Kimberly Harris' line last night in the 2nd episode of Duncanville reminded me of that "I want to be the little girl" meme a decade or so ago on 4chan back before Moot sold out.
I don't know that the moe anthropomorphism (himself as a catgirl, WT Snacks as a loli as well) was necessarily tranny-like in behavior. Nowadays we seem so paranoid about that, we miss out on other metaphorical intentions behind such expressions. Like simply wanting the low-consequence freedom that foids enjoy, especially young ones.
In the context of Kim's line ("there's no name I haven't been called, no taunt I haven't endured, no body part that hasn't been shamed") it's supposedly SO ROUGH but actually, females are pampered/protected as hell and can get away with pretty much anything. Especially middle schoolers (even moreso than highschoolers) since they're in a sweet spot where they aren't held as accountable for misbehavior as high schoolers, yet have begun puberty and are attractive to adults, so adults are afraid to punish them like they would an elementary-schooler. Thus her followup "I show no mercy" is greatly accurate.
We see for example, elsewhere in the episode that when Duncan brings up her online bullying hobby, she threatens to SWAT/dox/catfish him. Very low-consequence.
In the end, despite the abuse, Duncan actually embarasses himself (pretends he has a fetish about his best friend fucking his sister) just to spare her feelings after a picture of her shrine is shown by vengeful dads. It's actually a lot like what happens in Oreimo... wouldn't be surprised if writers watched that.
It's endearing because I'd love to have a sister and care for her so much I'd do that. On the other hand, I see the sexist non-egalitarian nature of this.
Of course age is a factor here, a 16/17 bro sacrificing his pride for a 12/13 sis could just be seen as an 'elder sibling protects younger sibling' act... but can I imagine doing that for a younger brother? Can you imagine an older sister doing this for a younger sibling of either gender? Probably not. It's the males whose interests must be disposable... and part of me hates that part of me still pines to be a hero like that, because I know heroism is subjective.
