#non-binary language

[spoon-the-raccoon]

"If we get rid of AGAB language how do we define being trans?"

By being trans, by going against how society sees you. Because guess what, not every trans person is going to transition, not every trans person fully removes themself from their "AGAB", not every trans person sees their transition as going from one side to the other.

Transgender is just a made up word just like every other word. It's a label you're supposed to use to help describe your experience, not another way to force others to conform.

Besides, AGAB language is completely useless when it is incredibly flawed. It just tells you what letter they put on your birth certificate and that is determined by your primary, secondary and beyond sexual characteristics. Guess what, not everybody's sexual characteristics fit, not everybody's "AGAB" fits them at all. Why? Because it's a pointless binary category based off of small minded individuals who think nature draws in straight lines and has a very simplified version of reality in this minds.

Also stop ignoring Intersex folks just because we don't fit your narrative and we're making you confront your own intersexism.

[tepli-mravenci]

The other day I was on a walk in the evening with two of my friends (both girls) and we were talking about how safe or unsafe we feel in different places at night and one of them said she always carries a pocket knife with her and the other one said

"See now I feel pretty safe, you have a knife, I'm tall and" she turns to me "your gender presentation is weird enough to confuse a potential attacker."

I've never felt more gender validation in my entire life.

[spanishskulduggery]

Baldur's Gate 3 - Non-binary Translation in Spanish

A while back I had mentioned that when I learned how to change language settings for Baldur's Gate 3, I was curious to learn how they would adapt the non-binary [no binario] option into Spanish since Spanish (like many Romance Languages) is very gendered

What I saw actually surprised me a bit

Usually in game translations with different genders, English tends to treat you as a "they" even though it's usually male or female; and in Spanish most of the lines are gendered, or phrased in a very ambiguous way in translation like speaking of your character as una persona "a person" rather than "he" or "she", or "they"

This is one of the first times I've seen the gender neutral -e endings used in an official setting

-

For the purposes of this, and any future posts on this, I decided I would try to play as a non-binary gnome cleric. I should also mention that when you start up the game in Spanish and you do the character customization, everything starts you with the base word (i.e. masculine by default, or possibly agender but looks masculine)... as in you can choose to be elfo "elf", semielfo "half-elf", humano "human", semiorco "half-orc"... choose between bárbaro "barbarian", mago "wizard", brujo "warlock" and so on

My default character creation screen read gnomo, clérigo for "gnome cleric"

But the way your character is addressed by others is what changes

The first NPC you interact with is "Us" a little brain thing you can choose to help. If you do it calls you "friend":

Nosotros: Somos libres. Tenemos nuestra libertad. amigue Us: We are free. We have our freedom. Friend [nb].

The word used is amigue

For the sake of understanding Spanish grammar, you probably know amigo/a "friend". The G here is a hard G. The gender neutral ending is E... but the combination of GE is pronounced like an H sound in Spanish [la gelatina "gelatin" for example is like "hel-a-ti-na"]. To preserve that hard G sound, you have to add a UE to it... so amigo/a becomes amigue for non-binary

[if you study Spanish this is the exact same grammar you'll see in turning -gar verbs into subjunctive forms; why pagar would turn to pague]

The next person you come across is Lae'zel:

Lae'zel: Tsk'va. No eres une sierve. ¡Vlaakith me bendijo en el día de hoy! Juntes, tal vez podamos sobrevivir. Lae'zel: Tsk'va. You are no thrall [nb]. Vlaakith blessed me today ["on this day of today"; emphatic]. Together [nb plural], we may (yet) survive.

Interestingly, there's first siervo/a meaning "servant" or "serf" or "thrall"

What I found very interesting was that you have une... un and una being "a" are used for indefinite articles; the non-binary form seems to be une

What threw me off though was seeing juntes... now junto/a is "together" [lit. "joined"] but juntes implies a non-binary plural.

