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yasminbenoit · 3 years

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“A Romantic Partner Won’t Complete Me, Because I Was Born Complete”: How Identifying As Asexual & Aromantic Brought Me True Freedom & Happiness | Yasmin Benoit for British Vogue

There is a phase in our lives where everyone seems asexual and almost everyone seems aromantic. It wasn't until puberty kicked in that platonic relationships seemed to take a backseat. My peers stopped wanting to play together and started wanting to 'date' each other. That was when I started to realise that there was something different about me. I didn’t seem to be experiencing the same urges as those I was around. I chose to go to an all girls school in the hopes that – in the absence of boys – everyone would stop caring about sex and dating. It actually had the opposite effect. There was a sense of deprivation in the air and the heightened desire to project their sexuality onto anything and everything.

Therefore, my lack of interest became even more obvious, and it became a not-so-fun game to work out the source of what should be troubling me, but hadn’t been until that point. Having a sexual orientation isn’t just natural, it’s essential. It’s part of being a fully-functional human being. And to be romantically love and be loved by another is the ultimate goal. It’s part of being normal, which made me both abnormal and puzzling. When your asexual, people think there’s something wrong with your body. When you’re aromantic, they think there’s something wrong with your soul. Even for a teenage girl who internalised all of Disney Channel’s “be yourself” messages, it’s never nice to have people publicly debate your supposed physical and psychological flaws.

My nickname in school was “hollow and emotionless.” I was a joker with a decent amount of friends, but I was lacking something crucial, the kind of love that really mattered and the kind of lust that made life exciting...so I was practically Lord Voldemort with braids. I sat through the regular DIY sexuality tests, having my peers show me graphic sexual imagery, have very sexual conversations in my presence, and ask me inappropriately intimate questions to gauge how far gone I truly was. These tests lead to the development of theories, most centred around me having some kind of mental problem. After a while, you start to wonder if everyone knows something you don’t.

When they said that I must have been molested as a child and “broken” by the trauma, I wondered if I had somehow forgotten about sexual abuse that actually hadn’t happened. I looked at some of my own relatives with suspicion, the same people who would later ask me if I didn’t experience sexual attraction because I was a pedophile. It was suggested that I was “suffering” from my “issues” because I was socially anxious and insecure. The suggestion that my ‘issue’ was pathological stayed with me for a long time, but not as much as the widely accepted theory that I was mentally slow. Unfortunately, that one stuck. I was referred to as “stupid” and I started to believe that was the case. It would impact my experience in education for the next eight years, long after I realised that there was a word for what I was.

Asexual.

I first heard the word during one of the near-daily sexuality tests that I was subjected to. I was asked if I was gay, to which I said that I wasn’t interested in anybody like that – men or women. At fifteen, I was asked, “Maybe you’re asexual or something?” but it wasn’t quite a lightbulb moment. How could it be when I had never heard the word outside of biology class? After an evening of Google searching, I realised that there were many people with my exact same experience, complete strangers whose stories sounded so strangely similar to mine. I also stumbled across the word ‘aromantic,’ but at the time, I didn’t understand the need for it. "Wouldn't all asexual people be aromantic? A romantic relationship without sex is just friendship with rules,” I thought.

Either way, my discoveries showed me that I wasn’t alone, but that only half helpful. I now had an identity that no one had heard of or understood. Most didn’t believe that being asexual or aromantic was a real thing, and I doubted it to. I had been taught to after years of armchair pathologisation. If asexuality was real, why did no one tell you that being sexually attracted to nobody was an option? What if it was just an internet identity made up to comfort people with all of the issues that had been attributed to me? I didn’t have to go far down the rabbit hole to realise that asexuality, like many non-heteronormative identities, had been medicalised. What I had experienced as just the tip of the iceberg. As someone who hadn’t been prescribed drugs I didn’t need or subjected to unnecessary hormone tests, I was one of the lucky ones.

My activism would be my gateway to the community. Despite being the ugly friend at school, I ended up becoming a model while in university. I decided to use the platform I had gained through my career to raise awareness for asexuality and aromanticism. It gave me the opportunity to encounter a range of asexual and aromantic offline, it was then that I learned the significance of having an aromantic identity. There are many asexual people who still feel romantic attraction, as well as aromantic people who still feel sexual attraction. They have their own range of experiences, their own culture, their own flag, and like the asexual community, I was relieved to see that they are just normal people. These intersecting communities are not stereotypes. They weren’t just thirteen year old, pink haired kids making up identities on Tumblr to feel special. They were parents, lawyers, academics, husbands, girlfriends, artists, black, white, young, old, with differing feelings towards the many complex elements of sexuality and intimacy. Most importantly, they were happy.

I am proud to be part of both, and I know that while being asexual and aromantic, I am a complete person and I can live a perfectly fulfilling life. Since meeting members of my communities, I’ve become more open about my identities in real life, and a reaction I’m often met with is sympathy. “You must feel like you’re missing out,” “I can’t imagine being like that,” “It must be hard for your family,” “Do you worry no one will want you?” “How do you handle being so lonely?” “You’re so brave and strong,” “What will you do with your life now?” Even in 2021, a woman who isn’t romantically loved or sexually desired by their “special someone” is perceived as being afflicted with some kind of life-limiting condition.

Asexuality doesn't make undesirable or unable to desire others. It is a unique experience of sexuality, not a deprivation from it. Even if it was, there is so much more to life than what turns us on and what we do about it. Romantic love is just one form of love, neither superior nor inferior to any other. Being aromantic doesn't mean that you can't love or be loved, it does not mean you are void of other emotions or capabilities. I am not lonely with my friends, family, co-workers and supporters. I feel confident not when someone wants to date me but when I meet my goals and form worthwhile connections with others. My success isn't determined by whether someone will want to marry me someday. What we want out of life is our decision alone, our sources of happiness should not be defined by our ever-changing, culturally relative social standards. The love of a romantic partner won't complete me because I was born complete. Feeling sexual attraction to others won't liberate me because my liberation is not dependent on other people.

Valentine's Day is on the horizon. It's an occasion that amps up the focus on (and the pressure to achieve) a very specific type of love and sexual expression, one that is actually alienating for people inside and outside of the asexual community. During a pandemic where many relationships have been strained, tested, formed or distanced, it's important to keep the diversity of romantic and sexual feelings in mind. Many expect me to feel annoyed or lonely during this time of year, but I actually feel empowered and excited by the way sex, romance and love are discussed more deeply around this time. These conversations are constantly expanding to become more inclusive for everyone, and that's what we need to see all year round.

https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/asexuality-and-aromanticism

#yasmin benoit #valentines day #british vogue #asexuality #aromantic #aromanticism #aroace #asexual #this is what asexual looks like #thisiswhatasexuallookslike

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ailuronymy · 3 years

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Thoughts on the new discourse? Warrior cats naming conventions and rank names being straight up stolen from native American people? So many people seem to be... Straight up leaving the Fandom or changing all of their fan content and it feels very performative and, people not actually thinking critically and just being scared of getting "cancelled"? I feel like your opinions on these matters are very informed and well written so I wanted to ask given that this blog main theme is, well, warrior cat naming system and that seems to be the main issue of the new discourse.

This is probably going to get long, since there's sort of a lot to say about it in order to talk about this whole thing fairly and constructively, because from what I’ve seen there’s a lot of hyperbole happening, and panicking, and disavowing this series and fandom, and so on, like you say, and also some people genuinely trying to have complex meaningful conversations about racism in xenofiction, and also probably some bad faith actors in the mix--as well as some just... stupid actors. Kind of inevitably what happens when two equally bad platforms for having nuanced discussions--i.e., twitter and tumblr--run headlong into each other, in a fandom space with a majority demographic of basically kids and highly anxious, pretty online teens. I don’t mean that as a criticism of fans or their desire to be liked by peers and “correct” about opinions, it’s just the social landscape of Warriors and I think it’s worth pointing out from the start.

If I’m totally honest with you, if not for this ask, I wouldn’t actually be commenting on it at all, because none of this is going to impact this blog or change how I run it in any way. But since you’ve asked and frankly I do feel some responsibility to try to disentangle things a little for everyone stressed and confused at the moment, because I know a lot of people look to this blog for guidance of all sorts, I’m going to talk about what I think has happened here, and how to navigate the situation in a reasonable way.

Quick recap for anyone blissfully unaware: from what I understand, this post (migrated over from a presumably bigger twitter thread) has got a lot of people very worried about Warriors being a racist and appropriative series, and now are trying to figure out what ethically to do about this revelation. The thing I found most interesting about this screenshotted conversation is that it makes a lot of bold claims, but misses some pretty surprising details (in my opinion). If you do look critically at what is being said, here’s a few things to notice--crucially, there are two people talking.

Person 1 says that a lot of animal fantasy fiction + xenofiction (fiction about non-human/”other” beings, such as animals) is frequently built upon stereotypes of First Nations and Indigenous people, and/or appropriates elements of Indigenous culture and tradition as basically set dressing for “strange” and “alien” races/species etc., and this is a racist, deeply othering, and inappropriate practice. This person is right.

I’ve spent years researching in this field specifically, so I feel pretty confident in vouching (for whatever that’s worth) that this person is absolutely right in making this point. Not only is it frequently in animal fiction/xenofiction, but it’s insidious, which means often it’s hard to notice when it’s happening--unless you know what you’re looking for, or you are personally familiar with the details or tropes that are being appropriated. Because of the nature of racism, white and other non-First Nations people don’t always recognise this trend within texts--even texts they’re creating--but it’s important for us all, and especially white people, to be more aware, because it’s not actually First Nations’ people’s responsibility to be the sole critics of this tradition of theft and misuse. Appropriation by non-Indigenous people is in fact the problem, which means non-Indigenous people learning and changing is the solution.

Person 1 offers Warriors as a popular example of a work that has this problem. Notably, this person hasn’t given an example of how Warriors is culpable (at least in this screenshot and I haven’t found the thread itself, because the screenshot is what’s causing this conversation), only that it’s an example of a work that has these problems. And once again, this person is correct. We’ll look at that more in a moment.

Person 2 (three tweets below the first) offers, by comparison, several more specious insights. Firstly, it’s really, really not the only time anyone’s ever talked about this, academically + creatively or in the Warriors fandom specifically, and so that reveals somewhat this person’s previous engagement in the space they’re talking into re: this topic. In other words, this person doesn’t know what has already been said or what is being talked about. Secondly, this person explicitly states that they “[don’t know] much about warrior cats specifically but from what I see it just screams appropriation,” which as a statement I think says something crucial re: the critical lens this person has applied + the amount of forethought and depth of analysis of their criticism of this particular series.

I’m not saying that using twitter to talk about your personal feelings requires you to research everything you talk about before you shoot your mouth off. However, I personally don’t go into a conversation about a topic I don’t know anything about except a cursory glance to offer bold and scathing criticisms based on what it “just screams” to me. By their own admission, this person isn’t really offering good faith, thoughtful criticism of the series, in line with Person 1′s tweet. Instead, Person 2 is talking pretty condescendingly and emphatically about--as the kids say--the vibes they get from the series, and I’m afraid that just doesn’t hold up well in this court.

So now that there’s Person 1 (i.e., very reasonable, important, interesting criticism) and Person 2 (i.e., impassioned but completely vibes-based opinion from someone who hasn’t read the books) separated, we can see there’s actually several things happening in this brief snapshot, and some of them aren’t super congruent with each other.

Person 1 didn’t say “don’t read bad books,” or that you’re a bad person for being a fan of stories that are guilty of this. They suggested people should recognise the ways xenofiction uses Indigenous people and their culture inappropriately and often for profit. My understanding of this tweet is someone offering an insight that might not have occurred to many people, but that is valuable and important to consider going forward in how they view, engage with, and create xenofiction media.

Person 2 uses high modality, evocative language that appeals to the emotions. That’s not a criticism of this person: they’re allowed to talk in whatever tone they want, and to express their personal feelings and opinions. However, rhetorically, this person is using this specific language--consciously or subconsciously--to incense their audience--i.e., you. Are you feeling called to action? What action do you feel called to when you rea their words, despite the fact their claims are not based in their own actual analysis of or engagement with the text? It’s, by their own admission, not analysis at all. Everything they evoke is purely in the name of “not good” vibes.

Earlier I mentioned that Person 1 is correct that Warriors is absolutely guilty of appropriation of First Nations and Indigenous people and culture. I also mentioned that they didn’t specify how. That’s because I think the most egregious example is in fact the tribe, which in many ways plays into the exact kind of stereotyping and appropriation of First Nations Americans that Person 1 mentions, and not the clans, contrary to Person 2′s suggestion. For instance, in addition to the very loaded name of “tribe”, there’s a lot of racist tropes present in how that group of cats is introduced and how the clan cats interact with them, as well as the more North American-inspired scenery of their home. It’s very blatant as far as racism in this series.

When it comes to the clans themselves, though, I think it’s muddier and harder to draw clear distinctions of what is directly appropriative, what is coincidentally and superficially reminiscent, and what is not related at all. Part of this difficulty in drawing hard lines comes from the fact that, on a personal level, it actually doesn’t matter: if a First Nations person reads a story and feel it is appropriative or inappropriate, it’s not actually anyone’s place to “correct” them on their reading of the text. Our experiences are unique and informed by our perspectives and values, and no group of people are a monolith, which means within community, there will always be disagreement and differenting points of view. There is no one single truth or opinion, which means that First Nations people even in the same family might have very different feelings about the same text and very different perspectives on how respectful, or not, it might be.

I’m saying this because something that gets said very often when conversations of racism and similar oppressive systems present/perpetuated in texts comes up, people frequently say: “listen to x voices.” It is excellent advice. However, the less pithy but equally valuable follow-up advice is: “listen to the voices of many people of x group, gather information and perspective, and then ultimately use your own judgement to make an informed opinion for yourself.” It means that you are responsible for you. The insight you can gain by listening to people who know topics and experiences far better than you do is truly invaluable, but if your approach to the world is simply to parrot the first voice, or loudest voice, or angriest voice you come across, you will not really learn anything or be able to develop your own understanding and you certainly won’t be making well-informed judgements.

