#why are you appropriating harmful stereotypes onto women?

[daenerysies]

something something ‘feminine’ female characters being deserving of all things good and righteous and holy because of them overcoming their suffering by working within the system that hurts them using their wiley feminine attributes and charm something something ‘masculine’ female characters being villainized for fighting outside the constraints of the system they’re still subjected to in a more hands on approach and being victims of similar if not the same circumstances as their ‘feminine’ female peers but it doesn’t count for some reason because they don’t suffer as prettily as their counterparts something something

[kierpyr]

hi. i know that what i'm about to talk about isn't what i usually post but this is very important to me.

my name is milo, and if you didn't know, i am a black person. the reason i bring this up is because a creator on tiktok by the name of "ziel" or "zielzebub"

(here is his tiktok page)

has been making content that surrounds itself on a stereotype that hurts both black and latina women respectively.

here is the character in question:

this stereotype is the "hot cheeto girl" stereotype.

for more background/context, this person makes content for autistic people on tiktok. this "hot cheeto girl" character is supposed to be a "supportive" and "extroverted girl" who sticks up for those who are being bullied or harassed, especially those who are minorities, and in his videos, autistic people.

however, i need to clarify; the "hot cheeto girl" is NOT a positive trope. this creator is trying to frame it that way, but no matter what, the stereotype will always be negative and always hurt black and latina women by portraying them as loud, "ghetto", and violent.

now, the creator KNOWS and is VERY AWARE that this stereotype hurts these two groups of women. in a video in which someone had called him out for his use of the stereotype, he said this in response:

here, he clarifies that he knows that the stereotype is meant to hurt women of color, but that he "took out the racist elements" of the stereotype to avoid from actually being racist. he uses his intent to excuse himself as well in his caption.

i am going to debunk every single BULLSHIT excuse that he used, starting with excuse #1;

"i avoided adding in racist elements."

this excuse is plain fucking stupid because either way, you are acting out a stereotype that hurts black and latina women and mocks their cultures. you are still acting out a character that appropriates black and latina culture. he even acknowledges that he is acting out a stereotype, but still goes on to make that shitty excuse.

he explains in his video that he meant to portray an extroverted girl who stands up for others, is caring, may have a lot of snacks, etc., but my question is that if you wanted to portray that kind of a character, why would you use a racial stereotype to do so?? removing the racist parts doesn't change the fact that you are using a stereotype that harms certain people for your content and audience's entertainment. i did tell him this in his comments and he proceeded to tell me that I was the one being racist by "pushing a stereotype onto his character" 😭 which is hilarious if we take into consideration that HE is actively using a stereotype and the name of said stereotype for his content and is actively calling the women of color who are calling him out "keyboard warriors".

excuse #2;

"racism was not my intent."

this is a stupid thing to say because people can do/say racist things whilst not being a 50 year old redneck racist conservative 😭 you can say/do racist things without meaning to cause harm. that doesn't change the fact that you've have done harm though. your actions still have impact and still hurt people, which you should apologize for. way too many people have this pattern of thinking; that if you're saying/doing something racist, that it must mean that you are in fact a racist, and this creator is using that way of thinking to justify their actions.

excuse #3:

"hot cheeto girls can be of any race."

both him and his followers specifically used this excuse when i got into an argument with him in his commenr section. they make the claim that "hot cheeto girls can be of any race" and some were telling stories of how "their" hot cheeto girl was [insert race here] therefore, it can't be a racist stereotype and his portrayal of the stereotype isn't racist, which is entirely untrue.

again, the stereotype mocks and belittles black and latina women and their cultures. when women of other races embody this stereotype, they are often doing so to imitate black and latina women. they view this stereotype as a costume that they can take off when they're no longer interested. there was a whole entire trend in 2021/2022 that proved this. multiple girls of other races called their imitation of black and latina women a "phase" and were showing before and after photos of this "phase". a lot of non-black/latina people view our cultures as costumes to wear and take off when the show is over. that's why there are "hot cheeto girls" of different races.

i also wanted to say that a lot of the girls that people are describing in defense of ziel are NOT "hot cheeto girls". they are literally just girls with some spunk, kindness, and a strong sense of morality and justice. they are girls you would meet in your everyday life. attributing a stereotype onto those girls is just weird, especially when the stereotype frames these qualities as something annoying and wrong and attributes a race to these qualities.

i brought a lot of these things up to this creator and did bring up solid points, but he chose to ignore me and other people. he told me that he doesn't care, acted like a fucking manchild, and began trolling me when i brought up one of the points i made in this post; if you wanted to make an extroverted girl who stands up for victims of bullying, ableism, racism, homophobia, etc., then why use a stereotype?? why use a trope that's racist and demeans black and latina women to make a character with qualities that can be found in literally any race?? why claim that you "took the racist parts out" when the trope itself IS the racist part? his character does use terms from aave like "bestie" and has an attitude, which is part of what the stereotype portrays. he even has acrylic nails on which is also apart of the stereotype, so they can't say that they "strayed from racist stereotypes" if he's including aspects of the stereotype that makes it hurtful and that people actively mock. so it makes no sense to make that claim or to use a racist trope in the first fucking place.

in conclusion, please report this person. tell them that what they're doing is wrong. as an autistic person myself, this kind of content an behavior upsets me, especially because i am a black autistic person. SOME white autistic people will do or say awful and racist things about my community and when they're told that what they're doing is wrong, they don't listen. it makes me feel hurt and upset that i can't feel safe in my community without seeing content like this being put on the internet. i know that this post might not reach a lot of people but if it reaches you then please spread this around. it would mean a lot. thank you.

[reiverreturns]

top (5) gun(s). just kidding. top 5 favorite (or LEAST favorite) scottish stereotypes?

oh my beloved ac mutuals, how i love and adore you for putting up with my vroom vroom plane nonsense <3

okay onto business, this was a really hard one to pick how to answer! i don't like stereotypes in general (flattens my capacity for nuance) so i'm going to pick the five i think are most harmful/misunderstood.

that scottish people know/care what clans we come from. i think a lot of this stereotype comes from the north american view of scottishness and thinking that having scottish ancestry makes you scottish (which it doesn't). it's not generally front of mind in a modern scot's identity (unless you're landed gentry or something) and i find it a gross question to be asked because of that association to a very myopic/white view of scottishness.

scottish people are anti-english. this ties a lot into the independence movement and is heavily rooted in a uk-centric media narrative of scots having it "too good" as we are. a lot of scottish people WILL rib on english folk during sporting tournaments etc. (because its funny) but genuine xenophobia is rare and its quite reductive to assume a desire to self-determine the future of our country is based on an 'us vs them' mentality.

the scottish accent is impossible to understand. nope, we're often just not speaking english! scottish people often speak scots or scots-english which has different words, grammatical structures, and meanings for words vs their english counterparts. however, there are exceptions to this. some characteristics of a scottish accent (such as liberal use of glottal stops) make some english words really indistinct to foreigners. for example, a scottish person saying "can" and "can't" will often sound nearly identical unless they're stressing the 't' deliberately. that's why we say "can" and "cannae" in scots - it's much more distinct and you can't really mix them up. there are, of course, regional nuances i'm not touching on but to tdlr it - sometimes we're just speaking a different language; sometimes we accidentally make things more difficult by trying to make your life easier and speak proper english

scottish people are tight with money. this is such a weird one because idk where it comes from but its not true??? I WANT TO PAY FOR THINGS STOP MAKING JOKES THAT I WILL SKIP OUT ON MY TAB. TAKE MY MONEY.

scots are violent or unfriendly. especially if you are from/have lived in or around glasgow. scottish people tend to be quite direct and to the point but in my experience scots are generous with their time and want to help other people. it makes me sad to think people wouldn't want to visit the country because of that stereotype for violence.

and finally, a few things i agree with:

men in kilts are hot

women in kilts are hot

bagpipe music slaps (at an appropriate time of day)

Ask me my Top 5 of anything

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Sinophobia in SW Animation

Alright. Alright. After the latest episode of The Bad Batch it just brought everything back to the forefront of my mind and I need to get this out there because as a Chinese-Canadian fan of SW this is really grinding my gears. If you’re here to leave a racist comment literally fuck off.

Edit: Changed the title to better address this post, which centers more on Sinophobia and not so much on general anti-Asian racism, which will take FAR more discussion and which I do not feel remotely qualified to address in its entirety. While Sinophobia falls under the umbrella of Anti-Asian Racism, it is not ALL of Anti-Asian Racism. There’s many, MANY more issues of anti-asian racism which aren’t addressed here, and I strongly encourage that you do your research on it too.

Anyway.

Let’s start with the Ming Po from The Clone Wars.

So. First off. Both these words - Ming and Po - are Chinese names or words which are used semi-commonly! Why is this relevant? Because these are the Ming Po.

I should not need to tell you how this literally feels like a racist caricature come to life in Star Wars Animation. The Ming Po are shown to live in a place that’s absolutely laden with East Asian architecture and their characters are literally the epitome of racist Chinese stereotypes (their eyes; their height; their hairstyle; all combined with their meek & submissive demeanour and their clothing, it’s very questionable). Here’s an example of a political newspaper cartoon that’s extremely loaded with anti-Chinese racism:

Good fucking god. And don’t give me the “This is their arts style!” excuse. Star Wars can and does have beautiful animation of East Asian Women. Some examples:

Star Wars can create wonderful East Asian characters in their animation. There’s, quite frankly, absolutely no excuse for their use of racial caricatures in the Ming Po. I've made posts about the Ming Po and I'll make them again: it's racist. And quite frankly, if you're thinking I'm overreacting, you really have no business telling an East Asian woman what is and isn't anti-Asian racism.

Now, let's move on to the next issue. The Neimoidians. From The Nerdist, which explains it far better than I ever can:

For comparison:

I haven’t even mentioned the appropriation of Taoism and Buddhism, among many other things. There’s many posts about it out there.

Now, onto The Bad Batch:

There's very few Asian Imperial Officers that we know of in canon. And - she looks Chinese. Full stop. So, there's a few issues I have with this portrayal here:

She... Should not have blue eyes. Star Wars has a huge issue with eurocentrism in its animation and among this is giving POC non-brown eyes. While it most certainly is possible for POC to have lighter coloured or blue eyes (it's true, google it), the sheer NUMBER of POC who have light brown or green or blue eyes is alarmingly large. It's like Star Wars has an allergy to dark brown eyes or an obsession with blue eyes or something.

This scene. This scene. You cannot have a city square full of citizens demanding their freedom, and then have said square invaded by tanks while citizens scream and run, without evoking the very vivid image of Tiananmen Square. It’s true the tanks aren’t actually explicitly shown harming anyone, but listen. LISTEN. The image of innocent, unarmed civilians trying to exercise the right to free speech, then screaming and running for cover while the military and literal BATTLE TANKS move in and threaten to crush them to death or fire on them is questionable at best, especially when the ONLY Chinese Imperial Officer shown on-screen in animation orders this move. While the Chinese government is a horrendous autocratic shithole, this portrayal serves only to contribute to the rising Sinophobia right now in the West as racists continually conflate the government with the people. It’s a small scene in the grand scheme of things, but this portrayal absolutely rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps it was made out of ignorance, but regardless, ignorance does not help when it comes to racism. There are ways to call out the Chinese government without invoking Sinophobia nor the Yellow Peril.

Adding an edit here: This scene also could evoke the current memory of HK. That is; memory of occupation. Alternatively; the occupation of France during WW2. But the choice of character design; having the one East Asian officer give an order to faceless soldiers to oppress a crowd (where the main people that speak up are white); it’s only feeding into the racist concept of the Yellow Peril.

Edit #2, in case it isn’t clear: It is absolutely vital to call the Chinese government out for its shit, including the erasure of Tiananmen Square. But this: by having the one of the only Chinese officers in TCW/TBB order tanks into a crowd that is predominantly white, euro-centric, or completely alien (e.g. Rodian, Pantoran), it feeds into the racist concept of the Yellow Peril and does not serve as a strong callout of Tiananmen Square.

Edit #3: I realized that I haven’t made it clear, so here’s the third edit. There is nothing inherently wrong with having an East Asian Imperial. An example of a fucking amazing one is Terisa Kerrill. Two other East Asian characters - Countess Ursa Wren and Fennec Shand - are also both complex and at BEST morally grey characters who are not necessarily pure good guys by any means. As an example, the Chinese government has indeed engaged in imperialist violence, and is currently literally violating a shit ton of human rights through literal genocide and through the suffocation of democracy in HK (not to mention how the CCP is trying to slowly inch into, like every single country it shares a border with). This needs to be called out, be it in art or otherwise. The issue comes in the perpetuation of the concept of the Yellow Peril. Yes, we need East Asian villains! Yes, East Asian countries have done fucked up shit and some of it needs to be taught and called out! The issue is, the callout is not effective when it perpetuates racism rather than addressing these issues with the necessary nuance.

As much as I love Star Wars for calling out issues with autocracy and imperialism and as much as I liked the political overtones of the animated series, certain portrayals can and should have been done better.

