#i hate to break it to both the feminists and the anti-feminists but

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

I feel like I'm missing the crux of the man vs. bear debate because it's so silly. of course I would pick the man, because neither my Sig nor jiu jitsu is going to take down a bear

#- HK #NOT because I in any way feel safe running into a man alone in the woods #I would not be alone in the woods #my mom and I were just talking about how so many people go missing in Natl Parks #because if you were a human trafficker looking for victims where would you go? #surely not a vast expanse of unpopulated and densely covered wilderness to which lonely people routinely vacation whaaaat #like I'm sorry- I love men -but the girls picking the man solely bc they want to defend men in this sitch are out of their minds #if you're going up to a strange man alone in the woods to say hi then you have a death wish #x #and yes there is something to be said for the fact that men can have evil intentions that bears can't have #which is true of women too but men have the physical capacity to carry it out #and bears can Only maul and kill you; they can't rape you or kidnap you or sell you overseas #i hate to break it to both the feminists and the anti-feminists but #this world has never been safe for women to move freely and it never will be; all we can do is take precautions both civil and individual

[sarasade]

One of the most generally useful things to come out of Hbomberguy's plagiarism video and Todd in the Shadows' similar video on misinformation is how they bring transparency to the internet phenomenon of "I made up a guy to get mad at".

Seriously, I've seen people make up a lot of stupid shit on the internet over the years and it's often just a manipulative attempt to paint a group of marginalized people in a bad light.

That's the TL;DR version of this post. 

ANYWAY here is the long version

Those videos are mostly about James Somerton's plagiarism of other queer people's work. However I'd like to talk about that 20-30% of Somerton's original writing- and oh boy. It's mostly about complaining about White Straight Women and misgendering well-known trans creators such as Rebecca Sugar and calling Becky Albertalli a straight woman while it's pretty common knowledge that she was forced to out herself as bi because she received so much harassment over "being a cishet woman who appropriates LGBT+ stories".

One thing that irks me especially is how in his Killing Stalking and Gay Shipping videos Somerton brings up how straight women/ teen girl shippers exploit gay men for their personal sexual fantasies. This gets brought up several times in his videos.

Being all up and arms about Somerton being a "White Cis Gay Who Hates Women and Queer People tm" is not that useful because the kind of rhetoric he's using is extremely common in fandom and LGBT+ spaces on Tumblr, TikTok and Twitter. We really don't need to bring Somerton's identity to this since he is in no way an unique example.

It's hypocritical to make this about an individual person when I've seen A TON of posts, tweets and videos where queer people talk about these Sinister Straight Women who are supposedly out there fetishizing and exploiting queer men. It's pretty clear to me that this is just an excuse to shit on women and queer people for having any sexual interests. At worst these comments are spreading misinformation about BL, a form of media that has been excessively studied by both Asian feminists and Asian queer women.

This all sounds really familiar and I think it's good that people are calling it out as what it is: misogyny and transphobia. I'd also point out the potentially racist motives behind being this hypervigilant about Asian media.

People can absolutely be misogynist regardless of gender or orientation. I really don't know why we need to create some kind of made up enemy to get mad at. I actually think it's almost sinister how "anti-fujoshi" people call Slash shippers and fujoshi misogynists or claim that they have internalised misogyny while being dismissive about women's interests and creative pursuits under Japanese obscenity laws, China's censorship, book bans in American schools and various other disadvances that are part of being a queer and/or female creator.

I think we shouldn't be naive about the bad faith actors who want to turn queer people against each other. For example Fujoshi.info mentions anti-gender (TERF, GC etc) movement using this kind of rhetoric as well.

Anyway if you want to read more:

- about the false info around BL fandom fujoshi.info

-There is the scholar Thomas Baudinette who studies gay media in Japan. Here is a podcast with him and the scholar Khursten Santos

-James Welker is a BL scholar as well. Here is a podcast interview about the new international BL article collection he edited.

-I've already talked about this Youtube channel by KrisPNatz and his great Killing Stalking video that actually engages with the themes of the manhwa

- There is also HR Coleman's thesis DO NOT FEED THE FETISHIZERS: BOYS LOVE FANS RESISTANCE AND CHALLENGE OF PERCEIVED REPUTATION where she interviews 36 BL fans and actually breaks down why fetishization has become such a huge talking point in the fandom discourse. Spoilers, it's mostly about young queer people and women being worried that they will get judged and pathologized for their interest in anything sexual.

-Great podcast about Danmei and censorship with Liang Ge

#Also I don't mean that you can always tell if someone is a transphobe or a TERF based on a couple of things they have said. #My point is that sometimes ok people can have very regressive ideas too. #This is not a call out post about how we should go around accusing anti-fujoshi people #todd in the shadows #hbomberguy #sarasade text #even I've got those “Fandom is mostly straight women fetishizing gay men” comments once and it begins to sound kind of passive-aggressive #when you're a bi woman. Lot of fandom stats at AO3 show that fandoms are montly bi women. who are these people calling straight exactly hmm #also straight women are completely ok leave them alone. I know I know Yes I'm so brave for saying this #cw: transphobia

[vrmxlho]

-ˏˋ ur socials as reo's gf ˊˎ-

-`♡´- liked by 666666, megsbachira and 1.3k others

yn: new car or smth idk

tagged: mikage

isagi_11: bmw x1 u11 ICE xline

↳ yn: wow

↳ isagi_11: impressed?

↳ yn: yeah, you’re more of a loser than i imagined…

666666: when will @reo buy me a new car?

↳ mikage: who are you?

↳ 666666: WHAT IS WITH THIS ATTITUDE ???

↳ yn: idk but i like it 🤭

↳ 666666: you must love seeing people suffer...

-`♡ ´- liked by kaisersexc, mikage and 2.3k others

yn: he’s always editing our pics like you can't look hotter chill 😚😚🙄

tagged: mikage

666666: he's editing you lil bro 🫶

↳ yn: can i kill nagi?

↳ mikage: ofc

↳ yn: why do you hate women nagi?

↳ 666666: im a feminist ive read toni morrison!!

↳ yn: ???? irrelevant????

↳ 666666: bby why're we beefing it was a joke 😣😢😢

mikage: anyone would wanna edit themselves when they're standing next to you 💜💜

↳ yn: shut up 😏

-`♡ ´- liked by isagi_11, 666666 and 1.9k others

mikage: with the love of my life

tagged: yn

yn: ur the cutest

↳ mikage: no you 💜

↳ yn: no you 😞🫶

↳ karasu: y'all are both ugly ash!! hope that helps <3

666666: why is man’s holding his phone like that??

