#( POC is lacking in the industry )

[foucauldiantheory]

anyway. a polish metal band i like is playing my city tmrw and i would like to acquire tickets. however, i must also consider: the white people

[akajustmerry]

really not here for people on my Wednesday racism/antiblackness post saying, "well, it's a Tim Burton show 🙄" and calling it a day. Burton directs 3 episodes and was an executive producer. He had no role in the way any of the characters, including the characters of colour, were written. the antiblackness with which the characters are written were clearly in the script long before it got to Tim Burton. There are 6 main writers on the show. 4 are white men, the other white women. As for the other directors, only one is a woman of colour. stop using auteur theory to scapegoat systemic racism in the entertainment industry. The Wednesday series is not racist because it's a Tim Burton show, it's racist because it's a show about poc predominantly made by white people who enable one another to make racist creative decisions. I'm not interested in using Burton as a scapegoat for a problem that is a constant one with other shows Netflix has made like CAOS, Stranger Things, The Umbrella Academy, Bridgerton, Sandman and many others. Obviously, having Burton involved likely did not help, but meaningful representation and the lack of it is a systemic issue that Netflix wants you to forget about with their "from Tim Burton" auteur marketing. Wake up, read the fine print, and please actually learn about the filmmaking process if you're going to talk about film and tv. Because if Tim Burton did have any creative say in this show, I guarantee there wouldn't even BE any poc in it.

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Last thing on this.

(Also anyone able to get the CN reaction to the livestream Im curious)

We are gonna be in Brazil for at least another patch or two so BP have the chance to have POC characters, I say chance again this is isn't an issue exclusive to BP or Hoyo but industry wide. Only a tiny fraction of story has been shown in the PV and we know that this is the beginning of the new mainline story so we shouldn't immediately throw all cards, again BP should have realised the reception especially from players outside of CN servers to having primarily white/ white passing characters in Brazil on the first patch here.

The livestream is only a fraction but then again, Mor Pankh was around the release of the game and we saw Uluru patch already. BP has shown to be receptive of the culture or niche it chooses to explore (the travel writing the title refers to while not an excuse for the lack of POC may been their flimsy reasoning).

Summary: I not counting this patch out, Im interested genuinely in what the story itself is going but BP better give us actual POC characters in the story and Im not doing the "wait for ... patch" since we all know how that goes. At the very least we can stop advertising this game to others as good rep of different cultures and countries, it really isn't its strong points have always been its art style and story writing NOT representation.

[cardboardheartss]

NEWJEANS Comeback Mini Reading

⚠️DISCLAIMER! TAROT CARDS ARE NOT 100% ACCURATE! TAKE EVERYTHING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT! IF MY INTERPRETATIONS ARE INCORRECT FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME!⚠️

Concept : QoW, 6oS rx, 10oP, KNoS rx & Justice rx

The concept will be firey? It will also have really intense choreographies. Very pretty concept too! It will be completely different from their previous concept/sound I believe. This concept could have required a whole lot of money. There could be some interesting reactions with this concept tbh…😅

Members thoughts

Hanni : The Devil rx, KNoC rx & PoW rx

She is terrified, she could also gain anxiety as the release day approaches. She could also feel a bit embarrassed about the comeback? If there’s any hate comments, she will definitely take it to heart. She might have to fake it til she makes it for the entire promotion times. She thinks that public will betray her if they don’t like the comeback. Hanni could be lacking motivation and confidence, and the stress causes her to have temper tantrums tbh…

Danielle : 6oW rx

She doesn’t seem to like the new sound. She thinks this comeback is a flop, and will cause the group to lose followers and love. She just… doesn’t like it tbh…

Minji : 4oC

Minji is drained, tired and has no motivation. She is completely dissatisfied with the comeback. She’ll think they’ll be unable to break the records they’ve broken from ‘Get Up.’

Hyein : AoS & Temperance rx

She thinks the comeback is innovative, and actually genuinely likes it. She’s looking forward to performing and believes it will certainly make headlines. She wants the comeback as much as we want it too lol! She’s really excited.

Haerin : PoC & The Emperor

“Happy, happy, happy 😸” She also loves the sound. She’s really looking forward to it and knows that it will do well. She knows that they’ll achieve again and gain respect in the industry.

Overall thoughts : PoS rx, Judgment, KNoS rx, Justice rx, 10oP

As you could tell, a lot of contradictive thoughts. Some believe it will flop, while some believe it’s a bop. This could have led to arguments and a lot of talks about how they should just try stay positive and remember that they will receive that love from fans and also gain more income. So yea… just a lot of thoughts overall 😅

General publics thoughts: 6oW, 9oW, PoC, The Emperor, The Star rx

They’ll love it and believe that the girls did really well, bunnies will be like, “SOTY again”, “nwjns ready to wipe out awards again this year 😝🫵🏽.” And etc lol! Some could be unhappy at how nwjns look highly overworked and want them to rest. The public could also notice how nwjns aren’t charting as high as they were before too.

Nwjns thoughts on public opinion: 9oW

They would clearly look at the negative and see that ppl aren’t making them chart as high, and they’ll think of those moments from last year BUT this will make them not give up and continue working.

Could also see comments on the overworking, but unfortunately they’ll be unable to control anything…

Thank you for reading 📦

(23/02/2024)

[blazingblorbos]

It’s.. fascinating in a brand new way (a terribly disappointing way) to see HoYo fumble the bag this fast.

