#im saying this as a white woman

[ericas-spop-blog]

...this is almost entirely me being salty, but I do think there's an equivalence to be made between the fandom fixation on removing Adora's agency - to saying that her actions are devoid of intent, that she can't know what she's doing, that she's a innocent soul, helplessly in thrall to the systems of power and pseudo-patriarchy - and the concept of "white women's tears".

[wishchip106]

i feel like they should give charles a cane in the comics (if they haven’t already?)

cause they all seem to insist on him walking

i just think it would be cool if they didn’t like erase the fact that charles is/was a wheelchair user 🤨

now i’m not disabled so i have probably no say in this but it would be cool if they still included some form of representation?

idk just a thought

[tonydaddingham]

yeah no this is actually my favourite response so far

[chipchopclipclop]

his name is swagdor and hes got a worm in his head and only one good eye left but all the bestest friends in the worllddd <3

[q--uee--n]

It doesn't quite sit well with me when parts of the fandom act as though they don't understand why, exactly, people become so hyper-defensive/are so hyper-sensitive when people bring up Mel being manipulative. It's because this trait has been weaponized to demean and disparage her at the expense of acknowledging any other nuance/facet about her character, and this also often goes hand-in-hand with ignoring the faults of other characters as to emphasize hers. The fact that Mel is a Black woman can not be put aside as a definitive factor as to why and how she's perceived the way she is—by both the fandom and the writers of the show. I would even argue that one of the show's original sins is a lack of understanding of the real-world intersections between race, class, and colonialism.

In regards to both Mel and Ambessa, this lack of understanding is evident in the writing. Writing that ignores the real-world implications of the Medardas and their social position relative to whiteness, which is one informed by socioeconomic and sociocultural disparities as a result of racism and misogyny. Yes, I understand it's a high fantasy show where things like racism don't exist, so to speak, but Arcane, like all media, is informed by the state of affairs of the world we live in. With classism—classism, which Black people are disproportionately victims of—being a core theme of the show (ostensibly), it's disingenuous to disregard the, from a Doylist perspective, haphazard nature of Mel's function in the narrative as a wealthy Black woman in a classist society juxtaposed against poor, oppressed white main characters (this also applies to Ambessa as a warmonger).

With that said, and harkening back to the beginning of this post, even if you're not bringing attention to Mel's flaws and complexities to demonize her, you have to acknowledge them in the context of her as a Black female character being written with little understanding of intersectionality and how they've been weaponized against her, which are the reasons people—specifically Black woman fans such as myself—are compelled to defend her (or even pretend these flaws don't exist. After all, it's never been a problem in fandom when non-black and male characters' flaws are erased/diminished. It can't suddenly become one now). It's easy to say Mel is a multi-faceted, three-dimensional character, thus, that's why downplaying her flaws is a disservice to her charcter, and this isn't an unreasonable point. However, it's harder to admit that the reason people point out these flaws is not always in the service of acknowledging her complexities but instead in the service of demonizing her due to internalized/unknown biases against Black women. In the end, no one has to like a character. No one even has to defend a character they don't like on principle. No one has to not be annoyed at the sanitization of a multidimensional character. But if those things are being done without an acknowledgement of how the perception of that character is mired by racism and misogyny—knowing or unknowing, from the writers on down—then maybe it's time to address some oversights or unpack some internalized biases before wondering why people feel the need to defend that character.

[ghost-bard]

how do i talk about taash being a realistic character while also acknowledging that they absolutely couldve and shouldve been written better in every aspect

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, isn’t it crazy how people can go in the ocean and find apex predators at the top of the food chain, and just — chill with them? Swim near them? Even touch them in some occasions? That’s insane!!!! You could never do that with a tiger or a lion. But you can do that with sharks :D

[sukibenders]

