#of course there's sexism in fandoms there is sexism everywhere

[zeroducks-2]

Let’s talk Helena Wayne bc like it’s criminal that we barely get anything about her and that they completely changed her origin and family (the bertinelli mafia family) to add her into the main comic book line.

im torn bc I love both versions of her :(

But I wanted Dick to share some older siblings trauma with her and for Damian to have that “blood” sibling bc I think that would have completely rocked early Damian’s shit. All his life, he was told to be the true heir of Bruce Wayne, but it turns out he has an OLDER SISTER BRUCE HID FROM TALIA AND RA. Idk I just think that would have crushed his lil murder ego and made for some interesting sibling moments and an interesting dynamic.

Lastly, can we talk about how the Batfam fandom completely stole all of Helena (Bertinelli)’s character traits and gave them to Jason??? Im sorry but when in the material source has Jason ever been super devout and catholic? Helena is the religious one, why am I reading about Jason’s apparent Catholicism in fics and HC dumps? Also Jason (besides his Robin days) has never been this savour and protector of the woman and children of Gotham, that’s very very veryyyyyy clearly a trait from Helena and strongly ties into her backstory as a child who suffered coming from a rich bloodline of syndicate crime. And don’t think this is me bashing on Jason, bc it’s not!! I love Jason Todd - but for who he is. Not for this weird fandom version of him who is either still suffering from the craze the lazarus pit puts you through, or this Joan of Arc of Gotham character either.

I'm gonna be honest with you, this character confuses me a bit. I know that Bruce and Selina got married and had a daughter in their Earth-Two incarnations, and this daughter is Helena Wayne, who's Dick best buddy and a vigilante in her own right called Huntress.

Then I know Helena Bertinelli, daughter of a mafia lord who was introduced in the late 80s in the preboot comic continuity, and was a quite murdery vigilante called Huntress who Bruce didn't accept because she "reminded him of Barbara" (you gotta love DC's excuses for sexism and ableism lol it's not like Barbara was dead just paralyzed. Also it did not look like Bruce gave a shit about it at the end of TKJ that Joker had crippled her - "she reminds him or Barbara". LMAO Bruce).

Then post reboot the title Huntress was given back to Helena Wayne, however Helena Bertinelli is ALSO there and she's ALSO called Huntress? She appears in the Grayson run where Dick is an agent of Spyral, and she seems to be Italian-American but I don't think her origin is the same as in preboot? Also I have no idea about Helena Wayne's continuity post reboot - when she was conceived, who raised her, how did she become a vigilante, neither I have any idea where to find this info.

I agree that if she had been raised by Bruce it could have made for an interesting dynamic amongst the bats and birds. It did in Earth 2 even if only Dick is just there - they're not siblings but they also aren't not siblings? The dynamic is murky and I love murky. Pretty sure it would have changed everything for Damian as well, especially the fact that she would have most likely been the first object of Damian's need to prove himself worthy, instead of Tim.

That being said, not much of what you mentioned is fanon about Jason.

Jason had an arc in which he's a priest. Pretty normal that fans HC him as devout or anyway catholic.

Father Todd in Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint Vol. 1 - this is an AU in which Jason was never taken in by Bruce and was never Robin.

As for the whole "protector of women and children" thing, you probably know that Jason was born in extreme poverty, his father was in and out of prison and his mother died of overdose. He is very much a child who suffered because of a broken system, and given how harshly he reacts when women and children are the recipient of violence "in his Robin days", is it really that strange that fans assume he carried these traits in adulthood?

We see him being sweet and protective to kids many times, or anyway losing his mcfucking shit when children are being harmed (like in Brothers in Blood). Imo that of Jason caring about vulnerable people is barely a headcanon, and I don't see how this would make him the Joan of Arc of Gotham either - if I'm being honest ALL vigilantes should care about minorities and vulnerable people, it's the other way around that is weird as fuck (like that arc in which Dick almost dies to prevent this guy from shutting down Bludhaven's casinos, like what the hell was Tim Seeley thinking exactly).

That being said, I understand your frustration if the character you like doesn't have recognition. Trust me I do! There's a lot of them for me too, especially female and/or non white characters who had maybe 1 run ages ago and then got forgotten by DC, and I would REALLY LIKE to see them more, and to see them acknowledged more by the fans (from the top of my mind, Jenni Ognats or Patricia Trayce).

But this isn't fandom's fault. As I mentioned before, Helena Bertinelli as a fleshed out character was a thing between 20 and 30 years ago, and most of tumblr's userbase was either very young or not born yet. DC forgot about her, stripped Huntress from her to give it to Helena Wayne, then brought her back but as an agent of Spyral and it really doesn't look like they care. Fans can't be held accountable for the fact that she's simply not there. They didn't "steal" Helena's traits to give them to Jason; this implies a willful and malicious intent from people who saw this character and decided her features fit another character better, and it's obviously not what happened - people barely know Helena Bertinelli exists if at all.

Also - I said this about Jason already and I will repeat it a million times: Jason wasn't picked at random from the sea of DC characters to be people's blorbo, he resonates with fans for a reason. Under the Red Hood is a deeply emotional and relatable arc for many people because it's the story of how a child was failed by every single person who was supposed to protect and guide him, and then was failed again as an adult victim who demanded to be seen and heard and acknowledged, and instead was silenced again. It's heartbreaking to see how many people see this and say "this is me, this is what happened to me", but it is what it is, and most of all there is no taking this away from Jason's fans. DC tried to villainize him, to make him look and sound like a madman, to make him unhinged and deranged and they had Tim suggest that "maybe it's the Lazarus Pit that drove him mad", but it didn't work and fans still love him and still consider him a symbol of how "bad victims" are treated worse than their abusers, and keep being retraumatized by a society that prefers turning a blind eye to violence than deal with the issue at its root.

And lastly, bitching won't get you anywhere. I am the living proof that the right way to make people interested in something is to be passionate about that something. You want more folks to pay attention to Helena Bertinelli, then since DC won't do anything with her, the most effective thing you can do is post about her - write essays, draw her, write fics with her, create webweavings and moodboards, commission this stuff if you don't have the skills. Complaining that she should be the recipient of fandom love won't make anyone more interested in her.

#my asks #long post #yall please stop blaming fandom for DC's sins #'no one cares about my blorbo!' look up and see if your blorbo is anywhere in the source material in the past 10 years #DC has historically culled female characters and minority characters even when their runs were beloved and successful #see Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain for an easy accessible example #if it hadn't been for fans yelling about them we probably wouldn't have them AT ALL since DC was adamant in pretending they never existed #despite both of them having had perfectly good selling runs #so no it's not the fans' fault for being sexist #of course there's sexism in fandoms there is sexism everywhere #but it's not that simple and fans aren't responsible for the fuckups of the source material anyway #okay rant over #jason todd #helena wayne #helena bertinelli

[agir1ukn0w]

Oh but polins are allowed to say that Simone is manly with a large jaw and that she’s the ugliest actor on set. Or how Because jonny is gay that means he shouldn’t have been promoted. A polin said, and I quote “Jonny should have stayed in the closet if you wanted your faves to get promotion”

Odd how you see the “hate” against polins, which the legitimate hate does get called out, but you like everyone else don’t see the vulgar bigoted hate against Kanthony.

On every social media platform, there are a group of polins making over 50 accounts (yes, we counted) to body shame and defame Simone. They’re everywhere, calling her a whore and that she “flaunts her body”, that she’s a diva who abuses her crew on set (this one was even featured on deuxmoi)

As for characters; polins have been attacking kate and anthony since the start and to this day. My favourite is when they said that kate sharma is a grooming and manipulative abuser.

Educate yourself on contexts of situations before you end up throwing the ship you like, your fellow fans, and the actors under the bus. You’re victimising a fandom full of racists and homophobes

First of all, I NEVER said anything about the kanthony fandom/Simone and Jonny NOT having to deal with plenty of bs bigotry, racism, colorism, sexism, and homophobia!! That’s not what my post was about and if you’d actually read closely you’d notice that I said, MULTIPLE TIMES, I wasn’t accusing ALL kanthony shippers of being rude towards polin shippers/Nicola and Luke. I was very careful to differentiate there.

As far as I can see at this point, it seems very clear to me that BOTH polin shippers AND kanthony shippers have a history of attacking and being attacked by each other. I can’t speak to how much one is more than the other because I haven’t been part of this fandom for very long and I don’t look deep into metrics like that. I was simply responding to another person’s post where they called out a few kanthony shippers, and BECAUSE I LOVE KANTHONY I wanted to send a message to my community because I know that we as a whole are better than that. Perhaps I could have worded it better (I was going for humor, sorry if that fell flat), but I wasn’t trying to throw the whole group “under the bus”. I think the entire Bridgerton fandom is due for a wake up call and needs to stop fighting each other over things that are supposed to make us all feel happy and seen.

Lastly, you don’t know anything about what I do or don’t “see” in this fandom, aside from what I’ve just told you. Of course I’m aware of the racism and homophobia and sexism and all of that!! Maybe you shouldn’t assume you know everything about a person either before you accuse me of being deliberately ignorant.

#as an og reylo i’m honestly insulted you think i don’t know what it’s like to be relentlessly attacked by an entire fandom over my ship #bridgerton #polin bridgerton #bridgerton series #bridgerton netflix #anthony bridgerton #kate bridgerton #bridgerton s3 #bridgerton season 3 #bridgerton season three #penelope bridgerton #polin #polin week #penelope featherington #colin x penelope #colin bridgerton #penelope x colin #kanthony #kathony #kate #kate x anthony #kate sharma #kate and anthony #anthony x kate #nicola coughlan #luke newton #jonathan bailey #simone ashley

[amy-the-fairy]

I think sex actually make me angry

I try to be sex positive as much as the next person but more the time goes, more I realize how sex and sometime romance is just ANNOYING to me most of the time.

Like a character? Can't get in their tag without sexual post non tagged or self insert fic where he's totally different either to be a perfect gentleman or an asshole or even a yandere or a rapist

I just don't understand you all, I try to, but I am also so tired that nobody understands ME

I am also so tired of the double standard all of you have with sexual fantasies. Women reading about rape fantaisies is fine but men doing the same is sexist and they're dangerous? How does that make sense. I understand women even less in that scenario, why wanting to be raped?

