#mlm representation

[girlinlavender]

mlm representation is always like: two awkward teenage boys have an adorable romance in high school, the prince of england falls for the u.s. president’s son and they have to keep it secret, two pirates have a romance on the high seas

and wlw representation is always like: a girl’s soccer team becomes stranded in the middle of the wilderness and must turn to cannibalism to survive as betrayal and desperation takes over, two women become so obsessed with killing each other that it overtakes their entire lives, in the midst of a planetary war the victims of a broken codependent friendship are left fighting each other on opposite sides while they contend with the consequences of their actions and how much they matter to each other all while learning the hidden truth about magic colonialism.

#heartstopper #red white and royal blue #our flag means death #yellowjackets #yj #killing eve #catradora #she-ra #spop #she-ra and the princesses of power #mlm representation #wlw representation #queer representation #my mlm buddies - love u guys <3 #a bit of an overload with the tags #lesbian

[mlm-rep]

Ambrosius Goldenloin from Nimona is mlm!

#nimona #ambrosius goldenloin #lgbt history #lgbtq community #lgbt #lgbt rights #lgbtq #lgbtpeople #mlm #mlm positivity #mlm pride #mlm representation

[3-enbies-in-a-trenchcoat]

Can everyone please go watch Dead End: Paranormal Park? It’s a comedy/horror cartoon on Netflix that has some of the best representation I’ve ever seen in any piece of media.

Netflix didn’t do shit to advertise it but it’s amazing!

One of the main characters is a Pakistani-American autistic bi girl with anxiety whose special interest actively contributes to the plot. The other is a fat, Jewish, gay trans man with blue hair, pronouns, and a pug voiced by Beetlejuice.

Not only that, but they’re also allowed to say the words! Barney says he’s trans, Norma says she’s bi, and Logs says he’s gay!

Also, several episodes acknowledge the ways in which those things affect these characters : Barney deals with transphobia(without anyone ever misgendering/dead-naming him on-screen. Also, he deals with a type of quiet (??) transphobia that is almost never acknowledged in tv shows and I could talk about just that for so long), an episode of season 2 is mostly dedicated to coming out, episode 3 of season 1 has a scarily accurate representation of Norma’s anxiety, etc.

Also, despite the fact that Barney is trans and fat, no one ever gives him that look for having feelings for someone who’s cis, fitter, taller and more ‘typically attractive’ than him. It’s made clear early-on that his feelings are reciprocated, and no one gives him shit(however, he does briefly talk about being body-shamed when at the gym).

Honorable mentions :

-“I’m sorry you’re straight.”

-Gord

-Amazing worldbuilding

-No punching bag character (I mean that as, like, degrading jokes. Because physically there absolutely is)

-Courtney

-Time travel but done right

-There’s a main character who dies twice

-It has actually funny moments, which is great for a comedy

-It has actually scary moments, which is great for horror

-The way Logs talks about coming out(I know it’s already in the post but that scene was so fucking great)

-MUSICAL EPISODE (the music is AWESOME)

-Barney asks Norma for permission to hug her because he knows she doesn’t like being touched

-‘theydies and gentlethems’

#seriously I am begging you to go watch this show #dead end #dead end: paranormal park #de:pp #dead end season 2 #de:pp season 2 #trans representation #bisexual representation #gay relationship #trans mlm #mlm representation #trans #bi #bisexual #gay #show recommendations #netflix

[human-space-heater]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHERE IS THE FANDOM FOR CHERRY CRUSH ON WEBTOON?! I NEED TO FIND MY PEOPLE! I AM NOT EMOTIONALLY PREPARED TO CONTINUE ON THIS JOURNEY WITH NO ONE TO VENT TO

#cherry crush #webtoon comic #cherry crush webtoon #like someone #for the love of god #a discord? #something #anything #where are my people #I need to vent #gay #mlm representation #gay mlm #can someone #make a discord?

