Transgender in Dragon Age Inquisition and Steins;Gate.

[CrazyCajun777]

Note: there may be minor spoilers. If you haven't seen Steins;Gate, go watch it. It's awesome. If you haven't played DAI, go play it. It's pretty good too.

Ok, so for those of you who don't know Steins;Gate is a fairly well known anime. In my opinion, it is one of the most well written anime of all time. For those of you who are familiar with the anime, I'm sure this comes as no surprise when you look at my user icon. I also rather enjoy the writing in the dragon age series. However, the dragon age series, a series touted for it's progressive attitude towards homosexuality and such, has a very real problem with addressing difficult topics like transgender and homosexuality.

Now, there are many things that Steins;Gate does extremely well. There are many things that Dragon Age inquisition does well. There are many things that both do poorly. However, I'm not interested in talking about those things. Ok, I feel a lot can be learned from discusses about the strengths and weaknesses of both, but that is not the conversation topic for this post. I would appreciate it if everyone stayed on topic .

Now, it's time for the main event.

There is a a character named Ruka Urushibara. He suffers from gender dysphoria/gender identity disorder and pseudohermaphroditism. Basically, he is a guy who has female secondary sex characteristics and feels that he should be a girl.

In Dragon Age inquisition there is a character named Cremisius Aclassi and she appears to be experiencing a similar situation in her life, but in reverse, she is a woman who would feel more comfortable as a man.

Now, in my opinion, the portrayal of these characters and the other character's responses to them in particular is incredibly interesting.

Also, I will generally avoid referring to characters by pronouns as to avoid character confusion, but if I do I will refer to them by their gender as defined by their chromosomes. Cremisius=she (XX) Ruka=he(XY) This is not a political statement or something, but I have a background in medicine. In the same way that I would tend to refer to someone as "black" rather than "african american" for biological reasons, if I refer to these characters by gender I will do so by their assumed chromosomes (especially because Ruka doesn't really change his gender...ok he does but by the end he is... ok look just go with it. You are super mature. You got this).


Bold statement time.
I might get a lot of flack for this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I think that Steins;Gate's portrayal of Ruka and that of those around Ruka is actually rather great. While I think the portrayal of Cremisius is very flat and without nuance.

Yes, Ruka is treated as a joke and an oddity, but the story is told through the perspective of a single guy, it isn't unreasonable for him to respond this way. However, Ruka is also treated as a person that the protagonist cares about. We see the characters react in ways that are subtle, but interesting. Makise Kurisu seems to pity Ruka. Itaru (Daru) Hashida ignores Ruka's gender, or thinks of Ruka as more female than male, and seems to have sexual fantasies of Ruka (often in congress with a female member of the group). While, Okabe treats Ruka as a friend who he feels weird about having some attraction to as person whose sex is the same as his own.

Cremisius, on the other hand, is just kind of treated as though nothing is happening. Most characters seem to respond to the character with a shrug. Nobody seems to care or have any opinions or reactions to the character's strange relationship with her gender. Now, in a way I'm sure people like this. By not making a thing out of it the creators are saying that if you choose to change your gender than it doesn't matter. You are still just a person and should be treated as such. However, it is really fucking weird.

You have a character with gender issues and nobody seems to have a single opinion about it. In a game where the party flips it's shit over how rude you were to that elf you're telling me there is a character who swapped gender identities and nobody has an opinion? Now, I'm not asking for people to get pitchforks and burn Cremisius at the stake. In fact I 100% don't want that. I want some character responses. I want some acknowledgment that this person is different by how people respond to her. I am interested in some responses to this person. The fact that people just walk around like nothing at all is different is weak sauce.

In Stein;Gate we see characters treat this with a degree of realism, especially Okabe. Okabe is a little weirded out that Ruka is genetically male, but he also sees Ruka as a good person and a friend. The relationship is a little complicated and Ruka and Okabe are better characters for it. Furthermore, the story is actually addressing the issue.

Dragon Age Inquisition is only pretending to address the issue. However, the vast majority characters have almost no response to things such as homosexuality or transgender. The writers of Dragon Age are at best ignoring the issue, and at worst are being a little lazy with their characters. I mean after all, this is fantasy. Racism is par for the corse in this niche. Elves and dwarves are wildly racist in almost every D&D game I've ever played, and the characters are all the richer for it. Often, a lot of character arcs involve overcoming this prejudice (hell, tolken did it). So, it makes me sad when the issue of transgender and homosexuality go largely ignored by Dragon Age Inquistion.

