illogicalvolume:

scots-politics:

TALAT YAQOOB is many things – feminist, hilarious, cheese aficionado. Oh, and Asian, which isn’t big deal until the media mobilises to reiterate (however well-intentioned) the apparent ‘otherness’ of the non-white population. You know, like it did yesterday.

I rarely notice that I’m Asian.

That might sound odd, but it’s true. I think it comes from the privileged position of being around certain groups of people, often those who work in equality and the third sector, like me. I don’t generally take note of my skin colour, which has been called a “caramel coating” by someone once, I assume in a loving nature… Recently, I went into a tanning salon because I needed change to park my car, and everyone stared. It took me a couple of seconds to realise why. At which I pointed at myself and said “I know, I’m just addicted to these beds, this is my third time this week” So comfortable am I with my caramel coating, that I can have a little fun with it.

But there are those occasions where I am reminded of my race and my heritage, and unfortunately, almost always these reminders are in the bleakest of circumstances. My earliest memory of this is the few times I witnessed my dad wash racist graffiti off his shop wall. “Go home”. I didn’t really understand it – this is the place where I gorged on 1p sweets while my dad worked. Trust me, I was at home. But after it was explained to me, I remember feeling shaken and speechless. In later years at school, or in the street, it still happened, especially after the horrific 9/11 attacks, but I know I have encountered it more rarely and less severely than others.

Read More

Good piece, worth reading as a counter-balance to the sensationalist take on yesterday’s events that was shared by racists and media outlets alike.

Which is to say: fuck the BNP, the EDL, Richard Dawkins and anyone else who saw this brutal murder as nothing more than a confirmation of their hateful beliefs about (and/or an opportunity to stir up violence against) Muslims at home and abroad.

Richard Dawkins weighed in on this? He’s getting stranger and more frightening as time goes on.

knitmeapony:

dreaminpng:

thegoddamazon:

sisoula:

spockette19:

I cannot believe I did not know about Princeless until just now. brb, going to buy every single issue. (source)

And Found it. 

Princeless is the best thing ever. Real talk.

WHAT IS THIS NEW AND GLORIOUS THING! *goes to click the links and invite this amazingess into my life*

OMG Princeless is the best thing.  I’m so excited you found it!

This was a point I only cottoned on to a few years ago, and then I was like WOW IT THAT EVER RACIST.

Awesome comic.

kateelliottsff:

feministdisney:

dynamicafrica:

When Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor watched the South African sci-fi film District 9, she was one of many to be angered by its “abysmal stereotyping” of Nigerians.

The film, which was nominated for an Oscar, caused an outcry after its release in 2009, with the Nigerian government demanding an apology from filmmakers and banning it from local cinemas.

Okorafor put her anger to a more positive purpose, using it as the inspiration for an ambitious new novel, Lagoon.

She describes Lagoon, as “a story about humanity at the crossroads between the past, present, and future, Lagoon touches on political and philosophical issues in the rich tradition of the very best science fiction.”

We caught up with her to discuss the new project:

Tell us about the book?

It’s about an alien invasion in the city of Lagos and how Lagosians of all walks of life handle it.

Why did you decide to write it?

I started writing it as a screenplay for Nollywood director Tchidi Chikere. He and I were both deeply irritated with the South African science fiction film District 9′s abysmal stereotyping of Nigerians. Once I started writing it, it quickly became something other than a response to District 9; it became its own story with its own soul.

How happy were you to have it acquired by publishers Hodder & Stoughton?

I was ecstatic when Hodder & Stoughton made the offer. Lagoon is an ambitious novel. It’s biting political satire, creative, literary, it features many different points of view (which is very different from the stories I usually I write. I prefer to stay with one character), there’s a lot of Pidgin English, and it’s got aliens in Lagos. Because of all this, I didn’t expect it to be an easy sell, if it sold at all. But Anne Perry (the editor who acquired it) immediately connected with and understood what I was doing in this novel. It was like planets aligning- unlikely, but when it happened, logical and right.