[verdantmeadows]

I've been meaning to post this for a bit, but, in the (live action) TV shows I often see in the background that my mom watches (shows like hospital shows, drama shows), the amount of interracial couples, even if the characters are very racially/ethnically diverse, is incredibly small. Not only that, but black characters usually end up with black characters, latine ones with latine ones, white ones with white ones, Asian ones with Asian ones....and honestly not much consideration for people who might not fit into those categories, but, if they are in the show, almost always with each other. If there is an interracial couple, it is usually of people with similar skin tones. Seeing a dark-skinned character with a light-skinned character is very rare. And this makes me so, so sad. Normalization of interracial couples has so far to go. As a kid, I truly thought it wasn't something most people cared about. But as I've grown older, I've learned that most families do care, whether on a small or large level, if their child is in an interracial relationship. Much of many societies do. Within any group or community of any race/ethnicity, it is almost always generally frowned upon or completely acceptable to make jokes about those or directly to those in interracial relationships.

In my experience with ("Western") cartoons, interracial couples are far more common, although still not as common as I think they should or could be. But I am very happy about every year they get more prominent. I do not usually watch live action TV shows, so I don't have as much experience with them, but I think it's often common for cartoons to be more recognizably diverse in their characters, ranging from things like sexuality, gender identity, disability, race/ethnicity, and more (although this still is far from where it should and could be).

That's just a really long amount of text to preface a relationship that means a lot to me that has come about recently, and is canon. In Fionna and Cake, we see a gay M/M couple, which is incredibly rare in cartoons (and if it does occur, usually only happens between gay dads, for meaningless background characters, or is immediately sidelined—I can only think of one gay M/M couple in "Western" cartoons that isn't the first two and is then immediately sidelined). Gay men (as in all MLM) are incredibly underrepresented in cartoons (and in general). All forms of queer people are, but gay men are noticeably represented less in comparison to other queer people, especially in cartoons.

Not only are they a gay M/M couple, they are also an interracial couple and one with a very visible difference with their skin tones. Marshall Lee is inarguably a black person, and Gary is presumably a white person. And their relationship is so, so cute and healing. They are truly loving towards each other. They are supportive. They are incredibly relevant to the plot, not sidelined, and are given their time to shine. We get to see a visible, gay male, interracial couple. One of them is even likely bisexual, and the other commonly and easily relatable to autistic people. They are an on-screen couple. They are relevant. This is the first time the part of me that's MLM has actually felt and been represented in a cartoon that didn't make me feel belittled or frustrated. I'm so, so happy from this.

I have seen very few people talk about how genuinely revolutionary this relationship is for the representation of queer men and queer men of color as well as for interracial and interracial queer relationships. In fact, I've seen many QUEER people be frustrated or upset by it, feeling as if it takes away from other queer people and queer relationships in the particular show/series, which is disheartening.

However, rather than focus on the negatives (although I think it's important to examine why those might come about), I want to focus on the positives. This is genuinely such an amazing push in representation on so many levels that we have. And I am so, so happy about it. I can't even express it in words. I hope that there are other people out there who realize just how big of a deal their relationship was. I am genuinely astounded by it. I don't have much more to say, so I'll just end this post with an image of them.

#book of kells #fionna and cake #gumlee #garylee #marshall lee abadeer #marshall lee #gary prince #lgbt #lgbtqia #lgbtq community #interracial love #lgbtq #queer representation #poc representation #<- dont like the phrasing of that but that's what the popular tag is :/ #gay men #gay representation #mlm representation #mlm

[jamieclearwater2314]

House of the dragon x gay male Velaryon reader or

House of the dragon male characters x male reader please please please I beg of anyone and everyone

Best friends with rheana and beala cause they really need a friend to be there for them 😔

#aemond targaryen x male reader #game of thrones x male reader #hotd x male!reader #jacaerys velaryon x male reader #house of the dragon x male reader #daemon targaryen x male reader #harwin strong x male reader #lucerys velaryon #mlm representation #daemon targaryen #ser harwin #harwin breakbones #jacerys velaryon #house of the dragon

[submissive-and-readable]

Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada

Source: Audiobook ARC from NetGalley

Release date: 6 February

Genre: young adult contemporary romance

If you like: queer coming of age, explorations of toxic masculinity, pop-punk, flawed protagonists trying to be better, Sk8ter Boy by Avril Lavigne but gay

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Synopsis

Stonebridge High’s resident bad boy, Wesley “Big Mac” Mackenzie, is failing senior year—thanks to his unchecked anger, rowdy friends, and a tendency to ditch his homework for skateboarding and a secret photography obsession. So when his mom drags him to a production of The Nutcracker, Wes isn’t interested at all . . . until he sees Tristan Monroe. Mr. Nutcracker himself.

