#my face is a masterpiece

[cripplecharacters]

Does Your Scarred Character Have to Hate Themself?

[large text: Does Your Scarred Character Have to Hate Themself?]

(TLDR: no. literally no.)

A frequent topic that shows up around facial differences is the self-hatred, self-disgust, self-insert-negative-emotion that we must surely experience. I want to ask* writers without FDs - why? Why do you feel about us in such a way that that's the most common way of depicting us?

*- rhetorical question. I promise I know the answers, but I'm not sure if writers do.

It's frankly worrying to me. Is it really that common to assume that disabled people have this internal, never-ending hatred for themselves? The overwhelming majority of us don't. We hate inaccessibility, when people stare, or some symptoms when they get in the way, or how expensive being disabled is, but I find the concept of us being so completely disturbed by our own disabilities extremely strange. It’s “tragedy porn” intersecting “most basic ableism”.

“But trauma!”

[large text: “But trauma!”]

Trauma of what! People with facial differences don't have some sort of default trauma that we come with like it’s a factory setting. We are a group of people with tens of thousands of stories and experiences!

“Trauma of experiencing ableism/disfiguremisia” - that's better, at least this means something. If you're writing a story about this, please get a sensitivity reader with a facial difference. You can assume how we feel all you want, but in my experience these assumptions are often bizarre and unrealistic. Or just end up writing the same “disability so sad” sob story that everyone has seen a billion times. If you want to write about disfiguremisia, you need to understand the nuance and have more than just the basic level knowledge (which 99% of people don’t have either). If you can’t do that, don’t write about it. Simple as that.

“Trauma of the accident” - thankfully, the accident is an event and a facial difference is a disability. If you want to connect these two like they're one and the same, you're almost surely going to demonize disability. People with traumatic spinal cord injuries, acquired amputees, people with TBI, people with acquired facial differences - we participate in our communities, we have hobbies, we date, we play with our dogs. Disability isn't a death sentence. Media who make it feel like it is certainly don't help people who do suddenly become disabled, don't you think?

Here's a post by @blindbeta about blind characters becoming blind through trauma that’s better made than anything I could hope to write here. I heavily recommend giving it a read.

And, I can't stress this enough - most of us didn't have “the accident”, most of us are born like this! "Traumatic scars" isn't the only facial difference that exists, far from it, it's only one of thousands. It's 99% of our representation and "representation". If you want to make a character with FD - please consider that we aren't a monolith. Just like not all physical disabilities are "wheelchair user with paralysis", not all facial differences are "traumatic scar with somehow no nerve damage".

The overrepresentation of it is incredibly telling, and sometimes - or very frequently - feels like the writer doesn’t actually even want to deal with us. They want to use our disability as a way to cheap drama, moral metaphors, tragic backstories. Not to represent us as living people who are much more similar to you than you apparently think.

Now, I do have enough awareness to know that that's a big part of the appeal. “Horrific Thing #2456 happens” and boom, instant drama! Of course, it's a reasonable response that they would hide their disability for years, avoid talking about it in any way, and magically change their personality to be mean and reclusive, or at least be constantly soooo sad about how much it sucks to be disabled, right?

Do I really need to say that having your character becoming disabled be the worst thing ever is ableism 101? We have been talking about this for so long at this point. Writing about the process of adapting to a specific disability is better left to people who have actual experience in it.

To give an example that will hopefully resonate more with Tumblr users, I will use the fact that I'm also gay. It's not perfect by any means but probably much more familiar territory.

Imagine, let's say, a character. He's gay. The story he's in is supposedly progressive, certainly not trying to be homophobic. The character has experienced an incident, maybe an act of aggression or a hate crime, that happened because he’s gay, which was traumatic. Happens IRL, sure. So of course the character starts hating being gay. He talks about how gross and disgusting it is, he never lets anyone know that he could be “one of them”, certainly not take a stance against homophobia. You can't mention him without mentioning the accident, they're seemingly fused together. No gay love, joy, even basic happiness, he would actually choose to be straight in a heartbeat if given the option to and complains that he can't. This is shown as a neutral, obvious thing that a gay man would do, no one comments on it. He stays like this the whole time, unless there’s a plot twist in the last 10 pages where the world is now magically perfect ("we fixed discrimination, yay!"). This is the only LGBT character in the story.

