#ESPECIALLY IN TERMS OF GAY REP!!!!

[nighttimeebony]

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!

I'M SOFT, DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!!!!

#viktuuri #victuuri #yoi #yuri on ice #yuri!!! on ice #yuri katsuki #victor nikiforov #im so fucking gay help #this fucking show #HOW HAS IT TAKEN ME THIS FUCKING LONG TO ACTUALLY WATCH THIS SHOW?!!!?!??! #ITS EVERYTHING I WANTED FROM A SHOW #ESPECIALLY IN TERMS OF GAY REP!!!!

[genericpuff]

Just saw your response to someone asking about plot points you hate. Can I ask why you don't like Athena/Hestia? From what I remember (take this with a grain of salt because while I've read the whole comic it's more in a junk food, read and forget til next time kind of thing)

From what I remember it's not a huge plot point? Like its just kinda.. there? It doesn't really impact much of the story at large.

Also I agree with the hades/thanatos thing, that's kinda odd and it doesn't make hades any better or more sympathetic of a protagonist. If I remember right, doesn't he abandon thanatos or push him away?

I have issues with the Hestia x Athena plotline the same way I have issues with the Hera x Echo plotline. It all feels shoehorned in for the sake of seeming 'inclusive' towards gay relationships, but gets next to no actual development or screentime aside from the odd lip service meant to benefit Rachel.

Especially when Hestia and Athena were already embraced as LGBTQ+ icons to begin with and didn't need to be shipped together to make it possible. Rachel has a really hard time comprehending aroace identities and this is present even back in her Tumblr days-

If Hestia and Athena are still supposed to be at least ace in LO then we haven't seen any indication of that. So it just makes them look hypocritical as fuck for running the "virgins only club" that is TGOEM (and even going so far as to punish Persephone for being around Hades by confiscating his gift to her) and that unfortunately makes them look like really terrible people which isn't a great look for the only lesbian couple in the story (at least until Eros and Hera were established but whether or not they're an actual couple now or if that was just a one time kiss scene remains to be seen). Like even the reveal that they're together is Artemis figuring it out and then being pissed that she's the "only one following the rules", not them coming out about it on their own terms.

Also no, the Hestia x Athena plotline wasn't as big as the other plotlines, but it was one of the ones that felt so out of left field and forced when it was first established. Plus I'd just love for them to be aroace rep again, there are characters who are legitimate gay icons that got erased so that Rachel could retroactively shove it into other characters without any reasoning or relevance to the plot.

I honestly wouldn't have been so salty about the Hestia x Athena plotline if it were just written better (and if it didn't reek of aroace erasure) and that goes for a lot of the queer relationships in LO, because so many of them are only given the tiniest ounces of screentime, enough for Rachel to take credit for being "inclusive" but not enough for her to actually have a diverse cast. Morpheus is the most consistently present character we've gotten for LGBTQ+ rep and now even she's been fridged :/

Anyways, as for Hades and Thanatos, yeah, the retcon that Hades was a 'father figure' to Thanatos the whole time seems like it was purely written in to make Thanatos look like a hypocrite for having very reasonable concerns regarding the special treatment being given to Persephone at work. But then Rachel had to actually resolve that plotline so in S3 she had Hades approach Thanatos in search of his brother just for them to have a weak 'heart to heart' where Thanatos took the blame for being a 'handful' and Hades trauma dumped and never really took accountability for everything. The fact that we're supposed to believe they have a father-son dynamic really makes the first season gross to read because the whole time Hades is legitimately treating Thanatos like scum. It absolutely does NOT make Hades more likeable, even with the attempt to 'redeem' him which really just made him look like an even bigger asshole u.u

#ask me anything #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus

[slenderboo]

putting in my two cents as an aroace hazbin fan to the whole alastor shipping debate (adding a cut below because this got long-)

before I start, it's important to remind everyone:

alastor is canonically ace and (semi)canonically aro, and that should be respected the same way we'd respect angel dust's identity as a gay man, or vaggie's as a sapphic woman.

"ace" and "aro", while also functioning as labels unto themselves, are umbrella terms for a lottt of identities. Some of which do include the ability to experience sexual and romantic attraction, in different ways and at different levels (demi, cupio, lith/lithro, grey, aro-and aceflux, the list goes on).

So, given all that, is it possible to interpret alastor as experiencing some level of romantic attraction, or sexual attraction? Of course, identities like the ones I listed above are just as valid as any other acespec and arospec identity.

So, what's the issue then? Right now, a lot of fans are using the breadth of aspec identities and experiences as a shield, to excuse them shipping him like they would an allosexual/alloromantic character.

Just to make it clear, that in itself is erasure. And I know that's a strong statement, and that there being such a broad aroace experience adds nuance to any statement you can make on that, but we have to acknowledge as a fandom that there are objectively wrong ways to handle aspec characters, both in the way we discuss them and in the way we portray them in fan works.

And before anyone says it, saying "alastor isn't real" or "fanon content won't change his canon sexuality" doesn't work when real life aspec people can't even look in a tag of a character that's supposed to represent them without seeing their identity erased. It's the way I feel attempting to engage with a lot of hazbin content, and I know a lot of my fellow aspec hazbin fans are feeling it as well.

So, what's the solution to all this? That's unfortunately kinda complicated. Everyone has a different opinion on what constitutes as erasure, what is good rep, how much benefit of the doubt we should give people, et cetera, and so everyone's solutions look different. In a way there also isn't a way to solve it, since aroace erasure is so normalized in fandom culture (not just the hazbin fandom; fandom culture as a whole) that there will always be a significant portion of fans who will ignore, erase, or otherwise deny alastor's or any other aroace character's sexuality.

So, to put my two cents on it:

My philosophy is that if you're going to ship alastor (or any aspec character for that matter), it's best to have an identity in mind for him to use as reference. For example, I think of alastor as sex-repulsed aroace, and I write him with that in mind. Whatever you pick can be a steadfast headcanon, an identity tailored to the story you want to tell, or one you want to explore in your fanwork, whether for fun or to educate yourself on it better.

