#heternormativity

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Animorphs #4: The Message thoughts (pt. 2):

• "I have a pass to get in [The Gardens] any time I want, but the others all have to pay, which is kind of a drag because Marco never has any money... It turned out there was a special for tickets — buy two and get the third for a dollar. Marco had a dollar, fortunately, so we didn't have to go through any big scenes" (p. 46-47).

This detail struck me the first time I read this book (first Animorphs I ever read, so I'd've been... 6? 7?) and it strikes me now. I'd experienced this exact scene before, and many times since: some of your friends have money for the zoo (the roller rink, the concession stand, the local pool)... some do not. This doesn't stop you from going, it just means you figure out a way to have someone accidentally buy an extra ticket, or get a BOGO deal, or get extra cash from their mom, or, or, or.

Like, this is what class consciousness looks like to a 13-year-old. Some of you have pocket money, some do not. Just be aware of it, look for workarounds, and cover when you can. Cassie tries to smooth the moment over by asking Marco about his haircut, Jake's ready to cover if he needs to, and everyone's happy when there's a deal so the price becomes a non-issue.

Part of what stood out to me, then and now, is the very fact of thinking to include it. Goosebumps, the major competitor series, was explicitly written to have "no divorce, no death, none of that... stuff" (X). Every character in a Goosebumps book, with few exceptions, is an upper-middle-class white kid living in a suburban house with one mom, one dad, and 0 - 2 siblings. Bailey School Kids, Sweet Valley High, Princess Diaries, and My Teacher is an Alien were all more diverse, but none of them dealt with poverty or what were then called (in true classist/heterosexist fashion) "broken" families.

IMHO, this is sci fi realism at its finest. The kids need to go touch a dolphin to turn into a dolphin — but one of them doesn't have $10 to cover admission to the zoo, because his dad's been out of work ever since his mom died. It's just there, in the background, this real experience that real American kids have all the time, one that almost never gets talked about in other children's SF.

Animorphs books can be read here | Book Club schedule is here

[pajulie]

UPG Hetero-patriarchy and Freyja

My personal experiences with Freyja have been fairly consistent over my time worshiping Her. To me she has always been larger than life, strong, strikingly beautiful with round cheeks and sharp eyes. She has always appeared to me with long braided hair, strong hands, and muscular features. There’s a stern kindness to her not like a mother but more like a mentor. Maybe like an older sister. Obviously, this is my personal UPG. Yours might differ. In fact I’m sure it does! That’s epic!

I’m here to talk about my personal views on Her and how I feel Her presence contrast to some of the ways She is portrayed by others particularly in buyable statues and goods. It really bothers me that a large majority of devotional statues of Freyja are of Her as a very skinny, not clothed or in sexy armor, and oftentimes omit Her ferocity for a kind of “fandomized” or “hollywood” interpretation Her. One that is consumable as I think that in the world we live in we associate desire with consumption. If I desire something I wish to have it . I wish to own it. And Gods (particularly female or femme aligned ones) who are representative of sex, love, sensuality etc. are often the ones who I see attempted to be put in such positions. One could make an argument for those who are not part of this category and I would probably agree, but that’s not what I am focusing on.

Back to Freyja. I am careful and intentional to avoid the word “sexualized” interpretation as Freyja is heavily associated with sex. She is sexual, intimate, passionate. I will not pretend that She is not. However there is a distinct difference between being sexual and sexualizing one’s self and being sexualized by others. I’m not going to pretend like I know how Freyja wishes to be viewed it is not my place.

I say all of this with the acknowledgment that

Everyone’s UPG is different and I’m not going to act like mine is better than someone else’s

There are multiple facets to Freyja and different statues and visualizations can highlight those different facets

Freyja is a Goddess of passionate love— specifically sex and this can and should be depicted in ways that are outside of what my very Protestant society deems as acceptable.

We live in a patriarchal and heteronormative world and we must actively deconstruct and confront this within ourselves regardless of our gender identity as it affects our view on the world and subsequently on beings greater than it.

My main issue is that these depictions are very obviously sexualized from the male gaze whereas I view Freyja’s sexuality as something She controls. To me, She’s strong, muscular, beautiful, tantalizing, and this is part of Her sexuality. These modern depictions put Her in a “controllable” position. She is meant to be gazed upon and used. Which is something I find intensely offensive. Freyja is uncontrollable. She is ferocity, Magic, ecstasy, power, love, aggression, and so much more. To see Her depicted as only an object is so wild to me.

Sure, if you feel that Freyja appears to you as such. I’m not going to attack you or your UPG. But i urge you to consider why you feel as though She appears to you in this way. Why you might want Her to. Our minds are warped by western heteropatriarchy and it’s important to deconstruct that especially as pagans worshipping Gods who have existed well before these times. Particularly if you are a man who worships Her as solely a Goddess of love and sex. I recognize that maybe I am walking a fine line of projection and I in no way mean to dictate who Freyja is.

