beccaelizabeth's dreamwidth journal

My annual brave thing has been achieved, with only two panic attacks, and a whole inability to talk of course, which I wouldn't usually bother mentioning but the edp tried to interview me and it not work, I got as far as 'n n n n n' of trying to say not work, and they got the idea.
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But I went, and there was maximum rainbows.

Pride is good.

Norwich Pride parade was today, and I was walking in it, all the way around!
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Rainbows day :-)
Parade :-)
:-)

Soldiers and a sailor in fight to be Mr Gay UK

Mr Plymouth stood slightly apart from the other contestants playing Trivial Pursuit in the guest house reception. Steve Grant, a 22-year-old Royal Navy weapon engineer, only came out to half of his friends and family earlier in the week when he discovered that he was able to attend the final because his submarine had docked earlier than expected. Despite his nerves, he felt he was in with a reasonable chance.

Last year's winner, a young PC called Mark Carter, romped to victory when he took to the stage in full police garb, including stab-proof vest, for the "dress to impress" round. Grant was hoping his sailor suit could do the same for him.

There was momentary consternation when Mr Edinburgh, student A J Ward, 19, discovered that his nearest geographical rival, Mr Glasgow, was also planning to dress as a "sexy squaddie". But Ward decided that he had the upper hand. "I bet his trousers don't rip off like this," he said, miming pulling off his trousers in one.


... I'm getting a sudden terrible fic bunny involving Stargate.
... See, this is the kind of thing the US military is missing out on.

;-)


(The bit about the guy who only just came out made me LOL. Imagine that conversation!)

Someone did a poll on what sex we'd like to see in Torchwood.
What I'm looking for? Stuff we don't see on every other show.
I mean, there's nothing particularly unusual about the het we saw.
But even a couple of queer kisses stand out as unusual. Stupid, yet true.
Actual queer sex? Not something we're so likely to see on other shows.
So, reason to watch Torchwood instead.


The same applies to Weevils. Or things with tentacles. Or floaty sex gas... actually, no, I think I've seen floaty sex gas before.

While the source of pleasure there would be quite different - weevils do not look like porn to me - it would be distinctive.



I hates it when you can't tell which show you're watching. Too much of TV is too similar, trying to grab bits of audience that are already watching. The *only* things I watch on TV are Torchwood, Doctor Who, Supernatural and Ghost Whisperer. And the latter two I only remember about one ep out of... well, many. Only TW & DW are appointment viewing. And only TW gets me staying up until daft hours of the morning watching it over again.

More like that, please.
Not more like other shows. I ignore them for a reason.




PS having just watched a video of random guys kissing, have to say that's pretty much boring. Reason I read slash (romance between known characters) and not porn (bodies bumping). Bodies is just kind of there. People are the interesting part.

Feminism is not about inverting patriarchy so women are in charge.

Gays do not have too many rights. Equal rights are not special rights, and it does too need campaigning for.

And straight people don't have special Pride parades because they get celebrated every damn day in every medium.


... sorry, I swallowed it to stay on topic, but it do not stay down.


Group was split, women disputing men. Men had an topic each they was louder on. Women was nicer and understanding issues.

You know, I hate the whole idea of built in differences or judging by categories, yet every time I get into these arguments it seems like I can predict sides. Bloody annoying.


... I think studying sociology should be mandatory. All schools, all people. I realise it wouldn't necessarily fix anything, but I can live in hope.

I said on the S3 board but I say again here
on the way in to college today I saw Torchwood advertised on the side of buses
twice.

Captain Jack is really, really big.

Was stood there all heroic, with gun stretched out.

Thing is, buses around here are all colors. So one ad was on a blue bus background, and the other was on pink.

The difference in effect was... interesting.

So, thanks to malnpudland wisdomeagle, I found that
Poll on perceptions of sexuality of characters
Fascinating stuff.
For instance, we learn that, no matter if we've actually seen them shag a member of the same sex on screen, somebody somewhere will rate them as a Kinsey 0.

I was expecting people to read in queer when the text gives us little or nothing to go by, but going the other way somehow surprises me. Leaves me wanting to ask if they understood the scale, in a way that rating someone a 6 when they on-screen-shagged members of the opposite sex would not. My thought patterns exposed there.

So I played with the data and rearranged it so under the cut I have a list of Buffyverse characters in order of mean perceived place on the Kinsey scale.

Andrew was indeed gayer than Xena. And Willow. Though three other out gay characters did rate further up. 

