Tag: representation matters

As someone who has never seen the 100, can you explain what went wrong with Clexa? You’ve mentioned it before and apparently it has something to do with intersexism and transmisogyny, but I’m kinda unsure the specifics.

thedeadflag:

Oh, the canon issues with clexa differ from the fandom issues with clexa.

Canon issues:

On the show, the showrunner (Jason Rothenburg) and staff aggressively baited the fandom, fueling the fire under the clexa fandom specifically to draw views, acclaim, etc. The fandom grew worried after season 2, because Alycia Debnam Carey (Lexa) was only renewed for a guest role, while she had recently signed on as a lead for an AMC show, Fear the Walking Dead. Generally, networks don’t let their stars play on other networks’ shows, and Alycia only getting contracted on part-time had people thinking she’d get killed off. Rothenburg and staff rushed onto social media to tell us we were idiots to think that, that they had too much respect for the character and the fandom to treat them that way. 

They repeatedly, repeatedly said that Clarke and Lexa would both be alive at the end of the season. When worries renewed after Alycia Debnam Carey was absent for nearly half a season’s worth of shooting, Rothenburg made a huge, huge deal about bringing her back in to film in the finale, inviting the fans to come see the scenes get shot in Vancouver, where fans could see Lexa and Clarke embrace and kiss.

The fandom was going wild with joy, and took the CW and Rothenburg and the 100 staff at their word. After all, they had been so reassuring, and so aggressive in their support. As Season 3 progressed, The 100′s social media focused heavily on Clexa, playing up on the recovering, budding romance. They leaked a sex scene that was set to air in episode 7 early, just to get the fans riled up.

And directly after that sex scene in episode 7, they killed Lexa off. Accidentally shot by a bullet not meant for her, a wound in a spot far less lethal than others had suffered in the show, with Clarke (a trained medic/surgeon) present. Lexa died in that episode, and the version of her that showed up in the finale was simply a stored virtual reality version of her.

The clexa fandom blew up in grief, and the show’s social media, cheered the ‘twist’, and claimed that the fandom was taking things too seriously when the LGBT+ fans rightfully lashed out over being baited on a show meant for a teen audience, one far more vulnerable than adults. 

Just the way the show treated the fans, the characters…it was hideous and cruel and some of the worst, ham-handed, shoehorned writing I’ve seen on television in my nearly 31 years. 

Fandom issues:

In the lead-up to season 3, and the anticipation of a romance involving Clarke and Lexa, a few big names in the fandom (none of whom were trans women, or intersex women) started a “Lexa’s Dick” meme. Prior to this, the fandom’s fan works were were solid. There was a surprisingly low amount of transmisogynistic, trans-fetishistic, intersexist content compared to other wlw fandoms. It’s part of what helped me feel safe to join it when I had, early on in season 2. 

Anyways, trans women like myself spoke out against the meme and how it was used to aggressively, joyfully fetishize trans women’s bodies. We were thoroughly, swiftly laughed off. if anything, the pushback against it only seemed to make people celebrate it more. Especially when season 3 started airing and the sexual tension started up on screen. The more that ‘Lexa’s Dick’ stuff spread on social media, the more fanworks of g!p and a/b/o tropes were made. And when lexa was killed off, one of the rallying cries as a means to cope was “Lexa’s Dick”, pushing people to revel in that even while the show was falling apart and had hurt everyone. 

There were people crying out against the Dead lesbians trope, the Bury Your Gays trope. There was a huge push to get people aware of how wlw were represented in media, how often they would get killed off directly after validating their relationship, how toxic wlw representation has historically been, etc. etc.

Rightfully so. Media representation is an important fight. nearly all fo the clexa fandom recognized that intimately, having been hurt by it.

But so, so many of those same people refused to acknowledge that they were causing the same abuse against trans and intersex women, by reproducing and reinforcing and celebrating our violently misrepresentative, fetishistic, toxic representation, and refusing to hear us when we spoke out on that. They’d cry over how the media wasn’t listening, the showrunners weren’t listening, how hetero fandoms were vilifying them and just didn’t understand. yet, they’d laugh us off when we’d bring up transmisogyny and trans fetishization, all while propping up monikers and orgs like “LGBT Fans Deserve Better” when they were aggressively dropping the T.

