#racism mention tw

[studies-in-heathenry]

I am definitely also implicating myself when I say that heathens, especially American heathens, need to be more active in opposing racism within the heathen community. Our symbols and gods are being used as signs of hate and if we want to avoid losing the entire practice to hate groups, we need to not just say we’re anti-racist but also demonstrate it.

[absul]

i feel like wayyyy too many ppl think of transmisogyny as a ~special word~ just for trans women, and is why they then try to make up a ~special word~ for trans men

transmisogyny is simply the combined oppression of women and trans ppl. women are oppressed on the basis that they are women. trans ppl are oppressed on the basis that they are transgender. it’s similar to why the word misogynoir exists.

obviously, when one person is a part of multiple minorities, the bigotry that they face from both/all sides combine in incredibly nasty ways.

there is no ‘special‘ word like this for trans men not because they don’t face specific forms of transphobia(obviously they do), but because men are not oppressed solely on the basis that they are men. a point i see a lot in these discussions is ‘but men of color are oppressed!!‘ and the answer is yes, they are, because they are people of color. the word you are looking for for the oppression that moc face already exists. you’re thinking of racism.

not even the majority of terfs truly believe ‘CIS men bad,‘ when they say things like that they undeniably just mean trans women. terfs will absolutely not hesitate to buddy up with transmisogynistic men as long as they hype up their egos. similarly, they will side with fash men for their transmisogynistic views AND their eurocentric(read: racist) beauty standards, because the two go hand-in-hand, believe it or not

again. trans men are oppressed because they are transgender. not because they are specifically men. men are not oppressed on the sole basis that they are men. the word to use is still transphobia, because the oppression they face is because they are trans.

[anti-spop]

as i said before, i believe that spop got inspired by zuko's redemption arc when they developed catra's. one thing that makes me think that is the "hair arc" both characters go through. or at least that's smth fans love to compare and i wanted to dissect here.

i think with the exception of s5, catra's hair arc is less extreme in the first four seasons. catra took out her hair tufts in s4. i've seen ppl point out that it was bc shadow weaver would touch that specific part of her hair to mess with her, so catra removed it altogether. regardless, her hair is also visibly straightened (and longer?) in s4, unlike it's "wilder" appearance in s1-3.

but then s5 comes around... and catra's hair is forcibly cut. she doesn't have the choice to do that. even then, ppl still compare catra's hair arc to zuko's, likely how the hair looks itself. but let me tell you why they're different.

zuko is always the one who changes his hair.

in book 1, zuko and iroh are forced to hide from the fire nation. zuko is the one who cuts his own hair. it grows throughout book 2, which also indicates zuko's growth as a person. he's starting to realize things. at one point he even starts accepting living in the earth kingdom with his uncle. but then azula comes along and she convinces zuko to return home and restore his honor. while yes, azula manipulated him, zuko still made the choice to go back to the fire nation when he could very well not to. he betrayed uncle iroh and katara (and the gaang overall), and with that he returned home.

in book 3, zuko's hair was mainly tied up, probably indicating the control of the fire nation over him. i vaguely remember his hair being loose whenever he went out and visited his uncle in prison, or when he was with mai (though in some situations with her, his hair was still tied up). finally, zuko lets it free, he faces his father and decides to join the avatar. regardless of influences, because they were there, zuko always had the choice to do differently. that's why his hair arc is so meaningful. in fact, his hair is never the same in all three seasons of atla.

catra's hair arc is not the same. i think it's implied that she cut it even more after being chipped by horde prime, considering it looks even shorter than when she was brainwashed. still, catra didn't have the choice here. and if you headcanon her as a woman of color (which nate somewhat "confirmed"), then this is only more insensitive and not well thought out. they never touch on that specific part of her arc. catra is never shown to be upset about her hair. if anything, it only makes her look "cute" and a "soft uwu baby" (when she rlly isn't). i hate that fans who apparently love the fact catra is a woc never call this out. everyone seems happy with short-haired catra.

the only ppl i've seen that actually criticized this decision are spop crits/antis like myself. i could be wrong, but fans rarely criticize this show overall.

anyway, yeah, i'm tired of everyone trying to tell me catra and zuko are the same. their hair arcs are not at all alike.

