commodorecliche:

i’m getting a little weary of seeing posts talking about how it’s homophobic that shiro has suffered in the show, because i feel like y’all really aren’t seeing the big picture here. this is not the example of “bury or torture your gays” that you guys believe it to be. 

for one, i think it’s really important to remember that shiro is not the only character that has suffered. he is not the only character who has been ‘brutalized’ as so many posts have described it. have his issues been more overt lately? yes, of course. because that was a plot arc. but remember that the others have suffered, even if perhaps not AS MUCH as shiro. 

allura has lost her entire civilization, her father died at the hands of a former friend, she literally woke up from a 10,000 year sleep still reaching out for him. she thought she had found an ally and companion in lotor, only to realize that he had brutalized what few remained of her people for CENTURIES. 

coran lost everyone he loved, he watched a family he’d loved perish, he watched as the sole surviving daughter suffered that loss. he has suffered and stayed strong through it all. 

keith has lived a life of solitude without his family, losing his father at a young age (and as someone who lost their father at about the same age as keith, i can tell you that this is absolutely emotionally brutal). he believed his mother had abandoned him. and he’s had to see the person he cares for and loves most suffer through a war. he literally had to fight the person he cares for and loves most in hand to hand combat. he literally accepted that he was going to die too if shiro was going to die, and was okay with that. if that isn’t suffering, i don’t know what is. 

they’ve come near death - lance practically died until allura brought him back (as she did for shiro as well!). 

pidge lost her father and brother for years, and was the only person who believed they were alive. also she’s a CHILD in the middle of a fucking intergalactic war. sam and matt holt SUFFERED at the hands of the galra too. they were brutalized too. matt became a rebel fighter, in tons of dangerous situations, because of this. but we don’t see as much of the suffering because they aren’t our protags. 

hunk’s family too! hunk’s family was imprisoned by the galra, and he couldn’t do anything about it! he came home, and his family was gone. he came home expecting to see them, and they weren’t there because his enemy had gotten to them first. that’s suffering. 

look, i get it, the last couple seasons have had a lot of focus on shiro and what he has gone through, but that is mostly because it’s been relevant to the primary plot. 

you guys are also so focused on the fact that adam died that you can’t see the bigger picture. adam died along side tons of other fighters, straight, lgbt, or otherwise. but adam was never meant to be the rep. it was shiro. shiro is the rep. and before you scream at me that well, he’s gay and he’s suffered, i want you to remember what that suffering means in the bigger context of the show. it’s not pointless suffering, and he’s not the only one suffering. 

has shiro suffered? of course. as have all the paladins. but you know what shiro has also done that is literally REVOLUTIONARY to LGBT characters in mainstream media? HE HAS SURVIVED. just last week, happy posts were going around about how there should be a reversal of the ‘bury your gays’ post, where a gay character is just impossible to kill, and shiro was always mentioned. because YES. that’s IT. he’s literally flipped ‘bury your gays’ on its head! why are y’all forgetting that now??

he has suffered and he has made it through EVERY FUCKING TIME. he has endured trials and tribulations, while always coming through those trials, always surviving, always coming out stronger, always excelling. 

y’all are so so focused on his hardships that you forget that they have written him, not to suffer, but to SURVIVE. 

this is not “bury your gays”, this is “your gays will not be fucking stopped” 

i really had to get that off my chest. thanks for coming to my ted talk. 

marcellaereeves:

quiznackingqueen:

Why Keith is actually 16+ in the S6 flashbacks and why he’s so small:

Okay, so lets start with this screenshot:

THIS IS NOT AT THE GARRISON. Look at the teacher, she’s in plain clothes, so are the students. This is a high school and Shiro is here to recruit students. Assuming the Garrison works like a Service Academy, it’s like a college and requires a high school diploma. The minimum age for service academies and ROTC programs is 17, and it’s safe to assume that that is the Garrison’s minimum age requirement too. I guess they might make exceptions for extraordinary students, but I honestly doubt it.

This next scene is also not at the garrison, and occurs shortly after the classroom scene:

Now, we know that is Keith’s bike. We also know he and that he can probably fly it at this point. Why does that imply he is at least 16? Because he lives in a group home, and any younger than that and there’s no way he would have a chance to get away and learn. At 16 he could get a license, which his caretakers couldn’t stop him from. Even with a license I doubt he has insurance though, meaning he can’t fly the thing in public.

My personal headcanon is that one of the workers at the home knew about his passion for flying and turned a blind eye when he snuck out to the desert to practice. This person is the same one who points Shiro in his direction, where he sees Keith fly for the first time and convinces him to join the garrison.

It’s this last scene that really has me convinced Keith is in his mid to late teens though:

Here, when he’s sitting outside the teacher’s office with the other kid he presumably got in a fight with. The other kid is obviously an older teenager, and is Keith’s classmate, meaning they if they aren’t the same age they must be at least close to it.

How do we know? Look at the gold stripes on their shoulders. The strips mark rank, and presumably how long they’ve been there. They each have one stripe on each shoulder, marking them as younger students. Older students have two stripes. In the first episode the garrison trio all have two stripes on each shoulder, and so does Matt at the launch in Pidge’s flashback.

The stripes are also used for officers. Look at Shiro, in this scene he only has two, and the officer he’s defending Keith to has three, it’s his superior.  At some point Shiro gets promoted because in the picture from the Kerberos news report he has three.

Anyway, back to the point. In this scene Keith also talks about going back to the home. Home refers to a group home for children in foster care. Generally teens that get placed here, usually due to a lack of foster parents or because of behavioral issues, though there can be other factors. I’m not going to go into all that in this post, just wanted to note that these homes tend to house older kids because they are harder to place than younger ones.

So that’s why I believe Keith is 16+, but why is he so gosh darned tiny?

There are a few potential explanations for this:

Keith could just be a late bloomer, potentially due to his Galran heritage. We haven’t been given a lifespan for the Galra, so if they live longer and age slower they probably grow slower too. I mean, Krolia looks the same in the flashbacks as she does now, and 20 years have passed.

Keith’s growth could be stunted due to lack of food. He was a foster kid, and it is quite possible he just didn’t get enough to eat, either because there wasn’t enough to go around, or because food was used against him as a punishment. One or two bad experiences could have left him scared to ask for more or take seconds even when offered.

He’s also half Galra. The Galra are also more muscled and most look like they have a very low body fat percentage. Muscle tissue burns two to three times as many calories as fat, meaning Galra need to eat a lot to maintain their weight, and kite need to eat even more, because they aren’t just sustaining what they have they’re adding to it. There’s also the possibility he needed vitamins and minerals to grow that couldn’t be found on earth. His caretakers may have unintentionally been underfeeding him because they were treating him like a human, not a Galra

So yeah, pre-Garrison Keith was tiny, but he didn’t stay that way:

Ok listen: I am HERE for Keith eating food.

At like… groups-of-children-owned-by-an-organisation kinds of places, food is portioned out - at school it just didn’t happen that anyone went back for more food, everyone got served v quickly and then the leftover food would be taken away.

Look at cap-dude and blondy at the front of Keith’s class, they all look much older than him, but classes are split by age groups, not skill/education.

In series 1 he eats like a wild animal - all meat, two forks. Ik that was to demonstrate how delicious the food was but it was v impressive.

On the space whale they had unlimited amount of weird crab monsters, and Krolia is a Galra and a mother she would absolutely stuff Keith.

100% Shiro picked up a malnourished smol bean who needs garrison Mac n Cheese to become age-weight appropriate.

(Which kind of makes it difficult to age him at his dad’s graveside)

Also makes sense why his clothes are oversized. “You’ll grow into this” and he just… didn’t.

Ok but imagine Shiro dn eat all of his food one lunch while they’re eating together, and Keith obviously inhaled his alrd. He’s side eyeing Shiro’s tray before he gets a tiny rumble in his tummy. Shiro laughs “how can you still be hungry, you just ate?” But slides his tray over “you can have it if you want” even his precious dessert *rip dessert*

Keith eats it and Shiro gets the impression he’s taming a wild cat (accurate, Shirogane). The next day he waves Keith over “Hey I got you lunch already” and there’s two trays, but they’re Officer sized portions instead of cadet. And that’s how Keith goes from looking like an 11 year old to looking like he’s 18 in two years. Keith also gets a warm fuzzy feeling at being cared for.

