#also interesting example of how even cis gay/bi women will be painted as like man adjacent when its useful

[cruelsister-moved2]

that good housekeeping article is actually so fucked... like starting with the story of someone whose first gay relationship was abusive in a way that's clearly trying to frame it as innocent previously heterosexual woman led astray by violent lesbian (even though they're both lesbians),and then a bisexual woman abused by a lesbian with emphasis on the lesbian's jealousy of men and masculine behaviours.

most egregious, disturbing misuse of figures to claim that lesbians represent 19% of IPV related homicides; I managed to track down where they got this figure and in reality it's ONLY discussing lgbt and hiv+ cases. extremely different figure that lesbians represent 19% of LGBT IPV related homicides:

even if you missed that, it's very obvious in that 1. there are clearly more than 6 IPV related homicides per year in the US 2. NO heterosexual women killed by their partners?! 3. men more likely to be victims than women (because these are lgbt figures where the men were mostly killed by other men) 4. concentrated in the south. this isn't a mistake you could easily make by accident, especially as the author is an abuse counsellor & should have been able to recognise this.

they then ALSO selected a hugely lowball figure, that 1.5% of US women identity as lesbians and 0.9% as bisexual, which other surveys do not bear out, one where lesbians outnumber bisexual women which is pretty demonstrably false, to attempt to claim that lesbians represent 0.75% of the population and 19% of IPV homicides i.e that we are more than 25x more likely to kill our partners than cishet men.

this is literally an article of straight up lesbophobic propaganda under the guise of concern for abuse victims. this is the oldest lesbophobia in the book. before we were ugly man hating dykes we were violent, murderous and mentally ill dangers to women who lead innocent girls astray and kill them in fits of jealousy or bloodlust. the comparisons to straight men made constantly throughout the article are reinforcing the idea that you're safer with a male partner, that lesbians are warped women attempting to be men, and turning violent when we fail.

[nomattertheoceans]

I feel like I picked up on most of the racist tropes in Maas’ books but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the homophobia in them

Hi Non!! Thanks for the ask :) 

Just an fyi if people didn’t see it, Anon is referring to my tags on this post about death of the author and the importance of criticizing media without taking into account the creator’s intent.

So yeah, regarding Maas. There’s a lot of ways in which I find her writing homophobic, I’ll divide them in different categories to try and make it clearer because my mind works in twisted ways x)

You should also know that I haven’t read Crescent City past the first few chapters so I can’t talk about this book (what I heard isn’t great regarding this issue but I haven’t read it so I won’t comment on it)

(this got long so I’m gonna use a read more)

worldbuilding

I think her worldbuilding tends to reflect a homophobia that she might not be aware of. Her entire world is built on heteronormative ... norms (lmao sorry I don’t have a better word I haven’t slept in more than 20 hours) that don’t leave any space for queer people to thrive in.

Throne of Glass actually got the less awful bit on this one, we’re shown that Hasar’s girlfriend Renia would become Empress if Hasar was crowned, and Aelin’s uncle was openly gay, so I guess compared to ACOTAR it’s better.

ACOTAR gets the worst of this: The fae society is painfully mysoginistic and by extend, homophobic. Mor is basically sold into marriage at sixteen, to a man, without regards of how she feels about it, because women are considered a breeding stock. The Illyrian women are viewed in the same light. Even Feyre is expected to be making heirs when she’s about to marry Tamlin. Yes, all these examples are painted as bad things in the books, but it doesn’t take away the fact that there are also considered normal within the society we are presented with. When the entire world is built around cishet dynamics (whether good or bad), it shows us that queer relationships are not the norm here, they’re outsiders from their own society (btw considering women as ‘baby makers’ is also transphobic but I’m not gonna open that can of worms).

The mating bond in itself is the biggest heteronormative concept in her books. As Rhys explains it in ACOMAF, it is literally intended for couples to make the strongest babies. It doesn’t care about love between partners, its primary goal is to perpetuate the species. It’s a natural instinct that we’re shown is basically impossible (or at least very difficult) to fight against. We’re shown that the woman has to make the man a meal to “seal the deal”, we’re shown that men become extremely violent towards other men they consider a threat when they’re influenced by the bond (by the way that’s toxic masculinity but it’s not what this post is about).

