#i understand why people queercode when they do

[fate-motif]

listen i know. i know. it’s because i’m an adult and i know about gay history and to perfectly ordinary straight people, when jankom pog has a holoprogram where he beats up leather-weaing tellarite biker hunks in an alley it’s just street fighter references

but are we just gonna gloss over the fact that in his spare time jankom pog beats up and gets beat up by leather-wearing tellarite biker hunks in an alley and am i the only one picking up implications from what they put down

#star trek #pro #pro spoilers #star trek prodigy #jankom pog #fandom #i understand why people queercode when they do #but GOD i hate queercoding precisely because it’s so easy to disavow when convenient #this despite the fact that it’s important that it be easy to disavow!!! #otherwise consequences come down!!! #BUT ALSO

[lgbtlunaverse]

This page from the adventurer's bible makes me want to cry

Like basically any neurodivergent dungeon meshi fan, I see a lot of myself in the Touden siblings. But I was blindsided by just how much I suddenly related to Falin in this little comic from the adventure bible's complete version.

It's about the Touden siblings' differing relationships with their parents, and why Laios still holds their treatment of Falin against them, while Falin herself doesn't.

We know that Falin was isolated and ostraziced by their village after she saved Laios from a ghost, displaying her uncanny affinity for magic. Her parents, instead of defending her, sent her away, which angered Laios so much he ran way himself before Falin even left for magic school, hoping to make a living so he and Falin could live together alone.

He tells Marcile this, but when she goes to Falin, she says she sees things differently. Her father sent her to magic school to protect her form the rest of the village without having to cause a conflict. He didn't explain that, and we actually see her burst into tears when he says it.

But, well... Laios was gone for a year before Falin went to magic school, and everyone else in the village avoided her. The understanding Falin has with her parents to me looks like one borne out of necessity, she literally didn't have anyone else to talk to.

And this is where we get to the page that made me want to cry

Like I said, I relate to the Toudens because I'm neurodivergent myself. that feeling of suddenly realizing you're disliked, but not knowing what you did wrong or what you should have done instead? Yeah... that's one I recognize.

When I was around 9 years old, the same age Falin is in this comic, a bunch of kids in my class decided to make a "game" where you lost if you touched me. It was basically the 'cheese-touch' from diary of a wimpy kid, except I always had it and couldn't pass it along. They'd pretend I was poisonous or disgusting and run away from me screaming or gagging. The point was to make fun of me. But my autistic little 9 year old ass thought "Oh I get it! It's tag but I'm always it!" So I... played along. Running at a boy and having him fall on the ground screaming in fake pain because you tapped him is, in isolation, pretty funny.

It wasn't until months into the "game" that I realized it was meant to be meanspirited. That the reason I was the one who was always 'it' wasn't an arbritrary rule but the whole point. Because I was weird and gross. I wasn't in on the joke, I was the punchline.

Falin may have come to understand her parents' intentions, but she didn't always. The adventure bible actually tells us that she at first didn't even notice that the rest of their village disliked her. She clearly knows now, but she had to be told. So when her mom tried to exorcise her, she just saw it as an activity she got to do with a mother she usually didn't get to spend much time with because of her poor health. It's only Laios who notices something is wrong.

(Sidenote, Laios being hyper-aware of people's poor attitudes towards Falin but completely blindsided when he's in the same spot, like with Toshiro, is also very relatable as an eldest sibling)

It probably also took Falin months, until after her brother had left and she had no one but her parents, to realize why her mother had been doing all those things.

And I know they're not the same. Even misguidedly, Falin's mom was trying to help her, not make fun of her like those boys in my class. (Though, as a queer person who also cares a lot about the queercoding in Falin's storyline, a parent trying to 'exorcise' their child of a fundamental part of them the parent thinks is evil or corruptive? yeah... that's not perfectly wholesome)

But do you know what I did, when I finally figured out the game was always meant to make fun of me?

To me, it looked like I had a choice.

See, those boys eventually figured out I didn't understand that they were being mean to me. I'd laugh every time I managed to catch one of them, I was visibly having fun. And while it no doubt only made me more of a weirdo in their eyes, they never informed me that I shouldn't be enjoying myself. That the point was for me to feel hurt.

So now that I did know, I had a choice. I could either get upset, and let the insult land as it was supposed to. That wouldn't stop them, because making fun of me was the original goal. Or I could ignore it and go on as usual. They had already accepted that I didn't get it, and they weren't gona stop me from having fun, so why should I?

And the thing is that I had... one friend, in that whole class. One person who actually liked talking to me and hanging out with me. I was lonely. And the 'game' provided me with another social interaction, mean-spirited as it was, that I desperately needed. And it was so delightfully simple. Navigating actual friendships as a kid with autism and adhd was so fucking complicated, and I'd never know when I might break an inivisble rule. But I knew the rules to the game perfectly!

Sometimes, if I was chasing one of them, the others would trap him and hold him down so I could tap him. In those moments it actually did kind of feel like I was playing with them, rather than against them. And it didn't change much, they didnt start actually liking me. But they were willing to roll with the fact that I wasn't upset, and I took advantage of that because I needed to.

So you can look at Falin seeing the best in her parents as her being naïve, but I look at this page and I see myself, at first unable to differentiate between playing and being made fun of. And then later, when I did see the difference, deciding not to get mad about it because that'd mean losing that social interaction, and I couldn't afford to.

Like I said, Falin probably first realized this in the year she spent with her brother gone, and everyone else avoiding her like the plague. If she refused to talk to her parents, like Laios did, she'd have no one left.

I see a lot of people relating to the fight between Laios and Toshiro. that frustration when you realize someone you thougth was your friend actually hates you, and they never said anything, never gave you a chance to fix it because you had no idea that you were even doing something wrong! And I can see that, too. But sometimes, when people don't fully hate you, it feels better to go along with the pretending. Because adressing it won't fix it. Because the problem isn't a specific behaviour, it's you. And if they're willing to tolerate you, despite the fact that it's you, then you'll take it. Because other people do hate you, so this is the best you'll get.

#dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi meta #falin touden #laios touden #neurodivegent #autism #adhd #long post #this one got REAL personal oops

[pinkeoni]

Oh. “Zombie Boy” is a homophobic nickname

I guess this should’ve been pretty obvious. I mean, Will is a confirmed gay character, who is walking around town and having a mean nickname constantly hurled at him. Clearly there is some queercoding in that.

But does that mean that the nickname is homophobic in universe? If that were the case, why not just call him homophobic slurs in the first place?

The nickname Zombie Boy always was kind of strange to me as well. Why make fun of a kid for coming back to life? Wouldn’t that be a cool thing? Maybe it’s a little odd, but why be so mean about it?

Unless it’s not the only thing they’re making fun of him for

TW for discussion of rape below cut

To understand the intent behind the Zombie Boy nickname, we need to go back to Will’s dissapearance in season one. Our boy Troy lays it out pretty plainly what everyone in town thinks happened to Will.

Not just that Will was killed, but clarified as “killed by some other queer.” The emphasis on sexuality adding an implication to his statement. What Troy is really trying to say is that Will was raped and then killed by a gay man, otherwise why bring up sexuality at all?

And to be fair to Troy, that is kind of what happened.

But of course the town doesn’t know this. The story that was told is that Will only got lost in the woods. That was the story published in the Hawkins Post, so that’s what everyone believes, right?

This is the version of events that Lucas tells Max, and he is immediately met with skepticism from her. Lucas then tells Max not to ask Will about it because he’s very sensitive about it.

I’m not saying that the town believes that there is something supernatural going on, but rather I’m thinking that the people of Hawkins at least suspect that there is something about Will’s disappearance that is not being talked about openly. Let’s not forget that the “Zombie Boy” note that Will receives in his locker is a desecration of the news article sharing his story.

So here’s what the town initially believed happened: Will was kidnapped and raped by a gay man before being thrown into the quarry.

And here’s what the town knows: Will went missing and was found in the woods before being hospitalized. He is very sensitive about the topic and doesn’t like to talk about it. After being released from the hospital, he is now occasionally pulled out of school early for doctor’s appointments—

Oh.

I mean, it is any coincidence that all of this is happening while Reagan’s name is plastered all over town? Is it just a coincidence that the anniversary of Will’s disappearance falls right on Reagan’s reelection day?

And just to cut through all the shit and stop being vague, I’m talking about the AIDS epidemic of the 80’s, and yes I think that part of the town believes that Will has it.

I recently read a post from @emblazons that struck me with just how laden the AIDS metaphor is in season. To quote the post as best I can, there is something described like a disease attacking Will’s body and slowly killing him, and the Reagan administration government scientists are trying their best to prevent the truth from spreading and view the possible death of a queer person as a non-issue.

Starting to think about it through this lens, a “zombie” is the perfect metaphor for how Hawkins now views Will. He isn’t technically dead, but they suspect he has a disease with an incredibly low life-expectancy at the time, so he’s essentially a walking corpse.

The nickname doesn’t start and end at simply making fun of Will for having a disease. What do zombies do? They try to bite and turn other people into zombies.

The town doesn’t just see Will as someone who has been infected by someone else with an illness, but as someone who has been infected and is going to spread his illness around.

The rhetoric regarding queers as people who spread disease and kill continues in season 4, when we see Eddie reading the article that links sodomy with satanic practices, violence and murder. We then go on to see the entire town blame Eddie and his group of “satanic” outcasts for spreading death in the town. This attitude is certainly not lost on Hawkins, and the show doesn’t shy away from showing it.

The way that characters in the show use and react to Zombie Boy match this as well. There is a certain level of vitriol that comes with Zombie Boy, and the nickname is what leads Jonathan and Will into their extremely coded conversation about being a freak.

If Zombie Boy is an intentionally homophobic nickname, then does that mean that in this scene she's actually saying...?

So I actually don’t think that Snowball Girl is being intentionally homophobic here (although, saying what is essentially “Hey f*****, wanna dance?” is still CRAZY)

I think it’s less realistic if the entire town is in on this conspiracy and more believable if say, the nickname was started intentionally as a homophobic jab by some of the townsfolk, but is ambiguous enough to be picked up by more naïve kids like Snowball Girl who may not realize the actual meaning behind it. It may seem like it’s only about his ressurection on the surface, but when you peel back the layers you see just how offensive it really is.

Using a vague nickname is also very intentional by the Duffers as well. If they wanted to be subtle about Will’s sexuality before later confirming it, then having a more ambiguous moniker rather than just having the entire town call him an evil queer.

Even if the town really is just making fun of him for coming back to life and nothing else, and there isn’t actually this rampant rumor spreading across Hawkins about Will spreading disease, the heavy coding and intention from the writers is still be there.

#also not mentioned but note: those girls staring at Will as he is leaving for his doctors appointment #even if it is purely metaphor #its still a metaphor for homophobia! #will byers #stranger things #byler #<- target audience #tw rape

[imrightwereyouleftme]

yk I don't fully understand why people always say "listen to real queer artists instead of acting like Taylor is one" which is all in all just a not so good take bc you are instantly diminishing all the work Taylor has done to queercode her music, to add tiny bits of queer history into her lyrics and visuals to show us that she is queer. completely diminishing the fact that I, and most likely many others, learned about things that have no real place in todays modern world because of its "openness". (I can't be the only one who had no clue what a hairpin drop is before she sang about it)

but that's not the point I'm trying to make right now. the point I'm trying to illustrate is that most queer artists, are still small artists. they are individuals that rarely ever get played on the radio, and when they do it's one song that went viral on tiktok or whatever so it had gained enough streams online or enough sales ig so that the radio stations decided they'll play it.

I'm not saying don't support small queer artists, artists that (looking at our world right now) will never become mainstream because they are queer and they are writing explicitly queer songs.

and this goes past small artists. if we look at artists that came out after they had already been established, you can see a clear dent in their popularity.

Sam Smith was a big deal, even when they identified as a gay man, they were socially accepted. Their songs were played up and down, they were in the charts with every new album they dropped. but then they came out as non-binary and made an even more explicitly queer album and suddenly people acted like it was the devil's work.

