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#kind of a rant post
giac222 · 2 months
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Me trying not to tweak out when I see people reduce Ashley to fap material and “omg hot crazy girl with mental issues I can fix her” 🤪 :
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I honestly can’t stand people who fetishize mental illness but that’s a whole other post.
If you’ve seen my posts before, you know I have beef with the Reddit TCOAAL community 😂. (I’m not being serious, I just get annoyed with some of the behavior there). This is one of the reasons I ultimately left recently, but the main reason was that someone posted a picture of Leyley (little Ashley) and asked what you’d do if you found her in your house. Most of the comments were about physically harming her and some were even making sexual remarks 🧍🏻‍♀️. I’ve seen them do it to Andy (little Andrew) too. I wish I was joking. Sorry but I just find it weird to speak about children that way even if they’re fictional. I just got really uncomfortable and I was like ok I don’t want to be in a community with y’all anymore 💀.
I think a lot of people on the subreddit like the game for the incest and nothing more, like they’ll say “omg I can’t wait to see them have sex in ch.3” 🤪 but then they’ll completely miss the mark on Ashley and Andrew as characters.
I’ve gotten downvoted on there before because I said supporting real life incest isn’t a good idea and that it shouldn’t be encouraged… like wtf?
Honestly it’s a shame that they only like the game for that reason, because the story is so interesting, the characters are well written, and the art style is great. That’s why it sucks to see people label it “the incest game” because there’s actually a lot more to it than that, anyone who’s played the game and watched a play through of it knows that. That’s why the controversy never made sense to me.
So yeah, no shade, and I’m not trying to be mean, but I can tell the Reddit community is filled with a bunch of annoying horny teenage boys 😶, and also some… strange people. Sorry if that’s mean to say but 😂. I was like yeah I’m out of here lmao. Thank god for the Tumblr community.
Ashley’s backstory is so tragic. She’s such an interesting character, I just love her 💕. It sucks when people ignore that and completely downplay her character.
This is all just my opinion. I’ve been meaning to make a post about this because they’re some thoughts I had for a bit. Thanks for reading :)
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prismaticstarshch · 8 months
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thanks youtube /sar
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liesandnights · 9 months
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Stop shaming people for being passionate about the things that they love. Stop mocking people for having unusual interests. Like, honestly, I’m so tired of feeling embarrassed for being "too much". If being too much means having deep interests that fill my life with romanticism and excitement, then let me be!! I’d much rather listen to anyone ranting about their latest obsession with 16th century swords than have a boring ordinary conversation with those who shame passionate people.
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thezangoosler · 7 months
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viewing the fnaf movie as just a movie doesn't work. you're sabotaging yourself and taking away all the enjoyment from it if you don't think of it as the fnaf movie. if i look at it as just a movie, then yeah, i totally get what the critics are saying. it's so far from the lore of the original games (but since when has that not been a problem in the franchise lmao), the killer doesn't really have a clear motivation, and the ending does kind of come out of nowhere. but if i think of it as the fnaf movie i can actually love it. yes, it's far from the original lore. that's just how fnaf goes. yes, it is a glorified two hour lore dump. but could we want anything more from fnaf? it's literally infamous for the lore. sure, springtrap does kind of come out of nowhere. but the joy and whimsy experienced when he does show up is fucking amazing, actually. i don't care if it's a bad movie. it's the best viewing experience i've had in 2023.
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thatbookgirl1118 · 21 days
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I cannot for the life of me find the original post (tumblr is a hellsite) but this was sent in an atla gc:
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@the-badger-mole
and tbh i always kinda felt like kataang was weird exactly because of that one-sidedness??? like there's one episode of katara maybe sort-of seeing aang as a love interest (when the fortune teller tells her she'll marry a powerful bender), but then the rest of the show is her being passive in the relationship or actively pushing aang away (like their second kiss). and then at the end she just randomly decided "okay i like you i guess."
whereas aang got a bunch of pining moments and you actually believed he was in love with katara.
and most of their relationship was about how she helped aang - he did contribute to her character development over the course of the series especially as a bender of course but it didn't feel as emotionally/spiritually deep as katara's literal one episode sidequest with zuko.
but then someone else wrote "I would argue the opposite? Kataang is where Katara choose the peaceful nomad which subverts the trope presented where zutara is where she chooses the strong protector/combatant. Aang as a character is a subversion of the typical hero while zutara is like,,, coloniser romance idk"
and honestly... i kinda get that. aang was problematic in a lot of ways, but he was definitely a subversive protagonist, and i can see the power of allowing the woman to choose the pacifist vegetarian over the extremely obviously hot jock badboy. this is an incredible oversimplification of their characters of course, but the point stands.
