#human representation

[conjcosby]

Stardate: 2024.5.15 ▫ In peace may we live. Not in victory, not in defeat but in acceptance. 😊🙏 #Buddha #BuddhaQuote #BuddhaWisdom #BuddhistProverb #Proverb #BuddhistQuote #BuddhistWisdom #Wisdom #Quote #Wednesdays #WisdomQuote #WisdomWednesdays #WisdomQuoteWednesdays #QuoteOfTheDay #QOTD #ProverbOfTheDay #PostOfTheDay #POTD #Text #Sculpture #Statue #HumanRepresentation #Representation #Monument

[osokasstuff]

you don't have a personal responsibility to break stereotypes about your demographics. you don't have to be the perfect representation. you don't have to be a good representation. you are allowed to exist as you are, even if it somehow fits into stereotypes.

you're allowed to have your experiences, hobbies, expressions, traits, problems, symptoms, etc. even if they're stereotyped. you are not a living stereotype. you are a person. a person who happens to have some traits. you're not making the world less diverse. your existence already contributes to diversity.

[idolomantises]

I really love scavenger’s reign and I want more people to watch it but there’s one thing that’s been bugging me about that show.

Why didn’t the lesbian fuck the robot.

[buqbite]

My thoughts here mainly revolve around YSA as the mary sue/female lead type character:

She goes from being this perfect woman to. just being a woman. And my idea is that the weight gain isn't there to make her "unconventionally attractive," or whatever other dumb phrase you wanna use to avoid calling someone ugly, but to make her conventionally attractive, yet realistic.

Instead of looking like a skinny waifu character, she looks like a skinny human woman. Her hair swaying in the nonexistent wind isn't as perfect, her magic blush is missing and she has eyebags. She's still hot, just more human.

[rrcraft-and-lore]

In addition to my Monkey Man post from earlier, the always kind & sweet Aparna Verma (author of The Phoenix King, check it out) asked that I do a thread on Hijras, & more of the history around them, South Asia, mythology (because that's my thing), & the positive inclusion of them in Monkey Man which I brought up in my gushing review.

Hijra: They are the transgender, eunuch, or intersex people in India who are officially recognized as the third sex throughout most countries in the Indian subcontinent. The trans community and history in India goes back a long way as being documented and officially recognized - far back as 12th century under the Delhi Sultanate in government records, and further back in our stories in Hinduism. The word itself is a Hindi word that's been roughly translated into English as "eunuch" commonly but it's not exactly accurate.

Hijras have been considered the third sex back in our ancient stories, and by 2014 got official recognition to identify as the third gender (neither male or female) legally. Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India have accepted: eunuch, trans, intersex people & granted them the proper identification options on passports and other government official documents.

But let's get into some of the history surrounding the Hijra community (which for the longest time has been nomadic, and a part of India's long, rich, and sometimes, sadly, troubled history of nomadic tribes/people who have suffered a lot over the ages. Hijras and intersex people are mentioned as far back as in the Kama Sutra, as well as in the early writings of Manu Smriti in the 1st century CE (Common Era), specifically said that a third sex can exist if possessing equal male and female seed.

This concept of balancing male/female energies, seed, and halves is seen in two places in South Asian mythos/culture and connected to the Hijra history.

First, we have Aravan/Iravan (romanized) - who is also the patron deity of the transgender community. He is most commonly seen as a minor/village deity and is depicted in the Indian epic Mahabharata. Aravan is portrayed as having a heroic in the story and his self-sacrifice to the goddess Kali earns him a boon.

He requests to be married before his death. But because he is doomed to die so shortly after marriage, no one wants to marry him.

No one except Krishna, who adopts his female form Mohini (one of the legendary temptresses in mythology I've written about before) and marries him. It is through this union of male, and male presenting as female in the female form of Mohini that the seed of the Hijras is said to begun, and why the transgender community often worships Aravan and, another name for the community is Aravani - of/from Aravan.

