#uk poc queers

[lightofthedarkdarkofthelight]

Queer / neurodivergent soft SOFT friendships pls

Cis hets DNI pls thx

Hi you can call me by the first letter of my name ‘T’, I’m in my late 20’s, soft butch, trans masc, enby, stone butch, gender blind (in all respects tbh), vegan, artist, writer, researcher, outdoors fanatic, lover of all things nonhuman

My special interests: philosophy specifically/particularly metaphysics, biocentrism and ecosophy aka anything to do with the study of the matter of our universe and all it contains, the absurdity of how matter is essentially based on illusions and tricks, everything non-human , all the connections/symbiotic relationships of natural relationships in the natural world and also spirituality / faith systems and the law of assumption

My social battery and social ways tend to mean I can be amazing socially socially for a select time but then I crash out and disappear to hermit land (depending on how social I was being this could literally mean no internet interaction for months let alone in person) I’m working on this

I go through phases (years/months) of having great genuine soft friendships to absolutely zero and I want to work on this also, currently and perhaps obvious to this post Im in the latter phase. Which means my social skills are probably poor again. One brilliant thing about adhd though is regardless of all the above as soon as I’m vining with someone I’m the joker of the moment bound to make you smile.

Neurodivergent friends: this is actually a category that can be a loophole on my dni aka men as my issues with men I’ve found can sometimes be not a thing at all with someone neurodivergent, I myself have autism, adhd and cptsd. I’ve had close friendships with I swear like every known diagnostic out there haha so don’t feel you have to be apprehensive about this I know how it is and I’m really chill honestly, they are just descriptions to better establish our ep connections right. Also agere in this context is a vibe and we connect on this.

Im really looking to connect with queer poc, queer women, butches, dykes, masculine presenting women, trans lesbians, transmascs

I have a lot of trust issues right now but specifically around men/cis hets,

For in person friendships:

I’m based in the uk, I’m very loyal but to the point I do need to work on it as not to be taken advantage of, I can be quite tactile after trust is established, I, the friend that will always (consensually) pick you up play with your hair give you a back rub or vice versa i love being picked up having hair played with, I also love nature walks, going to queer/poc events, making art/getting crafty, reading (also isn’t it special when you can read in silence with a person or group of persons), friends you can stargaze with or go wild camping are especially close to my heart, despite this post I’m the banter loving playful puppy sort could literally have a conversation that makes zero sense due to its randomness and still have a blast whilst equally get deep on conspiracies and philisophical theories. Also like to binge shows that tend to be, fantasy, lgbt, anime, cartoons, documentaries, crime based, conspiracy based etc

For long distance/online friendships: It could be that we live far apart or you aren’t good with being in person in which case as long as you are the creative writing or rpg sort this could still work, I’ve had friendships that were mainly lived out through back and forth writing creating story experiences to share in worlds we create, or if you are into RPG as this can be similar as long as you are down to teach me the ropes of your game(s) of interest I, down for this, also down to do video calls when we both feel

I will probably end up drawing for you or write you poems lol

Things I think worth noting about me: my literal communication style benefits from CLOSED questions I hate open ended questions as my brain will scan through too many possibilities and uncertainties which can lead to me saying what I think I’m meant to not what I mean, clear and concise communication is great else I overthink or project or misunderstand or get paranoid and probably won’t express this. I sometimes need persistence, like being called, texted a lot in order to start re engaging this actually also helps wit my trust.

I love comics and sorta live off WEBTOON because comics/graphic novels are expensive for how fast you get through them:( particularly obsessed with fantasy stories that entail queer dynamics

I’m happily taken in a relationship so queer couple friendships, friendships with queer families/parents is also great=)

Feel free to message things about you or just message in short as a response or repost if you are looking for similar things and want more people to see/interact all is cool

[fyeahtimwalker]

Janelle Monáe by Tim Walker for Vogue UK, July 2023 edition

Styled by Kate Phelan. Set design by Miguel Bento.

[aro-barrel]

@danothen I hope you don't mind me rb-ing with your tags. ((They're good tags!!)) : D

#so i’m viet american and aro bi!#which sounds contradictory to my mostly-viet speaking parents ^^;#i don’t explain it to them bc there aren’t rly words or even cultural explanations that will make sense#they very much view it as an american thing#but there was this one time my mom’s (viet) coworker kept asking me when i’d start dating already and why i’m not thinking abt marriage#and my mom just said ‘oh danny’s just weird leave them alone’#which i thought was funny#i don’t think she even knows what she means by that but it’s nice knowing that she’d defend me even when she doesn’t understand#never has it been so clear why so many of us have adopted the label queer#language barrier aside i do feel this sense of guilt over it in relation to my heritage#esp as a 2nd gen immigrant#there’s a sense of debt that comes w a lot of asian families from what i understand and i certainly feel that#i remember crying in highschool bc i was grieving my mom’s fantasy of having grandkids#i didn’t ID as aro at the time but i knew i was never going to get married or have kids and it felt like freedom to accept that truth#but there was some kind of grief that my freedom came at the expense of the woman that devoted her life to me#i knew there was nothing wrong w me but idk. it’s sad to feel like i’m taking that away from her and it’s worse that i can’t even explain i#i think she still has hope but she stopped asking me abt it so at least we can co-exist#my dad still asks sometimes but more out of curiosity than concern#i think that’s it tho! idk i never rly thought abt my aromance as a race thing#i’m sure smth can be said abt the constant racial fetishization and dif cultural expectations for love/marriage#but idk i don’t rly think abt that lol. ppl will racialize me before anything else but i was always aro#even if i didn’t have the word for it i still know who i am so ig i don’t feel like my parents need to have a word either#it’s rly nice reading abt this tho. feels reassuring to hear that we’ve all found our own language to express ourselves#esp if we don’t understand our family’s language or if our family’s language doesn’t understand us#oh also it’s so weird to me that aspec is seen as a white ppl thing bc the only aro ppl ik are poc

i’d like to read about non-white aro experiences (as well as experiences of aro people from outside the US and UK). i don’t think there are enough explicitly non-white conversations about aromanticism. i remember seeing a demographic poll a long time ago, with a majority of aromantic tumblr identifying as white, but non-white aros exist!

