#the non-binary representation we all needed

[the-gay-phagenda]

the pheal means just as much to me as dan and phil themselves do

[leikeliscomet]

The aspec community REALLY needs to add intersecting identities to these analysis' instead of making general statements. How helpful is 'ace women are seen as pure because everyone thinks all women are asexual' when we look at the sexualisation of Black women and the Jezebel, the idea Black girls are 'fast' and the general sexualisation of women of colour e.g. spicy latina trope? Are we factoring in how the desexualization of women of colour e.g. the Mammy, the 'submissive' East Asian women trope, the virginity myth isn't acceptance of female asexuality? Does 'ace men are expected to be more sexual' factor in the sexualisation of Black men and other men of colour e.g. 'savage' Arab trope and the antiblack trope that they're inherently predatory? Or the desexualisation of East Asian men? How easily can we define the ace men v ace women experience at all if trans and non-binary aces are missing from most ace representation despite facing the brunt of anti ace discrimination? If we're solely defining these experiences by cis aces? How easily can aroallos 'just have sex' when you factor in the demonisation of gay sex, HIV/AIDS crisis and seraphobia and how this affects gay, lesbian, bi and pan aros? How easily can alloaces 'just partner up' when you factor in the ban of gay marriage that is still in many countries across the globe and the historical policing of 'homosexual behaviours' and this impacts gay, lesbian, bi and pan aces? And this isn't even getting into disability, religion etc. yet. When there's SO many factors that play into how an individual participates in sex and romance, or if they're even allowed to participate at all, how much can we clearly cut the aspec experience into alloace v aroace v aroallo. Or sex favourable v sex indifferent v sex repulsed. There's A LOT we can learn from each other.

[for-a-longlongtime]

Hey Anon, I saw your message this morning! 💜

You pointed out "Yall need to be careful of bi erasure" and linked to a post someone made about me. I appreciate the heads up! To be honest, I’m not concerned about people suggesting that I’m doing bi erasure. Whether it’s regarding Pedro characters in canon, head canons, or bisexuality in any other way. But hey, everybody can have their opinion about things, including what they think about me.

I dont talk much about myself here, but my tumblr bio has said from day 1 that I’m a bi woman. My master list mentions most of my fic “is queer (m/m, bi4bi, m/m/f, non-binary and trans characters)”. Folks who have read my fic know I've written pairings where every character is explicitly bi ( Frankie x f!reader x Santi; Peña x Rockford x OFC; Ezra x f!reader x Benny Miller, and WIPs with Joel and Marcus M, Frankie x f!reader x OFC and Maximus x Acacius x Lucilla).

Can bisexual people still do bi erasure? Sure!

Do I worry whether straight folks or other random folks online think I'm involved in bi erasure? Nahhh.

Anyway, I did make some posts the other day based on anons submitted to me about issues re: queer representation in this fandom. Let me just direct you to the several posts I made on that day, which started in response to a question about Renaldo:

"Was Renaldo Gay in the SNL sketch?? I've seen a lot of blogs saying he wasn't?". TL;DR version of my response: the ending of the song states "word to the wise, if you've got wives, hide them from the three bros!" suggesting that Renaldo, Domingo, and Santiago all hook up with women/wives. Considering Renaldo hooked up with Matthew, that probably makes him bisexual (and not the fact that he had Sophie, aka Sabrina's character, dancing up on him) - or queer, or someone who doesn't like to label himself. However, while 'hide your wives' works linguistically as a great punch line to wrap up the song, it does not refer to Renaldo's affair with Matthew (now that is bi erasure, if you wanna be exact), so I did point out that 'hide your spouses' would've been more accurate - but understandably, that's not as catchy. I'm currently writing a Renaldo x Matthew one shot, and I said my headcanon has Renaldo as gay - but that's my interpretation/hc/fic.

Someone wrote to me: Some blogs in the fandom is hellbent on taking away any attention away from anything mlm based with his characters anyway so it wouldn't matter in Renaldo was gay - someone would find a loophole to make him like women. TL;DR I agreed, because there are people who definitely do that. It became part of a longer thread of reblogs with some other folks in which we talked about how Pedro's mlm (men loving men) characters, such as Oberyn, Dieter and Silva in particular, either tend to be canonized primarily as bisexual by people but in fic are almost always paired with women (f!reader or OFCs). Which is fine, but people are definitely interested in seeing more m/m representation for those characters. Someone also brought up that when Pedro characters are paired with non-binary reader inserts or OC, it tends to be mostly afab!nb (or afab!trans characters), and that they were surprised that there weren't more amab!nb characters - that's a great point too.

I made a post with an anon message that pointed out "MLM includes bi, pan and queer men. They might like women. (And/or other genders, but they still like men)". Very correct!

Finally, there was an excellent long message from an anon saying "We need more representation of bi people in same-gender relationships represented" and that even in threesomes or throuples (fic) that include two men, there should ideally be more mlm representation. Once again, I fully agree. Everybody should write whatever they want, but I do often see threesomes that are listed as Pedro Character 1 x reader x Pedro Character 2, but in the fic it's more like reader having sex with two straight men at the same time while they're trying to not cross swords, rather than mlm being represented. THIS IS DEFINITELY CHANGING THOUGH: it's wonderful to see a big increase of mlm characters in threesomes/throuple fics over the past year!

