#both as bi rep and as a well thought out character

[t1gerlilly]

I’ve seen a number of posts dismissing discussions of racism in the new storyline out of hand. To the point where I have no idea what the original criticisms were. And I think that’s really unfortunate. Partly because it feels like there’s a part of our community we’re not listening to and partly because I have some questions on the subject and would really like to hear what people are saying about it, but I’m clearly not following the right people.

I think folks forget how important Eddie is as Hispanic rep. Although 25% of the US population is Hispanic, only 3.3% of lead roles in TV are played by Hispanic actors (source) They’re also only 1.6% of showrunners and 1.9% of directors. And they are also under 5% of executive or management roles in media (source). So there is clearly a systemic problem.

But how does that apply to 911? Well - Carlos on lone star is notorious for having the least screen time of any character, despite the fact that his character is the closest to Athena in terms of role. And Eddie? Well, the latest I could find was season five totals - and Eddie and Chim, the non-white or black men, were bottom of the barrel. To really establish a pattern, you’d want more than two shows, but at least across half a decade of shows, the pattern is pretty consistent. I’m not making an argument about the reasons for that, but those are just the numbers. If I were to speculate, I’d assume it was a combination of who the network exec, showrunner, and executive producer was, since they have the power to make decisions. Just coincidentally, their racial identities mirror the screen time of the characters? Hmmmm

So then let’s look at who does press for the show - making themselves more visible…yeah, that’s largely Oliver. And you can say that’s because he’s a POV character- but you might be surprised to learn that in many seasons either Hen or Athena had more screen time than Buck. Yeah. Really. But you NEVER see Aisha put out to do press the way that Oliver is.

Why is that? Is it because she’s a black woman? Because she plays a queer character? And who is making that decision and why? Because that lack of visibility impacts her personal career. Same thing with Ryan Guzman and Kenneth Choi, who both have less screen time AND less press.

But in particular- and this is the rub - Ryan has CLEARLY been making intentional acting choices FOR YEARS to shape his character and his dynamic with Buck as queer. Oliver played into them, thinking of them as natural chemistry- but it’s clear that other creators on the show - notably the directors and writers, picked up on Ryan’s choices and fan reactions to reframe the dynamics and the characters.

And it’s really clear that Tim originally intended to have Eddie come out, but the poor reaction to Natalia and the fact that the actress was unavailable led him to switch the storyline to Buck. All of which is perfectly understandable.

But if there’s one person most responsible for the reason we ultimately got bi!Buck, it’s Ryan Guzman - for the bravery and perseverance of his choices as an artist. It’s amazing to me that in all the praise for Oliver saying that he “would have” leaned into Buck as queer even without the go ahead…no one has thought to praise the actor who actually DID THAT - for YEARS- when he was in a much more precarious position as a character and an actor. Like really take a minute to look at what that took…he was risking his livelihood with that choice.

And then, when the show DOES finally make it canon…who gets the praise? The buzz? The support? The white guy who was mostly oblivious for the past five years. Like…how is THAT fair?

And OK, the original plan was for the helicopter pilot to be Lucy, and that fell through so they reached out to Lou, because Tommy was a former character- but also quite likely because he looks a good deal like Buck - and the SL was supposed to have that character be a stand-in for the other half of Buddie. When they switched to Buck, they had to make Tommy have similar hobbies to Eddie to establish the similarities, since they couldn’t rely on looks.

But that meant they totally whitewashed the story line. And if you want to talk about firsts - when has a Hispanic lead come out as gay or bi? And how many of them were men? And how many were over 21? And on a mainstream show?

And no, it wasn’t intentional (just a function of having so many more white characters than Hispanic characters), but it was unfortunate. Not to mention the intersectionality of it all.

So…I honestly think there’s a decent basis for critique there. Not a “these people are terrible” critique, but a “not paying attention to diversity systemically” in a way that lets unconscious bias have the same impact as deliberate bias.

And I really wonder at the people who just dismissed the entire discussion - how hard did you listen? How willing were you to hear what people were saying? Because this is an issue that has to do with real people, their careers, their hopes, dreams, and identities. And you should be willing to listen.

[duckprintspress]

10 Books for Pansexual and Panromantic Visibility Day!

May 24th is Pansexual and Panromantic Visibility Day, so make sure to say hi to your pan friends before they’re invisible again! We’re celebrating with (shock) book recommendations! Explicit pan rep is hard to come by, and in cases where it’s implied, the difference between interpreting a characters as bi versus pan is often down to personal perceptions of the character and the sexuality/romanticisms in questions. With that in mind, we present 10 titles we loved with either explicit or implied pan rep! The contributors to this list are: Nina Waters, Tris Lawrence, boneturtle, E. C., and two anonymous contributors

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries series) by Martha Wells

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.”

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula K. Le Guin

The award-winning stories in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea range from the everyday to the outer limits of experience, where the quantum uncertainties of space and time are resolved only in the depths of the human heart. Astonishing in their diversity and power, they exhibit both the artistry of a major writer at the height of her powers and the humanity of a mature artist confronting the world with her gift of wonder still intact.

Commit to the Kick by Tris Lawrence

For eighteen years, Alaric has lived under the cloying politics of family and his Clan community. His freshman year is supposed to be a chance to explore a world where Clan and his shapeshifting Talent isn’t central to his life. But when his inner bear bursts forth during his first football game, endangering those around him, Alaric realizes that it’s not so easy to ignore his past, or his own internalized anger.

In his quest for anger management, Alaric begins to train in taekwondo, and makes new friends in both sports. He finds that he is creating his own small community, where Clan, Mages, other Talents, and even humans come together and build their own found family.

When Alaric receives news that something has happened to his brother Orson, he must return and deal with his Clan and his place in their world. He discovers that old prejudices are still strong between Clan and Mage communities, but that both may be in danger from a creature long thought to be only a legend. Alaric must figure out how to move forward and prevent a war and protect both his home and newly built communities, his found family with him every step of the way. 

Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

Margot Cooper doesn’t do relationships. She tried and it blew up in her face, so she’ll stick with casual hookups, thank you very much. But now her entire crew has found “the one” and she’s beginning tofeel like a fifth wheel. And then fate (the heartless bitch) intervenes. While touring a wedding venue with her engaged friends, Margot comes face-to-face with Olivia Grant—her childhood friend, her first love, her first… well, everything. It’s been ten years, but the moment they lock eyes, Margot’s cold, dead heart thumps in her chest.

Olivia must be hallucinating. In the decade since she last saw Margot, her life hasn’t gone exactly as planned. At almost thirty, she’s been married… and divorced. However, a wedding planner job in Seattle means a fresh start and a chance to follow her dreams. Never in a million years did she expect her important new client’s Best Woman would be the one that got away.

When a series of unfortunate events leaves Olivia without a place to stay, Margot offers up her spare room because she’s a Very Good Person. Obviously. It has nothing to do with the fact that Olivia is as beautiful as ever and the sparks between them still make Margot tingle. As they spend time in close quarters, Margot starts to question her no-strings stance. Olivia is everything she’s ever wanted, but Margot let her in once and it ended in disaster. Will history repeat itself or should she count her lucky stars that she gets a second chance with her first love? 

Maneater (Monsters of Moonvale series) by Emily Antoinette

If something ever seems too good to be true, it probably is. That’s how the “friendly” invitation to join a new coven turned into a surprise demon summoning. At least it wasn’t a virgin sacrifice. Then I really would have been screwed—and not in the way they plan for with the succubus they’ve bound. 

When I help free her from the bindings and offer her a ride back to work, things get even weirder. She tells me she wants to see me again. This captivating woman wants to see me—a nerdy witch who spends his free time playing D&D. 

There’s no way she means it. Because that’s definitely too good to be true. Still, there’s no way I can resist the opportunity to spend more time with a goddess like her. 

There’s Magic Between Us by Jillian Maria

A diehard city girl, 16-year-old Lydia Barnes is reluctant to spend a week in her grandma’s small town. But hidden beneath Fairbrooke’s exterior of shoddy diners and empty farms, there’s a forest that calls to her. In it, she meets Eden: blunt, focused, and fascinating. She claims to be hunting fae treasure, and while Lydia laughs it off at first, it quickly becomes obvious that Eden’s not joking-magic is real.

