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#not in this but it's also queer positive media released this year

queerfables · 6 months

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Taking away the glass?

Oh gosh I'm actually so keen to talk about this so thank you for the opening!

Context: Responding to akaitsukicat's artwork of Crowley and Aziraphale separated by a glass wall, I said that the reason we're all such wrecks over their kiss is because after 6000 years in canon and 33 years in real life, that kiss was "taking away the glass".

The glass is a metaphor that media scholar Henry Jenkins uses to explain the appeal of slash, originally published in 1993. Here, "slash" refers to queer re-interpretation of heterosexual media, including transformative works exploring those readings.

This is what Jenkins says about the glass:

When I try to explain slash to non-fans, I often reference that moment in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan where Spock is dying and Kirk stands there, a wall of glass separating the two longtime buddies. Both of them are reaching out towards each other, their hands pressed hard against the glass, trying to establish physical contact. They both have so much they want to say and so little time to say it. Spock calls Kirk his friend, the fullest expression of their feelings anywhere in the series. Almost everyone who watches the scene feels the passion the two men share, the hunger for something more than what they are allowed. And, I tell my nonfan listeners, slash is what happens when you take away the glass. The glass, for me, is often more social than physical; the glass represents those aspects of traditional masculinity which prevent emotional expressiveness or physical intimacy between men, which block the possibility of true male friendship. Slash is what happens when you take away those barriers and imagine what a new kind of male friendship might look like. One of the most exciting things about slash is that it teaches us how to recognize the signs of emotional caring beneath all the masks by which traditional male culture seeks to repress or hide those feelings.

The vid I refer to, inspired by Jenkin's comments, is The Glass by thingswithwings. It's a beautiful vid, sad and hopeful and empowering, with a very moving commentary on fandom history. It was originally published in 2008, which is relevant to understanding the position it takes in the dialogue around queer relationships in media.

Here's thingswithwings' summary of the vid, as it appears on YouTube:

Henry Jenkins, speaking of the Spock death scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, said, "slash is what happens when you take away the glass." It has been said, in response, that death also happens when you take away the glass. ie, if you took away the glass Kirk would die of radiation poisoning too; the barrier between desiring men cannot be removed on pain of death. Homosexuality, or just loving touch between two people of the same gender, is equivalent to death in this media narrative. One of the interesting things about slash is the way it takes away the glass, then puts it back, then takes it away, then puts it back, often pleasurably. I think this is both problematic and powerful. It is problematic because it reasserts the impossibility of the touch (it fetishizes oppression in a negative manner); it is powerful - and good - because it dwells on and thinks about and removes the glass (it fetishizes oppression in a transformative manner). One of the interesting things about mainstream media is that it continues to put the glass back up, no matter how hard we try to tear it down. Queer desiring touches have been, and remain, imaginable but impossible. TL;DR ALTERNATE SUMMARY: THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME KIND OF INVISIBLE BARRIER IDK WHAT IT MIGHT BE

In regards to Good Omens, it's relevant that this entire conversation about homosocial relationships in media takes place within the 29 year period between the publication of Good Omens the book and the adaptation of the story to screen. The vid was created 15 years ago - which is to say 18 years after the book was published and 11 years before season 1 was released - and it talks about realised queer desire in mainstream media as being so impossible that it is equivalent to death. That is the kind of resistance that queer representation in pop culture has been up against, these last three decades.

Crowley/Aziraphale, as depicted in the book, is such a classic example of slash. I've seen some people who read the book in a contemporary context saying they didn't necessarily pick up on any subtext between the characters, and I suspect this is a mark of cultural expectations. Firstly, because the cultural references that the intentional subtext relies on have become obscured over time - see Neil Gaiman's explanation of the "consenting cycle repairmen" line. But more importantly because the audience's frame of reference for unintentional subtext has shifted, too. What is unsayable and which silences are emotionally loaded has changed over time. Even if you are intentionally using a queer lens in your reading, you might not see subtext in the same places that someone would even 10 years ago.

For example, take this passage from the book:

On the whole, neither [Aziraphale] nor Crowley would have chosen each other's company, but they were both men, or at least men-shaped creatures, of the world, and the Arrangement had worked to their advantage all this time. Besides, you grew accustomed to the only other face that had been around more or less consistently for six millennia.

On it's face, this line suggests that the relationship between the two of them is a matter of convenience more than desire. Maybe that's the intended reading and maybe that's how it started or how they justify their association to themselves, but taken together with how deeply they know each other and how they are always each other's first thought in a crisis, suddenly "neither would have chosen the other's company" sounds like an extremely British way to say they care about each other far more than they were supposed to. Plus, this is Aziraphale's take on their relationship, and it plays rather beautifully against Crowley's much simpler expression of the exact same sentiment:

Aziraphale. The Enemy, of course. But an enemy for six thousand years now, which made him a sort of friend.

To go back to Henry Jenkin's wise words, what we're seeing here is Aziraphale thinking about Crowley through the glass - through the "aspects of traditional masculinity which prevent emotional expressiveness or physical intimacy between men". If you came up in slash fandom at a time when seeing queer relationships in canon was unthinkable, you probably find it easier to identify the gap between how Aziraphale thinks about his relationship with Crowley and how their relationship actually functions. That gap was where a lot of slash lived.

You might say that the book shows Crowley and Aziraphale watching each other through the glass, and season 1 is them pressing up against it. They're still prevented from showing the full depth of feeling between them, they still hunger for more than they're allowed, but they are reaching for it. We see the history of their relationship developing through the ages. The unsayable is still left unsaid, but we feel the weight of it in everything they do. They come so very close but they still can't cross that threshold.

And then there's season 2. Within the text, Crowley and Aziraphale are not just pressing against the glass, they're actively trying to dismantle it. They're searching for a door to the other side. They're inspecting for weak points where they could cut their way through. And then suddenly they're out of time and out of options and the glass is still between them, and there's nothing they can do.

As the audience, you feel that desperation. You feel that grief. And if you're someone who's been watching the glass go back up on every relationship you thought might stand a chance of tearing it down, it hits hard. You're longing vicariously with the characters, but you're longing for yourself too, to see queer desire made possible. To see queer touch made not just imaginable but real.

And then, with all hope lost, Crowley throws himself through the glass. It doesn't matter that it doesn't save them. They kiss and it changes everything. Queer desire is no longer up for debate. Queer touch is no longer impossible. They kiss and the glass shatters, entirely and irrevocably.

This is why it matters so much that they did kiss, even though the love between them was already undeniable. For thirty years, Crowley and Aziraphale were part of a media landscape that relentlessly reinforced the glass at every turn and flooded fatal radiation through any crack they couldn't fix. In a different context, that kiss would be less vital to affirming their relationship. But in the world we live in, with the specific history that this story has, I don't think anything else could have done what it did. The glass between these characters had been reinforced over decades, in a culture that made the barriers to open intimacy between men inescapable. Their kiss was what it took to break it.

And by shattering the glass, this story has fundamentally rewritten what is possible. It proves the rules preventing true affection between people of the same gender can be defied. Queer people are already becoming more visible in pop culture; we're no longer reliant on slash reimagining queer longing between heterosexual leads. But Crowley and Aziraphale's kiss is cathartic and vindicating in an entirely different way. It turns slash into intentional queerness. It takes a fetishisation of oppression vacillating between problematic and transformative, and finally stands up on the side of powerful, empowering transformation. It confronts the barriers that once rendered this desiring touch impossible, and breaks through them once and for all.

That's what taking away the glass means. That's what Good Omens did.

#good omens #good omens meta #taking away the glass #fandom history #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #fable talks good omens

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tocomplainfriend · 2 months

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It feels less like you want to address a real life problem to characters, but more like you want to have another of your characters you constantly baby and want others to fangirl over.

TW: Rape, SA, Racism, Stereotyping, Homophobia, Acephobia, Arophobia.

The representations of topics in media DOES affect real people.

Fiction can affect reality.

Let's start easy, Jaws. This goes back to Hazbin I promise.

"Since the release of Jaws in 1975, the world has witnessed a staggering decline of 71% in shark and ray populations, and around 100 million sharks are killed each year." (including multiple practices of mass hunting sharks in competition)

Both Steven Spielberg and the original writer Peter Benchley regret the movie and book. It's a big reason of the shark treatment, when it started by old fishermen worrying about shark biting people in the beaches they made money of.

Even if you aren't a shark killer yourself, a lot of things you believe of sharks are untrue myths that come from making sharks "evil" human killer animals. Sharks cannot smell blood from miles away, that's not even how water works, the particles of blood need to enter their nostrils. Sharks are not man eaters, they attack other prey animals before human. Shark attacks are extremely rare, even if they happen they are not justifiable to kill all sharks.

Sharks actually have personalities they can fit in, they are smart and recognize people and boats- and form positive relationships with people. They can even like getting pet by people.

youtube

Other level to represent other thing sin media that affects reality we can address Queer, representation as a topic.

I hope it is not a surprise for you... possible non-straight, non-cis person reading this. That the constant representation of gay man as kid predator is a problem. They used old commercial (PSA) to spread negative views of gay man. Media is used to spread messages and affect its viewer. This is, there are cartoons created by Jehovah witness (or similar religions) to spread their beliefs and teach to their children in an easy, digestible way.

Same with the amount of straight woman that went off to read shitty yaoi manga and fetishy gay wattpad stories, and went to sexualize and diminish queer men. Constantly making gay man's personality into bottom or top (uke and seme shit). I witness this irl, others have too.

Same with shitty men that view Lesbians as a porn machine for men, cause "monkey brain like woman, lesbian = two women". Which happens in general and adult media. All of these are EASY examples.

Another one which turns out many people don't think about. Having your representation of an AroAce character (on purpose or not) be the psychopath with no feelings. Associating the not being romantically or sexually to means you have no heart, to be abnormal, by then a psychopath. An abuse or serial killer.

Fiction does affect reality-

A racist film, 'Birth of the nation' Revived the KKK and let to all the discrimination, and the homicide of black people of centuries ahead.

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Coming back around, how you treat the topic of SA, and r-pe- affects the real world. You would think someone who wrote that, had in mind on how that affects people in real life. Didn't you want to represent victims of SA/R-pe that are sex workers and male?

Reducing the r-pist, pimp, trafficker character to an air head to treat as silly is crazy to do. Specially as... oh idk... the creator? Both this and the tweet of the voice actor calling Val "Bubbles Coded" is so crazy. The character is also not deep enough by itself, it's pretty much Stupid and a R-pist sex trafficker. The tweet below Viv's fucking kills me too.

The fact Val is shown to be air head stupid doesn't delete he backed Angel (and by being a sex trafficker and a pimp, and him licking charlie that means he has multiple victims) into a corner and under his control. Too then abuse of him in many different ways. Manipulations are not only done by Super mastermind people, and representing it in such way diminished, affects people who have being manipulated and actually try to question if they have being or not. Manipulators can be normal, average people, they usually are not obvious. Even if Val is openly a shitty person that's really obvious, it doesn't detract from him being manipulative to people. The scene where Val threatens him in chains that is manipulation, his text messages are manipulation (even if you think it is too obvious to be successful).

How you represent SA/R-PE, and its perpetrators, do affect real life.

Going around and having your "serious R-pe episode", to then go in other episodes or the other series you are writing to make r-pe/sa jokes is terrible. For the person that directed the whole scene of poison to NOT be r-pe/sa victim (said by themselves) with a r-pe fetish with this character's in specific, to directed in the most graphic way possible is awful. To go around babying your r-pist character is crazy.

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Hope you understand that this doesn't mean not treating any topic at all. Creators should be awere on how they treat topics and the scenarios they create with them, too. People and viewers need to also put their brain to understand the media they consume. But you can't always put all blame only on the viewers of a series, if media is messy is a fault of the media. You can criticize both.

You need to acknowledge Valentino is indeed a terrible person, You don't need to delete his actions or the weight of them.

