ash

Where I'm from people still use a slur for arabs. It's not that frowned upon to say our variant of the F-slur. It's common to hear people tall down on immigrants but only when they are POC/not white passing. All of our cities have a very clear distincion between the rich side, the middle class one and the poor one (which mostly has moroccan and black people). Most people but from Shein without any remorse. And those are just the ones I can recall atm.

There's also the fact that a lot of countries/territories are or have been colonies from an European (or more) nation. And this not only has left a very big mark on their development (because of the explotaition that they have endured/endure), but it has also left a big problem with the Erasure of their culture/traditions/rules while imposing ours —which still preveil there now and has become a way for the West to villanize the South. With the spread of cristianity, anti-LGBTQIA+ laws, colorism, racism and much more.

The thing is, we aren't educated on this. I can count on one hand how many times these issues have been taught by the school system shpwing that it still has consequences and is happening. We're educated on the atrocities others have made but not ours. And when ours are explained they are completely watered down. (I was once told that Alexander the Great got so many territories because he didn't attack, he talked to the people so greatly that they all dir what he told them to.)

Love is not this magical power that makes you good or anything. Evil people can love and be loved.

Love also does not make you a capable person, or in this case a capable parent. Loving people can be overwhelmed with parenting. Loving people can suffer mental health issues. Loving people are in cults or abusive religious structures that make them think that beating the crap out of their child for being gay is actually the good and right thing to do.

Love is nothing but a chemical reaction happening in your body/brain.

There are amazing parents who do not love their children. And there are horrible parents who love them. Love does not make a difference, and western culture being so fucking obsessed with love as this ideal moral thing is the root of so much abuse - not just against kids.

I know a lot of people are just having fun, and that's all well and good, but there's also a reason that Grace is so aroace-coded, and it's intentional.

Spoilers for the book and the movie below, proceed at your own risk. However, this is a very important discussion to have imo, because I've seen a concerning rise in amatonormative responses to this story.

Grace is not ace coded. Let's get this right. At no point in the movie is there ANY subtext making him ace. Never. Ever. Not a single second. Yes, the friendship and general love takes the front seat, but that is not the same thing!

It is still amazing a book+movie without any romance is so popular and resonated with so many people. It's amazing the fandom is so widely accepting acearo head-canons!

It doesn't change the source material. Which is a story that happens to not have a romance plot. That is ALL IT IS.

No, him 'no having romantic plot' is not enough. Just like Titanic not having Rose have any female romantic interest doesn't make her 'canonically bi' or 'bi coded'.

For the movie: ace Grace is and always will be a head-canon. There is no point in the movie, ever, that he identifies as ace, which means he isn't ace. Coding, even intentional, is not canon - it is subtext, which means people have every right not to follow it. They have every right to. Sure, you can think it's shallow - what you cannot do it judge or insult them over it.

Haven't read the book yet, but from what I've heard there is no on page words of Grace identifying as ace or even describing himself as not wanting to ever have relationship.

Hannibal show is gay. Severance show is gay. Canonically, because it happens on screen. There you can say 'character is gay'. There is none of this in PHM.

The ending is not 'happy' and I think you have some misunderstanding here. He is not happy to never meet other humans, to live under crushing gravity, eat his own flesh, live in still-being-build habitat and only see Rocky behind a xenonite wall. He is content to suffer all this, because he saved Rocky and even gets to survive. From what I've seen it's intentional callback to his false 'making peace' with dying in space. There is no 'ace proclamation' you make it out to be.

And this is what you're doing here. You're making moral judgements and trying to imply bigotry over how people ship fictional man and rock fucking. This is not healthy and this is not okay to do.

if the only way you can interact with a fandom involves shipping, you should consider how amatonormativity may be affecting you and your biases.

If you think a character not being in romantic relationship immediately makes them canonically ace and you take it as free pass to judge, demean and insult real, living people to point of accusing them of bigotry for they way they're having fun with their Barbie dolls, you should consider your relationship with fiction and how much you project into it and how it influence your real life behavior.

It is not just a story that doesn’t contain a romance plot, it is a story with a huge plot point about a character being portrayed as wrong for devaluing someone’s worth for being nonpartnering.