Oh, and one more thing - just because Star Wars has more East Asian main characters in Sabine Wren, Fennec Shand, Chirrut Imwe, and Baze Malbus, doesn't mean that it erases its anti-Asian racism. On top of this, I haven't even spoken about the horrendous treatment of Rose Tico and Kelly Marie Tran. On top of this, I haven’t even ADDRESSED the issues SW has with their portrayal of non-Chinese Asian cultures, including South Asians, Southeast Asians, Central Asians, Western Asians, or North Asians.

There's so much.

[johannestevans]

The #MonstrousMayChallenge 2021

Love monsters?

The #MonstrousMayChallenge is going to be a series of monster-centric prompts for every day of the month of May!

Draw, write, talk about, analyse, shitpost, critique, rec, discuss, create, consume, and otherwise have fun with each prompt.

Tell your friends, pick and choose the prompts that you like best: make art, make fiction, make rec lists, make jokes, make monsters!

May 1. What is a Monster? May 2. How to Talk to Your Monster May 3. The Vampire May 4. Iconic Settings May 5. Feeding Time May 6. The Lycanthrope May 7. Adverse Weather Conditions May 8. The Monster in Love May 9. The Undead May 10. "... and add a monster." May 11. A Baby Monster May 12. The Alien May 13. The Domesticated Monster May 14. Clothing Your Monster May 15. The Mermaid

May 16. The Gentle Kaiju May 17. Monstrous Transformations May 18. Angels & Demons May 19. Monstrous Flora May 20. The Monster in History May 21. The Hybrid May 22. Kept Captive May 23. The Human is the Monster May 24. The Dragon May 25. The Monster Dies May 26. The Hive-Mind May 27. The Fae May 28. The Monster Extinct May 29. Cultural Differences May 30. The Minotaur May 31. Happily Ever After

The full write-up for the #MonstrousMayChallenge is below the cut — for every day of the month of May 2021, there’ll be a new prompt all to do with creating monsters and monster-centric stories!

You can either go directly off of the prompts themselves, or if you want a little more inspiration, you can come check this post for more in-depth exploration of the idea in question.

For each entry in response to the prompts, regardless of what platform you post to, make sure to tag the #MonstrousMayChallenge! In the meantime, just spread the word and tell your friends to get them ready for May!

Feel free to pick and mix the prompts you like best, to skip any prompts that don’t suit you, or to swap in prompts of your own if you like — every 3rd day is a specific category of “classic” monsters, and they’re not for everybody!

“Monsters are the patron saints of imperfection.” — Guillermo del Toro (x)

The emphasis on all of the prompts below are on monster-centric and monster-POV stories. Monstrous romances and monstrous erotica are both welcome and encouraged, just as much as platonic monstrosity is, and please feel free to join in regardless of your medium, whether you draw, write, animate, or create in another way entirely!

Just a note as to what expect — this challenge is intended for those who love monsters, who identify with monsters, who feel for the monsters, and all the prompts are written with that expectation in mind.

One small note: throughout these prompts there are references to folklore and ideas from different cultures and backgrounds. When exploring ideas from cultures that aren’t your own, remember that not every representation of spirits or monsters can be divorced from its original context, and take care to do your research to ensure you aren’t harming others by furthering harmful stereotypes or appropriating ideas of cultural importance.

We’re all here to have fun, which means that using a love of monsters as a vehicle for racism (whether that’s outright or by upholding colonial and imperial ideas, appropriating from other cultures, or fetishising other races and cultures) is not what we want to see in the course of this challenge, and isn’t welcome here.

Note the above especially in regards to the Alonquian W*nd*go.

Saturday 1st May 2021 — What is a monster?

Here’s a warm-up challenge to start the month off:

For you, what is a monster? What makes a monster monstrous? What delights you, excites you, scares you, horrifies you about a monster? What fills you with affection for monster?

When you first hear the word monster, what springs first to mind?

This is a free space — talk about, write about, draw, animate, sing about, the monster(s) you love best, and why you love them!

Sunday 2nd May 2021 — How To Talk To Your Monster

How does your monster communicate?

Do they have a mouth, lips, a tongue, like humans do? Do they communicate verbally at all? Do they communicate via telepathy, via their tentacles, or their limbs? Do they speak, but at a pitch or volume or speed inaudible or incomprehensible to human ears? How is this gap bridged?

Does your monster understand humans but struggle to make itself understood? Does your monster want to be understood?

Alternate: How does your monster communicate with other, different monsters?

Monday 3rd May 2021 — The Vampire

The vampire is a walking corpse that sustains itself by feeding off the the blood of the living.

There are a thousand variations on the myth — a corpse that rises from its grave at night only to mindlessly glut itself on the prey it can find becomes a reclusive gentleman who lives in isolation in a brooding, gothic castle overlooking a Transylvanian woodland (Dracula); a sparkly immortal Mormon who likes to climb into young women’s windows to watch them while they sleep (Twilight); a rich aristocrat so intent on preserving his properties and his privilege that he clings onto immortality at all costs (Interview with the Vampire); an extremely sexy vampire in sunglasses who’s devoted to killing other vampires (Blade), and so on and so forth.

Explore your own take on the vampire:

Is your vampire actually dead? Do they just appear dead, or sleep in coffins?

What makes a vampire? A curse? A ritual? Transmission of vampiric disease — via the exchange of blood or via sex? Are they born that way? Do dhampirs (half-vampires) exist? Do vampires become vampires by choice? Is there a contract or an agreement?

Does your vampire drink blood? Cerebral fluid? Consume human flesh? Do they sap energy from others in non-literal ways — for example, do they feed off of emotions or energy, or seek to devour a soul?

If they survive off of the above, do they also eat or drink other things? Are they capable of doing so without becoming ill?

Is your vampire sensitive to sunlight? Bright light in general? Do they physically react to it? Do they burn, or crumble to dust? How do they cope with this — do they only come out at night, do they wear leathers and carry a parasol, do they use a medicated suncream?

Can vampires become ill? Sick? What weakens a vampire? What kills them?

Does your vampire have any other powers? Can they fly, hypnotise people, transform into gas or another animal?

What happens if a non-human becomes a vampire?

Alternate: A non-vampire monster becomes absolutely obsessed with vampires. They love them to pieces! Why? How do they get their vampire fix?

Some inspiration, if you want it:

Article: An 18th-century guide to hunting vampires from National Geographic

Article: The Great New England Vampire Panic from the Smithsonian Magazine

Video Essay: The Sexy Vampire Trope, Explained, from The Take

Tuesday 4th May 2021 — Iconic Settings

Imagine an iconic setting within the horror genre or without — your Transylvanian castles, your unending deserts of shifting sands, your haunted houses and their infinitely winding corridors, your unholy spires atop distant peaks, your deep and dismal caves, your roiling seas…

What monsters lurk within these settings? How do they feel about their environs? What happens if you transplant a monster from one such setting into its opposite, or combine a few of them together?

What happens if these settings are invaded, lost, destroyed, expanded, changed?

Alternate: Imagine any iconic setting you like, but instead of the monster lurking within, the setting is the monster.

The seas themselves are sentient; the caves are toothy maws of impossible beasts; the mountains themselves have eyes; the castles and houses and ancient tombs and temples are, themselves, imbued with a spirit… Is it hungry? Angry? Lonely?

Wednesday 5th May 2021 — Feeding Time

What does your monster eat?

Is it predator or prey? To a human understanding, does it look like what it is? If it eats meat, does it prefer to eat it dead or alive? If it’s not from this planet or dimension, does it struggle to find new things to eat? What does it look like when your monster eats? Is it private about eating? Does it look scary when it feeds?

Does it eat at all? Does your monster get its energy from the sun, from electricity, from magic, from something else entirely?

Alternate: From a monstrous POV, a human’s dietary habits seem monstrous and strange. Why?

Thursday 6th May 2021 — The Lycanthrope

The werewolf is a person who turns into a wolf, typically at the time of the full moon. Lycanthropy is the name of the condition of being a werewolf, or someone who turns into some other animal.

The variations on the werewolf are infinite — the core is often people bitten by strange beasts and left forever cursed with their regular transformation (for example, in The Wolf Man); but a curse is also possible, such as when kings are turned into wolves as punishment for their hubris (as with King Lycaon in Metamorphoses); or of course, a curse inherited, such as when young men who come into their inherited lycanthropy and suddenly have a whole host of new puberty concerns (Teen Wolf).

And it needn’t be a wolf at all — there are all manner of shapeshifters between one myth and the next, and as much as there are werewolves there might be werelions, werebears, werebats, et cetera, et cetera.

For your lycanthrope, why not explore:

What animal or creature does your lycanthrope turn into? A wolf, a bear, a lion, a snake, a bird? Something magical — a phoenix, a unicorn, a griffin, a dragon?

Once transformed, can your lycanthrope be distinguished from the normal edition of the beast? What are the differences, for example, between a werewolf and a wolf?

Can your lycanthrope transform at will? Is it influenced by their emotion? Is it kept to a regular schedule? Can that schedule be interrupted? For example, if it’s a monthly cycle like someone’s menstruation, can they go for periods without transforming or with “spotty” transformations? If it’s with the phases of the moon, does hiding from the moon help? What happens if you send them to another planet?

Is the transformation painful? Physically or mentally taxing?Are there any health problems associated with lycanthropy?

When transformed, how conscious and aware of themselves is you lycanthrope? Do they know they’re transformed? Do they remember what they were?

Alternate: Sometimes, another monster turns into a human.

Friday 7th May 2021 — Adverse Weather Conditions

What weather is your monster happiest in? What weather is your monster least happy in?

Is your monster native to an area that’s extremely hot and humid? Very cold and dry? Is your monster used to heavy rains, droughts and little water, sandstorms, electrical storms, blizzards? If your monster lives in space or underwater, how are they affected by solar flares or tropical storms, shifts in tides and gravitational flows?

How has your monster evolved or developed to handle these weather conditions — or, is there anything your monster hasn’t evolved for, and struggles with?

Alternate: Your monster is a house-monster, and will not be going outside. They would like a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa and a nice comfortable bed, please and thank you.

Saturday 8th May 2021 — The Monster In Love

Your monster’s in love — what do they do about it?

Does your monster have any particular mating rituals or ways in which they show their affection? Does your monster mate for life, does your monster date, does your monster romance singular or multiple partners? Does your monster yearn, do they pine? Do they bring gifts, do they do special dances, do say particular words or have mating calls?

Is their love reciprocated — is it even understood?

When one monster loves another monster, what does it look like? What does it look like when a monster is in love with a human? When a human falls in love with a monster?

Alternate: Your monster has never been in love, and is baffled — perhaps even disgusted — by the prospect. Do they do research? Demand an explanation?

Sunday 9th May 2021 — The Undead

The undead covers a lot of things under a similar umbrella, and it’s up to you whether they count as monsters or not — ghosts, ghouls, poltergeists, spirits, revenants, draugr, reanimated corpses like zombies, arguably vampires… To infinity, and beyond.

We can be talking spirits without bodies or with new bodies, corpses with new spirits in them, corpses controlled by necromancers or the like, and so on.

So, for this prompt:

For your undead monster, are they conscious, sentient? Do they control their own body? Do they remember when they were alive, if they were dead and then reanimated?

If they have a physical form, can someone tell they’re undead? Are they rotting, corpse-like, desiccated, all bones, all flesh, all muscle? Are they missing parts? Do they have any extra ones? Do they look the same way they used to? If they don’t have a physical form, can you see them at all? Can you see them only sometimes?

What sustains this undead monster? Do they feed off of anything, or are they just sustained by the air itself, by magic, by some sort of magical object or curse?

Was your undead monster once a human? Once a werewolf? Once a faerie, once a dragon, once some other creature entirely?

Alternate: Your monster is a necromancer, and they are not undead, but control and raise, in some way or another, the undead.

Monday 10th May 2021 — “… and add a monster.”

Take absolutely any iconic work you like, whether it’s a classic piece of literature, a poem, a piece of mythology or folklore, a fairy tale, a fable, a shanty or a campfire song — anything that’s in the public domain and might be well-recognised — and add a monster.

Have Sherlock Holmes meeting a vampire, reimagine Jean Valjean as a minotaur, give Mr Darcy a deep and affectionate longing for his local werewolf.

You don’t have to keep to the same characters or plots — rewrite an existing plot with monsters (Rapunzel or Cinderella, for example), have two plots crossover (what happens when the monsters in two myths team up to defeat the hero out to kill them?), add monsters or change the monsters in the narrative, or if it already has a monster, add another.

Alternate: Take a public domain domain monster and give them a break. Send Dracula on holiday, give the poor result of Frankenstein’s experiments a spa day, etc.

Tuesday 11th May 2021 — A Baby Monster

How do the monsters breed?

Do they lay eggs? Give birth to live young? Do something else entirely? Are monsters active parents? What happens when monsters interbreed, or breed with humans?

