#Serie et Racisme | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nekropsii · 1 year

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on the topic of Hussie's racism translating into the comic itself: the origin of lil Cal's name came from a racist comic Hussie made in his TeamSpecialOlympics line It's titled "Rollin with lil Cal" and depicts a black character adopted by a white dad that just goes "Shit! I be 29 years old mutha-fucka!" he either re-used this character itself throughout these comics or was just lazy, but what appears to be the same og lil Cal was in his comic "Underground Funk Railroad", which ended with "Slaves Recaptured: funky swagger to blame" as well as mocking systematic racism and segregation with the racial slur negro (which, historically by white people in that time frame, was pronounced similar to the well-known n word [re-stating out of habit to keep clarification of why it's bad/an actual slur])

From my research, "Lil' Cal" as a name actually seems to extend a little farther back than that. Looks like the origin of Lil' Cal as a character- or at least as a name belonging to a Black character- dates back to around 2005-2006, with the creator being Andrew Hussie's brother, Byron Hussie, also known as Byrobot. You'll see that username a lot when poking around archives of Team Special Olympics comics. I give the estimate of 2005 or so, because Byrobot's Lil' Cal strips predate Hussie's, and not only was Hussie's edition of "Rollin' Wit Lil' Cal" posted in (late-ish) 2006, but Byrobot closed his website in around early 2006, which is where that strip was originally hosted. Plus, I've seen a couple anecdotes that it was around 2005 when that first started being a thing... Either way, though.

Unsurprisingly, Lil' Cal wasn't exactly illustrated with much... Class. Here's Byrobot's first Lil' Cal strip. This is the first iteration of Lil' Cal ever posted online.

Yikes. Yikes on bikes.

To fortify your points, though, I'll post the strips you're talking about here.

Here's Hussie's "Rollin' Wit Lil' Cal", which depicts exactly what you said. This was posted on 08/01/06, as a part of the "Scribblettes" series on the Team Special Olympics website.

And here's Hussie's "Underground Funk Railroad", once again depicting exactly what you said. This was posted on 11/02/06, but is the same story otherwise.

I understand the anxious urge to do it, but I don't think most people really need an explanation as to why any variant of the N-Word is bad. Though, since you brought it up...

Have this. 12/20/06. I needed to curse someone else with it. Same story again, this is still a part of the Scribblettes series.

Regarding the speculation on whether the reusage of Lil' Cal was an act of laziness or not: TSO's Scribblettes have many recurring characters and recurring bits, Lil' Cal just happens to be one of them. Now, applying that same train of thought to Lil Cal's appearance in Homestuck... Homestuck is chock full of references, both to random things/media, and to Hussie's older works- like Problem Sleuth, Humanimals, And It Don't Stop, et cetera. Lil Cal, the puppet, was named the way he was as another throwback for longtime fans. Lil' Cal, the TSO character, was reused during the runtime of Scribblettes just for fun.

I have nothing profound to say about any of this. This guy sucks, lol.

#homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #team special olympics #andrew hussie #lil cal #cw racism #homestuck.pdf #nekro.pdf #nekro.sms

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shadowen · 5 months

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I'm thinking, once again, about the Star Wars sequel trilogy and the incredible wasted potential of the characters. Specifically, I'm thinking about Rey and Poe as foils against Phasma and Hux.

Here, we have two men who were raised from birth as true believers in opposing causes, the only sons of heroes, who then far surpassed their parents in fame and influence. There are some hints of contrast, in that we see the stark differences in how they lead, but the films are almost maliciously committed to misunderstanding Poe as a character*, that I have to assume those moments are purely accidental.

Then there's Rey and Phasma, two women from baren, brutal worlds, with a single name and no legacy**, who survive and succeed based entirely on raw talent and relentless determination. Phasma is nominally set up as a contrast for Finn, but she ends up being an unsatisfying personal villain. Likewise, Rey is set in opposition to Kylo Ren, but that whole dynamic is so messy and loaded, without exploring any of the meaningful parallels and conflicts between them***.

There's also something to be said about contrasting sibling dynamics. With Rey and Poe, we get glimpses of a squabbling rivalry rooted in obvious affection, whereas Phasma and Hux are shown (in EU material) to have a conspiratorial closeness based on mutual respect and mutually assured destruction. Neither of these relationships is developed to full potential or used to develop the narrative or themes of the films.

The reliance on external knowledge to prop up the core films is a long-standing critique of Star Wars, and I wholeheartedly agree that the movies should be able to stand on their own. However, given the volume and emphasis on the extended universe, it's reasonable to expect at least some degree of consistency. In the case of these characters and others, though, the most interesting character development is either jarringly ignored or deliberately removed, as with a scene cut from The Last Jedi which tells more about Phasma in two minutes than the rest of her screen time combined. There's plenty of discussion to be had about what's actually in the films, but I think the great tragedy of the sequel trilogy is what could have been there and isn't.

Footnotes and reading recs under the cut.

*My rant on this subject is long, detailed, and mostly about racism.

**I think Rey is a much more interesting character if she is actually nobody from nowhere, but that's a different discussion.

***This is not about ship vs notp, just about how their on-screen interactions fit into the narrative.

The Star Wars EU is daunting, to say the least. If you want to read more about these characters, may I suggest:

Phasma (novel) by Delilah S. Dawson (my all time fav SW novel)

Poe Dameron (comics series) by Charles Soule and Phil Noto

Captain Phasma #1-4 (comic) by Kelly Thompson and Marco Checchetto

Resistance Reborn (novel) by Rebecca Roanhorse

Before the Awakening (short stories) by Greg Rucka

Shattered Empire #1-4 (comic) by Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto

Age of Resistance (comics anthology) by Tom Taylor et al

#star wars #shadowen consumes media #accidental example of a 5 paragraph essay #rey #poe dameron #captain phasma #armitage hux

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woahjo · 4 months

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before you follow ᡣ𐭩

just some blog guidelines and all that fun stuff -

minors do not interact. if your age is not over 18 on the gregorian calendar, please do not follow or interact with me or my content! this is a safe space for adults only.

i try to be as inclusive with my reader inserts as possible, but with that in mind, please note that all of my readers have female anatomy and are usually written with a chubby reader in mind.

please be kind and leave discourse at the door. i'm trying hard not to care about what's going on here lol

if you are anti-dark content, please don't interact. i'd hate to trigger or upset you, as i write dc frequently. block and move on!

with the previous rule in mind (and while being respectful), i draw my line at shota/lolicon. please do not interact if you consume it, as it makes me uncomfortable.

dni criteria: racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, shota/lolicon blogs, ed blogs, fatphobia, et cetera.

if you're not sure about spoilers, ask! i read a lot of the manga for series i like, but if you're not sure if you'd be spoiling for me, it's always better to ask me or tag with a spoiler warning!