Sorry if the table is a bit of a mess.  I keep changing my mind about which way it would work better.

Mode is popular, so a couple have either 2 with the same votes, or 2 spikes with nearly the same votes a bit seperated.  The graph shapes are quite interesting.
The mean hides how much difference of opinion there was. And the comments showed more complexity than the numbers allow.
All those in the middle numbers are shades of being bi, so most characters are read at least a bit queer by most people in that particular poll. 

The votes column required me to do math.  I already found one I got wrong once, and I'm not really rechecking them.

There's a section of data on who was answering the poll too, but I don't copy or analyse that. 

202 people listed Buffy as a main fandom
190 listed Angel
so any character that has more than that of votes had votes from outside their fandom?

I just thought it was fun: Polls say, Andrew more gay than Lorne, Willow, and Ethan Rayne...

there's a thing in fantrhopology about transgender issues, and why isn't there more fic

me, one reason I like Ethan is the whole Change thing. Fluidity and possibility. Can be anything he wants. Can make everyone else be anything he wants. Nifty.
Could that include writing about sex swaps? Yeah.
But would that be a transgender story?
I haven't the slightest clue.
Seems to me that the word is about a community and a bunch of people with specific attitudes and stories and, really, I know not of this.

Can I understand not liking the body you're in? Oh so very. Can I understand not wanting to be female? Yup. How about wanting to try out being a guy? Oh yes.

But wanting to stay that way? Where's the fun in that?
great big comprehension gap.

staying the same means not-being half of things. why not be all things? Well, because they don't want to be, I guess. Still, this to me seems odd.


Also, while I can come up with reasons for people wanting to switch sex in the Buffyverse, they are not reasons which seem to match reasons RL people would have.
Slayers are always female. So if someone didn't want to be a Slayer they could get that Hecate spell done and be male. Presto, no more problem.
Or, Slayers are always female. Watchers are raised being told that Slayers are the only ones strong enough. Wouldn't you want to be strong enough? And if strong=female, wanting to be female seems logical.

Or then there's Andrew. I can see Andrew wanting to be a girl. Guys date girls and its All Okay. And also, girls kick ass. But I can't see it being healthy if Andrew wants to be a girl, because on Andrew it would be a symptom of his general problem with identity. Getting comfy as a guy would be progress.
Though I keep on fic bunnying him into dresses for Halloween. There's something about Andrew in ruby slippers... Or, an Andrew who learns about Slayers early on dressing up as one. Like, it could even be a secret costume, just trousers and t-shirt and a stake, but Andrew knows that he's a Slayer really so when the spell goes into effect, changes.

Also, there's the punchline to a fic joke I never finished writing. Ethan captured by the initiative promises to change someone into something every soldier fears. So he makes him a crossdressing queer.
I, er, stopped writing it because I realised that might only be funny in my head...


change character X into opposite sex, sit back, and watch, is not a transgender story really. Its a thing to do to someone, it isn't about their wanting to anything. It is usually actually opposite of trans, since the fix at the end is the restoration of the status quo.
also there are weaknesses in how it is often written - character X swaps personalities along with their genitals. Which, to me, seems unlikely. Though I can certainly see them changing moods. Hormones are strange.


Halloween episode stories though I do feel would involve some sex swaps. In school in my year there were always the same guys who did drag for free clothes day (all in my art class). I kind of thought there was always those guys. And I'm entirely sure Ethan would be happy to encourage them.
But then again 'Fear Itself' stories could involve some sex swap too, because it would be pretty scary suddenly having the wrong bits. Or, like when Xander broke into the frat house, got to wear the funny girl stuff for humiliation, there would be guys who would have that as their fear, that being real and not temporary.
But that certainly wouldn't be a pleasant story.
Or, again, about transgender precisely.

Okay, once again somebody said something in their LJ and I don't feel I know them well enough to drop in at random and reply. But twinkledru said The world is not going to magically become a better place for gays because you wrote Spangel

I disagree.

Words have magic. Stories change people. To borrow some of Angel's words - "We live as though the world was what it should be, to show it what it can be." They, the people in the stories, live that way. We can write them to show things with.

To change hearts and minds you give them stories they can believe in. True stories work for some people, but fantasy can give back a reflection just wonky enough to hold attention without cutting too close to the sore places, or magnify aspects that might otherwise get buried. The right story to the right mind at the right time can change their world. Magic words.