i want to hear from people who can’t/won’t come out because of cultural expectations or language barriers. people who use different words to describe their aromanticism. people who experience isolation from the aro community because they aren’t white (enough). i want to hear about aromanticism from new angles!

of course, no one is ever obligated to reveal their ethnicity or race online. but if anyone has seen writing on diverse aro experiences or if they want to share their own experiences, i’d like to read about other perspectives! (pls send stuff my way)

[leikeliscomet]

Asexual theory 101

Right I keep getting asked on most of my asexual posts 'What does this mean OP? Where's the sources?' so imma make a quick ace theory 101 post so if anyone says they don't get it I can say I tried. Let's go:

'What does being ace have to do with race/racism?/There's racism in the ace community???'

Pretty much everything as people of colour experience various forms of sexualisation and desexualisation at the same time, which is why POC are rarely included in asexual representation:

Asexuals of Color Still Seek to Validate Their Asexuality by Ebony Purks

Stereotypes & media about Black masculinity made it harder to come out as asexual by Tyger Songbird

Your Assumptions About Black Queer Masculinity Are Erasing My Asexual Identity by Timinepre Cole

It's Time To Start Celebrating Black Asexuality in Media By Tyger Songbird

Yasmin Benoit: ‘People had a hard time believing that I could be Black and asexual and at Pride’ by Alastair James

Brown and Gray: An Asexual People of Color Zine

'What do TERFS/transphobia have to do with asexuality?'

There's a growing TERF conspiracy theory that asexuality is the side-effect of transitioning. The LGB movement believes the community is exclusively for 'same-sex attracted persons' and so identities that don't involve attraction e.g. the TQIA should be removed. Most backlash towards Yasmin Benoit, aroace activist, is from white TERFs and conservatives:

Acephobic conspiracy theories have transphobic and fascist roots by Sherronda J Brown

'But how can conservatives hate asexuality if they hate sex?'

Because they don't and never did. If the term 'puritan' was used correctly in modern internet discourse, it would be known Christian puritans believe heterosexual sex for reproduction is a gift from god and mandatory so being asexual doesn't exactly fit with that worldview. Their beef is with any form of sex and sexuality that falls outside of cis heterosexual marriage, including asexuality. They're not anti sex but anti sexual autonomy:

"Anti-Sex" and the Real Sexual Politics of the Right by Lee Cicuta (ButchAnarchy)

The religious right is now targeting sexless marriages as “selfishness.” They Want to Ban Those Too by Tyger Songbird

Asexual people targetted by right-wing pundits following landmark report by Harriet Brewis

'What does being ace have to do with gender?'

It's commonly assumed that because patriarchy shames women's sexualities and considers all men's sexuality as biological and unavoidable, that ace women only and exclusively experience dsexualisation whilst ace men only and exclusively are pressured into being sexual beings. This can true as a broad overview but it can vary based on race, disability, class etc. This also becomes complex for asexuals that exist outside the gender binary. This is known as 'gender detachment'.

Impossible for Men, Unremarkable for Women by Canton Winer

My Work on Gender Detachment and Asexuality Strikes a Nerve by Canton Winer

'There's asexual studies now?'

Yup. On the general experiences of asexual people in the UK, including discrimination in education, the workplace and healthcare:

The National LGBT Survey (2018)

Ace in the UK Report (2023)

Specific names:

Asexual theorists: Ianna Hawkins, Michael Paramo, Julia Sondra Decker, Canton Winer (non-ace), Sherronda J Brown, Angela Chen

Asexual activists: Yasmin Benoit, Tyger Songbird, Marshall Blount (TheGentleAce), Kimberly Butler (TheAsexualGoddess)

And I'm gonna update this with more if they're worth adding. I don't wanna hear any excuses anymore or blame towards aces of colour, gay aces or trans aces for not being specific enough anymore. Read!

[notvv0ltz]

Open for useful links :33

USEFUL LINKS!!

❗🏳️‍⚧️ Petition to help Russian trans people to get German humanitarian visas:

❗🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 Donate to Queer Svit (organization that helps LGBTQ and POC affected by the war by providing humanitarian aids and relocation):

❗🇺🇦 Donate to Ukrainian forces:

WHAT TO KNOW

"Russia’s Supreme Court ruled today that the “international LGBT movement” is an “extremist organization,” jeopardizing all forms of LGBT rights activism in the country" - from article https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/30.....ment-extremist

"Vladimir Putin has signed legislation that bans people from officially or medically changing their gender" - from article https://www.theguardian.com/world/2.....nges-in-russia

If you have found yourself with no money please spread this post then, asking you as a russian queer. Thanks

[bunnis-monsters]

I can't imagine how you're feeling, I'm not in the US and I am scared of what this means. I know it's easier for me to say from over here in the UK, but.

don't give up hope. 66 million people voted against the tangerine screamer. it might not be enough to win, but you're not alone. I don't know what the future holds, but it's important to remember you are not on your own.

your country survived 4 years before, and you can do it again. I'm just so sorry that you have to.

I survived, but lots of black, indigenous, poc, queer, and/or disabled people did not.

And a lot of people are going to be hurt during his presidency, I really don’t want to sugar coat it.

