#also well i want to say im not absolutely implying a definition between bi and pan

[atalana]

I understand that your only source of representation is through Jughead, so how do you feel about people who ship him with other characters? Would you want them to stop?

i mean in an ideal world? absolutely yes

that said, i'm well aware i can't control much about the world outside of my own personal bubble, and people who ship jughead with other characters but stick to their own space aren't the biggest problem here? i'm not gonna go on a crusade to tear down any sectors of the archie and/or riverdale fandom with jughead ships, because honestly that sounds way too tiring and like, i'm sure i have things that i like to think and write about that other people would find infuriating, i don't wanna be a hypocrite and insist my way of doing fandom is the only way to do fandom

and the same goes for other fictional characters that are strongly implied to be aro/ace but 95% of the fandom has ships with them in, it gets on my nerves, but it isn't majorly harmful

the biggest problem, honestly, when it comes to jughead specifically, is riverdale, for bringing archie comics back into the public consciousness and pretending to be supportive of lgbt+ rights, and then at the same time erasing jughead's canon sexuality. like, this has been less of a problem in recent years bc from what i've seen the show has made a fool of itself in lots of other ways? but for people who do still watch it, just remember, no matter how many gay characters they include, they do not support this community. they include gay characters because it's become socially acceptable to include one or two and pretend like you're a paragon of representation. they're not. they're cowards who do not care about us

but when it comes to fandom, here's what is a problem when dealing with aro/ace representation, and things i'd like all fandoms to work on:

stop assuming that everyone needs sex or romance to be complete, stop assuming that any kind of positive relationship between two non-related characters must be romantic. like please. im so tired. people exist in this world who would be actively worse off in any romantic/sexual relationship, even a loving one, than they would be on their own. acknowledge these people exist, and maybe, just maybe, consider them in your sexuality headcanoning. (do you know how much it hurts to see someone make a sexuality headcanon page of a fandom with like 20+ characters and all of them are gay bi or pan? like representation for all of those are great as well, you should include them, but don't do so at the cost of excluding us. if your only reasoning behind headcanoning a character as bi is "they have Bi Vibes and I Want To", why is it so hard to make one or two of them ace or aro or both?)

people who have no interest in the opposite gender are both gay and aro/ace coded. it's something i've found constantly, whenever even a hint of aro/ace representation shows up, there's gonna be a very loud section of the fandom who insists they can't be aro/ace because they're gay coded, and making them aro/ace would deny representation. these people's only argument? they showed no interest in the opposite (binary) gender. guess what guys! that can be both! and insisting it's only gay is honestly aphobic as fuck and you will instantly lose my respect

same goes for characters who in canon show no interest in anyone at all. you'd think this would be a stronger argument for them being aro/ace than for them being gay, but not for these people! and like, this isn't me saying gay people can't relate to characters, of course do what makes you feel better, but i'm just asking for you to make space for us and acknowledge we're here. let the people with aro/ace headcanons feel just as acknowledged and validated as the people with gay headcanons, instead of shunned and like no one wants them around

(i still lose followers any time i make an aro/ace positive post. which honestly only makes me more incentivised to keep doing it. i'm here i'm queer and i'm not going anywhere, the hill i've chosen to die on is protecting younger aro/ace people and fighting for their rights and good luck knocking me down)

this does include the archie fandom, by the way. i'm assuming you sent this because you saw my post from 3-4 years ago about jughead being canonically aro/ace? well, there are plenty of people who angrily told me that jughead, a character explicitly said in the text to be aro/ace, was gay coded and i was being homophobic. like fucking stop it.