By calling it Lagoon, one would expect a lot of adventures with water (and maybe flooding). Is that a particular fascination for you?

Oooooh yes, there’s a lot that happens in the water (though much of it is off the coast where the “shop” lands. I was initially going to have it land in the Lagos Lagoon, but I needed deeper water). I was originally going to call it Lagos. But then I could just hear certain Nigerians snarking, “Who is this American Nigerian to have the nerve to name her novel after my city?” I wasn’t in the mood for that conversation, so I translated the word “lagos” to the English meaning of it name. “Lagos” means “lagoon” in Portuguese. And yes, there is flooding.

I love and am terrified of the water, particularly the ocean. I go to the ocean to calm down, to reconnect with the creator, to just be happy. I like swimming, too, of course, haha. And I love ocean life. I’m fascinated that so much of it remains unexplored by human beings. Diluted seawater consisted of nearly the same concentration of elements and minerals as blood plasma. They’ve got the same amount of sodium, too. Sea water has even been used successfully in blood transfusions in animals. We all came from the water. As is said more than once in the novel, “Water is life”.

As someone who has also written for kids, I’m wondering if there is any consideration for them in this one, of if it’s a totally adult novel.

This one is purely an adult novel, though I think some of my older teen readers will enjoy it, too (18+).

So I read that it’s going to be a three-book deal. Is that a trilogy, or just a chance to get three different books published at a time of your choosing?

It’s not a trilogy. There may be a part two, who knows. But that’s not my original intent. I don’t tend to do sequels; too many stories in my head. I know what the second novel with Hodder & Stoughton will be. That one is linked to (the earlier novel) Who Fears Death.

(source)

sounds like something worth checking out!

Great interview. Fascinating upcoming projects.

So, I’m in to read this, when it’s out and I have the cash. Awesome project both in itself and as a response to District 9, which I did love, but also found very flawed. Not just the racism - it did not remotely pass the Bechdel test.

polyverse:

Shadow health minister Dianne Abbott has called for a purge of sexualised imagery from public spaces in the UK.

She also blamed a “disturbing” trend for online bullying of young women on a “crisis in masculinity”.

…

“Many young girls of all classes are pressurised into exposing themselves online, and are then humiliated,” she explained.

There is “a very specific form of sexuality that’s being imposed, on children and adults: a porn version. It’s particularly damaging to young girls, in my view,” she said. “And this has been made worse by fast-developing technology.

“I think this culture tells girls in particular that they are only valued as a sex object. It tells girls that the most important quality they need is ‘sexiness’.”

….

“The current issues facing boys,” commented one Mumsnet user, “are the result of constructions of masculinity and are not caused by feminism.”

Ms Abbott responded: “Absolutely. One reason I am anxious to make a big speech about men, boys and male identity is to nail the lie that feminism is somehow the cause of the problem.”

…

The Labour MP cautioned against defeatism: “There’s lots we can do. I think we’re often told that ‘the world has changed’ and there’s nothing we can do, but there are plenty of things, without going out and making people feel that sex is wrong and shameful.

“We need to talk about these issues more for a start.”

She called for “a complete transformation of sex education in this country”, adding: “The government has blocked any movement on legislation to introduce compulsory sex and relationship education.”

Dianne Abbott seems to be quite unpopular in the Labour party, and I’m not sure why. I always get the feeling that people who say they think women and people of colour should be treated equally kinda change their mind when it’s an outspoken black woman who’s not ashamed of making a bid for power. Like it’s somehow gauche when she makes a bid for leadership in a way that it’s not when a white man does it. Because ‘She’s only doing it because she wants to be the first black female leader’. What? So? Do you think Barack Obama didn’t want to be the first black president? When he did it we celebrated, but when a woman of colour does it, we mock, we ridicule.
 We don’t take her seriously.

