#feminine interests and aesthetics deserve so much more respect | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

femmefatalevibe · 2 years ago

Note

Hey first of all, I totally love your blog! Second of all, I've decided that this academic year I'll make most of my inner feminine

Do you have any tips for people like me who want to get more into touch with their feminine side? If yes, could you share some of them? Thanks a lot angel🤍✨

Hi love– thank you so much! So excited to hear that you’re looking to get further in touch with your feminine energy this year. Sharing some of my tips below. I hope this perspective is helpful! xx

HOW TO EMBRACE YOUR FEMININE ENERGY:

Set A Standard of Self-Regard: I feel like the whole Divine Feminine movement dances around this topic without directly addressing this principle. Instead of saying to live a life of self-care (definitely prioritize self-care, don’t get me wrong), I think it’s more useful and empowering to view all of your daily habits and routines as a way of respecting yourself.

- Ex: You focus on your studies and don’t procrastinate because you value your time and see the value of your work enough to get it over with. Excelling in your courses matters because the subject ignites a fire in you, you’re passionate about it, and you deserve to pursue your interests/areas of study that lead to your dream career path. If you hate the course and need to do the work, tell yourself that you have enough self-regard to put efficient effort into the coursework because you hold yourself to a certain standard of excellence in your academic life.

- Ex: You go to the gym because you prioritize your physical and mental health. You value feeling (and looking) good. You owe it to yourself to honor this need �� we are nothing without our health. The same goes for taking the step to make healthy meals (and remembering to eat). You respect yourself enough to nourish yourself and indulge in the foods’ pleasurable tastes and textures. You deserve to feel light and satisfied every day.

- Ex: You present yourself to the world in a certain way (dress, beauty/hygiene, speech, etc.) because you respect yourself enough to show up in a certain way

- Ex: You take time to explore your communication style, and relationship needs (friendship, professional/academic/family/intimate, etc.) because you owe it to yourself to show up for this person as your highest self and to make those you care about feel good (while still respecting your boundaries)

Find An Aesthetic That Speaks To You: Find clothes, accessories, home decor, a beauty routine, music, books, notebooks, coffee mugs, etc. that speak to you. Refining this aspect of your persona inherently makes you feel more feminine. Dress up every day to feel good. Show up as your highest self, and create a space that visually supports this ideal image. Romanticize your life.

Indulge In A Creative Outlet (or Several): Read compelling books or articles, curate and listen to a playlist that speaks to your soul, dance, draw, write, journal, make a Pinterest board, do your nails, style some outfits for the week, re-arrange your skincare shelf – anything you can do to get inspired and embrace your creative side. These practices will help you feel more connected to yourself, expand your mind, and often set the mood to come up with a new great idea or prime an epiphany about your life or a situation. The mind works best when it focuses on running freely.

Incorporate Daily Self-Care Rituals: Prioritize your favorite cup of coffee or tea in the morning and evenings, romanticize your skincare and shower routines – find products that smell and feel great on your body (and work well for your skin/hair type, of course!). Make time for your daily walk, yoga, or pilates. Do a face mask. Have a playlist to listen to while making dinner. Create space in your day to journal, read, or watch your favorite TV show. Have that square of chocolate you love if you choose. Find little ways to incorporate pleasure into your life that allow you to feel satisfied (without hindering your goals aka drinking a bottle of wine, eating fast food daily, binge-watching Netflix, etc.).

Find Small Ways To Make Everyday More Pleasurable: Maybe it’s the hairbrush and hair-ties you use, the scented soap in your bathroom, a favorite pen or breakfast bowl, the planner you use for school, etc. Make the details count!

Explore Your Sensual Side/Sexuality: I don’t know your age, but these tips should be relevant for anyone in high school or older! Getting in touch with your sexuality and learning that you own it is SO important when it comes to aligning with your femininity (whether engaging in solo/partnered sex or just daily life). To be clear, I think owning your sexuality has more to do with the confidence aspect of it – feeling good in your own body, understanding that you deserve pleasure (and can give it to yourself), and the mind-body connection. Make time to do activities that allow you to get in touch with your innate sensuality: Throw on some satin PJs, a robe, or lingerie. Get some silk pillows and indulgent perfume/skincare. Curate a playlist that gets you in the mood. Have a glass of wine (if you’re of age) and some chocolate, nuts, or red/purple fruits.

Indulge in Self-Pleasure: Let go of any shame. Understand you have the power to feel good and deserve to understand what it means to be a (or soon-to-be) woman. Claiming ownership over this part of your life allows you to set boundaries because you’re never going to hand over this power to someone else. They have the privilege to indulge in pleasure with you – not give it to you. I think this is a super important lesson for teens to understand because you make better decisions when the time comes when you already know what you want, like and don’t like (to an extent – you catch my drift), and have sexual standards/boundaries from the beginning. Now, THAT’s feminine energy.

Find Divine Feminine/Femme Fatale Inspiration: Read books on related subjects (I have a Femme Fatale Booklist for every area of life linked HERE), study TV/movie characters who embody these energies and other feminine muses (my favorites are Blair Waldorf, Olivia Pope, Andy Sacks, Michelle Obama, Monica Bellucci, etc.), read Women Love Power content, take Ayesha’s quiz, etc. Educate and envelope yourself in the feminine world. Invite this content into your circle of influence.

Some resources to unleash your inner femme fatale are linked HERE, HERE, and HERE

93 notes · View notes

sinkix · 4 years ago

Text

《What your fav Haikyuu!! Character says about you│Nekoma Edition》

Yo-hoo! Here’s another part to this potential(?) series! I hope you enjoy the possible call-outs in some of these lmao. Writers block been kicking my ass recently but I had a lot of fun writing these. Enjoy <3

You can find the Karasuno ver. here

✧✧✧✧✧ ✧✧✧✧✧ ✧✧✧✧✧ ✧✧✧✧✧

Kuroo:

Have a hand fetish and will not say no to choking.

Daddy kink™

Will not accept anything below 6 inches.

More of a dog person but would love to own a black cat.

You drool over tattoos.

Your grades are mostly B’s but you know in your heart you deserve that A, and tbh you probably do. Chase ur goals bby.

Halloween is likely your favourite holiday.

You have to resist not to carve a dick into the pumpkin EvEry GodDAmN YeAr.

You either study for 6 hours consecutively or cannot study at all and you get very frustrated at this.

Have the potential to be a good leader and command the room but probably don’t put it to use as much as you should.

Your playlist parkours from sad 3am crying into your pillow songs to aggressive punk music you could rob a store to.

You like bad boys who hang around bars and look like they would put out a cigarette on your forearm and call you a slut. Just stating facts sweaty xoxo.

Either dress very feminine and girly with a ‘smol girl uwu’ aesthetic or a hardass punk who would kick your ass for a can of beer no in between and tbh both are equally hot.

You’re a big softie at heart either way and just want to be held and told everything will be okay.

Ur a hoe for when people stroke your hair or caress your chin it’s your ultimate weakness.

Watched Rick & Morty.

Twice.

Sleeves rolled up veiny forearms and donning a silver watch are your muse and something you fantasise about frequently.

Most of your memes are shitty top text bottom texts that are somehow funny and I don’t understand why lmao.

You call someone ‘bro’ even if it’s someone you’re immensely attracted to.

Did someone say ties? No it’s just ur dirty ass thoughts thinking about that hot business dudes attire from across the street and how you wish they were tied around ur wrists.

Probably had a crush on Jeff the Killer as a tween and are relentlessly haunted by your old Wattpad library.

Tbh any dark-haired dude with bedhead that screams rugged and probably not good for you is something that draws you like a moth to a flame.

You often question why every person you’ve fallen for has been a Scorpio and curse that tendency of yours.

Dw man they’re hot so I feel u.

Kenma:

Went through a ‘I’m not like other __’ phase and it’s something that you think about a lot and wish you didn’t.

Watched dan & phil as a kid.

Any mention of Pokemon has you turning into a rabid beast you get way too excited.

It’s cute though dw bby.

Pretty antisocial but interesting to talk to.

Your family often question how you’re able to sleep in till 3pm and judge you heavily for it.

Nocturnal night owl gang rise up.

Frequently have bags under your eyes but somehow manage to pull it off.

Listen to ASMR on the down-low and will never admit it to a single soul.

Frequently go on BL binges and have many related book marks.

You pray that someone will never find your laptop bc holy fuck the amount of smut on that.

You wear scarves & beanies even when it isn’t that cold outside.

100% went through a scene hair phase/attempted to.

You dye your hair a lot or REALLY want to.

You have a voice kink low-key so anyone with a pleasant/soothing sounding voice just gets u goin’.

Cats are your favourite animal and you either do or want to own several.

Would name them after video game/anime characters u fuckin nerd lol.

Speaking of cats ,you fantasise heavily about cat-boys and have a folder dedicated to them.

Oversized hoodies are your vibe and always ball the sleeve hems in your fist as a comfort mechanism.

Shopping centres are your worst nightmare and trigger your claustrophobia or social anxiety and honestly I feel that spiritually.

Have a cute sticky note collection.

You like a lot of music consisting of guitar and slow/soothing beats.

You also fw EDM/ techno on occasions.

Honestly wouldn’t wanna anger you since you have a seething temper when pushed far enough.

It’s the kinda temper that’s eerily quiet but no less terrifying, like the other person can tell you are graphically plotting their demise.

You love sleeping to the sound of rainfall and often play those nature ambience videos while you sleep.

Never tidy your sheets and it’s just a big scrunched up heap of fabric in the centre of your mattress most of the time.

Make your fucking bed.

Lev:

Your ships are chaotic and shamelessly controversial.

Would do something just for the sake of creating mayhem lmao.

You were the fucker who stuck their chewing gum under the desk, I see you.

Your brain never stops whirring it’s a constant hurricane of crackhead energy and you have no idea how to turn it off.

Would eat a stick of pencil lead for $2

You don’t help your situation with the amount of coffee/energy drinks you consume.

The class clown who cries themselves to sleep.

Such a wholesome dumbass but somehow kinda intimidating???

Even if you’re not confident you can do something you’ll try anyway and honestly I respect that about you.

You !! use!!! a lot??!! of!! random punctuation!!! so you always??!?!? seem!!111!! excited!!!!!11!?

Every time you’ve ever tried to make a sandcastle it has failed.

You tried to eat the sand once but we don’t talk bout that.

You would also pick up slugs and snails and chase your friends around with them.

Can never tell whether people are laughing with you or at you and while you don’t let it show it high-key bothers you when you’re laying alone in your room at night.

Not one to hold grudges, you carry a ‘shit happens’ mentality which is v good but it sometimes leads to people taking advantage of it or walking all over you.

Your meme collection is both questionable and horrifying.

Like how many cursed images and heavily distorted pictures does one person need.

Never organise the files on your PC/laptop so it looks like a complete dumpster fire.

The one at sleepovers who persistently woke everyone else up with their snickering and refusal to sleep till dawn.

For the love of Asahi charge your damn phone.

I see that red bar and ‘12%’

Charge it now.

Bought a plant one time, gave it a name and talked to it frequently.

It died not long after bc u forgot to fucking water it.

No one better ever make you responsible for a pet.

Type of person that when someone asks you to tag along on an endeavour no matter how stupid it is you will agree.

2am skydiving in france? hell yeah.

Midnight shopping spree and spending over half your pay check? count you in.

Exploring an abandoned hospital and performing an Ouija board to summon the demons of hell? you’re damn right you’ll be there.

I hope you have a mum friend by your side bc if not how are you still alive.

You sometimes put the milk in before the cereal and it’s something I’ll never forgive you for.

Yaku:

Very responsible and usually make the right decisions.

You do have moments where you act like a complete dumbass though.

Like u go from 50 year old to 5 year old in the blink of an eye.

A hopeless romantic but it’s a side you don’t often reveal.

Prefer strawberry milk over any other flavour.

You’re the type of person to shower twice a day w/o fail.

Where that stank smell coming from? Not you clearly bc your skin is basically 90% The Body Shop’s rose scented soap at this point.

You get stomach aches a lot and you can’t figure out why.

Probably an allergy to everyone’s bs.

Really good at dirty talk even though you don’t seem the type so people are always taken aback.

You have to be really in the mood though otherwise it falls flatter than Oikawa’s ass, use your skill wisely.

You often call people clowns when you know you’re secretly the biggest one going.

Honk honk, hoe.

You send messages in one paragraph rather than multiple texts unless you are REALLY excited.

People underestimate you at times then are shocked when they realise you are capable of being a fire-breathing dragon from the flaming pits of hell.

You like spicy chicken wings.

Such a petty little shit at times lmao.

Enjoy the view from the top of mountains so you either hike a lot or really want to.

Way more of a cat person since it’s just much more convenient for you.

Usually pretty cheerful or calm and people are drawn to your stable/friendly aura.

Went through a phase of drinking mountain dew and your body still feels the awful effects

Fav element is probably air.

You’re 5′6″ or shorter.

Box dyed your hair brunette several times and can never get the pigment out to this day.

Yamamoto:

Whenever you smell something weird in the room you always internally freak out and think it’s you.

Head-butting walls is your hobby.

You fell off your bike as a kid and still have the scar on your knee.

Probably have tons of ear piercings.

Would tame a pigeon and call it Larry.

You get frequent nosebleeds and can never tell if it’s a medical issue or your extreme simping for fictional men/women.

Hopefully the latter.

You constantly chew your pen/pencil in class so you never lend them to anyone out of embarrassment.

I really hope no one ever lends you stationery bc 30 minutes later it’ll look like it was mauled by a rabid rottweiler.

You really want to own a dog and would call it something intimidating like Banshee or Diablo.

You bleached your hair that one time and it almost fell out so now you’re forced to stay at least 10 metres away from all at-home hair dye products.

You tried your best though bby so A for effort, even if it did look like dehydrated ramen afterwards.

Your grades are mostly C’s and you’re barely passing bc you just don’t care about your classes lol.

Still though you’re actually pretty smart so put it to good use you lazy oaf, channel that crackhead energy into something good.

Your phone screen has several cracks in it from when you dropped it on the bathroom floor while shitting and you’ll always be angry at yourself for that.

You have some really weird quirks but you make it work.

Actually a v chill person but you just kinda attract chaos/trouble wherever you go.

Carry a lighter with you even when you don’t need one.

Shy texter but once people see you irl you are the complete opposite, you just dk how to text without coming across as awkward.

One of those people that’s unintentionally funny and always get confused when you make someone laugh but it makes you feel good regardless.

Have a cool necklace collection and own at least one dog-tag/army style pendant.

Should really consider buying a rabbit you would look so cute w/ one.

You have really nice legs and people should compliment them more.

Either severely dehydrated or overly hydrated to the point you are peeing pure tap water so for the love of god please learn moderation, your kidneys and bladder will thank you for it.

Inuoka:

Your favourite character would be Hinata but you like people taller than you so your love for Inuoka spawned.

You really enjoy using the double spiderman meme.

Cannot correctly verbalise your feelings without creating a minimum of 10 misunderstandings but once people are used to it it’s kinda endearing.

You usually wake up in a good mood and people can never fathom how or why.

You either stay up till 5am or you wake up at that time no in between.

A morning person bc you love the sunrise.

Change your lock-screen very regularly bc you get bored.