if you're genuinely interested in being a good ally to aro/ace people, and i really do appreciate that you've asked this!! here's a few things you (and the fandom at large) can do:

make space for aro/ace people in your headcanons, even if you're not aro/ace yourself. honestly, while this is a personal opinion, i don't even mind if your understanding of what being aro/ace is is slightly wrong? i mean if you wanna explore that in depth, doing research is better than not doing research (my ask box is always open), but i'm just happy to see anyone be inclusive, those people are the good people in my book

make space for aro/ace people in your jokes and memes. we like to have fun too! i'm still never really gonna get over the gay alignment chart meme, like... they had two separate squares for gay and lesbian, one for bi/pan, and none for aro or ace. that pretty much sums up everything wrong with representation at the moment. if you had to stick to three for the sake of the meme template, gay/lesbian, bi/pan, and aro/ace would have been much fairer. and yeah it's just a meme but like... we shouldn't only be on people's minds when things are serious

stop making all your aro/ace headcanons jokes. don't headcanon horrible real life people as aro/ace. be careful that your aro/ace headcanons aren't entirely children or robots. like, you can headcanon those characters as aro/ace, but if you're exclusively doing that, you're not really seeing us as people

(i have... complicated thoughts about spongebob apparently being canonically aro/ace. but i wouldn't hold that up as the pinnacle of representation)

(also despite many assholes' insistence to the contrary, being aro/ace isn't an 18+ identity. if a 12 year old can be gay a 12 year old can be aroace. they may not have discovered the sexual part yet but they can still know the romantic part. every sexuality goes through this same persecution why are even gay people still passing it down)

aro/ace people can be happy, well adjusted, non traumatised adults! many of us are! go make some headcanons of that!

while just aro or just ace people definitely do exist, and you can headcanon characters as such, some of us don't split those labels (i just use aroace for myself bc it's one thing, like how bisexual and biromantic people just go by bi). make sure you have some aro/ace people in the mix there, and you're not falling into the pitfall of using our identities only to make Gay Lite(TM)

don't let people walk all over us. we had a really thriving community back in 2013, and then the exclusionists came in and completely wiped it out. i saw it happen. they've faded into the background but only because 90% of aro/ace people are now scared to speak up on their own behalf. encourage aro/ace people to share their experiences if they want to, encourage aro/ace headcanons where you see them, make sure your fandom is a space where aro/ace people want to be. and if you see people being exclusionists (laughing at aro/ace people like they're cringy, pretending like aro/ace people are stealing non existent resources from gay people, or calling aro/ace people homophobic for existing are big weapons of the exclusionists), don't pretend it's just an argument or "discourse", let them know they don't belong. we can only fight so hard on our own behalf, we're a community for a reason. we're in this together

research, read, and most importantly, have fun with it. that's what fandom's for. if the only way you get enjoyment out of characters is by putting them in ships, try exploring a different, non romantic angle, and see what happens. encourage different forms of relationships. encourage aro/ace characters who are happy and secure in their own identity. encourage aro/ace characters having the same emotions as everyone else, just without the being attracted to people part. we're cool people! and ultimately, ship what you want. but just remember we're here, we're desperately in need of representation, and we can't make that happen on our own

#asexuality #asexual #aromantic #jughead jones #archie comics #representation #words #ask

[fangirlunderground-blog]

Meta Monday

!MAJOR SPOILERS! for season 6 of Voltron: Legendary Defender. If you can’t watch yet, might I recommend some of my favorite Sheith AUs instead? For everyone else, here are six things I’m currently living for: 

1) “I love you;” 2) “You found me;” 3) Schrödinger's Shiro is finally over; 4) Keith is now 21, end of debate; 5) Space Wolf has two daddies; and, of course, 6) All this new Sheith meta on my dash! ...So much meta, in fact, that despite it only having been out for a couple of days, I might have gone overboard on today’s Meta Monday (and yes, it’s exclusively about Sheith in season 6). 

At this rate, I may even wind up doing a Part Two in the next week or two, or maybe a follow up with meta from previous seasons. Let me know if you’re interested in that! And, as always, let the original authors know you appreciate their work. 🦁 

Voltron: Legendary Defender - Keith/Shiro

Black didn’t pick Keith to be her paladin, Shiro did by @belovedsheith, You know what I just realized? We’ve been talking about how Shiro allowed Kuron to pilot Black, right? But that means…Black didn’t pick Keith to be her paladin. Shiro did. (Mirror Link)

