#nonbinary nonhuman stereotype

[rjalker]

PSA: Making all of your nonhuman characters nonbinary, and making all your humans have "normal" binary genders, is in fact exorsexist as fucking hell. You are /literally/ dehumanizing nonbinary people by divorcing the possibility of being nonbinary from humanity.

Why does this need to be explained to people in July 2023.

If you want your nonhumans to be nonbinary, then great! Fucking go for it. But guess what. You also need to have some of those nonhumans be binary trans, identifying as a man or a woman even if it's not ""possible"" for their biology.

And you need to have human characters who are nonbinary and genderless.

If the only nonbinary people in your story aren't human, you are literally sending the message that nonbinary humans don't exist because biological essentialism says so.

And that's just straight up exorsexism. I shouldn't have to explain this in 2023, especially not to people who are running writing advice blogs for telling Queer stories.

[ladyragana]

Character Concept from Doll Divine

Green and Purple ✨

[writingwithcolor]

Afro-Latine Jewish woman maintaining cultural connection in an isekai comic

Anonymous asked:

Hello! Mixed Latin American nonbinary Jew here. I'm working on a, relatively light-hearted, isekai-style fantasy comic concept of an afro-latine Jewish lady who gets sent through a portal to a colorful scifi/fantasy land, inhabitated by various imaginary creatures sorta like in Alice in Wonderland. She gains magic powers and goes on adventures, working as a scientist researching the land's magical energy. (some of the local creatures she befriends are entirely original species, and some are inspired by my local folklore, but otherwise I try to avoid culturally coding the creatures since they're mostly nonhuman looking). The story isn't supposed to touch any heavy topics like antisemitism or racism, but I've read about the cultural problems in ""normie protagonist finds a new home in a funky fantasy world"" stories, f.ex. how Harry Potter's narrative basically implies that Muggleborns have to abandon their original cultures in order to successfully integrate into the very prejudiced but ""cooler"" Wizarding World. My original goal was to break the mold that escapism fantasy usually revolves around white protagonists adventuring in heavily Western-inspired fantasy worlds, and poc-coded characters are usually nonhuman creatures or racial stereotypes. However the protagonist girl in my story comes from a loving, latine-jewish human family, and while she regularly visits them on Earth instead of just staying in the fantasy land 24/7, I'm afraid that making her story be about being happy adventuring in a separate imaginary land filled with nonhuman characters might turn into an ""abandon your family and culture"" narrative. Are there any ways how I could avoid this? Maybe making the fantasy land's worldbuilding and designs more Latin American or Jewish inspired and thus resonate more with her cultural background, or making it clear that the land is not ""perfect"" and she still loves her family?

One of the first things that stands out to me is that you haven’t set her up to need to abandon her culture in order to make a life in another place. She has the ability to go home and visit her family, but I also don’t see any reason why, if she lives primarily in the fantasy land, she couldn’t be portrayed as practicing Judaism actively in her new home. It’s true that Judaism isn’t solely defined by religious/cultural practices, but it’s also true that religious/cultural practices are one of the most recognizable and most uniting elements of Jewish identity.

I think it might help in this case to think about Jewish practices in terms of communal versus personal: that is, what are practices she would need to seek out a Jewish community for, and what are practices she can do independently?

Does she control when she is able to visit her family? If so, visiting for Jewish holidays so that she can be at a family meal or holiday services seems like a way to highlight that she is just as connected to her family as someone who moved to a different city might be. If she experiences/has experienced the death of a family member or partner, going home to be with a Jewish community for shiva or to say kaddish on a yahrzeit is another touch (for readers who may be unfamiliar, Jewish mourning practices are intensely communal and are intentional about bringing the mourner into an active support system and slowly reintroducing them to the world, and as such a mourner is likely to spend this time somewhere where they can access and be supported by a Jewish community).

As far as practices she can engage with on her own in the fantasy setting, it would be nice to see her observing Shabbat, either in a traditional way by refraining from adventuring and instead engaging in hospitality and prayer between dusk Friday and sundown Saturday, or in a less-halakhic way if she comes from a Reform or comparatively-assimilated background, by marking Friday sunset with candles, blessings, and a good meal, even if she is intending to continue her research through the next day. She would hardly be the first Jewish person to live in a place without an established Jewish community, and a festive meal can be shared just as happily with non-Jewish friends if they’re griffons and fauns as if they’re Christians and Muslims.

Here’s one idea that I think would be hugely meaningful as a way of establishing both that she intends to make her home long-term in Fantasy World and that she intends to carry Jewish traditions with her into her new life: hang a mezuzah.

Think about it: a mezuzah is the visual marker of a Jewish home, as much to the resident as to a guest. When she is home from her adventures, in her garden cottage or enchanted tower or wherever she returns to between adventures to record and categorize her research, simply showing a mezuzah in the background instantly makes the point both that she is intending to stay, and that this is a Jewish space. If as time goes on she adds other Judaica items to her space, it can add to the sense that her Jewishness is present and alive in this world, simply because she is present and alive in it.

