#not saying that pointing out harmful stereotypes is bad

[ultimatefartwizard]

EARTHSPARK MESSAGES AND SUBTEXT THATS NOT EVEN SUBTEXT

It's been a while since I have posted as I've been busy with finals, but I saw a post that absolutely made me spur a headache with just how utterly fatuous of a take I saw on Transformers Earthspark and the messages it sends.

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT USE THIS POST TO ATTACK OR HARASS ANYONE, THIS IS ONLINE DISCUSSION OF A WORK OF MEDIA.

THIS ALSO COVERS SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 OF EARTHSPARK, IF YOU WISH TO AVOID SUCH A TOPIC PLEASE REDIRECT YOURSELF.

@monocle-teacup Won't repost your post as the way tumblr reposts works would have everything funnel onto your account, but I'll be pinging you and I did screenshot your post for viewer's context:

I have ALOT to talk about here, while also being completely in shock and disbelief how you end up BELEIVING THE SIDE THAT IS A GENOCIDAL LUNATIC WHO SEES THE TRANSFORMERS AS SUBHUMAN AND A DISEASE ON THE EARTH??? AND IS WILLING TO FULL ASS MURDER AND MUTILATE PEOPLE? From here any * you may see is likely a footnote mark to check details I put at the end for clarity. If I miss something, let me know and I will clarify.

Before I get into the meat of dissecting your clearly ill-informed and definitely not thoroughly thought out post, I need to get something out of the way because I believe you'll use this as a means of shielding yourself from incoming critique: It's okay to like and enjoy characters who are clearly bad people. There is a CLEAR difference between enjoying a fictional character and agreeing with whatever they might do or say. I enjoy many bad and morally reprehensible characters, including Mandroid/Doctor Meridian, but that doesn't mean I agree with them or don't find their actions and ideas deplorable. If you find yourself agreeing with someone who sees another group of people* as being subhuman or a danger to society you need to reconsider your ideologies and thought processes. Like ASAP.

Okay onto the actual deconstruction of your statements, why they are blatantly lacking a thorough reading of the messages in Earthspark, or even lead into uncomfortably ignorant territories both with Transformers and very real-life, human related things.

As a first point, you state that you hope this show re-examines the fact that hatred towards another group of people (even if they are fictional) automatically makes them a terrible person, and bring up the statement that the show makes GHOST's detainment of transformers look "cartoonishly evil" but does absolutely nothing to address Dr.Meridian's statements of transformers being dangerous.

Yes. Yes it ABSOLUTELY DOES address that throughout the entire show. In fact, the whole season is literally about deconstructing the notion that BOTH Dr.Meridian's and GHOST's ideals and methods are harmful if not downright discriminatory towards transformers as a whole.

GHOST's method of control is a guise under the US government by detaining any transformer they deem as "a threat", this can even mean autobots or non-aligned transformers who don't want to join their organization or are just doing their own thing. They will willingly classify them all as "Decepticons" to justify their inhumane treatment of them. This is paralleling how humans will stereotype and conflate other groups of people, as being all associated with one singular event or organization of people that is seen as bad or a danger to society* and use that stereotyped ideal to weaponize it against them and justify harming them in multiple ways; which is what Dr.Meridian ALSO DOES THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SHOW. Dr.Meridian is a scientist that literally works with and is a huge provider of technology to GHOST, he literally works with them and experiments on the detained transformers. You can't say "oh GHOST bad Dr.Mer not so bad" when he's LITERALLY PART OF GHOST AND YOU CANNOT SEPARATE THEM. HE IS EXTREME AND OUTSPOKEN ABOUT HIS HATRED THROUGHOUT THE SHOW AND ACTIVELY IS SHOWN TO BE ENTIRLEY IN THE WRONG BOTH IDEOLOGICALLY AND ACTION WISE. You clearly have not watched with a critical eye if you think they never address his points or somehow he is right about something. He never is and it shows just how harmful his mentality is. You don't even need words spoken out loud to know he's ALREADY HEINOUSLY WRONG AND BIGOTED.

Why should the show, one that shows transformers having to battle against racist and xenophobic hatred towards them from humans, re-examine that relationship? People are being discriminatory to people they don't like, and to them it doesn't matter if they are decepticon or not; they're all the same and dangerous in their eyes. Yes, there was a war brought onto earth's soil from pure happenstance of where the Ark and members of the two named groups had landed, and yes it was bloody and many lives were lost like any war is. Should the war, as well as atrocious acts of violence by a few and the circumstance that which the birth and type of being transformers are deem all transformers as dangerous? OBVIOUSLY FUCKING NOT. That's literally stereotyping. That's what Dr.Meridian is doing. He's literally grouped them all into one conglomerate in his head and sees them all as pests to be exterminated.

The transformers are both immigrants and refugees of war that had lasted thousands of millions of years and a desperate attempt to find any source of energon because they would STARVE TO DEATH IF THEY DIDN'T AND RESOURCES WERE DANGEROUSLY SCARCE ON CYBERTRON. They are thousands of lightyears away from home in a place that doesn't have the cultures they are familiar with and structures built for them which accommodates their needs. And to add onto it, most were never originally outfitted with guns and shit. They had to ARM THEMSELVES TO PROTECT AGAINST ATTACKS. JUST BECAUSE YOU SEE A GUN POP OUT OF THEIR BODY DOESN'T MEAN THEY ARE BUILT LIKE THAT NOR DOES IT MEAN THEY ARE AUTOMATICALLY ALL DANGEROUS. The only ones who are theoretically "built for war/violence" are war-frames like seekers, but they didn't even CHOOSE THAT LIFE OR WANT IT! THEY ARE COLD CONSTRUCTED* AND LITERALLY ENSLAVED INTO BEING CANON FODDER FOR WHATEVER SKERMISH THEY ARE DEEMED NEEDED FOR. Starscream wasn't even a warrior before this, he was just some nerd ass scientist. Cold constructed bots and War-frames are already deemed subhuman by other transformers. The entire war that you see is a continual millions of years struggle which the origins are in a fight against their own horrible systematic oppressions to try and bring freedom and put an end to the horrible reign back on Cybertron. How does them being robot organisms displaced by ongoing war, a continual brutal and bloody struggle for freedom back at home, and dangerous resource scarcity make them any more dangerous than your average person? And the "they are robots/walking death machines" argument doesn't count because you're only seeing them from a nonhuman lense in that case. Take off those nuts and bolts covered glasses and think of how this would be if they were all humans instead. The visuals of only seeing them for their robotics are blocking your ability to view this group as simply a mirroring of humans in nonhuman bodies. Humans are just as dangerous and ostracizing as them. Literally humans slaughter other humans frequently; bring upon hatred and obscene actions onto one another with or without robotic attachments and aid of machines. Just because the transformers are robotic extraterrestrials who are "different biologically/mechanically" makes it no different from the dehumanization and other forms of racism and xenophobia. Transformers are literally just... humans in a robot shell. You can't argue against this at all because most if not all have human forms, ALL of them have human minds, and just happen to come from a planet they need to be insanely large sized on, as well as already pre-armed due to conflict that they have escaped from.