Brother vs. ‘Brother’: A Sheith meta by @ea-stofnar​, [...] Still with me? Okay, so to lay the groundwork for this meta, I first need to address the elephant in the room; the word that a lot of people in this fandom seem to get stuck on. That word is ‘Brother.’ Now whether you’re an anti or a Sheith shipper, that word holds a lot of weight. For antis because they’ve stuffed, mounted and made it their grizzly rallying cry; claiming that it means Sheith is dead and we are fools who continue to ship it. And we shippers get caught in the trap. The majority of the fandom seems to either try and talk around it, or pretend it doesn’t exist within the context of Shiro and Keith’s relationship. I say, we don’t have to do either. (Mirror Link)

The DND episode was so important for Shiro/Kuron than we think and here’s why by @jaegereska, It showed Kuron was fucking human being, that it wasn’t an act, and that he is still Shiro, himself, despite it all. He wanted to spend his time off with the team, he was already playing with Coran Pidge and Hunk before Allura and Lance decided to join them. (Fun side note: Haggar probably watched the whole dnd session through Kuron). (Mirror Link) 

Sheith evidence from the French version (and other languages) by @spiftynifty, I’m tired of the totes desperate brogane/dadgane rhetoric going around about this season. So here’s the french version of the “raising him” scene, just in case anyone needed further clarification that Krolia wasn’t saying “thanks for adopting my son”. In dialogue she says, “He’s the man he is today because of you.” The captions offer a slightly less profound, “Thanks for making him the man he is today”. (Mirror Link)

Sheith isn’t dead by @saltyshiro, Here’s the thing, anon - I don’t at all feel that sheith is dead or anything like that bc of the “You’re my brother. I love you” line. In fact it just reaffirmed my love for sheith :’) @arahir made a great point about this before the season dropped - the whole brotherly or sisterly love thing is something that’s pretty common among queer ppl. (Mirror Link)

Shiro’s love for Keith by @arahir, Oh man, I’m really glad someone asked [if Shiro cares about Keith just as much]. I think the way Shiro acts toward/around Keith is one of the most well produced parts of vld. they do such an incredible job with Shiro’s character in general, but so much of his character depth is centered on Keith. No matter how you interpret their relationship, the fact that they love each other is never in question, and it’s done so well. (Mirror Link)

Keith and Shiro’s bond by @as-many-times-as-it-takes, It wasn’t a lack of time, but a lack of connection. He was able to appear just brief enough to Lance, as they still have a great bond, as Shiro does with the other Paladins. But not like Keith. (Mirror Link)

Krolia’s line on Shiro “raising” Keith is not literal by @quiznackingqueen, I’ve gotten a few asks about this, and I keep seeing antis harp on this line, so we’re gonna take a closer look at it. This is definition of raise I see the antis using: to care for a child or young animal until it is able to take care of itself. This doesn’t fit the situation. Shiro was not Keith’s guardian, he wasn’t a parental figure, he was not literally responsible for Keith’s well being. That fell to Keith’s actual guardians, be they the Garrison, the employees at the home, or Keith’s case worker. These were the people that kept Keith fed and clothed and safe. (Mirror Link)  

Kuron’s Reaction to Older Keith by @dent-de-leon, Yes!! I’m a bi guy myself and I wholeheartedly agree. So, let’s get to it–for one thing, Kuron is a bit flustered in this scene, it’s so sweet. As soon as Keith gets on the comms, you can hear in Kuron’s voice just how much this boy means to him. He literally stutters. One moment he was completely composed and in control, but then Keith is suddenly back and his whole world is off its axis. “Keith? I–are you okay?” He stumbles, stops. He just doesn’t know how to place his emotions, and he’s visibly affected by this. He’s also the only one who takes the time to ask if Keith’s alright. Because no matter what, that’s what matters to him most. He obviously cares a lot. (Mirror Link)

The part I can’t stop thinking about from this season is this by @arahir, [...] He has absolutely no hope for himself anymore. For all he knows, this is the last time he’s going to see Keith or talk to anyone, but still, all he cares about in that moment is Keith. He just wants to know Keith can believe in himself and be ok. (Mirror Link)

The purple glow by @kcgane, Okay so if Shiro’s soul was in Black all along and when Allura transferred his soul back to the clone body that purple glow showed up... when Keith was piloting Black and that purple glow was there could that have been Shiro’s presence there with him?!?! (Mirror Link)

