(no subject)

The Mako Mori test as a cousin of the Bechdel test.

The Mako Mori test is passed if the movie has: a) at least one female character; b) who gets her own narrative arc; c) that is not about supporting a man’s story. I think this is about as indicative of “feminism” (that is, minimally indicative, a pretty low bar) as the Bechdel test. It is a pretty basic test for the representation of women, as is the Bechdel test. It does not make a movie automatically feminist.

Pacific Rim and The Avengers both pass Mori, though they fail Bechdel.

I started to type this as a comment reply, then thought...

...'you know, the comments to kaberett's heartbreaking poem are probably not the place for this thought'.

Today I emailed a client. The client responded with "Thank you, Ms./Mrs. [Surname]." Which, okay. My name's Elizabeth. Stereotypical gender: obvious. And the client had no way to know either that 'Mrs.' is not an appropriate honorific for me (and never will be even if I do get married someday, because reasons) or that 'Ms.' isn't me today. Hell, half the time I don't know what gender I am at any given moment, so how can I expect anyone else to?

But...I don't want to have to answer to 'she' pronouns forever. I don't want to be Ms. [Surname]. I like being Elizabeth just fine, but. I don't expect anyone to default to 'Mx.' for a long time yet, but it'd be nice to have people wondering whether I'm a Mr. or a Ms. instead of a Ms. or a Mrs.

Y'all may notice, if you click over to alexconall profile, that I've got two middle names for my pen name. Elizabeth Alexandria Rowan Conall. (Wallet middle name, singular, begins with A but is not anything related to Alexandria.) I'd feel weird being an Alex because I know an Alex (hi kaberett), but 'Rowan' is also gender-neutral...'Rowan [Surname]' sounds hella awkward but if I liked my surname I'd publish under it. I like the sound of 'Rowan Conall', though. Even if my mom's first reaction, after she gets done with the cissexism and wtf, is going to be "I didn't think you were that much of an Anne McCaffrey fan." (No. No, I'm really not, anymore. Tent pegs, etc.)

I'd appreciate it if any of y'all who've changed your name for gender identity reasons, or who've thought about it, would go into your thought process in the comments. Because I need to put a hell of a lot of thought into this.

And any legal or otherwise meatspace part of the name change cannot of course happen till I'm out as genderqueer to my family, or as part of the coming-out process, which means not till I'm out of their house which means not for a few years yet. I've got time to think. But I do need to think.