Your humour consists solely of poop jokes.

When you don’t understand a joke you laugh anyway and hope they don’t ask you if you actually get it.

Happened once and you’re still traumatised from the cricket silence that fell upon the room.

Really like the taste of lemonade and drink it more often than you should.

Often think about what you would look like with a shaved head.

More of an extrovert but def have occasional introvert tendencies where you wanna be left tf alone.

Never allowed to pick up anything in stores bc the last time you did you sniffed a scented candle and it shattered to the floor.

Constantly have spontaneous ideas of what to change about your appearance.

You use a lot of hand gestures like thumbs up and peace signs.

‘Dude’ and ‘lmao’ is 90% of your vernacular.

Your nails are a disaster, some are down to the nub while others are pretty grown out bc you only bite a select few please sort it out.

Look really good in red.

Your laptop has way too many tabs open from random google searches of words you didn’t know the meaning to.

You read a lot of books but for like 10 minutes at a time bc you have the attention span of a walnut.

You are the type of person to nuke your AO3 tags with things that aren’t even relevant purely bc you found them funny.

Your Tumblr drafts are a nightmare, you have like 100+ in the works yet keep starting new projects why do you do this.

Happy sunshine but you have a LOT of mood swings like that shit comes out of nowhere.

Cry pretty often but no one ever sees and it’s usually because of said mood swings.

You always smile and pick yourself up again though which I commend you for.

TYPES IN CAPITALS IN SITUATIONS THAT DO NOT REQUIRE SAID PUNCTUATION SO YOU SEEM LIKE YOU’RE YELLING ALL THE TIME.

#hq #haikyuu #nekoma #yaku morisuke #lev haiba #yamamoto taketora #kuroo testuro #kenma kozume #inuoka sou

77 notes · View notes

oceanmonsters · 5 years ago

Text

(creating a new post because the original one was being passed around radfems circles and the notes were absolutely toxic - link to original even though it seems to have been deleted by op)

I wasn’t initially gonna reblog this because I was like well, I don’t think traditions like these should be completely beyond reproach / criticism and although I did have my ears pierced as a baby and am personally glad of it, it isn’t something that I would do to my own daughters if I had them. But then I checked the notes:

and I take that back because the people replying to this post prove exactly why it’s fucking needed. Because white women (especially white radfems, whom most of these are) really don’t know how to behave themselves when talking about woc / other cultures. “It makes girls into objects to decorate and look pretty” “A sense of control over their environment which heterosexual and het partnered women seldom get to have” “not owning her body that began with her mother piercing her skin against her will” these people are acting as if woc are literal child abusers for doing something that yes, although it may be a gendered ritual and not one I personally agree with, does very little harm to their child in the long run.

First of all, there are actual cultural / religious roots to the ear piercing of children (x) and yes, it was done to both female AND male children, although it has become more of an aesthetic thing nowadays and boys being pierced is much rarer. I don’t have any concrete sources on this but I’d be willing to bet it’s to do with the influx of western culture starting with colonialism that brought the idea that earrings / jewellery are unmanly and therefore unattractive. In fact, jewellery in general and especially gold jewellery does play a significant part in Indian culture and I know Indian boys who have gold chains that they wear around their necks and have since they were a child, although I don’t know the specific significances of these. My point is, if you actually bothered to research the culture for even two minutes, you’d see that this was about more than just “omg girls being decorated for men to look at!!!��. And even if you don’t agree with the culture of piercing children’s ears, which, as I said, I don’t particularly personally, it’s really not the massive deal that some people in the notes wanna make it. I’ve had my ears pierced since I was a baby and trust me, they have never ever held me back in life. I never even considered them much. You know what probably did affect me more? The general messages I was being fed to me by society that I had to look feminine and pretty, and have “girly” interests. Makeup culture. Beauty culture. My earrings are really very very low down on the list of things that had a big impact on my life. “Why don’t you wait until they’re at least 15” “Because it’s about establishing from a young age that they’re possessions / for male decoration / that exist to be looked at!!!!” etc. etc. No, a lot of the time it’s literally so that it’s done early on and then they don’t have to go through it later. Piercings can be traumatic at any age. My friend decided to have hers done as a young teenager and it left her so scared of them closing up and having to pierce them again that she literally wouldn’t even sleep one night without earrings on. Meanwhile, I had it done as a baby and didn’t even remember. Again, is this something I would choose to do to my daughter? No, but at the end of the day I don’t know a single person who got their ears pierced as a baby who is genuinely upset and resentful about having it done, because it’s really not that much of a big deal. “It sends a clear message that your body doesn’t belong to you” “it’s our culture to train infant girls that they exist to be looked at”! My parents, contrary to apparent popular belief about desi parents, have never encouraged me to exist for male consumption. If there is one thing my mum and dad have tried to impress on my my whole life it’s that education is the most important thing and it comes before boys or relationships or anything like that. My dad has told me on no uncertain terms that my education, my life, should always come before relationships and marriage. And yes, my mum also decided to have my ears pierced when I was a baby because that is the norm and she wanted to get it over with when I wouldn’t even remember it so I wouldn’t have to get it done later if I wanted them pierced. Even recently she’s told me she’s felt guilty about it when she hears people saying things like this and that makes me so angry because my mother is not perfect, but she deserves a fucking lot more respect than these people are treating her and women like her with.

These are the three that pissed me off the most:

White feminists really do not know how to talk about woc without projecting their own narrow ideas of cultural misogyny onto everything they do. Like they’re literally taking the actions of women from cultures they know nothing about and trying to analyse them and pile patriarchal reasoning onto them - and basically assuming that all woc who aren’t from western / “developed” countries are a monolith who all share a hive mind designed around upholding the patriarchy and can’t think for themselves, unlike the enlightened western feminists who have the critical thinking necessary to see through everything.

Radfems will use the violence and misogyny faced by women of colour in countries like India etc. to prove their points and then will turn around and show their faces with posts like this where they demonstrate that they don’t really care about them except to prove a point, and that any compassion and sympathy that they have for them ends when they don’t act in ways that aligns completely with their beliefs. You’ll talk about how misogynistic and terrible things are for women in countries like India but as soon as they don’t completely conform to how you think they should behave (mostly because of the societal pressures they face) they’re suddenly agents for the patriarchy who are seeking “a sense of control over their environment which heterosexual women seldom get to have”. “It’s not clear to me what it has to do with being white or not” what it has to do with being white is that white radfems absolutely refuse to treat women of colour with respect and acknowledge that we have different experiences to them except when it’s to shit on our culture for treating us badly without actually caring about us as human beings!

Do I think desi culture is absolutely beyond reproach or criticism in the way it treats women? No, there are certain aspects of it that absolutely disgust me (as do aspects of almost every single culture in the world). However, if you really cared about the misogyny and violence faced by women in these countries, you’d use your voices to uplift them and listen to their problems and support the causes they think are important and will improve their lives instead of just using them as a stage to soapbox about your own opinions. But of course, you couldn’t do that! Because they might think the wrong things are important! Because they don’t see the world through your special enlightened western feminist eyes who can see that earrings are the real root of the problem!!!!!

Again, I don’t personally agree with this tradition and I don’t think it should be above criticism, but it certainly isn’t awful or horrible enough to justify the sheer amount of vitriol directed at women of colour who do it - as op was trying to say from the beginning, it’s really not that deep. And in addition, what this post has done is reminded me why even if I do think a cultural practice should be criticised, I absolutely don’t trust white feminists to be the ones doing it. This isn’t me saying “my culture is perfect and beyond any reproach or criticism”, this is about white women not knowing how to behave when talking about women of colour of other cultures and being unable to talk about them without acting as if they know everything and projecting their own preconceived ideas about why the people of that culture behave the way they do in order to get their own points across about the society they themselves live in while simultaneously throwing the women of that culture under the bus by treating them as if they are completely helpless naive victims or agents for the patriarchy who are complicit in their own oppression, and either way are not enlightened enough to see through their culture in the way that only western feminists can.

#white feminism #white women #desi culture

698 notes · View notes

mumblino · 3 years ago

Text

My self discovery journey

Heyo!

This is not what most of my posts are gonna be like, but I felt like it was important to talk about, and pride month is a perfect time to tell my (summarized) self discover journey~

My name is Brandon, although I don’t care if you call me Mumble. My pronouns change a lot since i don’t really know myself that well, but currently, they are He/Him, They/Them and It/Its. There are also days where I don’t really identify with any 3rd person pronouns, I’m just me, and that’s what I mean when I say No Pronouns.

I have Depression, Anxiety and Combination Type- ADHD, which is why i am on the internet a lot.

This is a very long post, so buckle up

//TW: Transphobia, Enbyphobia, Homophobia, Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, Disordered Eating, Racism (not a huge part, but there are mentions of it), Self Harm, Mentions of a Psych Ward, Medication

I am a trans-masc, afab teenager. I am a romance-neutral aromantic (my interpretation of that is that I don’t mind romance, but I don’t actively want one or seek one out), and a sex-repulsed asexual (I am completely repulsed by the idea of engaging in sexual intercourse with anyone). and I am currently out to my friends, my mother, and my step-father, and am in the beginning-middle of my transition.

I started questioning my gender identity when I was in early 7th grade, after my friend Saturn (pronouns are They/It/Bun) first came out to me as Non-Binary, and asked me to use They/Them pronouns.

I’ve never really actively considered myself straight. I’ve always seen love as between two people, and while I usually thought of a man and a woman, I have always been open to same sex couples. My best friend in 2nd grade actually introduced me to the LGBTQ+ community (not directly, but she did talk about those types of things quite a bit), and while I don’t want to assume her sexuality, I am fairly certain she experienced attraction to both boys and girls.

Before this, the only thing I really knew about trans people was that they existed, and I didn’t really care that much. However, my brother and my father had the idea that most LGBTQ+ people are “snowflakes” and since I didn’t know anything else, I believed them.

However, I wanted to learn more about Trans people, and how to be respectful and supportive of them. I did, at the time, consider myself to be LGBTQ+. In both 5th and 6th grade I thought I was either a lesbian or bisexual, since I didn’t know the difference between aesthetic attraction and sexual attraction, and well, people are pretty!

I also had this need to be very masculine, and I always have. I’ve always wanted to be a tom-boy, to be the masculine one in the group, be the Buttercup of my friends! And during th grade, as I started to learn more about LGBTQ+ people, I wanted to be the top. I wanted to be the stereotypical lesbian. The one with the androgynous style, chill attitude, and the one that scares the shit out of guys.

I’ve even said to myself (not knowing that being trans was a thing) that I want to be a boy. I’ve always identified more with the guys at my school. Not in a pick me girl way, but in a “I relate to you a lot, and I feel like I fit in with you” way.

And to some extent, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is because of how often feminine guys are made fun of. I would not be surprised one bit if this is because femininity has always been demonized to me, especially if a guy is being feminine.

Anyways, through this dive into the Alphabet Mafia, I found out about asexuality. It really resonated with me, because I always found sexual things gross, but that also confused me. If I was asexual, why did I want to be masculine so badly? Why wasn’t I like the other girls? I’ve always felt like an outcast around most people, but especially girls. I never related to them. I always related to more masculine people, and boys especially.

After this, I decided to start looking into trans culture, and FTM culture especially. Through this I found Kalvin Garrah. I know now that he is very much a toxic influence on the Trans community, but he taught me a lot about trans culture. I also found Sam Collins and Jammidoger through him, who also taught me a lot (and are much more positive influences.) These FTM youtubers taught me a lot, and I started to realize, that I might be trans.

Because of this, I decided to ask Saturn if they could refer to me by They/Them pronouns. I went with They/Them because I didn’t feel like I passed well enough to use them. My hair was still long, I wasn’t out to my family, I still acted feminine sometimes, etc.

I would also like to make note of the fact that at the time, I was not very accepting of most gender identities outside of the “binary” and didn’t consider it a spectrum. I had a very close minded and rigid view of gender, and this is mostly due to family influences. This view is why I didn’t want to use He/Him pronouns, because I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I have since grown out of that viewpoint, reflected, and tried to do better when trying to understand other people’s identities.

This stress of my identity crisis, untreated mental conditions, toxic friends, and general struggle with school caused me to develop disordered eating habits. I have never been diagnosed with an eating disorder, however I’ve struggled with disordered eating for a long time. During 7th grade, I started to struggle with binge eating. The moment I would get home, I would immediately start a binge. It was uncontrollable, I felt horrible, and eventually, my mom had started to notice that I was eating an unhealthy amount.

A few months after this, I started to see a therapist, and at the end of my first session with her, I came out to my mom. I could not be more thankful for how supportive of me she is. She has only shown love, and care for me, and the only time she’d no to a step in my transition, is out of a genuine concern for my physical and mental health. She is also religious, but she loves me for the way that I am, and has a very loving and positive viewpoint when it comes to that.

I didn’t do much for my transition at the time (other than switching my pronouns to He/They at some point) and focused more on school, depression, and my romantic orientation.

This was a part that really confused me. I’ve never had a crush (except for one that came from peer-pressure) and I’ve never had an interest in romance. (Keep in mind I had no idea what ‘Aromantic’ was) So what was I? For the time being I decided to consider myself either bi-romantic or hetero-romantic, because like I said, people are pretty, and I tended to notice pretty girls more than pretty boys.

There was also another hurdle. My (now ex) group of toxic friends. These friends weren’t toxic in the way that they wouldn’t include me, they were toxic in the way that they would talk shit about any minority group, a lot of which i was a part of. They were racist (I am not a poc but it still made me upset and uncomfortable) ableist (they threw the r-slur around a lot) homophobic (this was the biggest one, mainly making fun of them, callng them ‘pixies’ and would say they would ‘burn them’) and transphobic/enbyphobic (they didn’t consider they/them pronouns valid, they threw around the ‘attack helicopter’ joke, and they would dehumanize trans people, and call them ‘transvestites’)

Over the summer, I still spoke to them, and tried to ignore all of their behavior, because if I had cut them off, I would be completely alone. I have an extremely intense fear of abandonment, so the idea of doing that was comparable to death.

Through the first half of 8th grade (I was doing school from home) I didn’t talk to many people other than them. I stayed in my room a lot, and the first half of 8th grade was a steady decline in my mental health. My depression and anxiety had significantly worsened over that time, and I was extremely lonely. This was also worsened by the fact that I have ADHD, and at the time, it was undiagnosed, so I was failing almost all of my classes.

The only way I was able to comfort myself was through my hyperfixations, and over the summer, I had a developed a hyperfixation on the Origins MCRP group. Because I had nothing else to do, I decided to pick up drawing again, and in October, I did an Origins version of Inktober. Every day, I would draw a different character from their series Fairy Tail Origins. I did not complete the challenge, however I did get through the first week, and I am proud of myself for that.

One one of the days, I had to draw a character named Brandon (partial inspiration for my name lel.) Brandon is a sky devil-slayer, and a co-guild leader of a guild named Divinus Magia. and I decided to draw him in a picture that symbolically showed his mental struggles with a devil named Jupiter. I posted it to the fan discord, and the actor and creator of the character (online username is ReinBloo) noticed my artwork. I was extremely excited about this, and decided to start drawing more and more.

