#could be male reader but implied wlw

[puppywilliams]

i love your streamer abby so bad can we get part 2 please 💗

ON AIR

a/n: it seems like everyone else is also addicted to streamer abby the way i am, i have so many req for a prt 2 so heres a little charity stream one-shot of our girl <3 this isnt fully proof read i just needed to get something out so sorry it feels a bit messy! ty for all of the kind msgs, i appreciate you guys sm !!

warnings: none??

abby was never one to think of herself, but in moments like these, she wonders why she tortures herself with these types of things. she knew it was for a good cause, which is why she pushed through, but at that moment, the 52 hours of no sleep was weighing on her. restless and irritable, she could definitely use a drink or two.

of course, you were there to help, fetching whatever she needed. whether that be food, water, of some strange energy drink from her sponsor you’d never heard of, not taking the time to dwell on the awful taste. you focused instead on abby, watching the stream from the small screen of your phone. watching the toll the hours had taken on her. worst part was. she still had 21 more to go.

you suggested she take a nap on stream, but her reaction was enough to tell you that was a No Go. offended that you would even consider suggesting such a thing to her. Abigail Anderson sleeping during a charity stream?! get out of here..

you watch her entertain chat the best she can, but failing due to her inability to hide how restless she is. her voice monotone with forced laughs and zombified expression.

around the 72 hour mark abby was basically just a shell of who she was. she was running on empty. an hour prior you rolled up a chair to sit next to her as she struggled to conceal the way she saw the room spinning and how the bright ring lights were blinding her vision. staring off into space as you read her chat for her. only replying in hums or short sentences.

And then it happened. a slight ding appearing on her monitor that announced she had met the donation goal. all energy coming back to her in disbelief. feeling herself lift out of her chair to celebrate, hugging you so tight it was bone crushing. knocking the wind from your lungs. it had all been Worth it, you knew that, and so did she.

after she wrapped things up you lead her to bed. you knew her adrenaline was rushing through her like a wildfire spreading within her veins. it would be difficult to get her past the initial burst of energy and get her into bed. you helped her undress and get under the covers, holding her and rubbing her back as she slurred on and rambled on about how amazing it all was, how grateful and how she knew it wasn’t for nothing.

you kissed her forehead and brushed the lose strains of hair from her face, cupping her cheeks gently. “mhm baby i know but you need to rest okay?” you reminded. she didn’t argue nor complain. closing her eyes and drifting to sleep in your arms.

[bonniebird]

Bonnie Bennett x Male!Reader x Prudence Night

Requested by Anon​​

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Warnings: 18+ content, implied wlw sex, shared bath, implied masteurbation

Following the noise, you heard you burst into the bathroom. Thinking that someone had injured themself. You squealed and turned away hurrying to shut the door. First you shut it with you still on the inside. Then you opened it, walked into it and then managed to get out of the bathroom and pull the door too.

“I’m sorry for walking in on you two! Unless you want me to join you. Then I’m not sorry.” You gasped as you felt yourself hot with embarrassment. There was a chuckle in the room and Prudence spoke up.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, pet. You could always join us.” There was a long pause before you slowly pushed the door open and peeked in.

“You want me to join you? I was kind of joking.” You admitted shyly. She and Bonnie were basking in a surprisingly large bath in luxurious milky white water with roses and gold flakes. The room was covered with candles that lit the room warmly and there was an irresistible smell. You had dated Prudence and Bonnie separately but you knew that they both enjoyed each other's company. Prudence had always been very open and encouraging about what she liked. It was a little thrilling. Prudence smiled as she moved forward to kiss Bonnie, revelling in having you watch with bated breath. The water trickled pleasantly and the aroma of the room had you weak at the knees as you watched their hands softly touch and brush over each other's skin. The way they keened into each other and gasped out each other's names. You began to squirm and Bonnie smiled. 

“If you need to touch yourself you should. You could even join us if you’d like.” She offered as she glanced your way, breaking the kiss she was sharing with Prudence to encourage you over.

Bonnie Bennett tags:

@the-caravello-post @killing-gremlin @aegonandaemondtargaryenslut18 @lchufflepuffcorn @geekyandgay98 @savagemickey03

Prudence night tags:

@the-caravello-post @killing-gremlin @aegonandaemondtargaryenslut18 @lchufflepuffcorn

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

i think transmasc kiana & fu hua being tagged as f/f is fine. nonbinary people are ultimately included in all types of relationships. you can be a lesbian and date a nonbinary person and you can be a gay man and date a nonbinary person because nonbinary doesn't mean a third gender or "something other than cis female cis male". it just means something not in the gender binary. and the term includes such a large group of identities with their own types and subtypes that a relationship including a enby person will be hard to define as just "other"/nblw/nblm. and some nonbinary individuals might identify more with calling themselves wlw/mlm than they do nblw/nblm and therefore lean more towards "f/f" and "m/m" than "other" either. it all depends on the person because gender is complicated. not to mention, when people search for fics, nobody searches for "other", it's either one of the three and since kiana is canonically female, that's what it would be tagged as. there's also the fact that kiana is also canonically a lesbian, and a lot of these authors hc kiana as a transmasc lesbian so tagging it as f/m might imply that they see kiana and whichever character they ship kiana with as heterosexual, when it's not the case.

i personally don't like how the f/f m/m f/m other categories on ao3 are used. i don't like the idea of classifying relationships by gender (especially one by the gender binary, with an exception made for nonbinary that ultimately does nothing but reinforce nonbinary identity as a third gender or an exception to the binary) when gender is already so complicated. however, in one of my fandoms, there's a ship between two characters who are canonically genderfluid, but depending on the characters presentation in the fic, author will tag it as either f/f, m/m, or f/m. i personally like how these authors use these categories for presentation and expression, not gender itself, and i think this should be how the categories are used instead! and i think if we are going by presentation and expression then i think it should be tagged as f/m, but unfortunately most of ao3 doesn't work that way so it's understandable why transmasc kiana authors might tag it as f/f instead.

all of this is just what i think as a transmasc person though. other people might have their own opinions and interpretations.

