  Snape reverently speaks of "the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins." Maltese points out that this is an invocation of feminine witchcraft symbolism, a literary staple predating Shakespeare.

  Tumblr user and 26-year-old trans man Ensnapingthesenses echoed this sentiment: 

  "Potion-making and poisons have a long and fascinating history of being associated with femininity. But Snape's affinity to potions and her incredible talent have also been interpreted as an effort to find a magical way to transition."
• 

  (#5) Thematic Metaphors Support Snape's Trans Identity

  "Snape is a character who inhabits a fluid, ambiguous position for most of the narrative—always between two worlds, and often quite literally lurking in the shadows of a room, outside looking in. Snape reads as someone in the closet, and tragically so," Ensnapingthesenses said.

  Though it's never said outright in Mary Shelley's seminal Frankenstein, it is often believed by scholars that Dr. Frankenstein is gay based on evidence similarly unpacked by the Trans Snape theory.
• 

  (#6) Potions Themselves Offer A Solution

  Ensnapingthesenses argues that "[there are potions that] alter one's appearance, and others change physical attributes potentially forever, so how could this not be a very strong contender for magical HRT?"

  This is consistent with Fatuma's assertion that Snape's initial interest in the field was to find such a potion.
• 

  (#7) Snape's Interactions With Harry Mirrors A Mother-Daughter Relationship

  Snape's undying love for Lily Potter led him to an arrangement with Dumbledore, in which he agreed to always look over and protect Harry.

  "Snape is, thematically, a stand-in for Lily (Sirius is a stand-in for James)," Fatuma said.

  Ensnapingthesenses reinforced this idea, saying, 

  "Symbolically, boys grow up to replace their fathers; the father prepares them for it, while the mother has a different role and weight in their lives, having a lot to do with managing emotions and seeing things from another perspective... Harry and Snape's relationship reminds me more of the interactions between a teenage girl and her mom, where both have anger management issues because they literally reflect it from each other."
• 

  (#8) A Young Snape Wore Eileen Prince's Blouse

  In the Deathly Hallows there's a flashback in which a young Snape is wearing his mother's blouse. Believers of the Trans Snape theory point to this as an example of more concrete evidence. In Ensnapingthesenses's mind, such instances are examples of  "a young woman expressing her gender whenever she could."
• 

  (#9) Hermione Thinks The Half-Blood Prince's Handwriting Is Feminine

  When Harry is obsessing over the Half-Blood Prince, Hermione points out that this person may have been female. "It might have been a girl. I think the handwriting looks more like a girl's than a boy's."

  This is a really interesting point of emphasis in the book as Hermione is irritated with Ron and Harry for assuming the Half-Blood Prince was necessarily male. And considering Hermione is that smartest of the three by far, it stands out as a noteworthy idea.
• 

  (#10) The Boggart In The Closet

  In The Prisoner of Azkaban, Lupin teaches his class how to defend against a boggart, a creature that changes form. The boggart takes the shape of Snape for Neville until Lupin's "Riddikulus" spell suddenly sheaths this lookalike in women's clothing.

  "Lupin's extremely personal mockery of the Snape-boggart (which comes out of a closet!)," said Ensnapingthesenses, "is a powerful example of the way in which Snape was shamed for being feminine."
• 

  (#11) Snape's Patronus Was A Doe

  Conventional wisdom concerning Snape's Patronus charm taking the form of a doe is that it is a manifestation of his love for Lily Potter, whose Patronus took the same shape. The Trans Snape theory, however, views this in a different light.

  A trans woman named Lilyana told Broadly, 

  "Snape's Patronus [being] the same as Lily's is something besides romantic interest… that the physical and magical embodiment or [Snape's] spirit is the same feminine representation as that of Lily's could absolutely indicate that Snape is in fact a trans woman."
• 

  (#12) Snape Breaks A Vicious Cycle

  A dubious trope in fiction is queering villains. Snape transcends this, according to the Trans Snape theory.

  "Snape was queer-coded as part of making her villainous," said Fatuma. "The curious thing is that whenever creators use the 'they were good all along' trope, feminine codes and/or queer-coding is [typically] undone; the character is allowed to be a cisgender and straight. But not Snape."
• 

  (#13) Trans People Identify With Snape

  Ensnapingthesenses said of Snape, "We see ourselves reflected in such a complex, interesting, and polarizing figure—which we don't usually get to do, as transgender fans."

  This phenomenon is very similar to how fans reacted to Wonder Woman, specifically female fans. Many women experienced a powerful emotional response to seeing a woman finally get the chance to be a real hero, a superhero no less, and the protagonist of such a story. Women were finally able to see themselves as the hero.

  "I like the idea of a teenage Snape researching and modifying potions. Not for the fame and money—but to be able to make a potion that can help her transition without side effects," Fatuma said.

  This is a very telling statement: "I like" indicates that Fatuma, who identifies as agender, finds comfort in the possibility that this character might experience something similar to their experiences and, what's more, that Snape is not driven by avarice, but simply the need find a true identity. 
• 

  (#14) Each Year, The Community Has A "Trans Snape Week"

  Ensnapingthesenses founded Trans Snape Week in 2015, which takes place the first week of August, and spoke about it in an interview with Broadly:

  "Within the Harry Potter fandom on Tumblr there's a slowly growing community of people who believe Snape was trans, or choose to explore this possibility; some of us just couldn't stop typing, drawing, or thinking about it, and so Trans Snape Week was born. Trans Snape Week is really just a place to get together and celebrate, explore, and share: It's spawned all sorts of fanfiction, fanart, literary analysis."

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking