You see something stupid. You hear something stupid. You read something stupid = Yeah,TNTG. Posts tagged representations.
“I confronted my rapist. He responded I thought you were conscious and showed clearly that you liked it. I was drugged. I could not move or speak, just catch glimpses…”
“District Attorney: ‘It is nearly impossible to convict rapists, with or without evidence…because it is not commonly understood that police shows on tv do not accurately represent the majority of cases in real life, jurors get stuck on wanting evidence that just is not there, and criminals walk free.’ NOT HELPFUL”
Photographed in Boston, MA on April 25th.
—
Not sure what Project Unbreakable is? Click here.
Want to be a part of Project Unbreakable? Email us at projectunbreakable@gmail.com
—
View submissions here
okay y’all, here’s the deal.
i’m basically working on a list of POC photo/media blogs that acknowledge the source of the content they reblog/recieve and are not out to turn subjects into fetishes.
what do i mean by this?/ give me an example
take the tumblr 18° 15’ N, 77° 30’ W for example, a blog that reblogs and posts a lot of pictures of black women. have you ever noticed how the minute this blog reblogs a picture the original credits/information disappears and up pops “18° 15’ N, 77° 30’ W” in link form?
have you ever peeped their mission statement where it says
This blog is a display of my greatest weakness: black women and particular types. I like what my friends call “strange things” about black women…like their collar bones, big hair, nappy hair, curly hair, bald head. The only thing that can top those things is a good smelling woman… Since I can’t smell them thru the www, I’ll be satisfied with the visuals. So right now, this blog is just a collection of images that have piqued my interest or satisfied some desire by forcing me to shake my head and punctuate my temporary disbelief in the momentary satiation with a “GOT-DAMN”. Yeah; nappy haired, big haired, curly haired or bald headed sistrines. Yeah, got-damn. Yeah; sistrines with pronounced collar bones. Yeah, got-damn. Yeah; sistrines with an antiquated fashion sense and a futuristic sophistication. Yeah, got-damn.
as athinkinganimal astutely put “If that isn’t some objectifying bullshit, I don’t know what is”.
this sort of behaviour when it comes to POC media oriented blogs really has to end. we need to hold blog owners claiming to represent us accountable for not doing shady problematic shit. we can have blogs that celebrate the beauty of POC existence without the mods going “i collect these pictures because when i look at them blood rushes to places and my body says YEEEAHHH BAYYYBEEEE!”
or taking credit for pictures that are not theirs in order to promote their own blog
yeah no that’s hella gross.
so if you know of blogs that are
- POC only {people of color, as in non-white}
- collects and posts photos and other forms of media
- maintains correct attribution of sources for photos posted and reblogged
- is receptive to being told the actual source for a photo or piece of media
- and doesn’t fetishize the subjects that comprise the theme of this blog
then please send the name of the blog to my ask bog, or you can put the link in my fan mail. i will compile a list, put it on a page of my blog which will be viewable by all.i should note: if you’re a mod for a POC themed blog and want to submit to the list, know that i will be going through your blog with a magnifying glass in my hand. i will be looking to make sure you haven’t removed credit from reblogged or posted photos, you are receptive to people asking for credit on their photos and subsequently ponying up, and you are not a fetishizing type of person.so is everybody clear on that?alright cool. submit away.signal boost!!!!! i will be submitting some stuff soon!!
I was always annoyed by that self-promoting URL they would put under every post. And I loved that they highlighted black beauties, but I had to unfollow bc after reading this it’s just creepy and makes me sad :(
As a feminist who enjoys a lot of genres that aren’t usually…
As a feminist who enjoys a lot of genres that aren’t usually lady-friendly, it always irks me when people claim they have strong, feminist characters in their stories, but in reality they’re neither of those things. Sometimes a character’s qualities are debatable, but I wanted to make a list of things that don’t necessarily make a strong female character:
1) She is a woman/girl. Okay, so you created a female character. That’s a good start. But even Bella Swan from Twilight is a woman and I wouldn’t call her a good representation of feminism and modern womanhood. Is your character reflective of real women, or is she part of a stereotype? Do you even know the kinds of problems real women face? Does she face appropriate obstacles?