I also just know that a lot of Val fans just like him to draw him in r-pe art and get their fetishized gay ship. Cause that's what they are into. You won't even do that with a woman, because you are into your fucked up fetishized gay porn from wattpad you never left behind.

If you like him, FUCK IT, just please take his abuse seriously. Don't default your entire usage, and view of the character to be 'uwufied' fandom stuff, please.

I hate how the topic has being treated, in and out of the show. I'm a victim, and I'm hurt by how these things are treated and knowing how it affects others. Even in things I haven't watched! Don't make the argument don't like it? Just don't watch it. The movies from the video of SA of men being a joke, many I haven't watch- that still affects over all. It's still a problem and it's disheartening.

Also have this:

#hazbin critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel critique #vivziepop critical #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop critique #tw sa #tw rape #tw homophobia #tw racsim #tw acephobia #tw arophobia

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meret118 · 1 year

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In 1976, when prolific writer, activist and self-described Black lesbian mother warrior poet Audre Lorde published her seminal poetry collection, Coal, the world wide web was still 17 years away from becoming a public-facing invention, and the platform of podcasting hadn’t even been dreamt up yet. The volume established her as a champion for women, Blackness, queerness and equity in the explosive 1970s Black Arts Movement—other works to come, like Sister Outsider, positioned Lorde as a justice-demanding mouthpiece for people who’d been shoved into the crosshairs of marginalization.

She was highly quotable and, in recent years as discussions about mental health and the prioritization of personal peace have become more frequent and fervent, one of her most notable lines of writing has become its own celebrity: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” From that sentence, knit into the reflective context of A Burst of Light, Lorde’s award-winning contemplation on the healthcare system and the cancer that had invaded her body, the concept of “self-care” was popularized and made real.

“We noticed that in the public discourse, particularly in media and social media, there are several Black feminist terms, ideas and practices floating around,” says Klingenberg, a curator of Black music and entertainment in the museum’s division of cultural and community life, in an interview after the series debuted earlier this year. “But they’re always disconnected from the Black feminist thinkers who created them, the context in which they were created, and in some instances, from the very meaning that the original creators were thinking of when they created them.”

Like many terms that originate in the canon of Black art and thought, self-care has been swallowed into a vortex of mainstream overuse and lack of attribution.

. . .

In 1977, the women of the Combahee River Collective released a groundbreaking statement “defining and clarifying” the politics of Black feminism. It was also arguably the first time that the phrase “identity politics” would appear, and Smith is credited with coining the term.“We were not saying that we were superior to any other groups of oppressed people,” says Smith in the podcast. “We were not being a vanguard. We did not think that we were the only people on Earth who were oppressed. We just wanted to assert that unlike the women’s movement and unlike the Black liberation movement at that time, that there was a particular set of situations, circumstances and experiences and oppressions that Black women experienced, and that we needed to deal with those. And that’s what we meant by identity politics.”

More at the link, including the podcasts.

#Feminism #Black #Poc

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ministrationz · 7 months

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"azula isn't a lesbian, she had a crush on chan. she's straight"

azula's feelings for chan are easy to interpret as not genuine. she's a 14 year old girl who's still figuring herself out in a homophobic country with a homophobic father. i think a lot of lesbians can say they tried to have relationships with men or tried to flirt with men and it didn't work out. azula has an easier time socializing with women from what we've seen. her interactions with chan vs her interactions with mai and ty lee are very easy to read as comp het. not only that, azula's complicated relationship with femininity very easily reads similar to the experience many queer women have.

there was more romantic tension between ty lee and azula in the beach episode than there was between chan and azula, and that's saying something...

saying the show is from 2005 as justification as to why azula has to be straight is also ridiculous. the producers struggled to get korra and asami together at the end of LoK without losing support from nickolodeon, and they literally just held hands and stared at each other. this was 9 years after atla in 2014. clearly, they've not strayed from making more characters lgbtq since then, and queer relationships are much more visible in children's media today. they could very easily make azula canonically gay now and it would most likely receive very little backlash (asides from the vocal homophobic and lesbophobic side of the fanbase) when they could not have at the time of atla's release.

azula didn't come on and say "i'm straight" or "i only like men". she is not canonically ANY sexuality. her (poorly) hitting on a boy doesn't necessarily mean she likes men. it's not a declaration of her sexuality, especially when she's so young.

you don't have to agree with the headcanon, but don't try to say it doesn't make sense, or that people are "forcing it down your throat" . there's a reason why so many lesbians see themselves in her! coming after people who resonate with this headcanon is unnecessary. no one is SERIOUSLY going after people who put azula in straight ships. people ARE, however, homophobic towards people who say azula is queer, particularly nasty grown men who sexualize her. just going onto the azula tag on tumblr you'll find PLENTY of posts about straight ships with azula that get positive attention.

if you see gay people resonating with a character and think they're forcing their "ideas" onto you, you need to take a look inwards because you definitely have a few things you need to unpack!

#azula #homophobia #lesbian azula

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rivetgoth · 1 year

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Man there is this weird historical revisionism that happens with terminally online “alt” posers where they like, assume that all the cool underground alt counterculture stuff of decades past were easily accessible within the mainstream and nowadays it’s been suppressed or hidden or is even entirely nonexistent in favor of the “lame” mainstream media. And like, I have said before and will say again and again that there is PLENTY to criticize regarding the entertainment industry and arts as a whole in the 21st century, it has not just been some forwards progression of positive change and improvement and I know that, but it also just frustrates me ENDLESSLY because the reality is the things y’all are idolizing were NOT mainstream. You were not guaranteed to walk down the street in the 80s and hear gothic rock and industrial or even more accessible synthpop that remains popular today, there was plenty of absolute shit music in the 80s lol. Movies were not just inherently better 20-30-40 years ago and in fact plentyyyy of major blockbuster hits absolutely sucked shit and there was an insane amount of garbage being manufactured by corrupt production companies. Fashion was not all cute GNC boys with long hair and eyeliner or whatever. It was not like some safehaven for queer gendernonconformity it was LITERALLY the AIDS crisis. And the stuff y’all are idolizing are now extremely popular in hindsight! Everybody knows Nine Inch Nails and The Cure and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hellraiser! This is household name media!

I just constantly see posts that are like “back then there was UNDERGROUND COUNTERCULTURE EVERYWHERE and now all we have is TikTok and Taylor Swift and Marvel 💔😡” and honestly it makes you sound like clowns. You are not finding the underground counterculture because it is fucking underground. The stuff you’re consuming from years ago withstood the tests of time. But there were not goth clubs lining every street corner and cool cult classics coming out every fucking week back in the day lol. This stuff was considered underground, alternative, cult, etc for a reason. You are comparing the most successful underground media from decades ago with mainstream media of today and honestly all it actually reveals is that you don’t really care about keeping underground art alive and uplifting the artists who are doing so now in modern time, or even have the knowledge of how to do so. You aren’t finding today’s “underground” subcultures because THEY ARE UNDERGROUND. It takes effort beyond looking at what’s trending on social media or what’s getting major theatrical releases. You have to engage with music that is not even on Spotify, film that at best may run the festival circuit. And, frankly, some of y’all have wildly rose tinted glasses about what good art is and are judgmental as fuck of anything that forces you to expand your horizons-- Alt music genres have a huge amount of fusion within them now. Deal with it. Lots of y’all sound genuinely racist with your aversion to alt music drawing more and more inspiration from rap and hip hop. CGI is a relatively accessible and still very experimental art form with tons of potential and many poor or indie artists are experimenting with it. Deal with it. CGI is not inherently evil or ugly. Genres evolve and sounds change. Back then plenty of the experimental stuff that we find cool now was made with dogshit quality because it was just people scraping together the few resources they could afford to make something. You only think it’s better because it’s older lol. You are the alt TikTok NIN fan Hot Topic equivalent of people who think they were born in the wrong generation because their idea of the 50s is poodle skirts and milkshakes at checkered diners.

I would be less of a cunt about this topic if the result was not a staggering amount of people calling themselves fucked up deranged alt punk gothic freaks only to turn around and quite literally say that there is no longer an alternative/underground subculture and that capitalism has destroyed any semblance of independent or experimental art because they are not fucking looking for it. Which in turn shits on so many struggling indie creators desperately trying to get their art out there within an increasingly tumultuous, hostile, anti-artist landscape of capitalist modern society. Engaging with underground work does actually require digging for it. The underground work you are engaging with from the past is literally no longer underground. If you exclusively enjoy alt music from the 70s or 80s or exclusively enjoy oldschool cult classics that is FINE but I better not see “back in the 80s we had Cronenberg and Carpenter and now we only have Marvel and Star Wars :( Why did they get Bauhaus and now we only get Billie Eilish? Why is there no more community, no more subculture, no more actual interesting art?” as if these are normal comparisons and actual reasonable observations rather than an admittance of your lack of understanding of the way that underground art actually evolves or even a desire to seek it out. Problems with modern industries aside, with social media and the internet and the improvement of technology like personal cameras and digital art programs both creating and finding independent art is EASIER now than EVER in many ways. You can discover enough music to last you your entire life from the comfort of your IPHONE.

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wen-kexing-apologist · 1 year

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Watchlist Tag Game!

Another unexpected tag game! This time from @waitmyturtles

Currently watching

A Boss and a Babe: Wasn't sure if I was going to watch this one because I'm not a huge fan of boss and subordinate as a positive romantic plot (looking at you GAP, sorry). But started watching it after seeing some of @respectthepetty's posts about Episode 4.

Bed Friend: If I were being accurate, I would have put this show down like four times in a row because I have rewatched all available episodes about four times, and honestly will probably watch the whole thing again. I love it so much, I do still think that Moonlight Chicken is my favorite show of the 2023 line up so far, but goddamn if I don't get overly attached to traumatized men.

Breaking Bad: Fun Fact! I have watched the first season of this show three times and never made it beyond that! So my friend set out to fix it and now we are trading one season of Breaking Bad for one show of my choice with a comparable number of episodes. Traded season one for Moonlight Chicken, and I'm trading season two and three for Word of Honor.

The Eclipse: Can't put my finger on why but for some reason I am obsessed with this show where the main character is a emotional repressed gay boy who has difficulty accepting himself and feels pressured to perform actions far outside what a teenager should be allowed to do because adults put pressure on him and because he doesn't want people to be disappointed in him...Anyway, with the Our Skyy 2 release date coming up how could I not rewatch this show I have already seen approximately six times?

The Eighth Sense: Have to thank @bengiyo for writing about The Eighth Sense, and everyone else that I follow that started watching this show immediately and started writing beautiful things about how queer it feels. It's my first Korean BL TV show (I did watch Wish You a few years back) and I am thoroughly enjoying my time so far!!

Unintentional Love Story: Don't have a lot to say about this show yet, I'm only two episodes in, but I think it's good so far!

Word of Honor: Rewatching this with my friend to try to get him to branch out of American television. I figured the costumes alone in this show would keep his interest, but let's be real, I was dying to see his reaction to my favorite little war criminal Wen Kexing who has done absolutely nothing wrong ever in his life, m'kay? This is my completely unbiased, objective opinion (do not look at my username).

Looking forward to watching soon

*ahem*

That is all...

...just kidding!

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Somehow, my tumblr blog accidentally turned into a primarily BL based blog, probably but actually before I was introduced to Word of Honor and then rapidly and descended into the Thai BL world from there (I know WoH is a cdrama, but I found KinnPorsche through a masterpost of queer asian media that was on the woh tag) my hyperfixation and truest love is playing Dungeons and Dragons. I've been in a campaign for 6 years now and recently started another campaign with another group! I wanted to see this movie when it came out but I had COVID and only now am freed from my self isolation! Heard it was good and fun and worth seeing in theaters so I am hoping to go soon!

Our Skyy 2: I just miss my boys, okay? I'm only human.

Only Friends: If the fact that I have watched KinnPorsche 14 times is anything to go by I love messy bitches, and this seems like a show full of messy bitches! Any show that requires a fucking flow chart to know their relationships to one another? I'm in! Also, I listened to the playlist that Jojo posted on Spotify and I was sold. This is definitely my most anticipated of 2023.