Mmm I hear you, and honestly I agree with your final conclusion. Going by presentation or what the characters in-story express their genders are seem to yield the best result since it synchronizes the tagging and the reader experience.

You’re right that the category system isn’t nuanced enough to really cover queerness properly. Personally though, I think it’s serviceable enough (and the following is a big reason why I dislike the current way those fics are tagged):

F/F doesn’t mean lesbians.

If it did mean “this is a lesbian relationship” you would tag two bi women something different. It just means “character A and B fall under an F category, and they’re in a romantic or sexual relationship”. It doesn’t even mean wlw, technically— you would tag something F/F even if they’re two straight women forced to kiss.

All F/F does is roughly categorize the gender of the characters involved, NOT the relationship itself. Does that mean it misses particular nuances? Yes. But in the cases where a binary isn’t enough I think “Other” is fine. AO3 needs broad and imprecise categories to work correctly, like its tags.

Regarding “Other”. That’s only my personal opinion of course but unlike you, I find it validating to have that “whatever doesn’t fit a binary, anything you want” category. What else could be used? A more specific category like “NB/F” would be much more third gender sounding than “Other” is. I can’t think of a better way to implement it while keeping this functionality.

As for “Nobody searches for Other fics” I disagree. I routinely exclude stuff I don’t like from my searches, so I’d filter out M/M because there’s tons of it, but I never exclude Other because it has a chance of being something I’ll enjoy, and since there’s usually less of it, it doesn’t spam my results anyway.

On the flip side, if someone is looking for F/F fics specifically I think it’s fair for them to exclude ships that don’t fit that category because it’s what they’re looking for. I get squicked by those Transmasc Kiana fics so I bonk them out of existence based on the Transmasc Kiana tag, but I know I’m not the only one with a negative experience like “cool, F/F— ah shit it’s not actually that :(”. In my eyes, misleading categorization serves no one and just builds resentment :/

Of course I assume that it’s not misleading in the eyes of the author, they’re not doing anything really wrong, it’s just that to me and other people I’ve talked to, the lived experience is being mislead. You can’t trust the big bright category icon anymore, gotta pre-emptively filter a certain tag out. What’s categorized just isn’t what you get.

This especially sucks when you read a sequel to something where they decided to change Kiana’s presentation in a timeskip, why would I recheck the tags on something I trusted? It’s just… been endlessly getting smacked with squick for me and it sucks. If that wasn’t my experience I would not care, but it’s reached then point where I need to know what other people are thinking, so here we are.

Additionally, I don’t think the category matters much if what you’re looking for is more people seeing it. If that’s a factor it’s not worth it. AO3 isn’t social media, it’s an archive: people should be able to find exactly what they’re looking for. Do your advertisement on separate social media, not AO3 itself.

Besides, I saw that the author in the comment defined their Kiana as “Non-binary masc person”. So it’s not just that the presentation is masculine, the gender is explicitly nb. As a non-binary person I really wouldn’t want to be put under F, even if I fall quite close to feminine presentation and such, so I really can’t relate to wanting to have it tagged as F when the character is transmasc. If it was a term I used I would probably fall under transfem myself and I still wouldn’t want myself tagged as F. I would find that distressing.

I’m glad it’s non-issue for most other people including that author, but @muntiller2 has also shared a similar sentiment from a different gender situation so my perspective isn’t unique either.

So these are reasons why I disagree with the author and a couple things you said; your opinion is valid and I agree with you on several other points, anon.

I wanted to hear more perspectives on this matter and I’m happy you came forward with your opinion. I just had a lot on my chest I guess @-@ I hope it made sense since I’m still down with the flu…

[daisyachain]

hi!! i've been reading through your ao no flag liveblogs lately and they're really interesting! i enjoy seeing someone so passionate about this manga and it makes me want to reread it .... i'm really interested in hearing what you have to say about masumi's ending though!! part of me thinks it makes sense but i'm mostly conflicted on it and would love to see it from your perspective ^^

haha well thank you! ah yes, the arc that created as much controversy as you can get in an active readership of like 10 people...

Blue Flag is an imperfect story, but it also gets a lot of flack for things that a) didn't...actually...happen, b) didn't happen in the way people think they did.

Part 1: Is it actually straightwashing?

The most common criticism I see of Masumi's ending is that she was written as a lesbian character and straightwashed at the end. Marrying off a female character as a way to 'fix' her issues is a common and harmful trope, and saying that lesbian women just need to get a man is a widespread homophobic trope and talking point. So, it's not a good look. To have a character angst over interest in a woman and end up happily married to a guy reads like a '50s pulp novel that just uses f/f attraction for marketing.

But, if the intention of the ending was to show that Masumi should give up on women and force herself to date men, then it doesn't. Mitsuyuki's description of her is 'look at my bisexual wife who has dated both women and men and could also have married a woman', which is an odd choice if the intention was straightwashing. It feels more like a clumsy way to make sure that, in a series full of ambiguity, there could be no argument that Masumi was queer. That isn't to say that cisstraight people don't view bisexuality as less/better than/straighter than her being lesbian and that making a previously gay character bisexual isn't still straightwashing (increasing the appearance of straightness).

Part 2: Was it actually a retcon?

So: Masumi's ending reaffirms that she's a WLW. One question is, was she always meant to be bisexual, or was she originally written as lesbian?

