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mugeesworld · 11 months

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One Piece Fans Green & Red Flags!!

I seen someone do this on tiktok and thought I would do some of my takes😋 this is as a joke so don't take it to heart

Also these are HELLA specific so don't ask how I know I just do ok

Green

The one piece fans that are still in alabaster and instead of watching one piece they are scrolling on the tiktok # of it. +extra points if you're already doing fanart of them.

non binary luffy/chopper fans (quite silly people I enjoy your company. You probably have a saved collection of videos of cats with silly sounds. Don't lie to me ik you do)

Asexual Zoro and luffy fans

Platonic Nami and luffy shippers (ya know like brother sister dynamic)

Female plus size sanji fans (cough cough me. But I've seen all y'all out their. You freaky bitches)

Usopp fans (enough said)

People that love the usopp and Nami bestie duo.

Dadan fans (period)

People that make fanart of zoro and chopper being cute

People that draw robin with that one nose shape and also draw her like that one lady from criminal minds.

FROBIN SHIPPERS (RAHHHHH🔥🔥⁉️⁉️⁉️🗣️🗣️)

Trans men Franky fans (you started wearing button ups over t-shirts huh. Elite style and funny as hell)

Female Franky shippers (Bless y'all. Y'all my favs probably. Making the best edits I swear. Probably looking for a man's like Franky cause you kin robin)

LESBIAN NAMI FANS (PLEASE LOVE ME ALL Y'ALLS COSPLAYS BE EATING SO HARD BABES)

Nami x Vivi shippers (yeah😋)

Introverted female robin fans (hit my line)

Female buggy fans

Trans men zoro fans

FEMALE OR TRANS MASC WHITEBEARD STAN'S (very rare to come across. Y'all great but y'all need to heal your dad issues)

People that don't leave out Franky, jinbei, and brook in writing stuff

People that write for Franky in general.(he needs more love)

Marco simps (brave soliders right here. You really picked that mf? Yeah me you. IT'S ABOUT PERSONALITY OK???)

Sanji fans that actually find his training arc fun and not gross

Female Mihawk stans (naughty gal😼 you like them cold)

You know what?! Any trans masc one piece fan that picked a character and was like. Yep! He's literally me! Im literally him!

Jinbei fans (you guys are either sweethearts or middle school boys(the mean kind)

Brook fans that do fanart. (See cause y'all gonna eat every time)

Bon clay fans that actually like him and don't just make fun of him.

I forgot his name. Umm Coby? I think? Yeah Coby fans.

Rayleigh simps (insert sound *I'm so hungry I could eat at Arby's! She really is hungry!* Me too girl me too.)

Same for garp ^

The people that been making the shanks love actions edits 😋

People that make corecore/hopecore edits of one piece

Ik I've said it a bunch but the drawing community that has been carrying the one piece fandom on tiktok. (Ty for blessing us)

Plus size one piece fans +points if you cosplay

That hot old lady that took chopper in and the hot old lady with Rayleigh fans. (Those two would be such good friends and serve some major cunt. Drawers! Get to it you know what to do.)

Red

Sanji and zoro fans that ARE CONSTANTLY BICKERING IN COMMENT SECTIONS ABOUT POWER LEVELS AND BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH SHUT UP

People that feel the need to tell sanji fans about Fishman Island every chance they get as if other characters don't have their red flags. I said it.

That one person in every comment section with a luffy profile pics saying the most absolutely rude or embarrassing thing ever like "post the on IG reels" (you are immature and not in a good way like luffy)

Zoro fans that's also like Patrick Bateman for the wrong reason

"Yamato is a woman" ("we'll actually Oda said 🤓" EHHHHHHHH *family Feud buzzered noise.* GET OUT)

People that shit on the one piece live action cast. (specifically the ones complaining about nami and her sister. BOY I OTTA!)

People that talk shit about big mom just cause she fat. Like babes so is your mom....

People that still watch one piece and try to say how much they love it but are racist, homophobic, transphobic. When one of the biggest things for luffy is to not be judgemental. You are not him⁉️🗣️ you are a asssss

Akianu fans.

MOST black beard fans (I ain't forgiving no one for what he did to whitebeard I'm not hearing it)

"Zoro would kill the whole crew for luffy🤓" would you kill your whole friend group/family for your best friend/mom or dad..... I didn't think so.

People that hate on English dub watchers. I'm a slow reader y'all. Plus it's hella funny.

People that weren't at least a little mad about GARPS actions in marine ford.

Nami x luffy. Robin x Law. And robin x zoro shippers. Also Any gross illegal ones with gross age gaps.

Thats all I can think of right now!

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raceforthecrown · 2 years

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Racial Representation, Concluded

One of Disney’s newer princess movies, Moana, also came under fire for some racial stereotyping. Even though Moana wanted to sail far away to explore and there was no male love interest in the movie, Disney did not make a movie that was faultless. One critique states, “The film’s male mythological figure, Maui, a demigod of South Pacific legend, has also been criticised for being too big and bulky, and giving a distorted view of Polynesians (Brook).” This misrepresentation could influence the way children think of male Polynesians. Even though it is an animated movie with fictional characters, it still could make an impression on young children who will now associate that image with Polynesians.

Regarding Moana herself, one conservative critic had the following opinion: “Debbie Schlussel sees a thicker framed Moana as one more example of political correctness gone too far. ‘I think it tells girls that they don’t have to be fit,’ she says. ‘I think it’s setting up girls for unhealthy lives in the future and also for disappointing romantic lives.’ (Brook).” Moana is a perfectly healthy-looking female, but this contrasts with the classic era of princesses who were rail-thin with disproportionately long limbs and seemingly “perfect” appearances. Shifting to a more realistic-looking character has now made critics feel that this would be detrimental to children’s thoughts of body image. However, did they make those same arguments when the characters were unattainably skinny and perfect in every way? And if a white princess was created with a fuller figure than its predecessors, would that cause as much of a stir? That remains to be seen.

Another princess movie that could negatively impact children’s views on bodies and culture is Mulan. The first Chinese princess, Mulan, was strong-willed and more masculine than other princesses. Most of the previous princesses “were all beautiful, graceful, had special connections with animals/nature, were talented singers and were white (Russell 9).” This was the previous stereotype of princesses. However, in Mulan, there were stereotypes in other ways. “Mulan, for example, is widely criticized for its elevation of individualism (Dong, 2006), racist and cultural slurs against Chinese culture, and its negative impact on children through encouraging such racial stereotyping (Artz, 2004). A film clip that helps raise the consciousness of viewers is a playing of a song with the words, ‘Men want girls... with good breeding and a tiny waist.’ (van Wormer, and Juby 584).” This is degrading not only to women but to Asians who wanted to watch the movie and be presented respectfully, not to be seen as predatory and judgmental. Though the original Disney movie was culturally significant, it came out in a film era when people of color were routinely tokenized (Chen). Again, Disney had good intentions but did not execute it well.

Even though Disney tried to become more inclusive, it did not excel in all ways. “Despite the emergence of more empowered Disney heroines, they often don’t get the same coverage as their traditional counterparts – particularly in Disney’s merchandise (Brook).” There is much more merchandise with the white princesses on them than with the newer princesses. It may be because they are the “original” princesses, but there is an inequity of race in the merchandise. Jasmine is commonly featured with the original group of white princesses, but she is not really a princess as we know some like Cinderella and Ariel to be, since they had their own movies made about them and Jasmine was mostly a supporting character. For princesses like Mulan, Pocahontas, and Tiana not to have an equivalent amount of merchandise with them on it seems like a discrepancy based on race since new princesses like Rapunzel from Tangled and Merida from Brave appear on merchandise more frequently as well. “‘If you look at the Disney’s line of products, like lunch boxes and t-shirts, you see Belle, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty often standing together. Even though princesses like Pocahontas and Mulan are technically still part of the line they’re very rarely included in those type of products,’ explains Condis. (Brook).” Overall, Disney is doing much better in including princesses of all races, but they can do better in accurately representing people of all cultures and races.

Citations:

Brook, Tom. “The Controversy behind Disney's Groundbreaking New Princess.” BBC Culture, BBC, 28 Nov. 2016, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20161128-the-controversy-behind-disneys-groundbreaking-new-princess.

Chen, Brian X. “'Mulan' 1998: A Moment of Joy and Anxiety for Asian-American Viewers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/movies/mulan-animated-1998.html.

Gehlawat, Ajay. “The Strange Case of The Princess and the Frog: Passing and the Elision of Race.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 14, no. 4, Dec. 2010, pp. 417–31. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-010-9126-1.

Russell, Brooklyn, "Disney Minority Heroines: A Rhetorical Analysis of Race, Gender, and American Politics" (2018). Open Access Theses. 1588. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_theses/1588

van Wormer, Katherine, and Cindy Juby. “Cultural Representations in Walt Disney Films: Implications for Social Work Education.” Journal of Social Work, vol. 16, no. 5, Sept. 2016, pp. 578–94. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017315583173.

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cursedpinterest · 2 years

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like is it that serious….

#harry stans r worse than kpop stans i think #also that Brooke girl…. feels racist #pinterest #pinterest comments #comments #image

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a-room-of-my-own · 4 years

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Have you read "An Apology to JK Rowling" by Petra Bueskens on Areo? I'm pathetically grateful to read something so clever and well articulated on the subject after the amount of abuse JK has been subjected to

It's a great piece so here it is, thank you anon!

Rowling recently published an eminently reasonable, heartfelt treatise, outlining why it is important to preserve the category of woman. There’s only one thing wrong with it: it assumes a rational interlocutor. Rowling outlines why the biological and legal category of sex is important: in sports, in rape crisis shelters, in prisons, in toilets and changing rooms, for lesbians who want to sleep with natal women only and at the level of reality in general. Rowling marshals her experiences as an androgynous girl, as a domestic violence and sexual assault survivor and as someone familiar with the emotional perils of social media, in ways that have resonated with many women (and men). Her writing is clear, unpretentious, thoughtful, moving, vulnerable and honest. At no point does she use exclusionary or hostile language or say that trans women do not exist, have no right to exist or that she wants to rob them of their rights. Her position is that natal women exist and have a right to limit access to their political and personal spaces. Period.

Of course, to assume that her missive would be engaged with in the spirit in which it was intended, is to make the mistake of imagining that the identitarian left is broadly committed to secular, rational discourse. It is not. Its activist component has transmogrified into a religious movement, which brooks no opposition and no discussion. You must agree with every tenet or else you’re a racist, sexist, transphobic bigot, etc. Because its followers are fanatics, Rowling is being subjected to an extraordinary level of abuse. There seems to be no cognitive dissonance among those who accuse her of insensitivity and then proceed to call her a cunt, bitch or hag and insist that they want to assault and even kill her (see this compilation of tweets on Medium). She has been accused of ruining childhoods. Some even claim that the actor Daniel Radcliffe wrote the Harry Potter books—reality has become optional for some of these identitarians. Rowling’s age, menstrual status and vagina come in for particularly nasty attention and many trans women (or those masquerading as such) write of wanting to sexually assault her with lady cock, as a punishment for speaking out. I haven’t seen misogyny like this since Julia Gillard became our prime minister.