Because of this newfound motivation to pick up drawing again, I decided to create my own persona. I decided to make my main persona a revised design of my profile picture at the time. It was an improvised character, but I liked the aspects of it, and in late 2020, (yes i am 14 shut up) I created my main Oc, Jupiter. (at the time he didn’t have a name and I landed on Jupiter because I like it, and it fit him.) Jupiter is a space inspired demon, with dark grey skin, white star-like freckles, pure white eyes, white hair (that is slightly purple) and light gray ram-like horns with gray stripes on the base and tip. His color palette is that of the Asexual flag, and this was originally unintentional, but since I like the colors, and my Asexuality is an important part of my identity, I went with it.

I fell in love with this character, and he helped me figure out a lot about myself. I continued to watch origins, and draw for them (mainly ReinBloo’s characters lel) and on January 27th of 2021, in the premier chat of one of the episodes of My Hero Origins, I met MissyLea (She also goes by Lea, and Vesper). We instantly became friends, and moved over to discord to continue our conversation. By February 10th, we were already planning on being platonic valentines. We related on so many things, she was so kind, and loving, and understanding, and very quickly, I grew a strong emotional bond with her.

By the end of February, I developed an emotional attraction to her. I wanted to be with her forever, and while I personally wouldn’t consider it romantic right now, at the time, I did. After a few months of identifying as Aromantic (I had learned about it by now, through the Asexual community) I decided to change that label to Demi-Panromantic. I realized that I didn’t really see her gender, I didn’t care. I love her, and that’s all that matters to me. Now, I feel as though it was more of an emotional and somewhat sensual love for her, but even so, I love her to the edge of the universe and back, no matter what our relationship is.

I have told her things I’ve told no one else. When I was struggling, she was there for me, with kind words, and an endless amount of unconditional love. She is the type of person everyone deserves to have in their life, whether they are a friend, a family member, a partner, or anything else, everyone deserves to have a friend with the amount of love in their heart that she has.

On March 19th, I decided to tell her how I felt. When she said she felt the same way about me, I was happier than ever. To have someone who feels the same way about me as I do about them is amazing. We started dating later that day.

It’s only been 3 months, but I feel like I’ve known her for 3 years. Vesper has made me feel complete when I’m around them, but they’ve made it so much easier to stand on my own as well.

Near the end of my 8th grade year, I officially cut them off, and came out to them (albeit in a very aggressive way) and I wouldn’t have been able to do this without Vesper’s support. Just one person has made it so much easier to cut off toxic people.

Vesper’s support also made it easier for me to be more open with my therapist. I began to tell her more of what I was struggling with, and it has made my mental health journey so much more bearable.

Over these past two months, I have finally gotten a diagnosis, and been able to truly know what direction to go in to properly treat my mental health.

I hope that by sharing my story you can better know me, and I also hope I can help create a safer environment for others to talk about their stories.

I hope one day people will be able to be themselves, and talk about their experiences, without the fear of judgement, or persecution, and if just this one post helps us get closer to that, I will be happy.

Happy Pride Month everybody! You are all amazing, loved and valid! 🌈💖

5 notes · View notes

hamliet · 5 years ago

Text

Girls Don’t Want Boys, Girls Want Monsters: Netflix’s The Witcher Review

Finally, the show we deserve.

Men get all their superhero power fantasies of kicking villain ass. Finally there’s a story that has that and includes women’s emotional power fantasies about falling in love with monsters who change. It doesn’t treat either as ridiculous or limited by gender, either, since Geralt falls for a monster too and women get to kick ass as well.

Essentially, it’s a story about defeating monsters: often through integration with the shadow, sometimes involving love and connection, sometimes violence, but the violence is never glorified. It’s good.

NB: I’m in the middle of reading the books (in the middle of Blood of Elves so far). I haven’t played the game since video games aren’t really a medium I enjoy. So I’ll make some comparisons since the show covered the two books I’ve read thus far, but please don’t put spoilers for the books below!

Let’s talk my favorite aspect of every story: characters.

Renfri.

Her story was somewhat sanitized from the books (it’s a lot more brutal what happened to Renfri) but well adapted. Both versions--the book and show--depict sincere empathy for our deconstructed Snow White. I loved her dialogue with Geralt, in which Geralt praises her for escaping the huntsman her stepmother hired to kill her, and she laughs and says that she didn’t. He let her go, but not before raping and robbing her. The story never directly answers if the prophecy was true or not; Geralt doesn’t believe it, but a lot of things Geralt doubts turn out to be true. Renfri was supposedly attacking animals as a child; however, the person reporting that is highly unlikely to be unbiased (Stregobor) so is this even true? Did Renfri become a killer because she was horribly abused and left with no other option? (That’s the option that I think seems most likely.)

We can’t know. The Witcher isn’t interested in giving its audience palatable answers. It’s interested in provoking questions. The show gives more answers than do the books, again likely due to the medium, but it still lets these questions linger.

Renfri’s story is not the first one in the books, but it is the first one the show adapts, and that’s a good decision imo. Her story embodies The Witcher’s themes and questions:

By acting the monster, we make monsters out of others.

To defeat monsters, you must be a monster.

What, then, can heal, especially in a world so broken?

Ciri.

Our deconstructed Rapunzel (yes, there are a lot of fairy tale references). As far as her story goes in its adaptation, the addition of Dara was well done. Sadly, no, Dara is not in the books, but his addition gave Ciri an arc beyond merely running in this story.

That said, Ciri in the books is much younger than she is in the show. Which is okay, because Ciri is somewhat emblematic of the future: there’s a lot unknown about her powers, she needs to be protected from everyone trying to grab her and use her powers for themselves. She is Geralt’s destiny, and she is the future of the world of The Witcher.

NB: I can’t discuss Ciri without shouting out to the casting director for casting Pavetta: how did they find an actress who looks so much like Ciri’s actress? It’s almost eerie.

The episode where Geralt finds out about the Law of Surprise and his reaction to Pavetta’s pregnancy is perhaps the only story that I felt was better in the show than in the books (again, this isn’t inherently a quality thing but a medium preference). It added some much-needed hilarity (Geralt’s perfectly-timed “destiny can go f--” *Pavetta vomits* and all he can say is, “fuck”) and gave Geralt an arc.

Geralt.

Mm.

I liked how they handled his character and his struggles with what it means to be a Witcher and/or human. His struggles to understand himself are relatable, and fairly well set-up for future exploration. He’s a foil of Ciri, Yennefer, Jaskier, and Cahir so far, and I’m particularly intrigued by the monster theme and the foiling that is already set up thus with all of the above except Jaskier (who is no monster). Geralt was skeptical about saving the striga for her father, but managed to succeed, and I wonder if he will somehow be able to save himself from his own inner fears/monster by being a father. (Basically, I am curious as to how being Ciri’s de factor dad is going to challenge him.)

Jaskier.

Or, Dandelion, as he’s known in the books. The bard adds some much needed levity to the tale, and as @aspoonofsugar says, he’s pretty much Donkey from Shrek. But he is used fairly well within the story: he shows Geralt even before Ciri and Yennefer enter his life that he has a purpose beyond being a killing machine. In that sense he’s the foil of Renfri (Renfri accomplishes the same, but through violence) in that Geralt saves him and he clearly thinks highly of the Witcher. Jaskier is in some ways humanity in all its paradoxes and foibles, annoying and stupid, kind and clever, funny and truthful, deceptive and respectful.

Cahir.

I’m a sucker for ravens as part of an aesthetic, as well as pretty, tormented bad boys. Yes, I know he’s a character I’m sure will arouse much handwringing and puritanical policing a la his other archetype brothers (Loki, Kylo Ren, Snape, etc). I don’t care. I do think the show made him much darker when compared to the books, but I still expect his arc to go in the same direction as the books. He’s a complicated, conflicted, complex character, and I’m not sorry for feeling empathy for him.

But I am curious about his foiling with Geralt. Both are characters seeking Ciri to fulfill... something, and monstrous in a way (Cahir more for what he does, but there’s a humanity to him as well).

Yennefer.

Finally, my favorite, my baby murder daughter.

Yennefer’s character was fascinating. I appreciated that she’s allowed to want deeply, her own wants, instead of attaching her wants to be whatever the male character desires. She wants to have children. She wants love. She wants to be beautiful. Her desires are traditionally feminine, and the show doesn’t put this down. And she also kicks ass and takes names, she fails, she’s allowed to be angry, to be mean often, to want to learn and to want to be the best.

The show doesn’t punish Yennefer for her ambition. Neither do the books. She experiences consequences, both positive and negative, for her every choice. The show reveals her backstory right away, whereas the books don’t, but again that’s a medium thing. I think both do excellently in setting up Yennefer for our empathy. It doesn’t apologize for her or her wants or actions; it lets her arc and the story itself do the talking.

Yennefer’s not here to be your cautionary tale or your role model. She’s just there to be her and to live.

That is, to an extent, perhaps the best kind of role model.

That doesn’t mean the show did everything in Yennefer’s story justice. I wasn’t thrilled with the adaptation of her first meeting with Geralt--the orgy in the background isn’t in the books and is a very bizarre decision given context. While, I loved Tissaia’s character and her foiling with Yennefer: they are too alike to ever get along, I really didn’t understand the point of Tissaia turning the other girls into slugs in episode 2. It was unsettling and not in the books. It was a heavy-handed metaphor not explained until episode 7 (about treating people as expendable slugs) that didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know about how the world and Dark!Hogwarts worked. If anything it made the school seem foolishly cackling-mustache evil instead of the true current of darkness within it: manipulation and utilitarianism. As part of effort to control things, that control itself can lead to chaos.

I think the rest of the series set this precise dilemma of a precarious balance between self-control and manipulation/utilitarianism quite well, though (it goes hand-in-hand with the theme of a “lesser evil” to quote Renfri’s story). I’m excited to see this explored more.

Other comments:

When comparing the show to the books as I’ve read so far, I think the show made some smart changes for adapting to a visual medium. For example, Foltest and Adda’s story was adapted as a mystery: what is the monster? Who is the father? Who is the curser? Can the monster be saved? Whereas the book doesn’t do that: you know immediately that the monster is a striga, Foltest is the father, and he wants the striga saved. The answer to who cursed Adda is never clear in the written story either, whereas the show declares it was Ostrit (the book leaves it very much up in the air as to whether it was Ostrit or Adda’s mother). However, the way this particular episode weaves Adda’s story of rebirth with Yennefer’s rebirth was beautifully done. (Foltest is a good dad. We need more good dads in stories; of course, if we had more good dads, we’d have far less stories.) (I’m jesting.)

The dialogue is at times... well it’s not like it’s The Rise of Skywalker levels of “who wrote this???” but it’s not always stellar. Actually, I’d say the quality tends to swing wildly about between clever (episode 4) and just confusing (episode 5). But in general, I think the dialogue issue is representative of the show’s largest issue: it struggles to know when to trust its audience. When should it give details? When should it trust them? When is it spoonfeeding, and when is it just confusing? It tries to walk a fine line and stumbles a bit. It succeeds, however, with the characters as I mentioned earlier with Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri.

My advice for the show going forward (not that they should definitely listen to me) is to forget Game of Thrones. It’s pretty obvious that this show is a passion project made by people who love The Witcher. I really hope they lean into that aspect instead of into the GoT-replacement aspect (because there are definitely aspects of that, particularly in the mood/aesthetic, tone, and gratuitous nudity--which is not exploitative or disturbing, but it also wasn’t necessary, isn’t in the books, and so felt like pandering).

However, the sheer love for the material still really shines through. They made me care for the characters, they interested me in the world, and they have me hooked for season 2. The showrunners’ excitement for the story and adoration of its characters is contagious, and I hope the show lets this excitement spread.

#the witcher #netflix's the witcher #geralt of rivia #yennefer of vengerberg #cahir #ciri #princess cirilla #hamliet reviews #jaskier #renfri

91 notes · View notes

aferalracoon · 4 years ago

Note

who are your favorite top ten black clover characters & ships? talk about them!

Hello anon, thank you for the interesting question!

My favourite characters (the order is random)

🖤 Magna - I think it is pretty obvious that Magna is my favourite character. And not only because he is my crush 😂 I really like his energy and the way he uses his powers, in fact I think he deserves more screen time and more power ups. I love the way he is characterised: he is a bad ass and tries to play it like a bad guy, but he is lowkey a softie who loves his squad and worships his Captain like an idol (which I find extremely cute and heart-melting). Absolutely love him.

🖤 Yami - he is just so fucking powerful. He is the one who killed Vetto saving his squad and the one who made possible for Asta to beat the demon in the elves arch. Everyone else had a pretty hard time but he was capable of slashing him in half with just one precise spell. I am convinced that he should be the next Wizard King if it wasn't for his reputation, social status and the fact that he couldn't be less bothered to deal with such a responsibility.

🖤 Asta - Asta reminds me of myself. I have a thing for determinate protagonists that come from nowhere and want to achieve everything through hard working and never giving up, who value friendship more than anything else. That is because I live my life following pretty much the same principles. Asta feels very personal to me.

🖤 Mereoleona - because GIRLS POWER BITCH. Most shonens use female characters as cute companions that cannot defend themselves for shit, or if they are powerful they have a very shitty personality. Mereo is beautiful, sexy, very feminine in her appearance but at the same time fierce, wise and one of the very strongest characters in the whole story. I loved every single figh of hers, she is such a role model.

🖤 Leo - He is precious! He is royalty but never gets cocky about it. He genuinely appreciates other people strength regardless their status (I absolutely stan his friendship with Asta) and works hard because he knows that one day he will have to be in charge of the Red Lions. I think he is very aware for his age and takes his future responsibilities very seriously. He is going to become very strong for sure and I can't wait to see him more, because he deserves more screen time.

🖤 Zora - his aesthetic, his facial expressions, his look, his background, his powers... There's nothing about this character that I don't absolutely adore! Even his voice in the anime is a solid 10/10. That's it, there is not much more to say. I think he is just a master piece of a character.

🖤 Noelle - best character development in the whole story without any doubt. She is a traumatised child that slowly starts to overcome all her insecurities to become this freaking powerful wizard and I love it. And this is not the only aspect of her development: she also emotionally grows when she finally finds people that love her and appreciate her, which is actually one of the main reason why she menages to develop her power so much.

🖤 Fuegoleon - he is powerful and a true gentleman. I really love his kindness and his fairness. He takes care of Leo teaching him everything he knows and looks up to Mereo as an example. He really deserves to carry the fire's spirit with him.

🖤 Yuno - I prefer Asta over him big time, but this doesn't stop me from loving him. His relationship with Asta is great, it is amazing to see how much he cares about his brother (yes to me their are not friends, they are brothers) and how much he respects him, even if he likes to play cocky when he is around. He has a great sense of duty, respects his captain and squad mates, he is extremely charming and... Of course, extremely powerful, which adds extra points to his coolness.

🖤 Luck - he is extra cute, very powerful and crazy. I would spare with him all the time! And his friendship with Magna is simply wholesome. Plus I just love the thunder magic, I find it ao unique.

My favourite ships

🖤 Yamichar - I MEAN COME ON. I just can't wait for this to happen because it will happen, I am sure about it. They are both powerful, good looking and I think they would be so cute together.

🖤 Asta x Noelle - maybe a bit cheesy but I think she is the one for him. They are perfect for each other.