Blue Flag doesn't have a lot of straight (no pun intended) answers. Taichi never expresses any explicit attraction to guys, but there is enough subtext to suggest he's attracted to Touma well before the finale. Futaba believes she is attracted to Touma at first and is shown to be attracted to him using the visual shorthand of manga (blushing, etc.), but she later says that it was just misinterpreted admiration. Mami doesn't want to date Touma or any man, but she implies that she is attracted to Touma when she says around him she was 'glad to be a woman.' Within the main romance, Futaba says that it was specifically because Taichi was a friend to her that she grew to like-like him. The lines between friendship and romance are blurred in Blue Flag, and sometimes romance can only grow out of friendship.

Masumi has a tense conversation with Taichi in the first half after she breaks up with her boyfriend that most people (me included) read as her saying that she tried guys and she just isn't and can't be attracted to them. However, it's Blue Flag, so the conversation is unfocused and doesn't paint a complete picture.

"Even if I get a boyfriend, I can never make it work"/"I don't know why [I don't like him anymore]" seem to imply that Masumi realized that she was feeling compulsory heterosexuality and that she will never like men. "[I don't know] why he like someone like me"/"You can be friends with potential sexual partners? With both guys and girls?"/"I just wanted to hear how you men feel about [a girl liking other girls]" seem to imply that Masumi is bisexual and is afraid to date because someone might find out. Maybe she's written as questioning--she knows she likes Futaba, but she's feeling out other possibilities. It's Blue Flag, so it's unclear.

Part 3: How does it work with Masumi's arc?

Diving further into Masumi's story, she acts as a foil to Touma (and Futaba, see later). Touma feels free to show his affection for Taichi as a friend as well as a love interest and almost confesses to him of his own free will, well before he's forced to. Touma tells her that he intends to try and set Taichi up with Futaba (because they would be good for each other), and also that he intends to pursue Taichi in some way. He tells her he's "not like [her]."

For Masumi's part, she tells Touma that she wants to express more affection for Futaba--not necessarily in a romantic way, just to participate more fully in that relationship--but she's afraid to, she doesn't feel confident enough to try, and that she's "the worst" because of it. We see this theme repeated, that Masumi is pessimistic, is afraid to trust people and hates herself for being afraid. Her conversations with Aki and Mami explore this; Aki tells her that it's not bad to be insecure or unready and that it's fine to keep a secret/stay closeted until she's ready, Mami tells her that she does have people she can trust, who care about her and who will do their best to understand her and help out. Why am I typing all this out? Because Masumi is a bitter, insecure wlw and that is an Established Trope, but her twist on it is that her negativity or bitterness isn't over her attraction to women/to Futaba or even over the reaction she might get from others (as Touma's is), it's over her own insecurity. Like Futaba, she's hesitant to act on her feelings, and like Futaba, she gets frustrated and hates herself for her own inaction.

All that is to say--Masumi is never shown to have a problem with her attraction to women. Her angst isn't gayngst, she's not ashamed of her feelings for Futaba bur rather her inability to express them. Her problems are with social attitudes and more with her own personal feelings--she and Touma face similar problems, but Touma is simply aware of the consequences (being roughed up and ostracised by a certain group of people) while Masumi feels a more generalized and ambiguous fear.

If Masumi were shown to have mixed feelings about her queerness/were shown to be in denial/were shown to be trying to move on from Futaba, then her ending would read more as straightwashing. As it is, there's nothing in her character and arc to say that she'd ever want to erase that part of herself or get rid of it, rather, she wishes she could embrace it but she just doesn't feel confident in doing it. Her ending shows her as an openly bisexual woman who is out to her friends and husband at the very least, which is a completion of her arc in the manga (of learning to trust other people and express her feelings honestly).

Part 4: What context clues does the rest of the series give us?

This is branching off a little from the strict text of Parts 1-3. As I've said, as we know, Blue Flag is 50% subtext and interpretation. Characters speak, but they don't say what they mean, characters think, but they're not always honest with themselves or in tune with reality. Mami is an ominous and antagonistic figure in the first half, but then it just turns out that Taichi was jumping to conclusions. Taichi is the main character and narrator, but we get radio silence from him for like 7 chapters after the climax. Taichi is bisexual, but the reader has to guess that from the way the art style shifts between PoVs, the similar panelling between Futaba and Touma's confessions, the things he does and does not think about Touma and how he feels about them. It's safe to say that there is room for speculation.

First, there is no explicit evidence that Taichi could be bisexual before ch 54. It's easy to tell that he is, but again, there's nothing specific. Some people reading Blue Flag have said that him marrying Touma was out of character, unforeshadowed, bizarre, inexplicable, etc. because their experienced is coloured by their own heterosexuality. Masumi is shown to have dated a guy and in saying she didn't like him "anymore," implied that she did like him. Her conflicted feelings over her bf could well have been foreshadowing her liking men as well, and my reading that as comphet could have just been my own experience colouring the text. Who knows! Taichi's bisexuality was intentional from the start but could be read as a last-minute twist, so why not Masumi's?

Second, Mitsuyuki is Futaba 2.0. Same colouring, same personality. This could feel like a way of saying "Masumi just needs to like guys instead," but to me it reads deeper with some of the trans subtext around Futaba. One of my issues with Blue Flag is that it doesn't go further into Futaba's admiration/envy for masculinity and her uncomfortable relationship with femininity. As a cis woman who wants to be buff and mildly masculine, I can understand why she's a cis girl throughout and I don't necessarily think that she was supposed to be a trans guy. However, her relationship with masculinity draws a parallel to Mitsuyuki. Reading Mitsuyuki as a cis man, he is the combination of Futaba's personality and looks with her 'ideal form.' So, Masumi marrying Mitsuyuki can read as Masumi marring Ascended FutabaTM.