Basically, Kataang is the ship we all logically want - the sweet, friendship-based, seemingly subversive one. But Zutara is the one that actually makes sense in the story, with these characters, not their tropes. Aang is subversive, but he and Katara are also kind of terrible for each other - he isn't mature or selfless enough for Katara, who needs someone to force her to take care of herself because she's always the one taking care of everyone else (wonder what that's like). That's why she and Zuko are so perfect, because he not only takes care of her, he makes HER prioritize herself. Aang... does not. He's pretty selfish, which yes is partially due to his immaturity (I personally don't count Korra as canon because it treated ALL the og characters terribly so I'm speaking purely from his 12 yo self), but it's also just a basic incompatibility thing. And Katara is actually equally bad for Aang - she enables him waaay too much, and he needs someone who doesn't. Who forces him to stand up on his own two feet and take responsibility. She's too much of a mother, and her relationship with Aang is too mother/older sister-ish.
With Zuko, on the other hand? Katara started out HATING him, forcing him to prove himself to her instead of handing him everything she had like she tended to do with Aang and Sokka. He had to earn her care, and as a result he appreciates it way more and demands way less of it. He's a far less selfish character generally for the same reasons, and is much more mature/has a better understanding of life and gray areas. Southern Raiders is a great example of this - he's down for whatever Katara decides because he understands that there's no one right answer, unlike Aang who simply preaches forgiveness. I'm not necessarily attacking Aang about that either - I do believe that grudges eat away at a person, and taking a life does haunt you, so forgiveness isn't necessarily bad advice. But it's not what Katara needed. Aang is great as a friend, but I don't think he's what Katara needs from a romantic partner. Zuko just... is.
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cycle-hit · 2 months
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to see a milgram character as a "good person" or "bad person" is a failure of media literacy for milgram. the entire lesson of the milgram project is that thinking in such black and whites, to deem someone as "good - innocent/forgiven" and "bad - guilty/guilty" only causes damage. the prisoners voted forgiven are not helped. the prisoners voted guilty aren't either. the lesson is that such a mindset will never help you- that it will harm whatever youre touching with it.
we cannot stop this, either- we have to keep choosing one or the other, because an abstained vote is impossible. we just have to keep choosing to shock them, over and over, no matter how much they beg us to stop because there is no other choice. you as an individual can refuse to vote, but someone else will always choose to. it is better to put in a vote, in that scenario, than to have it be uncounted entirely.
stop shoving characters in such black and white boxes. this is a story about nuance. they are not only "good", they are not only "bad". acknowledge that they are both. acknowledge that these characters are deeper than that. this is, quite literally, the "look deeper" media, you're supposed to be analysing. you're supposed to be theorising and looking at evidence under a microscope.
you're supposed to be acknowledging nuance, because anything could be true and anything could be incorrect. even a theory you prize could be completely wrong, or a theory you hate could be completely right. theorising about a character is not to "excuse" their actions or make them more "sympathetic", but rather to explain their actions. to flesh them out.
plus, as a bit of rant, you've all gotta stop dismissing people's theories completely just because you believe your own is oh-so above it. acknowledge a theory's evidence, acknowledge a theory's points, acknowledge why it could and could not be true. don't become obsessed with the black and white "I Choose To Only See The Worst Of This Character And Nothing Else Because That's My Preference!!! I'm Just Critical!!!" or "I Choose To Only See The Good Of This Character And Nothing Else Because That's My Preference!!! I'm A Moral Paragon!!!". jesus fucking christ.
i sincerely hope this doesnt make you believe that i think im above this same mindset either- i'm very much not. i can be guilty of it as well. but the important thing about analysing media is the ability to acknowledge every possibility, every point of view, anything that's possible. to discard any bias you may have in order to figure out what's going on in a clear and succinct manner that is closest to the truth. please remember this!
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radiodemonxkingofhell · 2 months
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Our actual reaction when Lucilith comes out and is healthy:
😊👍
CANON DOESN'T MATTER! For the 50th time, canon or not, SHIPPING IS FOR FUN!!!!!! IT'S 2024 EVERYBODY SHOULD KNOW THIS!!!
