I think there’s a fundamentally detrimental way a lot of people are trying to think about queer identity. When you look at ace discourse or truscum or this new pan discourse shit that’s popping up, a really common theme is that any overlap between two identites implies one or more is redundant.
Right off the bat, it doesn’t take too far of a look back to see where this runs into a problem; several communities were commonly held under one banner (such as bi people with gay/lesbian communities) until just recently, within the lifetime of a significant chunk of people who use this hellsite.
Additionally, it doesn’t need to be said that queer identity is fucking complex and multi dimensional, and it’s next to impossible for every queer to find their way into a checkbox which is convenient for everyone’s sensibilities. When you talk about “trimming” and attacking specific identities that you (usually ill concieved) believe to be useless or redundant, you’re attacking REAL PEOPLE, a lot of them young and still putting out feelers for identity and/or have fought tooth and nail already to be recognized that way against onslaughts of bigotry and societal expectations. You have to recognize the impact of your words, as if this was 2nd grade, and understand it causes a lot of pain and anxiety when you align yourself as opposed to someone’s fundamental sense of identity.
If there really was a total redundancy or an issue with it, those words or phrases will naturally fall out of use, as with the word transsexual for example. But given that example, if an older queer identifies that way it’s still nowhere near your place to come off your 23 year old discourse fueled ass to explain how their identity oppresses you personally.
In short, quit larping as middle school bullies you fucks.
YES BABY YES
On this Revenge of the Fifth, from a very long series of asks questioning how we might have done the new set of SW sequels differently, came this (apologies for my take, I’ve always seen SW as a family story):
– General Leia is in charge of Republic forces that are investigating the rise of the First Order, and rumours of a possible Sith lord behind them.
– Han Solo is bored. A lot. And worries. A lot. He doesn’t want to believe another Really Bad Thing is on the horizon, but he knows it’s more than likely – and more than likely his family will be in the heart of the fight.
– Rey, Han and Leia’s daughter has been training with her uncle Luke as his Padawan. There are younger students now, too, much too young for the battle that might be coming. From the opening, several younglings have already disappeared, believed to be kidnapped by the First Order – including Han and Leia’s teenage son, Ben.
– Leia and her team, including cocky squadron leader Poe Dameron search for their well-hidden enemy and those they have taken, even as the FO makes deadly incursions into Republic territories, kidnapping and terrorizing with warnings of the return of the Sith. The galaxy is on edge.
– Luke and Rey, meanwhile, search for the ancient home of the Jedi to find more answers and to find a place of protection for their remaining younglings. They are given support by Han and Chewie, who don’t want to let Rey out of their sight. Han is on edge with the small group of kids on board, whilst his son has been missing for some time.
– Leia and the others meet up with Lando who leads a network of spies and the news is grim: an ancient evil has returned with an ancient weapon that will make the Death Star look like nothing in comparison – but the FO is having trouble completing it. It requires something that is very hard to obtain, believed to be extinct now: kyber crystals. Leia and her troops battle a new fleet of star destroyers and Leia senses her son is with them. She is determined to get him back. If she can recapture the lost students, she knows she’ll strike a hard blow, since the Sith require their own students with Force sensitivity. Rey and Ben are loaded with it. Leia, Lando, Poe et al devise a plan to find and recapture the young ones before it’s too late. Amongst his prizes, Lando has captured a FO ship with codes that could get them through enemy lines to what is believed to be where they are hiding the younglings: within the remains of the destroyed ancient city of Jedha (where a new Sith temple is now believed to have been built).
– Luke, Han, et al, arrive on Takodana to meet with Maz, who may have some old maps or information that will lead them to the original Jedi home world. Of note: Luke can no longer see the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda or his father. He believes there is a ‘disturbance’ that is preventing them from appearing.
– Whilst on Takodana, the group is ambushed by the FO, led by Captain Phasma and her new Stormtroopers, clearly interested in capturing Rey and the other students who, despite their size, give a good fight. They get away by the skin of their teeth but find a stowaway on the Falcon, a defecting Stormtrooper the younglings name Finn. Maz with them, they have a partial map to the old Jedi home world and begin to make their way. Maz mentions it might be the last place one might find a deposit of Kyber, long hidden there. She also warns that trying to find it might be what leads the first order there.
– Luke and Rey continue her training aboard the Falcon, watched by the younglings, with wry commentary about the Force and the history of the Jedi from Maz. Finn finds it all dubious and not worth all the suffering that has been caused. Maz tells him the story of old friends of hers, Chirrut and Baze, former Guardians of the Whills (or the Force), who perished whilst obtaining the plans for the Death Star. Both Maz and Luke sense something is out there, but Han downplays their worries. No one is following the Falcon. Maz talks of an ancient weapon built by the Sith that allegedly used Force energy, but either was just a legend or lost to time.
– Leia et al arrive at Jedha in the stolen FO ship and are shocked to find that a Sith temple has been erected over what were the remains of the ancient Jedi city. Messages are sent back to the Republic HQ. In disguise and using her own Force abilities, Leia finds the hiding place of the younglings, now being trained in the ways of the Sith. Who is their leader, though, who is the Master and where is her son? She senses something that feels familiar, but she can’t figure it out. A very great disturbance unlike anything she’s ever known, as if the Force were changing somehow. The temple itself is also a bit strange, having overtones of Naboo architecture.