Third, Futaba having a faceless prop husband is interesting in the context of Mitsuyuki getting a name and personality. Mitsuyuki = Futaba and Mr. Kuze is a blank space, so the reader is prompted to reduce the scenario and slot Masumi into that blank space. Given Masumi and Touma's history as foils, I'm inclined to think that Mitsuyuki exists to show the road not taken. Back at the fireworks, Touma tells Masumi that he hasn't given up on Taichi, and Masumi says she doesn't intend to pursue Futaba even though the pining is making her miserable. Given that Futaba reacts a lot better to the idea of Masumi liking her than Taichi reacts to the idea of Touma liking him, given that we see Masumi has successfully wooed male!Futaba, I think that Masumi's ending shows that she could have ended up with Futaba if she chose to pursue her. She didn't and she still got a happy ending where she is confident in her sexuality and unafraid to trust, but she could have also had a happy ending where she married Futaba. Mitsuyuki is a man because desire-for-masculinity is a key aspect of Futaba's character, and Mitsuyuki is a named character with a personality because KAITO wanted the reader to know that Masumi could have ended up with Futaba (as Touma ended up with Taichi).

Fourth, KAITO's notes on volume give us a few hints. He comments that there was remarkably little interference with his story and that he was able to tell it as he wanted, and that the ending was meant to be a "question" to the reader. The way I see it, Masumi's ending wasn't meant to say "maybe you'll be fixed if you get a man" but rather was meant to complement Taichi's ending and say "things happen in ways you might not expect, but that doesn't mean they're bad."

Fifth, Touma/Taichi ending up together shows us that the series is willing and able to show queerness as a good thing and a happy ending, so it's unlikely that Masumi was meant to come off as "actually she just needed a man" and more as "life can be unpredictable but you can always find happiness"

Summary

It's unclear whether Masumi was written as a bisexual woman or a lesbian woman or a questioning wlw

I personally read her as a lesbian and I wish that part of her character had gotten more exploration

Masumi's ending wraps up her arc (struggling to trust other people with her feelings in general and her queerness in particular) in a satisfying and logical way

Masumi being bisexual does not in any way negate or lessen her identity and experienes as a wlw, bisexual people still face external and internalized homophobia and all the associated issues

Masumi's bisexuality may well have been foreshadowed, but the execution makes it easier to read her as a lesbian, which makes her ending seem like a homophobic cop-out in the style of the Hays Code

Masumi's ending doesn't straightwash her and goes to unusual lengths to affirm her attraction to women

Masumi's ending seems to be written to contrast Touma's ending, showing that getting or not getting the love interest depends entirely on whether you choose to pursue them

It's unlikely that authorial intent was to straightwash Masumi

[cybrxi]

𓈒♡ ۫ .   𝘽𝙔𝙄 / 𝘿𝙉𝙄   ꒰   ׅ❄️ 𓂂 ✧ 𝆬 ׅ

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[gnostic-heretic]

Hi! I'd love for you to respond to this, but ONLY if you're comfortable! I'm planning on writing a hetalia fanfic with a trans character. I researched a bit, but I feel that my fic could be read as problematic: my trans character (MTF) is introduced as her assigned gender with a different name, only to be uncovered later. She dates pre transition, but get back together. Is this realistic? You've written fic w/ trans characters before, so can you give any tips of advice? Thank you for reading!

hey dear, thank you for reaching out! i’m more than comfortable giving advice but remember that i’m just one trans person, so this does not represent a consensus- i encourage you to reach out to a trans friend to do a sensitivity reading, if you and your friend are comfortable with that! 

i say this because a lot of people would say this scenario of portraying someone pre- and post-transition is a no-no, but i think it’s doable (i’ve done it myself!) if approached in a sensible way. 

and yes i do think it’s possible for a character to date someone, break up for unrelated reasons, transition and then meet that person again and fall in love again. it’s a sweet idea! it’d be lovely to see your character grow and be more content and confident and finally *herself*, and find love as herself :)  plus at least in my experience, a lot of cis partners of trans people do a lot of serious questioning and self exploration when their partner comes out so it can be interesting from the other character’s perspective as well. i’ve seen for example many gfs/wives of trans women realize they’re wlw when they previously never questioned their sexuality. so it can be an interesting journey for both characters to go on and for you as a writer to explore! 

my first bit of advice is to read read and read. read what trans people have to say on the subject of writing- i know there’s more than one post floating around on tumblr with advice for cis people on how to write a trans character. and read the experiences of trans people, how they talk about their own “egg cracking” (if you don’t know, i’d start by searching what “cracking your egg” means- and hint: it’s not always “i played with dolls as a child”), transition and their own past present or their future plans.  and as you read remember that there is no singular standard “trans experience”- transition is not linear, and there’s no such thing as a transition that is “complete” or “incomplete”. some trans people feel really intense dysphoria, others don’t and are mostly fine with the body they have. some trans people want to start hrt asap and to have every medical procedure available, for others, coming out is enough, in many cases they might want to have surgeries, but hormones are the only thing that’s accessible because of the cost of surgeries and long waiting lists. 

keep in mind that everyone experiences gender in their own unique way, so a trans female character doesn’t have to be hyper feminine, and a trans male character doesn’t have to be super masculine to be “good representation”. 

also i’d say to read up on harmful tropes to avoid as well, i’m gonna tell you some just off the top of my head and offer advice on how to handle tricky subjects - portraying trans people especially trans women as violent or predatory/creepy is a big NO (i know this might be obvious to you, but this is also for everyone else reading this out there). there’s nothing wrong with writing negative or morally grey characters but this is a damaging and dehumanizing trope with a long history of being used as propaganda against us. 

