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The Girdle of Gender: Crossing Between the Poles


Thimblerig

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It was mentioned in another thread that some of the content in the Girdle of Gender might be problematic. So here's a place to talk about it, if you want to.


As the editor of and a contributor to the component, I tried to convey a wide range of responses. People are different; they respond to things in different ways; some of the NPCs have backgrounds where gender is a very. big. deal. - I wanted them to speak in their own voices, not just repeat my thoughts on transgender issues.


And my thoughts on transgender issues are necessarily limited. In a fundamental way, I do not understand what it would be like to look at my body and think, this just ain't right. A friend told me once, that they did not like to dance in public, because they were constantly fighting the urge to shake titties that they did not actually own - that gave me something of a window. Do I understand that transgender issues are tremendously important to the people living at the centre of them? Yes, oh my, yes. I have read accounts of what it takes to change gender, physically or socially - nobody works that hard for something if it isn't monumentally important to them. But I still don't feel it, you see? And - I also live in a country that is pretty decent to women, over all. I can wear anything from pants and denim shirts, to flowery dresses, to bikinis... While unofficial discrimination does exist in some areas, to the limits of my physical and mental prowess I could shear sheep, run a forklift, manage an office, cram all the education I can hold into my head, or run the country. I have seen examples of women doing all of these things, and doing them well. If I were to marry, my legal rights would not be eclipsed by my husband's - or my wife's, come to think of it.


So... do I understand body dysphoria and gender discrimination on a visceral, you-gotta-have-been-there level? No. Does that mean I should never talk about them ever? Also: no. Not talking about things I don't understand would lead to a sad, lonely, and ignorant existence. I'll try to be respectful to the people who live closer to it than I do, I am open to being told 'No, you've got it all wrong, mate,' - but I will still talk. Maybe I'll gain some understanding on the way.


And fiction, and humour, and roleplaying - these make pretty good platforms to talk about things, sometimes. We can explore different ways of thinking; we can experiment in a low-pressure environment. Build-your-own-protagonist games in particular give us the chance to try on a different hat, to try and get into someone else's head for a couple of hours. (And, oh yeah, puzzle-solving, smiting enemies, explosions, the occasional laugh - those are also pretty cool. :) )


Moving from underpinning philosophy to practical editorial decisions: my other reason for a rainbow of responses was balance. Eldoth and Skie's loud disgust is balanced by Imoen's curiosity and Alora and Khalid's fond reminiscence.


Some characters just don't care that much - either they don't base their identity on their physicality or they understand that this, too, shall pass. Some just want to play around a bit, or are more bemused by things like centre-of-balance and shoe-size than sexual characteristics. Minsc sees an opportunity for social interactions not otherwise available to him.


Branwen's backstory - she left her home because her culture disapproved of women being clerics of Tempus - hell yes does she have an opinion there.


Viconia is, I think, largely motivated by fear. She can't go home; people on the surface often attack her on sight; having her body messed with in any way would probably be deeply disturbing to her at a time when she is already anxious and wary. That the messing-with also makes her lose caste... I suspect she reads it as a very dominating gesture from the party leader, whom she does not want to offend. So... grit your teeth and pretend you're not bothered, Vicky dear, don't let them see you afraid...


Dynaheir - Dynaheir interests me, because the Rashemi witches seem a very spiritual group, and because transgenderism seems to start from the inside - the spirit. My headcanon says that there are Rashemi witches who were born with a penis but as adults, in every legal and social sense, are considered women - because it's the spirit that counts. (Headcanon is headcanon.)


That said - if any players disagree with characterisation, or find the content uncomfortable, or think there's something cool they want to see in this component, feel free to comment here or PM me. Talking about things is good, yeah? Edits can happen, with sufficient cause.


(Except for Eldoth. Eldoth is a slimy misogynistic jerk, he will always be a slimy misogynistic jerk, and anything he says on this subject will always be obnoxious and just plain nasty. That's Eldoth.)

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Honestly, the whole thing is, well, issuey!

 

I had a transgender friend look over what I wrote for the mod: Rasaad, Neera with Jatsey, and Dorn with you (though you really did Dorn well; I just gave you an opening line). According to her, Rasaad was fine. She wanted more details on Neera ('She randomly changes gender a lot and doesn't like it?' I don't know, wild magic is odd). And said the Dorn is pretty, well, transphobic.

 

And, yeah, she's right. The line I gave was Dorn threatening CHARNAME's life for having his gender changed. That's not exactly friendly/ally stuff.

 

(But it goes back to the question: what else would Dorn do? He's an asshole who spends basically all his conversations threatening everyone (or offering them sketchy power deals if they'll become an asshole like him). Eldoth, Skie, and Tiax are the other ones that come off as a bit uncomfortable to me at just a read through, but: let's face it, Eldoth is probably the picture of 'banal horrible evil', and Skie is about as insensitive and ridiculous as it comes. (Tiax liking the gender change being written as a huge joke might be a bit more iffy, but god, the whole thing is iffy.))

