So, I apologize in advance but I’m confused about a term I heard recently.
Maybe someone could clear it up for me?
So the term I heard is “cishet” or “cis-het”
I understand “cis” as a shortening of “cis-gendered” meaning “same gendered” which can be translated into “straight”
I also understand “het” as a shortening of “heterosexual” which also means “straight”
Hearing both of those things together is kind of redundant to my ears.
It’s like hearing someone say “CD Disc” (which translates into Compact Disc Disc)
Which is a real shame because heroes dealing with social issues has been done before and done really well. Take Arsenal for example and his problems with drug addiction. That was a character arc that I honestly found myself invested in. The problem more leftist studios and companies have, however, is that they forget in that in order for one to be invested in a hero dealing with those issues, they first have to make you feel invested with that hero as a character. They have to earn anything greater than your apathy. Otherwise they just come off as mouthpieces for whatever the creator’s agenda is, good or bad.
I’ve found that a lot of times, the ‘agenda’ these companies have though isn’t really bringing awareness to any type of social issue, the agenda is to profit
Words like ‘diversity’ or ‘queer’ or ‘lgbt’ seem to have become selling points, more or less, these days, usually with little to no effort to actually create good representation or spread awareness. A lot of companies (and sometimes individuals) that praise themselves for being progressive seem to usually use harmful stereotypes or cliches and ignore criticism until it starts to threaten their sales. And usually when it does get addressed, it usually involves an insincere apology and a ham-fisted retcon, and only the easy things really get addressed and/or fixed or they’re just removed entirely (Looking at you, Bioware. Yes, I’m still bitter)
There’s also queer baiting where a series (or writer/actor/etc) may tease at homoerotic content to get the fans watching (or reading or playing) but not actually include anything queer (unless it’s a side character who probably dies)
There were also recent incidents where youtube and tumblr tried to use algorithms to block ‘adult’ content but ended up actually blocking anything involving lgbt but somehow managed to miss blocking actual pornography (now tumblr’s is just flagging virtually everything as adult though because the site is extremely broken)
There’s a term specifically for when corporations pretend to be pro-LGBT to get people’s attention but actually end up having no protections for lgbt content or employees and things like the tumblr/youtube fliter fiasco happen but I can’t seem to remember what it is right now
Yeah; I think that the real problem generally isn’t progressives, but rather companies (and individual writers) that treat minority characters as a box to tick, rather than as an actual character.
Really, the way I see it, there are two types of stories - ones that turn LGBT into a majority community (I’m talking of those games where every NPC is bi) without really having any content specific to it. I also find that these games tend to look at LGBT as a selling point, rather than something that really needs attention. These unrealistic portrayals are, in my opinion, flawed, as these games aren’t going to help the LGBT community in any way, except by providing them with a fictional dream world. They don’t bring to light the difficulties faced by marginalised communities (and here I refer to all of them). That, in my opinion, is what is lacking in the world. Something that will bring awareness. I remember a game I played sometime ago that showed the problems that are faced by those suffering from depression, and I liked it. We should have more of those games too. But that is something authors and companies alike wouldn’t risk, waves people will appreciate those games. And that is exactly why change is soo slow. Because people don’t want to go outside their comfort zone and see other’s viewpoints.
I disagree. An important part of increased representation is in changing people’s hearts and minds. People who are exposed to enough positive LGBTQ characters in fiction will be less likely to view us as “deviants”, and more as just another different person. If all LGBTQ people (or any other minority) are depicted as constantly suffering, that may help to change minds, too, but speaking as a gay guy, I know the difficulties I face; I don’t need to be reminded of them. So, the escapism part is important, too.
My main problem with the “everyone’s bi” games is that often it feels like they’ve been written for straight audiences, and just made the romances available to non-straight characters, too. Thus, a straight player can play through without experiencing any non-straight content, which goes directly against what the representation should be giving us. I have brought up ways to counter this in other threads: either make some ROs exclusively gay, or put some non-RO NPCs in a non-straight relationship (or even ROs if the player doesn’t choose them). I would advise against the former, unless you really know what you’re doing, as I’ve seen it done wrong in more games than I’ve seen it done right.
