Just things that peeve me off here on Wattpad and things in general. Instead of filling my tip book with rants, I'll put them here so they don't clutter up space I could be putting writing advice.
Note: If you're easily offended, don't read.
I kinda just got this rant idea while writing on my eye genetic chapter over in my tip book, and oh... I hate it when people make their characters albino for no reason whatsoever.
First off, let me tell you the definition of albino:
—noun, plural al·bi·nos.
1. a person with pale skin, light hair, pinkish eyes, and visual abnormalities resulting from a hereditary inability to produce the pigment melanin. 2. an animal or plant with a marked deficiency in pigmentation. 3. Philately. an embossed stamp accidentally left without ink
Ignoring the third (as it's about a stamp, not anything contributing to DNA), you can see that an albino is something or someone with lack of color that's also abnormal.
For how us humans are, albinism is so damn rare, it's only like .00001% of our entire population (so only about 70k out of 7B). And on top of that, any Albino traits are super duper recessive, so they're easily beaten by other recessive traits when our parents make us.
For human Albinos, this is what our species looks like in this state:
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I censored the last one since I don't want to get in trouble with Wattpad. Don't report it for her breastfeeding either, or else I'll have to block out part of the albino's face. Plus, it's stupid breastfeeding is "inappropriate" in our society.
But yeah, that's what human Albinos look like. The most notable species where we see albinism more commonly is in rabbits. Albinos in their species have white für and red eyes.
Humans, on the other hand, look quite different, don't we? Those who are albino have super pale skin (basically 0 melanin and no pigment whatsoever in it). They also have either violet or red eyes. And their hair is usually pure white as well (no color pigment).
I also noticed when looking up these photos that albinism happens a lot more in Africa. I don't know why, but it does. And those who are born Albino have to watch their back like they're an elephant or other commonly poached animal. They apparently are attacked and killed for their skin by poachers.
What pisses me off a lot though is how people make their characters Albino for no reason. It's so damn rare, and what type of story can you base around it? Albinos really can't be out in the sun. If they're in Africa, you may have a good story with them being hunted, but that could get cliché real quick.
Don't make your character an Albino to make them "unique". Albinism seems to be pretty sucky if you're born with it from the research I've done. I wouldn't want anyone to go through the troubles of those who do have the mutation/genetics.
Please... Just make them look normal. Don't make them have a "special" appearance.
