According to this Fanlore article (which seems nicely detailed, until you click on the link to the "slash" article), Xena was the turning point for femslash. The article includes a few reasons/theories that explain the gap between m/m and f/f fandoms.

But the lack of important and well-written female characters is probably the main thing that needs to be fixed. It's getting better on TV. Movies... I'm not so sure. The stats from that quote aren't very encouraging.

I've read a few articles on the "why more m/m than het and f/f in fanworks" (especially if so many fanfic writers are queer women) question, and basically no one knows for sure. People do fight about it a lot, though.

The same person the article linked to publishes yearly stats about the most popular ships on Archive of our Own (here's the 2015 version). I think FF.net has more fics based on anime and manga, but it's still extremely dude-centric. The author actually wrote a follow-up dedicated to femslash because there was hardly any in the original post. Mostly Western shows, but Attack on Titan, Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica are included in the top 50.

I'd like more shows like Crownies, Wentworth or Orphan Black, where the gay characters are clearly gay, but are not defined only by their bi/homosexuality.

Yeah, that would be great. I want to care about LGBT characters, but if their orientation and the person they're dating are the only things their storylines revolve around, it's just not going to work for me.
The "gay character is only defined by their sexuality" thing pops up a lot in manga, too. The yuri crush is basically a character trait, and you just know the poor girl will never get to confess her feelings, much less find a girlfriend. It does sort of get old the twentieth time you come across it.

TB, you mentioned video quality, so I have a related question. (OT) I plan to watch the occasional anime episode(s) or movie on it. Have you used it for watching such things, and if so how was the experience for it? I worry about potentially small video (with large letter boxing above and below) when it comes to the 4:3 aspect ratio when watching 480, 720, and 1080 content as well as size of subtitles.

I use VLC and the subtitles work fine, the size ratio is the same as on my computer screen. Haven't had any issues with the small screen size or the 4:3 ratio; I've only watched videos for about an hour at a time though, I don't know how my eyes would handle an entire movie. 720p plays without issues. I haven't tried playing a 1080p episode or movie, but there were 1080p files pre-loaded in the default folder so it's supposed to work in theory.

Let me know if there are more points you'd like cleared up or if you'd like me to check or test specific things for you.

I have the Asus. I don't use it to read manga, but I tried reading a few chapters on Dynasty and I didn't have any problems. The pages load quickly, the scrolling is smooth and even with my awful eyesight I didn't need to zoom in. I don't have another tablet to compare it to, but for reading manga and comics I think a 4:3 display works better.

Video quality is good. I use headphones so I can't comment on the sound quality.

The battery drains quickly, but I suspect the Acer would have the same problem. If I'm remembering my research right, 8" tablets tend to have a short battery life.

I hesitated for ages before deciding on that model and I'm happy with it, but the Acer looks good too.

edit : Well not really, the end of season 3 is kinda old... wasn't there people saying that it was really subtexty and that we shouldn't expect much from it ? I remember that kind of talk

Oh, that was me. I wanted to warn people not to expect too much focus on romance, but it looks like I scared them off instead. Shit. But since you're on board with these two now, the best is yet to come :D

After Root and Shaw became canon there was an influx of people who tried to watch the show just for them and were disappointed by... all the plot? the male characters? I'm not sure. I thought it was a shame that they would dismiss a show because it has two male leads (and because of the network it airs on). Obviously people can watch stuff for any reason they want to, but if they go into POI expecting makeout scenes and declarations of love they're going to be disappointed. Root/Shaw is the main love story, but they're like the icing on the cake.

I think that by that "playing doctor" scene in 3x17 Root had feelings for Shaw, but she might not have been aware of them yet... Maybe. But I definitely think she realized how she felt when Shaw came to her rescue in 3x23, at the latest.

Is no big deal, seriously. I was just remarking on it being unexpected, not making prescriptions.

The discussion did last for an entire page! I got a bit carried away with my explanations.

So I don't stray off topic again, here's another recommendation: I recently watched the first season of Survivor's Remorse. The main character's sister is a lesbian and she's unapologetically promiscuous, constantly ogling or hitting on women. This type of character would usually be depicted as creepy and gross, but she's sympathetic and well-developed (and really funny). My description doesn't do her justice. Plus, the show itself is fun.

Odd this is being discussed here instead of the video games thread, but who am I to question the ineffable nature of the universe?

I debated posting my initial comment in the video game thread, but the only recent comment I saw was "Fuck Life is Strange" and I wasn't about to get into that argument (because I sort of understand why people are upset), so I thought it would be weird to post about the same game while completely ignoring the angry comment.

I guess in my mind the video game thread is more about gaming in general, while this one specifically discusses f/f relationships in video games/TV shows/anything that isn't anime and manga?

Yeah but then you have to let Kate die and Kate is best girl and is Max's true waifu.

Well, the "sacrifice Chloe" ending leaves the door open for that if you're so inclined. Or Max/Victoria, Max/Alyssa or any other ship I guess. I wonder how the bullying situation resolves itself in that ending though.

That's another thing altogether then. Now I'm having doubts about whether or not they'd stay together, considering the guilt that would eat at them.

