Thought I'd add my dumb enby thoughts to this.
(Just a quick disclaimer, i am but one enby of many. I obviously dont claim to speak for all nonbinary people these are just my thoughts)
So the thing with Raine's agab (assigned gender at birth) being vague is that its not purposeful obfuscation by the writers, in that they arent taking active steps to hide it. (At least, i personally don't think they are.) More accurately, it just doesnt become relevant to the narrative at any point. Why would they mention it when it isnt necessary to do so.
You could of course argue that its implied their afab (assigned female at birth), both their young and adult voice actors are afab enbys. And many interpret their design as reading more feminine. Before their gender was revealed, many who watched the trailer (and even that sneak peak of them in season 1) read them as female. It wasnt until their voice was actually revealed that people started reading them as more "masculine".
This isnt to say people who present Raine as amab (assigned male at birth) in fan works are wrong. Their agab is still unconfirmed in canon and i dont think its misrepresentation to present them otherwise (Also i will always support projecting onto characters through fanworks, especially for comfort and exploration).
Im just saying i dont think the team is portraying Raine without an agab in mind. And personally, i have no isssue with that. While its important to have trans issues and daily trans life struggles portrayed in media, its equally important to acknowledge that being trans is just one aspect of an individuals identity and doesnt always have to to come up.
However, as an enby person, i do have a problem with purposefully being vague about a nonbinary persons agab and more specifically their body.
One critique of op i have is how they use the term "genderless" when they mean "sexless".
I dont wanna get to into it cause its a whole can of worms, but Sex is the physical traits we are born with. Gender is a social construct. Sex does not equal gender, they are two different things. That being said, they do effect eachother.
How your raised, what gender roles are forced onto you, what societal expectations effect you, will be influenced by how your assigned at birth- based on your sex. Even intersex people are assigned a gender at birth. The gender your raised as will effect how you explore and interact with gender as a concept as a whole. Afab and amab nonbinary people will have different experiences.
Theres also the obvious fact that your sex is a pretty major part of your physicality as a whole. It effects what medical conditions your susceptible to, what treatments you may need, dreaded monthly's for the afabs.
And theres also the fact that its just your body. Its the physical vessel that binds you to this plain of existence, its how you experience the world. Its your appearance. Its a part of you.
When people take steps to actively dodge the question of enby characters agab when its relevant (for the most obvious example of this, fanworks that are- lets say- rated higher than pg-13) it makes me uncomfortable because it suggests the author beileves to some level that sex does equal gender. And therefore thinks they cant show an enby character with certain physical traits without "misgendering" them.
It also comes down a desire by certain people to neatly slot nonbinary identities among binary ones. I think this is why alot of people get thrown off by neo pronouns or genders not defined by their proximity to male or female. Because now the concept has been shown to be fundamentally more complex than "basically man, basically woman, both, none, etc". And often times people ouside these definitions suffer abuse for "not really being nonbinary" or "making up genders".
(just to clarify theres nothing wrong with having a identity described through proximity to binary genders, id describe my own in a similar way, but more shaming people for having identities not defined by proximity to binary genders is transphobic and shitty)
The reason why I, and many others, have a problem with sexless non-human creatures being called nonbinary is that- A) why would an entity susbcribe to a human social consruct built around something they literally do not have, and B) it avoids the descussion of trans bodies being valid as they are.
Trans bodies are different from cis bodies and this is a truth that needs to be more wildly accepted. To many people treat cis bodies as the thing that trans bodies need to become, which is downright impossible, and also extremely trans-medicalist. Its toxic and breeds personal discontent with things we fundamentally cannot change about ourselves. This is particularly important to understand when it comes to nonbinary people as there is no way to be cis and nonbinary. A fact that has been used to discredit enbys and used as evidence to say were not real.
This is all say, its important that nonbinary bodies (and trans bodies as a whole) are presented in a respectful manner that acknowledges how were raised, how society sees us, and how we see ourselves. Nonbinary people shouldnt have our bodies censored so that we can seem more "androgynous" and "valid".
Im not saying people who do this are transphobic btw. If anything their being overly cautious and misguided.
If raines agab were to be revealed, assuming it would be done in a respectful way, i would not have a problem with it. Honestly them being revealed to be sexless would be more upsetting to me for above reasons.
I would urge people who create fan content of them, and any enby character, to question why they may have a knme jerk reaction to hide their physical appearance (like for example, hiding their chest in a situation where it would make sense for them be shirtless to hide top surgery scars, or lack thereof). What about their body type would contradict their identity for you? Why do you picture them a certain way?
I dont think the owl crew are taking active steps to avoid referencing Raine's assigned gender at birth, it is implied that they are afab but this is unconfirmed
Being trans is just one aspect of you identity, its fine to show other aspects of a character
As an enby i find it really uncomfortable when enby characters agabs are actively censored because it reinforces "gender = sex"
It also reflects a want to neatly slide nonbinary identities in with binary genders which causes problems
If Raine's agab were to be revealed it wouldnt really upset me
If they were revealed to be sexless it would upset me
Trans bodies are valid no matter their shape
Again, i am but one enby. Do please feel free to disagree with me. These are just my perspective on things.
Anyway stan Raine Whipsers
turnnoffyourmind
areudirty
jacobvanloon