What's better is that you don't even need to mention the sexuality itself in the work! Show don't tell is a great writing tool, and for alastor specifically, who canonically isn't aware of his sexuality, it works perfectly. Just simply creating with it in mind, asking yourself, "how would someone with [insert identity] experience this?" and going from there, makes a world of difference.

Just in terms of good fanfic etiquette, I'd also make sure to include it in the tags if you're posting it on ao3, just to make sure your readers know what's up and to help with filtering (I personally don't read any alastor ship fics that don't include the asexual or aromantic tag at this point). Bada bing bada boom, that's representation right there!

Since Alastor is one of very, very few ace characters in mainstream media, and even less aro characters in media period, us as a fandom creating good representation with him is really important, especially in terms of the breadth of aspec identities. We don't get much representation, so claiming he's definitively one label or another isn't productive, and hurts the community in the long run. Fanfiction is first and foremost an exploration of canon, so why not play around with what "aro" and "ace" can look like for him?

Case and point, I've seen some incredible ship fics that headcanon him as demisexual and/or demiromantic, and do a great job representing those identities. I've also seen some really good fics that portray him as sex-repulsed, and others that portray him as sex-neutral or positive. All of that is great, and again, even if it isn't directly mentioned: adding subtext, putting it in the tags, and even simply writing the fic with the sexuality in mind does wonders.

Me personally, I headcanon Alastor with the same identity as me; sex- and romance-repulsed aroace, but open to queerplatonic relationships. That doesn't mean fics that interpret him with a different aspec identity are less valid, or are interpreting him wrong. All of it is valid representation.

And that's not even getting into queerplatonic relationships, which is what I put Alastor into for my own headcanons (queerplatonic radioapple fic when). For that, please do your own research, but remember that queerplatonic relationships tend to look different for every couple. They can be poly, include kissing and physical intimacy, or look just like what most people would consider a regular friendship or regular romance.

So, can you ship aroace characters? Sure you can, as long as it isn't at the expense of their sexuality, or more accurately, the representation their sexuality gives to a historically underrepresented group.

That's pretty much it from me, please remember to support aspec fanartists and fanfic writers, and happy (early) aromantic spectrum awareness week for all my fellow arospecs!!

#not adding the aromantic or asexual tags to this #those tags shouldn't be flooded with ship discourse #so please stop doing that guys #also not joking about the queerplatonic appleradio fic #I may or may not be working on one rn but knowing my writer's block (read: seasonal depression) I won't actually finish it #their dynamic is so much fun to write let me tell you #hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hellaverse

[broomsticks]

intro wolfstar fic recs (fluffy/light angst)

an off-the-top-of-my-head intro to wolfstar reclist for a request on the wolfstar discord. criteria: requestee reads drarry, fluffy to light angst, "maybe classic marauders era for a taste of what the fic is typically like?" i went for (a) present-day active authors and (b) 2017ish "modern-day classics," <50k, mostly canon-setting.

(a) present-day active authors:

Upstairs, Downstairs by @squidgilator (5k, G): great little "intro" fic to one of my favorite hogwarts era pining/get-together authors, "In which Hogwarts traps Sirius and Remus on an endless staircase to make them talk to each other."

Cooler Than Frogs by Penknife (4k, T) & Not In Front Of the Dog! by Engie_Ivy (2k, T) are similar uniquely wolfstar/HP-magic adorable get-togethers.

Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy…Best Friend, Brother, Roommate, Lie by @femme--de--lettres (9k, T): muggle au, Hope Lupin keeps count of how many attempts it takes her son to finally admit that he's in love with his best friend. if you like this, author has two longfic WIPs (a spy AU and a law school AU with terrific rep that's very wonderfully and honestly done!)

on the issue of fever and delight by aeridi0nis (12k, T). post-prank fic, prangst get-together is one of the most classsiicccc wolfstar tropes ever. stellar characterization & just magical prose: "After the initial shock, Sirius closes his mouth. Clears his throat. He wears repentance poorly, as all former princes do; his spine seems reluctant to bend that way, so all he can scrounge up is a pathetic imitation of every other guilty person he’s ever witnessed. It’s perhaps the first time that Remus has seen him fall short in something."

by the same author, in lieu of beaujolais (18k, M) -- another brilliant post-hogwarts first war era muggle london flat-sharing & and then they were roommates/ oh my god they were roommates get-together that has lots of similar feels as 2015ish era ‘classic’ wolfstar.

(b) 2017ish "modern-day classics"

June, and Other Natural Disasters by montparnasse (5k, T) "sirius/remus, summer, huge gay crush". montparnasse is an absolutely classic 2015-2018ish era wolfstar writer with a Certain Writing Style and you either love it or you don't, & if you love this relatively short one, literally everything else in their catalogue are must-reads.

few more M-rated under read more

The things that lurk in the dark by TheDivineComedian (5k, M). MWPP era, sixth year. There's something terrifying in the dungeons. late enough to be 'classic' (tbh any A/N that uses the term mwpp instead of marauders era is straight away a 'classic'). no but seriously this has all the defining features of a classic wolfstar fic to me: strong characterizations of all four marauders, lovely Shenanigans vibe / they're Up To No Good, there's Trauma but make it funny, overall just a great blend of light and angst.

The Active Reader by veeagainst (7k, M). When a craze for pulpy romance novels about Dark Creatures starts in Gryffindor, Sirius reads one about a werewolf -- and decides to write a better one. hilarious, intellectual, and hot; who says you can't have it all! very engaging!!