Lydia joins the treasure hunt, thrilled by all the things it offers her. Things like endless places in the forest to explore and a friendship with Eden that threatens to blossom into something more. But even as she throws herself into her new adventure, some questions linger. Why did her mom keep magic a secret? Why do most of the townspeople act like the forest is evil? It seems that, as much as Lydia would like to pretend otherwise, not everything in Fairbrooke is as bright and easy as a new crush…

Fire and Flight (ElfQuest series) by Wendy and Richard Pini

The forest-dwelling elves called the Wolfriders are burnt out of their ancestral home by vengeful humans. Betrayed by cowardly trolls, the elfin band, led by Cutter, Blood of Ten Chiefs, must cross the Burning Waste to find a haven they’ve never seen before. Can the Wolfriders survive? If they do, what surprises await them at Sorrow’s End?

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

This is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted-and still wants-to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself.

Final Draft by Riley Redgate

Laila Piedra doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, and definitely doesn’t sneak into the 21-and-over clubs on the Lower East Side. The only sort of risk Laila enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before graduation, Laila’s number one fan is replaced by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who sees nothing at all special about Laila’s writing.

A growing obsession with gaining Nazarenko’s approval–and fixing her first-ever failing grade–leads to a series of unexpected adventures. Soon Laila is discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, and the beauty of temporary flings and ambiguity. But with her sanity and happiness on the line, Laila must figure out if enduring the unendurable really is the only way to greatness.

Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their tiny snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. But as Kyra starts to struggle with her bipolar disorder, Corey’s family moves away. Worried about what might happen in her absence, Corey makes Kyra promise that she’ll stay strong during the long, dark winter.

Then, just days before Corey is to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated–and confused, because Kyra said she wouldn’t hurt herself. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones, saying Kyra’s death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she’s a stranger.

The further Corey investigates–and the more questions she asks–the greater her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets–chilling secrets. Can she piece together the truth about Kyra’s death and survive her visit?

You can also view this list on the shelf on our Goodreads, or visit Bookshop.org and check out this list in our affiliate shop! Note: due to the difficulty of differentiating a pan characters versus a bi character unless which they are is explicitly identified in canon, we have put bi and pan characters on joint lists – so these lists linked are bisexual and/or pansexual character lists.

What are your favorite books with pansexual and panromantic characters?

[blood-choke]

hi! i have a question, but before that i just wanted to thank you for giving such amazing sapphic rep in both of your games. as someone who's sapphic (Im a bi girlie) I'm always a little bit disappointed when the female sapphic characters are given not as much thought even when it comes to both female gender locked ros and the female/nb counterparts of gender selectable characters in comparison to the male characters/male counterparts of gender selectable characters in other ifs. i absolutely adore both of your games and the fact that you take such great care with each of the characters' identities, even if they share the same sexuality or gender, they express their gender and sexuality in different ways and i also love the stud rep with hana. And I love that your gender selectable ros in tnp present in a similar way regardless of gender, yet there are still differences in the way that they express it or experience it. my first language isn't English so if i get any terminology wrong please lmk. ❤️

as for my question I was wondering what your thoughts were regarding sapphic ros in IF. do you think gender selectability could be used in a better way to explore a characters' identity in some circumstances. i am curious as to what you think regarding gender locked and gender selectability especially regarding to female/nb ros. i always love to hear your thoughts on different topic so i thought i would ask. ❤️❤️

thank you so much! 💗 now, get ready for a really long-winded response!

honestly, my opinion on genderselectable ROs tends to fluctuate. it's kinda a love/hate relationship, hahaha. there are a lot of games that i think do a fine job handling it, and overall i prefer having the option as a lesbian because typically we don't… get sapphic/gay female characters… like, at all.

now for my controversial opinion: i don't really think most of these female genderselectable characters are actually sapphic. they're just playersexual. and this goes for the opposite, as well, for the male versions. they're not gay or bi they're just playersexual. genderselectable characters can only work if the author is willing to make an effort & flesh out both/all versions of a character as well as acknowledge their sexuality. if one version of the character is meant to be a bisexual woman, then you should be writing her as a bisexual woman. unfortunately i'm sad to say i've seen more than one author publicly admit that this is "too much work," but i suppose i can commend them for being honest about it…

it's been interesting to see this kind of stuff in the IF tag recently. for a while it seemed like we were actually moving more towards favoring genderlocked characters, with set sexualities, and then suddenly it feels like we've ended up in a worse spot than we used to be. i see some really egregious gender essentialism with some genderselectable ROs, down to even their sense of fashion and tattoos changing so the female version can be more feminine and dainty. it's very bizarre, and i really, really do not like it.

i don't necessarily think it's a bad thing for selectable characters to be different. it makes sense in some cases, like if you had a character that was gender nonconforming in all variations. it would make sense that their clothes would be different and their experiences would be different. i even think it can be interesting to explore how certain characters are affected differently by society because of their gender. if you had a character like Lea that existed in a misogynistic society like ours, their experience as a butch would be very different from their experience as a masculine trans man or androgynous nb person… and they would also share a lot of similar experiences, too! but this is not what i usually see. it's usually just… woman: wears pink, is shorter and skinnier, has long hair. man: wears blue, is big and muscular, has short hair. nonbinary (if there even is a nb variation): thin and androgynous artbreeder mashup of the other two. and then in every other aspect they are the same. unfortunately, that's as far as some authors are willing to take it. the rare times i do see someone add in differences it's always just the female version experiencing some form of misogyny that her male counterpart does not, with very little elaboration or reflection.

i don't really think i need to explain why that kind of characterization is a problem.

i do think there is a lot of potential with the gender selection mechanic. i've tried to do something interesting with Lea, and i like to think i've been successful with it. but in my honest opinion, if you want to write a story about gay and/or sapphic characters, you should just genderlock them. for one, the IF audience at large is always going to favor the male version of your character. that is just a fact. if your only female or nb characters are selectable, they will be erased by the wider IF audience. i know this sounds kind of cynical, but this is my honest opinion & my experience as someone who has been involved in this community for almost four years now.

i think if you are someone who is setting out with the intention of writing a sapphic RO, you are doing them a disservice by making them genderselectable. just genderlock them! you may get people that complain, but they can suck it up or go play something else. and i don't think i need to tell you this but just to be clear, genderlocking gay or trans characters is not the same as a game with an all straight or all cis cast. it just simply is not. cis, straight, & white people are already considered the "default." most games already cater to this demographic. it is not the same to genderlock or even lock your characters race or ethnicity to something other than cis, straight, or white. cis, straight, white people are not a minority. you are not underrepresented. there are millions of games out there for you to play. & it's irritating when people pretend like someone getting upset at the exclusion of gay people (or any other minority, for that matter) from a game is somehow comparable to another game "excluding" straight people (or white people, or cis people). arguing this is just blatantly ignoring the reality of our misogynistic, racist, homophobic & transphobic society. again, straight people are not underrepresented. you are automatically included in almost everything except the gay media that gay people create themselves.

gay women especially are repeatedly left out of IF. unless you want to go read yuri VNs (which, no offense, don't really do it for me most of the time) you're pretty much shit out of luck. there are very few lesbian ROs out there, fewer gnc women, almost no butches and definitely no studs that i've seen in this specific tumblr/cog IF space.

so all of this to say, if you do really want to make your characters genderselectable, then just take your time with it. really think about how their gender may change their experiences within the world of your game. does it change anything at all? maybe not. there does not need to be a drastic difference at all if it's not applicable. don't loop back around into gender essentialism. but you should still think about it, and consider what the gender selectable mechanic can offer as a narrative and characterization tool.

what is my plan for this character? what am i trying to accomplish with them and their story? does making them genderselectable add to that narrative or does it hinder it? how can i explore the potential differences between these versions of this character without falling into and reinforcing harmful stereotypes? how does their sexuality impact their experience? i think these are some of the questions authors should ask themselves when deciding if they want to make their characters genderselectable.

[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

RWRB - thoughts

Already did this on the bird, so might as well retype it here:

Some thoughts on Red White and Royal Blue, and why I feel a little disappointed in some of the reactions I've seen because I need to caffeinate and also type this out into the void.

I want to preface this by saying that obviously we all consume and experience media in a vast myriad of unique and different ways, and my opinions aren't stated for the purpose of diminishing or belittling anyone else's. If you read this & disagree that's your right!

