#woc ftw

[my-dumb-obsessions]

💀🔥❤‍🔥Fire and Blood❤‍🔥🔥💀

Warden Commander Cariane Amell 'bout to show you what "by any means necessary" really means.

Thank you @olillskio for this amazingly gorgeous art of my Warden! You captured just how metal she is in my head!

Edit: Click on the image for full resolution, it's soooo good!

[roucacia]

my mom keeps talking about kamala and #feminism and “people are so excited to elect her” and “it’s huge.” she’s genuinely psyched and thinks this is a big upset to the status quo. i’m like please you never mention palestine except once to say you’d “already donated enough to them.” you’d have no idea a genocide is happening at all from the convos in our household. i get there’s a generational gap and as a WOC you identify with her but i feel like i’m living in a fever dream talking to her vs my friends and comrades

[boxofbonesfic]

As a brown girl, there’s barely any rep for us and other woc. Yesterday I saw fic of Bucky x reader but in the summary we find out that reader is Steve roger’s sister. I feel like that is a situation where reader must be coded as white bc how could we as woc relate.

exactly. i try to give people the benefit of the doubt like “oh maybe she’s adopted, mixed family ftw” but more often than not it’s just a segue into more whiteness. i wish people realized that diversifying their work makes it interesting. i get just as many asks about the cultural differences in Tonality as i do asks for new chapters, that should tell people something.

[nicosraf]

The Watermelon Woman is such a wonderful gem! Meta narratives about black lesbian womanhood + film history ftw!!!!

AAAGHH yes one of my favorite movies ever. It really reminds me of Funeral Parade of Roses because of the style of going in and out of a "documentary." In a sense, both movies are trying to argue for the existence of their queer people — TWW argues for the existence of Black lesbian womanhood in history and FPoR argues for "gay" (drag queens and trans women mostly) people being both content with their lives and "born that way".

The Watermelon Woman though is a lot more authentic. It doesn't fall into that voyeuristic gaze that FPoR does (saying this as someone who adores FPoR). And it's a lot more of a love letter of a movie and definitely one of the more authentic depictions of WOC navigating lesbian spaces. Sorry I can't go 3 minutes without raving about this movie ahjksasda

[something-pithy]

I guess this is a few brief character studies disguised as other characters’ internal monologues. :D  Not exactly thruple territory, but I definitely think there’s more to these three than just jolly bestie antics. 

[i-am-not-busy]

honestly I love clarisse but in the books she was never my type. but god, dior? that’s another equation

i am a little put off by the fact that I along with many others imagined her as buffed and on the heavier side, and she was casted as someone slimmer than imagined I still think it was a great choice!! I’m excited to see them all on screen

[neverendingcomplaints]

Bridgerton again

I’m gonna throw Penelope a little anti-heroine love too. Just thinking about it - yeah, she engaged in some real bad behavior. But you know what? Sometimes we’re all petty and sometimes it’s not a “Nice Woman” level of petty. And I understand that she’s fat and we rarely have fat heroines - same thing with Marina being black. But you know what? These human failings make characters more interesting, imo. Especially women, who are never allowed to be bad. 

And I’m seeing a lot of excitement for Anthony’s story and love interest, whose name is apparently Kate. I hope they cast a WOC. Doesn’t matter what race, just any woman of color. That’s all. 

[theheartsmirror]

𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃. ▹ ❝𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔❞

➝ 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 x 𝐰𝐨𝐜!𝐨𝐜

➝ 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗍 1/?

→ 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲

❛𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝗂𝗌 𝖺 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗇 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝘀, 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝑜𝑐 𝗂𝗌 𝖺 𝑤𝑜𝑐, 𝗂 𝗋𝖾𝖿𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖺𝗌 𝖺 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑡❜

𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛.

The waitress was kind enough, the light smile she wore betraying the lines under her eyes and the constant wiping of her forehead with the back of her hand. Even the walk towards his table was accompanied by frequent blinking and two deep exhales.

