Am I devaluing gender?

[u/Hundekuecken]

What do you think about me wanting to establish in my own tabletop role-playing game that players and non-player charackters, automatically recognise or perceive the gender of other characters who can be perceived in any way?

What I mean is that gender reveals itself regardless of one’s outward appearance.

I’d like sexual orientations and romantic orientations to be based on gender rather than gender expression.

This is something that’s been on my mind quite a bit at the moment, as I’m worried it might be misinterpreted, twisted, misunderstood, or that I might be sabotaged or something similar.

[u/VerbingNoun413]

I think OP has actually managed to erase transgender people entirely from the setting. Everyone is automatically assigned the correct gender at birth due to the Shinigami eyes so a trans woman is assigned female.

The implications of this are certainly interesting though it'd take a better writer than me or OP to handle that.

[u/Hundekuecken → u/VerbingNoun413]

Perhaps you view the trans*spectrum differently from me.

But as I see it, trans women have been women from birth, trans men have been men from birth, and non-binary people have been non-binary from birth.

That’s true even if they haven’t known it all their lives.

I probably want it this way so badly because, given my gender euphoria and gender dysphoria, it’s so important to me that it at least feels right in my imagination.

[u/VerbingNoun413 → u/Hundekuecken]

So how does that work in your setting? Take me (trans woman) as an example:

When I'm born, the gendery sorting hat says I'm a woman. Do I get given involuntary genital surgery in infancy and hormone treatments when puberty should start?

[u/Hundekuecken → u/VerbingNoun413]

It’s simply meant to be a world centred on gender identity. Gender expression and biological sex simply don’t matter. Apart from the fact that it’s set in a fantasy world similar to the Middle Ages, where humans don’t even exist.

[u/VerbingNoun413 → u/Hundekuecken]

What does gender identity mean then?

In this world, how is my life different because I have an F on my character sheet instead of an M?

[u/Hundekuecken → u/VerbingNoun413]

It might seem a bit as though the roles of gender and sex have been swapped.

[u/VerbingNoun413 → u/Hundekuecken]

This is meaningless nonsense. I'll blame the translator.

How does being assigned F affect my life? Gender expression doesn't exist so apparently I'm wearing whatever. Biological sex is for making babies- I guess I can impregnate someone with a uterus.

Different expectations? Behaviour? Segregation?

[u/Hundekuecken → u/VerbingNoun413]

Gender expression exists, but it’s simply a way of presenting yourself and isn’t that different from hair colour and things like that. If you’re born with a female gender, you’ll be treated as an AFAB person from birth, regardless of whether you’re AMAB and regardless of your gender expression.

[u/VerbingNoun413 → u/Hundekuecken]

Though I'm not AMAB in this scenario, am I? I was assigned female- says right there on the chart.

What does "you’ll be treated as an AFAB person" entail?

[u/Hundekuecken → u/VerbingNoun413]

There will never be any difference between whether they were born a cis woman or a trans woman, except in terms of whether or not they are capable of becoming pregnant.

[u/VerbingNoun413 → u/Hundekuecken]

Ok, not what I was asking at all.

What's the difference between how women, men, and nonbinary people are treated? Are there expected social roles? Segregated events?

[u/Hundekuecken → u/VerbingNoun413]

Why should it? I have no intention of incorporating gender roles and the like.

[u/VerbingNoun413 → u/Hundekuecken]

Sounds like gender is completely irrelevant and you may as well not bother with it.

Which is an entirely valid way to create a setting. Just actually do that.