( Part 1 of 2) Diane’s homophobic Twist and Shout post
I’ve satirized this bullshit already but I want to hit it head on rn while I’m ill in bed and have some down time. I don’t usually want to run up a diane-sized word count on this blog, but so much of this post reflects common discriminatory claims and bias, I intend it to be a long one.
Notes on bias: I read T&S in 2014. Its not a favorite, but I considerate significant in fandom history.
Diane hasn’t actually read Twist and Shout, and she’s years late to any discussion of it
Please keep in mind, Diane is very homophobic and biphobic. She insists on saying Misha is straight even though he is (albeit quietly) bisexual, and has said as much, and is/has been polyamorous. She believes Misha actively encourages the fetishization of gay men by straight women. She believes most women in fandom spaces are straight. She’s also attacked queer tumblr users, particularly those who are bi.
Diane isn’t a gay man, she isn’t American, she’s a 45ish year old Indian South African Muslim. Yet, she’s trying to speak for all gay men and all Americans, here. Yikes.
She claims Twist and Shout is the next 50 shades. This is one of those particular clues that makes it clear she hasn’t read T&S. The first chapter on AO3 is actually a Q&A that confirms the authors are disgusted by the for-profit offers they have received. The fic’s popularity surge was, after a point, incredibly unfun for these writers who put a lot of love and care into writing it.
Another clue Diane hasn’t read the work: T&S was not written by straight teenage girls. It was written by two queer women.
Notice that Diane generally only sees queer people if they are male and convenient for her rantings.
“Let the gay men get their hands on this” is the way homophobic and racist people talk about marginalized groups, (especially if they are old as balls like Diane).
Diane’s little summary of gay history only focuses on death and homophobia. Another clue as to how she really feels about gay men when they aren’t convenient for her false narratives.
I guarantee she has never even met a gay American who was out before and during the aids epidemic. If she has, she owes him an apology for writing this trash heap.
Any queer person is going to be more insulted by someone like Diane reducing them to morbid stats than they are going to be insulted by Twist and Shout. More on that later.
Out of context of actual America, Diane makes it sound like everyone was talking about AIDS and queer people, during this era of America. They weren’t until it really started to affect white straight people and even then, it was hush hush or misinformation. That was part of the problem. More on that silence later.
Diane’s paragraph about Vietnam is again, reducing it to stats and presuming that even an American audience doesn’t know Vietnam really happened or that it was really fucking horrible. Everybody in America knows someone who was affected by that war. The veterans are still alive, for fucks sake.
Diane, despite being obsessed with destiel fandom, clearly thinks fic is only masterbation material, especially slash. (And she clearly thinks masturbation is dirty and wrong! Lol)
“Couldn’t they make up a war instead of leeching from history” ....what. literally no one says this about historical fiction.
This is uncomfortable to write but No American wants to be told what to say or what not to say about 9/11. A large chunk of Americans would be angry at hearing that from a foreign Muslim, because racism and islamaphobia are well entrenched here. (Does that mean Diane can’t talk about 9/11? No. More on that later.)
9/11 and post-9/11 as slash fic is not an offensive concept. Post-9/11 islamaphobia, racism, conspiracy theories, hate crimes and war profiteering are much much more offensive.
Queering 9/11 narratives is actually a really good idea. Most mainstream media about 9/11 and post-9/11 panders to far right “patriots”, who in addition to being islamaphobic, are frequently homophobic as well.
“Why not leave out war and ptsd because these are not tropes” from a deeply deeply personal and painful place in my heart, fuck you. More on that later.
Diane goes from criticizing T&S aestheticism to saying war and mental health shouldn’t be written about because...not tropes? Another example of how she flip flops according to her need to hate things
Okay, time for the “More On That Later” section...
