From Voiceless, anyway. But DJ 2, walking back onstage from one of the wings, piped up with "I said, 'here I am now.' And I am."
"Aaaa!" cried Roy. "Don't do that!"
"Do what?" asked DJ, nonchalantly, as she sat back down.
"That serial avatar thing! It gives me the willies!"
"Really? Poor man, most guys find one willie quite enough to handle."
"You know what I mean! Uh, what just happened here, anyway?"
"Oh you know," DJ said. "Meiou Bunny came and blipped me on the head, you flipped out, Voiceless took over, and down came the good fairy, and she said--"
"What's that mean in English?" Roy interupted.
DJ pouted. "It means my original went off to investigate where Meiou took me and got me out of that jam while stalling you with Voiceless. Actually I'm still in that jam, but that's neither here nor there, or perhaps both here and there, since I'm both with the rabbit and with you now--"
"Never mind! Is there any chance of us continuing the interview?"
"Sure. Your question, as I recall, was 'Many Authors like to write TG elements into their BE fiction. But other BE authors strenuously complain about TG in BE writing. Why do you think they dislike it so?'"
Roy nodded. "That was the question, all right. What's your take?"
DJ shrugged. "Some, no doubt, are merely purists. BE is their obsession of choice, and they resent any other coming between them and their pet perversion. But for the rest, and perhaps even for the purists, I suspect it goes deeper than that. I believe they feel threatened by it."
"Really? How so?"
"Ours is a society, indeed, a species, whose most basic and immutable division is that of sex. Male is male, and female is female, and one may never be the other. We assign life roles on that basis. We descriminate on that basis. As a society, we have historically held that to be male is better. To a man, the thought of becoming a woman can be, well, unmanning. Efeminacy is, after all, held in contempt, as are those men who appear to be so -- or to desire to be so. The need to belong, to feel accepted, by one's own kind is strong. So is the fear of being an outcast, rejected. To want to be other is a dangerous thing. To be perceived to want to be other can be even more dangerous. So any thinking along those lines tends to be tabooed, both by society and by the self. Even the man who wants to be other recognizes the peril of being perceived to have such a desire. Hence that man is often the loudest in his denunciation of such desires. As a zealot, he knows he runs less risk of appearing to be a heretic."
"You seem to see this as an issue only for men."
"In the BE AddVenture, I suspect it is. There may be female authors here. A few actually claim to be. But this does appear to be a predominantly male venue."
"Nonetheless..."
"Quite. It is, of course, an issue for women, as well. But less of one, I suspect. For a man, the desire to be feminine entails a loss of status and power, because traditionally men as a group have the status and power. For women, a desire to be masculine equates to a desire for status and power -- a desire many of her sex will naturally share. With the increase in sexual equality, the social costs of feminine desire for masculine traits decreases, while, conversely, the costs of masculine desire for feminine traits increases. Women can now wear pants without negative consequences. The same is hardly true for men who wear dresses.
"So the decrying of TG in BE is--"
"--basically homophobia. Which is, itself, less fear of homosexuals than of appearing to be homosexual. BE enthusiasts, with their exagerated fixation on certain female characterists, are on dangerous ground to begin with. Is it after all a very long step from desiring large breasts to desiring to have them? Hence the stridency of the anti-TG sentiment among BE AddVenture writers should be little surprise. They fear they are already suspect, and that the AddVenture community will be as judgmental as society at large. Thus, paradoxically, they do their utmost to make it so."
Roy nodded. "I see your point. And I admit to a certain curiosity..."
"As to where I personally stand on the issue, perhaps? Surely my appearing in this form speaks for itself."
"Does it? You are outnumbered by the male avatars of your original, you know."
DJ waved that off. "Two are essentially neuter, but let it pass."
"Anyway, where do you stand? I'm not trying to of being either a TG-hater or TG-lover, but--"
"Thank you! I find your attitude most refreshing. The truth? The truth is, I find TG erotic, as a fantasy, without feeling the need to either disparage nor champion the concept. It is, after all, nothing but a fantasy."
"A fantasy some people realize by cross-dressing, by surgery--"
"Play acting. People are welcome to that sort of thing if that's what they want, but really, in the real world, TG is impossible of realization. Sex is coded at the genetic level, and whatever the appearance, the reality remains the same."
"There are some who would dispute that. Those who will tell you they are really women born in men's bodies for instance, and those who go through with sex changes. . ."
"Sure. And they are entitled to their opinions, as well as their efforts to realize their fantasy. But will they ever be completely comfortable with themselves, however close they seem to come to their goal? They may have been miserable as men and feel fulfilled as women, yet there will always be that last step toward womanhood that will be unattainable -- that one tiny chromosome present in all their cells, without which they will never achieve the ultimate validation of female fertility."
"You've indulged this fantasy, as you put it, yourself," Roy pointed out. "Are you comfortable with yourself?"
"Certainly. I'm secure in my identity, however much I like to play with identities. But my fantasies are no more than fantasies. This gameworld in which we interact is not reality, no matter how much we 'play' that it is."
"But if you could become a woman in reality--"
"Academic. But yeah, I probably would. Out of curiosity to experience what it's like, if nothing else. Always provided I had the option of changing back, should I so wish. But why speculate? In the truest sense, I come as close to changing sexes here, in the personna of DJ 2, as anyone can in the real world, by whatever means. In our gameworld -- inside our fiction -- the change is total. Outside, well, it remains fiction."
"Do I detect a bit of stridency, here?"
"Nope. You wanted my opinion. You got it. Others are welcome to theirs. If they're threatened by mine, well, others still feel threatened by my very existence, in this avatar. In either case, it's their problem."
As that seemed to be her final word on the matter, Roy decided it was time for another question. "You know," he said, leading up, "I was going to ask a question of each of your avatars, but you're the only one left. . ."
DJ laughed. "If you have one for one of my other selves, just say which, and I'll be happy to become that self. Or I can remain as I am. You're calling the shots, Roy."
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Tue Jan 22 22:26:32 2002
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