And that momentum behind trans fetishistic, intersexist works has only continued, and now The 100, as a fandom, is not so arguably the most saturated fiction-based wlw fandom when it comes to g!p and a/b/o fanworks. Some of those big names have since recanted their support for the trope, but generally haven’t done anything to work at undoing the damage they helped cause, haven’t done anything to make fandom safer for us.

Even today, some of the biggest names reproducing those works have patreons and paypals and whatever earning them good money each month by exploiting, misrepresenting, and fetishizing trans women, and directing harm against us. Some of them are published authors. Most of them are very well loved in the fandom and nearly no one actually speaks out against them for fear of causing drama, such is the hold that transmisogyny has on it. Apparently, it’s okay for trans women to suffer so long as other marginalized people might benefit. When they claim to be willing to do anything to help except stop harming trans women directly, it’s pretty telling who they deem disposable and not part of the wlw community, regardless of their offhand comments of ‘support’.

I’ve written extensively on this. I’ve a long post here covering most issues, I’ve a shorter one detailing the impact of these works on trans women here, and I’ve got data from g!p fanworks in the clexa fandom here, just to toss out a few things, if you’re ever curious.

I see so much defensiveness on this topic due to the idea that we have freedom of expression (well, depending upon where you live), that fetish-shaming is wrong and so long as the stories are tagged properly, you just have to live with ‘problematic’ content and not read it, if it is not for you.  No one is here to parent you and there are no safe places, so don’t even ask for them anymore, kthnksbai. All useful discussion stops here. 

Nothing in the OP’s articles (and, if you consider yourself a trans ally, I hope you read with an open heart and mind) call for censorship.  Her articles DO point out the inherent transmisogyny, intersexism, and heteronormative bias of these stories (basically presenting Lexa as a heterosexual male in all but name) and how they can relate to perpetuating damaging and hurtful images of trans women in media and, thus, perpetuate violence toward them in real life.  

Do we only care about what gets us off and not how it harms other people who are presented as the source of that fetish?  Do such stories fetishise abuse? Isn’t this what heterocentric porn has been criticised for for decades? 

I’m not blind for the need of many writers to exorcise a demon or two in their writing.  Some people write ‘dark fic’ that helps them cope with their own lived trauma.  Some people write g!p stories where the g!p character is presented in a positive light, is popular, successful, etc. with the hope that it will help ‘normalise’ being trans or intersex, to give a trans woman a happy ending she probably won’t see in real life (regardless of how problematic the depiction of her body or sexuality might be).  

People are going to have their fantasies and write what they will – but I hope we care as much about being educated and honouring the lived experience of other people (and thus truly honour our queer family in its entirety) and not reduce anyone to a truly damaging stereotype, to not bully trans women when they speak out with clarity and conviction over what is happening to them. 

The Clexa fandom rose up in rage when they realised they had been manipulated over the use of a damaging stereotype. We refused to back down and sought to educate others and change minds.  

Are we not willing to look ourselves in the eye when we do the same to one another?  I think this writer has some excellent points to make, I hope others read and absorb all the information and pass it on – build a respectful discussion. We – and our art – can only benefit.  

Lucy Lawless was never going to return as a regular Xena.  She was only ever willing to do a one-shot.  It would have been nice to see – but it would only have been a brief moment, then gone.  A sentimental send-off, at best.  

A reboot would have given us a new cast and, if JGM had his way, a strong, queer romance to centre the action. Something that might last. He knew how important this was and was willing to go there, even discussing hiring queer writers.  

But it seems it was this very queer adaptation that put an end to it.  NBC wouldn’t go there.  

This isn’t some triumph for those who didn’t want to see a version without Lucy. This is a loss of a potentially great project that would have brought an iconic queer character back to the screen and there are so few of them now and we’ve lost so many in just the last year alone.  

What part of that is hard to figure out?  A new Xena could have spearheaded a new generation of queer characterisation and representation.  

We need showrunners and studios willing to produce queer-centric programmes. If they keep getting shot down (no pun intended), and those like Bruce Campbell and anyone who supports his narrow point of view applaud this and are applauded for praising it – what can we parse from this?  Xena’s past success and iconic status should have made her a shoo-in for a major return and, being well-known, would have given the project a lot of needed light. 

This was never about Lucy and she knew it, too.  

