#and referring to someone as ‘a [pronoun set]’ is offensive

[aurpiment]

Don’t ask me why, but I feel like it just makes sense that they/thems should eat oysters

#mt #since this is spreading out of my circle I must clarify #SATIRE POST NOT SERIOUS #MAKING FUN OF OTHER POSTS #EVERYONE CAN EAT WHATER THEY WANT FOREVER REGARDLESS OF PRONOUNS #PRONOUNS ARE NOT SYNONYMOUS WITH GENDER #and referring to someone as ‘a [pronoun set]’ is offensive

[northern-passage]

No offense but are you sure you want to have characters who require a gender study book to understand? Not to mention how hard to read it will be if they keep switching pronouns.

no offense but it's actually not that hard to understand at all. we can start with some basic vocabulary:

non-binary: a term for people whose gender identity does not fall within the traditional, western societal gender binary of man or woman. non-binary identities have existed for millennia and are found in various cultures and societies around the world.

transgender: this is an adjective used to describe someone who does not feel that their gender identity aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth. this includes trans binary people and non-binary people. trans people have always existed, and anyone that tries to tell you otherwise is factually incorrect.

gender identity: this is a person's own internal sense of self - what they know their gender is. someone is a man, or a woman, or a person, or various other terms and identities that exist outside the binary (like genderqueer, agender, bigender, etc). someone's identity is not always outwardly visible, since some people may express their gender differently than what is traditionally expected of them.

gendered pronouns: include he/she/they/zie/xe/ey/fae etc. this is how you refer specifically to a person when you are talking about them (or in this case, reading about them). some languages already have a gender-neutral pronoun that allows you to not ascribe gender to a person that you are not familiar with (for english, it's singular they). nb!Lea and Clementine both use they/them. pronouns are a part of someone's gender presentation, or gender expression, and some people use more than one set of pronouns.

gender presentation: how a person presents themself - typically in regard to fashion as well as pronouns and various other external characteristics. this is how the person chooses to express their gender identity. gender presentation does not always coincide with traditional gender stereotypes - this is gender nonconformity. a woman can present masculine. a man can present feminine. some people do neither, or both. a non-binary person can be gender nonconforming, they can be feminine or masculine or whatever they want; they are still non-binary.

Noel is a non-binary person who uses two sets of pronouns alternatively. he has a more traditionally feminine gender expression but still prefers traditionally masculine gendered terms. xe likes to wear makeup and dresses and likes to be called "sir." alternating pronouns for xem is very easy - i just did it. a little bit of practice and you can do it just as easily.

if you're worried about getting confused in scenes with m!Lea, don't worry, it's already something i am being careful about. it's something i've always considered with my gender-selectable characters, and is why i previously changed Noel's nb pronouns to begin with, since i didn't want it to be confusing in group scenes with Clementine and nb!Lea.

of course, there are plenty of games where all ROs are genderlocked one way or the other, and have the same pronouns - people don't seem to have any problem differentiating characters in those games when all the ROs are together, and i'm sure people will have no trouble with my game, either. or maybe this is just your first time reading about a character with neopronouns, which in that case - how exciting! the more you read the more familiar you will get with how these pronouns work.

if you're still confused then maybe you should pick up one of those "gender study books", i'm sure it will help. or you can use google, which is probably easier. there are plenty of lgbt and trans resources online now if you are curious to learn more. the older you get and the more people you meet the more you are going to realize that not everyone has the same experiences as you, and sometimes you may not understand something right away; that's not a bad thing. it's a chance to learn something new, and a chance to better understand people that are different than you.

and, no offense, but if it's too difficult for you to spend a few minutes searching this stuff up, if it's too difficult for you to have an open mind and consider other people & their identities & their experiences, then maybe this story isn't for you, and you can go back to reading all the other IF games and romance novels that were made for you with their cishet love interests & non-existent trans or gay characters.

trust me, there are plenty of those, with all the gender stereotypes and boring gender roles you could want. that's why i'm writing this game with all the trans characters i want :-)

#ask #anonymous #pronouns

[chalkrevelations]

What the Ai in Ai'Kinn means?

Hi Anon,

I'm assuming this is related to my post comparing Pete dropping Khun when he's addressing Vegas in Ep 14 to Porsche using Ai' when he's addressing Kinn in Ep 9. Full disclosure, my knowledge of Thai is extremely limited and mostly confined to what I've learned from Perth Nakhun (Ken in KP) on his Youtube channel, plus a couple of websites with advice for travelers. That being said:

The Ai' particle before someone's name is a type of address (like P') that's very informal and only used between very close friends, otherwise it's considered rude, derogatory, even confrontational. Like, there's a difference between when you call your BFF a shithead while you're out drinking together and when you call your boss a shithead at the office. Ai' doesn't mean "shithead," but that's the level of difference you're looking at when you use it with close friends vs. anyone else, from what I understand. The thing is, Porsche also constantly uses the very informal pronouns guu (I) and meung (you), which are also incredibly disrespectful and offensive unless, again, you're speaking to a very close friend. Like, potentially fistfight levels of disrespectful. (Pete, by contrast, clearly refers to himself as pom for "I" in the Ep 14 scene when he's speaking to Korn shortly after he noticeably does NOT use khun to address Vegas - "pom" is formal, respectful, polite and a little bit old-fashioned, which means it only points up his earlier lack of "khun." I found it interesting that Chay also uses "pom" for "I" with Kim, while using "phi" for "you" - at least during their argument at the bar - so there's a definite contrast the show sets up between brothers, using language.)

Porsche absolutely shouldn't be speaking to his boss in this way - he really shouldn't be speaking to anyone we see on the show other than Jom or Tem this way. The fact that he calls Kinn Ai'Kinn is a sign of either extreme rudeness or extreme intimacy - those are the only two choices - and while no one would be surprised at Porsche being extremely rude, given actual precedent, the tone in which he says "Ai'Kinn" is clearly NOT being rude, and Kinn noticeably doesn't take any offense from it. That Porsche does this in front of Big and Ken tells them ... pretty much everything about Kinn's and Porsche's relationship there is to know.

#porsche kittisawasd #kinn theerapanyakul #and sort of #pete phongsakorn #chay kittisawasd #vegaspete #kimchay #kinnporsche

[altairsarts]

Hi! Just a forewarning that this is meant with no malintent!

I saw on that post that you reblogged about misgendering Frisk/Chara/Kris in AUs and your tags saying something about ‘anyone who does that didn’t understand the original story’. I’m not sure if this is entirely true, but I thought that with Frisk and Chara having they/them pronouns (or being nb) in the original game, was to allow a greater variety of people to play and be interested? I thought it was just to be sort of a placeholder, so that if someone who uses he/him plays the game, he could interpret Frisk as a male (for example)?

Also, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to interact with someone who makes an AU with an altered Frisk/Chara/Kris? If I’m going by my previously mentioned thought, then wouldn’t having an AU of a specifically female Frisk be that creator’s interpretation? But also, AUs aren’t supposed to be like the original, that’s the whole fun of it! If someone makes an AU where Undyne is transmasc and is in a relationship with Papyrus, then would that make a difference? Would that be offensive?

Making an AU is basically making a whole twisted group of OCs based off of characters, so why can’t they take their own creative liberties?

Also, just a side note if it matters, but I’m speaking as a she/they genderqueer.