Also why sexual fantaisies that turn MOC in rapist is ok but we call out how female characters are treated as sexism? Everything is ok if you do it because you're horny? No critical thoughts?

I am so tired and it make me so fucking bitter honestly because on the internet it's just fucking everywhere

I can't get into any fandom without romance being the only things people talk about. Death Parade is a multifaceted anime with a lot of interesting themes to explore yet when it was over people just cried about how their fucking ship wasn't canon

Like fandom is just for fun but why is sex and romance you're only idea of fun ? It's fun for me to explore themes!

I feel like I am just a frustrated 26 year old with no real irl experience and it make me feel like shit honestly. I wonder if I am normal even if I know I am ace

Like constant discussion around a ship actually make me less and less interested in a story because people act like it's all there is. WHILE THE STORY ISN'T EVEN A ROMANCE

And then people are so dumb that they expect a non romantic story to actually end with a ship?

Also why can't you guys like anything without writing sexual self insert fic?

And cringe culture is dead but I still see self insert and oc being seen as they are the same but they're not

There's also how writers are always treated, because we can't make picture nobody care about fics beside of course if they're porn or romance

I am just wondering why do I even bother? I am always told that I should make my own place but do you know how it's difficult? "Nobody will do it for you" "do it yourself" you think I don't do that for years now?!

But acting like I can't be affected by fandom environment and block all of this out is so stupid?! I want to meet like-minded people and do you know how difficult it is when you have to dodge all the constant porn that is so acceptable as long as it's with men, even when they actually exist irl? Because sexual liberation or whatever?

I am tired why do I even bother honestly. And yet I stay because I don't want to be alone no matter how much everything frustrate and depress me more and more

There's no place for me here

[numnumart]

The way certain parts of the English One Piece fandom treat Yamato is hilariously reflective of their regressive views irl + (end of Wano manga content) why Oda kind of messed up with the bathhouse scene.

All these fights over pronouns, not even acknowledging the character's psyche itself, to further their own ideology. Just like how TRAs (especially agp males) use vulnerable girls to further their own ideology without even acknowledging the girls themselves having either mental health problems, autism, past abuse/trauma, internalized homophobia, normal discomfort with puberty, gnc behaviour, etc. They love using woc and infertile women as shields too it’s disgusting.

Yamato is female and idolizes Oden. Yamato wants to BE Oden, she even claims she IS Oden, but that doesn’t mean she’s “trans masc”, you can headcanons that sure but the thing is, oden was free, but Yamato is shackled to an island with bomb-cuffs by her own father who definitely wanted a boy and not a girl, she is kaidos daughter who was beaten, starved, and just abused to the point where she’s now in full-time cosplay being someone else to escape her reality and who she is. It’s sad. Why do tras want to take this strong female character away from women and girls? The patriarchy is crazy!!

It’s also completely detached from the reality of Japanese culture as well as the female sex in general. These people love to whitewash anime with their privileged, luxury beliefs. Yes, gender ideology is the epitome of white feminism. These Colonizers bro.

It might be surprising for some weebs but Japan is not a paradise. It’s imperfect like everywhere else in the world. The misogyny there is insane! Sexism/Traditional gender roles persist there. They even have women-only train cars because of how common groping/SA is.

Also, homosexuality and cross-dressing aren’t completely shunned there, it’s historically documented and all that. Same-sex marriage isn’t allowed in some places there and whatnot but at least they aren’t slaughtered and ostracized.

Anyway, this is where Oda’s choice to put a male in a female bathhouse comes in. Kiku is male, and Yamato is female. Kiku bathed with males his whole life. At the end of wano yamato bathes with males and kiku bathes with females. Of course, this case is unique because it’s not a public bathhouse and Nami and them know and trust Kiku and consent to his presence being there in the bath with him (a male bathing in front of women and children 💀 at least Hes not a bad person and covered himself with a towel. He’s an effeminate male/apparently a “woman at heart” which is a Japanese saying yet he acknowledges that he’s male and will never be a woman, actually, it’s kinda ironic how they ascribe womanhood being a feeling of femininity/conforming to regressive sexist gender roles because it’s really telling and fits in/suits the regressive nature of gender ideology), but the message it sends the English fandom is completely identity-politics related.

At least in the case of Yamato, she is treated and seen like a girl by characters like Sanji and Brook (nosebleed etc, not that it's good she's sexualized) and Luffy/zoro don't care.

Why do the English fandoms of anime love putting identity politics in everything? It’s so annoying… But anyway,

Males shouldn’t be in female spaces, and men (adult human males) cannot become women (adult human females) this shouldn’t have to be said, especially in public female spaces for the sake of safeguarding women and girls. Female-only spaces are statistically necessary! And as a WOC who was abused by males in every possible way since early childhood (read my pinned post where I put my article), it honestly actually broke my heart how Oda put a male in the bath and it got celebrated by the homophobic misogynists that are TRAs and even the fellow teen girls captured by this cult. It's not Oda's fault,, he's a product of his culture and times and it's not his fault how his audience interprets his work.

Anyway, Oda did at least show Yamato is female so many times in the manga, vivre cards, and even in the recent colour spread where he put Yamato in the girls-only colour spread and left out kiku. The meltdown over that was funny.

Well, at least the people who like to headcanon characters as trans have this. I wish they’d leave us alone tho. Unlike most transwomen (who resemble the crossdressers in Ivankovs kingdom/Kamabakka queendom in appearance and behaviour), kiku actually “passes”/LOOKS like a woman character. Also, I love Kiku's eyes so much that every time I draw from the day of his introduction I always add something like those little zigzags to eyes. He is such a cool character! I kinda wanna draw them both again. Rant over ig, see you next time ❤️

#yamato #one piece #one piece manga #one piece anime #wano #op #one piece wano #kiku #kikunojo #red scabbards #gender critical #female rights #one piece lgbtq #women’s rights #adult human female #tra #anime #manga #white feminism #radfem #I’m radfem leaning because I’m too scared to say radfem since I don’t 100% agree with everything #cmon guys we’re not a cult like TRAs #WoC #rant

[the1975attheirverybest]

I wish younger fans were the ones "setting him up", but these are girls in her mid/late 20s, some even older and being misogynistic at the same time.

Istg I’m tired of this fandoms sexism. Especially when it’s coming from the women themselves!!!! LEAVE MEREDITH ALONE AND STOP COMPARING HER TO OTHER WOMEN. stop dragging her for her career choice. Stop assuming that because she’s a model she must be dumb, stop saying Matty’s only in it for her looks. Stop it. Just stop. You don’t know her. You don’t know shit about the kind of person she is. Stop making assumptions. And go….idk raise your kids/ do your jobs/ attend your college courses whatever the fuck grown up thing you should be doing instead of tearing a woman down on the internet you fuckin weirdos. An embarrassment to all women everywhere.

[dimitrscu]

I feel like Malenia is proof the fandom at large isn't as progressive as it thinks. I say this because every time I see or get into a discussion about how the fandom treats her, without fail someone will say, "But people like X female character. It's not sexism." And I'm like, "I'm describing the disproportionate rage towards Malenia, visible double standards, bewildering character assassination. And you're here giving me the 'I have a black friend' defense for fictional characters? Fucking A."

They always tend to use Maria in that argument like come on now, just because one character doesn’t get that treatment doesn’t mean it isn’t happening to another. People who straight up deny this shit goes on when there are some, like fan artists, who have had to deal with these toxic fans, and have even spoken out about it only to get shut down and told that they're making it up lmao people were so fucking annoying about it I swear. There are artists on twitter who have even said they just don’t like to draw Malenia because they don’t want to deal with the shitty fans. And then things only got worse when LMSH became a thing because then all the rape comments and gross porn was everywhere. Legit can't look at that guy the same way after seeing all the vile shit people say about him and her. It’s not the guys fault of course, he seems pretty chill. But some fans thought they’d use him as an excuse to vent their hate towards Malenia. There’s this weird group of fans who like to think their hatred for her isn’t fuelled by misogyny because they’ll say things like “Nah, I just hate her because she nuked Caelid and hurt my boy Chadahn.” And I’m like okay I would believe that if it weren’t for the fact you like to make/like/comment on content of her getting assaulted. Some people say they hate her yet are obsessed with porn of her. Specifically rape porn. Kind of makes me think that part of your problem is in fact her gender. They could be normal about it and just hate her for what she did, but no it has to be about “putting that woman in her place” all the time.

But the sheer level of hate she gets for the most ridiculous things is honestly just insane. There ought to be a character study on these fans because I get that Malenia is a difficult boss for a lot of players, but holy shit the reaction to her was so over the top. And the fact they still can’t shut up about it too. She unfortunately got it from both angles because people either rant about her boss fight, or go on about the lore and her fight with Radahn. Or both. Girlie stood no chance when you think about it. People who use the excuse that her boss fight is hard and therefore the hate is justified. Yeah like I said, I would believe that more so if all the hate wasn’t centred around wanting to physically assault her and "put her in her place". Souls games have always had hard bosses and I’m sure the next game they make will have something harder than she is, but I can’t honestly say I’ve ever seen people act like this about Nameless King or Gael or Isshin or Orphan before. I mean I wonder why, right? It’s just kind of exhausting at this point and I don’t doubt it will all come back once the DLC drops. This is actually why I’d be quite happy if we don’t see her again in any way. The odd reference in an item description or something would be fine but please don’t bring her back just for us to fight again, I can’t be dealing with all this a second time around.

