Dragon Age 2 and Straight Male Privilege

[hsumann]

What I got from this is:

What: The entertainment/book industry caters to straight white men.

Why: It makes the most money. Straight white men have the privilege of choosing only straight white male protagonists.

How to solve: I don’t know…

1. Build awareness (good video!)

2. Require LGBT literature in schools, like how I was required to read feminist and Harlem Renaissance authors.

3. Hope there’s more publishers/movie producers like Bioware

4. ???

Tell me if I got anything wrong.

[Ace2066]

It doesn't bother me that Dragon Age 2 has homosexual relationships. What bothers me is that Dragon Age 2 is a shit game, the developers act like whiny brats on the forums, and that EA paid the reviewers to give them a good score.

END OF RINE

[JesusDiedROFL]

Buying anything Bioware makes past 2009 means you're pretty much a retard. Their design team is now a bunch of butthurt social losers who turn all their games into personal dating simulators with awkward and forced gay sex every five minutes. The lead writer doesn't even like videogames.

Deal with it faggot. The only people who go on about this "white privilege" shit are faggots who take a useless liberal arts degree run by some Marxist professor.

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@JesusDiedROFL I have a graduate degree in biology which I don't think anyone would consider a "useless liberal arts degree." The only people who say "some Marxist professor" are the kind who have never read Marx. And the only people who say "Deal with it faggot" are the ones with very poor interpersonal skills.

[Scoches01]

@JesusDiedROFL Holy crap, you must work at Fox News! You're so very well informed! That damned seXbox...

[sixteentonsdotse]

I'm sorry people who comment here are idiots. I'm sorry so many people can't even live not only with us wanting at least the crumbs from the cake but that we object to not getting them. All you privileged people commenting on here, just count yourselves lucky and realize how little about this shit you understand!

[Heliossoileh]

We should expect the vast majority of characters in fiction to be heterosexual because the vast majority of people are heterosexual. Simple stuff, and not at all objectionable.

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@Heliossoileh The majority has no inherent "right" to get more options than anyone else. Your statement would mean that no male author could ever write a single female character. No author could ever write a character with a profession that was different from their own (essentially any character who isn't an author). Or a character with brown hair if the author has red hair. And people can only ever read anything that is about people who are exactly the same as them.

[Heliossoileh]

@sillyyetsuccinct Your response confuses me. I did not say that authors cannot write about characters that are different to them, nor that people cannot read about those who are different to them. I merely suggested that one should expect most characters within fiction to be heterosexual since most people outside of fiction are so oriented. It is the literary norm because it is the actual norm.

[YazAcid]

I think you are really brilliant ;___; and I want to hug you.

[Heeroneko]

It'd be cool if Glee ends up with a gay transguy that falls for Kurt...since that's about the only major show that I think has the potential for it right now.

[mylene0wnt]

My first thought after watching this was that it pertained mainly to mainstream entertainment and if you have that problem you should find better films to watch or read better books. BUT THEN I just checked the listings in my local "artsy" French cinema, where I go 98% of the time, and amongst two dozen films, I found at least 4 (Americano, Drive, La femme du Vème, The artist) that match your description of a white, male, cis-gendered "hero"), so you're right ! That's a real eye-opener! I

[alissewonder]

Funny how cis straight men only seem to realize that sexual invitations from strangers are annoying and invasive when it's done to them by gay men. I'd like to see an ounce of that outrage directed against the crap we women have to deal with every single day of our lives.

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@alissewonder "Homophobia: The fear that men will treat you the way you treat women."

[ClassyWorm]

Yeah Bioware are fantastic with same sex relationships in their games, they always have been. It's refreshing!

[Isaacthekid]

You are so good at expressing yourself Warren :) I defininitly agree. I am planning to write a novel about a gay trans-man one day. It's hard to write one right now (i'm in the closet, it's long story). I would like to see more trans-characters that are not being seen as jokes or in a negative light.