[orchideous-nox]

To any of my mutuals and followers, or anyone else seeing this in the States, I'm so sorry. You deserve safety and the right to exist without fear created by your own government because of your identity. Whether queer, trans, POC or any other marginalised community, you are worth more than what your country is telling you. We all support you and accept you and hurt with you, my inbox is always open as a friend from the UK. Look after yourselves < 3

[eleanork-28]

Post s3e6 what happens now?

I am begining to write an 'after' fic which has brought up a lot of questions and speculation that I'd like to share. Yes willmon is endgame but also where do they go from here?

Class 

Money (what are the Erikssons doing with their money from August?) 

The rift between Wille’s elitist upbringing and Simon’s economical and political beliefs 

Wille needs to learn and figure out what he wants his relationship with politics and money to be 

Abdication 

Wille is giving up the crown but he now has to go through that process 

Official meetings 

What is his new title going to be 

What money does he have not has Crown Prince 

The official statement of abdication and handing the duty to August 

Figuring out the PR strategy for this as well 

Wille isn’t free automatically he is going to price for a little while longer while they introduce August more prominently to the public so that the crown isn’t handed off to seemingly a stranger 

They also have to figure out a way to make sure it is clear that this is a choice Wille made for himself rather than because of his very publicised relationship 

Making sure there won’t be speculation that he is leaving voluntarily because the Swedish monarchy doesn’t want a queer monarchy because that would be a media shitstorm 

School 

Where is Wille going to school? And Simon? 

Even with abdication he is still a part of the Swedish aristocracy would he go to another posh school? 

I think not with everything that happened at Hilerska but its also the thing he knows, so how does he figure that out? 

Where does Simon go? He wouldn’t want to go to another rich kid school

Will they go to school together? 

If so what interest will their classmates take in them, how would they maintain their privacy 

Even apart what would their privacy look like 

What would their relationship look like if they do decide to not go to school together? 

Same questions for Felice and Sara because they also have to go to school they are all children and education is very important lol

Familial relations 

Wille and his parents need to repair their relationship 

Do Simon and Sara start working on a better relationship Micke? 

I want Wille to get to meet Micke I think that interaction would be great

Public relations 

Yes they are free but sadly the public doesn’t entirely care 

Luckily on an international scale the Swedish monarchy doesn’t hold much attention but maybe that has changed since Wille’s scandals and then open queer relationship? This is never addressed in the show 

But amongst Swedes especially after abdication people will have a vested interest 

Think Harry and Megan (obvs the UK royals are a much bigger scale but the point stands) 

Like people still really care what they're up to, and Megan and Simon have those similar experiences of being a poc partner of a european royal family member, the harassment doesn’t suddenly stop once you've left the direct limelight of royal life

Platonic relationships 

What is Wille’s relationship with Rosh and Ayub? 

They have witnessed every thing that Simon has gone through because of his relationship with Wille and now they are back together again 

They do respect him because of his choice to leave the monarchy, they are maybe not even surprised because they did witness the “I could be free with you” speech

But do they trust him? 

On that note does Linda? She definitely cares for Wille but she also knows how this has affected her son.

Does Wille have to prove his intentions and himself? 

Can he Rosh and Ayub truly form a friendship? How will that happen 

Simon, Wille, Sara, and Felice have forged their own kind of found family through shared traumas and love for one another, how to Rosh and Ayub fit into that new dynamic? Will there be conflict because of this? 

What does a friend group consisting of all of them look like? 

Other than mega gay

[annabtg]

Anna, you’re so right(i love you). It’s so annoying that all these woke yaoi-shipping sjws have taken over the fandom. You cannot put characters like James and Sev through modern lenses(“Snape was a child abuser” teachers were allowed to hit students with rulers at 90s british schools but being a little mean to a troublemaker makes you satan🙄) and understand them fully. You also cannot make James Potter into a bisexual adhd-having MOC and keep true to his character(everything about him relays on him being very privileged in society)

Love, an old man.

I don't know how you can read this post and conclude that my problem is "woke, yaoi-shipping sjws"? My problem is, like I said, the complete lack of reading comprehension skills, of creative and analytical thought and of the ability to empathize with the characters.

Indeed, modern social media seems to favour performative activism, but that's not what fanfic suffers from. I've engaged with fandom enough to understand that the prevalence of non-nuanced takes comes from younger fans who have grown up in a world massively different from the one I grew up in as a millennial with boomer parents.

Nevertheless, I don't think you're doing it right either, my love. Teachers might have been allowed to hit students with rulers in the 70s (they weren't allowed in 90s Greece, though, and I have been informed neither were they in the UK) - and an example of a strict but good teacher in the books is Minerva McGonagall, who would dole out harsh punishments and use her sharp tongue on students, but still gives you the feeling that she cared about them and loved them. That kind of "tough love" was how boomers took care of their kids. Not Snape, who had beef with a student because he didn't like his father. That's fucked up. But the thing is that Snape is supposed to be unlikeable and mean and come off as the villain, to make his arc all the more surprising and impactful. He's supposed to be a fucked up dick who works for the side of good, because the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters.

As for James, I don't think his portrayal as a bisexual ADHD-having MOC is inherently incompatible with his character, even if it's not the authorial intent (indeed, James is supposed to be the picture of privilege). For instance, one aspect of HP I find fascinating is how being a POC doesn't descend into racism in the books - I think there's one single instance of it, where Pansy tells Angelina she's got worms on her head, but that's obviously Pansy being a dick, and other than that there is no casual racism thrown about to people like Dean or Lee or Cho or the Patils. Whether their portrayal is nuanced or stereotypical is a different discussion, but I think it's obvious that we're supposed to take out that if you're a racist wizard, it's not colour that matters, it's blood. James Potter could reasonably be a POC and it wouldn't matter at all in the world he lived in.

