#internal lore

Let’s start with a review of (human) terms. 

Sex refers to the physical reproductive equipment one is born with and correlates to one’s genetics. A very basic example is if one has the chromosomes XX and has a uterus, then they are female. Though there is some variation in equipment and chromosomes (intersex comes to mind), sex is pretty cut and dry. This therefore that. 

Gender refers to the social identity one takes on and is usually correlated with the biological role associated with one’s sex. Males may identify as men due to their inability to carry a child and all the social tasks and attitudes that come with being a father. Because of the social nature of gender, it is not as clear cut as sex. You can’t point to a set of XX chromosomes and tell their owner they should go make babies and be sweet. People do, and that’s a rant for another time. The important thing to note about gender is that it is subjective in nature but also biological. Our brains, thus our self-perceptions, get wired a certain way. Usually, they match our physical selves but not always. 

This brings us to the term transgender. Do note that I, myself, am not transgender, so I will not speak for all experiences. I can only report on objective information and the experiences I have listened to. 

“Trans” means to go beyond or across, usually denoting a change of some sort. My chemistry brain associates it more with isomers, so I translate “trans” and “cis” to mean “not matching” and “matching”, respectively. Thus, transgender means exactly what it says it does: not matching gender. A person’s gender/social identity doesn’t match with the sex they were born with. Given what we know of sex and gender, it makes sense that this might happen. Sex is a definitive physicality; gender is a biologically tied social identity. When the objective and subjective meet, they have a chance of clashing. 

That’s great for humans, but what does this have to do with transformers? A great deal, actually. Not only are gender and sex a lens through which we view sentient life, but it’s also important to understand how these concepts will be handled with a hermaphroditic species. The foundation of human gender’s construction (sex) is obsolete when everyone has the same parts. 

But aren’t there femmes and mechs, you might ask. Yes, there are. However, neither of these are sexes. A clearly feminine frame and a clearly masculine frame are two options along a spectrum for the same set of genetic material. Imagine a pendulum where one high is a mech and the other is a femme and the swinging ball is a person. That ball can be halted at any point along it’s path between the two highs. 

The actual difference between a mech and a femme is entirely developmental. When conditions are optimal or in surplus, the pendulum swings to mech, resulting in a bulky frame that is better for loadbearing and/or labor. When conditions are lacking, the carrier’s frame adapts by reducing the bulkiness of the sparkling’s frame and optimizing it’s fuel capacity and efficiency. The result is somewhere in the middle, such as sleeker racer frames. If conditions are excessively trying/lacking, then the carrier’s frame compensates for the sake of itself and for the betterment of the sparkling by reducing frame bulk even more, shorting connection points in the processor for faster thinking, and increasing fuel efficacy even more. The pendulum swings towards femme. 

Like with humans, this process isn’t perfect nor is it entirely definitive. And, like humans, some Cybertronian cultures associate the biological with personal identity. 

To really dive into my lore, I’m going to rely on my published works of Starscream and Flip Sides as examples of two experiences a Cybertronian may have. 

Starscream’s story arc in Vos revolves around his early adulthood when it is revealed his coding aligns more with a carrier than a sire. Here, Vosians (especially seekers) have strict definitions between those who carry offspring, those who sire, and femmes (who they view as inferior and are discarded from society). Each has an assigned gender. Though stereotyping can lead to some early gendering, most seekers (mechs) find out their gender as adults when their coding (think hormones) have matured enough to be tested. Now, there is some validity to saying a person is more or less predisposed to siring or carrying which can be seen in the varying levels of different codes. Vos views this as a kind of sex definition and assigns it genders/social roles. So, when Starscream grows up confident he’s sire-coded only to be told no, he’s a carrier, his entire life trajectory flips. 

This is different from Flip Sides’s experience. He is born in a femme frame and believed to have all its associated traits as stated above. As he grows older, however, he notices a disconnect between his perception of himself and his physical self, which leads to him receiving a processor scan. This reveals he actually lies somewhere in the middle of the pendulum. While others, such as Knock Out, don’t experience discomfort being there, Flip Sides does. The disconnect is readily remedied, though, by body modifications which help match his frame to his mind. 

These two stories outline the two different cases of being ‘transgender’ in my lore. Starscream represents the social disconnect that comes with his self not identifying with what his body tells society he is. He doesn’t want to be a carrier or to be sweet or nurturing, and he especially doesn’t want to be told to silence his ambitions so he can eventually have a family. As far as he’s concerned, his body doesn’t dictate his social role. Thus, he desires a socially transition from a carrier to a sire (woman to man). Flip Sides doesn’t have this social aspect to his disconnect. It’s entirely physical. His mind and body didn’t match, so he made modifications to the latter. 

So, what does transgender mean for a species without sexes? For some (like Starscream), there is a link drawn by society between the body and social roles, and not everyone’s (see Starscream) body will match their role. For someone else (like Flip Sides), there is a physical mismatch between the frame and the processor which require body alterations to remedy. Both experience a “no match” between the body and the mind/identity similar to human transgenderism. Whether either, both, or neither character is actually considered transgender is not for me to decide, hence why neither character’s story features the “transgender character” tag. It’s not for me to label them, especially when Starscream’s experience is far more social role oriented. But I do see two aspects to transgenderism that I elected to separate into two experiences in my world building: social and physical transitioning.