17-04-15 Carried away

[Dr. Jamming]

Gender fluidity is just what it says on the tin. It means that her gender identity isn't fixed, but can change based on her moods and state of mind. Sometimes she identifies as a man, other times as a woman, sometimes perhaps as neither or as something in between. In the simplest of terms it's like being transgendered, but only sometimes. (Very simplest of terms mind you).

[crimzontearz]

Called it...Angel is biologically a girl.

AH! There were some who said this day would never come....what are they to say now

[wiseguy]

problem with they is that it is plural, and we talking singular in this case

Singular they is quite valid, and even has plenty of historical precedence. With angel being gender fluid though, you could probably just pick a gender pronoun and go with it, assuming you don't intend to use "they" or to match the strip being discussed.

for singular in the past, the 3 rd person was always she, he and it, while the second person was thou, thy and thee and in modern times You became both plural and singular when it used to be just plural

transgedered is considered a person "changing birth gender" to the opposite

Angel might be with male genitals, female genitals or might be hermaphrodite and have genitals of both genders, and sometimes sees self as female and sometimes as male

[Dr. Jamming]

What I mean is that for centuries, many authors an orators have used the singular they, and that it's commonly been used in day to day speech. I'm not actually against a bit of linguistic prescriptivism, but I feel that it comes with a responsibility to guide linguistic evolution, to recognize desirable mutations, and to acknowledge useful common usages.

[Cortez]

so.............................. what exactly is the difference between Angel and Dillon? that Dill sometimes plays being a girl, and angel sometimes feels like a girl(if it was born a boy)?

or they were born different genders?

It's pretty simple. Angel is gender fluid and Dillon isn't. That's the difference.

[Spidrift]

Hmm. We finally cut away from Ruby ... to another couple of characters who aren't Dillon. Deciding what this says about the title of the comic is left as an exercise for the cynical.

I'm pretty sure that Angel was born a girl, Angie, in all likelihood.

I'm 100% certain of all of that. Jerzy called her "Angie" once and now started doing so a second time, but evidently knows that Angel considers this tactless. Meanwhile, Angel either has a slim but definite bust, or is insanely good at padding in order to make that dress fit.

Is Angel a boy, or a girl, or both? I'm confused.

This strip says "gender fluid". I admit that my sheltered small-town experience doesn't really cover that, but the implications of the two words is pretty clear, even without ten seconds on Google.

I don't want to sound stupid, but what is genderfluid?

The Urban Dictionary.

Wikipedia (under "Genderqueer").

It's interesting that Jerzy is quite so conflicted about this. I mean, his specific relationship with Angel is obvious problematic in all sorts of ways, but Angel seems to think that he's quite hung up on being gay rather than bi, and that does fit his past comments. Would it really be so difficult for him to just say "I'm bi, tending fairly strongly gay"? It might have worried Dillon a little bit, but this isn't about Dillon. Is it just his failed strategy for keeping Angel at a distance, or is this some kind of personal gay pride thing, him asserting the gay identity that he repressed unhappily for too long?

[TwoWayStar]

Who even knows what's up with Jerzy. He needs a bit more self-control if he doesn't want this. Why is he even attempting to find a relationship when he hasn't figured out what to do about this one?! Incredibly unfair to the pursued person, walking into this sort of quagmire.

Haha! Angel is genderfluid. I didn't guess it but it's also not a surprise at all. [lol...liquid gender...].

[Fluffy]

problem with they is that it is plural, and we talking singular in this case

Right - someone who was born as one sex, but identifies as both.

So 'they' makes perfect sense.

[cellabella]

Agender people identify as having no set gender in particular - "They" is appropriate when referring to an agender person.

Genderqueer people have a gender that shifts. Sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes both. I work with three genderqueer people. They prefer "ze" or "zir" pronouns to "they," which is associated with the agender community. There have been, I'm told, many complaints and arguments between the agender and genderfluid communities on the use of pronouns.

If Angel is genderqueer, then ze has a gender that ze determines and, it's supposed, ze informs zir partners of what ze would like to be referred to. If Angel identifies as female at any time that ze and Jerzy have sex, then he is bisexual. It seems a lot of Jerzy's issues stem from some reluctance to admit to himself that he does find women sexually attractive. I now wonder how he would have naturally reacted to Amber if she had not told him that she was a test balloon for Dillon to see if Jerzy were into guys or not.

I'm not a fan of Jerzy stringing Angel along, but I do hope that if nothing else, he examines his sexuality very carefully so as not to continue to mislead or confuse people. Angel seems to understand that Jerzy is grasping at straws as to the situation. If Angel were agender, Jerzy's protestations would hold weight, but ze isn't. And ze knows that, but I think Angel is so blinded with love/lust that ze will continue to let Jerzy rationalize.

[Don Alexander]

This... is going to be a long thread.

Anyway, let me just say Angel is really, really cute!

And Jerzy is SO not over her!

[Optimus Kate]

Yay Jerzy is back!!!!! He's my favorite guy in all of the Pixie Trix comics.

And yay for gender fluid folks being represented! I've always considered myself a touch gender fluid too so it's nice to see a (respectful) discussion happening on it.

JerzyJerzyJerzyJerzyyyyyyy

[brasca]

This... is going to be a long thread.

Anyway, let me just say Angel is really, really cute!

And Jerzy is SO not over her!

Yes it will, but after the last purge of people who had a tendency to slut shame or denigrate transsexuals it will be lively, but civil.

I figured they would be switching focus since Tuesday seemed like the end of Ruby's story for now and I'm glad they are focusing on these 2 who we haven't seen for almost 9 months.

Angel is cute even if she does remind me too much of Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist. Wonder if that was intentional. It is not as if Angel is really an antagonist since Dillon's relationship with Jerzy fell apart largely because of his own jealousy and insecurities. And given what happened between Zii and Jerzy there is a legitimate reason to hold a grudge against her.

[OldBrit]

problem with they is that it is plural, and we talking singular in this case[

Singular 'they' has a long history of use for indeterminate individuals. "If anyone has any objections, they should speak now."

Using 'they' for a particular known individual triggers proof-reading alarms for me, but it is the accepted pronoun in at least part of the community where it is relevant, so the rest of us should just let it go.

[wiseguy]

"If anyone has any objections, they should speak now." is about anyone = a whole bunch of people possibly


if we know a mom has a kid but not the gender

we would say

"if her child has any objection, it should speak now" because we know is only one possible person(we just don't know what gender)

[Artemisia]

"They" has been used as a singular pronoun since roughly 1300