RE: Gender ID
I think that this is appropriate and necessary for this character, so here it goes...
UPDATED: August 19, 2010; 10:47 P.M.
This post is here so that you, my fellow RPers and game-mates, can ask questions about Takatsuki, particularly in regards to how I'm playing his gender ID, since canon is confusing enough about it as it is - forget about RP, if there's no line of communication. I'll put particularly good or popular questions up in the main post, above the cut, so that they're saved and on the front page of this journal.
Takatsuki is a transgendered character. For those that don't know, this is when a person's gender identity doesn’t align with their assigned gender. These wiki pages are a great source of general (albeit not 100% reliable - it is Wikipedia after all) information which is relevant to Takatsuki. (Props go to Koji for finding the links.) The third link talks about gender identity disorder, which is the term used in the psychological term for the feeling of being transgendered. There is a controversy surrounding this terminology, but that’s neither here nor there. If you’re interested in learning more about it, I would suggest Googling it.
The first thing I think I should address is this: I will be using male pronouns in my narration of Takatsuki. I was originally using female pronouns, but someone brought the issue of misgendering up to me and I feel that their point is entirely valid.
So then the issue becomes: what do you and your characters refer to Takatsuki as? Yes, pronouns can be confusing with characters like Takatsuki. OOCly, please use male pronouns. I originally mentioned that either male or female pronouns were okay, but, again, the issue of misgendering has been brought up to me, so I am changing this. I am still okay with the use of either ICly, if the circumstances make sense. The point that I made about not outing Takatsuki and about him being passable as male still stands. If you want to use gender-neutral pronouns or you think it’s feasible that your character would use gender-neutral pronouns, that’s still cool too. Still remember that the circumstances should make sense, if you're going to use them ICly.
!!!!However, I absolutely will not tolerate the OOC use of the word "it" to describe him, nor will I tolerate the IC use of the word if it does not fit the character's personality. As stringent and harsh as it seems, I won't hesitate to research the character (assuming I don't already them) and call you out on it if you say it's IC for your character to call Takatsuki an it and you're bullshitting me. Additionally, if you use "it" to refer to him OOCly and repeatedly or refuse to use the correct pronouns (which, I mean, come on, you really can’t mess it up) or are rude if I ask you to correct yourself, I will be taking screen caps, deleting any cissexist comments from this journal and reporting the incident to the mods. I am not fooling around with this.!!!!
Now that pronouns have been addressed, I’d like to wrap up with a small bit about how Takatsuki presents. As of now, August 19, 2010, just a day after him arrival to Wonderland, nobody but Nitori knows that he is trans. With that in mind, I plan to have him present as male and not tell anyone about his trans status. It’s apparent from canon that he is fairly confident with presenting and passing as male, especially if he’s not with his schoolmates - not only does he go to neighboring towns presenting as male, he also wears a boy’s uniform to school on several different occasions.
Since the premise of the game allows him to not age any further than he already is, I figure that he could live the rest of his life in Wonderland without ever coming out to anyone, although, I doubt that’s how things will actually play out - life happens, after all. Takatsuki’s physical appearance is androgynous enough for him pass as either male or female, typically based on his clothing. The same goes for his voice - he’s at the age just at the cusp puberty (14 years) so it’s fairly conceivable that, if he were a cis male, his voice wouldn’t have cracked yet.
So basically here’s what to take away from this part: it’s very likely that your character will assume that he was assigned a male gender at birth, unless they’re skilled in the way-of-telling-someone’s-gentiles or something, and even then, Takatsuki’s body is male, regardless, because that is how he identifies.
!!!!And now the end of this big TL;DR - one last note: DO NOT ASSUME IT IS OKAY TO OUT HIM. I really can’t stress this enough. Not only is it just bad RP etiquette, it’s really offensive for your character to do so. I don’t have a problem plotting for your character to ~find out~, for lack of a better phrase, but don’t plan on your character telling anyone and absolutely DO NOT do so without my permission. You can send me a message to this journal, or you can reach me on AIM at sarkozywasthere or leave a comment here. If there's a time zone conflict, I would suggest just PMing this journal or leaving acomment.!!!!
Thank you for reading! I know it was really long, but it’s super important information and I appreciate it if you’ve made it this far. For convenience's sake, I put flashing, red exclamation points around the stuff that is absolutely YOU MUST READ TO HAVE CR WITH HIM. So if all you read are those two sections, everything should be chill.