🖤 Lugna - these two send so many homoerotic vibes I just can't. I absolutely love them. Cute little gay babies.

#black clover #anon request

8 notes · View notes

fairyscript · 6 years ago

Photo

I posted this on the designated W Club forum last night with the following disclaimer. “And if it gets deleted for some reason or the narrative gets high-jacked, I’ll just move this to another platform because it’s important to me and I am not going to stop talking about it.” I proceeded to have a pleasant and open dialogue with the other members, who were supportive and receptive to hearing from my perspective which I appreciate. The thread was promptly deleted by the admins this morning, so I will be reposting it here, per my disclaimer...

*ahem*

An Open Letter To Jessy Ayala (Regarding The Black Dolls He Designs)

Let me preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of Jessy Ayala. His creations are the reason I started collecting IT dolls. They’re what drew me in, they’re what keep me here. Every time he wows me with another breathtaking girl to add to my collection I lather him with genuine and, I feel, much deserved praise. He creates the kind of dolls that I have always wanted in all my years of doll-collection, since I was a little kid even. That being said, that doesn’t make him exempt from valid criticism of his design process.

Going into collecting FR/Nu.Face dolls in the winter of 2016 with the “Reckless” collection as my introduction I immediately noticed something...off. Nadja. Stunning, beautiful, breathtaking doll. The most gorgeous Black doll that I’d ever seen. Her skin tone, her soft delicate makeup that perfectly complimented said skin tone (something I’d rarely seen on a Black doll, and had never seen on a doll that dark) her cloud of beautiful curls, her...blue eyes? Okay, an interesting choice but it worked for her, still stunning. But then her outfit. More than a little risqué, which in and of itself is not a problem at all. It became a problem when I saw the other dolls in the collection, and it rubbed me the wrong way that of all of them the Black girl was dressed the skimpiest. Like, to a ridiculous degree. Verging on a “blaxploitation/caricature” aesthetic when everyone else in the collection is “Clueless/Scream Queens”. And it kept rubbing me the wrong way, so much so that I couldn’t keep the doll because of the way she was making me feel (also that horrendous hip joint). I didn’t have anything else to dress her in at the time, and anyways the fact that I felt like I even had to (when none of the other dolls needed it)... it’s not a good feeling. But I chalked it up to some unfortunate choices made on the designer’s part, and hoped that, moving forward, things would improve...

Enter 2017, and the reveal of the La Femme and Heirloom collections. Miss Jordan Duval is...something. That hair color...was a choice. I didn’t dwell on it too much, and moved right along to Adele. Beautiful face, not quite my taste with all of the red, but I can appreciate a beauty when I see one. Anyways, I wasn’t collecting FR yet, the Nu.Face collection was what I was looking forward to, hoping there would be another incarnation of Nadja that I could add to my collection to replace “I Slay”. But no. Once again, a collection filled with other gorgeous dolls, with rich luxurious fashions, beautiful complimentary makeup, and you know, just naturally occurring hair colors. And then, Nadja. Again. Again no clothes, but at least this time she had company. But where Ayumi got softness and femininity and warmth, Nadja got bright purple lips and silver hair. And my immediate reaction was disappointment and frustration that once again the Black girl in the group was turned into this. This other, sticking out of the collection like a sore thumb. I sat back and fumed while everyone else just gushed over her, and hoped again, that the next time would be better.

The Fairytale Convention rolls around, more beautiful dolls in beautiful clothes, and looky, another Nadja. A gorgeous, amazing, breathtaking, darn near perfect (blue eyes... again) doll...but it’s a one of a kind. Okay. But then there’s a gift for everyone in attendance. This one has a drop dead gorgeous face, flawless makeup, beautiful brown eyes...and a head full of blond hair. Of course, the reasoning is that she’s “Sleeping Beauty” (à la Disney) so it checks out but... still. She didn’t have to be blond. It didn’t have to be that texture. Again, I couldn’t keep her because of that incongruous hair, and the nagging negative associations that came with it. I hoped that these themed dolls from the convention would be the most we’d see of Black dolls with blonde/white hair. But nope, here comes another in the “Faces of Adele” gift set, and another with “Dollface” Adele. Maybe Jessy just did it because he likes the look and didn’t know about the connotations attached to it. All the history that comes with that particular hair and skin combo, or the constant “underdressing” with Nadja. The over sexualization of Black women and girls that is added onto what already comes with just being female. The societal pressure, to the degree that is specifically directed at Black women, to conform to unnatural European beauty standards (lighter eyes, straighter lighter hair), and how that image ingrained itself in our media and our culture and what a hurtful reminder it is to see it everywhere. The mentality of all of it being the only way Black women are even allowed to be perceived as beautiful, when they’re altered, when they’re made into something that they can’t just be. And if that was the case, I can understand it, but also in this day and age you don’t really get to just be ignorant of what the art you make means anymore. If you look at Jessy’s other dolls, they could be real women, that is to say their hair and skin and eye color combinations can and do occur in nature, relatively often. But the Black dolls are disproportionately affected by these choices that have a lot of ingrained prejudice behind them. Are they pretty on a surface level? Yes. But there is meaning behind this. There is meaning behind how we are perceived and how people outside of our identity choose to portray us in their art forms.

Which leads me to this year’s dolls. I again, noticed immediately that this collection, beautifully melanin rich as it was, had a very niche aesthetic. It felt very risky and experimental, which again is not a bad thing at all. What I don’t like is that these are the sculpts he chose to experiment on. The Black sculpts that people had been asking to see more of? He brings them back with grey eyes and blue lips, and fashion that has a relatively limited appeal. And now they languish with dealers and are leftover from the lottery, and there are people thinking that it’s the sculpts themselves that are the problem when no, they’re not. Jessy knowns very well how to make beautiful dolls with broad appeal no matter the sculpt. He could have made dolls with these sculpts that would have sold out immediately, and played around with other characters that could afford a little lull in sales. But to put all the risk on these sculpts, while simultaneously putting out a collection of beautiful white and brown dolls, and cranking out more for the convention and the Club dolls with not another black doll to be seen? That says a lot to me. Oh my mistake, one other Black doll. With pin straight hair and, again, blue eyes.

All I’m saying, all I’m asking for, is that some more thought, sensitivity and respect be put into the Black dolls in FR/Nu.Face going forward, the same amount afforded to all of the other dolls. And it’s not a lot to ask for. Or, it shouldn’t be.

I know they’re “just dolls”, just like movies are “just movies”, books are “just books”, shows are “just shows”...you see where I’m going with this. It still matters. I just needed to say this, and I hope that he sees this, hears it, takes it in. He’s the best, but things can be so much better...

The discussion on the forum yielded some more important points, and I’d like to make clear that is in no way meant to detract from the variety and versatility that is Black beauty. Just the opposite. I want, so badly, to see that represented in Jessy’s dolls, as it hasn’t been up to this point. The wide range of skin tones, and hairstyles and aesthetics that our beauty encompasses. Not the one or two notes that he just keeps hitting over and over and over... There is so much more variety than what he shows and continues to show. And I won’t be complacent about it, and think “at least it’s something/it’s better than nothing”. It’s been long enough, it’s time to stop accepting and start improving.

#integrity toys #representation matters #HOW we are represented matters #fashion dolls #fashion royalty #black fashion dolls #i will not be silenced #thanks for coming to my ted talk

148 notes · View notes

palemoonpersephone · 5 years ago

Text

Some things I want to see (more of) in fictional characters:

People having realistic bodies and physical conditions. E.g. someone who lives rough or in the woods etc. is going to look rough and may well have an illness from exposure, parasites and lack of care. In fantasy/historical settings especially, there were certainly methods for cleanliness and achieving a certain aesthetic but time has to be taken to research/decide what these were and how they would have been managed/who would have had access to what.

Characters being badass/sassy/capable without being cold, distant or callous. I’ve seen this happen considerably more with female characters (the typical femme fatale trope) in my experience, where they just seem so one dimensional and we don’t get any time to get to know them. Sometimes because there’s nothing more to know but that doesn’t matter cos they’re super hot... I want to see more characters who have all these great capabilities and have a heart of gold, or at least a wholesome balance of good and bad qualities.

Characters who don’t have to suffer through hell in order to grow and become respectable. E.g. when Sansa Stark basically justified all the abuse she endured from such a young age by saying she would have been that ‘little bird’ forever without it. This is such a poisonous mindset. There is a colossal difference between characters growing through trials and hardships and being put through torrents of abuse, only to defend and almost thank their abusers for the lessons learned. No, no. Also, being a ‘little bird’ isn’t actually this terrible thing...

Characters who are vulnerable/shy/meek/docile/insecure and portrayed well. This needs to happen more for all kinds of characters. I’ve gotten so bored of those characteristics being portrayed as weaknesses that the character must must overcome and get rid of to be worthy and likable. These aren’t weaknesses, if anything they’d make that character stronger as they have more internal challenges to overcome. I’d love to see a character who is very shy or timid but still rises to challenges at a really pivotal moment in or throughout the story but doing so doesn’t delete/contrast their former personality. I know from a lot of experience that docile people can be the kindest souls who are so loyal and trustworthy and who definitely are not pushovers; insecure people can be so encouraging and supportive to others and it’s heartbreaking that they can lift other people so high but not spare anything for themselves. I believe there’s so much depth in qualities like those and a character can really be taken on a dynamic journey

Female villains with more dynamic motives and backgrounds. With most stuff I’ve seen, a woman’s villainy is somehow connected to a man, or lack thereof. We’re fed the trope that a woman on her own with no masculine influence is evil - take our Disney movies, for example. The Evil Queen, Maleficent, Ursula, the Wicked Stepmother, they’re all women independent of a man/male influence. I’d love to see a female villain who has real conviction in their motives, who maybe isn’t all that bad if you alter the perspective a little and maybe does have redeeming features that are addressed.

Male/Female friendships and non-romantic love! We’ve all heard the men and women can’t be friends bullshit. When you look at it, it all comes from a pretty toxic place. I’ve seen a lot of male/female friendships that are only held secure by reasons such as one of them is gay, or already in a relationship or certain feelings aren’t reciprocated. There are these ideas that the only kind of relationship that can grow between a man and woman is a romantic/sexual one, which I feel takes away from both people, it just dumbs them down to their sexualities, and it all draws from the position of hetero-normative thinking. If a lesbian can have close friendships with women without anything sexual/romantic arising, then so can a straight man. There have been so many missed opportunities for complex, deep relationships between male and female characters because of this way of thinking.

Women who are ambitious, strong-willed, in positions of power without being power-hungry/power-mad tyrants. *Cough* Dany *Cough* (she deserved better). This all comes from the age old aversion to women in power which remains ingrained in our societies today. It’s time we saw some female characters who were in positions of power and influence and had qualities like generosity, compassion, wisdom, political tact, and who used their power to help others, for some kind of good. Even if they’re morally grey or do a bit of shit stuff sometimes, this doesn’t automatically make them an evil tyrant and shouldn’t overshadow everything good about them.

Girls and women who aren’t considered bitches or crazy psychos for getting angry and/or standing up for themselves. Fuck ‘bitches be crazy’. A person, fictional or real, should never feel guilty for having their own back, for standing up to someone and refusing to be a doormat. Basically someone who takes the amazing step of breaking an abusive cycle. A woman isn’t a bitch for calling someone out on their bullshit or proposing her own ideas and opinions with confidence. She isn’t psycho for getting pissed off, and showing it, for legit reasons. Again, it comes from a toxic place and characters should be shown to subvert that load of crap.

Men who don’t conform to masculine standards and ideals. Toxic or otherwise. Femininity in men is nothing to shame or shun. Of course this is operating within gender-norms but I think it’s a brave push to make those more flexible or show that a ‘subversion’ of them isn’t the catalyst of the apocalypse. Gimme some men who don’t like to get their hands dirty, who like nature and pretty things, who are sensitive and really in touch with their emotions. It would also be really interesting to read about a fantasy society/culture that didn’t have the same norms as our own.

Feel free to add more to this list if there’s stuff you’d like to see (more of) in characters/stories :)

#writing #creative writing #characters #character traits #fiction #stories #character development

16 notes · View notes

theevershipping · 6 years ago

Text

Most Sensible Voltron End Game Ships:

Note: this doesn't mean I don't LIKE other ships, but logically, given that Voltron is a CHILDREN'S CARTOON, these ones make the most sense story-telling wise. Here's why.

Hunk/Romelle:

I start here because I think this will likely be the least controversial. They set up in the first ep of S7 that Romelle and Hunk clearly think alike. They also set up that even though Lance is attracted to Romelle initially, she soon actually annoys him. On the other hand Hunk finds Romelle's thought processes to be so like his own that he acts she's like his own personal God-send ("It's like, I think it, you say it!") Likewise, Romelle seems to rather enjoy her interactions with Hunk, and the way he supports her curiousity. For once Hunk gets to be the one "in the know", and Romelle likes and appreciates the way that he interacts with her.

I know there's a lot of talk about doing right by an LGBTQ+ rep character, but I think the "Nice guy who's really smart and awesome but happens to not be conventionally attractive" rep deserves to get an attractive girl who he really does genuinely like and connect with and who genuinely likes, connects with, and respects him.

Lance/Pidge:

Although we are all understandably wary of trusting anything the writers say at this point, they have pretty much said that they do have an end game for Lance and it's not Allura. While I'd personally love to see a Klance ending, it seems pretty clear that Lance and Keith are both being set up to be straight--Lance shows attraction to basically every conventionally attractive female, and Keith/Acxa is a thing (and a reasonable thing, which I will get to next). So..

Lance and Pidge: first off, Pidge constantly points out and makes fun of Lance's crush on Allura, and at times even seems annoyed by it. She definitely doesn't show any sign of caring about the romantic interests of any of the other characters. Although it's been subtle, as Pidge's priorities have clearly, and rightly, been elsewhere, there's been some hints from the beginning that she's certainly paying attention to Lance's love interests, and is maybe jealous and just covering it up by making fun of him--which is pretty age appropriate, and typical of girls with older brothers: She's more comfortable approaching him on guy level and expressing her annoyances (unconscious jealously) through teasing him and, in the process, attempting to dissuade him from said romantic pursuits.

The writer's stated that Lance would get what he NEEDS in a relationship, not what he WANTS. Pidge is not girly/feminine in an aesthetic sense (what Lance thinks he WANTS), but she's perfectly pretty--it's not like Lance wouldn't be attracted to her once he gets passed his old-school markers of attraction based purely on conventional outer symbols of femininity (I.e. If he saw Pidge a few years older and in a dress, he'd almost certainly have a different reaction to her). Pidge does have an abundance of qualities that Lance NEEDS in a partner.

Pidge and Lance balance and trust each other. They have from the very first episode of Voltron. If you think of the first episode as establishing our main and most relatable characters, we really enter the story through the trio of Lance, Pidge and Hunk. Keith and Shiro--who they are and how they're involved in what's happening--are mostly mysteries to us in the first ep. In the typical trio story set up you have the main male character, who represents ego, in story structure, and you have his two best friends, who represent his ID and Super-ego. Often the Super-Ego character is female, and the ID male. The function of the super-ego is to check, regulate and correct the impulses of the ego, which the ID often supports/supplies. The super-ego, basically, is the one who thinks things through, when the ego doesn't want to, and the ID can't. Pidge is the super-ego.

