Whumppets

@hypertechnica asks:

Hello!! This blog has been instrumental in developing my writing, thank you all for your hard work! In my writing, I'm very interested in exploring transhumanism and the general concept of “not feeling human” and the becoming, or the feeling of becoming, more, less, or not fully human in my writing. I’m also interested in mutation and transformation related body horror, as well as medical horror. My motivations for these are primarily borne out of my experiences as a trans, autistic, mentally ill mixed race person (white/Latine/Native American.) I've never felt fully understood, fully a part of anything, or even fully human, and I tend to write characters with similar experiences. But I am white passing, and as a holder of white privilege, I'm cautious as to how I represent BIPOC in these kinds of works. I highly dislike writing stories with only white people or having POC be on the sidelines of the white main character’s struggles. But how does one walk the line between a raw, unsanitized depiction of a brown or black person struggling with their mental health and sense of self, and dehumanization and tragedy exploitation? I don’t want to ignore how race affects that, especially when writing about my own experiences with forced assimilation as a native person. But because of the nature of me, a white native, writing about a visibly native person going through even partially race-related trauma, I want to be as mindful as I can be. I want people to see themselves in these characters, not gawk at their suffering, or worse, alienate the BIPOC viewers I was trying to speak to in the first place.

Grain of salt for all of this because these are not the kinds of stories I find catharsis in, despite sharing many of the same identities (and feelings of alienation/dehumanization) as you. However, some of my friends find extreme catharsis in these kinds of stories, so don’t let the opinion of those who would get triggered by this dissuade you from writing it at all—there will always be different kinds of trauma stories that resonate with different people, and that doesn’t make them bad.

That being said, I am currently going through the journey of unpacking a very similar narrative to this on a personal level with a very similar identity cocktail, so I’ll give it my best shot.

The Pain of White Supremacy

Let’s talk about the identity sacrifice that comes with white supremacy.

White supremacy is an extremely lucrative promise: give up huge swaths of your cultures and traditions, gain leisure that’s supported by a racialized underclass and live like a king. There’s no need to work in fields, do the ugly parts of childrearing, participate in endless work to make clothing. You just sit, and enjoy life, and order people around, while other people around you work.

It’s as boring, hollow, and soul-sucking as it sounds. But many, many, many people make this trade off, because being the underclass supporting this leisure sucks so much and they want a piece of that leisure pie, because leisure is denied to that underclass and the underclass (read: mostly Black people) force ways to take it at risk of their lives. 

A strong aspect to this leisure is you lose most of the aspects of identity, period—humans are busy creatures, and we enjoy exploring hobbies, work, and doing things. Crafting things that reflect yourself, expressing your fashion sense, decorating your space in a way that shows you enjoy things, learning your own tastes via cooking, among others. All of this leads to developing the unshakable sense of pride that comes from expressing yourself regardless of what others think.

Having something that is your own identity that you don’t care how the world treats it is a necessary part of existing, and honestly I’ve found my favourite white people have actual tastes in fashion. Not “trying to look palpable” tastes. “I want to wear as many sparkles and colour as possible” tastes. Dressing fancy to make doing the dishes fun. Because they’re not pinning their entire identities on being good little white people, but are willing to develop a sense of self in a way that lets them weather the identity threat that can come with pointing out “hey, that hurt me.”

(sidebar: in my opinion so many white people, especially progressive white people, focus on “being good” as their primary identity marker, and this is one of the reasons they go nuclear as soon as you point out they did a racism. You threatened the main sense of identity they had, and they react accordingly via the backfire effect. It takes effort to combat this, both with doing things for yourself, and knowing that’s what you’re doing. Weird little hobbies are a fantastic way to start building resilience, instead of putting all your eggs in the “being good” basket. Also learn to take out the trash for your community. Dress up nice and make it fun, but care for the community)

White supremacy demands a very narrow ideal—bland, boring “uniforms” that are why every lifestyle influencer looks the same. Tradwives are a very specific look, as is “old money”. To be subversive in any way is to be crushed, threatened with being an underclass member who will lose everything “earned”. (but, by skin tone, white people have to be loudly in the way of white supremacy to get violence directed towards them*, and even then, it’s usually safer. Not always safer! White people have been killed for being against white supremacy, historically and in the modern day. But usually they’re given a chance to betray the underclassmen before that point, when BIPOC aren’t given those chances. White people are also far more likely to be made martyrs when killed for being against white supremacy, when Black people and other POC aren’t)

And then you get an identity cocktail like the ones you and I share. And we are never, ever going to get full humanity under white supremacy, but everyone compares us to the ideals of white supremacy, and here we realize we will never get the promise that our ancestors traded their culture for.

Now what? We’re stuck. (I don’t have an answer for this, by the way, other than attempting to go through delayed adolescence and try to reject all the culty white supremacist stuff. This is a highly individual path)

I know you feel this, somewhere, and that’s what comes out in your writing. Those feelings of disdain from white supremacy are very real, and they suck. I just needed to explain the factors more plainly so the writing advice makes more sense.

Factors for Audience Resonance

I think something you’ll want to explore before you go set these stories loose on the public—don’t avoid writing them, you can have personal projects that are as politically incorrect as you want, and obviously this is cathartic for you—is how this “lack of humanity from not meeting ideals” is a white racial trait that comes directly from white supremacy and is a cost of white privilege. 

