#woc in media

[fyblackwomenart]

Autumn Reflection by Talia Skyles

[mysharona1987]

[leighpinnocx]

Leigh-Anne via Instagram.

[jesncin]

reading up on more Conner comics and I think it's sad that at the heart of it, his story is that of a boy forced to grow up too soon. Everything from "Don't call me Superboy" (because he wants to be SuperMAN) to the way he's constantly groomed and objectified by older characters and the narrative itself (which weirdly continues into the Young Justice cartoon), to the way he tries to emulate a sense of self from the idea he has of those around him (his performative machismo as a rock star superhero to wondering whether he's more like Superman or Lex Luthor).

Even when they give him stories where he goes to school and lives some kind of normal teen life-there's never a big enough acknowledgement that it's what he needs more than anything (or they fall into the trappings of still treating him like he's older than he is). This kid skipped out on his childhood and popped out as a confused teenager, but narratively he's treated like a younger hunky Superman.

There's a lot of compelling story there! But I think since it's really popular in fandom to re-imagine Conner as POC, to be really careful about how all those themes get amplified and re-contextualized with racial identity. Being forced to grow up too soon is a common experience among POC and especially Black kids with how they get profiled through racism. Just all things to consider! I feel like when fanon just treats POC Conner as a re-skin of white Conner we're in danger of repeating a worse version of canon's problems.

[kehlanifenty]

[under-the-table-podcast]

Surprise!

Pop up ep dedicated to our Queen Ayo Edebiri to discuss this amazing Citizen Magazine interview

uncut edition

[thewidowspaiges]

Like/reblog if you save

[summerongrand]

Just wanted to say I appreciate your take on the whole white man/woc imbalanced power plot issue. This is something that I had a big problem with in season 4 and others definitely seemed to pick up on the same when all the storylines were Wesley, Nolan or Tim centric, and Nyla, Angela and Lucy were seemingly left as the 'other'. However I feel like I saw the issue be forgotten in the fandom a little. It seems this show has consistently favoured highlighting the male struggle and treating female storylines as trivial and unworthy, other than that of Bailey, the then newly introduced and now main cast white female character. I thought this would change with Lucy's story now being written consistently in s6 but it's clear that Tim's potentially the more favourable storyline. Now I can't speak from a psychological standpoint on what Tim did to Lucy but from a plot pov it's definitely making the white man vs woc power issue glaringly obvious. He is the one that gets to start or end their relationship. He's the white man with issues that is allowed to feel what he wants and grow his character while the asian woman is left behind despite her own depth and trauma. Let's hope that Lucy is given the same grace of dealing with her issues and growing as Tim, and Lucy gets her power back.

Hi Anon!

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful message. And thanks for patiently waiting for my response. I agree with everything you said. I believe the post you’re referring to is this one and possibly this one too.

It’s clear that the show has favored male storylines, particularly those of Wesley, Nolan, and Tim (and Bailey a non-WOC), while sidelining WOC ones. And even though the focus here is on Lucy and Chenford, I’m equally happy and willing to talk about race through the POVs of Angela/Wopez and Nyla/Jayla too.

I don’t think the actual act of Tim breaking up with Lucy has a racial dynamic to it other than the obvious. Them being of different races is just who they are. But their overall relationship (TO/Rookie, mentor/mentee, sergeant/gofer, friends, couple, etc.) does. And Melissa, bless her heart (affectionate), codes so heavily as Chinese in her mannerisms too and this gets projected onto Lucy. But that’s not talked about very often either. I say all of this to agree with you, Anon, because the “white man vs woc power issue” as you described has existed the whole time.