What Lance NEEDS is someone who he both implicitly trusts and who can be the things he isn't in such a way that it helps him to grow, while still having his partner see him as an equal and having respect for the qualities and strengths he has as an individual and that he contributes to the balance of the relationship.

Allurance shippers will say "Allura can be those things too!" But she can't, because she is not and never will be his equal. She is a 10,000 year old Princess from a race of people that are vastly more evolved than humans. She was raised to rule a planet and take on the burden of the universe. No matter how much she might LIKE Lance and trusts him as an ally and a friend, that quality of equality and challenge that actually attracts confident and capable women to men does not exist between Allura and Lance--which is why she was attracted to Lotor.

The contrast between how Allura reacts to Lotor and how she reacts to Lance is a great representation of what creates actual romantic attraction vs. friendship compatibility: Lotor is her equal in his own right and can challenge her to see and grow beyond her pre-conceived notions, while having enough similarities that he understands and fits into the world she comes from and will return to (that of Galatic leadership and responsibility). Allura and Lance do not have that kind of shared reality and the ability to build together as equals that comes with it.

Pidge and Lance, on the other hand, start from the same place--they're kids who were smart and capable and followed a dream, and who have taken on the unanticipated responsibilities and adventures that came as a consequence of following that dream. They constantly demonstrate that their gut instincts are aligned. They do not have fundemental differences in terms of values and unconscious life expectations, and those things matter when you're talking endgame, because endgame means when two people are grown ups and they have kids and grow old together--that real life stuff.

Allura and Lance might have a minor romantic arch, in fact I suspect they will, because they will need to in order for all both Allura and Lance to fully realize they're not compatible. This will also force Pidge to become conscious of her feelings for Lance. From there we can from there spring board into Pidge/Lance and back into...

Lotor/Allura:

So, I'm not at all surprised we didn't see Lotor or Haggar in Season 7. It would have been too easy. We needed the stakes to be much higher, and the only way to do that was to bring the Galra threat to Earth, which couldn't have happened with Lotor as Emporer, or even with Haggar in charge--she's a much bigger schemer than just blindly chasing those lions across the galaxy like all those dumb male Galra meatheads want to do. Also, it gives her time to realisticly retrieve Lotor, fix him physically, and in the process develop some sort of relationship that would lead to them trusting each other enough to come back (allegedly) on the same side in S8.

I don't want to speculate on the plot of S8, and I won't. But I think that plot stuff aside, Lotor has to come back for the sake of Allura's character development.

ALLURA IS A RACIST. She is not malicious (just like most racists aren't malicious). But she seriously discriminates against the Galra just for them being Galra. She has a reason, no one can deny that--Just like someone who gets beat up by a gang of white guys has a reason to be wary of groups of white men, and they might take the trauma of the experience to the degree that they unconsciously start to demonize white men as a group... The trauma creates predudice because the brain is looking for a way to protect you from the trauma that just occurred. So it notes visual markers associated with the trauma, and when it later sees those markers it gets triggered into a state of flight/fight in order to (ideally) prevent you from reexperiencing the trauma associated with those physical markers. It's an evolutionary imperative--it's why we all jump across the room when we see a spider. But this primal imperative does lead to discrimination against groups of people. In my example, being fearful of groups of white men after being the victim of a gang beating is understandable, but is still a PREJUDICE based on their physical likeness to individuals who committed terrible acts, when in reality those physical traits have nothing to do with the terrible act.

It seemed like Allura was making progress with her predudices because of her relationship with Lotor, but Lotor is half Altean. He had to prove to her several times that he was "civilized" and even more knowledgeable about aspects of Altea than her. She fell in love with the Altean part of him. The literal second that she was given reason (by an ALTEAN stranger) to believe that he'd done something terrible and “GALRAN”, she instantly jumped to betraying him without even listening to his side of the story. This act proves that she didn't ever actually consciously see and acknowledge her predjudice and the irrational assumptions it causes her to make, she just was able to temporarily over look the Galran in Lotor for the Altean. So, Allura still has some major self realization to do in this department.

Next, the rash actions of the Paladins destroyed what could have been peace in the universe. Lotor gave them the option pretty much up until the end to stop and think things through even after they betrayed and attacked him. But at the end of S6 it's pretty clear it's Allura calling the shots on whether or not the team listens to Lotor or fights him. And we all know what happens:

She lets her emotions win. She prioritizes her anger--at herself for trusting a Galra--and she completely fails to care about (and likely think through) the bigger picture. Rather than realizing that the new emperor of a civilization that has been systematically enslaving the Galaxy for 10,000 years is trying to give agency back to planets, to create peace, harmony and a universe that works together to fulfill the needs of the whole, she doesn't even listen to him, she just attacks. With Lotor gone, of course the empire will fall and divide to the various generals of power. If Team Voltron had stopped and thought for 5 seconds about that they maybe would have realized that leaving Lotor in that rift was the most selfish and childish thing they ever could have done, humanitarian principles aside even. How many more worlds besides Earth suffered and will suffer for ALLURA'S emotional reactions that stem most deeply from PREJUDICE?

To be clear:

ALLURA believed the word of an ALTEAN she did not know, over the HALF-GALRAN she had fallen in love with, all because she FEARED she was wrong to trust someone with GALRAN blood: "You're more like Zarkon than I could ever have imagined," she tells Lotor. NOT "You're more like Honerva (AN ALTEAN) who began this whole mess by experimenting on quintessence and what happened when one combines it with their own life force and then became so addicted to it that she went crazy and enabled terrible things to happen to innocent peoples and planets." Nope. Even though in all honesty that comparison would have been more accurate, it didn't occur to Allura to accuse Lotor of being corrupt like his ALTEAN mother. What she says to him is essentially, "You're corrupt (and thus more) like your GALRAN father."

So, in order for Allura to grow into someone who is actually mature and responsible enough to lead the Voltron Colition and bring peace to the Galaxy, she's going to have to see the serious error in her actions, and the root prejudice that actually lead to them. And Lotor will be the one to make her see it.

From the moment the Paladins take Lotor prisoner he points out that Allura is discriminating against him based on species and parentage. It's pretty clear that this is set up to be their arch--Both of them are deeply flawed and magnificently gifted individuals who were born and raised to rule worlds, if not whole galaxies. They both have let their personal fears and flaws get in the way of what they could achieve together. In Allura's case the fatal flaw is predudice. In Lotor's it is lack of trust. He should have told her about the Altean colonies, but, rationally feared that he couldn't trust her to hear him out--irony being, if he'd brought it up privately and volunteered the info she probably would have reacted differently. However, Lotor has never had anyone he's trusted or who has trusted him, so he doesn't know that is how trust works. 😢

These two are designed to point out each other's flaws, and help them to correct them (not to make up for them, but to truly help each other change as people by, essentially, calling each other on their shit.) When they do that--Allura facing her racism; Lotor facing his lack of knowing how to actually trust someone fully--then the fatal flaws that lead to the ending of S6 (and the subsequent inter-galactic crisis that the simultaneous betrayal of these two baby-rulers, has caused) will be obliterated, the fatal flaws cured. Allura and Lotor will then be capable of resuming creating the new era of peace they were attempting before, but this time they will succeed because they will have learned to have real transparency/trust, rather than letting their unconscious fears be reasons to mistrust each other when they need to trust each other the most.

Lotura is a ship that is about real equality combined with real consciousness of self and other in relationships. Neither will be able to mature as characters until they see the flaws in Self that their initial (immature) love brought out in each other; the completion of the circle is then conscious change from seeing these flaws, and then forgiving themselves and each other for them. Only then can they can move into a mature love, which will allow them to bring out the best in each other without being blind to the flaws in each other and themselves.

Real love is seeing and dealing with both the good and bad, not ignoring one in favor of the other (this always backfires, as Lotura's first arch demonstrates). And that is a super valuable relationship lesson, that, in a show for kids, is profound and important. Love is seeing and accepting all of your partner and working together to change the things that need to be changed--not getting mad at each other, refusing to listen to what your partner has to say, deflecting with things like "your just like your dad," and subsequent retaliations that take the couple further away from the real issue, like Lotor does when Allura finally hits his weak spot and his basic response is "oh yeah, well your dad sucked too!" And from there it's all just them both being so hurt that reason is lost. That is the state of immature love.

Lotor and Allura are the only two characters who are each other's equals. They are the only two who can call each other on their shit effectively and who can help the other to change and grow. Their arch is about learning how to do that consciously and maturely. How to trust instead of doubt. How to see through the limitations of ego fears (Allura's prejudice, Lotor's not knowing how to trust) and to consciously choose loyalty to each other and to a fully shared vision. Without doing so, neither of these characters can transform from being in their immature Prince/Princess state to being ready for the mature King/Queen state.

Okay, Next...

Keith/Acxa:

I keep seeing posts where people are saying that this came out of nowhere... frankly, you all need to go back and rewatch the series. Keith and Acxa first meet in season 2 inside the guts of a Weblum. Even though it's clear to them from the start that they're on opposite sides of a war (thank you space suits) they still work together to survive and don't abandon each other even when it might benefit them to do so--they demonstrate immediately that they have a similar honor code/value system.

Every time these two encounter each other, despite remaining on opposite sides, they always help each other in this way that shows they both are in wonder about it--they don't know why, but something, some sort of "I owe you" that can't ever seem to be repaid no matter how often they help each other, is just in affect between them. Obviously, this continues to mount in S7.

So, why can't they just be friends? Well maybe they can, but I don't think that's where this is going...

For one thing, Keith is clearly drawn to his Galran side. He wants to be with the Blades of Mamora more than Team Voltron for a long stretch of time. Then he meets his Galran mom. Keith never got along well with other humans, as is established all over S7. He does get along with all these Galrans.

Those of you who know psychology know, we pretty much always marry some variation of our parents. Keith has a Galran mom who he likes and loves a lot. Acxa fits his mommy archetype. And, she's a half-breed like him--she knows what it's like to not fully belong to any one people.

Plus, as stated and well established in canon, these two just can't help but constantly save each other. I think more than ANY ship possibility, this one is obvious, and would totally make end-game sense.

So...

Shiro/???:

On the one hand, I'd love to see everyone all happy and paired up living happily ever after, but think it completely fits all of Shiro's character development to end up alone.

S7 firmly establishes that as a person, Shiro's ambitions/dreams matter more to him than the emotional needs of his partner, Adam. That's okay, there's nothing wrong with that, but, as a personality trait, it's not going to make for a happy long term relationship. In relationships you need to be willing to sacrifice things for your partner--not everything, not all the time--but you don't have the right to make serious decisions that affect you both without giving weight to the other person's needs. Shiro makes it clear that Adam's feelings don't matter to his decision to go on the Kerberos mission. That's not good partnering.

Adam, on the other hand, demonstrates a much more partner-oriented approach. He knows this is Shiro's dream, and because he loves him, he put his own wants/fears aside to support Shiro going on his first mission. He doesn't want to stop Shiro from being happy, but, when he tells Shiro that if Shiro goes AGAIN, Adam won't be here when he gets back, he's realizing that he's got to let Shiro understand that he can't be the only one in their relationship caring about the other's feelings. Adam needs a partner who will give the relationship serious weight in serious life decisions. Shiro demonstrates through his actions that he does not value the relationship more than his ambitions.

Shiro is a great team leader, but that doesn't necessarily make him a good life partner.

So, if Shiro ends up realizing this about himself and choosing to not have a romantic partnership, there is a really valuable lesson and story line there:

In American culture there is a lot of pressure to pair up. We are taught from childhood that real happiness hinges upon being partnered--at the end of every Disney movie the princess and prince finally get to be together forever and this is how we know they will "live happily every after". But not everyone is suited to relationships--and that has nothing to do with sexuality.

Shiro is gay, but that doesn't make him intrinsically more suited to long-term relationships than being straight makes anyone suited to long term relationships.

The LGBTQ+ community seems to be offended that Shiro isn't being represented in a relationship, but honestly I think they're being done a great service--Shiro is being understood as human rather than as his sexuality. His sexuality doesn't make him who he is. Being honest with himself about whether or not long-term relationships are actually something he is built for, is important for everyone to think about, and it's maybe especially important for LGBTQ+ kids to have a role model who does think about this.

One of the dangers of being LGBTQ+ is that people unconsciously reduce you to being a label--and you are so so much more than that label. Your sexuality is just one facet of Self, just like being straight is just one facet of Self for straight people. The pressure to be in a relationship as "proof" of your "identity" is very real for young LGBTQ+ kids, and the fear of leaving a relationship once you find one is far more intense because you fear your options are limited and you might not find someone else of your sexuality/who accepts your sexual-identity. So, LGBTQ+ kids are more vulnerable to staying in relationships that they've outgrown as a result of semi-conscious societal pressure to both pair up and to "prove" their "identity", and to fear that they might not ever find another relationship.

Shiro being the rep for the LBGTQ+ community teaches kids that you can be any sexuality/sexual-identity, and it doesn't change anything else about you--it doesn't change that you're smart and skilled and capable of being a space pilot, it doesn't change that it's perfectly possible and okay for a relationship (or even long term relationships in general) to not be right for you, it doesn't change your ability to be a good team leader... it doesn't change or mean anything else about you any more than a straight person being straight does. It's a facet of Self, to be weighed against many many other facets of Self.

...All that said, if they do somehow make it canon that Adam miraculously survived and he and Shiro are end game, that could be a great character development arch too, as long as it involves Shiro acknowledging that if he's going to resume being in a relationship with Adam he has to make decisions WITH Adam, and respect that Adam's emotions and needs matter equally to his own. If Shiro isn't willing to chose the truly rational emotional well-being of his partner (I mean Adam was reasonably scared that Shiro would die in space) over his own ambitions, he's not compatible with Adam. And that's okay too.

And, lastly:

Zethrid/Ezor:

Here's another rep for the LGBTQ+ community. In contrast to Shiro's story line, which may end up with him consciously deciding that committed relationships aren't as important to him as other parts of life and is happy being alone, we are now being introduced to a relationship in which two women who have worked together for a long time are discovering happiness through exploring their romantic connection. From what we've seen in S7, it looks like Zethrid and Ezor are experiencing a deeper trust and intimacy as a result of their new relationship.

I think it's great for two characters who are largely portrayed as villains/secondary shades-of-gray characters to demonstrate to people how relationships can change your priorities. Zethrid and Ezor seem to have made each other the first priority, rather than the ever-convoluted mission. They're still in the middle of this war, but now they care most about looking out for each other, rather than prioritizing the Galra Empire or Lotor. They are finding meaning in what they've fought for through their love for each other. I think they will be taken on an arch that is the opposite of Shiro's, in which they increasingly discover that their relationship and love for each other matters more to them than the military ambitions that may have once fueled them as individuals. ❤️

In conclusion:

While I think this is clear, in case it isn't, I am not bashing on ANY ship in this post, I'm just explaining why I think these ships are the logical end game ships for good story telling.

If you are so inclined, I'd love to hear your thoughts presented in a respectful and legible manner. ❤️

Thanks for reading, I know it's a long one. 😅

#voltron ships #voltron legendary defender #vld #lotura #plance #kexa #hunk/romelle #vld shiro #vld s7 #vld s6 #voltron #shiro #takashi shirogane #keith/acxa #pidgance

622 notes · View notes

sirendrowns · 6 years ago

Text

REALLY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY. RULES. repost , don’t reblog ! good luck !

