Reblogged from joyfulldreams
“I strongly suspect that Lin Bei Fong is Toph’s ADOPTED daughter.”
the only reason I don’t much like this headcanon is because it seems to assume that Toph, as a strong female disabled character, never was able to find a man so she settled with adoption so she could be a mother anyway. It also assumes that Lin Bei Fong would automatically take the last name of the man Toph was involved with, which we don’t know for sure — maybe Toph and said guy decided that instead of traditionally keeping the man’s name they would let their daughter have Toph’s.
Then again, I’m not saying that Toph needs to have a man, and I’m definitely not saying that adopted kids are any less their parents’ children then biological ones, but the image it could present to kids (a disabled character, no matter how strong or amazing they are, isn’t able to find romantic happiness) isn’t a positive one.
Actually, I’m going to reblog this again, because I have some things to say about it.
We need to stop talking about what a character having kids, or not having kids, or having a romantic partner, or not having a romantic partner, or their sexuality, says or implies about said character. It shouldn’t imply anything. Even if you are trying to defend female characters and women in general, you need to just stop identifying with gender roles and gender implications altogether. The point is not for a woman, or a man, or a character, to conform to some idea (ANY idea) of what they ‘should’ be. There is no ‘should’ be. Not even a ‘should be themselves’, because there is no ‘should be’.
A woman can have a kid. A woman can like to cook. She can sleep around or not sleep around with men, she can be a lesbian, she can be asexual, she can like being a homemaker, she can enjoy being a career woman, she can be a career woman AND have a husband, she can travel the world or stay in one place or wear whatever she wants to and love whatever she wants to love, she can love WHOever she wants to love, she can make her own goddamn choices and she doesn’t need to conform to anyone’s idea of what she should be.
And that’s exactly what Toph does! That’s exactly what all the avatar girls do. That’s why we love them, that’s why they are female empowerment. Female empowerment isn’t just telling girls that they can be badass, or that they don’t have to be timid. Because they can be timid and docile if they damn well want to be. Toph became the greatest earthbender in the world because she wanted to be. Katara became a master waterbender because she wanted to be, even when people told her she couldn’t because she was a girl. Katara learned healing because she wanted to heal, and she can be powerful and badass as well as caring and healing if she damn well wants too. Suki was a warrior because she wanted to be, but she also loved Sokka and cared about him because she wanted to. I can go on and on.
Toph is such an amazing character because she is who she is, she makes her own choices, and she doesn’t allow what anyone else thinks to change her. SHE EVEN SAID SO HERSELF. She’s a blind girl, and her parents said that because she was blind she was helpless and required protection, and that she couldn’t be good at earthbending, and they were doing what was best for her.
And so she said ‘screw you, I love earthbending, and I’m really really good at it. I am NOT helpless, I am NOT tiny, I am NOT fragile, and I am me, and if you can’t accept that, then I am leaving.’ And so she did.
Then, people say that because she is so violent and enjoys fighting so much, she must be uncouth and overly impulsive and doesn’t understand manners or bathing or grooming or beauty or anything even remotely girly. Well, she says ‘well, screw you, I grew up as practically royalty, I know what manners and proper etiquet are, I just decide not to use them. And I can use them whenever I want. I like fighting, and I don’t particularly like manners, but that doesn’t mean anything. I like breaking rules, I like going out and doing crazy things and experiencing the world, but that doesn’t mean I’m not smart and that I don’t know how to analyze you and outsmart you and then kick your ass. Also, maybe I would like to feel pretty every once in a while. Just because I like healthy coating of earth and don’t necessarily care about my appearance doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to feel pretty for myself.’
Just because she ran away and hated being restricted by her parents, and that she likes to rebel and break rules, didn’t imply that she didn’t still love her parents. It didn’t mean that their opinion of her didn’t matter, because it did.
And when she was told that even an earthbender can’t bend metal, she said ‘fuck you, YES I CAN. I AM THE GREATEST EARTHBENDER IN THE WORLD, AND DON’T YOU EVER FORGET IT.’
Toph Bei Fong doesn’t care about what you say she needs to be, or what she doesn’t need to be. Toph Motherfucking Bei Fong don’t CARE. She is whoever she goddamn well wants to be, and nobody else has any say on that count.
And if Toph Motherfucking Bei Fong found a man who she loved and stayed with him, you can be damn sure she did it because she wanted to, and that she wouldn’t suddenly become a meek little housewife because of that. Hell no. And if said man loved her, he loved her for the outgoing, charismatic, powerful, wonderful person that she was, and not because she was a girl.
And when Toph Motherfucking Bei Fong had a kid, she had a kid. If she had that with a man she loved, or with a man she didn’t necessarily love, or if she adopted, GOOD FOR HER. She did it because she wanted to, and maybe if she didn’t want to, she dealt with it as herself. Through and through, Toph Motherfucking Bei Fong doesn’t care what you think.
If she slept around, which does seem like something she might do…after all, she doesn’t want to miss out on experiences, right? WHICH DOESN’T MEAN SHE WAS A WHORE OR OVERLY SEXUAL OR ANYTHING OF THE LIKE, IT MEANS SHE DECIDED TO BE SEXUALLY ACTIVE BECAUSE SHE LIKED IT. And now that I think about it, sex must be an entirely different experience for her, being blind and all, and seeing how she sees the world. Imagine what sex must have been like for her! It must have been an experience unto itself!
Whatever happened to Toph throughout her life, you can be damn sure that she stayed herself, through and through, and she did things her OWN way. She made her own choices, her own mistakes, and learned her OWN lessons. And no matter what she did, or how she did it, we will respect her and her amazing self because she deserves that respect. ALL women, AND all men, and all the people on this PLANET, deserves that respect. Everyone deserves to be who THEY want to be, not what other people want them to be.
