POLYMORPHOUS PERVERSITY (18+ NWS)

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(note: this is going to be a huge rant. please read it in its entirety if you are interested. if someone asks me about something i had addressed here already or in a post before, i swear i am going to flip a table the rmn gem)

What hima is saying about this being damaging and building up is, basically, what I had tried to drive at before. I was pretty sarcastic in a lot of my responses, but that is mostly because it seemed so incredulous in my view to see a lot of people apparently defending calunio's assumed right to portray transsexuals as he did.

I want to make it clear (I did say this before, but I'll say it again) that I am not against comedy of transgender people. For an example of transgender comedy done properly (though this example is more comedy/drama, but nevertheless), I would recommend the film Transamerica. It has many moments where transsexuals are poked fun at without being yet another series of sigh-inducing face palm "lol trap jokes".

Now, I'm going to go into why I discouraged the word "tranny" being thrown around so casually to begin with.

CAVE_DOG, kentona, Demicrasius, and everyone else: You are probably seeing tranny from a vastly different perspective than how I do. I heard arguments stating that tranny was not on the same level as nigger, or possibly faggot, or other such pejoratives. CAVE_DOG had mentioned that it is used more as a fetishizing word than something with violent connotations, and that it needed more of a history to be considered on the same level. That isn't the case here...and I'm going to go into full bloody detail as to why.

Transsexuals often have a very tough time today merging into society, because of a LOT of factors. One of them is obvious...body/mind dysphoria, where the gender of one's mind vastly differs from the sex of one's body. Some people try to solve this by convincing themselves that their mind is at fault, and so they try to resolve it by repressing their feelings.

This has generally been proven to not work, sometimes with very bad repercussions. At best, these feelings would later manifest as feelings of self-worthlessness, being out-of-place, or self-hatred. At worst, they could drive you to commit suicide.

Most others, especially today, seek to undergo hormone replacement therapy and, eventually, various surgeries and removals in order to better represent themselves as their desired sex. It isn't perfect; things like your DNA will always haunt you as to what you were born as. It's the best that we have, though, and we try to live with it.

Another problem, also, is the reconciling of how you feel versus how you have grown up to be; how you have been socialized. In many cases, there are mental barriers and assumed masks transsexuals put on themselves that have to be broken. You are basically fighting a lifetime of conditioning to be something that you never truly felt like.

That was background; now, let me get into the problem. Gays, lesbians, and to some extent bisexuals (there is an entire segment that could be written about bisexuals, but that would be off-topic here; I will just say that even in the LGBT community, bisexuals are having an extremely tough time being accepted) have only recently been starting to be recognized as normal in society. We have global movements now for same-sex marriage, and these movements are making great progress with each year.

I remember a little under two decades ago, when I was constantly told that being homosexual was a disease. I remember teachers in my grammar school telling me that having gay sex would be an instant ticket to Hell, and that it was on the same level as rape.

Arguably...the same movement has not been so kind or progressive to transsexuals. I absolutely do not mean to slight anyone here who is LGB/supportive and believes in transsexual rights, but this is a fact about how the general movement has treated us. In New York City's LGBT center, for example, a support group that is hosted there had to fight tooth-and-nail to even have a discussion space larger than a refuse closet. Now, if we cannot find sanctuary in a movement that was created to defend queer people of all types, where can we find it then?

Here is a video from someone (not me) who talks about EXACTLY that:



(by the way...I'm going to come out and say it, yes I am transsexual myself)

I'm sure that many of you know about the bullshit concept of "gay panic"; that finding out about someone being gay "naturally" causes you to feel like murdering them...or actually do it. There is a variant for transsexuals, except the difference between this and gay panic goes back to how we merge into society. It is not easy for transsexuals to do this. We have to not only change our visual appearance, but also change how we sound.

A trans friend of mine once said to me that your voice is 50% of how someone perceives you; a girl could have a masculine-ish bone structure, but if she sounded like a girl and spoke like a girl, then a large part of your mind would confirm her to be a girl (although I suppose there could still be doubts, but the point remains). As I well know, changing your voice is an extremely uphill battle. Some transsexuals unfortunately cannot, and probably could never finish that process. It's unfortunate as shit, but it's how it is.

This is where I get into why tranny ... shemale ... he-she ... "trap" ... why these can be, and very often are EXTREMELY offensive and degrading to transsexuals, and transgendered people in general. (I could go into the differences between transgender and transsexual later if someone wants me to.)

I know people who have encountered lowlifes that have tried to kill them, because they were suspected of being trans. The friend that I mentioned above is one of them; she was, unfortunately, forced to defend herself against rapist-murderers who especially used these pejoratives against her. I, myself, have been called these and sometimes harassed, though thankfully this was among the anonymity of the Internet. Now you might say, this is something that every minority and oppressed group sometimes faces, so why should it be any different for transsexuals?

