#aroace yelena

[fay-draws-just-because]

wait so you’re telling me I can just draw lgbt marvel characters badly in funny situations and people on tumblr will like me?

[noturlondonboy]

I wanted to just say a little sum about aroace Yelena and queer platonic bishova

*slams hand down on the table*

I fucking adore aroace Yelena. I know this blog is 95% dedicated to romantic bishova but Yelena’s character means so much me and the aroace Yelena character has quite a solid footing in some areas of the fandom so I think it’s still worth talking about

As someone who has experience in being in both romantic relationships and queer platonic ones, I can confidently say that both are super rad, and both romantic bishova and queer platonic bishova are valid and cool and I’m a fan

The two of them together in any manner of setting makes me excited. Why wouldn’t I love bishova in a qpr? It literally has something for everyone. Aroace Yelena truthers? Check. Bishova being silly and gay in the way qpr’s are? Check. Women? Check. Really it’s a no brainer. I love them so much.

Anyway there was really no rhyme or reason to this I just wanted to say I love qpr bishova too :)

[reinanova]

you know what, fuck it, this needs to be said again

YELENA BELOVA IS AROACE

this is CANON in the comics

so if you want to ship yelena with someone, just admit you’re aphobic at this point, istg

even in the hawkeye show, yelena is VISIBLY SEX-REPULSED and shows NO INTEREST IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS, so i better not hear A WORD about how “oh but aroace people can still have sex/have relationships/fill in the blank here.” yes that’s true but does NOT apply to yelena

i’m so sick and tired of having to FIGHT for an ounce of representation and acknowledgment of my existence so i’m done being nice

(aphobic comments will be blocked and deleted)

[notcryingtoday]

If Marvel makes Yelena aroace on screen I will forgive them for so many things

[extremelyace-incrediblyanxious]

Arrow and Ace

[reinanova]

exactly this.

this is why i get so frustrated when people try to ship yelena belova. like let us have this one character

I don’t think allo people understand: you get everyone else. Almost every single fictional character is allo. Every character that exists is allo until proven aro/ace/aroace. So on that rare occasion when we actually get representation, and when it’s genuinely good representation, please just let us have it. Many allo people are respectful, and I thank them for that, but it’s impossible to ignore the massive problem in fandom culture of downplaying the importance of, or even downright erasing, an aro/ace/aroace characters’ identities. Aro characters are shipped all the time, which is fine if you understand the nuances of the identity and see that it is a complex thing to be aromantic, but I see a lot of people who don’t, and think that they can say ‘oh but aro people can date’ as an excuse to ship a character. This happens with ace characters too, they are sexualised in fandom all the time (I’m not talking about any characters specifically, but I’ll tag a few who come to mind). Again, this is understandable if you understand, but if you are sexualising an asexual character just because you find them hot or just for the sake of it, surely you understand why we are upset. This is not me trying to pick a fight, I’m just an aroace who is frustrated. 

You guys get everyone else. Just let us have the few who we see ourselves in. 

[angieblogging]

hot people can be aroace and not date or be in a qpr.

funny people can be aroace and not date or be in a qpr.

loyal people can be aroace and not date or be in a qpr.

flirty people can be aroace and not date or be in a qpr.

people can be aroace and not date or be in a qpr.

people can be allo and not date or be in a qpr.

*nah cause i just got told that „they picked the wrong character” to be aroace when talking about yelena… what?*

[d3ad-squid]

Every single fucking time… can’t you allos just be happy with what you’ve got????

[logansgaar]

"Bucky Barnes isn't gay, he's bisexual/straight" okay, you're welcome to your headcanons, but coming from a bisexual here, he's based heavily on Arnie Roth like it's uncanny, their backstories are identical. For whatever reason Marvel fused three characters into one (equal parts comic Bucky and Arnie, with a tiny slither of Hunter aka White Wolf), and literally every argument about Bucky Barnes being interested in women so he can't possibly be gay can relate right back to both movie canon and the comics his backstory is based on.

Bucky circulated through a lot of dates and girls, but never has any significant relationships or deeper feelings for them depicted, unlike pretty much every single other man in Marvel. They also completely glazed over comic book Bucky Barnes' most notable relationship with Natasha (I know there's talk of it being with Yelena instead, which is even worse if they do because she's aroace, there's so little representation for aroace people) which is very interesting to me. Bucky's relationship with women mirrors Arnie Roth's exactly. Not to mention how lack lustre Bucky acts with the old playboy act now, as if he's stepped back into that role because he doesn't know how else to behave so falls back on what he knew from before but really isn't feeling it.

I'm not stupid, I know Marvel is never going to go there because of politics with less LGBT+ friendly areas of the world, but I do hope they at least keep Bucky single and ambiguous. It would also be incredible if Bucky were to at some point use the name Arnie Roth as an alias and nod to the character who combined with Bucky and Hunter. Or even Bucky meeting a teacher called Michael, even if it's left open ended.