I'm a JayVik fan, I'm a MelJay fan, and I'm a MelJayVik fan (as well as a fan of all these characters), full disclosure, but it's really annoying how people in this fandom still only use Mel and Jay as props for Viktor, whilst ignoring who they are as characters outside of him. This is especially prevalent in shipping spaces where people will frame MelJay as being boring (they aren't, many people just can't get over themselves enough to see the value between them), to the point where you can hardly find things in their tag without it resorting back to Vik, over JayVik, but then, in turn, hardly add anything of equal value to Jay in JayVik regards, it's all about Viktor or how Jayce needs to make amends and grovel, but nothing of value besides making him the punching bag---something a lot of people in this fandom do (not saying all JayVik shippers do this, just to clarify). Like it's also very telling with the fact that you have two nuanced poc/poc coded (in Jayce's regards) characters, but can't/won't give them equal time of day as their white counterpart unless it's to elevate said counterpart (this is also prevalent in MelJayVik where some still completely push out Mel and make Jay oc just to focus on Viktor, yall are not slick). And this isn't me saying that you can't enjoy either of these ships or characters, nor dislike them, but it doesn't take much to see the flaws (and thinly coded forms of racism and misogynoir) that also play a role in this fandom. It's so frustrating to see.

[weallpartyatybcpatricksfuneral]

"girls support girls-" okay but are you normal about queer women? are you normal about BIWOC? are you normal about disabled women? are you normal about autistic women? are you normal about fat women? alternative women? unattractive women? are you normal about women who choose not to shave their legs and armpits and faces? are you normal about butches and tomboys and masculine women? are you normal about trans women? are you normal about trans men? are you normal about nonbinary folk and people who lie outside the gender binary or renounce gender all together? are you normal about women who absolutely despise and detest the latest trends? are you normal about weird women who unsettle you with their interests? are you normal about women who don't wear makeup, who will never wear makeup, who openly dislike makeup and the makeup industry?

[nikosdaydreams]

phia saban: "i would not want to live in a world where either aegon or rhaenyra were ruling as both of them are batshit insane"

team "feminist" black: "OMG SHE JUST INSULTED OUR QWEEN RHAE RHAE!1! CANT WAIT FOR HER CHARACTER TO JUMP OUT THE WINDOW SO THAT SHES UNEMPLOYED!! PHIA IS ACTUALLY SO UGLY FOR DEFENDING AEGON SHE LOOKS INBRED!!!!"

[cepheusgalaxy]

look guys i very strongly disagree with the "trans men hold privilege over trans women" point of view and i'm finally able to articulate why:

I think trans men don't hold privilege over trans women, because privilege is kind of a consistent thing.

Like, bear with me: I'm an abled person. I have privilege in relation to disabled people. Because, if me and a disabled person are in a Situation where this distinction is relevant in some way...I'm literally never gonna come out with the worst hand. Never. No matter what the situation is. This is a consistent fact.

Now, when we talk about different transgender identities, I think this gets more shady, because the "who has privilege in relation to who" is a relative statement. One example I saw of people explaining why in their view trans man have privilege over trans women is kind of like this: Imagine there are two passing and stealth trans people, a trans man and a trans woman, in a workplace. Then, it comes a coworker, being blatanly misogynist. Regardless of their views on trans people, in this situation, the trans woman is gonna get the worst of it, in relation to the trans man, because he will be viewed as a man.

It makes sense, and I don't think this hypothetical situation is inaccurate or anything, but I'd also like to point out why it doesn't work as a good point to why transmascs have privilege over transfems. Imagine we change about any variable in this situation. Let's say the trans woman is closeted as a guy, and the trans man is openly transgender. The misogynist coworker then would very much target the trans man in their points, especially if they are particularly transphobic. Now imagine both of them are out and openly trans, with the bonus that now both the man and the woman are gnc. Depending on other specifics, the misoginyst coworker might be bigoted to just one or both of them.

Like, do you see? In different situations, the different trans people have the worst hand. So that doesn't mean that because of the first case, trans men have it generally better. Because there are many kinds of trans men, and simply not all of them have privilege over trans women. In some cases, they might even have it worse precisely because they are trans man. So the privilege the trans man in the first example has is not a consistent thing over trans man! Maybe it's common, I don't know, but when we compare it with someone who has real privilege, like me, an abled person, I ain't ever encounter myself in a situation where I'm having it worse because I am abled in comparison to someone who is disabled.

That's why I think trans woman and trans men simply don't hold privilege over one another, simply because it varies. It depends on who the trans men and women are, it depends in what situation they are in, it depends on the people around them, it depends of so much!!! So saying that trans men have privilege over trans women sounds simply surreal!

