I must admit, while I applaud the Fuck No TV Tropes Tumblr for shining a light on the darker corners of the troping community, and their status as a watchdog on the more jacked up aspects of the same is regarded as a virtue by yours truly, I'm afraid I cannot entirely agree with it everything on it.
For one, it has a decided pro-LGBT bias. I'm heterosexual, and having homosexual relatives whom I have no issue with, I consider myself the 'live and let live" type and while I do not subscribe to the LGBT lifestyle, neither do I bear anyone from there any ill will and believe they have just as much right to their own happiness as anyone else.
Regardless, I must respectfully dissent against this post on the 'Straight Gay" trope.
According to the blog, it is seen by the poster and blog owner as having a homophobic connotation, and while it can be used improperly to imply such, I've always seen the trope as "a character who is homosexual but you wouldn't be able to tell unless you asked". Basically, unlike the stereotyped version that advertises their sexuality (i.e. - "Camp Gay"), it is not a readily apparent aspect of their character or does not play a major role in their character with regards to the media they are from..
However, I do agree this trope does get hard to apply when there are multiple characters who might be homosexual or bisexual, and thus discretion should be applied when using this a trope, and using it in a derogatory way should be avoided.
On the other hand, this post about the Double Standard trope is rather hard to argue, and I'm rather inclined to believe in it's logic about how most double standards that reflect negatively on men tend to be a result of their own making (as in, men wearing dresses is seen as unmanly because of the culture of masculine identity that has built up in most male circles seeing that as an unmanly act reinforcing this via peer pressure).
This post on the 'Cry Cute" trope I'm afraid I do disagree with. Yes, it should not be seen as "cute" when someone is crying because of pain, at least I don't believe that should be the case. However, crying being done to make oneself look sympathetic (where intentional or not) does happen in fiction and real life, and if it reinforces an image of "cuteness" or vulnerability, then I would consider such a trope valid. I do however must add I believe this is a unisex trope, and does not have to strictly apply to females only.
However, this post about Men's Rights Activists is pretty dead on. If men were truly concerned about the rights of all males in a constructive way, they would do something to ensure the dignity of men instead of trying to demonize women. The way I see it, as a man, if women really were the enemy (which I do not believe) and I acted just as horrible as I claimed they were, that would rob me of any moral right to call myself better, which is why I don't agree at all with MRA's. By the same token, I believe the same logic should apply to feminists, as they demonizing men instead of attempting to empower other women is basically the same mistake committed by a different gender.
If anything, I'm not a fan of either extreme and would like to see both males and females be accorded the rights and dignity they deserve.
Back to posts I dissent on, this one about how there are too many tropes that get used I don't concur on. For instance, The Asian and Nerdy trope refers to the stereotype of people of Asian descent being considered more intellectual due to their culture and upbringing militating in that direction, and the Asian Airhead trope is basically the inverse, showing the conceit of the first trope may not be necessarily true.
If anything I think there is value in having diametrically opposing tropes like this, if only for comparison/contrast purposes, as both types of characters do exist in fiction.
I do agree however that their careless application or misuse should be avoided as much as possible.
This post I mostly agree on. Basically, works with a positive message shouldn't just be labeled Tastes Like Diabetes simply for that. However, I do believe the term would apply when work tries so hard have a positive message it becomes overpowering to the point of nausea.
However, I otherwise agree it's foolish to apply this term without considering the demographic the work is aimed at (the MLP comment cited in the response is dead on in this regard), and someone should attempt to view a work for all its pluses and minuses before applying this trope, and considering how this trope is based on opinion, it should not be tossed about so casually.
I'm not sure I agree about this being related to threatening one's masculinity or anything (I tend to not like works that fit this trope simply because they try too hard to be uber positive, not because they threaten my self image as a male), but I do concede that can be a factor in applying an unfair bias.
....in short, I do not agree with everything on this tumblr, at least not completely, but regardless, I generally believe it is performing a public service for the troping community, and while I don't subscribe to everything said by the Tumblr founder or it's community, I do and still plan to approach it with as open a mind as possible and will continue to take their criticisms into consideration for improvement of my own troping site.
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