#heterosexual matrix

[words-and-coffee]

If there is something right in Beauvoir's claim that one is born, but rather becomes a woman, it follows that woman itself is a term in process, a becoming, a constructing that cannot rightfully be said to originate or to end. As an ongoing discursive practice, it is open to intervention and resignification.

Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

[lilyminer]

“There’s no heterosexual explanation for this”

But not in a romantic way, in a queering up relationship in general kinda way. There’s no explanation for this which exists within the strict relationship valuing system the heterosexual matrix pushes on people.

[satanfemme]

each day that I become more and more alienated from and disillusioned by the heterosexual matrix, is one day closer to when I start being an open s/m sadist on main. I mean who said that.

[synthient]

Trinity goes home and googles/plays the matrix video games. And then she takes the logical next step, which is to check the matrix page on ao3. And she gets kind of annoyed that not enough of these fics are portraying Trinity as a domme and Neo as her good little princess sub, so she starts drafting some of her own (even though it can never leave her google docs, because this is such a weird and invasive thing to do to Nice Normal Coffeeshop Guy and his obvious self-insert oc). and hey, isn't it bleakly funny that their lives are almost like if you took his self-insert character and her self-projection character and put them in a coffeeshop au -

[45percenterthen]

louis one direction is a paragon of mental fortitude because all the black mold girlies go to his concerts and throw rainbow flags at him. in the face of his overwhelming heterosexual tracksuit aura . and then in the least homophobic manner possible he has to dodge them matrix-style lest he accidentally implicate himself as harry styles' wife. What must that do to a man

[androgynealienfemme]

""You cannot piss in a cup or pull a sword from a stone or anything else in order to tell if you're trans or not. You are if you want to be. You're not if you don't."

This is what I say. No one listens.

"Look. I define transgendered literally; it's a way of crossing. Crossing into a different gender. Not the opposite, there are so many, just a different one. Or crossing out of the gender that theoretically goes, in that there heterosexual matrix we keep talking about, with your biological sex.

"Being a transsexual is a different animal. That's a matter of medical things or the intention of medical things, changing your sex you know? The sex parts: genitals, reproductive organs, hormones, secondary sexual characteristics. Or living full-time as a person of a certain culturally aligned sex and gender, whether you do medical things or not, because some people can't and it isn't fair to punish that. So them, too. But transgendered is wide open. And butch is a nonnormative gender yes? We can agree on that, anyway? So if you want to claim transgendered, great as far as I'm concerned."

People sign at me. They roll their eyes, They shake their heads. They want me to make ruling, they want me to tell them if they can call themselves transgendered, or alternative if they can still call themselves butch. As though I somehow have the power to confer or deny whatever label they want, or as though I can be relied upon to make an impartial decision int he case of an argument, whether it is internal or among individuals."

"Border Wars” Butch is a Noun essays by S. Bear Bergman (2006)

[manicpixelwench]

Hello Faye!

Question about TO:Volume 1

Kelsie has dated both men & women in the past so she’d probably identify as bi/pan or something like that, right?

What about Adira & Mona?

I’m curious about the gentlemen too - as just because the bachelorette is a woman doesn’t mean they’re all heterosexual (hello to my bisexual hubby Jake from Love Island the Game ❤️ RIP u r missed)

Thank you

A curious queer 🌈

Hi!

Omg a question? omg omg omg....

I went digging and found this old matrix from the OG writer. I feel like I stuck to the script pretty much. In my head, Adira never even considered a man, and while Mona may feel she's bisexual now, I think she's still on a journey with herself, new sides may pop up later.

Thank you SO much for your question❤️

[tardordenovembre]

GAYLOR SWIFT™️

I have been offline for the most part these past weeks; but whilst away from the noise, I have been thinking and analysing a lot regarding Taylor Swift™️ and Gaylor Swift, too.

It comes to me as an epiphany of some sorts, that REPUTATION TV has been delayed and will be indefinitely because of reasons™️

And crazy how 2016 has been the year marked in the calendar as the messiest timeline for TAYLOR SWIFT™️ in the sense that Erica, resigned (was fired) out of not being able to handle the slut-shaming movement her client; back then, not too famous nor wealthy Taylor Alison Swift was dealing with…

…Trina Paine in her place, a very efficient and more capable replacement was working behind the scenes as nothing or not much of the former Reputation album was public until days prior of the release.