Is the breeding… fun? 😉

I know not everyone likes writing babies or kids, and equally that some people have come into this challenge specifically for the monsterfucking, so there’ll be two streams of main prompts — one focusing on the breeding for you child-free monsterfuckers, and another focusing more on monstrous baby development once an egg is laid or a baby is born, etc.

Feel free to do both if you want to do both, as one does lead into the other!

Questions about breeding and monstrous pregnancy:

Does your monster fertilise eggs for the purposes of a live pregnancy, do they lay eggs, do they clone themselves, do they breed in some other way?

If your monster has genitalia, what do they look like? Are they analogous to human genitalia? Are they particularly big or particularly small compared to the analogous human parts, if so? How compatible is your monster’s genitalia with a human’s genitalia — or another monster’s?

If there is a size difference between monster and partner, what comes of this? Are there any chemical differences between monster and partner — for example, does the monster’s touch impart a high or some kind of contact aphrodisiac?

Are any attempts at breeding viable? If the monster’s partner is filled with eggs, what happens the longer they carry them? If the partner does carry the eggs or the babies to the point of birth and laying, what happens? Is it a painful process? Will they survive it? Does the partner know they’re pregnant at all?

And the pregnancy/egg-carrying questions: how does the partner’s biology change to accommodate the pregnancy? Do they have any strange or unexpected cravings? Does their biology change in any unexpected questions?

Questions about monstrous child development:

How is the monstrous baby first conceived? Is it an egg laid, is it an egg fertilised, an egg fertilised and then carried, as the result of a live pregnancy, something else entirely? If they’re laid eggs, do they go through a larval stage or other similar development?

Are monstrous babies born alone, or in groups? Do they have a high viability rate? Do the monstrous babies eat one another? Do they eat their egg casing or their placenta, if applicable? If not, what do they eat — do they drink milk or blood, do they need their food pre-chewed by their parents, can they look for food themselves?

Are monstrous parents very active in caring for their offspring? Are monstrous babies born able to take care of themselves, able to have a sort of independence, or do they need to be cared for for a period first?

How fast or slow is a monster’s development? How long does it take for them to become fully grown? How much do they grow, and how does their body develop and change as they run through their lifecycle? Do they shed their skin or any body parts, do they change a lot materially?

Alternate: What does monstrous contraception look like? Do they have a concept of it? If they don’t, how do they feel about it being explained to them?

Wednesday 12th May 2021 — The Alien

What makes an alien?

Are they from another planet, another dimension? How similar are they to anything found on Earth? How did they get here?

Are they intelligent, sentient? Do they know they’re on a foreign planet or in a foreign dimension? How fit are they to survive on Earth? How do they respond to the animals, the new sounds, the new world, around them? What technology do they have? Do they appear to be aliens as people imagine them? Do they pilot aircraft as people think they do?

Alternate: A human (or another species from Earth) is the alien on another planet or another dimension populated with “monsters”.

Thursday 13th May 2021 — The Domesticated Monster

Let’s look at the monster domesticated.

The likes of Pokémon, fantastical creatures as beasts of burden or as steeds — unicorns and pegasi and giant spiders and dragons, for example — or other tamed monsters that have learned to live with humans, and live side-by-side with them.

Are monsters actively bred for a result, or do they domesticate themselves as cats and dogs did? Do they perform tasks or assist humans? Do they give milk or eggs or honey or silk or meat? At what point in their domestication are they? Are they happy? Are they well-treated?

Alternate: A monster gets a pet of their own — is it a fantastical species, or is it a dog, cat, bird, etc? Is it even a human?

Friday 14th May 2021 — Clothing Your Monster

Does your monster wear clothes or armour?

What sort of clothes or armour do they wear? Is it grown, made, bought, traded for? Do they wear any other kind of jewelry or decoration? Do they always wear it, or only for some occasion? What do they think of human clothes? Do they want to try wearing any themselves, or taking human fabrics for monstrous clothes?

Alternate: If your monster does not wear clothes, what do they think of human clothes? How do they feel about the fact that humans wear them? Do they have a full understanding of the separation between clothes and flesh?

Saturday 15th May 2021 — The Mermaid

A mermaid is a half-human, half-fish.

You can take this very literally, as in The Little Mermaid, with someone who has a human upper half and fishy bottom half (or the other way around…😏), you can think more along the lines of the fish-person we see in Abe Sapien from Hellboy or (also) in Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water, or you can look at different variations on mermaids — the seal-like selkie who can remove their pelt to walk on land; the siren that calls to sailors so they dash themselves upon the rocks; naiads and other spirits of the water; the rusalke of the water, and so on.

Questions for your merfolk:

Do they belong in freshwater, saltwater, brackish water? Do they stay in the seas, in deep lakes, in ponds?

Do they regularly come to the surface, or do they live very deep below? What sort of temperatures are they used to, and how much sunlight? If they live in cold water or deep below the surface, are they very large and blubbery to ensure they can cope with the pressure and the cold?

Are your merfolk bioluminscent? Fish-like, cetacean-like, cephalapod-esque? If they do look similar to humans, with a human face or human body parts, do they look or feel like human flesh underneath the skin, or is it just for appearance?

What and how do your merfolk eat? Do they eat fish, meat, seaweed, plankton?

How do your merfolk feel about humans? About fish and other marine life? About animals on land? Other monsters?

Can your merfolk step onto land? Do they want to? Are they curious about what they find there? Do the humans nearby know about them, care about them?

Do merfolk live alone, in groups or as families? Are they migratory? How far do they travel, and for what reasons? Do they build towns and cities? How do they feel humans compare to them?

Alternate: A completely different non-merfolk-esque monster lives at the very bottom of the sea. What is it? How do humans come upon it? How big is it?

Sunday 16th May 2021 — The Gentle Kaiju

Kaiju is a Japanese genre of films— your Godzilla, your Mothra, your Rodan, all of these are kaiju: strange, gigantic beasts.

This prompt is centred around any monsters of superlative size that are trying their absolute best not to harm any of the little people scurrying them about them.

You can take this literally — think kaiju tip-toeing their ways through great cities and trying not to step on anything important, huge space beasts careful not to disturb planetary orbits in case they hurt anyone, or even the likes of the human trying not to step on any ants — or you can think of other monsters trying not to harm others despite some aspect of their biology making it difficult for them — Lovecraftian beasts doing their best not to do anyone any psionic damage, for example, or Medusa-like beings desperate to avoid people’s gazes in case they do any harm.

Alternate: An extremely tiny monster or another monster very easily harmed by human activities needs to kept safe.

Monday 17th May 2021 — Monstrous Transformations

How does a monster transform?

Does in transition between one form or another, like a werewolf, or between forms for land versus water? Does it regularly transform or transition through different physical presentations? Does it shed its skin, leave its old body behind? Does it grow new teeth or claws or body parts? Does it transform in response to disease or ailment?

Does a human transform slowly into a monster? Does a monster transform into another? Is this transformation willing, conscious — is it against all desperate attempts to prevent it? Is it painful? Is it agony?

Alternate: A monster expresses deep curiosity about human transformations — perhaps the differences between a child and an adult and their scale of growth, perhaps the apparent transformation when a human changes clothes, or puts on a mask, or even make-up.

Tuesday 18th May 2021 — Angels & Demons

A demon is typically an evil spirit or devil, and are sometimes thought to be fallen angels; angels are typically benevolent spirits, often thought of as celestial messengers.

Being as they’re often thought to be celestial or infernal, do you think of them as being from another dimension? How well do they mesh with Earth, from their own perspectives and human ones? How do they look or appear? Do they have to present themselves in a strange or unusual form? How do they communicate with humans — and why? Are they evil, benevolent, or simply neutral?

Are angels and demons separate things? How many kinds of angels and demons are there respectively? If they’re separate, do they communicate with one another, balance with one another?

Alternate: A monster that is not a demon or angel decides to present itself as one or the other. What is it? Why does it present itself this way?

Wednesday 19th May 2021 — Monstrous Flora

Your monster is plant- or mushroom-based!

(Or lichen-based, or algae-based, or moss-based, or coral-based, or…)

What does it look like? What makes it different from a mammalian or scaly monster? Where does it come from? How does it move, how does it breathe, how does it eat? Does it sleep? Does it 😏… you know? Is it good at it?

Alternate: Your monster lives codependently with, or lives inside, some sort of plant. What does that co-evolved relationship look like? How big is the plant? What does it look like?

Thursday 20th May 2021 — The Monster in History

Throughout history, the perception of your monster has changed over time.

Is your monster immortal? Over the progression of recorded history, has it been this same monster recorded in one sighting after another, in art or in story? Or, is your monster the latest generation of a species or line of inheritance that has gone on for a long while?

How much has your monster’s culture changed and developed in that time — has it changed in reaction to or alongside human cultures? How accurate has human perception of your monster been as the centuries have rolled by? How has art or stories about your monster changed in their telling?

How has the monster reacted to changes in human history, or different events as they have happened?

Does your monster even notice the passage of time? Are they in some way insensible to it, or do they experience it in a way humans don’t?

Alternate: The monster is a time-traveler! How do they do this? Why?

Friday 21st May 2021 — The Hybrid

A few things are bred together to create a monster, whether that monster be sublime or an abomination before the universe!

Think about griffins, pegasi, basilisks, cockatrices, and of course the manticore — any sort of beast made by combining one creature with another.

What creatures have been combined to create this monster? Has a human been one of them? How has this combination been achieved — via actual interbreeding, magically assisted or otherwise, via alchemy, a curse, or some other magical process? Has this creature literally been stitched together and then reanimated? How have the different creatures contributing to the creature changed its behaviour or its abilities?

Alternate: An attempt is made to create a hybrid… and unfortunately this is not the result. What is?

Saturday 22nd May 2021 — Kept Captive

The monster is captured.

How big or small is your monster? How was it captured — was bait used to draw it in, such as a food stuff, a copied call? Was it herded into an ambush? Was it trapped under a cage, in drop trap, in a magic trap? How easy was it to capture — did it take a long time, were several attempts made? For what reason was the monster captured?

Now kept captive, how big is your monster’s enclosure? Is it a cage, a glass box, physical chains or bondage, something else entirely? How long has it been there? Is it alone — would it rather be alone than the alternative? Is it struggling with its captivity? Is it marking out the amount of time it has been kept trapped, screaming at its captors, harming itself in its desperation for escape?

Is it likely ever to be freed?

Alternative: A human is kept captive by a monster.

Sunday 23rd May 2021 — The Human Is The Monster

From the perspective of the narrator, the human is the monster.

Who or what is made to fear them? What makes the human so monstrous in their eyes? Is it to do with the human’s size, their appearance, their behaviour, the nature of humans as a collective?

Alternative: The human thinks they’re thought of as the monster — the real monster is behind them (figuratively or literally).

Monday 24th May 2021 — The Dragon

A dragon is a mythical creature, often large and scaly, with variations found the world over.

Is your dragon extremely big, or very small? Is it indeed scaly, or does it appear so? Is it some form of sea serpent, or does it fly? Does it have wings, fins, a tail, teeth? Does it have very powerful senses, or different ones entirely to what one might expect? Does it have a mouth, eyes, a tongue, ears? Does it breathe fire or ice, have gills? Does it have some other supernatural power — telepathy, telekinesis, affect the weather or the tide?

What does your dragon eat? Does it eat meat, vegetables? Does it feed off of magic?

Does your dragon hoard anything — gold, jewels, young people out for a wander? Livestock? Something else entirely?

Alternate: An ancient dungeon, temple, or some other monument, is marked by a huge statue of a dragon. Something else inhabits it.

Tuesday 25th May 2021 — The Monster Dies

It’s the end of the story — or perhaps the beginning.

The monster dies.

Alternate: The monster dies… but only for a while.

Wednesday 26th May 2021 — The Hive-Mind

The monsters in this one are multiple.

They share a hive-mind, whether that hive-mind is created by pheromones, by fungus or infection or disease, by magic, by telepathy, by technology, or something else entirely. How many beings are part of this collective? Do they exist in conjunction with one another, and move as a swarm or a hive? Do they synchronise their movements, and work together toward a common goal? Can they work independently, or only as a group?

Can others be inducted into this hive-mind, willingly or otherwise? Is this painful or uncomfortable? Does it wipe away what experiences came before?

If a member of the hive-mind travels far away, do they remain connected to the whole? How is this hive-mind used, when beings work independently? Can it be sensed or its effects be noticed by outsiders? What is its everyday function?

Alternative: A being once a member of a hive-mind or a collective is severed from it, and now alone. Are they grieving? Do they feel free? Are tasks suddenly more difficult or easy for them? How do they feel?

Thursday 27th May 2021 — The Fae

The fae are supernatural beings or spirits found in a variety of folklore.

The fae are often associated with woodland, bodies of water, bogland, or other particular areas, but there are variations on variations of different fae legend: elves, brownies, merfolk, y tylwyth teg, the bean sidhe, selkies, gnomes, kobolds, leprechauns, nymphs, pixies…

In a lot of modern fantasy, the fae are associated with rigidity around law and rules, certain contracts, and many superstitions are associated with fae or fae-like beings, where one offends them at one’s peril.