↳ itoshi_rin: why're you hating for me???

↳ 666666: there can never be too much hating 😊

zantetsu: covid core 🦠

↳ yn: jump

↳ zantetsu: ur not aesthetic!!!

↳ yn: aesthetic is a noun not an adjective 😇🫶 try buying the oxford english dictornary !!

↳ zantetsu: you're always advertising for them rotten tooth brits 🥸

-♡´- liked by itoshi_rin, chigiri and 1.4k others

mikage: we kinda cute

tagged: yn, cat

yn: these are just pictures of you 😐😐

↳ mikage: this is not a couples account tf 🤨🙄

↳ yn: wtf ❤️

cat: meow

↳ yn: go meow somewhere else pussy 😒

↳ 666666: cannot believe a cat is finally gonna break reo and yn up

↳ yn: DON'T SAY THAT SHIT???

↳ mikage: wdym by finally 🤨

↳ cat: meow

isagi_11: where the fuck is reo? there is only a wall

↳ mikage: i get that i'm pale but damn 😥

-`♡ ´- liked by chigiri, isagi_11 and 1.6k others

yn: when he cooks for you 💝💘💞💗💓💖💕💟

tagged: mikage

chigiri: rich ppl can never cook it's a fact 🤷

↳ mikage: i literally went to culinary school but ok

↳ chigiri: nobody likes a nepo baby 😒

↳ isagi_11: LITERALLY WHEN?? YOU ARE 18 HOW DID YOU GO TO CULINARY SCHOOL?

↳ mikage: idk it was an option in middle school

↳ isagi_11: wtf i hate rich ppl 💔

yn: can y'all take your anti-capitalist talks elsewhere ?? i'm very pro rich boyfriend thank you very much 🫶

↳ 666666: FUCK YOU!!

↳ yn: nagi i will literally fight you

↳ 666666: not a threat for a guy like me

↳ yn: 🙁

#blue lock #blue lock x reader #blue lock x you #bllk #bllk x reader #bllk x you #blue lock headcanons #blue lock manga #reo mikage #mikage reo #reo blue lock #reo scenarios #reo x reader #blue lock reo #nagi #isagi #blue lock nagi #itoshi rin #isagi yoichi #blue lock scenarios #bllk smau #blue lock smau #blue lock imagines #reo smau

[yourgfdgirlfriend]

can we talk about how toxic this whole “that small thing gives me the ick” narrative is?

like, girl, him using a basket at the grocery store or bringing water to the airport gives you ‘the ick’, but him never doing a single chore or believing women are inherently better at cleaning, like it’s some instinctual level ability is fine!? you’re gonna deal with him actually thinking he’s superior to you, but don’t he dare pick up a ping pong ball or you’re out?

wanna know what gives me ‘the ick’? rudeness. sexist behaviour. selfishness. masculinity, that is so fragile wind could knock it over. being unable to give a genuine apology. those are things that make me wanna drop someone; not normal human actions.

can we stop picking on any even slightly feminine perceived behaviour in men and just let them live without this ginormous expectation to always be this strong masculine picture of a man that no one is ever gonna be able to fulfil? you’re creating the same pressure on them we as women get all the time. you’re feeding into toxic masculinity. stop. make an effort to end this thinking instead. all the ‘icks’ I see on social media are so fucking stupid and misogynistic in their core; usually accompanied with sentences like “well, if he’s gonna cry about a birthday gift, he’s not my alpha anymore” no, he’s not. he is a real person with feelings, you fucking brainwashed-by-the-patriarchy monster.

give me a fucking break; i’m so sick of seeing people pressured into these roles their whole life and being so unhappy and hold so much resentment. just stop. let men cry. let men think kitties are cute. let men dangle their feet. let men giggle and be silly. let men have genuine moments of happiness without thinking about whether or not they seem masculine enough. cut them some fucking slack. and maybe there will be fewer men hating women, because they always had to be a certain way to be accepted. every woman knows the feeling of all these expectations and rules you have to follow. we know how much it sucks; how suffocating it is. so let’s stop repeating this narrative and start breaking out of it. reflect on where you’re coming from before criticising someone’s behaviour. we’ll all be happier for it.

and don’t anyone dare to use this as anti-feminist. this is inherently feminist, because it breaks with the tale of women being poor innocent damsels in distress unable to harm anyone or anything; always the victims. perfect little dolls. we’re not. women are cruel and flawed. women are offenders. women are judgmental. women are cold hearted and shortsighted. women are petty. women are misogynistic. (not all women of course *cough cough*) women are not perfect. we are human. of course the “women are capable and smart. women are superheroes” side of feminism is widely preferred. let’s be honest no one wants to hear bad things about themselves, especially when fighting against your own oppression; but it’s therefore no less true. both are legitimate; they’re two sides of the same coin. deal with it.

and if I see anyone hurting a sweet boy’s feelings, because him owning a stuffy or something adorable like that gave you ‘the ick’ I’m gonna personally bitch slap you so hard, that looking in the mirror will give you the ick for the rest of your life. savvy?

#your icks are ickky #little late night rant #it’s not really late but somehow my rants ended up running under this hashtag

[gsirvitor]

As someone who's extensively looked into both sides of GamerGate, you are incredibly wrong about it lmao.

GamerGate is what I said it was.

Corruption in gaming journalism and competitions, lead to a demand for disclosure and ethics reform, what sparked the fire?

A game developer slept with a journalist who then gave her game very favorable reviews. She also got a gaming fundraiser shut down just before starting her own gaming fundraiser.

Then, a PR agent slept with the head judge of a game festival and her clients' games won.

Outrage spread among online forums.

The two women above, as well as others related to the industry jumped into the heated discussion online. A few receive death threats. All sides condemn harassment and threats.

Gaming journalists published articles declaring "gamers are dead" and painted them as "cis white male misogynists who hate women in their previously-male-dominated industry." The allegations of corruption were not addressed.

Gamers were outraged at the "anti-gamer" sites who ran the articles stereotyping and shaming their own fan bases.

10+ sites all ran similar talking-points on the same day, revealing an industry-wide issue. People dug deeper into the web of industry relationships and uncovered more conflicts of interest, but also a suspicion that radical, anti-male feminists were driving the narrative in the press.