Tell me how else someone who KO a whole tent of full grown adults nbd managed to look like he lost to some scrawny looking scene kid wannabe?

dent-de-leon:

Because I’ve gotten countless asks and shitty replies on all my posts about this, I’m addressing it right here and now–why I still ship sheith and it’s not “dead,” here we go:

So, let’s get started with the dreaded ages thing that always comes up, just get that out of the way. According to the guidebook, they were 18 and 25 respectively at the start of the series. Shiro hasnt aged in the astral plane. Sine, you know he’s been dead. And it’s more or less implied that Shiro has been gone for months, and then they meet Lotor and there’s the whole time that conflict plays out, then we fastforward to after he lays low and keith says “Lotor hasnt been seen for months.” we can infer that more or less a year has elapsed since Shiro’s death/disappearance. Adding in the two year time skip, that puts them at about 21 and 25 respectively. You know, a completely reasonable age difference. 

There’s literally nothing indicating Keith was adopted by Shiro period. You realize the guy was probably like 19/20 around that time, right? No 20 year old is out here going to college and thinking ‘hey, why don’t I adopt a teenager?’ I should know–I sure as hell aren’t. You barely feel like you can take care of yourself and a houseplant at that point, let alone a whole other person. 

People claim that Shiro had the “power” to send Keith back to the home because he was his guardian?? That’s not the case. He vouched for Keith, which is how he ended up in the garrison in the first place. When Keith tells Shiro to just throw him back in the home, he’s referencing something said by the other officer only moments before–the only reason he’s here is because of Shiro. One word from Shiro, and literally the whole thing’s off. Keith has very limited options here, and he knows it. 

He seemed to be a recruitment officer sent to Keith’s school to look for new cadets. We can tell because Keith isn’t in the cadet uniform in that shot–he’s in a school setting in plain civilian clothes. Shiro is standing at the front of the room in his officer uniform, and it seems that the teacher is introducing him as a kind of guest speaker. Then there’s the flashback where he and Keith are standing beside Kogane’s hoverbike, implying that Shiro saw his skill as a pilot firsthand and was determined to get him in the garrison–to secure him a better future. Krolia’s thanks to Shiro is in relation to what we already know–that Shiro was there for Keith when he had no one, that he led him down the right path and changed his life for the better. His “guiding light,” as the show runners have said. 

But then they got older, and it’s very clear their relationship changed. The two are equals from the start of season 1, that much is obvious. Now that Keith is older, he’s able to protect Shiro in turn. In fact, more often than not, he’s shown to be the one caring for Shiro instead of the other way around. He’s the one always running to Shiro’s rescue and saving him from certain doom. Some people are so stuck on the flashback, but it’s painfully obvious that he’s no longer a child–after the time skip, he’s been explicitly referred to as a man. I think Keith looked up to Shiro a lot when he was younger, but now that he’s so much older and they’re closer in age, now that he’s had all this time to ruminate on it–there’s clearly something else there.

And Shiro sees Keith in a whole new light in turn, which is clear when he’s so thrown off by seeing older Keith. “Lance is right. You have changed.” I don’t understand how people can acknowlege two characters can change without their relationship evolving in turn–these have always been dynamic characters, nothing is static. It’s like how people claimed Allura was still annoyed by Lance and wanted nothing to do with him after she explicitly said she enjoyed his company. You can acknowledge that characters’ relationships are subject to change, that they can grow and develop and be organic, and move on. 

People latch onto the brother line and insist I can’t read, but then promptly ignore the fact that Kuron was completely unmoved by it. The thing that actually breaks through to him, that yields a very gutting, visceral reaction–that’s Keith’s breathless admission of, “I love you.” He also looks completely shocked by it, which doesn’t make any sense if this was coming from a familial love context that he was familiar with. 

In this season, sheith also covered a number of timeless romantic tropes reserved for a character’s love interest. The same exact tropes that fans praised as High Romance when they presumed it would be in relation to k/l, but then immediately backtracked to “oh,, it’s just familiar!!” as soon as those plot points were given to sheith instead. Shiro and Keith’s relationship is also shown to directly parallel Kogane and Krolia, as well as Zaggar–both canon romantic relationships. Not to mention the very noticeable korrasami parallel. You know, as if their relationship was designed to be interpreted as romantic. 

This is also literally the one and only declaration of I love you in the entire series, something not even explicitly romantic couples like Keith’s parents or Zaggar have shared. It’s completely unique to Shiro and Keith’s relationship, and holds just so much gravity to it. This isn’t even taking into account that distinctly romantic variations of “love” were used in other dubs, such as the Japanese aishteru. 

Nevermind that it’s common for someone that’s gay to refer to a close friend of the same gender as being “like a brother/sister” to avoid confessing their true feelings. Hell, I’ve done it before. And I’ve seen so many other LGBT people express relating to that aspect of Shiro and Keith’s relationship, that it’s a struck a cord with many other fans like me. 

When you’re talking about wanting LGBT rep–rep that Lauren and Joaquim mentioned they have been working towards and fighting for since the beginning–but then you willfully ignore and tear down the one relationship that’s been built up like that, when you understand that they might not have been able to get the explicit rep they wanted but still demonize the subtly hints of it, when you make actual LGBT fans feel like shit for identifying with this sort of narrative–you’re really missing the point. 

You know what else is very telling? That this was the one episode Joaquim directed himself–he cared so much about Keith and Shiro’s dynamic, he wanted to just go all out and really made the episode his. That’s how much this episode–this dynamic between Keith and Shiro–mattered to him. Here’s some commentary on it:

• Marc: “Speaking of credits we’re not used to seeing—Joaquim, you wrote an episode!”
  
• Joaquim: “I did!…Super excited. You know, it’s one of those things that I wanted to do for many, many years now, and finally got to an EP position. I said, ‘Guys, I’m just gonna write one of these things. And, you know—I’m emotionally attached to both Keith and Shiro, and had some ideas on how that episode could play out.”
  
• Marc: “So you’re the one that has to decide how the battle between Keith and Shiro pans out.”
  
• Joaquim: “Somewhat. Along a conformation of assume writers, and Lauren, board artists—yeah.”
  
• Lauren: “Everything in animation is teamwork, but it was definitely Joaquim’s brain child. 
  
• Joaquim: “…when you’ve gotta go back and do painful story cuts on scenes that you wrote, it feels like somebody’s limbs are getting cut off.” (source)
  

Let’s also not forget the brother line has been used for a number of relationships that still became canon–Aang and Katara, Ed and Winry, Ginny and Harry, ect. And lastly, before you still want to call me a monster, let’s not forget that the staff supports sheith in a romantic context, and has since the beginning. They also are more than happy to talk about their intimate relationship. But I mean, of course,, the staff must hate us for this, right? Surely, they never intended for this relationship

to be interpreted as

potentially romantic,,

And sure, it could be that sheith will never be canon–or that it will to some degree, but not explicitly–either way, there’s literally no reason to demonize other fans for shipping it. Especially when the staff themselves have always supported it. If you think you need to take the time to comment on every single sheith post that “they’re only brothers!! You’re disgusting!!!” ect, don’t expect the staff to ever support or even tolerate you, becuase you are the reason both they and the fans are feeling alienated, you are the ones continually harassing the staff for just wanting to have fun. Besides, Shiro and Keith already have “the closest relationship” in canon–Joaquim’s words, not mine–and they love one another. Literally nothing can take that away from them, and if LGBT fans see themselves in these characters, who are you to lash out at them for it? 

BL, “Okama”, and gay stereotypes in animanga

satans-tiddies:

Since BL and fujoshi discourse is the hot topic du jour, let’s talk a bit about gay stereotypes in Japanese manga and anime.

I’m seeing a worrying number of people not only saying that all BL and fujoshi promote homophobic stereotypes, but that BL is the primary or sole instigator of homophobia in Japanese society (excuse me, I choked on drink there).

For those who don’t know, Boy’s Love (BL) is a niche category of shoujo/josei manga that focuses on M/M relationships (commonly known in the west as “yaoi”, though that is a misnomer). It’s still frowned upon, both for being gay content and for being mainly romance aimed at women. The word “fujoshi” — used today to mean “female fan of BL” — even has seriously misogynistic origins.

So far, BL is published on specific magazines, and most anime adaptations are OVAs that aren’t aired on TV. Although it has a significant following, it’s definitely not popular enough to change the opinions on gay men of the entire anime fanbase, much less of Japanese society as a whole.

Homophobia in Japan has a long history, but one of the most impactful chapters was the Meiji Restoration (1867-68), when Japan’s isolationist foreign policy was abolished and rapid westernization began. Negative Christian views on homosexuality disseminated throughout the country and public opinion of practices such as nanshoku/wakashudou declined until they were practically criminalized and banned.

For reference, both BL and yuri had their origins more than a century later, in the 1970’s-80’s.

