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they-them-that · 23 days

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Rewatched Haikyuu, finally watched the fourth season, and now finished the manga so here's my fav player from each main team with little to no explanation.

Karasuno: Tsukishima

the best character arc next to Hinata's

Aoba Joshai: Mad Dog

Fun to watch! So proud of him

Date Tech: Aone

For someone who's supposed to be scary looking, he looks like a baby a lot of the time lol

Nekoma: Kenma

Best boy

Fukurodani: Bokuto

I wish we got to know more of Fukurodani's players. Bokuto is kind of at the top by default because of it.. 😅

Shirotakizawa: Shiburu

A sensitive fanboy

Inarizaki: Kita

Precious man. Protect at all cost

(left out Itachiyama and Kamomedai because there was just not enough time and development with those teams for me to even weigh my options, sorry!)

#haikyuu #hq #haikyu

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they-them-that · 2 months

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I stumbled upon this instagram reel that was comparing the actors of the live action Avatar to the character actors in the animated series and it's literally just mean?? Like these are real people you're disparaging and it's low key racist.

The fact Jet and Sukki were left out and those two have been getting a lot of praise for being conventionally attractive (not that the other actors aren't??) really spells out to me that your idea of "good casting" is getting slender-faced, model-eque actors.

Idk how to tell you that when it comes to getting ethnically accurate representation, that also means getting the ethnic features with it. You want the cast to be racially accurate but still have "anime" facial proportions that most Asian and indigenous people don't have, then get disappointed that most of the cast physically cannot meet your westernized standards?? Check yourselves, this is genuinely ignorant of you.

#also arent they all like teenagers? we are not making fun of teenagers online #similar thing happened with the monster high G3 live action like y'all cant tolerate normal looking teens that arent adultified #atla netflix #atla #avatar the last airbender

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they-them-that · 2 months

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Sokka's "Sexism Arc" Isn't Worth Preserving!📢

I've been seeing a lot of complaints about the new live action Avatar and half of it seems to be about how Sokka is no longer sexist. I've seen people describe his character as flat now which I think is just pointing out a problem with the way animated Sokka was handled rather than the live action one. Not that I've seen the live action adaptation and I'm sure there are problems (such as casting a white passing actor to play him where we don't definitively know if he's indigenous due to his questionable tribe status) but I'm annoyed at how people think his sexism is an integral and worthwhile trait to preserve.

Sokka was written as a cynic for comedic relief where he'd often become the punchline for his poor attitude. His sexism was treated lightly throughout the series, unlike how prejudices are normally handled in the show, and only ONE episode where he gets schooled by the Kiyoshi Warriors does it get treated with some levity. Even after that episode, he'd still have moments of misogyny that doesn't actually get handled with much consideration.

A sexism arc is frankly not a compelling or interesting arc to want to watch. We have an array of complex and powerful girls in the series that would already confront sexism from viewers without needing an entire male character showboating juvenile misogyny just so he can be the butt of the joke. Sokka has no reason to be sexist (as nobody does) and while other characters' ignorance come from something tangible within their world and storyline, Sokka is just sexist for the sake of being sexist until it no longer serves his character. It sticks out to me and doesn't actually provide any depth because we don't even know where it comes from. He deserves a far more introspective and interesting narrative than just learning to respect women and female audiences shouldn't need to sit through the boy struggling just so he can eventually get there.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #atla live action #atla netflix #sokka #atla sokka

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they-them-that · 3 months

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The Hyuna news is upsetting but also nothing new. There's a pattern of women who are upheld as feminist that turn around and date/marry shady men. It's a complex but systemic issue that I wanted to dissect to propose a productive and feminist way to approach these situations.

1. The Root Cause (Patriarchy)

I get we don't want to give these women any room for excuses when it feels like they've thrown women under the bus but we still have to recognize that although they have unique privileges and are still accountable for their actions, they're also victims of the patriarchy.

We have to recognize that these women are the subjects of a predatory industry and most of them were groomed by it. They're highly isolated and honestly, most of the men they share a career and social circle with are the Junhyung types.

