Large new batch of character tags: non-binary gender, elemental powers, waiters, and more!

Dinosauras said:
Can't escape this nonsense anywhere these days eh. X-gender might've been okay, but appealing to all these silly labels? Into the trash AP goes
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AP has always been a LGBT friendly community. Site leadership has worked hard and put a lot of thought into these changes. It's unfair to dismiss it out of hand as some sort of pandering. Being more inclusive should be seen as a positive thing and it's just a reality of the world that gender is more complicated than just male or female.
 
invisible6696 said:
Don't worry brother, this gender identity craze/fad will soon be over as it is not based in reality. Anime Planet is just casually joining in, I don't think there's some larger agenda.
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Actually, we've been launching LGBTQ+ and other inclusive updates for some time now, so there certainly is an "agenda" to make Anime-Planet a community where folks feel welcomed regardless of their age, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, etc.

I refer you to our Code of Conduct as what you just said is pretty damned offensive.
 
ZetsubouKaiji said:
AP has always been a LGBT friendly community. Site leadership has worked hard and put a lot of thought into these changes. It's unfair to dismiss it out of hand as some sort of pandering. Being more inclusive should be seen as a positive thing and it's just a reality of the world that gender is more complicated than just male or female.
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I've been actively using this site for just shy of 9 years (5 weeks shy). It's too bad the site admins have been increasingly "SJW" over the years. I feel it's very weighted and one-sided even though it's obvious many people would disagree with your ultra-left view of the world. It is not a reality of the world- that's your opinion, obviously one not shared by more than half of the population of any country. Please keep your politics out of my anime.

Respectfully,
a longtime active AP user
 
Everdemon said:
I've been actively using this site for just shy of 9 years (5 weeks shy). It's too bad the site admins have been increasingly "SJW" over the years. I feel it's very weighted and one-sided even though it's obvious many people would disagree with your ultra-left view of the world. It is not a reality of the world- that's your opinion, obviously one not shared by more than half of the population of any country. Please keep your politics out of my anime.

Respectfully,
a longtime active AP user
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The site owner is still the original person who founded the Anime-Planet site nearly two decades ago. Nothing has changed in terms of her or the site's views on inclusiveness, we are just continuing to grow and improve. There is no "one-sidedness" to being inclusive, everyone is welcome as long as they are kind and respectful to each other. The reality of the world is that times change, and if you are unable to accept this, that's very unfortunate. As far as keeping politics out of your anime, LGBT representation in media has nothing to do with politics. The LGBT community exists, both in anime and outside of it, whether you choose to embrace that reality or not.
 
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AnnaSartin said:
The reality of the world is that times change, and if you are unable to accept this, that's very unfortunate. As far as keeping politics out of your anime, LGBT representation in media has nothing to do with politics. The LGBT community exists, both in anime and outside of it, whether you choose to embrace that reality or not.
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Okay, you're citing LGBT, but you know nothing about me. You don't know if I'm part of the LGBT community or not. That has nothing to do with believing in gender as a societal construct, or other left-wing ideologies. The LGBT community might be co-opted to the SJW movements, but LGBT people are not exclusively tied to that ideology by any means. Someone can be LGBT and not believe gender is a social construct, not believe there are multiple genders or that nonbinary is a real thing. I have many very close friends- gay, transgender, bisexual that feel this way. So that is what I mean by keeping your politics out of it, I hope that clears up what I meant.
 
