#geisha trans

[littleeyesofpallas]

Bleach’s Issue with Queer characters (3/3)

So then there’s Giselle (and to a less canon extent Shutara) who I think Kubo erroneously categorizes as similar to both eachother and to the above gay men stereotypes.  And I think understanding Kubo’s approach to Giselle hinges on what he set up (but didn’t follow through on) with Shutara.

I’ve mentioned before, but I’m pretty certain think Shutara Senjumaru is meant to be a kabuki onnagata*.  Not in-world, mind you; I don’t think she is somehow employed as an actor in a literal kabuki theater. (i would hope that was obvious, but one can never be too sure...)  Just like Tier Harribel isn’t literally a light skinned, dark haired person doing gyaru/ganguro fashion, her presumably naturally tan skin and blonde hair is based on the general aesthetic.  Shutara likewise is channeling distinct look and feel that draws from a mix of oiran, geisha, and kabuki aesthetics. (granted all three are closely related in influencing one another’s aesthetics in the first place)

But while the look and even the demeanor tend to play all three ways, I think the particular fixation on clothes, costuming, and the somewhat adjacent theme of “disguise” that Kubo has shown to put emphasis on in this kinds of situations, as well as the fact that he gave her a distinctly masculine name, Senjuumaru, point to her being some form of queer, albeit something Kubo seems to pretty clearly lack the understanding to better articulate himself.  Is she a trans woman?  Gender fluid?  A male identifying transvestite?  There’s not enough real material for us to draw that particular line, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to conclude that she’s not a cis woman.

*Kabuki is traditionally an all-male theater form, and “onnagata” refers to actors who specialize in playing women roles.  Generally all actors train in the delineated masculine and feminine styles, but an actor’s career sticks to just one or the other...

...There is a whole big thing about how cultural institutions like kabuki and takarazuka theaters’ creation of socially acceptable and even celebrated, public and professional genderqueer spaces creates a myriad of gender dynamics that just don’t exist in the West, and it’s something that has made the attempt to adopt a globalized understanding of queer identity a little trickier in Japan:

In the West the gender binary was rigidly enforced such that to explore alternatives was basically uncharted territory (that’s an oversimplification, but you know what I mean; There’s a lack of contiguity with those who came before) but with japan there were already nonbinary spaces in place, and the lines around those don’t neatly line up with the ethnocentric western ideas some people try to pigeonhole those into.  In general, it gets dangerously close to just flat up colonizer rhetoric.

(forgive the outdated reference image, but honestly I don’t know what even counts as a recognizable example of a “““trap��” character these days.  And I use that term with GREAT reluctance, but I want to differentiate the exploitative cliche usage of a trans caricature from any actual representational trans character.)

Anyway...  That all just leaves Giselle.  And let’s be real, there’s no excuse for this one.  Maybe that seems like a weird anticlimactic place to take this series of posts... like, after all this, maybe it feels like I should’ve had some equally obtuse logic to explain this one away as a matter of escalation or as a Rule of Threes.  But no, not really.  I just think it’s a little unreasonable to treat the massive screwup that was Giselle’s portrayal as part of some sort of bigger ongoing trend, when it’s really more of an unrelated outlier in a bigger umbrella subject.

She is in fact a bad case of the long standing anime/manga fetishization of transwomen as a concept, as a spectacle to be gawked at and made the butt of jokes or to be included specifically as an anomaly.  And in Giselle’s case her specific depiction as a depraved, physically/sexually abusive villain on top of that is an explicitly toxic combination.

In spite of that, I still don’t think Kubo actually meant for it to reflect poorly (not that that matters or diminishes its harmfulness) I think he genuinely just has no real grasp of what that kind of characterization means.  I say that largely because of the way he treats a lot of her role in the plot.  Not that she’s integral to moving it forward, but that she occupies space and survives in the plot as long as she does, even when she could've been conveniently (and frankly more neatly) written out;

He seems to like drawing her and gives her a range of expressions and gestures (something he doesn't afford all his characters, even some of his major ones)

He likes to expand on her powers and gimmicks beyond what was necessary if he'd been aiming for minimum effort

He even paired her off against his personal favorite character, Mayuri.

Point being, Kubo seems to personally like Giselle as a character, but he took a horrible insensitive and ignorant path in writing her character.

But an undeniable fact is, she’s not alone as this kind of villain, she’s just the only one that happens to be trans.*  Mayuri himself, Aaroniero, Szayelaporro, Zomarri (just a little bit), Tousen (at the very end), Tsukishima, As Nodt, Gremmy (a little), and Askin all to some degree dip into this shtick Kubo does where his villains aren’t just sadistic but ecstatically so, to the point of intoxicated, gleeful derangement.  Yet in spite of that, those characters are all usually meant to be “cool,” not detestable.

Remember, Mayuri was initially written as, hands down, the most despicable characters in Bleach —he was abusive and sadistic, misogynistic, actually physically grotesque, predatory, dishonorable sneaky & underhanded, complicit in a genocide, just in general a clearly communicated mad scientist villain, and he was all of this in direct and deliberate contrast to Uryuu’s chivalrous personality type(already established in his defending Orihime from Jiroubou) as well as Nemu’s noble stoic subservient victimhood— and yet he’s also Kubo’s favorite character in the series.  Kubo doesn’t actually write Giselle any particularly worse than the others, BUT he also doesn’t disassociate her being trans from her being villainous, and again, even incidentally, that manages to perpetuate a harmful narrative in the overall.

*(Actually, I’ve kinda touched on it before but I sort of suspect Mayuri could be trans, in which case; OOPS, that makes two, and that doesn’t make it better....)