Hi!! I don’t interact with people a bunch so I wasn’t expecting any questions lmao- but!! I’ll try to explain as best I can.

So the short of it is: they’re not supposed to be taken as a player insert. They exist as characters outside of the player’s influence and this is established for every single one of them. Deltarune even likes to remind you at every chance it gets that Kris isn’t you, and you aren’t them. The idea that they only use they/them pronouns so that people can choose is incorrect because they’re not blank slates.

The idea that these characters would only use they/them pronouns or be nonbinary because it’d allow people to choose is also transphobic because it implies that as long as a person is using they/them pronouns anyone can choose, regardless of whether that person is actually okay with it or not. You can’t go up to someone who uses they/them pronouns and say “you’re a man because I’m a man and I relate to your experiences”, that’s just,,, not how that works at all. Someone, even a fictional character, using they/them pronouns isn’t an automatic pass to choose a set of pronouns for them. This is what you are given, and this is what you use.

I wouldn’t want to interact with someone like that for a couple reasons: the above thing that I just said, being that having a nonbinary identity isn’t a placeholder so that any random stranger can choose what pronouns they’re most comfortable calling you. If you understand that these characters are characters and not inserts and you still decide to disregard the multiple times they’re referred to as they/them then you are being transphobic, and I won’t be around someone who is okay with that.

There’s also the simple fact that I can understand not being aware of Frisk not being a player insert, as it’s not made obvious until the end of the pacifist run, but Kris and Chara don’t have excuses. If you can’t see the obvious multitude of times that it’s shoved in your face then I have to wonder if you’re actually paying attention to the core themes and characterizations, and tenfold for Deltarune. I mean, that’s like half the plot right there: Kris is being possessed and they’re making sure you know they hate it. They’re doing everything they can to scream at you without a voice, “I am my own person, and I don’t want you here.” If you can look at that and think “yea, that’s a character whose entire existence is up to me” then like. What else did you miss???

The reason why it doesn’t work the same way as making Undyne transmasc (to use your example lol) is because you’re not taking anything away from anybody or hurting anybody by doing that. There are not a lot of nonbinary characters out there, and the fact that we’ve gotten three main characters in one franchise is a goddamn miracle. It’s similar to making a canonically gay character straight or a POC character white or a binary trans person cis. You’re taking representation away from a group that needs it.

Also, a lot of people say this all the time, but you wouldn’t do the same for any cis character. Like Sonic, Omori, The Last Of Us, Mario, etc, you won’t say that just because we play as whatever character means that we’re supposed to project our gender onto them. Sunny doesn’t become a girl if a woman plays Omori and decides to call him Lyla Womanname, so why should Kris, Frisk, and Chara?

#not art #Undertale #Deltarune #kris dreemurr #chara dreemurr #frisk undertale #nonbinary #trans #transphobia mention #transphobia in the notes will get you blocked #also ty anon for actually just asking #I see a lot of people getting pissed off about questions #even if there’s no reason to believe they’re not being asked in good faith #like. people aren’t born knowing everything about the world #and if you bar people from asking questions that may be interpreted as offensive how do you expect them to learn #anyway feel free to reblog with your own points if I missed anything #it has been a hot second since I was hyperfixated on UTDR #I’ve got a highlight on instagram under the same name that talks about it a little bit too #so if you wanna go digging to look at that feel free #the highlight is just called IMPORTANT

[yourbookcouldbegayer]

Hello! I'm a fantasy writer, and one of my main projects takes place in a world that handles gender differently. Newborns aren't assigned genders at birth and are referred to using they/them pronouns until they find a set of pronouns and a gender identity that bests describes them, which is celebrated as a gender reveal party.

I'm cis, and with the way I've built the world, I'm concerned about how my representation of trans people would be. The world's definition is someone who identifies as a different gender than the one that they initially identified with at their gender reveal party. Would that be concerning or offensive in any way?

Thank you for your time! If I need to clarify or elaborate, please let me know!

I’ll reblog or edit with a more concrete answer later but I first want to clarify this to make sure I’m understanding correctly. In your world:

A character has a gender reveal where they choose how they identify as there are no assigned genders at birth

Say someone has a gender reveal at 15 and picks gender X because that’s how they identify at that age

But later in life that character no longer identifies as X but then identifies as Y. It’s this that is your equivalent of being trans in the world you’ve created? That’s what I got from the ask, just want to make sure that’s what you intended.

Edit: Thank you for confirming that this is what you meant.

To be completely honest I don’t see anything wrong with this because it comes close to my own and I’m sure quite a few other trans people’s personal experience. I identified by one label for the longest time before realizing it no longer fit and searching/finding another label. To me that’s fairly close to what you described for your world and if that’s what you want trans to be in your world, it makes a lot of sense to me that yeah, trans would be no longer identifying with your personally chosen gender.

I’m going to leave this open for other opinions though, just in case I may have overlooked something.

-Mod Noah

#trans #mod noah

[sandutita]

whenever i see that someone's pronouns are any/all, i feel kinda weird about it. i'm not against it, i support it 100%, but i guess i just get this... difficulty with choice, and the most comfortable decision for me to make would be to default to they/them pronouns, unless there's like a "primary" set of pronouns in addition to someone being comfortable with other pronouns too. (like if someone used he/any pronouns, i'd just use he/him pronouns for him. i might make an effort to use they/them as well, but i probably wouldn't use she/her, unless they explicitly say they want to be referred to with she/her pronouns.)

also probably most of the time when people say any/all pronouns, they exclude neopronouns, or they include some of the most popular neopronouns but exclude everything else. like they're comfortable with she/he/they/it, but they're probably not comfortable with being called carwashself-pronouns or something (no offense to carwashself-pronouns users).

it's just kinda awkward to me? and i don't know what to do with it. like i'm totally okay with it, but i'm just kind of looking at it with... peaceful confusion and pondering. like what do you mean "all"? you mean ALL all? you mean sie/hir and 💜/💜s pronouns too or just she/he/they? like if you just mean she/he/they then just write she/he/they.

#my post #pronouns #any/all #any pronouns #all pronouns #any/all pronouns #queer #neopronouns #xenopronouns

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Kemi Badenoch

Published: Mar 20, 2024

In 2021, a manager at Lloyds bank took an internal EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) course, during which he asked how he should handle a situation where someone from an ethnic minority background uses a word that would be considered offensive if it was said by a white person.

Lloyds branded him a racist for quoting the “n-word” as part of his question, and he was dismissed for gross misconduct. He then took his former employer to a tribunal, won his claim for unfair dismissal, and was awarded £800,000 in compensation.

This is not an isolated incident. For several years now, I have read reports of employers misapplying equality law under the guise of EDI initiatives. Sometimes it is egregious gold plating as above.

Most employers mean well when they set about to improve diversity and inclusion. However, actions such as positive discrimination and quotas are unlawful, even if used to diversify an organisation. This Government believes that EDI policies should unite rather than alienate employees, and crucially uphold fairness and meritocracy.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of snake oil about. Just this week, a government minister found that the training materials for one of their departmental quangos included references to outmoded concepts like “unconscious bias”, and “white privilege”, and used a picture of someone holding up a placard saying “white silence costs lives”.

All of this bunkum was contained in mandatory training for 1,400 poor souls whose primary job is to help further the Government’s economic agenda.

