You ever invite your coworker to watch you give birth just to spite a racist

Okay howmst the fuck has a ship doctor in the far future never handled a birth without the father present? Are sperm donors and gay couples and trans women no longer a thing in the bajillionth century CE?? :/

I while understand the frustration with erasure sometimes it helps to look at things through the cultural context of when something was made. Star Trek the Next Generation was made in 1987, this particular episode I believe aired in 1988 a time when a future where the husband was always present for the birth would have been amazing to many of the people watching the show as men had only been allowed to be present for the birth of their children for 10/15ish years at that point in the US.

Women (and many men) fought for decades with hospitals to even have men allowed in the delivery room during the early stages of labor, which can last for several hours, and hospitals only began to give in to their requests in the 1960s but even then they would be kicked out of the room by hospital staff before the actual birth took place. So many of the couples watching the show would have had to go through labor without having/being allowed to support their spouse regardless of their wishes. Having the child’s father present for the birth only began to happen in the 1970s and 1980s. Which means most people watching this show either went through birth without the support of their spouse, were not allowed to support their spouse during the birth of their child, or their own mother’s went through that during their birth.

A future where the husbands were always present for the birth was still a little crazy to consider in the late 1980s. A good kind of crazy for the people living in that time, it showed a future where the wishes of the couple were finally consistently listened to by medical professionals as a result of the actions of people during their or their parent’s lifetimes. And it does that by also subverting it in allowing Data to step into the role of the father when the father was unknown and/or unwilling/unable to fill that role (I’ll be honest my knowledge of Next Gen is a bit spotty and I have not seen this whole episode, just a piece of it at family Thanksgiving). The woman’s desires as to how she would give birth are listened to and respected, something that still doesn’t happen in many hospitals now and would have been seen as even more revolutionary then. So while it isn’t perfect I think this scene was actually fairly impressive for its time and cultural context and shows a future that many people of that time would have seen as ideal.

I think this kind of contextual understanding and analysis is really important because things that look antiquated now were revolutionary then. I remember reading that the mini skirts in Star Trek TOS were legot just in fashion (about 64’ ish), one of the actresses (the one that played Rand) requested they be in the show and both her and Nichelle Nichols said they didn’t see them as demeaning but liberating in that time and context. Where as NOW it looks like ‘sexy male gaze’ but then it wasn’t.

Miniskirts are comfortable and easy to move in - unlike longer bulkier skirts, which had previously been required for “modesty.” And unlike the approach of “we’ll just put them in pants,” miniskirts made a statement that women crew-members weren’t being treated like men. Miniskirts were a way to say “I can be an attractive woman, wear comfortable clothes, and still look professional and do a serious job.” 

The clothing for that message today would be different. 

This is also why the bridge crew of TOS may seem “tokenistic” today. When it came out, the Cold War was in full swing and “Soviets” were maligned and hated, Black people could not count on their right to vote being honored, and mixed-race people (like Spock) were called horrible things like “half-breed” and “zebra.” A white man was in charge of the ship, but Gene Roddenberry was fully aware that a chunk of the viewership read him as queer, and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DISCOURAGE THAT READING, at a time when “homosexual activity” was illegal in the United States!

By today’s standards, “one of everything? How tokenistic.” In 1966? “A Black woman, a Russian, a man from multiple cultures, and a man who loves differently, all top of their fields, all working together and finding common ground to learn, grow, and help where they can? What a wonderful future!”

Also I’m sorry but like. A show also featuring a Japanese man who isn’t a stereotype but part of the crew, having a Scottish character be a part of the central cast (idk if I need to get into why this is important, but considering how England has continuously tried to erase Scottish culture and identity, and the stereotype of Scots as bumbling bumpkins, etc, its kind of nice to see a Scotsman who’s the best of the best at his job).

