#unlabeled representation

[zaczytaga]

"Angel doesn’t canonically have a sexuality in IWBFT as I wanted to keep it vague because she was questioning, but I also think she reads as being on the aro/ace spectrums."

-Alice Oseman

On one hand, (as probably ace person) I love that Fereshteh (Angel) is assumed to be somewhere on the aro/ace spectrum but on the other hand, she could be such a great unlabeled representation.

What do you think?

[bizarreaizen]

i love you mspec lesbians !! i love you "cringe" bunny hat alt fashion queers !! i love you she/her gays !! i love you trans people who don't fit into gender norms or stereotypes !! i love you drag queens and drag kings !! i love you neopronouns and xenopronouns users !! i love you people who use microlabels !! i love you unlabeled people !! i love you disabled poc queers !! i love you muslim queers !! i love you non-human queers !! i love you xenogenders users !! . . ♡ /gen

[apatheticlexicographer]

i think i finally understand the exact reasoning behind how both will and mike's sexualities are presented, and how those presentations flatter each other.

will is barely queercoded from a subtextual perspective because there's no need to queercode him. the writers verbally establish in season one episode one that people percieve this kid as gay, so you're immediately guided to see him through the same lens, at least subconsciously. people continue to refer to him as gay and he continues to "act" gay, and most of the audience is able to see this for what it is very easily without the need for heavy symbolism. will being gay is simply treated as a fact from the start by both the characters around him and the writers themselves, for better or for worse.

MIKE, on the other hand, is so heavily queercoded it's barely even funny. he's the one with the queer imagery, the blocking, the set design, the lighting. he's never explicitly referred to as queer, it isn't so much as suggested verbally, but the sheer amount of incredibly blatant subtextual material that surrounds him is insane. none of the characters within the show have the slightest clue that mike is gay. there's a good chance that mike himself doesn't know, or has only begun to realize very recently. even the writers do their damn best to make it appear like they themselves don't know. still, the fact remains that he is, it just isn't expressed in a way that the homophobic masses both within and outside the show are capable of picking up on. when he comes out it will be a shock to the characters and the majority heterosexual audience, but not to the queer people who pick up instinctually on the signalling. basically, you only know mike is gay if you have a genuinely functioning gaydar.

in this way they're so strongly representative of two very different gay experiences, both of which are important and both of which are treated respectfully by the writers, despite the setting.

will is the kid who never really gets the luxury of choosing whether to come out to people, because everybody has had him pegged from the start. even his own family: jonathan tells will he accepts him before will can even hint toward the topic himself. however as much as we're told that he "seems" gay to other people, all we are shown subtextually is a totally normal child who happens to have feelings for another boy. this is important because it subverts the trope of making "being gay" the "obviously gay" character's sole or core trait.

mike is the kid who people would never in a million years guess was queer. it's not just that he gets the luxury of choosing when to come out of the closet; he's so deep in it that he's drowning in winter coats. he's the "twist queer character," except he's not. his subtextual queercoding has been there beneath the surface for just as long as will has been textually referred to as queer on a surface level. this makes it clear that him being gay isn't some kind of last minute decision and the subtlety of his presentation wasn't an accident. if you don't knkw mike is gay now before it's revealed then you aren't supposed to.

they're foils like that. they're the archetypal queers, and i think it's kind of beautiful.

(and if anybody tries to argue that one expression of Queer Experience is more important than another then i'm coming for their kneecaps. having both experiences not only represented but thoroughly explored is so rare, although there are people all over the world who resonate with each.)

[samhaven]

THE LAST ONE OF MY MAIN AND SECONDARY CHARACTERS

[oatbugs]

Tbh I've noticed I like men much more as a concept when it comes to romantic relationships, but I fear the moment I declare myself a lesbian a man will come along and ruin my dreams of living happily ever after with a woman 😅

u dont have to declare urself anything ! i promise ur dreams of living w a woman will not be ruined, if u ever fall in love w a man your dream will just change/you'll grow a new dream of a happy life w that person ! don't feel the need to restrict urself bc of a potential event in ur future. and if u only like men conceptually and don't feel attracted to them in any way, then it's ok to label urself as a lesbian ! labels can change as we change, and also many labels (like sexualities) are just tools that are sometimes helpful but rarely ever truly necessary :) ♡

[pendrcgn]

i would kinda love it if we could get imogen as unlabeled rep. heartstopper has so so much representation and i would love another sapphic, but just that. sapphic. not bisexual, not lesbian, not pan. she's just sapphic! and that's okay!

