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mask131 · 2 years

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Magical summer: Seidr

SEIDR

Category: Norse mythology / Norse belief and folklore

I talked in my previous post about the “real” Norse magic, the seidr (also written “seidhr”, or “seithr” depending on the translator). But what is it, exactly?

Seirdr wasn’t just a mythological idea, though it did play a key part in mythological texts – it was also an every-day practice in Norse society and something the ancient Norse deeply believed in. Seidr was their form of magic, sorcery, witchcraft. To practice seidr allowed one to do a wide array of things. Seidr was used for the art of prophecy: it allowed one to see in the future, and to guess the fate of a person, it was the divination art and the craft of the seers. But it could also be used to influence or change said fate or manipulate the events of the world: the seidr can for example curse or hex someone. But it isn’t just a negative magic, the seidr can do as much good as bad, it can harm like it can heal. It is illustrated by the story of a seidr witch in an historical saga, who could make a man forget memories by striking a man on the left cheek with her staff, but who could also make a man remember forgotten things by striking him on the right cheek. The seidr practitioners were also said to be able to connect with the spiritual or divine realms through chanting and praying – in fact, seidr frequently used “galdr”, aka spells and incantations sung like songs or poems.

Seidr was mostly a feminine art, with its most numerous and famous practitioners being women, called by all sorts of different names all roughly translated as “witch” or “seer”. These seer-witches were usually dressed in mantle/cloakhoods, holding a sort of staff or distaff they used for their ritual, called the “seidstafr”, and sometimes with several talismans either on them or in a bag they kept on their person. One of the most famous seidr-woman of mythology is named “Groa”. She was a “völva” (seeress) that Thor asked for help one day: he had a piece of stone stuck in his head and wanted it removed. The völva started singing a spell that would remove the piece of stone from the god’s skull and heal his wound, but in the middle of the ritual Thor distracted her by giving news about her missing husband, and she was overcome with joy, to the point of messing up the ritual and failing to perform the spell. Ever since this day, Thor still has a piece of stone stuck in his skull. In another poem her son uses a form of necromancy to summon her ghost from beyond the grave, and at his demand she casts upon him nine spells of protection to help him overcome difficult tasks. A similar story of a “resurrected seeress” appears in another poem, where Odin goes to the underworld to resurrect a deceased völva/seer, and she gives him a prophecy about the current state of the world and what elements and clues will herald and begin Ragnärok. In fact, the strong use of seidr as a way to obtain prophecy and do fortune-tellings associated the seidr-women with the Norns, the Norse goddesses of fate – there is still a big debate to know if the Norns are connected to the seidr or if they just happen to have similar functions and powers.

Now, it is not because the majority of seidr users are women that it is a one-gendered art. There were male practitioners of seidr, seidr-men. But there was… one problem. The Norse people saw the seidr as a feminine art, a craft typically and traditionally associated with women (it was believed women had a natural affinity and natural abilities for seidr). When a man practices seidr, by extension it makes him “unmanly”, “effeminate”, “womanly”. And in Old Norse society, when a man is “unmanly” or effeminate, it is a great source of shame. It is a dishonorable state corresponding to a heavy social taboo. The Norse ideal for a man was that of someone who assumed their power and superiority in a direct and “honest” way, through their physical (or mental) abilities. A man had to prove his strength and courage in combat, in physical battle, in athletic and sportive competitions. For a man to use seidr as a way to fight or get what he wants meant two things: on one side he was a “coward” who used the “easy” way out of a combat and basically used a “cheating” system to get out of the game (as magic was dishonorable for men); on the other, the practice of magic was thought to weaken the user, and a man that relies too much on magic instead of using his physical might or martial arts, would ultimately become a helpless thing. Despite this great rejection of male magic-users, seidr kept being taught to a handful of men: for example when a female seidr user became a mother, she usually taught her craft to her children, be it a girl or a boy ; and several of these “witches” were recorded to have taken young men as their apprentice.

In terms of gods and mythology, there were two main deities associated with the practice of “seidr”.

One was Freyja, the most beautiful of all the goddesses, goddess of love, fertility, sexuality but also war and gold. Freyja was said to be the goddess of seidr and one of its most notorious practitioners. Freyja is not originally an Aesir : she is part of the Vanir clan, a second clan of gods distinct from the Aesir (your typical “Norse gods”). Where the Aesir are gods of crafts, art, war and battle, the Vanir are rather gods of fertility, wealth and the benevolent forces of nature. For a long time the two clans were at war but ultimately a peace treaty was signed and some of the Vanir were “adopted” by the Aesir and came to live in Asgard as a sign of reconciliation. Freyja was one of the Vanir deities who lived among the Aesir, and it is said that she brought with her the art of the seidr, that was commonly practiced by the Vanir but entirely unknown to the Aesir. And even more… Freyja was the one who taught Odin how to use seidr.

Because it might surprise you, but the other important deity of seidr is a male one, and none other than Odin, king of the Aesir gods. Yes, Odin is the ruler of all magic and the master of all sorcery: he is the keeper of the secrets of the runes, he learned through self-sacrifice numerous magical charms, as a god of the dead he could use a form of necromancy to invoke ghosts or make corpses move again… And he learned the seidr from Freyja and became a master of it. In fact, it is something that Loki used as an insult during the Great Flyting of the Gods (see my Loki posts): he accused Odin to be “unmanly” due to being a practitioner of seidr. It might seem strange to have the main and most honored gods of the Norse also being the practitioner of such a shameful thing, but one must understand that Odin was a “total” deity. Odin was a master at everything, at all the arts and crafts: he was an excellent warrior and a war god, he was an intelligent and cunning fellow, he was the best poet that ever existed, and he was also a great wizard. Odin was the master and keeper of ALL the ways to fight and conquer others, be it physical, spiritual or magical – and thus he was an expert when it came to fight honestly AND when it came to fight cheap.

- - -

It is a pretty widespread and commonly accepted interpretation and theory that the "seidr" magic was actually a sexual magic, and it is thought to be the reason why there was such shame and taboo around it. Freyja, beyond being a seidr mistress, was mostly a sex goddess with a very active sexual life. The staffs that the female seidr practicioners always wielded were often described with sexual terms in poetry and literature, making them obvious phallic symbols. The "unmanliness" and "effeminate" accusations against male seidr users placed them in the same category as the other main "unmanly" people: homosexuals. By extension, Loki's insults to Odin during the great Flyting mix together the fact of practicing seidr and the fact of sleeping with men. That, and many other elements, lead people to believe that seidr was a magic powered by sex, and/or with sex rituals, and that the practicioner of seidr, during sex rites and sexual activities, had to be in a "receiving position", so to speak. This is why women were considered "naturally gifted" for seidr and why the Norse didn't mind them doing it ; and by extension it is also why the Norse associated male seidr users and homosexuals. To be a male seidr, as Odin seems to prove, means to be a "bottom" in an homosexual relationship.

#magical summer #norse mythology #magic #seidr #witchcraft #norse #odin #freyja

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metanarrates · 10 months

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ok so I asked this to @ineedacatchyna1 on twitter and @your--isgayrights and I want to hear your additional thoughts. so basically hsy's character arc doesn't focus much on her femininity/womanhood compared to jhw/ysa but do you think an argument could be made for it + how her arc like relates to the death of the author/post structuralism stuff. ty u don't have to answer this asap

first of all, I'm flattered that you like my analysis enough to ask me, but I have the MAJOR disclaimer that 1. I am still partially through my reread and i haven't read orv in full since last year, which means my memory isn't as great as it could be and 2. I've never actually learned much about post structuralism. I just went and read some primers on it in order to answer your ask, but keep in mind that i have nowhere near the familiarity with it that a proper scholar might.

that said, if you still wanna read my thoughts on it, here they are under the cut. would love to roundtable discussion this stuff with other orv fans also:

I actually do find it notable that han sooyoung's arc isn't very gendered. i have a lot of stuff constantly cooking in my brain about other kimcom adults and their interactions with gendered tropes - yjh as the masculine Action Hero and ysa as the feminine Heroine in particular, but jhw and lhs also have a lot of heavily gendered stuff written into their characters. even characters with less screentime, like lee sookyung, have pretty high emphasis on their gender. (big shoutout to jang hayoung also for being Epic Transgender.) i wouldn't exactly say that gender is a big theme in orv, but it comes up frequently and a LOT of adult characters interact with the world in very gendered ways. subversions of that norm are usually notable (the punisher, ysa's reincarnation, and of course once again Big Shoutout to jhy and her Epic Transgender.) so what is hsy's relationship to gender?

not much, frankly. not in her arc, at least. she does describe herself as a "genius girl writer," and there's sometimes jokey ship tease with kdj, but she doesn't come off as particularly feminine, and thematically and plot wise, her gender rarely comes up. she's threatened with sexual violence in an early appearance, she's isekai'd into the role of a princess for an arc, but unless I'm forgetting something, hsy's gender just isn't very important to the story of orv most of the time. i do find this interesting.

this has obvious thematic reasons, and like you said, there may be a post-structuralist influence here. the identity of the author doesn't matter (at least, not from the reader's viewpoint.) not their age, not their gender, not their identity. hsy's avatar skill probably relates to this - aside from it also relating to how an author has to populate a story with characters that can be influenced by different pieces of their memory/identity, I also find it interesting that a good amount of hsy's early avatars are men. the author can be anything, adopt any identity. it's not all that important in the eyes of the reader. the author is a non-gendered figure.

if there's any argument to be made about hsy's gender and its relevance, it's only because she has a noticeable lack of it. that's my overall takeaway. thanks for asking!

#narrates #orv #BASICALLY HER GENDER IS AUTHOR #btw it was good to learn about post structuralism. theres no way this wasn't a huge influence on orv

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jamesaver · 1 year

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21st Century

21st Century Literary Genres

Comic Book

Digi-Fiction

Graphic Novels

Manga (Japanese word for comics)

Doodle Fiction

Text-Talk Novels

Chick Lit or Chick Literature

Flash Fiction

Science Fiction

Blog

Creative Non-Fiction

Hyper Poetry

Comic Book

-A comic book is an illustration-based extract from a longer serialized tale.

-Archie Comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics are examples of well-known comic book companies.

Digi-Fiction/Triple Media Literature

-Contains three types of media: a book, a movie/video, and an online website.

-Students must navigate, read, and watch in all three modes in order to understand the complete tale.

Graphic Novels

-Narrative work in which the reader is told the tale through the use of comics.

-All of the main elements of traditional books may be found in graphic novels.

-It features a distinct beginning, middle, and end point, as well as a primary plot, character development, and personal journeys.

Manga (Japanese word for comics)

-Manga is a Japanese term for comic books.

-It is a general phrase in the English-speaking world for all Japanese-published comic books and graphic novels.

-As an artistic and narrative technique.

-Ameri-manga – sometimes used to refer to comics created by American artists in manga style.

Shonen - Boy’s Manga (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece)

• Shojo – Girl’s Manga (Sailor Moon)

• Seinen – Men’s Manga (Akira)

• Josei – Women’s Manga (Loveless, Paradise Kiss)

• Kodomo – Children’s Manga (Doraemon, Hello Kitty)

Doodle Fiction

-Literary presentation in which the author uses doodle writing and drawings, as well as handwritten images, instead of regular typeface.

