#infinite diversity in infinite combinations

[earlgraytay]

I think this article is relevant to a lot of the very stupid, wanky debate that I keep seeing going around my dash about TEENS SELF-DIAGNOSING WITH DID. It is a funny quirky article written by a literary fiction author about how one of her characters got into her head during the pandemic and started dispensing Wry Life Advice, disappearing as soon as the stressful situation ended.

there's this bit that I think @pervocracy wrote, about how if your culture only had two words for 'fear', and one of them was "mild nervousness about passing a test" and the other was "the bone-chilling horror of being chased by zombies in a graveyard", that keeps you from talking about a whole range of human experiences. if you have crippling social anxiety, or you have an uncommon phobia, or any kind of fear that isn't 'mild nerves' or 'IMPENDING PHYSICAL DOOM'? you're stuck choosing between two words that do not suit your experience to describe what's going on.

I think "the experience of having an entity in your head that is Not You" is actually remarkably common- way more than 1%- especially among writers/artists/actors/fandom folks, and especially among anyone who's going through a severe physical or mental stress. an entity like this can exist in varying degrees of independence-from-you and interest-in-the-outside-world. Sometimes this entity is a comforting presence, other times it's a malevolent one. some disappear as quickly as they appear, and others stick with you for your whole life.

A lot of historical cultures had a framework to explain this kind of thing. "This is your daemon." "This is your guardian angel." "You're hearing spirits; you're possessed." Mainstream Western culture rejected these explanations, and in some cases, rightfully fucking so. But we don't really have a framework to replace them.

So if you are experiencing this phenomenon, because of how our society has decided to handle it, you really only have two words for it- "imaginary friend", or "DID alter". in the vast majority of cases neither of these words are appropriate, in the same way that severe social anxiety isn't Test Jitters or IMMINENT FEAR OF YOUR LIFE.*

there is a wide range of human experiences here being collapsed into 2 points. but people who are having that experience are going to need the words to describe it. if you're a published litfic author and the experience is over, you can write an article about it and just come off as a Little Quirky. if you're a teenager on TikTok, the experience is ongoing, and the only word you're being offered is DID? you're gonna take that word.

we need more words for this range of experiences. we need more people to be able to talk about this range of experiences- including DID, which is a very different experience from Brain Octopus up there- without getting tarred as Bad Psycho Crazy. we need to stop arguing whether or not you can only have this state of being from Severe Enough Trauma; we need to be able to accept it as a natural part of how humans are without judgement or shame.

*(Not saying that having alters is the same thing as ZOMBIES IN A GRAVEYARD; it's the Wide Range Of Intensity And Experiences that I'm comparing.)

[spocksbestfriend]

Here are Kirk and Spock’s GAYEST moments since LGBTQ+ pride month is upon us.

The last photo is an edit which I love. And they were ✨ shipmates ✨.

[maeraevokaya]

15000% disagree with some of the fandom's comments stating that the Spock x Uhura relationship in the reboot is "compulsary heterosexuality" or "forced heterosexuality". The smart and driven Black woman falling in love with the intelligent and reserved half alien guy is just another slice of the diversity pie.

Remember the IDIC, people.

[estherwordnerd]

Just had a long convo with my friend about deliberate queer rep and i realised, one of the reasons I love Star Trek is because it's a queer show and you can tell they always wanted to be even when they couldn't explicitly. It's Gene Roddenberry refusing to remake the pilot without Spock, the most queer and gnc coded character in TOS even though the network wanted to drop him and Number One. It's having Jim Kirk say 'why Mr Spock..you almost make me believe in miracles" to him and doing nothing to stop the rumours of 'the premise' after Amok Time. It's including trills and shapeshifters, because this is sci fi and why should aliens conform to human ideas of gender and sexuality? It's having Beverly Crusher say 'maybe one day our capacity to love won't be so limited'. It's having Seven of Nine kiss another woman. It's having queer people in the cast and writers room before there was any widespread need or expectation for them. It's the new series finally being able to explicitly include queer stories as normalised and welcomed, but still unique. It's some of the actors being able to turn around and say that yes, in retrospect their character would have been queer. It's not a perfect franchise, but it has been going on long enough that they can improve and include things they couldn't before. It was always about pushing boundaries and embracing infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Star Trek IS a queer show.

[captaincrusher]

Some trekkies really need to learn the difference between "This show/movie isn't for me" and "This show/movie is bad".