The Balkanisation of culture into silos of unreason means that the responses have not followed what might be loosely called the pre-digital rules of discourse. These rules assume that the purpose of public debate is to discern truth and that interlocutors on opposing sides—a reductionist bifurcation, because, in fact, there are many sides—engage in argument because they are interested in something higher than themselves: an ideal of truth, no matter how complicated, multifaceted and evolving. While in-group preferences and biases are inevitable, these exist within an overarching deliberative framework. This style of dialogue assumes the validity of a persuasive argument grounded in reason and evidence, even if—as Rowling does—it also utilises experience and feeling. By default, it assumes that civil conflict and opposition are essential devices in the pursuit of truth.

Three decades of postmodernism and ten years of Twitter have destroyed these conventions and, together with them, the shared norms by which we create and sustain social consensus. There is no grounding metanarrative, there are no binding norms of civil discourse in the digital age. Indeed, as Jaron Lanier shows with his bummer paradigm (Behaviours of Users Modified and Made into an Empire for Rent) social media is destroying the fabric of our personal and political lives (although, with a different business model and more robust regulation, it need not do so). The algorithm searching for and recording your every click, like and share, your every purchase, search term, conversation, movement, facial expression, social connection and preference rewards engagement above all else—which means that your feed—an aptly infantile descriptor—will quickly become full of the things you and others like you are most likely to be motivated to click, like and share. Outrage is a more effective mechanism through which to foster engagement than almost anything else. In Lanier’s terms, this produces a “menagerie of wraiths”—a bunch of digitised dementors: fake and bad actors, paid troll armies and dyspeptic bots—designed to confect mob outrage.

The norms of civil discourse are being eroded, as we increasingly inhabit individualised media ecosystems, designed to addict, distract, absorb, outrage, manipulate and incite us. These internecine culture wars damage us all. As Lanier notes, social media is biased “not towards the left or right but downwards.” As a result, we are witnessing a catastrophic decline in the standards of our democratic institutions and discourse. Nowhere is this more evident than in the contemporary culture wars around the trans question, where confected outrage is the norm.

This is why the furore over Rowling’s blog post misses the point: whether we agree with her or not, the problem is the collapse of our capacity to disagree constructively. If you deal primarily in subjective experience and impulse-driven reaction, under the assumption that you occupy the undisputed moral high ground, and you’ve been incited by fake news and want to signal your allegiances to your social media friends, then you can’t engage in rational discussion with your opponent. Your stock in trade will be unsubstantiated accusations and social shaming.

In this discombobulating universe, sex-based rights are turned into insults against trans people. Gender-critical feminists are recast as immoral bigots, engaged in deliberately hurtful, even life-threatening, speech. Rowling is not who we thought she was, her ex-fans wail, her characters and plots conceal hidden reservoirs of homophobia and bigotry. A few grandstanders attempt to distinguish themselves by saying that they have always been able to smell a rat—no, not Scabbers—and therefore hated the books from the outset. Nowhere amid this morass of moral grandstanding and outrage is there any serious engagement with her ideas.

Those of us on the left—and left-wing feminists in particular—who find trans ideology fraught, for all the reasons Rowling outlines, are a very small group. While Rowling is clearly privileged, she has also become the figurehead of a rapidly dwindling and increasingly vilified group of feminists, pejoratively labelled terfs, who want to preserve women’s sex-based rights and spaces. Although our arguments align with centrist, conservative and common sense positions, ours is not the prevailing view in academia, public service or the media, arts and culture industries, where we are most likely to be located (when we are not at home with our children). In most of these workplaces, a sex-based rights position is defined a priori as bigoted, indeed as hate speech. It can get us fired, attacked, socially ostracised and even assaulted.

As leftist thinkers who believe in freedom of speech and thought, who find creeping ideological and bureaucratic control alarming, we are horrified by these increasingly vicious denunciations by the left. The centre right and libertarians—the neo-cons, post-liberals and the IDW—are invariably smug about how funny it is to watch the left eat itself. But it’s true: some progressive circles are now defined by a call out/cancel culture to rival that of the most repressive of totalitarian states. Historically, it was progressives who fought against limits on freedom of speech and action. But the digital–identitarian left split off from the old print-based left some time ago, and has become its own beast. A contingent of us are deeply critical of these new directions.

Only a few on the left have had the gumption to speak up for us. Few have even defended our right to express our opinions. Those who have spoken out include former media darlings Germaine Greer and Michael Leunig. Many reader comments on left-leaning news sites claim that Rowling is to blame for the ill treatment she is suffering. Rowling can bask in the consequences of her free speech, they claim, as if having a different opinion from the woke majority means that she is no longer entitled to respect, and that any and all abuse is warranted—or, at least, to be expected. Where is the outrage on her behalf? Where are the writers, film makers, actors and artists defending her right to speak her mind?

Of course, the actors from the Harry Potter films are under no obligation to agree with JK Rowling just because she made them famous. They don’t owe her their ideological fealty: but they owe her better forms of disagreement. When Daniel Radcliffe repeats the nonsensical chant trans women are women, he’s not developing an argument, he’s reciting a mantra. When he invokes experts, who supposedly know more about the subject than Rowling, he betrays his ignorance of how contested the topic of transgender medicine actually is: for example, within endocrinology, paediatrics, psychiatry, sociology, and psychology (the controversies within the latter discipline have been demonstrated by the numerous recent resignations from the prestigious Tavistock and Portman gender identity clinic). The experts are a long way from consensus in what remains a politically fraught field.

Trans women are women is not an engaged reply. It is a mere arrangement of words, which presupposes a faith that cannot be questioned. To question it, we are told, causes harm—an assertion that transforms discussion into a thought crime. If questioning this orthodoxy is tantamount to abuse, then feminists and other dissenters have been gaslit out of the discussion before they can even enter it. This is especially pernicious because feminists in the west have been fighting patriarchy for several hundred years and we do not intend our cause to be derailed at the eleventh hour by an infinitesimal number of natal males, who have decided that they are women. Now, we are told, trans women are women, but natal females are menstruators. I can’t imagine what the suffragists would have made of this patently absurd turn of events.

There has been a cacophony of apologies to the trans community for Rowling’s apparently tendentious and hate-filled words. But no one has paused to apologise to Rowling for the torrent of abuse she has suffered and for being mischaracterised so profoundly.

So, I’m sorry, JK Rowling. I’m sorry that you will not receive the respectful disagreement you deserve: disagreement with your ideas not your person, disagreement with your politics, rather than accusations of wrongspeak. I’m sorry that schools, publishing staff and fan clubs are now cancelling you. And I’m sorry that you will be punished—because cancel culture is all about punishment. I’m sorry that you are being burned at the digital stake for expressing an opinion that goes against the grain.

But remember this, JK—however counterintuitive this may seem to progressives, whose natural home is on the fringe—most people are looking on incredulously at the disconnect between culture and reality. Despite raucous protestations to the contrary, you are on the right side of history—not just because of the points you make, but because of how you make them.

#Jkr #Team jkr

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sawwyouuinadream · 4 years

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FIFTH HARMONY EXPOSED

Isn’t this the type of headline that intrigues people? Well, here I will expose some myths that the so-called Exposing accounts go on exposing. Just declaring something here in the beginning: I love all my Fifth Harmony girls, OT5 that is, and read it at your discretion. The thoughts stated below are opinions of mine, gathered over months and years, and I firmly stand by them.

Cutting to the chase, here we go:

1) Fifth Harmony the Band Image:

This group was manufactured by Simon Cowell on the X-Factor, back in 2012, and it broke up in 2018. On the show, Lauren Jauregui, the green-eyed white Latina was given the majority of solos and they performed songs in Spanish and garnered Hispanic fans banking on the fact that there were three Latinas in the group.

After they signed to Syco/Epic when the show ended, we saw Camila Cabello, the more convincing Latina, who was born in Cuba, get more and more solos. Normani Kordei was promoted as the “dancer” of the group, Ally Brooke as the “unproblematic one”, Lauren as the “broody edgy girl” and Dinah Jane as the “relatable Polynesian”.

Not surprisingly, Camila was the first one to do a solo venture with Shawn Mendes, the song I Know What You Did Last Summer, which, according to me, was a song to test the waters for both Shawn and Camila.

As more time passes, Camila was portrayed like the lead, not by HERSELF, but the trademark that Fifth Harmony was. She stopped talking in interviews, started doing more and more solo stuff, and even signed to a different manager. Voila, we were getting the rift in-band vibes galore.

Now here’s my verdict:

Fifth Harmony was made by Simon to not get the next One Direction, but to get the next Taylor Swift. Little Mix was already there in the U.K, and people know Girl groups don’t do as well as Boy Bands, mostly because of the inherent Misogyny in the society.

They wanted the next relatable girl next door who could influence teenage girls. Camila being Latina, could now have an even larger fanbase, in Latin America as well as South Asia, because South Asian music is quite similar in a groove to Latin Music.

Why Not Lauren or Ally then? Well, they were simply not interesting or Latin enough.

Why Not Normani? Do I have to tell? Those bitches are racist as fuck.

Why Not Dinah? Same thing. Less Appeal to a large fanbase.

That’s why Camila was the goofy dorky most relatable person on 5H. That’s why she readily had a high budget tour all set up for her the moment she left the group. That’s why they promoted her. 5H was never the long-lasting plan. Camila was. 5H was just an excuse to get her a strong fanbase and give Epic 4 more mediocre artists. I am really happy that Normani proved her worthiness and released smash hits as well. And mind you, this was done without Camila herself wishing for it. It was just the label’s decision.

2) Camila- the beauty or the bitch?

Camila Cabello is a very intriguing person to me. At the first glance, you haven’t seen a more dorky, goofy, and relatable celebrity like her, eating bananas and tripping on air. But then she starts talking about profound and deep experiences, and you go on her Tumblr and find quotes from books and aesthetic pictures. But then you see her leaked text messages and old Tumblr and all those images crumble before your eyes.

Think about this. Among the 5H girls, Dinah, Lauren, Ally, and Normani have friends outside the industry whom they talk to and hang out with. They have family they post about. Camila? She seems to have no friends apart from Sandra and Marielle Guzman, and those are the people we got the leaked texts with. What about her school teachers and school friends? Nothing. All she hangs out with is Shawn Mendes and Taylor Swift and her mom who follows her like a hawk. She doesn’t seem to have a social life at all except for events she goes for business.