I did not insult anyone here. I did not accuse them of bigotry. I actively and heavily considered my word choice to make sure I wasn’t accusing anyone of bigotry. Amatonormativity impacts us, that is undeniable. I myself often stop myself and consider how amatonormativity is impacting my interpretations of things. Someone is not inherently aphobic for being unaware of how they might be perpetuating amatonormative ideas. If that were the case, then literally everyone on Earth would be aphobic.

Shipping is a part of fandom, absolutely, but if that’s the only someone knows to engage with fandom, I think that’s something they ought to examine and self-reflect on. That’s what I said. No accusations of bigotry or “behavioral issues” (don’t know where you got that from). Don’t put words in my mouth.

Yes, I am very frustrated by the constant presence of shipping content with relation to the character , because it makes me feel bad about myself. I saw a narrative explicitly say “It’s okay to not have a partner! It doesn’t make you worth less!” and that was beautiful. I was so excited and hopeful that people would consider that part of the story and they didn’t. Everyone just ran to shipping and it felt like they didn’t even pay attention to the story.

As for the ending, it’s bittersweet, absolutely, but Grace has his best friends and his students and obviously it’s not a true happily ever after, but those don’t actually exist and this is a much more grounded type of story. I was making a point about it not being some tragedy that needs to be remedied that he remains single.

First of all. It is undeniable that amatonormativity, as heteronormativity are very rampant and with all interaccions with canon and fanon media you can feel them. With the mainstream straight ships. With the constant relationship/attractions hierarchy that people make to put importance into specific relationships, etc.

Everyone should [PT: should] try to ser their own biases when interacting with media to be able to not let those bleed into their real life interactions. The same way You should check yourself if there's no black/asian/native/etc character you like to see your racial Bias, or if you hate all women characters/ etc.

But also shipping is and always has been one of the driving forces in fandom spaces to create any kind of fanart. Be it found family (familial love), friendship centric (platonic love), romance (romantic love), smut (sexual love), etc... Relationships have always been the focus in fandom. It's incredibly dificult to see fanart/fanfiction without it. And with amatonormativity, romantic and sexual attraction/love are priorizied a lot. As socially we have this social hierarchy of these being on top of anything (very commonly put on par with familial historically speaking).

I also want to really emphasize this. I personally have found that there's still a lot of content being made by fans centered specifically in grace being aroace, platonic Bonds, queerplatonic ones, etc. There has been the whole shipping him with the protagonist of Iron Lung, Rocky, Stratt, etc. But this was going to be inevitable? It's like Elsa from Frozen and Jack Frost. There's no other reason other that it was fitting in some way and people found it funny. Ships with human characters and aliens/non-humans are very popular. And all characters will Be shipped at least once with any character they have ever interacted with. Especially if they interact more.

And while it's always important to awknowledge that romance doesn't have to be everywhere and amatonormativity is a bitch. It is and will always be fiction. Representation is important. And it should appear more in published media. But everyone can have their own interpretations of fiction and like or dislike specific things. Even if they're canon as long as they aren't just gaslighting people into believing things are canon when they aren't, being hostils with others with different interpretations or treating people who have those Identities/experiences that they don't headcanon on the character with respect. Then it isn't really important. Its fiction. And people have used it, use it, and will continue to do so to explore things about themselves/that they like/that makes them aroused in a Safe environment (identities, trauma, kink, etc) and to project themselves onto.

Regardless of all of this, Anyone can feel disheartened/sad/etc when something that makes them feel represented is not read/interpretes the same by others. Especially with forgotten identities like the aspec/trans/Indigenous/intersex/POC/disabled communities. OP has every right to feel like this. And while I can see how it could be interpreted the way this reblog does, them voicing that people checking their amatonormativity would be good is perfecte reasonable. The same way if any minority told you to be mindful of your biases regarding them and their kind of oppression.

Slurs used against intersex people are often taken and reclaimed for perisex trans people who then shut the door on us, telling intersex people these slurs were never "really" for us and that we need to keep our mouth shut on their usage.

