How would it be? People with those identities existed then too, even if they didn't yet have the language to simplify the complexities of their gender and sexual orientation into easily digestible words. In the Myspace era, it's almost too easy to tell a story like this.
My question is what is the story you wanted to tell about these characters?
Edited by nekomoon14 on Jul 23rd 2018 at 10:51:53 AM
Level 3 Social Justice Necromancer. Chaotic Good.![]()
Really, the only problem I see there is that the 'pre-teen' part might make the ace part sort of... Questionable is not the right word, but... Fraught with dangers.
Digging deep from my child psychology training and supplementing from some questions I asked some of my ace acquaintances: As a general rule, pre-teens are not interested in sex. Having not gone through puberty yet, they lack the hormone levels that produce a libido. They might explore the differences between their own bodies and those of peers and adults and that's natural. It's also something that (apparently) even ace children can engage in (although not all children, and therefore not all ace children, do show this kind of exploration). This has more to do with curiosity than anything explicitly sexual and this experimentation usually doesn't occur along .
When they do show interest in specifically sexual activity, this is almost always a sign of sexual abuse note . This is a problem, because if you're going to have an explicitly ace pre-teen in your story, you're going to have to include some kind of child sex in your story and... Well... No. Just... No.
The aro and enby parts are fine though, children do demonstrably have romantic preferences and gender identities well before puberty.
Edited by Robrecht on Jul 25th 2018 at 7:20:56 AM
Angry gets shit done.
The character is supposed to be 10-12. That's a perfectly normal age to start getting curious about their sexuality, right? I remember I knew I was asexual before I was a teen. I imagine it's not common but it's not something that's super out there.
I haven't been able to find that many books about asexual teens, but it seems like a topic that's pretty interesting to me. 'Lots of plot and character that could come from that.
Say, I have a quick question; if you're writing about a Transgender character who's already transitioned before the story took place, but you have to talk about/refer to past events that took place before they transitioned, would they be referred to by their current name or their old name/deadname when describing these events? (This is assuming their name wasn't gender-neutral to start with)
Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!so if it's a story being told by a person "bob did this, and then bob did this thing where they jumped over the car, it was weird", then use their current name.
If it's a full on flashback, you might get away with using the dead name, but depending on the context some might find it a bit wonky/confusing.
Read my stories!Well, confusion can be alleviated by going "back when she went by X" or "was known as X." Though I'm also curious what gender pronouns would be appropriate in the matter, especially across different stages of self-realization. Like, from fully self-identifying while being an outer closet (that'd be using preferred pronoun for internal reference) to the earliest stage of wondering why things feel bad and weird (if the person hasn't redefined their personal pronoun, then what?).
Edited by Adannor on Jul 31st 2018 at 1:57:21 PM
I retroactively gender myself properly when I think or talk about times before I knew I was trans, so that's a pretty great option. It allows the character to own their past without misgendering and retraumatizing themselves.
Sidenote : I was VERY erotically inclined at a fairly early age and I was not sexually abused, so...I don't know how airtight that no sexuality before puberty idea is.
Edited by nekomoon14 on Aug 1st 2018 at 12:15:30 PM
Level 3 Social Justice Necromancer. Chaotic Good.Not sure if it's helpful, but I'm cis and almost entirely het, and I had what I consider protosexual impulses (I didn't have a context for them at the time, but they were definitely connected to sex) before puberty too.
Fresh-eyed movie blogYeah it varies from person to person. Some people develop sexuality at a young age, others only develop only a specific aspect at a young age, and not the rest, etc.
Read my stories!Any ideas on how to spice up a Coming-Out Story? I've come back to my story about an ace kid and it's not particularly interesting anymore but I feel it'd be nice as writing practice. However I find coming-out stories so boring. They get old hat after reading several.
What do you guys think of having a character that identifies as an androgyne in terms of gender identitynote answer to both gender forms of their name (e.g. "John" and "Jane"), and have no particular favor for either form?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Rude? You go ask that question in the more lively LGBT threads around OTC and they'll show you rude.
Gender identity is not something you can change on a whim. Transgender isn't "gay but more".
(Theoretically in maaagical settings it could be changeable, but you'd need actual understanding of how it works in reality in order to divert from it without landing yourself into trouble.)
Edited by Adannor on Apr 12th 2019 at 1:27:53 PM
Yeah, sorry but gender identity gets kind of confusing after “genderfluid”(which from my understanding is exactly whatever one want to be) and like over six new gender pronouns.
Also I asked you if sex change is the right word then, and you still haven’t answered.
Edited by Andermann on Apr 12th 2019 at 7:16:29 PM
I'm afraid to write, but I like to imagine.Sure it is confusing if all you've got is vague hearsay and memes.
Okay, detailed ramble time. Yes, gender fluidity and other cases of nonbinarity exist. Like, see Marq's question right above, that pretty directly maps out to one person I actually know. Identity is a free for all spectrum and any given person can settle down in literally any imaginable position which they define for themselves.
However those are still a small fraction of a small fraction as far as overall population goes. For most people gender identity is pretty solid. Treating encountering some new personal definition as "oh what they're all this now?" is extremely shortsighted. In similar and very common vein, treating cases of "reversal," when somebody had swapped around their personal definition back and forth as they went on soul searching as disproval of the entire concept is harmful to a ton of people.
So, in realistic situation, somebody has Insane Level Crush on somebody who isn't sexually attracted to their gender. It is possible that they may attempt to procure gender reassignment. Right off the bat, they'll then find themselves slowed down by gigantic piles of psych evaluations, lasting for years. And also potentially blocked entirely because they are faking. Or they will find out that it is in fact deeply discomforting and will have to roll back and fix the problems they self-inflicted in that pursuit. But there is a chance that they would find out that they are in fact somewhere in nonbinary and are just fine living as the opposite gender, yaaaay lucky them. So massively overhauling their identity for a crush is still an act of a very screwed up mind, though. And, to restate, that is a very very low chance of even happening.
Or you can just handwave it, have them drink a magical potion that also magically fixes all potential dysphoria and magically adjusts them to live as their new physical sex and let the chips lay where they drop.
Edited by Adannor on Apr 12th 2019 at 1:25:01 PM
Well to explain it more simply:
If there was a person you really, really liked, and it turned out they weren't attracted to your gender, would you become transgender just to be with them?
Sounds like you'd have to be pretty crazy for that person to do that if you ask me.
Well, that’d be jus’ a waste. Why would ya want to deprive the world of such anomaly as yourself?
Potentially too easy to answer for somebody who hasn't seen just how much crap trangender people have to go through.
But removing that side from the equation can lead to a clearer metaphor.
If somebody whom you have a crush on is overall attracted to your gender, but doesn't want to bone you specifically, would you go ahead and completely revamp your interests and hobbies, change your wardrobe and get plastic surgery to fit their ideal?
Oh, I read the answer, and it was very informative, thank you, but next time I can do with a little less salt.
Although I will ask you to just answer the question in the first reply and not just insult me for asking something I do not understand, which is why I was asking in the first place.
Edited by Andermann on Apr 12th 2019 at 7:20:13 PM
I'm afraid to write, but I like to imagine.

I'll probably never actually write this story, but I've been thinking for the past 30 minutes about a story starring an aro-ace nonbinary preteen in the 2000s who becomes friends with other queer kids. I'm worried it's too out-there for the time period, though.