[lg-ball-t]

yo, could you do a comic about unlabelled (learn about it here). it's my identity and i think it would be cool because a lot of people don't know what it is :)

[rey-ieatedurdrywall]

and what if i told you sirius was unlabeled. what would you do. what would you do then.

[desdasiwrites]

– A.R. Capetta, The Heartbreak Bakery

[jaehyunsbreadbasket]

Jeremiah Fisher, my favorite queer man-whore 😌

[restnowyourhardshipisover]

Tubbo in MCC pride! Tubbo in MCC pride!

[productofaritual]

Day 23 of trying to get you invested in my original book "Bound By Name" by posting random fun facts!

Brooks is the type of guy to say "Pshh, I won't let something like 'LaBeLs' limit who I can and can't be with. I do what I want!"

[iridescentis]

filling out forms when you're closeted and still living with family is so fucking hard because i have to either lie or risk being outed and i hate it so so much, especially as someone who really fucking hates lying

and it makes me so sad because right now im transferring colleges and my new one is much more accepting and inclusive like they ask for pronouns and preferred name and everything but i can't tell them the truth without being terrified

a month or so ago i was doing forms with someone in class and they were in the same situation and we both just shared that pain of having to lie to keep ourselves safe even though the form was really inclusive and even though it feels better knowing im not alone it still sucks so much

[imhidingonceagain]

Can we talk about the amazing representation inside the QSMP?

These days I've seen a few people (haters for sure) saying that the QSMP has few to none diversity and that makes me mad so let me list the diversity of this two month old server:

Inside of lore

We have diversity in family dynamics:

-Homoparental families

-"Nuclear" families

- A Platonic partner family (I don't know what's the proper word to describe Jaiden, Roier and Bobby's situation pls tell me if you know/ EDIT: I've been informed the proper term would be "Queer platonic relationship").

- Single parents

We have LBTQ+ representation:

-Gay characters

Roier

-Bisexual characters

Vegetta, Rubius

-Aroace characters

Jaiden, Maximus (he's actually acespec)

-Lesbian characters

Baghera (EDIT: Idk about her anymore, sorry)

-Trans characters -including gender fluid and non binary

Juanaflippa, Tilín, Leonarda, Maximus, Trump

-Characters with disabilities

Richarlyson (the Brazilians noticed he has a shorter leg and that's why fanartists draw him with a prosthetic leg + we have collectively decided he's black).

-MLM characters -I'm making it a separate cathegory just because the characters haven't specified a label. But if you know their label lmk so I can edit it-

Quackity

Mariana

Slimecicle

Foolish

Forever

Cellbit

EDIT: (I JUST REMEMBERED!)

We also have neurodivergent representation:

Wilbur and Dapper (Both autistic)

Outside of lore (Real life)

From the moment Quackity included Latin Americans that already made the server diverse since us Latinos are one of the most diverse demographic groups in the world.

But still, let me elaborate:

Diversity of nationalities/ ethnic backgrounds

Mexican, English, Argentinian, American, Spanish, Norwegian (Rubius is half Spanish half Norwegian), Cuban (Maximus is half Spanish half Cuban), German and Japanese (Jaiden), Brazilian, Swiss and French (Baghera), Algeria and Turkish (Ètoiles) (for now).

We have people of color (some of them are clearly mestizos, meaning they have both native and white genes)

Quackity, Jaiden, Missa, Mariana, Roier, Forever, Maximus, Felps, Pac, Mike, Ètoiles, Spreen (please lmk if I'm missing someone I don't want to erase anyone especially because I'm talking about the actual CC)

We have diversity of languages:

Spanish, French, Portuguese and English (for now).

Now... The point that I've seen people the most confused about:

We also have LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION IN REAL LIFE:

Jaiden (Aroace)

Rubius (Bisexual)

Vegetta (Bisexual)

Mike (Bisexual)

Tilín and Leonarda's admins (Non binary and gender fluid respectively)

Plus, the content creators that for now are classified as "Unlabeled" (Roier and Mariana)

There might be more that aren't out yet. Please stop assuming everyone's straight.