- on the same note i’d say to avoid portraying your character as easily offended, overly sensitive, quick to anger etc etc. another (more modern) trope used to mock and ultimately harm trans people is to paint us as “special snowflakes”

 --> a good thing to remember is that anger can be portrayed as righteous, as it is in this situation, and assertive so that would be a good place to start if you have to write about the character being rightfully angry and sad, upset at discrimination she might experience. 

- avoid the dramatic scene in which a character is found out to be trans by undressing them and “revealing” something about their body. also tied to transphobic ideas (trans people “trick” people into thinking they are their gender) and to trans panic defense that legitimizes the murder of trans people. 

 --> a good way to reveal that your character is trans is... simply to make her come out. have a talk! there’s so many possibilities from it being heavy and awkward, to light hearted and heartwarming :) 

- this one is a more complicated thing to handle, because i know some will disagree with me on it... but i’d advise you to steer away or ask for a second opinion/sensitivity reader if you’re gonna write The Sad Mirror Scene TM in which a trans person gazes at their own body in the mirror (or even without the mirror tbh) and points out everything that is “male/female” about it. personally i think it’s bad but in a more subtle way... the focus on our bodies and everything that is considered “wrong” with it can have creepy or outright transphobic implications. also it’s way overdone js 

 --> instead of the long gazing scene i’d mention those things in passing and incorporate them into her daily life, because it is something we live with every day and not just in all-at-once intense dysphoria sessions: maybe she has broad shoulders, so she wears a cute blouse with a lot of ruffles to conceal that a bit; or maybe she’s out and about, on the way to her laser hair removal appointment, and feels awkward about having a bit of shadow (so she treats herself to buying a new concealer on the way home);

 --> also don’t forget about small moments of gender euphoria and trans joy!!! so maybe she gets a new haircut after growing her hair out for a long time, or takes her estrogen for the first time and cries of happiness, or she tries on her fave bra and notices that her breasts have grown a little bit or they feel sore which is a good sign!. etc etc. these are just examples so don’t sweat it :D  but showing the happiness that comes with being trans and not just the sadness of it is really important imo for everyone thinking about writing a trans-centric story 

- in general i’d be careful for anything that implies trans people aren’t “really” the gender they are, or that deep down we’ll always be our assigned gender. sometimes it’s not the outright essentialist statements but the more subtle things that can go undetected to cis people, but we see them. stuff like: the character deadnaming/misgendering themselves (so for example, when she comes out, no “remember deadname?”, or, “i used to be a man”) equating genitals with gender (even as a joke), or making the cis experience out to be universal (that feel when pms, am i right ladies? :) <-- this kind of statement even in good intentioned fun can feel exclusionary and should be perceived as such by your character), body shaming or implying certain non-conforming characteristics (ex: a strong jawline, broad shoulders, narrow hips, small breasts on a woman) are inherently “bad” or inherent to trans people only (plenty of cis women have all of those above listed things). 

 --> i know that dysphoria can make these last things appear to be inherently negative to the person, but you might counterbalance this by making her confident about other aspects of her personality, and making your other characters compliment her and paint her insecurities in a new light. for example she might feel self conscious about her height, but maybe her love interest loves her beautiful, long legs; or maybe more simply unrelated to anything she’s insecure about, she’s smart and hard working, she’s a science genius, she’s the best of her judo class and could kick your ass, she has really nice hair, or really striking eyes, or a very pretty color of very chipped nail polish. details are the key!!! and remember that value and beauty are subjective!!!! 

and last but most important of all... please write your character as HUMAN!! we trans people are just regular people, like anyone else in the world.  we aren’t just defined by transness, we have lives and passions and talents and our own problems completely unrelated to being trans.  so please keep that in mind while writing your gal! and don’t let everything i’ve typed above intimidate you, most of it is obvious stuff and i’m sure you’ll be fine! good luck with your story!

[thisiswhatwereupagainst]

The Forgotten LGBT Characters of 1990s Marvel Comics

Hey X-Men fans! It’s still June, still Pride month, so I wanted to talk about three lesser-known LGBT Marvel characters. They’re very obscure, and they’re all also all from the early 1990s. Like Mystique, one might consider them pioneers of Marvel becoming inclusive of LGBT people. Unlike Mystique, no one really knows about them, as they never became major players (far from it, in fact) Be warned, two of them are villains and very much products of their time and the unfortunate way that society was still treating LGBT people; Marvel was starting to include them, sure, but in very demonized, stereotyped ways. But problematic or not, they existed and they’re close to my heart, and I’d like them to be remembered by a greater amount of fandom. Who knows, if enough people like them, maybe they will come back in canon one day and be treated with greater sensitivity!