[1][2][3]

[that-guy-sleepy-miles]

Aizawa Undercover

Two of The Many Faces of Aizawa Shota! (fic wip name hehe)

I think the most interesting and unexplored MHA concept is underground heroes going undercover, so I made two concepts for an undercover Aizawa to test if I can keep a character's recognizably while also having them w/ different personalities and outfits! I think I might make a fic based off of these two undercover stories, especially Zukyō! I even have a design for one of the hostess girls 'she' watches over :]!

Identity 1: Shout ('Shout'a, obviously, and also Present Mic influence)

Aizawa went undercover to bust a drug smuggling ring via underground raves. The character traits of Shout are based off of Present Mic and Oboro, very excitable and easy going. He took down the ring via just kind of making his way into people's good graces. He still goes to raves as Shout occasionally, if only because he's nostalgic.

Identity 2: Zukyō (図強) (a mix of 指図 'command' and 強力な 'powerful'), also known as Mama-san (a woman in a position of authority, especially one in charge of a geisha house or bar).

'She' works at a dingy hostess club in a red-light district. The place is frequented by villains and people who run in those circles, so Aizawa's job is to pick up on conversations had with the girls. Aizawa was sent there instead of an actual female pro hero because of worries for a woman's safety in such a situation. Most people don't notice his more masculine features because of his undercover makeup skills, and the girls think their Mama-san is trans and protect her femininity with their lives. The character traits of Zukyō/Mama-san are based off of Midnight.

[famousinuniverse]

An Orchestra of Traditional Music in Vietnam

Vietnamese Culture Demystified!

Exploring the local culture and customs is a part and parcel of every holiday, particularly if your destination is Vietnam. As the cultural delta of Southeast Asia, it's necessary to immerse oneself in the grand culture Vietnam has amassed, truly enriching your travel experience and take back much more than just travelgram pictures. More importantly, it shows that you're more than just a tourist, making you a traveller who is sensitive to local beliefs.

Here's everything about Vietnamese culture to get you started on your South Asian extravaganza:

Performing Arts:

Music in Vietnamese Culture

The Vietnamese have always held music close to their hearts. It is highly diverse and heavily influenced by China, and to a lesser extent South Korea, Mongolia, Japan and the former Indochina Kingdom of Champa. There are close to 50 national music instruments in the country, with percussion instruments being the most popular, followed by wind instruments and string intruments. Traditional music in Vietnam can be divided into two genres: Imperial Court Music and Folk Music.

Imperial Court Music, as the name suggests, was performed in the palaces of Tran and Nguyen dynasties. The songs were mainly about wishing the king and his kingdom longevity and prosperity. There were also songs composed in honour of gods and scholars such as Confucius, that were sung in temples and sometimes the King's chambers. These have been divided into three categories:  Nhã Nhac ("elegant music", ritual and ceremonial music), Dai Nhac ("great music"), and Tieu Nhac ("small music")

Folk music has a richer history and is woven into the everyday lives of the Vietnamese. Some of the more popular forms are the Chèo, Quan Ho, Hát Chau Van, Ca Trù, Hò, and Hát Xam. Quan Ho and Ho are courtship songs sung acapella in northern and southern provinces of Vietnam respectively. Hat Xam was performed by blind artists who travelled from place to place singing, somewhat like the bards of the west. This form of music has diminished and is rarely heard nowadays. The more popular traditions of folk music are Hat Chau Van and Ca Tru, both of which have emerged from under the repression of the colonial government. The former is sung to invoke spirits during religious ceremonies and is trance-oriented, while conversely, the latter is sung by women for the powerful and elite men, a geisha-style of entertainment in a way.

A Ca Trù Performance in Vietnam

Nhac dân toc cai biên is a relatively recent addition to the music scene, and has garnered mass appeal in Vietnam. It incorporates western elements such as harmony to traditional music, a fusion of the east and the west.

[vacantgodling]

please feel free to share anything you'd like about hyacinthus - don't know much about him but I'm kinda obsessed with him

(also I'm sorry if things have been rough)

oh thank you for coming to my talk about my favorite terrible man talk :) he’s one of if not the most favorite oc i’ve ever made and the main character in my first book of the fall of galeré quad (or quintet? perhaps? the fifth book is still up in the air of whether or not i’ll make it exist) and my magnum opus paramour which you can read more about here -> teehee

so dis him

prettiest man in the world 😌💅🏽 (i drew all of these btw lmao)

he’s the bastard son of a businessman who ends up getting married to an eldrich entity, cheats on said entity with his butler and learns how to Care About People which is something he did not know how to do LMAO

he’s an asshole. by like. a lot. he’s crass (esp bc paramour is set in a fantastical 1890s-1900s adjacent steampunk world), he’s rude, he’s vain, he doesn’t care about other people as far as he can throw him (and he can throw them pretty far), and he’s so fucking emotionally constipated. He’s SOOOOO emotionally constipated. much of his character and behavior has been influenced by the circumstances of his upbringing—first neglected by both his father and his servants and never allowed to leave the estate he was cooped up in for fear of bringing shame to the family name by merely existing (and suffering many abuses within), then under the thumb of his conniving elder sibling tagetes who’s like a secondary antagonist and subject of the fourth book in the quad empire. he doesn’t trust people because he’s always been used and shit on. so he treats others in kind and never lets anyone close.

this backfires somewhat when he meets his butler amon who’s got so many issues and one of them being INTO hya’s asshole attitude and they start a sexual relationship which is wild bc why talk about feelings when you can call me my lord and choke on my dick ya feel.

