Dunst ist die Welle, Staub ist die Quelle

long past my teens but unfortunately still not economically independent; female (cis - though I don't really feel like expressing my gender much); white; asexual + non-limerent (I don't feel the label "aromantic" really works.); fat but physically healthy and able-bodied. I suffer from depression and social phobia / severe conflict avoidance, so if you don't get an answer from me, it's probably because I can't muster the energy, or just the prospect of reading your message makes me feel like you do before asking your boss for a raise or defending your Ph.D. thesis. Yes, I know it's ridiculous, that's why it's called a disorder, not just shyness. English is not my native language. You're welcome to point out my mistakes, but don't you dare to use them as an argument against listening to me. I strive to be an intersectional ally, please tell me when I fucked up. For now, this is just a communications account, so I won't reblog anything unless I've got something to say about it. Interests: Doctor Who (mainly the 2005 season), Sanctuary, Spartacus and other geekery; intersectional feminism; permaculture

[sanguinarysanguinity]

Will someone please explain to me why people are setting off fireworks in this neighborhood, to celebrate midnight three time zones away??

[regentrude-sleeping]

Where I come from, they start as soon as the sun goes down (4 PM), and go a least till 2 or 3 AM. I even heard some bangs the night before. I mean, yeah, it looks pretty, but really, people!

And yep, I'm from East Germany (yes, it does still make a cultural difference), so I've got the Karl May thing a bit, as well as movies / books like this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sons_of_Great_Bear

(That page doesn't just have a synopsis, but also a good summary of the political reasons and cultural influence of this genre of Eastern-Bloc-created Native-sympathising stories.)

Personally, I've never been much interested in the genre, so I have very little concrete context for any of this. (I watch "Strange Empire" for the intersectional feminism, not for the genre or particular historical period.) I think I once read a few of my mother's YA adventure novels from the 60s that were written in the same vein as the link above, when I was very sick and ran out of more European-focused books (medieval-ish Fantasy, Sherlock Holmes, etc.) And I must have watched a Karl May movie or two at some point, though I can't remember. I've never had occasion to play C&I as a kid or to dress up in feathers, but that was because of disinterest (at that point, the whole topic and genre of Westerns was rather an 'old hat' associated with my parental generation; and I didn't have contact with any of the hippie-style environmentalists who tended to romanticise the whole 'closer to earth' thing in the 1980s), not because anyone told me it was wrong. So, you know, even if I know now that these things are appropriative and sometimes downright disturbing (I didn't know there were actual adult reenactment groups until I read this wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_German_popular_culture    Gods, sometimes my people are emberrassing... ), I'll still probably mess up because of unexamined views and ideas absorbed through cultural osmosis as a child. Please, feel free to tell me when I do.

By the way, I saw that you write fanfic for various Sherlock Holmes adaptations... Do you write him as aro/ace? I know that "Elementary" just ace-baited in the first episode, and then straight-washed him anyway, like almost all other movie/TV adaptations (even "Sherlock"'s asshat of a head-writer outright refuses to ID him as ace, even if the character can still be interpreted as a rather offensive stereotype of an aromantic-asexual person if you ignore cast and writer interviews), so I could understand if you don't. Still, it would be nice being able to read some Holmsian pastiches without having to worry about running into het love interests or slash. (Not that I generally mind slash pairings, it's just that in this case it feels like having a canon gay character straight-washed for the entertainment of the straight fic writer.)

[regentrude-sleeping]

Don't  you just love the smell of gunpowder in the (very early) morning...?

Sometimes I wonder how people with battle-related PTSD handle nights like these. It sounds like World War 3 out there, and has been since sunset (4 PM), really. I hope somebody at least warned the Syrian refugees, not that a warning probably helps much when the fog-induced echos and reverbations make the stuff sound like genuine hand grenades and cannon fire.

Anyway: Happy New Year, everyone!

[redbeardace]

I’m sorry, you were saying something about how asexuality is a “disorder”?

The American Psychiatric Association disagrees with you.  Officially.  In print.

[redbeardace]

Both are from the DSM-5, an official publication of the APA.

On page 434, in the section on Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (302.72), at the end of the “Diagnostic Features”, it reads:

If a lifelong lack of sexual desire is better explained by one’s self-identification as “asexual”, then a diagnosis of female sexual interest/arousal disorder would not be made.

On page 443, in the section on Male Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (302.71), at the end of the “Differential Diagnosis”, it reads:

If the man’s low desire is explained by self-identification as an asexual, then a diagnosis of male hypoactive sexual desire disorder is not made.

[regentrude-sleeping]

Finally. See, awareness activism works, eventually. Hopefully this will translate into more acceptance by the medical community in other countries (like mine) soon.

