#GO ONLINE AND DECONSTRUCT THEIR BIASES?

[itssideria]

when this barbarity one day ends—and it will. it will—i don't want to hear one fucking word about antisemitism within the arab community. i don't want to hear one word about the human rights those countries lack. i don't want to hear it. i don't want to fucking hear it.

[mollbabyy]

celebrating palestinian science

in the face of israels' targetting of scholars, scientists and intellectuals...

saw a tumblr post by @/anarchistfrogposting that got me heavythinking about the relevance of language and culture in chemistry and science, it's unfortunate english has been accepted as its' lingua franca and most other input is lost to the globalization of this change. formulae and structure are essential and in a subject so specific, the average chemist will need to memorize hundreds of chemistry-specific words, and it becomes a barrier past entry when direct translating gets murky. deconstructing the history of science will always lead to political waters as the politicization of science and populist anti-intellectualism ethos rooted itself since the beginning of the study and these implicit biases result in a lack of consensus amongst borders.

before wwi the geographical spread of language in science was much more diverse, a lot of french and german researchers were common in research publishing, but after the allies established new scientific institutions that excluded germans and the isolationist decades that followed suit, foreign-language education was reductionist and excised globally as a result of elitism, being a language considered spoken only 'by the educated'. english-language proficiency is undeniably a prerequisite when an inexaggerated count of 99% of natural science papers are published in english, starting since 2015. this is a /heavily/ debated and discoursed topic and is terribly intimidating to sink your teeth into because of globalization of english and the complexity of modern language but getting over this hurdle will blossom a culturally rich rabbit hole to go down and it is all super interesting. there is so much great palestinian scientific practices, not as in western scientists work imagined in palestinian hands, but palestinian-born theories and practices. i think it's really integral, to always, but especially during times like these to uplift the people of palestine and their beauty just as much as funnel hatred toward their oppressors and murderers.

==

[image ID: a lineup of various glass pots and vases, ranging in color and size, placed in front of a plain background. end]

this is a specific sort of glass called 'hebron glass' which is an extremely renowned palestinian practice and passed down traditionally through multiple families and businesses. dating back as far as the 100~s in BCE, their technique of glassblowing was far ahead of their time and not used commonly anywhere else until much further in BCE. the /exact/ practice of hebron glass is kept a family secret amongst palestinian businesses, but a metal tool called 'kammasha' is used to blow the glass. a palestinian artisan talks about the process in more length here, i would recommend doing extended reading directly from palestine:

the colors are so vibrant and beautiful, i am endlessly impressed by how elegant these pieces have been made since the middle ages. these pieces and techniques have inspired a lot of famous modern day forms of glassblowing and glass artistry, most notably the venetian glass of venice.

i include this under science as much as it is art because it often goes unseen how much temperature and calculation goes into this craft. its highly skilled and intense work to bend over the hot flames and handle the glass in such a vulnerable state that could easily shatter. the material is more than 1800F and the palestinian kammasha is very carefully timed.

==

[image ID: an online video call meeting titled 'School on Synchrotron Light Sources and their Applications' at the top. end]

what you're looking at right now is the SESAME initiative run by the international centre for theoretical physics. a famous alumnus of this school was sufyan tayeh, a palestinian scientist. he was a prominent researcher and mentor and advocate for international understanding through science, introducing: SESAME, an alternative vision for the future of peaceful coexistence and cooperation and offered a meeting point around the globe to speak the common language of science, making communication possible. sufyan tayeh was an inspiration and bridge builder for all of these young students and an entry point for future scientists. he was a winner of multiple awards for his contributions to science and was appointed chair man for UNESCO (united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization) and head of physical, astrophysical and space sciences in palestine. he was regarded as a leading researched in science and applied mathematics globally, and tragically was killed in the current genocide. this is one case of many, many palestinian researchers. the impact of their contributions are insurmountable and irreplaceable.

==

[image ID: a list documenting the 45 palestinian scholars killed by israel since october 7th: Sufian Tayeh, Mohammad Eid Shubair, Omar Ferwana, Taysir Ibrahim, Ibrahim Hamed, Naeim Baroud, Azou Afana, Mohammad Bakhit, Mahmoud Abu Daf, Salem Abu Mukhda, Mohammad Abu Asaad, Osama Al-Muzayni, Refaat Al-Areer, Wael Al-Zard, Ismail Abu Saada, Khaled Al-Ramlawi, Mohammad Al-Najjar, Saeed Al-Dahshan, Raed Qudura, Mohammad Abu Zour, Yousseff Jameh Salameh, Nidaa Afana, Moumen Shweidah, Saeed Al-Zabdeh, Saqid Nasaar, Ahmed Abu Saada, Mohammad Jameel Al-Zaaneen, Ismail Al-Ghamari, Razq Ali Arouq, Walid Al-Amoudi, Abdullah Al-Amoudi, Hassan Al-Radi, Mohammand Abu Amara, Mohammad Al-Louh, Khaled Al-Najjar, Sharif Al-Asli, Mohammad Hassouneh, Yassar Hdeib Ridwan, Jihad Al-Baz, Hazem Al-Jamali, Nasser Al-Yafaoui, and Jihad Al-Masri. end]

==

the fabric gauze was also invented in palestine. if you've ever stepped foot in a labratory, you will know what this is lol. used in surgery and in chemical labs for multiple functions: separating liquids and gases, strain acids from bases, filter substances at extreme temperatures, prevent contamination, and to treat water. it is also used to diffuse heat and help protect glassware, seriously, these guys influence in glassware was HUGE. i think glass would still be sand without palestinian input.

i've set this post just up as a basis summary of the sciences, i would love to give an add-on going more indepth into the scientific process of some examples i gave and also in the history of palestinian scholars listed above.. when i get the time! but i hope this was an apt introduction! may good things come in 2024. feel free to recommend things i should check out or correct. OH OH also there is a lot of palestinian sci-fi.. 'divine intervention' and 'the second war of the dog' are both good, iirc they won the international prize for arabic fiction. just random things i found while looking up things for this post haha but they're good

[intimidating-fettuccine]

I know I don’t usually get political on here, but with recent events happening I wanted to make a post to reach as many people as I can, as a young woman in the US in this current political climate. Everyone needs to vote.

“But what if I don’t want to register because I don’t want jury duty?”

There is no guarantee you would ever be called for jury duty. I have met people in their 80s who have never been called. Even if you are called, if you tell the judges that you will be an awful juror, you won’t pay attention, you’re incredibly biased, etc. they will dismiss you. They do not want someone on the jury that would be an inconvenience to both sides. As someone who has been called but was not chosen, it is not as big of a deal as you might think it is in the grand scheme of things, and at least in my state you can only even be called once every two years. Plus, certain conditions can disqualify you from even having to show up as well.