hya’s also gnc (he only uses he/him and he doesn’t identify as being feminine or womanly but he does love to and does wear dresses and fashion that we would consider feminine). this is bc in galeré there’s 3 gender categories basically. there’s male, female, and a third one that i have yet to name. but it’s basically for all those we’d consider trans/nb/gnc/cross dressers/the like. hya falls into this category as well as other characters like tagetes, erecia (who’s butch basically) and rumex, etc.

aside from shopping his favorite hobbies are being left alone and reading. he’s very good with money and math and can balance a budget like no one’s business. he doesn’t care for religion at all (only sparing slight interest for his younger half brother aloe who’s deeply religious) and is generally pessimistic. his favorite drink is coffee specifically a fantasy blend in his world called misted ivory geisha. he only wears white and gold clothing as personal preference but he looks good in all colors (his wedding dress was red actually) and speaking of — he didn’t know his mother but he looks EXACTLY like her. (i’m overly fond of his mother but she won’t appear in canon; only in aus and in the series set in this same universe, alizath lol)

oh he’s also a taurus sun with a leo rising (cuz i like astrology and shit lol). he doesn’t like celebrating his birthday so he never shares the date but it’s also because his birthday takes place in the middle of the largest religious festival in galeré and that’s even more annoying to deal with lmao.

why he’s my favorite is for a variety of reasons but it also has to do with the fact that i want to be him and i want to fuck him lmao he’s the best of both worlds :)

[runeterrankhaleesi]

Earl Grey Tea (League of Legends) (V - Z)

Viktor:

Headcanons of Viktor with a Gender Neutral Automaton 

Vladimir:

Headcanons of Vladimir with a gender neutral Vampire 

Scenario of Viego and Vladimir in a Love Triangle

Headcanons of Vladimir with a Gender Neutral s/o who’s getting a Blood test

Headcanons of Vladimir with a Gender Neutral Summoner

Headcanons of Vladimir Going on a First Date with his Male s/o

Volibear:

Warwick:

Wukong:

Xayah:

Xerath:

Xin Zhao:

Yasuo:

Scenario of Sick Yasuo with a female healer

(NSFW) NSFW Headcanons of Yasuo with a Gender Neutral s/o 

Scenario of Yasuo with a Geisha

Headcanons of Odyssey Yasuo with a Trans Masc

Yone:

Scenario of Yone Reuniting with his s/o after being resurrected

(NSFW) NSFW Headcanons of Yone  with a Gender Neutral s/o

Headcanons of Battle Academia Yone confessing his Crush 

Yorick:

Yuumi:

Zac:

Zed:

(SFW AND NSFW) SFW and NSFW Headcanons of Zed with a Gender Neutral s/o 

(NSFW) NSFW Headcanons of Zed with his Shy and Virgin Female s/o

(NSFW) NSFW Scenario of Zed with his Female s/o 

Headcanons of Zed with a Female s/o who has Anemia ft. Kayn 

Scenario of Zed taking Care of his Sick Gender Neutral s/o

Headcanons of Zed and Kayn in a Father-Son Relationship 

Zeri:

Ziggs:

Zilean:

Zoe:

Scenario of Zoe with a Female braiding her Hair

Zyra:

[goetzjpvis]

3/4/24 "Funeral Parade of Roses" JPT3391

TW: discussions of sexual assault on someone under 18 / incest

This movie was a drug trip, both literally and metaphorically. We see Eddie relive her trauma from the past in memory through flashbacks, while also reliving it in the future, through foreshadowing.

The movie tells Eddie's story through 3 timelines, yet two of those timelines are never considered the "present". In the past, we can see strange and cryptic sequences in which I believe, poor Eddie is being molested by her. These drawn out flashbacks are shown when Eddie enters the art exhibition and is confronted with pieces about examining your true self, because 'you're always wearing a mask'. Perhaps 'the mask', in this case, is that Eddie is hiding her feelings behind the mask of being a "pretty girl"- could this imply that she went into the game of being a bar hostess because of her sexual trauma? Maybe she feels like sex is empowering because it allows her to regain control of the once terrible situation she was in- and that lead her to pass out. Movies that portray sexual trauma as they really are interest me very much. This may also be why the sex scenes that do exist in the movie are framed so awkwardly. Weird music plays, like almost clown music? I think, in a way, it shows that Eddie herself might not be truly enjoying sex, but is doing it to reclaim her person.

That being said, people being trans and people being gay is not necessarily a result of trauma. Each individual is different, but I believe that this is the case for Eddie. The movie itself also features tons of scenes, interview style (how avante garde 💢 and difficult to understand, at times!) about why the LGBT of Tokyo are the way they are. Some like being gay, some just 'feel like' being gay, and some cite it as 'because they were just born that way'! I like how the movie normalizes same sex relationships to the extent that straight people's relationships are? I thought this movie was really creative, anyways, with all it's camerawork, etc.

However, the movie does not hesitate to delve in the LGBT Tokyoites personal issues either! The weed parties (how scandalous), orgies, and the..... scene with the butt roses? What was that all about? I genuinely can't tell..... I think maybe since a rose could be a metaphor for gay guy, maybe it's normalizing gay people's existence? I mean, each guy is effectively indistinguishable from the either except for the rose. I think it might be the movie's way of saying that you can't really tell whose gay, but they do exist in numbers, and they walk among us.