Though, did they only write that caveat into those diagnoses, or also into the other disorders frequently 'diagnosed' as a reason for asexuality, such as depression or shizoid personality disorder?

[writingrainbow]

[brinconvenient]

God dammit! OK, listen up, my dear trans babies. I know that you’re hurting. Probably hurting a lot like Leelah was, but I want you to see two things here.

Leelah committed suicide because she couldn’t see any way to escape. Her voice was actively silence and her story ignored in favor of a fantasy that her parents wrote. She felt powerless, alone and afraid. That’s because her parents WANTED that for her to make her feel like the only choice available to her was to conform to their narrative. She found a different choice, but one that ultimately gave her parents the final control over her story, her life, and now, her death. 

She realized she couldn’t begin transition until she was at least 18 and legally responsible for her own medical care, and someone gave her the terrible, wrongheaded and dangerous belief that that was TOO LATE to transition and “pass” and find love.

She was wrong. I know many gorgeous and happy trans men and women who transitioned in their 20s, 30s, 40s and later and have found the life they always wanted. Please don’t internalize that bullshit that your chances to transition end at 18 or 21 or 25 or 30 or whatever. It’s never too late. Never.

But the real lesson I want you to take from Leelah’s death here is that she’s gone, forever, and even though she did everything she could to make sure that her story was known and heard by queueing up that post, her mother is still ignoring all of that for this fucking bullshit narrative she made up about her darling SON accidentally being hit by a truck on a morning walk, instead of facing the fact that her daughter committed suicide because she saw no other way out. 

If you’re feeling like Leelah, alone, afraid, powerless and like there’s a ticking clock counting down your chance to transition, please know that there is no peace in death.

There is no guarantee that your suicide will make anyone see anything they don’t want to.

This mother is still willfully and actively ignoring, denying and mythologizing her child’s life and death. Leelah has finally lost her voice forever. The news articles will fade, the tumblr posts will vanish, and this horrid person will be telling tales about the tragic accident that took her son from her until the day she dies. Her suicide solved nothing for her. She will never see the amazing woman she’d have grown up to be. And neither will her mother. 

The only chance you have to be the narrator of your own story is to stay alive, get out, get away, find your power, find your voice, find your real family - the people who know you and see you for who you are, people who hear you when you tell your story, people who will defend and protect you at all costs. We are here, waiting for you with our arms and our hearts open. Please, I know you’re in a terrible and seemingly unbearable place and environment. The only comfort I can offer is that the world doesn’t stop turning, time doesn’t stop and this moment isn’t the last moment. Please find a way to bide your time, to hold on for one more day, one more hour, one more minute, though it seems eternal, this moment is temporary. 

I can’t guarantee your future happiness or that your life will be easy, but none of us, trans or cis, get any such guarantee. The only guarantee you get is that if you kill yourself, you’ll NEVER have the chance to find and build a happy life. 

Every storm passes, every rain cloud moves on, and nothing in this world is permanent. This pain of your present will become the aches of your past. 

Please stay alive. Please hold on until you can escape from there and come home. Our light is on and our door is open. 

http://www.translifeline.org/

US: [phone]

Canada: [phone]

[regentrude-sleeping]

[ Rest of thread cut for space and triggering content. ]

[ace-comics-blog]

Want some Fun? by Culpeo-Fox

[ace-comics-blog]

Under the Mistletoe by =junoluver

“Rafe’s not all that familiar with holiday traditions. Once he figures out why he keeps getting unwanted affection, he’s going to torch that darn mistletoe. For others who aren’t aware of mistletoe either, the common tradition is to kiss someone if you see them beneath it. Eww D: Rafe is aromantic and asexual - he doesn’t get into the romantic spirit at all.”

[yves727]

Putting this out here:

1-877-565-8860

The Trans Lifeline, a crisis hotline created specifically for transgender people run by transgender volunteers.

http://www.transhousingnetwork.com

The Trans Housing Network is a nationwide organization that allows inquiries for trans-inclusive housing, and for people to post that they have a safe space for transgender individuals.

[regentrude-sleeping]

"Strange Empire" trailer for Alyx. The show may have some problems with plot and hard to understand accents, but it's worth watching for the social justice themes alone. Also, lots of female and/or PoC characters, one of the main characters is autistic, and there's even a trans guy / lesbian-in-protective-disguise (it's not clear which modern label would apply, if any) as a so far minor character that one of the main characters falls in love with. Actually, the show is kind of funny in the way it steadily gets rid of any cis-het white male characters with any plot importance or even just names. I think now, halfway through the first season, there's only the main antagonist and two or three very minor characters left (one of whom is a rarely seen teenager, and the other has some sort of mental development disorder). There is information on how to watch this Canadian show in the US, in the comments on the youtube site of this video. Beware, though, this show needs ALL the trigger warnings.