I went into RWRB expecting it to be NOTHING like the book (for ex I was aware major characters had been cut and some exposition revised). Also, the book is generally better than the adaptation - that's my mantra (w exception of Good Omens and Sandman; the Neil Gaiman effect is strong).

What I did NOT expect was how MONUMENTALLY touched I would be by such open, romantic, and intimate representation of a m/m love story on my screen. There are multiple scenes between Alex & Henry in RWRB that I have never seen so touchingly depicted before (and perhaps I'm missing other movies that do it! Drop them in the replies!) RWRB earns that R rating but it does so in such a gorgeous way - it show cases the love of these two men as a beautiful, NORMALIZED thing.

I know, you're saying - that's the bare minimum!

And it is. But, the state of our world, especially when it comes to the representation and the rights of our community - is such that I feel the need to take joy in even what is the bare minimum for people like us. (Speaking of people like us - the B in LGBTQ plus is not a silent letter!!) You can read about the importance both Casey and the director of RWRB placed on bi rep in this film in this piece.

A very important example is the sex scene in the movie, which is likely the most explicit m/m sex scene I've seen in a mass distributed highly promoted film since - ever? This is important because it's done ROMANTICALLY. And mind you - it's still leaps and bounds from explicit sex scenes in a het rom com film, which is why it's so important that we have this.

Normalizing intimate contact between couples other than those who are heterosexual is monumentally important. I for one would hate to see any negativity leveled at this film due to the (fair & justified!) disappointment folks may be having because it's different from the books take away from that very important aspect. (Also why aren't we talking about the trans rep?! Aneesh Sheth stole the show for me as Amy).

I think that's where my feelings of sadness ab some of the reactions are stemming from. I had similar thoughts when folks were upset over S&B not being identical to the books as well, but it feels even more vital for us to celebrate RWRB for everything it brings to the table and to our community instead of focusing on what its missing from the books.

I am very grateful to have a story like RWRB in existence, and I hope it leads to many more, because queer love is beautiful in all aspects, and it deserves to be seen and celebrated in ALL mediums.

[annabellelupin]

thoughts on rwarb (movie) now that I've actually finished it:

I really loved all of the Henry and Alex moments and they all felt so sweet and adorable and I honestly just loved those idiots. zahra was a favorite of mine in the book and I genuinely think the movie made me love her even more. it was pretty good overall but I really don't think it does the book justice. small cuts and changes are really normal with movie adoptions but they cut out important information and characters. june played a really important role as Alex navigated his feelings and I think it was wrong they cut her character. The same certainly goes for Rafael Luna, he played an important role in the election and without him Alex wouldn't have found out who leaked the emails (I really dislike how they changed that situation too). The whole deal with Alex already being aware he was into guys also bothered me a bit since seeing Alex discovering and accepting himself was another important thing early on in the book. I feel like we were robbed with both Henry and Alex's family issues. Alex's parents being divorced certainly affected his character and for some stupid reason they seemingly have his parents in a happy and healthily. Then there's the fact that Henry mentions Catherine is off "saving elephants" which I once again don't like since her absence due to her depression from losing her husband really affected Henry just as Alex's parents being divorced affected him. I also see no reason why they needed to cut out "The Powder Princess" deal and make Bea younger than Henry (especially seeing that it affected him a bit as well). Another thing that irritates me to no end is basically all of the queer rep involving the women in the story was cut. Amy is really openly a transwomen in the book and even had a wife (who's pansexual) and neither things about her were mentioned. Then Nora was pretty open about her queerness and how she was attracted to just about any gender (so assumingly pan or bi). It was even pretty much confirmed Nora and June were a couple in the bonus chapter of the special edition copy of the book and I don't believe her queerness is ever brought up, even when Alex comes out to her (originally she was the first person he went to about it because she was queer as well and I don't think the scene had the same feel with that missing). Even with June being cut she didn't need to end up with Pez and could have expressed her queerness. Something I wasn't all that thrilled about from the beginning was the casting for Henry and Alex. Now Henry's certainly wasn't too bad but Alex looks so much older than twenty two and I can not get over the fact that he's taller than Henry (casting is still one of my least concerns overall). The whole deal with the reporter Miguel didn't sit well with me well either. The fact that he essentially outed Henry and Alex as a queer man himself feels even more wrong than the emails getting leaked by Richards. I dont understand why they couldnt have stuck to the original plot there. I really did enjoy the movie and already plan on watching it again but I really hate how they went about a lot of things and cut such important things I loved about the book. I absolutely recommend it but sincerely think it does not do the book justice.

tl;dr

I really enjoyed the movie and honestly loved seeing Henry and Alex but it did not do the book justice and too many important things were cut imo

[rocketturtle4]

Make it Right 1&2: It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it – my reflection on the show as a newbie.

In brief: I am attempting to understand how Thai BL has changed, and just generally catch up, by watching ABL’s understand the history of Thai bl list on the Thai master post. I’m more interested in the growth and change of shows and characters (and tropes) than the tracking of different actors/directors, although I enjoy reading about those things. I am concurrently understanding the history of all BL by watching the Foundation Syllabus lists as well. Not everything has been or will be reviewed. These are my own thoughts, I am not expecting everyone or even anyone to agree.

Also, the only Thai BL I have watched older than 2019 were the earlier parts of those lists (Love of Siam, Love Sick 1 & 2 (BL cut) and SOTUS, SOTUS S + Our Skyy). I have only seen about a dozen younger ones, hency why I am watching these lists. Everything is fairly new.

The Good

This main story, about boys falling in love and leaning into those relationships in a way that isn’t necessarily reflective of reality but instead shows what life might look like if young men leaned in rather than out, was GREAT. @bengiyo I really appreciated this lense.

I absolutely want to start here because the relationships of Frame&Book, Tee&Fuse, Yok&Mo and even Rottung&Nine were exciting and engaging stories told across one or both seasons. They were old with a meaningful rawness that @lurkingshan and @waitmyturtles both discuss in their posts about Make It Right 1 & 2. The characters journeys and choices felt real to a world where men aren't as forced away from each other and themselves by societal and peer pressure.

I went in mentally prepared for some of the biggest issues I’d seen mentioned (general cringeyness, alcohol-induced sex, arguably non-consensual sex, and for the second season, depression and suicide). I had skimmed @waitmyturtles post about season 1 and @lurkingshan's post about season 1, and I was looking forward to the show

Some highlights:

The friendships (I absolutely LOVE boys who are besties with some boys and in love with others. The idea that you can’t be friends with members of the genders you’re attracted to is dumb. The idea that boys shouldn’t support each other and talk about their lives with each other is dumb. I love that this show and others are repping it for genuine and meaningful friendhsips.)

The main relationships especially Frame&Book. (see @lurkinshan’s post about season 2 in particular for excellent recaps, I’m not going to go into details).

Actual quotes I sent to @waitmyturtles while watching:

Frame just told Book that he's a beautiful star whether far away or up close and I'm ACTUALLY DYING FROM THE SWEETNESS

Tee set a ringtone just for Fuse RIP Myself

Tee just CHECKED WITH HIS BOYFRIEND BEFORE CALLING JEAN HIS GIRLFRIEND. My man, how obvious can one be!

Frame: if I'm going to open my heart, I want it to be with you, Me: 💀

Tee and Fuse just EXCHANGED METAPHORICAL HEARTS.

You get the idea

Ohm (that’s it that’s the highlight)

Fuse’s chaotic bi-ness. You kind of want to shake him by the middle of season 2, but it’s also just so fun to watch.

The Struggle

What I wasn’t prepared for, was how much I had to work to love this show.

Frequently throughout season 1, and the first half of season 2, I had to keep asking myself:

Why am I uncomfortable? Why am I uncomfortable? Why am I uncomfortable?

And sometimes, it took multiple episodes of discomfort to pinpoint (one of the multiple) reasons I was cringing. It actually got more challenging as I watched, because I’d find a reason, reflect, reframe my thinking (or modify how I watched the show) and get back into it, only to knock into a wall of discomfort again. It was similar to the struggle you might have beginning a good show where something about the start doesn’t quite gel, but over and over and over again.

Investment

investment

investment

investment

off.

Investment

investment

investment

investment

off.

Rinse and repeat.

FRUSTRATING.

