#and accepted that him being a good person made him not deserving of racism

[dearqueerdeers]

no wait actually as an avid reader English classes pissed me off so bad in high school. before high school I just found them vaguely annoying because it was super easy stuff— the author says in paragraph 3 that daisy is mad. Which of these word is a synonym for “mad”?— but in high school they really started to lean into analysis that was deeper than “surface level”. Here’s the thing. I’ve been writing fanfiction since I was 11. I know how to read between the lines. I know how to analyze shit. Been doing it forever. So I get to English classes where they’re asking me to do that and I go “great! this will be fun!”— only to be told that I am, in fact, wrong, in my interpretation of whatever current book we were reading.

This happened a lot for a lot of books (I am autistic lmao), but the one that infuriates me to this day is when we read Things Fall Apart in my senior year English class. Note that we did not read Heart of Darkness, which supposedly this book was a response to, so I could very well be missing a chunk of analysis here. It essentially followed a man living in Nigeria pre-colonialism and followed his life as European “missionaries” slowly started invading the surrounding area & eventually his home. According to my English teacher, Heart of Darkness portrayed the indigenous people in African in a very negative light and erased a lot of their culture, and Things Fall Apart was written as a rebuttal to showcase the rich culture and interior lives of the people portrayed as “savages” in Heart of Darkness.

And yes, the book did a wonderful job of showcasing the presence of a thriving culture and the personhood of those living in Nigeria! However. This teacher absolutely refused to hear any analysis that painted the main character in a bad light. If you pointed out that any of his actions were bad and suggested that he had personal growth to do, she’d shut you down immediately. I specifically was told “it’s a different culture and you can’t judge them based on our cultural standards.” My class was told the protagonist was a good guy trying his best, & that’s what the book was trying to showcase. If you listened to my English teacher without ever touching this book, you’d probably think it was about a guy doing his best and who therefore didn’t deserve the violence he experienced at the hands of the colonizers. (Disclaimer here that shouldn’t need to be said but I’m saying it anyways: You can’t “deserve” to be colonized. No culture or individual person should ever be forced to endure colonization. Full stop, period, end of story.)

Here’s the thing. This dude sucked balls, guys. He murders his adopted son. He hits his kids. He abuses his wives. & the whole time shows no learning from any of these actions. And those actions formed my analysis of the book! My analysis was that this guy sucked hard and the point of the book was that even when people suck, colonization is bad. My TEACHER’S analysis (and the only analysis she allowed us to discuss) was that this guy was a good guy and the point of the book was to make us feel bad that a good guy was the victim of colonization. I don’t even think I need to unpack why that’s totally bullshit, y’all have reading comprehension skills lmao.

To this day I still bitch about this book and this unit to my friends who were in that class. Not that any media analysis should ever be considered “right” or “wrong,” but to be told I was wrong in my analysis when I so very clearly was not was infuriating.

[bittergirlsworld]

I finally gave up and saw TVD to understand some stuff in TO, and I just have to say: what an awfully written show. My goodness, how the hell is the most annoying girl in Mystic Falls the anchor who holds them together? Caroline, the fandom darling has no personality whatsoever. She's a camaleon, she's what they need her to be in the episode. Sometimes, she's the greatest soul alive, sometimes she's only there to slutshame another girl for doing exactly what she does. Sometimes she's pinning after her boyfriend, sometimes she backstabs him. Sometimes she's so repulsed by the 1000 year murder who bribes her with fancy things and sometimes she's okay to use the hell out of him to have what she needs. Elena, who's supposed to be the protagonist, becomes more and more the love interest to Damon. His love for her, that both recognize as toxic, comes from a sire bond and everyone insists to pretend that she loves him just the same without it as if she wasn't heavily projecting Stefan on him to the point he calls her out. The Originals, who were supposed to be invicible, the most insane of them just dies for a teenage hunter. Finn, the most sane one, portrait as a bore because he resented the bother who kept him in a coffin for thousands of years. Katherine, who I swear is one of the only two female characters really interesting in this show, is called a bitch all the time for the unforgivable crime of running from a psycho hybrid who wanted to slaughter her and then slaughtered her fucking family. Elijah and Rebekah does not exist outside of Klaus. Rebekah was just extremely annoying till they gave her a real personality and in the spin-off. Out of nowhere, she was obsessed with being human. Bonnie, poor Bonnie. The racism was blatantly showing. She was only there to be the magic negro trope. They didn't even allowed her to have romantic storyline! Her boyfriend who she resurrected cheats on her with a freaking ghost and she still back with him in season 5? She deserved so much better. Damon turns her mother in a vampire and then she's his best friend? She loses her entire family as well and is never treated with the same courtesy Elena has been treated. Not even the fancy balls she could attend, apparently. (Her wigs were also terrible. Poor Kat, they made her appear so old sometimes with those hairs).

And the romantic pairings? Awful. Damon and Elena were downright disgusting. He raped Caroline. Why everyone pretends he wasn't compelling her while having sex with her? Why all these centuries old man are so obsessed with fuck teenagers? How's that's romantic, date a girl on high school when you had two shares of a lifetime? Even if we take in consideration the lore that vampires stop aging when they're turned, the only couple who would make sense in this logic were Stefan and Elena, since Stefan was a teenager when turned. Klaus and Caroline had no romantic connection. She used him dry, he bite her to die to make a point to her boyfriend. He would be her last love but fucked her and left. She hated him but would happily accept his gifts while treating him like a dog. Damon and Elena loudly assume to each other that they are terrible together but then forget because they're fucking again. I swear to god, that relationship was pure based on their sex drive. She wanted that old dick so bad she blamed dead Katherine for the fact he killed her friend and threatened her brother.

The timeline made no sense. Plotholes all around. Why Bonnie couldn't make magic while being the anchor? Must be because she would be too powerful, and with Elena being so useless, they couldn't allow that. Caroline is another one completely useless for the plot. She could disappear from the show and wouldn't change a single thing.

It's really awful. After finally seeing this I can say with conviction that The Originals was the best they could have.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

cant even begin to describe how much The Good Place's thesis on how to be a good person changed how i view redemption arcs

like it's not about "is this character good enough to deserve redemption or are they too bad to get redeemed" it's about "is this character willing to accept that their behavior is harmful, to make amends for their past behavior if at all possible, and to try and become a better person?"

sometimes for the Drama it's satisfying or cathartic to see a character who's done shitty things get to have a big Sacrifice Moment where they save the day and gets to be remembered as a hero, but that's not actually a good redemption arc. being a good person is not a single task that you can check off once you've finished all the steps, and neither is redemption in fiction. there's never really a threshold of "this character is Good Now!" there's the character learning how to be better and trying earnestly to be better even when they're not immediately rewarded for it

that's why zuko's redemption arc (everyone's favorite, the Gold Standard of redemption arcs) works so well. learning that his worldview was wrong was an incredibly difficult journey for him, and even when he knew he had several missteps along the way. but making mistakes didn't prevent him from being redeemed! and it's not like all the characters unanimously agreed that zuko was good now. the choices zuko made that lead to his redemption all made his life harder, but he knew they were the right choices and he made them anyway

and it's why that one wizard teacher's "redemption arc" (if you can even call a sudden infodump of flashbacks an arc) in that one children's series fell flat: at no point was Alan Rickman's character trying to be better. at no point did he realize or care that his behavior was harmful. we learn at the very end that he was working against the main villain the whole time, but that doesn't explain or excuse how much of a prick to children he was or his made-up fantasy racism or anything.

[sanjisblackasswife]

So I forgot who it was (I’m so sorry if u see it pls lmk and I’ll tag u) but the person re logged this drawing I did and said “Imagine Sanji telling her how much he loves her skin “ and something else I forgot BUT I UNDERSTOOD. So imma do it rn so here is some Soft Sanji.

“Just As You Are” Sanji x Black Fem Reader (Fluff)

CW: Mentions of racism/colorism/Verbal Abuse/Mental Health, Very much fluff, Reader is insecure and sad, happy ending

It was always different.

How people looked at you, how you weren’t the “ideal” woman. Was it your hair? The way you dress? How you talk?

Maybe it was your skin.

You grew up not loving your self. You were adopted into a family that treated you as if you weren’t even human, you were constantly talked about your melanin, you weren’t beautiful, so many disrespectful comments and mockery of you being black it made you not accept the true love the Strawhats gave you. They didn’t care if you were black, white, yellow, or blue they love you for you!

Especially a certain cook.

You’ve had a few episodes of panic attacks when all eyes were on you, you had the internal fear of being ridiculed for your appearance. Sanji noticed this immediately when you first joined and tried to convince you in his own way that you are beautiful but you were stubborn you didn’t want to hear it.

You shunned many people in your life due to this, took a very long time for you to even wear more comfortable clothing exposing your features, your skin. You often wore big hoodies or huge clothing in general. The girls welcomed you in with open arms and day by day they helped you get over this doubt you have in yourself.

Today wasnt a good day though. You just came back on the ship, legs exhausted from running, hair in a tangles mess from running into some bushes, you were covered in dirty and blood, not sure if it was yours or that man you kicked around.