#anonymous #answered #under a readmore for sa mention #don't really want to put that on blast for everyone to see

[4lph4kidz]

i feel like i know but i also don’t. can you explain the characteristics of yaoi era dirkjake

i... oh boy.

disclaimer i feel like my account is going to be extraordinarily biased and probably quite mean spirited and not all that accurate even - i was in the fandom, but i never paid much attention at the time since i was and still am generally not that interested in shipping! so this is a subject i'm probably not going to be entirely fair about, and i am sorry in advance.

essentially, i think the possibility of a canon m/m pairing being raised right after their introduction meant that the fans who were naturally excited about it had very little to go on wrt to the characters' complexities and stuff that would only be revealed later down the line. so the versions of the characters we get from that era feel a lot more like the over the top personas they initially boast before the story progresses.

also, the seme/uke dynamic was pretty much everywhere in fandom during the late 2000's early 2010's (i mean, what other kinds of LGBT media did kids and teens have to go off of??) it felt inescapable. of course it became a big thing here too, though which character was which depends on the creator and maybe the specific time period. jake is usually an ashy shade of brown or straightup just tanned white because people didn't know how to do skin colors or handle the subject of race in general. dirk is almost aways white as well. the body type of each character changes too, usually one of them is hyper macho and muscly and the other is a skinny softboy in comparison. again, changes depending on the era/creator iirc.

it's worth noting attitude towards shipping at the time was like... i'm having trouble wording it, but i think people expected a lot, and were understandably disappointed and upset when it turned out there were issues with the canon mlm pairing they were excited about! it seems like some people ignored what was going on and kept on making ship content, but a whole lot of people turned on it completely. there was a lot of very emotionally charged discourse about and disdain towards the pairing in general. again, very reactionary stuff that probably colored my perception of the whole thing. now people are much cooler about this ship not being perfect or smooth sailing, which is really what makes it interesting to me in the first place.

again, i'm sorry if this seems overly dismissive or mean about people just trying to have fun, i just can't really hide the fact i wasn't a fan of this back in the day. (and there were legitimate issues wrt to sexism, homophobia, racism, et cetera)

#if anyone else can add on more specifics feel free to elaborate because i'm talking out of my ass here i think. #i was going to say something about how jane and roxy were treated at the time but realised i can't even remember #like in relation to this pairing i mean they were sidelined i mean #anyway #i hope that was somewhat illuminating... #it should be noted that i have come across fanart/fic/et cetera from that era which is totally fine by my standards! #just not terribly interesting #perhaps that seems dismissive but so much of what i find interesting is only made so by the conflict throwing it into relief #anon

[fandomshatewomen]

Can I just say that I hate the sheer sexism in the Encanto fandom? If you haven't seen Encanto, then do so now, but regardless, the favored characters will not be the ones you expect(or they might be, not sure which one is worse). To put it shortly, Encanto is a fantastic Disney film that takes place in Colombia and discusses generational trauma and family expectations and how they can lead to perfectionism, feelings of worthlessness, and casting your wants and needs to suit others, as well as

feeling reduced to the role of the black sheep in the family whom no one cares about and everybody assumes the worst of. I could really relate to it, especially certain characters, but I'll get to that in a hot minute. But the most awesome part of the movie for me is its strong focus on its female characters, who are all amazing and well-developed in their own ways. The protagonist, Mirabel, feels worthless and left out of her family. She's the black sheep and seeks approval and wants to fit in,

so I could really relate to her and her song "Waiting on a Miracle". Luisa is super strong but feels weak if she's not the rock that everybody can rely on. Her song expresses how she feels pressured to always be this Amazonian warrior who faces all strife head-on with a can-do attitude when really she just wants to relax. Dolores is somewhat minor but even she gets some little development here and there, like how she knew that her uncle didn't leave all along but had to keep it a secret, and how

her closest cousin is marrying the man she is in love with. In addition, her power has the potential to cause her a lot of pain, and yet she's forced to put it all aside for the sake of those around her. Also, she has reasons for liking that guy I mentioned outside of his looks, and in the end they get together, which I found really sweet and was rooting for the whole time! And finally, there's Isabela, my favorite character, who is the pretty and girly one who grows flowers everywhere, and is

engaged to the man Dolores is in love with at the start of the movie...but secretly she's not happy at all with being put on this pedestal and wants nothing more than to be free from her porcelain perfect persona. She also gets the best song in the movie, in my opinion, "What Else Can I Do?", which is about her realizing she can grow more than flowers, hence that she can be herself and more than perfect. Even better, the song comes immediately after her admitting to Mirabel that she doesn't

actually want to marry the man she's arranged to be with and even grows a cactus! It was my favorite song and the one I like singing and relating to the most. I also love her makeover! But my favorite thing about her is that she shows that being hyperfeminine isn't a bad thing, that you can be girly and also be your own person and be strong! And I love that! I love that the movie doesn't pit any of the girls against each other and make either one out to be an irredeemable villain because of

something so trivial as liking pink or something dumb like that. Even Abuela Alma, who seems to be the villain at first, has a dark and tragic backstory that shows exactly why she places such intimidating pressure on everyone else in the family, how she lost her beloved husband to guerrillas and was left all alone to care for her newborn triplet children, and then one of them ran away only to be unheard of for ten entire years! It doesn't justify what she did of course, but the point is that

she's learning from her mistakes; she's not abusive and deserves sympathy, too! Her song, "Dos Oruguitas", while not sung by her, really showcases the tragedy and never ceases to pull the tear waterfalls from my eyes, because the animation there is so stellar and better yet, she's not wearing makeup. And there are all sorts of tremendous relationships between different women in the family: such as Mirabel and her mom, Mirabel and Isabela, Mirabel and Luisa, Abuela and her daughters, etc.. It's a

male characters in the movie. Camilo and Bruno Madrigal. Both of whom are minor characters with relatively little screentime. Even if Bruno is still important to the plot despite the little screentime he has, Camilo is 100% irrelevant and unimportant to the plot. He is the most minor character in the movie, period, and yet he gets all this love from the fandom, which would be fine if the fandom appreciated the female characters just as much. But no, the fandom is instead obsessed with hyping up

Encanto completely ignores the strong and dynamic badass female characters that are at the center of the movie's plot and literal screentime in favor of two male characters who ought to be completely overshadowed by the female characters in the movie that outnumber them and would be if we lived in a perfect world where people actually cared about female characters. But alas, we don't live in a perfect world, we live in a shitty world where people don't give a shit about female characters, but

will say they do so as to pretend they want representation, because to them, wanting is better than having. Only when they do get it, they throw it completely out the window and hyperfixate upon the male characters who aren't as important. It's disgusting to witness. And the worst part is that even though I like Camilo and will happily watch video compilations of him on YouTube and read fanfics of him and download fanart of him and all that, which is perfectly all right to do, a part of me will

always wonder if I'm following the lead of all those people who dramatically obsess over the smallest of male characters just for being male, even though I'm simply enjoying a character without making the movie all about him and still enjoying the female characters in the movie(which is weird because I still have a lot more Isabela fanart/pictures/gifs than Camilo ones on my phone, lmao). And...you can't do that. You can't do both. You can't say you want female representation and more women of

color in movies and then cover your eyes and ears when you actually do get it and only pay attention to and favor the male characters in the work. You can't say you want female representation and more women of color in movies when all the fanfiction you write is about the male characters and the relationships between them, romantic, platonic, familial, or otherwise. You can't say you want female representation and more women of color in movies while also coincidentally having all your favorite

characters in any given media be male(for what it's worth, I think my favorite characters in basically every fandom I'm a part of have been female; Camilo is probably my favorite male character but certainly not my favorite overall, that honor goes to Isabela, obviously, as I've stated before.). You just can't. It doesn't work like that. This androcentrism, sexism, and sheer unadulterated fucking misogyny in the Encanto fandom is sick and wrong and disgusting and it needs to end ASAP. Stop carin

caring about only the male characters, Encanto fandom. WAKE UP!!!

#misogyny #racialized misogyny #misogynoir #encanto #androcentrism

[caesarzeppelisboyfriend]

About me, the one and only caesarzeppelisboyfriend

Trans gay guy in a corn field

Hi, I’m Benedict :)

What you’ll find here

American Revolution shit. Literal shit

Mmm vampires (certified monsterfucker)

Anime as an occasional treat

Video games, which I play when I find the time between listening to music

Greek mythology in moderation

Writing, art, and complaining about all of these things

American Revolution

Disclaimer: I acknowledge the wrongdoings of shitbags in history and of course I disagree with things like racism and sexism. Here you will not find any veneration of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or any other men like them, although I may talk about them.

I don’t really care ab Alexander Hamilton or Washington’s aides but perhaps one day ( we can sure talk ab Richard Varick and David Franks [Arnold’s aides @ West Point 🚨] for now)

My favorite historical figures are Benedict Arnold and Hannah Arnold (his sister)

I kinda like King George III

I’m not new to the amrev fandom but I’ve only recently started reading books (I’ve legit only read Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick so far) and informing meself ab the ins and outs

My LEAST favorites are Thomas Jefferson and Joseph Reed 👊👊👊

I’m only versed in the story of Benny A. and the beginnings of the war, but I’d like to familiarize myself with more, feel free to share some facts with me :))

I LOVE historical fiction about the amrev no matter how inaccurate <3 (TURN, Hamilton, The Traitor’s Wife, the list shall grow)

Vampires 🧛🏻

I love to know about vampire lore and the variations of the vampire from everywhere

Queerness and why it goes hand in hand with vampirism is another thing I studied in college

I love history period so ofc I love the OGs (Carmilla and Dracula)

My all time favorite vamp is Lestat <33

All time favorite vampire series is The Vampire Chronicles (Only on TVL)

Castlevania (Netflix heh) slap (Hector ☺️❤️)

Anime!

I pride myself with being an OG JJBA fan

Also like AoT and HxH

Favorite characters are prolly Kakyoin from JoJo, Bertholdt from AoT (traitors are kinda my thing hehe), and Pouf from HxH

That’s it lol

Gimme some recommendations tho

Video games

I’m quite the avid gamer

I play the Sims 4, Minecraft, and Assassin’s Creed

Greek mythology

I don’t know a lot about Greek mythology but I do like to learn about the gods and reimagine them

I’ve done this with Eros and Hades so far, Poseidon and Zeus are next muhahaha

Hyperfixations atm

HxH (Illumi x Hisoka and Poof 😩😩❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)

The Traitor’s Wife by Allison Pataki (get the book. gET THE BOOK.)

King’s Choice (Y’know. The mobile app? With the weird ads? Mhm. Yeah.)

Enjoy your stay ☕️

#american revolution #amrev #amrev fandom #artists on tumblr #vampires #intro post #introducing myself #introduction #small artist #anime #video games

[vivithefolle]

I'm a bit confused. You said in one post that you thoroughly dislike Hermione and that you had no respect for her at all. Yet ... you like Romione? idk, it seems contradictory tbh. I like when Romione shippers acknowledge her flaws and messed up moments but when someone that dislike and even hate her character that much ships Romione and I see them posting about them and calling them "cute" just seems weird

I’ll share with you my whole thought process so you can understand where I’m coming from:

Itty-bitty Vivi who read Harry Potter for the first time (at 13/14, so not so itty-bitty I guess, oops): Woaaah Hermione and Ron yaay!!! They're awesome I love them! They're my OTP always and forever!! Best thing to happen in Harry Potter!! JKR is a genius!