Keep in mind that there are people similar to this in real life, living with extreme internalized homophobia.

Is this, in your opinion, realistic and thoughtful representation? How does it feel when written by a cishet writer, versus a gay writer who is recalling his experiences? Do you think that it's reasonable for the majority of media representation to be like this, or very close to it? How would it affect younger gay people who might already be uncomfortable with being queer? Are gay men the target audience, or are they not even considered as a group of people who read books? Is this helping or damaging the general public's idea of how it is to be gay? Why or why not?

The Masterpiece

[large text: The Masterpiece]

From 13 to 19 of May, we are celebrating Face Equality week (what a coincidence!). It’s important to me in general - and I wish it was more important to abled people, but I digress - especially its theme for this year.

“My Face is a Masterpiece”

Great statement, it represents the community well, I do enjoy how bold it is. Very cool stuff, I love the work our advocates are doing!

But why do I bring this up?

Well, to very non-subtly show that we aren’t a self-hating group of people. We are a community, a community saying “our faces are beautiful, look!”, we are saying “treat us equally, and do it now!”. Our activism isn’t about self-disgust. It’s about fighting your-disgust. 

Why can’t writers keep up? Why are you still stuck decades behind?

Is this the only reason I bring it up?

The Call to Celebration

[large text: The Call to Celebration]

FEI, the org behind organizing it, asks a very simple question (emphasis mine):

“Why do we so often see stories about facial difference as a ‘tragedy’, when they should be about triumph?” “Calling all artists, allies, creatives, galleries.  You can rewrite the story to bring about #FaceEquality and celebrate the unique artistry found in every face. Your participation this #FaceEqualityWeek will help to tell the real story, that there is a masterpiece in every face.”

Here. We are calling for you to stop. Directly from the biggest international advocacy alliance group that's out there. If you create, this is for you.

The last argument to not have your character with a facial difference hate themselves? Because we don’t want this. We are tired and frustrated. For me personally, I’m also offended by this kind of assumption. We aren’t tragedies or cheap entertainment for abled people to pity or be horrified by. We are people, and if you can’t internalize that, you have no reason to write about us.

For once, celebrate us. Happy Face Equality Week!

mod Sasza

#mod sasza #face difference #ableism #disfiguremisia #face equality week #my face is a masterpiece #writing guide #writing help #writeblr #writing resources #writing advice #writing tips #writing characters #how to write #writing disabled characters #writing disability

[hyunpic]

240609 🫧 update

#hyunjin #skz #stray kids #bystay #staydaily #*edits #EYES. LIPS. NOSE. FACE. PERFECT #his bangs like a golden frame on the masterpiece 🥹 #muse for so many people around the world oh hh h hh h h h #may i hold you in my hands like a taco.

[stormy-nights-are-best]

Posting this again in its own post. I think it's a fun concept, because calls are kinda like ninpo communication

#when you've played sky for long enough a simple HONK can communicate everything #i don't even know how. i have no idea how my sky friends and i understand each other's calls flawlessly #but it's a honk and the kid i've been playing with for the past year whose name i've never asked knows my plan step by step #this is kinda old btw so sorry for donnie's face i swear i've gotten better at snoots #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #donnie rottmnt #sky children of the light #funnier yet that's a moth kid so honking is literally all they can do for him #masterpiece #sky don

[guardian-angle22]

911: Lone Star S4 E14 | The Case of the Stolen Pudding Cup -> The Culprit Revealed

