#fascinating shit

Gendered terms

Participants were asked “What kind(s) of gendered terms do you prefer?” (multiple selection). The options provided were:

Masculine terms such as man, boy, etc: 599 (75.2%)

Feminine terms such as woman, girl, etc: 279 (37.6%)

General terms such as person, kid, etc: 489 (65.8%)

Nonbinary specific terms such as enban, enby, etc: 147 (19.8%)

Combined feminine and masculine terms such as manwoman, boygirl, etc: 323 (43.5%)

Nonhuman terms such as thing, creature, etc: 390 (52.5%)

I have no preference: 54 (7.3%)

Out of participants who answered “Combined masculine and feminine terms such as manwoman, boygirl, etc”:

142 answered both masculine and feminine terms (44.0%)

13 answered feminine terms but not masculine terms (4.0%)

120 answered masculine terms but not feminine terms (37.2%)

48 did not answer masculine or feminine terms (14.9%)

Gendered terms, pronouns, and labels

Masculinity

Participants were compared based on whether they answered “Masculine terms such as man, boy, etc” to the question “What kind(s) of gendered terms do you prefer,” “He/him” to the question “What pronouns do you use?” and “Man/boy/male” to the question “What are the genders you identify with?” and divided into the following categories 

Identify as a man/boy/male, prefer masculine terms, and use he/him pronouns: 366 (49.3%)

Identify as a man/boy/male, don’t prefer masculine terms, and use he/him pronouns: 40 (5.4%)

Identify as a man/boy/male, prefer masculine terms, and don’t use he/him pronouns: 46 (6.2%)

Identify as a man/boy/male, don’t prefer masculine terms, and don’t use he/him pronouns: 18 (2.4%)

Don’t identify as a man/boy/male, prefer masculine terms, and use he/him pronouns: 106 (14.3%)

Don’t identify as a man/boy/male, don’t prefer masculine terms, and use he/him pronouns: 53 (7.1%)

Don’t identify as a man/boy/male, prefer masculine terms, and don’t use he/him pronouns: 41 (5.5%)

Don’t identify as a man/boy/male, don’t prefer masculine terms, and don’t use he/him pronouns: 73 (9.8%)

Femininity

Participants were compared based on whether they answered “Feminine terms such as woman, girl, etc” to the question “What kind(s) of gendered terms do you prefer,” “She/her” to the question “What pronouns do you use?” and “Woman/girl/female” to the question “What are the genders you identify with?” and divided into the following categories 

Identify as a woman/girl/female, prefer feminine terms, and use she/her pronouns: 187 (25.2%)

Identify as a woman/girl/female, don’t prefer feminine terms, and use she/her pronouns: 87 (11.7%)

Identify as a woman/girl/female, prefer feminine terms, and don’t use she/her pronouns: 37 (5.0%)

Identify as a woman/girl/female, don’t prefer feminine terms, and don’t use she/her pronouns: 88 (11.8%)

Don’t identify as a woman/girl/female, prefer feminine terms, and use she/her pronouns: 35 (4.7%)

Don’t identify as a woman/girl/female, don’t prefer feminine terms, and use she/her pronouns: 71 (9.6%)

Don’t identify as a woman/girl/female, prefer feminine terms, and don’t use she/her pronouns: 20 (2.7%)

Don’t identify as a woman/girl/female, don’t prefer feminine terms, and don’t use she/her pronouns: 218 (29.3%)

Femininity+Masculinity

Participants were compared based on whether they answered “Combined feminine and masculine terms such as manwoman, boygirl, etc” to the question “What kind(s) of gendered terms do you prefer,” “He/him” and “She/her” to the question “What pronouns do you use?” and “Manwoman/boygirl/male+female” to the question “What are the genders you identify with?” and divided into the following categories 

Identify as a manwoman/boygirl/male+female, prefer combined terms, and use he/she pronouns: 156 (21.0%)

Identify as a manwoman/boygirl/male+female, don’t prefer combined terms, and use he/she pronouns: 66 (8.9%)

Identify as a manwoman/boygirl/male+female, prefer combined terms, and don’t use he/she pronouns: 112 (15.1%)

Identify as a manwoman/boygirl/male+female, don’t prefer combined terms, and don’t use he/she pronouns: 64 (8.6%)

Don’t identify as a manwoman/boygirl/male+female, prefer combined terms, and use he/she pronouns: 22 (3.0%)

Don’t identify as a manwoman/boygirl/male+female, don’t prefer combined terms, and use he/she pronouns: 83 (11.2%)

Don’t identify as a manwoman/boygirl/male+female, prefer combined terms, and don’t use he/she pronouns: 33 (4.4%)

