Not Tropeworthy: Twofer Token Minority

This trope, as far as I can tell, just lists anytime a character falls into two categories considered "minorities" in the United States. Given that it includes "woman" as one of the categories, this leads to most of the entries being just "is a black woman" or "is a gay Asian man". This seems like People Sit on Chairs, as plenty of people in real life happen to fall into two "minority" categories. We might as well just list all black people in media, as this list seems trope seems to be attempting to do that for all non-white women.

edited 18th May '18 10:40:48 PM by TheMountainKing

Did a wick check. In a Trope Talk thread I was told the characters had to actually be tokens, and that just having more than one minority identity isn't enough. Under that assumption, I looked to see how many pages actually attaempt to defend that the character is a token, and how many just list the identities. In-universe examples are when the characters minority statuses are addressed in story, usually as part of an "affirmative action" joke.

Results:

• Akata Witch: Main character, thus probably not a Token Minority
• All in the Family: In-universe example
• Andy Richter Controls the Universe: In-universe example
• Big Brother 15 The Jury: Just lists identities, no justification for tokenism
• Visual Novel/Bloodbound: Just identities, no justification for tokenism
• Captain Britain and MI13: Doesn’t even list identities, no justification for tokenism, description is semi non-sequitor
• City Magic: Admits to not qualifying, explicitly states the characters aren’t tokens, lists the trope anyway
• DCEU: Wonder Woman: Just lists identities, no justification for tokenism
• Designated Survivor: Just lists identities, no justification for tokenism
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided: Just lists identities (one is fantastic), no justification for tokenism
• Dial H for Hero: Just lists identities, no justification for tokenism
• Die Kinder aus Nr. 67: Just identities, no justification for tokenism
• Dungeons & Dragons: Just lists identities, no justification for tokenism
• Even Dwarfs Started Small: Just identities
• Gen¹³: Two examples, one attempts to justify tokenism, the other just lists identities
• HookerVerse: Just identities
• Series/House: Just identities
• Monica Rambeau: Just identities
• Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension: Just identities
• Video Game/Pico: Just identities
• Pitch Perfect: Just identities
• Pop Quiz Hotshot: Just identities
• Prey (2017): Just identities
• Rooster Teeth Others: Just identities (also we probably shouldn’t apply tokenism tropes to real people)
• Series/Scorpion: Does attempt to defend character as the only person of color in the core cast
• Scream Queens (2015): Does state that the character is the only black member of the core cast
• Shadow Police: In-universe example
• Shadowrun Returns: Just identities
• Skins US: Just identities
• Speech And Debate: Just identities, possible in-universe example
• Spore Wiki Fantasy Universe Protagonists: Just lists identities
• Strange Hill High: Just identities
• Street Fighter: Just identities
• Survival of the Dead: Just identities (wouldn’t all lesbians be examples)
• Literature/Takotsubo: Just identities
• The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.: Possible in-universe example
• The Amazing Race: All-Stars (2014): Just identities (also a real person)
• The Burning Room: In-universe example
• The Family Stone: Just identities (also seems to count being white and in an interracial relationship as a minority)
• The Fosters: Just identities
• The Lunchroom: Just identities
• The Walker Papers: In-universe example
• Tiger & Bunny: Just identities
• Tropes N to S: Just identities
• Tropes Q to Z: Just identities
• TV Tropes The Webcomic: Just identities
• Series/Veep: In-universe example
• X-Men '90s Members: ZCE
• Young Justice: Outsiders: Just identities
• Zazie Beetz: Justifies tokenism, but this should probably be on the series’ page, not her’s.

So, 74% just list identities or are Zero Context, 14% are in-universe examples, and only 6% actually attempt to justify calling the character a token

edited 7th Jun '18 10:09:31 AM by TheMountainKing

I recommend NOT cutting this trope, and instead considering tightening the criteria and starting a Long Term Projects thread for this page.

"Twofer", which the description claims is (to my knowledge and 10-second google research) what media analysts call it, is what's used for "twofer minority", not "twofer token minority". And therein lies the problem.

edited 8th Jun '18 1:49:55 AM by AnotherDuck

What might a better name for this trope be?

Perhaps "woman" should be removed as a category, as it makes the definition too broad.

I think maybe we could allow women examples IF they fulfill both The Smurfette Principle and... whatever the race/sexuality/whatever version of that trope is. Like, if a main cast otherwise full of white men has one WOC, or if a main otherwise cast full of straight women (EDIT: I MEAN MEN) has one lesbian, or somesuch. If the cast has three white men, a white woman, and a WOC (or three white men, an MOC, and a WOC) then that's a no-go. That may be too difficult to moderate, though.

Edited by TenEight on Jun 28th 2018 at 12:48:20 PM

I disagree with the lesbian example, as I feel it's essential that they be a token for both groups.

Yeah, if both groups aren't token groups, then it's not an example. If a character is a lesbian when the main cast is entirely female, it's not an example. If they're all white, except the lesbian character who's Asian, and being Asian is a large part of her character, then you've probably got an example. Not related to being female, though.

and Apologies, I meant straight men, not straight women. Don't know how that happened.

If that's the case, then yes, it could fit. Again, if her being a woman is an important point of her character.

Agree with Ten Eight that "woman" should only quality as a category if The Smurfette Principle is in play.

Okay, I set up a short term project.

Clock is up; closing for inactivity/lack of consensus. No action is to be taken on the basis of this thread.