#jess and lupe and jo and even max (who i know has more of an outright transmasc arc) i love you i love you i love you

[wolfpoets]

but no joke the most heartwarming thing about aloto is - for me, anyway - is it's love and fondness for it's butch characters. they're so genuine and real and even though they're flawed beings just like everybody else the show paints them in such a warm light. and it means a lot! it adds a hefty drop in the bucket towards undoing all of the trauma that butches everywhere have to deal with on a daily basis.

[lottieurl]

tagged by @mistyquigly and @lesbianlotties

rules: share some unpopular opinions about 5 different fandoms of your choosing

tagging @lesbianalicent @itsheliotrope @marlokelly @sameensass @ethanilsa @narraboths

okay Please do not read it if you might get angry or upset ok? pinky promise me rn

yellowjackets

everyone who follows me is pretty familiar with all my unpopular opinions i think? jeff is a shitty person AND a bad character, laura lee could have a fascinating corruption arc linking her faith to their cannibalistic rituals, i think lottielee is insanely toxic because they both enable each other in the worst ways even tho they genuinely do care about each other and have the best of intentions (which seems unpopular because lottielee is seen as this pure sweet little ship? which it is Not to me), jackie could Eat People you just lack imagination, mistytai is fun and compelling, shauna's pregnancy/motherhood s2 storyline was disappointing and retconning of her character. can't think of much else? um one thing i don't think i ever talked about outside of dms - although it's more of a fandom pet peeve than a show one but still - is that i Hate when people make all their munchausen by proxy jokes about misty. firstly because i have an intense aversion to that entire label like it's wild to me that there is a "disorder" that in order to have you have to abuse another person? be so fucking real with me right now. it's just an excuse used in courts to defend abusive parents and other legal guardians really. and secondly because that doesn't even fit misty. and it never did! like i KNOW people base those jokes on misty's behavior around ben in those like four episodes but we have a modern timeline in that very same season where misty snorts goddamn coke to stop nat from relapsing. like it just irritates me because it's such a boring take and such an unfunny joke and well the entire disorder is something i take issue with

person of interest

regardless of what you think about the plot of s5 due to the season being much shorter the pacing is really bad and it's so rushed none of it feels satisfying and earned and that goes for everything so whether i liked some specific direction they took a character or a plot or i hated it doesn't even matter. and this is i think not quite that unpopular but giving the machine root's voice was a terrible choice especially in a show that is so well known for making an AI character that has no distinctly human features. i think it's lazy and cheap

lucifer

mazikeen/eve is so bad SORRY i hated it so much it was so rushed and there was no built up. realistically if maze ended up with a woman it would be linda and their relationship was far more interesting and developed across seasons

the last of us

don't doxx me but i didn't like the gay old men episode it didn't make me feel much and i think it contributed to the show's overall bad pacing. i am a casual viewer and i have no idea what the fandom at large thinks but i didn't like it. i'd say more but i don't care enough to do that really it just did nothing for me much

a league of their own

i'm soooorry to the enjoyers but carson/greta does nothing for me and in general i wish the focus was more on a character like lupe or jess or jo instead. it's like okay i think although i wish there was MORE of max screentime she got a good amount but i did not care for the carson/greta romance. plus like. yeah yeah feminine white lesbian romance at the forefront idk i'm yawning there is literally lupe there. can we focus on lupe

[lezoftheirown]

re: passing & gender expression

so they get the uniforms & its the first time a lot of them realize how baseball is like not their safe zone to be masc anymore & it really shows who Is vs Isn't used to needing to pass as femme sometimes. then also! how they try to dykeify their uniforms by like rolling the sleeves or leaving a button undone or wearing it halfway up... or also what they wear under their uniforms so like slightly longer shorts or masc undershirts/t-shirt with high collar

then later in charm school it was like Real and theres now Stakes & situations they will b put in where passing as femme is Required in order to stay on the team/be safe at all from the police...

so u have characters like clance & maybelle & shirly who their femininity and classic expressions of their womanhood are so inherent to them and have never been something to think about, they even make comments about being more brash/fun/outgoing than they seem & feeling underestimated in that way. so like 0 worry about seeming suspicious/passing.

