Steven Universe, Fusion Magic, and the Queer Cartoon Carnivalesque

By Eli Dunn, University of Virginia, USA

Abstract:
Steven Universe is radically revolutionizing trans representation in media by being willing to
give voice to less often represented gender identities. It provides us with a framework with
which to investigate how agender and genderqueer identities and experiences can not only
function but thrive within the genre boundaries of the fantasy cartoon. This genre, and here
Steven Universe serves as an exemplar, tends to embrace a particular reliance on magic to
define its set of narrative rules, images, and possibilities. An emphasis on magic in the
fantasy cartoon makes for an intriguingly complicated and layered pathway to trans
representation, and the unique magical constructs within Steven Universe become the key
narrative techniques which open the possibilities of what can be called a queer cartoon
carnivalesque space. Trans bodies in Steven Universe are malleable, unfixed, ever-changing
and able to combine at will. Therein lies their power. The genre of the fantasy childrens
cartoon and its incarnation in Steven Universe is thus able to magically lift the material
constraints that often serve to block genderqueer and agender representation in realist media.
In doing so, the show offers us a glimpse into how we can move beyond the magic realm that
lends such power to Steven Universes gender nonconforming characters, and into a more
ubiquitous media representation of a variety of trans identities.

1 In an early episode of Steven Universe, the main character Steven breaks out his
ukulele to sing a song about his two friends, urging them to work together to magically
transform themselves into a greater entity: You might even like being together, he sings,
and if you dont, it wont be forever, but if it were me, Id really want to be a giant woman,
a giant woman. All I wanna do is see you turn into a giant woman (Giant Woman). This is
the world of Steven Universe, a Cartoon Network show in which bodies are changeable and
combinable, and a young boy sings matter-of-factly about wanting to be a giant woman.
Childrens cartoons have seen something of a queer renaissance recently, with shows like
Avatar: The Legend of Korra and Adventure Time willing to bring queer relationships into
their worlds. However, even within this recent past, representation of queer characters in
childrens cartoons has been mostly confined to lesbian or gay characters, and these
relationships often downplayed or unconfirmed. Steven Universe is radically breaking that
tradition apart by being willing to give voice to other, less often represented queer identities.
It provides us with a framework to investigate how trans (and more precisely, agender and
genderqueer) identities and experiences cannot only function but also thrive within the genre
boundaries of the fantasy cartoon. This genre, and here Steven Universe serves as an
exemplar, tends to embrace a particular reliance on magic to define its set of narrative rules,
images, and possibilities. An emphasis on magic in the fantasy cartoon makes for an
intriguingly complicated and layered pathway to trans representation, and the unique magical

44
constructs within Steven Universe become the key narrative techniques which open the
possibilities of what can be called a queer cartoon carnivalesque space. Trans bodies in
Steven Universe are malleable, unfixed, ever changing and able to combine at will. Therein
lies their power. The genre of the fantasy childrens cartoon and its incarnation in Steven
Universe is thus able to magically lift the material constraints that often serve to block
genderqueer and agender representation in realist media. In doing so, the show offers us a
glimpse into how we can move beyond the magic realm that lends such power to Steven
Universes gender nonconforming characters, and into a more ubiquitous media
representation of a variety of trans identities.
2 Steven Universes interaction with trans representation relies on separating gender
identity from sexual orientation, physical sex characteristics, and gender presentation in the
mind of its viewers. Essential to that separation is the alien race called the Crystal Gems, who
take their names from their defining stones. The three members of this race living in Steven
Universes Beach City are known as Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. The protagonist of the
show, Steven is the son of the now deceased Gem Rose Quartz and Stevens human father.
Throughout the show Steven lives with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, who are trying to help
him develop his Gem powers. While Gems all seem to take on female forms and pronouns
(and each of the main three are voiced by female voice actresses), writers and animators from
the show have asserted that they are agender, or at least outside the human gender binary
(Jones-Quartey). In a recent Reddit AMA, the shows creator Rebecca Sugar specifically
stated that Steven is the first and only male Gem, because he is half human! Technically,
there are no female Gems! (Sugar AMA) The Gems agender identities are asserted in the
actual show as well as in outside comments by creators. Gems have bodies that they are able
to change at will, and this magical ability to mutate their bodies makes the standard feminine
features that they often display less important in defining their gender. In an attempt to
explain this to the viewer (and to Steven), Pearl calls Gem bodies human constructs
(Reformed) and Garnet asserts that Gem bodies are only an illusion (Fusion Cuisine).
Their bodies also have no vital organs and no heartbeat (Nightmare Hospital) meaning that
the inside of their forms are both as malleable and as arbitrary as the outside. Gem bodies
need not take human form and features, let alone display female traits. The flexibility of Gem
bodies (and the frequency at which they change) sets up their feminine gender traits as
illusory. The Gems bodies serve as projections, allowing them to blend into their human
environment, and their use of female pronouns is similarly arbitrary.
3 All the Gems, but most frequently Amethyst, shape-shift into other forms, sometimes

