#queer nepali

[celluloidrainbow]

सुनगाभा | SOONGAVA (2012) dir. Subarna Thapa Independent and strong-willed Diya, now 22 years of age, is training to be a traditional Nepalese dancer. She forms a deep escalating friendship with another dance pupil, Kiran. Her feelings clearly border on physical desire, and she is desolate when her parents find a suitable man for her to marry. Meanwhile, her closeness to Kiran becomes passionate and they become lovers. Diya breaks off her engagement. The two young women decide to live together, but the open avowal of their relationship exposes them to ridicule and alienation. (link in title)

[laranjafox]

• Meera The Tales of Life (2022) [+16] [np] [47min] #sapphicfox

[comments; no spoiler]

If you like to watch movies from different countries and/or from independent producers I recommend watching this one. Is it extraordinary? No, but for me the narrative mode is unusual, the story is told through a collection of moments, it's not a continuous storyline, there are a few dialogs, no narrator nor connection elements, it's like blocks of events.

[light spoiler]

I really liked the subtletly of how they portrayed the interest, the looks, the flirting and the passion during Meera's stay at the resort. I've got to say that I didn't expect to the actresses to have much skinship, much less that they'd kiss, even less that it'd have a bed scene, after the kiss I didn't get shocked anymore lol I'm like that because I watched productions from Myanmar, that is in the near region, and the stories were tragic and there was no skinship, just the fact of being gay (they were acquillean stories), so I was expecting something in the same vibe given that Nepal is a smaller country, I dunno, random concepts my mind created lol

[spoiler]

Well, enjoyed watching the movie, but it left me with questions, did Meera divorce Amar (not sure if that's the husband's name)? She got pregnant by her husband or she adopted a child? Why Anshu doesn't show up in the present? For this, I remembered the first scene where Meera was talking to the child about the pink ball, it was blurred but there was three adults, so... the husband welcomed Anshu? He thought of her as a solution to the pregnancy problem, like she'd make Meera happier and then *pop* a baby? Or he's totally okay about it? I wanted to know that. Also, when Amar argued with Meera about something, that she didn't respect him, what was that about? At first I thought she was breaking up with him, then I thought he found out about her affair, then I wondered if it was because Meera was sheltering Anshu at their home, oh speaking of that I found pretty sensitive the portrait of a rape case, given that there's an expressive data about that involving queer women, an aspect that only other feminine person comprehends well.

A movie by Anita Pandit.

[raptorfae53]

Abbey Bominable redesign-thingy...

My first monster high art in quite a while and my first in colour, anyways about Abbey:

My design of Abbey is sort of a mix between what I liked from g1 and g3 as well as a smattering of personal ilks which bleed into her personality. For example Abbey being a Nepali Sherpa who is from a reasonably remote lil town in the himalayas, and is unused to the hustle and bustle of urban America, couple that with the self awareness and awkwardness typical of teens and an inexperience with spoken english and you have someone who initially feels she can't fit in amongst her peers regardless of being an 8 feet tall, ice magic-capable Yeti,typecast as a stonefaced monolith of a girl. However upon a few classmates getting to know the actual Abbey, Abbey in turn learns and is reassured by the fact that she's not the only one who feels this way at times, with her classmates and eventual boyfriend Heath Burns (himself feeling the burn of being typecast) learning in turn under the ice lies a sweet and caring girl.

My idea with this piece is that Abbey,being from a mountain town in the middle of the cold himalayas has never quite had the opportunity to wear summer clothes that don't have more than a few layers, but unfortunately a lot of the stuff found in the US where she's studying doesn't quite fit her 8 and a half foot frame very well, so she and a few of her friends have taken to modifying some of her existing stuff for the hot weather instead, like this Chupa (the Himalayan dress shes wearing) altered into a two piece top and skirt here.

(For the record here are some examples of Chupa both simple and elaborate I used as reference for this piece:)

I've also done some designs for heath and clawdeen too, I'm not used to drawing curly hair but Im very proud with how clawdeens 'do turned out.

Also since its already halfway through it all, Happy pride month, I've been wanting to do a pride piece but I'm not quite sure what exactly I should do exactly and what thing I should do it for, although since I'm on a monster high roll recently maybe I should do one for some of my admittedly very queer versions of the characters seen here... 🌈

[dear-indies]

Hi! I was hoping you could share your fave fcs from ages 50-70? If they have resources that's awesome, but if not I can work with that too! 💜 Tysm!!

Those that have spoken up for Palestine, bolded have resources!

Juliet Stevenson (1956)

Peter Capaldi (1958)

Shobu Kapoor (1961) Indian.