The thing about being in this space of the fringes of whiteness—still white-ish, still passing, but with potential to be idealized white if you just behaved “correctly”, dehumanized to alienation if we don’t—is it’s not a dance all groups have to or can navigate. The farther you stray from Eurocentric beauty standards (pale, Western European features), the less potential you have to be viewed as white under this system no matter what you give up. As a result, they are more likely to create culture and identity that is reflective of themselves and their communities as a reprieve from white supremacy. Again, not all, some do actively try to align themselves with white supremacy because of what’s going on in their lives, but broadly speaking.

This leads to a much different flavour of trauma than a white passing individual, who is often navigating this subconscious “but, I could, if only—” and who has often been raised to give up as much of our identity as possible to be palpable to white supremacist ideals, or the child of someone who was raised that way who’s kinda adrift in white “communities”. It’s a much more active choice, to be far away from whiteness and still choose to be an active ally of white supremacy; it’s a much stronger rejection of community and bonds.

The forces pressing down are the same. We are all living in a white supremacist system. But the promises are much, much different depending on potential to be accepted as white. If you or I stay quiet, stay bland, mask, white people have a potential for accepting us. The same cannot be said for a Black person. (jealousy of groups with unique identity is often why white people are such culture vultures; white supremacy has a distinct lack of identity, but humans like having an identity)

Meanwhile, Black or other “distant from whiteness” people are, often at best, just given the promises of being spared, and “one of the good ones”, and they believe these promises to parrot white supremacist talking points. They’re almost never spared, it’s temporary at best, but deals with white devils often look very good. 

Black people and other “unacceptable” groups have different dances when faced with being dehumanized by a white supremacist system. There will be overlap—I’m not going to pretend Black people reading this won’t resonate with your experience—but the end result of compliance will be much different. We can take the culture off, we can mask, and sure it’s a cost and it’s utterly dehumanizing but it’s an option. An option we have to reject to be good allies, because white supremacy is a delusion.

All this to say, there are character factors you can research to see why people would try to make these deals with devils, or how they would navigate recovery from being chewed up and spit out by these systems. This would allow you to examine broader factors that make the writing much richer, because you’ll become more aware of experiences outside of your own and infuse that in your work.

On Writing

I know this probably feels like it doesn’t answer your question, but what I’m getting at is: if you want other BIPOC to resonate with your experience, you have to recognize what aspects of your experience are racialized, and how different identity factors create different conversations with white supremacy. You also need to research what might make people make “non-progressive” choices, or how they might be preyed upon, or all of these things. 

By exploring those intersections and acknowledging your feelings come explicitly from your white passing trauma, and generational trade-offs ancestors made to try and get that leisure at the cost of their humanity, you give yourself space to fill in the gaps—how would Black experiences under such a dehumanizing system differ, where the threats and promises are much different? How do these same themes change when groups are trying to buy into whiteness with more notably non-European features, or when they reject it and learn to retreat into their own communities to build networks? What would make them neutral, what would make them targets?

You are writing stories about how it feels to experience white supremacy as someone who is white but will never be the ideal white person by nature, therefore losing status among white people. By understanding and respecting that, you in turn create a scenario where you can ask more questions about how others might experience these things, which can open yourself up for more representation and help you unpack white supremacy to be a better ally to those who never had the option to gain status under the system the way we do. The trade-offs to be white are not worth it, even though we might have to concede to them to survive sometimes.

I hope this helps you both heal from white supremacy and write better stories.

- Leigh

* this segment was written before the murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, when there hadn’t been a high-profile murder of a white ally in a very long time. ICE is an extension of colonial violence that seeks to destroy anyone against them, when white supremacy had, all of last year, been more about maintaining the illusion they were protecting other white people, or protecting “good” marginalized group members, from “the other” or “the bad ones.” It was never about that, but the PR was fantastic. White women in particular are told that they’re the most cherished, but they’re still not seen as full beings and often are disposed of as soon as they challenge the status quo—but that hasn’t been on display in a long, long while. Helpful, soft-spoken men are also seen as lesser, with white supremacy only wanting men to hold a specific type of violent power.

Over the centuries racism and white supremacy had circled the wagons around the concept of white people, offering promises of acceptance to white passing people, offering promises of acceptance to anyone who kowtowed to whiteness even if they didn’t look white, trying to increase its numbers. They hit a critical mass of numbers in 2024, and are now doing what I’ve been saying they’d do for many, many years once white supremacists and colonizers hit that critical mass: consume everything standing in their path, even if that’s other white people

And, like most overt white supremacists, they’re cowards seeking to dominate others to feel something. 

If you want to support Minneapolis right now, click here.

If you want to stop white supremacy, build community and let these bastards know they are small, pitiful, soulless people who are not welcome here.

Get your weird little hobbies, develop tastes that are uniquely yours, and start doing unglamourous things for your community with outfits that make you feel good and comfort food after to celebrate. The system collapses as soon as people stop trying to get this blood-tained promise—which includes playing hero in huge spectacles. You will never be good enough to be safe, so stop chasing dishonest harmony and start building who you are with the people around you.

HEY IF YOU'RE A BLACK CREATOR IN THE WHUMP COMMUNITY PLEASE INTERACT WITH AND RESPOND TO THIS POST!