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even assuming the forms of the other Gems (including Steven) to mock them or make jokes
(Cat Fingers). In Tiger Millionaire, Amethyst shape-shifts into a large wrestling alter-ego
which she names Purple Puma. Puma displays physically male sexual embodiment, including
huge muscles and a skimpy wrestling outfit that shows a vast quantity of chest hair. Steven
uses male pronouns to refer to Purple Puma when explaining his wrestling background to the
other Gems, saying that He was the wildest cat in the jungle, so wild, the other cats couldnt
take it. So she, I mean he, went to look for somewhere he fit in, somewhere with other people
who felt misunderstood (Tiger Millionaire). While Amethyst is using the persona of
Purple Puma as a disguise and wrestling character, and Steven is telling the story of that
character, the audience is also meant to see the similarities between the character and
Amethyst herself. For the time in the ring, Amethyst literally becomes Purple Puma. Her
body is transformed to display mal physical characteristics, and her pronouns are male. This
gender performance makes her no less Amethyst in the eyes of the other characters, and no
comment is made by the show on the fact that it is her body in the ring that literally becomes
her wrestling costume. If the male body that she takes on as Purple Puma is a performance, it
implicates her normal appearance as a kind of costume as well. Her appearance as male is no
less performance, costume, or construct than her normally female-gendered body. Any
appearance she may choose to wear becomes performance. The Gems use their changeable
bodies to subvert standard markers of gender, asserting that their bodies are not real in the
way that humans perceive bodies as real.
4 It may be useful here to take a moment and examine the importance of magic and
disbelief as it is at work within Steven Universes universe. When we talk about the genre of
childrens fantasy entertainment, we often remark upon the imagination and wonder that it
provokes in children. But as adult viewers, were conditioned to watch cartoons with a
willing suspension of disbelief that allows us to accept and enjoy its magic constructs. Simon
During critically examines the way that suspension of disbelief works in the realms of fiction
and nonfiction, asserting that suspension of disbelief seems to make it possible both to
believe and not believe in magic and that such this process is the way consumers of modern
culture learn to accept one set of propositions in relation to the domain of fiction, and another
in relation to the everyday world (During 50). If we consider Durings framework as it is
applied in Steven Universe, we can extend this theory even further. While readers of fiction
may always have to suspend disbelief, the audience of fantasy cartoons expects to suspend
disbelief and to a greater degree. This suspension, this release from reality is what makes the
genre pleasurable. But it is also what gives Steven Universe power. It is the working of