The whole story of Earthspark is LITERALLY about the experiences of the Terrans; first generation descendants of immigrant refugees navigating the struggles that come with being just that. They make whole episodes surrounding their feelings of alienation and their struggle to have a place in the world, their culture and history and who they are. They want to feel they belong and feel they have a place in this world and be seen just as human and belonging as their human family. Their government and the world around them alienates them and treats them sub-humanly despite them being just as human, flaws and all, as us. Since I'm praddling on about this topic, did you even ABSORB ANY OF THE EPISODES HOME PART 1 AND 2???? IT'S ABOUT THIS TOPIC AND TEACHES HOW THIS MENTALITY OF TREATING THE TRANSFORMERS AS SUBHUMAN ALIENS THAT NEED TO GO AWAY OR NEED TO BE CLASSIFIED AS DANGEROUS/A INVASIVE "SPECIES" THAT NEEDS TO BE REMOVED IS BAD. IT SHOWS THE RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA THAT ESPECIALLY COMES WITH BEING CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS AND THE ISOLATION THEY FACE.

Please, I heavily implore you to go back and watch them. You somehow miss the entire point of the show and ESPECIALLY this episode. Many episodes cover different points of their existence as first gen children and the reality that the transformers have to face in general while being refugees on a planet with others being hostile and degrading to them but this particular episode is the one that tackles the points I make in this post the most. It may not go super deep into it due to forced time constraints and other executive nonsense that makes it harder to go into more detail but it still covers the topic very well.

Humans getting nipped at the heels for being bigoted towards transformers isn't some "ouugh you can't think the decepticons did bad things" type of nonsense and I absolutely hate the "oh because you can't be bigoted towards a group of people it means you suddenly can't criticize the actions of someone who happens to be someone of that group" mentality you seem to be concocting out of thin air. It's them associating the entire race of transformers as all bad, unbelonging or worthy of being seen as dangerous and to be wary around them or like they need to not be on earth and "go back where they came from". You go between "decepticons" and "transformers" interchangeably and seem to do exactly as the show heeds against heavily; conglomerating the actions of a FEW to encompass the overall worthiness of a WHOLE POPULATION OF PEOPLE.

Doctor Meridian is wrong and genuinely evil and disturbing with how he treats them and him seeing them as dangerous and a pest needing to be eradicated nor should any of his views be agreed upon, no matter how much you may try to defend him. There's more I could add but for simplicity's sake but that's what I mainly will state. The rest of clarity can be discussed in the comments.

I'm not sure whether your lack of understanding of the show and its messaging you are discussing or your love for one of the major villains is clouding your judgement, but please read EVERYTHING here to its fullest extent. Nothing here is intended as an attack on your character (if you're somehow seeing it that way) but as a heavy critique of your views on this show and how you are analyzing things. I might sound like I'm yapping to yap or "it's not that deep", but it literally is. The show and it's writing make it a big point and I will refuse to accept any iteration of "you're making a mountain out of a molehill" type statements. If you have any questions or comments you're free to bring them up.

-With confusion and annoyance, Wizard.

-Footnotes- *By group of people, I refer to sapient (human minded) beings who are grouped by either race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. By this classification, Transformers are considered a group of people; even if they are "nonhuman" *If you are somehow seriously confused or appalled by me pointing out real world racism and xenophobia as parallels to what is being done by GHOST, Dr. Meridian, and your average run of the mill civilian, you need to reread absolutely everything. Racism and xenophobia are a huge talking point in the show and I refuse to retract this statement. *Cold Constructed means the transformer was made in a factory, more often than not to be a worker slave for whoever is demanding they be produced. Two characters off the top of my head who are cold constructed is Starscream and Megatron.

#transformers #transformers earthspark #ultimatefartwizard #maccadams #tf earthspark #discussion #terrans #transformers hashtag #transformers twitch #transformers nightshade #transformers thrash #transformers jawbreaker #transformers starscream #transformers megatron #genuinely how the hell did you end up at the conclusion you did #I had to discuss this the second I saw your post while scrolling #wizardyaps #ignore the tags #i will defend these robot aliens with my whole soul #I'm sorry I hate it when people miss the entire plot of a show #wizardrants #tired of the lack of critical thinking #transformers GHOST #dr meridian #mandroid #tf GHOST #Why are you defending a man's ideals that end up with him almost wiping out the population of transformers in like an evil genocide ray? #if they were human you'd definitely not be saying this.... I hope? Like I really hope you don't think this about irl people

[nondescriptloin]

Because I am a big fan of tender Hannibal but do also believe that his manipulation and medical malpractice in regards to Will is something that is important went looking at their relationship, here’s what I (at 11:12 pm) think Hannibal was thinking throughout the show (yes I left off the end of S3, I’m very tired.)

- Hannibal meets Will and is OBSESSED

- Realises Will is way too bitchy and into the whole crime fighting/solving thing to accept him for who he truly is

- Sees Will’s potential and decides the only reasonable thing to do is to manipulate him and let him almost die from encephalitis

- Falls even harder when Will tries to have him killed, would do anything for that man

- Will won’t elope with him so he gets gently spritzed with a water bottle (stabbed and his pseudo daughter killed in front of him)

- Broods in Florence for a while

- Sees Will and instantly decides he will once again do anything for that man because he has absolutely got separation anxiety and if Will won’t play ball then Hanni will just have to get arrested so Will knows exactly where he is when he’s ready (willing to elope with him)

#I also think it is perfectly acceptable to look at how Will may or may not have been repressing parts of his identity #especially in season one #and I also think it’s perfectly fine #to project onto characters #because they’re characters #and #like #not real people #it’s okay to see a character you identify with and project onto them #idk dude I just feel like the crimes and cannibalism fandom has got kinda gatekeepy and overly hostile lately #let’s just let people engage with media the way they want to #you can say that you don’t understand something #or prefer something else #without booing everyone who thinks/does something #not saying that pointing out harmful stereotypes is bad #but like #a lot of this is just dumb shit or differences in interpretation #of the weird kalidescope gay cannibalism cooking show #hannibal #hannibal nbc #hannibal lecter #hannigram

[illputdownmyrootswhenimdead]

someone: jkr is horrible-

me: yeah, i completely agree with you there

someone: -which is why you should stan uncle rick rick riordan instead :)

me:

#rick riordan critical #PLEASE take your head out of your ass #rick riordan is not as bad as jkr but posing his books as the ‘more diverse’ and acting like he’s a great awesome ally to minorities #is just. incredibly naive #piper with feathers! unhealthy age gaps in relationships! the only gay character (at that point) suffering constantly and then being outed- #in front of a complete stranger! incredibly shallow and often misogynistic portrayal female characters! general insensitivity and ignorance #of other cultures! a transphobic portrayal of a genderfluid person who gets called a slur by one of the GOOD characters! shallow and ableist #portrayal of adhd! ableism in saying his characters don’t have push because they’re ‘too strong’! no physically disabled characters! #his incredibly lesbophobic response to people saying reyna reads as gay to them! #this is literally just the tip of the iceberg #rr is NOT some woke intelligent savour he’s a grown ass man who doesn’t have people of the cultures/groups he’s writing about to check if #it’s harmful or incorrect or stereotypical!! #he’s a rich cishet white man with a victim complex when people call him out on his shit. #rr stans don’t interact with me i do not want to hear it #tbh the only reason why he’s ‘better’ than jkr is because he doesn’t have her level of influence #god. shudder. i don’t want to think about that #dove talks #hi it’s 4pm and im so angry. #will admit that anyone saying percy jackson would beat harry potter in a fight is 100% #like we can agree on that one.