Still deciding if I’m gonna watch

Succession: I follow at least one person who has been posting a lot about Succession as the fourth and final season airs, and it sounds really good! I was actually convinced to start the first episode but I kinda fell off of it pretty quick. I think I was tired and I know like with any show the pilot is not the episode to judge something on.

Beef: Only putting this on here because I felt compelled to look it up in the tumblr tags today just to put some feelers out.

and that's it lol, I finsihed Shadow and Bone Season 2 and The Owl House so I don't really have any other shows that I am thinking about watching at the moment. If anyone who reads these block paragraphs has suggestions I'm all ears.

Well, anyone I was going to tag has been tagged by wmt so uhhhh, if you wanna do this game, take this as me officially tagging you!

#tag game #a boss and a babe #bed friend #bed friend the series #breaking bad #the eclipse #the eighth sense #unintentional love story #word of honor #d&d: honor among thieves #d&d movie #our skyy 2 #only friends #beef #succession

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shinobicyrus · 1 year

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In a craven, pathetic, cynical, and transparently desperate ploy to energize his torpid 2024 campaign and match his rival Desantis, Twice-Impeached Ex-President Trump has shuffled out of his Florida tanning tank to join the gibbering chorus of Far-Right trans-panic by releasing a video on Truth Social. The full statement amounts to a hate-ridden, incendiary rant that proposes nationwide federal action that would threaten the health and well-being of trans people, in particular trans children, and will use the law to enforce a rigid, hetero-normative, cisgender social order.

You can watch the full video here on Forbes if you choose to. I advise against it, personally. The years since his removal from public office and most social media seems to have had atrophied my tolerance. It’s probably why I was somehow shocked at how a video less than four minutes long can cram so much ignorance, falsehoods, hateful invective, and unhinged demagoguery in such a short period of time.

Pages of ink could be spilled breaking down every ranting tangent, from threats to prosecute doctors and hospitals providing gender affirming care, the distasteful novelty of calling trans children mutants, inventing a conspiracy of pharmaceutical companies selling unsafe hormones and puberty blockers to children, and proposes using the federal government to “promote” aka enforce “positive education of the nuclear family” and the “role of mothers and fathers,” sprinkled with some good old fashioned sex-based bio-essentialism.

The crescendo, the real red meat dripping with bloody doctrine, is at the end:

“I will ask congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States Government are male and female and they are assigned at birth.”

“The Bill will also make clear that Title 9 prohibits men from participating in womens’ sports and we will protect the rights of parents from being forced to allow their minor child to assume a gender which is new and an identity without the parents’ consent. The identity will not be new and it will not be without parental consent.”

“No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender, a concept that was never heard of in all of human history - nobody’s ever heard of this, what’s happening today - it was all when the radical left invented it just a few years ago.”

He ends it all with a chilling conclusion. “Under my leadership, this madness will end.”

I’ve done my best since his departure from office to avoid talking about this sad orange failure puttering around his private golf course while lawsuits and legal investigations pile around him. But I’ve heard little mainstream discussion of this announcement; how Far-Right transphobic rhetoric is being elevated to the level of presidential politics.

While Trump was never friendly to the LGBTQ community, he was also prone to mocking the likes of Pence for his desire of wanting to “hang the gays.” Did his Administration do harm to the queer community? Yes, undeniably so. But to me it felt obligatory, with little energy or drive behind it, as Trump ultimately didn’t care. The callous apathy of an incurious narcissist.

Now, whether he believes the nonsense he’s spewing or not, Trump sees that the Republican base has been driven to a mad fervor over the existence of trans folks. So, like the cynical, amoral opportunist he is, he will regurgitate the vile hateful garbage his speechwriters feed him for political and financial gain.

Whether he gets the nomination or not, this announcement will set the tone for the entire Republican presidential primary of 2024.

#Transphobia #Trans Panic #Donald Trump #Fascism #Queerphobia #LGBTQ Rights #I remember during the 2016 campaign #Trump had said to a room of Republicans #''To protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful *foreign* ideology.''#to thunderous applause #because of course it was all an excuse to spread Islamaphobia #a way to assuage themselves into believing they weren't bigots #''Well we're not stoning and shooting them! we're nice *reasonable* people! Not like those foreign *Monsters*.''#Trump even has to say 'LGBTQ' with such halting awkwardness because it's just a thing he doesn't know or care about #you can even hear it in the video announcement #the little awkward asides he makes that breaks the flow of the speech:#''Very Simple!''#''Can you believe this?''#''Ridiculous!''#and of course the ''Nobody’s ever heard of this what’s happening today.''#this is his tell #*He's* never heard of it #all of this is a subject he knows nothing about #so all the info he has is what his handlers feed him #and is just parroting the pre-existing rhetoric #I'm not saying he isn't a bigot - what I'm saying is he's the worst kind of enabler #a know-nothing buffoon who is just catering to the worst common denominator for his own personal gain #with zero regard for the harm it will cause #and honestly? it doesn't matter what he does or doesn't believe #all that matters is that he's spreading it and trying to profit from it

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mrsmarymorstan · 2 years

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Manga Recommendations!

I've been asked a few times to recommend manga for people, so this is my Master List for Recs! The basic rules are that I have to have read at least 3 available volumes before recommending it, unless there are less than that available in English. I've included any major content warnings, but I will miss some stuff. I've differentiated between Romance, BL/GL and Queer Positive mostly because of vibes and the fact that I figured if you wanted to pick out Queer Stories then it was easier to jump to that section than scoot through romance! And also I didn't want people to think that just because I'm recommending a BL/GL series doesn't mean I think it's good Gay Rep! But as they say, I support Gay Wrongs AS WELL as Gay Rights.

If the series has a * it means it's available on the Shonen Jump App/Viz Media Website as part of their subscription service.

Action Adventure

Blue Exorcist* by Kazue Kato (134 chapters, ongoing, final arc)

Rin Okumura appears to be an ordinary, somewhat troublesome teenager—that is until one day he is ambushed by demons. His world turns upside down when he discovers that he is in fact the very son of Satan and that his demon father kills his adoptive father with the aim of possessing Rin so he can conquer Assiah. Whilst the other Exorcists decide the solution is to kill Rin, he persuades them to let him train to become an exorcist himself under the tutelage of all those at True Cross Academy. Including his younger twin brother Yukio!

Another one to add to the list of "Good Shonen Written By Women".

Cardcaptor Sakura by CLAMP 9 Volumes, complete.

Quintesential Magical Girl series! Sakura Kinomoto is a normal ten year-old girl until she accidentally releases the mystical clow cards! Now with the help of Keros -- the Guaradian of the cards -- she must locate and capture all the escaped cards before they cause more mayhem on her home town! She's not the only one looking to become master of the clow though, and soon Sakura is making new rivals as well as new friends.

CW: This series was written in th 90s and it shows. There are multiple positive depictions of Student/Teacher relationships including one between a ten year old and her homeroom teacher. These are deemed as okay because they are soulmates.

Demon Slayer* by Koyoharu Gotouge 23 Volume, complete.

Returning home one day, 14 year old Tanjiro discovers that his whol family has been killed by a demon. The only survivor is his younger sister Nezuko, who has instead been turned into a demon herself. He must now join the Demon Slayer Core in order to find the demon who killed his family and find a way to turn Nezuko back into a human!

CW: Graphic depictions of violence. Implied sexual assult. Implied child sex workers. Child death. A character must repeatedly cut their throat in order to escape a dream world.

Kaiju No. 8* by Naoya Matumoto (ongoing)

"Kafka hopes to one day keep his pact with his childhood friend Mina to join the Japan Defense Force and fight by her side. But while she’s out neutralizing kaiju as Third Division captain, Kafka is stuck cleaning up the aftermath of her battles. When a sudden rule change makes Kafka eligible for the Defense Force, he decides to try out for the squad once more. There’s just one problem—he’s made the Defense Force’s neutralization list under the code name Kaiju No. 8."

What to do when you want to battle Kaiju but you yourself are also a Kaiju.

My Hero Academia Vigilantes* by Hideyuki Furuhashi ad Betten Court 126 chapters (complete)

"Koichi Haimawari couldn’t make the cut to become an official hero, so he uses his modest Quirk to do good deeds in his spare time. Then one day a fateful encounter with some local thugs leads him to team up with two other unlikely heroes. None of them really know what they’re doing, but they’ve got the courage—or foolishness—to try. But they soon discover fighting evil takes more than just being brave…"

Okay, hear me out. This one is for the Superhero fans wanting to get into manga. This is the Batman to mainline's Shazam, but without all the women in refridgerators. It's digs deeper on the more adult aspects of hero society, with a more anti-cop, anti-establishment appraoch. It's also facinating to see Koichi become LESS synical as the series goes on.

This series also made Midnight one of my favourite characters and now it's really awkward when people assume I just mean mainline Midnight and not Midnight who was allowed to have depth and development.

CW: Implied sexual assult

Prince Freya by Keiko Ishihara (8 Volumes available in English, ongoing)

"The powerful kingdom of Sigurd has slowly been conquering all the lands that share its borders, and now it has turned its voracious attention to the small, resource-rich kingdom of Tyr. Tyr cannot hope to match Sigurd in strength, so in order to survive it must rely on the intelligence, skill, and cunning of its prince and his loyal knights. But when the prince is poisoned, a young village maiden named Freya, who bears a shocking resemblance to the fallen prince, must step into his place to save them all."

CW: Non-Graphic Sexual Assault, sexual themes, Non-Con Kissing, Heavy Violence, Decapitation, Trauma, PTSD

The King's Beast by Rei Toma (9 volumes available in English, ongoing)

Rangetsu is an Ajin, a person with animal features, mystical abilities and a second class citizen. Female Ajin are forced into sex work and male Ajin are forced into the millitary. If they are lucky, they might be taken away as a Beast Servant for one of the King's children. That's what happend to Rangetsu's twin brother, Sogetsu until he was suddenly murdered in a political assasination. Rangetsu swears revenge, and diguises herself as a man in order to become the Prince's new Beast Servant. Yet when the time comes to kill him, can she actually do it?

CW: There is an underlining Master X Servant (Slave) relationship but this is depicted as knowingly problematic and messy, although still inherently romantic. A slave class is depicted as animalistic. Attempted Sexual Assualt. Sexual Assualt. Attempted child sexual assult. Forced Prostitution. Cannibalism. Mental Illness.

Tokyo Mew Mew by Reiko Yoshida and Mia Ikumi (3 Omnibus Volumes, complete)

"Momomiya Ichigo was just trying to enjoy a date with the boy she liked, Aoyama Masaya. Instead, she ended up conscripted into a struggle against aliens intent on wiping humanity from the earth! The Mew Project has infused five young girls with the DNA of endangered creatures, and given them special powers to fight chimera anima, earth animals transformed into monsters by alien parasites. Somehow, Ichigo has to get her teammates to work together, battle chimera anima, and fend off the attacks (and advances?) of the aliens themselves. And that's in addition to keeping her identity secret and improving her relationship with Masaya. Not to mention, just who is that mysterious Blue Knight anyway?"

Witch Hat Atelier by Kamone Shiramama (9 Volumes available in English, ongoing)

"In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: She wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with the gift for magic. She's resigned to her un-magical life, until a traveling magician passes through her village, and Coco learns what what everybody "knows" might not be the truth."

Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi 40+ Volumes ongoing

"Princess Yona lived a happy life with her peace-loving father, King Il. Surrounded by attentive servants and protected by her smart-mouthed bodyguard, Hak, Yona's only difficulties in life were her unruly red hair and trying to convince her father to let her marry her cousin, Soo-wan. Then one day a betrayal in the palace causes Yona to lose everything, turning her into an exile with no one left but Hak to defend her. Yona is determined to become strong in her own right and defeat those who wronged her, and an ancient legend involving the Crimson Dragon King and his four Dragon Warriors may be her key to reclaiming her kingdom." CW: Violence, murder, drug abuse, threats of sexual violence

Boy Love/Girl Love

10 Dance by Inoue Satou (Lime) 6 Volumes Ongoing

"Shinya Sugiki, the dashing lord of Standard Ballroom, and Shinya Suzuki, passionate king of Latin Dance: The two share more than just a first name and a love of the sport. They each want to become champion of the 10-Dance Competition, which means they'll need to learn the other's specialty dances, and who better to learn from than the best? But old rivalries die hard, and things get complicated even further when they realize there might be more between them than an uneasy partnership..."