I believe that Maas didn’t intend for the mating bond to be a possibility between mlm or wlw couples, but that she retconned it in ACOWAR. Which in a sense is good, I’m all for queer soulmates! But the concept she invented here doesn’t have much room for non heteronormative relationships, and it becomes painfully obvious when you try to apply the mating bond logic to wlw/mlm couples. It brings many questions to mind: if it’s intended to make babies, does it mean that the mated mlm couple has one of the men be a trans man? If that’s the case, why didn’t she tell us? Why didn’t she spend more time on telling us their story? If they’re both cis men, then why would they have a mating bond, something specifically designed to help with species continuity by making babies? To me, it’s proof that she didn’t think it through, she thought it was cute to have two men be mates just like our main couple was, and didn’t stop to consider how the mating bond didn’t allow for this to happen organically because it exists in a vaccum of cishet privilege where she didn’t think about the consequences of including it in her books without elaborating on it. 

We can also see that queer people aren’t expected to be the norm in that society. Feyre is genuinely surprised when Mor tells her that she likes women, as if it was this groundbreaking thing she never even considered. I’m not going to get into details as to why I hate Mor’s coming out (I love Mor being a wlw but really, really, hate that scene), but the fact that she hasn’t felt comfortable enough to come out in five centuries is very telling of how unaccepting the fae society is of queer people. So yeah, there’s a queer bar where she hangs out but like... that doesn’t mean it’s accepted. One of the main reasons why queer bars started existing in the first place was to become a safe space for people to be themselves, so you know, I kinda take it as another proof of how unopen-minded the fae society actually is.

lack of queer characters

Overall, we don’t have a lot of confirmed queer characters. Off the top of my head, I can think about (of course I might forget some so that might not be 100% accurate, I haven’t read the books in a long while):

TOG: Hasar and Renia, Aedion, Orlon and Darrow

ACOTAR: Mor, Helion, Thesan, Andromache, Nephelle

Note that I’m not counting unnamed characters. I don’t consider “x’s lover” as a developped enough character to count as representation, come on.

Out of all these characters, only two of them are in the main cast of their respective series (Aedion and Mor). The others go from “mentioned” to “secondary character” at best. I’m not saying that all of her characters have to be queer, but out of such a big cast of mains, one in each series seems very little.

construction of these characters

On top of not having many characters that aren’t cishet, the characters we do have aren’t very well handled by the story.

Hasar is repeatedly described as being ugly, despite most of the other characters being described over and over as breathtakingly beautiful.

Aedion compares bisexuality to forced prostitution.

Helion is basically shown as sleeping around with everybody.

Mor’s sexuality is kept so ambiguous that there’s debate as to whether she’s actually bi, or rather a closeted lesbian.

Renia barely talks, Darrow is a jerk. Orlon, Andromache and Nephelle are figures of the past that we never meet

This is a problem mainly because of how small in numbers the queer characters are. The more diverse cast you create, the easiest it gets to avoid hurtful tropes. I wouldn’t mind Helion being a bi man sleeping around all the time if he wasn’t the only bi man in ACOTAR. Nor would I mind Mor’s tragic backstory if we had other wlw characters. By reducing her cast to such little numbers, she’s creating problems in her writing. She’s telling us that bi men sleep around and never settle down, she’s telling us that sapphic women will only get tragic stories and never find love again.

In the end, the combination of a heteronormative worldbuilding and the lack of work put into the queer characters we are given makes it impossible for me to not consider her books homophobic.

To be clear,

I don’t think Maas does this out of malice. I don’t think she’s a homophobe who hates queer people or anything. I also don’t dislike her books. They’re a fun read, and there’s a reason why ACOMAF is one of only two audiobooks I always have on my phone! Hell, I even write fanfic with her characters. But I think it’s important to be critical of her books, particularly in regards to issues such as racism, mysoginy, or homophobia.

To go back to the original post from yesterday, this is why ‘death of the author’ is an important point here. I’m not saying that Maas intended to be homophobic or that she built her world expressedly to exclude queer people. But in the end, that’s what happened, and we can’t brush off the critics of queer people and people of color just by saying “well, the author didn’t mean it that way.”

I do think that she includes queer representation only as an afterthought in her books, and it shows. Mor’s coming out was poorly handled because she didn’t consider the ramifications of it, just like the mating bond suddenly applying to queer relationships. Her societies are based on cishet white upper class America and that leaves little to no place for queer people (and people of color) to thrive in her stories. From what I see, she doesn’t seem interested in consulting with sensitivity readers over these issues, and as long as she doesn’t swallow her pride and listen to the people that are affected by it, she’s not going to get better on these points.

