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therealvinelle · 3 years

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What are your thoughts on the Life and Death counterparts of the Cullens?

Oh boy, can of worms.

In short, my canon-friendly blog draws a hard line of NOPE when it comes to Life and Death. The Cullens are very reliant on their genders, swap it up and there wouldn’t be a coven in the first place. Not as we know it, anyhow. To swap things up without anything changing is to erase the experiences of men and women through history.

Disclaimer - I haven’t actually read the book, but I’ve gathered enough from the Twilight wiki. And since you’re not asking me about the plot, I think we’re good.

Alphabetically:

Archie. Both men and women were admitted to mental asylums at the turn of the century, but it was largely women. Mary Alice Brandon was forcibly institutionalized by her abusive father, which in turn was allowed to happen because no one believed her stories and thought she was mad. The story screams “Hysterical woman”. Could the same thing have happened if she were a boy? Sure. But I find it reductive.

Carine. Hoo boy, this one had me so exasperated I have a fic on it. That one gets slightly AU as her father survives the vampire, whereas in canon he was killed, but I say it goes. Anyway, Carine. You can’t take a 17th century man, make him a woman, and expect the same character to come out the other end. You just can’t. Carine and Carlisle are not going to be the same person. I think if Carine was anything like her male counterpart, she would stay in Volterra far longer than he did, if she ever left, as Volterra would be the one place in the world she could pursue knowledge, where she could educate herself and become an academic, the same as any man. It’d be her equality oasis, and she’d be leaving behind more than friendships if she left. If she went into the human world, or even tried to become a doctor, she’d have to crossdress. And I imagine she’d still be crossdressing in 2005, because misogyny and sexism isn’t going away anytime soon and it’s just what she’s used to by now. Carine puts on trousers and a fake beard before she leaves the house, it’s just how she lives her life.

Earnest. This guy is just... lackluster. Esme was turned because her husband was shitty and her son died, so she jumped off a cliff. Alright, let’s give Earnest a shitty wife and a dead kid, now he’ll jump off a cliff too. It’s just so uninspired, and I question the fact that Esme was abused, while Earnest’s wife was an alcoholic. Why can’t the woman be abusive?

Edythe. Edward’s character is strongly informed by his gender, yet I can’t imagine girl Edward being any less creepy. In case any of my readers have read @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin‘s fic Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus, I picture Edythe as the character Tequila. Which is to say girl!Edward gives strong vibes of an intense and creepy (it’s Edward) lesbian. Given Edward’s backstory, Edythe would still be turned, though. So, that still happens.

Eleanor. Mauled by a bear. Alright. I have no thoughts on that. I lied, I do. Eleanor’s uninspiredness is one of the reasons why this book is redundant. There’s nothing to do with this character, and so nothing is done. Nothing changes. Which, if we’re changing everyone’s gender, then the meaningful way to do that is to look at how that would change things. How has male and female socialization affected Edward and Bella? Who would Jessamine, Carine, Royal be? These questions are unfortunately rhetorical because Life and Death sure isn’t answering them.

Jessamine. It’s nice that Jasper isn’t a confederate in this AU, but I just find the story of Jessamine contrived. Besides, Jasper wasn’t supposed to be in the army, he lied about his age. If gender changes nothing, wouldn’t Jessamine crossdress her way into the army? Not that I’d want her to, glad she didn’t, but... Like the other Cullens, Jessamine’s backstory becomes a thought exercise of “How can I make the Cullens still happen, and as close to their original backstories as possible?”, one in which the answer is apparently to treat their backstories like check points. Jessamine gets turned by Maria, check, becomes warrior, check. It just feels so lazy to me.

Royal. Easily the worst. Well, Carine is the worst in terms of making no sense, but Royal... don’t genderbend Rosalie, people. And if you insist then don’t take out the rape. It’s just insensitive and uncalled for all around.

Then we have the fact that Aro and Caius were killed off-screen in a ridiculous manner. Let’s say that they were caught killing Didyme. So what? There’s no vampire cops. They were the leaders of their coven. If they’re caught killing Didyme it would mean Aro is sad because Marcus will leave, and he just killed his sister for nothing. What won’t happen is that they’re executed.