[wutheringmights]

what is wars diagnosed with. I know he has them I just don't know which ones.

I would prefer if we didn't pathologize Warriors

#I neither have the knowledge to diagnose him nor care to do so #on one hand i think people that try to diagnose characters are often applying harmful stereotypes to people with real disorders #on the other i think trying to diagnose Warriors is missing the point of his character entirely #I don't want anyone deciding that he's like this because he has X because then it's too easy to decide that you're nothing like him because #you too don't have X. like that's missing the whole point of feeling sympathy or anger towards a bastard of a character #and like listen anon. you didn't ask for this lecture (one I should definitely be putting in the actual message and not leave in the tags) #and in theory anon you can do what you want and i can't stop you. death of the author and all that #but while i'm here I'll also say this: none of you better be out here diagnosing wars with low empathy because I write him like he #is empathetic. if i was writing a character with low to no empathy you will know. why? because your author (me) has low empathy #I'll spare you my rant about that but i keep putting off a character moment where i was going to establish that a character we know is a #good person discusses how they have low empathy because it's really important to me that people understand that your ability to be #empathetic doesn't make you a good or bad person. you just have trouble identifying when you need to show sympathy. that's it. #anyway sorry to make an example of you anon. i'm sure you were trying to make a joke but you accidentally hit a button that reminded me of #my real sensitive button gosh #me rambling #lu ctb #ask #anonymous #anyway add 'Frankie has low empathy' to your trivia about me

[kaibascorpse]

cant believe saying something like “patriarchy hurts men too” is as controversial as it is considering it’s literally like, basic feminist theory to acknowledge the way gendered prescriptions for social behavior and presentation is harmful to people of all genders. but alas, some people are so attached to their idea of men as the Ultimate Oppressors that their feminism cannot progress past “men bad women good” rhetoric. this is what people mean when they say you’re drinking the radfem koolaid btw

#my posts #anyone reading in bad faith and trying to clown in the notes will be blocked btw. #and if you genuinely dont understand how men are harmed by patriarchy please spare a moment to consider the way society treats men who #do not perform masculinity in a perfectly stereotypical cishet way. #please consider how masculinity in black men is disproportionately demonized and leads to black men being treated as inherently violent #thus making them ‘acceptable’ targets to have violence done against them #there is no ‘oppressor gender’ and ‘victim gender’. anyone is capable of being either or both. #and i suppose as a disclaimer i’ll say NO i do not think men have it ‘just as bad as women’ when comes to being hurt by misogyny #obviously women are the primary targets and thus get the worse end of shit. but thats not really my point #i have no interest in arguments about ‘who has it worse’ bc i think they fail to achieve anything practical and often just lead to erasing #the struggles of the group deemed to have it ‘not as bad’ #we all know women are the primary targets of misogyny so it shouldn’t have to be spelled out #but some of yall think primary target = only target that matters = only women have a vested interest in dismantling patriarchy #which is just. not true

[tippenfunkaport]

"She-Ra is bad bisexual rep because all the bi/pan characters end up in m/f relationships!"

Not true! Perfuma is bi/pan and she ends up with Scorpia!

"Oh, well I like to headcanon Perfuma as a lesbian."

...so then you understand that's not the show's fault, right? That that's just a problem you made up in your head?

-

Excuse me a second, I need to scream about this...

Because this has come up over and over (esp on Twitter and TikTok) with people who want to claim that every bi/pan SPOP character ends up in a m/f relationship... by conveniently pretending Perfuma is not canonically bi/pan herself. And every time they are asked to elaborate why they are ignoring her canon status, they give the same answer: that they consider Perfuma a lesbian because now that she's with a woman, she's "not bi anymore"

And... yeah... you know that's not how it works, right? That being bi/pan is not just a phase you get over? That a bi/pan woman dating another woman doesn't suddenly make her a lesbian any more than it makes a bi/pan person dating someone of the opposite gender magically straight?

The person you are currently dating does not change your bi/pan status. Ever. And insisting it does, especially just so you can score some points by making up an issue about a show to be mad about, is super GD harm harmful to the real bi/pan people in your life.

(This is the exact same thing The Owl House fandom does with Lumity and why Dana had to make Luz present a whole slideshow in the cartoon reminding everyone she is still very much bi even though Amity is a lesbian. TOH fans kept insisting because Luz is dating Amity now, she's a lesbian. Nope. Her and Amity can be married for a billion years and that wouldn't change Luz's orientation.)

"But I heard that someone's roommate's cousin who worked with someone on the show once liked a fanart that showed Scorfuma with the lesbian flag so it's basically canon!"

First of all, the legend of this grows daily and I think it's really telling that this archival obsessed fandom only talks about this mythical like and yet has never been able to produce a single screenshot of it.

But for the sake of argument, let's say that this really happened and actually exists, that someone related to the show, however distantly, liked fanart once that implied Perfuma was a lesbian somehow. That still doesn't make it canon. People related to the show and even ND himself have liked and reblogged all sorts of stuff that isn't canon, including g/a, and have been very clear that the only canon is what happens within the show itself.

And, in the show, Perfuma is canonically bi/pan. We see her crushing on Bow, She-Ra, Huntara and Scorpia. The fact that people want to pretend the Bow thing never happened when he's the only character we see her actually date over the run of the show AND it's a major Season 1 plot point is wild to me and just shows the lengths people will go for bi/pan erasure.

And I get that some people enjoy using Perfuma to tell a story about comphet or coming out as a lesbian later in life and I am fully in favor of doing your thing with your headcanons in fanworks. But when it reaches the point it has now where fans are attacking other fans for saying Perfuma is bi/pan or attacking the show for not having any bi/pan character in same sex relationships when Perfuma is CANONICALLY bi/pan is ridiculous. 

Keep in mind that your headcanon is literally just something you made up in your head. It's pretend. Fun, yes, but NOT something you can use as justification to attack people over!

Especially when it's something like this that causes real world harm by perpetuating harmful stereotypes about bi/pan people being "just a phase" or a temporary state that changes based on who you date.

#spop #shera #she ra #perfuma #scorfuma #bisexuality #bisexual #lgbtq #bisexual erasure #pansexual #bi/pan rep #pansexuel #lgbtqa #lumity #toh #the owl house #lumity 🤝 scorfuma #people claiming they are a lesbian relationship when one of them is bi #saphhic #is the word you are looking for #discourse #wlw #wlw ship #also good terms to use

[ao3commentoftheday]

competence and cringe

Have you ever heard of the 4 stages (or quadrants) of competence? They're a useful way of looking at your skills on a spectrum.

unconscious incompetence - you don't know what you don't know. You lack a skill, but you also lack any information about what that skill requires and so you don't know that you're bad at it because you don't know what good looks like. Ignorance is bliss.

conscious incompetence - you know what you don't know. You've learned enough about the skill now to be able to identify all of the pieces you lack. You can see all of the places were you need to work and improve. Knowledge is pain.

conscious competence - you know, but you need to think. You have the skill now, but you still need to think about it in order to do it well. You've improved to the point where all of the pieces work well together, but you still need to concentrace to make it all smooth. Mindfulness is key.

unconscious competence - you forget how much you know. The skill is so solid and practiced that it feels natural to you now. You don't even notice anymore all of the different pieces that make up the skill because they all work together so well that it feels like one action. There is no thought, only do.

