It may not have been your conscious goal, but that is the effect. This is the kind of rhetoric terfs use to attack people. They did it to me, calling me a rape apologist who wanted lesbians to be raped by trans women (who they don’t see as women, of course), and I shudder to think what they do to trans women if they’d treat a cis person this way. That second part was addressing a larger problem which is why I didn’t put it in my answer to you but in a reblog–it wasn’t just about you, but about the discussion of transphobia in dating in general and how it is weaponized. I thought of making a new post for that reason but trans people’s voices should be centered in this discussion and I didn’t want to go into the whole context from scratch. If you’re more mindful of how this rhetoric is used to attack trans people and make them unsafe, that’s a good thing.
There’s nothing wrong with not dating a trans person, which might be motivated by transphobia but is completely your prerogative. What’s wrong is generalizing about trans people. Trans people of the same gender don’t all have the same “parts,” for one thing. If you’re so prejudiced against trans people please don’t date any trans person ever, they don’t want you. What’s wrong is your transphobia, not the fact that you won’t date them.
And like, this idea that trans people are desperate to date cis people and are trying to use social justice rhetoric to make it happen is not only laughably off base, it is a dangerous and violent form of transphobia, especially transmisogyny.
To cis people who say this shit: You’re not all that. You could be the most attractive person to ever live, and spewing this kind of bigotry will turn any self-respecting trans person right off, not to mention most decent cis people. There are no hordes of trans people breaking down your doors trying make you date them. There’s just you, fancying yourself this amazing catch and trying to silence criticism of transphobia by getting super fragile and positioning trans people as would-be rapists–rhetoric that makes trans people acceptable targets of violence, that you KNOW puts them in danger and yet you do it anyway.
Because that’s the goal, isn’t it? The goal is to divert attention from your disgusting bigotry to making trans people even more unsafe, to make them too afraid to date or be sexual or to discuss the hatred of them and their bodies.
I see you. So please, by all means continue to be openly transphobic so the rest of us know whom to avoid.
When someone is a Christian they are not constantly asked their position on the holocaust, the transatlantic slave trade, the extermination of Native Americans or any of the thousands of atrocities committed by Christians.
So why do Muslims get asked about terrorism and Jews about Israel and are grouped in with specific bad people while Christians are not required to explain themselves.
I can’t add comments to @the-bi-writer‘s There Is No Redemption Here for whatever reason and asks are too short to contain my magnificent prose, so I’ll just put them here. This is for Chapter 6 (link):
Seeing how the description of Alia Ren in the last chapter scuttled my Keri Russell fancast I hurriedly replaced her with Naomi Ackie even though she’s probably too young to be a canon KoR. And then! This line:
“You have a weapon,” she hisses, responding to his thoughts.
reminded me of an amoral Maz, which in turn reminded me of Lupita Nyong’o, and that fancast upped the hotness factor of the battle SO MUCH that I’m tempted to change ships midstream 😂 So if this was not the image you had in your head while writing, I gift it to you in thanks for a great scene.
Anyway this duel was so neat!! I loved the decisive and deadly moves, the way the Force interacted with the combat movements, and even the ending with Lupita… er, Alia turning off her sabers midair. Her recruitment tactics are a bit sudden, but effective! Idk how much of a choice it really is, since Alia herself said it wasn’t optional, but I guess it’s more choice than Finn was ever offered before.
Continued for Chapter 7 of @the-bi-writer‘s There Is No Redemption Here, I’ll just go into stream of consciousness/liveblog from here. Spoilers, of course.
He shivers at the thought of [Alia Ren]
So did I, man, because TO ME SHE’S LUPITA NOW THIS WAS A MISTAKE
She clearly means to use him as a pawn in whatever game the Knights are
playing, but that didn’t mean that he, Finn, can get nothing out of
this.
I like how canny and shrewd Finn is here. He clearly knows the FO’s shenanigans all too well–he’s lived here all his life, after all!–and is adapting quickly to being swept into one of the Knights’ games.
He grabs a ration bar and a piece of fruit from the cafeteria – Rey
mentioned yesterday that she had rarely eaten fruit in her life, and
he’s been itching to bring her some
But he’s still so sweeeeeet *melts*
Finn strides to the bed, checks all her readings, and taps out
a quick note on the datapad. He leaves it on her bedside table, along
with the tangerine, so that the first thing she’ll see when she wakes up
is a delicious new fruit and a note from him.
Dude knows how to woo a lady, eh? I mean I know that’s not quite appropriate, she’s wounded and effectively a prisoner, and I know Finn would never take advantage of that. He’s just being nice! I look forward to their courtship beginning in earnest once Rey is back on her feet and has her bearings.
Her skin is light brown and her her eyes are dark and intense.
NOOOO MY LUPITA FANCAST um, maybe Nalini Krishan? I can imagine her as evil Barriss Offee 😂
“Your stance is weak and your strike patterns are predictable, but
that’s easily fixed. You just might be worth my time to train.”
Is faint praise a required skill for the FO leadership?
“You will guard the girl in the medbay for the rest of the day, and you will tell no one about this.”
“You’re no longer one of [the Stormtroopers]. I approved the transfer with Phasma this morning.“
So what’s the part that Finn isn’t supposed to tell, again? There’s no hiding that he’s guarding Rey in medbay, and his transfer is made formal now. Is it the lightsaber training he’s supposed to keep secret? The fact that he’s guarding Rey on Alia’s orders? That he’s receiving lightsaber training? But he’s already been taking out of the Stormtrooper ranks and formally with the Knights. Wouldn’t the training and the fact he’s acting on Alia’s orders be rather obvious?
