#single gender societies

[aquila1nz]

What lesbiann separatist sci fi invented fpreg? Kfkskfkd

I'm thinking of doing a full post about it after work, I think Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1915 wins, but Joanna Russ, Suzy Mckee Charnas, Katherine Forrest 1970s, Nicola Griffith, Karin Kallmaker, Jane Fletcher 1990s all did female only communities reproducing, there are more.

[genderkoolaid]

like seriously. hyperagency is such a useful term because it's the only way I can explain the way that people, not just even but especially in leftist/feminist spaces, will mock and deride men for having "fragile masculinity" or act like toxic masculinity is just a Thing Guys Do and not a system of forcing people to stay in the lines of Proper Masculinity.

a woman feels the need to wear a full face of makeup and heels, or else they feel like they aren't able to go in public? that's clearly internalized misogyny, and she deserves compassion and understanding.

a man feels the need to never wear pink or do anything that could be percieved as feminine in public? well he's just sooo sensitive and weak (but like not in a toxic masculinity way we're totally different!!) and needs to man up (but again when we say it it's TOTALLY DIFFERENT from when guys say it)

like there's clearly a social pattern of, when men suffer from gender roles, even people who are critical of gender roles will view them as weak, sensitive, and needing to be stronger or else they deserve mockery- the only difference is, "being strong" means "being comfortable crying in public and around me specifically". and these issues are treated as if it's men personally choosing to do them and not something which needs to be approached by treating a larger social problem.

[gideonisms]

Tbh I judge book podcasts by whether they understand what ann leckie is doing with gender in ancillary justice or not

[harrowscore]

shut up sHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!!!!!

[fromtheseventhhell]

No offense but trans-masc/trans-man headcanons about Arya are so incorrect, I'm sorry. I can't even take them seriously considering this fandom's desire to separate Arya from girlhood/womanhood. I would love it if people would stop trying to divorce female characters (and real women) from their identities as women just because they aren't traditionally feminine.

If we're talking about actual good-faith interpretations, ones that actually work with how Arya is written, then trans-femme is a much better fit. Arya has never had the desire to be a boy or be seen as one, she is fiercely insistent on her identity as a girl and corrects people several times, she doesn't consider herself a "real" Lady because she's not one in the same way her mother and sister are (!!!), she has self-esteem issues from her looks and ability to perform feminine tasks, she actually spends time pretending to be a boy but never considers herself one or enjoys doing it, as time progresses she loses the ability to pass as a boy (!!!), etc. Look at the material!! There's so much there to discuss from that perspective! Arya's non-conformity and how that fits into a society with such strict gender norms is fascinating and there's a lot to discuss there, but calling her trans-masc is one of the laziest interpretations to come up with.

[constantvariations]

Anyone know where the whole "only faunus are discriminated against" thing came from?

[mangoofthesea]

How many things do you think need to be set on fire to disrupt capitalism enough to create a livable society? Asking for a friend

[bobcat-pie]

GO WATCH THE OCTOPUS LADY ON YOUTUBE, SHES SO COOL AND I'M LEARNING SO MUCH

[countingprimes]

sometimes i see queer people make low hanging anti straight jokes, and they'll often pre-defend themselves by saying straight people don't need defending as if the queer community isn't populated by tons of straight people, straight trans people, straight ace people, straight poly people. queerness doesnt exclude exclusively opposite sex attracted people and it bothers me to see these jokes and their subsequent defenses because normative society certainly rejects these folks because of their queerness and now you are inside the queer community rejecting them for who they desire. i think about straight trans folks the most who are out here under fire from normative society who turn to the queer community for support only to be inundated with sentiments like straight people are actually the real lesser than folks, and it's easy enough to say straightness is valorized in normative society so shitting on straight people is punching up, but i can't help but be keenly aware that the queer straight people tend to be queer in the ways which are often excluded from queer community. so actually yeah i do think straight people need our protection, not heteronormative culture, but individual people? yeah. the "coming out as straight" jokes are all haha good times fuck the straights until you think about the fact that straight trans people when they come out are functionally doing that. after all how many straight trans people used to think they were cis gay people. and we, inside the queer community, turn their experiences into a mean spirited punch line designed to reject them from queer community.

like sorry i just don't think we are gonna find queer liberation by trying to figure out which group we are allowed to make fun of for having the wrong sexuality.

[carlyraejepsans]

Did you have a human friend before frisk sans?

heh. yeah. they, uh. they taught me how to play the trombone.