To that I counter with...our justice systems. There was a time when coming out to the police that you were gay or lesbian would cause you to be beaten or wrongfully imprisoned; thank God that is dying fast. Unfortunately, and I say this again, transsexuals have not gained that kind of headway. I even hear in New York City of all places that transsexuals are sometimes singled out by the cops. What the fuck, guys? This is supposed to be New York City!

Shall I also mention for redundancy that many police departments are unlikely to pursue cases with transpeople as the victim? More so unlikely than many other minorities?

So with a lot of LGBs being against the Ts, random lowlifes and the cops sometimes threatening to ruin our lives or kill us, and let's not forget about the politicians always making laws about silly little things like transsexuals not being allowed to enter bathrooms of their desired gender... Who can honestly say that I and many other transsexuals am being overly high-strung by not thinking of "tranny" like you do? Am I forgetting something here?

Oh...right... The feminists.

I am not going to say much about this at the moment, because I've read multiple writings about the topic and the question of what group exactly in feminism is transphobic is still muddy to me. What I will say though, is that there are so-called "feminists" who believe that women-born-with-a-penis are not "real" women. (lol let's not even get into how this excludes intersexed girls too) I mentioned sometime ago the Michigan "Womyn's" Music Festival; a festival that was meant for "womyn-born-womyn".

The subtle insinuation that transwomen are fake aside, it goes to show just how badly this has poisoned certain feminist circles. There was once even an occasion where a "hitlist" was made of "suspected" transsexuals who had snuck in and attended anyway. Perhaps, CAVE_DOG, you can give me more details about this phenomenon, because you are more closely involved with feminist circles than I am.

I'm going to conclude this epic rant by saying that, yes, I do sound angry. I am very angry. Not at Polymorphous Perversity specifically, but at how our image seems to just be "we are traps, we are traps, ho ho we are traps!" in much of the media, even outside of games. I cannot think of a single game now that yet portrays transsexuals in a positive light without a subtle insult to our identity. (I hear about Atlus games like Persona 4 and Catherine, but they are not exactly positive either. I could elaborate more on these in another post if you would like, but not right now.)

That's why depictions like this and trap jokes are serious, and they need to be counterbalanced. Whether calunio did this intentionally or not, I will not render a judgement. But, if you want to include transgendered characters in your games, please do the trans community a huge favor and RESEARCH! I would LOVE to see a good trans character in a game's story some time in the future. I am even writing a story, myself, that is pretty much ABOUT one. Just, please... Watch out for these pitfalls. You honestly do not want to perpetuate this stereotype any further than it is.

And well, I've also had a pretty bad day today. So, that's another reason why I am emotional about it now. Thank you for reading.
Well, I didn't say those were comparable, but I'm sure anyone can see the parallel. This day and age anyone with too much time in their hands can deconstruct anything you've done into the most awful of things and if you don't feel bad about it you're nothing short of a monster.

Also, something that I've never understood is why two, or three, or ten transsexuals in a game represent ALL transsexuals, ever. Why can't it be just SOME transsexuals? That's like saying Princess Peach represents all women in the world and they're all in obvious need to be rescued, and you're only entitled to a 'nice' reward when you do so... I mean. whose brain follows that line of thinking!? If your answer is: "Morons" I'd agree with you, and it's towards them that you should direct you anger at. Not Shigeru Miyamoto or anyone finding that notion ridiculous.

And who exactly is defending the degradation of other people here? Please don't say that's what I'm doing because that's the whole root of the issue... I'm emphatic to you gripe, but I don't think it should triumph freedom of speech nor blur the lines between fiction and reality.
@alterego
Would you please stop it with the straw man arguments? Just because someone can take something out of context doesn't mean you can invalidate every comment. You should analyze it first and see whether it does hold any water or not.

Nobody said the game represent all transexuals in the world. But it contribute to damaging their image. Same goes with Mario. It doesn't represent that all women are helpless and are rewards for men, but it contributes to that idea. Now that we know which side of the scale the game has added the weight in, we have to look at the scale in the world today. Like I said, making fun of people who are wearing glasses is fine, because they are being treated equally. But it isn't the same case with transgender.

This is not about freedom of speech at all. Calunio is free to make a game however he wants. Nobody said he can't. The comments are meant to point out what the game lacks and could be improved.

Anyway, I'm out. I think I've explained everything already. Don't feel like repeating it anymore :-/
CAVE_DOG_IS_BACK
On sunny days, I go out walking
1142
I am not going to say much about this at the moment, because I've read multiple writings about the topic and the question of what group exactly in feminism is transphobic is still muddy to me. What I will say though, is that there are so-called "feminists" who believe that women-born-with-a-penis are not "real" women.

There are several branches of feminism: First wave, third wave, radical feminism, awful tumblr people.... The kind of feminism you are probably thinking of is radical feminism. Not every radical feminist is in agreement on this point. Radical feminists believe that radical restructuring of society as a whole and support sometimes violent means of obtaining that. Some don't even want to dismantle capitalism, just the patriarchy, even though the two are intertwined. But, like I said, radical feminism is essentially an umbrella term, but it's a term that 99 percent of transphobic feminists fall under.