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queenlucythevaliant · 25 days
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Just to clarify my thoughts (since I've had a number of people ask me about it) re: Job and cursing God. There's a big difference between cursing God as used in Scripture and how we generally would think of cursing at God today.
Cursing someone, in the Bible, has a lot of depth to it. It's not just saying "screw you " in anger, it's got a sense of forsakenness to it. It's the opposite of a blessing, a removal of blessing. If the blessing is presence, your face shining on the person you're blessing, then a curse is absence. In some translations, Job's wife tells him to "renounce God and die," which I honestly think makes a lot more sense to modern ears.
Job says a lot of unpleasant things to and about God in his anger and grief. So do the Psalmists. A number of the Prophets. So can we. God can take it if we come to him with honest expressions of our emotion, including those not-so-nice ones directed at him. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting mad at God and saying, "How dare you, you bastard" when you suffer unjustly. You can say much worse, I think, without sinning, though I don't feel particularly inclined to give examples. But as long as it's an honest expression of your heart, I think you're doing exactly what prayer is for. You're presenting him your heart with an open hand. He can use that. Opposite of love is not hate but indifference, etc.
Job doesn't renounce God. Neither should we. But I think when you're truly suffering, you're gonna have those feelings toward God either way. He'd rather you address them with him directly than try to avoid them. Cursing at God in the modern sense is actually a great way to keep the relationship strong and not end up cursing/renouncing him in the Biblical sense.
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linked-maze · 3 months
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I wish people would stop using the linkedmaze tag when it has nothing to do with the AU and they are just using the tag for attention? in all honesty, I wouldn’t be so bitter about it, but it's the fact that it gets my hopes up that somepony made a long speech about my comic but it turns out it's not :(
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ink-the-artist · 3 months
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forgive me if you've been asked this before or if its annoying, but how did you learn to use colored pencils like that? your art is so special to me.
ty :) I took an art class for a few years where our teacher had us buy prismacolor pencils as one of the art supplies and had us use them kinda like paints, pressing down hard right away and blending the colors together. its not how youre supposed to use them she was just trying to teach us to use color and ig this was more to the point. I picked them up again years after i stopped going to that class just bc they were there and i wanted to play around w them a bit and ended up actually enjoying it when doing it on my own terms lol
#it was a weird class#it was just this russian lady doing private lessons in her house that my mom learned about somehow#I did NOT like those classes all we did was still life and they were hours long which is esp rough when im in high school and busy#and she wanted us to stand while working the whole time bc tradition i guess?#she did allow me to work sitting but thought i was lazy for it. idk dude i dont want to exhaust myself fast for no reason#standing is a lot more tiring than walking#i def did still benefit from those classes just from learning to accurately draw from life#did not like the teacher tho#on one hand shed paid for the art supplies for kids whos families were too poor to (and these are nice expensive supplies)#which is very nice#but on the other she was very homophobic and open about it#like when they legalized gay marriage she went on a rant about how horrible it is that they can adopt kids now#and also kind of racist#she was telling me how she got blocked from a facebook group bc she made a post asking if she could speak to a white person#and she didnt realize she was posting that publicly she thought it was a private message to the group owner#im honestly still not sure i heard/understood her correctly bc it was so bizzare and the only time i ever remember her being racist#she talked abt it like she genuienly was unaware it was racist#she described it as a misunderstanding bc she accidentally posted it publicly instead of privately#like it wouldnt have been racist to ask that at all#also one time she talked about how she saw demons in her home once#also she doesnt vaccinate her kids bc of microchips#she was like a walking russian stereotype lol#anyway heres some ink the artist lore
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epickiya722 · 4 months
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"They hate each other! 😠"
The "they" in question!
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Are you sure about that? ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?!
If this is "hatred", then I'm questioning how you look at the people you hate.
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giac222 · 4 months
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I have to be honest, the Reddit TCOAAL community has some of the worst takes on the game I’ve ever seen. 💀 I kind of talked about this already in a previous post I’ve made on here. That’s why I like the Tumblr community sooo much more.
This post will probably be kind of long and messy, so sorry in advance. Anyway, let’s get into it.