Anyways, the hearse driving right into the camera at the beginning? Totally foreshadowing for a huge disaster. The protestors holding white boxes? Foreshadowing. The visions of death that Eddie had? Also foreshadowing. The voodoo dolls? Foreshadowing!! The title of the freaking MOVIE?!?! FORESHADOWING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some other comments:

The old drag queen, I read in an article, symbolizes the "old gay" of Japan. Interesting way to put it! So her squabble with Eddie is a metaphor for the changing times, I suppose. This is especially easy to see when you look at eddies clothes versus hers. I mean, she was dressed as a geisha for fucks sake! But also, i kind of find dressing as a geisha lowkey disrespectful bc those poor women were probably forced into sex slavery so whatever, I have no pity... LOL (am i so cruel?)

One more thing: Why did Eddie's dad kill himself when he realized he had sex with Eddie? Why was he comfortable doing it when Eddie was a child, but not an adult? Is it because when he left his family he tried to run from the past? He felt so ashamed hurting his own child he chose to abandon him instead of face his fears? Was seeing what his son turned into too much for him? Not sure, but I'm glad he's dead, what a freaking Oedipus movie! I mean god, even the stabbing of the own eyes thing? It's literally like the classic. It was really nice.

This movie reminds me of Lain.... Sigh.... it was a real headache.

Anyways, Let's All Love Eddie!

[mostly-mundane-atla]

I know that you explained why you made certain characters sex workers, but I think you need to realise that there is inherit racism in making east asian characters prostitutes, especially in the context of comfort girls

You can tell this anon is full of shit because they didn't even bring up "geisha girls", Japanese women who sold sex to American soldiers, calling themselves geisha to seem more exotic and exclusive, leading to the incorrect assumption that geisha are sex workers and feeding into the exotification of Japanese women.

Also that I'm an Indigenous person and they tried to gotcha me with a crime against humanity in which colonized people were lured away from their families under false pretenses and subsequently abused and sexually brutalized. Tell me you don't know about the boarding schools and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement without telling me.

They didn't even look outside of East Asia to point out the infamous scene in Full Metal Jacket or the existence of the musical Miss Saigon and how it not only plays with problematic tropes, but also did so in yellowface. Nor did they mention how Thailand is often known in the west as a child sex tourism destination, or all the jokes about adult Thai sex workers secretly being trans women who haven't gotten bottom surgery or them getting accidentally murdered and their dead bodies being an inconvenience.

And if Han Bangqing's The Sing-Song Girls of Shanghai being considered one of the best Chinese novels ever written, the sheer amount of Japanese media that depicts the yukaku or Yoshiwara specifically, and the elevation of kisaeng poet Hwang Jin-Yi to a quasi-mythical figure in Korea are anything to go by, East Asians are also fascinated by their histories around sex work.

This is probably the jinko shipper i blocked because she sent me an ask saying she wouldn't apologize for making hurtful assumptions about me. Guess she's still mad I made Jin "impure" for Zuko or whatever, despite Jin deserving so much more.

And anon, a quick word if you're still here,

Study this image. Memorize it by heart. Stop leaving anon asks on blogs you don't like run by people who face racism from this and many other fandoms on the daily. Block the tags. Go touch grass. Drink some fancy tea. Get professional help, if you need it. There is no shame in unpacking traumas with someone trained to guide you through it instead of taking it out on Native bloggers. It's generally even the encouaged, healthier way.

[admiralanarchy]

... Guess who forgot about their Tumblr until now?

That's right, it's me. I forgot my Tumblr. Again.

Anyway here's my second annual fic Year in Review!

As you can see, I was terribly productive as always and as passionate about Graphic Design as ever.

Now for the good stuff: The Fic Breakdown (down below) or simply found on my Ao3

First off, I started Genshin Impact in like, March.

And immediately had to write a bunch of stuff.

Dutiful Things;

A Noelle Centric Character Study (SFW, Oneshot)

Answering the age old question of why she is still just a maid

House of Cards

A Luckae Reconcilliation fic (NSFW-ish, Oneshot)

The boys get back together somewhat over a game of strip GI TCG

HeiKazuHei Anthology

New Anthology! (SFW- so far, 2/? Chapters)

So far a Cyberpunk 2077 AU, and a Geisha Kazuha AU

In Pursuit

A KazuHei Vampire Romance (NSFW, Oneshot)

Written for the shipweek and featuring Trans Heizou

A Case File on Meeting your Doom

A HeiKazuHei Canonverse exploration (SFW, Complete)

featuring the gradual progression of their relationship, pre-Vision hunt

Never fear, I've still been writing SettPhel, just not as much;

SettPhel Anthology

2 new works added (NSFW, 6/? Chapters)

The infamous Demon Sett and Corpse Bride AU twitter blurbs are now in the Anthology

Navori Dawn

Ionia Nights Neo Noir sequel (SFW, Complete)

A certain Golden Demon makes an appearance, and is interested in a certain Lunari Assassin.

Moonstealer

Ionia Nights prequel (SFW, Oneshot)

The events that started it all, and sealed the deal between Sett and the Lunari

Parallax

Loosely SettPhel in Spirit Blossom (Zine Fic, Oneshot)

Aphelios goes on a journey...

And lastly, the one random Homestuck fic I have worked on for nearly 2 years on and off...

Testing for Two

Dirk centric Portal AU (SFW, Oneshot)

Dirk needs to stop a brain clone of himself, set in Aperture Labs

As always, my work can be found here!

[fan-mans]

I haven't find any Heike HC's, can I ask you for some?

I was only planning on doing wii boxers, but I'll break my little rule for you :P

Ballet bby let's go!!