Wes knows he shouldn’t like Tristan; after all, he’s a ballet dancer, and Wes is as closeted as they come. But when they start spending time together, Wes can’t seem to get Tristan out of his head. Driven by a new sense of purpose, Wes begins to think that—despite every authority figure telling him otherwise—maybe he can change for the better and graduate on time.

As a falling out with his friends becomes inevitable, Wes realizes that being himself means taking a stand—and blowing up the bad-boy reputation he never wanted in the first place.

Content warnings

Explicit language

Bullying

Alcoholism

Underage drinking

Racism (as experienced by a Black love interest)

Past domestic abuse

Childhood trauma

Smoking (cigarettes + weed)

Homophobia

Physical violence

Review

Why'd Wes have to go and make things so complicated 😔🤘

I hadn't expected to, but I found myself relating to Wes quite a bit. His experience of being labelled as a bad kid, and then only being seen as such without being given the chance to break that expectation, as well as his feelings of anger and fear and powerlessness, that no one wants to listen to him, that he can't open up to people, that he's inferior and will never amount to anything, took me right back to primary and secondary school lmao. (I'm so glad I'm not a teenager anymore.)

I also empathise with how awkward Wes feels around Tristan, or when he's trying to talk to people who aren't his friends; not knowing the right thing to say, or when he says something that comes off as angrier or meaner than he intends—that's literally me, baby!

A part I don't relate to is the bullying. Wes is like, a legit bully, like pushing kids into the lockers like in american high school movies kind of bully. While he's not the main aggressor among his friends, it still kind of hurt to read about how he hurt people in the past. I liked how his character arc developed, with him facing up to his actions and apologising to his victims, although I do think he was forgiven pretty easily; I personally would have held a grudge until I died, but good for them!

At the start of the book I was worried that this would be a whole "find a bf and magically all your problems are fixed!" kind of story, but while Tristan is definitely a motivating factor for Wes to improve himself, I really appreciate that Wes was the one who decided to take initiative and begin the first steps to becoming better.

There's layers of complexity to Wes and Tristan's relationship, because (a) Tristan is Black, and so deals with racism that Wes could never understand, (b) Tristan is out and Wes is not, (c) Tristan is a perfectionist and has a goal and life plans, while Wes is flunking high school with no plans to apply for college, (d) Wes had an abusive childhood, and Tristan has loving supportive parents, and (e) Wes is poor and Tristan is wealthy.

These are a lot of issues to handle in one book, and while I feel like the author does a good job discussing and resolving most of these elements, there's one point that I feel didn't get fully resolved, and that's the wealth disparity between them. Wes is super aware of this, he constantly notices the differences between the way they live, which makes him feel self-conscious around Tristan.

Spoiler warning, but at one point Tristan dresses Wes up in like a pricey cardigan and a polo shirt to meet his parents, and later Wes is furious and leaves early because he feels out of place and insecure, and that Tristan is trying to change who he is. Later, they talk and Wes comes to the conclusion that he was over-reacting, which, yeah, he was. But Tristan never apologises and is like "you know I would never have made you change your clothes if I knew it would make you feel bad!" He also makes fun of one of Wes's friends, and Wes wonders if part of the reason why he doesn't want to introduce Tristan to his friends was because he felt embarrassed.

I feel like this is a pretty big deal, and an obvious source of tension, that doesn't seem to get fully resolved. Most of Wes and Tristan's discussions about their relationship revolve around Wes apologising, but Tristan, even though he never does so intentionally, never apologises for making Wes feel inferior in this aspect.