It’s as if we take the fact that she’s a woman who treats herself seriously as a reason for us not to.

popelizbet:

mitsubachi:

cesaret:

“May I ask why you felt little Tiffany deserved to die?”

I’m pretty sure this is why Tumblr gave us photosets.

truer words

always reblog

Can we talk about how awesome it was for a black guy to be directly commenting on racist attitudes, rather than just having the aliens stand in for non-white people?

I love this movie. Bring back real sci-fi.

dianoetic:

tearingdownthatfence:

dianoetic:

tearingdownthatfence:

center-for-chthonic-studies:

fyeaheasterneurope:

There was an outcry in Hungary on Wednesday, February 20, over revelations that the country’s largest university has been involved in compiling lists of presumed Jewish students at a time of growing anti-Semitism in this nation of some 10 million people.

The files were compiled annually on freshmen by the student council of the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), according to a list obtained by Hungarian television network ATV and seen by BosNewsLife.

Referring to Jewish origins, the 2009 list shows the letters I of the Hungarian word Igen (“Yes”) and N for Nem (“No”).

[…]

Besides identifying “Jewishness”, the ELTE lists also specify Christians and other religious or ethnic backgrounds of first-year students. Additionally, the presumed political and even sexual preferences are mentioned, accompanied by profanities.

(Source.)

While it’s been little reported in English-speaking media, the Hungarian news has been full of the ELTE scandal over the past few days.

For those curious, the accompanying profanities included such comments as ‘the girl must be a half-caste’, ‘I think this one’s a gyppo’ and ‘has an ugly Jewish head’.

———-

This post was submitted by a reader via email. Many thanks to them! What the hell? - FYEE

Beyond words.

This is making me very very uneasy.

This makes me more than uneasy. It makes me upset and fucking outraged. What could they be doing with lists of Jewish students? I’m pretty sure it’s not to make sure they all get Chanukah presents.

Just wanted to make clear that I in no way intended to minimize the importance of this and I am sorry if I did.

I said what I said because I was having feelings and wasn’t sure what to say. But what I said seems really wrong now.

SO. This is fucked up and we really need to do something to stop the rise of neo-nazism in Europe, because it is a serious threat and a much bigger issue than they want us to think.

Oh no, I totally got that! I didn’t think you were minimizing at all. You bothered to reblog it in the first place and it was the first time I had even seen it, so I totally appreciate that. Why was this not on the news here? It’s a WORLD issue. It just makes no sense to me.

I feel you on the “having feelings and being unsure what to say” aspect. It took me a bit to gather my thoughts and they are still kind of all over the place. I was telling my dad about the story (he is 60 and has lived through all sorts of anti-semitism) and he wasn’t even surprised.

Countries need to stop being able to get away with this shit just because of “security purposes” (HI AMERICA, HI HI HI LOOKING AT YOU HERE SO MUCH).

This is worrying, guys, really worrying.

eshusplayground:

girljanitor:

blackfangirlsunite:

Real shit tho

Rebecca

This is why I fight so hard on the issue of representation, and science is on my side. Not only does reading fiction increase general empathy and make study participants more likely to be helpful, it makes them more likely to identify with the characters depicted in the story, EVEN IF THEY ARE WIZARDS, WEREWOLVES, OR VAMPIRES.

Even if they are gigantic assholes. **cough *Loki* cough**

THIS is why the lack of representation of People of Color in Epic Fantasy is such a disturbing and important issue. THIS is why white people, fed on a steady diet of racism from every other fucking source, then turn to Twilight, and Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, and comic books and resultant movies and fandoms, and can THEN IDENTIFY WITH FUCKING VOLDEMORT,  OR LOKI, OR AN ABUSIVE VAMPIRE BOYFRIEND BETTER THAN THEY CAN WITH A PERSON OF COLOR.

Representation in media can help positively transform the lives of REAL people who live under REAL oppression in so many ways, and the lack of representation is yet another area in which the privileged have tools that generate empathy for them in the general population, and the vehicle through which marginalized people, especially people of color, are denied these tools.

