forum Please (gently) critique my smol trans baby
Started by Madi
tune

people_alt 4 followers

@HighPockets group

For the most part, Milo is quiet good. He reminds me a bit of Milo Thatch. However, I did notice two things:

  1. His chosen name (Milo) is very similar to his deadname (Milena). I'm not trans so I'm not positive, but in a lot of "How to write trans characters" things, it says not to have the deadname and chosen name sound similar.
  2. Milo has a lot of interests and personality traits that are stereotypically feminine, like being sensitive, liking purple, crying easily, etc. While I agree that there needs to be more male characters who are sensitive and do cry, I'm worried people might think you are stereotyping him as 'feminine' because he's trans. While I don't believe they are right about that, it is something I'd be aware of.
    All and all, you did a great job, and I'm excited to see where Milo's story goes next.

Madi

I'll be sure to change a couple of things. I wasn't trying to stereotype him as sensitive just because he's trans, although I can see how it may come across that way. I will try to make him a little bit more traditionally masculine. My boyfriend's favorite color is purple, so I didnt' really think of that as a problem, either. And his dead name doesn't have any particular meaning, so I can change it to something less similar to his real name. Thank you for helping me with him!

@Fraust

I was under the impression that most trans people choose a name that is similar to their birth name. I have a friend who is trans (f to m) and their name used to be Lauren. They chose to change their name to Logan.

Madi

I don't know, I think it depends on the person. my cousin used to go by Tyler but goes by Kelsie now, so…

@The-N-U-T-Cracker

I would give advice but I have not met a single trans person in my life and I’m not trans myself so I’m worried I’d just end up giving bad advice and making the character worse.

@The-N-U-T-Cracker

I would give advice but I have not met a single trans person in my life and I’m not trans myself so I’m worried I’d just end up giving bad advice and making the character worse.