“Oh! Y/N! Y/N! My love?!” Sanji ran over to you in a panic immediately holding your weakened body. “What happened who did this?!”

You shook your head it was too embarrassing to even think about, “I just need to sleep.”

“N-no you cant your head!” Sanj took out a napkin from his jacket and placed it on your bleeding forehead. Thats probably why you felt so tired. He walked you back to his room where he had a small couch for you to lay on his lap. He had a small first aid kit to help you since Chopper was gone with everybody else.

Sanji was furious on who could have possibly done this to you. He bit his tongue as you groaned in pain.

“I thought you were with the girls?” He asked taking the leaves stuck in your hair.

“I wanted to be by myself for a moment..that’s all…and then I encountered some assholes…doesn’t matter though…apparently my kind isn’t welcomed here.”

“Y/N—“

“Sanji.”

Sanji’s been very aware of the treatment you’ve gotten in the past by ignorant people when you all were in public. If you all weren’t being chased or fighting every once in a while you and you alone would get stared and not so loud whispers about how

“Different“ you were from Nami and Robin.

Sanji never understood it, Never understood how someone can look at a person’s skin or race or culture or features and be so hateful? What have you done to deserve such treatment?

Nothing. You didn’t deserve it.

Sanji cleaned you up in silence, but it was killing him not to speak his mind to you, “Here…” He sat up and got in front of you to take out anything else from your hair. “Gatta make sure I get all of it.”

Your eyes felt like they were burning as you fiddled with your thumbs. Fighting back the urge to cry, Your chest felt heavy. You were tired and ready to shin everything and body from you after he was done. They’re all the same. Nothing will ever change with how people treat you.

Like clock work Sanji looked down to see a tear fall on your fist. Before you could wipe it off he gently moved his finger under to ur chin so you can look up at him. It was like his heart sank seeing you so broken in the eyes.

“Y/N…”

Without anymore words exchanged he grabbed you into a soft embrace. Your face was buried in his shoulder finally breathing out the tears you needed to release. It was painful to him to hear you like this. He wish he would have been there those assholes would never had a chance to hurt you. His head started to pound from the frustration, so many what if’s. What if they done worse? What if they took you? What if he just could have been there?

Your cries dies down and the sounds were replaced with Sanji’s quickened heart beat. You felt maybe because he is holding you—a woman— he’s probably trying to not bleed all over you. Rolling your eyes at the thought you pulled back and was greeted to him instead with his glossy eyes.

“You’re so Beautiful Y/N…” He spoke out searching your eyes, “you are. I’m more than sorry this happened to you. ….I’m sorry this has been going on for so long . I’m sorry you haven’t been treated the way you needed. I’m sorry you couldn’t come to me when you feel anything less than perfect, I’m sorry for not reminding you enough how stunning you are, how worth of a life you are, how….”

“I’m sorry for not loving you enough.”

You blinked. It was so much emotion poured into what saying was professing to you, you couldn’t process it all you just looked away embarrassingly not wanting to believe him.

“You don’t mean —-“

“It’s more than a belief Y/N It’s a fact. “ Sanji wiped your tear stained cheek. He needed you to understand who you really are, and how much you meant to him. “I promise. To this day Y/N. I won’t ever allow any asshole to make you hate who you are. Your skin is just how God intended it to be and its so Heavenly.”

“You don’t ever feel like you need to apologize or feel animosity about this beautiful body you’re in. Because I love it.”

He kissed your hands looking into your eyes. It wasn’t the same how he usually does it, full of indescribable lust, but it was lawful. It was real.

It made you feel shy quite actually.

“I love you.”

You cried a little chuckling at the floor. You didn’t have much to say back because you were still fighting in your mind if you believe him or not.

“I love you, Too Sanji.”

His smile was also a sign of relief, in the back of his mind he felt like he maybe over stepped his boundary with you, but you welcomed him. You welcomed his compliments.

You took a bath Sanji drew for you and he went to your room to clean up a bit and fix you your favorite dinner. As you were relaxing the cook had some spare time after making your meal, the girls came back and told Sanji about what happened and the men that harassed you.

Needless to say during that time Sanji went out for a smoke break to handle some business.

[dhaaruni]

is it just me or do white women get blamed a lot more for shit (on the left) than white men do? and i’m saying this as a black woman. i just had to scroll past a video where this white woman was like ‘more and more im starting to understand trump’ (which is, of course, insane and understandably made ppl upset) but then some white dudes in the comments were like ‘white women age terribly’ (which…what the fuck does that have to do with anything the white girl said about trump?) and someone called him out for the misogyny of it all and said ‘white men got critiqued, it’s time white women got critiqued as well’. and the comments were full of ppl (even other white women) being like ‘white women are the worst’, which is like. fine, some white women do deserve critique for their beliefs and values and the way they perpetuate racism, especially from women of color, but i can’t help but side-eye the people that do this all the time as if it’s ONLY white women that do so. like, did we forget that white men are also a problem?

i feel insane for even pointing it out but i even get uncomfortable with the way some moc talk about white women…idk it’s like they think that adding the word ‘white’ in front of women will shield them from misogyny allegations, as if misogyny is acceptable as long as it’s toward the correct target. i keep quiet about it because i don’t wanna get called a pick me or a traitor or anything but goodness! and it’s never done in good faith! i fucking hate seeing smug leftist white men get on their high horses and make videos about ‘the issues with white women’!

No you're completely right, I feel that way sometimes too.

I think that condemning white women for like, aging badly or other factors they can't control is easier than actually calling out racism or misogyny on an institutional level. You aren't doing a feminism by calling women ugly, regardless of their race!

I literally saw someone on Twitter call a Black woman a Karen the other day for side-eying Ron DeSantis like really? Can they hear themselves? It's actually totally justified to side-eye Ron DeSantis showing up at a majority Black event for hurricane disaster relief and espousing platitudes about racism when he personally said slavery was a good thing (even while the actual Florida history curriculum didn't go nearly that far). The word Karen simply has lost all meaning and if someone is using it unironically, I'm just assuming they hate women now because clearly it has nothing to do with racism anymore and is solely about like, unfuckable women existing in public and having opinions, which I'm not here for at all.

[vacantgodling]

personally bothers me when ppl are like uwu Iago is gay for othello and completely ignore his racism let alone the racism throughout the play

lmao thank u for stopping by to talk old books with me :3c

but tbh thank god i’ve never seen this take in the wild because i just 👁️👁️ did we read the same play? are you okay??

iago’s like not even subtly racist. like the whole play is very racist in general when you start deconstructing it and thinking about it with a critical lens.

(such as: black/dark skinned men are going to come around and seduce your pure white daughters with either “magic” or their physicality, abuse them, black men are inherently violent and angry and good for their physical prowess, the only reason a white woman would love a black man is because she pities him… like i can go on)

however, aside from desdemona’s father, iago is the Most and honestly only maliciously racist character, and it’s not even just towards othello lmao (looking at his speech about how a black woman who’s smart would only be of value if she married a white man 😒) like, i understand the ideology behind wanting to read homoerotic jealousy into his actions because why is he so fixated and jealous of this (1) man who has “everything he wants” and tbh perhaps it could work if the play itself wasn’t saying, in part, that othello cannot be trusted with the things he was “freely given” stolen because he’s black/dark skinned/from the Moors, however ya wanna put it.

like it’s easier to read homoeroticism into fucking julius caesar (the play, and i suppose the man) than this play. in hamlet, CLEARLY, than this one. and then it creates a whole host of other issues with the play IF iago is gay because then *insert a slew of homophobic stereotypes here*

however, what gets me is the play already does give reasoning behind iago’s actions. like as i was reading wiki and analyses of it after i finished my first pass of it, there seems to be a lot of “discourse” around iago’s motivations and how they’re not clear… but they are? at least to me? like, he’s egotistical, and big for his britches. he’s petty and jealous and feels that he deserves things simply because he wants them. he wants the lieutenant position because he feels he’s owed it for being done the disservice of having to serve a Moor in the first place and for being a tenured soldier for so long; and whether or not cassio is competent are neither here nor there, the point is if you get passed up for a promotion at work: work harder, accept it, or just fucking quit. but iago decided to make it everyone else’s problem. it really didn’t have much to do with desdemona herself (though i could argue that he was perhaps jealous that othello had a pretty wife who actually loved him; because even though i mentioned the racist sentiments about white women and black men earlier i don’t think desdemona is a racist character in the slightest: she fell in love with othello for who he is and she is faithfully in love with him to the end. that doesn’t change the outside perspective of those who see their interracial relationship, which is very translatable into real life in how interracial relationships are viewed but that’s a whole different conversation), nor do i think did it have to do with this weird homoerotic tension people want to force into the reading.

whenever iago says that he ‘loves’ othello, people should understand that in this time period the word “love” was (1) more freely used to describe a wide variety of positive emotions (2) in this context probably meant something more akin to “loyal” that he wouldn’t betray othello or that he values him as a subordinate should (which is clearly sarcasm) and (3) be read with heavy damn sarcasm especially when iago is not talking directly to othello. he doesn’t care about othello in the slightest; and i would argue that even if iago was made lieutenant from jump he would be scheming about how to become general. we would still have a play about how iago hates and wants to “dethrone” othello. like he’s just fucking selfish in how he treats everyone throughout the play lmao. he doesn’t even describe othello in a “i hate that i yearn for you” type of way like there is Nothing that can construct this narrative to me in the text.

so like long story short (i didn’t mean to rant but yknow ya got me going) i think a homoerotic reading of iago is just kind of out there at best and just irresponsible at worst. there’s plenty of other characters you can read as gay in shakespeare’s works, even fucking desdemona and emilia in this play itself have a better gay reading than iago and othello lmao.

obviously shippers gonna ship and like do you but i just don’t see it.

