#and that’s fine

[comradekatara]

You are one of the few people on this app who understand Katara’s character. Your takes on her never miss

thank you. i think that katara lends herself to being a site of projection due to her presentation and the function she performs in the narrative. it’s not that people don’t also do this with aang, zuko, sokka, toph, etc., but people mold katara to the standard of feminine ideal (simultaneously viewing her as an embodiment of motherhood and maidenhood) in a distinctly misogynistic way. of course patronizingly idealizing katara in this way is only side of the coin, and many others can only fixate on her flaws as the locus of their dislike for her character (these people belong to the school of “if a character is noticeably flawed, then that makes them a bad character,” because apparently they never graduated eighth grade mandatory reading of catcher in the rye), but in my experience, i’ve hardly ever seen people outright claim that they dislike her character.

however, viewing katara as the site of a projected feminine fantasy is equally harmful imo, because it erases the agency of her character, and she is, fundamentally, a character packed with agency. i think the show itself is liable to participate in this erasure of agency whenever they frame her through aang’s pov through a distinctly romantic lens (which is probably why i’ve never been fully on board w katang), but if the show occasionally falls victim to this framing, the fandom magnifies that by 1000. and to be clear, im not saying that aang is at fault for viewing katara in this way, a) because aang is fully allowed to have a crush on his friend and b) because aang isn’t fucking real lmfao, he is but a facet of a constructed narrative, and it is the framing i am taking issue with, not the characters (because they aren’t people, and talking about characters as if they are real people is almost always inane).

anyway, this is all to say that whether by defining katara solely by her flaws, or through manifesting a projected ideal out of a collection of her virtues, or simply by interpreting her through a racist/colonial/misogynistic framework (many such cases), reducing katara to a singular caricature or trope is extremely prevalent among fans (although katara is hardly the only character they do this with, either), which is such a shame—particularly because she is such a rich, complex, layered, multidimensional, agentic character. the portrayal of a (teenage, indigenous, brown) girl who is both visibly flawed and undeniably heroic is so important within our media landscape, and i know i am not alone when i say that since childhood, she has left an indelible mark on my psyche.

[pinkorchidsinspring]

To the real fans, this is the reason we stay.

I may not want to watch her run and kiss her “boyfriend” over and over again, or to watch her change the pronouns for the 1,989th time, but I will stay to watch HER success. To watch our girl get what she deserves. The fact that men need her to fake a relationship with them so they become someone. She doesn’t need a man to be successful. They need her. When no one believed in her, we did. We listened to her gayest songs, we listened to her straightest songs, we listened to her saddest, most heart wrenching, soul-deconstructing songs, we listened to her happiest, most sunshine filled songs, we watched her create a tour based on visuals from a glass closet, and last but certainly not least, we pushed past every expectation to become so devoted to Taylor’s reputation that hers became ours. It’s always “Taylor’s swifts fans have done it again” in the headlines, because no matter how much she stalls, or has to go through unneeded obstacles. We stay. So who could stay? Us. It’s not a question. No matter how much time she takes, we’ll be here. Pointing out the obvious, and leaving room for her art to be truly appreciated.

[strawberri-draws]

She’s so ancient eldritch deity trying to be a grandma <3 (she’s failing but shhh)

[anotherdescentintomadness]

Wang YiBo — Weibo Night 210228

Red Carpet/Event Looks and Award Ceremony

[fariesoiree]

just saw a post of someone saying black writers should stop writing black readers bc they make them “ghetto” and stereotyped them. opened the comments to see someone else complaining about making the reader a “bimbo” and liking pink and they said they don’t even like pink like that . . .

YOU might not but the person who actually put in the work to write it did. where did we get this entitlement that people are writing what other people like with no regard to themselves?? bc the fact that someone sees a problem with a writer writing a bimbo pink-loving black mc or even a “ghetto” black mc is a problem. if you don’t like it then you obviously aren’t the target audience babe… that’s it. if you don’t like it don’t read it plain and simple. it’s the internet you have the ability to scroll. this whole discourse about what other black people are writing is dumb. unless it’s hurting someone, stop policing what people decide to put out there. if I want to write a reader w blue hair, ten cats, and five horses i’m going to do that bc i want to and either you read it or you don’t.

as a black person, hating on other black people bc they don’t write the content you want to see is sad. okay you’re upset bc you can’t find what you want but if that’s the case then look harder?? it’s no one’s fault bc it’s not an issue. you’re just making it one. bc a writer doesn’t write what you want and the “soft life” you want, they deserve to get stereotyped? by ANOTHER BLACK PERSON? absolutely not. i don’t like those style of fics w a strong and independent black mc so i don’t read them and i definitely don’t go out and call them ghetto.

idk ik ts didn’t deserve a whole paper on it but it’s gross and i’m tired of seeing it. it’s literally the internet. if you throw a tantrum every time you come across something you don’t like on the fucking internet, get off it. ts pisses me off bc it’s the same shit every time. if you don’t like it don’t read and find something you like. can’t find what you like? write it or cry about it but the unnecessary hate has gotta stop.