“Welcome, Travelers. Can I interest you in anything?”

As he’d already allowed his eyes to scan the menu upon his entrance into the diner, he placed a single order of bone broth for the little one.

Mando was eager to get started on his mission, the sooner he captured his target, the sooner he could leave this damn planet. In terms of legality, morality, and humanity, Coruscant ranked at the very bottom, below even the lowest tiers.

It was home to the worst of the worst that the galaxy had to offer with one in every ten inhabitants being guilty of some sort of illegal crime.

And all of that meant a perfect place for the Mandalorian to score a job, earn some credits, and be on to the next planet.

Always watchful, his eyes continuously surveyed the busy surroundings, especially when it came to the kid. This wasn’t exactly an ideal place for a child, but he needed to keep an eye on it, and at least feed it before he embarked on his quest.

The waitress who’d taken his order continued to serve patrons, bypassing written orders for the sturdy memorization abilities that her occupation afforded her. She was heading back toward the counter when a small body made a beeline in her direction and attacked her from behind.

A lazy twist and gentle smile accompanied an embrace between the two women.

The distance from where he sat and where the encounter occurred was too far for him to make out exactly what was said, but the body language was enough for him to detect close a relationship. Mother-daughter, most likely.

A third person entered the exchange, their presence capturing the lewd stares of several patrons who Mando could almost bet were wanted across the galaxy for a myriad of charges.

Gaze focused on the other two women, the third person kept her chin up, her long, onyx braid flowing with her cape as she approached the two.

The waitress gave a quiet nod and grateful smile that waned as she looked past the third woman and casually perused the bar. Her frown and furrowed brows conveyed concern. Still, the last woman to arrive simply shook her head and gave the younger girl a squeeze on the shoulder and a small wave before turning to leave.

A decent amount of eyes who followed her entrance returned to watch her departure, one set in particular catching the attention of the warrior.

Leaning against the counter, he lifted the last of his drink to his lips and tossed it behind him along with a few credits before maneuvering through the crowd in the same direction that the woman left.

The simple solution was the one that required no action. Leave it alone. He had an assignment, and that did not include playing savior for random women in a squalid bar.

For all he knew, the two could be together. Things were seldom what they seemed. And yet, a nagging voice in the back of his head scratched at his conscious and nagged him to intervene. To follow the inebriated man. To ensure he meant the woman no harm, but why?

It was none of his business nor his responsibility.

The child’s cooing and movement of his ears reminded the warrior that rescuing the child from the Imps wasn’t an obligation either.

He sighed.

Stalking over to the bar, he flipped an extra credit to the bartender.

“Keep an eye out on the kid for me.”

He halfheartedly listened to her reply, only just to ensure that she was in agreement as he followed the same path as the two. The streets were just as crowded with people ambling, selling, scheming, and traveling.

Mando utilized his helmet’s features to trace footsteps and deduced that they’d gone left.

His right hand remained on the blaster in his holster, tightening when the steps shifted right, down an alley.

Dark and generally barren, he continued to follow the steps, pausing when he heard voices.

“Let go of me.” A soft, feminine voice strained as she struggled against the forearm restraining her wrist above her head.

“Come on, whore. I’m not asking you to do anything you haven’t already done before.” His left hand grabbed her face, the contact proceeding a sharp turn of her head and the closing of her eyes. “Such fire for a worthless servant.” A yellowed nail raked down the middle of her chest. “I can fix that.”

She swallowed and continued to wrestle against his iron grip. “Get off me!”

“Let her go.”

Two sets of eyes landed on Mando, both emitting different reactions aside from the initial surprise.

The man growled and redirected his attention to the woman he had pinned against the dirty wall.

“This doesn’t concern you, Mandalorian.”

The grip on his blaster tightened once more. “It wasn’t a suggestion.”

The final warning failed to deter the creature as he adjusted his hand to her neck, giving a sickening squeeze right before she stumbled against the mortar. She felt her neck, stealing tiny gasps of breath and winced when the sound of blasters entered her ears.