[outofvogue18]

As for your view on how capitalism plays in on it you are right, you should read Sexuality and Socialism by Sherry Wolf, she gets into that quite a bit. Also listen to this, (wearemany (dot) org/a/2011/07/fight-for-transg­ender-rights), it was a great talk.

[outofvogue18]

To talk about your media only portraying heterosexual/naturally gendered people, i have to argue that, i'd say thats true 95% of the time. If you haven't seen Boys Don't Cry i'd highly suggest you see it. It's about a FTM man who struggles and eventually is murdered. Also i'd suggest you read Tennessee Williams, his reference to homosexuality are very obvious if you pay attention. Now about novels that are about a gay FTM guy, i've heard of a couple (2) out there.

[queeirdeaux]

They put 2 female avatars in NHL 12 too which is cool... but the comments are quite crude. You can imagine how insecure a bunch of guys feel with a female amongst them.

[MrDarkWonderland]

oh, then i should see a doctor!

[SchaferLove]

Circle of Change by Laney Ciaro is about a gay ftm transgender.

[TheAlexanderOscar]

Fantastic response from the gaming company! Thank-you for your video about this aspect of privilage. You explained it really well. It is not something I had thought through before. I guess I've just accepted things the way they are and have got really pissed off when people obviously discriminate or are just dismissive of others perspectives.

[mfcharlton20036]

Middlesex=AMAZING.

[ceridawn]

that is a really interesting observation!

[ceridawn]

write one!

[ImagineMarvelous]

This is why I love fan fiction :D you can make anything happen its fantastic.

[RGbrainstorm]

P.S. Great channel.

[RGbrainstorm]

The media constantly cater to straight, white, cisgender males because they are the largest target market with the greatest potential revenue. It's not that entertainment companies believe content "should be tailored to them." It's just that they are far more lucrative. Overall, the entertanment industry is one of the gay-friendliest in terms of staffing. True capitalism is not biased against any particular type of person; it is only the dollar that counts. Greed is incredibly inclusive.

[sillyyetsuccinct]

This is actually not true. There is some great research out there on this. The numbers have been crunched. For example, women spend significantly more money on cinema tickets every year than men. And one of the reasons DA2 made characters Bi is because of their significant number of queer customers.

[RGbrainstorm]

@sillyyetsuccinct

Interesting!

[ragingtoxin]

@sillyyetsuccinct

So then, to be blunt, what's the point of the video?

To turn a forum comment by some scumbag into a generalized diatribe against a demographic, misusing words such as "privilege"? LGBT-friendly games DO get published, and bought. Money talks in all forms of US media, for better for for worse. It's obviously not alienating enough of the accursed "majority" otherwise the game industry would be falling flat on its face.

Quit cherry-picking and forming needless extrapolations.

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@ragingtoxin What is your definition of the word "privilege?"

[kayne32]

i dont mind having gay guys in the game... but when EVERY guy comes on to you in the game it becomes fucking anoying

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@kayne32 If you were a lesbian, that would be your ENTIRE life every single day. Actually, that's kind of how it is for women in general but imagine how much more annoying it is for a lesbian?

[kayne32]

@sillyyetsuccinct thing is is that it is hard to change the world or how people think but it is easy not to make every male character gay in a game

[noctoi]

The big gold hearts are in the dialogue wheel as a big old flashing neon sign saying "romance option". If you don't wanna swing every way and enjoy the pretty pixels equally all you have to do is... erm... NOT CLICK THE BIG GOLD HEART!!! :-P

[humdrumfeast]

So you really think if you work hard, are a great writer, write an incredible story, and write into it characters that aren't like me (straight white male), that you couldn't get it published? I beg to differ on that point. I've read many books with pro/antagonists who are nothing like me, written by authors who are little to nothing like me.

I don't know you personally so i could be way the hell off, but it seems like you consider your sexuality to be a crutch, and that sucks.

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@humdrumfeast Really? And how many of them were gay? Books with gay characters are banned from libraries and not sold in mainstream book stores. Even in Sweden, if a book has a main character who is gay it goes on the shelf in the "gay and lesbian interest" section. I think you are completely unaware of your heterosexual cisgender white privileges or are just really naive about the publishing industry and media in general. Have you heard of the Bechdel Test?

