#disfigurement

[this-is-deformimisia]

The way a character from CW's Batwoman was written in regards to his facial scarring is just horrific and also disgusting. Like, losing-your-lunch disgusting. It's essentially the mask trope only the mask he wears is another person's literal face. The scenes of these "masks" being put on and taken off had me retching and for some reason it's treated as a good, loving thing when his adoptive sister helps him get and put on these masks. He started out wearing them to hide his scars and eventually grew up to wear them and commit indentity theft. Face theft such as this isn't uncommon in DC, people without face differences do it all the time, so giving Mouse facial scarring to "justify" him doing it was completely unnecessary and wrong. And again. Just really, really gross.

This is disfiguremisia. (? I think. I don't entirely understand the context here.)

[this-is-deformimisia]

I’m mixed on this. In the show Preacher there is a character name Eugene who’s severely physically deformed because of a shotgun accident (He got brain damage from it too)

In the show he’s portrayed with a lot of respect, it is portrayed as fucked up that people bully him, that his dad wants him to hide and how some people find comfort in faith after trauma.

But in the official comic Preacher is based off, he’s nicknamed “Arseface.” The nickname is translated into the show but a different context that is better. It’s a nickname a rude and brazen character is using instead of anyone which changed the context from normalized ableism to “only jerks call him that”

His deformity is also seen as “his fault” because it’s from a failed suicide attempt. It’s never said it’s his fault as far as I know but some of the framing is kinda a “you did this to yourself” thing

Preacher is a good show, it’s better than the comics when it comes to Eugene but sometimes I’m still split on my opinion.

Just sometimes I feel weird thinking of how he’s treated in the source material

This is disfiguremisia and suicidism.

[this-is-deformimisia]

¿Por que siempre que aparece un personaje con cicatrices ese personaje es rudo, fuerte o solitario?

Translation to the best of my ability: "Why is it that whenever a character with scars appears, they are tough, strong, or a loner?"

This is disfiguremisia. Characters with scars deserve to be vulnerable, emotional, have support groups, and just generally be treated as more than an archetype. Being scarred does not make someone more prone to aggression or isolation.

I get that for a lot of characters, these scars come from them having a dramatic job (ie; being an assassin) or going through a traumatic event, but I think that's also an issue, because no job or trauma makes you inherently "tougher", and it also showcases a lack of variety in the origins of scars.

Why is it that if they have facial scarring, it must be from a fight scene or a scene of abuse, rather than just a simple accident or skin picking?

"Well, that's boring" people say, but I disagree - I think we need to start normalizing the fact that scars happen to completely casual and unabused people. There are a vast amount of people who get scars from things you wouldn't think twice about - like tripping on a sidewalk, slipping with a knife in their hand, accidentally mishandling tools, or other "benign" events.

[this-is-deformimisia]

The near-universal tendencies for adaptions of original works with disfigured characters toning them down to mere blotches and lines on skin (I can think of a few dozen specific stories off the top of my head) and will still have them and other characters freaking out about how hideous they are.

This is disfiguremisia.

[this-is-deformimisia]

I think there is a hyper specific hell to be interested in horror media and aware of deformisia because god. some of the things you are showing to be scary are just things normal humans have.

tbh its why i’m so nervous about that one roblox making the rounds since the whole point is to spot anomalies (things out of the normal), so far it seems like they’re too cartoony to dwelve into that territory but still… some people are ‘hollow eyed’ ie have no eyes, some people don’t have lips to cover their teeth, some people are born with extra body parts. it doesn’t make them violent or anything. i guess it especially gives me the yuck due to the violence you (a hospital worker) can commit onto an anomaly (someone with abnormal features)

idk maybe i’m too sensitive. but like yeah.

The demonization of deformities and disfigurements in horror media is really depressing.

[this-is-deformimisia]

This is such a minor example but it speaks to a larger culture of how normalized this type of thing is, I have a mole, It is large but completely benign. It is on my knee, and doesnt bother me at all but MULTIPLE people have told me its gross and I should get it removed. It is just a spot of skin that has more melanin. If this is how people act about a slight difference in "the norm" then how will we as a culture let people with anything else feel accepted and "normal" ??

This is lookism, and definitely speaks to the way that peoples fear of being deformed/disfigured impacts even abled characteristics.

People cannot even handle something as simple as a mole, let alone visible deformities/disfigurements that leave "beauty marks."

@this-is-lookism

[this-is-deformimisia]

Disfiguremisia is how at the end of the movie Iron Lung, the protagonist (Simon) looked like THIS, and yet people still draw post-canon Simon with nothing but a little scar across his face.

I'm sure that if he somehow managed to survive everything that happened to him and recover from it all, he would begin to heal and it likely wouldn't be THIS intense, but he would still be HEAVILY scarred. But that's so often ignored in fanart, and it's frustrating.

This is disfiguremisia. People love to erase the scarring or health impacts of characters in a "if they survived" scenario.

[this-is-deformimisia]

tumblr flags all my posts about a custom doll I made who's an amputee as Mature Content. Apparently being down a hand = something that must be hidden, lest it disturb those who gaze upon it without warning. Tiktok did one worse and straight-up pulled my videos about her completely, as if being an amputee is so bad that it shouldn't be seen at all.

This is deformimisia and disfiguremisia.