Right Back Where We Started

so yEAh

@heartlessfujoshi @livvibee @geen-beems @starkeristheendgame

god the second episode of queer eye: we're in japan really got me. it captured so fucking well what it's like for lgbt people who live in not so friendly countries to just live in a constant state of uncertainty, just sitting there waiting to finally leave and go somewhere you can be yourself. it's like you never truly feel like you're welcome in your own home and it's like... you'll have to move eventually so what's the point in even trying to enjoy yourself while you're there, right? you literally put your life on hold and the only thing you're focused on is this ideal future that is distant from everything and everyone who surrounds you in that moment

Dope As Fuck

i’d be really curious to know what percent of queerbaiting is 

a) an intentional marketing scheme to stir interest in the project and attract certain fanbases (lgbtq people and young women) vs. 

b) members of the creative team genuinely wanting to write queer characters but the corporate side of things force them to tone it down but they still leave little hints vs. 

c) they legitimately did not know how gay something would come across

The answer: A is 100%. Because B and C are not queerbaiting. The literal meaning and definition of it is A.

#a) queerbaiting #b) queer coding #c) subtext

Please tumblr learn the difference and stop shitting on good shows

literally how hard would it have been for jkr to say something like “listen I was writing it in the 90s, I was inexperienced, I was writing from my own point of view, I didn’t realise how underrepresented a lot of people are, I wasn’t thinking about anything other than the plot, I accept that it’s a little sparse on the diversity front, I can try to be more self aware with my future works” etc etc instead of.. this nonsense

My sociology professor had a really good metaphor for privilege today. She didn’t talk about race or gender or orientation or class, she talked about being left-handed.

A left-handed person walks into most classrooms and immediately is made aware of their left-handedness - they have to sit in a left-handed seat, which restricts their choices of where to sit. If there are not enough left-handed seats, they will have to sit in a right-handed seat and be continuously aware of their left-handedness. (There are other examples like left-handed scissors or baseball mitts as well.)

Meanwhile, right-handed people have much more choice about where to sit, and almost never have to think about their right-handedness.

Does this mean right-handed people are bad? No.

Does it mean that we should replace all right-handed desks with left-handed desks? No.

But could we maybe use different desk styles that can accommodate everyone and makes it so nobody has limited options or constant awareness that they are different? Yes.

Now think of this as a metaphor. For social class. For race. For ethnicity. For gender. For orientation. For anything else that sets us apart.

Me: Look, I love Neuro and Yako’s relationship, but I just can’t see them as romantically involved.

Tumblr: pls consider Karma as Neuro and Yako’s son

Me: ….Tell me more.

One thing that makes Steve Trevor work in Wonder Woman is that they manage to hit the “Tries and fails to be protective” angle, but without any of the normal sexism you see in that trope.  It’s not “No honey, this is a job for a MAN, You can’t do that!” it’s “Diana! Stop! No! PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY DO THAT! You can’t do that! I CAN’T DO THAT! NOBODY CAN DO THAT…Except You, apparently” 

Yes! Exactly! And not only that but there’s no wounded pride scene where he goes like “How could she do that?”, “Why didn’t you tell me you could do that?” blah blah blah. Instead, he’s more like “Woah, can you show me more?” and “Hey guys, you know that thing we haven’t been able to do? SHE’S DOING THE THING! LET’S GO!”

I feel all of this exceptionally strongly for having Whedon'a script floating around out there, showing so starkly how to do all of this only wrong, only awful.

I hate most hetero relationships in films but honestly Steve’s romance with Diana was not only bearable but enjoyable to me in those moments.

After the first few times she shows him her abilities, he totally rolls with it and just lets her charge on ahead. He wants to protect her, but he trusts her skills and he’s practically giddy when she succeeds.

Steve never assumes Diana she can’t do things ‘because she’s a woman.’ He assumes, rather, that Diana has the same vulnerabilities as her fellow Amazons, a number of whom he personally watched get felled by bullets whilst battling gun-weilding fascists on a beach. 

This is an entirely fair assumption to make considering even Diana, at the beginning of the film, does not realize that she is a god among mortals. Her mother raised her to think of herself as human.

Steve starts off assuming Diana is a highly competent, albeit human warrior, because she introduces herself to him as an Amazon, and he’s seen the Amazons in action. He knows what the Amazons are capable of. He’s seen them die from bullet wounds. He’s also seen them win a battle against technologically advanced fascists using only bows and arrows and parkour.

As soon as Steve realizes that Diana has godlike powers, he adjusts his expectations accordingly. He no longer expects her to have the vulnerabilities of a human warrior once she’s proven otherwise.

.

The thing about Steve is, he’s not consciously trying to be a feminist ally. He’s just reasonable.

He makes logical conclusions based on his observations. He draws new conclusions when he observes new phenomena that contradict his previous assumptions. 

He uses basic common sense.

And that’s the beautiful thing about this screenplay. It does a great job of illustrating how illogical sexism is, and how diametrically opposed sexism is to common sense.

If you discover someone you were flirting with yesterday can repel bullets, the logical reaction is awe. A reasonable human being would be awestruck. It would be absurd to get defensive. Yet we, the audience, expect the male protagonist to get defensive because that’s what we’re used to seeing from male protagonists. 

We are so used to male protagonists with comically inflated egos, that it’s shocking to see a male protagonist put common sense ahead of his ego. We are so used to seeing male protagonists make sexist assumptions that we are surprised when they instead draw logical conclusions. 

The opposite of a sexist is a reasonable human being.