There's also the fact that unless the threats are over after the tornado, it might be a Final Destination-like situation where the universe will keep going after Chloe because she was supposed to die back then. Fun times ahead!

Jokes aside though, there is no way for them to warn the people? Or is that the route where her best friend dies? Because she warns people?

No, the best friend has to die because she was the one who caused the main character to get her time-rewinding powers in the first place (to save her from getting shot by a mentally unstable guy). And by the time you have to make the choice, you've emotionally exhausted yourself by going back in time again and again to save your best friend because the universe really wants her dead. You can't go back again.

My headcanon now is that everyone in the town was a serial murderer. Yep. All is good!

Only one of them is officially a serial killer, but headcanon away!

I don't even know those people so it's like, fuck'em.

That's what I try to tell myself. Not-dead lesbians > town full of people, obviously. That would make up for all the dead lesbians in movies since the 1920s.

Yeah, don't use spoiler tags and then try not to spoil anything.

Sorry! I have trouble figuring out how much people want to know sometimes, depending on whether or not they want to check out the thing themselves. But that's what spoiler bars are for I guess.

I'm guessing they didn't kiss in the second one because Chloe/Max survives, and if it's been blatant on previous occasions that they're gay for each other then yeah. Though it still would've been nice. Also a tornado destroying a town isn't that big a deal, people can rebuild :P Unless you know, a lot of people die.

There's actually a sequence where you're in town as the tornado approaches and judging from the level of destruction even before it actually reaches the town, I think the implication is that it will be razed to the ground and very few people will survive. Many events throughout the game imply that it's the apocalypse on the scale of a small town in Oregon. So you basically have to sacrifice a few thousand people for one person. Don't get me wrong, I would do many things to get two girls together in a story, but it does kind of hurt a little.

All right, here's the details then haha. Your two choices: 1) sacrifice your best friend by going back in time and letting her die, which will fix everything for plot-related reasons; 2) let a tornado destroy your hometown, but you and your best friend survive and get into her car and drive off together. Ending 1 has a kiss, ending 2 doesn't, but their feelings don't change between the two scenes. And honestly after everything that happened it's obvious that they will hook up shortly afterwards.

I'll also note that episode 5 as a whole was pretty fucking gay. I would've laughed at a few scenes if I hadn't been so terrified about what was to come.

I'll try to explain without spoiling the entire thing... There are two possible endings. One is a bad end on the lesbian romance front, but the main mystery plot is solved in the best possible way. In the other one, the two main girls stay together, but a huge sacrifice is necessary for that to happen.
I haven't decided which one I wanted to keep for my version of canon yet. I chose option 1, but in retrospect it hurts too much.

The last episode of Life is Strange has been released and depending on how you play, you can choose to turn the subtext into actual text. In fact (and I'm sorry about the spoilery wall of text), you can romance either Chloe or Warren, but for Warren it felt like it was basically shoehorned in as a consolation prize for the people who absolutely need straight romance in every media they consume. The guy had no bearing on the story for the most part, and even if you choose to kiss him when prompted, it's right before your final jump in time and he won't remember any of it. The kiss with Chloe happens as a result of your choices throughout all episodes and it's a very emotional scene. The story as a whole is very much about Max and Chloe's relationship.

I recommend the game, but be warned that the ending is bittersweet no matter what you do.

I just watched a few Tatiana Maslany interviews on youtube (How did she not win her Emmy nomination by the way? Seriously?) and, as Youtube tends to work, ended up on a Laverne Cox interview with Seth Meyers. Then I made the mistake of reading the youtube comments.

Basically this.

Ouch, that sucks. Wish I had a Ron Swanson "People are idiots" (Parks & Rec) gif handy. Very few websites are capable of hosting civil discussions when it comes to trans people.

I like how their well their antagonists are fleshed out, compared to many other shows. It really makes a difference.
Root before she was adopted by the Machine was a fantastic villain. And the team's relationship with Elias was fascinating-- not really enemies, not really allies, but sometimes they worked together against a common enemy. And I really liked Control. She provided the point of view of someone who thinks mass surveillance is a necessary evil. With the debate on the subject IRL it was necessary to show both sides of the coin to the audience.

TB we've fangirled over this show before in this thread..

I know, but every time I wonder if we should! I feel kind of weird about it. But never mind me. The fangirling does fit the thread's subject, so I guess it's all right.

More fangirling? Sure, why not! But is it okay with the mods if we continue our thread takeover?

I'd go with 1.04. Very strong end that left it up to the viewers decision what happened with him.

Yeah, that episode was great. Judging from comments I've seen, it's the first episode that made people think, "this show is different". Some suggest that Reese sends the guy to the same Mexican prison where he sends some other guy later on... a wife beater I think, but I like the fact that you can make up your own ending and nothing will contradict you. I agree with you though.

Some non-Root/Shaw centric favorites off the top of my head are 3x05 (badass Shaw and Carter and great team banter), 4x09 (for the Elias storyline, surprisingly!), 4x20 (ouch) and the "bottle episode" with the serial killer (can't remember which one it was, but I thought it used the classic format well).
And there's the individual scenes that blow your mind, like (retrospectively) that time they predicted the Snowden leaks, or the times when all the pieces of a plotline click together after months/years of buildup. Or every time Carter is a badass.