I was contemplating making a post about this a day or 2 ago, mostly about the Natlan explosion, but then Moze’s drip marketing happened… and suffice to say I think there’s a bit more substance for me to comment on 🫠

I’ll start with Natlan and try to articulate the thoughts properly, since both my own thoughts and my intake of others’ views has had a couple days to settle in my mind:

I wanna preface with the fact that I love Hoyoverse. I really, really do (I desperately wanna work for them, actually, lol. It’s a dream of mine). And I think that’s obvious to people who have seen a couple of my posts.

But it’s precisely because I love them so much, hold them in such a high regard, and respect mostly everything about them, that their recent performance has just left me deeply…. Disappointed.

Sheer, RAW disappoinment makes up the bulk of my feelings and attitude towards what they’ve been doing recently: which is not listening to their community where it REALLY matters. I was present when the uproar over Sumeru happened. I was disappointed then too, but at that time I more-so existed as a confused outsider observing what was going on (I am a poc but not SWANA). Everything about it — from the large-scale disrespectful mix of many cultures, to the 💀 TERRIBLE idea to not pronounce Tighnari’s name correctly AT ALL, to the abhorent lack of melanin in characters (that are DIRECTLY inspired by figures hailing from African countries) — was… bad. REALLLYYY bad. But I’ll be honest when I say: the way I rationalized it in my brain was “Well, they did add more dark-skinned characters to the roster! I guess this is just their version of ‘darker skin’ ” (which, by itself is already a terrible thing BECAUSE they take care to try and represent real world cultures faithfully).

So the fact that it’s happened again. And worse (SOMEHOW⁉️⁉️) is something that’s making me realize how lackluster it was before. And I am desperately rooting for a change. Fool me once, shame on me type shit genuinely.

Now.. in regards to Moze (Star Rail)’s EN VA 🫠. Everything I know about that man I learned in the past 24 hours. So all I will say is that EVEN if he’s worked to better himself, having been BLACKLISTED from the industry (BECAUSE THE CRIMES WENT ON FOR A DECADE!! MIND YOU) means it is way too fuckin soon to hire someone like that again 💀. They took action against Tighnari’s original VA, so that they’ve done this now is… weird…??? I’m just really confused, yo.

Edit, as of July 25, 2024: Chris made a post on his twitter claiming he has chosen to step down as the VA. 🫡 Step 1 is a W, congratulations everyone 🎉

[lorynna]

Seperate post because I am unable to reblog yesterday's debate about sex-selective abortions:

Down below is the link to the full blog post if anyone is interested in reading the whole thing. I am just going to reply to a few of the absolute insane and brainrot takes by @aux-squiggle :

1) "I'm sure you'd (correctly) chastize me if I went on every post with someone having bleach & dyed hair crying about how hair bleach harms the hair and saying "yes I understand it's your body and I'm not against your autonomy but hair dye is so stupid" at some point one realizes that it's just my opinion on hair dye and I should shut up unless explicitly asked for my opinion, which at no point were you asked for your opinion on what I'll do or (what you think) makes sense to do with my body."

Starting right off, it's actually the first time I ever spoke about sex-selective abortion on here, so me "going on every post" is wrong and intentional inflammatory wording. The comparison between dyed/bleached hair and abortion lacks heavily - it's also ridiculously stupid. I'm sure what you do with your hair and the policies surrounding it is an equally political and complicated topic like abortion. Even if you should go around telling people "Sure, do your thing, dye your hair but it's unnecessary in my opinion to promote the beauty industry by partaking in it, because it makes money off of women's insecurities" you have the right to speak your opinion and reblogging another person who's stating their opinion, who's stopping you? Surprise, you can speak your opinion even without being asked for it! Some people will agree, some won't, that's the way it is! I'm sure you don't ask people you have differing opinions from each time if you please may reblog their post, or do you? This is the internet babe.

2) "Next thing idk where you've gotten this "trivilization of abortion thing" or making it seem like I have said abortion is a cutesy procedure with absolutely no harm but as poodle has said it's also very safe. Idk if you think every mention of abortion has to come with a full list of disclaimers but if you read me saying "I will get an abortion if it's a male" to mean "lol guys I get abortions every weekend let's go down to the spa for a pampering plus abortion trolololol" that's your own tbh. The issue is you view being pregnant with a male fetus (as opposed to a female one) as a trivial difference, when it's not trivial to me, many other radfems and indeed for many libfem women."

Surely not every mention of abortion needs to come with a huge list of disclaimers, after all you're not their doctor but idk about you, talking about "i will get pregnant and abort as many times as I have to, until I conceive a daughter" does sound very trivializing to me. Lastly, sure the future sex of anyone's baby means something different to anyone and a certain preference or even the so called "gender disappointment" is real and valid, but is it really the solution to spin the wheel on each pregnancy again and again until you get what you want?

3) "As for the race, sex, other attributes thing, as I've already established, since fetuses are not people and are not going to suffer if their mom gets rid of them, I don't care. I couldn't give a fuck if a white woman aborts a half POC baby tbh like that's her business. No POC suffers from her actions. I also refuse to have a half white baby.

Obviously that's easily addressed by me choosing a black African sire but if I were in a consensual relationship with a white male (would never happen because I don't date males but ygtp) I would abort because I don't want to birth a half Euro baby, as statically they pair up with Eurodescendants themselves. I already know you probably also think that's stupid but I have no wish to contribute to my oppressor's group in that regard either, even by a generational separation, as I know the most likely choice Afro/Euro biracial children make as opposed to monoracial black children.