I find that a lot of criticism of stereotyping in BL is, unsurprising, very US-centric. The thin, androgynous, pretty and emotionally sensitive characters of BL may coincidentally fit western gay stereotypes, but this type of character just represents an East Asian beauty standard for men. Guys who fit these bishounen and ikemen types are considered desirable by Japanese women and are generally assumed to be straight. 

A handful of pretty boys from Touken Ranbu.

In the US, your idea of a stereotypical gay dude may be a metrosexual twink with a lisp and a limp wrist, but different countries have different stereotypes. In Japan, the appearance of イカホモ/イカニモ (“ikahomo” or “ikanimo”, a stereotypical gay man) is a heavy-set masculine guy with short haircut, strong face, and facial hair.

Sort of like the guys you see in geikomi, right?

Pin-ups by Jiraiya, long-time artist for G-men magazine.

But we’re talking about entertainment media, more specifically about animanga. We’ll get there soon.

Gay men in Japan are stereotyped by the general population as being camp, and using feminine clothes, language and pronouns. Those who present femininely are often referred to as オネエ (“onee”) because they use オネエ言葉 (“onee kotoba”, feminine speech), and may or may not identify as male. Many entertainers who are out use onee personas on TV to, well, entertain the audience. That may be the only exposure an average Japanese person has to a real-life openly gay or trans person.

As for fiction, media creators tend to fall back on archetypes based on prejudices for minority characters, and that includes gay men. A bit like how the US has the “fairy” archetype, Japan has the “okama”.

Now, オカマ (“okama”, lit. rice pot) is not a word used in polite conversation to refer to people. It’s a homophobic and transphobic slur, directed at people who fit the onee stereotype. If you’re not a Japanese queer man or transfem individual, you shouldn’t direct it at anyone, period. Not even yourself. Although there are some who reclaim the term, it’s still largely considered derogatory and insulting.

Japanese media has an okama character archetype, which reflects how society thinks a gay man looks and acts. You may be surprised to hear that it’s not the willowy, androgynous bishounen of shoujo manga.

It’s something more like this:

Keep reading

But of course the Golden Boy has to be the hero. Don’t get me wrong i LIKE Steve, but I don’t like them throwing other characters under the bus for him to take the spotlight

funnily enough i found him irritating in all iterations except the winter soldier and maaaybe the first avenger (been a while since ive seen it) because of how they forced him to be this paragon good-boy to contrast with the other avengers (the little shit who lied on multiple army applications, telling people off about language?? sure… ‘theres only one god’ lmao seems kind of…snobby for a guy who stands up for the little guy)

plus some of his. uh. actions? believing wanda over tony about what he was doing when he created vision? letting wanda, who (in the movies) was a willing nazi-supporter and volunteer and who tried to kill one and then all of the avengers, on the team? then theres the whole ‘sometimes my teammates dont tell me things’ thing which as of civil war was canonically at least a year after finding out about tonys parents but not telling him and presumably taking his money to go searching for their murderer? 

its weird watching films with steve in it because i cant help but feel like youre meant to be on his side and that hes in the right but you arent really because (from what i heard) he did kind of ignore the wishes of 117 countries and killed innocent people (and almost killed teammates) because of his best friend

which i mean, good he dropped the shield because his actions werent worthy of it, but also like, i still dont like him

(also from what i see t’challa and steve are like, mates now?? ive missed a lot but like…wasnt t’chaka a big backer and believer in the accords that steve fucked over?? and wasnt t’challas big motivation for bucky-murder in civ war to avenge that same beloved father? im confused) 

okay mini, uninformed rant over

also black widow is blonde now. bad look not a fan

YOUR TAGS THOUGH FOR REAL HOW THE FUCK CAN STEVE HOLD HIM BACK WHEN THOR AND SPIDEY ARE JUST AS STRONG IF NOT STRONGER??? 

ikr??

and also same about not having anyone to go to the movies with rip, thats why i haven’t seen panther

welcome to the loser club lonely losers allowed ONLY

ficdesignhub:

My crush on the creators of VLD continues- they understand relationship dynamics so well. There are so many things going on in this show that seem flighty or as if they are bending a character to suit a need that doesn’t fit with who they are, but that’s just not the case. We place our hopes and wishes for characters into these episodes and in the process ignore what canon is telling us. I want to talk about Keith x Team Voltron where this is concerned.

RE: At the Loss of Shiro

Keith’s relationship with the team has been touch and go for the entire show but throughout everything it seemed like things were going well until suddenly they weren’t. The first two seasons are spent building this group into a unit that is able to achieve a great deal in a short amount of time. They find their niche and begin to flow well together so it feels like whiplash when the team turns on Keith in season 3.

It’s implied a significant amount of time lapses between Shiro’s disappearance at the end of season 2 and the beginning of season 3. When we open to s3, the team has recovered from their battle with Zarkon, started gathering allies for the coalition, and have gone through the stages of grieving. Keith on the other hand refuses to accept the loss of Shiro; he’s continually searching for him and is frustrated that the rest of the team has given up. When the time comes to address how they move forward without Shiro, Keith fights it tooth and nail. And when the team finally does get Keith to admit they need a new paladin, it’s under extreme duress. Keith becomes the black paladin, only taking up the mantle because it is what Shiro and the Black Lion chose for him. And when Shiro returns, Keith gladly wants to hand the reins back to him.

While all of this is happening there is a lot of friction between Keith and the team that is upsetting to watch because of how little they trust him. From what Keith has demonstrated, we feel like the team should recognize he has a good head on his shoulders and gets results.

But you know what, this is the most logical scenario when we look at how Keith operates. The overlying problem is that Keith does not take the time to communicate. He thinks on his feet and acts intuitively, leaving everyone behind to follow if they want. “You wanted me to lead Voltron? This is how I lead.”

It is difficult to build trust and respect for someone when they won’t communicate their reasoning and motives, even if the end goal is shared. The team knows Keith can be counted on in a pinch, but they aren’t prepared to trust his instincts because the foundation has not been laid. In the first two seasons there are several instances of Keith seemingly acting brash while the team reals at his decisions when actually Keith is just thinking at a different pace. Off the top of my head:

• 01x10 where Keith trails a druid to learn about quintessence 
• 01x11 when Keith speeds in to confront Zarkon and protect the Black Lion 
• 02x06 where Keith abandons ship because he thinks Zarkon is tracking them through him
  

In all of these instances Keith is acting against team member’s wishes, but it’s because he sees something they don’t and won’t take the time to explain himself. During seasons 1 and 2, the team trusts Keith because Shiro does first and Shiro is easy to follow. But with Shiro’s disappearance Keith falls into wildly erratic behavior that catches everyone off guard. Keith is an intensely private person who does not expose his vulnerabilities easily, if at all. He acts brash for weeks while searching for Shiro without explaining why he is so upset so by the time s3 picks up the team is at the end of their rope with Keith. They are trying to move forward, like Shiro would want them to, but Keith won’t let them. So really it’s no surprise when the team questions leader!Keith at every turn. Keith is a good leader, yes, but he’s also a leader who demands trust when he rarely explains himself or gives trusts in return.

RE: Operation Kuron

The team absolutely should have noticed ‘Shiro’ was acting weird right out the gate, but they didn’t until he started lashing out at them specifically for two reasons:

1. Selfishness-  I’ve said it before and this won’t be the last time I say it:  the members of Team Voltron can be extremely self absorbed. Every. Last. One. Of. Them. Yes most of those ‘other things’ they’re working on are vital to the war effort, but these people all suffer from extreme tunnel vision which means Kuro’s behavior and treatment of Keith slipped through the cracks. 
2. Shiro is their steadfast, unquestioned leader. The team debates with each other a lot throughout the show and I say debate rather than argue because they communicate respectfully with one another. But I could probably count on my fingers the times someone who is not Keith was the first to question Shiro’s opinion- and remember that this crew has been in space for over a year by now.
   

The team expects Keith, Shiro’s right hand man, to hold him in check, and Keith does a good job of this- questioning Shiro and opening the floor for the rest of the team to chime in. So if Keith isn’t calling Kuro’s strange behavior out, why would they?

Of course, Keith never mentioned this issue to anyone. He’s an overly private person who prefers to deal with problems internally. As far as he’s concerned, the war comes first. What the team needs is a reliable leader; they need Shiro. Calling Shiro into question would be counterproductive; Keith’s job is to support and bolster Shiro because it’s what everyone needs.

