-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Is Kirby's gender definitely male?
- Thread starter maxcriden
- Start date
Tatersalad
Member
What I thought...Kirby's just Kirby.
Pink is manly!
Alternatively it's fun to think about Kirby the lesbian[?].
I see it as a 'he'.
I don't even like Kirby that much (or his games); but this is adorable. What game's this from? Crystal Shards?
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
If Nintendo already claimed Kirby's a he, and a game directed by Sakurai already refers to Kirby as a he, then why is this even a discussion?
A discussion that involves thrown insults, even? Sometimes some of you folks are just ridiculous.
A discussion that involves thrown insults, even? Sometimes some of you folks are just ridiculous.
You're using the word 'clearly' incorrectly. That word implies you have some form of concrete evidence to back up what you claim that goes beyond an overactive willingness to read your personal opinions into things. I imagine if that were the case you would have posted it by now. Anyway, discussion that doesn't distinguish opinions from facts doesn't seem very productive, so I'll leave it at that until you can provide something of substance. Maybe comparing how Kirby is portrayed in Japan with how other examples like Vivian are portrayed.
As far as the n64 kirby page I don't speak japanese but this is what it says so I don't know why you dismissed it:
English wikipedia says Hiragana for 'boku' is ぼく (the symbol you posted is Kanji)
Kirby 64 official page:
And according to google translate:
Which translates to something like this:
spyroflame0487
Member
I think it'd be interesting to see what Kirby looks like fully grown. If he's a baby guy, what'd full grown adult male Kirby look like?
Metaknight .
Dr. Black Jack
Member
Took till the end of the first page, but there it is.
NegativeCero
Banned
I always thought genderless.
Erin S Kittens
Member
To clarify, I don't think that Kirby's case is the same as Birdo and Vivian, who are very explicitly aligned with trans*feminine identities and narratives. Rather, I imagine Kirby is simply a character who exists without need or want for gender, but was given one for the US presumably because American English essentially lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun in widespread use (this goes double for when the series was new in the early 90s). Kirby's not out there dealing with oppression for their identity like Birdo and Vivian do, they're just out there being Kirby.
As I said, I don't speak Japanese--I don't immediately see the difference between kanji, kana, etc. Just gave it a cursory read the best I know how. Every discussion I'd seen up until this point worked from the introductory stance that Kirby is referred to as gender-neutral in Japanese. Until tonight, I'd never seen any indication that anything else would be the case. I did say that I was open to being wrong about this.
Good catch. This is important information. I wonder where the meme of Kirby's gender-neutral pronoun comes from, if it's that way in many manuals or something.
Thanks, that seems more reasonable.
Erin S Kittens
Member
Princess Viola
Member
what if metroid could crawl
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
What you're saying is still a very popular way of thinking among people who generally put a lot of thought into this stuff -- psychologists, feminists, queers, etc. But more and more people are expressing and documenting a different discourse. And when I say feminists and queers, I'm not just talking about academics, but people who live this stuff and talk about their lived experiences through zines, blogs, tweets, Twine games, etc.
The basic idea is that there's nothing male about having a penis, and there's nothing female about having a vagina. These are just different body parts that different people have. You can say that a trans man has "female" genitals, but that use of the word "female" is still applying gender to someone's junk. For a lot of people, that doesn't feel okay or accurate. Queerness and feminism has been devoted to complicating and diversifying gender and sexuality -- recognizing all the many many variations that exist out there. Putting bodies into a simple binary is totally counter to that.
When babies are born, we don't know their gender. We might call them a boy or a girl, but we have no idea what they'll end up feeling like. And what they feel like is what they are. So, phrasing that another way, we can't say what a baby's gender will be just by looking at their genitals or chromosomes. So, if we can't tell if a baby with a penis is going to be a boy or a girl or a totally different gender, then why apply the terms "male" or "female" to their body? Or to anyone elses' body? What makes a penis male and a vagina female? Nothing. It's just a silly ass label that someone came up with someday.
Gender is still gender. Talking about bodies differently is definitely tied up with talking about gender, but I'd say the accepted definitions of gender and it's diversity and complexity are still there.
Dice//
Banned
Can we take this moment to appreciate that, as a perfect contrast to your time spent in "Dreamland", that like 90% of the bosses are nightmare fuel?
And rememeber the final boss of Dreamland 3...specifically where the IRIS RIPS OUT OF THE EYE WHITE?
And rememeber the final boss of Dreamland 3...specifically where the IRIS RIPS OUT OF THE EYE WHITE?
zeopower6
Member
I guess it's because 'kare' is as close as Japanese gets to 'gender neutral'? It seems to be generally agreed upon by Japanese fans anyway :/ The history of kare seems pretty complicated from what I've read up on x_x
I'll take it. Thank you!
poorlonelycomputer
Member
Hahaha yes
I always presumed he was male because I'm sexist apparently. I like the idea of a gender queer Kirby though.
The Albatross
Member
kirby is cis scum
BananaSprinkles
Banned
Yes.
7 pages on Kirby's gender...
Hate to spoil the magic but I never found 02 that creepy. Always just saw him as a big eyeball thing with a cactus sticking out of his arse. Some of the lore around him is pretty interesting though.
That scream the final boss of Superstar Ultra lets out when you kill him though...
Can we take this moment to appreciate that, as a perfect contrast to your time spent in "Dreamland", that like 90% of the bosses are nightmare fuel?
And rememeber the final boss of Dreamland 3...specifically where the IRIS RIPS OUT OF THE EYE WHITE?
Hate to spoil the magic but I never found 02 that creepy. Always just saw him as a big eyeball thing with a cactus sticking out of his arse. Some of the lore around him is pretty interesting though.
That scream the final boss of Superstar Ultra lets out when you kill him though...
Mr.Monitor
Member
Even though I've always used "he" to refer to Kirby, I've never really thought of him as male or female. I just sorta see Kirby as this weird blob of pink adorable, and don't really care to know its gender or anything like that. Maybe that's inconsistent, but whatever. It's a videogame character.
As for NiGHTS, I always thought their androdgeny helped further the dreamlike atmosphere of the game. I like the idea that the player can interpret whether they feel NiGHTS is male, female, or neither on their own, as it meshes well with the whole interpretive nature of dreams in general.
As for NiGHTS, I always thought their androdgeny helped further the dreamlike atmosphere of the game. I like the idea that the player can interpret whether they feel NiGHTS is male, female, or neither on their own, as it meshes well with the whole interpretive nature of dreams in general.
I was wondering the same thing. I think it is from The Crystal Shards, though.
Red Liquorice
Member
Kirby... is Kirby, he has no need for your binary label limitations.
Ampersands
Member
I don't get it. Kirby has never been referred to as a female before. This should be a discussion over whether Kirby has a gender at all.
Similar threads
- Locked