#Netflix said no rights for the sapphics

[theappleinthetwilightcover]

They probably called it First Kill because they knew the second their main characters were sapphic that Netflix was gonna KILL it after it’s FIRST season.

[darklinaforever]

So now, just because I'm not 100% comfortable with the change from Michael to Michaela, does that mean I'm spitting on the actors and causing them distress ?

Or that I will sign weird petitions ?

You're sick at this point, and are going to extremes that have nothing to do with it, just to probably give yourself higher morals.

And if that's not it, why would you go so far as to say things like that ?

I have never expressed or felt hatred for the members of the Bridgerton cast, it's ridiculous.

Not even for Michaela's actress.

And I will not tolerate anyone daring to say the opposite.

So cut your bullshit after a while.

My god, I'm not even one of those people who are completely / 100% against the Michael to Michaela change.

Like I said :

Bonus : Or they could just do a spin-off about an invented main LGBTQ+ couple navigating the Bridgerton universe.

Another bonus : Part of me is clearly also excited to see what the Fran & Michaela romance will bring, and I have also already said this in other posts.

What's your problem people ? I've already been called homophobic, and now it leads to the fact that what I say would also be racist ? But at what fucking time actually !?

All because I'm not 100% comfortable with the gender change of a male book character who's been around for years, going from Michael to Michaela in Bridgerton.

No, but people are crazy...

I would have the same reaction of not being satisfied, for any other type of character ! You assure me the gender of a character (no matter what it is) and then change it for me in the adaptation, well that's stuck in my mind. I want them to remain generally as such in their adaptation.

Same for the type of couple !

If you present me with a queer couple to whom I am attached, I want them to remain generally as such in their adaptation. If you present me with a heterosexual couple to whom I am attached, I want them to remain generally as such in their adaptation.

For what ? Well because over time, years for some, an image was built in my mind for these famous fictional characters.

And I don't see what's wrong with seeing them generally respected in their adaptation, including their gender.

It has nothing to do with being racist, homophobic / queerphobic, or the fact that I don't want to allow sapphic women a chance to see their love up in lights...

The last case particularly makes me laugh :

So even of course for accusations of homophobia / queerphobia :

Even comments that could apparently be racist... 😑

I still remember that I am a bisexual woman of color ! Just for information !

People calm down a little, it's really getting ridiculous...

And again, not only is there gender change but also what bothers me is that the core of Fran, Michael / Michaela and John's story now seems to have changed, based on the final minutes of the season 3 concerning them having been presented to us. And that bothers me too.

I wasn't expecting a 100% faithful adaptation, because Netflix's Bridgerton never was, but I at least expected that the heart of my favorite book in this saga would be respected a minimum, especially knowing that it is generally also the most popular among readers, even those who basically don't like books, and that is unfortunately probably not the case according to the last episode of season 3, and yes that me disturbs and disappoints me and I have the right to be so without taking my hatred in the face.

But that's not why I say, as some claim, that the season on Fran will necessarily be good and deeper than the book, absolutely not.

I simply said that it would be different, right down to the very heart of the story, and that once again, yes it disappoints me a little. But yet again, I never claimed that the season about Fran would be less good or profound than the book.

I literally already said in another posts that I thought it would probably still be well written overall, regardless of the story they tell and that the actors would do their job very well and have good chemistry together. 'screen.

At this point I have nothing more to add. Insult me ​​if you want, it's not my problem if you're stupid.

I will just continue to block the haters. And if you continue to come boasting that you cannot be blocked like some other anonymous person, realize that you are dedicating part of your time to simply trying to piss me off, that it's quite pathetic and therefore that your life must be quite meaningless as a result and I pity you.

But from now on I will ignore you. Because a debate with people who are deliberately closed off is useless.

[bunthebreadboy]

so i’ve been on my atla bs once again, and while rewatching today i got the lovely thought that azula reminded me of a specific kpop idol and spiraled from there. so. here’s my personal list of kpop idols as atla characters!!

these are mostly based on vibes and/or visuals. by no means do i mean to make idols i think are similar to the show’s antagonists out to be bad people!!! i will give an explanation behind my thoughts as well.

also disclaimer, i know next to nothing about boy groups, so please spare me lol

anyways

seungkwan (seventeen) as aang

- once again, i know nothing about boy groups

- i did however watch the devil’s plan (amazing show by the way, it’s on netflix) and the positive but still very determined vibe seungkwan brought to the show reminded me of aang

- also, this selfie of him reminds me of the one scene with aang in the flower crown

jihyo (twice/soloist) as katara

- extremely hard workers who trained for years to get to where they are now

- have natural leadership abilities and are total mom friends

- would cuss someone out if they were very annoyed

- thanks to jeongyeon and her water bottles, jihyo is actually a pro waterbender already (jeongyeon is pakku but without the misogyny. the entire pakku/katara fight is just a compilation every single concert encore where jeong and jihyo bicker)

chan (skz) as sokka

- this honestly just felt right

- every time i see a clip of chan on a live i end up laughing

- i have also heard from stays that skz would collapse without chan and i very much think the same of sokka since he’s the ideas guy

- also aussie sokka lmao

hyunjin (loossemble) as toph

- competitive level 1000000 (please watch one episode of loossemble assemble and tell me i’m wrong)

- would do something out of spite but is also very protective of friends

- cannot be left alone without causing hazards

- theft (“stealing can be fun” -hyunjin)

- chaos reincarnate when younger, calmer (a bit) when older

- toph would also wear that shirt and pretend she didn’t know what it said even though sokka told her

heejin (artms/soloist) as suki

- i mostly thought of this because heejin and hyunjin are former loona members and good friends. which would make the scene where suki saves toph from drowning even funnier imo

- but also have you SEEN this woman’s muscles??? i have full confidence that heejin could handle her own in a fight

- every sapphic i know who’s seen atla had a crush on suki growing up and every sapphic loona stan i’ve met (which is most loona stans) has had a crush on heejin

- heejin’s lore in loonaverse is basically being a god and i personally equate that to suki

- also, they’re dorks

siyeon (dreamcatcher) as azula

- LITERALLY THE REASON I THOUGHT OF THIS POST (specifically vision era hello???) LOOK AT HER

- siyeon is at the scene of the crime like 90% of the time something chaotic happens in dreamcatcher so i can fully imagine her cosplaying azula and running around with sparklers or something

- she’s also very good at looking evil in mvs so i think she could play azula

- that scene in the deja vu music video right before the last chorus when fire shoots up from behind her? she’s literally a firebender

seonghwa (ateez) as zuko

- i know absolutely NOTHING about ateez aside from a couple of their title tracks but this man looks so much like siyeon i couldn’t resist

- idk i just feel like they’d be good at being the fire disaster siblings

- he also looks like he’d eat up the “the scar is not on the wrong side” line for some reason???

