Are Pregnancy and Escapism Sensitive subjects?
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Hello All, I'm a fantasy author who wants to normalize LGBT+ individuals through my books, because reading other authors who did that in theirs helped me grow out of a rather bigoted upbringing. Since I'm writing fantasy/speculative fiction, I create some stories/societies that are queer-normative, and some where magic plays a part in enhancing or replacing science. I want to be as respectful as possible in my representation and when I was discussion a story idea with a friend of mine, they said I should look for some transfem beta readers or simply a place where I could ask some questions. The first one is regarding pregnancy: There is a goddess in this world who would technically be intersex, as she has both male and female genitalia, (I'm also going to post/ask in that forum), but since the general population likely has not heard that term, I believe most people's first thought will be that she is a transwoman. In this story, she has children through women she has impregnated, in another a bit farther down the line, she carries and gives birth to a child. As far as I know, real intersex individuals are not capable of that, but this character is a magical goddess. My concerns on this character, are that she could be perceived as fetishized, or disrespectful/poor representation (as I want to avoid that). She does have an on-screen romance with a man in this book, and I have not decided if I will be including spicy scenes for them. The second one is regarding magic/escapism. One of the magical races in this world has multiple sexual morphologies, so there are the cis-gendered male and female morphologies, and then versions of both of those with both sets of functional genitalia. This race has split into two societies, one of which is a fucked up patriarchy where the ruling class uses magic to get everyone to physically conform to their ideas. (The overarching plot of the series is to rescue people from, and eventually topple this patriarchy) The other is a society that uses this magic in a more positive way so that individuals will feel at home in their own bodies. (Though I may not use the term "gender-affirming care" as this is not a modern setting, whether a cis-man is using it to become more "manly", or a trans individual is using it to transition, all uses of magic in this way are seen as equal). As such there are trans individuals who use magic to modify their bodies (in the stead of hormones) to transition, and others who simply feel they fit a different gender role, and take up a different role in society, as they feel at home in their body. In my experience, escapism can go either way. Some people read it as a way to escape and love it because its an ideal they can dream of and live in for a while. Others find it shallow or disrespectful because "real life doesn't work that way". While I'm not going to try to make everyone happy from a literary perspective, I want to make sure that I portray intersex and trans individuals in a respectful manner. I'd appreciate any advice/feedback you can give, or literature to point me to! Edit: Just as an added piece of context, the reason for the both sets of genitalia are because this is an ancient greek-inspired setting (the patriarchal society is mostly drawn from classical Athens--their views on gender were FUCKED) and I want the positive society to have an offshoot that is essentially the Greek Amazons. I want them to be able to reproduce without a need for men, and to explore the dynamics that creates in their society. (And again, if that idea is problematic, please let me know, as I'm specifically trying to do the opposite).
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