#Representation matters

[phoenixfeatherquillwriting]

In case you’d like to read more about any of these titles! (Links go to Storygraph or Goodreads as available.)

Until the Last Petal Falls- Viano Oniomoh (queer fantasy)

The Black Flamingos-Dean Atta (queer YA)

Debate and Decadence-Sula Sullivan (queer fantasy, romance)

Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places-Claire Kann (queer fantasy, romance)

Inherritence: A Visual Poem-Elizabeth Acevedo (art by Andrea Pippins; nonfiction poetry)

Blood Like Magic-Liselle Sambury (queer YA fantasy)

A Phoenix Must First Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope (short story anthology, edited by Patrice Caldwell)

Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color (short story anthology, edited by Ellyn Peña, Jamie Berrout, and Venus Selenite)

Everfair-Nisi Shawl (alternate history, fantasy/sci-fi)

The Black God’s Drums- P. Djeli Clark (fantasy/sci-fi)

The Wicker King-K. Ancrum (YA thriller)

Dread Nation-Justina Ireland (Civil War inspired alternate history, horror)

That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf-Kimberly Lemming (fantasy romance)

This Ravenous Fate-Hayley Dennings (YA fantasy, Jazz Age-inspired alternate history)

The Fifth Season-N.K. Jemisin (fantasy/sci-fi)

A Taste of Honey-Kai Ashante Wilson (queer fantasy)

Infinity Alchemist-Kacen Callender (queer YA fantasy)

The Winged Histories-Sofia Samatar (queer fantasy)

Crimes of Passion-Jack Harbon (queer romance, true crime/mystery)

Outdrawn-Deanna Grey (queer romance)

The Passing Playbook-Isaac Fitzsimons (YA queer fantasy, sports)

More to Love- Georgina Kiersten (novella, queer fantasy)

Finding Joy-Adriana Hererra (queer romance)

Sweet Nothings and Other Confections-Sula Sullivan (Regency inspired queer fantasy)

March (Book One)-Andrew Aydin and John Lewis (nonfiction, graphic novel)

Fragments of a Fallen Star-Viano Oniomoh (queer fantasy romance)

The Maid and the Crocodile-Jordan Ifueko (YA fantasy romance)

House of Frank-Kay Synclaire (queer fantasy)

That Self-Same Metal-Brittany N. Williams (Shakespeare-inspired YA fantasy)

Somewhere in the Grey Area-Jeffery K. Davenport (queer romance, thriller)

Chain Gang All-Stars-Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (dystopian)

Faebound-Saara El-Arifi (queer fantasy romance)

Raybearer-Jordan Ifueko (YA fantasy)

The Gilded Ones-Namina Forna (YA fantasy)

The Fall That Saved Us-Tamara Jeree (queer fantasy romance)

Where Black Stars Rise-Nadia Shammas and Marie Enger (graphic novel, horror)

Witchmark-C.L. Polk (mystery, fantasy romance)

Amari and the Night Brothers- B.B. Alston (middle-grade fantasy)

Icarus-K. Ancrum (YA queer romance)

We Deserve Monuments-Jas Hammonds (contemporary YA)

Legendborn-Tracy Deonn (YA fantasy)

Brooms-Jasmine Wall (graphic novel, 1930s inspired fantasy)

House of Hunger-Alexis Henderson (Gothic-inspired fantasy, horror)

Sorrowland-Rivers Solomon (sci-fi, horror)

This Poison Heart-Kalynn Bayron (queer YA fantasy)

The Forest Demands its Due-Kosoko Jackson (Fantasy, horror)

Till the Last Beat of My Heart-Louangie Bon-Montes (YA fantasy, horror)

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps-Kai Ashante Wilson (queer fantasy)

Children of Blood and Bone-Tomi Adeyemi (YA fantasy)

Escaping Mr. Rochester-L.L. McKinney (YA queer romance, Jane Eyre retelling)

How to Succeed in Witchcraft-Aislinn Brophy (YA fantasy)

Black Leopard Red Wolf-Marlon James (fantasy)

Blood Debts-Terry J. Benton-Walker (fantasy, mystery)

How Long Til Black Future Month?-N.K. Jemisin (anthology, fantasy/sci-fi)

Blood at the Root-LaDarrion Williams- (YA fantasy)

We are the Origin-C.M. Lockhart (fantasy)

Forged by Blood-Ehigbor Okosun (fantasy romance)

The Taking of Jake Livingston-Ryan Douglass (YA horror)

Model Home-Rivers Solomon (horror)

The Witchery-S. Isabelle (YA fantasy)

Read black books all year long. Keep talking about them, fighting for them, and the people who write them.

