#between transphobia within the industry

[just-your-average-tangerine]

I'm making a full post about this because I think it's important. I've reblogged other posts on this topic, but this is my own experience because trans man apparently can't be artists without our own communities ripping us apart for it.

I'm mainly an actor, but I do music on the side. I've been in 5 stage productions, a commercial, and a short film. For music, I've done a few gigs at charity events, won a community talent competition, and made some money on the side as a street performer. So I feel decently confident in saying that I'm fairly good at what I do.

When I talk to other trans people about my desire to build a resume that doesn't out me as a trans, and to market myself as a gay actor and not a trans one, I'm called a traitor to the community. And told that I'm depriving trans kids of a role model. Nevermind the cis queer people who think I'm stealing roles from 'real' gay men.

What they don't understand is that work for trans men does not exist. The modern professional canon of dramatic work does not include a single trans man. Not one. I cannot work as a trans man. The best I can hope for is what I've been getting the last year and a half, small background characters whose gender doesn't matter.

When I won the community talent competition for my music, I was told afterward that it was a shame that I won because "the last thing the queer community should be celebrating is another guy with an acoustic guitar". Several people in the trans social group I started attending agreed with that sentiment, telling me to stop playing altogether and saying "the world doesn't need anymore straight men with acoustic guitars". (Side note: I'm gay and explained that but the consensus of the people there was that trans men can't be gay because we're still 'female' (side note to the side note: all of the other people in this group were trans women lesbians and did not see the irony in that)).

I dont understand how other queer people can contribute to this without realizing the harm. I would ask how trans masc artists are supposed to want to keep creating their art but I think that's the point.

[marauders-fanfilm]

Hey Everyone- We apologize for the delay on this update. We had hoped to have more tangible progress and updates to present to you before posting this, but an update is overdue. First off, we all want to say how much we appreciate everyone’s patience and continued support for this project. It’s taken much longer than any of us had anticipated, but our team is committed to seeing this project through. Unfortunately this year has been challenging for everyone, and progress has reflected that. While VFX has made progress in the past year, it is not as much as we would have hoped. We’ve lost a number of our artists this year, both due to Rowling’s ongoing bigotry making it understandably hard for people to continue working on the film, as well as unrelated schedule and workload issues outside of the project. We started 2023 with 10 artists on our VFX team, and nowadays even on our best days we have less than half that. This leaves plenty of days/weeks where members of our smaller, but dedicated team are entirely unavailable.

While I presume most of you are aware of the WGA & SAG strikes that shut down much of the film industry from May to November, what many people outside of the industry aren’t aware of was the pressure that came down from the studios on those who work in Post Production, especially VFX, during that time. Many of the talented artists on the TGS team work in VFX as their day job as well, and this studio crunch left little to no time for side projects unfortunately. We had artists report working 60-80 hours a week. Other members of the team were out on the picket lines fighting to protect the industry and their livelihoods. All of this led to a rough summer and fall for progress on the project.       Beyond that, a variety of other struggles have also faced our team throughout this past year. Without going into too much detail so as to protect the feelings and privacy of our amazing team, we have had members dealing with life threatening illnesses, deaths of loved ones, others facing numerous struggles due to rising transphobia, and several who simply had less time for TGS due to being forced to take up lower-wage jobs to survive during the strikes. 

    That said, it hasn't all been negative. We've also had members of our team forced to lighten their workloads due to happier circumstances, such as welcoming children, getting married, or attending grad school. It's not all dark clouds and gloomy circumstances, but one way or the other, the past year has undoubtedly thrown so much at our team that progress has at times become far slower and far less than we would have always liked.

    All of that said, there has been some wonderful progress made this year. After a tremendous amount of collaboration between multiple artists, one of our most deceptively challenging VFX shots, the Dungbomb Prank seen in our very first piece of concept art was finally wrapped up by artist Porter Justus.     Work has also progressed beautifully on various digital establishing shots. After a ton of work, our VFX Supervisor Martin Bayang was able to solve the issue of a particularly problematic Petrificus Totalus shot. There has been continued work on some very exciting Potions and Invisibility Cloak effects, and we recently wrapped up the spells for a very fun Lily versus Regulus altercation. And while not completed, there has been a lot of excellent progress has been made on much of the third act, including many of the most difficult sequences of the film.

     To put some more-concrete numbers on the amount of progress we’ve made versus what we still have to tackle, only about 12 minutes of the film remain unfinished as of the time of this update. The vast majority of the film is just about fully locked, barring color and some slight timing adjustments. Within what remains, most if not all effects are already in progress. Obviously the climactic third act contains some relatively complicated VFX shots that may take slightly more time to complete, but the finish line truly is in sight now. 

   One of the last big updates, and perhaps the elephant in the room, is that this year we also found ourselves forced to finally part ways with a member of our team - our composer. This was an incredibly difficult decision and one that we obviously did not take lightly. In truth, we probably took far longer to arrive at this decision than we should have, given our affection for the person involved and how excited we were about the work they had done. 

   Unfortunately, we reached a point where essentially no new work had been done for over a year, despite multiple efforts to reach out and work through various struggles. Continuing with the same situation and with the same composer simply became untenable and we were forced to make the very difficult decision to move on and try to finish off the last several minutes of music needed with a new voice. We are currently in talks with a talented new composer, and had hoped to have the details locked in place before giving this update, but the transition is taking a bit longer than expected. Moving forward, we are hopeful that we will be able to still make use of all the excellent music that our original composer did create for TGS, but working through the logistics of that between him and our new music team remains an ongoing conversation as of the time of this update. We hope to have more details for you in the coming weeks. As difficult a decision as it was, it does also feel like a dramatic step forward that gives us much more confidence today than we had prior to the decision that the film is actually, finally, nearing completion. 

We have said this many times before, and unfortunately it still bears repeating: no one wants to see this film completed and released to all of you more than we do. Even with the tremendous toll JKR’s vile conduct has taken on all of us, our hope remains that TGS can be a small piece of that universe untouched by the emotional baggage that the canonical franchise now carries. In light of the recent strikes in Hollywood, some attention is finally being paid to the insane working conditions many, if not all, VFX artists are subjected to. They are one of the last groups left in the entertainment industry that is not protected by a union, and as such they face essentially unfettered pressure from the studios they work for. Many of the artists volunteering their precious free time to TGS face these conditions in their day-to-day lives, and have still found it in their hearts to carve out time for our little movie. We are so incredibly grateful for them, for their time, and for the contributions they continue to make to make this film look as great as it possibly can. We are committed to delivering the best possible version of this film that we can to you when all is said and done. 

It has been a long road. The end is finally, truly in sight. Please know that we are eternally grateful for your ongoing support and your ongoing patience. We are very much looking forward to finally reaching the end of this journey, together, and finally being able to share this film with you all. Thank you again, and all our love to all of you and yours in the new year.

[inkovert]

SPILLED INK SATURDAY 》 Writeblr Discourse Series

Session 1: Book-to-Screen Adaptations

Welcome to our first session of Spilled Ink (get it? like spilled tea?), a new writeblr discourse series that I'm excited to introduce into the community. I wanted to start this series to generate some discussion and camaraderie within the writeblr community, but also because I think there are a lot of writer/reader/author-related topics and debates that crop up pretty frequently and I figured it would be interesting to hear thoughts and opinions on these matters from a writer's perspective.

So every Saturday (or potentially every other Saturday depending on how things go), I will post a topic of discussion. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you can do so one of two ways:

➸ Return to the OG post (which will always be linked in the title of the post) and reblog with your take on the topic, either in text or in the tags

➸ If you see someone's take on your feed and you want to chime in on something they said, feel free to reblog their response

I want to stress that the purpose of this series is to have healthy, open-minded dialogue about these topics and hear perspectives that you may not have considered otherwise. I think one of the beautiful things about writeblr is that it's rich with people from a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences who can lend a wider perspective on the subjects discussed. That said, I'm asking that everyone who chooses to participate please be respectful when providing your opinion or when responding to someone else's. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how strong it is, but there's a difference between being opinionated and being borderline rude and antagonizing. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or hateful speech of any kind will not be condoned or tolerated. I want to set that bar straight now because future sessions will touch on topics such as race and sexuality, so I will always have this reminder at the top of the post for each session. I truly want this to be a safe space for people to share their thoughts freely and not be afraid to speak up, so just please be mindful of your words in your responses.

With that out of the way, the discourse question for our first session is:

How do you feel about the frequency with which books are adapted to movies/tv shows these days?