That he would struggle with ADHD or sexuality is also not implausible, and in fact I think it makes for very compelling portrayals of him to be going through that in an era-adequate way. Have people around him be annoyed because he just won't sit still, show him confused by his attraction to Sirius and downplaying it with semi-homophobic remarks. I'm personally not so much a fan of a Hogwarts that reads like you're at Pride, but it was the era of hippies, after all?? I think that Hogwarts would be on the conservative side of things, but at the end of the day it *was* the time when queerness started to gain visibility and I understand how people feel at liberty to use that. Everyone seeks to connect to these characters through fic to some degree; for me, who grew up as a gifted (and probably undiagnosed autistic?) kid in a conservative society, the canon portrayal of people like James and Lily and Sirius at Hogwarts resonates enough to keep me intrigued.

I don't lament people trying to project their own struggles with queerness or mental illness or idk just the fun conversations they have with their friends on the Marauders and Hogwarts; what bugs me is when it's being done in a way that cancels canon aphoristically, and you're suddenly idk toxic for shipping Jily because "James was an abuser and Lily had Stockholm Syndrome" - that's not what happened. Showing off like a peacock was the men's standard flirting technique, and playing hard to get was the women's standard flirting technique, and even with that Jily contains a LOT of nuance - and frankly, even through a modern lens I find it very difficult to miss if you have the first idea of reading between the lines. Which is why I keep saying: lack of reading comprehension skills and critical thinking beyond understanding straightforward text messages and cheap quips is the bane of these readers' existence (or, you know, our existence, for having to put up with it).

[sheriiam]

Since today marks the 53rd year since the first Pride parade took place, let's dive into the history of the "progress" of our Pride flag.

This new flag is called the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag, created by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK in 2021. It is an update to the previous Progress Pride Flag created in 2018 by Daniel Quasar.

The original pride flag was created in the 1970s by gay activist Gilbert Baker, friend of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. The flag made its debut at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978. Baker used eight colors―

― hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.

Why Was Pink Removed From the Pride Flag?

The original hot pink color was removed from the pride flag because the fabric was difficult to find.

The Progress Pride Flag was created with the inspiration of other pride flags—specifically, the Philadelphia Pride Flag from 2017 and the trans flag.

The Philadelphia Pride Flag had black and brown vertical stripes added. The trans flag, created in 1999, is pink, baby blue, and white. Both of these flags inspired the design of the new pride flag.

Black and Brown Represents People of Color

The Philadelphia Pride Flag was designed by the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs and was done in partnership with advertising agency Tierney. It was introduced at a City Hall ceremony in June of 2017. The flag showed the traditional six rainbow colors in horizontal stripes, with a black and a brown stripe atop them.

The colors black and brown were added to the Progress Pride Flag to represent people of color (POC). This was an important addition because people of color have often been left out of the queer narrative despite being the driving force behind the movement.

With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, culture at large began to shift in a much-needed way towards acknowledging the vital roles that people of color have had in our society. The pride movement background is one of many areas where POC, particularly Black people, did not receive the recognition they deserved historically. Adding colors to represent them on the flag is one way to change that.

Additionally, the black and brown stripes are meant to represent people living with HIV/AIDS, those who have died from it, and the stigma around the virus that is still present in our society now.

Pink, Baby Blue, and White Represent Trans People

Transwoman Monica Helms created the trans pride flag, which first flew in a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona back in 2000. Monica Helms is a transgender activist, author, and U.S. Navy veteran.

Traditionally, the colors pink and baby blue have been used to represent whether a baby is a boy or a girl. Here, the colors denote those genders. The color white represents people who are transitioning, intersex, or identify outside of the gender binary.

The word "progress" in the new flag isn't only about adding the new colors to it. It's also because of the shape, which differs from the original design of horizontal stripes only. The Progress Pride Flag shows the white, pink, baby blue, black, and brown stripes in a triangle shape, with the old six-color rainbow stacked next to them.

This was done intentionally to convey the separation in meaning and shift focus to how important the issues represented on the left are.

The placement of the new colors in an arrow shape is meant to convey the progress still needed. Quasar spoke publicly about how work is still needed in terms of POC and trans rights. This arrow design is meant to highlight that.

Although the Pride flag continues to evolve, the most recent update includes a yellow triangle with a purple circle inside it to represent the intersex community. It now serves as the most up-to-date LGBTQIA+ flag.

[picnokinesis]

if you would be interested in sharing your thoughts about the star beast, i would love to hear them!!

Ooh okay, so - well, first, just to start off: I think The Star Beast is a really important episode, and was very much a needed episode. The current climate in the UK regarding the trans community and their rights is getting extremely rancid, to put it lightly. Having an episode of Doctor Who with an explicitly trans character, having the other characters around her be affirming and supportive - that was awesome. Extremely awesome. And I'm really glad that RTD is loudly putting himself on this side of the whole 'debate' (which isn't really a debate, because it's just straight up bigotry from the anti-trans side, and we need people like RTD outwardly speaking out against that bigotry).

When I talk to cis people offline about this episode, that is pretty much what I say and also where I stop.

I'll put the rest under the cut hahah - there's a bit of negativity here, just as a warning for all the hardcore RTD stans, but I think it's well-founded and not vitriolic at all, just like, miffed hahaha. Also, I know there were a few trans folks who found this episode really affirming, so just to be clear: this is just my opinion, personal thoughts, and also influenced by the conversations I had with other trans people that I know and care about about the episode.

When I talk to trans people - offline or online - about this episode, I go in a lot deeper, because whilst it was a very important episode, it was somewhat flawed. It also came off the back of several things RTD had said and done that really ticked me off, and so I wasn't really in the interest of being entirely uncritical about what, to me and a lot of trans dw fans that I spoke to, thought was a very "cis" trans story. And when I watched it, I thought 'oh geez, is this how poc feel when white people try and write poc stories with good intentions but don't really get it right??" because like. Ho boy.