#byf #ill add more if i remember anything but i think this is it for now <3

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doktorno83 · 6 months

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Attention: bad comic alert!

So French publisher Delcourt had just dropped third tome of graphic novel "Le Serpent et la Lance" known in English "The Snake and the Spear".

The whole series is absolutely bollocks, racist towards Mesoamerican natives and propagates very harmful stereotypes. Before I explain it more, watch that production video below:

youtube

Its in French, and here are explanations what I noticed is wrong on that video:

He uses a controversial historical fiction book as inspiration, Gary Jenning's "Aztec" that has lots of questionable violent and borderline pornographic content combined with confabulations (01:25)

He claims how Aztecs were "bloodthirsty" "just like Japanese" and combined it with "beauty of art". Justifying putting extreme violence in work with an 'other' culture reeks of Orientalism and obsolete anthropology like "Chrysanthemum and Sword". And in case of Mexica (Aztecs) its a continuation of colonial era racism (01:38).

Apparently (on table) as one visual references he has very old and obsolete illustrated book (from red covered Hatchette series) for children about native civilizations in Americas, with illustrations by Pierre Jourbert (01:25).

And speaking of comics themselves:

The main plot is about serial killer, that is doing, unauthorised human sacrifices by obducting and mummifying young girls (Aztecs did not practised that).

But it is not even a proper crime story, 70% of two first tomes are childhood retrospections.

Also that comic has a little backstory of warrior retrospecting how he got promoted by CAPTURING HIS OWN SUPERIOR. I cant stand that idiocy. He things that Aztecs were Orcs or Klingons?

The author is a lame storyteller. He uses awfully dated cliches, like associating physical deformities with evil and amorality.

The Mexica society is shown as one that is extremely cruel, fatalistic, violent and physically disgusting. The government investigators are killing more people than preparator of killing of girls, in order to cover up these murders. Again, its not a parody comic, its all deadly serious.

The most annoying aspect of storytelling here is oversaturation with internal and interpersonal conflicts. The main character, merchant Spear Eye, is conflicted with his family and his older sister acts like a fussy rude teenager. His close friend (a senior rain god Tlaloc priest) with whom he has literal blood bonding pact, is backstabbing him and is showed having sadistic/masochistic personality (makes me wonder if in the end it would be revealed that he is mastermind behind the murderer).

Another thing is to give every mayor character some sort of depressing, disturbing or unfortunate background, as if writer of the script was following some sort of rigid set of rules that says that severe trauma, poor mental health or misfortunes makes character interesting. While those things can make good character development, they are not suitable for every story and every occasion. Overall, the Aztec society is shown as a parade of misery, masochism, sadism and body horrors.

Its bad storytelling combined with bad takes on history.

I do not like it, just i do not like later tomes of his previous saga "Okko" that has its own issues with storytelling and characters. Mr Hub is very capable of making action scenes but his comics are biased towards violence, backstabbing and sociopathy, things that makes excellent base for violent action scenes, but not believable ordinary life and crime mystery.

Do not get excited over it, do not buy it, maybe just borrow from library or friend. You were warned.

#The Snake and the Spear #Le Serpent et la Lance #comics #french comics #racism #Aztecs #Mesoamerica #bad comics #Hub #Delcourt

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lakesbian · 1 year

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iota hiii - hibaris trans girl swag has pulled me in is the anime adaption of that series good !!

okay so look. i love stop hibari-kun. this is also a thing in my stop hibari-kun tag:

here is the thing. it's fucking terrible. it fucking sucks. it's bad. but also it's good. it's goodbad. it's bad good. it's almost good. it's not good. it's good. it's bad. but good. et cetera. there are 50 caveats i want to give anyone before they watch it, because i am a Thorough Bitch. so pull up a chair

it has a canonically trans girl as the titular character. it's also a comedy anime made in the '80s. which is to say: it's a really neat piece of LGBT history that many trans women have legitimately praised, but it's still got Comedy Anime From The '80s Disease.

the first thing i'd say if you want to watch it is, read a couple short essays first to get an idea of why people give a shit about it in the first place.

(there was also a really good video essay on it but it got privated :( tragic)

the second thing to be aware of is that, again, it's an '80s comedy anime. there's antiblack racism. there's uncomfortable sexualization of teenage girls. there's transmisogynistic treatment towards hibari. even the non-offensive jokes might not be your style of humor. how much you enjoy the anime depends on your tolerance for anime bullshit. really the only way to measure how much it bothers you is by watching. do keep in mind that some episodes are far better or far worse than others, and you can always skip around/skip scenes if you're not liking the vibes. it is chronological, and there is very slight character development, but skipping shitty scenes in episodes won't ruin anything.

the third thing to be aware of is that the only subtitled version available anywhere online for it does not translate LGBT terms properly. the most glaring issue is this:

('newhalf,' a word which explicitly meant 'trans woman' at the time and would best be translated as 'transsexual,' was mistranslated as 'crossdresser.' anytime you hear a character say 'newhalf' and see it translated as 'crossdresser,' keep in mind that the character is actually saying 'trans woman.')

the second translation issue is with the word 'hentai,' which is vaguely translated as 'pervert.' but in the context of '80s japanese LGBT terms, it actually means something much more like 'queer.' anytime you hear the word 'hentai' used and see it subbed as 'pervert,' keep in mind that it would be better translated as 'queer.' sexually derogatory terms for LGBT people are nothing new, so it makes some sense that it's just translated as 'pervert,' but if my research is accurate then something along the lines of 'queer/degenerate' would be the closest english approximation. (this is obviously used as an insult towards hibari many times, but she also jokingly uses it herself in a way that reads very much as charming reclamation.)

anyway, as for the actual content of the fucking anime. there's no real resolution because it got cancelled. there's never a full "ohh i see now you are a Real Girl and i love you hibari :)" arc for kosaku. it frankly sucks at times. a lot of the time even. there are also scenes that made me go Aough... Augh.... and write little sniffling essays. there's some legitimately good stuff in there. it is really just about whether or not it balances out the bad for you. it did for me because i like vintage animation and LGBT history and i am entranced by hibari's cool and cute swag and her insistence on adoring some random shitty 'if a heterosexual guy was a tsundere' teen boy. (kosaku is forgiven for his crimes due to the "oh lovely girl i love you" lyric in the full OST version of strange love.) it might not balance out for you. but now that i've given you the full mandatory pre-watch reading, i will cautiously say "sure, if you still want to give it a shot go ahead, but if you fucking hate it don't say i didn't warn you."