- was probably an angsty teenager at some point

miyeon (gidle) as ty lee

- nobody can out femme either of these two

- cute extroverts who could also be deadly (like imagine x-file miyeon during boiling rock)

- i feel like ty lee would LOVE doing dance challenges with anyone and everyone

bibi (soloist) as mai

- i am fully aware that bibi isn’t an idol but i couldn’t resist

- she just gives the mai vibes honestly. you know that trope where the guard asks the character to hand over all of their weapons and just stands there and stares as said character pulls out knives from everywhere? that is both bibi and mai

- bibi is also the queen of every concept so i fully believe she could probably play the entire cast of atla in a chaotic one-woman show

anyways i hope you enjoyed my chaos rambling and i kind of want to do this with other shows so if you liked this please leave me recommendations!

[teashh]

SAPPHIC STORIES IN QUEER SPACES- A RANT

Opinions on Kdrama

Guess who's back with their opinions on a kdrama? THAT'S RIGHT. YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD OPINIONATED PERSON. ME!

And the kdrama I'm talking about today is Friendly Rivalry. Or Friendly Competition. A GL drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat. First of all, huge kudos to Hyeri for doing a GL drama in a country that's still majorly misogynistic and homophobic. Second of all, I've been waiting for this kind of GL drama with the obsession you usually find in BLs. The "nobody can have you but me", the "who hurt you?" Kind of fictional romance. And honestly, don't get me wrong, I enjoy BLs but I was sick of seeing more gay stories in queer spaces than lesbian stories. And trust me. BLs are always way more popular and mainstream. Like heartstopper, Love simon, love victor, shadowhunters, just to name a few in the west. And even then BLs are way more IMPLIED too like good omens and supernatural. And that's the case for kdramas as well.

Which brings me to the main thing I wanted to talk about. People forget the power that straight women have in making something famous. And as a brown biromantic, asexual, genderqueer woman, I cannot help but feel that the lack of popularity when it comes to GLs signifies the deeper issues regarding the stories that are amplified by straight women in queer spaces. Think about it, most of the books and tv series that you read and watch about queerness usually has a man at the centre.

We cannot deny that straight women have this weird fetish for two men in love. They're excited by it in a way that they are simply not by Sapphic romances. And we need to acknowledge this discrepancy in the media that is amplified by straight women. I'm by no means saying that BLs shouldn't be made but if you're consuming a popular media, I want you to critically think and reflect and question- whom is this media catering to? Who is making this popular and why? And what can I do to broaden my horizons about the media I watch?

Just like straight men fetishize Sapphic things in sexual spaces, we cannot deny that straight women do the same for gay stories in other spaces which is unfair to the beautiful Sapphic romantic (all kinds of romantic) stories that are not given the spotlight.

For once I would like to see two women falling in love that is not sexually charged and that is also popularised in the media and I think FRIENDLY RIVALRY, A KDRAMA HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DO THAT.

That being said, here are some Sapphic romances on tv that I think are highly underrated;

Crush (on hulu)

The half of it (on Netflix)

Fire (an indian movie)

Margherita with a straw (on Netflix)

Angry Indian goddesses (might be on Netflix)

Teenage bounty hunters (netflix)

Dickinson (apple tv)

Betty (HBO)

Sense 8 (netflix. Very sexually charged but well made!)

I'm not okay with this (netflix)

She makes my heart flutter (kdrama)

Mine (web drama)

You I didn't know (web drama)

I hope you enjoy!

[osemanverse-events]

🎁🎄 to: @teejaysnow from: @yorit1

Little Christmas

Nick and Charlie were celebrating their first Christmas as a married couple. They invited their friends to celebrate Christmas with them. 

Nick was baking, and Charlie was helping him in the kitchen. 

“We need more flour,” Nick said. 

“Here is some flour,” Charlie said and flicked flour at Nick’s face. 

Nick squawked at that and went to Charlie, grabbed him in the middle,, lifted him, and spun him around the kitchen. 

“Is that how we are going to play it, Char?” Nick asked. 

Nick put Charlie on the counter and stood between his legs. He kissed Charlie softly, then tooksome flour in Chpute’s hair. 

“Ahh, fuck, Nick, not the curls. It’ll never come out of the curls,” Charlie exclaimed, exasperated. 

“Maybe we can shower together after we finish with these cakes and they are done in the oven?” Nick suggested with a wink. 

“You have a deal, Mr Neslon-Spring,” Charlie said. 

Charlie placed his legs around Nick, held him close, and kissed him passionately. 

Nick and Charlie spent the next hour baking. Afterwards, they shared a shower, enjoying their first Christmas together as husbands. 

  Tao and Elle were the first to arrive at the Nelson-Spring house. Tao wanted to arrive early to ensure that they watched the best films while there for the holiday. 

“Happy Christmas,” Elle said cheerily. 

“Happy Christmas,” Charlie said. 

Nick and Charlie hugged Tao and Elle and welcomed them into the home. 

“You have Netflix, right? I found Donny Dharko was on it, and I thought we should watch it,” Tao said. 

“Yeah, we have Netflix,” Nick said. “There are some good queer shows on there.”

“Perfect. I’ll wait for the others to come over,” Tao said. 

Tao and Elle set up everything in the living room, then sat on the sofa with Netflix open. While they did that, Nick and Charlie ensured the food and drinks were ready. 

“Do you need any help?” Elle asked. 

“We’re good. We are just waiting for everyone to arrive,” Charlie responded. 

Soon, the doorbell rang. Nick and Charlie rushed to open it, and Tara and Darcy were at the door. 

“Tara, Darcy, welcome to our humble abode,” Nick said. 

“We’ve been here before, buddy,” Darcy said. 

“Nick, how are you?” Tara asked. 

Nick and Tara went to the kitchen to bring everything out, and Charlie caught up with Darcy.

“Hey Tao, I have the best film that we can watch. It has a nonbinary lesbian who is married to a black femme lesbian. I thought it was perfect since they are basically me and Tara,” Darcy said. 

“We can watch it after we watch Donny Dahrko,” Tao said. 

Darcy happily walked to the living room, and they sat on the sofa next to Tao and Elle. 

The doorbell rang again, and Charlie opened the door. Isaac was at the door, book in hand. 

“Happy Christmas,” Isaac said. 

“Happy Christmas,” Charlie said. 

Charlie looked at Isaac's book, which looked like a sapphic Christmas book. He hoped it was interesting. 

Sahar and Imogen were next to the door. They hugged Charlie close and stood there, wishing him a happy Christmas. 

“Okay, food is ready. Everyone can come to the kitchen,” Nick said as he entered the foyer. 

Tara and Darcy sat beside each other on one side, Tao and Elle on the other. Sahar and Imogen were at one end of the table, and Isaac was on the same side as Tao and Elle. Nick and Charlie were at the head of the table. 

“Everyone dig in,” Charlie said. 

Nick decided to feed Charlie some food. Charlie has not had a bad food day in a year, and he enjoyed it when he fed him. 

“Here you go, Char,” Nick said. 

Nick held a fork with some grand and placed it at Charlie’s lips. Charlie happily opened his lips and ate the food. 

