Donmai

Enkidu's Gender Tagging

Posted under Tags

I just remembered to bring this up. I was wondering what the consistency of Enkidu's gender tags should be. Since Enkidu is canonically a genderless shape shifting being made out of clay, Enkidu's humanoid green-haired body is visually based off a woman (Shamhat), and Enkidu is commonly referred to as a guy by people.

Some of Enkidu's art is tagged with "1other", some tagged with 1boy", and so on. Some of the 1boy tagged art doesn't even show male genitals. It's pretty much all over the place. So I was wondering how the character should be tagged, and if the character's tagged art should be cleaned up to be more consistent.

Another question, should art with Enkidu that has a penis be tagged as 1boy based on the genitals? Or 1other based on Enkidu's canonical gender?

Tag what you see, not what you know. If it's got a man's body it's a man and it gets tagged with 1boy.

1other is supposed to be for characters for which the gender cannot be discerned by the viewer. Enkidu, unlike other androgynous characters, is typically drawn as a boy (mostly because of the fujo fandom shipping him with Gilgamesh and the homoeroticism of the original tale), which is why the tagging is pretty divided on the matter.

For example: in post #3033485 it's correct to tag the character as 1other, but in post #1178087 he's clearly got male anatomy.

nonamethanks said:

Tag what you see, not what you know. If it's got a man's body it's a man and it gets tagged with 1boy.

1other is supposed to be for characters for which the gender cannot be discerned by the viewer. Enkidu, unlike other androgynous characters, is typically drawn as a boy (mostly because of the fujo fandom shipping him with Gilgamesh and the homoeroticism of the original tale), which is why the tagging is pretty divided on the matter.

For example: in post #3033485 it's correct to tag the character as 1other, but in post #1178087 he's clearly got male anatomy.

I know "tag what you see" is the site policy but in situations like this I think it gets kind of confusing. I still see the second example you gave as 1other. It's an androgynous forum, and lack of breasts sure, but are breasts required for tagging 1other when shirtless? Unless I'm missing something about the second example, apologies if I am. I'm not seeing something like an Adam's Apple. Maybe there's some form of male pecs there? But the chest form seems vague, and Enkidu genderless humanoid form normally doesn't have breasts.

What about something along the lines of this? post #4341697 - Where the chest is covered, and Enkidu looks like their normal genderless form. Sorry if I'm over thinking it.

In post #1178087 you can clearly see the pectoral lines. A woman's body typically doesn't have that kind of reverse T in the middle of the chest.

As for post #4341697, it's a matter of personal perception. To me it looks like a man because of a lot of small details, like the very masculine shape of the hands. Also, typically for truly androgynous characters the chest is usually hidden by loose clothes, to avoid showing the gender. Compare with something like post #4384611, or post #3203470, which are true androgynous pictures.

The best advice I can give you is to think about it from the point of view of someone who doesn't know the character: would they see a boy, a girl or be unsure if they opened that post and had no previous knowledge of fate?

nonamethanks said:

In post #1178087 you can clearly see the pectoral lines. A woman's body typically doesn't have that kind of reverse T in the middle of the chest.

As for post #4341697, it's a matter of personal perception. To me it looks like a man because of a lot of small details, like the very masculine shape of the hands. Also, typically for truly androgynous characters the chest is usually hidden by loose clothes, to avoid showing the gender. Compare with something like post #4384611, or post #3203470, which are true androgynous pictures.

The best advice I can give you is to think about it from the point of view of someone who doesn't know the character: would they see a boy, a girl or be unsure if they opened that post and had no previous knowledge of fate?

Thanks for the assistance, I think I see what you mean by the reverse T now. Your explanations make sense.

1