Kamel El Basha (1962) Palestinian.

Sabrina Ferilli (1964)

John Cusack (1966)

Cynthia Nixon (1966) - is queer.

Michael Greyeyes (1967) Plains Cree.

Benedict Wong (1971) Hongkonger.

Waleed Zuaiter (1971) Palestinian.

Gabrielle Union (1972) African-American.

Poorna Jagannathan (1972) Indian.

Haifa Wehbe (1972) Egyptian / Lebanese.

Omar Metwally (1974) Egyptian / White.

Maxine Peake (1974) - is queer.

Tobias Menzies (1974)

Itziar Ituño (1974)

Mahershala Ali (1974) African-American.

also:

Lindsay Duncan (1950)

Luis Guzmán (1956) Puerto Rican.

Kristin Scott Thomas (1960)

Elaine Miles (1960) Cayuse and Nez Perce.

Michelle Yeoh (1962) Chinese Malaysian.

Rena Owen (1962) Ngāti Hine and White.

Alexandra Billings (1962) European, African-American, Unspecified Native American - is a trans woman.

Ming-Na Wen (1963) Macanese, part Malaysian.

Anna Chancellor (1965)

Steve Toussaint (1965) Afro Barbadian.

Michael Imperioli (1966)

Zahn McClarnon (1966) Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux and Irish.

Jason Scott Lee (1966) Kānaka Maoli and Chinese.

Diana Lee Inosanto (1966) Filipino, Irish, Chinese, Spanish, and French.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (1967) Nigerian.

D.B. Woodside (1967) African-American.

Byron Mann (1967) Hongkonger.

Kelly Hu (1968) Kānaka Maoli, Chinese, White.

Lucy Liu (1968) Chinese.

Daniel Craig (1968)

Ángeles Cruz (1969) Mexican [Mixtec].

Naveen Andrews (1969) Malayali Indian.

Benjamin Bratt (1963) Peruvian [Quechua] / White.

Aaron Pedersen (1970) Arrernte and Arabana.

Lee Byung-hun (1970) Korean.

Manisha Koirala (1970) Nepali.

Eve Best (1971)

Will Yun Lee (1971) Korean.

Daniel Sunjata (1971) African-American, Irish, German.

Rick Yune (1971) Korean.

Carla Gugino (1971)

Sandra Oh (1971) Korean.

Deborah Mailman (1972) Te Arawa, Ngāti Porou, Bidjara.

Arjun Rampal (1972) North Indian and Dutch.

Khary Payton (1972) African-American.

John Cho (1972) Korean.

Adam Beach (1972) 7/8 Saulteaux and 1/8 Icelander.

Idris Elba (1972) Sierra Leonean / Ghanaian.

Clemens Schick (1972)

Laverne Cox (1972) African-American - is trans.

Andrew Lincoln (1973)

Kim Seo-hyung (1973) Korean.

Adrian Holmes (1974) African-American.

Sendhil Ramamurthy (1974) Kannada and Tamil Indian.

I'd also consider checking out my age diversity tag too!

[in-the-red-notebook]

Junior Survey

first two are new-ish images I think I'm going to include in the final. I have a transparency of my grandpa that I also am considering including, but I forgot it in the non-silver lab. The rest are images I've already shown but I toned some of them. Ignore the little objects in the corners of some of the images, the photos were just too curled to see.

Again trying to provide some more context around my project with the new photos. Toned the images so the brown ones are from my own perspective and blue ones to be more of a criticism of the West. The criticisms are on the left where the middle finger is more readable, right side is more images that bring me comfort. The text accompanying the painting was written by my brother when my grandpa died. He was a diplomat and lived with us when I was growing up. I think he's an important part of why I try to create representation for Nepali people.

Artist Statement:

Through my work I create a personal narrative that is tied to my identity as a queer Nepali artist living in the Western world. Growing up mainly in the Midwest and always being a minority left people questioning my gender, race, ethnicity,  and overall existence. After having so many questions aimed at myself,  I aim to shift the narrative back onto the audience: white supremacy. Utilizing image and word I create a sense of confrontation invoking curiosity surrounding context and intention. The audience is left questioning themselves and their own knowledge surrounding queerness and South-Asian identities, something that is largely forgotten, erased, or ignored, in a way that demands acknowledgement and thoughtfulness. 