Rooting out the rubbish

With the number of organisations out there – and the frequency of these incidents – it is unreasonable to expect government ministers to intervene every time this happens. And no one should assume that a future government’s ministers will be as vigilant as current ones are in rooting out rubbish.

That’s why last year the Government set up an independent Inclusion at Work Panel to address this issue in an evidence-led way. The panel was made up of private and public sector experts, and was advised by a leading professor at Harvard University.

We tasked the panel with looking at the latest research to understand how employers in Britain are applying EDI, and how we can help them improve their practice. Our goal was clear: diversity and inclusion should never put any individual or group at a disadvantage, and should never damage cohesion and morale in the workplace.

The panel has today published its final report. Much of it makes for concerning reading. The UK has seen an explosion of EDI roles in organisations. Studies found that the UK employs almost twice as many EDI workers per head than any other country. This same analysis estimates that EDI jobs in our public services are costing the taxpayer at least half a billion pounds a year.

Despite this, the new report shows that, while millions are being spent on these initiatives, many popular EDI practices – such as diversity training – have little to no tangible impact in increasing diversity or reducing prejudice.

In fact, many practices have not only been proven to be ineffective, they have also been counterproductive. Data from Employment Tribunal suggests that recent years have seen a notable uptick in cases brought using the Equality Act in comparison to the years 2013-17.

The report finds that, in some cases, employers are even inadvertently breaking the law under the guise of diversity and inclusion by censoring beliefs or discriminating against certain groups in favour of others.

What’s also concerning is how few employers are using evidence when making decisions. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, only 1 in 4 business leaders say they consult data before coming up with new EDI initiatives. One in 4 say that their approach to EDI is reactive – for example, “in response to societal events like the Black Lives Matter protests”.

The panel found that organisations are crying out for better evidence on how they can practise diversity and inclusion in a way that widens their talent pool, while fostering belonging rather than division.

No group should be worse off

Sadly, even a prestigious and respected institution such as the RAF was recently found to have discriminated against white men in trying to improve diversity. No group should ever be worse off because of companies’ diversity policies – whether that be black women, or white men.

Performative gestures such as compulsory pronouns and rainbow lanyards are often a sign that organisations are struggling to demonstrate how they are being inclusive.

These clumsy diversity policies aren’t a substitute for rigorous, evidence-based measures that ensure everyone participates and thrives in the workplace.

As both Secretary of State for Business and Minister for Women and Equalities, I welcome the findings of this independent report. Over the next few weeks and months, the Government will consider seriously how we can best take forward its recommendations.

We will ensure that we do all we can to make sure that those entering or already in the workplace feel they will be treated fairly and according to merit.

[ Via: https://archive.md/JDB2Z ]

#Kemi Badenoch #DEI bureaucracy #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity #equity #inclusion #discrimination #racial discrimination #racism #diversity training #snake oil #DEI must die

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Is there, like, a reason that people are starting to refer to Molly and Kingsley using they pronouns? I've seen a lot of both in my activity and while poking around blogs lately, more frequently than in the recent past.

Molly did not use they pronouns; Taliesin said that Molly would not take offense at other pronouns but clearly stated that Molly used he/him. "Not taking offense at anything" is not necessarily the same as "uses all pronouns", speaking as someone who does not take offense at being referred to as "they" (or even "he" in some online contexts) while my pronouns are "she/her".

As far as I can tell, Kingsley has separately and also used only he/him.

I have not read The Nine Eyes of Lucien, but for what it is worth, Lucien is still held separate from Molly and Kingsley, per Kingsley's conversation with Beau and Yasha, so the set of pronouns Lucien uses, if that set includes "they", I'd hesitate to automatically carry that over into Molly and Kingsley as well. They each have their own set since they're framed as distinct people.

Like, is there something I missed? Is this a (misguided) extrapolation of what genderfluid means? This is a sincere question I am making in good faith, bc I've seen a notable uptick in this recently and I am sincerely wondering what has sparked this and whether I have missed something.

#Critical Role things #CR #CR spoilers

[smoreboi]

i might be genderfluid???? like, for seven years now ive been incredibly "dont call me a girl, i am not a girl at all, that is offensive, i hate being referred to as a she, why was i born this way" but then two days ago i started feeling "this is offensive, why are people observing the preferred pronouns i set out for them, i just wanna be called ma'am, queen, my lady, etc etc" and now im incredibly confused.

idk, its the same thing with names, like, i dont enjoy my birth name, but now i also dont enjoy my current name because its what people are using to refer to me and it feels disconnected from me because of that. idk whats going on. someone help

#lgbtqia+ #genderfluid #??? maybe #help pls #im incredibly confused

[ladychlo]

hi chay, dont mind me just a curious lad with a silly question. if someone is generally very masculine about the way they dress and act like and talk abt themselves, does that mean they can't be genderfluid? like, i as an afab who's very confused abt my gender, i love to dress up in a feminine way, i love dresses i love make up i love long hair and i do "act" like a girly referring to myself as she/her and all of that /sometimes/ more in public tho. i love all of my feminine features. but sometimes i do wanna dress up in a more "masculine" way yk? i wear my dad's or brother's clothes sometimes and act like a lad. and i do sometimes find myself more comfortable in that kind of attire. im not trying to be stereotypical abt this but idk how else to express this im sorry. so i just can't help but wonder that if a man, a queer man to be more specific, who is so "masculine" all the time, wears laddy clothes calls himself a lad and all of that stuff and just is very kinda cis in expressing himself most of the time, and it might not be pretense ok but then why does the idea of him wearing dresses at home so bothersome? there are people who say its disrespectful to assume that every queer guy is flamboyant or genderfluid in some way or the other, that it's stereotypical. but if lgbtq and just gender in general is a spectrum of infinite colors, isnt it just as stereotypical to assume that just bc someone dresses and acts a certain way they can't do other stuff? just bc a laddy lad acts like a typical cis lad with everyone, he can't wear dresses at home just for the mere fact that he finds comfort in it? and if assuming that about someone is rude then assuming the opposite should be to! or should it not?

im just very confused abt the whole thing and im like very very new to this, all of this, like a baby queer if you can call me that so I'm really sorry if anything i said up there came out sounding offensive or one-dimensional or like idk not ok, i genuinely apologize that was not the intention. im just very confused about a lot of things rn and this is just me trying to make sense of stuff. feel free to ignore this or tell me off if i said anything wrong. also sorry for the rant

Hi love!!

you don't have to apologize you're totally fine!

look between how you identify with gender and how you express it can be lots of intimate and interchangeable links but also these two are at the same time separate realms. you can identify as gender fluid, agender, nonbinary, trans, cis, etc but how you express this identity (meaning your pronouns, your name, your clothes, etc etc) is your art, is whatever you want it to be, whatever makes you feel good, validated, and whatever makes you feel at home with your skin. so if you feel like expressing your gender today in a more feminine way (how you see femininity and how you define it) then perfect, if tomorrow you feel like you wanna express it in a more masculine way (again how you see masculinity and how you define it) then its all so perfect! you can always explore your gender and redefine it the way you want.

for the second part about the ''lad'' thing, everyone has a gender expression whether you're cis or trans/ gender non-conforming, of course, there is systematic discrimination and power balance that comes with reversing gender expectations and also some personal stuff you have to deal with, there is more layers when it comes to that.

however, for example, lad culture is a way for lads to express their gender, very injected by a cultural setting, by a class, by certain things that define what is a lad and they conform to it, however, it does not erase the possibility of exploring your gender while being a lad, you know, a lad can deff wear dresses, can wear makeup, can redefine the ''laddiness'' and reshape their gender expression, regardless of how they identify their gender

and about the stereotypes, look I personally don't like the idea of pushing the argument of ''you cant assume this, this is just a stereotype'' you can say this to cishets who their judgment can be rooted in the system that benefits them but as queer people, our history is linked by the things others say its ''stereotype'', recognizing that a gay man can be effeminate and present as masculine or sometimes be okay with being feminine or whatever they want is not stereotyping is just another complex reality of a queer person.

idk if I answered your questions love, but please do come back if you have more or something wasn't clear <3

#c37

[humbledragon669]

Self-indulgent intro

OK, here goes… TL;DR summary of why I’m about to do what I’m about to do:

Watched Good Omens Season 1 years ago.