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specifically cartoon magic that allows gender identity to be so thoroughly and easily
disconnected from physical gender traits/manifestations. It is not surprising to the audience
that cartoon bodies are malleable and differentiated from real bodies in their plasticity, and
Steven Universe takes advantage of the fact that the audience expects a level of body magic
from the cartoons, more than from other fiction.
5 During asks us, If one believes (or disbelieves) in magic implicitly in order to
commit oneself to a wider set of values, then what is the effect of that language game which
allows us to suppose that belief is also a subjective state? (49) Gem magic is perhaps how
we can begin to answer Durings question in the context of Steven Universe. The ability of
the Gems to change their gender presentation at will is a type of magic that fundamentally
disconnects notions of perceived gender from gender identity in the mind of the viewer.
When the viewer is told that the Gems bodies are constructed or unreal, the viewer is forced
to reconsider the implications of the female-coded body traits that they may see when they
look at Garnet, Amethyst, or Pearl. The show even disconnects gender identity from
pronouns; none of the Gems see themselves in terms of human femininity, and yet they all
use she/her in reference to one another. It is precisely the language game of Steven
Universe that allows gender identity to be so thoroughly and easily disconnected from both
the physical language of the characters embodiments and the language that they use to
communicate with one another. Within Steven Universe, belief is a subjective state, and its
effect is that the shows magic opens up the possibility of representing a diversity of gender
expression and embodiment. During ultimately places magical entertainment at the
ideological crossroads of superstition and enlightenment, where he claims that it is
nugatory (in theory) and powerful and profitable (in fact) (51). Magic, and the fantastical
far from diminishing the power of whatever narrative it features in, can actually become the
vehicle that supports an expansion into new lines of thought.
6 The very functions and facts of the Gem race therefore begins to open up the
possibilities for queer representation in the show. Other magical abilities they have push the
representation of trans gender identities even further. The Gems agender identities come into
play again during the process of Gem Fusion, a magical construct in which Gems can fuse
their bodies together. These Fusions have greater magical and physical power than the
individual Gems, and take on the physical and personality characteristics of both of the Gems
involved. Fusion is achieved through a series of elaborate dance moves the two Gems
perform together, during which the two individuals must be perfectly coordinated and of the
same state of mind. It is Fusion that pushes the magic of the fantasy cartoon to its most useful

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for queer representation in Steven Universe, as Fusion serves as the prism through which the
show addresses agender desire and genderqueer representations. Not only does this
representation through Fusion break down barriers for the representation of genderqueer and
agender people, it represents a distinctly queer carnivalesque space where gender-play and
performance are integral to social interactions and identity-formation.
7 The movements and magic required in order for Gems to fuse, and indeed in the
world of the Gems in general, allows for the relationships between the Gems to stand in a sort
of carnivalesque atmosphere, one that subverts traditional distinctions between body and
mind, relying instead on performance to shift and create the material of the Fusions body.
Most Fusions in Steven Universe are not only produced by ritualized, synchronized dance but
also accompanied by or closely followed by song, strongly linking the performance and
inhabitation of Gem Fusion to the type of folk carnival humor that Bakhtin identifies as
characterizing the carnivalesque. The spectacle of Fusion itself could certainly be considered
as falling under what Sue Vice reads as Ritual spectacles like carnival pageants or
comic shows of the marketplace (Vice 345). Fusion is meant to be performative, and to be
identified by both the participants and the audience as a symbol of change and power. Its
routinized but individualized series of movements makes it simultaneously a ritual and a
process of individualization. Because Fusion allows two individual Gems to combine, it
undermines the dominant order of the corporeal body, equating the physical substance of the
body not with a fixed, rigid or imposing structure but as something malleable, combinable
and more powerful in its enactment of fluidity. While the Gems have the ability to change
their own bodies at will, only Fusion actually increases their physical and magical
capabilities. It is the total destruction of the individual body, in favor of intimately combining
with another being. While the Gem Fusion is sometimes resorted to in Steven Universe in
order to help the Gems fight a particularly difficult battle often Fusion is a site of play or
light-heartedness, an expression of emotional and physical closeness, or a mechanic for
humor. According to Vice, carnival allows for the free and familiar contact between people
who would usually be separated hierarchically, for unusual combinations and also for a
bringing down to the level of the body (Vice 346). Fusion operates within exactly this kind
of time and space; magic acts as the vehicle that transports the Gems (as both
actors/participants and spectators) into the literal combined body of the Fusion performance.
In performing a Gem Fusion, the individual Gems temporarily cease to exist, becoming one
conjoined entity, in a state of becoming, change and renewal (Vice 346). The Gem Fusion
is the literal embodiment of carnival time within the show.

