#unpacking supremacy culture

[acesamateurart]

After missing last week's post due to Health and Wanting To Fight The Government (I am the embodiment of My Tummy Hurts and I'm Mad At the Government), I finally have the third part of the Unpacking Supremacy Culture series up! As ever, can be read on WordPress or Substack.

#peer reviewed revolution #unpacking supremacy culture #leftist #revolutionary #praxis #defensiveness #fear of open conflict #blog post #wordpress #substack

[knitmeapony]

I want to reiterate something that I saw on Twitter. I'd love to share the actual Twitter thread but of course I already can't find it in the massive swamp of stuff going on right now.

The urge to create new organizations is probably pretty strong in most Center to left Americans right now. To work as an individual, finding ways to help that you can do individually , perhaps even visibly. Somehow doing all the ground-up organizational work feels like doing more than joining the organizations that already exist. I'm here to tell you to resist that urge. This is one of those you are not immune to propaganda moments.

There is a fairly pervasive disease, particularly among folks who have protested and donated but not gotten into the nitty-gritty work yet. It's a very well intentioned instinct that you, personally, can do more to fix things as a leader than as a participant. The more privileged you are, the more you are going to believe this. (White Americans, we are very very susceptible to this, and it is a flavor of white supremacy it can be damn hard to unpack.)

You're going to want to join untested Auntie Networks and say individually that you are willing to help your friends/people you know without engaging in the already massive, already well-established, often led by BIPOC reproductive health organizations that already exist.

Your local abortion access organization, whether it is a mutual aid organization run on Instagram or a registered Foundation/charity with a significant web presence is already doing the work that you think needs to be done. There are already networks of people willing to open their homes, cars, and lives to people who need abortion care, organizations that provide money for travel, organizations that lobby heavily in Washington and even in corporate halls for Reproductive Rights.

The best thing you can do to help right now is to join an organization that already exists. To join up with your community, as locally as you possibly can, and let them tell you what work needs to be done. If you are brand new to this, if you are just now raging and you have energy to burn, it may feel like these organizations don't understand and they are not doing enough. But I assure you, they're working their asses off and they have for years.

There are huge groups of people that even before the overturn of Roe struggled to access reproductive health care of all kinds. Poor folks, indigenous communities, rural communities, black and brown folks, people living in abusive situations, disabled folks, they have all been denied appropriate Healthcare over and over and over again and the organizations they have already created and set up know how to do their best to access all the resources that are available, know how to build on their own scaffolding to extend resources, and are your best bet to do real good.

This is a lot like those can drives every year at Thanksgiving and christmas. It feels good to give these big tangible tins and boxes of food, but just writing a check does so much more than you could imagine. 10, 50, sometimes even a hundred times as much food, and of the types and varieties that people are actually looking for, accounting for communities and cultural values and health conditions. But still every year people love to give 50 packs of ramen noodles, rather than $50, because we have this belief that our individual decisions are somehow more valuable than the community decisions made by those actually working and living directly in the community. We are wrong. Please understand that while this Instinct to be a hero and leader on an individual basis is very well intentioned and understandable, it's a bad instinct put in our heads by years and years and years of stories about just one Renegade somehow being the key to saving the world rather than the diligent work of an entire community.

Here are the best things that you can do right now, even though they will not feel as satisfying as running as fast as you can to try to be a hero:

Stop

You're having a lot of feelings right now. Those feelings are utterly, completely valid. But when you are running entirely on adrenaline, on grief or anger or spite, you're going to run out of fuel pretty fast. The best thing you can do is take a beat to live in your feelings and then turn to do what you can thoughtfully and deliberately. It took the right about 40 to 50 years of slowly, pointedly, doggedly working local elections, working individual candidates, building communities and organizations, to overturn Roe. There is a non-zero chance that it is going to take just as long to turn it back again. Prepare yourself for that. Prepare for a long road. Be ready to put your shoulder in it, over and over. Be ready to take breaks while other people push, but without losing your own hope and determination. Then when others are running out of steam, put your shoulder to the work again.

Look

Search for organizations as local as possible. You're going to want to donate national. You're going to want to feel like you're doing the most good in the widest area. Your local community is what needs you most. Big organizations whose names end up on the news will have tons of donations right now. Search for organizations in your neighborhood, city, township, county, and state.

Listen

When you find those organizations, you're going to have a lot of ideas. Spend at least a month or a few meetings listening to what they are already doing. Check out their websites or social media presences and respond to their direct appeals as best as you can. You will often find that your mind changes once you are actually in the community, doing the work. You will often find that your well-intentioned ideas have often already been tried and may even be already in place in a slightly different manner than you expected.

You will also often find that you are going to need to confront your own privilege, over and over. To listen to the people doing the work often means you need to stop talking. There is nothing wrong with having good ideas, but when you are walking in from the outside you need to have the humbling moment of realizing you may not be as much of an expert as you think you are.