“But what if I don’t like the democratic representative either?”

That literally does not matter in this actually life and death case, because the other choice is Donald Trump and Project 2025. If you do any research into project 2025, which no, is not just empty promises they’re trying to make, it is a plan built mostly around removing the rights of women, LGBT members, and deconstructing public education. It is a very scary document and it is one they will 100% go forward with if Trump is put into office. Whether Kamala ends up as the representative for the party or someone else does, you MUST vote blue.

“Well, why can’t we all just vote independent?”

Because they will not win. They won’t. Independents are not even always put on every bracket in every state, but even if they were there is no way that they would win the upcoming election because none of them have a big enough audience at present moment. They need time to build an audience, and they need a Blue country to be able to do so. Plus, we have the electoral college to worry about, and there’s no way in hell any of them are voting independent. In this election it is Blue or Red, and Blue is the much better choice.

“But I don’t think that Blue is going to win, so I don’t even want to bother with voting.”

That is the exact line of thinking Trump wants you to have. Trump is scared of losing! He wants you to think he’s the only winner possible, and that’s why we need to prove him wrong! Not voting at all is still a vote for Trump! We need to show up and vote, because otherwise you are just automatically saying you’re fine with letting Trump win, which is saying you’re fine with losing your own rights or your friends and your family losing their own rights. This election is not a joke this time, we cannot just let it slide this time and assume it’ll be different in four years.

“But politics stress me out and make me anxious so I don’t want to get involved in them.”/“I don’t live close enough to reach my polling station.”

That is the same as the previous one. I know this is an extremely stressful time for everyone, believe me, I’m extremely anxious about it too, but you just need to vote Blue, and show up on one specific day to vote. If you’re too anxious to physically go to polling station or you don’t live close enough, you can also do a mail in ballot, which I’ve done before! You can request one online, receive it in the mail, and send it out! No contact with any other people required. Mail in ballots are still an option and literally made for people who cannot physically show up to a polling station.

“I know all of that’s true, but again, I REALLY hate the Blue candidate.”

Well, consider this. We are not just voting for the president, we are voting for Supreme Court members. Presidents serve as of right now up to 8 years, but Supreme Court justices serve for life. Trump put on the last Supreme Court members, and I’m sure you’ve seen the horrible choices they’ve made in the sake of the Republican Party. The president is the one who chooses those members, so if you allow a Red President, you are allowing the possibility of an even more Red Supreme Court. Vote Blue not just because you are voting for the president, but because you are voting for the sake of your literal future with Supreme Court justices. Politicians have historically always sucked. When it comes to voting, it is the lesser of two evils, and when you’re picking between them, Blue is obviously the lesser of the two evils, especially when Red wants to remove as many rights as physically possible.

“What if Trump also gets removed from the running. Won’t we be okay then?”

No! Because it does not matter who the Red representative is, they are STILL going to move forward with Project 2025. Even if Trump somehow keels over and dies tomorrow or decides to drop out (which I doubt will happen), they would still make the next representative go through with Project 2025. They want this plan more than anything else in the world, and so long as there’s a possibility of a republican representative going into office there is a guarantee of them using that plan.

“But what if Project 2025 really IS just empty promises?”

It is not. I guarantee you it is not. Even if it was, do you REALLY want to take the risk? Do you REALLY want to try and play this game? When the rights of women, LGBT members, public education, and the environment are at risk, do you really want to just assume it’s not going to happen? Is it really worth it to you to play this game and assume so? I’m going to guess it is not, in fact, worth it to play this game. You NEED to fully believe that Project 2025 is actually going to happen, because it is going to happen if they win. This isn’t a fever dream we’re going to wake up from and laugh about if they win. It’s the reality of the current shithole country we live in, and this country could become far, far worse if they win.

Even if you do not live in the US, I am just asking of you to please consider reblogging this and spreading it, as there are probably Americans that will see if if you do so. If you’re even still too young to vote, people that are old enough are likely to see it. I know I’m not a huge blog, but reblogs are always important and I still want to try.

As a woman and LGBT member who does not want to lose her rights, I am asking for you to please read and spread this post. Even if I can just reach one person who will care, it can be a great help. They do not want us to unionize and vote against them, but that is exactly what we must do. Regardless of how you feel about the Blue party, you have to vote for them this year, it’s the only thing we can do.

[emmabirb8]

I've been an Invader Zim fan since 2011.

I was 15-16 at that time, and though I did thoroughly enjoy the show, I was not mature enough to really get it. Sure, it was funny, but I didn't pick up on the subtleties and style of humor beyond the surface level. I liked the wackiness and the characters, but I SURELY wasn't at a point of being able to deconstruct themes or analyze character motivations and narratives (like I very much enjoy doing now). I remember discovering an artist on DeviantArt who drew cute ZaGr stuff, so that was the pairing I liked too. I didn't think too deeply about much, and honestly, I don't think the majority of fans (if they were my age or younger, that is) did either. Everything was taken as dumb and silly for the most part, and that IS truthfully a major component of the show itself.

Getting back into Invader Zim within this past year though, I'm looking at it through a WILDLY different lens. I like Invader Zim for what it is and how it's intended to be perceived. I like that the show is meant to be dark, satirical, and tragic at the same time that it's silly, chaotic, and nonsensical. Almost everything that happens onscreen is written in to be funny above all else. (I've mentioned before that I've been watching Jhonen's Twitch streams for a while now, and I have a MUCH better understanding of his sense of humor bc of that. IZ makes way more sense if you can sorta see things from JV's perspective, lol.)

But at the same time, I also like Invader Zim for what it offers in terms of interpretation and what it can imply (intentionally or not). There is genuinely SO MUCH DEPTH to this dorky lil cartoon that a casual viewer wouldn't immediately pick up on. And a lot of that depth, I think, was not woven in purposely. The show itself was never meant to be taken so seriously. Nevertheless, I'm constantly fascinated by what IZ implies about good and evil, the nature of general society, and especially how it goes about demonstrating the devastating effects of social isolation and bullying. Meta for this series is always pretty damn *chef's kiss.* And what's even more interesting is how viewers manipulate canon to expand upon this world and these characters.

Given that I've come to understand Invader Zim better, I've also grown very fond of ZaDr. Now, while I wouldn't want to see this pairing happen in canon material, I love the potential it possesses in transformative contexts.

