The Daemian Union (TDU) V2 (POSTING OPEN!)

[Slinkypants]

Another gay girl with a masculine daemon reporting in. :B I do think he's male mainly because I expected him to be after reading His Dark Materials, and also because as a kid I tended to say a lot of my toys were 'male'. Maybe because I had a lot of uncles so it seemed natural. In fact, to this day I find male characters slightly easier to create in my writing. Sooo that explains the daemon really.

[Kheisa]

^^ Thanks, Zoe! Like I said, it's been ages since I've read the books; I hardly remember anything but the traumatic ending of the first book and the Mulefa in the... third? And I wasn't really into HDM fan communities until TDF. Haha, I'm really glad we're moving away from such arbitrary rules and guidelines; it's really nice and freeing that over time there's been a shift away from more Pullman-esque ideas like "my daemon looks like this, thus this is my form," and "I am female therefore my daemon is male" and "I'm settled so I can never change forms again" and "ONE DAEMON PER PERSON GOSH DON'T YOU KNOW ANYTHING" to more sensible, looser ones.

(Erg, I've just realized I wrote "trading card game" instead of "the Golden Compass" sigh acronyms are hard ignore me)

fake edit: Beth, it's really interesting that you bring up male characters in writing/etc, because I'm currently working on my CharaHub profile, noting and posting all of my characters and such, and literally the only male I have listed currently is my actual dog, given a character page so I can easily request art of him. I have an absurd preponderance of female characters. I wonder if the same or a similar mechanism might be at work by which some people more enjoy characters they can relate to and would get along with, and others more enjoy more villainous characters? Something about being more emotionally attracted to something you can relate to versus something you can't, idk.

real edit: I mean, in addition to the expectations thing.

[Irios Atelis]

I am very much a straight girl whose Daemon is male.

And to agree with everyone else I don't think the book indicates anything about gender versus sexuality.
I think the reason Dominix is male is less because of the sexuality assumption and more from the fact that the book indicates 'normal'= Opposite gender.
I think had I known that there really was no rule to do with the fact I would have chosen my Daemon to be female if only because I was about nine or ten when I found Dom and the whole 'aversion to thr opposite gender' thing was still wearing off.

That being said though even now at fifteen years old, if given the chance to change it I would never have a female Daemon. I am happy with a male Daemon and always will be.
I do also greatly preffer male characters though, however I almost always have one female character reprisenting me. The usual being my persona, Nix Tempesedo.
This also has nothing to with who I hang out with. True my two best friends in primary school were guys but I have now been going to an all girl school for three years now and being a reserved person I don't have many guy friends.

[Doctor! Really...?]

I'm lesbian and my daemon is a female. She isn't masculine though. She's about as masculine as me (not much) But we're also not girly... It's quite confusing, lol

[н σ я ѕ є]

Like said before, your deamon is the side of yourself you suppress. Thus, most tomboys have female deamons. Just like most females have male deamons and most males have female deamons. I'm not a tomboy or a feminist. I'm my own person. One thing most normal girls are afraid to be.

That is because my deamon. You see, when I was young and first discovered my deamon, I was very boyish. But, after following her bold advice I have become my own person.

Just like, if a boy were to follow his female deamons advice, he would become for feminine. My deamon just happens to be a bit odd sometimes.

[Scarf]

Like said before, your deamon is the side of yourself you suppress. Thus, most tomboys have female deamons. Just like most females have male deamons and most males have female deamons. I'm not a tomboy or a feminist. I'm my own person. One thing most normal girls are afraid to be.

That is because my deamon. You see, when I was young and first discovered my deamon, I was very boyish. But, after following her bold advice I have become my own person.

Just like, if a boy were to follow his female deamons advice, he would become for feminine. My deamon just happens to be a bit odd sometimes.

I dunno, that doesn't seem to be the universal experience. It might be your experience and it might be some people's experience, but from what I know about people who construct a daemon their gender generally just settles as what they're comfortable with, or, if they don't have any particular preference, defaults to the male-female/female-male format set out in HDM (relying on rules from HDM is something that we've grown out of but some things linger and if they're not problematic or restrictive it's not really a big deal). Like Luth goes by male pronouns because my brain defaults to giving male pronouns to everything (seriously it's a struggle to construct ladies in here). He's not anything that I'm suppressing though...neither of us have any defined gender identity.

You could argue a case for calling me a tomboy (it'd be incorrect but it was more accurate when I was growing up) and I'm definitely a feminist (because yes I believe that women deserve autonomy over themselves and respect and equality in all walks of life), but Luth's not female. I think the gender of your daemon is less significant than you think. It's the creation of internal dialogue and self-guidance that may cause you to become more self confident, not the fact that your daemon is shuffling you closer towards their end of the gender expression or identity spectrum.

(protip: it's true that many girls fear to be their own person, but being a tomboy or a feminist doesn't stop you from doing this. In fact a person who is a tomboy in a society which applauds traditional femininity or a feminist fighting for the ability for future girls to feel comfortable being themselves whoever they may be is probably being their own person. It's cool you developed over the years from tomboy to a more honest and feminine you, but it's a bit gross to imply that tomboys aren't being honest and true to themselves. Phrasing is important on the internet (: )

[CobaltWings]

@Gender discussion - Basically, what Zoe said. And as for some more examples: my best friend is the most ridiculously feminine person I know...and so is her daemon. They're both female, and it's not like she's suppressing her feminine side or something, because she already presents that way. The gender of your daemon basically boils down to what your mind finds most comfortable. *shrug* Akasha's a male because that's how my head wanted him to be, not because I repress any masculinity within myself. Daemonism isn't about repression of your personality, and as Zoe said, tomboys don't "repress" their femininity. People choose to present as what they are most comfortable with.

[The Paladog]

This must be where the cool kids hang out. *settles in*

[Beebs]

Vee isn't masculine sounding; she does have a very rough voice, which could be mistaken for a guy's voice. Not much, you can still tell she's a girl.
I don't honestly know why I have a female daemon. Maybe it's because, at the time, I was more comfortable around girls? (Although, now, I've become friends with a few guys at my school.)
I dunno.

I consider myself tomboyish. My friends don't see me as the type to prance around in dresses or swoon over guys, so it's pretty obvious I don't like being feminine. Vee doesn't seem to either, although she is a lot nicer and calming than I am. When she's not criticizing everything I do, that is...

[LOCW_Bluestarwarrior]

Halogen is male, but so are many of the other characters that represent me... I just always see him as male, and all my other sona-type characters.... I really do not know why.