Will you make transsexual Elves canon in your games ?

Mistwell said:

I suppose if I were going to make a cannon of some kind, it would likely be a gnome cannon because they like to tinker with stuff. And they'd likely blow themselves up frequently.

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Which is for the best really.

BookBarbarian said:

Which is for the best really.

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Thank you. I appreciate you catching my pass and making a fine dunk.

Mistwell said:

Thank you. I appreciate you catching my pass and making a fine dunk.

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Well, dunking on gnomes is easy after all.

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lowkey13 said:

This isn't a new thing, either.

You can still find people that insist on calling the Greatest of All Time Cassius Clay, because reasons, or something.

People, as a rule, suck.

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"The Boxer formerly known as . . ." is just so wordy

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Gradine said:

...but because there's been such a high-profile push to weaponize pronouns against members of the trans community, there's a definite sensitivity to the wrong name/pronoun being used in spaces.

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Maybe, I cannot say, from what I have seen the issue is really not about the he/she, I tend to think the majority of people are accepting of their use. The real pushback is for the new list of pronouns which have been created. Also there are members from the LGBQT+ community which oppose the new pronouns so you don't necessarily have a united monolithic community that subscribes to their usage.

Sadras said:

Maybe, I cannot say, from what I have seen the issue is really not about the he/she, I tend to think the majority of people are accepting of their use. The real pushback is for the new list of pronouns which have been created. Also there are members from the LGBQT+ community which oppose the new pronouns so you don't necessarily have a united monolithic community that subscribes to their usage.

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I'm not really understanding how "xe" or "hir" are any more onerous than saying "he" or "his". People learn new words all the time, and most of them are not monosyllabic.

There's also always the singular "they", which again, predates both "he or she" and the generic "he", and which most modern grammarians have no concern over.

It's anecdotal, but the bulk of the membership of the LGBTQIA+ community that I interact with have zero problems with that, even the ones that don't subscribe to those pronouns themselves. The entire point of that community is being accepting of everybody for who they are and how they choose to be. I'm not saying I don't know or haven't heard of gay people who roll their eyes at "xe", but those people don't typically identify as anything other than "gay" or "lesbian" and not really with the entire queer alphabet soup community as a whole.

Pauln6 said:

Many animals can switch gender without magic so not sure why this is a shock. Wasn't Corellon originally described as androgynous as well?

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Corellon canonically changed genders in older editions, yeah. Nothing new there.

Sadras said:

Maybe, I cannot say, from what I have seen the issue is really not about the he/she, I tend to think the majority of people are accepting of their use. The real pushback is for the new list of pronouns which have been created. Also there are members from the LGBQT+ community which oppose the new pronouns so you don't necessarily have a united monolithic community that subscribes to their usage.

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Maybe.

But, maybe, there is a different issue that is also at play here. I can only speak for myself, but I don't care what gender you are. At all. Ever.

And as long as we're just casual acquaintances, I never will.

Now, I get that for some people, their gender has become the most important aspect of their self image, and has become a thing they think about and fight over and strive toward or away from on a daily basis. I get that for them, it really, really matters what gender they are. It just doesn't matter to me, because it isn't going to change my interaction with any of them in any significant way. It is, for me, a non-issue.

Expecting me to remember your custom pronoun, or to even try to, is like expecting me to remember your kid's names. Sure, if we're friends, I'll do that. If we work together, I'll make an effort, out of courtesy. For most of the people I encounter, I just don't care. I'm happy for you to seek fulfillment in whatever form that comes for you. Raise a kid, climb a mountain, explore your gender identity, write a novel... you do you. Just don't expect me to care much.

People have this tendency to assume that the big-freakin'-deal things in their life are important to everyone. It's why parents tend to show strangers the pictures of their kid's 3rd birthday party, and go on and on about how "advanced" he is because blah blah blah. As a courtesy, most of us smile and nod at their iPhone screen while we ignore the picture and the anecdote, waiting for the parent to get it out of his system and be ready to get back to business. That same tendency, it seems to me, causes a perception among folks who get exercised about gender issues to divide people into the supportive "with us" group and the combative "against us" group, when--and again, I can speak only for myself--some of us just don't care.

That's why I'll call people a "him" or a "her" based on what seems correct, and if someone undertakes to correct me I'll smile and nod and play along, out of courtesy. I'm not going to learn a bunch of new pronouns, because I just really don't care.

Now, if we become friends, or co-workers, or family, or whatever--if I do actually care about you--then I'll start caring about what you care about. I'll learn your kids' names--and their birthdays--and I'll read your novel. I'll also take the time to understand any gender identity you care to explain, and--because I now care--remember what you want to be called.

Until then, however, I'll just make a judgment call on "him" or "her" and I won't feel bad at all about it if it isn't what you want to hear.