Heike dyes their hair grey only cause it looks cool. Previously, they've had lavender and baby pink hair too.

Like I mentioned in my music post about the super punch out crew, he has a deeper voice- probably on the higher side of baritone. He's not the biggest fan of it and wishes he sounded more androgynous.

Speaking of- though they present very femme, if they had to choose how to label themself in english they'd say non-binary. He likes the term bishonen to describe himself but it doesn't quite fit. No word they've searched for has fit really so Heike has been avoiding labels for their gender for the most part.

He's gotten some serious flak from the press and other boxing associations about his gender and whether or not he should be in the 'male' sector of the wvba (Even though the wvba doesn't actually divide between genders for fights specifically because of trans fighters like Heike)

Everyone is staunchly supportive of Heike though! From the janitors cleaning the locker rooms to head of the wvba Mr. Dream himself- the only people who don't are also openly transphobic... so

He uses he/they pronouns in english- They don't like being restricted to masculine pronouns and certainly not feminine ones. However, he does like feminine honorifics like Ma'am and Ms. over Mr. or Sir.

Has been a performer their entire life. His mom was a geisha and both parents did kabuki themselves. They were heavily expected to follow their parents footsteps as performers but dropped it the minute they tried boxing. His parents are still a bit heartbroken, but accept his choice.

Heike, like mac and peter, entered the wvba at 17. He'd been boxing for a little bit before then but only caught attention when he started doing tricks in the ring.

They've only used a very slight amount of teleportation magic in the ring, the rest of their skill lies in fancy footwork and hair tricks.

He's a bit of a prankster with the seattle Aran Ryan and Masked muscle.

They have a HUGE crush on Dragon Chan and are just head over heels for him. Hoy, Narcis, and Hurricane know this and tease him relentlessly.

Definitely a person who combines weird food, like fries in milkshakes or ketchup on mac n cheese.

Loves house and EDM music and makes some themself in their free time.

Has a youtube and a tiktok channel for his music, he also does nail and makeup tutorials as well as vlogging about being a dancer/kabuki performer.

Outside of boxing he does ballet and theater projects. They frequent the coffee shop Dragon works at just to hang and flirt with him.

Takes care of their hair like it's a baby- except they're very open with people touching it (As long as they wash their hands first)

Their closet is exclusively pink, purple, and blue - with a handful of grey and white for balance.

Does a lot of dumbass things- intentionally cause they think it's so fucking funny.

[euphoricfilter]

Hi this is “afab doesn't equal nonbinary” anon

I went to twitter to check what was being said and it’s apparent that two situations are being conflated here.

So I wanna start off by saying that I wrote my first ask thinking this discourse was about fanfiction headcannoning but it seems someone has brought real life discourse onto tumblr.

The emasculation comment now makes sense too.

To put it shortly, Jungkook in real life is being called a woman, she/her, and a lesbian. This asian male emascalization.

This is up there with calling real life black women “men”.

It’s disgusting and I don't stand by it even as a trans person.

It seems some people -unfortunately white queer people- can’t see how joking and imposing headcannons on real people is an issue.

The only time headcannons and characterization can be used is on fiction interpretation of people.

I’d like to think that most readers and authors have the literature competency to know that writing and reading original characterizations that have BTS’s faces slapped onto them doesn't give us the right to then project them onto the real life members.

This is one of the rules of IRL People fiction.

You don't present these projections as truth in the real world and you ABSOLUTELY DON'T send them said content.

The real Jungkook we know and love is a man who is secure in his masculinity to explore his femininity. But he can only do that if it’s done SOLELY by him. Sexuality and Gender Expression is a PERSONAL journey.

By even delving into his feminine side he is taking back his power as a asian man in a world where asian men have been historically emasculated. But this only works if he is the only one with the choice to do it. It has to be initiated by him or else its bigotry.

When we start imposing what and how we think he’s supposed to express himself then we are becoming proponents of white supremacy.

So just like a trans person doesn't have to tell the world they’re trans, cis people shouldn't either. Like I hope that’s a thing we all understand? Right?

By joking that “Jungkook is gender” or any other weird shit, we’re actively commodifying his identity and essentially playing into Orientalism which is racial violence.

And just like I stated about some nonbinary people reaffirming binaries, white queer people have this tendency to try and put expression into a binary and unfortantely alot of afab grapple onto asian men, especially ones in kpop as their “new gender expression just dropped” as of this isnt a real fucking person.

It comes off like those weird geisha or asian android holograms/advertisements in video games/movies like Cyberpunk and Blade Runner. It's Neo-Orientalism.

So yes FICTIONAL characters who have Jungkook’s name and face can be nonbinary but don’t assume IRL Jungkook’s gender identity until he says so himself.

Even then, if he does come out as trans, we shouldn’t make a spectacle out of it. We should treat Jungkook like before; like when we perceived them as cis.

So I stand by what I said in the first post when it comes to FICTION.

But this is my post to say that whats happening on twitter IS EMASCULATION as what the other anons have pointed out.

With the new context, they are absolutely correct but they’ve brought it to the wrong person which is the author of this blog.

I want to apologize to that anon cuz I essentially argued a VALID point that they weren't making but at the same time what they’re arguing in relation to twitter is not what’s happening on this blog.

We’re conflating two issues.