If she doesn’t have a settled space or if you’re not planning on setting any scenes there, having Jewish visual markers on and around her can help, too. For low-hanging fruit, maybe she has a silver Jewish Star or chai necklace that catches the light now and then, but since you’re going for a light, fun vibe, maybe she’s packing her adventuring supplies in a bright-blue vinyl backpack emblazoned with “Temple Shaarei Tzedek Junior Youth Retreat 1998” (am I old? I’m pretty sure there are adults reading this who were in Junior Youth groups in 2003, but I’m willing to bet retreat swag hasn’t changed that much).

I do like the idea of including Latin American and Jewish elements in the worldbuilding, especially as an intentional way to combat the cultural dominance of Western European folklore over fantasy writing, but because your character is from and has access to our world, you have the beautiful opportunity to carry real-world markers of Jewishness with her as well.

-Meir

I adore Meir’s answer, but then, I’m the kind of person to whom “enchanted tower with a mezuzah” as an aesthetic is so near and dear to my heart that I wrote a whole fantasy series about it. Couple of random suggestions: one thing I really enjoy is exposing my gentile friends to Jewish food—I love watching the absolute shock of delirium hit someone’s face the first time they taste my charoseth. Imagine this little bowl of chopped apples and walnuts, looking vaguely dirty because they’re soaked in cinnamon-infused wine, so it’s basically dingy beige slop….so that first bite of sensuous, deep sweetness is a huge surprise. Pick your favorite equivalent and imagine the first time a centaur or a winged princess or whatever other fantasy character tries it at your MC’s behest! (Feeding brisket to dragons would make a great name for…something…)

I don’t think you’re likely to do this anyway but since these are public answers: “fantasy world fun, Jewish upbringing a chore” is a narrative I would not feel at home in or care to read. But that’s a rather predictable remark from me anyway ;)

And of course I support the “the secondary fantasy world is actually Jewish” solution too, having one of my own.

–Shira

[likeadog]

ok chat ive been waffling on something so id like some feedback

ive got these characters who are twins-- monoamniotic, and id like to keep them that way, since its thematically relevant; romulus and arsene (i also havent decided on if they have real names and those are code names or if those ARE their real names)

i keep leaning towards making romulus a cis man, and so that would make arsene transfem/transfem nonbinary (or a very femme man). id like to avoid committing to this decision before i get some feedback on whether or not theres too many bad stereotypes here

"hey isn't that-" (shhhh i can doubleverse an oc if i want to thats my god given right)

Arsene, out of the two twins, does take the more direct role for hand-to-hand combat, but not because they're larger or massively muscular; they're a dancer, and it's based on that. both of the twins are 5'2" and relatively lean

also as the namesake implies, they're based on arsene lupin, the phantom thief, and by god, they do steal things. they're also a master of disguise-- a lot of GHDS characters and most of this family are shapeshifters because immmmm predictable but arsene does utilize identity theft sometimes. ayanos theme is greed and shigeos is lust; ergo their kids are meant to at least vaguely represent Theft (Arsene) and Fraud/Cheating (Romulus, who is an augur)

the twins and especially arsene are probably the most well-adjusted and least batshit crazy/borderline evil members of the family. arsene is sort of the "black sheep" because they are the younger twin and thus not the inheritor of anything and also had an incident in their youth (at the hands of romulus, although they were children and he didn't think that pushing his sibling would result in the injury that it did yk) that led to a lazy eye developing (which, instead of correcting, they simply decided that eye was bust and focused on correcting the remaining one, hence the monocle) which mostly ended their career as a child actor. they have a fairly bombastic personality, but they dont really believe they're "going anywhere" and so lives at home with romulus often acting in a vaguely caretaking role ie driving/accompanying or bringing them along in case there's a fall, etc.

they love performing and especially love performing magic tricks, but their dream is actually to keep it pretty lowkey and work as a children's party entertainer/magician. they like working with kids (and began to go to school for early childhood education, but dropped out because of the Everything Else going on) and while they;d never admit it, they're kind of sick of success being defined as always going bigger and higher.

appearance is important for the twins-- i havent quite worked everything out theme wise there but it has to do with how they look a lot like their mother and the difference in arsene choosing to keep their natural appearance (for the most part, i intend on testing designs with tattoos) versus their mothers obsessive cultivating of her image versus romulus similarly working to cultivate a look but its the complete opposite

now, keep in mind, this IS for GHDS, where most of the characters are involved in some insane ultraviolence and are on a level of crazy that doesnt have legal or medical terms, but for that reason, ive really shied away from adding transfem characters. the closest really is virtue, who is a trans woman but sorta on a "technicality"-- shes originally from a species that has no constructs of sex or gender, and im not sure i just want to leave it at a nonhuman equivalent

so. thoughts. i feeel like they dont really have the standard set of traits for transmisogynistic caricatures, but at thee same time, the nature of GHDS makes me nervous abt adding characters from demographics that have been historically demonized as inherently violent or predatory

also pretend my kanji doesnt suck

[startstatic]

For the ask game

All character/ship specific ones will be for Tw0F4ng (if it's character specific you can just do either Fl4k or Zer0 if you want. Or both if you want to do both)