Everdemon said:
Okay, you're citing LGBT, but you know nothing about me. You don't know if I'm part of the LGBT community or not. That has nothing to do with believing in gender as a societal construct, or other left-wing ideologies. The LGBT community might be co-opted to the SJW movements, but LGBT people are not exclusively tied to that ideology by any means. Someone can be LGBT and not believe gender is a social construct, not believe there are multiple genders or that nonbinary is a real thing. I have many very close friends- gay, transgender, bisexual that feel this way. So that is what I mean by keeping your politics out of it, I hope that clears up what I meant.
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I have no concerns about voicing my pro-LGBT stance, and making sure that our character database and features are as inclusive as possible (our Code of Conduct spells it out)

To be clear, when you say "the site admins are becoming more SJW" note that you are referring only to me. I'm the one that sets our policies, which influence the type of community I want Anime-Planet to be. I've grown and changed over the years, but for the almost 20 years the site has existed, my views on inclusiveness and respect have always been there. The mods that we have for the databases and other locations are welcome to have their own beliefs and stances, but they too have to adhere to the Code of Conduct, which promotes that inclusivity.

Regardless, what "half the population of any country" feels is irrelevant - if those folks are anti-LGBT, anti-trans rights, or are sexist, misogynistic, etc, that doesn't seem like a good fit for this community. If they aren't that way, i'm not sure why they'd have a problem with our stance. Our goal is that this is a safe and welcome place for anime fans of all ethnicities, sexual orientations and other forms of identity. I'm proud of that as A-P's founder.
 
Nobody is trying to make anyone feel unwelcome, although I think that what some posters were saying is that people who aren't into this very left-wing view of things aren't feeling very welcomed in particular by pushing all this on to the site. Some people are actually saying they're leaving because of it... so I mean at that point you should probably ask yourself if people were leaving because there wasn't a non-binary gender tag. Doesn't matter to me in particular, I just wanted to get the point across there. I previously rebuked whoever handled your A-P twitter account a couple years back for being explicitly political, and I just worried that the trend might continue and make people who aren't very far left uncomfortable or feel unwelcomed.
 
Everdemon said:
I previously rebuked whoever handled your A-P twitter account a couple years back for being explicitly political
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Still me. Guessing it was for something pro-LGBT that was posted, and like the previous comment, I see nothing wrong with promoting inclusivity. If people are leaving the site because they feel threatened by pro-inclusivity (whether it's LGBT related, women and minorities, or anything else covered in the code of conduct), that's sad, but I don't see that as being a failing of the Anime-Planet site.

There's also a difference between being "far left" and being respectful of basic human rights and dignity, even if you don't personally agree with a concept like gender identity. We expect that from all users here, and if that baseline level of respect exists, I don't see why anyone would have a problem. If a user was shit talking someone else for any reason (their political stance, literally anything), that would also be a violation of the Code of Conduct. The rules apply to everyone regardless. But we aren't talking about politics, we're talking about acknowledging someone's identity. Nobody is saying a person has to agree with it. Why is it so threatening for the tag to exist? Why not ignore it if it doesn't apply to a person or their views?

I'm a cis white woman. I'm mostly not impacted by these decisions**, but I know a lot of folks who *are* impacted. And I feel it's my responsibility, as Anime-Planet's owner, to promote and foster the type of community where they and everyone can feel safe to talk about anime and be themselves.

But yes, the trend will continue, in the sense that we'll continue to look for more ways to foster an inclusive community here. And that's a good thing. It means that folks of all walks of life, all backgrounds, all genders, can have a place where they can discuss anime as themselves. Including you, including everyone.

**Except sexism, of which I've been on the receiving end of a lot of truly vile comments when, for example, someone is banned (which is super rare here) and then finds out I'm a woman. I've heard it all - I must be having sex with the mods for them to want to volunteer here, I'm a "psycho cunt", I must be fat and ugly, all sorts of things you typically wouldn't hear about a man in the same position. I don't want any users to be subjected to this, which is why our Code of Conduct was created.
 
Everdemon said:
Nobody is trying to make anyone feel unwelcome, although I think that what some posters were saying is that people who aren't into this very left-wing view of things aren't feeling very welcomed in particular by pushing all this on to the site. Some people are actually saying they're leaving because of it... so I mean at that point you should probably ask yourself if people were leaving because there wasn't a non-binary gender tag. Doesn't matter to me in particular, I just wanted to get the point across there. I previously rebuked whoever handled your A-P twitter account a couple years back for being explicitly political, and I just worried that the trend might continue and make people who aren't very far left uncomfortable or feel unwelcomed.
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Trying to make people feel welcome and accepting them for who they are is not a "far left" or extreme position. It's being a decent human being.
 