-Drawings improve the tale by frequently providing hilarious parts that would be absent if the pictures were not present.

Text-Talk Novels

-Blog, email, IM format narratives Stories are told almost completely in dialogue simulating social network exchanges.

Chick Lit or Chick Literature

-Is a subgenre of literature that confronts difficulties of modern women in a funny and cheerful manner.

-Chick it usually has a female heroine whose femininity is extensively thermalized in the storyline.

Flash Fiction

-It is a fictional writing form that tells a whole tale with 500-1000 words.

-There is no universally agreed definition of the category's length. It may be anything from a single word to a thousand.

Six-Word Flash Fiction

-a six-word story allows a reader to consume an entire narrative in just a moment's time.

Science Fiction

-Is a speculative fiction genre that deals with innovative themes such as futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster-than-light travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life.

-It has been referred to as a "literature of ideas" since it frequently investigates the potential ramifications of scientific and other discoveries.

Blog

-A web log is a website that contains small articles called posts that are updated on a regular basis.

-Some blogs are written by a single individual and include their own thoughts, hobbies, and experiences, whilst others are published by a group of people.

Creative Non-Fiction

-Also referred to as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction.

-A type of writing that employs literary methods and styles to generate factually correct tales.

-In contrast to other non-fiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is likewise based on true facts but is not created largely for the sake of its skill.

Hyper Poetry

-Hyper Poetry is a type of digital poetry that use links and hypertext markup.

-It can either feature fixed words, phrases, lines, and so on that are given in a random order but sit on the page in the same way that traditional poetry does, or it might include sections of the poem that move and/or mutate.

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calware · 2 years

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edit: to clarify this isn't talking about taking a character and having then be trans (like transfem dave or transmasc kanaya or anything) this is about "what if a hs character was hypothetically originally written as the opposite gender"

edit 2: here's (most of) the context lol

making my own post because people keep getting sent weird anons and i don't want to put them on blast. anyways i really don't get how some ppl ended up at that conclusion that claiming "changing a homestuck characters gender impacts other aspects of their character" is transphobic like? what??

bc taking john for example, somewhat similarly to dave, a lot of his self image is based on preconceived notions of what it's like to Be A Man, which you can see most prominently imo in the way he idolizes action movie actors, esp when his reality does not live up to those expectations and he starts doubting his self-worth. also, the homophobia is also a pretty obvious indicator of the toxic masculinity he internalizes 🤨 ?

another thing to understand is that a lot of the gender significance in homestuck relies on the fact that we as readers have experiences in the real world that impact our experiences consuming and interpreting media. for example, with rose, a girl who frequently used gameFAQs in 2009 (which is seen as a mainly male-dominated space) is significant (something something gamergate)

not to mention... romantic attraction?? if you change a character's gender, suddenly the narrative significance of their romantic targets changes drastically. if dirk was a girl, act 6 would be completely different just from the fact that the love quadrangle ALONE would have an entirely new dynamic. kanaya is another huge example of this; if she was a boy her crush on vriska would no longer be about lesbian attraction, but instead just another heterosexual love triangle. even if that doesn't necessarily change much plot-wise, as i mentioned earlier it has a big impact on the experience the reader has because a completely different message is being conveyed. and that's just kanaya's sexuality, that's not even getting into her prominent themes of motherhood (or femininity in general)

you can do this with virtually any character. porrim being a woman is important because she is a very feminist character. kankri being a man is important because his male privilege allows him to ignore porrim's concerns about gender inequality on beforus, making a statement about gender inequality irl. jane being a girl is important BOTH because her character subverts the (YA novel?) female protagonist trope AND because the condesce chooses solely women to be heirs (this goes for jade and the prexies as well) which (at least somewhat) subverts female character tropes in general (even just the fact that a woman is the ruler of alternia is somewhat subversive as well). also, this is sort of a bonus, but jane being the first human in hs to wear pants was a moderately-sized Deal at the time. speaking of the condesce, the fact that doc scratch/lord english choose powerful women in the story to act as their pawns (the condesce, the handmaid, vriska, terezi, rose, even kanaya and jade somewhat)? gender's pretty important there too!! for obvious reasons!! roxy's identity is heavily tied to femininity, she refers to herself as a girl the most out of any other character. she herself even compares herself to the femme fatale trope, one that is paralleled by jake's interest in the trope as well. vriska and tavros's relationship depicting a girl harassing and abusing a boy is absolutely important when considering the fact that male victims of abuse are largely ignored irl. cronus is based off the greaser subculture, which is composed of men. hussie based aradia off the "spooky japanese ghost girl" trope. nepeta's interest in shipping would be taken differently if she were a boy, as shipping (and fandom in general) are typically seen as feminine interests, which is juxtaposed with her ruthlessness and violence. this is similar to how karkat's interest in romcoms (yknow. chick flicks.) is juxtaposed with his aggressive and unpleasant attitude. latula's commitment to "girl power" is a statement about the irl use of girl power and how it can inadvertently imply that women aren't inherently equal to men. literally everything about ARquius. damara is maliciously sexualized (although more due to her being japanese rather than a woman, but it's still influential). rufioh is literally based off another character. i could go on

the bottom line for most of these instances is that we interpret a lot from characters based on their gender because we apply the context of our own societal experiences and biases to the story. so no matter what you do, 99% of the time, even if changing a character's gender doesn't necessarily impact the plot, it's going to impact the way the character is received and understood

(this isn't to say that trans hcs or genderbends are problematic or anything. im just giving my opinion on a topic that's caused a bit of discourse recently lol)

then again it's been a while since i've read homestuck and im pretty bad at literary analysis. so what do i know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ feel free to add on, even if you disagree!

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lgbtqwriting · 2 years

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(1/?) Hello! I'm currently writing a fantasy story where one of the MC is a trans binary man. His love interest was supposed to be a cis man. I say supposed because I recently thought about making him transmasc (I would say I see him as a "yeah I'm a man but not really actually but still a little, it's complicated but I'm definitely not a woman" kind of individual). Do you have any tips for writing a romantic relationship between them? I assume there is some do and don't?

(2/2) Also, I don't really know how the MC is supposed to learn that LI is transmasc? I'm asking because I have like, no connection to any masculine gender, neither am I attracted to masc-aligned individuals and I don't want to accidentally be offensive in some way. Thank you very much in advance :)

As someone who is also a man "but not really actually but still a little, it's complicated but I'm definitely not a woman" I'd say your best bet is to start by drafting a random scene where the two interact (it could just be dialogue back and forth if you wanted).

Then look back over what you've written so far and compare it to your notes (mental or physical) about each character--are their personalities shining through? If not, what's preventing them from doing so?

Once you've finished that step, you may want to pull up a list of stereotypes about A) men who love other men and B) trans/nonbinary men. I'll provide you with rough examples of stereotypes to avoid:

Despite neither of them being women, one of them is presented as "the woman in the relationship" and the other as "the man in the relationship"

Because the transmasc nonbinary character is not considered "fully a man" he's forced to embody most if not all of the "feminine" behaviors between the two of them

Binary trans MC is less emotionally vulnerable and buys into toxic masculinity "to compensate for his inherent lack of manliness due to being trans"

Is the nonbinary character portrayed as a damsel in distress more frequently than the binary trans character? Does the binary trans character not know how to do any domestic tasks (e.g. cooking, cleaning, gardening)? Does the nonbinary character react to issues and arguments with his boyfriend by being passive-aggressive? If you answered "yes" to any of the previous questions, you may want to re-evaluate their relationship dynamic a little.

Revise and rework the scene to your satisfaction, then read it again with new eyes. If you're still having the same problems and a rinse-repeat solution using this process won't be of much help, try to find trans men and transmasc nonbinary people who'd be willing to peer review what you've written.

#writing lgbtq+ characters #queer writing advice #writing tips #writblr #writers on tumblr #lgbtq+ characters #how to write lgbtq+ characters #how to write gay relationships #mlm #men loving men #achillean #nblm #nonbinary loving men #transmasc nonbinary character #answered

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thehouseoforion · 4 years

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Dark Moon Lilith: Sexuality in your Natal Chart

Sexuality and astrology go hand in hand. In fact, there are many aspects of your birth chart that contribute not only to how you express your sexuality but how your sexuality is perceived by others.

The easiest way to learn about your own personal sexual preferences, strengths, and weaknesses, however, is to learn more about where Black Moon Lilith is in your natal chart.

Also known as Dark Moon Lilith, this temptress in us all, asking us to shake off preconceived ideas of what it means to be ’proper'. She drowns our inhibitions and allows us to be our most authentic selves without the societal pressures that are put on all of us, but especially on females.

If you checked out my book review on ‘Circe’ by Madeline Miller, you definitely know how passionately I can feel about a good story, particularly those of mythic proportions. Lilith’s story holds parallels to Circe’s and it’s part of the reason I feel so incredibly connected with Lilith both in my chart and in the role she plays in my craft.

Lilith, as written in mythology was known as the right hand of the devil, a siren of sorts who would seduce and destroy as much as she possibly could. Men and children feared her as she gained pleasure in their pain. She was written to appear as a beautiful woman who could transform herself into a blue demon with butterfly-like qualities.

If that doesn’t pique your interest (come on, that’s pretty sweet), legend claims that Lilith was actually the first wife of Adam, previous to Eve entering the picture. Their marriage and subsequent biblical-times divorce came due to Lilith’s craving for independence and well...the freedom to be as sexual as she pleased. The first feminist icon, whether the legends are just that or not.

It is due to this reputation that Lilith is considered the beast within all women, the power and will, the being independent of the 'duty' of motherhood and marriage. She is free to choose for herself at every moment, and often she bends to the whims of her flights and fancies.

As the ruler of witchcraft and magick, Lilith calls upon feminine strength that is stored within. She encourages ideas of finding your voice, leaving the victim mentality behind, and living the very best and most authentic version of your life that you can formulate.

In Your Chart

There are two different ways you can learn where Lilith falls on your birth chart. The first is to simply look at your chart and identify in what sign Lilith is present. You can spot her by finding her symbol which appears as an inverted crescent with a cross attached to the bottom.

However, if you don’t have your birth chart on hand, there is a simple list of dates you can refer to that will give you the exact answer you are looking for: what sign Lilith was in on the day you were born. This list of dates, along with their corresponding sign and meaning can be located below.

Lilith in Aries

If you have Lilith in the sign of the Ram, you are a force to be reckoned with. You have the ability to ooze sexiness when you so choose.

But your real power is in going out and getting what you want. You probably like to be in social situations in which you are able to catch a glimpse of a brand-new love interest. And it doesn’t take you very long for you to convince them that where you are is where they want to be.

You don’t fear taking the lead, and most commonly this confidence gets you the outcome you are hoping for. You are competitive and ambitious but you can often be quick to anger, which is commonly your only obstacle when it comes to making deeper, more meaningful connections.

Lilith in Taurus

When Lilith is in the sign of Taurus, you are likely someone who frequently finds themselves at the will of their lust. Plain and simple, no one is going to get in the way of you getting what you want. Often, falling for someone means heartache for another person as the relationship between two people is not as important to you as getting the object of your desire. We’ve all been members of a love triangle from time to time, but you may have extensive experience.

