Dear Minorities of Tumblr

Hopefully this is the right title. This is something I have been thinking about for a while. This is also going to be pretty long and if you can hold on for the whole thing it would be appreciated. I want to preface this by saying this is coming from a POC writer and my goal in this is to create a place where minorities can share what we want to see in the media we consume. If this interests you, keep reading. I really feel this is important so I will add tags that wouldn’t especially be related, but are semi connected based on what I have read under them.

Every year, representation gets better and better. People get more willing to share stories (or are allowed to) about minorities. These consist of characters that are diverse, ethnically, racially, religiously, or disabled/handicapped or LGBTQIA+. Basically, straying away from the norm Hollywood has provided to us. There are more characters like us. However, it isn’t perfect. This isn’t really nitpicking, but sometimes representation can be lackluster, for lack of a better word. Representation that is used for the sake of jokes or to earn brownie points. There are two types of representation I would define this under.

The first is stereotypical representation. By this I mean the dreaded “representation” that is characters chalk full of stereotypes. Characters like this do more harm than good. Characters that give people a bad impression of what types of people are actually like. Characters that are treated badly, however this treatment is hidden behind the word “comedy.” A lot of shows kids in the 2000s-2010s grew up with were filled with this. A Youtuber I watch a lot who is also on Tumblr, @harriyanna, has a lot of videos calling attention to this (which are very good might I add). An example of this I think of a lot is in the Disney Channel show Jessie. One of the kids, Ravi, was of Indian descent. The other characters in the show, even his own family, would constantly make jokes pertaining to his culture and accent. Even as a little kid, all of these jokes rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t find them funny and I couldn’t understand why. Years later I figured out why. The show was trying to paint him as weird and undesirable just because of where he came from. I can only imagine how horrible that made people like him feel. Too many shows have done this to minority characters and have ingrained these ideas into people. In fact, writing this out, “lackluster” is far too weak a word for this.

The second type of representation I can only really describe as “a norm person painted as a minority.” I usually see this with POC, so I’ll describe it with that term. This would be like a POC that doesn’t show any traits of their culture. Not all minorities are fully involved in their cultures, this is not what I am talking about. These are characters that wouldn’t change at all if they weren’t POC. Regardless of how involved a POC is in their culture, they will always have experiences, traits, and knowledge they would not have if they weren’t POC or were part of a different culture. Without these aspects, a character kind of falls flat with representation.

Representation has a large impact on the way people see each other. If a person sees a type of person portrayed in a certain way constantly, they start to believe and expect it in real life. This is why good representation is important. It shows people less as caricatures and makes characters feel more alive. Now, where am I going with this?

A while ago I was doing research for a story I was writing when I came across a blog in the search results (this was before I got Tumblr). It was called Writing With Color. I’d imagine a good amount of people have heard of it. That day I looked through it for a couple of hours. I never knew something like this existed. It’s run by a diverse group of mods who give advice to writers who want to include good representation of ethnic, religious, and racial diversity in their stories. You can tell they put a lot of thought into the advice they give. @writingwithcolor is one of my favorite blogs on this site so if you haven’t heard of them I highly suggest you check them out.

What I want to call attention to is this post I found on their blog:

https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/621394779234861056/i-was-wondering-what-kind-of-female-black

This post has stuck with me for a while. It’s a long list of the type of black girls black girls want to see. Reading through it for the first time slapped me across the face in a good way. It was the physical representation of something lingering in the back of my head. It brought it forward and put these jumbled thoughts into words. Why is representation important?

From a young age, I knew I wanted to be a writer. As a writer, I wanted to be able to do one thing: share stories that would make people happy. This post made me clearly realize one of the best and most important ways to make people happy with my writing was to tell their stories.

Fact: good representation brings indescribable joy. I remember watching the Disney/Pixar movie “Coco” and trying to hide the huge grin I had on my face as a Mexican-American. It felt like watching my own family. It felt real. It felt relatable. At that point, I was used to the only representation of Mexican culture being someone having a quinceañera, which is lackluster when you think of everything else they could show. After that movie, I wanted everyone to feel that way, to have a story that perfectly captures a very important part of their life. It took me a while to realize I had the power to create at least one of those stories.  

Now is time for what my English teachers refer to as “a call to action.” I personally have questions I don’t really have places to get answered. This site is filled with diversity. My idea was that we could share our ideas and experiences in hopes that we can take a step towards better representation. Story writers can look at this and take it to heart. If you fall under one or more of the aforementioned labels, I would love to hear your responses. Also, please include your labels if you are comfortable with that. Feel free to answer both or just one.

I have two major topics to inquire about:

First question is what kind of role would you like to see characters like you in? You can model your answers like the post above as this question is inspired by it. What kind of personalities do you want them to have? What part in the story do you want them to play? Any unique abilities or relationships you want them to have? Go as far as you want with this. Also feel free to mention positions you wouldn’t want to see them in or are tired of seeing, as this could go both ways.

The second is what are the more casual things you experience in your life in relation to being a minority? This includes things such as the food you eat, the way you dress, things you say, any unique self-care practices, or everyday struggles. The things that if you saw a character doing would make you go “Hey, I do that!”

I’m not sure who’ll actually read this, but I really hope this post helps.

So if you actually made it to the end, I applaud you for reading through my chaos. Thank you!

