It’s 2019 and people are still out here treating the white girl with a sword trope as this new, daring, groundbreaking feminist concept.
Tolkien did it in 1954 with Eowyn.
Tamora Pierce did it in 1983 with Alanna.
Robin McKinley did it in 1984 with Aerin.
And here we are in 2019 still pushing this narrative that writers like sj/m are so brave and revolutionary for having characters like Ae/lin.
Don’t get me wrong I love Alanna, Eowyn and Aerin, but it’s genuinely amusing (by which I mean infuriating) to me that today’s booktubers keep praising these stories into the heavens as if in 2019 cishet white author are still taking a risk when they give their cishet white female heroines a sword and, even more groundbreaking, let them like giRly things at the same time.
Like I’m not saying there’s something inherently wrong with that type of story, but if the media and booktubers cream their jeans everytime a book like that publishes, and act like this is the epitome of what a feminist fantasy story should look like (while stubbornly disregarding all the stories with sword-loving protagonists that don’t fit into your typical YA mold: badass characters who are lgbtq, protags with disabilities who still kick some serious ass, fearless warrior heroines who are also characters of color), then I’m afraid we’ll be stuck in this particular swamp for another 50 years.
A character with an ambiguous skin tone and/ or racial identity is not good representation, even if you headcanon them as a POC. The likelihood is that the writer also perceives this character as white. Stating white skin tone/ race is often unknowingly perceived as unnecessary, due to our (society’s) gross, internalised bias that the ‘default’ is white.
Do not give credit to the author for allowing their characters to be headcanoned as POC. A headcanon is something you or a group of people believe, but not necessarily the author. If the author wanted true representation, they would have downright and concretely stated
their character’s skin colour/ race
in the texts of their work. By all means, headcanon race, but just be wary about giving credit where credit is not due. No one deserves brownie points for doing a sloppy job.
Stating a character is “tanned” or “olive-toned” is also not good representation. These are often considered ambiguous terms because, first and foremost, white people can be tanned. Olive can work, but there is dispute over whether it’s is similar to using tan, so it’s generally not recommended to use it.
Please just plainly state your characters’ races every time, even if they’re white. If your character has brown skin, or is black, or Caucasian, just say it. When you do this for POC characters, their race becomes visible, which is good for representation. When you do this for a white character, it helps to remove the awful implication that “white is the default” for both yourself and the reader.
when i was a teenager it felt very revolutionary to be cruel to myself. like some kind of slow passive protest against how much everything hurt. i starved myself of sleep and food and tenderness because it felt right. it felt sharp and angry and radical and i wanted to be those things. adulthood is the realisation that the world is already working to cut into you well before you learn how to do it yourself. caring for yourself and others is the real protest
I wish my body was entirely androgynous- I wish it was impossible to distinguish if I’m a woman or a man, and no one could even make assumptions about what my gender is.
The ending of Check Please Book 1:Hockey has the dirtiest and filthiest cliff-hanger I’ve read all year. I was utterly appalled but also highly entertained by it all.
It’s been so long since I reread year 1. Why the bamboozled feeling tho????
Bitty and Jack’s relationship felt like it moved too fast and slow at the same time.
They kissed at the end which feels like a massive cliffhanger because I was expecting more of a slow-burn since there weren’t really any romantic scenes between them before the kiss and now they’re secretly dating(I’ve rushed to the website and started reading as fast as I could)?!