In reality, I get that these characters were intended to have a deep hatred for one another and a never-ending rivalry for the sake of comedy and not much else. It's an extraterrestrial perpetually throwing hands with a 12 year old because he's incompetent and his plans often fail. And that's funny. That's the point. But beyond that, canonically, these are two characters who are mirrors of each other; they're both treated like garbage by their respective peers, and they both crave acknowledgment, validation, and a sense of purpose. Throughout their story, they find they're only able to obtain these things from each other, so as a consequence of their similar personalities, they become utterly, unhingedly obsessed with each other (to a sometimes unhealthy degree). They are undeniably forever intertwined by design of how the show is set up.

And because of that, shipping of these characters was, frankly, inevitable in fandom spaces. I myself fell victim to their appeal too. (Sorry, Jhonen. 😅)

I'm not gonna go into any discourse surrounding this pairing because there's already PLENTY of that to go around online. Everyone has their own opinion on the subject, and that's fine. I respect that. Point is, even though I understand and appreciate what Zim and Dib are supposed to be in the context of the show, I also enjoy the idea of them as friends and romantic partners outside of and beyond the confines of canon.

And that's something that I think many fans who are biased toward ZaDr would also agree with! Actually, I'd say the majority of people who ship characters in ANY media would concur. We like the idea of seeing how specific relationships could develop over time and/or within different settings and circumstances. It's NOT always about wanting to see a relationship unfold on screen or in fan works strictly adhering to canon. It's about stretching canon, or in some cases, scratching canon entirely however you see fit! Who cares! It's fiction!

For me personally, I enjoy ZaDr because its attributes fall into so many trope categories that I've come to adore over the years (ones that I either wasn't aware of when I was younger, or that I didn't enjoy in the same intensity as I do now). Zim and Dib are, or could be, depending on context:

Codependent toxic soulmates

Human x non-human

Shared history

Classic enemies to lovers (or, as I often prefer it, enemies to friends to lovers)

Bicker couple

Battle couple, when put in the right setting for it

Violence as a love language

Smol and tol

The wild card paired with the rational one, the best part about this being that sometimes the more rational one is Dib, and sometimes it's Zim bc they're both a special flavor of insane

Make each other worse/stupider when together, tho oddly, they also kinda bring out the best in each other too

And, my personal favorites, the potential for hurt/comfort and angst with a happy ending, with the comfort and happiness aspects ultimately coming from each other

I like what these characters could be, to and for each other, apart from their roles in the show.

I would never want to explore a dynamic between Zim and Dib that goes beyond "frenemies" territory in canon (because that doesn't fit what the show is, and I do appreciate the integrity of Jhonen's vision). The subtle foundation for them is there, it's just that it can't really work unless a few key details are changed or manipulated, and, well...

I sure as hell like exploring every bit of that expanded potential in fan works because it's fun to imagine the various directions things could go if they were different!

This isn't me, like... trying to defend my (or anyone else's) enjoyment of this particular ship or trying to convince people to like it. Or the show for that matter! To each their own, truly. And I'm obv aware of the controversy ZaDr often incites and why. Everyone has valid reasons for liking OR not liking it, and I accept differing viewpoints on it. It's a touchy, nuanced subject to be sure. But this isn't about that.

I don't really know what this is, actually, aside from a very long very weird essay, lol. I just wanted to process why and how all of this works for me with my changed perspective from when I was first introduced to Invader Zim in my teens up until now.

It's strange, looking back. I didn't get ZaDr years ago. But I do now, and so much of it, at least from my perspective, has to do with taking the crumbs present in canon (that are undeniably there, whether you choose to acknowledge them or not, and whether they're intentional or not) and absolutely running with them to the ends of your own wild imagination.

(ZaDr content is always tagged appropriately on my blog. Pls use tag blocking functions if needed.)

[androphagy]

when i say "cis men are inherently more dangerous than cis women, trans women, and trans men" the "inherently" is because those are the cultures we're usually in when speaking on trans issues online, especially on tumblr. it is NOT BIOLOGICAL, it is centuries of sociopolitical patriarchal-dominated grooming. it's not biology that makes cisgender men "more dangerous" whatsoever it's the literal historical context of cismale entitlement being funneled through decades and decades of "you're a man so do whatever you want."

this isn't applicable to trans women and trans men because trans women lose that "privilege" the second they're anything other than Good Cis Male Archetype. femininity is punished in people who are viewed as Supposed To Be Men to all different degrees and pretending like trans women have any form of oppressive status over cis men (which is a take i've seen from terfs fairly regularly) is fucking insane. tell me what does a trans woman GAIN from putting herself out there and becoming something societally people, even other cis and trans women, will punch down on at first opportunity. she doesn't!!! she gains nothing but another target on her back!!!! trans women and transfems are seen as this nebulous "other" waiting behind every bathroom door to attack poor random cis women and children and if you can't see that and how prevalent that ideology has become eurocentrically you may just be completely out of touch beyond what i can tell you here.

trans men don't have that same context because unless they were born into a family that raised them fully in the way today's (and im speaking specifically on western/eurocentric ideals) men are raised and don't acknowledge their anatomy at all aside from positively, which is a fairly large part of misogyny, they're going to see misogyny for a good long while regardless of (if they ever do!!) passing status. and that passing privilege can be yanked out from under them if they're outed, medical misogyny is rampant no matter how masculine you look - if you still have a vagina, you will never be seen as male in the eyes of most people. trans men and the transmasculine are consistently erased, correctively raped and abused, and subjugated so they can't "identify" as male in the first place. the swept-under-the-rug-edness of this issue isn't the fault of trans women though!!!! visibility isn't a cake where it'll run out if someone takes more!!!!

the intercommunity "axis of oppression/lateral aggression" theory is specifically to pull apart internal biases surrounding the beliefs and behaviors of queers who are on varying levels of othering dependent on their own personal situations and externalization vs internalization of harm/support. for example its not calling out YOU, specifically, for being wary around people with penises; historical context, as i mentioned earlier, coupled with personal trauma and modern sociopolitical theory contribute to the unconscious bias against sharing the women's room with a trans woman regardless of how much of an ally you claim to be (as a transmasc, cis woman, newly-out transfem, etc.) it doesn't make your beliefs right in being anxious about going to the bathroom while a trans woman is in there too, but it gives you a starting place to begin to work on not having those beliefs. it is not a moral failing to have more privilege than someone else!! you can use that privilege to help them or at the very least see where they're coming from and deconstruct your own internalized bigotry!!!!

don't turn every conversation specifically about trans women's struggles into a "but all trans people --" because that's not what the post/conversation/etc is about. you can make your own post. when a trans woman is talking about how she's been affected and targeted in the bathroom by cis women and refers to them as AFAB, she's probably NOT rubbing her hands together and thinking how she's also "taking a swing" at trans men and transmascs. believe people when they say what they mean especially on a public and largely anonymous forum!!!

