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Question: Characters from groups you're not a part of?
3 years ago
Okay, so something that's been on my mind as I have some character ideas floating around, but wanted to know if anyone had any feedback or advice on the topic.
As a cis-bisexual man, what's the best way to approach developing characters that are genders/sexualities/ethnicities etc that I'm not part of?
It's one of those things where of course I don't think folks can only make characters that are in the same direct group they're in, like only men can make male characters or straight people can't make gay characters. I mean hell we're furries, nothing we're making is real, but it's more of just the desire to approach the concept of making characters from other groups that wouldn't be offensive to those that are or come across as pandering. Like I'm not some hack Hollywood scriptwriter who would go "Hey here's your GAY character" and then makes them nothing but flagrant out of date stereotypes with no substance, but at the same time I'm not exactly capable of incredible nuance and depth since it's furry porn characters.
Part of what makes me worry about the subject is that any characters I make would be inherently sexualized because... that's just how I do. I really like fleshing out my roster with backstory and detail and personality, but at the end of the day, these are porn characters created for fucking. So my concern is wanting to create other characters that could be trans/enby, or from a culture I'm not a part of, or another idea I had was for a wheelchair-bound person, things of that nature, but not be offensive about it. Or is that just inherently going to be shaky ground to tread from the perspective of an outsider working with these ideas that I should just avoid?
It's like, I don't want to come across that I'm trying to fetishize someone's gender identity or culture, but at the same time it would be dishonest to say that it's not part of what makes some ideas appealing to me. I might have an idea for a potential character and think to myself "They would be hotter if they were a trans woman" as I'm brainstorming, for instance. Like I said, all my characters are inherently meant to be sexualized, so naturally as I'm designing them I'm making choices based on what I think would be appealing and attractive for that particular design. But the last thing I want to do is upset anyone who's trans/disabled/etc in real life because I made choices in character design that end up being hurtful or offensive. It would never be my intent to make someone think I'm trying to equate their life to just a kink. My goal is to make kinky characters, and potentially part of what makes them fun and kinky is things like their gender/background/lifestyle/etc as part of the whole package.
Maybe I'm overthinking things in general as I'm usually one to do so, but I'd much rather approach the topic trying to get feedback from anyone with thoughts/experiences with this sort of thing rather than jump in and unintentionally be an asshole by doing something inappropriate. And don't get me wrong, I don't want to come off like I think anyone's gatekeeping character creation or that some bullshit nonexistent "woke mob" would come after me over something. This is all just me trying to reach out and see what folks think because while I'm wanting to have fun with my roster of smutty creations, I want them to be fun and appealing and not unintentionally hurtful to already marginalized folks because I came at some design ideas without fully considering them.
TL/DR; how should someone outside of groups approach designing smutty characters who would be part of one?
Would super appreciate any feedback, advice, or general tips on what folks think about this subject :)
As a cis-bisexual man, what's the best way to approach developing characters that are genders/sexualities/ethnicities etc that I'm not part of?
It's one of those things where of course I don't think folks can only make characters that are in the same direct group they're in, like only men can make male characters or straight people can't make gay characters. I mean hell we're furries, nothing we're making is real, but it's more of just the desire to approach the concept of making characters from other groups that wouldn't be offensive to those that are or come across as pandering. Like I'm not some hack Hollywood scriptwriter who would go "Hey here's your GAY character" and then makes them nothing but flagrant out of date stereotypes with no substance, but at the same time I'm not exactly capable of incredible nuance and depth since it's furry porn characters.
Part of what makes me worry about the subject is that any characters I make would be inherently sexualized because... that's just how I do. I really like fleshing out my roster with backstory and detail and personality, but at the end of the day, these are porn characters created for fucking. So my concern is wanting to create other characters that could be trans/enby, or from a culture I'm not a part of, or another idea I had was for a wheelchair-bound person, things of that nature, but not be offensive about it. Or is that just inherently going to be shaky ground to tread from the perspective of an outsider working with these ideas that I should just avoid?
