>>40591608 (OP)from what i've researched it seems that trannies got positive attention mostly on the internet. as
>>40593874 said, the view in the 00s were that trans women were primarily "girls, but cooler because penis". places like 4chan were big on their "traps", and were very harsh in determining who was a trap (cute/sexy) and who was a man/transvestite (ugly). this naturally meant that the best trans women floated to the top, so the view on the internet was that your average trans woman looked like bailey jay.
it was literally just a case of if you were hot you got attention, if you were ugly you were forced back into the closet or ignored. around the turn of the 2010s queer politics swung into the "everyone is valid!!!!" mindset which meant that more nonpassing people came into the spotlight and instead of being shunned were embraced; which is sweet and a good thing, but something that society wasn't into at all.
there are also examples of clocky mtfs having things like blogs or youtube channels and just quietly posting on there for an audience of other trans people. i think a lot of them were happy under their "rock" so to speak but validity politics and the whole tumblr "be PROUD of your transness and out yourself to EVERYONE!!!" thing meant that the average cis person became much better at recognizing trans people.