Comments | pocochina: girls who like girls but only if they like other girls RIGHT

pocochina

girls who like girls but only if they like other girls RIGHT

Jul 29, 2013 20:38

So this started out as a quick response to a meme way back when. And then it turned into a ~thing. And then it collected stray thoughts from everywhere. And now it's at least three posts of me being increasingly contrary about the Doing FanFeminism Right consensus.

( on who we like and how we like them )

spn: sammay!, meta-fantastica, feminism, losing friends & alienating people, btvs/ats: wwp is my boy, leemoveridentification

Comments 19

obsessive_a101 August 1 2013, 03:41:20 UTC

YES! \0/ I finally got to this post. :) This tab has been opened WAAAAAAAAY too long on my browser, but my attention span seems to be doing well today.

As always, I love your posts (and your links) because they are always interesting, intriguing, and thoughtful - to me at least as someone who has never been sure about "FEMINISM" per se (I remember mentioning this before... about how I've never felt completely comfortable taking up that mantle without feeling like a sham - I dislike jumping into things when I am aware of the fact that there are many things that I do not know/are aware of and still need to explore and think about more first). I am always interested in and open to seeing intelligent and respectful discussions on the topic. :3

I think it's really interesting because Western feminism has always been a "sudden" discovery for and to me (literally from history texts - which are oh so dependable. Chinese culture has always been notoriously patriarchal (and still is), but my (nuclear) family has always been relatively ( ... )

obsessive_a101 August 1 2013, 03:41:36 UTC

Because -and this fits right in with some of the arguments that I have seen go around as well as counter-arguments, that seem to be a mixed bag of "you SHOULD love ALL the female characters", "you SHOULDN'T hate female characters and this is why", or even with the post about why preferring male characters over female characters is totally and completely fine (and I've actually had tons of interesting discussions with my sister about the types of book characters (especially in YA fiction) and animes/mangas she tends to like, and how she almost always prefer male characters over female characters simply because there are more of them and they tend to be better written (though some animes/mangas are better than others with this), which is a SAD FACT (that should change) but is certainly not her fault, which cycles back and leads to attempts to define "fault" and "blame" for what we may see as anti-feminist behavior/culture- when I look at Chinese media, I HAVE to almost judge it by completely different standards than what western media ( ... )

pocochina August 1 2013, 05:49:45 UTC

Well, I would never skip a chance to pass on this post.

And yeah, ultimately I feel your sister on her frustration.

I always love hearing your thoughts about Chinese media because I know so little of it. Am I catching you right if it sounds like....a lot of the stories that western media holds up as elevating a character's status don't necessarily translate to a Chinese cultural context?

1 obsessive_a101 August 1 2013, 06:48:50 UTC

Aww... yay! :D ( ... )

Thread 7

bellonablack August 24 2013, 13:48:06 UTC

I hear you, and I think you have a point. I mean I have several men I'd identify with, along with a few women, and all for specific individualized reasons. Probably reasons I don't understand myself for all of them but there are some traits and themes I'm going to be all over no matter what the gender ( ... )

pocochina August 24 2013, 22:46:45 UTC

I'm not so familiar with video games and their fandoms, but I can definitely see how that particular identification would be even stronger when you're using a character as an avatar in that way, and therefore why the greater diversity/decreased vulnerability of male characters would appeal.

It's more than reasonable to not fit with Elena because of her actions, but it tends to turn into a Marauder situation, of all or nothing, and more so with women? I don't know if I'm clear on that.

That's a really interesting comparison. Do you mean HP fandom had a similarly polarized reaction to the Marauders, as TVD fandom does to Elena? Or that fandom was a little more willing to acknowledge the both the flaws and strengths of the male characters?

bellonablack August 25 2013, 16:07:04 UTC

Yes, it really does affect the player. Oddly in some cases, and this is unusual--and something I maybe noticed more--is that in superpowered environments, sexism is even worse and more out there. I even think (and I'm not sure) we get women in refrigerators from Green Lantern's girlfriend being killed by an enemy and well, put in the fridge. In superpowered environments, or maybe even if the girl gains abilities, it gets somehow worse to me or worse in a different way. Technically there should be not a large difference in the two avatars but the way the game world interacted with them--was so so different and made you feel different. So yeah, I enjoyed playing Batman more as a consequence ( ... )