This suggestion is so obvious that it's likely has been discussed, but I can't find any reference (It's not what PEP-3124 talks about).

Generic class syntax, now:

_T_co = TypeVar('_T', covariant=True)

class Container(Generic[_T_co]):
@abstractmethod

def __contains__(self, x: _T_co) -> bool: ...

(yes it's object in reality)

Generic class syntax, suggested:

class Container[+T]:
@abstractmethod

def __contains__(self, x: T) -> bool: ...

The + signifies covariant type, as in Scala. The need for underscore prefix and explicit name for covariant types is gone, since it's class-scoped. The + is a bit cryptic, but so are term "covariant" and Generic[_T_co]. The syntax by large is exactly what users coming from statically-typed languages will expect.

Giving a bound can be done using "T <: AnyStr", "T: AnyStr" or any other syntax.

Again, I assume it was discussed before, but my Google skills are failing me; a pointer will be helpful.

~Elazar