#ofc in media its an issue that its a common trope

[liquidstar]

i think that on here we've kinda talked a lot about how the traditional "coming out" narrative presented in popculture is flawed in reality. because it always presents this idea that you have to tell everyone who you Really are, that youre Hiding parts of yourself, that you can never be You until you bare your Secrets to the world. and that actually this isnt because people feel entitled to your personal business but that its hurting YOU when they dont know your personal business so you should really just tell them. (but also dont be "too" proud because thats annoying :( act mostly cishet please but dont lie about it! hehe!) it will work out every time for sure :)

but ofc thats not how real life works. i mean, naturally i understand that there are OF COURSE people out there who want to be loud and proud about who they are, and that this is incredibly important to their identity which theyve suppressed for so long. but that "coming out" narrative is harmful because it ignores many of the reasons it had to be suppressed to begin with. its fucking dangerous! its dangerous to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. they can lose their support system, family, job, house, and their entire life. both in the sense that they'll be completely uprooted from it, and in the sense that they could be killed. so constantly presenting the notion of "coming out is good for you no matter what because its the Only way to be your Real Authentic Self and also you HAVE to do it eventually because thats how this narrative is just Meant to go. be a good little queer and please dont stray from this path."

and the problem is that plenty of young LGBT+ people completely internalize it too! ive had so many convos with young people worried about coming out to their conservative family because, well, theyre supposed to! and their minds are completely blown when i tell them that actually they dont have to do that. that theyre under no obligation to tell everyone their business and its okay to just keep being them w/o making an announcement about it. ESPECIALLY IF IT PUTS THEM IN DANGER!!!! and to be clear this issue doesnt stop at age 18 or at moving out or anything like that either, there continue to be many obstacles for many people that make coming out unsafe, or just a bad life decision to uproot everything Right Now. it's okay to just be in the closet and it isn't a moral failing like cishet media wants to convince us. we all agree, right?

good! but here's what my actual real point is:

when we talk about this, for some reason, we seem to only reaaaallly be talking about the gay side of it, right? like im sure lots of people imagined, like, teenage gay boy movies. maybe a couple lesbian and bi characters too perhaps. and that makes sense because thats like the most common narrative for this sort of trope, so ofc those are the first examples we imagine. and ofc theres the more complex addition of "passing" when it comes to trans versions of this story, the idea that you gotta look a certain way to be "valid" adds another layer.

so i think its time more people started to acknowledge this about trans people too, right? i think we can all agree with this on paper already; no trans person is obligated to come out or present a certain way if theyre not in a place where they currently are able to do so. physically, mentally, financially... or just because they dont wanna! whatever the circumstances are, there is no criteria they have to meet to be vindicated in this. it doesnt only apply to 14 year olds living with shitty parents who plan to move out soon and become "Really Trans" (as if they didnt count before conforming to The Narrative), the person could be 40 and never planning to be completely out, and its the same. they dont owe you this "showing the world who you Really are in order to [earn the right to] Be Yourself" crap. thats their choice only.

however, i also think that even if most ppl on here in lgbt circles on here agree with the general sentiment... sometimes it doesnt always get applied it practice. though the whole "truscum" thing kinda died down (thank god) i still think that rampant transmedicalism has left its scars on lots of people and the things they internalize, combined with similar cisheteronormative messages in popular media about how your narrative Should go and how you Should act and look to be respected, and its Morally Wrong not to fit that mold.

so when encountered with people who dont pass, who dont TRY to pass and instead actively choose to look like their agab due to the fact that they are literally in the closet irl (lest we forget people have whole entire complex lives outside of the net) this sort of short circuit happens in ppls heads, where that internalized idea of "but you're supposed to be THIS WAY! youre not doing it RIGHT!" pops back up and they end up labeling that person as fake or Not Trans Enough for this reason.

and i do also think part of this stems from people not having enough sympathy for those whose paths are different, because they were told not to. theres a Right way, and they did it the right way. and likely they struggled for it a lot, so isnt it unfair that people are doing it the Easy Way (as if its easy to be closeted to begin with) and claiming theyre like you? thats Wrong. they have to Earn it. you lgbts should all get mad at EACH OTHER actually! this will help your community be better [in the eyes of cishetero society that doesnt really want you to exist to begin with]

additionally the reason im emphasizing the internet side of this so much is because... well, in this day and age, thats the space lots of people go to to NOT be in the closet. to at least microdose on being "out" while in real life they very much arent. like i said before, being in the closet is rough and taxing, suppressing yourself hurts which is why so many people wanna be loud and out and proud! not everyone can though, so turning to a place with relative anonymity to get that is great, and i think its probably saved a lot of people. but also because of this, its pretty much the only way to get the scenario this is positing to begin with- where you know a stranger can know that youre trans even if youre otherwise closeted completely, just so they can tell you that youre Not. but how many people in the past do you think lived lives where they never let these feelings out at all? how many alive today do you think dont even express them online?