...if it has nothing else going for it, i maintain that it has one of the top all time obscure vintage anime ending songs.

#ask #stop hibari kun #i Hope you like it but also thats like handing you a cute but rlly rabid cat and going i hope you like it #my defense here if youg et bitten is that i did warn you it has rabies

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uwusillygirl · 1 year

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as an obsessive hellcheer reader who also isn’t super keen on the show, just know that i’m always down to read ur essay on what you don’t like about it lol

so in terms of just the premise: i think that a lot of the series' "homage" is actually just total rip off. is it referencing or is it just stealing a scene and calling it a day?? (like... when mike shows eleven his toys... that's literally... E.T. or when they open the show on a D&D session they open E.T. on the same thing... with characters named Mike and Steve. anyways. really defending ET rn lmao). but even then, i take less issue with it than with its impossible grappling of nostalgia. sort of weakly grapples between "remember the good old days?" and "lets slide in some realism", which gives us this blobby mess of messaging (especially regarding racism and queerness!!!). i highly recommend this piece on the matter.

in matters of execution: it's often sloppily written, and falls into the sin of being catered to the whims of its watchers instead of valuing good story (suddenly things aren't sensical story-wise - most prominent example being why the fuck is steve harrington still alive????). season one was a show with children, by season four we are looking at a show for children. all of the semi-authentic teen behavior hinted at in the first seasons is sucked right out (especially regarding sex, which there doesn't need to be ofc but there was some and suddenly there's none, and like even the drug dealers drug dealing feels in the realm of like the deeply abstract/distanced). it also is frequently directed weirdly, shot weirdly. and the lighting of their black characters is fucking abysmal - great points on that (as well as lucas and erica's characterizations in general!) in this fantastic essay. also to pull a whole red scare/anti-anything but capitalism/have our black characters do these jingoistic spiels plotline at this time in american culture is so tacky, lame, and ass-kissy in my little leftist opinion.

just not good! and yet i watch!

#asks #stranger things

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maternalmistreatment · 2 months

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#4 In the TikTok above, the news agency CBC interviews an Indigenous nurse (Tania Dick) as she discusses her personal experiences working in the Canadian healthcare system. Some key points made in the video were:

Tania's aunt was taken to the emergency room acting differently. Doctors and nurses did little examinations and ruled her to be a "drunk Indian". Eventually, her aunt was thrown into a cell and was told to just sleep it off. After an investigation, it was found that Tania's aunt had a major head injury, which sadly killed her due to the lack of treatment from healthcare professionals.

Hospital staff to this day deny the head injury and persist that Tania's aunt died because of alcohol intake.

Tania Dick's story showcases the racist ideology that the Canadian healthcare system still follows today. As seen in the TikTok video along with the other blog posts, Indigenous people are constantly mistreated. While Tania's story does not deal with maternal care, the treatment remains the same. Expecting Indigenous women are much more likely to experience illness, miscarriages, etc. Along with this, they are also more likely to develop conditions like Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, HIV, obesity, post-partum depression, etc (Bacciaglia et al, 2023). While the reasoning for this differs from person to person, the general consensus is a result of colonization and residential schools (Bacciaglia et al, 2023). These experiences continue to negatively shape the lives of Indigenous communities due to the lack of support from both the government and the healthcare system.

References

Bacciaglia, M., Neufeld, H. T., Neiterman, E., Krishnan, A., Johnston, S., & Wright, K. (2023). Indigenous maternal health and health services within Canada: A scoping review. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-023-05645-y

#canada #maternal #health #maternalhealth #indegenous #medicine #medical mistreatment #medical discrimination

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ajora · 4 months

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Not sure if want.

On one hand, ElfQuest was very formative when I was in high school. But so were Hammer Horror films (Christopher Lee will always be my Count Dracula) and the original Planet of the Apes. After a while, distance allowed me to see a lot of it as twee and a bit fixated on how wonderful having kids is. Almost every bad thing in the series past a certain point being linked to Winnowill was tiresome*. Recent revelations about Jink were both completely predictable and induced eye-rolling (not to mention, revelation with regards to Cutter's and Timmain's souls and Recognition with Skywise and boy this is the most roundabout way to get to Cutter x Skywise mpreg baby I guess).

But also, what was groundbreaking about ElfQuest was that it came out in the 1970s with every elf being omnisexual, the two main male characters were probably in some romantic relationship left undefined for decades (cf. remark about Cutter x Skywise mpreg baby), female characters were strong and demanded respect, and it swung hard into exploring xenophobia and war. I think, if the dialogue about gender, sexuality, racism, et al then was as nuanced as it is now, it might have done better.

Will wait and see. In the meantime, I guess I'll have to catch up with the comics.

*I have the same issues with DD's Lone Power being the big bad for nearly everything in the YW universe. And I get it, it's a young adult/mid grade(?) series and such, but after multiple books it just gets a bit boring.

#ajora shut up #elves in space #not you dd

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angeliqueshelleyartist · 6 months

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Representational Intersectionality

SOURCES AND SIGNIFICANCE BLOG POST #7

In this blog post I’ll be analysing the importance of representational intersectionality in media, using the Virtual Reality (VR) game Half-Life: Alyx as a good example of the concept. I’ll also be examining the impact of the developers choice in choosing VR as the delivery method, and what representational intersectionality means for my practice.

Intersectionality was a term created by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 when she discovered a systemic lack of visibility in the court of law when two or more areas of discrimination intersected (Crenshaw, 2016). Crenshaw describes three forms of intersectionality: structural, political, and representational intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991). As an artist I’m particularly interested in representational intersectionality, which advocates for positive imagery supporting women of colour in media. Representational intersectionality can also apply across the spectrum of discrimination to improve mainstream acceptance and advocacy. While we’re fighting against a tide of misogyny in the likes of Andrew Tate (Radford, 2023), or the rise of under 18’s consumption of pornography genres that degrade women into objects for violent sexual gratification, which is also often perpetuates racism as well as sexual violence (Antoniazzi et al., 2023; Grant, Milmo, 2023), there are a few sparks of representational intersectionality that create hope in what may feel like an overwhelming or bleak world. The VR game Half-Life: Alyx is one such spark with its savvy and capable female protagonist, Alyx Vance, who has a Malaysian mother and an African-American father (see fig. 1).