(I literally wandered off between episodes 6 & 7 of MIR 2 to go watch all of What Did You Eat Yesterday (before watching tokyo in april is...)(twas great) just to get a break. Then I read some season 2 recaps from @lurkingshan here and @waitmyturtles here and decided that yes, it was worth the effort) - the last 5 or s episodes were totally worth it FYI

So here are some things I struggled with:

(In writing this reflection, I’ve found some had intertwined or central causes I didn’t notice at the time, so hopefully this makes sense.)

Frame’s overt casualness towards sex (Thinking reframed after S1 Episode 6 I think)

Frame initially felt very predatory to my teenage conditioning. I already made a post about it. It got better after episode 6, but I don’t know if that was because I fixed my brain or if Fuse became less overtly sexual since he started pursuing Book.

(Side note, even before I figured out the problem, I was so pleased with his ability to talk about sex with a medical professional in S1 Ep5, and that was a weird discordance in my brain because the reason Frame was comfortable talking about the issue caused by sex, is because he was comfortable having and talking about sex. Whereas, in my experience, there is this expectation that teenagers (and adults) should be comfortable having these conversations regardless of their experience or comfort with sex in other contexts. Which you should be able to talk to a doctor but you can't just switch tracks in your brain so easily.)

I thought I hated all the girls on the show (I was wrong, but that was my original conclusion)

it was this point that caused me the longest discomfort because WHY? What was I reacting to? Jean was meh, Jiang (Fuse’s sister) was fine (this was pre-introduction of Jean’s not a bestie and Tee’s Mum). Christina was great. What was I reacting to??

It turns out that it’s because both Lily and Yok’s mum are adult women acting in ways that felt predatory to me. I actively hated the show anytime one of them appeared on screen, and that was not a fun emotional response to have.

Lily: I am not sure how old this character was supposed to be, but she’s not in school, and she was tricking Wit into giving her his number and then seemed to be stalking him.

Yok’s mum: She comes across a random teenage girl (who she knows NOTHING ABOUT) and approaches her to PAY HER TO SEDUCE HER SON.

Honestly, Yok’s mum was the worst since Lilly was barely in it. The weird storyline with Wit in the second season also felt very odd. Plus, I found it super confusing that she was this dictating overbearing parent and yet when she was injured, Yok just casually started ordering her to stay home and have Wit take care of her, and she just…agreed (am I missing something?)

Jean: To be honest, she didn’t bother me nearly as much. She was a manipulative teenager who wanted the cool older boyfriend while keeping her nice safe boy on the hook, classic 1-dimensional teenage girl, easy to ignore.

I have no idea what happened with Lily or Yok’s mum in the latter part of season 2. I started actively skipping whenever they appeared on the screen. It did wonders for my engagement because hating anytime they appeared on the screen seriously impacted my viewing experience.  

I’d have preferred they didn’t show up at all

The characters are young. (reframed mid season 2)

Shocking the teenagers in high school are, in fact, teenagers who’d have thunk it? But when it turned out Book had had sex two years earlier, my brain was like, WAIT, WHAT? How old are these characters right now? I’d been assuming about 16, which turned out to be accurate (they are in the 11th grade in s2, making them probably 16 at the start of season 2), which means Book’s sex tape is when he was 14. Now do I personally know people who became sexually active at 14? Yes. Does it kind of weird me out on a personal level because at 14 I hadn’t even hit puberty? ABSOLUTELY (seriously, people thought I was like…9).

A father in a story I once read (yes, it was a fanfic) said something like this to his underage son:

“Yes 18 is an arbitrary line, past the point many teenagers are ready, but isn’t it better for the one’s who aren’t ready to be protected by the law even at the cost of you having to wait?”

And my uh ?19? year old self latched onto that idea with a retrospectively concerning lack of nuance.

However, that idea is very black and white on one hand, and patently unrealistic on another. Understanding that teenagers, even teenagers as young as 14/15, like Book was with his first boyfriend, do in fact, have sex is something I still find kind of confusing because of how completely uninterested I was about such things in highschool. (Especially at 14). But that doesn’t make it less true or less okay. Teenagers can have healthy sex lives and that’s okay (is a mantra I repeated to myself…more than once)

Yes it is becoming clear to me that most of my hangups are apparently around sex, hence this reflection.

Sex workers being friends with teenagers and suggesting sex with them (early season 1) - can teenagers have casual sex? (reframed here, now)

I was surprised by this one because I had made a conscious effort to dismantle inherent biases I harboured towards sex workers as a concept some years ago, and it was something that didn’t bother me at all when I watched 3 Will Be Free in May of this year. (Yay for growth)

Yet, when an adult women suggested Frame come back to her apartment, my brain went: WHAT NO! (seriously, my brain when WHAT NO so often it was exhausting)

I think this underlies a lot of the discomfort I felt with points 1, 2, & 3 on this list. While I have little to no issue with ADULTS having casual sex, Teenagers having casual sex, especially with Adults, is something that I’m not okay with being depicted (and I don’t mean consciously but unconsciously). Throw in some romantic feelings and I’m apparently fine (I love my age gap BL), but casual and that’s suddenly not okay?

I haven’t really settled on how I feel about this intellectually one way or another and the ambiguity of it all makes it hard to reframe this one properly. At what point does someone become an adult is not a question I’m suddenly going to be able to answer, especially because my personal experience of being a late bloomer biases me towards the older, the better. Also how I feel about it being depicted on TV is not the same as how I would feel about it in real life. However, the fact that (to my unconsciousness) it’s okay if romantic feelings are involved feels a little hypocritical. (If you click on the link @absolutebl talks about age gap issues in the context of Minato's laundromat (scroll down past epiosde 8, I had previously read this and it helped me when I was thinking this through)

I think this one comes from a place of some realism rather than exclusively sex-negative conditioning, which makes it harder to traverse. Adult’s brains are more developed, and an inherent power balance is involved when one party is relatively independent, and the other is not. I think I unconsciously believe romantic feelings reduce this power imbalance...not totally sure though.

The Crassness of it all (A constant and ongoing reframing of my brain)

Other things that made me cringe: (Shockingly these are largely about sex again)

Sex with strange women in the bathroom (Frame and Book early season 1) (also, they appeared to be adult women, sooo back to point 4)

Hooking up with strangers for sex (Frame and Book early season 1)

The forced sexual encounter (this one’s not on me) (Frame and Book early Season 1)

Lukmo and Yok exchanging numbers while taking dumps in the bathroom (early season 2)

Lukmo and Yok dream sex scene and actual sex scene (I don’t think this one is on me) (late season 2)

Boys watch porn in groups (do they actually this keeps coming up in shows?) (is there anything wrong with this if they do, other than how uncomfy it makes me to imagine…no)

These aren’t necessarily bad things, just things that made it harder for me to watch and that’s what I’m reflecting on so…

The inherent Misogyny

I had the exact same problem with Love Sick, so I wasn’t really fussed about this one. I just thought it was SO STUPID that Fuse was only able to justify breaking up with Jean after she’d been a bad person. Like if she was a good person, he would have to stay with her BECAUSE SHE’S A HELPLESS GIRL.

This was just adding insult to injury.

But real talk, Het relationships ARE often framed this way and it didn’t feel unrealistic to how boys may actually think/feel/have been taught so I wasn’t really mad about it specifically.

Why have I shared all this?

Because I think some people may struggle with Make It Right for more ingrained and complicated reasons than they realise. The obvious answers of non-consent, ‘bad’ humour and general messiness are right there as perfectly acceptable reasons not to watch.

Yet I prepared for that going in and I still had a really hard time watching this show.

I've watched higher heat BLs before, I'm not really sure why this one was so different. @lurkingshan comments on the rawness of the show in her post about season 2, maybe that's part of it? It felt less removed from my life I suppose, previous TV genres I have watched are basically fantasy and anime so I don't tend to watch shows with a strong sense of realism. Perhaps thiis one hit me more because it felt more real?

My hangups aren’t anybody else’s, but there is more societal pressure on girls to be chaste, to be demur, to be careful or wary of sex, at least in Christian cultures (Sex Negativity, it’s not fun). I already knew I internalised those messages more than most teenagers (Something I very much struggled with growing up is that young people are often taught with extreme messaging because ‘it’s the only way to get though to them’ and I’m a very literal person and I was very naïve on top of that so it tended to “affect me more than it was supposed to” (to quote an actual conversation I had with my mum)). (Example of this in a different context was learning about the dangers of alcohol when I was 12 and I went home and cried to my 19 year old brother because I thought he’d die from the occasional parties he went to…it sounds crazy but I was distraught).