[addershade]

A Semi-Stuctured Rant on Antishipping, Fujoshi Culture and the monetization of Homosexuality in Japanese and American Media

Antishippers are homophobic and it's bothering me. But also so are fujoshis and that bothers me too

Part One: Antishippers

Where there sails a ship ship so to the antishippers let fly their flags. A common argument I see painted on the bows of their warships is 'This character hasnt been stated as gay yet don't ship them with them.'

This is such a problematic sentence I don't even know where to begin. The fact that people view the default state of sexuality as 'straight until declared gay' creates the stigma that being homosexual is in some way deviant or taboo.

As an example: nobody has a problem with Todoroki being shipped with Momo despite them having minimal character interaction and very little shared dialogue in the show. Yet because they have been seen together in one (1) episode it has even been assumed canon on the same level as Izuku and Ochako which it quite simply is not.

Compare this to Bakugo and Kirishima who have several scenes together, most in even more intimate settings than Todoroki and Momo (study date, walking home at sunset together, the money scene, the rescue, I could go on) yet since the creator has not OUTRIGHT stated that either of these two are gay they have been assumed straight. Antishippers never go after TodoMomo in the same way they do KiriBaku.

I've seen people go as far as to say it would never happen, the creator would never do something so radical as to include one (1) gay couple. Despite the already pretty strong LGBTQ+ presence in the show with characters like Tiger, Big Sis Magne and Toga. These three have their own problems (an issue for another time) but they are there and that's a big step forward that people like to forget about.

Also, is the concept of 'we don't get good gay representation in the media so we write our own' really such a hard thing to grasp? Because it shouldn't be. Gay representation in media is scarce and even if its there it might not be handled sensitively (cough cough banana fish cough) and people naturally would want to go out of their way to provide it for themselves. Because representation is important. Straight, cis, white men really wouldn't understand because they are represented in literally everything all the time so I geuss they can't really fathom not being able look at the main character and go 'it me.' Which is why they put up such a fuss about every single time a woman is cast as the lead role. In anything. But I digress.

My point is basically this: Characters with undefined sexualities are obviously going to draw people in and be used as a comfortable, familiar and interesting starting point to create someone you can resonate with on a deeper level. Especially if there's nothing contradicting your head canon. And even if there is, who cares? There's plenty of straight characters already, representation is not pie and also they aren't real people so thats an extra helping of 'it shouldn't bother you.'

Oh I forgot to mention this rant only extends to fictional character antishippers because I think shipping real people is icky and shouldn't happen regardless of sexuality.

Part Two: Fujoshi Culture

Yes there are straight gals and guys that fetishise it (the male version is a fudanshi at least get it right people) and that's gross and unforgivable please stop doing it.

I would argue however this epidemic is caused by the fact that media, eastern and western alike, refuses to normalise gay relationships. Which means they see it as this sick fetish thing and call it 'sinning.' The literal terms fudanshi and fujoshi are derogatory and paint enjoying 'yaoi' as a guilty pleasure, something to be ashamed of and ridiculed.

And I'd bet my bottom dollar that Japan would want to keep it that way because it does work to sell their mangas.

Nagisa really sums up the whole issue in 50 percent off here's the clip:

https://youtu.be/c_xwtbrXbZM

Part Three: Western Focus

I just want to point out how half hearted and overly subtle these relationships have to be, like you're sneaking it past the republicans like the producers dirty little secret.

Good examples from both sides are Bubbeline, KoraSami, All of Voltron and Literally Any Gay Man In Anime Except Yuri on Ice. Although Yuri on Ice is still pretty coy about admitting that their characters are in a gay relationship.

KoraSami, Bubbeline and Shiro x Shiro's flashback buddy are all western depictions. Being gay in western media is much less commercialised and much less marketable, which is why the main issue with all of these were the writers pushing for something that was then only really confirmed either in: a very heavily fought for kiss last episode or the love story told entirely in (two bros chilling in a hot tub style) flashbacks where said love interest dies in the same episode. None of these are good representation and I don't think I have to spell out why.

Anyway this is another video that sums it up better than I can

https://youtu.be/TOj4WfQPNlk

Part 4: The Bad, The Worse and the Ugly

tw: s*xual a*sault mentioned (part 5 is safe)

I'll be quick

Anime like Banana Fish and Black Butler really like to perpetuate the stereotype that gay men are only gay because they have been r*ped by sick, twisted older men.