What makes the fae monstrous? What makes them frightening and an object of horror for others? What rules do they follow and expect others to follow? What superstitions are associated with them?

Alternate: The fae are introduced to pop culture depictions of fairies. What is their response?

Friday 28th May 2021 — The Monster Extinct

The monster has been extinct for thousands of years, if not hundreds of thousands, and based off of the evidence of them — stories, fossils, remains, old art, people are trying to back-engineer what they were like, what they looked like, how they communicated.

How accurate are they? How off?

Alternate: The monster doesn’t exist yet, or is a long way off, but has been told about in prophecy, or glimpsed in visions of the future. Are these glimpses accurate to the truth? Do they tell the whole story?

Saturday 29th May 2021 — Cultural Differences

What does cultural exchange look like between monster and human, or between two monstrous cultures?

How do these distinct cultures affect one another or interact? Are there large cultural differences between the monstrous cultures and the human ones? Are there any moral, ethical, aesthetic, economic, political, legal, or other cultural aspects that are very much at odds between some cultures and the others?

For example, do the human and monstrous cultures both have money? Do they treat money as of the same importance? Do they rank things in the same orders of importance? Do they have similar customs around politeness, greeting, language? Does each culture respect the others, or do they consider themselves superior or inferior?

Alternate: A human has never had much experience of the culture they were born of — they only know the monstrous culture they were raised by and into. What does that look like?

Sunday 30th 2021 — The Minotaur

It’s my birthday and the minotaur is my absolute favourite, so! Minotaurs!

The classical minotaur was the son of Pasiphaë and the unwilling stepson of King Minos of Knossos: born with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull, he was declared monstrous and trapped within the labyrinthine maze beneath the great palaces of Knossos, until the hero Theseus came to slay him dead.

Today, the minotaur is the name for any half-bull half-human delight, tragic or otherwise.

Alternate: You needn’t limit yourself to a half-bull half-human if you feel the need to abandon literal perfection — go for the drider, perhaps, a half-human half-spider, return to the merfolk of several prompts above, and go half-human, half-fish, the satyr, half-goat half-human.

Whatever it is, make it half-human, half-something else, and then decide:

Is your monster cursed? Were they made this way, were they born this way? Are they happy? Are they the same as their family members, or are they different? If they are the latter, are they loved and accepted, or made an exile?

What are the benefits and negatives to their physical appearance and to their biology? Are there any aspects that might be unexpected?

Are they viewed by people in general as frightening, intimidating, unusual, strange, incredibly sexy? Are they treated as a monster?

Monday 31st May 2021 — Happily Ever After

The monster lives happily ever after…

What does that look like?

Alternate: Or, your monster has a tragic ending — because you’re the monster, apparently! 😒😭

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Thanks so much for considering taking part in the #MonstrousMayChallenge!

If you want to do any of the above prompts, or if you want to do them all, but you’re not a writer or an artist, or you are but you’re not always in the mood for art, here’s a list of alternate activities you can do to tick off the prompts!

Do some worldbuilding, analysis, meta, or discussion of common tropes within or related to the prompt

Shitpost or make jokes or memes about or related to the prompt

Do some aesthetic or graphic posts

Watch movies or TV episodes, read comics, or consume other media, related to the prompts

Make rec lists for other people of movies or TV episodes or books (or other media!) related to the prompts

Comment on and show some love for other prompt fills in the #MonsterMayChallenge tag! Share your favourite work and support fellow creators!

I’m on Twitter, and will be posting about the challenge throughout, but I also write other short stories and books!

Check out my Patreon, my stories on Medium, my books for sale, and my WorldAnvil — and if you would like to, feel free to leave a tip!

[mostly-mundane-atla]

Got it. What about Inuit, Yup’ik and Inupiaq stereotypes? Are there a lot of harmful ones to avoid? I do know you shouldn’t make eating meat their entire personality, but what else?

Okay, this is going to get dark, so if you need to blacklist any content warnings (mine are tagged as "[insert content here] mention", do that before reading and if you need me to tag anything specific, please tell me and avoid this post until I get to it.

And again: Disclaimer that simply having an eskimo coded character fall into these stereotypes is not inherently racist or wrong. Keep this in mind as writers of color, and thereby Native writers, often get a lot of shit for writing our experiences as we feel them. Not to mention, yelling at someone trying to do justice to a dark topic, even if they don't succeed, is a shitty thing to do. Some of these have subtextual backing in canon. Remember that although we are looked down on for crimes, wrongs, or unpleasantness we're assumed to have commited, it's the members of our community who suffer most for it. There is value in understanding the pain that comes from the community that's supposed to protect you, and I don't believe the writers of the series had any malicious intentions toward us for writing characters that fall into any of these stereotypes. Recognize the nuance or get off my blog and find someone else to back up your discourse.

I'm going to use the term Native in this context. Natives come from many different cultures and cannot be assumed to be the same, but many of these stereotypes are used against more than just Inuit, Inupiat, and Yup'ik peoples. This is why I find it to be the most appropriate term in this context. I will add my understanding of where these stereotypes came from and why they're harmful, but I am only one person and a full understanding of the topic requires more than one point of view.

"Natives are drunks." The United States used alcohol on Natives the same way Britain used opium on China. They introduced it to us and blamed addiction on our own "weakness of character." This assumption of alcoholism carries with it assumptions of untrustworthiness. For a real life example: I was on a grand jury (a jury that decides whether a case is worth taking to court) years ago and one case was an older Native man accusing his brother of physically assaulting him. For some reason, a nearly all-white jury was deemed to be a jury of this man's peers, and two or three white men violently insisted that it shouldn't be brought to court because it happened at a party and therefore it was just some alcoholics from the village wasting a judge's time. Eventually, after some discussion about how no alcohol was mentioned, it was decided the case should be presented to a judge. I would also like to point out that the Native man in question was entirely sober, well put-together, spoke more cohesively than other cases that day, and had a bad limp.

"Natives are child abusers/molesters." This one actually links to the first stereotype mentioned, and a lot of what I've said on this blog about how abuse perpetuates. There was a lot of physical, mental, and, yes, sexual abuse in the US run schools, especially the Christian ones and boarding schools. (I've heard people mentioning that the priests would more often target the boys because they couldn't get pregnant.) When one gets regularly exposed to this sort of thing, they come to accept it as normal. This normalizing of abuse is bad enough for the one person, but it also affects the way they interact with others when put in similar situations as the abuser. They're hurt and traumatized and weren't effectively told that it was wrong and they shouldn't have been put through that, so they perpetuate it on people as vulnerable as they were when it happened. Movements have started in hopes of bringing awareness and getting help for these people before they can carry out the cycle further. Abuse between adults is also a tricky issue because the ways people are taught to give or not give consent are counterintuitive to cultural norms around verbal and nonverbal communication. See: the "they didn't say no" argument.

"The Stoic Native." There are a number of reasons one culture might emote less than another, especially around people they don't know. This doesn't mean that we don't feel or are too strong or brave to feel. Our emotions are our business and we don't owe anyone an explanation.

"Natives are part of the land." For some reason, a lot of non-Natives have trouble grasping that Indigenous Peoples are human beings in our own right. A lot of media portrays us not as people in the same sense that the outsiders are, but as extensions of the land or the spirits of the land. It's true that generations upon generations of living somewhere means the land will change to reflect the people, but that is due to the influence of people living there and how their culture says to interact with it. This trope reduces us to symbols of "a simpler time" or just as often white people's ideas of nature conservation. It's dehumanizing and infantalizing, ignoring our cultures and civilizations, treating us as either innocent martyrs for someone else's cause, or pests that are done away with once the land is developed.

"The Native Princess." Sometimes the only way non-Natives can see us as people is by pushing cultural norms and forms of government they're more familiar with onto us. Naturally, this means assuming that our civilizations were as successful as they were because they were like the non-Native author's. This is especially gratuitous in the case of Inuit, Inupiat, and Yup'ik peoples because we don't have anything resembling a monarchy. Yeah, this one is explicitly in the text so I can't expect much to be done with it

"Native women are always available to men." I don't know what it is about cultures that consider themselves more "advanced" seeing ones they consider "primative" where women have more autonomy in the relationships they have with men and fewer restritions on their bodies. I don't know how they misinterpret "she can do that here" as "she's there for the taking" but it's so gross and I would like it to stop. Sexuality being more open and not inherently sinful doesn't mean the women don't have standards or won't turn anyone down.

"Natives are broke and/or homeless." This is just the typical racism mixing with classism to make something even uglier situatation. The result is a lot of treatment you see non-Native POC get, such as being followed at the store because they expect you to steal something.

There are more, I'm sure, but these are the ones I get the most. Note that again, it's not inherently bad to write a Native or Native-coded character who drinks or has a lot of partners or is particularly connected to their homeland or poor, but take care to handle it with some sensitivity. Understand that there are implications to these things and real harm can be done by legitimizing racist stereotypes.

[lookbluesoup]

I’ve seen a lot of talk about anti anti culture lately and an emphasis on canceling people who write stories where bad things happen (i.e., rape, molestation, abuse). I’m really interested in facilitating a positive, open space here on my blog. So sharing my personal opinion about this at all is something I thought about for a while, and my hope is that it offers a helpful perspective as well as solidarity to people who use fiction the same way as me.

It’s not directed at anyone in particular or any event in particular. The tl;dr version is – people should always have a choice, they should be allowed to read or choose not to read, they should be allowed to write and share or choose not to write or share. Taking that choice away from people ultimately hurts survivors by making topics taboo and forcing everyone to fit a specific moral narrative for their pain or experiences to be valid.

Trigger Warnings: Rape, abuse, cancel culture, child molestation, depression, suicide, dogmatic religion, homophobia

1. These things DO happen in real life, and yes, they are harmful, and yes, reading about them can be triggering. Fully, completely acknowledge all of these things and have experienced my share of it firsthand.

2. People should be allowed to know before they get invested in a story whether triggers might be present so that they can choose to avoid it if they want to. It is their choice, and responsibility to decide not to read something that is appropriately tagged. (And please, please tag appropriately!)

3. Being interested in reading about dark subjects does not make a person evil. Somewhere between 31-57 percent of women admit to having rape fantasies. (x) That does not mean women want to be raped in real life. It does not mean that half the population of women are perverted degenerates. Reading fiction, like indulging in our fantasies, is a safe place to explore and enjoy sensations, dramas, and experiences we still don’t want in real life.

In less touchy examples - I love reading about gladiator arena battles! I love playing apocalyptic games where monsters jump out of the dark and scare the shit out of me! I do not want gladiator rings or to live in an apocalypse in real life! That doesn’t mean my interest in these stories or games condones them in real life. It doesn’t mean I think it was right that Rome irl forced slaves to fight to the death for entertainment.

4. I grew up in an environment without grey areas. The dogmatic Bible-beating hatemongering kind. Someone was good and did everything right according to my beliefs and worldview, or someone was bad and a direct threat to me. If I did something wrong, I had to punish myself physically and emotionally to make up for not being perfect. I was taught to despise myself. My parents believed there was only one correct way to view any situation - their way. I was petrified of punishment and learned that it wasn’t even worth trying to do better or accommodate someone else’s experiences because I would never measure up and would be condemned for doing something that wasn’t perfect. That is immensely, cripplingly harmful to an individual and to society. Cancel culture does the same thing. It excommunicates people who aren’t pure and allows others to get by with abuse because they are ‘teaching’ or an ‘authority on morality’ – and guess what? Nobody is pure. We are all human, we all make mistakes, and we are all learning. None of us have moral authority.

We cannot build a healthy, inclusive society if we are unsafe. We cannot be safe if we are not allowed to first admit that we ALL make mistakes and have prejudices that we can improve on. So we need to be kind and nonjudgmental whenever we have the chance to be. And we have to accept and respect that what’s fun or helpful or healing for us might be the opposite for someone else, or vice versa. Which is okay if we are respectful of each other’s boundaries and don’t try to force a way of being onto someone else without their consent.

5. With regard to writing, this means that people need to be allowed to explore difficult, even painful topics if they wish to. Even for fun. Even if someone else might not want or need to explore those same topics. That doesn’t make either person inherently evil or wrong. It just means we all have different needs and wants and diversity is normal. 

As a serious example, as someone who was molested by a teenage neighbor as a child, I can guarantee you that the fact these topics were considered so disgusting and taboo by society made it very difficult for me to cope. It was not my fault, and I’ve healed from it, but when it happened I didn’t even understand what was going on, and the guilt and self-blame that followed me for years afterward were almost crippling. So yes – what happened to me in real life was wrong, inexcusable behavior. But censorship did not protect me. First it made me ignorant and vulnerable to manipulation, and then it made me feel dirty, disgusting, and isolated. 

What I needed was a safe avenue to talk about it and the thoughts and sensations it stirred up, in order to heal. I needed to know it was okay to have automatic thoughts – they were a result of fear and trauma or even just being human, not a moral failing on my part. I needed to actually talk about and explore what I had felt openly, and how that related to the rest of my life, before I could move past it and have a healthy view of intimate acts that weren’t soaked in guilt and self-loathing.

