Gender

Gender is a form of identity common to almost all races in MS Paint Adventures.

Background

From Wikipedia's article on gender identity:

In most societies, there is a basic division between gender attributes assigned to males and females, a gender binary to which most people adhere and which includes expectations of masculinity and femininity in all aspects of sex and gender: biological sex, gender identity, and gender expression. Some people do not identify with some, or all, of the aspects of gender assigned to their biological sex; some of those people are transgender, non-binary or genderqueer.

In Problem Sleuth

Gender is represented in simplistic binary terms in Problem Sleuth. The three main characters are all male; however they each have a female counterpart. This is described as being “in accordance with deep seated mythology that dictates that any man secretly wishes to have sex with a female version of himself (re: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Mickey/Minnie, etc.)”. In fitting with simplistic Prohibition-era perceptions of the sexes, the women in Problem Sleuth are also particularly prone to elevated emotional states.

In Homestuck

For much of Homestuck gender is used in a similar simplistic manner to in Problem Sleuth. Every known session of Sburb had an equal number of male and female participants (save for Caliborn and Calliope's solo sessions after each other's murder). The human ectobiological families both had equal numbers of male and female members, as did the dream towers on Prospit and Derse. The troll teams each had three male and three female members.

Gender also seems to play a greater role in the workings of Sburb. Some classes are associated with certain gender identities, with princes and bards both being “exclUsively designated for male players” and thieves and rogues being given to female players “not exclUsively, bUt commonly!”

Davepetasprite^2 is the first character in Homestuck to actively question their gender. After their creation they become confused about it, given that “both dave and nepeta did have strong identities as a boy and girl”. Throughout the comic they are referred to using gender-neutral they/them/their pronouns.

In troll society

Main article: Alternia

Despite their bisexual method of reproduction, trolls still have an established gender binary and gender roles, with Karkat describing Flarp as being “FOR GIRLS”. Though the authority of Her Imperious Condescension makes Alternia appear “matriarchal upo+n superficial o+bservatio+n”, in reality it is subject to a “sinister, clo+aked fo+rm o+f patriarchal tyranny” due to the influence of Lord English and his control over the empress. This gender hierarchy on Alternia is interconnected with the hierarchy of the hemospectrum, with "CIPs" (cobalt-, indigo- and purplebloods) being described as “generally male-do+minated castes”, leading to a “#Fuchsia do+wn matriarchy” and “#Purple do+wn patriarchy” on Beforus.

As on Earth, some inhabitants of Alternia defy the gender binary with non-binary identities, such as Cirava Hermod and Charun Krojib (Dubiously Canon), who are referred to only with neutral they/them/their pronouns.

Among cherubs

Main article: Cherub

In addition to their two blood alignments, Aranea describes cherubs as having “male and female halves”, which can each be of either alignment as long as they oppose each other. The two genders are indistinguishable before predomination. After predomination the cherub presumably assumes the gender of the predominating half.

In The Homestuck Epilogues (Dubiously Canon)

Gender is explored in further depth in The Homestuck Epilogues than in their predecessor, with Roxy Lalonde and Calliope both describing their experiences with gender and experimenting with their identities in both the Meat and Candy volumes.

Roxy describes gender as “stuff from our old universe”, with Calliope stating that their notions of gender “were entirely inflUenced by [their] time watching earth.” Calliope also supports Porrim's assertion that Lord English influenced Alternia's gender roles, stating that their own observations of human gender alongside Caliborn's “indirectly inflUenced alternia’s development” which in turn influenced that of Earth. From this Roxy concludes that “so much of what earth c thinks what boys and girls "SHOULD" do comes straight from the imagination of a bunch of dumb teens”.

Because of this, in the Meat epilogue Roxy goes on to identify as a male and use masculine he/him pronouns. In the Candy epilogue, however, Roxy states that they aren't “anywhere near done buildin those roxy self actualization train stops” and seems to continue to use the same feminine she/her pronouns as in Homestuck.

In Psycholonials

Gender in Psycholonials is built upon a “pyramid shaped continuum” of four main genders: male, non-binary, female, and clown. The higher one's position on the pyramid, the weaker they feel about their gender; likewise, the lower, the more STRONGLY they feel. In the middle of the pyramid is the conventional spectrum of male, female, and non-binary identities; on the bottom are "horsegender" variants of all the genders, and on the top is "clowngender", the complete opposite of horsegender which represents “weak” feelings about one's gender. The gender pyramid is in itself a spectrum, and one doesn't need to occupy one exact spot upon it.