Abbas-Al-Morim
Sage
So here's the deal. My story features a certain someone who's female (biologically) but who looks amorphous. It is impossible to tell if "she" is man or a woman. She wears male clothes but is very lithe in shape, with a "wiry" musculature that doesn't really point to either gender. Her face is covered in tattoos, making it even harder to label her. Now, she's part of this merry band of government sanctioned cutthroats. None of 'em have really asked her about it, as they don't really care (that and she's rather intimidating). One of them claims to have seen her womanly parts once, while she was bathing, so they just use female pronouns.
Thing is, this character, as an individual does not really believe in (binary genders). She doesn't really care about that sort of "conformism". She doesn't give a damn about all those labels. She doesn't care if her associates use female pronouns or not. So clearly, she's agender. She does not conform or associate herself with one of the binary genders out there - nor does she really see herself as a composite of those. She just ignores the concept of gender altogether.
Now the problem is that when I'm writing about her, I don't really want to use gender-neutral pronouns. I just don't like the whole "xir/hir" thing. I'm more than happy to use them in conversation, if that makes someone more comfortable. But they're not real words and I feel like they'd look kind of silly in a novel. It's not like I'd have to use them that often, only when I'm describing something she does.
Now, I was thinking I'd just use she/her since the group does label her as female (it's a medieval world, they think in binary genders), but I don't want to anger/insult agender people. My reasoning is that the story is written from the (3rd person) perspective of one of these characters who does label her female, and that that should justify the use of the female pronoun.
Any thoughts?
Thing is, this character, as an individual does not really believe in (binary genders). She doesn't really care about that sort of "conformism". She doesn't give a damn about all those labels. She doesn't care if her associates use female pronouns or not. So clearly, she's agender. She does not conform or associate herself with one of the binary genders out there - nor does she really see herself as a composite of those. She just ignores the concept of gender altogether.
Now the problem is that when I'm writing about her, I don't really want to use gender-neutral pronouns. I just don't like the whole "xir/hir" thing. I'm more than happy to use them in conversation, if that makes someone more comfortable. But they're not real words and I feel like they'd look kind of silly in a novel. It's not like I'd have to use them that often, only when I'm describing something she does.
Now, I was thinking I'd just use she/her since the group does label her as female (it's a medieval world, they think in binary genders), but I don't want to anger/insult agender people. My reasoning is that the story is written from the (3rd person) perspective of one of these characters who does label her female, and that that should justify the use of the female pronoun.
Any thoughts?