I read a book after that happened, set in ancient Rome, where pederasty took place. And the victim was allowed to admit that he’d enjoyed some of what had happened to him while enslaved, and was then assured that even though he didn’t hate everything that he experienced, it didn’t make him to blame, nor his abuser right, and those thoughts/feelings did not define him or his morality. That has been immensely healing to me – but this ‘grey’ exploration of a topic is not compatible with mainstream cancel culture.

Or alternatively, I watched the series 13 Reasons Why. I hated it. It felt like nothing but shock value entertainment and not a respectful management of topics like suicide that were very, VERY real to me. Except for someone else I knew who had also struggled with suicidal thoughts and impulses, 13 Reasons Why was immensely validating. They were glad that a series showed such graphic representation of these events in a way that couldn’t be ignored or brushed over. What had been hurtful to me, was empowering to them.

I believe it is not mine, or anyone else’s place, to decide that a piece of media should be across the board banned because of what it might do. Because while some of us share traumas, we still each have different experiences, needs, and healing processes.

Such strict censorship allows for only victims who meet a certain “standard” to receive care and healing. The rest are left to suffer or are even punished further.

All of us have gone through life with vastly different levels of privilege, opportunity, expectations, etc, which leads to vastly different interpretations of the world, none of which are 100% correct or true.

6. Cancel culture hurts LGBTQ+ rights. I’m neither straight or cis, and I might never have learned that if I hadn’t been able to build friendships outside of my social circle who allowed me to integrate and ask questions without being obligated to agree with them. Where I grew up, there was immense prejudice against gay people. My cousin was disowned and disinherited for coming out. I was sheltered from anyone who might argue for gay rights, and discouraged from looking at or being curious of the deep south’s version of ‘problematic.’ That’s what I was taught – to be uncomfortable toward, judgmental, and condemning. If I had been on tumblr during those years and gotten ‘cancelled’ I would have been even more suspicious and condemning of Others, and even more determined that my way was the only right one. I specifically avoided tumblr social circles because I ‘knew’ they hated ‘people like me.’ It’s not exclusive. This trend where people become even more convinced to pick an opposing side because the Other person is being hateful is one of the first things they teach you in social psychology. 

The kind of intolerance that goes with mobbing people for saying anything they consider problematic at all is the same cruelty that makes me unable to tell my parents I identify as agender or pan. It’s what gets women stoned to death and gays beheaded. It’s not moral. 

What changed my point of view was friendships. One of my friends came out as gay and my world turned upside down because here was someone that didn’t match any of the stereotypes I’d been taught to fear. He wasn’t hateful or condemning of me, he was one of the most thoughtful and peaceful people I knew. That is what started to change things for me, and made it safe for me to explore other ways of thinking and interpretations of scripture. Because I cared about him more than I needed to be right.

7. Nobody is obligated to interact with someone who is being violent or hateful to them. You’re not even obligated to interact with someone you disagree with, if the topic is too painful or you simply don’t want to talk about it. Keep yourselves safe. But within the world of writing, live and let live. If someone posts a story you don’t like, and they’ve tagged it appropriately, please, please consider that your experience is not universal. You have the choice not to read that story. Someone else might need to read it. Let them, and don’t shame them for it. 

[what-if-nct]

Hi so shitty Catholic school anon is back! But this time it’s with weird things male teachers have said/done or things said about male teachers. TW: self harm, anorexia, sexism, racism, slavery, pedophilia, gender stereotypes.

So recently we had a lesson on self harm and there was one part where we had to say if a certain thing was true or not. So for example if self harm is attention seeking or if it mainly effects certain groups of people. One of the things was “self harm improves a person’s self confidence” and a male teacher said it did and that it is also attention seeking. He said that many people do it for attention and to make them selves look better. He then went on to talk about anorexia and said that lots of ballerinas have anorexia and “that is why they are so pretty” and also said that girls that don’t have anorexia or aren’t skinny are typically less attractive. Which is kinda really f-ing creepy and a horrible thing to say to anyone, especially a room with about 30 females in or 30 people in with female bodies. It’s creepy and disgusting. But I think he is getting fired because people walked out and were made to write statements about it which is a similar thing to what happened with another teacher that got fired.

So basically, we had a substitute teacher for a lesson in Geography about Mumbai. He started off talking about Mumbai but was saying very stereotypical things. We hadn’t actually properly started the lesson though because he didn’t give us the work or start talking about the parts of Mumbai which we were supposed to be talking about. He then somehow got to racism and the BLM movement. He said that he did not understand why it was black lives matter and not all lives matter. We tried to explain that all lives do matter but we need to focus on black people and what they had experienced. But he went on to say that white racism and white slavery exists too and that “it’s just as bad”. In the front row there was a person who is black and he constantly used them as an example. I was sitting next to them and the teacher would constantly point to them or go up in their face. The person who is black tried to give an example of racism that they face and he said that the same things happen to him too. They said that police officers often came up to them, assuming that they were criminal or a bad person just because they are black. The teacher then said that he had only once before had a police officer come up to him and it was because he had a red jacket and that a criminal who they saw on camera had a similar jacket. The person who is black was stopped by cops multiple times because of just their skin colour. The teacher who is white was stopped by cops once because they had a similar jacket to someone. And then when people said that worse/more things have happened to black people just because they are black than white people he started talking about the battle of Hastings. He tried to compare a fight (that from my knowledge doesn’t have anything to do with racism) that happened in a few hours a thousand years ago to all the horrible things that have happened to black peoples over centuries and still today. People had tried to get him to stop and to teach the actual lesson but he refused. A teacher next door came in and asked us if we were okay and what we were doing. Everyone in the class said that we weren’t okay and that we weren’t doing what we were supposed to but the substitute teacher said that we were discussing transport in Mumbai and that we had been doing that all lesson. And when he left we started actually doing the work but he soon started talking about white slavery and then tried to make it better by saying that the Conservative party is much better than the Labour Party. There was no need for him to say any of that and no need for him to force his opinions into us. Luckily, he was fired.

The next thing I don’t remember well since I never actually was taught by this teacher and it happened in my first year at the school. Basically a teacher had sex with either a year 11 or sixth former. So she would have been 15-18 years old at the time. He was also rumoured to be touching the older girls weirdly. He was soon fired.

A similar thing happens with another teacher who is currently still at the school. His downstairs often gets ‘happy’ whilst teaching and he leans over onto students often. I don’t know if this is predatory behaviour or not but it most definitely makes people uncomfortable. He is a substitute who works at the school and I’ve had him for many lessons. In one of my first lessons with him (when I was 11), he leaned over me and I could feel his stomach on my back and it soooo uncomfortable. Still, I don’t know if it an actual concern. But in my first ever lesson with him, me and my friend was annoying each other and kind of like just poking each other a lot. He could’ve just told us to stop but instead he decided to say that we were holding hands. This freaked me out cause at primary I was bullied/treated differently for the last 2-3 years for being not straight. It also started rumours that I wasn’t straight, which freaked me out more.

Next teacher~ Is still at the school and he is actually good teaching compared to the other teachers I’ve mentioned. But he’s said some weird things. Mostly some random stereotypical comments such as “women are typically more sensitive” and that “women take longer to get ready” and that “women are concerned too much about their appearance and wear too much makeup”. But in every lesson I had him, he always looked at people’s skirts. At my school there is a heavy focus on wearing skirts and that they must be below the knee and it gets mentioned at least once a day and always at assembly. Despite this many people would still roll up their skirt. Immediately when you walked into the classroom, he would look at your skirt and tell you to roll it down. When you walked past him in the corridors, he would do it too. And sometimes he complained saying that whenever he walked upstairs he was not able to look up because he would see a “girls knickers or butt or thighs” and so he had to look at the floor or walls instead. Why is he looking in that area anyway?! He shouldn’t be looking in that area at all even if their skirts are rolled down. I was never in this lesson but apparently he also started talking about how he thought abortion was bad.

Next thing is just how much the school puts an emphasis on skirts below the knee. And they say that it’s because “male teachers would feel uncomfortable”. It’s not us who should change it’s the male teachers then. Whilst doing online lessons a teacher (who is female) said that we shouldn’t have any underwear or certain clothes in the background because it would make “male teachers uncomfortable”. I understand why they don’t want us to have things like that in the background but why only talk about male teachers. At least why not say that it makes teachers in general uncomfortable or other students uncomfortable. But no it’s back to please change yourself or what you are doing because you will be treated weirdly by adult men even though you are a child and it’s their problem.

Anyway sorry about that. I kinda just wanted to rant again. Sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable. I hope you are having a good day and you aren’t near any creepy dudes. And if you are, I am very happy to bosh the creepy dudes. Bye bye~

Hi! Okay so every last one of those teachers are horrible and shouldn't be around children. Absolutely horrible. And the teacher who is putting his ya know that close to students is one hundred percent doing it on purpose and its disgusting, men know when they are visibly excited its just gross that he would even do that. And you were understandably uncomfortable, no teacher should be that close to a student. I am so sorry you were put in that situation. Really all of those teacher should be penalized. And seriously dress codes sadly aren't for the male students, but the teachers. A male teacher shouldnt be there if a minor's shoulders or legs are distracting. An adult man shouldn't be even looking up the skirts of teenage girls, you wouldn't even see anything if you weren't purposely looking, It's horrible. And why are young girls forced to change because a grown man can't control himself. I had went to a counselor's office in a kind of short skirt and she asked if I had any appropriate clothes or she couldnt send me to a male psychiatrist she'd have to find a female psychiatrist.....what the hell kind of sense does that make. If you can't trust a man with a young girl in skirt why is he even there?? Ugh it's absolutely disgusting. It really is there problem, not the young girl's fault. It's okay vent all you want, i hope you have a nice day and stay safe. If a teacher ever makes you feel uncomfortable make sure you go to a teacher you trust. Byee🌸🌸

[agwitow]

Writeblr Review Help

Hello my lovelies! I’m working on The Stuck Author’s Survival Handbook -- a big book of prompt lists on various topics from character creation, to world building, to plot points.

For one of the sections, I talk about the importance of diversity and would like some input from all of you! :)

If you’d like to take a quick read, the bit I’d like feedback on is under the cut. Please let me know (through reblog, comment, message, or email [contact [at] agwitow.ca]) what your thoughts are.

Thank you, my lovelies. You’re all amazing!

“A Dash of Diversity”

Depending on who you are, and which parts of the internet you frequent, you may or may not be familiar with the concept of diversity in fiction. There are many reasons why I, along with many others, believe diverse characters are important. But there are also many people who argue against it. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, many of the arguments against pushing for more diversity in stories have some major flaws. Let’s explore some of them for a moment.

 “There is no diversity in my community”

Are you sure? Really sure? Remember, not all “diversity” is easily visible.

There are many ethnic groups which are able to “pass” as the majority group in their area. This doesn’t invalidate or lessen their ethnic identity. In fact, there are some groups who have, historically, had to blend in with the majority in order to simply survive. It could be argued that representing such “hidden” diversity is even more important.

And that’s just touching on ethnic groups.

In many cases, it’s all but impossible to tell what someone’s religion, sexuality, physical/mental health, and/or disabilities are simply by looking at them. Sure, there are some ways such things can be visible—a woman wearing a hijab, a person in a wheelchair, someone wearing their pride flag as a cape—but that individual may very well have one or more “hidden” diversities as well.

It’s human nature to want to assume everyone around us is like us. It’s okay to have that gut reaction. But it’s our responsibility to pause and take a closer look, to not make assumptions based on what would make us most comfortable, and to acknowledge the beautiful diversity of those we interact with every day.

 “Forced diversity is harmful”

There is a nugget of truth to this argument. Tokenism (including a diverse character simply so you can say you included a diverse character) is almost always paired with broad stereotypes and/or fetishization of an identity. And that is what’s harmful.

It only takes a little bit of effort to understand and respect the various ways we are all different. And once that’s done, it’s easy to include diverse characters who are full characters in their own rights and not just cardboard cut-outs.

And remember, even if you haven’t noticed the diversity around you, it’s still there. Hard to “force” something when it occurs naturally so very, very frequently.

 “I don’t want to be accused of appropriation”

While this fear is understandable, it is also simply an excuse. Yes, the issues around what is and is not cultural appropriation have become murky. But that doesn’t mean we should all just stop trying to include a variety of characters in our stories. Including a character who has some specific identity is not appropriation. Including a character belonging to the cultural majority (usually a cis-White male in Western society) who then uses parts of a minority’s identity as a fashion or status symbol is.

There are many resources on this topic, some of which you can find in the Resources section at the end of this book. And if, after research and a genuine effort, you are still worried, you can always hire a sensitivity reader to help you identify any problematic areas.

Please note: just because a sensitivity reader gives you the all-clear does not mean you are absolved of all guilt for any inaccurate and/or harmful portrayals. Nor is it the sensitivity reader’s fault.