Gamers were upset that leftists were deflecting the issue of corruption and turning it into one of misogyny and harassment of females in the industry. Articles that emerged in the BBC and Guardian do not mention the original issue of corruption, but focused on the few death threats.

The female author of the Guardian article was shown to be financially supportive of the women she defended in her article. She was called out on it publicly.

Gamers were convinced this was proof of the corruption.

Leftists are still convinced this is proof of the misogyny.

In response to Leftists accusing the #GamerGate movement as being driven by mostly "cis white males," minority gamers who supported the movement tweeted with #NotYourShield to tell the Leftists they don't need anyone speaking for them.

It surfaced recently that Zoe Quinn, had been generally an unethical person. According to her exboyfriend, she slept with five different guys in the indie game and games journalism areas while they were still in a relationship.

Quinn also, allegedly, wanted one of the people in charge of GAME_JAM's "head on a stick" after the failure of the event. Following this event, Quinn set up her own game jam called Rebel Jam with a donation link that goes straight to her own PayPal account. She also did not have any information on the page relating to when the event will be held and what it will contain.

In the midst of this, a group called The Fine Young Capitalists started up a rival game jam to Quinn's for which they received a lot of backlash for from Quinn and her supporters.

It is important to note that Quinn's supporters did this under the flag of "they're an oppressive group" despite the fact that TFYCs are predominantly a female-oriented group.

4chan's /v/ message board, up in arms over the corruption in games journalism that had surfaced already as a result of this scandal, decided to flood TFYC's indiegogo campaign with donations that would go to colon cancer research.

4chan eventually raised enough money to get the highest perk available from TFYC's indiegogo, the option to create a character. So 4chan took this opportunity to rub it in the world's face, and created a character called Vivian James.

Concurrently to all of this, there was essentially a media blackout concerning the Zoe Quinn scandals. Quinn, through this, became a face of feminism in the indie games world, much like Anita Sarkeesian, who has also had a lot of questions surrounding her kickstarter to fund Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, a webseries that breaks down tropes that are harmful to women in video games. Despite having finished her kickstarter in June of 2012, she's only released 6 videos.

There's a fear imposed on indie games developers who disagree with these faces of feminism because then they are seen as misogynistic or bad people.

Along this timeline, people started looking more closely at games "journalists" and found that the very people who were reporting on these games had a vested interest in the games as they had put money into the dev's pockets through donations. Not only was there this, but the tight-knit world that is indie game development led to this web stretching far and wide.

Oh, and a lot of these games "journalists" came out and said that gamers, the very people they are supposed to have an interest in, are "the worst" and "a dying indentity" and other harsh words, considering their demographic.

[earlgraytay]

@ceanothusspinosis asked me to explain how internet community harassment is spiritual abuse. long post is long, caveat lector, hit J to skip, you know the drill.

first, we need to define some terms. spiritual abuse is a specific form of emotional abuse that most often happens in religious communities and/or cults. it's a colloquial term, so there's no official definition of it.

the best definition of spiritual abuse I can find is that it's emotional abuse that uses your spiritual beliefs to make you comply.

the classic examples of spiritual abuse are things like "a cult leader demands you give them your stuff/sex/personal information because God Wants You To", "your religion demands that you pray the gay away", and "the members of your religion shun or harass you if you break the religion's rules."

the thing that's uniquely damaging about spiritual abuse, beyond the usual consequences of emotional abuse, is that a spiritual abuser re-defines your most deeply-held beliefs specifically to hurt you. if you want to, say, be a Good Christian, a spiritual abuser will tell you that being a Good Christian means giving up your freedom of choice, your sense of right and wrong, your right to your own thoughts, your consent, your personal possessions, and sometimes even your body. You have to choose- do you accept your abuser's definition (and let yourself be hurt), or do you reject it (and thus reject what you're being told are your most deeply held beliefs)?

this can get even nastier when an entire community is abusive, or when you don't share the same beliefs as the spiritual abuser. you are under an intense amount of pressure to change your beliefs into a more convenient shape, one that makes you easier to control. if you don't change your beliefs, they hurt you. if you don't let someone else define what's important to you, how you think, how you act? they hurt you. with every tool they have and with everything that matters most to you. over. and over. and over again. your only choices are to give in or leave your community. and both feel like dying.

change your beliefs, the spiritual abuser says, or you are Bad, and we must hurt you.

the really shitty thing about spiritual abuse is that it's not actually about any given belief, it's about control. it's about making sure the individual never questions the leader or the community. it's about keeping everyone in line. it's about giving the community a safety valve- somewhere to put all their rage at having to live up to an abusive religion, a target that they can hurt with malevolent glee. it will never end, because an abuser will never be satisfied with the amount of control they have over you.

you will always be asked to twist the things you believe into a shape that makes you easier to control, always asked to find some new thing that you're not allowed to enjoy, always told to hate a new group of people. it won't end unless you leave. and if you leave, there's the threat that they'll hurt you even if you never speak to them again, because you're Forever Bad Now.

...ideological internet harassment, especially intracommunity harassment, works on the same goddamn principle.

let me give you an example. say you're a trans-positive feminist. you post something on twitter that's trans-positive. a TERF mob finds you and starts harassing you- arguing with you while constantly moving the goalposts, insulting you in every way imaginable, and maybe even sending you death threats. they'll accuse you of being an anti-feminist or a libfem; they'll tell you you're not really a feminist at all.

if you're a feminist, obviously, this is extremely distressing. for a lot of us Extremely Online Folks, our belief in justice and equality is way more important than any religious beliefs we might hold. you're being told that you're bad at living up to your most fundamental beliefs, by a huge group of people. and if you don't immediately apologize and go full TERF, they threaten to never stop.

there is an implicit ultimatum with TERF harassment: change your most deeply held beliefs, or you are Bad, and we must hurt you.

if you don't change your beliefs, they hurt you. if you don't let someone else define what's important to you, how you think, how you act? they hurt you. with every tool they have and with everything that matters most to you. over. and over. and over again. even once the great mass of the group has found a new target, you'll still get some shit from the most fanatical haters. until you publically grovel or log off, they will keep hurting you.

and the more I think about it, the more I see the same pattern in just about every kind of intracommunity internet harassment. change your most deeply-held beliefs, or you are an acceptable punching bag. let us define what's important to you, or you're Bad and we'll punish you. and it's never about a specific belief- it's about control. it's about making sure that anyone who steps a little bit away from their specific microcommunity's consensus gets Punished. there's that same malevolent glee to it, that same pressure-release that lets a toxic community keep being toxic without turning that anger inward. and there's that same never-ending cycle of harassment, of some new Problematic thing that you have to hate, of someone who's the main character of twitter Forever Bad Now and Must Be Hurt.

you see it in queer communities. you see it in feminist and ~alpha male~ communities. you see it with TERFs and trans folks, antishippers and proshippers, tankies and anarchists. this kind of ideology-focused spiritual abuse is fucking everywhere, and if there's any overlap between a community you're in and someone who has any difference in strongly-held beliefs? you might fall victim to it.

the reason I've been thinking about it is that, as An Internet Creative Person, I'm real likely to fall prey to this kind of harassment. if you ask for any kind of visibility, you make yourself a target. if you're part of any kind of ~community~ - and on the internet, "being visibly trans" counts- you make yourself a target.

