Well, the answer to making this "serious RP," as you put it- I believe that lies in making this a character who happens to be intersex. You can't think of them being intersex as the center of who they are or how you play them. It's just another part of who they are, like the color of their hair or the shape of their eyes.
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So my first suggestion is, relax about it. Let this just be an incidental fact about them rather than the center of how you think about it.
My second is to do your research.
First, look into how intersex tends to actually work in the real world. Intersex people do not tend to have both a full-sized penis and vagina. (It happens but it's pretty rare.)
Second, read what intersex people say about their own lives and how they prefer to be talked about, including what language they'd prefer to be used. (Remember that intersex people are not a monolith, and there will probably be disagreements amongst that community!)
Third, familiarize yourself with the non-cisgendered community in general- again, the language they use, how they talk about their own lives, what they say about things.
All this is very important to approaching this sort of thing respectfully, and I don't suggest cutting corners.
I know it seems daunting, so I'd start with Googling some 101 articles to give yourself a good place to start. I'd give you some recommendations, but I'm at work so I can't get at that stuff.
Don't hesitate at playing this sort of character because some people treat it like a fetish- as long as you aren't fetishizing it, then don't worry about it. Just because someone might assume it's an ERP character based on the fact that your character is intersex... well, they'd be in the wrong.
But if you decide to do it, I strongly advise doing whatever you can to do it respectfully. I see this as a responsibility, not an option, when it comes to this sort of thing. Bad representations of already sorely underrepresented group can be really harmful, so this is important!
Don't let it discourage you. I just want you to fully embrace the responsibility you're taking on if you do this. :3
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So my first suggestion is, relax about it. Let this just be an incidental fact about them rather than the center of how you think about it.
My second is to do your research.
First, look into how intersex tends to actually work in the real world. Intersex people do not tend to have both a full-sized penis and vagina. (It happens but it's pretty rare.)
Second, read what intersex people say about their own lives and how they prefer to be talked about, including what language they'd prefer to be used. (Remember that intersex people are not a monolith, and there will probably be disagreements amongst that community!)
Third, familiarize yourself with the non-cisgendered community in general- again, the language they use, how they talk about their own lives, what they say about things.
All this is very important to approaching this sort of thing respectfully, and I don't suggest cutting corners.
I know it seems daunting, so I'd start with Googling some 101 articles to give yourself a good place to start. I'd give you some recommendations, but I'm at work so I can't get at that stuff.
Don't hesitate at playing this sort of character because some people treat it like a fetish- as long as you aren't fetishizing it, then don't worry about it. Just because someone might assume it's an ERP character based on the fact that your character is intersex... well, they'd be in the wrong.
But if you decide to do it, I strongly advise doing whatever you can to do it respectfully. I see this as a responsibility, not an option, when it comes to this sort of thing. Bad representations of already sorely underrepresented group can be really harmful, so this is important!
Don't let it discourage you. I just want you to fully embrace the responsibility you're taking on if you do this. :3