The Weather Inside by earlybloomingparentheses (43k, M). a classic canon-setting 'falling in love during the first war' story, ensemble fic with background jily. plausibly canon compliant, fic ends happily.

that’s the art of getting by by sarewolf (40k, M). "angst with a happy ending" perfectly describes this fic, one of the best remus/wolfstar raises harry especially for its length / <50k fic, and an absolute modern-day classic (read: Gaerfinn will ban me if i don't rec this)

#wolfstar #wolfstar fic recs #harry potter fanfiction #hp fics #fic rec list

[forgottenspring]

Mild rant on Alastor bc I'm tired.

*takes deep breath*

I was going to stay out of this so rip to my inbox.

Does anybody remember the whole ace doxing list on here? The whole discussion of not shipping gay characters with the opposite gender? The rep for pan/bi representation and the steps to do it right? Does anybody remember when ppl on here discussed how aros and aces aren't a part of the queer community bc they're not 'gay enough' in a way? Bc I do. That was about a decade ago. And I remember when Alastor was first introduced in the pilot and ppl not accepting he was aroace back then.

It doesn't matter if Alastor is entirely aroace and if he's capable of dating or not.

What matters is we still have so little ace representation and acceptance, especially aroace rep, that a few years ago when a real person Jaiden Animations came out as aroace, ppl tried to destroy her, bc even with a perfect valid explanation of her just saying aroaces are their own thing and she just doesn't want to date, ppl treated it like she was lying or was trying to sneak into the queer community and was straight or all the other horrible things yall might remember "fans" did to her.

Alastor being aroace isn't about being the rep of "Aroaces can feel attraction!!!" bc be real honest.

How many aroace popular characters can ppl list that a regular person on the street is going to know? Bc I've heard all their arguments to invalidate their representation.

Jughead? Oh you mean Cole Sprouse who made out and got it on with Lili Reinhart playing Betty bc he found her sexy? Oh but in the old comics he's a gay character whose in denial. Yelena Boleva? Who? Oh that woman? She's hot she's just traumatized and needs to find the right person. Charlie Weasley? Oh he was only in the books? He was confirmed as aroace through a passive comment most ppl didn't know about from the author that never used the term? Luffy? You mean one of the most shipped characters in One Piece? No he's just an idiot/childish so he doesn't understand girls are pretty. Caduceus Clay? Sorry I didn't watch Critical Role whose that? Are you sure he's aroace? He feels gay to me.

I can list more ppl, but I'm sure most ppl couldn't.

I remember the whole discussion of the pan/bi representation argument of "Yes! We know pan/bi ppl can date the opposite gender. But straight ppl don't know about pan/bi nearly at all or don't accept it," so showing it as gay, who know the term more, until it's shown clearly the character is queer and not "confused straights" they then can have opposite gender attraction. Bc sooooo many pan/bi characters end up "straight" at the end of their show/book. Bc I remember when ppl refused to accept that Deadpool is pan bc of his wife and started freaking out when he dated a nonbinary person in the comics or helped that one genderqueer person he knew.

Representation is about showing to ppl what they're not understanding about the identity in the plainest sense of the words of the identity, then when there's enough rep to show they're not all the same, then you can have the ones that break the rules.

Alastor whether or not he wants to date doesn't matter. What matters is this whole situation blew out of proportion bc ppl refused to accept that some ppl don't feel comfy shipping him. Bc they see themselves in him and don't want that. BUT! Also ppl under the aro and ace umbrella also have no rep and wanted to see him breaking the stereotype they probs have yelled at them of "You can't have a partner you're aroace I forbid it" and wanted to see thru their own experiences how that would be done.

Here's the problem.... As someone who has read a lot of aroace headcanon fanfics as an aroace....... A lot of ppl who are allo don't realize aroace "crushes" are missing emotions... That's why they're aroace. And they'll write them like they're the same just "muted" or "needs to warm up" kinda thing. Or make the character's love "childish" to explain the lack of romance/sex. Which is messed up. And that's the problem here.

Alastor didn't need to be this blown out of proportion of a situation. The problem is ppl found him sexy and the classic "But aroace hot, they can't be aroace bc why hot?" discussion got brought back up without the gentle post format discussions and instead it was a lot of shippers on tiktok with tiny word counts arguing a complex issue.

Ppl should be allowed to ship whatever (except problematic I know yall too well), especially if they see themselves in the characters and especially if they have the same identity and want to explore that!!

The truth of the matter is this is such a huge issue that just keeps happening bc ppl are too used to fandom queer spheres where ppl already know aroace means "off the table" and so they want to play with qprs or grayromantics/sexuals not knowing what that entails bc there's sooooo lil aroace rep that actually explores being aroace and a lot of ppl don't know the basics, and even how very different aroace "off the table" is when you aren't the classic "uwu I'm just innocent and have no friends or importance to the plot so just ignore me and have me be adopted by one of the main couples as a 'kid' figure."

Not to mention that a lot of ppl still think ace means aroace. That aces can't date bc there's ppl who don't know that romantic and sexual attraction are different!

I'm just.... So tired. So very tired of having ppl shout at me what it means to be aroace and being unable to look up the lil aroace rep we have bc of this issue I've seen a million times is all.

#Welp rip my inbox tagging bc some of yall might be blocking tags or are actually interested in this. #Just a tired aroace who was here for the whole tumblr debacle back in the day of the aroace community talking about their feelings. #aroace #alastor #alastor the radio demon #hazbin hotel #queer community #ose

[mindfogs]

I WENT TO SEE THE GOOD OMENS MPREG ITALIAN AU MOVIE AND OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING

has little to do with good omens aside the blonde angel BUT it was such good movie, such a nice satire without making fun of the minorities they were so carefully siding with. it was funny and heartfelt and you really feel like the characters are laughing with you instead of at you. it's you in fact who laugh at them when they are acting foolish. the main protagonists do not fall in gay love for each other but are queer by definition (one is literally a pregnant man), queer by the way society treats them, but i also think there's a very clear subtext specifically for trans people (not trans myself so correct me if i'm wrong) and an even more subtle side plot story subtext for homosexuality that i think was done by accident? it's not extremely prominent but you'll see it if you'll look for it. there's another thing that left me pleasantly surprised in terms of queer rep but i really want to avoid spoilers so just, GO WATCH SANTOCIELO RIGHT NOW!!

if you get the chance go see, it's not perfect by any means but it it's so worth it!! especially if you're in Italy please support the movie, let us be clear that we want more movies like this!!

