#queer ppl stuff

[cable-salamdr]

Really weird how many people will be like “oh hey me too” when non-labels are actually explained. Told my friend what it means to me to be genderqueer and unlabled and they immediately agreed with me, so did a collegue of ours. Strange how that is innit.

[infiniteorangethethird]

I don't know where this "if you don't feel love/empathy you're evil" idea comes from like if you can only be decent towards people if you love them/feel empathy towards them then I'm pretty sure I'm not the one mistreating more people of the two of us

[future-crab]

It's been said before, it will be said again, but it's still worth saying: the fact that art centering on straight romance is allowed to just be bad, but art with queer romance in it always has to be indicative of A Serious Problem With the Way We Tell Queer Stories makes being a queer person making queer art deeply stressful

[jesncin]

sigh just. What gets me about these pinkwashed readings of my immigrant Clois comics is that they go out of their way to make the only non white character (Lois) functionally useless in the story.

Like if Private Interview really was about "Superman being trans" in those flashbacks (because apparently the brown girl in the past is not the brown woman in the present day) what are Lois and Superman connecting on? When they share their names to each other what's that supposed to be? Their dead names? Geez. It says something that I'm depicting a brown girl surviving a sinophobic riot and people are instead centering it on "no this is about a white man figuring out his gender instead!"

Someone recently said they interpreted Clark and Lana's relationship in Today Tomorrow not working out because Lana is a lesbian and Clark is trans and?? Just because Lana has short hair when she's older and I drew her as a butch? How does Lois connecting to Clark even make sense in that reading. The whole point was allegorizing struggles interracial couples go through, and an Asian American Lois connecting with Clark because she gets it.

I know some people like to sass me by saying "art is all about interpreting your own take" but like. There's such a thing as misinterpretation too. And I'm all too wary of white queer people projecting a more palatable experience on my immigrant comics because they refuse to connect to an experience that's too othering for them. While it's fine to have queer readings of how Superheroes handle dual identities, it becomes an issue when that reading pinkwashes the artists' intention to depict themes of immigration and alienation under xenophobia and racism.

[takkamek]

from nhl.com

this part of the article just struck me. 50 players voluntarily spoke to him about it, think about how many stay quiet out of fear

[destroy-the-binary]

For All My Transmascs

DISCLAIMER!! This is meant to AFFIRM people who want to use pronouns associated with masculinity, but aren’t amab. If you are seen as a man but don’t want to be, do not read this, it could trigger dysphoria. I have a transfem and enby one on my page.

Hello there handsome!

You look absolutely amazing, and I’m so glad you’re here! What’s your preferred name?

That’s an awesome name. My name is Ash, and I’m genderfluid! Are you a member of the queer community?

That’s wonderful! I know it can be stressful right now, but I’m so glad you are sharing this, even if it’s just with me. The world can feel like it’s against you, and I get it. I’m sorry you have to go through this.

It might not be the perfect time, but might I say, you have the most amazing smile. I’m sorry the world often tries to keep that smile away. You’re such a wonderful boy, and you deserve the world.

I can’t help but notice how stunning your hair is, you look dashing! Honestly, I find men with any length of hair to be quite beautiful. I know there’s often a “traditional” way to look masculine, but personally, I think boys and men can look however they want and look handsome! And if you want to change how you look, that’s wonderful, but I also want to assure you that you look very masculine.

Well, I have to go now, but stay safe! Thanks for talking with me!

[todayisdeadinside]

louis' queer expression is actually really similar to mine. and that might confuse some people, because i appear very obviously and loudly out, whereas a lot of people percieve louis as more subtle. but i think its a matter of perspective, as well as a matter of circumstance.

louis is bound by contracts to stay in the closet. he cant outright say "im gay and in a longterm relationship with a man" but otherwise? hes pretty casually queer as much as hes allowed to be.

perspective comes into play with people comparing his queer expression to harry's queer expression. harry leans more into expressing his queerness through femininity, in various forms. his expression is more clockable to cishets, he doesnt blend into heteronormative society very easily.

louis on the other hand, shows his queerness without as much femininity. i think thats the key disconnect im noticing in how people percieve his expression- they are quantifying queer expression by how outwardly feminine someone acts. louis is loudly and openly queer (as much as his contracts allow), hes just not as blatantly feminine as harry.

this is where ive noticed that his expression is similar to mine. i express my queerness in a casual and often more masculine way, if that makes sense. im very loud and proud, but im not feminine. if we take away the fact that im trans, as my transness is usually what gets me clocked as queer, most cishets on the street probably wouldnt pick up on my queerness. but thats not because im fearful or hidden about it by any means. its just not obvious to cishet people whos only means of identifying queerness is via stereotypes or blatant tells. most cishet people dont understand and cant pick up on casual everyday queerness, because theyre only familiar with the most exaggerated and blatant forms of it. neither are better or worse, but one is more obviously "different" to heteronormative masses.