Just like how misogyny and rape culture is still normalized for us common folk, it's fervent in the celebrity sphere where the men have even more power and privileges to abuse. Understanding that, it isn't surprising how shady men have access to these socially isolated women.

2. Placid Feminism

These women live in a bubble and a lot of the feminist action they've seemingly done never extended outside themselves in actuality. I don't deny the possibility they genuinely consider themselves to be feminists because at least for some of them, the issues they've talked about came from personal experience.

The issue comes in on how placid and underdeveloped their feminist values are that they don't think to look for those virtues in romantic partners. It brings into question if they even addressed their partner's past actions and social values or if they just "enjoy each other's company". It becomes even more shallow when these female celebrities revoke their feminist fanbase by doubling down rather than acknowledging the issue. That simply, feminism isn't relevant in the dating scene.

3. Rose Tinted Glasses

How much of a feminist was Hyuna really? Her song Babe was believed to be about the sexualization of minors due to the music video but when you actually read the lyrics, it's really just a love song that romanticizes youth.

Many female artists put out a consumable "girl boss" aesthetic of feminism while their music still revolves around the affection and pleasure of men. A lot of the sexual liberation these women have been praised for actually fails to challenge the status quo and ultimately caters to men and their unrealistic and predatory expectations of beauty and sex. We then have to consider what these women have done for us outside sexy girl-power beats and sadly, it's not much.

We've seen these women being beaten down by misogyny and rise from the ashes and we made it feminist. Their actions felt empowering and radical even when they were just doing it for themselves. We witness their liberation and then seek that these women are activists. The feminist iconography they market at us fulfills our confirmation bias and we hail them as a "girl's girl".

Although I don't blame this on fans when the celebrities literally pink wash their image, it's also important we deepen our own understanding and standards of feminism. We can feel empowered by their work but we shouldn't put these celebrities on a pedestal when they're frankly not doing as much as they actually can be. There are social activists out there who are facing the brunt of the movement, who actually make it their mission to liberate all women and marginalized people. We have to differentiate between an entertainer and an activist. We have to hold celebrities to a standard of basic human decency and activism but we mustn't be impressed by shallow gestures of feminism.

#hyuna #feminism #feminist #kpop

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they-them-that · 3 months

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A ramble about my problems with Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (And Scott Pilgrim overall)

I know this will come off as nitpicky because it semi-is but I also had a hard time getting into the series with how much tired and sexist tropes were compacted into it. Although some of my complaints may seem to go against the entire antithesis of Scott Pilgrim (the "it's supposed to be that way!" argument), I also think that just means the entire comic and it's extended projects has always had a sexism problem. That doesn't mean you're wrong for enjoying it though! I fully understand the appeal and I'm not actually against the playful concept of gender dynamics in romantic relationships. But Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is the latest works of the franchise that reimagines the comic's story thus, potentially being a better, more educated version of itself and is in some ways it is, but is still ignorant in many others.

Good Changes:

-Todd's bisexual awakening

-Knives gets to be mostly happy

-Scott isn't there most of the time lol

Ok now the problems.

Wallace was a treat the whole series and I enjoyed Todd's bisexuality arc but Stephen's romance and coming out was shafted. As someone who didn't read the comics, I had no idea he was a gay character and it felt like we were trading one m/m development for another.

Kim makes out with Roxie instead of Knives in the anime (thank god) and I found the close up of them french kissing to be... Off putting, especially when Todd and Wallace's makeout, even with tongue involved, did not get the same voyeuristic treatment. This lends itself to an issue that's also in the comics which is the fetishization of w/w relationships for the pleasure of men. Even if we argue it's also for queer women, women are usually above just watching two girls frenching each other and no matter what, it's still a fetishistic scene.

Julie is written to be stuck up in the comic with misogynistic undertones. She's quite literally called a "bitch" and throughout the comics, she is constantly defined by the sexist term.