To me, mixed (b&w) people are black, but ¾ white people are white. Having a monoracial black child means my grandchildren (if any) will also be black (mixed b& something else, or monoracial) meaning the family makeup is what I'm most happy with. Idc what my great-grandchildren (if any) are, I'm probably dead anyways.

So yes I would intentionally make choices, including that of abortion, that bring me the life I'm happiest with. Other women who do that are not my business, I don't care. They could abort because they don't like the star sign their kid is expected to have. A birth that brings the mother sadness, no matter how small or how frivolous the reason for sadness is, is not good and if she aborts to avoid that, all power to her."

That's....really interesting...to know. You have established you would not blink an eye for whatever reason people abort, be it their future baby's star sign, their sex or their ethnicity & race. Your reasoning for not wanting a non 100% black baby being that according to you they statistically are more likely to pair up with eurodescendants making you worry about your family tree becoming "less black"? Then you're going on about "who is black" and "who is white" according to you.

To clarify to anyone who does not know my stance on abortion: I am pro choice, I support every woman's right that does want to get an abortion, despite her reasoning. An abortion as the process itself is not tied to a moral aspect, as the fetus in these stages of development where an abortion is possible, is a non conscious clump of cells. However I do think that the reason for why a woman decides to abort can be criticised. For example: A woman wants to get pregnant and succeeds. She finds out the baby would be born in February, making it an Aquarius, so she aborts it. My stance on sex-selective is similar to how I view cheating on a spouse. I don't think cheating is right but I wouldn't want it to be illegal.

"Regarding pro-choicers saying "no one aborts for fun and silly reasons" and prolifers potentially using this as a clapback, what do you want me to do about that? There's far superior pro-choice arguments, and further to that, these are only fun and silly reasons to you. These are monumental to other people (including me), and since it's their womb they're the only one's who's feelings matter.

Again as I've told you, I will not censor myself for the sake of prolifers not getting offended, I genuinely could not give less of a fuck what they feel. They will always find a reason to hate on the pro-choice movement and since we understand prolifism is actually about tying women down to men and control of women, everything about both my and your lifestyles upset them. There's no placating their bs. If you are upset that I won't censor myself, keep it to yourself."

Making it seem like I gave a fuck about pro lifers and said "oh look at this poor pro lifer being so upset about your words!" instead of "you are actively harming the acceptance of the pro choice movement". You don't understand that the activism you are making is nothing the world is ready for yet. In most countries, abortion is completely banned and women who go through with it nonetheless are going to prison or are even paying with their lives. I am genuinly glad, that you are living in a progressive country where you can access abortion easily and safely and where healthcare even pays for it. Most people do not have that kind of privilege and pro choice activism firstly needs to focus on gaining acceptance by introducing people step by step to the movement, coming to them with facts and good arguments. You've got to understand your far rad stance is not realistically applicable as of right now.

"If in the 0.00001% chance the genetic test is wrong (which have functionality been at 100% accuracy for years, btw I've found several Irish based tests so I don't have to use an international product) at 8 weeks (and the tests after that) then I get several scans from 14 weeks on that also confirm the sex (and would be told if there is a discrepancy). If at those tests they find it's actually a male and the Y chromosome was somehow not picked up, I go to the UK and get an abortion then. If somehow it's not found out until 24 weeks+ (I'd have an easier time winning the lottery) I go to New Zealand for a 3rd trimester abortion. There's probably something wrong if it was missed that many times, at every single scan and test.

Have you prepared for nuclear war Lorynna? Have you decided what to do if a gamma ray burst sanitizes exactly half the planet (the side you're not on), and have you got a contingency plan on what to do if suddenly 4 billion people die? What if global supply chains collapse tomorrow (an actual likely thing tbh). Nuclear war and supply chain collapse at least are far more likely than a fetus being missed as male not only on the first genetic test, AND the tests after that, AND every single ultrasound after that. Idk about gamma ray burst though, probably the same likelihood.

If by some hellish demon reality I get stuck with a son then obviously I raise my son, as I've discussed previously in the linked essay."

Insanity. Proceeding to ask me about every possible catastrophic event that potentially happen and asking me if i prepared for it because yes, sure - it is exactly as unlikely as your baby to turn out being a boy despite all of your fancy tests. But glad to know that should the tests fail, you'll raise your son?

"" There's no reason to fight" "but I do have an opinion." As established, your opinion was unnecessary and uninvited, so it's very likely people will get mad at you if you call major life choices "stupid" without providing any reasoning beyond your feelings. Like I said, telling me what I should be ok with residing in my womb is nothing short of foul, and frankly unasked for."

Oh no! How evil of me, I dare to have an opinion and according to you it was unnecessary and uninvited! Oh man, so many people are going to get mad at me for calling major life choices stupid without providing any reason at all! At this point I'm almost 100% sure you're illiterate and typed your responses while blindfolded and with your left pinky toe. Claiming my arguments are feeling-based rather than objective criticism. And sure, because I said that if you were mature, you'd approach an intended pregnancy, accepting that both sexes can be the outcome of that and that a person who wants to get pregnant in my opinion should be okay with either, I am the worst!

[destinyc1020]

Elon Musk coming out as a disgusting racist in his platform, deciding to post about originally white comicbook characters being race swapped for black people. He doesn't include white blondes playing gingers or whites that were cast as POC of course. You can really tell that his racist South African Apartheid upbringing is finally coming out. He has been enabling white supremacists in twitter since he became the owner of the platform and now he finally comes out and expresses it publicly

Frankly I think that POC have to boycott the platform.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1814071041146474785

X

Oh lordt.... 🙄 This Elongated Muskrat talking again?? 😒

Girl, is anyone even surprised? He's been shown us what type of man he is long time ago. 😒

To me, this is such a stupid argument anyway, because just about EVERY character back in the day was white due to racism and a lack of diversity in our entertainment industry. You're really upset because poc are playing FICTIONAL comic book characters man? Seriously? 🤨

🤦🏾‍♀️

So dumb.