So here is my main issue with a lot of people who are raging about 'bi erasure', and why I've made several posts about queerness within this fandom (not just recently, but from the start). Of course bisexual people exist (hello, it me, for one). Pull up some statistics if you want: there are a lot more folks who identify as bisexual than there are folks who identify as gay or lesbian. I'm an older millenial, so if you wanna talk about bi erasure: the measure in which it happens today is nothing compared to the bi erasure and deeply engrained homophobia we experienced in our teens and twenties from society at large. However:

🏳‍🌈 In your rush to point out bisexuals exist, you're shutting down a much broader dialogue with people within the LGBTQIA+ community. 🏳‍🌈

Because have you noticed how gay men, nonbinary/genderqueer fans, amab!trans or amab!nonbinary FANS (not fic characters; I'm talking actual people) are extremely underrepresented in this fandom? In addition to in fic? And that these fans won't have their fiction or actual posts shared all that much? Or that when they carefully speak up, e.g. about being happy to see Pedro portray Silva as a gay character, they're immediately rebuffed and called biphobic or that they're trying to erasure bisexuality?

Yeah. That part.

It's messed up.

Nobody is even making demands. Nobody is even saying "what writers are doing is wrong". They're just saying, "This is a bummer". And some of us are pointing out that mlm Pedro characters in m/m pairings are hard to come by, which is too bad because it's not only us queers who read m/m Pedro character pairings - there are lots of straight fans out there who have indicated they like reading that, too.

Are you gonna call that bi erasure? Or marginalization of women? Or anything really except for what it actually is? Fans are just saying "yknow, I wish there were more fans/fic characters/bodies in fic represented in this fandom that look and feel more like me". People seem to have finally understood that in varying degrees when this applies to body type or racial/cultural background (which took many white people a lot longer to fully grasp; BIPOC folks have been saying this for such a long time already) - it's about diversity and wanting to feel included. But when gay or transfolks say this about mlm, a whole bunch of y'all are crying bi erasure?

In short (and I can't believe I need to even fuckin' say this):

The Pedro fandom or its fic does NOT belong exclusively to women.

It does not belong to cis folks, to straight people, or any other particular group of people.

Aren't we all just trying to be a community? Then stop acting like people reading Silva or Renaldo (or any other character) as gay are erasing bisexuality - that's not the case or the damn point.

And anon-- my critique truly isn't directed at you, I'm not dragging you in any way. You took the effort to bring something to my attention, plus you clearly care about people, and I appreciate that a lot. But there are tons of people who don't dare to speak up about this in public settings, so I can't help but take this opportunity to not only clarify what I said earlier -- but also to address the bigger problem at large. Read or write all the gossip blogs you want, by all means, but maybe also consider using that time to actually connect with people.

[dustcrumbs]

hate people who get mad when a fandom ships mostly queer ships.

Dude, that fandom is FULL of queer people. The fuck do you think was going to come out of it?? Its literally dirt found on ground. ITS OBVIOUS..

"N-no!! you.. you can't see them as <insert queer/neurodivergent hc> its makes no sense—"

WRONG.

SHES TRANS. THEY'RE NON-BINARY. OH, AND THAT GIRL OVER THERE? AUTISM. THAT DUDE OVER THERE? YEAH, HES GAY. AND OH, THAT ABLE BODY PERSON?.. MM.. NO, I PROJECT ON THEM BECAUSE FUCKKK YOUUU!!! 😝😝😝

I see people complaining that there isn't enough "straight ships" and I've never seen such a confident and ignorant person state that so bluntly.

There is SO much representation for you, what are you on about. I promise you, queer people feeling safe enough to openly show off rarepairs or queer platonic/romantic duos online will not be the death of you

I've actually seen so many people say how people only like the "gay ships" over 'normal' ones. Like woah, okay Stacy. Tell us all about your homophobia. We love it.

There's a difference between complaining about a ship or character analysis not getting enough attention without having to bring down another popular or beloved hc. Like dude, genuinely hate any kind of argument that brings down another hc/analysis for simply being liked for okay reasons.

You completely lose me when you do that. Just explain your idea, don't bring someone else's down. It weakens your argument so much, you don't NEED comparison. You need contrast. Tell us why it's different. Tell us why this dynamic is cool. tell us why it's UNIQUEEE AGHH AGGH

[yes-these-obsessions-are-healthy]

As a NB, Taash is a huge blow to non-binary representation. Yeah, give the non-binary rep to the rudest, most emotionally immature, hypocritical companion. Make their personal quest about them getting all defensive when their mom reasonably asks about what being non-binary is, because oh my God how dare Mom be ignorant to this super abstract concept that is difficult to articulate to someone who does not perceive the world that way, cancel her with death. Make Taash coded autistic to give them the excuse for being a poorly socialized brat that gives you no option to tell them to shut the fuck up like any reasonable person in the real world would tell them to do because autism is no excuse for rudeness and casual disregard for other peoples’ feelings.

Like why are we feeding into the stereotype that NB people are immature brats who expect the world to freeze when they’re misgendered and for people to flagellate themselves with stupid performative punishments when they slip up or don’t immediately grasp the concept? This is literally how Republicans and conservatives see us. These are the jokes they make about us to invalidate us because they think that’s how we behave, and then you have Veilguard literally say “Yeah we’re like that lol”. If it’s some sort of subtle attempt at satire, it’s a shitty one that I’m not laughing at because it’s a waste of NB rep just to be ironic. If it’s sincere, it’s an embarrassing power fantasy that only the lamest and most miserable person on earth would find cathartic.

Imagine if Emmrich was the non-binary companion. Keep his personality and appearance (ok tweak it so it looks far less modern), but you learn in his romance ‘actually gender is not that much of a concern for me. In death we are all the same.’ and the reason he looks like *that* is because he likes it. You could add more depth to his fear of death with the question of “Have I lived as my most authentic self? Am I truly who I am, or have I fallen into the trap of reflecting what society expects of someone born with the body that I have?’ because there is this worry that some NB people like myself have where we’re not outwardly “NB” enough, like we don’t practice what we preach. Most importantly, Emmrich would never use the term “non-binary” to describe himself. He would have a term or phrase he would use to describe his feelings that someone of that setting would use to represent how queer people would characterize and conceptualize their gender and sexuality for themselves before they had access to all the precise modern labelling. He could call himself some untranslatable word that he’s transcribed from some foreign language—Tevene, Qunlat—or he gleaned from some epitaph while working with the Mourn Watch, an epitaph for a Planasene tribe member who was given the designation that roughly translated to “neutral” for referenced sex (gender and sex being interchangeable to these ancient peoples). SOMETHING cool like that. Something thoughtful and full of far more depth than thunk “I’m non-binary”.