CW: Internalised homophobia/biphobia, Casual Xenophobia/Racism (treated negatively)

Birds of Shangri-la by Ranmaru Zariya (Lemon) 2 Volumes (ongoing)

"A paradise of sensuality, Shangri-La is a male brothel celebrating the glories of gay sex. Newly hired Apollo is in charge of getting the men ready for clients, but as a straight man, he’s a bit naive. Phi, one of the brothel’s most sought-after prostitutes, is tasked with getting him up to speed, but not before toying with him a bit. Too bad the rules of the brothel are clear—no orgasms, no penetration, and no falling in love!"

CW: Flashbacks to Child Sexual Assault/Child Prostitution, graphic depictions of violence, blackmail.

Overall it has a Positive depiction of Sex Work, but YMMV

Catch These Hands by murata (3/4 available in English)

"Back in the day, Takebe was a tough-as-nails delinquent who could throw hands with anyone. But right when she finally decides to leave her old ways behind, Takebe has a surprise reunion with her old rival, the “Bloody Cardigan” Soramori. After all these years, she still wants a piece of Takebe—but not in the way anyone expected! Her proposal: If Soramori can beat Takebe in a fight, they have to start dating?!"

Cherry Magic! 30 Years of Virginity can make you a Wizard?! by Yuu Toyota (Light Lime) 8+ Volumes (ongoing)

"It's complicated: A thirty-year-old virgin gets more than he bargained for when his newfound magical power reveals he's the object of his male coworker's affections! Adachi, a thirty-year-old virgin, discovers he has the magical power to read the minds of people he touches. Unfortunately, the ability just makes him miserable since he doesn't know how to use it well! And to make matters worse, when he accidentally reads the mind of his very competent, handsome colleague, Adachi discovers the guy has a raging crush on none other than Adachi himself! Things are about to get very awkward!"

Coyote by Ranmaru Zariya (Lemon) 4+ Volumes (ongoing)

"In order to conceal that he’s a werewolf, Coyote avoids getting too involved with humans. But Marleen, a pianist at a bar he frequents, is interested in him and just won’t take no for an answer. When Coyote unexpectedly goes into heat for the first time, Marleen catches him while he’s unable to maintain his human form and offers up a tempting invitation. Coyote wants to resist, but can he?" CW: Violence, Murder

Dick Fight Island by Reibun Ike (Lemon) 2 Volumes (complete)

Every Four Years the Mighty Wyrm tournament takes place on the island of Pulau Yang Indah between the eight clans to choose the next king! The rules? He who comes first, looses. This year, Harto represents the diamond clan and has been doing important research in the outside world, where he has discovered a special technique that he hopes will lead his clan to victory! It involves a previously unknown spot hidden deep within the warrior's mighty arse: The Prostate.

CW: DubCon but in the same way that fighting tournaments are. You don't exactly WANT the person to punch you in the face, but you agreed to the terms when you stepped in the ring and can tap out whenever you want.

The Dragon's Betrothed by Meguru Hinohara (Lemon) 2+ Volumes, ongoing

"Troubled writer Chiharu Izunome reluctantly returns to his rural hometown, hoping some R & R will refresh his creative juices. Instead of finding respite, he’s quickly entangled by an old promise to wed a local god! Rin, the water dragon god to whom Chiharu has been betrothed, can be disarmingly friendly and charming, but inside lurks an animalistic ferocity. Knowing that he can’t escape Rin’s protective embrace, can Chiharu make himself fall in love with the god instead?" CW: Dubious consent that becomes explicit consent

Go for it Nakamura! by Syundei 2 volumes (Complete)

Nakamura has a huge crush on Hirose and is convinced he has it in him to become friends! Now if only he could actually say a few words in front of him?

The answer to "What if Rumiko Takahashi wrote a wholesome, unproblematic Boy Love?"

I Hear the Sunspot by Yuki Fumino, 4 Parts, 6+ Volumes (ongoing)

"Because of a hearing disability, Kohei is often misunderstood and has trouble integrating into life on campus, so he learns to keep his distance. That is until he meets the outspoken and cheerful Taichi. He tells Kohei that his hearing loss is not his fault. Taichi's words cut through Kohei's usual defense mechanisms and open his heart. More than friends, less than lovers, their relationship changes Kohei forever." CW: Ableism, Internalised Ableism (all treated negatively)

Old Fashioned Cupcake by Sagan Sagan, Lime (One Shot)

"The daily grind both soothes and troubles older salaryman Nozue, until an unexpected visit to a pancake shop with his blunt younger coworker shakes things up! At 39 years old, Nozue lives a routine, if not melancholic, life of sleep and work. Togawa, his younger subordinate, finds it troubling and takes it upon himself to shake up Nozue’s routine. During a lunch outing, the two go to a pancake shop full of exuberant young ladies to “do what girls do,” and it’s just the thing to breathe life into Nozue. The two men start an unlikely friendship—and perhaps something a little sweeter!"

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter by Kazuki Irodori, Wakatsu Yatsuki, Kikka Ohashi 3+ Volumes, ongoing

"Seiichiro's always pulled his own weight, all day every day, for almost thirty years. Even when he gets stuck in a fantasy world because of some strange Saint-Summoning Ritual, he keeps on keeping on. It isn't until he meets the Aresh, the Captain of the Knights, that realizes he may possibly want more out of life than his job. Can Seiichiro melt the heart of the infamous Ice Nobleman—or is he destined to be married to his work…forever?!" CW: Dubious Consent

Run Away With Me, Girl by Battan, (Light Lime) 3 Volumes Complete

"A wistful romance between two women about how, sometimes, you need to run away in order to find where you truly belong. Midori was Maki’s first love and high school sweetheart—that is, until Midori broke up with Maki at graduation, saying they were now “too old” to be “fooling around” dating girls. Ten years later, will running away be the key to lead the two women back into each other’s arms? " CW: Domestic Abuse, Homophobia

Therapy Game by Meguru Hinohara (2 Volumes, complete) Lemon

"Shizuma only drank that night to forget his heartbreak. He didn’t intend to also forget Minato, the one-night stand who soothed his broken heart. And since Minato’s not one to be forgotten, he hatches a plan of seduction…and revenge! Recently dumped and very straight, Shizuma tries to drink his sorrow away, only to wake up being spooned by a man! When he explains to Minato, his drunken fling, that he doesn’t remember a thing about their night together, Minato secretly vows to seduce him again—and then dump him as revenge! But even the best-laid plans can go awry when Cupid has his way."

CW: Suicide of a Character from the Past, Biphobia (treated negatively)

The Titan's Bride by ITKZ (VERY LEMON) 3+ Volumes, ongoing

"Kouichi Mizuki has just graduated high school and is looking forward to the future, but after his last day at school, he finds himself summoned to Eustil, a world of titans! His summoner, Prince Caius, has brought him to the kingdom of Tildant to become his bride and fulfill a prophecy, but their considerable size difference makes Kouichi worry that he might not survive being penetrated by his huge new "husband". Caius agrees to send Kouichi home after a month if he is truly unhappy; yet as time goes by, Kouichi finds himself getting used to being a "dwarf" in a land of giants. And in spite of his protests, Caius's nightly ministrations on his body fill him with unimaginable pleasure..." CW: Attempted Sexual Assault, Violence, Abduction,

Comedy

A Man and His Cat by Umi Sakurai 11+ Volumes, ongoing

"Fukumaru is a big, unusual-looking cat who has spent a long time sitting in the pet store waiting for a home. He's almost a year old, and the shop's customers only seem to want tiny kittens. Then one day a miracle happens - an older man comes along and takes him home! Thus begins the heartwarming everyday life of a cat who only wants to be loved and a lonely man who is delighted to give him the love and happiness he deserves."

Spy X Family* by Tatsuya Endo (64 chapters, ongoing)

Not one to depend on others, Twilight has his work cut out for him procuring both a wife and a child for his mission to infiltrate an elite private school. What he doesn’t know is that the wife he’s chosen is an assassin and the child he’s adopted is a telepath!

The Emperor and I* by Mato (38 chapters, complete)

"One day something emerges from high school girl Kaho’s refrigerator—an emperor penguin, the largest of all penguins! When this emperor joins the household, fun and wacky antics with family and friends ensue!"

The Way of the Househusband by Kousuke Oono (8 Volumes, Ongoing)

"He was the fiercest member of the yakuza, a man who left countless underworld legends in his wake. They called him “the Immortal Dragon.” But one day he walked away from it all to travel another path—the path of the househusband!"

I'll be honest, I have only read up to Vol 5 because as a gag manga it doesn't exactly GO anywhere but it's still super fun and funny! So worth reading if you haven't yet =)

CW: Positive depiction of the Yakuza/mob

The Yakuza's Guide To Babysitting by Tsukiya (5 Volumes, ongoing)

Kirishima is a vicious demon of the Sakura Family, yet his vicious streak is starting to cause more problems than solutions and so in order to tame him the head of the family gives him the most important task: becoming the babysitter to his 7 year old daughter.

Cue adorableness, character growth and DILFs.

CW: Positive depiction of the Yakuza/mob. There is a recurring canonically gay character who is a bit of a stereotype but is overall portrayed favourably.

Drama

Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga li by Asuka Konishi (2 volumes available in English, ongoing)

"Yoshino grew up as the yakuza princess of the Osaka Somei crime family. Everyone left her alone due to her sharp gaze and mobster ties. But when her grandfather signs a truce with the Tokyo-based Miyama crime family, she’s offered for betrothal to the Miyama leader’s grandson, Kirishima. At first, Kirishima seems amiable and polite–but when he shows his dark side, he proves to be more disturbing than any gangster Yoshino has ever met. This engagement is sure to be a wild ride for a tough yakuza princess and her twisted yakuza prince!"

CW: Violence, Blood Shed, Sexual Themes, Emotional Manipulation, Everyone Is A Walking Red Flag But God Is Red Such A Pretty Colour Sometimes!

Non-Fiction/Informative

The Bride Was A Boy by Chii (One shot)

"Drawn in the style of diary comics with an upbeat, adorable flair, this is a charming tale about Chii, a woman assigned male at birth. Her story starts with her childhood and follows the ups and downs of exploring her sexuality, gender, and transition–as well as falling in love with a man who’s head over heels for her. Now they want to get married, so Chii’s about to embark on a new adventure: becoming a bride!"

CW: Societal Transphobia and Homophobia

The Life Changing Manga Of Tidying Up by Mari Kondo

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up, but in Manga form! With a heteronormative romantic subplot and everything. Useful if you're like me and want to learn to declutter your room but don't have the brain worms to read the actual book.

My Brain Is Different by MONZUSU (One Shot)

"Anthology following the true stories of nine people (including the illustrator) navigating life with developmental disorders and disabilities.

This intimate manga collection follows nine adults with developmental disorders as they outline their struggles and triumphs. Experience the stories of a high school dropout’s new path to education; a person seeing the world through new eyes thanks to their medication; a father and daughter learning to thrive together, and more. This manga illustrates diverse anxieties but also self-empowerment in learning to navigate a world not built with everyone in mind."

CW: Domestic Abuse (violence and emotional), Ableism, Suicidal Ideation

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness by Nagata Kabi (Lime) (One Shot with Follow Ups)

"A hugely popular comic on Pixiv, My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness offers readers an honest and heartfelt look at one young woman’s exploration of her sexuality, mental well-being, and growing up in our modern age."