But that's not the only place where a gender non conforming divine representation can be seen. Ardhanarishvara is the half female form of lord Shiva, the destroyer god.

Shiva combines with his consort Parvarti and creates a form that represents the balancing/union between male/female energies and physically as a perfectly split down the middle half-male half-female being. This duality in nature has long been part of South Asian culture, spiritual and philosophical beliefs, and it must be noted the sexuality/gender has often been displayed as fluid in South Asian epics and the stories. It's nothing new.

Many celestial or cosmic level beings have expressed this, and defied modern western limiting beliefs on the ideas of these themes/possibilities/forms of existence.

Ardhanarishvara signifies "totality that lies beyond duality", "bi-unity of male and female in God" and "the bisexuality and therefore the non-duality" of the Supreme Being.

Back to the Hijra community.

They have a complex and long history. Throughout time, and as commented on in the movie, Monkey Man, the Hijra community has faced ostracization, but also been incorporated into mainstream society there. During the time of the Dehli Sultanate and then later the Mughal Empire, Hijras actually served in the military and as military commanders in some records, they were also servants for wealthy households, manual laborers, political guardians, and it was seen as wise to put women under the protection of Hijras -- they often specifically served as the bodyguards and overseers of harems. A princess might be appointed a Hijra warrior to guard her.

But by the time of British colonialism, anti-Hijra laws began to come in place folded into laws against the many nomadic tribes of India (also shown in part in Monkey Man with Kid (portrayed by Dev Patel) and his family, who are possibly

one of those nomadic tribes that participated in early theater - sadly by caste often treated horribly and relegated to only the performing arts to make money (this is a guess based on the village play they were performing as no other details were given about his family).

Hijras were criminalized in 1861 by the Indian Penal Code enforced by the British and were labeled specifically as "The Hijra Problem" -- leading to an anti-Hijra campaign across the subcontinent with following laws being enacted: punishing the practices of the Hijra community, and outlawing castration (something many Hijra did to themselves). Though, it should be noted many of the laws were rarely enforced by local Indian officials/officers. But, the British made a point to further the laws against them by later adding the Criminal Tribes Act in 1871, which targeted the Hijra community along with the other nomadic Indian tribes - it subjected them to registration, tracking/monitoring, stripping them of children, and their ability to sequester themselves in their nomadic lifestyle away from the British Colonial Rule.

Today, things have changed and Hijras are being seen once again in a more positive light (though not always and this is something Monkey Man balances by what's happened to the community in a few scenes, and the heroic return/scene with Dev and his warriors). All-hijra communities exist and sort of mirror the western concept of "found families" where they are safe haven/welcoming place trans folks and those identifying as intersex.

These communities also have their own secret language known as Hijra Farsi, which is loosely based on Hindi, but consists of a unique vocabulary of at least 1,000 words.

As noted above, in 2014, the trans community received more legal rights.

Specifically: In April 2014, Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan declared transgender to be the third gender in Indian law in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India.

Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature. Transgender persons' right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.

I've included some screenshots of (some, not all, and certainly not the only/definitive reads) books people can check out about SOME of the history. Not all again. This goes back ages and even our celestial beings/creatures have/do display gender non conforming ways.

There are also films that touch on Hijra history and life. But in regards to Monkey Man, which is what started this thread particularly and being asked to comment - it is a film that positively portrayed India's third sex and normalized it in its depiction. Kid the protagonist encounters a found family of Hijras at one point in the story (no spoilers for plot) and his interactions/acceptance, living with them is just normal. There's no explaining, justifying, anything to/for the audience. It simply is. And, it's a beautiful arc of the story of Kid finding himself in their care/company.

[westonsims00]

𝘋𝘢𝘺 22: 🌈⚧️💕 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘐𝘤𝘰𝘯: 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘢 𝘗. 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘏𝘔𝘊𝘈𝘚 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦

𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘢 𝘗. 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘓𝘎𝘉𝘛𝘘+ 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴. 𝘉𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵 24, 1945, 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘎𝘉𝘛𝘘+ 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 1969. 𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰-𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘺 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (𝘚𝘛𝘈𝘙) 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢, 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴. 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘎𝘉𝘛𝘘+ 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 1992 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘥𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦.