Want To See

As an lgbt woman, it would be nice to see adults meet each other in lgbt cafes and stuff. It’s just really annoying so many RL spaces are just bars and nightclubs, and even then mostly for men.

Maybe I don’t want to spend time around noise, liquor, hookups, smokes and crowds, y'know? Maybe I just want a nice, quiet, not crowded, safe place open day and night that you can peacefully enjoy either alone or with company that’s accessible to adults and youth alike.

People with parents not only supportive of the community, but a part of the community is also awesome. For example, both my parents are bisexual. When doing this look into differences of generational experiences, issues and terminology, because there’s a lot. You might also see realisations or self acceptance in their later stages of life. Also, marriages of mutual convenience (generally in the name of safety, work issues, social expectations or family issues) where both parents are lgbt. They may or may not have an open relationship.

Don’t Want To See

Also, please don’t call biological women birthers, uterus havers and the like. I get that we’re still in the learning and development stage of our terminology so we can be inclusive to Trans people with our language and reduce dysphoria issues. I take no issue with that and am personally looking forward to us working out the kinks. But terms like these feel a bit degrading, like some random rich white guy focusing on an aspect of your body instead of your life and reducing you to it, or removing you from it entirely. It just feels so icky. But all the same, I don’t really have a good alternative in my mind either.

Also, my family is pagan. Once my mother was refused bus service because of her pentacle. As a preschooler I also had to be moved to another school because the nutter Christians gave the school so much grief they had to send us off. I’m not even in America, I’m in Australia.

Everyday Experience

As for everyday stuff, we laugh over Hollywood and Christian representation over paganism, not in an upset way, it’s genuinely funny and ridiculous stuff, though it is annoying when they make a real attempt and just fall back onto Christian stereotypes. This can end in a laugh over the pagan stuff mixed into Christian faith, like fire/water as purification, eating food at the end to ground yourself, the importance of incense, Yule to Christmas and Eostre to Easter, etc. Not meanly or bitterly or anything. Just in a ‘if only they knew’ 'to be a fly on the wall’ sort of thing.

Weirdos who actually genuinely come to our online spaces trying to become a witch like from Buffy, Charmed, Harry Potter and the like are either sent off or patiently explained to, also they’re nicked 'Fluffies’.

There’s also a fair bit of drama between those who call themselves pagans and wiccans. This is because pagans don’t always realise what they’re practising aren’t actually the old ways they tend to believe them to be, they’re modern adaptations. This is in part because of the nature of people and time, but mostly it’s because Christian authorities destroying and rewriting stuff to their sensibilities, leaving us to piece together the remains and adapt. Meanwhile the wiccans tend to attract the Fluffies thus they get a fair bit of teasing there.

Holidays & Festivities

Let’s see….. holidays and festivities. Well, like with any other culture, it depends on the family in community. I don’t really have much experience beyond my family and a few small local communities so you’d best speak to others as well, but I can tell you we do. My family celebrates the equinoxes and solstices, but we also do Christmas and Easter, we just ignore the Christian part of sometimes.

Christian Traditions

Easter is just thought of as a fun chocolate holiday for kids and Christmas is a day for immediate family to get together have a lunch feast with cold spreads, trifle and the like, and when affordable, exchange gifts. We might also put the tree up if we could be bothered.

Equinoxes, Solstices & Moons

For the equinoxes and solstices, we would eat seasonal foods, go outside and connect with nature via rest/play/meditation and the like according to the individuals preference. We’d learn about the relevant deities, some histories, the turning of seasons, etc. When celebrated in a larger group you may see more well known or stereotypical events like maypole dancing (there are no orgies, sorry to disappoint) or sacrifices (juice that gets poured onto grass, meat and seasonal fruits that get eaten, nothing live, no Hollywood nonsense and certainly no virgins 😂). Especially large groups will have buffets, arts and crafts, music, dancing and kids activities.

For moon phases, people might meet up to for group activities, prayer and the like. This is usually on a full moon. It would start with people holding hands in a circle, calling on the four corners (whoever’s in charge does this, usually the organiser) and then moving on to talking about paganism, sitting and connecting with nature and the like. At the end the group will enjoy a spiral dance and then the leader closes the circle. People chat, eat food to ground themselves (our group often had sausage sizzles and peanut butter bickies) and go home. People practising at home may have their own routines, pray at an altar or just gaze at the moon. Not everyone follows the phases but many will aim to have a a calender with phases on it.

There is a large variation in the deities and aspects of nature focused on as it’s very localised and individual based. Paganism is also an umbrella term, you will find many different paths, like wicca, druidry, and the like. Take your time to research and look stuff up, especially when referencing materials influenced by Christianity and common media.

Things You’re Expected To Learn

As it’s a nature based faith you will learn about nature, life cycles, seasons, elements, etc. Cooking is also heavily involved in this process. Some also use arts and crafts, zoo visits, gardening and more. This does not apply to everyone, but some may also teach the Gaia theory under a different name.

The polytheistic and multifaith part of it means there’ll be a lot of deities and faiths to learn about. You are generally encouraged to find your own path in this process.

Things Of Note

sorry someone irl just told me that they write all of their stuff on their phone and like. that's psychotic behavior....reblog and tell me if you write on your phone or a laptop more

Laptop, but when that random idea hits me in the middle of a supermarket my phone is there to take it. Used to be notebooks or a random piece of paper, but people think you're weird when you pull that out.

Wow just call us out like that.