Terminology we coin is similarly taken by perisex trans people, and then their usage is twisted and turned around to bludgeon us with in the endless attempt to fit intersex people into the box of agab based 'girl intersex' or 'boy intersex' for the sake of making trans discourse cleaner.

While it may seem harmless on the surface, even things like intersex animals being consistently held up as "trans icons" while their intersex status is ignored, is representative of the larger problem.

We're fetishized, propped up as "transition goals", people gush about what they imagine intersex bodies to be, joke about- or in rare cases, seriously claim- to be "transitioning into being intersex", because to them intersex people are a fetishized aesthetic.

And then, anybody who doesn't fit into their fetishized view of the 'true hermaphrodite' are treated as if they're not intersex at all. How often do perisex people mockingly deride who they view as "just cis women with pcos" for daring to try to have a voice in gendered conversations? As if hormonally intersex people are 'fakers' in some way.

We're used as a talking point, constantly, against transphobes.

"How can transphobia be 'basic biology' when even sex isn't binary?" perisex trans people challenge transphobes, but then, as soon as they're done using us as a gotcha, those same perisex trans people try to push us into a sex binary that doesn't fit us.

There's an envy, almost, to how perisex trans people talk about "cis children" having access to "gender affirming care" like surgeries and hormones, speaking about our medical abuse, the medical mutilation of our children, as if it's a privilege to us as "cis people", rather than a horrible oppression our community faces.

And then there's the argument, on how transmisogynistic laws impact "cis women" (intersex people) as well, as if this is something transphobes are unaware of. Whether they'll say it or not, very few pericis people care to differentiate between a "hermaphrodite" and a "transsexual" in their minds, intersex people are not collateral damage, we are intended targets.

Not to mention how intersex people are also used as weapons in intra-community discourse within the trans community as well, people will tack on the concept of intersexism to an argument to legitimize it while refusing to listen to or engage with our community, at least, beyond the few intersex people with internalized intersexism they can find to boost their points and then drop. We are a talking point, but we ourselves are never given the space to talk, because fundamentally our oppression is seen as lesser, 'collateral' in transphobia, this is why perisex trans people seem to think we're a good debate point to use against transphobes who surely care about us.

This concept of intersex people as "collateral" is also what fuels the concept that trans people can, and should, "just pretend to be intersex" to get out of instances of oppression, as if intersex people don't experience horrible violence regardless, for looking the way we do, for being what we are. Actually talk to almost any intersex person and I'm sure they'll be able to give you countless examples of times "I just have a condition" didn't save them, because intersex people too are active targets of gendered violence and oppression.

Even intersex people who are also trans are frequently given a lesser seat at the table. Because we're "lucky", because surely we have an easier time transitioning, a head start, and surely by virtue of being intersex we- especially intersex people people with an ISIG- can more easily be 'accepted' as another gender anyways, so rather than intersex trans people being treated as more vulnerable, because of how intersexism and transphobia intersect to doubly marginalize us, we're viewed as somehow 'less trans', or at least impacted less significantly by transphobia, and, well, functionally, it seems a lot of trans people do not believe intersexism exists, or if they do believe in it, they view it as a misdirected and lesser form of transphobia.

And I'm tired of it. I'm tired of intersex terminology and oppression and symbols being co-opted by perisex people who then try to claim those things were never ours at all, I'm tired of being a talking point for people to use for their benefit without having a voice of our own, I'm tired of us being rhetorical props to be put back in our boxes when perisex people are done using us, I'm tired of our community being derisively talked over from all sides, I'm tired of the fetishization, the envy, the belittling, and of still having to meekly and respectfully beg for a seat at the table in discussions of gendered oppression!

Mock executions are a banned form of torture that can cause severe PTSD and psychological distress. It creates trust issues towards authority figures.

That was more than just a test, it mentally scarred Light (well it should have in a more realistic character building standpoint). It would have made him unable to helpfully add to the Kira case, making him unable to co-operate with the task force and possibly even making him emotionally numb.

I can't help but understand Light (especially in this arc) as somewhat fucked up by the situation with Misa, too. There's this person who he is not at all interested in romantically who is relentlessly obsessed with him. He obviously doesn't like her flirting and advances and they make him uncomfortable. As far as he remembers, she's kind of this stalkerish lady who showed up at his home one night and demanded to be his girlfriend.