Mele’s power is another thing I take issue with. If a power like hers existed in canon... well, Caius would have a gift, for starters. More, the Volturi guard would be a repository of loyalists who were bequeathed gifts as rewards. The vampire world would be combed for new gifts, as it would only be prudent for Aro to have as many as possible and his potential enemies none. It’d be a different world, period.

The Volturi debacee seems to me like a misguided shot at girlpower on Meyer’s end, that this time around Sulpicia and Athenodora come out on top while Aro and Caius get their just desserts. Like everything else in Life and Death, it fell flat.

EDIT: Apparently I mixed up my Royces and my Royals. Yikes. Praise be to @toquesreveladores for the catch

#my idea of girlpower would be that marcus dies and now a paranoid didyme keeps her brother in the tower #no one keeps caius in the tower though who cares about caius #look i got through the whole meta without bringing up carine's rack once #life and death #carine cullen #edythe cullen #earnest cullen #royce hale #jessamine hale #eleanor cullen #aro #didyme #volturi #Anonymous #ask #twilight meta #twilight #twilight renaissance

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entity9silvergen · 3 years

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I recently asked reddit for some LGBT history from countries other than the US. Here’s what I got:

Germany

The Weimar Republic was surprisingly accepting of "alternative lifestyles."

During the Weimar Republic, Germany had a pretty active LGBTQ scene, with some major films and songs being produced, despite it still being illegal at the time. However, there was also a push to decriminalize homosexual behavior which sadly wasn't passed as the Nazis came to power.

This was based of two factors: after WW1 the authoritarian culture of Prussia sorta received a long overdue pushback. People were kinda sick of it, especially since these losers led them into a seemingly pointless war to begin with. Second: A LOT of men died in WW1 - and the army did not exactly prefer LGBT people. So with a lot of regular folks dead, the percentages of the total populace was sorta shifted. This also pushed the women's rights movements at the time for a similar reason.

Magnus Hirschfeld was helping trans people transition, crossdressers get crossdressing 'licenses', and generally advocating for and helping the LGBT community in the early 1900s in Germany. Nazis ended up raiding and burning down his research institute.

Hirschfeld was a gay polyamorous man. He was one of the first advocates for trans and gay rights but his work was destroyed by the Nazis.

The institute he headed even did the first modern gender affirming surgeries. The institute was destroyed and many people who were there (including the first known person to undergo complete MtF surgery) were killed by the nazis and the place was little more than bombed out ruins at the end of the war.

More information on the institute

Pre Nazi interwar Germany (Weimar Republic) was pretty open when it came to not only sexuality, but also gender identity. The Nazis put a stop to that & tried to destroy any & all research into either, but, for a brief moment, it was there.

Russia

Pretty sure all Russian LGBT history was erased before we even had a written language, but Russia almost got gay marriage legalized in the first soviet constitution (didn’t happen bc Stalin)

The early soviet period (pre-Stalin) is sometimes called “the first sexual revolution” as opposed to America’s “sexual Revolution” of the 60’s. Broad women’s suffrage, female employment and education, parental leave, advancement of GSM rights & decriminalization of abortion. This unfortunately did not stand the test of time & reactionary sentiment.

Additional Source

UK/ Britain/ England

The lead singer of Judas Priest is gay. The commenter’s father thought it was kinda funny because it didn’t match with his biker aesthetic, but the commenter doesn’t think he considered how much leather he wears on a daily basis

Hell bent for Leather was a track off Killing Machine. It was written by lead guitarist Glenn Tipton (who is straight), but it's fun to find alternative meanings in Priest songs. A second commenter likes to pretend a lot of the lyrics Halford sings are gayer than they actually are.

A couple people mentioned how uncomfortable it was seeing Ru Paul interact with British drag queens because he barely knows anything about British culture.

Ru Paul got angry that a British drag queen hasn’t seen the Golden Girls because “it’s gay culture” and then not five minutes later someone had to explain to him who Alan Turing was.

Alan Turing, who was an incredibly noteworthy figure (He made the Enigma codebreaker machine, which broke the code that was used by Nazis during the war and basically sped up the war by a significant margin. He also set the foundations for artificial intelligence, one achievement he was named for: the Turing Test), was homosexual and prosecuted multiple times because of it

Shakespeare was probably bisexual (some of his sonnets had homoerotic subtext/were sent to a younger man). Plus, Hamlet is gay as fuck.

