Stereotypes - Tumblr Posts

Bad Writing Advice

If you have ever asked for advice on writting a queer character you have probably gotten the advice

"Just Write A Normal Guy/Gay/Pal"

But what does this mean exactly? Basically, this person is saying to:

Avoid stereotypes

Avoid specializing

HOWEVER, when writers here this advice they actually think:

Avoid any traits that could be considered stereotypical

Never write interesting characters whose sexuality/gender plays a role in their life

That Interpretation™? F#CK THAT

The problem with the Sissy™ stereotype or the Non-Passing Trans Person™ wasn't that they were fundamentally bad but that they were one-dimensional and the only form of representation which was weaponized against minorities.

You can write the most flamboyant and high fem gay man or the butchest lesbian in the world if you give them an interior life!

You can write a highly masculine trans woman or highly feminine trans man if they aren't just one-dimensional transphobic caricatures

Those traits were never the problem and avoiding these specific personality types does a disservice to all the queer individuals who fit these stereotypes! To write a queer character all you need to do is write a well-developed character who has gayness or queerness as apart of their well-rounded personality

As a stiff-faced stoic asexual who loves bread and hates relationships, platonic or otherwise, I am the stereotype.

Why I Hate "Out Of Character"

My soul is burning with the desire to complain about shit so this time we're going to be doing a huge big category for:

Why You Shouldn't Write "Out Of Character"

Here is my philosophy for why I hate when fanfictioners and writers alike write characters out of character

Lack Of Attachment

When I am searching for fanfiction about a character whether or not it's ship-based, adventure, canon compliant, or even canon incompliant, I am searching for that character. Unfortuantely, I am not interested in your original characters because it's basically the equivalent of having a huge party with all your favorite people and then a stranger arrives.

I don't want to hang out with that stranger. It's awkward. So when a favorite character of mine starts acting like a stranger then ~they're just somebody that I used to know~

2. Stereotypical

Oftentimes, when an author consciously makes the choice to change a character it's often made to remove the complexity from a character in order to fit a certain mold. This can be done for a multiple of reasons and with various outcomes:

In Part 1, I talked about woobification and how authors, in an attempt to write their villain characters and angsty bois and gois as sympathetic, often get rid and ignore their horrible flaws and turn them into permanently crying messes I can't stand.

In Part 2, I talked about how male characters are often feminized or masculinized when they are written in a mlm fiction. These characters are either the Sissy archetype or Toxic Masculinity.

This stereotypical lends, at best, oversimplifies a character's complexities in order for them to fit into the narrow constraints of a trope and, at worst, homogenize an entire community of people with an undercurrent of bigotry.

FINAL REASON: Author's Hand

When reading/writing a story the best place for the author to be is in the background making the magic happen while the characters are on stage acting out their lives. The problem with the "Out Of Character" stuff is the fact that it feels like a character has been placed inside a glass box where they must act out their lives. Confined to tropes.

I'm totally fine with people having different character interpretations and character arcs. Those aren't my issue. It's only when these bland stereotypical paperdoll-like stories are the only thing I can read that I start getting snappy.

"The Script System" does't she get cold?

If y’all really want to go there, we can. Let’s talk about Black women and stereotypes. Angry Black women? Dark skin. Hoodrats? Dark skin. Babymamas (although no one wants to have kids with us) Dark skin. Welfare and crackheads? Dark skin. Crazy exes? Dark skin. Unsuccessful? Dark skin.

Wives? Light skin. High school crushes? Light skin. Love interests in almost every movie made after 2002? Light skin. Signs a Black man is winning in life? His girl/wife is White or LIGHTSKIN. The only kind of Black woman acceptable to be seen with as a rich Black man? Light skin.

If y’all want to fucking go here, we can. Everything from classic movies to current rap hits tell the Black boys that a lightskinned woman is worth loving. Every chance a rapper gets, he let’s it be known that lightskinned women are the prize. 