trans women have every reason to be afraid of cis men that people AFAB do. are there risks such as pregnancy which can increase that fear in people AFAB? yeah, absolutely. no one is arguing against that. trans women and trans men are arguing that they see bigotry and targeted aggression outside and inside the community, and the inside is on mostly personal-to-clique levels...which happens in every community regardless of it being queer focused or not. a trans woman snapping at a trans man for being entitled online isn't her saying "all trans men are like this and they're basically not even trans because they chose to be men", she's angry at the entitlement, not the trans status. she's viewing it from the extremely trodden-on status of a woman who's being attacked relentlessly for something she has no control over (just like how trans men have no control over being born with anatomically female parts!) just like how trans women can unlearn patriarchal entitlement, trans men can not internalize it and inflict it onto others with the misguided belief of that being how they're going to be seen as a man/that that's just what men do.

personally i think there's been a massive schism intentionally driven by terfs, transphobic queers, and cis people (men and women) between transmascs, transfems, trans women, and trans men because it's easier to break down communities once you sew enough discord and make everyone think no one else understands them and is out to get them at first opportunity (and my hypothesis on hyperindividualism running parallel to modern identity politics goes further into that.)

if you make everyone in the same demographic believe that the other has no way of understanding or relating to one another, then what's the point of having the community to begin with? bigoted groups -- cis, trans, conservative, leftist -- utilize that to really dig their claws in with their "divide and conquer" stratagem, and no one is exempt from being a potential transphobe because of their status of being trans.

compassion for those hurting in a system designed to hurt them will carry you so much further than getting aggro the second someone disagrees with you.

[homophobicgerardwayau]

Ok, I’m going to foolishly weigh in on the Gerard gender theorising and pronouns debate. I don’t really have an audience so whatevs. But i do have thoughts 💭. I’m seeing a lot of reductive posts that lack nuance or critical thinking (the internet). Here’s the thing. We need to remain cognisant that at the end of the day none of us interact with ‘Gerard the Person’. We interact with ‘Gerard the Concept’. The rockstar, the artist, the cultural icon etc.

There is a filter, constructed by Gerard themself in response to a culture that must know him, by virtue of his fame and the deeply personal nature of his work. We only see what we are allowed to see through said filter. And when fans speculate and theorise, they are bringing their own biases and interpretations to a limited portrait of a person, a double that stands in to take the criticisms (and disproportionate praise) that comes along with being a successful artist.

I bring this up because when we jump up and down getting mad at people for publicly using “she” pronouns for example, we need to remind ourselves of a couple of things:

Gerard the Person likely does not have the hours in a day to worry about what pronouns people online are using for him. From interviews over the years, we can deduce that he has come to terms with fame and worked through much of his trauma associated with it. He has also expressed that he doesn’t care about pronouns. At present, this squabble is happening laterally between fans and does not involve him in any direct way. He does not need defending (what is he being defend from? Being gnc or trans is neither morally good or bad) from being misgendered. It seems the sticky point is ‘misgendering’ in general, which is a much broader discussion. One that is particularly hard to have when we are all out here with some kind of minority related trauma.

Because he is not a whole person, but an icon to us (it is difficult to conceptualise of someone as both simultaneously) we all tend to project a whole lot of ourselves onto him, more than we would someone we know personally. This is how being an icon works. Here we project different ideas about our own gender and sexuality and our differing conceptualisations of gender altogether. Personally, while I would not label Gerard as trans online, by my own personal definition of transness, he is part of our family. The issue is not defining him as trans by our own metrics, as we are entitled to our own conceptualisations of transness (I am of course, speaking from within the community). We should take into account that trans is not a clearly definable label. For example, there are people that are medically (for lack of a better word) trans that do not see themselves as trans. All of this is to say that people see something in Gerard that reflects back parts of themselves. Being trans is one of those things, whether Gerard defines himself as such or not.

The way I have seen Gerard called ‘she’ online, often seems in jest and I chose to engage with these types of posts in good faith and with a sense of humour. I assume that most people making these posts are aware that wearing a skirt does not make someone a woman. I feel that a lot of the ‘Gerard is secretly a woman’ is just a projection of a posters own insecurities around gender non-conformity or quite simply the desire to feel that they are in on something others aren’t, in turn making them feel closer to the ‘Gerard’ that they have constructed in their head. Instead of calling these folks trans misogynists, I think it would be more helpful to ask the ‘truther’ why they think they are so fixated on it and why would it matter if Gerard came out as something? What would it change other than give you a sense of validation?

We should remember that the topic of Gerard’s relationship to gender and sexuality is unavoidable once we get into the nitty gritty of his work. Deconstruction/reconstruction of identity and the gender politics of violence are some of my favourite ideas that Gerard revisits over and over again. It is there by design and it is also part of the character he plays by design. Kids are picking up on something but it’s the lack of media literacy that leads them down these strange roads of thinking. We should try to be sympathetic if we can. Why? Because if it’s trans people doing the transvestigating then it all comes down to the lack of representation that we all feel. Gerard shouldn’t have to carry that weight of course, which is probably one of the reasons why he doesn’t use labels for himself. He has the privilege of ‘hiding in plain sight’ as he calls it, and that is his choice to make.

The discussion then shouldn’t be be weather it is wrong to wonder about another person’s gender and sexuality (if we weren’t curious, how would we ever find others like ourselves?). It should be how should we treat others? It should be as simple as don’t send someone fan fiction of themselves.

As a community, we should be redirecting this energy into figuring out how to put Gerard’s gender into the hormone injection. I think this would solve a lot of societies problems lol.

[gaysheep]

i kind of have a distinct set of ethics for fandom in terms of how i evaluate user conduct and art

it's informed by both the inherent qualities of "forming a community centered around a particular source material" and the fact that practically everyone i know who spent a lot of their childhood or teens online had some kind of permanently traumatizing experience via fan communities

ive gone on record as saying that censoring art, even art you find distasteful or upsetting, is a very bad road to go down. there are works of fiction that i loathe for their handling of their own themes and i think the world would be a better place if they never existed, but there are beautiful pieces of writing (and other art) that directly confront extremely sensitive subject matter and have a lot to say about it. there is no way to regulate one without destroying the other.

that's as far as fully original art goes, though. the material fact that children exist in fan spaces and can be influenced or harmed by the content and people they're exposed to is obvious; if you start splitting hairs about technicalities on that you're arguing like a reactionary.

but imo. even if there weren't kids. you have to ask yourself if the derivative works you're publishing about other people's art are tasteful.

is your writing a critique, or a tribute? a critical transformative work can be deconstructive and expose the limitations and biases of the original. this is so widely recognized that it's legally protected under most countries' copyright laws as "satire." if your work is "fannish," on the other hand, are the dynamics and themes you're projecting on it something you would be comfortable sharing with the artist as an interpretation of their work? what are you endorsing by publishing this?

like, whenever a creator expresses disapproval for fan content that's outright disrespectful of their work, the outcry always boils down to them being "anti-fandom" for having a comfort level. do you truly love what they made if you hate the themes that are actually there? is your work a conversation with theirs, or are you treating what's often a personal piece of art like a magnet poetry set for you to rearrange to your liking and discard what you don't?

is it any wonder that new creators are less afraid of their work being poorly received than by it being butchered by its hypothetical fans?