Nick kissed Charlie after he ate the food and savoured the feeling of Charlie in his arms. 

“That was yummy,” Charlie said. 

���I love your taste, Char,” Nick said. 

“If you behave yourself, we can have a Christmas dessert when we have our home,” Charlie said. 

“That sounds perfect,” Nick said and kissed Charlie’s cheek. 

“How does spending your first Christmas as a married couple feel?” Elle asked. 

“I thought Charlie and I were close before, but being married is an extra layer of closeness. There is nothing like being Charlie’s husband. I love being his husband, and I would not trade it for anything,” Nick said. 

“I love waking up next to Nick, knowing he is my husband. That he and I are one. We are a family,” Charlie said.  

“When Darcy and I were married, it felt the same. I could not believe that I was one with them. Darcy is my other half,” Tara said. 

“I can’t wait until Tao and I get married. It is only a few months away, and I am so excited. I feel like all my dreams are coming true. I have my art gallery. I volunteer at a trans youth shelter, and I’m marrying the man of my dreams. It is all so perfect,” Elle said. 

“My dreams came true too when you agreed to be my girlfriend. When you agreed to be my fiance. And soon when you will be my wife,” Tao said. 

The Paris Squad finished their Christmas dinner and were ready for the film portion of the day. 

  “Tao, why are we watching this movie again?” Isaac asked. 

“It is a classic. Don’t fall asleep this time,” Tao said. 

“After that, we are watching a lesbian romcom with a black femme lesbian and a white nonbinary lesbian. It's basically me and Tara. And it takes place over Christmas,” Darcy said. 

“I love this film. Darcy and I rarely see us represented on TV or in film,” Tara said. 

Nick brought out the cake and placed it on the table. 

“Charlie and I made the cake. It was a fun time in the kitchen,” Nick said. 

“Ew, no details,” Tao said. 

“I find it amazing that you are still so in love with each other after over ten years together. You are an inspiration to queer couples everywhere,” Elle said. 

“Charlie makes me a better person. I found my real self when I met Charlie. Not just the rugby lad. But someone who loves to bake and is bisexual and is more than just a people pleaser,” Nick said. 

“I’ve been through some dark times. I feel like Nick was there to watch me get stronger so that we can be the best versions of ourselves,” Charlie said. 

It was time for Darcy’s romantic comedy, and everyone was excited to watch the film they had been discussing. They wanted to see a diverse Christmas film. 

The hour and a half passed quickly, and the whole Paris Squad was in tears after the film. 

It was time for everyone to go home. 

Sahar and Imogen left. After them, Isaac did. 

“Can we help you?” Tara asked. 

“Thanks, but we got it. We will clean tomorrow morning,” Nick said. 

Nick hugged Tara and Darcy close before he closed the door. 

Tao and Elle were not far behind. 

Soon, they had the house to themselves. 

“How do you want to spend the rest of our Christmas, Mr Nelson-Spring?” Nick asked. 

“I think we have a few more gifts upstairs. Why don’t we open them?” Charlie suggested. 

“I love you, Char,” Nick said. 

“I love you too, Nick,” Charlie said. 

Nick picked Charlie up and carried him upstairs. He kissed him passionately the whole way, which led to their Christmas celebration.

[andmineisyellow]

Hey, I know you are mostly a Polin blog, but I like to read your thoughts on here, so I thought I'd ask anyway: do you think it could be possible that bridgerton is doing the rich x poor trope with Eloise and Theo and instead saving a different storyline for Benedict (hopefully something queer 🤞)? And no, I'm not just saying this bc I like Theo, but since Ruby is most likely not coming back and I really can't see Eloise settling for some old man, idk... Btw, I haven't read any of the books, but what I've read about Eloise's and Benedict's arcs doesn't rlly make sense to me (sorry)

I wouldn't necessarily rule it out mainly because there are always practical/logistical reasons that may force the show to go in a different direction. That said, I don't think it's the current plan they have in mind.

Theo only exists in Eloise's world. He has a bit of a run-in with Whistledown as well, but he never interacts with Penelope directly. He exists only to push Eloise's story forward and because of that, he feels more like a plot device than anything else. He is there to demonstrate that Eloise is perhaps more interested in love than she realized and to drive a wedge between her and Penelope (and to try and convince the audience that Eloise is straight tbh).

Phillip, while still a supporting player, has been introduced to Bridgerton's larger world. He is familiar with the family through the Featheringtons and through Colin now as well. I don't know why the show would go out of its way to introduce Phillip and bring him back unless there was a plan to make him more important down the line. The only way I could see this changing is if Chris Fulton booked a bigger job elsewhere. As a guest star, he is not under a multi-season contract. Even then, there is always the option to recast.

It's not necessarily what I would like to see personally. Any storyline that involves Marina dying or having to abandon her children would probably outright ruin the series for me. I would much rather the show flip the script. They should kill off Phillip and have Eloise run away to Marina instead. They could still hit the basic plot points of TSPWL while avoiding killing off Marina and giving us the queer representation so many people have been asking for. If Ruby were to make the decision not to come back, there would be a precedent for recasting.

We all know that this won't happen as Netflix has shown over and over again that it's not interested in appealing to Bridgerton's potential queer/LGBTQ+ demographic. This is especially true for sapphic women in particular because Netflix worries about losing the straight female demographic that the show has been marketed towards. But I do think it's the option that would please the most amount of people and they're definitely missing out by excluding the queer community.

I don't know... changing Eloise's love interest from a white man to... another white man, wouldn't feel like a particularly bold or interesting move to me even if Theo is of a different class, I'm also not sure why the writers would be motivated to do so. But if the only alternative to Phillip is Theo, then I would much rather see Theo in the future than have to witness any harm coming to Marina.

And you're definitely right about Phillip and Eloise's books not lining up. They're my two least favorite in the series. A Cinderella Story is basic enough that it could still work for Benedict, but Book Eloise's love story is just super far removed from who Eloise is in the show.

[skippy-reads]

•Reading Wrapped 2024•

Books read: 65

Below the cut will be my top 5 Best, Worst and Most Boring Reads!! Enjoy :)

Best:

Exquisite Corpse • William Joseph Martin

I was initially hesitant to read this, because I had a few hangups on the premise. I support queer people making art of their experiences in whatever way they decide it needs to be made, and I'm a sucker for splatterpunk. I fucking LOVE this book. I can't really articulate why I love it so much, sometimes it's borderline campy with it's gore and shock value, and sometimes it really punches you in the gut and makes you have sympathy for absolute monsters like Andrew and Jay. I adored every page of this, and can't say much more about it. I also can't stress enough, READ THE TRIGGERS, my dm's are open or you can find them online, and THEN read it. Unless you know you have a high threshold, I would discourage going into this blind. I'm not your mom though, if you want a campy, nasty gorefest, this is a GREAT book.