And frankly, shit like that can be traumatizing. Being romantically pursued by someone who won't take no for an answer. And if you read Light as gay or aroace, that adds another layer to the way this could fuck with him. In that case, Misa's unwanted advances would be pushing past the boundary of not only Light's lack of interest in her as an individual, but potentially his more encompassing lack of interest in women.

And Light is someone who we know is very invested in keeping up appearances: in presenting as the kind of young man he's 'supposed' to be, and doing it perfectly. Graduating with outstanding grades, excellent at athletics, ambitious, polite and charming -- the kind of son who not only loves his family but makes them proud (and only ever proud). Especially, of course, his father, that figure of ideal masculinity.

Misa rattles all of that in various ways. For one, she's forward and acts silly and blatantly stomps over etiquette. That is uncomfortable and embarrassing to Light even if his orientation wasn't a potential factor. It contravenes the reserved, polite image he holds himself to. Misa isn't the kind of girlfriend that fits with his image, and there's a particular discomfort about his father seeing her interactions with him, I think.

At the same time, he's a young man who 'should' be drooling over a model/star like Misa Amane, right?? That's what the younger task force members like Matsuda seem to expect. And if we read Light as gay (or aroace), even if he's too repressed to understand that about himself, there'd still be this nebulous internal pressure to make sure he appears to be a 'normal' young guy -- you know, the kind who'd lie stomach-down on his bed and studiously flip through the pages of porn mag like it was a photographic essay ;-)

The point is, there's this dissonance where the guy Light is 'supposed' to be both should and shouldn't be into Misa. He's sort of stuck in a contradiction when it comes to how Misa fits into his carefully curated image. He's a "good boy," but the expectations of the 'good' and the 'boy' are kind of slammed against each other by Misa like some wrestler smashing two opponents' heads together and letting them both crumple to the ground.

To top it off, L asks Light to play along and manipulate Misa's emotions for the sake of the investigation, which Light refuses, saying it's "the most despicable thing a person can do". Which is of course the kind of thing a good boy, his father's son, would say. And Light really desperately wants to believe he's a good boy, imo.

So then all of these factors collide in a way that results in Yotsuba-Light sort of, in my view, passively going along with things and fawning while still trying to not express reciprocation for Misa's feelings. He does the 'dates' with her while handcuffed to L. He generally tries to appear polite and gentlemanly in how he treats her even while uncomfortably brushing off her advances. I use the word 'fawning' because I mean that he's trying to keep everyone, including Misa, happy with him and seeing him as a 'good boy'. With Misa, he's walking this delicate balance of not giving the impression that he reciprocates, while still being 'nice' and avoiding a freak-out that might be caused if he tried to push her away too hard.

Essentially, his relationship to Misa is another part of the Yotsuba arc in which Light doesn't fully belong to himself. He just went through prolonged solitary confinement, then the fake-execution by his father, then has to accept being handcuffed to L 24/7. And he just wants to prove to everyone that he's a good boy, because he is, right? And he's dealing with Misa's relentless and unwanted affection for him alongside it all. Which as mentioned, rattles the whole 'good boy' performance, and could make one feel like they're losing control and autonomy.

And even pre-DN, Light is someone who is committed to a performance of everything he and others think he 'should' be. He's someone who seems like his life has never really 'belonged' to him*, as beholden to expectations as he is (partly his own doing, but nonetheless -- he's a high school kid when this all starts). And imagine, he works so fucking hard all of his life, he makes himself perfect. He does that performance meticulously day-in and day-out. And after all that, he's suspected of being the worst serial killer in history and he has to do more to prove that he's the good boy he's supposed to be?? And this girl who's obsessively in love with him is in the mix too, making him feel uncomfortable and out of alignment with himself on additional levels??

