#white coding

[rjalker]

If you don't criticize bigotry in media, that media will never improve. By the way, for cowards who think any level of criticism is too much.

Also, if you equate criticizing bigotry in media with claiming that the media is unsalvageable garbage that you're evil for enjoying, that's a you problem, lol.

You are in fact capable of critically thinking about the media you enjoy, while still enjoying it. That is a thing you should in fact be doing with all media you enjoy.

Cassette Beasts has problems with many forms of bigotry. Does that mean it's a bad game and you're evil for enjoying it? No. Literally no one said that, and the fact that you see people calmly pointing out really obvious bigotry and immediately leap to that conclusion says everything about you, and nothing about us.

Some basic bigotry in Cassette Beasts: Antiblackness, racism, colorism, gender essenialism, exorsexism, transmisia, transandromisia, polyamisia,

Pretending these aren't problems in the game doesn't make you a "real" or "better" fan, it just makes you willfully ignorant and means no one can ever trust you to be honest when they do something wrong, lol.

We cannot expect Cassette Beasts: 2002 to be more progressive if we're not willing to point out the bigotry in Cassette Beasts.

If you want progressive media to exist, you have to criticize it so it can be improved in the next iteration or in revisions.

The world will literally never become a less bigoted place if you shrink away from any and all criticism of bigotry no matter how calmly it's stated. That does in fact just make you a bigot.

If you can't bear to see anyone criticize anything in media, you're not actually a fan of that media, you're a stan, and you are actively standing in the way of fighting against bigotry.

And this obviously does not begin and end with video games, lol. This applies to literally everything. Books. Movies. Plays. Webcomics. Anything and everything.

[sweetdivinity-05]

For us Black/POC readers, is it just me or does it annoy the hell out of you when you see something in a fic that doesn’t reach out to other races/ethnic backgrounds? To be specific, I’m talking about when the writer as well as the reader is clearly white/meant for white readers. This may be offensive to white writers but why say “your pink nipples, place skin”, etc. Plenty of people of color have spoken about this on this here app, but I felt I should add my two cents in. Like, I’m genuinely curious; is it that hard to just leave the reader’s appearance ambiguous so everyone can enjoy the story and envision themselves? Idk man, this conversation is like a repetitive music player or whatever it’s called. What do y’all think?

[archived-deactivated19]

I really wish people would stop telling people how to write. Like it’s their writing? Sure being inclusive is nice but if they want to write a black chubby reader they can. If they want to write a docile white hyper feminine reader they can. If they want to write a trans nonbinary space fairy princess they fucking can. Why? Because it’s their writing! If you don’t like it read something else or make your own work!! That’s why I like writing. Because I get to self project. So, once again, stop making long posts judging how people write their reader insert. It’s so easy to scroll pass something. If you don’t think you get enough representation instead of being a nuisance and bugging authors make your own writing.

[writingwithcolor]

This is going to sound a bit silly, but hear me out. Is it possible for a character to be "white coded?" I'm a Chickasaw lady working on a possible webcomic about a Chickasaw girl and a monster she befriends, and even though they don't have a romantic relationship I really want to avoid any harmful tropes about "Natives who only exist to love white characters or teach them a lesson." I say this because my monster dude has a British vibe about him thus far and I'm worried he may (1/2)

come off as white coded, if such a thing exists. Is this a legitimate concern, and if so what’s the best way to handle this? (2/2)

White Coding and Avoiding Problems With It

White coding is most definitely a thing. Anything and everything can be coded for any one group on the planet— it’s just mostly spoken about for marginalized groups because it impacts marginalized groups the most.

You’ve already got a huge advantage for writing this by being part of the group you’re representing. The fetish-y vibes that an outsider would have with this will be far less, just because it’s hard to fetishize your own culture (it’s possible, it is very much possible, but self awareness helps).

My first question would be if the monster even is that bad a person. If he’s not that evil, or even evil at all, then the whole “forced to redeem the devil” part of the stereotype is gone.

My next question is asking if plot spends an extended period of time focusing on his self improvement. If it’s a major plot point or even a full arc, then there’s a little more to worry about. If it’s a slow, background thing in other arcs, it’s less.

You can also get into how whiteness creates monsters, which would be an interesting play on the concept. He’s a monster because he’s White, and he becomes less of a monster as he learns to dismantle the ignorance that comes with whiteness. Especially British, with all their colonizing.

All in all, really just focus on making sure that him becoming a better person is background. If the whole plot focuses on that, you have something to worry about. But if it’s slow character development, it’s fine. I’d welcome more roadmaps for allies learning how to be respectful, tbh.

~ Mod Lesya

[wicoppi]

How anyone could miss the blatant East Asian cultural cues from the galra is beyond me. At the very least, we see thr BoM be straight up ninjas. Like, are ppl really that much white-as-default that the missed that? It can’t be any more blatant than that. @_@;; I had no idea people missed (all) the cue(s) until your meta. There’s a lot of small cultural similarities here and there, as far as values and social mannerisms. Yikes. Thanks for taking the time to write that!

And thank you for the ask! Man oh man I LOVE the Blade of Marmora. Talk about iconic…mmmmm. But I never got the sense fighting prowess is tied to race.. Shiro is a perfect example. 

But I agree that people tend to use white as their base metric when making comparisons and what’s interesting is a lot of times they aren’t even aware they’re doing it. This is due in large part to white appropriation and POC erasure practiced throughout history. 

