My Ships Do It Better??

Daddy by pencilHead7

let’s talk about racism in the danmei fandom

alright so originally i wrote this for twitter, but i felt like tumblr could benefit from it too. today we’re finally getting the long awaited “deconstruction of racism in the danmei fandom” post. and lemme preface this by saying- i’m chinese-american. i’m nblm. i do, in fact, have the cultural and historical background to know what i am talking about. so let’s get into it. 

this is gonna be a long post, because we have a lot to talk about. first, racism doesn’t have to be as blatant as calling me a chink, or saying all asians look the same, or not wanting to consume asian media, or making ching chong jokes.racism can be as subtle towards asians as it can towards any other race. if you think i shouldn’t have to say that, join the club, bc same. 

second, racism towards asians, especially in the west, has a long history of being overlooked and accepted. now, let’s talk about how racism dictates some of the takes you see in the fandom. firstly, what originally inspired this thread- the mxtx rumors and the jokes being made about her and censorship. now, obvs some ppl are gonna say that they were just jokes made in poor taste. and, sure. but they were jokes made in poor taste, steeped in racism. the jokes being made about mxtx going to jail happen bc ppl do not view her as a real person. not rlly. she’s an author, sure, the author of one of their favorite novels, but she’s not, like. a person with thoughts and feelings and a life. and that sort of casual lack of humanhood and agency given to danmei authors is rooted in the severely racist dehumanization of asians that’s prevalent in the west. this is something that can be seen other places, too- a good example being when parasite was notably nominated for every oscar category *except* the acting ones. 

it’s this lack of personhood, this lack of agency, that allows ppl to have takes like “censorship isn’t actually bad, and here’s why”. yes, this is a real take that i saw. this take argues that the cql is better than mdzs, bc it is “softer and less graphic”. in general, a lot of ppl have the take that mxtx’s works in particular are too graphic, with problematic sexual elements. now, i’ve talked before about how that’s a homophobic take bc gay relationships should also be allowed to be messy. but it’s also deeply entrenched in racism. it’s why white gays can have the take “this is Problematique and here’s why” and claim it’s not homophobic. 

racism against asians has long since created a trend of sexualizing them- thinking asian men are sexy while also removing their sexual agency. asian men can be sexy, but they can’t actually *have sex*. not explicitly. there’s a historical, real world element to this. “not fats no femmes no asians” could definitely be seen on ppls grindr profiles, back in the day. asians can be sexy, sure. look at kpop boys. but they can’t be sexual. they’re infantilized. they have to remain pure and wholesome, or they’re dragged as problematic and homophobic and fetishizing, a word that’s thrown around so often it’s practically lost meaning. fetishizing is my ex-bf telling me i’m sexy bc* i’m asian, it’s bl/yaoi fans approaching a gay couple on the bus and gushing over how “cute and yaoi they are.” fetishizing is *not* showing your 2 male main charas having explicit sex. if it is, then every white fan in danmei is fetishizing asians. 

but i digress- back to the point about racism. the fact that ppl can argue about censorship shows that they, as a whole, aren’t considering the ramifications of censorship on the literal country it exists in, and it’s citizens. i, obvs, do not live in china. but i’ve got relatives who do, and who did. i’ve got relatives who fled china. not everything is about you and the media you want to consume. and then, of course, there’s the casual racism. the everyday racism. the racism that lies in things like saying all the names are too similar and it’s hard to keep track of them. the racism in saying things like “i’m just here to have fun,,,like sure, i’d persevere through dostoevsky, but this is danmei”, as if danmei is somehow inferior, as if danmei isn’t meant to be critically engaged with, as if danmei doesn’t tackle and critically explore some of the deepest and darkest issues. 

asian media is often presented that way, from kung fu movies to danmei. there is a type of racism, of eurocentrism, that exists in the belief that western media has deeper, more engaging morals. asian media is more “fun”. asian media is almost entirely based on morals and deep thought, it’s just not based in western ones. for example, two of my favorite authors are haruki murakami and kazuo ishiguro. both are japanese authors, who’s works i’ve heard westerners describe as weird and without a point, when in fact they are simply telling stories with innately eastern asian morals and teachings. it’s the same type of racism that causes ppl to make jokes about asian food, to not view it as a craft the same way they do french food. it’s asian- it must be “less than”, be inferior, be inherently not worth as much. 

casual racism about asians is normalized, which isn’t a word i use often. it’s normalized to the point where ppl don’t even realize they have that sort of implicit bias, and we know ppl don’t rlly come on the internet to think critically. but unintentional racism is still racism. it still has an impact, still does damage. ppl need to think intentionally and critically in how they consume and interact with media not made for them, but they don’t, instead choosing to come in with their preexisting biases, and bc of that, it’s easy for fandom members to dismiss the cultural concerns of chinese ppl within the fandom. it’s easy, for example, to say “calling them martial brothers is incest apologism”, ignoring the inherent cultural roots of martial brothers. 