Shinobi Shaw (bisexual) - Shinobi Shaw appeared as the young estranged son of Sebastian Shaw, who abused him terribly as a child. While he looked pretty badass at first by killing his father (it turned out not to take, alas) he spent the rest of his time being pretty much a joke as a villain. He preferred to just get drunk and hang out with a bevvy of hot men and women than really do any villainy, and what villainy he did commit was largely limited to trying to get X-Men he liked (Warren and Storm) to join him. Seriously, he sent Warren an invitation to a Hellfire Club party on a PERFUMED card with a LACEY border written in LOOPY PINK INK, and wanted him to be his White King. He totally had a crush on him. Jubilee drives it home with a “Liberace” comparison just in case that was all too subtle for readers. And of course he was attracted to Storm because...STORM. All bad guys like Storm! That’s not where the hints of bisexuality end, though. And by “hints” I mean “on more than one occasion he’s surrounded by men and women who are in various states of undress” like basically the art is trying to tell us that he’s in the middle of an orgy at any given time. At one point, his butler asks him if he’s having oysters or snails tonight, which is an old-timey way of saying “women or men”, and Shinobi replies he thinks he’ll have dinner first, just so the readers are sure he AIN’T talking about food here. Also he dresses in a purple pirate coat and lilac pinstripe pants. I don’t like stereotyping but COME ON GUYS. Fashion bicon right here! Shinobi is definitely and blatantly depicted as bisexual, but he’s really not what could be called good bisexual representation. He’s not only a villain, he’s played up as simultaneously despicable and ineffective, as too effeminate and damaged (his status as an abuse survivor is not treated sympathetically either) to be any real threat, but still as disgusting nonetheless. He’s also depicted as something of an attempted sexual predator, but also as, again, not really enough of a “real man” for it to be scary, just gross. He’s also played up a LOT as a decadent hedonist obsessed only with pleasure, which is an age-old stereotype of gay people and bi people both, but especially bi people. There’s a lot of problems with Shinobi. But he’s still a lot of fun as a character, at least to me, and the hints of how emotionally damaged he is from aforementioned abuse and the implication he may have a substance abuse problem and that all this decadence might just be his only way of coping because he’s clearly unable to connect with people but WANTS to somehow...there’s a great character arc here waiting to happen, if some writer only sees it. Those familiar with the far more famous Daken might notice some similarities in design; both are the eastranged predatory  bisexual abused half-Japanese son of a burlier, hairier, pre-established white male character. Of course, Daken was far more competent and became a much more major, complex character. Maybe Shinobi was sort of his first draft? Who knows! All I know is that as of June 19, Shinobi has finally re-appeared alive in Uncanny X-Men #20, and I’m hoping for more shenanigans--preferably in the flamboyant bisexual disaster Shinobi style! Mindmeld (transgender) - Mindmeld appears solely in X-Force #62 as a bodyguard in the employ of Shinobi Shaw. No alternative name is given for her, and it’s my headcanon that “Mindmeld” is her chosen name as both a mutant and a trans woman. How do we know she’s a trans woman? Well, we don’t. But she’s drawn with the same body type and facial shape as all the male characters are, because this is comics and there’s one mold for guys, one for ladies. However, despite big muscles, a strong jaw, and a distinct lack of breasts, she presents pretty feminine, with makeup and a lot of jewelry. The other characters (the heroes, no less) express confusion about her gender, saying things like “Now, Mr. or Mrs. Mindmeld...” and “What is your real name? Pat? Chris?” (get it? those are unisex/androgynous names?) However, only “she” pronouns are ever used for her. Given all this, I think it’s fair to say that these jabs along with her physical appearance are meant to hint to the audience that she’s a transgender woman. She could fall into some other trans category, such as non-binary or genderqueer, but considering this was the 90s (when those identities were less known) and being written by straight cis guys (the least likely to know about said identities) I think that her being a pre-op/non-op/non-passing trans woman is a safe guess. My bet is that her presence was meant to add some shock value and play up Shinobi’s own bisexuality (since it’s a common misconception that a straight man couldn’t possibly be into a trans woman) In any case, she was short-lived and ill-treated by both the story and the other characters, but I find her intriguing. She’s also very important despite her obscurity, as she’s the first representation of a transgender mutant that I’m aware of that didn’t involve something like shapeshiting or or bodyswapping (though her powers could swap the brains of other people!) or being an alien with no knowledge of gender norms, or any other “explanation” that accounted for being trans that had no real-world equivalent. She just seems to have been trans in the way REAL people are trans, something that thus far no mutant I’m aware of (save for another one-time character, Jessie Drake) has been. And I think she damn well deserves some love for that. Plus look at her, she’s just cool! Nocturne (wlw) - Nocturne aka Angela Cairn (no, not TJ Wagner, this is a different Nocturne) is the only non-villain on this list, and the only one whose sexuality was treated sympathetically, perhaps because it was only hinted at and her story was told largely in metaphor. Ironically, she’s also the only chracter here who is not a mutant or an X-Men character, despite X-Men being the publication that’s supposed to be all about embracing the different and downtrodden. She first appears in the 1993 Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #13, and had a few subsequent appearances before disappearing from the page altogether. Angela Cairn was a police officer of Black, Cuban, and Native American (tribe unspecified) heritage. As a lifelong victim of prejudice, she joined the police in hopes of using the law to protect others from being victimized. She is implied to have been in a romantic relationship with a fellow female officer, Jackie Kessler, and the two may have co-habited. After Jackie is murdered in the line of duty, Angela went on the trail of a serial killer who she believed was the same supervillain that killed Jackie. Following a false lead, she was lured to a warehouse where she was trapped and experimented on by one of the nameless mutates created from humans by Baron Zemo. Unlike the other monstrous mutates, this one did not seek to return to human form, and, for reasons unknown, wanted Angela to become like her. As a result, Angela was transformed in the mute, winged, vampire-like being called Nocturne. No longer able to live in human society or even explain to others that she’s Angela, Nocturne becomes homeless and protects those who also live on the fringes of society, including a boy who is the victim of a gay-bashing. Her journey ends up being not a typical superhero tale, but an introspective single-issue saga of pain and self-acceptance. It’s told largely in what I interpret to be metaphor for coming to terms with being open about her sexuality only after she lost her partner, which I write more extensively about HERE, and I personally find it to be a surprisingly deep and nuanced story---especially for comics, which are usually about as subtle as an anvil when it comes to whatever social commentary they’re trying to get across (not that this is always a bad thing either!) Anyway, if you read this far, I’d very much appreciate it if you would reblog! I think these characters deserve to be more well-known, and I think a lot of people will enjoy seeing their representation, flawed and dated though it may be.

