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sapphosdesires · 23 hours
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I thought she was just a friend. She told me she wanted to talk in private. She said it was serious and so I was worried but then, when we were alone, Aisha pulled me close and told me to pull my straps down. This felt wrong, but I'm so turned on by somebody telling me what to do. If only my husband was like this. 
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writingwithcolor · 7 days
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Sri Lankan Fairies and Senegalese Goddesses: Mixing Mythology as a Mixed Creator
[Note: this archive ask was submitted before the Masterpost rules took effect in 2023. The ask has been abridged for clarity.]
@reydjarinkenobi asked:
Hi, I’m half Sri Lankan/half white Australian, second gen immigrant though my mum moved when she was a kid. My main character for my story is a mixed demigod/fae. [...] Her bio mum is essentially a Scottish/Sri Lankan fairy and her other bio mum (goddess) is a goddess of my own creation, Nettamaar, who’s name is derived from [...] Wolof words [...]. The community of mages that she presided over is from the South Eastern region of Senegal [...] In the beginning years of European imperialism, the goddess basically protected them through magic and by blessing a set of triplets effectively cutting them off from the outside world for a few centuries [...] I was unable to find a goddess that fit the story I wanted to tell [...] and also couldn’t find much information on the internet for local gods, which is why I have created my own. I know that the gods in Hinduism do sort of fit into [the story] but my Sri Lankan side is Christian and I don’t feel comfortable representing the Hindu gods in the way that I will be this goddess [...]. I wanted to know if any aspect of the community’s history is problematic as well as if I should continue looking further to try and find an African deity that matched my narrative needs? I was also worried that having a mixed main character who’s specifically half black would present problems as I can’t truly understand the black experience. I plan on getting mixed and black sensitivity readers once I finish my drafts [...] I do take jabs at white supremacy and imperialism and I I am planning to reflect my feelings of growing up not immersed in your own culture and feeling overwhelmed with what you don’t know when you get older [...]. I’m sorry for the long ask but I don’t really have anyone to talk to about writing and I’m quite worried about my story coming across as insensitive or problematic because of cultural history that I am not educated enough in.
Reconciliation Requires Research
First off: how close is this world’s history to our own, omitting the magic? If you’re aiming for it to be essentially parallel, I would keep in mind that Senegal was affected by the spread of Islam before the Europeans arrived, and most people there are Muslim, albeit with Wolof and other influences. 
About your Scottish/Sri Lankan fairy character: I’ll point you to this previous post on Magical humanoid worldbuilding, Desi fairies as well as this previous post on Characterization for South Asian-coded characters for some of our commentary on South Asian ‘fae’. Since she is also Scottish, the concept can tie back to the Celtic ideas of the fae.
However, reconciliation of both sides of her background can be tricky. Do you plan on including specific Sri Lankan mythos into her heritage? I would tread carefully with it, if you plan to do so. Not every polytheistic culture will have similar analogues that you can pull from.
To put it plainly, if you’re worried about not knowing enough of the cultural histories, seek out people who have those backgrounds and talk to them about it. Do your research thoroughly: find resources that come from those cultures and read carefully about the mythos that you plan to incorporate. Look for specificity when you reach out to sensitivity readers and try to find sources that go beyond a surface-level analysis of the cultures you’re looking to portray. 
~ Abhaya
I see you are drawing on Gaelic lore for your storytelling. Abhaya has given you good links to discussions we’ve had at WWC and the potential blindspots in assuming, relative to monotheistic religions like Christianity, that all polytheistic and pluralistic lore is similar to Gaelic folklore. Fae are one kind of folklore. There are many others. Consider:
Is it compatible? Are Fae compatible with the Senegalese folklore you are utilizing? 
Is it specific? What ethnic/religious groups in Senegal are you drawing from? 
Is it suitable? Are there more appropriate cultures for the type of lore you wish to create?
