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More testing out of Ibis Paint. I think I like it actually. Anyway, that's Penn. Don't worry about her, she's harmless. Unless you do something stupid.
Remember, the correct answer to "May I have your name?" is "No, you may not."
Now that I have two stories published on AO3 featuring the topic, I thought now was as good a time as any to lay out how transgenderism works in my lore when the transformers donât have sexes.Â
The TLDR of this is: Cybertronians donât have sexes, but the can associate social roles with biology (genders), though most cultures donât. Whenever objective and subjective identities meet, they have a chance of clashing, which results in some people experiencing a dissociation between their frames and their minds similar to transgender humansâ experiences.Â
Letâs start with a review of (human) terms.Â
Sex refers to the physical reproductive equipment one is born with and correlates to oneâs 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.Â
Gender refers to the social identity one takes on and is usually correlated with the biological role associated with oneâs 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 canât point to a set of XX chromosomes and tell their owner they should go make babies and be sweet. People do, and thatâs 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.Â
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.Â
âTransâ means to go beyond or across, usually denoting a change of some sort. My chemistry brain associates it more with isomers, so I translate âtransâ and âcisâ to mean ânot matchingâ and âmatchingâ, respectively. Thus, transgender means exactly what it says it does: not matching gender. A personâs gender/social identity doesnât 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.Â
Thatâs 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 itâs also important to understand how these concepts will be handled with a hermaphroditic species. The foundation of human genderâs construction (sex) is obsolete when everyone has the same parts.Â
But arenât 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 itâs path between the two highs.Â
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 carrierâs frame adapts by reducing the bulkiness of the sparklingâs frame and optimizing itâs fuel capacity and efficiency. The result is somewhere in the middle, such as sleeker racer frames. If conditions are excessively trying/lacking, then the carrierâs 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.Â
Like with humans, this process isnât perfect nor is it entirely definitive. And, like humans, some Cybertronian cultures associate the biological with personal identity.Â
To really dive into my lore, Iâm going to rely on my published works of Starscream and Flip Sides as examples of two experiences a Cybertronian may have.Â
Starscreamâs 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 heâs sire-coded only to be told no, heâs a carrier, his entire life trajectory flips.Â
This is different from Flip Sidesâs 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, donât experience discomfort being there, Flip Sides does. The disconnect is readily remedied, though, by body modifications which help match his frame to his mind.Â
These two stories outline the two different cases of being âtransgenderâ in my lore. Starscream represents the social disconnect that comes with his self not identifying with what his body tells society he is. He doesnât want to be a carrier or to be sweet or nurturing, and he especially doesnât want to be told to silence his ambitions so he can eventually have a family. As far as heâs concerned, his body doesnât dictate his social role. Thus, he desires a socially transition from a carrier to a sire (woman to man). Flip Sides doesnât have this social aspect to his disconnect. Itâs entirely physical. His mind and body didnât match, so he made modifications to the latter.Â
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 everyoneâs (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 âno matchâ 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 characterâs story features the âtransgender characterâ tag. Itâs not for me to label them, especially when Starscreamâs 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.Â
Now, this doesnât include those created via the Well, but I think Iâve rambled enough for now. I have linked here the two works mentioned: Starscreamâs two-shot Changling Child and the chapter featuring Flip Sides from Logical Proposals.Â