This ignoring of an issue is a remnant of the series's roots. Originally, homosexuality was not really a big deal because it didn't really happen in the world. It was only inserted for player choice. They added in the option purely for inclusionary purposes and not narrative ones. This is fine in my book. However, as the series advanced so did it's shouting about how great it is with handling these issues. However, I feel that it still has a ways to go.

The core of what I'm saying is this, if you want to really do something with homosexuality or transgender characters, then do something. Don't just toss one in and have the world not respond to it. The reason I draw this comparison is because one series responds to this addition to the world while the other purely ignores it. Adding in a homosexual character, then ignoring this fundamental part of their character and how others would respond is immersion breaking, lazy, boring, and, worst of all, a missed opportunity for learning about the characters and the world.

Now, I'm not saying that Ruka was the prefectest most bestest character ever. I'm also not saying that Ruka was handled flawlessly, he wasn't... not at all. I'm saying that I liked Ruka's addition as it actually added to our understanding of the other characters in the story. We learn that Makise is kind and wants to look after Ruka. We learn that Daru is a a pervert beyond the bounds of gender. We learn that Okabe is a little weirded out by it, but still strives to be an awesome guy as he sticks up for Ruka and becomes Ruka's friend. While, the only person to respond to Cremisius is the Iron Bull, and he just kind of gives us an "eeeeh whatever." Which is fine, and you could argue this fits with the character. The problem is that this seems to be everyone's response. There are no nuanced or honest interactions.

Think about it like this. If Cremisius was just written as a guy from birth would anything have really changed? Would the game's story/characters have really lost anything? For me both answers are no. And to quote Yoda "That is why you fail."

Earlier in the post I mentioned the lack of response to homosexuality in the DA series. Now, I'm not talking about Dorian's father bit. However, I have some pretty strong opinions on that arc as well. If you are interested let me know.

Also, I will say this again, DAI was a good game with a pretty good story. I'm not saying I disliked it or that this ruined it. This is just a discussion about how what is, in my opinion, a flaw is being shown as a strength.

Anyway, I hope this at least made you think. Even if you disagree with me, by thinking about it you have likely strengthened your understanding of your own opinion. Thank you for hearing me out. Have a wonderful day

 

[FalloutJack]

I thought transgenderism meant that you identify with both sexes equally. Ruka wanted to be born a girl and has the characteristics of one. The fact that she is actually male does not mean she's transgender. It means she desires a sex change.

 

[CrazyCajun777]

I thought transgenderism meant that you identify with both sexes equally. Ruka wanted to be born a girl and has the characteristics of one. The fact that she is actually male does not mean she's transgender. It means she desires a sex change.

I'll be honest. I'm not 100% on the term's "actual" definition as this is a cloudy subject.

Thus, I went with the wikipedia definition: "Transgender is the state of one's gender identity or gender expression not matching one's assigned sex."

However, even if the comparison is not 1-1 it is about the world and its characters' responses to someone with gender issues and thus, I feel the argument still stands.

 

[FalloutJack]

I thought transgenderism meant that you identify with both sexes equally. Ruka wanted to be born a girl and has the characteristics of one. The fact that she is actually male does not mean she's transgender. It means she desires a sex change.

I'll be honest. I'm not 100% on the term's "actual" definition as this is a cloudy subject.

Thus, I went with the wikipedia definition: "Transgender is the state of one's gender identity or gender expression not matching one's assigned sex."

However, even if the comparison is not 1-1 it is about the world and its characters' responses to someone with gender issues and thus, I feel the argument still stands.

I suppose the best people to ask would be people who identify as transgendered. I'm just taking a wild stab here.

 

[DementedSheep]

Krem is small side character, that's why he isn't that fleshed out. The only characters that really interact with him are the chargers (and because I keep seeing people saying this when they have a bone to pick with Krem, no the other chargers are not more fleshed out him. The elf exists to repeat the "I'm totally not mage" joke a few times) who have been working with him for years so obviously it's not going to be an issue for them, and you. You can respond with confusion about it.

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

I thought transgenderism meant that you identify with both sexes equally. Ruka wanted to be born a girl and has the characteristics of one. The fact that she is actually male does not mean she's transgender. It means she desires a sex change.

I'll be honest. I'm not 100% on the term's "actual" definition as this is a cloudy subject.

Thus, I went with the wikipedia definition: "Transgender is the state of one's gender identity or gender expression not matching one's assigned sex."