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8 That carnival time of Fusion is made possible by a performance of the Gems desire
for one another. Steven Universe insinuates through its various displays of Fusion that to the
Gems the act of Fusion is an intimate and perhaps inappropriate or private occurrence. Each
Fusion dance is slightly modified to take into account the specific personalities of those
participating in it. In Giant Woman we learn that not only must Gems be in physical
synchronicity during their dance, but they must also be mentally synced in order to perform
Fusion successfully. We also learn that if they fall out of sync, the Fusion dissolves, leaving
them as individuals once more (Giant Woman). This indicates that Fusion requires an
extremely high and sustained level of mental and physical intimacy between Gems. When
Garnet and Amethyst fuse in Coach Steven Pearl covers Stevens eyes to try and stop him
from watching the dance that Garnet and Amethyst perform to fuse into the stronger Sugilite
(Reformed). There can be no doubt that Fusion is a semi-sexual or at least desire-coded
occurrence. Apart from the fact that Pearl deems the dance inappropriate for young Steven to
see, there is the body language of the dance itself. When Pearl and Garnet attempt to teach
Steven the process of Fusion, there is obviously a coded desire between them in the closeness
and movement of their dance which includes flushed cheeks, heavy breathing, and daringly
deep dips.
9 The Fusion dance can be nothing other than a specifically queer performance, one that
continues Steven Universes project of actively distancing gender identity from both the
physical body and sexual desire. The carnivalesque space of Fusion in Steven Universe is one
in which Judith Butlers assertion that the phantasmatic nature of desire reveals the body not
as its ground or cause, but as its occasion and object is physically realized (Butler 96).
According to Butler, there is no disconnect inherently present in the idea of agender or
unsexed desire (and I do not mean to conflate these terms here, but use them together to
illustrate a being completely outside normative frameworks of sex and gender). After all,
desire is not intrinsically connected to any piece of the body, rather it is determined by its
phenomenological object. The strategy of desire is, Butler continues, part of the
transfiguration of the desiring body itself (96). While desire as abstracted from both gender
and physical sex may be impossible in the culturally restricted real world, it seems to be
present and at work within the carnival time that is Steven Universe. The process of Gem
Fusion insists upon the intimate, sexual, and romantic implications of the transformation into
one body at the same time as it continues to champion and indeed rely upon the agender
status of its participants. In this case, the phenomenological object of the Gems desire
literally transforms the body, not merely by signifying gender upon it, as in Butlers work,

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but actually allowing the desiring subjects to combine their bodies. Steven Universe therefore
insists that desire is disconnected from gender identity, and that agender beings such as the
Gems experience the same desire for romantic, sexual, and emotional closeness as cisgender
people. In fact the show goes a step further, in attributing a special and immense physical and
emotional power to a Fusion formed of two Gems.
10 One of the most powerful representations of Fusion comes to the viewer in the
surprise reveal that Garnet herself (remember, though they are genderless, the Gems all use
female pronouns) is a Fusion, and has been throughout the previous forty-eight episodes
without ever becoming unsynchronized. Weve seen previously how difficult it is for Gems
to maintain their fused states because of the deep harmony of mind and body that Gem
Fusion requires. In Jailbreak we find that the two beings whose Fusion creates Garnet,
Ruby and Sapphire, have been separated and are desperate to return to their fused state. Ruby
thinks nothing for the other trapped Gems (Pearl, Amethyst, and Lapis) when Steven helps
her escape. The same can be said of Sapphire, who Steven also frees from her cell. The two
run through the spaceship, ignoring the plight of their fellow Gems in search of one another,
even ignoring Steven (who Garnet is usually desperate to protect). When they find each other
they immediately run to one another and embrace lovingly and Sapphire kisses Ruby. Did
they hurt you? Sapphire asks and Ruby responds, Who cares? They laugh, and Ruby picks
Sapphire up, spinning her around and around (Jailbreak). Their spinning fuses them once
again, their laughter turning to Garnets and her jubilation at being restored is obvious upon
her face. Ruby and Sapphires Fusion is a rush to reunite, to be whole again by becoming one
body and mind again. As the reunited Garnet fights opposing Gem Jasper, she begins to sing:
We are here to stay like this forever. If you break us apart, well just come
back newer. And well always be twice the Gem that you were. I am made of
love. Of love. Love love. This is who we are. This is who I am. And if you
think you can stop me, then you need to think again. Because I am a feeling,
and I will never end[]Cause you think that youve seen what Im made of.
But I am even more than the two of them. Everything they care about is what I
am. I am their fury, I am their patience, I am a conversation. (Jailbreak)