[nicosraf]

Hello, if it’s alright could I draw some fanart of my interpretations of the different angels? I must admit I barely passed the half way point on your novel and I’m obsessed with the angels. Although I do have a question where are the women??? Jkjk. But it’s been an itching question since they are gender less beings with many forms. Also do the angels ever take their more biblical form and 🪶🪶🧿🧿🧿🪶🪶 hello brother their fellow angels?

hello! of course!!! I love seeing interpretations!!! (though i do ask not to whitewash, if possible hghghg)

And the women!! Well! The (biblical) explanation is longer than I expected but here ya go:

Angels as genderless beings is.... actually not true. The Bible refers to angels as "sons" of God a couple times – like Job 1:6, Job 2:1 (most explicitly), and Genesis 6. Genesis 6 is pretty important, because if Job is right about angels being the "sons of God", then this chapter says angels are capable of sex and procreation (with women, at least, though I have some thoughts on that). Also, angels exclusively appear as men, in the Bible. When the angels visit Abraham, they're described as men. When they visit Sodom in Genesis 19, and all the Sodom men line up to try and have sex with the angels, the angels are described as men. (In fact, the "gay people are evil" understanding of the Sodom story is entirely contingent on angels being understood as men.) (Fun fact: it's from Sodom, also, that I reasoned all angels are outrageously sexy.)

But why are angels all men in the Bible? Well, the reason is because Eve is supposed to be the first women, and in traditional (sexist) Christian thought, Adam is a man, modeled on God, who is masculine. Because the angels are between them, then they're supposed to be men, or at least man-ish.

I remember when I learned all this I thought it was absolutely hilarious. God and his all-sexy-male angel paradise. Incredible. Perfect.

But in all seriousness, the origin of this idea is that Christianity is really sexist. And the gender of angels is something pretty much every significant angel writer/artist has struggled with, like John Milton in Paradise Lost.

The back and forth about angel gender is actually my absolute favorite thing about Paradise Lost. The most significant line is "for spirits, when they please, can either sex assume, or both;" which clearly states that angels are supposed to be intersex. And yet, all the angels in Paradise Lost are men, use male pronouns, and they're described in almost entirely masculine terms; one instance where that isn't the case is this one line about Lucifer: "his form had yet not lost all her original brightness". Even here, the feminine characterization is just an attachment to the masculine.

In my opinion, John Milton wants to explore angel gender (and angel homosexual sex, too, btw, as per angel Raphael telling Adam all about the gay sex angels are up to), but Milton is held back by the pretty clear Bible teaching that angels are supposed to be male or at least male-ish. (Also, my friend Cas is much more of an academic about John Milton, angels, and angel gender, and I'm mostly parrot-ing him because he's much smarter than me, so they're your guy if you have questions). I like Milton's ideas of angels being between gender, though, and I plan to do a lot more with that:

I played around with the bizarre idea of God and his all-male paradise, but ultimately, the angels in ABM are not male. There is no such thing as male because there is no such thing as female. Like Milton, I think they're between genders.

Why do they use he/him pronouns, then? As a nod to the "all angels are male" Christian teaching, and (on a more personal level) to explore tenderness and queer gender expression (all the makeup and jewelry and dressing up) in he/hims. (Plus, it's a tiny jab at machismo, which is incredibly attached to Mexican Catholicism and an enormous source of pain for me, so now I get to make Catholicism gay and girly and laugh to myself). But, lastly, pronouns don't equal gender. Men can use she/her, women can use he/him. (Especially coming from a Mexican perspective, it's pretty common to hear gay men use feminine pronouns to refer to themselves.)

But what about their bodies? Do they not have masculine bodies, then? As I mentioned in this ask (where I discuss the trans-ness of the ABM trilogy and angels and also God) and this ask (where I discuss angel sexual organs), I stay vague because you have the room to imagine whatever you want. Specifically, angels are intersex but what that means for their physical bodies is basically up to you.

(But why would you write vaguely? Because ABM is about gender and queerness, and the fact that it can't be easily understood and it takes on a life of its own for each reader is the point !)

ABM and its sequels are about angel gender trouble and gay feelings, so don't worry, you have a lot to look forward to in that regard.

Oh and about the "biblical forms".... :) no spoilers

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

just saw the 'if ur oc was canon what discourse would there be' post and suddenly i remember that actually i dont want Celia & co to be seen by a large audience.

[ciphertology]

if i said homestuck fic was kind of post-gender for a while in its Peak of trollfics would you get me. do you get me

[goldenpixel]

Very little captures girlhood in adulthood like someone in the break room shyly admitting that they read trashy romance novels on vacation and the whole break room (of women of all ages) breaking out into a simultaneous “YEAH!!!!!!!!!!” with multiple asking for recommendations

[cvctuslesbian]

it’s so funny (not) that when people try to come to a “logical” reason why lesbian can and should fuck men (cis, trans, whatever) they always either end up sounding like a megachristian pastor hailing his ability to beat the gay out of his son or calling all lesbians terfs

[mouthtotheclouds]

The really annoying thing about dragon age (all of them) is how it's got cool lore and history and lots of fun plot shit and complex characters and then.... none of it is ever done justice or kept cogent. Not one single thing.