[aranock]

While I agree with this post in general, and strongly urge people to stop engaging with the world through an essentializing lens, I also want to add that in JKR's case we shouldnt revise history in the other direction. The reality is that a number of black and Jewish critics were discussing the bigoted and conservative aspects of her work at the time, and often being ignored or shouted down. Acting like no one was discussing these things or pointing out those elements is frankly revisionist in a way that perpetuates the ignoring of those perspectives.

I remember reading those criticisms long before JKR started saying transphobic things publicly. So yeah a reappraisal of those elements of her work began after she made aspects of her bigotry more blatant; because all of the things people had handwaived as just "a little mistake" or "just an unintentional poor message" look very different now than they did then. The antisemitic Gringott's bank and the goblins in those books are a lot harder for people to argue was just a mistake and then ignore it when JKR is retweeting antisemitic conspiracy theories that are interrelated with her transphobia. And frankly, people not listening to the Jewish critics pointing out those issues, or actively arguing against them, were and remain to this day a massive problem.

To try and simplify things down to "a good person turning bad" or "a person was always bad" isnt helpful because its never that simple. And maybe good and bad isnt a great way to frame these conversations at baseline. She wasnt a saint whos fallen from grace, or a devil who pretended to be a saint or anything like that. Shes just a person who stumbled into success and with a large amount of attention on her she eventually started saying some of the bigoted and biased things she believed, and instead of trying to unlearn or deconstruct the various biases she had learned when they were pointed out she doubled down, and has kept doubling down ever since. To the point of now being one of the most prominent leaders of a massive hate movement, with her words cited to justify genocidal transphobic policies in multiple countries, something she is seemingly quite proud of. So when I say shes evil, I do not mean she is essentially bad, or that she has always been this way, but that at every turn she has taken choices, and those choices are frankly blatantly harmful malicious and cruel. It would be easy and nice to pretend shes essentially bad, especially for me when shes PERSONALLY caused Jessie and I horrendous harassment amongst all of the many instances of harassment I have received because of her stans. If you want to know more(and more about just how bigoted her work is) Jessie and I discussed that in this video. I also discuss how important those books were to me as a kid, how they were a massive special interest of mine. My copies are still tucked away in a box in the back of a closet. I dont think I can ever touch them again. But im not going to pretend like I didnt value them at one point.

The reality is she could have just as easily chosen so many other things, and she chose to dedicate her life to hate. Its quite ironic that her own books discuss this quite directly. Whats the quote? Oh yeah "We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on...that’s who we really are." - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix.

Too bad she didnt learn the same lessons from her own work that I did. And its too bad that (for reasons I explain in the video) those works have become a symbol of hate to me, because she has wielded that fanbase and a lot of the good will she had, to push people to choose the same path she did. I've experienced that quite directly, both in the various forms of harassment irl and online that I discussed in the video, and because last month I had to cut out my dads mom from my life because of her repeated defending of JKR's transphobia which has escalated over the last few years to the point where she was sending me far right "anti woke" podcasts. Its also why I know its a choice, because my dads mom(shes not my gramma or my family anymore) easily could have at any point gone "hey Im now supporting the type of people I spent the first 85 or so years of my life vehemently opposing" but she didnt, just like JKR she chose to double down. And I think a large part of why people want to see it through an essentializing lens is that it really fucking hurts to know that someone you looked up to, and in the case of my dads mom was a close family member who helped raise me, has chosen to be hateful to you. That or people want to be a smug righteous asshole because "they always knew" which is deeply unhelpful in a different way.

I've been a little confused by the revisionist history of people saying Dave Chappelle was never funny. Maybe not everyone dug him, but he has been on quite a few GOAT lists for stand up. During his peak in the 2000s it was not uncommon for folks to consider him the best performing stand up since Carlin and Pryor. I was among those people. Perhaps the people saying he was never funny were too young to appreciate him during that time. I don't know.

But I don't think we need to pretend like he always sucked. His fall from grace is an important thing to acknowledge. With people like him and JK Rowling, we are collectively trying to figure out how to deal with artists we love letting us down. It's a good conversation to have. If we just say "well, they always sucked" I think we are avoiding dealing with it.

[fckmeupflorida]

Hey I'm Jules!

i'm studying anthropology and doing a project on swifties' easter-egg hunting for one of my classes

*For ethical reasons I can't talk to anyone under 18s (sorry losers)*

What's that all about?

I won't be using any of your posts/interactions without your consent!

If I see something interesting, and want to use it for my analysis, I will message you and go ahead only if you say yes. I won't take screenshots, or record anything without your permission. Even if you say yes, you're free to change your mind at any time and I will remove it. Everything is anonymised & nothing will be used for commercial purposes.

I am doing this mostly out of personal interest

Part of it is my longstanding obsession with Taylor Swift's music but part of it is also academic interest in online communities and relationships. Fandoms hold a big place in our contemporary lives, and it's an aspect of modern lives that's often overlooked, especially in comparison to political online spaces. I also think swifties are one of the most interesting (not biased) fandoms there is. Being part of this community has meant so much to me, it has brought so much joy into my life. I want to show that it matters, and try and deconstruct some of the assumptions that people have about these spaces to look at what's really happening.

I am doing digital ethnography

meaning i'm talking to people about their experiences in interviews, and I'm observing what's going on around me and taking notes. What are people saying, or not saying? what are they doing and how? I'm also doing auto-ethnography, observing my own actions here (as a certified tumblr user). So I'm posting just like a regular person, but I am taking notes of how i'm feeling, thinking, acting, in order to better understand the data I get from interviews.

The end project will be a cheeky little website (link here coming soon), which my professors will grade me on.

Other than that I also love: Percy Jackson, The National, the tv show the bear, the Batman, and every single romcom movie that's ever been made (bonus point if Sandra Bullock and Meg Ryan)

Also if you're interested in the theory behind digital anthropology, shoot me a message

PS: my previous username was @gotthewineforyou

[mineshaftss]

😭 The system server I'm in got nuked because the mods were racist

I hadn't even been there for that long but I think it was last night everything "went down." The system of colors were asking for a channel to talk about POC issues and then the mods basically went "we already have a discourse channel".