Fig. 1 The Vance family’s photo

Although Alyx is a traditionally beautiful woman, through her costume design, the developers managed to avoid a pitfall of orientalism: an almost European invention from antiquity that romanticised exotic beings, landscapes and experiences (Said, 1978). Alyx’s costume design not only expressed her personality but was also conventional and practical thus avoiding catering exclusively for the male gaze (see figures 2&3).

Fig. 2 Alyx Vance from Half-Life: Alyx

Fig. 3 Alyx Vance’s costume design in Half-Life: Alyx

Alyx has featured in other Half-Life games as a secondary character to the main protagonist of the series Gordon Freeman, but though she had a supporting role, she was empowered through the refreshing back-and-forth between the characters, her saving Gordon in difficult situations, and presenting skills that Gordon Freeman was lacking.

Half-Life: Alyx is particularly special not only because Alyx takes centre stage, but also because the game was only available in VR. There are positives and negatives with this decision on the developer, Valve's, part, especially when considering accessibility: in terms of both access to VR equipment and in the physicality required to engage in a VR game (Thiel, 2022). A positive aspect to consider would be the largest demographic to have access to VR may be wealthy males (Kolmar, 2023; Katatikarn, 2023) so a targeted appeal to them may create an impact where it’s needed.

However, during one of the only times you get to play as a female protagonist with Malaysian and African-American heritage, due to the first person nature of VR, you never actually get to see Alyx in a third-person view or during cutscenes. It could be argued that the developers tried to combat this by seeing her partly gloved-hands as your own and regularly hearing her voice in conversation. This contrasts greatly with Gordon Freeman’s character who famously has never spoken a single word in 25 years of the saga, a decision which interestingly may have been made to reduce the gap for character embodiment.

There is a psychological impact as one ‘becomes’ Alyx through the intimacy of VR (Gall, 2021). As such, I think VR is an amazing delivery choice for specific experiences advocating representational intersectionality, particularly when noting the impact of a study of participant’s prejudice and perception influenced by playable characters of different races and genders in traditional gameplay (Anarkay et al., 2021). The study showed that “participants who embodied certain underrepresented characters in the game displayed reduced biases.”

I can’t help but feel a little sad when I consider this outcome for the sheer lack of good representational sectionality in games beyond the superficial and basic avatar selection screen that bears no consequence to the main story (Renshaw, 2022). Bearing this scarcity in mind, it’s a pity that there are barriers to enjoying Half-Life: Alyx. I hope that in the future there will be a wealth of games to experience that have well-implemented representational intersectionality.

As a concept artist considering working in the games industry, I can advocate for more diverse character designs and experiences. I want to make sure to carefully consider the cultural and racial background in the characters I design so that they’re more than just a superficial checkmark that panders to minorities but never really delivers authentic representations.

In summary, with a rise in sexual violence in under 18’s due to certain genres of pornography, representational intersectionality in games can help combat harmful stereotypes and imagery. This can be achieved via the empathic embodiment of women from ethnic minorities, made more powerful through the medium of VR. However, the barriers in accessing VR and its accessibility issues limit who can enjoy Half-Life: Alyx, but as a study into character embodiment through standard gameplay shows, these effects can be somewhat achieved even without the use of VR. As an artist considering working in the games industry, knowing this can help me advocate for the creation of accessible games that have great representational intersectionality, as well as design characters with authentic representation.

References:

ANARAKY, R. G., ASH, E., JARRELL, M., KNIJNENBURG, B. (2021). Using Intersectional Representation & Embodied Identification in Standard Video Game Play to Reduce Societal Biases. CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 446, p.1–18. [Online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445161

ANTONIAZZI, T. et al. (2023). Pornography regulation: The case for Parliamentary reform. [Online]. APPG. Available at: https://www.appg-cse.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Inquiry-on-pornography.pdf [Accessed 5 January 2024].

CRENSHAW, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review. 43(6), pp.1241-1299. [Online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039 [Accessed 5 January 2024].

CRENSHAW, K. (2016). “The Urgency of Intersectionality”. TEDWomen. [Video]. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality?language=en [Accessed: 5 January 2024].

GALL, D. et al. (2021). Embodiment in Virtual Reality Intensifies Emotional Responses to Virtual Stimuli. Frontiers in Psychology: Cognitive Science. 12(1). [Online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.674179 [Accessed 5 January 2024].

GRANT, H., MILMO, D. (2023). A fifth of teenagers watch pornography frequently and some are addicted, UK study finds. The Guardian. [Online]. 10 Mar 2023. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/mar/10/porn-study-survey-uk-teenagers-addicted [Accessed 5 January 2024].

KATATIKARN, J. (2023). Virtual Reality Statistics: The Ultimate List in 2023. [Online]. Academy of Animated Art. Available at: https://academyofanimatedart.com/virtual-reality-statistics/ [Accessed 6 January 2024].

KOLMAR, C. (2023). 25+ AMAZING VIRTUAL REALITY STATISTICS [2023]: THE FUTURE OF VR + AR. [Online]. ZIPPIA. Available at: https://www.zippia.com/advice/virtual-reality-statistics/ [Accessed 6 January 2024].

RADFORD, A. (2023). Who is Andrew Tate? The self-proclaimed misogynist influencer. BBC. [Online]. 4 August 2023. Available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64125045 [Accessed 5 January 2024].

RENSHAW, E. (2020). Through Her Eyes: The Gendering of Female FPSs. Ann Arbor: ProQuest LLC

SAID, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.

THIEL, F. J., STEED, A. (2022). Developing an Accessibility Metric for VR Games Based on Motion Data Captured Under Game Conditions. Frontiers in Virtual Reality: Virtual Reality and Human Behaviour. 3(1). [Online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2022.909357 [Accessed: 5 January 2024].

#sources and significance

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bianca-alexander88 · 7 months

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An attitude is defined as an evaluation of people, objects or ideas that is expressed with some level of intensity. An attitude consists of a positive, negative or ambiguous reaction toward someone or something and have three components: an affective component (our emotional reaction), cognitive component (our thoughts and beliefs) and behavioural component (our actions and observable behaviour).

Part of our more deliberate and conscious thinking system, explicit attitudes are those which we overtly express, consciously endorse and are able to easily extol. Conversely, implicit attitudes are part of our instinctual and intuitive thinking system; as a result, implicit attitudes consist of involuntary and uncontrollable evaluations that are often outside of our conscious awareness. Explicit attitudes are rooted in people’s more recent experiences, whereas implicit attitudes are imbued through their upbringing and childhood experiences.