The thing about this episode was that RTD wanted to write an affirming trans story, and mostly did that, but also, imo...doesn't actually understand what gender and transness actually is. I think my main gripes were definitely with the climax scene - the whole 'we can let go bc we're women' thing literally made me go 'what' out loud at the screen because...well, it's just gender essentialism. Trans inclusive, sure! But trans inclusive gender essentialism is still gender essentialism. Women aren't better than men. There's actually an exceptionally good essay written by a trans woman who was still in the closet about her experiences in queer spaces that had a very prevalent anti-men attitude, and I've seen it myself irl too. It's not helpful - it's harmful, in fact - and it leans on this strange mysticism about women that is fundamentally anti-feminist, in my opinion. Women aren't "innately better at emotional and intangible, instinctive things" (and it's unspoken counterpart - "thus men are better at logical, rational things" - is also untrue). Women aren't magically better at 'letting things go' than men are - I reckon you could make an argument about men being socialised to not be emotional, and that would be an interesting conversation to have, but that was not what was being said - especially with the Doctor being raised in a society that didn't even perceive gender in the same was as humanity.

Also, the thing that REALLY got me was 'if you were a woman, you'd get it' - first of all, no. Thirteen never let anything go in her life and repressed to the max, if anything she was WORSE than tenteen at that lmao. Second - and this is the more salient point - I think it's a strange thing to suggest that tenteen is fully a man, at this point? Like, regardless of what he looks like, regardless of how he identifies or how thirteen identified, he just lived a lifetime in a body that looked like a woman, and thus was treated as such by the rest of the universe. He wasn't going to forget all of that. I actually really liked how the Chibnall era approached thirteen's gender - or, rather, her complete ambivalence to it, where it seemed like gender was more of an annoying thing that kept happening to the doctor that she kept having to remember, rather than something she felt - however I really REALLY wish they'd actually dug explicitly into the transness of it all, and so when they didn't, I'd hoped that RTD would do that instead. Especially since we KNEW Yasmin Finney was in it and we knew we were going to get a trans character!! I was like, this is the PERFECT opportunity to get the Doctor to actually talk about their gender and how it, fundamentally, doesn't really change between bodies, just how people REACT to it changes. But instead, the episode seems to present the doctor as having flicked a binary switch - once woman, now man - and thus made sure to remind us that every time thirteen was mentioned, it was framed around the fact that she was The Woman Regeneration, but also that tenteen was Now a Man Again. And even if that WAS THE CASE, it still wouldn't mean that tenteen came out of that experience completely mindwiped of everything about 'womanhood', right?? Like he lived as a woman! He was a woman 45 minutes ago, but now you're telling him that he couldn't possibly understand anything about this because he's a man now? Like first of all, his physical body's characteristics have nowt to do with his ability to let things go, second, it's just....okay, it reminds me of the dichotomy between all these detransition horror stories the anti-trans folks like to spew out, versus when you talk to actual detransitioners, who are quite often gnc and extremely positive about the trans community, and whose experience within that community and transitioning impacted how they view the world.

And I think it fundamentally comes down to RTD not really understanding either womanhood or transness. He actively speaks out on both of these things, which is great, but I don't think he understands them fully. I think the fact that he didn't think that David Tennant could wear a t-shirt, braces, trousers and coat because they were "women's clothes", and that when he cast David Tennant that was one of the first things he immediately decided is kind of telling.

There's also the whole 'male-presenting timelord' thing, which, again, I just don't think RTD really understood what that meant, like I'm not sure what his point was there, genuinely. Like, on a technical level it's acknowledging that the Doctor isn't necessarily male, just looks like a man (correct) buuuuuuuuuut the full line was saying 'you'd never understand this because you're a man' SO LIKE...okay? So he's not actually a man, but actually because of his male-adjacency, he's incapable of coming to the same conclusion that a woman did? So he's still...defined by his maleness? Hm. Strange sentence to write coming out of a trans woman's mouth.

What would have been better? I wish they'd just had Donna and Rose say 'because we're human', or maybe 'because we're the Nobles'. I also know a lot of people really didn't like the misgendering scene with the kids on the bikes - I think my personal feelings on that are a little more complicated, as a trans person who is not out irl and functionally uses my birthname almost everywhere, but also isn't triggered by it. It's not a deadname, more like a paperwork name rather than my preferred name, right? But I know for a lot of trans people, deadnaming is like psychological warfare and it's really awful, especially when done with malicious intent (like shown in the scene with the boys on the bikes). However...I do understand why RTD included this scene, and actually kind of agree with him. Because the boys on the bikes are the sort of people who are also watching the show. And so then seeing that kind of thing being condemned by the narrative by a key, beloved character, is probably something that's actually helpful. On the other hand though...in the Doctor Who Unleashed (or whatever the behind the scenes thing is called now), you've got this interview with Yasmin Finney saying that it was actually a pretty triggering scene to film for her and genuinely affected her, and I'm like....okaaaaaay then I REALLY hope they had someone she could talk to on set. Like, fundamentally, I think telling these stories are important, but, yknow, not at the expense of the actual actress' mental wellbeing, right? So that concerned me a bit.

I also think that the scene between Sylvia and Donna in the kitchen talking about Rose was brilliant. And this is because it was about cis people trying to understand and support trans people whilst not completely getting it and making mistakes, but also trying their best!! Which RTD does understand, very well!! And it felt so real. It was fantastic. There's also the part with the whole 'did you assume the meep's pronouns' whiiiiiiiich I have mixed feelings about? I think here, RTD was trying to poke fun at the people who do say that sort of thing to make fun of trans people, and having the Doctor be like 'actually this is a good point we should be checking this sort of thing'......however. I don't think I've ever heard 'did you assume my pronouns' come out of a trans person's mouth. It's always been a cis person mocking our community. So it felt a bit...incongruent. And all that needed to be changed was having Rose say 'how do you know the meep is a he?' - like that was all it needed!!! Also, it was a shame that after the delightful moment of the doctor being like 'SAME HAT' regarding the meep's pronouns, that.....we then had NO OTHER DISCUSSION about the doctor's gender!! Like, Russel, dude, you're really gonna have Rose hear the 'male-presenting' guy say 'oh yeah I do that with pronouns too!! :D' - have her NOT REACT TO THAT AT ALL - and then you're gonna have her say by the end 'oh you don't understand bc you're a man :)' after her non-binary power move moment? Sighs. Yeah.