Lil'nas'x had a break through with old town road, at that point most people didn't know he was gay. Then he dropped Montero as an explicitly queer man, stating his sexuality with an admirable amount of pride. But the only people that celebrated him, were queer people, and not even all of them.

Then we look at artists that have been in the game for longer. Look at Miley Cyrus, or Demi Lovato or hell, even Jojo Siva. All of them are constantly mislabeled by people or just straight up get their queerness ignored (especially Miley). They are also constantly being ridiculed, no matter if what they did was a bad thing or not. People always find things to hate.

So, my question is, why? Why do I have to want to need Taylor to come out just so you understand that her music is just as queer as her? Because we see very clearly what homophobia and worse so the blatant transphobia does to people in the industry.

There is no mistake that Taylor will have a dent in her popularity when it comes to most of her fanbase if she ever comes out, simply because these people are homophobic as hell. And we all know it, we see it every day in our inboxes, in comment sections, in posts that get mistagged on purpose. And you'd be a fool to think she doesn't see it. Because if she didn't, she'd just fool herself.

In conclusion, do listen to queer artists, elevate their voices, but don't forget about how many people are still residing in the closet because they fear it's gonna be the end of their career. closeted queers are still queer!

#gaylor #kaylor #taylor swift #didn't mean to write that much lol #idk if this even makes sense to anyone but me

[andersfels]

"all lesbian rep is always femme" it's not, actually. i literally never look on the screen and see femmes. we get hallmark channel blondes who look exactly like every other straight woman on tv. actual femmes are so beyond what's considered acceptable or normal for lesbians - in fact characters i would call femme are usually very pointedly straight and usually shamed/demonized, with their appearance a pointed commentary on why they're bad people, from slutshaming to the selfish material girl trope, unless it treads into the "weird" category for straight people, in which case they're always oddball lonely cat ladies nobody likes.

but even then, the distinct things that i recognize in femmes (queercoding, if you will,) are always absent, because they are deviations from the male gaze. femininity is expected to be a performance for the male gaze, femininity embraced by lesbians is literally the opposite. guess what we see on tv?

and i don't say this to be like "ooh femmephobia is real!" rather, my point is that media just hates lesbians. and i dislike when people say "all we see for lesbian rep is femmes," because we don't see femmes, we see feminine people playing a lesbian based on a straight interpretation of what femme and the female gaze is. they literally don't understand it. there is no gender nonconformity, no actual femme coding on any of these characters; what you mean by "femme" is they wear makeup and maybe high heels.

media hates lesbians. butch rep is utterly abysmal, and I'm begging y'all to reframe how you look at what rep we do have, because continuing to call what they give us "femme" is a disservice to lesbians. straight people do not understand that there are different ways to be a woman or perform femininity, so all we get for lesbian rep are straight women and straight interpretations of lesbians, not femmes. please don't disrespect lesbians by acting like any of what we get qualifies as rep for butches and femmes, because it doesn't, and it won't without direct queer involvement because straight people are incapable of understanding what we are or even look like.

[joyswonderland1108]

Please take time to read this

Hello, i’m ranting again but ffs Army are infuriating i simply cannot.. I’m making this post for my queer people but also for my non-queer people but who support the LGBTQ community. Again sometimes i’m really bad with words, i really don’t know how to put shit out there correctly but please bear with me. 

So i’ve been on tiktok and that lovely girlie’s video popped up on my fyp (the same girlie i posted yesterday), basically the caption on the video was “Me watching homophobic “armys” throwing a fit bc queer armys find comfort in Jimin’s queercoded lyrics”, me being me i checked the comments and i come across shit like this 

The way people are so very against any of BTS members being anything but straight and like to throw the “don’t assume” stupid comment, that “they never came out” “they never said it themselves” yada yada, bitch do you even know what queer coded means? Do you know what a code means to begin with? 

People seem to forget that these men are in an environment that doesn’t allow them to just “come out” they can’t just fucking shout to the world that they’re fucking gay Patricia! 

 It’s the fact that Jimin has been dropping hints here and there to HOPEFULLY people can understand, can get the fucking message, but people are still out there wanting him to just say it as it is, they don’t understand the effort it take to fucking come out in a homophobic country in a God forsaken industry with entitled fans who can’t accept idols being non-hetero. 

It’s like people are trying their best to break Jimin’s effort in trying to “set himself free” as he fucking just said from all this bullshit, from holding back, from “HIDING” bitch he literally said that wtf do you think he’s hiding from? The monster under his bed? The muffin man in his closet? Wake the fuck up! You’re stanning a man but refuse to understand him, refuse to give him a chance to express himself without having to put himself in a tough position.

I remember sharing before this one video from a tiktoker who made a joke about how queer celebrities deal with dating questions when they didn’t necessarily come out or weren’t intending to but still were trying to drop hints :

(Matt Taylor)

It is already hard enough for queer people to be accepted in this society and people keep on making it harder for them. People saying that your own personal interpretation shouldn’t be imposed on what Jimin means, if y’all keep on acting this way when the fuck are we ever going to understand him? Are we always going to put his efforts in vain? That man simply CANNOT COME OUT and you know what? He doesn’t HAVE to either, why tf do people think he will just trust such an entitled fandom to come out to them? 

Bitches be really quick to deny the fact that they’re simply homophobic but Jan, could you please enlighten me on why tf do you get so fucking defensive whenever anyone mentions the possibility of any of these men being queer? Them assholes aren’t even ready to accept that Yoongi, the man who ACTUALLY said it, is queer let alone making effort to understand Jimin. 

I won’t say this enough, i will obviously not repeat it enough but THIS is why Yoongi said that FANS, MOTHERFUCKING FANS will understand not Army cause y’all only hold the fandom’s name nothing more. So fucking entitled and want everything handed to them on a silver plate. Now the narrative is that queer people aren’t “supposed to look a certain way” aka members who look “manly” are surely not queer. Yesterday again i came across a tiktok of a dude doing a prank to his BOYFRIEND, here’s what they look like : 

Now don’t bullshit me on “this is not what i mean when i say manly” cause i know perfectly that this is the exact image some people picture in their head for how men looking like that can’t be gay. You want Jimin to feel comfortable enough to come live often, to share things with us, to see him perform, bla bla bla but how tf can he be comfortable with your sick asses when he can’t even be given a chance to be understood, to not put him under the projector? 