...I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to avoid this kind of harassment. there are stories I've floated around writing that I've just avoided writing, because they will make people Mad At Me. fuck, I'm scared to write anything with a transmasc protagonist, much less one who isn't Traditionally Heroic. because i will get harassed for it. i'm scared about talking about the game i'm doing freelance work for, because some of the costume designs are.... Problematique. i spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to keep people on the internet from being mad at me.

you can't negotiate with spiritual abusers. there is nothing you can do to make them not be mad at you. they do not care what you're actually doing or why you're doing it. they want control; they want a pressure release. you're just a means to an end.

and like, i knew this intellectually before. but framing it as spiritual abuse really drove it home for me, y'know? it's not just ~bullying~, it's not just ~being problematic~. it's a system of abuse i've seen before. i know how to deal with it- the only way to deal with it is Not Giving A Fuck What They Think Anymore and ignoring every word they say.

#spiritual abuse #purity culture #internet harassment #internet culture #the discourse #the disk horse rides eternal #general malarkey #tumblr malarkey #terf malarkey #terf mention #intracommunity issues #the earl speaks #the earl has an opinion #long post is long

[v-anrouge]

i almost never draw men despite being a gay homosexual fruity man so genderbends just really tickle my pickle however twst fans are so egregiously bad at doing genderbends??? do. people just think genderbends are longer hair, boobs, and an hourglass figure? fem!vil would not just be vil but with allat YOU WANKERS RAAAGGHHHHH. vil is feminine because hes a MAN and is breaking out of the norms of being a man. his femininity is crucial to his identity as a man. whatever he may be, he'll always be gnc, because the whole point about him is that he DESPISES stereotypical expectations of gendered presentation. he owns his masculinity while also being comfortable in his femininity. so if vil were a woman she'd have short hair, dress in typically masculine clothes, call herself a king-- fuck, vil would probably use he/him pronouns. all that wouldn't negate fem!vil's identity as a woman because her womanhood is based off being her truest self, of embracing the energy that makes her, her, even if it isn't stereotypically feminine, and breaking out of the norms is what gives her power and comfort in her identity. her womanhood IS breaking out of the confines that shackle women to this paragon of submissive perfection. it makes me mad when people waste the potential of genderbends especially since gender can add different and interesting nuance to a character given how the concept itself can shape and affect people's lives on the whole. not to mention, women are often given more shit for doing the exact same thing men do so it'd be interesting to see these characters changed to adapt to that. more people might be anti's of fem!vil than of og!vil. call her a manhater and a feminist that's weakening society and so much more horrible shit because every weak man just NEEDS to drag a strong woman down and humble her and though og!vil is already headstrong, full of confidence, and ready to give anyone shit, fem!vil would have to build her resilience even more against the raging misogyny she'd receive. she knows just how much the world hates women and gnc people like her and that's what motivates her even more to destroy society's narrowminded perception of gender. and you just know how butch women aren't even perceived as women by many members of the queer community-- she's a woman, and she's butch, masculine, etc etc and you'll know it. she won't take shit from both heteronormative people AND prejudiced queer people.

maybe im just speaking yappanese because twst doesn't really have the history of misogyny and sexism as the real world does however there is proof that there is toxic gender norms where we can see the toxic masculinity from the real world being reflected in epel so id take that as an indicator that we may share similarities in some of their societies.

anyhow point is that if you genderbend gnc characters like vil to just be the stereotypical representation of the gender you're bending tjem to, you're the person they hate the MOST. you're putting them in the box they DESPISE because you refuse to see all the effort they've put into their non-conforming identity and seeing them as nothing more than what you expect from them-- perceiving them in the constricting standard they're fighting to break. STOP MAKING ALL FEM!CHARACTERS SHORTER AND THINNER AND MORE CONVENTIONALLY ATTRACTIVE YOU SCAT STAINS!!!!! WHILE A PART OF WOMANHOOD AND UNDESERVING OF HATE, ITS NOT THE PARAGON OF WOMANHOOD BECAUSE THERE IS NO STANDARD TO IT AND TO DEPICT ALL FEM!CHARACTERS AS A MONOLITH OF THE SORT IS AN INJUSTICE TO THEM AS A WHOLE!!! you want a girlboss but can't even do girlbosses right what makes you think you can handle girlfailures or girldisasters OR GIRLINSANITY. women are not there for you to draw them pretty. they can be just as complex as their masc counterparts if not more than in some scenarios.

like fem!jamil would be even more tragic. fem!riddle too. fem!leona too. not to say that they aren't already full of existing nuance because they ARE and it's GREAT but fem characters are just so full of heart wrenching potential AND NO ONE TAKES IT UP RAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

anyways im not even a girl kisser but i would kiss fem!rook because i fucking love it when girls are unfiltered and creepy and off-putting and disturbing and covered in blood. maybe im bisexual. who knows.

also i just think fem!malleus would be super cool like ahagha girllll you're SO autistic and strange and frightening pleasseeee talk to me about gothic architecture while i explode.