Personally to me, non-binary is a political philosophy as much as it can be personal expression. You can dress “binary” and be non-binary because the point is that it doesn’t matter, and that is the beauty of it. There’s freedom in that nihilism and exploration, and Emmrich would’ve been a cool gateway to that sort of ‘live as you wish because we’ll be dust eventually’, especially from an older man. We have very little queer older men rep in media, and far, far less rep of NB individuals over 30 just in general. Being NB is seen as a phase dominated by young people. Emmrich would be that bridge and perhaps even that door for older individuals who might not have considered they were non-binary because it’s a young person thing or what have you.

And you know we could explore these ideas more if Veilguard had, I don’t know, extensive dialogue trees and opportunities to talk to our companions outside of demarcated “hey I need to talk to you” events, shitty banters, and lil intramurals between the companions that Rook is just a bystander to like a camp counselor or head of HR.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

since it's pride month, i want to highlight my favorite underrated/underappreciated queer characters and ships! (part 1/???)

(feel free to add more!)

Lake - Infinity Train (non-canon)

it's not canon but you cannot tell me that Lake isn't an allegory for trans/nb people. her arc is so beautiful and her character resonates with me so much!

i have to admit, i actually kinda hated her in the beginning because of how aggressive and rude she was, but she actually gets good character development and you can also understand why she was the way she was, being a good representation of a minority who is constantly suffering because of the social norms she’s forced into. also i don’t ship her with jesse but i do like the idea of them in a qpr or just being platonic besties.

(i use she/her pronouns for Lake because that's what they use in the series, but also because not all non-binary people use they/them, and it's kinda weird to see people insist on using they/them for Lake just because she's nb-coded. she has never shown an aversion to bring referred to with she/her pronouns.)

Le Chevre x El Topo - Carmen Sandiego (canon)

they are side characters who don't play a huge role in the narrative but they are a really cute couple and have been confirmed to be canon! even without the confirmation, it’s clear that they were written to be a romantic couple.

mild spoiler: after the series ends, they stop being antagonists and instead put up a food truck together! it’s the cutest thing, i swear

Ryan x Min-gi - Infinity Train (non-canon)

my OTP through and through! i say non-canon but the romance is so heavily implied, you cannot ignore it.

they're a good example of childhood friends who had a complicated relationship where both individuals did something wrong, but in the end, they grow as people and manage to mend their relationship together.

Moomin x Snufkin - Moominvalley (canon)

i have only read one of the books and watched a few clips of these two characters but from that alone, it's clear that they were written as lovers (and the author is queer too!)

they are a beautiful portrayal of long-distance relationship where both individuals have different needs in life, but still want to be with each other regardless.

Terrestrius / Terry - The Dragon Prince (canon)

Terry is canonically transmasc and they actually manage to explain this in the series, without making it sound too forced or expository. he's such a sweetheart too, and his relationship with Claudia is actually really sweet, despite the fact that she's one of the villains.

Carmen x Julia - Carmen Sandiego (non-canon)

again, i say non-canon but it is heavily implied that they have feelings for each other, especially in the extra interactive episode, where Carmen leaves a bouquet of red roses for Julia, and Julia is shown to blush when receiving them.

Amaya x Janai - The Dragon Prince (canon)

what’s that? it’s actually possible to write an enemies to lovers romance that is healthy and not extremely abusive?

Amaya and Janai have such a good relationship in S5 (and Amaya is also a great disabled representation!) Janai actually learns sign language to communicate with Amaya, and there are no unnecessary miscommunication plots or drama, they’re just a really loving wlw couple.

Benson x Troy - Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (canon)

when i say we need more mlm ships in animated media!! i’m so glad us sapphics are getting a lot of representation but it’s time cartoons started including more queer men.

benson and troy are just a really sweet couple with a good relationship that doesn’t have a ton of pining or unnecessary angst. while i love complex and tragic queer relationships, i also think that it’s good to show teenagers just being teenagers sometimes.

this opinion seems to be scarce in the queer community, which really annoys me tbh.

Raine x Eda - The Owl House (canon)

i cannot believe that given the popularity of TOH, Raeda is still such an overlooked ship. this might be an unpopular opinion but Raeda is better written and has more chemistry than Lumity and Huntlow.

just within the span of Raine's introductory episode, they managed to establish a clearly romantic past between these two characters, and also an interesting dynamic. and even though they didn't have much screentime, they still turned out to be the best ship in the series. (again, just my opinion, don't come at me)

i think it's so important to show older queer people in media, just as it is important to show younger queer characters. it helps establish the fact that queerness has always existed and isn't some newfound trend that social media invented. not to mention, raeda is one of the very few canon ships that include a non-binary character.

[thepetitepiper]

For anyone who think that Garak x Bashir in Lower Decks is "fan-service," "sickening," or "ruining Star Trek", have you been paying attention?

Note this is not for those who aren't a fan of the couple or never saw it in DS9. This is for those who are actively complaining or find it "problematic".

To the complaints about fan service, have you SEEN Lower Decks? Lower Decks is filled with Easter eggs and fan service, but not just to appease or cater to the fans. It is evident that the show is made with love and understanding of Star Trek. Sure, it has a different tone and style, but the adoration of all things Star Trek is palpable. The amount of references made to various forms of Star Trek media, even lesser-known or less popular versions, is extensive and weaved humorously yet beautifully through the show.