You know what I mean. When you open any social media platform these days and you're immediately bombarded with ads for the latest tv show or movie being released on Hulu or Paramount+. I've often wondered if writers or up-and-coming authors have any personal feelings about this. Do you find it exciting? Does it make you hopeful that your work could one day be on the big screen? Or is it a bit...irksome? Or are you completely indifferent?

Reblog and share your thoughts. Mine will be under the cut, below. 👇🏾

・❥・

I know it may seem like something absolutely trivial and harmless to some, so perfectly understandable if people are indifferent about it all. But I personally find it irksome.

I could be wrong about the increased frequency of book-to-screen adaptations compared to 10 years prior, but for me personally it feels like it's increased quite a lot. I feel like I'll see a book hyped by booktok and/or other online book communities all over my social media feed one minute, and the next minute it's announced that it's headed for the big screen. And for the author's in question, I'm sure it's thrilling, because it provides the exposure that authors need nowadays to sell their books and their brand. But it bothers me because...well, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it makes it more and more evident that the movie/tv industry is running out of ideas. How often do we hear about some 90s/00s TV show being rebooted for god-knows-why when no one asked for it? It's not a secret that the entertainment industry is running on fumes when it comes to generating original ideas for the screen. And the same way that reboots are a lazy way of pumping out entertainment for a consumerist audience, outsourcing ideas from authors because you can't think of your own is also just that - lazy. And the consequence of that, I feel, is that authors will begin to write stories with the intention that it will be visually consumed, thereby feeding into that book-to-screen pipeline.

I recently read a book from a sci-fi author whose novels I really enjoyed in the past, but with each new release of his the quality of his books decreased just a bit. And with the latest book of his I read, it was easy to pinpoint why. It was clear as day that he had written the book with the idea/intention that it would be put on the screen. I don't know how to quite describe it, but it felt like I was reading a screenplay, with certain storytelling elements ignored and with action scenes written like cue cards for an actor. It was like a slapdash job with the note "fix it in post" slapped onto it. And it was just so...disappointing. Not only as a reader, but as a writer. Writers are free to write screenplays, but they are considered screenwriters, not authors, and the craft that is required for each medium is a bit different. Neither is superior to the other, but there's a depth that goes into writing a novel or short story that isn't necessarily needed for a screenplay because the screenwriter will work in collaboration with the director and others to carry out the vision (I'm happy to have screenwriters on writeblr chime in on whether this is true, because I'm speaking off my own understanding, not known experiences). The end product of a screenplay is a visual. Whereas the end product for a novel is the novel itself, and how it stimulates the readers imagination. If we get more novels written with the intention of being translated to a visual medium, then all the typically necessary components like description, exposition etc no longer become necessary. I'm not saying that this is happening just yet. There are many quality novels that have received screen adaptations recently (Pachinko, A Man Called Ove etc), but luckily those authors were dedicated to the craft of writing and storytelling first. The movie and tv deals were an added bonus that came after. But what happens when you have an emergence of authors who have those priorities in reverse? Movie deal first to increase my exposure and worry about good storytelling second? It inevitably causes a change in the writing landscape (that I argue is already happening (see: future discourse session), and not necessarily for the better.

[gasstationclown]

I am a new ish DM looking for some players interested in playing a multi-shot (5 sessions at MOST) campaign on Sundays at 11am to 3pm EDT starting on April 7th. More information below!

I’m Freddy (or gasstationclown or GSC, doesn’t matter) (he/they/ey) and I’m 18. I’m still kind of new to D&D as I’ve only played as a player for about a year or so in 2 different campaigns, but I started DMing for a group of friends in June of last year. Because I have a hankering to DM more and expand my horizons, I decided to go on tumblr.com and look for people on the internet willing to play a multi shot dingy. Now, about the campaign. The campaign, which I am calling the Plague of Tommertown (or TPOT), will be entirely set in the city of Tommertown, in a very steampunky and industrial world. As the title may indicate, a plague has struck, originating in Tommertown. The party will investigate strange goings-ons while trying to avoid the plague and try to bring all this to a resolution. This game will have a lot of plague/body/bug horror involved. It will also be very roleplay centered, though combat is not out of the question. I also plan for the party to start at level 3, and most likely stay at level 3. I’m looking for 4 players, and games will be conducted over Discord voice call and sheets/maps on Tableplop (which I do recommend making an account for as I am unsure how it may work if you play as a guest). Stats and other rolls will be rolled on Discord with the Avrae bot. There will likely not be a session 0, but I am very open to questions and (of course) discussing between players. I will look over sheets to make sure everything is good to go before playing. As an additional fun thing, I will allow one uncommon or lower magic item for each player to start with. Now, general rules/guidelines -I don’t tolerate homophobia, transphobia, racism, xenophobia, or any other hate towards minority groups. I am queer myself, so anything or the sort will get you immediately kicked out.

-Literally just be nice and you’re good to go. If problems occur, there will be warnings and eventual kicking out if the warnings are not headed

-I’m a big fan of open communication and if there’s any issue at all, I would like it to be told directly to me so it can be taken care of.

-I play by typical (I think) D&D rules, unless anything is implemented later. -Though I am technically an adult, other players may not be, and either way there will be no explicit sexual content. I’m all for jokes and romance and fade to blacks, but there will not be anything explicit. -This is also a new player friendly game. I myself may mess up and need to be corrected- it happens. -For character creation, I will allow most things within reason. I am open to homebrew things as long as you ask (and send the resource). -I intend to contact possible players by the 23rd of this month- be sure to check for a message over Tumblr from me else someone else may end up chosen instead. Other things may be added in the Discord. All applications must be done through this Google form. Anything not in this form will not be counted. Please answer everything to the best of your abilities! https://forms.gle/kmKRHA3cGFguwYch7

Thank you!!

[specialmouse]

forgive me if i say (insert linguistic faux pas here) but i think there's a schism rn between younger (i.e 30 and younger) trans women and cis women (and other people who grew up as women but might not be now, i'm just gonna say cis women, include yourself in that if you want or don't) because terfs have in large part succeeded in conflating radical feminism with bioessentialism and transmisogyny/transphobia. so when someone, such as myself, talks about hating men and hating the porn industry and talking about how bleak it is to grow up "biologically female" (i don't know what word we have for this that hasn't been called out in some way, if i put something in quotes just replace it with what you find appropriate, i'm not trying to dogwhistle here)--it may sound to trans women that i'm a terf because terfs tell trans women, this is what we're about, and if someone says these things, it means we hate you. no the fuuuuck it doesn't! fuck you!

but then having trans women see me say those things and call me a terf for saying them just deepens that divide, and i think if i hadn't grown up listening to trans women talk about their experiences and knowing how terfs are made, it would push me further into terf territory. and i haven't even been raped, i haven't been indoctrinated into the violence of mainstream straight pornography, i haven't even grown up with intensely misogynistic men in my house like a lot of other cis women i know have. so when they talk about those experiences and they see a trans woman say fuck you terf, and they don't have the knowledge of this artificial divide, they think, well fuck i guess i am! it's so fucking. stupid.

this isn't to say trans women shouldn't call out transmisogynistic ideas within what the cis woman is talking about if they're present but just a cis woman talking about the misogynistic porn industry or hating men or wanting to be completely away from men doesn't make her a terf or terfy or anything inherently. and i've talked to cis women who have had those interactions online and they say, "why are they protecting men so much? it doesn't make sense. why aren't they on my side?" and while it's not trans women trying to protect men and there's more layers to it, that's the way these women see it, a lot of them aren't familiar with terf and other transmisogynistic ideology. what we need to do is just unequivocally denounce misogyny and transmisogyny in all forms and understand how deep each of them go, AND understand that just because you (trans woman or cis woman) don't have the experience of the other that it doesn't mean it's not a) a pervasive societal issue affecting many people, b) something worth having a civil discussion about

[helenaheissner]

Book Review: “A Lady for a Duke” by Alexis Hall.

‘I see you.’ These are the words, unspoken verbatim but always felt, that run through Alexis Hall’s regency romance novel A Lady for a Duke. These are the words that, in my opinion, inform every great love story, both in fiction and in real life. That idea of someone looking at you and just KNOWING you, knowing all that you were, all that you are, and all that you could be- that’s at the heart of romance. Looking at someone’s truth and not blinking; looking at someone’s truth and accepting them as they are; that’s love.