Instead of complaining, why not write some original BLACK and brown characters for Hollywood, or encourage Hollywood to actually ACCEPT ORIGINAL ideas for diverse lead characters, instead of just putting poc in already-established IP roles?

Anyway, I thought this tweet response was hilarious rofl 🤣

🤣😂

[clownrecess]

(tw for beauty standards, exclusion, etc.)

I want to talk about the modeling industry and its severe need for diversity.

I'm someone who really enjoys watching runway models on YouTube, I like seeing the different clothes, walks, models, etc. I also really like fashion in general. But, for many reasons, the modeling industry is obviously really really messed up. There is a reason that's a lot worse than this one, but I dont feel comfortable talking about it, and also this fits my blog better.

Representation matters. It's important for everyone to feel seen, valued, and included. When the majority of models we see on the runways are thin, tall, able bodied, and predominantly white, it sends really harmful messages to people who don't fit into these narrow categories. It reinforces unrealistic beauty ideals and erases the beauty of diversity that exists in our world. This lack of diversity not only affects aspiring models who don't fit into the industry's limited mold but also has a significant impact on the self-esteem and body image of people who consume fashion media. It perpetuates the idea that only a certain type of person is worthy of being considered beautiful, which can be incredibly damaging to people who don't fit those standards.

I LOVE seeing disabled models, POC models, fat models, models with scars, etc.

"The industry isn't meant for *insert description here* people. It just doesn't work!" No. That is not true in the slightest! I have seen many fantastic models who are fat, disabled, etc.

We all wear clothes. And those clothes look just as good on minorities as they do on people who fit the beauty standard.

ALSO THE POSSIBILITES?? Models who use mobility aids just have double the opportunity to make a unique look. I want to see a design that incorporates the models mobility aid into it, makes it part of the art. Imagine a fashion show where designers create stunning garments that not only complement the model's mobility aid but also make it an integral part of the overall artistic vision. A beautifully designed dress that flows around a wheelchair, or a pair of stylish crutches that are adorned with intricate patterns and colors. The possibilities are endless, and the results would be truly breathtaking.

[utilitycaster]

It’s so interesting how spot-on you were with the thoughts about toxic Beaujes folxs fleeing to D20. The same person who’s been starting shit on twitter just found out that CR doesn’t allow mass-produced zines, and used that fact to make some batshit generalization about how “that’s why the fandom is corporatized and violent and racist towards any canon-contradicting fanon like all my beaujester friends told me and now I’m parroting it uncritically”.

So I think this might be my last post on this unless some more wild shit goes down (very possible) not because I disagree but just because I am also trying to be conscious of overshadowing my genuine excitement for The Ravening War. But yeah...like, I followed a few people who were CR fanartists until Beauyasha started happening and unfollowed them once that went down; it was extremely exhausting watching a bunch of (mostly white) people in their early 20s suddenly claim a show they'd watched over 200 episodes of was hopelessly problematic simply because their ship didn't happen. It was a truly vile combination of normal shipping drama plus appropriated social justice language about said shipping drama plus, as others have noted, middle-class white queer people [a demographic I fit into myself] shoving aside narratives about POC or working class people because they aren't explicitly queer narratives (or even narratives about queer people that aren't to their exact specifications of what queerness looks like; see people who refuse to respect Molly's pronouns or who erase Vax's bisexuality because he was primarily romantically involved with a woman).

The zine thing is fucking wild in particular for the following reasons:

The two CR-centric zines that person has mentioned as not ultimately moving forward were both zines that intended to pay the artists, ie, at least partially for profit rather than charity zines.

I am not personally in a creative industry but I've been reliably told by basically everyone who is that CR's policy is boilerplate.

CR has a pretty extensive history of showcasing and hiring fanartists; this is not opposition to fan content, which is how this wack job is attempting to portray it.

Similarly no one is devaluing fan content; they're just saying "you are throwing a big old hissy fit in public about the hypothetical scenario of The Ravening War not honoring a ship that has, and I am not joking here, six fics on Ao3 in total." (For reference: Lapin/Theo, a ship that person actively dislikes, has 56 works, which, idk I feel that's almost ten times as widely accepted fanlore.)

Their twitter currently is bragging about their cookbook zine (which as far as I know wasn't based in fanon but was just a cookbook with fanart in it) and not about their currently active charity zine (which is the one about Belizabeth and Citrina). Also that charity zine is available for free which really undercuts the "for charity" aspect. Anyway a cool thing to do is to not buy it, but just donate directly to the International Rescue Committee or your refugee-supporting charity of choice.

Anyway. This was an opportunity to rant a lot but I will leave you with this: I am not the right person, obviously, to enumerate every possible issue with CR's portrayal of characters of color nor the lack of diversity of the cast. I think discussions of racism and lack of representation in actual play are important to have. But it's telling that fanartists, specifically, who left CR over Beau and Jester not getting together but pretended this was about social justice, always seem to go to D20. Or NADDPod. Or Friends at the Table. Or have their art featured in the TAZ graphic novels. All majority white or entirely white main casts.