Jealousy can act as quite a catalyst for you as you want what others already appear to have. This same envy can lead to the end of a relationship if you are not careful. Learning to balance your lust for love and your actual emotions can be a battle. And yet, it is one you have to attempt to achieve if you are going to get the fairytale ending you so crave.

Lilith in Gemini

Dark Moon Lilith in Gemini often indicates that you are quite sexually liberal and adventurous. The person with this placement in their chart is often very curious about different aspects of their sexuality and don’t necessarily feel the need for labels when it comes to relationships, as well as their sexual orientation.

There is something unattainable about you that your suitors find irresistible and you definitely have a very flirty side to you that keeps pulling potential partners back in. We just hope they don’t do anything to offend you, otherwise, your wrath will likely not end until you feel they have been punished for whatever discretion it is that they have made.

Lilith in Cancer

Cancers are often known for being sexpots in the bedroom so it will come as no surprise that when Lilith is in the sign of the crab things are going to get a bit steamy. However, as Cancer Suns tend to be on the submissive side when it comes to matters of sex, those with a Lilith and Cancer link tend to want to take back the control that Cancer Suns have relinquished.

Those with their Dark Moo Lilith in Cancer often find themselves attracted to younger men who they can maintain a certain level of control over. Those with this placement may also be interested in femdom sex acts as well as wrestle with the fantasy of being a dominatrix. In other words, those claws aren’t just for show.

Lilith in Leo

This placement exudes what we like to refer to as “the Greek Goddess mentality”. Leos are known for being attention-seeking and therefore, when Dark Moon Lilith is in Leo, you are likely one who wants to be adored and worshipped by as many as possible.

While this energy is magnetic to many and provides you with plenty of romantic options, you are known to throw quite the fit when things don’t go your way. Even worse, you tend to rebel in a quite outlandish manner when the attention you crave from a certain person is being offered to someone else instead of to you.

Lilith in Virgo

The sexual energy of Lilith and the pureness of chaste Virgo come together to create quite a contradictory attitude for those with this placement in their chart.

On one hand, you are pure, often looking at sex as though it is a step-by-step process rather than something shared to convey emotion. Alternatively, your virginal persona gives you an edge that you (and others) find quite sexy. You want to be conquered in the bedroom by someone who makes you feel safe, but most of all wanted. Plain and simple, there’s quite a naughty side lurking beneath your pure surface that only a few will ever be privy to.

Lilith in Libra

Those with their Dark Moon in Libra are what we would typically categorize as the Manic Pixie type that starred as the leading character in every romantic movie that was released between the years of 2001 and 2010. Only thing is, this isn’t as much of an archetype as people think. These people really exist and Lilith is almost always deep within Libra on their chart.

These people are likely the type of muse that every person meets and thinks “This is it, I've found the one.” This is because there is such an appreciation of life and all that is culminated in it by these types of people. If Lilith is in Libra on your chart, you will always find a way to get what you want and will do so in such a way that no one will ever think negatively about you. What an amazing gift.

Lilith in Scorpio

Sexuality is a fluid part of any person’s life whose Dark Moon is in Scorpio. These are the freaks of the zodiac as there isn’t much they won’t try at least once. There is nothing too taboo, too uncomfortable for these people to give a go, or talk about publicly. They are one with their sexual desires and seek freedom whether single or in a relationship to let their freak flag fly.

If Lilith is in Scorpio in your chart, you are likely a bit of a sadist, and you may have a somewhat unhealthy addiction to physical touch and sexual experiences. When rejected, your vengeance knows no bounds and you will do what it takes to get what you want whether it be revenge or a second chance to experience the touch of a much-wanted paramour. Do yourself a favor and don’t get caught up in the chase. What is meant for you will come.

Lilith in Sagittarius

Those with Lilith in Sagittarius have a magnetism about them that draws strangers in quickly. They often love being the center of attention, so it is no surprise that they are highly attracted to those who won’t stray from the spotlight. This is why many people with this placement in their chart have a history of dating and/or marrying musicians and other types of performers.

If your Dark Moon is in Sagittarius, you are likely game for anything, always looking for the next thing that will excite you. However, when things don’t go your way or cause you to feel insecure, your first method of defense is to throw out harsh insults that often are not based on fact, but instead are formed purely out of the emotions you are harboring at the moment. Try to think of things from others’ perspectives before jumping to conclusions.

Lilith in Capricorn

Business and pleasure form a perfect union for those whose Dark Moon is in Capricorn. Not only are people with this placement extremely attracted to those with power, but they are turned on by the idea of combining their personal and professional lives. Can you say ‘dating the boss?’

These people ooze confidence and are often observed to be intimidating, but in a very alluring way. However, caution is recommended to those who are interested in someone with this sort of magnetism. If Lilith is in Capricorn on your chart, you won’t hesitate for a second to step on others in order to make your way to the top, and nothing, not even a relationship you feel has potential will stop you from achieving your goals.

Lilith in Aquarius

Dark Moon Lilith in Aquarius is an interesting placement for two reasons. The first is that there is no doubt that these people have sex appeal, however, they do not put much energy into actively using it. The second is that they view sex as something that should be experienced rather than expressed.

If your Lilith is in Aquarius, you are probably a bit of an anarchist who deep down really loves your independence. While the idea of sex excites you, it is only in rare moments that you find yourself yearning for the touch of another. In other words, you are likely completely fine with ‘aiding’ yourself or having long spells during which you are not sexually active.

Lilith in Pisces

At the risk of quoting Kesha, we will just say that those with Lilith in Pisces have an addiction, and love is their drug of choice. Those with this placement are constantly having to be reminded that life is not a romantic comedy. This, of course, doesn’t do much but reaffirm to them that when they find the REAL right person, the spark will be so electric that there will be no doubt they've found their perfect match.

Your ability to be sure that you are going to find the perfect partner (sexual and more) is what draws potential suitors in. But they had better be careful. One wrong move and the mirage of the relationship will be ruined and you will return to hibernating and fantasizing until someone new (& better) comes along.

#sexuality #astrology #astro #astrological houses #lilith #thehouseoforion #THOO #natal chart #birth chart

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magicalgirlgrimoire · 3 years

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Genesis of a Genre: Part 1

Defining the four key archetypes of Magical Girl characters found in Japanese Magical Girl media.

I feel this wouldn’t be a great body of research without outlining some kind of historical context for the media were talking about! In this mini-series of essays I’ll be going over the first part of my research, which seeks to define the key influences of the Magical Genre, including industry and production influences, and provide an outline for reoccurring archetypes and conventions found in the narratives. This focuses mainly on Japanese Media, but I might do one about the history of western Magical Girl stuff too!

I pose there are four key archetypes for the protagonist (and sometimes supporting characters) of any Magical Girl franchise: The Witch, The Princess, The Warrior and the Idol. Any given Magical Girl may be one or a combination of several; for example Usagi (Sailor Moon) is a combination of the Warrior and Princess while Akko (Little Witch Academia) is the Witch.

Girl Witches and Growing up

Many writer have cited the Witch as the first true Magical Girl Archetype; Sally the Witch and Magical Akko-chan are often regarded as the progenitors of the Genre. Both were published in the notable shoujo magazine Ribon in the 60’s and both were adapted into anime by Toei; Ribon notably also published several of Arina Tenemura’s works, including the Magical girl series Full Moon while Toei is the studio behind Sailor Moon’s anime in the 90’s, as well as creating both the Ojamo Doremi and Pretty Cure franchises in the late 90’s and 2000’s respectively. Sally was influenced by the popular American sit-com Bewitched, but reimagined to focus on an adolescent girl-witch who must keep her identity secret. She was often alone in her quest too, perhaps with a magical pet confidant, unlike future entries where Magical Girls would be a part of a team or have complex relationships to others with powers. There were ideas of destinies or even secret royal birth-rights, but ultimately the protagonist was simply a girl, who was born with magical powers.

These early entries set off the precedent for Magical Girl as a genre being inherently linked to themes of coming of age; the magic of the young characters often being allegorical for childhood innocence and ultimately being abandoned or given up as a part of their growing up. It’s notable at this point in the genre, very few or no women worked in these spaces; both Sally and Akko are written by men. I wonder how the genre may have been different if it was not the case; could these young girls be allowed to grow up magical if a woman wrote their stories? I feel this is a reoccurring theme in so many future works, so stick a pin in that.

In the contemporary sense, while Magical Witches aren’t quite as frequent as they were in at the start of the genre, there are still several shows that carry on the tradition. Ojamo Doremi, while borrowing several features from later warrior/sentai styled shows like Sailor Moon, has the lead characters as girl witches again. Madoka, though stylistically more a Warrior styled show, also alludes to the history of magical girl as a genre with the naming of it’s initial antagonistic characters being “witches” while the leads are “puella magi” or literally maiden witches, though the way it explores these themes is a conversation for another essay. Lastly, Little Witch Academia is the most recent notable example of the pure Magical Girl Witch. The franchise is like a true homecoming for the genre; I could wax on about how it’s a culmination of everything the genre’s gone through in the last 60 years. From it’s allusions to flashy transformation sequences, to it’s shift in focus to friendships between girls, Little Witch Academia is an absolute treat; it’s main character being named Akko undoubtedly a homage to her ancestor of the same name.

Idol Aspirations

As the genre progressed, women were…allowed into the magazine offices. The genre was reinvigorated in the 70’s, and with these new author came a shift in focus. Stories began to take more elements from Shoujo staples, with more focus given to interpersonal relationships and aspirations of the characters coming into place.

The Magical Idol singer is this weird niche specific thing that sort of came from this period of time, though I think she signifies more than her actual appearances across the genre. Authors for the first time wanted to create stories that reflected the goals of its readers- and at the time that meant Idol culture and aspirations of being a singer or celebrity. While contemporary examples of a by-the-book idol character is a bit rare since values have changed over time, she was the first step in magical powers for Magical Girls no longer being a part of a divine destiny or something to grow out of but instead powers being the means for Girls to achieve their goals. Magical Idol singers also often incorporate the characters noticeably aging up when turning into their alter egos, serving a duel purpose of giving younger viewers a sort of aspirational character to live through while also unfortunately allowing the animators to get away with fan servicey shots of the more mature looking character.

The originator of this subgenre would be Magical Angel Creamy Mami, though Mermaid Melody would be an immediate example I’d personally think of for the Idol type character (with a big old additon of the Princess archetype too), a better example would be the aforementioned Full Moon, in which the sickly Mitsuki transforms into a Magical Idol singer to both live her dreams as a singer and to reunite with her childhood love. I’d also argue that series the Utena and Madoka follow along with this influence; in both cases the characters agree to engage with the magic of their worlds to achieve some kind of goal or dream. Still, I feel there’s lots of potential with this kind of outlook in Magical Girl stuff..!! Perhaps in the future we’ll get more magical girls focused on their careers…

Warrior Princesses

I feel throughout this essay, I’ve been noting how the Warrior and Princess archetype often overlap with the other genres, as well as each other. I believe this is because the ancestor of these two defined archetypes is one and the same, and also the series I believe that actually started magical girl as a genre; that being, Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight.