Keith clearly knows something is wrong with Shiro and he reacts to it with more erratic behavior and mistrust. So even if the team did notice atypical behavior in this pair, they aren’t going to comment because Shiro is their leader and Keith has been acting wildly for weeks or months- nothing new to see here. Keith is okay with this; he can handle the team turning on him- it’s nothing he hasn’t dealt with before. But Shiro. Shiro is the best option for this universe- Shiro is someone strong and capable, intelligent and fearless, someone people will gladly follow into battle. From Keith’s view, the universe, the team, needs Shiro way more than they will ever need him.

Sidebar: I’ve seen loads of complaints that VLD never gives up emotional moments. Let’s correct this statement- VLD isn’t giving the emotional moments you want to see in your specific pair. Look at Pidge x her family reunions. Keith x long-hair!Shiro. Lance x Allura- when these two are assaulted with Kuro’s aggression they have an open conversation about it between the two of them. We’re not likely to get an emotionally charged, cathartic scene between Keith and anyone and it’s not because they would rather show big robot fights. It’s because 98% of the time, those conversations with Keith do no exist. It’s just not in his character to talk when he could be moving, taking action.

RE: Keith as a Blade of Marmora Member

Back to Keith as the Black Paladin, this is a storyline that I see coming full circle. The first time Keith piloted Black was to save Shiro- a willful hero. The second time was to replace Shiro- a reluctant hero. The third time is likely going to be of his own volition and probably to save Shiro again because Kuro is eliminated and they’ve got to get the real Shiro back.

The team struggling to accept Keith as the head of Voltron is understandable because as I said, Keith acts on instincts and rarely explains his decisions. Trusting and following someone like that is extremely difficult. It’s hard to give something that hasn’t been earned or isn’t even mutual. Additionally, Keith never fully embraced his role as Black Paladin. Keith inherited this mantle at a time of extreme loss, something that has happened to him twice now, and he rejects it. Then when he does lean into it, he’s doing it for Shiro but still not owning his new role.

Keith as Black Paladin is an ongoing story and we have yet to hit the point where Keith welcomes the role. So it absolutely makes sense that he would willfully step down from the position on Shiro’s return even if Shiro was acting really strange. Keith rejects the role continuously, not for lack of skill, but because he hasn’t accepted himself for who he is and what he has to offer, yet.

His time with the BoM is serving him well because it’s giving him that sense of action and agency he needs to feel value. We are seeing him grow into himself, take on more responsibility, going on more solo missions, making more quick decisions that have huge effect. We are seeing him grow into a leader by doing- the best way Keith can learn.

This works well for Keith because he doesn’t have people constantly questioning him, people he feels he has to babysit. It’s him, out in space alone, figuring things out- with the bonus of Kolivan personally grooming him (no pun intended). Keith has proven he’s okay if he comes into harm so long as others are preserved. So removing others from the equation while he learns to be a decision maker and a leader absolutely makes sense.

People who say Keith as a Blade member is a waste of storyline frustrate me.

So yes, the team doesn’t trust Keith and his instincts enough and yes it shouldn’t have taken this long for them to realize something is up with Kuro. But flipside, Keith never took the time to explain anything and had a lot of growing to do.

Summoning @akaiikowrites because she demands this. 

A thought on why average to just-above-average shows generate such passionate fan interactions

irrevocably-delicious:

I’ve been thinking about this for some time, well really ever since the Voltron fandom blew up again a week or so ago. With the new Voltron discourse, Klance retaining it’s number 1 spot on the trending ship lists, and a lot of my dashboard being occupied with Voltron art, opinions, disclaimers, and meta over the past few days, it’s left a large proportion of the internet asking themselves:

“How does Voltron: Legendary Defender, which is a show that is just above average, have such a dominating and voracious fanbase? How does something so generic prompt so many people to scream and create content for it?”

And I think I have the answer… or at least… an answer from my own personal experience.

When people ask me “Is Voltron a good show?” I always end up umming and ahhing for a while, because it’s not bad, but I know it’s definitely not good enough for me to have wasted so many hours of my life engaging with it. The worst thing I want to have happen is my friend watches the show, then calls me and goes “THIS? This is the thing you’re so passionate about?”

And I have to dejectedly sigh out “….yeah.”

So when I’m inevitably asked this question, I always defend myself by going “The world and the characters are really charming. Everyone is very likeable. The show has a lot of potential!” 

And I think that’s it. That’s the secret of it all. Potential.

You see… I think it’s actually the lack of perfection that prompts so many people to go “hang on…. I think I can improve on this.”

You see, in between Voltron seasons, I was really engaged with Yuri on Ice! I waited every week for a new episode, reblogged the new gif sets that would come out after every episode, read all the new theories about where the plot might go, watch the previews for the next episode over and over and over….

I was, and am, SUPER into YOI…. but I’ve never generated any content for it. none. I’ll talk about it of course! But when the show finished, I had several people ask me:

“Hey! Are you planning on writing any fan fiction for Yuri on Ice?”

And honestly…. no. I had absolutely no motivation, no drive, to write anything for the show. For the series that I loved so dearly, I have never written NOR READ a single piece of fan fiction. And when people asked me why I would always say:

“The show gave me everything I ever wanted. There’s nothing more I can add to it.”

And I think that’s really it. Whilst Yuri on Ice is definitely not a perfect show, it definitely succeeds in giving its target audience everything they wanted. It’s potential is perfectly fulfilled. Sure you could write like a wedding scene, or a honeymoon scene between Yuuri and Viktor, and that would be lovely…. but I don’t need it. I have my closure.

This scene is the perfect ending to an emotional arc. As a viewer, I am perfectly fulfilled. 

Similarly, I think of other series that I adore, but have never really had the desire to create content for, or play with AUs or anything like that. In my opinion, the closest thing to a perfect series I’ve ever consumed is Fullmetal Alchemist (brotherhood or ‘03. They’re both really good, but for the sake of this post I’m gonna focus more on brotherhood.)

When I finished Brotherhood every question I possibly had was answered. Every emotional arc came to a close. Again, there’s no where further I could take it. That story is over. Personally, the only thing that left me longing a little bit was the potential relationship between Hawkeye and Mustang… but again I don’t need that. They are side characters, the story does not focus on them, so their ending is allowed to be left open. 

What’s up, I’m crying in the club. 

Shows like Gurren lagann, Princess Jellyfish, Deathnote, Kill la Kill, Baccano, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, etc. are all varying degrees of excellent, but what they have in common is there never seems to be any unfulfilled potential. They explore every ounce of their worlds and characters, so that by the end, I just kind of dusted off my hands and said “Yeah… you know what, I’m good.”

Things like Harry Potter and Avatar: The Last Airbender (and Korra) are interesting anomalies to me, because while they absolutely fulfilled the potential of their characters, these series’ created such interesting worlds that fans continued wanting to explore. I don’t see that much fan content created using these series’ characters anymore, but BOY OH BOY do I see both of these used as AUs when generating works for other series. Any fandom worth its salt will have a well established Harry Potter and ATLA au. People adore sorting characters into houses and into bender types. I love it. I live for that shit. 

So with ATLA and Harry Potter we’re starting to see how the potential of the world they are set in can drive fans to actively participate and engage with these series.

But you wanna know what I think really gets people mobilised? What really gets that fan content flowing? 

It’s character and plot potential. Primarily character, but plot also plays a part (again, I’m looking at you Voltron.)

You guys wanna know the first series I ever actively engaged with? the first series I ever followed dedicated blogs and wrote fan fiction for? The series that I still declare my undying love for even though it’s just a silly simple show?

Keep reading

My Mom Took Me Overseas and Forced Me Into Being a Teen Bride

fantastic-nonsense:

gabarsomali:

loveistheessenceoflife:

liquidheartbeats:

mahamara:

I was 6 years old when my two older sisters went to Palestine to “visit family.” At least that’s what my mom told me.

I was born in Chicago, like my sisters, but our parents are Palestinian, born in Jerusalem. I was four-months-old when our father died — he worked at a gas station and was shot during a robbery. After that, the four of us moved into the basement apartment of my mom’s mother’s house, where my sisters and I shared a room.

I worshipped my oldest sister growing up. She was rebellious and loved pop music and makeup, which my grandmother and mother couldn’t stand. We were raised Muslim, and while my mom didn’t make us wear hijabs — headscarves — to school, we did when we went to mosque on the high holidays. Every other day, we wore long-sleeve shirts and pants or knee-length skirts.

I don’t have too many memories of my sisters, but I do remember how much my oldest sister loved Usher. She was 13 and she’d sing along to his music on the radio in our room. She bought a poster of him, shirtless, and pinned it to the wall next to our bed.

He didn’t last long. My grandmother saw the poster one day and ripped it off the wall. She was screaming at my sister, and my sister yelled right back — she was feisty! But it didn’t matter; Usher was gone. And a year later, so were my sisters.

