Day: November 13, 2018

afrodesiaq:

kurtwagnermorelikekurtwagnerd:

tikkunolamorgtfo:

I love it when people try to claim representation in fiction is being taken “too far” to the point where it’s no believable. They’re like: 

“What’s next, a mixed-race immigrant on the autism spectrum?” Hi, my name is Rachel, also known as Rachna, and I’m a mixed-race immigrant on the autism spectrum. 

“What’s next, a transgender Latino man with chronic pain?” What, you mean my former colleague, Marco? 

“What’s next, a Black Jewish lesbian?” Bitch, I know I three Black Jewish lesbians, WHAT’S YOUR FUCKING POINT?

im so tired of the argument being “what’s next? a feasible combination of human conditions other than straight white cis able-bodied dude? that can’t possibly happen!”

these same people ABSOLUTELY try to use their insular bigoted perspective to shut down voices of real people in the real world, too, so these attitudes carry over.

i frequently have been in conversations with people – both online and in person – where something comes up that is perhaps relevant to some facet of who i am, and i will mention it.

“– my experience as a trans person–”, “– growing up in a black household–” “–trying to get accommodation at my synagogue–” “–when native people speak about our experiences–” etc

and it’s truly wild how regular an occurrence it is for some person to pop up, like, GOTCHA, LIAR, just now you said you are [deaf/trans/black/bi/asian/autistic] BUT PREVIOUSLY YOU HAVE SAID YOU ARE [jewish/native/chronically ill/ace/mentally ill/nonbinary] so WHAT IS THE TRUTH,

like they have caught me in some clear and unambiguous fiction that they then try to use to invalidate my perspective, as if any or all of these identities are mutually exclusive. as if i’m somehow cheating by being too many things. and then there’s an interrogation, wherein because i transgressed the bounds of Normal People Identities, before i can continue having discussions and opinions, i have to be subjected to grilling about who i am until i have proved to their satisfaction that i do indeed exist.

it puts real actual people in a situation of frequently having to defend and justify our very existence, simply because we don’t fit into someone’s extremely narrow worldview of Acceptable Human. and that grinds you down, over time. it’s exhausting. it’s infuriating. it needs to stop.