Several adjacent contentious thoughts

I saw some fandom discourse on tumblr that boiled down to "why does the primary gay ship in this fandom go to such lengths to bash on the primary straight ship of this fandom? could it be because the primary straight ship includes a woman of color?" and the response being "why are you bashing on my ship I just came here to have fun I thought fandom is supposed to be a safe space :(" and the response to that was "um how do you think we feel in fandom, all the fucking time? :/"

And like, setting aside my natural response to this, which is "just ship all 3 of them together!!", and my emphatic second response to this, which is "yes, fandom can be racist sometimes, because we live in a racist society that makes it that much harder to (a) have major media franchises that create sympathetic poc characters, (b) get past the implicit bias that makes poc characters seem less sympathetic, and (c) have the dialogue, resources and spaces necessary to feel confident in writing poc characters without feeling like you're walking a high-stakes tightrope, AND IT SUCKS." Anyways, setting those 2 aside, my third response is that, wow, it's really an issue of what part of your identity you really want to explore and see reflected in fandom, isn't it? Like, I totally understand, if I'm a tiny baby gay living in a place where my race is not really challenged but my sexuality is very much so, I would see that gay ship and be like "omgggg I just want these people to kiss why must you make me feel bad for wanting that?" And if I'm constantly aware of my race and the lack of representation of my race in media (MCU I'm looking at you for having only Helen Cho wtf), I might see the primary straight ship and be like "oh yay a breath of fresh air a likeable poc who is a major character!! wait why does everyone just want to see pasty white dudes kissing." This is also adjacent to the perennial kinkshaming conversation, and honestly, as far as "deeply personal part of one's identity that doesn't usually get recognition or outlet to", kink counts in my book, alongside race, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc etc.

Anyway, thinking about that really sets into context the parts of fandom that I'm drawn to, and which parts of my identity it appeals to. Like, I love shipping Sam/Steve/Bucky because I love Sam and how good he is, and so I want to give him everything (and also squeeze in mentions of Asian ex-boyfriends because why not). On the other hand, when I'm dallying in certain corners of Stucky or Witcher fandom, it's because the character dynamics in that particular interpretation allow me to be honest about kink in a way the other ships don't allow. This also highlights the ways that my identity is dominant/accepted such that I don't feel a need to pursue it in fandom (being cis, upper-middle-class, American, etc).

Okay I'm going to take the kink thing a step further, without any research and completely pulling ideas out of thin air, which is that: I personally think that kink should be part of the asexual-demisexual-allosexual discussion. As in, some people have zero sexual attraction, and some people have sexual attraction but only where it pertains to certain specific kinks. I'm not saying all kinky people are not turned on by vanilla, just as ace people have a range of feelings about sex, but there's a certain particularity there that seems worth marking and integrating into the conversation. ... Is that something that people already talk about?

Bechdel test for disability representation

The other day I came across on tumblr this post, which contains within it, a great "Bechdel Test" for Disability Representation:

1) There’s a Disabled character
Just one necessary, ‘cause a lot of Abled writers like to stick us in flocks of (what they perceive as) “our own kind,” and a lot of disabled people are the only ones in their immediate family or (mainstream) classroom.

2) Who wants something for themselves
Rather than being an “inspiration” for an abled person, or the proverbial cat to be rescued in a “save the cat” scenario, to prove the hero’s goodness.

3) Besides Revenge, Cure, or Death,
In other words, the thing they want is not defined by their disability.

4) And tries to get it.

And I love it SO MUCH because I feel like it can also be cross-applied to measure other forms of representation, as in:
1) The character exists
2) and wants something for themselves
3) besides the standard tropes for that type of character
4) and tries to get it

#2 and 4 are basically a test of "are they a story-driving character in their own right?", and #3 really allows the character to move beyond the dominant narrative about that type of character. Do women get to be something more than a supportive mother, sister or daughter? Does the Asian character get to be good at something besides math or move beyond the immigrant/orientalizing narrative?

(And no, MCU, Helen Cho doesn't count, even if AoU marginally passed the Bechdel test on a technicality)

Snowflake Challenge 2021 #4, 6, 9, 10

Challenge #4: Create some goals.
Here are three 2021 goals:
- Draft at least one original short comic that has a narrative arc
- Finish setting up The Rutabaga Project for printing
- Try drawing more pictures that are shape-based and not line-based

Challenge #6: rec at least three fanworks that you didn’t create.
From my AO3 bookmarks:
[Witcher] ask me tomorrow by Emamel, 10k words
This is a beautiful fic that doesn't really require Witcher knowledge. Basic idea is that the core pairing, Geralt and Jaskier, travel in opposite directions through time. (So Geralt's first meeting of Jaskier is Jaskier's last day with Geralt). Beautifully executed, with great parallels in both directions.

[Witcher] For the Asking by Rassaku, 53k words
On the other end of the spectrum, this is a long fic that is the Accidental Warlord told from Geralt's perspective, but I think it stands well on its own. I absolutely love the political discussions, the explorations of the way a Witcher army would actually work. My favorite line from the fic: Geralt feels it—the moment when the last of Jaskier's anxiety fades. When whatever lingering hold his father still had on him finally slips free, and his fear passes out of anger and into indifference. :chefkiss: Just, such a great description of the feeling where someone no longer has an emotional hold over you.

[Batman] Anti-Social by unpretty, 10k words
This is old (2016) and popular (70k+ hits), but I read it this year and it made me laugh in every chapter, and I recently re-read it and laughed again, so, solid rec. (It features Tim Drake's quest for lunchables and Bruce Wayne getting kicked out of Walmart after trying to get the employees to unionize)


Challenge #9: brag about yourself.
Here are three of my "weird flex" (as the kids would say):
- I can read classic Chinese and a fun thing I've done for class is to find the original text from the Han Shu or whatever and do an ad hoc translation
- I can make a lot of Chinese dumplings: 饺子，馄炖，锅贴，生煎包，小笼包，烧卖，鲜肉月饼, 蛋饺，etc.
- I'm pretty proud of my characters sight-lines when I'm drawing. I made a little tutorial here: [part 1][part 2]


Challenge #10: write a love letter to Fandom
Thank you for being here, for being understanding when people disappear for a while and then reappear, or just disappear altogether. Thank you for valuing creativity in all its forms, for adding diversity and complexity to bland mainstream stories, for documenting and curating and commenting and reading, for moderating events and fandom spaces. Thank you for creating community in a year of social distance. <3 <3 <3