In other words, one incomplete tweet thread from two people who are each bringing quite different topics and modes of conversation (or perhaps gripes, in Person 2′s case) to the table is not really enough to go off re: making a decision to leave a fandom, in my opinion. In fact, I think in responding to anything difficult, complex, or problematic (which doesn’t mean what popular adage bandies it about to mean) by trying to distance yourself, or cleanse of it, will ultimately harm you and will not do you any good as a person. It is better, in my opinion, to enter into complex relationships with the world and media and other people in an informed, aware way and with a willingness to learn and sometimes to make mistakes and be wrong, rather than shy away from potential conflict or fear that interacting with a text will somehow taint you or define your morality in absolutes.

So. Does Warriors have racist and appropriative elements, tropes, and issues in the series? Yes, of course it does, it’s a book-packaged series produced by corporation HarperCollins and written by a handful of white British women and their myriad ghostwriters. Racism is just one part of the picture. The books are frequently also ableist, sexist, and homophobic (or heteronormative, depending how you want to slice it, I guess), just to name some of the most evident problems.

But does the presence of these issues mean it’s contaminated and shouldn’t be touched? Personally, I don’t think so. Given the nature of existing the world, it’s not possible to find perfect media that is free of any kind of bias, prejudice, or even just ideas or topics or concepts that are challenging or uncomfortable. I think it’s more meaningful to choose to engage with these elements, discuss them, criticise them, learn from them, and acknowledge also that imperfection is the ultimate destiny of all of us, especially creators.

I’m not saying that as a pass, like, “oh enjoy your media willy-nilly, nothing matters, do what you want, think about no-one else ever because we’re all flawed beings,” but rather that it’s important not to look away from the problems in the things we enjoy, rather than cut off all contact and enjoyment when we realise the problems. That doesn’t mean you have to only criticise and always be talking about how bad a thing you like is either, publicly admonishing yourself or the text, because that’s also not a constructive way to engage with media.

As I said, there’s a lot to say here, and believe it or not, this is honestly the shortest version I could manage. There’s always more to say and plenty I haven’t talked about, but pretty much tl;dr:

I don’t find Person 2′s commentary particularly compelling, personally, because I think it’s a little broad and a little specious in its conclusions and evidence, and I also suspect that this person is speaking more from their feelings than from a genuine desire to educate or meaningfully criticise, unlike Person 1. That’s not to say Warriors isn’t frequently racist and guilty of the issues Person 1 is discussing, because it is, but I don’t think this tweet thread is a great source of insight into the ongoing history of this problem in xenofiction, or Warriors specifically, on its own. I would recommend exploring further afield to learn more from a variety of sources and form your own opinions. I hope this helps.

#just in case anyone sees this post and gets the wrong idea: i'm not inviting debate on this.#i am saying that first nations people are allowed to have ANY relationship with texts because that's how subjectivity works.#they are allowed to have negative neutral or positive experiences of texts--even 'bad' ones that have a lot of problems.#the people in this tweet are just talking about their thoughts and it's their bad luck the world's a public forum and it's spiralled.#the other thing i am saying is that if your approach to media is exclusively to cut out any problematic text like it's a cancer #that's not a great strategy. just straight up. you're better off developing critical insight and your own opinions and confidence.#by most parameters i can think of warriors as a series pretty much sucks really bad and i've been saying that for nearly ten years.#despite being so phenomenally flawed it can still have value--and much of its value in my opinion is IN these conversations about it.#so yeah tl;dr 2: i'm not here to slap-fight with teens which is what much discourse devolves to after 5 mins on tumblr so don't try it.

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

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Humans are Space Orcs, “Humans 101.”

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I have had the WORST motivation the past few weeks, but I thought you might like to see some more of Krill. Hope you all have a great day!

Krill walked up the university hallway turning his head to look out the window at the vast expanse of space before him. It had been a very long time since he had been to University, in the Vrul sense of the word, which was less like University and more like on the job training, but he had recently accepted an assignment at the Intergalactic Institute of Biological Science. Granted, he wasn’t a real professor, not fully, but an adjunct who had signed on to do a series of lectures for the next few months while he waited for Admiral Vir’s return.

Since Simon had become acting Captain of the ship, it seemed that there was less and less reason for him to be there. She wasn’t experienced enough to take on the real dangerous assignments that the Admiral had excelled at, and due to her rule following nature, and the assignments they were sent on, mostly diplomatic and exploratory in nature, Krill had found less and less use for himself on the ship. He didn’t expect to be gone forever, and he doubted he would be able to leave at this point.

He couldn’t return to his home planet, not now there was a standing order for his termination, which he was planning to avoid with great prejudice. Though he found it wildly Ironic that they had asked him to come teach, when many of the professors at the school were, in fact, other Vrul.

It was with this small piece of amusement that he scuttled into the lecture room: Large and circular with seats rising on all sides and a projection hub right in the middle. The room was already packed full despite him being five minutes early. He had been told his lecture series would be popular, but he hadn’t expected there to be standing room only, and even then, there were students sitting on the floor, and a few Vrul floating in the air high above other students' heads.

He moved to the center of the room to set up his projections and, from the corner of his eye watched as a few of the front row students shifted back slightly. The Tesraki, Rundi and Finnari students didn’t seem to notice, but the Vrul students certainly did, sarong at him like he was some sort of freak.

He could hear the whispering, and he reveled in it.

It was nice to be intimidating sometimes.

Overhead the lights flashed once, and then twice, and the entire room went quiet expectantly looking down at him with their wide eyes.

He drew himself up Resting two of his hands together and another two behind his back as he began pacing his way around the projection field. Students Continued to whisper quietly, “Good morning class, My name is Dr. Krill Galaxy renowned trauma surgeon, and the galactic leading expert in xeno-medicine with an emphasis in humanity.”

There was a uiet muttering around the room.

“I have been acting medical officer aboard the UNSC Omen once Harbinger for more than two years, and I have practiced surgery in hospitals From Andromeda and Irus to the milky way and Earth.”

More shifting wide eyes and some nervous muttering.

He looked around the room shrewdly at all the new faces, “How many of you are interested in working with the intergalactic community.”

A slow raise of hands.

“Then I should probably let you know. Humanity has begun to profuse through all the major sectors of space, business, government, shipping, sales, medical. Humans are everywhere, and humans can do anything. If you wish to work in the wider intergalactic community, you will be working with humans, and many of you will work extremely closely with humans.”

Nervous expressions all around.

“I noticed many of you, the Vrul students especially have noticed the strange effect that spending time with humans can have on an individual.”

He looked around and saw some acknowledgement.

“The colloquial term for it is called the humanizing phenomenon and it will happen to you no matter how hard you try. Scientists have said that you will become more aggressive in order to interact with humans, your movements will become more predatory, you will come to focus on facial cues and the pitch of voices to determine emotion, and soon,you will even begin to utilize human body language in order to communicate better with them.” He motioned to himself, “Out of all the alien species,I have spent the most time with humans, and as you can see, I communicate primarily in a way that humans would understand, mostly with nonverbal body cues. I don’t often use my helium sack as I get in the way with keeping up with humans.” he turned to look around at the room, “Human’s no longer scare me. As pack animals, your social influence is often more important than your physical influence. Given the fact that I have built myself up in social influence within a human pack, I no longer worry myself with being round humans. In fact, I Have never been safer in my entire life.”

His antenna vibrated slightlin amusement, “In fact it is well known that I already have a termination order placed on my head by the Vrul council.”

There was a shocked gasp from certain Vrul parts of the room.

He swaggered about the room a little smugly. He didn’t usually get reactions like this from people.

“They actually took me from an assembly meeting with the GA and brought me back for termination, but one of my humans, as I certainly do consider them mine as much as they consider me theirs, came and rescued me single handedly.”

Another murmuring from around the room.

“How did he do it?”

They waited.

“He used his complex human vocal cords and clapping to simulate a beat. In that way he disabled all the guards, and climbed his way up the guiding rope to the council chamber.”

More soft muttering.

“If you make friends with a human, you are probably as safe as you are ever going to be, especially if you happen to become friends with a very audacious human=, in which case there is nothing that they will not do for you.” He spun on the spot, “Enough for introductions, I will please have you open your files to page one of the textbook, and we will go over a brief discussion of human mechanical anatomy.”

There was a shuffling around the room as Data pads were produced.

Krill brought up an anatomical projection of a human. Looking up it amused him to know that this anatomical model, the one used in almost every nonhuman textbook, was modeled on one single human, that being Adam Vir, all accept for the right leg of course, which was modeled on another human of similar height.

“Humans are are omnivorous bipeds with an endoskeletal structure supported by a vascular system. I know a lot of you have been wrongfully told that humans are primarily carnivores, though that is not true, while human can eat a variety of foods, there are humans that choose to live without eating meat, and they can be sustained on a herbivore diet if they wish. As you can see here, the front facing eyes of the human mark them off as a predator species, though this isn’t always the perfect indicator. Vrul eyes are on the front, but, as we know, Vrul also have prismatic vision that is more closely related that of insects on an earth-like planet.” he glanced around the room, “These predator classifications only exist for a class of alien known as the vascular type, which uses a pump to push fluid through the body. As you know Vrul, Burg, Gromm, and Lumins as well as a few others are not represented in this category.”

“Can anyone tell me which species ARE classified as the vascular subtype.”

There was a raised hand and he pointed, “You there.”

“I can provide a short list sir, Tesraki, Rundi, Humans, and Drev to name a few, but the Drev are a notable outlier for this rule because their war-like culture has supported the slow movement of the eyes towards the front of the face despite them being a herbivore species.”

Krill nodded, “Very good. Yes, humans are in fact a REAL predator species, however it is important to note that the greater 80% of human diets are supported by fruits and vegetables. Based on the amount and distribution of consumed foods, humans are actually closer to herbivores in their dietary choices than they are carnivores.”

There was a soft muttering around the room. Either disbelief or interest, he couldn't tell.

“Historically, humans would have evolved from tree dwelling omnivores, though their diets would also have been primarily fruit, and maybe insects as hunting only really came after they moved to land based travel on two legs. As far as earth animals are concerned, humans are not a top tier predator, and years of life in padded habitats using technology have actually dulled their hunting senses and abilities. A human COULD take a chunk out of you with their teeth, but they certainly wouldn’t WANT to. It would definitely be a last resort. Following that, humans only eat cooked meat as they can grow very sick on consuming certain raw products.”

The class shifted and whispered to each other.

“Yes, I know you have been told many strange and odd things about humans, but most of those are heavily exaggerated. However, it is true that humans are more versatile than most of us. Humans can run, walk, climb, throw, jump and swim, and while they don’t do any of those particularly well, their ability to do all of them to some degree makes them the most versatile alien in the GA. Furthermore humans also have a multitude of senses, ones that are common to most of us balance, heat cold, pain, etcetera, but there is one sense that they have which is very uncommon in the galaxy, and that is a sense of smell.”

All around him, students were taking notes, “This is the ability for a human to detect particles in the air and, often, identify their sources. Everything sheds particles, and the human nose can pick up those particles. For instance humans generally like the smell of Iotans because Iotins shed compounds similar to foods that humans like to eat. Once upon a time it might have been used to help humans detect poison or other predators, but like I have said before, a human is a middleman in abilities. All of a human’s senses are relatively dull in comparison to some of their earth counterparts.”

He turned to his projector and flipped it to the anatomical structure of a dog, one that had been oddled off the only dog that many aliens had ever met.

Waffles the admiral’s dog.

“This creature’s sense of smell is powerful enough,they have been known to track a sent trail for miles through densely wooded forests. They can smell a change in hormone and pheromone levels on other creatures, and are even being used to detect certain diseases. The best a human can do is smell a cooking meal.”

He walked in a wide circle looking out at the students, some of them looking excited, others staring on in trepidation.

“Human eyesight is on a similar level to their smell. Humans have binocular vision which makes their depth perception quite good. A human is perfectly capable of snatching a flying object out of the air as their predatory instincts draw them to movement. This also makes humans very adept at navigating through obstacles like they might once have had to do in trees. Furthermore, it allows them to guess distance to prey during hunting.” He switched to a picture of a drev, “However humans do not have the best vision out of all aliens species. While the acuity of a human and a Drev are similar, Drev can detect Ultraviolet wavelengths where humans can only see the visible spectrum.” He looked at some of the Vrul, “Take solace in the knowledge that you can see thermal where humans cannot. They have relatively poor night vision, but better than that of you or I and far better than the Drev who traded the use of multiple cones to very frew light sensing rods.”

He looked up from his lecturing, “Are there any questions so far.”

Every had in the room shot into the air.

He paused to look at them faces lit by the glowing bluish light of the hologram behind him and sighed, he supposed this is what he was here for.

“Let’s star in the back then, shall we.”

One of the hands went down.

“Sir, is it true that humans are capable of surviving cortical tissue damage.”

Krill snorted, a sound he probably shouldnt have been able to make since he didn’t have a nose but one he had learned how to make because it expressed a very important emotion when interacting with humans. The entire class looked at him funny.

He sighed, “Yes, The first surgery I preformed on a human involved removing an eight inch steel rod from an eye socket which had gone into cortical tissue. To this day that human… well hes been doing fine, a bit of a dumbass sometimes, but I think that was a part of his personality before brain damage.”

They stared at him confused until Krill realised that dumbass probably wasn’t in their vocabulary. It probably translated to silent butt or idiot butt which didn’t have the same kind of ring to it.

Krill waved a hand, “In certain cases humans have been known to survive with only one hemisphere of their brain.”

A chorus of disbelief, “It is true, in certain cases where electrical abnormalities n the brain cause convulsions, surgeons intentionally remove half the brain to increase quality of life. There are a couple of downsides to this of course, like the inability to play musical instruments, but most humans still live a productive and fulfilling life after the procedure.”

More hands shot up again.

He turned and chose one at Random.

“Can humans smell fear”

Krill frowned, “No humans can’t smell fear. Whoever told you that was smoking something.”The class stared blankly at him until he picked another hand.

“Are you worried that the humans will ever…. Turn on you?”

Krill raised his hands into the air in exasperation, “They are SENTIENT beings not wild animals Humans have strict social rules like you or anyone else. It would be illegal for them to hurt me , and I doubt they would let it happen at all. Humans aren’t feral. In fact my partner aboard the ship is Doctor Katie Quinn, and she is just as experienced in the field of medicine as I am. SHe can match me in almost any medical procedure and she only has two cortical hemispheres, and less than half the amount of hands.”

