a question

[casualbird]

Please--if any of you know of any canonically non-binary characters in popular media, would you let me know? I'm thinking of writing a meta post about the sorry state of non-binary representation, and I'd like to see if I can't find some more evidence than I have right now.

Thank you!

Comments

[soc_puppet]

TPTB have stated that all the gems in Steven Universe (with the exception of Steven himself) are agender.

I think I also remember hearing about a running sketch series on SNL about a person named Pat who presented entirely androgynously and the gag was that no one could tell if they were a man or a woman, and the skits always ended before anyone could find out? Definitely problematic, but I'm pretty sure it was also decades ago, so.

CLAMP has had a few canonical nonbinary characters, with mixed results in translation and adaptation. All the angels in Wish are actually nonbinary, but were assigned gendered pronouns for the English translation; I'm pretty sure the main character of RG Veda was also nonbinary, but I could be misremembering the series? It's not one I actually read, but I do remember that the character in question showed up in the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles manga, and the translation team did an fantastic job of avoiding giving them any gendered pronouns at all.

I'm pretty sure the Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers has gotten a lot of traction in the speculative fiction community; I don't recall if there are actually any human characters that identify as nonbinary, but there are two alien species we know about so far that have non-static sexes and (generally?) switch genders to match.

I'll do a bit more digging through what I've got, but that's the most popular canon stuff I can think of.

[soc_puppet]

Oh! Pretty sure the Sailor Star Lights from the final season of Sailor Moon qualify in some way, and if we're going by the manga/Crystal, then there's a fair amount of evidence for Tenou Haruka as well, IMO.

There's also an old Argentinean cartoon called Cyber Six (very well done, as I recall, though I need to do a rewatch) that might qualify: The title character presents as male for their day job and as female when superheroing. I wanna say it's from the late nineties?

(There is absolutely a case to be made for the main human character of Pixar's Inside-Out, IMO, since every other character in the film has single gender "emotions" that match the gender they present as, but whether that counts as canon I can't say.)

[soc_puppet]

Two more where it can be confusing: .hack//SIGN and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Utena rejects "princess" as a gendered role in favor of "prince", but is very clear about still being a girl. Definitely an argument for her being canonically genderqueer, not sure about nonbinary (depending on how much you separate the two).

.hack//SIGN is... somewhat more complicated. One of the main characters basically... exists in the game? And is in a coma or something IRL? They present as male in the game, and learn towards the end of the series (when their body wakes up) that their body was assigned female. The animated series ends before we learn much more than that, but there's a couple of short OVAs that take place after both the series and the first set of video games that offer a bit more insight; the character in question continues to use the same avatar as before they woke up in the game, and presents as male to the point of going into the male side of a hot spring, but proceeds to tell the other characters there that they're actually a girl, so. *big ol' shrug* It's been a while since I watched that one, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't actually officially released in the US, so >_>

[casualbird]

thanks so much for all of this! you really did The Most, i was not expecting this kind of vigor. you sent along a few nb characters who weren't human, which is sort of the main thing i'm looking into. but you also sent a few that were, which is exciting! maybe i'll look into those for fun!

[soc_puppet]

Oh, I didn't know that's what you were looking for :O In that case, have some more/more details!

* The main character of Cyber Six, while human appearing, is actually a genetically engineered soldier who spends the series questioning their own humanity.

* In the fourth book of Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, there's an immature dragon who is "too young" to have picked one of two binary sexes yet, and doesn't have a name, either.

* In the anime Simoun, all humans are born AFAB; in countries other than the one the protagonists live in, half of all babies are immediately surgically reassigned as male. However, in our main characters' country, there is a special spring people visit when coming of age that, upon stepping into it, will determine their gender permanently. Weird stuff kinda happens to people who refuse to pick a gender and/or aren't assigned one by the government at birth? It's pretty nebulous, and we don't find out much about that until the end, aside from the fact that no one can pilot a Simoun ship after they've received their permanent gender placement.

* In Skullduggery Pleasant (book series), there's a nonbinary creature who is able to surgically lock a person's true name, which, if learned by the general public, can be used to control them. The character is super creepy and predatory, and shows up around... book five, I want to say?

* The book Chameleon Moon by Roanna Silver features a prominent nonbinary character; Silver was originally made to assign them a binary gender when the book was first published by a company, but has returned them to their true nonbinary state upon getting the rights back and self publishing. They are not by any means a villain, though they are somewhat frightening and inhuman seeming at first.

* All the gems in Steven Universe (again, except Steven) are presented in canon as female, though they are in fact alien space rocks that project a humanoid appearance. Canon itself has yet to address how gems treat gender within the story; all we have is the word-of-god note. The main character, Steven, has fused with other characters, and at least when fused with one (Connie, a human girl) uses they/them/their; Steven himself is half-gem, half-human, and has so far identified as male otherwise - though might also be more strictly nonbinary when fused with other gems? I don't recall if we've heard pronouns for his other fusions or not.