TAGGED. stolen lmao TAGGING. steal if u want!!!!

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford

NICKNAME: Lizzy, Liz

AGE: 14

BIRTHDAY: April 18

ETHNIC GROUP: White

NATIONALITY: English

LANGUAGE(S): English, French, passable Latin

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Engaged but verse dependent

CLASS: Daughter of Marquess, will marry to be a Countess

HOMETOWN / AREA: London

CURRENT HOME: London

PROFESSION: Noblewoman

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Waist length when straight golden hair, typically kept up in curly twintails, bold bangs.

EYES: Doe-like, perfect for pouting. Emerald green.

NOSE: Button nose, quite small

FACE: Heart-shaped, full cheeks

LIPS: Slightly turned up in the corners as if smiling, full, often bitten to be a deeper pink

COMPLEXION: Pale, smooth, the product of a strict skincare regimen

BLEMISHES: None

SCARS: One on tip of her middle finger from a burn she recieved as a child from touching the stove (she was told it was too hot, of course she didn’t listen), various little knicks on the bottom of her feet from running around barefoot as a child.

TATTOOS: None

HEIGHT: 5′3

WEIGHT: ~90lbs

BUILD: Coltish

FEATURES: Delicate and kind, the sort of face you just assume is followed by a nice person

ALLERGIES: None

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: Curled pigtails, one strand at the right of her face hanging down, bold bangs across her forehead.

USUAL FACE LOOK: Slightly sad if she thinks no one is looking, a small smile if she suspects someone is.

USUAL CLOTHING: Petticoats, corsets, and ribbons, oh my!

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR(S): Being forgotten, unloved, disliked, or left behind. Her engagement being broken. Disappointing her parents.

ASPIRATION(S) : To be a good wife and mother as an adult, though for now she’ll settle for being the best fencer in England.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Kind, generous, protective, hopeless romantic, willing to let others take the spotlight for her achievements

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Classist, sexist, vaguely racist, homophobic, overly protective, competitive

ZODIAC: Aries

TEMPERAMENT: Melancholic

SOUL TYPE(S): Caregiver

ANIMALS: pls buy her a bird someone

VICE HABIT(S): Literally running away from her problems and/or temper tantrums

FAITH: She’s very religious

GHOSTS?: Yes

AFTERLIFE?: Yes

REINCARNATION?: No

ALIENS?: No

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Fairly republican because i mean, she rich asf

ECONOMIC PREFERENCE: She understands the way of the world and that there are strict class systems in England and across the world, just as she understands how high in nobility she is. However, she believes quite strongly that her family deserves it and that others could acheive it, even so, she often gives money to the poor.

SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION: She believes the world is the way it is now for a reason. The queen is at her head, and she will serve her no matter the order, just as she views her space in the home to be a good wife and mother. She’s much more open to modern ideas in more modern verses, but she is quite set in her ways in victorian england, though she respects others choice to do as they please.

EDUCATION LEVEL: Tutored at home to a reasonable degree. She’s literate, but certainly didn’t go to school past age ten or so. Now, it is strictly about being a lady and her swordwork.

FAMILY.

FATHER: Alexis Midford

MOTHER: Frances Phantomhive Midford

SIBLINGS: Edward Midford

EXTENDED FAMILY: The Phantomhives are the only family she finds herself close to, though she adores the Midford grandparents.

NAME MEANING(S): Elizabeth: my God is an oath, Ethel: noble, Cordelia (French): heart of a lion

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: I don’t believe she was based on a real person, but I like to imagine her as a sort of Joan of Arc meets Daisy Buchanan meets Johanna Barker

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Emma - Jane Austen

MOVIE: None

5 SONGS: anything that has a dancing rhythm

DEITY: God

HOLIDAY: Easter, it’s often near her birthday and she loves the big egg hunt

MONTH: July

SEASON: Summer

PLACE: She loves her room, like genuinely loves it to an unhealthy degree. It’s the only place she can truly be herself.

WEATHER: Sunny and bright

SOUND: The tap-tap-tap of a block heel hitting marble floors and the swishing of a petticoat, hopefully at the same time

SCENT(S): Cinnamon, Linen, and Paula’s perfume

TASTE(S): Milk with honey and cinnamon, sweetened tea, pineapple (though she’s only had it once)

FEEL(S): The snugness of a corset, sharing a bed, sitting by a fire, sunlight

ANIMAL(S): any type of songbird

NUMBER: 7

COLORS: Pink, cream, naples yellow

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Fencing, endurance running, sneaking out, needlepoint, singing, piano

BAD AT: Making decisions, telling hard truths, cooking/cleaning, talking about feelings

TURN ONS: Put her in her place honestly, just take care of her emotionally and the rest will be taken care of.

TURN OFFS: People with no ambition or people who play hard-to-get. She’s needy.

HOBBIES: Shopping, fencing , dancing, spending time with loved ones

TROPES: The Damsel (In Distress)

AESTHETIC TAGS: Pastel, Lolita, Luxury, Parisian, Princess

GPOY QUOTES: “ Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That's what little girls are made of ”

FC INFO. animated / live action

MAIN FC(S): Elizabeth Midford / Viktoriya Novikova

ALT FC(S): N.A. / Okazaki Momoko

OLDER FC(S): Ada Vessalius / Annasophia Robb

YOUNGER FC(S): N.A.

VOICE CLAIM(S): Haven’t thought abt it tbh

GENDERBENT FC(S): Lowkey just Edward Midford, and then William Mosely for live action

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1: if you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?: It would probably just be called something simple and plain like “Elizabeth”, “Doll”, or “Low Heeled Shoes”, and it would be filmed in a sort of artsy way like the shortfilm Empty Sky. It would follow her struggles as she grew up with femininity, religion, and having to learn the general concept of self love without basing it on others’ approval of her.

Q2: what would their soundtrack / score sound like?: Lots of soft, dainty indie songs following the sounds of Daughter, One Two, Cigarettes After Sex, etc

Q3: why did you start writing this character?: She really appealed to me back in middle school when I got into the show. She was sweet, feminine, and unafraid to speak her mind, which I liked. As I started getting into the manga more recently after a long hiatus, I fell in love with her all over again and all of her nuances that I didn’t notice when I was younger (and before the campania arc, mind you)

Q4: what first attracted you to this character?: She was everything I wanted to be, I found her positively adorable and there weren’t many characters like that. She brought a well needed ray of sunshine to the show.

Q5: describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse: She’s a BRAT

Q6: what do you have in common with your muse?: We both have super overbearing parents who care too much and too little at the same time lmao. also i fence while still being very feminine minded and enjoying hair/makeup/fashion and i like seeing a character do that

Q7: how does your muse feel about you?: Hopefully we’d get along

Q8: what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with?: Sebastians like j e s u s i love the drama. Also rciels have a quite interesting dynamic with her, though i really do appreciate every interaction, it’s much more about the muns that make it special than the characters

Q9: what gives you inspiration to write your muse?: Sad music, painting, sewing, drinking a bitchin cup of tea, dancing, you name it. also my bf

Q10: how long did this take you to complete?: Like an hour and fifteen minutes, but i took a big sleep in the middle and had to look up a lot of quizzes

#& GAMES ᵃʳᵉ ᵖʳᵒᵒᶠ ᵒᶠ ⁱᵈˡᵉ ʰᵃⁿᵈˢ

4 notes · View notes

transparentgender · 7 years ago

Text

“But you look so feminine!“ Things misogynists say.

Last week was a rather a interesting one. Many folks felt it necessary to inform me that I resembled a woman. Each incident came as a surprise. I was sporting a beard style I used to wear, a van dyke beard in which the goatee is disconnected from the moustache as seen in this photo.

A woman said to me, excuse me, excuse me, are you a man or a woman? I looked over to her and simply asked in a polite voice “Why?” “You look feminine and I didn’t want to insult you”. I simply replied with a thank you and mentioned that I like feminine aesthetics. She made a puzzled expression, but then oddly enough, she identified herself as a straight woman & proceeded to hit on me.

The following day, at a restaurant/bar, the bouncer, this time a cis, het man, said to me. “Yo, you look like a woman with a chin strap.” He paused briefly before continuing, “My bad, I don’t intend to insult you by calling you a woman. You just look …. feminine.“ Like the previous encounter, I said thank you but added, “There’s nothing shameful about appearing to be a woman or seeming feminine.” The bouncer clearly didn’t understand, but I chose not to continue entertaining it.

Alas, (yes there’s more) for the third consecutive day, another a cis man, this time a gay man, strolled over to me at a bar and said “For some time I’ve been trying to determine if you were a man or woman, because you look like a dyke with a mustache. You just look really feminine. It’s weird.” Another patron attempted to correct him by stating, “You mean he looks femme, bro!” I said to both, “Thank you, I’m glad I look feminine.” The first guy’s eyes opened so wide, I thought they might pop out. The second man just smiled, but was a bit confused.

What is the moral purpose of these stories?

The fact that I may “pass” as androgynous isn’t really the point I want to get across for once.

Each of the aforementioned folx used a tone that connoted slight antipathy to women and femininity. They were so troubled by my looks, my feminine aesthetics because they associated femininity with women.

Why do we as society view femininity as repulsive? Why do we use femininity to directly or INDIRECTLY insult others?

Society has a femmephobia problem and its foundation is misogyny.

Society accepts a standard, that standard being the binary. Within that binary lies the cis gender man and the cis gender woman. The latter, the woman, is conceived as weaker and less competent. A woman is also viewed as less deserving of respect and rights. This standard is a consequence of patriarchy.

Patriarchy policies the boundaries of what it means to be a man, be perceived as a man, and how to behave as a man. Since a man is more highly esteemed, it’s assumed opposite, a woman, is scorned and condemned. This is misogyny. Furthermore, masculinity is held in a much higher regard than femininity also due as to patriarchy. The aforementioned characteristics attributed to women are considered feminine, and thus, anything vaguely resembling femininity in appearance or action is considered weak and less desired. Femmephobia’s origin is misogyny.

Femmephobia affects all genders, men, women, genderfluid folks, and non binary people. Gay men that shame femme men or say “no femmes” are femmephobic. Femme woman experience femmephobia when they are erased from the queer community because they don’t fit the status quo of what a queer woman is “supposed to look like." Similarly, bi, femme women are erased since most bi woman are immediately assumed to be straight. I could go into great detail about how trans women experience femmephobia, but Google search for “trans woman” + death" and I think you’ll locate an answer. Non binary femmes are looked down upon, and apparently androgyny is admired only when equated to masculine leaning folks with short haircuts. Many of the people above are not woman, therefore, not all of these instances are examples are misogyny. Nonetheless, when someone perceives me as a man & subtlety insults me by calling me feminine or a woman, it is misogynistic.

If you think negatively of women, femmes, femme presenting or feminine looking folks, then maybe it’s time to evaluate how your thinking and views are rooted in misogyny.

Misogyny isn’t cute.

Originally posted on @SteroidBeyonce

Please note: For transparency I do not identify as femme. I identify as androgynous and only write to my experiences.

2K notes · View notes

justasmallbloginabigklainefandom · 7 years ago

Text

From Grey, chapter 6

Temperance_V: So this is a special blog post featuring a guest blogger, which I've never done before but it seemed like a pretty fun idea since *basically* we talk more than enough to do this without going out of our way anyway. So, this week the blog is in the form of this chat log between me and Paleanghostly, who's mostly active over in the 'ghostlanx' fandom.