[horizon-verizon]

Criston Cole deserves better. Fuck Rhaenyra.

https://www.tumblr.com/a0random0gal/726526376463745024/hot-take-but-i-personally-think-all-the-criston?source=share

*EDITED POST* 6/22/24

A)

Entertainment Weekly Article:

B)

Primarily, it's the green stans not accepting the Dance is a tale of misogyny, and of they can get Criston's predatory behavior justified through him being PoC (which he is not, and even if he was Dornish, the Dornish are not PoC), they can argue that his lowborn, PoCness & whatever racism he experiences at court has made his rise into highborn "white" circles that much harder. And that it makes him more vulnerable to Rhaenyra's white privilege. Meanwhile, we all saw the episode where he never really pushed to leave AND he thoroughly enjoyed and enthusiastically participated in the one-night stand. His struggle was more between his desire and his vows of celibacy, Rhaenyra did not force him or threaten hi with either words, actions, or looks. That's not how SA goes even with women against men.

So, the implication is that if a PoC man seeks to rape or SA or even just to demand sex, bc white women can & have called out rape to avoid censure or punishment themselves, it's fine if it's a white woman being made the victim or being demanded to give herself to the man regardless of her personal feelings, aspirations, limitations, psyche, desires. And/Or, in this case, the man's flawed need to "prove" something through that sex and marriage. Regardless of who these people are and what kind of person Rhaenyra SHOWS herself to be instead of mere racial guesswork overriding what we see of her on screen and what Criston himself would have known after years of guarding her closely.

C)

After that user said: "I'm 100% certain that if the genders were swapped almost everyone would side with him.", I knew what I was getting:

Rhaenyra didn't "make" him do anything, she quite literally doesn't have the ability to take that new level of risk.

Criston Cole, his relationship with Rhaenyra, AND their sight together/how it happened cannot be compared to a modern-day boss-employee-relationship/sexual harassment sort of sex-reversed MeToo! situation AND the writers really tried to make Rhaenyra the one in psychological control over Criston when canonically there' isn't much evidence to support that, and this is very suspicious.

So much protest using the "if the genders were reversed", and yet no acknowledgment or breakdown of what their respective unique positions are. A male heir =/= a female heir (even if there were female monarchs before, check out real history for how medieval people regarded female rulers if they didn't happen to be very "good" ones) AND women cannot be knights (Brienne is not a knight...yet, and this is YEARS after the Dance) so they can't be Kingsguard.

A Kingsguard has more room to defend themselves over any nonroyal/royally-favored woman or even an ordinary noblewoman whose caught in such a situation. This hierarchical society is built on making gender, class, etc. essential differences that grant individuals privileges over others. Due to Criston's reputation, maleness, and his true "boss" being Viserys--Viserys is quite literally EVERYONE'S BOSS, including Rhaenyra--AND how Rhaenyra's own mired reputation can be ruined a lot easier than a male heir/she could be seen as more unworthy for the throne then if she were male, he, Cole, has way more advantages & leverage than a woman actually corned by a male higher-ranking noble/royal.

Criston is also still of a minor house himself--House Cole of the Stormlands, not Dorne--he is still an aristocrat with misogynist aristocratic expectations of a noblewoman.

See what I mean in that we can't really equalize these situations?

Therefore, Cole definitely wanted to have sex with Rhaenyra and was very willing to sully his own cloak. His asking her to run away with him so that he can try to get rid of his buyer's remorse without thinking that royals/noble have lovers (who can be from a myriad of ranks--"lower", "equal", "higher") is ridiculously self-contradictory and selfish.

Also, this crap about "if the genders were reversed" is silly because it usually is used to make as if gender violence is the exact same as sexual violence against men when it never is, and as long as we live in a society where enough people think a woman's body is never totally her own, it never will be.

LINKS:

My Assessments (NonAsks)

Others' Assessments

Asks Sent to Me

[maya-matlin]

7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 on my pinned list of Degrassi asks - only if you want to, of course!

Oh, thank you! I'll have to send you more asks in a bit. <3

Characters I'm most similar to:

1.) Ellie Nash

2.) Grace Cardinal

3.) Terri MacGregor

Three things I would change:

1.) The mishandling of practically every black and POC character. It's no secret that almost all of them were either sidelined or barely given a fraction of the focus the white characters were given. Ex: Liberty's pregnancy was almost all about JT, Jimmy's reaction to the shooting and his paralysis is minor compared to the focus on Spinner and his redemption arc, Chantay doing precious little for eight seasons straight, Tiny exists only as a love interest and Zig's sidekick in spite of his rich background involving addict parents, Vince, and previous gang ties, Shay's mostly only prominent during a story line specifically about racism compared to Frankie and Lola.

2.) Inadvertently making multiple main characters rapists because the writers were uneducated about what healthy consent looks like (Sav/Anya in season 9, Holly J/Declan in season 10, Drew/Katie in season 12)

3.) Queerbaiting the Zoe/Grace romance in Next Class to prove a point about stereotypes by punishing the one character not stereotyping or making assumptions about Grace. Straight up, they didn't need to have sex. That was hurtful and way too far. All this specifically told from Zoe's perspective, meaning the show deliberately kept Grace's feelings and motivations a mystery.

Characters I once loved but then disliked:

1.) Declan Coyne (Season 10 originally turned me off, but rewatching season 9 only reinforced that he was always an entitled, self involved person with a flimsy grasp on respecting the word "no")

2.) Owen Milligan (Love is a stretch, but I easily accepted him as a boyfriend to Anya and protective brother to Tristan presumably because I thought Daniel Kelly was hot with longer hair. I know myself, and 18 year old me had no shame. Owen Milligan had zero redeeming qualities.)

3.) Johnny DiMarco (Not full on dislike, but I've lost a lot of respect for the character and feel he spent a lot of time being a malicious asshole and involving himself with a much younger girl well past the age of knowing better. Just because he acknowledged JT four seasons after his death doesn't make him a good person)

Characters I once disliked but now like:

1.) Mia Jones (She wasn't that bad. She just came onto the show during an awkward era, and I was then a big fan of JT/Liberty and Peter/Darcy. While the modeling arc wasn't great and Degrassi could have done a better job showing her struggles as a teen mom, she was well intentioned and people liked her because she was nice. It's that simple, but I had a visceral hatred of her LOL)

2.) Campbell Saunders (It wasn't him. It was the overwhelming fan response. Now that it's been a decade since his character was killed off, I can admit he was a good character. Just not a personal favorite)

3.) Drew Torres (I'm aware there's a lot wrong with him and that he deserves an award for the consecutive amount of bad decisions he made, but there's something endearing about the character. I'm a big fan of his growth, particularly in season 13 and during the first half of season 14. He got screwed so that the baby could be Eli's, and I hated it)

[stranger-rants]

I’ve been in the Billy community a long time before I became active online. But I’ve noticed more people are starting to grasp the criticism Billy Hargrove fans make of the show and fanbase. Not everyone tho there’s still a dubious amount of hate and harassment thrown at marginalized creators in the Billy fanbase. Especially racism thrown at BIPOC Billy fans like myself who don’t fit into the fandoms stereotypical racist monolithic assumptions about BIPOC fans in the Stranger things fandom. But I was wondering if you had any ideas to why that could be? Since you’re outspoken about how it took some time for you to empathize with Billy’s character. I’ve kinda just accepted I don’t understand where this shift is coming from I started to just become content with the abuse I faced online for liking Billy Hargrove as a character and knowing that Netflix’s knows this shit happens but they’d probably never speak out against it being to afraid to upset their market audience. I kinda acquired this “Boo hoo 😭” attitude around me connecting to this character’s story and getting hate for it but I’m glad to see more understanding around how a person like me can like him. I’m still angry tho. But I got anger issues.

ANYWAY I LOVE UR BLOG 🥸

Thanks as always for the love 💜

I made a joke about this on my main blog before... how I hate characters because I would want to fight them in a parking lot, but not in the way where I think I am objectively better than people who like them or something like that.

It's okay to hate characters, but nowadays people turn dislike into a performance of morality. They're not honest about their hate, and they're not much interested in confronting that because they're so convinced they're right.