#911 lone star #911lsedit #paul strickland #carlos reyes #marjan marwani #nancy gillian #you know when I said ACAB I didn't think it would include PUDDING THEFT #how dare you carlos? #I nominate this scene for one of the best scenes of season 4 so far tbh #paul's absolutely ridiculous over the top detective work #carlos as the surprise villain reveal #the shocked faces of everyone else #the utter betrayal on paul's face as carlos shows zero remorse #10 out of 10. a masterpiece #this scene was also a great reminder to myself to stop taking this show so seriously lmao #my gifs #long post #The Case of the Stolen Pudding Cup #episode: s04e14 tongues out

[iarrelm]

An early morning conversation about tea got a little out of hand

#hazbin hotel #sir pentious #angel dust #charlie morningstar #vaggie hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel husk #alastor hazbin hotel #my art #alastors face in the second to last drawing is my masterpiece i'll never draw something as funny ever again #i really needed a whole season of dumb shenanigans tbh #praying for a longer season 2 that includes the cast being stupid and best friends #i got this audio from youtube shorts but i looked up the source and apparently its from a tiktok by yokaidogma?? i think #the content is originally from a tumblr post that you can find if you search up 'tea tastes different if you put it in hot water' #this was my first time doing an animatic style thing it was fun #i havent done anything like this since i took computer graphics in high school like 3-4 years ago lmao #ok now that i've done a silly animatic it's time to try a serious one

[kennethbrangh]

CIARÁN HINDS in In the Land of Saints and Sinners (2023) dir. Robert Lorenz

#ciaran hinds #in the land of saints and sinners #FINALLY #FINALLYYYYYYYYYYYY #oh god where to start #the movie wasn't a masterpiece but we ATE #the uniformmm and that haircut #blessed #look at him and his puppy face #he breaks my heart every time #also a movie with his bestie!!! finally!!! #first gif i love him sm my heart could explode #i'm gonna do more this week but first i need to recover #i'm just a ball full of love for him #gifs*

[cinna-bunnie]

hiii idk what i want my pinned to be lol. ૮ – ﻌ–ა whatever just don't be weird or ask me to tag anything ✌🏾

i block very flippantly so don't take it personally. sissies and chasers are insta-blocked though, please do not waste my time. this extends to anyone who does not block chasers, do not put my pictures in front of them. i am also extremely likely to block you if i don't see an age/gender/sexuality in ur bio or pinned 🙇🏾‍♀️ I'm very t4t and picky about what cis people i let follow me.

👼🏾 Pisces/Virgo/Aquarius. Im an enby trans gal. I'm bi and a sex-positive ace ૮ ᴖﻌᴖა nice to meet u. also:

FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸

just so we're crystal clear on where I stand 🤗 if you don't like that then don't follow me because i don't want you to lol. same with Biden supporters, keep your shit away from me lmfao.

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✋🏾🤨 also (adding this retroactively) getting this out of the way now; do not call me a sub or a bottom, this is disrespectful and overly familiar of you and it will result in an instant block; I'm no longer giving corrections or warnings about this, y'all are way too comfortable telling other ppl who've never shown you any sexual interest to begin with what they are. I'm a top/dom leaning switch/vers but as far as y'all are concerned that's top/dom only.

while we're at it 🙇🏾‍♀️ i do not flirt with faceless accounts. compliments are always welcome but keep them in the tags/replies/posts and not my DMs. that's different if i know I'm attracted to you, ofc.

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pinning these bc they're very cute and my favorite version of my fursona so far ♡⁠

drawn by @cimicherrychanga

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different tags i use which are added to the bottom of my pinned.