Here’s a screenshot of the comment that inspired this post. 😂
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This was in response to someone’s post about the vision in the questionable route. After seeing Andrew’s relationship with Julia and how little he cared about her, I don’t know how anyone could think he’d be able to have a normal/healthy romantic relationship with someone. I’ve literally seen people make excuses for him defending Ashley the way he did in the flashback with Julia while she was raising genuine concern. I saw someone say “well Ashley had him by the balls, if he said anything else he would have been screwed.” like be serious, he defended Ashley because he wanted to and has always cared about her more. I mean he literally lied to Julia’s face about Nina’s death, her best friend. 😬
This is what bothers me, when people act like Ashley is solely the problem and that Andrew did nothing wrong at all. Let’s be real, Andrew is the one driving Ashley’s worst behavior. He blames her for “making” him do things. He obviously can’t be guilty, so he needs something from the outside to blame (Ashley). As I’ve said in my previous analysis, they are both flawed individuals, they are the same. They are both toxic but they do really love each other.
Despite what these people say, Ashley is the love of Andrew’s life. He would never just leave her in the dust even if she doesn’t sleep with him. Mind you the two of them have never slept together and you can still see how devoted Andrew is to her, even if Ashley herself doesn’t see it yet.
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This is literally how he looked at her when she woke up after he thought he was going to have to take her to the hospital 🥺. I don’t want to hear any nonsense about him ditching Ashley or how he should leave her for good. 💀
In the Decay route vision when Ashley lets him kill her, he says “then I’ll see you in a bit.” Meaning that he’s going to follow her in death. Andrew wouldn’t want to live without her. Anyone who’s played the game knows one can’t live without the other, period. We know that they have a toxic codependent relationship, but it’s not only that way because of Ashley. It’s very annoying to see people act like it is. It’s literally both of them that contribute to it.
Are people just casually forgetting that even back when they were kids the game shows us that Andrew didn’t really care about Nina’s death, he was mostly worried about the consequences they would face if they got caught. Plus him grabbing Ashley and saying “guys and girls don’t go to the same prison, they’re going to take you away from me!!”. Also, before their blood oath Andrew literally contemplates if killing her would be worth it like hello??
In the game after Andrew brings up how their parents had friends, Ashley calls their parents whores and asks why they couldn’t be happy with just each other. He then responds by saying he never implied that they had sex, which causes her to say that it doesn’t matter and that it’s all the same. Ashley doesn’t see a difference between platonic and romantic love, to her it’s all the same. So yes, technically she does want romantic love from Andrew, she just wants his love period. In Decay when they’re on the bridge at the end of ch.2, she says something along the lines of “I’ll start when you love me with half of the heart that I love you with.” To say she only wants his attention and not his love is a damn lie. 💀
Anyway, when it comes to Ashley’s reaction to the vision in the questionable route, I didn’t see her as confused. To me it seems like she wasn’t expecting to see that as a vision, but at the same time she’s not really surprised. I mean she literally tells Andrew she assumed it would happen between them eventually anyway, so she’s definitely thought about it before. Earlier on when he gets her the Toxi Soda she asks him “What do you want in return? My virginity?” 😂 obviously she could just be joking there and nothing more but 👀… girl. LOL
Andrew’s reaction to the vision shows that he also wasn’t expecting it, except he was blushing harddd. He reacted the way he did because his thoughts just got exposed. The demon really said:
👁️ Andrew Graves I know what you are 👁️ lmao.
I think it’s fair to say that sex isn’t a big deal to Ashley, if her and Andrew never slept together I don’t think she’d really care, she also views sex as transactional. We see that in the questionable Burial route she thinks “the demon showed me one way to keep him around.” I’ve seen people on Reddit try to use this as a way to show that Ashley would never sleep with him out of love, and that she’d just do it so he’ll stick beside her, basically implying that she doesn’t actually love him….. 🤦🏻‍♀️ As I’ve mentioned already, sex isn’t a big deal to Ashley and she views it as transactional. However, her views on sex might change after her and Andrew fully cross the line. I hope what I’m saying makes sense. That maybe she’ll start seeing it as something out of love instead of something she has to do in order to keep him in her life, especially once she realizes that he loves her just as much as she loves him, and that he will always stick beside her.
I mean look at the way she’s looking at him in the vision. 😭
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That is a look of pure love fr.
I talked about this in my last analysis, but people who act like Ashley is the big bad villain and that Andrew is an angel who’s done no wrong are just in denial, and dare I say misogynistic. 😶 I mean to go as far as implying that she doesn’t actually love Andrew…. be serious right now, you have officially lost the plot 💀 like that boy is literally the center of her world and she’s terrified of losing him. As she said herself, he’s her pride and joy. These people sound like those Breaking Bad fans that act like Skyler White is worse than Walter.
