Joy
OOC Writer Account
Ubiquitously a character is usually referred to by pronouns indicating that they are male, or female, when writing a character in Star Wars, or other mediums, whether they be professional, or in a casual setting, such as roleplay. These same demonyms are usually even applied to character's who are either humanoid, cybernetic or alien in-character. As a trans woman myself I go by pronouns indicating that I am female OOC, and given that I roleplay characters that are usually female, I write them in a way that they are taken and interacted with as women. Everyone has been lovely in this regard despite the fact that a lot of you knew me (from back in the 2010s) when I was known as a male. I haven't ever had a problem with writing female characters, or presenting myself as one OOC, with other writers on this board in all my time here and I suspect that will continue given how Chaos is moderated to prevent bigotry from taking place.
However, I am not a CIS woman. I am a trans woman and I am left to wonder how I can roleplay a character (who is trans) without breaking the site's general rules.
Although this is not applicable to everyone who writes on this board it is my feeling, particularly when it comes to how I write, that I like to apply parts of myself and into my characters as a way to explore things that I cannot do in other mediums. Roleplay is a form of escapism that allows me to perform characters that are often bad or villainous in nature which is something that I aspire not to be outside of creative writing. This is how I have dealt with both the good and bad since I started roleplaying (then later creatively writing) since I was a child. I find that it still works today even now as an adult. Of course, transsexuality is not a villainous thing. I am simply giving you an example of what I predominantly have roleplayed, particularly, since I joined this board in 2013 and how it has helped me work through the darker parts of myself to, hopefully, tell you all about an interesting character or two. Not Vilox though. That guy sucked.
For example, Rule 8. prohibits me from bringing up IRL social discussions on the board. Does roleplaying a transsexual (male-to-female) violate this rule?
This thread isn't about starting a debate about identity politics as this would violate that same rule. I intend to respect that rule as I think bringing up identity politics would be a catastrophic thing for this community and ought to be avoided. Nevertheless transsexuality is a subject which invites intense scrutiny as, when applied to a medium like roleplay, it can be interpreted in different ways as it is irl. It brings up other questions.
If I were to describe my character, presenting as a female, suddenly delving into a deep, masculine voice (which can happen), would I be breaking the site's rules by causing offense to other trans women in the community, or those who support them?
Does my aforementioned question pose the risk of bringing up negative stereotypes about trans women?
The obvious solution to this alleged problem would be to continue writing characters as if they were CIS which is the usual interpretation of female characters on this website. It is a well known thing for people who are male OOC to write female characters IC and nobody frowns on this as it is just roleplay. But what if I want my character to not be identified as CIS? What if I want my character to be identified as trans in roleplay? How can I explore the medium of transsexuality in roleplay when it is so easy to cause offence despite not meaning to?
Since I began writing on this website I have seen other writers explore gender and romance as it becomes applicable to homosexuality. These tales have been endearing and have helped to show people, both playing these characters and others reading these stories, that whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or something else, that they are just another aspect of the Human condition of which science fiction, like Star Wars, can help us learn more about ourselves. Yet, I haven't seen attempts to explore transsexuality in the same way. Are people too afraid to do this? Is it something the website isn't ready for?
As the writer base on this board have grown up from teenagers and young adults, and into the later stages of adulthood, we have seen a lot of difficult material tackled and told well on Chaos. War stories about characters who have gone through the trenches. Characters who have experienced betrayal, loss and how they dealt with them in good or bad ways. The ends of worlds and their civilisations. Some have crossed that ubiquitous line that is there to stop people from going too far with these types of stories. So what is the ever present line as it comes to a trans character?
How would I write the character of Her as a trans woman? Does it matter?
However, I am not a CIS woman. I am a trans woman and I am left to wonder how I can roleplay a character (who is trans) without breaking the site's general rules.
Although this is not applicable to everyone who writes on this board it is my feeling, particularly when it comes to how I write, that I like to apply parts of myself and into my characters as a way to explore things that I cannot do in other mediums. Roleplay is a form of escapism that allows me to perform characters that are often bad or villainous in nature which is something that I aspire not to be outside of creative writing. This is how I have dealt with both the good and bad since I started roleplaying (then later creatively writing) since I was a child. I find that it still works today even now as an adult. Of course, transsexuality is not a villainous thing. I am simply giving you an example of what I predominantly have roleplayed, particularly, since I joined this board in 2013 and how it has helped me work through the darker parts of myself to, hopefully, tell you all about an interesting character or two. Not Vilox though. That guy sucked.
For example, Rule 8. prohibits me from bringing up IRL social discussions on the board. Does roleplaying a transsexual (male-to-female) violate this rule?
This thread isn't about starting a debate about identity politics as this would violate that same rule. I intend to respect that rule as I think bringing up identity politics would be a catastrophic thing for this community and ought to be avoided. Nevertheless transsexuality is a subject which invites intense scrutiny as, when applied to a medium like roleplay, it can be interpreted in different ways as it is irl. It brings up other questions.
If I were to describe my character, presenting as a female, suddenly delving into a deep, masculine voice (which can happen), would I be breaking the site's rules by causing offense to other trans women in the community, or those who support them?
Does my aforementioned question pose the risk of bringing up negative stereotypes about trans women?
The obvious solution to this alleged problem would be to continue writing characters as if they were CIS which is the usual interpretation of female characters on this website. It is a well known thing for people who are male OOC to write female characters IC and nobody frowns on this as it is just roleplay. But what if I want my character to not be identified as CIS? What if I want my character to be identified as trans in roleplay? How can I explore the medium of transsexuality in roleplay when it is so easy to cause offence despite not meaning to?
Since I began writing on this website I have seen other writers explore gender and romance as it becomes applicable to homosexuality. These tales have been endearing and have helped to show people, both playing these characters and others reading these stories, that whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or something else, that they are just another aspect of the Human condition of which science fiction, like Star Wars, can help us learn more about ourselves. Yet, I haven't seen attempts to explore transsexuality in the same way. Are people too afraid to do this? Is it something the website isn't ready for?
As the writer base on this board have grown up from teenagers and young adults, and into the later stages of adulthood, we have seen a lot of difficult material tackled and told well on Chaos. War stories about characters who have gone through the trenches. Characters who have experienced betrayal, loss and how they dealt with them in good or bad ways. The ends of worlds and their civilisations. Some have crossed that ubiquitous line that is there to stop people from going too far with these types of stories. So what is the ever present line as it comes to a trans character?
How would I write the character of Her as a trans woman? Does it matter?