Paleandghostly: You have to put the scare quotes around it to remind people that I basically devote my days to looking at pictures of superheroes like a fourteen year old, of course. TV: I think most of your gang spend more time staring at their butts than most fourteen year olds do, P&G. P&G: You might be surprised. I remember being fourteen. TV: Anyway, we met a while ago now when P&G commented on my blog to insult my taste in whiskey and was somehow sort of charming about how stupid I am, and we ended up chatting. Now we play chess over the mail. P&G: Actually over the mail, on actual paper. It's a thing. TV: I genuinely look forward to the letter sneering at my last move once a week. So we're here to discuss something we've already been talking about anyway but it's been a *particularly* interesting chat, so we thought we'd share some thoughts with the wider internet. So this discussion got kicked off by the fandom reaction to this photograph of the Ghost and Phalanx from I think three weeks ago now? P&G: They'll remember the fandom reaction. It's the kind of wank that's so much bigger than the incident that caused it ever could be. TV: I'm not actually in the 'ghostlanx' fandom, btw, I should put that disclaimer out for anyone who's reading this *from* that fandom. If I seem like a n00b, forgive me. P&G: Please god stop putting it in scare quotes. Temperance usually blogs about anything interesting in the media and reactions to the media, for those who have followed *me* from phandom, and it was during one of her posts on Mad Men that I found it necessary to educate her in what we drink and what we use to clean toilets with. And it's *whisky*, please tell me you are actually drinking the stuff that is worth drinking and is not overpriced rebottled mouthwash by now. TV: Moving on. The photograph is a candid caught behind a police van, and shows the Ghost and Phalanx in conversation with a police officer - in suit and tie, so I'm guessing a detective but he looks a little young for it. No-one appears to be trying to arrest anyone. You'd think that would be have been the main point of discussion, P&G? P&G: *snort* Have you *met* fandom? Get to the interesting substance of the issue? No! We want exactly what we want and we want it exactly when we want it, anything deviating from this is a cause of deep personal offence to me and the *entire internet must stop and feel my pain!!* TV: So, it wasn't the crime scene they *weren't* arrested at that most people were talking about (though presumably, the 'enemy' you actually face on the streets you have more in common with than you do your own boss in their high rise office; if I was police I think I'd think we had bigger problems than superheroes too). P&G brought the discussion to my attention via the medium of much swearing, because she has a lot of feelings about these things. P&G: Oh please do make me sound like one of them. The reason I drew Temperance's attention to the response was - well, threefold. One is that in terms of gender politics and misogyny and homophobia amongst those who claim to not be bigots it was *fascinating*. Slash depressing. Two is that it was an eyebrow-straining example of the fandom entitlement complex. Three is that it gives us a very interesting insight into their identity and how very un-black-and-white that is - because people are more complicated than their labels, always. TV: Let's deal with gender first, though these issues do run through each other. This all came about because of the Ghost's posture in the photograph. He's standing quite close to Phalanx, who's facing and speaking to the police officer - I'm sorry, is that police officer really tall or is he actually that short? It's kind of adorable. P&G: He's like the Swiss army knife of superheroes. Flexible crime fighter, folds into your pocket afterwards. TV: Phalanx is speaking, standing with his feet apart, hands apart, gesturing - something, to what he's saying. Possibly just emphasizing a word. No-one even mentioned how Phalanx was standing? P&G: No. Because the Ghost was innocently standing next to him. TV: The Ghost is standing with his left arm crossed over his chest - his cloak makes it a little hard to see, but he's probably supporting the opposite elbow with his hand, because his right hand is held up loosely at shoulder height, as if propped off a desk. And he's got his hip cocked, and his head tilted the other way, it's a great photograph actually, his posture's like a da Vinci composition. P&G: I knew I liked you for a reason. It is a great picture. It's just enormously aesthetically pleasing, Phalanx standing sort of open and easy, the Ghost a longer but narrower zig-zag of angles, eyes on him. Both the Ghost and the cop are looking at Phalanx; the Ghost's expression, as much as you can make it out under the hood and mask, looks attentive and relaxed. Like you would look at your lover, mid-sentence. What fandom chose to cry and cause wank over is, Jesus fucking Christ, the way he's standing. TV: It's not the most masculine posture in the world. P&G: Why the *fucking* hell should it be? TV: Let's go through this in bite-size chunks so it's not just a string of expletives again. Why, as succinctly as possible, did fandom start a flamewar over the Ghost standing like that? P&G: Because they, the idiot ignorant children, fetishize homosexuality in the most contorted and disturbing way possible. Because they're fine with him being gay - happy that he's gay, since they can use his name and form for all their little m/m fantasies on a whole different level of appropriation now. But how dare he, human being in his own life, how *dare* he not conform to strict gender stereotypes at the same time. He's perfectly well allowed to be gay, as long as he does it the 'right way'. God forbid he be any kind of queer that disturbs them, though. TV: There was a lot of negativity. P&G: They don't want to see a male hero stand in a 'feminine' pose. It demeans him. It makes him less heroic. TV: Because to be female is to be less, and to be a male imitating a female is possibly the worst thing it's possible to be. Some of the responses were genuinely unsettling, I read some of your replies to them. P&G: I might have been angry, but I do not disown a single word of what I said. Disgusting self-absorbed ignorant little shits deserved it. TV: But not everyone was so negative about it. P&G: No. Some of fandom is actually populated by feminists and not by people who think that they know what that word means but have never actually thought it through. And then some of fandom is populated by people who further fetishize his femininity in again the most contorted way possible. We kind of had perfect storm conditions for the wank after that. TV: You posted a short piece of meta about it at the time. P&G: I posted a rant, please don't dignify anything that happened during that shitstorm with a respectful title. I hammered out at my keyboard my undying rage that these people were treating him like a doll to dress up how they pleased, and then throwing tantrums when he failed to live up to what they'd dressed him up as in their heads, or subsuming him under the further homophobic, misogynist, *the opposite of accurate* image of him as a swooning 'heroine' in need of big strong Phalanx to 'rescue' him. TV: Little strong Phalanx. P&G: I sense some favoritism developing. TV: He's really cute now I've *looked* at him. Look, I'm not in this fandom, this is not my war to step into. But it *is* interesting. Because, obviously, there's a lot of misogyny involved in campophobia - even in the queer community, the feminine man is despised. P&G: Yes. A loud part of the queer community, weirdly, strives for heteronormativity. We focus on gay men and women as being 'normal', the way straight men and women are 'normal'. Possibly just because it makes us less threatening to straight people, or helps us deal with internalized homophobia, I don't know. But that 'normality' is a lie whether the person in question is gay or straight, these categories are weird, and troublesome, and some of them are actively steeped in hatred and lies. The only thing to do is let it go. 'Normal' has only ever been an illusion. It is all so much more complicated than that you would not *believe*. Let gender be whatever it will be, and stop trying to shame people into going about it the way you're comfortable with. People are who they are and they love who they love. No-one should ever have to sit in a labelled box that someone else nailed the lid down on. TV: Fandom's largely female and yet we still perpetuate the weird misogyny wrapped up in all of this. P&G: Fuck the patriarchy that lives in our own heads most of all. TV: And the weirdest part of it is, everyone knows who he is - he's a hero. There is so much photographic evidence of his extremebamfery that it was a struggle to narrow down which gifs to illustrate the point with. P&G: He haunted New York on his own for five years before Phalanx showed up. Criminals are terrified of him, there's enough documented evidence of that. He can take down a dozen guys all bigger than him and then stroll away when the cops arrive, the last man standing and still unarrested. He kicks so much ass and we've always admired that. He also just copes with what must be a frequently distressing and draining occupation - most of what he deals with on any individual night could be completely traumatic to many people. I admire his strength and bravery utterly. And somehow people cannot square that strength, bravery, and bamfery with the image of him standing with his hip cocked *like a girl*. TV: Because, really, the two just aren't connected. They literally have nothing to do with each other. It's not that either should make the other difficult, there is no logical inconsistency in his not being traditionally masculine and his simultaneously kicking lots of ass. P&G: No. It was never his testosterone-fuelled uber-manliness that kicked ass. It was him. Exactly as he is. He's the same person kicking ass as he is standing next to Phalanx, in what is to him an unconsciously comfortable position - it's only since Phalanx came along that he's started relaxing like that, btw, *that* is clearly what's comfortable to him, not that wary cloak-covered hunch he always wore before. And it says so much more about fandom, about *people*, than it does about *him* that people somehow cannot make the image of the butt-kicking man who stands 'like a woman' sit right. TV: Because - what, heroism is manly? Girls don't kick ass *like that*? Because like you said, there are those who emphasize and fetishize his femininity, and in so doing they often fail to capture the bamfy aspect of him. P&G: What this links in to is the fandom entitlement complex. TV: Go ahead, I can feel your need to preach. P&G: I have a rant brewing, if that's what you mean. The fandom entitlement complex links into fandom sexism in a really strange and powerful way. Because fandom feels like it *owns* its figures of fetishization; they are what they are because we made them that. There is an enormous sense of ownership, like they're just the scaffolding, *we* construct who they are. And of course, they can't live up to that. They're real people, not our dolls. And when they fail to live up to our particular construction we either ignore the facts and go on as before or else we get *really fucking angry*. How *dare* they be actual human beings. They're supposed to be *my doll*, not any real person. Especially not any complicated real person! They should be as simple as possible because I can't conceptualize more than three personality traits in my head at any one time, I am *actually* that dumb! TV: Ahem. Plus we live in a patriarchal society and we construct our dolls along the strict and misogynist gender lines given to us, which oversimplifies them in very dangerous ways. P&G: That's what worries me about many of the people who make the Ghost out to be 'girly' - they're often people who obviously really *identify* with the Ghost, and they still make him out to be weak. So what does that say about the psychology of some women in this world, that society taught us to hate ourselves so *effectively* that we even want our *heroes* to just be rescued, that when we use him as a stand-in for ourselves in *fiction* we still *make him weak*? Because the fic and meta where the Ghost is effeminate *and* is the still the strong, life-saving hero - well, I've rarely found it under the sheer mass of 'basically all the Ghost really wants is for Phalanx to *save* him' fic. TV: I mean, ouch, but yeah. It explains the bizarre popularity of misogynist romance fiction written for women by women, after all. P&G: Mm. So we construct our dolls as manly male heroes, and then throw a shitfit when the queer man actually turns out to be *too* queer. Or we construct them as weak and flimsy *caricatured* women with dicks, who angst and cry and need a more masculine partner to 'rescue' them. The entitlement complex is so strong that we either write over them with our own images - rewrite the Ghost entirely, forget that he kicks ass, forget his *strength*, because a 'girly' man could never be strong because *girls aren't strong* - or we rage and scream about all our butthurt that the hero turned out to not be a cardboard cut out MAN. The part where he's a hero - do I actually need to remind people that he stopped New York being blown up? (with Phalanx; they are partners, after all) - who is both 'feminine' and 'masculine', because we all are, because those labels fix to characteristics and not to people, *that* part gets forgotten. We want them to be what *we want them to be*. We forget that they're not obliged to be a damn thing for anyone except themselves. And often people in writing their definitions of other people do want to wipe queerness out. They want us to go back to that gender dichotomy. They either want him to be a 'man' (caricatured) or to be basically a 'woman' (caricatured) in male form, but they can't *stand* that he's actually just a human being, and human beings are difficult. TV: No middle ground? P&G: Are you shitting me? This is fandom. TV: So tell us how to fix this, great wise Ghostly. P&G: I appreciate your sarcasm so, so dearly. There is middle ground, I was being facetious. There was a small, feminist, pro-queer faction fighting this corner as loudly and rationally as they could. And Blackbindings - one of the fanficcers in the ghostlanx fandom - wrote a piece after that photograph was published called Graduation, which tried to actually ignore the wank and deal with what the photograph *did* teach us about the relationship between the Ghost and Phalanx. Because all that wank is nothing like the most interesting part of that photograph. In this fandom, *everyone* should have responded to that photograph how Blackbindings did, but unfortunately she's the only one with the brains to see what's actually important. TV: I haven't read the fic. P&G: It's a meditation - all of her fics are strolls around a subject, giving you new angles and a wider perspective to actually *see* something from, I swear she makes me realize I have my eyes *closed* half the time. It's a meditation on the balance of 'power' in their relationship. What power means, and doesn't mean, and how it doesn't have to dominate, those who have power can *share* it. We think of it like it's a limited resource but why can't everyone be powerful, if it's the right kind of power? It's about their teacher/student relationship. TV: You're going to have to explain that for those of us who aren't in the fandom. P&G: Tell me what you think it might mean from looking at that photograph. TV: I don't know. The Ghost is standing slightly behind Phalanx's shoulder, relative to that cop. It could just be that the way Phalanx is gesturing has knocked their shoulders out of alignment. It could be that Phalanx has *put* himself between them. It could be that the *Ghost* put Phalanx between them. It could be that Phalanx is taking the lead and the Ghost is happy with that. It could be that the Ghost is watching over him . . . P&G: Yes. It could be all of those things. And not one of us mentioned it because we were just too fucking busy screaming about the Ghost standing like a girl. The Ghost was there first, and it's pretty long been assumed by many that they had a teacher/apprentice role - the classic superhero/sidekick relationship. But it becomes obvious in that photograph - and when you look back, there's a lot of other pictorial evidence for it - that it's really not that simple, and maybe it never has been. TV: You know I love it when you elaborate. P&G: I'm sexy when I'm verbal. When you look back through gifs and photosets, whenever they're dealing with crime victims, the Ghost tends to be in front. His attention is all on the victim and Phalanx is looking at *him*. When they're dealing with criminals they're usually side by side and their attention is focused on the threat. But whenever they're dealing with anybody else - cops, reporters, fans, bystanders - usually Phalanx is the one in front and talking, and usually, the Ghost isn't looking at who they're dealing with, his gaze and his posture are orientated towards *Phalanx*. The Ghost often isn't even fully visible in those situations. Look at that photograph again; Phalanx is standing very at ease and in control of the situation, very relaxed being the one talking, and the Ghost is looking at *him*. This is not a hero/sidekick relationship. They have strengths and weaknesses and they complement each other. They actually are, in every sense of the word, partners. TV: That's quite sweet actually. P&G: If you're contemplating joining the fandom I advise you not to, it's populated mostly by cretins and children. Blackbindings is special. Very special, actually. She does cryptic crosswords for *shiggles*, I don't know if you've ever looked at one but they are torture for the mind. But it affects her brain in interesting ways. She called it 'Graduation', because partly the fic is about how they educate each other, empower each other (of course education is empowering: in her fic, knowledge elevates). But the fic is also very steeped in color terms. It gives it a really physical, sensual, *there* atmosphere, almost close enough to touch, and it was only when I remembered her twisty-turny cryptic little brain that I realised that 'graduation' is only a letter away from 'gradation'. It's the sort of thing she'd notice and play on, cunning little creature that she is. The way hues run into each other. There is no dividing line. The labels are a lie. Strictly, once you realize how difficult drawing a line between colors is, there aren't any *colors*; there's just *color*, and we fumble through labelling instances of it as best we can, pretending that the labels create real categories. They, the Ghost and Phalanx, are so much more complicated than anything we can paint them. Their identities are human identities and the labels are a *lie*. It's not that the labels aren't labelling something real but that they're only labelling *parts* of people when they are *wholes*. They are complex. They live in a world of gradations. They're not superhero/sidekick except for when they are, but who is which is a very blurry thing. Isn't it for all of us? TV: I can't tell if you're a fan of ghostlanx or of Blackbindings right now. P&G: Probably both. Sometimes I just contemplate that her mind exists and give a satisfied sigh that the world *must* be a reasonable place after all . . . TV: We should probably get back to the wank we were discussing. Did you have any closing thoughts on the subject? P&G: Just that being a fan is a very peculiar thing. We never know the person that we 'love' so much, though I do think that that love is often very sincere and fierce-felt, but we only actually know the doll we made of them in our own heads - with masked heroes the problem intensifies. And what we should do is be relaxed, and accept that people are always more complicated than we think they are - this has wider implications than fandom alone - and discuss these things in a way such that we can *learn* from it. Because learning, and the openness to strange new things that learning requires, empowers. The close-mindedness that treats people as characters to be owned by us, that demands simplicity where simplicity is an act of psychological aggression, that sense that we're entitled to special access to their identities almost more than they themselves are - all those things harm both them and *us* in thinking like that. And if people could not be dicks about gender norms that would also be really cool. TV: Indeed. The sheer scale of the meltdown is something to be appreciated, I dabbled in to take a look and - whoa, basically. P&G: It's a big fandom, when we make wank we make a *masterpiece* of wank. Still, most people did stay out of it. The sensible majority who just duck their heads and reblog gifs whenever the shit starts flying. TV: And do you have this week's move ready yet? P&G: It's in the mail, and you really should have seen it coming. TV: We'll see. So next week I'll probably be discussing US remakes of other countries' movies and TV shows, unless something more interesting happens in the meantime. P&G: Oh god, don't even get me started on that bullshit. TV: And it looks like you'll probably see Paleandghostly in the comments section next week too, ahem. Thank you for your contribution this week, P&G, couldn't have done it without you. P&G: You're more than welcome. I hope it was educational, at least insofar as discouraging people from irritating me quite so much. TV: See you guys next week, signing off!

#lb 2017 #this was so good #paleandghostly #atog grey

1 note · View note

melted-wax-wings · 7 years ago

Note

1-100

there’s a ton of these so here’s a read more

Is a kiss considered cheating? - Yes

Have you ever faked orgasm? - Nah

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? -Telekinesis

Do you think you are going to be rich in 7-8-9 years? -Probs not

Tell us some funny drunk story. - I just have high stories where i was being a memer.

Why are you no longer together with your ex? -Eh, personal reasons that i don’t feel like sharing tbh

If you had to choose one way to die, what would it be? - In my sleep bc i’m a big baby

What are your current goals? - I’d like to get started on a poetry book

Do you like someone? - I mean, I have a bf so

Who was the last person to disappoint you? - honestly myself lmfao

Do you like your body? - NAH SON

Can you keep a diet? - fuck no i love food too much

If the whole world listened to you right now, what would you say? - “hey can we not be dicks to each other?”

Do you work? - nah but god i wish i was bc i need money

If you could choose only one food to eat to the rest of your life, what would it be? - ngl my basic ass would pick sushi

Would you get a tattoo? - Yeeee

Something you don’t mind spending all your money on? - Pokemon games tbh

Can you drive? - Ye but not very well

When was the last time someone told you you were beautiful? - This morning

What was the last thing you cried for? - ngl i’ve been crying over everything the past few days

Do you keep a journal? - Nah, i’m not interesting enough to have one

Is life fun? - If I’m with others, yes

Is farting in front of people irrelevant? - I mean, it’s a bodily function but it’s not a very socially acceptable one. i personally don’t care

What’s your dream car? - VW bug bc i enjoy the thought of people hitting each other when i drive by

Are grades in school important? - it’s very dependent on the situation. i personally feel like grades should only be a very high priority in one’s major field of study/related studies. However, grades shouldn’t take priority over one’s physical, mental, and emotional health.