Explicit and implicit attitudes held by an individual are not necessarily related and may not be correlated. For example, a positive correlation between explicit and implicit attitudes tends to be present when people are asked to consider how an attitude object makes them feel (affective consideration). However, this positive correlation is not presented when people are asked to reflect on the same attitude object (cognitive consideration). While explicit attitudes can be measured through self-reporting, implicit measures can only be captured through indirect measurements such as evaluative priming and implicit association tests.

Fazio et. al (1995) conducted an experience involving evaluative priming to explore the relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes concerning expressions of modern racism. Participants were given a self-report questionnaire designed to measure their explicit attitudes concerning racial prejudice and then subjected them to a priming task to capture their implicit attitudes. In the priming task, participants were asked to rapidly judge whether the words with which they were presented held positive or negative connotations while simultaneously ignoring distractions; the words were preceded by images of black or white faces. Fazio et. al interpreted faster reaction times to negative words and slower reaction times to positive words after having seen a blackface as indicative of negative implicit attitudes. Although participants reported non-racially prejudiced explicit attitudes, they still showed implicit bias via their response times. The findings suggest that perhaps explicit attitudes predict controlled behaviour, whereas implicit attitudes predict uncontrolled behaviour. Dovidio, Kawakami, Gaertner (2002) conducted their own study that supports this finding. They measured the explicit and implicit attitudes of white participants in their interactions with black people. Interactions between white participants with both a white and black student were videotaped and then analyzed for instances of verbal and nonverbal behavioural expressions of friendliness. A correlation between prejudice and behaviour was found and revealed that explicit attitudes predicted differences in controlled (verbal) behaviours while implicit attitudes predicted differences in involuntary and unconscious (nonverbal) behaviour between the white participant and the black person.

Finally, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) is the most well known method by which to measure implicit attitudes. Through a five part series of computerized sorting tasks, the IAT is meant to measure the ease with which the participant associates two categories with positive or negative concepts. In the third sorting task, white faces are paired with unpleasant words and black faces are paired with pleasant words. Conversely, in the final sorting task, white faces are paired with pleasant words and black faces with unpleasant words. In terms of assessing racial prejudice, the third sorting task presents an incongruent arrangement (white = unpleasant, black = pleasant) while the final sorting task presets a congruent arrangement (white = pleasant, black = unpleasant). Following these lines, slower reaction times to the incongruent arrangement in comparison to the congruent arrangement is interpreted to indicate an implicit preference for the one group (white) over the other (black).

Each of these implicit measurement involves rapid testing method that bypasses the conscious control of the participant so as to effectively access their implicit attitudes. In other words, the participants are not given the time required to consciously bring forth their explicit attitudes, so what is revealed is what lies beneath. However, some argue that the IAT might not be measuring implicit attitudes so much as it is measuring the participants’ awareness of the stereotypes or prejudices that exist in their culture. The participants’ response times might also be a product of recency or frequency activation, meaning that the particular stereotype or prejudice being measured is acutely or chronically accessible within the cultural milieu.

#attitudes #perspective #psycology #cognitiveprocesses

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freelance-informatique · 8 months

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Vidéo d'Osimhen : C'est la guerre entre Naples et le Nigérian !

La Serie A n'a pas fini de faire parler d'elle. Au cœur de l'actualité cette semaine, une vidéo qui a mis le feu aux poudres entre Victor Osimhen et son club, le Napoli. Retour sur une affaire qui pourrait bien chambouler le mercato. La vidéo d'Osimhen qui fait scandale Tout a commencé lorsque le Napoli a décidé de publier sur TikTok une vidéo se moquant du penalty manqué par Victor Osimhen face à Bologne. Pour beaucoup, c'était un manque flagrant de respect. Une démarche qui a été perçue comme une véritable trahison, surtout lorsque l'on prend en compte l'apport considérable du joueur nigérian lors de la saison précédente. L'agent d'Osimhen monte au créneau Face à cette vidéo d'Osimhen tournée en dérision, Roberto Calenda, l'agent du joueur, n'a pas tardé à réagir. Qualifiant l'acte du club de "complètement inacceptable", il a même évoqué la possibilité d'entamer des poursuites judiciaires contre le Napoli. Une menace qui montre à quel point la situation est explosive. Lire aussi : - Victor Osimhen bientôt au PSG ? Le club pose ses conditions Vidéo d'Osimhen : Des accusations de racisme Pour envenimer davantage la situation, des rumeurs ont circulé selon lesquelles Osimhen envisagerait de porter plainte contre le Napoli pour des motifs de racisme. Bien que les détails précis de cette allégation demeurent flous, l'ombre de cette accusation pèse lourdement sur le club italien. https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1706784057479118979 Osimhen efface le Napoli de ses réseaux En guise de protestation, le joueur a pris une décision radicale : supprimer de son compte Instagram presque toutes les photos et vidéos le montrant avec le maillot du Napoli. Un geste fort qui en dit long sur son état d'esprit actuel. Une rupture est imminente entre les deux parties. Voir également : - Gattuso va entrainer l'OM, Marseille tient son nouvel entraineur ! Affaire Osimhen : Le PSG et le Real à l'affût ? Avec une telle tension, la question du départ d'Osimhen se pose plus que jamais. Le Paris Saint-Germain et le Real pourraient bien profiter de cette situation pour tenter de l'attirer dans ses filets. Ce n'est un secret pour personne : le Napoli traverse une période compliquée. Les performances en demi-teinte en ce début de saison mettent une pression supplémentaire sur le club et son entraîneur, Rudi Garcia. Une situation à gérer avec précaution Il est évident que cette affaire est délicate pour toutes les parties concernées. Le Napoli se retrouve dans une position inconfortable et doit gérer cette crise avec tact. De son côté, Osimhen, soutenu par son agent, doit réfléchir à la meilleure manière de défendre ses intérêts. Les prochains jours s'annoncent mouvementés dans les coulisses du football italien. ________ Retrouvez toute l'actu foot sur notre page Facebook et sur notre page Twitter ! Read the full article

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kickmag · 9 months

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The Redford Center Partners With Black Public Media For BPM's 2023 Climate Open Call

The Redford Center has partnered with Black Public Media for BPM's 2023 open call for climate stories. The center, which was co-founded by actors and activists Robert Redford and James Redford, is one of the only US-based non-profits dedicated to environmental impact filmmaking. Black Public Media will award a total of $230,000 in funding for feature-length documentaries and documentary or scripted shorts. Projects in all stages of production are invited and should be appropriate for public media distribution. The application window is September 1-25.