He frowned at the room, “I have no idea where ou all got these ideas from. Humans are thinking creatures not animals. The reason they survived on their planet is not because they are the strongest predator, but because they are the smartest, just like you or I. the only difference between us is that the Human planet is so hostile, they have been forced to keep some of their more instinctive tendencies.”

More hands raised.

“Have you seen one of these larger earth animals, sir?”

“Yes on plenty of occasions.” He flipped his diagram back to that of a dog, “This animal here is called a dog, the ancestral evolution of the wolf, which is just a much larger version of this animal here. These animals are higher on the food chain that humans and have the ability to easily outrun, attack and rip the throat out of a human.” He paused as the class pulled back, “Which is why humans often use them in security, protection and law enforcement, because no human wants to fight one of these creatures.” He smiled a bit grimly, “Also humans just love to keep them as pets.”

There was an uproar around the room.

How could anyone want to keep something that could rip their face off as a pet.

Krill raised a hand to quiet down the room, “I know, I know, it all sounds very strange, but you must understand, humans and dogs are both descended from highly social pack groups. At one point a human took wolf cubs and began raising them and breeding them for desirable traits. As wolves are pack animals they slowly would have begun to see humans as members of their own pack family. In this humans molded a creature into being one of their greatest allies. Dogs rely on humans and humans rely on dogs for many jobs. Humans love dogs and dogs love humans. In fact, humans have bred this animal so extensively that dogs are one of the only creatures on their own planet capable of reading human facial expressions.”

He pulled up an image from his personal files, one where Adam sat on the floor, and the dog Waffles sat next to him. He made a face as her long, pink tongue ran up the side of his cheek.

The class gasped.

“She could easily use this opportunity to kill him.” krill said, “But she never would.” He turned to another image of himself standing next to the dog, a hand resting on her back.

More gasping.

Krill was somewhat amused. “Humans, as I said are social in the extreme, and this fact is going to be our best ally when meeting them. Anyone and anything can become part of a human pack. In fact, this instinct in humans is so strong that inanimate objects can easily be accepted into a human’s pack. They routinely name plants and attribute personalities to them. I once conducted an experiment where I placed fake eyes.” Googly eyes to be exact, “On a waste receptacle, and the humans named him Mr. Rubbish and began throwing away their items exclusively in that specific receptacle as ‘Offerings’ to Mr Rubbish….. That is not a joke, that actually happened.” He appraised them with a stern look, “Befriending humans is the most important thing you can do, and probably one of the easiest things as well. If you find yourself incapable of making friends with a human, its probably time to look at yourself personally because you must be horrible.” he pointed to himself, “I will openly admit that my personality isn’t exactly the easiest to be around, and yet I still managed it on accident.”

His lecture continued for some minutes, covering more anatomy, bone structures and some interesting facts about their internal organs.

However he was forced to stop as little lights began blinking overhead, and he went to dismiss the class, “Next week we will be discussing the effects of adrenaline on humans as a special treat to those who decide to return after this first lecture. And for your assignment, I want you to find one news article that perpetuates a myth about humans and write a short essay debunking it. Since this is the first week I am going lenient on assignments but by the end of the term I do expect full essays at publishable quality.”

Everyone in the class stood, and he found himself suddenly swarmed by a mass of figures.

It seemed as if he was going to be here for a while.

Little did Krill know that his lecture series was becoming so popular that the administration was going to have to upgrade his lecture hall two more times in the concurrent weeks.

Everyone wanted to know about humans.

#HUMANS ARE WERID #humans are space orcs #humans are insane #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #earth is a deathworld #Earth is space Ausralia

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swashbucklery · 3 years

Text

Look I just - this isn’t anything about anything, I still love this show, this is not a criticism post per se. But I just need to like. Publicly and in great detail, go over the specific biology-related reasons why I am annoyed by the in-universe scientific specifics of Mick’s alien brain mpreg. Consider this to be That’s Not How Looms Work 2.0: That’s Not How Brains Work.

Content warning for like, IDK if it’s gross medical stuff but I’m going to go into detail about why alien species implanting their nests into brains doesn’t make biological sense and you might find that gross I don’t know your life. If you do, I’ve included a helpful cut which I know doesn’t work on mobile but like. Whatever dudes, I tried.

OK so this started as a post about how, re: Mick and Lita’s arc in 6.10, it’s actually significantly debatable as to whether the alien brood would be affected by Mick’s alcohol use. And then it kind of . . .escalated.

(For the sake of brevity I’m going to use the word “embryos” to describe them, because that covers both placental and non-placental forms of growth.)

So. Leaving aside the complexities of the species’ reproductive strategy, which is another thing that’s really getting me and actually nevermind we’re not leaving it aside like. Look. LOOK if you are intelligent life capable of building spaceships and complex thought, by and large you’re also investing in your young and devoting a significant amount of time to parenting and brain development. This, in nature on earth, is typically correlated with fewer young that are invested in more heavily.

The alien brood having 47 embryos and no parenting sort of implies that this species follows a different strategy, and looks more like the many-babies-many-die sort of approach which is - interesting. Because the young are clearly expected to grow into complex and highly intelligent adults which means a need for like. Learning and skill-development

(Although Mick getting broody over Kayla kind of implies that there’s some sort of biological bonding at play and a real reproductive strategy could be to have hosts raise their young except. . .not if they die? And leaving aside the brain biology below, if the young eat humans it wouldn’t be implausible that the host is intended to be a first meal for the young.)

So anyway. If we’re really here, if this is the dystopia we live in where we’re discussing whether Mick’s brain embryos would be affected by his alcohol use like: maybe?

Things you would need are:

for the embryos to be alcohol-sensitive; alcohol is broadly pretty toxic so that’s plausible for sure but what are the specific effects in this species and are they negative is like. A whole other thing.

for the embryos to be extracting nutrients

And this is where it really gets complex because like. If they’re eggs, they specifically are self-feeding. In that scenario, Mick is essentially an incubator and there is no nutrient transfer between embryo and gestational host. An argument against this is that he’s having - symptoms, I guess you can call it? Which heavily implies that the embryos are triggering some sort of neurochemical response in him, which would require a of signalling process between the eggs and the host biology.

(That said you COULD be getting that from whatever nest/egg sac transfer process occurred, ie they are still eggs but the nest itself is creating chemical signals without direct nutrient transfer.)

The other option is that there is some sort of placental interface, ie the embryos are directly obtaining nutrition from Mick’s blood. In that case, they would be affected by any ingested alcohol. HOWEVER the mechanics of that are - the best word I can think of is suspicious, and let me get into why.

OKAY. So.

Here is the thing about brains (this is the potentially-gross medical part):

they’re very useful and you do very much need them; like I know Tumblr meme culture has stretched this language to within an inch of its life but your brain makes your body operate and without it you die.

the brain lives in a handy little case that is fixed in capacity! This is the skull. The skull is not stretchy because it’s made of bones. (The exception here is if you’re a baby and your skull hasn’t fused yet, but Mick is not and his skull definitely is so: not relevant.)

Brain tissue is very soft and squishy. The skull also keeps lots of other squishy things nice and safe, like all the blood vessels that go to the brain, and also the top part of the spinal cord.

So. We have a very soft object in a very hard carrying case. If you add extra things to the case, within reason everything will kind of smush around. BUT if you add too many extra things to case, the soft object (the brain) will get squashed.

Spoiler alert: if the brain gets too squashed it stops working good. This can cause lots of problems ranging from seizures to like. Significant body functions just not happening. The range of what happens depends on how squashed and where and what is doing the squashing.

Remember that fixed carrying case? Well, it has a hole in it! Unfortunately that hole is in the very bottom; it’s the outflow opening for the spine and it’s a fixed size as well. If things inside the skull get too squashy, this will push the brainstem down against this opening and the brainstem is very very important. If the brainstem gets squashed the brain just like. It literally turns off the functions that tell the lungs to breathe and the heart to beat, which causes death.

If the embryos are placental in nature, that means creating an organ that can interface with the brain blood supply to cause nutrient transfer. Given the space considerations above, the extra space needed for a placental organ to nourish forty-seven embryos would be quite significant and probably also fatal to the host.

As well, the brain is more sensitive to changes in blood flow and nutrient supply than other parts of the body - while a nutrient transfer organ in this area would guarantee an oxygen-and nutrient-rich environment, the sensitivity of the brain means that the host would “feel” the effects of this quite quickly. Not enough oxygen or sugar in the brain also makes it stop working which: see above re: brain needed for living. At best, the host would be fainting constantly which is...not ideal.

So anyway if you put FORTY SEVEN ALIEN TENTACLE EMBRYOS INTO A BRAIN THAT’S INSIDE A SKULL IT CAUSES DEATH.

Like.

Do not pass go do not collect $200 DEATH.

And so. Leaving aside that I am being asked in the year of our lord 2021 to suspend this much disbelief in these trying times. From a reproductive capacity it really doesn’t make a lot of biological sense. If these are embryos that require nutrition and it’s a surprise how many will be successfully transferred, implanting them in a body area where if you have one embryo a liiiiittle too big it kills the host is an incredibly risky reproductive strategy!! If your embryos can’t survive outside a live host, killing it prematurely means that potentially the entire brood dies. If the host is supposed to be a snack for the brood but it dies before they are mature enough to eat it, the entire brood also dies!

(It also double doesn’t work if the reproductive strategy is to have the host somehow raise or parent the young because: death.)

(Also don’t get me started on the egg sac on the back of what is his upper chest at best THAT’S NOT HIS BRAIN DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW I’LL FIGHT YOU.)

Like, narratively I see why they didn’t want to have embryos in Mick’s abdomen because it approaches literal mpreg in an uncomfortable way and lbr this is already uncomfortable. But also. If someone had asked me - which clearly nobody did - the most biologically plausible strategy would I think be to implant embryos orally. If they migrate through the gut wall they can form an egg sac near the big vein that goes from the gut to the liver (the portal vein). This is extremely protected, temperature-regulated, and allows for maximum nutrition, but the abdomen is infinitely more flexible and can provide space for growing young much more easily.

(Note: this is not how human babies work, I cannot stress this enough. But also I’m not explaining that in this post, if you’re a character on Bridgerton you shouldn’t be reading Tumblr.)

(It is how lots of gross parasites work though, if you need a terrifying wikipedia rabbit hole to fall down.)

ANYWAY tl;dr THAT’S NOT HOW BRAINS WORK. I feel better, thank you for coming to my ted talk.

#like #was writing this post more comfortable than reckoning with john's vampire blood meth sequence HONESTLY YES #grouchy aunt j's superhero science corner #mick rory's cursed tentacle spawn: the tag #legends of tomorrow #lot spoilers #cw dcu feelings

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thedreadvampy · 3 years

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Hey Ruth! I noticed you've talked in the past about asexuality in quite a negative manner. As an ace-person (who has received backlash for it) I was wondering: do you still uphold these opinions?

Hey! I have in the past said I don’t really...like people popping up in my ask box asking me My Opinion On Asexuality, but I do appreciate you asking me as someone I kinda know and with your face turned on, so I’m gonna aim to answer in the macro. Though I mean it depends on what the opinions...are? I have had a lot of opinions over the time I’ve had this blog and I don’t necessarily know what all of them were or which ones have concerned you. I can give you a top-level view of how I see my views, though (however, since I have been largely holding off on answering this kind of ask for Literally A Year Now this is less an answer to your specific question and more an answer to the last year of asks)

(also if I get dogpiled in my inbox for Having Bad Asexuality Opinions which I do every time I talk about asexuality regardless of what I actually say then. my phone is broken I won’t know about it :) so I feel untouchable)

I don’t think I hold a negative opinion of asexuality as an identity (I say I don’t think bc we all have blind spots)? I have a lot of very important people in my life who are asexual, aromantic or aroace and. I mean it feels pretty condescending to say ~uwu it’s valid~ bc like. ace and aro people don’t really need my input to validate their identity. but a) it seems like a pretty accurate way to describe their experience and b) I know a lot of them have had a really huge boost from finding a name and community to fit their experience and have found that really helpful, and I’ve seen that make a huge difference in people’s lives and I’m really happy to watch my friends come to understand themselves and feel comfortable and accepted in a part of themselves they had felt really alienated or stigmatised by. In a broader sense, I think there’s huge value in decentralising romance and sex in our assumptions of What Human Happiness Means and for some people that’s not the most important thing, and for some it’s just not interesting.