I think another important thing to remember here is that there were no trans folks in the writer's room on this. Now, this is a tricky one because I think people who aren't part of a certain community should be writing stories outside their own knowledge and experience, and should be encouraged to do so!! I don't think that you need to have everything rubberstamped, and even something written by someone in a certain community isn't going to resonate with everyone in that community. Actually, I think it's unhelpful to start getting into the politics of 'who is allowed to write what' - I think anything written with care and good intention is valuable, especially if the writer is willing to listen to constructive criticism and learn from any mistakes that are made. But I think, as a writer myself, if you are going to write a story about that community, it might be worth 1) talking to them a bit more than I think RTD did - but, to be fair, I don't actually know how much research he did, but, well, see above on the fact I don't think he really got what he was writing about - but also 2) not dismissing writers from that community (and others!), which RTD did in an interview not thaaaaaaat long before the episode aired. Again, to be fair to him, he has since then been like 'oh, we need to mentor and encourage the new generation of trans writers and writers of colour', which, great! But also, sir, then why were you saying that all the scripts you got from minority writers were all awful, angry, and lacked any love for tv like skksks SIR. SIR. The thing that gets me about that comment in particular is that, as someone currently starting out in script writing, I know exactly how hard it is to get at all noticed. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of passion, a lot of hard work and a lot of skill - and a lot of luck too, granted, but not luck along. So, RTD, if these writers got their scripts to your literal desk, as showrunner of Doctor Who...I think they have some love and passion. They HAVE to, to get to the point where he is reading those scripts. Also maybe RTD should unpack the fact that he thought the scripts were bad because they were too angry - I mean, I haven't read them, so I don't know, but maybe, sir, feeling uncomfortable about the anger in a script isn't a bad thing. Not every story is meant to be an easy pill to swallow. There are aromantic stories I want to write about romance as horror, romance as a virus, romance as a destructive force, that I think a lot of alloromantic people will find uncomfortable. Does that mean they're bad? Maybe, lol. Mostly they're bad because they're not written yet lmao, but I don't think the anger and discomfort in them makes them inherently weak. In fact, I think often anger can make a story stronger.

So then, I think The Star Beast left a sour taste in the back of my mouth, despite all the positive aspects of it, because of that. I think that comment also kinda left me frustrated about Dot and Bubble, even though I think that was a fantastic episode and genuinely really well done, and very effective - and I'm genuinely loathe to criticise it at all because I think it was so important - but. Having RTD talking in an interview about wondering how long the audience will take to notice that the cast is all white (and, thus, the depicted society is racist) whilst sitting in a writers room that's all white iiiiiiiiiiis uh. I don't think he thought about that SKKS. I think a lot about Sacha Dhawan talking about how you can be as inclusive on screen as you like, but if it's all 'white behind the lights' then how much does that inclusivity actually mean?

RTD definitely had good intentions and wrote a mostly good story. But he definitely fell down in some regards, aaaaaand well. I don't know. My personal opinion is that he's kind of arrogant and thinks he's infallible as a writer (and I may feel this way bc of the way parts of the fandom seem to put him on a pedestal, if I'm honest) - but I think that he's just human. He doesn't get things perfectly right all the time, and that's absolutely fine, but I think it's interesting and important to discuss those pitfalls, and I just wish he'd stop making it feel like he thinks he can write trans stories better than, yknow, actual trans people, and then write the most cis trans story I've ever seen SKSKSKSK

(AND ACTUALLY - sorry, this is getting long, but it's kind of indicative of the whole industry at the moment? The industry is calling for more diverse voices, more diverse stories - but they also want stories that can appeal to the widest possible audience, the common denominator, and thus "trans stories by trans people for trans people" doesn't actually tick that box. This didn't hit me until I wrote a trans horror script that got shortlisted for a script call, but when I spoke to the (cis) producer and director (who were LOVELY, the producer had a gorgeous dog called Biscuit HAHA) I very quickly realised that they did not get it. They didn't understand. "Why do we have to kill the mirror demon that's the girl part of this trans man?" they asked. "She should get to live too!" But: "She was never a part of him," I had to say. "She was the idea of him that everyone around him thought he was, and thought it so strongly that she became real. It was her or him." They didn't really understand, but on the plus side it did highlight to me what was unclear in my script that none of my (trans) proof readers had picked up on (although my transfemme friend made the HILARIOUS comment that maybe the mirror demon could go and find a nice trans girl to possess? WHICH SKSKSKSKKSKSK I MEAN -))

Anyway. -gestures nebulously- I feel like my thoughts were a lot more concise and well constructed in the week after this episode actually aired hahaha, but I didn't want to throw my hat into the ring back then. I did find it amused how the majority of my cis trans-affirming friends were like 'GREAT EPISODE, RIGHT?!!' and the majority of my trans friends were sending me the grimace emoji in the week after the episode aired LMAO

[coldalbion]

“The initial disinformation and anger was being perpetrated by individuals on X, for example, that have been previously de-platformed,” Mulhall said. “And now they’ve been re-platformed.” In March 2018, Robinson was permanently banned from X, then known as Twitter, before being reinstated in November last year after Musk bought the platform. On 27 July, he held a demonstration attended by more than 20,000 people in London, where he allegedly screened a documentary repeating false claims made about a Syrian refugee, against high court orders. “We hadn’t seen any significant numbers at any demonstrations since 2018,” Mulhall added. Prof Stephan Lewandowsky of Bristol University, who is an expert in disinformation, said that social media platforms amplified far-right voices. “Facebook is an outrage machine,” he said. “It’s a serious problem and is easily solved by modifying the algorithms so that they highlight information based on quality rather than outrage.