However, even if the comparison is not 1-1 it is about the world and its characters' responses to someone with gender issues and thus, I feel the argument still stands.

I suppose the best people to ask would be people who identify as transgendered. I'm just taking a wild stab here.

Actual trans person here. I think your original assumption (transgenderism means that you identify with both sexes equally) is incorrect, but that is fine, this is how we learn. Transgender is actual a very wide term that covers many different states. There are trans people who identify purely as female, purely as male, or some combination or none at all. I know it is complex and hard to grasp, but stick with me here.

I would say the best way to think about it is that a trans person has a nonstandard gender identity. If cis means the typical arrangement, then trans means an atypical arrangement. You can see how even though there is only one typical arrangement there can by many and very different atypical arrangements.

This is where the whole "tell me your pronouns" thing came from. Trans people often have to spend a lot of time considering exactly what they are. Am I male or female? Both? What about old titles and such that are gendered, such as father or mother or son? Do I want those to change along with he/she?

For this reason it is considered polite to ask a known trans individual what words they would prefer to be identified with, because no one set of language is going to be sufficient to describe all trans individuals.

OP: Never seen steins gate, but I know my SO loved it. I'll check it out some time. Also never played DAI, and I have to admit I don't really care to, not my type of game.

Now, I am just going to assume that the Ruka character is a pretty positive character for the following.

I think you might be thinking about this a bit too narrowly. There is room for and there should be both types of depictions, in my opinion.

Trans people are people, they are not defined solely by their trans status. Not every depiction of a trans individual needs to touch heavily on the fact they are trans just as not every depiction of a woman needs to touch heavily on the fact they are a woman. Sometimes it is really nice for us to be able to see a trans character in fiction and no one gives a shit. Not going to lie, sometimes it can feel like our entire life is spent trying to get others to understand and accept us on even a basic level and that can wear extremely thin. It can mean a lot to see a depiction of a world where people just don't care. Cremisius Aclassi sounds like a trans character for trans people in that respect. It is nice to have my existence acknowledged but I don't want to be reminded about my problems every time a trans character shows up.

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that for many people transgerderism is a difficult subject that confuses and even frightens or angers them. And trans people, of course, have to deal with the reactions (good, bad, awkward, and sometimes violent) of people to them. Ruka sounds like a decent attempt at addressing the reality of the situation, and just because it is played humorously does not mean it is played inappropriately. Humor can be an effective tool for safely analyzing and giving a different perspective on a difficult question. It sounds like the joke is not "look that the guy who thinks he is a girl" but about the reactions a guy has to this transgender individual. So that sounds more like a trans character for both cis and trans people, in that respect.

 

[happyninja42]

Frist I have to comment on this:

However, the dragon age series, a series touted for it's progressive attitude towards homosexuality and such, has a very real problem with addressing difficult topics like transgender and homosexuality.

Not really, Dragon Age Inquisition is pretty terrible in it, it's like having bright neon signs writing "Look at me! Look how progressive I am!", there's a book in-game about how people handle sexuality be region which is nauseatingly stupid and Dorian's side quest might be the worst thing that happened in the game.

Steering back to topic:
The problem in Ruka is that he's very very feminine, which isn't really fitting most cases (though there are people who really do look girlier than girls), let's say that having a manlier person acting transgender will ellicit greater response. But he does have a good arc and extremely likable.

Krem on the other hand has the most regular response of a regular person to a transgender (just indifference) and it does feel a bit like them filling a quota. Though there is a pretty Dorian-esque moment where they say something along "Yes those quanari are an enslaving, communist, horrible race, but they don't judge people by gender and THAT'S what's imporrtant.

Actually I liked Dorian's side quest, and felt it was about the only bit in that entire game that had some genuine emotion to it.

The issue with the character in DA:I to me, is that it's totally irrelevant. Not that his transgenderism isn't front and center to his character concept, it's just that...the character himself has no bearing at all on the story. He just sits in the bar, and you can maybe talk to him if you want to. But he doesn't come on any missions with you as a teammate, he responds to every scenario combination the same, (meaning your choices don't have any impact on his character in any way, except for one very specific way, but it doesn't effect just him), and he's basically just...there.

Now, DA:I has this problem in spades, and it's not just with this character. Bioware had the problem with DA 2 as well, having stuff there, but it having no real impact on events, or any real weight to it. If you have an issue with how the DA:I trans is represented, I would say it's simply because the writing in DA:I isn't very good overall. And this is coming from someone who played the game 4 times, in 4 very different scenarios, and the game was still pretty much the same damn game all the way through.