Remember, Senegalese is a national designation, not an ethnic one, and certainly not a designation that will inform you with respect to religious traditions. But more importantly:
...Research Requires Reconciliation
My question is why choose Senegal when your own heritage offers so much room for exploration? This isn’t to say I believe a half Sri-Lankan person shouldn’t utilize Senegalese folklore in their coding or vice-versa, but, to put it bluntly, you don’t seem very comfortable with your heritage. Religions can change, but not everything cultural changes when this happens. I think your relationship with your mother’s side’s culture offers valuable insight to how to tackle the above, and I’ll explain why.  
I myself am biracial and bicultural, and I had to know a lot about my own background before I was confident using other cultures in my writing. I had to understand my own identity—what elements from my background I wished to prioritize and what I wished to jettison. Only then was I able to think about how my work would resonate with a person from the relevant background, what to be mindful of, and where my blindspots would interfere. 
I echo Abhaya’s recommendation for much, much more research, but also include my own personal recommendation for greater self-exploration. I strongly believe the better one knows oneself, the better they can create. It is presumptuous for me to assume, but your ask’s phrasing, the outlined plot and its themes all convey a lack of confidence in your mixed identity that may interfere with confidence when researching and world-building. I’m not saying give up on this story, but if anxiety on respectful representation is a large barrier for you at the moment, this story may be a good candidate for a personal project to keep to yourself until you feel more ready.
(See similar asker concerns here: Running Commentary: What is “ok to do” in Mixed-Culture Supernatural Fiction, here: Representing Biracial Black South American Experiences and here: Am I fetishizing my Japanese character?)
- Marika.
Start More Freely with Easy Mode
Question: Why not make a complete high-fantasy universe, with no need of establishing clear real-world parallels in the text? It gives you plenty of leg room to incorporate pluralistic, multicultural mythos + folklore into the same story without excessive sweating about historically accurate worldbuilding.
It's not a *foolproof* method; even subtly coded multicultural fantasy societies like Avatar or the Grishaverse exhibit certain harmful tropes. I also don't know if you are aiming for low vs high fantasy, or the degree of your reliance on real world culture / religion / identity cues.
But don't you think it's far easier for this fantasy project to not have the additional burden of historical accuracy in the worldbuilding? Not only because I agree with Mod Marika that perhaps you seem hesitant about the identity aspect, but because your WIP idea can include themes of othering and cultural belonging (and yes, even jabs at supremacist institutions) in an original fantasy universe too. I don't think I would mind if I saw a couple of cultural markers of a Mughal Era India-inspired society without getting a full rundown of their agricultural practices, social conventions and tax systems, lol.
Mod Abhaya has provided a few good resources about what *not* to do when drawing heavily from cultural coding. With that at hand, I don't think your project should be a problem if you simply make it an alternate universe like Etheria (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Inys (The Priory of the Orange Tree) or Earthsea (the Earthsea series, Ursula K. Le Guin). Mind you, we can trace the analogues to each universe, but there is a lot of freedom to maneuver as you wish when incorporating identities in original fantasy. And of course, multiple sensitivity readers are a must! Wishing you the best for the project.
- Mod Mimi
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narcobarbies · 1 year
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india love
via instagram stories
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incognitopolls · 3 months
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We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.
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sonderpoison · 5 months
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TYLA Water (Live from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon)
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weloveyoubabygirl · 7 months
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September 2, 2023: @myaplanet9, Mya @ the 1st Annual Caribbean Music Awards.
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helenstudies · 7 months
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Welcome to my Studyblr! ✨
I've been here since 2014 but well, I never got around to actually introducing myself, I guess? Here I go.
My name is Helen (They/Them).
24 year old Queer INFP Capricorn in Myanmar.
What am I learning? Well, a lot of things but mostly languages, literature, and psychology.
I am a native Burmese speaker but I also speak other languages! English (C2), Korean (TOPIK 6) Mandarin Chinese (HSK5) and Japanese (JLPT N3) respectively. I try to keep my certifications up to date but covid made it really difficult.
I'm working towards a Diploma in Pali.
I am also learning Spanish, Russian, Latin, ASL etc and absolutely getting my ass kicked by them.
I'm a freelance translator, writer, tarot reader, astrologist, language study guide, language instructor and a bookseller by trade!