Her attacker laid on the ground holding onto his arm, the Mandalorian’s boot resting directly on his core, the blaster aimed at his forehead.

“Leave.”

Seconds after removing his boot, the man scrambled to his feet and limped away, yellow blood leaking through the slits of his fingers and leaving a trail that marked subjugation.

Mando waited for the bastard to turn the corner before checking on the woman who now stood and held her cloak together in front of her.

Her eyes traveled his figure and her throat cleared before she spoke. “T-thank you.”

Nodding, he placed his blaster back in the holster. “You alright?”

She shook her head and inched toward him. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“No.”

Her feet shuffling against the ground didn’t bypass Mando, and neither did the sipping behind him.

In a matter of seconds, his blaster was back in his hand, aimed and ready.

“Wait!” She cried out and Mando’s shoulders dropped as the kid calmly sipped his broth. “It’s a child.”

Mando once again put away his blaster as the woman walked past him to approach the kid.

She lowered to her knees. “Hello.”

“Do--”

“Are you lost?”

“He’s with me.”

Mando’s clarification fell on deaf ears as she swept the kid up in her arms and tugged him against her chest. “Look at those ears.” She used her index finger to rub the middle of his head and lightly grabbed at his ears. In response, he took a sip of his broth and cooed.

“You shouldn’t have him out here. It’s not safe.”

“I don’t. I left him in the bar.”

“Alone?” Her brows mushed together. “That’s even worse.”

Mando sighed and walked towards her. “Give him to me.”

She continued to hold the child and shifted away from Mando’s extended arms. “Wa-” Sirens sounded and induced a palpable change in the atmosphere.

Something was wrong.

[grammatically-incoherent]

➤ SNL ladies doing it right

[justanothersadbeann]

hi. so i've been scrolling past the winx club tag for the past couple of days, and it's been entirely entertaining for the most part, but i'd just like to say that everything's kind of been torn between the part of the fandom who despises ftws and the ones who say "it's not bad". i just wanna put it my own two cents.

(this ended up being super long, so i'm going to add my thoughts under the cut. fyi, this is pretty much old news by now, but i wrote this a couple of months ago and only decided to post it now. oops.)

i don't like it. i was going to boycott it entirely, but a part of me hoped that maybe it wouldn't be so bad, so i went and watched the pilot episode with low expectations. (this was before i knew that u could pirate the episodes, so i'm sorry ahh)

i couldn't get past the first twenty minutes of it. i was furious about stella's complete character 180. she was one of my favourites as a kid, because she was girly and beautiful and kind-hearted and loving, even if she talked a little too loud and was sometimes insensitive, because it was never on purpose and she always tried to apologize at the end of the day. "stella" from fate was just. a disappointment. it's like the writers went, "she's blonde and rich and a princess and likes fashion. she's probably a bitch." it really undermined the original stella’s character goals and arcs (in a similar way that the seasons past season three - and debatably four - did, except at least that stella had a good fashion sense.)

i hated that riven went from being an asshole with emotional issues who later tried to resolve them (i still pretend the writers didn't constantly bring back his assholishness - yup, that’s a word now - every season for some drama, because my boy deserves better than that) to a drug addict and the kind of asshole who smells like weed and no one really talks to except in media because. apparently 40-year-old directors think we're into that? it's just gross. (also, they rly could have done a lot with his character. a secondary character with debatable morals and a penchant for attracting darker powers? they could have taken that and had a lot of fun with the character and him hesitating between choosing the right thing vs choosing the easy thing, but instead they took the lazy way out.)

i just feel like they could have done so much with the original winx plot and characters and world and they just threw it all away for literally no reason at all. i'm still trying to understand why netflix's budget came out to make it seem like an imovie made by a couple of teenagers, except i've seen teenagers come up with more unique and interesting plots than that. the show is just the 100 meets riverdale meets the chilling adventures of sabrina, which is alright for an entirely new original netflix show, except winx is not entirely new.

