Toph, Transgenders and Tomboys This is a post a long time coming but in many liberal circles, especially after KorrAsami's lazy canonicity, 'fans' of ATLA have tried to push the idea that "Toph is Transgender" admittedly it's not a large group but I'd like to address it nonetheless. As an example I've seen several users on the ATLA wiki say they think Toph is a Transgender character. There is even a debate thread that I read before deciding to make a position.
Example:
User Hasdi Bravo has stated that he believes Toph in a live action film should favor in casting Male actor Issac Jin Solstein in the role of Toph, since Toph is a "Boy In A Girls Body"Toph is by all metrics a Tomboy character, not trans. She's rough and ready and likes to do things that are traditionally masculine, like fighting, swearing, being rude n' sassy, adventuring and breaking the rules and other typical boyish things, this contrasts Aang perfectly (earth vs air) because he likes to be controlled, polite and unantagonistic, even if not constantly. Toph mocks this, calling him "twinkle-toes" and compares him to a girl. Yet there is no doubt that Aang is not feminine or female-identifying (he calls himself "a guy" for example). The same goes for Toph at the other end of the behavioral spectrum.
The aforementioned debate mentioned several key arguments I think deserve to be stated
1 - Toph NEVER expressed feelings of resentment towards her gender, or ever directly said she felt like a "Boy In A Girls Body" nor asked to be called by male pronouns
2 - She clearly expressed interest in the opposite sex on various occasions, her crush on Sokka for instance. or the fact that she HAD 2 DAUGHTERS!
3 - She clearly enjoyed participating in (stereotypical) girlish activities with Katara from time to time. The Day Spa short in Tales of Ba-Sing-Se is a perfect example.
4 - She outright stated in Book 3: "City of Walls and Secrets" that she deliberately acts against Female stereotypes because she hates being held to high expectations placed upon her as a member of the upper class.
"I learned proper society behavior and chose to leave it. You never learned anything. And frankly, it's a little too late."5 - ATLA, unlike Korra is intended as a Y7 Show and got made in the 2000s (yes it is that old). The issue is irrelevant given the restrictions placed upon Nickelodeon and Bryke by the rating and the fact that it simply isn't a massive issue.
6 - If Toph had been dysphoric she would actively masquerade as such while disguised or try and identify more with the males of the group. For instance, while fighting as the Blind Bandit, she made no attempt to disguise her gender to the other fighters. Instead she reveled in being a "little girl" that beat tough male fighters.
The main arguments for this trans-toph conception is
A) Toph originally got designed as a boy: her old character design was the Earthbender in the opening sequence - that old design be used for roku's earthbending teacher (Sud).
B) Toph got played by a muscular man in the Ember Island Play
The first one fails to hold because some cut or changed content is often done so for a good reason and even Azula had been intended to be a boy.
The second fails because, if it didn't seem obvious enough, the Ember Island Play parodied the series in an abridged manner and intentionally caricaturized them for the purpose of the Fire Nation Propaganda Narrative; Katara is not nearly that ridiculously sensitive, nor promiscuous; Aang is a boy and is not always happy and perky; Sokka makes jokes than other things besides meat; Iroh isn't a useless glutton who has nothing better to do with his time than stuff his face with cake, etc. Moreover historically plays (including Asian ones) often did have actors/actresses play opposing roles to get masculine or feminine characteristics across, something Toph is likely familiar with being raised in a higher class. It was probably a relief for her to not be portrayed as a scared little girl who just wants more (a tempting angle for the propaganda heavy production), and by a butt-kicking masculine actor who could probably better reflect her TOMBOY nature than any over the top actress the troupe had.
TL;DR: Toph is just a tomboy, and there is nothing wrong with that. Today's society takes an individual simply acting different from the norm and tries to excessively and ignorantly psychoanalyze it a la Freud and pigeonholes it into some half-assed diagnosis based on shaky concepts of liberal ideologues. Just because a girl acts like the traditional idea of a boy, or vise versa, they don't necessarily wish to be the other sex.
Also Tomboy thread
>>>/anime/2654