Also please step out of your filter bubbles where everyone of course agrees that whatever you dislike is just bad. You'd be surprised how many trekkies are out there that enjoy all sorts of characters and tv shows and movies.

They have blorbos you can't even fathom.

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

IDIC: Star Trek and LGBT+🖖🏳️‍🌈

In case anybody needed to hear this reminder today:

Let's not forget what long time Star Trek writer (TOS, TAS, TNG) David Gerrold had to say about Star Trek and the LGBT+ community:

" Well, here's a little message for the pearl-clutching drama queens . . . 

Get over yourselves.

I was there when Gene Roddenberry promised to include gay people in Star Trek. I heard him say it to fans. I heard him say it to staff.

It was a promise he was never allowed to keep because of studio homophobia.

I know why it didn't happen. I know who's responsible for thirty years of keeping gay Trek characters in the closet.

But I know what Gene intended. He intended to include everyone.

If Star Trek hadn't been all-inclusive, not only would there not have been tribbles,

There wouldn't have been George Takei,

There wouldn't have been Bill Theiss' costumes

Or Mike Minor's art direction.

There wouldn't have been Merritt Butrick,

and at least a dozen other people who've made major contributions to the show.

But you don't get to define Star Trek, that's Gene Roddenberry's job." - David Gerrold

🖖🏳️‍🌈 IDIC

We have always been here. 

[adastra-sf]

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Ad Astra always supports our trans friends and welcomes trans people into our programs. At its heart, we believe science fiction is a community, beautiful in its diversity and stronger because of it. IDIC forever.

Today we honor the memory of lives lost to anti-transgender violence.

[panickedpansexualprincess]

Had another one of those days where I felt like playing with pride symbols, and the IDIC symbol from Star Trek just felt PERFECT for pride! If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a Vulcan symbol! IDIC stands for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, and the acceptance thereof, and that is something that the LGBTQ+ community really needs to embody!

I know this doesn't cover all the flags that exist, but hopefully this is a good spectrum, spread out across three posts. If there's a flag I've missed, and you'd like to see it, please feel free to let me know. I hope you enjoy!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

[thresholdbb]

Let’s talk about some of the problems with Star Trek. There are obviously real-world, behind-the-scenes reasons for many of the things we don’t like about Star Trek, and they’re usually pretty messed up. A very non-comprehensive list includes but certainly is not limited to:

Geordi being bad with women - racism

Geordi and Worf being the people of color on the cast but in heavy make-up - racism/othering

Harry Kim not getting a promotion - racism (see: model minority)

Klingons all being black/dark skinned (pre ~2001 at least cause that’s mostly what I know) but sometimes played by white actors - racism (see: blackface)

Chakotay’s whole deal - racism (see: noble savage)

The Kazon not assimilated by the Borg - anti-black racism

Deanna Troi not wearing a uniform - sexism

Seven of Nine not wearing a uniform - sexism

Jadzia getting killed off - sexism

Ezri’s poor reception - sexism again

Miles/Keiko/Kira’s baby situation - theres a post going around calling it misogynistic and it’s a pretty good take

B’Elanna being reduced to angry Klingon - Racism and sexism double whammy (see: spicy Latina)

Keiko being perceptually reduced to nagging wife even though that’s not what her actions necessarily portray - racism and sexism double whammy again

Beverly Crusher’s trill episode - homophobia

DS9 flirting with different expressions of sexuality (many characters) but barely committing - homophobia

Pike’s fate - ableism

DS9 Augments - ableism

Later iterations of Spock losing the Jewish coding - antisemitism

I’ll stop the list there since we can keep pulling examples out as nauseam and find examples of any of the -isms, any of the -phobias either within the media itself or behind the scenes but especially in some of the fan spaces. There’s plenty of ethnic/religious/gender/sexuality coding, erasure, contradictions, and many other things that can be pulled out and dissected in ~900 hours of a franchise made over 6 decades. (Keep adding examples if you want, since mine do not cover the whole spectrum of the franchise and barely even touch alien species that also have issues.)

Star Trek is undeniably made in a capitalist Hollywood production company, so white supremacy, heteronormativity, and dominant cultural tendencies usually end up dictating what gets put on air. Hollywood has a dominant thread of white supremacy throughout its history, so even intentionally trying to diversify staff and talent is difficult because of the systems feeding into Hollywood or other industries/institutions. There can also be a great deal of privilege working in the favor of successful artists - not always but something to consider.

Additionally, Trek presents itself as a post-scarcity, futuristic utopia, and sometimes things stick out to us if they don’t meld with our personal understanding of what that would look like.

