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Cyberpunk and gender
As a genre cyberpunk has been having an interesting time of it over the last decade. Cyberpunk 2077 is the splashiest example of the genre, both literally and figuratively, exploring anarcho world of corporate domination in a way that holds a twisted mirror to our own. For a genre that enables the exploration of the human condition it is interesting in how little punked out gender exploration actually goes on within the surface level narrative structures of cyberpunk games, films, and books. Indeed, given that most of the genre is written by cis and hetero normative creators seeking anything gender punk is seemingly asking a lot from this content. Yet, as my current playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 as V is highlighting to me, it is one of the few genres that actively allows you to subvert gender and sex in an active way as a player.
Being trans is always a complex situation in gaming, as on the one hand most trans players actively seek to affirm their gender through playing characters aligned with their gender identity. The idea of playing an actively trans character willingly is not something most trans people would do through choice. Few games allow players to create an actively trans character, with most people seeking a trans experience in a game doing it through personal head canon. If you want a trans Commander Shepherd you can roleplay them as trans, but the Mass Effect games do not recognise them as…