Let’s look at S5b and S6. A WOC masterminded the career progressions of at least two middle aged white men. One of them derailed her career progression. The other one broke up with her. Both broke her heart in very different ways. We did get some of Lucy’s character development and growth in S6 on the front end of the season. But even within that, her storyline has been about the 5 player trade (made to benefit Tim primarily) and Tim not being comfortable with her in UC. Tim gets demoted but he has a cushion to fall on because Lucy trampolined him into the Metro clouds and now the show’s able to use what Lucy did to benefit Tim again and use that to give him room to fall back on. This is part of the whole ‘using a WOC as a plot device to further a white man’s story’ which I’ve shared about in regards to the breakup (which is different than the act of breaking up) and you've detailed out too. We’ll see what happens to her story in the next few episodes, and I too hope that Lucy is given the same grace and that she does get her power back. But no matter what happens in future episodes, that trope was used so the genie’s already out of the bottle.

You did bring up the fandom, so I am going to talk about it a little more. This next part may be hard to hear, Anon, but … I have received negativity from Chenford fans for talking about Lucy and Melissa O’Neil’s race. This shows me that this topic is so worth talking about because there are people who feel a certain way about seeing race-related discussions about Lucy (they don’t want to be anywhere near it) and I do believe it’s unhealthy for the fandom to have these beliefs about a WOC. Others in the fandom have also encountered negativity and pushback when discussing this topic. Maybe it's even happened to you. People have shared their fandom experiences with me privately, but you’re the first to do it Anonymously which is great because that means you’ve given me the opportunity to respond to you publicly. 

Challenging this negatively held belief within our fandom and embracing Lucy/Mel’s racial and cultural identity is a worthy endeavor so let’s move the dial on that. It starts with talking about these topics in the context of The Rookieverse and keeping an open mind if these topics are unfamiliar to us. I mean, Mel wants more of that too.

Thanks again, Anon!

[almostfini]

Lilo and Stitch the Series featured a character, Lana, who uses forearm crutches! That’s not representation I see very often. They establish through dialogue that she’s used them since junior high at least but they don’t give her a tragic backstory or anything! She’s a successful businesswoman! And voiced by the amazing Cree Summer of course

[remnantglow]

i'm rereading the expanse and it's absolutely wild how james essay corey can write some of the most interesting+compelling female characters in fiction and then turn around and be like 'ok now let me fetishize her for a second tho'

[fyblackwomenart]

Senegalese Twist - James Denmark

[mysharona1987]

Irony is the IDF posted this themselves because they thought it made them look tough.

[leighpinnocx]

Leigh-Anne with Coco Jones in London.

[williexmercer]

you know what I’m going to say it. every time someones says that they don’t like a casting because “the hair colour is different”

no you’re just racist

it’s not because they don’t look like that character it’s because they are a person of colour (usually always woc) and you are racist

nothing more than being misogynistic and racist

[v-v-x-x]

I'm listening to the supreme court live oral argument right now and they'd rather ban tiktok but not telegram? The app where there's 70,000 men in a group chat sharing disturbing tutorials on how to assault their mothers, wives, daughters, sisters and not get caught? Oh but because it's a Chinese app possibly taking our data that's why, right? I know there is this complex debate when it comes to data privacy but that's all platforms. It's pretty obvious that because this app is owned by a Chinese company, it's an issue, it's political now. I need someone to explain this to me.

[jay-wasreblogging]

If it's one thing weirdos will do, it's that if a woman does something wrong you think she 'deserves' anything that happens to her - especially when that 'something wrong' pertains to sexuality.

So because Megan Thee Stallion slept with Tory it's okay for her to be shot?

So because Megan Thee Stallion lied on national tv interview that was supposed to be about her being shot but instead became about her sex life, it's okay for her to be shot?

So because Kelsey flip flops and all of a sudden can't remember fucking anything about what Tory did to Megan, it's okay for her to be shot?

So because she slept on her best friends 'man' it's okay for her to be shot?

So because Megan lied to police officers at first due to not wanting Tory to be shot as it was at the height of the BLM march for George Floyd, it's okay for her to be shot?

So because Megan raps about being tall, sexy and her coochie getting rich men it's okay for her to be shot?

Or is it only okay for her to be shot because you don't like women like her? Because only women you like, are virgins and agree with can be victims hm?