UPDATED: August 19, 2010; 10:47 P.M.
This post is here so that you, my fellow RPers and game-mates, can ask questions about Takatsuki, particularly in regards to how I'm playing his gender ID, since canon is confusing enough about it as it is - forget about RP, if there's no line of communication. I'll put particularly good or popular questions up in the main post, above the cut, so that they're saved and on the front page of this journal.
Takatsuki is a transgendered character. For those that don't know, this is when a person's gender identity doesn’t align with their assigned gender. These wiki pages are a great source of general (albeit not 100% reliable - it is Wikipedia after all) information which is relevant to Takatsuki. (Props go to Koji for finding the links.) The third link talks about gender identity disorder, which is the term used in the psychological term for the feeling of being transgendered. There is a controversy surrounding this terminology, but that’s neither here nor there. If you’re interested in learning more about it, I would suggest Googling it.
The first thing I think I should address is this: I will be using male pronouns in my narration of Takatsuki. I was originally using female pronouns, but someone brought the issue of misgendering up to me and I feel that their point is entirely valid.
So then the issue becomes: what do you and your characters refer to Takatsuki as? Yes, pronouns can be confusing with characters like Takatsuki. OOCly, please use male pronouns. I originally mentioned that either male or female pronouns were okay, but, again, the issue of misgendering has been brought up to me, so I am changing this. I am still okay with the use of either ICly, if the circumstances make sense. The point that I made about not outing Takatsuki and about him being passable as male still stands. If you want to use gender-neutral pronouns or you think it’s feasible that your character would use gender-neutral pronouns, that’s still cool too. Still remember that the circumstances should make sense, if you're going to use them ICly.
!!!!However, I absolutely will not tolerate the OOC use of the word "it" to describe him, nor will I tolerate the IC use of the word if it does not fit the character's personality. As stringent and harsh as it seems, I won't hesitate to research the character (assuming I don't already them) and call you out on it if you say it's IC for your character to call Takatsuki an it and you're bullshitting me. Additionally, if you use "it" to refer to him OOCly and repeatedly or refuse to use the correct pronouns (which, I mean, come on, you really can’t mess it up) or are rude if I ask you to correct yourself, I will be taking screen caps, deleting any cissexist comments from this journal and reporting the incident to the mods. I am not fooling around with this.!!!!
Now that pronouns have been addressed, I’d like to wrap up with a small bit about how Takatsuki presents. As of now, August 19, 2010, just a day after him arrival to Wonderland, nobody but Nitori knows that he is trans. With that in mind, I plan to have him present as male and not tell anyone about his trans status. It’s apparent from canon that he is fairly confident with presenting and passing as male, especially if he’s not with his schoolmates - not only does he go to neighboring towns presenting as male, he also wears a boy’s uniform to school on several different occasions.
Since the premise of the game allows him to not age any further than he already is, I figure that he could live the rest of his life in Wonderland without ever coming out to anyone, although, I doubt that’s how things will actually play out - life happens, after all. Takatsuki’s physical appearance is androgynous enough for him pass as either male or female, typically based on his clothing. The same goes for his voice - he’s at the age just at the cusp puberty (14 years) so it’s fairly conceivable that, if he were a cis male, his voice wouldn’t have cracked yet.
So basically here’s what to take away from this part: it’s very likely that your character will assume that he was assigned a male gender at birth, unless they’re skilled in the way-of-telling-someone’s-gentiles or something, and even then, Takatsuki’s body is male, regardless, because that is how he identifies.
!!!!And now the end of this big TL;DR - one last note: DO NOT ASSUME IT IS OKAY TO OUT HIM. I really can’t stress this enough. Not only is it just bad RP etiquette, it’s really offensive for your character to do so. I don’t have a problem plotting for your character to ~find out~, for lack of a better phrase, but don’t plan on your character telling anyone and absolutely DO NOT do so without my permission. You can send me a message to this journal, or you can reach me on AIM at sarkozywasthere or leave a comment here. If there's a time zone conflict, I would suggest just PMing this journal or leaving acomment.!!!!
Thank you for reading! I know it was really long, but it’s super important information and I appreciate it if you’ve made it this far. For convenience's sake, I put flashing, red exclamation points around the stuff that is absolutely YOU MUST READ TO HAVE CR WITH HIM. So if all you read are those two sections, everything should be chill.