Moreover, a lot of kids watched this show. MLK himself contacted Nichelle Nichols and asked her to stay on the show when she was considering leaving, because “you don’t have a Black role, you have an equal role,” and there wasnt many Black role models on tv. I can only imagine how Black kids, Asian kids, and mixed race or mixed culture kids felt seeing people like them on tv. Hell, seeing Uhura on screen is what inspired Whoopi Goldberg as a little girl.

Also, yeah, its easy to look back and say ‘damn, fathers weren’t there in the delivery room? What assholes’ but no like they legitimately were not allowed in there.

Tiny correction: while George Takei is Japanese, and while Sulu thus looks like what we in the 20th-21st century consider to be an ethnically Japanese man, Hikaru Sulu was Pan-Asian by design. His last name is not Japanese. And Roddenberry designed him like that intentionally, because while there was a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment in the US at the time (I mean, hell… George Takei himself spent years in Japanese internment camps during WW2), there was also a lot of other anti-Asian sentiments, and Roddenberry intentionally put ALL of it on the character of Sulu.

Like, all the years of anti-Chinese racism in the US? Sulu. Anti-Japanese sentiments left over after WW2? Sulu. Korean War in 1950-52? Sulu. The Vietnam War, with Johnson in 1965 (a year before TOS started airing) choosing to start sending American troops into the conflict? Sulu.

Sulu was Roddenberry’s desperate attempt to show all Asian people as inherently worthy, inherently human, and yeah, he probably put kind of too much on Sulu’s shoulders, but it was the 1960s and Roddenberry fucking cared about representation, so he did what he could.

Just, you know… a little bit more historical Star Trek context

Also to hammer this home?

Scotty was third in line for the captain’s chair. The only non-Kirk who had the con more then him was Spock.

He was smart, he was a *ranked* crewmen, he was a gentleman, he wasn’t a skirt chaser, and he was capitol L loyal. The only time he got into a fight was when someone both went after his Captain, AND his Ship.

And he was Scottish. 

That’s so above and beyond the typical Scottish stereotype even TO THIS DAY.

Dr Polaski was coded as something of an arse just so they could make their valid points about equality and bigotry using her as a foil. Yes it was kind of clumsy from a modern perspective, but it was also kind of groundbreaking (not least because you didn’t usually get arses being played by women)

I am hard-coded to put this on any post that mentions MLK and Nichelle Nichols.

Also, it’s very worth noting that the “token minority character” label doesn’t apply in any way to these characters.

Tokens are there to present the appearance of diversity. Whereas Roddenberry created a diverse cast in an era where there wasn’t even a need for the appearance of diversity. Roddenberry didn’t put these characters in because he wanted to look diverse– he put them in to BE DIVERSE.

Honestly as a blind person I’m so tired of seeing fictional blind characters who don’t use white canes or other guides. “They have special powers so they know what’s around them” or “they’re confident enough to not need a guide” are common tropes, and I’m tired.

Are people scared that using a white cane will make their blind character seem weak? They can’t use a cane because they’re so special that they already know what’s around them, and other blind people who use guides are inferior because they’re not special?

I’m tired. Give your blind characters white canes and other guides. Let them hold onto their friends, let them have guide dogs. Don’t make white cane users feel ostracized for not being “strong enough” to go without.

Another thing that pisses me off is when a sighted character comes up with the fantasy equivalent of braille and teaches it to the blind character. Braille was invented by Louis Braille, a blind man, in 1824. The blind character should be the one coming up with it.

Tldr I’m blind and tired of sighted people lol

🔪 Sighted People MUST Reblog This 🔪

You know what I hate more than the badly photoshopped romance cover? The new vector art trend.

They almost all look the same. They remind me of how kids board games looked back in 2007

Like why is this a thing? I almost prefer the random woman in the front thing.

They do provide flexibility because there’s no need to rely on stock photos or pay for photo shoots, which makes them ideal to represent the characters in the book properly, as stock photos have a huge and glaring lack of diversity. That’s a big point in their favor.

I like them myself because they remind me of the chick lit era and that was a fun time in reading for me. But I also think of these as being marketed as “Romance novels it’s okay to like” and it kinda irritates me on behalf of all the other romance novels that don’t get this cover treatment, shelf placement and higher selling price.