I don't do all of those at once. I just sort of... rotate them if that makes sense. 2 at a time, 3 at a time etc.
I am very hardworking but I also have neck arthritis (Cervical Spondylosis), ADHD and Social Anxiety so it's a struggle.
I also have tons of hobbies. I like reading books, writing reviews, journaling and writing fan fictions etc so I'm all over the place.
I have a lot of stray cats that I've adopted so you'll get to see them obstructing my studies as well!
My life's not very glamorous. I'm in Myanmar. With the wars going on, there ain't a lot to glamorize either. But I'm trying my best to hang on and also help others hang on. So you'll see me talking about free consultations and free lectures and humanitarian aid stuff etc.
I run a weekly book club called "HAIYUU" with my friend! HAIYUU stands for 俳友 which is Haiku friends and it's so fun!
I also run a paid telegram channel for tarot/oracle readings with my Haiyuu co-host as well as other friends
I'm taking it one day at a time.
That's pretty much all of it! I hope y'all have a fun time looking at my posts.
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puppiekit · 2 months
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I wish more people would talk about how isolating being mixed race can be. It's like we aren't welcome anywhere. I'm not dark enough to be included in conversations that effect my black relatives, but I'm not light enough for the privileges my white relatives have. I was born from a white man and a black woman but I am not allowed to associate with my black heritage, for I am too light so it would be an insult and I would be invading their spaces. But I can't feel comfortable in predominantly white spaces because racism / biases stick and it isn't long before you are faced with it. Not to mention labelling myself "white" would feel like alienating a part of myself, my own blood, the culture I was brought upon. And well, I'm not white. I'm not pale. I'm brown and I'm tan and I have my father's smile but my mother's curly coily hair. Most assume I'm Indian or Hispanic, but im not so of course I cannot place myself in those circles, but then where do I belong? Where am I allowed to me? I was raised by people I only look half-alike. I was raised with their experiences and their culture and their mannerisms, but to a stranger how dare I associate with them. I'm not dark enough. I'm not light enough. It's so isolating
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spiritmoodboards · 4 months
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Moodboard for Mizu (The Blue Eyed Samurai) trans man/acceptance/multiracial/1600s Japanese culture themes For an anon~ Hope you like this!
We're closed for now, thank you!
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wanhyutji · 7 months
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Monos stop accusing white presenting people of white passing challenge
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bleuzombie · 6 months
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So the thing about me is I exist in a place where I have no choice but to be intersectional. I can’t push aside one part of my identity anymore than the other. I will always be Hawaiian, Chinese, and Latinx. But existing as all of those things means that I will also never get to be just one of those things. I will never be Hawaiian enough. Or Chinese enough. Or Latinx enough. I’m always too much and not enough at the same time.
What I love so much about Our Flag Means Death is I get to see all the different parts of myself together. And maybe they are broken and messy and hurt each other but that’s okay because so am I.
I know it’s a dumb pirate show. I know there will never be a character I can look to that will encompass all that I am. But OFMD comes pretty close. And I will never be able to express how thankful I am for that.
*** yes I am aware that Taika Waititi is Māori and Jewish but the Māori are Polynesian as are the Hawaiians. Besides, like I said, never going to see myself exactly but this is pretty freaking close.
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writingwithcolor · 8 months
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Representing Biracial Black South American Experiences…Through a White/Asian Mixed Race Character in Europe
@colombinna asked:
I have a YA story that's in very early development - pre-alpha, if you will. For now what I have developed is the characters: one of the MCs is a biracial asian queer girl (her dad is thai-american and japanese, her mom's white), she has a medium/dark brown skin, and lives in a very white context in a fictional European country. The contact she has with her extended family is limited to phone calls and regular visits because her dad moved from the US to said fictional European country.
I'm a biracial black queer girl myself, living in a very white community in South America, my extended black family also lives in a different place, and I'm taking a lot of my experiences of being not white and queer whilst living in white communities into her story (the feeling of not belonging, the impostor syndrome, standing out as one of the only POC kids in class, etc) and thinking back to what I've heard asian friends and classmates say about their experiences in the same school/community context as mine. But I want to know how different her experiences as a dark-skinned asian girl would differ from mine and my friends' in a similar context (white community, small number of other asian people - and POC in general - in the social circles, and limited contact to her extended family), and what experiences could make sense if the character was biracial black like myself, but won't if she's biracial asian.