you know that sort trope (often stereotypes in media) of a trans person "crossdressing" only when alone, in order to get a short bit of relief or euphoria that they cant in their closed life? i think that today we have the internet to do that. i think its kind of the same thing. but its also very different, because its not as private. its still secret, because its anonymous, but its also something shared with plenty of strangers at the same time. they dont know you irl, so its safe, distant, and gives you that rush of being yourself, and being referred to correctly by others too. theres community, theres support, and theres friendship too, once you get to know those strangers. its not a "second life" or a "persona" is just a side of yourself you dont show elsewhere, an identity that needs to be let out one way or another.

who the fuck are we to deny others the right to this life-saving connection just because they arent out? because they dont pass or dress the Right way irl? because we decided they arent trying hard enough to "fit in"? because they dont plan to change their lives to fit the right narrative anytime soon?

should they not be allowed into the community then? that would be perfect wouldnt it? leave many who need support out to die, because they did it Wrong. fight within our community over who is doing it Right until we've broken it in half. the righteous ones [according to cishet standards] are surely going to be treated with respect once they get rid of the Bad ones, right?

yeah, i dont think so. thats horseshit. we're stronger together than we are apart, thats why infighting is so useful to those who dont want us to be strong to begin with. its important to help each other, boost each other up, even if some of us arent playing the "right" part irl. are we really just going to sit around and accept the cishet norms as rules to live by? fuck that. not everyones story will reflect it, and you have to accept them anyway if you want a strong community. it doesnt matter how much they might look/act like their agab irl, if theyre telling you otherwise take it at face value, respect them the way you would any other. again, many of us agree with this on paper, but i think we still have to put work into acting on that too.

the end <3

#under the cut its just a way longer version of what i just said but in regards to how closeted trans ppl are often treated online #i cut it bc it was long but im telling you what it is now if you wanna read it basically #but a lot of this is personal musings too. its not connected to any kinda disk horse or anything #just stuff ive been thinking abt mostly. how i wish there was more support for such things #bc even online i feel like most ppl overlook closeted ppl who are not kids. yknow? #as if thats the only acceptable time to be closeted bc you have an excuse. tho part of it might be remembering personal experiences too ofc #but well. like i say here everyones experiences are different and we gotta respect that basically #and i think. its ok if you dont look or act a certain way. i guess

[freyalise]

that anon question about litrpg got me thinking about the iterative nature of isekai (and anime/manga as a whole i guess). do you have a favourite and least favourite genre convention?

the secret knowledge is that all literature is iterative because it's impossible to produce art in a vacuum. the other secret knowledge is that iterative doesn't necessarily imply forward progress but rather that cultural trends can be tracked in different vague directions

least favorite: i feel like it's the isekai free space but my least favorite has got to be every single time isekai depicts slavery. a whole lot of fantasy as a genre has issues with depiction of slavery but fantasy manga and isekai in particular have issues with showing slavery as just something that happens with no ethical exploration in pre-industrial fantasy societies. this topic frequently comes up about isekai in particular because of how often the protagonist either tacitly or actively endorses the institution of slavery (with special dishonorable mention to rising of the shield hero here).

that being said, even so-called "more ethical" isekai has its issues with this. in that time i got reincarnated as a slime, which by the way is one of my favorite media franchises, the fact that the orcs are prisoners of war forced into involuntary labor is more or less glossed over because rimuru is really nice to them! plus there are a lot of recent manga where the main character can tame intelligent monsters and it's not slavery you guys they just look 99% human and obey their every command and are more or less incapable of leaving it's fine main character-kun just treats them so well so it's okay.

