Did you read Ragnell's recent post about Arcee, the female Transformer, and how they left her out? I think it applies COMPLETELY to what you're saying. The default is male; everything is male until specifically stated otherwise, and therefore, to have had a female Transformer would be WEIRD. Even though they're GIANT ROBOTS and so it's *just as weird* for them to be male. I mean, why should they have a gender at all? But no one would ask that question of all male robots, because being male is "normal." Apparently it's when a female Transformer appears-- that's when people would suddenly notice, "hey, that robot has a gender!" Same with race, I suppose. Maybe there are black, Asian, Hispanic kids who look at the Transformers and see *someone like me*, but a lot of them have probably internalized somewhat the rule that white is the default and anything else is a huge exception and must be Marked Clearly As Other.
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Date: 2007-07-08 05:58 pm (UTC)Did you read Ragnell's recent post about Arcee, the female Transformer, and how they left her out? I think it applies COMPLETELY to what you're saying. The default is male; everything is male until specifically stated otherwise, and therefore, to have had a female Transformer would be WEIRD. Even though they're GIANT ROBOTS and so it's *just as weird* for them to be male. I mean, why should they have a gender at all? But no one would ask that question of all male robots, because being male is "normal." Apparently it's when a female Transformer appears-- that's when people would suddenly notice, "hey, that robot has a gender!" Same with race, I suppose. Maybe there are black, Asian, Hispanic kids who look at the Transformers and see *someone like me*, but a lot of them have probably internalized somewhat the rule that white is the default and anything else is a huge exception and must be Marked Clearly As Other.