Okay, so a link to an accusatory page about white privilege is supposed to make me better understand the cultural significance of a bindi?
It’s supposed to make you better understand why appropriating the bindi as “decoration” on a WHITE PERSON is NOT OKAY, because South Asian…
How did I know your post would berate, belittle, and cuss at me despite the fact that I tried to be very calm and use neutral language? Oh, because instead of just talking to me you had to assume that I’m another insensitive racist bitch. I’m not. I’m very interested in social justice. But in this case, I think you’re taking it too far.
Firstly, we will have to agree to disagree that you have to be a PoC to wear a bindi. I did actually do research about wearing it to enhance chakras, but I missed the part about married women wearing it to signify that they were married. I thought that wearing it to enhance wisdom could be done by anyone and didn’t mention it. I will concede that Linneus is obviously not married and has no business wearing it for that reason, but I do believe he could have Hindu beliefs and wear it for spiritual reasons. No, Teahouse has not mentioned that he is Hindu, but they have also not mentioned that he is not. It’s unknown. I think it’s unfair to assume that he’s not. I personally feel that if he does indeed have strong personal Hindu faith, he can wear the bindi despite the fact that he is white. I don’t think that color limits the faith you can have. I do agree that wearing it to be trendy is wrong, but we simply don’t know if that’s the case here, which is why I suggested speaking to the creators of Teahouse about it. And yes, they did recruit help to moderate their comments, but I don’t think that was out of line. They get thousands of comments and they try to keep it clean and friendly. Judging from your response to me, I would imagine any contact you or others like you have attempted to make with them was somewhat aggressive/accusatory, in which case I do not blame them at all for erasing it. Coming at people so belligerently is never going to yield the result you want. It will make them defensive and less likely to see your point of view. I think you and your readers would benefit it you approached less educated people more congenially.
Secondly, on the matter of slut-shaming in Teahouse—I don’t believe I even commented on that, so I’m not sure why you’re bringing it up to me in such a hostile manner. I am a rape survivor, so I take this part very seriously. I agree that they are walking a dangerous path with Xanthe and Linneus. His abusive behavior and the assumption that they will end up happily ever after concern me. It will either result in the reinforcement of the belief that women can “change” their abusers if they stay with them or, perhaps worse, with Linneus trapped in an abusive relationship that will never get better. Either way, it’s not good, but I’m sticking it out until I see the whole story. I know many people feel that Xanthe’s history will never excuse his actions, and while that’s true, I have to remind myself that Xanthe has never abused Linneus physically, sexually, or verbally. Yes, emotional abuse can be just as (if not more) damaging, but… I don’t know. I have no excuse. I’m curious and I want to see it through to the end. They are my least favorite couple and I have mixed feelings about them, but it is what it is. I want to know what happened to make them the way they are.
As for Xanthe’s selling Linneus to Liard… I’m just going to wait and see before I make any judgments on that. We don’t know if Liard raped Linneus. Liard implied that Linneus consented, but the fact that he is a whore makes the consent dubious to begin with. I also don’t know Xanthe’s reasons for selling Linneus. All your points are conjecture, so I’m not even going to address them. I can’t defend someone when I don’t know the facts, just as I don’t believe you should persecute someone until you know them, too.
Sorry, that was a tangent; I meant to address Lilith’s slut-shaming. I think the comic shows both sides of this. Off the top of my head, I can’t actually think of a time in the comic when a character called her a slut. I think it’s mostly the fanbase doing that—and it’s a yaoi fanbase, so I only think they’re doing it because Lilith is in the way of their ship. Nobody thought Evelyn was a slut for going to the Teahouse. Nobody thought Claret was a slut for sleeping with Rhys. Slut-shaming is just the secondary emotion coming from the primary emotion of wanting to protect their ship. So in this case I blame the audience, not the creators or the comic.
If you want, we could also bring up the fact that Claret is often criticized and insulted for being “fat”. Or the fact that Mercutio’s BDSM is called “gross”. I’m still twitching over Mercutio’s injustice, but I think other characters defend Claret’s figure enough that it’s up to the audience to decide whether she’s fat or not. And actually, whether she’s fat doesn’t matter—I think the implication is there that being fat makes her unattractive, but other characters clearly disagree (Axis and Rory) which actually might help women with their self-image and self-esteem. As for Mercutio, I don’t know—the authors have stated that BDSM isn’t gross, just Mercutio is, for reasons we haven’t seen yet. I’ll have to wait and see. I’m not going to make any judgments yet.
In summation, I think Teahouse is a comic that lets the readers draw their own conclusions re: these very serious subjects. It could be very dangerous in the hands of people who will assume Xanthe is fixable, Lilith is a slut and Claret is a fat cow. But to people who will look closer, examine other sides and motives, it could be very eye-opening. It might be a way to expose social injustices rather than reinforce them.
(Source: aruslym, via the-fairest-empress)