Watched both seasons of Good Omens a few months after the release of Season 2. Brainrot affliction commences.

First fanfic written after being kept awake by the nagging question of what might happen to an angel if they committed a deadly sin (link to fanfic is here).

Joined Tumblr after finding a couple of really interesting meta-theories. And GIF sets…

Second fic written after being kept awake by the singular image of yellow eyes in a darkened alley (that one turned into 15000 words – link here).

Multiple ideas for other supplementary fics now crowding my brain after completing the second fic.

“Research” required for the supplementary fic ideas, including an analysis of each episode and the book.

In summary, I will be using Tumblr as a platform to sum up my ideas and thoughts on the research process, followed up with the links to the fics themselves as a) an attempt to satisfy the incessant brainrot caused by whatever crack it is that Neil et al injected into this show and b) something to do to pass the time before Season 3 comes out, which quite frankly feels like a lifetime away right now.

I will caveat this whole process with a few of points:

“Restraint” was only my second ever fanfic that I wrote (the first wasn’t even about Good Omens, but Our Flag Means Death), and “Dangerous Liaisons” my second.

I had never written for pleasure prior to discovering these shows and never thought it was something that I could even do. I am afflicted with a delightful combination that so many other fanfic authors seem to have – imposter syndrome, low self-esteem in my work, and a craving for my work to be liked to the point of having over-achiever syndrome.

My episode write-ups are not intended to be full in-depth analyses.  Sure, there will be some subtextual investigation going on, and yes, I did watch some parts of some episodes on a frame-by-frame basis to catch some of micro-expressions.  I have not gone into minute detail like colour representation, though I am aware that some people have and have some interesting theories on that basis.  Let’s just say I’m not there… yet.  Maybe after my fics are done and I still have months to go until S3 release.

I am a hetero cisgender woman and whilst I support the LGBTQI+ community wholly, I do not feel that my life experiences qualify me to make any sort of statements about what this show means to that community.  As such, I have sought to keep my write-ups and stories as neutral as possible and have made no changes to the pronouns or genders of the characters from what the show and book have provided. (Side note, I wasn’t even sure whether to put this point in and am worried that it will cause someone offence. I welcome alternative or opposing points of view, please let me know if this particular point is in any way offensive or ignorant.)

Some of the write up content will be analytical, other parts may be more of a more note-taking nature. There’s no intended formal structure to them at this point in time!

Lastly, I am not a Dr. Who fan. I am aware that Omens is littered with references to the Dr. Who franchise – the likelihood is that I will have missed them unless they are blatantly obvious (hello SID RAT).

Thanks for reading!  Work will now commence on the episode write up for S1E1 – “In the Beginning”.  I would love to hear from you if you think there might be something I’ve missed or misinterpreted, or if you feel like there’s more to be said, or even just to say hello!  I’d love it some of my fics were to get a few more reads – go gently with me on the criticism there, I’m still very new to the whole thing!

EDIT: I started the first episode write up and quickly discovered that one blog post per episode might have been a little ambitious! I'm going to try and break it down into time periods within episodes instead. once I have a couple under my belt, I'll start a master post.

#good omens #fanfiction #intro post #episode analysis #background #get to know me #about myself #about my blog #about the author #introduction #i love good omens

[gendercensus]

On fae/faer pronouns and cultural appropriation

HOW IT STARTED

I had a handful, a very small handful but more than two, responses in the Gender Census feedback box telling me that fae/faer pronouns are appropriative. The reasons didn’t always agree, and the culture that was being appropriated wasn’t always the same, but here’s a selection of quotes:

“Fae pronouns are cultural appropriation and are harmful to use“ - UK, age 11-15

“I’m not a person who practices pagan holidays but, my understanding is that pronouns like fae/faeself are harmful because the fae are real to pagans and is like using Jesus/jesuself as pronouns“ - UK, age 11-15

“I know you've probably heard this a million times, so has everyone on the internet, but the ''mere existence''of the fae pronoun feels really uncomfortable for some of us. I'm personally not against neopronouns like xe/xim, er/em and the like, I am a pagan but apart from the, imo most important, reasoning of that pronoun being immensely disrespectful, I worry as an nb about people who banalize the usage of pronouns ''for fun'', and I'm quoting what some people have told me.“ - Spain, 16-20

“I don't agree with fae/deity pronouns just from a pagan perspective it's very disrespectful to the cultures they come from. Like Fae are a legit thing in many cultures and they hate with a fiery passion mortal humans calling themselves Fae to the point of harming/cursing the people who do it“ - USA, age 16-20

“only celtic people can use far/ faers otherwise it’s cultural appropriation, many celts have said this and told me this“ - USA, age 16-20

So that’s:

❓ Someone who doesn’t say whether they’re pagan or Celtic.

❌ Someone who definitely isn’t pagan.

✅ Someone who is pagan.

❓ Someone who doesn’t say whether they’re pagan or Celtic.

❓ Someone who doesn’t say whether they’re pagan or Celtic.

So, just to disclose some bias up-front, I am English so I’m not Celtic, but I do live in Wales so I am surrounded by Celts. The bit of Wales that I live in is so beautiful in such a way that when my French friend came to visit me she described it as féerique - like an enchanting, magical land, literally “fairylike” or thereabouts. Coincidentally I have also considered myself mostly pagan for over half of my life, and I can’t definitively claim whether or not the Fae are “part of paganism” because paganism is so diverse and pick’n’mix that it just doesn’t work that way.

To me the idea that fae/faer pronouns would be offensive or culturally appropriative sounds absurd. But also, I am powered by curiosity, and have been wrong enough times in my life that I wanted to approach this in a neutral way with an open mind. Perhaps what I find out can be helpful to some people.

So since we only have information from one person who is definitely directly affected by any cultural appropriation that may be happening, the first thing I wanted to do was get some information from ideally a large number of people who are in the cultures being appropriated, and see what they think.

~

WHAT I DID

First of all I put some polls up on Twitter and Mastodon. [Edit: Note that this post has been updated with results from closed polls.]

I specified that I wanted to hear from nonbinary Celts and pagans, just so that the voters would be familiar with fae/faer pronouns. I asked the questions in a neutral way, i.e. “How do you feel about...” with “good/neutral/bad” answer options, instead of something more leading like “Is this a load of rubbish?” or “are you super offended?” with “yes/no” options. I provided a “see results” option, so that the poll results wouldn’t be skewed as much by random people clicking any old answer to see the results. And I invited voters to express their opinions in replies.

