WisCon: Transsexuality as Trope

[bcholmes]

So, I had a panel yesterday morning: "Transsexuality as Trope". The topic was the idea that, in sf, transsexuality is seldom presented as a process. I liked this panel a great deal more than I liked the "Counting Past Two" panel, and I think that some interesting discussion came out of it. In particular, I was happy to be able to argue and debate with another trans woman about our respective wants from representations of changing sex/gender in science fiction.

I was annoyed by two things on the panel, however.

1. First was that some of our panelists seemed to not want to talk about the topic. One panelist (whom I'll call Janet, even though her real name is Elizabeth Bear) seemed to want to make jokes, rather than talk about the issues. It seemed to take a very long time to get the panel topic going because some of the panelists just wanted to be funny.
2. Another dynamic, that started to bug me, was the dynamic of responding to a statement like, "I feel that we don't see aspect X of transness in these speculative gender stories" with "well you should write a book that includes that". The suggestion might be true, and wild_irises made a very similar challenge to me a few years ago (which I found motivational). But in this instance, the response seemed to be designed to silence the critique, rather than to further the discussion.

Later in the panel, someone asked a question (I wish I could reproduce it word-for-word). The essence of the question was, "For what design purpose should an author include a trans character in an sf story. What function would that trans person play?"

To her credit, Bear identified this as a problematic question. But I think epi_lj teased out its dumbness a great deal better a few hours afterward: that if you were to substitute black for trans the idea of including black characters for a purpose sounds really offensive. Like, they have to have some good reason to be included.

kalikanzeros also made a good comment at dinner a bit later: we were talking about a fantasy writer who gets angry letters because her fictional universe contains alligators. This was an example brought up in a panel about what authors owe their readers. It seemed unreasonable that her readers expect her universe would be yet another fantasy-world-based-on-Europe. But then that raises the question: is it unreasonable for trans readers to expect that sf writers should talk about transness in certain ways?

I think that the crux of that question relates to individual choices versus societal choices. I think I respect individual choices of sf writers to create the stories they want to tell, but when every one of them makes the same choice in a particular area, I think something bigger is going on and that can stand to have some kind of interruption.

Comments

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

But in this instance, the response seemed to be designed to silence the critique, rather than to further the discussion.

I just had a disturbing little conversation in my head, between myself and some imaginary opponents.

Me: There aren't enough strong female characters that I can identify with!

Them: Then you should write some.

Me: I'll do that. How come nobody else is writing them?

Them: Because there isn't a market for them.

Me: So... if I write them, does that mean they aren't going to get published anyways?

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

And... okay, maybe that's a bit extreme. More specifically, there are plenty of women who want stories like that, but it's taking a long time for publishers and filmmakers and comic artists to realise it. They know what works and what's profitable; they're afraid to branch out.

I suspect that with including trans things in fiction, there is a very real fear that nobody would be interested, because the obvious target demographic (trans people) is so much smaller.

But it's funny that s/f people would have that attitude, that only X people would be interested in reading about X characters. They're supposed to be so good at thinking outside the box and getting into the heads of every alien and time traveller and non-corporeal being who doesn't even have a head. Why is there resistance to reading about other human beings whose experiences are vastly different from their own?

[charliegrrrl.livejournal.com]

There are lots and lots of people who demand stories with strong female characters. There are tons and tons of women (and smart men) who read SF and want to see smart, competent women represented. But yeah, the target demographic is smaller when you're talking about trans people.

I don't think only trans people are interested in reading about trans characters, actually. Look at how many people bought She's Not There, or Trans Sister Radio. Or the books of JT Leroy. There's a market out there, for sure.

I think if you had a speculative fiction novel that included a really fascinating character who just happened to be trans, you could sell it. I'm not going to write that novel, because it's not the kind of speculative fiction I write.