Now, I love regency romance. And, obviously, I love love stories with trans protagonists. And while the traditional publishing industry doesn’t generally have a ton to offer on that front, one notable exception to the rule is this book. It tells the story of a noble born English trans woman who is gravely injured and presumed dead at the Battle of Waterloo, and, after convalescing in France with a lovely trans man and his wife who helpfully explain a few things, uses the opportunity to become who she has always been: Viola Carrol. Now, obviously, trans issues were not understood in the 1800s, and the English class system was gender-segregated to a truly terrifying degree, so upon returning to England and reuniting with her clueless but ultimately accepting and affirming family, Viola contents herself with a life of spinsterhood, helping raise her nephew and convincing herself she’s content with being alone.

All this changes, however, when a trip to an old friend’s manor results in a reunion between Viola and her childhood best friend Justin, a wealthy and deeply traumatized Duke suffering from festering war injuries, both physical and psychological. And at first, he doesn’t recognize her. She looks different, acts different, moves different, smells different, and besides, Justin’s friend died at Waterloo. And while Viola doesn’t contradict him at first, as Justin’s senses slowly return and the two begin spending an awful lot of time together, forging a new kind of friendship in their own right… He begins to see her. And she begins to see him.

Put simply: he’s a brooding mess with a drug problem, hiding in a castle waiting to die; and she’s a bundle of nerves drained of her former daring confidence, too afraid to let herself be happy. But within each other they see the potential for more: a dashing gentleman who will always do the right thing and needs to learn to give up control is what Viola sees in Justin, and a beautiful and fearless woman willing to sacrifice everything to live the life she’s been denied is what Justin sees in Viola. Before Justin know who she truly is, they develop a lovely flirting dynamic, and afterwards, once the shock wears off and the two actually start talking like grown-ups, you really do see two best friends coming to understand each other in new ways, even if they’re afraid of what it means. Even if they’re both convinced that they can’t be what they want to be.

Because SOCIETY.

Yes, that’s right, the real villain of this piece is not transphobia (well, mostly), but the British class system, which requires Justin to have a noble wife to ensure the security of his line. Or at least that’s the excuse Viola hides behind for most of the book, anyway. Because she’s afraid of being seen. Afraid of being rejected. Afraid that if anyone gets too close and ferrets out who and what she is, she’ll be condemned or even killed.

But this isn’t that kind of story. This is a love story about two damaged people learning about themselves and growing together. And learn and grow they do, coming together in a collection of moments that frequently left tears in my eyes. Hall’s writing handles both Viola’s gender dysphoria and Justin’s PTSD adeptly, through the blurry haze of dissociation and depression, and seeing our leads work through it and come together and get to finally, mercifully be happy together was absolutely beautiful.

The third-person narration of the novel mixes description with thought beautifully and artfully, making you see the emotion behind each word, conveying how it colors the characters’ perceptions of their surroundings and the unfolding plot. On top of that, clever, sparkling dialogue that manages to be witty in a (mostly) period accurate manner helps convey the chemistry between the two leads, as well as just being genuinely funny at points. Hall also weaves the story of these two lovestruck idiots into a broader commentary on the roles of men and women in English high society at the time, with the dark underbelly of that class system leading to several genuinely shocking twists and turns. Add into all this a very swoon-worthy bit of Regency-era bodice-ripping, some supremely cute moments of romantic squee between the leads, and a fantastic ending that conveys how far the characters have come in a manner that left a big, stupid smile on my face, and you’ve got yourself a truly great Regency romance.

It’s a fairy tale, in a lot of ways. Something like this probably never happened in real life. It probably couldn’t have happened in real life. But I don’t need it to be totally realistic. Especially in this subgenre, sometimes all I want is some wish fulfillment. The simple idea that someone like me could have gotten this kind of sweeping love story, gotten to be happy on her own terms with the man she loves, is more than enough. The idea that someone like me, someone like Viola, could truly be seen and accepted back then… Well, it’s hard for a big softie like me not to get caught up in that.

Happy reading, everyone :)

***

Be sure to check out my substack and my patreon for additional content, and consider becoming a paid subscriber if you want to support my work.

I also accept one-time donations via ko-fi:

[eileenleahy]

i disagree with the underlying presupposition in posts that say "transphobia is antithetical to feminism because feminism is about bodily autonomy" because. well. no thats not what feminism is about, besides liberal/choice feminism. if you want to combat trans-exclusionary feminism you need to understand the real basis for that exclusion

feminism isnt about bodily autonomy, exactly. there's a reason feminists are opposed to the cosmetic industry--our choices dont exist in a vacuum. instead theyre more often products of our patriarchal context. "choice" is, then, a matter of women being allowed to make choices that dont align with patriarchal interests, without repercussion. thats what underlies trans-exclusionary feminism: the idea that it exists within patriarchy. they believe that "gender ideology" promotes the idea of an immaterial, but innate, quality of gender--which contradicts the feminist theory of gender as an ideologically constructed method of sexed oppression. thus, the idea that you can move between genders, to them, affirms patriarchy by insisting gender is real

arguing with them that trans people (and all people) should have a right to gender affirming medical care will fall flat because they believe medical institutions too exist within patriarchy (cosmetic surgery, "the husband stitch," pathologization of women's behavior), and therefore gendered choices within it cannot be fully autonomous.

obviously there's trans-exclusionary feminists whose transphobia is not predicated on any feminist theory, but rather the same hate that is the basis of conservative transphobia. this post is just about transphobia that uses feminist theory to "justify" it

the key, instead, to combatting that thinking is contextualizing the freedom of movement between genders, the blurring of the physical boundaries between traditional "male" and "female," as anti-patriarchal. the reconstruction of gender as a method of articulating expression and identity for oneself distinguishes it from gender as a means of imposed limitation. im not trans and cant articulate the trans experience in this way, but i think the fact that conservatism, far far far far more often than not, is explicitly anti-trans, is quite evidentiary of the way trans people very much do inhabit an anti-patriarchal ideological space

id love to hear from trans people about this, whether expansion or critique

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review VII (Victoria 2022): Fiona Patten’s Reason Party

Prior reviews (first three as the Australian Sex Party): federal 2013, VIC 2014, federal 2016, VIC 2018), federal 2019, federal 2022

See also my reviews of two parties that merged with Reason:

Australian Cyclists Party: VIC 2014, federal 2016

Voluntary Euthanasia Party: federal 2013, VIC 2014, federal 2016, VIC 2018; NSW 2019

What I said before: “My general vibe is that this is the party for left-leaning urban Gen X/younger Boomers, especially those in small business.” (federal 2022)

What I think this time: Fiona Patten managed to narrowly retain a seat for Northern Metropolitan in the Legislative Council in 2018, an uncommon example of a micro-party securing re-election under the anti-democratic Group Ticket Voting system. She faces an uphill battle to hold onto it again this year. The irony is that Patten and Reason support GTV for mistaken and frankly baffling reasons, and the only reforms they propose reflect a personal grudge against “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery instead of achieving more democratic outcomes. It would be easier for Patten to secure re-election if voters at Victorian state elections could distribute preferences above the line (like they can in the Senate) and if her rivals couldn’t siphon 100% of their voters’ preferences away from her (which would never happen under any other system). For more, see the Reason section of Kevin Bonham’s blog entry on each party’s GTV policies.

So, what do Reason stand for besides endorsing a shitty anti-democratic method of electing the state upper house? Happily, the rest of their platform is better. They are taking to the state election the same sort of policies that they took to the federal election, focused on civil liberties, gender equality, and personal freedoms. Broadly put, they are much closer to the Greens than they are to Labor.

Perhaps the bigger question is what distinguishes Reason from the Greens. In some cases, it is a matter of emphasis. Reason have decent policies on climate change and the environment, but it is not their raison d’être. Rather, their civil libertarian ethos leads to an emphasis on topics such as drug law reform, reproductive health, and limiting the influence of religion in public life. This outlook, plus Reason’s links to the adult industry, means they are friendlier to cutting regulations for small businesses, and your enthusiasm for this might vary depending on whether you own a small business or work for one!

Reason supports the rights of the sex industry, as you might expect from the erstwhile Sex Party. It seems this support includes sex workers, despite concerns (including mine) in their early days that this was the party of industry bosses. By contrast, there have been some issues with SWERFs within the Victorian branch of the Greens—the preselection of a notable SWERF as a candidate for one seat in 2018 elicited protests from party members.

The last and perhaps most significant point of comparison between the Greens and Reason is over trans rights. This year, issues within the Greens regarding TERFs in the Victorian branch have come to a head. Despite the party’s subsequent disavowals of transphobia, I would not blame anyone for waiting to see more concrete proof that Victorian Greens are genuine advocates for the trans community. By contrast, Reason has consistently supported trans rights.

