Hi! I'm Ash! I am a minor. Mod of @this-is-infantilization and @this-is-lookism . To see my possible biases and blind spots I'm white from Catalonia, gender non conforming, aroace, demiplatonic and afamilial. This blog is dedicated to things I deem important politically and morally sometimes linked to my favourite media. With critical/literary analysis, fanart and sometimes fics.
My yapping blog is 4shtronomyaps!
If you want to see only my analysis of media they're in the tag #4shtronomy's analysis [link], if you want rants analyzing issues in the world/in general they're in the tag #4shtronomy rants [link]
But I want to leave some things clear in here:
My analysis aren't to be taken as perfect. I'm human, and so I make mistakes. Important to note that a lot of my writing is done in one sitting or two.
If you disagree with my takes if you're respectful and counterargument it with constructive criticism I'm more than fine with it. I encourage it even.
I also encourage you to add things to my takes.
My takes are not the absolute truth. You should still read them with the addition of other takes to try to make your own opinions. I want this to be a space to be able to practice media literacy.
I don't limit myself to character arcs or plot holes. I try to go with full contextualization with history, culture, subtext, stereotypes and more.
I do have a strict DLDR policy with fan stuff. I won't do any critical analysis on any fanfiction that doesn't explicitly ask it. Unsolicited advice with things that are done for enjoyment for free is a dick move
This is not a safe space for racism, homophobia, classism, ableism, sexism, colorism, transphobia, colonizer ideology, fascism, alterhumanisia, paramisia or any kind of discrimination.
My fanart is just that, it'll reflect in some ways my ideology but it won't be part of any actual analysis I do. I just like drawing.
My fics are fine. They're not perfect by any means, my creative writing skills need work. But they will reflect my ideology a lot more than fanart, and any asks about some of those decisions are more than welcome.
My rebloggs are analysis of media, politics/ethics or fanart I especially liked!
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Listen, nobody who's ever opened a history book says we didn't do that shit first. Pick an atrocity and chances are there was a time europeans did it on mass to someone for the sake of profit. The difference, is that we have for the most part put that behind us, while the US is just sinking deeper and deeper into it. We're not perfect, and we were a lot worse in the past. But it has been a while since we were the problem
Yeah. Just because the US is so blatantly obvious with it's racism, anti-blackness, xenophobia, islamophobia, etc... That doesn't take away the fact that these are very threaded in our justice system and society.
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 âwhich 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.)
Europe is very much falling into fascism right now but people are too focused on the USA to notice.
I genuinely don't think it matters if parents love their kid or not, honestly. It truly doesn't matter, as love is just an emotion, and your emotions truly do not matter when it comes to the wellbeing of other people. Your actions do.
It doesn't matter how much love you have for your kid, how much you just wanted to protect them and give them the best life they could... if you abuse them, you abused them. If you hit your kid, screamed at your kid, sexualized your kid, and you take 0 accountability for it because you love them, you are no better than a parent that despises their child or doesnt care for their child and does the same thing. As they like to say, facts do not care about your feelings. Harm is still harm when it comes from a loving heart.
This exact sort of thinking makes sure a ton of kids get abused every year, because if the abuse gets called out (be it by the kids themselves, or by other people around them) someone will say: "Oh, but the parents love this kid so much! So they cannot abuse the kid! Because a loving parent would never abuse their child." Whcih then will end in a situation where the kid either might be just left in the abusive situation, or worse, will be punished for potentially speaking out about the abuse.
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.
People die every day because someone "loved them" too much. Femicides are very often committed by men who will swear up and down how much they loved the woman. And telling someone that "this is not real love" is not actually helping the abused person.
I love Project Hail Mary, both the book and the movie, but the amount of shipping content I've been seeing for it recently really irks me.
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 demonstrates a massive amount of love, and none of it is rose. Platonic love for Rocky. Love for science and knowledge, love for humanity and for other people (his students, his friends). He is a full and complete person full of love and hope and ambition, and NONE of it has to do with romance. And I think that is very intentional.
I think that Project Hail Mary is inherently anti-amatonormativity. Like the fundamental message of the book is about all those other types of love and hope and it's beautiful. That's why it resonated with me so deeply, as a nonpartnering aroace. Like, finally, a beautiful story with practically no romance in sight, that doesn't infantilize Grace for being single, or tries to hook him up with someone in the end. It doesn't treat romance like the end all be all. He doesn't need that, and that's great for him.