The ones I know of are, me (of course),

@noirineverysense

@redd956

@whump-princess

I do not mean to sound bitter, I am truly speaking in good faith here:

we are all worried about women characters getting whumped because "violence against women is so prevalent and you must pay attention to portray it" (And I genuinely believe this point has its merits!), and I've often seen infinite discussions about pet whump, because "it portrays abuse and slavery in a romanticized way".

But! We are also very comfortable in writing stories in which criminals get whumped by guards and guys with superpowers, who are often believed to be protectors and are justified even when committing atrocities and highly immortal actions!

It amazes me that... we are really taking responsibility for writing that?

As #Kinktober is upon us, I want to take this time to remind everyone that certain things may not carry the same "sexy" connotation for everyone! This isn't just a "your yuck is my yum" situation, this is a "hey, you're being racist" situation. Now if that's what you enjoy, I can't tell you otherwise. But if you'd like to be considerate towards your Black readers and peers, here are *some* (not all!) things to keep in mind:

1) Objectification is not respect. You can think Black people are sexy- I certainly do! That does not mean treating us like sex toys. An example: if your first thought when you look at a Black male character, is "This'll be good smut, I bet his dick is gigantic"- if your first thought is about their genitals and that they're a good fuck... That is weird. Abeg. Nothing else stood out to you? Just ye olde "Black men have big dicks?"

There's a racist and dehumanizing history behind the oversexualization of Black men, Black bodies in general. Sure, big penises are not insulting or bad, but just as you don't want to be brought down to your bits... Don't do it to us. We can be sexy without being objectified. You can think we're sexy without objectifying us!

2) Making your Black character more sexually aggressive (if fic: -than their canon counterpart). Your Black character having a high libido is fine, but if you've essentially written a sex pest, especially in comparison to a nonblack counterpart... Why? Why do you think that they're automatically the one that would be like that? One example of that is the whole "step on me mommy" thing with confidently sexy Black women. What makes you deem she's the "aggressive" one? She could be a gentle pillow princess.

3) Making your Black character more physically hulking (if fic: -than their canon counterpart). They don't look like that, you know they don't look like that, and you need to consider why you felt the need. Especially in comparison to their nonblack counterparts.

4) Chains and whips, Specifically the large, hulking Black or Brown character in chains held by a skinny white character. Especially if they're like a werewolf. You know why these visuals can be questionable! I know the intended symbolism is supposed to be steamy and animalistic, a bodice ripper deal. But think about it- how often have you seen the opposite- with a skinny Black person holding a hulking, animalistic white person in chains? What imagery are we evoking when we draw this, constantly? We are not animals, we are not raging, uncontrollable sex beasts.

Manual Wheelchair Tutorial by Fade31415

So... I technically drew this 3 years ago but forgot to post it. I think I was going to clean up the end and make a nice recap, but I ran out of steam and then just left it as a wip for years. I got reminded of it because I was talking to a friend about how to draw wheelchairs today.

This covers most of what I view as the most common errors when it comes to drawing characters who use manual wheelchairs. I hope it helps you a lot.

Image description is in alt text, but there is a back up image description under the cut in case that does not work for some reason

For June and July, We get to Apply! *knee slap*

I have some challenges for y'all to apply what you've been learning here. It doesn't have to be all at once, you can do some, though I'd be incredibly happy if you did all of them. You can do these multiple times, make it a habit, even! Again... It'd make me incredibly happy if you did.

The Goals:

1. Find Black creators in your fandom and/or creative space and follow them! This can be writers, artists, poets, streamers, etc. all creatives!

2. Read, and leave a kudos and/or comment of support on a Black writer's fic!

3. Reblog a Black creator's art with genuine, supportive tags!

4. Commit to a piece of media where someone Black is one of the Main characters! This can be books, TV shows, plays and musicals, video games- whatever! Especially if they're by Black creators! Apply what you've learned here- how are they depicted, what did you really like, was there something you learned technique wise? Was there something you felt was not as respectful as it could have been?

5. Read fic where a Black character is the main character! Same idea as number 4.

*Note: I'm not saying you have to leave that commentary on someone's fic. That's a YOU choice. I'm asking you to think about it for your own growth, especially if you're a writer.

6. If there's a Black character in your fandom, share (respectfully done!!) art of them! If there's not one, try looking into spaces where there are Black characters and share those (an easy one to find is Wyll Ravengard. I'm barely in that fandom yet and I get things of him on my For You. Or maybe ask your friends what they like!)

7. Practice something you've seen! If there's a style of hair you liked, or a way to render brown skin that was really nice- practice! Or, if you read beautiful prose describing a Black character, try it yourself. Practice!

Unlike the last lesson, which was very personal for me: I am not a Black man. So I decided to go to my peers that are Black men and ask them what are things that they’ve experienced, to help me direct this lesson with some of the stereotypes they've seen most that concern them. And what we’ve gathered is that many of these stereotypes all trail back to that classic stereotype that affects Black men from the moment they are born: that Black men are a threat, that they’re not human. As such, keep in mind that all of these stereotypes are all "sub-categories" of that idea, because that concept bleeds into every single one of them.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: mention of sexual assault, assault

A Threat

Linked above is an informative PDF (you should read this on a desktop; I had to zoom in, I cannot see it otherwise) written by Rachel D. Godsil & Alexis McGill Johnson discussing the perception of Black men and boys. It’s only 24 pages, and in my opinion it’s HIGHLY simplified for understanding.

