#and i’m gonna say it. heartstopper & sex education.

[thebigqueer]

the problem w so much media today is that they’re all obsessed w being representative and diverse which is a good thing in theory but then they focus so much on their diversity that they just lose the plot completely and it becomes mad boring

[georgiaatwarr]

It is especially painful when it is adaptations from CANON just being ignored. (Jughead and Yelena yes, also Aro erasure from Raphael Santiago (who I guess was still ace in the tv show so yay), the fact that that one character in Netflix sex education went away after like two episodes etc etc.) But let me give you some positivity as well.

A (small) list of (actually good?!) things to watch for Aro/Ace-spec representation

-Koisenu Futari (two AroAce leads!!! It’s about them!! I’m not finished yet because I need to take my time because I want to savour it.)

-Bojack Horseman (it’s not perfect but it’s good! Todd is not the main character but he is important. He has a personality! He talks about being Ace. He explains that aro’s also exist. I have seen season 3 a lot of times.)

-Everything’s gonna be okay. (She’s not the main character but she is important enough and this show is so wonderful and cute! Some of the explanation wasn’t quite right. But hey, we got some representation. She comes out in season 2. I love this show a lot.)

-The imperfects (an ace girl one of the main characters who states that she is ace in the first episode!) (okay this show itself is not that great and the representation was… there? The character didn’t have that many deeper or significant moments around it but she mentioned it. Her super power was linked to it in an interesting way that I thought showed some of the craziness of living in this allo-centric world. There was no real explanation though there was just a short “I’m ace” moment and that one time she tells her potential-future-girlfriend? But we don’t get to see the conversation we just hear another character say that they talked.) (BUT Netflix CANCELED this show so… another loss I guess.)

-Heartbreak high (the character was somewhat important. We got to see a lot of his emotions and struggles! Then we also got to see him make huge mistakes outside of all this… but it means he has a personality. He struggles when another character clearly shows they have a crush on him. And they get all confused about his response. This show has a lot of other representation as well! Hopefully it will actually get a season two and use the terms.)

That’s it for now.

At least we got one show where it’s the main characters! And some shows where it is well done. But when the list is this small (and limited) all erasure is extra hurtful.

I do have a lot of faith in the second season of Heartstopper as Alice made comments about including representation. And I trust them completely.

I also have found a LOT more rep available in literature. Which is really nice. (If anyone wants a list of that too I might start one.)

Maybe this list helped someone. (Pls add more if anyone has more recommendations!!)

it’s so painfully hard to get actually good aroace representation in media, because those characters, whether it be by the writers or the fandom, always get their identity erased.

jughead is a prime example of that. we could have had such an important character to represent us, but noooo

wednesday could have been perfect as aroace (especially with how she said she’d pity any man who fell in love with her in the old movies), but that would be too much too ask for

and i’ve seen too many fans asking for yelena belova and kate bishop to be made into a couple for my taste. THATS LITERALLY HER CANON SEXUALITY IN THE COMICS