Post by Levitas in Fear & Hunger: Termina comments

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Hi, I saw on twitter you were looking for criticisms.

I wasn't sure what you were trying to say with the Occultist's backstory, but the way you have it framed, it implies that we are supposed to think trans women are inherently horrific and grotesque and that you were torturing the Occultist by making them become one. By continuously saying they have a better life as a woman you are also implying that they don't wish to present or identify as one, but its ok for the audience to feel sympathy for them because they aren't "really" trans.
That being said, I do think that you could make a pretty interesting story with a trans woman having transitioned when she was away from home and having to come out and face her family amongst all the other things that are going on.

Thanks for being open for feed back!

orange~4 years ago (9 edits) (+7)

I DEFINITELY didn't say "trans women are inherently horrific and grotesque". There is not a single line that describes how trans people are treated or considered in this world. I don't think the demo explains how the occultist views herself at any point either. There is not one line from her that even mentions her sex or how she views herself as.

The intro doesn't compare life as a woman vs life as a trans woman. It compares life as a woman vs life as a man in this very specific religion.

The reason these comparisons are done in the first place, is to show the evolution of the religion. In the original game the females were treated very differently in the religion of the dark priests.

I appreciate the feedback. I know people can interpret things in different ways, but I would really need more context on where you gathered these implications?

Levitas4 years ago(+3)(-6)

Hi, thanks for the response! I'm sorry I wasn't very clear with how I phrased things.

The subtext I gathered from the line "despite your origin, your mother made sure you would appear more feminine when your father first laid his eyes on you." was that mother had the baby's genitals surgically altered, which is comparing sex reassignment surgery to genital mutilation. And because of this, the audience is supposed to feel bad for the character because they were forced into being a woman. And because we are supposed to feel bad, it implies that it is bad.

When you kept mentioning that the character was in a more privileged position being female, it really feels like you are purposely drawing attention to it as as a key detail in how the character feels, which implied they feel the opposite.

If you wanted to draw a comparison on how women and men were treated differently why make the transition forced against their will, or have a transition at all? You could more directly compare their experiences and upbringing to their father's childhood to strengthen the tension between them and explain how the church views gender roles.

I hope this helps! Thank you for listening and not directly writing me off!

Deleted post4 years ago

Deleted 3 years ago

orange~4 years ago(+4)

Okay I see what you mean. Occultist intro was a bit rushed. I'm not happy with how the script flows and there are some clumsy lines that definitely need to be remade. So I will have these things in mind when I rewrite it. But the context won't be changing. It would be a cheap thing to pull such character trait out.

The intro does imply that her mother did something, but it remains untold what exactly. I never intended it to sound bad though. Or something that would get the audience sympathy. Maybe it will become more apparent the further the game progresses, that the occultist doesn't have any crisis when it comes to her gender. (Not that the game story is about her gender anyways. That trait will just work more as a layer to her character portrayal. Just the same as Ex-soldier's story won't be about him being a man or whatever.)

Levitas4 years ago (1 edit) (+2)(-6)

Hi, thank you for understanding! I'm really relieved to know it was just a misunderstanding on my part. I've just seen other horror media use the "boy forced to be a girl" trope for cheap shock value, and I really do appreciate you listening to trans people when we talk how these tropes are from our perspective.

Thank you so much!

TotenMeister4 years ago (1 edit) (-4)

In this universe I doubt the " hey infant if you aren't different gender and sex then dad gonna do some eff'ed up stuff to you as a son." "Oh thanks mother I am totally okay with rushed and secretive non medicated surgical procedure to very painfully make that happen so I don't suffer a potentially worse fate." was a consenting dialogue between the mother and "infant" son. Probable scenario. Step one provide the infant alcohol, step two pay a stranger to quickly not professionally remove genitalia, step 3 dress him up and instruct the developing child that if it were a boy consequences and child grows understanding this or an honest exchange about their original birth and procedure with the mother so to remain safe.

JefferyEpstein4 years ago(+1)(-2)

It doesn't imply anything, some people just like to preach their religion whenever they get half a chance and see heresy everywhere. The religiion in this case being "progressivism"

TotenMeister4 years ago(-3)

That's why it will never work, you got me suicidal

TotenMeister4 years ago(-2)

Thanks Dr. John Money

itch.io

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