@thebibliosphere​ & @caitlynlynch​

Wasn’t there a kerfuffle on twitter a few months ago (A month? What is time?) regarding this? Like someone wrote an article complaining about the vector/illustrated novel trend. And wasn’t the consensus that the article was just chock-full privilege. Like a lot of different privilege. 

Like:

From what I remember of the conclusion, authors like KJ Charles, Mia Sosa, and a whole slew of others basically went “Fuck you” to the article.

Is there anything else I’m forgetting?

I know that these covers tend to sell better in stores where people don’t have to deal with the stigma that the “clinch” cover has. They’re somehow seen as more literary or more YA and appeal to a wider demographic.

Basically if you want to see fewer illustrated covers in romance there’s a lot of back end work that needs to be done. Particularly on the publisher side and stock photo side. Because speaking as an author who wrote a novel featuring interracial couple where one of them has a major disability (Biracial Latina Heroine, White Amputee Hero) finding any kind of representation was hard. We ended up going 90s old school with an “object” cover because we couldn’t find our leads represented everywhere and their heritage and disabilities mattered.

Then there’s the other problem of readers aren’t willing to pay much for books. So why drop $$$ on a cover for a book that’s going to be priced at free or $0.99? Even books that cost $4.99 (Which is the most most readers are willing to pay for an e-book) will take a long time to recoup costs. And when you factor other publishing costs in like editing, formatting, and marketing. You can see why saving any money on anything matters.

So there’s a lot of reasons for the vector cover trend.

Personally, I don’t mind it. I prefer the old school clinch cover, but that’s because I’m old. LOL

You absolutely did not miss anything @christinaroseandrews

Personally, I really like the vector cover trend. They allow for affordable diversity in an industry where diversity is severely lacking and financial constraints are often an issue for marginalized authors trying to get their work out there and past the barriers of mainstream publishing.

We all have our preferences of course, but these covers have gained popularity for a reason. Does it annoy me when I see mainstream publishers who can afford to pay artists and photographers to bring about change and diversity to the industry making these covers? Yes, absolutely. Am I going to criticize small publishers and indie authors (myself included) for using them? Absolutely not.

I guarantee you when the time comes for some of my novels to have covers, there won’t be any stock photos available. Vector covers will be my only option, unless I somehow win the lottery and can afford to pay for models and photographers. As it is, I can barely afford the cost of some vector cover art.

My son, who is 4, and I were walking along the street today and saw a man with his left leg amputated beneath the knee. My son spun around and looked at him, then said to me, “That man lost his leg! What happened?”

I said I didn’t know exactly, but sometimes people lost arms or legs through accidents or didn’t have them for other reasons.

My son instantly said, “Gobber (from How to Train Your Dragon) lost his arm AND his leg and now he has to use tools in their places!”

I kind of collected my jaw and said, “That’s right, and that man is just like Gobber. There’s a special word we use for those kinds of tools. It’s ‘prosthetics’.”

“Prosthetics,” said my son, with satisfaction, and on we went without any further discussion about it.

But then we got on the bus, and there was a young black woman with her hair pulled back in a big floofy afro ponytail, and my son, who has seen the trailers for the new Annie movie, said, in delight, “She has hair like Annie’s!”

Representation matters.

Reblogging because, yes it does. And because this post is a great example of why representation matters not only to the people seeing themselves represented in movies books etc. but also for everyone else.

I was legitimately thrilled with the overall reception of my costume. I never could’ve imagined that it would make so many people so happy! But I exchanged so many hugs and daps and high fives, it was unreal. I had a lot of really great conversations with people that were just super excited to see some Native representation at the convention. So that part was really special for me, because that was a big part of my own personal inspiration to begin with.