A dead reboot is another opportunity at potentially great representation shut down.  

did you see what happened at comic con? i’m super bummed. it just feels like for every step we take forward in representation we take two steps back. the least they can do is respect us

unicyclehippo:

the song shit that jeremy et al did? i saw it. im annoyed bc of the callous treatment of queer audience but i don’t rly invest in actors anymore so im not super interested in it. tbh i just feel like we need to stop praising cishet actors & writers for their “tolerance” of queer interaction & straight up dump them for this shit like stop giving these stories the power to engulf us bc we deserve better & there are ppl out there who are doing great shit & they’re the ones who deserve & need our love & attention

anywho enjoy the rest of sdcc make it queer fam ✌️😘

^^^^^^^^^

raedmagdon:

fma-fanbase:

bagelsss:

bloxorzsuicide:

bagelsss:

What? Trans people are 0.03% ish of the population, of course most tv show characters won’t be trans? Don’t we have bigger things to worry about?

the point they’re getting at isn’t just that there’s no representation, is the type of representation. the sidekick, the comedic relief, nothing of substance. and that impacts people’s perception of LGBT+ people.

Okay, but I just don’t see how that is important right now. I see way more activism like this than people focusing on the places where people are being driven from their countries, killed, d y I n g. We’re in an administration right now where trans people’s health care is at risk. We both know how bad that would be if transitioning wasn’t covered under any insurance or not deemed medically necessary. Yet people are advocating for tv shows? The perception of LGBT people? Idk man, like there’s nothing wrong with that, I just disagree that it has any significance

i completely get where you’re coming from, but how do you think we’re going to solve the bigger problems? Representation is where it starts. People vote for what/who they want. If people who aren’t really familiar with the trans community only see trans people as hookers, prostitutes, sassy, rude, stereotypical, or not at all, do you think they are going to care if trans people have healthcare or not? Starting with how people perceive the community is VERY important. We need to show them correct facts, statistics, accurate representation, and stories about real trans people. We have to start making people see trans people as human beings before they can start being treated like one. It’s messed up, but that’s how it is.

And on another note, it is extremely important to have good trans representation, not just to forward the movement, but because young people who are scared to come out/transition, still trying to figure themselves out, and want to know that there are others like them can find solace in the characters on TV.

And about your comment in how there are bigger, badder problems going on elsewhere in the world, you do realize people can care about several different problems at once right? Hell, I can advocate for trans rights, women’s rights, men’s rights, the end of child marriage in the middle east, minimum wage, and gender equality… the list goes on and on and on

Empathy matters.

Despite being a liberal queer woman who ostensibly supported the trans community, I still held lots of deeply transphobic beliefs until my husband started his transition. I’d never met a trans person before or seen one on TV who wasn’t vilified. Seeing him transition while knowing him as a person is what showed me my many mistakes. (And there are more to discover, I’m sure.)

Trans people are a tiny segment of the population. Not everyone is going to know a trans person, or they might not know they know one, because many trans people are closeted for their own safety. That’s where representation comes in. TV and media can ‘introduce’ trans people to the cis population at large. Even if they’re fictional, it helps. Once we see trans people as relatable human beings, most of us will start to care about them.

This applies to many different marginalized groups, by the way. I didn’t know a single lesbian, bi, or queer woman growing up. Not one. The only time I saw women like me was on television and in books, and even those representations were usually bleak. They were the only role models I had, and the only role models my straight, cis extended family had when they stepped in to support me when my parents wouldn’t.

If we want cis/straight/etc. people to empathize, to become activists on our behalf and vote for our safety and protection, they have to know who we are first.

harlquinn:

Do you want the good tea or the bad tea? What’s the difference? I call one good, one bad. Er, I’ll take the good one.

‘What horror?

Oh, we’re going to play up some racist stereotypes and pull a homophobic trope by shooting the black lesbian and putting her through conversion therapy – but just for giggles, don’t worry!’

gun-bitch:

micdotcom:

Watch: Powerful supercut shows why LGBTQ fans deserve better.

always reblog

Television and film continue to do harm to minority audiences, by giving them only token representation – in so doing, help perpetuate harmful stereotypes within our day-to-day lives. When only the straight, white and predominantly male audience is catered to, you reinforce the social superiority of the straight white male and wind up with toxic leadership, toxic communities and toxic families.  There’s a line that leads through all of it and the television and film communities have played their part. Not to their credit.