[grumpyslav]

Four Dead Queens Review (Rant) ★★1/2-★★★

I honestly don’t know how to rate this one. In its core, this is a murder mystery in a fantasy setting. This part works, kind of - it is not the most compelling nor complex but it does offer some nice twists. On the other hand, there is so much wrong about the worldbuilding, so unnecessary and baffling, that it brings the whole thing down.

Oh, and at one point, our heroine casually watches a man (future love interest) undress even though he’s visibly uncomfortable and this is portrayed in a casual, playful way. Repeat after me: Just because it’s a woman doing this to a man, it doesn’t mean that it’s ok. 

Now, what’s the main problem with this book? Remember that joke about generic dystopias and “everybody is in a different quadrant?” You have that here. It is not dystopia, it is fantasy, but it works in the same way. 

The country Quadara (I shit you not) is divided into four quadrants, each one with its own attribute, namely: technology, agriculture, entertainment and education (I guess? It is not really explained fully.) Each quadrant has its own queen and (the most “WTF?” thing in this worldbuilding): quadrants are not allowed to use each other’s technologies. Not to produce; to use. It means that one quadrant has superior, futuristic technology and elaborate genetic engineering, while another quadrant doesn’t have electricity. One quadrant uses horses and carriages while another has super-tech genetic engineering dermasuits. Let this sink in.

I could spend thousands of words why this could never, ever work in a real world. This is simply not how human cultures are; this is not how culture evolves, this is not how culture adopts new technologies. Especially since there doesn’t seem to be a major uprisal or rebellion. Spoiler alert? - this is not the reason why queens are dying in the book. (Even though it would make a reasonable motive.) 

So, why have this mess of worldbuilding? No idea. It doesn’t matter for the plot. Honestly: the plot would be the same without it. My guess is that the author wanted to have a fantasy vibe in the book but also evolved genetic engineering and technology for plot reasons so we get... this. 

This is turning into a rant and not a proper review, but I honestly don’t know what to say. The main character is a snarky thief, and is a gender-bent version of those popular YA thieves that are so common these days. The love interest is a MOC, but before you get your hopes up, he is just that: a bland, generic love interest. He is not needed in the story at all. The most interesting characters are queens. We actually get a good portion of the narrative with them. 

Like I said, this is a murder mystery, and while it is far from a great one, it is the least of this books’ problems. In its own way, it works. The motive and villain are easy to guess, but there are enough turns and mini-twists to make it okay. Certain elements of the mystery come out of nowhere and are a bit cheating in a way that readers cannot guess them because we were never told they are possible. But I don’t want to nitpick here. I didn’t have so much problem with the mystery itself. It’s just that everything else around it is so fake and implausible, and there are so many different elements of the worldbuilding that just don’t go together. 

Oh, and one more thing. I’ve heard this book being called “a feminist fantasy”. I assume this is because Quadara is ruled by four women, and only women can inherit the throne. The thing is, having women in a position of power doesn’t necessarily equal feminism. Especially with dubious things in the plot, like the above mentioned woman making a man uncomfortable, and a man manipulating a woman, and many things that would go into a spoiler territory. Also, two of the queens are wlw but guess what? This feminist world (that also has superior genetic engineering!) also requires them to have sex with a man and conceive a child to be an heir.* Again: you have superior genetic engineering. I bet you have IVF. Not to mention that the whole plot collapses on the same grounds, but that’s another story.

* Just to make things clear. Nobody is actually forced to have sex with a man in this book. But it’s implied that this is the only way to get a female heir for the throne. One of the queens refuses to be mated (we later learn she is wlw) and no options are mentioned for this situation (except that her reluctance to be mated is seen as a bad thing because no heir.) Which makes me conclude that conceiving a child by having sex with a man is the only way they use to get an heir. (Again, why? Also: they mention that male children are sent away and could not inherit the throne. But you have genetic engineering. Why don’t you always ensure that queens have a female child? If not, why not pay attention to sons, too - their daughters are nieces of the queens and could inherit the throne if the queen doesn’t have a female child? You know what, I’ll stop. The more I think about it, the less sense it makes.) 

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review... Julia Ember, “The Seafarer’s Kiss”

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Reviewer Comments: I stumbled across this book while searching for mermaid stories on Amazon, and the premise immediately hooked me. A love story? Between a shield maiden and a mermaid? With Norse gods? YES. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong about the story itself, but the reason I didn’t rate it higher was due to the writing (and your mileage may vary, so take my review with a grain of salt). A lot of the story seemed to center on women’s bodies and voices - they are controlled, regulated, changed, and taken away at various moments in the text. While a great premise for a feminist story, I ultimately felt like not enough was done to either incorporate these themes or to make the heart of the story more prominent. Combined with some confusion on my part over certain phasing, I didn’t quite feel like I enjoyed this book as much as I wanted. Still, it was an engaging read with a fascinating premise, and I applaud the author for her imagination and creativity.

***Full review under the cut.***

Summary:  Having long-wondered what lives beyond the ice shelf, nineteen-year-old mermaid Ersel learns of the life she wants when she rescues and befriends Ragna, a shield-maiden stranded on the mermen’s glacier. But when Ersel’s childhood friend and suitor catches them together, he gives Ersel a choice: say goodbye to Ragna or face justice at the hands of the glacier’s brutal king. Determined to forge a different fate, Ersel seeks help from Loki. But such deals are never as one expects, and the outcome sees her exiled from the only home and protection she’s known. To save herself from perishing in the barren, underwater wasteland and be reunited with the human she’s come to love, Ersel must try to outsmart the God of Lies.