ANON U ATE LIKE HIGHKEY OH MY GOD PLEASE IM PUTTINGTTHIS IN THE MAIN TAG

i never quite understood why i always disliked vil genderbents specifically until like some time ago that i realized the reason i hated it it's because the way people draw it (hyperfemme) doesn't make sense for vil's character, it doesn't make sense that vil, as a man would dress feminine to fight gender roles yet if he was a woman that wouldn't happen and she would still be dressing feminine. genderbents r such an :/ topic because most ppl that make them take the characters make them shorter, skinnier, puts then in tight short clothes, gives them long hair makeup and idk man it always puts me off like being a woman is way more than that and despite the fact a lot of women do present themselves that way, making EVERY character be like that is just idk it FEELS wrong. i feel like most genderbents r just copy and pastes of the same gender roles slapped into a character carelessly just because and honestly it fucking sucks

#✎ ⇣‧₊˚ 【asks #ৎ୭ ⇣‧₊˚ 【stinks #♡ᭂ ⇣‧₊˚ 【 pome's cult member #vil schoenheit #twst vil schoenheit #twst vil

[untouchable234]

I saw one of your top posts about how you're anti feminist but not because you're sexist but because you're disappointed in how many feminists have become angry man haters, this is something I 100% agree with

Back in 2022 I stopped labelling myself as a feminist for 2 reasons, 1 was because other feminists said I (a man) couldn't be a feminist, 2 I was tired of people assuming I was a male radical feminist who hated all other men and bootlicked women, right now if someone asks if I'm a feminist I just reply with "I believe in equality" or something like that

Even some of my female friends who are 100% for womens rights are now embarrassed to call themselves feminists, because they stand for women to be equal to men, not for women to be above men

Not only is it disgusting and disappointing to see a movement that started with so many brave women who did not wish to be above men but simply wanted to be equals become so toxic, not only do feminists hate men they also hate other women who do not agree with them

I've seen feminists get so angry at other women and call them pick mes for having a mostly male friend group, not labelling themselves as a radfem man hater or just doing anything that "doesn't break female stereotypes"

For example on TikTok there is an account where a woman makes cooking videos and she mainly cooks for her husband and kids, people in the comments say she's a conservative mormon with an abusive husband and makes these videos to "brainwash" other women into becoming "slaves of the patriarchy" when in reality she has never done videos on politics or mormonism, and in a few videos her husband cooks as well and they seem to have a loving relationship as well as their kids

Its funny how radfems say "women can do anything they want!" Yet they get so angry at a woman simply cooking for her family, radfems in general are on otherworldly levels of hypocritical

I am also of the belief that a woman (or anyone tbh) can do as she pleases as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, whether that be playing sports, cooking for her family, having a mostly male friend group, having a mostly female friend group, having a friend group thats a mix of both genders, wearing masculine clothes, wearing feminine clothes, etc

I have seen a few feminists online and IRL who genuinely care about keeping the two sexes on equal footing (Gloria Steinem and Lauren Faust are two great examples of this), but yeah, like I said in the post you referenced, a lot of them are just misandrists and transphobes masquerading as feminists. It’s a shame, too, because there are women in third-world countries who are legitimately oppressed by a patriarchal society, but these so-called “feminists” are too busy hating/stereotyping men to care about them.

“Girl power”, I guess?

#anon ask #equality for all #gender equality

[nerdby]

In case you guys were wondering I don't post a lot about being queer or follow a lot queer blogs cause I used to follow queer rights really heavily in the past. And really I just got burnt out on all of the traumatic stories, and all of the drama in the queer community online. Like I struggle with hyper-empathy and sometimes it feels like I get whiplash from other peoples' PTSD.

And it's like people are so shitty to each other online and all it's proven is that a lot of queer people are the biggest hypocrites. Like people beg to be accepted and to have their trauma heard and validated, but the instant a less popular or vocal group starts to have their trauma heard all hell breaks loose. And it's fucking disgusting.

Like did y'all learn nothing from when Roe v Wade was overturned?

That only happened because TERFs stupidly believed the US government wouldn't overturn the rights of cisgender women in their efforts to hurt trans people.

It's classic divide and conquer.

And by buying into anti-transmasculinity queer people are giving fascists the chance to take away even more of our rights cause they're too busy vying for the spotlight to focus on fighting the actual enemy: Christofascist Nazis and gender essentialists.

I'm not blaming trans women, so don't even fucking try to go there because gender essentialism goes both ways. I'm an intersectional feminist that believes in the true message of the Barbie movie: The patriarchy hurts everyone, including men. Gender essentialism is not feminism. It is the belief that either men or women are inherently evil or that one gender is somehow inherently superior.

Anyone perpetuating misogyny or misandry is part of the problem, and that goes for trans people too.

Especially the whiny zoomers who refuse to go out and vote here. Y'all are fucking giving our rights away cause you'd rather complain instead of make an effort.

And I already know I'm going to get hate for this, but trans women and femmes who hate trans men: Are you familiar with the stereotype that men refuse to go therapy because they don't wanna be laughed at???

Do you think maybe it's possible that some of you have internalized that stereotype cause you were socialized as men and have unprocessed trauma you need to work through??? Rather than taking it out on the people who are fighting for YOUR rights??? Cause they want the SAME rights???

And the same goes for fucking trans men and gay guys who are convinced that feminine men are the root of all homophobia.

PTSD is a thing and it's not something to be ashamed of, and if you think so then you're part of the problem. So with all due respect get your heads out of your fucking asses, stop with the petty infighting, go to fucking therapy to learn to communicate and listen to each other. Cause it'd be nice for the queer community to feel like an actual community for once👌🏻

Sincerely,

A Very Burnt Out & Traumatized Bisexual Enby❣️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

#rant post #lgbt #lgbt rights #queer rights #transgender #nonbinary transgender #bisexual #trans rights #trans community #bipoc lgbt #roe v wade #intersectional feminism #mental health awareness

[pbscore]

This is probably gonna be a bit of a ‘controversial’ take for the reactionary folks on tumblr.com but frankly, I think this needs to be talked about more:

I’m genuinely tired of seeing both cis women and transmascs/trans men/nonbinary people squabbling over dumbass terminology regarding reproductive issues and again, seeing the whole damn forest for the trees. This whole situation can easily be solved by calling this a violation of human rights, instead of insisting it’s a ‘woman’s issue’ only or a ‘trans man/nonbinary issue’.

Like, I hate to make it sound like I’m dismissing people’s concerns but this kind of narrow ass thinking is only going to continue to distract us from getting our asses in gear to work towards a similar cause.

There’s already so much transphobia in cis feminist spaces AND misogyny in trans men/transmasc spaces that I literally hate being around any of y’all 😂 and that’s genuinely sad considering the reality that any of us with the ability to get pregnant will be effected by all anti-choice laws. It makes no sense to be arguing over terminology when the best and most realistic way to go about handling these issues would be to cite them for what they are: human rights issues. Women are human beings. Trans people are human beings. The right to any kind of bodily autonomy is inherently a human rights issue because it will effect human beings, y’all.