[golvio]

So I've got...some complicated feelings about this. Some of them more analytical, some of them more personal. I get pretty long-winded when I think out loud about this guy, so I'm putting my thoughts behind a cut.

On the one hand, I definitely noticed that TotK's Ganondorf was more preoccupied with his appearance, not necessarily in a stereotypical "vain villain who never shuts up about how beautiful they are" or a "gym bro who spends more time checking himself out in the mirror than actually working out" sense, but in a "he's very conscious about the image he projects and wants to maintain careful control of how other people see him at all times" way. I'm glad I've got confirmation that I wasn't just seeing things. Also, that TotK discusses how he uses attractiveness to manipulate people, as implied with how he portrayed "Princess Zelda," had some really interesting implications about his life as the Gerudo king and his personality and skills in reading people that Nintendo never followed up on, because god forbid we give this character any recognizable traits that could inspire curiosity about who he is as a person or discussions about gender roles in ways that aren't "He pretends to be a cute little white girl because he's an Evil Degenerate."

On the other hand...it kind of contributes to the way I've been weirded out by how the game itself treated him and how certain fans treat him. The game itself made a lot of effort to dehumanize and un-person this man as a character even while making his human form visually appealing. The fans themselves are celebrating this a validation of their seeing him as a sex symbol, calling him "a bi icon" because both men and women are attracted to him, etc.

Like...there's all this discussion about Ganon's appearance and how sexy people find him, but not much consideration of what *he* might want, or how he feels, or what he's attracted to. I know that's kind of a goofy question to ask about a fictional character who can't really have opinions on things beyond what the writers give him, but...it's just kind of...objectifying?

For example, I don't take any issue with headcanons that Ganon might be bisexual, or at least enjoys the attention he gets from people of any gender, since I've got my own headcanons about him being queer, but I do get weirded out by the assumption that just because both men and women find him attractive that means he *must* reciprocate their desires and be bisexual. It's the same thing that weirds me out about fan art pre-release that portrayed him as this airheaded himbo jock because fans wanted to ogle his sexy body without having to deal with his intelligence, his anger, his negative qualities, or his potential dangerousness.

There's this tendency to objectify him in both the game, whether as a "monster" to slay to prove the player/Link's mettle as a hero, or as a trophy to symbolize Rauru's dominon over the frontier territories of his kingdom. And then there's a tendency to objectify him in fandom, presenting him as a pinup devoid of his original personality, or trying to shape him into a "good Ganondorf" that the fans would actually like to be friends with by sanding off all his sharp edges so they can access his body, which they find beautiful, without having to deal with the parts that might complicate that or that they'd dislike.

Fandom as a whole seems to have a blind spot when it comes to the objectification of masculine characters, particularly because it's like, "Oh, BOYS can't be objectified! Only pretty (white) ladies can get objectified!" Nevermind that objectification is a phenomenon that's super commonly done to nonwhite men in tandem with the more overt and violent dehumanization that comes with racism, especially men with darker skin. And there doesn't seem to be much of an interest in exploring what that might mean for Ganondorf as a character, whether just as discussing double-consciousnesses and exploiting expectations to manipulate people, or to explore how being treated like a piece of meat or a pretty ornament who exists only for other people's pleasure can really warp a person.

I guess...this is something I've been thinking about since playing Slay the Princess, which asks a lot of questions about objectification, how people's complexity can be dismissed and ignored when they're shoved into the Love Interest archetype, and how being limited in this way in the eyes of others can seriously hurt and warp someone even if it's being done in the "nicest," most paternalistic and "benevolent" way possible. It presents the core relationship as being a fundamentally unequal power balance; no matter how fearsome and terrifying the imprisoned party becomes, she is always at your mercy, she lives and dies based on the choices you make, and the "nicer" routes are potentially just her saying what she knows you want to hear and auditioning for your sympathy because like it or not you're her warden. It also forces you to ask yourself what makes you come to love somebody, and to consider the possibility of loving somebody while also acknowledging their thorny, messy, contradictory, and dangerous parts. I wish I could see more works considering this for Ganon, as opposed to regurgitating tired old "Destroy This Mad Brute" tropes or turning him into a "safe," palatable, easy-to-digest love interest.