Most of these awful takes about the game stem from Reddit, then again Reddit is a total cesspool on it’s own. If people on the game’s subreddit aren’t sexualizing the shit out of Ashley (the things they say never fail to make me die of cringe), they’re blaming her for everything bad in the game. 🤦🏻‍♀️ ughhh.
I have such a soft spot for Ashley as a character, especially after seeing how she’s always been treated terribly by everyone around her except for Andrew. Also because of her very poor self esteem and how it’s hard for her to believe that she’s lovable, like I’m sick rn. 🥲🥲 So, I hate how people are sooo weird about her, like leave my girl alone please. 😭
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I feel like this post was all over the place oops. Thank you for reading. ❤️
Also, thank you to everyone for all the notes on my previous analysis post about TCOAAL. ☺️ I’m glad you guys agree with me!
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marrfixated · 5 months
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I just thought this was funny
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flowerflowerflo · 11 days
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⊹˚. ♡ true beauty
──★ ˙ ̟🎀 what being kind does to you
heightened self esteem
increase empathy and compassion
tend to be healthier in all areas
helps form new relationships
better mental health
decrease blood pressure and cortisol
increase serotonin, dopamine & oxytocin
contrary to popular belief kindness is not something that should be overlooked. we've been taught to be kind hundreds of times and yet some of us never actually do it.
one epiphany i've had recently is that humans are such bigoted creatures. we think we have the right to do whatever we like just because we're the dominant species on this earth. we are top of the biological hierarchy, so therefore we have the right to do whatever we like.
another thing i've found is that that fact often bleeds into people's attitudes. people are so fucking rude nowadays honestly. maybe it's the fact i live in england, maybe it's the fact people are so entitled in this day and age they think they can do whatever they like to everything and everyone with no repercussions, but kindness seems scarce nowadays.
how is food made? by the people who take their time to make it for you, be it your local supermarket or your loved ones slaving away in the kitchen all day.
how do we sleep? because we care enough about ourselves to make sure we get rest to be energised and refreshed the next day and for the days to come.
how do we have clothes on our back? because people care enough to weave pieces of fabric together just so we aren't walking around bare and naked every day.
you want to become more likeable? be sweet. be kind. don't sacrifice yourself for anybody, but take the time out of your day to do something for someone. it will make their day i promise, even if it doesn't then you've still made yourself happy 😭 ♡
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🐰𓂃 ࣪˖ little kind things you can do
send a letter to someone
bake or make something for someone
compliment someone every day
have a clear out and donate to charity
smile at everyone and anyone
greet someone you might see often but don't really talk to
promote a friend's work
get someone to go on a spontaneous adventure with you!!!
hide a list of things you love about someone in their things if you're too shy to just give it to them
offer to take someone's photo if they're struggling like a couple or a family
do something sweet for your neighbours
learn how to say hello in multiple different languages
encourage and listen to someone even if you don't know them that well
talk to someone who looks lonely and chat with them, don't leave them out
make something random for someone who was nice to you for no reason
sit down and have a chat with someone struggling with homelessness
put a surprise note or cute drawing on someone's desk or workplace
we are so sweet at heart!!! everything we know is born from love!!! everyone is born good!!! it's only circumstances that make people stray from that.
please don't stop giving, please don't stop caring, please don't stop loving with your whole heart; hold the door open for someone, give someone something, smile at someone, pet an animal, do something just to bring joy and love into the world a little more. the world is filled with so many people who have strayed from the path of innocence and we need those people back.
to have a kind heart is to be beautiful. true beauty is not found in the skin, but in the mind. the more you give, the more you love, the more you learn, the more you smile, the more you enjoy, that is what makes the world beautiful, and that is what makes you beautiful <3
the most beautiful people are always the kindhearted ones who will live the most and make the most out of their lives. love is the only thing that holds this world together. please don't stop giving it, ever; it is the most beautiful thing this world has to offer
all my love 🫶💝
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risetherivermoon · 11 months
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I usually wouldn't make a post like this, but I'll preface this by saying I'm happy for Zar, that he's decided to repost his works and that he feels comfortable in doing so. He is an amazing writer, and this fandom does not deserve the stuff he has done for it.