• my face, my body, fave, fav: self explanatory; body tag is nsfw

• reference, ref: helpful stuff to come back to

• me, me as hell: stuff i find relatable

• 🐇, 🐇💕: bunny girl mood, not necessarily about the bunny girl experience it just vibes with my heart in a way that's different from everything else that Also vibes with my heart

• my art, i make music sometimes (: : i draw, make music and make chokers! i usually just share my chokers (i don't take commissions right now, i just do art for fun)

• bandit posting: my cat :3 she's not even 1

• banditcore: posts that make me think of her ♡⁠

• cinematic masterpiece: videos i think are 🤌🏾✨

and other miscellaneous tags

#my face #my art #my body #i make music sometimes (: #bandit posting #reference #read later #🐇 #fave #fav #ref #wife posting #poll #me #silicate #ask game #g4pxe #😵‍💫 #😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 #😵‍💫😵‍💫 #mine #to watch #cinematic masterpiece #banditcore #help #bangers #husband #o: #💀 #CreamerNation

[smimon]

Survive at work by doodling cute couples 👍

#laughing so hard at my camera detecting human face on jesse here. sure it's so realistic. such a masterpiece #käärijä #doodles #literal thumbnails #they're barely bigger than my finger nails. cornpea kä size. like 2cm tall #anyway i might need a ship name here #jessecurity? jesguard? käsupportshipping??? #edit: and thank you for all the love on yesterdays silly meme redraw. good to know we all think the same haha

[remyfire]

They'll have a spring wedding~

#i love when charles is just 'glares in distinguished gay' #dos your face is a fucking masterpiece #ty for everyone discovering my beejchester tag today i hope you enjoy your stay #charles winchester #charles emerson winchester iii #bj hunnicutt #beejchester #charbeej #m*a*s*h #s8e13 #captains outrageous #mashposting #mashblogging

[loversmore]

taehyung & yoongi; “this melancholy london”

“— i sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. one feels them passing like a whiff of air.” (william yeats) 

for @kimtaegis ♡ by mona & ems.

#bts #taehyung #yoongi #taegi #btsedit #btsgif #btsdaily #dailybts #trackofthesoul #armysource #dailybangtan #credit: dwellingsouls; beehobi94 #hi annie 🥺 happy geburtstag to my favourite blondie to ever exist in the entirety of germany :( #i hope your concert was amazing & you had a great start to your birthday surrounded by friends who love and cherish you <3 #and that the rest of your day will be just as nice !!! everyone better congratulate you with the sweetest message or else 🔪 #anyways i love you very much (insert i love you more tweet) and im very glad you keep having a crush on my online personality 😌 #you are the most supportive person around here who just gives out compliments and encouragement unconditionally & i justlovethatsomuchaboutu #thank you for being a (girl)friend who makes me feel comfortable and loved & i hope with this little gift we could give u something back <3 #we tried to combine some of ur favourite things & we hope it will put a smile on ur face (ps: pls never stop creating masterpieces thanku) #annie!! 🤍 happy birthday darling!! #i hope you had so much fun with harry and that you enjoyed every minute of the concert and that you felt loved and happy <3 #thank you for being the most creative and supportive person to ever exist and for being such a warm presence on this silly place #you never run out of words to comfort everyone and i hope you will always get the same amount of love you give others every day and that #your days will be filled with joy and gentleness because that's what you deserve for being a precious soul :( #i love you and adore your kind and sweet (and oh so cool) personality #have a wonderful day today; smile a lot and pls be happy!! i'm hugging you tight 🥺🤍 #we love you so much annie bby; moni & emsi <3 #*🎀📮mm

[fruitsofhell]

After finishing She-Ra 2018 I'm trying to work on my unified theory for why CatDora bothers me as the endgame ship. Cause as CEO of mentally ill cartoon women, there's something about it that feels a disservice to Catra's psychology and trauma. She is genuinely such an interesting character to watch because they so clearly lay out the abusive dynamic that informs her entire character, but by the kiss, I feel like they lost steam with it.

The biggest thing to me is the simple fact that Adora is basically a trigger for her. Adora's personality as someone who is constantly self-sacrificing and forgiving is something Catra has a deep hatred for because she believes she is worthless and unforgivable, and when people try to help her she feels they're using her to look better while she fails to get better.