Now, all of this said -- I'm NOT trying to overly demonize Misa, nor to absolve Light of his blazing misogyny. I'm focusing narrowly on how Misa affects Light and not the other way around, and specifically Yotsuba-Light. For Yotsuba-Light, there's far less sense of agency over his situation, including with Misa -- and that sense of lacking agency is part of what is traumatizing about having someone not take 'no' for an answer. Kira-Light at least has more agency, in that even though Misa makes him angry and uncomfortable, he allows himself to manipulate her and generally treat her like shit, in ways that give him back some sense of control over the situation. Yotsuba-Light doesn't really have that, though. During Yotsuba, Misa is another possibly traumatizing way in which Light (from his amnesiac perspective) has his agency denied, in addition to being another obstacle in keeping his good-boy performance convincing. Phew, that was long and rambling.

autistic abuse was very prevalent in my household as a child. my autistic brother had meltdowns in which he hit me and violently threw stuff at me. i recently had an horribly toxic autistic friend who couldn't communicate their emotions even though i told them several times that my mental illness symptoms are triggered and worsened when people don't communicate, and they avoided doing so on purpose -- these two are examples of what we call autistic abuse, and it is valid as a form of abuse and much more common than you believe.

these are signs to look for in order to know if a person is an autistic. if you know any person who has these patterns of behavior, it is likely that they are autistic: you must watch out for them and, if possible, completely cut them off from your life:

- seems cold and unfeeling

- can't communicate their emotions

- has poor emotional regulation skills

- is unintelligent

and didn't that make me sound like an ableist asshole?

isn't it obvious that while being autistic doesn't mean u get to throw shit at people, equating one autistic person throwing shit at me to autistic people having any direct correlation with abuse is only leading to bigotry and prejudice?

weren't those "signs to know if someone you know is autistic (so that you can prevent being abused by them)" not only invasive, but extremely stereotypical, bigoted, hurtful, straight up not neccessarily true?

isn't it clear that if i had meant a word of that, i would've been very fucking stupid?

Anyways! HERE'S YOUR HANDY GUIDE TO WHAT CAN COUNT AS EYESTRAIN! I'm pulling this straight from the Artfight rules page about what needs to be labeled and filtered as eyestrain because it's VERY helpful and VERY accurate! I also know not everybody has an AF account and might not always have access to this handy guide, and this is an important resource; That's why I'm sharing it here! (under the cut)

PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!!! THIS IS ABOUT THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF OTHERS!!!

there's a lot of people who have recently realized they are intersex, who have variations that aren't considered "traditionally intersex" (partially my doing lol). & many people who realized they had a variation that counts as intersex, have spent much of their life passing as and seeing themselves as perisex, and are very new to the intersex community and intersex activism.

to try to mitigate inter-intersex intersexism, i felt it would be good to write up a list of rights & responsibilities we all have as intersex people, towards each other. i think this format works well bc it reminds us that caring for ourselves & caring for each other are two sides of the same coin. we ask a little more of ourselves, in how we treat other people, so that we can receive a little more from others, bc we are all in this together.

this isn't meant to be a super formal complete thing, but i felt like it would do people some good to explicitly state these values & put them out there to be considered. especially since many ppl on this site (& in general) are autistic/neurodivergent & may benefit a lot from explicit advice on how to engage w others!

all people with sex trait variations outside of what is typical for "males" and "females" have the right to find their place in the intersex community, and use the label without explanation or apology. there is no intersex hierarchy, no "you must suffer This Much to ride," no giving the authority to decide what intersex means to perisex doctors before sex variant people themselves.

we have the responsibility to keep our most vulnerable siblings at the center of our community, like penguins in a huddle. that means people (esp children) who have been or are being targeted by CIMI due to their intersex traits. it also means multiply marginalized intersex people, especially intersex people of color and non-western intersex people. those who intersexism strikes first and hardest deserve the most community support.

we have the right to make sense of our lived experiences through the framework of intersexuality, and to talk about our experiences using that language. we should be able to expect the community to hold space for our stories, our experiences, our needs as intersex people.

we have the responsibility to educate ourselves on other intersex people, to hold space for their stories and experiences and needs. we should educate ourselves on intersex terminology and history, and we should have a basic understanding of other intersex variations and what people with different variations experience.

we have the right to call ourselves intersex, even when people w internalized intersexism or who use the medical model (like doctors) do not believe we have a right to the term. we have a right to use the language & framework of intersexism to make sense of our experiences with discrimination, abuse, pain, alienation, etc.

