Waching daily Aug 6 2017

Hey everyone. Today I'm going to be doing a video that I did not plan on making and

this is going to be my first official video in my reading while queer series.

First of all I am sorry because I said my first video would be on being

demiromantic and insta love, and that I'd have that posted in June. Obviously that

hasn't happened. A lot of stuff has just been happening in my life and I've been

very busy. I've filmed that video twice. I'm still not happy with it. So that is

coming very soon. I do promise. But some stuff recently came up within the last

couple of days. Most specifically there was a lot of it going on on Twitter yesterday

that I really wanted to address. This is also partially going to be a part two to

a video I did a few years ago. About two or three years ago Lucy from Things Lucy

Reads did a video called the booktube code of silence, and I made a response

video to that. As well as Sam from Thoughts on Tomes and Adriana from

Perpetual Pages. And the topic in that video was how booktube really has this

problem about not talking about sexualities or queer romances in books.

They just leave it out of their reviews. This is something I've definitely been

guilty of in the past. But I feel the main topic of those videos is how lots of

people think sexuality is a spoiler and therefore they shouldn't disclose when a

book contains a queer character or queer romance because you are spoiling the

book. I'm not going to get into that today. I've already done a video. There's

already several videos I've just listed and I'll have them all in the

description down below. If you think sexuality is a spoiler go watch those

videos. I don't want to see your comments about how you think it's a spoiler

because of this or that. I don't care. Watch those videos. Instead today we are

going to be talking about allocishets new reason for not disclosing a

character's sexuality or queer romance that's in a book. The new reason being

given is that it normalizes a queer relationship not to talk about it. For

instance if I was talking about this book in a review or a wrap-up I wouldn't

specifically say this contains a cis M/F relationships. This book is wonderful by

the way. I just happened to pick it up. So for instance if I'm reading the

gentleman's guide to vice and virtue there's no reason for me to say that it

contains an m/m relationship. Because to not say it normalizes it. I try for the

most part not to cuss in my videos so I won't, but

that is a flaming pile of dog poop. The idea that you shouldn't mention if a book

has a queer romance or a character is queer in there because it will normalize

it is not normalization. It is erasure. Look as wronng as it is, straight is the

default in our world and in our society. If you do not specifically mention that

a character is queer it will be assumed that the character is allocishet. So the

idea that not mentioning a character's sexuality or queer romance will put it on

the same level playing field as a relationship

that's between a cis man and cis woman is so completely wrong. Our society

is already quiet on queer issues. That has been the norm for years. To be silent.

To be in the closet. To not mention these things. Because it's wrong, because it's

awkward, because it makes people uncomfortable.What I hear when people

say not mentioning queer relationships normalizes it, what I'm seeing from you

is that you are an ostrich with your head in the sand and you're not paying a

bit of attention to what's happening in this world. And I'm trying really hard

not to be angry or upset but I am. I'm so angry. I'm so tired of this conversation.

it's been over two years since Lucy posted her original video and we are

still talking about the same stuff. We are still stuck in 101 conversations. And

it is exhausting and it's tiring to feel like we're running around in circles

yelling the same thing over and over again and nobody is listening. Maybe you

don't think it's absolutely vital to disclose that a book has a queer

relationship or queer characters in it, but I'm gonna tell you why you're wrong.

Maybe it's because your allocishet and you just don't understand how important it is

to see good queer representation. Maybe you are queer and you've just found all

the queer books you need in your life or you just don't care. It doesn't matter to

you whether characters are queer or not. Wonderful. That's fine. I'm glad you're at

that place. For other people this will be the first time they see themselves. For

children and preteens, for teenagers that are queer, this could be the first time

they see themselves. That they see they are not alone. That they see it is okay

to be queer. These books could literally save somebody's life and for you to say

that it's not vital to disclose that information, that there's a queer romance,

that there's queer representation in a book, is fucking bullshit! I'm so effing

tired allocishet people coming up with new

reasons not to mention queer representation in a book. I want to give

those people to benefit of the doubt. They just don't know. They haven't heard this

information before. But to me after over two years of this conversation, and I'm

sure there's other people who have been having this conversation for a lot

longer. And for me to have been having this conversation for over two years, and

I recognize the fact that I have a smaller outreach in this community

but there are other queer people within the book community talking about these

things that have larger outreach, larger followings, and we're having the same

conversation. So all it feels like to me are allocishet people are

uncomfortable with sexuality. With queer sexuality. They don't want to talk

about it. They will come up with any reason to not talk about it. And they

will throw a blanket over it and say I'm just

trying to make it better for you guys. I'm trying to do what's best for you

guys. If you are allocishet and you have some opinion on how to make everything

better for queer people and you haven't actually talked to queer people, you're

not following any queer people, haven't listened to their opinions. Take your

opinion and throw it in the trash where it belongs. Also if you are allcishet and

you are asking about queer issues and have some questions, you need some

opinions being given to you, don't ask other allocishet people for their

opinions. They don't matter in these conversations. Their opinions do not

matter. Down below with Adriana's permission, from Perpetual Pages, I'm

going to link a Twitter thread they did yesterday talking about the subject and

how you're just asking for the opinions of allocishet people to erase

marginalized identities and that's trash. As previously stated in all the videos

about sexuality not being a spoiler, many of us are looking for books that will

represent us. We are looking for the books with queer representation. We

actively seek out those books. We cannot find them if you do not mention them. If

you just go out of your way to avoid talking about a character's sexuality or

queer romance in a book. I think that's everything I want to say for this video.

As I said in the title, silence is not normalization, silence is erasure. That is

you participating in the erasure of queer communities and queer identities

and queer sexuality. That is already been going on for years.

You don't need to do it. You're not helping anything. Disclaimer. I do want to

say that this is not about any one particular person. Yes this topic has

come up because of one incident with one particular booktuber. They're not

important in this. Sorry. They're not. It's not about them. Because it's not only

them that are putting these views out there. It was all people in the comments

on their poll. All the tweets I saw talking about how it's not vital. It's

all those people too, and I'm sure there are other people who agreed with them.

Who thought that their allocishet opinion was the most important here and

they needed to voice their thoughts. So here I am as queer person to voice my

thoughts. If you know the booktuber in question don't go attack them. They already

said they're going to do better and that they do listen to us. I'm not going to

mention which booktuber it is. Don't ask because I'm not telling you. I feel like

I have to put that disclaimer cuz I don't want people to think this is a

attack video against one particular person. At the same time I'm really tired

of centering allocishet people's feelings in these matters and there's

not a whole lot of thought given to the queer booktubers that they are hurting.

That others are hurting. I've already had this happened once before. A couple

years ago. I'm kind of tired of it. Leave me your thoughts down below. Are you as angry as me?

I'll see you all next time. Bye.