"Fissure Quest" is another excellent example with Jolene's return as T'Pol, Alfre Woodard as Lily Sloane, more Curzon Dax, another EMH with a mobile emitter, promoted Harry Kim (Garrett Wang), etc. Also note that some of these actors had negative or frustrating experiences with aspects of their Star Trek journey (due to a previous show-runner) and I have such an appreciation for Lower Decks giving them, hopefully, a positive experience (similar to Jerry Ryan getting another opportunity to play 7 of 9 in Picard without Kate).

As for the complaint of making a fan favorite ship canon for the shippers. Did you not watch DS9? The actors have specifically stated they were playing up the flirtations and chemistry between the characters. Andrew J. Robinson played Garrat's first meeting with Bashir as "he was sexually attracted to this good-looking young Starfleet doctor." This ship was not just fans "seeing something that wasn't there." It was 100% there and intentional from both of the actors. Even one of the writers admitted that the character or Garak specifically should have come out of the closet after the episode "The Wire" but the writers never asked if they could (the assumption being that it would have been quickly shot down so they didn't try).

Rumor has it that the questionable relationships that both characters end up in were to distract from the obvious homoerotic subtext. Garak and Ziyal not only had little chemistry, the age gap was also rather wide and disconcerting for many fans along with Robinson himself. As for Bashir and Ezri, they were put together in the final season after Ezri's character was created to replace Jadzia. This relationship would never had happened if Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax) hadn't left the show after season 6. She wanted to reduce her role on the show but Rick Berman denied her request leading to her letting the contract expire.

If you think this is "ruining Star Trek" or is Star Trek becoming "woke," you don't know Star Trek. It featured the first interracial kiss on television. Gene Roddenberry wanted to include gay characters but couldn't in TOS because he feared the series would be canceled. He intended for there to be representation in TNG but passed away. Berman took over and any form of LGBT representation became minimal or easily written off by those who would oppose it (non-binary but played by a woman, previously a heterosexual couple but now in female bodies, thematically queer episode, etc).

If you find it "sickening", I don't need to tell you why. You know why and so do we.

You don't have to like Star Trek: Lower Decks and its depiction of Garak x Bashir (from alternate universes, mind you). Not everyone likes the characters together and some prefer a friendship dynamic, there's nothing wrong with that. However, if you think that it is somehow catering to shippers or demonstrates how Star Trek has "become woke", you are simply wrong.

[namelessknight]

Cookie Run: Kingdom has me in a chokehold and it’s just because of Silent Salt and that COOKIE DIDN’T EVEN RELEASE YET!

Silent Salt Cookie is my favourite because well duh, I LOVE KNIGHTS.

So I will dedicate this post to Silent Salt Cookie and to knights in general as I will go into my headcannons on what this silent knight is like and their relationship with the other Beast Cookies.

While also talking about how cool knights are.

SILENT SALT COOKIE HEADCANNONS!

I think others may have similar headcannons but I lowkey think that Silent Salt Cookie is gonna stay silent and not utter a WORD and that their non-binary!

It would be fun to throw in a wild card! The Ancients have two boys and three girls, the Beasts have two boys and two girls so far, it would be fun if the last Beast cookie was non-binary! Also it would be fun to have some Non-Binary Knight representation!

But I wouldn’t mind if Silent Salt Cookie was he or a she, they’re cool either way! I also like the idea that if Silent Salt Cookie spoke in sign language, idk if that would be possible but it be awesome to see!

I imagine the Beast of Solidarity, some cookie who was meant to unite cookies and stand in solidarity with them and protect them, would’ve been a softie with the other beasts and cookies before snapping…my theory is that the Beast of Solidarity was the last to fall.

The first to fall was probably either Mystic Flour Cookie and or Burning Spice Cookie.

Mystic Flower probably sealed herself away while Burning Spice, time and time again it wore him down and how much his kingdoms were falling..

It broke them.

Then we get Shadow Milk Cookie and Eternal Sugar Cookie, who Shadow Milk probably lost his marbles and soon after Eternal Sugar Cookie did as well.

All them fell one by one, Silent Salt Cookie probably had to see it all. Watching in silence, seeing those they loved, became…beasts. It consumed them, they didn’t want to be alone, alone with this grief…that they failed and lost it all. They tried and probably failed to convince the others to stop their reign…they simply crumbled and fell as well, what’s the point in unity when no one is really by your side?

Thus, they became a monster. A Beast.

It would probably match well with what White Lily Cookie is dealing with!

My silly headcannons is that Silent Salt Cookie probably likes cake hounds, likes to write poetry and is actually a sweet heart before well, falling.

NOW WHAT WAS THIER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OTHER BEASTS?!

Burning Spice Cookie & Silent Salt Cookie

These two before they fell probably sparred a lot and had fun doing it, they just loved beating each other up and after they fell? EH THEY PROBABLY STILL WOULD LIKE TO SPAR! Throw around the spear and sword and axe why don’t ya?

I see them having this sibling rivalry that started off healthy but after their fall and if we follow my headcannon and Silent Salt Cookie tried to talk to Burning Spice Cookie but that ultimately failing, they are probably not on speaking terms yet probably miss each other. A LOT.

Mystic Flour Cookie & Silent Salt Cookie

These two probably had, older siblings done with everyone’s bs vibes. They stay outta the other three’s way while they just sit in silence and admire nature or play cards quietly. They don’t need words to convey how much they mean to each other.

After the fall, I imagine this sad scene where Silent Salt Cookie tries to talk to Mystic Flour Cookie but she’s already gone, saying that it’s pointless and that she’s sealing herself away. Which breaks Silent Salt Cookie’s heart.

Shadow Milk Cookie & Silent Salt Cookie

Annoying smirk, goofy two shoes friend x Stoic “too tired of this shit” yet endures it because they love them friend, kinda vibes. Where Shadow Milk Cookie would lightly taunt Silent Salt Cookie and Silent Salt would just roll their eyes(?) and or just STARE at the audacity.