Sonnet 46 was very gay. Here’s a link!

King James 1st was corrupt and used his position to promote his gay lover to higher positions than he should've gotten.

The 13 year old king James 6th of Scotland and 1st of England fell in love with a 37 year old catholic Franco Scottish man. The king gave the older man so much free shit that other lords started getting salty and his lover ended up converting to Presbyterianism out of loyalty to his young lover. He also fell in love with a man who ''was noted for his handsome appearance as well as his limited intelligence.''

Clearly James was into himbos, and women too.

He had a secret tunnel connecting his bedroom to George Villiers’s bedroom.

His relationship with Villiers was basically common knowledge and a source of much amusement and mockery. He also once said that his relationship with Villiers was equivalent to the relationship that Christ had with John the Baptist

Much more recently, there's obviously JKR and the banning of puberty blockers and Margaret Thatcher opposing LGBTQ+ rights by passing a law meaning you couldn't 'promote homosexuality'.

Prince Philip was a racist twat (and probably a huge homophobe knowing him).

Gay marriage only became legal in 2014.

The Wolfenden Report was published in 1957, and it recommended the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults. It was a huge topic of public debate, and ultimately led to the Sexual Offences act of 1967, which legalized sexual acts between consenting men aged 21 or over in England and Wales (sexual acts between women were never explicitly criminalized). Scotland decriminalized sex between men in 1980, and Northern Ireland in 1982.

For a totally batshit real-life bit of gay history, check out the show A Very English Scandal. It's about a politician, Jeremy Thorpe, who put a hit out on his former lover who was threatening to go public with the fact they had had a relationship.

Austria

Gay marriage was legalized in Austria about 3 years ago. The worst thing is that it'd have staid illegal if the Supreme Court wouldn't have jumped in and declare it to be unconstitutional.

Austria did have something called "partnership" which was where gay couples could officially register with the state as couples but not receive any of the benefits of married het people

They still have super backwards Transphobic laws requiring for example "real life experience" to get even diagnosed. Basically you're forced to be and live as feminine/masc as possible and a doctor them judges if you're femme or masc enough. It's torture

Australia had widespread, over 60% approval of gay marriage for well over a decade before the government legalized it. The governments were actually going against the people for a very long time by denying it.

Taiwan/ Hong Kong/ Mainland China

When Taiwan recently legalized gay marriage, their official statement was something along the lines that they were casting off Western-imposed values and returning to their own traditional values and the entire western lgbt community ridiculed them in a "if that's what you need to tell yourself" sort of way but it's actually the truth.

Prior to western colonization, the Imperial Chinese attitude toward sexuality was not dissimilar to Greco-Roman attitudes in that a man must marry a woman to beget legitimate heirs but whatever else he does on the side is his own business. It wasn't until Victorian colonizers came along and imposed homophobic attitudes on China that China started treating gays like abominations. In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China, as indeed most of the world, homophobia is a western value imposed by colonizers.

Bonus history: there is an actual saying in Arabic that was in widespread use across the Middle East and North Africa for thousands of years from classical antiquity until European colonization. The saying goes "Women are for babies, [young men] are for fun."

The commenter specifies that this means “college-aged twinks,” not children

Another commenter speculates about when homophobia arose in China and how. They also add that in Rome, bottoms were stigmatized.

There’s a story of Emperor Ai of the Han dynasty & him cutting off his sleeve for his boyfriend

There is also a god worshipped in Taiwan, the Rabbit God Tu'er Shen, whose domain is managing love and sex between same-sex attracted people. He is meant to be the incarnation of a soldier from the 17th century, who fell in love with an imperial inspector and spied on him bathing, and was tortured and killed by that official because he was offended by the spying. A villager from the soldier's hometown dreamed that Tu'er Shen appeared to him and said that because his crime had been love, he had been appointed to manage the affairs of gay people. The villagers erected a secret temple to the soldier, and people have been praying to him ever since.

South Africa

South Africa became the first nation in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. It was also first country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2006. What really set them back for so long was apartheid.

There is some speculation that that Shaka Zulu was gay since he never took any wives

South Africa's post Apartheid constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1996.

South Africa was also the 5th country in the world and only country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2005.

Even before that the Constitutional Court ruled that sexual orientation was not relevant when deciding child custody in 2002.