And so, I have come to the conclusion that Taylor Swift™️ was cheating on Adam Wales (Calvin Harris) with Thomas Hiddleston, while being best friends with Joseph Alwyn but thinking on Matthew Healy, her true love…?!

…And this was her way of beating the “slut” allegations?

Give me a moment here, as I am laughing my ass so hard I have fallen off my chair.

Anyway, I just think of how much of a spectacle/ridicule has to be for “Hetlors” to try to convince themselves her idol: A VIRGIN, A SAINT has been flying overseas to sleep in every futon she has the chance to leave a mark and carve those names and her name back with golden tattoos and indelible, invisible marks of the one and only she now wakes up to…?

Apparently, not Travis Kelce as nobody knew of before TS™️ chose him to be “The One and Only”; as of now. (Wash, rinse, twist, dry. Repeat)

No timelines, no lyrics, no feelings, no thoughts, no body language, no gesticulation, no production of what she sales matches with any of those details she has professed before have been part of her personal signature and plastered in her craft every time she writes a song.

There is literally no heterosexual relationship explanation for the mess she causes and the games she plays.

Know how heteronormativity and homophobia work; have been a Gaylor for the longest and a Kaylor since the mere beginning of their public relationship.

I have come back online and read that more and more people are catching up into the Gaylor/Kaylor rabbit holes; which is great. This is what the narrative is about.

Howbeit, in order to decrease and even eradicate Homophobia and Heteronormativity, education is a fundamental key.

And here is for us: Kaylors and Gaylors 🥂🍻 of the world for being out of the matrix. For learning new things every day, with every ERA. About very much, everything regarding our history to reclaim it and own it the way we are supposed.

And to LESBRINA GAYPENTER I 🫡 you and your fans for being another domino falling into place!

🏳️‍🌈

[xiaoddexingjiutang]

03. Megatron: Megatron Is No Mere Subordinate

In this film, Megatron's character is entirely crafted as the opposite of Optimus Prime: Optimus plays dumb while Megatron provides the snarky commentary. He doesn't resemble any previous version of Megatron at all.

He gives off a vibe of having a very weak spirit. When circumstances favor him, and Optimus takes him to participate in the Iacon 5000 race, he has a great time. When he's happy, he and Optimus become like brothers—"you're good, I'm good, everyone's good." They exchange heartfelt lines and high-fives. But the moment he's asked to take on some responsibility or when things aren't going their way and they have to face adversity, he immediately starts complaining, accusing Optimus of only thinking about himself.

Personally, I feel that when making friends, one should focus on the big picture and not be petty about small matters. You enjoyed the perks of breaking the rules and had your fun, but then you start blaming others, saying, "Oh no, we're definitely going to get caught and demoted." Then why did you do it? Why befriend him in the first place? You can't deny your involvement when things go wrong, right? Even though you did help clean up the mess—that's Optimus's problem, which I'll discuss in his section next.

After learning the truth, he actually said weakly, "If only I didn't know the truth, if only I had always strictly followed the rules. Why did I have to find out? Now I don't have a cog, and I'm powerless to change anything."

Then he becomes weak and later turns extreme. After killing the first person, he immediately starts yelling at Optimus, giving him attitude—as if he suddenly grasped the secret that violence equals power.

Some people who dislike Megatron might think he's selfish, someone who only enjoys the benefits of friendship and kicks you aside when he's uncomfortable. Whatever, that's not the point. The point isn't whether he's self-serving or altruistic; his character inherently leans toward self-interest. That's really not the issue.

The issue is that he absolutely shouldn't be portrayed as someone who is both weak and critical, narrow-minded, lacking independent thought, blindly following rules, a fair-weather friend, and passive yet extreme. In all previous works, Megatron has his own charisma and character foundation; he's not just a subordinate used to elevate Optimus Prime.

Writing Megatron's character this way is just a means to pin all the blame on him. This way, issues like class, social background, and even Optimus Prime can bear less responsibility. He inherently has personality flaws, so who can you blame? Sacrifice one so we can all relax.