[uncanny-tranny]

The idea that Black people are predisposed to hating queer people is Anti-Black rascism. The people most hurt by these assertions are not only Black people but queer Black people as well. You are not saving queer people by throwing Black people under the bus, and you'll never save queers by doing that, so just stop.

[just-antithings]

Do antis have any fucking idea how many people's parents, co-workers and especially fucking bosses are just straight-up homophobes and transphobes and racists and shit?

They want people to be hate crimed.

[refabled]

on the topic of racism.........

your local swana woc has to put in her two cents of course and say that fantasy racism is a Choice. when I DM, I'm very particular about how to engage with such things, and if i'm being honest, the heavy amounts of slavery and racism in BG3 made me ( a non-black woc mind you ) very uncomfortable, to be honest. i understand when muns want to engage with it, but i'm just going to say that just because something is canon doesn't mean it's right. WOTC have a strong reputation for alienating and exotifying POC, culturally appropriating cultural and religious terms like phylactery, and using racist caricatures as character inspo ( the hadozee debacle was... something lmao ).

drow being one of the only darker skinned races at the time of their conception and being attached to a narrative of only being evil and barbaric is a racist and harmful stereotype that it is up to US to dismantle and engage with critically.

I mostly DM in the critical role universe, though I'm working on my own homebrew world as well, and I'm telling y'all –– it's okay to not use d&d canon lore (especially the outdated problematic crap) as your bible/torah/whatever. it's okay to leave the racist bullshit behind and build your own canon. i promise you the d&d fun police aren't going to arrest you.

[midnightactual]

As this is a portrayal that heavily centers actual history as a background element, and has spoken heavily on historical matters and attitudes, I feel the need to weigh in on some "discussion" currently happening regarding the matter of historical accuracy.

I'm not going to make you read it. If you choose to do so, you do so at your own discretion. But I will make one thing perfectly, vibrantly clear: If you support erasing history for the sake of your own personal comfort, I don't want you following me and you can get the hell off my blog.

I want to start by noting that I've had to spend a lot of time thinking about how Yoruichi would've been responded to historically, and what she would've done historically, such as here, here, here, here, and here. I also want to note that I have been very loud and vocal about calling out casual racism toward PoC by the greater Bleach fandom in diminishing Yoruichi and Kaname.

Having now established my bona fides, I want to address some completely fucking stupid arguments I've had the displeasure of seeing recently:

said it was for "historical accuracy" which is also a bullshit cop-out

No, what's bullshit is you pulling a Ron DeSantis and engaging in historical erasure while acting all high and mighty about it. I regret to inform you that the past sucked and people in the past were not enlightened, and if they somehow lived for hundreds or thousands of years would not be enlightened simply by continuing to exist into the present. You're apparently quite intent on erasing the historical fact of racism.

And you know what? If the shoe was on the other foot, if someone was playing a Nazi character but chose to completely ignore the historical factuality of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, you would probably be saying the exact opposite thing you are now. You would be decrying them for erasing the horrors of the Nazis and white-washing their political agenda to make them more palatable as people.

Don't even try and deny it. So what's really at play here is that seeing something made you feel icky. Well, you can't have it both ways.

History isn't something to be presented accurately only when it matches what you think is good and right. History is ugly and complicated and messy. You gonna go out and torch DVDs of Roots or The Color Purple next? Because that's what you're already doing here. Might as well go whole hog and actually commit some physical historical censorship!

You're out here censoring the past and giving aid and comfort to the people who would—and are!—happily doing the same by normalizing it. They argue the exact same shit that you do: that seeing discussion or portrayal of racism makes them feel uncomfortable! So guess what? That means you're friends with the actual real racists out there actually promoting a racist agenda, and you're no better than they are.

You will not defeat racism by pretending it never existed anymore than you will by pretending it doesn't presently exist. Good god. Stop it. Get some help.

FOR REAL like bro this is a story abt ghosts and friendship and talking plushies you think i give a SHIT about """ historical accuracy """

Ah, yes, Bleach, a manga which literally centers the fact of a character being discriminated against for his appearance (Sajin) as a plot point, which literally spends about 40% of its runtime on a genocidal war of extermination over "racial differences" (Shinigami vs. Quincy), and which routinely showcases pre-modern Japanese attitudes and conceptions (bushidō) could not possibly ever comment on the fact that these distinctly non-modern pseudo-Japanese characters do not and should not behave in modern ways.