Slightly less itty-bitty Vivi discovering the Harry Potter fandom online (thankfully years after the ship wars, else I probably wouldn't have survived): Why is there so much hate towards Ron? And why are people so opposed to Romione?? It was meant to be since the first book! Or, okay, the second book is when I realized it was gonna happen, but still! Oh well, here is a fic where Hermione berates Ron for everything and he is the only one actually working for their relationship. Cool, more Romione!

Even less itty-bitty Vivi starting her own Tumblr and going around, adding her grain of salt to debates and talking about stuff: Yeah! Ron is great! He's done bad things of course but Hermione has done her fair share of bad things too! Actually, now that I'm rereading the books, I'm reminded of this person I used to call a friend, who was quite smart and cultured but would often be very harsh to me because they claimed it was “for your own good" and “because I'm more mature than you"… I still wanted to be around them, because they were just so smart and passionate, but we often rowed and eventually they really just went too far and tried to make ME out to be the bad guy and most people believed them because they had a reputation as someone cool and logical while I was known for being emotional… wait, what the fuck, that's… that's exactly what happens in the fandom with Ron and Hermione! What the fuck, was I Ron? Admired their intelligence, praised and supported them, fell in love even but was met with scorn and open disdain?!… no, no, come on. Hermione wasn't that bad.

Vivi rereading Half-Blood Prince (and no, this wasn't about the canaries, but about what Hermione was doing after): Oh my god she was that bad.

Vivi as she ponders alternately: Wait, what about JK Rowling? What does she think about all that? What was her intention, what did she want to accomplish with the characters? I know books belong to their readers but if I want as objective an analysis as possible I must try to understand her thought process while she wrote.

Vivi learning about a staple of British literature called “literary alchemy”: The quarreling couple!! Sulfur and Mercury, the Red King and the White Queen, who must marry for the story to end happily!! And their union is represented by… a rose!! Oh my god, that is brilliant, that is so cool! Romione was ALWAYS going to happen, I knew it! Ha!

Vivi discovering the “[Ron] needed to make himself worthy of Hermione” quote: Wha… but… what? Worthy? As if Hermione was some sort of precious trophy or whatever? What the hell? Wait, Ron had to make himself worthy of her but Hermione didn't have to make herself worthy of him? Is it because Ron is the boy or some shit like that??

Vivi going through JK Rowling's interviews and finding sexism and double-standards galore: Yep, it's because he's the boy. And that bit about Hermione being based off herself when she was younger… ouch. And to top it off the scriptwriter pretty much worshipped Hermione…

Vivi rereading the books again: Is it just me, or does Ron hardly ever get any praise or acknowledgement from the adult characters? Meanwhile Harry and Hermione get stuff like “as good as Charlie Weasley" or “brightest witch of her age"! And, damn, I used to side with Hermione because I love cats, but she was completely awful in POA! She apologized but then the plot made her out to be right even then?? And I always thought her Yule Ball entrance was kinda over-the-top, but damn if that's not compensating for something! Also what the hell, I get that Harry is suffering and all but will someone PLEASE pay attention to the fact that Ron is being bullied BY A FOURTH OF THE STUDENT BODY AND NOBODY SEEMS EVEN REMOTELY CONCERNED????? Also what the hell is wrong with the sixth book, I never liked it much but it's like it's trying to make every character look bad, wtf?? And, and, holy shit I never noticed but Ron was asking legit questions during the Horcrux Hunt debate but Harry kept deflecting or mocking him but it's still Ron who had to apologize in the end??? And I've read a whole post about how Hermione punching Ron is the appropriate reaction for a very small child and not a supposedly “mature" character, and that Harry had to SHIELD RON FROM HER, oh my god?? It's… oh my god, what the fuck is wrong with JK Rowling?

Vivi, in denial: Well, Harry Potter is decidedly not a romance. It's about love, but romantic love is quite far down the priority list when it comes to it. JKR has herself confessed that she wasn't too good at writing romance, and I don't blame her because writing romance is hard. But I did enjoy Romione! When I was little I saw it coming from a mile away, granted I was already savvy in literature but that must have been because she was doing something right! And then the sixth book happened… the sixth book which… which was released after the Harry Potter movies were being filmed, wasn't it?

Vivi looking up the timelines: Oh my god. Oh my god it's even worse, the movies were being discussed before Goblet of Fire came out. Come to think of it, I always found that the Trio felt… different, after Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry and Ron especially felt like they had gotten dumber? And Hermione was suddenly explaining everything when exposition used to be split between her and Ron…

Vivi, in mourning: So that's what happened. Ron ended up being shortchanged to make Hermione look better, because Rowling was fonder of Hermione than she was of Ron, and the scriptwriter too come to think of it. Curse you, Steve Kloves!!!

Vivi, who is nothing if not what Pokémon fans call a nostalgiafag: But… but… yeah, it sucks that Ron was shortchanged, and actually yeah it's a freaking travesty and I WILL freaking spread the world about this, mark my words, but, but I still… I can't help it, when Hermione “looked up at Ron and her frostiness seemed to melt" I melt too. When Ron compliments Hermione or tries to take care of her as much as he can I… it still does something to me, I still find myself rooting for them even if I know there's the awful sixth book and the stupid post-Locket beatdown. Their kiss, for God's sake, I've just realized that Ron may have swept Hermione off her feet physically, but it's Hermione who jumped him, you could say Hermione metaphorically swept Ron off his feet!! God damn it, that's good, that's so good!

Vivi, at war with herself: No, I can't let myself be blinded by nostalgia!! The facts are that Hermione shows borderline abusive - even actually abusive - behaviour, this can't be denied! I don't want to root for an abusive relationship! I don't want to root for a relationship that relies on my favourite character being dumbed down to work!!!

Vivi, about to uncover the secrets of the universe: … wait a second. I don't have to.

Vivi, having an epiphany: Reading Solstice Muse's Romione fanfics gives me such happiness because she just gets the characters! She doesn't portray Hermione as perfect and never fucking up, and she always treats what happens to Ron with respect… Well, especially since she can't play them off as a joke since she often makes Ron the POV character. But, yeah! I can still like Romione… if it's well-written. Which, well, isn't the case in the original books… at least, isn't the case anymore after Rowling's bias got the best of her. Even though they do have their great moments.

Vivi, finding purpose in her life: I am going to spread awareness. I am going to tell the world. Fuck, just rereading the books, I've noticed how blatant the favouritism is and how unbalanced it can be. No wonder the fandom seems to collectively scoff at Ron - the books themselves do whenever it's convenient for them! The fandom plays favourites, because the author herself played favourites, and the worst part is that she didn't even realize it! Imagine you spend your life getting into traumatic situations out of love for your friends who always receive compassion and validation for their feelings about said traumas, but YOUR trauma is hardly touched upon and in the rare case it is, it's only to be mocked or used against you… Fuck! You're a piece of work, JKR! And the fandom just swallows it whole like a bunch of lobotomized snakes! Screw it! Screw it, I'm going to say it like it is, and I'm going to say it LOUDLY! People are going to hear about what Ron goes through and we'll see if Harry and Hermione look like the only ones worthy of therapy then!!

Present day Vivi, as she scrolls through the (heavily filtered) Romione tag on AO3: Ugh, another Drarry… and another… and another… oh, a Hinny-centric fic for a change, cool but I'm looking for more Romione than that, sorry. Gah, why is it that Romione appears as a secondary ship everywhere but they can't get their own stories? I've just seen a Snupin come up for God's sake! Oh, finally, a full Romione!! *clicks* … … … awww that was so sweet. Kudos! Okay back to the search… oh, another one!! *clicks* … … … it's Ron-bashing. It's Ron-bashing and it's not tagged Ron-bashing and that's why it showed up in my search AND I'M GOING TO FREAKING RIOT-

#vivi answers #ask #romione #ron weasley #hermione granger #ron weasley defense squad #ron weasley defence squad #ron x hermione #harry potter series #anti jk rowling

[bigskydreaming]

#video#important content#aight so fun fact#when I was getting certified to be a Victim Advocate#they dead ass had us watch the Unconscious People Don’t Want Tea video#I am not joking#in a nationally certified course#videos like this matter#a LOT tags via @desperatecheesecubes

Oh I absolutely believe you. Most of the most useful and informative and accurate content about rape culture, consent, victim advocacy and the like IS indie created and produced.....precisely because of how much of society’s entertainment content is produced by literal predators.....who actively gatekeep content that would cast their own in an unfavorable light from being professionally made and circulated.

I mean, its literally the heart of why I stress the importance of having these kinds of conversations in fandom spaces....because the only people actually capable of barring these kinds of discussions are....other fans.

But at pretty much every level of professional media and entertainment, there are predators in positions of power - whether they were already predatory when making their way up the ladder or simply grew to like it once they realized they were in a position to exploit their power predatorily like, literally doesn’t matter.

The point is just that they’re THERE, and we’re talking about the people who play some of the largest roles in actively SHAPING our culture....hence why rape and abuse culture have such large footholds and footprints in our society. Because it was actively shaped to be that way by people who literally have a vested interest in eroding perceptions of consent and victim advocacy and overall just making society in general more vulnerable to BEING preyed upon, whenever it suits predatory culture shapers’ desires.

Its like why I so often go back to the example of the infamous ‘sexually charged’ scene from X2 between Logan and Bobby Drake, one that never actually turns into a kind of teacher/student trope but which hits all the same beats and thus was perceived and received as EXACTLY that by fandoms of the time.....like, this scene was written and directed by a known predator. Bryan Singer has been directly accused of preying upon underage actors on his sets going all the way back to the 90s - 

(and I swear to god if any idiot comes into my inbox on anon to try and make this about homophobia when I’ve literally been gaybashed by homophobes and thus am more than aware of how easy it is for homophobes to make USE of something like this to advance their own agendas, but is also equally aware that homophobes don’t actually need SHIT to be homophobic and advance their agendas anyway, and thus I’m actually in no way obligated to defend or distract from an actual predator just because we happen to share a marginalization, like fair warning, try that with me and I will attempt to set you on fire with the power of my wrath) 

- but like point being.....this isn’t a coincidence? Singer’s predatory behavior has been a known quantity since even BEFORE the X-Men movies, and that scene in X2 is thus a classic example of someone like I’m describing using their extremely wide-reaching platform to actively shape culture according to his own vested interests. He’s literally using pop culture and entertainment to make the kind of dynamic that HE is interested in perpetrating with underage teens like, seem enticing, harmless and socially accepted all at the same time. This is LITERALLY normalization in action.