The bond between Ruby and Sapphire is so complete that they cannot see themselves without
each other. Their power is their synchronicity, their closeness of their thoughts, feelings and
bodies. Steven Universe represents the Fusion of these two Gems in terms of a deep and
powerful relationship and not just any relationship, but a specifically and unequivocally
romantic one. Garnets song highlights the fact that Jasper is single in both senses of the
word. Garnets creation is one not only of a tight bond but a synchronicity that is the product

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of complete and total love. She is made of the emotions and attributes of both Ruby and
Sapphire, the physical embodiment of their closeness, the conversation between them. It
would be hard not to read Garnets existence as a manifesto for a kind of queer love, one that
defies fixed gender and stable embodiment and which celebrates the desire of those that lie
outside the gender binary. Not only is the relationship between Ruby and Sapphire not based
on normative binary gender identifications and sexuality, but also they choose to spend their
lives as one combined consciousness. Garnet is a product of Ruby and Sapphires agender
desire, passion, and love. Such a symbolic union is possible in the realm of cartoon magic,
which allows the symbol of the joined lovers to become actualized. In no other show is an
agender relationship shown so beautifully, powerfully and with such acceptance.
11 Fusion becomes an important tool for the representation of another form of nonbinary
gender embodiment in the Fusion that Steven achieves completely by accident in Alone
Together. The Gems attempt to teach Steven how to fuse with another Gem, with Amethyst
standing in as Stevens dancing partner. However, the instruction does not work, the two
instead merely fall over each other laughing. Nor does Stevens attempt to fuse with Pearl
come to fruition. Pearl tells Steven not to worry, that Fusion is a difficult skill to achieve for a
variety of reasons, and that they are not even sure that Steven will have the ability to create a
Fusion because he is half-human. When Connie (Stevens best friend) later asks him if the
Gems can write down the steps, he asserts that the dance is only part of the process towards
Gem Fusion: NoI dont think its just about the dancing. When they fuse, they glow and
kind ofphase into each other. I dont know if I can even do that. (Alone Together)
Steven understands and reiterates to the audience that Fusion is about more than just
movement, it is about a level of togetherness that he is not sure he can experience. Steven
invites Connie to conquer her fear of dancing in front of other people and to dance there on
the beach with him. They hold hands and as they dance harder and harder together, they
laugh and indeed begin to glow. At that moment, Connie catches the falling Steven (looking
as if she has dipped him over her knee) and the two perform a Gem Fusion by accident. Their
Fusion, nicknamed Stevonnie by Amethyst later in the episode, is not only the first Fusion
between a Gem and a human, but the first gendered Gem Fusion. Because Steven is the first
Gem that openly associates himself with a gender, and he happens to identify as male, and
Connie identifies as female throughout the show, Stevonnie cannot be said to be agender.
Their Fusion therefore is unique from both a species and gendered point of view.
12 Stevonnie goes home to announce themself to the Gems in hopes that the Gems will
know what to do about their Fusion and to celebrate the fact that Steven achieved Fusion in