Most of these are queer, but some of them are not.

[thesamsam]

regulus black is the embodiment of loneliness

[spacebubblehomebase]

Crazy how the person you've been following for Team Rocket memes suddenly reached for the stars. But to celebrate another artist's success, I present to you another AU! Because we need more of those in this new fandom and I like the cliché trope of a traitor love interest. XD Though I admit this small doodle idea got way out of hand. Still, do you see the vision??? (🌕v🌕) -Bubbly💙

[writing2changetheworld]

The Rollettes are in a Lady Gaga music video! This is huge! This is amazing!

[gifsbysimplysonia]

@fatphobiabusters

@fuckyeahfatpositive

💜

[crazygnomenclature]

After seeing Representative Zephyr kick major legislature ass, she deserves to wield a massive mallet in the chambers.

Seeing clips of Zooey Zephyr stand up against anti-trans legislation has helped renew hope in me that there are ways we can still fight horrendous policies targeting queer people. She is an inspiration and I cannot express how much I appreciate having her fighting in the fray for our rights. Representation definitely does matter.

My Site | Webtoon | Bluesky

Support on Patreon!

[orionsangel86]

There is something about proudly proclaiming a show "tumblrista catnip" that makes me emotional.

Something about how for years tumblrinas were ridiculed by show creators.

Something about Supernatural having a meta episode set at a convention with all the weirdo fans that made the main characters uncomfortable. Something something about Becky and the message that fangirls are gross and obsessive.

Something about Sherlock and the way fans were portrayed as crazy obsessive nutjobs for trying to figure out how he faked his death.

Something about creators mocking fandoms, dismissing them as freaks. Something about queer people not being welcome to engage in their creations because "why do you have to make everything gay?"

Something about the malicious culture of queerbaiting throughout the 2000s/2010s, followed by Bury Your Gays tropes across the media landscape because hell, you should be grateful we even gave you queer characters to begin with - and everyone dies in our show! You ain't special!

Something about Destiel questions being banned from conventions...

And then...

Something instead about Good Omens, and letting the story adapt naturally, embracing the fanbase and leaning into the fanservice.

Something about Our Flag Means Death, and the genuine outpouring of love and affection between cast, crew, and fandom that culminated in an explosion of fanworks that were never once mocked or deemed gross or wrong.

Something about Sandman, and staunchly digging in their heels on the queerness of it all, refusing to give in to the homophobes and instead avidly mocking THEM on social media rather than us.

Something about the writers hearing about fandoms favourite ships and excitedly stating that YES! We DID lean into that because it happened naturally and made sense.

Something about a firefighter coming out as bisexual after 7 seasons...

So yeah, something about a new high quality show made FOR US. By creators that love US. Respect US, and WANT our love.

Something about US FINALLY being a target audience for the best shows being made on TV now.

Tumblrista catnip. Creators saying "we made this for you. You are important. Your voices have been heard."

It just... all got a bit overwhelming for a moment there.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Fun fact: MLK was a huge fan of Nichelle Nichols' Lieutenant Uhura! Even one of the most famous Black activists, in the midst of the movement, was looking to see his people in the stars. Representation matters!

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This upcoming (really every!) MLK Day, I want us to actually take the time to read what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. actually said! His legacy is often wielded against Black activists as a form of "acceptable, peaceful protest", when the reality is that his beliefs and actions were so uncomfortable, so societally unacceptable and threatening to the status quo that he was assassinated 😬.