I also feel that Tristan was kind of one-dimensional. From Wes's perspective, Tristan is perfect and flawless, and he puts him on a pedestal, while Wes is the one messing up. Tristan's only flaw, as far is I can tell, is that he struggles with anxiety, but he never seems to show it to Wes, for all that he encourages Wes to be emotionally vulnerable with him. I would have liked it if Tristan messed-up, or needed Wes to support him or comfort him in some way (Wes does support him, at near the ending, but that doesn't really count), to balance out their relationship a bit, instead of always having Tristan encouraging him, and having Wes mess up and make up for it.

The climax of this book gets really chaotic, huge shit goes down, like life-ruining shit. He manages to work it all out in the end, but I feel that it came way too easily, especially the problems he had with his friends. I feel like it got dismissed as some sort of misunderstanding, like Wes was the one making a big deal out of nothing. Afterwards, he and his friends talk it out very maturely, but where was all that maturity when shit was going down!!

I realise that a lot of my review sounds like I'm complaining, but this is really worth a read! The way this book discusses toxic masculinity, emotional vulnerability, dealing with trauma (because Wes is very clearly traumatised) is so well-done, and you can tell from the author's note that he put a lot of love and thought into this book. I would discuss this more but this review would get very spoilery.

To finish off this review, here are some nitpicks! These are minor details and do not affect the overall story! Some of these are purely personal issues I have that may not apply to other people!

Wes is stated to be a punk, and a lot of this book (the title, the chapter titles, the marketing) is about pop-punk, or scene music in general. But Wes doesn't seem to listen to pop-punk? The only band he mentions listening to is Metallica, which, last I checked, is a metal band. He wears a Linkin Park t-shirt once (huge slay) and mentions the My Chemical Romance reunion (double slay), but that's about it. He seems to be more of a metalhead tbh, which there's nothing wrong with, but I was hoping for more pop-punk references. (This sounds greedy, since almost every chapter title is a pop-punk reference, and I did appreciate that, but I wanted more!!)

I didn't vibe with the audiobook narrator. I'm kind of (very) picky about audiobooks, so the fact that I didn't dnf shows that he did a decent job at least, but I feel like he missed the mark on narrating the dialogue. Sometimes I couldn't tell the difference between Wes's internal narration and when he was actually speaking which was confusing, and the narrator also read everything in this sad, hesitant sort of voice, which works for the overall vibe of the story, but makes the happy, lighthearted moments in the book feel sad as well.

Minor spoiler, Wes's mom got him and his friends tickets to see Metallica, but later they start growing apart and the concert is never mentioned again (unless I somehow missed it?), so its unclear if they did go to the Metallica concert. I need to know if they went, because if they skipped out on it due to their beef, I will be very sad on their behalf.

#skater boy #anthony nerada #booklr #book review #lgbt #queer #queer books #mlm #coming of age #young adult #gay #lgbtq #lgbtqia #achillian #gay romance #gay books #mlm representation #mlm romance

[white-moon-kitty]

Nathaniel's bi awakening

#miraculous #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #miraculous fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous lb #nathaniel kurtzberg #marc x nathaniel #nathaniel x marc #nathmarc #bisexual #mlm representation

[jinglebellrockstars]

damn it just hit me that Dolph Laserhawk from Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, the protagonist of a major netflix anime funded by a major triple a video game studio, is a gay dude

#izzy.txt #captain laserhawk #captain laserhawk: a blood dragon remix #dolph laserhawk #gay representation #mlm representation #gay #mlm

[thevillainsfangirl]

And another thing on this topic!

“They have [insert F/F ship] right here!” There are people who are fine with F/F relationships but not M/M relationships, and vice versa. I’ll admit, I thought Nygmobblepot shippers (I ship them, too) were just being whiney until they put out a casting call for season 5 asking for M/F and F/F couples (only, though they didn’t use that word) as background actors. 👀

“[insert M/M ship made of 2 secondary characters] are canon now, so they’re not homophobic!” Yeah, those 2 secondary characters, but they would not dare make these 2 main male characters canon.