I think these people just want to be seen as better than everyone else. I think there are people who use "the right language" to perform morality without having to commit to questioning real systems of oppression or their own role in it.

It's why they'll call out Billy's racism, but do nothing to confront the racism within the overall narrative or the racism informing the narrative on the outside (i.e. the way the biases of the showrunners influence the way characters of color are treated).

It takes hard work to confront your own biases and work towards a better society. I struggle all the time managing my emotions and saying/doing the right thing when someone says or does something not great to me. Every day I struggle!

It is hard to not hold a grudge and to not want a severe institutional consequence for harm done, but I have been trying for years now to empathize with the pain and suffering people go through regardless if they're A Good PersonTM.

That being said, this is fandom. Fandom and the participation in it is not inherently activism. Liking the "right" content doesn't translate to doing the right thing for society. There are politics in stories, yes, but being in fandom isn't revolutionary.

I don't know if that answers your question, but I hope it helps. I didn't like Billy at first. I did think he was a brat (still do) and I found some of his behavior repulsive (still do). However, I never thought he deserved what happened to him. Ever.

[darlin-djarin]

Call me crazy but I would have liked Din to go "being the Mand'alor is not going to work out with me being a dad" and instead of giving yet another chance to the former terrorist he gives it to the Armorer who has led and rebuilt the Covert and is a skilled leader and she becomes the Mand'alor with the help of her wife Bo-Katan

omg i’ve never heard of that idea before. that’s super interesting!

i’m not saying din should’ve been mand’alor, but i do wish we got more development into why he didn’t want to step up to take the part. i personally think him leading would’ve been very interesting to see. i wish we had seen him and his relationship with the darksaber more clearly yk.

that being said, i really like your idea of giving the darksaber to the armorer. i’m not a bo-katan hater or anything, but i didn’t think bo-katan was all that deserving of it for the millionth time. considering her past and her racism and terrorism, i’m not particularly fond of how favroni and the writers played off bo-katan’s development and made her seem all noble and honorary. she was interesting BECAUSE she was a bad person. she seemed kinda dulled down this season idk? anyway

i think it would’ve been SO cool to see the armorer become the mand’alor. she’s definitely had experience yk, with leading and rebuilding the covert and whatnot. i think one of the things that a lot of people would argue with is that the armorer hasn’t “walked both ways” or whatever, and since a lot of the fandom doesn’t like how much din’s covert is influenced on the creed (i absolutely hate the fandom for this one), they might argue that the armorer would’ve pushed their own version of the creed on other mandalorians. which is like. stupid. because yk. you get it. the armorer started accepting other mandalorians ways of life, etc.

i would’ve really loved to see the armorer playing the part of the leader, but her playing as bo-katan’s advisor is a very good spot for her to be in as well. she’s seen as the “religious guider” in the covert yk, like a sheik or a priest, and she seems really fit to play a part of an advisor that guides the mand’alor. i really REALLY like your thinking though. it’d be super interesting in fics. and ofc nitearmor rights ;)

[writingwithcolor]

Jurassic period alien interacting with key cultures and historical figures in Middle East & Asia throughout history

@ketchupmaster400​ said:

Hello, so my question is for a character I’ve been working on for quite a while but wasn’t sure about a few things. So basically at the beginning of the universe there was this for less being made up of dark matter and dark energy. Long story short it ends up on earth during the Jurassic Period. It has the ability to adapt and assimilate into other life animals except it’s hair is always black and it’s skin is always white and it’s eyes are always red. It lives like this going from animal to animal until it finally becomes human and gains true sentience and self awareness. As a human it lives within the Middle East and Asia wondering around trying to figure out its purpose and meaning. So what I initially wanted to do with it was have small interactions with the dark matter human and other native humans that kinda helped push humanity into the direction it is now. For example, Mehndhi came about when the dark matter human was drawing on their skin because it felt insecure about having such white skin compared to other people. And ancient Indians saw it and thought it was cool so they adopted it and developed it into Mehndi. Minor and small interactions though early history leading to grander events. Like they would be protecting Jerusalem and it’s people agains the Crusaders later on. I also had the idea of the the dark matter human later on interacting with the prophets Jesus Christ and Muhammad. With Jesus they couldn’t understand why he would sacrifice himself even though the people weren’t deserving. And then Jesus taught them that you have to put other before yourself and protecting people is life’s greatest reward. And then with the prophet Muhammad, I had the idea that their interaction was a simple conversation that mirrors the one he had with the angel Jibril, that lead to the principles of Islam. Now with these ideas I understand the great importance of how not to convey Islam and I’ve been doing reasearch, but I am white and I can understand how that may look trying to write about a different religion than my own. So I guess ultimate my question is, is this ok to do? Is it ok to have an alien creature interact with religious people and historical events as important as they were? Like I said I would try to be as accurate and as respectable as possible but I know that Islam can be a touchy subject and the last thing I would want is to disrespect anyone. The main reason I wanted the dark matter being in the Middle East was because I wanted to do something different because so much has been done with European and American stuff I wanted to explore the eastern side of the world because it’s very beau and very rich with so many cultures that I want to try and represent. I’m sorry for the long post but I wanted you guys to fully understand what my idea was. Thank you for your time and hope you stay safe.

Disclaimer:

The consensus from the moderators was that the proposed character and story is disrespectful from multiple cultural perspectives. However, we can’t ignore the reality that this is a commonly deployed trope in many popular science fiction/ thriller narratives. Stories that seek to take religious descriptions of events at face value from an areligious perspective particularly favor this approach. Thus, we have two responses:

Where we explain why we don’t believe this should be attempted.

Where we accept the possibility of our advice being ignored.

1) No - Why You Shouldn’t Do This:

Hi! I’ll give you the short answer first, and then the extended one.

Short answer: no, this is not okay.

Extended answer. I’ll divide it into three parts.

1) Prophet Muhammad as a character:

Almost every aspect of Islam, particularly Allah (and the Qur’an), the Prophet(s) and the companions at the time of Muhammad ﷺ, are strictly kept within the boundaries of real life/reality. I’ll assume this comes from a good place, and I can understand that from one side, but seriously, just avoid it. It is extremely disrespectful and something that is not even up to debate for Muslims to do, let alone for non-Muslims. Using Prophet Muhammad as a character will only bring you problems. There is no issue with mentioning the Prophet during his lifetime when talking about his attributes, personality, sayings or teachings, but in no way, we introduce fictional aspects in a domain that Muslims worked, and still work, hard to keep free from any doubtful event or incident. Let’s call it a closed period: we don’t add anything that was not actually there.

Reiterating then, don’t do this. There is a good reason why Muslims don’t have any pictures of Prophet Muhammad. We know nothing besides what history conveyed from him. 

After this being said, there is another factor you missed – Jesus is also an important figure in Islam and his story from the Islamic perspective differs (a lot) from that of the Christian perspective. And given what you said in your ask, you would be taking the Christian narrative of Jesus. If it was okay to use Prophet Muhammad as a character (reminder: it’s not) and you have had your dark matter human interacting with the biblical Jesus, it will result in a complete mess; you would be conflating two religions.

2) Crusaders and Jerusalem:

You said this dark matter human will be defending Jerusalem against the Crusaders. At first, there is really no problem with this. However, ask yourself: is this interaction a result of your character meeting with both Jesus and Prophet Muhammed? If yes, please refer to the previous point. If not, or even if you just want to maintain this part of the story, your dark matter human can interact with the important historical figures of the time. For example, if you want a Muslim in your story, you can use Salah-Ad-Din Al-Ayoubi (Saladin in the latinized version) that took back Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. Particularly, this crusade has plenty of potential characters. 

Also, featuring Muslim characters post Prophet Muhammad and his companions’ time, is completely fine, just do a thorough research.

 3) Middle Eastern/South Asian settings and Orientalism:

The last point I want to remark is with the setting you chose for your story. Many times, when we explore the SWANA or South Asian regions it’s done through an orientalist lens. Nobody is really safe from falling into orientalism, not even the people from those regions. My suggestion is educating yourself in what orientalism is and how it’s still prevalent in today’s narrative. Research orientalism in entertainment, history... and every other area you can think of. Edward Said coined this term for the first time in history, so he is a good start. There are multiple articles online that touch this subject too. For further information, I defer to middle eastern mods. 

- Asmaa

Racism and Pseudo-Archaeology:

A gigantic, unequivocal and absolute no to all of it, lmao. 

I will stick to the bit about the proposed origin of mehendi in your WIP, it’s the arc I feel I’m qualified to speak on, Asmaa has pretty much touched upon the religious and orientalism complications. 

Let me throw out one more word: pseudoarchaeology. That is, taking the cultural/spiritual/historical legacies of ancient civilizations, primarily when it involves people of colour, and crediting said legacies to be the handiwork of not just your average Outsider/White Saviour but aliens. I’ll need you to think carefully about this: why is it that in so much of media and literature pertaining to the so-called “conspiracy theories” dealing with any kind of extraterrestrial life, it’s always Non-Western civilizations like the Aztec, the ancient Egyptians, the Harappans etc who are targeted? Why is it that the achievements of the non West are so unbelievable that it’s more feasible to construct an idea of non-human, magical beings from another planet who just conveniently swooped in to build our monuments and teach us how to dress and what to believe in? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, it’s because it should: denying the Non-West agency of their own feats is not an innocent exercise in sci-fi worldbuilding, it comes loaded with implications of racial superiority and condescension towards the intellect and prowess of Non-European cultures. 