#santocielo #ficarra e picone #foggy thoughts

[redheadbigshoes]

If you’re about to compete with a lesbian about LGBT+ rep in media (or even when it comes to real people) saying lesbians have way more rep than people of your identity, maybe think about certain things:

1) A “lesbian” character is rarely actually confirmed to be a lesbian, especially on screen.

2) The character is usually only confirmed to be sapphic, so only their attraction to women is actually confirmed.

3) Their lack of attraction to men is rarely brought up which could easily make them be any other identity besides lesbian.

4) This leads - a lot - to people invalidating all those canon lesbian characters by hc them as other queer identities considering they’ve never been explicitly confirmed to be a lesbian.

5) Lesbian characters rarely refer to themselves as lesbians, they usually use the gay label, which also makes people invalidate their sexuality and say they could be other identity.

This also happens when it comes to celebrities. There’s probably lesbians out there who 1) either don’t speak publicly about their sexuality (labelling themselves), 2) call themselves “gay” which makes some people think they just don’t like the lesbian label and other people think they’re using “gay” as an umbrella term for LGBTQ+ so it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re lesbian, 3) or decide to be unlabeled because they dislike the lesbian label.

#stephanie talks #lgbt #lgbtqia #lesbian #lesbian pride #long post

[smytherines]

Do you ever think about the fact that agent Mega killing the man he loves is absolutely fucking futile, it accomplishes nothing in terms of "keeping the world safe." Before Curt learns about Owen's plan to create essentially the modern surveillance state, Barb has already told Curt basically the exact same plan. Barb found Chimera island so quickly because she was already scouting locations to do the same exact thing, but for the American government.

Curt comes home from killing the man he loves, and his government (who would btw destroy his life for loving a man) tells him "hey you know that super evil thing your ex-partner was up to? The thing you killed him for? We're doing that exact thing." And Curt just... rolls with it?

Just. I dunno man. The ultimate act of internalized homophobia. That's like 75% a joke but it really does make me feel like (especially with mega bastards headcanon) that Curt killing Owen almost feels like killing off that part of himself? The part that loved Owen. Because it sure as shit didn't accomplish anything for world peace or whatever.

Yes, Tatiana tells Curt he doesn't need to hide behind a beard to be cool (get it, do you get it), but it kinda sorta feels like for Curt, being a spy again means slipping back into that pretending to be a straight white guy macho rizz (as the kids call it).

Obviously this is a genre parody and thus has to more or less abide by the rules of the spy movies it is parodying. This story takes place in that world, not our world. Within the narrative Curt is good and Owen is bad. But headcanon is so fun (at least for me, for this show) because thinking about these characters in a real world context adds so many possible dimensions to them.

This isn't meant to denigrate spies as a queer story, to be clear. This is all headcanon stuff, subtext informed by each individual's experiences & beliefs. Having gay characters with enough depth to them to be debated AT ALL is good queer rep in my book. These men are both absolute disasters. That's ok- You can be gay and a disaster

#spies are forever #agent curt mega i love you but you're a messy bitch #agent curt mega #owen carvour #curtwen #tin can bros

[booasaur]

Any new upcoming series with w/w?

Lol, I had a whole answer typed up and almost completed last night, I could only remember a few upcoming shows but added a bunch of ongoing and recent with descriptions and then the post editor hiccuped and removed most of it so I angrily went to sleep instead.

But maybe that was for the best, because this morning a video of upcoming f/f shows in April came out so now I can add a few more.

There's Dead Ringers, that show with Rachel Weisz playing twin gynecologists and since it's a genderbent adaptation of an existing movie we already know it's gonna be super messy. It would be pretty wild for Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies to not have some wlw and luckily it does, the trailer itself reveals a couple. Tiny Beautiful Things, with Kathryn Hahn and Sarah Pidgeon (Leah in The Wilds) playing her younger self, apparently Kathryn Hahn's character's daughter is queer. Slip is a kinda scifi, where a bored wife cheats on her husband and realizes every time she has sex with someone, she wakes up married to them. The show's about her trying to get back to her original life, and there are a series of different husbands, but also a few wives (also, the first "replacement" husband is played by Boorman's actor from Willow!). There are also the upcoming Thai dramas Be Mine, Reverse 4 You, and 23.5, as previously mentioned.

In terms of returning series coming back, there's the Disney cartoon The Owl House, getting its final ep. Single Drunk Female's second season is returning soon. It has a bi lead, and she did have a female love interest but it was pretty temporary compared to the will they/won't she has with the main character male love interest. Her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, also a very main character, is a lesbian, and she's married but her wife's actress is a regular on another show now so I dunno if she'll be back.

Welcome to Eden, a Spanish thriller about people trapped on an island with a cult, ended the first season on a major cliffhanger so it'll be exciting to see what happens now, though it feels like anyone could die so that's a bit nerve-wracking. It has a lot of different kinds of rep, f/f, m/m, trans, one of the gay guys is deaf too and it's a plot point that his boyfriend won't learn sign even though his friends have.

The Epix series From is a pretty well done horror series about people trapped in a town and who get hunted at night, it's more ominous and suspenseful than outright gory. It actually has three wlw, though one is mostly with one guy, the one who's engaged to a woman outside the town seems to be about to start a romance with another guy, and one is a teen who's crushing on the first woman, feels unrequited. I didn't know about any of them when I started, so they're a bonus, the show itself is rather compelling.

