#uhuraasks

I haven't run across this one but I believe you when you tell me it's out there.

What's funny about these arguments to me is that they are canonically incorrect. I mean, technically you can ~interpret~ a source text however you like, but. Sorry haters: Spock kissed Uhura back in the turbolift. He clutched her close to him. When she ended their last kiss, he leaned after her. Nobody was getting taken advantage of.

And as far as ~emotional compromise~ goes... It took Uhura like two seconds in the turbolift to get Spock to WILLINGLY show her -- albeit briefly -- the degree to which he was affected by shock and grief. She accomplished in far less time with affection, sympathy and gentleness what Jim had to resort to taunting Spock about his dead mother to do. Spock's moment with Uhura was certainly less dramatic and violent than his moment with Kirk, and it didn't lose him his captaincy. But if all we're talking about is the ability to get through to Spock, Uhura's got that in spades.

I don't think I've posted any text specifically about Uhura in STXII yet; I'm pretty sure when the trailer came out I just reblogged every still or moving picture of her and/or her and Spock that came across my blog and, like, ran screaming into the night due to sheer joy, never to be seen again.

ahhh I linked the wrong post, I'm sorry, I meant this one: post/38234685133/hi-i-just-read-your-long-post-about-the-first-time I totally understand if you don't want to make it rebloggable (b/c of the bullshit it can likely bring) but I wanted to ask!

For reader reference, I think this is in response to this ask and reply.

I completely agree, anon. We've all seen so many people in fandom who equate queerbaiting (using straight white dudes) with queer representation in media; we've also seen lots of people who think that their shipping two (straight white) dudes means that they can't be homophobic and/or that that counts as activism. I've also run into people who think that slash is, by its nature, feminist; my understanding of the reasoning behind this is that slash is primarily written by women for women, so since it fulfills female needs it must be feminist. Which, haha, I really extremely disagree, because we've got to consider that it makes (canon straight) (almost always white) men the focus of everything women are doing, and tends to completely erase women, actual queer people, and people of color from the stories women are telling -- slash can be a way for women to teach each other that, as you said, women aren't worthy enough to be part of epic stories.

...And I say all that as a person who reads, and has read for years, and intends to continue to keep reading, plenty of slash. I think people can and should read and write whatever they'd like to read and write; I think there's zero things wrong with wanting to read and/or write about dudes getting it on; I think there are zero things wrong with wanting to queer straight texts, or with just fucking asking WHAT IF. Just. AWARENESS at the same time is important. Awareness of how we treat the other (female, queer, PoC) characters in the narrative; awareness of the difference between Things That Turn Me On and Fetishizing an Entire Population of People; awareness of the fact that there are other, equally worthy, stories to be told and read about people of different sexes and genders and races and sexual orientations.

Thank you! I always thought I was sort of alone in the universe crying at home about Uhura, haha, and it's so nice to hear that I'm not.