Question #1: Nonbinary people of Celtic descent (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany), how do you feel about non-Celtic people using the neopronoun set fae/faer? [ It's good / No strong feelings/other / It's bad ]

Question #2: Nonbinary pagans, how do you feel about non-pagans using the neopronoun set fae/faer? [ It's good / No strong feelings/other / It's bad ]

The Twitter polls got over 1,100 responses each, and the Mastodon polls got over 140 responses each. With a little bit of spreadsheetery I removed the “N/A” responses to reverse engineer the number of people voting for each option, combined those numbers, and recalculated percentages.

Obviously this approach is not in the least scientific, but thankfully the results were unambiguous enough and the samples were big enough that I feel comfortable drawing conclusions.

Celts on fae/faer pronouns being used by non-Celts (561 voters):

It's good - 42.5%

No strong feelings/other - 44.0%

It's bad - 13.5%

Pagans on fae/faer pronouns being used by non-pagans (468 voters):

It's good - 47.2%

No strong feelings/other - 39.5%

It's bad - 13.3%

Here’s how that looks as a graph:

The limitations of polls on these platforms means that we have no way to distinguish between people who have more complicated views (”other”) and people who have “no strong feelings”, so we can’t really draw conclusions there. If we stick to just the pure positive and pure negative:

Celts were over three times as likely to feel positive about non-Celts using fae/faer pronouns than they were to feel negative.

Pagans were over three and a half times as likely to feel positive about non-pagans using fae/faer pronouns than they were to feel negative.

So Celts and pagans are way more likely to feel actively good about someone’s fae/faer pronouns, even when that person is not a Celt/pagan. That’s some strong evidence against the idea that fae/faer pronouns are appropriative, right there.

~

CORRECTIONS

To be clear, I haven’t done any research about the roots of fae/faer or the origins of the Fae and related beings, but my goal here was to get a sense of what Celts and pagans think and feel, rather than what an historian or anthropologist would say.

On the anti side, here were the replies that suggested fae/faer either is or might be inappropriate:

“I only worry that not everyone understands the origin of the word outside of modernized ideas of fairies.“ - pagan

“As a vaguely spiritual Whatever (Ireland), I think a mortal using "fae" as a pronoun/to refer to themselves is asking for a malicious and inventive fairy curse (on them, their families and possibly anyone in their vicinity, going by the traditions). I have not heard of this term before, so this is an immediate reaction from no background bar my cultural knowledge of sidhe/fae/term as culturally appropriate. My general approach is people can identify themselves as they want.“ - Celtic

So we’ve got a pagan who’s wary that people who use fae/faer (and people in general) might not have a fully fleshed out idea of the Fae. And we’ve got a Celt who doesn’t mind people using fae/faer personally, but based on what they know of the Fae they wouldn’t be surprised if the Fae got mad about it. No outright opposition, but a little concern.

There were not a lot of replies on the pro side, but not because people weren’t into it, judging by the votes. There were a lot of “it’s more complicated than that” replies, many of which repeated others, so quotes won’t really work. Here’s a summary of the Celtic bits:

“Fae” is not a Celtic word, and Celts don’t use it. It is French, or Anglo-French.

“Fae” can refer to any number of stories/legends from a wide variety of cultures in Europe, not one cohesive concept.

There are many legends about fairy-like beings in Celtic mythologies, and there are many, many different names for them.

The Celts are not a monolith, they’re a broad selection of cultures with various languages and various mythologies.

And the pagan bits:

Paganism is not closed or exclusive in any way. It might actually be more open than anything else, as “pagan” is a sort of umbrella term for non-mainstream religions in some contexts. A closed culture would be a prerequisite for something to be considered “appropriated” from paganism.

From my own experience, pagans may or may not believe in the Fae, and within that group believers may or may not consider the Fae to be sacred and/or worthy of great respect. (I’ve certainly never met a pagan who worshipped the Fae, though I don’t doubt that some do.)

And then we get into the accusations. 🍿

“this issue wasn’t started by Celtic groups or by people who know much about Celtic fae. It was started primarily by anti-neopronoun exclusionist pagans on TikTok.“

“[I’m] literally Scottish [...] and it’s not appropriative in the least and honestly to suggest as such is massively invalidating towards actual acts of cultural appropriation and is therefore racist. Feel like if this was actually brought up it was either by some people who seriously got their wires crossed or people who are just concern trolling and trying to make fun of both neo-pronouns and of the concept of cultural appropriation and stir the pot in the process.“

“It wouldn't be the first time bigots falsly claim “it's appropriative from X marginalized group" to harass people they don't like, like they did with aspec people when they claimed "aspec" was stolen from autistic language (which was false, as many autistics said)“

“It's been a discussion in pagan circles recently ... People were very quick to use the discussion as an excuse to shit on nonbinary people.“

“I think it would be apropos to note that the word "faerie/fairy" has been a synonym for various queer identities for decades, too. The Radical Faeries are a good example.“ (So if anyone has the right to [re]claim it...)

A little healthy skepticism is often wise in online LGBTQ+ “discourse”, and some of these people are making some very strong claims, for which I’d love to see some evidence/sources/context. Some of it certainly sounds plausible.

~

HOW DID IT START?

I had a look on Twitter and the earliest claim I can find that fae/faer pronouns are cultural appropriation is from 18th February 2020, almost exactly one year ago today. Again, tweets are not the best medium for this, there was very little in the way of nuance or context. If anyone can find an older claim from Twitter or Tumblr or anywhere else online, please do send it my way.

I have no idea how to navigate TikTok because I’m a nonbinosaur. (I’m 34.) I did find some videos of teens and young adults apparently earnestly asserting that they were Celtic or pagan and the use of fae/faer pronouns was offensive, but the videos were very brief and provided nothing in the way of nuance or context. For example:

This one from October 2020 with 29k ❤️s, by someone who I assume is USian based on the word “mom”?

This one from December 2020, that says “I am pagan and i find it rather disrespectful. It’s like using god/godr or jesus/jesusr.” That’s probably what inspired the feedback box comment above that refers to hypothetical jesus/jesusr pronouns.

If anyone is able to find a particularly old or influential TikTok video about fae/faer pronouns being appropriative I’d really appreciate it, especially if it’s from a different age group or from not-the-USA, to give us a feel for how universal this is.

For context, fae pronouns were mentioned in the very first Gender Census back in May 2013, though you’ll have to take my word for it as the individual responses are not currently public. The word “fae” was mentioned in the pronoun question’s “other” textbox, and no other forms in the set were entered so we have no way of knowing for sure what that person’s full pronoun set actually is. This means the set may have been around for longer. The Nonbinary Wiki says that the pronoun set was created in October 2013, as “fae/vaer”, later than the first entry in the Gender Census, so I’ll be editing that wiki page later! If anyone has any examples of fae/faer pronouns in use before 2013 I would also be very interested to see that.

~

IN SUMMARY

Obviously I can’t speak for everyone, as the Twitter polls are not super scientific and they only surveyed a selection of Celts and pagans within a few degrees of separation of the Gender Census Twitter and Mastodon accounts, but I can certainly report on what I found.

For a more conclusive result, we’d need to take into account various demographics such as age, culture, location, religion, race/heritage, etc.

As far as I can tell based on fairly small samples of over 400 people per group, a minority of about 13% of Celtic and/or pagan people felt that use of fae/faer pronouns is appropriative.

