pronouns when emoting for character who are trans?

[Taralyn]

I have a trans character and I am unsure how to approach the use of pronouns when emoting. My instinct is to use the pronoun that suits the characters preferred gender, but this can cause confusion when meeting other players. Also, the time when the character is making the realisation that they feel the are not their bio gender is troublesome because they are not sure themselves who they are. Any suggestions?

[curious]

You only really have 'he', 'she', 'it' or 'they'
My preference would be for 'they' assuming the normal conventions didn't fit.

Alternatively, and as you hint... just use the preferred gender, and ne damned. People will work it out, and this is no different to many real situations when meeting transgendered people.

People have tried to invent newer terms, but they are pretty useless too.
http://genderneutralpronoun.wordpress.c ... ansgender/

[SekoETC]

I often used he/she when dealing with people who weren't aware of the transgender issue. Good luck to your character, hopefully he/she doesn't get murdered over it.

[masterekat]

In emotes, I would use the pronoun that matches the biological sex of the character, but would have that character to refer to him or herself as the preferred gender. That should make things clear enough for the players, and it's really not spoiling anything since there's no way of 'passing' in the emotes since the other players can obviously see whether the character is a male or a female. Good luck to you and I do hope that one of my characters meets yours.

[NancyLee]

I've met a trans char in the Spanish zone, a funny feminine boy all well shaved and dressed as a woman and it was really really funny seeing sometimes people's hesitation when addressing to him.

For me it worked as masterekat says: in emotes he was "a he" for me, but when talking with her, or describing her with adjectives she was a girl and I always used the feminine form, since that's how he behaved and feel. -well, I guess he still behaves and feels if he's alive, you know-

[Auryn]

I'm actually confused how someone can play a trans character at all in Cantr. "You see a man in his twenties" Man refers to gender, not sex, which are not always congruent when someone identifies as transgender, and obviously surgical solutions are a bit too advanced for the world of Cantr. I could see it working with that in mind, but for roleplaying, it would be basically played the same way as playing a cisgender character, except for a few slip ups in passing or bedroom situations.

Seeing someone who is transgender being referred to as anything but their gender identity pronoun is insulting, but to answer your question, a gender-neutral pronoun would probably be the way to go. I almost wish there were a "you see an androgynous person in their twenties" option in the game, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't want to deal with anything but a bigendered system.

[SekoETC]

When I had a f2m character, she made a billy club and wore it inside her pants as an artificial penis and tied her breasts flat. Cantr isn't advanced enough for surgery but there are alternatives.

[Taralyn]

I almost wish there were a "you see an androgynous person in their twenties" option in the game, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't want to deal with anything but a bigendered system.

That would be awesome!

I have been attempting to use 'they' but it often doesn't work. I read 'woman on the edge of time' years ago, the main character finds herself slipping into a future and everyone there uses 'per' instead of him or her. I will have to decide which way to go soon, as my character is beginning to interact more with others. In my RL I have a friend who does not identify as male or female and we often face similar pronoun problems, you forget until its an issue how often the words he/she/him/her/his/hers etc are used in conversation.

[curious]

I do think that things like this can be very interesting, in game.
That said, I also feel that it takes not just the creativity of the player with the transgendered char (self reference difficulties acknowledged) but also an 'intelligent reading' of the situation from the chars around them.

Yes... 'sex' is set (unless there are genuine, and physical hermaphroditic or androgynous issues), but it is gender that is arbitrary... and it's not difficult to notice a player who is differently gendered.

One of my chars met a transgendered char recently, and it worked quit well, with the male char taking a clear in game interest in feminine things. On thinking back, I wouldn't have had a problem interpreting the char, even if 'he' was used.

[SumBum]

I would be fine with emoting him or her. No idea which would be less confusing or helpful. I imagine it would get annoying for the player and those around them if they had to somehow incorporate a way to refer to themself as female every other post just to remind people or get the point across so maybe emoting as female would be better. The trouble is that the "man in his [age]" is what people immediately see. It's not until you look at the char's desc that the feminine aspect is apparent. It falls on the other players to be observant. Realistically, you would look at the person and assume them to be female if that's how they appear, but with the game's interface it isn't as easy. I would expect the biggest hurdle will be pushing other players to look beyond the game's designation of "man" and pay attention to the desc.

[Auryn]

I just hope that anyone playing a transgender character understands what is actually involved in being transgender. There are far too many misconceptions out there. It's not simply a man who wants to become a woman or vise versa, it's someone realising that they identify as a different gender than their body has led them and others to believe. To refer to them as the opposite gender is simply innapropriate.

There are plenty of resources out there that someone wanting to play a transgender character. I think it would be impossible to go in blindly and not make mistakes.

Also, hermaphrodite being used to describe a person is very rude. Intersex is the accepted term. Herms only exist in fiction.

[SumBum]

The discussion here of how to refer to them is simply a matter of handling the difference between what the game says the character is versus how the char presents itself. It's a different scenario than in real life because, as I was trying to explain, people's first impression in the game is what the interface shows them...not what the char's actual appearance presents. So, you have to do more nudging to make people realize that your char is not the gender that the game shows. Whether or not they have physically found a way to change their sex is somewhat irrelevant for this discussion, imo.

Yes, there is a difference between transgender, transsexual, transvestite etc etc. I don't expect Taralyn is going to play her char in a way that is offensive to any of those "categories" of identity.

[curious]

Also, hermaphrodite being used to describe a person is very rude. Intersex is the accepted term. Herms only exist in fiction.

Rudeness has nothing to do with it.
A sexual determinant in any animal is entirely physical.
Gender is a personal, psychological and social variant, and unlike the 'sex' of a person, is open to interpretation.

With respect... you're big on resources... go and look up the literal meanings of these words.

People make mistakes all the time in the representation of disability and such in game. Like I say, an intelligent reading of the intent is more important than the precision of the character's 'quirks'

[Taralyn]

I do understand that there is alot more to being trans than just wanting to be male/female.... I imagine I will make some mistakes, I am not transgendered myself so I don't know how it feels, but that is the beauty of RP, you get to immerse yourself in another character in an attempt to experience how it is to be that person on some levels. Perhaps the process will help me to understand better. I am not coming to this without any understanding of the trans community though and I will be playing this character with respect, I see this as a learning experience.

[RedQueen.exe]

You also have ze/zir (in place of he/him or she/her), xe/xir, and others for gender neutral pronouns. I like ze/zir best personally.