I’m sure we’ve all heard a little about the old production schedules, long days, demanding schedules, rotating writers, rotating directors, etc etc. It has been proven that implicit bias can drive decisions, especially when people are busy. Even if the production isn’t explicitly motivated by these things, they seep into the work. The -isms and -phobias are sometimes reduced to characteristics of a person/piece of media, but it’s sometimes more useful to characterize actions instead of people since it allows better conversation about the topics. Sometimes it is intentional and explicit, sometimes it’s not. The intention does not affect the impact, so how a storyline or message lands on the audience/viewer is important. Science fiction in particular is a genre that makes social commentary, so by design it lends itself to deeper analysis.

We also can’t forget that the shows are products of their respective times, and a lot of what was shown was pushing against cultural boundaries. For the most part, the franchise has tried to explicitly be diverse, but they are bound to make missteps in other areas, intentional or not. No piece of media is perfect or above scrutiny.

Now, all of that said, there are many schools of thought for how to analyze media. I’m not gonna give a whole crash course in literary criticism but we can look at it from a continuum of different perspectives. We can wonder what the production meant when they made it/what happened off camera (author intentionality), we can draw from the piece itself (in universe), we can focus on how the media was received either in its cultural context or outside (reader response), or we can do some combination of the three. No media exists in a vacuum, so they all end up working together to make the work.

My main point is this: it is ok to pick your analytical perspective. You can chose to ignore the real-world contributions and intentionality when analyzing media. If people want to stay strictly in universe to come up with reasons why something did or did not happen, that’s ok. If people want to focus on what happened behind the scenes and how that affected the work, fine. If people are just focused on how it made them feel, also great. Just maybe don’t get all worked up because someone is analyzing media from a different viewpoint or someone has a different take than you do.

[headphones-lifeform]

Rainbow IDIC symbol & sculpting tutorial

@your-emotional-support-vulcan I hope this is good enough.

Please excuse the bad lighting.

This is the finished result. If you wish to see the tutorial, click the "read more".

I used white polymer clay for this project, but any variety of oven-bake clay or air-dry clay should work.

Make a torus shape with your clay.

Flatten your torus. Ignore gathered dust- it will be painted over.

Gently shape your torus. Allow yourself to make imperfections.

Prepare the triangular shape. Cut a hole in the torus to insert it.

Insert your triangle.

Add the inner circle. If you wish to make your IDIC into a pendant, make a small hole at its top.

Depending on the type of clay used, bake your IDIC or let it dry for the neccesary amount of time.

As you can see, my IDIC broke into individual pieces shorty after it hardened. Of this happens to you, do not glue them together yet- having the individual pieces is useful during the painting process.

Sand your IDIC with rough sandpaper before painting to smoothen its shape. Paint it in colours of your choice and apply varnish.

If you want to make it into a pendant, insert a chain link into the hole made during the sculpting stage.

Now you have a custom IDIC symbol!

[laukrskegg]

I don't care for episode today.. But, BUT Sybok?!

Sybok, Sybok, Sybok!! In my sweet galaxy, effing yes!

[spocksbestfriend]

My greatest wish in life is to have a Vulcan girlfriend or wife who is also my dominant. Dominate me, Queen! Yes, I know Vulcans aren’t real. Thinking about it makes me depressed. Please let me dream. 😭

[hard-times-paramore]

Titlecard and index for my Star Trek AU, The Captain's Chair, which I present on this blog through a series of drawings.

Three years after his Delta radiation accident, Captain Christopher Pike returns to the stars, in command of the starship USS Progress. Following his injury, he became paralyzed and lost his voice - so he counts with the help of a Betazoid interpreter who reads his thoughts out loud, as well as a caretaker, his old friend Dr. Philip Boyce. With their support, Pike takes his crew into new, unexplored regions of deep space.

Pike was never a man to sit around in idilic peace doing nothing. He'd much rather sit around doing something.

Intro | Ao3 Link | All posts with ID | Index | Asks

[astercontrol]

I am three things: tron fan, trek fan, and freaking pattern recognition software

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

In case anyone thought I was joking or embellishing when I said I had an IDIC poster hanging on the wall in my (mini UN) classroom:

Receipts.

IDIC, baby.🖖🏳️‍🌈 It's what we're all about.

[odva-vuhlkansu]

Some idic symbol themed backgrounds I created as backgrounds for my calligraphy. I'm doing commissions with these backgrounds now on my etsy.