¯\_(-_-)_/¯

It's 2019 and people are still out here treating the white girl with a sword trope as this new, daring, groundbreaking feminist concept.

Tolkien did it in 1954 with Eowyn.

Tamora Pierce did it in 1983 with Alanna.

Robin McKinley did it in 1984 with Aerin.

And here we are in 2019 still pushing this narrative that writers like sj/m are so brave and revolutionary for having characters like Ae/lin.

Don't get me wrong I love Alanna, Eowyn and Aerin, but it's genuinely amusing (by which I mean infuriating) to me that today's booktubers keep praising these stories into the heavens as if in 2019 cishet white author are still taking a risk when they give their cishet white female heroines a sword and, even more groundbreaking, let them like giRly things at the same time.

A character with an ambiguous skin tone and/ or racial identity is not good representation, even if you headcanon them as a POC. The likelihood is that the writer also perceives this character as white. Stating white skin tone/ race is often unknowingly perceived as unnecessary, due to our (society’s) gross, internalised bias that the ‘default’ is white.

Do not give credit to the author for allowing their characters to be headcanoned as POC. A headcanon is something you or a group of people believe, but not necessarily the author. If the author wanted true representation, they would have downright and concretely stated their character’s skin colour/ race in the texts of their work. By all means, headcanon race, but just be wary about giving credit where credit is not due. No one deserves brownie points for doing a sloppy job.

Stating a character is “tanned” or “olive-toned” is also not good representation. These are often considered ambiguous terms because, first and foremost, white people can be tanned. Olive can work, but there is dispute over whether it’s is similar to using tan, so it’s generally not recommended to use it.

lizzo:

♡ Sailor Chibimoon

They kissed at the end which feels like a massive cliffhanger because I was expecting more of a slow-burn since there weren’t really any romantic scenes between them before the kiss and now they’re secretly dating(I’ve rushed to the website and started reading as fast as I could)?! 

Morning in the Austrian Alps