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Post by brokenwing on Apr 21, 2015 5:13:37 GMT
I'm working on a story with a trans main character, and his friends, but I've also got a cast of recurring background characters. I want a somewhat realistic look at what it's like to be trans, so I'm thinking one of the background characters should be "that guy", I'm sure you know the type. He consistently misgenders you, tries to tell you you're going through a phase, asks what your "real" name is if he doesn't already know it and refuse to stop using it. His favorite phrases include (Additional TW, this gets ugly) "You'll always be a girl/guy to me." "I knew you when you were still a man/woman." "You should stop cutting your hair, you're so pretty as a woman." "You're not *the name you prefer* you're *the name on your birth certificate* to me." "I don't care what gender you say you are, you're really *_______*" "I was raised to say sir/ma'am and I don't care if it upsets people."
As far as his role in the story, he'd be a minor antagonist (Although minor annoyance would be a better word.)
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Post by kingofeli on Apr 21, 2015 12:53:33 GMT
i think you should go for it. it would make the story more realistic, and (hopefully) open more cis people's eyes to how painful it is to be treated like that
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Paladin
Junior Member
he/him or se/syr/sym - resident psychic asshole out for birthday shenanigans, back by 12th at least
Posts: 51 
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Post by Paladin on Apr 22, 2015 0:01:30 GMT
if you do use it, i would suggest having the narrative show it being wholly negative and as being discouraged (which is probably what you were planning) :0
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lesley
New Member
(All and any pronouns) Where the sky meets the sea, and all things become possible
Posts: 32 
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Post by lesley on Apr 23, 2015 13:58:07 GMT
re: Trigger Warnings and all that, people getting beat up here:
It may be just me, but I prefer to show that not all people who do these things are necessarily evil, just maybe a little dumb. There are certainly some assholes out there who will never understand and/or chose not to, but there are also people who are just ignorant. I like showing both sides of the coin, it makes for more detailed and human characters.
My character Conner (bringing him up again because this is weirdly relevant) was actually outed as gay by his brother Dale, via Dale whuspering to his friends about it. The thing is though that he had no idea just how damaging it would be or that it would end with Conner being assaulted and humiliated.
I may it clear in the story that it was an absolutely horrible, rotten thing to do and he didn't get off easily at all from it- their relationship still isn't the same as it was beforehand. But I also didn't totally demonize Dale either- he eventually realized how badly he screwed up and spent a lot of time thereafter doing every thing he could to make up for it. I usually make my characters work hard for redemption, but I don't make it unobtainable to them. This subject is no exception.
Of course, this is also not a pure example of Characters as Devices like what it sounds like for your story- Dale is a well developed character of his own right with his own storylines far away and unrelated to the one I just described. So maybe because he's already his own person I felt more comfortable and willing to develop him through being a bigot. After all, I know he's not really a bad kid- just a short-sighted, cocky teenager who sometimes runs his mouth about things he definitely shouldn't. Sometimes though, those flaws end up leading to serious, life changing consequences, and in this case it ended up with his own brother being hurt very badly.
(It might be worth noting that the people who attacked him got the ever loving shit beat out of them. By Conner and Dale's mom. And Vaughn. And Sheridan. And Dale himself. They're lucky they won't be eating through a straw for the rest of their life and will almost certainly never mess with anyone again.)
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Post by brokenwing on Apr 23, 2015 23:33:22 GMT
Thanks, guys. I really haven't developed this character very well because I was still debating on using him, but I don't want him to be purely comical evil. I'd like to make it very clear that his views are ignorant, and his refusal to change is dumb, but I don't want him to be completely a lost cause. I'm thinking of having him be a former close friend of the main character who only started acting weird when they went through puberty.
More Triggery stuff. I'm not sure how to put this in the least offensive way, since I'm describing the views of an ignorant person.
To be clear, my protagonist can't medically transition and doesn't feel like he needs to, or should have to. He fits the facial profile one would stereotypically associate with a pretty woman and this other potential character is going to insist that since he's pretty, it means that he was meant to be a woman.
ETA: My protagonist's best friend is a much larger cisman (who happens to be bisexual/bicurious) who refuses to step in other than to tell the ignorant character to back off, and he's wrong/ignorant. He wouldn't get into a physical altercation on the main character's behalf, because he knows he can take care of himself, and he'd probably get himself a knuckle sandwich if he implied he couldn't.
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tanagerie
New Member
they/them-- My name is Kit and I like writing and roleplaying, and talking with people. Like you.
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Post by tanagerie on May 16, 2015 0:17:47 GMT
I think that you should keep the character in your story; it helps to show what being trans is like (because there's always that ONE person...). I also agree with what Lesley said: that the character is probably doing it out of ignorance than malice. While there are malicious people out there, most of the time I find that it's mainly because of ignorance.
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