#PRIDE MONTH MEME WOW THAT WAS A LONG ASS REPLY!!

[millicnreasons-blog]

how do you feel about lgbtqa roles in media? @ u

PRIDE MONTH QUESTIONNAIRE // accepting

Oh now this is a very good question.

I think comparatively, since the 1990′s there’s been a slow upward trend in lgbtqa representation, it’s gone from relatively few and negative images to a much more visible and positive representation. However, that isn’t to say the media doesn’t have a long way to go in providing more appropriate and positive healthy portrayals of lgbqa people. My main bug bear when it comes to queer representation is the trend of f/f storylines or even subtext f/f is still geared towards the straight male gaze. ( holla for hetero privilege yall can we say H E T E R O N O R M A T I V I T Y ). 

Another issue with lgbtqa storylines is that they can often be delivered in a way that is palatable to the masses eg. the trope of pairing male gay characters with a heterosexual female counterpart - will & grace is like the PERFECT albeit a little dated example of this-  by making the gay male character the female leads homo-platonic pseudo husband ( and even with will & grace fight me if there wasn’t this over whelming implication that they’d end up together by the fandom ).

THIS GETS LONG…. so I’mma read more it!!

       Let’s talk Buffy the Vampire Slayer; so this show was literally at the forefront of queer portrayals imo. the willow and tara love story was so beautifully crafted, and delivered with grace. it grew so naturally and, i know now from interviews with Wheadon that it was his intention from very early on to take Willow’s story down that route. and this was in the last 90′s, a lesbian full frontal kiss on primetime television, it was fucking visionary, and because of this show and this story line I was less afraid to explore my own feelings for the same sex.  Their romance would die ( literally when Tara died and oh god that hurt ) but what they did after that is arguable so important – and as much as I hated it at the time looking back now, giving Willow another female love interest, after Tara was so important. They didn’t just leave her to grieve and be alone, they gave her hope, a new beginning. And you might slate BTVS for a lot of things, but how they played out that story line in the late 90′s early noughties was spectacular. and they were anything but apologetic about it.  

     Now let’s talk about Grey’s Anatomy; this show has done wonderful at queer representation.  I might have such a love hate relationship with a lot of aspects of GA but queer rep is one thing is does exceptionally well, and it isn’t afraid to tackle very REAL problems that lgbtqa people face. the marriage story line with Callie & Arizona was so tasteful and so REALISTICALLY done. Callie’s  religious parents didn’t accept her.  her mother didn’t show up to her wedding; their wedding wasn’t legal because at the time the state of washington didn’t have marriage equality. While i think it’s very important to show healthy, stable relationships between same sex couples, what is even more important is to show their struggles. This gives lgbtqa people something they can relate to. Another story line i though was super important was the one with Ben Warren’s transgender MtF sister.  Ben struggled to come to terms with it, and displayed some wholly disgusting transphobic attitudes and comments. which, although enraged me to watch was relatable, and a true representation to a lot of trans* individuals face when coming out to their families. And finally, the Calzona court battle, gave such hope to not only same sex couples facing awful custody battles but ALSO to adoptive parents. I was extremely well executed.  So well done grey’s you’re doing pretty damn good at this.

    Other noteable, good examples of positive and realistic portrays is definitely Shameless (US) the Gallavich storyline.  A story of two rough kids from shitty neighbourhoods figuring shit out. And while their relationship was toxic at some points,  the growth and character development within it was intense. They loved each other very much, too much even, and in the end that love wasn’t enough to keep them together. it broke my heart i won’t lie. watching how far they came from Mickey’s outright refusal to label himself gay to standing up in the middle of the Alibi and declaring it everyone was fucking beautiful. Also, Shout out to Shameless also for their Poly representation.