(source: wiki. Even if this plot summary could mostly be a fan's interjection on Julie, it still shows how her personality is antagonized in a uniquely misogynistic way by the comic)

In the anime, Julie gets together with Gordon Goose, formerly known as Gideon Graves (also retconning his ten year age gap with the main cast for some reason). He quickly crashes at her place and their relationship reflects an incredibly exhausted trope of the pessimistic woman and freeloader man. I found their relationship more interesting when they were both being evil together because it didn't feel parasitic but for the most part, their relationship was playing on a patriarchal and toxic dynamic that's nothing refreshing or cute.

Knives whole situation throughout the Scott Pilgrim franchise is deeply upsetting, especially because it never gets properly confronted in order to withhold accountability from Scott. Scott sees her when she's a minor and although it's pointed out throughout the series, it never actually gets addressed by Scott or Knives. Despite her being taken advantage of and then cheated on, Knives is portrayed as a crazy obsessed girlfriend and soon after, a bitter obsessed ex.

Although the comic and anime lampshades about the age gap problem, it also tries to minimize the situation through excuses like how Scott never made it official, he hasn't gone further than holding her hand, he had no real interest in Knives to begin with, and so on. This doesn't negate what he's doing and in the comic, he even asks for sex from Knives when she becomes of age which is blueprint grooming.

I find it suspicious that the protagonist we're meant to root for is the character who dates a 17 year old and hardly faces consequences for it. In the anime, we don't get to ruminate on the problem at all.

Scott disappears quickly and Ramona, despite hardly knowing him and frankly leaving little to be impressed by, searches for him throughout the anime where Scott gets painted with this unearned endearment of being a "good guy". When Scott returns, he gives a weak apology to Knives, saying "Apparently, a 23 year old dating a 17 year old is frowned upon by society" that actually fails to acknowledge why. It ends up coming off as down playing Scott's action and I can't help but feel that in a way, Bryan Lee O'Malley is also justifying dating minors as just some reckless mistake a guy can make.

Kim also makes out with Knives in the comic and it even seems to hint at those two being an item in the game which entirely negates the age gap issue the comic pretends to recognize with Scott.

Ramona's relationship with Scott is frankly NOT CUTE. Although it may have a more compelling narrative in the comics, I just find it difficult to support the relationship when Scott has such cishet energy. He fetishizes Ramona's bisexuality but then becomes jealous and insecure when he learns that Ramona actually dates women and doesn't just have sex with them. He's shown to groom and cheat and in the anime, it's pretty much one of the first things Ramona learns about him which should instantly be a red flag. Despite it, Ramona is head over heels for Scott, even when she learns how future her leaves him and he becomes a hellbent bitter ex himself with no sense of responsibility for how his actions drove Ramona away.

There is quite literally nothing about this guy that makes him appealing to me yet the series romanticizes their gendered dynamic, the movie being used as one of the biggest examples of a stale white wonderbread boy and a manic pixie dream girl by media analytics.

When we meet older and even-older Scott, we get told his age as well as see him visibly aging. With Ramona, there is essentially no visible aging even when she's in her 50's and we get the sexist gag of "don't ask" when it comes to how old she is, leaning into the harmful shame in being a woman above 25.

Although I understand that the entire concept of Scott Pilgrim is confronting Ramona's exes, knowing the anime was an opportunity to finally flesh out many underdeveloped characters, it was disappointing to see Ramona still really only exist in proximity to her romantic relationships, including Scott. I hardly learned anything about Ramona as an individual and I didn't get any sense of character progression. She started off as this mysterious woman and ended that way too.

In the end, the series just felt very cliche and heteronormative to me, even with its abundance of queer characters. Although it's not terrible by any means, it definitely still has issues I can't look past.

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgram takes off #knives chau #ramona flowers

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they-them-that · 3 months

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Joker needs a twink henchman

He's a bisexual and we've had three different women be his fanatics/aids (Harley Quinn, Joker's Daughter and Punchline). It's high time we get a man here to be the next younger, sexualized, crazy clown croney

#batman #dc joker #dc comics

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they-them-that · 3 months

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We need a reproduction of these

#monster high

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they-them-that · 4 months

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Idk if anyonevelse can tell that the new littlest pet shops seem to purposefully be using the bigger round headed molds. Still haven't seen the popular molds like the collie, short haired cat, dachshund, great dane, and cocker spaniel. I hope even more classic molds make a comeback!