My mom said they were “going on a trip” to Palestine, but even as a 6-year-old, I’d heard rumors about a diary entry. Something about my sister kissing a boy behind a tree, or writing that she wanted to. I remember large suitcases and both of my sisters weeping as we said goodbye. I cried too, but I was more mad at them for leaving me. Who would I listen to the radio with late at night?

Still, I assumed they were coming back. So when my mother told me that they wanted to stay in Palestine, I got really upset. I missed them so much.

The only time I got to see my friends was at school.

In 8^th grade, our class took a field trip to tour the high school. No one wore uniforms, like we did in middle school! I could even wear my skinny jeans there. Yep, as strict as my mom was, she did buy me skinny jeans that were super popular then. I remember being in the store and pointing them out and being stunned when she nodded yes, then paid for three pairs at the register. They were the only things I owned that made me feel like a normal kid.

But right before middle school graduation, I came home from school one afternoon to find my mother and grandmother rummaging through my closet.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

My mother was holding a garbage bag and my grandmother had scissors. They were cutting my skinny jeans into pieces and throwing them away.

I was so confused — she’d bought them for me! When I asked my mom why, she said, “They’re inappropriate and revealing. You’re too old to dress like this now!”

I was furious. All I had left were one pair of baggy jeans, which I hated. For the first time in middle school, I was relieved to have a uniform.

As soon as I graduated 8^th grade, I started pestering my mom about enrolling me in high school. Every time I asked if she’d done it, she’d say, “Not yet.” In July, she said, “I’m signing you up for an all girls’ school.” But there was a wait list, so then it was going to be online school. I even did my own research and had pamphlets sent to the house, but nothing happened.

By September, all of my friends had started school but me. I woke up every day at 10am and watched TV, cleaned the house, and helped make dinner. I was beyond bored. Meanwhile my mom loved having me around. She didn’t work, and always said that it was important for me to learn how to be a good housewife. I cringed every time she said that — that was the last thing I wanted to be.

In fact, I really wanted a job, even if it was just working at my step-dad’s gas station. Anything to get out of the house. I even asked my step-dad if I could get a workers’ permit, which you can get at 15 in Chicago, and he said, “Sure!” But just like with high school, nothing ever happened. It was another empty promise.

My laptop was my refuge.

Facebook was the only way for me to stay in touch with my friends. I made up a random name that my parents could never guess and chatted with friends throughout the day. If my mom walked into the room, I’d switch the screen to a video game. She had no idea. Earlier that year, when I told friends why I wasn’t in school, more than one told me, “That’s illegal!” I kind of knew I had the legal right to be in school, but wasn’t sure who to tell. My parents didn’t care — it’s what they wanted!

A year passed, and the following summer, I was chatting on Facebook with a guy I knew from middle school.

When he wrote, “Want to go to Chipotle this Friday?” my heart skipped a beat.

I was super excited and typed back, “Sure.”

I told my parents that I was going to see my 24-year-old cousin. She was the only person I was ever allowed to visit. She’s also incredibly cool and promised to cover for me. I met her at her house, and then she dropped me off at the mall and told me to have a great time.

I did! He was cute, and super nice. I told him that my parents were strict and didn’t even know where I was. He was like, “No worries!”

It was the most fun I’d had in over a year. At the end of our date, I told him that I’d be in touch over Facebook, and floated home.

The next night, I was in the living room watching TV when the doorbell rang. My mom answered, and I heard his voice ask, “Is Yasmine home?”

I froze.

My mother started screaming, “Who are you and why are you at this house?”

He said, “I’m Yasmine’s boyfriend.”

I could see him standing in front of my mom, her back to me, and was trying to wave to him, like, “Go away! This is a terrible idea!”

She threatened to call the police, slammed the door, and then screamed at me: “Go to your room. You’re grounded!”

The next day, my mom went grocery shopping without me and locked the glass storm door from the outside, which meant I was trapped. For the next two weeks, I was literally kept under lock and key when she left.

And then one day, my mother said, “Pack your bags. We’re going to Palestine to visit your sisters.”

I’d only been there once when I was 10; I don’t even remember seeing my sisters then — all I remember is that it was dusty and dry. No green at all. I hated it. Plus, I speak only very basic Arabic, which is what they speak there.

I was dreading the trip. Saying goodbye to my little sister was painful — she was 8 by then. She was the only other person who knew, besides my cousin, about my date. I fought back tears and promised I’d be back soon.

My mom said we’d be gone for a month, but I didn’t trust her. On the way to the airport, I asked to see my return ticket. I wanted proof that it existed. She was indignant as she showed me the ticket, but it made me feel better.

My mother and grandmother and I landed in Tel Aviv, which was as hot and dusty as I remembered. I felt claustrophobic in the cab, which we took to Ramallah, the Palestinian capital. My grandmother has a house there, and both of my sisters lived nearby.

I was so angry about being there that I wasn’t even excited to see my sisters. I couldn’t believe that they’d left me all those years before. Now, they were both married with kids. But by the end of that first evening, I relaxed with them. I even told them what happened with my Chipotle date, and they started teasing me, like, “You’re such an idiot! With a white guy? Really?”

They thought that if he’d been Muslim, I wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble. I wasn’t so sure, but it still felt good to laugh with them about it.

About two weeks into our stay, my sisters sat me down and started doing my hair and makeup. I was never allowed to wear makeup at home, so I thought it was cool. When I asked why, they said they wanted me to meet a friend of theirs.

Their friend was in his twenties but still lived with his mom, which my sister called “a problem.” I didn’t understand what she meant by that.

He arrived with his mom and uncle and started speaking to me in Arabic. I barely understood anything except for his asking me how old I was.

I said, “I’m 15. I just finished 8^th grade.”

He looked perplexed. So was I.

After he left, I asked my sisters what the meeting was about. They explained that the way to meet suitors is through families. When a family thinks a girl is ready to be married — usually she’s part of that decision — they pass word along to other families that they’re looking for a husband. The couple then meets through the parents, and if it is a good match, an arrangement is made.

A week passed, and once again my sisters sat me down and started putting makeup on me. They said that another guy was coming to meet me. When I asked, “Who?”

They said, “Don’t worry about it. Just have fun.”

The doorbell rang and in walked a guy with his parents. I’m 5'8" and he was 5'4", nine years older, and missing half of his front left tooth. Everyone seemed very eager. I was repulsed.

I sat stone-faced the entire time they were there. As soon as he and his family left, my mom and grandmother said that they thought I should marry him. They said, “He has a job and a house.” That’s all it took.

I was furious. By then, I realized that they’d brought me to Palestine to get married and planned to leave me there. Instead of berating them, I immediately started thinking of ways to return home on my own. I had watched SVU. I knew this was totally illegal. I just needed to figure out a way to reach a detective in Illinois who could help me escape.

I also knew then that I couldn’t trust my sisters — anytime I complained to them, they’d just say, “It’s not so bad! You’ll learn to love him!”

He and I met two more times that week and each time, I hoped he’d figure out that I was being coerced. But then, during that third visit, all the men went into one room while the women stayed in another.

My sister, mother, and grandmother were chatting with his mother and sisters when I heard the men read the engagement passage from the Koran, which announces a marriage.

Startled, I said to my sisters, “What are they doing?”

My oldest sister said, “They’re reading the passage.”

I shouted, “No!” and fought back tears.

My worst nightmare was becoming a terrifying reality. I ran into the bathroom, curled into a ball, and dissolved into tears. How could my family do this to me? I thought about running away, but how? My mother had my passport. I had no money. I was stuck. I started thinking about different ways to die. Anything was better than this.

After his family left, I could no longer contain my rage at my mother. “How could you do this to me? I am your daughter!” I shouted. Tears were streaming down my face. I could see my mom was upset, too — she was crying, shaking her head. I think she felt bad about it, but she also felt like it was the best option. I felt so betrayed.

And just then, my grandmother marched into the room and slapped me. “Don’t disrespect your mother!” she said, before turning to my mother and saying, “See? She needs this. How else will she learn to be respectful?’

That’s when I learned that my grandmother had set the whole thing up. She’d met this man’s family at a mall the same week I met him! His parents owned a restaurant and spotted us shopping. They approached her to see if I was an eligible bride for their son. She told them yes, but that I had to be married before she flew back to the States. He had no other prospects, so they were excited I was one.

I never liked my grandmother, but I didn’t hate her until that moment.

The wedding was planned for September 30^th, a week and a half away. I was still desperately trying to figure a way out of it. I told my mom, “I’ll find a way to leave.” She replied, “Either you marry him or someone way older who won’t be as nice.”