[soullessjack]

not only should any autistic character who’s ever been infantilized by their fanbase kill and maim more people, but they should also fuck as nasty as possible too. as a treat

[prettiestplatypus]

Happy Trans Visibility Week everyone from the Prettiest Platypus!

[biggayenergypod]

How to make up with your girlfriend?

Neung: Absolutely rail her, got it.

Sam: ... Or pretend to be a dog

Either way, nailed it.

[transmechanicus]

If we all work together we can make a Venom story where the symbiote makes Eddie transgender

[reimenaashelyee]

Hello! I would like to know why you support Palestine over Israel especially since Israel gives equal rights and freedom to LGBTQA++ people and women.

I don't know anon, my home country Malaysia doesn't legally support LGBTQA+ people and discriminates against women too... The logic / gotcha you're trying to imply from your question falls apart for anyone who lives in a socially conservative country (which is the majority of the world btw). Do you also agree the lives and rights of myself, other queer Malaysians and other Malaysians have less value objectively and in a conflict, should be killed indiscriminately because our country is LGBTQA+ intolerant? Yes or no? Get off anon and tell me to my face right now. The lives and safety of civilian people and children are unconditional. Just because a country has a better position on some social rights doesn't mean it is absolved or excused from performing war crimes and other human right violations. See: the US, UK, Australia etc. Folks are free to call out those wrongs whenever they occur. If your sense of justice, empathy and compassion is dependent on zero sum games and conditionality and no nuance, then you're not practising justice, empathy or compassion, but total arrogance and regressiveness. There is no argument to be had here.

[bizarreaizen]

i love you mspec lesbians !! i love you "cringe" bunny hat alt fashion queers !! i love you she/her gays !! i love you trans people who don't fit into gender norms or stereotypes !! i love you drag queens and drag kings !! i love you neopronouns and xenopronouns users !! i love you people who use microlabels !! i love you unlabeled people !! i love you disabled poc queers !! i love you muslim queers !! i love you non-human queers !! i love you xenogenders users !! . . ♡ /gen

[destructo-range]

michael spiral ꩜⋆.°⭑

image id under the cut

[Image ID: A digital drawing of Michael the Distortion from the podcast the Magnus archives, done with bright eyestraining colours. Micheal is standing partially turned away from the viewer, visible from the mid-shins up. Its left shoulder is tilted down and his head twisted slightly with his chin pointed towards the bottom left of the picture, giving the impression that his proportions aren't quite right and that he is slightly contorted. Its hands are larger than normal human hands and have long, pointed fingers. Michael has pale skin and long curly blonde hair. As according to the creator's head canons, his eyes are mirrors and despite not having pupils, appear to stare wide eyed at the viewer. Its hair seems to be floating slightly. He is wearing blue trousers, a pale pink shirt and a woolen cardigan. The cardigan is oversized, hanging off his left shoulder and is rolled up around his elbows. The cardigan has a small pink collar and green cuffs and is green at the bottom edge. The rest of it is made of colourful mismatched patches, each with either a flower, a spiral, or a star on it. Michael's left hand is positioned halfway across its right shoulder as if about to adjust the sweater, or as if it is subconsciously trying to protect itself from an unknown threat, or as a warning to whoever sees it. It is left up to the viewer to decide. Behind him is his door, bent at odd angles and containing a spiralling mass of colour. He is seemingly in the Archives as can be seen from the bookselves from which the door emerges. Its body seems to glitch and bleed into its surroundings (not literally). There is some pale green light emanating from the Archive's bookshelves. w/.End ID]

Image ID for the ASCII next to its name in case it shows up weird: [Image ID: A spiral followed by a few small sparkles in ASCII. w/.End ID]

[dumbledorathexplora]

This show was a rIdE 🦇🍬🍃

[atoadinahole]

For ever and always my Sweet freind!!