I understand why it’s important to break down specific social issues that may only effect a specific group of people (ex: talks about anti-blackness and how it effects black people should always be spearheaded by black people) and I agree that having that nuance and intersectional thinking will always be important. However, the issue of reproductive rights is expansive and effects millions of folks, in various communities, all capable of getting pregnant and in need of absolute autonomy over their own bodies.

That’s what this issue is about. So, I would highly suggest checking your own biases and the way you talk about this issue, as well as the people who are literally in the same boat as you before you claim which terminology is ‘better’ or ‘more inclusive’. Because frankly, it doesn’t make a difference to a bunch of anti-choice people in powerful positions. They don’t give a shit about our terminology and who’s getting effected by what.

They only care about controlling other human beings as they see fit and the moment we can realize that this is literally a grave human rights violation, while seeing each other as actual people first before our genders, that’s when tangible structural change can happen and be permanent.

Reproductive rights are human rights. The right to a safe abortion is a human right. The right to make your own decisions, be them medical or not, about your own body is a human right. Stop losing sight of that just because something isn’t ‘worded’ in a way that makes you 100% comfy. This isn’t a time to get tripped up over words, it’s a time to reinstate your autonomy as a human being and start working together to make shit happen.

NOTE: TERFs/transphobes/misogynists/anti-choice creeps will all be blocked on sight.

#feminism #intersectional feminism #reproductive rights #pro choice #reproductive health #pregnancy tw #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #trans #trans men #transmasc #nonbinary #enby #get organized #protest #trans rights are human rights #womens rights are human rights #human rights #abortion is healthcare #ok to reblog #if you clown on this post i’m blocking you with no damn regrets #pbscore

[limeade-l3sbian]

i was going to leave it at just the shipping discussion at first, but i decided this bothered me too much, and i need to vent it out. i've had this on my mind for quite some time but i don't know many people into atla who are radfem or adjacent, and i absolutely do not trust anyone outside of radfem circles to not have the most status quo, heteronormative, male-centric, "things are exactly as i first imagined" / "i cannot imagine right or wrong or natural outside of the literal text given to me by the original writers" views on this topic (based on my own experiences with trying to talk about atla with others).

the show would have been far better if zuko were a (gnc) girl and azula were a boy. i know you may be resistant to this because i know you had at least some level of a formative crush on azula, but i'm begging you to hear me out on this one.

aside from the fact it would give a hero role to a fully gnc girl (as opposed to partial, like suki or toph), it just makes sense. zuko not being able to get approval from ozai no matter what, while azula is favored at every stop turns into a matter of familial misogyny, rather than "azula is just naturally better at being evil" (which takes a vaguely eugenicist angle when considering the comics, which say that zuko is probably not ozai's kid, but azula is). it doesn't matter that zuko is older, it wouldn't matter if she were more cutthroat, it wouldn't matter if she were better at bending, it wouldn't even matter if she caught the avatar. a patriarchal dictator like ozai would always favor a son over a daughter.

second, it would make all of the fire nation characters' situations more realistic and more poignant, in general. aside from the aforementioned favoritism towards a son over a daughter, it would make azula's characterization as a violent narcissist who believes (s)he deserves ownership and control over the world make more sense, it would change the context of mai and ty lee standing against azula for the sake of zuko (and each other) into a vaguely anti-feminist situation to a wholly feminist one (i don't ship mai and zuko at all, so the context of being a romantic couple here doesn't really matter to me; it could be motivated by romantic love or platonic love and solidarity imo), it would make zuko and katara's relationship and growth stronger (both of them would have a history of facing near-constant misogyny that served as barricades in the way of the direction they want to take in life), and it would almost completely erase the uneasiness of the fact that zuko was entirely redeemed and azula wasn't redeemed at all (even in the comics), because the real life context of violence and perpetuation of harmful cycles committed by women vs men supports that women can very frequently recover and be redeemed, and men recovering and being redeemable is much less common (because they don't want to).

this is just one aspect of the series i could talk on and on about, by the way, but this post is already too long. as a bonus, though: i believe this minor change would give so much more potential for better lesbian ships than whatever was happening in lok (which i hate for a number of reasons; mainly that it completely destroyed previous worldbuilding and i felt that the plot was just outright stupid in comparison to the original series, and the shipping stuff in that show was sooo...ugh. as i said, a completely different topic i could go on and on about).

OKAY WAIT ANON BECAUSE - AUGH YES WAIT!

It is true that I had a crush on Azula, but I'm almost CERTAIN I would've come out much earlier if Zuko had been the female GNC sibling LMAO.

I think the decision to make Azula the evil one and all that was based on making a good, long term female villain. I think the creators were trying to break a few barriers (which, in many respects, they absolutely did!). But what you're saying would have played so much deeper and allowed so much more insight (canon or otherwise) into this world. I imagine having a GNC daughter would also foster some resentment from Ozai compared to Iroh who has shown in canon time and time again that he's not going to get pressed about a bender's sex (I avoided the rhyme on purpose).

I haven't read the comics so correct me. But to me, Ozai always appeared to be a traditionalist where it benefited him. The topic of gender bias in the series isn't nearly as touched on as they could've gone. And in a way, I understand because it is technically a kid's show and as far as I'm aware, they were constantly on thin ice with Nickelodeon. But goddamn would this have made the whole show just that extra layer of *chef's kiss*.

My basis for Zuko and Katara were the usual points made. But what you said just AUGH ANON YES 😭😭 it would've been amazing! 😭

Talk as much as you want! Leave a whole essay for me to read idc when you're this based. 🫶🏾

#ask

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Thoughts on the Barbie movie

So I finally saw the Barbie movie! I was excited to watch it for a long time, and overall, I really liked it, although I wouldn't consider it quite perfect. Here are some thoughts upon first viewing-

First, what I liked. The set design, cinematography, and costuming were incredible; it was so fun and refreshing to see practical effects and the sort of artistry that went into this film. The characters were mostly likeable (put a pin in that), and the comedy definitely landed; I was laughing out loud multiple times, and the fourth-wall breaks were a ton of fun. While I've heard different people say different things about the feminist (or at least attempted feminist) messaging and how effective it was, I really liked the point that women didn't have to be extraordinary to be fulfilled or respected. It didn't shy away from topics like aging, emotions, or bodily changes, and I loved how older women were also uplifted in this film, as well as the messaging that patriarchy is damaging to both men and women. And I really appreciated that Barbie and Ken didn't end up together; as an ace person, that representation was really nice to see. Michael Cera as Allan was adorable, and I loved Kate McKinnon as "Weird Barbie." It was nice to see a diverse cast, and in today's climate, after the barrage of hate towards trans people in politics and society, seeing "Doctor Barbie," played by Hari Nef- a trans woman- being called "beautiful" in a big-budget mainstream film was honestly heartwarming. I was definitely crying a bit towards the end, and I'm hoping to watch the movie again sometime.