His happily ever after is living on an alien planet with his alien best friend Rocky and Rocky's alien partner, Adrian, and teaching little aliens. Because Grace is a teacher. He gets his joy from teaching more than anything. It's a beautiful ending. Grace is happy and content without a single other human around, because he has his best friend and his students. Like, it makes me cry just to think about, because it's beautiful.
And then I see people shipping him, and it's like they totally missed one of the messages of the story.
You probably remember when Stratt tried to justify forcing Grace to go on this suicide mission because he had no spouse, no family, and not even a dog, right? You do realize that it's bad logic, right? Like, she did a bad thing. Yes, it saved humanity, but it was a bad thing to do. And she definitely would have sent him even if he did have a spouse or a family or a dog, because he was literally their only chance at saving humanity.
Stratt's excuse about not having a family etc is a bad thing. The story portrays this as a bad thing.
The message the book is conveying here is: "people are not worth less just because they are single".
So it fucking kills me to see people shipping Grace. There was a huge message here about how people have worth because they are people, and how Stratt did an extremely reprehensible thing to save humanity. There's a message here about platonic love and love for the Earth and humanity and hope for the future, and it's beautiful. It's truly beautiful, and I think it's why so many aroace people resonate so deeply with this book and movie.
As I've said before and I'll say again, if the only way you can interact with a fandom involves shipping, you should consider how amatonormativity may be affecting you and your biases. There is so much more to life than romance and shit. Try to get a little more creative with the way you engage with media, and also just the way you view life in general. There's so much more out there than rose relationships.
With all due respect, this comes off as you personally projecting onto the story and taking it too personally. You are literally judging and insulting real people over how they play with fictional characters and taking it to point of bigotry and behavior issues - you need to take a step back.
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.
And to anyone who read whole post: I'm ace as well, so you don't get that rebuttal. <3
Even if we assume that Grace is allorose, the book is still fundamentally conveying a point about not devaluing people who are nonpartnering. Thatâs the important part. Thatâs the part I care about.
It is not just a story that doesnât contain a romance plot, it is a story with a huge plot point about a character being portrayed as wrong for devaluing someoneâs 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 wasnât 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 thatâs the only someone knows to engage with fandom, I think thatâs something they ought to examine and self-reflect on. Thatâs what I said. No accusations of bigotry or âbehavioral issuesâ (donât know where you got that from). Donât 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 âItâs okay to not have a partner! It doesnât make you worth less!â and that was beautiful. I was so excited and hopeful that people would consider that part of the story and they didnât. Everyone just ran to shipping and it felt like they didnât even pay attention to the story.
As for the ending, itâs bittersweet, absolutely, but Grace has his best friends and his students and obviously itâs not a true happily ever after, but those donât 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.
I think the ending of the story is very open to interpretation, because he doesnât explicitly state anything about how he feels, but in the book, his explanations include things like âisnât that cool?â and then heâs excited to teach his students.
I think this is very nuanced but I'll try to explain both Sides into one and convey this as well as i Can:
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.
In general the quickest way to say this is: Like always Ship and let Ship. Fiction is fiction. But still check your biases people. Everyone has them. And don't be bigots by deniying it. Your feelings are yours and no one else's, but that's also for you to Navigate/understand.
I fear many perisex trans people do not take intersexism seriously as an axis of marginalization at all and in fact view intersex people primarily as convenient talking points to boost their own 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!
Speaking as someone who is both trans and intersex: the trans community has a massive intersexism problem, and I'm tired of begging for scraps of solidarity from people who are more than happy to use us when it benefits them!
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Ok but can we talk abt the mock execution in Death Note??
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.
Idk how L got away with violating tons of human rights tbh, like the task force was ok with torture but not cameras????
Honestly, I think this is why amnesia!Light was so eager to help and completely okay with Lâs incredibly probing means of âinvestigationâ as well as the whole chaining together thing. Itâs likely a combination of the mental dissociation over his Kira suspicions (he was smart enough to see what L could see regarding his suspiciousness and would do anything to get away from that) and the trauma from this. Amnesia!Light isnât just âgoodâ Light, itâs Light under a shit ton of mental stress and trauma and straight up memory gaps. I personally wonder if what he went through during this arc contributed to the absolute loss of any spark in his plans during the successor arc.
