I think plus size women (and men) need to see positive, beautiful representation of people who are their size. I also think they need to see plus size people being happy with who they are. The stereotype of the unhappy, fat loaf who sits on the couch being lazy is such a lie, and it kills me that that’s what some people expect when they think of a chubby person. I hate that it’s such a surprise to some people to see a plus size person wearing nice clothes and looking good, so I’m really glad to see positive representation out there.
Honestly, I think it’s just a great thing for everyone to see, not just plus size individuals. Society has such a skewed view on beauty. It’s always changing and the things we see aren’t always truthful (Photoshop, etc.) I get support from all sorts of people, not just plus size. There are plenty of people who are smaller than me who feel encouraged to love themselves when they see me. I feel like body positivity is something that’s beneficial to everyone. I feel like everyone has their insecurities, so seeing people embrace who they are is such a huge confidence booster.
My interview with The Curvy Fashionista went up today and I haven’t stopped smiling since :)
Nov 04
Me and some gorgeous ladies decided to Disney it up at Youmacon on Saturday :)
These ladies were really great to walk around with and I look forward to hanging out with them again someday <3
I hate the mindset of, “We need more diversity” then something comes out that attempts to have some diversity and the response is, “Well it’s not representing ALL diversity therefore it is shit.”
Do we need more diversity in our media?
Yes.
Do I expect one show to have every single type of person in it?
No.
But I just want SOMETHING, you know? So when a show like Urbance has an awesome looking dark skinned cast (which, yes, skin color is a thing in the black community where people who are darker than others don’t think they’re as attractive, so yes, thank you, for cool looking dark skinned characters) that’s reason to celebrate, not crucify it because, “It’s missing some stuff” or “are they really PoC because future world where everyone looks like that.”
Everything is missing some stuff, the point is to try. You don’t have to cram in every kind of minority, I just want some representation that’s different than the norm. I’m black and part of the LGBT community, I’m not going to get pissed off if I find a great cast of black characters but none of them are gay. I can remember growing up watching great shows that had a predominately black cast that didn’t touch on LGBT issues, but hey, that didn’t mean that they didn’t touch on issues that were important to me. Same can be said for every form of media you can think of. I’ve seen great shows that empower women of color but not lesbian women of color. I’ve seen great shows that talk about LGBT issues but don’t talk about race. The point is to celebrate the series that try to have diversity, even a little bit, and not just the one sassy black friend or the hip swinging gay guy, but actual characters with a story to tell (and that’s characters with an “s,” as in more than one)
So let's not give these shows a hard time because they don’t have every single minority group in one sitting, especially when the show is still developing and could very well introduce said person who is part of said group that’s missing.
[video]
Anonymous asked: I just think you should know that Urbance isn't actually a good thing. The staff behind it don't have any PoC and have stated tons of times that their characters aren't actually black, but a weird futuristic race of a world where everyone just looks like that. When people approached them to try to understand more they called them stupid SJWs and behaved really unprofessionally. It's a gross project.
You know what? Here’s a great response to that that my friend KrisRix already wrote up, because I don’t know all the details about the project, just that I’ve been interested in this thing for a while because of the sets I saw on Tumblr. To me, it looks like it could be something great. I’m not saying that the show is going to be perfect, but I would like to at least be able to see it before assuming the worst. The post I’m linking above addresses concerns and how the staff has responded to them.
I’m not expecting Urbance to be the end all be all PoC LGBT animation project of the century and there’s always room for improvement and growth, but that’s not going to happen if we’re like, “Nope,” before the thing even gets out the gate. I feel like people are wanting them to represent EVERYTHING OUT THERE. That’s a tall task and, from what I’ve seen in Kris’ post, they’re trying, and the first step is to try. People snapping at them is the reason why more people aren’t going out there and trying to make diverse characters. They’re scared to be different because they’re worried about doing it wrong and the backlash from it. Does there need to be more diversity in our media? Of course. Is that going to happen if you assume something is going to be bad right off the bat? No.
I’m not seeing the “gross” from a project where most of the cast is dark skinned and cool looking. If its some future world where people are dark skinned, then it’s a future world where people are dark skinned. I can’t really think of too many animation series that do that. They could’ve easily made all of the characters white if it were just about a future society, they didn’t have to animate it the way they are.
In most of the things I watch/read maybe one or two characters would have dark skin, but a predominantly dark skinned cast? Ha, not a chance. And honestly comments like this one is why. I still remember the backlash of “Princess and the Frog” because “she was a frog for most of the movie” and “why does the black princess have to be the hardworking one” and that attitude is why people do the norm. The norm isn’t judged as harshly. We cry out for diversity but when it starts to happen we jump down their throats, so why even bother if the response is “this is all wrong.” Why try and be different at all? It’s safer to do what’s been done a thousand times, so forgive me for being excited over something that looks like it’s trying to step outside the box. Trust me, I’ll properly crucify it if it comes out and it’s garbage, but for now, they haven’t warranted that kind of response from me.