After the fall, Silent Salt Cookie would probably try and snap Shadow Milk Cookie in half while Shadow Milk would be like “DO IT! YOU WON’T!” I imagine after Silent Salt Cookie tried talking to Shadow Milk Cookie, it didn’t end well, resulting with Silent Salt Cookie feeling frustrated and their will to keep things together slowly wavering…

Eternal Sugar Cookie & Silent Salt Cookie

I will not lie, I ship them. They would probably have this sweet dynamic where she would rest on their shoulders or head and they would be chill with it, letting her basically use them as a free pillow. They would just be very psychically affectionate, hugging, laying next to each other and Silent Salt Cookie would try and protect Eternal Sugar Cookie, jumping in front of her to protect her and Eternal Sugar Cookie, comforts Silent Salt Cookie when their sad or mad.

After the fall, Silent Salt Cookie would go to Eternal Sugar Cookie, hoping, PRAYING that the one cookie that understands them would help them get the others back. Yet…She became a monster. Like, we can’t ignore how she DOESN’T treat the cookies under her care well and she is downright SINISTER. It would disturb Silent Salt Cookie to their core to see her so uncaring, in way that is downright insulting and evil. This is where they snap, believing that others…are unreliable…even those that they love.

CONCLUSION!

It’s most likely all of them fell at the same time or the order is mixed up, who knows. I like my head cannon though and I love Silent Salt Cookie and I will wait patiently and diligently until, they arrive!

I will probably add in Silent Salt Cookie’s minions in this post or in their own post! For now, take care, knights are cool and here in this blog WE APPRECIATE SILENT SALT COOKIE!!

PS: will talk about how cool knights are in other post about Silent Salt Cookies Minions or in its own post because YES.

[alpaca-clouds]

On Writing Disabilities

When it comes to writing minorities we usually talk a lot about LGBTQ* and BI_PoC, but the topic that usually gets overlooked are disabilities. While at this point we might see some version of characters with autism, and ADHD. Usually in a way that the characters are a bit "oddballs", though, not in the way of characters being non-verbal and rarely only involving symptoms like meltdowns and such.

And in general... It annoys me. Especially in western media.

During the last two or three years Japanese media has incresingly started to include a lot more disability representation, even among main characters. This mostly happens in slice of life anime and manga, but it generally is a nice change of pace. But there is also stuff like Witch Hat Atelier, that goes stronger into disabilities in a fantasy world.

Now, there is some representation in western media. I mean, Dragon Prince comes to mind with aunt Amaya, and some of the background characters in Miraculous Ladybug have some disabilities. However, I cannot think of a single piece of visual media at the very least with a disabled main character. At least not within all the scifi/fantasy stuff I am consuming.

And even when it comes to side characters, it is not very common. Same with books. And maybe there is a good reason for this, because it really turns out that a lot of abled people suck at imagining disabilities, because when they think about a disability, they will usually think about what they would do if they became suddenly disabled in a very specific way.

The issues with that are somewhat multifold.

One part s, that a lot of abled people misunderstand disabilities in general. This basically boils down to binary thinking. Either something works 100% or it does not work at all. This is why abled people will act as if they have found you cheating when you stand up from your wheelchair. They do not realize that most people who sit in a wheelchair are not in fact paraplegic, but sit in the wheelchair for other reasons. When I need the wheelchair, I need it, because my blood oxygen levels are too low, and I am very, very dizzy on that day, so without the wheelchair I would not be able to move around without falling over. I can however stand up for a moment to fetch something, or I can get up and easily transfer into my bed or a toilet. Other people sit in a wheelchair because of chronic pain, or fits of weakness, or cramps or... the reasons are endless, really. Many people who sit in a wheelchair do not use the wheelchair every day. I am by now down to 2-3 days a month. But on those days I either stay in bed or need to use the wheelchair.

And the same goes with other disabilities. People hear "deaf" and think the people hear nothing. Most people who are labled deaf are in fact hard of hearing. They hear something, just not enough to function like a normal hearing person. Most legally blind people are able to see something. Some see in little flecks, some see just very blurry, some see on one eye and not the other... It goes on like this. But most times when abled people write about this, they do not depict it this way. Because they do not understand disability.

And again, they usually will look at it often from the perspective of suddenly loosing something that they have.

And mind you: Yes, most disabilities are not a thing you have at birth. You will gain this disability somehow during the course of your life. But here is the thing: No matter when you acquire your disability, you will get used to it. Sure, it might be a shock at first, and a lot of the depictions by abled people writing disabled people, might work if the character has recently acquired that disability. But it does usually not work for a character who has been disabled for 10+ years, or who has actually been disabled from birth.

Abled people can often not imagine that there are in fact disabled people - especially among those who have been disabled from birth - who do not want to be "healed". And cannot imagine that to some people "healing" is actually horrifying. We often hear tearjerker stories about blind and deaf people being cured and first seeing/hearing their loved ones. The stories we do not hear are the stories of those being "healed" and then finding, that actually they just mentally cannot properly deal with the visual or audio information and find it horrifying and/or painful.

And that is the other issue with writing disabled people: Often disabled people are written just to be healed. And that is just... not optimal.

So, what am I even trying to say?

Honestly, I don't know. Probably: Read actually stuff from the perspective of disabled people. And keep in mind that disabled people will always exist. Like, if you do not have disabled people existing in your fantasy/scifi works, I will always assume you are eugenicist.

[ukrfeminism]

Music colleges and conservatoires are deterring women and girls from playing “masculine instruments” such as drums and trumpets, a parliamentary report laying bare sexism in the music industry has revealed.

Female students are “cat-called in rehearsals”, held to a higher standard with “masculine” instruments and being told they cannot play properly if “they didn’t sit with their legs open”, the report states.