My sisters said the same. “You’re lucky.” As much as I dreaded what was happening, they made the alternative sound even worse.

A few days before the wedding, my oldest sister finally revealed that she was also married against her will. “I was kicking and screaming the whole way,” she told me. “But I learned to love him. You will too.”

I don’t remember the ceremony — everything is such a blur — but I do remember pulling away when he tried to kiss my cheek and my mother hissing, “Kiss his cheek!” I refused.

At the end of the wedding party, both of my sisters were so excited about my first night with him. They even said, “Text us afterwards!”

I hated them.

The first night was awful. The only thing I’m thankful for is that my husband was not a violent or aggressive man. It could have been so much worse. I get terrible migraine headaches brought on by stress, and I used them to my advantage in the weeks that followed.

He took that first week off of work and we spent most of it with his family. I did the best I could to tolerate being around him and his family while I tried to figure a way out of this mess. To do that, I needed to get on the internet.

When he went back to his job as a mechanic, he’d be gone by 9am. I’d get up, have breakfast and go to his mom’s house to help her clean and make dinner. She had a computer, so one day, I asked if I could use it to talk to my mother and she agreed. Instead, I logged onto Facebook and messaged a friend from 3^rd grade and told her where I was and what had happened.

She wrote back immediately, “That’s illegal!”

Once again, I knew that, but I didn’t know what to do.

I had another friend I met through Facebook who lived in Texas. He was Muslim. I told him what happened, and he wrote, ‘You need to call the embassy!’ He even sent the number.

My heart was pounding as I wrote it in a piece of paper and shoved it into my pocket.

On October 14^th, I was in our apartment in the afternoon when I finally worked up the nerve to call. I used the Nokia flip phone my husband gave me to talk to him and my sisters.

An American-sounding man answered the phone and I blurted, “I’m a U.S. citizen. My parents brought me here against my will to marry a man. I want to go home.”

After a moment of silence, he said, “Wow, this is a first. Hold for a moment.” He connected me to a man named Mohammed, who asked me for my parents’ names and address in the states.

I gave him all the proof I could think of that I was a US citizen. I didn’t know my social security number and didn’t have my passport. He said that was okay, but he needed proof that I was actually married. He asked for the marriage certificate. I had no idea where it was. Then he asked me for my husband’s last name, and I realized, I had no idea what that was either.

Mohammed told me he’d be in touch once he verified all my information. He called me several times over the next two months. During that time, I learned my husband’s last name, which was legally mine as well.

As I waited for news, I got lots of migraines.

On December 3^rd, Mohammed called with the number for a taxi service and the address of a hotel. He told me to be there the next morning at 11am.

The next morning, I waited for my husband to leave and shoved all of my belongings — including the traditional wedding gold my husband’s family gave me — into my suitcase and called the number. That’s when I realized that I didn’t even know my address. I told the driver the name of the closest big store and then stayed on the phone with him, telling him when to turn right or left. He still couldn’t find me, so I ran down to the main street to flag him down praying no one would see me.

I held my breath for the entire 30-minute ride to the hotel. There, in the parking lot, I spotted a blond woman sitting with a guy in a black van.

“Are you with the US embassy?” I asked.

They said yes, and then she patted me down, explaining it was for security purposes, to make sure I was not strapped with any bombs.

I said, “Do whatever you need to do!” I didn’t care — I was so close to freedom.

When they put me in the back seat, I pulled off my headscarf and fought back happy tears: There, with these two strangers, I felt safe for the first time in forever.

We went to the US Embassy in Jerusalem where I spent the day filling out paperwork in order to enter into the foster care system back in the States. I had no idea what that meant other than from this one cartoon show called Foster Home for Imaginary Friends, but agreeing to enter foster care wasn’t hard — at least it was a new start.

That night, a diplomat accompanied me to the airport with two bodyguards, and I was placed on a plane to Philadelphia.

On my next flight, I flew from Philadelphia to Chicago O'Hare and sat next to a 20-something guy on his way to his friend’s bachelor party who asked me how old I was.

I said, “15.”

He said, “You’re too young to be on a plane by yourself!”

If he only knew.

At O'Hare, I had twenty minutes to kill before I was supposed to meet two state officials in the food court, so I went to a computer terminal and logged onto Facebook. I had two accounts at the time: one for friends and one for family. I wanted to see what my family was saying.

A three-page letter from my second oldest sister was the first thing I read. She said she never wanted to see me again, that she hated me, and that if anyone asked her how many sisters she had, she’d say two instead of three. I was devastated.

Then I read a group chat between my two sisters, my mom, and my mom’s sister.

It started, “Yasmine ran away.” “What? Where?” And then someone wrote, “She’s ruining our reputation!” Not one of them wondered if I was okay.

My aunt asked if I had taken my gold. When my sister said yes, my aunt replied, “She could have gotten kidnapped or robbed!”

That was the only mention of concern for my wellbeing.

As painful as it was to read those words, it made me realize that I had made the right choice.

The people I then met in the airport food court introduced me to a woman from Illinois’ Child Protective Services, who took me under her wing. It was 11am, 24 hours after I ran for my life into the streets of Ramallah to escape my forced marriage.

I first moved in with a woman who fostered several kids, and stayed there for six months. It wasn’t ideal — she was very religious and made us go to her Baptist church with her on Saturday and Sunday. But it was still better than what I’d left. This was confirmed when I had to face my mother in court to establish that I should remain a ward of the state, which is what they call kids whose parents aren’t fit to take care of them.

The first court date was two weeks after I arrived. When I saw my mom, I froze. She was sitting in the waiting room and refused to acknowledge me. She didn’t make eye contact; it was as if I didn’t exist. I felt an awful mix of hurt and rage.

A few months later, I had to testify in a courtroom. My mom was there with her lawyer. He showed photos from my wedding and said, “You look happy! And your mom said that you wanted to be married.”

I had to explain to a room full of strangers that I was faking that smile to survive and that my mom knew the entire time that I didn’t want to marry that man. On the stand, I said, “My mom is lying.” That was so painful to have to say — I wept in front of everyone. All the feelings I’d kept inside just poured out.

After that hearing, I officially became a ward of the state of Illinois.

By then, I’d already started ninth grade. I didn’t like my foster mom much. I stopped going to church on the weekends, but she wouldn’t let me or my foster brother stay in the house alone so we were locked out until she got home every weekend and weekdays too. It was hard in the Chicago winter, but the agency didn’t think I was in immediate danger, so I stayed put. Teens are hard to place.

By January 2014, at 16-years-old, I’d been in and out of three foster homes. My strategy was just to survive foster care until I was 18, when I would finally be on my own. So when a couple called Carrie and Marvin came to meet me one weekend, I didn’t hold out any hope.

Carrie and Marvin had two biological teenagers, both with developmental delays. They understood kids and were super warm, but it still took me a while to open up. I really wanted to make it to 18 living with them, but I never dreamed what actually happened next.

When I hit my one-year anniversary with them, they asked me if I wanted to be adopted. I was shocked! I figured I’d leave at 18 and just be on my own — I never thought there was an alternative. But they told me that they wanted me around forever. I cannot tell you how good that felt — to be wanted, by an actual family. I said yes.

No more waking up at 6am to someone saying, “Pack your bags — you’re out!” For the first time in my life, I could put things up in my room and it was okay. It was the first time since being in that van with the people from the embassy that I felt safe.

I saw my mother one last time in court, at the final termination of parental rights. Carrie had asked her for childhood photos of me, and amazingly, my mom handed them to me there.

It was a cold exchange. She was expressionless. At first, I was insulted. It all seemed so easy, her giving me up. But it was really nice to get the photos. She didn’t have to do that.

Now Carrie has them around the house. It makes me feel like I’m really part of her family, like I’m her kid.

I finally reconnected on Facebook with my sister a few months ago, the one who’d said she hated me. She admitted that she wished she’d had the nerve to do what I had done. Now I understand why she was so upset: I got away. She didn’t.

I just graduated from high school — the first in my biological family to do so! In September, I’m going to Illinois State University and just learned that I won a full scholarship, which means my tuition will be waived for the next five years. I plan to study mass communications, and may want to do something with computers, considering they are literally what saved me.

Regardless of what I end up doing for a living, the thing that makes me the most excited is that I get to choose — what I want to wear, who I want to date, or even marry, and ultimately, who I want to be.

Wow.

Incredible

This is such an incredible story and hits home for so many reasons. I can’t stop crying..

Since this is starting to get quite a few notes, I’m going to signal boost some information on the subject and some organizations that do a lot of good work in this area. 