it was a show that ended up affecting thousands of little girls (and boys; my little brother adores it) and shaped a lot of our childhoods. that is the problem most fans have. you cannot say that something is for the fans and then completely and entirely erase every bit of charm and appeal the original had. half the characters were erased for the sake of bad love triangles and unnecessary drama, and the ones who remained were so incredibly changed fundamentally that they were no longer recognizable. do not put the name winx in your show if your characters are not six strong, powerful women (three of whom are woc), who adore each other and would literally die for each other. anything else and it's no longer winx.

it just feels like a waste, because the original show was far from perfect and they really had the opportunity to take a good concept and make it better, while elevating it for older audiences. instead it just became like every other teen drama out there.

p.s. i totally understand if u like the show, because we all have different tastes and that’s okay !! i just also feel like it’s important to discuss the unnecessary changes that were made for no reason. i’m not trying to say every adaptation should be a perfect replica of the original, but to completely erase everything that made the original show what it was just seems so,, unnecessary. like, just make a new show?

p.p.s. this didn’t even touch on the racism, homophobia, and fat-shaming that the show had. just,, gross

[irisbleufic]

holy fuck PfK turned out amazing, and as always you're the best for including Valerie Vale in your fics because canon did her so dirty

Canon did all of its WOC dirty, especially its Black women—Fish and Tabitha were needlessly killed off, and Bridgit was lucky to get through to the end alive.  Valerie being shuffled off (not killed, but injured and never mentioned again) was a huge insult, because I can’t think of any other East Asian characters aside from Hugo Strange featured prominently in the show.  Jamie Chung and BD Wong were two of the most enjoyable folks on the show, in my estimation, when it came to recurring secondary cast.  These are all characters I stubbornly make use of in my stories, because I love every single one of them too much to accept that they wouldn’t still be around.  And yes, I know I keep killing Strange off in any number of creative ways, but I promise that it’s part of how I show affection for his horribleness!  I’ve loved BD Wong in antagonist/villain roles ever since seeing him as Dr. Henry Wu in the original Jurassic Park.  I know he’s reprised the role a couple times, but I haven’t focused as much on the subsequent films aside from Jurassic World.  Anyway, it’s the least I could do to let Valerie continue to help Bruce and Jeremiah screw Jim over throughout PfK.  I enjoy fucking with him most of all, and not because I like him.

Giving Valerie a prominent role in "The Throw” and "Seeing Light” was a real pleasure, and I’m glad you were satisfied with seeing her there.  Playing for Keeps has been such a fun series to write, and it’s awesome to finally wrap it up at 100,000 words.  "Triage,” “The Talk,” and “Darkroom” were meant to be a trilogy, but to get a series of 10 stories when all’s said and done has been rewarding.  Bruce and Jeremiah deserved more consequences in this timeline than they face in my other ones.  Granted, I’m rarely too easy on them, as making them deal with the only members of blood family they’ve got is hilarious.

(And throughout all of this, Oswald and Edward get a happy a life of laid-back crime and occasional slaughter with their kid and their dog, the end.  Although the younger crowd just can’t seem to leave them alone, so...everyone’s grumpy murder uncles FTW.)

[bellecs]

BETA READERS NEEDED!

** ATTENTION **

HELLO EVERYONE! Long-time no chat! I need a bit of help!

I have finished my first original manuscript and I'm seeking 5 BETA READERS that are willing to read the entire manuscript (117,000 words) and provide me with developmental feedback. If you are willing and have the time please send me a private message and we can exchange emails!

I need the feedback for the manuscript in the next 2-3 weeks so if this is something you're willing and able to do please let me know! Below is a synopsis of the book:

The book is called For the Kingdom, this is a fantasy romance with a strong and assertive female lead. It has tones of feminism and romance with no magical elements. The female lead is a WOC, her allies are lgbtq+, diversity ftw! NOTE: This is adult fiction; there are themes of child abuse, harsh language, torture, death, rape, mutilations. I want to make sure people are comfortable. 