People assume that you just gotta tell the world about your sexuality and that’s it, easy peasy lemon squeezy, such a happy world and everybody will be accepting yey

You don’t know the struggle of fighting to let yourself known to others without being put in a risky situation as a common person let alone as a celebrity in a very unforgiving industry, people tend to forget that it can be career threatening, so just for your own comfort you’ll have these men risking everything just so you can have that verbal validation? 

I’m going back to the term “Queer coded” It’s called that way because there are “CODES” used by a person to hint to their sexuality and if your illiterate asses could spare 5 mins to google what that means y’all would’ve been 10 times smarter. 

If you can’t support Jimin, or any member really, the right way, please see yourself out these 7 men really don’t need no more of these people as part of this fandom, it’s already hard with straight up haters and now they have to deal with supposed “fans” who can’t do shit correctly. 

So please for my queer people, let's do our best to support and let our boy know that we understand we get it and we are sending him all of our love and for people who support the community and still understood Jimin and are supporting as well, thank you, thank you so much for being amazing, thank You.

#we love you park jimin #queers for park jimin

[kitkatopinions]

It's so weird seeing conversations about rwby basically going like

Person A: "This character had a chance to be something better than they were made to be, they have so much potential and it was wasted, they should probably be a bigger role and/or more nuanced than they were portrayed in this show." Person Be: "Ummmm that character has never been anything more than what they are?? That character isn't important and/or isn't nuanced??? They don't matter??? So idk why you're complaining that they're 'wasted potential.'"

Like.....

It reminds me of the time that I said Yang and Blake were queercoded before they got confirmed in V9 and people got angry at me for it because "Just because they haven't kissed anyone of the same sex, verbally acknowledged their feelings or attraction to anyone of the same sex, have never gone on a date with anyone of the same sex, or are written to discuss being queer in any way doesn't mean they're queer coded, because we're meant to pick up on them being queer in their energy and how they talk to and look at each other without it being said out and out." It's like, do people just not bother to understand base concepts?

When rwde posters say things like "Ciel was wasted potential" it feels very weird to have people be like "Ciel was just a bit part in V3 who didn't get any real focus and never went anywhere." Because that's what we're complaining about. When rwde posters are like "hate canon Adam because he's a two dimensional badly written for and voice acted character who was never given much depth and then got written to be nothing but an abusive incel hate sink with whatever meager personality and nuance he had had in volume 3 left behind to make him a paper-thin nothing character just used to (badly) prop up the bees, but he could've been different and better," it feels very weird to have people be like "Um, Adam wasn't written to have a lot of depth and nuance and meaning, he's just some two dimensional jealous abusive ex who only matters to prop up the bees, he isn't better." That's what we're complaining about. When rwde posters say "the Curious Cat could've actually been a better character if he was a more nuanced morally gray character instead of just being a one-season villain," it doesn't even make sense for people to be like "why are you saying the Curious Cat could've been something more than a villain? THEY'RE JUST A VILLAIN!"

Wasted potential means that they could've been something better, but they aren't. When people complain that there's wasted potential in RWBY, we mean that there's things the writers could've done that we would've found better and/or more interesting. We don't need to be told that the writers didn't make them better or more interesting, we - we know that already.

Another thing I feel like is a common response to complaints about wasted potential that I really dislike and don't understand is when people respond to complaints about wasted potential by being like "I don't care about and/or dislike that character and therefore I don't think you're right that they could've been different or better." There are characters that I feel like don't need to have bigger roles in RWBY - like Sage and Scarlet, or Ooblek who I think served his purpose well and doesn't need more - but even people I absolutely hate like Junior and Cardin I think could've mattered to more characters or to the show's narrative more with absolutely no redemption required. Like, Cardin is wasted potential because he could've been used by the show as an example of a terrible person who shouldn't be a badge carrying law enforcement officer and who the girls could get expelled - instead of Cardin just mattering as Jaune's bully (a badly done arc anyway,) and only for like three episodes or so in season one. If I say I think there's some wasted potential with his character, I don't want to hear "He was only Jaune's bully for like episodes and never mattered again" because I know that, and I don't want to hear "But Cardin's a bad person" because yeah he is I know and I hate him, but that doesn't mean there isn't wasted potential for his role and his character.

It's just weird.

#rwde

[quietwingsinthesky]

Final Doctor Who TV Movie Thoughts

incredibly homosexual undercurrents. why’s the master Like That. they had to be doing that on purpose. i mean, just the robes alone. he dresses for the occasion. oh there’s definitely queercoding here. also he got tardis vored. nuwho bring up that time he got tardis vored challenge. no im not being weird about it i just want him to describe to the doctor what being digested by a time machine was like. did he enjoy it. wait come back i have more things to say about the movie-

eight is a sopping wet cat. i understand why he is beloved. i too wish to wrap him in a warm towel and/or beat him with hammers. he’s adorable. he’s fun. once again, somehow they managed to find a perfect guy to cast as the doctor. how do they do that. not a single miss so far??? out of the seven i’ve met??? not one????? incredible. loved his little vest, loved his humming, loved how he had absolutely zero chill ever and did not know how to Not talk about being a freak alien man, loved that he had amnesia for all of like seven minutes for no reason.

i really liked grace and lee. grace is a great straight man to the doctor’s bouncy nonsense, and she saved the day by figuring out the tardis :D also swerved the bullet of loving that man, thank GOD. get out of there girl. you saw what his ex was like. lee is my favorite kind of doctor who character, of which right now the category is him and lucy saxon. the master’s temp companions <3 love when that awful terrible man has to play nice to achieve his goals. love when he has to bond with people against his will. also hilarious to me that lee was just like ‘no, i really am just in this cause he’s gonna give me money and power.’ and the movie says he is RIGHT to want this, just wrong for trusting the master to give it to him, so he gets it in the end. good for him. direct action.