Then u have the femme dykes like greta & carson & gracie whose classic femininity has lots of aspects that feel natural & true & fulfilling but also the layer of using it as a safety mechanism & being worried about it not being enough or being too much. so like knowing that parts of their femininity need to be deliberate and also knowing that there are stakes & it Can be questioned makes passing for them just as important, even if it is easier to pass

(also when u realize ur queer u learn that gender rolls are bullshit so u end up finding which ones fit you specifically, which ultimately affects your expression regardless of masc or femme)

i think that gracie & greta both love being high femme but also know that its safest that way & know how to protect those without that safety but Also still need to code switch to appease general society. they both feel confident & true as feminine but not complete without the queer parts of it.

Carson and max are sort of in between where they never questioned their femininity before & it came naturally to them but not in like a super enthusiastic way or in a way that they enjoyed. throughout the season we see them each incorporate aspects of masc style which felt right and also in turn made their feminine styles more considered, especially loved the futch moments of putting together parts of both.

then theres masc characters like lupe & jess & bert & jo... firstly i Love how varied their experiences are but r all so true to queer masculinity:

so jess has prob never had to pass or been asked to be anyone but who she is ever. like they have Def experienced queer hatred & bigotry but being raised on a farm with brothers near a city with a queer scene, she has prob never had to like put on makeup or anything until the peaches. then she quickly realizes how high the stakes are when that one girl gets kicked out for being too butch & she has to like barely squeeze by and force herself to pass.

Jo is obviously really used to passing and is very familiar with code switching & hiding parts of herself when she has to. like she just allows the uniform to have nothing to do with her personal style & just tolerates it until she can take it off. or in the charm school she just does it & gets it over with

with Lupe u can tell she has had to pass before, probably in a church setting, but she knows it takes a Lot of focus & effort to really pass. in the charm school shes like so tense & tries so hard & probably just barely flies under their radar. even when they're all walking around later she cant reel her focus back in.

then throughout the series we see them learn when they can get away with dressing masc and when they have to femme it up. like the scenes in a group when theyre out on the town, the more masc teammates still keep their mens shoes & wear toned down dresses & no handbag or hat. or going to the movies where jess is like regular mens clothes but lupe and jo are both dressed lightly femme (obvi jess figured she could get away with it in a dark theatre).

but this is when its important to have a character like Bert who will absolutely not compromise his identity for anyone else's comfort or even for his own safety. honest expression comes before anything

then in the queer bar scenes & the drinking at home scenes we get to see true expressions & authentic comfort & confidence and its like such a breath of fresh air. the actors did so good showing the difference & ease that comes with dressing truly

[once-upon-a-womens-soccer]

By the way, this is your daily reminder to go and watch A league of their own (2022) on amazon prime and give it great reviews on every site. This is the type of show we've been waiting for. It has great rep, great stories, a lot of gays and even great queer POC characters and we all know that this is a rarity.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

I just love that they took Max's storyline and really build it. She wasn't just an afterthought, she was a very important character with a very important storyline and i love how well they showed that she has to work ten times harder and longer to be in the same place where the white women are. I also love that they showed the passivity of white women in the show (something a lot of people still need to realize is very dangerous) - for example, that scene where Max told Carson that she didn't do shit when she was kicked out of try outs, is so important. Like, we see Carson the whole season that she's not racist towards Max or anyone for that matter and the show could've easily make a hero out of her for that but no, we see her naivety in the scene where Max is strying to buy crab for Clance and later we see the call out and we see that it's good that she's not discriminating but in the end it doesn't really matter, it's not enough. Also that scene with Lupe and Jess, where Jess says "I haven't really thought about it like that" and Lupe says something along the lines "you didn't have to"...

Also, Jo's story, the raid on the bar, everything that happens to those people there who are not able to blend in as well as the others and that's how they get the wors of it. How dangerous it is to be yourself but it's still better than dying inside everyday even though everything could be taken away from them in a second. Bert and his pain because he could actually listen to his sister and live a lie to keep his family but he refuses because that's absolutely wrong and it's no way to exist...

Gosh, the more i think about it, the more i appreciate it. Just please..go watch it people. It cannot get cancelled after one season.

[ladygayspanker]

Did I binge the lesbian baseball show with a wild mixture of nostalgia for the 90s version of the story and giddy excitement about just how gay this version was? YES!

I don't think I've ever seen butches represented in media as done in A League of Their Own! There's more than one! They're friends with each other! They're desirable! (Even those not white, not young, not skinny!)

