#culture specific gender

[prolibytherium]

Just in general I think trying to look to pre-late modern period history for validation of LGBT+ identities is an absolutely useless venture. Every single underlying human experience defined through the lens and framework of LGBT identity has always existed, but it's impossible to pin down Exactly who and what a figure might have been if they existed in this contemporary context and decided to self identify via these labels.

It's also a wildly reductive lens that flattens the complexity and variety of how sex and gender has been constructed across time in different cultures, how sexual norms have varied, etc. This is not a constructive approach to learn about history and you're never going to be able to fit historical figures neatly into little identity categories.

[em0-opossum]

"can I be [x gender] if I..." "can I still call myself [x term] if..." yes. yes. if you like the term then use it. do whatever you want forever. labels are just little words we use to categorize our infinitely complex existential experiences on this floating rock !! no two people who use the same label are going to experience it the same way and that's the beauty of it !! use "contradictory" labels, use labels that don't make sense to anyone, change your label every day or not at all, explore anything and everything, use no labels at all or every label under the sun, confuse people or correct them or let them assume things rather than explaining, I promise nothing other people think about your identity is worth your happiness !!

[redysetdare]

"This fandom is so queer friendly!" This fandom literally hates, bisexual, trans, nonbinary, and aspec people but ok.

[cator99]

out of curiosity, would you consider yourself butch?

used to be a blonde underweight twink and now I'm a based jock still got the chanel bag and the sick albeit matured mind of a suckpig to prove it so I'm gonna let you decide whether you wanna call me that word just cuz I got a pussy and short hair. I promise you that there have been enough advancements made in the art of lesbian sexual dynamics in the past 50 years to broaden the vocabulary used to describe the plethora of types of masculine females.

[marmett]

idk i dont want to sound like a weirdo reddit gamer but. the way datv decided to just. have someone describe themself as trans. a modern term based in specific societies' conception of gender is so messy and thoughtless. its like when the fallout show haphardly tossed a nonbinary person into the brotherhood of steel w/o thinking abt how theyd actually fit into the world theyre in.

[foggyfanfic]

Themes vs Realism

Saw an old debate about how isolated the Encanto is and it got me thinking about my own headcanons.

I watched the movie, saw the windows and wine glasses and thought “Oh! They must have trade, glass requires a specific sort of sand and while glass blowers would be relatively common, the odds they had somebody who knows how to make glass frit are pretty low”. And I can back up that argument with research and facts, buying glass is getting more expensive because we’re running low on sand with the right chemical composition, glass frit production would be more likely to happen in towns near silica rich beaches, where as Alma’s hometown looked like it was in the middle of the forest. Nowadays, not every country in the world has the right sand, when I worked with glass blowers they imported their frit from I think a family in Sweden(?) that are like one of the last few people making frit. So glass is actually a very big deal! I digress. Basically, realistically, the fact that they have glass means that they must have some trade.

But that’s completely irrelevant to the movie, isn’t it?

The movie is all about healing from generational trauma, Encanto being completely isolated is better for the movie’s themes. It’s like how we all love the deleted scene where Bruno argues with Alma and says “I wish I was dead” but the writers cut that scene because it gives Bruno confronting Alma on Mirabel’s behalf an extra bit of punch if he was never willing to do so before. Realistically, a deeply unhappy, almost forty adult who is as blunt as Bruno would have had that argument with Alma; thematically, Mirabel’s mysterious Tío couldn’t muster up the courage/passion to confront the movie’s antagonist until he was doing it for love. Realistically, it is actually necessary for Pepa to control her emotions because she can create hurricanes and that sorta disaster could wipe out the village; thematically, Pepa needs to be allowed to let her feelings flow through her without anyone snapping at her about it. Realistically they must have trade; thematically, they must be completely isolated.

There isn’t really a good way for canon to bridge this gap as far as I can tell, in story telling themes usually take precedence over realism, especially in a fantasy setting. But for a lot of people (like me) the funnest thing to do when writing fanfic is throw in a dash of realism and see what comes out of it. Obviously, the way you want to reconcile this is absolutely up to you. I personally care more about the movie sticking to themes than I do it being realistic or conforming to my background knowledge, I’m fully expecting to have most of my head canons disproven when they release more material. That said, for the sake of fic, I think asking questions like “Where are they getting the raw materials to build that” is a great launching pad.