As for current shows, The Power (lol, get it, current) started last night on Prime, it's nice that after the misreading of Class of '07, this new show about girls does immediately have a wlw. Gap's already finished but it made such a splash, if you haven't watched, I'll mention it again. The other Thai drama, Show Me Love, is still airing. Fantasy Island is honestly kind of sweet, it feels like one of those '90s shows, episodic, bright colors and optimism, and great guest stars. One of the two leads, I'd say, or at least the second billed main, is queer.

We got our three firefighter shows, 9-1-1 with a solid (now) established relationship, Fire Country, a lesbian character but not much screentime, and of course Station 19, which is honestly winning me back in a huge way with their current storyline (if they land it).

Cop wlw update (why are there so many of them!): NCIS Hawai'i remains super cute, especially when Lucy is on, looks like Ayanna on Law & Order: Organized Crime got herself a new gf with a super hot voice, The Rookie: Feds still has Niecy Nash playing a super likable and bi lead. I couldn't stand the egregious copaganda in FBI: Most Wanted, and like, imagine how bad it'd have to be, when I can still watch all the rest of these shows, but Sheryll's still there, so. Sin Huellas (No Traces) has already finished but gets another mention for being as funny as it was, with a cute, hot couple at the center. Rabbit Hole's just started, but the initial antagonist/probable grudging ally's an FBI lady who within the first 10 minutes of the first ep dropped that she had a wife. Van der Valk has started its third season and though I'm gonna keep hoping Lucienne's INCREDIBLY hot ex from 2x03 returns, Lucienne, second billed, is plenty hot by herself. Ariana Guerra, who played the novitiate in Helstrom, has joined the second season of CSI: Vegas. Her character's bi and has a main character boyfriend but he seems like he'll most likely end up with a different character.

I'm not really going through these in any particular order, except combining the above two types, but let me just blow through the rest of the ongoing shows: the Canadian family comedy Run the Burbs has been quite sweet in how it's written the teen daughter, How I Met Your Father comes across as an old fashioned sitcom, except one of the characters is a lesbian. It's kind of fun in its familiarity and low stakes. I didn't expect to be as drawn into The Watchful Eye as I did, the trailer felt quite soapy and it was, at times, but all the nannies were great, and I ended up quite liking the f/f side couple. It's amazing what actual personalities can do. :o A Million Little Things is winding down its final season and Grace Park's character is engaged to Cameron Esposito's character so it feels pretty endgame at this point.

If you didn't watch or stopped watching Carnival Row because the main m/f relationship seemed so especially trite, you maaaay want to give it another look. I'm not nearly caught up with Bel-Air, but in the first season they wrote Ashley's sexuality really well, especially since she's so young. I'm sure you can't have missed my Perry Mason gifsets by now, but I can only reiterate what a great character Della Street is. One of the kids in Gotham Knights is bi (and her brother is trans!) but I'm not sure it's worth getting invested before cancellation. Unless the CW is only going to keep projects involving the Supernatural trio?

At this point, hoping everyone who's into wlw has at least tried Yellowjackets or is aware enough of it to know they don't want to try it. Las Pelotaris 1926 is a Spanish language historical drama about female athletes playing--well, the sport is basque pelota but if you need a reference point, it's like squash or racquetball. If you haven't yet caught up with RWBY, now would be an okay time. Lastly, I've still never watched any of Riverdale or even Choni clips, but its final season has just started and you know, I gotta respect the longevity of whatever they've been doing with them, however up and down they seem to have been, and perhaps this final season will be an up. From what I've seen on SM, they seem to get endgame soulmatey treatment more than any of the other ships and I can respect that.

Aside from the Thai dramas that might air after April and a few of the other shows that ended their seasons in March (or February in Gap's case), all of these have eps airing this month. After this year of cancellations, I think it's worth enjoying what we can, even as we acknowledge how much lead/main character rep and longevity we're losing. :o

#replies #femslash related stuff #sent on 20230329 #Anonymous #5 #the power prime spoilers #thai drama #spoilers #I don't even know where to begin with tagging #also when I say last night I mean thursday night #by the time I finished this actually last night (friday) it was so late I didn't have the energy to proof

[cowbilover]

lo and queer masc/man rep

or therefore the complete lack there of. which is incredibly insulting considering how common and prominent it was in original myth (although not always perfect but what greek myth is regardless of straight or gay). also i will be using queer in place of LGBT+ as an umbrella term so if you're not comfortable with that then sorry.

now rachel has made attempts at including queer rep through hestia and athena as lesbians and morpheus (and maybe chiron? idk) as trans women. which could be a whole separate post on its own with the problems that arise with them, but seeing as i am not a lesbian or trans woman, i will not be speaking on them in this post nor to the same degree if i do ever mention them.

what i am is a queer man, both bisexual and trans. i am also a big enjoyer of greek myth. i am not a big enjoyer of lore olympus nor of rachel's complete lack of representation when it comes to men like myself despite it being again very prominent within the original myths. now seeing how badly she has handled other forms of representation for other groups, i am partially glad she hasn't tried. but while i am a little happy, i am more so overall upset and annoyed at this. it comes off as nothing more than simple erasure.

the closest we've seen of rep for queer men/mascs is aged up storge who is more feminine then other men in the story, but this has not been explicitly confirmed therefore i will not be including this. besides men can be both feminine and still cishet. finally storge is a minor background character with little importance, so even if rachel did decide to make him canon queer we likely would not see much of that.

his brother eros is another annoying case as he is unarguably coded as a gay best friend stereotype. but without being gay. he is fashionable, witty, intelligent, dramatic, and always serves as a shoulder for his straight friend to cry on. but again he is not even fucking gay. he is married to a woman with a child. while i would like to see better representation then the gbf stereotype it is still insulting that rachel while coding eros to act like that couldn't even do the bare minimum of making him bisexual.

now it has been pointed out to me that names of male lovers to gods have been used and slapped on female nymphs. krokos (one of persephone's dead nympth friends) was a male spartan lover of hermes, and ampleus (the name pysche took as a nymph) was a lover of dionysus. now i am not upset that rachel didn't include the original stories since the story is already messy enough. i am upset that she took the names of two queer men from myth and slapped them on two woman. one of which ends up marrying a man, and the other dying. a quick google search could show that these names belonged to male lovers of gods, and so to me it comes off as at best lazy and at worst erasure.

