Gender

The Player Character's gender is a key gameplay element within Degrees of Lewdity. While it changes the specifics of events greatly, the game is fully playable as all genders and no content is locked to either one.

Gender Choice

When creating a character, the player must choose from one of three genders. This choice is permanent and cannot be altered during gameplay.

Male

A male's characteristic trait in Degrees of Lewdity is having a penis. A male character may grow breasts or even lactate, should the toggle Lactation be enabled. While the game generally has less male-specific clothing, it is fully playable as a male character. The feat "Being a Boy" is tied to the male gender.

Female

A female's characteristic trait in Degrees of Lewdity is having a vagina. Women can have a flat chest (no breasts) just like men. The feat "Being a Girl" is tied to the female gender.

Hermaphrodite

A hermaphrodite's characteristic trait in Degrees of Lewdity is the presence of both a penis and a vagina. Hermaphrodites can choose whether or not they have testes at character creation testes may show up in scene. They can also have breasts, giving them an edge in the Café Campaign quest. Though being a hermaphrodite also comes with its fair share of difficulties, as the inhabitants of the nameless Town where the player resides are not used to people having both male and female genitals, and some might not appreciate the surprise. Crossdressing is also impossible for hermaphrodites, as they are technically both genders. The player can also gain a reputation at school as a hermaphrodite, which influences some events.

The feat "Being a Hermaphrodite" is tied to this gender.

Gender Appearance

Gender Appearance plays a key gameplay mechanic within Degrees of Lewdity. The player may appear either masculine or feminine. This is determined by the player's natural features, body, their clothes, and their behaviour. Note that the total masculinity and femininity does not matter, the only thing that matters is which is larger.

Factors influencing gender appearance as seen when examining oneself in the mirror

• Natural features - At character creation, the player must choose to appear masculine, feminine, or androgynous. This will provide them with a boost in either masculinity, femininity or neither. This cannot be changed.
• Body - Several things about the player's body influence their appearance:
  • Bulge - The larger and the more exposed, the more it increases masculinity. Size increases with penis size and arousal. Affected by the player's Nude Gender Appearance settings - see below.
  • Breasts - The larger and more exposed, the more they increase femininity. Fully exposed large breasts increase femininity dramatically, while a flat chest appears male.
  • Exposed penis/vagina - An exposed penis or vagina may increase masculinity or femininity, respectively. The extent to which it affects the player's gender appearance depends on their Nude Gender Appearance settings (see below).
  • Toned muscles - If the player's physique is high enough, they will have "toned muscles", increasing masculinity.
  • Bottom - The larger, the more it increases femininity (only if exposed).
  • Hair length - Long hair increases femininity, while short hair increases masculinity. It should be noted that colour and hair style do not affect this, so players seeking more femininity and shorter hair should turn to other Player Customization options.

• Clothing and accessories - Each piece of clothing is considered either masculine, feminine or neutral. This is denoted next to the name of each item with the corresponding symbol (♂, ♀ or none for neutral). The specific value can be found in the compact list in articles detailing all clothing applicable to a specific slot, for example here).
• Behaviour - When the player examines how they are seen by others when looking in the mirror in their room, they can choose a posture - Act naturally (no boost), Take a feminine posture (femininity) or Take a masculine posture (masculine). The effectiveness of the player's posture is determined by their English rank.

When the player examines how they are seen by others when looking in the mirror in their room, they get a break down of various factors influencing the player's gender appearance (as in the picture above).

Crossdressing

Should the player appear as the opposite gender of what they are, indicated by the prompt The way you're dressed, people will think you're a boy! or The way you're dressed, people will think you're a girl! in the sidebar, they are considered to be crossdressing. Hermaphrodites will always have either one of the prompts displayed, though it should be noted that they cannot gain crossdresser fame, as they are a category of their own and gain hermaphrodite fame instead.

Crossdressing is, as the name implies, most easily achieved by wearing clothing tailored for the opposite gender of what the player is. This is not necessary though, the only thing that matters is the player's actual gender and the gender they appear as.

When the player's genitals are exposed, their true gender is discovered. This can have consequences, like making people in encounters angry or loosing audience members when dancing. Perhaps more importantly though, each time the player is discovered, it gets them closer to getting a crossdresser trait. It can be gained in two ways - be discovered while crossdressing 100 times or choose the "Crossdresser" background when creating a new character. There are two variants of this trait:

• Crossdresser - "Stress decays faster while dressed as a girl, but slower when dressed as a boy." - Only male characters
• Crossdresser - "Stress decays faster while dressed as a boy, but slower when dressed as a girl." - Only female characters

The player can also gain a reputation at school as a crossdresser, which influences some events.

Nude Gender Appearance

In the Game Settings section of the game creation menu, players may alter how much NPCs are influenced by the Player Character's genitals when determining their gender appearance.

There are three tiers to the Nude Gender Appearance slider, each affecting how NPCs perceive the player's gender with regards to their genitalia.

• NPCs will judge your gender based on your genitals. - The player's gender appearance is dramatically affected by their exposed genitalia, overriding any other appearance-altering factors.
• NPCs will consider your genitals when perceiving your gender. - The player's gender appearance is slightly swayed by their exposed genitalia, but the effect can be overcome by other factors. If male, the amount the player's genitals increase their gender appearance depends on the size of their penis; large penises increase masculinity by a greater amount. For female players, the amount femininity is increased by an exposed vagina is fixed, roughly on par with a couple articles of feminine clothing.
• NPCs will ignore your genitals when perceiving your gender. - The player's exposed genitalia will not affect their gender appearance at all, leaving it to be determined by the other factors listed above.

Trivia

• Hermaphrodites are also referred to as "Futanari" (or "Futa" for short; literally: dual form), which is the Japanese word for hermaphroditism.
  • Beyond Japan, the term has come to be used to describe a commonly pornographic genre of eroge, manga, and anime which includes characters that show both primary sexual characteristics. In today's language it refers almost exclusively to characters who have an overall feminine body, but have both female and male genitalia (although testicles are not always present).
• After having been greatly requested by the community, the hermaphrodite gender option was finally added to the game in Version 0.2.16.