now, we’re gonna get in to the current “drama”. i do not ship chengxian. i think that even bears repeating. i Do Not ship chengxian. i have written them, in a modern au, as adopted brothers. but there is a real historical and culture relevance to the idea of martial brothers, of community, that westerners willfully refuse to hear, claiming instead that “you’re disregarding adopted families!” no. that’s not what’s happening at all. what’s happening is ppl are refusing to look at their own, western bias, and placing western values on an eastern idea. community raising of children, community family bonds without being adopted families, is important in east asian culture. there is a long history of community being whats important, and ppl don’t get that you can be a “communal/community family” without being considered familial. jyl choosing to view wwx as her brother, bc he is a martial brother, and chengxian being in love, are things that can technically coexist. whether or not you choose to perceive them as such, refusing to acknowledge the real history of martial brothers, and scremaing “incest apologism” whenever someone tries to explain it, is inherently racist. it’s you assuming you know my culture better than me. it’s you assuming your western ideas are the only ones that exist. which is, at its core, the basis for most racism in the danmei fandom. 

most racism in the danmei fandom comes from this idea that casual racism against asians isn’t *really* racism, and therefore asians don’t *really* get to have a say, and it shouldn’t matter anyway bc we’re lucky you’re even engaging with danmei, with asian content, since it’s shallow and inferior anyway. the racism comes from a place of moral superiority, of ownership, of this assumption that westerners are entitled to not just consume danmei but also bring their western lens and apply it to something that was never written for them in the first place.

Fenris: “I may not get the chance to say this again, meeting you was the most important thing that ever happened to me Hawke. Promise me you won’t die, I can’t bare the thought of living without you.” Hawke: “I didn’t quite catch that, could you speak up~?” Fenris: “Then let me make it clearer for you.” Me:

ready for battle

Ineffable Husbands

it took ages but i finally finished these paintings, i love these boys so much i’m gonna cry

(PLEASE DON’T COPY/EDIT/USE/REPOST, REBLOG INSTEAD)

Size matters not. | by Brad Bartkus

The Worst Generation. The Best Alliance.  

If we get enough people on board with this, can we make CW do it?

I really want CW to do a BatFam live-action TV series. Like, I have this five-season structure all worked out in my head:

Start with Batman working with Dick Grayson. You probably want to have their partnership be a few years old because Dick’s canonically the longest running and closest to Batman of the Robins, but you can throw in cute flashback episodes showing his recruitment

Have Catwoman be a recurring antagonist/neutral figure throughout the series, with copious amounts of flirting.

Establish the character of Barbara Gordon early season 1, and give all these little hints at what she’ll become, then have her take up Batgirl season 2- sort of like what the Flash did with Cisco.

Bring in Bat Woman around Season 2-ish, give her a nice LGBT plotline, and have some fun with her and Batman’s mutual secret identities.

Have a plotline about Dick’s desire to go his own way that culminates in him taking up the identity of Nightwing. Maybe give him a spin-off if he’s popular enough?

Have Bruce recruit Jason Todd as the new Robin early Season 3 because he misses Dick, but make it clear Jason is much more angry/impulsive.

The villain of Season 3 is the Joker. Mid-season, Barbara is paralyzed from the waist down. Give her an good, respectful plot arc recovering physically and mentally that culminates in taking up the mantle of Oracle in the finale and being vital in defeating the Joker.

Have the Joker brutally murder Jason  a few episodes before the finale. This culminates in a harrowing conclusion where Batman must decide whether to kill the Joker or imprison him.

Season 3 or 4, depending on how episode spacing works out, introduce an mysterious assassin figure. At first she seems like an antagonist, but later she saves the life of a main character and introduces herself as Cassandra Cain. She’s adopted into the Bat Family and becomes the new Batgirl with Oracle’s blessing.

Season 4, bring in Tim Drake, and have a long plot arc where Batman doesn’t want to put anyone else at risk, until Tim manages to become Robin mid-season.

Give Tim have a love interest named Stephanie who’s secretive about her own family, later revealing her father’s the Cluemaster. She takes over for either Robin or Batgirl for an episode before creating her own identity as Spoiler.

The theme of Season 4? Parents. Parallel the shitty parenting of Steph and Cass, and have them bond over it. Put in some episodes of Batwoman and her strained relationship with her own father. Use the opportunity to emphasize the parental role Bruce has found himself in, and that after Season 3 he doesn’t want to fail his kids again.

Season 5′s main villains are the League of Assassins. Establish Talia Al’Ghul as an old flame of Bruce’s, and at the end of her first episode have a cliffhanger with her ten-year-old son Damian.

Introduce the recurring villain Red Hood, and later reveal he’s Jason Todd, resurrected by Ra’s Al Ghul via the Lazarus Pit.

Have Damian join the Bat Family mid season. Have Batman disappear/be killed for a bit, and Nightwing come back and take over as Batman for a few eps, with Damian taking over as Robin. Have his run as Batman contested by Jason, who views his morals as constraining and antiquated.

Eventually bring Bruce back, have him succeed at bringing Jason into the fold, have Catwoman finally come down on his side, and give it all an epic finale with the entire Bat Family.

Bonus points for race-blind casting (especially for all those black-haired Robins!) and copious amounts of crossovers between BatFam members and the other superhero shows.

Hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husband (from Jin Guangyao)–3zun’s gonna run this town, tonight. ✌