Are White people racist? Absolutely but guess what, they still going to pick you over me ANY DAY. So all those internships, jobs, promotions and credits you had to fight for, believe me, there was a dark skin girl fighting harder. Dark skin women been fighting so long, y’all forgot that Claudette the original DARK SKIN woman who refused her seat on an Alabama bus had to watch YOUR GRANDPARENTS AND UNCLES recreate it with a light skinned Black woman so it would be received. Y’all better miss me with the bullshit. 

; reasons myles has been fake claimed ( autism edition )

played with slugs as a kid ??

was too .. happy ..

didn't like the same show that their 8yo autistic sister liked.

said " I'm autistic " instead of " I am a person with ASD "

liked. muted. colours.

wore tights ??

is trying to learn Spanish

doesn't have a caregiver ( apparently parents do not count. /s )

used tonetags

didn't use tonetags

stood still for more than 5 minutes

got worse at being out in public

had too much else going on ( " how did you find the time to be so autistic " )

knew. english.

had thoughts

is queer

had a sense of self that was too complicated

didn't get bullied in school ( homeschooled 💀 )

had good sense of style

wore glasses

expressed desire for facial hair

didn't have short hair

; and many many MANY other things and silly reasonings. gri could talk for hours.

nature.com

Chatbot AI makes racist judgements on the basis of dialect

Some large language models harbour hidden biases that cannot be removed using standard methods.

Researchers found that some artificial intelligence (AI) systems are more likely to recommend the death penalty to a fictional defendant presenting a statement written in African American English (AAE) — a dialect spoken by millions of people in the United States that is associated with the descendants of enslaved African Americans — compared with one written in Standardized American English (SAE). The chatbots were also more likely to match AAE speakers with less-prestigious jobs.

unsurprising but still worth talking about

Things people said to me after finding out that I am romanian

1. "Eww, you filthy gypsy?"

"Romanian" and "roma/romani" people are two different things. Romanians are descendants of romans and dacians. Romani people are an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin. It's like confusing indians with native americans.

Now, there are people would use the fact that Romania is the country with the most romani people as an argument. And while this is true, they still represent only 3% of our population. Furthermore, not all of them are thieves or beggars, and not all of them are aggressive as many guys would like to believe. There's a more complex image of this minority, including romani palaces, well-defined rules, and traditions.

2. "Then why don't you have an italian accent?"

Romanian is a country from eastern Europe. It has nothing to do with Rome.

3. "Is Romania in Africa?"

Again, eastern Europe.

4. "Do you speak russian?"

There's this misconception that Romania is a slavic country, due to the fact that its neighbors are all slavic countries, and because Romania was a Communist State for almost 50 years during the previous century. However, as I said, romanians are the descendants of romans and dacians, and romanian is a latin language.

5. "Do you guys have electricity there?"

*face slap*

6. "When was the last time when you took a shower?"

Yes, there are also people who believe that we do not wash ourselves.

7. "Mind your eye, she's gonna steal your wallet!"

A common stereotype is that romanian are thieves.

8. "Are you a vampire?"

Ironically, despite the fact that the most common stereotype about our country involves Dracula, there are no vampires in our folklore and Bram Stoker included a lot of errors in his novel. The closest thing to vampires that we have is a demon called "strigoi".

9. "Do you know any hooker? I'm free this night."

Due to the fact that in Romania prostitution still isn't legalized, there were a lot of girls and women from this country who were trafficked and forced to prostitute themselves in different places. And because of that, there are a lot of people outside of our country who believe that romanian women are harlots.

One of my relatives used to work as a waiter at a restaurant from Belgium, and she simply told me that she was afraid at one point to say where she's from purely because of this type of questions. Worst part is that the first man who asked her to sleep with him was a jewish priest.