Moreover, it's laughable how Megatron can't compete when it comes to "background". Megatron installs the cog of Megatronus (which he took from Sentinel Prime's chest) and becomes a leader-class body, but he still can't defeat Optimus Prime, who received the Matrix of Leadership. His gun gets sliced by Optimus's axe—Optimus summons an axe, but Megatron doesn't bring out his flail; I guess we'll have to wait for the next installment. "My backing can't beat your backing, so the righteous you defeats the evil me"—utterly ridiculous.

Additionally, I suddenly realized that if Megatron were replaced with a female character, these criticisms would have a new explanation: "Oh, women are just emotional, women are just troublesome, women can't see how much men have done." All those negative personality traits—if a man has them, it's just his individual issue; if a woman displays them, then it gets blamed on her gender because "women are all like that."

Straight male writers wanting to hype up the Megatron x Optimus Prime (MegOp) pairing feel the need to eliminate female characters or feminize male ones, insisting on using traditional heterosexual models.

[thatbitchsimone]

straight men that are obsessed with the idea of ”alpha males” are so funny and silly like their holy scriptures are the matrix and fight club unironically like ok so u picked one that was written by someone who transitioned to a woman and one that was written by a gay man (that has heavy homoerotic undertones) like how are u gonna expect me to look at u as this big strong hyper masculine alpha male viking ultra heterosexual while ur aggressively quoting the gays and the t-girlies at me and then act all offended and surprised when i announce what the category is and prepare for u to start vogueing in front of me

[danielsarmand]

there’s just so much... warmth. and thankfulness. in me right now. i’ve said this before, but i truly wasn’t expecting much of anything from bmf and the fact that it keeps outdoing itself with each passing episode is really... i don’t know, i’m genuinely happy about it. i’m happy because i am queer, and while i am proud of being queer there’s presently very few dramas that are.

be my favorite is a queer show, about queer people, for queer people and on top of all this it is also very clearly proud of being queer.

it is just so heartwarming to see. to witness how much thought went into it, how many themes and issues they were able to touch on and how delicately they did so. to feel the hope for a better, brighter future grow within you because maybe there are people who care, maybe it is all worth it, and anyway fighting for ourselves will never be wrong or wasteful.

i loved everything about this episode, from the obvious jab at heteronormativity that was pisaeng and his mother’s conversation to max’s speech to kawi’s realizations to pisaeng’s deserved lovestruck giddiness. i loved how they touched on straight people being considered the norm, and how they implied that at the end of the day queer people only want the right to get married and have children like heterosexuals–which is not the case, and morever is not the point; what we actually want is not to be considered a quirk, not to be treated as a glitch in the matrix. we are the norm, too, and we should have the right to exist, and be seen, and be heard, and be considered human, no matter where and what. i loved how well the actors conveyed all of this, through speech and especially through expressions–i.e. gawin’s face as soon as pisaeng’s mother said “normal people”. i adore the blatant and crystal fucking clear love and care the entire cast and crew put into this show.

watching be my favorite makes me feel safe. i am glad i gave it a chance, because it gave me a chance.

[words-and-coffee]

The effort to identify the enemy as singular in form is a reverse-discourse that uncritically mimics the strategy of the oppressor instead of offering a different set of terms.

Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

[djuvlipen]

With the end of Pride Month and Romani Heritage Month approaching, I recommend every radical feminist to read Dzuvljarke

“Džuvljarke (*Ȝuvlӑrke) – is a term from the Roma language (Romani) and used among Roma living in Serbia. Together with its Serbian-influenced suffix, it is used to refer to a lesbian, a woman emotionally and sexually oriented towards women. This term usually implies a negative connotation, particularly within the heteronormative patriarchal Serbian and Romani social matrix.”