I don’t know how to word my conclusion. That year I spent working with glass blowers is going to butt heads with my suspension of disbelief for the rest of my life? Realism is great for fanfic but not so much in short stories like movies? My head canons will never be canon and it’s better that way?

[langernameohnebedeutung]

.

[satyrradio]

idk if this is a hot take or whatever but the "brain sex" theory sounds so stupid

[songsofsappho]

Femmes, mascs, fems, butches.

Maybe it's the tgirl brain but presentation just isn't that important to me.

What's really attractive about a girl is that they're comfortable and confident in their presentation.

Boy in a girl way? Enby? All of those things? None of them? Cool.

Does it make you happy? Yes? Do you want head about it?

[bacchuschucklefuck]

the boy-but-not-that-way-ism of riz gukgak send tweet

[musical-chick-13]

Regarding the whole "Fandom Is An Escape, so why should I have to care this much about misogyny/racism/ableism/transphobia/etc." thing. Idk about the rest of you, but it gets kind of hard for me to "escape" when I keep seeing people say the same vile things about characters who share aspects of my identity that I hear all the time in real life.

[captainjonnitkessler]

"American individualism has a lot of problems and can lead to a loss of supportive community networks" - true, a problem worth talking about

"Individualism is a poison and anyone who wants to maintain a level of independence from their family, culture, or community is suspect" - BAD. WRONG AND BAD. THIS IS EXTREME CONSERVATISM DRESSED UP IN A PROGRESSIVE HAT

[inexplicably-spookified]

diversity win! this witch is bi... lingual?

[plutoniuminjection47]

Reminder to not push your regular gender binary stuff onto cultural genders. They tend to be way more complex and differ to each person's experience. Thanks !!

- Sincerely an ay'lonit person

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Màgòdiz

post-apocalyptic dystopia set in a dying future world where people are subjugated and controlled by a spiritual power

a group of 6 Indigenous two spirit & queer people traveling across the land to save one of their own who’s been kidnapped & attempting to free their people from subjugation

the last storyteller who keeps stories on her skin on the run with her lover, a healer and their firekeeper partner, a rebel who takes care of orphan children in the city and the brainwashed enforcer xe captures & eventually deprograms

navigating relationships and family & cultural history

[raviollies]

this might be silly question but ive missed some lore i think… how does lorelai fit in to the blythe/raha situation? i feel like ive never seen her around before so idk her place in things

She is not part of the relationship (As she is a Lesbian), but she travelled with Raha prior to Blythe meeting them (Both of them have very different story arcs that tie up neatly with a little bow with their dynamic - that and I wanted something FEEL GOOD OKAY). She has a separate story, one that is more-so developing (including possible relationship). She is EXTREMELY close to them though, and there is almost a familial, platonic love dynamic there. It's not quite just friendship, and not a romantic relationship, but a sinister third thing.

I debated making her part of the relationship at first, but settled on this instead because I like to explore different concepts with characters, and with her I wanted to work through the stage of defining your identity, of your preferences, and stepping over the boundary of your own self-consciousness and inexperience to explore new experiences and relationships, something I couldn't really do with Blythe as her story focused more on having this identity be shaped by society around her.

Vampirism is a metamorphosis of your body, from one state to another (a concept I explore with Blythe too) - but where as Blythe views it as a traumatic event that has left a stain on her, Lorelai doesn't have an issues with Vampirism in of itself, she doesn't mind the new state that her body is in, but rather is going to the growing pain of getting accustomed to it, and how it impacts her as a person (so working through a trauma and acknowledging it rather than denial vs your new defined identity and how you navigate the world based on it)

Lorelai is meant to be seen as almost floundering without knowing what she wants, and having a hurdle of fear and inexperience with the Big Wide World to step over ; this odd period of adulthood where you don't quite feel *adult*. Blythe grew up too quickly, while Lorelai feels as though she is lacking as an adult and as a woman. A similar theme can be found in 'My Lesbian experience with Loneliness' by Kabi Nagata.

Another post I made about Lorelai's Deal is linked here!

I keep forgetting that people can't read my mind and just see what I have to say about these characters without posting it 😭