The collage-like installations mimic the spread of bedroom walls, generally the only sanctuary people who feel isolated in their identities have to explore themselves and their interests without being judged. Creating collages in my own bedroom walls surrounding my interests was a common practice while moving from state to state while growing up. This also sparked an interest in creating drawings and paintings to hang up. The work most commonly consists of digital photographs relating to my own personality and identity growing up in a digital age, while also utilizing cyanotypes and other more dated modes of working to reflect the lasting sentiments found in the work.  The work is inspired by the likes of: Baseera Khan, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Deanna Lawson.

-june

[brunelsblog]

[Image: Showing Queering the Map entry of a Palestinian lesbian from Gaza]

[Transcription: When I came out as a lesbian and posted it on Twitter, I had some homophobic arab men tag the IDF on my account and say I deserved to be bombed by them. Having grown up in London, I've also been told by some queer people that Palestinians deserve to be bombed because they are less accepting than Isrealis on the lgbt people. Decided to pin this here because it's the place I'm supposed to be in, not in a refugee camp. End transcription.]

Hard fucking emphasis on the last sentence. As a queer Nepali, every account of Queer Palestinians that I come across breaks my heart, not only because it speaks to the loneliness of being rejected both at home and by the international community at large, but also because it reminds me of the thousands of other stories that will never be told -- that are now forever under the rubble -- simply because there was never any audience for them. The dehumanization of Palestinians by the media has made it so that it never even occurs to most people that someone can be both queer and Palestinian at the same time. It never occurs to them that Palestinians do not just live a binary existence of casualty/not-dead-yet or that the numbers you see on the screen are actual people who led and many who continue to lead lives with rich experiences, who loved and were loved by someone just the same as anyone anywhere.

Any "liberal" who is not calling for an immediate ceasefire can fuck right off. You are not and have never been an ally to queer liberation. To those who are, please make sure to continue to actively look for, save and share these accounts of Queer Palestinians, when they do emerge, as far and wide as you can because no one else is going to. The media sure as hell won't. You are alone. We are alone together with Queer Palestinians.

[makingqueerhistory]

WE ARE QUEER: VISUAL ARCHIVE PROJECT ​

For the world, for our families, for our friends, we have always been a subject of curiosity, bullying, and harassment. But we are sick of this. We, Queer people, are sick of complying with the rules, the social fabric and the society, that can’t see us happy, that can’t see us in love, that can’t see us living our life, the way we want to.

For almost two decades, Nepali queer people have been fighting for equal rights, regardless of the fact that that society and the country have always made them, migrant to their own home. They have been silenced, beaten, harassed, and even killed. They faced discrimination and humiliation from their friends, families, society and the state. But still, nothing has stopped them. Their determination and perseverance are exemplary, and not only are they marching the flags for themselves, but they are definitely making things easy for the future generation as well. To honour those people who have been fighting for equality, both on the frontline or in silent wars against queerphobia, we the team of Kaalo.101, initiated this visual archive project, WE ARE QUEER for this year’s Pride month.

The archive project is a documentation of Nepal’s queer movement, celebrating both small and big wins. It primarily is an online visual archive and showcases pictures of queer people, their struggles, their celebrations and many more.

With our collaborative effort, we hope to be successful in this project and hold space  for discourses and create platforms for archiving queer history.

[tlaquetzqui]

Assuming a character is queer, without it explicitly being stated, is kinda like assuming a manga character is Christian—in both cases you’re assigning them to a minuscule percent of the population, based on wishful thinking, not to say fucking pareidolia.

Just saw someone really say it was legitimate to complain that there were too few black people in the Monkey King Soulsborne game. A game based on a story where most of the characters aren’t any kind of human, and the only non-Chinese human character of any prominence is, in modern terms, Nepali: the Shakyamuni Buddha.

Not everything needs to be about you for you to enjoy it. Imagine if we Slavs had to see ourselves positively represented in fiction, in order to enjoy it. We’d be fans of Stargate Atlantis (Dr. Radek Zalenka) and pretty much fuck-all else.

Just saw someone posting a pic from Shadow House were Patrick gives Emilico a bouquet of roses and tagged it "lesbian Patrick". This is the same comic where Ricky is embarrassed about his crush on on a girl (living dolls aren't supposed to have any feelings), and a fan took this as evidence of him being a trans girl. The same comic where multiple people head canon Patrick--who is the first character to internally admit his love for a girl, and then gets embroiled with another girl (it's complicated ;-;), and whose soot power literally manifests as hearts shooting out of him --and multiple people headcanon this guy as aromantic.

You know, maybe we DO need a straight awareness day?

[r3adingr00m]

An early excerpt from Between Queens and the Cities that resonated deeply with me. I read the book in about two or three hours, in one fell go. There are no universal stories, and I think Niranjan recognizes this. Happy that this book is on the scene, appreciative of Niranjan’s courage, and excited for the works and stories that will follow this one.