But I think an argument could be made for less strong reactions to some of these same problems, negatively affecting the viewing experience for other people, especially a majority audience of young women. I think part of the reason I could identify the causes of my discomfort were because they were so strong. A Low-level buzz of ‘uhh, I don’t really like this’ is much less likely to make someone go: okay, but why?

(Side note, this has caused me to realise how much I haven’t reacted to sex negativity in shows like UWMA, I read about it as a concept later and thought: Oh, yeah, that is bad, but I did not even notice it while I was watching and I did not even notice that my lack of noticing might be a problem until now so…yeah…not good)

Final Thoughts: What did I think of Make It Right?

I adored the relationships.

I loved the friendships.

I enjoyed how much it forced me to reflect on my ingrained biases. It was growth and learning, sometimes more than I wanted, but growing is something I want to keep doing for the rest of my life.

But it was hard work.

Overall, I do recommend it, but only if you’re prepared to think about yourself, your feelings, the WHY of it all while you watch.

(also, you might just not like it for more obvious reasons and that’s okay too).

Rating: Season 1 76%, Season 2 79% Middling Recommendations

Next up: Love by Chance (Thai List)

Or: Wish You (Korea) (FS)

Savvy?

[5chatzi]

Okay I'm going to send you some partly-solicited recs for queer literature and classics because I have a decent amount of exposure to both~~

My qualifications include a degree in English and now being halfway towards my MLIS lol this is what I was made for

For queer lit, sometimes it depends heavily on your own orientation, like bi people want to read books with bi representation, etc. But those preferences notwithstanding, here are some generally quality titles:

Zenovia July by Lisa Bunker: A trans girl solves a cyber crime. Mystery, YA, contemporary setting, trans rep

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: a gay man who lives a boring government-worker life travels to an island in order to monitor the family of magical children who live there. Fantasy, found family, adult fiction (it has some kid's book vibes but does contain mild sexual content and mild swearing), gay representation.

Ace by Angela Chen -- nonfiction, part memoir exploration of what it means to be asexual, for the author personally and for society generally.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo -- a Chinese-American girl in 1950s San Francisco comes to terms with being a lesbian. Historical fiction, adult fiction (or might be YA?? There is what I'd call mild sexual content), lesbian representation, AAPI representation

Jeanette Winterson is a queer author whose work I generally like!(don't have specific title recs though) (I have read The Passion, and she has a couple biographies shelved in the queer library in which I volunteer. The Passion is not very explicitly queer from my memory but it is very good regardless.

For classics, here are titles that I personally Actually Enjoyed Reading and found relatively accessible:

To Kill a Mockingbird (and I also like the film-- I should have added that to my answer to your ask)

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is my absolute favourite classic novel, but I won't pretend it's for everyone, or that it's especially accessible. It's written in a heavily Modernist style that involves a quite lyrical, non-linear plot. But the prose is breathtakingly gorgeous and it has a really moving anti-war message.

Also, Orlando by Woolf as well, and this one is also queer! Features a genderqueer/trans/otherwise gendernonconforming character.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is very long, but it's a mystery, and I found it engaging. The section narrated by the character Marianne is the best, and I headcanon her as asexual or possibly a lesbian.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is what I would call poignant, and it's fairly short. Be warned that it contains some SA content, racism, and AAVE dialect that could be hard to understand.

Macbeth or Twelfth Night or King Lear are my favourite Shakespeare works to recommend. But with Shakespeare, it's better if you can see a film or live performance, since just reading the script can be difficult to follow.

Little Women!!! God, I love Little Women. Honestly not sure how that wasn't the first one I thought of.

Oh thanks so much for the thorough response!

I’ll admit most of these are wildly outside my normal genre, but I’m always willing to try new things.

I have read Macbeth in school but it’s been ages and I am pretty sure I’ve read Little Women but I can’t remember it would have been a long time ago. Oh and To Kill a Mockingbird. I think everyone has read that in school but don’t think I’ve read it since.

I’m gonna write them down and check them out and see how it goes. I pretty much exclusively read non fiction so should be interesting 😅

[eviltothecore13]

Jill having pictures in her room doesnt mean shes bi. Learn about women instead of sexulizing them for your fantasies. Pervert

...OK, no, it doesn't *mean* she's bi, that's a headcanon. A headcanon shared by several bi women I'm friends with, but a headcanon.

My question for you is: why is headcanoning a woman as bi inherently some kind of perverted sexualisation? Would you say the same if I'd said I saw a woman as a lesbian (Alcina, for instance), or as straight (Excella Gionne, for instance)? Is it also perverted sexualisation to headcanon a man as bi (I headcanon MOST characters as bi by default because there's a fair amount of evidence that most people aren't 100% straight or 100% gay IRL, but the most obvious example in my fic and on this blog is that I ship Albert Wesker/William Birkin)?

I've seen Claire fans (many of whom are women) talk about certain scenes in the RE2 remake saying things like "she's totally checking Leon out in this scene". Have you sent them similar messages because they, too, are suggesting that something a female character does might be an indication that she's attracted to someone? Or do you only have a problem with someone suggesting a female character is attracted to women?

Talking about a character's orientation and who they might be attracted to is not uncommon here on Tumblr. I mean, we are pretty much all some kind of LGBTQA+ here and naturally tend to look for representation. As there isn't that much definitively canon rep in RE but most of the characters are fairly open to interpretation in that regard, headcanoning them tends to be pretty popular (I must say, you're the first person on here I've ever seen object to this headcanon) and isn't usually seen as all that sexual (I really don't have very strong sexual feelings about Jill? This isn't an insult to her, she's definitely objectively good-looking, and a great character who I like, but she's not the one I sexually fantasise about, that would be Wesker).

As for learning about women, well, I can't claim to know everything about the experience of being a woman, but I know enough women to know that many/most women--those who aren't ace--are attracted to people sometimes. "He's hot", "she's hot", "they're both hot", aren't uncommon phrases to hear. I know at least one woman who has posters of shirtless Wesker and various other characters up in her house. I don't think it would be realistic to pretend, in fic or otherwise, that women are delicate flowers who faint at the thought of sex, instead of human beings who usually experience sexual attraction just like other human beings.

[melanielocke]

Book recommendations - a-spec characters

I don't have a lot of books that fit this category unfortunately, but I've read a couple of good ones recently so I figured I might as well make list for a-spec books. I'll list the specific representation for each book as well. These books are all YA fantasy but still very different types of books, so I hope there's something here for everyone looking for more a-spec characters.

I'll start with Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

This is a stand alone fantasy set in a 1920s jazz age inspired world. This world has magic in the form of flare, a hot magic substance that can be mined and is used in various ways, including heating and electricity, but also mixed in drinks for rich people, or to give you temporary fire/heat magic. The premise is largely based around huge flare inequality, with poor people not having enough to heat their homes whereas rich people are sitting on vast amounts of flare they're either not using or using for useless things like putting it in drinks. Ingrid was born very poor, but has been given the chance to move up in society by attending a school for rich kids on a scholarship and dating Linden Holt, the son of a senator and one of the richest men in the land. When Linden's father, goes to run for president, Ingrid is hired as a campaign assistant for her internship before she graduates school, but the senator is running against a leftist woman who wants flare to be accessible to all and Ingrid has to decide if she wants to stay with Linden and his family to make sure she has enough, or fight for everyone else' flare as well.

This is a very political book, with the main focus being the presidential race, and there are very clear parallels to real life (American) politics. For example, Linden's father proposes a plan called "trickle down flare".

Rep: most major characters are queer, the main character is bi and demiromantic

Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland is next

This is a fantasy in a world where some people can soulwalk. They can enter their own and other people's souls as long as the other person is close enough. Kamai and her mother are both soulwalkers, and her mother is a courtesan and spy who walks through the souls of her clients to find out their secrets. For Kamai to put her abilities to use, becoming a courtesan would be the ideal option since it allows her to easily get close to people, but Kamai is asexual. She has no interest in having sex with people.

