And over at Autostraddle, they show what we’ve known all along: television writing staffs remain overwhelmingly white and male.
Could this be why representation for everyone who is NOT a straight white dude is so fucking abysmal?
(Note that the study does not account for women of color.)
One of the most frustrating things about fandom is how unwilling people are to look at how race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, etc. impact the way we respond to arts and entertainment.
It’s bad enough when it comes from people who flat-out deny that racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc. are real. But it’s a whole other ball of What The Fuck when we (and I’m including myself here) act like we are somehow immune to the toxic shit that saturates our lives. Yes, even those of us who are aware of oppression, have an anti-oppression analysis, and even work for social justice. How quickly we forget that internalized racism, internalized misogyny, internalized homophobia, etc. includes us too. So if I call a female/queer/Black character I don’t like or understand evil, crazy, stupid or whatever, misogyny or homophobia or racism suddenly have nothing to do with it. Because I am queer Black woman, and I know this and that and the other about oppression and how it functions, I cannot possibly be an agent of oppression or have unexamined shit I need to figure out.
Riiiiiiiiight.
I mean, let’s be real: it’s easier to talk about how fucked up everybody else is than to face our own shit and work on that. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of fucked up shit that we need to call out. What I want to see more of, though, is honest self-examination. I want to see us including ourselves when we talk about the ways people perpetuate shitty patterns with race, gender, sexuality, class, etc. I want more of us to start saying, “This is what I understand, but this where I’m still struggling.”
Aside from being more honest, it also puts us at our growing edge so we can see where we need to grow and work on that instead of bumbling along and hoping we don’t show our ass.
This is news I’m all to happy to boost the signal for.
My buddy and fellow author, A.L. Olson, has a new book out entitled, Checkmate. This is a title you’l want to check out but more importantly, all the proceeds go towards a very special and important cause.
I have not had the opportunity to read the book yet (I’m on some writing deadlines at the moment) but the premise definitely caught my attention and I’ve already purchased it and downloaded it on my iPad. One of the reviews indicated that the book has more than a few surprise twists, something that yours truly loves. Game on! Um, pardon the pun.
Additional details can be found here. Go show a talented writer and an awesome writer some love. And by all means please repost and spread the word.
#LGBTQAuthorsRepresent
#LGBTQsBeingAwesome
Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the realm of Fantasy Fandom is bound to come up against a most foul lot who would crusade for marginalisations and non-representation in fictional worlds based on myths of Medieval Europe. “HISTORICAL ACCURACY!” is what they would bellow shrilly, believing that they have triumphed with their superior yet concise reasoning. Yet they fail to perceive history’s lack of frail folk whose ears are tipped and who often are caricature of the supposed supremacy of the supposed white race. Nor do they question the existence of terrible winged and scaled worms who vomit the element of fire: creatures which have not been proven to have lived in the Middle Ages.
The Concept of Fantasy is, however, not powerful enough to destroy this wretched enemy. It must be wielded with its twin, the Uncovering of Historical Lies, in order to strike the Dudebro Inquisition at its very foundation. For you see, the great irony is that their Historical Accuracy is inaccurate.
…
Now is where I drop the gimmick and say that this shall be the first post in an irregular series which tries to debunk myths about history. Specifically, history which is drawn upon by works in the fantasy genre. This one, as the title says, will be about homosexual attitudes and behaviour in Medieval Europe.
If there were no homosexuality back then, why would the Church have rules against it? Did they throw charges of sodomy at everyone they did not like without knowing what the word meant? Of course not. Homosexuality was heavily suppressed during the Middle Ages, but there’s a difference between that and total non-existence. It is possible to create a culture where a people who once normalises or glorifies homosexual acts would come to lose the ability of same-gender attraction. But to completely eradicate these impulses which are so natural that they are observed in about 1500 animal species? Impossible.
Hello everyone, and welcome to a very special episode of Brain Food… At the Movies!
The movie that I reviewed? The Host!
No, not the awesome South Korean Sci-fi horror film from 2006, but the very boring, rather disturbing (for all the wrong reasons) movie based off of Stephenie Meyer’s book of the same name.
While not as bad as I thought it was going to be, I certainly did not come out of this sober…
A pro-tip for the fanboys. There are healthier more responsible ways to deal with your performance problems, unresolved mommy issues, or that tiny embarrassment you’d rather the world not know about. However harassing women, is certainly not one of them.
You may also want to avoid questioning a woman’s gaming credentials because that woman may turn out to be Techlife’s gaming & social media editor, Rae Johnston.
#StayMad
Hello everyone, I had the great honour of driving down to Seattle last weekend and meeting up with the super awesome Dennis Upkins!
And not only that, but I got an interview with him too!
And then I recorded a panel he was a part of called Next Gen Publishing.
Apologies for the shakiness of it, and the audio as well. This was literally a last minute arrangement so things were not the best, but as the questions were explained by the panel, hopefully, you’re not missing out on much.
Enjoy!
One of the things that always seems to trip people up when it comes to analyzing marginalized identities in stories is the difference between a story that has fucked up shit in it versus a story that says fucked up shit.
This is a very important distinction that everybody analyzing narrative media needs to understand.
So I’m going to help a muthafucka out right quick.
And as a buddy pointed out, the blue eyes (Alex originally had brown eyes) is such a metaphor to selling out.
To quote the ladies from School Daze:
“Girl, you know you weren’t even born with blue eyes.”
*diva snaps*
“Blue contact lenses.”
#CyclopsWasRight
Recommended Reading: Avengers vs X-Men Review: Why I’m STILL Team X-Men
Ars Marginal 
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