“Stop abandoning the dolls!”: Creator slams brands for being fair-weather allies

As soon as That Man took office last year, he made it clear that he was coming for the dolls. In January, Tr*mp’s trans passport ban went through, forcing trans folks in need of a new passport to make due with documents that no longer reflected their actual gender, but their assigned sex at birth. Now, trans people had to be essentially outed to every travel authority, a situation so dangerous that actress Hunter Schafer spoke out about it last February.

Something needed to be done, and trans content creator Zaya Perysian stepped up to the plate. In a class action lawsuit, Perysian sued the administration, and won. But now, Perysian is facing a different set of problems. Her bravery in fighting back against the transphobic administration has made her persona non grata with the brands that, in a more permissive time, were clamoring to work with her.

“Get ready with me while I tell you how suing the President has lowkey ruined my career as a content creator,” Perysian opens her latest upload. The story she tells is all too familiar to trans TikTokers who once enjoyed consistent paychecks from brands happy to fund their storytelling.

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Perysian has been a content creator for a decade now, long before the rise of TikTok. In that time, she’s amassed a loyal following of fans who have watched her document her transition and come into her own as a young woman. But since Tr*mp took office, things have changed for the worse.

“Over the years, I’ve done a lot of brand deals,” Perysian says. “Over the last administration, the doll was funded.” As one of TikTok’s most visible and beloved trans creators, Perysian had no trouble securing her bag under Biden.

But today, because of Perysian’s outspoken activism, brands that were once happy to join forces with the doll have abandoned her for being “too controversial.”

“My whole existence is controversial,” Perysian says. In the past year, “brands started to be too scared to work with trans people.”

This isn’t just Perysian’s problem. Other trans creators like Jools Lebron and Alluring Skull have spoken out about the heavy price trans folks have to pay on apps like TikTok, where being too outspoken about the struggles the trans community faces can now get you shadowbanned.

Perysian was seeing this effect even before Tr*mp took office again, but things “got scary” after she took action and sued That Man for his unconstitutional trans passport policy. Perysian made the news and made history for the lawsuit, but as a result, she says she’s missing out on the financial opportunities that once kept her afloat.

Standing up for her community was the right thing to do, but sadly, fair-weather brands would prefer not to work with her because of her bravery.

Since the lawsuit last year, Perysian says she’s gotten only one major brand deal.

“We are now in the era where brands only want to work with the dolls if you’re white, if you’re a nepo baby… or if you’re a trans person who just doesn’t talk politics.”

For most trans people, not speaking out is not an option. We don’t choose to be seen as controversial or overly political, but in a political climate that’s focused on scapegoating us simply because of who we are, we’re forced to suffer adverse consequences.

That’s why Perysian is calling out brands and asking them to do better. “They want us to pretend nothing is happening and I refuse to,” she says.

But Perysian’s example is already making changes, and making history. One commenter thanked her for suing the President last year, stating: “I applied [for] my passport for the first time and there was no hesitation to get my F on it. Thank You.”

Brands might not be taking notice, but Perysian’s community is. She’s fighting the transphobic status quo and winning, and showing all of us that no matter how hard the fight is, it’s always worth it.

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