Why not write a biracial Black girl if those are the experiences you want to represent? 
This MC is straddling, like, 3 different cultures. Having multiple immigrant identities in not-Europe is not the same experience as being Black in South America; while both are complex minority experiences, there are too many differences in intersections and histories to compare. Not to mention, it really depends on what European culture(s) you’re basing your not-Europe on. 
I think you’ll find that the written result will ring much more genuine and rich in depth if you either translate your experiences more directly or pick a more narrow focus, instead of assuming that there is a universal for racism and colorism against biracial people that is transferable across contexts. Because there isn’t. There can be overlaps, but if you’re looking to cover the entire range of What It’s Like in general, it won’t work.
This isn’t to say that people can’t use other identities to write about specific experiences of their own, but in this case you need to think about what story you want to tell and what your reasons are. Marika’s commentary will go more into when and how this can be done effectively. 
Also, if the point is to make her a dark-skinned Asian, as a white/asian mix myself, I implore you: why must you make her 1/4 Japanese and 1/2 white? Even with the Thai ethnicity thrown in, Thai people very much range in skin tone and have their own domestic issues with colorism. It’s not impossible for dark-skinned examples of your MC’s ethnic makeup to exist, but still I don’t recommend it for two reasons: 
It's going to make researching people whose experiences fit that much more difficult. Most experiences of colorism, othering, and other forms of discrimination that mixed white asians tend to face are completely different from mixed race asians who tend to have darker skin & features.
There's enough Japanese & white mixed Japanese rep in the Asian rep sphere as is. Consider that this individual could be mixed Asian (not Japanese) with something else (not white)! 
But again, think over your motivations. I’ll spare you the copy/paste of our Motivations PSA, but re-read it and consider. Why do you wish to write a mixed Asian character to tell the story of your experiences as a mixed Black individual instead of a mixed Black character? What does it add to the story? Is it an effective vessel for the experiences you want to convey? 
~ Rina
I think Rina brings up some good points here: I’m not hearing a lot of specificity in your query. As you doubtless know firsthand, the more intersectional and complex an identity, the more of a chance the identity may come with unexpected baggage and nuances that fly in the face of what is common sense for less intersectional identities. This can make writing such characters challenging just because there is so much choice on which identity themes to emphasize. 
I once spent about 15 minutes explaining to a person the thought process I used to determine when I could wear jeans depending on which country I was living in as a mixed race person who is perceived as different things in different places. It might seem trivial, but it’s actually very important to me for the purposes of identity, safety and gender presentation, so I personally think it’s interesting. But will my readers think a character’s multi-page internal monologue on whether or not to wear jeans is especially compelling? Does the writer-version of me want to research the version of myself musing on my specific jeans conundrum to that extent? Or do I want to talk about other things related to attire a lot of other people would relate to? I think those are all YMMV questions, but hopefully, they provide some perspective that will help you be intentional about how you might want to tackle something potentially very time-consuming.
When I say intentional, I mean that when covering a complex identity with which you are peripherally familiar, it will always be more effective and easier to use it to tell a specific story extremely clearly than to be extremely broad in scope and try to include almost everything about your own experiences, especially because some of those experiences might not be as relevant for your character’s background as they are to yours.      
One of my favorite childhood picture books is written and illustrated by a Nikkei writer-illustrator team. The book is titled Ashok by Any Other Name (link). The story features a desi child growing up in the US who wishes he had an American name his friends and teachers wouldn’t think was strange. It covers how being othered for his name makes him feel, and how he copes with that feeling. Speaking as someone both Japanese and desi, I think through the plot device of names perceived by the majority of Americans as foreign, this book aptly shows how many immigrant/diaspora creators are capable of relating to the pressures of assimilation experienced by other immigrant, even if the creator, the audience and the story’s subject’s backgrounds all don’t completely overlap 100%. 