In my opinion, Camila has a pretty big secret that is guarded closely by everybody but her.

Is she racist? Yes. She was. She didn’t have any sensitivity to Black people or their struggles whatsoever. But you have to understand she is Hispanic, and not born in the U.S. And she has sort of always been a big mouth. I am from a country that doesn’t have a single black person in the near 30000 miles. We grow up using racial slurs as if it's nothing. I had to unlearn my indoctrinations and consciously undo the wrongs in my head and implement them in my actions. Bit it doesn’t undo things I said as a child. I bullied one friend of mine in middle school simply because her skin tone was darker than mine. But I was not canceled. Because I am not a celebrity. Have I learned? Yes definitely. I will never dare to act like that again because now I understand the pain of being ostracized and I recognize the struggles of black people. But that happened over time.

I feel like Camila is a changed person now, and tries very hard to educate herself. She is not perfect, but she doesn’t deserve so much hate. She deserves a second chance. If she was indeed like that, Normani wouldn’t post a photo with her in IT on the eighth anniversary of 5H.

As far as her being a jealous bitch goes. The rest of 5H always had good things to talk about her after 5H dissolved in 2018. Lauren, the activist, even praised her. Dinah still seems pretty close to her.

Did she do solo stuff without 5H knowing?

No. If she did, and the whole not attending meetings thing happened, Dinah wouldn’t go to her Bad Things concert one day before she left the band. Lauren wouldn’t laugh with her in the VMAs like that if they weren’t friends and just work colleagues. The whole 5H vs Camila feud was planned by management because apparently shade helps sales. For both parties. Another manipulative misogynistic example of society.

3) Are/ Were Camila and Lauren romantically together?

All the roads lead to Rome honey. Camren has too many coincidences to NOT be real. From song lyrics to shady potato photos to weird comments and body language in interviews, I am pretty sure the Camren blogs will keep you covered.

Why does Lauren hate it so much? Why are we being invasive?

Lauren is supposed to nix it every time because she is contractually bound to do so. She needs to be the one to keep Camila’s straight image intact, although we have more than tons of evidence that Camila is anything but straight.

To everyone who says we shouldn’t force sexuality on people. Heterosexuality is not the default. Don’t force straightness on her. She never said she was straight. We’re just speculating she is with Lauren, and that’s it. Lauren just happens to be a girl. That’s IT.

Why did the nosy shippers out Lauren?

Nobody did. They just speculated on her sexuality based on assumptions. But no fan posted photos of her and Lucy from her aunt’s Facebook, because it was password protected. It was most probably intentional. Note that she shot a coming-out photoshoot with her “ex-girlfriend” Lucy Vives even before the Wedding where she was supposedly outed. Why shoot a photoshoot TO COME OUT and then hide behind the closet? Her coming out was planned as early as 2015, and so was the bearding of Camila simultaneously.

To me, Lauren and Camila are contracts bound to lie, at this moment. But they have a very grown-up and well-communicated relationship that is very sacred and private, and only the two of them know everything about it. Lauren and Camila are still related to the same contract, and this intuition of mine was confirmed yesterday. She was shooting something for Roger gold’s label. I hope the best for both of them, and I would love it if they were together. But them going public would be huge and in my opinion, detrimental to them.

4) Who’s Shawn Mendes?

A really career-oriented artist. Shawmila is for him and his promotion only. Not his fault though. He is just a conceited boy with good guitar skills who wants to be extremely famous. I will not talk about his sexuality, because unlike Camila, I can’t trace him to anyone in particular. But I can say this, Camila’s solo career had plans for Shawmila since the very start. I also believe it will end like Jelena and be back and forth for some time for minor promotions.

Final Verdict:

Nobody is perfect. Don’t make this about Shawmila Vs Camren. Every artist has their struggles. But please break out of the shell of heteronormativity, misogyny, and racism. Love human beings. The 5H girls and Shawn Mendes are teenagers, now adults, who have been oppressed and manipulated by a capitalistic racist homophobic industry, for money and money only. And only the fans have the power to see the truth and choose the right stuff.

#fifth harmony #camila cabello #camila and lauren #camren #ot5 #shawmila #syco #lauren jauregui

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sapphicmsmarvel · 4 years

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EP: Siren Queen

masterlist

Premise: Y/N L/N is a part of the world's biggest girl group. A stalker starts harassing her and her band mates so their label calls in the BAU.

The case was weird for the BAU. It was a stalker case for a famous girl, Y/N L/N, she was part of the worlds most successful girl group. Garcia was all too excited to be involved in the case. Of course, she hated that you were being stalked but she was a huge fan.

“You better tell me everything!” She squealed, “If she’s nice, if she’s as hot as she is on camera, if the other girls are nice, if they are ‘just like us’ please!”

“If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were the stalker, Garcia.” JJ joked.

“If someone hurts that ray of sunshine I will stalk them!” She shouted through the video call and then hung up.

JJ flipped through the file, “we have five days to catch this guy before they go on tour. And the girls are refusing to cancel.” “Even if their lives are at stake?”

“They said that they will not cancel because it’s the opening to their world tour and they won’t risk disappointing fans because they know people are flying in from all over the country.” Prentiss explained.

“Shouldn’t the label put the girls first?” Morgan asked.

“Usually labels tend not to care about artists.” Reid said, “the amount of label abuse that’s been coming to light is horrific you guys should read up on it.”

He looked up as everyone looked at him confused, he explained, “Simon Cowell for example, there are claims against him because of abuse towards clients. Overworking them, homophobic comments, racist comments, sexist comments you name it.”

“What groups?” JJ asked.

“Little Mix and One Direction are the two most prominent ones.” Reid said flicking through the file.

“How do you know all this?” “Garcia.” He answered. “Then I did my own research because I was fascinated by the music industry. It never hurts to learn even if I don’t know anything about it.”

The team left it at that, and continued digging through the evidence of your stalker.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The team was currently sitting in one of the rehearsal rooms. There were couches, a snack bar, a coffee stand, everything except the girls they were meeting.

Their publicist Ramona looked at them all apologetically, “I’m so sorry, the girls seem to be in traffic. They’re with trusted drivers and security guards.”

“Have they been background checked?” Hotch asked.

Ramona nodded, “we all were when we were taken on, we were when this stalker showed up as well. The dancers, the crew, everybody those girls come into contact with are background checked.”

“Even interviewers?” Reid asked. Ramona nodded, “without their knowledge, just like you advised. If this got leaked…” Ramona shook her head, “we all know what happens to victims of stalkers, it isn’t foreign in this business.”

At that moment the girls all came in, Emily recognized them from the files. Apparently, even your bandmates got checked. Zoey came in first, snuggled in her hoodie, her jeans were rumpled and her heels were clacking. Her smile falling off her face the second she walked into the room. Her blonde hair was tousled as if she was running her hands through it a lot. Her green eyes were tired.

Leaning on her was Brooke, who was also looking exhausted. Ramona told them that they had been up since 4 am doing press, it was now 4pm. They had a two hour rehearsal next, then dinner, then vocal rehearsal, then they could go to their hotel. Apparently it was an easy day for them. Brooke's black hair was in it’s natural curls, she wore heels as well as a dress.

The two were holding hands.

Then came in Liz, she was wearing a black long sleeve shirt, shorts and a beanie as well as heeled boots. She didn’t look as tired, she looked fiercely protective as she was holding your hand.

You looked anxious, you were also in a hoodie, jeans and heeled boots, all black. Your eyes were darting around the room as you took in everyone around you. Your eyes startled when they landed on Emily, Emily wasn’t sure why.

Ramona introduced all of them to the girls then said “Sit down girls.”

Three of them did, you had other ideas and went and got coffee. “Y/N, that’s your fourth cup.”

You held up a finger, “I don’t want to hear it, Ramona. I have a stalker out there and I have to act like everythings normal, if Marcus has a problem with it, he can suck my dick.”

Morgan looked at Emily with wide eyes. Emily shrugged. Then looked at Reid, “who’s Marcus?” She asked him.

“Their choreographer.” “Why does it matter what he says?”

“Because he cares about us and is a fitness nut.” You answered, “you’re not very good at whispering.” You deadpanned, sipping your coffee.

“Y/N!” Ramona scolded.

You rolled your eyes, and Zoey spoke up, “give her a break Ramona. She never gives you issues, let her live.”

“It’s okay,” Emily spoke up, “I understand what it’s like to be afraid of looking over your shoulder.”

You nodded, avoiding eye contact. You felt guilty for snapping, that much she could tell.

“Okay, let’s get started.” Hotch said, “do you have any particular fans you’d like to tell us about, people have stood out?”

“We have a lot of...dedicated fans.” Zoey said, to put it gently. “Some good, some bad, some that are really intense.”

You scoffed from where you were standing, “that's putting it lightly.” You grabbed a mini chocolate chip cookie..

“Do girl groups have groupies?” Morgan asked.

“Of course we do,” Liz said, her tan cheeks gaining a rosy color. You sat in between her and Zoey, Brooke was next to Zoey. You had three other cookies in your hand and handed them to the others.

“We recognize the line between fans and stalkers as well as people who don't agree with who we are. But there’s been nothing like this.” Brooke shuddered.

“Don’t agree with who you are?” JJ asked.

You held up a hand, “queer.”

Brooke raised her hand, “black.”

Liz raised hers, “philipino and black. So mixed race.”

Then Zoey raised hers as well, “I’m ‘too skinny’ so everyone thinks I have an eating disorder.”

You piped up, “I’ve also been fat shamed by the worlds biggest media outlets, it’s nothing new to find hate online.”

Emily grimaced and she knew her team was doing the exact same thing.

“Do you have any ideas as to who it could be?” Rossi asked.

“There’s one,” Zoey said, “but Y/N insists it can’t be him.”

“You need to tell us.” Emily said, everyone looked at you.

You sighed, “he went to jail when we were teens for sexual misconduct. I was the first person he assaulted and harassed consistently. But I didn’t press charges.” “Why not?” Morgan asked.

“Because I was a fourteen year old girl who didn’t recognize that it was sexual assault.” You snapped, then sighed, “I’m sorry Agent Morgan. It’s touchy.” Zoey took your hand, Liz took your other one, Brooke reached over and put her hand on top of Zoeys. “To be honest, I don’t know where I would be without these three.” You admitted. Emily admired it, the sisterhood between you four.

“How long have you guys been friends?” JJ asked.

“We met in high school, then formed the band.” Brooke answered.

“Do you know if he’s out?”

You sighed, “he is. But he lacks the brain cells to pull this stuff off.”

“It’s not that hard to mail letters.” JJ said.

“Yeah but, he shouldn’t know the exact times we show up at venues, interviews, he isn’t smart enough to think of how to obtain that information. As kids he was not smart, at all.” You said, letting go of your friends’ hands and you started rubbing your hands on your jeans.

