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This iDOLM@STER Character Is A Trap
Denver, 4:25 PM
Tue Nov 10
62 posts in the last 24 hours
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| posts about #trapped more → |
This iDOLM@STER Character Is A Trap |
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07/13/09
/Ackbar voice
07/13/09
Also, I got a good chuckle from the headline. Keep up the good work, Bash.
07/13/09
I don't think Bash-craft (if I can call him that; don't ban me!!) meant anything by this post. He just thought it was funny and decided to share it. Heck, he used the "Its a trap" meme we have all seen online for crying out loud.
07/13/09
Personally, I see "trap" as being less about actual transgender/transsexual people/characters, and more about those wacky game or anime character designed purposely and specifically to confuse people.
Bridget, for example, was never created to give a truthful or honest look at the life of a transgendered character... Bridget was created to be a god-damn trap.
07/13/09
I mean, I know it seems stupid to argue over the identity of an IDOLMASTER character, but it applies everywhere. This character seems to have chosen to be female, so how about we just respect her wishes and stick with female pronouns? Same goes with anyone you meet in your 'real life', respect someone's preferences.
07/13/09
Calling someone I identify as male may be insulting to them, but it just as insulting for them to force me to call them what I do not recognize them as. If a European person told me to call them Phillipinian, even when they have absolutely no relatives or ancestor from that area, should I call them that?
It's deceptive and what they really are aiming for is embedding into society their new definition for convenience and confusion.
If everyone starts labeling them based on their GI instead of how they recognize them, it would lead to a large amount of confusion regarding what is gender and how we label it and this entire farce where people personally recognize transgendered people as onething but publicly say otherwise.
You're calling for dishonest people to make everyone else dishonest.
So maybe we should just stick it to "Call them as you see them?". Regardless of hurt feelings.
07/13/09
Call them as you see them is just fine, until that person asks you to call them otherwise. You should be nice enough to make them feel more comfortable, and call them as they wish to be called.
You don't need to recognize everyone that you meets GI, but if they specifically ASK you to, you should.
Also, dishonest people? Seems like by asking them to lie about the way they feel about their personal gender is what makes them dishonest. To make yourself more comfortable, you ask them to make themselves uncomfortable by sticking to their birth gender.
Oh, and that confusion you talk about has been there for a long time already, it's not just starting.
07/13/09
You don't need to recognize everyone that you meets GI, but if they specifically ASK you to, you should."
Calling a transgendered person one thing behind their back and another in front of their face is what I am against. I can recognize what their personal GI is, but I won't let them guilt me into viewing it. If they ask me personally to call them one gender, I decide to simply avoid pronouns as much as possible.
"Also, dishonest people? Seems like by asking them to lie about the way they feel about their personal gender is what makes them dishonest. To make yourself more comfortable, you ask them to make themselves uncomfortable by sticking to their birth gender."
I'm not asking them to behave like their birth gender, I know that's impossible. It's difficult to explain, but by dishonest I am referring to the differing gender views. As it is wrong for people to force them to act as their birth gender, it is wrong for them to dictate to people how to label them. It furthers the inherent deception and other less knowledgable parties will think that GI is their birth gender.
07/13/09
I think it's really a person-by-person basis. Pronouns are an awful thing to juggle sometimes. Some people prefer one, some prefer the other. Some people make it tougher by identifying as one pronoun in one set of clothes, and the other pronoun in a different set.
Still, who knows what the story is about this character. Maybe he identifies as female, maybe he doesn't. It's hard to pick a pronoun when you don't know the backstory.
07/13/09
Personally, I decided to use an umbrella policy concerning my use of gender-based pronouns. That is, they are gender-based. My pronoun choice when talking face-to-face is based on their gonosomes. As I cannot analyze their cells in a typical fashion I base this information on secondary sex characteristics.
When people insist on being called by a specific terminology, I am reminded of a quote from a recent South Park episode "Fishsticks"; "And if I had wheels, I would be a wagon". Reality doesn't go along with you, just because one says so. I am all for a day where people can change their geneology at will and really start muddying the waters of terminology. Until then "male" and "female" describe one's roll in reproductive pairing; not a state of mind.
