#IM INDIGENOUS IM SO HAPPY!!!

[postkillclarity]

dumping this here bc i dont feel like posting it anywhere else

[dreadfutures]

There's a reason there is the BIPOC acronym: black indigenous people of color. The issues of respectful depiction and representation are intimately intertwined between black characters and indigenous characters.

Leaning into features related to monkeys (particularly, but not limited to, exaggerated round faces and big lips, especially for comedic effect) and minstrel depictions/blackface-inspired depictions of dark skinned native people is racist. There is really no good reason for it.

A lot of these depictions overlap with Nubile Savage tropes, jungle princess, and many others.

There are actual indigenous styles that do have lots of nudity...that are not just fetishistic speedo-style loinclothes. And there are lots of resources detailing indigenous fashions from many different communities and cultures across the world. You have many more options that are way cooler and more respectful. There are ways to have nudity without being fetishistic. And talking constantly about how your own native/primal themed character loves nudity and is so cool because of nudity is weird and fetishistic.

Because if you start doing research you'll find that actually a lot of indigenous peoples were a lot less nude than you think. Your thinking is influenced by decades of consuming media that wasn't researched, or was deliberately racist. Many cultures with "loinclothes" (not what most people call them btw) always wore leggings and a cover over them.

Research is fun, and with the internet, easier than ever.

I would like to give non-Americans the benefit of the doubt when it comes to depicting indigenous characters, but there really are some Lavellans and Dalish and Elvhen characters who look like caricatures.

(Also, Noble Savage isn't a good trope to lean into without reflection.)

Especially if you demonstrably can draw and paint characters who *don't* look like caricatures, it looks like you're making an active choice to depict your non-white character in a bad way. You should really double check your source material, check yourself, and find some other visual language to attach your character to than racist source materials.

It's not like Americans are fed academic articles about this stuff growing up. We are immersed in a melting pot and experience a huge amount of more subtle context and correction that teaches us what's right and wrong and uncomfortable to the diverse communities around us, and that's something that changes over time. Some things just aren't ingrained in other countries' discussions of visual language and how it handles race (boy, the concept of race is complicated in other places).

But there isn't an excuse to remain ignorant for long tbh.

The information is out there, and the bare minimum information about indigeneity being a sensitive topic is well known. If you are deciding to depict characters from backgrounds that are traditionally marginalized, fetishized, and denigrated, you should become aware of how they have been maligned!

Whether or not they are a fantasy race, every artist is drawing from the same wealth of visual language we all have available in the real world, which are tied inextricably to real world cultures for better or worse. It's not an excuse to say that it's okay to use racist depictions of black and brown characters because in-canon they're not considered racist. Maybe that means the canon material was blind to the fact that it is racist? Maybe it was a particularly clumsily done attempt at reclamation, and maybe if you don't belong to those marginalized identities, it's not up to you to decide if it was a good reclamation or not.

And if something has been brought to your attention as being racist that you didn't know previously, you don't need to grovel or kill yourself.

A concise apology and a sincere personal desire to be better is all anyone (should) want.

Getting one person who is marginalized to sign off and say "idk I don't think it was racist" and using it as a get out of jail free card isn't as protective as you think. Diverse communities are...diverse. They have many people in them of various sensitivities and their own tolerance for bias. Some are biased themselves.

But there are through-lines in visual representation of marginalized peoples that are demonstrably, broadly, offensive and harmful. Do you really want to propagate that?

[walterdoodles]

TODAY IS A WIN ✨🧡

ICWA is not being overturned!!! Native sovereignty will remain!!

[ladyimaginarium]

𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲!

[winterf4iryy]

i got my dna results back :D

[l-cereta]

contingently a girl. girlhood as an imported truth across all possible worlds.

[coffin-flop]

i know my cat knows i love him but does he know how much?

[maraeffect]

alright Halloween is almost over, u guys know what that means.

ITS CHRISTMAS 1ST.

[hafula]

indigenous mutuals were hanging out right now

[onereallygoodlambonastick]

can people tell whats theater and whats real

[spacelazarwolf]

Hey, I saw a post from another tumblr user that you are a Zionist and spreading false info about Jewish people being excluded from pride parades and I don't know what a Zionist is (they just said it was nationalist) but I enjoy your blog and wanted to ask you about it directly to understand better whats going on if thats okay? Im not anonymous in case you want to privately answer or tell me youd not want to discuss. 💕

first, i wanna thank you for being respectful about this, and for asking this off anon. this tells me you're asking in good faith, so i'm happy to answer.

i've had to state numerous times on my blog that i'm not a zionist bc people love to slap that label on any jew they disagree with, which is exactly what's happening in this situation. they disagreed with what i said about a lot of jews not feeling comfortable at pride because of the pervasive antisemitism in queer spaces, and several queer events banning the jewish pride flag because it "looked too similar to the israeli flag" and decided that made me a zionist. it happens a lot bc ppl know that that word is very taboo in activist spaces, and labeling you a zionist is a surefire way to get you kicked out of a lot of progressive circles. interestingly (said with a huge dollop of sarcasm) this rarely happens to gentiles.

