sottovoce's answer page 2 (68)

COSIGNED!!! hoping the creator of "an unsettling scent" practices more with coloring darker skin tones because the couple of very dark skinned characters there were looking real lifeless and inhumanly grayish. the coloring for that series is generally cool-toned and desaturated, but it could still look better even in that style. the characters the......   1 reply

sorry that you're getting hostile engagement on this, but I think it's a worthwhile drum to keep beating. it could be simple fun/titillation to present a cis character with a different set of genitals for horny purposes, but oftentimes it so glaringly has a transphobic dimension because those depictions are blatantly an excuse to avoid engaging wit......   2 reply

ultimately, fiction is where people explore, interpret, and reinterpret the things they're experiencing and observing in real life, so there's always going to be an element of reflecting and engaging with some aspect of reality and society consciously/intentionally or not, no matter how mundane or fantastical the story. BL as a genre/category is a......   reply

anything with art skill that the writing/story development woefully doesn't match up to. anything that would benefit from the author having more social awareness. every bl that uses sexual assault and/or rape to kickstart romantic and sexual development between the endgame couple. I've got a bone to pick with kim daecheon because their art and sm......   reply

it's so frustrating to see character designs for female characters hampered by the "make it sexy" directive, especially since "sexy" only ever seems to come in one variety (maybe two if you're lucky). "once you start, you can never stop." structural awareness will do that to you.   reply

op's quote is making a comparison to marketing tactics to illustrate how ideas can be spread and absorbed without the recipient being conscious of it. it's not theorizing a conspiracy, but trying to explain a concept. repetition is key to learning, and culture/values/ideas are no different. if you can understand how media reflects and influences be......   2 reply

something something, how gender, sexuality, and the concept of sex itself are constructed under heterosexuality -> general rape culture -> kink and sexual fantasies as a coping/processing method/something people are interested in or fascinated by -> the prevalence of rape and dominance/submission dynamics in romance/erotica -> prevalence of rape in......   1 reply

my kingdom for enthusiastic consent! from characters who know what they want and how to get it, to those who are new to things but are willing to try - let's get some serious explorations of desire between two (or more) people! what gets me is that even when rape/SA is thrown in to force the narrative along, the impact of that is rarely explored wi......   1 reply

hard out here for people who want more thrills and action than slice-of-life but don't find the threat or spectacle of sexual violence all that compelling. nothing but stock characters, dynamics, and plots...   reply

it's amazing how people who say "don't like, don't read" never seem able to apply it to comments they don't like and conversations they never want to have. that line only applies for stuff like fanfics and some other fanworks where hate and other reactions are a direct engagement with the work in question (comments under a fic, replies/quotes to a ......   reply

regardless of everything else, in the moment, he had physical (close, intimate contact, in a vulnerable position) and emotional leverage (you didn't want to disappoint or "lead him on") over you to get what he wanted despite your wishes. consent is ongoing and revocable. if person A and person B agree to do actions 1, 2 and 3, that does not mean ......   reply

by all means, let's push back against things that normalize sexualizing children, so this isn't to say that you shouldn't criticize the release of anime/manga featuring loli/shota content. I'm in full agreement with that sentiment. that said, the birth rate issue is more a consequence of lack of support for mothers/families, work culture, economic ......   1 reply

a flag is a communication tool. a basic and common function is signalling if a path is clear (green) or obstructed/hazardous (red). imo, many people are using "flags" weirdly because it makes more sense to apply it to behaviors and attitudes rather than to a person or character as whole. that's how I saw the concept used, initially, anyways. it ove......   1 reply

it's not gonna ruin my day or damage my mental state to read something with rape/SA in it, but I'm always going to question its inclusion in ostensibly "romantic" stories, even if it's about criminals and villains because the grand majority of the time, rape/SA is included in BL for cheap thrills, titillation and as a relationship catalyst or short......   reply

I'm aware of BL's shoujo roots, so the pretty boys came with the genre, and I don't have a problem with men being pretty or soft or beautiful instead of handsome. I do have a problem with the very narrow range of appearances that they're given. men have a range of appearances and body types, too. feminine men and twinks exist, and that's not an iss......   reply

I feel you. it's not just that other people don't wanna think about anything critically or use their brains in general, they get mad at you for daring to use yours! I'm gonna keep writing my essays regardless.   reply

going off of what I was aware of back when the manga was getting more popular in English speaking spaces some years back, syundei is a victim of false advertising from the people hyping "go for it, nakamura-kun" at the time. it was being hyped as a wholesome rom-com type of thing, and a break from the super-dramatic, rape-y stuff out there. I had r......   1 reply

I pay for the stuff I like because I have the means to do that, and I want to support the creator to make more of it. but definitely with bl and other things, I'll take every opportunity to try before I buy. if the prevalence of certain tropes and themes is partly caused by market demand for them, I'll be sure to ensure that I'm not contributing to......   reply

from Ghana, but functionally american   1 reply

like perfection, it's an unnattainable goal to know everything, but it's one of those things where there's virtue and value in the undertaking. journey over destination, so to speak. take your learning opportunities where they come with an open, inquisitive, and curious mind(set). I'm all about reading, reading, reading. books, articles, etc. someo......   1 reply