The problem some radfeminists have with mtf transgendered is essentially, like you said, they do not think that they are "real" women. This has come into play with radfem groups banning transgendered people from radical feminists conferences (for being transgendered.)

The reasoning used is that a mtf person was not viewed as a woman by society her whole life. Let's say she transitioned at fifteen. That would be fifteen years in which society, no matter what kind of life she was leading, did not treat her in the same way as a young girl who was born female in the physical sense, thus she was not exposed to all of the same things as her cis counterpart. The view of radical feminists is that these experiences are part of what make a woman a woman, and since only women are allowed at the radical feminist conference, a mtf transgendered person would not be allowed.

That's the gist of it. I don't agree with it and a lot of feminists tend to think that that kind of thinking is stupid.

As for which word is worse, I think we'll have to disagree.
I don't think there's many black people in the world who would not get angry as being referred to as a nigger. I do think that the history of a word is enormously important in determining its power, although maybe not as important as the context it is used in as a whole. Tranny is the shortening of a word with a bigoted history around it. It is a slur. But it is not a slur associated with 200+years of systematic oppression, slavery, lynchings, uh...the way American jails are now...etc.

Which is not to say that it isn't an awful word when used maliciously, I just don't think they are equivalent. But I'm neither transgendered nor black, and I think you would have to be both to really know for sure.

I agree with you that transgendered people don't need to be the butt of any more jokes like this, considering they are the number one at risk group in America (The world?) I thought that Calunio's game was so absurd in its premise that I couldn't really know for sure what kind of point he was trying to make with things like the tranny cave. Like...is satire happening or...he hasn't weighed in yet, either.

Also, something that I've never understood is why two, or three, or ten transsexuals in a game represent ALL transsexuals, ever. Why can't it be just SOME transsexuals?

Please don't say that's what I'm doing because that's the whole root of the issue... I'm emphatic to you gripe, but I don't think it should triumph freedom of speech nor blur the lines between fiction and reality.

For the first paragraph, this is a bit of a dubious thing to say when there exists a "tranny cave."

Anyone can say anything they want and anyone else can call them out on it if it's a terrible thing to say.
I find it funny that Calunio keeps making these kinds of games, yet is seemingly in disbelief at the idea that people see him as creepy xD
Trihan brought up a really good point, it's too bad his comment got lost at the butt end of the last page and no one saw it.

@Link_2112- Calunio isn't creepy. As I understand it, it's all just a big psychological study for him. He's never let the success of his games go to his head either, as he's been quite loyal to this community.
CAVE_DOG_IS_BACK
On sunny days, I go out walking
1142
It's not that I lack empathy, and I'm not defending dehumanisation of transgenders. However, can you actually explain to me how the game is degrading them? They act no differently from any other type of person portrayed.

Tranny is a slur. So when you fight an enemy called tranny that appears to be a preop mtf transgendered person and they start off the battle by telling you that you're in danger and you try to use the command "fuck" and get a message that says "can't fuck a man in the front!"...this is not a good thing.

there is nothing psychological about this game and I'm sort of baffled that anyone would think that. If anything, it's a mockery of Freud.
Trihan
"It's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly...timey wimey...stuff."
3359
You have a good point on the message you get when trying to use "Fuck"; he could easily have done something else for the transgenders.

Tranny CAN be a slur, but as you pointed out yourself it doesn't have to be and often isn't used as one. I honestly think (and please don't take this as a defence of Calunio or a dismissal of the points raised in the topic) that he called them Tranny simply because you can't fit "preop mtf transgendered person" in the enemy name box. :P (that's my tongue-in-cheek way of saying he intended it just to be a shortening of the real term and not an insult)
Which is probably what most people do in common speak (shorten it in a way that makes sense to them). Tranny is a term you hear often enough, and the conversion makes a lot more sense than Black = Nigger or Gay = Faggot, so to say it's on par with being as offensive... I choose to believe that most people aren't using it in such a way.
@Hima: Well, I'm sorry, but I've actually seen people making that 'Peach' argument and I thought this was the same animal. After all, Deboo did say: "A game in which all transsexuals are being degraded" and "promoting ideas that the transgender community can be lumped together" So I didn't think it was too much of a stretch... But anyway, I still pose that's a wrong assumption to make unless the game explicitly says things like: "All transsexuals are the same." which going for what I've seen, it doesn't.

And I also think this has something to do with 'freedom of speech'. ElectricalKat right before me said: "defending calunio's assumed right to portray transsexuals as he did." implying that it's not his right? ...C'mon! I've agreed you guys are entitled to voice your discontent about this game. If you say the game lacks research, it's a mockery of psychology, or it's just plain nasty, I'd probably be right there up with you. But if you say it's not actually someone's right to do something like this, you'll lose me...

That's my whole point. You're setting the bar too low for anyone. And if you allow that, it'll come to bite you right in the ass someday. =/