 

[Kingjackl]

Can only speak relating to Krem, but I think that's the intent; him being trans isn't made out as a big deal because it's not meant to be a big deal. Yeah, they could have done more with him and given him a more fleshed out arc that deals with his gender, but one could argue it's a more powerful statement to say "here is a trans bloke, he's trans, deal with it yo".

Besides, I'll take the many trans people I've seen saying they're glad to finally have a trans character in a major video game who isn't a joke or a punching bag, over "why couldn't she have been a dude!" One is representation for an under-represented group, the other is complaining for the sake of it, and regressive at that. It's essentially saying he is not solely defined by his gender, therefore why bother making him that gender. Which is a silly thing to say.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

Frist I have to comment on this:

However, the dragon age series, a series touted for it's progressive attitude towards homosexuality and such, has a very real problem with addressing difficult topics like transgender and homosexuality.

Not really, Dragon Age Inquisition is pretty terrible in it, it's like having bright neon signs writing "Look at me! Look how progressive I am!", there's a book in-game about how people handle sexuality be region which is nauseatingly stupid and Dorian's side quest might be the worst thing that happened in the game.

I'm with you here. I'm the kind of guy who actively hunts down all those setting notes and stuff (Even if DAI has a terrible interface for reading them) and that one actually hurt to go through. For those who haven't read that codex, here's the text:

Spoiler

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_Sexuality_in_Thedas
What I find most interesting is that, despite the lack of open discussion on matters of human sexuality, there is commonality to be found on the subject in all Andrastian lands. Typically, one's sexual habits are considered natural and separate from matters of procreation, and only among the nobility, where procreation involves issues of inheritance and the union of powerful families, is it considered of vital importance. Yet, even there, a noble who has done their duty to the family might be allowed to pursue their own sexual interests without raising eyebrows. The view on indulging lusts with a member of the same gender varies from land to land. In Orlais, it is considered a quirk of character and nothing more. In Ferelden, it is a matter of scandal if done indiscreetly but otherwise nothing noteworthy. In Tevinter, it is considered selfish and deviant behavior among nobles, but actively encouraged with favored slaves. Nowhere is it forbidden, and sex of any kind is only considered worthy of judgment when taken to awful excess or performed in the public eye.

?From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar by Brother Genitivi

Basically it says that gay relationships are sometimes thought of as strange, but not immoral anywhere. That seemed like a massive flaw in the worldbuilding which totally avoids the actually interesting story ideas of being gay (or choosing to have your Inquisitor be gay). That the entire continent agrees to this idea is very unusual, given how different all the cultures are, and how much of a role race plays in dividing people. Similarly, Krem felt like a huge missed opportunity to talk about the idea of being transgender.

How is it that the Qunari, who live in such a strictly regimented society that they go to special Tamassran to have their sexual urges dealt with and also have all their partners for having children ordered by the same priesthood, agree with the idea of living as a different gender, and an agent of the thought police says that trans people are totally fine? What if a trans person is chosen to breed, and they were expected to carry a child for 9 months? THAT could be interesting. As it stands, it just felt totally flat, like they wanted to include a trans person to check a box but not have it be an interesting part of the story at all.

And it's not that you can't have a trans character who is just trans in the background; it's that the specifically go out of their way to say, "No, she's not a masculine woman, he's a man" but don't do anything with that idea. It's like Chekov's Penis, you expect something they emphasize to matter but it just doesn't.

 

[FalloutJack]

Snip

Aha! Enlightenment! Thank you, Snappy Answer Avenger! So, the secret is that I may know A definition, but there's more than one? I could ask if Ruka is then transgendered or not, but I don't want to spoil the series for you, as the addressing of that part becomes part of the show's plot along with other things. If you haven't seen the show, I would recommend it, though.

 

[Something Amyss]

First rule of thumb: if someone "feels like a girl," the pronouns you should use are the ones of the "feels like" category. You know, they actually teach this to doctors. You probably also want to avoid terms with "hermaphrodite" in them, given this term fell into disuse decades ago.

I thought transgenderism meant that you identify with both sexes equally. Ruka wanted to be born a girl and has the characteristics of one. The fact that she is actually male does not mean she's transgender. It means she desires a sex change.

Trans is an umbrella term. The fact that she "desires" a sex change makes her a transsexual, which falls under that umbrella. There's more to "transgender" than any one arrangement, though, and even transsexuals don't necessarily get sex reassignment.