Remember when I posted this story in which A QPOC urges other QPOC to use media to help explain and answer questions from families who just don’t ‘get it’?

Remember how so many of us don’t have this option because there IS NO POSITIVE REPRESENTATION OF US IN POPULAR CULTURE OR EASILY ACCESSIBLE MEDIA?

THIS ISN’T QUIBBLING.

THIS IS SO FUCKING IMPORTANT.

Fiction, especially the fantasy genre, is a means to fight the dehumanization of people who face relentless oppression every day.

Boom!

This is something I’m working hard on changing in my own work. Not simply asking myself ‘why can’t this character be a POC?’, but trying to make it one of the options in my head at the get go. Of course, the latter is the difficult part, because initial character generation is an organic, not entirely conscious thing, and I’ve been indoctrinated by a culture that massively ignores POC in media. Similar to how *despite being a feminist who frequently complains about lack of female characters* I instinctively lean towards male characters, especially in lead roles. Which is not to equate sexism and racism, but rather to say that I’m trying to remind myself that casual racism is just as easy to slip into as casual sexism, and that I shouldn’t forget that just because I have the white privilege of having the mediamassively populated with people who have racial features similar to my own.

So, I do make the effort to ask myself ‘Why can’t this character be black/Asian/hispanic etc.?’, just as I ask myself ‘Why can’t this character be a woman?’, but I recognise that this is just a step towards a shift in the way of thinking that has become ingrained. It’s better not to have to ask that question - to not think first of a white character by default, and change them later.

There’s also the issue of recognising the different experiences had by people of colour. I neither want to assume that there is no difference (cultural differences, differences arising from inequality etc.) nor that there are uniquely ‘white’ experiences that my POC characters can’t have. Again, I *want* to be in a place where all of that comes from just thinking about a character and what they’re like, in all their complexities.  It’s shaming that it doesn’t come automatically. But that’s not an excuse to complain about making the effort. If my brain has fallen into casually racist thinking, it’s my job to change that, not just ignore it because as a white woman I can get away with that shit.

Where is this going? I don’t know. Except to say that it’s something I’m thinking about and working on and I apologise if I make mistakes along the way, and that I’m sorry we’re in this situation in the first place. I’m aware that sometimes I catch myself making the same mistakes I critique others for when I review. But it’s all part of the effort to raise awareness of what’s problematic *culturally*. If I get something wrong and someone points it out to me, that’s my opportunity to recognise a little bit more of he problem and try to do better in the future.

I really hope we can continue to change and make a difference.

coelasquid:

the-bearded-poet:

Generally speaking, I try to be reasonable regarding this sort of discussion. I just have that on my sidebar as a reminder to people that it’s an argument over the internet, I’m not going to take it overly seriously. They certainly shouldn’t either.

My opinion on the matter is that because elves (that is to say “core” elves, drow/wood/grey/brown/frost/whatever elves that you see in D&D and some similar things are all “elves, but x”, it’s kind of irrelevant to discuss them as though they’re true elves) originate from those self-same Anglo Saxon standards of feminine beauty, if you make them something else, they aren’t really elves. It’s sort of like that comic you made a while back regarding vampires: Who are we to say that Nosferatu doesn’t sparkle?

Nobody, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t sound silly.

Similarly, elves being white is just in their nature. Black elves strike me as being as silly as tall gnomes. It doesn’t fit with them. Again, offshoots are of course acceptable. If we’re talking elves that live in the desert, I’d be weirded out if they were pale. But your typical fantasy tree dwellers? If they’re not white, it just doesn’t fit with them. That’s not an elf, it’s an offshoot. It strikes me of forced political correctness to do otherwise.

