If You Love Pidge Please Read
Gendering Pidge as a girl is so so important for two reasons and I’m going to explain both. (DON’T JUST KEEP SCROLLING, PLEASE READ)
1. Pidge’s ‘coming out’ scene, be it on accident or purpose, mirrored that of anyone in the LGBT+ community coming out to their family/loved ones, and many people connected with that. When you come out to your family it’s a BIG DEAL, and you would want them to respect your decision and support you. For people who have found a connection with Pidge, who identify with her and her identity/the way she told the team, seeing people then not gender her as a girl, be it they/them or he/him, is hurtful and upsetting. It sends a message, intentionally or unintentionally, of disrespect as to what people identify as because you are gendering Pidge the way you would prefer she is gender rather than the way she identified, and for people who find a connection with her this can be especially hurtful. The creators of Voltron have specified that this message was intended to be her telling the team she is and identifies as a girl, so she is, in fact, a girl (all ‘proof’ of using pronouns other than she/her have been debunked).
2. Pidge being a girl is such a victory for the feminist movement, and it’s so frustrating that people try and take this away by making her a different gender. 95% of the women seen on TV are all stereotypically feminine, with large breasts, long hair, curves and a small waist. Even Allura, while being an amazing character (and a POC which is so awesome!!!!), follows this pattern. Pidge is none of these things, and for her gender to still be validated as a girl is SO IMPORTANT for all the people (and especially small children, as it is a kid’s show) watching who have been continuously sent the message that if they’re not like Allura they’re not good enough. Finally we have a female character who is strong, determined, a genius, and an important part of the team who isn’t all these things; Pidge is not curvy, she does not have large breasts, she does not have long hair and a tiny waist, but she is still a girl and no less valid for it. In the first link, the creators of Voltron said they chose to have Pidge’s gender identity revealed in such a way because it would show that her being a girl would change nothing about her abilities/role as a member of Voltron, which is an amazing message that should be heard and appreciated and respected. What Tumblr has done, be it intentional or not, is take this non-conformity to gender stereotypes and made it mean she is not a girl, she is a boy or nb or anything else. Doing this is reinforcing the idea that if you are not stereotypically feminine you cannot be a girl, and is so SO frustrating.
Gender neutral pronouns are not respecting her gender as a girl, and certainly neither are male pronouns.
I’m begging you, begging you, to use her proper pronouns, it’s so important you do and so frustrating people aren’t.
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