Help with a short story involving gender issues

[Rift_Wolf]

I'm currently working on a short story, and suddenly got to the point where I realised I might be heading into inadvertent transphobia. I'm looking for advice or further reading on the subject of gender issues, as I'm aware these are weighty subjects and I don't want my ignorance construed as malice.
The summary of the story so far;
There are malevolent creatures (the Dollmakers) who can create lifelike humanoid creatures. One of the Dollmakers is employed in a hotel where he works as a pimp, creating puppets to order for rich guests. The hero of the story interrupts the creation of one such puppet (called Rien as a placeholder name), injures the Dollmaker and escapes with Rien. However, s/he isn't finished; although Rien was created physically female, the puppets have no souls, and so no real identity as we'd understand it.
In a previous story, one of these puppets began to break free of its Dollmaker as a sideplot; small acts of kindness and the ability to make choices of its own will lead to that puppet gaining it's own soul and personality. I'm not sure about this as an idea, but the puppet saw definite gender as a difficult choice to make that had limited gains. I'm not saying gender/sexuality is a choice for humans, but for a completely asexual being that was given the choice, it chose to remain neutral.

I'm not sure how to resolve this current plot involving Rien. I don't normally write stories like this; my other works pretty heteronormative in terms of sexuality/gender dynamics. But challenge is good for creativity, and I'm asking for advice; I know GitP has a strong LGBT community and I hope someone can help me out.

[Taveena]

There are plenty of people who have no gender identity (or one that can't be expressed in a simple male/female binary) in real life - it seems all the more likely that in this context they'd be agender, too. It's hardly transphobic - there are, after all, a ton of people who have female sex organs but don't identify as female. This would presumably be another of them.

Worth keeping in mind that someone who's agender doesn't necessarily try to dress androgynously. They COULD, or they could just go for a laid-back 'whatever I feel like' gender expression. Or maybe they have a disproportionate passion for dresses or tuxedos. Maybe they dislike gendered pronouns and prefer they or xe, or maybe they're fine with almost any pronoun and don't view it as an issue.

There are a LOT of ways to write this, and provided that you don't imply your character's gender identity is 'wrong', you should be fine. Just try to avoid 'it' - even if it's somewhat apt here, 'it' as a pronoun is very dehumanizing and something most (not all - some people do have 'it' as a preferred pronoun) trans folks would REALLY rather not be called.

[Rift_Wolf]

Thanks for the advice; the gender neutral pronoun (hereafter called GNP) is a stumbling block. I use 'it' to refer to non-humans in my story, like Ghouls or Trolls, but use more personal pronouns when referring to characters. But until society and Microsoft Word recognises a universal English GNP, I'm stuck with they and their, which is a bit clunky.
I guess I'm a bit nervous about writing about this sort of thing because I'm very aware of how badly it can be handled, like any debatable topic.

[Artman77]

I agree that "it" is dehumanizing, but since you are referring to something that's not actually human, I think you could get away with calling it... it. It seems cold, but the reality is they are created beings with no soul, right? If you want to have Rien gain intelligence/emotions/a soul later, this pronoun usage (or lack thereof) could be a tool to develop the plot.

As the author, your job is to tell a story as honestly as possible. If Rien was created physically as a female, then I would have most characters refer to her as such. I would also use "her" for narrative purposes if and when "Rien" is not appropriate/getting over used. If a character is shy and pro-humans, I would have them say "it" and "them". If a character is shy and pro-dolls I would have them use the doll's name. If a character is outspoken and anti-dolls, I would have them say "it", "that doll", "those things", etc. If a character was outspoken and pro-dolls, I would have them say "him" or "her" because it is the most humanizing. I say this not to disregard or ignore gender neutrality, but because in these terms are more familiar than "it"(which causes us to connect more to the character on a subconscious level), and less confusing than constantly saying "their". Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

What's the conflict? Does gender identity really matter in regards to resolving the conflict? It's important to know your characters, how they think and feel, but the reader only really needs to know what's essential to the plot...

[Rift_Wolf]

Been thinking of conflict and resolution; one of my themes is 'the victim saves themselves'. The hero might help them along the way, but ultimately someone victimised by a villain gets their own revenge on them, not some white knight figure.
The current conflict is the hero trying to stop the Dollmaker. The Dollmaker takes payment in blood, but with Rien stolen, the customer is unwilling to pay. So the Dollmaker is out for blood. The hero is 'pro-doll'; it's a slippery slope if your treatment of creatures hinges on whether they have souls, and just because a doll might be nothing more than a soulless mannequin, doesn't mean you should be impolite to one. Inadvertently, I realised I've put two minor characters at the start of the story with strong masculine or feminine personalities. Maybe in the course of Rien's growth these characters interact with hir in different ways.

The resolution I'm toying with is Rien gains enough humanity to pay the blood cost and essentially buy hir freedom. Once shi's bought this, the Dollmaker is defeated (somehow. Details TBA) and Rien is given the choice of giving up hir existence or continue to grow and learn, until shi gains a true Soul.

[Artman77]

"hir" and "shi"? I do not recommend...

[Rift_Wolf]

"hir" and "shi"? I do not recommend...

Was toying with GNP I've seen used on forums. No offence meant.

[Artman77]

None taken. I was recommending that from a business standpoint, not a personal one. It probably would be distracting.