I was thinking of this model today with respect to cringe and I think a lot of the same concepts apply.

unconscious enjoyment - You like a thing wholeheartedly and uncritically. It is wonderful and you love it and you can't get enough of it.

conscious dissatisfaction- You've been introduced to concepts of critically engaging with media. You've learned harmful tropes and stereotypes. You see the kinds of media that get praised by your peer group or by others you look up to. You want to "enjoy better" and like things that others find valuable. You are ashamed of your earlier, uncritical self. You cringe looking back at them or others who are like them.

conscious satisfaction - You feel that you still like something even though other people say it's problematic, and you still give yourself permission to enjoy it as long as you acknowledge all of its faults while you do. You miss the days of being able to like things without thinking about them so much or feeling guilty. You cringe now at how black and white you thought things were during your conscious dissatisfaction stage.

conscious enjoyment - You realize that interest and enjoyment are not moral compasses. You know that all media has its faults, that no creators are without their issues. You learn more about your own tastes and what you actually like, as opposted to what you think you should like. Looking back at yourself, the cringe is fainter. You have sympathy for past-you and maybe even a fondness. You don't enjoy unconsciously anymore, but you don't always feel the need to analyze every aspect anymore.

As always, I'm working my way through these concepts as I type them out into a tumblr post. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them!

#thinky thoughts #why is my brain like this? #who knows lol

[xxlovelynovaxx]

The whole point is you don't know if they're fem cis men. You don't know if they're trans men. You don't know if they're trans women deeply closeted for their safety. You don't know if they're trans women whom misgendering will drive them further AWAY from their egg cracking and harm them. You. Don't. Know.

Misgendering is bad. "Clocking" someone is bad. Making assumptions about someone's identity and then turning it into a "joke" is bad. What's funny about misgendering someone?

Also, this discourse is literally in the context of the queer community. It's literally in the context of the queer community having an antimasculinity and gender essentialism problem. It's also in the context of gender stereotypes and the fact that smelling like flowers or painting your nails making you a girl doesn't become less of a harmless stereotype because it's a trans woman saying it. Like oh wow we went full circle from "girls play with dolls and like pink" to "trans girls play with dolls and like pink". Congrats on alienating every non-femme trans woman and femme trans non-woman.

It's not fucking transmisogyny to tell you not to misgender people or assume liking frilly things makes someone a girl. It's not fucking transmisogyny to tell you that the QUEER and especially TRANS communities have an issue with valorizing femininity while demonizing masculinity. It's not fucking transmisogyny to acknowledge this while acknowledging that actual transmisogyny demonizes transfemininity while infantilizing and erasing transmasculinity.

I'm putting the word transmisogyny on a high shelf until the rest of y'all learn what it actually fucking means. Transmisogyny isn't when an entitled white trans woman gets called out for doing actual harm. Like "joking" about misgendering someone. Or "joking" about being racist and going through a "nazi phase". Or "joking" about "raping cuntboys". It might be affirming that some queer people take your white woman's tears at face value, but here's the thing:

You're lovely women who deserve to have every access to transition, to resources, to be treated equally to cis people. You're just really fucking shitty people. You're bigots, you're cruel, you're cliquey, and you're like every boring high school mean girl who never grew out of pettily bullying other vulnerable people to get over the pathetic inadequacies of your own life circumstances.

People like that deserve community and kindness too. They also deserve not to have their behavior tolerated and to have to deal with compassionate rehabilitative justice. Those things can both be true, especially when the people they are hurting explain until our throats are raw how they're hurting us and they just keep doing it. Because the thing is, it's not actually about any "societal pressure to transition", and the fact you think it is shows you haven't listened to a single actual criticism anyone has had of the whole "egg discourse".

Other people have already explained more patiently and eloquently than me what exactly the problem with calling someone an egg is. I'd think you'd be concerned minimally with how it hurts actual transfem eggs more than anything, even if you don't care about how it very much does hurt transmascs and GNC cis men and the movement of transfeminism as a damn whole to insist "haha liking fem things=woman".

Explain what's funny about that. I'll wait.

Anyway, this was reblogged from someone I long ago considered a friend, someone I thought was better than this. I really thought most trans people were better than this when I first entered the community. I still hope some are. You deserve to be told that this is wrong, because you deserve to be reminded that you're better people than this kind of bullshit.

-your utterly over it neighborhood intersex transneufemmasc

#I AM a fucking trans woman and you'll never fucking convince me that joking about misgendering people is okay #regardless of their actual identity #or that joking about clocking people is okay #or the harm this does to actual eggs is okay #or the harm this does to transmascs and GNC folks is okay #or the ways this sets both cisfeminism and transfeminism back to the fucking 90s at least is okay #y'all are as bad as bigoted comedians clinging to the same unfunny jokes and crying bigotry just bc people tell you it's bigoted #like seriously y'all fucking get over yourselves #discourse cw

[weebsinstash]

Alright bestie I’m on that shit again

So yandere Superman, right? Like obviously your fucked. The only other yandere in existence that might just be able to keep you from him is Batman, but even then he’d probably sooner work together just to ensure your safety- but that’s a prompt for another day.

Back to yan Superman, imagine you’re his darling and he is “keeping you safe”. But one day, you get snatched up by some organization that wants to use you as leverage or some shit, but you are just sobbing in relief at maybe being free- only to have Superman show up and do some not so super things to everyone who “stole” you

There are just so many casually horrifying things about Superman that people don't realize until you start like digging into his lore. "Oh he's super strong and a super fast flyer" actually he can do basically anything at those super speeds to the point he can literally even PROCESS THOUGHTS at near light-speed which means he has Absolutely Terrifying reaction times and can make plans and schemes on a dime, which, you know, can be even better utilized by him being intelligent. He has natural invulnerability so if you throw a punch at him too hard you could literally shatter the bones in your hand and he can't even control that, like you could literally hurt yourself with him on accident! He can see across INSANE DISTANCES and his x-ray vision doesn't have like a set range so he could do anything from, peep inside buildings to spy on you, to looking under your clothing for any bruises or injuries or even self harm marks, to peeking behind your hero disguise to learn your true identity, to seeing if there's anything inside your stomach and seeing if you're eating properly. Like jesus christ he literally found out Lois was pregnant from waking up one morning and suddenly hearing the heartbeat of the FETUS, there's literally nothing from him pulling that stereotypical "I know you're nervous or lying or afraid because I can literally hear your heartbeat increase" scary bullshit

And let's talk about Lois for a sec because my god her death was literally what kicked off the Injustice timeline? And there are other forms of Superman media where she just straight up dies naturally of cancer! Sure we could take the easy way and say "in this au Lois never existed or was just Clark's friend and he loved YOU" (which is my preferred default tbh bc, no competition for Reader lol) but I mean if you're going for that angst, that real whump, a yandere Clark Kent that just lost his wife/unborn child to either the Injustice incident or cancer, now overcome with grief? And in those cancer timelines they usually already have a son, Jonathan, and sometimes Jordan, and here's Clark thinking, well, his boy needs a mother, and he's got these weird feelings for you, and lil Jonny clearly has affection for you, maybe bring a bit of a platonic yan himself who sees you as either a big sister or even a secondary mom, so... be his wife maybe?