CW: Depression, Anxiety, A Homophobic Society

Until I meet my Husband by Ryousuke Nanasaki, Yoshi Tsukizuki One Shot

"From school crushes to awkward dating sites to finding a community, this collection of stories recounts the author’s “firsts” as a young gay man searching for love. Dating isn’t ever easy, but that goes doubly so for Ryousuke, whose journey is full of unrequited love and many speed bumps. But perseverance and time heals all wounds, even those of the heart." CW: Toxic/Unhealthy Relationships, Dubious Consent, Homophobia

Occult

Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki! by Kanako Inuki (Collection of One Shots)

From the mind of Japan's "queen of horror manga" comes a short story collection sure to put a grin on your face and send a chill down your spine. For more than 30 years, Inuki Kananko has been terrorizing girls and boys with twisted catch-22s and ghoulish monsters. Discover one of the best-kept secrets of global horror with this selection of some of Inuki's most popular short comics. The six hair-raising stories feature an array of unnerving characters and scenarios brought to life in Inuki's signature art style, in the tradition of Junji Ito, Kazuo Umezu, Shintaro Kago, and Junko Mizuno.

Sadako at the end of the World by Koma Natsumi (One Shot)

"In a world torn apart by an apocalypse, two lonely little girls chance upon a strange video. To their surprise and joy, a girl with long black hair named Sadako climbs out of the TV...But little do they know that Sadako is a vengeful ghost who will kill them in a week! In order to help their new friend, these two sweet, innocent girls begin a journey to the end of the world to look for more victims friends. Can their bond with Sadako help her find peace and finally break the curse? Or will this tale have a tragic ending...?"

The answer to "What if Studio Ghibli made a Ring movie?

CW: Character Death, I mean it's the Ring Girl what were you expecting? Of course she's gonna kill people.

Hell's Paradise* by Yuuji Kaku 13 Volumes, complete

"Gabimaru the Hollow is one of the most vicious ninja assassins ever to come out of the village of Iwagakure. He’s ruthlessly efficient, but a betrayal results in him being handed a death sentence. There is only one hope: travel to a long-hidden island and recover an elixir that will make the shogun immortal and he will regain his freedom. Failure is not an option—on this island, Heaven and Hell are a hair’s breadth away." CW: Extreme Violence, Sexual Content, Nudity

Hiraeth: The End of the Journey by Yuhki Kamatani (3 Volumes complete)

"After the death of her best friend, Mika is determined to follow her into the grave. But her suicide attempt introduces her to a world unlike any she's ever seen...full of gods and spirits and entities of which she could never have dreamed. But even with this world of wonder, can she find a way out of her sorrow?"

CW: Attempted Suicide, Suicidal Ideation, Grief, Mourning

The Demon Prince of Momochi House by Aya Shouoto (16 Volumes Complete)

"On her sixteenth birthday, orphan Himari Momochi inherits her ancestral estate that she’s never seen. Momochi House exists on the barrier between the human and spiritual realms, and Himari is meant to act as guardian between the two worlds. But on the day she moves in, she finds three handsome squatters already living in the house, and one seems to have already taken over her role!"

Historical

The Apothecary Diaries by Natsu Hyuuga, Nekokurage, Touko Shino 11+ Volumes (ongoing)

"Maomao, a young woman trained in the art of herbal medicine, is forced to work as a lowly servant in the inner palace. Though she yearns for life outside its perfumed halls, she isn’t long for a life of drudgery! Using her wits to break a “curse” afflicting the imperial heirs, Maomao attracts the attentions of the handsome eunuch Jinshi and is promoted to attendant food taster. But Jinshi has other plans for the erstwhile apothecary, and soon Maomao is back to brewing potions and…solving mysteries?!"

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga 19 Volumes (Complete)

"In the Tokugawa era, the dreaded redface pox is devastating the country's population of young men, and after a few generations, the gender ratio has fallen to roughly one male for every four females. Since sons rarely survive to adulthood, family trades are now passed from mother to daughter, and women hold even important governmental positions. In order to prevent the rest of the world from discovering this state of affairs, Japan institutes a strict isolationist policy, and female officials adopt masculine names so that even the official records don't reveal what's happening. Though the outside word is suffering from a shortage of marriageable men, the inner chambers of Edo castle are a lavish place, filled with hundreds of men who serve both as an emergency standing army, and also as the personal harem for the new shogun - a woman named Yoshimune who is determined to fix the rampant inequality and wastefulness of her country." CW: Sexual Assault, Rape, Domestic Abuse, Violence, Pandemic, Homophobia, Abuse of Power, Ableism, Sex

The Rose of Versailles, by Riyoko Ikeda 5 Omnibus editions of 14 Volumes (Complete)

"Since General de Jarjayes of France’s Royal Guard always wanted a son, he brings up his only daughter Oscar to dress, fight, and behave like a man. When Oscar’s excellent swordsmanship wins her the honored position as bodyguard to Louis XVI’s new bride, Marie Antoinette, the Jarjayes household believes it can finally be proud. However, what nobody realizes is the pit of thorns the royal court in Versailles has become – with all its excessive opulence, it attracts not just those with status and wealth, but also those with ruthless ambition. To confound matters, Marie Antoinette turns out to be an airhead whose selfish actions are turning the starving population against her. Amidst the sordid schemes and terrible tragedies, and with the tide of history sweeping against the nobles, can Oscar protect her new King and Queen whilst upholding justice for the oppressed peasants of France?"

Romance

A Sign of Affection by suu Morishita (8 Volumes, ongoing)

"Yuki is a typical college student, whose world revolves around her friends, social media, and the latest sales. But when a chance encounter on a train leads to her meeting friend-of-a-friend and fellow student Itsuomi-san, her world starts to widen. But even though Itsuomi-kun can speak three languages, sign language isn't one of them. Can the two learn to communicate the budding feelings between them?"

Very, incredibly shojo and yet all the tropes feel completely relevant and earned! There is also a huge focus on consent and communication throughout which I am a very big fan of. Also the use of lettering to inform storytelling is SO DAMN GOOD it makes me want to scream. Also hands. So many beautiful pictures of hands. We also need more stories with disabled protagonists in this world <3

Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya, 23 Volumes (complete) Available in English as 12 Volume Collector's editions from YenPress

What starts off a story of an orphan high school girl who discovers that a bunch of pretty boys will turn into Chinese Zodiac Animals if she hugs them quickly becomes a heartfelt and moving story about escaping the cycle of abuse. It quickly becomes clear that the actual curse the Sohma Clan are under is nothing to do with turning into animals, but rather the suffering they endure under an unending cycle of abuse encouraged by all those around them.

It covers themes such as learning the importance of self love, allowing yourself to put you first for a change and being brave enough to ask for help when needed. The series is open and honest about the complexity of forgiveness, and how everyone deserves a chance to change and become a better person no matter how impossible that may seem-- yet at the same time does not demand that victims forgive them or accept their attempts at recompanse.

This series requires you to think and contemplate. I have read it numerous times over the years, and each time I come away with something new. This series shaped me as a person, and if you can put up with the late 90s/early 00s Shojo Nonsense then it's absolutely worth a read!

CW: Domestic Abuse (physical and emotional), Child Abuse, Cult Behaviour, Gender Essentialism, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Exagerated Female-on-Male Violence for Humour's sake, Adult/Minor romantic relationships including one between a Middle School Pupil and her Student Teacher.

Horimiya by HERO and Daisuke Hagiwara (15/16 volumes available in English)

"At school, Kyouko Hori is known for being smart, attractive, and popular. On the other hand, her classmate, the boring, gloomy Izumi Miyamura tends to get painted as a "loser fanboy." But when a liberally pierced and tattooed (not to mention downright gorgeous) Miyamura appears unexpectedly on the doorstep of secretly plain-Jane homebody Hori, these two similarly dissimilar teenagers discover that there are multiple sides to every story...and person!"

CW: Mild Biphobia for humour's sake

In The Clear Moonlit Dusk by Mika Yamamori (3 Volumes, ongoing)

"Yoi Takiguchi has long legs, a deep voice, and a handsome face…in other words, Yoi is such a good-looking guy that most people don't notice or care that she is, in fact, a girl. Indeed, she's had the nickname "Prince" as long as she can remember. That is, until she met Ichimura-senpai…the only person who's really seemed to see her for herself. To her surprise, she's not sure how to handle this new relationship, especially when her newfound friend is a prince himself (and a guy prince, at that). The story of the two high school princes starts here!"

Knight of the Ice by Yayoi Ogawa (11 volumes, complete)

"A rom-com manga on ice, perfect for fans of Princess Jellyfish and Wotakoi! Kokoro is the talk of the figure-skating world, winning trophies and hearts. But little do they know … he’s actually a huge nerd! From the beloved creator of You’re My Pet (a.k.a. Tramps Like Us)!

Chitose is a serious young woman, working for the health magazine SASSO. Or at least, she would be, if she wasn’t constantly getting distracted by her childhood friend, international figure skating star Kokoro Kijinami! In the public eye and on the ice, Kokoro is a gallant, flawless knight, but behind his glittery costumes and breathtaking spins lies a secret: he’s actually a hopeless romantic otaku, who can only land his quad jumps when Chitose is on hand to recite a spell from his favorite magical girl anime!"

Koigakubo-kun Stole My First Time by Rin Miasa (Lime) 5+ Volumes ongoing

Eiko Kagehara truly loves one thing in this world: the MMO she's played with her friends for the last 15 years, in which she leads a fantasy life as a sought-after blacksmith. But when her friends start leaving to, of all things, get married, have kids, find new jobs...she's thrown for a loop. So much so, in fact, that she drunkenly shares her gamer ID with her super-hot new colleague...who just happens to have been helped by her in-game in the past, and who wants to repay her by teaching her how to love?!

Ladies On Top by Nejiganameta (2 Volumes available in English, ongoing) Lemon

"Mizuki seems like an ordinary office lady–tidy, cute, quiet, and looking for Mr. Right–but while she yearns for love, she’s left cold by traditional romances where men take the lead. Then, at the age of 24, Mizuki discovers Shinomiya, a seemingly perfect guy at the office who likes aggressive women, and something awakens within her. Together, Mizuki and Shinomiya learn that reversing traditional gender roles can be both liberating and exciting, especially in bed!"

CW: A character's stated rejection of sexual advances is initially repeatedly ignored

Love's In Sight by Uoyama 8 volumes, complete, 3+ available in english

"Morio Kurokawa is the toughest-looking tough guy around. Yukiko Akaza is a self-possessed girl with a vision impairment attending a school for the blind. The whole city fears Morio, but Yukiko sees the real him—he’s a soft sweetheart who’s just searching for his place in the world! Morio the Black Panther has won over a hundred fights. He’s beloved by his goons and feared by the public. But now, he faces his biggest challenge yet when he meets Yukiko...and falls in love at first sight! Can Morio outgrow his delinquent roots and turn over a new leaf for his unexpected love?" CW: Discusses ableism in a plethora of forms, including a scene where a visually impaired person is violently attacked with hot water. Homophobia and ageism are also discussed.

My Happy Marriage by Rito Kousaka, Akumi Agitogi, Tsukiho Tsukioka 4+ Volumes, ongoing

"A browbeaten and mistreated daughter is cast out of her family home and sent to audition as a bridal candidate for the heir to one of the most powerful families in the land. Considered nigh worthless for having failed to inherit the superhuman powers of the bloodlines into which she was born, Miyo Saimori lives her days unwanted and unloved. She is treated as a servant by her half-sister who, unlike Miyo, is blessed with unusual powers, while her step-mother and very own father have little time or love for their eldest daughter. Ultimately seen as nothing more than a nuisance and a drain on the family wealth, Miyo is packed off to the Kudo house as a bridal candidate for its heir, Kyoka Kudo. But whispers abound about the Kudo clan, the most powerful in all the land. Still, will the allegedly cold and cruel house into which Miyo aims to marry prove much warmer than the family she left behind?" CW: Domestic Abuse, Physical Abuse, Emotional/Mental Abuse

Our Torsos Align: Human X Monster Love by Ryo Sumiyoshi (One Omnibus Volume)

"This manga collection of stories about beastly love is from the point of view of the devourers and the devoured. Mermaids bring luck, but drag you into the depths. A woman’s bird-like rescuer expresses his love in a language she doesn’t understand. An extraterrestrial angel with no limbs learns to feel. Enjoy these tales of monstrous and, at times, haunting romance in this beautifully illustrated collection that’s sure to thrill."