zionist is also a pretty useless word for determining what someone actually believes, because depending on who you ask their ideologies can range from "i think that jewish people should be able to live in the land that is currently israel and palestine alongside palestinians and other indigenous groups" to "i think that only jews should get to live in that area and we should kick everyone else out." and as you can imagine, there's lots of people like me who agree with the first statement but vehemently disagree with the second. it's become somewhat of a dogwhistle, to the point that alt righters popularized "zio" as a slur, which was then picked up by leftists (because there is also a huge problem with antisemitism in leftist and non palestinian gentile-dominated antizionist spaces.) one of the events i mentioned in the first paragraph deleted a tweet using this slur.

the person you're probably talking about also claimed that i, a genderqueer trans man, am a misogynist, because i said that jewish masculinity is very culturally different from white masculinity and that i find a lot of comfort in it. they cited a bunch of problems with misogyny within the orthodox community, despite the fact i'm not orthodox or even ashkenazi. what it boiled down to is that they disagree with the takes i have on anti transmasculinity, and they needed something else to pin it on.

so in the future, if you see someone accusing a jew of being a zionist, take everything they have to say with a bucket full of salt and do as you did with this ask and go ask the person what they actually believe. sometimes you'll find their beliefs actually don't line up with your morals and you can unfollow, but the vast majority of the time you'll find that they just said something someone didn't like and it was the easiest way to discredit them.

in general, i don't share my opinions about zionism/antizionism on tumblr because that's not what my blog is centered on, and also i oppose the expectation that jews should have to disclose our opinions on zionism in order for gentiles to determine whether or not we are worth listening to. i also have a lot of thoughts abt how the focus on anti-anything makes it easier for activists to weaponize that activism against marginalized people, but that's an entirely different post.

anyway, i hope that answers your question, and i will probably pin this ask somewhere on my blog since i have been asked this a few times now and it seems unavoidable since ppl just won't drop it.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ok so like objectively yes ed did things wrong but not only do i personally feel no negative emotions about any of that, i swear it would make more sense tonally with the rest of the show to NOT make a huge chunk of s2 be about ed facing the consequences for and redeeming himself from the marooning/pushing lucius overboard/izzy toe thing. like if im wrong i’m wrong and it’s whatever but i really really think the focus will be more on ed’s internal emotional state and how his choices were informed by trauma and how he’s going to learn to heal more than it’s gonna be like, Ed Learns It’s Wrong To Maroon People And Force Feed People Their Own Toes. like if anything i think it’ll be Ed Learns That He Deserves To Be Happy And He Also Realizes That Marooning People And Force Feeding People Their Own Toes Is An Unhealthy Coping Skill That Negatively Affects His Mental Health And He Learns New, Healthier Coping Strategies. like i think the focus of coming out of the kraken era is going to be almost entirely on ed’s feelings, and any mention of how his actions harmed the rest of the cast will be brief and/or it’ll primarily be played for comedy

which yes irl this would kinda suck to have some guy respond to getting his heart broken (and other stuff) by killing and maiming people and then have his whole journey of self-discovery be solely abt him and not any of the people he’s hurt. HOWEVER a biiiiiig part of the humor of the show is that the characters are experiencing some very real and very relatable self-esteem issues and insecurities and vulnerabilities, and all of that is placed on a backdrop of comedically gratuitous pirate violence. like this is a romcom and ed is basically going through the classic emotional beats of the romcom heroine getting her heart broken and eating a whole tub of ice cream and crying in her room for days before becoming cold and distant and “love is dead” edgy, only the joke is that bc he’s a pirate his “love is dead” romcom era includes some people actually literally dying. izzy and the crew all just happen to be in the blast radius for this joke, and while we as fans might love and care abt those characters too, the plain fact is that ed and stede are the main characters and the other characters’s feelings or storylines or internal motivations simply do not matter nearly as much to the show as theirs (with the exception of maybe jim, and also maybe olu depending on how s2 goes). and that’s literally just how romcoms work. this sort of “protagonist bias” is like, a core part of this kind of story.

and there’s nothing wrong with not vibing with the story because of that. if season two comes and goes and you aren’t happy with how the show handled the consequences of ed’s actions in e10 that’s fine, nobody has to feel any specific way about this show. but if i’m right and this is how s2 plays out and some of y’all don’t like this, the problem is not that ofmd is bad. the problem is just that this is not the story you wanted or expected to be told.

i DO think, tho, that there’s something very powerful abt a character like this being a queer indigenous man. he’s a gay romcom protagonist and narratively speaking his feelings trump all. this is a queer romcom that uses gratuitous slapstick violence as a punchline and where the queer main characters are allowed to get violent and unhinged about their feelings, and at the end of the day they ultimately get a pass bc it’s a gay romcom and the show is about them. like literally that description itself is more than i could’ve ever dreamed of from any tv show ever, and THEN you’re telling me that one of the main characters is indigenous???? it’s been a year and a half and s2 is right around the corner and i swear to god i still can’t believe this show actually exists. we don’t GET shows like this, we don’t GET characters like this. ed teach is such a fucking blessing of a character and i love him with all my heart.