Like my god if Reader somehow helped him through the grief of losing Lois and managed to avoid "fully activating" Superman's anime villain arc, like he's going full fascist in the Injustice 2 Bad Ending, then some shit DEFINITELY goes down when Reader gets taken away. It just reactivates all his trauma. No! He can't lose anyone else! Jonathan can't lose anyone else! You're not just someone he loves, you're his FRIEND!

You're just huddled in whatever cell you've been kept in with your black eyes and bruises and knuckles bloodied from trying to fight back when you hear Clark's voice and you look up with excitement that just falls immediately off your face because holy shit did he just unlock that thumbprint scanner with a severed arm, and suddenly you're realizing there are other shades of red on his costume and dripping from his fingers

I can only imagine like, ngl I considered a sequel to my fic Doubt where Reader escapes the manor and runs into Supernan as the only other person who can protect you, so here we would have the inverse: you're the only one who knows about Clark's increasing instability and, while you still have your own freedom and autonomy, try to speak to Bruce about it, and now you have Batman Vs Superman: Competing For Your Heart Edition. I can only imagine what sort of unhinged reactions there would be if you think you've got Batman alone and you're beginning to cry all "Bruce I'm really worried about Clark, he isn't acting like himself, there's something wrong with him" and. Clark is like literally using his x-ray vision to read lips through the walls if he can't use his super hearing to outright eavesdrop.

Of course as you suggested, I'm always a slut for ideas with"oh shit I ran to this guy to help me and he's ALSO crazy, now they're teaming up and I'm in some weird shared/poly situation with TWO nutjobs". Lmao you go to Bruce concerned about Kal and Bruce goes to confront him and Clark just drops "did you know Y/N has been hiding self harm cuts under their hero suit also wow they smoke HELLA weed and im worried about their lungs and all the stuff they do when they're alone that no one else knows about 🥺" and suddenly here's Bruce " thanks i hate this actually :)" and there's a scheme concted to spy on you or move you elsewhere.

I've even thought of "Reader oh nooOoooOo, that, giant monster or villain attack or whatever also coincidentally destroyed your shitty little apartment complex? You mean Clark 'accidently' got sent flying into your building or smacked some giant creature into it and now you don't have a place to live? And you're broke too? Oh no 🥺 Well, BATMAN has this nice big house with lots of room in for you to stay toooootally 'temporarily', we PROMISE uwu"

Batman is the one who can put a tracking chip injected into your skin or even disguised as a filling in one of your teeth, and Superman is the one who can zoom off to rescue you/retrieve you "faster than a speeding bullet". I think one of the only people who could bring them down together at that point would be like. Fucking DARKSEID and, Jesus no, you definitely don't want HIM treating you as a pet 😭 the evil Batman that was brainwashed by him in the Apokolips War movie was scary enough (and scary HOT, lmao, let him keep me as some sort of prize and the only luxury Darkseid will allow him as a reward for his obedience. Lord Batman goes from having a meeting talking about like enslaving people to returning to his quarters and railing tf outta you because he's still holding onto some slim vestiges of humanity where he cares about you but also using you as his personal anti stress fuck toy)

#yandere superman #yandere batman #yandere dc #i got a draft whee damian and jon like you and introduce you to their fathers #and suddenly stalking you becomes a family affair #the boys walk you home and jon lies about having to pee so damian can plant bugs while youre distracted #the boys going back to their fathers and telling them all of your personal business #'yeah dad when she was at work i used my xray vision and saw her creepy manager grope her in the walk in' #suddenly your small little privately owned cafe was just bought out by wayne enterprises and your boss is fired or goes missing #maybe Bruce gets you a job st Wayne tech bc hes been following you as batman and he doesnt like you working third ahift #lmao heres hoping i actually finish it wven though im not quite sure where to go w it yet #but like its literally over 8 pages at least so. obviously some sort of creative juices are flowing #yandere stuff #sinprompts #at this point i cant promise shit bc my emotions and motivation are waaaaaacky

[wrens-wramblings]

A massive problem with how fandom - particularly queer rep - is going right now on this website is how quick people are to jump ship onto the next thing and then immediately start trashing the everliving shit out of the old thing.

Steven Universe (not a perfect show by any means) while it was coming out was celebrated constantly. The Garnet reveal? Pearl being in love with Rose? The Rupphire wedding? SU was revolutionary and has been quoted by cartoon creators now for being a big reason people are allowed to bring their stories to life. Say what you want about the show, but it broke boundaries and set precedents for a lot of the shows that you now love. And the show's plot lines regarding the diamonds has been taken in completely bad faith - do yall really think the half Jewish queer person meant for you to get "Let's all forgive Nazis" from the Diamonds redemption arcs??

After Steven Universe ended a large majority of people jumped to She Ra and the Princesses of Power and when they mentioned SU at all it was to put it down as a show with terrible representation and all round bad writing.

During SPOP's run it was massively popular, with a lot of buzz around the main ship, Catradora. I know this is gonna be taken in bad faith so a quick note - while I do like Catradora, I do feel that there should have been another season for Catra to properly acknowledge the harm she did to Adora and actually grow as a person before entering into a relationship. Catra was forgiven too easily, but that was in part due to Netflix not wanting to give the show another season to properly flesh out the redemption arc. The final season was rushed as all hell, and so many story points would have been better with another season to flesh them out further.

But I digress - during the show's run it was constantly talked about for it's representation, having multiple queer characters, including a nonbinary character.

The show ends and again, the fanbase jumps. This time, it's to the Owl House. People start talking about how SPOP was actually horrible representation and, my personal favourite, they "added gay people as a cash grab."

Yeah okay guys, I'm sure a queer nonbinary creator is writing about queer people because they actually dislike the gays and want to wring money out of us. That is definitely the situation here.

And now I'm worried that in a year or two we'll have the next big queer cartoon and the posts will start popping up -

"Amity Blight is the mean lesbian stereotype."

"Raine and Eda's relationship is problematic because-"

"Amity and Luz started out as rivals, which is toxic because-"

"The romance didn't start until later in the show, it was added at the end for a cash grab."

Again, I'm certain there's gonna be bad faith takes on this -- I'm not saying these shows are perfect. They all have flaws somewhere. No media is completely without it's faults and its good to recognise those faults, that what critical reading is. But calling someone an abuser for enjoying SPOP, or a Nazi sympathiser for liking SU (actual accusations I have seen on tumblr.com) is frankly a little ridiculous.