The fact that ADORA herself was the one in that original dynamic that traumatized the hell out of her makes me uncomfortable with how Catra eventually just... stops getting set off by things. I just can't imagine how what happened leading up to their kiss would desensitize Catra enough to that trauma response that she'd be in love with her. Like in that same season she was fucking death gripping the table at hearing Adora's name, and in seasons earlier she straight up like dissociated when people brought up her heroics. Not only the unearned healing, but the "I've loved you all along" feels a bit patronizing to her past. That all her emotionality was complicated romantic feelings, and not... having really nasty childhood trauma.

#shut the heck up #she ra #that damn cat #show was good btw #not a masterpiece - it was kinda corny in a bad way sometimes - but was fun #it felt like it wanted to be there and had ideas it was interested in #and i really like catra she is my fave as you can see #mentally ill cartoon women #im actually still getting my little pea brain around it cause her trauma and dynamic with adora is a lot #i like that the show was patient with her i wish it wasnt patient just cause it wanted her to kiss adora #imo she should be with someone else who is willing to stick up for her as adora does but isnt her #isnt the woman who's name and face can send her into self-destructive hysterics #something that is bad and needs ro change but she needs more time for than was given #wheres she-ra future where we recontextualize the casts trauma and show happy endings still need more time? #tag talking #media analysis

[sgtruttersdartsclubband]

Hello internet I got married last night 😎👉

Finally got to do a mostly complete Jareth costume, a dream of mine since the 8th grade, and married the love of my life, so a real win win all around I'd say.

I'll have more fully edited pics in a week or so, that were taken by my ex wife's new girlfriend funnily enough, but I just wanted to show off a lil 🥰🥰🥰

#my face #jazz.txt #Jeremy #jareth #the labyrinth #the goblin king #Beetlejuice #wedding #Halloween wedding #my dad was dressed as the like a boss meme complete with a fake joint #my step dad was Michael Bob Ross and my mom was his Masterpiece lol #it's funny bc his last name is Ross #my step mom was too tired from chemo to do a costume which is fair #and Jeremy's mom was just spooky and cute

[radisyn]

wip for day 5 (theme: presents and wrapping) of @hot-glenn-holidays-2023 = this silly goofy rendition of Glenn dressed as the Grinch doing his silly goofy scene with the overalls iykyk 😂 def not a super literal read of "wrapping and presents" but it was what I felt ~called~ to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#hot glenn holidays 2023 #draft #still working on the full image but I'm laughing at his little face here heehee #it's not the same vibe as the grinch #I love the jim carrey grinch and I will die advocating that it is a masterpiece #my art #dndads #glenn close #idk why he's blue dont ask

[theerastour]

She’s not giving selfie but she is giving checking off bucket list items one by one 😍❤️

Fave Speak Now lyric:

Wasn't it easier in your firefly-catchin' days?

And everything out of reach someone bigger brought down to you

Wasn't it beautiful runnin' wild 'til you fell asleep before the monsters caught up to you?

#tsselfienight #this is queued but I’ll be on later to see everyone else’s beautiful faces #also team innocent is soooo underrated!!! #forget it’s for Kanye and you’ll appreciate it more #don’t let him ruin this masterpiece for you #anyone remember when my url was a lyric from innocent?? #ok byyyeeeeee

[roitaminnah]

aheemheemwimper.... um. oh (falls over and starts crying)

#butterfly soup #ppkm #shouts out to balls-on-my-face (my best friend) the little heart eyes doodle. thank you for the affirmation bestie <3 #aggie doodle! if you didn't. um. if it is not apparent. balls-on-my-face was there doing masterpieces and I drew this in the corner help #my best friend balls-on-my-face #roi draws #sketchbook #this is my backlog! I'm so busy but I realized. I have like. er. haha. like at least 5 drawings I didn't share yet woup. #(32 boxes of plushies looming behind me menacingly as I draw ppkm kissing for the fivehundredth time) #THEY'RE SILLY YOUR HONOR. just thought i'd add that sorry.

[omarsimp]

#omar rudberg #omar at the oscars #i need this picture framed on my wall #his face is a work of art #a masterpiece