Really excellent points, and they've made me think more about something that's always kind of floating in the back of my mind when I think about Yotsuba-Light in particular.
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.
*(See @applestorms awesome analysis of how Kira-Light gives himself up for the sake of Kira, and thus how Light doesn't really belong to himself when he's Kira either).
**(Also see this incredibly thorough analysis of Yotsuba Light by casuistor, which has really helped to crystallize and shift some of my thoughts on Light in this arc)
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?
then why is narcissistic abuse an acceptable term?
Me: "Damn people are REALLY BAD at knowing when to tag their eyestrain art/images...either that or they just don't care about photosenitive epileptic people like me. I feel really sad now."
Person: "But Allison, what if they just don't know or understand what qualifies as eyestrain and what doesn't?"
Me: "You know what? That could be a factor...While it is always better to be safe rather than sorry (so YES people should always tag eyestrain even if they're unsure if it "counts" or not) maybe you've got a point?"
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!!!
Full eyestrain AF page link
"But Allison! How were you able to screenshot that example if you're so sensitive to eyestrain?"
I dimmed the HELL out of my computer screen and looked away while taking the screenshot and did the same when putting it into this post, that's how lol. BUT YEAH ANYWAYS!!! Once again:
PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!!! THIS IS ABOUT THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF OTHERS!!!
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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.
when you enter this shared space, remember to wipe your feet, take off your shoes, and hold the door open for the next person looking for shelter. and when you share your story with the people who welcome you in, be ready to listen to theirs in return.
#also some tidbits#do not call traits 'normal' and 'abnormal' even if you have them#you may think you're just talking about yourself but if you're talking within earshot of someone who also has that trait you're also saying#they're abnormal#as well as do not call someone 'peritypical' without their consent or assume what things people will be ok with when describing their body#even if you use terms like agenital others might not be ok with it. what might be a clitorophallus to you might be that persons penis.#just ask before applying terms to people
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. Iâm 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.
if a white person reblogs this and adds something stupid Iâm going to bite and kick you like a wild animal
I LOVE this post and wanted to add some additional info, cause I see a lot of people who assume that drawing asian hair is the same as drawing white hair. This is not the case! Thereâs more to it than just the color.
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 OPâs images are under the cut.
Just like OP, Iâm 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 Iâve 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 Iâm most familiar with.
Edit: AUGH I FORGOT TO mention this but @ everyone in the comments talking about blue eyes on biracial asians, hereâs 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
Aid organizations & Community Kitchens operating in Sudan
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 ÂŁ1,500 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
and, finally, this isnt a community organization, but @lgbtq-refugees is a large group of LGBTQ refugees who have reached out to me personally. they have been kicked out of multiple IDP camps because of their queer identity. i can personally attest they are real refugees who really need help. you can donate to them here
NOTICE FOR PSYCHOTIC PEOPLES LIKE ME AND THE NEW TOMODACHI LIFE: Please please pretty pretty please be careful while playing Living the Dream, esp if youâre currently unmedicated!!!
The game treats the Miis like theyâre 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 whoâs 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!!!
Also: If youâre not psychotic, please reblog this anyway!!! It may not seem like a big deal to you but these kinds of things are REALLY important to know for us psychotic folk in a world that is both hostile and negligent to us and our needs!!!
âOn Human Dignity.â Â Blackness, Gender & Sexuality
Two things:
As usual, thereâs historical and social context that I need explain! This lesson is not what sexuality is, or âhow to write being gay while Blackâ. Thatâs⊠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 thatâs 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 Iâm bound to- I apologize in advance. Please have grace with me.
TW: Sexual assault mention, homophobia, misogynoir, cannibalism, misgendering
âThatâs that White People Shit"
Iâm putting the hardest part first; walk with me, youâll be fine!
I will be honest: this section here, while I do think you should know, I donât really expect nonblack people to incorporate it in depth. Not because it cannot be done, but because it is a sensitive topic that we ourselves are still struggling with. If you have struggled with anything else while writing Black characters up to this point, this one certainly isnât for you to touch. Just keep in mind!
