Link Lineup – April 2021

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I Grew Up in a Majority-Minority Country. We Still Have a Problem with Anti-Blackness

I found my own Trinidadian upbringing confusing. On one hand, I was made to believe that race mattered very little, echoing sentiments of postraciality that surfaced after President Barack Obama was elected. My schoolbooks emphasized that Trinidad and Tobago was a rainbow utopia, evident by the shoehorning of as many creeds and races as could possibly fit into small, grayscale pictorial representations. I’d look at my face in the mirror—my light but definitely brown skin, my broad nose—clocking my features against the fact that my last name was confusingly Chinese (my great-grandfather on my dad’s side came from there) and wondering what the hell I was.

In the Caribbean, there are so many complex relationships with our Blackness, what Blackness could look like and who got to be Black in the first dang place. In islands like Trinidad where you have a more visible history of non-Black people of color (primarily Indian and Chinese) marrying and loving Black people, Blackness is complicated. And so is your understanding of where white supremacy fits in to the conversation. Because the people in power in Trinidad, in the Virgin Islands, in Jamaica… aren’t actually or typically white people. And yet, white supremacy thrives in these places to the point of harming people of color who live there.

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Meme-ing For A Reason #6 – You Used To Be Able To Hide Your Dogwhistles…

Stitch
The Drake “Hotline Bling” meme where top Drake is rejecting “Making racists and racist fanworks unwelcome in fandom spaces” and the bottom Drake is totally down with “deciding that anti racism in in fandom is inherently anti fandom instead”.

In his 2019 release How To Be An Antiracist, historian Ibram X. Kendi defines an antiracist as “one who is supporting an antiracist policy or expressing an antiracist idea”.

There are few actual antiracists in fandom.

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[Thread Collection] Pro-Everything But Reading Comprehension, I see

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Thread on my locked account from Jun 17, 2020.

What I wrote: Black characters get a specific kind of racist fanwork where it’s clear that the author is using fandom and their fanworks to abuse and torture them into place. Those are clearly racist fanworks and exist to harm. This should be something we can do something about.

What someone conveniently ignoring what I’m literally and CLEARLY saying got out of it: Stitch wants all stories with violence against Black characters taken down because she is an ANTI

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Stitch @ Teen Vogue: What “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” Teaches Us About Fandom Misogynoir

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Fans identifying with characters and applying their understanding of social justice-oriented issues to them isn’t inherently a bad thing. But there’s a catch: fandom’s activism and desire to push back against problematic portrayals (or endings) tends to work on behalf of white characters (like Lexa and Castiel, and now Bucky) at the direct expense of Black and brown characters.

If there’s one thing I’m really good at, it’s talking about misogynoir in fandom. (I have an entire mini-series about it here actually!) Fandom has always been primed to believe the worst of Black women – be they characters, fans, or even the performers themselves. What we’ve been seeing since Friday when episode four dropped, is a solid example of misogynoir in fandom and how it’s often done in defense of a white male character.

I love me some Bucky, but the way his standom has been acting about Black characters and now, specifically about Ayo and somehow Shuri) since the start of the show has left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Because this is the fandom pattern: come up with a valid complaint (in this case, the ableism they clocked in the one scene) and then use it to do something super invalid… dismiss and dump on a Black female character.

Ready to read more about this latest round of misogynoir in fandom? Go check out “What “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” Teaches Us About Fandom Misogynoir” now!

[Thread Collection] Antiblackness & Anti Shipping (4/12/2021) + Additional Thoughts

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Original thread here for those of y’all following me on the locked main & lightly edited for clarity and to input some explanation at the end.

I would genuinely like nonblack people in fandom to think about how antiblack fans devote months and even years of their time to hating Black characters… Usually over shipping in canon or fandom and how that NEVER counts as “anti shipping” while Black fans’ pushback always does.

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[Thread Collection] The Archive As Fandom Dream Thoughts (4/10/2021 + 4/8/2021)

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Today has been full of people talking critically about the AO3’s failures in response to a viral tweet about ao3 as “the fucking fan fiction dream complaint” and yet another moment of folks in fandom going “well i don’t see valid complaints so they don’t exist. As I am still locked due to the horrifying antiblack harassment from February and the fact that I’m multiple fandoms’ favorite punching bag for no actual reason beyond the fact that I write about racism in fandom like this… I’ve reposted some of today’s Twitter thoughts here.