Stay

As I previously mentioned, this is not going to be a few weeks work. It's unlikely it's going to be a few months work. This is going to take years. It's going to take election cycles.

Don't burn yourself out. Don't work furiously for a few weeks, give up, and never return. Work this kind of stuff into your regular schedule. Make this a daily or weekly or monthly commitment. As someone with ADHD, I know damn well it can be hard to set a new routine, but it's better for you to work one day a month for 2 years then it would be to work everyday for one month and then never return.

If you need a break, decide when you're going to come back when you take the break and commit to returning to the work. You can always change your mind. But consistency will be a powerful tool in both building communities and doing the work of making real change.

This is the hardest piece of it. It's easy to settle back into a life of privilege where you can choose to no longer think about such things. This happened with an awful lot of white activists after the summer of BLM. I admit I am as guilty as the next person of getting overwhelmed and never returning to some of the organizations I used to help. We are all human and some people will fall away, but those who have prepared to be out there in the long term will fall away less, encourage others to return more often, and keep the fires burning on our long slow walk back.

[lurkingshan]

Only Friends and Engaging with Queer Male Media as a Cishet Woman

I’ve had some good conversations this week with friends as we’ve been unpacking our early reactions to Only Friends, which has only just begun getting into the messy dynamics we know the show is going to explore. One of the things that has come up in conversation is our different reactions to the scene between Boston and Top in the shower stall, and how we each read that in terms of consent, sexual coercion, and what it says about each of the characters. Some of us were relatively unfazed by the scene, finding it to be a fairly realistic depiction of a pushy aggressor and his conquest who is not that into him, but also not really opposed to getting sex anywhere and any way he can. Some were more uncomfortable, recognizing behaviors we might call assault in other contexts and wondering whether we should be condemning the character or the scene for the behavior depicted.

For me, this discussion brought up a lot of my previous fandom experiences, taking me all the way back to ye olden days when Queer as Folk (US) was airing and the majority cishet woman fandom spaces were scandalized, scandalized I tell you, by some of the aspects of gay male culture it depicted. It was not the first or the last show to do so, but it stands out in my mind as an important cultural moment at the turn of century as I was coming of age, when the internet was booming and the proliferation of online fandom spaces was rapidly accelerating. Because QaF did it all—casual sex, cruising, group sex, very public acts of indecency, aggressive boundary pushing and peacocking, open and polyamorous relationships, cheating and betrayal, age gaps—and it depicted it all quite explicitly, which made a lot of people uncomfortable. Especially women who were used to thinking about sex and relationships through two primary, and heavily socialized, lenses:

heteronormative romance, and

heterosexual rape culture.

Let’s take a moment to unpack those terms. Heteronormative romance is a big, broad term that I’m using as a kind of container for a lot of things, including patriarchal structures, misogyny, rigid gender roles, purity myths and fetishization of virginity, courtship rituals, promiscuity and respectability politics, the madonna/whore complex, sex as an act primarily for breeding and procreation, expectations of sublimating sexual desire in service of caretaking for others, and so on. Basically, all the bullshit cis women get jammed into our heads from birth that gives us so many hang ups about sex and love. With heterosexual rape culture, I am referring to the undeniable culture of sexual violence women also endure in a majority heterosexual society, in which we are in constant danger of having our boundaries transgressed, being physically and psychologically hurt, and then being told it doesn’t matter because our personhood has always been in question and never mattered as much as any one man’s power or pleasure. I’m not going to drop a bunch of citations for the above because this is tumblr and I have escaped the icy grip of graduate school, but if any of these ideas are unfamiliar to you, google is your pal (and please read about intersectionality as it relates to these concepts while you’re at it, because there are layers of identity that make these dangers worse for some, like our trans and BIPOC sisters, and all of this is undergirded, as ever, by white supremacy).

So, yes, engaging with media about sex is fraught for women, especially when that media does not conform to our heteronormative ideas of morality that have been shaped by all of the above, and particularly when we as individuals have not done the work to unpack and interrogate our socialized beliefs, which is often the case for cishet women especially. Many of us instinctively cringe away from unromantic depictions of sex. Many of us can’t stand cheating and betrayal in our love stories. Many of us shy away from media that depicts the unfortunate reality of grey and dubious consent. All of that is valid, to an extent, and rooted in the way we have been taught to think about this stuff from birth, and the ways we’ve had to adapt to survive. 

But, here’s the thing, girlies: most of those socialized hang ups I just talked about? Do not apply to a story by, for, and about queer men. 

Before you start yelling, here is your disclaimer: of course patriarchy and misogyny also hurt men. Of course rape culture also exists in queer communities, and of course some queer people engage in heterosexual sex, so these are not mutually exclusive categories of people. And, importantly, cishet women are not the only ones who struggle with these tensions—just the ones who are most relevant to this particular post. 