we have the responsibility to identify & deconstruct our own internalized intersexism. we have a responsibility to educate ourselves on forms of intersexism we do not personally face, and to understand how all forms of intersexism are connected & uphold the same oppressive system. we should treat every act of intersexist violence as if it happened to one of our family members, being outraged and taking action while centering the needs and voice of the actual victims.

we have the right to be frustrated, furious, depressed, anxious, traumatized about our experiences with intersexism and to be deeply affected by those experiences. we have a right to be imperfect, messy, problematic, and to struggle to do better and have that effort recognized.

we have the responsibility to show compassion & understanding to other intersex people when they are affected by their experiences with intersexism, and to put effort into navigating our own intersex pain & trauma consciously. other intersex people being imperfect, hurt people are not our enemies, nor does being an imperfect hurt person give you a free pass to treat others as your enemies.

the most powerful antidote to imposter syndrome is community and connection. so if you are just realizing that your body counts and struggling with doubt? the best thing to do is to practice being in community w those people and recognizing our shared experiences, struggles, and goals. not talking over or develop any kind of complex around more visibly or traditionally intersex people.

let me make this very clear: the expansive definition of what "intersex" means has to come as a result of being dedicated to resisting intersexism. hypospadias is able to be intersex because intersex activists make the choice to reject the perisex medical model and define the word as an umbrella term for sex variance, so people can unite under shared experience without a doctor's scrutiny of if they "count." that cannot be separated from the wider fight against intersexism, especially directed at ambiguous genitalia & "obviously intersex" variations.

i consider my hypospadias/H-VCV intersex not just because it fits my personal experiences (altho it does) but bc I see the direct line between the idea of "intersex traits can be common, they can be minor, they can be mild, it all fits under the umbrella" & the goal of truly dismantling the sex binary and all rules and boxes we draw around how bodies Should Look and Should Act and Should Identify. my indiv identity as intersex is part of a much larger picture & i identify as intersex as an active choice to connect my experiences with my sex variant traits to that goal, that dream. i do this rather than understanding my body the way perinormativity would like me to (as a disordered female), by choosing to create solidarity w other sex variant people in how we've been hurt by the sex binary. to identify as intersex is a personal choice but it's also a deeply social one. once i decide to take it on, that label cannot be separated from the context of community & our shared place in society.

disclaimer: I am east asian. if anyone who is not white sees anything wrong with my phrasing, inaccuracies, or insensitivity, or something I missed, please feel free to add on. I’m just one person with one perspective; none of what I say should be taken as The Singular way to draw an Asian character. if you havent done so already, please take the effort to expand your view of Asian culture outside this one tutorial.

Image description for the original post and my addition are underneath the read more at the end.

Thank you for reading! Once again, image description for my images and OP’s images are under the cut.

Just like OP, I’m only one single person, so if anyone wants to correct me or add something I missed, then go for it. And further disclaimer, there are exceptions to everything I’ve said in this post, and it only applies to East and Southeast asian people who are either not mixed or white-mixed, as those are the hair types I’m most familiar with.

Edit: AUGH I FORGOT TO mention this but @ everyone in the comments talking about blue eyes on biracial asians, here’s another guide I made that goes over color inheritance for biracial people: https://6480n.tumblr.com/post/633074808569069568/making-this-guide-because-i-see-this-question-time

SudanFunds - website compiling verified campaigns and organizations

Khartoum Aid Kitchen - they operate 12 kitchens across sudan, including 2 hospitals

Saving Al-Geneina / Hope and Haven for Refugees - provides food, medical care, and education to refugees in sudan

Sudanese American Physicians Association's medical aid program - they operate a hospital in khartoum, **the ONLY hospital still delivering babies in sudan**

One Million Sustainable Pads Campaign - distributes reusable pads

FAH Supporting Sudan - financial assistance to sudanese hospitals, backed by the FAH / federation of american hospitals

Community kitchen in Cairo - provides food to refugees who have fled to egypt

Community kitchen in Sudan - provides food for 1200 families

Another community kitchen in Sudan - provides food, only £1,500 raised so far

Sanad Initiative - raises money to keep sudanese medical students in school

Sudan Solidarity Initiative - run by sudanese diaspora, provides direct funds to all kinds of sudanese including farmers unions and low cost clinics, also runs awareness-raising workshops

The game treats the Miis like they’re real people and makes zero mention ever that they are not, and only ever refers to them and their POV as if they are real and you are their caretaker! While playing this honestly messed with my head pretty badly at times and made me worry a lot on if I was hurting real people/not doing enough for real people while I was playing!