Now, turning to specifics:

Contrary to what Sarah J. Maas might believe- mehendi designs are neither mundane, purely aesthetic tattoos nor can they be co-opted by random Western fantasy characters. While henna has existed as an art form in various cultures, I’m limiting my answer to the Indian context, (specifying since you mention ancient India). Mehendi is considered one of the tenets of the Solah Shringar- sixteen ceremonial adornments for Hindu brides, one for each phase of the moon, as sanctioned by the Vedic texts. The shade of the mehendi is a signifier for the strength of the matrimonial bond: the darker the former, the stronger the latter. Each of the adornments carries significant cosmological/religious symbolism for Hindus. To put it bluntly, when you claim this to be an invention of the aliens, you are basically taking a very sacred cultural and artistic motif of our religion and going “Well actually….extraterrestrials taught them all this.”

In terms of Ayurveda (Traditional holistic South Asian medicine)  , mehendi was used for its medicinal properties. It works as a cooling agent on the skin and helps to alleviate stress, particularly for the bride-to-be. Not really nice to think that aliens lent us the secrets of Ayurvedic science (pseudoarchaeology all over again). 

I’m just not feeling this arc at all. The closest possible alternative I could see to this is the ancient Indian characters incorporating some specific stylistic motifs in their mehendi in acknowledgement to this entity, in the same vein of characters incorporating motifs of tribute into their armour or house insignia, but even so, I’m not sure how well that would play out. If you do go ahead with this idea, I cannot affirm that it will not receive backlash.

-Mimi

These articles might help:

 Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens

A History of Indian Henna (this studies mehendi origins mostly with reference to Mughal history)

Solah Shringar

2) Not Yes, But If Ignoring the Above:

I will be the dissenting voice of “Not No, But Here Are The Big Caveats.” Given that there is no way to make the story you want to tell palatable to certain interpretations of Islam and Christianity, here is my advice if the above arguments did not sufficiently deter you.

1. Admiration ≠ Research: It is not enough to just admire cultures for their richness and beauty. You need to actually do the research and learn about them to determine if the story you want to tell is a good fit for the values and principles these cultures prioritize. You need to understand the significance of historical figures and events to understand the issues with attributing the genesis of certain cultural accomplishments to an otherworldly influence. 1.

2. Give Less Offense When Possible and Think Empathetically: You should try to imagine the mindsets of those you will offend and think about to what degree you can soften or ameliorate certain aspects of your plot, the creature’s characteristics, and the creature’s interactions with historical figures to make your narrative more compatible. There is no point pretending that much of areligious science fiction is incompatible with monotheist, particularly non-henotheistic, religious interpretations as well as the cultural items and rituals derived from those religious interpretations. One can’t take “There is no god, just a lonely alien” and make that compatible with “There is god, and only in this particular circumstance.” Thus:

As stated above by Asmaa and Mimi, there is no escaping the reality the story you propose is offensive to some. Expect their outcry to be directed towards you. Can you tolerate that?

Think about how you would feel if someone made a story where key components of your interpretation of reality are singled out as false. How does this make you feel? Are you comfortable doing that to others?

3. Is Pseudoarchaeology Appropriate Here?: Mimi makes a good point about the racial biases of pseudoarchaeology. Pseudoarchaeology is a particular weakness of Western-centric atheist sci-fi. Your proposed story is the equivalent of a vaguely non-descript Maya/Aztec/Egyptian pyramid or Hindu/ Buddhist-esque statue being the source for a Resident Evil bio weapon/ Predator nest/ Assassin’s Creed Isu relic.

Is this how you wish to draw attention to these cultures you admire? While there is no denying their ubiquity in pop-culture, such plots trivialize broad swathes of non-white history and diminish the accomplishments of associated ethnic groups. The series listed above all lean heavily into these tropes either because the authors couldn’t bother to figure out something more creative or because they are intentionally telling a story the audience isn’t supposed to take seriously.*

More importantly, I detect a lot of sincerity in your ask, so I imagine such trivialization runs counter to your expressed desire to depict Eastern cultures in a positive and accurate manner.

4. Freedom to Write ≠ Freedom from Consequence: Once again, as a reminder, it’s not our job to reassure you as to whether or not what you are proposing is ok. Asmaa and Mimi have put a lot of effort into explaining who you will offend and why.  We are here to provide context, but the person who bears the ultimate responsibility for how you choose to shape this narrative, particularly if you share this story with a wide audience, is you. Speaking as one writer to another, I personally do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I think it is important to be face reality head-on.

- Marika.

* This is likely why the AC series always includes that disclaimer stating the games are a product of a multicultural, inter-religious team and why they undermine Western cultures and Western religious interpretations as often (if not moreso) than those for their non-Western counterparts.

Note: Most WWC asks see ~ 5 hours of work from moderators before they go live. Even then, this ask took an unusually long amount of time in terms of research, emotional labor and discussion. If you found this ask (and others) useful, please consider tipping the moderators (link here), Asmaa (coming eventually) and Mimi (here). I also like money - Marika.

[0junemeatcleaver0]

Feeling just a wee bit torn re: attempting to heal the rift in the fandom. For, like, several reasons.

Not the least of which is the matter of theory vs. praxis. Everyone I have personally spoken to in this fandom has seemed to be on the same page. Racism is bad. Pedophilia is bad. Transphobia is bad. Etc.

But we're gonna have a damned hard time getting to the praxis bit if we can't even agree on how the stuff above actually manifests in a harmful way.

Not liking the casting for the new show doesn't automatically make you a racist. It simply doesn't. There are many non-malicious reasons for being hesitant to accept Jacob!Louis ranging from "I don't trust white showrunners to handle his story with the level of care it deserves" to "even from what we've seen of him in the Louis garb, he just looks like Some Guy™️ (I feel this way about Sam personally--I really think the only one ethereal looking enough to be a convincing vampire is Bailey tbh).

Shipping is not pedophilia. Can it squick you personally? Sure. I'd it well within your right to not want to engage in it? Also yes. There are ways to block things tagged for content you don't wish to see. But exploring power dynamics in fantasy is not the same thing as condoning real life abuse. Full stop. I've already reblogged a great break down debunking the notion that fiction negatively affects reality in any meaningful way and while the post is written in the aggressive tone of someone sick of having to have the same tired argument for the umpteenth time, it is worth a read.

And from what I've been able to gather, most of us are aware of and have blocked that one fuckhead TERF. Good on us for immediately agreeing on something and no, that's not sarcasm. Good job team.

And as far as praxis goes. Well. Again we're gonna have to reign it in and be realistic about what the "how" is going to look like.

Which is where I should probably address my own role in all this. Because I know as discussions continue, this post will make it onto the dash of someone I have long since blocked and they will immediately see it and think, "that's rich, coming from you".

And perhaps. We've all seen the callout post I made a while back. And it's hard for me not to continue to stand by everything I said. I still think that a lot of the white folks who were most vocally calling others (on this platform specifically) racist aren't great at allyship work. With the clarity of hindsight, I think that stems from being young, growing up under surveillance culture, and living in an era where slacktivism feels like the only thing available to them. The cause isn't malicious, even if the effects are.

Do I regret some of my phrasing and things I overlooked? Yeah. When going over the "listen to POC bit", I should have delved deeper into the fact that, quelle surprise, POC aren't a hive mind. You'll hear differing opinions. There's a lot of nuance there and you're going to have to cast your opinion net pretty wide, listen to all these different opinions, and extrapolate from there. Because having 1-2 black friends who agree with you means fuck all in a world where Candice Owens exists. People with opinions that are ultimately harmful to themselves exist in every group, sorry to break it to you. Allyship is hard because it requires building a very nuanced lens through which to view the world. It requires you to acknowledge the Candice Owneses of the world while recognizing the pain and fear that led them to having the opinions they do, as well as listening to and engaging in meaningful, educational discussions with people who hold opinions you view as ignorant. It's work. That's what makes it work. Screaming at someone will not change their mind. Trying to rationally 'debate' someone with illogical opinions will not work because they didn't use logic to form those opinions. And that's hard work! But it does work and it's worth it.

And I don't know that I drove all of that home in my original post.

Do I regret dunking so hard on SM at the end of that post? Yes and no. Working on yourself as a person is a continuous journey and while intellectually I know that the "bully the bullies" approach I took in high school (and that post) stems from growing up in a carceral society where punishment is in much higher a regard than harm reduction and education, I also won't lie to you and claim that deep down I don't sometimes feel like a good tongue lashing isn't earned on a 1:1 basis.

Which is another sidebar point, which is we should all be honest about where we may have individually dropped the ball here, and be honest with ourselves about why we did it to prevent such instances in the future.