So, after that long and winding road, back to the point: this debate about the bathroom scene in Only Friends is the same shit that’s been debated in majority female fandoms around depictions of queer male sex since time immemorial. And whatever your personal feelings are on that scene, or the no doubt numerous other depictions of questionable romantic and sexual etiquette and dubious consent coming our way in this show, what it boils down to is this: can a majority cis woman fandom step outside of our own conception of sexual morality to engage with this show not with judgment, but with curiosity about what sex and relationships look like for queer men? This show has an entirely queer male writing and directing team. It is made with love by people of the community, for the community. They know what they’re about, they have resumes demonstrating they are damn good storytellers who understand safe sex, consent, sexual health, and sex work, and they are here to tell us a story grounded in their reality. BL has been moving in fits and starts toward depictions of sex that are more honest about queer male experiences, and Only Friends, spearheaded by the Jojo Tichakorn Phukhaotong (who demonstrated quite ably that he has a firm grasp on consent, sexual assault, and the damage that dubious consent can cause in The Warp Effect), is the next step in that evolution. The key point is that sexual activity simply does not mean the same thing or carry the same associations and hang ups for queer men as it does for cis women. With that in mind, can we try our best to process and critique this story on their terms, instead of our own?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Only Friends is not going to be a good time for people who are looking for romantic depictions of relationships and sex or invested in identifying heroes and villains amongst this cast of characters. This show is about deeply flawed people hurting each other, rooted in the lived experience of the Thai queer male community—and those of us who do not share all of those lived experiences may not understand the nuances of every single thing that is happening. We can be sure that the characters will all be wrong sometimes and they will all do things we think are stupid or reckless or unkind. Does that mean we can’t have empathy for them? Do they have to act in a way we think is morally “correct” in order to love them? You don’t have to be comfortable with the things these characters do, and it’s certainly valid to point out when you think lines have been crossed. But attempting to sort them into “good” and “bad” camps is pointless, and moralistic judgment of their behavior is out of place, particularly when it comes from a place of trying to force them into our own irrelevant frameworks for sexual politics. 

And with all that said, I am passing the baton over to my dear friend @waitmyturtles, because there’s an entire aspect of the intersectional cultures at play here that I have barely touched on—Only Friends as an Asian queer story that is building from a specific lineage of Thai queer media. I’m gonna let her take the mic for that part, and say thanks to her, @bengiyo, @neuroticbookworm and @wen-kexing-apologist for reading this over and helping me think through what I wanted to say here, and shoutout to @williamrikers whose post I also linked to above. 

#only friends the series #only friends #ofts #thai bl #shan shouts into the void

[comradekatara]

I think one of my least favorite thing about lok is how they made nonbenders an oppressed class??? Like. Canonically, outside of the fire nation, that is the opposite of the truth. Anywhere the fire nation touched, earthbenders and waterbenders were violently opressed and/or killed. The royal family of the northern water tribe are nonbenders, right? Most of the wealthy class in ba sing se are presumably nonbenders. We never really see benders being paid more for their labor or anything like that, right? And the nonbenders in the fire nation may not have the same military prestige(and therefore prestige), but... there are clearly extremely important nonbender nobles and merchants. It even follows that benders would be more likely to be conscripted for war, if the fire nation doesn't have mandatory military service. Like.... it is such a fucking stretch for opression dynamics in a society to change that quickly. Benders are literally the opressed ones in atla. And the Fire Nation are the opressors, not benders?? It seems so disrespectful to the literal genocides that take place in atla. You've probably posted abt it already but it truly drives me up the wall.

yes. lok really didn't understand the political dynamics established in atla wrt nationality, culture, spirituality, and bending (all of those facets of course being intrinsically linked). like if republic city/the united republic of nations was former earth kingdom land that was colonized by the fire nation and then never returned to the earth kingdom and instead became a "melting pot" for all four nations (iirc its biggest influences are shanghai, hong kong, singapore, and new york) then the fire nation elites who lived in the colonies would still be the ones with the most political influence 70 years later.

earthbenders would not be the primary members of the police force (like, putting aside making toph a cop, the police force would clearly be run by firebenders). those with wealth would be the ones with fire nation heritage (which, i think, is why everyone assumes that asami has fire nation ancestry despite having green eyes).

we see that people with bending abilities are exploited for their labor, like how mako is a lightningbender and that's used for factory labor, or how crime rings are largely comprised of benders, whereas wealthy capitalists such as hiroshi sato or even varrick are nonbenders. the fire nation killed and imprisoned benders from across the other nations, and their bending supremacy only extended to their own firebending, as they considered other forms of bending crude and impure.

i don't think that amon exploiting nonbenders by scapegoating benders to gain power is inherently nonsensical, but the way it was executed as if nonbenders are genuinely an oppressed class and their frustrations are valid made no sense. it's one thing for a nonbender to feel envious of benders, i sure know i'd be jealous if half the population had superpowers and i didn't, but they're not materially oppressed within the world lok creates.

like it would be one thing if they literally showed benders doing eugenics (which is why i think that the imbalance comics were on a noble attempt on the part of faith erin hicks to bridge that gap) but within lok we see nonbenders with power and benders being exploited under capitalism. mako and bolin are exploited equally, despite the fact that mako is a firebender and bolin is an earthbender (another fact that makes no sense).

ultimately, lok didn't understand any of the implications or precedents atla established, so trying to unpack its politics in any way is just.... a mess.