I cannot imagine how much worse this would be for someone who’s unmedicated, non-dormant, or experiencing breakthrough symptoms! Do please be careful and PLEASE remember to have a way to reality check yourself while playing the game!!!

Two things:

As usual, there’s historical and social context that I need explain! This lesson is not what sexuality is, or ‘how to write being gay while Black’. That’s… not that different from you. What this lesson is, is context on how Blackness plays a role in our presentation and understanding of gender and sexuality (as well as your perception of it), and how that’s something you should consider in your characterization, writing, and character design.

I DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING! The reason this took so long was because I read multiple books and wallowed in my remaining lack of understanding. I cannot join The Tumblr Discourse so do not ask. I tried to be as inclusive as I could, but I learn something new on this app every day, so if I miss something- and I’m bound to- I apologize in advance. Please have grace with me.

TW: Sexual assault mention, homophobia, misogynoir, cannibalism, misgendering

Here's a list with some resources to learn about intersex community, history, and politics! These include some academic sources and some community sources. I'd love to add sources in other languages and that focus on countries besides the United States, so if anyone has recommendations, please let me know. Continually updating and adding sources.

Reading list:

Intersex History:

"The Intersex Movement of the 1990s: Speaking Out Against Medical and Narrative Violence" by Viola Amato.

Hermaphrodites with Attitude Newsletters.

Jazz Legend Little Jimmy Scott is a Cornerstone of Black Intersex History By Sean Saifa Wall

"Hermaphrodites with Attitude: Mapping the Emergence of Intersex Political Activism" by Cheryl Chase

Chrysalis Quarterly: Intersex Awakening, 1997.

"What Happened at Hopkins: The Creation of the Intersex Management Protocols" by Alison Redick.

Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex by Elizabeth Reis.

Intersex Politics

“A Framework for Intersex Justice.” Intersex Justice Project

"Creating Intersex Justice: Interview with Sean Saifa Wall and Pidgeon Pagonis of the Intersex Justice Project." by David Rubin, Michelle Wolff, and Amanda Lock Swarr.

"Intersex Justice and the Care We Deserve: ‘I Want People to Feel at Home in Their Bodies Again." Zena Sharman.

Critical Intersex edited by Morgan Holmes.

Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine by Amanda Lock Swarr.

"Intersex Human Rights" by Bauer et al.

Morgan Carpenter's writing

"I Want to Be Like Nature Made Me: Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Children in the US." by Human Rights Watch.

Cripping Intersex by Celeste E. Orr.

"From ‘Intersex’ to ‘DSD’: A Case of Epistemic Injustice" by Ten Merrick.

"Did Bioethics Matter? A History of Autonomy, Consent, and Intersex Genital Surgery." by Elizabeth Reis.

Intersex Community

"Normalizing Intersex: Personal Stories from the Pages of Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics." edited by James DuBois and Ana Iltis.

Hans Lindhal's blog.

InterACT Youth Blog.

Intersex Justice Project Blog.

"What it's like to be a Black Intersex Woman" by Tatenda Ngwaru.

Intersex Inclusive Pride Flag by Valentino Vecchietti.

The Interface Project founded by Jim Ambrose.

Intersex Zines from Emi Koyama

Teen Vogue's Intersex Coverage

YOUth& I: An intersex youth Anthology by Intersex Human Rights Australia

Intersex OwnVoices books collected by Bogi Takacs.

Memoirs:

Nobody Needs to Know by Pidgeon Pagonis.

Inverse Cowgirl by Alicia Roth Weigel

XOXY by Kimberly Zieselman

Fiction:

Icarus by K Ancrum.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Video/Audio

Every Body dir. Julie Cohen.

Hermaphrodites Speak! 1997.

