Hello, hello again, I'm back with another tirade! This whole thing started with seeing a fanartist post a drawing of Raven (a DC Teen Titans character created by George Perez) as dark skinned with a Desi associated hooked nose. One commentor began to complain saying 'Raven isn't a dark skinned Indian, she isn't Indian at all'. When the artist pointed out that they were referring to the fact that Raven's original design was based of an Indian model, the astute commentor acknowledged that Ravens 'style' was Indian but was influenced by other models of other nationalities as well, so lets break it down.
I assume you're talking about the red dot on her forehead. It's called a Bindi and it's not a part of Indian culture, it's a part of Hindu culture. Traditionally, the west has not cared about the difference, assuming any part of Hinduism is just spiritual hokum and using it in art and pop culture without consideration. But no, the Bindi is worn by Hindu women and yes, it is cultural appropriation for the Bindi to be worn by non-Hindus for aesthetic. More of Raven's character involves Hinduism too. Meditation, and chakras also frequently appear in Raven's magic and were also Hindu practices. Then there is the topic of Ravens model.
Her name was Persis Khambatta. She won Miss India and is the model that George Perez named as the original influence for Raven's character design. But that isn't definitive, I hear you cry. White people can be Hindu too! And the same quote that lists Persis as an influence also lists a Fran MacGregor as a later influence! And that is true, but also like...
That, dear reader, is Raven in New Teen Titans wearing a Sari, which is one of the traditional styles of clothing for Indian women. All of this combined methinks makes Raven being Desi a pretty decent possibility, right? Well, apparently not, according to some people on Reddit, since there is still the issue of
Raven's mom is white. She Elizabeth Roth, by both her Germanic last name and her blonde haired character design, is definitely one white lady. And Raven's father is Trigon, aka the devil from the bible. And like, there is no way that there is a historical precedent of Christianity associating Hindu culture with evil (just ignore Indiana Jones the Temple of Doom and the demonisation of Kali and Lord Sheev from Star Trek and Lady fucking Shiva and that time Tim Drake fought an actual Indian god for some fucking reason). I mean there is no way that the bible says anything negative about 'Idol worship' (cough cough Romans 1:21–23, Exodus 20:3–6, 1 Corinthians 10:14 cough). Is it really that much of a stretch to say that the devil, as far as DC is concerned, may have some Indian traits. Or that Raven's home of Azarath, steeped in spiritualism and mysticism and definitely-not-Hinduism, may have had some Indian culture there too? But I feel like all this pedantic behavior is kind of missing the point.
Why does Raven being Indian coded matter?
Well, it matters because if we include her in the Indian coded bucket, there is a total of 4 desi coded characters in DC, three of those 4 being the Al Ghul family. The sum total of all actual canonical Desi characters in both DC and Marvel combined, is one. Just one. Kamala Khan from the Marvel universe.
Representation, specifically changing the ethnicity of pre-existing characters in later adaptations is done to better reflect the audience diaspora, so that the audience can see themselves in those character. Little Desi girls want to believe that they can be superheroes, just like anybody else. And if we don't have that in cannon, we will make it in fannon.
Accuracy be damned.
þink again.
Sometimes i feel like younger queer kids are getting a bit to bold with openly talking to people they don’t know In The Context Of:
More than once i have had a younger/same age queer person come up to me in public settings and say something about “finding other gays” or clearly clocking me as nonbinary and I’m like :)))))))) hey buddy I’m here with my conservative parents can you fucking not out me :))))))))
Just say you like my outfit or hair and move on, fuck even tell me you like my shoelaces. Don’t call me gay and limp your wrist at me when you don’t even know me? Especially when there’s a bunch of ppl around?
This has been something I've been concerned about for a long time. Not only are rocket emissions polluting our atmosphere, but residual space junk is starting to clog the space around our planet. Every tiny piece of metal and plastic that floats off into space can potentially destroy a future attempt to leave the planets surface. We are nailing our own coffin shut while trying to escape it. The universe is nature too! We need to try and keep it clean or else we will be as helpless as fish born into a polluted pond. We're already poisoning our planet, can we not poison space too?
Satellite space junk is polluting the stratosphere as disintegrating satellites release metals like aluminium and nitrogen oxides during re-entry. Studies show 10% of stratospheric aerosols now contain these metals, with emissions rising sharply - 3.3 billion grams in 2020 to 5.6 billion grams in 2022. Rocket launches further add pollutants like black carbon and chlorine gases, threatening ozone.
Also btw trump recognizing only "the two biological sexes" harms intersex people too. I am a researcher of sex and it's affects on disease, and sex is far more complicated than "two sexes" and it always will be. Sex is multifaceted and there are far more than two binary sexes. Keep that in mind too. Don't fall into bioessentialism as you fight for trans people and intersex people.
Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3
I don't think some people realize how it feels to be a black gamer in the context of Wyll's content disparity. Intentionally racist or not, the fact that he continues to be overlooked and disregarded by the Devs is really disheartening. As a black gamer (and please note I am speaking for myself and do not represent the wider black gaming community, don't read this as that) I feel just as overlooked and disregarded as Wyll currently is.
Wyll is a great character. I absolutely adore Wyll. But he feels under baked. And this sucks because you see a pattern in media where black characters (especially black female characters, but that's a conversation for a different day) aren't as fleshed out as white characters. They aren't given the same love and care as white or white coded characters and, therefore, the fandom doesn't reciprocate with love and care towards the black or black coded characters. So of course, this reads as people not caring about them, so the writers don't bother to fix them or give them more.
It is a vicious cycle that we see often where they make Wyll, butdon't put as much work into him, so the fandom doesn't like him as much, so they don't think they need to put more work into him. They put more love and care into the white/white-coded characters because that is what the predominantly white fandom wants.
But as they do that, the black fans and the fans that enjoy Wyll as a character are ignored. Their voices are drowned out by the majority and I cannot tell y'all how shitty of a feeling that is. As a black woman, I have constantly been talked over, ignored, had my ideas repeated by a white person and have them take the credit, etc. So seeing Wyll and Wyll fans being ignored, talked over, white counterparts getting the attention sucks.
I get enough of that shit in real life, I don't want to have to deal with that in all my fucking hobbies.
As a black gamer, this makes me feel as if I don't belong in this fandom. It makes me feel like the devs and the writers don't want me in this fandom. It makes me feel like I'm not welcome to play this game, that I'm not welcome to like this character over others, that I'm not able to bring my experiences as a black woman and a black gamer to this game because the main black character is treated like they don't matter. It makes me feel like the writers didn't want to put in the work for this black man and felt like no one would notice or care. That no one but black folks would mind and who cares what black folks are saying?
Again, this is all my opinion and its a bit rambly. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this that really is a culmination of various things involving being a blerd and black geek in predominantly white fandoms.
But I think it's important to recognize that people are impacted by this and it sucks for a lot of black folks in white dominant spaces to continue to have to fight for crumbs at the table during Black History Month in 2024. We should have good, fleshed out characters, that are respected and cared for by their creators and by the fandom at large. I really hope Larian puts in the work for Wyll and a lot more people can see how cool a character he really is. He deserves the same amount of love and care as the other origin companions.
Hello there!I'm just your average person trying to do some above average thingsI like rambling about my ocs and random stuffThey/She
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