I don't know if this is because in Spanish grammar it would imply that non-binary trumps feminine [the way amigos "friends" could be male+female or multiple male, as opposed to amigas "friends" being all female]... or if it's maybe an error or something else; the game treats Lae'zel as a woman in every other regard so I think it's the first one which is a situation I somehow hadn't considered. I had just assumed it would be juntos ...or juntas if you played female

Next I decided to rescue Gale first because he uses a lot of adjectives/professions and I wanted to see what they looked like:

Gale: No serás clérigue por casualidad, ¿verdad? ¿Médique? ¿Cirujane? ¿Increíblemente hábil con una aguja de tejer? Gale: You wouldn't happen to be a cleric, right? A doctor/medic? Surgeon? Unbelievably skilled with a knitting needle?

First is clérigo/a "cleric" being used in non-binary as clérigue. Similarly we have médique which is the non-binary médico/a for "medical doctor"

[just like above C turned to QUE to preserve a hard C/K sound; you'll see this with subjunctive and even preterites of -car verbs... why atacar "to attack" will turn to ataqué "I attacked" and ataque in subjunctive... because CE has a soft S sound in Latin America, and can be lisped in Spain]

And next is cirujane... the word cirujano/a is "surgeon"

Finally important note - hábil being "able" or "skilled" is a unisex adjective, so there is no change in any gender - masculine, feminine, or non-binary

*Note: I did miss it but at some point someone used the article le to describe my character. The el and la "the" are the masculine and feminine definite articles; le is non-binary "the" which still catches me by surprise because it looks French to me

-

I've been told since I made the original post that people have seen the non-binary E ending used in other things, but this was special for me to see. I'm curious how the other gendered languages available treated non-binary options

It was a fun surprise for me, especially for some modern day Spanish linguistics in a VERY big modern game, with non-binary word choices being heavily prominent. It's a bit of a learning experience for me

If I find any more fun examples of NB language being used I'll let y'all know as I go

[butch-bf]

yeah we all know (and love <3) all the butches with masculine personality; and let me make it clear that you’re all loved and valid!! but let’s talk about butches that cannot or simply don’t want to get rid of their “feminine” traits and energy.

like seriously i could never kill a spider without screaming or change your car’s tire but i’ll definitely cook you the best dinner when you get home from work and i’ll be more than happy to stitch the holes of your favorite shirt, with all the patience in the world; because that’s how my mother and my grandmother used to show their love to me. i could never ever ever imagine being affectionate to someone in any other way.

something that always bothered me as a transmasc butch was the fact that everyone would clock me the moment i opened my mouth, which is already something that causes me waaaay too much dysphoria. so, i would try to “compensate” that by being the most masculine being that i could ever be. but deep down, i knew that i wasn’t being fully me, you know?

not being “masculine enough” would often make me feel like i wasn’t butch enough, that i wasn’t doing the “job” correctly or something. at least where i’m from, people expect me to fill that role and pretty much just act like a man 24/7.

but as i was cooking some dinner for myself and my mom tonight, something hit me; i’ll never be 100% masculine when it comes to my traits, my energy or even the way i speak. i’ll protect you, i’ll be there for you and i’ll try my best to intimidate whoever tries something bad with you. but sometimes, maybe i’d wanna be protected too; maybe i’d wanna be the little spoon every now and then; maybe i’ll cry in front of you and expect you to dry my tears. and that won’t ever make me less masculine or less butch.

i hope that my future partner understands that, no matter what happens; at the end of the day, i’ll still be your guy. i’ll just be a sensitive guy, you know? it’s kinda scary to admit this out loud but i feel like someone out there would like to know that they’re not alone. butches come in all shapes and forms, and it may be scary to be this kind of butch in a world where masculinity is praised, but i think we’ll be fine.

and also my dinner was so delicious what the fuckkk 🤤🤤🤤 i’m such a good cook like i genuinely believe i’m the butch version of guy fieri

[pet-shop-of-horror-fan]

I know theyfab is commonly used against transmasc folk, but it bothers me that people act like the term was made for them. Because it was not.

It's another term for trender, one made specifically for afab non-binaries who are not transmasculine.

If you are transmasc and someone calls you this, they are calling you a fake or lesser trans person, they are not even calling you a bad term for transmasc, because it was not for you in the first place.

When you talk about how theyfab is used against transmasc people, you have to acknowledge the exorsexism first. Because you are being misgendered as a non-transmasc non-binary, both as a way to degrade you but also as a way to degrade them.