[writingwithcolor]

Being an Agender, 1st-Gen Indian-American

I’m a first-generation immigrant, with both my parents being Indian immigrants. My mom immigrated to Canada before she came to America (when she was in her late twenties), and is a Canadian citizen. She was born and raised in Ahmedabad, a city in Gujarat. My dad moved to India when he was in his early twenties. He moved from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in his fifth standard, and moved from a Gujarati-medium school to an English-medium one. 

My dad is more fluent in English than my mom, though they both are fluent and speak mostly without an accent. I speak Gujarati more-or-less fluently, since that’s what we spoke at home, but I can barely even write my name. I’m Hindu, as is my family, and a strict vegetarian. I’m agender, but I use she/her and they/them pronouns. 

Beauty Standards

One of the biggest issues in the Indian-American community is the issue of body hair. I’m AFAB, so I was expected to have smooth, hairless legs and arms. The reality was rather different. Since the age of ten, I had more body hair than the boys in my class. I was mocked and called by the name of a TV animal character, whose name was a mispronunciation of my own. No one ever did anything about it. I was eight. My mother, though she meant well, pushed me into waxing and threading and other forms of hair removal since the day I turned eleven. Even now, as a fully-grown adult with my own apartment and my own life, I can’t bring myself to wear shorts or capris without having spent hours making sure my legs are smooth. Body hair is a huge issue that needs to be addressed more, and not just as a few wisps of blonde hair in the armpit region.

Food

It’s complicated. Growing up, we had thaalis (with roti, rice, sweet dal, and shaak [which is a mix of vegetables and spices]) for dinner almost every night. When we didn’t, it was supplemented with foods like pasta, veggie burgers, and khichdi. We made different types of khichdi each time, based off of different familial recipes that were all named after the family member who introduced them. My mom had to make milder food for my sister, and while my sister loves spicy foods now, I’m still not a big fan. A side effect of growing up in a non-white, vegetarian family is that no one in my family has any idea of what white non-vegetarians eat. Like, at all. It’s kind of funny, to be honest. 

Holidays/Religion

My mom is a Vaishnav, and my dad is a Brahmin, so the way they both worship is very different. My dad’s family places a huge emphasis on chanting and prayer, as well as meditation. They mostly pray to capital-G G-d, as the metaphysical embodiment of Grace. My mom’s family, however, places emphasis on– I don’t want to say “idol worship" because of the negative connotations that has– but they worship to murtis, statues that represent our gods. My mom’s favored god to pray to is Krishna, and we have murtis in our home that she performs sevato every day.

We celebrate Janmashtmi, Holi, Diwali, Ganesha Puja, Lakshmi Puja– too many to count, really. We don’t always go all-out, especially on most of the smaller celebrations, but we do try and attend the temple lectures on those days, or host our own. We also celebrate Christmas and Easter secularly. I didn’t even know Christmas was a Christian holiday until I was in elementary school, and Easter until I was in high school.

Micro-Aggressions

Whooo, boy. Where do I start?

When my sister was in first grade, she had a friend. I’ll call her Mary. Mary, upon learning that my sister was not, in fact, Christian, brought an entire Bible to school and forced my sister to read it during recess, saying that otherwise, she wouldn’t be her friend anymore. Mary kept telling my sister that she would go to hell if she didn’t repent, and that our entire family was a group of “ugly sinners.” When my sister came to me for advice, I told her that Mary wasn’t her friend, that Mary wasn’t being nice, and that my sister wasn’t going to go to hell, and that we don’t even believe in hell. When my sister finally stood up to Mary and told her that she wasn’t going to listen to her anymore, Mary got angry and dumped a mini-carton of chocolate milk on her and told her that “now she looks like what she is– a dirty [the Roma slur term].” Not only was that inaccurate, it was extremely racist, and Mary was only reprimanded for the milk-spilling, not the racist remark that came with it. 

On top of that, since I have long hair, I’m always getting asked if so-and-so can touch it, or what I do to get it so long, or why I allow myself to be “shaped by such backwards ideals of women.” My name is never pronounced correctly, and I’ve been asked to give people my “American name” to be called by instead of my actual name. I’ve been called a terrorist, asked why I wasn’t wearing a hijab (by white people btw), and mocked for my food. I’ve been told that I wasn’t “really Indian” because I didn’t have a dot on my forehead. I’ve been told I wasn’t “really Hindu” because I had milk on my plate, by a white boy whose mom was a leader of a local choir.