Emily noticed how all of them kept their hands on you, as a way of comfort.

“Unless he was following the bus,” Zoey said.

“He’s too lazy.” You said, “never had energy for thorough shit.”

“What’s his name? We’re gonna send it to our technical analyst.” Morgan said.

You nodded and spoke the name you’ve feared for far too long. “Peter Brady, he was born in my home state

“Okay,” Hotch started, “I want all of you to be shadowing the girls, they are not to be left alone, we don’t know how organized this guy is and what he knows.” He looked at Rossi, “we’ll contact Garcia and run through possible people. Do you have anywhere to set up?”

Ramona began directing them to rooms, then told all of you to get changed and do rehearsals for the tour.

JJ and Reid sat in during the rehearsals, meanwhile Emily and Morgan helped Hotch and Rossi with going through all the names that Garcia flagged as potentially dangerous.

Two hours later, Emily was eating dinner, she was planning to eat alone, but then she found you. You were sitting on the floor backstage, by a bunch of wires and such eating your pizza. You were alone.

“Hey,” Emily said.

“Hi, did Ramona send you because I’m alone?” You asked, smiling slightly.

“No,” Emily said sitting next to you, “I can recognize when someone needs someone to talk to. Where are your friends?”

“They’re talking to their partners, I insisted they do. They haven’t been the past couple of nights because of all this. Part of being….’famous’ is that you have to leave your loved ones for long periods of time.” “My field is the same way. I don’t see my mom more than twice a year.”

You shuddered, “I can barely handle not seeing my mom as much as I used to before ‘fame’. I can’t imagine it in your shoes.” You sighed.

Emily popped open her salad box, “do you mind if I eat with you?” She smiled.

And she smiled wider when you smiled back, “feel free. By the way, I’m sorry about snapping at you. It’s been rough.”

“I know how you feel.” Emily would tell you about Doyle if it helped you open up more about this guy.

“Have you been stalked?”

Emily nodded, “by an abusive ex.” Was all she said.

You grimaced, “so we’ve gone through similar things.” “Was this guy an ex?” You shook your head, “we were thirteen and fourteen, as kids navigating those feelings can be hard. I’d say we were close to dating then he...he pushed too far. I wasn’t raped, but he touched me inappropriately, then harassed me over text. Then continued for three years, he’s been silent ever since and now all of a sudden 12 years later he’s back.” You laughed bitterly, “and I have no doubts he’s done things to other women. Do you think because I didn’t report, it’s my fault that this is happening? And he’s most likely doing this to other women?” You asked her.

Emily shook her head, “It’s not your fault Y/N, it never will be. He’s a sick creep, and we’re gonna get him.” She assured you. “Can we talk about something else?” You asked.

“Sure.” Emily smiled.

You felt your heart stutter.

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Over the next few days, you and Emily had fallen into a routine.

You ate all your meals together. Breakfast at 6am in the hotel lobby, lunch in the dance rehearsal room, dinner in the backstage area.

Of course, your friends teased you relentlessly. And her team teased her relentlessly.

But you two didn’t care, you found solitude in each other's company, considering both of your worlds were hectic and crazy.

You two were eating chicken tenders for lunch before vocal and dance rehearsal in the dance room when Marcus walked in, “hey, some fanmail was left for you.” He handed you a blue box.

“I’m surprised you can bring it to me.” You said grabbing it.

“It went through security first.”

That was a good sign, you opened it and saw a diamond necklace, “holy shit.” You murmured, it was stunning and sparkly.

Emily thought it described you personally.

You took it out of the box and set the box on the ground. Emily saw a tag in the box. She grabbed it. She pulled it and it revealed a bigger note. She picked it up and read it.

“Y/N….” Emily started.

“What?” You asked, scared.

Emily cleared her throat, “for you my love, it matches your smile. Remember that night under the stars at that restaurant our parents took us to as kids? It’s one of my fondest memories.” You dropped the necklace as if it had burned you.

It had.

It clattered against the floor, you shot off the ground. “Get it away from me! Get the box away from me! Get it all away!” You started crying. “No, no, no, no.”

“Go get my team, now!” She ordered Marcus who ran off with his concern and protectiveness in his eyes.

She approached you, “can I touch you?” She asked.

You fell into her arms, “he found me. He actually fucking found a way to torment me. After all these years, I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. Please don’t let him get me.” You sobbed into her arms.

She looked at the diamonds on the ground, the sparkling contrasted against the dull gray floor, she stroked your hair as she said, “I won’t, he will never touch you again.”

And she would die to ensure that that promise was kept.

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Two hours later, you were in vocal rehearsals. You had to do questioning as well as calm down from your panic attack.

You would only allow Emily near you.

You two walked side by side to vocal rehearsals, the girls immediately rushed to hug you. Emily stepped back as the three of them hugged you. It was a huge group hug.

“Oh sweetheart.” Brooke said and kissed your head. “Baby, we tried to get in there but they wouldn’t let us.” Zoey said, “I almost kicked that damn door down but Ramona pulled me away.”

“We got you, that bastard isn’t going anywhere near you,” Liz declared.

Emily heard a sniffle from you, and the girls all “aww’d.”

“Babyyy.” Liz cooed as they all held you tighter.

After about three minutes of you trying to calm down, you four separated, all of you were wiping your eyes. “God, we really do feed off each other huh?” You tried to lighten the mood. They all smiled, trying to keep the light mood going.

They all said hi to Emily, then headed towards a couch. You four then sat down and began singing.

Okay, she had heard your records, after all your band was one of the biggest bands in the world, the biggest girl group.

But God, she did not expect you to not have an auto-tuned voice. None of you do. All four of you have amazing voices but yours…

It was rich like dark chocolate, she wanted to hear you sing all. the. time. It was like a siren, captivating and lustful. You were calm while singing, nobody would know that your stalker had just dropped off a box with diamonds in it two hours ago.

Then to make you laugh Zoey broke out with an off key note and made you burst out laughing.

That laugh warmed Emily, she realized how much she loved your company and what she would do to make you laugh like that at her.

Oh God, she was falling for you. And she was falling hard.

Shit.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours before the show was supposed to go on, they caught him.

He was staking out before the show, Garcia had his picture sent to all the guards and they found him.

Everyone else went to question him, while Emily stayed with you. It was a few minutes before showtime, makeup artists and hair stylists were doing final touches. As well as the stylists.

“Twitters blowing up.” Ramona said from her chair.

“About?” You asked, jumping to shake the nerves.

“The guy who got arrested in front of the venue.”

You looked at Emily, “dear god.”

“JJ will handle it.” She assured you all.

“Good.” Zoey said.

You nodded to a corner at Emily, she nodded and followed you over. “I just wanna say, thank you for helping me and spending time with me. I know it’s your job but,” you sighed, “if you’d allow me, I’d like to take you out on a date when we have a show in DC. We’re staying for a couple days doing press and I’d like to go out on a date with you, if you’d like?” Emily smiled and blushed hard, “I would be honored, Y/N.”

The smile you had could light up the night sky, “thank you, Emily. You won’t regret it.”

“Ramona called, “Y/N! Show time!”

“One sec!” Then shoved a piece of paper into her hand, “I hope to hear from you.” Then you kissed her cheek and ran off to stage.

She opened the piece of paper, “to my hero, I hope to hear from you.” Then underneath was your number.

She sighed happily, then went to find her seat in the stadium so she could watch her siren queen perform.

#Criminal Minds #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds x you #criminal minds x y/n #jj criminal minds #emily prentiss #emily prentiss x reader #emily prentiss x you #Paget Brewster #paget brewster x reader #Jennifer Jareau #jennifer jareau x reader #jennifer jareau x you #aaron hotchner #aaron hotch x reader #david rossi #derek morgan #derek morgan x reader

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brettyimages · 3 years

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here comes part 2 of the record haul that i got yesterday, there’s nothing as cringe as joe dolce in this half but still some Moments

Betty Boo - Where Are You Baby?: saw her on totp, thought she was cute, here we are

ABBA - Fernando: abba require no justification

Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson - I Know Him So Well: right i know this is old lady music but hear me out: that chorus! also i was obsessed with abba as a little kid and this song was always on the shows about them even though it’s not actually Their Song

Chaka Khan - I Feel For You: iconic, classic, Prince

The Jacksons - Blame It On The Boogie: also a straight up classic

Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up: this song is kind of cringe but i watched Glee AND that episode of BH90210 with them in, also just found out that the version i like is the b-side mix, who knew!

Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye: the most drama of all time

Stray Cats - Stray Cat Strut: it’s a whole vibe

The Swinging Blue Jeans - Hippy Hippy Shake: bit of a wild card pick but glad i went for it because it’s so good

Connie Francis - Stupid Cupid: love any shit like this, it was listed as poor so i thought it might jump but it actually sounded just fine!

The Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack/Remember (Walkin’ In The Sand): we already own Leader of the Pack but i didn’t have Remember on vinyl so now i have this too

Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain’t Nobody: again iconic classic amazing

Neil Sedaka - Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: 90210 is to blame for this too for that scene where Emily and the girls sing it, love that

T’Pau - Heart And Soul: another good chorus, this was mostly to reach the free shipping cost ngl

Richard Anthony - J’entends Siffler Le Train: i bought one of his singles last time i did a 7″ haul so i bought another and this one isn’t as good but i still love any french pop and yé-yé so that’s that

Paula Abdul - Opposites Attract: when i was a kid there was a cartoon TV station that sometimes showed music videos that were kid-friendly like this one and it’s a catchy song so yeah

Shocking Blue - Venus: classic

Bizz Nizz - Don’t Miss The Partyline: i’ve seen this on totp, couldn’t remember if it was good, it’s alright

Brian Hyland - Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini: tacky and i can’t unhear the ‘aw yeah’ sample from the 90s version but still good

The Mamas And The Papas - Dedicated To The One I Love: one of my favourite songs ever 🥰

The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron: inject 60s girl group singles into my veins

Pat Boone - Speedy Gonzales: again this is tacky and is it a bit... racist? maybe but it’s a fun song and i just found out it’s the actual Mel Blanc doing Speedy Gonzales’ voice so that’s cool

Elkie Brooks - Only Love Can Break Your Heart: i like the Saint Etienne version of this song but this is not that and i was disappointed by it

Elvis Presley - Stuck On You: another iconic song and i didn’t think it was going to play cos it’s scratched up but it did

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bonesgadh · 5 years

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My thoughts on the final season of Orange is the New Black:

Obviously, some heavy spoilers below:

If you ask me, Piper’s storyline outside Litchfield was, for the most part, a complete waste of time. Instead of having her getting stoned with her brother or going to that pointless retreat, why didn’t they have her doing something productive like helping other former inmates or writing her book?