Which can see how that was upsetting because POC issues are seen as a "discourse" when they really shouldn't. Racism is not just some online discourse to be debated, it's a serious problem that effects so many people and something that we need to spread more awareness about.

I feel like the POC in the server just wanted a place to spread more awareness and the mods just dismissed them. I went to sleep after reading that convo (I think it was in staff questions or something) and the next day BOOM, server gone and there was a shitty apology in the announcements.

Let me say it here I don't think the server mods are racist, just very ill informed and handled this situation like trash. They talk about making a new system server and if they do, I'm going to probably going to avoid it. They aren't a safe place for POC, regardless of that apology.

I think the mods need to take a break from managing a server and actually focus on their real lives. Everyone grows up with racial biases abd I can tell they haven't deconstructed there's. Also no, talking to a few people of color does not make you suddenly know everything about POC and racist issues.

Deconstructing your own racial biases is a life long journey and it starts with realizing you DO have them. White people are not shielded from internalized racism just because they preach everyone is equal. You may believe that but the more you do, the more unsafe you become for POC.

It's like turning a turn a blind eye to racism or your own internalized racism, which you can't do. It's going to be uncomfortable and distressing but if want to be a person POC can feel safe around, you're going to have to be dedicated to learning and changing yourself so that these mistakes don't happen again.

[cdcore]

GETTING INTO MUSIC VOL. 1 -- Rap

Hey, internet! Initially, I was planning on making this a video project --- something I will likely still do in the future --- but I wanted to get some content out in the meantime! I think many of us have been faced with the age-old "what type of music are you into?" question. So many times when I ask people about their music opinions I hear the same answer. every. single. time. "I like a little bit of everything, except rap and country!" This is always really frustrating for two reasons! First, now I have no idea what you're actually into and enjoy music-wise.

Second, I think anyone who is a fan of either of those genres immediately feels bad hearing someone dismiss an entire genre in front of them, especially when they each have large enough artists and subgenres that the person could probably find music they liked within either genre if they took the time to dig. I think a lot of us (myself included) tend to start off enjoying music pretty passively --- maybe we only listened to whatever our friends' played, or that one Michael Bublé CD mom had that she would endlessly play on repeat.

For a large portion of people, I think music exists more as background noise than anything, hence people not really having a solid answer when prompted with the "what music do you like?" question. That takes us to our topic today: actively discovering and enjoying new music! As an avid rap fan for the past few years, I wanted to start this series off with rap.

I'm hoping to deconstruct the genre as a whole, list the characteristics commonly seen in online discussions and Billboard Top 100 lists as ideal rap ability, and hopefully drop some helpful recommendations along the way! 1) WRITING If rap really is just a guy spitting poetry, I would argue this is the most important part of his music. I am heavily biased given my background as a former English major, but something that really draws me to rap personally is that deeper emphasis on writing compared to some other genres given lyrics are the primary focus. We're going to focus on two umbrellas for rap writing: the thematic content --- or message of the piece --- and the syntax, basically how words are rearranged in the sentences themselves. The absolutely beautiful thing about rap is it can be as profound and nuanced as you want it to be. By its nature, rap has routinely been a discussion point in social and political culture for basically as long as it has existed. Its roots in Black culture and the often anti-establishment way it grapples with poverty, crime and racial injustices cause ire often, especially among conservative outlets, which see the genre as supporting crime. For writers like Kendrick Lamar, Nas and many others, the goal is to paint vivid pictures of the intersection of race and poverty across cities within the United States, showing how those structures lead to the routine gang, drug and crime culture cities face.

They argue that American courts, law enforcement and government structure are built on institutions that profit from racial discrimination and unjust punishment, leading many into poverty and therefore crime to make ends meet. Lamar himself won a Pulitzer for his album "DAMN." while in it sampling FOX's own coverage of him and their beliefs that rap has culturally harmed African Americans more than "racism in recent years." Rappers routinely satirize this depiction of them as violent criminals to poke at how media and the nation seem unable to attack the real root of the intercity conflict: poverty. With all that being said, your enjoyment of rap doesn't have to be that deep either!

For every nuanced, thematically dense rap album out there is an equal amount of silly, weird esoteric songs that are just meant to be listened to for fun. Artist Tyler, the Creator has a song about waiting to pick someone up and being frustrated with how long they're taking (It's titled, "Come on, Let's go if curious).

Rapper Aesop Rock has a song about how cool his cat is ("Kirby") and what it's like to be a kid who doesn't want to eat his green beans ("Grace"). There are millions upon millions of dance-instruction songs, and a limitless supply of songs and freestyles just flexing how rich, successful and famous rappers are. It's part of what makes the genre so diverse and nuanced --- rappers can make plenty of layered introspection on culture and religion when they want, and still have dumb, fun songs flexing their vehicles too. If you're looking for some larger commentary, some classic albums are: To Pimp a Butterfly, Illmatic, 4.44, among others.

More recently, J.I.D.'s The Forever Story serves as an impressive look into his life, family loyalties and career changes. Some other recent albums with good messages are GHETTOLAND, All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ and GHETTO GODS. If you're wanting weirder albums that focus on less common topics in rap, Aesop Rock's more recent albums come to mind immediately. For more of your hype-inducing songs focused on flexing wealth and success, Her Loss is a pretty solid contender for this, Lil Wayne's The Carter III does this very well, and for a more indie pick I might go with Solar Flare by Kill Bill: the Rapper and Rav. Now, allow me to be your AP Language teacher again and talk about the technical aspect of writing: literary devices. Any Scholastic Book Fair kid knows that writing comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. One of the most fun parts of rap is how clever the wordplay can be at times. It's very common for double and triple entendre to exist, lines that simultaneously show off multiple meanings at once. Homophones, or phrases that sound similar are often used to employ these more complex meanings. Jay-Z was particularly famous for this with lines like: "I'm not a business man/I'm a business, man/let me handle my business, damn." When listening it can sound like he's just repeating business man twice with more emphasis on the second. In reality, he's conveying through that homophone that he is not a scrappy capitalist, but rather has made such wild success for himself financially that he as a brand and cultural identity creates wealth like that of a full business (allowing him the credibility to handle his own business as he asks for later in the line). Beyond clever double meanings in lines, rappers find insane ways to hold multiple simultaneous internal and external rhymes across multiple verses. Rappers like MF DOOM and Eminem come to mind for their complex, multi-syllabic rhyme schemes.