Essentially, it comes down to the bias that we have all been socialized under since the creation of racism: that Black people, and Black men in particular, are not human. Are savages, beasts, unable to conduct themselves. Even now, as racism manifests in our society as more implicit than explicit, it’s still something that affects how nonblack people respond to Black men- and that includes in our media!

"BBC"/"Mandingo"

These are literal porn categories and fantasies, and I named the category this because I want to drive a line between thinking Black men are sexually attractive (they are!) and oversexualizing and fetishizing them. To be frank, if your first thought upon seeing what you deem a sexually attractive Black man is that he must be ‘hung like a horse’, or that he innately has sexual intentions on you or another character... this is a bias you need to check, swiftly.

This stereotype comes from the idea of the oversexualized Black man who might rape and defile the purity of the white woman because they “can't control” their sexual urges. There have been numerous historical and contemporary situations where the false or misattributed harm of a white woman ALONE leads to the potential destruction of a Black man’s life (because who would believe him over the voice of whiteness), and maybe even the destruction of the Black community around him. Prolific examples include Emmett Till, The Exonerated Five, the Greenwood/Tulsa Race Massacre, and Oscarville (now Lake Lanier).

What you must understand is, this stereotype is not ‘a compliment’; it’s not ‘sexually fun’ or ‘titillating’; it has killed Black men and boys, and many Black people in general.

A quote from my friend @cer-rata, whom I thank for his perspective as a Black queer man:

“I think it was worse when I was younger? That might have been because I was in my twink era and young enough to be attractive to predators, but using Grindr was so frustrating? Because most people, many white, but a startling number not, were just obsessed with the idea that I would be hung like a horse. Like. Like suffocatingly so. I've never had sex with a white man, not because of a lack of attraction, I'm pretty equal opportunity really, I like people. But just…the consistent lack of respect and objectification was a lot to deal with. And make no mistake, hookup apps are all about objectification. But I do think there is a specific indignity in being reduced to your genitalia. Like at least if you think I'm hot, that I have a nice face or body I feel seen? But if you see dark skin and just assume I can be used as a fantasy sized human dildo…it just hits different. It was worse when you could filter for race, but that's a whole other bag of grenades.”

Another real-world example is of when Lena Dunham imagined that Odell Beckham Jr. was looking at her sexually and then rejecting her for being ugly, and it made her upset…. when he wasn't even looking at her! And he was expected to apologize for her racist fantasy, for upsetting her when he’d done nothing at all. He was expected to apologize for something that was all in her head!

Not to mention, think about it- when's the last time you even considered the existence of an asexual Black man? We don’t. Oversexuality has been woven into the negative perception of Black people from the beginning!

A footnote here on interracial relationships, particularly with white partners:

There’s the idea that the White Woman is the ideal partner to achieve. There's a lot in this one, much of it again, intracommunity issues PLUS the existence of the white patriarchy that it would be hard for me to explain in one blurb. But there's an idea that white women are what all Black men yearn for, to show that they are ‘moving up’. It's disrespectful to everyone involved- to the idea of Black men for being ‘sexually insatiable for white women’, to white women for being simultaneously objectified yet cemented in the power of whiteness, and Black women for being of ‘lesser value’. I say this to say, there’s nothing wrong with interracial relationships! But make sure that you're not choosing one because you think the white/nonblack partner is automatically ‘better suited’ or ‘more deserving’. The Black body is not to be won at the discretion of anybody! Black men are not automatically going to go for you!

“It's racist not to let Black men be feminine”/Gender Expression

Okay so I've heard this argument used often in fandom spaces, and as the sentence it is, it's true! Black men should be allowed to express their gender however they see fit! HOWEVER! The usual context I see behind this statement is STILL racist. Let me explain.

Whenever I see (usually white) people argue for Black men to be feminine, it's not just for wearing ‘feminine’ clothing or something like that. It's usually for allowing them to feel emotions. Emotions like softness, gentleness, sweetness, kindness. And what I want us to understand is that:

THESE EMOTIONS ARE NOT “FEMININE”!

Masculine Black men can feel these emotions as well! It's interesting to me, in the determination to “avoid stereotypes and gender roles”, people will u-turn right back into those things thinking they’re doing better. You're not. If anything, you're reinforcing the original idea that 1) softness/emotion is naturally feminine and 2) that Black men are angry, harsh threats that need to be neutralized. Those emotions are human emotions. Feminine Black men can wear a dress and be catty ASF. Masculine Black men can wear pants and be gentle. The emotions themselves have nothing to do with gender, but it's the way Black men are ALLOWED and EXPECTED to express them in our society, that has to do with gender roles!

It's an intersectional conversation, from race to gender to sexuality. And while part of that conversation has nothing to do with nonblack opinions, y’all certainly aren't going to help with that by saying “oh well you’re racist if you don’t let your Black men wear dresses because why can’t they be soft too”. Stop it. That too, is racist. Put that man in a beautiful dress if you’d like, but stop acting like they can only be sweet or loving if they’re expressing femininity. Let your masculine Black men feel the range, too- it would be healthier.

