#Vietnamese general

[girlactionfigure]

[bat-besties]

People often say Cass’ reason for identifying as nonbinary is “not understanding gender” and while it’s often a joke, I do think it’s the complete opposite to Cass’ knowledge. (I’m using she/her for canon, this applies however and whichever way you headcanon Cass’ gender identity)

I feel it’s often coming from a place of her not understanding language, but gender is so much more than language. A lot of sociologists and gender theorists would kill for the ability to perfectly understand body language and then travel across (at least) China, Vietnam, and the US observing people in urban and rural environments, in both peaceful and violent situations. 

 In many ways, her lack of preconceptions about gender or need for language to shape her observances would make her more able to see the reality of gender performance rather than ideals. The idea that women are weak or men are unemotional would be foreign to her. 

As a child she’s isolated, but she still trains with the League of Assassins briefly. Unfortunately, the first time she is heavily gendered is as a disguise and a weapon in the most traumatic event in her lift, which undeniably shapes her attitude to femininity as this post covers. 

But as she runs, her world suddenly expands to, well, the entire world. 

Her gender identity may have come to words and self-expression in America, but the first place she would be able to really observe people is in south China, likely passing through Guangdong and Guangxi over the course of a year or two. That’s a really formative period, and as I personally think Lady Shiva is from south China (specifically Yunnan), is also unintentionally Cass connecting with her heritage. 

She’s a homeless and very traumatised nine year old, so obviously her experience would have been overall awful. However, a teenage Cass still strongly believes in the sanctity of life and the capacity for goodness in people, and I have to think that while she’s seen a lot of darkness, she’s seen a lot of goodness too. Cass isn’t always curious about things she doesn’t understand (as with her reading), but she has to have been observant to keep travelling and keep escaping from Cain. 

She will have seen the wealthy gamblers of Macau, the street vendors of small-town Vietnam, the pickpockets of Gotham. She will have seen different gender norms across cultures, even if she doesn’t know how each language reflects those norms. She would have to adjust to each new place, and refine her body language reading more generally (like how Americans smile way too much), including gendered readings. 

Cass will have seen a million couples, straight and gay. Pairs of women afraid to hold hands but projecting their nervousness on the first date like a signal. Unhappy marriages hidden by false smiles for the neighbours. Elderly couples where the man still walks on the road side of the pavement.

Considering herself an orphan, she will have seen mothers nursing their babies, fathers pushing their daughters on swingsets, sisters yelling at each other one moment and laughing the next. 

Watching unobserved, she would see all kinds of women in the city. Groups of women going from club to club in high heels, schoolgirls copying each other’s homework on the train, business women in neat makeup and a purposeful walk.  

She will have met other homeless girls like herself. Despite being unable to speak with them she might recognise the guarded set to their eyes, the way they are always poised to run - but they might have a smile for her, and a willingness to share a sheltered spot. They might have cut her hair spiky and short, or taught her to play cat’s cradle.  

Unfortunately, she will have seen predatory behaviour, men who leer or talk with deceptively friendly tones to a little girl alone. (I know she’s meant to “discover” men being attracted to her in the comics as a teen but that’s optimistic). When those men approach other girls, she doesn’t hesitate to protect them. 

But she would have seen so much joy too - boys playing football and grown men joining in, old men sitting on plastic chairs and observing the street together, gangly teen boys play-fighting.

On the streets, clustered and sometimes hidden, she would have seen people whose clothing and body language doesn’t match their bodies. Before Cass knows the words transgender and drag and gender nonconforming, she knows that these people are at risk for being different - at risk like she might be, if she couldn’t convince herself she only needs her fighting skills to protect herself. She wouldn’t need words to take each person as they look to her, to have an amorphous and wordless idea of performativity. 

And then of course, she has Barbara, and Batgirl, and finally language. 

So, I think Cass’ gender identity is something she discovers with the background of this huge tapestry of humanity she’s observed over the years. And if she goes “fuck that it makes no sense”, that’s a deeply informed, nuanced Fuck That. 

[askblueandviolet]

Tú, alcalde. ¿Hablas español? Eso sería genial :D

"Yes, I know many languages! Mandarin, cantonese, english, brazilian, french, italian, and of course, spanish!"

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[its-sixxers]

born too late to explore the earth, born too early to explore the stars, born just in time to enjoy a wide variety of cuisines and snacks

[ql-of-all-time-bracket]

QL of All Time - Round 1: Goodbye Mother (2019) vs General, Can I Sleep with You? (2021)

[smotherstories]

Nightlife in Saigon.

[miraethepresent]

[nvathuw]

Em xinh tươi hệt như lần đầu Con tim anh tỏ ra thật ngầu Em có gas giống ly soda Nỗi nhớ em chẳng thế thoát ra

[baravaggio]

d'annam discovery set arrived and these perfumes are honestly so so gorgeous I'm kind of blown away....my favorites of the bunch are white rice vietnamese coffee and da lat which I was not expecting at all just based on my general preferences....just so genuinely lovely

[tigorrrr]

🏵️Newlyweds🏵️

“𝘐 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴.”

“𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘺, 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺.”

[typemoonconfessions]

[purenguyening]

Right now my endurance and reading ability can't watch a full anime episode with Vietnamese subtitles yet. But I do think it's quite fun for me to be able to read short clips that span for about two minutes and be able to understand 80% of it.

Basically my ability right now is that I can read it, but I still need the time to extract what it means. The duration subtitles display is still a little too short for me to be able to read and understand. I think it'll get better with enough time and consistency.

I just kind of wish I wasn't beating myself too hard and allowed myself the patience I allow others when developing a new skill...

[supercantaloupe]

okay i had something to eat and drink. i'm feeling better now

[necromancy-savant]

My mom says her Italian grandmother used to say "va Napoli" as a way of saying "go to Hell" and if true I have a lot of questions about Naples

[buckieduckie2]

“asian sauce” i’m so fucking done with this school man 😭😭✋

[tragedykery]

ok I’ve been thinking about taituk’s attitude towards murder lately and I think might have come to a tentative conclusion. the main problem is that if I make taituk just “ok with murder” is that, by letting (part of) their crew stay there, I would imply that attitude extends to the entirety of the tribe. but taituk being against killing in any and all cases would not be realistic, considering their job (pirate captain), and their background (grew up half on a farm in the earth kingdom where killing animals for meat presumably wasn’t rare, half in the south pole, where the main source of food is animals—both of which would lead them or others to question what the difference is between killing animals and killing people. are people of higher worth than animals and do they therefore deserve to not be killed? does that mean that animals don’t deserve to live? etc)

so I think the most realistic opinion for them to have would be that killing needs to save more lives than it takes. hunting for food, killing somebody to prevent them from hurting/killing others is okay, but hunting for fun and murder out of anything other than necessity is not.