#sorry this is so incoherent it's just genuinely so difficult to unpack bc it doesn't make any sense #lok only makes sense as a show if u divorce it from atla entirely #if u assume none of the themes politics characters culture are supposed to be the same then it's fine #but of course. lok IS supposed to be a continuation of atla #so it makes no sense whatsoever! #lok crit #startstrike #asks

[efangamez]

BaN tHis!, an Anti-fascist and Anti-Bigot Game-Thing, is out now!

CW // Bigotry in all forms, swearing. M-rating equivalent.

bAN tHiS! is a story and setting-unspecific game where you fight for a better future against bigots and fascists. Download to have a good time and unpack white supremacy culture and capitalism at the same time. 

NOTE: No nazis, fascists, hyper-capitalists, bitcoin-miners, TERFs, or any other bigot is allowed to play my game. If you've been invited to a table of queer or BIPOC people and you're any of these things, all I gotta say is you better fix your shit realllllllllll quick and get with the fucking program.

And yes. The game is supposed to look like this. Deal with it.

(this game was made in a moment of intense grief for our queer and BIPOC communities, and I wanted to quickly switch my attitude to revel in our capacity for change through fist and feelings, so I submitted it to Pride N' Joy June :p)

#ttrpg #indie ttrpg #queer #trans #indie #gamedev #game dev #scifi #cyberpunk #liberation #rebellion #anarchy #communism #equality #mutual aid #please donate #donations #game developers #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop rpg #tabletop homebrew #tabletop games

[skinnerhousebooks]

Too often in U.S. culture—and notably in faith communities—a culture of white supremacy is reinforced in damaging but unexamined ways. In The Darkness Divine, minister and poet Kristen L. Harper confronts and unpacks the language, imagery, buzzwords, and cultural touchstones that demean and dehumanize Black people but are so commonplace they can easily escape notice.

More importantly, in a brilliant arrangement of essays and poems in the vein of Claudia Rankine, Harper lifts up the strength, beauty, and resilience of Black people and outlines a path forward. She invites readers to explore what they have learned and assimilated so they might de-center whiteness and stretch their understanding and imagination to radically transform perceptions of blackness.

While directed at her own Unitarian Universalist tradition, The Darkness Divine is a powerful and loving challenge to all those committed to the work of dismantling white supremacy.

Available now from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.

#uu #uubooks #books #skinnerhousebooks #meditations #meditation

[creekfiend]

I went through a period just furious at Christianity and (I thought) at religion as a whole but that's because when you're surrounded by only Christians it's so easy to forget that there are other ways of being both atheist and not atheist? And it's such a huge bummer that people jump immediately to "You're a baby who believes fake things!!" when that only feeds into the same stereotypes. It took my Jewish friends being very kind to me for me to unpack some stuff, also your blog, and I really do feel like ex Christians and non Christians have a common enemy, Christian hegemony, but. Fuck. Karl Marx wrote a really antisemitic piece that represents this kind of "secular" christocentrism and the only reason I don't wildly regret having to read that for class is I can now see what people are doing

In a lot of ways I almost feel like "religion" isn't a coherent category about which we can have these discussions involving sweeping assumptions about how and why things are enacted societally... it's like the secular humanist rabbi said about discussions about belief in God being almost pointless because we do not have a universally agreed upon definition for what the fuck god is and cannot effectively operationalize it in a general, non-personal-individual way

Like, that said, Christianity is certainly not the only religion which does or has done harm -- or the only one that has a hegemony in any given culture (Islamic states, Israel, indias Hindu supremacy problem are all good examples I have seen) HOWEVER Christianity has a unique relationship to white supremacy that I think many people are uncomfortable admitting to or exploring

Um

All of which is to say. Yeah. The other thing that gets me is that non-Christian atheists and agnostics have been criticizing and deconstructing issues within their own religious cultures for centuries and this neither 1. somehow totally invalidates the religion or culture nor 2. is some kind of gotcha about how a certain flavor of atheism is ACTUALLY UNIVERSAL, GUYS.

I have a conservative uncle who is deeply evil and strongly believes that any type of racism or bigotry based on ethnicity or culture or religion would simply be solved via assimilation. He thinks if people all spoke the same language and believed the same stuff/accepted the same stuff as self evidently true, there would be no intercultural conflicts. Some of this shit extremely reminds me of his "well if they didn't all speak different languages they wouldn't hate each other" type rhetoric. I think a lot of it is super disingenuous tbqh. Um. Anyway. I rambled. Thank you for listening!!! And I am sorry about your experiences with Christianity :/ I think it's so so common to become reactive about anything that reminds us of things that have hurt us and there's nothing to be ashamed of in that & identifying it is very admirable.