Regarding the eviler a race being, the darker they are: Not really. Drow have always been described as a greyish/purplish color, which isn’t really the “black” that we think of when we think of humans. But you’re free to have your opinion… Just keep in mind that elves have historically always been white, so removing that from them is in effect making new elves. Same as if you made vampires who didn’t need to drink blood, werewolves that could decide when they changed shape rather than being forced into it or zombies who were still capable of speaking and moving like normal people (well, okay, that last one is actually pretty in keeping with Romero’s original vision as well as the original Voodoo practice, but you understand my point). At that point, I’d say it’s a better idea to just say “Okay, I don’t like the Anglo-Saxon all-white feminine ideals of elves, so instead I’ll make my own race for my fantasy literature, which doesn’t have these things I dislike about it in it”. Nothing’s stopping you from pioneering a new, PC fantasy race that the world will love. I mean, as far as I’m aware the Draenei from WoW don’t bear any resemblance to any other fantasy race. Blizzard more-or-less created them wholecloth. It strikes me as silly to use a name for a specific group with an established set of traits to represent a group that doesn’t have those traits.

And… I think it’s perfectly reasonable for someone to want European-inspired fantasy to feel European in tone. One of my current D&D games is set in a Mediterranean climate, heavily influenced by Greek culture (with the northern parts more themed off of Scotland and Ireland). Most of the people in the south are dark, most of the people in the north are light. And we more-or-less keep to that tone. Meaning that if suddenly we started running across people wielding scimitars, my immersion is going to be a bit broken. Yes, it’s a fantasy setting. But it’s a fantasy setting operating off of a basis of real world cultures, deviating too far from these real world cultures is confusing.

Also worth pointing out, however, is that (IIRC) this controversy-of-sorts (because let’s be honest, it’s only a big deal on tumblr, no one else gives a shit so far as I’ve seen) stems mostly from the recent Hobbit movie and I tend to keep my fantasy to non-visual media (books and tabletop RPGs). So I never have to see my various races and treat fantasy race as being more important than skin color. The whole focus on melanin doesn’t really resonate with me, when you have people who are four feet tall and born with a beard running around, I’m not so sure it matters as much what color their skin is. They have other physical traits that are more unique and interesting to their race.

Honestly, I think that the idea that fantasy has to be perfectly preserved in the one form that people find most influential is probably the worst thing people can do to storytelling in general. Human history is ABSOLUTELY RIFE with people flitting about like Magpies and picking the shiny things they like out of one myth to stuff them into another. Any culture’s folklore is an ongoing, churning mass of reinterpretation and reimagining. You talk about the white girl barbie doll Tolkien elves being the “historically accurate” standard, but a fantasy fiction novel from the thirties holds about as much historical merit as those sparkly Twilight vampires everyone has a hate-on for.

And on that note, can people stop acting like Twilight Vampires are dumb because they glitter? They’re dumb because they’re overpowered by fanfiction.net-original-character-plz-don’t-steal standards and they exist in a story that glorifies abusive relationships. It we’re going to say anything that deviates from the original historic concept is bad and wrong, Dracula and Nosferatu are both exactly as invalid as Twilight vampires because they all deviate from Dacian Strigoi mythology.

I think you’ll find just about any fantasy creature you like has existed in more than just the form you’re most familiar with. Werewolves that can shift at will are invalid? Well so are werewolves that change under the full moon, because they deviate from the story of the ancient island Neuri tribe that transforms into wolves once a year. I don’t even want to touch the zombie thing, zombie mythology is so rife with re-appropriation it’s laughable to say that Romero’s are the unwavering historic standard.

Basically, if no one is allowed to play with mythology and folklore (or rather no one is allowed to deviate from the one iteration of it a particular fantasy fan is most familiar with) we all just end up sitting in the dark telling each other the same five stories over and over again. Which is probably the most mind-numbingly boring thing I can imagine.

Wow, the racism and white privilege is STRONG with that one. I know he says ‘I would like to take the time to remind you that you are arguing with a man who has a Hitler quote at the top of his page’ but wearing your git-tasticness like a badge doesn’t get you out of your responsibility for your words.

Wow. Just… wow.

‘Black elves strike me as being as silly as tall gnomes.’