Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41050
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41050
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It's extremely important for media to depict people out of the gender/sexuality mainstream as normal.

So your best bet is to do exactly that: have a diversity of characters and show it all as perfectly normal.

Most people don't talk about other people's trans/cis status unless 1) they're jerks or 2) there's a specific reason for it.

Sexual orientation is a bit different because it is totally normal to talk about dating or relationships or family and, given that our language is gendered, this will come out, so to speak.

With non-binary, the issue again is pronouns. You can't tell by looking at someone if they're non-binary since many such folks choose to present as male or female (or just do naturally) and many androgynous-appearing folks identify as male or female.

Overall though, once people get over the "shock" and get used to the pronouns, names, etc, it's all just part of everyday life. If you find your characters having long philosophical discussions about gender and sexuality, something's not very realistic (or they're college students ).

Talk about their days matter of fact. A transwoman early in the transition process might be shaving both legs and chin. A transman might get his period. Trans and non-binary folks are likely to be misgendered multiple times over the course of a week (maybe even a day) and this and other micro-aggressions (even times when it's completely accidental) will wear your characters down.

There will be a few outright cases of bigotry, maybe even violence. They aren't likely to come often, but they are profound enough that occasional is enough to leave scars.

If your world doesn't have these sorts of bigotries, awesome. Focus on the matter of fact stuff. Talk about same-sex marriage with the same detached description as you would talking about opposite-race marriage. It just is.

There are some stereotypes to watch out for and your best way to do that is to get sensitivity readers once you've finished the book (or at least a few scenes with those characters). Also talk to your friends who identify in those categories and go out of your way to meet more. The more people you know who are any given example of X, the more you'll be able to suss out what's more or less common in that group of people and what's a stereotype.

A book I read recently that handles 4 different genders really well is _[Temper](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36260411-temper)_.

Original score: 25