#I really am feeding into the angry lesbian stereotype today | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cooliopumpkin · 7 years

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(I'm probably gonna get murdered for posting this) (I'm going into this very uncertain of myself, I've tried to do my research on this issue, but I cannot guarentee that I am completely up to date. If I'm not, lo siento, ignore this post) Let's talk about what's on everyone's minds (and dashes): Rick's answer to the Reyna gf question. So, as August 18th is Percy Jackson's birthday, Rick was answering some questions about the series on twitter. One person asked when Reyna was going to get a girlfriend, to which Rick responded by writing out the response in the picture. The most important thing (I feel) is that he starts by saying that this is HIS interpretation of Reyna and that he welcomes and respects opposing interpretations. Next, he says that she doesn't need someone else, that she can be her best self by herself. After that, he says that a reason he doesn't see her as a lesbian is because she has shown romantic interest in two guys. This is where a lot of people (understandably) get a little upset. The way they are interpreting his words pretty much says "You can't be a lesbian if you've ever liked a guy" which would then invalidate any lesbian who HAS liked a guy in the past (because not everyone realizes their sexuality before they reach the age at which they start getting crushes (something Rick mentions later)). Another thing (or an extension of the same thing, if that's how you wanna look at it) that's getting people upset is that he said having her realize she was a lesbian would feed into the negative stereotype that a lesbian is a girl who couldn't find the right guy. Pretty much, people think that's BS. And the last thing that's making people mad (from what I can tell, sorry if I missed stuff, I really am trying to get the facts down) is that he mentions Emmie and Jo, a lesbian couple from "The Dark Prophecy". From what I understand, they're upset because their characters are so small and are the only lesbian representation we've gotten so far. Okay, so let's put this in a cleaner format. Reasons people are angry about this: - "Reyna has been romantically interested in Jason and Percy" invalidates lesbians that have had crushes on men. - "Reyna realizing she's a lesbian would feed into the negative stereotype that lesbians are girls who haven't found the right guy" is BS - Emmie and Jo's relationship is our only lesbian representation & it's tiny These are all reasonable grievances (And I probably should have said this before, but I'm totally in the boat that Reyna is definitely 100% a lesbian) I just so happen to think that people maaaybe shouldn't be so up in arms over the situation. Why, you ask? If not... Eh, I'm saying it anyway, it's free to scroll past this post. So, like I mentioned before, Rick started this answer by saying that this is all how he sees Reyna and that he welcomes and respects opposing opinions. One of the biggest complaints that I saw on my dash today was "Well he could've just said we can interpret her our own way" . . . ...He did Idk if people missed it while reading or what, but pretty much his response was formatted as "This is how I see her, feel however you want about her, that's more than cool with me. Here's why I don't think that. But again, feel however you want, I completely respect that" Aside from that, the other problems can be addressed as miscommunication. If we look at Rick's track record, he has been an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, he won a Stonewall award, he would never actively seek to invalidate someone because of their sexuality. Rick Riordan is by no means a hateful man. Do I think there needs to be more lesbian representation in his books? Yes. Do I think this is because he doesn't respect lesbians or the LGBTQ+ community? Absolutely not. OVERALL, MY OPINION IS THAT THE ANGRY PEOPLE ARE VALID BUT ALSO I DON'T THINK THAT RICK MEANT THE HARM THAT HAPPENED AND WHY CAN'T EVERYONE JUST BE HAPPY AND DRINK COCOA TOGETHER UNDER A BLANKET (Also, sorry that this is a mess, I wrote it at 5 in the morning while running on no sleep. I just get angry when shit gets turbulent in the PJO fandom)

#pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #hoo #heroes of olympus #toa #trials of apollo #rick riordan #percy jackson #reyna avila ramirez arellano #reyna #reyna gf #reyna is a lesbian #she totally is #no denying it

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