User blog:EvilhariboMadness/Representation Matters



above is what you don't want to be! (unless you want to be as rich as paris, in which case, same)

Hey! After recent discussions in chat and looking at the general distribution on where representation of different ethnicities lie within DARP itself, I've decided to create this long overdue blog for help with POC models for your characters! This blog will help you find faceclaims of all different ethnicities - it's hard enough to find the perfect model as is and it's even harder when you're trying to find the perfect model for a character that is non-white.

Why is Representation within the Roleplaying Community important?
"...Representation is important because stories have always been one of the most important ways that we teach our children and our peers about the world."

- Tumblr user bitterandcurt

Representation comes in a variety of forms from gender and sexual identity to ethnicities and nationalities. Perhaps overlooked forms of representation are physical disabilities, mental health and those who are either plus-sized or skinnier than average. Most importantly, it is through representation that people can be inspired and told that they can, even if they're surrounded by those who say otherwise. With representation comes a sense of community whereby everyone can feel included rather than excluded due to a lack of representation. For example, naturally if there was no positive representation of those with physical disabilities, we'd be more likely as individuals to treat them differently as that's what they are to us - different.

On the most basic level, seeing someone who looks similar to you or shares qualities with you makes it easier to connect with them. As I mentioned above, seeing someone like you on a big screen doing heroic actions might just inspire you to lead your life the same way. A recent example of positive representation is Black Panther; children of African descent have positive characters that represent them, rather than trying to see themselves in the paler figures such as Anna and Elsa from Frozen (tbt the Halloweens where it'd just be those two over and over again.)

Within our community as a whole, representation is important for our characters; a Korean student (or perhaps Asian for that matter) will be able to look at the position of Minister of Magic and believe it's attainable thanks to Bailey Jeon. To have a diverse range of characters from different ethnic groups highlights that anyone can do anything and that something a simple as the colour of your skin cannot prevent you from achieving your dreams.

Also, on a writing level, representation is a great way to learn about other cultures and expand your knowledge!

Examples of White-Passing Faceclaims
To clarify what I mean by this; the faceclaims below are people who are of mixed heritage but are white passing. Whether or not they identify with this culturally isn't considered as the point of this section is to show you all how some faceclaims might not be played to their true heritage.

There's this list here but some other ones include;


 * Cameron Boyce - Cameron is actually half-Black on his paternal side; his paternal grandmother was one of "The Clinton Twelve;" one of the first students to attend the previously segregated southern high school, Clinton High.
 * Darren Criss - Darren is half-Filipino.
 * Charlie XCX - Charlie is half-Indian-Ugandan.
 * Amanda Arcuri - Amanda is of Argentinian and Italian descent.
 * Shailene Woodley - Shailene is a quarter black and a quarter Louisiana Creole.
 * Cody Christian - His mother is part of the Penobscot Tribe therefore making Cody Christian half-Penobscot Native American. His mother fully embraces her Native American heritage.
 * KJ Apa - He is half-Samoan paternally (given he looks more mixed when his hair isn't ginger)
 * Froy Gutierrez - He is of Caxcan Native and Mexican descent.

Obviously there are many more white-passing people of colour, however I believe the ones in the link above and the ones listed are perhaps some of the most well-known ones that could be misinterpreted as just being white.

FC Masterlist Links
Below I am going to link a ton of resources to help you find some POC faceclaims. Accumulated through all of these links there'll be more than enough options to choose from and thus there's no excuse.

For the sake of ease I've grouped all the links below into eight main groups; Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander and White. Of course within each category there are differences between the countries listed; the English people will vary from the Danish; the Chinese from the Japanese and so on and so forth.

'''If any ethnicity group does not have any links it is because there is no singular masterlist (with pictures) dedicated to them. More than likely you will find an option for them in the general masterlists posted below.'''

General Masterlists

 * Diverse Directory by fcdiversity
 * Diectory by rpings
 * Directory by angeldustmt
 * Diverse Directory by astridrps
 * Directory by lazyresources
 * Directory by rphelper
 * Directory by evansyhelp
 * Directory by rphdegrassi
 * Directory by fyrpdiversity
 * Diverse Directory by thehumbleroleplayer
 * Directory by hoifaceclaims
 * Model FC Directory by flcurishandblctts (Note: None of the pictures load with this one)
 * FC Party by mapleofrph
 * Directory One by roleplaytipsandadvice
 * Directory Two by roleplaytipsandadvice
 * Masterlist One by bunchoffaceclaims
 * Masterlist Two by bunchoffaceclaims
 * Masterlist Three by bunchoffaceclaims
 * Masterlist Four by bunchoffaceclaims
 * Favourite FCs by thefoolworks
 * LGBT Directory by gayagendarph
 * POC Directory by naleywriites
 * Child FC Masterlist by childfc (Please ensure the fcs are compatible with this information!)
 * Faceclaim Directory by leehelps
 * faceclaimhaven - This blog has a ton of categories that allows you to go to different categories for the various ethnic groups.
 * Faceclaim Database by herorps
 * Directory by scmebodies
 * Faceclaim Directory by roryrps
 * jellyfishfaces - Like faceclaimhaven, this blog has a ton of categories for you to narrow down your search from those who wear the hijab to albinism.