#jewish #sort of.

[enby-hawke]

So I thought that thedasincolor would be my way of carving my place into this world but it turns out that is just the first step. My good friend in the server @marhikit is helping me build a filipino centric discord server for people. We are making rules and drafting up a vision for what we'd like to accomplish with our server.

This space is first and foremost a place to educate people on precolonial filipino customs, history, and current events but also a place to uplift filipino media. But since this is a place of education we feel that it would be wrong to not address the problems in our culture, such as antiblackness, colorism, queerphobia, white worship, and christianity supremacy just to name a few.

I also would like to change the dynamic between mainlanders and filipinos who immigrated to other countries. With Jo Koy, american filipinos tend to dominate the talking space, and there's this idea that we'll save the mainland. But we'd like mainlanders to also be respected to as authorities of the filipino experience as they are the one living in the fascist landscape and while they can use help they are not helpless and passive objects of oppression and their voices need to be listened to.

We want this a place for filipinos to get to know the names of the Gods that were taken from them but this isn't a conversion camp. Christians are welcome and we are not Christian so we are not going to convert our people back by force.

This is also not a place for censorship. There is a lot of misinformation in filipino media but it is my opinion that is important to engage with things you disagree with to know why you disagree with them.

We are currently looking for mods, specifically black filipinos as Marh and I are not black and though that won't stop us from trying to unpack antiblackness neither of us are equipped to handle the subject and my intent is not to make this another space where we drive black filipinos away. However black or not feel free to apply as this is a huge undertaking.

If you made it this far thank you. I'd appreciate a reblog so hopefully I can find my mods.

#filipino #discord server #uuuh how to tag this idk

[acesamateurart]

The first official post is up in my series on unpacking supremacy culture! Read on WordPress or Substack!

#queer creator #disabled creator #blog post #unpacking supremacy culture #leftist #revolutionary #peer reviewed revolution

[sunspira]

this is really really good i've been trying to find words for it. it also leads into my feeling that a lot of white girls in general especially lily white american skinny white girls from evangelical christian south find words like beast disgusting slug gremlin as freeing and affirming and a departure from the restrictive dainty little box they were pushed into. but simultaneously a lot of girls who are not white find those terms degrading and insulting and misogynistic and not feeling to reclaim at all and are like "don't call me that 😑" because they have been boxed into a very dehumanizing and animalistic and dirty image pushed on them under racism and misogynior and have had the humanity to be seen as remotely delicate or innocent stolen from them for as long as they can remember as little girls. i think some anger towards her post coming from chicks who are not terfs is rooted in this disconnect.

i think miss cain is similar to a lot of white girls where she is completely unaware of how her white privilege impacts her self image and can make her oblivious to what words are inadvertently and inappropriately cruel and cut deep for women of color who love trans women but do not want to have their vagine called disgusting and beastly with thick coarse dark manly hair thrown back in their face by a white girl in an attempt to be affirming and feminist. by a white southern daughter of all things, which isn't exactly enormously privileged over me but comes from a world that is so , so different to me and a womanhood so linked to old americana and emblematic throughout media and is more mainstream. idk maybe if it was a black southern trans woman posting this it would feel more earned and have that affirming and box escaping impact for women of color. while coming from white queer people can be so sour tasting. now let's be really clear all that was NOT the intent and she was clearly saying all that directed at other white girls in her music scene who are very transphobic. I say this more the sense of us understanding why some trans women or trans positive onlookers from outside her very skinny white alt girl rebel scene found all that kind of obnoxious. i am always interested in how gender role defiance affirmation can be so different depending on if society has infantilized you or animalized you as a woman.

the post in question

i can definitely look at this girl and her blog and be like ok you're achieving fragile and delicate tomboy rebellious femininity better than me please don't tell me how gross dirty oily and beastly 'our' slug body is. like you're completely right ideologically and you and i should not feel ashamed of our bodies and being trans is a huge factor in this that i think gives her a lot more credence to reclaim masculinized insults. but every time girls like this do it there's some bitter taste in the mouth for sure and i think she passes so well as a cis girl who is also otherwise all those traditionally feminine things under white supremacy i struggle to see her trans marginalization over her other glaring privileges and perhaps that's why i and others felt annoyed with her too. which is why i needed to unpack for a while, both on my shortcomings and hers. not because she is in the wrong nor deserved hate but because women across backgrounds body types sexualities ethnicities races cultures nationalities have so many different forms of misogyny pushed on us. until what can feel revolutionary freeing and affirming for one girl can instead almost mimic the restrictive status quo beating us into a forcibly masculinized self image once again. this can be addressed collaboratively and in good faith though like by no means am i saying one girls masc presentation is oppressing or hurting me. only that some self expressions by women will feel a bit mid for other chicks and it helps and brings a sense of peace and unity to think on various greater reasons why and still love and accept gross gremlin feminism for what it is and the good it's doing