3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 19, 22, 24, 25

Obviously don't have to answer all of them bc it's a lot but idk I like your opinions they're neat

OF COURSE <3

3. NoTP? i dont really have one for fl4k but for zero...zerhys sorry. Im a known rhys disliker and i just dont see it 9. Write a recommendation of someone else's fic you enjoyed! THIS ONE...oh my god. i dont read fic much but this permanently rewired my brain. it influenced a lot how i interpret fl4k and zer0 and their relationship 10. What's your favourite piece of fanart for [character]? Ok im kind of just picking drawings that theyre included in because i really like them. These two 11. What's your favourite piece of fanart for [ship]? auuuug i have a hard time choosing but i think this one 12. What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with? I guess not funny or crazy (kind of tragic if im honest) but ive been thinking a little bit about a fl4k/zer0 au that takes place several decades in the future after most of their friends have. well. Died. (i think fl4k and zer0 would have a significantly longer lifespan than the rest of the raiders because robot and..alien(?) thing..Youve just gotta trust me on this one) Anyways i dont have any real like...plot or anything really for this au i kind of just like the concept (I am a sucker for tragedy) 19. What's your favourite thing about [the borderlands fandom] (the people in it, not the media you're all enjoying together)? So many creative people in this community...its the first real fandom space ive interacted with in a while and its nice. lots of cool people here 22. Give us a headcanon for [character] Ok normally i would answer this one but i spent all my creative energy on an essay earlier...consider this my IOU 24. What's your favourite thing about [character]? Fl4k was actually a character made in a lab for me i swear to god. An archivist bot developing sentience and deciding become a hunter to serve a personification of death... im sorry but is that not literally the coolest shit ever. Maybe it would be easier to stop falling into the stereotype of "every nonbinary character is nonhuman" if they would stop making them so fucking awesome as for zer0. their offputting demeanor and autistic swagger has captivated me

i answered as many as i could ^_^ enjoy yay

[shurikthetherian]

A post about my thoughts and feelings

Why can’t humans just use the right pronouns? Is it so hard? He? She? They? It? Neopronouns? No pronouns at all? Why does it matter? Why can’t they just understand that it brings discomfort to someone they are talking to or about?

Why can’t humans stop using “people” to describe everyone on this planet? I understand why it may be hard, I’m not used to it too, even though I’m an alterhuman myself, but at least I’m making sure I don’t slip up when talking to fellow otherkins, because I know how species dysphoria feels.

Why do some creatures believe that we should all follow stereotypes? It doesn’t matter if the person is human or not, it’s true for everyone. A man wants to wear a dress? Let him (or whatever pronouns this man uses). A woman wants to look more masculine? Let her (or whatever pronouns this woman uses). Nonbinary person wants to look feminine or masculine instead of fitting in the stereotype of “androgynous”? Let them (or whatever pronouns this person uses). A vampire-kin doesn’t actually wear all black and doesn’t hide from the sun like you expected? Well, guess you’ll have to rethink your expectations. An angel-kin isn’t actually all holy and whatever else you expected? Angels are different just like people. Therians don’t walk on all fours and make animal noises? Guess what? They don’t have to. And so on.

Why can’t humans (and sometimes nonhumans too) be more understanding?

[dateamonster]

what’s your opinion on monstrous transformations (both fast and slow), and also more controversially what do you think about having monsters/nonhuman characters serve as minority allegory (as opposed to society’s hate for them being being an allegory)

ohhh hold on this is a rly good question i think abt a Lot actually.

ok getting the first bit out of the way, love a good monstrous transformation. fast, slow, its all good. i personally like gradual slow shifts the most but its a situational thing. transformation is one of those things that like just always has to be symbolic. even more than the degree to which Everything is symbolic ya know. so like context rly matters when it comes to how to invoke it most effectively.

MOVING ON

i think from the phrasing of the ask ur looking for something more along the lines of like. for example shapeshifters as representation of nonbinary people or aliens as representation of different cultures rather than like monsters vs humans as allegory for racism. but im also not sure you can meaningfully separate the two! the latter i think is more overused so it like registers more as an immediate red flag, but its like. if the aliens from avatar werent being violently invaded by humans it wouldnt make like their reskinned stereotypical indigeneity anymore tolerable i dont think.

which isnt to say i think every story that draws connections between fantastical fictional species and real world people are inherently bad. i dont really think theres any trope that i believe cant be handled well by anyone under any circumstance. the super easy fix to bad rep via monster or fantasy creature characters is basically just have actual humans who also represent those same identities and communities and experiences so that the audience isnt drawn to connect the traits of any one group with your fictional species.

the harder fix is to like seriously analyze why you want this character to be a monster and what that says about them and what that says about you and your own experiences and biases and what you actually want to communicate with the inclusion of this character. and when applicable hire a sensitivity reader. its kinda crazy how many pieces of media seem to prefer half-assing the hard way over just doing the easy thing and not assigning the status of token minority to a literal monster.