What I don't want to be seeing is people saying shit along the lines of "I have to download all the works now in case they get deleted again!" It's just downright disrespectful, the works are made by a person. Remember that, with any fanfic in general, Zar is a person. He made those works for free, and it's all within his right to take them away again. You are not entitled to being able to see these works and Zar does not owe you anything.
Zar deleted his stuff for a reason, just because they are back up doesn't mean you get to ignore that it happened, learn a lesson from this. The initial reactions I saw to him deleting the works were downright disgusting, you are consuming these works for free, you aren't allowed to complain.
If I hear anyone who follows me or who I am following making disrespectful comments about this entire situation I won't hesitate to block or unfollow, please think before you post something. There are people behind the text on your screen. This is basic human decency. Cyber harassment is real, and it is damaging.
We don't deserve the writers in this fandom if all we will do is treat them like machines. Learn from this.
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jawz · 5 months
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i’ve been thinking a lot lately about the way my ethnicity affected the way i was gendered as a child, my drive to transition, and even my detransition…
as a hispanic growing up with my white mom and white stepdad and white brother and white extended family in scandinavian hell (minnesota), i always felt different, always felt wrong. (my parents divorced as a baby, and my dad and his family, cuban and italian, all live in florida.) my neighborhood wasn’t so bad; it was way more diverse than the metro area itself. growing up i had mixed friends, i had friends with curly hair… but us trailer park kids were only a fraction of the population of our schools and district. a sea of blonde hair. there were times in elementary school i would literally pray to god to make my hair straight, make my eyes blue. grown-ups touched my hair and always asked “is it naturally curly?”. my classmates urged me to straighten it and by age 13 it was part of my ridiculously time-consuming “feminizing” beauty rituals.
much earlier, by the age of 8 or 9, i already had thick, dark hair growing on my legs. other kids, boys and girls alike, called me “gorilla girl”, faked gagging when i wore shorts, insisted i was actually a boy. that one became more and more common as i came into my personality: bold, class clown, competitive with the boys. (always wanting to charm the girls, but i didn’t recognize that back then.)
my mustache was there by 8, as well. just a little peach fuzz above my lip but dark enough to notice. are you even a girl? my mom would spread wax over her own face and soon began waxing my stache as well. it hurt so badly. i put up with it because she said it would make the kids stop teasing me. of course i was a girl- she was a woman and she had peach fuzz too!… but i felt self-conscious at the fact that my body hair was so much more noticeable, even as a child. my mother’s hair is very thin, straight, lighter brown; her complexion is warmer than mine, pink where mine is olive, green and yellow. i worried you could see the strands about to burst through. i was worried that to be a girl- a woman- i must hide parts of myself every day. i must cover the shoots of grass, the weeds that reveal that i’m not fit for society, that whisper i’m wild and untamed.
it wasn’t actually until i was 18 at least that i actually started to consider myself latino. i had sometimes said ‘hispanic’ growing up, as that’s what my family in florida called themselves; they referred to themselves as “spanish”, which i found out was not quite true after compiling my family tree and discovering that those ancestors emigrated from havana. in their minds they were white: “descended from spanish royalty” (as if!!)… i had spent my youth constantly trying to claim solely whiteness, confused as to why everyone was asking me “are you mexican?” “are you jewish?” “are you middle eastern?” - even though inside i think i knew. i knew my family didn’t look like me. i resented my surname being changed to Lind when i was five, my stepdad’s name, in order to give me the same name as the rest of them. despite my apparent envy of swedes and norwegians i knew it wasn’t my name; i still stood out terribly. i glared at myself in the mirror every day, i never could move past how the kids at school said my eyes were the color of shit, that my hair looked like pubes, that i must have had a sex change without being told because that would explain the mustache, the aggression…
by the time i was fourteen i was entirely primed to accept an alternative explanation to what was “wrong” with me. my sexuality was becoming more and more apparent but before i could ever come out as lesbian or even bi, i had discovered what it meant to be trans. i was so immediately certain that this was the key, THIS was why everyone said i didn’t fit in, THIS was why my behavior wasn’t girly, THIS was why i wanted to date girls. it was 2011, still deep in the “brain sex” era of the trans community, and i was sure without a shadow of a doubt that i was physically female, mentally male. all that needed to be done was to “correct” my body and bring it in line with my brain. despite the fact that very few people knew what transition actually was back then, i genuinely assumed it would make sense to everyone else, too: they had told me i wasn’t ‘really’ a girl so many times i had no trouble believing it.