Sacrifice and Keith’s Development by @begrudging-fudanshi, I just have to point this out. These two scenes have some very interesting parallels that really showcase Keith’s development. First and most obvious, it’s pretty clear in both that Keith thinks he’s going to die, and in both he closes his eyes in preparation for what’s to come. However, there’s a huge difference between them. (Mirror Link)

Shiro went out of his way just to be in Keith’s arms by @im-love-sheith, [...] This scene at the end where Shiro leans into Keith. At first i thought “aw thats sweet, he happened to lean into Keith” but thinking back on it, even though Shiro was exhausted and literally just came back from the dead, he chose to lean on Keith specifically. (Mirror Link)

There’s always one episode in each season in which Keith finds Shiro by @zoetekohana, I had a thought about the “you found me” + “how many times are you gonna have to save me before this is over? as many times as it takes” quotes for Shiro/Keith. (Mirror Link)

Why I still ship Sheith, and it’s not “dead” by @dent-de-leon, [...] So, let’s get started with the dreaded ages thing that always comes up, just get that out of the way. According to the guidebook, they were 18 and 25 respectively at the start of the series. Shiro hasnt aged in the astral plane. Since, you know he’s been dead. And it’s more or less implied that Shiro has been gone for months, and then they meet Lotor and there’s the whole time that conflict plays out, then we fast forward to after he lays low and Keith says “Lotor hasnt been seen for months.” we can infer that more or less a year has elapsed since Shiro’s death/disappearance. Adding in the two year time skip, that puts them at about 21 and 25 respectively. You know, a completely reasonable age difference. (Mirror Link)

“You’re my brother.” by @biscoote, I’m gonna be honest I’m not the best at articulating my thoughts into words but hear me out because I think it’s worth looking at just what the term brother, and what brotherhood means to two men. So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the last few days after watching this episode, thinking especially about this comment and all the different responses to it and Shiro and Keith’s relationship as a whole. I’ve also been especially attuned to male / male dynamics (platonic or romantic) and how they play out in media specifically. (Mirror Link)

#vld spoilers #vld s6 spoilers #sheith #takashi shirogane #keith kogane #vld s6 #voltron #vld #voltron: legendary defender #m/m #meta #meta monday #fangirlrecs #mm37

[playablekairi]

answer ALL the wlw q’s, please. 1-30!!!! ❤️

WOW thank you!! just skipping the few i’ve already answered. i’m so sorry i don’t know how to insert a read more on mobile this got very long

1. how long have you known you liked girls?

at least around 11-ish years old, but comp het is a demon and i was still seriously questioning whether or not i ‘really’ liked girls until well into my 20s

2. talk about the girl who made you realise you liked girls

despite what question one suggests, this girl came much later. maybe i already knew i Liked girls, but this was when i realized that maybe i Loved girls. i was vulnerable, and confused, and she made me feel listened to. being affectionate with her felt different than it ever had with anyone else. i wanted the world for her, thought the world of her. i loved her very, very dearly, and i’m so grateful to have had someone like her in my life.

3. are you in a relationship at the moment?

i’m not and i’m not like... actively looking for one. if it happens, it happens, but i’m not in the best circumstances to jump into one again yet. there’s a lot of me to work on and a lot of baggage i don’t want to bring into my next relationship.

4. do you have a crush at the moment?

hmm!! maybe? that’s not even me playing coy, i’m honestly still grappling with figuring out whether it’s a crush or not.

5. describe your crush!

there’s a genuine softness to her that never fails to make me smile. she always knows what to say. she gives me time. i want her to have a very happy life. i think she’s beautiful.

6. do you tend to like more masculine, feminine, or androgynous girls?

somewhere between feminine and androgynous, usually. i guess like more feminine than i am, but i wouldn’t call myself into femmes specifically.

7. do you look/dress more masculine, feminine, or androgynous?

i think i’d put myself on the androgynous side of feminine? i like to keep my hair long, and i like to wear a lot of pink and a lot of soft fabrics, but i don’t do very much to ‘perform’ femininity with my appearance anymore and i have a pretty stereotypically lesbian wardrobe.

