time moves fast. i was just sixteen.

I finished this book a few days ago about a woman obsessed with doomsday prepping. She learned that the phrase “May You Be Among the Survivors” can be the best farewell for these sorts of friendships or connections that aren’t held together by proximity or frequent contact. 

And then I saw your message, which feels very much like the same sentiment. I survived this past year and it does make me feel better about this godforsaken hellhole to know that you’ve survived it too. May you always always be among the survivors. 

lgbtq meme ♦ gay/lesbian characters [2/8]

Harold and Maude (1971)

Stereotypes depend largely on the culture that you are writing about. The ones that I have listed are mostly American, with basis in American history, but some of them can apply outside of America. 

Stereotypes to avoid

The male POC sexual aggressor

This is an unfortunate stereotype that exists especially for Latino and African-American men. You saw a lot of this in the past in the south where African-American men who had sex with white women would be charged with rape. You see this also with the stereotype of the “Latin Lover.” That doesn’t mean that you can’t have sexually or non-sexually aggressive POC men. Don’t over-avoid it if it’ll make your story bad. But be careful, especially if you’re writing about a Latino or African-American man with a white woman.

The submissive Asian bride

This stereotype is especially an issue with relationships between Asian women and white men. It shows up in stories sometimes with relationships where the man fought in Vietnam and brought home a wife from there. She might be not totally fluent or literate in English, and so she ends up without a job and totally reliant on her husband. She is also submissive and sits at home doing domestic work and cooking. This perpetuates not only the idea of the submissive Asian woman but of the white male savior.

The fetishized black woman

There’s a stereotype that white men only date black women because they fetishize black women or because there is some sort of slavery-rape fantasy. If you want to portray a healthy relationship between a white man and a black woman, do not turn it into a slavery-rape fantasy. Do not make it about ownership or about submitting.

Choosing one race

Another stereotype is that someone who dates outside of their race is only attracted to people of the race that they are dating. A white woman dating a black man is assumed only be attracted to black men. A white man dating an Asian woman is assumed to only be attracted to Asian women. Obviously, people tend to have types that they are attracted to, but this assumption only comes up if people date someone outside of their own race.

Turning against their race

A similar stereotype to the previous one is that someone is turning away from or betraying their own race if they date someone outside of their race. This seems to happen most frequently with relationships between white people and black people. This also appears in the form of thinking that the person is “stealing” their partner from the other race, like a white woman is stealing a black man from black women, or vise versa.