#like in my newest story idea tsip theres like

[syekick-powers]

the struggle as a queer+trans fantasy/sci-fi writer is that you want to represent queer and trans people in your stories and also mess with the frameworks of sex and gender and sexuality to call attention to the inherent ridiculosity of how our understanding of sex/gender/sexuality is constructed, but then once you've created this framework you realize that means that none of your characters would describe themselves in ways that are anywhere close to modern terms, which means that some people are going to be INCREDIBLY stupid about how they interpret your characters' queerness and/or transness.

#sye's babbles #like in my newest story idea tsip theres like #four sexes instead of two #and 'traditional family values' dictate four-person groups as the best way to raise a family #so polyamory doesn't even really have a special name and is completely socially accepted #additionally #since polyamory is expected and the gender/sex ratio can be what the hell ever in a relationship #there aren't also really terms for 'gay' or 'straight' #hell since there are four sexes there isn't even really a term for 'bisexual' either #in this world having an exclusively-focused sexuality is like #basically treated as a very exacting and specific bodily preference #more than it's treated as foundational to one's identity #as well.... gender and sex are already believed to be two separate categories that only occasionally overlap #in the society it's treated as the difference between like #your race/subrace and your soul magic #where your sex is your body's physical traits and your gender is your innate identity #and one's gender being different from one's sex is treated as completely normal and mundane #but there isnt so much the terms 'cis' and 'trans' #so much as there are like #'cross-gender' and 'aligned gender' #so someone transitioning from one gender/sex to the other is just. completely mundane #what's considered socially unacceptable is rejecting the gender quaternary entirely and identifying as something else #so with this framework it is Completely Impossible for me to really describe characters with modern queer terminology #this is just the grave ive dug for myself.