I grew up in a town where only 4-5% of the population was South Asian, and there were a total of five South Asians in my grade level. The school administration consistently and intentionally placed us in different classes, and I never made a friend that was South Asian until 7th grade. When I came to the school, I was placed in ESOL without even being tested, while also being in the Advanced Readers class. The school didn’t even care to look at my school records before placing me into ESOL based on the color of my skin. 

Things I’d Like to See Less/More Of

I’d like to see less of the “nerd” stereotype, of the “weak, nonathletic” stereotype. I’d like to see less of the “prude” stereotype, of the “I hate my culture/feel I don’t belong” stereotype. I’d like to see less of the “rebellion” stereotype, of the “my parents are so strict and I hate them” stereotype. I never want to see the “unwanted arranged marriage” trope. Ever.

I want to see bulky, tall Indian characters. I’d like to see Indian characters confident in their sexuality, whether that’s not having sex (for LEGITIMATE reasons like risk of STDs, general awkwardness before and after The Deed, and wanting to wait, not “oh my parents said so and also I’m sheltered and innocent”), or having a new sexual partner every night.

I want Indian characters (especially children/teens!!!) proud of their culture and their heritage and their religion, whether that’s Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, or anything else. I want to see supportive Indian parents, I want to see more than chiding Indian grandmothers and strict Indian fathers. I want to see healthy arranged marriages, or healthy mixed-marriages. I want to see mixed Indian-POC couples, I want to see queer Indian couples.

I want to see body hair on female-presenting characters, I want to see more of India that isn’t “bustling market with the scent of spices in the air” and “poor slums rampant with disease” and “Taj Mahal”. I want to see casual mentions of prayer and Hinduism and Indian culture (a short “My mom’s at the temple, she can’t come pick us up” or a “what is it? i’m in the middle of a holi fight! eep! ugh, gulaab in my mouth” over a phone call, or a “she won’t answer until 12– she’s in her Bharatnatyam class/Gurukul class/doing seva/at the temple” would suffice). I want to see more Indian languages represented than just Hindi. There’s Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Nepali, and Kashmiri, just off the top of my head. The language your character speaks depends on the place they come from in India, and they might not even speak Hindi! (I don’t!)

I hate that Indian culture is reduced to “oppressive, strict, and prudish” when it's so much more than that. I hate that Indians are stereotyped to the point where it is a norm, and the companies reinforcing these stereotypes don’t take responsibility for their actions and don’t change. I hate the appropriation of Indian culture (like yoga, pronounced “yogh”, not “yo-gaaa” fyi, the Om symbol, meditation, and Shri Ganapathidada) and how normalized it is in Western society. 

This ended up a lot longer than I had expected, but I hope it helps! Good luck with your writing :)

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[joyland2022]

there's something kind of comforting and alienating if you're not from one of the big asian diasporas, having to absorb adjacent stories rather than the real thing. because there's almost no books available by nepali immigrant authors, particularly women/queer people, it's enough to find authors that grew up in similar cultural attitudes

[dear-indies]

hi! just found out sophia taylor ali is a zionist as I read in the list so I was wondering if you knew any similar fc with enough resources so I can replace her?

Ellora Torchia (1992) Pakistani / White - has spoken up for Palestine!

Tahirah Sharif (1993) Pakistani / Jamaican.

Alina Khan (1998) Pakistani - is trans.

and then:

Seychelle Gabriel (1991) part Mexican - has spoken up for Sudan and Palestine!

Sarah Kameela Impey (1991) Indo-Guyanese / White - has spoken up for Palestine!

Kiana Madeira (1992) Black Canadian, Unspecified First Nations, Portuguese, Irish.

Anna Shaffer (1992) Black and White / Jewish - has spoken up for Palestine!

Devery Jacobs (1993) Mohawk - is queer - has spoken up for Palestine!

Medalion Rahimi (1992) Iranian and Iranian Jewish - uses she/they - has spoken up for Palestine!

Mina El Hammani (1993) Moroccan - has spoken up for Palestine!

Yalitza Aparicio (1993) Mexican [Mixtec and Triqui].

Natasha Liu Bordizzo (1994) Chinese / White.

Frankie Adams (1994) Samoan.

Jasmin Savoy Brown (1994) African-American / White - is queer - has spoken up for Palestine!

Jaz Sinclair (1994) African-American / White.

Taylor Russell (1994) Black Canadian / White.

Jessie Mei Li (1995) Hongkonger / White - is a gender non-conforming woman who uses she/they - has spoken up for Palestine!