It is a show of respect to him, his memory, and his works that we actually listen to and promote the voice and values of the man himself. Letter From a Birmingham Jail is short but poignant, a good starting point. In honor of MLK this year, let's be willing to get uncomfortable, to confront our potentially harmful beliefs, for that better world he dreamed of 🙏🏾.

[whereserpentswalk]

Thinking about how well Worm handles disability, especially compared to most other things in its genre. The way lifelong injuries are treated as a normal part of being a cape. The fact that Taylor is blind for awhile and it's not treated as a tragedy, and how when it's healed by scapegoat it's not treated as some sort of redemptive miracle, but just a thing that happened. Defiant's wounds still being something that effects him even though he has tinker magitech. Kid Wind having adhd and being helped by meds but then having to go off them due to side effects. Taylor seeing paralysis as a fate worse then death being seen as a her thing and not an objective fact (and probably being from trauma during the leviathan fight). Genesis's disability being something the people around her care about a lot more then her. Labyrinth and Bitch both being basically neurodivergent from their powers (labyrinth being essentially high support needs, and Bitch being essentially low support needs) with both being able to live fulfilling lives with people who care about them (also that scene with someone trying to baby talk Bitch near the end really hit home for me).

Also, Dragon, despite not being literally disabled is a very good disability allegory. People who don't know she's a machine often think she's disabled. The way her father put so many constraints on her because he didn't trust her, because of what she was. The way so many human characters see her right to live as something up for debate. The way Saint calls Defiant's attraction to her a fetish because he can only comprehend someone loving her as being some strange abnormality. The fact that teacher thinks it's ok to put constrains on her basically because he physically can. Defiant and her being intimate by testing how well they can feel sensations. Even just the way Saint talks about her not being able to truly feel emotion, but saying she tricked herself into doing so, is reminiscent of how some people talk about people with Cluster B disorders. And beyond that, the fact that all of the people who dehumanize her are framed as unquestionably in the wrong. Hell, she had a trigger event so even the eldritch horrors affirm her personhood.

I realize the discussion of Dragon was longer then I planned. But yeah, worm has much better disability rep then anything else I've seen in the superhero genre (probably because it's written by a disabled author).

Also I'm pretty sure you have to be neurodivergent to read a 1,672,617 word long internet book about the sociopolitical ramifications of superpowers. /j

[meerawrites]

They are correct and should say it louder.

Source: (x)

[alexistalkscomics]

Why Is The Jewish “Representation” In Agatha All Along So Problematic???

When it was first confirmed that Joe Locke was going to have a role in Agatha All Along, most fans quickly came to the conclusion that he would be portraying Billy Kaplan AKA Wiccan which unfortunately ended up being correct.

The problem with that casting you ask?

Joe Locke isn’t Jewish and he is playing one of Marvel’s most prominent Jewish characters. Whilst many goyim (non-Jewish people) often inaccurately perceive Jewishness to solely be a religious identity which is a massive oversimplification of what it means to be a Jew, Jewish people are actually an ethnoreligious community which means that we’re our own distinct ethnic group and culture that have a traditional religion that is intrinsically tied to our identity and culture regardless of individual Jewish people’s levels of observance.

And because we are an ethnoreligious group, that makes the casting of Joe Locke, who is not ethnically or religiously Jewish, inherently problematic to say the least, especially when placed into the wider context of Jewish representation in the MCU.

Marvel Studios has previously been criticised for the way that it’s approached adaptations of Jewish characters for the MCU with the two main examples being casting Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, who is Romani and Jewish in the comics, and Oscar Isaac as the Ashkenazi Jewish Marc Spector in the Moon Knight streaming series and in both cases, the heritage of the characters were either downplayed or just outright erased. So for anyone who understands the issue, it should be clear that the MCU has a poor track record when it comes to representing Jewish characters and that Agatha All Along’s adaptation of Billy Maximoff/Kaplan is just another addition to the list of disrespectful adaptations of Jewish characters.

What is the specific problem with how Billy has been adapted in the MCU?

