maskormenace | [Video]

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Alright! So. I've been on Earth long enough to notice certain things. Things like, say, clothing! Some people wear one kind of clothing and some people wear others. At first I thought there was some kind of Earth code I was missing because I didn't really get it, but now I know what I don't know!

That makes sense right?

Anyway, someone talk to me about gender. Gender among your species, I mean. Because my species... um. It's complicated I guess. I don't think I've ever seen a female Cybertronian. I've heard of one but everyone says she's really super crazy.

...This is alright to talk about, right? I don't want to offend anyone or anything. My human form looks female, so I'm just... curious.

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GENDER IS DIFFERENT DEPENDING ON THE CULTURE.
FOR EXAMPLE: DALISH ELVES GENERALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE STATE OF YOUR DRESS UNLESS YOU'RE WEARING SHOES VERY OFFENSIVE.
ALL JOKES ASIDE, I SUPPOSE I HAVEN'T THOUGHT TOO MUCH ON IT BUT IT DEFINITELY DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU ARE FROM AND WHAT YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE. IT COULD BE TRANSLATED FOR US AS SIMPLY "WHO CAN BEAR CHILDREN AND WHO CANNOT" BUT EVEN THEN THAT'S NOT EVEN TRUE. NOT TO ME ANYWAY.

I think you left your caps lock key on.
It's very noticeable here tho.
Some people wear dresses and some people don't.
I don't even know what to think about the "bearing children" part!
to me that's still kinda really creepy.

Depends on who you ask. If it's all right to talk about, anyway.

I don't mind though, ask away.

You're not human, are you?

[No shit Tailgate.]

What are you anyway?

Nope. Qunari.

What're you?

Cybertronian!

[Now that they've got that out of the way.]

So what does gender mean to you? Is it the same as humans?

Oh, so you're like that Drift guy.

[HUFFFF.]

I guess so. You've got men, women. Sometimes you get neither. Sometimes you get one born in the wrong body. No problem with being any of 'em, not in my book.

Yeah! He and I are the same!

[This topic is becoming more complicated than Tailgate originally feared. He's still hopeful that he'll get it eventually, so he pushes onward.]

So... why is there a difference between both of them? And how are you born in a wrong body?

Great. I'll keep that in mind.

[Iron Bull is probably not the best one to ask. He doesn't... usually think about this. A man is a man, a woman is a woman.]

[Like Krem.]

Physical things. You've got different parts on a man, than a woman -- but only sometimes. Generally... women are the ones who have the babies. Or breasts. Men don't.

Except when they do. Which is the whole, born in the wrong body thing. My lieutenant, for one -- wasn't born with what most people'd say were male parts. But he's a man. He just pisses sitting down. Sometimes the parts are attached wrong.

I'm probably not the best guy to explain this shit. But... if you ever don't know if someone's a man or woman, just ask 'em.

So women are women unless they're not, and men are men unless they're not.

[He's slowly getting it! Maybe.]

Does that mean that people can just choose what gender the want?

... Yeah. Sounds about right. Looking at the physical parts, anyway.

Yeah. Let's. Go with that. I'm a man. You're a metal guy.

It seems so simple when you put it that way.

I'm not even sure what I was getting all confused about.

It can be complicated. Depends on the person. For me? It's simple. Same for you, sounds like.

Other people? Shit's complex. My advice is just not to get into it unless you've really got to.

Well, gender is... tricky. In some places it changes what people are encouraged to do- but that doesn't matter so much here.

Mmm, how do you mean? A human is a human, right?

Well, in some places women are encouraged to only stick to certain jobs- raising children, taking care of things in the home, or being teachers and nurses. And we're discouraged from fighting, in some places.

Edited 2015-04-19 00:22 (UTC)

[He pauses for a moment, trying his hardest to understand this concept.]

Soo... it's like Functionism, right?

Uh, if you don't know, Functionism is where the shape you were born with defines your place in life.

It doesn't define you... but that's not an innacurate way of looking at it. You have choices, but they may be restricted. They don't approve of women fighting in most of Ancelstierre, for example, but in the Old Kingdom, no one cares about that.

Huh.

So does that mean that females are weaker than males?

[Which is weird because he doesn't feel weaker than anyone else when he's in his human form.]

Or is it something else?

Not really, even if people think so. I'm pretty sure I could beat most men in a fight, even without using magic.

That wouldn't surprise me! You are pretty cool Sabriel!