 And the NOT so good, trend of QUEER BAITING. two of my favorite shows are guilty of this. They pull you in with this hint of a beautiful queer ship. ( Lexa and Clarke; Betty & Veronica ). maybe they even give you a kissing scene. a little development and then BAM they rip it away. In t100′s case by killing of a queer character for nothing more than shock value. or in Riverdale’s case,a little girl on girl for the ‘shock factor’ of attention whoring. With little consideration for how much that would piss off there queer fans… another Riverdale problem is Jughead’s asexual erasure, which, no isn’t just me pissed off at BUGHEAD. (i lowkey ship it; it gives a girl Literati feels okay??) i know that only one incarnation of the comics confirmed outright his status as asexual. but, for anyone who’d read the comics that doesn’t need to be said, it’s very evident without the outright language that Jughead is ace. What i would have liked to see was that being explored within a relationship. There is no reason why, Jughead, as an asexual could not be in a relationship. I would have prefered to see was how his sexuality would have affected said relationship, be that with Betty or anyone else for that matter, but unfortunately that isn’t a route CW wanted to take for his character, and as someone who identifies somewhere on the ace spectrum ( lil bi-demi right here yo ) that’s kinda sad to me.

So yeah,  in summary, we do have some very positive example of queer representation in the media, but even in those positive examples there is still heteronormative subtext. there’s still a lot of biphobia, transphobia and out right sexualities being erased entirely to make the content more appealing. ( everyone loves a romance plot, right?? ) what i would like to see more of is strong and important friendships between queer characters. platonic  relationships are important, not everyone needs to be fucking everyone to make good viewing. I would like to see more development of queer characters outside of the confines of BEING a queer character ( eg. Kevin Keller, can someone give that boy a decent storyline next season please. )

[rigenadriftwooduniverse]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.

1. BASICS

NAME: Katy, its not my full or real name, but its the name I go by the most and is most comfortable people in real life calling me.  PRONOUNS: Eh. I normally settle with female, but I have not flinched with male or ambiguise pronouns personally either. 

SEXUALITY: Female  ZODIAC SIGN: Scorpio TAKEN OR SINGLE: Taken for a decade now

THREE FACTS:

1. To this day, I am not brave enough to look at a mirror in the dark. This sir is a big ass NOPENOPENOPENOPE

2. Like fluffy and fuzzy things. I own a fuzzy blanket I snug under and rub my chin against or roll into a burrito when I’m feeling really down. 

3.  My favorite food is chili

2. EXPERIENCE

HOW LONG (MONTHS / YEARS?): I've been role playing since I was 8 years old, so a good 22 years. My mom introduced me to it, she started pulling D&D adventures for me and my brothers as family time. My first RP OC was a fairy.  PLATFORMS YOU’VE USED: The table, instant messengers: yahoo, msn, google hang out, skype discord, WoW, Wildstar, forums. BEST EXPERIENCE: A two year story involving a rp partner of mine dealing with inevitable death, love, pride and stubbornness. 

3. MUSE PREFERENCES

FEMALE OR MALE:  Female MULTI OR SINGLE: multi. To be honest I always have some new voice in my head I want to try out after a while. Sometimes they stick and I keep them, sometimes they don’t and I shelve them, or sometimes they really don’t and they are drown by the other voices in my head

4.  WRITING PREFERENCES

FLUFF, ANGST OR SMUT: Fluff and Ansgt! Truth I love adventure, I LOVE PUTTING MY CHARACTER THROUGH THE SHEER FIRES OF HELL AND ANGUISHED UNTIL THEY ARE CONSUMED BY THEIR OWN WONTON DESPAIR- and then have happy comedy moments! I love tragedy, I love comedy. I love dark rp, light rp, adventure rp, mystery rp, fluff rp, house rp, mystic rp, drama rp.. just not smut rp.  PLOTS OR MEMES: WHY MUST I CHOOSE?! I love plots. I love storylines and character development. But I love memes, where you think of a situation and just thrust that character in it. I will forever do both LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: I tend to stick with short, but when I need to I will go long. It all depends on how much detail I wish to express or need to provide to those around me. 

BEST TIME TO WRITE: This is important.. the best time to write... is when I’m not stressing out at something, and not caught up with either a book or show series. My best work isn’t hindered by distractions.  ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): Not really. My muses are things I want to explore in some way. Some of them I wish i could be like... otherwise I claim no responsibility for *coughrigsisnotmyfaultcough*

Tagged by: @wilder-weave

Tagging: @breir-loose-leaf @thegreatersunbro @samibrightberry @cyrexhatesstuff @tiaraniaroiyaru