i'm not really asking for every isekai protagonist to start cutting down slavers (though they fuckin should) but i think that if an author is going to depict slavery in their story they should be prepared to grapple with that ethical dilemma at least a little bit

most favorite: i want to say that in a different post i talked about characters that have to grapple with their previous lives and deaths in their new world, so i won't go in-depth into that. instead, i'll say that i'm a sucker for stories where the main character is isekai'd to a setting where they have foreknowledge of disastrous events and have to rely on their wits to avert that disastrous future. you see this a lot in otome isekai from korea specifically since "book enjoyer gets isekai'd as the villainess/mob character" is a super common trope over there, some of which actually get anime (why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion)! ofc this happens a lot in manga too (with one day left i'll break all the destruction flags: 'serves you right!' RTA 24 hour record, my next life as a villainess: all routes lead to doom!), but i find that manhwa tend to tell a more in-depth story due to the faster release cycles. i'm thinking about things like marriage of convenience (which isn't an isekai, but i'm counting it here nonetheless) or master villainess the invincible!

#isekai #ask #najbeb1

[anaking-streetwalker]

Tbh, if I had to characterize the trans rep in this fandom, it would be "non-existent" as there are around 39 out of 7000 fics on AO3 with trans rep (0.5%). So when you make a post tagging every ship in fandom, most people are probably thinking "what is this guy talking about...there *is* no trans rep" (which ofc is a separate issue and a separate discussion).

I felt that most of your post was reasonable, though I disagree with the swipe at omegaverse. It's a polarizing trope so it's valid to dislike it (I have cis friends who do), but I think you're taking your personal opinion about a trope and trying to foist it on everyone else. You can just curate your own fandom experience and not read it.

this is fair! maybe it is my experience in the fandom and the combination of transphobia and fetishization of mlm relationships, but it's lot more prevalent than many people make it out to be. but, i'm not the only trans or gay person to notice this uptick in disrespect, or the only one that wants to nip it in the bud. as per usual, more under the cut.

passing comments in the server, seemingly innocent threads, ideas and headcanons, and the sheer disregard for other people's input does add up to be quite a bit of what i mentioned.

yes, this fandom is bigger than the top gun: maverick server that i'm a member of, but that doesn't mean that i'm not allowed to publicly bring attention to issues that affect the fandom as a whole. many of the consistently praised content creators for the top gun fandom are active in that server, but choose to ignore the important conversations that go on in there regarding their treatment of the lgbt community. considering their purposeful ignorance of being called out in the server and considering that i do have the the right to post what i want, i don't really see the harm in bringing up this issue. yes, trans rep does not seem all that common in the fandom, but whenever there is new representation, it is often: a.) posted by someone in the server b.) having been discussed and encouraged in the server c.) the recipient of blind support simply for its inclusion of trans characters.

about the a/b/o remark, i did not mean it as a slight to a/b/o as a whole, but rather singling out specific characters in the a/b/o universe. for instance, if all male characters are still AMAB and an author singles out one to make trans simply so that intimate scenes are easier and more familiar to write? that is fetishization, and i am beginning to see it more often with a/b/o fics rather than the traditional hand-wavey 'all omegas have receptive genitalia and all alphas have penetrative genitalia' scenarios. there are a lot of a/b/o fics that i enjoy, but also a lot of a/b/o that cause myself and others to feel dysphoric in their treatment of certain characters

it's easy to tell someone to simply ignore the fandom of media that they enjoy. it's easy to tell someone to not read what they don't like! i never purposefully click on fics or on art or in threads that i know fetishize mlm relationships or trans people, but often, it slips through the cracks. like many, i am attempting to 'curate my own fandom experience' but find it difficult when, at nearly every turn, there is an ignorant cishet white woman in her thirties insisting on fetishizing people like me.

#al is ranting #anon #hit dog holler #hook line sinker

[personuhh]

#the kicker is im both at the same time #yosuke hanamura #genuinely do think theres an important convo to be had about a lot of these topics LMAO but also projecting is how we do things in this hous #the stupidass take abt shipping kanji and yosuke is one ive heard a LOT though and im like??????? you are just dumb. nothing to be said #yosuke being dumb and lashing out at kanji because he's scared does not mean they're like... enemies or some shit #but yeah the beauty pageant is shit and i do think the way a lot of the fandom fetishizes it is REALLY gross #but also yosuke is SO Gender (tm) in that outfit i just. i love it despite all that #the homophobic bully discourse is VERY common and i cannot express how stupid i find that argument bc like #a) he is not and never will be a 'bully' to anyone #b) internalized homophobia sucks major ass and as someone whos been through it #yeah! you can be a dumbass and say hurtful shit because youre scared #but not everyones coming out story is all sunshine and rainbows and i think that its important to acknowledge that #ofc in media its an issue that its a common trope #but yosuke isnt just a trope hes so much more than that and i think thats why so many gay kids have latched onto him #tldr this shit is a DELICATE discussion and im a little of both where im tired of justifying how i feel and why i like things #but also just........ fuck you atlus #im gonna criticize you until im old and grey lmao #ada speaks