Speaking of the book, I’m high-key disappointed they gave the memoir storyline to Judy fucking King. Call me cheesy but I was looking forward to the show ending with Piper writing her book just like she said she would in season 6. Such a missed opportunity.

I really, really wanted Taystee to be cleared of Piscatella’s murder. I don’t understand why they gave so much importance to Suzanne writting what really happened and Taystee showing the text to her lawyer if it wasn’t going to make a difference in the end. Chekhov’s gun, anyone?

I’m so relieved she didn’t kill herself. I guess as long as there’s life there’s hope fucking Cindy will confess the truth and justice will be served. In the meantime, I was happy Taystee found a new meaning to her life and decided to help other inmates have a better shot at rebuilding their lives after prison.

Daddy’s death caught me by surprise. That said, I didn’t notice her absence at all for the reminder of the season. I guess she was a one-hit wonder character.

I have the feeling they had no idea what to do with Frieda so they just had her do weird stuff like accumulating trash.

Thank Christ they got rid of Badison so early in the season. Cringiest, most annoying character in the history of television.

Aleida is so stupid lmao. I get she wanted to protect her daughter from that pedophile but she fucked up. I was rooting for her to rebuild her life and I was disappointed at her.

I liked Suzanne coming to terms with her sentence and being more comfortable around people and making new friends. It’s what she deserves.

Why is Cesar out of jail? Didn’t Aleida say he was supposed to stay there until he was an old man?

So Yadriel isn’t Pepa’s biological father?

Shani, man. Her relationship with Nicky was so cute and you could tell she was different from Nicky’s other flings. She didn’t act like a stallion around her, she was sweet and considerate with her and her backstory was very sad. I’m pissed they weren’t endgame because they made such a good couple.

There was no need to kill off Lorna’s baby. That was unnecessary roughness.

What happened to Maritza left me devastated. That final sequence of her getting into the plane and all the other women who were deported as well slowly disappearing until there was no one left gave me fucking chills. It was tough to watch but it had to be done to make a point of how a good portion of the immigrants who get deported are young adults who have never lived anywhere else besides the US, but still they are not considered citizens.

I absolutely adore Fig. Her character development was one of the best in the show. Also I LOVE HER RELATIONSHIP WITH CAPUTO OMG.

Piper’s sister-in-law is annoying af. I bet she is one of those anti-vaccinations freaks.

Alex looked so damn hot in her flashback oh my god.

Goodall is adorable! For real, what a gorgeous baby.

I was not expecting CO Fischer to make a comeback.

Healy is still a piece of shit.

I can understand why Piper developed feelings for Zelda. She represented the potential life she could lead now that she was a free woman, the opportunity to start over and leave prison behind (like Sophia advised her to). However, there wasn’t anything exciting about being with her, it was way too safe and that’s the exact opposite of what she had with Alex.

Polly is even more annoying than she was before but Larry didn’t get on my nerves this time around, which surprised me. Maybe because his little prep talk is what pushed Piper to follow Alex to Ohio or maybe it was the nostalgia. Idk, but they brought him back in a nice way.

I felt really bad for Vinnie. He wasn’t only grieving for his son but he also had to see Lorna fall into that complete state of denial.

Sophia’s comeback was everything. She looked like a goddess and she seemed so happy and in control of her life. I thought we wouldn’t see her again after she got released from prison but I’m glad they managed to bring her back even for a couple of scenes.

Totally random statement but Piper looked very attractive at the benefit gala and the morning after. I don’t know if it was the hair or the way they did her eyes but she was smoking hot.

Danielle Brooks is the best actress in the show. Don’t @ me.

McCullough is the archetype of the psycho ex. I legit thought she was going to shoot Piper when she confronted her at her house.

Alex knows Piper so damn well. She is aware of the fact that Piper tends to run away from stuff when things get complicated and her choosing to have an affair with McCullough was her way to try to protect herself. Then again, I really thought they had moved on from that phase.

Fig lying about being pregnant to help that woman get an abortion was such a strong moment. Also her calling out the double-standard of the guard who was opposed to the woman aborting but wanted her to get deported? Legends only.

Lorna is such a racist but I can’t bring myself to dislike her. If anything I’ve always felt a bit sorry for her.

Linda is such a bitch.

Tamika was the only warden who actually cared about making a difference. I’m sad she got fired because of something that wasn’t even her fault but her good deeds made a profound impact.

McCullough is so damn unstable but I can’t blame her for developing such strong feelings for Alex. She’s quite irresistible.

Alex acting all unattached and cold as she was breaking up with Piper was painful to watch. I knew it wasn’t real but for a hot second I thought that was it for them.

The ICE storyline was out-of-this-world amazing. So powerful and brilliantly done, quintessential OITNB.

If you had told me six years ago I would cry like a baby with Pennsatucky’s death I would have laughed at you.

But for real, POOR PENNSATUCKY. I’m sorry she had to die for Taystee to stay alive.

Because of the ‘a fan-favorite character dies in the final episode to mark the end of the show’ trope I had the feeling they were going to kill either Red, Alex or Taystee. I was legit surprised when the final death was revealed to be Pennsatucky.

That Poussey flashback had me in tears.

Alex and Nicky’s goodbye scene was so sweet and I love they talked about eventually reuniting. They were my brotp.

What Larry told Piper when she visited him at his place was very interesting. When Piper told him she loved Alex he told her he believed her, but that he also thought she loved what Alex represented. I believe that was true at some point—well, for most of the series—and, unconsciously, Piper believed that as well. But, if anything, what they went through in season 7 helped Piper realize she did want to be with Alex. The extra limb analogy was amazing and I don’t think Jenji could have picked a better way to explain their relationship.

Hellman is the new warden? Gross.

My favorite part about the old inmates’ cameos was that they were shown doing the same stuff they did in Litchfield: Boo being tired of everyone’s bullshit, Yoga giving the mandala talk to new inmates, Gina feeling exasperated and Norma calming her down, Watson running and Alison checking her time, Angie and Leanne being stupid, Brook mooning over stuff.

I only missed two characters making a cameo: Sister Ingalls and Miss Claudette. I know most fans wanted to see Bennett again but fuck that coward.

Also wtf happened to Bayley? I kinda wanted to know.

Karla’s story broke my heart. I’m glad they included her character because her story is the story of millions of immigrants that are separated from their children, forced to return to their home countries and endure harsh conditions while trying to make their way back to the US.

Blanca really went out there and said “fuck it” to the american dream, didn’t she? In my opinion she had the best ending out of all the characters. I’m so happy she reunited with Diablo and is ready to live her life with him at last. My girl deserved it.

Maria’s storyline was so ‘meh’. It was way too similar to her season 6 storyline.

My mom Gloria had the second best ending. I was afraid they were going to punish her because of the phone thing but thankfully asshole Luschek finally did something right. I was rooting for her to have a happy ending and I’m glad she got it.

Also was that little girl living with Gloria and her kids her granddaughter? Because she was definitely younger than her sons but Gloria’s flashback stated her daughters are older, so I’m confused.

I really need to know if Aleida killed Daya. I hate it was left so open.

Flaca choosing to help immigrants was so sweet. I bet one of the reasons she did it was to stop them from suffering Maritza’s fate.

Fig and Caputo are adopting!

Cindy did not deserve a good ending after she ruined Taystee’s life. That made me so angry. I was really hoping she would confess the truth.

In the end, McCullough made Alex a favor by having her transferred to Ohio. She went back to minimum security, she was with friends and people she knew and far away from all the crap in max.

What happened to Red and Lorna was devastating. Red losing her identity and her memory was so tragic because of what a badass she was. Also I knew Lorna would lose it after her son’s death but it was heartbreaking. They deserved better.

It sucks balls Nicky lost every person who was important to her but despite that I liked her ending because, even though she suffered heartbreak after heartbreak, she found a way to keep herself sober and now she will help others the way Red helped her. It was the best way she could honor her.

Despite literally everyone around Piper advising her to leave Alex behind and forget about her (from her parole officer to her dad to Larry to Sophia) the fact that she chose to follow Alex to Ohio was a pleasant surprise to me. It showed her growth and how much she really wanted to be with Alex, and that she was not a mistake in her life but her life. I was never a Vauseman shipper but even I knew they had to be endgame, any other ending wouldn’t have made any sense. I feel bad for the shippers because it was a very tough season for them but love prevailed, so congrats.

I didn’t catch the Piper Kerman cameo until I saw someone mentioned it on twitter. That was so cool! Also I don’t know if this was intentional but I liked the visual parallel between Larry Smith & Piper and Piper Kerman & Alex. Larry waited for Piper for as long as she was in jail and never abandoned her, so I choose to believe Kenji and Co. are hinting at Piper doing the same thing for Alex.

It was a good decision to show us a glimpse of Piper’s new life. She has a stable job, a new home, she is studying about criminal law and using her time in a productive way, and also she looks happier than we ever saw her.

In conclusion, I liked the season very much. Orange is one of my favorite shows and I think they ended it in a very nice way. It was very well executed and, unlike other final seasons I have watched over the years, it never felt rushed to me. It was the best season in at least a couple of years and I’m in love with the series finale, I stand by my original statement that it is the best one I have ever seen.

I give it a solid B+, four-out-of-five stars, 8.5 out of 10.

Orange forever, indeed.

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richincolor · 5 years

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The Rich in Color bloggers got together and compiled a list of some of our favorite YA books that came out in the last year-ish for Black History Month. How many of these have you read? What are some of your recent favorite books by Black authors?

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett Knopf Books for Young Readers || Audrey’s review

In a community that isn’t always understanding, an HIV-positive teen must navigate fear, disclosure, and radical self-acceptance when she falls in love—and lust—for the first time. Powerful and uplifting, Full Disclosure will speak to fans of Angie Thomas and Nicola Yoon.

Simone Garcia-Hampton is starting over at a new school, and this time things will be different. She’s making real friends, making a name for herself as student director of Rent, and making a play for Miles, the guy who makes her melt every time he walks into a room. The last thing she wants is for word to get out that she’s HIV-positive, because last time . . . well, last time things got ugly.

Keeping her viral load under control is easy, but keeping her diagnosis under wraps is not so simple. As Simone and Miles start going out for real—shy kisses escalating into much more—she feels an uneasiness that goes beyond butterflies. She knows she has to tell him that she’s positive, especially if sex is a possibility, but she’s terrified of how he’ll react! And then she finds an anonymous note in her locker: I know you have HIV. You have until Thanksgiving to stop hanging out with Miles. Or everyone else will know too.

Simone’s first instinct is to protect her secret at all costs, but as she gains a deeper understanding of the prejudice and fear in her community, she begins to wonder if the only way to rise above is to face the haters head-on…

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis Tor Teen || K. Imani’s Review

Westworld meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this stunning fantasy adventure from debut author Charlotte Nicole Davis.