A much higher number of people per group felt positive about people who are not Celts or pagans using fae/faer pronouns. The predominant view was:

It can’t be cultural appropriation from Celtic cultures because fairy-like beings are not unique to Celtic cultures and Celtic cultures don’t call them Fae.

It can’t be cultural appropriation from pagan cultures because paganism is not “closed” or exclusive in any way, it’s too broad and open.

~

If your experience of your gender(s) or lack thereof isn’t described or encompassed by the gender binary of “male OR female”, please do click here to take the Gender Census 2021 - it’s international and it closes no earlier than 10th March 2021!

#fae/faer #pronouns #neopronouns #cultural appropriation

[wearequeer-andwearehere]

can you explain neopronouns to me? i really really don't understand it. what do they actually mean? i hope im not sounding offensive i just don't understand it at all. i don't understand how people can identify as kitten/kittenself. and the pronouns like xie etc like what's the difference between that and they/them?

Hi there!

And no, you don’t sound offensive at all. Thank you for asking respectfully! I’ll try my best to explain it to you.

So basically, pronouns are a part of the English language and are words used to refer to a person without using their name. They all have five parts, like this!

she/her/her/hers/herself

he/him/his/his/himself

they/them/their/theirs/themselves

So pronouns traditionally come with a gender attached to them — she/her is associated with being female, he/him with being male, and they/them with being neither of those or for someone with an unknown gender.

Most people generally use pronouns associated with their gender— e.g, I’m masc aligned nonbinary, so I use he/him and they/them.

However, when it comes down to it, pronouns are just words. Yes, they do have a gender attached to them but they’re literally just syllables, you can use whatever pronouns you want regardless of gender.

So in English there’s these three sets of pronouns, but not everyone likes them, or is content with only those three sets, so they coin their own!

Neopronouns don’t “mean” anything, they’re just pronouns like he, she and they! A part of language, pretty much. They’re just not as well known as the others.

Neopronouns are coined for multiple reasons, some being:

People want more gender neutral pronouns that aren’t associated with a gender traditionally

People feel dysphoric being called he, she, or they and neos don’t make them dysphoric

People get gender euphoria from neopronouns

People speak a language other than English that only has gendered pronouns, and want a gender neutral pronouns

They just like those pronouns!

And for many other reasons!

The difference between pronouns like xie and he/she/they is that they are different pronouns. He is different from she because it’s a different pronoun! They is different from she because it’s a different pronoun!

Again, people use and coin neopronouns b/c it makes them happy!! Pronouns are about what you feel comfortable with. I feel comfy with he/they so that’s what I use! Someone might feel more comfy with zey/zem instead of he she or they, so that’s what zey use! It’s really what makes you happy.

There are a lot of people who coin neos related to things they’re interested in, or concepts or other things they feel are connected to their gender! Kitten/kittenself is one of those, someone might use it if kitten feels kittens gender is related to kittens! Or maybe kitten just likes the sound of it!

So yeah, that’s pretty much it! Neopronouns are just like the traditional he she they pronouns, they’re just not as well known or widely used. 

#I hope it could explain it to you: lmk if you have any more questions! #ask #anon #neopronouns

[a-room-of-my-own]

I’m done with being white. It’s boring. From now on I choose to identify as black and I insist that you all refer to me as a black man. Please do not mis-race me. Of course I am not going to do this because it would be mad and also a tad racist. Clearly I am not black. And I expect that calling myself black would be an affront to actual black people, who would rightfully point out that I am as white as the driven snow. ‘You can’t just put on the black identity like a piece of clothing’, they’d say, and rational people everywhere would agree.

So why, then, is it okay for Eddie Izzard to announce to the world that he is switching to ‘girl mode’? More than okay, in fact — since saying on a TV show last week that he wants to be referred to with female pronouns from now on, Izzard has won praise and accolades from newspapers and campaign groups.

Everyone, instantly and uncritically, has bowed down to his request. From the Guardian to Wikipedia, Izzard is now a woman, no questions asked. ‘Eddie Izzard is an English stand-up comedian [and] actress’, Wikipedia informs us. That was quick: from actor to actress with the click of manicured fingers.

Just imagine if a white celebrity said he was switching to ‘black mode’. Imagine the furore that would ensue. In fact we don’t have to imagine. We know. Remember Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter president, a white woman who passed herself off as black for many years? She still gets flak and ridicule for that. For a white woman to ‘identify as black’ is ludicrous, everyone says.

But it’s fine for a man to identify as a woman? It’s brilliant, in fact, for Izzard to go from ‘boy mode’ to ‘girl mode’? The female identity can be put on like a piece of clothing? Why this double standard?

Izzard announced his move into ‘girl mode’ last week on an episode of the Sky Arts TV show Portrait Artist of the Year. He said he intends ‘to be based in girl mode from now on’. He has previously identified as a transvestite, as transgender, and also as a ‘lesbian trapped in a man’s body’, which, I’m sorry, is bloody offensive to lesbians. Lesbianism is women being sexually attracted to women, not heterosexual men believing that their attraction to women is some fascinating transgressive identity rather than, you know, just straightness.

Izzard’s switch to ‘girl mode’ has been fawned over. Stonewall praised Izzard’s bravery, describing his public declaration of making a shift from ‘boy’ to ‘girl’ as ‘courageous’. Brave? Bravery is running into a burning building to save someone’s life or travelling to Syria to fight with the Kurds against Isis. It isn’t brave for a 58-year-old man to embrace the most media-celebrated identity of our times — genderfluidity.

This Izzard story is important because it forces us to confront the denigration of language, especially the language around biology, sex and gender. Most people are happy to use female pronouns for men who have been through some form of gender transition process. Even many of those who question whether such people really do become women are prepared to use female pronouns as a courtesy.

But Izzard is asking for something a little different. He is very clearly male. He’s the same as he always was. To the best of our knowledge he has not undergone any kind of meaningful medical transition. And yet he wants to be known as a woman. A serious question: what gives him the right to make this request? And shouldn't the rest of us be at liberty to say, ‘I’m sorry, you are male. You may of course wear what you like and do what you like, but you are a 'he', not a 'she'’?

I’m worried about what will happen if we don’t do this; if we fail to stand up for the meaning of words. Confusion will set in, especially among younger generations, and people’s right to describe reality itself will be shot down. Already people are being branded as ‘transphobes’ — and very often hounded and demonised by woke mobs — if they say sex is real, and immutable, and that if you were born male you will die male. These are all truths, but you will be punished for expressing them. It used to be a sin to say the Earth was not at the centre of the solar system; now it’s a sin to say that people with penises are men, not women.

Failing to defend truth and reason will lead to the denigration of what it means to be a woman. I think the reason it is acceptable for men to say they are women, where it wouldn’t be acceptable for a white person to claim to be a black person, is because womanhood has been robbed of all meaning by the more extreme elements in the genderfluidity movement.

It’s sometimes difficult even to say the word ‘woman’ these days. They’re referred to as ‘people who bleed’, ‘birthing people’, ‘womxn’, because apparently using the w-word is offensive to genderfluidity activists. It is this relentless denigration of what it means to be a woman, the transformation of womanhood into mere garb one can put on whenever one chooses, that means even people who are very clearly men can now demand: ‘Call me 'she'.’

