small PSA re: Mahdi!

[moralperil]

In light of Mahdi's shifting perspective concerning gender identity, I've begun to use non-gender specific pronouns to refer to Mahdi in my tags: instead of him/himself, hir/hirself, he = ze, or simply 'they' - as well as 'she' when Mahdi is dressing completely as female. In Mahdi's society it is not uncommon for people to be all manner of queer, including androgyny and gender-fluidity (hir obsession/interest in human culture is considered a lot weirder), and it's basically accepted with little to no fanfare. You are who you are. It's all good as long as you obey the Charter. Always obey the Charter. Thus, the idea of 'coming out' is pretty foreign to Mahdi, though ze is aware it is something humans often do.

To clarify, Mahdi identifies as androgynous/more female leaning. Currently, Mahdi is struggling because how do people even talk about this stuff what are the words to use why can't I just go with the flow and worried it might complicate friendships. This will likely be a journey for Mahdi: there are several aspects in this shift of self-identification that are still blossoming.

I just wanted to give a heads-up for anyone who might be confused at the sudden change in pronouns. Since the idea of someone being androgynous is somewhat radical to a lot of people, Mahdi will be pretty patient (if bewildered at why it's complicated) if it comes up and not easy to jump to offense, especially since ze has not gone out of hir way to explain the situation outright (yet). I'm not trying to turn this into a big thing either - I'm not saying this to demand that every character from every walk of life suddenly have an epiphany and be totally understanding or even 'get' Mahdi's deal at all. I understand that many characters and indeed many people in general might not find the idea of someone being not entirely male nor female easy to accept for various reasons.

In the end, I need to write Mahdi in the way that feels most natural, and I'd been struggling to call Mahdi 'he' for awhile. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this, and thank you to everyone who's received tags with these new pronouns and responded in kind. I love this game and everyone in it. <3

CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE FINISHED THIS IS A PICTURE OF A KITTEN

(via getoutoftherecat)

Comments

[angel_of_death]

I haven't tagged with Mahdi, but I find this interesting. Is it just a mental shift in gender (transgender, androgyne, genderqueer, etc.), or are there physical manifestations of it as well (the development of intersex characteristics)?

[moralperil]

It's not so much that Mahdi's shifted - Mahdi never felt particularly aligned with being male, just that it wasn't a huge concern: way too much else to do/worry about! The occasional comment or experience here or there did make Mahdi feel out of place about being a man, but Mahdi's life was so eventful and Mahdi's personal focuses so external that it simply wasn't a priority.

However, various character developments as well as living among humans where the distinctions between male and female tend to be more pronounced led Mahdi to realize ze is not happy being treated as a male, and that ze hasn't really thought of hirself as one... perhaps ever, but certainly not recently.

Mentally, I would say Mahdi is androgynous/genderfluid. Ze is neither male nor female in hir 'default' state: "You were such more more than any god could ever plan / More than a woman or a man" to quote Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The gender fluidity comes from Mahdi having times when ze wishes to be 'completely' female, expressing herself in a female persona named Marianne. In spite of enjoying being Marianne, at this point Mahdi does not feel ze is a woman at all times.

Mahdi's people base their physical appearances on their concept of themselves, which manifests in some interesting ways - it's always been the subject of some jokes that Mahdi looks so young because Mahdi is "immature", and the altering of physical appearance is considered deeply personal. Some of Mahdi's people have the ability to change at will, or are constantly changing and fluctuating with their moods, but Mahdi's never demonstrated that level of control. That being said, it's possible that Mahdi might undergo some small physical changes in sexual characteristics over time, but it would probably not be all that noticeable except in the most physically intimate of situations.

[angel_of_death]

Thanks! And sorry I didn't get back to you on this sooner.

I think it's cool there's someone in the game that isn't cisgender according to the binary gender system. Of course, I'm able to understand it a lot more than my character would.