Aster, the protector Violet, the favorite Tansy, the medic Mallow, the fighter Clementine, the catalyst

THE GOOD LUCK GIRLS

The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls–they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a “welcome house” as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they would never have chosen.

When Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta’s most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.

It’s going to take more than luck for them all to survive.

I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest Roaring Brook Press || Jessica’s Review

When Chloe Pierce’s mom forbids her to apply for a spot at the dance conservatory of her dreams, she devises a secret plan to drive two hundred miles to the nearest audition. But Chloe hits her first speed bump when her annoying neighbor Eli insists upon hitching a ride, threatening to tell Chloe’s mom if she leaves him and his smelly dog, Geezer, behind. So now Chloe’s chasing her ballet dreams down the east coast―two unwanted (but kinda cute) passengers in her car, butterflies in her stomach, and a really dope playlist on repeat.

Filled with roadside hijinks, heart-stirring romance, and a few broken rules, I Wanna Be Where You Are is a YA debut perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon.

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds Katherine Tegan Books || K. Imani’s Review

Jack Ellison King. King of Almost.

He almost made valedictorian.

He almost made varsity.

He almost got the girl . . .

When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Fruit Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling—hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack. Jack’s curse of almost is finally over.

But this love story is . . . complicated. It is an almost happily ever after. Because Kate dies. And their story should end there. Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Beautiful, radiant Kate. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind. Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone else close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do—and let go—to save the people he loves.

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi Make Me a World

Pet is here to hunt a monster. Are you brave enough to look?

There are no more monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. With doting parents and a best friend named Redemption, Jam has grown up with this lesson all her life. But when she meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colours and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption’s house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth, and the answer to the question-How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?

In their riveting and timely young adult debut, acclaimed novelist Akwaeke Emezi asks difficult questions about what choices a young person can make when the adults around them are in denial.

The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert Little Brown Books for Young Readers || K. Imani’s Review

Perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and Nicola Yoon comes a novel about first love and family secrets from Stonewall Book Award winner Brandy Colbert.

Dove “Birdie” Randolph works hard to be the perfect daughter and follow the path her parents have laid out for her: She quit playing her beloved soccer, she keeps her nose buried in textbooks, and she’s on track to finish high school at the top of her class. But then Birdie falls hard for Booker, a sweet boy with a troubled past…whom she knows her parents will never approve of.

When her estranged aunt Carlene returns to Chicago and moves into the family’s apartment above their hair salon, Birdie notices the tension building at home. Carlene is sweet, friendly, and open-minded–she’s also spent decades in and out of treatment facilities for addiction. As Birdie becomes closer to both Booker and Carlene, she yearns to spread her wings. But when long-buried secrets rise to the surface, everything she’s known to be true is turned upside down.

Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott Disney || Crystal’s Review

Say her name and solemnly vow Never to forget, or allow Our sisters’ lives to be erased; Their presence cannot be replaced. This senseless slaughter must stop now.

Award-winning author Zetta Elliott engages poets from the past two centuries to create a chorus of voices celebrating the creativity, resilience, and courage of Black women and girls. Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists championing the Black Lives Matter cause. This compelling collection reveals the beauty, danger, and magic found at the intersection of race and gender.

Slay by Brittney Morris Simon Pulse || Group Discussion

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the “downfall of the Black man.”

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.”

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?

#black history month #WeNeedDiverseBooks #young adult books #book lists

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full-course-identity · 4 years

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got woken up two hours ago and i wanna go back to sleep instead of committing to being awake, but before i go, i wanted to check in on my ideas for “redesigns of BMC characters with race diversity in mind”:

i already BASICALLY have the HCs down; there’s the obvious ones (Michael is mixed Brown, the Squip is Japanese), but also ones that haven’t been considered before (MENA Jeremy, Black Brooke)

i... think that basically the only white characters i’ll go with are Chloe, probably Rich, and... Jake

yeah, i know, but the problem is that i TRULY do not think emphasizing Jake’s unintentional manipulation and excess privilege in the B-way vers while also making him one of the only two Black characters (the other of which immediately comes across as a Black woman caricature) was a Bad Idea. i get why people like him that way, i really really do, but other characters can have the unfortunate implications of making them their respective POC ethnicity ironed out fairly well; Jake and Chloe are too fucking privileged for that

as mentioned above, yes, i think Jenna comes across offensively in the musical. i’m really glad two of the cast were portrayed by black characters, but implications matter sometimes!

HOWEVER, Jenna can be tweaked to have the right lines to turn her stereotypical presentation into a self aware navigation of a horribly racist power structure; Jenna knowing she’s Black and knowing that she’s lonely and playing up a stereotype to work around clique racism intentionally is a GENIUS idea, and might have actually been something her actress intended to portray, but never had the room to show it

so, in place of Jake staying white, Brooke and Mr. Reyes are Black bc more Black rep is still v important and i think interesting things could be said if both of them were instead

Mr. Reyes has very few character traits admittedly, but what are there could be similarly tweaked to avoid issues and instead give him a very interesting narrative. ie, the struggles of being an effeminate Black man who was denied all other opportunities to pursue his dreams except teaching high school, is continuously rejected of both funding and acknowledgement bc this school favors whiteness over Blackness, and has to change his entire vision for a play that’s only enthused about by another POC student to bring in the popular (usually white) kids is... sad, and relatable

also, Brooke as a Black girl who is soft and feminine and steamrolled constantly by her white and privileged Really Shitty Friend has some GREAT potential too

this is tired rambling so it’s very likely some of this in itself isn’t great implications either, but i’m still really workshopping this--i’m supposed to only draw busts for this, and that’s still my intention, but i’m considering making a full AU meta post a la Be More Alluring; feel free to chime in with any thoughts, comments, or concerns!

#oc #text #bmc #be more chill

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beatrice-otter · 4 years

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This started out as a reblog of this excellent reblog chain about racism and antisemitism in both Star Trek canon and fandom, but as a white gentile fan I didn’t want to intrude or take over. And I firmly believe that if you really love something, you should love it with open eyes, seeing its faults as well as its strengths.

The thing is, Star Trek is progressive ... but it’s a very white type of progressive resting-on-our-laurels type progressivism. Sure, TOS was very progressive for a TV show of its day, but ... that ain’t saying much, and the writers and directors and showrunners were all white men and it shows. So yes, it pushed boundaries by having Sulu and Uhura, and the first scripted interracial kiss, but that was the 60s. TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT ... uh. Still very heavily white and male. Still progressive, but nowhere near as progressive comparatively as TOS, nowhere near as groundbreaking. I mean, I’m glad they listened to Avery Brooks about how his character should be designed and written! When they made a show with a female captain, they should have at least done the same, and preferably had women in creative leadership roles (as DS9 should have had black people in creative leadership roles). (I mean, all media should have diverse creative leadership for a lot of reasons, but when you have a character of color or a white woman as lead, it’s even more important that the creative team not be a bastion of white cisheteropatriarchy.) DS9 was less racist and sexist than TNG or Voyager (but made up for it by being hella antisemitic, hello Ferengi) but the thing is, these are not exactly the Shining Beacons Of Progressiveness we white fans like to think of them as. Were they better than a lot of shows out there? Sure! Did they grapple with a lot of issues most other shows didn’t? Yup. But again, that ain’t saying much. (I haven’t watched Disco or Picard, so I can’t speak to those.)

As to fandom, just liking Star Trek doesn’t automatically make you somehow less racist. There’s this undercurrent among white Trekkers that “Star Trek is progressive, I am progressive, therefore all participation in the fandom is inherently progressive, therefore I don’t have to worry about racial issues in either my fanworks or my interactions with other fans.” It’s not that Trek fandom is the only fandom where white people want to assume that not actively hating black people is all you need to qualify as “not racist,” it’s that in Trek fandom we can use the perceived progressiveness of the show as additional armor against acknowledging the actual issues.

I’m white, but I remember how terribly the AOS fandom has treated both the character of Uhura (who DARED to break up the Kirk/Spock white male slash juggernaut) and fans of color. The argument was that it was homophobic to put Spock in a relationship with a woman. And that it was a betrayal of feminism for Uhura to have a romantic relationship. (A black woman getting to have a fulfilling romantic relationship is a step forward, not a step back. Nyota Uhura is not a white girl.) That whole discussion--which included fans of color getting attacked even in dedicated Spock/Uhura spaces, and ended up with the main Spock/Uhura LJ community doing a lot of educational pieces about racism and misogynoir and privilege and how not to be a dick--was back in 2009. Over a decade ago. And we are still having the same damned discussions and treating fans of color the same damned way. It’s exhausting for me as a white person; I can’t imagine what it’s like for fans of color. And the thing is, the reason we are still having the same. discussions. over. and. over. is that the majority of white fans do not learn. We don’t. We need to.

None of these issues are new.

Star Trek has usually been at least a tiny bit more progressive than the society around it. That doesn’t mean that the show is perfect, and it definitely doesn’t mean the fandom is. We can and should do better. If we are truly committed to the ideals of Star Trek, that shining world of the future where prejudice of all kinds is greatly reduced and people usually choose to do the right thing and act with justice and compassion for all ... that should be reflected both in how we treat one another, and in what stories we choose to write. And it isn’t.

Listening to fans of color and educating ourselves on anti-racism is a good first step, and then putting what we learn into action and working to treat fans of color better is a good second step, but there are a lot of other posts about those sorts of resources. I’d like to talk about fannish output, what we create.

You know how people say “oh, well, the reason fandom focuses on white men is because they’re a higher percentage of screentime, therefore they’re the ones most likely to be interesting.” Let’s look at DS9, shall we? A show with a black man in the leading role. As of June 30, there are 6725 fics tagged DS9 on AO3. Benjamin Sisko (you know, the LEADING MAN), is tagged in only 961 of them. If you look at how many fics each character is tagged in, he is the sixth person on the list.

But wait! you say, that doesn’t tell the complete story, because sometimes people only tag the pairings, not the individual characters, and therefore they don’t show up in the character tags! So let’s look at that. The top relationship is Bashir/Garak, with 2797 fics (almost HALF of all the stories in the fandom). You know what the second most popular relationship is? Platonic Bashir&Garak, with 372 fics! You know what the #7 relationship in DS9 is? Garak/Parmak. Parmak is a character from a book series who never appeared in the TV show. Sisko, the leading man of the show, doesn’t even APPEAR in the list of top ten relationships in the fandom! Julian Bashir is there four times, Garak three. (Jadzia/Worf is #6)

But wait! you say, the canonical pairings for Sisko were mostly recurring roles not main characters, and he didn’t really flirt with anyone he wasn’t canonically linked with, so maybe he does better when you go with only fics tagged “gen” i.e. not focused on romantic and/or sexual relationships. (I mean, I think it’s a stretch because Janeway gets paired with Tom Paris a lot, and she doesn’t flirt with him in canon, and she rarely gets paired with Tuvok despite how often they touch hands which for a Vulcan is ... wow. But for the sake of argument we’ll say that Sisko not flirting much with anyone besides his canon partners is the reason he’s not shipped much.) And sure, when you limit it to fics tagged “gen” he appears in the top ten list of characters! In fourth place, with 396 out of 1876 fics. (#1 is Bashir, with 822 fics. #2 is Garak, with 652 fics.)