I originally brainstormed this costume in late 2015, but I really started rolling on production this last year, once I committed to this years SDCC… My main goal was to make a Native American variant of a fan-favorite character. I was immediately drawn to Captain America because of everything he symbolizes as basically the poster boy of a nation. To me it was the perfect parallel. And once I visualized the red and white bone breastplate on my abdomen, I knew this was something I had to see through.

A lot of old school leather work with the awl! The majority of the armor was made from a base of 6mm EVA foam with 3 oz deer hide glued over it. The pieces were then stitched together with sinew or leather lace. Using this technique allowed me to form curves and build the necessary bulk of the armor pieces while also getting the suede textures I was looking for. And a whole lot of beading!

—- https://www.instagram.com/hot.glue.burns/

PHOTO: https://www.instagram.com/p/B0FQd_1AKhk/

2018 - a year in review

I’m gonna say something….. controversial

if you’re writing a story and your villain has (or is) dissociative identity disorder then your art is bad and you should feel bad.

you know how straight people are really terrible at telling gay jokes because they don’t understand what the actual funny parts of being gay are?

Yeah people without DID who try to use the disorder for horror/thriller purposes fail at it because they don’t understand how DID actually effects people and their lives and behavior and relationships

In fact every piece of dramatic media I can think of that depicts DID kinda relies on the audience not understanding how DID actually works

And if the audience being educated ruins their suspension of disbelief, you’ve fucked up

And if you have to demonize highly vulnerable abuse survivors to create drama, you might not have any business writing fiction to begin with

Fictional DID is always depicted as dangerous to everyone but the person with the disorder and it makes me wonder what amount of research is acceptable in Hollywood and TV these days

like in Split they’re all “different alters have different biological realities” as some kind of edgy “what if the hulk but real” thing, and as far as I know, the idea that different alters have different physiologies is not accepted by modern psychology, and was likely falsified by an extremely abusive, immoral, and sadistic psychologist who gave his patients dangerous experimental drugs just to see how they would react, and then when the patients complained of trouble breathing or heart problems, this doctor told the nurses that it was all part of ~multiple personality disorder~ so that they wouldn’t like. I don’t know. Tell someone that this doctor was poisoning his patients in a wholly unscientific manner for apparent shits and giggles.

So yeah, that such a good sign for that movie huh?? //sarc

Look I don’t have DID, but I did live with someone who did for a year. It barely affected me. The person told me because they assumed I would notice something odd if we were living together, but tbh if he hadn’t I probably wouldn’t have thought anything except maybe that he was forgetful and disorganized.

I only ever knowingly interacted with one alter, who a psychologist might describe as an “angry part”, as sometimes alters experience limited emotions and are classified as “emotional parts”. This is the kind of alter that movies like Split want you to think is a rage-crazy murder monster with no impulse control.

The real-life “angry alter” my roommate had? I mean he was kind of a dick. He always seemed generally pissed off but he wasn’t a threat to me. I think he maybe wasn’t very nice to my roommate but since that happened internally I never saw, I could only guess. Hardly a hulk-like sex murderer.

And actually the majority times I talked to this alter I didn’t even know it. Because usually he made a point of acting like my roommate so that no one would give the system any trouble. Because DID is a highly specialized, involuntary coping mechanism created to protect a victim of trauma or abuse. Alters form so that the victim can continue with their life and grow and develop. If all alters were dangerous volatile monsters that you could easily tell the difference between at a glance, they wouldn’t be a very effective defense mechanism.

So I would talk to my roommate as usual, and then like an hour later he would be like “whoa how long have I been gone, what was my body doing all day” and I would be like uhhh I literally don’t know dude if you hadn’t said that I wouldn’t have realized you weren’t the one fronting all day.

In Split it’s like “if I lose control of my alters they kidnap and murder people!!!” and meanwhile in reality it’s more like….. System needed to go to class today but Alter B was fronting when it was time to leave for class and they didn’t feel like going, so the whole system missed out on class and that sucks.

And when alters do hurt people its…. pretty much always the body of the system. There are suicidal and self-harming alters for sure. But I’ve never found a medically or scientifically valid article or study about homicidal alters. And certainly not alters who carry out complex kidnapping plots of multiple people.