If you’ve made a mistake, own up to it and try to do better next time. Readers are far more patient and understanding with writers who show a genuine desire to do better, than with writers who try to push the blame onto someone else, or try to deny they did anything wrong.

Be humble. Be kind. And do your research.

 “My character(s) are generic so readers can assume whatever they want”

This, unfortunately, almost never works for genuinely diverse characters. A “blank slate” character who is meant to allow a reader to project themselves on to is actually just an under-detailed character belonging to the identities shared by the majority.

Which means, most of the characters designed this way become just another in a long line of similar characters targeted at the un-diverse identities. (And while, yes, there are some people who genuinely have no bit of diversity about them, they are rare. Everyone has something diverse about them.)

And given how easy it is nowadays to research and learn, this kind of character tends to feel a bit lazy.

 “It’s not historically accurate”

Are you sure? Really sure?

First of all, you must not know many history nerds, because this is a pretty big pet peeve of all the ones I know (myself included).

History is far more diverse than it’s given credit for. There were black Vikings. Same-sex marriages were recorded in Medieval Europe. There are records of trans people in a variety of ancient civilizations. Victorians enjoyed nipple piercings. Women owned and operated businesses (and not just brothels) throughout history. It’s amazing all the things we, as a society, have forgotten about the past.

History isn’t written by the victors; it’s rewritten by those in power to make it seem like they’ve always been in power.

As writers, we have the ability to correct some of those “revisions.” And isn’t it so much more fun to write stories about different people and their adventures?

 “It’s a fantasy world—there is no X”

If you can include dragons, magic, undead, and/or the personification of abstract concepts (like Death), then you can also include X.

 “I don’t believe that X identity is valid”

You may believe that, but it doesn’t invalidate the experiences of that group. And if, after reading all of the above, you still want to balk at the idea of including diversity in your writing, then I don’t know what else I can say.

----

I’m sure I’m missing things, and that I could word this better. Hence asking all you lovelies for a bit of input.

Thanks again!

[itsclydebitches]

So growing up I had a friend and knew of others who were very much the hardcore fangirl with certain VA and actors. I'm talking would read and write smut. Fantasize over people like Crispin Freeman, Vic Mignogna, and other VA's in anime. Plus huge Supernatural fan, really into Jared and Jensen. All this while she was 16. Would unironically fuck them if given the chance. She's in her 20's now and is probably not as a rapid fangirl, but I haven't seen her in forever.

It’s admittedly a complicated topic (aren’t they all?) but on the whole I think that interest is healthy going one way, but not the other. Meaning, it’s natural for young people, particularly teens, to fantasize about celebrities, especially celebrities that are older than them. Because they’re at a time in their life when they’re trying to figure out how to be adults themselves and there, in all that glory, is a perfect adult. Look how handsome or beautiful they are. Look how talented. Look how perfect and put together. I’m admittedly speaking from my own memories of being a teen, but for me it was a potent combination of wanting to be with them—or rather, with this persona they’ve developed in public places that isn’t really them—and wanting to be them. The “rabid fangirl” stereotype is a mix of a whole slew of different emotions. When someone latches onto a “pairing” like Jared and Jensen it’s “Wouldn’t it be amazing if I were loved and adored like they are?” and “It must be so great to have someone care for you in the way he does for him,” and “Isn’t it fun to do something a bit taboo like imagining these real people together?” and “It’s so much more comforting to explore complicated things like my own sexuality with people that are removed from my own body and troubles,” and “I draw great support from this fandom community who just happens to ship them so why wouldn’t I join in?” and “My adoration for this fictional show needs to spill over somehow” and yes, also “I honestly just think they’re hot.” RPF is its own complicated and morally fought thing, but I believe that the initial emotions that stem from it—fan adoring actors, often actors who are older then them—is normal. Teens want to imagine being with someone who is hotter than all their current choices (out of puberty), who is charming (more mature), and who thinks that they’re something special (you’re not like those other 16yos). They want to model themselves off of the people they see on TV—other “teenagers” who are really 25+ year-olds in perfect makeup, lighting, wardrobes—and to be validated. Imagining someone as amazing as Jensen or Jared falling for you, the 16yo “nobody” is a powerful fantasy.

But it is just that: a fantasy. A comfort and an enjoyment that, for the most part, stays within private and semi-private spaces: your own thoughts or fan communities (which is just ONE of the reasons why people are upset when other fans foster smut fic off on actors. It’s highly inappropriate towards both them and the community; an extreme form of fandom-ing that threatens everyone else’s more innocent fun). And eventually teens outgrow that. Not that you outgrow fandom, but you come to more easily identify the fantasy as a fantasy; something you enjoy with caveats and in moderation. It’s why we don’t necessarily discourage those fantasies, but we teach young people howto recognize how dangerous they’d be if you were given the chance to make them real. Yeah, it might seem like that 50yo thinks you’re so mature for your age… but he doesn’t. He’s preying on you. Stick to writing fic about the character he plays and don’t go near him if given the chance. So you (hopefully) end up with less “rabid fangirl” and more professional women laughing with her friends about how this show is banking on us thinking the actors are hot as hell and oh, honey.. it worked.

The problem is when that interest is reversed. When the actors in question start praying on that naivety and enjoyment. You’re quite right, anon: there is a power dynamic and it cannot be ignored. Any celebrity has a responsibility to acknowledge that they cannot, under any circumstances, take advantage of their position. A 16yo claiming she’s in love with you does not give you the right to sleep with her. A young fan who wants your autograph hasn’t agreed for you to touch him with unwanted hugs, kisses, etc. People like Mignogna are predators who have used their status horrifically. Adults everywhere have the responsibility of maintaining appropriate boundaries because minors cannot do that themselves. Fans are interacting with a plucked and shined and generally unrealistic persona that has been deliberately given to the public for them to consume and adore. They express that adoration in numerous ways, often semi-private ways, and are using these celebrities as a kind of emotional outlet. Heading to a sleepover and talking about which actor you’d straight up die for is a pretty normal part of growing up. But just because young fans are doing both what comes naturally to people and what companies encourage them to (more obsession with actors means more interaction, which means more money…) doesn’t mean the adults involved get to betray that dynamic and use it as an excuse to harm them.

[starberry-cupcake]

Why does the pink diamond twist make you mad? Don’t get me wrong I completely agree but I’m just curious about your Thoughts (tm)

I was trying to make this short but it didn’t happen, I’m sorry. I’ll put it under read more. I hope I made my point across well enough, it’s a difficult subject to talk about. 

There are some things in-story that bother me but I’m letting them slide for now until things develop because I don’t want to judge without the whole story. I do think Pink was very selfish about many things, especially towards Steven and Pearl, but mostly Steven, because he didn’t have a choice (even though she stated that what she wanted was for him to have choices, woops), and I don’t know how much the show is currently focusing on that side of things, considering everyone and their mom wax poetic about her, but I’m letting that pass for now because, like I said, we haven’t seen the full story yet and maybe Pink’s imperfections and goddamn messes serve the story more than we think (the fact that it was characters like Lars and Bismuth the only ones who talked badly of Pink/Rose before Homeworld was involved and now they are Steven’s loyal allies says a lot about foreshadowing in storytelling). So all in-story issues I may have, I’m allowing to grant leeway until I can see the full picture. 

BUT

My biggest issue with the Pink twist is that they completely missed the optics about her body. It wasn’t intentional but it is a problem and, after much pondering, I think I’m allowed to be upset about it and to think they missed the mark. 

Now, here I want to make a disclaimer. I do not think, under any circumstances, that the Crewniverse nor anyone involved in the show has shown to be intentionally fatphobic. I don’t think that this issue warrants people to drop the show or to talk badly about it or to declare it “cancelled” because it messed up. I am not trying to stir the pot in a sensitive topic which has seen the SU fandom fractured so many times before, because fatphobia is a subject that is still not taken seriously, even in feminist discourse. 

This, though, doesn’t erase a problem when it exists.

I don’t think that the whole Pink reveal was intentionally harmful. It was clearly a series of decisions made a very long time ago, completely ingrained within the storyline of the show. Rebecca and her team had this thing thought out from the get go and the story was built over this situation in a way in which it’s possible for us to watch the reveal and be shocked, impressed and talking about it for months.

You can’t know the entirety of the implications that your story and your characters are going to have in people beforehand. When you create a story, you can have a potential reader in mind or write it for yourself or for someone else, but the extent to which it’ll reach folk, that’s outside what you can understand. 

Still, it’s important to consider certain optics when you choose to add to your character some form of representation that is rarely seen in media, especially if you are going to take it away at some point. 

There was an unprecedented regard on Rose for being fat. Plus size, whatever you wanna call it, I’m gonna call it for what it is and what I am too.

I don’t have to tell you, hopefully, how difficult it is to find fat characters portrayed in anything than jokes and gross commentary or “caution for the vain”, as Nadia from Bare would say.

Growing up in fandom, the main reason why I never cosplayed was because of my body. 18 years ago, my local fandom was incredibly sexist and humiliation towards fat women and girls in cosplay wasn’t just comments on conventions or shouts in the halls, it was literal assault. Guys threw bottles to the stage, the most well-known magazine for fandom news printed your photos without your permission, or stating other intentions, with extremely derogatory slogans underneath, especially of underage girls who didn’t know how to defend themselves. It was too young a fandom and we were too young ourselves to know how to deal with that, except for hiding. 

The sexism, aggression and assault was not going to change for having a fat character available, but it would have eased the blow. It would have been less difficult to accept ourselves if instead of being “fat Sailor Moon” we could just be a character who did look like us from the beginning and wasn’t a stereotype of gross behavior.

There are a lot of girls out there who constantly fight the good fight and do cosplay characters outside their body type, but why can’t we have just one character to cling to?

Then, in comes Rose Quartz.

Rose Quartz, regarded as all the things fat women in media very rarely get represented as: lovable, admirable, strong, graceful, perceived as beautiful, desired. She dressed in white, for goodness sake. I grew up in a time and environment in which dressing in white as a fat person was a revolutionary act in itself.

That’s why issues begun with her being represented as thin by fandom or appropriated by thin cosplayers. Because she meant the world to a portion of people who have been pleading for someone like her to exist in massive media and fandom had to go and “slim her down” in order to grasp the concept of her being desirable. They couldn’t conceive her as pretty and fat at the same time, they had to “adapt” her to their beauty standards. 

When thin cosplayers had always had a myriad of places to choose from, there they were, grabbing onto one of the few options fat folk had as a possibility. And they tried to flip the script, saying “everyone should cosplay what they want, if a fat girl can cosplay a thin character, then why can’t I, a thin person, cosplay a fat character?”

The answer is simple, if you have a little empathy: because a thin person hasn’t got systematically victimized for making that choice in the way fat folk have been, because a thin person gets to choose from a lot of options for their cosplay, because choosing to be “the thin version” of a fat character won’t get them anywhere near as targeted as a fat person would for cosplaying a thin one. Just look at some cosplayers’ instagrams for comparison in the comments, if you think I’m exaggerating. 

The argument grew nonsensical and it elevated to stages of aggression and violence. 

People were hurt, a movement of “resistance” grew in which folk tried to pass their fatphobic attitudes as a rebellion to the “political correctness” of the request that we should reconcile the idea that Rose was valid while being fat because fat folk are valid. It grew out of control, taken to unnecessary extremes, and to this day the talk about Rose and fatness is fandom taboo and a synonym of how fucked up the SU fandom can get. The conversation was silenced by extreme circumstances. 

After all that, the Pink Diamond reveal hurt me deeply. It felt like all had been for nothing. I felt incredibly disappointed.

There’s this phrase that mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends, people tend to tell fat girls, a phrase that feels like a stab in the back every time you hear it: that inside every fat girl there’s a thin girl waiting to be happy.

It’s this idea that only when you change your body you can start living. You can’t be successful, worthy, cared for or regarded until your body doesn’t change. One of the reasons why fatphobia is still such an issue is because it’s used as a “motivator”. Fat folk have to live around people who genuinely think that abuse, bullying, exclusion and oppression are legitimate ways to make you put down weight. And they do it all in the name of your “well-being and happiness”. Fatphobia is, to this day, the preferred diet. 

It hurt me deeply to find out that, despite it all, Rose Quartz was a fat-suit. Because some people say “she chose that body, that counts for good representation”, which is worse, because it perpetrates the idea that your body is a choice. That you are fat because you’re lazy, because you do something too much or something not enough, that the only thing you need to do to be validated as a human being is change your body. 

The Pink reveal wasn’t meant to deal with all this subtext. Nobody thought of this when making her up, when designing her, when planning the story, because if you haven’t lived it, it’s not a priority. And that’s ok. But in a show like SU which is so careful about these things, this particular slip was huge for me. 

I don’t think that it warrants me disliking the show and it does not, under any circumstances, invalidate the fact that there are other characters with diverse body types in Steven Universe, and that the show and its crew haven’t been anything but accepting and caring. 

But it does pose questions as to why it’s a problem for me and it should make me think about my own stories and my own choices. And I think I’m allowed to feel a little hurt. 