I also love that the high femme characters are so recognizably queer (from the way they dress to how they interact with other women) not just "straight" women with same-sex love interests.

The series is doing so much so right that I wondered why I was even more invested?

... and it comes down to Carson's (and to a certain extent Max's) role as the protagonist (sorry!). That plot point reminds me so/too much of other queer series who chose the "newbie"/"I'm still figuring myself out"-character (see Jenny in The L Word, Piper in Orange is the New Black) to introduce the audiences to the world they wanna depict. Carson learning that the League is afraid of its players "looking like queers," Carson learning what a friend of Dorothy is, what butch is, what a queer bar looks like, that queer couples refer to their partners as wives. Max questioning why Bert would leave the house "like that," learning that house parties exist ... it seems sooo catered to audiences not familiar with that history. When most of "us" are! Give Uncle Bert's perspective on his family! Give me the beginning of Greta's and Jo's friendship! Give me the sexual exploits of Jess and Lupe! Give me queer characters' perspectives on a straight world - without justification and explanation!

I know it's a minor complaint about a show that has done so much so well; maybe I'm spoiled - but so what: in my dream version of this show, Carson is a side character, Maybelle gets more screen time, and audiences are thrown w/o safety instructions into the deep end of queer history (unless Vi and Clance want to explain things. They may explain racism, homophobia, and current events anytime!)

[sawyerconfort]

Could you do your First kiss with the Rockford peaches? (And max)

YAY! OF COURSE!

So, hope you guys are enjoying the ALOTO phase of the blog, I'm really excited and planning to post more about our girls, so please (I know I'm being annoying but...) ASK FOR PROMPTS OR PREFERENCES WITH THE PEACHES!

Ok, let's do a preference for anon!

I'm more excited than usual for this! Hope you liked it!

Got any requests? Ask me or comment in one of my last posts! I'll be glad to write for you guys!

Enjoy!

------

First Kiss with The Rockford Peaches (+ Max)...

W H A T H A P P E N S W H E N...

(Carson Shaw, Greta Gill, Maxine Chapman, Maybelle Fox, Jo de Luca, Lupe Garcia, Jess McCready, Esti Gonzales and Shirley Cohen)

--------------

Carson Shaw

Okay, so this was after a while when you guys met. Carson knew you had a crush on her, but she didn't push you to come out because she knew it was harder for you to own up to your feelings than it seemed.

Until one day, the two of you were talking, in the game's locker room. Being a baseball and Peaches fan, you held the ball out of your pocket toward her with a smile and a flushed face.

“Could you give me an autograph, Carson?” you whispered, embarrassed, hoping she could deny it.

But to her surprise, she didn't deny it. And she wrote on your ball.

Shortly afterwards, Mr. Baker came to call her.“Wait,” she asked, but not to him. "I need to do something before I leave..."

And, by surprise, Carson glued her lips to yours, catching you off guard.

“Sorry,” she whispered before leaving, with a goofy little smile and a redder face than you did when you asked her to give you an autograph.

And of course she left you wanting more.

Greta Gill

It happened at the bar. The two of you were talking, in a moment so beautiful that probably no one would dare to interfere. And they were a little drunk, of course, because who ever? But they were sober enough to know what they were doing.

And you were in an uproar because you agreed to go out with Greta Gill. All the men and women were completely envying you now, that's for sure.

Greta's laugh woke you from your thoughts. “Oh, I love this song!”

It was some jazz playing in the back of the bar, but since you couldn't risk missing this opportunity, he quickly got up from the stool he was sitting on and extended his hand towards her. "Do me the honor of this dance, Miss Gill?"

Greta smiled again. “With pleasure, Miss (Y\L\N).”

The two of you got up from the stools and started twirling around the room, in time with the jazz. At one point, Greta's eyes were getting lost in you and leaving you disconcerted.

“God, I don't think I've ever laughed as hard in my entire life as I do today,” she whispered, giving you huge shivers. “It's all because of you, (Y\N).”

"Me? No...", you laughed to yourself. "I'm not that special, Greta."

Suddenly, she touched her chin with her index finger and pulled it up. “And who said no?” she whispered. "There has to be some reason I couldn't take my eyes off you, so if you're not special..."