So like. I find it difficult to really express these opinions in any meaningful way because my opinion on asexuals and aromantics is much like my opinion on trans people or idk like people of colour. like very obviously those people exist and very obviously those people don’t deserve to be marginalised or stigmatised but it would feel. weird and performative to just make a post saying like “Asexuality Is Good And Valid, I Am Pro It” bc again like. who needs my permission or cares about my opinion. it’s not a Good Thing To Do it’s just. a thing you are that shouldn’t be treated as a bad thing.

however. and I suspect that this is what you’re referring to. while I love and appreciate ace and aro people, I think building communities and active support for ace and aro people is valuable and needed and, as above, I think Asexuality Is Good And Valid I Am Pro It, I do take some issue with elements of how discussions around asexuality are framed online (pretty much only online, I really haven’t run into the kind of black-and-white thinking in in-person queer spaces)

and I also. think there are some issues with people extrapolating their experience of their own sexuality onto the world in a way which. I’m just going to say a lot of the time when I talk about The Ace Discourse in a negative way it’s around people assuming that the world is split into a binary between ace and allo people, or assuming that only aspec people experience a nuanced or complex or fluid relationship to their sexuality while pigeonholing allosexuality into a pretty flat image of sex and romance focus. and I have always felt like this does a massive disservice not just to people who don’t identify with aspec labels, but also to the general hope that we could work against the expectation that there’s a Standard Amount To Value Sex/Romance - I think that the assumption that there are aspec people and then Everyone Else Has The Normal Type and Level of Attraction just. reinforces the idea that there’s a “Normal” type and level of attraction. which is ultimately pretty self-defeating and also just. observably untrue.

and this division of the world into Aspec People and Allo People also has some other weird knockon effects - I don’t think there’s anything intrinsically wrong with identities like gray ace or demi or other aspec labels beyond asexual and aromantic, but I do think that the way those labels are used is often. unhelpful. and they’re defined in such personal, subjective ways that you get weirdnesses sometimes like people Diagnosing Each Other With Demisexual or people saying ‘you can’t talk about this experience you share because it’s an Aspec Experience’ and again. there isn’t a concrete material experience there because the whole experience of romantic and sexual attraction, what that feels like and how sharply divisible it is is very, very personal and subjective. and everyone has different experiences of those and will name those experiences differently.

there’s also. historically a minority of Big Ace Blogs that kind of sneer at allosexuality or who would hijack posts about other issues to derail them to asexuality. but I don’t think they were ever representative of the community as a whole and I certainly think that inasmuch as those blogs remain around they’re a legacy of the Long-Ago (and a lot of them are trolls imo)

but there is. an issue I take that does seem to be more currently live which is the question of allo privilege. I think personally that framing all allosexuals/alloromantics as privileged over all aspec people on the basis of feeling sexual/romantic attraction is provably untrue in a world where people, particularly queer people, are actively oppressed and marginalised for expressing non-normative sexuality. it isn’t that I don’t think asexuality and aromanticism isn’t marginalised and stigmatised, because it visibly is, but it seems pretty reductive to boil it down to a binary yes/no privilege when both sexualisation and desexualisation are so actively tied into other forms of marginalisation (this is what I was trying to express in the argument about Martin a while ago - sex and sexuality are so often disincentivised for fat, queer, disabled and neuroatypical people that it doesn’t...feel like a reclamation that those tend to be the characters that get fanonised as ace where slim, straight, able-bodied and neurotypical characters aren’t. like it’s more complex than a binary privilege equation; sex and romance are incentivised and stigmatised differently at the intersection of oppressions and. for example. in a world where gay conversion therapy and religious oppression of gay and SGA people is so often focused specifically on celibacy and on punishing the act of sexual attraction, I don’t think it’s a reasonable framing to say that a gay allosexual man has privilege over an aroace man on the basis of his attraction)

so those are like. things I would consider myself to feel actively negative about in online discourse (and again. in online discourse. not in how I relate to asexuality or aromanticism or aspec identities in general but in the framing and approaches people take towards discussing it in a very specific bubble).

but also. um. the main criticism I have of the online discourse culture of asexuality is that there are things I don’t have experience of that I have mentioned, when asked, that I don’t personally understand the meaning of but I don’t need to understand them to appreciate that they’re useful/meaningful to others. things like

the difference between QPRs, asexual romantic relationships and close friendships

how you know the difference between romantic attraction and friendship

the distinction between sexual attraction and a desire to have sex with someone for another reason

and I hope I’ve generally been clear that this is. honest lack of understanding and not condemnation. I personally have a very muddled sense of attraction and often have difficulty identifying the specifics of any of my own emotional needs so like. it’s a closed book for me at the moment, how you would identify the fine distinctions between types of want when I’m still at step 1: identify That You Want Something Of Some Sort, Eventually, Through Trial And Error. but I think I’ve always been explicit that this isn’t a value judgement it’s just a gap in my own knowledge and yet. every single time I’ve said anything other than enthusiastic “yes I understand this and I love it and it’s good and valid” (and again. I have not gone out of my way to talk about it I have mostly only mentioned it because people keep asking me to talk about it) I have got a massive rush of anger and accusations of aphobia and “just shut up if you don’t know what you’re talking about but also answer my 30 questions to prove you think Correct Things about asexuality” and. I understand that this comes from a place of really unpleasant and aggressive backlash towards the ace community so it’s a sensitivity with a lot of people but like. it doesn’t seem proportional.

also I feel like ever since I hit like 700 followers my Tumblr life has been a constant cycle of people asking me Are You An Ace Inclusionist Are You An Exclus Are You An Aphobe Justify Your Opinion On Asexuality which. eventually yeah I’ve got pretty snippy about the whole thing. but you know. fuck it I’m just gonna lay it out and if you or anyone else is uncomfortable following me based on those opinions then I’m sorry to hear that and I will be sad to see you not want to engage with me any more but I also think that’s absolutely your prerogative. however I will not be taking questions at this time (and not just bc my phone’s broken) - demands for an argument about this Are Going To Be Ignored so if you want to go then go.

so like the big question I reckon is Do You Think Asexuality Is Queer and

yes. no. maybe. I don’t understand the question what does it mean for an identity to be queer?

there are spaces and conversations where any form of aromanticism or asexuality makes sense as a relevant identity. talking about hegemonic expectations of normative romance. building community. combatting the idea that heterosexual missionary married sex between a man and a woman is the only rewarding or valuable form of relationship or intimacy.

there are spaces where I think heterosexual aros/heteromantic cis aces don’t. have a more meaningful or direct experience of the issues than allo cishets. because while being aro or ace or aspec has a direct impact on those people on a personal and relational level, disclosure is largely a choice, and the world at large sees them as straight. they don’t have the lived experience of being visibly nonconforming that SGA people and aroace people do. they may still be queer but there’s a lot of conversations where they bring a lot of the baggage of being Straight People (because. even if you’re ace or aro you can still be straight in your romantic or sexual attraction and if your relationships are all outwardly straight then you don’t necessarily have an intimate personal understanding of being marginalised from mainstream society by dint of your sexuality). this doesn’t make you Not Queer in the same way that being a bi person who’s only ever been in m/f relationships is still queer, but in both cases a) you don’t magically have a personal experience of societal oppression through the transitive properties of Being Queer and b) it’s really obnoxious to talk as if you’re The Most Oppressed when other people are trying to have a conversation about their lived experience of societal oppression. and they’re within their rights to say ‘we’re talking about the experience of being marginalised for same gender/non-heterosexual attraction and you’re straight, could you butt out?’)

(I very much object to the assumption coming from a lot of exclus that “cishet ace” is a term that can reasonably be applied to non-orientated aroace people though. het is not a default it really extremely doesn’t make sense to treat people who feel no attraction as Straight By Default. when I were a lad I feel like we mostly understood “asexual” to mean that identity - non-orientated aroace - and while I think it’s obvious that a lot of people do find value in using a more split-model because. well. some people are both gay/straight/bi and aro/ace, and it’s good that language reflects that. but I do think it’s left a gap in the language to simply refer to non-attracted people. this isn’t a criticism of anything in particular - there’s a constant balancing act in language between specificity and adaptability and sometimes a gain for one is a loss for the other)

some queer conversations and spaces just. aren’t built with aces in mind. and that isn’t a flaw. some spaces aren’t built with men in mind, but that doesn’t mean men can’t be queer. some conversations are about Black experiences of queerness but that doesn’t mean non-Black people can’t be queer. not all queer spaces will focus on ace needs but that doesn’t mean asexuality isn’t queer, or that queerness is opposed to aceness - sex, sexuality, romance and dating are all really important things to a lot of queer people, especially those whose sexuality and romantic relationships are often stigmatised or violently suppressed in wider society. there should be gay bars, hookup apps, gay and trans friendly sex education, making out at Pride, leather parades and topless dyke marches and porn made by and for queer people, romantic representation in media of young and old gay, bi and trans couples kissing and snuggling and getting married and saying sloppy romantic things. and there should be non-sexual queer spaces, there should be discussions around queerness that don’t suppose that a monogamous romantic relationship is what everyone’s fighting for, sex ed should be ace inclusive, etc.

I think the whole question of inclusionism vs exclusionism is based on a weird underlying assumption that If An Identity Is Queer All Queer Spaces Should Directly Cater To That. like. aspec identities can be queer and it can be totally reasonable for there to be queer spaces that revolve around being sexual and romantic and there can be conversations it’s not appropriate or productive to centre asexuality and aspec experiences in and we can recognise that not all queer people do prioritise or have any interest in sex or romance. in the same way that there’s value in centring binary trans experiences sometimes and nonbinary experiences at other times but both of those conversations should recognise that neither binary or nonbinary gender identity is a Universal Queer Experience.

anyway that one probably isn’t one of the opinions you were asking about but I have been wanting to find a way to express it for a while so you’re getting it: the Ruth Thedreadvampy Inclusionism Take.

uh. it’s 1:30 on a work night so I have been typing too long. if there was an opinion you were specifically thinking of that I haven’t mentioned, chuck me another ask specifically pointing to what you want me to clarify my thinking on. sometimes I gotta be honest I’ve just been kind of careless in my framing (thinking of the Martin Fucks debacle where I spent ages insisting I didn’t say Martin couldn’t be aroace then read back like two days later and realised that I had said “he’s not aroace” bc I had written the post at 2am without proofreading and had meant to say “unless you think he’s aroace”) so I May Well Not Stand By Some Posts or might Stand By Them With Clarification

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thinking-aromanticism · 3 years

Text

Do allos really think that?

This is a post for the Carnival of Aros (August 2021). The prompt I chose is “What are some things you do to mitigate the impact of amatonormativity on yourself, such as with self-care practices?“

Encountering amatonormative sentiments in media can be deeply alienating. Whether it’s a casual comment or the basis of a whole plot, the idea that (committed, monogamous, sexual, man/woman) romantic relationships are necessary for human happiness can leave you feeling isolated, pitied, misunderstood, vilified, pressured, and more alone than ever. There are a lot of ways to react to process these feelings and the texts that inspire them. Critiquing or transforming the text through meta, headcanons, fanfiction, and other personal or community based reflection, walking away and not looking back, and talking through the feelings that the texts inspire.

One particular question-critique that I see in a lot of aromantic discussions around media containing amatonormative sentiments is: do allos really believe this shit? They believe it, don’t they. Ugh, allos really believe this shit, huh.

But like, do they?

You may find it relieving to consider that a lot of the time the answer is no. Much of the time, you can find direct evidence for this in relation to specific media. Much of the rest of the time, you can extrapolate for yourself from general social attitudes and common analyses.

The Mirror Has Two Faces is a deeply amatonormative movie. A short summary: mathematics professor Gregory Larkin is tired of conventional relationships. He loses his professional focus and emotional composure in sexual relationships with romantic partners, but he wants company, connection, a person to be with. So he puts out a personal ad seeking a woman for a sexless relationship. This ad is answered by the sister of one Rose Morgan, an English professor at the same university whose unsupportive family and failed romantic affairs have left her feeling frumpy and alone. So pushed together, Rose and Gregory strike up an intellectual relationship, then marriage and cohabitation. She wants sex, he doesn’t. She gets a makeover, feels beautiful, leaves him, and the movie ends with him finally voicing the passionate love she wanted from him and them making out in the street while a neighbor sings opera off the balcony.

The movie casually equates sex, love, and romance. It supposes that a monogamous, sexual, romantic relationship between a man and a woman is the foundation for a happy life. It frames sexless romantic relationships as silly and doomed, and nonromantic sexual relationships as somewhere between impossible and cruel. It waffles a bit on whether achieving sexual desirability is a genuine antidote for low self esteem, but seems to suggest that it certainly couldn’t hurt.

Do allos really buy into this? Well, when it came out, reviewer Todd McCarthy called it “a very old-fashioned wish-fulfillment romantic comedy” and Edward Guthmann a "a silly affirmation fantasy.” Lisa Schwarzbaum claimed that “No modern romantic comedy could be more manufactured or … awful.” This wasn’t just a shitty movie. Barbra Streisand was praised for her appeal as a diva, and Lauren Bacall got a Golden Globe for best supporting actress. Culture writers in 1996, whether they liked the movie or not, consciously knew that this was a soppy, contrived plot cooked up for gay men to sigh over glamour shots of aging starlets and straight women to sigh over the idea of every family member and romantic interest in their lives lining up to apologize for not loving them in the right ways at the right time.

Granted, the reviews aren’t all so cynical, Roger Ebert of all people having opined that “it's rare to find a film that deals intelligently with issues of sex and love,” seemingly just because the movie addressed the concept of a relationship without sex. But in no small part, alloromantic-majority audiences recognize this movie as representing a scenario that is fun to think about but not reflective of real or ideal life.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is an amatonormative fairy tale - that alloromantic audiences frequently critique and that exists within a long textual tradition of likewise-critiqued adaptations of the same basic story, carrying differing and often complex messages about men, women, relationships, domesticity, threat, appearance, and love. If Disney doesn’t suit, why not investigate C. S. E. Cooney’s (NSFW, kinky, polyamorous) “Witch, Beast, Saint”, or some feminist film criticism? Learning the history of the story might inform, and give some better ground for understanding how the Beauty and the Beast tale has been produced and reproduced socially and how it functions as a romantic fantasy. Disney has also followed it up with multiple films about family, friendship, community, and culture, including films that have explicitly referenced the frequent feminist criticisms of romantic fairytales. Whether these films offer genuine insight into the problematics of the Disney ouvre is up for debate, but it shows that these criticisms are mainstream and that the empire of the Mouse has, at least performatively, turned away from such pat fare.

Amatonormativity in media is alienating and corny and makes for tired, unrealistic stories. And you are not alone in feeling that way! Your concerns are reflected in the mainstream, and there is plentiful, incisive criticism at every level of culture writing, academia, and blogging analyzing how amatonormative tropes set up unrealistic expectations, excuse toxic behavior, and create a social environment of romantic pressure.

When I read or watch or listen to media that features amatonormative, troubling representations of life and relationships, I think critically: what’s going on in these stories? Who is the intended audience? What is the author’s intent? Are these tropes that I’ve seen criticized before? By who? How frequently? What are the criticisms I’ve seen? What criticisms am I inclined to formulate? Based on my knowledge of popular and academic media analysis, how do I think others will react to this media? I look into professional reviews and fan discussions, and see what other people think. And much of the time, I find that other people are thinking critically too, and that other people have seen the cracks. I consider that many of these stories are meant to be compartmentalized as fantasy, and are produced specifically for audiences hungry for them.

Do alloromantics really believe in all this true love’s kiss, happily ever after stuff? I am comforted to come to the conclusion that the answer is, in large if not universal part, a hand-wobbling “well, what’s love anyway, it’s complicated, isn’t it?”

#amatonormativity #carnival of aros #carnival of aros august 2021 #the mirror has two faces #beauty and the beast

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terramythos · 3 years

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TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 21 of 26

Title: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (Wayfarers #4) (2021)

Author: Becky Chambers

Genre/Tags: Science Fiction, Third-Person, Female Protagonists

Rating: 9/10

Date Began: 8/15/2021

Date Finished: 8/22/2021

Gora is an unremarkable planet. It has no natural life and few resources to speak of. In fact, its only use is its proximity to more interesting places. Over the years, it’s become a waystation, notable only as a temporary stop for travelers as they wait for their spot in the wormhole queue.