[permian-tropos]

Thought about how Finn and Poe are depicted in TLJ: 

I don’t think Johnson was deeply racially biased in the way people think, though I think he might have a racial bias that’s not malicious, but also worth pointing out, since I always butt heads with that bias as a white writer. 

I think Johnson wanted to give Finn and Poe solid character arcs to fit with the theme of overcoming failure, and I don’t think he wrote them as if they were Other, because I do feel somewhat familiar with what it feels like when characters are Other. I’m very alert to women being framed as Other, and in SW most droids and aliens are framed like that. also, old mentor figures can be Other, definitely maternal figures, most villains, expendable side characters, NPC-type folks in the plot who help the story along.

Stories have to be full of Others of one sort or another, and you can be Other in a sympathetic light or a negative light. You can be revered or reviled or ignored. You can be reduced to a stereotype or an archetype. And some stereotypes are more harmful than others because of their connection to real world structural oppression. 

The only characters in a story who aren’t Other are characters who get POV time -- that’s just how it works, if the movie makes you see through a character’s eyes, they want you to project onto that character for those scenes. Finn and Poe are POV characters, so they’re not fully othered. Something else is probably going on. 

I think Finn and Poe are written in ways that white men would comfortably project onto, if the characters were white men. Take Finn and his running away. It’s not as if male characters who have to learn to care about the cause are deeply disliked. Han Solo is a scoundrel with a heart of gold who spends a lot of time in ANH being reluctant to help the heroes, and then he finally shows his true goodness and saves the day. Finn being a bit jittery and focused on saving a girl he likes might seem less flattering, but think about all the awkward, foolish white male protagonists who get dunked on a bit for their flaws, but ultimately win girls’ hearts and save the day. I’m thinking Emmett from the Lego Movie as a key archetype. That’s... clearly something that white guys find relatable and enjoyable to project onto. Self-deprecating, but ultimately a power fantasy. Part of the power fantasy is watching someone who’s a bit of a loser become a hero through adversity, it makes you feel like you too could take adversity and turn it into positive change as well. And Finn isn’t even such an overstated example, but he does have a lovable-loser thing going on in TFA and TLJ. And then of course he gets to be fantastically heroic and good and brave, because we (lovable losers in the audience) would like to be that way as well.

Poe’s behavior in TLJ gives me very... uncooked Captain Kirk dough vibes. I love me some Kirk, and he’s such a passionate guy who breaks rules and defies authority whenever he thinks it’s right. And sometimes he gets it wrong, and misjudges the situation, but the narrative usually doesn’t punish him too much. And the reason for this is because Kirk has Spock and McCoy and the rest of his crew with him and he deeply trusts their advice and expertise. Spock will almost always tell Kirk to cool his tits, so Kirk feels safe getting hot-titted when he thinks it’s called for. He knows he has a limiter. That’s what makes him a good leader, he knows his shortcomings and surrounds himself with close friends who can balance those shortcomings out. He’s also a seasoned captain, wiser from having dealt with a lot of messy situations. But (forget the reboot movies lol cause I do) if you imagine a younger Kirk, you can imagine him getting all riled up about injustice and hatching one of his daring million-to-one gambits to save everyone -- and it turns out to be a bad move. It turns out he was wrong. And he gets a lesson about that, and this helps him grow into the good Kirkboy we love and respect. 

The fact that Poe wants to rush out and save the day, but needs to learn patience, is something white men can find relatable and sympathetic.

But the thing is, I can understand people seeing Finn and Poe being written in this way, and understandably perceiving it as race-blind. Johnson put all these bits of character into them, but because he’s a white male writer who does in fact want to write Finn and Poe as likable and dynamic and engaging, he seems to have written things for them that are endearing when a white male does them. 

People see the expressed interiority of Finn and Poe in The Last Jedi and get White Male vibes from it, not because they were written to be disposable or Other, but because they were given White Male interiority.

Now, arguably, Star Wars seems not to discern human races, and since so much of White Male interiority involves seeing yourself as the default and not ever questioning that status, while existing in an industrialized Westernized capitalist society, the idea that Finn and Poe would at least reflect some of that attitude kind of isn’t... entirely unrealistic? 

I say this as a woman who had a lot of weirdly externalized misogyny and mistrust of feminism as a kid because I grew up in a bubble where I was free to express my gender however I liked, and adult women made all the decisions, and had status and value, and men were kind of just there also. I didn’t actually understand the feeling of not being default, of being Other, of being secondary, and when I was first exposed to feminism I was angry because I didn’t like to be told that I was oppressed. I didn’t want to be oppressed, so don’t you dare imply it could happen! I grew up without a lot of the social pressures women get, and now I actually recognize male-privileged attitudes ingrained in myself. I feel like aspects of masculinity (but certainly not all of them!) are just the gendered appropriation of Human Default, which women would default to if they weren’t pressed out of it (and aspects of femininity are extremely Human Default too and denying them to men is very damaging to them). So Finn and Poe being written by a white man trying to make them Human Default (or at least Male Default since gender disparities do exist in SW), could come across as infused with whiteness. Also humans in SW have heavy privilege over aliens and droids so they probably would act like privileged people when you think about it......

Still, I don’t and can’t begrudge anyone (particular a person of color) who doesn’t like that, because it’s probably not relatable and it’s missing a lot of nuance and perspicacity that a writer of color would infuse the situation with, in portraying a fictional fantasy world that’s relatively blind to race to an audience in a racialized society. You have to balance both fiction and reality.

White writers sort of have to learn that. A writer wants to engage with their audience authentically, and writers can’t get that if they pretend their audience won’t be hyperalert to racial dynamics. “But I didn’t know people would have that reaction” yes you did, or you should. “But I want to live in a world where people don’t have to have that reaction since it’s coming from so much suffering and injustice” me too buddy, but one movie can’t change everything overnight. Obviously if you care about marginalized people, what you want to do is make them feel appreciated and comfortable for the space of time your movie is playing. But I understand you do also want to write in your style. All the characters you write will be coming out of your own heart, that’s inevitable. 

It feels like the “why didn’t Johnson listen to the actors” anger is because people kind of wanted to see the actors’ takes on the characters, so they didn’t have to see Rian Johnson interiority throughout all of them. Except... the thing is. If Lucasfilm really begged Johnson to write and direct their movie, he’s allowed to put Rian Johnson interiority into it. Even the characters of marginalized identities -- ultimately, wanting to project onto and empathize with characters of color is not at all bad. Johnson feels like Rose is his self insert. She’s a woman of color, and he specifically wanted KMT for the role. He felt like he could deeply relate to this character. It’s not that he identifies as an Asian-American woman, it’s that he did actually think that distinction wasn’t a barrier to relatability. (On top of that, I think Rose is written to have some backstory elements that strongly parallel her actress’s Vietnamese heritage, and I think it’s a pretty big deal and I wish more people cared about that but we’ve been brainwashed to forget the Vietnam War I guess.)

White writers do need to take care not to project too much of their own interiority onto characters of color, to the point where audiences feel like they’ve been pushed out, like they’re seeing someone who looks like them but clearly is not like them on the inside (an uncanny, unnerving effect). But at the same time, I can’t imagine writing that doesn’t come from the writer. And white writers absolutely need to project onto and relate to characters of color. It’s always going to be a mess and there’s a lot of work to do to get it right but the alternative where you’re convinced you could never relate is not at all better. 

TL;DR: Rian Johnson did indeed fall into a white male writer pitfall, but I think it’s not malicious and it’s also both problematic and potentially a good thing. Also JJ Abrams basically did the same thing it’s just that he didn’t have to write “overcome my fatal flaw” arcs for Finn and Poe.

Johnson also definitely put a lot of work into prioritizing female perspectives and female fantasies and female wish fulfillment and female POV, and I think (as a Female... or. something approximating female lol) the film is a lot better about it than any other Star Wars movie to date. Or that may be because he sat down with Carrie Fisher for hours and hours brainstorming ideas and took her suggestions seriously enough to have notebooks full of them. I imagine he should have done the same with non-white script doctor but when it came to script doctoring and a deep connection to SW, Carrie was kind of without equal.

[terminalpolitics]

Wait. Are we talking about masculinity as a structure and an idea, or about all the traits associated with it? Like. Whiteness is an evil institution, but if it were somehow TOTALLY abolished paleness of the skin would become inconsequential...Right? Open to being wrong on that. If masculinity as a societal force was torn down, would some of the more superficial aspects of it be acceptable? Like the aesthetic and aspects of self-love, for example. 1/2

ASK CONT’D

“ 2/2 I’d like to think that if all the toxic and harmful aspects of masculinity (not as an institutional power but as…a surface-level trait?) were drained from it, there would be SOMETHING remaining. Beneath all the homophobic standards, misogyny, and xenophobia it’s been used to justify. Stereotypically masculine themes like comradery, fighting for justice, etc. These things would need to be 100% dis-associated with MEN though. Maleness distinct from masculinity. I’m open to being wrong though?”

Thanks for your question.

In my original post I said that Masculinity, like Whiteness, was a toxic concept that cannot be removed from its functional role in oppression (I used a few more sentences and people who care can just scroll down if they want to read the full thing.

Without our White Supremacist society’s concept of “Whiteness”, pale skin would still exist but it would lose its significance as anything but an example of biological variability.

Whiteness as a concept and racism are inextricably linked. We can’t get fully rid of one without getting rid of the other. Even we “abolished” racism, but kept Whiteness as an identity around, all those racist associations that Whiteness as an idea (not a skin color) would still be present. The logic of Whiteness as an identity is a racist logic.

I don’t think that’s controversial among folks who are actually interested in getting rid of racism. Now let’s look at Masculinity…

Before we can talk about gender, we need to talk about what gender isn’t. Gender is not biological sex. Just as the qualities we associate with Whiteness have nothing to do with light skin, the qualities we associate with Masculinity (gender), have nothing to do with Maleness (a biological sex).

As concepts of Whiteness are projected onto light skin, so to have concepts of Masculinity been projected onto Maleness (tho Masculinity has become its own free-floating category now, just like Whiteness is applied to things that don’t even have skin).

It’s important to realize that Masculinity is 100% a social construct. That gets said a lot, but it means that we totally made it up and we made it up to suit the needs of society… and the needs of society are dictated by those with power.

There is no essential Masculinity.

(Note: we use “Masculinity” as a word to describe ideas we decide are similar across cultures but that it inaccurate– you’ll see people impose categories like “men” and “women” onto even nonbinary gender systems from across the world and by doing that we are erasing the actual distinctions in other gender systems to make it conform to our own.)

The qualities that have been associated gendered with concepts like Masculinity or “Men” vary through by time and culture. Even in Western culture Masculinity has changed – a few centuries back, “men” were superior because they had stronger emotions and that made them superior, now “men” are said to be superior because they are “more rational” and less prone to emotion – bullshit in both cases – but you’ll notice the thing that didn’t change was the judgment that Men were superior. The justification for Masculine supremacy in our patriarchal society has changed but the oppression has not.

So all those qualities that you’d like to preserve have no innate connection to Masculinity to begin with.

Now, there are scientists who work very hard (especially in evolutionary psychology) to explain why these traits are essentially linked to biology but their reasons are circular. They all follow this pattern: “Men today are braver than women [citation needed]. That’s because in the Paleolithic, Men hunted mammoths and women spent their time making flower-necklaces. We KNOW men hunted the mammoths because Men are braver and you have to be brave to hunt a mammoth.” Obviously this is bullshit.

We should also remember that for more than a hundred years, scientists sincerely engaged in “race science” (some still do) which we now call, more appropriately, Scientific Racism. The idea was to use science to “prove” why white people were superior and should thus remain in power – spoilers: the experiments by white men kept “finding” that white men were superior to everyone else.

There will always be science that seeks to justify the status quo and will bend its results to serve the needs of power.

Anyway, traits like “comradeship” “self-love” and “fighting for justice” have nothing to do with being Male. If we think about it, it’s absurd that we would believe our capacity for comradeship would be based on our chromosomes – just as it was absurd to think that lack of melatonin in the skin meant “more refined taste for music” or any other still-popular racist belief.

Those traits get associated with Masculinity because they are the “good” traits. Even the “bad” things about men are really just positives like “Men have powerful tempers” is really just a spin on the edgy teen fanfic writer’s defense of his OC: “Yes, my Sith Lord has flaws – sometimes he gets TOO angry and becomes SO powerful that no one can stop him from doing what he wants… but he feels conflicted about it later.”

Meanwhile, any trait associated with Women gets devalued–even if it was held to be positive to start.

The basis for which traits are seen as Masculine and which are Feminine isn’t biological–it is authoritarian. Whatever supports the existing hierarchy becomes a “fact” of gender.

After gender is abolished, we will still have all those traits like “comradeship” because those are HUMAN traits. We cannot support a system that dishonestly assigns traits to artificial classes of people.

Like the concept of Whiteness, Masculinity is something we made up. We try to conflate it with biology but it is wholly a social construct. But we will never be able to free ourselves of racism or gendered oppression as long as we continue to classify people as White or Masculine because those concepts are designed to oppress.