Liberating All Bodies: Disability Justice and Intersex Justice in Conversation.

"36 Revolutions of Change: Sean Saifa Wall."

Inter_View: An Intersex Podcast by Dani Coyle

Hans Lindhal's Youtube channel.

What it's Like to be Intersex from Buzzfeed.

Emilord Youtube channel

I'm intersex-ask me anything from Jubilee

What it's like to be Intersex-Minutes With Roshaante Andersen.

Pass the Mic: Intercepting Injustice with Sean Saifa Wall

Art

"Hey AAP! Get your Scalpels Off Our Bodies!" 1996.

Ana Roxanne's album Because of a Flower.

Intersex 1 in 90 potraits by Lara Aerts and Ernst Coppejans

Anyone can be Born Intersex: A Photo-Portrait Story by Intersex Nigeria.

Pidgeon Pagonis "Too cute to be binary" Collection

Juliana Huxtable Visual Art

Koomah's art

"This is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"I don't want to read this because it is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"Censorship of some topics in fiction and art is good and I would be happy if it were to be enacted in a way I approved of"

and

"some things should be banned from ever being written or read about in fiction"

are both authoritarian viewpoints to hold and express, even if you don't have the power to enact them.

Something being nasty is not a good reason to ban fiction about it.

If we accept that "something being nasty is a good reason to bad fiction about it" then we give a foot in the door for all the people who truly, genuinely believe that queer people are nasty to ban all queer literature.

Either you’re for it or you aren’t.

The moment you agree that something should never, ever exist in fiction is the moment that anything can be banned.

Remember a while back how Tumblr banned a bunch of tags, including many popular innocuous ones that even people who are for censorship used and were upset about?

When censorship happens, stuff YOU like can and will be banned. That’s how it works.

Remember how a bunch of people had their accounts terminated here only last year for writing about their own sexual abuse?

When you ban “pedo” topics, say, any talk of child sexual abuse in any form, that means people can no longer write about their own experiences. It means people cannot educate others so they can learn how to protect themselves or get help from these situations.

Censorship is authoritarian. Full stop.

Even if “everyone” agrees something is “gross” and “shouldn’t exist,” that does not fucking matter.

Do you know who generally believes queer people are gross and shouldn’t exist??

The same people who are banning books left and right solely because they have queer characters or relationships.

The same people who attack and kill queer folk for simply exisiting.

This is not just some fandom matter or a case of being chronically online.

In 2007, Livejournal capitulated to the "pedophilia and sex crimes!" cries of (hate group) Warriors 4 Innocence, and you know what communities got shut down? Slashfic communities. Sexual assault survivor support communities. Authors who'd written non-smut m/m fic even got caught up in it. It was DEVASTATING to fandom spaces. I think pretty much everyone knew at least one person whose account was literally DELETED, or were a member of a community that was wiped off the map because they were considerate enough to include topics like "sexual assault" or "BDSM" in the profiles under the badly-named category of "interests" to indicate that posts on said blogs or communities may include discussion of things like that. Even if it was for a SUPPORT group. And it was because a group of religious bigots came to LJ and said essentially "EVERYONE thinks it's gross and that it's promoting CSA, we should ban it."

Like, strikethrough and boldthrough were a large part of what propelled AO3 out of a more unfocused conversation on one person's blog about hosting a site INTENDED for fandom content, into being an actual archive and nonprofit. And it's a large part of why you won't find AO3 banning topics that you find "gross".

I had a friend. We were 12. We had just discovered fanfiction and were obsessed. We read anything and everything we could get our hands on. One of the stories we read was a "pedo fic." It exposed us to scenarios and language that hadn't ever been touched on in Sex Ed at school or with our parents. To be frank, it "corrupted our young minds with topics we shouldn't have to deal with." It also gave my friend words to finally describe why her neighbor creeped her out so much. "He's creepy and weird" gets a 12 year old scolded and lectured on being nicer. "He's a sexual predator" gets adults asking questions and involving the cops. Her neighbor "moved away."

Censorship is pro-pedo and anti-child-safety. There is no communicating what's wrong if there are no words to describe what's happening. Bad things will happen whether you have the words to ask for help or not. Censorship takes those words away.