the plot was bonkers nonsense and that made it better. so funny to me that they retconned in the doctor being half-human but it never comes up as plot relevant ever and it will never be mentioned again. the eye of harmony is <3 bless <3 so fucking stupid <3 whys it take a human to open it. why can you open it when all it seems to do is suck up planets and time lord lives. why do they even have that lever. there’s like a horrifying implication here that time lords would keep a human onboard just so that they’d have a way to open their tardis’s eye of harmony. same energy as having a canary for your coal mine. i know this wasn’t intentional but it’s just fucked up enough that i almost want it to be canon despite it being so stupid, if only because it adds another layer to the doctor mostly seeming to gravitate towards human companions. but probably best if, like a lot of things this movie decides should be canon, we ignore it.

we shouldn’t ignore the master being able to goop people with his spit though. that’s hilarious. i wanna see them bring that back in modern who. look, any master would do BUT. i feel like for the best effect we gotta bring mr simm back so he can spit goop on people like a feral beast. here’s how saxteen can still win-

what else. what else. guys. that’s a really fun movie. it was Not good. but it was amazing. you get me? i had a great time. structurally it was a mess, the story was in shambles, but i do not care. all the characters were fun, the eighth doctor is fantastic, and i loved it. its probably gonna be a comfort movie of mine from now on. its just so silly.

#dw lb #dw the tv movie

[alarrytale]

Hi Marte. I saw a tiktok vid about Kit being forced to CO. It was essentially saying that speculating about someone's sexuality is bad because it's their private business. It mentioned Shawn identifying as straight and yet people label him as gay/bi. Which could easily apply to Louis too. I see this opinion mostly with young people, that if someone states they're straight then we should believe them and not question it. But these people are treating celebrities like regular people when they are closeted for different reasons. Celebrities are usually closeted because of money but the average person is usually closeted because of fear. Kit's situation was unusual but the vast majority of celebrities who have CO have said themselves that they were manipulated into hiding their sexuality. They were made to feel bad about it. Billie said multiple times that she was straight and yet when she CO she said people mistook her queercoding for queerbaiting. She was trying to communicate to her own community that she was one of them and they weren't getting it. Other celebrities have talked about this too, Dove was one. That people didn't pick up on her queercoding. Just because someone is pressured by their team into hiding their sexuality from the straight gp it doesn't mean that they're trying to hide it from their own community, hence why queercoding exists in the first place. To let people know you're one of them. These people who preach about how sexuality speculation is bad don't seem to understand the concept of queercoding. A celebrity, who has their sexuality speculated about often, wouldn't queercode and engage in queer culture if they didn't want to communicate with their community. Don't young people understand or pick up on queercoding anymore?

Hi, anon!

I think you're right that people don't understanding why people in the industry is closeted. Some apply the same reason they themselves are (or were closeted) to the celebrity. Some people still think it's bad or something less to be queer and think that people speculating is to hurt their favourite. Some people are protecting the celebrity's closet for them because they want their fave to succeed and they don't think they will unless they stay closeted.

Most closeted celebrities are only closeted to the public, because they believe it's neccessary to succeed, advance their careers and make money. Most celebrities wouldn't be closeted if that wasn't a barrier anymore. For a lot of celebrities it isn't a barrier anymore, like Billie. It's a strength and it can actually help you advance your career.

Celebrities know how to balance the queercoding they do and stay in the closet. Some are very closeted and others are in a glass closet. It depends on their situation and how they manage their closet. Trust the celebrity and the choice they've made. There is no need to ignore queercoding and not point it out. If celebrites are queercoding they need fellow queer people to pick up on it and they need that degree of self-expression within their closet. They need the validation and find acceptance in the queer community. Fandom shouldn't guard the closet door for them. Fandom can risk further closeting the celebrity and making the closet harder for them to deal with when their queercoding isn't picked up on and hushed down. If something is visible to you, or information is widely known, you're supposed to see and know about it. Believe me, they do know how to shut something down if they really want to. They've got PR teams for that very reason.

Like i've said before, there is a difference between outing someone and a celebrity feeling pressured to come out. With Kit it was the latter. He was cast on a show with an out queer cast (at least the roles playing queer). The queer community were ecstatic to finally get a queer cast playing queer people and representing most of the lgbtqai+ spectrum. Kit was the only one, or the most noticible one at least in a lead role, to not state his sexuality while playing queer. That breeds speculation. He wasn't giving the queer community representation. He is straight passing. He was seen holding hands with a woman right when the show came out, making everyone think they'd cast a straight man (or at least a straight passing man, who is in a het relationship) in a queer role. That will create reactions within the queer community. So he was put under an enormous amount of pressure to make a statement. If he didn’t want to come out i think he could have handled this differently. But he was very young, is still very young. So it's very understandable how he reacted.

It isn't and it will never be wrong to speculate if a celebrity is queer. Because being queer isn't bad and straight isn't the default.

#so sorry for the days late reply #i just now got the time to give you a proper answer #queer convos #kit connor #queercoding #not 1d

[sasukeless]

i don't understand how someone can go from being a ss anti to a shipper. the opposite yes, but how do you spend months talking about everything that is wrong with that ship, and why it doesn't work, mocking shippers and their delusional arguments, knowing the actual meanings of the poke and the panels they most often misinterpret etc... and then go "actually they aren't so bad/their scenes are cute and i like it now". same thing with "antis" who think ss would be good if it was wlw or if sakura tops🤡. the narusasus*ku epidemic wasn't enough, 'sns stans' had to go and start this bs too (and be surprised when ss stans are still homophobic to them).

the ppl that act like they make ss good suddenly because sakura tops are so 💀 i have a beef in general with people pulling the pegging to make a straight ship interesting in fandoms. like yeah obviously pegging is a real thing but when it comes to fandom 99% of the time i see ppl talking about it its just when they want an annoying het ship seem revolutionary and queercoded and its like ? sorry a sexual position won’t make that straight ship suddenly stop sucking. ESPECIALLY with ss because like, ok sakura tops now what? how do we fix the fact sasuke doesn’t like women?

almost same issue i have w het ships being turned into wlw (and yaoi ships at that too) like most of the time comes from ppl that don’t touch actual yuri and just do it to make it seem as their ship is actually good

its like most ppl that like a straight ship cant handle some usual “straights are boring” joke without starting to cry and trying to prove u so hard how their ship is not like other hets its actually very progressive and queercoded and feminist and. and then u check their profile and its just full of average stereotypical straight art like

[sssm1l3]

Why does Rarl exist?