Newly widowed High Lady Almira has one goal; to end the war that took her husband's life. To unite the Kingdom she offers her hand to the King - the same man who battled against her husband. Believing in her political cunning, the lessons of her ambitious father, and her impressive lineage, she plans to control the Kingdom and the crown. What she doesn't expect is that King Alton is not the man she thought he was. He is moody, difficult, combative, and irresponsible. She hoped theirs would be a marriage of respect but she's confronted with the reality of such a man. With enemies coming at all sides, a father who disapproves of her decisions, and a husband to manage, will peace reign or is it out of her reach?

Thank you for your time!

(this pitching yourself is the worst)

[lgbtqreads]

Last year, I posted this on the last day of Black History Month as part of the Around the Blogosqueer feature. This year, I thought it’d be nice to start a tradition of just adding to it every year as a BHM staple, keeping the old stuff but continuously providing new content, and posting it in th middle of February. Living history FTW.

Sites

Sistahs on the Shelf – SotS is run by Rena, a Black lesbian who reviews Black lesbian books. You can also follow on Twitter at @SotS!

WoC in Romance – this is a site highlighting all Romance written by WoC, but there’s a page just for LGBTQ Romances. It’s run by Rebekah Weatherspoon, whose name you may recognize as being a prolific author of LGBTQ lit herself! You can follow on Twitter at @WOCInRomance, and make sure you check out their Patreon; link is in the pinned tweet!

Black Lesbian Literary Collective – To nab from their site, “The Black Lesbian Literary Collective creates a nurturing and sustainable environment for Black lesbian and queer women of color writers.” Looking for more reviews of Black lesbian fic? Ta da! The site is new, so it’s not packed with posts just yet, but there is already an active radio show linked to it. Find them on Twitter at @LezWriters.

The Brown Bookshelf – this is a site dedicated to Black kidlit; here are the posts that come up if you search LGBT.

Books

*=new additions this year

Middle-Grade

Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender (Stonewall Award Winner)

The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Young Adult

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum*

This is What it Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow

A Phoenix First Must Burn ed. by Patrice Caldwell*

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kheryn Callender

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert (Stonewall Award winner)

Until You Came Back by Jay Coles*

Jake in the Box by Ryan Douglass*

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi*

The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons*

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett*

The Secrets of Eden by Brandon Goode

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland*

A Place for Wolves by Kosoko Jackson

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

If it Makes You Happy by Claire Kann*

37 Things I Love (in No Particular Order) by Kekla Magoon*

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney*

Home and Away by Candice Montgomery (Bi LI)

By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery*

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus*

Odd One Out by Nic Stone*

Running with Lions by Julian Winters

How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters*

The Beauty that Remains by Ashley Woodfolk*

Black Enough ed. by Ibi Zoboi*

NA/Adult Contemporary

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole*

Hamilton’s Battalion by Alyssa Cole, Courtney Milan, and Rose Lerner

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn*

For Sizakele by Yvonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene*

Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala*

The Spies Who Loved Her series by Katrina Jackson*

The Welcome to Seaport series by Katrina Jackson*

She Called Me Woman ed. by Azeenarh Mohammed, Chitra Nagarajan, and Aisha Salau*

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

When We Speak of Nothing by Olumide Popoola*

F*ths by G.L. Thomas

Sugar and Ice by Brooklyn Wallace*

Tailor-Made by Yolanda Wallace

Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon*

So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon

NA/Adult (Speculative)

To Terminator, With Love by Wes Kennedy*

Shatterproof by Xen Sanders

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon*

The Root by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun*

Better off Red by Rebekah Weatherspoon*

Every Dark Desire by Fiona Zedde

Comics

Bingo Love by Tee Franklin*

Featured Authors

Rebecca Barrow

Kheryn Callender

Brandon L.G. Taylor

Rebekah Weatherspoon

Posts and Featured Authors

Where is the Queer Black Male Voice in YA Lit?