[constellaj]

have you ever read/watched Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (comic from 2004, adapted into an animated film in 2009) and if you have which part do you think was most blatantly copied into Phantom Planet?

no but im going to guess all of it

long ramble in the tags might screenshot later idk

#on paper i dont have any problems with dp borrowing/riffing on big comic arcs! #reality trip is a cringe episode but not because it steals the infinity gauntlet #i think its a neat reflection of the superhero genre as a whole as DP is meant to be a sort of exaggerated superhero story #and what better way to pay homage to the art form than referencing arcs and whatnot? #the issue comes up when people want to pretend that it was generated wholesale instead of playing off of the comic superhero genre #stealing tropes/mcguffins/etc isnt plagiarism its paying homage (re: reality gauntlet/infinity gauntlet) #(just because the item is the same and works the same doesn't mean the overall story is damaged) #(it builds on an expanding mythos of the superhero genre! like the head of medusa or the christian cross #it takes a more well-known piece of media and pays tribute to it in a similar one) #but stealing PLOTLINES *is* plagiarism #(ofc err on the side of caution. the hero's journey and all that. all plotlines are similar) #the exact same beats in the exact same order #alongside the exact same mcguffins #are a good indicator of when plagiarism has cropped up #and then of course in similar media types you can always compare dialogue/shots/art or writing style/music cues etc #long story short; if superbat public enemies just has a few things/mcguffins in common w pp then i dont really take issue for THAT reason #bc that would be homage! and pp is horrible for so many OTHER reasons :) #however ofc if its like #beat 1 beat 2 beat 3 shot 1 dialogue 1 beat 4 thats ALL in common #then yeah #i just think its important to remember that genres exist in a bit of a loop of information #and a superhero story cannot avoid copying another one now that its a mainstream genre #ask

[rainbowloliofjustice]

I hate how so many people just... lack any kind of critical media literacy across so many different genres and how just about every genre and common tropes, issues, etc. within them just get boiled down to "Oh this is bad because ableism/racism/homophobia" even though the tropes largely have nothing to do with that. It's like they have such a surface-level understanding of something and then proceeds to read into said surface-level understanding in a contest to see who can come up with the most disingenuous, bad faith, uncharitable and just all-around god an awful interpretation of it.

"Characters having prosthetics as an allegory for losing their humanity is ablest because it is saying that if you got into an accident you are a monster." No, you absolute peanut. Robotic parts specifically are an allegory for the loss of humanity in characters that just get rid of their human body because they were being reckless, stupid, thought that it was not perfect enough, too weak, etc. Oftentimes, this is juxtaposed with a character that is a robot but is more human than the cyborg or person that just gets another piece of them replaced with a machine.

Ironwood getting increasingly mechanical parts as he is making increasingly inhumane choices in regards to himself and others is not saying he's a monster because he had an oops boo boo and had to replace his arm. ESPECIALLY when his character is juxtaposed by a character who has a robotic arm (Yang) and a character who is a created robot (Penny). The reason why Yang said that her robotic arm (and even taking pride in it at that) is "just extra" because it is just an extra asset to who she is as a person, but not her whole person. In terms of Penny, she is entirely made of machines but has what amounts to a human heart and compassion because she makes a choice to be kind to people. The allegory here (that y'all failed to understand) is that it is not whether or not someone has prosthetic or robotic parts that determine their humanity, but rather their choices and how they treat others.

It is often also the same in stories where it has characters who have robotic parts such as Alita Battle Angel or anything that genuinely comes from cyberpunk dystopia. Alita (Who is completely robot mind you) is often more kind, compassionate, etc. than characters who are fully human. Hugo and his crew regularly steal parts from cyborgs who've done nothing to him and this is juxtaposed by characters like Grewishka and Zipan who are mechanical and monstrous but not because of their parts but because of their choices. Which is a strong contrast to Alita who is fully kindhearted and has a strong sense of justice and doing what is right regardless of whether there is a price tag on it.