Princess Knight, and bare with me on this, is a story about a Princess born with both a “girl” and a “boy” heart. She forsakes her life as a princess to escape some cruel fate that’s in store for her, and masquerades as a prince by using her “boy” heart. While this is an extremely dated view on gender, it immediately gives us three defining features of magical girl as a genre: First, the Princess archetype, which often holds influence from european fairytales and magical destinies; Second, the Warrior Archetype, in which the lead character must don a more traditionally masculine role of protector against some evil power, and lead a double life; and lastly, the introduction of gender roles as a theme into the genre, and the role of femininity and masculinity in the identities of our characters.

All of these tenets are then repeated in both Sailor Moon and Utena decades later, and it’s arguably these two series that carry it forward to influence future franchises. As the major examples of these archetypes are one and the same, it is difficult to parse the two apart, even though they are quite different.

So I’ll try anyway!

I believe the Magical Warrior is defined as a main character or team of characters who are joined by a destiny to fight against some greater evil, while the Magical Princess is defined as a character who is destined to inherit or reclaim a great power linked to a monarchical structure. Both may have themes linked to western fairytales and fantasy, though often Warrior type characters have a wider breadth of influences while Princesses remain closely linked with ideas of fantasy and fairytale royalty.

While Magical Warrior is definitely the most prolific of the archetypes in modern times, arguably overlapping with nearly every storyline, I think Magical Princesses are fewer. For example, Tokyo Mew Mew is a clear cut Magical Warrior story; they girl’s aren’t born with powers (So not witches), they aren’t doing it for a personal goal (so not Idols) and none of them have some divine destiny (not princesses). However it’s a lot more difficult to find a pure Magical Princess story; in Mermaid Melody, but the story overlaps with both Warrior and Idol archetypes. Princess Tutu might be the best example, as it’s a story of retribution deeply linked with elements from european fantasy.

#magical girl #sailor moon #tokyo mew mew #full moon wo sagashite #revolutionary girl utena #pretty cure #little witch academia #mermaid melody #essay #context #princess tutu #princess knight #ojamo doremi #puella magi madoka magica

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neworleansspecial · 4 years

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There’s been a push lately of including more trans characters and trans headcanons in fanwork lately, and that’s a good thing! However, most of the time, the content that gets promoted is by cis creators as opposed to transgender creators speaking from their real world experiences. While it’s important to boost trans voices, that’s not to say you can’t or shouldn’t write trans characters as a cis person.

Please note that this post is not an attack on cis writers! Far from it, in fact. I would say the majority of the time, cis people writing harmful content are doing it unintentionally- they probably just don’t realize that it’s a problem. The main goal here is to educate on what’s harmful, why it’s harmful, and what to do instead. In addition, some trans people, especially young trans people, can fall into these tropes too- after all, all of us were raised in the same cis-centric society.

That said, trans people can write about these tropes if they choose- we’re allowed to discuss our own experiences or those we identify with in a way cis authors can’t or shouldn’t because of our different relationship to gender. If you’re transgender and you write using these tropes, that’s okay! But remember to be self-critical, too; are you writing these tropes because you enjoy them or because they reflect your experiences, or are you writing them because that’s what cis people promote or it’s what you think trans narratives must be?

This particular post will focus on common tropes in writing about transgender characters, and why they’re harmful, as well as ways to counteract them in your writing. As this is a long post, it’s under a read more. Thank you to @jewishbucke for all his help and support.

For the purposes of this post, let’s lay out some basic definitions so that we’re all operating on the same playing field and understanding.

Cisgender (cis): Someone who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Transgender (trans): Someone whose gender differs from the one they were assigned at birth. Trans people may or may not experience one or more kinds of dysphoria. The level of dysphoria a trans person experiences is not relevant to whether or not they are transgender.

Dysphoria: The discomfort caused by a disconnect between someone’s gender and the one they were assigned at birth. Dysphoria can be physical (related to the body), emotional (related to their feelings/sexuality), or social (related to other’s perceptions of them).

Gender Expression: The way a person outwardly expresses themselves and their gender. This can include but is not limited to pronouns, clothes, hair style, and name.

Transmasculine: A transmasculine person is a trans person whose transition is aimed at becoming more masculine. Trans men are transmasculine people, but not all transmasculine people are trans men. Transmasculine people are transmisogyny exempt (TME), meaning they do not experience the specific combination of transphobia and misogyny that affects transfeminine people.

Transfeminine: A transfeminine person is a trans person whose transition is aimed at becoming more feminine. Trans women are transfeminine people, but not all transfeminine people are trans women. Transfeminine people are transmisogyny affected (TMA), meaning they experience the specific combination of transphobia and misogyny directed towards transfeminine people.

That being said, my point of view making this post is as a transmasculine TME person. I can offer my personal perspectives and experiences, but I cannot speak over or for the specific experiences unique to transfeminine people and trans women. If you are transfeminine or a trans woman, you are absolutely welcome to add on or correct me if in my words, I said something harmful to you and your community. We are all in this together and it is never my aim to overstep boundaries on something I do not understand. So, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into tropes common in transgender narratives.

The Cis Savior

To start with, one of the most common tropes is the Cis Savior trope. This is commonly associated with the Trans/Cis trope, which I’ll elaborate more on later. The Cis Savior is often not the main character, but a supporter of a transgender main character. They can be a close friend, a family member, a love interest, or a coworker.

In this narrative, the trans person is engaging in behavior harmful to themselves, often related to methods of their transition. The most common one you may have seen or written is the transmasculine person binding unsafely. In that example, a transmasculine person binds (flattens) their chest with something such as ace bandages, which are extremely harmful and can damage their ribs. The Cis Savior finds out about this behavior, scolds the trans person, and purchases or gives them a safe alternative like a binder designed to safely compress breasts. While this example is probably the most common one, it’s not the only one. In general, the Cis Savior trope is when a cis person finds out that a trans person is hurting themselves in some way and rectifies it with superior knowledge of safe practices and/or better resources than the trans person has access to.

The reason this is harmful is because it perpetuates two common misconceptions: first, that all trans people hate their bodies to the point of willingly harming themselves to relieve this self-hatred, and second, that cis people know better about trans issues and bodies than trans people themselves. That’s not to say that neither of these things is impossible. Trans people are not a monolith and there probably are trans people like that, at least for some point of time in their lives. In some situations, especially in reference to trans kids or people who have recently realized they’re trans, it’s possible that they don’t know their behavior could be harmful, or that there are safer alternatives. The problem lies in the repeated framing of this trope as the only kind of trans person and the idea that they can and will be destructive towards themselves until a cis person who knows better comes along.

Instead of writing narratives like these, consider the following alternatives:

A trans character behaves safely and explains how and why.

A trans character behaving unsafely is supported and educated by another trans person as opposed to a cis person (although this is something you probably shouldn’t be writing as a cis writer- some narratives are better left to us when it comes to the actual experiences of being transgender. Write about trans characters, not being trans!).

A trans character looking into transition on their own finds a supportive community.

The Gender-Non-Conforming Trans Person

The Gender-Non-Conforming (GNC) Trans Person is a trans character who presents excessively similar to the gender assigned at birth as opposed to their actual gender- the trans man who wears dresses and makeup, the trans woman who has a buzzcut and hates skirts, etc. Like is pointed out above in the “Cis Savior” trope, trans people like this can and do exist! Some trans people are GNC for various reasons- personal style, sexuality, being closeted, or just because they feel like it.

Narratives about the GNC Trans Person are very focused on the trans person presenting in a way that does not align with their gender, and is often No-Op (Does not have or want gender confirmation surgery) and No-HRT (Does not have or want hormone replacement therapy). It’s also often combined with the “Misgendered” trope. Trans characters in this trope seem to be extremely against presenting the way “expected” of their gender. For example, think of a transfeminine character not wanting to shave, be it their legs, armpits, face, or any other part of their body that cis women are expected to shave. This can lead to the character being mocked, dismissed, told they are not “really” trans, fetishized, and/or misgendered. These characters are often described as not passing as their gender.

This trope is harmful because it plays into the rhetoric that trans people are faking it or attention seeking. Like stated above, GNC trans people can and do exist. In fact, in my personal experience, a lot of trans people are GNC in some way or another. What is and isn’t considered conforming to gender is very strictly based on cisheterocentric ideas of gender presentation, and fails to take into account the intricacies of being transgender, especially if the person in question is also LGB. Trans people don’t have to conform to the restrictive societal views of what acceptable gender presentation is in order to be “really” trans. The stereotype of highly GNC trans people comes from the idea that they’re choosing to be transgender as a means of attention seeking, which simply isn’t true. Trans people didn’t choose to be trans- it’s just another part of them, like their eye color or the shape of their nose.

Instead of writing narratives like these, consider the following alternatives:

A trans character having fun with gender presentation- why not shop from both sides of the store?

A trans character expressing gender-nonconformity in smaller ways.

Multiple trans characters with different gender presentations.

The Misgendered Trans Person

The Misgendered Trans Person is another common narrative in which a trans character is misgendered, whether it be on accident or on purpose, by a cis character. This can be a family member, an old friend, or a complete stranger. This trope also includes dead-naming, the act of referring to a person by a “dead” name that they no longer use as part of their transition.

When it comes to this trope, it’s usually with a narrative similar to the Cis Savior- the trans character is defended by a nearby cis one. More often than not, the Misgendered Trans Person trope is also combined frequently with the Forced Outing. In this story, a trans person is referred to by pronouns they do not use- in particular, those associated with their assigned gender at birth- as a means of causing angst and discomfort. They may also be called their dead name, also to create drama in the story. For example, consider a trans character hanging out with their family, and their mother uses the wrong pronouns for them, causing the character discomfort. This also includes narratives about a character realizing they’re trans, in which the character is referred to by the wrong pronouns and their dead name until they realize they are transgender. More to that point, as a cis author, you should never write a story about someone realizing they’re trans- as said above, write about transgender characters, not about being transgender.

This is harmful because it minimizes the very real pain and dysphoria that can be caused by misgendering or dead-naming. Changing names and pronouns are often the very first steps trans people take in their transition, and an instrumental part of their identities and journeys. Consider it in terms of your face. You have your own very specific face and it is an integral part of yourself and identity. Imagine someone repeatedly insisting that it’s different. They tell you that your eyes are a different color, or your jaw is shaped differently. It would be uncomfortable, and it’s wrong. Obviously this isn’t an exact or fair comparison, but names and pronouns are not just words when it comes to identity and trans narratives.

In terms of alternatives to this trope, there aren’t any.

There is no acceptable or reasonable way to write a character being misgendered or dead-named as a cis author. This is especially true when you take it upon yourself to make up a dead name for a character. No excuses, no arguments. Just don’t do it.

The Self-Hating Trans Person

The Self-Hating Trans Person trope is where a trans person’s dysphoria, be it physical, emotional, or social, is so extreme that they hate themselves and their bodies in an all-consuming way. This character is incapable of loving themselves and will often rely on a cis character for positivity, support, or self-esteem.

It would be impossible to acknowledge this trope without considering its ubiquity- while the description above is clear and severe, it overlaps often with many other tropes and less intense versions of it have a tendency to appear in most trans narratives. It’s associated with the trans character wanting to be cis (often worded as wanting to be “normal”), behaving in ways dangerous to themselves, and/or refusing to accept comfort. For example, a couple common uses of this trope are unsafe binding in transmasculine people, self harm or mutilation, and conversion therapy. The Self-Hating Trans Person narrative typically involves the character being aggressive toward people who question or try to combat their self hatred as well.