Ambika Mod (1995) Indian - has spoken up for Palestine!

Maddison Jaizani (1995) Iranian / White.

Geraldine Viswanathan (1995) Tamil / White.

Anya Chalotra (1996) Indian / White.

Tati Gabrielle (1996) African-American, 1/4 Korean.

Blu Hunt (1996) Oglala Lakota, Apache, White - is queer.

Courtney Eaton (1996) Chinese, Cook Islander Māori / White,

Amita Suman (1997) Nepali.

Alaqua Cox (1997) Menominee, Mohican - is deaf and an amputee.

Sisi Stringer (1997) African Australian - has spoken up for Palestine!

Leem Lubany (1997) Palestinian.

Amber Midthunder (1997) Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux, Hudeshabina Nakoda Sioux, Sissiton-Wahpeton Oyate Dakota Sioux, Norwegian / Chinese, English.

Sydney Park (1997) African-American / Korean.

Rhianne Barreto (1998) Indian and Portuguese.

Banita Sandhu (1998) Punjabi.

Of course! She has resources where she looks alt/grunge and also her The Wild packs so I've given suggestions for both.

[beautifulbizarremagazine]

"In these images, I am dressed head to toe in traditional Nepali clothing along with pieces of jewelry that connect me to my roots." Queerness is everywhere and a connection between people beyond borders. Abhigyan Shyangden Tamang (@abhigyan__tamang) became a queer icon in South Asia after publishing their work in @vogueindia . They are known for reclaiming indigenous traditions and connect as a queer person with their communities. Photographer: @19_ninanabbay posted on Instagram - https://instagr.am/p/CRBPEL1hE9f/

[ofherlionheart]

reasonable bedtime is an excellent priority; thank u for answering!!! listening to AAPI artists in a mini identity crisis is also hugely relatable n prob a huge part of why the boo chronicles speaks 2 me so strongly. def gonna check out ur music recs!

omg of course!! can i take this as an excuse to blab more abt AAPI musicians?? i love gassing up AAPI creators who don’t even know me lmfao. artist names will link to youtube vids of specific songs b/c im nothing if not comprehensive

we all know by now that i never shut up abt AUDREY NUNA but it’s honestly thanks to REI AMI that i ever awakened to the fact that there are folks from my community who are making mind-blowing, sometimes unhinged music. both audrey and rei are korean american; rei was born in korea and immigrated to the US when she was p young. they’re also both in the“anti-pop” category—lots of pop and r&b influences, but not quite either of those genres. another anti-pop baby is curtis waters, who’s a nepal-born, germany/canada-raised nepali-canadian.

keshi is vietnamese-american, born and raised in texas in a primarily chinese community, iirc. mega softboi/fuccboi vibes, but in a way that slaps. he’s collabed with rei brown, who’s japanese-american. and when i think of keshi’s slower/softer songs, i also think of sylo nozra (korean-canadian), luke chiang, and this lovely collab (dane amar, who’s laotian-american, and jereena montemayor, who’s filipina).

i love charli xcx, who’s mixed indian and scottish, b/c she goes off the rails like audrey and rei but usually in a dance-y major key. rina sawayama (japanese-british) does both, and she’s queer! yaeji, a korean-american DJ, also does dance/electronic. similarly upbeat vibe to these three is priya ragu, who’s tamil-swiss.

more incredible mixed women: saweetie, who’s Black-filipina-chinese. im obsessed with this collab saweetie did w/ jhené aiko, who’s also mixed. and then jhené did this collab with H.E.R., who’s Black-filipina and another incred artist in her own right. UMI is Black-japanese and delivers some of the sweetest, softest songs. tsunari is a uk-born, thailand-raised, thai-british-trinidadian artist—her stuff is transcendental.

for more rap/hip-hop/r&b: bohan phoenix (chinese-american), brb. (singaporean), agust d (korean), kris wu (chinese-canadian)

uh uh more indie/alt/bedroom pop artists: spill tab (french-korean), SASAMI (korean-japanese-american), DADARAY (japanese—their bassist was on terrace house: opening new doors), japanese breakfast (who’s the mixed korean-white american author of crying in h-mart, which was recently expanded into a full memoir), olivia rodrigo (mixed filipina-white)

and this is all, like, a sampler. there is so much fantastic music out there by aapi artists!! if links like this are annoying (lol), check out spotify’s jasmine, dope af, and aapi pride playlists.

[political-fluffle]

Every time a Republican is in the White House, women across the world face the devastating impact of the US's ban on discussing abortion in exchange for aid.