"Orphan Black" is also a very feminist show mainly about female characters (most of whom have mental health issues), but it's a very white show. Partly that is because most of the main characters are played by the same actress, but still. As I said, the gay character is a walking stereotype and the trans guy is just briefly there to show that trans people exist, but the show has an elaborate romance storyline between two bisexual women. Just look up the tag on Tumblr, the show already has a big fandom.

Other recommendations... Hm... You're still young enough to maybe enjoy "Sailor Moon", a magical girl anime series which had a villainous gay couple humanised by their love for each other, then a heroic lesbian couple, a villainous-but-eventually-redeemed trans girl (or extremely feminine gay boy) later on, and some heroic trans guys (sort of, it's complicated) in the last season (the 5th, I think? It never aired that far in the US, though.) Hulu just started airing the old show with a new, supposedly non-censored English dub (though only the gay couple shows up in the first season):

http://www.hulu.com/sailor-moon

(It's a kid's show from the 90s, so there's no gay kissing, but it's still a kid's show that eventually gives you scenes like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33UCkArnPZg   Note: all of the characters in this scene where born with a womb, though the one in the red suit had a magical sex change for disguise purposes. Whether he really thinks of himself as a boy is unclear, but in any case, he falls in love with the main character - the one with the blonde tails who he affectionally calls 'dumpling')

And there's also a completely new version of this anime that's supposed to stick closer to the manga storyline, which will probably mean more overt lesbianism, but no trans guys. I haven't watched this version, though, so I can't speak for the general quality.

http://www.hulu.com/sailor-moon-crystal

[fyeahqueerplatoniczucchinis]

Seen on the BBC show "Ripper Street"

I don’t know how to make gif sets, but this exchange really resonated with me. [Context: “Ripper Street” is a cop show set in Victorian era London, with a surprisingly progressive and intersectional feminist slant to the writing. In this scene, the police is interviewing the widow of a man who supposedly has committed suicide after a male sex worker he was in love with had been murdered. Note: The sex worker is refered to as a “boy” here because the prostitution ring that employed him was running under the cover of a messaging service, which would hire teenage boys for the deliveries. But he was clearly beyond puberty and modern UK age of consent - the show wasn’t equating homosexuality with pedophilia, and the gay customers weren’t presented as abusive. Though the exploitation of vulnerable groups in a society that criminalises and stigmatises prostitution instead of managing it for the sex workers’ protection was a running theme in the show, as well as the social problems that result if you force gay people into hiding and loneliness instead of letting them meet and seek out relashionships openly.] Inspector: “Was your husband a man with enemies?” Widow: *sad smile* “Only himself.” Inspector: “I no longer believe his death to be suicide. Can you help me understand who might have killed him?” Widow: “I… I have no idea. He was a gentle man.” Inspector: “I spoke to Franklin Stone at Bering’s, yesterday. He intimated you and Mr. Quint might have been facing certain… marital issues.” Widow: *affronted* “Saul and I were married for 20 years, and we loved each other, Inspector. If Saul had ‘issues’, they were with Franklin Stone, and not me.” Inspector: “What issues?” Widow: “I know not. ‘A matter of graveous principle’, was all he said. Some work he’d been conducting, regarding the Argentine.” Inspector: “May I see this work?” Widow: “All his files are at the house at Bering’s. He had some, but… Some days ago, his folio was stolen.” Inspector: “And he did not report it?” Widow: *embarrassed* “I believe the culprit was… someone whose accquaintance he sought not to expose.” Inspector: *quietly compassionate* “A boy.” Widow: *seriously* “Do not judge him, Inspector Reid.” Inspector: *quickly* “I do no such thing.” *kindly* “This boy… David. David Goodbody…” Widow: *interrupts* “I wouldn’t know.” *thinks, then very earnestly, while for the audience the show starts up a ‘this is important and you should sympathise with her’ kind of music* “My husband was a private man. And there were things he saw fit not to share with me. But I was never lied to, nor deceived by him. Our marriage was…” Inspector: *gently* “An arrangement?” Widow: *defiantly* “A companionship. And a loving one. We each wanted for the other happiness, wherever that may be found. And what is love, Sir, if not that?” Inspector: *thoughtful silence, then a small nod* (from season 2, episode 5 “Threads of Silk and Gold”)

[regentrude-sleeping]

Quick link for Alyx, because I can't do a proper explanation in 180 characters:

Read:

https://bunnika.wordpress.com/2012/06/02/thats-so-lame/

I actually didn't encounter the slang meaning of "lame" until a few years ago. In books and the kind of Oxford Standard English they teach you as a second language, it always means a walking disability. That's why it always stands out to me, even when native speakers, even the ones who know better, keep using it to signify disappointment or to make inferiority value statements without noticing. It's apparently one of the more deeply entrenched bits of casual disabelism in the American language.

