The LGBTQ community has seen controversy regarding acceptance of different groups (bisexual and transgender individuals have sometimes been marginalized by the larger community), but the term LGBT has been a positive symbol of inclusion and reflects the embrace of different identities and that we’re stronger together and need each other. While there are differences, we all face many of the same challenges from broader society.
In the 1960′s, in wider society the meaning of the word gay transitioned from ‘happy’ or ‘carefree’ to predominantly mean ‘homosexual’ and was an umbrella term that meant anyone who wasn’t cisgender or heterosexual. The community embraced the word ‘gay’ as a mark of pride.
The modern fight for queer rights is considered to have begun with The Stonewall Riots in 1969 and was called the Gay Liberation Movement and the Gay Rights Movement.
The acronym GLB surfaced around this time to also include Lesbian and Bisexual people who felt “gay” wasn’t inclusive of their identities.
Early in the gay rights movement, gay men were largely the ones running the show and there was a focus on men’s issues. Lesbians were unhappy that gay men dominated the leadership and ignored their needs and the feminist fight. As a result, lesbians tended to focus their attention on the Women’s Rights Movement which was happening at the same time. This dominance by gay men was seen as yet one more example of patriarchy and sexism.
In the 1970′s, sexism and homophobia existed in more virulent forms and those biases against lesbians also made it hard for them to find their voices within women’s liberation movements. Betty Friedman, the founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW), commented that lesbians were a “lavender menace” that threatened the political efficacy of the organization and of feminism and many women felt including lesbians was a detriment.
In the 80s and 90s, a huge portion of gay men were suffering from AIDS while the lesbian community was largely unaffected. Lesbians helped gay men with medical care and were a massive part of the activism surrounding the gay community and AIDS. This willingness to support gay men in their time of need sparked a closer, more supportive relationship between both groups, and the gay community became more receptive to feminist ideals and goals.
Approaching the 1990′s it was clear that GLB referred to sexual identity and wasn’t inclusive of gender identity and T should be added, especially since trans activist have long been at the forefront of the community’s fight for rights and acceptance, from Stonewall onward. Some argued that T should not be added, but many gay, lesbian and bisexual people pointed out that they also transgress established gender norms and therefore the GLB acronym should include gender identities and they pushed to include T in the acronym.
GLBT became LGBT as a way to honor the tremendous work the lesbian community did during the AIDS crisis.
Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, movements took place to add additional letters to the acronym to recognize Intersex, Asexual, Aromantic, Agender, and others. As the acronym grew to LGBTIQ, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAA, many complained this was becoming unwieldy and started using a ‘+’ to show LGBT aren’t the only identities in the community and this became more common, whether as LGBT+ or LGBTQ+.
In the 2010′s, the process of reclaiming the word “queer” that began in the 1980′s was largely accomplished. In the 2020′s the LGBTQ+ acronym is used less often as Queer is becoming the more common term to represent the community.
Spider-Man and Black Cat through the years.
Amazing Spider-Man #25 - “Welcome to Omaha, Spider-Man” (2023)
written by Rainbow Rowell art by Alvaro Lopez & Andrew Crossley
miles “who’s morales” morales’s biggest weakness is the cover story
ngl i hate it that in the comics every peterfel story line centers around MJ and how it makes MJ feel and how it effects Peter and MJ’s relationship
Like goddamnnn can’t Peter and Felicia be together without the writers making it some weird roundabout way of Peter trying get back at or over MJ
I’m tired of seeing panels of MJ looking out windows at Peter and Felicia like ‘aw damn woah is me she took my man’ like ily sis but this ain’t about you!!!
Can you draw Peter Parker, Harry and MJ talking during classes?🥺🥺🥺
Tried to go for sort of a 60s vibe with this one
You blinked.
Whatever. You can’t even see what you’re doing!
Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 677: “The Devil and the Details”
Felicia is a feral mutant, meaning she has atavistic mutations or animalistic traits (think Beast, Angel, Sabretooth, etc). These traits include:
Cat’s eyes - This is why she wears her signature blue contacts: not just to see in the electromagnetic spectrum, but also to hide her mutation and make her less easy to identify. She uses different ones in and out of costume for fashion purposes, but her true eye color is green in the same way a cat’s eyes are green, not a human’s. Because of this, her pupils reflect off of cctv cameras sometimes which can also make her hard to identify. Our first look at Felicia in the 1963 ASM run shows her with glowing eyes, which have only ever been adapted in the Spider-Man animation (and you all know how i feel about that 😒).
Pointed ears - The reason she keeps her hair down while fighting is to cover her ears, despite the fact this is pretty inconvenient. The upper cartilage is a lot thinner and more flexible than human ears, which means she’s cursed to only wear lobe piercings (something she’s definitely a little bitter about).
Fangs - this one is definitely self explanatory, but cats also only get 30 adult teeth, meaning that rather than a full set of fangs throughout her entire mouth, the only sharp teeth she has are her canines. Other than that, her teeth are the same as a human’s. Felicia is also extremely lactose intolerant, just like real cats. Luckily, this is the only food allergy she has due to her mutation.
Claws (obviously) - Because cat’s claws are attached to the knuckle, Felicia’s claws work in the same way. This means she can’t extender her claws out fully while her hand is in a relaxed position, instead she must flex a ligament in between her distal and medial finger bones. This becomes inconvenient after long periods of time, which is why she prefers to use traditional fighting techniques in combat and only use her claws when necessary. She also sheds the outer layers of her claws as they grow, which makes manicures easy as it eliminates the need for nail polish remover!