The Misogyny in Music report by parliament’s women and equalities committee found female musicians faced “endemic” discrimination in the industry which they described as a “boys’ club where sexual harassment and abuse is common”.

A series of female musicians and DJs including Annie Macmanus, Rebecca Ferguson and Katie Waissel gave evidence to the committee about discrimination and abuse they had witnessed or experienced.

Waissel, the former X Factor contestant, told the inquiry how “at the age of 16, she was grabbed by a much older man and placed on his lap in the recording studio while they were reviewing the track she was recording”.

The report found that many female performers who had been the victims of “discrimination, harassment and abuse” continued to be silenced through the widespread use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

It said: “Women in the music industry have had their lives ruined and their careers destroyed by men who have never faced the consequences for their actions. 

“People in the industry who attend award shows and parties currently do so sitting alongside sexual abusers who remain protected by the system and by colleagues.”

The report went on: “Much of the evidence we received has had to remain confidential, including commentary on television shows and household names.

“That is highly regrettable but demonstrates the extent of the use of NDAs and the culture of silence.”

The report outlined gender disparities throughout the industry. For example, less than 5 per cent of the producers or engineers on the top streamed tracks in 14 genres were female or non-binary, while of all the songwriters and composers who received a royalty in 2020, only one in six were female.

It also pointed out that the record label departments charged with finding new talent were dominated by men, concluding: “Women have significant additional barriers to pass to get a foothold in the music industry and must navigate acts of passive aggression, ridicule and misogyny to have a sustainable career. 

“Female artists are routinely undervalued and undermined, endure a focus on their physical appearance in a way that men are not subjected to, and have to work far harder to get the recognition their ability merits. Despite increases in representation, discrimination and misogyny remain endemic.”

The committee also called for music colleges, conservatoires and other educational establishment “to do more to address the gendering of instruments, roles and genres.”

Its members heard that “in many cases women are discouraged from playing certain instruments at all’, with one witness saying: “There is this idea that if you’re a girl you can’t play the drums, or if you’re a girl you can’t play the trumpet really loudly because it will make you look ugly.”

The report said that the Musicians’ Union had described female students being “cat-called in rehearsals”, “made to feel uncomfortable by male lecturers” and being told “they couldn’t play their instrument properly if they didn’t sit with their legs open in orchestra rehearsals”.

Caroline Nokes, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said “endemic misogyny … has persisted for far too long within the music industry.”

She added: “A shift in the behaviour of men — and it is almost always men — at the heart of the music industry is the transformative change needed for talented women to quite literally have their voices heard and be both recognised and rewarded on equal terms.”

[theoretically-writing-fics]

Since it is pride month I have decided to post ALL of my TTS and Vat7k LGBTQ+ headcanons!!

Rapunzel- Pansexual, non-binary (she/they)

Eugene- Transmasc, bisexual

Cassandra- Unlabelled. We need more unlabelled representation imo

Lance- Bisexual

Varian- Transmasc (he/they), bisexual

Hugo- Transfem, genderfluid, demiromantic

Nuru- Lesbian, asexual, transfem

Yong- Says that gender is a social construct. Also aro/ace

Angry/Keira- Non-binary (she/they), sapphic

Catalina- Aro/ace

Donella- Lesbian

Cyrus- Gay

Ulla- Bisexual (but with a lot of internalised homophobia)

These are just my thoughts, and I love seeing everyone else's headcanons and interpretations!!

[shappoxs]

I openly accept any corrections, especially from actual Lucanis fans or demisexuals. If you disagree with anything I say this point onwards, please tell me!

The way Lucanis went from "bisexual disaster " to "panromantic demisexual" after the game came out feels weird (Both are direct quotes about Lucanis from Mary Kirby). Before I get into this I'd like to clarify, neither is a problem, Lucanis being demisexual in a vacuum is not what I take issue with.

But it feels like another excuse. Being demisexual means something it's not just another word for inexperienced or hesitant. If Lucanis is demisexual why does he fall for Neve or Rook nearly just as fast as any other companion does and why does he never acknowledge that?

There are many hints that he's never dated before (not sure if it's ever outrught stated), and again, he is shown to be hesitant... but nothing uniquely in the direction of demisexuality.

This game clearly isn't afraid of using real terms (it has an entire codex going over different non-binary labels), so why is this where they draw the line? Why does Lucanis never acknowledge the fact that he requires a deep connection before he feels certain things?

I've seen people call Krem from DA:I bad trans representation because he's never called transgender, which I respectfully disagree with. Still, Krem is explicitly trans and then Lucanis's demisexual coding is just... pulling away before you can kiss? It doesn't help that the scene happens after something that would definitely explain why Lucanis would need to clear his head.

That's also paired with the fact we do get told constantly that he's traumatised and he mentions having little faith in people prior to his romance (at least with Neve). This isn't to say he can't be demisexual, not at all, but there's always an explanation for his behaviour that people would think of before demisexuality and there's no effort put in to otherwise lead us to it.

For a game that is on the nose about everything, I find it hard to give them the benefit of the doubt that this was the one thing they handled with subtlety.

Best case scenario, Mark Kirby was just trying to... I don't know, set up expectations to defy them? Worst case scenario, this is just another case of someone from Bioware lying to us about this damn game.