Thereâs an idea Iâve heard before on both sides that Black people are more likely to be homophobic, that queerness itself is white. That is a ridiculous belief, but the root of it ends up right back where you think it would: slavery! Iâm sure that you saw me post while I was reading The Delectable Negro by gay Black author Vincent Woodard. I shared those increasingly uncomfortable quotes on purpose! If you have a desire to understand Black culture and Black thought, that means being willing to acknowledge Black pain. How can you avoid stereotypes if you avoid learning their source? Â
While I will be using quotes from the entire book, the specific chapter of âEating Nat Turnerâ is a succinct explanation of why admitting to the presence of homosexuality, gender fluidity, and queer identity within the Black community is so difficult for my people. While I highly, HIGHLY recommend reading this chapter yourself, it essentially comes down to how admitting to such a potential vulnerability in the armor of Blackness, in gender identity and particularly Black masculinity, would allow white supremacy to destroy us as a people, to do validate doing even more cruel things to us when in a position of power over us. Itâs a defensive reaction based in trauma that disregards and discards the queer members of our own community as a threat, a liability when it comes to fighting against the ubiquitous presence of white supremacy.
âIntuitively, Black gay men understood the issue of homosexuality during slavery as a complex phenomenon shaped by a number of factors, including the nationâs unresolved relationship to the legacy of slavery, Black liberatory ideology dating back to slavery, and, most importantly, the maintenance of traditional notions of family and community that originated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The legacy and memory of slavery had a powerful effect that left many Black gay men feeling isolated from and rendered invisible within Black communities.
Joseph Beam said it first and best: âI cannot go home as who I am. . . . When I speak of home, I mean not only the familial constellation from which I grew, but the entire Black community: the Black press, the Black church, Black academicians, the Black literati, and the Black left⊠I am most often rendered invisible, perceived as a threat to the family, or am tolerated if I am silent and inconspicuous.â ⊠As Philip Brian Harper has noted, the Black homosexual functioned in the twentieth century as an index for Black masculine anxieties. These ranged from the very personal and painful anxieties of lynching, castration, and the denial of civil rights to a larger set of anxieties rooted in historical erasure and cultural genocide.â
âSex and gender they also conflated with homosexuality, made out to equal effeminacy. Many Blacks linked homosexuality to castration and the recent history of Black men who had been lynched and Black women who had been raped in the Jim Crow South and in the North. Homosexuality, in its metaphoric power, had an exhaustive function: It is equated with the absence of family, hatred of Black people, estrangement from oneâs kin and culture, and all of those horrific aspects of Black experience about which Black people would rather not speak.â
An example of why nonblack people should consider the depth of such a topic- and their place to do so- before incorporating it into their story comes in the form of Styronâs Confessions of Nat Turner, and the backlash he faced from the Black community for such a sensationalized story from a white author.
âThe ten Black male contributors [who wrote Ten Black Writers Respond] coupled cannibalism (overtly and covertly) with homoeroticism and effeminacy. For these Black men, homoeroticism became a way of circumventing and projecting their experiences and pain onto certain âeffeminateâ Black men: the consumed Black man these Black men equated with the homosexual man. Homosexuality served as a means of containing certain unwieldy and historically difficult topics pertaining to Black masculinity, such as the need for intimacy, gender variance, sexual and emotional vulnerability, and violation. It was as if, in this very powerful and discursive moment, threads that had been all along winding through history wove together in a manner that illuminated the past as much as they clouded and blocked full access to its complicated meaning.â
âOn the surface, at least, I do not disagree with these Black men and women. I think their analysis regarding historicity and the diminishment of Black communal ties was mostly correct. Styronâs novel was historically inaccurate, depicting Turner as raised by whites rather than the Black parents and grandmother Turner spoke about in his original âConfessions.â Styron depicts aspects of Turnerâs sexual life that are not validated in any documentation coming from the time period, and Styronâs exhaustive probing into the racial hatred and self-hatred of Turner clearly reflected something in his own psyche and white identity that he felt compelled to project onto Turner. Black men were put on the defensive by both the novel and by the institutions (literary production, the media) and individuals who supported Styron as an authentic interpreter of Black historical experience. Many Black men, like Bennett, felt that Styron was waging a literary war that paralleled the contemporary political and police state war against Black menâŠâ
The problem with this mindset and approach within the community is that, while it attempts to protect our community, it silences both the prosperity and the pain of an entire section of it, as well as shutting down important conversation that needs to be had even by nonqueer members. And itâs doing it all to fight against a force- white supremacy- that is going to commit violence against us regardless! Respectability politics forces many Black people to stay silent, to not speak up on things that may rock the boat- but the boat needs to be rocked! Blaming fellow victims of racism is not going to save us!
