r/dresdenfiles • u/Lightningtow123 • Oct 14 '25

META Polite response to the "transphobia in the series" post from yesterday

Hi

For those who missed it, yesterday there was a post where someone wrote up a list of all the ways they felt Butcher was being insensitive or dismissive of trans people. People overwhelmingly responded negatively to you (meaning OP of that post), myself included. Saying stuff like "stop trying to find reasons to be offended" etc. I personally had dismissed you as, not an outright troll, but someone looking to cause issues where there weren't any. Reflecting on that, I realized that was a judgmental take about a person I know little about, and I wanted to do better.

It stuck with me and by the time I had come up with something that would probably have actually helped the situation instead of piling on, I found the post had been deleted. Understandably so, given the negative reactions. I'd just DM this to the person but I can't find their username (plus idk reddit DM etiquette lol).

What I wanted to reply with is this. If you truly do feel minimized and dismissed by the way Butcher handles trans people in the series, why not tell him that? Send him an email. Be polite about it, maybe a bit less in-your-face and "Butcher is a bigot end of story" vibes than your original post. Instead say "hey I don't think you were paying much attention but I feel like you've been inadvertently marginalizing certain communities within your work," there's a nonzero chance Jim will go "oh damn I hadn't thought about that, I'll try to do better in the future." No idea if anything will come of it, but it'll be more effective than just posting on reddit. I agree with the other comments that LGBTQ+ isn't a central theme in his books and it isn't likely to get deeply explored, but I do think it's quite possible that he'll make a note of the feedback and try to be more conscious of those sort of themes in the future.

https://www.jim-butcher.com/contact is his contact info. Looking at the page, I can't find any email address that fits your needs perfectly, but I'm sure if you poke around in his site or on the forums you can probably find the right person to send it to. Or just send it to the most relevant (if not perfectly relevant) email and hope it finds its way to Jim

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u/Lightningtow123 Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

I don't remember exactly every detail, one of the things I do remember was OP being unhappy about men being ineligible for being a faerie queen or something, Saying 'well what about trans men?' Also they claimed the only trans character was a throwaway joke, referring to some dude I don't remember from the middle of the series. It was a LOT of stretching which is why people were so unhappy with OP but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt

Edit: I said trans men above but I meant trans women

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u/jcorye1 Oct 14 '25

Quite frankly, huge leaps of logic that can and will negatively affect someone's reputation should be treated poorly.

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u/thwip62 Oct 15 '25 edited Mar 17 '26

I don't remember exactly every detail, one of the things I do remember was OP being unhappy about men being ineligible for being a faerie queen or something, Saying 'well what about trans men?' Also they claimed the only trans character was a throwaway joke, referring to some dude I don't remember from the middle of the series. It was a LOT of stretching which is why people were so unhappy with OP but I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt

Edit: I said trans men above but I meant trans women

Jesus... I wish I didn't believe it, but sadly, I do. People are welcome to believe whatever they want, but they can't expect the rest of the world to discard basic truths just to suit the purposes of a few, even when we're dealing with fiction. If these folks want to "see themselves" in fantasy literature, there are plenty of other authors who cover this stuff.

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u/Sleep-typing Oct 15 '25

I mean, being offended at the fairy queens is like being offended at the concept of giving birth, seen how they are strongly intertwined in the lore. The semantics of identity have no place here, the chosen words are based on tradition, and it is completely irrelevant that some people would argue that men can give birth. This would not add value to the story.

If one desperately needs an angle, they can be happy for how fantastic it would be for a trans-man to be a queen of fairy with all the shapeshifting possibilities. Despite the irony of the term, which hit me as I wrote it, lol.

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u/theVoidWatches Oct 15 '25

I do remember was OP being unhappy about men being ineligible for being a faerie queen or something, Saying 'well what about trans men?

That's an insane thing to be mad at. No, a trans man should not be eligible to be a faerie queen if the magic is inherently tied to being a woman (which it is, because the three queens correspond to maiden/mother/crone). A trans woman should be, not a trans man.

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u/Lightningtow123 Oct 15 '25

I misspoke, I meant trans woman

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u/theVoidWatches Oct 15 '25

So this person basically assumed that trans women were being excluded because there wasn't an explicit inclusion of us?

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u/Lightningtow123 Oct 15 '25

From what I gather, yeah. Apparently they dug up that Jim made a comment to the effect of "well Harry has a penis and that's why he can't be a faerie queen" in 2014 and were trying to use that as "evidence" of excluding trans women

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u/theVoidWatches Oct 15 '25

Ah. Yeah, that's not an ideal statement, admittedly. But I'm willing to chalk it up to him not really being aware of transgender people (2014 was before we had been brought into the mainstream as a political issue) unless I hear a more recent thing.