i won't be discussing much of dionysus since he was only recently introudced. nor of apollo since the erasure of his queer identity is only one of many problems that occur with his character and how rachel wrote it, which could constitution a completely separate post.

i will be discussing hermes though. as both a character that we have seen a lot of, and as one that has not been completely villainized by the plot. he had an incredibly early appearance in the webtoon and had a handful of myths where he had male lovers or expressed homosexual love. but not a single mention or even passing comment has ever been made about this. it would be incredibly easy for rachel to just throw in one allusion to any of his male lovers (besides krokos who has been turned into a nymph for some reason) yet this never happens.

zeus is another character we have seen a lot of, especially in regards to his many affairs. all of which have canonically been with women. despite the many affairs he carried out with men. one of the most famous being ganymede and the foundation for the myth behind aquarius and the cup bearer. again it would not be so incredibly difficult for rachel to add any allusion to his male lovers. yet again though, nothing. (i will come back to this post after some fast passes become public and i can discuss his treatment as a pregnant man)

poseidon also had a couple queer lovers but besides the reference to the fact that he has a polygam "pod" we haven't actually seen any of his partners besides his wife.

the way rachel draws men with all perfect six pack bodies is also something that annoys me, and i'll be discussing it briefly here. people always comment on the lack of body diversity for the women in the comic but for the men it is much more severe. hermes, thanatos and eros who were all shown to be more skinny and not completely jacked in the beginning of the story are now all ripped with washboard abs. the men are all built like brick walls and it is just upsetting to see as a trans man who does not fit into that category. it sends the message that to be attractive a man must be perfectly fit. not scrawny or skinny or god forbid even fat.

also again as i said in the beginning many of the myths for queer men were just as fucked and problematic. it’s greek mythology it’s inevitable. but i’m more upset over the fact that if rachel can modernize and (attempt to) make hetero myths less gross, then where is that effort for homo myths

overall despite the overwhelming amount of queer man/masc rep that exists within the source material, rachel utilizes none of it. there has not been mention or allusion to a single queer god, forget any trans god. to me it comes off as purposefully ignorant and as erasure of queer men/mascs. which is fucking annoying considering how many of us see ourselves for once fucking represented in these myths. she has plenty of opportunity to include rep for people like myself but continuously chooses not to, instead adding another hetero-centric plot line for no reason. it is tiring and annoying to see so many gods that were queer in their myths not be represented as such. i will not make assumptions about why rachel chooses not to include this kind of rep, i will simply say to me it comes off as blatant erasure.

i could go on, and probably will come back to this post but for now i have said what i have wanted to say.

#long post #anti lore olympus #anti lo #lo critical #rant #rant post #just let the gods be fruity goddamn

[olderthannetfic]

Instead of death of the author, how about death of the fan(on)? This is tongue in cheek btw. Take it with a grain of humour. I read a lot of LGBT stories in recent times, especially canon same-gender couples. We already covered the topic, but stuff like top/bottom vs switch, or masc/femme/gnc-categories and people being against what they claim is heteronormative, or just don't like in terms of queer rep.

In the fandom corners I've been some people are really weird about eg M/M dynamics that are top/bottom for example. It's the easiest one to talk about without needing to be into fandom, and there's already been a cover of this topic here so I think people already come decently prepared.

So parts of the louder fandom is very set on trying to make them switches, even though canon is pretty clear about the fact that they are just top/bottom. No problem, we have our preferences. Where a problem happens, is when these people take canon and only pick like random quips, references or other small sections to build the entire argument of "THEY ARE SWITCHES", and then treat it as canon, at the same time disavow actual canon. Basically they're cherry picking canon to create their fanon, then call it canon above the actual canon. So at the same time they ignore the very same canon that does very clearly and openly show them as top/bottom, and much more in your face and even claim people are variations of homophobic/heteronormative for preferring the (canon) dynamic of top/bottom.

Add on weak logic for fanon and ignoring canon, since it's often a difference between "them being switches is canon because the MC asked to switch their dinner plates" vs straight up "MC said he only likes being bummed up the bum."

Now death of the fan(on) could be when you see a fanon being treated as the canon, but the actual source story supports basically none of it. When you basically just ignore the cherry picked fanon, because neither the story, nor the intent within the story supports any of it. You're saying this fanon is actually canon or asking if I've even read the book?* Sorry death of the fanon, but I did not catch any hint of that when actually reading the book. If I gotta know fanon to catch it, then your intent to claim it as canon just really didn't translate into it. Your fan-intent when creating that fanon is just too weak for me to find any strong proof of it when reading, especially when the canon is constantly rubbing in my face over your claimed fanon. Oh your intent with the fanon was to fight heteronormativity? Sorry but your fanon actually reads as you being conditioned towards cishet-normativity because you try to ascribe a heteronormativity to canon queer characters in a very much gay relationship. Sorry but your intent with this fanon is just so weak I gotta call death of the fanon on that one. *actual question I got after talking about a canon part of the book because it went against fanon.

lol anyway, this is just a bit of tongue in cheek, and just to vent a bit of my frustration with certain fanons trying to erase canon, but still use that very same canon to prop up their fanon above the canon.