As a gay man who has been s*xually a*ssulted in the way that they like to pretend defined my sexuality I can say that this is insulting, triggering and Never. Ever. Handled. Properly. Anime has some issues with sexuality as a whole but it really takes the cake when characters like Ash are abused in real time in the anime and then it's used to 'justify' their promiscuity with men moving forward.

Banana Fish in no way handles the sexual assault tactfully, no matter what people have said to me.

This is an extract I agree with heavily from a pretty well written article (Banana Fish spoilers) :

I mentioned earlier the finale sent an awful message to new viewers. Ash’s story was about survival so for him to easily give up, in the end, sent a horrible message to survivors of sexual violence because it not only told them a moment of vulnerability would get them killed, but the only way survivors could find any peace was through death. The fact that Ash gave up, told survivors they could never escape from their traumas and despite all their efforts, they would never be able to heal from their abusive circumstances.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thatnerdyboliviane.com/2019/01/21/banana-fish-a-bittersweet-experience/amp/

'Kill your gays' is a bad trope in any case but really was an especially poor choice here.

Part 5: Sex Sells and Gay Sex Advertises

I've mentioned above how manga and anime likes to package gay relationships into problematic little bundles and sell it to straight women as a curiosity or oddity. But I really think that it needs to be talked about more. Things shouldn't be more interesting to you just because they're gay, and fetishising minorities is never okay in any context.

I think it's important to note that really the attitudes in both Western and Japanese media are actually the exact same. That being, Gay people are 'others' and should at all costs be hidden away into corners. The only real difference is that Japan is known for selling that kind of content, lumping it in the same category as tentacle hentai and... I don't know any other categories but the point stands. Whereas western media tends to just sequester it into a corner and hope it gets past censorship boards and Karen's. Money is at the forefront of both of these descisions.

It's a real problem that both sides of the anime culture are so problematic. One side is way too into it and the other can't begin to process it.

Here's a video by the same person that covers basically the same ground that's concerning me so much.

https://youtu.be/t3FKlqDocQ4

Part 6: In conclusion

I feel like this is something that is worth being angry about. I'm just sick of how being gay is treated at the moment in anime, tv and film, and how it's being received by straight audiences. The LGBTQ+ community barely seems to get a real say half of the time because people are too busy being head over heels that the author confirmed in an interview that a character is bi or gay but never follows through with it in universe. Or when you try and create content for yourself and get criticised like you were supposed to be happy about what little representation you get in mainstream media. Like shows do the bare minimum and then we're supposed to be happy about it. But I ain't. And I don't think many other people are either.

TLDR:

Gay people being treated like a taboo little secret on both sides of the issue is insulting and gross and never leads to anything good.

[ashleyrocksgenderstudies-blog]

Gender Analysis

Ashley Lockhart

12/5/2017

Dr. Kim Lacey

Introduction

This class has broadened my idea of what gender and sex mean to the human beings. The links in my scrapbook helped show the thoughts that were introduced in the book Gender: Ideas, Interactions, and Institutions written by Lisa Wade and Myra Ferree.

Part II: Ideas

Gender is just an idea. People have different ideas on what gender is. Gender isn’t just two separate boxes. It is a spectrum. People in my life have always described gender as just this or that. This chapter talked about how different cultures have different ideas on what gender is. Some cultures have 3 genders, some only have 2. There are also different ideas on femininity. In the class textbook, Lisa discussed that some places have strict social rules that lead to the acceptance of temporary or permanent sex-switching. For example, in Afghanistan, families without sons can’t have kids go on errands, to school, or on social visits, so some pick a daughter to be a boy. There are people who can’t acknowledge people who do it willingly here in the United States. It is shocking that because in another country that has more strict rules and regulations, people can be much more open and accepting on certain subjects. This also talks about the gender binary glasses, which are defined as “a pair of lenses that separate everything we see into masculine and feminine categories” (Wade, pg. 26).