i think thats my central point here. louis doesnt express his queerness is a stereotypical or easy to clock way. hes just. queer. and existing. as a man. and thats exactly how i express my queerness. but because im allowed to say the words "i am gay" and he isnt, the same person can have the perception of "micah is loud" vs. "louis is quiet", when in fact we express our queerness quite similarly in day to day life.

and this isnt to diminish harry's expression of queerness, not at all. his expression is equally as valid and genuine, but its just different to louis', and THAT dichotomy is a huge part of peoples misconceptions about louis' queer expression, i think. they see harry, someone who is outwardly feminine, someone who has waved rainbow flags on stage, someone who has worn gay sex tshirts, and they say "thats a loud open queer person." then in comparison, they see louis, who isnt as outwardly feminine, who is just a typical unassuming guy who is also gay, and they jump to the incorrect conclusion of "that is a fearful hidden queer person."

this isnt the whole picture of course. theres more i havent touched on like management using louis to do hard larry denials, which has contributed to the fandoms perception, for one thing. but i think this is something i wanted to point out, because i noticed how similar mine and louis' queer expressions are, and how small aspects like saying the phrase "i am gay" and my transness can drastically affect whether the same behaviors and same expressions will be percieved as "loud" or "quiet."

(and of course, im heavily touching on the way cishets tend to expect queer people to put on a show for them, how casual everyday queerness isnt "enough", and how people feel owed clockable visibility lest they accuse someone of being a coward. some people are openly gay and also not easily clockable as gay, these things can coexist.)

[transmechanicus]

This is not something i desire to see spiral into discourse but i find it extremely difficult to appreciate drag culture as a transfemme. This is not because there’s anything fundamentally wrong about it, i recognize it has served a vital role in normalizing the gender non-conformity that allows me to exist somewhat safely. It’s more that purposeful parodies of femininity come off as an uncomfortable reminder that other people might consider my sincere pursuit of femininity to be indistinguishable from parody. It’s like finding it difficult to look in a fun house mirror because you know a segment of the population has Permanent Fun House Vision that applies just to you.

[capesch-arts]

I’m going to be so normal about the Joy animatic cause yeah I can relate to that minus serving an ancient god

As a trans guy that is honestly what it feels like, essentially killing your past self but cradling her gently, thanking her for getting you where you are today

Yeah I’ve been thinking about this for a few days

Thank you for the feedback!

I'm actually really happy people do tell me these things because I'm very glad and interested in others sharing their experiences and relating to Joy and that he's very compelling for others.

[failfemme]

i do feel a little crazy whenever anti-porn or anti-sex work legislation is on the table and we have to start listing out all the ppl that may be affected by it curb cut style when like. it really would be bad enough even if it would only affect sex workers.

[infiniteorangethethird]

[gently holding the hands of those who mourn the loss of their dream futures after they realized they are aro] you're still allowed to do all those things you wanted. You can still find yourself a lifelong partner, you can still dedicate yourself to another person, you can still share your life with someone you deeply care about. You're allowed to date and you're allowed to be in relationships with people and you can still form those deep bonds without romantic attraction. You don't need romantic attraction to do all those fun couple-y things alloro people do. You're allowed to parttake in that fun if that's what you want to do.

You can still have your dream future. You just need someone who's willing to have it with you.

[pumpumdemsugah]

I'm tired of seeing Black women online dumb down how they talk about Black women being masculinised because you're trying to go curry favour with as large of an audience as possible

When Black women talk about people questioning our womanhood we mean not applying common stereotypes like physical weakness, being gentle to us and the assumption of innocence basically gender roles not gender identity.

Idk why some pretend it looks the same way it does for trans women. People don't ask if Megan the stallion is trans because she's a Black woman its because she's tall, her stage name refers to a male horse and she's not thin and being a Black woman and the stereotypes about Black toughness makes it stick better. Black women in the public eye that get this question are almost exclusively athletes or have athletic builds, tall and not light skin and minus the skin colour part, this applies to all women. Shit i remember a rumour that Jamie Lee Curtis was trans growing up because of her name. Black womanhood making you hyper-visible so more likely to be a target doesn't mean its solely to blame because this questions just isn't asked of most Black women in the public eye

Stereotypes often aren't about reality but publicly shaming and controlling people. Often when someone says " its that a boy or a girl" they aren't confused, they're drawing attention to that person to publicly humiliate them through the accusation and Megan makes alot of incel types pissed. Some questions aren't about curiosity but humiliation in public. Black womanhood is masculinised but can we be more specific ? I'm tired of the vague statements and the expectation i take on other people's experiences as my own. I don't relate. Now if you want to talk about people seeing me as aggressive we can talk.