#especially the bee snail and iguana molds #littlest pet shop #lps toys

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they-them-that · 4 months

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I want a G3 Frankie with a mullet 👀

#and i also want to see a bobcut #honestly a lot of the dolls with long hair should've had short hair #looks at Torelai Purrsephone and Ghoulia #monster high #monster high g3 #frankie stein

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they-them-that · 4 months

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Weebs thinking media literacy is looking past the literal sexualization of children because "the plot is good" is sad and humiliating. Y'all just watch trash anime, sit down and actually watch arthouse and indie projects and tell me what media literacy is lol 🙄

#this is about made in the abyss #anime

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they-them-that · 5 months

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The Complex Misogyny Enacted by Queer Men

Call outs: James Somerton, Trixie Mattel, Katya, Le'Ron Readus, The Roundtable, Rupaul, Karl Lagerfeld, Dolce and Gabana

With the James Somerton scandal, although I only watched some of his videos in passing, it has definitely made me make sure to be more vigilant about the content I consume and how they source.

I also want to address James' misogyny, something that tragically isn't unique to him. The "straight girl" scapegoat many queer men target has bothered me for a long time. They try to frame it in a way that is "punching up" at the privileged but their problem is entirely against them being women. Trixie Mattel has a habit of complaining about "straight" girls that has put me off, especially when her complaints are incredibly presumptuous and small minded. We wouldn't know random women's sexuality yet we choose to assume they're straight so we can openly ridicule them. Even if these women are straight, the problems queer men levy towards them doesn't so much call out any discriminatory behavior as it is shaming women for what they think is "shrill", "annoying", or just for sharing a space with them.

I recall an episode of UNHhhh where Trixie and Katya said how straight people are guests in queer spaces and in the same way, they can be "uninvited". Even though they use a gender neutral term here, we know that the bulk of straight people who attend queer events are women. In the same way that queer spaces are a safe space for gay men, it's also a safe space for women who want to avoid sexual advancements and sexual violence. Gay men overlook women's issues and needs when they find their presence inconvenient despite women posing little threat to them.

I've also seen the way queer men target queer women when they feel like they've been benefiting more than them. James Somerton, La'Ron Readus, and Tom from The Roundtable have all argued how the ratio of wlw representation in media compared to mlm is due to favouritism towards wlw relationships. This is a pure assumption, at the point they made this argument, we never heard of a canon mlm relationship being shot down by TV or movies and the accusers provided no examples of such, just that wlw representation has been making a breakthrough at the time thanks to the vehement pushing of its writers and show creators. It has nothing to do with preferences for wlw relationships as these studios have tried to stop it and still push back against it to "appeal to a broad audience". It just so happens that the queer creatives who have made waves for representation wanted to represent queer femmes, most identifying closely with sapphic experiences. To underestimate the amount of discrimination these queer creators got for getting wlw representation out there by assuming they have some type of privilege over queer CIS men is grossly ignorant. Although mlm representation is important, it's upsetting to see queer men look at wlw representation and respond with jealousy, unknowing of how queerness already centralizes them. RuPaul's Drag Race, for example, was only allowed for CIS men before trans women were recognized as legitimate drag performers, many of the "CIS" contestants turning out to be trans women. Drag kings still have not made any appearances on the show and are still overlooked and undervalued in the Drag community.

Even though queer men cry for their turn when it comes to something like queer representation in the media (even though it exists, they just have a problem with women having more than them), they don't bat an eye in the way queer men dominate places like the fashion industry that heavily discriminate against women (Karl Lagerfeld and Dolce and Gabana being infamously misogynistic). They also wince at gay shipping culture and mlm representation when it's created by women, accusing them of fetishism, something I've been guilty of in the past. Although, there's an understandable desire for mlm content that is also written by queer men and discomfort about women being voyeurs in gay fiction, we're also assuming these women aren't queer themselves or that they even identify as women. Love Simon's author, Becky Albertalli was forced to come out as bisexual after years of scrutiny for being a "straight woman profiting off of queer romance".