Twitter/X is a "Nazi Bar" - in reference to the story about never letting Nazi punks in, lest they take over and start running the place. The fact is, for those unaware, this whole upsurge in far ight violence in the UK is down to *deliberately crafted* online mis/disnfo online. The majority of it spreads via less public platforms, but X and other big platforms is where it goes mainstream. Listen to what scholars of facism are saying - and have been saying for years - even if you're sceptical of so-called "mainstream media". Even if you don't listen to anyone else. Even if you ignore POC and queer folks.

These folks have been swimming in sewers for years to research the far-right. They should be saluted. Also, be aware, disinfo is rife HERE on tumblr too.

[redbreastedbird]

hello oh my goodness you're on tumblr 😭😭😭I don't really know how to convey how HAPPY your books make me feel. I re-read mmu books one through five for christmas and I intend to re-read the rest before mua three is out!

arkjdmsb I don't even know what to say except a huge big massive THANK YOU for creating this amazing universe where anyone and everyone can be gay and solve crimes. nuala holds a special place in my heart as we're both bespectacled autisic irish people. every time she speaks irish I gain like three years of life expectancy. I love hazel to pieces as well. when I was younger, she felt like a friend to me, like I had just accidentally picked up her casebooks and solving crimes alongside her and daisy (and of course the junior pinkertons!)

I will never forget reading the last chapter of the body in the blitz and coming to the realisation that like. almost everyone in this room is queer. and this is a kids book in an era of draconian book-banning legislation, and there are just queer characters right there. just being people, really really good people, existing almost a hundred years ago. neurodivergent, poc, disabled, queer and trans characters. yes!

I am just rambling oh my god 🤦love you lots and keep up the incredible, ground-breaking, joyous work <3

This is so nice?! Thank you so so much. And yes, this is everything I wanted to do with my books.

Sarah Waters has a line about how she writes historical novels about queer women because she wants to show her readers that queer women have always existed, and I really internalised that. It matters so much to be able to show that none of this is new - that humans have always been every identity they are today, it’s just that mainstream culture never wanted to admit it. I’m trying to put the reality back into history - honestly, I’ve probably underestimated the diversity, if anything.

I know I have said this a lot, but I grew up under section 28 in the UK, in a time when you basically could not show queer characters in a children’s book (the only queer characters I remember seeing were the angels in His Dark Materials), and so it took me a long time to really trust that I was allowed to put queer characters in my own books. Making Daisy on the page queer was one of the scariest things I had ever done, and I still sort of cannot believe I did it. But it means so much to me to just be able to put on the page now that oh, George has a boyfriend now, and for it to be a basically unremarkable thing. And also to create a trans character with Anna, who transitioned before the novel and is now just living her life!

I really hope that there’s a generation of authors coming up now who have grown up with books like mine and who will do this kind of thing even more readily than I have been able to. The world is such a scary place for people who don’t fit into the norm, but there are so many of us, just out there living our lives, and books help us see that.

Long story short: be gay solve crimes. ❤️

[womanlifefreedom]

This article from December 2022 considers the erasure of LGBTQ Iranians in the protests (unfortunately, I can't get the link to embed).

“LGBTQ Iranians are at the forefront of this revolution. We’re just not seeing them as visibly,” Säye Skye, an Iranian rapper and activist based in Berlin, tells gal-dem. He was forced to leave Iran soon after releasing his first song in 2009, ‘Saye Yek Zane Irani’ (Shadow of an Iranian Woman), a viral hit which unapologetically states the existence of queer people in Iran, resulting in Saye receiving many death threats. “People of Iran all want the same thing: freedom,” he says. “This is a crucial moment where people are looking beyond differences and fighting for a common cause.” 

I'll also note here that gal-dem was a UK based Black and POC led publication that showcased QTBIPOC writers and perspectives. It folded after a successful eight years in March 2023. Please support your independent publishers when you can <3

[soulmuppet]

Heading to Dragonmeet this year?

Come join us on the Sunday for MuppetMeet!

This all day event features a full program of folks and panels from a diverse cross-section of the industry.

This event is FREE and open to anyone who would find it interesting!

Panels

10:00 Networking

11:00 How To Be Good At Conventions

with Mol Joule (they/them) from SoulMuppet, Josh (he/they) from Hive Mind, and Rori Montford (she/her)

Conventions are an exciting, often overwhelming and incredibly chaotic part of the TTRPG scene in the UK and abroad. SoulMuppet’s head of marketing Mol Joule, Josh from Hive Mind and Rori Montford have the inside track on how to succeed at conventions, how to arrange your stands, and how to pitch your products to punters.

12:00 Actual Play vs actual play

with Edward Spence (he/him) moderating, Liv Kennedy (she/her) from 3 Black Halflings, JC Darcy (they/them) from Euphoria APs, and Drakoniques (he/him)

As Actual Play becomes increasingly prevalent in the TTRPG industry – and as its parameters become ever more experimental – join award-nominated producer Drakoniques (Beyond the Brook), EUphoria’s JC Darcy, and Liv Kennedy (co-creator of the award-winning 3 Black Halflings) in a discussion moderated by award-nominated Game Master Edward Spence, as they explore: does this medium present a true experience of tabletop gameplay? And is that its purpose?