Transgender folks have been allowed to change their sex in the population registry since 2003.

Conversion therapy is not illegal yet and public opinion still needs some work.

Spain

In Spain gay marriage was legalized in 2005, now they are considered one of de gay-friendliest countries in the world. The commenter is a lesbian and has never been closeted or directly experienced discrimination for being a lesbian.

In July 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to explicitly legalize gay marriage, after a thirty-year struggle following the fall of Franco's dictatorship, during which most activism was carried clandestinely (as it was illegal).

From 2007 onwards, Spanish [binary] trans people can legally correct the name and sex fields of their IDs and currently, there's a push for a law that would allow for legal recognition of non-binary Spaniards.

Despite the dictatorship in the 60s, there were cinemas that specialized in gay meet ups. Trans women also had ways to get passports so they could go to the US for surgery.

Ireland

In Northern Ireland, same sex marriage only became legal in 2020 and the leader of the most popular party is homophobic transphobic racist and sexist af. In fact, the majority of the party are but some of the quotes from the biggest party leader are depressing.

Same-sex marriage was only legalized in Ireland in 2015. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993.

When Ireland legalized same sex marriage by popular vote in 2015, it was still something you got horribly bullied for in schools if you were out. Queer people got an apology from the Taoiseach in 2018, for the suffering and discrimination we faced from the State prior to the legalization of homosexuality.

In the case of trans rights, in 2015 the Gender Recognition Act was signed into law. It allows legal gender changes without the requirement of medical intervention or assessment by the state as long as you are over the age of 18.

Ireland has fines and jail time for anyone found guilty of attempting conversation therapy.

Ireland has seen a lot of progress in LGBT rights in the last 6 years but even up to the 2000s, citizens left their family members and friends to rot for being LGBT+. It still happens all over the country, especially in circles that are still fanatically Catholic. As the Catholic Church has lost the iron grip on the country, people have become more accepting of the LGBT+.

India

The Kamasutra(ancient text on sexuality etc.) has an entire chapter dedicated to homosexuality

The Arthashastra, a 2nd century BCE Indian treatise on statecraft, mentions a wide variety of sexual practices which, whether performed with a man or a woman, were sought to be punished with the lowest grade of fine. While homosexual intercourse was not sanctioned, it was treated as a very minor offence, and several kinds of heterosexual intercourse were punished more severely.

Sex between non-virgin women incurred a small fine, while homosexual intercourse between men could be made up for merely with a bath with one's clothes on, and a penance of "eating the five products of the cow and keeping a one-night fast"

Milk, curd (cheese), ghi (clarified butter), urine, and dung are the five products of a cow

The commenter adds that this is not a terrible punishment.

The Mughal Empire mandated a common set of punishments for homosexuality, which could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim

On 6 September 2018 the Supreme Court of India invalidated part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code making homosexuality legal in India

Prior to the British colonization of India homosexuality was not all that looked down upon when compared to what happened when the British took over and instituted anti gay laws.

The Hijra (literally means third gender) were seen as normal and have been accepted since long before Christ, as evidenced by the Karma Sutra. The British took videos of them to take back to demonstrate how the Desi were “barbaric”.

Bonsia

In Bosnia, there was a one pride parade that ended with religious extremists ruining it and the police not doing anything. It was supposed to be 5 maybe 3 days long but ended in like 1 or 2.

The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe mapped out the entire night sky with only his eyes. It laid the foundations of many later scientists, such as Isaac Newton. He was a very rich nobleman, so much so that he owned 1% of Denmark's money. He had a pet dwarf that apparently could see the future, which sounds pretty gay. He was also part of the Elefant Ordning, which consisted of rich and strong Danish men.

Philippines

Despite many attempts to legalize same-sex marriage, the Philippines still didn't budge. Being gay in itself is legal, but same-sex marriage still isn't.

Philippines ,the most Catholic Country in Southeast Asia, has held the largest Pride Parade in Southeast Asia.