As for the bad rep argument - every show on this list has one thing in common: a queer creator. No one experiences queerness the exact same way - the only thing that harassing queer creators for not showing your experience does is make other queer creators... not want to write queer characters. No one wants to receive death threats because, for example, they based a character with their sexuality off of how that actually affected them and someone on the Internet decided they were feeding into a harmful stereotype.

#wrenposting #toh #the owl house #eda clawthorne #amity blight #raine whispers #luz noceda #lumity #spop #Catradora #Catradora spop #catra spop #double trouble #she ra and the princess of power fanart #she ra #adora spop #netossa #spinnerella #steven universe #garnet #ruby su #sapphire su #rupphire #pearl su #rose quartz su #queer media #queer cartoons

[equizona]

May I request a BEN, E.J and Toby with a teen!shy!reader? (Platonic ofc) one where they are like an older brother to them. Plus point if reader is a savage at very random times

— BEING AN OLDER BROTHER FIGURE FOR SOMEONE SHY

this has taken me a while because I'm either really busy or just too tired to write. I'm so sorry 😭 Since you're anonymous, you won't see that I answered I think but I hope you find it anyway <3 Anyway it's been a while for my pookies so it felt a lil' stiff.. but oh well

BEN DROWNED , EYELESS JACK , TICCI TOBY

PLATONIC !

BEN DROWNED

You're unlikely to get along at first, not that you dislike each other, but Ben is more on the introverted side and if you're not the type to initiate conversation it probably took a while for you both to get along.

He's the type of person who tries to make you get out of your shell, especially around him, so when you're closer, he'll definitely try to egg you into being more rude towards him. He thinks it's funny, but he will give back as good as he gets.

You'll probably end up with a more stereotypical relationship where he'll bully you and then threaten bodily harm to anyone else who does! Not necessarily protective, but he's spent too long trying to get you out of your shell around him to let someone ruin it.

Will definitely convince you to pull pranks on anyone else around you, and if it's towards anyone you both know, he'll immediately throw you under the bus with no hesitation. Not that they believe him, in any case.

EYELESS JACK

He's basically Ben's opposite; but he's also someone who you won't speak with at first either since he's kind of introverted as well. But he's essentially the type of person who'll just take the blunt of any social interaction for you, anyway.

Probably doesn't help you come out of your shell, expect maybe with him, but it's the thought that counts?

He's also way more protective, so he develops a tendency to follow you around to make sure he's there in case anyone or anything makes you uncomfortable, so that he can make sure to get you out of the situation. Very sweet!

He'll be more disapproving if you say anything. He doesn't think "someone like you" should be saying things like that and will likely just scold you for acting that way.

TICCI TOBY

He does help you get out of your shell more, but.. not the way you might expect it. He's used to being the younger one, y'know? So he'll likely unconsciously push you into situations where you're kinda forced to talk with others.

He feels bad about it sometimes though, if you notices that you're actually uncomfortable and since he's more social than the others he's also quick to take control of the situation if he does notice.

Absolutely menace if you start acting rudely or anything, if you say one even slightly rude thing he is running with it. You go low and he'll go lower, so you'll probably learn not to say things to him 'cause he gives worse than he gets. Loves bullying others with you though!

It's a weird relationship where he'll either act like a spoiled younger brother or a protective older brother depending on the day or minute.

#creepypasta #creepypasta x reader #cp #cp x reader #ticci toby headcanons #ben drowned headcanons #eyeless jack headcanons

[madnessandentropy]

It makes me frustrated when people say "if you hate the show why waste time on them?" Or "it's a show that's over now why are you talking about it?"

Because criticism does not mean I hate it. I criticise shows because I like them and felt they can or could have improved.

People still discuss shows like ATLA long after they've ended, why must everything only be positive? Why can't we discuss both good and bad? Shows don't have an expiry date.

I also get "It's just a show it doesn't matter!" And that frustrates me most.

Because it does matter

Media has an affect that people don't seem to fully grasp

How people and themes are treated and portrayed in media are more important

A creator's views and biases can leak into what they create in many ways and can often leave harmful messages, we can't just blindly praise everything.

It's important to think critically. I'm not saying be Cinema Sins, I'm saying don't just blindly praise it and call it a day. Or at the very least, don't attack people who do criticise it.

Even if the media is older, it's important that it's harmful or problematic material is called out, because it does affect the real world. It does affect people and how they perceive things.

Why do you think people are so rabid about what gets put into children's media?

"Aah no gays, think of the children!"

Because what they see shapes their perceptions and understanding of things, and normalises things in their eyes, whether you like it or not.

This has to be said, but portraying heavily abusive relationships as loving and romantic is not okay.

It's not something you should wave off with "it's just a kids show!" because not only does it imply kids don't deserve good quality shows, it also implies that being exposed to harmful material that WILL infect them in negative ways isn't something to be concerned about.

One character guiltripping another, making them feel like the one at fault, belittling them, taking away their autonomy and controlling their life and who they interact with is not romantic.

One character stalking the other is not romantic.

One character torturing another is not romantic tension.

Portraying your neaurodivergent or disabled characters in stereotypical, harmful ways is again going to leave bad impressions on your audience.

If someone points out issues in media (I'm not talking about petty critcism) such as sexism, racism, homophobia, ableism, etc they are not whining. They are not trying to cause drama. They are not trying to "hate on" the show.

They are trying to bring awareness to the fact that certain elements are harmful and that is not a bad thing. It isn't the end of the world.

#this is a messy post #but i think i got the point across #might add to it #hazbin hotel critical #helluva boss critical #vivziepop critical #media criticism #hollywood critical #fandom critical #fandom criticism #spop critisism #spop critical #lo critical #lore olympus critical

[rookisaknight]

Also I must say: I do not like the way Collapse characterized John. Love his interactions with Joseph but I think characterizing his sadistic tendencies as some kind of struggle with violent impulses is actually pretty contradictory with what we are told in canon.

What John tells us in his bunker is "I spent my whole life looking for more things to say 'yes' to. I opened up every hole in my body and when those were filled, I created more. But it was Joseph who shower me how selfish I was being. Always receiving, always taking. The best gift isn't the one you get, its the one you give." That, to me, paints a pretty clear picture. As an outgrowth of his childhood abuse John spent his adulthood engaging in self-harming behaviors, seeking out scenarios where he could recreate that helplessneess and release as a way to feel cleansed. Its pretty clear to me that these habits were primarily self-destructive, even submissive in nature ("always receiving, always taking"). "Things to say yes to" isn't quite synonymous with the American Psycho kind of picture that Collapse paints, John seems to have specifically sought out scenarios where he would lack control, where he would be hurt and preyed upon. Until Joseph convinced him to instead enact those desires on others. Take everything that was done to you, and do it to other people, not only to cleanse them, but to finally save yourself from the sin inside you.

Like to be clear: this isn't me saying John wouldn't do malicious cruel things without Joseph's interference. But making him a knife-happy bad dominant stereotype with an obsession for strangling people both contradicts how the main canon tends to characterize him, and also imo whitewashes Joseph's manipulation. If John is a collection of violent impulses, Joseph becomes not one of his abusers, but his handler. Its kind of a consistent problem with the Collapse where it is wants to continually frame the actions of the siblings as what they probably would have done anyways. Joseph is wrong for gaining by it, but it shies away from pointing out where he not only encouraged it, but at times redirected it into specific, more beneficial channels.