“The hood’s deep enough to hide your face,” she continues, “and I expect
you to wear it in public at all times. In private, however, use your
discretion.“
I thought the Knights were masked? Or is that reserved for full Knights?
“It suits you.”
THAT’S NOT YOUR LINE LADY
She’s awake and sitting up, and smiles at him like the sun. “Hey handsome.“
Holy shit, Rey calling him “handsome” the last time wasn’t just the painkillers? (Or maybe she’s still on them, but she doesn’t seem nearly as knackered out as last time.) Attagirl, openly flirting in medbay. Finn has already done much to earn her trust–which is why Alia gave him this assignment, she watched the whole thing–and Rey still doesn’t know what the fuck is going on. It’s a good idea to make a friend and ally under these circumstances, and it doesn’t hurt if he’s cute as hell.
“You’re a guest of head of the Knights of Ren.”
An empty head, but head nevertheless. I think this line is missing “the” in front of “head.”
“I’m fairly sure you could request a pet bantha and they’d find a way to get you one.”
That’s Ben, the doting elder brother.
“He sits beside her on the bed, careful to leave a little space between them.
A gentleman, what did I tell you!
She hands him the datapad and their fingers brush, which makes his stomach do a funny little flip-flop.
Me:
He finds the meal app
The First Order–they have an app for that!
She inhales the food
Thanks for doing that to my heart, ya wanker.
The doctor’s eyes go wide when she sees Finn, and she immediately
drops to one knee. “Sir Knight,” she says, eyes cast to the ground.
“Doctor Noble, head of Starkiller Medbay, at your service.”
Finn’s eyebrows shoot past his hairline. Why was Doctor Noble…? Oh. Oh. He’s dressed like a Knight of Ren, because, well, he is a Knight of Ren now. Or an apprentice to a Knight, but that seems to count.
Huh, the KoR are due a lot of deference here, it seems. We don’t see personnel kneeling to Kylo Ren in the movies, but I can understand this as a formal “introduction” situation as opposed to an operational one.
Dr. Noble is interesting–she seems to be a good doctor doing her job, and she’s done much to mentor Finn, but she works on a freaking weapon of mass destruction. Not to mention she is likely directly complicit in the FO’s crimes and breaches of medical ethics, which are probably numerous. I guess she’s a good case of compartmentalization, and how evil institutions work on a day-to-day basis.
“Good work, doctor. I’ll…” he tries to think of how a knight might
talk, what they might say. “I’ll report back to Lady Alia that the girl
is in most capable hands.”
Doctor Noble breathes out a sigh of relief, and lets her hands relax again at her sides. “Thank you,” she breathes.
Yeah, Noble is working under a lot of fear, too. It’s how the FO works. That doesn’t excuse her collaboration, of course.
I can’t add comments to @the-bi-writer‘s There Is No Redemption Here for whatever reason and asks are too short to contain my magnificent prose, so I’ll just put them here. This is for Chapter 6 (link):
Seeing how the description of Alia Ren in the last chapter scuttled my Keri Russell fancast I hurriedly replaced her with Naomi Ackie even though she’s probably too young to be a canon KoR. And then! This line:
“You have a weapon,” she hisses, responding to his thoughts.
reminded me of an amoral Maz, which in turn reminded me of Lupita Nyong’o, and that fancast upped the hotness factor of the battle SO MUCH that I’m tempted to change ships midstream 😂 So if this was not the image you had in your head while writing, I gift it to you in thanks for a great scene.
Anyway this duel was so neat!! I loved the decisive and deadly moves, the way the Force interacted with the combat movements, and even the ending with Lupita… er, Alia turning off her sabers midair. Her recruitment tactics are a bit sudden, but effective! Idk how much of a choice it really is, since Alia herself said it wasn’t optional, but I guess it’s more choice than Finn was ever offered before.
That’s an interesting–and disheartening–dichotomy. In fact I can’t think of a lot of Black men/white women romances on the big screen in general. There was a discourse about John as a romantic lead a little while back and I’ve been thinking since then, do even undisputed superstars like Denzel Washington and Will Smith count as romantic leads? Will had Mr. Hitch and Denzel had… The Preacher’s Wife? They both have amazing filmographies and commercial success that few actors of any race could rival and yet I don’t think they could be called romantic leading men like Leonardo Dicaprio or Brad Pitt. It seems to be a combination of Hollywood’s distaste for both interracial romances and Black leading women.
There have been several films that Denzel should have had a romance with the co-lead, but because she was white they nixed it because test audiences didn’t like it.
Will, among many other black actors, has had the love interest changed from the original casting call (black) to someone more racially ambiguous to appeal to audiences (usually mixed with light skin or non-black Latina) by studios.
Hollywood is a mess and it’s still in so many ways operating on the 80s & 90s scale of what sales and what won’t, even though a lot of people want better. All I can say is I hope John is able to break that mold. Or at the very least put some more dents in it. He’s on the right track with starting his own production company to make an impact.
Evidently it wasn’t his own preference, according to the Washington Post (link). He would have been okay with playing interracial romance on screen with white leads, but he knew white men wouldn’t like it.
I love Will and Denzel, but they got to where they are by not rocking the boat. Even in Hancock, where Will was opposite Charlize, it was a relationship of pure destruction. Will was white America’s favorite actor (at least until he started playing roles considered to be white like in iRobot and I Am Legend), but he was kept in his place.
But going back to Finnrey, it’s rarely the fault of the actors or the writing when people don’t see a romantic connection between a white character and a character of color. If it makes someone uncomfortable to see a white person romantically involved with a Black person, it will never read as truly romantic to them.
It’s like how many of us saw a developing love story between Michonne and Rick on The Walking Dead going back to the second season, and when they finally got together most of the fans were totally blindsided.
L.J.'s Obsessions 