Add the genderless option to more races

[MickyD47]

Now we have the genderless option for IPCs I was thinking there are few more races who have no genders and would suit having this option. Diona for sure and possibly Vox? Any other races too that I cant think of.

[Shadeykins]

Dionae and slime people are the only other "genderless" (and I use that term loosely, because they actually just lack a sexual binary; gender being a term used to refer to cultural roles) species. Slime it is outright stated and written in the lore (despite how unpopular that might be) and Diona it is implied since Dionae are just a massive horde of nymphs in a pile. Vox have a weird physiological caste system, but it is nowhere even remotely suggested that they lack a male/female binary.

 

I honestly don't see why this would be necessary at all though, it feels like a needless complication in a game where it's already way too hard to identify male/female, let alone species that lack this binary. Dionae aren't technically even people since they're a collective consciousness.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Shadeykins

[MickyD47]

5 hours ago, Shadeykins said:

Dionae and slime people are the only other "genderless" (and I use that term loosely, because they actually just lack a sexual binary; gender being a term used to refer to cultural roles) species. Slime it is outright stated and written in the lore (despite how unpopular that might be) and Diona it is implied since Dionae are just a massive horde of nymphs in a pile. Vox have a weird physiological caste system, but it is nowhere even remotely suggested that they lack a male/female binary.

 

I honestly don't see why this would be necessary at all though, it feels like a needless complication in a game where it's already way too hard to identify male/female, let alone species that lack this binary. Dionae aren't technically even people since they're a collective consciousness.

As you point out Diona are just a mass of Nymphs which is why I suggest giving the genderless option to them. Same with slimepeople too I guess. To a species without sex gender is either going to be a cultural thing they developed or copied from humans when they got into contact with them. They may just choose to go with a gender to fit in better on human stations. From what I understand of vox arent they all bio engineered? They dont reproduce via sexual intercourse so I always assumed they didnt have sexes they just assumed genders to fit in with human crew. Of course none of this is necessary but you could say that about lots of thing added (The snowman suit wasnt necessary but it was added regardless) my thinking is we have this new gender option added for IPCs and other species would benefit from having it too. Being unable to tell the difference between genders (or lack of genders) seems to be the perfect thing for a space station full of aliens.

[Shadeykins]

Gender exists because it's a useful tool for divying up certain tasks/labour for the sake of efficiency. Most of the tasks commonly thought of as "typically of a specific sex" vary from culture to culture, with only a handful being universals (found across all cultures). On planet earth there even exists societies where women marry women (or ghosts) and become a husband/surrogate man for the sake of continuity in a family line/dynastic line (going as far as to adopt all the male accoutrements and responsibilities).

 

From an anthropological perspective, there's really no reason for gender not to exist in culture - even in scenarios where there are no biological differences between male and female. It's genuinely just a method of dividing up groups for tasks. My point here is that contact with human species is not really a necessity for the concept of gender to be a thing.

 

As for Vox, if they're bioengineered there's equally no reason not to have a binary. Again, division of labour between their caste-like ranks or to encourage competition/form useful bonds between Vox and so on and so forth. Dimorphism exists for far more than just the purpose of propagation.

 

"Slime People don’t have inherent genders, but often assume a female or male gender and the associated accoutrements to adjust to the culture encountered aboard NanoTrasen facilities." is the line from Slime People lore. While it's interesting as a suggestion I really don't see/haven't seen any sort of demand for it to be an option whatsoever, though in the case of diona it may be fitting since nobody seems to recognize them as male/female in the first place.

[HugoLuman]

Why not just give it to them? In species that don't have biologically distinct sexes, it seems kind of weird to assume they'd all copy the races that do just to fit in. After all, taj/vulps don't shave just to fit in with the humans and skrell :P

[Streaky Haddock]

I'm all for this stuff. I like the idea of alien races exploring more alien thinking. Humanity is so reliant on gender binaries that it could be an interesting talking point, or a good opportunity for an IPC or Diona or whatever to further assert their strong gender identity.

I like anything that makes people more unique.

[HugoLuman]

The sentences in lore like "Though Greys are not sexually dimorphic, they often adopt male or female accoutrements for the sake of clarifying communications with other species." were only included due to the lore team needed to comply with the then-mechanics. Given that there is now a genderless option, the races that would make sense to pick such a choice would be:

Grey
Slimes
Diona
Drask

Maybe Plasmamen and Vox as well. But those are a bit more iffy.

Edited August 1, 2017 by HugoLuman
Clarity

[Spacemanspark]

What the fuck.

[Streaky Haddock]

Yeah let's not get into all that stuff.

[Hylocereus]

While I agree it'd make sense for like, Diona, can we please not become more of a SJW cringefest.

[HugoLuman]

I don't even know why folks think it's political to acknowledge that space plants don't have private parts, but I guess it's better to err on the side of caution. Folks in the real world are all up in arms about any topic that even remotely gets near gender, after all.

[necaladun]

I don't see this change giving any real positives or adding much at all. I do however see it being used for a lot of stupidity and memes, as has already been demonstrated. The system we have now seems fine, and has worked well. Thus, this won't be a change we'd like to see.