âThat was the irony of this moment. Black people invoked the cannibal discourse that could have freed up and complicated Black male perspectives on everything from social consumption to homoeroticism only to defend Black masculinity and Black culture. Black men were not interested in, nor capable of dealing with, the complex legacy of cannibalism and homoeroticism that so powerfully shaped their responses to Styronâs novel.â
But that does NOT mean that itâs a nonblack personâs place to make that argument! While I cannot stop you, I do want you to keep in mind that- as always with sensitive topics- you may have to face Black people who may rightfully be offended by your depiction if not done with care. Styron studied James Baldwin himself- who faced backlash on his end for saying that it was time for the Black community to face such a conversation- and even then, he still projected his white pathology and opinions onto the story of such a prolific hero in our history. Tread lightly!
âWell they donât seem gay to me.â- A Eurocentric Standard of Passing
How many times have you heard this about a Black character? And if youâre Black and LGBTQ, how often have you heard it about people (or maybe even yourself?) How do we ânot seem gayâ? What is gay supposed to be? Thereâs this denial, almost, of Black LGBTQ folks, based in a complete disconnect of understanding of our own forms of gender expression and sexuality.
Itâs extremely bizarre, because so much of pop gay culture as we know it is from Black LGBTQs (please refer to my infamous AAVE lesson), but⊠when we imagine an LGBTQ person, they're white.
If youâre Black and queer, you have to be this stereotypical, flamboyant RuPaul-esque figure. Canât be regular degular. If youâre gay, you gotta be Uber Gayâą. If youâre trans, you better pass with Complete Gender and Pizzazz. If youâre nonbinary, youâre not âandrogynousâ enough. If youâre intersex or asexual, youâre practically not real. If you donât fill this (white, western) mold, you must not be right. When all you have to be in order to be gay⊠Is be gay.
I shouldnât have to put on extra performance to qualify as queer in your eyes! Do you know what looks are considered âandrogynousâ in my community? What behaviors are deemed âmasculineâ versus âfeminineâ? Do you know anything about my queer culture, or are you subconsciously comparing it to your own?
I want you to recognize that whatever image of queerness you have in your mind for your favorite or original characters, if Black people of all shapes and sizes arenât included, thereâs a problem! Because what are you seeing in others, that youâre not seeing in us? Is that, perhaps, a you problem? And why are we not worth the added effort of queer layering that others are?
THAT SAID!
âOh I know what thatâs like, Iâm gay-â
This one mostly- if not always- comes from white queer folk. Iâve linked The Last Interview with James Baldwin. Itâs so short. PLEASE take the time to read it. Iâve always adored how James Baldwin expresses himself, and while I could never stand so close, I have studied how he conveys his thoughts. But thereâs almost nothing I could say that he doesnât say better.
âA Black gay person who is a sexual conundrum to society is already, long before the question of sexuality comes into it, menaced and marked because heâs Black or sheâs Black. The sexual question comes after the question of color; itâs simply one more aspect of the danger in which all Black people live. I think white gay people feel cheated because they were born, in principle, into a society in which they were supposed to be safe. The anomaly of their sexuality puts them in danger, unexpectedly. Their reaction seems to me in direct proportion to the sense of feeling cheated of the advantages which accrue to white people in a white society.â
The idea that âI know what itâs like to experience this oppression as a Black person because Iâm gayâ is not true. Itâs like saying âoh look at my tan, Iâm as Black as you nowâ. Stop it. Think back to that first section on history we discussed- no, you and I are not the same. We can discuss our existing connections, our intersection and have sympathy and empathy with one another on human dignity. We donât have to act like weâre the same to do that! So donât go headstrong into your writing (or life) saying âoh I get that completely, itâs because Iâm queerâ. There are more tactful ways to express your intent of solidarity.