Forced and child marriages are not limited to any single race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or place of residence. The US is no exception: while forced marriages aren’t something you think of as happening in the States, there were at least 3,000 forced and underage marriages that took place in the United States between 2009 and 2011. A national survey found that forced marriage occurs among families of a variety of religious backgrounds, including individuals from Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish, and other faith traditions, so again, there is no singular group of people being affected by this practice. While the majority of forced marriages involve girls who are minors and older teenagers, there are a lot of women in their early and mid-20s that become victims as well; men are also victims, though in smaller numbers. One of the (many) complicating factors in the US is the presence of ‘parental consent’ marriage laws, which allow 15, 16, and 17-year-olds to get married with a parent’s consent; the problem being, of course, that the parents consent to the marriage but the child does not.

If you are facing the prospect of a forced marriage, suspect your family is trying to take you overseas to get married against your will, are in the process of being forcibly married off, are currently in a forced marriage, or have a friend who is in any of the aforementioned situations, here are some resources you can utilize:

• Tahirih Justice Center’s Forced Marriage Initiative: Email fmi@tahirih.org with your story or call 571-282-6161 and ask for Casey or Dina; they run the Forced Marriage Initiative at Tahirih and are both professional caseworkers whose job completely revolves around helping people leave forced/underage marriages and preventing them from happening in the first place. 
• The mission of the Forced Marriage Initiative is to end forced marriage in the United States, and this is taking place in several forms: Casey and Dina’s main objective, of course, is to directly assist victims and potential victims. However, they also run a very active education, advocacy, and legal campaign. Jeanne, who also works closely with them, does a lot of public policy work on the subject and is currently working on getting the minimum age of marriage raised to 18 in every state, while Archana does a lot on the policy and legal side of things to try and minimize the numbers of forced marriages happening in the United States.
• Unchained At Last: a New Jersey-based non-profit that fights against forced and child marriage in the US. Founder and CEO Fraidy Reiss is a forced marriage survivor, and has dedicated her life to helping other people (mostly women and girls) escape forced and child marriage situations. You can fill out their form or call 908-481-HOPE.
• The AHA Foundation: The Foundation deals with issues relating to female genital mutilation, honor violence, and forced marriages, though they focus on advocacy and victims in Muslim communities. Here is their Get Help page and their amazing resource directory, organized by type of service and state.
• Manavi: an organization founded specifically to help South Asian women escape domestic violence, sexual violence, and forced marriages. Here’s their Get Help page and the number of their 24-hour hotline:1-732-435-1414.
• Girls Not Brides: A global partnership of over 900 civil organizations from 95 countries committed to ending child marriage. While the partnership itself is only a policy organization, they have a lot of good resources for finding assistance if you are a victim or prospective victim of forced/underage marriage.
• The US Department of State has an entire page about the topic
• If you are a US citizen or resident abroad, contact your local US embassy for assistance and they will help as much as they are able

Some articles discussing the problem in greater depth:

• NPR: Thousands Of Young Women In U.S. Forced Into Marriage
• New York Times: America’s Child Marriage Problem
• PRI:  The US has a forced child marriage problem, too
• Thomson Reuters Foundation: Forced Marriage in America: many women don’t know their rights, fear to claim them
• TruthDig: Forced Marriage of Children Happens in America, Too
  
• CBS News: The “ugly” problem of child marriage in the US
  
• Al Jazeera: “Till Death Do Us Part: The Forgotten US Victims of Forced Marriage”
• Girls Not Brides: It Does Happen “Here”: Forced and Child Marriage in the US
• PBS: Uncovering the Problem of Forced Marriage in the United States
• Good Housekeeping: Child Marriage Still Happens in America
• Vice News: There Are No States in the US that Outlaw Child Marriage and the accompanying in-depth video
• Washington Post:  Why can 12-year-olds still get married in the United States?

If you want to get involved in tackling this problem, each one of the organizations I listed above have amazing ‘Get Involved’ pages that detail several ways to help end child and forced marriage. You can also get involved by contacting local organizations focused on helping human trafficking victims (whose clients sometimes overlap with forced marriage victims), contacting your state representatives to help get marriage laws changed, and raising awareness and educating people about the issue.You can also get involved by volunteering or interning for one of the organizations: Tahirih in particular has a great internship program that I highly recommend for anyone interested.

not to keep flooding your dashes but like

klanced:

Krolia: (flying the ship in contemplative silence)

Keith: (hesitantly approaches her from behind) (quietly) Can we talk?

Krolia: (immediately sets the ship to auto-pilot and faces him) Of course.

Keith: I… I’ve been thinking about what you said. About why you had to leave. (stares at the space over her shoulder and licks his lips) And I understand why you left but I don’t- I don’t forgive you. (he turns and meets her eyes directly) Because I’ve spent my entire life thinking that you didn’t l-love me, or that you left because I’m not good enough, and even though that wasn’t why you left I still thought it, and no one told me I was wrong because no one was ever around. Dad was gone and you weren’t there. You weren’t there.

Krolia: Keith-

Keith: No. No! You weren’t there! And I- I’m a Blade now, okay, I get it, the mission always comes first, but you weren’t there, and- I was alone. On Earth. Did you know I was alone?

Krolia: I’m sorry.

Keith: If you’d known, would you have come back?

Krolia: …

Keith: Right. (he scrubs at his eyes) Right, of course. The mission. Okay. Okay. (he presses his palms against his eyes and tilts his head back) Right. Fuck!

Krolia: Keith, please look at me. Please. (he reluctantly does) I know that I’ve done nothing to earn your trust, and I know that my opinion means nothing to you, but don’t you ever for a second believe that you aren’t good enough. Because you are worth far, far more than anything I ever gave you. I have loved you, Keith, from the moment I knew I carried you, and I fell even more in love with you the first time I held you, and I turned away from that love even as I thought I was protecting it the second I walked away from you. I sometimes regret becoming a mother, (Keith flinches) but never because of you. I have never regretted you, Keith. I regret the mother that I have been to you. I regret the choices I have made, and the life I have given you, and I wish- I wish you’d had a happy life. I wish I was a mother who made you happy. I’m sorry, instead, for the world I chose to bring you into; and I’m sorry for the hurt I chose to give you. I know you’re not ready to hear it, but I-

Keith: Please. Don’t.

(They stand in silence for a moment)

Keith: … I don’t know where to go from here.

Krolia: Whatever you want. Whatever you want, Keith.

Keith: If I told you to leave, would you?

Krolia: (closes her eyes)

Krolia: If it would make you happy, yes.

(Another pause)

Keith: Right. Okay. That wouldn’t make me happy. (Krolia gives an audible sigh of relief) But I just want to make it clear that, that we’re not just gonna be some big happy family. Okay? Because- I had to learn to live without you. So even when I wanted you, I didn’t- I don’t need you. I don’t need a mom. Understand?

Krolia: (swallows once; twice) (quietly) Yes. Of course. (she makes to move past him) I- You wanted us to pilot in shifts, correct? I’ll take my leave now-

Keith: (he hesitates, before grabbing her wrist) Wait. Wait. I don’t… I don’t need you in my life. But I think- I’m willing- I want you to stay. Or at least stick around, for a while. But don’t do it because you think you have to, okay? Because I’m not your obligation, and I’m not- I’m not your second chance. But I want- You’re a Blade, so I trust you, but I’d like to get to know you better. If that’s… if that’s also something you want?

Krolia: Yes! Yes, of course Keith. I’d love- I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me. (she gestures for him to sit) Besides, I owe you some answers, don’t I?

Keith: Yeah. You have no idea. (he pauses before sitting down) And thank you, Krolia.

Krolia: What for?

Keith: You broke mission protocol to save me. And I know it’s because I’m your son, but thank you-

Krolia: I didn’t do it because you’re my son.

Keith: What?

Krolia: (staring straight ahead) A long time ago, I had to leave someone behind for the sake of the mission. I was told that I had followed protocol and done the right thing. But I realized, then, that everything we do- every mission we take, every chance we seize to undermine the Galra Empire- none of it means anything if someone fails to come home. Since then, I’ve refused to leave anyone behind; not if I can help it. Kolivan hates my change of heart, calls it a liability. (snorts) It’s why he assigns me so many solo missions, I suppose.

Keith: …

Krolia: Keith?