As touched upon in the Cis Savior trope, this is harmful because it perpetuates the stereotype that trans people must hate themselves, and be willing to go to extreme lengths because of it. Plenty of trans people don’t care that they’re trans, or even like that about themselves. The idea that being trans is something that should make a person hate themselves implies that it’s bad or wrong, which it isn’t. There are some trans people who do have these negative feelings- and of course deserve all the support they want and need- but plenty of trans people don’t feel that way. Trans people can and do love themselves and their bodies. Some trans people don’t have severe dysphoria, or may not really have any at all. Trans character’s narratives shouldn’t always be about suffering.

Instead of writing narratives like these, consider the following alternatives:

A trans person who loves themselves and their trans body. (Be conscientious of straying into fetishistic territory, though- trans people are more than their bodies! When in doubt, ask.)

A trans person whose unhappiness is about something else, like losing a pet.

A trans person being loved and supported by their friends.

The Forced Outing

The Forced Outing trope usually goes hand-in-hand with the Misgendered Trans Person. This trope includes a trans person, either closeted (not out, pre-transition) or stealth (not out, post-transition) having their identity as transgender being revealed to one or more people without their permission.

When it comes to Forced Outings, this usually happens around a cis love-interest, and is typically followed by said love-interest assuring the trans character that this doesn’t matter to them. Another common response is the trans character becoming a victim of violence, such as a beating or sexual assault. For example, a trans person gets “caught changing” and is outed to the person who sees them, without their consent. The “caught changing” is another common way this trope is expressed, usually in a bedroom, bathroom or locker room. Sometimes there’s a happy ending. Sometimes there isn’t.

It should be clear why this trope is harmful- outing someone, be it as transgender or gay or any other LGBT+ identity, is not just disrespectful, but it is extremely dangerous. Just because you wouldn’t react poorly doesn’t mean others are the same. Outing a trans person in real life could get them hurt really badly, or even killed, on top of being outright rude and presumptuous. While this is fiction, it’s important to recognize that the media we consume affects the way we view real world situations. In your story, things may turn out fine, but the harsh reality is that in real life, it usually doesn’t. Trans people can and do get killed when they’re outed. Besides that, it follows along with the rhetoric that someone is “lying” if they don’t immediately disclose that they’re transgender. Trans people do not have to tell you that they’re trans, especially if they don’t know you.

Instead of writing narratives like these, consider the following alternative:

A trans person already being out to and accepted by their loved ones.

The Predatory Trans Person

The Predatory Trans Person is usually same-gender-attracted (SGA) and/or transfeminine. They prey on cis people by coercing them into romantic or sexual relationships. Sometimes the trans person is considered predatory because they didn’t out themselves beforehand, or they use their being transgender as a means of guilting someone into having sex with them. It often overlaps with the PIV trope.

These narratives often revolve around sexual situations, and tend to focus on the cis partner as the main character. It prioritizes the comfort and feelings of the cis person. They’re uncomfortable, but can’t say it for fear of being seen as transphobic, or making their partner angry. For example, the cis character and trans character go on a few dates, and the trans character is presumed cis until they get to the bedroom. The trans character is pre-op and “convinces” the cis person to have sex with them anyway, despite them being uncomfortable. The most common form of this narrative is the transmisogynistic telling of a trans lesbian “coercing” a cis lesbian into sex.

This is harmful for two reasons- first and foremost, it paints trans people as being inherently predatory. It implies that trans people are only trans in order to have sex with those who otherwise wouldn’t be interested in them, reinforcing a long-standing transphobic notion that being transgender is related to sexual deviance and/or fetishes. Trans people are not inherently predatory. Trans people are not just rapists in disguise. Second of all, it makes assumptions about the genitals of trans people. Some are pre-op or no-op, of course, but not all of us are. Some trans people have had bottom surgery. Some trans men have penises, some have vaginas. Some trans women have vaginas, some have penises. And even those who haven’t had bottom (gender confirmation) surgery are still allowed and able to enjoy sex with the genitals they have, and use language regarding their genitals that they feel most comfortable with. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Instead of writing narratives like these, consider the following alternatives:

A trans person having sex with another trans person.*

A trans person and a cis person having consensual sex.*

A trans person participating in nonsexual intimacy with their partner.

The Genderbend

The Genderbend actually refers to two common transphobic tropes; the first is headcanoning a cis character as being trans as the opposite gender. In other words, headcanoning a cis woman as a trans man, or a cis man as a trans woman.

It also refers to the common fandom trope of genderbending (also known as cisswap) to make a character of one gender into the “opposite,” typically associated with changing their physical characteristics to match this new assigned gender.

Narratives about the Genderbend trope rely on two primary assumptions. They assume every character is cis by default, and that certain characteristics are inherent to certain genders. The cis to trans version of this trope often focuses on a “coming out” story in which the character realizes they are trans and comes out to their loved ones before pursuing social and/or medical transitioning.

Cisswap, on the other hand, completely avoids the concept of being transgender, and instead makes the character into the “opposite” gender while they’re still cis. This often comes with physical changes, such as a character made into a girl getting wider hips and a more “feminine” facial structure, as is associated with cis women.

These narratives are harmful because of the assumptions they make about all characters/people being cis by default, and that these characters must have the common physical characteristics associated with that body type. The Genderbend in which a cis character is headcanoned as the “opposite” gender perpetuates a harmful rhetoric that trans people are really just their assigned gender at birth with a different presentation. It pushes the idea that transfeminine people are men in dresses and transmasculine people are self-hating women, both of which are misconceptions behind a lot of transphobic violence people face.

Cisswap relies on the idea that presentation or physical characteristics equate to gender, and that in order to be a gender, someone must look a certain way. This is not only harmful to trans people, but to any person who does not fit strict western binary beauty standards. It also fails to acknowledge that gender is not a simple binary of man or woman, but a spectrum that includes a multitude of identities. It should also be noted that the Cisswap trope relies on standards of gender and presentation that are intersexist, racist, and antisemitic as well. In general, the Cisswap trope is harmful to many marginalized groups of people, including but not limited to trans people.

Instead of writing narratives like these, consider the following alternatives:

Headcanoning/writing a character as being trans while keeping their gender the same.

A character being nonbinary.

Creating new OCs who are trans.

The Bottom Trans Man/Top Trans Woman (PIV in Trans/Cis Relationships)

The PIV (Penis in Vagina Sex) Trope is exclusive to Trans/Cis relationships, and typically revolves around same gender relationships. In the PIV trope, a pre-op trans person has penis-in-vagina sex with their cis partner.

In these narratives, the focus is very heavy on the pre-op genitalia of the trans person in the relationship. It’s most commonly seen in m/m fanfiction, in which the trans man has vaginal sex with his cis partner, but also exists in f/f fic in which the trans woman engages in penetrative sex with her partner’s vagina. That’s not to say that trans people can’t or don’t enjoy sex this way, but in this particular trope, it is specifically written in a way that focuses in a fetishistic way on the genitals of trans people and makes broad assumptions about the bodies trans people have and the types of sex they enjoy. These narratives write all trans men as bottoms, and all trans women as tops.

The reason this is harmful is because of the way it generalizes trans people’s bodies, their relationships to them, and the way they engage in sex. Of course there are pre-op (and no-op) trans people who do enjoy PIV sex with their partners, but that does not mean all trans people have those bodies or have that sort of sex. There are trans men who are tops, and trans women who are bottoms. There are trans people who have dysphoria about their genitals, and those who don’t. Some do not or cannot enjoy PIV sex, and that’s okay! The other common issue with this trope is the way that trans people’s bodies are described. Trans people often use words for their bodies that you might consider “anatomically incorrect” because it’s the language that they feel most comfortable with.

Instead of writing narratives like these, consider the following alternatives:

A trans person having sex with another trans person.*

A trans person having non-PIV sex with their partner.*

A trans person participating in nonsexual intimacy with their partner.

The Trans/Cis Relationship

Finally, the Trans/Cis Relationship trope- this trope isn’t inherently bad- there’s nothing wrong on its own with a romantic pairing being between a trans and cis character. The specific dynamic this is about is the trans character requiring reassurance, validation, or other kinds of support from their partner that a cis character would not ask for.

This trope is very commonly associated with Cis Savior and PIV tropes as well. It focuses on the trans person being in a relationship with a cis person who they depend on to “validate” their gender, help with their dysphoria, and protect them from transphobic behavior. It tends to infantilize trans people and make them into someone who cannot function outside their relationship with the cis character. For example, a transfeminine character relying on their boyfriend to make them feel “feminine” enough in their relationship. While Trans/Cis relationships are not inherently bad or wrong, it can be very easy to fall into a trap of writing the cis character as the Cis Savior, and often comes hand in hand with PIV sex when it’s a non-heterosexual couple.

The reason that this trope can be harmful is that it implies trans people are not enough on their own- that they need the support of a cis person who decides they’re “normal” in order to stay mentally well. It comes back often to the Cis Savior trope as well. Trans/Cis relationships written by cis authors may fall into these traps without meaning to. Beyond that, trans people can- and often do- date each other. In fact, some trans people are t4t, meaning that they choose to only date other trans people because it’s what’s most comfortable for them and may be safer depending on the situation they live in. Trans people do not enter relationships based on who will make them feel “valid,” but on who they love- the same as everyone else.

Instead of writing narratives like these, consider the following alternatives:

A trans person’s partner being trans as well. (Although, again, be mindful to write stories about trans characters, not about being trans!)

A trans person being emotionally supportive of their cis partner.

A trans person being single.

Thank you so much for sticking with me during this! I know it’s long, and that it’s not easy to read things that make you question things you’re used to, or to reevaluate things you may have written in the past. Once again, none of this was an attack! The goal of this series of posts is to inform and educate, rather than shame. People who make these mistakes often do it because they don’t know any better, or haven’t been exposed to anything besides these tropes. I encourage you to look at what other trans people have said about portrayals, and when writing trans characters, look for someone who would be willing to beta for you if you’re unsure. When in doubt, ask. And remember- write about trans characters, not about being trans! There are certain nuances to being transgender that, as a cis person, you simply don’t have the background or experiences to write on, and that’s okay! We’re all learning and growing together.

*If you absolutely want to write sex scenes involving trans people, the best thing to do is to get a trans beta- and listen to them- as well as use language that may not be what you consider anatomically correct. Trans people may call their genitals by words that don’t “match” for their own comfort, and using language that focuses on pre-op genitalia can come across and/or be fetishistic. Be mindful and respectful when writing these scenes.

#transgender #writeblr #writingtrans #trans #tusera #emwrite

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noesa · 4 years

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Thesis: If Jesus were alive today, he would have been a radical nonbinary PoC furry streamer.

Let’s get the easy ones out of the way first. He obviously would have been radical because all of his teachings were about how to resist the Roman Empire and/or the importance of compassion and community, and the early Christian church was basically anarcho-communism before it was cool. If he were alive today, he definitely would have identified with leftism.

Traditional Rabbinical views say that God contains both masculine and feminine aspects, if they aren’t entirely above being anthropomorphized with human concepts like gender in the first place. So Jesus, as a manifestation of God, would have been nonbinary. He probably wouldn’t have been genderfluid, because Jesus’ identity seems pretty stable since it can be both 100% human and 100% divine at the same time, but I think there’s a decent chance he would have identified with agender.