13:00 Break for Lunch

14:00 Brick and Mortar: RPG Retailing in the UK

with Tom Mecredy (he/him), eCommerce Manager at SoulMuppet moderating, Casper from Orc’s Nest, James (he/him) from Leisure Games

Are you a creator looking to build a more sustainable business or get more eyes on your product? SoulMuppet’s eCommerce manager Tom sits down with Casper from the Orc’s Nest and James from Leisure Games to talk about the physical retail side of the TTRPG industry.

15:00 Networking

Speakers

10:00 – Networking

11:00 Building Diverse Spaces and Creative Teams   with Taylor Navarro (she/her)

From conventions to conspirators, Taylor Navarro (founder of the UK TIN Creatives of Colour space and co-founder of Dragonmeet’s POC Lounge) breaks down how you can create safe and inclusive spaces to foster diversity and creativity in TTRPGs.

12:00 Investigating Queer Games and Queering Games with Finley Palaniki (they/he)

Join games studies academic Finley Palaniki (they/he) as we explore what queer games design is and investigate alternative design philosophies to apply to our analog games.  All while we admire the queer, marginalised creators who are leading the charge in experimental design practices and are making the indie TTRPG scene flourish!

13:00 – Lunch

14:00 – Taking Selling RPGs from Hobby to Business with Zachary Cox (they/them)

Lots of us make games for fun and profit, but how do you turn that side hustle into a full hustle? Join SoulMuppet Publishing’s Director Zachary Cox, Producer of games like Paint The Town Red, Inevitable, Orbital Blues and DIE: the RPG, to talk about the pivot points between hobbyist and professional RPG publishing.

15:00 – Networking

[literaticat]

I sold my debut last year for a 'significant' advance in the US and have been on foreign sub for almost all of 2024. I haven't had a single foreign offer, not even UK. My agent told me there was a ton of 'buzz' when my deal was announced and she heard from lots of scouts, but nothing happened. I feel so sad and disappointed. I don't know if it's because my characters are POC and gay, or if the book is actually terrible and I only got the US deal bc it checked a bunch of 'diverse' boxes.

I'm saying this with all the love in the world, my friend:

I can promise you that if a publisher was willing to pay more than a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS (?!?!?!!?!!!!!) for your debut book, they a) definitely didn't think it was terrible, and b) it was definitely NOT some kind of "DEI Acquisition" only made because it checked a bunch of diverse boxes.

(Believe me, if all they wanted to do was "check a bunch of boxes with some random meh book" they could have done it for a hell of a lot less money.)

But here's another truth bomb: While I can't say for certain, of course, I suspect your publisher paid as much as they did for only North American rights and let go of translation because they probably knew that it would be somewhat tricky to sell the book into the foreign markets. IF they had thought they could make a lot of money in the foreign, they probably would have fought harder to keep those rights, and possibly upped the advance even more for them.

Here's the deal with selling books in translation: No other country has as large or as wealthy a book market as the US does. Additionally, most other countries DO mostly publish books from their own countries. And I would say anecdotally that it seems like sales are down in the foreign from what they have been in the past -- I think the economy is not great in a lot of countries, there are wars, etc etc.

Despite what it may SEEM like, I assure you, MOST US books don't sell into lots of foreign countries, and MANY US books sell into ZERO foreign countries. (Yes, "not even the UK"). I did a whole thing in one of these posts that I of course can't find now, where I compared a bunch of UK publisher's catalogues, and counted how many US-author titles were in them in any given season -- and it's NOT A TON!

US books that tend to get picked up in a lot of foreign countries are books that have an author who already has a following, are big bestsellers, etc.

While yes, many books at your level of deal will naturally have a lot of interest from scouts, the fact is, you are a debut author. I assume the book is not actually out yet? It would not surprise me if many foreign publishers want to wait to scoop up the book until it seems like a "sure thing." So if your book is an instant bestseller when it comes out, or wins some big award or something, they might well THEN feel more compelled to buy it.

(Sidebar: There's no time limit here. A book can sell in translation before release OR after release -- I have had foreign offers sometimes for books YEARS after the fact -- even books that are no longer in print in the US!)

But truly, foreign sales are no reflection of the worthiness of your book. Great books get passed on in the foreign all the time for all kinds of reasons. The big one is "it's Too American." I don't know if YOUR book is "Too American" -- but that might be the case. (For example, a book with a theme of Gun Violence Is Bad would probably not resonate with readers in countries where people aren't mowing down crowds of people with guns every day. A book focused on Getting a Date to the Prom likely wouldn't fly in many other countries where Prom is not really a thing. Etc.)

Also. Um. I do NOT want to say this part, but, well, here goes: Lots of other countries are uh... how do I say... even less interested in POC and queer narratives than the US is.

(Please know that I'm NOT saying "WE ARE MORE AWESOME THAN ALL OTHER COUNTRIES, WE ARE GREAT, THERE'S NO PROBLEM WITH QUEER OR POC BOOKS IN THE US OF A, EAGLE SCREAM, FLAG FLAG FLAG!" -- but just, look. Some other countries are somewhat less diverse than the USA, and some people in some of those countries might count "race stuff" as Too American. Some other countries are more conservative than the US when it comes to Queer Stuff. . . like look at the transphobic nonsense happening in the UK rn -- and consider Very Queer/Gay Books likewise Too American. And combined with the fact that these countries have much smaller book markets, if they already have "a queer book" they might well think, "hey, that's the queers sorted, we don't need more queer books." or "Oh, well, we brought in that Important Book With POC last year and it didn't do well, clearly people in THIS country aren't interested in that." Given that people still make statements like that even in the US, where we technically have enough publishers to publish THOUSANDS more titles a year than most other countries do, you can see that it would DEFINITELY be a problem when there are that many fewer books total.)

Good luck out there - and CONGRATULATIONS on the stellar deal!