[funeralshawls]

now that i’m out of panic mode and da dog is healthy im gonna make a more coherent post.

halito <3 happy indigenous ppl’s day!! take a chance to help out a black chahta faeree w a surprise psych bill!! lmao, everytime i think i’m finally starting to stabilize, im hit with a reminder/debt from things that just made shit worse! :3 it still doesn’t add up to me, but the story is : last year b4 my insurance / medicaid switched, i was paying a certain amount for psych visits. apparently the amount was wrong (no explanation why) they’re just now catching up to it, and now billing everybody. so now i have a surprise $363 i owe that already went to an emergency vet visit! long story short i’d be eternally grateful for any help/share. im already trying to save along with paying of ANOTHER psych and dental bill. yakoke for everything and for being understanding. hope everyone was able to have some peace on the holiday ❤️💛🤍🖤

[scarrletmoon]

it's izzy hands it's kylo ren it's billy from stranger things it's snape it's draco it's loki circa 2012-2014 it's a REPEATED PATTERN throughout all of fandom of an antagonistic white guy getting a devoted fanbase that is both disproportionate to his importance in the story and also misunderstands the white guy's role as an antagonist. they think their mean little guy is a misunderstood victim and they base their entire fandom experience around him. and then in season 2 ofmd went and redeemed izzy before killing him off to further ed's arc, something that is a solid choice from a technical writing standpoint but from a fandom perspective it built the izzy fans up into thinking they were right about how izzy has never been homophobic, izzy is a poor downtrodden abuse victim, and from day one izzy has been a protector and the only competent guy around and a loyal and dutiful first mate. and possibly the most significant part is that so many izzy fans have accidentally and unknowingly tricked themselves into thinking that izzy is a main character bc their fandom engagement revolves so heavily around izzy that they forgot the actual show itself doesn't, so they were completely blindsided by a death that has been foreshadowed since season one ("im not dying, not for that twat and not for you" and "only retirement we get is death" and the whole "plumb the depths, man" sequence where izzy was talking to stede through a death shroud ffs). and i want so bad to just ignore it but we literally got a queer romcom centered around an interracial couple and an incredibly diverse cast and an indigenous main character and a diverse writer's room and the season ended on a happy note and it's all about queer joy AND YET. soooooooo much of the post-season discussion has to center around the white side character!!! even in death izzy hands takes up a disproportionate amount of the fandom conversation and im exhausted. it's every fandom! every fucking time!! this isnt anything new this is the same time-honored fandom tradition of white man favoritism YET A-FUCKING-GAIN and im SO FUCKING TIRED OF IT!!!!!!!!!

(i get so scared when i turn on anon bc i’ve consistently gotten such shitty, cowardly messages through it but i’m glad this isn’t one of them lmao)

i know i’ve said this 374748 times but the last time i made the kylo ren/snape/white villain connection on twitter (i mean that’s on me, it’s twitter) i had people legit furious with me for calling them nazis which………..i literally never said

and i get the frustration. trust me, I GET IT. the white villain problem smashes right into white fragility and makes it almost impossible to talk about any of it. it means, like you said, that we’re talking about a fucking white side character in cast of amazing, nonwhite talent, because some people can’t handle confronting the fact that whiteness insulates them from the realities of racism, and that their ignorance and hostility makes them active participants in white supremacy

(and it’s really hard to explain this to people who’ve been taught that racism is when slurs and white klan hoods, because then they’ll say and do the most vile shit and CRY or fight you when you gently try to explain the racist shit they just did)

and because fandom is very queer as well as very white, we also have to contend with the kinds of white people who think that queerness somehow negates their whiteness. that they can’t express their privilege in contexts involving POC. that we’re making shit up to be victims and to minimize their pain on purpose. and time and time again, i have had my queerness erased by white people, so they feel comfortable ignoring criticism i only ever shared bc i was hoping for something better

i’ve said it again and again and again and AGAIN that it’s ESPECIALLY depressing seeing white people close ranks in ofmd fandom especially BECAUSE it has such a diverse cast and doesn’t shy away from discussing racism in all the ways it manifests. like, most of the racism in the show isn’t even subtle and y’all STILL elected to ignore it? do y’all not feel ANY shame about that?

and some of them don’t! bc they think we’re infiltrators. bc they’re only a few steps removed from “they will not replace us” as they see more POC try to join fannish spaces. and they’ll pretend they’re not trying to push us out bc they’re marginalized in other ways — deliberately ignoring the fact that they’re also crushing their fellow queer, disabled and marginalized community

so you’re tired? yeah. me the fuck too. we deserve so much better