John had his brother never showed up likely wouldn't have been a very good person! He would still be a corrupt lawyer deeply fixated on his own desires and with a very destructive personal theology. But he does not pick up the knife to use on others unless his big brother tells him to.

#far cry 5 #fc5 #joseph seed #john seed #fc6 collapse

[cursedvibes]

The way people are focusing on "My fav Gojo is not racist, he's just ignorant" and "Gege really hates Gojo he made him racist" when it was not even the point of that interaction. The point was to educate and talk about some stereotypes about black people that are harmful to the community and, if you look into it I'm sure you'll find has it origins in slavery.

Besides, Gojo is privileged and comes from an old money family, and it looks like he isolatehimself from others. Of course, it's in character for him to say stupid things like that. Even if he strives for change.

Yeah, everyone is so pressed that their fave is being problematic (which honestly Gojo has always been, he's hardly a saint and he treats many people quite shitty like for example Utahime and Ijichi) that they miss the bigger picture of this. Given, I think there are better ways to get that point across, but the aim here was definitely not "look at what a uniquely bad person Gojo is, I want to make readers hate him" it's for readers to reflect upon themselves and their own biases, conscious or not. Gojo is often being a dick to people, Miguel included, but this wasn't it. He wasn't just being annoying as usual, he made a misinformed statement rooted in racism "black people are naturally stronger/tougher/more resistant" and he got told off for it, which actually led to him apologizing. He expresses bigoted views, that are quite common all around the world and can lead to real harm like for example medical discrimination, but people often don't question or even notice that they have these views. I think exactly because he's such a fan-favourite character, Miguel calling him out and Gojo admitting he said fucked up shit is important.

Gojo might make a trip to Kenya to meet Yuuta, but unsurprisingly doesn't have any real black acquaintances and the one black person he knows a little better doesn't like him because he treats him like shit, an expandable tool (given, Miguel did try to help someone do a genocide so it's not like him working to make up for that in principle is a problem, but Gojo is not just treating him badly because of that) and has dismissed him and his culture as a whole. Gojo's racism towards Miguel didn't come out of thin air with chapter 255.

No wonder Miguel wants him dead.

You could say Gojo's racism and ignorance got punished before as this powerful cursed tool he so casually dismisses here together with its history could have gotten him out of the box much earlier. If he hadn't gone out of his way to destroy part of Kenyian sorcerer's culture because of his fear that it might be used to hurt him, he might still be alive. This chapter the payback was just more direct, Miguel was given the space to push back and not just get beat up (making in the previous moment Gojo seem like the righteous cool guy, seen by how the fandom reacted to their fight) and he also didn't sugar-coat it and straight up said "you're being racist".

The fact that Gojo apologized, something quite rare for him, and didn't defend his uninformed views or mocked Miguel for questioning him also shows that a lot of this comes from unaddressed biases, irrational fears and having lived a sheltered life in terms of being exposed to other cultures (and actually valuing them) that influence his judgement. He's not trying to be maliciously racist, but he clearly doesn't know what he's talking about and why it is harmful. I don't think he revelled in destroying other people's culture, he was just driven by a base fear, but that doesn't make the harm he caused any better. He's never had any reason to engage with black people on a personal level and that has unsurprisingly led to some ignorant opinions about them. Again, a very common sentiment which Gege uses Gojo to highlight. This is clearly reflecting arguments and talking points Gege has heard themselves and tried to address here. I'm sure there are all kinds of wild racist takes about Miguel on Japanese social media, I know the English side has them plenty.

I think the message Gege wanted to send was executed a bit clunkily by for example still tying Miguel's CT to rhythm (replacing the inhumanly strong black guy stereotype with another common one) and putting the burden all on Miguel to educate the people around him. Similarly, having only one (explicit) black person in the manga who has to then explain anti-black racism to the reader makes it feel very forced. I think you could've avoided a lot of that and included these topics more dynamically by giving us more background on Miguel's technique and how he came to it and comparing it to cursed technique's of other Kenyan or African sorcerer's. Another option would be making Hakari for example Black-Asian (or Todo or Yaga). He has a darker skin tone than the other characters and differently textured hair (which would already lead to him having to face a bunch of bigotry in his everyday life) and he is hated by the conservative higher-ups. So actually do something with that and address it.

Even Japanese people who are merely slightly tanned get harassed. Just being from Kyushu or Okinawa, somewhere where it's much warmer and sunnier and therefore not being as pale as the average person in e.g. Tokyo will get you plenty of derogatory comments, especially if you're a woman. That goes extra for indigenous people like the Ryukyuan or Ainu who not only face prejudice because of their appearance but also legal discrimination because of their origins and challenge the very popular notion that Japan only has one ethnic group and one language. Japan still struggles with a lot of racism internally against their own people, so you can imagine that it's even worse for anyone who newly immigrated or with parents who immigrated (in the best of times you will always be treated as a foreigner no matter how well you speak the language or integrate into the culture simply because you look "different"). It has gotten better in recent times, but it's still a problem, as Gege pointed out in this chapter.

Coming back to Hakari, we would also be able to see through him how jujutsu society treats black-identified Japanese sorcerers, which would be a different perspective from Miguel's who only visits Japan occasionally and mostly operated outside the system until Gojo came along. Black people aren't just something distant overseas, they are also Japanese citizens. You could show if and how jujutsu society differs from regular Japanese society. Most likely they are even more behind as they also discriminate against what kind of cursed technique you have (modern or one based on a long bloodline, which would automatically work against anyone not born in Japan and with a long family history there). You could also combine it with the transphobia Kirara faced and generally show how this system fails young sorcerers who don't conform to their norm.

But yeah, sorry Gojo is not perfect and will fall into the same stereotypical and bigoted thinking as many other people who rarely step outside their narrow homogenous social circle. Like you said, he's privileged with old money and family history who pride themselves on their bloodline. He's generally very narrow-minded about things that don't interest him or he sees as irrelevant like how he doesn't bother to understand Maki or has no problem ignoring a starving child on the road (who cares what happens to Hana, she's weak and Megumi is the strong one, he's who matters here and deserves to be lifted out of poverty) and international sorcerers fall under that as well. There are so little of them so it's okay to ignore them, why should he bother reaching out or informing himself about people abroad, he's never gonna interact with them anyway. If they get too dangerous for his taste, he's just gonna slap them around a bit and take away their sharp toys.

Honestly, I think what Gojo did previously is worse than what he said this chapter. He can learn to check his internalized racism and be more mindful of how he talks to Miguel or black people in general (he shows openness to criticism and improvement here), but he can't bring back Black Rope. It falls to Kenya's sorcerers to recreate it, which will take decades. They'll feel the impact of Gojo's actions long past his death, even when he can't say anything ignorant or racist anymore.

So I don't think this ruins his character, was done by Gege to make Gojo fans feel bad, or meant to keep anyone from liking him. He has character flaws and that is fine. He gets challenged on them and receives push back for them plenty in the story. I can understand that some fans feel bad reading the chapter, hearing Gojo regurgitate talking points they might've heard said against them as well, but it's not really Gege's fault for addressing this very common issue.