The impression that I get from Reason’s website is that they are clearly pitching at socially-liberal urban professionals, particularly Gen X and extending to older Millennials and younger Boomers. The language, presentation, and core issues all suggest this is their main demographic. Reason has no strong ideological undercurrent—Marxists will certainly be disappointed—but in broad terms there is not much objectionable for the left-wing voter.

My recommendation: Give Fiona Patten’s Reason Party a good preference. Remember to vote below the line on the large ballot for the Legislative Council so that your preference goes where you want it to go; all ballots with 5 or more preferences marked below the line are valid votes.

(I feel like I need a disclaimer, lest I look like I am writing this entry to promote a vote for Reason over the Greens. I am not a member of any political party, nor have I ever been, and in past elections I have preferenced the Greens above Reason. I do think, however, that this year it is worth considering your options—for voters in Northern Metropolitan, this might be an especially tough decision.)

Website: https://www.reason.org.au/

[youtifulkrp]

⭑♪⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

General

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We have a no-tolerance policy for god-modding, metagaming, bubble RP, third wall breaking, mixture of IC and OOC, and OOC drama. If you feel someone has engaged in one of the above or otherwise made you feel uncomfortable, please reach our either through mewe DMs or Tumblr. Any such reports must include proof.

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Four comments on the timeline every two weeks – comments on significant others and group-members do not count towards your total. Try to extend these comments beyond your closest circle of friends.

One timeline post every two weeks OR make at least one (1) post in Anthology, Public Threads, or AU Threads. The post should consist of at least six (6) sentences. It can be a response to a prompt or a thread with a fellow community member. Posts responding to event prompts and/or activities counts towards your Activity Check.

Once both are done, please react to the activity check posting found in the Activity Group. If you do not react, you will be marked as having failed the activity check regardless of whether you have made your comments and timeline post or not.

How To Join

We accept idols, actors and other notable figures in the Asian entertainment industry who are affiliated with a Korean Entertainment company, including those enlisted or on a hiatus. Please be respectful and realistic in your portrayal.

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Once accepted, you will be contacted by admin via direct message. You must complete the checklist given before being announced. Please refrain from following members of the community until you have been announced.

Rules and guidelines are subject to revisions as needed.

[garudabluffs]

Festival-goers display the American Flag during Stagecoach: California's Country Music Festival.

How culture wars are tearing apart country music 9/21/2023

Here & Now's Scott Tong speaks with Rolling Stone senior writer David Browne about the culture wars tearing apart the once close-knit country music industry.

READ MORE https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/09/21/culture-wars-country-music

Maren Morris says she's quitting country music, blames Trump era culture wars

Grammy Award-winning country singer Maren Morris thinks country music is burning itself down, and she doesn't plan to go down with it

Fox News Country music fans in Nashville react to singer quitting genre claiming 'Trump years' ushered in toxicity

Country music fans in Nashville react to award-winning singer Maren Morris transitioning away from the genre due to "bigoted views" exposed...

CNN Opinion: Maren Morris’s powerful farewell to country music

Maren Morris's new EP 'The Bridge' and her recent comments about departing country music are indicative of a much broader battle between... 6 hours ago

Taste of Country Ryan Hurd Defends Maren Morris: 'She Deserves to Be Celebrated'

Singer and songwriter Ryan Hurd is punching back at internet critics of his wife Maren Morris.

Axios Maren Morris feels "very distanced" from country music

"Obviously, being one of the few women that had any success on country radio, everything you do is looked at under a microscope. You're scrutinized more than your male peers, even when you're doing well."

"So I've had to clear all of that out of my head this year and just write songs. A lot of the drama within the community, I've chosen to step outside out of it."

The intrigue: Morris' two-track EP "The Bridge" came out Friday, with two songs written a day apart. The accompanying videos show an artist tending a garden that sends out vines to attack her.

In "The Tree," she strikes a match to presumably burn down the abandoned city's "family tree," only to "realize it's burning itself down without any of my help," she wrote on Instagram.

In "Get the Hell Out of Here," ashes blanket the town. The imagery is obvious: Maren is burned out, but we know from Greek mythology to expect a phoenix rising.

Decorated country singer Maren Morris says she needs a break from the genre. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times this month,...

NBC Los Angeles Maren Morris says she's quitting country music, blames Trump era culture wars

The Nashville-based singer faulted the country music industry for intersecting with "misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic"...

NME Maren Morris to leave country music over industry's "homophobia and transphobia"

Billboard Ryan Hurd Defends Wife Maren Morris: ‘She Deserves to Be Celebrated, Not Just Tolerated’

Maren Morris' husband Ryan Hurd is defending her after she shared that she's quitting country music. See what he said.

Vox Maren Morris is backing away from country music, highlighting the genre’s existential crisis

Maren Morris, a progressive chart-topping country and pop singer known for hits like “The Middle” and “The Bones,” has announced that she's...

[kittensyoonie]

Stray Kids X Ftm Reader

Y/n was a stylist at jype, or more specifically, he was Chans stylist. The thing was, he wasn’t out to anyone. But the staff knew enough, that he was different, and it took a toll on him.

Bang Chan X Ftm Reader

Requested: no, but I know people wanted to see more coming out storylines with skz? So I hope you guys like it 😭

Warnings: this one is darker than Felixs. Bullying, deadnaming, misgendering, transphobia, toxic work environment, forced outing, happy ending(?), Chan protects y/n :(, it is a semi getting together story

I’m not entirely proud of this one, I took too long of a gap between writing and forgot some stuff I originally wanted to do :( that being said I’m so sorry for any typos there might be, my brain is not cooperating with me. 

Y/n started out as a seventeen year old girl shadowing stylist within the kpop industry. He usually went under the radar, he hid from everyone. When his shadowing was done, he came out, transitioned, and came back.

He transitioned while working an internship at JYPE. He was always “different” therefore people usually ignored him. It was made harder by the fact people slowly started to not recognize him. But when his boss approved using his true name in documents within the company and introduced himself as himself, it became so much easier. 

He got a promotion, and got to work with newly debuting group stray kids. They were so sweet to him, genuinely kind and he was grateful for it. He usually worked with the other stylist to help the members in general, but slowly became just Chans stylist.

“Hey, I got something for you.” Y/n said, walking up to Chan.

They became friends overtime, dropping honorifics most of the time, especially if they speak English.

“What did you get?” Chan asked, looking up at him.

Y/n smiled and pulled out a crop top. It was a normal shirt originally but he fixed it up. It was on theme, it would look great on him, and it was loose. And he knew that Chan liked crop tops because it was easier to perform with.

“Did you do this?” Chan asked, his eyes widening. He remembered that shirt, that it was normal. “This is amazing, thank you y/n.”

“Thank you hyung.” Y/n said, smiling lightly. “Go on and change, I’ll help you afterwards.”

He gave Chan the clothes and watched him go off. He set up some of his stuff, having an earbud in. He was allowed to, he always did his work wonderfully and never got any complaints from Chan or the others.

“Really? A crop top? What’re you trying do, make him queer? Like you?” One of the makeup artists scoffed, giving y/n a nasty look.

Just his luck to work with someone he went to school with. She was nasty, y/n usually got the praise she desperately wanted. So she usually made it her mission to ruin his mood, or worse, his mental state.

“What is she ignoring me now?” She laughed, a couple of the others joining in, mumbling some slurs.

Y/n ignored them, he gave up on wasting his time with them. He continued setting up, listening to his music. They shut up when Chan and the others came into the room.

Chan immediately went to y/n, letting him do his job. Y/n fixed him up, adjusting things here and there.

“That looks great y/n. You did a good job.” One of the other stylists pointed out, someone older who’d been working years before he joined.

It was a big compliment for him, and he smiled to himself, gently thanking him.

It was just once set they had to do, so it didn’t take long for them to return. Unbeknownst to the staff, Felix and Seungmin had come back sooner than the others, and overheard some things they did not enjoy hearing.

“Why exactly did you come here d/n? I can’t believe they let someone like you in. Do they know what you are? Did you trick you into giving you this job?” The same girl from earlier sneered. She was more vicious than usual.

“Unlike you, I got in because I’m kind and good at my work. I didn’t bully my way to where I am, I earned it.” Y/n said, his voice small but stern, no hesitation or fear in it.

“Excuse you? What makes you think you can talk to me like that.” She raised her voice at him, huffing.

“Hyunsa they’ll be back any minute, we should stop.” Another girl cautiously spoke.

The main girl, Hyunsa, stepped closer to y/n, getting in his face. He did his best to ignore her, but it didn’t work.

“I promise you, I’ll make you regret stealing my job and working here, freak.” She spat out in his ear before walking away with the others.