The Five-Hop One-Stop is a small, family-owned rest stop on Gora. Three travelers— a marginalized nomad, a military contractor, and an exiled artist-- lay over at the Five-Hop awaiting the next stage of their journeys. But everything goes horribly wrong when repair work on an orbital satellite causes a cascade event, destroying the planet’s communications. Now stranded on Gora with debris raining down from the sky, the travelers and hosts must live with each other while cut off from the rest of the galaxy. As they learn more about one another, each is forced to confront their personal struggles… and challenge their perspective on life.

Speaker had a word for how she felt right then: errekere. A moment of vulnerable understanding between strangers. It did not translate into Klip, but it was a feeling she knew well from gatherings among her people. There was no need being expressed here, no barter or haggling or problems that required the assistance of a Speaker, but errekere was what she felt all the same. She’d never felt it with an alien before. She embraced the new experience.

Content warnings and spoilers below the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Non-graphic sexual content, child endangerment, ableism (if you squint; it’s not malicious), references to warfare, discussions of intergenerational trauma re: colonization (not the scifi kind), prejudice and xenophobia, recreational drug use.

I’ve had a mixed experience with Wayfarers, which is unusual for me. I can’t remember the last series I read that fluctuated so much in terms of personal enjoyment and (in my opinion) quality. People as a whole seem to enjoy this series more than me, hence the multitude of awards and glowing reviews. I liked book two, A Closed and Common Orbit, because of the focused narrative and dedicated development of two lead characters. But the first and third books suffered from an overly large cast and reliance on generic archetypes. When a series is built on character development and plot is a secondary concern at best, those characters have to be outstanding. And to me, they usually weren’t.

But in this fourth and final book, I felt that Chambers finally hit her stride. On a surface level, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within has striking similarity to book three, Record of a Spaceborn Few. Both are virtually plotless novels which do deep dives into a cast of characters. What sets The Galaxy apart is its execution. All three leads have unique and compelling personal conflicts. An underutilized strength of the series is its creative aliens; something Chambers takes advantage of here with a fully alien cast. Finally, this book hinges upon interaction between the three leads, something sorely missing from the previous book.

In these reviews I often seem critical of ensemble casts. But when done well, I actually prefer them to singular narratives. The main hurdle is having consistently interesting characters across the board. When there’s one or two characters I prefer over the others, I usually struggle with the novel. There’s an inherent sense of disappointment when leaving a favored character’s POV. For me this affects my overall enjoyment of the story. But when I like all of the characters or they all have something interesting going on, ensemble casts are great. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is successful in this regard because I thoroughly enjoyed all three perspective characters. In no particular order…

Speaker is an Akarak, a birdlike scavenger species introduced as sympathetic antagonists in the first book. Going in, we know their home planet was colonized by the Harmagians, which has caused irreparable harm to their culture. Robbed of their homeworld and forced into the margins of GC society, the Akarak are nomadic, and many of them rely on banditry in order to survive. We have seen very little of them besides that. The Galaxy expands their lore a lot; their short lifespans, their incompatible biology with other sapients, and the resulting generational trauma from centuries of colonial exploitation. Speaker’s arc in particular is about dealing with the prejudice she encounters daily, adjusting to acceptance after being othered for so long, seeing things from a new perspective, and persistent worry for her twin sister Tracker, who she’s been separated from due to the events on Gora.

The Aeluon Pei is actually a recurring character; she’s Ashby’s love interest from the first book. Here we get a more intimate view of her as a person. In particular, she struggles with living a double life. She works a prestigious yet dangerous job among her people, running cargo into critical warzones. But her affair with Ashby (a Human) is a huge cultural taboo among the Aeluons. If her colleagues discovered her romantic relationship, her life as a cargo runner would be over. The double life is wearing on her, because she loves both aspects of her life, but knows that it can’t go on like this forever. To make matters worse, she goes into “shimmer”, a once-in-a-lifetime fertility period, during the events on Gora. This adds a layer to her struggle; does she do her duty to her species and produce a child, or does she pursue what she really wants?

Finally, there’s Roveg, a Quelin. Like the Akarak, Quelin haven’t received a whole lot of development in the series. In the first book, they’re portrayed as a xenophobic insectoid race, and their role is unambiguously antagonistic. Roveg is the polar opposite of that. He’s something of a renaissance man; an appreciator of fine art and dining, who designs artistic sims by profession. He delights in meeting aliens, befriending them, and learning everything there is to know about them. His arc centers around his exile from Quelin society and all the hidden pains associated with that. Chief among these is a mysterious meeting he has to make— which the Gora disaster obviously complicates.

Complementing the three leads are the Five-Hop’s hosts; a Laru mother and child named Ouloo and Tupo. Similar to the Akarak and Quelin, we haven’t seen many of the Laru (who I always picture as fuzzy dog-giraffe hybrids). Ouloo struggles to be a kind and accommodating host in the wake of disaster. She’s also forced to confront her own prejudices, especially regarding Speaker, the first Akarak she’s ever met. The two initially have a lot of tension, but grow to be great friends over the course of the novel. Her child Tupo is a nonbinary character using xe/xyr pronouns throughout the novel. Xe’s basically a Laru teenager, and super endearing. I love xyr natural curiosity and naiveté. Definitely the “heart” of the group.

Interaction between these characters is the bread and butter of this novel. There’s very little action; instead it focuses on their differing perspectives and life experiences. It’s a gradual build as the characters grow more familiar with one another. The epilogue is brilliant, because we see the long-term effect of these characters meeting. Despite interpersonal conflict in the story, Speaker inspires Pei to make a specific decision. From this decision, Pei realizes she can help Roveg with his meeting. As a result of this, Roveg is inspired to help Speaker based on one of their earlier conversations. His help fundamentally alters Speaker’s perspective on life— and there’s an implication it will reach beyond that, to the Akarak as a whole. It’s a cascade effect, but rather than the disastrous version that happened on Gora, it’s a positive social change for the leads. That’s the kind of literary parallel that really fires me up.

I do have a few criticisms of this novel, minor and otherwise. The first is, I wish the tension between Speaker and Pei was more strongly built throughout. While I’m glad the novel isn’t all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to the character interactions, their conflict goes from an idea in the back of one’s mind to an explosive event. This is something of a nitpick because it’s otherwise well executed. I especially like that despite their interpersonal problems, they work together in the climactic events of the novel without sacrificing their respective principles.

My other criticism is a series-wide observation. Wayfarers is optimistic to a fault. As such, it’s pretty rare that we see true evil or even bad behavior in this series. On one hand, it’s nice to read something where the characters are people who want the best for everyone. But there’s a lot of dissonance here, because there are MASSIVE social problems with the GC at large. For example, we see the effects of xenophobia, war, slavery, and colonialism, but the ones who perpetuate these issues are faceless. If Chambers wants to portray good characters, that’s fine, but it strikes me as odd to build complex social issues into your society, yet exclusively portray groups of morally good people. Why would a society full of such nice, helpful groups also marginalize the Akarak, or create an entire caste of slave clones to sort through their junk? This approach comes off as a desire for nuance without committing to it.

This trend continues through the final book. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is clearly a COVID-19 response novel (“we’re all in this together”!)— but everyone is blameless, and the government response is reasonable and timely. That’s just not how it worked in real life. So many people were (and still are!) selfish in response to COVID, often outright endangering others. Practically every government botched their response for the sake of money, leading to mass death worldwide. If Wayfarers has similar social issues to the real world, why would the response to a disaster be any different? It’s an ongoing contradiction; the Wayfarers society is simultaneously utopian and flawed, and it’s hard for me to suspend my disbelief.

As an individual novel, though, I really enjoyed The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. Like all the other books in the Wayfarers series, it’s a standalone and can be read on its own. My experience with this series has been up and down; I recommend the second and fourth books, but I’d skip one and three if I ever do a reread. There are things to like about Wayfarers in terms of worldbuilding and the creative ideas behind all the different aliens. Characterization is hit or miss, but the hits are great, and this book in particular knocked it out of the park. Chambers’ prose improves a lot over the series, and it’s nice to see how she develops as a writer. As I’ve mentioned, Wayfarers has gotten lots of positive feedback, so it’s possible you will enjoy it more than I did. But I’m looking forward to reading something new.

#taylor reads #2021 reading challenge #9/10

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the-lightning-strikes-again · 3 years

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Hi, @pilotkinkade! No worries about a delay—real life and school are way more important than critical analysis of a cartoon, lol. I’m thankful you got back to me, though. I appreciate your response posted here—and no, it didn’t feel patronizing at all! I can see what you mean about things.

In terms of Wikipedia’s definition of white savior as a cinematic trope, I can see where that could be applied to the entirety of the VLD show as you mention, even in aspects to the Balmeran episode. In VLD, I do see how in every case, the largely unprepared MCs save a group of people and in doing so, usually learn something about themselves/achieve a power unlock that makes them personally stronger, especially compared to the people they assist/save, who remain without such power-ups. Or, in various other instances, Team Voltron is shown as “more enlightened” in ethics or willpower, etc. compared to the people groups they’re trying to save/convince to join their cause. That concern absolutely does make sense, and it’s definitely a problem that our paladins are placed on that kind of pedestal and that it’s...celebrated?

I also felt this line of yours in my soul, lol: “i think this is an issue with voltron: liberating a country, let alone a whole planet, is a long, tiring, bloody process. i guess voltron by its nature circumnavigates that, but. it is, to say the least, frustrating to watch.”

Yeahhh lol, I think in terms of how it handles war and heavy situations, VLD accepts a lot of “this isn’t realistic war/politics” moments by virtue of it being a Y7 cartoon? Its fantasy violence is targeted for, I guess, 7-year-old American boys... So, I think when we sensed those more adult themes and moments of realism, we wanted the show to naturally follow up on those struggles more, but I remember an interview where the dev team talked about having to cut politics because the stakeholders felt it was too adult for the target audience, RIP.

But just thinking about this larger conversation about the unsettling images and implications of VLD Voltron’s power as savior…I keep wondering if “savior complex” is in some way inherent to the franchise as a whole by virtue of how it was fitted to a young American audience back in 1984? Like, not only did the original pilots from 1981’s Beast King GoLion get white-washed for an American audience, but it seems like the whole story structure got some pretty major adjustments, and some characters got altered for better (I’d argue 1984 did humanize Lotor and other antagonistic aliens) or worse in various ways (the Voltron pilots became “foreigners” to the war they grew to fight in as the most powerful warriors, instead of the GoLion storyline of the pilots being a band of escaped slaves)…And that’s all on top of the original story being rated much higher at TV-14, while Voltron: Defender of the Universe 1984 was sanitized to Y7.

I wonder if these decisions in 1984 feed into the tangles and weird power structures/savior narrative we see in VLD?

I feel like the only Voltron iteration that really reflects on and questions the “powerful savior” narrative is the one that was rated for older audiences (16+), which is the Dynamite Comics (2011), written by Brandon Thomas...

It was perhaps one of the most innovative versions of Voltron, even though its artwork is criticized for its quality. I say innovative because Team Voltron actually recognizes that they and their machine have been fighting in the name of a corrupted Earth just interested in further conquest and corporate control of its own, and that Earth is actually no better than Zarkon or other despots. It’s a really sticky mess. So we really see Team Voltron try to disavow themselves from that past and their leaders, at the same time that the team and Drule Empire both are realizing that a far darker force (sentient rift creatures, basically) has been instigating the entire war across the universe, using Voltrons to carry out its will, and poisoning people against each other. In this iteration, team Voltron is not the most powerful, nor are they even the only Voltron. And anyone in this iteration could learn powerful magic. So it’s a really complex backstory that tries to unite long-standing opposing groups together under fairly equal powers. And while it’s clearly still got some problems, I really appreciate what writer Brandon Thomas was trying to do here. It feels like a critique on DotU 1984’s mentality around Voltron, while also reaching back to Voltron’s 1981 Beast King GoLion origins—in which, in that version, the pilots were actively victims of the war and had intense, personal reasons for further involving themselves to stop Zarkon.

VLD seems to lift a lot of plot points from the previous Dynamite Comics, along with GoLion. But in doing so, VLD seems to strip out a lot of involved backstory and the past gray morality of Voltron itself. Which seems to reverse the reboot back to its 1984 “yay we’re here to the save the universe” fluff.

An anon recently joined in on our discussion here to suggest that maybe the trope we’re looking for regarding Allura specifically is called “xenos savior trope”? Which appears to be in reference to the larger genre concept of a foreigner of any kind outside the group being the only one who can actually save the day/that group. So it seems to be related without necessarily taking on some of the criteria I suppose I apply to white savior complex specifically….

About Allura’s sort of “Chosen One” hyper-abilities even as an Altean… You’re right that the show isn’t terribly explicit about it. Episode 1 prefaces some of Allura’s powers by referencing that they exist because her life force is tied to Voltron. I talk about it in an old meta here if you’re interested. (I also have this other meta too, where I try to argue that seasons 1-5 have details suggesting Alteans aren’t inherently a master race, but that world-building contradicts the latter half of the show which hinges on that master race concept. But the meta itself also gets into the screenshots about Allura’s life-force tie and her abilities vs. Alfor’s.)

Ultimately, the show certainly doesn’t take time after episode 1 to reiterate why Allura would be so special, but her tie to Voltron is the only thing I can think of for why she’s on such a different level even from Honerva or Alfor, both of whom also made it to Oriande.