Well, in order to answer that question, the answer has to effectively be split into two parts:

In the most recent episode of Agatha All Along, we finally learn the backstory of Billy (who had previously only been referred as “Teen” due to a spell that prevented his identity from being found out) and as part of that, we are shown a flashback to the day of Billy KAPLAN’s (the capitalisation will make sense in a bit), Bar Mitzvah, a sacred Jewish ritual that marks the transition into adulthood and the responsibilities that comes with being a Jewish adult. In this flashback, Billy (who if you’ve payed attention, is being played by a non-Jew) is shown wearing traditional religious garments and handling what is potentially an actual Torah scroll.

Within Judaism and Jewish culture in general, handling a Torah and then reading from it is seen as both a great honour and responsibility for any Jew who is called for an Aliyah so seeing a non-Jewish actor who has no experience as a Jewish person and in interviews, has mocked fans who criticised his role in the show, wearing my culture and religion as a costume to advance his career just felt wrong to me. I love Marvel and I take great pride in superhero comics being an art form that was created by Jewish immigrants so seeing one of the biggest franchises in history cast a non-Jewish actor to appropriate Jewish culture just felt disgusting to me. At least with Moon Knight, all we got was the smallest references to his Jewish heritage rather than being subjected to seeing the christian Oscar Isaac partake in sacred closed rituals.

And now, moving onto the second part of the answer to the above question, after we see Billy reading from the Torah and are then shown the party following the ceremony, we learn that the flashback takes place concurrently with the final episode of WandaVision. Because of that, the party has to end early so that guest can evacuate and soon, Billy and his parents are in a car accident where Billy dies…

…until his body is quickly revived after the soul of Wanda and Vision’s artificially constructed son, Billy MAXIMOFF possesses and takes control of Billy Kaplan’s body whilst erasing everything that made Billy Kaplan who he was. The reason why this is especially problematic is because of the great importance of the soul within Judiaism. According to Jewish laws, one of the most important things that distinguishes Jewish people from goyim is a Jewish soul and in Agatha All Along, one of the main protagonist who is an adaption of a Jewish character who was created by a Jewish writer is reimagined as a non-Jewish soul that hijacks the corpse of a Jewish teenager to use as a meat puppet. It becomes even worse when later on in the episode, “Billy” is shown rejecting his identity as Billy Kaplan which effectively takes the undertones of ethnic erasure and cultural appropriation of Joe Locke’s casting and makes it an essential part of the characterisation for this incarnation of Billy.

In Conclusion?

In the Marvel Comics, Billy Kaplan is a proud queer Jewish man who was partially based on the lived experiences of his creator who is also a gay Jewish man. Becuase of that, he holds a special place in the hearts of many fans who see a piece of ourselves in him and we deserved to see the really Billy Kaplan be brought to life in a way that would honour the source material that we love and introduce mainstream audiences to a really cool and fascinating Jewish superhero who can open up so many possibilities for the more supernatural side of the Marvel Universe to be explored in further MCU instalments.

But instead, we got the bare minimum of Jewish representation followed by the complete erasure of that “representation” with the ultimate end product being a show riddled with the underlying rot of antisemitism.

[witha-boxofscraps]

Quick reminder for those who seem to be forgetting because I’ve seen a concerning amount of fan casts for Louella McCoy…LOUELLA IS POC. SHE IS A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD PERSON OF COLOUR. THE CHILD THEY USE TO REPLACE HER IS FROM DISTRICT 11- A PREDOMINANTLY BLACK DISTRICT. THE CAPITOL DO NOT SEE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO LITTLE BLACK GIRLS AND THAT IS THE SOCIAL COMMENTARY. I understand Haymitch’s appearance being up for debate as the movie casting differs largely from the book description BUT DO NOT TAKE THIS AWAY FROM LOUELLA (and Lou Lou of course).

[spacebubblehomebase]

(Canon Luci with Shrunken Al. Did not go so well. 😅)

Everyone: Deer instincts this. Radio noises that-

Me: Why don't we make use of the snake thing more often? I will never get over the fact that between the two of them, the predator and prey is not who people would usually expect.