2) She can kill people, ergo she is a strong woman. Being a strong woman does not necessarily mean she can bash in skulls or toss people across the room. It means that she is psychologically, emotionally, and sometime physically well developed and can hold her own against opponents. Yes, it is refreshing to see female characters that are not physically wimpy and dependent, but if her character isn’t fully fleshed out, she’s just a tool. Try to make your female characters as complex and realistic in the story as possible.
3) She is a feminist. Okay, who says she’s a feminist? You, or her actions? Being a feminist is more than just saying “I’m a feminist.” Does she illuminate women’s issues during her story arc? Does she legitimately stand for all women’s rights, or just a stereotype of women’s rights (i.e. fauxminism)? Don’t make a straw feminist (see Feminist Frequency’s video on the Straw Feminist).
4) She doesn’t act like other women. Okay, this is really common in genres like fantasy and scifi, and it’s really problematic. First, you are assuming that all women act in a certain manner, which is not the case. Second, this most likely means that you are not writing a female character, you are writing a male character with boobs. This isn’t necessarily a good representation of womanhood. The point of avoiding stereotypes and cliches when writing for a female character is not to eliminate femininity and womanhood, but instead to adopt a more enlightened and diverse perspective on womanhood. Many things factor into a woman’s life that make her unique from other women. You have to consider things like class, race, culture, situation, history, and other perspectives that you design for her. This is also why it’s important to have multiple women in any story, because if you write five very diverse male characters but only one female character, it is easy to assume from the audience’s perspective that all women behave as that one female character does, and this is part of why sexism is so prevalent in media today.
5) She is the main character. Again, this kind of goes back to point #1. It is great to have women in main roles instead as just a sidekick or love interest, but if she isn’t a well developed, strong, and complex character, there’s really no point for her to even exist, other than to maybe be eye candy or a foil for a scenario.
I could go on and on and on forever and ever about sexism in media, mostly in fantasy, scifi, and horror (which are my favorite genres), but that would take way too long and I have to make a taco pizza (that’s a pizza with taco ingredients for toppings, if you were wondering). If you’re interested in this sort of stuff like I am, then check out Feminist Frequency. They offer great videos on a variety of topics concerning women in media. These were mostly just some tips I wanted to offer for young writers, film makers, game designers, comic artists, and other crafters of media about handling women in media. If people like this post, I may consider doing one for queer people, too…
Whitewashing vs. Racebending
The differences should go without saying.
To whitewash is to lighten a character or person’s skin or make a character more eurocentric, and is incredibly common. Artists, casters, and magazine editors whitewash because they or their readers have (sub)conscious, eurocentric ideals of beauty, as in believing that only white or light people can be beautiful.
In other words, whitewashing in the modern world (which suffers from white supremacy and European colonialism which has caused many horrors and is still very strong although denied by those that can afford to) is both caused by and upholds racism and shadism, two beliefs that have and do literally kill. Yes, even in the 1st world.
To racebend, when not used as a synonym for whitewashing, is to change a character’s race or shade to a more brown, oppressed, and/or unsatisfyingly represented group. Artists and on rare occasions casters racebend because they are sick of the whitewashing they have seen and chose racebending as a retaliation or racebend in an attempt to include a wider demographic of viewers. Racebending because of beauty ideals is not too common this day and age due to media favoring white and light people.
In other words, racebending in the modern world (which suffers from white supremacy and European colonialism, which has caused many horrors and is still very strong) is a sort of comeback (but NOT by any stretch an equivalent) to whitewashing or done by casters to represent an audience who were previously ignored. Racebending does not uphold a prominent evil, and it does not contribute to or uphold anything that kills. Those that see racebending in action won’t walk away with lifelong complexes validated.