Also: LET BLACK MEN FEEL ANGER! Once again, there's a lot to be angry at! Anger is a human emotion! Just because they are a Black man experiencing anger, does not make them an Angry Black Man!

Gangster/Thug

It's not untrue that there are Black men in gangs. But not only is it far overrepresented in media, it is often it is overlooked as to WHY many Black men are in gangs. There’s a sense of community gained when you feel the rest of the world is not listening, that the rest of the world won't help you because it doesn't care about you and may even want you dead, and here's a community that is willing to bring you into the fold and offer you the power you lack. A lot of why NWA was criticized by white listeners in the 90s is because they thought they were pushing ‘gang violence against the police', but NWA was simply discussing the unjust world around them. And they were rightfully angry about it!

Nonetheless, it’s never been because Black men are bloodthirsty “superpredators” (quoth Hillary Clinton) that are more inclined to inflict violence upon others than any other race. (Funding community programs and helping to eradicate poverty would help solve these things, but that doesn't contribute to the school to prison pipeline and fill private prisons and let me stop that’s once again otros veinte pesos-)

Cer-rata had another good point about this one, backed up by my partner:

“The gangster/thug stereotype is maybe a more modern evolution of the monster framing, with some more overt classism thrown in. That's always fun. The idea that black people, especially the poor ones, are inherently more violent than other groups is a widely perpetuated stereotype and creates a culture and an environment where “I felt threatened” is at times a viable legal defense for people who commit violence against us. The idea that by existing you might be giving people an excuse to kill you is…hard to deal with. Harder to ignore. It creates this sensation that you have to be clearly notably good just so fewer people immediately wonder what you did to provoke that officer, or that random, self-appointed, suspiciously armed neighborhood watch guy. It's easier to accept that they were forced into their actions if you assume we are culturally (perhaps biologically) dangerous. And this is just something you learn growing up. No one has to tell you, the rules become clear quickly.”

Monster/Brute

This is a classic one; the savage that is unable to control their urges, a base creature that cannot think logically like a white man and is thus a threat to white women because he is nothing but a monster that pleasures in the pain of others. Essentially, white supremacists needed a reason to lynch and murder Black men, and that meant that there needed to be a reason for no one to humanize the victims of their torture. It had to be like ‘hunting down beasts’. It’s not as overt in modern media, but it does reveal itself. My partner mentioned that “Even when we're “strong” it's overamplified, like a gorilla or something.” His example was of Classroom of the Elite, where one of the antagonists is a Black man that everyone's afraid of.

This is why Black fans often go 'HMM' when Black characters are depicted as monkeys or gorillas, or really when any sort of animal comparison or animalistic tendencies are brought up. It’s something that you need to watch for when you’re writing, to make sure you’re not consistently making your Black character seem… like animals. This often includes depictions of the "pale white vampire and the hulking werewolf Black/Brown character". After a while it's like… why is that always what it is? Why them? Why not switch it up? Why is the darker skinned character always the beast? Do you even notice it?

“The Butt of the Joke”/The Minstrel

The phrase “Jim Crow” itself is the name of a minstrel blackface character created by Thomas Dartmouth Rice.

There’s nothing wrong with being the funny guy, but it is noticeable when it seems like all the wisecracks and usually-unacceptable-if-said-by-white-character jokes ALL go to the Black guy. Yes, there's a such thing as comic relief, but... when you thought about this, did you think the Black guy was the most laughable one to deliver these lines?

My partner mentioned the early writing of Usopp as a joke character (and that while his writing became better, the art is still incredibly racist with the Jim Crow lips):

“It extends from the idea that we're supposed to be entertaining the white audience, that we can't be taken seriously. Your only value is worth being laughed at.”

Another friend of ours concurred, and to be honest, I think nothing else needs to be said:

“We’re always dancing or the entertainment. It’s okay to be funny, to be the class clown, but do they have more depth? Do you really not take us seriously, are we only worth being laughed at in your eyes? If they show other, more serious emotions, do you lose interest?”

The Magical Negro/The Uncle Tom

These are two different tropes, but I grouped them together because I believe they serve a similar purpose in the time periods they're set in, which I will get to later in my explanation.

This is the “solid number two” character that only exists in service of the white main character and his goals. He has no agency of his own. A comparable example would be the Mammy. This character gets no limelight, but is also usually a ‘look! Black person!’ check in the box while serving as a plot device. This is not necessarily the same as being a side character. Yes, side characters aren’t meant to be in the limelight. But there’s a difference between being a side character, and this where somehow everything the Black character does is essential to the plot, like the story could not exist without them, they’re supposed to be a main character… and they don’t do anything else but serve.

The thing about the original character 'Uncle Tom' is that he’s actually not the vile suck up the way Samuel L Jackson’s character in Django Unchained is. He’s just… the idealized, noble, Christian negro that holds no ill will against his oppressors. While he’s willing to support his community (the slaves) he is endearing and kind to the very people enslaving him. And that’s not how most people would respond to their oppressors! But he’s not a threat, which is why he’s allowed to serve as someone worth feeling sorry for.

The Magical Negro trope is specifically how a Black character is meant to fix everything for the white character- either with the power of actual divinity, or just by sweeping in and saying ‘I’ll help you with this problem even though it would not benefit me whatsoever’. Spike Lee spoke of The Green Mile this way, given the type of character that John Coffey was versus the environment that he was in (the ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ cops). Their purpose is often to sacrifice of themselves so that the white character can either see the light, or better themselves. Again, they are not a threat, they’re even giving selflessly, and that's why we value them!