No rigid collar bone - Felicia’s collar bone, like most cat’s, is disconnected from other bones and instead connected by muscles. This grants her increased flexibility and allows her to squeeze into tight spaces. Perfect for a career criminal!
A tail - honestly this one varies for me, so sometimes I like it sometimes I don’t 🤥‼️ Cat’s use their tails as counterbalances for walking on narrow spaces and when running and jumping, as well as expressing emotions and communicating with other cats. I alwaya hc Felicia as having very expressive facial movements and body expressions so this one just feels like it fits her well.
White hair - this ones kind of just playing with what’s already there. We see Fel with her signature white hair in her flashbacks as a child in TETMD, so I think it makes sense that this is a trait that’s naturally occurring and a result of her mutation.
I also hc Felicia’s mutation as being a pretty big divide between her and Peter because while Felicia’s bad luck can be targeted, it also is affected by her emotions and her control of them. This could potentially put people who are in a high-stress situation with her in a lot of danger. Felicia feels she can control her powers just fine, but Peter feels she has a responsibility to find some way to keep them in check to avoid other people from getting caught in the crossfire.
Felicia being a mutant is also a big part of her friendship with Logan, as both of them are feral mutants who view themselves as bad but think they’re past redemption. As mutants aren’t exactly accepted in the marvel universe , Felicia keeps her mutation relatively hidden. She’s perfectly fine with people speculating what she is, and keeps her crew small to avoid people finding out. This can be isolating however, and she confides in Logan often as her only real mutant friend.
(I’m a big Logan & Fel bff truther!!! I’m sorry I can’t help it they should be besties!!!!)
Felicia’s father, Walter (the first Black Cat) was a mutant without physical traits but had a much more subdued form of tychokinesis, which is where he got his name. As she inherited the X-gene from him, Felicia feels her mutation is the greatest gift her father ever gave her and is a lasting connection between the two of them following his death.
Marvel Comics #1000: Because Of Her
Dark Web is over, but the effects will shake Spider-Man for a long time. To recover, Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, escape from the city to an exclusive spa in the Catskills! Surely, trouble won’t follow our Web-Head and ruin his romantic getaway.
[Kelly, Joe. (w), Terry Dodson (a/c), and Rachel Dodson (i).] The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #19 (Feb. 2023), [Marvel Comics]: 03-06.
Wait why do you hate Harley/Parkner? Seems harmless to me
I don’t know how or why this ask came to me today but you know what, I got time.
I actually having nothing against the character of Harley Keener. He’s a literal child in the MCU that showed up for all of (5) scenes at best. Tony was an asshole to him, called him a pussy and was generally Not Very Cool as the Adult™️ in the situation. Just a plot piece for Tony’s development that in a just world, would’ve just been that.
But he isn’t.
The sheer amount of fan works that were created for and developed for him is both a sign of creativity, of the joy of fanfic of expanding something out of nothing, and also unequivocal racism.
And that is where parkner comes in.
There’s a thing in fandom called Two White Guys, a trope that has existed long before parkner ever did and will continue long after the heat death of the universe. Name a fandom and people will find the two white guys to obsess over, create fanfics for, create meta and art and history for… and have absolutely none of that energy for the canonical women + POC in the main white character’s world.
Peter Parker in the MCU has an entire cast of people his own age who are also POC. Tell me that there’s any other reason than racism that mostly white girls would see ALL of those characters, pass over them entirely (with the excuses that they don’t see the chemistry, or think they’re better off friends, or don’t know how to write checks notes teenagers), and instead decide that Harley Keener, a kid from another franchise in the MCU that Peter has never met before, is gonna be his one true love?
I’m a multi-shipper at heart but if you’re genuinely telling me that picking out the (1) white guy over literally every other POC that not only knows MCU Peter but has actual relationships with him on screen, isn’t an example of fandom racism than you’re probably white not seeing it for what it is.
Made even worse by how parkner as a fandom is to the POC in MCU Peter’s life. You can absolutely write two white guys smooching without being a sexist, racist POS.
I’ve yet to encounter it for that fandom.
Because if you have to make MJ or Ned have another marginalized identity that somehow magically makes them not interested in Peter Parker, do you actually care about representation or are you just a white girl looking for an excuse to bring the white dudes together?
Because if you have to demonize, make them abusive, or straight up MURDER MJ or Ned so that Peter is available and available for the white guy, you’re on my shit list.
Because if you argue with your whole chest that you “don’t see the chemistry” between MJ and Peter but write exclusively the white boys’ long and beautiful relationship when they’ve never even met, than you’re just a racist.
Because if you tell me that Ned is Peter’s BEST FRIEND and I just DON’T SEE THEM ROMANTICALLY but you’re easily able to write Harley in as Tony’s adopted son, Peter’s best friend/boyfriend and making him totally at ease in NYC when he’s from bumfuck nowhere and also a literal child with zero background, then I call bullshit on what you don’t see and say that you just don’t want to.
If it seems “harmless” to you, you’re probably white and have never had the unfortunate experience of reading fic after fic after fic (tagged PeterMJ or Peter & Ned or Peter & Flash) where the POC are beat down, abused, dismissed or completely ignored for the sake of some hick white boy from another franchise.
I actually used to LIKE Harley as a character, in theory, because I go feral for creativity in fan works. It is GOOD FUN to write something from nothing.
I have lost nearly ever bit of that like because of how many times I have personally seen, experienced, and been harassed by parkner fans— to the point where i have a new blog is in no small part because parkners (and most of irondad) is more concerned about protecting white girls racist fanfics than POC.
So no. I don’t like Harley. And I don’t like parkner.
And that has everything to do with fandom.