Arnie Roth was the first ever openly gay character in any mainstream superhero comic, that's not nothing. That's so tremendously significant, along with the fact he was Jewish too (which fits with the movies too, since Jewish soldiers were eventually given the option to have P for Protestant stamped on their dog tags instead of H for Hebrew/Jewish for their own protection) and I respect people's headcanons but there's something so important about Arnie Roth being respected... Even though I'm bisexual myself, to ME Bucky Barnes is gay.

(also Sebastian Stan has gone on record to say that he's chill with any interpretation and likes that Bucky's dynamics with other men are appreciated. He's also played gay and bisexual men in the past, so he's very comfortable with the idea himself even if Marvel would never go there and would probably snipe him if he pulled an Andrew Garfield.)

[love-too-believe]

Since it's blowing up again. Here's everyone's reminder that Yelena Belova is AROACE and yes if Marvel were to pair her with anyone that is erasing her sexuality

I'm hoping they don't because there's so few aroace representation in media and it's often just erased (look at what Riverdale did to Jughead) I'm hoping she's allowed to keep her comic sexuality and just be a badass who loves her dog.

[sapphirebluejewel]

[sprnklersplashes]

you ever get massively annoyed about how casually fandom culture accepts and even sometimes encourages ace/aro erasure, even in fandoms that are predominantly queer? because I do. 

[reinanova]

i have a few scenarios for you to consider

~~~

character: “i’m not straight”

fandom*: mmmm but what if you were

~~~

character: is bisexual in the comics

fandom: well, character isn’t explicitly stated to be bi in the movies, therefore character is straight

~~~

writer: yeah character is pan and has a dating history with all genders (and this wasn’t shown bcuz of xyz)

fandom: well, it doesn’t matter what the writer says, character is straight bcuz they’ve only dated the opposite gender on screen

~~~

character: is gay (either implied or explicitly stated to be homosexual and homoromantic)

fandom: well, maybe they’re homosexual but heteroromantic**, therefore i’m only going to ship this character with the opposite gender

~~~

character: is a lesbian

fandom: well, lesbians can still have sex with men therefore i’m going to write f/m smut with this lesbian and a man. not as a “figuring out/exploring my sexuality” fic but just bcuz i can

~~~

queer community: hey this character is canonically queer, could you please be respectful of that?

fandom: how about you go fuck yourselves. this is so embarrassing to be asking for respectful representation, literally shut the fuck up

~~~

character: is canonically gay

fandom: well you can’t prove he’s not attracted to women so he’s straight actually

~~~

disclaimers:

* i’m talking about a fandom as a whole in this post, not a couple individuals who may do this. this is talking about if a large chunk (think half or more) of a fandom is ignoring a canon queer identity

** no hate to someone who may identify this way. if someone is this identity, kudos to them, but people shouldn’t just use this as an excuse to ignore someone’s queer identity

this is how you sound when ignoring aspec*** identities. do you hear how ridiculous this is?

*** aspec (the way i use it at least) includes the asexual spectrum (ace-spec) and aromantic spectrum (aro-spec). also your friendly reminder that people can be aro and not ace and vise versa but you can’t ignore one or the other to suit your fancy

there will probably always be people doing this (re: ignoring canon queer identities) in fandoms, however, not in mainstream and popular ships and not to the extent that aspec identities are erased. bcuz if you have a problem with the above scenarios but not when the character is aspec, an already basically invisible identity, you need to re-examine your thinking and deal with your hypocrisy

do you know how hard it is to prove a LACK of something? even if someone straight up says, “i experience zero sexual or romantic attraction to anyone,” someone else will be like, “well how do you know you just haven’t found the right person yet?”

is the idea that someone doesn’t want a romantic or sexual relationship that difficult to understand?

if you want to see your identity represented in a character headcanon, great! but do so in a way that doesn’t negate another marginalized and underrepresented canon identity

there are SO! MANY! straight characters at your disposal. use one of them for your queer headcanons until we reach the point where your identity is canon. then you’ll probably be fighting for representation the same way i am right now

it also sucks to see fighting within the aspec community. bcuz yes aro and ace identities are a spectrum. however, when there’s a singular character with an aspec identity, you physically cannot showcase that spectrum. so if an ace character is sex-favorable, allos will believe all ace people are sex-favorable and ignore aces who are not. same thing for sex-repulsed aces and so on. the only solution is to fight for more aspec representation so everyone can see themselves in media without sacrificing parts of an aspec identity to fit how you identify

i’m tired. i’m so fucking tired of fighting for an ounce of representation. this should not be an uphill battle for people to accept aspec characters. i shouldn’t have to fight the queer community and straight people for this

[ir0npvrker]

yelena: i would take a bullet for mac & cheese

kate: who the fuck would shoot a bowl of mac & cheese

[agentoffangirling]

I think there would be world peace if people could stop shipping aroace characters

[extremelyace-incrediblyanxious]

Trying a little more of a realistic (?) style in procreate. So, had to show a little Yelena love. And of course add the ace flag in the back

♠️🩶🤍💜