[enmi-land]

this isn’t for anyone in particular, but just so you guys know, if you take any inspiration from my stuff in any way (whether it be my characters, my layout/theme, or my works themelves) please please please give credit for it, especially if there are very obvious similarities. i don’t mind if it’s in your post itself or in the tags, but please just make sure it’s there, bc i rlly do work hard on everything that i put out on my blogs, and so having that acknowledgement of you’ve taken ideas of mine to use in your work is rlly important. i’ve never been shy about the fact that my entire blog was inspired by free (aka @/laladellakang) for this reason.

so yeah, similarities are okay bc it does happen sometimes, but if it’s very obvious that you have been taking inspo from someone else’s signature style, then don’t forget to mention the person to avoid misunderstandings. but anyway. trust me when i say, authors can tell when their work is being used as a template for someone else’s. they recognise these things bc they spend a lot of time figuring them out when they’re making their content and become so familiar with it that it becomes almost like muscle memory.

and that being said, remember that taking inspiration is not the same as plagiarism or copying. i have found a blog (I won’t be mentioning names) that did list me as an inspiration, and then found that they basically copied and pasted the text formatting of my old navi (which is part for he reason i changed my theme) as well as my masterlist. and i didn’t want to be dramatic bc it wasn’t like anyone stole my works or smth like that… but just know that even something as seemingly simple as a theme takes a lot of effort to make.

but yeah sorry to rant here to you guys, but it was something i wanted to put out here bc it happens a lot. don’t take this too seriously and try to find out names and stuff, bc the person I mentioned for the theme has alredy been blocked, so there's no need to cause any ruckus about it. just keep it in mind for if you find yourself in the situation where it’s relevant!! love you all and hope you’re doing well 💖💖

[thestalwartheart]

I swear I’ll shut up about this fic idea soon, but one of the things that makes it most fascinating to me as a writer is the complexity of it. It could be so tempting to turn Q into a poor little meow meow and have the reader forget one of the central points of the story, which is that there are some acts that cannot be redeemed. Doing a terrible thing doesn’t necessarily make you a terrible person — especially when the terrible thing wasn’t intentional — but it is still worthy of consequence and remorse.

And how do you go on living with yourself when the punishment (or the complete lack thereof!) will never really fit the crime or assuage the guilt you’re feeling? When your guilt feels like a drop in the ocean compared to how the family of the man you’ve killed must be feeling? In fact, you hardly feel entitled to any pain at all.

AND! How do you live with yourself when you’re still (still, after all this) committed to a life and a job and an institution where it could conceivably happen again?

Then! Also! On Bond’s side of this: how do you bring someone back to themselves after that and prove to them there is a path forward? That there has to be? Because the alternative is not having this person around at all, and that’s unacceptable to you.

How do you do that when you’ve never pushed the button on the wrong person? When you cannot relate? Oh, you’ve been responsible for death. Even innocent deaths. But you could square those with the job. At the end of the day, the deaths themselves were at the hands of more evil men than you.

What happens when you’re feeling out of your depth and privately terrified that one misstep could lead to someone you love losing themselves altogether?

How do you even begin trying to stand in for the forgiveness and faith they don’t even think they deserve?

Don’t even look at me, I’m unhinged about this.

[dreamgrlarchive]

“you've got to stop thinking that you're so unique” i am. very. there’s no one like me. just like there’s no one like you. y’all are unserious.

[strawbbfluff]

if i see one more person say “she’s for the girls” about a bisexual woman i’m going to flip

[obaex]

me & @fandomxpreferences being determined to keep the obx fandom alive despite the epic drought it’s in. 🤙🏼

[wanhedas-dagger]

I seem to have lied about updating the werewolf au last night. I am sorry and I can say I’ll try to update it tonight but that would be another lie coz there’s only 600 words written so it won’t be up till the weekend.

[chaoswrites]

do you ever just read a fic so offensive to you that you have to block them to prevent more of their writing from reaching your eyes

[jewishbarbies]

I knew I didn't like TS/Swifites when last year, they were trying to say one of her songs was about Zac Efron and harassing him ya know, after he came out about his anxiety and addiction issues. It's why I could never get behind that Jake hate train since the worst thing he did was break up with her. If people want to harp on age gap, then ask Taylor why she dated minors when she was 21/22

[spaceorphan18]

Okay so I listened to Kevin and Jenna’s weird Season 2 round up episode.

And this is the thing I’m slightly confused by.

Kevin and Jenna skew heavily towards as Santana bias because of Naya. I get that - fine. So I wouldn’t be surprised that they are bringing in the more general audience. And I know that the TikTok community (at least from what I’ve heard) skews in a Brittana leaning favor.

So how did then Klaine win best couple and Brittana came in 4th? I mean even I would place them above Sam/Quinn….

But even more baffling out of all the fav picks there was nothing leaning towards Klaine at all and was very Santana focused.

The whole thing is so weird.

[waugh-bao]

Question: Any interesting fetishes that you'd like to share with our readers?

Keith: Oh, I do like the odd fetish. Lingerie is particularly nice to look at. It's even nicer to take off. I can't say the same for my own lingerie. But a chick's stuff - that's made to be taken off. It's part of the courting dance. A wonderful dance it is too. There's nothing more beautiful than a great-looking chick removing her clothes. In fact, the only thing better is a great looking chick removing mine.

(1995)