#Idk how people may feel about me saying this bc I'm possibly a straight woman (I may be ace/aro Idfk! 🤷🏽‍♀️) but this shit enrages me. #Because it is SO! OBVIOUS! #And as I said before: I know this happens to F/F ships too and that is enraging as well but I definitely see it most with M/M ships. #homophobia #mlm ship #mlm representation #lgbtq media #lgbtq representation #nygmobblepot #sterek #chadthan #stucky #stony #harringrove #subscorp #I'm trying to only tag the ships that relate to this *specific* post. #rant #text post

[prettyboychar69]

to all the people who like to defend themselves putting angel with fem readers cause its “not confirmed” use your brains please. it is in fact confirmed. stop trying to defend yourselves and own up to the fact that your being disrespectful. please. it makes me so uncomfortable to see my sexualities rep get stripped away.

#angel dust #gay #representation #gay representation #dont strip rep #mlm #mlm representation #upset #rant #why do people have to be so fucking horrible #ugh i hate life

[mlm-rep]

Gary Prince/Prince Gumball from Adventure Time and Adventure Time: Fiona and Cake is mlm!

#gary prince #prince gumball #adventure time #fiona and cake #lgbt history #lgbtq community #lgbt #lgbt rights #lgbtq #lgbtpeople #mlm #mlm positivity #mlm pride #mlm representation

[darkrose517]

High Class Homos

So, I’ve been reading Webtoons more recently (cause I take the bus to work and that shit takes forever) and I’m loving it!

I just read all of HCH in like 2 days! (Which means I have to wait for the updates now cause I’m broke...).

It doesn’t seem to have much of a fandom on Tumblr which is honestly shocking.  It’s a story about a Prince and a Princess, who are best friends and gay, developing a plan to marry so that they can appease Sapphia (the Princess)’s parents and take a knight and a maid, respectively, as secret lovers.

It’s cute and funny with cool references and characters.  There are maturely handled love triangles, cute animal sidekicks, magic, and A LOT of gay.

There is mlm, wlw, trans, and disabled representation.  As well as talk about classism, privilege, and sexism.

The ships are cute and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

10/10, PLEASE READ!

#hch #highclasshomos #webtoons #mlm representation #wlw representation #trans representation #disabled representation #mlm #wlw #trans #disabled #mlm/wlw solidarity #friendship #royalty #comics

[human-space-heater]

guess who discovered Nimona!! And who's about to make it everyone else’s problem? Yours truly

Ambrosius : I’m not being weird. Am I being weird? Nimona : Yes, and that’s coming from me.

Ballister: Like, no offense to myself and all, but what the fuck am I actually doing?

Nimona : I failed my safety training course today. Ballister : Why, what happened? Nimona : Well one of the questions was "In case of a fire, what steps would you take?" Ballister : And? Nimona : Well apparently "FUCKING LARGE ONES" isn't an acceptable answer.

Ambrosius , about Ballister : I could fix them, but honestly whatever the hell is wrong with them is way funnier. Nimona: That's what any god probably thinks about me.

Ambrosius : Bro- Ballister: No, no, hold up, rewind. Ballister: My tongue was down in your throat just a second ago and now you're calling me bro??

#nimoma #ballister boldheart #ballister x ambrosius #ambrosius goldenloin #incorrect quotes #incorrect quote generator #nimona (2023) #hyper fixated #unhinged #i mean am i wrong #arm chopping is not a love language #best quote #mlm representation #tangent time #nimona is great #nimona is unhinged and I love it ngl #look me in the eyes #and tell me #that ballister doesn't have literal puppy dog eyes? #this man istg #istg

[b-exie]

People who sexualize/fetishize mlm relationships deserve to be tortured

(a have a mlm online friend)

#Mlm #Gay #Lgbt #lgbtq community #Lgbtq+ #Lgbtqia #Gays #mlm representation #Mlm relationships

[girl4music]

Episode 3 of ‘The Last Of Us’ titled ‘Long, long time’.

I do not have the words to express how I feel.

But one thing’s for sure.

I didn’t expect that from a horror survival show.

👏👏👏

#the last of us #long long time #bill #nick offerman #frank #murray bartlett #emotional damage #mlm representation