Do you see the comparison I'm making here? They’re “allowed” to be because they are not a threat to the main character, and therefore the white audience. Uncle Tom wouldn't be acceptable if he were actively duplicitous to the slave owner beating him to death. If John Coffey used his godlike powers to kill the cops and the actual murderer in the next cell over, and escape, he wouldn't be the magical negro that was worth awe (in the eyes of white audiences)!

One good example of NOT doing this is Isaac from Castlevania. My friend (who expressly brought his hatred of these stereotypes up) explains how Isaac grew from this trope to an independent character via the incredibly well-written narrative. For a Black Muslim, even!

Bad Fatherhood

This can include either a lack of emotional availability, especially with boy children, or a lack of presence altogether. It's a common racist 'gotcha' to suggest that Black children don't have fathers. Meanwhile, the CDC had a study that showed Black fathers are more present and active in their children’s lives than white fathers. The idea that good Black fathers or father-figures are nonexistent or rare is a lie!

This is not to say that bad Black fathers cannot be depicted- some of us did not have great fathers, and we work through that via writing (@ myself)! But it shouldn’t be laughed off or normalized in a narrative. The issue is that they are a bad parent and that it has a negative effect on the child, one that should be noticed as ‘this is not okay’. You shouldn’t walk away from seeing a bad Black father and go ‘well yeah that’s about the norm’. It is not.

So when you’re writing your Black fathers… how are they? Are they loving? Are they present? If they’re not, do we understand that that’s not because they are Black, but because they’re not a good parent? Are we treating any of the other fathers/father figures in the story as a bad parent if they do those same things? Do we hold equal accountability?

Adultification

Same as Black girls, adultification of Black boys begins early in life, as Black boys are seen as aggressive and sexual threats early in childhood. They’re not given the chance to be kids. I once interned at a children's museum, where a white dad was angry because a 4-year-old Black boy was ‘flirting with’ and ‘inappropriately touching’ his daughter. They were babies. Babies!!!

My partner mentions “being ‘the man of the house’; having to be mature, to be tough and over-masculine to make up for your youth and insecurities to survive. Eventually you start buying into your own hype.”

Part of this, similar to what I mentioned in the last lesson, is how Black boys are held to higher standards. More likely to be charged as adults, because ‘they knew what they were doing’. More likely to be punished, because ‘they knew what they were doing’. The grace our society offers white boys for things (ranging from legitimate mistakes to fucking sexual assault) does not apply. When society always sees you as a threat, there is no nuance for what you do- you must have meant to be harmful!

When you are consuming a media or creating one, I want you to think about how you are treating your Black boy character. Do you expect that he should know better? Know better than who? Why? Do you hold grace for him when he makes mistakes/decisions? Why is he the one you chose to have this narrative? Do you recognize the effect him being Black will have on the perception of this action? Do you understand that he is a child? Do you hold him to the standard you would have held yourself at that age? Do you think that he is automatically a danger in comparison to your other characters? Why? Do the other characters in the narrative understand this? If they don’t, are you writing that to send a message, or do you agree?

To be honest, these are things you should think about your Black men and characters in general.

Conclusion

This is a heavy topic, and an often present one due to an increase in public awareness of race and racism. I’m sure many people who read these past few lessons felt like it had nothing to do with their media, but… that’s why you need to check yourself. It does. The people who write stories also have racist biases. They might write a story and then go falsely accuse a Black man of “imagining her incorrectly” (again… Lena Dunham). There is a long history of the dehumanization of Black men in media, and we have to be willing to look inside ourselves and question our own intent when we write them. That will help us write better Black male characters, without the fear of leaning into racism.

Just be normal about it, for gods sake 😂

Part of what I've taught in multiple of my lessons is to learn how to actually describe Black people, so that you can then romanticize the action! It's truly disappointing when there's supposed to be a romantic scene but you can tell the author doesn't know what Black people really look like, or can't fathom how to describe us as beautiful. Which really hurts, bc like... We are. If we can come up with every adjective on the planet to describe the beauty of paleness, we can do it for brown skinned people. We can find ways to describe our features. I should not have to read about the beauty of the white character, and then there's just no (or worse, shallowly inaccurate) description of the Black character in the same story or fic.

And then there are plenty of non-race related ways to describe a person and the attraction to them, the wonderful things about them, same as you would for a white character!!! It's honestly incredible how Black characters might be super sweet canonically, but in fanon will become these mean, oversexual beasts just so that people can feel their white favorites swoon in their arms and "calm them down". Like please, you don't have to do this, Black people can have libidos without you having to... Make them aggressive 😅

As for erotic, you don't have to fetishize. You can have the same types of synonyms as any sex scenario (yes, growl and hiss and biting are animalistic but people do it during sex, it's fine). Black people can be sexual too! Again, just be normal. What makes it fetishistic is when it feels like there's a "ravishing" of the weak white character who just can't stand against the "hungry sexuality of the black character". Like... There's no need for that. No need for "his long Black dick" or "his gigantic Black cock" or any other jungle fever porn reminiscent language to drive home that it's a Black man they're fucking lmao. As for Black women, no need to act like they're automatically versed in wild sex, or somehow "more exotic of a body to explore" or some other shit.