[humdrumfeast]

@sillyyetsuccinct Oh don't get me wrong, i'm fully aware how my demographic gets the most attention in just about every way, and no, i'm not an expert know-it-all on how publishing companies work. And yeah, the bechdel test is something that was heavily discussed in my film class. That's Hollywood, i was talking more in the book/newspaper/magazine area of discrimination where things need to get published. Never saw the movie, but i did read Brokeback Mountain in the New Yorker as one example

[gl3110]

im a 22 year old straight white male and my favorite film is pans labyrinth...the main character is a little Spanish girl..

[AseraphsephirothZ]

(cont.) but it isn't "normal" for everyone- others have been adjusting to your perspective, maybe you could learn to see things from their point of view, as well.

This creates better people, more understanding people with well-rounded viewpoints. I'm glad I've learned to see things from other people's perspectives, it would be nice though if they weren't so resistant to mine.

Sorry for the four-post-long diatribe! Something I feel strongly about, and I'm glad to see you articulate it so well!

[AseraphsephirothZ]

(cont.) other people's perspectives, and I think the media really doesn't help this situation at all. We have to understand their point of view- it's the "default". Our points of view, though, are seen as unrelatable.

I've heard this analogy- US grocery stores always carry ketchup, so you expect it. A Vietnamese store, though, might not. It could be startling- doesn't everyone have that? No. You're just so used to seeing things from a particular perspective that you think it's "normal" (cont.)

[AseraphsephirothZ]

(cont.) but I had managed to enjoy them anyway. He was genuinely surprised and said he hadn't thought of it that way before. Of course he hadn't. He lives in a world where everything is created with him in mind as the primary audience.

Some guys dislike Final Fantasy 13 because half the cast is female. You know, like life. Half female. They don't actually want them in their games in that proportion though.

I know a lot of white straight males who have a hard time seeing things from (cont.)

[AseraphsephirothZ]

A male friend and I both like fantasy novels, and have lent and borrowed many books from each other over the years. One day he *gave* me a book by Kate Forsyth. I said I'd give it back, but he said nah, no need; he couldn't get into it. The main character was female, there were a lot of females in the cast, and at one point she has to save a guy from a predicament. It wasn't a bad book, he just couldn't relate. I pointed out that every other book I'd read was the exact opposite for me, (cont.)

[modernrock3235]

@sillyyetsuccinct You really are too charming to be succinctly summarized. :)

[Instigator198451]

Good analysis, enjoyed your video and I'm glad you brought up the issue of capitalism. My questions for you are: (1) as media infiltrates more of our lives, what does it mean that we look to identify with and understand through characters found in media?; (2) is this another way in which a corporate driven, mass-produced culture is normalized and disciplinized to understand themselves according to rigid identities external to their personal experiences of themselves and their world?

[mfcharlton20036]

this is an awesome video. i wish every white, straight, privileged, cisgender man would watch it.

[Dweebiedo]

Oooh, I LOVED "Middlesex."

[DeathSwitch109]

Being a straight white, male; I find your video to be highly intellectual. You address several points with a valid argument, using your personal experiences to backup your point of view. It wasn't "Oh poor me, I'm gay this isn't fair!" It's quite the opposite in fact. You made me think about how lucky I am to be in this category in America, and how easy I truly have it. I never thought about the fact that most people find it hard to relate in a movie because they don't share the same preferences

[DeathSwitch109]

Also, when I played Dragon Age 2 I didn't mind the fact that there were several difference romance options you could choose from because if I were gay, I might not want to pick the typical straight romance story because most likely I probably couldn't relate to it as well.

The game doesn't force you to pick a gay romance, it's clearly optional. While it may have been uncomfortable getting hit on by one of the bi-characters, I quickly got over it because again it wasn't forced on me and I looked

[DeathSwitch109]

at it from someone else's point of view. Cheers to you sir for speaking up about this. I will respect my privilege as it was given to me by default due to today's societal standards, but I will also continue to respect and value the opinions of my fellow peers, whether they are gay, straight, female, or from another ethnic background.