Some Masterlists of Directories
Note a lot of these will have the various directories listed in their respective ethnic group but I haven't included them all, so it'd be worth taking a look if need be!


 * Tips on Finding Faceclaims by shackleboltrps
 * Masterlist by margotofrph
 * Masterlist by beeprps
 * Masterlist by problematicrp

The Tumblr Tag
This is where I got all the directories from. I chose only in this blog to include those with images but there's a ton that are just lists of names and answered asks on suitable POC replacements for white characters. I highly suggest you take a look into these tags if you need even more ideas!


 * FC Masterlist tag
 * FC Directory tag
 * POC FC Masterlist tag

Asian

 * Asian Directory by jrpicons
 * KPOP FC Directory by kpopfcs
 * KPOP FCs by mapleofrph

East Asian
East Asian is perhaps the most represented non-White region on the wiki thanks to the quantity of Korean characters. Countries from this area include; China, Japan, Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan.


 * Japanese Directory split into Male & Female by hapanesefcs
 * Sino Directory by 3k-icons

Southeast Asian
Countries in this region include; Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.


 * Vietnamese Directory by vietfaceclaims
 * Four Filipino Women Warrior FCs by thranduiliens
 * Filipina FC Masterlist by taehycngs
 * Forgotten Filipinx FCs by batmanrph
 * Filipinx Dedicated Blog by filipino-rph
 * Filipinx FCs under 30 List by roleplaytipsandadvice

South Asian
South Asia typically refers to the Indian subcontinent but also includes the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is the most populated sub-continent.


 * South Asian Directory by sonamhelps

Black
For the easiest sake of ease ever (and the way I believe it's used most often when it comes to masterlists) this term will include those of African descent and Africa itself.

Indigenous
In the Western World, when we hear the term Indigenous our minds immediately go to the Native American peoples which I do believe is where a large amount of masterlists also pinpoint the term. Other types of Indigenous people include the Indigenous people of Mexico, the Indigenous people of Australia and various Indigenous tribes in Africa.


 * Indigenous Directory by olivaraofrph

Latinx
"Hispanic if you and/or your ancestry come from a country where they speak Spanish. Latino refers to geography. Specifically, to Latin America, to people from the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic), South America (Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, etc.) and Central America (Honduras, Costa Rica, etc.)"

- The difference between Hispanic and Latinx plus Latinx countries

It is also noted in a few of these masterlists that Brazil is also included.


 * The Hispanic/Latinx Directory by natatrps4ever
 * Mexican FCs under 30 List by roleplaytipsandadvice

Hispanic

 * Hispanic FCs under 30 List by roleplaytipsandadvice

Mediterranean
Considered a sub-race of the Caucasian people (aka white), I figured I'd give this group of people their own category as there's enough differences between peoples to warrant it; i.e. an Italian person and a Danish person can look extremely different. The Mediterranean region typically includes the countries of Italy, Monaco, Malta, Greece and Morocco.

Spain can also be included as a Mediterranean country as well as being considered a Hispanic and Latinx country.

Middle Eastern
Overlapping with the area known as West Asia, the primary perception of the Middle East is that it's main ethnic group is the Arabs. However, the Turks, Persians, Kurds and Azeris are also prominent ethnic groups. Countries typically included in this geographical area are Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Israelis are also often included within Middle Eastern directories.


 * Middle Eastern Directory by batmanrph

Pacific Islander
The Pacific Isles is made up of three sub-regions; Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.

Melanesian
One of the smaller sub-regions within the Pacific Isles, Melanesia includes the people from Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Soloman Islands.

Polynesian
The largest of the three Pacific Islander sub-regions, Polynesia includes the following groups of people; Samoans, Tongans and the Maori.

White
Most white people can trace their heritage back to Europe with the most common areas of ancestry being England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, France and Germany. Beyond the European ancestral land of the white people, the ethnic group can be found prominently in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and The United States of America. For sake of ease, I have included the Slavic Peoples within this category for sake of ease and closest resemblance. Slavic countries are prominently found in Eastern Europe and among the more well known ones are Russia, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine and Czech Republic.


 * Scandinavian FCs under 30 List by roleplaytipsandadvice

Jewish Groups
Truthfully I didn't quite know where to put these ethnic groups so I thought I'd do them as a sub-title under the 'White' category.


 * Ashkenazi Jewish FCs under 30 List by roleplaytipsandadvice (Ashkenazi Jewish - A Jew of central or eastern European descent.)
 * Sephardi Jewish FCs under 30 List by roleplaytipsandadvice (Sephardi Jewish - Jews from Spain, Portugal, North Africa, the Middle East and their descendants.)

Ending Note!
At the end of the day I hope this blog has seriously helped some of you who couldn't find any faceclaims for a POC char, or had white-passing faceclaims being used for purely white models.

The rp community is an escape from the real world primarily and I believe that it should contain elements that the real world doesn't; accurate and broad representation being included in there.

I know I didn't have links for some ethnic groups but, as mentioned in the blog itself, there either weren't any lists specifically for them that I could find or I felt as if they were covered in the general directory links.