of course once again all of this is ya know circumstantial. im speaking to like my own experiences and the things ive observed. and its weird too! bc im also speaking as someone who like is trans and nonbinary and thinks of myself and my gender expression as inherently intertwined with monstrosity. and as someone who is autistic and thinks of myself as a changeling. and as someone who is a fat person who represents themself with a pig themed sona. if i talk abt cringeass hollywood blockbusters engaging in High Fantasy Racism i feel like to be fair i kinda have to talk about independent own-voices creators who write stories and make art about their own identities in the lovely language of monstrosity. theres not rly a way to draw a hard line around the former without the risk of catching some of the latter.

so umm as usual i dont rly have a snappy all encompassing answer for how i feel abt this kind of characterization. im simply too much of a Nuance Enjoyer. i do i guess think this is something that generally turns out better when it is someone making art about their own experiences, but also unless i believe minority artists are a monolith, which i dont, i need to accept that artists will inevitably make stuff that is beautiful and resonant to some people and totally repugnant and offensive to others, and that both of those responses can be like totally justified and correct. thats art babey!

anyway slight digression but i think any case where a character feels more like an allegory than a fully fleshed u know Character is gonna flop for me no matter how relatable it is. tbqh, id rather more ppl try and fail to make beautiful grotesque frightening sensually moving monsters out of their lived experiences and their empathetic connections with others than succeed at creating bland toothless universally approachable Good Rep tm. if u know u know. if u feel me u feel me. that is all.

[bubblyaquarium]

This is going to be long lmao so answers under the cut!

name asks

1. do you have a collective name? how was it chosen? - I'm not sure if this is referring to our system name or actual name, so I'll answer for both. Yes, we do have a system name! We call ourselves the Aquarium! Aquariums, fish tanks, and just water in general is v calming to us. We have a collective name as well, but as we use that irl we wont share here for safety.

2. how do new system members choose their names? - I don't actually know? Before knowing we're a system we had some names we used as 'nicknames' which are some of the names we use, but the majority of us just kind of. Had names? Or if they did chose I don't remember.

3. are there any system members who identify with the body’s name? - most of us do tbh, like none of us use it for ourselves personally but most of us feel connected to that name.

4. which system member has the most stereotypical name? - probably Angel lmao we've seen quite a few systems that have an alter named that.

5. which system member has the weirdest name? - Buttercream definitely. A lot of us have unique names but hers is something else lmao.

age asks

6. how does age work for your system’s members? - a good chunk of us age with the body, though some of us are stuck at the age we're formed. Usually trauma holders and ex-hosts seemed to be age stuck and the rest age like normally.

7. does your system have ageless system members? - yep! Buttercream and Breeze are both ageless.

8. who is the oldest system member? how old are they? - technically Gray, who is 25. We consider Buttercream to be, as she's physically in her 30s and also immortal.

9. does your system have system members who age slide or age regress?

10. if you have them, do your system’s littles want to be treated like children or adults? - N/A

queer asks

11. do system members tend to have similar sexualities, or are they different for each member? - as far as I know we're all exclusively attracted to men

12. does your system have more male, female, or nonbinary system members? is there any overlap between those? - Most of us are male or masc aligned, though we have a bunch of different genders and some genderless members as well.

13. do any system member use xenogenders or neopronouns? - Yes! Circus and Buttercream use xenogenders, and six of us use neos.

14. does your system collectively identify as anything? if so, what? - gay and acespec

15. do you& consider the body to be transgender? - Yes, we are out as a transgender guy irl.

nonhuman asks

16. what system member is the strangest species? - we don't have many nonhumans. The weirdest is probably Breeze, who is a dryad (specifically the kind from the chronicles of Narnia)

17. do any system members have wings? - no, but Angel wants some

18. does your system have any animal system members? - nope

19. what is the weirdest part about being a nonhuman system member? - "It's weird having a functioning body I don't know what to do with it" - Zee (Corci is fronting, just relaying what he's hearing in headspace)

20. is the majority of your system human or nonhuman? - human, there's only 4 of us that are nonhuman

introject asks

21. do you have multiple system members from one source? - sigh yes, we have eleven introjects from nct

22. are most of your system’s introjects connected to their source? disconnected from their source? - most of them are pretty connected to their source

23. what is the weirdest source that an introject in your system has? - Phantom is pretty the weirdest, he's an introject of a song

24. are any of your system’s introjects in relationships with other system members? is their partner(s) an introject from the same source? different source? - We do have two introjects that are dating, they're from the same source. I don't think they want to share yet though.

25. do any of your system’s introjects have non-canon source memories? - none of them have source memories that we know of

syscourse asks (skipping all of these because we don't engage in syscourse)

26. do you engage in syscourse?

27. were you previously anti-endo?

28. if you could tell all anti-endos one thing, what would you tell them?

29. does your system have a collective opinion on syscourse, or does it vary?

30. do you think that syscourse is more helpful or harmful?

asks for the current fronter

31. who is your favorite member in the system? (alternatively, who are you closest to?) - I don't have favorites, but I do have a lot of respect for Chloe, she's very positive and does her best to take care of the body even though she struggles a lot.