#ethel cain #mothercain #i'm white btw different ethnicity but when i say women of color i am NOT talking about myself lol #i'm just connecting my feelings to things women of color have said about gender and disconnect with white queer people on that stuff

[captainjonnitkessler]

How is that not denying your place withing western Christian society though? We live in a culturally Christian society, I don't think it's particularly reasonable to expect people not to acknowledge that reality, even if you no longer identify and are put off by being called that, it doesn't change the reality that Christianity is the dominant religion in the west and has tainted all of our lives, especially those of us raised with it. How else is that meant to be discussed and addressed when there is a very clear influence even amongst secularly raised people in western societies? It's part of the fabric of our societies in the west, opting out of the religion doesn't divorce us from our Christian roots and those things Do need to be acknowledged , unpacked and considered, even if being referred to that way makes you personally uncomfortable

Discussing cultural Christianity in the West is a very important conversation that we should have, I'm not trying to deny that. My problem is that this website, in my experience, almost never uses "cultural Christianity" to actually examine Christian supremacy in the West, and instead uses it almost exclusively to a) insult "reddit atheists" and b) shut down any criticism of religion. There's a few problems I have with the way it's used on this site:

1.) It is, ironically, incredibly Western/Christian centric and often denies the experiences of non-Christian religious people. I've seen multiple non-American, non-Christian people get dogpiled for criticizing *their own religion* by people telling them that they're just "cultural Christians" who "shouldn't say 'religion' when you mean 'Christianity'", under the apparent belief that using bigotry and abuse to gain and maintain power is exclusive to Christianity. And people often cite black-and-white thinking, thinking people who don't agree with you are going to suffer in some way, thinking that your religion or way of life is objectively superior, etc. as "cultural Christianity" - but none of that is in any way exclusive to Christians and honestly has very little to do with religion at all. That's just called being a dick, and anyone of any religion can do it.

2.) It is always, almost without exception, used as an accusation leveled at atheists specifically, as though atheists are the only people who internalize stuff about their culture. It's true that people will internalize some Christian teachings if they live in a majority-Christian culture! But that's not exclusive to atheists at all, or to Christian cultures. *Everyone*, of every culture, has some shit to unpack, and it's weird to act like that's exclusive to American atheists. Especially since most ex-Christian atheists became atheists *because* they started unpacking the thinking they'd grown up with!

I've got a post about the cultural pressure to celebrate Christmas (a great example of cultural Christianity that actively harms people) that several Jewish people have commented on saying that they got pressured to celebrate from *other Jewish people*. But nobody would consider calling them "cultural Christians", and rightfully so because:

3.) You shouldn't force labels on people. Calling someone a cultural Christian is *still calling them a Christian*, which most non-Christians aren't really comfortable with. I know it seems like nitpicking between calling someone a "cultural Christian" vs. something like "influenced by cultural Christianity", but if you wouldn't call an American Jew or Muslim a "cultural Christian", you shouldn't call an atheist that either. We're not Christian, full stop.

My last post was inspired by a particular post I saw where someone said they didn't like being called a Christian because they'd suffered religious abuse, and a bunch of blogs dogpiled them to VERY condescendingly tell them that well actually, they ARE still basically Christian like it or not, and therefore need to unpack a laundry list of views that had literally nothing to do with Christianity and which I'm pretty positive the OP doesn't hold. Which is, uh. A super fucked up thing to say to a religious abuse survivor. So I was a little hot going into that post.

TL;DR: Yes, we should talk about cultural Christianity and yes, if you see an argument that you think stems directly from cultural Christianity you should call it out as such. You should NOT call anyone you generally disagree with a "cultural Christian", nor should you act like having to unpack bigoted or outdated ideals is something only (ex) Christians have to do and need to be reminded of at every available opportunity.

#sorry if this is a little all over the place i'm out of it tonight #also my cat has been screaming to go out for the last half hour despite knowing FULL WELL she's not allowed out #atheism

[benicebefunny]

It's pretty wild how neoliberalism, particularly social media discourse and thinkpiece journalism, has turned a valuable concept like toxic masculinity into yet another racist gender binary.

Take, for example, Ted Lasso.

As a cultural norm, toxic masculinity does not always require top-down enforcement through physical violence. It's not just the guys at the top of the hierarchy who are beating toxic masculinity into people. People throughout the social hierarchy keep toxic masculinity going through subtler means, like language and organizational structure.

The Ted Lasso fandom (and many journalists covering the show) have simplified this to "toxic masculinity is when lower-status men say mean things."

And because toxic masculinity has become a binary, this means that the only "bad" masculinity resides in mean-saying, lower-status men.

Everyone else is exhibiting "good" masculinity. Even when they're enacting physical violence and call other men bitches.

At the end of the day, what this does is stigmatize characters who are less traditionally masculine--as defined by white norms. And, crucially, it grants a free pass to characters who fulfill the ideals of traditional white masculinity.