It can also get a bit dodgy as to where the lines are drawn: I know non-binary people (people who identify as neither gender) who do not consider themselves trans. I don't get it, but I also really don't care so much as I respect their right to identify a they see fit, since it doesn't harm me any.

I suppose the best people to ask would be people who identify as transgendered. I'm just taking a wild stab here.

Yo.

But asking trans people doesn't guarantee that you'll get the same answer every time. Pause for irony, moving on. There is no one trans experience, or any sort of hivemind (yet....) to deal with, and so what you have is a collection of similar experiences. And even then, I mean....

Anne Lawrence, herself transsexual and having been a fairly prominent figure in the community, became convinced about ten years ago that transwomen suffer from a mental illness called autogynephilia, and considers herself a victim of sex reassignment. This is a real thing. Yeah. From an expert.

Scary, eh?

I could ask if Ruka is then transgendered or not

Based on the description given, yes.

 

[Amaror]

Well, honestly, i didn't read all of the initial post, but i read most of the responses and want to give my impression of DAI nevertheless.

However, the dragon age series, a series touted for it's progressive attitude towards homosexuality and such, has a very real problem with addressing difficult topics like transgender and homosexuality.

Not really, Dragon Age Inquisition is pretty terrible in it, it's like having bright neon signs writing "Look at me! Look how progressive I am!", there's a book in-game about how people handle sexuality be region which is nauseatingly stupid and Dorian's side quest might be the worst thing that happened in the game.

My biggest Issue with the political aspects of DAI is how inconsistent it generally is with the previous games. It just feels like they through in "extra progressive stuff" just for having it there. Not because it made any sense.
I didn't have any real problem with Dorians quest, though it was a bit silly. What i found most perplexing was the Iron Bull. From Sten in the first game we learn the the Qunari are a society that's heavily focused on someones identity. A Farmer will always be a farmer, because that's what he's born to do and there's no way he can be anything else ever.
But then Iron Bull clearly says that one guy, who's born a woman, would totally be considered a man in Qunari society. So the profession is completely fixed upon birth, but gender is totally flexible?
I like unique cultures in fantasy settings as it always brings something interesting to the table, but the Qunari just seem like they started out interesting, with a mentality that's understandable, but not common nowadays, and just got more and more like our society and less and less interesting as time went on.
The Dragon Age universe seems to me somewhat awkward at the moment as it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It started out as this serious, dark, medieval Fantasy Setting, but got more and more light and modern as time went on. That's not really bad, but they shoudl really decide what they want to do, instead of mashing it all together with thousands of plotholes.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I thought that Steins;Gate was pretty decent with their portrayal. I wasn't always a fan of how they played her transexuality up for laughs, but she was afforded enough respect as a character that I really didn't mind that much. And I'll agree with you that the way that they treat her is pretty well human.

I don't know Cremisius though, so I can't comment on him.

Not really, Dragon Age Inquisition is pretty terrible in it, it's like having bright neon signs writing "Look at me! Look how progressive I am!", there's a book in-game about how people handle sexuality be region which is nauseatingly stupid and Dorian's side quest might be the worst thing that happened in the game.

This seems like a really weird criticism to make of a gay writer, saying that he's writing a gay character just to look progressive. I haven't played Dorian's sidequest (and don't want it spoiled) but it seems far more likely to me that it's poorly written than thrown in there to appease the PC masses.

Especially given what I've read of his opinions on the topic (and he makes a point of not sharing them often), I seriously doubt he's just trying to look progressive. If you care to read it, here's one of the two comments I've seen him make on the subject: http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/18/5422570/the-lead-writer-of-dragon-age-on-the-first-steps-towards-inclusive

 

[jurnag12]

To be fair, I'd say that the characters not going into the matter concerning Krem can be justified. The Inquisitor can question the whole situation (I think the exact line of them asking The Iron Bull is "You don't have any problems with him being a woman?"), but Bull's reaction seems to indicate that it's come up before and that he is entirely out of patience with Krem's situation being questioned in such a way, at least partially because he himself considers it a non-issue. Krem's a good soldier, and that's all that matters in the situation and he fails to see why the rest should matter.

"Krem's a good man. I don't give a nug's ass that's it a little harder for him to piss standing up."

Krem just sounds annoyed that you even noticed he's trans, indicating some prior bad experiences. Going by both in-game conversations and other information, his transman status was also the reason of him encountering The Iron Bull, after being ejected from the sexist Tevinter military for being born a woman and then being attacked by an army unit for deserting after he ran away from potential slavery and execution due to the former. Bull's missing eye is a remnant from him coming between a Tevinter's flail and Krem.

