i.... don’t know if i’ll hit the points v well but i have a lot of feelings about the xiao bao and yibo video going around and fandom’s reaction so let me try to talk about it a bit but i’m rly tired bc i feel like ppl are not considering a couple of the implications at play

firstly did everyone just casually forget about cultural appropriation again?! pretty sure whatever’s happening on xiao bao’s head is... an appropriated hairstyle and yet the video’s being shared across my tl without acknowledging, warning for it or taking any issue with that....

then i dearly hope everyone is aware of the origin of waacking, clearly everyone knows how queer it is but can we put some respect on the black and brown queer and trans poc who created this, which that paired with the ca and ppl ignoring that is... incompatible to say the least

i’m honestly also uncomfortable with how non-mlm have turned this interaction v much into a spectacle, its like a lot and ppl being like v loud about this, from that all the way to the extreme of ppl oversexualising them is like ??? i don’t even wanna get into how ppl are pushing

homophobic stereotypes & fetishistic shit onto them going all “yibo’s a top”, the other dancer is now placed into a role based on yall’s heteronormative bullshit. not only that but its highly invasive to talk about ppl in terms of sex positions & bc they *checks notes* danced.

all the screaming also feels kinda questionable like i honestly don’t feel comfortable holding yibo up as some figure of the queer community or something bc he partook in a queer dance like i’m a qtpoc i’m not about to ooh & ah over him for the bare minimum or smth and especially

like tbh i’m not entirely comfortable with the interaction either like honestly a part of me is like not keen on the way yibo kept pushing into xiaobao’s space like i get it that yibo felt challenged in a dancing sense but i think that dynamic is rly charged, we can’t ignore that

as a queer and trans person and gnc femme mlm/nblm i just feel that i know for certain that eye cannot ignore the charged nature of that interaction... the first part i get, xiaobao moved to yibo but then when he tried to move away yibo kept at him and then even when xiaobao had

moved away again yibo was still in the background doing a lot, like i rly do get that its a tactic in terms of dance but i don’t think that means its free from there being more dynamics at play. yibo himself explained it as mantaining “control” over xiaobao, now that to me sure

its in terms of dance battles etc but also yibo as a man who presents in a way which is assumedly cishet in comparison to xiao bao who is doing a v v v queer dance, its charged with that and there’s an imbalance of power in terms of how the world works and so to have yibo attempt

to be somewhat aggressive even in a sphere of dance is still incredibly loaded imo & its like obviously not able to be divorced from this context, the dance is so very queer like there’s a reason everyone is yelling about it.... bc its queer, inescapably so. but that also means

there’s much more to unpack and its not so simple, there’s a lot i don’t quite know how to say but i know how i feel and i trust that, i just wanted to comment a bit bc its honestly feeling rly overwhelmingly exhausting seeing this either get glossed over, ignored or misused in

arguments... i’m just looking away honestly i don’t have the energy for the headassery being displayed when these issues deserve better and idk i wish i could do it justice myself but i’m just giving my feelings on the matter. i’m not the only one who’s considering some of

this but like most of the reactions i’m seeing is just making me tired like honestly the spectrum has been from uh okay i guess but questionable to downright ridiculous and i just ????? anyway none of this is to say i can speak for yibo or xiaobao or what their

relationship to each other is like or how that experience felt for them -but- i can speak to how i feel about it, especially about fandom’s response which is doing my head in today. anyway as always if there’s anything anyone wishes to discuss i’m always here, i’m also just tired

i’m not saying we can’t like talk about things like this in ways which are fun at all but there’s a lot about how it is being approached that doesn’t sit right with me and like as a qtpoc i’m just [sighs deeply] at the omittance of the acknowledgement of the ca and the dynamics

and as a nblm i’m just fr exhausted of the constant homophobia and fetishism of mlm its just bad enough as is but there are more subtle instances too where the way ppl are interacting feels as my friend said voyeuristic and its just like a Lot coming from non-mlm like its :/ yeah

and as a qtpoc again i have more complex feelings about the reactions to this like ppl should know where these culturally significant things come from like not just the hairstyle but the dance itself like can we think about the implications of yibo dancing ever so briefly in

this way and where he sits in terms of power dynamics not only between himself and xiao bao but as someone who is not immediately part of those black and brown queer circles from whence that dance came or even immediately adjacent to it from the queer community at large and

how to him it may benefit him in hype & so on but to others they dance this way for their lives or in particular ways which center around community he’s not as far as we know immediately part of that or taking that on so anyway i just for Reasons wish ppl would think on it more

anyway i’m rly tired for life and insomnia reasons too so if something’s confused just lmk pls, i Tried but my head is rly sore ngl