Everdemon said:
I've been actively using this site for just shy of 9 years (5 weeks shy). It's too bad the site admins have been increasingly "SJW" over the years. I feel it's very weighted and one-sided even though it's obvious many people would disagree with your ultra-left view of the world. It is not a reality of the world- that's your opinion, obviously one not shared by more than half of the population of any country. Please keep your politics out of my anime.

Respectfully,
a longtime active AP user
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A-P is not one-sided. I am a Republican and a Trump supporter so I am not on the left view at all, and I think it's great that A-P is expanding the way it is. This site is not political, and acknowledging the fact that some anime characters are LGBT+ is not political. It is the result of us covering all the bases and adding tags that will help users find what they are looking for.

We stick with the facts when it comes to characters and keep personal feelings out of it.
 
I don't understand all the conspiracy posting here. If you don't like a tag, don't use it. Don't believe in lgbt or gender fluidity? No problem. I don't believe in ghosts, but we have that tag, because some characters are ghosts. Plenty of characters are openly (or heavily suggested to be) in the lgbt camp. This isn't a leftist brainwashing camp, you can still have all your political and ideological stances, and if anyone bullies you for it (unless, of course, you cast the first stone) you can talk to any mod and they will make sure the issue is dealt with. That's what inclusivity is, allowing varying opinions to exist, so long as those opinions do not infringe upon another's right to do the same.

Should an individual be anti-LGBT, I will vehemently disagree with them, but I will not tell them what they may think, I would only ask that they not say anything that would make others feel unwelcome themselves, for example.

To those of you who feel somehow marginalized by these changes, I would say come dip into our forums and chat around a bit. I believe you'll quickly realize that this place is home to an enormous spectrum of opinions and stances. AP is not J.K Rowling, we not turning your favorite characters gay retroactively and banning the word "gender". We're not a Portlandia sketch. Peace, my friends. You are welcome, just respect the rules! :3
 
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RavenheartN1Anime said:
Not sure what the Neo-Nazis have to do with this post. You sure you are on the right post?
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I imagine the fact that it's discussed fairly heavily on the wiki page for the thing you brought up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identitarian_movement#In_North_America

Regardless, the tag is being used because the concept exists in anime and also in real life, no matter how much some folks would like to believe otherwise. That discussion is closed, we don't plan to remove the tag, nor to change our minds on the matter.
 
sothis said:
I imagine the fact that it's discussed fairly heavily on the wiki page for the thing you brought up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identitarian_movement#In_North_America

Regardless, the tag is being used because the concept exists in anime and also in real life, no matter how much some folks would like to believe otherwise. That discussion is closed, we don't plan to remove the tag, nor to change our minds on the matter.
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But I never mentioned neo-nazism in any context. It was inflated into my statement at best.

Besides, there are enough people on the opposite side; "it does not exist, no matter how much some folk would like to believe otherwise".

Only thing I put was an honest brain thought.
 
RavenheartN1Anime said:
Not sure what the Neo-Nazis have to do with this post. You sure you are on the right post?
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You say that "Japan doesn't abide to the identitarian political movement." The Identitarian movement is a political Neo-Nazi movement that fights for white supremacy.
Or maybe you mean "Identity politics", in which case this has
1. Still nothing to do with identity politics and you just throw a buzzword into the room without knowing what it even means and
2. Japan is not some exotic wonderland with a conservative hive-mind where everyone thinks like you, so how do you infer that no Japanese artist may disagree with you?

I'd be really glad if you'd take time to learn more about what you complain. It's fine if you "don't get non-binary." Nobody expects that you know and understand everything. But before you deny the reality of other people, you should put an effort into learning where they come from and what it even means before you tell people that their feelings and experiences are invalid. Think about how rude that is.
 
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