So yeah... The QSMP DOES have diversity.

(My only criticism is that we definitely need more female Content creators but hopefully we'll have them in the future. I'm looking at you Quackity, don't disappoint me. If I'm missing something let me know so I can edit it).

[beck404]

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!

Always remember you’re loved and SO valid no matter your sexuality, gender identity, the labels you use, if you’re unlabelled, queer, etc. The queer community is really big so please remember to be kind to others, their experience might not be the same as yours (just as your experience might not be the same as everyone else’s) but we have all struggled with something. Spread love, spread validation and be PROUD of who you are!!

That being said, remember that you don’t owe your sexuality to anyone! It is YOUR decision to come out or keep it private, you don’t have to feel pressured to come out, know your sexuality or even label it. You are you and nobody else can tell you who or what you are!

Also a HUGE thank you to Alice for creating the hearstopper universe, the way it celebrates the LGBTQ+ community in such an authentic and inclusive way, the representation i never thought i’d see i now see it every day thanks to you!! My words will never be able to describe how grateful i am, but thank you for giving me Nick Nelson, the bisexual representation i so desperately needed 🩷💜💙

[enavstars]

Happy Pride Month!!

Lgbt headcanons under the cut

Cole

• Gay

• Demiromantic

• He/ him

• Had a crush on Kai the firsts seasons and confused Kai and Nya in the love triangle thing.

• When he came out to his father Lou was like "I know. Which one of those three is your boyfriend then?".

Zane

• Pansexual

• Demisexual

• Non binary

• They/ them

• Doesn't bother correcting people when they use he pronouns. The rest of the ninja do bother a lot.

• Doesn't fall in love easily but when they do they fall hard.

• Asked Jay to make changes to their body to make it look less masculine.

Jay

• Bisexual

• Demiboy (afab)

• He/ They

• Had a lot of crushes which include Nya, Kai and Cole.

• Still has a bi panic sometimes with Kai because he looks like Nya.

• Ed & Edna were really supportive with Jay's transition which started before he joined the ninja. He had top surgery between seasons 2 and 3.

• He suffered a bit of bullying for being trans.

Kai

• Bisexual

• Genderfluid

• He/ She

• Didn't bother questioning his gender until he tried Nya's clothes as a joke and had a gender crisis.

• More transfem and prefers she pronouns. Loves when they treat him as a girl.

• Can easily look like a girl and loves to confuse people.

• Pretends to be annoyed when they call him a pretty princess as a joke but loves it.

• Knows how to flirt and pulls but blushes and malfunctions when it's his crush.

• (Doesn't know how to make a decision xd)

Nya

• Bisexual

• She/ Her

• Realized she was Bisexual when she was young and suffered a bit from homophobic comments in the village.

• Kai came out years later (when he had the time to question his sexuality) and Nya became much more comfortable with herself.

• Had a crush on Skylor but her brother was faster.

Lloyd

• Gay

• Asexual

• Gender unlabeled

• He/ They/ It/ Xe...

• Doesn't care about pronouns, he just doesn't like she.

• Realized he was gay after the Harumi thing (greenflower :))

• Didn't know what asexuality was and was insecure for a while (with his siblings being the two horniest mfs) until they explained the concept to him.

• Is still questioning his gender but remains unlabeled for now.

Pixal

• Lesbian

• Aromantic

• Demigirl

• She/ They

• Thought she was agender and came out as demigirl after season 10.

• Has no interest in romantic relationships

• (Alloaro because they don't get representation)

• Broke up with Zane but she's their N°1 defender.

Skylor

• Lesbian

• Trans woman

• She/ Her

• Dated Kai for a while before she realized she was a lesbian and they broke up (that wasn’t the only reason tho)

• Is kinda jealous of Kai switching genders:

Skylor: How do you pass as a girl so easily?

Kai: Am I a pretty girl?

Extra:

• Wu and Garmadon, being the sons of God, are beyond gender and use any pronouns.

• The ninja (minus Lloyd) are all poly depending on my mood (multishiper pros)

Kai and Nya love giving people bi panics (including Jay)