And its everywhere in our entertainment, and its the precise reason there’s barely any counter narratives to this in actual widespread media.....because many of the gatekeepers of Hollywood are literal predators themselves. It doesn’t mean that every creative in Hollywood is, just that they exist....and that they also exist in positions of power on the executive or studio side of things, thus making it fairly impossible to get actual counter narratives made on a culture-shaping level of equivalent platform....because they block such narratives from getting produced at all, or else use their influence to dilute or water down the point of such a narrative to the point of being all but useless.

Its like the same thing as why sex work is criminalized in the first place. People can go on all they want about how its to act as a deterrent and to protect people from being exploited, but like....I’m a former sex worker and while I’m a male one, I’ve certainly known tons of female sex workers and even with society’s sexism to factor in, like....no. Every female sex worker I’ve ever known or talked with is someone I’ve known to say the exact same thing as I’m outlining below.

That’s never been the reason for criminalization. Its to make it impossible for sex workers - whether they do sex work simply because they like it or are need-based sex workers, with the very existence of any need-based sex workers thus putting the lie to criminalization of sex work as a deterrent (like if people are going to do sex work anyway because the consequences of not doing it, like homelessness or starvation, are everpresent, then the comparatively lesser risk of being CAUGHT doing sex work renders it utterly useless as a deterrent) - 

Like point being, the criminalization of sex work on the whole has absolutely nothing to do with deterring shit....its literally to make it easier to EXPLOIT sex workers. I mean, my ACAB feelings aren’t arbitrary or ideological. Even as a guy, I hate cops for deeply personal reasons that stem from my time as a sex worker and the fact that I can personally attest to just how many fucking cops directly target and exploit sex workers in various ways because they more than anyone know that criminalization means THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT, because a sex worker has literally NO legal recourse against that, other than opening themselves up to potential legal consequences as well, just for admitting to being a sex worker when trying to report a cop or someone else for rape.

Cops ‘frequent’ sex workers more than pretty much any other ‘client group’ I can personally think of, because the ones who only seek out a badge in the first place because they WANT the ability to throw their weight around with the added perks of institutional power backing them up? They are like, first in line to engage with sex workers in various ways, because they know damn well that they can do literally whatever they want to a sex worker, consent be damned, and there’s pretty much nothing that sex worker can do in recourse without running smack into that Big Blue Wall and an arrest warrant for their own crime of solicitation.

And all of THIS in turn stems from the fact that another major source of ‘clients’ for sex workers is.....politicians. The actual literal law makers who ENACT these laws that criminalize sex work, for example, and thus ensure a ready, reliable victim pool ripe for exploitation by virtue of having no legal protections or opportunities for redress.

But yeah. It doesn’t surprise me on any level to hear that indie vids and tiktoks and the like are utilized in the programs you’re talking about - in fact, that more than anything makes me confident that the course actually knew what it was talking about and was making a sincere effort at empowering and educating people to act as advocates for victims and survivors.

Because the way our society was built from the ground up - by people interested in exploiting power in various ways against the many, many groups of people vulnerable to such exploitations - like, literally rewards and empowers people seeking to do the exact same thing. Thus resulting in predators being entrenched in the halls of power and at the table of culture-shapers like, on practically every level.

Which in turn makes the only spaces available for ACTUAL education and countering the narratives that shape and spread rape culture....literal counter-culture spaces like indie environments. And like fandom COULD be, if more fans would just....LET it be that.

*Shrugs* But whatevs. 

[vampish-glamour]

Rant / Vent here but like... it's so infuriating how prevalent the q slur is everywhere. I'm hyperfixating on crypozoology and the paranormal right now, but the online communities / spaces are riddled with mogai stuff, the q slur everywhere, m-spec biphobes, lesbophobia, homophobia, trans and enbyphobia... It makes me sick to my stomach 🤢

It's triggering to see, and not the "oh this offends me :'c" triggering, but the "I have trauma relating to the q slur and being called it by strangers and told I should be ok with it makes me want to become a ghost" triggering.

I can't look at or explore any online community, fandom, etc. etc. without it showing up, and if I say ANYTHING about it, I'm called a TERF or a radfem, because apparently a trans person not wanting to be called a triggering slur that means "weird" that was screamed in their face when they were abused is the same thing as sexism and transphobia disguised as radical empowerment 🙄

I'm sorry this was a mess but holy shit am I so sick of it. I live out in assfuck nowhere, so my only means of connecting with other people (especially those with similar interests) is online, but at this point I'm wondering if it's even worth it. I don't really want to be associated with communities who allow LGBTphobia under the guise of being woke and progressive. I almost prefer the open, blatant LGBTphobia from the right instead of this shit.

I just wanna talk about bigfoot ffs! Is it really so bad for an LGBT person to not want to be called a slur? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Anyway, thanks for listening to my madman ravings and I can't wait for June to be over 🙃

First of all that’s a really cool hyperfixation!!! If you haven’t already, maybe check out Armoured Skeptic’s YouTube channel, he has really cool videos about that sort of thing, where he examines the evidence/lack thereof and goes in depth with the myths. He has a video on Bigfoot, so you mentioning that made me think of his channel!

Anyways, I agree that fandom space is crazy anti-lgbt while claiming to be pro-lgbt. I find it to be mostly homophobia and biphobia, though. And transphobia in the form of fetishism.

And of course they LOVE the q slur. I see it all the time and it’s really upsetting. I just want to enjoy shit without being called a freak every second.

I’m sure you can find small fandom circles that don’t have this shit going on, even if you have to do a bit of looking. But sometimes it is just worth it to walk away from fandom and enjoy something on your own.

Something that I find helps is just having a notes folder where you can scream about your interests and stuff—or a physical journal if that’s your thing. Because then you can get your thoughts out but not have to deal with the fandom. Obviously you unfortunately don’t get the human interaction that way… but it’s better than nothing! And very safe from being called slurs, and being accused of being a terrible person for not wanting to be called a slur.

I 100% prefer open bigots to progressive bigots. At least the open bigots will just straight up tell me “I don’t like that you’re gay”, and I can shrug it off. Progressive bigots pretend to be my ally, speak over and for me, and treat me like a traitor when I stand up for myself.

I’m really sorry that you have to deal with all this. I hate that fandom has become a bad place for so many lgbt people, when originally we were told that it was supposed to be our safe haven. Idk, it just sucks. But you’re definitely not in the wrong. 💕

#asks #anon

[asexual-means-no-attraction]

Hi. Could you please give a piece of advice, if you have any thoughts on this? I don't want to tell anyone how to live or to judge anyone. But I genuinely don't know, how to behave around people who identify as trans or non-binary, or some else new gender, but are just gender-nonconforming, as it seems (of course, I can't know what happens inside anyone's head, but often I don't even have to guess). There are a lot of such people in fandom spaces, so avoiding them is a bit hard and I see it (staying aways from anything fandom) as a last resort. I just... don't know. Do I enforce the gender roles, stereotypes and sexism, if I agree with their self-identification? How do you think, is there any way to stay in the above-mentioned spaces with such individuals without being rude or transphobic AND without bringing more grist to the mill of misogyny? I apologise if the question is rude, I just really don't know, what to do.

So. If I'm understanding right you're asking about how to talk to people who use nonbinary, mogai genders, or some other 3rd made up gender in online spaces without disrespecting trans people or enforcing gender stereotypes.

That's a tough one. Unfortunately, especially on Tumblr, those kinds people are everywhere. You got a couple options:

1. Ignore those people specifically. Block them and move on. I know some fandoms are really small and that might take away a big chunk of content. But sometimes its what you gotta do. Fandom should be fun to interact with. Ignore and if need be block anyone who doesn't make your experience enjoyable.

2. Don't send hate. Just.... Just don't.

3. You could confront them. But random stranger on the internet confronting you about your identity isn't gonna go well.

4. Just don't read people's bios. Interact and have fun with the fandom, but don't read anyone bios to see mogai pronouns. Sometimes you just gotta learn to enjoy something with someone even if there are things you don't like or agree with about them.

5. Don't participate in fandom.

6. Block tags related to things you know you don't like. So tag "mogai" or something that way when you see posts like "this character identifies as [blank]" you don't actually see the post at all.

As for how to interact with these people. Just... Interact how you would anyone else. Just treat them like normal people. Don't try to push anything on them about their identity cuz they won't listen.

Maybe if you become closer online friends and they bring something related to their identity up you can say something. But overall, just try to enjoy the fandom. By letting them live their life you aren't encouraging them or pushing gender roles/stereotypes. They won't listen and they don't care what you think. It's really not worth your time either to confront each and every one of them. You'll just zap your energy with no positive results. There is a time and place for confrontation, and fandom really isn't it. By letting them be you aren't encouraging them, don't worry.

I hope that helps. If you want something more specific just send another ask. Might be kinda busy today tho, so I won't be able to respond immediately.

#confronting them would probably make them believe in their mogai idenities even more #its one of those #damned if you do damned if you dont #so you might as well enjoy yourself and hope they come around and wise up #it's not your job to confront them #its not worth it online either

[targaryen-stronghold]

As a Jonerys fan, one of the reasons S8 was so shitty is it made Dany/Jon's relationship look very ... uneven or one sided. S7 ended very clearly with Dany and Jon, both as equally powerful allies and rulers. Then S8 basically has Daenerys doing all the work while getting shit on by the North and the Stark sisters and Jon is just ... there? He at least upholds his word to go with her and lead Northern forces to KL but that's basically it?

