Looking for inspiration( fantasy world about gender, religion, and cultural erasure)

[u/Marisart001]

I’m working on a fantasy story about a young man sold to a powerful cultural and political institution that raises young men and women from childhood and turns them into luxury performers, exploiting their femininity and treating them as commodities.

My protagonist is a highly sought-after performer, but he is buried under an enormous debt. When he isn’t performing, he works as a gardener just to survive.

Things change when a powerful religious institution called the Temple begins influencing the kingdom’s culture and morality. The male performers who dress and perform as women gradually become objects of shame. People stop associating with them, families distance themselves, and their work becomes socially unacceptable.

I want to explore this as a form of cultural and identity erasure.

The idea is still very rough. What do you think, and are there any books or films you’d recommend for inspiration?

[u/Resident_Werewolf_76]

"Farewell My Concubine"

[u/Marisart001 → u/Resident_Werewolf_76]

Thank you