Before I start, I would like to say that I appreciate these two, and am in no way bashing the ship, I just spent 20 minutes talking about it and want to talk about it some more.

Spoilers for the walking dead ahead

So.

Okay.

As I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty sure that Ron and Carl only have 3 positive interactions.

1: When he introduces Carl to Enid and Mikey. (Where tf did Mikey go?)

2: When Ron and Carl talk at that party, Carl snatches cards from someone's hand.

3: When Rick and Carl are teaching Ron how to shoot.

Everything other than that is just pure chaos.

I do have a few theories.

One is what I like to call The My Hero Academia Paradox: If two characters exist in the same universe, there are people who want them together.

Let's face it, even if you don't ship them, they're aesthetically pleasing on some level.

The second, Carl is queer coded. I couldn't tell you how, but he is. It may have a similar effect to how autistic people (such as I) are more likely to be LGBTQ+ because they lack an understanding of social cues and norms.

Carl was very young when the world shit itself and his social norms completely changed. After Merle kicked the bucket, I don't think anybody ever mentions anything revolving around race or sexuality after that, because they have bigger fish to fry than worrying about those things, and thus, a lot of worries about those things that most young, queer, people have I don't think Carl would go through, at least not at the level that we do.

There are dead people, nobody really cares all that much about who you kiss.

Also, let's look at the social norms difference. At that point (and I'm only mentioning these two because if I didn't this post would be as long as War and Peace), but at that point, Carl had killed his mom and was almost barbecued a few episodes prior to meeting Ron.

And even before that, social norms are out the door, as well, so I don't know if this would be how it worked, but due to the state of the world being so fucked, I think maybe Carl would have a higher percentage chance of being queer. Hence, queercoded. (that and his use of flannels /hj)

My third theory is just projection: When people like characters, they project onto them.

In my fics, I put Carl through the 7 rings of hell, and then as soon as he crawls back up, I kick him in his head and throw him back down. I love him. He's my favorite character. I would drink his tears if I could.

And so, queer people writing or just making fan content about him, finally get another male character his age and like, fall on the ground giggling and kicking their feet, or just looked at the two of them and were like "Eh, if it fits it sits" and thus Rarl was born.

(Also an honorable mention for people just being whores for enemies to lovers)

But I seriously want to talk to the person that first decided this was a good idea. What Myspace or tumblr post started this?

I want to know.

I have no answers for why this ship exists, and I want some.

Thank you for your time

#the walking dead #twd #walking dead #carl grimes #the walking dead carl #ron anderson #the walking dead ron #rarl #anaylsis #but why #ships #gay ships #help #autism #gay

[strangesickness]

1990 losers club would kill 2017 losers club on sight for the scene where they're all creeping on bev tbh

like have y'all SEEN how richie and bev and eddie interact in the miniseries? richie and bev especially. we were ROBBED of the richie bev dynamic in it 2017 and i'll never forgive muschietti for it.

more nonsense under the cut

i'm going to uh make a post talking about it (1990) through a queer lens in a bit. i know its been done to death but like come on. tbh yes the "be who you are" scene or however it goes was important, like it (2019) was the first big movie i ever saw with a gay protagonist, i know there were others, but like even in 2019 there wasn't nearly as much representation for gay people in big budget movies as there is in 2023, so it was kind of a Thing, but i do prefer a queer reading of it (1990). like i understand why 2019 had to be pretty in your face ("BE WHO YOU ARE" "I KNOW YOUR SECRET") but i think to anyone who pays attention and knows what homosexuality is, richie reads as queercoded, not necessarily as in love with eddie like in 2019 (although i could definitely make the argument) but i think the scene where bev kisses him makes it pretty clear. like it's established that ben and bill are jealous of each other over bev, ben especially gets upset over bill being close to her (and we don't see her be close with any of the losers except richie, ben and bill), but when she straight up plants a kiss on richie's cheek, everyones all like "lol you guys are so silly", whereas in any other movie, god in it 2017, that scene would have romantic undertones.

anyways back on point, richie bev friendship rights. like i will love muschietti forever for the wonderful richie and stan moments where richie's like "wow look how funny i am stan, high five!" and stan is like "..." and just pushes his hand down, but i can't help but feel robbed that we went from a 1990 richie who wasn't even flustered by bev kissing him, and in fact leaning into the bit, to 2017 richie ogling her (can you tell i fucking HATE that scene. lillis would've been 15 at the OLDEST during that scene like just. creepy.)

#it 2017 #it 2019 #it 1990 #it miniseries #richie tozier #beverly marsh #posts afflicted with a strange sickness

[stormblessed95]

What is Queerbaiting?

I had a good conversation about this with @ejassy the other day and figured I'd just make a post about it in case anyone else wanted to either share their own thoughts too or were just confused over what people mean when they say queerbaiting. Which CAN get confusing, especially when it gets used incorrectly ALOT.

So in short simple terms, for queerbaiting and its similar phrases?

Queer subtext: I normally think of this in 2 ways. The first being unintentionally gay. This was clearly not the intention of the writer ever, but the gay ships were just accidentally too full of chemistry and the ship shipped itself by accident even though the characters aren't "canon" gay (think batman and joker. Or Lord of the rings or Elsa from Frozen. Or like a good portion of misogynistic anime writers who can't write a female character that isn't flat AF lol)

The second being where it can also be defined as INTENTIONALLY gay. Where instead of it being something that just happened, it was written like this pn purpose and with full intention of being queer and is in its own way, good queer representation, even if the queer relationship isn't ever technically confirmed, or only confirmed "off screen" by the writers. This is subtext and its sometimes left only as subtext because the romance is only a subplot or because of censorship. (Think Legend of Korra or Think Merthur from Merlin bbc.)