Even if we assume that our modern Jesus wouldn’t necessarily be born in the Middle East like he was in the Bible, the important aspects of his background in his story as written are:

He was a refugee as a child, fleeing from a regime that wanted him dead for reasons outside of his control.

For the majority of his life, he lived under an imperialistic power that abused and exploited his community.

So I think it’s safe to say that he wouldn’t be white if we’re keeping as true to who he was originally as we can. (There’s a lot of speculation we could do on exactly what ethnicity he would be, and that’s ignoring that we haven’t even said if Christianity exists in this timeline, which would have its own repercussions to examine. But I won’t open that bag of worms in this essay.)

Now, let’s get into the meat.

Jesus would have been a furry.

Since he was basically God’s humansona, Jesus would have identified on a personal level with the idea of fursonas, and as an advocate of community, he would be very invested in the furry fandom. I don’t think he would go to many conventions since he was against the idea of profiteering like that (see: the temple incident), but instead he’d be very active online. I could easily see him spending most of his free cash to support furry artists.

The interesting question here is not whether he would be a furry, but what his fursona would be. The most immediately tempting possibility is that he would be a sheep. Jesus self-describes as the “Lamb of God”, and sheep are a frequent motif in his sermons. However, upon examination, these connections are largely surface-level, as in his sermons he identifies more with the shepherd than the sheep (and, in fact, calls himself the “Shepherd of Men”), and his title as the Lamb of God is metaphorical for his impending sacrifice for humanity.

In light of this, it is more likely that Jesus’ fursona would be a dove. Doves are also a frequent motif surrounding Jesus: Jesus’ family offered doves as a sacrifice to consecrate him after he was born, and a dove appeared when Jesus was baptized. In addition, in Jesus’ time birds were thought to be messengers for the divine, and Jesus himself called doves innocent and told his followers to be like them in Matthew 10:16. So, in summary, Jesus would probably have a dove for a fursona because doves are an animal which Jesus holds high esteem for, which could be metaphorical for his impending sacrifice, and which are messengers of God, like Jesus himself.

Jesus would have been a streamer.

But why would Jesus be a streamer? Well, in the Bible, Jesus wasn’t working while he did his ministry: he and his apostles were getting by on the charity of others, who respected the work he was doing. The two best analogues for this in the modern era would be for him to be a streamer and get by on donations, or for him to be a Youtuber/podcaster and have a Patreon.

There are three reasons, of those options, he would be a streamer. The first is the fact that we know that Jesus would have been about thirty when he started preaching. And, although we don’t know the exact ages of the twelve apostles, people have speculated that because they took the role of students to Jesus’ “Rabbi” position, they would have been young adults, most likely no older than 25. So, if we think about it in modern terms, Jesus would be a celebrity in his 30s appealing to a young audience, which fits with some big-name streamers like Jerma and Vinny Vinesauce.

The second is audience interactivity. While a large part of his ministry was the sermons and monologues he’s known for, he was primarily a teacher, and he would often answer questions posed to him by the people listening to him. It’s possible to do this with a Youtube video or a podcast, but a more likely scenario would be for him to just frequently interact with chat.

The third and final reason, which ties in with the above point, is just that he would value as direct a relationship with his audience as possible. The whole purpose of Jesus’ earthly incarnation was to remove the barriers between humans and God, and it follows that would extend to his ministry as well. And while Youtube videos and podcasts would convey his message, just the fact that they are produced and edited makes them a layer removed from the audience. Jesus would want to be as raw, direct, and unfiltered as possible, and the best way for him to do that would be for him to be a streamer.

In conclusion, Jesus’ fursona would be a dove, and he would have a facerig of it for his Twitch streams. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#finally i can use my catholic upbringing for something useful: shitposts #this started as a joke but my argument was so good that i convinced myself #essays #christianity #furry #long post

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colethewolf · 4 years

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So, apparently Derek and Stiles were supposed to be an actual couple before Davis pussied out and didn’t do it for...hetero reasons? So in essence, they kept writing them as a couple without being an actual couple and threw them together with women they had no chemistry with (Malia, Braeden in Lydia’s case no romantic chemistry) or forced it by paralleling the shit put of it to the point of creating clones (of Stiles and Derek) with vaginas (Paige and Jennifer, Slightly Malia and Cora respectively).

I don’t know why, it’s been so long since it’s been over but finding out that this is a legitimate thing apparently, I don’t know, I haven’t seen the sources but everybody is saying that apparently it came out that they were meant to be a couple before it was nixed, just makes me incredibly angry.

To be perfectly honest I wasn’t huge in this ship or shipping in general however I enjoyed sterek. My thing with Sterek was that I was excited by the fact that there were these two guys with chemistry that bickered and worked well together and respected one another and the best part they were not Hollywood stereotypical. I mean by Hollywood stereotypical is that they weren’t overly sexualized together, they were not overtly either too macho masculine or super feminine. They were strong, intelligent, flawed, messy but good men who respected and seemed to really love eachother without being paraded. The huge draw also and the biggest point was that there were these two side characters with chemistry where you saw it was going to happen and that was pretty exciting for a lot of people.

My brother got me into the show because he was so excited about it. When it didn’t happen he was bummed out, he was angry because of the baiting because he and many other people believed it, even I felt used and I’m not a part of the LGBTQ+ community, but even I assumed and hope that it would happen because at least one couple seemed to genuinely like and respect and care and love each other. It just didn’t happen. Just quasi-promises in the form of scenes were they were written as a couple without the romanticism, thrown into relationships with women they had no chemistry way, the type of non-chemistry that seemed as dry as the Sahara desert on both sides (Or in Hoechlin’s case a case of the weird crazy obsessive stalker pawing at him making the scenes with Derek and braeden that much more uncomfortable because even acting he was uncomfortable and she was drooling at the prospect of getting up on him.)

If I find the link with the actual sources I’ll send them to you in a message because I think it would be pretty interesting to read. I think it’s legit, I mean I assume that it was probably something that they were planning but I never thought that there would be a legitimate sources where they say yes this was supposed to happen but it did not because dumb reasons. And I think it’s real because I’m hearing it everywhere, I’m hearing it loudly, and the anger and the rage that I’m hearing it reminds me of when the ban began way back and the Sterek fandom was initiated betrayed by PTB and Davis after all of the legwork the Stereks did to make the show popular, viewed and honestly the reason it was profitable at all.

You’re probably not interested in hearing any of this but legitimately yours was the only blog that I could think of that would hear this and give a legitimate opinion because you’ve been vocal about it and in a wonderfully honest way with your thoughts. Like I said I’m not a part of the community, I am not someone who ships anything. But I did start to ship them because it seemed naturally written, the chemistry was electric, they worked well together, and anyone with eyes and the ability to hear and understand what they’re seeing could see that the writers wrote them as being very much in love with eachother.

I apologize about the length.

Yes, I’ve talked about this before. I’ve spoken to sources before about what happened and unfortunately there will always remain unknown pieces of information about it. I don’t think we’ll ever get a full picture and detailed timeline of genuine fact.

But we can piece together the things that we saw and experience without knowing the full details about behind the scenes. For instance, Jeff Davis frequently acknowledged Sterek as a slash-ship. He admitted to intentionally writing Derek and Stiles scenes together and called them one of the greatest pairings in the show. He also frequently admitted to printing out Sterek fanart and posting them around the studio and writers room.

We also know that he intentionally hinted at Stiles being bisexual. He admitted it. He also frequently baited at the prospect of Stiles and Derek possibly developing into a slow-build romantic relationship. We also know that Jeff was fully aware of the Sterek vs. Derek/Jennifer parallels as he, himself, hinted at them being intentionally set in place during season 3A.

Onto things that weren’t confirmed by Jeff Davis, it was obvious that Stiles/Malia and Derek/Braeden were attempts to no-homo the characters as it was not a coincidence that both characters (who had remained single for seasons 1-3B) decided to both get put into separate heterosexual relationships at the same time, whilst also being purposely kept apart in scenes filmed.

The reality is that even if Jeff Davis wasn’t singlehandedly responsible for how Sterek was treated in the show, the fandom’s anger was directed at him. And it wasn’t directed solely at him just because. It was because Jeff, himself, frequently announced via. twitter & tumblr that he did NOT receive pushback from MTV executives.

In fact, Jeff bragged about how the show was his show and that he was able to write whatever he wanted without higher-ups telling him no. It was Jeff who bragged about the show being progressive in terms of queer representation. Regardless of whether or not Jeff had 100% full control over the show and the stories, we don’t know. But Jeff set himself up as the main enemy on his own accord.

I don’t think the fury Jeff received towards him would have been so strong had Jeff not been so cocky as to preach in the faces of the fans. He liked being the one in charge and then subsequently got pissy when fans turned against him and him alone. I think it was a big lesson learned.

Personally, I think Sterek was the show. It brought so much status and power to the show, but when they tried so hard to remove every trace of Sterek, that’s when the show crashed and burned. It’s no coincidence that season 3B received 2+ million views per new episode, only for that viewership to immediately tank when Season 4 came around.....the season where Stiles/Malia and Derek/Braeden. And following that, the views only continued to drop harder and harder.

Had Sterek gone canon, I think the show would have been regarded as a major game changer for television. Instead, I think shows like Shadowhunters, How To Get Away With Murder, & The Magicians really helped bring new standards for queer representation in television. Teen Wolf could have had that, but they fumbled their opportunity with messiness behind the scenes.

That’s what I think about it. But if you do find those sources, I’d love to hear what they’re saying to see if they match up with anything we already know.

#Anonymous

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q--uee--n · 3 years

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In recent years, I've noticed this trend of sorts in media. I don't know if I'm looking or reading too much into it, so all opinions are mine, but it's a phenomenon that I call the "acceptable" female character, for lack of a better term. You take a girl or woman character. She's not overtly masculine but she doesn't have a plethora of traditionally feminine characteristics either. You don't forget she's a woman, but you can separate her womanhood from her. She has a well-written story, a good arc - she's generally a well-layered character and the fact that she's a woman doesn't deter from that. It's easy for people, mostly men but people in general, to like her because she's well-written by a) happenstance and wasn't included as a result of a perceived real, hard lack of feminine presence and b) because she doesn't (seem to) threaten male-dominated spaces or patriarchal structures. So she's likeable - but she's engineered that way to appeal to broad audiences, to men who don't feel like they're being taken down a peg or that the media has the gall to criticize patriarchal systems, even through allegory. Simply put, she's a character that will not make misogyny uncomfortable, but she's also a character that women will, very rightfully, latch onto because she's treated with care and not plainly intended for the male gaze and she's just a damn good character (think: Ahsoka Tano, Katniss Everdeen, and James Cameron's woman characters). That said, this isn't to say all of these characters, including any examples, are created with the intention to be acceptable or stomachable. Of course not, but that's where audience perception comes in.