[guardian-angle22]

BRIAN MICHAEL SMITH via ig [1/28/25]

As we moved toward the end of the show, I found myself reflecting on Paul’s journey—what we’ve explored, the ground we’ve broken, and the things I wished I had seen onscreen when I was younger. I started thinking about what we could do that hadn’t been done yet in terms of trans representation. When I thought about how to end Paul’s storyline, I went back to the beginning. What made Paul take the leap and come to Austin in the first place? It was Owen’s words: ‘Somewhere in this town is a kid who’s just like you were. Who feels scared, hopeless. I want you to show him or her or them it’s okay to be who they are.’ That idea stayed with me, and I knew that’s where we needed to take Paul. I pitched the idea of Paul mentoring a young trans character to Rashad Raisani, our showrunner, and Rashad didn’t just run with the idea—he made it something truly special. Together, we created this powerful arc, and I couldn’t be prouder of what it represents. This led to this incredible moment with Jax—two trans people, from different generations and points on the spectrum, sharing a scene. How rare is it to see that? To see a trans man and a non-binary character not just exist, but thrive together on primetime TV? When Paul tells Jax, ‘You don’t have to justify your existence. You are enough,’ it’s a message that so many of us need to hear. As Rashad said in The Wrap, this story is about showing love and care in a world that often denies it to trans people—especially during a time when we’re being attacked on all sides. For me, this episode wasn’t just about mentorship. It was about showing one of the most beautiful aspects of being trans: how our experiences push us to grow deeper into our humanity, into our sense of self, and to break free from being defined by others. That light we carry can illuminate the path for others who are still on their own journeys of self-actualization. I also wanted to explore aspects of a trans man’s experience in new ways. Paul’s challenges and triumphs throughout the series are so specific, yet so universal. They hold a mirror to the kind of resilience and self-discovery we all experience in life. This is bigger than a TV moment. It’s a reminder of the importance of showing up—for trans lives, for our stories, for our future. Now is the time to speak out. Use your voice to push back against the hate. Advocate. Support. Fight for a world where we don’t just survive but thrive. To Rashad, Miles McKenna, and everyone at #911LoneStar: thank you for bringing this vision to life. These moments matter.

[the-heart-of-leo]

Nick's so far under the bus that they might as well change the oil while they're under there.

Okay, because I'm a bit of a masochist and I have adblockers...

I'm going to count how many times James throws Nick under the bus:

@2:40 – 'This fell upon Nick as well, as a non-binary person on the ace spectrum, they wanted to include asexuality and non-binary representation to our videos. But because Nick's experience is not universal – There is no universal experience – people felt that we were delegitimizing their own experiences because we focused on Nick's.' (The reason we were acephobic was because we (meaning Nick) didn't think other ace people had problems and when it was pointed out to us by The Ace Couple that ace people did, in fact, face discrimination and conversion therapy, we (meaning James) accused them of homophobia and sicced their followers on them.)

@6:38 – 'The work Nick and I were doing on the channel...' (Because Nick was here too! Not just me!)

@10:46 – 'I was much more interested in the production of the videos than the writing of them, at this point. So after three or four videos, I brought Nick on as a main writer for the channel. The idea is that they would write the vast majority of the scripts. I would film, voice, and edit the videos and we'd split the money that came in.'(Nick was the main writer for the channel! In case you forgot...)

@14:40 – 'And then my mom died... and I became completely useless. I couldn't think straight, at all, so Nick had to completely take over writing duties.'(DID I MENTION NICK WAS THE MAIN WRITER. ALSO MY MOM DIED; FEEL SORRY FOR ME)

@19:44 – 'When Nick got back, he believed the script needed a first page rework. This was also when he told me he was going to be moving back to Ontario permanently soon as he wanted to live closer to family and live in a bigger city with more opportunities. This was a punch to the gut for me. We'd been living together since 2015 and had become quite dependent on each other. I felt like there was no way I could make this movie without him.'(We couldn't make the movie we promised because SOMEONE DECIDED TO MOVE and since I'm co-dependent on him, I moved with him and screwed up everything. Oopsie.)

@26:32 – 'But by accepting as many sponsors as we did, which became very important when Nick and I started living apart and suddenly had two rents to pay, we ended up needing to produce even more videos. Which, along with the work on Telos and making sure everything was okay with my dad while living thousands of kilometers away meant I had even less time for writing – putting more stress on Nick and leading to even more copy and pasting from me.' (See what you did, Nick?! We have to pay TWO rents now and we need to make even MORE videos. I'm not creepily co-dependent on my asexual ex-roommate at all!)

@32:50 – 'I know what misinformation had made its way into our past videos. That was not something we intended; in some cases it was information I was told by people I considered experts. In other cases it was information that we had researched. In other cases it was things that Nick had learned in university.'(Nick told me some of this stuff! ((which is fair because NICK ADMITTED HE DOESN'T DO RESEARCH)) In other cases it was because I assumed I knew what happened because I'm the smartest person I know so of course Lesbians had it easier! I just forgot that Radcliffe Hall's books were banned and destroyed because of that head injury I talked about earlier.)

And here's an honorable mention where the smug “I'm smarter than you” BS comes to visit:

'To those who say I plagiarized the plot from the novel Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix – Read the book. It's nothing like the plot of the movie. And 'The Final Girl' is a trope in horror movies so if using the Final Girl trope is plagiarism then basically everyone who's made a slasher movie since Texas Chainsaw Massacre owes the Toby Hooper estate some money.'

So, much like how James doesn't understand why people aren't upset at him because of citation issues, he doesn't understand that it's not the fact that he's using the 'Final Girl' trope... it's the fact that he stated the book as a favorite of his and then... suddenly he's writing a movie about the aftermath of the Final Girl. And given the plagiarism, it can not be taken in good faith.

First off, if you just google 'First Final Girl', it just says Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the earliest examples. Another possibility for the 'First Final Girl' was actually Black Christmas which was released the same day in Canada so it is literally tied.

Secondly; the final girl trope is not required for slasher movies. One of the first 'proto-slasher' movies was actually Psycho so there were a few good decades between that and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (I could try and make a case that Lila Crane should count as a Final Girl; maybe even Mrs. Bates/Norman as a subversion... but I'm not that invested or interested.)

So... James was true to form, he just wanted to be a smug asshat and try and seem smart over something easily googled.

[bellesdomain]

Out of curiosity, which parts of the Wembley revival do you like?