They had some good moments in Episode 1 but then it went down the hill from there. Even then, Dany letting Jon riding Rhaegal was complete nonsense. It was total fanservice and nothing more. Dany had a hard time training her dragons and even flying them (remember Drogon refusing to fly back to Meereen?), but Jon due to his “cock power” not only flies Rhaegal like a pro, he actually goes into battle on dragonback on his second ride. What a bunch of bullshit. Also, the waterfall scene doesn’t make any sense with Season 8 plot: so Dany is this “power-hungry tyrant” but she wouldn’t mind leave everything behind to live with Jon in the wilderness? What? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is why Season 8 failed and the narrative is utter nonsense. They needed Dany and her resources to save the North but they wanted to turn her into a villain, and these two don’t add up. You can’t have a queen honoring her word and doing her part of the bargain and then calling her a tyrant. You can’t have her tolerating the Starks openly disrespecting her in front of her subjects and calling her a tyrant. Whoever wrote or even agrees with this bullshit never pick up a History book. I’m a History major and I had some good laughs at this fandom stupidity when it comes to Medieval History. In real life, people were executed for less than talking shit to a monarch and these kings aren’t even remembered as tyrants. Remember when Grey Wind basically eat Lord Umber’s hand because he disrespected Robb? Yeah, I don’t recall anyone calling Robb a tyrant because he threatened his subjects with his direwolf to assure his leadership over them. You see: when a man does it, it’s cool and awesome but when a woman does it, it’s “madness” and tyrannical.

When we look at the overall story, Jon and Dany relationship leaves a sour taste in my mouth and doesn’t add up with what was previously established in Season 7. In Season 8, Jon never tells others that he willingly bent the knee to Dany because she proved herself worthy by being willing to sacrifice herself for her people (rescue mission beyond the Wall), nor that Dany pledged herself to the Northern cause of defeating the Night King and his army before he bent the knee. Whenever others attack Dany, his only response is “she’s my queen” or whatever: he never reveals the things she did to prove herself worthy of his allegiance and love. By vilifying Dany, Jon was basically turned into a horny buffoon in Season 8: he only wants her because she’s hot, he’s thinking with his dick - that’s basically what the narrative is saying. But we watched Season 7, we know that’s some bullshit right there. Jon and Dany both care deeply about their people and they were chosen as leaders. They were equals: a King and Queen. They also fell in love in the worst of times but their love was supposed to represent a beacon of hope in the darkness to come. And don’t even bring up the incest part when the ultimate love story of this crap was Cersei and Jaime’s. All the talk about Dany and children in Season 7 apparently didn’t mean anything. Also, Jon basically taking credit for Dany’s accomplishments (riding a dragon, facing the Night King on dragonback, etc.) and never praising her is some disgusting whole level of sexism. Dany is never praised for her role in the Battle of Winterfell: her armies were slaughtered, she rode Drogon and faced the Night King, she picked up a dragonglass sword and fought, and she lost Jorah. But her efforts are never acknowledged. Actually, when she was out there fighting and risking her life, the Lady of the House was hiding inside and talking shit about her. 

Dany has every right to be pissed at the feast when Jon is right there being congratulated for doing the same shit as she did. Varys looks at her suspiciously like she’s wrong in reacting this way (and later he tells Tyrion he worries about her state of mind). This bullshit was so obviously written by men: women everywhere know what is like to have a man taking credit for their deeds. After the feast, Jon is drunk and wants to kiss and have sex with Dany but stops himself. She just lost Jorah but he never bothers to ask how she’s doing. She asks him to keep his parentage a secret because hell would break lose. Dany is absolutely right and all her fears come true: people actually go on their way to conspire to kill her and place Jon in the throne instead. You aren’t paranoid or mentally instable if your instincts are right and people are out there to get you. And don’t even get me started about how awful this story is towards mentally ill people by representing them as “evil” and “monsters”. This so wrong and fucked up, I can’t even find the words to express my disgust. Then, Dany loses both Rhaegal and Missandei and she’s mourning them. In some repulsive fashion, they show us Dany with bags under her eyes and her hair unkempt: this was supposed to be an indicator she was mentally instable (yikes). Jon arrives at Dragonstone but does he care in comforting her? No. He shallowly says he loves her and pushes her away. But where the fuck is this love he’s talking about? When I first saw this scene, I immediately recalled this scene from “Closer” (2004):

This is Jon’s love for Dany in Season 8 in a nutshell. The narrative says Jon does love Dany. But this “love” is shallow and meaningless concerning his actions towards her: he doesn’t support her, he doesn’t stand up for her and he isn’t even there when she needs him the most. She is going through a harsh time and he gives her the side-eye when she rightfully executes Varys for treason (he was trying to kill her): apparently Jon kind of forgot he executed a child who killed him because he befriended the wildings (who, you know, murdered and eaten Olly’s family and forced him to watch). This is emotional abuse in my book. Have you ever watched “Midsommar” (2019)? Season 8 Jon is like the protagonist’s abusive boyfriend, This goes full circle when Jon murders Dany because he wants to protect himself and Arya, Sansa and Bran. But does he try to understand Dany or her motifs? No, she’s a tyrant, period. She wants to kill everyone even tho she never says this. I already talked about how OCC it was for Dany to burn down King’s Landing. She wants to break the wheel and the masters of Westeros are the feudal lords. Of course Dany is threat to every Lord in Westeros because she wants to give power to the people, the smalfolk. The people would then decide who they wanted to rule them. The Northern people might still choose a Stark to lead them… or not. That’s a treat to the Stark dominion over the North.

Either way: all of it was bullshit and offensive and these writers can go fuck themselves for even thinking this was okay.

#daenerys targaryen #anti game of thrones season 8 #jonerys

[dgcatanisiri]

So... I have had THOUGHTS swirling in my head, and, well, I need to word vomit some. This gets LONG. I apologize for the lack of a cut, but nowhere really seemed fitting during my writing.

If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s going around - an article about fandom hating on women. A very long, very researched article. And I absolutely do not dispute that core premise. I am not going to dismiss the work that the writer put into it. I am not standing here saying to dismiss it at all. And, hell, I DO feel a little uncomfortable, writing this massive response to it, being a man writing something that is directly responding to a female experience. Just... My brain would not let me focus unless I wrote this all down, and wrote out my feelings on the matter to a conclusion.

When I first saw it the other day, it sparked a rant of my own, because something about it didn’t sit right. Its focus is on how this hatred of women has gone after those who ship a certain ship, one I avoid calling by name for a very specific reason. That reason being I legit fear being bombarded by people who search the tags for that ship getting a ping of me commenting about it negatively and lashing out at me.

Now, I am not saying that I discount the article writer’s experience or research. Far from it. This is, much as I am loathe to use the term, something I am willing to say that, within the fandom, develops an element of “both sides” to it, where an incident with one side (those in favor of the ship) leads the other (those against it) to respond on the defensive, and back and forth and back and forth, intensifying in each volley, because one random stranger attacked another random stranger and made them hostile to a third random stranger saying things similar to the first, and so on down the chain. It’s like the game of Telephone, just played with tactical nukes.

But, the thing for me in that rant, is that there is a very blatant MISSING of the element of racism that fueled that ship that will not be named, of there being a significant element of the fandom around that ship transplanting the characteristics and even history of the character played by the black man onto the character played by the white man. Like, talk about sock puppet accounts fanning flames and all, but I’ve SEEN fics for this pairing that vilifies the black man and props up the white man. I have SEEN the massive metas that try to explain how the white man kidnapping this woman involved a bridal carry that expresses his true love for this woman he’s just met, interpreting and reinterpreting and pouring over the screentime they have, and only a fraction of it being spent on what seemed like, in the first appearance of these characters. I have SEEN the ignoring and transferring of character backstories repeatedly. Like... Those are a lot of work for it to be mostly the work of sock puppet accounts - A Tweet is easy. A 15000 word fanfic takes time and effort. A meta dive that rivals the length of this post takes time and effort. 

That’s been MY experience in seeing this ship. That’s why I’m being non-specific, because I’ve SEEN the hostility come in and I am taking the steps that I can to avoid that coming in to my inbox. And even when it’s not hostility... I’ve gone and explored the tag for the female character in this pairing. On those occasions, frequently content solely for her is drowned out by the content for the pairing, or about her influence on him. His tag does not have the same issue - there, it’s probably around half shipping content, half individual character content. What I see is that she is neglected by those who claim to see her as part of the pairing they love, and he gets glorified. 

That’s the sexism that I see. That’s where I see the hatred of women happening. On the part of those who claim to love this pairing, but that really seems to just mean that they love him and want to make her stand in emotionally for everything they want to give him. That those who are against the pairing, at the least, want to see that character in particular, her unique characterization and dynamics, in a relationship with someone who is going to treat her with compassion, consideration, and respect.

And, of course, there’s the issue of the fact that this pairing EXPLODED in popularity, while her relationship with another character, with a black man, was from pretty much day one minimized and reduced and ignored, and the damage reflected into the on-screen portrayal so that they never really had any character rebound from the imposed separation in the middle of this content, while strengthening the reduction of this female character to the white guy’s sexy lamp.

It’s not that I’m opposed to women in fandom or that I see something inherently wrong with whoever ships this pairing. It is that I have seen the blatant and thinly veiled racism implicit in the ways that these people go about shipping it, dismissing and denouncing the canon portrayal of an interracial relationship, to the point that when even the (notoriously tumultuous) production came back to write the stories that followed up on their initial appearance, that black man and his relationship with this white woman was downplayed and rendered “less important” to her connection and relationship with the white man - the white man who, in that first appearance, had kidnapped and tortured her, greatly wounded her friend, and killed her mentor. 

Like, I’m just saying, I do not see how one goes from that point to everlasting true love, but I CAN see how that leads to a deep abiding hatred. And yet, you know, nearly 16000 fics for it on AO3, while only about 10% of the other pairing. So, hey, I guess I’M wrong.

This is, again, to say nothing of the reductionary way many portrayals of this ship approach the female half - she loses her characterization in their portrayals to become a stand-in for the (predominantly) female writer/reader, whose love redeems the bad boy from the darkness in his soul. Her contribution, as a singular, unique character vanishes so that she becomes his reward for turning around, and she cheers him on, supporting him while never upstaging him.

It’s the Twilight phenomenon all over again. And I say that as a fact statement, not a value judgement, that this is the kind of thing that we saw within the reactions to Twilight, a vocal segment dismissed it entirely, and we saw a relationship be romanticized when you could actually use it as a bullet-point list of abusive behavior (I say this because it has been - there are plenty of articles using those characters as such). 