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Fandom Racism 201: Introduction

Stitch

Starting soon, we’re leveling up to Fandom Racism 201.

The goal of what I’ve been privately calling my “school series” is to constantly level up and look at different fandoms, experiences, and displays of racism in fandom/fanworks.

Fandom Racism 101 is about general fandom experience linked with racism. So far, we’ve covered fandom fragility, the empathy gap, dealing with trolls, and body politics. While there’s more to cover for Fandom Racism 101 – we’ve got about 5-7 more pieces planned so far with commissioned guest pieces in the works – it’s time to move to the next level.

What’s the next level?

Looking at specific fandoms and talking about the facts of racism in those fandoms/their most popular fanworks. Incorporating screenshots and posts from people who were in the thick of it alongside theory and practical advice, Fandom Racism 201 aims to provide a framework for future understandings of where those fandoms went wrong and basic advice on how to avoid those particular pitfalls on your way through to other fandoms.

As with everything else I do: if you’re interested in writing about your fandom (past or present) for Fandom Racism 201,  feel free to send me a message on my contact form or in my DMs on my website’s Twitter so we can figure something out and I can commission work from you!

Class is in session this summer!

I’m looking forward to schooling y’all.

A Thought Exercise On Antiblack Microaggressions In Fandom, I Suppose

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I just want to talk about how people purposefully misrepresent my work/tweets and assign meanings to it that are actually entirely absent. Because I need to walk through the weirdness to see if I can make it make sense to any of us and just so I can express my feelings in my own space.

If I write a piece, like this one on queer coding villains and the Kylo/Hux fandom from 2018 (brought up because it’s one of the most recent times this misreading/misrepresentation has happened to me), I would think that the meaning is clear.

That piece uses the fandoms for Kylo and Hux (as a pair, but also as individuals) as a way to talk about how queer coded villains were created often hinging on stereotypes and who gets to be coded (or understood as such) within fandom. It provides examples of two social media posts about this POV on a queer (coded) Hux that I felt exemplified what the fandom at the time (in 2018) was saying, talked about historical queer-coding, explains what representation actually is in these cases, and quotes queer critical theorist Alexander Doty’s POV on queer-coding and what it’s bound up in it.

And what does wider fandom get from the post?

What they’ve gotten every single time they’ve interacted with or seen not the actual post but the combination of a quote from the article and the “Dark Side Trio” in the header with the title “Queer Coded Villains Aren’t That Awesome” this past Tuesday?

They complain that I am an “anti” of that ship or that I, noted Thrawn fancier and villain stan on main, hate villains.

They get that I hate Kylo/Hux as a ship. They get that I still hate it. (Even though, I have never really expressed an opinion on the pairings I talk about beyond expressing dislike of how the fandom for that ship and those characters woobifies those men, turning them into villains and actively pretending they’re not fash as fuck and hyping them in a way they straight up don’t do for anyone that’s not a white man in canon.)

None of what those fans believe of me or my work is true, of course, but as we covered in February… none of it has to be.

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[Image + Essay] Look At Those Launderers

Stitch

Originally Posted on Patreon 11/3/2020.

Source: What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Weaponized White Womanhood

There’s an interesting twitter thread called “The Fascist Infiltration of Subculture” and it’s something I find very interesting because of how people who can reference the infiltration of other fandoms or online communities… stall out when it comes to realizing what is active and present in their fandom spaces.

And believe me, there are a lot of fascists and bigots in fandom spaces outside of things like G@merGate or Comicsg@te or even the Brony and furry fandoms. Transformative fandom spaces are actually a space with its own issues that allow bigots to plant their seeds and grow fruit.

Think about it: fandom is a place where anything goes as long as it is clearly fiction or in defense of fiction. People are encouraged in this post-Voltron Legendary Defenders world to push back hard against anything they see as censorship in fandom or of media that fandom likes… and that has, increasingly, come to include anti-racism in fandom.

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April Outlook/March Retrospective

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I’m still struggling to get back in the groove after being yeeted off the path in February thanks to That Nonsense and just… all the awful terrible things in the news (like the escalation in anti-Asian hate crimes on top of some bad stuff in local politics/policing).