Kamai cannot enter her own soul, no one can. Some people believe she doesn't have one, others that it has been hidden away. But no matter whose soul she enters, she sees a black door. Her mother warned her to stay away from that door. But when tragedy strikes, Kamai, desperate, opens the door.

This is a dark fantasy story with some conspiracy, spying and a focus on this world's religion and mythology.

Rep: main character is biromantic asexual, and her being asexual is a big part of the story, some side characters are also queer including asexual

Also by this author: In the Ravenous Dark, which is another dark fantasy I'm about to start reading with a pan mc and poly relationship

Then I have Silver in the Mist by Emily Victoria

This story is set on an island divided into two kingdoms, Aris and Cerena. The continent is in danger from a mist with deadly phantoms within it, and right now the problem is a lot worse in Aris than in Cerena. Only casters can use magic to hold back the mist.

Dev is a spy. Eight years ago, her father died and her mother became very distant as the whisperer, the head spy, of Aris. Now her mother is more of a commander than family and Dev will try anything for her approval.

On her next mission, she's sent to Cerena to go undercover in their court and kidnap Alyse, Cerena's most powerful caster, in the hopes that bringing her to Aris could turn the tides on the mist. But on the way she learns that not everything she thought of Cerena is true and that Alyse might have a better way to stop the mist.

This is a spy story, but also a story of family. Dev has a difficult relationship with her mother, who is very distant, and keeps seeking her approval, but there is development and nuance in their relationship. I also loved the strong bond Dev forms with Alyse.

Rep: it was not explicit in the book, but Dev is asexual and possibly also aromantic. She shows no romantic or sexual interest in anyone, and the author is also ace-aro, so I'm sure she's supposed to be aspec but not sure what. Dev's best friend Lochlan is non binary.

Last up is Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Artemisia is a nun training to cleanse the bodies of the deceased so they don't turn into evil spirits and eat people and/or possess people. She was possessed by a spirit as a child and as a result she's very sensitive to spirits.

When the convent is attacked by possessed people, Artemisia saves herself and the other nuns by binding herself to a revenant, the most dangerous type of spirit that was locked up in a saint's relic. The dead are rising, and if only a vespertine, a priestess wielding the power of a revenant can stop it, but all knowledge on how this works is lost to time so Artemisia has no choice but to learn from the revenant itself, someone she can't trust.

This story is dark and has a very gritty medieval feel, and I think while the world is made up it captures medieval europe better than most medieval europe fantasy stories. Artemisia is someone who prefers to be around dead people than living, generally she dislikes people and doesn't care to form close bonds with them. While she isn't explicitly ace/aro in the book, I'd read her as such based on her lack of interest in romantic and/or sexual relationships, and she can also be read as autistic.

Also by this author: sorcery of thorns, which has a bi love interest and asexual major side character

Previously covered books with a-spec characters

Dread Nation duology by Justina Ireland - ace/aro side character who is also a POV character in book 2

Black Wings Beating trilogy by Alex London - one of the two mc's is ace/aro

@alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @life-through-the-eyes-of @astriefer @justanormaldemon @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised @amchara @all-for-the-fanfiction @imsoftforthomastair @ddepressedbookworm @queenlilith43 @wagner-fell @cant-think-of-anything @laylax13s @tessherongraystairs @boredfangirl16 @artist-in-soul @bottomdelioncourt @ikissedsmithparker

[majjiktricks]

Metal Gear!!

YIPPEEE TY FOR SENDING IT IN

Favorite character:

kazuhira miller my beloved

Least Favorite character:

oh man. i think most of the characters are pretty cool, or im at least neutral on. hm. even the awful evil villains i find really interesting. i guess i can collectively say the b&b corps? i thought they were just boring, overdramatic fanservice.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

❤️vkaz❤️ (venom snake/kaz miller)

otasune (solid snake/otacon)

solimiller (solid snake/kaz miller)

strangeboss (dr strangelove/the boss)

the insane mess that is bbvocelhira (big boss/venom snake/ocelot/kaz miller)

Character I find most attractive:

KAZ MILLER 😳 fucking. gender goals.

Character I would marry:

venom snake. or solid snake. both prime husband material ❤️

Character I would be best friends with:

otacon or mei-ling. i think we would get along very well :3 two very big nerds and also probably two of the sanest ppl in the series 😂

A random thought:

if you like mgs youll probably like no more heroes. begging more people to play them.

An unpopular opinion:

im not even sure this is an unpopular opinion but. i dont give a shit about the good queer rep/bad queer rep arguments. its a 30+ year old series with the majority of the games coming out before 2010. none of these characters are gonna be handled well. i still think the canon/subtextually queer characters are really interesting, even if they fall prey to stereotypes or the whole "queer-coded villain" thing (or in the case of metal gear where a not insignificant amount of the villains are explicitly queer)

or the ppl who get upset that ocelot HAS to be gay. why do you care. if someone wants to make him bi, let them. it doesnt hurt you. hes still queer either way.

My canon OTP:

i would argue otasune is basically canon. they adopted a daughter together.

if thats not good enough, then bbkaz 👍 awful awful couple and theyre so funny about it. they even had sex under a box on the beach.

Non-canon OTP:

vkaz. insane premise for a ship and i love it so much. what if i thought you were my lost love and you look and sound and act just like him but when i realize ive been tricked i vow to kill him (not you, just him). i love him and therefore i love you (i do.), i hate him and therefore i hate you (do i?).

Most badass character:

jetstream sam. guy does all that with no cybernetic enhancements (aside from the one arm he had to have replaced). (he wears a sort of power suit instead, whereas all his teammates are full on insane robot bodies. underneath his suit is mostly flesh and bone.)

Pairing I am not a fan of:

rairose. i just dont get it.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

ROSE AND NAOMI AND MERYL. they really dont know how to handle women 😭

Favourite friendship:

SUNNY AND RAIDEN 🥺🥺🥺

also raiden and blade wolf. very funny banter.

if the formatting is fucked up. im on mobile rn im sorry 💔

questions from here !!!

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Heartstopper review Netflix

So more like a quick rundowns of the positives and negatives of the show. I'm not doing a summary. Mild spoilers ahead, but no plot specifics.

Positives:

It shows very well how coming out is a process, rather than all at once. This eliminates the straight gaze pat-on-the back.

I think it shows how being an ally and allies saying things is sometimes really awkward really well.

It shows queer joy very well. I enjoyed that.

It addresses sexual assault well by labeling it for what it is.

It features a lot of different identities at once.

The music is spot on

The explaining of what prejudice feels like is really spot on. Especially long term prejudice.

The parents are also lovely in the show as most of the adults. Honestly makes my queer heart hurt since I didn't get that for the majority of my life.

I like the shades of queer acceptance from family members--that's more realistic.

Honestly, Tao is my favorite character. Feels effortless. I'd love him to be pan or omni... ^^;; If the actor consents.

I love how queerness kisses the line between casual rep yet not token, but never veers into kill your gays, or queer tragic. It's queer joy with a side of nuance.

I like that the jerk is called Harry, seems like a reference.

I like it shows what comes after coming out, so it's not I've come, out now fight with the straight people, and then movie is over feeling. It shows there is hope and process, etc afterwards.

I like show it shows queer adults so it doesn't end with being teens. It talks about being a queer adult and discovering it late.

There are multiples of the identity shown and it talks carefully, but smartly about "passing".

The reference to Pirates of the Caribbean making a lot of people realize they were Bi, I appreciated it, though honestly, hated it for the racism and said so when I watched it. 'cause really disliked the rep on Voudou, and was called uptight for it. (We're no longer friends) And if I'm complaining, and read objections, then yeah, gotta be worse for the ID.

The smooth insert of a wheelchair user. I appreciated that.

Yes to queer solidarity.

The code switching is done really well in both French and Cantonese.

I like how it's mostly discovery, and the conflict is mostly undercut, but if they are together, they feed each other rather than it being one note all the time.

Asian boy gets to date I also like rather than the usual desexualizing.

The discussion of mental health and the intersectionality with queer teens, in particular, I liked.

Talking about consent is some of the best.

Talking about the unpleasantness of being outed without permission is done well.