Y/n backed up a bit, hugging himself. Fighting back almost got him expelled at school, he didn’t want to risk losing his job that he loved so much. He didn’t know what to do.

Felix was fighting back tears, he almost went inside but Seungmin grabbed him and stopped him.

“Hyung not yet, if we just go in there not much may be done, we need to make sure we have enough to get her in trouble.” Seungmin whispered to him.

Felix knew he was right. It was a risk just storming in there. She’s get knocked off as a bully, get reprimanded, but nothing serious. Both Felix and Seungmin had a feeling in their gut that she was a lot nastier than they just saw.

They were right.

Y/n woke up to his phone being blasted with messages and notifications. He was annoyed, it was way too early to be dealing with the human race. However, the first message he read made his blood run cold. It was a text from his longest and closest friend.

“Are you okay? I’ve been seeing the posts about you online. It’s disgusting someone would out you, I’m so sorry. If you need me, I’m here :(“

Outed him? As in… he knew it had to be Hyunsa, she threatened him and he knew she was capable of going through with it.

He cautiously opened twitter, and yep, he was outed. People were tagging him in posts about it, some with malicious intent. He quickly made his account private, shutting down everything possible so they’d leave him be.

There were photos of him pre transition, photos of his dead name, and proof that he was that person. It made him sick.

He wanted to call out of work, really he did, but he needed the money and hiding at home wouldn’t do any good. He safely got to the company somehow, seeing a few people outside the building mentioning it. The posts mentioned he worked at JYPE, but the proof they had was old, back when he barely even did anything there.

He kept his head down the entire day as much as he could, but of course, some people recognized him and gave him nasty looks. He did even want to know if the boys saw the posts, if they did he knew it would break him.

He used to sit with some of the other stylists he had made friends with during lunch, but for the following week he was no where to be seen. They all brought up their concerns to their boss, even the senior stylists who y/n admired said that something was wrong. And a few of the members of stray kids overheard if. Specifically, Minho, Seungmin, Felix, Jeongin, and Chan, who too noticed something was wrong.

After hearing that, Seungmin and Felix came clean about the incident they overheard with y/n and Hyunsa. All of the boys were collectively upset hearing it. For one, they all liked y/n, he was a sweetheart and a fun comfortable person to be around. But also, they couldn’t tolerate bullying of any kind, especially in their team.

Jeongin hesitantly brought up how he saw posts of one of JYPEs stylists being transgender, telling them that based on how the conversation went he was starting to wonder if it was maybe y/n, and if Hyunsa had posted it. When they checked, it was easy to piece together that the posts were indeed about y/n, and were posted by someone who really must’ve hated him.

The next day Chan went to the stylists department, hoping he could find y/n and check in on him. Felix and Seungmin weren’t the only ones who came clean the prior day, Chan did too, that he had been falling for the stylist. His sexuality was no secret to the group, and they could understand how hearing all the things going on with y/n personally affected him.

He was glad he decided to check in, it was perfect timing. Because Hyunsa chose that exact moment to harass y/n, and now he could do something about it himself. Though he was also pissed hearing what he was hearing.

“Why the hell do you still bother even showing up to work d/n?” Hyunsa asked in a condescending tone, quite literally backing y/n into a corner.

The boy looked so worn down, he didn’t shine as bright as usual, there was no smile, only darkness under his eyes. Chan hated seeing him like that. He missed when y/n would come in when he technically wasn’t allowed to bother Chan on a new thing he found.

“I asked you a question, what now you’re a mute?”

“Or he just doesn’t want to talk to you.” Chan said, finally intervening.

Y/n both lit up and panicked seeing him. He ended up curling in on himself more, backing away from the situation.

“You’ll be formally told this later, but I thought I’d just like to add it in now that you’re fired, effective immediately. This is your last day here.” Chan said, cutting between the two, hiding y/n behind his back. “Many people including a few of the kids saw you bullying him, that in itself is disgraceful. But with the proof we found that you’re tied to his outing and causing a bunch of people attacking him, there’s no question on if you’re staying or not.”

Hyunsa stared at him in shock, stammering. Y/n curled up behind Chan, looking down at his feet.

“You can go now.” Chan said, making it clear that it wasn’t up for debate.

She listened and left the room, cursing under her breath. Chan turned around and frowned when he saw y/n. He pulled y/n into his arms, holding him close. He didn’t say anything, allowing y/n to cry a bit and calm down.

Chan kissed his head softly. “Are you okay y/n?”

Y/n froze from the kiss, not saying anything. He knew he wasn’t imagining it, he knew he felt it. Their relationship yes would sometimes involve cuddles but nothing else, nothing close to that.

Y/n shook his head and pulled away. “Better now.” He said quietly, wiping his eyes with his sleeves. He looked at Chan, biting his lip. “How did you know? About all of this..?” He asked nervously.

“Felix and Seungmin saw her bullying you the day before the posts came out, and Jeongin saw them. Yesterday we all as a group were talking about the fact that something was wrong, that your co workers were saying you were acting differently and somewhat avoiding them. That’s when they told us what they saw, after Jeongin mentioned the posts we put it together pretty fast.

“I… was pretty upset, I talked the company about what happened and they agreed Hyunsa shouldn’t stay. Though I think I made it pretty clear that I wasn’t going to accept anything other. What she did was not okay.”

“Wh- why would you do that? For me..? I’m not- you know my past now, why?” Y/n asked, rubbing his arm. He had sadness in his eyes.

“Well for one y/n there’s nothing wrong with you, and you out of all people should know we support the community.” Chan said, stepping closer until he was right in front of y/n. “And because, I like you. I’ve liked you for a long time now, maybe about two years? At least, that’s when I realized I liked you.”

Y/n looked up at Chan in shock, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He sputtered but couldn’t say anything, and Chan didn’t seem upset he couldn’t.

“I never said anything because I was worried of messing our relationship up, both work and personal. I haven’t even come out to anyone else besides the kids.” Chan said, cupping y/ns cheek. He searched through his eyes to make sure it was okay.

“Why now?” Y/n quietly asked, not moving away.

“I realized just how much I’ve fallen for you.” He responded just as softly. “It’s worth it.”

Y/n closed his eyes and leaned into Chans hand, a sign he was letting the artist in. He felt like this was a fever dream, that it had to be.

“Can I kiss you?” Chan whispered, earning a nod in return.

The kiss was soft, y/n could feel Chans emotions through it. They kept it soft and slow, just relishing in the moment. Chan pecked his nose as he pulled away, smiling to himself when he noticed how red the stylists cheeks were.

“Come on, I know Lixs been worried about you, and it’s almost lunch time.” Chan said, nodding to the door.

Y/n took a deep breath and nodded, smiling at him. “Let me grab my stuff first.”

[gatheringbones]

[“Hate crimes activism maintained by national LGBT organizations also renders acts of violence as individual acts of prejudice instead of macroscopically connecting anti-queer violence to other structural inequalities. Hate crimes are usually only named as such when extreme acts of violence are enacted by a perpetrator who specifically targets individuals because they represent a particular identity category. In contrast, the ordinariness of subtler, more covert experiences of homophobia and heterosexism that remain outside of legal adjudication are ignored. By failing to connect hate-motivated violence to larger social structures, the articulations made by HRC, NGLTF, and Lambda Legal render hate crimes as individual acts of explicit violence that reflect an anomaly. When only the most egregious forms of violence are legally recognized, the ways in which homophobia and transphobia play out as everyday, covert forms of spirit murder are erased.

Rights-based discourses construct hate crimes as irrational, aberrational, individual acts of violence perpetrated by homophobic people: they do not connect anti-queer hate crimes to larger structures of heterosexism. While seeking equality and legal protection from violence is an essential component to civil rights, it remains inadequate because it ignores the ways in which structural violence is perpetrated against queers. Arguing for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in state hate crimes laws will ultimately end in limited social reform because “equality” within the existing social system only accounts for and remedies the most blatant forms of injustice. The remedies, then, proposed by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, and Lambda Legal simply hope to target and punish the individual perpetrators of homophobic and transphobic violence, failing to link the individual acts of violence to larger a system of heteronormativity. Hate crimes legislation and protection maintained by these national LGBT organizations in the end settles for access into a heterosexist system, thereby marginalizing the connection between individual hate crimes, historical legal precedent, and institutional violence. As a result, these groups espouse conservative, myopic political strategies and reject the opportunity for a more revolutionary and transformative politic that centers on broader conceptions of social justice.