You were going to open your mouth, but she silenced you quickly. And then she glued her lips to yours, not hesitating for a minute, still continuing to twirl you around the bar.

That wasn't your only kiss, not that night. And not in the others.

Maxine Chapman

You and Max had agreed to go on a date at the movies. It was your first date, even though you had known each other for a while and had a strong friendship. And you had just agreed to watch The Wizard of Oz. You had it as a favorite movie and you wanted to see it every day.

It was fun hanging out with Max. Until she started taking the movie too seriously...

“She just wants to go home.” she whimpered. "But she can't."

“Max”, you smiled, turning to her. "It's just a movie, there's nothing."

“It's not just a movie, (Y\NN). It's a reality..." she muttered philosophically.

You laughed and got closer to her, taking the opportunity to steal some of her popcorn. She didn't seem to mind, she was busy wiping away tears. So you just stretched out your fingers and wiped away her tears, touching your fingers to hers.

"You're so deep... but I think that's amazing about you...", you whispered, and for the first time she looked you right in the eye. “I think everything about you is amazing.”

“Can I, like… kiss you?”, she whispered, very close to your lips. "Lights are out, no one will see us, I promise."

You didn't wait for her to finish. She pressed her lips to hers like there was no tomorrow. And Max stopped crying to focus on the buttered popcorn-flavored kiss, which was the best she'd ever tasted.

Maybelle Fox

As Beverly's only living relative, you used to accompany her as a chaperone to Peaches training. It wasn't intimidating for you to watch girls play baseball, and not see your mother giving orders all the time.

The only thing that could make you nervous on the field was a short blonde with dark eyes.

You tried not to think about Maybelle in the final moments of the game. She was disappearing into the massive silhouettes of her teammates, so it was very easy to get her out of your focus. Until the ball was hit at a huge height and practically shot through the air very quickly.

The crowd's eyes widened and you imitated them nervously. Suddenly, the ball hit a huge, fuzzy brown glove in the hands of someone strangely small. And the crowd went crazy in the stands.

It took a long time for you to realize that Maybelle had managed to hold the ball and ensured her team's victory. The girls went to celebrate with their teammates and then formed a huge circle around you and Beverly, who ran to hug them.

“We did it, (Y\NN), I did it!” Maybelle yelled, running towards you in those little shoes. “I got the ball and I got the ball for you! I defended in honor of you!” "What-"

You were interrupted by Maybelle's soft lips clinging to yours. You didn't even have time to react, because it was a surprise kiss that upset your heart and only made you think about reciprocating as much as possible.

When she parted, she was blushing and looking down.

"Oops...", she muttered, smiling slightly.

You gave a silly smile, feeling your cheeks burning, and did the first thing that came to your mind. He grabbed her by the feet and twirled Maybelle through the air, in a chorus of giggles that ended with more cute, adorable kisses.

If every Peaches win was like this, you'd be in profit...

Jo de Luca

You were competing for darts at the bar. And Jo was determined to win. But the gamble had been a little different this time: every time you got it right, you had to kiss each other. Jo didn't know how she'd gone along with the idea of you, but she did, having nothing to lose.

"Alright, you cunning fox, it's game time...", she whispered, very close to your ear, ready to distract you. “If you're over fifty, I'll kiss you. If not…you will be without a prize.”

You closed your eyes, rolling them to pay more attention. And he threw the dart with all his might. He dropped to exactly sixty points. And Jo's eyes widened.

“It's not possible!” she cried, shocked. “NOBODY WINS FROM JO DE LUCA! NOBODY! I've been training darts since I was eight!”

"Shut up! Accept that you lost!” you yelled, grimacing.

“Fine, then, shut up,” she whispered, and you bit your lip.

When your lips touched Jo's, she knew she couldn't stop. And she let you prolong the peck for a real kiss. Your eyes closed in reflex, and when they parted, both your lungs failed to breathe.

“God…” you whispered, shocked. “It was better than I imagined.”

"I think I want to play again...", she muttered, giving a sneer.

Lupe Garcia

Lupe couldn't stop looking at you. You were in the stands of a special and important game and it looked like you had been sent as a lucky charm. The Pitcher was getting excited by her presence and was hitting every ball that threw her.

When the game was finally over, and the Peaches still lost, she went to talk to you outside the Peaches House.

"Hey, stranger..." she whispered, close to your ear.