I've Been Thinking of Ending Things • Ian Ried

This was put on my list by a YouTuber I watch consistently. Someone had asked his favorite thing on Netflix, and he said this movie, though he liked the book better. After consuming both, I have to agree! The book is a lot sneakier, the sense of dread and confusion hit me harder in the mystery department, whereas the movie just feels chaotic and more on the Thriller genre. Maybe theyre meant to be taken in together and not independently, but having read the book THEN watching the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed both, but the book is just. Better. I can't talk much about the plot because it's just that kind of story, but the audiobook was so good!!!

Migrations • Courtney McConaghy

Judging by the reviews, this book is very polarizing. It seems that you either love it or hate it, and that all hinges on if you like the protag and relate to/sympathize with her. I love Franny and subsequently loved her story here. Migrations is about a woman finding her will to live again after a life of mental illness and trauma over the backdrop of a suicide mission to Antarctica for some birds. Franny is a complicated woman who makes reckless decisions but her internal dialogue reveals a bleeding heart that just WANTS LOVE AND AHH. A lot of the 1-star reviews for this book were about the lack of 'scientific realism' and to that I say, "go read a non-fiction then." Migrations is about characters and relationships and experiences, it tells you exactly the right amount of information without overloading you with details. The prose especially was so SO good; despite a book set primarily on frozen oceans or otherwise cold climates, I always felt warmed by the simple way the story is told.

Dykette • Jenny Fran David

I am at the perfect time in my life to read this. This was EVERYTHING I wanted the Ashley Herring Blake books to be, Blake WISHES she wrote this. She wishes she could capture true sapphic connection, deconstruct gender and sexuality in the unique way that lesbians do it, giving femmes the spotlight they deserve, she WISHES. Dykette has particularly interesting things to say about femme lesbians and their place in the lesbian ecosystem. It's funny, it's sexy, it's modern and contemporary, it makes actual efforts into representation of different kinds of lesbians. This is the first book I've ever read that has a he/him lesbian *as a main character* as well as a black they/them lesbian!! All contained in a quirky slice-of-life, set over the course of a Christmas getaway with an older butch/femme couple. I legitimately believe that every sapphic owes it to themselves to read this if you want a fun time.

The Honeys • Ryan La Sala

You all here already know how much and why I love this book! Check out the review I wrote for it in my other posts!

Worst:

Actually only 4 this year!! Teehee

The Last House on Needless Street • Catriona Ward

Dumb. Dumb book. I had issues with it from the very beginning, because spoiler, this book does a complete 180 at about the halfway point. It *starts* with a serial killer who's kidnapped a girl, and has a cat, with a side story about the little girl's sister hunting her down, taking justice into her own hands and riding into the sunset with her in tow. Lauren/Lulu is our girl in question, and the extent of her injuries and scars are described in shocking, grotusque detail. It's really the only horror in the whole book if you don't count "mental illness scary" as horror. It's revealed that the cat, Olivia, is an alter in Lauren's head, that Lauren has DID and uses Oliva to cope with the abuse. It's revealed even later that Lauren AND Olivia are alter's in THE KILLER'S head, Ted, and HE has DID as a result of his mother's extreme abuse. Why does Lauren look like a melted candle with no function in her legs?? You'd have to ask Ted and the stupid British woman that decided to write this. I wish I could get into everything I hate about this book, but at that point, it would just go on skippy-reads. The only enjoyment I really got from this was any chapter narrated by Olivia, just because I like her and the interjection of gay christian cat antics.

The Patient • Jasper Dewitt

I wish I could go back to whatever video or forum post or even human person who recommended this to me and personally UN recommend it. I'm already tired of the 'reddit story turned book' genre, if you can call it that (yes, I've read Penpal. No, it did not impress or even entertain me) but The Patient pairs that genre/trope with an utter disgusting amount of ableism towards mentally ill people. I wanted to stop reading at every moment, every time a new chapter started, I had to convince myself to keep going and finish it, only through pure stubbornness did I manage. Nothing anyone does at any point makes any fucking sense, nobody makes the decisions that a normal rational person would do, and the ENDING ugh GOD. Knowing what the story is, what it's about, how it ends, I can confidently say that The Patient was a waste of my fucking time. I can only recommend this book if you have ~4 hours to kill and literally nothing else in the world to do. Even still, I may choose to stare blankly at a wall than pick this up again.

Piercing • Ryu Murakami

There's a chance that my opinion of it is skewed bc this was my only form of entertainment while getting my entire chest stabbed continuously for 3 hours, but this was such an annoying story. Unnecessarily grotesque and near constant depictions of child abuse, both physical and sexual, thats being shoved right into your eyeballs while Things Kind Of Happen around two extremely mentally unwell characters. And, no, the mentally ill people are not treated as people, surprising I know. The actual story taking place is interuppted by far too many flashbacks, all of which are the child abuse I just mentioned. Chiaki and Kawashima both take great care to remind us of how unstable they are, how terrible their childhoods were and the horrible things they want to do to each other, that's it, that's the book. Yes, the whole thing, it doesn't even have a proper ending or resolution, the PURPOSE of Kawashima's actions and the story as we know it doesn't even get resolved. It just ends. There were things I liked about it, it kept my attention (a feat in and of itself for an ADHD+dyslexic reader) and I did feel the dread and fear when I was supposed to, but the book as a whole was just not very well executed.

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date • Ashley Herring Blake

Check out my review of this one on this blog! It sucked oh it sucked so bad!

Most Boring

Joyland • Steven King

I'm sometimes tempted to put this in my Bad category, but there were significant parts that I did enjoy. This story can't seem to decide which is more important, the horror aspect or the slice of life. We slip and slide around between the two, so the pacing sort of goes from "dumb teenager going through dumb teenager things while working at an amusement park but it's the 70's so I guess it's cool automatically" to "boring murder mystery with a blink and it's over resolution." I liked the mother character and her son, weird that he's randomly psychic but it IS Steven King, so I'm not that surprised, and a disability rep that I didn't find horribly offensive, but my opinion on that front doesn't really mean all that much, so take that as you will! Overall, bland but palatable. I liked Misery better.

You've Lost a Lot of Blood • Eric LaRocca

I liked LaRocca's other book, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, my only actual complaint is that the characters are a little cartoon-y and it's too short, but this one? Oh my God. Not a single character feels like a human being. It sort of benefits being Half Fake, in that the story itself is a book written by our MC, and that story is boring and I didn't care for it. The book in the world I live in written by Eric LaRocca, is kind of funny in some aspects. The main character feels like if James Somerton wrote a book and then someone else wrote a book about that. A highlight was the protag in the MC's fake story, the older sister character, and her arc with her little brother. It had set up, climbing action, and pay off, but we're intentionally left without a satisfying resolution, which was kind of fun. LaRocca could've done better with the rest of the book, though.

Haunted • Chuck Palahniuk

I knew what this was going into it, and it makes sure anyone else would too, upon the second chapter, Guts. I love this genre, but there's nothing that kills me more than when an author just doesn't know what they're doing. This particular work by Palahniuk and also the works of Aron Beauregard are my examples of how NOT to do splatterpunk, just collections of short stories that check off all the grossest and most disturbing things while neglecting to tell an actually compelling story. By the end of Haunted, I was reading the goriest stories I'd ever laid eyes on, and begging for it to just end before I died of boredom. Also, I hate when stories have SA just for shock value, especially the likes of which are present here.