At the end of the day, if I'm being 💯 honest, the only way in which I feel remorse for the end of that post is the constant wondering I've done since publishing it about how my vitriol may have impacted SM's friend group. Could they have otherwise seen him as being a disingenuous snake before having to ultimately oust him for treating his friends poorly? I may never know.

Yes, I have been told about that. Alexa, play Everybody Talks.

Anyway. Praxis.

Whatever we all decide moving forward, we all need to be on the same page if we're going to make this thing work. But I think before we get to that point, we're all gonna have to bury the hatchet, whatever that's gonna look like for those involved in whatever beef.

🤷‍♀️

[littlemixnet]

To me, a good ally is someone who is consistent in their efforts – there’s a difference between popping on a pride playlist or sprinkling yourself in rainbow glitter once a year and actually defending LGBT+ people against discrimination. It means showing my LGBT+ fans that I support them wholeheartedly and am making a conscious effort to educate myself, raise awareness and show up whenever they need me to. It would be wrong of me to benefit from the community as a musician without actually standing up and doing what I can to support. As someone in the public eye, it’s important to make sure your efforts are not performative or opportunistic. I’m always working on my allyship and am very much aware that I’ve still got a lot of unlearning and learning to do. There are too many what I call ‘dormant allies’, believing in equality but not really doing more than liking or reposting your LGBT+ mate’s content now and again. Imagine if that friend then saw you at the next march, or signing your name on the next petition fighting for their rights? Being an ally is also about making a conscious effort to use the right language and pronouns, and I recently read a book by Glennon Doyle who spoke of her annoyance and disappointment of those who come out and are met with ‘We love you…no matter what’. I’d never thought of that expression like that before and it really struck a chord with me. ‘No matter what’ suggests you are flawed. Being LGBT+ is not a flaw. Altering your language and being conscious of creating a more comfortable environment for your LGBT+ family and friends is a good start. Nobody is expecting you to suddenly know it all, I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect ally. I’m still very much learning. Even recently, after our Confetti music video I was confronted with the fact that although we made sure our video was incredibly inclusive, we hadn’t brought in any actual drag kings. Some were frustrated, and they had every right to be. You can have the right intentions and still fall short. As an open ally I should have thought about that, and I hadn’t, and for that I apologise. Since then I’ve been doing more research on drag king culture, because it’s definitely something I didn’t know enough about, whether that was because it isn’t as mainstream yet mixed with my own ignorance. But the point is we mess up, we apologise, we learn from it and we move forward with that knowledge. Don’t let the fear of f**king up scare you off. And make sure you are speaking alongside the community, not for the community. Growing up in a small Northern working-class town, some views were, and probably still are, quite ‘old fashioned’ and small-minded. I witnessed homophobia at an early age. It was a common thought particularly among men that it was wrong to be anything but heterosexual. I knew very early on I didn’t agree with this, but wasn’t educated or aware enough on how to combat it. I did a lot of performing arts growing up and within that space I had many LGBT+ (mainly gay) friends. I’ve been a beard many a time let me tell you! But it was infuriating to see friends not feel like they could truly be themselves. When I moved to London I felt incredibly lonely and like I didn’t fit in. It was my gay friends (mainly my friend and hairstylist, Aaron Carlo) who took me under their wing and into their world. Walking into those gay bars or events like Sink The Pink, it was probably the first time I felt like I was in a space where everyone in that room was celebrated exactly as they are. It was like walking into a magical wonderland. I got it. I clicked with everyone. My whole life I struggled with identity – being mixed race for me meant not feeling white enough, or black enough, or Arab enough. I was a ‘tomboy’ and very nerdy. I suppose on a personal level that maybe played a part in why I felt such a connection or understanding of why those spaces for the LGBT+ community are so important. One of the most obvious examples of first realising Little Mix was having an effect in the community was that I couldn’t enter a gay bar without hearing a Little Mix song and watching numerous people break out into full choreo from our videos! I spent the first few years of our career seeing this unfold and knowing the LGBT+ fan base were there, but it wasn’t until I got my own Instagram or started properly going through Twitter DMs that I realised a lot of our LGBT+ fans were reaching out to us on a daily basis saying how much our music meant to them. I received a message from a boy in the Middle East who hadn’t come out because in his country homosexuality is illegal. His partner tragically took their own life and he said our music not only helped him get through it, but gave him the courage to start a new life somewhere else where he could be out and proud. There are countless other stories like theirs, which kind of kickstarted me into being a better ally. Another standout moment would be when we performed in Dubai in 2019. We were told numerous times to ‘abide by the rules’, which meant not promoting anything LGBT+ or too female-empowering (cut to us serving a four-part harmony to Salute). In my mind, we either didn’t go or we’d go and make a point. When Secret Love Song came on, we performed it with the LGBT+ flag taking up the whole screen behind us. The crowd went wild, I could see fans crying and singing along in the audience and when we returned it was everywhere in the press. I saw so many positive tweets and messages from the community. It made laying in our hotel rooms s**tting ourselves that we’d get arrested that night more than worth it. It was through our fans and through my friends I realised I need to be doing more in my allyship. One of the first steps in this was meeting with the team at Stonewall to help with my ally education and discussing how I could be using my platform to help them and in turn the community. Right now, and during lockdown, I’d say my ally journey has been a lot of reading on LGBT+ history, donating to the right charities and raising awareness on current issues such as the conversion therapy ban and the fight for equality of trans lives. Stonewall is facing media attacks for its trans-inclusive strategies and there is an alarming amount of seemingly increasing transphobia in the UK today and we need to be doing more to stand with the trans community. Still, there is definitely a pressure I feel as someone in the public eye to constantly be saying and doing the right things, especially with cancel culture becoming more popular. I s**t myself before most interviews now, on edge that the interviewer might be waiting for me to ‘slip up’ or I might say something that can be misconstrued. Sometimes what can be well understood talking to a journalist or a friend doesn’t always translate as well written down, which has definitely happened to me before. There’ve been moments where I’ve (though well intentioned) said the wrong thing and had an army of Twitter warriors come at me. Don’t get me wrong, there are obviously more serious levels of f**king up that are worthy of a cancelling. But it was quite daunting to me to think that all of my previous allyship could be forgotten for not getting something right once. When that’s happened to me before I’ve scared myself into thinking I should STFU and not say anything, but I have to remember that I am human, I’m going to f**k up now and again and as long as I’m continuing to educate myself to do better next time then that’s OK. I’m never going to stop being an ally so I need to accept that there’ll be trickier moments along the way. I think that might be how some people may feel, like they’re scared to speak up as an ally in case they say the wrong thing and face backlash. Just apologise to the people who need to be apologised to, and show that you’re doing what you can to do better and continue the good fight. Don’t burden the community with your guilt. When it comes to the music industry, I’m definitely seeing a lot more LGBT+ artists come through and thrive, which is amazing. Labels, managements, distributors and so forth need to make sure they’re not just benefiting from LGBT+ artists but show they’re doing more to actually stand with them and create environments where those artists and their fans feel safe. A lot of feedback I see from the community when coming to our shows is that they’re in a space where they feel completely free and accepted, which I love. I get offered so many opportunities to do with LGBT+ based shows or deals and while it’s obviously flattering, I turn most of them down and suggest they give the gig to someone more worthy of that role. But really, I shouldn’t have to say that in the first place. The fee for any job I do take that feels right for me but has come in as part of the community goes to LGBT+ charities. That’s not me blowing smoke up my own arse, I just think the more of us and big companies that do that, the better. We need more artists, more visibility, more LGBT+ mainstream shows, more shows on LGBT+ history and more artists standing up as allies. We have huge platforms and such an influence on our fans – show them you’re standing by them. I’ve seen insanely talented LGBT+ artist friends in the industry who are only recently getting the credit they deserve. It’s amazing but it’s telling that it takes so long. It’s almost expected that it will be a tougher ride. We also need more understanding and action on the intersectionality between being LGBT+ and BAME. Racism exists in and out of the community and it would be great to see more and more companies in the industry doing more to combat that. The more we see these shows like Drag Race on our screens, the more we can celebrate difference. Ever since I was a little girl, my family would go to Benidorm and we’d watch these glamorous, hilarious Queens onstage; I was hooked. I grew up listening to and loving the big divas – Diana Ross (my fave), Cher, Shirley Bassey, and all the queens would emulate them. I was amazed at their big wigs, glittery overdrawn make-up and fabulous outfits. They were like big dolls. Most importantly, they were unapologetically whoever the f**k they wanted to be. As a shy girl who didn’t really understand why the world was telling me all the things I should be, I almost envied the queens but more than anything I adored them. Drag truly is an art form, and how incredible that every queen is different; there are so many different styles of drag and to me they symbolise courage and freedom of expression. Everything you envisioned your imaginary best friend to be, but it’s always been you. There’s a reason why the younger generation are loving shows like Drag Race. These kids can watch this show and not only be thoroughly entertained, but be inspired by these incredible people who are unapologetically themselves, sharing their touching stories and who create their own support systems and drag families around them. Now and again I think of when I’d see those Queens in Benidorm, and at the end they’d always sing I Am What I Am as they removed their wigs and smudged their make up off, and all the dads would be up on their feet cheering for them, some emotional, like they were proud. But that love would stop when they’d go back home, back to their conditioned life where toxic heteronormative behaviour is the status quo. Maybe if those same men saw drag culture on their screens they’d be more open to it becoming a part of their everyday life. I’ll never forget marching with Stonewall at Manchester Pride. I joined them as part of their young campaigners programme, and beforehand we sat and talked about allyship and all the young people there asked me questions while sharing some of their stories. We then began the march and I can’t explain the feeling and emotion watching these young people with so much passion, chanting and being cheered by the people they passed. All of these kids had their own personal struggles and stories but in this environment, they felt safe and completely proud to just be them. I knew the history of Pride and why we were marching, but it was something else seeing what Pride really means first hand. My advice for those who want to use their voice but aren’t sure how is, just do it hun. It’s really not a difficult task to stand up for communities that need you. Change can happen quicker with allyship.