KATHMANDU, Nepal — On Wednesdays and Fridays, Shikha Sharma was banned from saying the word “abortion” out loud.

This makes things pretty tricky for her, because Sharma is the go-to person for everything young Nepalis want to know about sex but are too afraid to ask.

As the host of a popular late-night radio show, Sharma, 33, takes questions from across the country about consent, queerness, safe sex, sexual taboos, and social mores. Listeners of her show, Khuldulee.com — Curiosity.com in English — can call for free or send her questions via the show’s Facebook page. Sometimes they even track down her personal number for questions or to write messages that simply say, “thank you for your advice :)”

“The most common type of distress calls I get are from young people who’ve had unprotected sex,” said Sharma, who has hosted the show for 12 years. “They’re scared about getting pregnant but stop short of asking where and how to get an abortion, because most of them aren’t aware that there are free abortion clinics in Nepal.”

Sharma’s job became particularly difficult in 2017, when her station bosses first told her that, for two days a week, she wasn’t allowed to say the word, let alone discuss, abortion.

The reason? Donald Trump — and the Republican Party.

That’s because, shortly after Trump was elected, he activated the “global gag rule” (GGR), banning US funding of foreign NGOs that provide abortion counseling or referrals. For a country like Nepal, where the health care sector relies heavily on US aid, the effects were always going to be catastrophic for women’s health, but no one was quite sure just how bad things would get. (...)

In one of his first acts in office, Trump sat triumphant — in a room full of men — and signed the executive order that reinstated the policy, marking a break from the Obama years. Two years later, having renamed the Mexico City policy to the friendlier-sounding Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, he went further than any Republican president before him. Under Trump’s expanded policy, which NGOs scrambled to understand the implications of, foreign NGOs that receive aid from the US could no longer even use their own, non-US funds to refer patients to places that provide safe abortions. In fact, if they even mention abortion as part of their counseling or education programs, they and any other local health care organizations they might support could lose their funds too. The expanded rule has closed off entire networks of grassroots health workers — who need aid money the most — from doing abortion-related counseling, effectively choking off smaller civil society efforts that wish to help women but lack the resources and funds to do so. (...)

Since 2017, experts fearing the worst issued warnings about the repercussions of Trump’s expanded policy, but had no way to assess the impact on the ground. Now, a collaboration between BuzzFeed News and the Kathmandu Post has found that everything rights groups feared as a result of the expanded GGR is unfolding in real time. In Nepal, where one-third of the country’s GDP comes from remittances, curtailed USAID funding has led to staff reductions and the closure of clinics, and women and men have lost access to conversations about consent, contraception, and HIV. The most common health complaints brought to gynecologists by women — prolapsed uteruses and other abortion-related complications — are directly related to the information vacuum created as a result of the gag. (...)

Republicans in the US frequently describe the GGR as protecting unborn children. The evidence suggests otherwise. The policy targets abortion only very narrowly — forcing women to carry unwanted pregnancies has far-ranging effects that go beyond this stated aim.

Multiple studies now indicate that abortion bans do not bring down the number of abortions — instead, they endanger the lives of women who need those abortions in the first place, by forcing them to seek dangerous alternatives. The studies show the GGR endangers the lives of newborns and their parents, by denying them lifesaving education about safe sex, maternal care, cancer screenings, and HIV transmission. (...)

For years, nonprofit organizations that were funded by USAID trained entire fleets of doctors, nurses, and government officers in destigmatizing sex, sexuality, and sexually transmitted diseases, handling cases of sexual assault with sensitivity and care, discouraging age-old — and frequently lethal — superstitions about women’s menstrual cycles, educating families about women’s rights to study and work and to have a life beyond making babies. Now, Trump and his policy have begun to undo all of that work. (...)

[dykeabetic]

gail's ocs :^)

a masterpost of my ocs because im on mobile and my oc page is outdated

cain ornigana

aka cain gilmore

there r so many cains because i use them as an insert LMAO so this will be generic info that fits most of them.

agender (they and sometimes he pronouns)

bi and mlm

mixed cuban/brazilian/white

most cains are in their mid-late 20s/early-mid 30s. there is one version of them (the original, actually) who is 18.

has anxiety, adhd, depression and insomnia, along with type one diabetes because i give them everything i have

very kind and passionate! often very emotional. loves their friends so damn much.