They rarely seem to go to, say, Rivals of Waterdeep, or Into the Motherlands, or Three Black Halflings (and those are still some of the better known examples, frankly). People complaining that Critical Role hates lesbians for having a lesbian relationship they didn't like never seem to check out The Broadswords, or use resources like this to find women-led actual play. It's about getting clicks; they want to find an existing fandom to adore them rather than use the power they claim to wield to popularize something underrated.

Anyway that's the last reason why I think I'm done for now: I think the best and most satisfying thing is to starve them of attention, and to enjoy the Ravening War and art and fic about it from fans who are happy to be here.

[noirineverysense]

On the subject of fandom racism and its wider implications of white supremacy

Some racists take on people of colour who call out racism by claiming that we should just focus "on the real world" and not to bring "activism" to places of fandom where people "just want to have fun".

Now, just to be clear, fandom racism is an important topic to tackle (and is indeed racism and therefore negatively impacts the lives of people of colour) but the racism that takes root is not unique to it. Entertainment has long been an excuse racists use to exclude black and brown people. That "people just want to have fun" is a common trick white people use to do this. "People" is a term deliberately used to mean white people, excluding POC, and "fun" to imply thar since white people are having fun, whats the problem. An example is how white musicians excuse appropriating blackness for their music and their style.

Another excuse used to not create content for people of colour is the "I wanted to avoid stereotypes" line, often used by the hollywood entertainment industry to cast white actors. So we can see that entertainment industries and the fandoms they create are linked in having a hand in upholding white supremacy.

White fans will then explain that its not their fault that they don't create content about POC because of the lack of representation in hollywood and other entertainment industries, but deliberately not address the fact that they will ignore any POC who are in the cast, to focus on the white men. Even if the people of colour in the show are the main characters.

There is also the specific atitudes toward certain people of colour that also reflect the white supremacy of wider society. White people on tumblr may think that when they refer to Asian men (that they see in TV shows or in bands) as their "uwu babies" or act as if they have no agency, that they were unique in this. But this isn't true and it is instead a response by white, especially American, society to the "threat of Asian men" and reflective of sinophobia.

Similarly, they might think they were unique in ignoring the struggles or having low empathy for black people, but white people have shown that they have less empathy for black people and their pain compared to white people and more likely to convict black people as a result.

So when you say, you don't see this as being a problem, it shows that we can't trust you. That you can't reflect on the biases you have, conscious or not, and that these may impact any POC that you meet irl, and definitely those you engage with online. You may think you're special in your focus of white men, but don't stop to think that this is exactly the kind of people society prioritises. You have an obvious lack of empathy for black people, and can't treat people of colour in your fandoms the same as white people, so what makes you think you do it in real life?

Here's a link to another post about fandom racism. And an article about the subject.

Anti-racism is an active process, your tired excuses don't work anymore here. Start working on yourself instead.

[queeresthellhound]

Sapphic Women And The AIDS Crisis

(Content Warnings: Discussions of HIV/AIDS and the AIDS Epidemic, medical references, references to blood including a photo of someone giving blood, discussions of homophobia and transphobia)

Often discussions of the AIDS Epidemic are centered on gay men (particularly white gay men) and while there’s been more recognition for our POC and trans brothers and sisters who suffered and died during the epidemic I think it’s important to discuss those who helped. Today we’ll be talking about one of the most important groups to help those fighting HIV/AIDS: lesbians and the WLW community. I’ll include photos throughout as well.

Giving Blood

People infected with HIV/AIDS often required blood transfusions, including often times multiple transfusions over a long period due to persistent severe anemia. However due to the rampant spread of HIV, the fact that many people were not getting tested (or were unable to be tested), homophobia, transphobia, and early on an inability to test donated blood for HIV/AIDS gay men and transgender individuals were disallowed from donating blood. This was an extremely difficult situation for many queer people as they were left unable to help their friends, lovers, partners, and chosen family members. Additionally many cishet Americans did not want to donate blood only for it to be received by gay and trans individuals (as well as drug users). Enter:

The Blood Sisters

(Photo Description: a colour photo of a group of women standing around a blue sign. The sign says “Welcome Blood Sisters” and has a dark red heart with red beams around it. There are 5 women in front of the sign, 2 on either side, and one leaning of the top. The women range in age from approximately mid 20’s to 60+. They are all smiling)

The Blood Sisters were an organization of Sapphic women (often self identified lesbians) who came together in order to donate blood and hold blood drives, predominantly targeting lesbians and Sapphic communities, in order to help their community. The Blood Sisters organization was in San Diego however many other similar groups got together in order to donate blood and organize blood drives for those with HIV/AIDS. Because lesbians were considered to be a very low risk group in the spread of HIV/AIDS, and for some time it was believed they couldn’t spread it at all (more on that later), they were still allowed to donate blood. While these groups did face adversity they worked extremely hard to help the people in their communities struggling through the epidemic.

Photo of Lesbian Giving Blood

(Image Description: A colour photo of a woman lying on a medical table giving blood. She is being attended to by another woman who’s face can’t be seen. She has a tourniquet around her arm and she’s looking up at the other figure with a big smile. She has dark brown curly hair and is wearing dark high waisted pants and a white shirt with an unknown graphic. There are medical supplies in the background behind her head)

This photo was taken at one such lesbian blood drive.

Lesbian Doctors, Nurses, and Medical Professionals

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to supplement this section.