And that's how we get this bizarro world where men of color, particularly Nathan and Sam, are hyper-scrutinized for using their words and expressing their emotional needs. And where white characters like Beard and Roy are beloved for bottling up their feelings and threatening/using physical violence.

Roy headbutted Jamie so he could hug him after. If that's not toxic masculinity, I don't know what is. But the fandom doesn't have time to unpack that. It's too busy arguing that Nathan calling Colin a motel painting is somehow worse than Colin physically attacking Nathan everyday for god knows how long.

I'm not trying to reverse the binary here, making Nathan good and Roy toxic. The problem is that we are thinking about masculinity as a good/toxic binary. People--including fictional characters--relate to masculinity in ways that are far more complex than merely good or toxic. We lose so much when we reduce masculinity to just another binary.

Also, the good/toxic binary--like binaries in general--is a tool of white supremacy. So maybe let's knock that shit off.

#ted lasso #meta #toxic masculinity #thank you mutuals for tolerating another ted lasso post #how does this binary manifest in fandoms you actually care about?

[creolesasuke]

This has been said before more succinctly by others but, as an atheist, it's very clear that many white (USamerican) atheists have not yet fully unpacked all the various ways that their Christian upbringing has influenced their worldview. Many have simply traded evangelical proselytizing for atheistic proselytizing, dogmatically insisting on not only the superiority of their ideology, but on the necessary ubiquity of it. Many still approach the question of faith from almost a teleological perspective, that all human belief is constantly evolving upwards towards some ultimate Belief, from some basal and primitive ur-ideology to the final intellectual supremacy of atheism. I don't have to tell you how this framework can easily lend itself to white supremacy. If we really are to claim that we've abandoned Christianity, we need to do so fully, seriously questioning every idea we've been taught as it pertains to history, culture, and ideology. I don't see atheism as intellectually superior to any religion--not even Christianity. Rather, it's another position that one can take in the unanswerable question of the nature of the divine.

#sorry if this isn't as coherent and succinctly put as it should be #i just wrote this off the cuff

[sweetpeathecat]

Belos/ Philip is literally a colonizer. Like the show never outright says it but is does heavily imply it. I know know the fandom make jokes about Him being a Puritan but doesn’t fully unpack how much damage Puritans, and other colonizers did to the native people(and are still doing).

And that Luz being Afro-Latina Dominican is a big deal. Her family’s home country is well acquainted with colonialism. Unlike Philip who went to another land only to exploits and also successfully in actual genocide. Luz went to a new land and respect the native people and learned their ways. Caleb is implied to do so as well but Philip murdered him for it.

The fact that Camila welcomed Vee and other into her home. Accepted them for who they are and never tried to change them. Going out of her way to try to accommodate their dietary needs(trying to find a substitute for Apple Blood for example). Amity thanking Luz for “standing up for them”.

How the Coven System and the rewriting of Boiling Isles history is a from of genocide. One of the forms of genocide is “ the purposefull attempt from the governments and churches to eradicate all aspects of Indigenous culture”. Philip/ Belos peddles the idea that Boiling Isles is using magic wrong and disrespecting the Titan by using Wilde Magic/ glyphs. After becoming Emperor, he had the school rewrite history to “demonize” Wilde Magic and Wilde Witches. Witch and demon kids never learn Wilde magic. Their magic useage is restricted further by the Coven System. Kids are forced to pick one magic to study through the Coven Track System. Once you join a coven you can only sue that form of magic. The Coven Sigil literally cut off you access to other tracks of magic. If you refuse to join a coven then you get hunted down and petrified(Like Eda). By Amity, Willow and Gus’s generation one one questions this. It only be about 50 years(I think) since Belos came to power. I’m pretty sure that if Philip could get rid of all Magic her would. Another form of genocide is the Day of Unity. He literally masked a genocide as a holiday. Using the Coven Sigil to try to kill everyone.

Philip tricking and weaponizing the Boiling Isles belief in the Titan reminds be of a darker take on Dreamworkss Road To Eldorado. How the two leads trick the indigenous people that they have connections/control of their gods in order to get gold.

The little background detail that Camila throw out her flatiron. Camila and Liz’s is curlier than it was before Luz came back home. How both their hair was curly in the flashbacks. Showing that they are still being affected by Colonialism. But are reclaiming their natural hair as a good thing.

Side note: does this mean Luz was straight into her hair in the Demon Realm. Because in the amount of time she was there, her root would have gone back to it nature curl pattern. Curly/colily hair tends to curl back up went introduced to water in less seriously heat damaged. I know straightening technics for hair exists in the anoling Ilene because Lilith only recently stopped straightening her naturally curly hair.

I mostly address colonialism in broad strokes but Racism, white supremacy, sexism, religious discrimination, (hair) texturism, ableism, anti-LGBT+ should be address too.

Anyone who is Dominican want to share their thoughts and anyone else affected by colonialism?

#the owl house #TOH #colonialism #genocide

[merrymorningofmay]

5, 7, 17!!!

omg thank you!!!