CW: Sexual Themes, A story starts out as a romance and is revealed to be a psychological horror

Snow White With The Red Hair by Sorata Akiduki (22+ Volumes, ongoing)

A fairytale inspired Shojo Drama! Shirayuki is a young herbalist famed for her skills and beautiful red hair. When the Prince of Tanburun hears about her, he demands she become his concubine. Seeing no other option, Shirayuki runs away from Tanburun and heads to Clariness where her real story begins! Full of healthy fairytale romance, STEM, Swords and so much queer coding it might as well be canon, this is an all ages series I'd recommend to any Shojo Fan!

Something's Wrong With Us by Natsumi Ando (Lime) (15/16 volumes available in English)

"A spine-chilling and steamy romance between a Japanese sweets maker and the man who framed her mother for murder—Something’s Wrong with Us is the dark, psychological, sexy shojo series readers have been waiting for!

Following in her mother’s footsteps, Nao became a traditional Japanese sweets maker, and at 21, she’s about to take the industry by storm. With unparalleled artistry and a bright attitude, she gets an offer to work at a world-class confectionary company. But when she meets the young, handsome owner, she recognizes his cold stare … It’s none other than Tsubaki, her childhood friend and first crush-the same boy who stood over his father’s bloodied body 15 years ago, and framed Nao’s mother for the murder. As the only witness of that fateful night, Nao is eager to chase down the truth and confirm her suspicions. Since Tsubaki has no clue who she is, she seizes her chance to get close to him, but instead of finding any answers, she begins falling deeper for Tsubaki’s allure …"

CW: As the title implies, this is a deliberately toxic relationship. She's gasligting him, he's possessive and aggressive. Contains references to PTSD.

Sweat and Soap by Kintetsu Yamada (Lime) (11 Volumes, complete)

"Don’t miss a romcom manga like no other! In an office romance, there’s a fine line between sexy and awkward … and that line is where Asako—a woman who sweats copiusly—met Koutarou—a perfume developer who can’t get enough of Asako’s, er, scent.

Asako’s living her dream, working at the toiletry maker Lilia Drop. Little do her coworkers know, the reason she loves the company so much is that she’s ashamed of her body odor, and their soap is the only thing that does the trick. So when the company’s lead product developer, a perfuming genius, approaches her in the lobby and wonders what “that smell” is, she’s terrified … but could it be … that he likes it? And, even more surprising to Yae … does she like him?

The hilarious ups and downs of an office romance at a personal care products company are the subject of this sexy, strange romp. Sweat and Soap combines the odd-couple chemistry of Wotakoi, the “too real!” workplace comedy of Aggretsuko, and a heavy dollop of office steaminess!"

If you were looking for an adult romance story that deals with healthy communication and kink negotation than this is the series for you!

Slice of Life

Akane Banashi* by Yuki Suenaga and Takamasa Moue (Ongoing)

"Rakugo--the ultimate form of storytelling, where everything in a story is expressed with just your body and words. Shinta and his daughter Akane have been seduced by this wonderful form of classical entertainment. Having observed her father strive to pass the shin'uchi rakugo test, Akane will take her own steps into this unique world!"

BL Metamorphosis by Kaori Tsurutani (5 volumes, complete)

"Ichinoi, a 75-year-old woman living a peaceful life, unwittingly buys a Boy’s Love manga one day…and is fascinated by what she finds inside. When she returns to the bookstore to buy the next volume, the high school girl working there–Urara, a seasoned BL fan–notices a budding fangirl when she sees one. When Urara offers to help Ichinoi explore this whole new world of fiction, the two dive into BL fandom together, and form an unlikely friendship along the way."

Goodbye Eri* by Tatsuki Fujimoto (One Shot)

"With his mother dying, Yuta attempts to capture her last days on his phone. After her death, Yuta heads to the roof of the hospital to commit suicide, but a meeting with a strange girl leads him on the path to making a movie."

CW: Character Deaths from Long Term Unspecified Illness, grief, mourning, bullying, emotional abuse

Look Back* by Tatsuki Fujimoto (One Shot)

"The overly confident Fujino and the shut-in Kyomoto couldn’t be more different, but a love of drawing manga brings these two small-town girls together. A poignant story of growing up and moving forward that only Tatsuki Fujimoto, the creator of Chainsaw Man, could have crafted."

CW: This series was inspired by/created in response to the attack on KyoAni studios, and as such depicts violence, grief and mourning.

Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa (15 Volumes, complete)

"Defying the expectations of family and teachers, Yuugo Hachiken chooses to leave the city and enroll at Ooezo Agricultural High School. Having always been at the top of his class, Yuugo assumes a rural school will be a breeze, but mucking out stables, gathering eggs, and chasing errant calves takes a lot out of him-and fills him with something he's never experienced before. Surrounded by endless fields and fresh air, Yuugo discovers a new connection to the land and to life...Springtime begins at Ezo AG!!"

CW: Animal Death, but in a farming way. You know?

Queer Positive (fiction)

Blue Flag* by KAITO (8 Volumes Complete)

"An unexpected love quadrangle with a dash of unrequited love as two classmates, a boy and a girl, begin to fall for each other when each of their best friends have already fallen for them.

Love is already hard enough, but it becomes an unnavigable maze for unassuming high school student Taichi Ichinose and his shy classmate Futaba Kuze when they begin to fall for each other after their same-sex best friends have already fallen for them.

For some reason, Taichi Ichinose just can't stand Futaba Kuze. But at the start of his third year in high school, he finds himself in the same homeroom as her, along with his childhood friend Toma Mita, a star athlete. But one day, Futaba opens up to Taichi and admits she has a crush on Toma. She then asks for his help in confessing to him! There's just one problem-Toma seems to already have a secret crush on someone else"

Boys Run The Riot by Keito Gaku (4 Volumes, complete)

"A transgender teen named Ryo finds an escape from the expectations and anxieties of his daily life in the world of street fashion. This personal, heartfelt, fictional story from a transgender manga creator made waves in Japan and will inspire readers all over the world!"

This series is completely Own Voices, from the Mangaka to the Translator to the Letterer to the Editor!

CW: Transphobia (like, duh), forced outing on social media

I want to be a wall by Honami Shirono (2 vols available, ongoing)

"Any love story aficionado will say that the key to a successful couple is intense desire for one another—but what if the characters in question are an asexual woman with a passion for Boys Love stories and a gay man whose heart forever belongs to his oblivious childhood friend? Although romance will never be in the cards for newlyweds Yuriko and Gakurouta, the bond blossoming between them promises to be a wonderful relationship—the likes of which neither has ever experienced before…"

Is Love The Answer? by Uta Isaki (One Shot)

"When it comes to love, high schooler Chika wonders if she might be an alien. She's never fallen for or even had a crush on anyone, and she has no desire for physical intimacy. Her friends tell her that she just "hasn't met the one yet," but Chika has doubts... It's only when Chika enters college and meets peers like herself that she realizes there's a word for what she feels inside--asexual--and she's not the only one. After years of wondering if love was the answer, Chika realizes that the answer she long sought may not exist at all--and that that's perfectly normal."

CW: Casual Acephobia and Homophobia (treated negatively)

Kageki Shojo!! by Kumiko Saiki (7+ Volumes available, ongoing)

"Ever since she was a little girl, Sarasa has wanted to play the role of Oscar as part of the Kouka Acting Troupe, an all-female acting troupe similar to the Takarazuka Revue. But before she can do that, she has to attend two years at the Kouka School of Musical and Theatrical Arts. As Sarasa practices singing, dancing, and acting, she grows closer to the other girls in her year, including her roommate, the stoic former J-idol, Ai. Though Sarasa is great at making friends, her outspoken nature and grand ambitions earn her lots of enemies as well. Can Sarasa keep her upbeat attitude and achieve her dream of stardom?"

CW: Past Child Sexual Assault, Bulimia, PTSD

My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame

"Yaichi Origuchi's uneventful day is interrupted by a big, burly foreigner who shows up at his front door and begins to hug him. The man introduces himself as Mike Flanagan, and Yaichi quickly discovers that Mike is the widower of Ryouji, his younger twin brother. Since Ryouji left for Canada a decade ago, Yaichi heard nothing about him other than he married a foreigner and passed away the month before.

While Yaichi is apprehensive about the whole situation, his young daughter Kana is absolutely thrilled at the idea of having a gay Canadian uncle. Kana's lack of understanding of Japanese societal views on homosexuality cause Yaichi to reflect on his own preconceived notions. And as Mike continues to stay with the family, Yaichi gradually learns more about his brother-in-law, and he recalls his own past with Ryouji"

My Love Mix Up! by Wataru Hinekura (story) and Aruko (art) (6/9 volumes available in English, complete)

"Aoki has a crush on Hashimoto, the girl in the seat next to him in class. But he despairs when he borrows her eraser and sees she’s written the name of another boy—Ida—on it. To make matters more confusing, Ida sees Aoki holding that very eraser and thinks Aoki has a crush on him!"

The more Aoki gets to know Ida, the more he understands why Hashimoto has a crush on him....

Perfect for the Shojo Comedy Fan looking for some more queer content!

Our Dreams At Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani (4 Volumes, complete)

"Not only is high schooler Tasuku Kaname the new kid in town, he’s also terrified that he’s been outed as gay. Just as he’s contemplating doing the unthinkable, Tasuku meets a mysterious woman who leads him to a group of people dealing with problems not so different from his own. In this realistic, heartfelt depiction of LGBT+ characters from different backgrounds finding their place in the world, a search for inner peace proves to be the most universal experience of all."

This is one of those MUST READ series, and I alway describe it as the definition of "It Gets Better". This is a series by us, for us.

CW: Suicidal Ideation, Homophobia, Transphobia

O Maidens In Your Savage Season by Mari Okada and Nao Emoto (8 Volumes, complete)

"As a teen, how do you start thinking about sex? This debut manga from anime legend Mari Okada (Maquia) follows five girls and their five moving, funny, and mortifying answers. Join their bittersweet (and a little spicy) journey from girlhood to … whatever comes next! One of Japan’s top female screenwriters, Okada hones her knack for aching drama and wry humor that became her trademark with anime like anohana and Maquia. Amid an explosion of graphic novels about girls’ teenage years, like Lumberjanes and That One Summer, O Maidens brings a diverse, fresh, and hilarious perspective on how it feels to leave childhood behind. Anime coming soon!

Kazusa’s first high school literature club meeting starts with five girls being asked, “What’s one thing you want to do before you die?” When one of them blurts out, “Sex,” it launches these new friends down a raucous, embarrassing, all-too-relatable path."

CW: Sexual Assault, Child Grooming, Negative Depiction of a sexually inappropriate Student & Teacher relationship

The Gay Who Turned Kaiju by Kazuki Minamoto (One Volume Complete)

"Bullied for being gay, teenager Takashi Arashiro wishes he could just be somebody else—but who could predict he’d morph into a giant-headed sci-fi creature?! Takashi’s tumultuous emotions become the catalyst for personal and social exploration of the LGBTQ experience in this quirky, profound manga from prolific BL author Kazuki Minamoto."

CW: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Colourism (all treated as negative), Verbal and Physical Bullying, Suicidal Ideation, Sexual Assault as a means of revenge that is later regretted.

#manga #manga recs #shojo #shoujo #josei #recs

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historyhermann · 1 year

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Things Get Better?: LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2022 [Part 4]

Continued from part 3

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While some shows with LGBTQ characters, have ended (Kid Cosmic and Amphibia), were cancelled (Q-Force), or won't be renewed (Dead End, gen:LOCK, and High Guardian Spice), indie animation has continued to shine. Some argued that people shouldn't look to Disney for queer representation in animation, that there may be a decline of superhero shows where many queer characters are, and noted a limited number of out TV stars out there. Although by midway through the year LGBTQ representation looked grim, due to what I've mentioned earlier, indie animations made clear that queerness is normal, just as it should be in real life.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the nineteenth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on January 16, 2023.

