Poison from Street Fighter is a metaphor for the evolution of trans characters

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• Poison from Street Fighter is a metaphor for the evolution of trans characters

LGBTQ + Game Week 2021

(Image credit: TechRadar / R Healey Art) Welcome to TechRadar LGBTQ+ Gaming Week 2021. During this week-long celebration, we spotlight issues and voices within the LGBTQ+ gaming community. Learn more here. 2020 will be remembered for many things, most of them terrible. But this past year warts and everything in between will always have a special place in my heart, as transgender characters have entered the mainstream game in a big way. We've had Lev in The Last Of Us 2, Tyler in Tell Me Why, and Leo Baker in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2, plus the many indie games that continue to do brilliant, queer work in small spaces as they go along. 'have made. for years, like If Found. These top three examples are not only in one year, but are evenly split across genders. Lev is a charismatic supporting character in one of the biggest releases of the year, Tyler is the first trans actor from a major studio in a slow-burn narrative choice game, and Leo Baker doesn't just become the first non-character. Tony Hawk series binary. , but the first playable trans character in a sports game. These are very important milestones for gaming and popular media in general, and while they aren't the end point, they do show clear progress and invite us to look back at the origins of transgender characters in the game. takes us back to Poison, the creator of Final Fight and now Street Fighter, whose evolution is one of the most compelling stories in the game. Poison is actually the second character in the mainstream trans game, but while the first is much better known, the transness of him has been removed. Birdo from the Super Mario series has trans roots, explicitly stated as "the one who wants to be her" when he first appeared. This in itself is a problematic formulation, misguided at best and petty at worst, playing more on the idea that trans people are “just confused” and not worthy of respect or dignity. Back when Birdo was a queer coded mocking villain, the developers found it acceptable to call them trans. Now that it has been accepted to the main roster, all traces of representation have been erased. Poison, however, has remained transient for decades and has much more interesting stories to tell.

A violent start

Venom in Final Fight Double Impact (Image credit: Capcom) In terms of raw gameplay, Poison has barely changed since his first appearance in Final Fight in 1989. There she was a defeated enemy, and now she's a playable fighter, but other than that, she looks the same. it exists in the same genre and has the same biker girl origin. However, when you look at the changes around Poison, such as the various comments the developers have made about him over the last 31 years, and his changing position in the fanbase, Poison becomes more than the sum. of its parts; Poison's journey reflects the journey from trans representation in media to passing. "Like many trans characters in fiction, Poison's roots are steeped in violence and surrounded by the idea that trans women are just men in robes." In 1989, when he made his debut, trans characters on screen were practically non-existent and, when portrayed, they were confused, confused, and often deeply misunderstood by their own creators. Poison's origins are surprisingly similar. She and her partner Roxy were originally conceived as female; not particularly trans or cis, just women. However, according to Akira Nishitani, one of the designers of Final Fight, quoted in the book All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game, because "in America, hitting women was considered rude", there was fear. that playing as a man and beating up a woman would not be good, so it was decided that Roxy and Poison would be trans, which Nishitani refers to as "newhalf", a sexualized Japanese slang for "transgender". It is frequently used in specifically pornographic situations, often interchangeably with "futa", which is also used to sexualize and taunt. Like many early fictional trans characters, Poison's roots are steeped in violence and surrounded by the idea that trans women are just men in robes. We see this in Psycho, Dressed To Kill, and Silence Of The Lambs, where the assigned male characters dressed as women are the violent ones, while in investigative crime shows like Bones, CSI, and Dirty Sexy Money, the trans women. victims of violence. In many of these examples (and beyond), trans women are played by dressed cisgender men. Even this unsympathetic characterization wasn't enough for American dealers; Poison and Roxy were completely removed from the Western version, but remained in the Japanese version. To further confuse the question, Poison's designer Akira Yasuda considers the western version of Poison to be trans and the Japanese version to be cis, according to the book Street Fighter X Tekken: Artworks. Meanwhile, Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono claimed in a 2008 interview with EGM that Poison is transgender in all versions, but is post-op in the West and pre-op in Japan. The terms post-op and pre-op are generally used to indicate whether a trans woman has had gender reassignment surgery, but also has a history of use to sexualize, and problematically suggest that genitalia are the sum total of character beings. trans.

Venom in Street Fighter V (Image credit: Capcom) The identities of trans characters have often been overlooked in the media, with creators too scared, ashamed, or ignorant to navigate the diversity of what it means to be trans, revealing conflicting details in muffled, outrageous whispers. Venom is no exception. "The fact that Poison is officially referred to as a 'transvestite' while claiming to be 'new medium' and both 'pre-op' and 'post-op' again shows a complete lack of respect for Poison's identity and a lack of understanding of what he means." means being transgender." Throughout the 90s and early 2000s, as trans characters were discussed, the conversation began and ended with their genitalia, and they were often portrayed as sex workers, murder victims or sexual victims. murders of sex workers. We are often seen as props to stories, rather than being able to have stories ourselves. She came across to us as more of an object than a person and as such we were given basic descriptors rather than stories. You might be wondering at this point why it's "Poison" instead of "Poison and Roxy" when the pair share the exact same origin. Throughout the couple's history, it has slowly become canon that Roxy is cis and poisons her 'transvestite' friend, as confirmed in the Final Fight section of the 2006 game, Capcom Classics Collection. . Cross-dressing and being trans are not the same thing, the former is an activity or hobby, and the latter is a core identity that shapes who you are as a person at the deepest level. The fact that Poison is officially referred to as a ``transvestite'' while she claims to be a ``new halfway'' and both ``pre-op'' and ``post-op'' again shows complete disrespect. by Poison's identity and lack of understanding of what it means to be transgender.

I want to thank my fans...

Venom in Street Fighter X Tekken (Image Credit: Capcom) The community stepped in where Poison's lore was lacking and embraced its transness, but not always in a positive way. She has been further sexualized and defined by her gender identity, mocked and exploited through a variety of cosplay, comics, and fan art, often referring to her as a 'trap', another sexualizing slang for they. anime trans women While the term 'cheat' isn't always used specifically for characters who identify as trans, it literally means 'people who look feminine but have a penis', still somewhat conflating gender identity as well as genitalia. Like the transgender sex workers on 90s TV, her transsexuality was a way for others to tell stories, often stories that served to humiliate Poison, rather than explore her own story. However, thanks to this, transgender fans also came to identify with her. Trans representation has increased in both quality and quantity in recent years, but for too long our community has had to feed on leftovers, and thanks to trans-positive fan art, they've been able to lift Poison out of the sexualized. exploitative. obsessed mold in which she had been cast on several occasions. Through these is a community-created version of Poison, one that can, in turn, give that community the representation that Final Fight and Street Fighter often failed to provide. There are much more nuanced trans characters in media and games right now, characters that speak to my experience, strive to tell real trans stories, and offer characters that are relatable and educational. for players. Poison is paper thin and may not be a great full-fledged trans character; but by surviving whatever trans characters are thrown at and crossing over to the other side, she is definitely an important part of transgender history. < p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:100.00%;"> Stacey is a freelance game journalist with experience in OpEds, interviews, reports, and videos. He has previously written for The Washington Post, IGN, Fandom, Polygon, VG24 / 7, Eurogamer, SyFy Wire, and NME, on topics ranging from television and video games to music, comics, and movies, and is a writer for Into The Spine. .