Jade Thirlwall on the power, and pressures, of being an LGBT ally: ‘I’m gonna f**k up now and again’

[worstloki]

1/10 I've never been a big Marvel fan and one of the main reasons is because I think they're so fucking bad at characterization and dealing with actual important problems in their movies/shows. When I first got into the films I was a teenager dealing with a lot of family/identity issues who had gone through a lot of "brain washing" type shit and I connected with Loki a lot on that level, I saw myself in him in a lot of ways (including some of his bad aspects) and being able to look at him with-

2/10 compassion and understanding helped me sort of come to terms with a lot of my own stuff. The way Marvel handled his character though has always upset me, like on a personal level. All of his trauma is completely ignored, or made out to be a joke at times, and the clear racism undertones to his characters whole arch/story are played off like they don't matter. It's very clear Odin/Asgardians are very racist towards the Frost Giants and this plays into how they view Loki, yet this issue is-

3/ never addressed. Loki never comes to terms with his identity or even realizes his Jotun lineage isn't something to be ashamed of, he simply ends up taking Odin's last name and being "proud" to be Asgardian which, sure, if he's finally happy in his family good for him, but the writing there is so awful and I hate knowing they'll probably never even attempt to fix it. I want him to have an arch focused on HIM instead of everybody else, he needs to come to terms with/accept himself. The other-

4/ thing is just.. the whole Loki show. Like what the actual fuck were they doing with that? They played off emotional and physical torture as a joke and completely absolved the perpetrators of any responsibility or repercussions because "haha, it's framed like a joke and it's not visibly gruesome to watch so it's okay and you should be okay with Loki going through all this and never acknowledging how fucked up it is, plus ending up friends with the guy who did it to him!" Like it was-

5/10 genuinely hard for me to enjoy the show when they were just treating Loki like shit the entire time and expecting everyone to find it funny. It was not funny. At all. Especially after he'd already gone through a fuck-ton of trauma and torture and abuse in the film that apparently took place right before the events of the show. I can understand Loki himself having an unhealthy mindset about it, since he'd been dealing with abuse already, for what seemed like a while, and that could really-

6/10 fuck up his perceptions/mindset, but that does not excuse the actual writers from framing it as something funny! Torture's not fucking funny! ESPECIALLY when it's happening to an already tortured and extremely abused character, who's basically just gone through hell due to a bunch of trauma and brain washing! Loki deserved a break, deserved an arch to find and accept HIMSELF, not this weird romcom/drama shit where he's dumbed down and his abuse is played for laughs and he gets stuck with-

7/10 this weird-ass selfcest shit that seemed like they were trying to play up this "love yourself!" trope but instead plays even more into this idea that no one else will ever love him because he's so terrible so he just needs to settle for himself, even though the alternate version of him (who actually is pretty terrible) ends up being like "haha you suck" and leaving him too. Like what is the message here? I am very confused and quite frankly upset. I'm sick and tired of seeing this kind of-

8/10 treatment towards Loki. He's not perfect, he's done fucked up stuff and he does deserve to have consequences for his actions but this is not that! Playing his abuse, trauma and fucking TORTURE for laughs is not a good "point" to make! Playing up the "no one will love you if you don't love yourself" trope just to throw that (already bad take) back in his (and the viewer's) faces is fucked up. I hope the Marvel writers grow a brain and realize that there are real-life people who watch these-

9/10 stupid movies/show and connect with the characters and see themselves in them and actually do have their lives/outlooks influenced by the stories they're telling. I don't want other kids getting into this fandom and relating to these characters just to watch their stories basically tell them "your abuse was funny but your actions are unforgivable, even if you didn't really want to do them/were forced to do them, and no one will ever love you" because that's traumatizing in and of itself! I-

10/10 am just so tired of Marvel being so fucking lazy with their writing because it's genuinely harmful at this point. I can't even image how much it would have hurt to watch that show when I was a teenager. Having all of my worst insecurities and fears shoved in my face with a big neon sign screaming that they WOULD come true, I WAS a terrible person and I was GOING to end up alone. I just- Loki deserves better, his fans deserve better, and every kid who relates to him deserves so much better.

10/10 +1 (Sorry for rambling in your ask box so much! You can ignore all of this if you want.) The way they just threw in "I'm a narcissist" was also really gross. I can totally see it fitting Loki but they handled it so poorly and instead of reflecting on how his trauma caused it/how he was battling it, they just used it as a way to go "yeah, Loki's really scary and bad, see? He has the scary and bad mental illness!" like- fuck you! NPD does not make you bad, shut up and stop being ableist!

u are correct 👏👏👏

[animeyanderelover]

Whoo, requests are open! Can I get Azusa Mukami, Ash Launders, Lau, and Grell Sutcliff with a darling who's a ghost, or something akin to one? Thank you, please take your time with this and remember to take breaks when you need to!

I recently talked about this with my friend, but both of us are amazed with how popular Ash actually is. He suddenly became so beloved in here. Not that I complain😏.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, self-harming behavior, kidnapping, killing

Ghost s/o

Grell Sutcliff

🟥Grell is a grim reaper and for that probably met ghosts quite a few times ago. Ghosts are souls from people who didn’t find peace yet and whilst humans can’t see ghosts most of the time, other supernatural creatures can. Grell feels sometimes a bit sorry for ghosts whose souls are tight to this world until whatever doesn’t allow them to Rest In Peace is solved. There are exceptions though, it isn’t unheard that even after the issue was solved, ghosts decided to stay, mainly because they started enjoying life as an undead once again. So at one point such examples were counted in the supernatural community as well.

🟥If her darling should be a pure ghost, it depends on whether they still try to find a way out of this world or are one of those who decided to live forever as a ghost. If it’s the first one, she would definitely try to make her darling enjoy life once again since she doesn’t want them to leave. She wants to give them happiness once again and would try about everything to make them feel joy again. If it’s the latter case, she would switch from a worried mother mode in a totally fascinated one. She did meet ghosts before, but normally they are more of loners since they grief over whatever they couldn’t finish during life. So having a darling as ghost makes her more interested since ghosts aren’t that known to other magical beings.

🟥Hopefully you know how to manifest yourself or else Grell will get really pouty since she’s clingy. A ghost can learn to materialize their body so others can touch them even though that takes practice. Girl loves you just very much to the extent where she often wants to jump on you and tackle you in a hug after a boring day of work...which ends with her being met with the ground of you don’t know how to control it or did it on purpose. It also tends to scare her a bit if you suddenly pop somewhere up without her knowing since you can just walk through objects. There was this one time where you were looking for her, ending with your head popping up through the ground right in front of her. And Grell might be able to handle, blood, zombies and other gore stuff, but not this. It ended with her screaming startled.

🟥If you’re not dead, but just possess the possibilities of a ghost, the whole walking through walls and turning invisible stuff, you’re most likely a hybrid because believe it or not, in materialized form ghosts can create or bear children too. And half breeds have been since the earliest days always been a more risky topic. Many creatures are still lacking the openness to accept persons from two different kinds since many are still in the classic belief that only the same species should have children together. It leads her to being more overprotective over you since she doesn’t want you to endure hatred and racism from others. She’s fiercely overprotective in that regard.

Lau

🚢He has a weird fascination with such things, at least in my opinion. He might only be human, but he has awareness of the more otherworldly creatures on this planet and his assistant, Ran Mao, herself appears to be some sort of superhuman as well. He has probably heard a lot of ghost stories before, either from his own country or here, in England. And he is somewhat good in telling when a story was just made up so the person could suddenly gain attention or if there is a spark of truth in it. He has a nose for stuff like this and actually likes listening to such stories.