And, like, I get that Bashir and Garak are certainly very slashtastic, the actors were going for that flirty vibe in earlier seasons until they were ordered not to. But it’s still ... pretty obvious that popularity of both shipping and gen fics is heavily influenced by racism and colorism.

I’m not trying to police fandoms or shipping or anything like that. I’m just saying that “but this is who resonates with me/this is who I like/this is who inspires me” doesn’t absolve us from looking at the reasons why some characters are more interesting to us than others. (It’s racism. We’ve all lived our entire lives in a world shaped by racism and colorism, and it’s shaped our gut reactions and our preferences even when we consciously believe racism is wrong.)

And you know what? You can influence your feelings. You can train your gut to be less racist. When you watch a show, pay conscious attention to the black characters. Take a few minutes after watching an episode to think up a piece of meta or a plot bunny or something for each character of color who appears in that episode. If you do this consistently over a period of time you will train your brain and your gut to be more interested in characters of color. Also, when you’re deciding what to write, actively choose to favor plot bunnies featuring characters of color. It’s not that you shouldn’t write white/lightskinned characters and ships, but that we should all be making a conscious effort to up the percentage of characters of color we write about. (And also, you know, do at least the bare minimum of work to not write racist or antisemitic tropes. @writingwithcolor has many useful resources.) That’s not the only anti-racism work we need to do to make fandom less racist, not by a long shot. But it is important work nonetheless.

And, above all, don’t be a dick to fans of color who point out what SHOULD BE obvious to everyone.

#fandom #racism

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rapeculturerealities · 4 years

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“BUTCH” HAS LONG been the name we’ve given a certain kind — that kind — of lesbian. The old adage applies: You know her when you see her. She wears men’s clothing, short hair, no makeup. Butch is an aesthetic, but it also conveys an attitude and energy. Both a gender and a sexuality, butchness is about the body but also transcends it: “We exist in this realm of masculinity that has nothing to do with cis men — that’s the part only we [butches] know how to talk about,” says the 42-year-old writer, former Olympic swimmer and men’s wear model Casey Legler. “Many people don’t even know how to ask questions about who we are, or about what it means to be us.”

Many of us wear the butch label with a certain self-consciousness, fearing the term doesn’t quite fit — like a new pair of jeans, it’s either too loose or too tight. The graphic novelist Alison Bechdel, 59, doesn’t refer to herself as butch but understands why others do. “It’s a lovely word, ‘butch’: I’ll take it, if you give it to me,” she says. “But I’m afraid I’m not butch enough to really claim it. Because part of being butch is owning it, the whole aura around it.”

What does owning it look like? Decades before genderless fashion became its own style, butches were wearing denim and white tees, leather jackets and work boots, wallet chains and gold necklaces. It isn’t just about what you’re wearing, though, but how: Butchness embodies a certain swagger, a 1950s-inspired “Rebel Without a Cause” confidence. In doing so, these women — and butches who don’t identify as women — created something new and distinct, an identity you could recognize even if you didn’t know what to call it.

By refuting conventionally gendered aesthetics, butchness expands the possibilities for women of all sizes, races, ethnicities and abilities. “I always think of the first butch lesbian I ever saw,” says the 33-year-old actor Roberta Colindrez. “This beautiful butch came into the grocery store and she was built like a brick house. Short hair, polo shirt, cargo pants and that ring of keys … It was the first time I saw the possibility of who I was.” And yet, to many people, “butch style” remains an oxymoron: There’s a prevalent assumption that we’re all fat, frumpy fashion disasters — our baseball caps and baggy pants suggest to others that we don’t care about self-presentation. But it’s not that we’re careless; it’s that unlike, say, the gay white men who have been given all too much credit for influencing contemporary visual culture, we’re simply not out to appease the male gaze. We disregard and reject the confines of a sexualized and commodified femininity.

ETYMOLOGICALLY, “butch” is believed to be an abbreviation of “butcher,” American slang for “tough kid” in the early 20th century and likely inspired by the outlaw Butch Cassidy. By the early 1940s, the word was used as a pejorative to describe “aggressive” or “macho” women, but lesbians reclaimed it almost immediately, using it with pride at 1950s-era bars such as Manhattan’s Pony Stable Inn and Peg’s Place in San Francisco. At these spots, where cocktails cost 10 cents and police raids were a regular occurrence, identifying yourself as either butch or femme was a prerequisite for participating in the scene.

These butches were, in part, inspired by 19th-century cross-dressers — then called male impersonators or transvestites — who presented and lived fully as men in an era when passing was a crucial survival tactic. We can also trace butchness back to the androgynous female artists of early 20th-century Paris, including the writer Gertrude Stein and the painter Romaine Brooks. But it wasn’t until the 1960s and early 1970s that butches, themselves at the intersection of the burgeoning civil, gay and women’s rights movements, became a more visible and viable community.

From their earliest incarnations, butches faced brutal discrimination and oppression, not only from outside their community but also from within. A certain brand of (mostly white) lesbian feminism dominant in the late ’70s and early ’80s marginalized certain sorts of “otherness” — working-class lesbians, lesbians of color and masculine-of-center women. They pilloried butchness as inextricably misogynist and butch-femme relationships as dangerous replications of heteronormative roles. (Such rhetoric has resurfaced, as trans men are regularly accused of being anti-feminist in their desire to become the so-called enemy.) Challenged yet again to defend their existence and further define themselves, butches emerged from this debate emboldened, thriving in the late ’80s and early ’90s as women’s studies programs — and, later, gender and queer studies departments — gained traction on North American and European college campuses.

The ’90s were in fact a transformative decade for the butch community. In 1990, the American philosopher Judith Butler published her groundbreaking “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity,” and her theories about gender were soon translated and popularized for the masses. In her academic work, Butler argues that gender and sexuality are both constructed and performative; butch identity, as female masculinity, subverts the notion that masculinity is the natural and exclusive purview of the male body. Soon after, butch imagery infiltrated the culture at large. The August 1993 issue of Vanity Fair featured the straight supermodel Cindy Crawford, in a black maillot, straddling and shaving the butch icon K.D. Lang. That same year, the writer Leslie Feinberg published “Stone Butch Blues,” a now classic novel about butch life in 1970s-era New York. In Manhattan, comedians such as Lea DeLaria and drag kings such as Murray Hill took to the stage; it was also the heyday of Bechdel’s “Dykes to Watch Out For,” the serialized comic strip she started in 1983. In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres, still the most famous of butches, came out. Two years later, Judith “Jack” Halberstam and Del LaGrace Volcano published “The Drag King Book” and the director Kimberly Peirce released her breakthrough film, “Boys Don’t Cry”; its straight cisgender star, Hilary Swank, went on to win an Oscar for her portrayal of Brandon Teena, a role that still incites contentious debates about the nebulous boundaries between butch and trans identity. These artists and their legacies are the cornerstones of our community. As Legler says, “This is where we’ve come from, and the folks we look back to. If you identify with that lineage, then we’d love to have you.”

LIKE ANY QUEER subculture, butchness is vastly different now than it was three decades ago — though the codes have been tweaked and refined over the years, younger butches continue to take them in new and varied directions: They may experiment with their personas from day to day, switching fluidly between masculine and feminine presentation. There are “stone butches,” a label that doesn’t refer to coldness, as is often assumed, but to a desire to touch rather than to be touched — to give rather than receive — and is considered slightly more masculine than “soft butch” on the Futch Scale, a meme born in 2018 that attempted to parse the gradations from “high femme” to “stone butch.” (“Futch,” for “femme/butch,” is square in the middle.) And while there remains some truth to butch stereotypes — give us a plaid flannel shirt any day of the week — that once-static portrait falls apart under scrutiny and reflection. Not every butch has short hair, can change a tire, desires a femme. Some butches are bottoms. Some butches are bi. Some butches are boys.

Different bodies own their butchness differently, but even a singular body might do or be butch differently over time. We move between poles as our feelings about — and language for — ourselves change. “In my early 20s, I identified as a stone butch,” says the 45-year-old writer Roxane Gay. “In adulthood, I’ve come back to butch in terms of how I see myself in the world and in my relationship, so I think of myself as soft butch now.” Peirce, 52, adds that this continuum is as much an internal as an external sliding scale: “I’ve never aspired to a binary,” she says. “From day one, the idea of being a boy or a girl never made sense. The ever-shifting signifiers of neither or both are what create meaning and complexity.”

Indeed, butch fluidity is especially resonant in our era of widespread transphobia. Legler, who uses they/them pronouns, is a “trans-butch identified person — no surgery, no hormones.” Today, the interconnected spectrums of gender and queerness are as vibrant and diverse in language as they are in expression — genderqueer, transmasc, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming. Yet butches have always called themselves and been called by many names: bull dyke, diesel dyke, bulldagger, boi, daddy and so on. Language evolves, “flowing in time and changing constantly as new generations come along and social structures shift,” Bechdel says.

If it’s necessary to think historically, it’s also imperative to think contextually. Compounding the usual homophobia and misogyny, black and brown butches must contend with racist assumptions: “Black women often get read as butch whether they are butch or not,” Gay says. “Black women in general are not seen, so black butchness tends to be doubly invisible. Except for studs: They’re very visible,” she adds, referring to a separate but related term used predominantly by black or Latinx butches (though, unsurprisingly, white butches have appropriated it) who are seen as “harder” in their heightened masculinity and attitude. Gay notes that “people tend to assume if you’re a black butch, you’re a stud and that’s it,” which is ultimately untrue. Still, butch legibility remains a paradox: As the most identifiable of lesbians — femmes often “pass” as straight, whether they want to or not — we are nonetheless maligned and erased for our failure of femininity, our refusal to be the right kind of woman.

ANOTHER LINGERING stereotype, one born from “Stone Butch Blues” and its more coded literary forebears, particularly Radclyffe Hall’s “The Well of Loneliness” (1928), is the butch as a tragic and isolated figure. She is either cast out by a dominant society that does not — will not — ever see her or accept her, or she self-isolates as a protective response to a world that continually and unrelentingly disparages her.