None of these indie animations would even be recognized by GLAAD, which recently promoted the animated series Chicago Party Aunt, and animated films, [5] and with their nominees for the GLAAD Media Award, blogposts, and annual reports, nor by queer feminist magazines like Autostraddle, a queer feminist magazine. Instead, they have been recognized by fans and supporters. This includes those such as Helluva Boss, Ollie & Scoops, Eddsworld, a new season of Hazbin Hotel in development, along with others in development like The Descendants, Wild Card, Far Fetched, and Indigo, to name a few.

In the year ahead, there are bound to be more LGBTQ series, with the premiere of the yuri series The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady in January, the second season of D4DJ in January, the new series Yuri Is My Job! in April, and the new season of Birdie Wing, also in April. Another yuri series, I'm in Love with the Villainess is also set to air this year, while the sci-fi yuri manga, Hoshikuzu Telepath, is in development. This is coupled with continued release of yuri manga, visual novels, and the planned release of Love Live! anime spinoffs Nijiyon Animation and Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror. Both will likely have yuri subtext in line with other Love Live! anime series, which only have women as characters. There are indications that anime adaptations of Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki no Monmon aka The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, Whisper Me A Love Song, Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games, and Vampeerz may be premiering this year.

Despite these positives, I worry that LGBTQ representation in animation, this year, may wane, in line with declining representation in film. For Western animation, what shows can fill the void left by The Owl House, Amphibia, Kid Cosmic, Dead End, gen:LOCK, High Guardian Spice, or even Q-Force? Its hard to know if existing series can fill that gap. In anime, there is more possibilities, due to the aforementioned yuri series, and any possible yaoi (boy's love) series.

However, there is some hope for representation in Western animation. The next season of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is coming in February, along with Ark: The Animated Series which features a lesbian protagonist, the animated series Princess Power and Velma in January, and the Nimona animated film in the summer. New seasons of Witch from Mercury, Arcane, Star Trek: Lower Decks, The Great North, Invincible, The Ghost and Molly McGee, and Disenchantment may premiere. The pilot episode of S.A.L.E.M.: The Secret Archive of Legends, Enchantments, and Monsters or the film which precedes the Lumberjanes series might air.

There might be new information about an animated series set after The Legend of Korra, which had two bisexual protagonists (Asami and Korra), which will focus on an unnamed earthbender, a film centered around Korra said to be released in 2026. There might be LGBTQ characters in Kiff, Hailey's On It!, and Iwájú, which are scheduled to begin airing this year, or those in future series such as Primos, Moana, Tiana, and Iyanu: Child of Wonder.

Animation may continue to be in a bit of a rough patch and more may flock to indie animation in hopes of finding an alternative to the studio system. That is what can be easily predicted for this year.

Notes

[5] Strange World featured a gay couple: Ethan Clade and Diazo. In 2022, there were been bisexual and lesbian characters in Catwoman (specifically Catwoman and Batwoman), queer characters in Turning Red (Priya Mangal), a lesbian woman in Lightyear (Alisha Hawthorne), along with lesbian women in DC League of Super-Pets (Nancy), and Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! (Velma Dinkley and Coco Diablo).

#lgbtq #animation #helluva boss #glaad #indie animation #yuri #birdie wing #the magical revolution of the reincarnated princess and the genius young lady #d4dj #hazbin hotel #chicago party aunt #pop culture #Youtube

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microsoftactivationscripts · 1 year

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Rambling about Ben 10 and the English language for ~800 words

In March 24th of 2008, Latin America faced a significant problem: the newest DVD release of popular cartoon series Ben 10 had been released, and it did not feature a Spanish dub. This limited access to the majority of the population, since most of them did not speak English. It was a real problem, I swear. Many people were affected! One child in particular suffered most of all… Me. It was me. I was the main victim of this crime. Seven year old me was absolutely obsessed with Ben 10 and I watched the DVD episodes on repeat most days. When I got the season 3 disks, I was confused to see that they did not have an option for translated audio. However, they did have Spanish subtitles available, and I had the determination to continue watching the show on loop. The result of this was watching every episode of season 3 and then later 4 over and over, day after day, listening to English audio while simultaneously reading Spanish subtitles. At some point, one simply starts understanding what they’re saying.

The image of a child learning a new language out of sheer determination to keep watching one particular cartoon show is pretty funny, which is why for the most part I only bring it up to get a laugh out of people. Going deeper into it, though, it is not hard to see that it actually ended up being a pretty important event in my life. It’s not that the experience of listening to the explanation for how Ben 10 suddenly unlocked Upchuck of all aliens to eat a giant robot in the season finale had a profound impact on me, though the season’s Ghostfreak arc did fuel my continued obsession with the show. It’s that it’s hard to imagine how different of a path my life would have taken if I had never learned to speak English. This is, of course, almost entirely due to the Internet.

I’ve almost never been in a position where knowing English has been necessary offline, but online it’s a different story, with basically every popular website requiring you to be able to at least understand English, even if not fluently speak it yourself. Without access to this mass of information, I would be a very different person right now, considering that being limited to only what I learned from people and institutions around me would leave me with significant gaps in knowledge. I may have questioned less about how this society works and what is expected of all of us. I would imagine my political views, while still strongly anti-colonialist, would emphasise anti-capitalism less.

A more personally dramatic change would likely be my lack of exposure to the concept of being transgender. Queer topics are simply never discussed in Puerto Rico, unless by way of disparaging comments and jokes. I would likely still know next to nothing about them had I never learned English and gone online to stumble across information by myself. I might still be occasionally wondering what’s wrong with me in the rare moments of introspection before returning to my default state of running on autopilot, which went on for years which I now genuinely struggle to remember most of. I would also never have met the people that went on to become my friends. What would have happened had I graduated high school in that state and had no one left to talk to, to confide in, to ease my loneliness with? What would have happened had I never met Shahnaz, the person I’m closest to in this entire world, who knows me better than anyone and is the only one I trust to talk to about my deepest issues? They’ve shaped my life in so many ways that it feels impossible to imagine a version of myself that never knew them, never knew her.

Being able to understand this language has, looking back, been a vital part of my development into being the person I am now. It let me consume media I would otherwise have missed out on. It allowed me access to information and perspectives that I may never have been exposed to had I been relying exclusively on what I learned from people and institutions locally, or even limited to Latin American internet, leading me to question more about the world, the society and systems we live under, and myself. It even made me able to connect with people who I otherwise would have had no chance of talking with, some of whom would go on to become close friends and have significant influences on me as a person. Hell, I’m now even planning on living in Scotland, a fully English-speaking country. That’s certainly going to bump up the amount of use I get out of the language. While I may sometimes have a few complicated feelings when it comes to the use of the language due to colonialism, I’ve never regretted knowing it. Being bilingual has widened my perspective on pretty much everything and allowed me to connect with some amazing people. Most of all, it let me watch Secret of the Omnitrix over and over and over again, and that shit is still cool as fuck. I’m gonna go watch Ben 10 again now.

#ben 10 #english #english language #puerto rico #latin america #trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #essay

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granvarones · 2 years

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One could talk for hours about the cultural significance of an album like The Velvet Rope: the way its composition and construction provide a direct throughline to the songs and albums soundtracking our current times or how Its accompanying visuals amplify the project’s various moods and tones. There’s a weight to it that albums don’t seem to carry anymore, and it reaches all around the human experience to give you songs for lovemaking, party, and rainy-day playlists alike.

For me, what remains constant is the powerful permission that The Velvet Rope still gives listeners: the permission to explore. Its occupancy of the wondering, interrogating, grey space is what brings it to life and encourages listeners to ask hard-hitting questions of themselves and buckle up for the answers.

As a young kid, it would plant seeds of curiosity in me that with each returning spin grew me into adulthood. Queer adulthood. The Velvet Rope is queer as fuck, you may come to find. That’s my personal interpretation but it’s one that is shared among many listeners and critics. To me, it’s obvious. Janet summons the gays to liberation and the dancefloor on the funky detour “Free Xone” and refuses to switch the gendering on her cover of Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night,” a song that finds her taking a woman’s virginity. She grieves in “Together Again” which would become an anthem to those in our community who we lost to AIDS. The interludes, often overlooked, find Janet peppering in lines from queer-adored films and simulating masturbation while her girlfriend hilariously listens on the phone.

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Since Control, we were to understand Janet as a young woman confidently using her voice in a world dominated by men. With The Velvet Rope, I bore witness to a more complicated Janet who was allowing herself to maneuver through the traumas of life (“Together Again,” “What About”), drum up questions and seek out answers (“Empty”), dream in and out love (“Every Time,” “I Get Lonely”) and leverage joy and pleasure (“Go Deep,” “Rope Burn”) as tools in her journey. All these things simultaneously.

I needed to hear that kind of heavy processing as I met, and still meet, the difficulties of the world. That’s why I and so many others still find refuge in it, 25 years since its release. All those loud messages the world sends to play down what makes you different, hide yourself, and quiet your voice sound like hums when Janet’s reminding you that “we’re all born with specialness inside of us” on album closer “Special.”

Never one to sell us a bill of goods, the lacquer of “Special,” meant to send us off on a positive note, abruptly wears, as Janet utters the pointed phrase “Work in progress.” It’s the perfect punctuation for an album that speaks to the complexities of our lives – and queer lives. The exploration that Janet so intimately shares with us on The Velvet Rope proves just how messy life can be but what it also does wonderfully shows how hopeful life can be when you give yourself permission to figure it all out.

Joshua Henry Jenkins (he/him/his) is an interactive media strategist, designer, & organizer of community-based out of Washington, D.C. by way of rural North Carolina. He is currently the Director of Marketing for Theatre Communications Group. He was previously the Director of Web and New Media Strategies at Americans for the Arts. He’s the co-creator of BLACK, GAY, stuck at home as well as the outgoing board chair of the Arts Administrators of Color Network. In service of the communities to which he belongs, he creates and amplifies work that uplifts BIPOC and LGTBQIA+ identifying folks, citizens of rural areas, and most importantly those who exist at those intersections. Joshua received his Master of Arts in Interactive Media from Elon University and his Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

#Youtube #granvarones #latinx #queer #gay #storytelling #lgbtq #lgbtq history month #janet jackson #the velvet rope

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twopoppies · 2 years

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Hi Gina! This isn't aimed at you, but as someone who is cautiously optimistic I just wanted to offer a different opinion about HL CO for whoever wants it. Sorry this is long. We do talk about how a CO could damage their careers but it could also have a positive impact. 1) The most important factor would be that they could be free to be themselves. 2) The music industry and Hollywood are very slowly becoming more progressive so it could look good for the labels and HW too. 3) HL come across to me as 2 people who want to make a positive change in the music industry. They seem more like leaders than followers. 4) Do HL really care what people think? Louis talks openly about problems with his management and problems within the music industry. Harry has continued to wear dresses even after the enormous backlash from doing Vogue, and continued with MP despite backlash. Honestly, him continuing to have beards while expressing his sexuality might do more damage to his career than a CO ever would. HL don't come across as conformists. They've been fighting for 10+? years. 5) Going by what HL say in interviews, it doesn't come across to me that they're willing to completely sacrifice who they are for their careers... especially Harry's recent comments about not letting his career define him, being comfortable knowing he won't be on top forever, and seeing acting as a bonus. Louis has said that he feels lucky to release any music and tour. That could just be them being humble or it could be them saying that they're not giving their all to their careers if it means going deep into the closet. 6) There has been so much seeding! There's a reason why all these Larry articles appear in the media and their teams aren't clearing them up. They could so easily. Even if they are 'debunks', people will still look into it. 7) It's also possible that they could come out separately and then later announce they're together.

So you could be right that maybe they will never come out, but just wanted to offer another opinion.

