So let's talk about Hainly Abrams from Mass Effect: Andromeda

Usually, when looking over my Dtoid emails, I'm content to watch the main staff do their thing. This includes controversial topics that I must later brace myself to help moderate alongside the rest of the community team, so it's rare that I hop from one side to the other. Still, when we're going to talk about the presentation of Hainly Abrams in Mass Effect: Andromeda, we're talking about BioWare misrepresenting the transgender community, which I am also part of. Now, I often hear the term "pandering" tossed about when BioWare decides to create an LGBTQ character here and there. It's misused to the point I feel I have to pull out the Inigo Montoya meme each time I hear it.

It does not mean what you think it means. This content is not pandering to transgender players (nor has any LGBT content really been that), it's pandering to rather dated, faulty social expectations of trans people and BioWare felt that was inclusive. It isn't. Read more…