[tapestryundone]

constantly thinking abt the long quiet and the shifting mound and their relationship w humanity. because the two are very much not mortal and even in the what happens next ending its very ambiguous if they ever WILL be or Can be. but even still they have both felt what its like to be mortal

i feel like its vague if the entity the two used to be even percieved its own existence. the way the narrator talks about it makes it seem like the two only existed conceptually and as a result lacked a complete sense of identity, and didnt need to, and wouldnt want to. but in the same way a thought cannot be unthought, the narrator gave them a glimpse into what it felt like to be mortal and the two can never un-know it, even if it wasnt exactly the same

the long quiet in particular seems especially tied to humanity and in some aspects seems to want to BE human (which feels so potent given how decidedly Not human he is). the game tends to imply that every option you get is a thought he DOES have, and in the spaces between, the choices dont seem as influenced by a given voice, which highlights even more how much he feels conflicted on his own nature that he gets Multiple options to express discomfort with himself being a god

it just gets to me how one of the options during the fight is literally "appeal to your shared humanity". because even if the two are gods, their separation and reshaping has given them humanity that they can never un-feel. for how much the shifting mound grieves what she once was, she cannot will her humanity away. shes mourning what the two of them once was and is desperate to have it back at any cost, even though they can never be together how they once were.

even if the long quiet goes with her, theyre still apart and lack balance, because the two once just Were and werent two parts. they werent both halves, they werent two concepts, they were just one concept that happened to, by human eyes, consist of two halves. and the narrators insertion of humanity into the mix in order to separate them, separating them into concepts that humans understood, manually put into existence a struggle for equilibrium where that balance had simply Existed

but theyve already perceived what felt like reality and can never un-see it. they were separated and Need the other to feel whole and for reality to BE whole but the moment that either of them realized their own free will, the moment the two fully came to feel like people, they could never be together the same way once again

im struggling to come up with a metaphor that isnt silly but its like if you took a piece of fabric and cut it in two and made them both into shirts. youve added a piece of humanity into them and doing so cost its original form. to take them apart and try to put them back together would never get you the original, whole piece of fabric back, because theyve been completely changed by their own unique destruction and reconstruction

they were separated in a way that gave them humanity that they have such conflicting feelings on. both seem to have a deep love of humanity but vastly different ideas on what humanity needs to thrive, because its in their natures

in order to get one to kill the other the narrator let the long quiet interpret the both of them as mortal. and for a being of perception and an god thats being lied to, this became part of their limited view of the world, on top of all the other reasons that the two gained humanity. the long quiet couldnt be told what to do if he didnt have the ability to potentially act on the narrators desires, and the shifting mound could never die if the long quiet didnt believe her to be capable of death

the narrator gave the two humanity and the shifting mound is very reasonably distressed by this. because the two of them never asked for this but they cant undo it. it is her OWN subtle desire for things to be the same as they used to be, her own piece of that stagnation that also led to her experiencing humanity, that makes her so adamant during the fight. she misses the long quiet and wants to undo a change that cannot be undone in search of a constant state of being that was taken from her

and the long quiet felt so closely tied to mortality, both its existence and absence, that no matter what, he wants to aid humanity. but hes been lied to and denied autonomy to the point where he doesnt know what that entails. but he wants to be a part of it. he was given fake mortality and cant seem to figure out how he feels

the shifting mound is set in how she feels it best to aid in the existence of life. she is stagnant in her feelings because its all that feels right to her. the long quiet is ever-shifting in how he feels it best to aid in the existence of life. he is changing in his feelings because its all that feels right to him

getting to the heart of the shifting mound allows them a moment to discuss it as the closest they can get to mortals. the two care about their impact on life and what it means to be alive and what better way for the two of them to truly decide what they want to do about it, outside of the conflict thats been forced between them, than as the mortals they never were?