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the first place. Their announcement of their Fusion is with pride, rather than trepidation. The
scene is a coming out of sorts for Stevonnie. While Pearl asserts, worriedly, that they should
be separated immediately, Garnet is absolutely beside herself with happiness (dramatic
considering Garnets usually deadpan demeanor). She grabs Stevonnie and looks at them
with a huge smile on her face: Listen to me. You are not two people. And you are not one
person. Youare an experience! Make sure youre a good experience. Now GO HAVE
FUN! (Alone Together) Stevonnie and the experience they are having in this new body is
perhaps particularly legible to Garnet, since she herself is a Gem Fusion (though neither
Steven nor the audience know this at the time of Alone Together), and thus Garnet
emphasizes that the level of closeness in Fusion is one to be embraced, celebrated even.
Stevonnie takes this advice to experience and enjoy the moments as a Fusion seriously. By
urging Stevonnie not to worry about the combination of their separate identities and the
implications of their new body, Garnet is reconstituting the Fusion that worries the other
Gems as a place for play and learning. This Fusion is about experiencing life in the moment,
about play and most of all about a deep celebration of closeness. Garnet obviously thinks that
Steven and Connie can learn something from the experience of sharing a Fusion together.
The events that brought their Fusion together in the first place were, after all, a moment of
play, trust, and pushing boundaries.
13 Never has carnival time been more relevant to Steven Universe. The very bodily
performance of Stevonnie subverts and undercuts hierarchical imposition of gender and
heterosexuality. Stevonnie is not, as in the case of the other Gems and their Fusions,
deliberately outside the gender binary, since both Steven and Connie claimed their respective
gender identities before their Fusion. On the other hand, Stevonnie does not (either physically
or mentally) fit within the categories of male or female. They are deliberately genderqueer
and display androgynous physical features. Importantly, Stevonnie themself never comments
on feeling strange or out of place in their physical body. Far from being worried about the
gender of that body, they seem to take the new body they have been given as an opportunity,
as Garnet puts it, for a good experience. Stevonnie runs down the beach, doing cartwheels
and flips, relishing in the strength and grace of their body, appreciating it for its abilities.
They lie in the ocean and let it wash over them, seemingly totally content with their Fusion.
14 Stevonnies sole purpose for the rest of the episode seems to be to investigate the
space afforded to gender ambiguous or genderqueer persons within the world of Beach City.
They take the androgynous bodily performance and try it out on the real world. The magic
Fusion of Steven and Connie into Stevonnie allows both of them to experience a full range of

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gendered interactions and correspondingly exposes the audience to the impact that perceived
gender has on our everyday experiences. Stevonnies body is ambiguously gendered based on
their representation as an amalgamation of both Steven and Connie, but it is their interaction
with members of Beach City that point out the perceived non-normalcy of such a
genderqueer presentation. Gayle Salamons excellent work may be able to help us encode the
social signals that Stevonnie faces. Salamon contends, the importance of the body for
establishing a gendered subjectivity has less to do with its morphological configurations and
more to do with how flesh must be signified and resignified, where this resignification will
sometimes involve changes to the body, and sometimes will not (Salamon 128). In the case
of Stevonnie, the body has changed, but the resignification of that body comes not from the
internal perception of self, but from the cultural resignification of that body by external forces.
This normalizing force is even more felt (by both Stevonnie and the audience) because
Stevonnies body resists easy categorization. And Beach Citys reaction, its general attempts
to comprehend and signify gender upon Stevonnie, is mixed.
15 When Stevonnie walks into the doughnut shop both the female and male employee
(with whom Steven is friends throughout the rest of the show) blush. Neither of the
employees recognize Steven within the Fusion, as his body has changed dramatically.
Stevonnie orders two doughnuts, and both employees seem to be unable to take their eyes off
them. Each of them also expresses some form of unease during the encounter, whether it is
the flush of their cheeks or the halting quality of their speech. Whether these expressions of
nervousness around Stevonnie are from attraction to Stevonnie or from a confused reaction to
their ambiguously gendered body is not entirely clear, but it is clear that the interaction both
of them have with Stevonnie is uncomfortable. Presumably, Stevonnie is not used to an
interaction which calls to the fore the configuration or expression of their body in a way that
the genderqueer body of Stevonnie does. They leave the doughnut shop and there is a
moment of conversation in which Stevonnie speaks to themself about the possibility of
breaking back into two people: Are you okay? Stevonnie asks themself, We can stop if
you...No. No. Dont worry. (Alone Together) There is a sense of melancholy about the
experience with the two employees that seems to stem from the misrecognition of Stevonnie,
a change from the welcome reception that Steven usually receives from his friends that work
there. This unspoken awkwardness, the misrecognition and the discomfort that Stevonnie has
with the experience speaks to the common experience of genderqueer and trans people out in
the world where they face an experience defined by their gender presentation and identity
rather than their individual humanity. Steven Universe presents Fusion as a site of play, but it