"Metal and Rock Music Are Satanic and a bad influence for children"

Metallica received once a letter from an old lady in her 90s who was about to die. Her last wish was to see her favourite band singing to her before passing away. They visited her in the hospital and didn't accept any money for it.

The solist of the band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, made it very clear that if anyone is sexist, racist or homophobic they could as well just leave and stop buying his albums. He suddently stopped singing in order to save a woman from being sexually assaulted in the middle of a concert. He also used to stay up late at night in order to answer his fans' messages.

Blink-182 received a note from a teenage boy named Adam, who took his own life shortly after writing that letter. Finding out what happened, Hoppus wrote "Adam's Song" in his memory.

Justin Bieber splits on people, is rude to everyone, wrote: "Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would've been a belieber." while visiting Anne Frank's House, sprayed over a builiding that’s a protected heritage site, punched a fan in the face and made his fans wait for a couple hours to start his concert because he was playing video games backstage. He also walked out midway through a different concert. Also also, he got a monkey as a pet once. Then abandoned it.

And yet people still believe that Pop Starts are automatically better role models for their children just because Rock and Metal are usually less listened (and appreciated) music genres. Let that sink in for a moment.

You can always tell when a gay character was written by a gay person because the stereotypes used are the accurate ones

I am a pagan. I am not a Wiccan, a witch, a devil-worshipper, a LARPer, or a fortune teller. I don't wear a pentacle or follow an "earth centered" religion. I am not a hippie. I am not a vegan. But also, I do not sacrifice goats. I do not participate in orgies or dance skyclad in the woods. I don't do love potions or hexes. I definitely don't kill people, and there is no religious compulsion to ever start. I don't take hallucinogenic or illegal drugs. I am not part of a coven. I am not part of a cult. I have read the Bible. I have read physics, psychology and philosophy textbooks. My soul is my own business, I appreciate all well-meant prayers, I do believe in my gods, and I owe no one any proof. My beliefs and experiences can only be related by my own mouth, and you don't have to agree with it. I could be wrong. You could be wrong. If we're going by majority rule, then the afterlife likely has been given to mosquitoes or dinosaurs. Your soul is your own business, too. It's not my place to tell you what to do with it, or even to convince you that it exists.

I am a polytheist. A Sumerian Reconstrustionist and devotee of Nisaba, the scribe goddess, if we're being fancy about it. The term might have changed since I last blinked, the community is still evolving. I burn incense and give offerings of food and water on my altar. I cheerfully drive around a greedy diesel-devouring bug. Most of my time is spent avoiding going outside. The one thing I can reliably do in a kitchen is bake, otherwise I'm hopeless. I guess I do fit some stereotypes, because I'm LGBT+. I think crystals are cool, but I'm skeptical about the whole auras and vibrations business. Same with herbs. I do "cast a circle", but it's more purifying the area with holy water than calling corners. And no, I don't mean holy water from the local Catholic shop. I make my own. Yes, that's possible. No, I'm not a priestess. That would require... I dunno, a group? There are barely enough Sumerians in North America to fill a teacup, and of those I'm closer to a grasshopper than a veteran. I certainly didn't come to this religion for the booming community.

I came to this religion partially because I'm a myth nerd and I stumbled over it, partially because everyone needs something higher than their own ego, and partially because I remember a self-help book saying religion is a good thing if your life is a trainwreck. I stayed because for once in my life, I feel like I truly belong. I belong to a purpose. I am accepted. I am, in fact, encouraged to embrace my fullest potential. Fate is not set in stone. It's not quite as malleable as gold, either. There is a plan, there is a world order, and the best thing any one human can do is take full advantage of the gifts the gods have given and run full-tilt into self improvement, bettering the community, taking a moment to remember to be grateful. If you run into trouble and have no one to turn to, the gods are there. I don't recommend whining about every stubbed toe or rude driver on the highway, but if you're in pain there is someone who can help. Granted, they don't owe you anything. If you don't take the time to build a relationship, they might not even hear you. All worthwhile ventures cost some effort, though. Give and take, give and appreciate, give and celebrate. Death is inevitable and life can be hell, but to some extent life is also what you make of it.

