I'm so glad we got top surgery scars, they should be available for both male & female sims
I read the patch notes a little bit ago and was really excited for like a few minutes. I immediately noticed some issues. The binders being under tops meant you can't wear clothes over them.
But it wasn't until I opened tiktok and then saw an excited simmer posting about the top surgery scars that I realized I had misread what they had written. It wasn't for "Female and Male Sims (masculine and feminine frames) Teen and up" it was just for Male sims. Why? It's not just people who identify as men who don't want to have those parts up top.
Plenty of non-binary people don't want them, some cis-women, other cis-women get breast reductions in order to feel more comfortable with their bodies.
Plus there's literally anyone who's had a mastectomy. Perhaps they just didn't think through how to apply these to female sims. IDK.
Like on one hand this update is some of the first disability representation we've ever had in this game. We got hearing aids, and glucose monitors. And if they are willing to be representative of players like that, there's a chance they will go further. And that's great.
On the other hand it's like the 3rd of fourth time they've gotten it sorta, or partially right when it came to bringing more LGBTQIA2S+ representation into the game. I might be being overly sensitive in the eyes of some. But when I saw that update, one of my first thoughts was about one of my sims, who is a woman, a female sim, who could use those scars. I had seen the masculine or feminine frame and felt secure that I was good to use them. And didn't even realize that she couldn't. It's just really odd, to set it up like that.
I feel like this goes back to what was going on when they started announcing changes in representation, and adding pronouns and sexuality and romantic attraction under the binary system.
Like I've seen simmers say the reason things are harder to implement is because it's a game and they can't mess with the game binary, whatever that means. But that just makes me think:
1. Just treat the Female and Male as they are. Sex assigned at birth or in this case CAS. If possible add Intersex representation.
2. Add gender as an option under that. Pronouns stay customizable.
3. Instead of clicking which clothing preference you have, one or the other, make an option for both.
4. We have feminine and masculine frames, and they can be picked regardless or sex ,which does allow for some customization. Maybe adding a third frame would be too much, one that's in between I don't know.
5. Flushing out the sexuality portion, the romantic attraction portion, and also adding a portion for romantic style monoamorous, polyamrous, etc.
If the system itself could be tweaked to allow certain changes and certain fluidity, then there would likely be less issues when adding new things. And if things were added without fully paying attention to the factors involved, the fixing of that would be easy. As would accessing them in the meantime.
Like we're about to have infants as a life stage. You've introduced top scars. You already have pronouns. But if I for example had a trans man sim, this sim would be AFAB. And he was comfortable to carry a child. He and his wife got pregnant. Right now, you have the right pronouns for this sim. But that's all the gender options you have. It's good, but could be deepened. I can give him a masculine frame, but no top scars. I can give him a binder if he wears it as a shirt. Maybe the only dysphoria he has is his chest. And currently it's fine to nurse his child. But he would prefer bottle feeding, and the rest of his body is fine with him. The only sim in that household who could have the sign of that surgery would be his wife. Because they are T4T and she was AMAB. But that's obviously not a surgery she wants. There's some flaws in how this plays out.
If I had made a Sim and only I knew this sim was headcannoned as trans and they were a transman yeah this would work. Or if I had them as someone who had fully transitioned.
But confirming procedures come in many different configurations, and those who get them aren't all getting the same things.
Tldr: You should make it so the top surgery scars are available for all sims from Teen up regardless of sex, body frame, or gender/pronouns.
But it wasn't until I opened tiktok and then saw an excited simmer posting about the top surgery scars that I realized I had misread what they had written. It wasn't for "Female and Male Sims (masculine and feminine frames) Teen and up" it was just for Male sims. Why? It's not just people who identify as men who don't want to have those parts up top.
Plenty of non-binary people don't want them, some cis-women, other cis-women get breast reductions in order to feel more comfortable with their bodies.
Plus there's literally anyone who's had a mastectomy. Perhaps they just didn't think through how to apply these to female sims. IDK.
Like on one hand this update is some of the first disability representation we've ever had in this game. We got hearing aids, and glucose monitors. And if they are willing to be representative of players like that, there's a chance they will go further. And that's great.
On the other hand it's like the 3rd of fourth time they've gotten it sorta, or partially right when it came to bringing more LGBTQIA2S+ representation into the game. I might be being overly sensitive in the eyes of some. But when I saw that update, one of my first thoughts was about one of my sims, who is a woman, a female sim, who could use those scars. I had seen the masculine or feminine frame and felt secure that I was good to use them. And didn't even realize that she couldn't. It's just really odd, to set it up like that.
I feel like this goes back to what was going on when they started announcing changes in representation, and adding pronouns and sexuality and romantic attraction under the binary system.
Like I've seen simmers say the reason things are harder to implement is because it's a game and they can't mess with the game binary, whatever that means. But that just makes me think:
1. Just treat the Female and Male as they are. Sex assigned at birth or in this case CAS. If possible add Intersex representation.
2. Add gender as an option under that. Pronouns stay customizable.
3. Instead of clicking which clothing preference you have, one or the other, make an option for both.
4. We have feminine and masculine frames, and they can be picked regardless or sex ,which does allow for some customization. Maybe adding a third frame would be too much, one that's in between I don't know.
5. Flushing out the sexuality portion, the romantic attraction portion, and also adding a portion for romantic style monoamorous, polyamrous, etc.
If the system itself could be tweaked to allow certain changes and certain fluidity, then there would likely be less issues when adding new things. And if things were added without fully paying attention to the factors involved, the fixing of that would be easy. As would accessing them in the meantime.
Like we're about to have infants as a life stage. You've introduced top scars. You already have pronouns. But if I for example had a trans man sim, this sim would be AFAB. And he was comfortable to carry a child. He and his wife got pregnant. Right now, you have the right pronouns for this sim. But that's all the gender options you have. It's good, but could be deepened. I can give him a masculine frame, but no top scars. I can give him a binder if he wears it as a shirt. Maybe the only dysphoria he has is his chest. And currently it's fine to nurse his child. But he would prefer bottle feeding, and the rest of his body is fine with him. The only sim in that household who could have the sign of that surgery would be his wife. Because they are T4T and she was AMAB. But that's obviously not a surgery she wants. There's some flaws in how this plays out.
If I had made a Sim and only I knew this sim was headcannoned as trans and they were a transman yeah this would work. Or if I had them as someone who had fully transitioned.
But confirming procedures come in many different configurations, and those who get them aren't all getting the same things.
Tldr: You should make it so the top surgery scars are available for all sims from Teen up regardless of sex, body frame, or gender/pronouns.