[pradlee]

Left Hand of Darkness (by Ursula Le Guin)- good book, you (everyone!) should check it out

It's not officially a trans or gay book, but it discusses gender/gender stereotypes/relationships (although they are somewhat heteronormative) in an alien society as seen through the eyes of an Earthman.

I've definitely noticed the boys only reading about boys thing, and almost all of the widely popular series that aren't romance are about men/boys (Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, but not Agatha Christie!



[pradlee]

@pradlee Actually, as a genderqueer leaning toward masculine, I prefer to read about guys (not sure if this is true preference or social training) and i always have a mental picture of a book character as a guy, so it's a little jarring when they say 'she.' But the preference for guys might be because books about girls tend to use (sexist) stereotypes of girls (romance, shopping, appearance) that (stereotypical) guys and I wouldn't want to read about

[utenannie]

@pradlee  I absolutely loved Left Hand of Darkness

[utenannie]

Thank you for posting this! This is something I had never really thought about before. I don't know if you have ever played SIMs before, but the characters in that game can flirt and make out and hook up regardless of gender. What feels like a punch in the stomach is that two women or two men SIMs can only get a civil union and not a marriage... did they really need to make that distinction?

I'm going to have to check out this BioWare company. They've made a fan out of me!

[thisoranyother]

great video warren i love you.

[Aaronciceu]

well if it sucks that it just never happens to b a trans or gay then y dont u wright a book honestly it could not be that difficult you seem to have a good way with words.

[thefoosballwizard]

I'm not sure why, but I enjoy media that contains a bunch of gay or non-majority material in it, but I'm not into where that is the central thing. For example, the main character in "Becoming Chloe" is a gay male, but that isn't the focus on the book. The focus of the book is him protecting Chloe. Degrassi is another example. My demographic would be gay transmen, but I rarely ever watch/read stuff about my own demographic. Maybe it's because I got bored of transition stories.

[thefoosballwizard]

"Link is in the doobleedoo" xD Aww

[UnHappyHappi]

I've never thought of it like that xD I like books, so I read them. I write a lot, but I never have a transguy as a main character. Sometimes I have gay guys being like an uncle or a family friend or something. I've come across a game where there was a gay couple as two of the main characters (unfortunately we sold it so I could buy another one) and I can remember all my friends getting completely freaked out by it. I just laughed at them.

[aryanvaryan]

I don't agree with your conclusion that your friend stopped reading the book because he couldn't identify with being gay. I hate the "queer" literature despite being trans and gay because it's always such a big fucking deal. It's like the main char can't just happen to be trans or gay, it has to be the entire point of the book. Which I find boring.

I wouldn't read a book on slavery, not because I'm racist, but because there are other books that are more relevant to me...

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@aryanvaryan It wasn't my conclusion! He told me directly that he stopped reading the book because he couldn't identify with the queer characters.

I agree with you about the main character never just happening to be trans or gay. Sucks.

You're missing out on some good stuff if you shun all the slave stories, you know. Lots of great insight there on freedom and oppression and what it means to be a human even when other people have decided you're not human. You don't see any relevance there?

[aryanvaryan]

@sillyyetsuccinct But I get your friend. There are SO many books out there.

I do, but the things you mention can be found in man books, and I'd rather read the one about the gay guy. Quality + relevance ;-)

It's the same with friends. Knowing people who have radicallV different values than you do is a steep learning curve, but still the vast majorit of one's friends share the same basic values in life. There's a difference between opressing a group and prioritising another. Agree?

[BonesDGAF021]

@sillyyetsuccinct Good comeback.

[eindoppelganger]

@aryanvaryan I now what you mean. I would love more books where the Trans character is just a trans person. The associated concerns and issues can come into play for realism but dont let that be the plot.... Read Invisibles - the comic book - fiercely incredible trans-woman shaman character that is *amazing*...