To see what I'm talking about, check out this video:

On a raw vocabulary level, the aforementioned Aesop Rock is known for having one of the most complex, diverse vocabularies of any rapper. He and rapper Lupe Fiasco are known for their word choice and metaphor stacking, with earlier Aesop Rock works almost being cryptic with just how buried they are in complex figurative language. There's also a simple beauty in rappers delivering messages directly as is. Tupac was known for prioritizing his message over everything else, speaking directly to the listener --- this is something Jimmy more recently has done on that GHETTOLAND record I mentioned. If you’re looking for funny, sometimes dumb bars, my mind immediately goes to people like 21 Savage and Kanye --- if you still feel morally comfortable listening to him given all that he's done. For more of that traditional homophone-heavy, double-entendre work check out: Nicki Minaj, Lil' Wayne, Eminem and Jay-Z. Your lyrically conscious rappers are going to be Kendrick, J. Cole among others, and more esoteric wordplay comes from Lupe Fiasco, MF DOOM, Black Thought and Aesop Rock. 2) SOUND I am infinitely less qualified to talk about instrumentation, music theory and vocal delivery as someone with minimal background in playing and learning music. As a result, I'm going to make this section as brief as I can, though there is a few key points I think need to be hit. A big part of rappers is how they deliver their lyrics vocally --- this can be everything from the rhythm they're rapping (usually called flow), their actual pitch if there's singing involved etc. Issues of annunciation separate rappers from the derogative "mumble rap" category, and a lot of this I think comes down to personal preference more than anything. I think it is worth noting that rapper Eminem is known to be excellent in the actual technicals of delivering rap. He's able to control his breathing well which allows him to rap longer, he can rap incredibly fast and with multiple rhythms seamlessly. Artists like Smino and JID have stood out recently as well for just how often their vocals are varied in pitch, rhythm and more. For a final footnote, production is the instrumentation behind rap. Rap has a long history of sampling, or taking existing sounds or portions of music and reincorporating them into a new track. With some artists, this can be done to further drive their theme which can work very poignantly! As someone with little production and music theory knowledge, unfortunately, all I can do is recommend the classic greats of making interesting, catchy beats. The Alchemist, Kanye West, Madlib, Pharell and J-Dilla all stick out. So does Nujabes. There are a lot of really interesting experimental production artists in Injury Reserve, JPEGMAFIA, and Danny Brown if you just wanna hear new crazy sounds also!

That concludes my first look at the genre of rap, and I hope it inspires you to check out one of the many artists I mentioned here. What artists should I have included? Are there any aspects of rapping I missed? Feel free to reply with anything you think I should've expanded on. Thank you and have a wonderful day!

[writer-at-the-table]

Physiognomy is another one of those things we should be looking at critically, for anyone unfamiliar.

The simple, surface-level wikipedia definition is "he practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face." As a pseudoscience, it is related to phrenology.

Per the University of North Carolina's web project Race Deconstructed: Science and the Making of Difference, "physiognomy suffered from the biases of its practitioners, who tended to attribute positive qualities only to features associated with Europeans."

The same source also says "physiognomy could be used as a justification for treating non-white individuals differently, in society and in law."

There are also connections between physiognomy and eugenics, as well as between physiognomy and antisemitism- the "Jewish nose" stereotype and the character traits assumed to go with it is one example.

Given the ways that Dracula is described, both by Jonathan at the beginning and by Mina and others once he's in London, the connection between physiognomy and antisemitism should not be overlooked.

Indeed there is an academic paper on the subject, titled "The fear of the ‘Other’ and anti-semitism: Representations of the Jews in Punch and Bram Stoker’s Dracula in the light of rising English nationalism" by Stephanie Winkler of Oxford University available free online for anyone looking for something more in depth.

[shittyelfwriter]

So just as a heads up to any tsc mutuals, I’m going to be watching the two first episodes of The Santa Clauses on Wednesday and I’m going to liveblog with the tag #anawatchesthesantaclauses, so if you’d prefer no spoilies, please blacklist it! Excited to hear what you all think about it, and to nitpick it as I inevitably will (bc I will want to hold it against the canon of mine and Dani’s conjoined works of nearly a decade of effort, thanks)

My hope for T*m All*n not messing up the series with right winged/biased religious agenda is a bar buried below the ground, but I’m hoping for a miracle? Just please don’t be an incredibly easy to predict, stale take on millennial/gen z and their generational (and online) cultures and lack of kids/religion (because so many of us are deconstructing) riddled with slapstick and a mishmash of pop culture + slang. Please be better than that. Like let’s focus on the magic and spirit of giving and joy and positivity. The world building of the second and third movies with the immersion of the first. Please Disney, I’m begging you.

Just…be prepared for me to come in here like

[mister13eyond]

Ngl tho, the "why do you as an adult care about what minors say all the time" arguments feel so disingenuous to me

Like, spreading misinformation about sex and kinks gets a pass just because it's a minor who's spreading it? Or when an adult is being accused of heinous crimes over their fanfics, they should just suck it up because the ones accusing them just so happen to be minors? This is so tiring. I just can't look at those arguments in good faith

That's reasonable! I think there's a threshold of reasonable push back you can and SHOULD give when people in fandom are spreading misinformation or mass harassing fan creators, regardless of age. I think it's always within reason to stand up against that and to put your foot down and refuse to allow bullying and harassment to happen in your circle or to make it clear that kind of shit is harmful and often entirely constructed on misinformation and falsehoods.

I think I've also just seen so many accounts (on Twitter, mostly, because it's a hellsite) where it seems like they're just... spending every. Single. Day. Immersed in bad takes, QRT-ing some stupid opinion a teenager has, constantly talking about antis, constantly engaged in arguments with antis, and it hits a threshold where it's like.... are you doing this because you care about freedom of expression and exploring dark or troubling topics in safe spaces anymore? Or do you just like to argue? I care a LOT about these things and I think the current puritanical pushback against queer sexuality and kink is definitely harmful and actively hurts people, but oh my god, sometimes I see people who spend every single day hunting down bad anti takes and I have to wonder when the last time they had FUN in fandom was. Like... I think there's this idea that we're fighting the good fight by arguing against these things, and I ALSO want to make sure that we have spaces safe to do so and knowledge on how these are perfectly healthy and human ways to explore subjects we would never want to encounter in real life, but once it gets to "hunting down and QRT-ing some 15 year olds bad take" it honestly just spreads those ideas to a BIGGER audience by broadcasting them, even in the form of debunking, you know?

I guess it's just a matter of, like, balance? It's so so bad for ANYONE online to constantly immerse themselves in things that upset them. That's a real problem with puritanical circles- they're constantly constantly immersed in these things they say are triggering or upsetting, and therefore go on the attack and harm people over fiction- but the opposite can be true too. Immersing yourself in a constant flood of abusive language, baseless accusations, misinformation and harassment because you are "fighting it" is bad for you! You can't spend all your time doing that, or it becomes a kind of self-harm, you know?