07/14/09
The only thing I'm really arguing for here is for people to have enough respect for their friends (I assume these trans people are your friends) to call them as they wish to be called. The trans people I know (including myself) have bad reactions to people that they've informed of their preferences, calling them otherwise. I actually know one person that gets very ANGRY if you mess up (although, it's so hard to, he's obviously male).
Ignorance is a perfect excuse in this situation as far as this situation goes. I tend to avoid pronouns completely until I learn someone's preference.
07/14/09
Just a small note, I completely agree that is a very person-to-person basis, and yes, some people have alot of trouble juggling pronouns (understandably), but effort is usually appreciated.
07/13/09
07/13/09
When you have confirmation on it being insulting to them, get back to us.
Also, that phrasing isn't too far from the truth - unless the person is up-front with people about being a transsexual or cross-dresser, other people will assume that isn't the case, and will pursue romantic and / or sexual interests accordingly, if applicable.
If interested person finds out late enough after becoming interested, that person will feel deceived. Deception is an integral part of a trap. Considering that romance / sex is one of the few areas in which being transexual or a cross-dresser makes a difference, I'd say the phrasing "it's a trap" is silly, yet not inappropriate.
07/13/09
Watch out! There are men who look like women and they could be talking to you RIGHT NOW! Quick! Before they strip you of your masculinity, kick them in the crotch to make sure they're the real deal! Yank on their hair and make it sure it's not a wig!
Transexuals are not traps, except only in the sense that they identify with a different gender than the body they're stuck in. There's nothing insidious about it. They're not out to get you. They are not traps.
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07/13/09
cynopt explained that the Japanese have no issues with their media being fully of transsexual and homosexual characters while in the real world those individuals have 0 rights, and how hypocritical it is.
Then you chime in with being pissy about the word actual (def: existing in real life) which was proper, since most of Japans media portrayal of those sexual types is by non-homosexual/transsexuals or in the case of this, manga characters.
And then after being called on it, you get all pissy and saying nevermind.
So explain what you meant, or just dont post.
07/13/09
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07/13/09
I believe what he was getting it as that there seems to be a double standard, where there is acceptance in the manga form of characters who chose to either cross dress or who are transgendered, at the same time homosexuals are not accepted by society.
Of course you could just as easily argue that this is not a problem limited to Japan. In almost any country in the world it's fine to have someone different (whatever that difference may be) in the media but "you wouldn't want them in your neighborhood".
I'm of two minds on this particular article. Part of me feels that anything that mainstreams such choices is on the whole a good thing since it helps society come to grips with it better. That it's good to expose people to this. However I wonder if this particular video game is a suitable place for that? It's not exactly an M rated game; people have very strict ideas about what they feel is appropriate for their children to be exposed to. Or to the contrary is this the perfect place?
Either way it at least sparks a discussion which is a good thing.
07/13/09
Of course, everything depends on how the developer handles it.
07/13/09
Not that a little fantasy is automatically a bad thing, as Shini has rather eloquently pointed out; double standard or not, progress has to start somewhere.
07/13/09
It's a bit of a tough call. True, Japan doesn't really treat gays as entities. That sucks in some ways, but the ironic result is that there is a lot less homophobia than, say, the US. Gays are seen as somewhat insulting stereotypes of annoying flamboyancy, but on the other hand, not as evil pedophile mind-washers.
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07/13/09
So it is a girl? Or what? You've confused me Brian!
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07/13/09
Have some of Column A,
Try all of Column B!
I'm in the mood to help you dude;
You ain't never had a friend like me!
Can your friends do this?
Can your friends do that?
Can your friends pull this out their little hat?
Can your friends go poof?
...I'll leave you and she-male Genie to yourselves now.
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07/13/09
@Xaevier:
:0 (EDIT: for some weird reason it keeps double posting the image)
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07/13/09
Maybe Namco is just taking this to the next level... :)
Yet either way, that doesn't explain the guy I saw today at the train station wearing pink sunglasses, a pink dress, and holding hands with his girlfriend. It *was* a nice dress, but still...