[ktm64]

@aryanvaryan The reason why the main character never just "happens" to be gay is because if that were the case, it'd be almost impossible to publish. Any publisher publishing a gay book would want to appeal to the specific demographic of gays and people who want to learn more about gays. If the character just happened to be gay then it would be hard for the audience that wasn't gay to relate to the character.

[anecdotaltutelary]

This is why I love the internet, one video and you just set fire to my synapses. Thank you for opening minds Warren.

You made a good point with how kids in high school are given male protagonists to try and relate to. People and their characters are beautiful parts of literature but I'd rather focus on ideas and thoughts being introduced to young minds. We should be encouraging open mindedness, not harbouring this culture of "by them, for them" privilege.

[moldingMe]

Great video!

[yetregressing]

This was awesome. For all that I think about privilege, I hadn't thought about the intersectionality of privilege and media. It never occurred to me that when others read books, they're reading about people like themselves--wouldn't that be boring? Part of the joy of reading for me, at least, lies in that empathy that you have to develop for other characters--which brings up a question about the notion that boys don't want to read. Could it be because they don't have to use as much imagination?

[xone2manyx]

This was a very thought provoking and balanced video. Thanks for sharing your views and analysis.

The problem, I think, is people. Capitalism and free-market economics will produce products based on supply and demand and so it seems natural that products tailoring to the larger market will be more prevalent. I don't see this as a problem.

People in the majority take that market saturation for granted and people in the minority are too accepting of the status quo. People are the problem.

[cagbag007]

OH God i love your videos.... and do the writing !! ( many people would read it !! ) I know someone who publishes small volumes of independent books ! ( Im pretty sure they would publish a intersting book about a gay trans guy )

Its so true how many great books we read .... Its about imagination and imagining what it would be to be in those situations.

[cagbag007]

OH God i love your videos.... and do the writing !! ( many people would read it !! ) I know someone who publishes small volumes of independent books ! ( Im pretty sure they would publish a intersting book )

Its so true how many great books we read .... Its about imagination and imagining what it would be to be in those situations.

[ladyrassilon]

There’s an analogy i was thinking about, with being vegetarian, where normally if you are lucky, you go to a restaurant if you are lucky you’ll find a *Generic Pasta Dish* or other badly thought out token dish. Going to a proper vegan/vegetarian restaurant is the closest i’ve felt to having the same “privilege” as a meat eater or straight white man. (I know vegetarianism is a choice, but the analogy still stands)

[ladyrassilon]

Harry Potter is a good example, a book in which prejudice is hit head on, where quality of the person is far more important than what the person is, and what did we get? a single token gay character who's love was disastrous. Just to add insult to injury JK Rowling hid that fact from the readers until after the book was released.

[ladyrassilon]

I started out a while back, being very frustrated with Disney of all things, and children's entertainment in general because aside from Glee, there is no show which has teenagers as their target demographic has any LGBTQIA characters. Even the Sarah Jane Smith Adventures only features straight characters.

But warren is right, even when you have "The Kids are All Right", its almost a spectacle rather than a real movie, and its still 1 of a 100 hollywood blockbusters this year!

[MeaningfulExist]

Actually, I think that the ONLY reason why video games are traditionally viewed as a "young white male" genre is not because of the inherent qualities or the population of the gamers, but because of the way games were initially marketed in the early 80s. This became obvious to me around 2001 when the big separation was made between the generic game mechanic for Dungeons and Dragons (the d20 system) and the themes and settings. If that same game mechanic had been put into pretty, pink boxes...

[Hearten7]

I'm not a gamer, either... but I, too, am impressed ! I'm white, cis-gendered, straight female and was happy to read Middlesex... not offended. Recognized it was a landmark publication. Thanks for this observation. Some people just choose to wear blinders and continue to live in their own little ethnocentric worlds. I agree with ALL your observations here. Demographics/capitalism just happen to rule. Majority rule... Sad.