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does not gloss over the social stigma against nonbinary gender expression. The strength of its
representation of the trans and genderqueer experience is that it both celebrates expression
and teaches acceptance. There is no shying away from the pain of being misrecognized or
misgendered.
16 Later, at a dance that Stevonnie is invited to by an older kid, the character of Kevin
allows the show to further explore the mixed social experiences of genderqueer people.
Kevin comes up to Stevonnie at the dance, expecting to dance with them. He calls them
baby in his introduction, immediately making the space between them one of potential
romance and sexual tension. While the audience notices this tension, Stevonnie seems to be
momentarily unaware of it. Kevins advances escalate when Stevonnie leaves the dance floor:
STEVONNIE. I dont (pushing Kevins hands away) - I dont want to dance
anymore.
KEVIN. What are you talking about? Were the best thing thats ever
happened to this place. Come back out with me.
STEVONNIE. Why should I?
KEVIN. Because were angels walking among garbage people. Were perfect
for each other.
STEVONNIE. (Angrily) How can you say that?! You dont even know us!
KEVIN. Oh, woah. Im just looking for a dance! Dont get crazy! (Alone
Together)

The figure of Kevin is perhaps a daring choice for a childrens cartoon, but it shows that
Steven Universe is willing to go further than other childrens shows. Stevonnies interaction
with Kevin at the dance is one in which they are sexualized, even despite their protests.
Kevin sees Stevonnie as a sexual object, he even tries to pull them back on to the dance floor.
Unfortunately, this is also a realistic part of the trans experience. Genderqueer and trans
people face a statistically much higher rate of sexual violence, with as many as one in two
transgender people reporting being sexually victimized, often more than once (Stotzer 173).
The sexualization of trans people becomes a part of Stevonnies experience as well, and their
reaction to this manifests itself as anger: Im not your baby! Stevonnie tells him, before
going off to dance aggressively by themself (Alone Together). Steven Universe does not
avoid the negative experiences that Stevonnie occasions, instead it uses those experiences to
teach Steven, Connie and its young audience what it feels like to be in the shoes of trans
people. Any viewer familiar with the show would know that this is not the same treatment
that Steven usually receives, and so this episode is different. It is different precisely and
exclusively because Stevens gender presentation/identity as Stevonnie is different. Ironically
enough one of the most seriously and dangerously real moments of the show is brought