Describe your crush. - he’s got these gorgeous eyes that change color. he’s tall and gives amazing hugs. he’s a phenomenal writer and is incredibly intelligent about such a variety of topics from music to writing to just about anything. he’s patient, loving, and funny. honestly he’s amazing and i fall more in love with him every day.

What was the last book/movie that really impressed you? - Alice in Wonderland. i hadn’t seen it prior to last week but just the animation and story-telling was just amazing to me

What was your last lie? - that the reason i didn’t want to go out was because of my stomach hurting

Dumbest lie you ever told? - not sure tbh

Is crying in front of people embarrassing? - not at all

Something you did and you are proud of? - Being recognized as a poet at my college’s poetry festival

What’s your favourite cocktail? - don’t really have one x.x

Something you are good at? - i like to think i’m okie at motivating others

Do you like small kids? - i’m okay with kids as long as they aren’t overly loud

How are you feeling right now? - a lil grumpy bc the ac isn’t on

What would you name your daughter/son? - Jason would be my son, Robin would be my daughter

What do you need to be happy? - Personal growth

Is there some you want to punch in the face right now? - ME TBH

What was the last gift you received? - some books from my bb

What was the last gift you gave? - UHHHH I DUNNO

What was the last concert you went to? - Twenty One Pilots

Favourite place to shop at? - Hot Topic, can’t even lie

Who inspires you? - My bb, mostly because i want to be up at his level when doing things

How old were you when you first got drunk? - Haven’t really gotten drunk-drunk yet

How old were you when you first got high? - 19

How old were you when you first had sex? - 19

When was your first kiss? - Freshman year of highschool

Something you want to do until the end of this year? - i would like to build my confidence

Is there something in the past you wish you hadn’t done? - there is so much omg

Post a selfie. - UH I MAY NOT BC I’M GROSS AF RIGHT NOW

Who are you most comfortable around? - @thenerdyshadow and @shining-wonwoo

Name one thing that terrifies you. - BEING ALONE

What kind of books do you read? - mostly dystopian/adventure novels

What would you tell your 12 year old self? - “listen ya lil shit don’t complain about not being in a relationship”

What is your favourite flower? - Lilies

Any bad habits you have? - Cracking my knuckles holy shit

What kind of people are you attracted to? - Highly passionate, emotional people

What was the last thing you cried for? - MY LEAGUE RANKING NGL

Is there something you don’t eat? Some food that truly disgust you? - i don’t think of anything off the bat but i’m very sensitive to the textures/aesthetics of food

Are you in love? - Yeee

Something you find romantic? - I love little gestures that show that someone is thinking about me like mentioning that they saw something that reminded them of me or like a long message in the middle of the night to wake up to

How long was your longest relationship? - 3 years

What are 3 things that irritate you about the same sex? - that there’s something inherently wrong with liking stereotypically feminine things, that we are seemingly always in competition over something, that cattiness is almost expected??? like damn why can’t we be nice to each other

What are 3 things that irritate you about the opposite sex? - balls on the outside of the body are just not anatomically smart, fragile masculinity, the attack on boys who decide to deviate from the norm

What are you saving money for? - i have no money pls help me

How would you describe your bad side? - i get moody and tend to snap at people when i really don’t mean to. i will sometimes do things just to spite people/escalate a situation tho

Are you actually a good person? Why? - i personally don’t see myself as a good person because i’ve done plenty of shitty things that i knew that i shouldn’t have done

What are you living for? - The hope for a better future

Have you ever done anything illegal? - Yee

Do you like your body? - Not particularly

Have you ever made someone feel bad about themselves intentionally? - I have, mostly because the person was toxic

Ever sent nudes? -Ye

Have you ever cheated on someone? - i prefer not to answer this one

Favourite candy? - i love 3 musketeers

Is there a blog you visit every day, or almost every day? Tag it! - uhhh mostly my friends blogs but i can’t really tag all atm

Do you play any computer games? What is your favourite game? - Online games i enjoy are Overwatch and League of Legends. I also enjoy Stardew Valley on PC.

Favourite TV series? - don’t really watch tv

Are you religious? Does God exist? - i’m personally not that religious, but i respect that people do have beliefs in high powers but should not infringe on others rights to not believe

What was the last book you read? Did it impress you and why? - i can’t even tell you what i read fully bc it’s honestly been that long

What do you think about vegetarianism/veganism? - i commend others who are capable of making that lifestyle choice bc i know i could never do so. i’m fine with it so long as it isn’t shoved into my face

How long have you been on Tumblr? - probs 6-7 years? idk

Do you like Chineese food? - i am a slut for chinese food

McDonalds or Subway? Mcdonalds

Vodka or whiskey? Vodka (haven’t tried whiskey)

Alcohol or drugs? drugs (weed bc i haven’t done anything else)

Ever been out of your province/state/country? - I’ve only left my state. i’d love to leave the country one day

Meaning behind your blog name? - shitty Overwatch/Wonderwall pun

What are you scared of? - being abandoned by the people i love and being forced to live alone :^)

Last time you were insulted? - YESTERdAY

Most traumatic experience ? - my mother being a revolving door in my life and giving me severe abandonment issues

Perfect date idea? - i love the idea of just a nice day together inside but going out at night to dinner and just exploring the world around us

Favourite app on your phone? - tumblr bc i can’t get away from this hellsite

What colour are the walls in your room? - they’re kind of white/brown/gray? it’s hard to explain tbh

Do you watch Youtube? Who is your favourite youtuber? - i do! i watch mostly league youtubers though. i’ve been on a hardcore BunnyFuFu kick as of the last few days

Share your favourite quote. “I’m dying squirtle”

What is the meaning of life? - To be happy

Do you like horror movies? - I enjoy them in concept, but i’m bad at watching them ;-;

Have you ever made your mum cry? What happened? - NAH FAM SHE MAdE ME CRY

Do you feel lucky or special in a way? - i guess but i don’t think i really deserve to

Can you keep a secret? - ye

#shut up saint #anon #ask meme #damn this was long #ty for sending it tho!#Anonymous

3 notes · View notes

philaprint · 8 years ago

Photo

Give Much Respect Due: How Female Rappers Inspire Black Queer Boys

MARCH 02, 2017

By Devyn Springer

It’s 2001. My mother opens the bathroom door and I am in my underwear, breathing heavily like a backup dancer. I have a smile on my face and sweat on my shoulders. My little ribs under my brown skin are sore because I’ve been shaking my hips from left to right for an entire verse and chorus. I’m looking at myself in the mirror and seeing myself as what resembles a Keith Haring painting; vibrant colors, bold lines creating motion. My mother lets out a small laugh, reminding me she is still there watching, and then she joins me in singing the chorus and moving her hips, “Chumpy, I break up with him before he dumps me/ To have me, yes you’re lucky.”

I have an obsession with flipping through my mother’s book of CDs and looking at all of the album art with awe until I find my selection, and I always seem to gravitate towards Missy Elliott, Da Brat or Queen Latifah; not that I am familiar with who those people are at 5 years-old, but because the album art has a curious way of making me feel something that resembles confidence.

It’s 2008. The Keith Haring painting the mirror had grown familiar with has turned into a small medium brown boy who looks more like a Basquiat painting, or a question walking around waiting for someone to answer it. My body feels awkward like my limbs and shoulders are a bit too big for my middle school being, and I am no longer the best dressed in class. I got headphones for Christmas and haven’t stopped playing Trina’s “Glamorest Life” in my ears since Christmas morning because when her loud and braggadocious voice comes crashing onto the treble-fueled beats, I feel like I fit in a bit more. I feel a strange confidence become me when I hear her rap “who you lovin’ who you wanna be huggin/ I seen her in your six hundred and you claim it's your cousin,” and I am proud of myself for understanding the first half of that line as a Lil Kim reference.

It’s 2011. The Basquiat painting feels like a Marina Abramović piece at this point, as I’ve begun to master the performance art of my own sexuality. I am driving the first car I own at night with the windows down, and Lil Kim tells me, “I used to be scared of the dick/ now I throw lips to the shit, handle it/ like a real bitch/ Heather Hunter, Janet Jacme.” I grip my hand on the passenger’s thigh, we kiss at a red light, and I say “Yo, you’ve gotta Google who Heather Hunter and Janet Jacme are real quick. Kim always comes through with the crazy references!” We laugh and pontificate on that line for a second before kissing again. I used to be scared of the dick lingers in the air, with Kim’s voice heavy and thick and a certain kind of honesty that is uncomfortably interesting, as I sit in the car with the first person to ever have sex with me.

They tell me all I ever do is listen to female rappers. They assure me they don’t think that’s a bad thing. They ask me why that is, and I explain how much I admire not only their lyrical delivery and dramatized personas, but I also love their performances of gender. I adore the way they help me, in some strange and almost inexplicable way, navigate my own relationship to the gender I was socialized into. I enjoy the way their gender within hip-hop, within their songs and lyrics, within their aesthetics, is politicized -- because it is something I am familiar with, and didn’t know how to express until I found them. My relationality to gender has always been one of having identities and labels ascribed to me, with terms and assumptions projected onto my body, and I saw pieces of that in the Black women who inspired me through their music.

Female rappers have narrated more moments of my life than I know how to explain, and have projected feelings on me I either forgot I needed to feel or couldn’t explain that I felt. When Nicki says “you was sleepin’ on me, thinking it was sumber time/ Now I’m a trending topic, lil mama, number signs” there is a breath of relatable energy that exists between us. It is in the way she openly refers to being slept on and openly discusses her struggles being a Black woman in a male-dominated industry that I am able to vibrate in a similar wavelength to her. The way that she is referred to as “difficult” for simply being about her business is a sentiment that resonates deeply with me as well because queer Black boys aren’t allowed to be outspoken without being “sassy” or seen as a queen. And if Nicki Minaj is slept on, her bravado simplified, her demands demeaned, then I can relate to her on a deeper level. And it is in the way she snaps back, reminding her ‘haters’ that she’s now a trending topic, that makes the inner scared and awkward queer boy in me go back to swinging his hips like a Keith Haring painting.

To be Black and queer is to have a strange relationship with space, or the lack thereof, and to have an even stranger relationship with confidence. The space that we are able to carve into this world looks a little different than other people’s. Our space looks nocturnal; night clubs, ballrooms, and dancing in our underwear with our friends to the newest Remy Ma song, grabbing pieces of her confidence and wearing it like an invisible cloak that hides us from the world. Women who rap, much like queer Black boys, manage to be both hypervisible and invisible at the same time; our bodies are sexualized before we have the choice to do it ourselves, and when we do own our own overt sexuality we are called conceited.

We can also look at the queer aesthetic often found in female rappers presentation to fully understand the massive appeal they are able to have to the Black queer community. I heard a friend say one time, “Nicki Minaj is one of the world’s greatest drag queens.” At the time, I was offended. What I assumed to be a transphobic remark likening Ms. Minaj’s appearance to that of a masculine figure was really a sly and subverted critique on the queerness of her aesthetic.

In reality, she is one of the world’s best drag queens, as are Lil Kim, Eve, Missy Elliott, and Left Eye, and several others. Drag and ball culture are such large parts of our Black queer community that you can’t help but notice the aestheticism seeping into the music video of Missy Elliott’s new single “I’m Better,” or the outlandishly early-2000s era fashion that Foxy Brown often adorned. The only one who switches a wig as much as a drag queen is Nicki Minaj, with the extravagance of a couture outfit and high-contoured cheekbones to match.

I am reminded of the artist and philosopher Adrian Piper’s “dear friend, I am black...” calling cards she would give to people who said racist or problematic things to her, and it feels that in this similar sentiment exists female rappers’ performance of gender and sexuality. As if through lyrics and aesthetic they are reminding you, “dear friend, I am a sexual being, I Black woman…” It is as if they understand the need to subvert femininity and sexuality into a performance, one that at times is even exaggerated, for the sake of the artistic statement. And because so much of the vitality surrounding modern interpretations of gender and sexuality is performance, the female rapper has the transcendent ability to do what only an artist can do: blue the line between sociopolitical commentary, art, and expression.

Whether through intentional subversion or simple fashion-forward styling, several female rappers have played with the traditions of gendered clothing and presented themselves as something far more interesting than a gender binary could ever allow them to be. I am reminded of Left Eye in the music video for “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” wearing baggie jeans and t-shirts, holding her crotch while she raps her sex-positive lyrics alongside the feminine presentation of Chilli and T-Boz. I think of Lady of Rage in the “Afro Puffs” music video, dressed almost like a biker chick, with her broad shoulders, dark and oversized leather draped from her body, and it makes me think of almost every Da Brat, Queen Latifah, and Yo-Yo music video I’ve watched where they wore traditionally masculine suits and clothing.

Plenty of the visual specificities in fashion and art between the early 90s and now have been influenced by this presentation, with women and other queer people drawing inspiration from this aestheticism. So, when we arrive at a Nicki Minaj, or an Angel Haze, or an Azealia Banks, or a Princess Nokia, or a Lola Monroe, or a Young MA, it is no surprise that they continue to transform and uphold the legacy that was established for them through generations of foremothers. They continue to be the fire-spitting drag queens at the front of a battle for inclusivity and acceptance in a cis-hetero patriarchal industry, one that often reflects the values of the Black community.

As a Black queer boy, female rappers embody much of the confidence we often aspire to and achieve. When Trina taught me to be the baddest bitch, I didn’t know that Queen Latifah had already told me I need to be addressed as “your highness.” When Foxy asked why “all the sudden all these rap bitches got accents too?” Nicki Minaj was ready to ask where the fuck is her curry chicken and her rice and peas? You see, it is in the way they demand to be referred to as a queen and the Queen Bitch, to be given what they deserve, to be adorned with the highest fashion and pop bottles right next to the male rappers, that a confidence so bold and unique exists and flourishes. They are able to embody a powerful, magical feminine strength that reads like confidence but feels like life being handed over in a syringe.

When I was the small boy who was still carefree and still had space in his chest for joy, Missy Elliott, and Left Eye were there to help me shake my hips; their music would bring me the movement and vibrations like in the Keith Haring paintings. When I was an awkwardly small child in a world that felt too big, Trina, Remy Ma, and Foxy Brown gave me the confidence I didn’t know I deserved but definitely needed. I heard Foxy tell me she has these rap bitches in a chokehold at least once a week. And when I became intimate for the first time and love tasted like sex, I had many Lil Kim lyrics that lent themselves to me.

Today as a Black queer activist and artist navigating the world through an intersectional lens, I’m able to see just how monumental the role of a woman rapping on the radio can be for a Black queer boy. I now have the language, voice, and ears to realize that it has been female rappers playing in the background of my life for decades. They’ve always been the ones that have given me life time and time again when the world hands little queer boys nothing but death, and they’ve always been the ones to be doin’ things that you won’t regret.

https://www.philadelphiaprintworks.com/blogs/news/give-much-respect-due-how-female-rappers-inspire-black-queer-boys

#queer #black #women rappers #rappers #rap #music #identity

39 notes · View notes