The Inquisitor themselves not being able to react to it besides from the usual... well, inquisitive RPG dialogue options is a valid point, though. Although I personally explain it away as not giving the PC a chance to try and antagonize an obvious sore point of the two commanding officers of one of their main allied forces, one of whom is a party companion.

The Aqun-Athlok thing could be interesting when combined with the rigid class system of the Qunari, though. There's a conversation with Sten in Origins while playing as a female warden where he is either confused by or outright refuses to believe you being a female fighter, on account of those being mutually exclusive in the Qun. Going by his rigid adherence to the system, you must be one or the other. It's entirely possible that the Aqun-Athlok status was introduced to allow people outside of the normal restrictions who showed appropriate aptitude to assume roles without having to reform the system in general. It is already established that the Tamassrans in charge of the segregation can move Qunari from one caste to another if it is better suited to their aptitudes, and Iron Bull mentions in a party conversation that gender is considered secondary to one's duty to the Qun.

And let's not forget that we're hearing about all this from The Iron Bull, a guy who is already rather far from the average Qunari in terms of his outlook on things like these. It's entirely possible that Aqun-Athlok comes down to nothing but an administrative term in overall Qunari society that he has given additional meaning to to adopt it to new experiences from outside of the Qun.

 

[Something Amyss]

This seems like a really weird criticism to make of a gay writer, saying that he's writing a gay character just to look progressive.

Are you familiar with the phrase "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail?"

There should probably be one for railing against progressive views.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Frist I have to comment on this:

However, the dragon age series, a series touted for it's progressive attitude towards homosexuality and such, has a very real problem with addressing difficult topics like transgender and homosexuality.

Not really, Dragon Age Inquisition is pretty terrible in it, it's like having bright neon signs writing "Look at me! Look how progressive I am!", there's a book in-game about how people handle sexuality be region which is nauseatingly stupid and Dorian's side quest might be the worst thing that happened in the game.

Steering back to topic:
The problem in Ruka is that he's very very feminine, which isn't really fitting most cases (though there are people who really do look girlier than girls), let's say that having a manlier person acting transgender will ellicit greater response. But he does have a good arc and extremely likable.

I would say that's a bit of a misconception. Especially if you're talking about someone in the age group Ruka is in. All the more so if there is potentially an intersex condition involved. (partial androgen insensitivity ia more common than you might expect)

Granted, without hormones, the odds of this are lower, but plenty of transgender people can go unnoticed. That wouldn't be plausible if they all looked obviously masculine.

Ruka is a bit past the age where ambiguity would actually be common. (most children are inherently ambiguous looking if you ignore hairstyles and choice of clothes)

I do agree on one point though. It seems slightly odd for someone that looks like Ruka to be getting so much abuse from random strangers. The reaction Okarin and the others have to Ruka is understandable, (even the arguments about whether Ruka is or isn't a girl), but random people probably wouldn't notice anything unless Ruka said something weird.
('I'm a boy', does qualify as weird though, when you look and sound like Ruka does)

Personally, I don't know Dragon age, so I can't comment on that.

The depiction of Ruka how everyone behaves around him is fairly consistent with people's behaviour around this subject when nobody (including Ruka) knows anything about the concept of gender dysphoria and the like.
Under those circumstances most of the reactions make sense.

Ruka's appearance is improbable for his age (though it can happen). On the other hand it would be quite unremarkable if Ruka was 13 or 14 or so.
(for an easy example, go look at the Hanson brothers, and how they changed with age. That's pretty typical of a lot of boys really).

 

[Something Amyss]

So does your background in medicine just require you to misgender people because of the genetic markers that no one ever gives a shit about until they want to start misgendering people? Because there's pretty much no reason to refer to Krem as a she and Ruka as a he other than to declare that they're not really a man and a woman.

I'm suspect of anyone who uses "hermaphrodite," a term that fell out of disuse decades ago. More importantly....

Well, considering how Leliana openly talked about how much she liked living with a bunch of Sisters in a cloister, and Zevran openly flirts with men, and that Isabella flirts with a female warden and Leliana, and that no one bats an eye when you get a same-sex prostitute, homosexuality seems to happen plenty in the world. But go on, tell us more about how much you know why things were done.

Isn't it interesting, though, to have one party in a thread say it's ignored, and another that it's blatantly trotted out to demonstrate progressiveness?