I keep thinking about what it would mean to fully update VLD for modern audiences, and I wonder how things would have felt if every major race involved in the war’s scope were still represented by the paladins (reflecting the s3 OG paladin diversity, which did feel really cool). And if everyone had magical abilities but simply that different cultures had different understandings or uses of it—but that they weren’t inherently incapable of learning another’s way. I wonder how much that would have changed VLD as a show…

#Voltron #Voltron meta #Voltron critical #Allura #Alfor #VLD #DDP #Voltron Dynamite Comics #this is a really interesting discussion and thank you for continuing it with me #Lots of complex issues all happening at once

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raisinchallah · 3 years

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its really so interesting how like alien religions in most sci fi needs like outside confirmation to non believers that its totally 100% real and is usually treated that way in the text of the story despite also avowed atheism from most characters even babylon 5 falls into it with magic alien prophecies just being found in old religious texts that like just come to pass even tho its also one of the few sci fi shows that also indicates human religions do still exist and understands even a level of nuance of like religion playing an important cultural role even if someone maybe doesnt believe with ivanova sitting shiva for her father and so on but it always is so wild to me in star trek i do think like.. ds9 handles it in an interesting way with bajoran religion in the sense it does also discuss the kind of shift that might happen if all the events happened with sisko and the wormhole n all that but its a consistent thing across like any of the alien religions its so damn weird with the klingons like i love the episode where b'elanna goes to fuckin klingon hell to see her mom but its also oddly treated as like 100% true like damn klingon hell fucking exists this isnt a metaphor yet also almost no change like again whats going on here or like idk all the stuff about actual physical klingon jesus idk i blacked a lot of it out but idk its just so interesting i have very little to add and obviously religion is very complex and an extremely sticky subject but its also like very important to worldbuilding and a lot of it doesnt really ring true and seems to totally lack like a basic understanding of how its a multifaceted thing that can be as much about community and tradition as belief and like even if u have no real connection to that it still doesnt seem that difficult to write... idk its just kinda fascinating

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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March 12: 1x10 Journey to Babel

My favorite Star Trek episode! Possibly my favorite episode of anything... I’m not going to have much of anything deep to say about it but I did enjoy it immensely.

I actually know the opening of this ep really well because I was using it as the basis for a still unfinished AOS-verse fic that I still want to write but it doesn’t get old regardless.

We can relax when the Vulcans get here! Can you though??

Spock’s utter non-reaction to the name Sarek. But inside he’s gotta be feeling a lot, right? I mean at the very least, nerves at the impending awkwardness.

I feel like Sarek is so subtly suspicious in this scene. Like... why is no one acknowledging we’re related? What’s going ON?

And Kirk knows something’s up but he’s not sure what.

So rude! Asking for another guide. That really is a rift.

And then Amanda’s look when Kirk mentions Spock’s parents. So subtle, so confused, so judgmental.

Also this is a great concept for an Enterprise mission.

I think Amanda’s really interested in the ship! So this is where Spock works...

Humans smile with such little provocation... Whereas Spock smiles when Kirk isn’t dead

Lol the parallels with Sarek and Kirk calling Amanda and Spock over. Mr. Spock, attend.

Sarek taught him computers! So adorable.

Mrs.Sarek lol. But she proves the unpronounceable name can be sort of pronounced.

Idk if I believe this whole depiction of Vulcans as patriarchal... It doesn’t really square with T’Pau running the whole planet. Nor is it logical.

Amanda is so glad that Spock has friends!!

I love to see Kirk defending Spock.

Lmao at the idea of Sarek following the teachings of his father. Was he doing that when he took a HUMAN wife??

Kirk and Amanda bonding over their stubborn husbands.

Oh no, the signal is coming from inside the ship!

Kirk is sure loving this.

So Sarek is 102. That would make him 60-some years older than Spock.

Sarek’s vote carries the others! He’s so important.

Now Kirk is trying to charm the aliens.

I just noticed that Amanda asks Spock if she can share the sehlat story. She looks at him and he very obviously inclines his head. He’s okay with McCoy hearing this.

Alive with six inch fangs!!

Sarek being so protective of Spock and his dignity. “He’s a Starfleet officer!!” Honestly so proud of him.

Sarek/Amanda is actually the best ship.

I feel like Spock gets his humor from Sarek honestly. Like the way he talks to the Telluride Ambassador is so similar to how Spock talks to people.

Can’t believe Kirk had to break up a fight between Spock’s dad and another ambassador lol.

Of course Kirk has to be shirtless for the dramatic reveal of MURDER.

Spock doesn’t think Sarek killed anyone. (Even when he kinda throws him under the bus with that “my father is capable of killing.”)

But then there’s Sarek “I agree, I am a very suspicious person here.”

Meditation cannot be discussed with Earthmen.

Sarek had 4 heart attacks and didn’t tell his wife. The nerve.

Sarek and Spock ganging up on Bones. A real bonding moment.

Spock’s blood has human blood elements...interesting.

Spock was researching for Sarek. Idk why that hits me so hard... He finds this really long shot solution, an experimental drug that isn’t even used on Vulcans and just says “okay problem solved we’re going to fix my father now.”

Calling his father by his first name... cold. He doesn’t do that with Amanda.

*Stefon voice* This ep has everything, mystery, intrigue, family drama, diplomatic drama, medical emergencies, shirtless Kirk, and a fight scene!

Poor Spock, on top of everything else, his space husband is injured too.

Now Spock is off to question the prisoner. Eep, wouldn’t want to be that prisoner.

I feel like Spock’s excuse of not wanting to give up command is total Scotty erasure, and seems really flimsy on its face.

The Andorian tells him to think about passion and gain...asking Spock to think about passion!! How dare?

Not a lot of Kirk in this episode but every Kirk scene is gold. He’s being charming again. And he has such devotion to Spock and his family, even risking his own health to make sure Spock can help Sarek--and Sarek hears all of it! We are specifically shown that he’s awake!

Kirk’s face when he looks at Spock in the Captain’s chair is just so loving.

Hmmm I guess no one trusts Scotty around here!

Bones is not encouraging confidence by not knowing what Vulcan blood pressure should be.

Haha just knocked Spock the fuck out. “My patients don’t walk out in the middle of operations.”

“Sir, we stunned the Andorian and pieces just started falling off.”

I love that the inside of Sarek is smoking.

...You know actually the Enterprise did need Kirk specifically to command in this crisis.

How is CHEKOV the next in command lol? He’s 22 and the lowest ranked person there.

It’s interesting that the Orions are the bad guys in this episode.

Spock’s parents can so clearly tell how in love Kirk and Spock are.

“One does not thank logic.”

When Kirk collapses and Amanda moves closer to him, Sarek is still holding his fingers out for a kiss like a lovesick nerd.

Bones gets the last word!

And now Kirk, Spock, and Sarek are going to be recovering in the same room for a while lol.

I didn’t write any notes on the Spock and Amanda scene because it’s just... too much. Too overwhelming. It’s so dramatic, first off, and... Amanda is just so human. You know in some ways she’s assimilate to Vulcan life--how she can pronounce Sarek’s last name and how she thinks the Vulcan way of life is “better”--but she really wasn’t written to e like a long term Vulcan resident imo. I mean when it comes right down to it, she’s very human. I like that but I just think it’s interesting.

I’m a little uncomfortable with like the degree of emotional manipulation... saying she’ll hate him forever, slapping him. But Spock’s excuse looks pretty flimsy when you consider that there are other people who can command the ship. But then... well like I said, there WAS an emergency and Kirk really was the best man for the job so like you do get an example of how not all officers are interchangeable. And I was trying to wrap my head around the argument that this isn’t just a Starfleet position, it’s a Vulcan one, and one Sarek would understand: duty, rules, and the many before the one. So I guess it does make sense, and the tension is appropriate for the scenario.

I also appreciate how the point of this episode was to show, as DC Fontana said, three people who hadn’t been a family for a long time becoming a family again, so you can see all the complexity in their history and how the differences in their cultures blend together sometimes awkwardly, and how hard it is for all of them.

This is the best ST installment for Vulcan fashion. Like, this ep, T’Prng’s dress in Amok Time, and Ambassador Spock’s asymmetrical coat in STXI are the only valid Vulcan outfits. I never got the robes and head coverings thing. Like, are robes logical? I think not. Plus, they are desert people but they are NOT austere, so I don’t get all the dark colors and shit. Vulcans should absolutely all be wearing hot pink wide legged pants and fur-trimmed ponchos; I am not joking. Also I thought Sarek’s outfit was great: it’s simple and professional but still has a lot of color on it; it’s exactly what it seems like a Vulcan ambassador would wear. And they never reach that level in any later installment!!

The Amazon trivia tells me that deleted dialogue said that Sarek was an engineer before he was an ambassador, which I don’t totally get (that’s not... a science...and he went to the VSA right?), but I do find it VERY interesting and I wish I’d known that when I wrote HAICG and had Spock name his son after an engineer.

Next time is Friday’s Child, which is also a great episode to watch and think about HAICG.

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #2021: fandom thoughts #star trek tos

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tlbodine · 4 years

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Worlds Not Our Own

So I went back to play another play-through of Golden Treasure to see if I could get further this time and because I love it so much, and one of the things that strikes me about why I love it is also something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately in terms of fantasy writing and the discussion of fantasy races and the discourse that sometimes happen surrounding them when viewed through a lens of social justice.

Something that Golden Treasure does really, really well is create a species culture that is quite alien to the human experience but rings true with everything we know about dragons.

The Draak, as they’re called in the game, are proud and fierce. They live independent lives, coming together only to mate, and do not linger to tend to their children once they have hatched. They feel little in the way of sentimentality toward one another, although they can form a sort of friendship or at least fondness with those who have earned their respect. As you learn as an egg, Draak are creators -- able to bring new life into the world -- but also destroyers who must kill and eat in order to survive and feel no shame about this destruction. Indeed, they relish in it; destruction, cunning, violence, trickery, self-serving actions are all values among Draak; but so too are values of quiet meditation, poetry, helpfulness, healing, oneness with the earth, and so forth.

And for the Draak, none of this is presented as being paradoxical or strange.

This is something that is so rarely done well, and it’s so refreshing to see it handled this way here. Aside from the truly beautiful prose and artwork in the game, much of what makes it so engaging to play is how completely unique the experience is. You are put in a position of exploring a world through very different eyes, of making judgments from a very different perspective, and growing through a very different collection of values.

The Non-Human and Inhuman of Fantasy

So often, non-human entities in fantasy fiction are created as a way to explore cultural or racial differences among humans, and so often it falls horribly flat. How many times have you encountered a fantasy novel where the races are broken down as like...”Humans...Jewish stereotype, but short...Native American stereotype, bit part-animal....Black stereotype, but an Orc.”

Not only is it racist and offensive, it’s boring. It’s weird and dumb to look at the cultures of the real world, distill them down to a couple of traits, and then make a fantasy race where every member of that race displays those traits. Even if you manage to create a race that is not directly influenced by any particular real-world or historic group, it’s still pretty problematic to populate a world with “the proud warrior race!” and then leave it at face value instead of exploring all the ways members of that race are individual and do or don’t conform to their racial stereotypes. Any worldbuilding that starts “all X are ___” is automatically lazy and problematic.

HOWEVER. I have seen these complaints raised before in discourse that suggests that we should just do away with fantasy races entirely, that they cannot be written well, and I think that’s not true at all.

I would argue that there is absolutely value in writing about the non-human and the inhuman, whether that be sentient animals, alien lifeforms, or fantasy races.

The Inherent Loneliness of Humanity

Humans are, to the best of our knowledge, unique in all the universe.

Perhaps some day that will be proven wrong, and we will finally meet an alien race from a distant star or communicate telepathically with dolphins. But for the time being, as near as we can tell, humans unique. We have complex societies and invent technologies and develop languages and create art. We cook our food and nurture our sick and pass on history from one generation to another. We understand that our lives are fleeting. We invent medicine and laws and social structures to extend our lifespans.

And we are so, so lonely.

We are so lonely that we befriend dogs and birds and fish and roombas. We are so lonely that we make up stories about other people, and other worlds.

I think it’s an absolutely natural human impulse to wonder how things might be different if we were not alone. What Neanderthals had stuck around? What if all the early human species had stuck around? What if we could talk to animals? What if dolphins had cities? What if aliens visited earth?

We wonder these questions in part because we are so very lonely, and in part because asking them helps us to better understand our humanity.

What if humans were obligate carnivores instead of omnivores? Would we have a different relationship with death and killing?

What if humans were solitary creatures instead of social ones? Could we have still developed a modern society?

What if humans co-existed with another species of similar intelligence but extremely different values and morals and social needs?

I don’t think we should shy away from these questions as creators. I think they are worth engaging with if they are questions that interest you. A fantasy race does not need to reflect real-world racial politics in order to say something interesting about humanity -- nor should it.

Anyway. I’m rambling a bit and this whole thing may or may not be very coherent. I just think it’s interesting to think about, and so much deeper and broader and messier than how this type of worldbuilding is often discussed.

#worldbuilding #fantasy #fantasy races

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thisiswhatwereupagainst · 4 years

