this honestly just came out of left fucking field i would have never expected to hear anything like this in this show. consider me Pleasantly Surprised tbh
While this totally applies to other marginalized groups, I’d like to remind everyone House is specifically talking about an autistic child here.
Remember that.
Wow. A totally explicit message from writers that didn’t believe a fucking word of it
I’ve seen more and more posts claiming that aces and aros have “stolen” dragons from children. That we’re corrupting dragons some how with our dirty a-spec ways and sexualizing a children’s toy, essentially.
Two things are assumed with this:
That dragons inherently belong to children
That a-spec individuals identifying with dragons somehow perverts the concept of dragons
I take great issue with the thought that dragons are for kids. Not just because they are, often, violent creatures that level cities and horde possessions. No, my issue is with the connotation that surrounds labeling something as “for kids.”
The connotation surrounding a “for” label are very simple. If you are not included in that label, it isn’t for you. If something is “for women,” the thought is that it isn’t for men too. If something is “for dogs,” it isn’t for people. And if something is “for kids,” it isn’t for adults.
Dragons being “for kids” is part of a larger issue. This idea stems from the larger marginalization of fantasy as a genre being “for kids.”
Ursula K. Le Guin says it best in Why are Americans Afraid of Dragons? This is a study of why adults (all around the world mostly in industrialized places but looked at from the American perspective here) distance themselves from fantasy as a genre and put it down as “for kids.”
Dragons shouldn’t be considered just for children. That stems from a larger issue and fantasy isn’t just for kids. Much of it is quite mature in content.
So, how are a-spec people that identify with dragons stealing them? The real question is, why are adults giving them to children in the first place? Dragons are an important part of so many cultures. They represent things spanning from evil and greed to benevolence, bringers of life and rain to protectors of women. Essentially all civilizations have some sort of dragon myth.
The dragon is such an interesting symbol, too. In so many myths, they kidnap virgins and a hero must rescue the maiden; he often then marries her and removes her maidenhood. Snakes often symbolize sex and sensuality (how many times have you seen a boa across a woman’s naked breasts, preserving her modesty but still suggesting sensuality? often with female singers) but dragons, connected with the concept of serpents, are complicated.
Dragons have this inherent sexuality implicated and what do they do? They kidnap and protect virgins, despite not being able to do anything with them.
A-spec people don’t need to “pervert” the dragon. They’ve always had a tumultuous relationship with sex. And I think it’s pretty understandable that an a-spec would look at these creatures, who have a connection to sex but also stand apart from it, that protect this concept of virginity (that can also be looked at as sexlessness, or a lack of sex), that can do nothing with their horde but still cherishes it… that a-spec people would look at this as see parallels. Make connections.
How is it wrong to associate with something? How is it perverse or theft or corrupting? Dragons are complicated multi faceted creatures.
hey op a-spec doesnt refer to asexuals, its for us autistic people and it refers to the autistim spectrum so hey maybe dont use it? lmao
Okay so I wasn’t going to reply to any of the negative comments but this? This isn’t true.
I’m autistic. You can search my blog for the tags “autism” “aut spec” etc. I am getting more and more invested in the autistic community online. I recognized and knew I was autistic before I realized I was asexual.
A-spec has never been widely used for autistics. I personally used the term aut spec sometimes because I feel very comfortable with it, but I’ve found most other autistics often just say autistic spectrum. If you have more questions/concerns:
In fact, that is typically thrown around to suggest that aces are inherently ableist. Our identity and identification is ableist. But it isn’t.
Part of my disdain for the term “for kids” is the ableism therein. Because autistics tend to identify with dragons/fantasy a lot too. And autistics tend to be mocked for liking things “for kids.” But I chose not to make this a post about intersectionality – a lot of aces are autistics and vice versa after all. That can be a different post, this was about defending aces who identify with dragons. This was about defending fantasy and dragons as not “for kids” but “for everyone.”
is anybody else incredibly tired of exclusionists openly mocking everything and everyone?
it feels so much like junior high up in here. They make fun of everyone, and if you call them out on it they just make fun of you more.
all of the snarky “what even is this what did I just read this made me go blind what the fuck even is this lmao” could not be more blatantly bullying. It’s ableist emotional abuse hidden behind a very, very thin layer of plausible deniability.
they had to call in the cavalry just to change the subject to a blatant lie
Remember when we didn’t get a scene with Warden Alistair at Skyhold meeting up with Leliana at The Herald’s Rest and telling stories of the blight and drinking themselves silly until they end up loudly singing tavern songs like Andraste’s Mabari? Yeah well it should have happened and I’m going to believe they just forgot to show it to us.
Bonus, because sound travels far in Skyhold:
(thanks to introvertedwife for the help with Morrigan)
This topic came up on my last chat, much to the frustration of myself and the others involved in the conversation before it was worked out, and it made me think it might be a good thing to post about.
If an artist or world builder does not want to talk about sexual aspects of their world and characters, that needs to be respected. EVEN IF that creator has written about sexual aspects of their creations, or built sexual aspects into their work that has yet to be seen by viewers.
There may be plenty of reasons the creator doesn’t want to talk about it; maybe they don’t want to reveal that aspect of their creations. After all, audiences tend to sexualize creations no matter what type of creation they are, and perhaps that’s something a creator doesn’t want to actively encourage. Maybe they aren’t in the mood to talk about it at that time too, just not the right day. Maybe they haven’t thought about it much, and need to consider it before engaging their audience on that subject.
People are allowed to say no, artists are allowed to discuss and present their work in the way the desire. When you PUSH an artist or world builder to talk about sex in their creations, the only effect you have is making artists not want to share their work. Speculating on sexual aspects of creations might be fun for you (and perhaps for the artist too at times), but forcing the “fun” on others (especially the creator of the content) is a consent issue. Don’t do it.
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