First to Die at the End • Adam Silvera

Where do I even begin. What a boring, tepid, unremarkable, sometimes actively infuriating read. The audiobook made it so much worse, both actors for Valentino and Orion sounded like auditory cardboard, and sometimes the writing is so bad, so cliche I feel like I'm owed one smack on Adam Silvera's head. It would be a hilarious hate-read if I didn't love the first book and its characters so much. I literally don't even remember how it ends specifically, because I just can't get the part where Valentino died at exactly 9:11pm out of my fucking HEAD. Orion's haunted by the events of Sept. 11 (yes, really) because his parents were lost in the trajedy. It's his only personality trait besides his heart condition and that he writes as a hobby. The specificity of such a prominent character trait made me wonder if Silvera had such trauma. I had to investigate, but no, he didn't. He was just in New York when 9/11 happened and was troubled by the what-if's. How tragic, I won't be reading anything by him again unless the madness (morbid curiosity) takes me again.

Into the Drowning Deep • Mira Grant

Seventeen Hours. 448 pages. 38 chapters. This book dragged and slogged like nothing else I've read thus far. Usually I'm fully onboard with mermaids, if a book has mermaids, I'm there. Most of the first half is establishing the many side characters that are going to die in stupid ways anyway, and precisely none of them are interesting enough to carry even a single page. The biology jargon just slides off my brain, the final twist was so incredibly stupid, it felt like Grant just woke up in the middle of the night and wrote it down without thinking of how to fit it into the story at all. I was entertained by the poaching couple because they were hilarious. They'd be much funnier if Grant didn't feel the need to remind us every single time who they are and what their motivations are, and if the person who read this to me didn't put on such a terrible Australian accent. I had some issues with the disability rep here that I'm not gonna get into bc it's not really my place, but I wish Grant could've been more creative with naming the three sister characters. Hally, Holly and Heather? Really? I couldn't keep these names straight to save the life of me.

Honorable Mentions

My Husband • Maud Ventura

Weyward • Emilia Hart

Waif • Samantha Kolesnik

I'll See You Again • Jackie Hance

Pitbull: The Battle over an American Icon • Bronwen Dickey

Black Water Sister • Zen Cho

Your Emergency Contact is having an Emergency • Chen Chen

Raptor Red • Robert T Bakker

The Only Good Indians • Stephen Graham Jones

[redshoes-blues]

Stranger Things is written by a team of people who care about creating good queer representation.

One argument against Byler being endgame that I’ll never understand is the “Duffers + Stranger Things team are just homophobic, they’re queer-baiting and would never make it canon” one, because that’s just clearly not true?? Like at all lol.

Robin was originally written as Steve’s love interest, but after Maya (who is herself queer) suggested the idea that Robin be a lesbian, the Duffer brothers enthusiastically agreed and rewrote the scripts to account for this change. Since then, they’ve introduced a love interest for Robin, and written one of the most beautiful m/f friendships I’ve seen on screen. Seriously, the way they handled Robin’s whole coming out story is just beautiful!

Will Byers was always supposed to be gay. The hints are there since S1. And since S2 it’s clear that his feelings are held towards Mike specifically. This was written on-purpose by the Duffer brothers. Noah has even said that he’s known for years that Will is gay, but he had to be vague in interviews because the audience wasn’t meant to catch on right away (except for queer people, who of course understand his deliberate coding).

Robin and Will are both characters were meant to love and empathize with. Both of them being good queer characters with motives and personalities outside of their sexualities is great representation.

Stranger Things director Shawn Levy was the executive producer for I Am Not Okay with This, which I’ll always be mad at Netflix for cancelling. The show starred a lesbian girl struggling with anger and newfound powers, and was set up to develop into a beautiful wlw friends-to-lovers story.

Ross Duffer is married to the absolute icon and director of the sapphic horror series Fear Street: Leigh Janiak (seriously she’s amazing and FS has some of the best wlw representation I’ve ever seen). It’s a revolutionary series for the horror genre in the way it normalizes queer relationships. And I know FS and ST are two separate entities, but the themes are quite similar, highlighting found families of outcasts and finding self-acceptance in discriminatory worlds.

Not to mention the way the cast have reacted to Will’s sexuality being *finally* confirmed as gay, and especially to suggestions that Will is in love with Mike. Remember that interview where a question suggests Will and El are love interests and everyone gets giddy and talks about Will and Mike instead?? We have such a lovely cast, full of queer icons and allies who want Will to be happy!

So yeah, no, this is a team who are very much dedicated to putting out positive queer representation. Think what you want about Byler endgame, but the Stranger Things team being homophobes who queerbait shouldn’t even be a concern, IMO.

It’s really exciting to me that in such mainstream projects as Stranger Things, we’re seeing well-written queer representation. The examples I brought up weren’t made for queer audiences, but are written with general viewers in mind. That’s important to keep in mind when we’re discussing Byler endgame, because these are writers and directors who have proven that they care about LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream media, and that makes it a realistic outcome.

[softavasilva]

i’ve said this before and i’ll keep saying it—the mass-cancellation of wlw IPs right now is the new bury your gays: a pattern that affects wlw disproportionately even to other lgbtq stories and emblematic of the underlying mentality that our stories are not important. that they can just be thrown away.

it’s the same feeling i had in spring of 2016. wary of getting too attached to any wlw characters or storylines because we’d been conditioned over and over again to expect it to end in heartbreak.

i don’t know if warrior nun is the lexa of canceled series but at some point something’s gotta give. i just cancelled my netflix subscription and gave warrior nun as my reason, and i suggest everyone that wants this to change does the same and instead spend that money on a vpn subscription and torrent anything you don’t want to miss out on. same goes for prime.

enough is enough. we deserve to have our stories told in full.

‼️‼️ no bc they saw the result of what bury the gays trope did. it made the whole gay movement in which we just flocked onto another show bc of the sapphic couple. they saw this and they used it to their fucking advantage bc now they know we would watch anything even with the most little screentime of our reps. they saw that we would support and give money/time to that type of media.

in turn they also noted that we would move onto the next show with the same rep after the current one is no longer producing content. so they did what greedy fuckers do and used it as an excuse to make wlw centered media - to then cancelling it - to then making another show with said rep.

they give these series a dollar and a cent for production and no promo and in return they get millions from it. its their best investment yet. bc now they can cancel it with little to no financial lost and start a new one knowing they will get double the money they initially put in.

they never cared about continuity or consistnecy with their shows when it comes to wlw representation. NEVER. the fate of those shows was decided the moment s1 gets released so they can move onto their bigger shows.

i fear we always stood on low chances bc this is just their strategy. to use people seeking for representation and reeling them in only to dispose of that representation so they can start over again.