Essentially we’re both right:

Jungkook can be nonbinary with they/them pronouns in FICTION

Jungkook is a cis man who explores femininity in REAL LIFE AND IS BEING SUBJECTED TO EMASCULATION

And honestly I’m concerned about IRL and it should definitely be talked about.

that was sort of what i was trying to get across. in no way shape or form am i projecting fictional jungkook onto him in real life. they’re essentially 2 different entities, and nothing i’ve ever written about him, be it his gender identity or how he’s presented is me being like hey this is real life jungkook and this is how i feel about him, which i assumed was just a known fact from writer to reader.

me writing gender fluid jungkook isn’t there to emasculate jungkook as a person in real life and his own gender identity, because of course like everyone else i’m simply a fan who has surface level knowledge about his own person and obviously don’t know everything that he hasn’t shared with us

i don’t agree with everything that everyone says on twitter, and i know that what some people see as jokes can come off as more harmful than funny, especially within this context and how people view men or women, or just people in general based off race and problems that have been around for so long that no one apparently wants to talk about and solve

not only gender identity but i think sexuality plays into this too but i won’t go too deep into that because it’s a whole new conversation that we could talk about a lot.

what the anon said about what happens on twitter wasn’t wrong at all, but within the context of what i’ve written i personally don’t think it was fit within what they were trying to argue, especially with their first initial statement made which was me being disrespectful to nonbinary people and then bringing race into it.

yes, people on twitter have the tendency to say weird, harmful shit, and yes i don’t agree with all of it. but i’m talking a fictional story 🕺and nothing i’ve ever written is me saying that yes that’s exactly how i view the members of bts, because it’s not. and i’m not sitting here saying that junkook is this or that in real life. there’s two very different worlds, and i’m fully aware of my boundaries as a fan and my thoughts towards real life jungkook aren’t presented through fiction

i agree!! i think especially with what happens on twitter it’s an issue that needs to be brought up more otherwise we’re just gonna get no where and it’s like a constant cycle of people just projecting and being weird and kinda harmful and just sad 😭

it’s just the anon hadn’t brought it within the correct context. and i’d just assumed we all knew that just because i’ve written something, i’m aware that it’s not me thinking that real life jungkook is that way

and i hope that everyone who reads my stuff, or the fic if i evidently decide to upload it, know that i’m not projecting fictional jungkook onto real life jungkook. i’m very comfortable within myself as a fan, i know where to step and i know what’s wrong and never once would i want to purposefully subject jungkook to being emasculated when i’m aware it’s such a big issue for asian men and a topic that i personally think should be brought up more especially within the twitter community who have a tendency to say things without thinking about the underlying issue of what they’re posting about

anon wasn’t wrong about twitter but there were a few other points i wasn’t totally in agreement with, but i hope bringing up the topic is kinda a way for everyone to think about the issues the more.

and i apologise that if any moment it’s come across that i’ve tried to either emasculate or invalidated any of the members of bts through what i’ve said or written or what’s been posted on this page, because really that’s the the last thing i’d want

[enchanted-moura]

Muse is a meta-feminine archetype that is lesser known  in the Western world. She has foundational qualities similar to that of a Geisha in Japanese historical culture (as Geisha is a Muse)

The closest consistent example to Muse in the West is of a dancer or performance artist. She is a (and often THE) source of sexual and creative inspiration for the Masculine. Muse DELIGHTS in creative, sexual and sensual self-expression as well as being seen. She has a special spiritual/sexual relationship and allure that is always active.

She excels at non-attachment and is incredibly trans-personal in aura. Her energy radiates like a starlet. She dances for herself AND the gods. All the space of heaven is hers. - Rion Kati

[mogai-headcanons]

Smiley Face from Identity V is a disabled gay trans man bear with PTSD!

The Ripper is a disabled bisexual genderfluid man with schizophrenia!

Soul Weaver is a disabled femme bisexual nonbinary woman with GAD!

Geisha is a pansexual woman with PTSD!

Wu Chang is a gay man with depression and PTSD!

Photographer is a uranic transmasculine man with PTSD and HPD!

Mad Eyes is a disabled gay man with OCD!

Evil Reptilian is an asexual neutrois man with BPD!

Bloody Queen is a pansexual woman with PTSD!

Guard 26 is a robotgender person with amnesia!

The Violinist is a bi gay genderpunk man with synesthesia and PTSD!

The Sculptor is a disabled neurodivergent lesbian girl with GAD!

The Undead is a vulcuric horrorcosmium nonbinary man with SZPD!

The Breaking Wheel are gay and canonically have dwarfism!

The Naiad is an aroace demigirl with Tourette's syndrome!

The Wax Artist is a trans man!

His sister Wax Woman is a bisexual trans woman!

The Nightmare is an asexual demifluid transneutral person with DID and PTSD!

dni link

[hellsdaydreamwastaken]

The point is that he's attracted to her - the gorgeous Oriental "Geisha Girl" (yes I know that's Japan and she's Chinese - that's the point - he sees her a generic "mysterious Oriental), not the actual human who just happens to be from East Asia that HE really is. It's really nothing to do with "trapping" or "trans panic" and that is so reductive especially when there are like a million actually transphobic 90s movies to go after why pick on poor M Butterfly which did NOTHING wrong?

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #106 (Week 2 of year 3):

“Three great abstract artists died in 1944: Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Hilma von Klint”.

Even though it’s only the second week of January, I already discovered one of my favorite documentaries of 2023: Beyond The Visible - Hilma af Klint. Like Vivian Maier, Hilma was a female genius who lived in obscurity her whole life and left behind a body of work that equals and surpasses most of her contemporaries. Discovered 70 years after her death, she is now considered perhaps Sweden’s most important artist - ever. This astounding biography details her groundbreaking legacy, as well as her extraordinary life. The first abstract artist of the modern area, all her 2,500 painting and voluminous notebooks of 250,000 pages miraculously remained intact. She was also a mystic, a spiritualist, a feminist and a vegetarian. Until our age, history was busy erasing all traces of female participation from its re-telling. Hers is one happy reversal.(Slideshow Above).