I mean, I can easily see this whole thing basically as being “well, the Twilight readers are now adults, let’s throw them a bone and “grow up” the characters for them” on some level. And... Actually, this is going to get off topic, let’s stick a pin in this and come back.

So, look, if this ship is your jam, fine, okay? I’m not making any individual value statements on the subject. You do you. I’m not shaming that act in and of itself, even if, as I’ve made very clear, it is very much NOT my thing. Likewise, I won’t discount that it was investors and shareholders, a notoriously conservative group, who got cold feet and basically wanted to excise the “risk” of an interracial relationship, as opposed to trying to “appease the fans” or something like that.

Like, I know I’m not immune to propaganda. I know I don’t look too deep when a random post crosses my dashboard and talks about this group of people behaving badly - because I’ve seen fandoms and productions be racist. I’m not trying to start a round of victimization Olympics here, but in this case, this is discussing an issue that is wrapped up in BOTH sexism and racism. And on the one hand, that certainly makes it all the easier for bad faith actors to kick up dust and turn people against one another.

BUT...

As important as it is to bring up these issues on their own, you CANNOT. DISENTANGLE. THEM. FROM. EACH OTHER. Like, there are patterns to fandom. You see this repeat itself in every fandom. Fandom at large latches on to a pairing, and shoves most others to the margins. And frequently, when the media in question centers on a character of color, THEY are shoved aside in order to prop up a pairing of white characters. Major canon characters who are not white become secondary - or tertiary - characters in terms of their fandom’s creative output. This happens frequently enough that to try and say “well, maybe the character is just not appealing to the fandom” is actively ignoring the issue.

And this often takes the form of shoving aside healthy relationships and solid, established friendships in the name of pairing up antagonistic characters, declaring the antagonism to be “sexual tension,” that the characters dislike each other not because... y’know, they dislike each other, but because they’re repressing a deep-seated desire to fuck, and THEN they’ll miraculously starting being nice to one another.

Like, this is NOT an isolated thing, you can look beyond the scope of this particular fandom and this pairing and see the pattern repeat itself across media. It is still the outlier when the main fandom pairing is an interracial M/F pairing. 

It’s not isolated. But it’s magnified given the massive size of this fandom in particular. This is a generational fandom, where parents - even grandparents - are sharing it with their children. And those biases we as an audience have reinforce themselves on subconscious levels, we don’t even acknowledge these things until we finally have it pointed out to us - and then we see it everywhere, because we have been blind to it, but it is all over our media, our fiction, baked into the very tropes we are using to assemble our stories.

Pull out that pin, we’re back. When something engages with multiple generations, when this is something you can look back on as a fond memory you shared with prior generations, with people you love, you will become protective of that thing. So when someone comes along and says “hey, [thing] has issues with [whatever],” a gut reaction is to get defensive, coil protectively around it. 

I mean, tell a millennial you don’t like The Lion King (original animated version, I mean), and you’re liable to get crucified. And it traces its lineage to (at a minimum) Shakespeare and probably further. So if, for example, you want to criticize it for, say, only have three female characters of note, none of whom actually interact, in opposition to the nearly three times as many male characters of note, you need to approach the subject with some delicacy (okay, maybe not the most fitting example, since this was part of the reason that the Broadway version made Rafiki a woman, so the issue Is Known, but it does get the point across, okay?).

And it’s the same when it comes to a subject like this particular fandom and media that isn’t just something many get hooked on in their childhood, but is also something that may be among the fond and cherished memories of family figures, some who may have passed on. To say “that thing you love is flawed” becomes a personal attack, not just on you for loving it, but also that beloved family member who brought it into your life.

And absolutely, this is not a rational reaction. It’s pure emotion. But we are emotional beings, and we need to acknowledge that emotions will make us respond and often respond quickly and respond poorly.

Here’s where I think the bigger issue lies if what you want to talk about is how fandom hates women - rather than look at it in the lens of “this ship is called abusive and racist,” go in the direction of “why is THIS ship the one that seems to resonate?”

Because this is the kind of ship that fandom, as a monolithic entity, often gravitates to - the dynamic that says that being enemies will inevitable lead to being lovers. 

Once again, I do not want to shame anyone for enjoying this dynamic. Lord knows my search history has instances of them. BUT... We don’t really know how to approach the dynamic. It is frequently reduced to “well, we made out, so now I’m gonna become the snarky asshole friend no one likes and we’ll bone.” 

Like in general, writing redemption arcs seems to be a hard thing for media, but it really seems to only work when the active narrative endpoint does not end in a major romance - when a romance becomes a major narrative element in said redemption arc, it frequently reduces the subject to “[character] was bad, now they’re in love, so they’re good!” No further work needs to be done.

And so when you have a character who is in need of redemption, it is a problem to just toss them at another character and have them make kissy faces. But that’s what you can sum up much of the concept of enemies to lovers in this fashion. The work isn’t done to show the earning of redemption, just declaring it attained because of another character’s love.

And I’m being intentionally non-specific with gender, because I do have a prominent example of this happening in a female/female fanon relationship in mind, which I am also avoiding mentioning in the name of discretion. So this isn’t solely a M/F phenomenon. This is a media thing, this is an “our understanding and approach to these dynamics and portrayals in media seems flawed and needs examination” thing. 

I mentioned Twilight above, and how that features a relationship that is used as an example of domestic abuse. Now, look, we can go back and forth about interpretation, the thing to acknowledge about it is that there are a great many who walked away from these books, their movie adaptations, and saw this particular interpretation. While you can probably take any relationship in any media and spin it in such a way, I think there is something to be said for the ensuing argument: When this is exposed to young people who are beginning to seek out romantic relationships, if their example for what love is, what love looks like, has a basis that, based solely on interpreting the text alone, the actions and words of the characters involved, the narrative text, the exploration of their thoughts, is unhealthy, is something that doesn’t need to have a word or action changed to be legitimately cited by experts within domestic abuse counseling as the warning signs... What does that say about our perceptions of what love even is?

And this isn’t getting back into the element of racism, either. Because we could go in that direction, where the black characters in fandom see this selective reinterpreting of their characters, turning what are gentle, caring, loving men into scary figures who loom ominously when they feel threatened, which starts to seem like all the time. There are a set of stock characterizations for black characters, for really any minority character, and the fandom will make them exhibit them in their interpretations, even if it does not fit anything established on screen.

There are a lot of threads that tie into the problems within this fandom and in the approach to this ship in particular. I feel like just pulling at one of them is doing so at the expense of the others, ones that run as deep if not deeper. And it seems like a disservice, both to the complexity of the issue and to anyone impacted by these matters, to only do that deep dive on the one. And, if you are not capable of doing it alone, which, I understand, this is a tall order, then I think it also is important to acknowledge this and actively seek out the alternate views and perspectives that aren’t just total opposition to you (meaning the references to the groups that sprung up in alt-right forums and such), but also those who are going to say “okay, maybe you’re right about x, but your statement on y are missing a lot of context you do not have from your position,” and seek the necessary education.

While I can appreciate the time and effort put into this article and the points it wants to make, it IS wrapped up in elements that run far deeper than any single ship, and just really seems to ignore the intersectional element of fandom at large, how fandom’s problem run deeper than just hating women. To talk about how fandom hates women, you are also needing to open the door to how fandom hates black people, hates people of color.

There is a hierarchy to this, and at best, you are missing a lot when you only focus on the top layer of the issue, rather than even acknowledging the deeper dive that inevitably comes from this. Like, it’s bad for a white woman, dealing with sexism. It’s worse for black women, dealing with sexism AND racism. It is something of a position of privilege to only examine the sexism in fandom, without exploring or acknowledging the racism.

Fandom’s hatred of women IS real. I am in no way disputing that. But I do not think that this is the best example to that point, because it becomes all too easy to dismiss the valid complaints and concerns with the trolls and bots and sock puppets found in the process that deserve legitimate consideration - this is one of the things I have been over when I have (oh god, I’m about to break the self-imposed rule and directly reference the media and characters in specific...) been over the problems I have with The Last Jedi. It’s not that I dislike Rose or Holdo, but I feel like they came into the narrative to teach Finn and Poe (both men of color) lessons that either comes at the expense of the previous’s movies arc for Finn or the previous movie’s characterization for Poe. It is not the characters themselves, it is the utilization within the narrative, using these women to impose a lesson on these characters. That, as I said above, Rey is reduced to a sexy lamp, there to try and bring back to the light a character she has no reason to ever even care about.

That was my experience with The Last Jedi - I had honest issues with the film that weren’t “women? In my Star Wars? Unpossible!” But the surrounding discourse CONSTANTLY felt so toxic to anyone who disagreed with the idea that it had been a win, that it was a bold new direction for the series, and that anyone who disagreed MUST be a sexist/racist/whatever who couldn’t take a changing face to the franchise. 

Hell, that may even be why I got this ultimate feeling of defensiveness, both in my opinion of TLJ and the ship in question (yeah, that one I’m still not acknowledging), because what I saw was a lot of really prominent voices not seeing the issues I did, and making it come across like the people who disagreed with them HAD TO BE the ones who were mad on the basis of characters like Rose and Holdo existing, or complaining about Leia’s Force use, or things like that. But... THOSE things weren’t my issues. But I couldn’t talk about those issues on any platform where there was regular engagement on the subject, considering the amount of explanation I would have to do.

Probably also explains some of my inherent response of trying to figure out how I feel about this article, too, come to think of it...

That was how things were after TLJ, and that’s when a lot of this push and pushback really started to gain traction as far as I can see. And maybe we could go and blame this on *ahem* bigger issues that were happening in 2017/2018 that proceeded to exacerbate matters. Like, we’re still in the midst of cleaning up the worst of all of what went on because of the time we live in, since things are still getting messier while we deal with prior fallout.

So... I honestly don’t know how to sum this up as a TL;DR. It was kind of a process for me to get to this point, and I don’t even know if I really have a conclusion. The best way I can go about summarizing is that I do not disagree with the article’s core idea. But I do not agree with its focus, while I understand that a portion of it, if nothing else, justifies why it is the focus. We are dealing with a very complex and complicated web of issues on this, and while I understand focusing on a single thread of that web, it feels like doing so also fails to acknowledge the various connected threads that wrap around that singular thread, in particular the racial elements, which, considering the profile image included, I do not believe this article was written by someone who is inherently aware of these aspects (while I’m also aware that, as a white person myself, I only have so much room to talk). This is all a very long way for me to go about saying “fandom has a lot of issues.”

