Pls educate me if I’m stupid bc I genuinely want to learn and understand in case I’m wrong or taking words too literally but is the “cross dressing freak” line really as bad as twitter acts like it is when you look at it solely in context of the game?
I see people calling it transphobic all the time on Twitter and it’s obviously used that way in the real world, but in the game Alfred isn’t trans or doing anything with gender expression, he’s literally dressing up as and pretending to be/believing he is his sister, a completely separate actual person from him that is a woman, all while attacking Claire and Steve. It’s insensitive for sure, but it doesn’t feel explicitly transphobic in context.
Am I missing something or maybe looking at things too literally?
Ok no one attack Anon because I want this to be a teaching moment but yes Anon, you are overlooking things and I'm happy to explain why it is absolutely offensive:
It doesn't matter if Alfred is trans or not. The term crossdressing simply refers to wearing clothing traditionally associated with a different gender, so its not tied to any one identity. Alfred dressing up as Alexia is crossdressing from an outside perspective, so whether or not he's trans is irrelevant-- "crossdressing freak" was still being used as an insult on the basis of gender-nonconformity. If you call a straight person a fag, you're still using the term as a slur. The insult's meaning comes from the stereotype or prejudice it invokes, not just from the identity of the person receiving it.
And while crossdressing isn't a slur, combining that with "freak" and using it in a derogatory manner is still attacking Alfred for being perceived as gender-nonconforming. And this does tie into transphobia because even though crossdressing and being trans are NOT the same thing, transphobic cis people view trans people as crossdressers.
But I do think an important thing to mention is that this line is non-existent in the Japanese version. This was only added to the international release due to the whims of the English localization team. Claire's original line has absolutely nothing to do with Alfred's identity in the slightest, so choosing to instead twist this line into the "crossdressing freak" line is solely on the shoulders of the localization team and doing so was absolutely ridiculous.
So yeah, the line is bad for a multitude of reasons and absolutely needs to be cut from the remake. The line never should've existed in the first place because its not an accurate translation of what Claire said, but especially with everything happening to queer people right now, there is no excuse and no reason for keeping the line.
And this is not directed at you Anon, this is just a general statement, but I am very fucking tired of watching cis people debate this already. If you find this to be a "beloved line" you're just a transphobe who should choke and die. Its pride month and the trailer has been out for less than 48hrs and so. many. cis people are so gleeful about this line and adamant that it needs to be included in the remake because they want Claire to be a transphobe. I'm exhausted, and I know my queer and trans siblings are too. Of all the things to discuss about this remake, cis people have chosen to argue whether or not Claire should get to almost say slurs... and I think that speaks volumes to the current state of things.