"I legitimately didn't realize. I'm thirty-seven years old. I've been happily married to a guy for almost ten years. I have two kids and a cat. I've never kissed a girl. I never even realized I wanted to. But if I rewind further, I'm pretty sure I've had crushes on boys and girls for most of my life. I just didn't realize the girl crushes were crushes."

There is an oversight on how many people divulge in queer fiction in order to explore their sexuality and gender long before they even consider that they could be queer themselves (I know that was my experience). But even with straight women, many of them are actually drawn to gay fiction because it subtracts women from the equation. Female characters are subject to sexist tropes and many of their romances are imbalanced and toxic. Gay fiction has been a way for women to enjoy romance without feeling the weight of patriarchy through femme-presenting characters.

All this to say that misogyny is still fervent in the queer community and queer men do not get a pass on how they talk about and treat women. I noticed that the most privileged of the queer community, that being White CIS gay men, are the ones who act the most entitled in the queer spaces they enter, not the "straight" women they constantly antagonize. Queer men still struggle with what all men struggle with and that's acknowledging their privileges. Even if they swear their problem with women is because of their sexuality, it really ends up coming down to their gender.

#james somerton #trixie and katya #trixie mattel #katya zamolodchikova #rupaul's drag race #karl lagerfeld #dolce & gabbana #mysogyny #feminism #queer issues #lgbtq

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they-them-that · 5 months

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Can we talk about the White-feminization of Asha's design??

Is anyone else picking up on how Black femme-presenting character designs use braids just to imitate straight hair? Asha's braids are so thin to the point that the top of her head is basically flat (but you can't make out her hairlines either to make her hair look "full", like it's just sprouting out of her head that way). There's still the stereotypical idea that long flowing hair is feminine despite the fact it's derived from White beauty standards. It's also why Black masc-presenting characters get thicker and shorter locks. Like why are we applying White notions of femininity and masculinity onto Black hair??

Asha is also light skinned, thin and wears medieval inspired but ultimately cultureless clothing. When every other Disney princess of colour and even the White ones gets to represent their culture (although not all of them were successful), why are the only two Black princesses located in the west? Even if Asha was going to be in a European-esque fantasy space, she still could've represented some specific Black culture.

To divorce her from Blackness in order to make her "feminine" and "palatable" to a general audience is deeply upsetting.

#disney #wish disney #disneys wish #princess asha #black representation #misogynoir

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they-them-that · 5 months

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Don't Buy "Be Fashion Academy" Dolls

I want to put this out there in case anyone is willing to give this doll line the benefit of the doubt.

They're fairly new but they've made several posts already showcasing the dolls in all their pasty glory. They're just ignoring the problem and only replying to comments that point it out rather than making a public post addressing the issue.

Their reason also doesn't fly. Be Fashion Academy should've corrected this mistake before even revealing the dolls to the public, why would you use the white washed dolls at all??? Even if we believe that this is the fault of the manufacturer, Be Fashion Academy still allowed it and put them out to the public the way they are! If they cared about diversity, they should've picked a manufacturing company that did provide other skin tones!

Accurately representing melanin does not get to be an after thought! You can't just say "yeah we're just selling them white for now, we'll add skin diversity later (if you support us enough)". Black and brown girls are being expected to tolerate white washing because their identity is apparently "more work" to portray and Be Fashion Academy does not have the patience for that...

#the illustrated art is light skinned though #even for the darkest skinned doll #and all their faces are the same in both #theres no unique ethnic features?? i cant even tell if the blue one is supposed to be asian or not #and the red and green ones are also super ambiguous and white passing #fashion dolls #dolls #doll community #be fashion academy #colorism #colourism #tw racsim

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they-them-that · 6 months

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I finally read Nana and I get a lot of people romanticize the manga but...

Hachi going from this naive but optimistic girl who's trying to live on her own for the first time to an impregnated victim trapped in a patriarchal marriage with an abusive man who isn't even present or loyal is the most depressing shit I've ever read. I really thought she was going to get out of it eventually and live her life again but the future entails otherwise.