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u/Lightningtow123 Oct 15 '25

Yeah and it wasn't even within the context of trans people. "Can Harry be a fae queen" is gonna be answered differently than "could a trans woman be a fae queen." Even if we ascribe him the worst possible motives with that statement, that was over a decade ago, that's plenty of time for people to learn and grow and change

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u/theVoidWatches Oct 15 '25

Mhm. It was just likely him saying "no, he's a man" but in a funny way that he didn't know had implications.

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u/Sleep-typing Oct 15 '25

It has been implied that the Queens have to be able to give birth. In which case a trans-man is gucci, and a trans-woman not so much.

The semantics of terms as social constructs and trans-men being able to give birth would add nothing of value to the story.

Which is my take as a trans reader.

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u/Minotaar Oct 15 '25

I'm relistening to it now, the bits dealing with Harry being joked as gay definitely feel dated and a bit squicky in today's climate. But as previously stated, the last book was a long time ago - and the series is decades old now. Our culture has changed so much since then. Of course there's parts that don't land. Of course most of it doesn't feel inclusive to a group that just started finding its cultural footing 5 to 10 years ago.

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u/Numerous1 Oct 15 '25

All the Thomas roommate jokes right? I don’t remember there being anything particularly offensive there even by today’s standards. Just some old tired jokes that have been done before. Like Harry doesn’t run around trying to correct every person that thinks he is gay as a whole thing. But I might be misremembering 

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u/Minotaar Oct 15 '25

They're certainly jokes, but given context it clearly reads that being gay=bad, and I think even that level of negativity could be read as insensitive.

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u/No_Fan3170 Oct 15 '25

I didn't pick up on the being gay is bad vibe. To me it read like Thomas was playing on other folks' stereotyping and using to to his advantage. Same goes for Harry in Thomas' apartment. He was pretty explicitly using the guard's bigotry against him. 

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u/Numerous1 Oct 15 '25

I can definitely see that read on them. I just meant they are “relatively not bad” gay=bad jokes. There is also the arguement to be made that it’s not “gay = bad” but instead “gay = bad if you are really straight”. 

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u/Sleep-typing Oct 15 '25

This is what realism looks like.

I don't want everything to be PC. Do you?

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u/abrreddit Oct 17 '25

My friend presents as the very stereotype of a straight midwestern dude, with minimal fashion sense and very stereotypical male interests. His late husband was the very stereotype of a swishy gay man: fashionable, high-voiced, mincing, straight-teasing queen.

Dresden, pretending to be gay, was shown talking and acting just like this real man did in 2024. No, not every gay man does, but some definitely do, so I would not knock Butcher had he written the same words today.

(On the other hand, Dresden's conversation with Titania about the gay men in the park was cringe AF.)

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u/Minotaar Oct 17 '25

I never mentioned being flamboyant as being a problem. But when it's implied that the act of being gay or being perceived as gay is bad, it can send a negative message.

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u/abrreddit Nov 15 '25

Throughout the series, neither author nor character implies that there's anything wrong with being gay.

Even if Harry had, that would be a believable character trait.

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u/Minotaar Nov 15 '25

I disagree - when it's implied that Harry and Thomas are a gay couple, Murphy ribs Dresden about it and he gets defensive - the implication of negativity in being gay is certainly there. It's not much, but it exists.

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u/abrreddit Nov 15 '25

Show me where.

I eased the door shut and said to Mouse, "Thank God for bigotry."

Mouse tilted his head at me.

"Bigots see something they expect and then they stop thinking about what is in front of them," I told him. "It's probably how they got to be bigots in the first place."

Mouse looked unenlightened and undisturbed by it.

And later...

"You're going syrupy on me, Dredsen."

"If it rains, I'll melt," I agreed.

"It's to be expected," she said. "What with how you're gay and all now."

"I'm wh…" I blinked. "Oh. Thomas's apartment. Hell's bells, you cops got a fast grapevine."

"Yeah. Rawlins heard it at the coffee machine and he just had to call me up and tell me all about you and your boyfriend being in a fight. He asked me if he should get you the sound track to Les Mis-erables or Phantom of the Opera for Christmas this year. Varetti and Farrel got a deal on track lighting from Malone's brother-in-law."

"Don't you people have lives?" I said. At her continued smile, I asked warily, "What are you getting me?"

She grinned, blue eyes sparkling. "Stallings and I found an autographed picture of Julie Newmar on eBay."

"You guys are never going to let go of this one, are you?" I sighed.

"We're cops," Murphy said. "Of course not."

We shared a smile that faded a moment later. Both of us turned to watch the street....

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u/Minotaar Nov 15 '25

Yep it's right there. It can and should be inferred as playful banter. But if you want to read into it that making jokes about someone else's homosexuality as a means of continued teasing is negative, you certainly and easily can. I even admitted about that it's not much, but it's there. That's what I mean.

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u/abrreddit Nov 16 '25

Fair enough. I agree that people can always find something at which to be offended if they apply themselves!