– Aboard a new and improved star destroyer, an officious FO general gives orders in the pursuit of Luke Skywalker and his friends, the ship has a cloaking device and they have been in pursuit for some time. The general goes to his private quarters to receive a message from The Master: a Force projection of a cloaked figure with a distinctly feminine voice. She tells the general that all is going as she has predicted – and soon the galaxy will be united as it always should have been and she will do what she failed to do so long ago – keep her family and protect them – after the Jedi ‘took everything from me.’
– The Falcon approaches the ancient planet Ahch-To, seemingly uninhabited for centuries. Finn suggests they blow up the planet, just to be on the safe side, making sure the FO cannot obtain whatever is on it that might be of use to them. Han asks him if he has a spare Death Star that might help. They land on the planet near the remains of the first Jedi temple, home of ancient texts and, possibly, a hidden cache of kyber. Unbeknownst to everyone, Luke plans to test his niece there, hoping she is strong enough to withstand the lure of the dark side. He fears Ben is already lost. Han is confident Leia will find him and bring him – and the others – home. In the maze-like temple, Luke beings to put Rey, unknowingly, through her first trials. Maz, with the younglings, explores the temple’s archives.
– The FO general dispatches a special forces team to the surface of Ahch-To, to trap Luke and his party. One of the masked team carries a light sabre.
– On Jedha, Leia and her team infiltrate the inner sanctum of the Sith temple, which is still under construction, and Leia uses a Jedi Mind Trick to lure the younglings out of the temple to Lando and his team waiting. She orders them to leave without her. They argue, but FO is on their way and Lando and his team have to fight their way out with Poe in x-wing support.
Leia is confused and angry that her son was not amongst the students, but an unfamiliar voice in her head tells her that a Padawan would not be amongst the younglings, anyway. In fact, her son is on his first mission to kill his father and bring Rey and Luke ‘home.’ The voice tells Leia she has nothing to fear, that she’s waited so long to meet her.
Out of the shadows of the temple, the Master appears, in robes mindful of ancient Naboo, her face old but still beautiful and powerful. She tells Leia all the stories she has known were lies. How Leia’s father revealed the Force and its true purpose to her, how she found her own power within it, but was cut down by the Jedi who took her children from her, whilst she made them believe she was dead in order to escape their clutches. How an order older than Palpatine found her, saved her, gave her a new purpose. She has waited a long time to fulfill that purpose.
– On Ahch-To, Han and Chewie learn more about the FO from Finn, how their leader is some old royal superbeing or something who wants to bring peace and order to the galaxy. Han points out the galaxy already has peace and order, Finn tells him, not his peace or his order. Han questions him about the younglings kidnapped, but Finn knows nothing. As they talk, FO squads approach.
In the depths of the temple, Rey is confronted with horrors and questions, fighting her way through them with grace and skill. Luke and Maz seek out the kyber deposit and the ancient texts, some of which prove to be fruitful with information. They are both alerted to a change when they go looking for Rey. Something new is with them. Maz takes the students and goes to alert Han whilst Luke seeks Rey. Maz and the children are overtaken by cloaked figures. Rey, however, still believing herself to be challenged, is shocked by the approach of a hooded figure, a Sith. This is not part of her trial, or is it? The cloaked figure drops its hood – it is her younger brother, Ben, and he raises his bright red light sabre for a duel, warning her to come with him – or die. Rey ignites her own sabre and the real trial begins.
Outside, Han, Chewie and Finn battle FO troopers, though Han believes Finn must have led the FO there. Finn denies, but how else did they find them? Han turns his blaster on Finn, but is prevented from going further by the arrival of a small group of cloaked figures – some with light sabres, others with staffs. The ‘Jedi’ fight off the FO, who retreat before the cloaked figures disappear themselves, almost ghost-like. Maz and the children appear then, shaken by the experience and Maz tells Han and the others that something has happened with the Force, they have to go get Luke and Rey and find Leia.
In the temple, it’s a mess, Maz senses a terrible fight and that Rey and Luke were taken. They are greeted by a Force ghost, one of the cloaked figures – it is Chirrut – and he warns them that new Dark Age is coming, that they might not even be able to trust the Force anymore, but must trust in one another. Han is despondent over losing his daughter and Luke and they have to find Leia. Chirrut warns them it might be too late. He reveals the hidden cache of kyber – there isn’t much left – Han asks if they can destroy it, but Chirrut tells them no. They have no Death Star handy. Han, Chewie and Finn take up the remaining kyber and hide it on the Falcon before going in search of Leia and the others. Maz and the younglings will stay behind on the planet under the protection of the Guardians (confident the FO has what they wanted and won’t return).
On Ahch-To, as the Falcon prepares to depart, the old temple caves in, watched by the Guardians Chirrut and Baze who tell Maz the Skywalkers must not fall – or the galaxy falls with them. It is the end of the Force.
– At the temple on Jedha, Leia follows the Master in confusion and awe – she refuses to believe what she sees. The Master tells her that she will teach her the ways that were kept from her, and together they will oversee a shining new empire – mother and daughter, together at last. Leia had always longed to know her mother – now she has the chance. Padme Amidala extends her hand, and Leia accepts.
The Doctor Is Out 