#raphaelrepresents

[jamescarstairs]

sometimes i think about how, outside of the aro & ace communities, hardly anyone cared about and actively participated in the aroace & aro erasure of two canonically aroace characters by supporting the adaptions that decided to do this erasure & how that still infuriates me to this day.

sometimes i think how how they took this erasure and shoved the characters into a relationship to make them seem more relatable, to make them seem more “normal”. when one character was literally a vampire for christ sake. & the fandoms participated more in this erasure by supporting those ships.

sometimes i think about how revolutionary these shows could’ve been if they decided to not go through with the erasure. and the missed opportunities because of it.

so many people found comfort in these two characters, for some of us these were the first aroace characters we found in a mainstream book/comic & many of us were excited to finally see ourselves represented on screen. only to faced with erasure and more aphobia for speaking out.

it’s been years, one show has ended and one show is still going, but the hurt remains. the fear of it happening again remains.

[demisexualnathanvuornos]

It’s Easy to Not Talk about a Lack [Shadowhunters 2x9 Bound by Blood; aroace Raphael Santiago & Magnus Bane; not R*zzy friendly]

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11862186

[fuckyeahasexual]

Showrunner Todd Slavkin, confirmed that Raphael is indeed asexual in an interview late tonight. But it seems like they haven’t committed to the aromantic side of things as of yet. If you can please tweet @ShadowhuntersTV about the joy over having the first poc ace on tv, as well as your hope for aromantic Raphael since all parts of his identity as equally important. I’ll be boosting with #RaphaelRepresents

[jamescarstairs]

the fact every post for the aroacejugheadorbust movement could also be used for raphael in sh.adowhunters really says a lot about their fandoms, their writers, and their erasure and lowkey how much they hate aros and/or aces

[jamescarstairs]

I said it on my twitter but I’m going to say it here. I hate shipping culture, and it’s probably not for the reasons you think, I hate shipping culture because the majority of the time it silences aro people and their aro headcanons, or canon aro characters are erased (ex. Raphael, Jughead etc.**). I hate it because shipping culture never ever thinks about the idea that one, at least ONE character in a big cast might be aromantic. It’s like aromantic people exist but not in fandom. Or if the headcanons exist they are the villain characters, the inhuman characters, the unrelatable characters, the hated characters. And I hate it. 

When you headcanon these types of characters as aro and you aren’t aro yourself it’s really telling on how you view aro people in general. Maybe you don’t mean it in a bad way but when we are constantly stereotyped and dehumanised we don’t know how else to see it.

“Everyone has a right to ship whatever it wants” yes that’s right until it comes to erasing someone’s identity.

** i also understand that the shows are also at fault for this because they’ve decided to also erase the characters’ aro identity, but fandom/shipping culture is not helping. 

[jamescarstairs]

me yelling into the void: where are my canon aromantic TV/Movie characters at?!?!

[jamescarstairs]

stop telling aroaces to accept the aro erasure shows are doing to canon aroace characters

stop telling aroaces that their asexuality is more important than their aromanticism

stop using “at least they’re ace” or “they can still be ace” to justify aroace/aro erasure

stop using “but aromantic people can still date” to justify your aro erasure and to justify your arophobic ship**

stop using “but aromantic people can still date” when the aro/aroace character is romance repulsed to justify aro erasure and to justify your arophobic ship

stop telling aroace/aro people how they should feel about the aro/aroace erasure when you aren’t aroace

stop aro erasure towards aroace characters stop aroace erasure towards aroace characters

** = yes some aros and aroaces date but for some aros/aroaces this isn’t what they want so this is very dehumanising towards them (towards me) who don’t want to date, ever. 

jfc there’s billions of non aro characters out there you can ship do you really have to choose the very few aro/aroace characters we have. 

[jamescarstairs]

People who aren’t aromantic/arospec and/or acespec/asexual need to understand that yes even though asexual & aromantic are often used as umbrella terms there are people who identity with “aromantic” and/or “asexual”. As in don’t feel any sexual or romantic attraction. 

And by taking a character who has been described as “aromantic” or “asexual” and saying something like “but we don’t know where on the arospec or acespec [character] falls” to 99% of the time defend shipping is very dehumanising to asexuals who feel no sexual attraction, or aromantics who feel no romantic attraction. Non aro/ace people don’t get to decide that an aroace character is suddenly arospec or acespec because they seem “more human” or “more relatable”. 

Most, I say most, authors/writers WILL tell you if they are asexual or acespec and/or aromantic or arospec If a character is confirmed as an aromantic asexual they are aroace If a character is confirmed demisexual they are demisexual If a character is confirmed asexual they are asexual If a character is confirmed aromantic they are aromantic etc. etc. etc.

You cannot change an aroace character’s identity to arospec or acespec to cater to your shipping “needs”. The same goes for erasing the aro part in aroace, or the ace part in aroace. DON’T DO IT.

These characters are AROACE leave them like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!