also, the whole toxic masculinity “men need to learn how to be affectionate with each other and then they’ll stop hating women” bullshit is so america centric. there are many parts of the world where men would act in a way that, according to american standards, would be feminine. there are many parts of the world where men are touchy-feely with each other and wear bright colored clothing and guess what? those men still hate women. those men still think that women are beneath them.
it has nothing to do with ~toxic masculinity~ and everything to do with misogyny. stop insinuating that once men learn how to be ok with hugging each other they’ll stop thinking that women are useless bitches.
in argentina, men salute each other with a cheek kisses, hug each other constantly, are v affectionate with each other, and still, there’s one femicide every 18 hours !
I remember the first time I went back home with my dad(Ethiopia), I was like 13 and noticed men casually walking around holding hands was very common.
yet, there like anywhere else, there was a misogyny problem
Person: How are you?
Me: I’m fine.
Me, internally: I don’t really wanna do the work today I don’t really wanna do the work today I don’t really wanna do the work today I DON’T WANNA DO THE WORK TODAY
@sheeponmars tagged me in a lovely thing. thank you!
1. What is your personal favourite of your own pictures?
probably this one. I don’t know why, i just love it so much. it’s one i wouldn’t ever sell and when i get around to framing anything i’ve done it (and the matching Martin) will be first.
2. What would you describe as your comfort zone?
portraits of Benedict Cumberbatch. ha well yes obviously. but let’s say, realistic portraits from photographic references. also lines and linework.
3. What would you like to be better at?
color. i think I am unjustly trepidatious about it. I would also love to be better at drawing the human figure with little or no reference.
4. Which single picture made you learn the most?
ALL OF THEM no well most of them? but perhaps if i picked just one or two it might be:
for value and detail and (an imperfect start at) modelling form with line which is a thing that i love, and
for more value and detail and learning things about working with pen, and self-editing and when to ignore the reference and what to do when you ignored the reference and shouldn’t have. (and the hair pleases me.) anyway… 🙂
5. Do you think one of your pictures is overrated/underrated?
not really. i try not to think about my work based on how many or how few notes a piece gets.. looking at my own drawings especially, high notes doesn’t mean a piece is amazing and low notes doesn’t mean it sucks. but if you’d like to see a sketch that i love a lot compared to how many notes it has, it would be this one:
🙂
6. Is there any picture which you hated when you first made it, but now you like it?
not so much, it tends to be the other way around. generally, if i post something, i’m pleased with it at the moment. usually if i hate it, i never end up finishing it. there are many things that i post, and then weeks or months later start to see all the flaws.
7. Is there a medium you just can’t get to work for you?
no, just media that i have high hopes of eventually getting to work for me. and colored pencils.
8. Is there a different artist in the fandom who inspires you?
goodness gracious, i could be here all day. i mean this seriously, if you are an artist and i follow you, it is because i love your work (and am thrilled to see it on my dash and maybe stalk your art tag occasionally oohing and ahhing at your art), and you inspire me in mine. <3<3<3 but to pick just one right now, i will say @khorazir. her skill with the pencil (and really any medium she picks up, her figure drawing and illustration skills, her dedication to fandom and fan arts, and her work ethic as an artist are all to be admired. applause.
9. Which picture took you the longest? (estimated)
One that i have finished, but i haven’t posted yet (soon!)
and then there is always this beast:
come to think of it, this is one i learned a hell of a lot on too, especially about textures. plaid. fur. saran wrap in the dark lit by LED. the values are not all perfect but i am really proud of it. it took me an obscene amount of hours.
10. When did you start painting/drawing?
serious arting-drawing? probably 13. and then a long dry spell after art school of all things and a rebirth about… 2 years ago now! hooray!
thank you for tagging me! i will now tag people who i follow that you didn’t already tag and who totally don’t have to do this but if you can i would LOVE to see. firstly you, @sheeponmars since you could do it too 🙂 and @lunadax, @khorazir, @splunge4me2art, @meetingyourmaker, @cpnblowfish, @cluelessakemi actually all of my artist mutuals (and followers), since i can’t think right now, please consider yourselves unobligatorially (?) tagged! because i would love to see.
listen… i’m a lesbian and i know full well what oppression based on love is like… but i wish white gay folks wouldn’t act like sexuality is the only reason anyone’s ever felt that
there are people in my family who’ve been disowned because they married someone of a different colour to them… i’m mixed race and the very concept of my existence would’ve been illegal in the us when my parents were born. the supreme court only ruled against discrimination of mixed-race marriages in 1967! that’s barely 50 years ago. homophobia is an awful thing to experience and i know that from first hand experience but i’m begging you to remember that gay people aren’t the only ones being killed for who they love. please remember the struggles faced by Black and brown people when you talk about oppression. please have some solidarity with your nonwhite friends (especially your nonwhite gay friends!) when you talk about dismantling the systems that keep us alone and isolated. please remember the horrible history that is anti-miscegenation laws when you talk about equal marriage rights, because they aren’t just for white gay people.
Hey guys. Fellow Player Malu (@Malucomplica on twitter) wants to change her name and gender on her Blizzard account, and they’re acting dismissive and refusing to act on it. She’s being harassed on Overwatch’s forums, not to mention on fb OW groups. It’s absolutely disgusting.