Have more to share? Add them in the comments!

  Black History Month 2019 Last year, I posted this on the last day of Black History Month as part of the Around the Blogosqueer feature.

[saintdollyparton]

Akhsbdmdjdjd you’ve read Leah on the Offbeat??!?!?!?!?!! 1) what did you think of it and 2) YOUR LEVEL OF AWESOMENESS HAS RISEN (if that’s even possible considering how incredible you are)

I own both Leah on the Offbeat and Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda!

I love it because it’s relevant, funny, feel-good, and involves a wlw relationship between a chubby protagonist and a woc. Like, YESS!!! Better representation FTW!

[hernamewasluna]

Any “Karen is offensive” people or maybe the Karen obsessed @meghanemurphy want to call out @theposieparker for calling a woman cunt? Which was her response for being called out for being pals with a Holocaust denier, they have a shared mutual hatred for muslims. Google her name and you will see all the receipts. Rosa is Jewish, so of course she’s disgusted about it. So one hates Chinese, East Asians, the other Muslims and Jews, yet @womensliberationfront platforms both of them. PP also said women who call themselves men should be sterilised. She started a business off public donations meant for her dropped trial, none of it was out of pocket, but no transparency on her website since it launched, so many people think she’s more dedicated than she really is. She has also lied many times about not being racist, continue to flip the script on WOC, spread hatred for WOC, see WOC as trans women who she say are men. How hypocritical do you have to erase a female totally while selling “adult human female” T-shirts AND be baffled why girls are transitioning AND proclaim to want to save them? White supremacist capitalism FTW! https://www.instagram.com/p/CEL2aOuh93u/?igshid=1are0yjvuwwla

[neverlandborn]

🎊 🎊 🎊 🎊 🎊

For every 🎊 I get I’ll recommend a blog

@doeveined my babe! If you’ve been following me for even a day you have to know that Bella and me are kind of a package deal. You can’t have a Pan without a York and you can’t have me without Bella. We have about two and a half years of build up and keep finding ways to hurt ourselves with AUs and ideas. Lily is wonderfully written because she feels real with all of her good and bad parts and she’s honestly the sweetest and cutest flower ever. She’s a great interpretation of not only Lady but also a great oc that fits in all the verses with a lot of care dedicated to her creation.

@stcrgcziing / @hopcfillcd Ash!!! By this point, i don’t think you can’t find a muse she has that isn’t connected to George. You’ve got the wonderful father/daughter relationship between George and Effy next to the friendships with Clarke and Jesy and they’re all so important yet different that i don’t think george would be who he is without them. She’s also incredibly gifted at managing so many different muses but still giving them each only the best characterization. She’s also an incredibly adorable human beeb and i adore her.

@darlinglittlewendymoiraangela  what can i say that i haven’t say at this point? George and i adore mama bird and the mun is such a cutie (i have fan art of george made by her! how awesome is that?) Wendy’s a piece of sunshine and the fact that george’s so close to wendy it’s because of this blog. We’ve been roleplaying since i started this blog , be it the angstiest angst or the cutest fluff it’s always a delight to write with her.

@mcngrel Raise your hand if you’re in the trey bennett protection squad next to the ot3, trily and geory fan clubs. If you’re not, then you have to go follow Rea immediately. Trey  is my adoptive, sassy son and she’s a great mun who puts on not only with me but also bella’s antics so she deserves heaven (and shame on you if you keep sending her all that unnecessary hate)

@@beautyandbooks Nika’s my friendly neighbourhood woc bi and  her belle’s just a delight. She’s sassy, sweet and takes no shit at the same time she’s compassionate. The perfect blend of original BATB with a personal spin, And she has single handledly kept the entire squad alive because they would be death without her. Plus, you gotta love her army of bookwormprince brats (#bookwormprince shipper clubs ftw)