When a butch woman does appear in mainstream culture, it’s usually alongside her other: the femme lesbian. Without the femme and the contrast she underscores, the butch is “inherently uncommodifiable,” Bechdel says, since two butches together is just a step “too queer.” We rarely see butches depicted in or as community, an especially sobering observation given the closure of so many lesbian bars over the past two decades. But when you talk to butches, a more nuanced story emerges, one of deep and abiding camaraderie and connection. Despite the dearth of representation, butch love thrives — in the anonymous, knowing glances across the subway platform when we recognize someone like us, and in the bedroom, too. “Many of my longest friendships are with people who register somewhere on the butch scale,” Peirce says. “We’re like married couples who fell in love with each other as friends.”

Legler, for their part, recognizes a “lone wolf” effect, one in which some young queers initially love “being the only butch in the room.” In organizing the group portrait that accompanies this essay over the past months, Legler was curious “what it would be like for butches to just show up together and to be able to display all of their power, all of their sexiness, all of their charisma, without having it be mitigated in some way.” And not only for butches of an older generation, but for those still figuring things out, transforming the scene in ways that both defy and inspire their elders. “It’s been centuries in the making, the fact that we are all O.K.,” Legler adds. “That our bodies get to exist: We have to celebrate that. You can do more than just survive. You can contribute.”

#trans #transgender #butch #gender roles #Gender essentialism #gender binary #LGBTQIA

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wukodork · 4 years

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There's a lot of good in the DS9 Relaunch series and they seem to get the characters better than the pre-relaunch media generallly, but the way Benjamin Sisko is handled is just....really bad.

So he doesn't show up until several books in which is fine, as him being Elsewhere was established by the show and it gives several characters the chance to define themselves outside of their relationship to Ben, most notably Jake in Rising Son which is v good and Kira and Kassidy's friendship in everything else.

For the 10th anniversary of the show they brought Benjamin Sisko back to a linear existance which is a pretty cool thing to do for a milestone. He returns just in time for Kassidy to give birth to their daughter which is some impressive timing coming from a place that doesn't understand time. This part is fine. He stays retired for a while and lives mostly in the background with Kassidy and Rebecca (new baby) while Jake visits but lives elsewhere on Bajor. (And this is around when Jake meets Korena and they are really fun!)

And then. Ben starts angsting about the "you will no nothering but sorrow" stuff from the series finally that was resolved when he married Kassidy and also about the Prophets not talking to him so he just.....leaves.

Even if you ignore that Benjamin Sisko has always been a very family focused character and that the excuse they use to seperate Kassidy and Ben was already resolved have a little bit of trivia about the series finale:

Originally, the writers intended for Sisko to remain with the Prophets forever, but Avery Brooks pointed out the Unfortunate Implications of a black man abandoning his family and insisted that it be changed.

And then it stays like this until I think the end of the Typhon Pact? It's not actually resolved by Ben or Kassidy but by Kira appearing to both of them to go "Hey, the Prophets are letting you live your life and aren't meddling in it anymore so nothing bad will happen if you get back together."

There's also a weird point in Typhon Pact where Ben assures the Federation president that he knows Odo and Odo is "not a racist." It's a small moment but it's so weird that he would say that since Sisko actually experienced 1960s racism. I cannot stress how weird that sentence is.

There is only one book set after Ben and Kassidy get back together and it's mostly fine, it's about Rebecca getting kidnapped when she's 10 and flashbacks to when she was kidnapped when she was 4 as well. It is, mostly, a good book.

But giving Rebecca time altering superpowers just kinda....bugs me. The easy justification would be that she has powers because Sisko is half-Prophet, but he was when Jake was born and no one else in the Sisko family has superpowers. There's some implication that it's because she's The Avatar (no really) but that's....hm. The powers themselves are fine, she rewinds time twice when she's about to die and now there's a small difference that lets her get saved. But it feels really weird that the only mortal that gets powers not explained with science that still lives on the normal plane of existance is the black girl.

#ds9 #benjamin sisko /

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volepaw · 6 years

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this is probably a long time ago but i just saw it on my dashboard and if you don’t want to respond that’s fine! I feel so dumb but I really just want to know and I can’t seem to find any ‘explanation’ yet but why what’s thing about the Tribe that makes it racist? Sorry for bothering! (If i’m just being dumb and there is already someone who answered this please let me know)

long post. sorry mobile people

Hey, anon. Sorry this took me a while, my computer died a few months ago and I’ve been using other peoples’ since. Plus I’m just tired of answering questions irt racism but I wanted to actually give you a good answer lol

In universe, frankly, the first issue is the differences from clan cats.

Usually, I’d actually like having groups with different cultures and the like in warriors! I like comparing cultures and seeing differences and effects when it’s handled properly. The problem is how the differences put them at a disadvantage against the clan cats as a whole or show them as strange, primitive, or as something similar to the Noble Savage trope.“The Healer also almost never leaves the cave, because unlike leaders they do not have nine lives and it’s easier for them to be killed.” (x) The fact that the Healer/Teller of Pointed Stones/Stoneteller doesn’t receive nine lives, while indicative of a different culture from the clan cats, clearly places the clans as a more ‘valid’ and legitimate group. This is heightened further when you consider the entire prophecy that they receive during the new prophecy arc.“However, the Tribe has their own prophecy to fulfill: they see Stormfur as their only hope, the silver cat mentioned by the Tribe of Endless Hunting, their spiritual ancestors.“ (x)”A silver cat will come, and rid the Tribe of Rushing Water of the dangerous mountain cat Sharptooth.”(x)While it some will likely argue that this is an unfair comparison considering that they are cats, this harkens back to the White Savior trope/Mighty Whitey trope. Despite the setting becoming more of a fantasy place as production continued, the clans were originally intended to be set in England, specifically in New Forest. (x) Arguably, the original clans can be considered relatively ‘aracial,’ ignoring metaphors such as half-clan kits and the like.This, juxtapositioned with the heavily coded nature of the tribe, creates some unfortunate situations when actually examined. The tribe, with practices including darkening their pelts with mud in order to hide themselves (something that makes me personally uncomfortable) and being able to hunt eagles, harkens back to the Noble Savage trope, with a group doing things that the ‘aracial’ main cast find strange and thrilling to learn and take back with them. Effectively, they use another culture as a backdrop for their own growth and for Stormfur’s story and emotional arc.Stormfur being accused of being the cat of prophecy and Feathertail’s death are just another drop in the bucket of stories of outsiders coming to save indigenous and otherwise non-white groups from problems they can’t solve themselves. There is no reason, truthfully, that a tribe cat couldn’t have dealt with the cougar themselves, given that it took no great skill for Feathertail to kill it. Merely sacrifice. Multiple times over the course of the series, the tribe needs the clan cats to save them from outside threats and every time it feels unnecessary and, frankly, insulting as a Native American myself. A group of cats shown to be able to hunt eagles being unable to figure out a way to drive rogues from their lands is strange, in my eyes, and upsetting at the same time.The argument of subversion could be valid in Stormfur’s case (as he messed it up originally and wasn’t the savior himself at all) if they didn’t go as heavily in the direction of Feathertail being the savior instead. Chosen by the tribe’s ancestors, she even hears voices of the ancestors prior to her death. Feathertail is buried by the tribe with the highest of honors. (x) While in character it’s great for her to have been honored so highly, the fact that the tribe cats had to rely on clan cats to save them is insulting at best.While he wasn’t the actual savior himself, everything with Stormfur and Brook, honestly, is uncomfortable to read when considering the implications of what’s going on. Brook reads like a Chief’s Daughter with four paws. “The Chief’s daughter […] is often the first to befriend Mighty Whitey during his visit to the strange new land. She’ll conveniently be beautiful by Western standards, but with just enough racial traits to be exotic.” (x)“She is the first cat to realize that Stormfur is the cat from the prophecy, and confronts him. Although scolded by Crag Where Eagles Nest, she welcomes the cats if they are not there maliciously.” “This disappoints Stormfur a little bit, since he likes the she-cat’s courage and friendliness. Brook shows up just as the Clan cats are getting ready to sleep for the night. She was sent by Stoneteller to make sure that the cats were comfortable, but Stormfur wonders if it was just him that she was sent to help.” (x)While this seems fine at first, if you just consider it a normal romance, it becomes more uncomfortable to think about. “More often than not, she will fall in love accidentally with the White Man who likes her as well and wants to marry her. Often this can be seen as a litmus test to see whether the white man is worthy of being part of their tribe.” (x)“Rock says that Brook had begun to love Stormfur while she was teaching him the ways of the Tribe. Although cats like her brother, Talon, didn’t care for Stormfur at first, they soon changed their mind because of the love Brook had for Stormfur.” (x)This trope, of a white man coming in and a Native American girl falling for him has been done over and over again, with one of the biggest examples being to Pocahontas. Even looking at the plot for both of these movies, similarities become clear. A young Native American woman, related to either the chief or the future chief, falls for a foreign man while teaching him the ways of her people. Following the conflict, she ends up traveling far from her home to stay in a culture foreign to her, learning their ways. In Pocahontas, there are two different men she falls for. In warriors, Brook leaves the tribe to stay with Stormfur, having become his mate after he elected to stay. Deciding to stay in the tribe, by the way, is almost the epitome of the Going Native trope.“The Going Native trope plays to this fantasy by having a character lifted out of his typical environment and thrust into a new one, only to become a part of that new world. […] As soon as they feel quite comfortable, possibly having fallen in love with a local girl and/or learned big lessons from a mentor figure, count on their old life to come messing with them.“ (x)“As the Clans leave once they have had enough food to eat, Stormfur decides to stay with Brook and the Tribe. Stormfur chooses to stay with the Tribe, with Brook and Feathertail’s spirit. The Clans thank the Tribe and leave.“ (x)The theme of clan cats being more connected to the tribe than the tribe themselves continues with Jayfeather, with him going back to the past using his power as Jay’s Wing. Jay’s Wing urges the group that would become the Tribe of Rushing Water to go to the territory that they’re shown in modernly. (x)The tribe is allowed nothing for themselves. Not history nor their own heroes or successes in the books. Their naming traditions, which are cringeworthy and borderline racist in the books themselves both for normal cats in the tribe and the practice of completely changing the Healer’s name, are mocked by Rock“Rock notes that he finds this method strange, as he perceives that this way of naming kits would cause many kits to be named things like ‘Wall of Cave,’ or ‘Floor of Cave.’” (x) and their first Stoneteller was involved heavily with Starclan (Which, along with the things do with Jay’s Wing, are remarkably similar to the Magical Native American trope in its bare bones), despite the fact that Healers aren’t given the same nine lives as the clan cats. While much of this is likely due to bad writing, it doesn’t excuse the implications that come with what they’ve written. It’s poor writing and an absolute shitshow of racism, with trope after trope being just stacked on top of each other in hopes of making a good story. It doesn’t work and it just shows a lack of care and respect for cultures other than their own. Don’t come onto my post and whine about it being celtic or some shit.

#anonymous #anon #ask #Warrior Cats #warriors #long post

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