There will be aspects of your Blackness, mixed identity, skin color, sexuality and living in a local community lacking diversity as a member of many minority groups that you will find resemble/ resonate with the experiences of mixed-race, Japanese individual in a Europe-themed setting, and I think any story that leans into those themes will be considerably easier for you to research. In other words, instead of asking us “How does my experience differ?” I would approach this issue by deciding what narrative you want to show about your own experience and then research the specific contexts within which your desired story overlaps with elements of mixed-race Japanese experiences. 
- Marika.
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narcobarbies · 1 year
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india love via tiktok (2023/01/19)
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mixedkid-matchup · 1 year
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INTRODUCING THE MIXED KID MATCH UP!
tournament where you vote for your fav multiracial (or multispecies!) character(s)!
inspired by polls like: @blackandpinkbracket @blorbo-archers-tournament @blueandyellowbracket @ultimatepinkgirl @homoeroticbetrayal @adhdswagcompetition @autismswagsummit @beefy-babe-showdown (HIII) tagging @competition-list
twas not planning on taking submissions, BUT IF YOU HAVE SOMEONE I DONT ALREADY then send me an ask bc im too lazy to make a google form. (characters i have are below cut + rules)
Submissions will stop being taken on Thursday, March 9th @ 7PM MST Tonight at 7PM MST SUBMISSIONS CLOSED
Rules: 1. fictional characters only. i’d love to put myself on the poll for kicks but fr I don’t know how your fave youtuber would feel about being put on a tumblr poll lmao.   2. pjo characters do not count. their greek ancestry is not incorporated in dna (this is stated in the books, but there is evidence against it, like percy’s greek eyes, but this is a fantasy/mythology book so like whatever. also this is stated so the characters can date outside their cabin.) 3. you can submit more than one character but dont submit one more than once 4. my matches so far are color-coded based on anime character, cartoon character, comic/graphic novel character, live action character, and book character. so in the beginning i will match the anime ones together and so forth to keep it fair for at least the beginning. 5. dont submit the entire family in the poll. keep it to like a pair of siblings that are the focus or something. or the main character. 6. polls will last 24 hours because im impatient 7. you can campaign!!!!! TAG ME!!!!!! I’LL SHOW IT OFF!!!! 8. you do not have to be nice in the comments and tags idc!!! trash talk!!! have fun!! just dont like actually legit send death threats or slurs to people. in seriousness. and to people you dont know. Characters so far: - Tamaki Suoh (white-french/japanese) - Luz Noceda (afrolatine/black dominican) - Kipo (black/korean + mute/human) - Inuyasha (human/demon) - Miles Morales (afrolatine/puerto rican + black) - Hiro Hamada (white/japanese) - Glimmer (asian/??? whtever tf her mom is ig) - Damien Wayne (white/arabic) - Alex Russo (Wizards of Waverly Place) (white-italian/mexican) - Alina Starkov (white/asian) - Sabrina Spellman (mortal/witch) - Aquaman (atlantean/surface dweller LMAO WHY DID THE CREATOR SAY IT LIKE THAT) - Keith Kogane (galra/human) - Raven (human/demon) - Mark Grayson (human/vultrimite + white/asian) - Marceline (half human) - Scott Mccall (white/hispanic) - Steven (Steven Universe) (gem/human) - Marinette Dupain-Cheng (white/asian) - Cassandra Cain (white/chinese) - Alex (Totally Spies) (afrolatine + white) - Aster (The Witch Boy) (black/white) - Ginny (Ginny and Georgia) (black/white) - Wednesday (white/hispanic) - Mako and Bolin (LOK) (fire/earth bender) - Elisa Maza (black/indigenous) - Carter and Sadie Kane (black/white)
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chemicalarospec · 6 months
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Okay going from that "white or not" poll to a post about multigender people calling out "man or Not" thinking. Like. People do NOT want to consider complexity. Average person (not just on this website, real world is the same or worse when it comes to this) is not ready for "the opposite of a fundamental truth is another fundamental truth."
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weloveyoubabygirl · 7 months
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IG: @daysulan
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