This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021.

Jordan Raskopoulos Transitions To Female, Gets Mansplained

The comedian was prepared for trans-phobia, but straight up misogyny was a surprise.
Jordan Raskopoulos can probably beat you at Warhammer, right?
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Jordan Raskopoulos can probably beat you at Warhammer, right?

Gamer, comedian and all-round nerd Jordan Raskopoulos is very good at Warhammer. This is the game where you paint tiny armies and fight other opponents in tabletop boards, often in the back room of a graphic novel store, or in this case, at a massive, 500-strong convention in Las Vegas.

As Raskopoulos sat down to play with her opponent, the questions started. Is this your army? Did you borrow it? Who painted it? Are you here with your boyfriend or something?

As Raskopoulos shares in the Story Club podcast, this had never happened before during the more than a decade she'd been playing. Yet this was one of the first times she played after transitioning to female.

"He then proceeded to point out many of the simpler aspects of the game," Raskopoulos said in the podcast.

"Then it clicked, I was being 'mansplained'. For the first time in my life, a man was presuming that I was ignorant to the nuances of something he thought was too complex for a woman.

"I was a little bit delighted."

Raskopoulos, who is also the frontwoman for comedy band Axis of Awesome, told The Huffington Post Australia the world of gaming was generally embracing of queer culture.

"I think gaming's a really interesting community to be looking at right now, because there is a lot of toxicity in parts, both computer gaming and within tabletop as well, because it's an area that's traditionally been a boy's club.

"Within my lifetime it's been a boy's club and there are hangovers of that still around but at the same time, aspects of the gaming community are very, very progressive. There are so many female and queer game developers nowadays."

Raskopoulos' transition from male to female has not been a secretive one. You might have seen the video 'What's Happened To Jordan's Beard?'.

She said it was never a question of keeping things secret.

"One of the big things for me is that within the trans community, there's the concept of 'passing' -- it basically means to be able to walk through life without people picking up on your trans status.

"For a lot of people, it's really important and can come with a lot of anxiety.

Jordan Raskopoulos told the world she was transgender in February this year.
Supplied
Jordan Raskopoulos told the world she was transgender in February this year.

"But for me, early on I resigned myself to the fact that I won't worry about it -- even if I passed physically, I wanted to continue being a performer and continue singing.

"I essentially needed to out myself to continue doing that."

Check out more Story Club podcasts here.

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