Tied to this:

-Bubbly💙

[writingwithcolor]

Wouldn’t my writing be worse off if I forced in elements like diversity?

If you are asking this question, you have yet to challenge the “default” of your culture’s media. Consider that the majority of modern Western media fill their casts with white men, and when there are women or POC, they stick out conspicuously. Many people view adding diversity as tweaking some white man characters by toggling race or gender. But this assumes that “white man” is some default, standard character template.

If you feel pressured to include diversity in your writing, distance yourself from this pressure and ask yourself why you feel it. If you feel attacked when seeing campaigns for more diversity or criticism of all-white, uninclusive media, sit with the discomfort and ask yourself why those who are different from you say they need diverse media.

These are people whose voices and faces are rarely visible in entertainment. Despite this, they enjoy an adventure as much as anyone, and have become accustomed to projecting onto white characters. Yet, when the reverse is asked of white audiences to acknowledge protagonists of color, it becomes a difficult ask. These character choices are immediately questioned, discredited, fought against, and accused of being “woke” or “unrelatable.”

This resistance reflects a larger issue: the imbalance between audiences’ empathy towards the majority/“default” and empathy towards those perceived as Other.

By mostly reading about white people, they become easier to relate to. By the same token, if we are not reading media and histories from the perspective of POC, we end up with more people who literally fail to relate to POC. When we talk about hope-deficits, increased alienation and lower self-worth among marginalized populations, underrepresentation in media is a big factor. Imagine for a moment: never the beautiful princess in the tower, never the badass hero riding dragons; always the two-second sidekick.

People of color are people and want to be seen and treated as such. Not as a burden to devote your time to, but people who have a place in the world, fictional or no. Really, writing a world in your story that is all or mostly white is more unrealistic, more forced—after all, there are far more non-white people on Earth. Becoming comfortable with diversity requires unlearning White as the Default and POC as the Other. It takes setting aside feelings of pressure to emphasize, open your heart and listen.

Further Reading:

“Diversity has gone too far!”

Diversity is for everyone.

Children and the Myth of Colorblind Youth

Those who read about aliens learn to emphasize with aliens. Those who read about wizards empathize with wizards.

---

This Q&A is an excerpt from our General FAQ for Newcomers, which can be found in our new Masterpost of rules and FAQs. If you liked this post, we have more recommended reading there!

-Writing With Color

[cy-cyborg]

People on the internet: they can't hire actors who are actually in wheelchairs to play wheelchair users in movies! What if there's a scene where they need to stand up? A wheelchair user can't do that!

Robert Rodriguez: hold my beer

This is a scene from spy kids 3 - a movie in a series famous for its shoe-string budgets, where Ricardo Montalbán's character is in a wheelchair, but spends most of his screen time in a digital reality where he doesn't need it. Ricardo Montalbán was actually in a wheelchair though in real life, so they just used a combination of VFX and camera tricks (and a dolly for a few shots) to film those scenes. Also if I remember correctly the movie ends with him back in the real world, fighting a mech with his jet-pack wheelchair lmao.

The disability rep is dated (as is the VFX lol) and does fall into a lot of tropes I personally dont like, but it's so earnest in their attempts, and the visible effort behind the scenes to include a real, disabled actor outweighs it for me - even as a kid who wasnt fully aware of why.

Bigger studios have no excuse.

I've linked the video I got these screenshots from, they talk a lot about how they handled Ricardo Montalbán's character being out of his wheelchair there. If if you like behind the scenes stuff for campy old movies, I highly recommend it!

[ID 1: a screenshot of the movie Spy kids 3D, showing Juni, the main character in a suit of yellow power armour, talking to his grandfather, who towers over him in red power armour. his grandfather is kneeling so he can be at eye level with him.

the caption underneath reads "where he kneels down and talks to Juni" /end ID 1]

[ID 2: a photo of the same shot but without the effects. Grandpa is shown to be in a wheelchair, and is being held at the needed height by a moveable platform his wheelchair is sitting on. Juni is wearing the armour, grandpa is not, and there are green screens behind them.

the caption underneath reads "but we just had him lowered in a dolly" /end ID 2]