“The aim of this paper is to ensure that when lesbian existence is discussed, the conversation opens a path leading to the empowerment of these women, who are, at the moment nameless and invisible and remain objects of shame and victims of multiple forms of violence and discrimination.” (European Roma Rights Centre)

"Vera Kurtić is a radical feminist and a Romani woman. She is an activist and one of the coordinators of Women Space, an organization based in Niš, Serbia and one of is a founding member of the Romani Women Network of Serbia that gathers organizations and groups from across the country into a joint and unified force directed to enhance the position of Romani women. Also, she is a one of the founders of informal international Roma LGBT Network. She studied sociology and communications, the main fields of her interest are intersectionality of different discrimination based on gender, sex, race, class and sexual orientation, as well as representation of marginalized social group in media and public space. Vera is the founder of Campaign Month of Roma women activism, author of Džuvljarke- lesbian existence of Roma women, the first study on Roma women of different sexual orientation than heterosexual." (source)

It's available for free here: x

[deliciousrebeltrashchronicals]

Singer/songwriter Chappell Roan subverts the heterosexual matrix and the gender norms therein through her music and fashion choices. In this essay, I will...

[vamptoll]

You know I don't think the transmisogyny in Butler's work is Unrelated to the (Misinterpretation) of their work as saying "Drag is a post-modern art form that destroys gender".

Because both comes from the same root ya know. The inability to see the MTF figure as a subject, only forever the object to be interpreted by the masculine subject (And yes, the masculine subject does include AFAB academics, like duh. Most every transfem who engages In Academic Feminism knows this we just aren't allowed to say it without them kicking us out).

So Butler makes their argument (and it's a good argument! Despite the transmisogyny!), and it becomes twisted up in a veneration of Drag instead, and I can't help but think it's because the way the argument goes slots perfectly INTO that same inability.

The masculine artist making a feminine model into an artistic statement! It doesn't truly matter that the feminine model and masculine artist are in the same, because that's still the easiest way to reform Butler's words while still upholding the logic of the heterosexual Matrix! (And their words must be reformed, Gender Trouble is so heavily assigned that it must become assimilated into the gendered logic of college kids, and that's where it's gonna go)

So it becomes this "Drag Queens reveal the artificial nature of gender" when like, No, no they don't. Maybe a couple have, maybe? The vast majority don't engage the question at all, however, and a sizable minority base their entire schtick AROUND the immutable nature of Gender and Sex!

(sorry Tumblr threw one too many posts about Drag my way today, enjoy this post over a decade out of date)

[aibidil]

Second obviously to the real harm done to trans people, what pisses me off so much about jkr's trans hatred is that she functionally put the brakes on nuanced discussions of gender in public spaces. Instead of talking about how gender is a long con and trying to conceptualize how we'd think differently about gender if we lived in a different kind of society (absent misogyny and other oppressions, where socialization happened differently, or in a world where gender isn't the primary organizing principle, or in a world where butler's heterosexual matrix didn't apply), we HAVE to instead talk about nothing but the very important fact that trans people have a right to exist. We have to do that because nothing could be more important than that. But the way this has hijacked our ability to have discussions and share insights is wild. My friends who teach Gender Studies in colleges report that they can't engage the material as deeply because everyone in the room is either spouting or refuting terf bs. We know that terfs and fascists are watching and ready to pounce with jkr talking points, and any nuanced discussion will be immediately derailed and useless.

And this is a strategy of the right. One they plan for and one they take advantage of opportunistically. They know that the free flow of information and knowledge favors leftist, anti-oppressive aims. They know they're better off arguing about drug crimes than anti-blackness, abortion rights than the poor treatment/pay/health of mothers, gay marriage than true acceptance of a range of divergent sexualities, causes of autism than the mistreatment of ND people in school and the workplace, welfare queens than intractable poverty, the legality of all-ages drag shows than how certain visible genders are rendered as criminal, whether trans people should exist than the deep social/cultural roots of transphobia.

And to some extent, we have to answer these deflections—because they're important. But it pisses me off. Maybe we can try to remember that yes, they can deflect and regress the discourse, but we can see that rhetorical move and resist it in the spaces where it's possible to.

What that requires us to do on the left, if we want to do that effectively, is to be really clear about what we're not arguing about ("The starting point of what I'm saying is that trans people exist and are oppressed and we're all against that oppression; that's not part of my argument at all because I know we agree on that...") The difficult thing about this is that it's so much easier to do this in person rather than online. Social media favors quick posts and replies and favors gotchas. And for so many queer communities, our connection comes not from local spaces but from online ones. I'm not sure what I think all of this means, other than that we need to be aware of the dynamics and do what we can to guard against them.