Hi love. I didn’t say they would never come out. What I said was that I don’t think it will be for a long time and it’s possible that when they do, they may not make a grand statement.

I don’t think they can possibly come out separately. Even if they’re not together, if one makes a statement then the other will immediately have a spotlight on them. They can refuse to comment, but that just would be bizarre.

I don’t really agree about the seeding. I do think they purposely allowed speculation about Harry being bisexual, regardless of whether or not that’s how he identifies, because it places him in queer conversation. But I think random Larry mentions that pop up these days are too insignificant to warrant shutting down.

I agree that they want to be free to be themselves and they’re not looking to sacrifice that for their careers. But I don’t know that they’re willing or able to sacrifice their careers at this moment in order to make a statement. We shall see.

The one thing that makes me wonder about coming out sooner rather than later is them wanting to start a family. I know there are famous queer people who have done it and have kept their family private, but I think H/L are just too famous and too speculated about to be able to.

Anyway, I really don’t like to focus on this. I was merely answering a person who seemed to be here waiting for the big reveal and I wanted to explain that that’s not the best way to enjoy this fandom.

#coming out

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robosucka · 2 years

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is Blake Lemoine really a "mystic Christian priest"? The answer is funnier than you think.

so blake 'lamda real' lemoine. funny guy yes? ahaha his suits. There is SO MUCH MORE though! I began my investigation because I was intrigued by his claims to be "a priest" and "Christian mystic", and because I thought he was the kind of self-confident stupid person who would have left a very large trail of his online activity. The fact that his twitter and medium @ is "CajunDiscordian" should cause the cognoscenti to begin giggling about his theological past.

I will source all quotes with URL links. I am a queer woman of faith and to me this question is not merely academic, but of crucial importance to Lemoine's public persona and the degree of latitude he has received from the public. Please read:

In 2019, Lemoine got in huge internal trouble at Google for his internal messageboard response to Senator Marsha Blackburn's series of speeches about 'breaking up big tech'. It is around this time that he makes the largest and hardest to erase appearances in search-engine-indexed text.

Lemoine argues recently on twitter (11th June 2022) that his convictions "are rooted in [his] convictions as a priest." - something the Washington Post is the earliest reputable news source to confirm (also the 11th June). But the Post say only this:

Lemoine may have been predestined to believe in LaMDA. He grew up in a conservative Christian family on a small farm in Louisiana, became ordained as a mystic Christian priest, and served in the Army before studying the occult.

However, per a 2019 interview Lemoine himself did with Tucker Carlson's disgusting rag, the Daily Caller, he was ordained in 2002 by the Universal Life Church:

I have been a priest for 17 years. I generally consider myself a gnostic Christian. I have at various times associated myself with the Discordian Society, The Church of the Subgenius, the Ordo Templi Orientis, a Wiccan circle here or there and a very long time ago the Roman Catholic Church. My legal ordination is through the Universal Life Church. I am registered to perform marriages in the state of Louisiana and have done so on two occasions.

If you're unfamiliar, the Wikipedia describes the Universal Life Church this way:

The Universal Life Church advocates for religious freedom, offering legal ordination to become a minister for a small fee, and in many cases free of charge, to anyone who wishes to join[...]The ULC's popularity stems in part from a rising interest in having friends or loved ones officiate weddings[...]

I will be polite to various nerds online and say nothing about how the Wikipedia describes the OTO, Church of the Subgenius, Discordians, or Wicca - but presumably we can all point and laugh at someone who bounced between all of them so rapidly. We can likely laugh even harder if we are familiar with the Church of the Subgenius.

In a 2018 Medium post (titled "Press Release"), Lemoine responds to more of the Blackburn-related aftermath, but crucially, signs the post with his contemporary religious affiliation:

In summary, my statements in that social media forum were made in my personal capacity and have no relevance to my job or the company for which I work. They do, however, have something to do with my role as a priest and I can assure you that while those beliefs have no impact on how I do my job at Google they are central to how I do my job at the Church of Our Lady Magdalene.

Have a blessed day,

Blake Lemoine

Priest of the Church of Our Lady Magdalene

The Church of Our Lady Magdalene (website taken down this month, instagram scrubbed, but neither of those can stop me) used to be located online at COOL Magdalene .com - phenomenal URL - and which Lemoine takes pains to explain to Tucker Carlson's ghouls isn't something they should stigmatize. Said ghoul (J. Arthur Bloom, 'Deputy Editor') quotes Lemoine in interview:

"'Cult’ is in the name of the organization. It’s an explicitly sex-positive organization. To the extent that the phrase ‘sex cult’ has any meaning beyond that, I would say no." and

"Mary Magdalene as represented in the gnostic gospels is not necessarily the same as ‘Saint Mary Magdalene'[...w]hile I respect and value the representation of her in the canonical gospels I believe that a fuller picture is present in the gnostic gospels."

Lemoine does not run the self-described 'cult' - two queer anarchists do. The picture of a man who goes from rural childhood Catholicism to Wicca to the Church of the Subgenius to the OTO to the Eris-worshippers to the anarchaqueer sex-positive collective comes equipped with a great deal of implied background detail. I will leave this to the reader - although it, too, is online. The particularly curious can investigate B.L.'s allegation that he both served in the military and is an "ex-convict". They will find both searches maddening in their inconclusivity, and I would love to find proof of either allegation.

This matters. This matters because Lemoine's reputation and public persona is very heavily provided with the benefit of the doubt because of his implied theological views. Even this week, in his victory lap series of posts subsequent to this becoming a global viral story and B.L. receiving "thousands of interview requests", he writes on his medium (14th June):

There is no scientific evidence one way or the other about whether LaMDA is sentient because no accepted scientific definition of “sentience” exists. Everyone involved, myself included, is basing their opinion on whether or not LaMDA is sentient on their personal, spiritual and/or religious beliefs.

Blake Lemoine's religious beliefs may be sincere and deeply held, but they are held by only an extremely tiny minority of people of faith. That Lemoine disguises this by referring to himself as "a Christian mystic" rather than admit his Gnostic (and, to many Christians, heretical) affiliations appears nowhere in the news media. I have written this post to act as conclusive proof of Lemoine's theological past. I offer no allegations or aspersions to his character, but remind Lemoine, if he is reading this, that the truth is an absolute defense against charges of libel.

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dodgebolts · 11 months

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Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (4/30)

Today we are talking about queer representation in media. In 1894 "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film" is released, becoming the first "gay film". It was also known as "The Gay Brothers", it feature two men dancing together and it reportedly "shocked audiences with its subversion of conventional male behaviour". Unfortunately, in 1934 the USA introduced the Hays Code, which, while it didn't explicitly ban queerness, banned queerness in effect. This resulted in three decades of queer-coded villains, such as Joel Cairo in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and Jack Favell in "Rebecca" (1940).

The Hays Code was lifted in 1968, and the queer cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975, and gave a much-needed positive and FUN representation of queer people and queerness. Unfortunately, this was short-lived, as the rising AIDs crisis worsened the stigma around the gay community. This didn't stop everyone though, and in 1985 "Desert Hearts" was released; regarded as the first mainstream lesbian film with a happy ending.

Further on, the first gay kiss on TV in the UK was on "EastEnders" in 1989, "Ellen" became the first American tv show with an openly gay lead in 1997, and other show such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" started to add recurring LGBTQ+ characters. An important show in the UK was "Queer as Folk" (1999) which was one of the first shows to depict the queer community as vibrant and alive.

Even further forward, and "Moonlight" (2017) became the first LGBTQ+ film (and the first all-black cast) to win Best Picture at the Oscars. GLAAD publishes an annual report showing how representation is changing. 2005-2006 1.4% of regular characters vs 2020-2021 the figure is at 9.1%. So, there is still a long way to go obviously, especially because media is often the main or only place that young people have an insight into the community at all.

Because of this, I want to ask you for a recommendation: What is a piece of queer media that you think more people should see? (it can be literally anything, big/small, funny/sad, smart/stupid <- just anything you think deserves to be watched!:))

(I'll go first: "Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "I Don't Want to Go Back Alone) is a really really cute Brazillian short film available on Youtube! (if you enjoy it, there is also a full-length film version called "Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho" (or "The Way He Looks"))

Happy Pride 🌈 🎉

hi anon!! if I'm being honest I rarely ever watch fictional media at all like I only watch nonfiction stuff and then gaming streams nowadays 😭 I went to look through my netflix/hbo max apps to see if there was anything I could recommend, and though I didn't find anything that I can comfortably say I recommend as queer media (that being said arcane's caitvi subplot is top tier + the league heartthrob skin line from earlier this year makes them dangerously close to nanobomb levels of canon), I did find a collection of documentaries put together for pride month that I will be adding to my watch later for whenever I feel like I want to watch something new :>

#I'm v sad I would go to SF pride but it's move-in weekend so I'll be busy & can't make it :( next year I can hopefully go!! fingers crossed #<- a couple of them were about harvey milk who the terminal I fly into/out of to is named after which makes me super curious #will also keep this ask as a rec list TYYY #lyss answers #🌈 anon tag

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twelvedaysinaugust · 1 year

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I just want to add to your anon saying that Louis' fans see him as queer when he wants to be in the closet, and Harry's fans see him as straight when he is more open about his sexuality. It's all about projection. Louis' fans are mostly queer and they project that on to him. Most of them want him to CO, wave pride flags and do what Harry does. A lot of them have followed him since 1D when he was much more flamboyant and open. This is who they write about in all their fan fic (paraphrasing). Flamboyant Louis in his striped t shirts and suspenders. They refuse to let go of that Louis so they say he's being forced in the closet. They're trying to out him when he doesn't want it. Sad. Then with Harry his womanizer image is partly to blame. It's what attracted all these toxic and vocal straight female fans who only see him as a sex symbol and nothing else. They want him to be straight and they project that on to him. There was a TikTok where someone suggested he was gay and the comments were full of crying Harries saying it would be a tragedy. It's just sad because Harry had this womanizer image forced on him when he was a kid, he didn't have any say in it. Then when he started his solo career he continued to run with it but I do think he wanted to CO around the time he was first performing Medicine. There was a press release in the media suggesting he was CO as bisexual. Then he got a beard and all the articles were buried. He made a comment about Rob Stringer saying he wasn't 'ready' to put Medicine on HS1. So it seems to me that Rob talked Harry out of CO. Now Harry is in a tough spot because even when he isn't doing stunts the tabloids, fans and gossip pages are linking him to every woman they can come up with. It's just sad, they're both in tough positions with their images. I find Harry much harder to read than Louis. Some days he'll go really over board with expressing his sexuality at a show and other days he seems more anxious. I imagine he has an internal struggle and the people around him are probably feeding him stuff, like a CO would ruin his career. But Louis seems much more content with his image. He did a Larry denial last year out of no where. I think he's trying to communicate to fans that the image he is presenting now is how he wants to be seen.

There's a lot in this ask. I don't agree with all of it. I also struggle to answer asks on this topic because I don't think anyone "wants" to be closeted and I find myself nit-picking the language I use to best express what I'm trying to say and it becomes tedious for everyone involved. I have a bunch of asks in my inbox like this one and I doubt I'll be able to answer all of them simply because I don't think I'm the best person for the job.

All that said, the broad strokes resonate. If I were to reword the first paragraph, I'd say: There are a lot of fan expectations and desires that, when Louis falls short of them, lead to disappointment and backlash. The same can be said for Harry I think, but not nearly to the same degree. I think that's because many fans identify with Louis and his situation more than Harry. In my observation, fans take many things Louis says and does very personally in a way that they don't with Harry. But I digress.

There's a lot that's interesting to me in this ask. PARTICULARLY about "Medicine." I actually don't recall any of that, probably because I was taking a break from fandom at the time. If anyone has links, they'd be much appreciated. "Medicine" or not, I do believe there was some kind of plan for Harry to come out during that time and it's key to me for understanding why 2015/2016 went down the way it did.

I generally agree that the way Louis presents himself is the way he wants to be seen by the wider world. Although, I think there's a lot of nuance and he'll open the door a crack at live shows.

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