#cain ornigana; #cain gilmore; #runner 5; #courier six

aerial whitton

there are like.... 3 versions of her rn lol!

cis girl (she pronouns)

bi

mixed black/samoan

around the same age as cain..... the original is 17.

autistic

super sweet and full of life! also really loves her friends. literally wants nothing more than for the people she loves to be happy! :^D

#aerial whitton; #lone wanderer

keira lowenfall ornigana

technically not my oc, she actually belongs to amanda, @kid-icarus-uprising-addict, but i stole her so shes mine now. originally amanda's d&d character. she and cain are a package so if cain exists in a world, keira's probably there too

also keira lowenfall gilmore, keira whitton ornigana, etc. she always has a lot of names.

girl, probably (she pronouns)

doesnt know what her orientation is, doesnt care. shes too young and has more fun things to care about

8 - 13 years old depending on the source.

in d&d, she is the run-away child of some nobles, and was adopted by cain and their husband. in my original works, she is cain and aerial's daughter. she is very excitable and hyper, always moving, very sweet but also very blunt!

#keira lowenfall gilmore; #keira ornigana

quinn marton

trans girl (she pronouns)

lesbian

black

18

literally so wise, very kind and gentle and always gives good advice. wants to make the world a better place.

#quinn marton

autumn primrose alvarez

cis woman (she pronouns)

bi

mixed white/peruvian

in her 30s

very kind but takes no shit. a very loving but will throw hands if youre not careful! would kill for her friends and family

#autumn primrose

yivian schmidtz

not cis (they/she pronouns)

queer/gay (doesnt know if shes into dudes or not. she might be!)

white

19

adhd and type 1 diabetes

loves to party and have fun. very nice. good to rant to, very ride-or-die. loves to make friends!

#yivian schmidtz

hira karki

cis woman (she pronouns)

lesbian

nepali-american

20

amputee; has a prosthetic arm

i just made her so im still making her personality! shes yiv's gf though

riley winters

a final fantasy vii fan oc; i have an original story for her too though

trans woman (she pronouns)

lesbian

mixed filipino/white

in her 30s

has adhd and cystic fibrosis

literally the physical embodiment of stereotypical adhd --- very energetic and excited and passionate! a joy to be around and talk to.

#riley winters

ahn "stella" duong

transfem and nonbinary (they pronouns)

lesbian

vietnamese-american

in her 30s

disabled and in a wheel chair

very fun to be around, nice and has a great sense of humor! loves their friends, loves to give hugs

#stella duong

april adams

nonbinary (she/they pronouns)

lesbian

white

15

adhd and probably other undiagnosed things

april is the angriest fifteen year old that you will ever meet. she's like those mean goth girls from like 80s movies. if you gain her trust and love she will kill for you. as of now the only person she loves is my brother's oc june, her girlfriend! can see ghosts, and is easily possessed

#april adams

june rosewood

like i said, june is my brother's oc! but im putting her here just because

trans girl (she pronouns)

lesbian

mixed japanese/white

14

june is very very sweet! kind and gentle, june is a ray of sunshine in contrast to april's constant gloom. her kindness and authenticity can make just about everyone love her -- hence her winning even april's heart! has visions of the world ending, and can see ghosts.

#june rosewood

august "auggie" francis

another oc my brother and i share

cis boy (he pronouns)

gay

deceased; died when 14; a ghost

auggie is a sweet but very anxious and timid boy. gender nonconforming. does not remember anything from when he was alive. can be seen by april and june; really likes them, but is very intimidated by april, who does not like him.

#auggie francis

caelyn valya

caelyn is a d&d character i made but havent used yet! she's a spring eladrin (an elf who was born in the faewild) and a ranger

cis girl (she pronouns)

lesbian

she's the child of sun elves so she has light brown skin. also, since she was born in the faewild, she's covered in green freckles

in her early 20s

adhd

caelyn spent all of her life in the faewild, where her parents were in hiding. because of this she is a bit sheltered and niave now that she's in the material plane! she's VERY sweet, a bit too trusting, and incredibly excited to be somewhere new. (you should ask about her knives)

#caelyn valya

kahayag nakamura

ok tbh..... kahayag is a minecraft oc. im still trying to work out what i want her story to be but i always saw minecraft as some post-apocalyptic world or something so im thinking she's one of the few survivors of the apocalypse

nonbinary woman (she / they pronouns)

lesbian

mixed filipino/japanese

19

i mean..... she survived the apocalypse so like..... shes probably got something

kahayag lives on her own with a dog in the middle of nowhere in a world where humanity is basically extinct. before the apocalypse, she was known for being nice, cool, and funny. now she doesnt talk much, but would still do anything to help her fellow man!

#kahayag nakamura

i have..... many more ocs, some of which are on my oc page (their info might be incorrect though), but these are the ones im gonna want to talk about!

edit 11/28: added hira!