Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
Just thinking about how Odo could be an epic gender fluid character if the show was re-booted.
This should not be shocking and I’m sure I’m not the first person to consider this; but it’d be so cool if there was a DS9 reboot where Odo was gender fluid.
Like some days Odo wakes up and takes female form. Other days male, some days neutral.
You could get exchanges like: “I never understood the humanoid penchant for gendering identities. I have no sex organs thusly I have no sex to correspond too.”
The crew will change the pronouns they use depending on the way Odo is presenting and rarely have trouble because (duh) Odo can make it obvious how they are feeling.
Also Odo is a fairly gender neutral name so that works too.
Would also make Quodo fun because on days where Odo is femme Quark will flirt/ insult and Odo will get annoyed with it and crack down on him.
But on days where Odo is Masculine HE will be the one flirting! And Quark will have NONE OF IT around his Ferengi bar employees.
Thusly adding a fun layer of juicy tension to their relationship.
Double points if when they finally kiss it’s while Odo is masculine. Odo is shocked Quark went for it and Quark gets to say: “it never mattered what you looked like. It was always Odo in the end!”
Hmmmmm maybe I have to write this fan-fiction…
Before I get into this, I’m just going to say that this is mostly tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken terribly seriously. Altho, if you want to send me anon hate over a post about sexuality and gender in alien fucking, go ahead.
I really feel like sexuality labels start meaning less when we get into being attracted to aliens. Even if someone is only attracted to aliens of the opposite gender, are they straight? Really? Can we even confidently apply human gender to alien species?
Obviously we accept when an alien tells us their gender. But we have to assume they are influenced by their own culture and by their understanding of our culture, both of which are highly subjective. Humans can’t even decide on a set definition of gender within our own species. To assume we can properly understand the gender of another species is arrogance.
The other point here is that, in my opinion, attraction to aliens is inherently queer. It is outside the norm of cishet human sexuality, so, again in my opinion, if someone is attracted to an alien, they are not straight.
Anyway this is all to say that Julian Bashir was never straight to begin with, friends. No matter what Berman&Co thought they were portraying.
Every time I see a new theory about sexual dimorphism in an alien species that accounts for trans people by saying that like, X trait is only seen on male characters so a female alien with this trait is trans… it’s like. Ok? But I don’t think you’re doing trans people any favors by putting an emphasis on individual traits as reliable indications of ASAB. Aren’t you just recreating How To Spot A Trans but with aliens? I realize I might sound like an overly serious killjoy here, so you’ll have to bear with me for a minute, but like, even not counting trans and/or intersex humans, the idea of secondary sex characteristics as reliable indicators of sex is awfully shaky.
As a trans person, I’m comforted by the fact that, pretty much no matter what secondary sex characteristic you pick out on my body, there is a cis person of my gender out there who has the same trait. The idea of crafting a world where this is not the case, where trans people have these kinds of noticeable, fixed differences due to extreme dimorphism… that doesn’t sit well with me. I mean, you can do whatever you want, but I don’t like that it reinforces the attitude of trans people being seen as So Different from other people of their gender when the reality of the situation is we’re really not! I mean, a little, sure, there are trends of certain traits and whatnot, but the whole thing is massively overemphasized.
That’s how you get situations where you could hold up a group photo which is actually of 10 cis women, tell someone that one of the women is trans, and they’d find a trans woman in the photo! As soon as they hear “trans” they immediately start assigning dramatic back stories to traits that they’d think NOTHING of on your average cis woman! And people frequently have no awareness of the preposterous degree to which they are doing this. Which is why it bothers me when people unthinkingly recreate this dynamic even for fictional trans characters. It speaks to these distorted ideas of real-life trans people being so, well, alien to their cis counterparts. It’s ok to be different, of course, but we’re not actually That Different and I think it’s a disservice to maintain the idea that we are.
How about “some people of this alien race have X, some don’t, and it might be more common with men or women, but bodies are diverse so who cares?” I feel like this would be a more appropriate trans-inclusive spin. Again, you can do what you want in your own mind, but it would be nice if people had an awareness of what potentially harmful real-life attitudes they might be building off of.
Caption: [There’s this line in the book Nevada, “Eventually you can’t help but figure out that while gender is a construct, so are traffic lights. And if you ignore either of them, you get hit by cars, which are also constructs. In that vein, I see you as the rollerbladers in New York.
They’re aware of the lights, but they’re still going to go wherever they want. They flow through traffic, hip checking cars because they can. Turning where they want and passing those of us sitting at a red light. There’s so much beauty and wonder at watching you flow through the world.
Sometimes the lights point the way you were already wanted to go and I see you, not following, not obeying, just going how you please. Coincidentally with the cars. You look so graceful”. With love, Samantha.]
“As I pondered a pronoun change I began to think of gender less as a scale and more as a landscape. Some people are born in the mountains, while others are born by the sea. Some people are happy to live in the place they were born, while others must make a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow. Between the ocean and the mountains is a wild forest. That is where I want to make my home.”
If you are trans or nb, and you want to make sure your wishes are respected in death, I ask that you please watch this video. this might get buried in the notes, but i’ll be glad if anyone sees this. You have rights. simple as that, and Caitlin Doughty made this video to share with you all of your rights and how to make sure that your wishes are respected.
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I honestly want to see more love to people who’s gender/orientation is something along the lines of “I don’t really know, and I don’t really think I ever will”
Sometimes it’s just more comfortable to not have any label, not because you can’t find one that fits but because you just don’t feel the need to find one
For some people it’s “I know my sexuality but I don’t feel like figuring out my gender” and that’s okay! That’s great!
Other times it can be “I know my gender, but I don’t know about my sexuality” and that’s great too!
For people who are on the ace/aro spectrums, it’s also great to have romantic orientation figured out but not sexual (and the other way around)!
This also includes people who use broad terms to describe themselves because it makes them feel more comfortable “I’m trans, but I don’t have a specific label” amazing! “I’m queer, because that’s my identity” also amazing!
You don’t ever have to figure out your identity if you don’t want to. It’s your life and your experience, live it the way you want!