Good question! It's quite hard to pin down... I like quite a lot of what they were trying to do, but I don't think the results are as good as they could be, in terms of telling a cohesive story.

First up, the cast are awesome - talented, passionate, enthusiastic. I may have issues with the direction, but the cast are doing their job amazingly.

I like that they dropped the "National" Engines. While I like the concept of Control being a trainspotter kid who's named the toys after fastest engines in the real world, the Creative Team have shown they're not capable of coming up with non-offensive archetypes. Coco Chanel was *LITERALLY* a Nazi... and she's the model for the "improved" French engine? Brexit is just a joke?? Better to keep the ensemble engines in a fantasy world.

Someone suggested that they could be Zodiac Engines - would be fantastic to give the performers *something* to work with in terms of characters and identity. I don't believe in Astrology at all, but the zodiac signs are factual, and "Red Taurus" could play on being a "typical Taurus" personality, like the way Cats have "three words" to define the character.

I like that they tried to give Pearl more agency - but the attempt was just not thought through. Giving Control the "funny" line of "if you don't decide, I'll decide for you" absolutely breaks her character arc - how can she regret the decisions she didn't make? Really there's no way to have Pearl be a logical, thoughtful character while she sings "Make Up My Heart" - that song defines her as being driven by her feelings, not her brain.

I like that they experimented with changing genders around - but the end result doesn't work for me. The world is painfully lacking in good father figure role models, and losing Poppa loses far more than is gained by having a Mama figure. And Female Greaseball - the cast being amazing make it super fun - but from a story telling angle we lose the Toxic Masculinity bad guy that the story needs as a villain!

Meanwhile we got a half-hearted non-binary representation for Electra - again not criticising Tom Pigram, but if the character is non-binary, why are none of the covers for the role female? Realistically the answer is back to "Make Up My Heart", Pearl's convinced Electra is a "lover", while she's only racing with Greaseball for "Fun". Adding bisexual awakening for Pearl is too complicated, it seems.

They tried to tell two stories at once - the "All genders are equal" Utopia, but at the same time the "We're not gonna take it anymore!" women fighting back. Either would be good, but you can't have both at once and tell a cohesive story! I like that they've tried to get back to a story about racing and winning more than the high-school romance angles, but without fully committing to it, the story doesn't hang together.

Trying to find the positive angle for Hydra... again, fantastic performers make the weak material really fun! But the story doesn't hang together. Why do the other fuel trucks dislike Hydra? Why is he there if nobody uses Hydrogen? But it's neat to try to bring real world technology into the show... but I miss the much richer story with Dustin.

What else... the music sounds pretty awesome? I like the orchestrations, I like that there's nothing half-assed about the theatre, the merch, the advertising. They've fully committed to this show being gloriously ridiculous and nothing to be ashamed of! I just wish it was less "There's no story, so what?" and more "And there's a story to sweep you away underneath the shiny!"

[verafranks]

Relationships I would’ve preferred to see in Veilguard; {warning, there will be spoilers for the game} [also note that I haven’t finished veilguard yet, Elgar’nan just resurrected his dragon in my playthrough] <also, also note that I don’t necessarily think there should be non-rook relationships for all of these characters, but these are the ones I like better than what we got> {also, also, also note that as I play more of the game, I’m starting to prefer the idea that the Veilguard companions are just one big polycule with Rook in the center and their own complex interactions around that primary relationship}

Bellara and Neve; (I only just got to the funeral part, so Bellara calling them sisters might make this weird, but meh, it’s been in my brain for more than 80 hours, so one line isn’t going to change it any time soon). I think Bellara’s happy go lucky and optimistic personality would be good for Neve, while Neve’s more down to earth and realistic personality would help keep Bellara grounded. I also think it would be easier for Bellara to relocate to Minrathous and still be able to do the things she loves because we all know Neve can’t be pried out of that city for anything short of the end of the world (and even that won’t be enough to impress her a second time).

Lucanis and Emmrich; I love their banter and I hate who they end up with in game if not with Rook. I think Lucanis would do a great job helping Emmrich come to terms with his fear of death and Emmrich is already doing, but could do so much more, with helping Lucanis come to terms with his feelings and what happened to him. Plus, they’d both romance the hell out of each other, and that’s what they both need. Their in game partners are the easy way out for both of them. Neve and Lucanis would never truly open up to each other and neither could leave their city, so their relationship would fizzle out from too much time away and not enough connection (lovers to roommates to nothing). Strife is too hard for Emmrich and wouldn’t be able to be the emotional safe space he needs.

Taash and Davrin (or Lace and Taash and Davrin); I know I’m going to get a lot of heat for this one (no pun intended), but I’m kind of sick of every AFAB non binary or FTM person ending up with a woman because it all boils down to the idea that masculine energy needs feminine energy, which is bullshit. (I also get that someone who is AFAB ending up with a man doesn’t feel like good representation) Don’t get me wrong, Lace and Taash’s relationship is growing on me, but I kind of love Taash and Davrin’s dynamic more. He’s always treated Taash as capable and equal and, as far as I’ve seen, hasn’t had any hang ups about their gender expression. I like that they have monster/dragon hunting in common. I like that they’re similar in personality but different in how the express themselves. I always feel like Taash and Lace are one argument away from crashing out, while I think Davrin would take Taash’s anger in stride, be there while they feel their feelings, and then help them through the other side. NGL though, I’m starting to think the three of them together might be a pretty good relationship dynamic too.

Lace and someone from the Inquisition; I don’t actually have anyone in mind here, but our poor girl Lace misses home. I think she would do well with someone from the Inquisition who can commiserate with her about what happened but still have her experiences be unique. Maybe they came up with the Inquisitor and that’s how it all starts.

Lace and Stalgard; she wants a deeper connection with the dwarves…need I say more? They’d also make the cutest ginger babies!