And obviously fiction that demonizes any mental illness makes the world a more dangerous place for people with that mental illness, and I’ve even met mental health workers who believed the horror movie depiction of DID and thought my roommate was going to kill me. That is a serious problem. It’s one thing for Average Joe to think Split is a legit portrayal of DID, but when the people whose job it is to help mentally ill people believe this?? At best it’s going to be harder for systems to find the help they need. At worst, the mental health system becomes hostile and dangerous to those with DID.

Oh, let’s all get into this post

Netflix: we just don’t have enough money to fund another season of this super-cheap-to-create show :(

Netflix: *drops 100million dollars to have friends on air for a year*

I’m NOT gonna shut up about this show.

Sylena gif | Schneider and the Alvarez gif.

you know no one would be upset about the gay or trans characters dying if they got the same treatment as other movie protags. like if you want me to follow the adventures of Jimmothy WhiteStraightMan and give him one (1) lesbian friend, I want her to fucking live because she’s all we got. but if you make a movie about, say, an entire crew full of lady pirates with a good spread of races and sexualities and let them kick ass for the whole movie, we’re not gonna complain when the captain gets run through with a sword in the end tryna protect her crew, ya feel?

it’s not that you can’t kill off gay characters it’s that you can’t make a gay character an emotional pawn that only gets to exist for three episodes and call that representation

We’re gonna change it.

Fanart and fanfiction are more valid and more normal every day. Women’s creations, queer creations, creations by people of color.

It’s working.

We are absolutely bringing our stories to the mainstream more and more. It’s changing. Maybe it’s bumpy. But fanart will get there. Fanfiction will get there.

And if you’re rolling your eyes like LOL fanfiction fanart LOL.

You just saw Spider-Verse what did you think you were watching.

Q: Why does that character have to be gay/bi/black/Asian/Hispanic/etc?

A: As opposed to what?

I’ve found this to be a useful response, because many people will hesitate before saying “white” or “straight.” That hesitation comes from the realization, however subconscious, that they have defaulted all characters to white and straight, and are thereby declaring this normal, while everything else is other. From here, if they choose to acknowledge their internalized (unintentional but still harmful) supremacy rather than going on the defensive, they will begin to understand the real value of representation.

Q: This story isn’t about romance! Why does it matter if the characters are gay? 

A: What should they be instead?

Essentially the same response. By that logic, any character in any story who does not have a romantic or sexual story arc should be aromantic and/or asexual. But the truth is, sexuality is only one part of a character’s identity (hey! just like IRL!). Any character of any race, gender, or sexual orientation can go on an adventure that does not involve sex or romance.

The thing with telling “cliche” stories, but with representation, is… these stories aren’t cliche for us.

Picture this. The people at the table next to you have been getting chocolate cake as a dessert for YEARS. After every meal, they get a chocolate cake. Now, it’s been years, and the people at that table can barely stand chocolate anymore. They want maybe a cheesecake. Or lemon mousse.

But your table? Has NEVER had chocolate cake. Mousse is also good, but you are SO hungry for that chocolate cake, cause you never had it before, and it’s brand new for you, and you’ve been watching the other table eat it for YEARS.

That’s what’s like getting a “cliche” story that’s representative. Has it been done a million times before? Yes. Has it ever been done for US? Well… no. Maybe it’s the 500th chocolate cake in existence, but all the other chocolate cakes weren’t meant for us (girls/PoC/queer folk/disabled folk/etc)

So it being cliche is not a bad thing. You may not want chocolate cake anymore. But we want our slice too.

“There are studies that show that fiction in particular builds empathy—that when you read about characters who don’t look or live like you, you begin to understand them a little bit better. You understand what makes you similar and how vast the differences are, and it helps you to be a little bit more compassionate toward people who are different from you. Right now it seems like—not just in America, but around the world—we need a little more empathy.”

—Gene Luen Yang, in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine (2017)

When people ask why representation is important…