I saw an exhibition of her large canvases at the Tel Aviv Museum in 2019 and they were awe-inspiring. 10/10. 

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High maintenance, another biographical documentary. About the great Israeli sculptor and environmental artist Dani Karavan, known for his large site-specific monuments. It followed him around before his death at 90, as he travels to some European locations of his earlier, magnificent memorials, and as he re-assess his art. An uncompromising and head-strong artist with angry political views who had no patience for fools or fascists. He was also dealing with declining acuity and memory loss during that time. With Wim Wenders. The opening scene. 7/10.

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Hit the road, an unforgettable Iranian road movie written and directed by Panah Panahi, Jafar Panahi’s son, in his feature debut. There are four people driving, but we don’t know who they are or where they are going and why. One of them is a precarious six-year old, the driver does not speak much, and the parents behave strangely. Slowly we discover more about them, but the background story goes unexplained.

It’s best to watch this without knowing more. By the heartbreaking end we are completely captivated. The trailer discloses too much.

The acting of the little boy is probably one of the best child acting I’ve ever seen. 9/10 - Best film of the week.

🍿 

"...Even with my eyes wide open, I can't see anything..."

Zaitochi is a traveling blind swordsman, one of Japan’s longest film series. The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003) is my first Zaitochi film, and my third by actor-director Takeshi Kitano. A tribute to the Samurai films of the 60′s, it is full of rivers of blood spraying all over whenever somebody is stabbed and killed, which is all the time. Also, including a subplot of a cross-dressing, maybe trans, geisha. It ends with a joyful and lengthy community tap dancing party.

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First watch: “Tony, do you ever think about death? - Fuck off!”

The coming of age British Billy Elliot about an 11-year-old coal miner’s son who discovers that he loves ballet. A period piece about class, grief & masculinity. The boy who play Billy was wonderful. 9/10.

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Another first watch: Before Sunrise, the first part of Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Trilogy’. A romantic story of two young people who meet on a train bound for Vienna. An interesting, minimalist concept that I didn’t love, because I couldn’t feel the connection between immature cynic Ethan Hawke and stereotypical-‘sweet’ French blond Julie Delpy. I wish they were played by other people. I will watch an updated version of this with more persuasive actors. Should I watch the other two parts?

🍿

2 by Zhang Yimou:

🍿 Raise the red lantern, the epic saga from the Chinese Warlord Era, tells a tragic story of a young ‘fourth Mistress’ to a very wealthy patriarch. The magnificent Gong Li and the other three concubines cannot leave the palace. They must wait each in their own opulent quarters until the master of the house (whose face is never seen) calls on the one he chooses to spend the night with. Restrained, tradition-bound and transgressive. 8/10. 

🍿 So I wanted to revisit a couple more of Yimou’s masterpieces, ‘Red Sorghum’, or ‘Qiu Ju’ or ‘To live’. Unfortunately, I picked instead his first English-language film The Great Wall, thinking, well, it was co-written by Tony Gilroy, it co-starred Andy Lau and Willem Dafoe, it was the most expensive Chinese movie ever produced, Etc. But it was a horrible disappointment. It’s a weak cartoon fantasy for young males about two mercenary amigos fighting an army of millions CGI alien monsters. Part of the trend to create spectacular Hollywood blockbusters which cater to the Chinese marketplace, the movie made $335 million and still lost money. 1/10 piece of shit. That’s why I don’t like and don’t watch special effect action movies.

🍿

2 by Ernst Lubitsch:

🍿 “Pure hooey!…”

Design for Living, a pre-code screwball comedy about - let’s face it - an explicit a ménage à trois between bohemian Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and Miriam Hopkins. That Hopkins was a modern, open-minded woman who wants to love and have sex with both men was a rarity and a delight.

🍿 His classic romantic comedy The shop around the corner, the original concept used later in ‘You’ve got mail’. It’s interesting how much appeal was there in Hollywood of that time to wax nostalgic about Austro-Hungarian life, and the reverence toward the class of the shopkeeper, aka, business owner .

🍿

Miss April ("Fröken April”), a lighter-than-air Swedish comedy from 1958 directed not by Ingmar Bergman but by one Göran Gentele. It features some venerable actors like Jan Kulle, Per Oscarsson and especially Gunnar Björnstrand who stars as an aristocratic, stuffy older banker (who, let’s face it, never “been in love” i.e. “never had sex”) and who falls for a cute, young ballet dancer. Silly & childish, and as enjoyable as a trip down memory lane to a sunny world that doesn’t exist any more. 7/10.

🍿 

2 with Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam:

🍿 The original Hitchcockian 1962 Cape fear, with a sinister score by Bernard Herrmann. An uncomfortable story of threat and terror. The word “rape” and the act itself were not explicitly seen, but strongly felt as the middle class fear that a crazed psychotic sexual stalker is coming for our young daughters. 5/10.

🍿 Rabid Martin Scorsese made the 1991 Cape Fear remake more menacing, his buff, tattooed rapist Max Cady more maniacal and the whole story much more sadistic. The best element for me was the re-done score, and the anti-lawyers message. 4/10.

🍿

Assholes: A Theory, a Canadian documentary film, based on a book by professor of philosophy Aaron James. An asshole "allows himself to enjoy special advantages in social relations out of an entrenched sense of entitlement that immunizes him against the complaints of other people." Even though it was made in 2019, and touched upon many political, sociological & psychological trends, it didn’t mention even once the biggest asshole of them all.