Serbia

Serbia didn't have history from about 16th century to 1800's when the 1st revolt happened and failed till 1813's... Then yet another in 1830's for semi independence from Turks, and full in 1836

During the last lingering Ottoman rule over autonomous Serbia, Serbia was one of the very first few countries to have legal mostly everything... it then got removed with like 3 constitution changes and then it didn't move forward for a looong time

Switzerland

Would you have thought that small, conservative Switzerland was a center of the international gay community during the mid-20th century? The magazine "Der Kreis"- the circle - was the only queer magazine in the world that kept publishing during WWII. It was edited in Zurich and distributed internationally, which often meant illegal smuggling, even into nazi Germany. The magazine's annual ball was attended by hundreds of gay men from all over Europe each year. The whole thing was kept strictly secret from the public, though it was known and tolerated by the police.

The Kreis club disbanded in 1967, as repressions grew heavier after a number of murders in the scene had caught the public's attention. By then, other European and American groups took its place, publishing their own magazines.

They made a movie about it.

More info about Der Kreis

As of today, Switzerland doesn't allow gay marriage. A country-wide referendum will be held this fall on gay marriage.

The commenter speculates that gay marriage will be legalized.

A few people expressed surprise that Switerland is socially conservative and several people explained that women’s right to vote was only place in the 70s.

There’s a movie about it

Turkey

A Muslim Persian (born in modern day Turkey) philosopher/mysticist named Mewlana who is known for his sayings on acceptance and love for one another was gay! He had exchanged letters with his instructor Shams and wrote homoerotic poems to him! In Turkey this is ignored by many due to the country's stance on homosexuality

More information

Norway

The commenter’s hometown and the neighboring town arranged their first pride parade/event in 2017, which is a big deal for a small place and one of the local priests went livid and went straight to the newspaper and social media to condemn it. A local rapper wrote a short and to the point article in the newspaper calling him out for all kinds of things which was a great read. Then to top it off, the priest arranged for a "Jesus Parade" in protest to be held the day before the pride parade. Only like five people walked in it, not including the priest of course because he happened to be on vacation in Spain that week. The pride parade itself was a success though! It's become an annual event. Covid has put some breaks on it though, but they're making a documentary this year about the pride celebrations.

Hungary

Hungary has no same sex marriage or transition rights

Police are unkind to protestors

During “commie times,” being queer was illegal so queer people went to the gulag

Belgium

Same sex marriage was legalized in Belgium in 2003 (right after the NL who were the first in the world). The commenter says that same-sex marriage has always felt possible and she is confused about other countries’ actions.

Poland

Polish president on public assembly: 'LGBT is not people, this is ideology'.

Denmark

WHO took their sweet time declassifying being transgender as a mental illness, so Denmark got sick of waiting and became the first country to stop classifying it as an illness.

Australia

In Australia same-sex marriage wasn't legal until 2017.

Portugal

Portugal is know for having one of the most (if not THE most) peaceful revolutions in history back in the 60's, with only 4 deaths total.

Canada

Operation Soap.

Mexico

To learn more, watch Dance of the 41 on Netflix.

Netherlands

NL was one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage in 2001

Sweden

In Sweden they used to classify Homosexuality as a disease during the 20th century so in protest people would call in too gay to work.

New Zealand

When same sex marriage was legalized, the parliament broke into song.

The song

Other

Homosexuality is illegal in 73 countries, some by death or life in prison.

Only one country in Asia has legalized same-sex marriage: Taiwan

FNAF is older than same-sex marriage in the US

Condor Operation

I think this is some important stuff so please reblog so more people can see! And, if you would like to add to or correct anything here, feel free to do so!

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quetzalpapalotl · 2 years

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I've always wanted to be a drag king, which I'm not because my voice and mostly because it requires Effort and I wouldn't know where to begin, but anyway, the important thing is that I choose the name along time ago and the name is Segismundo.

Segismundo comes from the Spanish play Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, which is about this Prince who has been locked in a tower all his life because of a prophecy that he would be a fucking bastard, he gets let out one day and since he has no concept of how to act in society, he acts like a bastard. He gets locked again and gets told his release was a dream. At the end he is released again and he thinks is a dream still, but he figures that whether a dream or not, he should be nice and becomes an exemplary gentleman. It also features crossdressing!

Pedro here in the 17th century was ahead in all these philosophical discussion about life being a simulation. And this is a play very dear to me for many reasons, I remember when Segismundo looks at things like rivers, rocks, animals and asks "And I, having more soul, have less freedom?" And then

And I too dream and behold, I dream I am bound with chains, And I dreamed that these present pains Were fortunate ways of old. What is life? a tale that is told; What is life? a frenzy extreme, A shadow of things that seem; And the greatest good is but small, That all life is a dream to all, And that dreams themselves are a dream.