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@shattered-catalyst asked me what underused female Marvel characters that I’d like to see in the RPC. I misread it as asking what underused female characters I would like to see in a canon Marvel story, and started making this list. Then I realized what they ACTUALLY asked me---and answered it HERE-- but since I had this list started I thought I would post it! As a note, I tried to overlook my own biases for whom *I* simply want to see back in action, versus if there’s actually story potential there that I think other fans would genuinely want to see. It’s also by no means complete/comprehensive, so if you think someone is missing and deserves to be on here---you’re probably right! Feel free to add to it! BLINDSPOT - Blindspot is a female member of Mystique’s Brotherhood who was friends with Rogue, and had the powers of memory manipulation. After several missions, Mystique decided to cut ties with her due to lack of trust. Blindspot left, but not without wiping herself out of Mystique and Rogue's memories first, as she always covered her tracks, which is why Rogue doesn’t remember her (actual reason is she was retconned in, she’s a 2000s creation) Years later, when Rogue had become an X-Men, they would come into conflict once more, as Blindspot wanted to ‘save” Rogue from Xavier’s “brainwashing”, but Rogue would still leave Blindspot with her X-uniform to remember her by. Blindspot is unique in having been a Brotherhood friend to Rogue, as she was never shown as close to any of the other members, and was also mysteriously immune to Rogue’s powers. I think Rogue fans might enjoy seeing her in a Rogue story again, and perhaps learning more about their time together. CATSEYE - I think ALL the Hellions were criminally underused, and I know from X-Men/comics discussion boards that there’s an audience for their return. Catseye seems to be the favorite in terms of who people found most interesting, and I agree. A girl who believes she’s a cat who can turn into a human form, rather than the reverse, is a really neat concept, not to mention Sharon had a charming personality with surprising depth for what little time she got. There’s a lot that could be done with her return, and I think she could totally be the lead in a revived Hellions story on Krakoa, or a story depicting their time as Frost’s students at the Massachusetts Academy. CORDELIA FROST - Look, everyone loves Emma Frost, I think it’d be easy to get people interested in a Cordelia story. Not to mention the fact that like...Adrienne is dead, Christian was institutionalized, but Cordelia has been running around this whole time. She seems to have had some big plans once upon a time, what happened to that? Nothing ever came of it. Why not? What’s she been up to all this time? Also, we should finally get to see what kind of powers she has! I’ve seen it quoted around the Internet that Emma claims Cordy is “the Professor Xavier of empaths” but I’ve not only never seen the source for where she says this, she’s never demonstrated ANY kind of powers in canon, besides Emma not being able to read her mind. I would like to see what the “subtle, dark, and devious” Frost baby gets up to! DARKSTAR - Darkstar is a mutant and she’s been present in the comics since 1976. She’s been a member of X-Corps, as well as served in the Champions with Angel and Iceman back in the day. Yet her loyalty (coughBRAINWASHINGcough) has always brought her back to serving Mother Russia first and foremost. We saw recently though that Russia has gone back to its “All mutants serve the State or die!” position, and not allowing its mutants to go to Krakoa. It’s pretty easy to work Darkstar into a story about that, and finally exploring the way she was deeply conditioned to the point her “choice” to serve her country is probably anything but, and coming to terms with that at last. I’d really like to see a story like this, because Darkstar is kind of unique in that her brainwashing wasn’t a dramatic trauma-conga full of torture and abuse, she actually seems to have been treated well, she was just also kidnapped as a baby and never knew anything else. I think it’s about time we get a story that shows abuse doesn’t always “look like abuse” and how denial of someone’s agency can run so deep that their own choices that they THINK they’re making of their own free will, really are products of that. Also, her story could be an easy way to get my STARLIGHT fix, and FANTASMA on top of that. Remember, Fantasma was banished to Limbo, and pulled Starlight in after her. Why WOULDN’T Darkstar want to go rescue her teammate? And there’s a member of the X-Men who is mistress of Limbo and can open portals there, it’s totally easy! Darkstar enlists Magik (who has a huge fan following, and thus would get people interested) to guide her through Limbo so they can find Starlight and bring her home, but on the way they run afoul of Fantasma! Who, being a Dire Wraith sorceress, makes a great foe for Magik! PHANTAZIA - During 1990s, Toad struck out on his own and formed his own Brotherhood, which consisted of several old faces---Pyro, Blob, and Sauron (despite Sauron not being a mutant)---and a new one, the woman known as Phantazia, aka Eileen Harsaw. Phantazia had the power to manipulate electromagnetic energy fields. This allowed her to fly, disrupt machinery, and disrupt the bioelectric energy fields and nervous systems of other living beings as well, resulting in pain, paralysis, loss of physical coordination, and in the case of superhumans, the inability to control their powers, causing them to fluctuate in strength, cease functioning altogether, or spew out uncontrollably. Not much is known about her personality, but she seems to have been well-educated, as Blob refers to her as “Ms. PhD” and tended to stay out of the arguments between her male teammates, ignoring them while she read books on scientific subjects, such as astrophysics. . She also displayed loyalty, such as when she also opted to stay with her teammates when only she among them was invited to Magneto’s new mutant sanctuary of Avalon. Alas, Eileen met a wicked fate---for some reason, she was one of the few mutants to retain their memories of the “House of M” reality shift, and the shifting back and forth drove her insane. She was last seen in a S.H.I.E.L.D. custody cell, babbling “House of M” over and over. I think Eileen was interesting. She had a cool powerset, hints of a personality, and was never much of a “bad guy” certainly not enough to deserve what happened to her. Female Brotherhood members are also pretty rare, so she catches my eye for that too. I like to think Xavier found her and fixed her mind, and she’s going to hang out with her old pals Pyro, Blob, and Toad on Krakoa. HAVEN - I’ve been yelling about her on this blog for like 5 years, but if you’re not familiar with her, Radha Dastoor aka Haven was a villain who ran a cult dedicated to bringing about the end of the world as we know it in order to usher in a golden age of peace. She only did this, however, because she was being possessed by a demon. Her real self was a kind, charitable woman who was just all about feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and, as it happens, advocating for mutants. Though it had little to do with her villainy, Haven still found time to be a demon-posessed super-terrorist AND write books promoting mutant/human peace and give lectures condemning bigotry. She seems like someone who SHOULD have gotten saved from said demon, but no, she dies alone in the mud after being victim-blamed by a Marvel deity. Her entire arc is really misogynistic, she’s only possessed because she had sex once and then got pregnant, she’s basically punished for breaking the purity taboos of her culture once, and it’s also pretty...racist isn’t the right word, but she’s the first Indian and Hindu character in the X-Men comics, and a lot of her terrorist philosophy fed to her by the demon comes from actual Hinduism, which has unfortunate implications, as does the fact that the “brown woman with a funny religion ended up being a terrorist just like the government said so X-Factor attacking her before they were sure of this is okay” was part of her story. Eesh. Anyway, she was a very good person and an interesting character, I think bringing her back as someone trying to do good in the world again as a human ally to mutants while also dealing with what happened to her and what she did and her loss of 20 years of agency to possession, would be a good story. I at least want to see a cameo of her taking care of a bunch of orphan and refugee kids who are a mix of mutants, Inhumans, Warpies, aliens, and humans. LORELEI - Lorelei is another little-known woman from the Brotherhood of Mutants, and unique in that she’s NOT a mutant. At one point, Magneto used a machine to mutate members of the native tribes in the Savage Land, giving them super-powers. These Savage Land Mutates served him in their homeland, fighting the X-Men at his command, but he left them behind when he returned back to the rest of the world...all save Lorelei, who he took with him for his new Brotherhood, citing a possible “Pygmalion complex” for why. Lorelei was a beautiful blonde woman who could control men with her voice. However, she seems to have a childlike intellect, as she speaks very simply and in the third person, and doesn’t really seem aware of what she’s doing or why she’s being told by Magneto to do it. It’s a really worrying dynamic, and I also worry about Lorelei once Magneto just...kinda ditched her, I guess, and left her with Unus, Blob, and the Vanisher. Then she turns up back in the Savage Land serving yet another bad guy. Lorelei--or Lani Ubanu, as seems to be her name before Magneto transformed her--comes off as an unaware innocent that just gets constantly picked up and used by greater villains because she doesn’t know any better, and given that this is because of the powers Magneto gave her, I’d like to see that come back and have him take responsibility for her. And if she’s NOT as unaware and innocent as she seems, I’d like to see that, because she’s been around since 1969 and she doesn’t have a personality and she barely speaks! Flesh this girl out! MADELYNE PRYOR - I feel like this one is cheating a bit, because I’m not sure I’d say Maddy is under-used. She’s seen more action just this decade than all the others on this list saw in their entire careers COMBINED. It’s more than she’s just...not used well, in my opinion. 2000s writers generally seem to forget that her stint as the Goblyn Queen came from being infected by demonic energy and also insane (for VERY understandable reasons), and seem to think she’s just evil on her own. Not to mention they take all the depth out of her; she’s a character with a full personality of her own and some very fucked up struggles that she was not to blame for, but that all gets boiled down to “Scott’s sexy evil ex who is mad he left her so now she trounces around in skimpy clothes she never actually wore when she wasn’t possessed because EVIL LADIES ARE SEXY CUZ FEMALE SEXUALITY IS EVIL” and it’s just....u g h. When Maddy was herself, she actually was very heroic, to the point she sacrificed her life to save the world (her FIRST death, which everyone forgets). But she also has good reason to be really angry and bitter at the X-Men, and I don’t see her letting go of that even when she’s back in her right mind. So I think depicting her as an anti-hero, who saves innocent people yet works against the X-Men, would be a neat story, with the ultimate conclusion being her letting go of her grudge, not for THEIR sake but for HERS, to not have her be tethered to them any longer, not even by hate, and finally live a life that is HERS. MISS SINISTER - So, Miss Sinister is NOT Nathaniel Essex in a lady suit. She’s actually an entirely different person, and actually has a very sympathetic situation. She’s a woman named Claudine Renko, whom Mr. Sinister injected with a virus containing his own DNA. The idea was that in the event of his death, the virus would activate in her or one of his other test subjects, transforming them into Sinister complete with his consciousness replacing their own. But when it activated in Claudine after Sinister’s apparent (but in fact only temporary) death in the “Messiah Complex” story, Claudine did not become possessed by Mr. Sinister nor become him---not exactly. She became essentially a female clone of him, gaining aspects of his appearance (such as the chalk white skin) as well as his telepathic powers. He might also be how she got her wicked personality, but since we don’t know anything about her prior to this, that could just be how she was already. But she also suffered invasive memories of Essex's life, and that as a malignant presence within her mind, he was slowly killing her as a means of self-resurrection. He even managed to manifest briefly before being re-absorbed back into her. It was for this reason that she wanted to switch bodies with X-23, thus gaining Laura's healing factor, something she had wanted after her stabbing, and thereby freeing herself of Essex. The plan backfired when Essex took control of Laura's body and used her to mortally wound Claudine. Laura managed to overcome Essex's presence in her mind, expelling it through force of will. She was next seen working with Emma Frost on using The Mothervine, though Emma ended up turning on her. I remember feeling bad for Claudine when I read her story with X-23. Having someone else trying to take over your body is a pretty good motive for doing something as evil as trying to steal someone else’s, while also being inexcusable to do. It’s unlikely she was a willing subject for Sinister, so she probably isn’t to blame for what happened to her, but is to blame for her actions after, which is the kind of villain I like. Also, while she’s usually in lingerie ala a Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, she wore a really cute little normal outfit in a story with Sebastian Shaw and Daken...which ironically is when she actually was Black Queen! I’d like to see more of Claudine, and find out more about her story and who she was before all this, and whether or not she’s REALLY free of Sinister, as she seems to be now. After all...is anyone ever free of him? Bonus if she teams up with Madelyne Pryor! NOCTURNE - No not TJ Wagner, THIS LADY! I don’t think anyone (except me) is hoping for her return, as I don’t think anyone else really knows about her, but Spider-Man stuff is still popular so there’s no reason she couldn’t come back and have a prominent role in that. I really hope they go with the interpretation that she’s gay, since now is a time that they can actually have that open instead of coded, but more than just the representation of a gay WOC (which is awesome) I really am interested in her adjustment and journey into her new identity, and in particular her communication via empathy powers rather than speech. That really intrigues me about her. I think she could become very compelling and popular if brought back and handled well, perhaps in a story that brings back other neglected characters in the Spider franchise as well. SAT-YR-9 - Okay, so in the Captain Britain/Excalibur comics of the 80s, there was a woman named Courtney Ross. She was a banker and Captain Britain’s ex, and she became a side character, having adventures with the team and even besting none other than ARCADE through STAND UP COMEDY. Then one night, a version of her from another universe emerged in apartment, killed her, and took her place. This evil counterpart was Sat-Yr-9, who had been a cruel dictator in homeworld, and has been running around doing evil in 616 since while masquerading as Courtney. Captain Britain discovered the ruse and vowed revenge...but has yet to really do anything, probably because Sat-Yr-9 herself really hasn’t done anything since either. She popped up for a brief moment in the 2000s as the new White Queen of the Hellfire Club, but that’s it. I would like to see more of her, in that role or outside it. Given her connection to both the Hellfire Club and to Kitty (whom she was grooming under the guise of “Courtney Ross” and seemed to have big plans for, as well as some mysterious connection to that was never explained) I think she’d be great for the Marauders series. Or in the new “Excalibur” series that stars Psylocke as the new Captain Britain! I also think there would be interest in a story that finally resolves her murder of Courtney and shows Brian finally at least TRYING to make her pay, I still see it talked about on Marvel boards how unsatisfying and frustrating it is that Brian vowed revenge DECADES ago and has yet to do anything about it, and how much of a waste that makes Courtney’s death (Courtney was surprisingly popular with fans even to this day due to how she handled Arcade, it instantly endeared them to her...and then that’s RIGHT when she got killed off, literally the evening after) Maybe Betsy is the one who finally gets her at last! THRENODY - I think that Threnody’s coming back in the recent Deadpool series revived enough interest to justify bring her back yet again, and I think her baby being killed, however monstrous it was, means that fans are probably ready to see her get a happy ending for once. I know I sure am. ZALADANE - Zaladane was a personal villain to Polaris, and given that Polaris has never really had a book that was about her (as far as I know, I’m far from a Lorna expert) I think bringing her back as the bad guy for a Lorna solo series would be cool. I also would like it resolved if she’s Lorna’s sister or not. It seems to add up at the time it was written, but changes to Lorna’s backstory continuity since make it impossible. I think that a suitably comic-booky explanation could work for that, such as “she *is* Lorna’s sister but from another dimension, not 616, and also that explains how/why she’s in the Savage Land” or something like that. Plus it satisfies both the people who think she is and who think she isn’t.

#xmen #x men #x-men #marvel #marvel women

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captainnellbatoast · 4 years

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SHARKS, SHARKS AND MORE SHARKS

The subject area I'd like to choose for my FMP is shark attacks which is a theme that I'm really interested in and have a pre-existing knowledge of. The subject of shark attacks is full of incorrect preconceptions that’s been majorly informed by the portrayal of attacks in cult films such as Jaws. These have completely moulded the culture of swimming in the sea worldwide, and the overall view of sharks.

In particular within this subject I’d like to investigate the conflict between human and shark, exploring the villainization of singular sharks which has been heavily influenced by pop culture. I’d like to adopt a process focussed on pacing, suspense, conflict while introducing tone of voice and possibly conversational dialect to the language.

Before 1916 there was skepticism if a shark could even take down a human. In the summer of that year that would be immensely disproved as 5 people were attacked in 11 days on the shore of New Jersey, 4 of which were fatalities. This spree of attacks, which inspired Jaws, birthed the idea that there is a sole shark out there hunting humans, when in fact it is far more likely that a group of sharks moved into that area due to a migrational change, and at the height of summer and beach bathers there happened to be 5 attacks from a collection of sharks. More coincidence than not.

One thing that really fascinates me about this is the vilanization of a single shark which has led to the strange misconception that if you catch a shark around the time of an attack, especially if when gutted it has human remains inside it, your shore will now be safe. The relationship between sharks and humans widely exists as hunt or be hunted even though most people won’t ever encounter a shark in the wild. Does this fear stem from a power complex or is it purely survival instinct induced? Is the fear that we will be hunted or killed? Could this inform a discussion appreciating sharks as hunters and gorgeously engineered killing machines, through an act of respect?

