#Microaggressions

[in-sufficientdata]

This can be a huge source of medical trauma and it's so cruel that it's being imposed on people by the medical establishment itself. How can they help but feel anything but helpless? There's no fighting that.

I can't help but think of this from my own perspective as a fibromyalgia patient who keeps having to fight being thought of as (or even being labeled as) drug-seeking.

I am literally just trying to live life closer to the standard that 'normal' people have every day.

Why is it in any way fair that most people are mostly pain-free and capable of doing the things they want to do, but I have to suffer with pain on a daily basis that is at minimum, on a very rare, very good day, at level 5?

Why is it when I report that my pain level is at level 7, 8, 9, I only get doctors side-eyeing me and explaining my OTC options?

I have had chronic pain since I was 8. I'm very fucking aware of my OTC options, so no thank you, doc.

And when I spend 20 minutes explaining in detail that my daily pain has noticeably increased and changed in quality since around January 1st, why should I have my PCP giggle at me every time I say that I need help with managing my pain and learning ways to deal with it?

It felt incredibly invalidating and I wish he would have said, look, I don't have the expertise to help you, so here's a referral to a pain specialist.

I only found out there was a such thing by trying to research the topic after this on my own!

So yeah, it's not just the insurance companies, it's the doctors, too.

It's almost like having a profit-motivated medical establishment hurts patients.

[mrowmrowmrow9]

Microaggressions against non-binary people that you might be saying without realizing it

"All of my trans brothers & sisters"/"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Every man, woman, and child" (referring to all people)

"Are you a boy or a girl?"/"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Both men and women"

"The opposite gender"

"Boys and girls! Settle down!"

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen"

"He or she"/"His or her"/"Him or her"

“Non-men”/“non-women” (bigender folk exist!)

Pleeeeeease stop saying these 🥰

Add your own if you have any!

What to say instead

P.S. OP is a neopronoun user and supports it/it’s folk, xenogenders, he/him lesbians and all forms of genderfuckery :)

[gaasublarb]

Hey uuuuh... xReader writers....

Could you mark your stuff somehow if reader is gonna be even thinking about calling the black character they are with "boy."

(I'll be halfway through a fic and suddenly I feel very uncomfortable and extremely embarrassed and I have to go)

I headcanon that Hobie wouldn't be ok with that word coming from anyone but oh man for sure not from my white ass

(the comic book version of Hobie only gets called that by villains. The spider band's Final Boss calls him that constantly....)

((I do specifically mean the word Boy. I haven't had any one express to me discomfort with being called Girl. I talk about the alternative Boi in the comments. I would say "hey boi~!" I would never say "I'm going to make you mine, boy"))

((I didn't realize that this was socially acceptable in different BIPoC circles. I made this post mostly expecting this to have been a mistake that white writers were making. My friends and family have made me sensitive to this word and I fully expected this to be a non-controversial take.

I don't want to delete this post since it's already been reblogged so all deleting would do is prevent me from getting alerts about responses,

but if my clarifications in the notes don't make sense to you, I beg y'all to talk to other black southerners who are also bothered by this instead of getting me to try and explain it better))

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

“but what if HRT is making trans disabled peoples conditions worse??” Idk what if a cis abled person consumed alcohol? Or hit a vape? Or never ate veggies? Would you butt in and be condescending about that too?

Are you disabled? HRT user? no?? Cool then stfu and stop trying to disguise your ignorance and prejudice as concern

[hartlesshart]

I have something to say - If you aren’t going to read the whole thing, then skip it. But I really hope you do. My intention is not to cause drama. I just felt this was important to say because I love this community and I want it to be the best it can be.

A few days ago, a very unfortunate thing happened on a certain post about Talanah and Seyka. I called someone out on what was a case of weaponizing a racist incident. Instead of having a meaningful discussion, my comments were deleted and called “inappropriate accusations.”