It's like, I don't want to come across that I'm trying to fetishize someone's gender identity or culture, but at the same time it would be dishonest to say that it's not part of what makes some ideas appealing to me. I might have an idea for a potential character and think to myself "They would be hotter if they were a trans woman" as I'm brainstorming, for instance. Like I said, all my characters are inherently meant to be sexualized, so naturally as I'm designing them I'm making choices based on what I think would be appealing and attractive for that particular design. But the last thing I want to do is upset anyone who's trans/disabled/etc in real life because I made choices in character design that end up being hurtful or offensive. It would never be my intent to make someone think I'm trying to equate their life to just a kink. My goal is to make kinky characters, and potentially part of what makes them fun and kinky is things like their gender/background/lifestyle/etc as part of the whole package.
Maybe I'm overthinking things in general as I'm usually one to do so, but I'd much rather approach the topic trying to get feedback from anyone with thoughts/experiences with this sort of thing rather than jump in and unintentionally be an asshole by doing something inappropriate. And don't get me wrong, I don't want to come off like I think anyone's gatekeeping character creation or that some bullshit nonexistent "woke mob" would come after me over something. This is all just me trying to reach out and see what folks think because while I'm wanting to have fun with my roster of smutty creations, I want them to be fun and appealing and not unintentionally hurtful to already marginalized folks because I came at some design ideas without fully considering them.
TL/DR; how should someone outside of groups approach designing smutty characters who would be part of one?
Would super appreciate any feedback, advice, or general tips on what folks think about this subject :)
A good character doesn't make those attributes as part of their character because those aren't defining traits.
To be clear, the personality of the character makes the character. Nothing else.
I Still kinda agree with your point a bit though. But if it's something overtime you'd be able to show people will be a bit more interested I think.
Perhaps the biggest thing is just using the preferred terminology. That alone goes a long way in showing your willingness to be respectful. For instance: "cuntboy" is considered offensive by some, so "andromorph" is the more respectful term.
Similarly, it can't be assumed that every intersex character is transgendered, nonbinary, or genderqueer. "Intersex" just means the individual's physiology does not conform to the usual norms of male or female sexual physiology. It doesn't necessarily imply anything about the person's gender identity, though.
I think using appropriate terminology and emphasising the difference between sexual characteristics and gender identity would be a couple huge steps towards respectful characterisation. :>
Also, much as it's tempting to think there is one thing, most things can be broken down into ever smaller groups. There is no "Great British Person." There are Scouses, and Geordies, and Tykes and Cockneys, and Taffys. You can try to make a British character, but what that means is you're taking your best understanding of genericized British tropes as you can discover them and putting them together.
All you can hope to do is go into primary sources, hear what specific X people say is authentic to them, and work with that. The closer you go to an authentic source, the more and more right it is to say "Even if I got it wrong, I did my level best at every step. if I stumble, I didn't, at least, put the rocks there, even if I tripped on them all the same."
But yeah, for the most part I think of any subculture furries overall are much more open about the idea of making characters that are outside your own personal life/group, since such a big part of being a furry is about finding your own identity that's not the one necessarily tied to your physical one. And in general it's pretty close-minded to think that "Only X can write/draw about X". But you at the same time don't want to pretend like you're going to able to authentically represent X with a character if they're not something you have direct experience with. I'd imagine most people wouldn't expect you to either!
Just want to be respectful as much as possible at the end of the day. The goal's always to have fun and be erotic, not upsetting :)
People let themselves be defined by category in order to fit in and feel like they belong. They can forget the forest for the trees when taken to the extreme. Fictional characters like to unwind and take off the mask just as real people do.
Nearly all media creation the past 40 years has been dominated by the "Write what you know" mentality. That is, everyone gets taught the only valid expression of creativity is drawing from personal experience. This backwashes into the corollary that the work of creation always reflects the personal beliefs of the creator. The idea that a writer creates a character different from himself, with different life experience, to learn about that different life experience, is such a foreign concept to today's TV, movie, and animation creators.
I can understand the trepidation from not wanting to mis-represent someone else's experience or culture by writing outside of what you know, but yeah it's a very stymied way to think about creating fiction that's only going to pigeonhole people into what they do. And can often lead into just hearing the same kind of voice over nad over.