I think that, also, the different patterns of the situations in which trans woman have it worse are important to be discussed, and that's why we have the word Transmisoginy, to discuss these issues pertinent to the nuanced oppression trans woman face (and on a similar note, that's why it's also important to have fucking words like Transmisogynoir, because a black trans woman's Situations will be different from a white trans woman's Situations and it's important to to recognize that). THAT's why I also think that we need words like Exorsexism and Transandrophobia, to identify the patterns of situations where trans men have it bad precisely because they are trans men and not something else or because nonbinary people have it bad precisely because they are nonbinary.

SO, in short, my opinion on the "trans man have it generally better than trans woman and that's why they have privilege" debate is that trans man don't generally have it better than trans woman, but some trans man in specific situations have it significantly better than trans woman and that in other situations trans woman have it significantly better than trans man and that is basically a case-to-case scenario and that's also why we need the specific words for different shapes and faces of transphobia to better understand these cases and why x happens with y at z situation. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[griem]

ijbol idk man releasing screenshots of very polarizing things said in a private discord server between friends in a public "callout" post is #the most #tumblrific thing ive ever seen LOL.

#opinion 😱 in tags

[abluescarfonwaston]

Sorry just thinking about Phoenix and Iris. How he swallowed glass for her. How she didn't know. Turned away from it and covered her eyes. Couldn't bare to see what she knew her sister was going to do. Do to him. She knitted a sweater for him. It fits just right. He swallows glass and stares at her as she stands over a charred and smoking body. As she screams and points at him. Watches as he is hauled away. Can't even fathom what's going on. Why.

He swallows glass for her.

And I just can't help but think what would have happened if she'd asked him to leave instead. That last night before Dollie became Dahlia. If her shaking hand had reached for the necklace one last time. Shaking and pale. If he'd caught her hand then and asked what was wrong. How the words would clog in her throat but if she begged- if she asked- that they run away together, he would have.

He swallows glass for her.

Surely he'd have been willing to run away.

[axolotlclown]

remember when there was that post going around challenging terfs to define a chair? i have yet to watch a gender essentialist define a woman without excluding cis black women. and i want yall to watch them do it over and over again until you understand that transphobia is just repackaged white supremacy.

[c1trvswurld]

Controversial opinion, but I think at least in our modern-day life, it's more progressive to have an unlikable female villain depicted in media. I'm kinda so tired of making and watering down every female villains goals and motivations by slapping on some sob story (that often times comes off as more sexist...yknow your typical "she's like this because she lost her kid or her husband or is infertile" or some other bs) and making her morally grey last minute. Especially when the whole point of the plot was showing how said female villain got to be an irredeemable asshole who would trample everything in her way. You can't suddenly build her up to be a stand-in for...idk the complexities of facism or capitalism, idfk maybe even a stand in for the devil himself. Then strip away a that progress with no build up.

Like a bit of a side note but I partially blame this on a new age of writers as well where while it's good to want a lot of nuance and grey areas to explore with villains it's become the norm to ALWAYS make them sympathetic. The goal from these writers have shifted from " let's make the most perfect fit for a villainous antagonist to oppose our main good guys" and more so "how can we make everyone who watches this love every single character to maximize positive outreach and profit. How can we get it so this piece of media attracts fandom more than it attracts people to a story" if that makes sense.

Writing has taken a sharp turn (especially in animated media) to write with things like shipping and fandom in mind. Like God forbid I want natural character progression and subtle insertion of character tropes that get built on that aren't someone just marketing these 2 character as sunshine x grump. That's what fanfic is for. Because no hate to fanfic (I write it a lot myself and have seen beautiful pieces of work) but it's so weird to see every book or show act like they don't need to build up everything. Like this is a fandom and show we all watched and get the inside jokes of.

But anyways back to my point, I've think we've been losing the unique charm of having fucked villains we come together and hate. Hate so much that you come to love and respect them for the amazing roles they play in their respective stories. And that's partially because of everything I said above. At least personally.

[andorerso]

"I don't understand the Maarva hate" the woman literally kidnapped a child. a white woman literally kidnapped an indigenous-coded child. for a fandom who likes to talk about the ~nuances~ and ~small details~ of the show, some of you are sure fucking blind to the colonialism and white savior parallels here.