 

(I mean, we are using 'you change genders' as a punchline for a joke. It's meant to make people smile; this is not a serious examination of gender roles and what it means to be forced in to a body that doesn't line up with your image of yourself. This is something that is a hugely important dangling sword of issues to real actual people who have a sad tendency to get killed for this, and we wrote it to mostly be funny/amusing/haha changing genders is funny. Are we horrible people? I'd like to think not. Should this component be taken out? I certainly don't think so.)

 

(But is it still sort of sketchy and would have someone have every right in the world calling it transphobic? Probably.)

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And, yeah, she's right. The line I gave was Dorn threatening CHARNAME's life for having his gender changed. That's not exactly friendly/ally stuff.

Right, but Dorn's written in such a way that he threatens the PC or party for pretty much anything. Keep in mind that Dorn's jerkishness centers around the accumulation and retention of power. I think his main issue with the girdle would be that someone exercised power over him via the girdle than with the actual gender change. I think there's some space to have in-character, angry Dorn without wandering into bad places.

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You liked the mod? Good to know.

 

EDIT:

 

In some situations, MissBehave, whatever you do is going to get you snarked at. So either do nothing, or work out your own best practice. My personal best practice says - Look at what you'd want to happen if you were on the other side of the contention. And if I found myself troubled by published material, I would want a place to talk about it quietly. I would want to know that my concerns were heard, if not necessarily agreed with. This is that place to talk about things quietly, if you feel the need. 'Political correctness' isn't what this is about, and is a phrase I find distasteful.

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Maybe I'm feeling hugely insensitive today but why does everything have to be turned into a political correctness issue these days? Can't we just enjoy this mod for what it is?

Not treating people like shit because they aren't white straight men is actually p okay in my book and deffo a rhing to be encouraged

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I haven't played the mod, but your justifications seem fine.

 

It's good to have NPCs react to such drastic changes and there are even more candidates (polymorph self, polymorph other (from an enemy), bg2's ring of human influence and other siliy major stat boosters, bg2's Nature's beauty and maybe others).

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Thanks, Lynx. I'd actually been thinking of how characters would react to other cursed artifacts like those rings of witlessness and such, but it didn't seem to fit in the theme of the main mod. I might develop that somewhere else, perhaps. And I've heard that the Saerileth mod has an important conversation if you've been using Charisma boosting items - that would be interesting to play through at some point.

 

Almateria - have you played through any of the material yet? What were your thoughts?

 

**

 

I just realised there have been 1,264 downloads of this mod. All of you folk voting with your mouse-clicks - you rock.

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Hi, actually, yes, I did

And I'm sorry, but I still don't like it. The bad genital jokes for starters. Also, Eldoth has been turned into some kind of weird caricature of a redditor, which I don't really get.

What really ruffles my scrote though is the fact that the majority of the characters doesn't really, you know, react? Or to be more exact, they react as if their hair color has been changed, not the literal core of what defines their place in society. This whole "doesn't really account for gender" schtick has no place in believably written characters, and while I know it's fantasy, that's just not how people work at all. And even if they do, I'm having problems suspending my disbelief to accept that 1/3rd of the team is suddenly agender.

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Well, thanks for giving it a try.

 

Alas, my jokes have never been particularly classy. (If you find Gunther's drinking party, you'll see what I mean.)

 

 

 

the fact that the majority of the characters doesn't really, you know, react? Or to be more exact, they react as if their hair color has been changed, not the literal core of what defines their place in society.

 

Whether people define their place in society by their dangly bits (or not) is one of the things we were exploring in this component, yes. And, as was noted earlier, some of the characters are upset. The girdle is a cursed artifact, and therefore can be removed - many of the characters understand that this is a strictly temporary state. (To make an analogy: having a middle-ear infection and being dizzy all week is upsetting. Going into a room with a tilty floor that makes you dizzy for ten minutes is anywhere from annoying to entertaining - either way, it'll stop in ten minutes: not much time there for soul-searching.)

 

The only definitions of 'redditor' I can find are something about... bookmarking pages on the internet? I'm not sure what you mean about Eldoth.

 

I'm sorry it didn't appeal. Thanks again for taking the time to engage with the material. :)

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What Thimblerig said. The NPCs know it's removable, i.e. reversable. Some clearly state that they expect the belt to be removed as soon as possible. So, the interesting part is, why some even bother as much as they do (not meant as criticism concerning the written reactions, but a thing to think about if comparing this to any real-world scenario.)

 

Yes, sorry the component didn't work for you.

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