One other way that lesbians and other sapphic women helped those suffering with HIV/AIDS was by providing medical care. Many doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, as well as those in the death care industry, would not provide care to those affected with the virus. While this was in part due to lack of understanding about how the virus spread in the early days of the epidemic, the effect that homophobia and transphobia had on this problem can not be overstated. Many queer people who were infected could not receive adequate medical care and treatment because of this.

However, lesbians and sapphic women once again stepped in. Many lesbians who worked in the medical field worked long and hard hours to provide care to those who were infected. It is a near certainty that some sapphic women likely even entered the medical field in order to help those affected by the virus. While they may still have been fearful they were committed to helping the people in their community who were most heavily affected.

Finally for today we’re going to discuss:

Preventing the Spread in Lesbian Communities

For quite a while it was believed that lesbians could not catch nor transmit HIV/AIDS however, it became apparent that while they were a very low risk group there still wasn’t no risk. Because of this many lesbians dedicated themselves to providing education for other WLW. This spawned a new phrase as well.

“Low Risk Isn’t No Risk” Leaflet (1992)

(Image description: a leaflet with the header “Low Risk Isn’t No Risk” at the top. At the bottom it says “Lesbians: HIV and Safer Sex” in block letters. There is a cartoon of two women sitting at a table with their legs intertwined, one is a white women leaning back with her arms behind her head. She is sticking her tongue out. Her shirt reads “ Had the fantasy, got the girl, read the leaflet”. The other woman is a black woman, she had textured hair and her face is shaded in to indicate she’s blushing. She has a flustered expression and has a text bubble which reads “Funny isn’t it- how talking about doing it can be so much naughtier than actually doing it?!” Beside the cartoon are three sets of texts indicating the material inside which say “How do lesbians get HIV?” “What if you think you’ve been at risk?” And “What is lesbian safer sex?” Beneath that is a logo for the organization which published the leaflet, Switchboard, it is a black and pink anarchist flag which has the organization’s name and a phono number)

Looking at the history of the AIDS crisis can be depressing and difficult but it’s important we remember both those who suffered and died as well as those who helped bear that weight. Lesbians, WLW, and Sapphics provided many great services to help prevent the spread and help those who had it. Remember: we have always been here, we always will be here, and we will always lift each other up. You are important and you belong here. 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

[uninformedartist]

The way Velvette is portrayed in Hazbin Hotel doesn't sit well with me.

To preface I am a fan of Hazbin Hotel and am looking forward to the show so-so. I want to clarify I mean no hate to Viv and her team, she has a creative mind even though her design choices are sometimes lacking to me. But this has been on my mind for a while especially as a poc.

Velvette has been a character ive enjoyed for the the longest time since her debut in the pilot. Even though her quick appearance she drew my attention for an unknow reason but she's just ah I love her. When I found out she was a poc and was into alternative fashion it drew me more to her as growing up I couldn't express myself in such clothes as it didn't suite my skin tone enough. Was never white enough or coloured enough (thats my race). I told my sister how I liked Velvette and she said she doesn't because of how she looks and it made me think. Velvette in all my relating to her lacks the representation I hoped she'd give others like she did me but she doesn't. Viv as much as I like her designs, underdesigned Velvette. She lacks poc features, what I mean by this is her skin tone mostly. I know she's a demon but I've see so many dark skinned monsters, demons, creatures that far surpasses Velvette. Her skin tone is this light brown- grey colour dispite being a black woman in her pitch bible (yes I saw it and I know lighter skinned black people exist but even so Velvette is so racially ambiguous point blank like many of Vivziepop's po characters and plus, her skin tone isn't even really a skin tone, its giving anime "dark/brown skin tones"), its lackluster actually and I wished it were different because I'm sure Viv has black/dark skinned design members on her team but no input from them was added to Velvette's design. Viv I understand is a poc but she is like me a lighter skinned poc, I myself have a difficult time drawing darker skinned characters and I know how Viv doesn't leave her comfort zone of character traits so it leaked into Velvette being such an under respresentation to black people/ dark skinned people. Her hair is also my end, Viv in all my years of following her has never experimented with poc hair textures/styles. It took so much more away from Velvette as a black woman with the hair style/texture she has now (I know black woman or woc can have straight hair but due to the embrace of more natural hair textures it would've been beautiful to see Velvette with a more natural hair texture). AGAIN Viv should've reached out to other designers for their input on her but no, its Viv's "character" (even though she doesn't technically own it anymore) and nobody can make such changes as its not in her vision/comfort zone.

Another thing I want to add is Viv's problem infantailising certain characters. I've seen it with Angel Dust, Niffty, Stolas and now Velvette and its not sitting well with me.

According to Velvette's pitch bible she is a 30 year old black woman, a *grown adult* who is also in the adult industry, cool.

This is a post by one of Vivziepop's staff members Sam, who also happens to be one of Vivziepop's closest friends too. They made a post comparing Velvette's to a certain character dynamic:

What the hell were they thinking. VELVETTE IS A 30 YEAR OLD BLACK WOMAN WHO WORKS IN THE PORN INDUSTRY AND YOU ARE COMPARING HER TO A PARENT/CHILD DYNAMIC!

TW:

She is involved in the adult industry along with Vox and Val. Valentino is shown to be a misogynistic man who is abusive, a rápist and much more, Vox similar. Velvette being involved with them isn't my issue, she's not a good person ha hell she probably condones their actions as she's an antagonist like them. The problem is I've seen Viv doesn't know the difference between a childish adult character and an adult character who is treated like a child and extention encouraged to be treated like one. Velvette has a childish fun personality thats all, that gives no reason to why she is treated like Vox and Valentino's child, SHE'S 30!