'Queer' vs 'The N Word'
Weâre gonna nip this one in the bud, because weâre leaving that argument in 2024. You know the one- âsaying queer is like using the N-word- as a reclamation/slur!â What this argument reveals, used by EITHER SIDE, is how yâall donât actually have community with Black people.
It implies that either âwe donât like itâ or âwe doâ. Yet another binary that does not exist! There are plenty of Black people that despise that word, regardless of context. That think it brings us down. And then there are those that use it as a reclamation of an identity that was used to demean and dehumanize. Either way, one party is not going to walk up to a stranger and force it on them- that would cause an actual fight! Itâs not improving your argument. As a whole, I would say stop using Black politics in general to improve your arguments when you are unaware of the overlap, or maybe the lack thereof, between Blackness and queerness in your argument. It shows. Iâm not your tool; Iâm not your Negro!
Iâm not here to tell anyone whether queer is a slur or not. I donât use it as one, but I recognize when people are uncomfortable, when it is being used as one, and I will use different language when I am speaking directly to someone who says âI do not like that word, describe me as __â. I am just here to say that weâre leaving that argument behind.
Black =/= Gender
Blackness and the concept of Gender have a fraught, confusing history. Not human enough to have rights, but human just enough to fail to meet Eurocentric standards of gender.
One example of this is the term âstudâ. Studs are an example of Black women traversing gender presentation, the origin of which is because Black people are perceived as having âlesser sexual dimorphismâ- i.e. you canât tell whoâs a woman or not. Itâs an in-community joke that doesnât make sense spoken outside of its historical context (thus, no, your white butch is NOT a stud within this context).
Another example: Megan Thee Stallion is one of the most stunning, feminine women I have ever seen⊠And her entire career, people have called her a man. Because sheâs brown-skinned, Black, confident, loud, and openly sexual, sheâs deemed manly. I canât stand it. Plus her height- and mind you, Taylor Swift, of the same height and probably a higher number of bodies over the years, has never once been called a man or lost any of her âfeminineâ charm despite it. Why is that? If one of her men had shot in the foot, trying to kill her, there would be an uproar. Why is that?
There is an internal contradiction that being a Black woman is being inherently âgender nonconformingâ. The first reason is that I will never be allowed to truly be a âwomanâ because to be a woman is to be white while doing it. White Tears/Brown Scars by Ruby Hamad is an excellent book on this dynamic in all women of color, and Black activists like Angela Davis and Kimberle Crenshaw have written and discussed the topic as well.
The second reason is I have to play the role of whatever âgenderâ is expected to get me through this life. I have to be more âmasculineâ; strong, assertive, and proactive, a hard worker willing to sacrifice it all every day, in order to protect my family and myself in a world where a lack of resilience might kill me. I cannot allow weakness to stop me from taking care of my community, because Black women are supposed to show up and save the day. Find a Black woman! they say. Sheâll fix it! And odds are, I do know how to fix it because Iâve probably had to address it before.
But then Iâm acting âout of a womanâs placeâ by being so âhardâ and expecting people to listen to my authority. So in order to play a Black womanâs place, I have to balance that with⊠Somehow not intimidating people by being more âfeminineâ, submissive, vulnerable, sweet and motherly (because if Iâm not a good breeder and mother, I am a bad woman). I scare people if I donât. If I donât do that, then Iâm not a good Black woman. But if I donât harden myself and be strong and assertive to protect everyone, and tough through everyoneâs problems with infinite sacrifice, then Iâm not a good Black woman⊠You see how the cycle gets confusing! (The Delectable Negro and Black on Both Sides also speak on this, and how this is rooted in the creation of the Mammy!)
I spoke about it earlier, but that same inability to be defined as a human, defined as white, haunts many Black men in their goals to be seen as âequalâ to white men and receive equal treatment. By seeking to fit a standard of whiteness, they are never going to attain it (and often, that comes back home in not-so-good way)! E.g.: this is the original issue that Louis had in AMCs' IWTV- Louis never actually wanted to be a vampire, Louis wanted to be treated like an equivalent human- and that was unattainable to him not because he wasnât a human being, but because he wasnât a white one!