Stories that examine the impact of climate change on communities of African descent are encouraged. The projects can focus on how the crisis is being managed, environmental racism, health impacts, solutions, climate education, sustainable industries and climate policies. One $30,000 award will be given to a stand-alone or limited-series short film. Five $40,000 awards will be granted for broadcast or feature-length nonfiction film projects. Recipients of those awards might also get to participate in BPM's PitchBLACK Forum, which is the largest national pitch competition for independent filmmakers and creative technologists making content about the global Black experience. PitchBLACK competitors will face off for an additional $150,000 in funding. All Black Public Media funding awards are licensing agreements for public media distribution.

Robert Redford and James Redford co-founded The Redford Center in 2005 and they will partner with BPM on the open call and offer advice and resources.

“We are honored to partner with BPM on this open call, and grateful to BPM for creating this opportunity to center frontline filmmakers and projects focused on increasing knowledge and resonance of the importance of safeguarding our environment,” said The Redford Center Executive Director Jill Tidman. “As more and more people experience the effects of climate change, it is vital that we hear from and learn from communities who are often disproportionately impacted by it. I cannot wait to see what stories come through this effort."

The open call submissions link will go live on September 1st at https://blackpublicmedia.org/for-media-makers/open-call/ and close on Monday, September 25 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

All applicants must be the producer or director of the project, be a US citizen, have a minimum of three years of producing and directing experience, or have a senior producer tied to the project. Key members of the creative team must include at least one person of color.

Black Public Media will have free information sessions on August 29 and September 21. Applicants are encouraged to attend these sessions. Details on the information sessions and the open call will be available at https://blackpublicmedia.org. For more information, email: [email protected] or call 212-234-8200.

BPM's Climate Stories initiative is supported by the New York Community Trust Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

An independent panel of media professionals will review applications and select the winners who will be announced in December.

BPM has supported climate projects in the past including Black Folk Don’t: Go Green (2012), by Emmy-award-winning director Angela Tucker; Pangaea (2016), by Olivia Peace; Midnight Oil (2023), by Bilal Motley (currently streaming in BPM’s new AfroPoP Digital Shorts) series; and Razing Liberty Square (broadcast premiere in Jan. 2024), by Katja Esson.

For more information on Black Public Media go to www.blackpublicmedia.org.

#black public media #the redford center #robert redford #james redford

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transportationunknown · 11 months

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My back is still the bridge (baldwin et al.,2021)

My back is still the bridge (Baldwin et al., 2021)

Volume 46: The White Problem in Planning - https://issuu.com/carolinaplanningjournal/docs/vol_46_whiteproblem_in_planning/s/14595933

Abstract: This paper is an invitation to planning professionals to confront the roots and the impact of institutional and systemic racism in the planning profession, and begin to explicitly address these issues in their work. This paper features reﬂections and analysis in response to the question, “Does Planning have a White Problem?” The authors are four Black women who are leaders in the ﬁelds of urban planning, transportation, and public policy. Together they leverage their experience, observations, and writings to provide a pathway forward to recognize, reconcile, and repair the fractures in the planning profession as a result of its White Problem.

Why did I read this paper: I was attracted to this paper for several reasons. One, it was co-written by black women and genderqueer transportation professionals who champion transportation justice or mobility justice. Two, it was written from the perspective of black women and the burdens we carry in our workplaces. Three, the experiences of Black women planners are almost never talked about. This is a unique text. Fourth, this article explicitly calls out the insidious nature of whiteness that places black women in the place of being both technical and community experts, without explicitly providing protection mentally and emotionally. Her emotional labor to carry predominately white workplaces into a greater understanding of diversity is an expectation. Finally, the authors provide a series of recommendations to alleviate and remove — not shift — these burdens from Black women planners and calls about white planners, and the field itself, to be brave in the face of institutionalized racism.

Main argument: “The White Problem in Planning manifests in different ways. In this paper we demonstrate how it shows up as it relates to history, education, words, and a lack of empathy and consideration.”

Additional argument: The need for Black women to do the technical work and emotional labor in this industry is a problem — a white problem.

Whiteness in planning and linkages to settler colonialism: “Starting with settler colonialism, the United States has manifested a destiny built upon white centered ideas of who belongs in a space, who can move freely between spaces, who should have access to certain spaces, and who should be relocated to another space” (smith 2012).

(I rarely see settler colonialism come up in planning… although it’s one of the various elephants in the room)

The White Problem in Planning manifests in a variety of ways:

History - Who tells the story? Whose histories are recored and shared? Race is at the core of our work in transportation planning; we cannot pretend otherwise.

Planning education - Guardrails of the profession

Who defines the heroes of the profession? Who gets erased? “Planning heroes are typically white men”.

On education output:

Planners have become increasingly focused on equity work.

Black geographies scholarship is deeply impactful, but still not mentioned in planning spaces as much as it could be to deepen understandings about space and race (Brand and Miller, 2020)

At a minimum, planing must be more intentional about incorporating critical race theory into the field.

“Unlike traditional civil rights, which embraces incrementalism and step by step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order (Delgado and Stefancic 2017)”. Understanding and confronting power and anti-blackness in every aspect of planning education is essential to overcoming the white problem in planning

Words - Unshared language

Safety” “vulnerable populations” — who defines safety? Whose safety is prioritized? Who is made vulnerable by this definition? Safety and vulnerability has been used as a way to hurt and kill Black people due to the appearance or suggestion of a threat

Infusing equity into this work is difficult when white people must always be comfortable in order to feel like they can participate in the process.

The white problem: They do not allow or recognize the trauma associated with being BIPOC in this country

Below are a series of words that often show up in planning and equity spaces that present themselves as progressive, but actually are “discriminatory and exclusionary”

Empower: No white person can empower BIPOC communities.

Engage: Work with or occupy? “Collaborate” is presented, here, as the preferred verb as it is inherently equal/no leverage over the other

Enforcement - (do i need to explain this one)

Mobility - often defined by planners while using forms of transportation systems to get from place to place. Disabled people define it as the ability to get from room to room…

Walkability - often excludes people using mobility aids, such as wheelchairs, crutches, etc.

Safety - explained above

Lack of empathy and consideration:

On the facilitator, Wes Lowery: His book “they can’t kill us all” reports on the aftermath of Ferguson and the tension of telling this story as a Black man. The authors of this article were asked: “How does the ethnic background and racial makeup of the people who hold power in planning spaces relate to the ability of the industry to be empathetic and responsive to the needs of various communities?”