Black people can be caring partners, capable of communication. We all vary in sexual experience. We should be treated with care; if your smut treats Black characters the way porn treats Black bodies (see "tiny white girl takes big cock" vs "Black bitch gets dicked" vs "bbc plows innocent white girl" type porn titles), then maybe you need to tone it down and make sure you're not just seeing us as oversexualized tools.

Okay, this one is going to be half lesson and half a thought experiment- it may get a bit frustrating, as conversations like this often do- but remember, discomfort is not always a bad thing! So I ask that you walk with me for this one.

It’s also interesting, because I’m going to direct this towards everyone (readers included!), but specifically towards my fanfic writers of media with no visual medium, as I’ve noticed this pattern there, and it makes up a good amount of creators on this site. Okay? Okay.

Behold! Many shades of brown!

I had to wade through a lot of colorism for this, and even this link is subtly racist in its introduction- the idea that brown is ‘unexciting’ 🙄.

Anyway, you know where I’m going with this:

"Chocolate and Coffee"

Even the link above pulled this! Writers who use this... they’re not ‘wrong’ per se but… often uninspired. It feels... Lazy. When you can tell an author has put no thought into the brown of choice, it makes Black readers feel like you believe these are the only shades of brown- that that’s all we look like. Even chocolate is more diverse (white, milk, dark, marbled, cookies and cream?) Coffee can come in numerous shades as well (light, medium, dark roast? Type of bean?)

My first direction to help with this: make it a point to know what shade that character is (whether canonically, or if you're the original creator, look at a reference and write it down) and find a name! Be consistent! Find similar browns to one another. If the canon Black character's skin color is done poorly, find something similar and use that! (I'll get more into this in the next lesson!)

Our skin colors may modify as we age, it changes over the seasons/presence in the sun, and some people even have vitiligo! But we're not gonna be “dark roast coffee” one morning and “light milk chocolate” suddenly. We're not chameleons lmao.

And you know what? That shade you choose might very well be 'coffee'! But it's not going to be because you didn't look and assumed we're all some random brown! That’s the intent showing! If we can find endless ways to describe the beauty of white/pale skin, we absolutely can for brown! Be willing to unpack why you may not believe brown to be capable of beauty, and work through unlearning that- it will show in your writing! One way is by pausing with yourself, and recognizing when you had a biased thought. Even by this, you’re learning!

Here’s where I want us to get into the thought experiment:

I want you to think about the description of characters in stories (as a whole). Challenge yourself- in the fics and stories you read, how often is anyone blatantly labeled 'White'? Read a story or fic; how long can you imagine them as not-White before it's ever clarified? Because not even 'pale' automatically implies a White person!

You know how I’ve mentioned before that 'Black people are not a monolith'? I can find you at least some examples of Black people fitting some of the common descriptions of white characters.

"Brunette with brown eyes"

(Fun fact: I actually learned back in my Masters program that genetically no one has ‘black’ hair- our eyes are processing it as black, but it’s really just dark brown due to eumelanin. Regardless, if you stand us in the direct sunlight, you will see that our hair is usually just dark brown!)

"Red hair with pale skin"

“‘tanned’ skin with hazel/green eyes”

“blond hair" (period!)

Now, I’m not saying that blond haired Black people or Black folk with albinism are overly representative of my people. What I AM saying is that it needs to not be taken for granted that a reader is automatically assuming a character is White in your piece of fiction- I can assume your character looks like anything if it's not stated! Especially if the OG source is a book or a podcast! We’re just used to assigning these features- and characters- as white until ‘proven not’! The default!

I am guilty of this too! Even still, I reread many of my works and go ‘ah, I didn’t clarify.’ And I have to work on doing better at it. This is having intent for your Black characters, but really, it’s having intent for all of them!

(This doesn't mean going “the Black man said,” the way sometimes people say “the Chinese said” (which…. Tbh we should all stop doing that anyway, it's weird and racist))

My Next Challenge:

Some people may disagree, but- Ahem:

Say BLACK!

Breathe lmao! Take the time to recognize that it's OKAY to introduce a character as Black, to say Black, it's fine! Obviously be sensitive about it, don't shove it in there to “win your diversity points”, but like… People are Black. It's not a bad word. What matters is the context in which you used it!

You don't even have to say it every single time. Really just the first, introductory sentence will do. For example:

“[Character A], a bright, young, Black girl with knotless braids to her mid back, glittering hair clips matching her bright green t-shirt, and a brilliant smile that shined against her bistre skin.”

I recognize that some might argue that by saying “bistre”, you don't need to say Black. But 1) you don't have to be Black to be brown or dark skinned, and 2) There's a social stigma behind even saying Black- of discussing race in general, because it leads to discomfort. Race (as a sociological construct) exists. When we say nothing about it, allowing Whiteness to be the default, we're still emphasizing race, however silently! If you're already doing it... Why not mention it? 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

(here's a good clip of Ijeoma Oluo discussing the difficulty of discussing race; while I highly recommend the whole thing, the relevant clip is 4:25-5:39)

Maybe they're in the Black student organization in a lead position, maybe they're in a Black main cast of a play- it's okay to have those things in the story to help develop the idea that your Black character is actively Black! Just do your research to make sure you’re not leaning into stereotypes!

