[Spoilers ahead for Sense8 and Dumbing of Age; contains discussion of transphobia and homophobia]
Just because a story’s world is prejudiced and awful, doesn’t mean
the story itself is. In fact, in some cases the story bends the world to
its will in order to protect the characters that said world is cruel
to.
Sense8’s Nomi Marks, for instance, is a transwoman living in
a very transphobic world—even at a Pride celebration, a group of women
bully her by erasing her gender identity in a variety of rude and
obnoxious ways, and she also has to contend with her overbearing,
equally obnoxious mother, who insists on guilt-tripping her and calling
her by her (male) birth name. These are things that happen to real
people every day, and they’re awful—unfortunately, Nomi is also a
protagonist in a sci-fi TV show, so it can only get worse.
And it does: Nomi ends up trapped in hospital awaiting an operation
that will effectively lobotomise her, the papers signed by her mother,
who insists “I love you, Michael, and this is for your own good” (even
if Mrs Marks is kept in the dark about the lobotomy because, as it turns
out, it’s secret government agency psychic stuff, the sentiment is
still horrifying, and presented as so). The nurses won’t listen to her,
she ends up handcuffed to the gurney, and everything is absolutely
terrifying and awful, and Nomi sobs for someone to help her. It looks
like a bleak fate lies ahead for the show’s sole trans character.
But then, someone does come to help Nomi. Sci-fi suddenly punches a hole in the realistic setting…
what i do is not up to you 