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about because of the magic of Fusion.
17 Steven and Connies Fusion eventually breaks apart, leaving the two in their original
bodies, and at some level it seems to come as a relief to them. While Stevonnie was an
experience that both of them enjoyed when they were alone on the beach or with the
supportive Gems, out in the semi-realistic world of Beach City the social gender stigma made
the overall experience a mixed one. Stevonnies importance for the queer carnival of Steven
Universe is that their experience highlights that all identities are socially dependant, and that
queer bodies or identities can present both a space for wonderfully subversive gendered play
and open up different (and sometimes negative) social interactions based upon that gender
play. As mixed as Stevonnies experience is, that experience is a form of revolutionary
representation for trans individuals across the gender spectrum. Stevens time as Stevonnie
teaches him about experiencing social stigma and being treated merely as a romantic/sexual
object. It also teaches him that gender is fluid, shifting, and defined however the individual
wants it to be defined. It teaches Steven (and the audience) empathy for those facing negative
or violent reactions to their gender identity, but also that there is power in gender expressions
across the spectrum. In one of Steven Universes more recent episodes we see that Steven has
incorporated gender play into his life outside of Fusion, when he dresses in drag to perform a
song at the Beach-a-Palooza (a talent competition being held by the town). The show makes
no mention of his heels and makeup, treating his drag costume as just another aspect of
Stevens performance (Sadies Song). Perhaps Stevens time as Stevonnie taught him to be
more open to the possibilities of gender and performance (this time without the need for
magic), just as it is trying to teach viewers the same.
18 When we think about trans representation in media, we often think of adult shows
where such themes may be deemed more appropriate, then we hope that subsequently such
representation will slowly move into childrens shows. But with Steven Universe we have an
exact reversal of this process. Steven Universe is a show that makes use of its specific kind of
narrative magic in a variety of ways to teach and entertain its young audience. But the show
has found fans amongst older viewers as well, precisely because it is willing to push the
boundaries of gender representation. Not only is Steven Universe perhaps the queerest
childrens show, it may be the most gender-progressive show on television. It achieves the
representation of genderqueer and agender characters through the magical formal elements
that naturally belong in a cartoon universe. In cartoons magic provides the opportunity for
imaginative play and learning. Childrens shows, and children themselves, are willing to
suspend disbelief and open themselves to possibilities that are not fully culturally accepted

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and they are less socially conditioned to be biased against experiences or people that are new
to them. Relevantly, within this genre the expectations of older viewers are conditioned to
allow them to accept magic and its function within the world of the fantasy cartoon, so that
they can follow and enjoy its story. Steven Universe takes advantage of this narrative
expectation to imbue its magic with the power to represent queer gender expressions and
changing bodies. The utopian play space, the cartoon carnivalesque space that the show
creates, functions equally as powerfully for viewers of all ages and allows for genders outside
the spectrum to exist and even flourish in a concrete way. It may be that shows like Steven
Universe are examples of children teaching their parents, and adult audiences, how to open
up to allowing trans identities the space and respect in media that they deserve.
19 Granted, there is much work still to be done. Like The Legend of Korra or Adventure
Time, Steven Universe is a show steeped in fantastical, the carnival time. While it may be
grounded more in our own world than other cartoons, the representation of trans people in
Steven Universe still hinges on the magic that allows bodies to change at will or fuse together.
During creator Rebecca Sugars Reddit AMA, a questioner asked her about trans
representation in the show, and Sugar focused on the safe space that fantasy provides, calling
it the best use of fantasy to represent and tackle difficult issues: The weird fun cartoon
doesn't stop to talk about this, it just is this, in the safe space of fantasy. It's very important to
me that this show makes people feel represented (Sugar AMA). But trans identities are
being lived without the aid of such magical constructs everyday, outside the safe space of
fantasy. What would it mean for childrens media to begin to represent these identities
without the aid of magic or the fantastic? A show like Steven Universe should be applauded
for its willingness to take on difficult and complex topics and representing trans characters
(especially those genders that are usually deemed too complicated for television). However,
the next evolution in such representation may lie outside of fantasy, out in the real world.
While the narrative power of Steven Universe is that we carry its message of gender play and
acceptance with us, we must still encourage media makers to represent trans characters
outside fantasys comforting bubble.

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Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York:
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Sugar, Rebecca. "I Am Rebecca Sugar, Creator of Steven Universe, and Former Adventure
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