[harryhotspur]

i really hope you enjoy this list, if any of the links are broken or you need subs feel free to ask and i’ll try to sort it out

please reblog if you like so more people can see this list.

light hearted/funny films are marked with a *

darker and or possibly triggering films are marked with a (TW).

for films i’ve seen i’ve tried to add trigger warnings to the best of my ability - the films i have seen are marked in bold. 

please send me an ask if any of the films i haven’t marked need trigger warnings - i’m going off the imdb pages alone for a few of them. i’ll be happy to add them

if you like the films to help support lgbtqa* film please buy the dvds/watch on netfilx or other on demand service if you have the means.

some of the links are on veehd. do not download the plugin on this site instead create an account on the site then load the video you want to watch this will bypass the site asking you to download the plugin.

Films with lesbian and bisexual women characters

A Marine Story    (imdb)

Affinity     (imdb)

After Sex  *     (imdb)

An Unexpected Love     (imdb)

Amiee & Jaguar  (TW)     (imdb)

April’s Shower *    (imdb)

Better Than Chocolate      (imdb)

Bloomington  cw: teacher/student relationship (imdb)

The Bostonians      (imdb)

Bound   (TW)    (imdb)

Breaking The Girls (TW)     (imdb)

Butterfly Kiss (TW)     (imdb)

But I’m a Cheerleader *    (imdb)

The Children’s Hour (TW)  (imdb)

Chasing Amy(imdb)

Circumstance (TW)     (imdb)

Cracks(TW)    (imdb)

D.E.B.S     (imdb)

Desert Hearts     (imdb)

Elena Undone    (imdb)

Farewell, My Queen     (imdb)

Femde Haut (TW) (imdb)

Fingersmith (TW) tw: sexual assault Part 1    Part 2    (imdb)

Fire (TW)    (imdb)

The Four-Faced Liar *   (imdb)

Fried Green Tomatoes   (imdb)  

Ghosted    (imdb)

Go Fish    (imdb)

Gray Matters  (imdb)

The Gymnast   (imdb)

High Art (TW)  (imdb)

I Can’t Think Straight   (imdb) 

I, The Worst of All  (TW)   (imdb)

If These Walls Could Talk 2    (imdb)

Imagine Me and You * very funny comedy a must watch  (imdb) 

In Her Line of Fire     (imdb)

The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love * adorable and diverse romance, a must watch - my favourite lesbian film  (imdb)

Itty Bitty Titty Committee       (imdb)

Je te mangerais      (imdb)

The Kids are All Right      (imdb)

Kissing Jessica Stein  *  (imdb)

Kyss Mig (With Every Heartbeat)   (imdb)

Lianna        (imdb)

Lost and Delirious (TW)  (imdb)

Love and Other Catastrophes     (imdb)

Loving Annabelle (TW) Part 1    Part 2   Part 3     (imdb)

Mädchen In Uniform (TW)      (imdb)

My Summer of Love          (imdb)

Mulholland Drive   (TW)    (imdb)

The Night Watch (TW:)       (imdb)

Nina’s Heavenly Delights     (imdb)

Pariah   (imdb)

Producing Adults     (imdb)

Puccini for Beginners      (imdb)

Red Doors     (imdb)

Room In Rome  SUBS   (imdb) (no subbed version online download file them open subs in km player please ask if you have any problems)

Running on Empty Dreams   (imdb)

Saving Face * (UPLOAD)   SUBS  (imdb) an excellent film  Note: No copy of this film online with full subs, please download video and subs and then load the subs in KM Player or other video player - please send me an ask if you have any trouble.

Show Me Love (Fucking Åmål)    (imdb)

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister   (imdb)

Therese and Isabel      (imdb)

Tipping The Velvet     (imdb)

Water Lillies      (imdb)

When Night Is Falling    (imdb)

The World Unseen  (TW)    (imdb)

Yes or No *    (imdb)

Films with gay and bisexual male characters

A Home at the End of the World  (imdb)

A Love To Hide tw: nazis  (imdb)

Absent     (imdb)

Adam & Steve * (imdb)

A Single Man (TW) tw: suicide tw: death   (imdb)

All Over The Guy  (imdb)

Angels In America (TW)  (imdb)

Another Country  (imdb)

Bad Education (TW) tw: fascism tw: sexual assault  (imdb)

Beautiful Thing *   (imdb)

Beginners  tw: cancer tw: death  (imdb)

Before Night Falls (TW)   (imdb)

Bent  (TW) tw: homophobia tw: nazism tw: holocaust   (imdb)

Beauty (TW) (imdb)

Big Eden *   (imdb)

The Birdcage * (imdb)

Borstal Boy (TW)   (imdb)

Boy Culture    (imdb)

The Boys In the Band   (imdb)

Brideshead Revisited     (imdb)

Breakfast With Scot *  (imdb)

Broderskab (Brotherhood) SUBS  (imdb) (TW) tw: racism tw: nazism tw: homophobia tw: violence An excellent film, not an easy watch but worth it all the same Note: No copy of this film online with full subs, please download video and subs and then load the subs in KM Player or other video player - please send me an ask if you have any trouble. 

