“Why would this character be jealous of their friend’s romantic relationships? Clearly they’re in love with them” I don’t know if you guys have ever Had Friends but it’s actually pretty common for people to feel jealous if their best friend suddenly has less time for them and is prioritising someone they just met over them. That’s not inherently romantic, that’s the general human desire to be valued by the people you value.
i think. i stumbled across a mulan/sweet polly oliver type story that actually seems like it’s following through with the transness of it. in an out of print scifi book from the 90s?????
LIKE. HI. ELABORATE ON THAT
ACTUALLY BIGENDER PROTAG NOT CLICKBAIT?
finished the book :’) idk if i’d call the protag bigender so much as a more broad term like genderqueer/nonbinary, since he alternates between describing himself as both and neither a man nor a woman, but she’s undeniably genderqueer and it’s handled in what i thought was a wonderfully authentic way.
the book overall though!!! loved it. it doesn’t have much of a traditional plot in a way that brought to my mind Ursula K. Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, the novel as a place for the untold life story rather than the Hero’s story, sometimes grim and brutal, often slow and aimless - def won’t be for everyone, but i found it deeply compelling and thoroughly human.
so if any of yall feel like tracking down an out of print book sometime, here’s a recommendation for some queer social sci-fi along the lines of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness or Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite :)
if you’re wondering why spellcheck and grammar check is worse now, it’s because they replaced it with AI! 🥰
now, instead of maintaining a comprehensive, nuanced, and human-maintained encyclopedia by which to check your document, they have switched to an AI that just compares what you’ve written to what other people write in, say, Google Docs, and use the most commonly used iteration.
ever have it change something like “all intents and purposes” to “all intensive purposes” or “should’ve” to “should of”? that’s why!
people make the same spelling and grammar mistakes so often, AI thinks that’s the way you say it because it is a PATTERN DETECTOR and cannot THINK let alone use language.
before i forget!!! cool thing we heard last night at the sinners Q&A: MBJ decided to wear different sized shoes while playing smoke and stack. for smoke he wore a size too large, the explanation being that when you’re wearing shoes that are too big, you’re less likely to want to move around because of how uncomfortable and clunky it is. as a result, smoke as a character is very still and purposeful with his movements. and then for stack he wore a half size too small because it makes you constantly shift around on your feet trying to find a stance and a position that feels right and takes the pressure off your feet. that makes stack more fidgety and restless. so MBJ said that wearing the different shoes made it a lot easier to embody the twins because he was just reacting naturally to what his body was telling him, rather than overthinking his movements. just the coolest shit. such a neat acting choice. i love movies, man.
Discussions of trans women in sports often focus on elite/professional sports which honestly I find it hard to care about but the more common scenario of “we’re going to legally ban a high school girl from playing sports with her friends because she’s trans” is just profoundly evil
i remember when utah’s (republican) governor ended up vetoing a law banning transgender students from playing high school sports when he looked at the numbers, and there were only four trans students in the state playing sports at all. he released a clumsily worded but surprisingly compassionate statement about the decision.
I must admit, I am not an expert on transgenderism. I struggle to understand so much of it, and the science is conflicting. When in doubt, however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion. I also try to get proximate, and I am learning so much from our transgender community. They are great kids who face enormous struggles. Here are the numbers that have most impacted my decision: 75,000, 4, 1, 86 and 56.
75,000 high school kids participating in high school sports in Utah.
4 transgender kids playing high school sports in Utah.
1 transgender student playing girls sports.
86% of trans youth reporting suicidality.
56% of trans youth having attempted suicide.
Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.
of course, it didn’t amount to much. they overrode his veto. it’s just so cartoonishly evil. an entire state’s political body so desperate to terrorize this one little trans girl.
ALT