Queercoding: acting queer or leaning into queer themes/subtext but not explicity queer for any number of reasons, including censorship for fictional universes or just being closeted. Basically there is enough subtext available for the audience to read them as queer regardless of if their sexuality is never confirmed either way. (Again, think Elsa. Or Jo March from Little Women, or think Nick Carraway from the Great Gatsby. Think of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji from The Untamed, the show not the web novel verison lol. Think Xena: Warrior Princess)

Queerbaiting: obviously leaning into and promoting queer subtext and queer themes to keep gay fans on the hook and invested in your media with zero intentions of follow through. Almost at times even turning it into like a joke or just making it very obvious that the character was never actually queer. This was a term coined by queer theorist academics in the 1990s and didn't actually exist before then. This is not a term that can apply to real people. Real people can't queerbait. With very few exceptions to that "rule." Which I will discuss some of those possible exceptions in a bit. (Think Destial from supernatural, or Johnlock from Sherlock, or think Supercorp, Lena and Kara, from Supergirl. Or think Sam and Bucky from MCU, Bechloe from Pitch Perfect or Sterek from Teen Wolf. If anyone doesnt know why these would fall under a more queerbaiting label and dont already know, please feel free to ask for sure)

There are some good sources out there that go into much more detail about what queerbaiting is, how it's been misused and more too as well if you have the time to watch them. This video was recommended from @guacamoli-avocadorado here. It is a great intro to the term and how it is used/should be used broken down in an easy to understand way. And it gives a bunch more examples like I shared above, etc.

And this one is longer but a really good and interesting dialogue about the topic. They take the definition of queerbaiting and expands upon it greatly as well as gives a very through dive down the history of queerness and queer subtext through film and media. This one was recommended by @chikooritajjk

Now, real people cannot queer bait. It's impossible UNLESS they have CONFIRMED their sexuality as "straight" and will sometimes "play gay," for an audience. And not just a straight actor playing a gay one, but doing something that is intentionally queer but backtracking and being like "well I mean, I'm straight so I didn't mean it." And doing so repeatedly and/or even making light of it or joking about it. Or even just being plain homophobic about it. Unless you are talking about the actions they take to promote their "brand" in an effort to profit off queer fans on purpose, while continuing to make it clear its not "that serious," then you could make an argument that that person is queerbaiting. Which, for clarification, two people of the same sex simply interacting together, even with lots of general affection, cannot be classified as queerbaiting ever. Especially because a person doesn't have to be "out" to act on their queerness. Our queerness is our own. No one gets to demand someone to give answers about their sexuality to confirm queerness or not before the public "decides" to keep trying to bully an answer out of them or not. You don't get to take self expression and someone else's comfort away from them for your own comfort in labels that don't belong to you anyway. The thing is, no one owes anyone any explanations about how they present themselves or what their sexuality is. You can't forcibly out people. "I think you are gay, therefore I'm owed an explanation and if you don't give me one, it means you are just queerbaiting" is WRONG. It's an umbrella media term, not a bullying tactic. This applys to everyone, random people off the street, actors, musicians, authors who write/engage in queer literature, public speakers, influencers, etc...

There are some of kpop idol groups (or other celebrities in general) that could be classified as queerbaiting. Because they use queerness to build and promote their "brand" while otherwise never doing anything about it (even as an ally) and/or even being lowkey homophobic about it all or just continuing to make sure the audience knows they "arent actually gay." Or they use queerness in a way that fetishizies it, again without actually meaning it in any way. That's a whole seperate issue, and it could in ways be considered queerbaiting. Or it could more likely dig further into the issue of inauthenic queer fetishization used as a shock value for an audience to be used as sexual fantasies for their STRAIGHT audience, rather than to draw in a queer audience who are more looking for the possible authenticity of queerness or allyship in the celebrities/idols they are building these parasocial relationships with. Because again, unless you know what this person's sexuality is, how are you sure they aren't just exploring/or expressing their own queerness and aren't labeling it or are closeted for whatever their reasons may be, including just not being ready to come out yet.

It is a fine line to walk, and there will probably be times in the "real life" instances above where you will have to use your own critical thinking skills to decide how you feel about things, etc. But for the most part, real people can't really queerbait. But hopefully this helps anyone who was/is confused. There are also a lot more resources out there if you wanted to continue looking into it. This is just what I know about it all myself too, if anyone has anything to add, they are free to do so. 💜

#what is queerbaiting

[gascon-en-exil]

Honestly there's some "xyz is only bad when my fave doesn't do it" vibe coming out of the OP. They seem to take issue with AM having the characters follow Dimitri even against their better judgement and yet willing to give a pass when the BE class follow Edel on the same occasion (deciding to side with Edel in the Holy Tomb despite the fact that she was revealed to be the Flame Emperor and ordered her soldiers to kill them, believing in Edel when she lies to them about Arianrhod).

Also I don't think Dimitri asked Dedue to turn into a crest beast during CF but Dedue did it anyway against Dimitri's wishes but I guess the OP forgot about that.

I know for a fact that I've had to make this point before, but the low-hanging fruit of the Dedue/Felix conversation is very easy to refute. Dedue trusts Dimitri enough to know that Dimitri would never order him to kill children, and we know both from CF and from their A support in Hopes that there are times when Dedue is willing to disobey Dimitri. That support is just Felix determined to think the worst of Dedue as an indirect way of reaffirming his own negative image of Dimitri, and Dedue realizes this and tells Felix what he wants to hear.

These types of fans insist of reading everything through an overwrought political lens that doesn't even hold up in canon because the writers didn't care enough to flesh out their world in meaningful ways beyond what was needed for the main plot and for specific character stories (and giving priority to the lead characters is standard FE writing...and typical for writing in general, for that matter). Duscur is only restored in AG and in some of Dedue's endings which are of course AM-exclusive, because Duscur - here the Duscur people, not the Tragedy of Duscur which is a much more significant event narratively speaking - ultimately only matters in reference to Dedue. Call the developers racist/colorist for that if you like, but don't try to dump it nonsensically on the characters and certainly don't use it to attack people who like Dimitri or Dedue and/or ship them together. Honestly a romantic reading of their relationship makes their behavior and regard for one another much more straightforward: they're bonded to one another through trauma and mutually codependent to the point that each of them falls apart without the other, but they trust and lean on each other in a genuinely sweet way in spite of how a bunch of people around them disapprove of Dedue's presence in Dimitri's life (queercoding, yay!). The OP of that post was worried about not being smart enough to figure out Dedue, but it's really not that difficult...