The Racist Counterproductivity of TERFs
Sigh. If you are of this belief, but here to better your writing, I feel like I should say this to you. I want you to listen to me. (TBH, Iâm going to delete anything asking me for opinions on this because I donât want to potentially entertain even a singular troll). Besides, my argument is pretty simple and resolute.
The gender binary is rooted in bioessentialism, and bioessentialism is rooted in white supremacy. You know what else benefits from white supremacy? The white patriarchy.
How are we gonna escape from the patriarchy and white supremacy⊠if the ideology you believe in⊠is rooted in white supremacy and patriarchy?
And itâs not just the TERFs- look within yourselves as well! How are we going to make the world safer for trans people, including white ones, if you arenât willing to confront your own racist biases? If you are unwilling to release the shackles of gender essentialism and the benefits of whiteness, none of us are getting out of here. You are reinforcing the very walls you wish to dismantle!
To offer another side of the conversation, Black On Both Sides by C Riley Snorton has been an interesting read! Essentially, the conversation is on how Blackness and transness intersect, how being Black in and of itself can be and is a transitional, gender fluid experience. It, along with The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould and Medical Apartheid by Harriet A Washington, goes into the history of how the Black body was seen as a different species altogether, and how phrenology, biological essentialism, and examples of sexual dimorphism were treated as an example on how we are an inferior group. Yet, this lack of understanding of our bodies (despite the constant access to it) allowed for us to maneuver within such a system.
An example, of how Blackness has an effect on our perception of gender:
"Cobb suggests that this blackening may have been an anticipatory gesture; when James Norcom (Jacobsâs enslaver) published a description of her in the 1835 issue of the American Beacon, he presumed that she would be âseeking whiteness and dressing as a free woman, not accentuating her Blacknessâ and finding a âcross-dressingâ and ungendered mode for escape. Although the description of sartorial arrangements seems to conform to passingâs logic of movement for protection or privilege, Jacobsâs use of charcoal to darken her complexion tropesâby inverse logicâon more commonly held beliefs (and fears) about racial passing.
As âpassingâ became a term to describe performing something one is not, it trafficked a way of thinking about identity not only in terms of real versus artificial but also, and perhaps always, as proximal and performative. Like a vertical line with arrows on either end, passing is figuratively represented by moving up or down hierarchized identificatory formations. This articulation of vertical identity also coordinates with forms of binary thinking, typified, for example, by the language of âthe oppositeâ sex. âŠBrent/Jacobsâs blackened blackness gives expression to her condition as fungible within the logic of U.S. slavery, in which the system of colorism, as Nicole Fleetwood has argued, âproduces a performing subject whose function is to enact difference . . . an act that is fundamentally about assigning value.â
As it relates to the scene of Jacobsâs brushing past Sands, her status as âitâ also indicates how blackness-as-fungible engenders forms of nonrecognition, as Jacobsâs performance elucidates how blackness and going blacker become an embrace of the conditions that might allow one to pass oneâs friends and lovers undetected. In this encounter, fungibility sets the stage for gendered maneuvers on a terrain constituted by modes of viewing blackness, in which Jacobsâs blackness and going blacker color her gender as well as her face."
The Black Trans/Nonbinary/Genderqueer Experience
Rather than try to summarize opinions on something I had not lived, I wanted to platform some Black trans, intersex, and genderqueer opinions for you all to consider! I asked three questions, and Iâve typed out the responses and placed them as their own post for the sake of space. I donât care if itâs long- read them! You want to write these characters; you should hear the perspectives of the people you wish to write about!
Black Trans, Intersex, and/or Genderqueer Perspectives To Consider!
As a precursor to the next lesson I have coming up soon, I asked on this
The Black Intersex Experience
Nothing I could say that someone that is actually Black and intersex couldnât say better!
Here is a page on Tumblr that compiles resources on the intersex community and its history that I found; while itâs not Black-specific, I have seen the page post topics related to.
The Black Aspec Experience
An interesting thing about identifying as asexual or aromantic while Black is that from all angles, people will simply not believe you because Blackness itself has been sexualized. I talked about this in my lessons on stereotypes, but one of the ways that the sexual assault and violation of Black bodies was dismissed, was to emphasize that not only were we incapable of being r*ped, but that we were naturally inclined to being hypersexual beings and that if we werenât controlled, we would bring it onto ourselves. Black women were jezebels; Black men were mandigos, vicious savages that would assault pure white women if not chained like beasts.