Despite the fact that it does so constantly, with things like Rukia speaking archaic Japanese and having to read manga to catch up, and Yoruichi thinking nothing of co-ed bathing with Ichigo, a Japanese attitude which was prevalent until the 1970s.

I've been waiting for someone to try and have the argument with me that Yoruichi is a sexual predator for exposing herself to a minor twice, once willingly, despite all the long history establishing the fact that nobody thought anything of it for centuries. It might as well be you lot. Come on then, come at me.

What, it never crossed your mind? Then you clearly have no idea what manga you're actually talking about. Bleach also features cannibalism of children, by the way, just in case you forgot. It's literally in the first chapter.

[wejustvibing]

it takes a special kind of shamelessness to flaunt the greatest robbery ever in the sport that caused unthinkable mental distress and racial abuse to a driver, while preaching #driveitout and whatever other token hashtags this organization has invented.

it is probably posted to bait teamLH, a behavior insanely toxic in itself. but again, is there a better way to take away focus from their internal shitstorm than this?

[someotherdog]

“#” Daniel and Zach

CELL PHONE HEADCANONS ( zach & dan ) / @thewolfruns

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

This is probably gonna make me sound borderline evil lol, but I really wish there was an option to be more skeptical or resentful of EDI. Like, it's there in ME2 but not at all in ME3. I get she proved herself trustworthy, but it's a bit annoying for RP that you suddenly not only totally trust her, but think of her as a real person and member of the crew. My Shep didn't wake up Legion coz she doesn't trust AI. She doesn't help the geth because she didn't trust a thing she saw in their "memories" because they're AI. She picks Destroy because she's not leaving any AI around, because she doesn't trust AI at all. Why is EDI some sort of exception? I can see some Sheps taking a turn and trusting EDI. But that just isn't mine in the majority of my playthroughs. As EDI sees herself more and more as an individual, why do I have to agree with her about almost everything regarding that?

Am I a robot racist? Probably. I would be irl, too lol.

[anti-spop]

I especially hate that Catra was always invading Entrapta’s space. Like… It’s a teenager being weird and touchy and creepy towards an adult. Just imagine, reverse the ages, and tell me that doesn’t scream ‘predator’. Idk what the writers were thinking, but the fact that Catra is doing this a lot with an autistic adult really irks me. Are they implying something there? Because idk WHAT THE FUCK it’s implying, but I don’t like it and I feel like it’s intentional.

Anyway… Something something Catra is a teen being creepy to an adult. Something something predatory. Something something character ages. Something something treating autistic people like they’re oblivious, dumb, or younger children. You probably know what I’m trying to say here…

I agree, though I firmly believe that Entrapta was not initially planned to be an adult. I always thought she was the same age as the other characters due to her young appearance (like they didn't even try to make her look a little older?). I think the crew only decided to make Entrapta an adult later on so that shipping her with Hordak wouldn't be creepy.

But yeah, it doesn't help that an autistic adult woman is infantilized and bullied by literal teenagers. And rewatching Catra being inappropriate with her is also a HUGE red flag that is rarely called out.

Really, the problem with SPOP is that a lot of its issues seem to be poorly thought out. Catra and Adora being raised as sisters but ending up in a romantic relationship, when apparently they were always "the heart of the show". Catra being a WOC despite having no canon basis, and yet still being a stereotype that WOC (or latina women more specifically) are abusive and "savages". S/pinnetossa also being an "angry black woman x calm white woman" ship. Double Trouble, a canon trans/non-binary character, being a lizard that disguises as a little girl only to get money. Bow being the black best friend that gets little to no character development. So on and so forth.

I'm sure most of these issues weren't intentional, but that is not an excuse, because in the end it teaches wrong things to its young audience.

(Please do not harass the crew members.)

[golvio]

I’ve been digesting the video essay Orientalism & the Gerudo over the past couple of days. The first half of the video is a basic, consolidated summary of arguments I’ve seen people make about SWANA representation and Black representation regarding the Gerudo that also includes more academic sources to try to explain to newcomers or people unfamiliar with the term “Orientalism” where these points came from. I’m hoping this opens up some discussions across the wider fandom.