As for what I didn't like, most of it comes down to the character of Sasha. She was exasperating every time she was on screen, and was written in a grating "how do you do, fellow Gen Z's" way I couldn't stand. While it's true that activism and social justice are obviously components of Gen Z culture, Sasha felt like a caricature of this in the worst possible way. Her calling a Barbie doll "fascist" for setting "unrealistic standards for women" was especially eye-rolling, considering that actual fascism is on the rise both in the United States and around the world, and it felt belittling to the concerns that young people have been vocal about in recent years. For a character representing the "real world," she felt incredibly unrealistic and one-dimensional. However, I did like Gloria's character, and the relationship between her and Barbie.

For a film sponsored by Mattel, I wasn't expecting much in terms of anti-capitalist critique, and while it was sort of there on a surface level, I feel like the film could have gone more into how the concepts of patriarchy and capitalism intersect. They touched on it a little with the Mattel CEO claiming to care about girls and women but only because they were his target market, but I felt more could have been done there.

Some people have been saying the film focused too much on Ken, but I personally didn't mind his arc; it was mainly about how patriarchy harmed men, while Barbie's was about how it harmed women. While I feel like the Kens deserved consequences (conse-Ken-ces?) for trying to overthrow the government and enslave the Barbies, I guess you could also argue that the battle amongst themselves counted as such, as the film displayed that patriarchy is a self-destructive construct. I felt like the Barbies being brainwashed represented internalized misogyny (the "tradwife" movement came to mind), and while Gloria's speech was good and all, I would have also liked to see that concept deconstructed further.

Overall, I'd give the Barbie movie a 9 out of 10. Beautiful visuals, interesting thematic points, and a lot of fun, but I just wish it could have dug a bit deeper.

#barbie #barbie spoilers #barbie 2023 #barbie movie #review #movie review

[la-pheacienne]

I get that it's frustrating to be a Daenerys fan in fandom scratching about the loss of slaver culture and only one Stark, but what does dead ladies club has to do with it? At all?

Oh that's an interesting question nonnie. Nonnie is talking about that post here that I tagged as "anti dead ladies club I guess?".

I will explain. I have no problem with the characters included in Dead Ladies Club, nor with the general idea of the person who created Dead Ladies Club per se, it was a pretty valid commentary on the way GRRM created his fictional world. May I remind you nonnie that Dead Ladies Club was a meta commentary on GRRM's carelessness/indifference towards certain female characters. That's all it was, and that's all it should be.

What happened though is that the fandom blew this idea out of proportion, rebranded it as the sole feminist interpretation of the story, then, following a perverse fandom metastasis, it was as if the very soul of these Dead Ladies got transferred to specific female characters that share certain (very few) characteristics with these Dead Ladies. And this was necessary because no reader can seriously read the books only for Dead Ladies, they are barely there in the story, and we don't know anything about them. So the transfer to more active female characters was necessary. That's how we ended up with Sansa stans and then Alicent stans.

All these peculiar fandom tendencies have in common is this : their hatred for the actual female protagonists of the story Dany, Arya, and later Rhaenyra. The ones the author of the story specifically created to tell the story of women suffering because of misogyny and violence and hatred and trying to break free. Any aspiring feminist should either focus on these characters or abandon the books, both solutions are valid. Not caring about them/actively hating them though? What are you even doing then reading this story? You can definitely go read something else.

Unfortunately, internalised misogyny got the best of what remained of the Dead Ladies Club fanbase, now transferred to Sansa and Alicent. Instead of just pointing out some gaps in GRRM story and juxtapose them with male representation, which was the initial idea, this new and very dangerous fandom cancer has one single goal : to shit on female characters that somehow were stronger/more willful than the rest of them and were active players in their own arc.

That's why Lyanna Stark has been excluded from this club by the enlightened fandom, despite the fact that she was literally the first female character mentioned there, if I remember correctly. Why? Because people finally realised that Lyanna wasn't a poor rape victim, instead she eloped with the man she loved to escape from her imminent forced marriage to a horrible man she had no esteem for. She was willful and strong, and she wanted to choose how she lived her life. That's why she doesn't belong to our Golden Pantheon of Reverenced Victims.

Because that's what Dead Ladies Club is today. From a commentary on the author's indifference towards some of his characters it became a reverence of "soft femininity" which, in this context, is code for submissiveness, agreeableness, conformism and conservatism, all the traits that our two female protagonists do not possess.

Of course you can tell me that not all Dead Ladies Club "stans"/ Sansa stans/ Alicent stans hate Dany and Arya. Well maybe not, there are millions of people on this planet. Do you personally know one? I don't.

So if I want to be exact I should have tagged it as "anti dead ladies club stans" + anti Sansa stans + anti Alicent stans.

I hope I answered your question.

#anonymous #anti dead ladies club #anti sansa stans #anti alicent stans #asoiaf #fire and blood #got #daenerys Targaryen #Arya stark #rhaenyra targaryen #lyanna stark

[marciabrady]

Hi, could you elaborate on your take about Merida's storyline being misogynistic?

There are so many things about the production of Brave that bothers me...now, if you like Merida, this is nothing against you. I think Merida has some of the best friends at Disneyland and I love canon-divergent versions of Merida I've interpreted, but the production *itself* of Brave...

Let's start with the fact that it was originally made by Pixar. ALL of Pixar's movies are male dominated, this was the first with a female lead imo and it still was very male oriented, and I just don't trust Pixar like that...

The first movie they make about a woman and her entire storyline is about not wanting to get married and rejecting femininity? Do better

The movie was put into production by a woman who doesn't understand fairytales/is a white feminist that doesn't understand intersectionality and introduced her Ted Talk by calling Snow White an idiot...yeah

I just think it's obvious that the ecosystem of the film, both in the scenes and behind the scenes, was littered with people who hate femininity (see previous bullet point) and were trying to put forth a "cool" girl who was more palatable to patriarchal masculinity while putting her mother down and that just doesn't set right with me

She literally turned her mother into a bear like...