Long story short - several reblogged and commented on this post about how Talanah was constantly being tagged as Seyka. To be clear, this is not a good thing and I believe every single one of those post to be valid in their frustration. But I have also seen it happen the other way around to my own work (Seyka tagged as Talanah). None of this is okay but while it is exhausting, remember that mistakes do happen.

So I made a comment about my experience and my comment was dismissed because apparently it “hadn’t been seen.” I responded to this with an honest truth of how dismissals of experience affects people like me.

The thing about racism is that it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. You don’t get to pick and choose who it happens to just to fit your narrative. Dismissing it because you didn’t personally see it is harmful, especially to fans from marginalized groups who may not feel comfortable sharing their experiences in the future.

My comment was deleted and later referred to as an “inappropriate accusation” and “harassment.” Was it an accusation? Yes. Was it inappropriate? No. Was it harassment? Absolutely not - I took time to respond so it wouldn’t be seen that way. However, the comments involving Talanah mistags were kept. The comments defending a fictional character. To be clear, I am not saying these comments are not justified. It is incredibly frustrating to work so hard on a piece only for it to be tagged as another character. However, the fact other comments (including my personal experience), that challenged the narrative that these mistaggings were only happening to Talanah, were being deleted is problematic and a form of silencing. Intentional or not - this is a racist microaggression - and yes, I do deal with stuff like this in real life.

It became immediately clear to me that the goal here wasn’t to raise awareness or do anything about the racist misnaming but instead use it to put down a group in this community. And judging a whole group by the actions of a few bad apples is literally where prejudice begins. All of this pettiness stemming from - let’s face it - an unnecessary shipping war in a FICTIONAL STORY. I was incredibly disappointed and saddened because I know we are better than this.

I am not speaking out because I want to cause drama. Undoing systemic racism is something I am deeply passionate about because it affects so many people in my life. If someone calls you out on a problematic take, please take a moment to listen and reflect, even if it makes you uncomfortable. Do not follow the impulse to block or delete. This work is extremely exhausting for everyone, but it is SO important. We all carry prejudices and biases. We are human. But we can also learn because we are all human. I have been called out many times in life by my friends. I have made so many ignorant comments and mistakes. And I will still make them. Hearing I have is not easy at all but it is all part of growing.

Speaking out like this isn’t really my thing but I felt the need to make a comment that can’t be deleted by anyone. I love the Horizon community and I want it to be a safe and inclusive space for everyone no matter where you are from. That is what these games are about. Understanding people from different backgrounds, opinions and traditions in order to work together. 

You don’t have to be fans of the same characters. You can love or be disappointed with the canon. You can respectfully give and listen to critiques of these characters. And you can celebrate representation even if it’s not the direction you wanted Horizon to go in.

Whatever these games have given you is yours to keep.

Just don’t be an asshole about it (at least in public, what you do in private is none of anyone’s business so…) -> that goes to all fans in all groups. It is never okay to harass or hurt anyone - and especially over fictional characters.

(Also please respect the devs - we are lucky they are able to pour their hearts into this game for all of us to enjoy and frankly the direction is their creative choice)

This vibrant community is full of so much talent and love for this amazing series. I have made some truly incredible friends, worked on some hilarious and delightful collaborations and have seen wicked talent come together to make something special. Just look on the horizon, and you’ll see a certain 100% fan-made game coming soon, which has a little something for everyone!

Keep creating. Ignore the bad apples. Don’t be an asshole. I’m going back to drawing silly things. - from the hart 

[sleepynegress]

The accuracy.

What it's like being a Black woman with any hairstyle.🪮

[kaysdenofchaos]

“Do you speak English very well?” Sir just let me board the damn plane 💀

[yinlotus]

Juneteenth as an official federal holiday

[seraphic-sapphic-safehaven]

PoC is not synonymous with Black.

Read that again.

PoC is not synonymous with Black.

So please stop using it that way. Black is not a dirty word, and it's not bad to say. So say it!! I'm tired of y'all saying PoC when you mean Black. I AM BLACK!! CALL ME THAT!! Not PoC. Not African American.

