The issue with the word ‘coding’

Meta
Title:	untitled (first part of the first sentence used on fanlore for clarity)
Creator:	weirdratblogs
Date(s):	27 March 2023
Medium:	Tumblr post
Fandom:	pan-fandom
Topic:	Coding, Queer-coding, Black-coding, Autistic-coding, Minor-coding
External Links:	The issue with the word ‘coding’, Archived version on Tumblr
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The issue with the word ‘coding’ is a meta essay about coding and its off-shoots.

Topics Discussed

• "Coding" and why "minor-coding" is fundamentally different from other known forms of coding in media fandom.

Excerpts

The issue with the word ‘coding’, in reference to a character being ‘black-coded’ or ‘autistic-coded’ or ‘queer-coded’, is that it’s one of those concepts that people don’t actually look into and so develop a definition for it based off of vibes.

Coding is the use of the semiotics of concepts to influence an audience’s perceptions in situations where actually presenting said concept is impossible, such as due to societal expectations, legal reasons, or in-universe logic.

The Hay’s Codes made it impossible to legally represent the queer community in a healthy and happy way, so queer-coded characters were used in place of actual queer characters. This is also why so many confirmed bachelor characters and pansy characters were used in television from the 50′s to the 90′s. You could make a character as gay as you wanted, so long as it was never actually confirmed and used as a joke.

Characters like piccolo, garnet, sapphire, and ruby are inhuman aliens, and thus can’t actually be black, so they are coded as black. Characters like Twilight, Peridot, and Donatello are all likewise inhuman, and so can’t be autistic, so they are autistic-coded.

Saying that sexualizing a character or entangling them in romance because they’re ‘minor-coded’ is insulting to people who are actually like these characters in real life. Hijacking the concept of coding for the sake of being offended by pointless bullshit takes away its power as a tool. Looking at real life people and saying that they aren’t allowed to date, or that someone pursuing them romantically is tantamount to pedophilia is controlling and completely ignorant.