32. which system member has the most based takes? - probably Angel

33. what is the funniest piece of system drama? - we don't have much 'fun' drama, but probably when Angel and Circus were talking and called Corci (me-_-) boring and then next time I fronted I was not having it lmao

34. do you enjoy being part of a system? - I do yeah, I know not everyone does though.

35. what’s something you like that no one else in the system likes? - most of us share interests, but I like ramen and napping more than the others.

system ask game!

any systems of any origins may reblog this :]

name asks

1. do you have a collective name? how was it chosen?

2. how do new system members choose their names?

3. are there any system members who identify with the body’s name?

4. which system member has the most stereotypical name?

5. which system member has the weirdest name?

age asks

6. how does age work for your system’s members?

7. does your system have ageless system members?

8. who is the oldest system member? how old are they?

9. does your system have system members who age slide or age regress?

10. if you have them, do your system’s littles want to be treated like children or adults?

queer asks

11. do system members tend to have similar sexualities, or are they different for each member?

12. does your system have more male, female, or nonbinary system members? is there any overlap between those?

13. do any system member use xenogenders or neopronouns?

14. does your system collectively identify as anything? if so, what?

15. do you& consider the body to be transgender?

nonhuman asks

16. what system member is the strangest species?

17. do any system members have wings?

18. does your system have any animal system members?

19. what is the weirdest part about being a nonhuman system member?

20. is the majority of your system human or nonhuman?

introject asks

21. do you have multiple system members from one source?

22. are most of your system’s introjects connected to their source? disconnected from their source?

23. what is the weirdest source that an introject in your system has?

24. are any of your system’s introjects in relationships with other system members? is their partner(s) an introject from the same source? different source?

25. do any of your system’s introjects have non-canon source memories?

syscourse asks

26. do you engage in syscourse?

27. were you previously anti-endo?

28. if you could tell all anti-endos one thing, what would you tell them?

29. does your system have a collective opinion on syscourse, or does it vary?

30. do you think that syscourse is more helpful or harmful?

asks for the current fronter

31. who is your favorite member in the system? (alternatively, who are you closest to?)

32. which system member has the most based takes?

33. what is the funniest piece of system drama?

34. do you enjoy being part of a system?

35. what’s something you like that no one else in the system likes?

[rjalker]

It's 2023. Biological essentialism isn't progressive.

It's one thing if there's literally no humans in your setting at all. In which case you can do whatever the hell you want. Go make that wolf nonbinary.

But if your setting does have humans? Especially if your setting is dominated by humans? And the only nonbinary characters that we get to see, who actually matter to the story, are all nonhuman animals, robots, aliens, or shapeshifters?

You're literally just perpetuating biological essentialism and saying that you think it's impossible for a real human person to be nonbinary.

Real human nonbinary people are not aliens or animals or shapeshifters. And guess what. They're literally still nonbinary. They have real human genitals and guess what. They're still nonbinary.

Stop praising biological essentialism as the epitome of nonbinary representation when it's literally just saying that real human people can't be nonbinary because they're not literal shapeshifters.

You can have nonbinary nonhumans. But if there are humans in the setting you literally fucking must also have nonbinary humans unless you just want to advertise to everyone that you're exorsexist as fuck.

This is not representation. It's literally just bigotry. And everyone needs to stop cheering for it like it's the most amazing thing ever.

[Image description start: Black text reading, "'Are you a boy, or a girl?'" in a pixely font like from the original Pokemon games. Below this are two sections. One is labeled, "Positive representation", and shows a stick figure smiling and responding, "I'm a shark!". The second section is labeled, "Literally just biological essentialism masquerading as progressiveness:", and shows a shark sticking its head out of the water to reply, "I'm a shark!". Below this split is more text that reads: "If the only nonbinary characters in your setting are nonhuman (including shapeshifters), that's biological essentialism! and that's called bigotry babey! Yes, even if you're also nonbinary!". The words, "even if you're also nonbinary" are italicized for emphasis. End ID.]

Fuck biological essentialism.

It's 2023. If you aren't willing to write main, important human nonbinary characters in a fantasy or scifi setting where humans exist, especially if humans dominate the setting, you're an exorsexist piece of shit, and you should feel bad about it.

If you try to argue that this magically is not bigoted because you enjoy the nonbinary nonhuman characters, I'm going to block you. Read the post again.

[straye]

My personal headcanon is: The Sibyl System as a collective is nonbinary.

[aroaceconfessions]

I don't feel human, and I'm fine with that. I love alien and robot characters and often headcanon them as ace in private because I know the stereotypes could be harmful, but I just wanted to say it. I like to see them as ace specifically because to me being ace is alienating, I feel inherently different than most people I know, so I end up relating to nonhuman characters quite often. I'm also neurodivergent which definitely adds to that. Also most likely not cis. It sucks when nonhuman characters are the only representation we get but the solution to that is just... Make more aro/ace/neurodivergent/trans or nonbinary characters, I think, rather than get completely rid of the stereotype, because for some of us it's relatable. Definitely for me, but this might be an unpopular opinion, which is fine and valid! Everyone experiences stuff differently, I just wanted to share my opinion about this. Whenever I talk to my friends about representation in media (they're mostly neurotypical allos, but they're LGBT+) they always end up looking at me and expecting I'll get angry about how I hate being represented as robots and aliens but personally, I'm fine with it! I definitely understand why it's a problem though. It's not good representation when it doesn't represent everyone (and to represent everyone's experiences you need a lot of unique characters, so we just need way more characters who are aro or ace or trans or neurodivergent or anything really. The solution to get better representation is to create more representation)

[rjalker]

If you want your story to not perpetuate exorsexism, then you should have human characters who also use neutral and neopronouns, because otherwise the statement is that humans can't be nonbinary, and that's just exorsexism. What you're describing is another variation of the nonbinary robot/alien stereotype, just with "demon" instead of "alien" or "robot".