The interesting thing is the one place people do question Black women in a gender identity way is queer spaces full of whites. You'd think they would be better but they're worse and call it solidarity

[jesncin]

since this is at least the second time a white queer person tried redefining what "pinkwashing" means to me in a way that conveniently absolves them of white guilt based on how they've interpreted my Immigrant Clois comics- let me be clear! "hc-ing characters as queer isn't pinkwashing" well yeah duh of course not. But this framing conveniently removes the context of what character is being interpreted as queer. And what is being erased in the process of that interpretation.

Pinkwashing as a term was coined by Palestinian and Arab people frustrated at Israhell's tactic to tout progressive and performative queer acceptance as a means of distracting from issues of racism, colonialism, and islamophobia. "Pinkwashing" has broadened to include more things such as criticizing how capitalist marketing touts performative representation without material support for queer people's needs. However. "Pinkwashing" was always an extension of "whitewashing".

Yes, people who hc characters as queer for fun don't hold the same power as corporations or governments do when they employ pinkwashing as a tactic for imperialism. Still. We need to be critical of how these bigger systemic problems influence how we consume art. If whitewashing is a big white brush scrubbed on characters of color to erase who they are, then imagine pinkwashing as a big corporate rainbow brush doing the same thing.

[maya-chirps]

I think people seem to forget that the new Pope is yes, USAmerican, but is also a naturalized citizen of Peru so that's probably going to affect how he's going to handle his papacy. He has also at least seem to had stated pro-immigrant views so no, this is not gonna be like Burke or whatever.

Edit: I'm not trying to defend Prevost/Leo XIV by the way. I'm just saying we should be more accurate about his issues instead of just randomly swinging at him just because of his nationality. He's not going to immediately end up as some sort of secret MAGA-plant just because he's American and he's probably going to have more complex issues that should be called out properly. People within the Catholic Church and outside critics should absolutely call him out and hold him accountable for him handling sexual abuse allegations of priests under his jurisdiction poorly without people just blacking out and dismissing him as totally irredeemable and therefore someone that you shouldn't bother criticizing because they saw the words "American-born" next to his name.

[houkagokappa]

Bless Mokumokuren for outright stating that the genre tags for Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu have never changed, i.e. the official site never dropped the "BL" tag from the series as it got more popular to reach a wider audience. It's been a persistent rumor in the fandom, and one I'm afraid will start circulating again once the anime starts airing.

If you mainly follow English language sources, please remember that whatever tags different anime and manga sites, databases, aggregators etc., either add or leave out don't always reflect the author's intent and the official sources, and should NOT be used to argue for what genre or demographic a certain work belongs to. It can just be random people claiming whatever they want based on their own interpretations and I've seen plenty of errors and real time changes to them based on new chapter developments, that might help catch the attention of some people, but don't suddenly change the genre of the work itself.

Not having BL as a genre tag also doesn't mean that a work can't include any boys loving. The queer themes have always been present in HGSN, and if you're up to date with the manga, they've been outright stated. Having queer characters or a queer story line doesn't automatically mean that a work is BL or yuri, and not including those tags doesn't mean that it's just "baiting". This gets brought up so much I think Mokumokuren's gotten tired of it, because the other day they clearly spelled it out for everyone, assuring that the story is queer, although it's not tagged as BL or focused on romance.

Here's what they shared on their Bluesky account:

The genre tag and advertising direction on the official website have never changed since the beginning of serialization. From the beginning, it has been consistently promoted as a "coming-of-age horror" within the official reach. (It's also true that the official reach is very limited…) Whatever the genre tag is, and even if this story isn't a romance, as the author, I guarantee that it is a queer story. There seems to be a persistent false rumor going around that "the author suddenly removed the BL tag from the official website by the 3rd volume," but the truth is that there was never an official BL tag from the beginning. (This is not to deny any queerness.)

And further back:

My opinion that the genre of The Summer Hikaru Died is something that the readers are free to think about on their own remains unchanged, but I view it as a story that sympathizes with those who have been left out of stories about love and sex, so I describe it as "coming-of-age horror." I think the key is the fear of not being “normal” and not having a place to belong, which is common for all kinds of people regardless of their attributes. I think it's fine for queer stories that aren't romances to exist. That's why I've been careful not to position it as a love story from the start.

Let's stop obsessing over tags and allow queer stories to exist and thrive, even when they lack a clear romantic plot or subplot and are more subdued.

[clancykisser]

Tired of lesbians/queer folk that don't include he/him lesbians/bi lesbians/gaybians/any other form in their space 😔 they are missing out on some quality content over some ridiculous internalized queer relation ideas