#aila test

[the-aila-test]

1. Is she a main character? YES.

2. Does this character fall in love with a white man? NO.

3. Does this character end up raped or killed at any point during the story? NO / NO.

Jax and Roki from Fancy Dance both pass The Ali Nahdee Test!

[itsrubyrose45510]

As part of Red Dress Day, I would like to bring up the normalization of violence against Indigenous Women and Two Spirit in media.

This is the Aila Test, named after the protagonist of "Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013)" is meant to look critically at these portrayls in the media we consume. The test has 3 simple questions:

Is she an Indigenous/Aboriginal woman who is a main character?

Does she not fall in love with a white man?

Is she not raped or murdered at any point in the story?

To pass, the answer must be "yes" to all three. Most stories that center on Indigenous woman do not pass this simple test. Either lumped into the stereotypes of the squaw or the princess.

[alinahdee]

The Lie of “Let People Like Things”

If “Let People Like Things” culture was really for everyone, people would be allowed to participate in criticism of fandom.

I was quoted in Teen Vogue:

The same goes for Twilight. Now that everyone has started back on the series (or started it for the first time), people are now writing up a form of revisionist history that claims people only disliked that series because they hated women rather than… the rest of it. Like the way female characters are written or the recurring “trope” of Confederate vampires.

Of course, misogyny fueled some of the criticism with people negatively comparing Edward and the rest of the Cullen Clan to everyone from Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Spike to Wesley Snipes’ Blade. But that wasn’t the entire story. Retroactively claiming all criticism of Twilight and its fandom as sourced solely from some misogynistic anti-fandom, erases the valid criticisms of other marginalized people.

“It is impossible to take 'let teenage girls like things’ seriously when the thing they like is rooted heavily in racism,” Anishinaabe writer Ali Nahdee, founder of The Alia Test, tells Teen Vogue. “It is no longer ‘harmless fun’ when a non-Native white Mormon woman appropriated and rewrote the culture and history of an existing Native American tribe for her multimillion dollar book and film franchise. It is no longer harmless fun with non-Native actors play Native American characters that are sexualized and portrayed as violent, jealous, animalistic, and sexually predatory towards (white) women, girls and infants. It is no longer harmless fun when a Native female character is disfigured and nearly murdered by her boyfriend but forgives him because he is her ‘soulmate.’ It is not harmless fun when the white main characters refer to Native Americans as “dogs” and other derogatory slurs. Refusing to acknowledge this is inherently anti-indigenous racism.”

[vozhd53]

As for the Aila test, wouldn’t the second rule promote ethnocentrism? For those not in the know, the second rule of the Aila test is that the Native American is not romantically pared with a white man. I would like to know why that is a specific rule.

[jerichopalms]

The ‘Aila test’ evaluates how indigenous women are portrayed in media

Tired of seeing bland and underdeveloped portrayals of indigenous women, Anishinaabe writer Ali Nahdee came up with the Aila test — a three-question assessment that seeks to evaluate the quality of indigenous female characters.

[doesthendnlive]

The Aila Test now has over 3000 followers. 

Words can’t even begin to describe how this makes me feel. I must have done something right by coming up with this test and this blog. I knew it was important for me to make this but I didn’t realize how many people would really love it too.

Thank you. A thousand times thank you.

[the-aila-test]

Hi idk if someone s answered this yet but sjaja from north of north is an inuk main character who does not fall in love with a white man and does not end up raped or murdered, so she does pass the aila test

Yess!!!

[the-aila-test]

CREATIVE PROMPT

Everything is chaotic and scary right now. I want everybody to be safe and to take care of yourselves during this time. But I also want us to experience joy. So I have a prompt that I posted on my MISKOmunication Discord and I wanted to share it here.

PROMPT: What does the perfect future look like for you as a Native person?

Use any media at your disposal. Drawing, painting, poetry, creative writing, music, just let yourself imagine and dream and wish.

What does the world look like in this vision of the future?

What are we reclaiming? What are we bringing back? What are we keeping? What are we changing? What are we getting rid of? What are we improving?

What does your home look like? What was your family and your relationships look like?

We have to know what we want. We have to know what we're hoping for. We have to create it. We have to make it real.