Brokeback Mountain tw: homophobic attack (imdb)

Broken Hearts Club * (imdb)

The Bubble  (imdb)

Burnt Money (TW)(Spanish no subs)    (imdb)

Christopher and His Kind (imdb)

Clapham Junction (TW)   (imdb)

Ciao     (imdb)

Comme les autres    (imdb)

C.R.A.Z.Y   (imdb)

The Curiosity Of Chance *    (imdb)

Defying Gravity (TW:)    (imdb)

Dream Boy   (imdb)

East Side Story    (imdb)

Edge of Seventeen *   (imdb)

En Kort En Lang *  (thank you to willgrahamcrackercrumbs for uploading this film) a very silly film, but a really enjoyable watch if not taken too seriously  (imdb)

Eyes Wide Open   (imdb)

Fighting Tommy Riley      (imdb)

Fixing Frank (TW)    (imdb)

Food of Love (imdb)

Gayby *    (imdb)

Get Real*    (imdb)

Gods and Monsters     (imdb)

Guys and Balls *  (imdb)

Happy Together (TW) (imdb)

Heartbeats (NEEDS SUBS) (imdb)

Head On (imdb)

Howl (TW) tw: mental illness/discussion of mental insititutions    (imdb)

I Killed My Mother (J’ai tué ma mère)     (imdb)

I Love You Phillip Morris *     (imdb)

In & Out    (imdb)

Is It Just Me? * (imdb)

Jeffrey *   (imdb)

Just A Question of Love (Juste une Question d’Amour) (imdb)

Keep The Lights On (TW:) tw: drug abuse/addiction. one of my favourite gay films     (imdb)

Latter Days (TW) tw: suicide    (imdb)

Leo’s Room  (imdb)

The Line of Beauty  Part 2  Part 3  (TW) (imdb)

Little Ashes   (imdb)

Longtime Companion  (TW)   (imdb)

Loose Cannons   (imdb)

Love In Thoughts (TW:)  (imdb)

Mala Noche (TW)   (imdb)

Mambo Italiano *   (imdb)

The Man Who Loved Yngve    (imdb)

Maurice * (excellent period drama)  (imdb)

Mulligans    (imdb)

My Beautiful Laundrette (imdb)

My Own Private Idaho     (imdb)

Mysterious Skin (TW)    (imdb)

North Sea Texas   (imdb)

Parting Glances (no online link) 

Patrik Age 1.5 * (very funny and heartwarming)   (imdb)

Pedro    (imdb)

Philadelphia  (imdb)

Plan B  (imdb)

Priest (TW)  (imdb)

Red Dirt  (imdb)

Save Me (TW:)  (imdb)

The Sex of the Angels (TW)   (imdb)

Shelter * (again a must watch a great film)  (imdb)

Sommersturm   (imdb)

Stealth  (imdb)

The String     (imdb)

Straight-Jacket *   (imdb)

Sum Of Us *    (imdb)

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train     (imdb)

Toast *    (imdb)

Torch Song Trilogy    (imdb)

Total Eclipse (TW)     (imdb)

Touch of Pink *    (imdb)

Trick *     (imdb)

The Trip    (imdb)

Undertow (No Online Link)   (imdb)

The War Boys (TW)     (imdb)

The Wedding Banquet *   (imdb)

Wedding Wars  *  (imdb)

Weekend * (a must watch in my opinion one of the best, probably the best gay movie) tw: drugs  (imdb)

Were the World Mine *    (imdb)

Wild Reeds    (imdb)

Yossi and Jagger (TW:)     (imdb)

Yossi   (imdb)

You Should Meet My Son *     (imdb)

Films with transgender, genderqueer, non binary or intersex characters 

A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story  (TW:) (imdb)

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert *    (imdb)  

Albert Nobbs     (imdb)

Beautiful Boxer  (imdb)

Boys Don’t Cry (TW) tw: murder  tw: rape tw: transphobic language/situations tw: self harm tw: violence  (imdb)

Breakfast on Pluto    (imdb)

The Crying Game (TW)    (imdb)