[blackbird-brewster]

Thoughts About Tara Lewis (CM Evolution Spoilers)

Tara Lewis is Queer.

I woke up this morning and the SECOND I was conscious, I turned to my partner and said 'Tara Lewis is Queer'. I woke them up two times last night to tell them the same thing. I have echoed this thought back and forth to friends for hours.

It almost feels like if I don't constantly remind myself that Tara is now canonically queer, then maybe it isn't real. Maybe it was a dream. OR maybe it will be taken from us.

The thing about being in this fandom since 2005 is that I've lived a WHOLE lot of life in that time. I have been through relationships and divorces and insurmountable loss. I can't even count how many times I've moved in that time. I have struggled, I have flourished. All the while, Criminal Minds was a constant for me.

If you're newer to this fandom (Welcome!) then you might not FULLY grasp how wildly improbable it is to be able to say: Tara Lewis, a main character on Criminal Minds, is canonically queer.

When the show first aired I was in college, I had graduated HS an entire year early because the homophobia I faced was suffocating and genuinely dangerous. I was threatened all the time in my school. I came out when I was 15, in a small rural religious town. It was horrific.

I graduated HS and started college by age 17. Criminal Minds started around then and I loved it, because I was already a huge fan of crime dramas (SVU, TXF, Bones). It became a comfort show to me.

It continued to be a comfort show to be for nearly the past two decades. I remember waiting week to week to find out what happened next. Or waiting all summer to find out what happened after a cliffhanger. Or waiting each year for news on whether it was getting renewed or not, especially through the 2007 writer's strike when the fate of many TV shows felt so volatile and unsure. I remember watching the Valhalla arc and Emily's 'death' live. As each season came out on DVD box set, I would buy them and re-watch them (This was when Netflix was only dvd rentals and not streaming. Streaming wasn't even a concept then. We all just bough 8-disc DVD box sets and had to change the DVD every 3 episodes to binge a show)

I remember when the interview came out about how Emily was originally supposed to wake up in bed with a woman. I remember how devastating that was to me. Emily was my fave character back then (now she ties with Tara) and she had always felt gay to me and to find out she COULD have been canonically confirmed as gay but they killed that idea, was really hard. We didn't have a lot of wlw rep in media back then. The L Word was a trailblazing show but it's representations of wlw ultimately did WAY more harm than good (imo. I could write an entire thesis about how tLw really fucked up my entire understanding of what it means to be gay, but I digress)

I remember watching the way CBS treated AJ, Paget and Kirsten. I remember following articles talking about why the women were forced to leave the show while the men were celebrated and doted upon. (Reasons why I hate certain characters that are popular here iykyk)

The very first scene with Tara Lewis in S11 made my heart skip a beat. My soul was screaming 'SHES QUEER!!!! SHE HAS GOT TO BE QUEER!' even though I never once held my breath that would ever become CANON.

Here I am, still in this fandom, seventeen years later, and I get to say 'Tara Lewis is canonically queer' on a show that has gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life. On a show I turned to for comfort when everything felt like Too Much.

Because there is something so incredibly magical about seeing my favourite character and saying: Tara Lewis is Queer...and So Am I.

I know people are already like 'Emily was right there!?' or  'Why not make Emily queer!?' to those people I have one thing to say:

Please stop. Please stop and understand HOW important it is for TARA to be queer.

We have A CANONICALLY QUEER BLACK WOMAN IN HER 50s played by a sapphic actor. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW IMMINESLY RARE AND SPECIAL THAT IS?!?!? Do you have ANY idea of how IMPORTANT that is for representation?????

Emily Prentiss will never be confirmed queer in canon for many reasons. I have a LOT of thoughts about this, but that's not what this post is about.

This post is about celebrating one, extremely special fact.

And I couldn't be happier.

[emilyskinners]

amazon prime canceling the wilds, a female centric show about teenage girls coming together and being a found family. and even with the queer and poc representation done right. but then proceeds to renew a show which basically tells you, "oh, you want the guy you've been in love with since you were ten to finally love you back, all you have to do is take off your glasses and braces and he'll finally notice you" with said guy mistreating her a lot, and yes his mom has cancer but that isn't an excuse to lash out on other people cause you don't wanna talk about it and you don't know how to cope. I don't care if it was a book series originally and the story has to continue, that is not the point I'm making

and trust me, I love the summer i turned pretty a lot. but like this stuff is total bullshit that shows with straight ships as the main couple get recognition and get multiple seasons of the same drama bullshit, but the sapphics are left in the dust

congrats amazon, you're turning into netflix 2.0

[rollercoasterwords]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I think it’s so fascinating and unfortunate that mass consumerism has conditioned everyone to expect things as soon as demand is created. Right now, ppl can find a mass produced dupe of essentially any retail item marketed. And we are oversaturated with this idea that we need to be constantly consuming something, at least in developed countries. Buttt obviously that cannot be applied easily to disciplines like the arts. So you have these people hopping on tiktok, wanting wlw fics, noticing a perceived inequality between wlw and mlm fanfics (and I say perceived bc I’m convinced many of these complaints come from ppl who have never actively sought out wlw fics in this fandom) and then expecting that their demand can be fulfilled automatically. Like fic writers are mega rich Netflix writers/producers who can pump out a million shows a year or shein factories that can instantly dupe the latest outfit trending on social media. And I’m not saying this to attack ppl who do want representation, but I also kinda am bc do these ppl not realize and incredibly difficult writing is?? I’ve been getting into the practice of daily writing and holy shit I don’t think I’ve ever challenged myself more. It takes so much love and dedication to finish any writing project, let alone try to finish one that someone is forcing onto you. And that’s not even taking into consideration how terrifying it can be to open up your work to public, especially considering fanfic writing is a hobby and not a profession where you need criticism to improve. Anyways this was all over the place and I’m done ranting. I just wanted to say THANK YOU and let you know many people appreciate all the work you’ve decided to your craft bc you’re an incredible writer (and ppl are ungrateful and annoying) xx

no let's beat the dead horse i love beating dead horses i beat dead horses every day on this blog lmao

but truly i agree w everything u said!! a lot of the discourse i see surrounding "wlw rep" in fic is working off this faulty consumerist premise that ultimately just drags fanfiction further into a consumer economy imo. also just on a hater note i do think it's ironic that a lot of these people who say stuff like "ugh where's my 500k wlw fic!!" "where's my long fic focused on the girls!!" "where's my atyd for sapphics!!" when told they can write wlw fics themselves if they want 2 see them will then turn around and go "not everyone has the time and energy and creativity to write!!! writing's really hard!!" like....do we see the irony here 😐

anyway thank u 4 the appreciation!! very happy i get 2 share my silly little stories w people who actually want 2 read + enjoy them <3

[crimswnred]

Hi! Do you have headcanons for Angie and Marisol together?

hiii, Iris!! As I told you before, I’m no Marisol expert but I’ll try my best for you!

So, here are some headcanons for Angie x Marisol relationship (Angisol? Can we call them that?)