Agreed. But this means they’re more likely to avoid a game that deals with such issues, and more likely to play a game that just has a few positive portrayals of LGBTQ characters (or any minority). Slow change may be frustrating, but it does work; fast change is what causes people to start fighting back.
A) A positive portrayal of LGBTQ community? Exactly what would that mean?
Are you saying that games tend to portray LGBTQ communties negatively?
The fact remains, that to increase the awareness, you’d need to actually
tell people that LGBTQ exists, and that they face a lot of trouble. You
wouldn’t believe how many of my friends dont even know that LGBTQ exists.
If they play a game where such communities are shown to exist completely
harmoniously with the majority communities, they might end up with a wrong
idea that it is so in real life. Not to mention, there already are enough
of games to “escape”, and, from my experiences, “escape” simply… doesn’t
help. And just in case you think I’m from a majority community, think
again. Just because I’m straight doesn’t make me from a majority community.
I do agree with you on it probably being a selling point in most cases, but I’d also like to argue that homophobia/transphobia/etc-free settings like those do help in a way. Settings where being queer isn’t a thing that’s punished for are really important for people who are lgbt, especially ones in the closet or in a non-lgbt friendly environment, to see. As a closeted trans man with no love life, video games where I can be a gay guy without worrying about who sees me are what I go to when I need a break or a pick-me-up
Also, issues like homophobia and transphobia are sensitive topics and I’ve rarely seen them addressed well in mainstream media. I think the only case I can think of currently is Dorian’s character arc in Dragon Age: Inquisition, but that was done well because the writer in charge of Dorian was a gay man himself. There’s very few queer writers in videos games right now and so-called lgbt-friendly games often have homophobic or transphobic undertones. I have seen one game that specifically deals with transphobia and gender dysphoria. I unfortunately don’t remember the name and no longer have a link to it and I never got around to playing it, but I heard good things about it. It did well though because it was an indie game by a small team of lgbt writers, and if I remember correctly, the head writer was a trans woman. Judging by the mess that was Mass Effect Andromeda, I don’t think I’ll trust mainstream video games to handle queer stories until more queer writers start getting hired
And I agree, those all bi games are too unrealistic. You should have a few
straight, a few gay and a few bi RO NPCs in the game. But care should be
taken not to portray a certain community negatively. And that would
probably require around five or six RO NPCs, which is difficult.
I really think that to write about problems of lgtbq community. You have to be part of it. My best friend is gay and had bullying for it. So i can understand part of the struggle. But is just that, I can’t write about it because i didn’t experience that and because of that I can’t do justice to the lgbtq community.
What I could do is try to do a fictional world were they are part of it in equal rights situation. And could feel integrated. Or i at least try to I asked for info and taht to trans and homosexual part of lgbtq
Your experience really isn’t universal, and not every minority experience is the same. Escapism isn’t just getting out of the real world for a lot of people, it’s getting into a world where our identities are accepted and we aren’t facing difficulties for who we are. Maybe in your personal experience, games that just give LGBTQA+ people a chance to relax and be who they are aren’t useful, but a lot of people would disagree, me included. And giving people a chance to see these identities without only seeing how miserable they all are is incredibly useful. I know trans people who were practically begged not to transition by their parents and loved ones just because the only things those people ever saw about trans identities are the pain and suffering laden portrayals. When people only ever see bad things said about being LGBTQA+ (“it sucks” being a bad thing) then people aren’t always going to be more supportive, they’re gonna be more apt to ask why not just NOT be that.
And for what it’s worth, I see LGBTQA+ people asking for positive, happy portrayals significantly more often than negative ones. Bury Your Gays is a common, hated trope for a reason–we all know what it’'s like to be miserable, and we’ve all consumed plenty of media where we’re miserable.