It doesn't matter if the demons act like humans, they're not human. If you want your story to be a celebration of nonbinary people, and not just quite literally dehumanizing nonbinary people by divorcing nonbinaryness from humanity, then you should have main human characters who are nonbinary.

Replace "nonbinary" with "gay". Imagine if someone wrote a story where all the humans were straight and only the demons were gay. I hope you can understand why that would be a problem.

If you want your story to actually be friendly to trans people, then you need to have trans human characters, not just relegating "being nonbinary" to only nonhumans. That's just biological essentialism.

This is like, a very basic exorsexist stereotype that people should be aware of. Please do not further perpetuate it or encourage people to perpetuate it.

Literally dehumanizing nonbinary people is bad. If the only characters you allow to be nonbinary are literally not human, that just means you see, and are encouraging your audience to see, nonbinary people as not really existing, because that's not something humans can be.

If you're going to make all your demon characters nonbinary, then you need to have several main, important characters that are human who are explicitly nonbinary. And you need to have demons who are trans with binary genders like humans.

There's nothing wrong with having nonhuman characters who are nonbinary. There's everything wrong with /only/ letting your nonhuman characters be nonbinary.

Assuming from the blog name you're a writing advice blog, in the future, please explain to people that /literally/ dehumanizing nonbinary people by only having nonhumans characters be nonbinary is in fact exorsexist. This is very basic stuff.

Hello, me and my friends are writing a book about a child who goes to a school for demons and most of the characters will be demons rather than humans. In this instance would it be alright to give demons gender neutral and neopronouns but give most of the few humans in the book binary pronouns, seeing as demons in this story all act exactly the same way humans do?

As long as it makes sense for your world! You have freedom to play around with how you treat pronouns and gender because you’re creating a world. Do the pronouns mean anything to the demons or is this just pronouns for pronouns sake if you get me. I think with enough explanation regarding the neopronouns you should be fine. And by explaining neopronouns I just mean, is this something the human characters are going to question or understand?

-Mod Noah

[antisocial-author]

As much as I like Dead End Paranormal Park...I'm actually really upset they changed Courtney's pronouns.

Cause here's the thing, right? Regardless of whether or not you consider nonbinary nonhuman characters "problematic" (which frankly is a nuanced and complicated topic that should in no way be weighed in on or decided by a corporation of all things), Courtney's like...a main character. A protagonist. If they got to remain nonbinary, then they would have been the first actual nonbinary protagonist in a more mainstream piece of media we've ever had, something that would have had a lot more positive impact than straight up just...erasing that.

Because genuinely...it does feel like erasure. Maybe not intentionally, and I’m in no way blaming the creators for it, but...it still hurts, y’know? And yes I know that pronouns are in no way indicative of gender, but people outside of trans circles usually don’t, and because of that, regardless of the intentions behind the “all gender casting and using the pronouns of the VA,” regardless of Word of God still considering show!Courtney to be nonbinary, it still feels like the completely erasure of a nonbinary character who would have actually been a main character.

The solution to the whole “nonhuman nonbinary characters are problematic” discourse has never been “get rid of the nonhuman nonbinary characters,” but rather “just have more nonbinary characters so you’re not playing into potentially harmful stereotypes.” So as much as I like this show it...really just adds insult to injury.

[writingwithcolor]

How Special is Too Special? The Politics and Characterization of Stacking Special/Abnormal Traits on Mixed Race Characters

Anon asked:

Good morning/afternoon/evening! I hope this message finds you all well. Thank you for putting in all the effort you do into this blog! 

I had several questions about a specific character of mine. He’s an agender biracial individual (Japanese/white) and the tritagonist of the game. He was formerly the second-in-command of a corrupt military organization, but he betrays them in order to work with the protagonist due to a similar goal.

However, both him and the main character (a white nonbinary character) are nonhuman, cosmic horror-esque entities that came to be due to unethical research. He isn’t the only character of color in the story, however I worry that going the nonhuman route with his character may be demeaning. Both him and the main character have two forms, a human disguise and their more monstrous forms. Do you have any tips on how I can handle this aspect of his character in a respectful way? 

Another part I would like to ask about is regarding the “Green-Eyed Asian” stereotype / trope. He has complete heterochromia that gives him one green eye and one brown one, due to his white mother’s striking green eyes being a component of her powers. Similarly, he has piebaldism, a skin condition similar to vitiligo that gives him lighter patches of skin and a white streak in his otherwise black hair. Are these too akin to making him ‘unique’ due to him being half-Japanese? 