...although as I've probably written more Dimidue-related meta than almost anyone else in this fandom and that poster has me blocked, I suppose I can understand why they might find his character unfathomable.

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses #Fire Emblem Three Hopes #Dimidue

[extasiswings]

wait what way do you think it (sperm donor plotline) can go or do you not wanna say in which i understand?

I mean, I’ve said it before at various points but to summarize: it’s all about the shifting of worldviews and questioning assumptions about what Buck thinks he needs/what’s going to make him happy (again, this is the season of realizing that everything you want has been right in front of you the whole time, you just couldn’t see it, or maybe weren’t allowing yourself to see it because you were scared) and at least some of that is tied up in things like what Buck thinks family has to look like, what fatherhood has to look like, what romance has to look like. The fact that Buck and Eddie haven’t talked about the will and Christopher and the shooting and the way they have built a family together, a life together, while he’s off giving his DNA so another couple can have a baby (when he clearly does not grasp the point that this will not make him a dad, that this child will not be his) is not a flaw or an oversight, it’s the whole point and I expect that conversation to be deployed exactly when it needs to be. It’s all part of Buck’s journey of discovery. It’s the question of “society told me if I had the fancy apartment and the wife/girlfriend and the baby then I would be happy so why haven’t those things actually made me happy?” And the answer is that he already has the love, the family, the life he wants, the one that can make him happy, it just doesn’t look the way he expected it to, and he just needs to be brave enough to accept and be honest about that. (Keep in mind, this arc doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and is happening at the same time Eddie is thinking about romance and “fantasy” and things he didn’t think he would be allowed to have—all of this is just…intensely queercoded).

One of the best outcomes to this arc that I think they could have is that there is a baby, Buck is not in its life at all (because he’s not its dad), and he is legitimately okay with that because he finally accepts that biology is not what makes you a parent. Which, frankly, would be a bold choice on the part of the writers because it makes some people uncomfortable, but also reflects the reality of a lot of other people, especially a lot of queer people in terms of how we build our families. It would be a story that we haven’t really gotten to see before, especially on a mainstream show like this, and an important one.

Oh, but also this is how we get Buddie canon.

#chapel talks #anonymous

[girl4music]

I wish people would understand the difference between QUEERCODING and QUEERBAITING.

To code can be used positively or negatively.

To bait is only negative. Baiting is not good.

Referring to a creation as “bait” is claiming there’s a purposeful manipulation or exploitation of the intended viewers by the creators of that creation.

Queerbaiting is only ever manipulation and exploitation so you don’t claim it unless you’re sure of it or the creators have admitted to committing it.

Queercoding certainly can be that too if the creators for it are purposefully using it that way but not always.

To code something as queer might just be their only way of providing and representing a queer narrative.

It can be a very good thing that a show queer codes if the intention is a positive one - validating the viewers.

The reason why they get lumped together as the same thing these days is because why ever is there a need to queer code something when you can make it legitimately and explicitly queer? A valid question.

However, the storytelling in a queer narrative might benefit from something being queercoded rather than explicitly queer because there’s more nuance to it.

Therefore more depth to peruse your thoughts on.

And it can look a lot more natural and authentic than something being explicitly queer depending on who the creator is and what their intention is with using it.

On the other side of the coin….

There’s creators like Emily Andras.

Who can effectively do both and do it well.

So I’ll say it and I’ll say it again and as long as I have to.

What matters is the CREATIVE INTENTION.

Not “better queer representation”.

You won’t get queerbaiting if the intention is sincere.

If it’s sincere - use QUEERCODING. Not queerbaiting.

For the last time - queerbaiting is not a good thing. There is no such thing as “good queerbaiting”. Ever.

If queerbaiting is being committed - it’s a bad thing.

It means you - as a queer person - are not being represented or validated. You are being exploited.

Stop throwing that term around as if it means something good because it’s not fucking good!

Queerbaiting is one of the most evil things a creator can do with their creation and their characters.

For me personally - it’s the worst thing I’ve experienced and I, as a queer person, do not have to put up with it. And neither do you. So if you truly believe a show you’re watching or whatever creation you’re engaged in is queerbaiting, start protesting.

Stop accepting it as all you have or all you can have.

Because if the creator was truly sincere in providing for you what they do with their creation - you wouldn’t feel like this. You wouldn’t feel like you have to settle because, if they were sincere, they’d give you it all - or as much as they possibly could - without detracting from the storytelling or sacrificing great characters.

Likely the characters of which are queercoded.

The ones you relate to, resonate or identify with.

Creators that provide sincere queer representation don’t make this a difficulty, don’t give pathetic excuses and don’t act like throwing a bone is enough.

Creators that are sincere in providing queer representation involve all their explicitly queer or queercoded characters in everything that happens.

They don’t make them either weaker or stronger. They don’t throw drama or theatrics into their relationships for no reason. And they don’t drop screen-time for their queer characters because something or someone more “important” needs to be the focus and therefore the only time they have reserved for them is always some kind of physical intimacy baiting you in.

Sincere providers of queer representation don’t play around with their queer or queercoded characters.

They use them purposefully to represent you and validate you. Not to purposefully use and exploit you.

Please please please learn the difference and please please please stop throwing “queerbaiting” around - especially with a creation that’s legacy within the queer community is as great and profound as Xena’s - whose creators/cast/crew do what they can to represent and validate queer people to this fucking day and do not deserve to be accused of queerbaiting.

Call Xena straightbaiting. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s about time straight people feel as we do when they watch a queer show about queer characters but never get definitive representation and have to settle for one-of-the-week subplots and seriously boring one dimensional straight characters that are about as expressive as a plank of wood.

Sure, Xena can certainly be referred to as committing straightbaiting and I’m 100% nonapologetic about it.

#xena warrior princess #xena and gabrielle #xabrielle #wynonna earp #waverly and nicole #wayhaught #queerbaiting #queercoding #creative intention #emily andras