* The angels in Wish, while humanoid and roughly human in appearance (minus wings), are heavenly beings and not actually human.

* Prreeeeettty sure the main character in RG Veda is a construct of some sort? Or heavenly being? This is one I absolutely haven't seen or read, aside from the one cameo, and only know bits and pieces about.


...It's like I have some sort of interest in characters and gender in the fiction I like or something ^^a

[casualbird]

thank you! it's just that, like... all the non-binary characters i was able to think of off the top of my head were aliens or monsters or constructs and stuff!?? and some of them seem to stem from legitimate good intentions--the crystal gems are nonbinary probably so the network would Let Them Be Gay--and some of them really, really do not.

and, like, even if these things do come from a place of good intentions, what sort of message does that send to non-binary youth? that everyone even remotely like them is literally inhuman.

have you seen fullmetal alchemist?

[soc_puppet]

...O rite, Envy. Completely forgot about them.

I don't think that's actually the case with the Crystal Gems, but I can't cite anything ATM. Rebecca Sugar has recently come out as nonbinary herself (I think she still uses she/her?), and I do recall an argument that if she was prioritizing "trick the network into showing gay content", she/the team would've pulled the same move with Bubbline in Adventure Time ("It can't be gay, because Princess Bubblegum is candy, and candy doesn't have a gender!").

[casualbird]

envy is the case i'm thinking most about for the piece i'm planning to write. they're pretty much the most egregious example i can think of. (that futurama thing is gross, but also a mean joke, envy's existence posits that to have a fluid or nonexistent gender identity is monstrous and is serious about it. which disgusts me to the ends of the earth.)

i did not know that sugar worked on adventure time, and i hadn't heard about that statement that she made. i will just... casually amend my views and give her a little more credit.

[soc_puppet]

There's a lot of things I like about FMA, but the fact that Envy is the only nonbinary rep the series has is not one of them :/ Even one human nonbinary character might've helped mitigate the harm, but I guess it wasn't to be.

Yeah, Futurama is... Yeah. As with FMA, there are parts I love and parts I loathe, and that is not one of the parts I love. They have a more significant track record of gender essentialism and queerphobia, as does The Simpsons. So I can say that I'm not surprised by it, at least.

To be clear, the argument I heard (that she could have declared candy was agender) was made by fans rather than anyone on the Crewniverse (that I'm aware of), but yes, Sugar is out as both bisexual and nonbinary, and went into Steven Universe with a deliberate eye towards exploring some gender stuff. IIRC, she wanted to make a magical girl style show with a male protagonist? Exploring the same themes, but with a male main character. She was also doing everything she could to make a show that had a same gender romance front and center that was so wholesome that the network wouldn't be able to say it wasn't "E for Everyone", because she felt increasingly terrible that any same gender relationship automatically made a show "inappropriate" for younger kids. Whether folks in general know that the gems are agender, Ruby and Sapphire are inarguably the same gender. (Except in countries with more bullshit censorship laws, where they dub one of the two as male, depending on how butch they're dressed. *eyeroll forever*)

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if, in the future, she worked on a show that had a canon human nonbinary character. Or if Mayor Dewey's kid turns out nonbinary, for that matter.

[soc_puppet]

BTW, here's a link for Rebecca Sugar coming out as nonbinary that also talks about her being bi, and some of the impact her identities have had on the show.

[soc_puppet]

*facepalm* I keep forgetting! Here's another negative one:

[CN: Rape, abuse]

Yivo, the rapacious tentacled alternate universe from the Futurama move, Beast With a Billion Backs, is nonbinary and uses "Schlee/Schlur" as pronouns. (I have no idea if that's actually how the pronouns are spelled. I would have to check.) They are definitely predatory, and failed to disclose a cosmic STI to our universe before entering a sexual relationship with our entire universe. (One of the extras on the DVD - I think the commentary? - notes that the staff avoided including any children in the "relationship" with Yivo, since it was pretty rape-y and overtly sexual in nature, though in ways that did not bother the Fox censors.)

[casualbird]

COMPLETELY DISGUSTING. that's just... that's such a cruel joke.

[soc_puppet]

Yeah, it was definitely not well considered >_> I can in no way defend that movie.

[soc_puppet]

An actual good rec, to balance things out: Check out No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll. It's a collection of short stories that focus on prophecy affirming various characters' genders. I think two are binary trans, but three are nonbinary, and one is questioning. (Plus a bonus binary trans one that doesn't have any prophecy in it.) Ana Mardoll is nonbinary/genderqueer xerself and has written a lot about writing trans characters. The whole collection is just so, so good and affirming, but it's not terribly well known yet, so I don't think it qualifies as "popular".

