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[haizuxi]

common excuses for centering men in fandom and why they don’t work

disclaimer: i am not trying to start a fight, or call out anyone personally. the goal is to encourage critical thinking and self-examination. also, this is a tma blog so a couple things will be tma-specific, but the general principles apply to all fandom.

definitions: “centering men” is a concept i learned from black lesbians, and it means “to prioritize men, to pay more attention to them, to make discussions about them, essentially to place/keep them at the center of whatever is happening.” centering men =/= liking or being attracted to them, because you can do both those things without centering them.

why we all center men at first: in a patriarchal society, we are all conditioned to center men at all times. a lot of us don’t even realize we’re doing it. men comprise most ceos, politicians, legendary heroes, main characters, folks taking up space in discussions, etc. so a lot of us don’t even question men’s right to be at the center of fandom matters too. that’s perfectly normal, but it is all of our responsibility to question it and do something about it.

what to do about that: very few people center men on purpose, because it is the default for all of us, but unlearning that patriarchal conditioning has to be on purpose. that is a choice you need to make if you want the world to be more equitable for women and other non-men, and i cannot make that choice for you, but i strongly encourage you to make it and continue making it every single day.

what centering men looks like in a fandom context: prioritizing making art of male characters. prioritizing writing meta about male characters. prioritizing writing fic about m/m ships. mostly reading/seeking out/sharing fan content about male characters. having lots of complex, in-depth meta and headcanons about male characters, but flattening the female characters to “badass” or “soft cinnamon roll” or “evil.” condemning evil or morally grey female characters for the bad stuff they do, and then turning around and stanning male characters who are equally evil or morally grey. inventing detailed personalities and storylines for background male characters, while ignoring main female characters who already have detailed personalities and storylines.

common excuses for centering men in a fandom context:

“female characters(/wlw ships) just aren’t that compelling or well-written” this excuse may work in some fandoms, but in tma and other pieces of media with complex, well-written female characters, this doesn’t work. the female characters are compelling, the wlw ships have depth, and the only reason that you don’t find them interesting is because you have a subconscious bias towards men. i’m not saying you have to like every character or ship, but if you categorically ignore all the women, there is a problem and it is not with the media.

“i am a gay/trans man so i relate to male characters more” cool, good for you. but just because you relate to men more, doesn’t mean that women don’t exist or are unworthy of attention. make an effort. you are still a man, and thus still capable of perpetuating misogyny. you’re allowed to relate to the men more, but it is your responsibility to unlearn patriarchal tendencies and make fandom a welcoming space for women & female characters.

“i just like/relate to male characters more” hmm, and why is that? no really, why do you think it is? could it have anything to do with the patriarchy that tells us in a million ways every day that men are better, worthier, more interesting than women? your preferences don’t come from nowhere. examine them, unlearn them. 

how to unlearn patriarchal conditioning and start de-centering men in fandom: seek out media with complex women in it. pay attention to them, their backstories, their motivations, their opinions. create & seek out fan content about them, whether that be fic, art, meta, jokes, whatever. pay attention to your reactions (i.e. if a scene is primarily about a female character, ask yourself, “why am i focusing more on how a male character is reacting?”) and then shift your focus accordingly. it will be difficult, it will be uncomfortable, it will be hard work. but don’t take that as an excuse to be like “oh well i just wasn’t meant to enjoy female characters in fandom” and go back into your men-centric comfort zone. no. the discomfort means you’re going against the flow of the patriarchy, which is a good thing. the more effort you make to center women in fandom, the easier it will get, and you’ll be so glad you did.

conclusion: no one is telling you you can’t like male characters (and if that’s your main takeaway from this post, you need to learn better reading comprehension). what we are telling you is that you need to examine your internal biases and stop making men the be-all end-all of your fandom experience. not only is it the right thing to do, but you will experience media in a richer way than ever before. make an effort, and try it out.

[haizuxi]

A Queer Analysis of Code Geass

So, after slaving away and having no life for the past week or so, I’ve FINALLY finished my epic analysis of queerness in Code Geass (complete with links to clips from the series to back up my claims, which is fun).

Premise: Using queerness as a lens, I analyze Suzaku and Lelouch as Othered queer rebels and how the homoerotics of their relationship is at the center of a series that inverts our gendered, political, moral and ideological expectations

Disclaimers: I’m not going to try to prove Suzaku and Lelouch aren’t straight by citing every homoerotic scene between them. I’m using queerness as a tool to analyze the series because, as it turns out, queerness explains A LOT. I back up all of my claims, but instead of assuming everyone is straight until proven otherwise, I get a lot more done with the opposite assumption.

The essay is VERY LONG. I broke it up into sections so you don’t have to read it all at once. It’s also written on a college level, so while it’s super gay, it’s also super academic. After this, my tone get very serious/formal (even about pimping Suzaku’s ass, which is, you know, the beauty of the thing).

Obligatory spoiler warning! (for anyone whose life is still incomplete)

Keep reading

[haizuxi]

Kaveh Akbar, from “Despite My Efforts Even My Prayers Have Turned into Threats“

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You really have to appreciate the tonal dissonance between Phos telling everyone he has eldritch powers capable of doing something worse than death and Haruko Ichikawa being a gamer

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monarch catepillar mercury wings - beautiful but poisonous

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my full piece for @dazzlingzine!! please check out the full zine here to see my extra page with details and design work, plus all the other incredible artists!!

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cant wait to see phos and cinnabars reunion 

[haizuxi]

Anonymous requested:

“can cairn please interact with cinna during the years that phos is sleeping? maybe about their memories of phos, ghost, and antarc? sad and wistful is all i can picture their conversations being ;u;“

Scriptwriter: @eldritchangelic

VAs: @kokichioumachan & @mochabunnymochi

[haizuxi]

This post reads so much like a bad-faith misinterpretation of a story that has literally from the start been one to show and not tell. How do you say it has "no commentary" on the gems that assimilate with the lunarians when the writing shrouds itself in a feeling of absolute emptiness on the moon while masking it with superficial beauty? The special edition book is literally created on that single concept. Also, what the story's final commentary is cannot even be deduced at this point when it's more abstract than it's ever been before and is clearly waiting to clarify the final message at the very end. Let it play out I guess?

Man hnk is both good and sucks in the way that it can't really go wrong with things it wants to say, except for sabotaging its own narrative that it's been building for years, which it did exactly that.

Even if we go with the most generous read that disregards lots of nuances and dilemmas it used to present, and instead reading this story as it's simply saying stuff like, 'sometimes things simply suck and people gets unfairly abused to hell and back, that's just how life is', then it doesn't even make a commentary on that. It's like if there's a story about guys seeing tanks driving towards a neighbor city and go, but everything's fine since all is ok here in my home. And there's, unironically, 0 commentary regarding the guys who say that.

It doesn't need karmic justice. It doesn't need to serve bad guys what they deserve, but for a story that used to show mental process of multiple people with severe PTSD coping with war and grief while operating on the scale of loss beyond human comprehension, and how each and every relationship between these people are twisted or damaged, the later parts don't touch on that aspect of people facing atrocities at all. It doesn't even show the dissonance of suddenly being forced to assimilate with what once hunted your people for sport. The assimilation itself isn't bad writing, but the lack of reaction to this scale of event in general feels unrealistic.

It's really the complexity suddenly reduced ro the laser focus on the cyclical nature of things without expanding that scope. This one thing in specific sucks.

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some hnk art

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I wish that I never met you 🐚

[haizuxi]

It's time for Phos depression hours

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“I highly recommend you STOP asking questions”

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charming phos..