(…) When national LGBT groups rely on political projects that further hate crimes legislation, they are feeding the prison industrial complex. Hate crimes legislation is punitive in that it is only enacted after someone is harmed or murdered. This does not tackle the structural roots of transphobia or homophobia but simply puts people who are found guilty of committing these crimes behind bars. As numerous studies have shown, prison systems are ineffectual at “reforming” criminals, deterring or decreasing crime, and reconciling the victims of crime. Therefore, hate crimes legislation does not benefit anyone. Passing hate crimes legislation to protect queer folks after they have been harmed is only feeding a racist, classist, and transphobic/homophobic industry that disproportionately targets and punishes those with the fewest resources. Moreover, relying on a punitive system to hold an individual accountable for their crime promotes more oppressive violence: Individuals are simply locked up, not actively educated about or engaged in repairing the harm they have created; they are further divided from their families and support networks, perpetuating more damage, isolation, and devastation within their communities; and the system upholds the legacy of racism and classism that is and has been so prevalent throughout all aspects of the criminal justice system. Acknowledging, targeting, and punishing perpetrators of anti-transgender violence is necessary but must also be placed within a larger context of the growing prison industrial complex.”]

Lori A. Saffin, from Identities Under Seige: Violence Against Transpersons of Color, from Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, edited by Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith, AK Press, 2011

[littlemixnet]

To me, a good ally is someone who is consistent in their efforts – there’s a difference between popping on a pride playlist or sprinkling yourself in rainbow glitter once a year and actually defending LGBT+ people against discrimination. It means showing my LGBT+ fans that I support them wholeheartedly and am making a conscious effort to educate myself, raise awareness and show up whenever they need me to. It would be wrong of me to benefit from the community as a musician without actually standing up and doing what I can to support. As someone in the public eye, it’s important to make sure your efforts are not performative or opportunistic. I’m always working on my allyship and am very much aware that I’ve still got a lot of unlearning and learning to do. There are too many what I call ‘dormant allies’, believing in equality but not really doing more than liking or reposting your LGBT+ mate’s content now and again. Imagine if that friend then saw you at the next march, or signing your name on the next petition fighting for their rights? Being an ally is also about making a conscious effort to use the right language and pronouns, and I recently read a book by Glennon Doyle who spoke of her annoyance and disappointment of those who come out and are met with ‘We love you…no matter what’. I’d never thought of that expression like that before and it really struck a chord with me. ‘No matter what’ suggests you are flawed. Being LGBT+ is not a flaw. Altering your language and being conscious of creating a more comfortable environment for your LGBT+ family and friends is a good start. Nobody is expecting you to suddenly know it all, I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect ally. I’m still very much learning. Even recently, after our Confetti music video I was confronted with the fact that although we made sure our video was incredibly inclusive, we hadn’t brought in any actual drag kings. Some were frustrated, and they had every right to be. You can have the right intentions and still fall short. As an open ally I should have thought about that, and I hadn’t, and for that I apologise. Since then I’ve been doing more research on drag king culture, because it’s definitely something I didn’t know enough about, whether that was because it isn’t as mainstream yet mixed with my own ignorance. But the point is we mess up, we apologise, we learn from it and we move forward with that knowledge. Don’t let the fear of f**king up scare you off. And make sure you are speaking alongside the community, not for the community. Growing up in a small Northern working-class town, some views were, and probably still are, quite ‘old fashioned’ and small-minded. I witnessed homophobia at an early age. It was a common thought particularly among men that it was wrong to be anything but heterosexual. I knew very early on I didn’t agree with this, but wasn’t educated or aware enough on how to combat it. I did a lot of performing arts growing up and within that space I had many LGBT+ (mainly gay) friends. I’ve been a beard many a time let me tell you! But it was infuriating to see friends not feel like they could truly be themselves. When I moved to London I felt incredibly lonely and like I didn’t fit in. It was my gay friends (mainly my friend and hairstylist, Aaron Carlo) who took me under their wing and into their world. Walking into those gay bars or events like Sink The Pink, it was probably the first time I felt like I was in a space where everyone in that room was celebrated exactly as they are. It was like walking into a magical wonderland. I got it. I clicked with everyone. My whole life I struggled with identity – being mixed race for me meant not feeling white enough, or black enough, or Arab enough. I was a ‘tomboy’ and very nerdy. I suppose on a personal level that maybe played a part in why I felt such a connection or understanding of why those spaces for the LGBT+ community are so important. One of the most obvious examples of first realising Little Mix was having an effect in the community was that I couldn’t enter a gay bar without hearing a Little Mix song and watching numerous people break out into full choreo from our videos! I spent the first few years of our career seeing this unfold and knowing the LGBT+ fan base were there, but it wasn’t until I got my own Instagram or started properly going through Twitter DMs that I realised a lot of our LGBT+ fans were reaching out to us on a daily basis saying how much our music meant to them. I received a message from a boy in the Middle East who hadn’t come out because in his country homosexuality is illegal. His partner tragically took their own life and he said our music not only helped him get through it, but gave him the courage to start a new life somewhere else where he could be out and proud. There are countless other stories like theirs, which kind of kickstarted me into being a better ally. Another standout moment would be when we performed in Dubai in 2019. We were told numerous times to ‘abide by the rules’, which meant not promoting anything LGBT+ or too female-empowering (cut to us serving a four-part harmony to Salute). In my mind, we either didn’t go or we’d go and make a point. When Secret Love Song came on, we performed it with the LGBT+ flag taking up the whole screen behind us. The crowd went wild, I could see fans crying and singing along in the audience and when we returned it was everywhere in the press. I saw so many positive tweets and messages from the community. It made laying in our hotel rooms s**tting ourselves that we’d get arrested that night more than worth it. It was through our fans and through my friends I realised I need to be doing more in my allyship. One of the first steps in this was meeting with the team at Stonewall to help with my ally education and discussing how I could be using my platform to help them and in turn the community. Right now, and during lockdown, I’d say my ally journey has been a lot of reading on LGBT+ history, donating to the right charities and raising awareness on current issues such as the conversion therapy ban and the fight for equality of trans lives. Stonewall is facing media attacks for its trans-inclusive strategies and there is an alarming amount of seemingly increasing transphobia in the UK today and we need to be doing more to stand with the trans community. Still, there is definitely a pressure I feel as someone in the public eye to constantly be saying and doing the right things, especially with cancel culture becoming more popular. I s**t myself before most interviews now, on edge that the interviewer might be waiting for me to ‘slip up’ or I might say something that can be misconstrued. Sometimes what can be well understood talking to a journalist or a friend doesn’t always translate as well written down, which has definitely happened to me before. There’ve been moments where I’ve (though well intentioned) said the wrong thing and had an army of Twitter warriors come at me. Don’t get me wrong, there are obviously more serious levels of f**king up that are worthy of a cancelling. But it was quite daunting to me to think that all of my previous allyship could be forgotten for not getting something right once. When that’s happened to me before I’ve scared myself into thinking I should STFU and not say anything, but I have to remember that I am human, I’m going to f**k up now and again and as long as I’m continuing to educate myself to do better next time then that’s OK. I’m never going to stop being an ally so I need to accept that there’ll be trickier moments along the way. I think that might be how some people may feel, like they’re scared to speak up as an ally in case they say the wrong thing and face backlash. Just apologise to the people who need to be apologised to, and show that you’re doing what you can to do better and continue the good fight. Don’t burden the community with your guilt. When it comes to the music industry, I’m definitely seeing a lot more LGBT+ artists come through and thrive, which is amazing. Labels, managements, distributors and so forth need to make sure they’re not just benefiting from LGBT+ artists but show they’re doing more to actually stand with them and create environments where those artists and their fans feel safe. A lot of feedback I see from the community when coming to our shows is that they’re in a space where they feel completely free and accepted, which I love. I get offered so many opportunities to do with LGBT+ based shows or deals and while it’s obviously flattering, I turn most of them down and suggest they give the gig to someone more worthy of that role. But really, I shouldn’t have to say that in the first place. The fee for any job I do take that feels right for me but has come in as part of the community goes to LGBT+ charities. That’s not me blowing smoke up my own arse, I just think the more of us and big companies that do that, the better. We need more artists, more visibility, more LGBT+ mainstream shows, more shows on LGBT+ history and more artists standing up as allies. We have huge platforms and such an influence on our fans – show them you’re standing by them. I’ve seen insanely talented LGBT+ artist friends in the industry who are only recently getting the credit they deserve. It’s amazing but it’s telling that it takes so long. It’s almost expected that it will be a tougher ride. We also need more understanding and action on the intersectionality between being LGBT+ and BAME. Racism exists in and out of the community and it would be great to see more and more companies in the industry doing more to combat that. The more we see these shows like Drag Race on our screens, the more we can celebrate difference. Ever since I was a little girl, my family would go to Benidorm and we’d watch these glamorous, hilarious Queens onstage; I was hooked. I grew up listening to and loving the big divas – Diana Ross (my fave), Cher, Shirley Bassey, and all the queens would emulate them. I was amazed at their big wigs, glittery overdrawn make-up and fabulous outfits. They were like big dolls. Most importantly, they were unapologetically whoever the f**k they wanted to be. As a shy girl who didn’t really understand why the world was telling me all the things I should be, I almost envied the queens but more than anything I adored them. Drag truly is an art form, and how incredible that every queen is different; there are so many different styles of drag and to me they symbolise courage and freedom of expression. Everything you envisioned your imaginary best friend to be, but it’s always been you. There’s a reason why the younger generation are loving shows like Drag Race. These kids can watch this show and not only be thoroughly entertained, but be inspired by these incredible people who are unapologetically themselves, sharing their touching stories and who create their own support systems and drag families around them. Now and again I think of when I’d see those Queens in Benidorm, and at the end they’d always sing I Am What I Am as they removed their wigs and smudged their make up off, and all the dads would be up on their feet cheering for them, some emotional, like they were proud. But that love would stop when they’d go back home, back to their conditioned life where toxic heteronormative behaviour is the status quo. Maybe if those same men saw drag culture on their screens they’d be more open to it becoming a part of their everyday life. I’ll never forget marching with Stonewall at Manchester Pride. I joined them as part of their young campaigners programme, and beforehand we sat and talked about allyship and all the young people there asked me questions while sharing some of their stories. We then began the march and I can’t explain the feeling and emotion watching these young people with so much passion, chanting and being cheered by the people they passed. All of these kids had their own personal struggles and stories but in this environment, they felt safe and completely proud to just be them. I knew the history of Pride and why we were marching, but it was something else seeing what Pride really means first hand. My advice for those who want to use their voice but aren’t sure how is, just do it hun. It’s really not a difficult task to stand up for communities that need you. Change can happen quicker with allyship.