Different For Girls *    (imdb)

En Soap  (imdb)

Flawless     (imdb)

Gun Hill Road   (imdb)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch *   (imdb)

Kinky Boots *    (imdb)

Laurence Anyways    (imdb)

M. Butterfly      (imdb)

Ma Vie En Rose * (No online link - Avaliable on Netflix)  (imdb)

Orlando     (imdb)

Paris Is Burning  (imdb)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show  (imdb)

Romeos       (imdb)

Solider’s Girl (TW)   tw: murder tw: violence (imdb)

Southern Comfort  (TW) tw: cancer  (imdb)

Tomboy       (imdb)

To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar *   (imdb)

Transamerica (TW)      (imdb)

Venus Boysz       (imdb)

Wild Side   (TW)  (imdb)

XXY    (TW) tw: sexual assault   (imdb) 

Films with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* characters

Rent (film) Part 1   Part 2  tw: death  (imdb)

Rent (filmed live on Broadway)  Part 1   Part 2 tw: death

LGBTQA* Interest

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema   (imdb)

The Laramie Project  (imdb)

Milk    (imdb) (TW) tw: suicide tw: homophbia

The Celluloid Closet   (imdb)

Prayers for Bobby  tw: suicide (imdb)

The Times of Harvey Milk  (imdb)

We Were Here (imdb)

[regentrude-sleeping]

I 'love' how this claims to be an ace-inclusive list, but it doesn't contain a single reference to any asexual characters. I know they're almost nonexistent, unless you count some old Sherlock Holmes adaptations that don't go out of their way to straight-wash the character - but, damn, at least point out this horrible dearth of representation even in movies made by and for the queer community, instead of paying meaningless lip-service to support. Or are you one of those asshats who think the A stands for "allies"? For what it's worth, one major character in "Maurice" can easily be read as homoromantic asexual, even if he probably was supposed to be read as just tragically repressed and as having internalised his society's homophobia. (He's in love with the main character, but all "I don't want to do more than kissing. Platonic love is so much more pure and worthy.") And one major character in "Big Eden" actually makes a lot more sense if read as biromantic or aromantic asexual, instead of as a middle-aged straight guy who tries to force himself to be gay for his gay best friend who has a crush on him, and then ends up crying alone in his car when said friend breaks up with him because he can't bear the sexual intimacy after all. (It would also make sense as a reason why his wife divorced such a sweet guy, and the woman he eventually ends up with is the one who found him crying about his sexual identity. They're never seen kissing despite officially being together after that and founding a patchwork family with their respective first-marriage kids. So it's easy to headcanon a happy ending for him where he found someone who actually shared his disinterest in sex and wasn't pressuring him.) There's also a documentary called "(A)Sexual", but it's not much good, from what I've heard. Personally, the 'best' representation of an asexual person I've ever seen was in the TV movie "A Dangerous Man - Lawrence After Arabia", and even that's just because I know T. E. Lawrence probably really was asexual, and the movie has him refuse both hetero sex and more subtle advances from a male friend, without forcing the reading on the audience that it's just a sexual dysfunction caused by his trauma of torture and sexual assault. (In fact, you have to know your history to know he was raped as well as tortured, it's not explicitly mentioned; so the movie doesn't need trigger warnings for that.) These are the relevant scenes (the rest is mainly politics, and a strained queerplatonic thing with Prince Feisal), so see for yourself if you'd count it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-qBI0klNMc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Huw4tcLjs P.S.: "Better Than Chocolate" also has a good depiction of a trans woman. In fact, she and her adorkable, middle-aged love interest are much more interesting than the young and pretty main characters. She's not played by an actual transgender actress, but Peter Outerbridge does surprisingly well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSn01MLcUXA    (And while the movie generally is pretty happy-go-lucky, it does need some trigger warning for homophobic and transphobic assaults / hate crimes and parental assholishness.) Also, you missed quite a few German lesbian and gay movies: "Girls In Uniform" (1931 and 1958 versions) and "Different from the Others" (1919) are classics, but off the top of my head I can also think of "The Einstein of Sex" (about Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, an early LGTB rights activist who wrote the aforementioned gay movie); "Maybe... Maybe Not" (AKA "The Most Desired Man" or "The Turbulent Man"); "Killer Condom" (an awesomely schlocky horror comedy - a lot of the actors involved are gay, too). And then there's the UK TV movie "Breaking the Code" (about Alan Turing's persecution for his homosexuality, played by Sir Derek Jacobi) and "The Libertine" (about John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester and 17th century poet - who was bisexual, and while the main romances in the movie are hetero, the movie doesn't even try to straigth-wash the man - played by Johnny Depp in what is possibly his best performance to date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfTPS-TFQ_c ). The heart-warming UK family comedy "Blow Dry" features a lesbian couple trying to reconcile with the ex-husband of one of the women, who is also the ex-partner-in-art of the other woman. It's been ages since I watched "Boys on the Side" (a sort of feminist road movie), but I think Whoppie Goldberg's character was lesbian. I'm also pretty sure "The Color Purple" and "Victor, Victoria" had bisexual and gay minor characters respectively, in positive depictions.