I’ve said it before but I picture them meeting on a late night café. Angie works crazy hours and she finally got a little break to have a coffee and maybe something to eat. Marisol, on the other hand, it’s trying to study — sometimes it’s easier for her brain to work past bed time, especially during finals week.

Maybe they bump into each other? Maybe the waiter mistakes their order? Maybe Angie is listening to music or laughing at her favourite Netflix sitcom a little bit too loudly? Either way, a conversation starts and they have so much in common that I think they’ll clash at first

BUT they keep seeing each other, right?! And somewhere in the meantime they start looking forward to it. I’m assuming Angie still isn’t out yet, so maybe this is one of their topics? Marisol is so assure of her sexuality and that might awake something on Angie.

I think Angie needs to be the one who ask Marisol on a date, especially if she’s not out yet. Marisol wouldn’t want to try something if she thinks Angie is straight so it will come as a sweet surprise that Angie is actually into her as well.

I can see them doing really classic stuff together. Going to restaurants, going to the cinema, visiting museums. Marisol always have a smart thing to say about it and Angie doesn’t see it as pretentious like Mar’s exes might have in the past, she likes to hear her talking about her interests and actually finds it cute when Marisol���s just rambling. 

And Marisol appreciates how much Angie loves her job. She finds it inspiring how work-driven Angie is and how she loves helping people and saving lives. That might even give Marisol a new point of view over her own career. Maybe she can also help others through the path she chose.

Eventually, they’ll meet each other’s family and I think Marisol might be a little overwhelmed with Angie’s big family — so many sisters, so loud! While Angie might find Marisol’s parents a little cold, and that shock of reality will lead to some heated discussions. After all, they’re planning to be part of each others life, so they should enjoy each others family.

I think this might need a good talk through from both parts and it might be the breaking point. They come from different backgrounds and had really different upbringings but they also have much similarities — both being really rational and responsible will smooth things over, for sure. In the end, I think they’ll be fine and slowly will get used to each other’s family.

Sharing a flat, late night coffee, using each others clothes, taking baths together, having a glass of wine while they talk about their day, reading each others favourites books, having a little black cat — their home life is just every sapphic dream.

Will they get married? Eventually! They both wanna be sure about it so they take their time. None of them want to rush things and they end up engaged maybe three years into the relationship? Seems like a reasonable time! 

Also, Angie is proposing but Marisol also had a ring in her pocket. They are synced like that.

The ceremony is private. Family and close friends invited only. They never were flashy in any aspect of their lives, why would their wedding be different? It’s sweet, classic and lovely, everyone just had the best of times.

Since Marisol doesn’t want kids — and Angie is programmed to say she does like all the s4 LIs, so I’m not counting that — they are happy between the two of them + their cat. Maybe later they move to a little house? Their marriage is surely one of those relationships people envy. They just get each others needs and wants so well, have such a good communication and love each other so much, even their flaws!

The Hot Successful Sapphic Couple and that’s on facts.

[dragonsareawesome123]

2, 5, 8, 19 & 25 for the end of year tv shows asks!

2. Favorite TV show you’ve watched/discovered this year.

-I'm gonna exclude Bad Buddy from this bc only the last few eps aired this year and say A Tale of Thousand Stars and Triage. I actually put off watching ATOTS for a bit bc the plot synopsis on MyDramaList didn't really interest me but boy was I wrong about that initial first impression bc it's now my number 2 fav BL, closely after Bad Buddy. Rich college boy almost dies, gains a new perspective on life, and decides to go teach in a poor village and meets and falls in love with another guy there. Lots of pining, staring and fated romance ensues and creates a story so romantic and emotionally moving, helped by Earthmix's incredible chemistry. It's the BL to me that feels most like reading a really good romance novel. What's not to love? Triage is now my number 3 fav BL (topping WOH, which surprised me bc I didn't think that I'd be moving WOH from that spot for a good while). Resident doctor gets trapped in a time loop and can't get out until he saves the life of a rich college boy, and in the process, falls in love with him of course. However while trying to do so, the resident doctor discovers that this may not be that simple as he begins to uncover a whole conspiracy that's been happening right under his nose. I've been hyperfixating on this show for months now and still am (although I think Never Let Me Go coming out in a little over a week might pull me out of that bc I'm already going feral over that show). It's time loop medical drama romance with murder and corrupt higher ups and it's also basically a spinoff of Manner of Death since they take place in the same universe and this show sets up the plot of Manner of Death's sequel, Transplant. Tin and Tol are my blorbos who I would die for and I'm so happy that they got to have their happy ending after the hell they went through to get it (They better have a cameo in Transplant where they're just vibing like Tanbun's cameo in Triage). Honestly I've already said so much about this show these past few months so I'll just leave it at that before I start writing a dissertation about how much I love this show. Am just gonna add that I'm very mad about AIS Play for making this show basically impossible for international fans to watch legally. I hope they make this show more accessible to international fans sometime in the near future especially since it's gonna be necessary to watch this before watching Transplant.

5. Favorite ship you discovered this year.

-Tian and Phupha from A Tale of Thousand Stars and Tin and Tol from Triage. Village gays and time loop gays my beloveds <3 (Also thank you P'Aof for giving Phutian back to me next year even if it's just for an ep!!! ATOTS special ep let's go!!!!!)

8. A ship that finally got (back) together this year.

-Erin and James from Derry Girls!!! I'm so happy that Season 3 confirmed that they were each other's endgame romances. Oh, and also while this hasn't aired yet, it's gonna start and finish airing by the end of the month, so also Lyra and Will from His Dark Materials. I know their romance doesn't really last that long because I've read the book but it's still going to be incredibly sweet and heartbreaking while it lasts.

19. A TV show that shouldn’t have been cancelled this year.

-First Kill. FUCK Netflix for cancelling this show when it literally had the views! Netflix hates sapphics and it shows.

25. Rec me a TV show I should watch next year!

-Hm, well I'd obviously recommend Triage to everyone bc it's truly one of the best BLs of the year and it's criminally underrated. I'd also recommend GMMTV's The Gifted and The Gifted: Graduation bc they're just so good. It's a series about a school with a program where they basically train kids with superpowers. Nanon Korapat plays the main protagonist and he's absolutely INCREDIBLE in it. It's not a BL but there is definitely something gay going on between Nanon and Chimon's characters, especially in The Gifted: Graduation.

Ask me about TV shows I watched this year

[iwanthermidnightz]

In this exclusive essay from the buzzy new book Girls Can Kiss Now, writer Jill Gutowitz walks you through the current lesbian canon, as it stands.