--

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

lgbt thoughts

like the ethnicity post i really only have ideas about certain characters and the rest are up to whatever people think they are ^_^ i mean these are too, speculate whatever you want, but heres my interpretation of a few characters

joner: aroace. romance-neutral. this is all self projection on my part, i think joner as a character just prefers friendships to relationships and romance would make him uncomfortable but hes very supportive of others. he/him (impartial to she/her though)

scary: aromantic and unlabeled otherwise. romance-repulsed AND she's a hater about it. she/he/they

kelly: always been transfem somehow to me. transhet. they/them and VERY occasionally they/she, really depends on the mood

michela: bigender boygirl but doesn't really talk about it, especially in those words. would date whoever but high preference for dudes. would label her preference for guys as either straight or gay depending on the context. she/her

courtney: calls themselves non-binary for binary people but it's more complicated than that. sapphic with an itty bitty tiny like for guys they they're still sorting out (is it platonic? romantic? they don't know) . they/them

ass: doesn't care. doesn't know. definitely not cis but a part of it is just not wanting to be like other girls. has a lot of self-doubt over their identity and actually tends to move through labels quite quickly, so they use they/them as a catch-all neutral

max: i had a hard time with this one in terms of good rep and stuff like that, but i think it's safe for me to say max is a pretty binary trans guy. more or less transhet but hes more flexible when it comes to michela's identity. he/him

scruffy: transmasc lesbian and that was always the intention tee bee ach ^_^ they/them but sometimes they/he if they feel like it

fren: gay and definitely not cis but he's very mysterious about it. he/him

bonnie: like courtney also tells binary people that they're non-binary out of convenience, but they definitely don't feel like the term really fits them. not fem not masc not androgynous but something new entirely (goth). on a more serious note i do think the gender fuckery in the goth subculture made them realize a lot of things about themself when they first got into it. also a frequent label-changer when it comes to sexuality. they/them

patrick: unironically too obsessed with himself to be into anyone else in a romantic way /j. hes bad aro representation. hed slay in a QPR tho. he/him

julia: lesbian but she hasnt come to terms with it yet lol. i agree w the headcanons that shes aspec in some regard but havent put much thought into it. she/her

kitty: pan but adverse to romantic relationships. some kind of gender. also a furry i dont think ive mentioned it yet but they have a fursona and made patrick make one too. therres a canon patrick fursona in my notes. no set pronouns, tells people to use whatever

peter: bi and trans guy. tends to prefer girls and feminine presenting people for the most part! he/him

I don't know what sha-mod and mclovin are but they're definitely something. same with caesar, idk what's going on there but he's definitely not cishet.

I definitely need to write albert, phillip, and noco more to get a good feel for them. and everyone else i dont have any strong feelings on

[telelsie]

GAY SPOCK REAL OR FAKE PLEASE READ

i haven’t been an active tumblr user in about 3 years but SNW and the whole gay spock debate has been occupying enough space in my mind that i felt the need to inflict my opinion onto you all.

as a spirker myself, i’m not at all denying that the het romance arcs SNW is pushing for jim and spock are by no means my favorite. i dearly dearly wish that we would’ve gotten at least SOME queercoding from SNW this season, but i’m also not as disappointed as some of you are with the choices the SNW team has made for spock’s character. i’ve seen quite a few people begging for gay spock (bless u all) and canon spirk from SNW, which is unquestionably the ideal outcome for the series — and given the way both the writers and actors have reacted to and welcomed fan opinions and questions about where the jim/spock dynamic is heading, i don’t think it’s unreasonable at all for us to be optimistic about the show’s direction. if sybok can be in a queer relationship, then we’ve already gone miles past existing TOS canon in terms of queer rep.

admittedly, SNW has issues (ortegas show us ur girlfriend and the lesbian flag hanging in ur quarters!!! we all know it’s there!!), but i struggle to believe that the het romance arcs for jim and spock were written with the intention of convincing fans to ~let go of spirk~ or anything along those lines. in fact, i think the biggest issue that trek fans are having with SNW is wanting it to deliver on all the subtext and queercoding that existed in TOS on an implicit level explicitly and immediately. SNW is a prequel. it’s whole job is to set up and develop the relationships that appear in TOS; and it does an amazing job of this for the most part, especially in giving the female characters like una, christine, and t’pring traits other than crippling gene roddenberry syndrome. what i’m trying to say is that the SNW writers are doing a good job. yes, even (ESPECIALLY) with spock.

i get why people are protective of his character, i am too, but i don’t understand the lack of faith and, honestly, lack of viewing comprehension, that i’m seeing from self proclaimed spock fans. if you were expecting SNW to give us fully formed Nimoy-Spock within the first two seasons, then i’m sorry, but you’re a little bit of an idiot. a lot of you both don’t understand the purpose of the show (in general and in relation to spock’s development) and don’t value the importance of long form storytelling. in fact, in my ideal world, spirk wouldn’t even be together by the end of SNW. part of the value of the k/s dynamic in TOS was spock’s internal struggle with his feelings for jim, a struggle that defines his character, actions, and life throughout TOS and the movies. this is a struggle that isn’t resolved until midway through the movies, and it wouldn’t be doing justice to the canon that created spirk to have their relationship evolve into romance before the events of TOS.

spirk is, and always will be a long form story which derives its value from the fact that it is a Very Very slow burn. for the relationship to retain its value without being watered down by reinterpretation, it needs to have all the turns, pitfalls, and pining that it did in the original canon. although it’s entirely possible that the SNW writers have no plans of canonizing spirk, it’s also entirely possible that their plans are just a little more long term than what most of the community wants right now. i would far prefer a spirk that begins in 3 seasons of steadily evolving homoerotic friendship than one that jumps the gun and results in an unsatisfying and underbaked depiction of a relationship that deserves to be done justice.

TLDR: be patient!!! stop acting like SNW is actively taking spirk out behind the shed and shooting it!! SNW is already the best new trek to come out of the revival — give it a little more time and slack to build momentum and solidify its position within paramount and the fan community and you’ll be happy you waited.

#star trek #star trek snw #strange new worlds #spirk

[utilitycaster]

@spiderdreamer-blog I hope you don't mind me spinning off on this because I agree, and I have some unsubstantiated thoughts as to why. For what it's worth, it's common across fandom spaces; it's not specific to any one fandom.