“There’s no races in my fantasy/future world!”

That’s fair! But I want to give you an example of how people will still project these identities onto your characters anyway:

No one has an explicitly stated 'race' in Avatar: The Last Airbender (afaik); they’re all divided by element culture. YET, many people were offended that a mixed-Korean actress was cast in her role in the live action- they ‘just didn’t see it’, because subconsciously they'd imagined her ‘face claims’ as WHITE, despite it never once being mentioned in the canon! (there’s also a firm sexualization and east Asian fetishization argument to be made about it, but that’s not within the scope of this particular conversation.)

Point is, if you are including humanoid characters in your fantasy stories, fine. You don't need to say ‘Black’ outright. But, that just means that you’re going to have to be even more detailed in your description. Because if I were watching a TV show and a Black actor shows up as an elf… I know what features I’m seeing! Entire protests have occurred over the casting of Black actors in a role ‘meant for a white person’; so... everyone sees it!

Conclusion

This is another reason why intention in character design and writing is important! Context clues and socialization help me understand who your character is. If it works like this for white characters, it can work like that for everyone else! You just have to know enough about me to write it in (and that's where the social and societal bias lie, because how much do you really know about me?)

A way to better understand this is reading books by Black authors (for fantasy, I would highly recommend Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi) as well as Black literary classics! Finding and reading Black fic authors in fandoms with Black characters! By learning how we describe ourselves and our skin colors, you’ll learn and practice how to appropriately describe us!

Now I can't make you do any of this! But I do want you all- writers especially- to start noticing our bias, how we may default to the experience of whiteness- and how that affects the way we write. When we have Black characters, and really any character of color, we need to start paying attention to how often their features, culture, and activities are emphasized, even for what we may consider to be 'background' details. That’s how we normalize creation and understanding, and become better at writing!

It’s just something to practice; remember, it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

(This is part two of the hair lessons, focusing on writing/narratives. If you want to know how the styles LOOK, refer to part 1 and its addendum)

Now that you know what our hair actually looks like, we’re going to discuss incorporating that into your writing (original fic, fanfic, webcomics, anything with a narrative). You don’t HAVE to give us a dissertation on "how you studied 'The Black People’s Hair'" in your story. That’s not what I’m asking you to do. I’m just asking you to CONSIDER the effort and existence of it. The same way you put effort into discussing nonblack hair textures? Should be the sort of tenderness and care you put into discussing ours. It does not stand to reason that I have read thousands of stories describing "the silky, black/blonde tresses/waves that fell down their pale back as their lover ran their fingers through them", but Black readers have nothing of the sort to compare to without seeking our own authors out. Our hair deserves some loving and adoration too!

This is a very long post describing hairstyles and how they can correspond to your character's design and decisions, so I'll put a read more here. The sections are organized into 'Twist Out', 'Afros', 'Locs', 'Braids', 'Black Men', and 'Straight Hair' if you Ctrl F. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take your time to read all of this at some point though, as I put a lot of resources and explanation into this. I'm trusting you!

I have diagnosed POTS syndrome. Yes I have fainted before. But it doesn’t happen as much as you think. In fact in the 3 years I’ve been diagnosed I’ve only ever fainted twice. Most of my symptoms include, sweating profusely, fatigue easily, heart palpitations, over heating/getting cold easily, getting dizzy, nausea, blurry vision, chest pain, shortness of breath, anxiety and stress. Sometimes I just feel really sick. My toes turn purple sometimes. I can run a mile sometimes and be fine, but some days walking to my bathroom without my cane is a struggle.

I have good days and bad days. But this is a disease that had genuinely ruined my life for a time. I couldn’t do anything when I first started showing symptoms. I couldn’t walk to the bathroom without wanting to keel over. Forget classes, forget doing sports. Or exercising. I literally built myself up from ground zero.

I might seem pretty healthy? But honestly? I still have as needed mobility aid to help me get around so I don’t get too tired and over exert myself. I have to stay hydrated or else my symptoms will kill Me. If I skip a meal? Oh yeah I’m done for. I take steroids to keep my blood pressure up. I take these steroids once in the morning and once before any strenuous activities. I was on heart medication for a time. There is no cure for this. It’s an entire lifestyle change. Everything is affected, your nervous system, your brain, your blood, skin, anything you can think of, there is a POTS symptom for.

Like this disease genuinely ruined my life and I had restart from scratch. I have only recently been okay and starting to do more. But i still have bad days.

This isn’t just some random fainting thing that is really cute. And honestly it does make me angry to see it wrongly portrayed in media. Because this genuinely upheaved my life and I had to quit a lot of stuff so I could be healthy. If you’re going to write a character with POTS. Do your research, know how this actually affects people. Because it’s not some silly little disease that people can use to just.. create a good whumpy scenario.

It’s a fucking struggle and I hate having it. I’ve had to shape my life around it. It’s not just fainting. It’s feeling like your body is going implode, feeling like you might die. Pardon sounding like a dick, but if you’re going to write a character with POTS do it right.

Sorry this is a rant and I might lose some followers for it. I just.. it’s something I feel passionate about. And it’s something that has genuinely affected my quality of life.

but PoC are too far outside of your lived experience?