I’m still writing through the stress though and I’m still looking for a new Day Job as freelance is not actually feasible for me for long-term since you know… insurance. However, I think I finished everything I had planned for March or moved them around so I felt like I did!

Here are some March highlights for y’all from my neck of the woods:

So what’s up for April?

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Stitch @ Teen Vogue: Lil Nas X Is Using Stan Twitter Tactics to Defend “Montero.” He Shouldn’t Have To

Stitch

The thing is, Lil Nas X cut his teeth on stan Twitter as the user who used to run the popular Nicki Minaj stan account @nasmaraj. From his time as that BNF, he’s learned how to use fandom practices commonly linked with the “bad” parts of stan Twitter for good. From the moment that Lil Nas X’s “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” dropped, he and his fanbase have been utilizing stan Twitter fandom tactics to come for haters’ throats and poke holes in their blatantly homophobic arguments — while roasting them until they’re well done, of course.

I’m a huge fan of Lil Nas X and his brand of being VERY ONLINE appeals to me intensely. “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” is such a fantastic song and the music video is one of the best I’ve seen in ages – and I watch a ton of music videos. The backlash Lil Nas X has been weathering – which invokes the Satanic Panic older Millenials and Gen X-ers remember from back in the day and pulls in homophobia and antiblackness – is horrible. Lil Nas X and his fanbase have been hitting back, but my gosh they really shouldn’t have to!

Go read Lil Nas X Is Using Stan Twitter Tactics to Defend “Montero.” He Shouldn’t Have To on Teen Vogue

Link Lineup – March 2021

Stitch

Getting to know Korean modern and contemporary art with RM

Until this point, we have mainly discussed paintings, but they are not the only works of art that embody Korean history and traditions. That is not to suggest that works that inherit from tradition are always excluded from the list of artistic genres, but no list would be complete without the ceramics of Kwon Dae-sup. RM, who uploaded a picture of himself with one of Kwon’s moon jars in his arms on his social media, admiringly referred to Kwon as a master of Korean aesthetics while viewing his work s at an exhibition. 

I have this absolutely irrational fear of museums that I will never address. As a result, I do a lot of my art-learning through art criticism and the flurry of coverage that comes whenever BTS’ RM goes to a new museum exhibit or purchases art (that he or the artist then posts about on social media). I’m super grateful for this piece by art critic Jangno Lee because it looks at the art RM has looked at and what he’s loved enough to purchase and then puts all that art into its contexts for a wider audience and reveals information on the techniques that many average fans who aren’t art nerds wouldn’t know. Now, I’m holding out for some uh… hip-hop focused content? Because I desperately need to know RM and Suga’s thoughts on M-net’s latest hip hop offerings and the general state of Korean hip hop… Just saying.

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[Thread Collection] Sinking the Ship of Theseus in Fandom Harassment Disguised As Discourse (3/15/2021)

Stitch

Originally posted here and retweets would be appreciated especially if your friends in fandom are falling for the disinformation focused harassment campaigns I’m talking about here.

This video absolutely speaks to my ongoing harassment from supposedly “progressive” fandom spaces (for writing about racism).

Like how this tactic of substitution & disinformation is used to cut people off from their communities + turn people against them. 

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I’m Standing In Solidarity and Against Hate

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On Twitter I’ve been boosting what I can, when I see it. This means linking to articles about the hate crime shooting spree in Atlanta (and the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, violence, racism, etc)  across the past year and change alone. I also shared donation links from foundations specifically to benefit and uplift Asian American communities and help the victims of the latest attacks to hit the news. I neglected to do that here as I was focused on using that bigger platform to boost and be helpful that way.

However, it’s important to make things clear here as well: I stand in solidarity with Atlanta’s Asian American community as well as with Asians and other people of color who are subject to the horrors and hatefulness of white supremacy everywhere. White supremacy is a rot that must be rooted out of society and solidarity is a community building/reinforcing tool that will help us do so.

Rather than center myself at any point, I’m sharing some of the links I shared on Twitter so that folks who read this site can see how they can help and what they may have been missing. This will include donation links to GoFundMes and foundations.

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