Players Are Mad About This “Feminine” Pokémon, Because Sexism

You may have stopped playing Pokémon Go after the initial craze fizzled out this summer. But devoted fans of the Pocket Monsters are getting excited for Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, two Nintendo 3DS games out this November. What some fans aren't pumped about, however, is a new "feminine" evolution of Popplio called Brionne. Brionne, according to Kotaku, can be either male or female. Some critics, however, cite the fact that Brionne appears to be wearing a multi-tiered dress as evidence that it's too girly to ever be considered a male monster.

Of course, deciding that a dress automatically signals a monster's sex one way or the other is ridiculous. If men and women and genderqueer individuals can wear dresses, fictional video game monsters of all kinds can obviously wear them, too. (Or do whatever the hell they want, really — they're made-up!) Even if the character's creators decided to outfit it with an "I'm super feminine" button, why would that be upsetting? Of course, not all Pokémon players are troubled over Brionne's design. "I think the rest of #inktober will be dedicated to my beautiful mermaid child," wrote one Twitter user. "I could draw Brionne all day!"