Eddie Izzard, like everyone else, deserves to have a happy, fulfilled life. But his needs do not and must not overrule the right of everyone else to talk about the real world as it exists. Someone needs to tell Eddie that womanhood is not a ‘mode’ — it’s a real thing, and it deserves some respect

#gender critical #Eddie Izzard

[tundrainafrica]

hi! i just wanted ask how can you not be so pressured to change hange’s gender to your fics (she to they/them) despite that many twitter users are saying that “au authors must use they/them to hange because they are canonically NB” . because to be honest, as an aspiring writer who is working on her first levihan fic, i feel so pressure or maybe obligied to use they/them pronouns for hange.

Hello Anon,

Thanks for the ask!

To be honest, I actually was pressured to use ‘they’ tbh. In fact, I was so pressured I actually did a lot of research on this and put a lot of thought into my decision to use ‘she’ as my chosen pronoun for Hange.

But tbh, I think I am pretty confident with the amount of research and the amount of thought I put into it that I don’t think I will be using ‘they’ in my fics anytime soon. 

Disclaimer: This doesn’t mean at all that I don’t like reading ‘they’ fics nor that I don’t like seeing people use ‘they.’ Tbh I don’t really mind whatever people use? I can enjoy a fic with either pronoun, I can enjoy a good meta with either pronoun. I have my own personal reasons for using they. 

Some of the reasons why: 

Personal HC 

Personal HC but I’m still gonna drop this here. 

To make things clear, I headcanon Hange as gender fluid. I headcanon her as sexuality fluid that personally, I’m not too much a fan either of fics that portray Hange as overly feminine either. So I have seen people who request that we do not use overly female or feminine words with Hange. Which yes, I don’t do them. But was a peer pressured into not using them? 

No, not really. I just personally think Levi would prefer the word partner if he was with Hange. I personally think that Hange would not have liked to fall into traditional female roles either. 

At the same time, I thought about the concept of using ‘they’ as a pronoun with Hange then I couldn’t help but think, it just isn’t in my personal interpretation of Hange to correct people. Hange is too much of a free bird to actually care what people use. Hange would probably respond to he, she, they or whatever and she probably wouldn’t correct anyone calling her mr., mrs. etc.

And in the context of Filo soc med AUs, Hange would probably respond to ate, kuya. (And besides, what is the gender neutral form of ate or kuya??? Mamsir)

And generally the default for most people is to look at someone and think okay, she’s a girl, I think I’ll use ‘she’ first. Or okay, that’s a guy, I think I’ll use ‘he’ first and what usually happens is if anyone is particularly conscious about the pronoun used on them, they will correct the other person. 

But there are people out there, who don’t care whether someone uses she, he, they, mr., mrs, ma’am, sir. For example, personally for me, I wouldn’t bother to correct anyone. And I headcanon that Levi and Hange wouldn’t have cared either. 

I’m sure people who read my fics would notice, I do put a lot of research when I write because I like to make things as realistic and as in character as possible.  So to get into the spirit of my fic and whatever setting I’m writing, I try to capture everything to a T and given the overall landscape and setting I’m writing about and given my own headcanons of Levi and Hange I decided on she.

Because in my headcanon, if someone were to ask Hange what pronoun she preferred? Hange probably would have said any. 

Likewise, if anyone asked Hange what her gender was, Hange probably would have said ‘any’ also.

And the setting of the show is practically medieval and gender identity is a relatively new concept. I don’t think many people would have spent too much time pondering ideas like individualism and  gender identity when they’re literally facing death everyday.  Actually a lot of the great thinking happened after the war, and when there was actually food on the table. Because people weren’t actually hungry everyday anymore so they had time to think about more modern thoughts. 

‘She’ is still an NB pronoun 

I answered this in another ask already. But the point behind this, is although ‘they’ is the go to non binary pronoun, there are NB people who go by she too. And creating this idea that all gender fluid characters HAVE to go by ‘they’ is dangerous in itself because the reason we had gender discrimination in the first place is because we had these boxes to fit ourselves into. So if a NB person wants to go by ‘she’ or ‘he’ or ‘they’ who are we to stop them? 

And I said it many times myself. We will never know which pronoun Hange would have preferred for herself. 

I get confused. 

This is a shallow reason but I’m gonna drop this here anyway. I get confused when I see ‘they.’ I read a lot of content which uses ‘they’ for Hange and I get confused a lot of the time that I have to read the sentences like three times because I end up thinking ‘Hange and who?’

I know I should have gotten used to it by now, but I still get confused because english is the only language I use on a regular basis that actually has such strict rules for how to navigate gendered pronouns.

I don’t wanna be peer pressured into doing shit just coz. 

Tbh, for me, as long as I did my research, as long as I can argue both sides as to why and as long as I am confident in the fact that I have thought about this enough before deciding on this, I will not change it. 

I am pretty convinced that a lot of people who actually go all the way as to attack someone on twitter and to cancel them (over a lot of topics tbh) haven’t done their due research. 

Because most of the people I know who have done their due research wouldn’t be fighting (on Twitter OF ALL PLACES) in the first place. 

Because doing actual research (which means reading articles which support both sides of the argument) will only make people realize that the world is too grey and too complex to ever make pushing their own agenda, ‘cancelling’ someone and calling them transphobic, homophobic, racist etc ect  or as they like to call ‘educating’ someone the right thing to do. Believe me, if people genuinely wanted to educate someone, they would slide into their DMs and calmly tell them their own opinion, ask why the other person believes a certiain way and you know, be ready to learn something too because education is a two way street. And if the conversation isn’t going anywhere, I think any level headed person would probbaly just give up and do something more worth while with their time than cancel some stranger on social media.

Regardless though, I respect either decision and I recognize the fact that a lot of Hange stans are very much more comfortable with the pronoun ‘they’ My general practice when navigating this sensitive topic is to use ‘they’ for Hange when talking to someone who prefers ‘they’ because it’s a conversation and in conversation, the space becomes something shared between me and the other person so I would do my part to make it as comfortable for them as possible. 

But here’s the thing, my fic is my space. It’s a house I built for myself and the readers are the visitors that come in and out as they please. No one is forced to read my fic and never have I and never will I tie someone down on a chair and not free them until they read my work. 

It’s my fic. It’s my work and I can do whatever I want with it.

People tend to forget that in the end this is a fandom space and people should be free to headcanon things however they want. They should be free to explore whatever themes they want. And I like to do my part to promote this type of environment by sticking to a few iron clad rules.

I write what I want to write.

Don’t like, don’t read.

Content is free. There’s a back button and if you do not appreciate the themes someone is exploring or the headcanons someone is applying to their fic, you may click the back button and look for something that doesn’t offend you. 

(I’m gonna end up digressing a bit here so feel free not to read the rant below)

There are an infinite number of headcanons and ideas which ideally should be able to exist. Yet because of this constant need to be politically correct and this constant fear that we might be offending someone and we might end up cancelled, a lot of people have been watching their own creative works more than necessary. 

I actually fear that there are a lot of good ideas and there are a lot of themes that could have been explored but weren’t. 

And this is why I love ao3 a lot. Ao3 is free from societal pressure, corporate synergy and I appreciate the fact that in that space, I’m free to explore whatever themes I want. I can read something pro-rape, I can read something anti-rape. I can read something pro abuse, I can read something anti-abuse etc etc. 