My only criticism is that, sometimes, the points can meander a bit between each other without clear boundaries between which talking point is which, leading to occasional moments of “Huh? How did we get here?” or “Wait, what about that other point you just made?” However, I think that’s a symptom of there being just so much to talk about regarding the broader umbrella topic that this video is trying to cover that it’s hard to know when/how to fit stuff in. You could make a whole essay about only how Arab men are depicted as aggressively misogynistic threats menacing Arab women to justify modern imperialist invasions of the Middle East by Western powers and how that ties in to the way Nintendo refuses to show Ganon having a more humanized, complex relationship with his own people. Even after a whole hour it feels like we’ve only just scratched the surface.

However, I also don’t think this “meandering” is necessarily negative because it sometimes ended up leading to great points that I hadn’t considered before. For example, I was initially confused about why the essay started focusing on Rauru and the plot of TotK after the halfway point, but it ended up not just being a useful example of how Japan reproduces Western tropes from pop cultural influences for fans who weren’t quite convinced about the essay’s arguments in the first half because they assumed Japan was in a cultural vacuum where racism doesn’t exist, but also gave me a totally new perspective about Rauru’s character beyond my initial Shintoist reading of his role as a divine ancestor that legitimized the royal family’s rule.

Rauru and Mineru’s designs and backstory borrow visual and literary tropes from depictions of indigenous peoples in American media to legitimize him as “indigenous to Hyrule” and therefore an important founding figure in its revised origin myth, but these tropes reproduced without awareness of their original cultural context also serve to “unperson” him as a character within the story. He’s sequestered into a distant past where he can’t really interact with characters in the present, not even truly “owning” the kingdom he founded, which instead passes to the Hylians, who coopted his legacy of unification for their own ends but completely forgot about him. He and his sister are treated more like “resources” for Link/the player to take advantage of to achieve their goals than characters in their own right. And, emotionally, the Zonai siblings are so distanced from the main cast and each other by being treated more like concepts of “nativeness” than people in their own right that their own descendant feels like a stranger visiting an exotic land instead of long-lost family reconnecting with her roots.

Like…it’s a really clever way to introduce two equally complex points that people should keep in mind when examining the Gerudo. First, that you can’t really treat Japan’s depictions as the exact same as Western depictions, because while Japan isn’t “the West,” it has its own complicated history with racism and imperialism born out of the “pan-Asian” nationalism of the early 20th century. At the same time, Japan doesn’t exist in a hermetically sealed cultural vacuum totally isolated from Western influences that makes Japanese creators incapable of learning about cultural nuances regarding racism, despite what fashy weebs personally invested in the myth of Japan being a magical exotic fairyland where “woke” doesn’t exist want you to believe.

I hope this video essay inspires other people to look into this topic further and maybe contribute their own works to the discussion.

[descendant-of-truth]

Forever finding it absolutely bonkers that not only was Sora targeted with racism in DDD, but Riku... wasn't

Like, they're both Asian?? But only Sora was mistaken as Romani in the Notre Dame world. And in the game itself they blame his clothes, but I can't help but feel like there's an unspoken comment happening about Sora having darker skin than Riku

Which is just. insane like what was the point?? Why bother showing Sora get racism'd exactly once and not have it add to the world's story whatsoever???

[fruit-kick]

girl help i can't find posts on the fetishization of asian women amongst all the fetishization of asian women

[lesbianclaryfray]

it’s old news by now but i still need to say this: the people getting all condescending and “oh nooo the violent show about violent people is being violent who could’ve guessed haha you’re stupid if you’re affected by this” about iwtv were annoying as fuck. like sawry if Black and brown people were upset by a graphic display of DV? “but the show’s already so violent” normalized killing of background characters vs watching a white man do all that to his Black partner while their daughter screams for him to stop. if you don’t understand the difference that’s on you. if you still ship loustat that’s your own baggage. should’ve left the people having perfectly normal and understandable reactions to the show out of it instead of pulling the Ultimate Loser Move of thinking you’re better than everyone because you’re unaffected by graphic/disturbing scenes