Negatives:

I think for identities that are not completely one way or another, it kind of skims past them. It's the prominent LGBTQIA (though missing the I and two As.) For example, nonbinary (including agender etc), intersex of any kind, aromantic (She's working on it I think), gray-a (demi included of either ID), pan and/or omni. Feels more like mainstream queer identities. There's also generally queer rather than one. at. a. time. I'd like more shades for series 3 and intersectionality. The creator is not one at a time either. So I have faith they'll get there.

Questioning isn't shown very well. I'm not a fan of that. I thought it was shown by half and how confusing it all is with Nick, but for some reason I felt it was undercut a lot by Ben because he was questioning for much longer and was an AH about it. I thought shades of questioning were left out as well. I did like the whole doom and gloom feel after feeling joy at having a label. I felt that. Some nuance I felt was flattened for this ID. I sometimes get akoiromantic or apromantic from Ben, but I'd prefer him not being an A about it.

Tao mostly mentions American and UK movies. He speaks Cantonese, and Cantonese movies have subs, so I'm kind of surprised he's not shared them with his friends. I mean Kung Fu Hustle, objectively is a great movie. Stephen Chow? There's also plenty of Cantonese Language Rom Coms too for him to love. We live in an era where you can get subs on anything. Take advantage of it. For me as an Asian I also like watching shows with people of my own nationality and face. He has the internet and computer.

I feel somewhat 50/50 on some of the animation because sometimes it feels added as if it doesn't trust the actors to deliver, rather than added because it adds something. I think in series 2, it got a bit better so it enhances, rather than shows a lack of trust. That said, the animated cut aways I really like--where it animates around imagined things said in prejudice, etc.

Asexual extroverts also exist? Almost all of the Aces I've seen on TV tend to be introverts, outcasts and weirdos. But I'd also like to see ambiverts, aces that like flirting (which also exist), gray-aces (including demis), and aces that get along with other people in their friend groups very well. Black Stripe isn't the only way to "prove aceness" the majority of aces just don't feel primary sexual attraction or it goes away later (demis and some gray-a's feel secondary sexual attraction). It doesn't come with other personality traits like "hating other people" or are all introverted. I'd like to see this challenged. What's step 2 after coming out? 'cause there is ace joy too.

Race isn't handled as well as the queer rep. I don't feel the same degree of race joy that I do queer joy.

Where are the desis besides Farouk?

All of the PoCs are paired with different race PoCs? The only same race couples are white. And I'm not saying that PoC/PoC interracial dating is "wrong" but I'd like to also see the reality that some PoCs also date same race too.

[aurorawest]

Reading update:

This one was...okay? It was a historical mystery, set in early 1930s London. I liked that part. I liked the fact that the main characters were all queer. But the characters themselves were very...eh? And the mystery was extremely high stakes but never felt that high stakes? Idk. I don’t think I’ll read the others in the series unless I’m really desperate. It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t anything special, either.

Man I was excited for this one. It was...fine. Not amazing. I really liked Jamie, but Wes was obnoxious as hell. Lots of bro-y casual misogyny, and a weird inability to acknowledge that Jamie is clearly bi, except when he’s thinking about how bi people have more trouble sticking with one person than straight or gay people. And there’s never any growth away from those opinions, so it’s just kind of like...oh, you’re a character with some really obnoxious opinions.

The sex scenes were hot, but in a like...fanfiction-y way? Like, I kept thinking, I would write this in a fic, I wouldn’t write it in ofic. So I definitely had some problems with it. That said, the love story was really sweet, and like I said, I did like Jamie. I’ve never read anything else by Elle Kennedy and honestly I wouldn’t after this one, but I have the sequel already, so we’ll see how it is. Definitely wouldn’t pick up any of her m/f romances, though.

This was an Illumicrate book, and not something I would have picked up otherwise. It started out really promising—gorgeous writing, interesting characters, and a surprise heist plot! But the heist plot ran out of steam, most of the characters were never developed, the twist fell flat, and there was a deux ex machina that was utterly unearned. I think for a young YA audience, none of this would be a huge problem, but I was pretty eh about it. Not a bad book, but not a great book, either.

My edition is signed though, and very pretty!

I was wary of this book, because I wasn’t super impressed with the first in the series, Hard Sell. This one was much better! Ray is a waaaay more likable character than what’s-his-face from Hard Sell. And I really enjoyed the demisexual rep with Elvin, since I’m pretty sure I fall somewhere in that gray ace or demisexual spectrum myself. This book did a better job of balancing the super serious plot with the romance than Hard Sell did, but I still think it was maybe a liiiittle too high-stakes? It worked for me for the most part but I sometimes felt like there was too much dissonance. And maybe like people should be freaking out more than they were. I’ll definitely keep reading Hudson Lin’s romances though, she redeemed herself with this one.

I had no idea what to expect from this one. I read Proxy by Alex London...earlier this year? I think? God I can’t even remember when I read that, haha. It was okay, but it was very surface level. This one was much better. Super interesting world, and a culture where falconry is central, which owl-banding me really appreciated. There was no shying away from the falconry jargon, which I thought was pretty cool. I loved the characters. The two mains are a twin brother and sister, and the POV switches between the two of them (plus there’s a chapter in each section from another random POV). They’re both interesting and well-developed characters with their own distinct motivations and flaws, and their love for each other is *chef’s kiss*. This is the first in a trilogy so I need to pick up the other two.

Just started this one. It’s about a non-binary kid who comes out to their parents and gets kicked out (WITHOUT SHOES. IN DECEMBER. WTF). They move in with their estranged sister and brother-in-law who they’ve never met and start a new school, and they’re clearly dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. I mean, who wouldn’t. They also haven’t come out in the new school, so everyone at the new school is still using he/him pronouns for them. And that’s about where I am. Enjoying it so far. I also have Mason Deaver’s newest book in my TBR pile (got it in a Rainbow Crate), so it’s always a relief when the first book you read by an author doesn’t suck, since you already have another, haha.

[shadowfiredemonwolf]

one of the most annoying things I see is when people try to pull the but there arent many same sex ships ( that are canon) out there to defend korrasami and try to shame people into being okay with it when no it doesnt matter that there arent many same sex ships or examples of lgbt rep representation isnt more important then good writing they arent exempt from being criticized 

you dont need to support every same sex ship or “example of lgbt rep with a mc   to support the community or  support the idea of there being a mc same sex ship the important thing is whether the writing is good if it has had proper buildup etc

( also its funny how many times they get mad if the lgbt character isnt the character they wanted to be lgbt like ilia  and act like its wrong that she started on the bad guys side  even though she quickly changed sides

( its funny since I have seen people support the idea of azula being bi  given how she was )

or them getting mad if instead of the popular same sex ship  that they wanted one of the girls ends up with a girl outside of the pairing( I dont recall the example they used ( it was in the tags  naming ship names and I dont recognize all of the ship names)

but imagine someone getting mad if freezerburn happened instead of blacksun 

this way we both get what we wanted they get lgbt rep involving two members of team rwby  and blacksun got the payoff to all the buildup that it received ( while bb got nothing which is why I say its forced  direction change to suddenly start heavily pushing it in v7 ( v6 finale at best)

( and to be blunt the fact is the idea that  all members of team rwby

 had to be in relationship with each other  their partner because team jnpr got teased with theirs ( and if neo joins and gets with jaune it will still be the case) is ridiculous   by that logic it would be fair for one of team rwby to die ) heck it would be fine if none of team rwby were in relationships with eachother or were paired with a guy ( it wouldnt be forced if it was teased by the show with the proper buildup) like blacksun

(  I always find it funny that there are people who will genuinely call a straight ship being teased forced just because it was straight  and they wanted a same sex ship to be teased  instead (that isnt what being forced means it means writing wise . the fact they wanted bb to be teased is irrelevant they didnt get anything to hint at bb beforehand )  then will claim its homophobic to  call a same sex ship forced because after years of nothing hinting at it they were pushed and became canon as treated as something that is practically canon like in v7 or v6 finale ( while blacksun received actual teasing mutual attraction and development) there is no doubt if blake was a guy they would claim queerbaiting.  it doesnt matter that there are plenty of het ships that are canon people dont ship blacksun over bb because of the genders involved and when I see people claim that it comes off as projection

I think my initial disdain for the way Sun and Neptune are written came from how sick and tired I am of straight ships being forced on the audience when lots of us are in the lgbta community. Part of it was because my gay ships were sinking I’ll admit but honestly I’m just sick of forced straight ships especially in one of the only shows with enough well written female characters to /actually/ have believable gay ships. I don’t think I hate Sun and Neptune but I do hate how forced the ships are.