Fans and critics have pointed out how they keep seeing this problem how Viv portrays her characters. It creates a breeding ground for the fetishsization of these characters in a disgusting way. The amout of art I've seen depicting Velvette as their child is disturbing and TW: the amount of lòli art I have seen of her on unsavoury websites is just... I cannot. Just because of her personality she is being treated and seen as a child. I will not go into how woman of colour when reaching a certain age of development are not seen as children anymore even when they still are (we'll be here all day, its boils my blood I hate) but what Viv is doing is not right either. Strips away Velvette's agency especially as a black woman like Viv/team really should've thought before encouraging the infantailisation of her and such art posts as above.

In conclusion (since I lost my 1st draft aaah not typing that long again). Velvette is a good example to me of a poc character with lost potential. Viv had the power and choice to allow other poc creatives to give their input on her but simply didn't. She holds on to these characters so dearly and I understand she doesn't want to loose them, they are like her children. But they aren't anymore, she needed to let them be changed into their best version but alas no. Viv whether she likes it or not is in the mainstream now thanks to partnering with A24.

The audience has changed, we want to see better representation in media: various skin tones, sexualities, different body types, hair textures, even disabilities. Viv as a bisexual woc had the opportunity to give us so much more but didn't even knowing thats what audiences seek, like Velvette for example that's what I seeked and thought I saw but my rose tinted glasses got taken off by my sister and I saw what I saw wasn't all that.

You have the capabilities Viv, you have the resources, you have everything layed out in front of you to give us this why did you not, the boundaries were not pushed. Brake from your comfort zone, seek others inputs and criticism because if you go on like this you may fail. I've followed you for the longest time but not many times have you experimented with different body types, various skin tones and hair textures... no comment. I'll still support Viv's work and decide if I'll still be invested in it after Hazbin drops but I'm cautiously optimistic right now. Only wishing more grown for Viv, peace.

[anti-radqueer-zone]

Radqueer will say that they are "fighting for human right" and that they care about everyone no matter who they are and yet they distinctly lack so much nuance when it comes to understanding discrimination. A lot of Radqueers I've met often don't even recognize their own privilege's in life and forget that often the oppressor's of a specific group have invisible privilege's, for example white oppressor's are not generally seen as superior anymore but they are seen as "the norm", how it's normal for an all white sitcom to exist but when it's all black it's suddenly "woke".

The Radqueer community as a whole is also one of the most inaccessible communities I've ever seen, and that isn't an exaggeration. They will trade accessibility for aesthetics. They will make their blogs with colours so extremely eyestraining and inaccessible, they will use typing quirks without any translation, and they will get angry at disabled people when they request a translation, and I think I've seen a maximum of maybe two flag coining posts in the Radqueer community that have alt id's (the anti community is by no means perfect with the last one either, but I see many more alt ID'ed flag coining posts from antis than I do Radqueers). They call disabled and POC people bigots for pointing out the problems the Radqueer community causes and the harmful things they do in these communities and refuse to listen to those people.

The Radqueer community are aesthetic activists; they are no better than the fossil fuel industries that advertise themselves as green or McDonald's making a gay ad and then donating the homophobic organizations. It's all aesthetics, and I really wish it wasn't.

[the-owl-tree]

I will say that I think that the recent criticisms of Richardson and his work should focus on the repeated ableism and racism in it, ngl. YES, the new covers are poorly-drawn... but the lack of discussion revolving around the more serious implications of some of his work is concerning, at least to me.

The ableism of his illustrations in the newer ultimate guide was, in my opinion, unbelievably offensive. And I find it hard to believe that it was just a one-off thing... Brightheart's scars were practically erased entirely for the sake of making her look more 'appealing', Briarlight and Crookedstar has their disabilities erased entirely, And Jagged Peak's bent hindleg was *mysteriously covered by a bush*, despite the fact that the rest of his full body was depicted. More recently, Ivypool's scar, even, is no longer a scar... its just a marking, a red stripe of fur.

In his illustrations for *The Unwanteds* series, Richardson has repeatedly and continuously whitewashed POC characters in his work... despite the fact that they are otherwise portrayed similar to their canon descriptions, and their white counterparts are portrayed 100% correctly.

Are both of these situations equally the fault of the publishers, who let this shit fly under the radar? Of course! And I by all means think that HarperCollins should get their share of the backlash from this. I just don't think Richardson is immune to criticism, either - I just would much appreciate it if *Warriors* fans could instead call out the more serious issues like these, rather than just the general fact that the covers aren't good (which, yeah... they aren't, but there is more serious criticisms that can be made with his work. AND with the publishers / editors, too, since they obviously play just as much of a role in these situations as Richardson does).

I can't speak to the Unwanteds series so I'll hold comments until I look a little more into it. Not arguing it didn't happen, that sounds pretty accurate considering how widespread and, let's be honest, socially acceptable whitewashing is within the industry.

I think if we're going to talk about the ableism and which, I'll be blunt and say I'm physically abled so please take my opinions about this with a grain of salt, but I guess I'd say that the ableism within the series has been a longstanding issue with every artist that's worked with the warriors team. Very much it feels like a fear of "scaring" kids or "being inappropriate" and that in itself is....awful. The idea that someone's body shouldn't be seen or should be altered to be more normative, it's why we should be pushing the team to try and not dress up disability.

I agree that we should be pushing back at this attempt to sanitize disability especially, as I pointed out, it gives the underlying implication that there are bodies that can and should be seen as inappropriate (which is bad FYI). But I think we've got to recognize he's not the first artist to do this and, if the team doesn't listen, he's not going to be the last.