[casualbird]

thank you! this whole project is Kind Of Depressing, not gonna lie. i'd be very very pleased to read some stories that have good, validating things to say about non-binary and trans people.

(namely, that they are people at all.........)

[soc_puppet]

No Man of Woman Born is just... super duper good, OMG. I recommend GumRoad for the ebook and/or audiobook, but the other big sites have it as well, and there is a paperback version available. The second book in xer Earthside series, Survival Route (which can be read on its own), also has a nonbinary main character, though not a POV character: A half-Japanese demigirl who uses the same pronouns as Mardoll.

While I'm at it, here's a rec list from Shira Glassman (a Jewish bisexual cis woman who writes adorable queer fiction; no nonbinary MCs yet, but I suspect it is only a matter of time) of SFF stories featuring nonbinary characters, which itself links to a further rec list for SFF stories featuring nonbinary characters.

[casualbird]

Thank you so much! I feel.... provided for. I'll pop these right on my reading list.

[soc_puppet]

Oh! Another good one: Carmilla the Series has a supporting (human!) character that's nonbinary, played by a nonbinary actor :Db

[0dense]

I don't know how popular it is these days, but The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin is a classic sci-fi novel where a world is populated by a culture with distinctly nonbinary sexes, to the confusion of a terran visitor. It set a lot of the stage for fantasy since the 70s so it might be kinda dated now, but it's also cool to see the genre develop?
I've been hearing some rad things about Anciliary Justice these days too; I think it's that the main setting is culturally agender? I haven't read it myself, but fingers crossed it's fun like it sounds!

[graveexcitement]

ahh, i was just going to mention Left Hand Of Darkness here!

& yes, the main culture/language in Ancillary Justice, the Radch/Radchaai, is pretty much culturally agender; Radchaai (the language) doesn't really have gendered pronouns and the Radchaai culture doesn't really acknowledge gender as A Thing that matters. (Though the book itself does this by using she/her pronouns for everyone, but in-universe the Radchaai language isn't gendered, iirc). There's a bit in the first book where the main character is having difficulty speaking in a non-Radchaai language because the other language does have gendered pronouns/verbs, and the MC has some difficulty identifying which pronouns to use for which people.

[casualbird]

i know! i really love the imperial radch series, and the way that gender is handled in it.

i've been trying to read the left hand of darkness, but i got distracted what with school and things and accidentally picked up another book. that's life i guess.

i almost feel a bit strange trying to write the post now, since there's so much nb representation (good and bad) out there that i didn't know about! i feel like i'd have to take a full semester of the stuff.

maybe i'll just write something about fma / envy, since i recently rewatched the series and envy makes me Angry.

[0dense]

hey yeah that sounds fun! I gotta read more lol, I'm glad it sounds like people are finding good ways of factoring gender in

[obstinatecondolement]

Most of what I'm thinking of has already been suggested, but Syd from One Day at a Time is non-binary

[casualbird]

thank you kindly!!

[kalloway]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_non-binary_characters

The citations should help out, too.

[casualbird]

Thank you!!

[kalloway]

You're welcome! I'm always impressed with things that wikipedia has lists for (and grateful) and it's usually my first stop when I'm after something.

Also, less 'popular media', but I know some small queer romance publishers solicit for stories with non-binary protagonists/love-interests. One of my good friends writes for one and I can see if they have any recs.

[casualbird]

thank you very much! you don't have to bother your friend on my account, but it's very kind of you to offer!!

[kalloway]

The press they (mostly?) write for is called Less Than Three. I can never navigate it well, but it might be worth a peek.

[casualbird]

Grazie!

[flirtoptionthree]

Ooo, neat, here's my contributions:

Loki from Agent of Asgard (comic) onward is genderfluid. IIRC Loki uses the pronoun Loki when self-identifying, and swaps sex in addition to gender because being a shapeshifter is the best.

Desire from The Sandman (comic) is both genders.

Inukashi from No.6 (anime/LN) is agender, probably, and uses masculine pronouns (not directly addressed.)

And, okay, I never read The Wicked and the Divine because I stopped reading comics right when it got big but I'm like 80% sure Luci/Lucifer is nonbinary.

[casualbird]

hey, thanks!

i'd heard about loki, but i didn't know that they switched their pronouns! that's super cool!!

and i read no.6 a couple years ago! i remember really loving inukashi and all their dogs. : ^ )

[flirtoptionthree]

OF COURSE! Kieron Gillen (who birthed the current, clearly superior comic Loki even if Al Ewing finalized it) seems to try to write full diverse characters.

Inukashi is the best ;^;

(Also I literally just found the queer comics database I don't know if you already know about it because I didn't haha.
Nonbinary/Genderqueer tag Genderfluid tag)

[casualbird]

QUEER COMICS DATABASE HEYOOOOOOOOOOO

thanks so much im gonna have a field day with this.