“Lupe!” you blushed. “Hey, it was... it was a good game, it's the first game I've watched and honestly you guys have great potential...”

"I hate to be too modest, but..." she smiled, clearly flirting. “But we only won because you were there. And I couldn't stop looking at you for a minute. You were like... like my good luck charm, you know? Not mine, but a charm...”

You smiled, shrugging your shoulders. “You know how to make small talk, eh, Pitcher?”

She smiled and lowered her head, biting her lip. “I could teach you my techniques…one day, when you, and if you agree to go out with me…,” she whispered. “A simple date, nothing fancy, I don't like it. Something like a bar, a pizza, a simple baseball game from another team...”

You smiled again. “I don't think it's a bad idea...”

Lupe winked at you, giving you a suggestive smile. And then she tucked the ball into her huge, fluffy glove before whispering in her ear, in Spanish, “Eres una de las chicas más hermosas que he conocido.”

And then, before leaving you in the clouds, Lupe gave you a quick peck.

Jess McCready

“Come on, (Y\N), truth or dare?”

“You look like a bunch of eleven-year-olds!”

It was true. The Peaches used to play games before baseball, but they had never been on a spree of asking each other questions and challenges, and you were sick of it.

“I didn’t get it, (Y\L\N), truth or dare?”, Greta repeated, teasing you.

“Truth, Gill,” you muttered, looking around at all the girls, waiting for some suspicious response or reaction. Carson laughed and leaned over to whisper something in Greta's ear, but she already had something on her mind. "It didn't take me this long to decide, Greta, and I didn't even need someone to guide me!"

Greta glared at you, then whispered, at the top of her lungs,

“Of all of us,” she pointed to the wheel. “Would you hook up with one of us and why would you hook up with that person?”

It was her turn to glare at Greta. She knew too much.

"Alright, alright..." You raised your hands in surrender. “Honestly, I would pick Jess. Because I think she's cool and pretty."

The girls' screams echoed through the locker room, and Ana even ruffled Jess's hat as she stared at you, shocked, giving a disbelief laugh.

“Wait a fucking minute,” she yelled, looking into his eyes. “Is this serious?”

You shrugged and leaned forward in order to surprise her with a kiss. Jess's eyes widened, but she responded without fear.

And the girls screamed even more in the background, just not to lose the habit.

Esti Gonzales

“Esti, what happened? Why are you crying?"

Esti lifted her head to face you, and a few small tears escaped her eyes. "Wanted... cinema...", she replied, still slurred with English, but willing to make you understand what she meant.

The Rockford Peaches girls had gone to the movies once again. And Lupe had said she couldn't go because of her broken English, because people would never understand what Esti meant.

You smiled, sighing and sitting down next to her. “Hey…” you whispered. “It's okay, seriously. One day you will be able to go to the movies.”

She sniffed. "I will not go..."

“I'll take you, I promise,” you replied, sticking out your pinky. “It's a pinky promise, it can't be broken.” You lifted her pinky finger and placed it next to yours. "Don't cry, Esti, honey, you're doing fine..."

She smiled, and took your face with both hands. "You're one of the nicest people I've ever met, (Y\NN)..."

And then, she surprisingly gave you a peck.

Shirley Cohen

“Shirl?”

You surprised her with a huge leap when she appeared at the bedroom door. She turned to you with wide eyes. "It's going to scare me to death one day, (Y\NN), I swear to God that-"

You chuckled derisively. “Now do you eat canned food?”

Her eyes scanned the room and found the cans scattered across the bed and on the table where the lamp was. Shirley shrugged. You waited for her to answer, patiently.

"I'm trying new things..." she whispered. “I'm tired of thinking that everything is wrong or that everything is wrong. It's time to innovate.”

“I enjoyed seeing it,” you smiled proudly. “And what is missing now?”

"One thing only...", she whispered, a little tense.

And by surprise, she pressed her lips to yours. And separated them in a few seconds. And she looked at you with her eyes still wide, while you smiled. I wasn't going to talk aloud about your crush on her, but it would probably come out and you would speak up when you could.

"God! What did I do?” Shirley asked.

“You kissed me!” you said, loud enough.

She pursed her lips. "I did? Ah..." and then, she smiled. "It was good. It was better than kissing a man, really. But I never kissed any man.”