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [insert fic]? Answer it now!

ok it's gonna be more like a fun fact but like. in my capri fic i hc'd that patras is a byzantium-inspired culture, because byzantium is sexy + an obvious choice for a "country that's a distant cousin of this other country which is overtly inspired by ancient greece". but ACTUALLY when my bestie and i discussed this we noticed how the king+prince of patras are named torgeir and torveld (i.e. norse names), but the toponyms "patras" and "bazal" do not actually sound all that norse, so we went "oh so a non-germanic people ruled by germanic dudes. LIKE IN KYIVAN RUS" and kyivan rus patras has lived rent free in our hearts since then

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

CRIES the js&mn fic i'm currently writing is set like 700 years before the canon timeline so i'm doing like 80% of the worldbuilding from scratch....... currently i'm kinda proud of my latest hc that between john uskglass, thomas of dundale, and william of lanchester william is the only one with Some native english blood in him, and the only native (middle) english speaker, the other two being uuhhh french-to-fairy bilingual normans. it's almost like complex language situations resonate with my lived experiences somehow, what could it be xD

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

woof, it's gotta be the sandman one, though it's not an AU per se? basically i believe in dreamling supremacy for morpheus!dream, but i also think that daniel!dream/corinthian 2.0 would be a super fun dynamic to unpack, what with the "we are both Somewhat the monster and his creator who had to kill him, but we are also different persons now, but also kind of not really, and also i remember holding baby you in my arms, but also i'm like 2 days older than you and still figuring stuff out". admittedly it's A Lot to unpack and i don't think i'll commit, but yeah

#mari rambles #mari asks #captive prince #js&mn

[blackspiritshake]

September Book Pile

In It’s Always Been Ours eating disorder specialist and storyteller Jessica Wilson challenges us to rethink what having a "good" body means in contemporary society. By centering the bodies of Black women in her cultural discussions of body image, food, health, and wellness, Wilson argues that we can interrogate white supremacy’s hold on us and reimagine the ways we think about, discuss, and tend to our bodies.

A narrative that spans the year of racial reckoning (that wasn't), It’s Always Been Ours is an incisive blend of historical documents, contemporary writing, and narratives of clients, friends, and celebrities that examines the politics of body liberation. Wilson argues that our culture’s fixation on thin, white women reinscribes racist ideas about Black women's bodies and ways of being in the world as "too much." For Wilson, this white supremacist, capitalist undergirding in wellness movements perpetuates a culture of respectability and restriction that force Black women to perform unhealthy forms of resilience and strength at the expense of their physical and psychological needs.

With just the right mix of wit, levity, and wisdom, Wilson shows us how a radical reimagining of body narratives is a prerequisite to well-being. It’s Always Been Ours is a love letter that celebrates Black women’s bodies and shows us a radical and essential path forward to rediscovering their vulnerability and joy.

Conspirituality takes a deep dive into the troubling phenomenon of influencers who have curdled New Age spirituality and wellness with the politics of paranoia—peddling vaccine misinformation, tales of child trafficking, and wild conspiracy theories.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a disturbing social media trend emerged: a large number of yoga instructors and alt-health influencers were posting stories about a secretive global cabal bent on controlling the world’s population with a genocidal vaccine. Instagram feeds that had been serving up green smoothie recipes and Mary Oliver poems became firehoses of Fox News links, memes from 4chan, and prophecies of global transformation.

Since May 2020, Derek Beres, Matthew Remski and Julian Walker have used their Conspirituality podcast to expose countless facets of the intersection of alt-health practitioners with far-right conspiracy trolls. Now this expansive and revelatory book unpacks the follies, frauds, cons and cults that dominate the New Age and wellness spheres and betray the trust of people who seek genuine relief in this uncertain age.

With analytical rigor and irreverent humor, Conspirituality offers an antidote to our times, helping readers recognize wellness grifts, engage with loved ones who've fallen under the influence, and counter lies and distortions with insight and empathy.

An enthralling and original first novel about exile, diaspora, and the impossibility of Black refuge in America and beyond.

In the morning, I received a phone call and was told to board a flight. The arrangements had been made on my behalf. I packed no clothes, because my clothes had been packed for me. A car arrived to pick me up.

A man returns home to sub-Saharan Africa after twenty-six years in America. When he arrives, he finds that he doesn’t recognize the country or anyone in it. Thankfully, someone recognizes him, a man who calls him brother—setting him on a quest to find his real brother, who is dying.

In Hangman, Maya Binyam tells the story of that search, and of the phantoms, guides, tricksters, bureaucrats, debtors, taxi drivers, relatives, and riddles that will lead to the truth.

This is an uncommonly assured debut: an existential journey; a tragic farce; a slapstick tragedy; and a strange, and strangely honest, story of one man’s stubborn quest to find refuge—in this world and in the world that lies beyond it.

#book recommendations #jessica wilson #derek beres #matthew remski #julian walker #maya binyam #black women's health #spirituality #conspiracy #literary fiction #south african novels