I will definitely admit I'm biased by my own perspective, but I will say anecdotally- I spent a good chunk of my earlier time in fandom neck-deep in the "proship vs anti" trenches and I felt... pretty consistently miserable. I was only following people who were proship, and I thought seeing bad anti takes deconstructed and taken down would make it better and more cathartic to follow these arguments, but it got to the point where every single day I was exposed to the idea that someone out there likely thought absolutely horrible things about me based on what I read/write/draw. I felt super paranoid and really scared of even creating things at all, anticipating I'd get dog piled at any moment... Eventually I realized a small handful of accounts were the ones CONSTANTLY giving traffic and attention to these harmful posts & ideas (in the form of debunking them/arguing back against them) and I unfollowed or blocked as needed to focus instead on, like. Actually just DOING the things I thought would make fandom better? Sharing kink fics or art, sharing my headcanons that could be heavier or more troubling, etc. And I have to say it feels A HUNDRED times better. I know there's still a lot of misinformation and harm out there, but I feel like it's so much more productive to me to simply... provide a good example to the alternative? To go 'hey, I'm one of those people who make and read the kinds of things that everyone says are horrible and make me a bad person.' while also doing my best to consistently be kind, supportive, communicative and show that I am in fact a happy healthy adult with good relationships and good support and people who love me? So that I can simply, focus on the positive side of what fandom and all its weird kinks and weird fiction have given me! Because these things ARE very much something that's brought a lot of positive things into my life.

Sorry, I didn't mean to soap box! I think you have a really good point- a lot of the time those arguments ARE in bad faith and are thrown at anyone who exhibits even a moment of pushback against harassment or harm just because it's coming from a minor. I just think there's also a really toxic side of the "constantly in arguments on the internet" subset of people who really need to step back and try and give themselves some healthy breathing room and cut off the onslaught of 24/7 exposure to abuse and misinfo 😔

[penrose-e]

i talked to a friend about the dream situation again (I know I said I would move on but I can't) and once we went thru all the recent happenings and deconstructed them and recontextualised them, i think what it all boiled down to was the fact that they were tired of dream being so "reactionary"

now I genuinely think they meant reactive, as in quick to making decisions that aren't necessarily the best, and not reactionary, since dream has said multiple times now that he's not right wing, and he has shown as such- but i think I get it

I think I understand why so many people that were previously defending dream in controversies and such were now flipping the script and calling him out for carefully fabricated lies thay were being spread

I think at one point, especially if you surround yourself with people that disagree with you and have a negative opinion of something that you somewhat enjoy, it's human nature to end up assuming that they might be right, therefore i shall adopt their views.

there's nothing wrong with that per se, god forbid we ignore the fact that dream fans do exactly the same- it's just human nature.

I think my criticism at this point stems in the utter lack of self reflection regarding one's own stance. of course dream fans are aware they're dream fans and are therefore going to be biased.

but people that simply tolerate him or enjoy him from the sidelines will be more prone towards the general public's opinion of him because they are probably not surrounded by fans, and are by extension not as keen towards dreams aforementioned "reactivity".

I think that what also adds up to it is the fact that dream tends to find himself in dramas many times. if this had been a random YouTuber, it wouldnt stir as much of a controversy as it does with dream, simply because of the amount of followers that dream gained in so little time, automatically rendering him the perfect bullying target practice

the issue then also becomes bandwagoning against dream instead of doing your own research like i did- or, even better, one could do and say absolutely nothing and just mind their own business, but alas. these are just more of my thoughts.

I genuinely wish that dream wasn't as big of a public figure as they've made him to be, not because I don't think he deserves his platform or because he can't handle it, I actually think he's been doing a good enough job so far- but because it would be much easier for him to have a nice time online without getting doxxed and harassed and insulted even by his peers just because he's Dream and it all being justified because he is a big content creator, as if having followers would somehow justify the crime and the mockery.

[veliseraptor]

Hi, Lise. I love your writing and your analysis here. I'm curious about the xianxia series you talk about and I would lik to know your opnion about which is better and in what format should I know them because I really, really, want to start with this gender (and be able to read your fics xD).

First of all I love the typo here of gender for genre, because now I’m thinking about “gender: xianxia” as an option on a demographic survey and. I’m laughing about it.

And to be honest I have only actually watched two series all the way through! I’ve watched a bit of one other, and I have at least three more on my to-watch list, but so far the only (live-action) ones I’ve watched all the way through are The Untamed and Word of Honor.

I’ve also watched the donghua (animated) versions of MDZS/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (based on the same novel as The Untamed is) and TGCF/Heaven Official’s Blessing (based on a different novel by the same author).

I’ve read...in their entirety, so far only the three novels by MXTX (the author of MDZS and TGCF, above), and pieces of a couple others (2HA/The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun, JWQS/Clear and Muddy Loss of Love). I have on my list at least three others currently that I plan to read after I finish at least one of the three books I’m currently concurrently reading.

So this is all to say - I’m very much a novice in this genre who is still exploring things! I guess if I had to give a couple recommendations I would suggest:

Obviously I am partial to The Untamed, the drama version of the MDZS novel, which you can watch on a number of sites; Viki is my personal favorite online, but Netflix also has decent subtitles. I cannot personally recommend YouTube.

If you enjoy The Untamed you can also experience the story it’s based on in novel, donghua, and audio drama, the last of which I don’t know. I’d personally put my order of adaptation preference of the first two at novel > donghua, with the caveat that the complete translation online of MDZS at this point is not one that I personally like very much.*

Read TGCF!!! Yes, it is long, it is very long, but I love it very much - it is at least at this point still my favorite of the (yes, few) novels I’ve read. If reading feels like too much, you can watch the donghua instead, which has the first season out (available on Netflix, as well as other places, but that’s probably the simplest one).

I also feel like I’d put down, if you’re feeling like going for something, uh, darker - I am really enjoying 2HA. The drawback here is that the current hand (non-machine) translation is still in progress, so you have to decide between dealing with the less enjoyable reading experience of a machine translation or being, you know, patient. But on this one definitely mind the content warnings.

Those three I feel like would be my personal ~starting points~ from my extremely biased perspective, but as I said - my experience is still very limited and I only sort of know what I’m talking about. There are many, many people on this website who are far more familiar with the genre/context and who are more widely read than I am. I encourage you to do some googling, too! There’s great resources out there for people who are new here and want explanations of concepts/terminology/conventions that are unfamiliar. This is one I’ve made frequent use of.

Hope that helps!

*Caveat here that I’ve heard people say this particular story is a bad starting point for xianxia works as a whole because it’s a deconstruction of a lot of the tropes (as far as I can tell, MXTX in general loves deconstructions), but what can I say, it’s more or less worked for me.