transition, of course, did not suddenly de-latinize me LOL. first i became a total Other, outside of both the minnesotan ethnic norms and the gender+sex norms; eventually, with hormones and surgery at a very young age, i was able to pass as a boy, but by the time i could grow actual full-on facial hair, i realized i was still the pan-latin american enigma to people around me. multiple times someone would call me “sanchez” as some sort of attempted insult or joke. police looked at me differently than they had before. shop owners followed me, accused me of shoplifting. and sometimes, the white girls i dated told me that i was way cooler than all the boring white boys they knew. one girl even called me “exotic” to my face. it was, apparently, a compliment.
when i was 21 i heard that my girlfriend had referred to me to others as “a POC who identifies as white”. it felt as though she didn’t even know me at all. i’d never claimed either of those things to her.
moving to the west coast (socal specifically, where being latino/a is not considered ‘abnormal’) illuminated a lot of the bizarre and unnatural racial expectations of my midwest upbringing; i think by this point i was beginning to realize what so many things from my childhood had meant. that they weren’t really saying i was a boy. they were saying we don’t like girls who look like you, and we’d rather not have you included in our category.
it took me another three years to fully reckon with this. by the time i decided to detransition i had a much better understanding of the circumstances of my life; conversations with close friends who are also latina and have walked similar paths to me, heard similar insults, similar “compliments”, opened my eyes to the fact that i was not alone. i no longer feel weird for thinking the race/ethnicity boxes on government forms are hopelessly reductive. i know who i am and who i am not.
(around this time, i happened upon some old pictures of my dad’s side of the family. beautiful and glamorous women: adela, my uncle’s mother, the piano player; melanie, my aunt, the wife, hostess, and addict; lauren and andrea, my cousins, the restauranteurs; stella, my dad’s mamma, the widow and matriarch. and on all their faces, thick dark eyebrows, and, yes, that ever-familiar peach fuzz. i swear it healed something in my soul. despite my lack of beauty and glamor, we are not so different after all.)
that’s not to say all things are easy now. i’ve spent three years living as a GNC woman and if that wasn’t enough to confirm most all of my hypotheses on people’s perceptions of me, i don’t know what is.
detrans spaces (like most trans spaces) are overwhelmingly white- or at least that’s who dominates conversation. i see SO much downplaying of the things that naturally hairy women go through societally. i see trans allies who purport to be “okay” with detransitioners, saying “what’s the big deal? if you took testosterone you can just go off it and get laser hair removal!! :)” as if laser isn’t expensive as hell, painful as hell, and also WAY more of a process for a woman with dark curly hair than it is for one with straight blonde hair lmfao!!! i see detrans women obsessed with removing all traces of hair from their bodies (even though most of them clearly don’t have a neverending five o’clock shadow like some of us do! my lower face has a constant blue-green disturbance under the surface which makes female spaces incredibly daunting) and insulting the rest of us for being ugly and hairy and making no effort to look like women or what the fuck ever. basically, a lot of people who claim to support us are just racists and essentialists and believe that sex is visual and not biological…🤨
anyway… i guess my main takeaways from all this are:
1. please stop acting like detransition is an entirely internal process and that it’s easy for all of us to be seen as our sex again (some of us like. actually transitioned and passed as the opposite sex), or that potential physical interventions aren’t incredibly invasive and difficult
2. stop assuming all transition and detransition journeys follow your own experience of lifelong whiteness and hairlessness
3. it is a distinct experience to be regularly de-gendered or denied your sex, PRIOR to ever thinking of yourself as literally trans. many trans/detrans people had this happen to us (we were once the vast majority of trans people). but many did not, and generally shock others when they begun breaking gender norms. i really think people from the second group often have trouble understanding that for the first group, changing gender expression is basically a bandaid over an abscess… we have lived entire lifetimes being denied our sex, being told our bodies are not “truly” ours, that there is someone else inside trying to break out. kicked out of the bathroom, the changing room, alienated from single-sex peer groups. transition just flips this experience and instead separates us from our preferred gender group, reinforcing the feeling that we have no place, anywhere.
race/ethnicity, being homosexual or bisexual, mental illness stigma, disability, and low economic class all play an additional role in this. stop perpetuating this and denying us our biological sex.
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