My life just happens to involve a lot more flour and honey than it used to, and a lot less anxiety. Works out pretty well, I say.

How homophobes see the lgbt community: little DEVIL children attempting to turn the children GAY and eliminate ALL reproduction and therefore DESTROY the earth.

Actual gays: *stops cuffing jeans* what the FUCK IS 3 + 5

every single negative stereotype about women was dreamt up by men who were projecting. fight me about it.

Video

Who’s Alex?

Billboard demonstrating gender stereotypes as most people automatically assume that Alex is the boy.

Just like there's many different types of relationships and sexualities people can also have non sexual and non romantic relationships

Thank God someone said that🙏

Can you do something for me, please?

I want you to reblog this if you believe that two people can be very close and physically affectionate with one another, but still have a completely nonsexual, non-romantic relationship. 

Even if the two people in question are capable of being sexually or romantically attracted to one another. 

Because the friendship I share with someone I consider family in a way that transcends blood has been typecast as a romantic relationship ENTIRELY too many times, and I’m beginning to get sick of it. 

So since I apparently have followers now despite making one (1) post ever lol folks imma ghost imma poltergeist and theres no exorcising me now

anyways I have a question. So, I do ceramics, yes like pottery, yes like bowls and plates and stuff, yes like the glaze your own ceramic unicorn/moon/dragon stores except unlike those of you who’ve visited those stores after the age of 15 I am not a coward and make my own shit.

But ANYWAYS I made a pot that looks kind of like the one in the background of

THIS \/ photo

So I personally am not a person of color unless italian counts i think emphasis on think I have not studied my family history extensively.

but I was going to try making a lid for that pot that would be shaped and look like a cobra that had risen from a coil and was ready to strike. I was going to call it snake charmer.

BUT THEN I had the thought ‘is that name racist’ ‘ is that a stereotype?!’ ‘is the idea of a ”snake charmer” a negative stereotype’ ‘would this be super racist to name something’

so please help me out here I have no idea if i should

— a) scrap the lid idea and go with like an octopus or something

— b) try my best (very possibly will fail)

so tell me how you feel about the idea folks I don’t want to offend people I’ve got nothing against.

Typically ignorant people x)

to elaborate on venus in cancer not being as soft as they’re usually stereotyped.

- cancer venus easily close-off from others because they don’t trust easily. yes, they have a big heart, but that’s why they need to be a little rough on the edges.

- they aren’t exactly ‘dependent’ on relationships. they want to stay cooped up in their comfort zone, to be at ease, relaxed, and not get out of their way just because of a relationship.

- they can be quickly turned cold as rock by negative vibes, and a disappointment would turn into a disaster if it comes out of the blue.

- this venus sign indicates diligence and attentiveness but also a certain amount of pettiness and they often stake off people at random times.

We teach females that in relationships, compromise is what women do. We raise girls to see each other as competitors, not for jobs or for accomplishments— which I think can be a good thing— but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are. If we have sons, we don’t mind knowing about our sons’ girlfriends, but our daughters boyfriends? ‘God forbid!’ But of course when the time is right, we expect those girls to bring back the perfect man to be their husband. We police girls, we praise girls for virginity, but we don’t praise boys for virginity. And it’s always made me wonder how exactly this is supposed to work out because *laughs* the loss of virginity is usually a process that involves *laughs*… We teach girls shame. ‘Close your legs!’ ‘Cover yourself!’ We make them feel as though by being born female, they are already guilty of something. And so, girls grow up to be women who cannot say they have desire. They grow up to be women who silence themselves. They grow up to be women who cannot say what they truly think. And they grow up—and this is the worst thing we do to girls—they grow up to be women who have turned pretense into an artform.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  (via coyotegold)