The insult they gave you was one that was not only made for, but clearly suggests, afab non-binary people who are not transmasculine.

You need to remember this. Even more so if you are a binary trans man.

[cha-c-san]

I really like how Kha came out in this panel! This is from the final book in my graphic novel series, Dragens Øye.

[deservedgrace]

cult jokes are a symptom of and contribute to the simultaneous sensationalizing of cults (cults are all dark cloaks and animal sacrifices and devil worship and group suicide and despicable/unhinged beliefs) and diminishing of cults ("uwu come join my CULT XD we're gonna make cookies and WORSHIP SATAN teehee"), but i'm realizing how they go so hand-in-hand with the mindset of "only ~stupid/evil/crazy/etc.~ people could possibly join a cult. if it were me i would simply not fall for cult propaganda."

the diminishing part means that people don't take you seriously if you say you're an ex cult member or talk about your experiences in a cult or believe you are a current victim of a cult, because cults are just silly little groups that have weird beliefs but are otherwise innocuous. the sensationalizing part means people will also not take you seriously because if it was Actually a cult cult, that does harm and has evil beliefs, you should've known better because any reasonable person would have seen through it. the other side of "only an [xyz] person joins a cult" is "i am not an [xyz] person so i will never join a cult or be victim to propaganda and other cult tactics." the other side of "if it were me i would simply not fall for propaganda" is "someone falling for propaganda is fully a choice and a personal failing on their part." and combined they make: if you were [xyz] enough to join a cult and fall for propaganda, that means you deserved it.

people who would never make jokes about any other kind of abuse but feel perfectly fine making cult jokes used to kind of baffle me, because why is joking about personal abuse a problem but large-scale/group abuse is fine? why is it suddenly funny when you're the one that wants to perpetuate the abuse? but if your belief around cults is: "your experience wasn't that bad [diminishing], and if it was that bad [sensationalizing] it was your own fault and personal failing [i would simply not fall for propaganda], which means you deserved what you went through [only stupid/evil/crazy/etc people join cults]" and you don't understand how cults or cult tactics work, cult survivors/victims probably feel like a fair target for jokes (they are not, to be clear).

[moonlightsapphic]

My girlfriend was asking me if it really is harder for masc women than fem men to be visible in queer community—because, y’know, it’s more socially acceptable for women to wear pants and a bare face than it is for men to wear skirts and makeup.

I said, “Yes, that’s correct. But fem men (&c) literally have achieved a platform. Prominent mainstream shows dedicated entirely to them—such as Queer Eye and Drag Race. Where are the reality shows run by butch lesbians?” You’d be hard pressed to find a truly masc woman even in fictional sapphic romance media, which is … not at all representative of IRL sapphics.

[luvcozy]

Eggs, Bacon, & Mike

Request :- For the biggest Mike Simp I know and have met ;)

Warnings :- Established relationship, Header for him is his unmasked version!

Plot :- When morning rolls around and you decide to get up early to make you and your bf, but he's refusing to get out of bed and dragging you back down 🤍

A/n :- After this one is posted I'll be on another small semi-hiatus to set up a T.O.S for requests and what fandoms I'll write for. In the mean time any posts during said time off are requests from close friends ✌️

As the morning sun rose through the curtains, you couldn't help the yawn leaving you. Nestled comfortably against the bed and your pillows, you had another body pressed close against you. Mike held you close to his chest in an iron vice grip as he slept. Most mornings were like this, escaping and leaving his grip is another story.

Turning slowly this way and that, loosening his grip as you wiggled out of his embrace. Looking down at the sleeping blonde you smiled warmly. The soft glow of the sun through the window complementing his appearance, he was beautiful to you. Even when he would fake his sleep with you trying to leave, just as you thought to be in the clear he would grab your waist or arm, whatever was closest really, and drag you back down with him.

You have to coax him to get up with you in the early mornings. He's not someone that sleeps often, but when he does he's out unless something is happening. In this moment though, with your arms around his neck and peppering gentle kisses across his face is enough to rouse him awake enough. He's grumbling the whole time he's following you, attached to your hip almost literally.