Things I Liked

Dynamic with Ragna: I loved the cute flirting between Ersel and Ragna, as well as their conversations about the human world. It was adorable to see them interacting with the whales as well, and their relationship was a nice respite from the horribleness of the world around them.

Exploration of Femininity/Character Development: Ersel has contradicting feelings about her own fertility. She doesn’t want to have children, yet she’s proud to be fertile. She doesn’t want to conform to society standards, but she feels smug when she is found to be the best. I thought this series of contradictions mirrors the complex feelings women have when living under patriarchy. It doesn’t always make sense - but it’s realistic. I also liked how Ersel grew over the course of the book, from being more go-it-alone (because she’s “not like other girls”) to realizing that she’s not quite as alone as she thought, and her dislike of other women actually leads to disastrous consequences.

Loki’s Pronouns: Loki is described as androgynous and gender-fluid and is referred to using they/them pronouns. It’s a small thing, but I loved it, especially given Loki’s gender fluidity in myth.

Imagination: There were little touches of creativity in this story that I absolutely loved. Using jellyfish as lights! Doors made of shells and mortared with egg sac slime! Storage houses made out of the ice of the icebergs! They made the world seem built and deliberate.

Things I Didn’t Like

Writing: Ember’s prose isn’t very exciting. It’s fairly matter-of-fact, relating events as they happen in a straightforward manner. I was hoping for something more poetic, given the richness of Norse mythology and the beauty of underwater life. Moreover, she tended to repeat things a bit or use phrases that didn’t quite make sense for an underwater society. For example, we’re told explicitly over and over again that Ersel is thinking of Havamal’s friendship as something that used to be real (to the point where it felt repetitive and told instead of shown). Mermaids would “drive the air from their lungs” or “draw air into their gills” which was confusing since I didn’t know if mermaids breathed both air and water or what. I was also confused at what time period we were in - Norse mythology implied medieval, but some of the descriptions of the ships sounded more 18-19th century to me (but I could be wrong - I’m not a nautical history expert).

Mermaid Society: The mermaids in this book live in some patriarchal, fertility-obsessed society that reminded me of The Handmaid’s Tale. Maybe the author was trying to make some feminist criticisms of our modern society, but as a reader, I was profoundly uncomfortable (especially about the Grading ceremony). On top of that, this society seems to have done a 180 from how the mermaids used to live, and I could’t quite understand how things had been allowed to get so bad. Sure, the book says that the mermaids were too afraid to challenge the king and his new, patriarchal ways - but is that really enough?

Dynamic between Ersel and Havamal: Ersel has a male friend named Havamal who she sees as betraying everything they stood for as children. At first, Havamal seemed like a good character to explore the place of well-meaning men in a patriarchal society who just get it wrong. He gives Ersel space, promises not to confine her, and is an interesting foil to her idealism. But as the story develops, he acts violently out of jealousy and gets manipulative and possessive. He did apologize, and Ersel states that she can’t ever completely forgive him, but I thought it was such a wasted opportunity for a more complex character.

Incorporation of Norse Mythology: This book as a whole didn’t feel very Norse-inspired (at least to me). Loki did appear as a character, but other than that, the gods are just name-dropped. I really wanted more of the Norse flavor to come to life - not in the barbaric sense that everyone seems to do these days, but in the magical sense, through the way the Norse myths looked at the world.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in

mermaids

Norse mythology (especially Loki)

wlw relationships

fairy tale retellings (especially The Little Mermaid)

Similar Reads

[battlestar-royco]

honestly idk if this is related but when i wasn’t in a great place mentally i LOVED s/jm but when i started to heal and such i started to notice the toxicity of her relationships and the way she writes the “possessiveness” of the ships makes me severely uncomfortable. also, i feel like her writing is very undeveloped. again, i loved it when i wasn’t matured enough to appreciate quality writing. (1/2)

(2/2) i feel like her style of writing appeals to younger audiences because the rambling and the constant interruptions are easier to understand, but the content she writes about is absolutely NOT YA. it bothers me that she advertises her books as YA when there is explicit (badly written) smut. anyway, i think she needs to reconsider her writing in a meaningful way

Absolutely! I started reading the books when I was about sixteen and I loved T0G-H0F and TAB. I found the characters interesting and the story intriguing and fast-paced. But I immediately notice very… let’s say… bizarre things about her writing that contradicted her claim that she was a feminist (the mating system, her insistence on equating all her characters’ genders with “male” and “female,” killing all her WOC violently, literally zero queer characters/implied mlm or wlw being forced into straight ships, no body diversity, etc), and I started to become disenchanted with every new publication. Then AC0TAR came along and it became blatantly obvious that not only could she not write diversely but she also couldn’t worldbuild, pace, or characterize for shit. Five years later, I’m a really different reader and writer and I know so much more–not everything, but more–about fantasy and representation than I did back then. So if I read T0G for the first time today, I don’t think I’d enjoy it much at all.

I completely agree that SJ/M needs to seriously self-evaluate if she ever wants to publish anything else. No one’s perfect, we all make mistakes, everyone can get better if they try, blah blah blah, but SJ/M has a huuuuuuge issue with style and diversity. The only way she can ever improve is if she takes a long break and does research to unlearn all the toxic, lazy shit she puts in her books instead of grossly disrespecting every single type of marginalized person for her privileged faves. Tbh I’m pretty much done giving her chances to improve because her career has spanned six years and she has only gotten worse. Most other YA authors have gotten better and/or at least acknowledged the issues that appear within their books. If they can do it, so can she, and she’s had plenty of time to do so but has done nothing. It’s really a shame.