#representation discourse

[clinically-not-straight]

People say that Tim Drake becoming bi is great lgbt rep but if we're being honest it just feels lazy.

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

Booty shorts that say "BAD REP" across the ass

[who-gives-a-ship]

For the last time, not including representation of a certain group or mishandling a character who belongs to a minority isn’t the same thing as hating that group. Marvel doesn’t hate LGBTQ+ people because it hasn’t mentioned characters’ identities in the movies. Voltron doesn’t hate LGBTQ+ people because an LGBTQ+ character got killed off. Are they questionable decisions that might reflect some ignorance on the part of the writers? Potentially. I don’t really know for sure. But saying they hate LGBTQ+ people is misleading and spreads the belief that nothing but perfect representation is accepted, discouraging creators from including representation at all.

[vaultentity]

Or maybe we don't deserve...

O ptét q'on merte ra do repésâtaçyon finalamen, ptét qe père les tramâlins â merte... q'on é ra qe tot dret cyantè è qrïnjè è tro crouye avoui noz frérez è adel tra ;c

Or maybe we don't deserver representation in the end, maybe only transmasc people deserve it... that we are just too annoying and cringe and too mean with our trans brothers and siblings ;c

[vaultentity]

Am I taking from transmasc rep by mainly writing transfem characters ?

I robo-ti trasmahl rep en ehqrivan pençepalamen dè personajes tra-fen. ?

[PMO] Qma qèqna do Tra-fénnen, I ehqrivo dèz histoire (se cen audra qèq endrei do séryô on jo, i n'savo) è soven i'ehqrivo dè personajes tra-fen. È, lè, slé m'balye l'éhtranje sentimen q'i robo lè parsonè tra-mahlinè ? È c'é s'taulamen bobé, poça do l'on : i n'iai bouéné pa publyé auqè, et do l'dou : i penso pa qma traz "autôr" nos devren s'asentre oubji do raconta ana espériençe qu'é pa la noutra. Noz ne penon ren a l'autre, noz ne moaqen pa lèz on contër lèz autres, noz sen en la méme éqipe!

[EN ]As a transfeminine person, I'm writing stories (if that'll go anywhere something serious one day I don't know) and often I write transfem characters. And then, it gives me this strange kinda feeling I'm taking -steeling even maybe- from transmasculine people? And this is so dumb because, for one I never even published or shared anything but more importantly I don't believe that as trans "authors" we should feel obliged to write about experience that is not ours. We don't take from each oter, we are not like scoring points, we're in the same team!

[shytimesabandonableplatform]

I'm not putting this on the specific post that sparked it, because I don't want to start trouble and they weren't doing anything that like a bazillion other posts on here don't do, but: a list of identities does not make me want to buy and read a story! I keep seeing these promotional posts that are like "Do you want a story featuring trans/queer/black/Native/disabled/etc. folks? Buy this anthology!" And like, I do and have liked stories with characters who are trans or disabled or whatnot, I do think we should have more stories where everyone isn't straightwhitecisneurotypicalable men, I do think lack of representation feeds into bigotry and alienation, yes yes, BUT. I buy books because I think I'll enjoy them. And if I'm trying to decide from the BAZILLION BAZILLION books out there in a limited timeframe, I need a hook. "This book is about a trans woman and a trans man" is not a hook. "It's about a knight who goes to slay the dragon to rescue the princess, but when the knight gets to the cave the 'princess' has already put on the Belt of Gender Change from the dragon's hoard to become the Prince, and our hero always dreamed of being a heroine and hey, there's this princess gig open, but What Will the Court Think and How Does This Impact Succession?" is a hook. One gives me a "oh, that's nice, someone is making Representation" feeling as I scroll by and the other makes me want to read the story.