#dg rants #long post #like seriously if you made it through all that in one sitting go get yourself a cookie or something

[missmeikakuna]

Chad and the Incel Chapter 1

Rated: M

Fandom: Original Fiction (but inspired by the Virgin vs Chad meme)

Relationship type: Male/Male with a bit of Female/Female (the lesbians are adorable, btw) and unrequited Male/Female (in other words, the guys are bisexual).

Description: Chad is, well, a Chad, or at least he looks like one. He’s got his sights set on the cool nerd Becky and enlists the help of her shy incel ex-friend Noah, offering to help him get the gorgeous girl (Stacy) he desperately wants. Noah is reluctant to help, believing that he will be stuck in inceldom forever, but Chad’s interest in his life gives him hope. When their plans go awry, they start turning their romantic attention towards each other.

Content Warning: Given the subject matter, you can guess that this story has dark themes in it, such as suicide and self-harm (plus the mental health issues that often cause them), sexism, slut-shaming homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. There is also swearing and some mentions of sex but nothing too explicit (hence the M rating as opposed to an Explicit rating). 

1st Post: [SuicideFuel] Talking to a Chad

Chad Beaufort wiped his forehead with his towel, which he held over his back like a tarpaulin. He kept in one corner as he changed. He didn’t need to, per se. For an eighteen-year-old, he was fairly muscular and lacked much excess body fat, plus he had the benefit of being one of the tallest students on the team. However, he didn’t want to face his teammates, and he certainly didn’t want to have to see them changing.

He gasped and felt tempted to nurse his back when a hand smacked it. He grit his teeth. He could already tell who owned that hand.

‘Hey, my man. You wanna go and get some Mickey D’s?’ 

He was right.

He turned his head. Tyrone Cooper. A short, scrawny black kid with a big mouth and an urge to insult every person he came across.

‘Or are you too busy chugging salads in fear of getting fat?’ He looked up and down Chad’s body despite most of it being covered by a towel.  ‘Good decision,’ he said. Case in point.

Tyrone reached up and wrapped his arm around Chad’s neck, pulling the poor sonofabitch to his level. ‘But surely you won’t sacrifice a friend for that, right? Come on, have some fun.’

Ah, yes. ‘Friend’. Chad and Tyrone? Totally friends. Chad definitely enjoyed spending time with him and certainly never wanted to punch his teeth out.

‘I’m busy,’ Chad murmured.

Tyrone let go of him and crossed his arms. ‘Fine. Enjoy your fucking salad.’ He left with a huff. Chad sighed in relief.

He finished changing and headed out the door. He looked at his watch and sped up his walking. She was probably gone by now.

His heartbeat became as intense and full of hype as an overture when he saw Becky White pass him in the halls. At least she hadn’t left yet. Her dark chocolate hair was pulled back tight into a high ponytail, making her soft facial features all the more visible. The icy blueness of her eyes made her stand out. Her slim arms, covered by a merino wool sweater, were somehow carrying several books without her face showing any signs of struggle from their weight. Her mouth was closed so her braces didn’t show, but somehow those braces were charming to Chad. Or maybe he just liked seeing her smile. 

For a moment she did, but then she hid her face behind her books. Chad’s face started to heat up but then he looked behind him and saw a girl he sort of knew.

Stacy Wells was a tall girl with a fake tan and a large chest, wearing short shorts, just long enough to avoid being chastised by teachers, and a tight top. When she saw Becky, she pushed a strand of her wavy bottle-blonde hair behind her ear and gave her a little grin. She stared at her with warm brown eyes.

Covertly following her was a short boy with greasy and messy short black hair, which had bangs long enough to almost cover his eyes, a shirt with some anime girl on it and a pair of glasses Chad expected a grandfather to wear. Noah D’Arc. He had his hands in his pockets and was looking away from Stacy but inched closer to her. Chad caught him taking a whiff of Stacy’s fruity perfume. 

Stacy held her hand up to wave at her. Becky noticed Noah’s presence and scowled at him. He scowled back. She whipped her head away from him, causing Chad to savour the sight of her ponytail bouncing, and continued walking. 

Stacy frowned and dropped her fingers, her hand still hanging in the air. Noah looked down at the floor and shuffled away.

The next day, Chad found himself staring at Noah in class, trying to come up with a possible reason why Becky glared at him. His thoughts quickly got distracted from this puzzle when Becky’s face entered his mind. Chad grinned as he wondered what she’d wear on a date. Would she still wear her usual simple attire or would she dress up? He had a feeling she’d look cute in a sundress with her hair down. Then again, ponytails were kind of hot-

He was thrown out of his mind by another slap on the back. Like a bull he breathed out through his nose and turned his head. Tyrone. Of course.

‘Hey, you know Emilia Graff? I heard she just got pregnant. I can’t imagine it, personally. I mean, is it physically possible for her to get fatter?’

Chad considered replying, ‘Shut up. No one cares.’ However, Becky’s face once again popped up in his head. He instead asked, ‘Hey, do Becky White and Noah D’Arc know each other?’

Tyrone scratched his chin and looked up. ‘Hm…. Well, I do remember them being friends in middle school. Don’t know what happened after that. Why?’

Chad shrugged. When lunchtime rolled by, he watched Noah head to the computer lab with his lunchbox and decided to follow him.

When he entered the lab, he leaned against the doorframe. ‘Hey, uh, Noah, right?’ he asked when Noah sat down by a computer. Noah didn’t look up. His shoulders rose, his hands curled into fists and his eyebrows met in the centre of his face. 

Chad put a smile on his face and his hands in his pockets. This was how it was done, right? ‘So, I was wondering if you could tell me about Becky.’ Noah remained silent but started moving, turning on the computer and focusing on the screen. Chad rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I’d kind of like to know what kind of guy she likes.’

Chad’s eyes widened when Noah rolled his eyes. He heard him murmur, ‘Typical.’ Chad covered his mouth to suppress his laughter, releasing a tiny bit of spit into his hand. He wiped that hand against his jeans and held it out for a handshake. Noah looked at the hand like it was covered in maggots or, well, spit. Chad kept his hand out but curled it nervously.

‘Well, how about…’ Chad said, unsure what to do next. ‘You like Stacy, right? Let’s help each other out.’ Noah whispered something. Chad leaned down and put his hand against the back of his ear. ‘What was that?’ Noah tucked his lips into his mouth. Chad sighed. ‘I thought you’d be, I dunno, happy to get some help. Wait, I didn’t mean that in a… Sorry.’

Noah whispered again, but this time Chad heard it, though just barely. ‘No fucking point.’

‘Why?’

Noah tensed up even more. ‘I’m blughpild’

‘Huh?’

‘Blaghpeeled.’

‘What? I still can’t hear you.’

Noah took a deep breath. ‘Blackpilled.’

‘The fuck does that mean?’ Chad blurted out, though he didn’t apologise. 

Noah crossed his arms and turned his head in the direction opposite to Chad. ‘I realized the truth a few months ago.’

‘The truth? Is this ‘blackpilled’ thing a cult or something?’

Noah stood up and grabbed the collar of Chad’s polo shirt, pulling him closer. ‘You think someone like me would end up in a cult? I’m not dumb enough to believe in some sky wizard.’ After saying this, he immediately let go and sat down, sweat dripping down his face. The two were silent for a few moments.

Chad asked with a curious grin, ‘So what is it, then?’

A sigh from Noah. ‘Well, you would agree with me if I told you the world’s unfair, right?’ Chad shrugged but then nodded. ‘It’s especially unfair for people like me. No girls want to talk to me, no girls even want to go near me.’ 

Noah paused, considering how much information he planned on giving. ‘I’ve been deprived of love my entire life. Women just want Chads who treat them like shit, leaving behind all the ugly guys who’d treat them with respect.’ 

His face scrunched up with just enough force to stop his eyes from spilling tears. ‘When I gave up on trying to get a woman, I became blackpilled. Your world and mine are night and day. You get the bright blue day world full of love and admiration and I get the pitch-black night world full of, well, nothing.’

Chad asked, ‘Hey, wait, what did you say about me? Women want guys with my name? Why?’ Noah looked at him like a dog being told an unrecognisable command. ‘My name’s Chad.’

Noah scanned Chad’s body. ‘How fitting,’ he said as he tried to rip his eyes away from the lightly-tanned muscles that bulged out from underneath his crimson T-shirt and the tousled blonde hair that accentuated his strong jaw-

‘How?’

Noah coughed and turned away again. ‘You look like a Chad.’

It was Chad’s turn to cross his arms. ‘The hell does that mean?’

Noah’s throat closed up. His arms stiffened and his eyes darted everywhere. Chad exhaled and left the room, but not before seeing a tab on Noah’s computer entitled ‘Incels.me’. He just missed Noah groaning when the website was blocked by the school, taking out his phone and seeing only a tiny bit of internet data left.

Chad didn’t talk to Noah for a couple of weeks, but he did occasionally stare at him in the hopes of catching him considering the option.

Noah did consider it. In his mind was a constantly repeating video of him gathering the courage to talk to Stacy and her giving a cute little giggle before grabbing his hand. However, he remembered something someone on Incels.me said. 

Stacies don’t know what true oppression is. They’re able to use their body to get what they want. If I tried to do that, I’d be arrested for sexual harassment.

This comment kept battling with the fantasy of Stacy going out with him. Chad’s idea was useless. No, it wasn’t. It would never work. But Chad could give him some expertise. No girl wanted an ugly guy. But maybe this Stacy was different!

He finally made his decision as the lunch bell rang, though part of him screamed for him to reconsider. Instead of heading to the computer lab, the library or the cool-aired spot behind the gym, he walked up to Chad.

It took him a while to start talking as Chad put his pens in his pencil case. ‘If you give me some dating tips, I’ll tell you about Becky.’ 

After a moment of pressure at the thought of giving dating tips, Chad beamed at him and did something he didn’t expect to do. He gave him a little slap on the back. 

‘I knew you’d come around,’ he said.

What he didn’t know was that Noah had written about him on Incels.me.

#chad vs incel #Chad x Incel #bisexual #Incel #romance #drama #original fiction #breaking stereotypes #lesbian #Chad and the Incel