Part III: Bodies

Chapter 3 in the book Gender is all about the bodies of humans. Cis-females have the uterus and XX chromosome. Cis-males have the penis and XY chromosomes. Male sperm are the determining factor on whether or not the fetus is male or female. The body determines the sex of a human but not their gender or their gender expression. For this section in my scrapbook, I had a hard time finding different things to put. One of the artifacts that I found was “sex cells,” a play on words for why people gender commercials. When big companies use females in a sexual pose, they are trying to sell meat or grills or something masculine. When they are trying to sell something that is stereotypically used by women, they use “hot” males to advertise it. In class we talked about a couple different ads that were used in the past decade, they were very stereotypical. Later in the semester we looked a couple more advertisements. One that stood out to me was the ad for dressing. The male was posed seductively on the counter with a bottle of salad dressing. This implies that women eat salad and they are attracted by that sort of thing. It was horrifying to see that these ads are still out today.

Part IV: Performances

The book Gender talks about how people, since we are born, are gendered. Clothing, shoes, games, even colors are gendered. It is not often that a parent dresses their son in pink, unless it was the child’s choice. Most parents have girls were pink and purple, while their sons wear blue and green. This horrifies me. I asked my parents if they would force my daughter to wear pink and dresses if she didn’t want to. They responded with “yes.” That is disappointing to me. I want to be like some of the parents that we discussed in class from one of the readings. I would let my son were pink and paint his nails if he wanted it. I wouldn’t force my daughter to wear dresses and skirts if she didn’t want to. It is true that I see people, especially young kids, policing each other on how they dress and act. Why can’t a boy hang out with girls without him liking them more than friends? It is sad that people have to find an excuse on why they break gender rules. Why can’t people in the United States be more open and accepting of other people?

Part V: Intersections

In class, we talked about how people aren’t just a mother, a sister, a brother, a son, or anything else. People are a mixture of things. I am not just a daughter; I am also an employee, a girlfriend, a sister, and a dog owner. This section discusses how people are a mixture of things. In this section, we also discussed gender, race, and sexuality. One article that we read for class was about how gay men and lesbians don’t live in the same area. I found that interesting because I always thought that they were both comfortable with each other. This article talked about how gay men are still men and they are rude to both straight and LGBT women. It was shocking. This section also ties into the other section on policing. Even gay men have rules that they have to follow. They are still men and they police other men, especially if they are in the closet or hate other gays. They are rude to other men if they don’t eat steak, drive a big truck, or do anything else that is considered “feminine.” This also connects to my video of a poem written by Guante. He responds to the phrase “man up.” He says that he wants to talk to his son about meaningful conversations. Another thing that he said, “[the phrase “man up”] suggests that to be yourself – whether you wear skinny jeans, rock a little eyeliner, drink some other brand of light beer, or write poetry – will cost you.” This stood out to me because nobody has ever said that and admitted it, especially a man admitting that and telling other men that it is okay to be yourself. It shouldn’t cost you to be yourself, whether you are straight, bi, gay, male, female, young, or old. It’s a terrible way to live, to be afraid of yourself.

Part VI: Inequalities

Men and women both have rules. Men are expected to be extremely masculine and to avoid the feminine things. For example, they aren’t allowed to order the same drinks as women, hold the same jobs, or play the same sports. Men aren’t allowed to be cheerleaders, even though they were the only ones originally allowed to play. They can’t order fruit drinks at a bar, they can only drink beer. Men can’t be assistants, nurses, or secretaries without being ridiculed. Women are the exact opposite. They are encouraged to do things more masculine. Women are encouraged to hunt, play basketball, or even to become doctors. However, if they are too masculine, they suffer the same punishment that men do if they are a little feminine. Women have to find the balance between the two. Sexism is a form of inequality for both men and women, but it is against women more often than it is against men. It is hard for me to understand that some people are treated this way. I never have experienced it.

Part VII: Sexualities

Sexuality is related to gender, but it does not determine gender expression. People can say, “oh, that’s gay” or “stop dressing so gay.” In these examples, the people say that gender expression and sexualities are synonymous, but they aren’t. Sextuality is who one is attracted to, while gender is portrayed through a series of things. Expression of gender is through words, dress, and demeanor. This section wraps up the entirety of the class. On my scrapbook I posted a picture of a cartoon body. It showed that the brain that determines the identity, the heart determines the attraction to other people, and the sex is what is between one’s legs. The sex is based on hormones which determines body hair and voice pitch. Sex is not attraction and it is not gender. People need to be educated and informed.

Total word count: 1295

Works Cited

Wade, Lisa and Myra Marx Ferree. Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions. W.W. Norton and Company, 2014.