Response: “We experience a tension between being a professional and implementing planning principles and being Black, with the understanding of how Blackness is perceived”

Calls to action:

Create and cultivate brave spaces

Planners with privilege/those who are privileged should show up as a their full selves and express vulnerability.

Courage is needed to bravely exhibit open vulnerability. That means taking risks, making mistakes, taking responsibilities for wrongdoing, and continuing to try

Confront power and privilege

For any planning policy or process being considered those involved should ask two questions:

Who will be the most impacted by this? Are the most impacted people part of the group making the decision?

Examine and end institutionalized racism in all areas of the industry

Now it is more important than ever that planners understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not interchangeable terms.”

On inclusion: It is more than everyone feeling like they belong

“This is 2020. If that is your definition of inclusion, you are behind. To catch up, realize that true inclusion requires a shift in power. Diverse people are beyond just needing a seat at the table, we need to be at the head of the table, too.

“Inclusion means that people can show up as their full selves, with dignity, and with the ability to guide, lead, and wield power with anti-racism fully centered (Butler, 2020)

Revise the planning curriculum

This examination of curricula should be grounded in the wisdom, voice, and innovative ideas of current BIPOC students, alumni scholars, and practitioners.

Explore the extent to which the curriculum includes scholarship of BIPOC academic and references history of urban development from communities from the continents of Africa, Central America, and South America.

Preparing students for professional practice could also include the wisdom and experience of BIPOC planners and community members

Centering BIPOC voices and experiences early in the education of the urban planner is an antidote to the whiteness problem of urban planning

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splathousefiction · 1 year

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Editorial: The Othering

Note: This was started in february, well before the recording of Long Live Lacroix. I still firmly believe the written aspect of this has value, and decided to proceed forward with finishing this work.

The best place to start is with the truth, I suppose.

Hi folks, I’m trans. As to what flavor or label of trans, I’m unsure. But I’ve known nearly my entire life. I’ve lied to and denied myself that fact for as long. Though I’ve slowly begun to open up about that over the last year I’ve never come out publicly and stated it. Patrons first heard about it months ago on my series The Workshop, where speaking it aloud felt safe. There were fewer people there and they were folks I by and large trusted immensely.

This is my first time talking about who I am in full outside of my circle.

I think I was scared of doing that for a long time. But I’m getting too old, tired and angry to give a shit anymore. I’m trans. I’ve known my entire life. Though I may not have dared to type that word or talk about it until now, I’ve been open about it in my own way for seven years.

I did so with a face you all know and love. Someone many of you have written in and expressed immense admiration for. Someone that I’ve said on several occasions had the fates been kinder to me, you’d be addressing as Jen rather than Jack.

Jen, for lack of a better way to put it, is just me in a wig with a chest plate. Her words, ideas, thoughts and dialogue have always been my own behind a thin veneer of vocal effects. Jen wasn’t my first experience revealing this side to myself either-as I was a woman to an entirely different circle of people called Jacklin for nearly five years in my early twenties.

Surprise, or not, depending on who you are and your capacity to read intent.

I’m Trans.

And I’m tired of fighting you all about it.

I write today not only in hopes to firmly establish my identity outloud, but to also proclaim that the community at large (specifically its online component) has done a shit job at acknowledging people like me. We’re the lost folk of queerdom, and there’s not a single day that goes by that I feel safe either out in the world or with my own kind. Our experiences are outliers to the gender binary, something many of my siblings adhere to despite openly protesting it. While I am by no means unique in my perspective, I find the voices of my kin stifled every time we try to say something. Moreso if they’re minorities.

Queerdom and being queer isn’t a radical idea or position to take. There’s no “right” way to queer or trans, but the beauty of the spectrum is held in check by the dead weight of deeply rooted gender binary concepts, misogyny/misandry and racism. The online queer community has been placed in high chaos, violent times with unprecedented access to resources which allow us to draw attention to the suffering of our siblings.

Instead, they’ve used it to align themselves with the boots of fascist policies which are quickly running through the respective houses of government in the US and becoming law. The serpent inevitably eats its own tail, et al. Instead of using widely available technology to enable the greatest mutual aid network our species could conceive, I see it squandered by and large on intra community squabbles which invariably boil down to gossip and overblown popularity contests. Specifically at fault are the white queer americans, who have used their positions to preach to the rest of us about how we should be.

Which, before I go any further, I’d like to say the following to these types: There is no amount of gladhanding or appeals to law enforcement, government officials or religious leaders that will keep you out of the mass grave we’re on track to be buried within. The killing and curling of our kin is already happening. You directly aided that by thinking being “one of the good ones” would save you. You ignored the teachings of those that sacrificed themselves so that you could draw breath right now. Because of your efforts, here we are again with people denying Stonewall was a riot. With cops at Pride. With puritanical ideas running rampant once more, infecting the youth and the old with fascist, genocidal ideals.

And so the serpent eats it’s tail once more. But I digress.

I feel neither masculine nor femme, but another option entirely. This is popularly referred to as “non-binary”, but adhering to labels at all limits the beauty, depth and nuance I and others like me have come to find with our existence. Instead, we get wrote off in a thousand different ways under a thousand different names, which ultimately do nothing save fracturing the community and our identity further. The most damning thing is that this is often done without our consent, by people who think they understand us.

I’ve been called a “demi-man” simply because I’ve a five o’clock shadow one day. A “queen” simply because I took photos in a skirt. Despite going from “they-them” to “any pronouns” in a desperate attempt to assert myself, I still get called a man by my own community-often by well meaning queers as afraid of asking me to explain as they are of upsetting the Straights. It’s a means of silencing discussion and the human experience ingrained in us from birth by a culture that swallows propaganda daily.

I and others like me are out, but we’re not free. We’re seen but we’re not heard. The only time people do listen is when we yell, and then they give us as much space as their sensibilities as allies and siblings will allow. Because they seriously, genuinely thought slapping an enby flag on our forehead solved our problems instead of creating another form of pseudo-nationalist rhetoric.

The only time I felt liberation from the expectations of labels was within the trans community. It has faults of it’s own, bad actors and no shortage of those that want us dead. Speaking comparatively in my personal experience however, it by far aligns closer with my concept of identity than others. I feel more at home in the arms of my brothers, sisters and others than I ever did attempting to placate the rhetoric of the rest of the community.

A non-zero portion of the rest of you would be happy if we all just shut the fuck up though. The shackles of binary ideals muzzle what you know to be the truth-that we’re all queer uniquely, and I dare say “trans” by concept of stepping away from those binary norms.