#asks #jjk spoilers #jjk 255 #jjk leaks

[campyvillain]

I’m going to say something not a lot of people will like to hear but fuck it. discrimination towards ace and aro ppl - and those adjacent - is 99% of the time just blatant ableism disguised as “discourse”.

neurodivergent - and specifically autistic - ppl tend to make up a large portion of the aspec community since we tend to experience attraction differently than nt ppl, and I’m just saying that the perception of aspec people in the eyes of people who disagree w our existence being that we’re “childish and immature whiny people who are deeply obsessed with childish things and are too infantile to be taken seriously” being not far off at all from a very ableist stereotype of autistic people? yeah no way in hell that’s not a coincidence. when aphobia and arophobia were at their peak, discriminatory allo people LOVED to be like “ace/aro people are so cringe lmao!!!,!, all they do is obsess (insert ‘childish’ media here) but they still want to be TREATED WITH RESPECT?? how dumb lol unlike us REAL lgbts who care about the REAL world and don’t live in some FANTASY LAND they give US a bad name and need to be removed from our community!” and like…. You’re not gonna take a step back and read back what you’re saying? not at all? you’re not gonna do that huh. you do realize you’re falling eerily in line with a verryyyy specific type of ideology that’s also used against nd people here right?

and the thing that blows the most is that a majority of people engaging in “ace/aro discourse” at its peak WERE neurodivergent - but the thing is back then neurodivergence wasn’t NEARLY as recognized or treated with respect as it is in the current time, back when openly admitting you were autistic and being proud of it was unheard of. so instead, neurodivergent allo people with shitty mentalities chose to go after nd aspec/arospec people because the internet had reduced autism to such a drastic punchline that a lot of autistic people internalized that ableism, and so whenever they saw people being open about their neurodivergency they saw it as “cringe” and would make up any reason they could to justify harassment against them. and since a lot of aspec communities are made up of autistic people that those w internalized ableism saw as “infantile” or “threats to their reputation” - its unfortunately no wonder why so many allo nd lgbt people became so obsessed with attacking them for years on end.

and I know this because I (an ace lesbian) used to be in a lot of friend groups who WERE composed of these allo nd lgbt people who would just say the most vile shit about ace and aro people to make themselves feel more “valid” as “true members of the lgbt community” but these were also literally the only out lgbt friends I had. i kept my ace status closeted from them for years and never engaged in any conversations centering around “ace discourse” because I was afraid of the things that they’d do to me - I had seen them turn on their former friends who confessed they were aro or ace overnight because they were “embarrassing to be around”and i didn’t want to lose the only people in my life who’d “cared” about me. I eventually came to my senses and left them and found friends who knew all the gatekeeping was total meaningless bullshit and thank god I did because it damn near saved my life.

people who say that ace, aro, or any group of people who don’t have a “typical” means of attraction “don’t experience oppression at all” are fucking lying. they’re trying to remove any means of accountability from themselves because people who say that ARE the reason why we face the shit we do. THEY’RE the ones perpetuating it. they’re the reason why harassment against us isn’t as taken seriously because they’ve spread the belief that we are making shit up when we continue to call out the harm they’ve done.

so this pride month please just. fucking take a step back and really think about how many exclus talking points just so happen to coincide with ableist talking points. because I guarantee you there’s a lot of them, and in a climate where neurodivergency is actually able to be discussed and handled with respect now, it’s shocking that more people haven’t caught onto this yet.

[sonik-kun]

Reminder that WWX did use a homophobic slur (cutsleeve) before he found out he was, in fact, a "cutsleeve" himself.

I'd also argue that him taking advantage of MXY's body and the rumours associated with him by acting as a "stereotypical gay" to get out of situations was a form of homophobia in itself.

He assumed this was how crazy, gay people act - like sexual deviants. He used that stereotype on top of the rumours about MXY just to get out of sticky situations and avoid being captured.

Whilst this isn't aggressive homophobia, nor would I consider him a raging homophobe myself, he still took advantage of the world view he was raised in, which, in modern terms, was problematic in itself.

Think the harmful, stereotypical, predatory gay trope in anime that a lot of anime fans have taken issue with. That's the stereotype WWX was trying to perpetuate and brush off as a silly joke which is bordering that harmful stereotype territory mentioned above. And yet I don't see the moral "holier than thou" crowd talking about that in their analysis on "fictional characters in an ancient Chinese setting."

(Note before I get jumped on: I don't think WWX was being cruel or malicious when he did this. Nor do I think he purposely intended to sully poor MXY's image further. And I ofc don't think that WWX is a terrible person for doing so either. The guy was desperate and needed to pull tricks to avoid capture. But that still doesn't make things right by modern standards. Even if said stereotype was used to goad a load of "homophobes." Would also like to add that even after coming out, WWX didn't really challenge the societal standard or think ill of anyone who thought like that. It's not like he toured the CW with LWJ, promoting gay rights. He'd be very extraordinary for doing that and brave, too. But he didn't. Instead, he just got up to sexy times with his husband daily and lazed about living the good life. Which is valid of him, tbh, giving the shit he went through. But my point still stands. The social norm persists.)

Also, bare in mind, WWX was heavily in denial about his own sexuality at first and struggled to come to terms with it in the beginning due to the societal norms back then, anyway.

Homophobia was the norm. Stop denying that when you know most of the characters found it bizarre.

By their standards being gay was, unfortunate as it is, unusual and to them, perhaps even immoral in its own right.

By modern standards, we know now that it is wrong. And the moral consensus is that being gay is normal and should not be vilified (even then, not all cultures today have reached that consensus and LGBT rights still have a long way to go).

With this in mind and the notion of what morality meant to people back then, you mustn't hold the characters to modern standards because that was simply the world view. What was "right" back then.

You cannot say with certainty that you wouldn't be homophobic back then, in a world where people called it strange and immoral. As much as I'd like to believe that I would be one of the few who find it wrong to treat gay people poorly, most of us probably would find homosexuality strange because that was the moral consensus of that time. As such, it is unfair to hold characters like JC, JL, and JGY to modern standards for that reason. That's the point we've all been trying to make here.

(Even then, JC and JL both watched as WWX left with his hubby into the sunset and didn't speak illy of their relationship again, nor consider them social outcasts like the Jins and Mos treated MXY. It's almost as if people can change their world views entirely (or to some extent) after things become normalised. Hmm. 🧐

Furthermore, MXTX herself said that JC wasn't a bad person. She wouldn't say that if he's the "aggressive homophobe, incapable of change" like you all seem to imply he is.)

You all make this point about historical context when us JC fans criticise WWX for his clear breach of bodily autonomy with the core transfer and his own war crimes. You should apply that logic to the period typical homophobia too. Because as I have said before, you cannot say for certain that the characters would be homophobic had this taken place in a society where being gay was the norm whilst homophobia was frowned upon. Let's use some logic and context when talking about characters from an ancient time period, shall we?

#canon jiang cheng #jiang wanyin #jiang cheng #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #so sick of this tired ass argument smh #stop holding ancient characters by modern standards #to us modern folk they're ALL problematic in their own way 😂 #get over it