Don’t identify as a manwoman/boygirl/male+female, don’t prefer combined terms, and don’t use he/she pronouns: 207 (27.9%)

Nonhumanity

Participants were compared based on whether they answered “Nonhuman terms such as thing, creature, etc” to the question “What kind(s) of gendered terms do you prefer,” and “It/its” to the question “What pronouns do you use?” and divided into the following categories:

Prefer nonhuman terms, use it/its pronouns: 218 (29.3%)

Don’t prefer nonhuman terms, use it/its pronouns: 172 (23.1%)

Prefer nonhuman terms, don’t use it/its pronouns: 57 (7.7%)

Don’t prefer nonhuman terms, don’t use it/its pronouns: 296 (39.8%)

Abinary

The answers to “What kind(s) of gendered terms do you prefer” from participants with one or more abinary gender were compared to answers from participants overall.

Participants with one or more abinary gender were significantly less likely to prefer

Nonhuman terms such as thing, creature, etc: 110 (25.6%)

26.8 percentage points lower than participants overall (p < 0.001)

Feminine terms such as woman, girl, etc: 134 (31.2%) 

6.3 percentage points lower than participants overall (p < 0.01)

and significantly more likely to prefer

General terms such as person, kid, etc: 306 (71.3%)

5.5 percentage points higher than participants overall (p < 0.05)

Nonbinary specific terms such as enban, enby, etc: 266 (62.0%)

Technically this is a Christmas story. 

Many of you probably remember this movie. 

The Nutcracker Prince is this weird little Canadian animated movie that was released in 1990 and suffered a bizarre distribution hell over the last few decades. It used to play on the Disney Channel when I was a kid and being a Christmas special my sister and I would watch it every fucking year.

But over time we noticed something.

The animation is...middling at best. At times its competent but there are lots of inconsistencies between scenes and characters are often off model. It tends to wantonly change fps rates and there are volume problems all over the place especially with the characters faces which seem to shift. In a word its just OK.

EXCEPT THIS ONE SCENE.

It’s at the very end of the movie and my sister and I would watch the whole thing just to get to that one scene so we could cheer for it; that became our tradition.

I cannot stress how much this one scene sticks out. Imagine watching an OK Saturday morning cartoon and then suddenly right before the credits goddamn James Baxter takes over for five seconds and you have a brief moment of Disney renaissance level skill before POOF. Its gone again.

Don’t believe me? PROOF: Watch the first five minutes or so and I guarantee you will see what I’m talking about the instant it happens.

BAM! 1 minute 34ish seconds in and its like the movie does a 360 into good town and it lasts until around  3:08 after Keifer Sutherland gives the performance of his life.

This scene has always driven me INSANE. Why was it so much better? Was it given to a master animator who just worked faster? Was it done first as a test to sell the film? Was it just given more time for some reason? Why is it the only goddamn scene that uses smears and secondary action correctly in the whole fucking movie.Most importantly (to me) who animated it?? FOR YEARS THIS HAS BEEN A GODDAMN CHRISTMAS MYSTERY.

Until one year i decided I was going to go through every animator in the credits one at a time and try and figure out who had done it based on their other work. All animators have a style/skill level so I thought maybe I had a shot at figuring it out. Certain motions/tics are just part of an animators acting repertoire and I was determined to at least make an educated guess.

So I went through them. One. By. One.

And that is how I found Darlie Brewster.

After searching through dozens of old IMDb pages and portfolio reels I  was getting frustrated. I wasn’t seeing anything I thought was stand out. When I looked up an animator named “Dave” Brewster I didn’t get results at first. After more research I found out Brewster is a trans woman who was still using her given name during the production of The Nutcracker Prince. And damn Darlie Brewster is in a word Amazing.

Just look at her body of work.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0108268/

Dreamworks, Pixar, Bluth, Bluesky, Laika, Warner Bros. She has done it ALL and worked for EVERYONE. She works in an industry that can be hostile to people who are different and yet she transitioned like a boss and didn’t let it slow her down at all.Hell she just finished working on the animated segments in the new Mary Poppins movie!

Here is a rad interview with her where you can see her designs for Merida in Brave.

http://flipanimation.blogspot.com/2013/01/darlie-brewster-talks-about-life-gender.html

I. love. Darlie Brewster. I want everyone to know how cool she is and I think its important that she is visible to younger people who worry that transitioning might make the career or life they want impossible. I can’t know what she went through. She talks about how lucky she was to have the support of her friends and co-workers and that makes me happy. The one thing I am completely sure of is that we need more visible people like her right now. Especially in the entertainment industry.

Also.....I can’t be 100 percent sure but I think...

I think she animated that scene.