Jade Thirlwall on the power, and pressures, of being an LGBT ally: ‘I’m gonna f**k up now and again’

[dabistits]

To talk about Twice and villainy is to talk about class and criminality (I)

(Masterlist)

In contrast to the fantastical world that surrounds him, Bubaigawara Jin’s backstory, revealed in chapter 229, is completely unexceptional. Jin’s backstory is about class. Throughout this series, a sci fi fantasy where almost all the cast have superpowers, we are introduced to characters who’ve struggled with their Quirks, whether having one or not having one, whether having one that’s powerful or weak, whether they have Quirks that are stigmatized or not. Most of the series handles its sci fi prejudice in this way, by substituting real life characteristics like ethnicity (hero Ryukyu is of Ryukyuan ethnicity and from the colonized Ryukyu islands [source]), gender-based discrimination (including misogyny and transphobia), ability (Aoyama, Dabi, and other characters to a lesser degree have physical difficulties using their Quirks), and stigmatized physical traits (as several mutant characters mention being discriminated against) with Quirk conflicts. Ryukyu’s ethnicity, Rock Lock’s race, Magne’s transness, all the misogyny, and the real life disabilities of many characters who are missing limbs are given minimal or no attention, as these conflicts are replaced with Quirks-as-metaphor.

In this fantastical world, where we’ve supposedly left behind our prejudices about race and ethnicity, gender, disability, and so forth, and replaced them with prejudices about Quirks and Quirk compatibility, Horikoshi made the decision to make Jin’s backstory about class as we understand and live under it today. His backstory stands out as one that is utterly banal. Although Jin’s Quirk comes in later, it’s hardly the driving force of his struggle, because what he’s faced with is simply the unfeeling machinery of capitalism and the state apparatus. There’s no involvement from Quirks or Quirk society here; the world that starts Jin on his downward spiral is one that’s inextricable from our own, one that any of us (some more than others) are vulnerable to. That is to say, he didn’t become a criminal because he had an awesome Quirk that made him egotistical (or whatever people think criminals are motivated by), he became a criminal because his circumstances left him with few other ways to seek fulfillment, and possibly to survive. His Quirk was only a balm to the harm already inflicted on him by the economic realities of futuristic (and simultaneously contemporary) Japan.

A quick recap of Jin’s backstory from chapter 229: His parents, due to a villain attack, died when he was in an unspecified year in middle school (it seems ironic, and another example of BNHA’s cyclical events, that Jin himself eventually dies at the hands of a hero). At 16 years old, Jin was already working. He got into a traffic accident, although he was obeying the speed limit, and broke someone’s arm. His case was prosecuted and likely resulted in a record, but the officer in charge suggested that he may be able to “bounce back”; however, the person injured in the accident turned out to be one of his workplace’s clients, and the clients’ outrage resulted in his termination from his job. Eventually, isolated and lonely, Jin used his Quirk to become a villain, and it’s implied in the depicted panels that he mainly stole. An indeterminate amount of time after becoming a villain, Jin’s clones turned on one another, resulting in a bloodbath that traumatized Jin and resulted in split personalities. After this incident, he turned to Giran for help, who in turn introduced him to the League of Villains.

Systemic barriers

So why couldn’t Jin bounce back, as suggested by the officer? The reasons are many and diverse, not all of them stated in-text. I believe Jin’s specific circumstances merit some evidence from real-world Japan today, since there’s no statement nor implication that these things have changed in these respects, and because this is the frame of reference that Horikoshi and many of his readers are working with. In order to tap into the spirit of the work, it requires an examination of the circumstances and conditions under which the writers are creating, a recognition and acknowledgment of the social issues that may have shaped and influenced their outlooks. Thus, I think it’s important to contextualize Jin’s past not simply as a self-contained example of inequality in BNHA, but as a narrative that ties into the societal concerns of real-world Japan.

The alternative care system.

This describes the system of institutions and fostering that cares for children who are unable to live with their parents (whether it be due to circumstances like neglect and abuse, or because of the parents’ deaths). In 2014, nearly 90% of children in alternative care lived in residential facilities as opposed to with foster parents (which has its own issues); these rates are much higher than in other industrialized countries, which mostly rely on the foster care system. Residents of the residential facilities report strict rules, child abuse, and bullying. [source] Usually people age out at 18, or even earlier at 15 if they choose not to attend high school. Requests to extend alternative care until an individual reaches 20 are usually denied. [source]

The economic outlook for individuals aging out of alternative care is not optimistic. “Once individuals lose their access to staying in an institution, combined with low wages for menial entry-level jobs, many young people cannot stay on the same job that the institution helps them find when they leave institutional care. If they leave that first job, they struggle to find another[...] Those who start working straight after graduating from junior high school and are forced to leave their institutional care facility may be at a particularly high risk of becoming homeless.” [source]

What does this mean for Jin? Since his parents died when he was in middle school, it could have taken place any time between the ages of 12 to 15. Jin was already working at 16 years old, which according to our information means he dropped out of school and no longer has government-provided accommodations. Depending on when during that middle school time window his parents died, he could have possibly not even entered into the alternative care system at all, entailing that he started to work right after their passing. Either way, Jin most likely quit school and started to work to support himself at 15 years old, forgoing high school and college, taking responsibility for his own shelter, food, bills, clothing, and so on. At an age when the UA kids are just beginning the best times of their lives, making friends, staying in the school’s dormitories, Jin was literally trying to survive on his own.

Criminality. 

This is a bit harder to pin down, and there aren’t many English-language sources regarding criminal justice studies, and very little that thoroughly breaks down the process. For details that we might want to know about, such as arrests and convictions according to race, ethnicity, class, mental illness, etc., those are even more lacking (possibly also in part due to Japan’s low crime rate). I’ll do my best to sum up what I do have, and maybe someone can correct me on this. Anyways, starting from the basics:

The motorcycle accident that Jin was involved in, which injured another party, is a prosecutable crime punishable by up to seven years in prison or a fine of up to one million yen. [source] Just to cover all my bases, yes, at the time of the accident, Jin was indeed a minor under Japanese law (although within an age bracket where he theoretically could be assessed and/or tried as an adult), [source] [source] but we’re not sure if/to what degree that was taken into consideration. Either way, the outcome is that Jin likely ends up with a record, according to the officer (or possibly prosecutor) who’s speaking to him. From what I can make out, getting a record from a traffic accident with injury means he was charged and probably went through summary proceedings in the lowest court, [source] though I’m unsure how this whole process would work if his status as a juvenile was taken into account.

