#so if I have to lob fireballs into the dinluke tag and show myself then so be it

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

Hi all!

Touched some grass, maybe touched too much grass, and got wiped out by a headache. The weekly weekday grind is about to begin so I’m going to temper my contributions to the ongoing conversations around and about the dinluke fandom.

That said, I’ve had quite a bit of catching up to do and want to say the following-

While the discourse quickly centered around dark!dinluke and dark!dinluke creators, I agree with Withercrown’s latest and other later posts from others that this group is not solely to blame for what’s been happening to this fandom. The dark!dinluke corner may be the most highly visible one and have contributed much to the toxic stereotypes, tropes, and trends that have dominated much of the fanworks we see nowadays, but they are not the only ones and cannot be solely blamed for every ill that seems to plague and diminish the ship’s fandom. There are many other fanworks that don’t share the same themes and (infamous? improper? nonexistent?) tags as the dark!dinluke corner but feature many of the same problems - racism, racialized xenophobia, homophobia, heterosexism, gendered stereotypes. 

I did my part in centering the debate around them and also on the racism and xenophobia surrounding Din Djarin and Pedro Pascal with my responses to asks, my reblogs, my tags. While I know these conversations needed to be had (and they keep needing to be had, why do we keep needing to have these conversations???), I should’ve done more to highlight the other major problems with the fandom. I also didn’t speak up when discussions and headcanons fetishized and applied heterosexist ideas and tropes onto gay/MLM relationships and characters, and that’s something I need to work on. I’ve complained in private spaces many times my frustrations with characterizations of Luke in particular but never took them public. Seems like it’s time to end that.

It also bears reminding that all of these major problems with the dinluke ship and fandom that had been driving people away and reducing participation in these spaces are not separate. They are not isolated, they are not single issues to be addressed one by one. These are inter-connected and intersectional. Any effort to do better and to make a better community needs to take into account how we should approach Din and Luke as individuals and in a relationship. I do what I can while keeping in mind how Din is perceived because of his actor and I do the same for Luke (and for every other character in Star Wars, really, they all deserve this). 

I’m just a human, I will fuck up (I have fucked up), but I’m always striving to correct myself, learn, and do better - for me, for the people in fandom, and for a ship I very much love.

I have a few asks in my inbox but I want to spend the rest of the night being productive with other things so I’ll address them later in the week. I’m also keeping anon asks off in the meantime for the same reasons. When will anon asks get turned back on? That’s for me to know and for you to find out.

Take care of yourselves. Do what you must for your sake. I’ll see y’all on the flip side.

#dinluke #skydalorian #tbh when I made that post I didn't expect it to blow up or kickstart another weekend of discoursing #I'm glad for it though I think we strayed too far from all the major issues Withercrown had brought up in his original post #but here's the thing - Withercrown was simply the straw that broke my camel's back #my poor camel had to bear the weight of all of my frustrations and anger toward not just dark!dinluke but other dinluke fans #I'm the poor fool who sat on that back with my silence and my fears about fandom and then that straw came down on my head #on a personal note - I hated gendered stereotypes and tropes all my life and my discomfort has led to me questioning myself #(one could argue that vico ortiz and OFMD's jim jimenez led me to seriously asking myself if I wasn't as cis as I thought I was) #that discomfort has also made me hyperaware of characters being assigned these traits and roles based on racialized and heterosexist ideas #it was never just the racism or xenophobia but also how the racism and xenophobia played into characterizing din and luke a certain way #the thing about intersectionality (besides it being really about frameworks of power and legal systems in the US) is that it is hard #it is hard work because it asks you to take into account so many facets of identity and inequality and you can lose track or focus #and it is ongoing. it never ends. so long as these systems and structures are in place we have to live and breathe it #it doesn't just go away after a weekend of volleying back and forth about statistics and identity #for me the hurt really began in 2016 with the finnpoe discourse which only worsened with The Last Jedi the next year #these hurts never left and will never leave because fandom doesn't learn doesn't do better #but I'm truly tired of being quiet and of wallowing silently in despair and of losing hope #so if I have to lob fireballs into the dinluke tag and show myself then so be it