B 👏🏾 L 👏🏾 A 👏🏾 C 👏🏾 K 👏🏾

[in-sufficientdata]

I have oh so many examples 🙃

Re: fibromyalgia:

➢ From doctors —

"All children get pains in their legs, they're called growing pains."

"Why did I order this treatment? Because I'm the doctor and I know what I'm doing."

"You're so much more tenacious about exercising than my other patients."

Reporting generally increased pain levels to my PCP and receiving an explanation of why they don't treat fibro pain with opioids in return.

Being (literally) laughed off by my PCP while explaining my pain symptoms when I was seeking advice on how to deal with them.

Being forced to do my own research into mitigating my pain because I was laughed off instead of helped.

Finding out while researching that there's a such thing as a pain specialist rather than being told that by my PCP.

➢ From people in the community —

A gym teacher laughing at me when I said my neck hurt because he thought I was lying to get out of gym class.

Making it a point to look at me while I'm resting on the sidelines & rolling their eyes each time they notice I'm looking back.

Passive-aggressively commenting to their companions as they pass by that it's a shame people who don't need the riding carts use them.

Actually coming up to me to inform me that riding carts are for people who need them.

"What do you mean you're in pain? Oh, honey. Wait until you're my age, then you'll know what pain is."

"Don't give up yet! Pain is just weakness leaving the body!"

Societal messaging that reinforces a Puritan work ethic.

I was going to do others I hear re: autism, ADHD, bipolar, etc. but I'm exhausted from remembering all that now. 🥲

[racheldi]

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

Excuse me?

Ok- I haven't said anything earlier because I didn't finish the script, and because the parts earlier really flew over my head; but some people had been pointing out that the way they describe Miguel (who is a Mexican person that while light-skinned is clearly non white,) is problematic.

Am I the only one who has a problem with this part though?

Don't get me wrong, the things with Miguel aren't good (and I will look for someone who can express it better because honestly is out of my depth.) But this one with Hobie rubs the wrong way and I haven't seen anyone commenting on it yet.

I mean- we know why Hobie is doing this, the writers too. But for starters kleptomania is an actual psychological disorder that normally carries a great deal of anxiety and grief to someone with it; not just shits and giggles, and more importantly, commenting this on a black, dark skinned guy feels specially poor taste.

Again, this is out my depth, maybe black bloggers/creators in this website wouldn't think is a big deal, perhaps I am blowing things out of proportion, but this rubs me the wrong way.

(If you want to block this chain of posts, block the hashtag #screenplay react.)

[thatspookyagent]

Gotta have a bigger talk about how within fandom spaces when Black creators create Black edits of fictional (mainly anime) characters, there's much bigger backlash against us versus with whitewashing or lightwashing. Also there's always an assumption that Black creators are erasing parts (specifically non white parts) of a characters identity, as if Black folks aren't a whole ass diaspora in our own right, and are very much located everywhere despite how white supremacy wants to get rid of us.

Like I have to side eye how non-Black folks will let Black characters get whitewashed or lightwashed, but Lord forbid Blackness be seen anywhere, let alone on a fictional fucking character. Like what about forced whiteness is permissible but simply adding on any level of proximity to Blackness to a character is Not Okay™. Like is there something about being Black that should be avoided at all costs, even within fictional media? Something that just "doesn't fit/look right?"

This extends to darker skin as well like don't y'all dare pull that Tim Burton shit saying that darker skin simply doesn't "Fit the aesthetic or vibe." Or whenever a piece of media is particularly dark or violent, then darker skin is allowed cause a lot of y'all perceive darker skin to be inherently more violent or are so used to seeing dark skinned folks being brutalized, that dark skin tones have become synonymous with brutality, in and outside of fictional media.

Black creators notice this shit. It reflects similar sentiments of how we're treated outside of online spaces and even outside of fandom spaces in general. So stating that the stuff that I've said above "Doesn't matter cause it's all online or doesn't have any effect on reality." is just a straight up lie. As if Black people aren't real people and as if harassment online doesn't have potentially severe consequences onto someone's mental health and overall wellbeing.