[solthree]

—What, people call you the Doctor?

—Yeah.

—Well, I’m not. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve got to earn that title.

#martha jones appreciation day

[whovianfeminism]

One of the things I’ll always appreciate about Martha is that we got to see her in action as a doctor so often. This wasn’t a token job or a career. This was an essential part of her character. She was given real opportunities to act as a doctor, from performing CPR, to treating concussions, and even re-setting dislocated shoulders. And it influenced her every action; she’s just been kidnapped and drugged by Cheen but she’ll be damned if she let’s Cheen continue to use one of those patches while she’s pregnant. And being a doctor was so integral to her narrative, factoring prominently in her conflicts for respect. This was especially true with the Doctor, from their first interaction to her eventual departure.

You really gotta love Martha, the doctor.

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I appreciate that's what the writers were going for. I just wish the medical expertise they wrote her showing hadn't been utter nonsense (like that 'CPR'), dangerously presumptious (like deciding a pregnant woman about whose health status she knows nothing isn't allowed to use medication that Martha also knows nothing about - the local equivalent of antidepressants, no less), or stuff that you learn in highschool health class where I'm from (bones of the hand). And the rest is just basic nursing skills, and some judgmental ignorance of the historical circumstances of her profession. (Yeah those early mental asylumns were awful - but at least for the first time there was a place were people without doting families were fed and looked after, instead of being left to beg for food and freeze to death in a ditch. And how does she think those places would have been financed if not by letting in paying patrons looking for entertainment? Before cheap fossil fuels and the Bitish Empire, there just wasn't enough surplus wealth for a public health system.) The way it's written, it just makes her look ignorant, like she hasn't actually learned anything more high level during her long university course, and like she still has a lot to learn about safe procedures (diagnosis comes first!) and respect for patients.

(Full disclosure: I'm not a doctor. But several of my close relatives are.)

[regentrude-sleeping]

Reading Recommendations

Two interesting articles in the Slate that I just came across, especially for those of us interested in animal behaviour:

1) Misogyny Isn’t Human Nature, Despite the Internet’s Bitter Baboons

+++++

2) These Animals Stick Up for Social Justice

[regentrude-sleeping]

... And following my rant earlier today, a porn tumblr uploading specifically pictures of naked teenagers started following me. What is wrong with people?!

Also, is there a way to report this tumblr for spreading pornography of underage models?

[regentrude-sleeping]

Tamora Pierce. In your most recent post you are looking for books by Tamora Pierce you just don't know who she is apparently. Now you do. She writes strong female protagonists who get their periods while being strong female protagonists living in a world mostly controlled by men. In fact, they often outshine men in their skill and ability. They fall in love and have boyfriends and sometimes children but the plot hardly focuses on that. Tamora Pierce. Look her up.

I had heard of Tamora Pierce at least by name, though I don’t think I’ve ever read one of her books. I’m not exactly sure why… Perhaps her writing is very heteronormative and/or white-washed? (I generally chose the books I read on the basis of recommendations by people with an investment in intersectional feminism.) Or, I think I read reviewers state that her writing style really only works for people while they are teenagers, like with Mercedes Lackey. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but by now I may be too old to appreciate it. Or perhaps her titles / book covers just never spoke to me. I don’t know.

Anyway, thanks for the recommendation. However, was the patronising and sniffy tone really necessary?

And even if there are one or two authors who do better, my complaint was more about the general standards of the genre. Like, in my bookshelf I have currently several dozen fantasy / scifi novels with teenage or adult female protagonists by 15 different authors (only one of them male), and most of these authors probably would consider themselves feminists, and yet “Bone Doll’s Twin” is the only book I can rembember ever mentioning menstruation.

Wait, no, Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels novels do mention it - as an utterly debilitating state that robs witches of their magic powers and so makes them vulnerable enough to be raped, necessitating seclusion and guarding by their violently overprotective male partners. Great. (Those books have some really disturbing sexual politics all around.)

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Rant about Menstruation in Fiction (or the lack thereof)

You know what pisses me off? I’ve read a lot of books in my life, most of them some kind of adventure and more than half by female authors with often cis female protagonists in their teens or twenties. But almost all of them completely ignore the quarter to fifth of their time that these characters should be spending bleeding and feeling unwell.