🍿

The Matador, an unconvincing crime thriller starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear. An unlikely friendship between two vastly different men, a milquetoast middle-class salesman and a burnt-out assassin who meet at a hotel bar in Mexico City. A male fantasy of what a life of a contract hit man is. 4/10.

🍿

4 Vimeo-type Shorts:

🍿 In Ruby, an elderly Irish couple, Len and Ruby, celebrate their 40th anniversary. Len has a history of of odd and outlandish gifts. Ruby hopes that this year will be different and that he'll arrange something "nice and normal".

🍿Sister, a different, Oscar-Nominated Stop-Motion Animation by young Chinese director Siqi Song. About being a single child. The figures are made out of wool.

🍿 “If Tuvsho was a superhero, this would be her origin story." I Am Tuvsho, a short Mongolian documentary about a female sumo wrestler.

🍿 School Portrait, Directed by Nick Scott, about a school photographer in a bad mood.

🍿

Bobcat Goldthwait’s satirical indie World's Greatest Dad started well but ended in a mess. Robin Williams is an amateur novelist with a rotten teenager son. But then this sex-obsessed, nasty kid auto-asphyxiate while masturbating, and father covers it up as a ‘regular’ suicide. What a perverted premise. Too bad it didn’t work. 3/10

🍿

After discovering Coraline last week, I decided to watch the parody of it on The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror XXVIII (29S 4E). Somehow edgy (because of Halloween?...). Including similar parodies of The Exorcist, Sausage party, and self-cannibalism trops. Alrighty then!

🍿  

Throw-back to the art project:

Chinese princess (还珠格格 HuanZhuGeGe) Adora

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(My complete movie list is here)

[ideelicious]

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🌸 Memoirs of a Geisha 👘

SURPRISED? I am too! For this Geisha photoshoot, my inspiration came from a student that I work with in the Philadelphia School District who identifies as Trans-male and is an apprentice to a drag king. I once had a conversation with him/them about their transition process and the fears that come with it. Feelings of being unloved, rejected (by friends, family, church, and society), disowned, unsafe, and unable to find a place that they belong. I wanted to go out of my way to show this youth that there is someone who will understand, accept, support, and love them for who they choose to be and that there is a place out there where they belong. Tbh, I experienced a small bit of what my student is going through by doing this drag photoshoot because this is an uncharted territory for me. But it was a beautiful transformation & process and I had a lot of fun thanks to my photographer and make up artist at Cocomo Studios. Even now, I am nervous of uploading these photos onto Social Media but I’m mustering up my strength after witnessing yours, E.D.! E.D., this is all for you! For anyone seeing this post, if you like what you see Shantay you Stay and if you don’t like what you see then you can quietly Sashay Away. よろしくお願いしますー 💖

P.S. The very last photo is a blooper shot. But my photographer and I laughed when I did a duck face. She thought I looked extremely Kawaii and decided to put it in the final edits. It was quite a precious moment between us 😘

#geisha #芸者 #oiran #花魁 #japan2023 #sakura #cherryblossom #花見 #kimono #photoshoot #tokyo #japan #momoka

[laisun03]

 How Is Race Constructed Around the World?

Concept 1: Colorism Example: Beyonce’s “Brown Skin Girl” music video

Beyonce’s music video “Brown Skin Girl” celebrates and uplifts brown-skinned Black women. The video showcases a range of skin tones, from light brown to dark brown, emphasizing the beauty in all shades. This example highlights colorism, which is the preference for lighter skin tones over darker skin tones. This concept is prevalent in many cultures, including the United States, where lighter-skinned individuals are often seen as more desirable or successful.

Concept 2: Stereotypes Example: Apu from The Simpsons

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the fictional character from The Simpsons, is a stereotypical portrayal of South Asians. The character has a heavy accent, runs a convenience store, and is obsessed with money. This example demonstrates how stereotypes can be harmful and perpetuate negative perceptions of certain cultures. It also highlights how media can perpetuate harmful stereotypes.

Concept 3: Racialization Example: The “model minority” myth

The “model minority” myth is the idea that Asian Americans are a successful minority group who have achieved the American Dream through hard work and perseverance. This example highlights racialization, which is the process of assigning a racial identity to a group of people. This concept demonstrates how racialization can be harmful and perpetuate stereotypes, as it creates a false narrative that all Asian Americans are successful and ignores the challenges that many Asian Americans face.

Concept 4: Intersectionality Example: Laverne Cox’s advocacy for trans rights

Laverne Cox is an actress and advocate for trans rights. Her advocacy highlights the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality. As a Black trans woman, she faces discrimination based on her race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. This example demonstrates how different aspects of a person’s identity can intersect and impact their experiences and opportunities.

Concept 5: Whiteness Example: “All Lives Matter” movement

The “All Lives Matter” movement is a response to the Black Lives Matter movement and highlights the concept of whiteness. Whiteness is the social and cultural norm in the United States and is often used to perpetuate systemic racism. The “All Lives Matter” movement ignores the specific experiences and challenges faced by Black people and reinforces the idea that white lives are more valuable.

Concept 6: Cultural Appropriation Example: Katy Perry’s geisha performance

In 2013, Katy Perry performed at the American Music Awards dressed as a geisha. This performance highlights the concept of cultural appropriation, which is the use of elements from a minority culture by members of a dominant culture without permission or respect. This example demonstrates how cultural appropriation can be harmful and perpetuates negative stereotypes and perceptions of a culture.