Because intention doesn't change the fact that people find certain traits in women ugly that they don't find ugly in men, find explicit femininity and its many forms of expression ugly, use ultra-feminine characters as a conduit for the supposed horrors of that same assured ultra-femininity, and that's how you get the Mean Girl™ trope. It also helps that female characters that are "acceptable" are that way due to their proximity to a beloved male character (think: Bella Swan, Elena Gilbert, and Tris Prior, who people may like based on their own merits but are frequently utilized to be shipped with the resident brooding bad boys). "Acceptable" female characters. So they're not pandering. They're also not horribly sexist machinations born of the minds of men. But they don't typically generate a specific, significant discomfort either, the specific type of discomfort and outrage that comes with acknowledging that a certain genre or work needs more women characters and building characters based on that ideal, the specific outrage that comes with woman-dominated spaces in general (think: Rey and Carol Danvers, who are both neutral when it comes to gender roles but nevertheless face heaps of misogynistic hate. Neither of these characters, to me, are exceptionally written, but they were heavily hyped due to their status as the female lead, which led to accusations of corporate pandering. And that might be true, but the fact remains that a) creating certain characters because of their lack of presence in a particular space doesn't mean that the character will be poorly written and b) men in fiction are scarcely ever as interesting as they're made out to be, full-stop, especially when it comes to the action movie genre, which isn't famous for having the most intricate characters).

All in all, women are multi-faceted. There's no one way to be a woman, and women like and exist as a plethora of things regardless if those things be traditionally "masculine" or "feminine", and media should reflect that without something or another having to be contradictory. The problem, however, is that the ones at the top writing women don't always seem to realize this, and neither do audiences, which I think is how "acceptable" female characters come to be in the first place.

#writing #female characters #writing female characters #women in fiction #star wars #marvel #disney #ya fiction #action fiction #mcu #long post

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girlsbtrs · 3 years

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How Being a Woman in Hardcore Helped Me Learn to Love Myself

Written by Jen Moglia. Graphic by Laura Cross.

Since this is my first piece written for Girls Behind the Rock Show, I figured that I should introduce myself; hi, my name is Jennifer, but most people call me Jen. I live on Long Island in New York, and my favorite things include my cats, the color pink, giving gifts to my Animal Crossing villagers, and watching sports. Above all else, however, I love music.

I frequently refer to music as the love of my life. It somehow plays a role in everything that I do. I got my first iPod when I was five years old, stacked with everything from Miranda Cosgrove and Avril Lavigne to Tool and Deftones. Some of my favorite memories growing up are sitting in my pink and purple bedroom singing and dancing along to Paramore’s crushcrushcrush and Fall Out Boy’s Thnks Fr Th Mmrs on the local alternative radio station. I danced for 12 years, played cello for seven, and am currently a wannabe ukulele rockstar after buying one on impulse and starting to teach myself how to play four years ago. Even on the simplest, barely noticeable levels, music has been everywhere in my life for as long as I can remember; even now, I can’t complete a basic task without a song playing in my headphones.

Music became an even bigger part of my life when I started attending live shows. I went to my first concerts at age 10, seeing my two favorite artists - Nickelodeon boy band Big Time Rush and classic progressive rock band Rush - within one month of each other. By the time I was 15, I had been to my fair share of arena/seated shows with one or both of my parents, from Fifth Harmony to Fitz and the Tantrums to Alice in Chains. My first general admission show was seeing the Foo Fighters at Citi Field with both my mom and dad when I was 12, but my first pop-punk general admission show (yes, they’re different) came a few years later. I had the typical list of favorite bands that you would expect from a young teenager getting into alternative music: Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck, Real Friends, and State Champs.

In late 2018, I was able to see all four of these bands for the first time, and I am a firm believer that it changed the course of my life. I met, cried-during, and eventually got the setlist for Neck Deep at Stereo Garden on Long Island in September. I sang all of “Untitled” at the barricade for Knuckle Puck at SI Hall at the Fairgrounds in Syracuse in October. I had my first minor concussion scare (yay!) before Real Friends’ set at Irving Plaza in New York City in November. Finally, I crowd surfed for the first time during State Champs’ anniversary show for The Finer Things at House of Independents in Asbury Park in December. After just a few shows, I had fallen in love with this new brand of live music that I had just been introduced too. There was something so magical to me about skin covered in sweat and Sharpie marks, feet hurting from dancing in the pit all night, and meeting strangers on line outside the venue who would become your best friends and know your deepest secrets by the end of the night.

After making some friends at all of the pop-punk shows I was going to, they started to tell me that I should get into hardcore music. I was hesitant at first - the heaviest thing I had listened to at that point was nowhere near the snippets of hardcore that my friends had played for me - but, eventually, I decided to give it a chance. I was bored and home alone with nothing to do one night over the summer of 2019 when I listened to my first hardcore album, Laugh Tracks by Knocked Loose. Immediately, I got that gut feeling that you have when you know you’ve heard one of your favorite bands for the first time. I knew that this was something special that I was meant to find at this point in my life. For the rest of the summer, I worked my way through the rest of my friends’ hardcore and hardcore-adjacent recommendations, with Cost of Living by Incendiary, Stage Four by Touche Amore, You’re Not You Anymore by Counterparts, Time & Space by Turnstile, Springtime and Blind by Fiddlehead, Smile! Aren’t You Happy by Absence of Mine, Bad to my World by Backtrack, and Reality Approaches by Harms Way being some of my favorites. By the time the next school year started, I was hooked, and I already had tickets to my first few hardcore shows in the fall.

My first hardcore show was in November 2019, seeing Knocked Loose at Webster Hall in New York City - fitting, right? They were on tour supporting their new record A Different Shade of Blue, which I had become obsessed with the minute I heard it for the first time. Although I was ridiculously scared of getting stepped on and breaking all my bones (yes, that was an actual fear of mine), I had the time of my life at that show. There was something about this newer kind of live music that prompted a cathartic release, one that I hadn’t found anywhere else before. As soon as the show was over, I was counting the days until my next one.

My love for live hardcore music (and live music and hardcore music in general) has only grown since then, and that story sort of ends there. However, I want to go back to that first hardcore band that I listened to, Knocked Loose, and the album they put out that first summer that stole my heart. I was taken by storm as soon as the first notes of A Different Shade of Blue rang through my headphones, but something was different about the third track, A Serpent’s Touch, particularly the ending; I heard a voice that sounded a little bit more like my own.

This song features Emma Boster, who does vocals for one of my favorite hardcore bands right now, Dying Wish. When I heard A Serpent’s Touch for the first time, though, I had no idea who she was. I was used to the aggressive vocal delivery of frontmen in hardcore, particularly that of Knocked Loose’s Bryan Garris, but hearing it come from her changed my perspective on a lot of things. It’s not like the song was super angry and changed its tune to be lighter once the token girl came along; in her verse, Boster sings, “I watched the venom / Overcome your spirit / Jealousy holds you now / Distorting your appearance / Bleed out.” These were lyrics that held the same intensity that the lines screamed by the men held, and they sounded just as cool coming out of her mouth. As cheesy as it sounds, it had never even occurred to me that women had a place in this new world that I had discovered. The audiences in the live videos I watched (and eventually at the shows I attended) were made up of mostly men who looked bigger and older than me. When I did start going to shows, most of the non-man population consisted of my friends and I. Emma Boster, along with so many others, began to open my eyes to the fact that a place for people like me existed in this community. It didn’t matter that I had bright red hair or liked butterflies or wore pink - I was just as much a part of this magic as the men multiple feet taller than me with tattoo-covered arms, and I belonged there just as much as they did.

As time went on and I got more involved in the genre’s music and community, I discovered more bands with women in them, and it only fueled this fire of empowerment inside of me. When I felt insecure, I’d watch live sets from Krimewatch, a hardcore band from New York City, just half an hour away from my hometown. They have multiple women as members, including their energetic badass of a vocalist, Rhylli Ogiura. Year of the Knife became one of my all-time favorites, and their bassist Madison Watkins became a serious inspiration to me; the way that she can balance killing it on stage and running the cutest, most pink apparel brand I’ve ever seen (aptly titled Candy Corpse) amazes me. Even some of the bands I’ve found more recently have had an impact on me. I started listening to Initiate last year when their EP Lavender came out, and their beautifully colorful cover art caught my eye before I had heard any of their songs. Their vocalist, Crystal Pak, is also a woman, and she’s insanely talented. Discovering this kind of representation in this new universe that I had come to feel so at home in introduced me to a world of confidence and determination that I had never known before.

When people ask me why I love hardcore so much, I often give the easy answer; “the music sounds good.” If the person allows me to ramble on for a little longer, the answer becomes much more emotional and cheesy. Hardcore taught me that speaking up for what I believe in is important, and if there’s something I’m passionate about, it’s worth shouting about. I became familiar with this when listening to one of my favorite bands ever, Incendiary (the second hardcore band I ever checked out), before quickly realizing that politics are a pretty common topic within the genre - it’s what this music was practically built on. The first time I heard their vocalist Brendan Garrone singing about police brutality and injustice on songs like Force of Neglect and Sell Your Cause, I realized that there is so much more to music than just sounding good.

However, at its core, the thing I love so much about hardcore is what it taught me about being a woman. Growing up, I was the loud girl with the personality bigger than the room who always had something to say and had a never ending supply of excitement about just about everything. As I got older, I was taught that this was not okay. People didn’t like how enthusiastic I was about everything, or that I constantly had new ideas and new discoveries I wanted to talk about. As cliche as it sounds, I felt like everyone around me was trying to dull my sparkle, especially some of the men that I was encountering on a day-to-day basis. Even when I started to come to terms with my big and bright personality, in turn also coming to terms with my own femininity, I was told that this wasn’t how girls acted. I had to pick one - I could watch Disney princess movies and wear Hello Kitty hair clips, or I could be outspoken about my beliefs; but never both. The women that I mentioned earlier, along with so, so many more, helped me unlearn these toxic mindsets. Seeing someone like Emma Boster take the stage and scream ferociously for a full set helped me see that I could be a girl and still be a powerhouse. Following Madi Watkins around on social media showed me that I could love bands like Year of the Knife and also love heart-shaped purses and wear pink from head to toe. My aggression and passion didn’t make me any less of a woman, and my femininity didn’t make me any less of a force to be reckoned with.

So, at the end of this love letter to hardcore and the women who run it, I say this; thank you for teaching me that I don’t have to shrink myself anymore. It has made a world of a difference.

#jennifer moglia

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drsilverfish · 4 years

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The Symbolism of Adam’s Rib in 15x17 Unity

In Genesis, Eve was created by God from Adam’s rib:

“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

(King James Bible)

In 15x17, Seraphina takes out Adam’s rib and gives it to Dean in order to provide the final ingredient (apparently) in the cosmic Jack-bomb designed, according to Billie’s plan, to kill God by smushing Jack’s Nephilim grace and his human soul together.

It would seem Chuck wrote that part, however, in order to deliver the rib to Jack as an agent of Jack’s destruction. Chuck has wanted to kill Jack (whose Nephilim power seems to be a genuine threat to him) for some time - remember 14x20 Moriah.

But, perhaps Adam’s rib, which in Genesis gave rise to the feminine, is another part of the alchemical and Jungian symbology SPN has laterly been drawing on.

Just as Chuck has absorbed Amara (the feminine God-principle) so Jack has now absorbed Adam’s rib (originally the generative element in the creation of woman).