[captainlynxx]

Forever pissed off at my English teacher for asking to take my Gwen speech to read only to lose the papers and not even grade me

However I managed to dig up the speech I wrote on the importance of media diversity so for anyone interested and I’m currently working on a full essay about how Gwen was victimised by 2000s misogyny

In 2017, the popular sci-fi show Doctor Who changes its lead character’s actor from Peter Capaldi to Jodie Whittaker. I was 7 years old at the time and had been watching the show for practically my entire life so, with no idea who was taking over the role, I sat down when the episode aired on Christmas Day and watched. Seeing such a well known and well respected character that I’d loved and looked up to for as long as I could remember be played by a woman made me and many other girls realise that we could be the hero for once; we didn’t always need to be the one being saved. Diversity and representation in media are very commonly spoken about, and for good reason. Especially for the younger generation, seeing yourself accurately represented in media can mean so much. So why is this often talked about in such a negative light? In recent years, the world has become a much more progressive place, with more diversity, including in media. While media diversity has come a long way in recent years, it’s still got a long way to go, because why did it take until 2017 for the Doctor to be played by a woman? Why did it take until 2023 for the role to be played by a person of colour? What are the issues that exist within media diversity and how can we solve them?

Look at the cast list of any popular movie or tv show and you’ll most likely find a female character in a main or supporting role. The problem with female representation isn’t about a lack of representation but the fact that women serve to please the men both in the piece of media and the audience. An example of this is Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, and her outfit designs from her first and second MCU appearances in “Iron Man 2”and “The Avengers”. In both movies, Natasha wears tight, revealing suits with little practically compared to her male counterparts and their fully armoured suits. Her suits were designed with one thought in mind and that was how it could appeal to the predominantly male audience of these movies. This is an unfortunately common reality in cinema, with girls from ages 13-20 being —.-% more likely to be in “sexy” clothing and —.-% more likely for ages 21-39. This is in no way good representation, creating unrealistic beauty standards and expectations that can greatly impact the self esteem of the young girls who view this media.

So what are other diversity issues? Well, in the entertainment industry, when including a character who’s LGBTQ+, POC, disabled etc, they are often reserved for the “best friend trope” in a similar way that women are often portrayed as the love interest instead of being the main character. The best friend trope is often a character who serves to be the comic relief and is often pushed to the side. An example of this is Wallace Wells from the Scott Pilgrim series. Wallace is Scott’s room mate and best friend who also happens to be gay. While he is a better representation of a gay character, he still falls into common stereotypes for gay characters and many key factors of the best friend trope. Most of his lines whether it be in the comics, movie or show are jokes. He adds humour to scenes and not much plot progression (except for in the show which greatly improved upon this). These tropes aren’t exclusive to the LGBTQ community and most minorities have some sort of harmful and stereotypical trope attached to them in media.

What can we do about this? We need to create more original stories for underrepresented groups without just planting them into existing ones. Some popular pieces of media that do this well are heartstopper, the henna wars and young royals. These all have diversity when it comes to race, sexuality and gender placed at the forefront. There also needs to be more stories written where these groups are represented in the background, where it’s incorporated without being the plot. Examples of this that already exist are dead boy detectives, torchwood and the umbrella academy. These all have lots of diversity while avoiding falling into a lot of stereotypes and without it being at the forefront of these characters stories, instead being shown as just part of their daily lives.

We need to make media more diverse so maybe more kids can grow up seeing themselves in their favourite characters, and will be inspired to be the heroes in their stories.

[elizabethkitley]

caitlin criticism from uconn stans on this app is SO disingenuous it’s laughable. they say she hasn’t grown the game and act like she’s a mediocre player😭 plus so many use the harassment of other players as a “gotcha” for CC to talk about paige, instead of actually caring at all about how it effects the players. i’m convinced most of it comes from them being upset caitlin is talked about more than paige and they just pretend to take the moral high ground.

alright this is my first and probably last post on them because i've always held the opinion that it's counterproductive to post about someone you dislike

uconn have been the epicenter of women's basketball for the past 20+ years so i truly don't know how you see the monopoly they had on the sport for so long and hate on other players getting attention. they were the center of what i like to call the worst period of women's college basketball in the mid-2010s when at some point all top3 draft picks belonged to uconn. the 'lack' of media coverage is largely reflective of how they've lost that stronghold they've had on the game in a way (this is what we like to call parity)...and with the game growing media coverage now is mostly reliant on which narratives are more interesting to the general public. and i'm sorry but a high scoring phenom taking an underrated program to heights haven't seen in years is always going to be more interesting to people than an established dynasty with 5 mcdonalds all-americans finding success. it will be the same with juju for the next 3 or so years as well

i really appreciate paige speaking out on that issue but to me by bringing it up as a gotcha like you said....all it's doing it further centering white players which does the exact opposite of what she spoke up for. tbh you could say the same with cam or even caitlin with her saying she doesn't stand for people pushing agendas in her name. and most of the time on here when i see people bring it up the people in question are either 1) not black or 2) rarely speak about black/poc players (even on their own favorite team). so the general premise is valid but with alot of these people (not all of them) it comes off as weaponizing an issue as serious as racism in the industry to make them feel better about their favorite player. which to be frank, gives me the ick.

i have nothing against uconn btw some of my favorite players come from there (breanna, napheesa, sue, etc and i love aaliyah...hell KLS is a uconn alum). just speaking my thoughts