[longgae]

Bc I’m bored, I’m tackling things messed up in society.

Now remember. This is an OPINIONATED THING. DON’T READ UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE HIT IN THE FACE WITH MY OPINIONS!

The Dress Code: The discussion of dress code and it’s discriminatory nature against girls and their self-image has been a prevalent subject amongst many middle and high school students. This topic has continued to stay relevant, and I’m sure we’ve all either heard about, or even experienced ourselves, the unjust punishments hundreds of students receive daily because of ridiculous dress code rules. When discussing this topic, it would be ignorant to ignore the sexualization of female bodies in our society. This is arguably the root of all problems relating to dress codes, and likewise, the main reason that a restrictive dress code would ever exist in the first place. As has been proved time and time again in nearly every aspect of our daily lives, the female body is commonly associated as being synonymous with sex.The objectification of women in the media is something that only further bolsters this idea; which has encouraged the conception that the female body is nothing more than a selling point or form of entertainment. Something only to be viewed in a sexual light or as something “appealing” for  those who see it. The societal fault that has built this negative connotation surrounding female bodies is the exact source of what has led schools to create a dress code.I mean of course, if schools were to allow bra straps to be shown or shorts to be worn, female students would be far too distracting to their fellow classmates and student body, right?As I’m sure anyone who has been dress coded themselves has experienced being punished because of something that you wear is not only incredibly inconvenient (no, I did not bring complete a change of clothes with me to school), but especially embarrassing and guilt-inducing.Every time I’ve been dress-coded, or told to “cover up,” my skin would begin to crawl, my face heat up, and my chest begin to feel heavy, as if a rock-form of guilt was thrown right on top of it. Throughout all of these situations I couldn’t help but think that I’d done something inexplicably and horribly wrong. (hint, I didn’t.) You see, telling a girl to go and put on a jacket, change her outfit, or whatever punishment is decided upon, does more than just force her to go change. It sends her a message that will continue to be recited and repeated every day for the rest of her life. A message that says: your body is a sexual thing, and the exposition of your skin will only ever be seen in an inappropriate light. A message that is only confirmed by our media and passed down by parents who want to protect their little girl. A message that will travel far past the boundaries that any school will ever reach.Dress codes also give the person doing the dress coding the power to deem someone’s body as a sexual thing. 

While some teachers or staff may simply be following a certain rule set by their school, I myself have been dress coded, on more than one occasion, for reasons that were in no way an actual violation of the dress code. Even though I was following the rules that are considered to be so necessary in creating a “safe learning environment” for students, somehow, I was still too inappropriate to be sitting in class. (In this specific example, I was in third grade, wearing jean shorts and a tank top. Boobs didn’t exist in my world yet.) This only further proves the point that, no matter what “rules” or ridiculous outfit guidelines you impose on students, it is solely up to the people around them to decide whether they are going to view that individual in an appropriate light or not.It is not a girls fault for wearing something that may “distract” someone, but rather the fault of whoever may view a girl’s body as being “distracting” in the first place. My body is not a distraction. My existence is not a hindrance to those who surround me. The only real issue I can name in this situation is the fact that anyone would have the mentality that these claims are true.The fact that so many girls have to miss class time, or even be sent home because of something that they’re wearing sends out another societal message. The message that their male counterparts education is more valuable than her own, and that their bodies themselves are something punishable.In the United States, it’s been a few decades since women weren’t allowed to receive the same education as men; and since then, we have prided ourselves in providing equal opportunity for any gender to succeed in life. As has been shown on multiple occasions however, gender inequality is still a huge problem today. But why do we continue to insist on making these problems worse? Things like dress codes pretty much ingrain gender roles and unfair treatment of the sexes into the minds of children as being normal. 

Yes, we may have accomplished allowing females to actually receive an education, yes we may have accomplished allowing females to be seen as actual members of society (wow!!), but that doesn’t get rid of the fact that we are fueling ideas gender inequality everyday, and doing so by cementing them within our school systems and students minds. How can we claim to be anywhere near having gender-equality in schools while these unjust dress codes continue to exist?To emphasize the true hypocrisy of dress codes, let’s look at this situation in perspective. It is incredibly common for schools to have girls leave class, or even school in general (I’ve even had friends of mine be suspended), due to a violation of the dress code.The dress coding process normally goes a little something like this: You go to class and have a teacher deem your outfit as inappropriate; from there you need to go and change; and while there are multiple different ways that you can be sent off to change, all of which involve finding some sort of jacket, sweatpants, or even completely new outfit to change into.  

A reminder that this whole process is happening during class time.After finding whatever it is you need, you have to put away (or in some schools, turn in) your “inappropriate” clothes before heading back to class. For some teachers, finding a new article of clothing is enough; for others, there’s more to the story. Girls may find themselves doing work in a side room for the rest of the period, having to serve detention or maybe even be sent to an administrator’s office for an even harsher punishment. Regardless of the details of any punishment however, we shouldn’t have such protocol being implemented in school in the first place. The process itself is tedious, time consuming and guarantees that a student will be missing out on class time in order to find new clothes. Many dress codes detail their intent as creating a “safe” or “productive” learning environment for students. Which means, the main reason schools don’t want male students to be “distracted” in class is because they recognize this class time as being important  and necessary in the first place! In an attempt to condense everything into very brief and blunt terms: the solution to ensuring that one student does not miss class time is to force a different student to miss that class time instead.Is there not the slightest trace of irony in this situation?

Which leads me to my next point: how dress codes are also harmful to boys. Dress codes succeed in further adding onto and broadcasting the largely false and negative aspects of the male stereotype. While girls are far more likely to be actively discriminated against, boys are consistently being portrayed in a negative light.Men are stereotypically seen as power-hungry, emotionless, sex-driven beings. And through dress codes we have only added onto this imagery to create a narrative that says: boys aren’t capable of not being distracted by girls. That boys are already far too sex-driven to be trusted to focus in a room that contains exposed shoulders, thighs or midriffs. Yet surprisingly, never in my whole existence has a boy ever been outwardly affected by what I was wearing.

 In fact, I can name countless situations where boys didn’t blink an eye at an outfit that I had previously been dress coded for. The very foundation that dress codes are built upon instills boys with the mindset that they constantly have to be yearning for sex in order to be considered “normal” teens. When in reality, boys are not only able to control their hormones around their classmates (regardless of what they’re wearing), but most likely weren’t even affected or “distracted” to by them to begin with.

Although dress codes may be viewed as “necessary” in order to maintain a “proper learning environment” in schools, they are in no way needed to actually be doing so. Instead of creating guidelines that require girls to hide their bra straps, create an environment where these straps can be seen for what they are: a piece of elastic.Instead of taking girls out of class for being “distractions” to other students, teach kids that they shouldn’t be “distracted” by anyone’s physical appearance in the first place. Instead of trying to “protect” boys from the exposition of too much skin, understand that they genuinely won’t be affected by a girl’s appearance until we make it a point to constantly draw attention and shame girls for it.

If we truly value the progression of gender equality in our society, and if we truly want to protect our youth from potential danger in the future, we need to ensure that they are not being taught the opposite of these morals in their schools.

Thank you all for coming to my Ted Talk. And reading my thoroughly peeved rant. And I should’ve written this for an essay I had to do recently. I liked my other one; LGBTQ+ rights, but sill

[konnfusion]

way-too-wordy ramble of something that happened recently that I just cannot get off my mind even though it’s been three days.

transphobia cw // transmisogyny cw // nazis mention //

this happened a few days ago but I can’t stop thinking about it. so an old coworker of my bf’s and her sister added us on fb like a year+ ago, and all is well and good because I hardly use fb except to keep in touch with family. except every time I log on and see a post from the sister, it’s some right-wing screed about how trans women are a threat to cis women in public bathrooms or something, and then she’ll end it with “okay, rant over, just love each other!” or something. my (trans!) boyfriend and this girl’s sister kept trying to tell her “hey, this is really bigoted misinformation and sharing it as truth just perpetuates harmful stereotypes about marginalized people,” and she’d say, “it’s just my opinion, you don’t have to like it!”

anyway, so I hadn’t seen anything from her in a while, and then she posts this actually pretty long post about how socialism was garbage because of n*zism (because they had “socialist” in their longer name?) and how it’s trying to wipe away all individuality and free will (as if we have a lot of choices of how our tax money is spent in america anyway). she even invoked MLK, Jr.’s name in defense of capitalism.

so I decide I’m gonna try to play nice before I unfriend her, and link her to some free resources detailing MLK, Jr.’s hatred of the cruelty of capitalism; why nazis weren’t and aren’t socialists, but instead fascists who appropriated the language of socialism to appeal to the working-class and impoverished citizens; encouraged her to look up citizen wellness reports for countries with socialized medicine and universal basic income; and recommended she look into intro-level works on socialism (even linked her to some reliable YouTube channels). I said that she was likely unknowingly echoing a lot of alt-right sentiments, and that I didn’t know a better way to explain why she should be concerned for those most at-risk in our country in 2020. I spoke plainly and candidly, didn’t call her stupid or bigoted (even though she’s shown time and time again she clearly is the latter), and hoped she would look into the resources and educate herself. then I unfriended her.

I forget about it for about a full day, and then log onto fb on my laptop instead of my phone. turns out, she hadn’t been unfriended on fb desktop. I went to remedy that and, out of curiosity, decided to see if she’d made a response to my comment. my comment was the only one on the post and she hid it. no response, not attempt at refutation, not even a “fuck you”—she hid the comment. I have to believe it’s because she knew I knew what I was talking about (one of my links is the encyclopedia brittanica, for god’s sakes; you gonna call them a liar?) and couldn’t come up with a measured response that would make her look good, but also didn’t want any of her friends who agreed with her to see my sources.

people like her don’t want to learn, and would rather cling to their pride and their perceived “freedoms” than admit the system is broken and is costing people their peace of mind at the least, and their lives at the worst. it’s exhausting. capitalism has people so brainwashed that, even if her family fell on even harder times than it already has, she likely still wouldn’t blame the system but instead the people who have to receive state/federal benefits just to try to survive.

I’m tired!! I can’t handle that shit from people I know personally! I’m 27, out of work until a literal pandemic is over, trying to keep my boyfriend alive through a life-threatening chronic illness, and hold my own psyche together until I can see a doctor—but she can’t take a few minutes out of her day to learn why it’s shitty to be comparing nazis to socialists and undermining their harm as outright fascists, and to maybe not invoke the name of a black activist who was murdered and then sanitized by a white-written history to make him more palatable to future generations to defend the very system he campaigned against.

anyway, post over, I’m still just!!!! so frustrated!

[lesbian-ed-discourse]

Why is "gender non conforming" only about being trans? GNC is the true umbrella term. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, trans: All 100% GNC. You even can be straight, but not confirming to what society make of your gender. "lesbian" trans males, "gay" trans females, the "gender neutral" straight people, bisexuals. All gender non confirming and absolutely not homosexual. Man, I would love to not see any straight person calling themselves gay again.

I see your point. But I raise you another one : what is the definition of the term ? Gnc. Not conforming to your gender. But can we advance that there are people out there, even heterosexuals, who perfectly sum up all stereotypes assigned to their gender ? I’m not exactly sure. People are not walking stereotypes. 

I personally use the term for things that really matter and change society’s perception of who you are and society’s way of treating you. Femininity is the patriarchal tool of oppression for women. Femininity is designed to break our spirits and put us below the male. Femininity is beauty practices as well as heteronormativity, with all the harm that it entices. Which is why it is said lesbians are gnc, because they are lesbians - because they are homosexuals. Lesbians not conforming to the social gender is seen as a threat to the hierarchy, hence the oppression - lesbophobia. That is a case of gnc.

But a woman who refuses to cook or learn how to cook, isn’t she gnc ? As she does not provide food to the male or to the family, is she not breaking her gender role ? However, you will see that this gnc does not have the same response as being a lesbian does, and the repression is not at all the same or comparable. Yet we could advance she’s gnc, as cooking (”go back to the kitchen” gamers’ favorite joke) is traditionally a task pushed onto women (unless it is paid, and then it is not called cooking anymore, but cuisine).

The problem with this term is that it means anything. It doesn’t mean something specific, it is applicable to everyone. Onto that, I’d like to add that many many many AGPs I’ve seen are totally conform to their original gender (aka men) but they only have to declare themselves “trans” to escape any accountability of their male privilege.

Is it a good idea ? I mean, you want straight people to stop using the word gay to describe themselves. That could work, but straight people suffering from the Special Snowflake Syndrom™ made being gay into an aesthetic, the ultimate Special Label™ - they don’t care about our struggles, our pain. They’re profoundly homophobic, and will continue to appropriate our words and culture, and kill them and us while doing so (conversion therapy has recently made its comeback in Brazil, for example). GNC just doesn’t have the same pleasing ring to it ; furthermore, it also concerns straight people, who to some level, are also gnc. Not to the same level as homosexuals, but still.

Mod C.