Please, signal boost as much as possible. Let it reach everywhere until Blizzard can’t ignore it anymore. We love Overwatch for its diversity – but if that’s going on, then it’s hypocrisy to a tee.
My dudes. This is a serious business here. We can’t allow a company to act in that way, steamrolling someone’s right to have their legal name on their stuff.
This ain’t art, but it’s probably a LOT more important than anything I’ve posted in this blog. Please RT/reblog/repost.
Okay, I wasn’t going to do this, but it kept eating at me (and other people around me). So. Let it be known that I am a South African Bisexual cis female.
“Corrective rape was a term coined by South African lesbians! Thus this is a lesbian-only term!” is something that’s getting thrown around a lot by the Discourse Brigade.
The first time I saw this I burst into laughter. I mean, I am the victim of corrective rape and never have I ever been told by any of my lesbian sisters to not use this term. It never occurred to anyone I know that I would not be able to use this term, or that this is not what my sexual assault was.
It was yet another example of how silly people could be. Were people who had never spoken to a single LGBT+ South African really going to be this ignorant?
I never took it seriously for a second because, really? Surely nobody actually thought that South African Lesbians were gonna expect everyone to conform to some nebulously specific list of things to qualify to use the term “corrective rape”.
But hey, as an African you get used to people talking over you and thinking you ride to school on a lion. Whatever, you laugh and you move on.
But I couldn’t move on.
Because people kept telling other people that they were, I don’t know, spitting on people’s graves, for using this term “incorrectly”.
So let me tell you this right now: If your assault happened because you do not conform precisely to your society/culture’s cisheteronormative* values, congratulations! You get to use the term corrective rape. Compliments of your South African brethren.
End. Of. Fucking. Discussion.
Now- let me tell you why I couldn’t move on.
Because the assholes that are policing the use of this term are spitting on the graves of every single one of my fucking ancestors.
Allow me to explain.
South Africa is a really unique place. Did you know we have eleven (11) official languages? That’s not including the minority ethnic groups that call my country home.
Now, when you realise that you have nine (9) traditionally black South African cultures, two (2) white cultures, the Chinese people, the Indian people, Other Africans… You may begin to figure out we’re really fucking diverse.
And we’re pretty proud of that diversity. Post Apartheid.
Apartheid was a system built- at its core- on ‘us’ vs ‘them’. It wasn’t inclusive. It separated people. It put some people in positions of power over others. It redefined the term ‘gatekeeping’ (in my opinion).
It was really fucking nasty.
It killed a lot of people.
And then Nelson Mandela came along. You know the story- he was imprisoned and instead of hating everyone he taught love and inclusion (after Winnie Mandela got him freed whilst running the Struggle- go read up on her. She’s a true feminist icon).
He is the father of our nation. And he taught us that hatred and bigotry and exclusion are never ever the way to go.
Afrikaans is still an official language. Part of the old Afrikaans anthem is still included in our official anthem.
We are taught that this is our country’s way forward.
We’re the Rainbow Nation!
LGBT+ people were granted every single right American LGBT+ people are still fighting for in our constitution in 1994.
But unfortunately, this lead to a huge homophobic backlash.
Thus- corrective rapes started happening all across the country.
But! The assholes who rape people? They don’t ask whether you’re lesbian or gay. They don’t check your credentials.
They can rape the girl who’s a little too ‘butch’ for their tastes, or the boy who might not play football (soccer for the Americans).
They do not care if you are a card carrying member of the LGBT+! They care only for the fact that you don’t look masculine/feminine enough. That you might have been staring at a boy/girl. That you said no earlier. Maybe you have a LGBT+ friend, so obviously you’re the same. Or hell, maybe your parents know you’re LGBT+ and they pay someone to rape it out of you. Maybe your arranged husband does it on your wedding night.
They do not care how you do not conform to societal standards- only that you do not.
And in South Africa we know this.
We know that no one’s rape is exactly the same as anyone else’s. Because it could never be exactly the same.
So yeah, here a completely straight white girl could use the term “corrective rape” and no one, no one, would bat an eyelash. Because she was correctively raped.
Because we know that united we stand, but divided we fall. And we have fallen so very very far in our past.
So no.
You do not get to fucking gatekeep this term which my brothers and sisters and I in this struggle have shed our blood and tears in.
You do not get to exclude people in our name.
Not when we freely gave this term to the world to use as and if needed.
Kindly respect us and our culture enough to not spit directly into our and our forefathers faces.
*I’m so sorry Trans Tumblr. I couldn’t find another word that really worked here.
** Yes, I have spoken to my fellow LGBT+ brethren. This is a PSA from the majority of us. If only because I cannot speak for all South Africans. Some of us are assholes too.
*** I know the UN wants to rename it “homophobic rape” but we will never us this term since it throws our Trans/NB/intersex/Bi/Ace/Aro/Agender/Questioning/Ally siblings under the bus. It frankly goes against what we invented it for. You, however, are welcome to coin the term yourselves.
Beltainefaerie's Flights of Fancy 