#there's also the fact that the other name i go also belongs to a figure locked in a tower by her father #so you know #we have a theme going on here #anyway the play is about more things actually #but it's been a while i should watch some performance #anyway everythin is a play a story an illusion #but is the only stage we have #and we gotta perform

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butcharium · 3 years

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This r&j ask made me so excited and I wanna inform you that in my personal version of The Tragedy of Hamlet Hamlet, Ophelia and Horatio are all gnc lesbians!!!! Also Ophelia is at least 183 cm tall and has broad shoulders and Hamlet is 156 cm tall (like me, I was also that suit anon from a while back, and hugest thank you for the answer on that one) and fat. I have a WIP of modern!Ophelia in a white tie suit (during the scene of the royal wedding) and I swear one day I'll finish&post it. In the 17th century version meanwhile Horatio crossdresses and Hamlet&Ophelia cut their hair and begin to wear men's clothes during their mad acts/breakdowns. Also they all live somehow.

I am so happy you got excited and also I am so happy I was of help that time! I am a huge fan of the interpretation everyone are gnc lesbians and also live! And if you do finish with that wip and decide to post it please send it my way!

#asks #the-sea-beast-resting

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kneelbeforeclefairy · 3 years

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One of my favorite things about Queen Kristina is she lived in France for a while and met Louis XIV and despite a like 20 year age gap, they seem to have gotten on. (They had a lot in common. Like being monarchs before they were aware of it and having overbearing mothers. Kristina's was ....a card and a half)

But more importantly Kristina met the young Phillippe d'Anjou , better known as Phillippe d'Orleans or simply Monsieur, one of history's most famous queer people, who was known both during his lifetime and afterwards for his homosexuality and crossdressing. I've never seen ANY historian, not even the prudish victorians, try and deny either of those (though there's disagreement as to how much he actually cross dressed, if it was exaggerated later, if it was played down later, if it was only at masquerades, if he stopped later in life etc. Suffice to say we know he DID)

I even found a passage that puts them in the same room so I can't imagine they DIDN'T exchange at least a few words.

So that means that two of the 17th century's most famous "gender is for other people" met, and probably got along.

Imagine tiny baby Philippe, who LIKES his skirts and dresses as a woman at masquerade balls, and probably has begun having feelings about pretty boys instead of pretty girls, meeting this gender non conforming , cross dressing, butch FORCE OF NATURE who was no stranger to same sex desire either.

I'd like to think that they got on and had some queer GNC solidarity. But it's also possible Kristina--who was in her 40s, very intellectual and NOT one to care about etiquette and niceties--might have bored Philippe, who was known to be charming and talkative but not particularly educated or interested in intellectual pursuits. Perhaps he found her a touch dissapointing.

Either way, I'd like to think he found some solace in another GNC person of his rank and social sphere and Kristina got to be Elder Queer to a Baby Queer and it was good for both of them.

These are the things I think about.

#queen Kristina #philippe d'orléans #queer history #queers of versailles

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ourshyartcollection · 4 years

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My Culture Had Gods!?

okay, a little context, I’m Filipino but I was raised in america for a large portion of my life and I honestly never found an interest into my own culture. Yeah I really messed up on that one, so yeah my culture had gods and two of them caught my eye, and no this has no agenda nor any political or social message I just want to share a bit of culture I recently discovered about myself.

heres a link to the site

the first of these gods I wanna show is Lakapati – Hermaphrodite Goddess of Fertility and Agriculture

Translation: One of the most intriguing deities of Philippine mythology, Ikapati (or Lakapati) was the Tagalog goddess of fertility.Why intriguing? Well, some sources describe Lakapati as an androgynous, hermaphrodite, and even a “transgender” god.Before planting in a new field, the ancient Tagalogs usually offered sacrifices to Lakapati. In a 17th century report by Franciscan missionary Father Pedro de San Buenaventura, it was said that a farmer paying homage to this fertility goddess would hold up a child before saying “Lakapati pakanin mo yaring alipin mo; huwag mong gutumin” (Lakapati, feed this thy slave; let him not hunger).

also turns out my culture has a god for homosexuality, neat: Libulan – God of the Moon, Patron God of Homosexuality

Translation: Libulan in myths of Visayas is portrayed as a man, but some believe that the moon is a female aspect of the sun so she is a woman in other myths like the Tagalog folktales.However, according to one explanation, Libulan is a hermaphrodite or just a crossdresser. During the olden days of ancient Visayans, male babaylans garbed in female fashion were regarded in high esteem by the barangays.Libulan’s patronage is observed by crossdressing babaylan men of the community, although they do feminine things like cook, sew, clean the house and carry palay and clean them.