I personally have very liberal views and obviously I am not for rape or abuse in ANY situation.

But I am also the type of person who will read things that celebrate a controversial topic and things that will attack that same topic because I just generally want a more nuanced opinion on a lot of things. Because when I have seen both sides of the spectrum, then it’s just easier for me to proudly say ‘Yes, I believe this’ or ‘No, I don’t believe that.’

And I think these pieces should be available for other people to explore so that they can for themselves form more nuanced opinions on whatever topics come their way and the more sides people are aware of that exist, the less likely we’re going to end up with groupthink or hivemind situations which have fucked people over countless times in history already.

Should questionable content be widely available? Personally no but I don’t think it should be completely unavailable.

Regardless these potentially offensive pieces should exist and  I’m saying this for both controversial topics such as rape and abuse and something as relatively harmless as Hange being referred to as ‘she’ on a fic. All stories exploring every facet and every side regardless of how controversial should exist in this space because these promote discourse and they promote thinking. These pieces of work that explore taboo and offensive topics and the discourse these create only serve to make our opinions more nuanced so at least we aren’t blinded or we don’t have these half assed opinions only fueled by having read material created by people who are biased to one particular side. At least we have enough fuel for ourselves to say ‘Yes I have read this and now I can more proudly say I believe this more.’  

Whatever opinions I have made for myself about social issues are only how they are because I listen to both sides of the argument. I like to play devil’s advocate. I like to listen to people even if I don’t agree with what they’re saying. 

And I like finding compromises so that people can co-exist and I like tweaking my opinions everyday based on new information I learn.

And personally, there are so many views I hate and there are types of topics I personally would prefer not to explore but I still believe in the back of my mind they should exist. And if we do whitewash or try to force everyone to adjust their works to whatever side we deem is more ‘politically correct,’ then we will lose facets of the fandom that could have existed, that could have promoted a more colorful discourse and that could have sprouted new ideas and new ways of thinking which may be even more creative if people weren’t so scared to be cancelled or wrong.

It’s different in a conversation. I will adjust the way I speak, the way I navigate interactions with people in a shared space. 

But no one is forced to read my works no one is forced to read fanfiction so cancelling someone over how they go about their creative works will always be worse in my book than someone who is exploring problematic themes. (As long as that person tags their trigger material properly and isn’t forcing anyone to read it or forcing their own personal beliefs on anyone or attacking them)

Anyway, sorry for the long ass rant again but I hope you get the courage to use whatever pronouns you want for Hange. 

I hope this makes you realize that there really isn’t a black and white to this. And this is a fandom space. Do whatever you want. Headcanon whatever you want. Just be respectful and kind.

#levihan #meta

[hops-hunny]

Professor Neville:D

So reader makes Neville jealous by flirting with her classmates infront of him so he fuck her hard

PRONOUNS: SHE/HER

UGHH PLEASE THIS IS GOING TO BE SO FUN

Neville knew being with the bird was wrong. If he were in any other situation, dating someone two years your junior wouldn't have been a bad problem, in fact no one would bat an eye. However, when that person two years your junior is your student, that's truly when the issue arises.

He didn't mean for it to happen, he truly didn't. Life always has different plans and now a year later after a rushed confession towards the end of the year and a summer spent together, him and (Y/n) were absolutely mad for each other. And when you're in love with someone, you'll go to any length to keep that love safe and thriving.

Sometimes she did catch him off guard though. Like the time she wore her skirt from first year, claiming that the reason she adorned the skimpy little thing was because she 'thought it was her usual one', or the time she took full advantage of his snacks allowed in class policy, sucking and licking along the pretty red sucker. It wouldn't have been a problem if she didn't sit in the seat directly in front of his desk, and it also wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the little noises she made under her breath. Neville never said anything though.

He knew it'd be inappropriate as her superior to say anything, after all there wasn't anything that was explicitly sexual about her actions. What would he say even, "Hey seeing your pretty little ass hang halfway out that skirt is giving me a raging stiffy during class."? That sounded like a one way ticket to losing his job, which was the last thing he wanted to do. So he let her get away with it, pretending her petty little actions didn't affect him.

"Alright, I think it's about time we start." Neville said, causing the class to come to a standstill, turning their attention to the front of the room. "Can anyone tell me what this flower is? I'll give you a hint, it's said to be the most beautiful of any known recorded record of flowers."

"Although (L/n) is the most beautiful girl in the class, she's not a flower. Is that what you're on about Professor Longbottom?" Jax said loudly from the middle of the room, causing the class to break out in giggles and whispers. He watched as the girl turned around to face the boy, giving him a small smile.

"How come? I think I'm very flower-like." she pouted at Jax, eyeing him closely. She watched as the boy leaned forward, a smirk present on his face.

"Y'know, you may be onto something love. You are like a flower, delicate, beautiful, and I bet you're real easy to make fall apart to." a chorus of 'ooo's sounded around the class as the boy finished causing Neville to clear his throat.

"That's enough class, I wasn't referring to Miss (L/n). No offense, you're a very lovely girl. However, Jax, this flower up here on my desk is the one I'm talking about!" He clasped his hand's together, stepping to the side to give the class a better view. He smiled as they looked upon it with wonder, noises of amazement fluttering around the class. As they were distracted, his eyes flickered to her. His felt a bit of warmth spread on his cheeks as he watched her (e/c) eyes examine the flower a mere foot away from her.

"Well, all of you will be responsible for taking care of one of these for the rest of the week." He paused as they all groaned, liking the appreciating part but not the actual caring of the plant. "Let me finish next time guys! There's two pros to this. One, you can choose a partner that you want and two, if you write a poem about how the flower makes you feel you won't have any homework for your Literature class." He rolled his eyes at the cheers, dismissing them to go pair off. Although most people went to their usuals, what he wasn’t expecting was for (Y/n) to pair off with Jax, considering she’d usually pair with her best friend who sat right next to her. He shot the girl a look causing her to shrug, not knowing what her best friend was up to either.

'Don't overthink it, I'm sure it's nothing.' He thought to himself as he walked around the greenhouse as he made sure each pair were on the right track. As he neared (Y/n)'s desk, he couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Boyfriend? I'm sure he doesn't fuck you as well as I could, does he?" He heard the boy mutter as he leaned closer to her ear, using a few fingers to brush some of her hair back. Neville watched the sight unfold from the corner of his eye, trying to not lose it on the spot. (Y/n) was a very calm and capable girl. She would make the right choices, right? Wrong. The girl was also the minx with the slyness of a fox. He watched as she giggled, twirling her hair along her finger. That was the final straw for Neville. What should he do? How could he handle her without making it obvious. A metaphorical lightbulb appeared above his head.

“Alright, in order to give you and your partner's time to work on the project, you all are free to leave for the rest of the hour.” He watched as the students began to flood from the room, gripping (Y/n)’s arm as she tried sneaking out. Luckily for him, she was also the last student which prompted him to lock the door behind her. “Except for you Mrs.(L/n). It seems you need some extra lessons on how to behave. What a shame you’ll be giving up your free period to spend time with me.” He whispered against the back of her neck before lifting her, setting her down on his desk. She gave him a sultry look before wrapping her arms around his neck.

“A shame indeed.”

ANNND part 2 will be up eventually my back hurts rn and I'm sleepy so use your imagination till then LMAO

#brattysblurbs:neville #neville longbottom x reader #neville x reader