It scares you. A lot. Because it upsets the comfort and protections you’ve secured by appealing to the same powers that want us dead.

Which is why it’s fine to have sacrificial lambs.

The Binary: An Anti-Humanist, Species Destroying Concept

Nothing is inherently gendered.

Absolutely nothing.

“Gender” as a concept is so inherently nebulous, so vague and general in so much that it’s applied to overlapping experiences and marketing. In of itself however, it is simply a word with no basis in physical reality. The concept of what’s a “man” and “woman” is ultimately a dialectic concept, conveyed through the equally nebulous concept of intention. Gender, in theory, should be “whatever the fuck I individually make it to be”.

Yet right now, there’s laws being pushed through congress and the senate that allow for the active genociding of anyone challenging the idea. As of this writing, there was a trans girl who was stabbed to death in the UK for expressing her identity.She won’t be the last of us killed just this month, nor is she alone in being a minor murdered for this. There’s thousands of years of historical precedence justifying our existence, yet that’s ignored so we can die by the hundreds every year at the alter of American conservatism and evangelical values.

For something that ultimately doesn’t exist. For a concept that should be treated with the same derision people have for organized religion or the idea of incorruptible governments.

Queers treat the gender binary as a yardstick with which to measure their human value. We talk of “passing” and “boy/girl moding” as beasts we have to satiate simply to piss where we want. Should any of our siblings not adhere to these ideals and concepts, we feast upon their being like a multi-course dinner. First comes the polite suggestions, the ribbing. The advice never requested about fashion, hair removal and more. When those fail we exile them, ostracize them. For desert, we use them and their existence as a boogeyman style warning to others.

“Hey, you don’t want to be like them right?”

The fact of the matter is, this is an abused, marginalized group perpetuating the abuse that was given to them in a desperate bid to hold power totally unavailable by any other means. We’re politically under-represented, out gunned and out matched by our oppressors everywhere else. So of course a section of us will use the same tactics to beat down anyone that doesn’t conform to some contextually sensitive, puritanical idea of what a “good queer” looks like.

The truth of such movements however is that they ultimately serve white supremacist, cis-het christian ideals. You can see the proof of this via the “LGB remove the T” movement, which recently has opted to remove/invalidate bisexual people as well. They’re perfectly fine with allowing members of the same struggle to die so long as their white, cis-het approved comfort is perpetuated. You’d think any level of awareness of our history whatsoever would show them what a dangerously deadly idea this is.

Yet, their goals aren’t simply exclusion/exile from the community-but rather to alter it’s trajectory as legitimate and established. Doing so allows them to control the narrative of the struggle, and therefore it’s history both backwards and forwards. Just like the very people that were content to send us to death camps during the 1940s. I’ve often called such people “casually evil”, and I can think of no better term to illustrate the mindset of white queer americans towards the struggles of anyone who isn’t them. The total disregard for inequality, human life and the voices of others is committed with the same casual disdain they give receiving a work email. BIPOC people and gender fuckers are a nuisance to their existence, as we’re a threat to the power grip of white american politics.

Adherence to the gender binary will be the death of all of us. Assuming that our identity is solely tied into how well we pantomime, how well we fit our clothes, how well we can shuck and jive will be death of us. Adherence to an outdated, static ideals that we fail to realize are a kinetic concept and always have been will be the death of us.

It behooves me to mention very specifically that the “LGB without the T” movement was started by two people that aren’t even queer. Bev Jackson and Kate Harris of the LGB alliance, aside from their hate/fear mongering rhetoric, ultimately seek to “redefine homosexuality” and thus retroactively invalidate all historical precedence for what is ultimately elimination of queer voices from public spaces and history. They boldly claim that queer children don’t exist among other things.

Hey, Bev and Kate-I was in the closet from the time I was ten. Literally nobody knew anything about my sexual identity or preferences until I was twenty-five. I masked a majority of my life if for no other reason than the threats to my young life were incredibly real. I know for a fact based on empirical evidence and conversations with others in this community I’m not the only one by a wide margin. We see what you’re doing and we’re wise to it. That’s why we fight you so hard, you daft, absolutely hideously evil cunts. Denying the existence of a marginalized group does not make us magically go away. There’s no amount of hand-wringing, whataboutisms and denial that can snap an entire group of people out of reality no matter how much you direly pray for our deaths.

Charity status doesn’t mean you’re not a hate group.

One legacy will significantly outlive the other.

Besides, don’t you have a court date to prepare for?

Wad Of Flesh, Slab Of Iron

I’m trans.

I have zero intention of getting on hormones.

I don’t care if I pass. The very concept of needing to do so makes me laugh.

I am stuck in a body I didn’t ask for in an existence I didn’t consent to on a planet that wants me dead.

I’m trans, and given the above, I will work with what I have.

I will take this heap of flesh covered in coarse body hair, this booming bass voice and I will pound away until it’s hard as iron. Until my shirt stretches across the flat-breasts that Gendered Society calls “pecs”, until I cry out in pain on the weight bench and beg god to kill me.

Then I’ll do another set. And another.

If I will be considered undesirable by the straights and othered by my own siblings, then I will lead by example. I will mold my body and torture my flesh into an ideal I can feel comfortable in, damned the consequences and pain it inflicts upon me.

Because nothing can hurt me more than you already have. Nothing can kill me in any meaningful way more than being given a smirk by people I thought were my found family, followed by the off-handed remark of “are you sureeeee you’re trans?”

Nothing I do to myself and my body will hurt anywhere near as much as the things you people have done to me, to people like me and to our BIPOC siblings.

I will do all of this because long after your ideals of what a queer should be have been defeated, be it by your own in-group fighting or the reality of existence, after you’re dead and quiet at last, I’ll still be here. Right alongside all the other “ne’er do wells” like me. It’s gonna be a hard road for all of us, and I’ve got to be strong enough to carry it with them. I’ve got to be strong enough to keep fighting all the others that tell us we shouldn’t exist, too.

I’m trans. I’m not unique in how I trans. There’s a lot of people like me.

There’s always been trans folks like me.

There will always be trans folks like me.

And some distant day, maybe in a world that looks like ours (or perhaps will be kinder), I hope to sit down in my old age with my siblings. I hope we can laugh and smile and the pain of the here and now is distant.

But until then.

I will lift.

I will fight.

I will grow stronger than you ever could have imagined I and others like me could be.

Because we’re trans, and we are powerful.

As for what to call me:

I’ve long since given up the struggle of being recognized.

Call me anything, I don’t care anymore.

But acknowledge me. Realize I exist.

Realized we exist.

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