I think this is all the explanation needed(and all you need to dismiss people trying to take moral superiority over liking Bumblebee). Something the toxic side of the fandom loves to do is project and project hard. They cannot understand why someone would not think like them or like the things they do unless there’s something wrong with them or they contextualize it through what they themselves would do.And that’s one of them accidentally explaining how that relates to Bumblebee: wasps like it because it’s a gay ship. They thought Black Sun was forced because it was not a gay ship. Therefore, since everyone must either think like them or be defective, clearly you think Bumblebee is forced because it’s not a straight ship. You don’t like it because it’s gay.“

basically they are just calling blacksun forced because it was a straight ship if sun was a girl they wouldnt make that claim so I cant take anytime I hear someone try to pull the you would ship bb if it was a m/f pairing  or wouldnt be calling it forced if it was a m/f pairing for if sun was a woman and yang a man they wouldnt be shipping bb and would call bb forced

if whether you ship  a ship or not  is determined by genders involved  like say if two ships were paired against the other and what causes you to ship one over the other  the pairing  is genders involved  it is a shallow reason   representation isnt more important then good writing

u/punny-aggron

People need to stop over analyzing every single little detail about Bumblebee. Holding hands and hugging doesn’t mean these two are an item. They barely have any chemistry; in fact, almost every interaction between them suggests how terrible they’d be for each other:

In volume 2 Yang showed concern over Blake’s well being and winked at her while inviting her for a dance (we barelysee that dance btw) which is good, don’t get me wrong, but then everything starts going south after that. Blake was the only one on team RWBY who didn’t believe that Yang wasn’t going crazy, which doesn’t bode well for their relationship at all. Then Yang attacked Adam to save Blake, and Blake ran away after that without so much as a word, and Yang was rightfully upset and continued to be until volume 6. In that volume they do interact and Brunswick farms, and Yangs anger towards Blake briefly resurfaced. They then stabbed Adam and consulted each other after that. Then in volume 7 they complement each other’s looks (dating based off looks is never a good thing), then Blake’s introverted personality gets completely replaced into someone who likes to go clubbing (seriously, does Blake strike anyone as someone who likes to go clubbing?) and we don’t see that either. Then they talk in a van, and not even about each other, you know, something that would result in some good, healthy chemistry? And that’s it!

Yang and Blake barely have any chemistry together, and yet for some reason, almost everyone in the fandom thinks they’re compatible. They aren’t. They’re the farthest thing from compatible. Blake has more chemistry with Sun, and that is no speculation, the two of them spent two entire volume together for their relationship to flush out.

Look, I am not against Bumblebee, but this kind of nonsense needs to stop. We as a society need good, properly developed romance between LGBT characters (especially gay characters, ever notice RWBY’s lack of them?), but since people don’t know what that is, they settle for below subpar stuff. I believe Unicorn of war said it best: “we’ve been feasting on scraps when we deserve a banquet”

( something said around v7 )

All of the BumblBY moments, in my opinion you have to want them to be romantic and interpret them that way. There’s nothing inherently about them which suggests anything other than a close bond, unless you really want it to. The biggest BumlBY moment, when they hug after killing Adam isn’t romantic by nature. It’s simply two people comforting each other after killing a man who has caused the both of them trauma, and who at one point meant a lot to one of them.BlackSun on the other has many moments which you simply can’t deny are romantic. Blake blushes when Sun winks at her, Blake gets flustered when Kali says that she likes Sun, and the two of them go through an arc of opening up to one another and learning to trust each other, which is inherently romantic in nature.You can ship anything you want, but I’m getting a little tired of some BumblBY shippers claiming that ‘ the ship has been developing from day one’, when the truth is, no it hasn’t. If it is developing, it’s much more recent development, compared to BlackSun which now has several volumes to support it.

bb only reall began to be teased in story in v7  they might have intended for the v6 finale to be a romantic moment but it really wasnt

[absolutehomosexuals]

I’m too shy to DM sorry 🙈 BUT. I thought I would share my headcanons on the characters!!

gay - Astarion

lesbian - Minthara, Karlach (her scene was for LESBIANS I stand by this)

bisexual/pan - Halsin, Wyll, Lae’zel

straight - Shadowheart?, Gale

Undecided - Jaheira, Minsc

I totally agree with Gale being straight. And Shadowheart, idk, she could be straight or bi I guess? What are your thoughts?

No worries!! We're glad to know you're out there regardless.

So, I totally agree on Astarion being gay and Minthara being a lesbian. The fact they're absolute menaces makes it even better, lmao – they're the kind of well written, fun characters I'd love to have as rep.

I can see Karlach being a lesbian: her intimate scene in act 2 looked very lesbian-coded and many men found it off putting lol, plus didn't her VA say her romanced voice lines were intended for a female character? Might just be a rumor, but it fits nonetheless.

They did put some lines in where she showed attraction to men, though, such as saying she would ride Astarion and the dream she has about Dammon while playing her Origin. I love the lesbian!Karlach hc, but I also believe she might be one of the few genuine bisexual companions based on canon sources.

I tend to see Lae'zel as a lesbian because, to me, her romance comes off as very gay coded. I intend to expand on this in a future post, so stay tuned <3 while it is true that she tries to sleep with Wyll or Astarion at the tiefling party sometimes, she literally chooses the least adequate men for the job (Stereotipical Gay Attitude Astarion and I'm Gonna Wait Until Marriage Wyll lmao) which we personally interpret as comphet.

I think Halsin is canonically bi, yeah.

Wyll looks straight to me, but I have no trouble believing he'd fully embrace a hypothetical bi awakening, which is why romancing him as a male Tav doesn't look awkward to me.

Shadowheart's lines show attraction to both women (e.g Karlach) and men (e.g Halsin), so while I love interpreting her a lesbian, she's probably bi as well.

Thanks for sharing!!

- mod orinthara

[reviewsthatburn]

*This review contains spoilers for the first two books in the trilogy.

AN UNSUITABLE HEIR by K.J. Charles follows Pen, the newly discovered heir to the fortune so contested in AN UNNATURAL VICE, and Mark, the one-armed investigator who has been trying to keep his friends and new acquaintances from getting killed as they attract the ire of the high and mighty. 

Closing out the trilogy, AN UNSUITABLE HEIR expertly weaves together the remaining story threads left open from AN UNNATURAL VICE. Pen and Greta are twins, trapeze artists, and most commonly known as the "Flying Starlings", present since the beginning of the series. The timeline overlaps between scenes are artfully done, giving new context and perspective to the exact same events by showing them through a different character’s perspective. Even reading the whole trilogy in two days, the repetitions of some scenes felt poignant and fresh at the same time. The trilogy as a whole (and this book in particular) have many discussion of class, privilege, and the ways that bigotries have similar echoes, even when shaped to hit different targets. Pen is some variety of genderqueer by modern standards, the historical setting means he doesn’t have access to that specific language. Pen's pronouns are the best he can get as both "she" and "it" are wholly unsuitable, and "he" works well enough when necessary. Mark is generally described as one armed, with one full arm and another that ends in a stump at the elbow. It’s a congenital limb difference, not something he lost, and he and Penn have several long conversations about the weight of social expectations and the dissonance that’s caused when other people are upset that their bodies are not what was assumed. 

[firebrand-witch]

Wesper propaganda: @queer-ship-tournament

Wesper is amazing neurodivergent rep

Their love made them accept parts of themselves they would have otherwise kept hidden out of shame

Jesper is a multi-faceted character of color and wesper is a biracial ship

They are simultaneously poetic and comedic relief in such a high stakes plot

Their banter, the characters themselves, the way the relationship progresses gives me life

Although jesper is bi and Wylan is gay, there is no homophobia in the story. Kissing someone of the same sex is the least of their worries (yay! Escapism)

This book was released in 2015-2016 and is still popular today. It has stood the test of time

Both characters have separate plots, sub plots and narrative foils. Neither is just the love interest

Happy gays! We hate it when the gay person is suffering more than jesus or six feet deep in the soil

They both have well thought out, realistic relationships with the other main characters

100% loving,supportive and 0% toxic codependent relationship

Trust me, they will have you swooning

If you've not read this book, you're missing out