One of my favorite characters I built (years ago) for D&D years was magically created to be transgender by a devil playing at being a god. She looked like a woman but possessed male genitals and was mainly attracted to women, though she could be flexible. Back then, things were different socially and the character didn’t bother anyone because she was a strong moral person and it wasn’t a sexual thing. I really enjoyed the headspace and exploration for this character as she developed and came to accept her uniqueness.
Fast forward a decade, I’ve begun writing for fun and I’ve been considering going back to this character and resurrecting her. I am concerned that as a CIS male that the very idea of my writing such a character would immediately touch a nerve and set off a firestorm. So, that made me decide to come here and ask this community their thoughts on transgender characters as written by non-trangender authors.
Make sure that they are a fully developed and well rounded character, who happens to be trans. It’s part of who they are, it’s not all of who they are.
I would also consider how your trans character fits into the world. Your character isn’t trans like we are. Your character is magically trans, in a world full of completely different sentient races, and also one where shapeshifting exists. How does being trans interact with that world? Transmutation spells exist. Does it say something about this character that they have a mismatching gender presentation in a world where it would be trivial to magically alter their body?
The idea that people can only write about people like themselves is silly. As a writer you have to be able to write convincing characters regardless of who they are. There are no stories where every character is a copy of the author. Be respectful, be informed, think things through, and write a compelling character and its all good.
Transitioning is only trivial in some D&D settings. Polymorph is a high level spell, so it would cost a lot of money to have a wizard cast it. Whether other spells or potions for transitioning exist is something for the GM to decide
This is why pf2e is based. 60gp common item
That’s still more than a year’s wages for a peasant. About 24,000 dollars in the USA. Being a trans adventurer is easy, but being a trans commoner is as hard as it is in the real world
Fitting into the world is where things got interesting. Not only was she transgender, but she was considered an abomination because of the dark magic that created her. Priests of the ‘good’ gods would try to smite her regularly because she stank of dark magic. So a lot of drama was centered around how she saw herself and coming to accept that she wasn’t a monster (for either reason). But I can see how being transgender in and of itself wouldn’t be some kind of world-shattering difference.
It would be a very good idea to have several characters be trans that aren’t in a similar situation to avoid the one trans character being a ‘dark abomination’ and stink of dark magic. That will absolutely be interpreted as being intertwined.
The concern I have with that is that a story with too many trans characters won’t read authentically. We are a very small minority. Its rare to run into another trans person. Being trans can be lonely and isolating. You have to actively work to find or make communities with other trans people.
If your character just happens to run into trans people often during their adventures, it will feel off. A chance encounter with one trans person is plausible. More than that should have some explanation as to why or how that group of trans people connected.
In a high magic setting with easy access to polymorphing. The very concept of transgender as we know it basically would not exist.
Your more likely to have prejudices against trans-species people. Since in most d&d settings, gender plays almost a non-factor of a role to most parts of society due to magic and tools being available.
While species tend to be rather insular and there is large amounts of conflict between territories and species.
Dwarves versus elves half elves the draconic races and kobolds for the semi-civilized races such as goblins or knolls.
So having say human that identifies more in line with orcish cultures in the orcish mindset, polymorphing himself into an orc would probably face serious backlash from more conservative or traditional orcs.
Dwarves, for example wouldn’t really care either about gender but for a elf or a goblin to trying to integrate into dwarven society. Not as their own race but polymorphing into a dwarf would be seen as absurd and extremely bad.
You also have to factor in polymorphing in almost all fantasy settings is generally speaking extremely frowned upon if it changes your race or your identity in major ways.
Since it would be a common thing that spies assassins, thieves and other such unpleasant folk would do. Not to mention high-level mimics dragons and other polymorphic creatures that would infiltrate society to eat humans elves dwarves and other quote civilized people.
So you also have to kind of think at what level is polymorphing acceptable? If it’s a full ban then yeah you could go all the way to real world examples of transgender prejudice. If it’s only a slight ban or requires you to declare that you are a polymorphic individual then it’s going to be less so.
If you’re going by strict d&d logic and you need true polymorph to make it a permanent change. Then actually having access to that sort of magic would be so unreasonably hard to obtain for the average person that if someone did come across fully polymorphed then that’s not someone that anyone is going to be prejudice against because they could blast them from the other side of a continent with a whim.
So to find someone polymorphed in that case, you’re so powerful that it’s not a factor into your relationship with other entities or civilization. It’s purely a personal thing.
So much of transgender issues come from the interaction between you and the people around you. Gender roles. Gender norms all of that is built up by the society in rules that you grow up in.
Without that society, you really only have the physical personal body dysmorphia issue. Which could be a great reason to become a Bard or a wizard. So you can learn polymorphic magics to fix what you believe is a physical wrong with yourself. But realistically speaking there would be no prejudice problem till after the polymorphing happened given most d&d settings.