There's more but honestly this just isn't my movie and I think it's also the movements that put Merida forth as like THE best princess focus very much on her "breaking the mold" and being anti-princess in a way that feels anti-woman to me and I just idk I really am the wrong person to ask about this

#ask #anonymous

[blacklezrage]

How do I get my friend to read rad leaning material without scaring her away? I’m 18, a lesbian, and she’s my only lesbian friend. I love her very much and want her to be happy with herself as a lesbian and young woman. Radfem content helped me when I was sexually assaulted and realize that being a woman isn’t a horrible curse. She feels estranged from womanhood and has grown to resent other women because of her experience with being bullied by them. In high school, she would be pushed out of the locker room by the straight girls bc they thought she would “perv out” on them. She’s lost friends when she came out, her mother is also very homophobic and has called her a dyke more than once and makes fun of her for not being as girly. She’s also very hateful towards her body because she thinks having a bigger chest makes her look sloppy, slutty, and saggy and has hinted at “chopping them off”. I remember feeling hateful towards by downstairs area because porn made me feel like my vagina was ugly because my labia wasn’t bleached pink and tiny. So I think rad leaning content would help, but she’s been reading more trans content which I think would harm her if she ever decided to chop her boobs off instead of learning that they don’t make her sloppy and that there’s nothing wrong with having breast that aren’t perky like in porn.

i was putting off answering this because to be honest, i'm still struggling to get my best friend to see the value of being a womon (and breaking up with her shitty bf), and i didn't want to give you bad advice, but i guess something is better than nothing

i'm not going to lie. my work with my friend has been less "here's this book to read" and more "why do you think you're feeling that way?" and "is this something you believe or is it something you feel people want you to believe?" the thing i think helped her the most was me creating a space where she can be away from men and can speak her mind without being afraid of being judged. also incredibly important was helping her start the healing process between her and her mom, but that isn't feasible with every womon obviously

she had absolutely no idea of any feminist history (and she and i are both usamericans), so before i recommended any books to her, i recommended her "Mrs. America," which is a single season show following the fight to ratify the ERA in the 70s. it features fictionalized versions of womyn like Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisolm, Gloria Steinem, and Phyllis Schlafly (renowned anti-feminist, but whoever wrote the show at least understood the gist of Right Wing Women). this helped her (a) realize how important the rights of womyn are and how easily they're taken away and (b) that (second-wave/radical) feminists weren't just a group a man-hating racist white ladies like everyone online claims

it wasn't until after all that that i recommended her the book Dietland by Sarai Walker. it's fictional, but in my opinion, it offers a great beginning into radfem ideology. it follows a fat womon who's waiting to live her life until she's skinny as a sort of coming-into-her-own story, but then it takes a turn into some wild (but very much connected) areas including:

womyn's separatism

exploring same-sex attraction

anti-porn activism

an anti-beauty book called "Fuckability Theory"

and a feminist terrorist group

she actually just borrowed my copy of Anita Diamant's The Red Tent (also fiction), which is a feminist retelling of Dinah, a character from biblical canon. i actually don't remember the book that well (only read it once) but i really enjoyed it, and i actually think that book made me want to go to womyn's land badly enough to actually go

one of the biggest books that helped me personally was Soraya Chemaly's Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger (i read that alongside Brittany Cooper's Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower which is more of a memoir, so i'd recommend Rage Becomes Her first). these were basically the first two rad-leaning (although Eloquent Rage isn't necessarily radical feminist) books i read and they lit a fire under me. they both helped me realize how much negative energy i was directing toward myself and helped me gain back my ability to speak up and be unafraid

Audre Lorde, imo, is essential lesbian reading, so i'd recommend Sister Outsider, as well. it's a collection of essays, so it's a great start into her works and worldview

i think Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie is also a good starting point (if she hasn't been indoctrinated to be afraid of her), but i've only read We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele (A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions)

i had a moment of courage and sent my friend a request on goodreads, and now whenever i'm reading a radfem text, she usually asks me about it and will sometimes add it to her reading list

i've definitely been where your friend has been, and i'm sorry to hear she's dealing with so much pressure... i think even more important than the books is for you to continue to support her and be there for her and listen to her, everything she says. help her stop apologizing, help her take up space, help her find her voice. make sure she knows that her unique experience/perspective matters. but also, don't be afraid to disagree with her. it may take being challenged for her to realize what she really believes

#i hope this answered your question... #if you have anything else you wanna ask feel free to dm me as well! #if you take away one thing from this recommend her dietland #seriously #that book changed my life

[basedsakura]

how have your feelings about sasusaku changed over the years? just stumbled across a post of yours criticizing how ss was handled from 2015 #tbt, asking as someone who's held a torch for ss for years but I definitely don't shy away from takes giving kishimoto a little heat now lol. revisiting my old arguments and posts has been a wild ride, curious about other people's journeys with this bananas couple

ahhhh it's been a wild ride but i'd say i've come full circle pretty much lol. when i was 13 i loved that it was full of shojo tropes and enemies-to-lovers out the ass.

then i turned 15 and entered my annoying woke phase where i criticized it for being abusive and anti feminist but rly i was just sucking up to the popular bloggers who hated on it cause hating on ss was all the rage back in 2014. i secretly rly liked it

then i was off tumblr for years and didnt really care about naruto for a while but i got back into reading fanfiction as a break from my english lit degree. it's like junk food to me. i thought the state of affairs in boruto was pretty cringe as far as ss was concerned but i don't really consider any of that cash grab shit canon anyways. when i think about manga sasusaku it really is about the subversion of shojo tropes and it's so romanticized but also so real in how no, love doesn't conquer all and even though sasuke was grateful to sakura for it, her love couldn't heal him. only revenge could. both sakura and naruto defined themselves via sasuke but sasuke had a score to settle and he couldn't continue to drive their arcs forward, so that meant that the both of them had to reinvent themselves without him. i love that he was a positive influence on her. i love that he encouraged her. i love that he respected her and didn't begrudge her for her accomplishments the way he did naruto. i love that she found the courage to speak up for herself and even call him out if needed be. i love that he never patronized her or even held back against her. i feel like the two of them, despite being so different and growing up so differently, always shared a subtle understanding and i think it's just a really interesting dynamic

#sasusaku #meta #thanks !