8. what’s your gaydar like?

beyond atrocious. downright humiliating. we do not speak of it.

9. tall girls or short girls?

i definitely have a Thing for tall girls but it’s not in any way a requirement. being slightly taller/almost the same height as my ex was actually quite nice? my other partners before were all much taller so that was a nice change of pace.

10. intimidating girls or kind girls?

there’s something about ‘intimidating girls’ that feels like it implies conflict. i would rather be with a kind girl who is assertive but doesn’t seek out conflict, and i would rather be that kind of girl myself, too.

11. hugs or kisses?

look okay i live for Good Hugs. kisses are great but you know those hugs where you’re pressed completely together and wound around each other? the way hands can travel from the back of your neck and across your shoulders down your waist to the small of your back? *chef kiss* i like kissing but i also find it distracting, i can’t think when i’m kissing. with a good hug i’m there in the moment.

12. do you have an ideal ‘type’? what would they be like?

not really? like all my fantasies about my future wife take no form i can’t ever actually picture her in any way. maybe because then i’d feel too lonely lol.

actually wait i take that back: my ideal type is two wives.

13. what’s your favourite personality trait of yours?

okay i not have done enough therapy to answer this question without melting down! try again later!

15. what’s the best thing about liking girls?

often much easier to share clothes.

16. do you have any friends who are wlw?

i do!! probably most of them. the token straights are friends from work.

17. have you ever been to pride? if so, what was your first pride like?

my first pride was right at the tail-end of my very long, very arduous ‘am i bi or am i lesbian’ internal debate. i had my cheeks painted the bi flag colours. i went with people i felt safe and comfortable around. i came home feeling like maybe putting so much emotional effort into defining myself wasn’t productive, and that i didn’t have to be so scared of the world lesbian.

18. do you like the lesbian flag?

i /love/ it. bitches love pink (im bitches)

the variant that goes from pink to orange with five stripes i think is very nice and i wouldn’t mind that becoming the most recognizable one.

19. what was your first kiss with a girl like?

you know when you go outside before dawn when it’s been snowing? the way everything is kind of muffled and insulated, and that very specific colour of the clouds? like that.

21. what’s your favourite lgbt+ movie?

oh hands down no contest absolutely ‘imagine me and you.’ the first time i saw it still rings as one of the first times i felt like maybe i could have a real love story with another girl, that the choice wasn’t between ‘force yourself to create a happy love story with a boy’ or ‘be with a girl but risk never being able to get a happy ending with her’

22. who’s your favourite openly wlw celebrity?

i’ve unironically become a big fan of kristen stewart. i absolutely love stephanie beatriz. alyson stoner’s coming out essay resonated so deeply with me. tessa thompson is incredible and so ridiculously beautiful. don’t make me pick one lmao.

23. do you wear makeup?

very infrequently. i hate putting it on, i hate taking it off, i hate feeling like i can’t do anything that might smudge it so i need to move carefully and frequently monitor it (insert conversation about the performative ornamentality of expected femininity here). but i won’t pretend like it doesn’t make me feel pretty and won’t act like i don’t make sure that when i post pictures of myself i try to be wearing makeup in them, i definitely still have that pressure.

24. who was the first person you came out to (if you have)?

coming out in general was so long ago that i honestly don’t know, but the first person i told i was a lesbian was my little sister. it was the first time i had ever said ‘i’m a lesbian’ out loud. i cried.

25. has anyone ever come out to you?

yes. a lot of people, actually. maybe i have a good vibe for it.

26. have you found a community of lgbt+ people?

honestly? not really. i mostly keep to myself and i don’t participate much. i would like to, though.

27. do you have any older lgbt+ people you look up to?

i have two wonderful elderly gay aunts who sometimes post on facebook about how much they love each other and i just... can’t wait for that.

28. do you identify with butch/femme labels?

i don’t. all the power to people who do, it’s just not really for me.

29. who’s your favourite fictional wlw?

scorpia in the she-ra reboot is absolutely to die for, i fucking love her.