I think the only book I ever read that mentioned this reality of womb-owning bodies was “Bone Doll’s Twin” by Lynn Flewelling, and there it was just once as an important plot point. (The main character’s sex was magically changed at her birth and she/he was raised as a boy. So when the magic begins to break down during puberty, and he finds blood seeping through his skin, he thinks he’s got the plague.) I think even “Monstrous Regiment” by Terry Pratchett completely ignores it, despite most of the characters being cis girls who are pretending to be boys and trekking cross-country with the army with little more resources than the clothes on their backs. The difficulties in maintaining the masquerade are a big part of the story, and one of the characters is a goddamn vampire who has heightened senses. But menstrual bleeding never comes up. Okay, with most of the characters you could handwave it because they’re either nonhuman, pregnant, or possibly chronically underfed, but the main POV character is none of those things. And yet she never even worries about it. It just makes no sense.

Now, I know this neglect likely just comes about because YA authors are prudes who are unwilling to write their teenage protagonists in any way realistic or sexual (romantic, yes, but not sexual, not really). (Imagine J.K. Rowling writing Harry and Ron like actual teenagers, with the problems and embarrassment resulting from having to share their bedroom with 4 other boys and not even getting guaranteed privacy in the bathroom because of the damn ghosts.) But I think the not mentioning of menstruation goes beyond the harm of making teenage readers feel like they are abnormal and dirty when they want to masturbate or have perfectly healthy REM-sleep-induced nocturnal erections.

Firstly, it tells cis female readers that the hormonal cycle that governs their bodies is a deep and dirty secret that should never be talked about. That women shouldn’t even think about it, since the POV characters never even mention their discomfort in their internal narration, never mind asking others for a bit of understanding for being temporarily not quite at the peak of fitness or being in outright pain. It teaches the cis girls in the audience to internalise sexist disgust and shame of their own body, and to hide their pain, which is just as bad as teaching boys never to cry. And don’t try to tell me it’s just because authors don’t want to put off their readers with disgusting bodily functions. Even books that do occasionally mention stuff like the need to piss or characters throwing up during a panic reaction or because they’re pregnant, never ever mention this natural part of the life of any person with a functioning womb. (Even Doctor Who will sometimes have a line like “How long does it take to take a leak?!” (PotW), but to my memory the writers never had a female companion go “Can we take it easy today, Doctor? I’m not really feeling up to running or getting trapped in a dungeon tonight.”)

Secondly, it makes it harder to identify with these supposedly female characters if they don’t actually have to deal with the same discomfort and complications that a real cis woman would. I wouldn’t mind if these female characters were meant to be read as trans, but they are not. Instead, they come across like some weird sexualized prepubsescent Barbie doll (the characters do have sex, just not everything else that comes with mature bodies) or an inhuman alien, or as if they are seriously sick.

And especially in the kind of books I read, the message these writers are sending to their audience is basically: “Of course you can go on heroic adventures if you’re a girl. But first you must pretend your body is that of a boy with two tennis balls glued to the front. No, real cis girls could never actually go on this trip or fight these battles. Don’t be silly; your womb makes you too weak and vulnerable for the job of a hero, and the logistics to take care of your needs would be far too complicated to manage.”

[regentrude-sleeping]

Minority Scrabble

So, people who talk to me might have noticed that I use the term QUILTBAG rather than LGTBQIAP or the like. (The U stands for "undecided".) I prefer the former because it makes it harder to be lazy and shorten it to just LGTB, like most people in the queer community and in mainstream still do, and because it's actually ponounceable in face-to-face conversation. Also, I Iike the mental picture I get from it: a patchwork of different-looking things nevertheless all held together in one 'bag'.

I know there are more inclusive abbreviations like GSM (Gender and Sexual Minorities), but that started as a scientific term, not as something created by the community, and therefore always sounds a little like a medical diagnosis to me. Also, it's a lot less obvious to outsiders what is meant, so you always have to write it out anyway. And personally, I think it is necessary to mention the more erased identities like asexual / aromantic or intersex at least by the initial, lest they be forgotten by the reader during whatever discussion you're trying to have.

But the problem with QUILTBAG is that it isn't easily expansible, and doesn't include identities like pansexual. Now, you could say the at the difference between pan and bi (in the traditional definition of "attracted to two or more genders") is negligible. But what about nonbinary gender identities? That's clearly different from "trans", as far as I understand.

So I've played around with the letters a bit today, trying to come up with a pronounceable word instead of LGTBQIAPN... I didn't get a whole word, but I think PAN-QUILTBAG would actually work nicely. I mean, the Greek prefix "pan" translates to "all" or "all-encompassing", so it does fit well with the meaning I was going for. (The second A stands for "agender", not "allies".)

What do you think?