Making breakfast always was smooth, him hugging you from behind with you made eggs and bacon. The warm smell makes his stomach growl from behind you, making you laugh. Swaying slowly as you cook, abading the time to pass till you would sit down to eat. A silent process aside from the occasional noises he would make and thanking you for the meal.

Though even after breakfast, just when you think you're in the clear of sleeps grip, Mike brings you back to it. Smothering you in his hold as he pulls you back to your room and into bed. The smell of breakfast clinging to the both of you, a smell that mixed tandalizingly sweet with Mike's, it was hard to say no to him and going back to sleep. But alas his own sweet words meet your ears, sentences that ended up having you melt into his side cause of his voice.

How everything you planned to get done that day went crumbling when you actually woke up. Upset and annoyed by it, you can't stay mad at Mike long enough. Laying next to him and him clinging to you felt surreal, like heaven and that's something you wouldn't give up. Even if it meant plans went out the window to cuddle your favorite slasher.

[mikotos-nape-nibbler]

X-gender is a gender identity that means "shaking gender". For example: ・Being uncomfortable wearing a suit according to one's physical sex; ・Where should a person write in the gender column of a document when it only says "Male" and "Female"? ・The very fact that oneself's gender wavers, making oneself feel [unstable/insecure/cranky] and so on. It is difficult for X-gender persons to accept their non-settled identity or to have their identity accepted by the world. It's not rare for these person to become depressed and alone. In many countries, including Japan, societies have formed a practice in which it is common to limit a person's gender and sex identity to only two categories: Male and Female. "Being male" or "Being female" have significant influence on the development of one's personality and the judgement of others. Even when a person says "who I am" in everyday conversation, gender harbors preconceived notions and a sense of fellowship and, thus, "the person that exists from the perspective of others" is born. However, since people who identify as X-gender are neither male nor female, they may have difficulty in connecting with those around them. Additionally, for people who have always been unsure of their gender or are unable to define their gender, the societal norm that they must always be either male or female can be distressing. Furthermore, when you look at it from an X-gender perspective, you may notice that there are many things in daily life that can make you feel uneasy, such as: casually being told, "You seem like a boy/girl" or "Men/Women tend to be like this"; uniforms and suits that are differentiated between men and women; occupational classification for men and women; and clothing designs.

[kirkwallguy]

one argument i really dislike is "oh they HAD to use the word nonbinary explicitly otherwise transphobes wouldnt gender taash correctly" well they misgender them anyway. the language isn't the issue, there is no possible way of writing trans characters that will convince hardcore transphobes to respect us so why hedge your bets and do bad writing for the sake of people that aren't going to listen.

[remnantglow]

so normal about the gender fuckery of the Polish murderbot translation (lie i am on the verge of tears)

[zoya-nazyalenskys]

this might sound insensitive but taash is currently my biggest disappointment of the companions because there is literally nothing to their story other than the gender identity

[queermasculine]

Similar sentiment to the person talking about butch being a culture and not ftm lite, as a genderqueer lesbian it can feel difficult to be seen as a butch woman by people who only view the binary (want to be so clear I love butch women!!). But this page really reminds me that just because others view me that way doesn’t mean I can’t find pride in the term butch! It’s always the identity I’ve gravitated towards, and I don’t want to have to check any ounce of perceived femininity at the door (especially when I can’t check my physical body at the door) to fully embrace butchness. Idk if this makes any sense but this is easily my favorite blog I follow, thanks for bringing hot and strong people onto my feed as constant reminders.

happy to serve🙏 and yeah i really empathise with what you're saying. i personally identify in part as a butch woman (alongside transgender and genderqueer) but i don't always feel comfortable describing myself that way because of the overwhelmingly feminine association the word "woman" still carries.

like i've noticed that the more i describe myself as a butch woman to non-butch queers or straight allies, the more comfortable those people seem to get calling me words like "pretty" or "queen" or "lady", or "forgetting" that my pronouns aren't she/her, or otherwise ignoring the very obviously masculine presentation and preference that is so important to me. adding "butch" in front of "woman" seems to do very little to stop most people from projecting femininity onto me anyway, unfortunately.

so i think i understand what you mean when you say you don't like being seen as a butch woman by people who only see the binary. i don't much like it either, even as a butch woman.