Finally, he’s a fairly intimidating character, standing at 6'8" and being pretty bulky / muscular. I try to emphasize that his reputation is the cause of his intimidation factor, but I don’t want it to seem as though he’s inherently scary. He has a pretty sarcastic and cynical personality as well, albeit one accented with a big heart. Is his appearance something I should avoid emphasizing?

Why? 

Your affection for this character’s design comes through in this ask. However from a narrative standpoint, I don’t know how much help we can offer. All you have told us is that he looks very distinctive, but you haven’t told us 3 critical points surroundings your motivations for these appearance choices:

How his unique appearance will affect him

How his appearance intersects with these experiences, particularly within the context of the military

What experiences drive his personality

Without communicating these points, you’ve created a character utilizing multiple tropes without providing a sense of how these tropes relate to your story. I think for less experienced writers, there is a lot of attraction in making distinctive characters. It’s much less work for an author to create a plot that revolves around a few highly abnormal characters. The audience gets to see the cool, OP people do cool things, too. However, a compelling story requires more than a few charismatic OCs. Your plot and character dynamics are not necessarily enriched merely by making a character incredibly distinctive.

The part about his being in the military is especially key. Military organizations encourage homogeneity. Individuals who fall outside the norm draw attention that is rarely beneficial, unless your character thrives under scrutiny and increased pressure. For a 6’8” LGBT+, biracial individual with heterochromia and piebaldism who is the product of unethical research to rise through the ranks to a prominent position is not necessarily impossible. However, for there to be no discussion of the barriers, experiences and motivations that led them there, particularly within a corrupt organization where power only serves beneficiaries of the status quo, is a glaring omission. Based on the above, I don’t really see how having him be Japanese serves any purpose. I’ll leave Rina to explain some of the trope issues with the appearance choices you’ve made.

- Marika.

So the “Green Eyed East Asian” trope. 

It’s a little more complex when it comes to the representation of mixed people. 

ON ONE HAND: mixed East Asians can definitely have green eyes, and we have had numerous discussions on WWC as to how genetics are a crapshoot. It is important to never frame the green eyes discussion around whether certain genetic traits are “unrealistic.” 

HOWEVER: White/E.Asian mixes are overwhelmingly given the green eye treatment in media for a few key reasons: 

Non-asian writers feel as though there’s no way to show the character’s Obvious Caucasity except to give them an Obviously Caucasian eye color or hair colour. After all, only white people have light skin or light eyes, of course. Park from Eleanor and Park is an example of that. 

Mainland E. Asian writers feel as though a single drop of whiteness will contaminate a character’s E. Asian-ness and render them irrevocably foreign. And they want to show that. Think about Suoh Tamaki (“Pardon me, René Tamaki Richard de Grantaine Suoh” - Marika says as they die from laughter) from Ouran High School Host Club or Tamaki Ann from Persona 5 (TWO Tamakis?!). 

General exotification of mixed-ness on a foundation of eurocentric beauty. Blue/green eyes are rare and beautiful, right? Wow! So are mixed people, right? ;))

This thread by mixed Japanese artist Yoshi Yoshitani makes some very pertinent and nuanced observations about the portrayal of mixed East Asians around the globe. It simultaneously acknowledges that while these green/blue-eyed mixed people aren’t unrealistic, they’re green/blue-eyed (and overrepresented as such) because of various cultural beliefs and agendas. 

I am aware that your reasoning for the eyes is to show hereditary magical powers, but this, too, is a tired trope unless you can truly justify why the power is concentrated in the eyes. This is especially because green eyes are in fact a natural eye colour; assigning magical properties to them can put that trait on a eurocentric pedestal. Why is the evidence of magic/superpower in the character’s eyes? Must there be a visible sign of this power, and if so, how are these magical characters treated differently? What are the worldbuilding implications of this? How about the worldbuilding implications of your other character design choices? 

~Mod Rina

In Conclusion

We think this Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot tritagonist sounds more like an OC than a fully realized character. We are curious to know if the strength of your character would still come through if you removed some of these visual characteristics. We also would have preferred to hear more about the actual plot, worldbuilding and character arcs. Please feel free to resubmit if you are able to answer these questions.

- Rina and Marika.

PSA to all of our users - Motivation Matters: This lack of clarity w/r to intent has been a general issue with many recent questions. Please remember that if you don’t explain your motivations and what you intend to communicate to your audience with your plot choices, character attributes, world-building etc., we cannot effectively advise you beyond the information you provide. We Are Not Mind Readers. If, when drafting these questions, you realize you can’t explain your motivations, that is likely a hint that you need to think more on the rationales for your narrative decisions. My recommendation is to read our archives and articles on similar topics for inspiration while you think. I will be attaching this PSA to all asks with similar issues until the volume of such questions declines.  