[MeaningfulExist]

Thank you for this! I am a gay female and I am also a huge fan of video games, science fiction and fantasy. I would love to see more LGBT characters without the entire movie/book/whatever be about their sexuality. It would just be great to see them as part of the story without it having to be a Big Deal. More and more shows and stories are getting better about this. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate work that focuses on LGBT issues, I just want to see them in everyday situations too

[MeaningfulExist]

Thank you for this! I am a gay female and I am also a huge fan of video games, science fiction and fantasy. I would love to see more LGBT characters without the entire movie/book/whatever be about their sexuality. It would just be great to see them as part of the story without it having to be a Big Deal. More and more shows and stories are getting better about this. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate work that focuses on LGBT issues, I just want to see them in everyday situations too.

[Torchthewood]

I would want to read a book about a gay trans-gendered man.

[sionv2009]

omg I'm so not white, straight, or cisgendered man!!!

[WhoaKaela]

I played DA2 and I hated it...basically I think the fanboys of this game are douchers. Fable series has had gay romance AND crossdressing since 2005 ;) And it's a GREAT series.

[Silvermaneuk]

HAH!!!!! Nerdfighter!

[Shadowranger96]

so many people loved avatar..

..evidently its easier to relate to blue monkey-humans than a gay guy? xDD

[seri0us]

Very well-said! I always enjoy listening to what you have to say!

[spaz566]

I find my self reading alot of books wear the main chacter is a girl disguised as a boy because thats probly what i would do in that time period . I would never be a proper young ladie because i dont see my self as a girl. Ive allso noticed if theres a more masculine female in a stroy they would become more femanin in some part of the book. The other day I was watching shake it up and there was a tomboy her mom forced the girl into a beatuy pajent and she ended up like every other girl

[Nightshadefire]

Philip Pullman writes a great Series where the main character is a young female protagonist . There are a few girl adventure stories but they are definitely RARE as hell. The only Gay trans book I've read is "Just Add Hormones" but that is not a fictional story more like an account of his experiences and he talks about some of these things.

[Nightshadefire]

LMAO @ "In the doobly do" XD your awesome

[grimreaper636]

This has led me to consider the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. For the most part the characters involved, the heros so to speak are black men. The one white man who has any involvement is portrayed as a racist, sexist and vile man. Anyway I digress. In one of the missions, your character and another character chase this man on a bike and kill him. This man is seemingly gay. What does that say to kids? That you can chase a gay man and kill him, because people are so damn insecure?? Crazy.

[lethalpenguin66]

my freinds are fairly hardcord gay women gammers and have this game. i played it with them and some of my stright freinds and loved it all of us loved it. also one freind works at Boi Ware he is a stright white gammer and loves the game and working at such an open work place. 

[chanapanya]

Well said!! I think this also relates to sport! If you look on TV and in the sports pages of papers it is 90% straight male (can include blacks, because they can earn a lot of money and this is 'valued') . But you can't really be a gay guy and expect all the sponsors or easily be out, let alone trans. And women well they aren't important in most sports unless it is for the Olympics! women sports leagues are not of value in the male world of economics and worthiness.

[Manacle180]

If I as a gay transman took it upon myself to boycott every book and movie and TV show and other form of entertainment out there in favor of entertainment that pertains only to me. I'd be left with nothing. There are practically none, if no books about us, no movies about us, and no tv shows. None. Whatsoever. Cis-gendered straight males take their privilege for granted, they just think its owed to them, this catering business. And if you're gay trans, sorry, your life is gonna be miserable.

[carosene]

Pretty good analysis of non-dominant groups in the media. :) Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Warren.

I'm an aspiring novelist (me and everyone else, I know XD) so it's good to hear your perspective. I'm writing a novel about a genderless-society and I hope some people who are marginalized by the bi-gender system could relate to it.

[TheAlexanderOscar]

@carosene Looking forward to your book. I feel very oppressed by a bi-gendered society!

