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Percentages?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Secrets5, May 5, 2017.

  1. Secrets5

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    Hello,

    Just interested to know your individual opinions on this, since representation is a big topic at the moment.

    What percentage (%) of an individual book or TV series should have of LGBT characters?

    If you want to do it by different groups:

    A. Homosexual?
    1a. Gay?
    2a. Lesbian?
    B. Bisexual?
    C. Asexual?
    D. Transgender?
    E. Non-binary?
    1e. Which non-binary identities?
    F. [Anything else I've not listed]?
     
    #1 Secrets5, May 5, 2017
    Last edited: May 5, 2017
  2. Chronos

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    All of them bisexual so you can make any ships you want XD
     
  3. RedTrekkie95

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    Ideally 100% for 1a. :grin:

    Honestly, only about 1% for each group, and then not all at once in each show. Obviously a higher percentage for a LGBT show. (But that's just my opinion)
     
  4. Creativemind

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    I don't care in all honesty. I can enjoy a story without LGBT characters, but if an author wants to add them that is nice too. Honestly, I've seen so many terrible lesbian characters and almost no good ones to the point I'd rather watch media with no LGBT stuff than have to put up with the poor representation we have now.
     
  5. Flowey

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    All of them single so I can ship them as much as I want, at the same time I don't have suffer from envy if they are canonically in a relationship :3
    In short, I don't care about percentage at all!
     
  6. Worker Bee

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    I think it should be a reflection of the true % of lgbt+ in the population. And should have at least 25% of characters representing the whole rainbow spectrum
     
  7. Flowey

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    Assuming the true lgbt population to be 10%...then 10% of the cast?
    What do you mean by 25%? 25% of the cast or 25% of LGBT characters?
     
  8. kibou97

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    While I would like more representation, I care very much for people to have creative freedom. I don't want for somebody to throw in a random throw-away character that falls under the LGBT+ umbrella because they were pressured into it when they otherwise wouldn't have done it. The main reason why I didn't like the petitions from a while back to make Elsa from Frozen into a lesbian is because I want it to be purely up to the creators to decide whether or not that ends up becoming an actual thing. If the creators never intended for Elsa to be made into a Lesbian then, even though it could make for some great representation for the community, they shouldn't make her into a lesbian purely due to pressure from people who weren't affiliated with writing the stories of Frozen and Frozen 2.
     
    #8 kibou97, May 5, 2017
    Last edited: May 5, 2017
  9. grass

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    The characters should fit into the story and have their own stuff that they bring to the table that doesn't have to do with their identity. I think that sexuality, gender, race, etc. is cool when it is up to the reader to imagine who the characters are. Blank sate characters are really good as long as they have a personality.
     
  10. deepwaters7

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    I don't care, let's just say, 20?
     
    #10 deepwaters7, May 5, 2017
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  11. MCairo

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    None, writers and producers should be free to do whatever they want.
     
  12. Ryu

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    I personally feel like it doesn't matter, because if a series did include a minority character for the sake of an equality quota or whatever, it would detract from what the core of the series is about.

    So if something is about a gay relationship or struggles of being a Trans person, sure, go wild because it's directly related to the subject, and realistic since, however this may sound, people tend to stick to people similar to them (eg. At my school the 'sexually diverse' hang out with other people 'sexually diverse', the black people hang out with black people, the Asians hang out with Asians, and so on), so it would make sense in a show with a gay protagonist there would be more gay characters surrounding them.

    On the contrary, a series with a straight white male (ew, how disgusting) protagonist would be more likely to have straight white male characters surrounding them.

    Now, I'm not saying that a show series shouldn't have LGBT characters if it's not about a person of the Ilk as the protagonist, but it should never get in the way of the plot just so you can say 'we have a gay character! We're so diverse and progressive'.
    Id say one of the best examples of having a gay character without being 'token' would be Harry Potter. Dumbledore is gay, but that doesn't get in the way of anything in the overall arc of the series.

    Sorry for the incoherent post there.
     
  13. Kodo

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    I am more concerned with an actual story with good characters, rather than inserting a gay or trans person haphazardly for the sake of "representation."

    Just like with race, one shouldn't approach a role (unless it was designed to be for a certain ethnicity) with the thought of finding a black sidekick character just to make it more diverse.

    It should be the right character for the story. Some stories are more open to a variety of ethnicities, sexualities, and genders. For example, Star Trek and Doctor Who get a lot of opportunity to incorporate an awesome and diverse cast and characters because of the nature of the shows. They are diverse without trying too hard. It's chill about it, yet generally respectful and representative.

    In the end, I tend to dislike when movies or television shows feel like they must have an LGBT character to win the "socially progressive" card. If there is a good reason to have one, just like a good reason to have any other character type, then absolutely I'm for taking that opportunity.
     
  14. Aberrance

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    I think it's stupid to put a percentage on it. Just do what's right for the particular show.
     
  15. Austin

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    I think the percentage should reflect the percentage in the population. Has their been any accurate studies on this, though?

    While I feel that's how it should be, I also do believe in creative freedom like some people have mentioned. People shouldn't be coerced or forced to have a token gay character. Ideally, the world will come to a point where being LGBT is accepted enough that shows which are supposed to depict real life NATURALLY do depict real life in terms of percentage sense of LGBT characters.
     
  16. Assassin'sKat

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    I don't think it's a thing that should be dictated at all.
     
  17. Secrets5

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    1.5% for homosexual (not sure on the difference between gay and lesbian)
    1.7% for bisexual
    0.5% for asexual
    0.3% for transgender
    0.4% for non-binary (uk statistic only)

    With this in mind, to have 1 person in a population you would need: (this might be rounded slightly)
    66 straight people before 1 homosexual person (66:1)
    58 straight people before 1 bisexual person (58:1)
    199 straight people before 1 asexual person (199:1)
    332 cis people before 1 trans person (332:1)
    249 cis people before 1 non-binary person (249:1)

    How I worked this out (in case anyone wants to check): 1.5% of 67 is 1.00500 so the 67th person would be homosexual, and the 66 people before them would be straight.

    I was just interested in other people's thoughts on this, because this seemed low to me but maybe that's because I spend a lot of time watching shows with LGBT members it distorted reality.
     
    #17 Secrets5, May 6, 2017
    Last edited: May 6, 2017
  18. Shorthaul

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    There should not be a fixed number or percentage. All of the characters should fit in the story and the only reason a character's sexuality should even be mentioned is if that fact is relevant to the plot.

    That point in the plot being: romantic interests or the mental/emotional dealings of that character.