Well, it's an amazing show even without taking the romance into consideration. But if you don't want to watch unless you're sure they both survive (which I completely understand), I'd recommend checking back sometime next spring, after the final season has aired.

As I've said before, basically the entire crew is a huge team of Root/Shaw shippers. They're proud of what they're doing with the relationship and I'm pretty sure they're well aware of the high death toll for LGBT characters on TV. And as telamon said the only reason the sacrifice/apparent death happened in season 4 was because the actress got pregnant, otherwise the plan was for one of the male leads to die. I may be naive, but if they have to write an obligatory death this season I think one of the guys will go first.

last edited at Oct 12, 2015 4:30PM

Well, Shaw's sacrifice was exactly how the character should have gone, and Carter's death, although the way it happened sort of annoyed me, still weighs on everyone. If they're gonna go there I think they'll go all out.
It's still going to hurt like hell, though.

I've been saying forever how I wish TV shows stopped killing off their f/f couples, and then I went and fell in love with POI. Not a wise move on my part! I don't think this show will be the one that breaks from the tradition, but I'm going to be shallow and hope that the hot girl-on-girl action that comes beforehand will make the tragedy hurt less.

I guess it's compensation for probably killing off the whole team at the end of the season xD

I've been thinking the same thing. On the other hand, they're hoping for a sixth season on another network, so most of the main cast should make it. Hopefully.
But it does seem unlikely for everyone to survive the season. John had a lot of death flags last season that I thought could be interpreted either as him moving on from Carter and trying to be happy again, or making peace with the fact that he'll die soon. Unfortunately after John, Root seems like the most likely candidate.
Having Shaw turn against the team and kill one of them is the first possibility that comes to mind about her storyline, but it would be too much of a cliché IMO. I don't think they'd go for a shock value death for a main character.

Most people just call them Root and Shaw :p Shoot is fitting (and I'm pretty sure the name was picked by the show's writing team when fans couldn't decide between Shoot and Raw) but many ship names do tend to sound kind of dumb.

From the looks of it, Shaw will be back for most of the season (starting with episode 4 I think?). They've also hinted very strongly (Sarah Shahi all but shouted it from rooftops really) that there will be a sex scene. The fandom freakout was pretty epic.

Another issue with the Hannibal situation is that when people complained about that storyline, the showrunner threw a fit on Twitter and mocked and taunted the critics. Not exactly professional behavior there.

I don't get why this sort of thing just keeps happening... no, actually I do and it depresses me. But if you absolutely want your queer woman to fuck a dude, then have her say she's bi in a throwaway line a couple episodes before. Still dumb, but slightly less so. Otherwise you just come across as a douche who fantasizes about "turning" lesbians after they've experienced the awesomeness of dick.

"Lesbian sleeping with a man" scenes are infuriating enough on their own, but it's even worse when they happen on critically acclaimed shows because your friends keep recommending them to you and you have to come up with plausible reasons why you won't watch them.

How do you search for lesbian romance/fantasy type stuff on Kindle? Everytime I try I get those poorly written smut stories. Last het novels came up lol. I thought does kindle not know what lesian means?

I usually go through the lists on Goodreads to find stuff. They have lists of lesbian fantasy novels (and other genres) and I find it easier to sort through than the LGBT category on Amazon. On the Amazon website, I look for a recent title (by author name) and just look at the "customers also looked at" recommendations.
If you want to search specifically on Kindle, however, I don't know, sorry. I'm not sure even there is a way, seeing as many books don't have "A lesbian novel" or some variation of it in their title.

Thanks for all your work on the list, OriginalGengar!

I realized that after watching Wentworth, OITNB, Sense8 and Orphan Black, I'm not all that enthusiastic about yuri anime anymore. I totally prefer 5 minutes of Franky x Bridget or Cosima x Delphine per hour over 100% gay up yuri anime now.

Yeah, I wish there were more anime and manga with epic plots that just happen to have same-sex couples in the main cast. I don't mind schoolgirl stories, but... Some variety would be nice. More adult women in yuri!

On the other hand, TV shows with plots (thrillers, sci-fi, superhero stories) still have this annoying tendency to kill off their LGBT characters (there was like an epidemy of dead lesbians and bi women last year), so I'd say we're not quite there yet. I'm still wary of TV writers because they like to pull the "tragic romance" card, and YMMV on this, but I don't think we've had enough happy same-sex love stories at this point to afford more tragic gays after literal decades of the trope.

Ah. They all sound different if you hear them, but I think most non-americans are treated to what people sound like in California, which i guess could be called generic-american, because i think thats how i sound.

Yeah, I can sort of tell that two accents are different, but I wouldn't be able to tell what part of the US each accent is from. Sometimes I just plain don't notice; I watched the first season of Clipped (set in Boston, decent sitcom if you're bored) and apparently a few characters have a strong Boston/New England accent but I couldn't tell at all that they sounded different from the other characters. Guess I should watch more movies with Ben Affleck :p