[carosene]

@TheAlexanderOscar Oh thank you. :D The project has turned from a book into a visual novel (it's like a choose your own adventure book only in video game format generally with anime-esque pictures--they're a lot of fun) but it's probably at least two years from completion. When it comes out it'll be free to download. :)

[TheAlexanderOscar]

@carosene Sounds great :) I really enjoyed choose your own adventure boks as a kid (can you get such a thing aimed at adults?) and I adore anime :)

[carosene]

@TheAlexanderOscar Oh, great to hear it! XD

I have no idea if there are any books that are aimed at adults, but there are a bunch of free visual novels out on the internet that are a lot of fun. My current favorite is called "Don't Take it Personally Babe, It Just Ain't Your Story" (though it doesn't really have multiple endings, it does have different events that could take place in the middle.) But there's a whole community who makes these things and they're pretty fun. :3

[TheAlexanderOscar]

@carosene Cheers, I'll look that up. It sounds fun! :)

[SeanJamesP]

I had this conversation with a womanizing man at work. I said to him, "Why do you feel so privledged? Why do you feel like the women who you sleep with's feelings don't matter or that their sexual satisfaction don't matter?" He said, "Because I have a penis." That was his ENTIRE argument. Not the first time I've heard that either.

[Whitedoggy24]

If I may dare to be so optimistic, I think the near future will bring about a change in human thought. Perhaps it will be a time when privileged people (based on how they were born), learn to see the truth in human existence for once. There's something coming that will be like that.

[Whitedoggy24]

good point

[mylitmustest]

Fable is like that, and I'm pretty sure Fable II is like that too.

[anotherloaner]

You can publish your own stuff at this point. make it into an ebook and start a Facebook page for it =your golden

[roswellcactus]

My favorite topic so far. As an anthro student, I was really intrigued. I just spent 2 hours writing down my ideas, but am going to have to mull it over for much longer. Hopefully to come (not sure when = finals!): more on the topic's connection to the legacy of art patronages and the political agendas of the elite. It could just be my stubborn idealism, but I would hate to think that biases in media stem from an innate inability for humans to support minorities. I would rather blame politics.

[anotherloaner]

ok THATS really Cool-

[Dash107]

I would read your book bro :)

[HaloSora]

I write stories, mainly fanfics cause people tend to read that more nowadays, and I always put a gay trans character to educate others since I noticed that everyone who thinks of trans thinks we are all straight. I actually did start writing a gay trans story awhile ago and posted it online, not a lot of people read it compare to the cis gay story I had did long ago...

I really want Dragon Age 2 now.

[Doridantoni]

These comments are way too short to write all I think...

[Doridantoni]

To homosexuality: There is some shown e.g. in soaps, but mostly male! I have the impression that there are much more gay males represented than females! And often its about "specifially gay problems" like coming out.

To transsexuality: I would love to see a transsexual character in a soap! I think its about time! In (German) TV transsexuality is about nonexistent. And if they show a "documentation" its all mixed up: transsexuality, drag, homosexuality etc. Really nothing good to find!

[Doridantoni]

I agree with you in almost every point. Sometimes I find it e.g. really frustating to watch tv. When you watch it you can get the impression, that in Germany there are only white, straight, cis-gendered people.

You find a lot of implied racism: People of color, if they are shown, are represented as foreigners, not really belongig to Germany. Our family minister and others also recently said that there is an increase in hostility against Germans (= racism against "Germans" = whites) Ridiculous!

[xJuxtaposedx]

I do play a lot of video games, and they definitely marginalize me in some ways while in others giving me room to explore. BioWare won respect points for me with that reply because the gaming industry has to start catering to all of its consumers, which are more diverse than 10 years ago. I played the first game in this series, and I was surprised to find two bisexual characters. It wasn't pulled off with the most finesse, but with one major company standing its ground, more will follow.

[nriab23]

I'm just curious, what's your first language : ) random I know lol

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@nriab23 English

[longlostline]

Haha, how discouraging! I'm probably going to end up wanting to write a novel with a gay transguy (as I'm one myself) and then it won't get published because of this ~favouritism~? I'll do my very best to go against those odds! ;)

[sillyyetsuccinct]

@longlostline No! Don't be discouraged! Write it!!! I will read it :)