The feminine presently seems destroyed, lost, gone from the narrative (as Mary Winchester was apparently killed by Jack in 14x18 Absence) and that’s always been Chuck’s narrative. He locked up his sister, Amara, the feminine God-principle, for aeons previously after all, and the origin story of his Winchester Gospels was the fridging of Mary Winchester, followed by the mirror-murder of Jess. Chuck, as Metatron pointed out in 8x23 Sacrifice (also the writers’ room’s own comment on itself) is, “A bit of a sexist...”

BUT, I suggest, the feminine principle, which in Jungian, binary terms, as the anima, is the internal, unconcious, feminine psychic element within the male psyche, will return. Within those terms, the feminine principle has been coded, in the SPN narrative, as love.

It is Amara, the feminine God-principle, whom we see now truly loves and appreciates creation in 15x17, whilst Chuck has become wrathy and destructive.

I noticed that when Amara was trying to get Chuck to appreciate angelic devotion in Heaven, and he snaps the angels out of his way, he says to her:

“Don’t worry, they’re not gone, just... away..”

Those of you who’ve been following me for a while know I’ve always thought that’s what happened to Mary - she was zapped “away” somewhere, rather than killed:

https://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/184131452324/14x18-absence-the-games-continue

https://drsilverfish.tumblr.com/post/184458723054/mary-is-watching-over-you-from-a-mirror

and that we will see her again at The End.

Many metas have been written about how Dean has been coded as “feminine” within the SPN narrative, in a variety of ways, e.g. because he had to be a substitute “Mom” to Sam when Mary died, e.g. because in the narrative filmic codes SPN has frequently drawn on, to be queer-coded (for men) is, frequently, to be feminine-coded (Dean’s love for Rhonda Hurley’s pink and satiny panties etc. etc.).

Chuck saw Dean as his own (”mascline”) mirror, in his 15x17 narrative. And in Chuck’s storied ending, he wanted Dean’s “...sense of duty, his rage, winning out in the end.” The “good son” imploding, and killing his sibling - an earthly mirror for Chuck’s own fantasies, just as Chuck has attempted to banish or absorb his own sibiling, Amara.

But Dean’s love for Sam won out, and Chuck didn’t get his Winchester murder-suicide finale.

And through these final episodes, the last trials of Team Free Will 2.0, love (coded as the feminine God-principle, the anima etc. in the narrative) will win out again, on the cosmic, as well as an earthly plane.

Because, out of Adam’s rib, came Eve.

#Supernatural #15x17 #Unity #SPN meta #Meta #Alchemy in S15 #Jung in S15 #The feminine God-principle #Gone but not forgotten #Dean is bisexual #Still subtext #But subtext IS part of narrative

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lo-lynx · 4 years

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Laurits/Loki as a queer character in Netflix’s Ragnarok

Spoilers for season one of Netflix’s show Ragnarok!

I binged the first season of the Netflix show Ragnarok yesterday, and felt compelled to write something about it. This is somewhat hastely written, so I apologise if the arguments are not as well thought out as they could be, but I wanted to write something. So here we go:

In the Netflix show Ragnarok we meet the two brothers Magne and Laurits as they move to the Norwegian town of Edda with their mother (Ragnarok 2020a). The audience and the characters soon realise that this town is not quite normal, and something mysterious is afoot… It becomes clear that Magne has been bestowed with some sort of magical powers and has been put in the role of Thor in the battle between Norse gods and giants. However, it is less clear what role Laurits is supposed to play. In this text I will claim that he is the Loki to Magne’s Thor, and that is especially interesting in regards to the queerness of his character.

So, first of all, why do I think Laurits is Loki? I think the first point that should be made here is his and Magne’s physical descriptions.

Here we see Laurits sitting furthest to the left, with a green jacket, and Magne sitting to the right of him (with blue jeans and a red t-shirt). Magne and Laurits very much look like how one would imagine Thor and Loki, especially a contemporary audience who has seen the Marvel version of them:

But even beyond Laurits’ looks and brotherly relation to the Thor character, there are parallels between Loki and Laurits. There is his slightly deceptive and trickster like nature, such as when he plays pranks on Magne (for instance by messing up his essay for class when he was supposed to look over the spelling) (Ragnarok 2020a, 22 min). Then there’s also his affinity with the Jutul family, who are actually giants (the name seems to be a play on the old Norse word for giants, jǫtunn). The Loki of Norse myth is often associated with giants as well and might be giant or half-giant (Hume 2019). In the series it is also hinted at several times that Laurits has some sort of magical connection to the giants, for instance at the school dance (Ragnarok 2002b, 31 min). It is also hinted at that the father of the Jutul family, Vidar, has had an affair with Laurits’ mother Turid previously (for example: Ragnarok 2002b, 11:30 min). This makes me wonder if Laurits’ parents are in fact Turid and Vidar, making him half giant… If that is the case, he would have a sort of double cultural heritage, that of humans and that of giants.

Another cultural aspect that is interesting to look at is the parallels between the Loki of myth and the culture of the indigenous Sámi people in northern Scandinavia and Russia (Laidoner 2012). For one, the land of the giants seems to somewhat resemble the description of the Sámi peoples land, in regards to geographical location (north, on the borderlands). Similar to how Sámi was (and are) seen as “other” by Scandinavian people, so were the jǫtunn seen by the æsir (the gods). Laidoner also sees parallels between Loki and historical Sámi shamanism (noadi). She writes:

Loki’s potential links to the cultural world of the Sámi might perhaps first and foremost lie in his combination of being both a jǫtunn and (possibly) an áss and the fact that he seems to lack a home and a clear cultural background (…). This certainly makes him a very untrustworthy outsider among the æsir who, irrespective of the fact that their own ancestry goes back to the jǫtnar, frequently show hostility towards them. Loki’s jǫtunn background, and the possible connection between the Sámi and the jǫtnar whose headquarters seem to have been placed in an area that corresponded to the Sámi territories, allow us to place the focus of the following discussion on Loki’s potential affiliation with Sámi culture, where ideas of symbolic soul travels, cosmic oppositions and ambiguity seem to form a natural part of human existence, something most clearly reflected in the noaidi-tradition. It is difficult to overlook the fact that many dualistic ideas of the same kind are also embodied in the Loki figure. Besides being borderline jǫtunn and áss, a curious relic of Loki’s possible connection to the Sámi-world can perhaps be found in his everpresent duality. This duality is shown in several contrasting qualities, such as existing in both male and female form and being a father and a mother, representing aspects of both good and evil (to the extent that such clear distinctions existed in pre-Christian times), being a causer and resolver of problems, a thief and a bringer of valuable objects, all of which again seems to be in accordance with the functions of a noaidi. (Laidoner 2012, 69)

So, as we can see, Loki crosses borders between both cultures and genders, and both of these aspects make him seem untrustworthy. We can also see a parallel here to how indigenous people have been seen and are seen still today. Now, to return to Laurits, we can see some of these aspects here. Laurits move between different worlds, from the luxury of the Jutuls and the popular kids at school, to his rather less glamorous home-life. As I mentioned above, I also think there’s a possibility of him being half Jutul. But he also most definitely plays with gender borders.

I have previously written on this blog about characters moving between genders, for instance regarding Varys in ASOIAF/GoT and Alex in the “Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard” series by Rick Riordan. As mentioned in the latter text, in that story Loki is presented as genderfluid for similar reasons as I outlined above with his changing of sex/gender. In the analysis of Varys, I wrote about how he was perceived as a transgressor of both borders of gender and ethnicity, with being a eunuch from “the East”. (I there relied on texts about the historical eunuchs in for instance Ancient Greece (Llewyn-Jones 2002; Nikoloutsos 2008)). Similar to what Laidoner writes about Loki, one can see that the fluidity of Varys is connected to his movement between different gender expressions as well as cultures. Here I want to briefly touch on some more theoretical background that might be useful when understanding the crossing of borders with gender and ethnicity. Emma Bond writes about the experiences of trans people who also crosses borders of nations, and how they are seen as transgressors in double ways (2018, 71). She further writes that those who permanently inhabit this liminal space between borders, this site is often experienced as a place of alienation and violence (2018, 97). So, throughout these different examples we can see that people who cross borders of gender and ethnicity are seen as suspicious, and perhaps doubly queer (in the sense of non-conformity to norms of sex/gender/sexuality, which is of course also bound up with norms of ethnicity).

In the show, Laurits is seen crossing gender borders several times. One clear example is during the school dance, where he shows up with eyeliner, skinny jeans, and his mother’s old shirt (Ragnarok 2020b, 22:30 min). At the same dance it becomes clear that he has somewhat of a crush on the popular boy Fjor Jotul (who might be his half-brother if my theory is correct… but I’m also not sure if the Jutul family is actually related in the way they claim…) (Ragnarok 2020b, 24:36 min). This is of course also a break with gender norms, that dictate that men should be attracted to women. Then in the last episode of season one Laurits shows up to the school’s celebration of the national day dressed as the school’s headmistress Ran Jutul to mock and criticise her (Ragnarok 2020c, 31:40 min). Here he cross-dresses, perhaps in a similar way as the mythological Loki has done at times. He also plays the role of the trickster very well. Throughout the season it has been somewhat unclear on whose side he is on, but here at the end he helps the “good guys” (mainly his brother), but of course in a mocking manner. This illuminates the dualistic nature of Loki that Laidoner describes (2012).

Overall, Laurits can be seen as portraying several aspects of Loki. He is a trickster, but also a somewhat fluid character in regards to his heritage/culture and gender/sexuality. He moves between different spaces, inhabiting the liminal space between borders of good/evil, feminine/masculine, etc. This portrayal of a queer character is very interesting, and I hope in the event that the show is renewed for a second season it will explore this further. I should however mention the risk of showing a queer character as a deceiver, this could of course play into stereotypes about queer and/or trans characters. This is something that I write about in the previously mentioned text about Alex from the Magnus Chase novels. But I also think this can be portrayed well and interestingly if the audience is shown a contrast between how Laurits is perceived and who he is. A similar element was most definitely present with Magne in season one. So overall, this portrayal of a queer Laurits/Loki is quite interesting and promising.

References

Bond, Emma. 2018. Writing Migration through the Body. Springer: Cham

Hume, Kathryn. 2019. “Loki and Odin: Old Gods Repurposed by Neil Gaiman, A. S. Byatt, and Klas Östergren.” Studies in the Novel, (51)2: 237-308.

Laidoner, Triin. “The Flying Noaidi of the North: Sámi Tradition Reflected in the Figure Loki Laufeyjarson in Old Norse Mythology.” Scripta Islandica 63 (2012): 59–91.

Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd. 2002. “Eunuchs and the royal harem in Achaemenid Persia (559-331 BC)”, in Eunuchs in antiquity and beyond, ed. Tougher, Shaun, 19-50. Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales.

Nikoloutsos, Konstantinos P. 2008. ”The Alexander Bromance: Male Desire and Gender Fluidity in Oliver Stone’s Historical Epic.” Helios, (35)2: 223-251

Ragnarok. 2020a. New Boy. [TV-show] Netflix, 31st of January.

Ragnarok. 2020b. 541 Meters. [TV-show] Netflix, 31st of January.

Ragnarok. 2020c. Yes, we love this country. [TV-show] Netflix, 31st of January.

#ragnarok #ragnarok netflix #ragnarok 2020 #HOW DO I TAG THIS SO PPL DONT THINK I MEAN MARVEL #feminism #queer

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