Here is a page for Black people (!!!) with these identities to gather. Again, BLACK PEOPLE with these identities. Here's another!
The Bit You Actually Showed Up For
So! Given all that historical and social context: really, itâs just about application! You have to ask yourself certain things to catch when youâre about to dip into a bias or stereotype while youâre writing.
Before writing that Black queer &/or trans character, ask yourself:
Another set of resources that I've typed up for my upcoming lesson. I'm
Black Queer Joy- A Conclusion
I know Iâve shared a lot of history here, and itâs not been the happiest stuff. THAT BEING SAID!
I must personally say- I am honored to be Black and bisexual. Thereâs nothing else Iâd rather be. I am so happy to be who I am. Itâs hard as hell living at the intersection, but the intersection is lit! Thereâs so much love, history, culture, creation, and so much power here; Iâm standing on the shoulders of cultural GIANTS and my chest is full, my chin is high with pride. I love it here!
Being Black and queer itself is not a miserable experience! Your characters should feel joy, because we feel joy! Thereâs so much that we have to offer the world, itâs practically blossoming from us. I donât want anyone to walk away from this going âlet me go pity the next one I see and tell them how hard their life isâ. We donât need you to feel sorry, we need you to have solidarity! Either show up and do the work, or leave us alone. You canât join the party at the intersection and then flee when itâs time to fight for it!
Listen to Black queer people in your spaces- dear god, it never fails how conversations of queerness and gender and feminism will leave Blackness completely out, and then be shocked when none of us want to show up. Like I said before- you will never dismantle the walls barring you from your own freedom until you address ours.
Support Black queer creatives, content, perspectives, and people- when you tag on that âsupport Black trans womenâ bit at the end of your posts, donât just speak lightly- understand what that means, and stand on it! Because itâs the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!
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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
âA Framework for Intersex Justice.â 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: âI 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 âIntersexâ to âDSDâ: 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
Please feel free to add on your favorite sources for intersex art, history, politics, and community !
Bro, blocking someone and then using their tag like this is, all offence, weak as fuck. Like all you had to say was, na bro I don't promote pedo protags on this here blog, because I wholly agree with the premise of your argument given contexts (i.e., writing abusive relationships to show the evils, great; writing abusive relationships to show the romance, yikes).
This response is so, so comically shitty within the context of that tag, oh my god.
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.
This is not about defending bad people this is about defending the freedom of good people from tyranny, you moron.
I think if you take it to its logical extreme. Say, banning people from writing stories of sexual abuse. That could then be said "well ANY talk about sexual abuse is bad."
And from that, you could ban books that talk about it irl. Or books like how to recover after being abuse. If its not something to be discussed AT ALL.
The fact that Iâve seen this post in some form on my dash like 100x and each time thereâs new idiots who do not get that you canât have *some* censorship.
Either youâre for it or you arenât.
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. Thatâs 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 âpedoâ 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 âeveryoneâ agrees something is âgrossâ and âshouldnât exist,â that does not fucking matter.
Do you know who generally believes queer people are gross and shouldnât 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.
Protecting freedom of expression is essential, and if you do not get that, I donât know what to say to you.
And the people who keep bringing up child sex abuse as a reason for censorship are doing it very specifically because everyone feels like then they HAVE to agree with the person in favor of censorship.
Itâs not that there isnât widespread societal agreement on this. Itâs that they want you backed into a rhetorical corner where you feel compelled to agree with them.
Also, like, we KNOW how this shit shakes out in fandom because it's happened before.
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".
Censorship is authoritarian and it will ALWAYS have more collateral damage than you can imagine.
Going to add that fiction which had sexual abuse and communities which played around with it as a writing topic are the very things that protected me from irl sexual abuse when I was a teenager.
I was in a dicey situation, and realized that while my situation did not match up to any of the superficial or textbook cases mentioned in passing (if at all) through school, it matched up a LOT to what I'd learned about irl sexual abuse through works of fiction and the rhetoric of my communities. I got out of that situation and dodged what was, in retrospect, one hell of a nasty bullet.
If it hadn't been for that "nasty" fiction and those "nasty" communities, I would very likely have been abused, and subject to further violence spiraling out from that abuse.
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.
"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.