The chances of you being killed by a falling coconut are higher than both being fatally injured by a shark or surviving the attack. Despite most people having a grasp on this concept, or similar, the fear takes over when swimming in murky or even clear open water to the point that many people are fearful and have doubts whilst swimming on even British coasts.

How has culture informed this fear? Jaws has scarred many many children and adults from young ages due to Spielberg’s masterful avoidance of the 12 rating. It is quite hard to believe that it was, and remains, a PG rated film. When speaking to those who were born in the 70s about their first memory of Jaws they often remark how they left the cinema during the screening or how it took a long time to come to terms with their experience of it as they were shit scared. Some note not even wanting to get in the bath. I remember watching the opening scene at 9 on Youtube and then really struggling to grow a pair and get into the sea that summer which I found profoundly odd as I had always really liked monster movies and tended to be a very fearless child when it came to stuff like that. Films like King Kong, Jurassic Park, Coraline, Monster House, which a lot of kids had issues watching, I couldn’t get enough of, but what was different about Jaws though was it could be real. I was able to establish the impossibleness of the other films, but 9 year old me couldn't get it out of my head that unless I never got into the water again I would never truly be safe. I’m still not sure which bit of being attacked by a shark I was more scared for at that point, or if it was just the concept and visual of Alex’s raft floating back all bloody and solo- that stuck with me more than the gorey death bit because I found that kind of cool. Luckily for me peer pressure took over that summer and I got into the water and kind of eliminated that fear. It wasn’t until I went snorkelling in the Caribbean 2 years ago in deep open water that I had to confront this feeling again. Not being able to have 360 vision constantly in crystal clear water was almost scarier than being in murky waters. I have now decided that I think the scariest part of being attacked by a shark (for me) would be if I was in clear water and seeing it swimming straight at me from a distance because at that point nothing is going to be able to stop it.

I could find legs in this concept of fear and begin a tonal conversation on disaster in general and how it is responded to, both culturally and socially. It also begins to beg questions of why are we so scared of the shark species specifically and not say jellyfish when the stings kill way more people annually than sharks. Is it all down to the teeth; the engineering of the shark? What is the land equivalent of the shark? - is there one? or is the shark far superior to any other creature to currently exist? And how has the term been reappropriated to describe a type of person - “he’s a lone shark” “you shark”

I really enjoy watching shark attack documentaries. I like how they remind me how powerless humans can be in a world they dominate, especially when they’re taken off land. By entering the ocean you’re on a shark’s turf at the end of the day so if you get got can you really blame the shark? The varying amount of damage each species can do really shows the dominance of sharks and how perilous an encounter can be. The fact that great whites remain as one of the only animals that humans cannot keep in captivity without them dying almost immediately is a credit to the species.

I also like shark attack programmes because of the suspense and gore that’s recounted. Some of the injuries seem so alien that they come across as fictional and like they’re part of films. I’m not squeamish so on the rare occasions they show in detail injuries and footage of the attacks it’s my lucky day.

As well as accounts of attacks, documentaries often cover and explore preventative measures in shark ‘hotspots’ which has increased my fascination in the species itself a lot more recently. For example, surfers are now encouraged to wear blue patterned wetsuits that mimic the surface of the water as black wetsuits make you look like a seal (shark food). The other issue with black wetsuits, and also patterned, often neon ones, is the shark’s inability to see colour due to its single long-wavelength sensitive cone type in the retina, which means any high contrast in the water is easy to identify and track.

Recently I’ve been researching how climate change will impact shark migration and therefore attacks. The warmer a shark is, the more energy it has for hunting and migration, and with ocean temperatures rising sharks are become more active and migrating to new areas now that the sea is warm enough to be inhabited. Sharks currently found off the Spanish coast and in the Mediteraean are predicted to move north for the first time ever, meaning they could be entering British seas by 2050. Sharks predicted to follow this migration pattern include white hammerheards, blacktips and sandtigers. I wonder if British coasts homed sharks what the cultural and societal response would be to this. This could also spark a speculative investigation into the future of the shark.

I still stand by my 10 year old self’s opinion that death by shark is probably the coolest way to go.

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nat-20s · 4 years

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Ok!! So!! One of the concepts I'm currently working on is this sci-fi adventure story, set millions of years in the future, and there are five main characters, three live on the remnants of Earth, a prince who's hiding from responsibility, a medic who likes to scavenge the wasteland, and a mechanic who's an unregistered cyborg, and two are stranded on the moon, one a general of an empire called the Solution, because that's what they beleive they are, who crashed there and is beginning to 1/??

“ Doubt that any of the solution will be coming to rescue them, and the last human, who's in some form of stasis, and has been asleep for millions of years The story starts off following the three on earth, who have a common goal of wanting to get off planet, and basically run away, then after the first part, you get an epilogue(?) Of what's been happening on the moon since the general got stranded. Eventually they join the rest of the team and they end up adventuring through space. I have a Bunch of random notes on other, non-plot-related stuff though, like the Solution are an empire who beleive that they can end all war and suffering by colonizing the whole universe, although whether their leader believes that or it's just propaganda I haven't decided yet. Another thing is that the prince's species are on the brink of war with the Solution, because their (the prince's) empire are refusing to sign themselves over to the Solution, which creates an interesting dynamic :0,

I also Have a bunch of species notes because all of them except the human are different species of alien, the human I really wanted as a character, as the human is from our perspective the normal, and so it can make the alien's characteristics stand out more, because I took the time to think of them and I want to be able to explain stuff without having to make author's notes, ok, so to start off, none of the main aliens are from Earth, and if it's cool, I'm gonna start by talking about the mechanic.

She's an alien from a very humid planet, which is 95% rainforest her species respect tf out of nature, although on her planet (their are actually three planets her species are from, and then there's variation for each planet) it's full of larger predators and it's very dangerous to live on, so her subspecies have developed and are both poisonous and venomous, and because of this, they're covered in bright markings to warn off predators, also they have good senses of hearing and can see in The dark, despite this, their eyesight isn't actually that great, anyway, they tend to leave nature as it is, and mainly work around it, so they tend to live in the tree tops, and have claws in order to climb the trees and stuff. Then, the medic is actually technically a plant, all of his species are from a mother tree, and they see each other as siblings, even if they've never met each other, they're still willing to lend each other a hand, bc plant solidarity, they communicate on a Frequency much lower then most species can hear though, so most of them find alternate ways of communicating with other species, the medic uses sign language. His species, while all made from the same plant, wouldn't reproduce with each other bc ew, but can reproduce with other species, making hybrid species (basically to note that his species are not automatically asexual) also, they don't actually need to eat, but do need to drink water with the right minerals and stuff in, in the right Circumstances, his species can live for a very long time. The prince's species, I don't actually have a lot on, although his species are from a desert planet, and there's a recessive gene they can have that makes them susceptible to being psychic (he has this gene, which's favoured in becoming king, so instead of being the youngest child without responsibility, he becomes heir to the throne, which he is Not for, he specialises in dream stuff, it comes easily to him). The general, I also Don't have much on, but they're produced asexually, with specific purpose, and then although the human's the last human, there are echoes of humanity left over, stuff like abandoned AIs and species evolved into human-like creatures from domestic species, who evolved around human facilities l, and so adapted to them.

(I didn't expect to write this much, sorry for getting carried away)”

Bro your world-building? Is fuckin tight as hell!!! I’m always a HUGE sucker for plant species that since they’re of somewhat? a hive mind scenario them sign language to discuss things with people outside of their species is SO COOL!! in general every time is like “im building a sci fi world universe and we’re gonna explore how environment interacts with alien culture” i go bonkers in fucking yonkers!! Also the TEAM dynamics ur setting up..delicious, finally some good fucking food.

as for if the leader of the Solution should genuinely believe or just go with it for propoganda, i think it depends on what you wanna explore! if you wanna go for greater villian (?) complexity, genuine belief can get into some really cool territory, if you’re going for more an exploration of how power hungry individuals can manipulate stories to their advantage, go for propaganda!

Also also not to be human centric but stories where there’s a singular human with a whole squad of aliens? LOVE LOVE LOVE that!!

#replies #anon #i hope u don't mind me copy pasting all ur messages lol #BUT YEAH THIS IS SO COOL PLEASE CONTINUE TO TALK TO ME ABOUT IT

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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February 3rd-February 9th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from February 3rd, 2020 to February 9th, 2020. The chat focused on Park Planet by Sammy Newman.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Park Planet by Sammy Newman~! (http://parkpla.net/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until February 9th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

first impressions are that the art has an attractive newspaper-comic style and is very clean for being a rare traditionally drawn comic

RebelVampire

Attractive newspaper style is a good way to describe it. What I like about the art the most though are the unique merger of the complex designs and the simplicity. For example, the faces are a bit simple to match the tone and overall nature of the comic. Yet at the same time, there's all these interesting alien designs throughout that are all very unique. But everything fits so seamlessly together. Which I feel is kind of the strength of the comic. Is it does a really great job with balancing different aspects. Complexity and simplicity, serious drama and comedy, etc. It's one of those comics that feels like warm soup because it has a bit of everything.

Ranger

Indeed, thus far it blends individual vignettes with characterization very well to remain fresh while still maintaining enough coherency to be enjoyable. Will definitely keep reading it

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I think "warm soup" is a great way to describe the comic! It has this cozy, nostalgic feel that you'd get from a well-written Sunday newspaper comic - but the concept is also super unique and intriguing on its own! - Can we talk about how great of a character Paisley is? She's got the whole emotionless robot vibe going, but she's one of the kindest characters in the comic despite that. And the way her character develops over the course of the comic is super satisfying (e.g., getting a date at the dance)!

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

I'm in love with the charming stylization of letters and layout so far-- its easy to sink in a read some pages during downtime and pick right up for the next read. Page 5 of 'craft time' made me snort out loud, these jokes are always landing and play out well! And as far as fav character, Paisley is so sweet and is def hitting chords for me!

varethane

I love the end of this page where Paisley lights the fire with her eyes to impress the campers!!! http://parkpla.net/index.php/page/book-0001/004-paisleys-day/

RebelVampire

I do like the interesting blend Paisley has going on between being robotic and being human. I actually like that the story doesn't go too serious on the whole theme of humanity when it comes to non-humans. Although my favorite moment regarding Paisley is when the translators break and Paisley's joke is to speak in binary. It's definitely one of my favorite things about the beginning of the comic since I think it really captures both the comedy and unique alien aspects of the comic.

However, if I had to pick a favorite character I'd go with Wurlitzer. Cause I can't even. This is legit one of the most unpredictable characters to me, and I enjoy every moment Wurlitzer is around, because its just the sort of character that causes conflict by being in the same room as any other character.

I'd actually even say my fave moment is the company get together where Wurlitzer is doing introductions and is just kind of oblivious to everyone's attitudes and awkwardness. It's both funny, but also makes the social awkwardness relateable since it's easy to imagine having a boss like this. Overally, though, I also like any moments where the alien thing is brought up. This to me is the best part of the content cause there's so much to explore here and it just brings this really unique concept to webcomics by combining it with a park.

Ranger

Paisley is a favorite thus far

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Everybody loves Paisley and so do I

I think "warm soup" and "Sunday comic" are great descriptions

But the world with the non-human characters brings uniqueness

Found a mistake on this page:

http://parkpla.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/SM5_tumblrtest.jpg

The dialogue randomly changes into type

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I love this art style

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

i think the type is intentional

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

That might have been an intentional choice if the artist was pressed for time or something

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

she's talking like through her teeth and mumbling

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I thought that may be the case, but his text also changes into type? So I think the author typesets by hand tracing over typed text, and forgot to do it here, maybe?

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. What do you think happened to the humans and Earth? What do you think necessitated the creation of the park, and do you think it’s helping to preserve what’s left of Earth?

10. What moment of the work mixer did you relate to or enjoy the most and why? What about the entire scenario in general captures what it’s like to socialize at events like this?

11. What aspect of human-alien interaction have you enjoyed the most so far? How has this changed or given context to your thinking in how much of our lives are culture based?

12. What do you think this comic can teach us in general about fitting in with others, especially when we personally feel socially outcasted?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

To address one of the prompts I didn't get to, I like seeing Wurlitzer interact with basically anyone. I never really know what I'm going to get when it comes to Wurlitzer, so any strip goes to unexpected and fun places in those cases. Onto story stuff though! As for what happened to the humans, definitely some sort of mass extinction event. Probably something like climate change not fixed because of the fact they're also trying to preserve animals from earth as well. So I have a distinct feeling Earth isnt habitable in the comic's setting. >_> I also mentioned my favorite moment from the mixer earlier. However, in regards to the second part of the question, for me what really capture what its like to socialize at events like this is the facial expressions. Every single person is just a bit stiff, and even if they arent miserable, theres this hint in their expressions that they don't really want ot be there. And I feel most ppl feel that way about company get togethers. It's more tedious than it is fun. XD For human-alien interactions, it's actually probably this strip http://parkpla.net/index.php/page/book-0001/005-upcoming-events-at-hartwood-park/ Particular the last panel where the alien is making fun of ice cream for being so filled with sugar. I kind of feel this comic in general is a good reminder that "normal" is malleable. What's normal somewhere really isn't normal elsewhere. And it's usually the stuff we take for granted as normal. Like I'm sure one day there'll be aliens who see us eating with forks and go "WTF are these weirdos doing they have perfectly good hands." But either way, I kind of feel the comic shows a lot of scenes like that where just a bunch of mundane things are novel and weird to aliens.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

In regards to what this comic teaches us about fitting in, i think for one, it's difficult. However, I think it also shows a little bit that we'll never fit in if we don't try. Like certainly the mixer was awkward, but imagine if nobody had gone to it. Nothing is ever gained by not trying. Also, I think this comic also kind of teaches a bit of self fulfilling prophecies. In that if you think too much that you won't fit in, then you probably won't fit in because the confidence just isn't there. Anyway, what I'm most looking forward to the comic I think is just learning a bit more about the human situation and also just seeing in general more human-alien interactions. I think this is the most interesting part of the comic since there's so much you can do in regards to questioning what is universal and what is just being human, and the writing is pretty all around great with this interesting aspect.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Park Planet this week! Please also give a special thank you to Sammy Newman for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Park Planet, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://parkpla.net/

Sammy’s Shop: https://www.sammynewman.com/shop

Sammy’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/otterlogic

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