What a lot of people look for in positive, happy portrayals isn’t just that straight and cis people will watch it and change their minds about bigotry, even if we all want that. We want media about us, where we get to see ourselves the same way straight and cis people do constantly. LGBTQA+ people deserve media for themselves the way straight people do, and a lot of times that’s gonna mean stories where we get to be happy and there’s nothing wrong with that.
This is also something to definitely keep in mind–poorly done portrayals of real life groups can be really hurtful, especially a portrayal meant to showcase the struggles of a group. Dorian’s arc was beautifully done but it also definitely shouldn’t be cited without, as @anon86661845 points out, the fact that it was written by a gay man. People who don’t suffer the same bigotry as the person they’re trying to write about just can’t write it accurately without a lot of help, and it’s incredibly easy to be disrespectful.
Tumblr has a lot of “otp prompt” blogs, where they post one or two sentence prompts designed to give writers ideas for stories. One blog posted a prompt along the lines of “imagine your gay OTP going through conversion therapy. Will their relationship survive it?” and that’s sick. It’s a real thing that happens, and it’s awful, and there’s no way anyone writing about it with the mindset of “this is a relationship obstacle for my characters” will be able to do it justice. A lot of bigotry in media isn’t written with the idea of “let’s demonstrate the state of the world,” it’s just to give the characters story obstacles to get past.
There’s just way too many complexities and nuances in bigotry and prejudice, and the way targeted groups deal with that, to be able to definitively say “sad representation is superior to happy representation.”
Well, what we already have, for example. A hundred years ago we were arrested and castrated, or worse. Now we can get married in many countries. Sure, we’ve still got a long way to go, but we’re doing a lot better than we were.
I didn’t say anything about slow change, apologies that it seems like I did. There’s a lot of queer people trying to get into game design and writing, I just didn’t mention it since it didn’t seem relevant
I’ve found that when cishet writers tackle homophobia/transphobia though, they often reduce the character down to one characteristic - their gender/sexuality. No matter what happens, you’re never not reminded that thay character is gay/trans and not in the norm. I feel like sometimes they’re more like morals to be learned more than they are actual characters. Also it seems that a lot of the time, cishet writers think that addressing homophobia or transphobia means that something horrible and violent has to happen to the character, and it’s almost always to create shock value and get attention and not out of support or a call to awareness. Cishet writers can write queer characters, but at least unless they have sensitivity readers, really delving into homophobia and transphobia isn’t for them
When queer people write about homophobia/transphobia, it’s cathartic since they’re taking something they experience and giving it some sort of resolution. The characters also go deeper than just their gender/sexuality. A lot of queer writers might not even delve into it because, aside from it being painful and traumatic, there’s more to being queer than just suffering
The way I see it, nobody will be able to find an universal truth about the correct way of include representation in every story, simply because every story is different.
I see a lot of people angaist the idea of “playersexual” romances (and I get that the complaint angainst it is that those kind of romances are not exactly LGBT representation) but I don’t think that it’s an invalid option, especially considering that in most cases romances are just a fun side-plot and it can become too tricky or too tedious to codify all the variables and make also a fair representation of LGBT characters in games that don’t even have romance as a main focus.
Games that attempt to try different things and make a more inclusive and realistic representation should be encouraged, yes. But that doesn’t mean that other kinds of representation are inferior or invalid, they just have different purposes.
The same thing can be applied to writing about LGBT issues, as well as there is a place for those kinds of stories, there’s a place for escapism. Both kinds are needed and both aim to different things.
I have to disagree, I’m a gay guy and I kind of appreciate that people are willing of take their time and effort to attempt to portray these subjects, they might just need to ask for help about how to do it and dedicate more time to it but it’s possible to do it right.
I believe that a lot of people don’t go into certain topics because they fear they might offend someone, but I don’t think that even when they fail to portray this issues, they come as offensive, I mean DON’T BE A HOMOPHOBE, but it’s easy to discern when there has been a real attempt to try to do it well, and I think that making some mistakes in order to learn from them is better than not trying at all.