Keith: Why did you join the Blades? I mean, uh, if you can tell me that is…

Krolia: All the questions in the world, and you choose that one? … Well, I was younger than you are now, just a cub, really…

mineapple:

subatomicbetty:

mineapple:

mineapple:

problem with tv animation being so insulated and monopolised is that its turned into a snake eating its own tail- you gotta go to certain places to have any kind of in, and they have a certain style theyve declared to be a money maker, so you cater your art to fit that style, cartoons get more uniform, other styles get waylaid, then on and on you go, all the way down, until you start to lose any sense of uniqueness, and things end up…..extreme

basically it all turns kind of incest-y.

as someone who went to university for animation and realized too late that i had barely any chance of ‘making it’ because i wasnt born in california, its all pretty depressing to think about

the positive side effect of this incestuous ouroboros is that (much in the same way that any female lead movie is hailed as a victory for feminism), even the slightest difference in stylistic choices sets work apart from the rest. You may just be drawing and animating in your own style and be lorded as an innovative creator of your time. It may even help it gain traction as something appealing ‘but different’.

There are also a buttload of counter-arguments and branching topics in these points tho that occured to me while writing

how dare you bring positivity into my sulkfest

reductosshrinkgun replied to your post: problem with tv animation being so insulated and…

This is gonna sound weird… but as someone who watches a lot of animated shows (and has my entire life) I kinda wanna know more about this. I’m thinking about about how action animation has tended to look very similar for the past decade or so and is that the kind of thing? Just tell me to be quiet if I’m on the complete wrong track.

okay im not the best person to ask because i dont know the specifics of companies and their employment methods or which action animation youre specifically talking about but i can absolutely tell you that while calarts (the institute that is getting a lot of flack recently for its style) doesnt have complete monopoly on american animation, its pretty damn close

im gonna just throw a whole bunch of facts your way because they dont lie and from there you can make your own conclusions–

ill pull out a list of top animation studios worldwide- like this one. bear in mind that it doesnt specify exactly how it ranks these studios, but thats not particularly relevant here; we just need the names.

on this list of 50 well-known animation studios, 22 are based in the state of calfornia. the top ten has 6. this list is international. that is a huge amount of influence for such a small place area of the world. there are even other studios that are based in america, but talking about americas domination of popular media isnt the focus today…

were talking california-the ‘cal’ in calarts.

so, california has big boys like disney, nickelodeon, pixar, dreamworks, and all of these have a very strong, very close relationship to calarts to the point where its almost considered a pipeline, and have ever since, i believe, the 70s.

heres some notable calarts alumni that i remember off the top of my head-

butch hartman (fairly oddparents, danny phantom)
john lasseter (just…look him up, itll take less time)
brad bird (iron giant, incredibles, ratatouille)
craig mccracken (the powerpuff girls, fosters home, wander over yonder)
lauren faust (MLP:fim, PPG, foster’s home)
glen keane (little mermain, tarzan, tangled)

(the shows/movies next to them arent even the only ones they worked on, just the some popular ones or ones they produced.)

basically, if you look at a piece of american animation, its a safe bet that it was created, written, or produced by someone hailing from calarts. youre also very likely to find another one or two alumni elsewhere in its pipeline (like a said, its all a little incest-y)

how about some more recent stats- as of 2015, 4/6 of CN’s original cartoons were created by calarts alumni. for disney, it was 4/5- damn good odds if youre a betting soul.

so you can see, calarts and the major animation studios have a Very close relationship.

now- this isnt in itself a bad thing! a lot of great, classic shows and movies have come out of calarts alumni- theyve basically built up western animation from its infancy, and its good stuff. id absolutely take more of the level of quality weve been getting recently than nothing at all!

but…as youve said, similarities and trends start to grow, sometimes to the point of sameness. theyve all started from the same place, and over decades established their own styles, brands, and most efficient methods of getting products out there- and theyre the ones that have the money to do so. its happened before, itll happen again, but i do feel it limits what we can achieve and see in animation, which can be very disheartening if you dont draw like the big leaguers do, or, bottomline, dont have the opportunity to work there.

but of course you can make your own conclusions, and say for yourself whether its necessarily a bad thing or not.

(i realize that this was all rather fact-heavy and maybe too pessimistic for ones tastes, so for something more in-depth and optimistic, check out my fellow animation-graduate subatomicbetty’s response. you might learn a bit more about the industry and process!)

fun fact: ironically though, rebecca sugar, a creator people often criticise for having the classic ‘calarts face’ isnt actually a calarts alumni- but that does kind of make my point about its huge influence changing the industry as a whole, doesnt it?

ghostlylavacryptid:

heero-yuy:

….Shiro and his leadership…

Ok, I’m watching S2E4 & 5 and like the Galra are attacking them and they’re trying to decide what to do and Keith is like “WE GOTTA FIGHT THEM”

And Shiro just.. sides with Allura…

Yes Shiro… that was YOUR idea to go there… Keith tried to stop you from doing that, remember? 

Remember how he had a better grasp on the situation than anyone? And no one listened to him? You think Keith is somehow suddenly not aware of the dangers of doing something like attacking Zarkon’s command center? Dude even fought Zarkon by himself before (and got his ass kicked)!! And he’s watching you like a hawk 24/7 for the slightest sign of struggle, he knows all about you and Black and how easily Zarkon can snatch your control away. Trust me, Keith knows what the risks are better than anyone, you don’t have to explain him anything.

And literally the next episode Shiro is like:

And like you’d think maybe he’s actually listening to Keith finally, and understands they have to fight back or they will just be running away until they die of exhaustion, but like, he actually means they should go fight small Galra fleets and take those out. Which is … well…

Like ok… I know this is a cartoon and stuff dun always make sense and all…

But seriously, that plan actually worked out for them just because Zarkon let Morvok do the job, because I dunno… he was just too lazy to go to Taujeer and capture Voltron himself with all his fleet this time? Was taking a shower? His fav show was on tv? I dunno.. I’m not sure how far or how fast the Galra can travel but seems like it’s pretty far and pretty fast. (Zarkon arrives at the storm place like minutes after they escape from him…)

Like, HOW would going to attack random Galra fleets in outer space won’t immediately give Zarkon their location so he could just show up with his big ship and other fleets at the place?? And once he does it means they will have to run away again or fight all those fleets. (Like those Galra ships travel between galaxies pretty damn fast! They will have to take down the fleet without any unexpected issues I suppose and run away real quick) 

Like, that literally doesn’t change anything about their situation.. Seems like it would just save Zarkon time and energy because he wouldn’t have to track them anymore using magic all the time! And it will just make them all more tired because they will still be fighting all the time and even more than before? That like gives em zero control of the situation back..

LIKE THIS IS A COMPLETELY POINTLESS STUPID PLAN, SHIRO! What are they trying to do? Just annoy Zarkon? Like some kids who ring the doorbell and run away when he gets up to open it?? They will die from lack of sleep before they could ever put an end to the Galra empire like this.

Like imagine them going to fight some fleet, the Galra tell Zarkon “they’re here”, Zarkon shows up, they run away, Zarkon tracks them down and they have to fight him now, but now they are just even more tired from the other fight.. and how will they even find the time to fight all those random isolated fleets while constantly running away from Zarkon??

Their situation is pretty bad if Zarkon can just find them anywhere!! The more tired Allura gets the less distance they can travel through wormholes, the less distance they travel, the faster Zarkon will find them again. The more Zarkon attacks them the more tired they become. Like?? I dunno, am I missing something? Is Shiro’s plan like a good plan somehow?? Does it actually changes something?

Keith is right, fighting back IS their best option in this situation (where Zarkon keeps showing up every few.. hours? minutes?), the longer they wait and run the more exhausted and weak they will become. Like sure, they could have used some planing on how to do that first, but atleast Keith has the right idea and he understands the situation they’re in very quickly. And it’s that they can’t keep running away, they have to fight back no matter how great the risk is. (finding a way to hide would be a way better plan ofcourse, but when that not seems to be an option something must be done fast or bye bye voltron)

Just…*gently moves Shiro to the side and puts Keith in the leader seat*

I dunno, I feel like Shiro survives on nothing but pure luck I swear.. and like it totally works for them!! But like isn’t all this luck gonna run out sometime? (probably not cuz kids show..)

And it’s funny, cause I assume this is something that makes Keith seem like a hot head again and a horrible decision maker and a person who just want’s to fight everyone, but like…. HE MAKES SENSE. and Shiro… I dunno what Shiro’s doing.. 

I am seeing a pattern here, aren’t I? Like, Keith being levelheaded in a scenario, no one even listens. Then Keith is fighting his damnest because fucking hell, he cares about these idiots and he’s not letting them die on his watch, ‘Keith, that is not a good idea. You’re being too reckless.’ 

Yes, because this wasn’t the reckless idea that he was actually against in the first place. Thank you for pointing that out.