Anyway. I think a lot of young people, especially young queer people, with politically conservative and often right-wing religious (usually but not exclusively Evangelical Christian) parents have, understandably, found a haven in fandom. Unfortunately, they have not yet learned how to actually interrogate their beliefs or look at things from a nuanced perspective, only to do a simple swap of what's Good and what's Bad (eg, used to be that God was Good and The Gays were Bad and now that's flipped, rather than like, a mature and complex approach to religion and sexuality and morality.)

(putting the rest under a cut because this is long as fuck and as stated, ultimately an unsubstantiated rant.)

The reason I think it's particularly pronounced in Evangelical Christians, at least among Americans, is that they can both leave and not leave in a way that say, an ex-ultra-Orthodox Jewish person (of whom I, as a Jewish person who was raised in a much more mainstream and moderate denomination, know quite a few) cannot. If you leave a small minority religion within your area, you are forced to undergo profound culture shock to survive. An ex-Evangelical in America, unless they were truly in an extremist cult to the point that like, women wearing pants is shocking to them, can remain in a kind of in-between state indefinitely.

I think it's gotten worse recently because of both the extreme and rapid polarization and subsequent insularization (that's not a word but you know what I'm getting at) caused by the Republican Party's descent into Christian fascism that's been going on for some time but rapidly accelerated in 2016; and the fact that the pandemic plus tiktok plus internet access in general have made it easier and at times preferable to only engage with likeminded online communities, whereas if you, well, go outside and touch grass, you will meet people who are largely on your side but still at times disagree with you, and this will speed up the process of developing critical thought.

Since we're talking about fandom here, you can also throw in the Geek Social Fallacies as a complicating factor - replace "ostracizer" with "person asking for some actual complexity" or "criticizer".

Also, I don't think everyone engaging in this behavior is from this particular background; I think that you also get newer people, especially young people new to fandom, who see this kind of behavior and don't realize how fucked up it is and just think it's the norm.

Anyway, things this explains:

In general:

What I like to call the people who think the B in LGBT stands for blue hair people: people who have never actually talked to queer people outside of fandom or learned any meaningful history/differences or evolution in terms and subcultures over the past century. People who don't understand how dramatically better the media landscape has become re: queer rep even in the past couple decades. Which leads to such nonsense takes as "it's queerbaiting to have the Wrong Lesbians Kiss", failure to understand non-traditional relationships, or getting weirdly hostile when people do not immediately equate like, a brightly colored shirt with Being Gay, or conversely getting mad when a canonically queer character doesn't "look queer".

An inability to separate ritual/observance from faith or handle the idea of fictional gods or fictional characters who find comfort in religion. This gets particularly bad in fantasy stories where the idea of physical, objectively real gods is not uncommon.

An inability to separate out what was is overly strict or abusive parental behavior vs just like, parents being imperfect human beings.

The belief that experiencing or enjoying something with behavior that can be deemed "problematic" will infect you with The Problems. Relatedly, the belief that mere depiction of something is glorification (ie, Conservatives:saying a trans person just living their life is glorifying Bad Lifestyles and Corrupting The Youth::The kind of person I'm talking about:saying that if you show violence in media it's Bad to have Shown Bad Things)

Overemphasis on "wholesome", uplifting, and unchallenging material. I wish everyone who legitimately thought that saying fix-it-fics are good actually because it's inherently and objectively better to show a character living than dying a very grow a fucking brain.

Being fucking weird about the concept of redemption arcs and seeing redemption either as a binary (redeemed/not redeemed) or alternately as something you must constantly and endlessly self-flagellate over until you die instead of just like, an ongoing process during which you may also live a normal life. (FWIW the reason I think people are SO weird about these is because they still only really understand redemption as Being Saved but since they no longer really believe in that specific process they sort of short circuit.)

Trusting charismatic individuals who reaffirm your beliefs instead of understanding how to do research and verify sources. (terrifyingly, not limited to fandom).

Basically, if someone sounds like they're proposing an even more severe Hayes Code, except it's gay and anticapitalist? Chances are this is precisely what's up.

I think it also might be behind the following behaviors:

I know I've been on this a lot but spamming tons of people with the same claim. Real knocking on my door asking me if I've heard the good news or informing me while I am literally just taking an elevator that Jesus loves me energy. (The fact that the specific person who I think keeps doing this is obsessed with penance is also contributing.)

Freaking out when people don't agree, due to a mindset that does not have room for doubt or dissent.

Anyway I do think a lot of people, as they finally break free and go to college or go to their first job and get therapy and meet people with different perspectives, unlearn these behaviors, but there's still that constant influx of new young people who act like this. And, unfortunately, because this mindset is somewhat tautological (I am good therefore what I like is good->if the thing I liked does not reflect my belief it is not good->beliefs reinforced), without that outside real-world influence you do get people who are just...stuck.

#long post #on fandom #anyway gonna leave that there and go do work at the coffee place for an hour or so

[redheadbigshoes]

It’s so weird and disheartening to go looking through personal projects or comics made by people, especially other sapphics, and there’s almost never any lesbians, or there’s one who is typically not well written, or just a side character with no real substance. It’s hard to ever find lesbian content with substance I connect to (just from own preference of character types and such). Fun times

And I feel like when the fictional character is meant to be a lesbian what usually happens is that the writers are afraid to use the actual word that describes their identity, so they try using other things like “gay” which ends up invalidating the few lesbian characters we have because most canon lesbians don’t ever describe their identity as lesbian, and the ones that describe themselves as “gay” are often used as an argument of “gay is an umbrella term it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re lesbian”, or maybe they don’t explicitly show they’re not attracted to men so that’s another excuse non-lesbians use to be all like “they could be bi or pan”.

This reminded me of a post on Twitter I saw today that was meant to show LGBTQ+ rep of celebrities and THE ONLY identity that they didn’t explicitly use the label was “lesbian”. When it came to lesbian celebrities they either used “sapphic” or said something like “this person is dating/married to a woman”.

#stephanie answers #anon #long post