Hey friends!
I just wanted to talk briefly about something.
I saw the movie "Love, Simon" and that wasn't what prompted me to talk about this,
but it reminded me that I had this as a video topic that I've been sitting on for awhile
And it's something that I think people wonder a lot when they want to make stories about
LGBTQ+ people.
I'm just going to specifically talk about comics and what I've seen in the comic world,
but some of this relates to other things that aren't just related to comics and illustration.
People have a general question that I've seen a lot and people ask or wonder a lot
The question is, "Is it okay for me to make an LGBTQ+ story with LGBT+ characters
even if I am not part of the LGBTQ+ community?"
And my answer to that, and I think a lot of people's answers in the community
are that "it really depends on your approach to it."
Because a lot of people, like particularly in comics... they will either sexualize LGBT+
people and don't really know what they're talking
about, so that they end up perpetuating stereotypes, but I know there's a lot of people out there
who have genuine interest in supporting LGBT+ people
and would like to include representation of characters.
And so I'd say, if you would like to do that in your stories, I think it's refreshing and
it adds a lot to the story There's a lot more that you could talk about,
there's a lot of different relationships you can have between characters,
and it usually feels a lot more progressive and open, and it relates to a much larger
amount of younger people.
So if you're interested in that, please just do some research or just talk to someone who
is LGBTQ+.
Don't pressure anyone to give their story and explain how it is for them
There are a lot of ways you can research on that.
You can look up people's youtube videos, like talking about harassment they've faced, or
good things they've felt about coming out, or bad things and common problems that LGBT+
people have, but even just having a character that might
feel attracted to someone that isn't necessarily stereotypical,
like a cis-male who loves a cis-woman, then that's good.
The problem that I see a lot in comics, and this is what I mean by sexualizing, is that
people have adopted the term "boys love" It's based off of originally Japanese manga.
And in manga, boys love -- I'll just -- that's how you say it in English.
I'll just say that, we're talking in English Boys love basically is really helping Japan
feel more comfortable with the LGBT+ community.
And I'm not speaking for Japan, and I don't live there.
I've looked at reports on that and people have also said that, so that might not necessarily
be true But having representation does tend to make
people more open.
The problem with that is that once it has traveled across to different countries, I
think it's interpreted in a way where it just ends up being highly sexual
And very... inappropriate in my opinion, where it's just very much so rape culture, and harassment
It's perpetuating what's terrible about heterosexual, abusive relationships and pasting it -- copying
and pasting it onto same-gender relationships And while that does happen in any type of
relationship, with any genders, it's not something that we would necessarily like to have representation for
And on top of that, I've noticed a lot of people posting warnings on their comics.
I have warnings on my comic because I talk about things that could be disturbing for
people who have experienced trauma Like severe types of depression etc, because
my characters are trying to get better from that, not because I would like to show off
those issues But because they're trying to overcome struggles
that they've had, I have to mention it.
I understand those types of warnings, and those are fine.
Some people put warnings on their comics for nudity
because certain countries don't like that, and they will censor that, so if you put a
warning on it they're more likely to keep your comic up.
But what is not okay, in my opinion, is when people put warnings saying, "WARNING: this
comic is gay" basically.
And I've seen A LOT.
I've seen it a lot on WEBTOON.
There's not very many same-gender relationship comics that I see that don't have that.
And people might think that it's a harmless thing, or like "oh, I'm just fending off people
who don't like it," or "you know, I'm just doing this for fun,
I'm making a comic" I just... if you're making a story with that
warning, you're not accepting your characters even.
If you can't accept a fictional character, you shouldn't be writing it.
If you can't accept a fictional character, you can't accept actual people who are like
that and if actual people are like these things,
fiction is powerful!
If people think that this is still something to be ashamed of,
or something to fetishize and think of people as objects, then it's not okay to have those
warnings.
It's not okay to think "it's still shameful, but I'm still going to write about it"
like I don't think that is proper representation.
People are still going to do what they want of course, but that is what I'd have to say
-- if you're not doing that, I'm pretty sure that any type of LGBT+ representation
that you've done proper research on, and if you're feeling compassionate about the community,
is good representation.
Of course people misconstrue things, and stereotype things, but if you treat your LGBT+ characters
like any other human, then that is the first and foremost, most
important thing to do.
So I hope that explains some things And when I think about people in the community,
like in my opinion if people are ashamed of those things, I can probably safely assume
they're not part of the LGBT+ community.
So yeah!
Watch out for that, by the way.
I don't like reading those things, I don't know...UGH
Haha, I hope you're having a good day!
I'm really excited about all of the new things that are coming out.
Like even "Black Panther," it doesn't have to do with the LGBT+ community,
but not having just cis, heterosexual white people on screen all of the time is amazing
And I don't even like seeing that as a white person.
I don't appreciate that, I like seeing all types of people.
I have all types of friends, I don't just have white friends, and I don't know, I think
everyone should!
That's the whole point.
So I appreciate representation.
And I know so many of us do I hope you're having a great day, and I will
see you soon! Bye!
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