See the difference?
“ My biggest problem is that there is simply no creativity in movies with black casts at all. White people are 12 year old wizards, teens with crushes on vampires and werewolves, fighting blue people, talking fish and toys, and yet the best we get is a movie about the genteel south? Someone please make a movie about two black folks falling in love at a rock concert or a feature film about Storm from X-Men discovering her power, or something, ANYTHING, that goes beyond Black Pain (TM) / White Saviour (TM) movies. Sheesh.
—
A commenter on “Why I’m Just Saying No to ‘The Help’” (via atrapforfools)
FUCKING THIS. (via so-treu)
Pretty much. (via kyssthis16)
SO. MUCH. THIS. TIMES. INFINITY. (via squeetothegee)
My favorite quote is at the end:
What I learned: I think the media has trouble depicting asexuality because if you have a picture of an asexual person, that is simply a picture of a person, and that probably isn’t strange enough.
background images from articles in Nerve, Marie Claire, and Folha.
There’s been a recent discussion about the cover of a potential asexual romance anthology, The Heart of Aces. Everything has already been said, but it reminded me of something else that I wanted to do. So here’s an analysis of the imagery that the media considers appropriate to accompany articles about asexuality, because they seem to fall into a few camps, and maybe I can learn something from this. I’ll link the articles, but this isn’t a critique of what they wrote; I’m interested in the types of visuals they use. And after each category I’m going to make a comment on what I think I learned about asexuality from the image and (for the asexually-uninformed) why I feel it does or doesn’t work, in the unlikely event that there are people who are madly Googling right now to try to find inspiration for the kind of photos to accompany their asexuality media piece.
For those of you who are more visually inclined, I have made an easy to use rating system on how these visual representations make this individual ace feel, because otherwise someone confused is going to come along and miss the bloody point:
Analysis below the cut.
“ I am a woman of colour with a deep – almost unhealthy – love of popular culture. It is a love that is sorely tested in the face of such prejudice when I am told, loudly and with few qualms, that the stories of people who look like me just aren’t viable in a specific universe. It is often explicitly stated by my co-fans that I am not – ever – what they picture when they read these books or hear about these movies. The language may be coded: “She’s not how I imagined” or, in the case of interracial couple Sam and Mercedes on TV’s Glee, slightly more explicit: “They don’t look right together, like, they don’t … fit.” But the message is clear. We get to be supporting characters – the redshirts – or the villains. But heroes? Um, no. That would make things too … ethnic.
— Bim Adewunmi, in a moving editorial for The Guardian (UK)
“ We have to constantly critique imperialist white supremacist patriarchal culture because it is normalized by mass media and rendered unproblematic.
— bell hooks (via thechocolatebrigade)
Fixed for Tumblr.
Guns 'N Roses:
Immigrants and faggots
They make no sense to me
They come to our country
And think they'll do as they please
Like start some mini Iran,
Or spread some fuckin' disease
Society: What a deep message. Not everyone will understand this.
Aerosmith:
Sex is like a gun
You aim, you shoot, you run
When you're splittin hairs with Mr. Clean
It' like gettin head from a guillotine
Society: What a deep message. Not everyone will understand this.
Kanye West:
It seems we living the american dream
But the people highest up got the lowest self esteem
The prettiest people do the ugliest things
For the road to riches and diamond rings
We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us
We trying to buy back our 40 acres
And for that paper, look how low we a'stoop
Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coupe
Society: UGH, I fucking hate rap music.
“ To some extent the disparity between popular images and actual lived experiences plagues all groups in America, but Indians suffer it many times more intensely because of the ideological construct of savage versus civilized, and because, as Kenneth S. Stern notes, it makes non-Indian people”feel more ‘American’ ” to identify as and with Indians while ignoring the real-life implications of doing so. Playing Indian has become a national American pastime.
— Kathryn W. Shanley (via adailyriot)