Idk why people hate Hachi because I don't even have room in my heart for that. I just feel bad for her, it's so miserable. Maybe I'd hate her if she wasn't the one suffering????

#theres a lot of problems in the manga especially when it comes to how romance and women are written #like they're all just subvervient to men and the men only hurt them #yes even punk Nana #not the female independence and solidarity manga i thought it was going to be 💀💀💀#nana #nana manga #nana hachi

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they-them-that · 6 months

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Sorry it's another angry Monster High post lol, but some of y'all insulting the new voices for some of G3's characters really need to reevaluate yourselves. 💀

Those are literally real people's voices and not just for the VA's. It doesn't matter if you like G1's voices more, you don't need to be rude about the new ones??

#ive seen ppl complain about Twyla's voice being “babyish” when thats literally the VA's voice #and someone said it was “stereotyping autism”??? THE VA IS AUTISTIC LIKE WHY SHOULD WE ALL SOUND “NORMAL” TO BE ACCEPTABLE???#also seeing ppl criticize Skelita's voice because its deep and raspy like girls cant have that voice??#or it makes them “less feminine” when its literally they're natural voice that shouldnt dictate anything #also ppl will always makea point about accent changes for these characters as if G1's was honestly any good (it wasnt tbh)#any voice that isn't conventionally “nice” or reflects G1 just gets shit on i guess #monster high #monster high g3

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they-them-that · 6 months

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With the fatphobia slated against Monster High's Catty, it's honestly worth admitting how the decades of slim and tall dolls with little to no body diversity is, matter of fact, a legitimate cause for concern.

I've seen doll fans and nostalgic netizens fight back against the criticism that Barbie represented an unrealistic body standard (still does but it's slowly improving). Their argument is that she has a "stylized" body and they feign ignorance to the idea it could've impacted, or at the very least contributed, to girls' understanding of body standards. And if you're one of the kids who believe that Barbie didn't affect you negatively at all, then good! I'm glad that was the case!

I understand that the argument comes from fondness felt through Barbie or other fashion dolls and that the criticism can feel prudish or nonsensical since a lot of criticisms against dolls are usually highly conservative and misogynistic. But people end up defending these commercially-driven companies who chose the thin and tall body, not because it's stylistic, but because it's idealized. Pushing back against the criticism of wanting dolls to reflect real life women (because you can do that AND be stylized) is allowing these companies to get away with rejecting body diversity.

Although the demand for female oriented products and media to be more empowering--hence less gendered--has arguably caused the de-feminization of Barbie (which is more of the fault of companies misunderstanding the assignment), it has also pressured Barbie into making more diverse dolls. I feel like if people only ever upheld the mentality that the "stylization" of fashion dolls' bodies shouldn't be deemed problematic, we wouldn't have ever gotten to this point.

Monster High G3 is one of the most body-diverse doll lines out there but characters like Draculaura and Abbey have been reprimanded for representing curvy bodies when they're arguably not even plus sized. Catty Noir, a doll who is intentionally fat, has shined a light on the ever pervasive fatphobia that festers the doll community, a prejudice that has been instilled and unchallenged BECAUSE dolls have fit cleanly into the thin and tall beauty standard for the majority of our childhoods. It's why it matters to call out a doll line that only ever represents a singular idealized body type. We have to open our eyes that it's not as simple and unproblematic as being "stylistic" when our real life body standards aren't even natural for most of us.

#also. just because i saw someone make this unthought out argument #the reason muscley action figures dont get called out to the same extent as fashion dolls isnt because we're being misogynistic 🙄#its because women's body issues is a far more pervasive issue where thinness is seen as the standard #while being a beefy guy is recognized as an exceptional rarity. but also male body standards should also be called out???#like why not do both instead of saying we shouldn't do either 🙄#monster high #monster high g3 #catty noir #barbie #body positive #feminism #fashion dolls

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they-them-that · 6 months

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These particular cats and these particular dogs are the definition of pretty privilege

#littlest pet shop #lps toys

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