I wanted to briefly touch on Bismuth and black masculine women because someone asked me about Bismuth herself and I didn't really want to go into it in the zine but also part of me thinks I should because she's a pretty good case study on how easy it is to fuck up writing black butches and other black masculine people too. These thoughts are also less organized and more rambley than the zine so do forgive me. Much is based on the assumption you know Bismuth's deal while makes sense even without consuming all of SU, but if you don't know Bismuth's deal, she is only in one episode just called 'Bismuth,' so you can totally watch it if you really to know what I'm talking about.
IT'S A CAN OF WORMS
I actually think Bismuth is not a bad character because she is depicted as 'evil' or 'radical' or whatever because I think she is very normal in the context of the show itself. It's Steven's direct interactions, and the fear involved. She attempts to kill Steven due to her emotion, and her strength is a point of fear in the combat. Her black lesbian masculinity is tied with her being point of horror plus her strength then her being treated as a threat that needed to be contained is strange to me.. All of them combined together.
In ways I hate her for similar for similar to reasons I hate Krone from the Promised Neverland though Krone is just offensively written without a care for black people's feelings to the point where I will never interact with that work outside of talking shit about Krone, no ifs or buts. But I find my critiques going back to the same points- Krone being big and scary and her horror being tied to being black and strong and devoted to the task at hand..
Methinks Bismuth had the potential to be handled differently. A lot would've been forgivable had she not vanished for the rest of the show as plenty of the other characters have done worse things.. She is just so strange. I think she is based on radical black lesbians which could've been so cool had she not been POOFED AWAY WHICH IS WEIRD WITH THAT INFLUENCE and if the fight wasn't based on the INHERIT POWER DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM.. especially when characters like Jasper existed just casually for so long and Steven has similar feelings as her in Future.
I consider Bismuth to be an extension of the poor handling of all of the black characters in SU, but I didn't feel strongly about her because I already knew.... I already knew she was just gonna show up in one episode and then go back in the bubble lmao.
But, outside of her role in show, I actually I realized I actually like Bismuth because I read a JP Pearl and Bismuth doujin a few years ago. She's very cute and charming, but alas.. Much like the other black SU characters, she is never allowed to get anymore depth. I don't know what the writers were thinking.
My zine doesn't touch on black mascs as much because so many of the depictions of them in media I consume are just very poor to me for reasons that affect most black characters. I also by default tend to have less of an interest in them unless they are lesbians because of my own feelings as a black femme and being masculinized against my will. A lot of black women or dark skinned women are already depicted as more masculine than their non-black counterparts.. Honestly I'd say this is the case for men too. The black men who appear in media I consume are usually stronger and 'scarier.' The black body is one that is made to evoke fear or strength. I hate it, but some blakc people have different relationships with it so I cannot speak for us all.
Really.. in fiction, there is only one I truly adore.. I think a lot of black mascs wouldn't consider Semiu to be masculine at all, but she actually resembles one of my oldest friends from high school who is a black masc so I truly have no desire to get involved in 'she's not actually masc' when masc is giant spectrum that really I think I have a special relationship with as a black lesbian who likes being with masculine lesbians, whether they are butch or not...
But I also recognize butches and mascs who aren't really into any sort of feminine fashion want to see characters like them and I do too as lesbian who finds expressions of masculinity amongst lesbians and sapphics of every ethnicity to be very Based. In yuri, there are not enough butch masculine lesbians but they're some of the most fun to read about in casual situations! The ones I've seen mainly are focused on their relationships with being butch and a lesbian which is fine, but you know I love when people just exist.
In the end, I think it's more difficult to pull off black mascs of all genders because I think the way masculinity is written and described is bizarre even outside the scopes of writing black people (though it also affects us in a special way since black women are masculinized by default), so a lot of the attempts are failures.
PLUS.. Things men are allowed to do that is revolutionary for them is criticized amongst masc women (and there's even more fucked up shit when black men engage in femininity but I digress). Even amongst lesbian spaces, everyone loves to be weird to butches or say who one is like it matters.. But it means, due to the hierarchy of oppression, black masculine women end up being victims of special kinds of fetishization and/or demonization that gives it layers.
But honestly, I think so much of it can still be overridden by just writing well.. Like I said, Bismuth, to me, wouldn't have been nearly as offensive if she were treated like literally every other character in series. If she were still herself but not immediately quarantined for being a danger while everyone else in the show keeps being redeemed- it would be easier to discuss her. She had the potential to be one of the most interesting characters in the series hwile being a black character with a personality AND interesting story.. one of the coolest butches ever but she is only in one episode and briefly in Future.. Another chance to expand upon her failing... Instead we got.. More Jasper- who's also treated weirdly which goes more into how i feel about the handling of masculine women in general but let's not go into it.
There's even more layers to this which is why it's huge CAN OF WORMS. From Bismuth making it clear she was viewed as lesser for being a Bismuth and wanting to hurt the people who enslaved her and then being Put Away, despite other characters having similar feelings. It's why she is offensive to the point of comedy and I didn't really wanna go over her in the zine itself. I might later though.. I didn't wanna include images of characters I hate LOL but as a result, it meant that I couldn't really talk about black mascs.
I write black mascs and things though my representation of black masculine people are influenced by umm.. Japanese fashion, and I think I will always be persuaded by how femme I am lol (I am literally a lifestyle lolita). I also didn't want to come off as writing black masculine women from a perspective of attraction (though you know I didn't wanna come off that way but I do love attractive masc women), so I wasn't sure I wanted... But you know like.. the zine got more popular than I anticipated so..I thought people familiar with my work would be reading it but that not the case so DO KNOW I love black butches and this zine was shared with my black masculine friends. I am just not really one, and my philosophies with their handling applies to other black characters too.
Some of it I felt also used common sense rule.. I expect you to do research outside of this zine and to have some basic understanding of problems with depictions of us in media and to understand I as a black femme can't really fully capture my problems with writings of black masc women. I just added all of this because it was missed out on in the zine.
ANYWAYS. Yap yap. Thanks for your support. .. Cries looking at her.. We could've won everything
PS: IF YOU'RE CURIOUS ABOUT THE BISPEARL DOUJIN UNFORTUNATELY U ARE OUT OF LUCK I'VE LOST IT but DO KNOW IT WAS ON SOME RANDOM DOUJINSHI SITE AND BY A JP ARTIST... i did not actively seek it out hence me failing to find it again.. though believe me if i manage to find it I will share since the art was lovely and it made me actually like bismuth lol.
PSS. if you know the doujinshi where pearl and bismuth are drinking and being lesbian, my email is ophanimkei@disroot.org. i believe it is JP but it's possible i'm wrong.if you know the original untranslated ver, i will also happily take it. i am not looking for suggestions of how to find it though!!!! do believe mean well aware of processes i can do to find it but i have small amounts of sanity