Since it’s on topic, let’s look at empires. European (white) empires practiced brutal, thorough smear campaigns and erasure against POC empires in effort to validate their justifications for empire- Believed Moral Superiority. 

Europeans needed to be able to claim direct heritage to any major, successful empires so they could say they were heirs to this grand tradition. But most successful empires built between the Greeks/Romans and the Europeans were built by POC. While Europeans were trying to scratch a living out of shitty soil, POC were building empires equipped with advanced technology and warfare. 

But after picking themselves up out of the ground, Europeans started working towards their own empires. Empires they justified by saying it was their rite, their heritage to build because they were directly descended from the Greeks and Romans. But in order to legitimize that claim they had take care of empires they clearly could not have descended from. 

So Europeans started smear campaigns- saying other empires weren’t TRUE empires (aka most West African empires) or other empires were in league with the devil (aka the Moorish empire). Europeans started white washing- saying that Not White empires probably definitely were white (aka the Byzantine and Ottoman empires). Europeans altered and destroyed artifacts to suit their narrative- like removing the -definitely not white- noses off Egyptian statuary. 

European empires changed how history is told and began the long tradition of white washing still seen in Hollywood today because they had to justify and legitimize their claims of Moral Superiority. They had to have the best and most direct heritage to the great empires that came before them. Any empires that they were obviously not related to had to go. 

And today, when we see nods and emulations of empires past the instinct is to assume they’re referencing white empires. In other words, saying the Galra is 100% white coded is essentially buying into centuries of dedicated smear campaigns by white people.  

And on that note, I have to thank @akaiikowrites for being an amazing history buff who educates my fledgling ass; she could learn us all on this topic in ways I probably can’t even imagine.

[rjalker]

Cassette Beasts criticism #(I haven't actually been counting)

These biases are on full display.

The common Squirey is often seen roaming the plains of New Wirral, searching for opponents to battle. Despite their cute appearances, they are dedicated warriors and driven by an innate desire for self-improvement.

[ID: The monster Squirey from the game Casstte Beasts. It is a brown furred, bipedal young monster with a bit of metal on its head for a helmet, a golden strap across its chest, and a short spear in its hands. Its face is slightly pointed, and it has two large claws on each hand. End ID.]

Alright, that's a cute little design.

Now the problems become glaring:

The Palangolin is the mature form of a Squirey who has remained true to their principles, and has become a knight of great virtue. Palangolins wield striking golden halberds, which they use to defend their allies in the heat of battle.

-

If a Squirey gives in to their dark impulses whilst training, it is destined to become a Manispear. Hiding its face beneath a black helmet, the Manispear fights without restraint or self-control.

[ID: The monsters Palangolin and Manispear from the game Cassette Beasts. Both are bipedal creatures with brown fur, long thick tails, and wear armour. Palangolin is skinny, with warm brown fur, and wears armour over its chest, lower arms, and lower legs, with the visor of a helmet worn like a crown on its head. It weirlds a gold and red halberd for its weapon. Its wears a golden necklace, and its chest has shadows on it implying breasts. It is labeled in quotation marks, "Virtuous". In contrast, Manispear is very heavyset, at least three times wider than Palangolin, with very notably darker brown fur, with a helmet completely covering its face, armour on its lower arms, feet, and a small metal skirt around its thighs. It weilds a spear for a weapon, and is marked in quotation marks, "Evil". End ID.]

So just right up front we have:

Colorist racism, equating having darker skin with being evil, and having lighter skin with moral purity.

Fatmisia, equating being skinny with being morally pure, and being fat with being evil and cruel.

Gender essentialism, demonizing men as inherently violent and cruel, saying that you (Squirey) will be evil if you grow up to be a man, which makes you inherently an MRA (the name is literally a pun on manosphere), so the only moral thing you can grow up to be is a woman. (Because despite being able to choose they/them pronouns, this game expects you to assume everyone's genders based on their appearance. Boobs = woman, flat chest = man in this game.

There's also the extra racism of presenting the "good" one as wearing more armour, meant to make it seem more "civilized" while the "evil" one goes around shirtless and more "barbaric".

[sweetdivinity-05]

Ahem. So, to my mutuals, followers and people who liked my posts, I just wanna say thank you for the feedback and likes. What I wanna do now is ask something to a certain group of people. This will probably not be a good idea but imma go for it:

Question: For some of my white writers on this app, genuinely, why do a lot of you guys make it clear to us non-white readers that your reader is hinted to be white? Not everyone reading your stories are white. The descriptions such as, long hair, messy bun. pale skin, freaking PINK NIPPLES, etc. Isn’t a reader insert supposed to be for ALL to enjoy, unless you warn your audience that you are targeting a certain audience? I’m sorry if I’m being aggressive but this continuous thing with reader have subtle and NOT-so-subtle hints that the reader has white traits is oh so tiring. It is hard being a person of color to come across a bunch of fics that cater to white readers. I am not telling yall how to write, which it may seem like it, but it is more so of me sharing how weird that is. And I am not the only one who feels this way. We just want a change, a change where the reader is for all to envision themselves without being hammered in the face with white vision. Another example is saying, “he runs his fingers through your hair” is honestly annoying. Idk man, ion know what else to say at this moment. But please, whoever feels the same as me, please share your thoughts. Have a lovely day.

Side note: feel free to share your thoughts (like reblogs) from my post and piggyback off of what I said. I could use support.

[babiiface95]

0 days without white coding in fics