🚢So expect his obsession to very quickly grow if his darling should be a ghost even though he would hold himself back if they are unhappy due to their unfinished business. He is manipulative and is also, despite being good in hiding it from his darling, very greedy and mercenary. He might not show it, but he has every intention to make his darling stay with him, even if that means ensuring that whatever they need to do in this world will never be finished. If you are that kind of ghost who’s happy with their new life, he would be much more open with his curiosity, expressing his interest in your abilities and also backstory. Especially if you should be a lot more older than your appearance gives away, he would be keen on your story. If it should happen that you were murdered and the killer is still alive, that guy will join your kind maybe very soon if they have regrets in their life.

🚢He’s also interested in how your anatomy works since he’s an expert in it. He of course wouldn’t use you like some test subject, but he is just kind of interested how you are able to turn your whole body in one moment in something thinner than air and in the next moment into something that appears to be flesh and blood again. He also kind of likes it to touch through you since your transparent body has a certain coldness around it which gives him goosebumps. It’s a great contrast to when you have materialized and are in possession of a warm body which leads him to being even more touchy than usual. Lau finds it also always very amusing whenever you suddenly appear out of thin air, your abilities are such a breath of fresh air for him. He tends to be a bit surprised, but is good in hiding it with his usual mysterious smile.

🚢He can only guess that a half-ghost like you are one isn’t very beloved in this world. Lau of course doesn’t think you, he finds it highly interesting that you are a mix from two different species, he never thought ghosts could actually create babies. If there’s the possibility, he would like to meet your parents and talk with them, especially the parent who’s the ghost. It kind of leads him to wanting to isolate you a bit since he doesn’t want some other creature trying to kill you since different from a normal ghost you can get hurt by weapons and die like a normal human even though it’s harder to do.

Ash Landers

▫️Whilst he definitely is informed about all the other magical beings existing in this world, he stays away from pretty much everyone, even his own kind. Ash is just embossed from his obsession with purity and doesn’t think of anyone as really worth living since everyone is tainted by greed, lust, sloth and other unspeakable sins. He even hates his own kind since many angels protect the exact lowlife he wants to get rid off, believing that every life deserves living and given a chance. He is somewhat alone with his crazy goals, but he doesn’t mind.

▫️I think Ash with a ghost darling isn’t a very good mix, a horrible if I’m being honest. For the simple reason that you already died and merely your soul remains on this planet, either because of your own free will or because you carry a burden with you. You’re dead. That should say everything to why Ash is experiencing the true deepness of madness and terror someone could never possibly begin to imagine. He failed, he pathetically and utterly failed to protect the only person who actually deserved a happy and good life. It makes his whole life shatter, next to his already screwed up sanity. It does not matter if you were killed, died in an accident or because of a deadly sickness. The village you lived in will be blamed and slaughtered by him.

▫️He’s horrible to act with this because I have this terrible thought that he will not only not allow you to leave, but also desperately try to search for ways to somehow get your soul back into your body or will find a vessel in which you can live. He does not care if you want it or not, he doesn’t even really care if you’re happy or not. Dead is dead and he wants you alive. He would get incredibly prone and torn apart if you yell and cry at him that you don’t want it, that you want to die finally in peace or like being a ghost. You just don’t understand!! HE HAS TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALIVE AGAIN!!!

▫️With you being only something akin to a ghost, a hybrid in here, the situation would still be very tangled, but a bit less than with you being an actual ghost. I see Ash as someone who usually despises hybrids, but you are made the only exception from this. It isn’t worth saying that he isolates you since he would do this in all scenarios, even though he also does it in here due to fearing that someone might talk down to you because of your unidentified species. He kind of thinks he’s the only one who can truly cherish you for your whole beauty. You might have an advantage since you can just sneak past him whilst invisible, question is if you’re heartless enough to let innocents suffer under this because Ash can and will burn whole cities down if it leads him to getting you back.

Azusa Mukami

🔪I don’t think he ever met ghosts or other otherworldly creatures before even though he lived a pretty long life. It stands even open to question if he is aware of the existence such other creatures. Whilst he does know that vampires exist, he himself is a half-blooded one, he is not really too informed about other creatures and might even not really cared about it anyways before meeting his s/o. His brothers on the other hand considered the fact of other magical beings on this planet.

🔪He is saddened that you are already dead, it doesn’t matter since how long you’ve already been. It’s still very upsetting for him, especially if you should be mourning over something you couldn’t do in your life as well. I do see him as someone who might actually possess the selflessness to let you go if you’re really desperate despite knowing he’ll die without you. So it’s up to his brothers to find ways to bind you to this earth because they’re scared what Azusa will do if you should ever disappear and leave him alone for eternity. With a darling who likes their current body and is satisfied with themselves, Azusa will be happy as well and be in love with you and your fascinating powers.

🔪But please let him touch you. He is clingy and likes having physical contact with you and if you aren’t able to manifest yourself and hurt him, he will become overtime more desperate. His brother also realize the problem with you being able to escape anytime you want from them except if you make this place your new place to haunt for eternity which all of them hope. Whilst he does like feeling your actual warmth and body, he still finds your ghostly form appearing, the feeling of cold and lingering touches everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time. I do not know if ghosts possess blood or anything like this, I doubt it. So that means at least you don’t have to worry about him eventually giving in to temptation.

🔪He will never be able to understand if someone should dislike his s/o if they should be somewhat of a half breed. As I mentioned, I don’t think he really cared much about the possibility of other beings existing and certainly not a mix made from more than one species. It does add up to his worshipper tendencies since apparently people like you are not very common. He thinks you’re wonderful. As a half-ghost you might have blood inside of you, if it’s from a human is another thing to discuss. But Azusa is from all vampires the one who wouldn’t want to suck your blood, even if it drives him crazy. And even if his brothers try to force him, you can abandon your materialized form anytime for your ghost body. You give Azusa’s brothers honestly a bit of a hard time with your abilities, it’s mocking for them in a way.

[hardestgrove]

I feel like some of these people don’t understand that like… the only way to actually tackle things like racism is to engage with it. Like in the sense that you have to look at it and think about it and process how it exists in your life to be able to actually not do the thing and to understand it and how it acts in the world. And that it’s been literally proven in studies and shit that antagonism against people with opposing views only makes them dig in their heels. You see it in people in mlms, cults and people with "strongly held beliefs", you attack or belittle their Thing and they double down on it.

Every time I see some be like “Billy is racist” I’m like okay and? We gonna engage with this? Because I’m not saying his action didn’t have a racist element, I’m asking what you wanna do about it. If your answer is something like “Billy deserves to die” then you’re not helping. That’s not a useful argument. “Racist kid deserves to die for being a racist” is what’ll validate the world view and keep a kid in a neo nazi group. Because they care about him and you insult him and want him dead. You see how that's counterproductive? You see how that doesn't help squash the actual problem?

It also just creates even more of a tense environment around the already tense discussion of race. Media is a wonderful way to get into discussion about these kinds of topic with a bit of a barrier between you, the other person and the painful reality of the topic. We’re talking about Billy’s actions and their motivations and the influence on him, not your or me. It’s both real and abstract at the same time. But like, when you come in on bad faith and condemn a character and their fans for the character’s actions it’s genuinely damaging to everyone. To combat and undo things like racism, homophobia, transphobia etc people need to be able to have discussions and not be afraid that when they fuck up and parrot something they didn’t even know was wrong they’ll be crucified and publicly shamed for it. How is someone supposed to learn if they cannot ask?

I’ve been online for probably almost 20 years now and I’ve watched as fandom culture becomes more geared towards justifying dislike with largely half-understood irl moral and social justice arguments that come more from a place of wanting to somehow “win” over the opponent than from any interest in discussing the text or talking about those moral arguments genuinely. Editing Grace’s old posts to make her look like a bigot is not the morally superior stance, it’s weaponizing a culture of performative wokeness to harass a woman for the crime of liking a ship you don’t like (which is you know, a form of misogyny so I guess you gotta die too if you've done this sort of thing an the only response to shitty behavior is death).

If you lack critical thinking and the willingness to engage with and discuss difficult topics in good faith than you are part of the problem. You don’t have to like Billy but if you refuse to acknowledge that he is a product of a bigoted country, a bigoted and abusive father and a western mindset that’s been hurting everyone for centuries then you are part of the problem. Billy is nothing if not an excellent starting place in a genuine discussion on the intersections of abuse, bigotry, poverty, group think, deprogramming and queer coding. Because yes he’s queer coded, just because you don’t like him doesn’t make that untrue. Queer folk are not all perfect because you are one and the Hayes code has irrevocably changed how villains/antagonists are made. Traits that have been historically associated with queer folk were associated with villains thanks to the Hayes code and those associations are now baked into our media. Just look at any Disney villain.

If you cannot accept that the other person on the other side of the screen is a human and treat them as such then block the tag and keep scrolling. If you cannot comprehend that problematic media has its uses I cannot help you, you have to figure that out for yourself. I am not going to hold your hand and explain that the Handmaid's Tale being fascist and misogynistic is the Point and it's condemning those those things. But also I have no time for people who want to get bullshit wokeness brownie points for willfully letting things fly over their heads. I'm just gonna block you and you can take that as a win I don't care, I'm not arguing with people largely younger than me who don't have any interest in actually interrogating a text.