As always these are just my thoughts and I’m happy to engage with others so long as you’re not being bigoted. There’s a lot more I have to say, so expect more in a later date lol. Sorry this is so disjointed!

[urshitarespopinions]

Kyle Broflovski & Anti-Semitism

Something I run into often on here is the issue of anti-Semitic stereotypes regarding Kyle. I'm not here to say they aren't real, because they do exist and they very much are a problem. Just wanting to communicate a big misunderstanding that seems to occur regarding his character and fanon.

According to Google Dictionary, anti-Semitism is defined as "hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people." It is a very real thing that the Jewish people have suffered from for centuries and is very harmful still today. It comes in many different forms other than blatant; ignorance (being the most prominent of what I've seen), and micro-aggression, to name just a few.

It's a WONDERFUL thing nowadays to see this progressive arc on social media, to see everybody willing to be courteous and trying to right the wrongs people before have unknowingly made. I love that aspect of this platform.

What I don't love? The reason I'm even writing this? Taking an aggression, which is unrelated to the topic of anti-Semitism, and labeling it as anti-Semitic by default because the character happens to be of that ethnicity/participates in that religion.

In this case, the most guilty of offenders would be the claim that the wrongdoing of heteronormativity is automatically a result of background racism.

A user who I shall not name argued this point, that, concerning the Style ship, the stereotypical heteronormativity in fan media (which depicted Stan as a buff, tall, masculine, jock, and Kyle, a weak, short, feminine nerd) was a direct result of micro-aggression against the Jewish people. This argument was built ignoring blatant heteronormativity the other way around, which depicted Stan as the feminine character and Kyle as the masculine one. It was a claim that has since been debunked, but I wanted to bring attention to it still because I still see this false accusation of anti-Semitism even today and wish to address it.

It's a bit ironic, in my opinion, because by looking for something that isn't there, and by falsely accusing heteronormativity as racist, the accuser has become the very thing they sought to destroy; misinformed and ignorant. An aggression (for heteronormativity, a misinformed mistake) is not the same as racism. Heteronormativity is not specific to a race and happens within all fandoms of all religions and all ethnicities. It's unavoidable. It's impossible to educate all those people out there.

What is avoidable? Seeing a mistake and automatically writing it off as a micro-aggression. Racism exists and always has existed, no doubt, but it distracts from the cause to accuse someone of it simply because they've made a mistake about something completely unrelated. The feminization of a character does not relate to their religion or ethnicity or their whatever. It's just not that deep.

TL;DR - people who think things that aren't racist, are racist, become racist themselves for trying to see micro-aggression where there isn't.

A note: this post is NOT meant to defend anyone, nor is it meant to attack anyone. I'm just trying to communicate my view of things as a person who is deeply invested in progressing this already wonderful decade into a better place for everyone. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and PLEASE, if I've missed anything, or wrote something wrong, or seem misinformed, PLEASE, don't be afraid to respond or reach out to me via DM. I want to make sure I've got all my facts straight.

[aroaceconfessions]

For anyone who reads/has read Jacqueline Wilson: is she exaggerating when she makes all these 12 and 13 year old girls desperate for boyfriends or is this a legitimate thing that girls go through? Because I never experienced this growing up (tbf I'm from India and Wilson's books are set in the UK). Any thoughts on this???? Please help; I am re-reading her books aged 25 and NONE of the romantic bits make any sense.

[alexdnn-art]

So um- question

why is this scene considered romantic

and this is just two friends talking?

mHHH I wonder if heteronormativity has something to do with it 🤷🏻

because I reeeeeally can’t tell 🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻🤷🏻

[creatediana]

“Chimply Yours” - a double dactyl written 11/12/2021

[tan-talks]

Coming out to yourself is a larger struggle than what any teen rom-com can tell you. Quarantine helped us remove ourselves from the herds of heternormativity, cisnormativity & allonormativity and take time to unpack our relationship with our identity. Coming out to the world feels secondary when you're at war with yourself. We second-guess ourselves, the voice in our heads sounds exactly like the society. We spend months and years on the internet trying to find answers, or even just a person who would tell you that you're valid, and it's okay not to know. If only every LGBTQIA+ identity was taught and well-explained like photosynthesis and pythagoras theorem, I wouldn't had have to spend 18 years wondering why I felt disconnected from my body and had to live with the fear and guilt for simply being how I was made to be. It is mentally draining to explain to everyone how I am attracted to people differently and expect hatred and disgust in return, homophobia in the name of "harmless humour" and a threat to my life.

LGBTQIA+ inclusive education isn't going to make your kids gay, it will help queer kids to understand themselves better and help cis-het kids to be more accepting of their queer peers.

[Via @pseudo_life on Instagram]

[rjalker]

If you want to see the most blatant example of heternormativity look at the Tikki  and Plagg ship. It is literally nothing but 100% heternormativity.