Er... thank you. So if anyone says you can't do something because your human body is female, just ignore them, all right?

Yes, I will!

I mean, I'm still not entirely clear on why it's such a big deal, but I can ignore them.

[ Crematia is taking a day off from her typical schedule and is lounging around in her lair, a small underground nest near of a mountainous range.

The talk of gender means nothing to Crematia, but one aside mention caught her attention. ]

A Cybertronian?

[ That sounds familiar ... oh wait. ]

You are one of those metal giants.

Edited 2015-04-19 13:27 (UTC)

Yeah!

But I'm less giant than some of my kind. I can actually fit in buildings, which makes life easier, to be quite honest. My name's Tailgate, it's nice to meet you!

[ There's a deep, deep chuckle. Her voice is serpentine and guttural, like a massive beast. ]

I suppose it is more convenient. My name is Crematia.

The reason I'm speaking at all is that I once had a very memorable encounter with one of your kind not too long ago, actually.

Our kind are notorious for memorable encounters.

[Or so he hears anyway, if the Lost Light is anything to go by.]

So who was it? Was it Drift?

I bet my favourite dress that it was Drift.

'Cybertronian'?

[he pauses for a moment, then goes on;]

Well, what do you want to know about human gender? They're generally lumped in to two biological-based groups, but there's plenty of exceptions.

From the planet Cybertron!

[Tailgate knows he should probably elaborate on that a bit, but he can't help being just a little bit cheeky. Maybe with luck this human will have a sense of humour.]

What do I want to know? Is "everything" too broad a subject?

[well, there's a bit of a wry smile there, and a tilt of the head. He Guessed, and makes a note to ask for elaboration later, but-]

It helps if we have a place to start.

Okaaaay... How about...

Gender roles!

We don't have those.

Probably because we're all one gender.

Well, those can depend on the culture. Humans - at least where I come from - can vary quite a bit in terms of how they see things, depending on where and how they were raised. And even those change over time.

Where I come from, though, women are generally considered the caretakers while men are the, ah, 'gatherers'. But there's always exceptions- for example, I raised my daughter mostly by myself and took on both roles, and I know a couple women who did the same.

[It's a little girl! She's being digitally projected, as if from virtual reality, rather than using a camera]

I too found the concept of gender confusing! I was instructed by Ambassador Gamagori that you are whatever gender you feel like, but that is mostly an alien concept to me!

Apparently not having a gender is upsetting to humans, so I randomly picked one! It doesn't seem to have much effect on an individual except to change what pronouns humans refer to you as.

[That is indeed a little girl standing in the middle of his living room. It's not too surprising for him as a Cybertronian, but he's been under the impression that humans didn't have this kind of technology.]

Oh, has someone else already talked about this?

[How embarrassing!

He doesn't like looming over this tiny projection, so he almost absent-mindedly transforms into his human form. Habit really, humans respond better when they can see eye to eye. Not that this person is a human, if their comments are anything to go by.]

Gender isn't too unfamiliar to me I guess. Just about everyone I know from my species is a him though, so it's a little bit foreign and a little bit not... foreign.

I guess I'm just wondering why humans make a big deal out of it.

[ooc: whoops, apparently 'projected' is giving the wrong impression, i meant that it was still in the screen, but was a computer generated image. Normally i would roll with it, but i have no idea if the devices are capable of that xD]

The discussion wasn't over the network, but also I don't think one discussion should prevent a further discussion on the same topic! Especially if there are new variables in play, such as the presence of additional people!

If your species is for all intents and purposes monogendered, then it stands to reason that it would not have as much impact as a species that is roughly divided in half by gender. From my research, I've found that 'female' genders slightly outweigh 'male' genders, with some additional space for other genders.

From what I gather, the current state of this discussion has a complicated history spanning multiple centuries and cultures! Some definitions give that gender is analogous to biological sex, based on type of gametes produced in their reproductive organs, but it seems that Gender has come to include many types of personal identifiers which may be at odds with what type of gamete an individual produces?? In general the entire thing seems unwieldy!

[Aaand you lost him.]

Hahaha...

I have no idea what you just said, sorry.

But I do agree that this whole this is kinda confusing.

[Metaphoric head tilt]

I can repeat it if you need me to.

Yes! Please repeat that! And maybe put it in layman's terms.

Hang on while I get a pen and paper.

[search (layman's terms): urban dictionary]

You want it rephrased in less precise language?

[How bizarre. Is it having performance issues? Perhaps there are too many parallel processes going on?]

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