There are a few things to point out here:

Arrest and detention (which I’m assuming is the lead-up to that conversation with the officer) are notoriously lengthy and pretty rough. [source]

Prosecutors have significant discretion in what gets pushed through to see charges and what gets dropped. This is one of the reasons, possibly the main reason, for Japan’s 99% conviction rate—prosecutors usually only press charges in cases that can bring about conviction. They can even take into consideration someone’s age, character, circumstances, etc. when deciding whether to prosecute or not. [source]

During this process, when someone is hurt in an accident, there’s a pretty big deal made of apologizing and offering compensation to the harmed party. These actions are viewed favorably when it comes to case review and sentencing, while arguing over fault and general disagreeableness hurts the case. [source] [source]

(PS: The line “you’re to blame as well” makes sense in the Japanese legal system as a facet of comparative negligence.)

(PPS: Given the ongoing debates over juvenile justice—the likes of which inspired Battle Royale—I wonder if the rather harsh results of Jin’s first encounter with law enforcement are also meant to be read more deeply?) [source; cw for child murder in link]

At this point, we have the question of whether or not Jin’s possible record impacted his inability to “bounce back.” This was also pretty difficult to find information about, and the answer is... maybe. While criminal records are held by the police, and prospective employers cannot access them, this is usually sidestepped by asking applicants to provide information about their own criminal records on a CV template (whether or not people do, or can even legally lie about this, and whether or not they can choose not to answer without impacting their chances of getting hired is not information I was able to find). [source] A certain stigma towards convicted criminals does exist, despite the criminal justice system’s prioritization of reintegration over punishment, [source] though as for further information about whether a record impacts someone’s employability and quality of life doesn’t seem to have been studied. Real world Japan’s declining recidivism rate, though not declining as fast as first-time offenses, seems at least to suggest that even individuals with a record can successfully reintegrate into society, [source] hence the officer’s suggestion that Jin can “bounce back” is not totally bizarre, although it proves short-sighted.

These details illustrate the odds of what Jin is up against. They raise the question of why prosecution didn’t go differently, and they highlight the vulnerability of a parentless child up against the legal system. Jin, again, a 16-year-old (who also doesn’t appear to have legal counsel in the depicted panels), obviously argues his responsibility in the accident; furthermore, he’s unlikely to be able to fulfill the social graces required of a lenient case review. As a teenager who’s already working to support himself, without any family to lend a hand, he likely wouldn’t have been able to muster up the finances for compensation, medical expenses, property damage, etc. at a moment’s notice, and even in installments the payment probably would’ve been a strain. For example, the possible fine of one million yen is half the annual income of Japanese households which fell below the de-facto poverty line in 2008. [source] It seems plausible that his inability to see through the proper courtesies resulted in an unfavorable assessment, and a prosecution carried through to the end. We don’t know for sure how he was sentenced—judging by his return to work, it’s likely he didn’t do jail time—but even assuming a lenient sentence, this accident quickly catches up to him. With no one to fall back on, and no one to cut him some slack, a stumble quickly becomes a fall.

Employer-employee relations.

The relationship between an employer and employee is one rooted in a power dynamic, where one side controls the time, the wages, and often the health of the other. A job and its benefits are usually the deciding factors of someone’s quality of life, so employees will work overtime, work while ill, and suffer any number of abuses to keep their jobs. Overwork, and the resulting health problems from overwork are enough of a crisis in Japan they’ve been named karoshi—death from overwork. The effects range from general, stress-caused health problems, to heart failure and suicide; what gives rise to these conditions are a complex mix of work culture, company culture, and common hiring practices. Essentially, workers are encouraged to present a loyal face to their company, and because of the structure of the job market, changing jobs isn’t easy. [source] [source] These facets of work culture also contribute to power harassment, an issue that has received growing visibility in the past decade. In 2019, 37.5% of surveyed workers reported suffering power harassment, often from bosses, including receiving excessive demands, degrading treatment, invasions of privacy, and sometimes physical abuse. [source] [source] 

This drastically imbalanced relationship only receives a few panels in Jin’s backstory, but that’s all it takes to make the power dynamic clear. Within three panels, Jin’s boss assaults him, berates him, and takes away what he knows is the only source of income for a working-class 16-year-old with no family. An accident that happened is equated to an act of disloyalty because the wrong person was injured, which reflected poorly on the company Jin was working for; however, a double-standard exists. While Jin’s loyalty to the company is expected, there’s no reciprocal expectation for the company to care for the wellbeing of its own workers, instead prioritizing its image and its bottom-line. Employees can be fired at their boss’s whim, leaving the terminated party without an income nor benefits, looking at breaking into a job market that is intolerant of repeat job-seekers—even more so if the individual is someone without a lengthy employment history and without a higher education. This short interaction highlights the precarity of financial stability, where a termination from one job on one man’s authority can leave someone—even a kid—without any way of coming back and achieving a steady living.

[stardoopy]

hello! I've seen a lot of people on internet talking about stars align, and I wanted to start watching it in the holidays when I would have time. The thing is... I've found out the ending shocked a lot of people and I saw a bunch of images of a kid with a knife. So, my question is: Can I watch it without losing my heart? Also, would you know where I can watch it in order to support the creators? I've heard they had a bad time within the anime industry... thank you for your time! 💙

Stars Align is a sports anime so there is a lot of focus around them playing tennis, but it's also a slice of life/drama so there's alot of focus on the characters and their relationships.

The show for the most part is fun and heartwarming but it also a lot of important topics and scenes that can be a trigger for many peope. These include the ongoing themes of abuse, trauma, minor homophobia and transphobia (not from the show itself but characters within the show) as well as a few short scenes with some blood and violence. This aside, the show also has alot of positive themes including strong friendships, friendships, positive LGBTQ+ representation, characters aren't sexualized, and just overall little drama between team members themselves.

I recommend not binging the show all in one sitting, rather take some breaks in between episodes. Most of the hard hitting stuff occurs in the post credits scenes so it might be best to take a breather afterwards. This is my personal experience as I watched the episodes as they aired and didn't really go back to rewatch since I needed to soak in what has just happened

If youd like to support the show by watching it, the legal streaming sites are Hulu, Funimation and Crunchyroll!

[feminismisfor]

BLACK FEMINISM & THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES: BARABARA SMITH, REINA GOSSETT, CHARLENE CARRUTHERS Black Feminism remains a foundational theory and practice guiding social justice movements for Black lives. On Thursday, Jan 21 of Creating Change our Opening Plenary featured a panel with Charlene Carruthers, Reina Gossett and Barbara Smith. Black Feminism challenges us to act on the inextricable connections of sexism, class oppression, racism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia. As the contemporary Movement for Black Lives has invigorated resistance to racism and structural violence, this panel reflects on ways that Black Feminism shapes and informs the current struggles and successes. Barbara Smith, beginning in the 1970s, has broken new ground as a black feminist, lesbian, activist, author, publisher, and elected official. Barbara co-founded the Combahee River Collective in 1974. The organization wrote the Combahee River Collective Statement that is one of the earliest explorations of the intersection of multiple oppressions, including racism and heterosexism, critiquing both sexual oppression in the black community and racism within the wider feminist movement. Barbara Smith founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, publisher of numerous pivotal works by feminists of color. Barbara served two terms on the Albany (NY) Common Council and currently works in the City of Albany Mayor’s Office spearheading initiatives that address economic, racial, and social inequality. Reina Gossett is an activist, writer, and artist and the 2014-2016 Activist-In-Residence at Barnard College’s Center for Research on Women. She served as membership director at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, lifting the voices and power of trans and gender non-conforming people. Reina was awarded the George Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship by the Open Society Foundation to work with LGBT people navigating criminalization. During her fellowship she partnered with Critical Resistance to curtail the prison industrial complex by organizing low income LGBTGNC New Yorkers in a campaign that successfully stopped construction of a new jail in the Bronx. Reina co-wrote and co-directed the new film Happy Birthday, Marsha!, highlighting the life of legendary transgender artist and activist, Marsha P. Johnson. Charlene Carruthers is a Black, queer, feminist community organizer and writer with over ten years of experience in racial justice, feminist and youth leadership development movement work. She currently serves as the national director of the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), an activist member-led organization of Black 18-35 year olds dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. With a focus on intersectional liberation, Charlene’s organizing spans a broad range of topics. She currently serves as a board member of SisterSong, a reproductive justice organization that promotes solidarity among women of color, as well as being a member of a historic 2015 delegation of young activists to Palestine, building solidarity between Black and Palestinian liberation movements.