So I just want to say I only posted this to share my culture that I’m starting to learn and appreciate and its kinda like a way to help me find myself and shit sorry, honestly knowing more about my culture is really fun.

Like and Reblog and comment if you can, it really helps

#mythology #philippine mythology #philippines #gods #trans #trans gods #lgbtq #lgbtqiia+#lgbt community #pride #sharing culture #myth

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semper-legens · 3 years

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143. An Unkindness of Ghosts, by Rivers Solomon

Owned: Yes Page count: 349 My summary: Aster has never been one to be quiet and take abuse. Unluckily for her, she lives on the Matilda, a space ship carrying the last of humanity to the Promised Land, and a highly segregated society. Following her dead mother’s footsteps, Aster believes she might have found a secret that can change anything...if she can live to see it. My rating: 5/5 My commentary:

This book blew me away. I’ve read one of Solomon’s books before, The Deep, and picked this up on the same virtual shopping trip largely on a whim. I didn’t expect to be as gripped as I was. ‘I couldn’t put it down’ is a bit of a cliché, but I literally took an extra ten minutes on my lunch break the other day purely so I could finish reading the last couple of chapters of this. I cannot recommend it highly enough, it’s a really intelligent and emotional look at the deep scars racism and slavery have left in our society, and the practical effects of prejudice on the world. So, uh, trigger warning for that.

Aster is our protagonist, an autistic scientist from the lower decks of the Matilda, who spends her spare time offering help where she can to the people on the ship, while also dealing with the harsh conditions. She has a certain privilege in her relationship to the Surgeon, Theo, a mixed-race man and the illegitimate child of the previous sovereign, who nevertheless enjoys a higher status than Aster and those on the lower decks. It is, essentially, antebellum slavery - the darker-skinned people on the lower decks are forced to do hours of backbreaking physical labour under cruel overseers, while the light-skinned people on the upper decks get to enjoy freedom and leisure at their expense. Aster is a complicated person - she is practical, logical, and literal to a fault, but that doesn’t stop her trying to help those around her. Her not-explicitly-stated-but-obvious autism doesn’t stop her from feeling and being an empathetic human being, but it does make things like communication hard for her and often causes her problems and escalates the dangerous situations she is in. Her point of view is unique and interesting; in the sections where the narrative flitted away from her POV, I found myself itching to return to her. (No shade to the other characters, I just really love Aster.)

She’s a person marked by trauma, holding onto the people in her life who are important - her friend Giselle, her Aint Melusine, Theo - and trying to help those she can, but with the realistic view that her efforts aren’t always going to bear fruit. She is prone to acting rashly and acting out against the guards and those who would try to harm her and her people, which often causes more problems than it solves, and leads to even harsher conditions and punishments. At the same time, she’s been trained by the society she’s in to accept the horror around her. My heart went out for her every time she got backed into one of these corners - and, no spoilers, but some of the stuff that happens later in the book is intense, to the point where I was actively visibly wincing reading it.

This society is a really interesting one, in a horrifying sort of way. Solomon doesn’t just transpose 17th-19th century slavery into space, they come up with a whole living, working society. One of the details I really liked was the different languages used across different decks, as well as the cultures of the different decks. For example, on Aster’s deck, everyone is assumed to be a woman unless otherwise specified - on another, every child is referred to with they/them. Gender is actually something that’s played with a fair amount - Aster voluntarily had a hysterectomy and a mastectomy when she could to make her infertile, and ends up crossdressing to get by on higher decks. There’s a lot going on here and if I were to talk about it this post would be a book in and of itself, but it was all really interesting and nuanced and multi-textured and honestly, this book is incredible, please seek it out if you have the chance.

That’s all I got to say here - join me next time for more Animorphs, as things are about to change.

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