Which is also kind of a neat thing to think about. You have a personal, mental and physical issue. You sought out untold magical powers to fix this problem. Society has no issue with you, by fixing the problem, you create a issue that society would see with you. But in doing so you’re also now so magically powerful that no country could bring issue against you as a wizard who can wield 7th, 8th or 9th level magic is untouchable.
There could be plenty of magical reasons that a character is unable to change their genitals. Honestly this reeks of the same sentiment as “there can be no disabled characters in DnD”.
Like “men writing women” don’t fall into the trap of “this character is trans and that is their only defining characteristic”. the men writing women meme is because (enough) male authors will insert female characters that are treated as sexual objects and that is their only purpose-- the author going into great details to describe their appearance but yet their personalities are shallow and not explored. The same applies here. Just make sure your character is fully fleshed out. Their being trans shouldn’t be a defining characteristic so much as it just is part of them but they have a whole personality, defining characteristics, and a story to tell.
I think that’s the best way. I’ve been watching Ranma 1/2 lately and seeing the blatant sexual stuff, which is sort of a guide for what I don’t want to do. For my character, their sexuality didn’t matter so much as discovering where she came from and who made her. That’s really where the drama comes from.
If you’ve been watching the remake, go out of your way to watch the original anime and read the manga why there is fan service? It does a lot better. It actually dealing with the subject matter it also treats the female characters with a lot more respect than the remake does
Is more fan service but even still. It comes from a time when sexual stuff like that wasn’t seen as taboo as much in the medium. So while the fan service stuff is more egregious when they are being serious, it is far better done.
Hello I am trans and here are my rules for writing trans characters:
- give me fifty bucks
If you do not follow these rules that’s when it’s transphobia and the more you do not follow these rules the more transphobia it is. Now pay up.
Joking aside, I think that if you are respectful and not ill-informed then I would be okay with it. I can’t speak for other people though. I write “not ill-informed” because a lot of people pass themselves off as being well-intentioned while reflecting some very uncomfortable and strange biases or preconceptions. There is not an inherent problem, but there are potentially many common pitfalls that one should know of and avoid.
Having grown up around Puritans and snowflakes, I’ve seen first-hand how people who are different are treated. That’s something to cover in a respectful way.
I don’t know if this is the best community for this - but if you could only ever write characters that are like you, that would be pretty boring, no?
Everyone loves to read about boring people and their boring lives!
I mean it’s fine as long as you don’t make them a caricature and write them realistically. Pretty much the same as writing any minority… do your research and don’t stereotype :) I don’t really know of any specific rules though. Also, yeah probably better communities to ask.
The fact that you’re asking this question suggests you’ll be fine. Maybe ask a trans person to be a sensitivity reader before you publish it.
Everyone’s already given great advice, being a person comes before being trans is the most important imo. I also think it’s worth considering how far along this character is in their transition, be that the physical, social, internal/mental etc. and how that interacts with the rest of their personal development.
The important thing is that zooming out, many of the challenges we face aren’t necessarily trans things: we all want to be liked, to be happy, to be able to express our genuine selves etc. For those of us who are trans, achieving those things might look different and come about in a different way, but it’s still a classic story of self discovery with the same goal of becoming a complete person. As long as their self actualisation is wholistic you’ll be okay.
I deleted a big ramble, but the important part is that it’s fantastic to explore their character arc from a trans perspective, but the arc itself should go beyond being transgender, real people have huge and complex worlds. Ultimately we’re all just people trying to get through life and gender isn’t a story on it’s own, but it is a part of every person.
If an example helps, becoming myself has been equal parts transitioning, finding my true community through activism and discovering the things I want to spend my whole life doing like making music and feeding people. All of those things are deeply connected: transitioning gave my licence to explore being outwardly punk, activism gave me the space to stop living as someone I wasn’t and my love of music changed the way I see the world so much that it stomped out my internalised transphobia, made me an objectively better person, and gave me a deeper and more solid connection to my new community, to my home. It’s all caught up in my being trans, but it could easily mirror a cis person’s story, even much of the dramatic external change.
I’d definitely get at least a couple of transpeople to bounce ideas of or to proof read your drafts for potentially harmful stereotypes and stuff, it’s a learning process but worth it. Including well written trans people in your work is valuable and I highly encourage it, inclusion can mean a lot to people and you’ve no idea who you might end up helping.
I’d say maybe get some trans beta readers and make sure to really listen to their feedback.
If you really want to get in your character’s head, try cross dressing a little. Just as an experiment. Living through some of what trans people experience would do a lot to make the character feel authentic. (I understand if you’re not quite that committed to getting in character though. But it would help!)
I’m pretty sure they have to throw a brick at a cop at some point but besides I’m pretty sure as long as you treat the character with the same respect as any other you should be good
No bricks, but plenty of punches. ;)
imo go for it! look up some references of well-written trans characters if it helps, but I think overall writing interesting diverse characters is a net good rather over sticking to your comfort zone. be open to criticism (positive) that can help you develop your character in positive directions as well.