[rainbowwriting]

faq

i thought it might be helpful to post a little faq. this blog is still very inactive and its unlikely that i will ever revitalize it in any meaningful way, but this may help the casual asker

q - my character is trans, but theyre also a fantasy race/creature/etc. how should i write their transition?

let the audience fill in the blanks. you dont have to show every little detail. a vampire taking t intramuscular isnt a stretch, and you dont have to go into specifics of how blood moves, or if magic is part of it, you dont have to come up with a grand original idea for how hrt/transitioning works. let the audience draw conclusions themselves. the same goes for any other magic or fantasy based hrt

q - my character is nonbinary, but also not human. is this bad?

ask why this character is nonbinary, and why the nonbinary character is nonhuman. if theyre nonbinary because "x race doesnt believe in gender" or "x race has multiple genders by nature" then try again, and also look at your human characters (if any) and why they ARE binary or why there are or are not human nonbinary characters as well. this can be a little subjective, but if your character were to explain their gender, and the words "i am [insert nonhuman] and because of that i am nonbinary" fit, then think again about making that character nonbinary.

q - my story is about a cis and/or straight character, but trans and/or gay people are also present. how do i not tokenize them? how do i let my audience know theyre trans?

with these questions, i feel as though people dont understand what a "token" character is. generally, a token character is the only minority/only one of a small amount of a minority and theyre a one-dimensional stereotype.

for instance, a cast of four straight characters and a gay character, and the gay character is known for sassy quips and being fashionable. that is a token gay.

a cast of cis characters and one trans character who's known for having an abusive father and has a small one-dimensional arc about accepting oneself? token trans.

letting the audience know that a character is trans or gay isnt necessary per se, but just a casual mention of "i need to refill my [hrt] perscription" or "i had this boyfriend once" or even a straight up "bro im gay" is enough if you would prefer it to be explicit.

q - how do i describe a trans character?

as you would any other of their same gender

q - my bisexual character ends up with someone of the binary opposite gender of them, is this bad?

no, no, a thousand times no! unless you are stating that the only way a bisexual person can be happy/fulfilled is by being in a """straight""" relationship, there is no fault! bisexuals are not only bisexual when they are single

q - is it okay for a cis character to dress in "opposite gender" clothing and still be cis?

yes

q - is this bury your gays?

probably not, but it could be. the bury your gays trope is not cut-and-dry "a character who is gay dies." its a queerbaiting tactic where a character(s) is/are gay, and right when things start to look up for them, one/both of them die(s). its used to either drum up queer consumption of media or to demoralize us by saying we dont deserve a happy ending

q - i have a story with queer characters. is it okay to put them through x situation regarding their race/age/location?

generally, these questions are not within the purpose of this blog

q - i am making something just for me/a small group. is xyz bad rep? i also belong to said xyz group

you can speak for your own experiences, you dont have to get approval for a character to be queer the same way you are. be loud, be queer, make art that represents you!

[scourgefrontiers]

gonna ramble abt gender <3

so lately ive been feelin some type of way. ive identified as trans since about 2013 so nearly 10 years (im 25). i want to preface this by saying i dont think im NOT trans, but i dont think im trans in the way i used to think i was!

if youve been following me for a long time you may remember that i first id'd as a binary trans man. then i went to demiboy, then just generally nonbinary, and then demiboy again, and now im at agender. i think i'll stick with agender for now because i just dont want to deal with gender in general and being no gender feels freeing like i dont need to fit into any boxes (i know i dont have to with other labels either necessarily, especially presentation-wise, but its more of the boxes people put me into and less ones i put myself into if that makes sense). im just me. im just here.

ive adopted many pronouns (they, he, she, it, even neos that nobody uses lol) and labels (the ones i mentioned before as well as some xenos) and at this point im like. eh. fuck it all im just a guy. but also, i do still feel very comfortable in the trans label; im not sure im a cis girl, even a gnc one. i like to be called a guy, i like masculine identifiers (i know girls can use these too but still), i like masculine clothing, etc. i just feel masc most of the time. HOWEVER after a while of trying to accept my femininity and being more comfortable in both my body and preferences, ive gotten closer to the "girl" label over time. i dont feel comfortable identifying as cis anymore because my gender feels far more complicated than "girl" (or even "guy" but hey), but i do like identifying with womanhood more than i used to! i think a lot of what drove me from it was societal standards and pressure to be a certain way. like yknow how ppl get driven away from liking pink? thats how i feel with "girl" as a gender identifier

i like dresses. i like pink. i like cute stuff. i like soft things. i also like dark things, and suits, and ties, and short hairstyles, and lots of things boys stereotypically like. i know gender is more than stereotypes and i know things are super complicated and not black and white which makes me lean even more towards agender as my gender spot

my identity as nonhuman also plays into my gender too tho. like, it pushes me towards the agender bit as well, so theres that (thats partially why i adopted it/its pronouns)

not exactly sure where im going with this, my thought process initially was like "im going to give some background info and lead into how i feel more like a girl nowadays but not a cis girl" lol. i just some days find myself being like "i wish i was a girl" which is funny bc im afab? like. its so weird. its a weird feeling. its like i know im not a girl but i wish i was, which is silly bc i can literally just be a girl again. but i also feel like a guy a lot too so im like fuck i guess. and im tired of going back and forth so im just like whatever im neither but i will still use the guy and girl labels when i feel like it

anyway thanks