Nowadays, queer teens have no idea how good they have it, with their lesbian-outfit Instagram accounts and their dreary homophobia movies and their JoJo Siwas. Back in my day (2003), finding something gay to be horny over was like navigating the Oregon Trail. You’d have to run home from school and sit in front of the TV for hours waiting for the “Me Against the Music” video to play on MTV just so you could get a sliver of gay, and that would be your only shot at seeing gay that whole day. No quietly streaming Netflix on your laptop in your room, no saving photos of Cara Delevingne and Selena Gomez showering together to camera roll, no “every Jamie and Dani scene in The Haunting of Bly Manor” compilation video on YouTube. Just a single queer bait moment of the day with absolutely no idea when it would come or ability to plan for it. Just sit and wait for Britney and Madonna to flirt. Oh, you have to go to the bathroom? What if you miss it? No, you’ll be fine, just go. You missed it. The flash of a moment where Britney pins Madonna against the wall and they almost kiss is gone. Sorry you ate too many SunChips and got diarrhea and blew past the only possible lesbianism you could find today. You died of dysentery. You missed the gay; try again tomorrow.

Yeah, admittedly, things aren’t “perfect” or even “good” today, given that 99 percent of lesbian movies are still about two women who hate themselves hiding behind a harp together and being like “I would die of tuberculosis for you" or whatever. But still, we have lesbian movies (and lesbian-outfit Instagram accounts and JoJo Siwa and YouTube compilation videos). The breadth of sapphic art, and what can be considered sapphic art, expands with each passing day. But in a vacuum of explicit queerness, generations of queer people were left with no choice but to celebrate the implicit. The instinct to collect the implicit—despite having an oeuvre of explicit queer art today—has not disappeared. And that right there, the ever-growing list of implicitly sapphic stuff that we’ve culled from the absence of gay, is called lesbian canon.

Quick explainer, if you’re like “lesbian canon, the whomst, now?”, “canon” is just another word for “official.” In fan fiction, the word refers to the “official” storyline that the fanfic is based on. But with so little “official” lesbian content in the ether, the concept of such has become an in-joke. Anything can be “lesbian canon”—a person, a television show, a concept, an object, a song, your DAD. If a queer woman identifies with or feels “seen by” an art, a person, a thing, then that item is lesbian canon.

If it’s still not clicking, I’ll give you an example before diving into the current lesbian canon, as it stands. The best possible case I can think of is Neve Campbell. Neve Campbell, as far as the official public records show, identifies as heterosexual. But doesn’t she just...seem really lesbian? And not even like in an explicitly “has definitely hooked up with women” way. But her energy, her essence, her breadth of work is so, so queer. There are other elements that could, of course, contribute to making someone or something lesbian canon. Like, Neve Campbell played queer in (one of the greatest movies of all time) Wild Things, alongside Denise Richards. So like, her work technically is or has been queer. But like, her character in Scream seems gay but isn’t...right? The way she speaks, the way she has bangs, wears tank tops, that she typically plays a tomboyish hot goth girl and existed in the ’90s—these are all factors that would lead me to believe that Neve Campbell is queer. But she isn’t! Neve Campbell is probably not gay. But she is lesbian canon.

That said, where are historians on this? Why is no one recording the thousands and thousands of things that queer people have declared lesbian canon for posterity? Years from now, when a teen opens a book hoping to learn what is or isn’t lesbian canon, how will they know? They won’t. No one else is doing this work, so I have to. I won’t call this the official official recorded list of lesbian items, but this is at least my official list of lesbian items. Again, these are things that aren’t officially gay but seem gay and thus are lesbian canon.

Liquids

Oat milk.

Vape juice.

Blood (all types).

Coffee.

Tea.

Hot water with lemon.

Elder flower syrup.

Anything lavender-flavored.

Rosewater.

Dakota Johnson’s brand of sex wax candles (once liquefied—if they’re solid, doesn’t count).

Fashion

Bad fashion: Vests. Tevas. Zip-off shorts. Shapes of clothing that shouldn’t exist and actually seem like a mistake.

Good fashion: Denim. Leather duster jackets. Dressing like you’re a hot vampire and/or in The Matrix and/or a Sith Lord.

Tracksuits (exist between bad fashion and good fashion).

The Elements

Water, Earth, Fire, Air.

People and Their Body Parts

Winona Ryder—wore a lot of leather and denim in the ’90s. Also, shoplifting because you’re bored is gay.

Eliza Dushku simply existing.

Shiri Appleby.

Jordana Brewster.

Sandra Bullock in The Net.

Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza, Flatliners, The Pelican Brief.

Michelle Trachtenberg in Harriet the Spy and Gossip Girl.

Linda Cardellini truly just breathing in any movie or TV show.

Basically every brunette actress who was popular in the '90s/2000s.

Parminder Nagra (fucking obviously—Bend It Like Beckham is lesbian art-house cinema, as far as I'm concerned).

Lucy Liu and her lesbian paintings (Lucy Liu has, somewhat inexplicably, been painting and exhibiting sapphic art for the past few years but has never explicitly come out as queer—it's quite opaque, and being a mysterious artist is lesbian).

Neve Campbell at every age, especially with bangs.

[flying-elliska]

Ok I finally finished First Kill and ehhhh very mixed feelings

It definitely did not live up to its potential. Sapphic vampire x vampire hunter should have been way cooler. I think because the main problem I have with this show, rushed frequently bad writing aside, is that its vibes are just extremely bland. Like okay I was a teen in the Buffy, Twilight, True Blood, and all that heyday of the vampire romance genre and yes all these stories were various kinds of problematic, cheesy heteronormative and frequently bad but they had STYLE they had thee vibe with the indie singers and the moody fog and lush forests and genuinely creepy moments and 00s camp bargain bin goth excessive self indulgent corsets and leather aesthetic there was atmosphere there was a sense of place they were going for IT

whereas this show has the plastic smell of something that just rolled off the Netflix factory line, the ikea type of ready made vibe-making that makes it sort of agressively forgettable

like look at that intro thing. It's so ugly and uninspired, it's like they went oh teens like scribbles right let's commission someone to do that for five euros and blur it together with bad photoshop

which is a shame because it did have the ingredients for a kinda bad but good cult fave. The intro song is self aware and funny. The actors are all doing a great job actually, much better than the show they're in, they really sell it. It's unapologetically queer. They managed to genuinely make me care about their families, which is a feat all those CW shows and their snoozefest vampire family politics never managed to do. It has some absolute gold moments ("You ate my mother ?????) and some genuine emotion

I just ahhhhhh I can't go all in on a show that just seems so sloppy and half-assed with the vibes like I have better standards than that even if yeah we are still lacking wlw rep but like I watch stuff like Heartstopper where everything seems so thoughtfully and carefully put together and the vibe is absolutely pitch perfect for what the story is trying to do and it looks like it's meant to feel, that bubbly giddy colorful bubble - grrr I want to tear the wallpaper off it's not a competition ofc but I do feel in general wlw are still getting the short end of the stick in terms of representation that is like, actually good in artistic terms and it is so frustrating because that really doesn't help getting more of an audience even/especially among young queer women

I guess I'm just gonna go and finish Yellowjackets but like it is telling that I have to go and watch the sapphic pairing where one gets her face torn off for some actual quality vibes like hellooooo

All things said tho I do still hope that First Kill gets renewed it's the first season, it could grow into it's own and I did get quite attached to the characters so I'd like to know how it ends for them