In more dystopian stories wherein no short words, the corrupt government controls technology and spies on its people using it, it can be a question of how much of your humanity (in this instance, privacy and agency over oneself) you're willing to sacrifice for comfort or just because you had to. But of course, rather than looking at these stories as a potential warning that we should make laws that would prevent the government from using technology against its people under the guise of safety, convenience, etc. Or even having people question wtf do they do should the government get so corrupt that it can just hijack someone's arm or even just stop someone's pacemaker because lol why not.

Yeah I get it, it's uncomfortable but unfortunately, the people who need it the most are going to be the people most at risk to a corrupt government which is like... kinda the point.

But anyways moving on

The same can go for when stories use animals as a means of telling stories revolving around discrimination. But ofc people can only see it as a surface-level "racism" and then do their damnest to force characters into being black/poc or white (and for some reason, only those two races) while failing to realize that the reason it was done is that discrimination has more than one axis. I swear this logic is what has convinced me all the talk of intersectionality in activism is just a joke they say to get other people to just shut up and let them speak over them and ignore problems/issues they don't want to focus on. It's like the only thing they can understand is racism and even that racism is only if it is hatred and black people vs white people. And somehow even that is on its most basic level.

The reason stories like Zootopia and Beastars work when it comes to discrimination because it doesn't solely focus on the narrative of race and allows it to explore the implicit and explicit biases of every character that doesn't exclusively revolve around racism. It allows characters to be on the axis of sexism, racism, class, etc. and explore various -isms that are not always "negative" in the sense that it is just hatred, racial slurs, etc. and that it can be the "positive" racism like saying "you're one of the good ones" or that "they're a token to xyz for not being as bad as everyone else."

It allows characters to fall on multiple axes without people arguing whether they have it "too good to complain" because of just one axis of discrimination that they give more weight to than others for some arbitrary reason.

Even when it comes to things like nudity being a symbol of being true to oneself or purity (such as Sailor Moon or Kill La Kill) people manage to, unironically boil it down to just the writers feeling horny and therefore ignore any other kind of lore, storytelling, etc. that revolves around it. They took one thing, scrubbed, bleached, and then nuked it of any kind of context/meta just to say lol writers horny this bad it literally means nothing else even though there are whole ass plot lines revolving around it. Like do you just pick and choose what kind of plot or storytelling is Valid (TM)?

And this extends to things beyond that and I just don't understand how people can lack such media literacy when you can literally go and read anything you want online. Is it because of people being willfully ignorant? Just lacking media literacy for some reason? Only consuming and understanding media that has to have every meaning shoved down their throat like the tentacle down an anime girl's throat in a hentai??? Like there are so many questions as to how people can come up with so many dumbass takes.

#rainbow things #as you can tell i am like mad #like mad mad #ive seen one to many bad media takes today and yall i cant #i cant fucking do this i can't handle this shit how are some of yall this DUMB #its like you have to intentionally scrub and remove it of any context to come up with some of these takes #like all of it and put it in some vaccum and say #yup the writers did this cause they were misogynistic/horny/racist/ableist #and im just like bruuuuuhhhh #context matters #context clues matter #like holy fuck how did some of you bypass 5th grade media literacy with these god awful takes #or are you just willfully dumb for social media??? #like do you NEED to be spoonfed EVERY FUCKING THING?? #do they have to shove it THAT far down your god damn throat??? #insert rainbow and eldritch screaming cause holy fuck #like i feel like that one woman whose power ring melted and she screeched like a pterodactyle #thats me thats my fucking mood rn

[fluffynexu]

marriage and birthrate in the empire

like with many cultures and societies, the empire has its customs and norms when it comes to things like marriage.

for the vast majority of ppl in the empire, sith or imperial, monogamy is the most common type of marriage seen. and within monogamous unions the couple can be of any combo of gender or sex.

for simplicity’s sake the color code is as followed: RED, female BLUE, male PURPLE, trans/nb/intersex

those in higher castes have more stipulations, considerations, and thought put into their partners rather than those in lower castes who can casually hook up with whoever they want.

another type of marriage that is seen, though not very commonly, are polygamous marriages.

with a poly marriage there is the head of house (crown icon) and the spouses/consorts (no crown).

these unions are typically only seen among sith families with prestige and history, but it’s not completely unheard of for some imperials to have them as well.

a monogamous marriage can turn into a poly one. if the head of house is like “hey, there’s this person i met... and i kinda like them? maybe if you vibe with them, i can bring them into our union?” and their spouse says “cool beans.” then yea, more spouses lol.

within a poly union, all children must be of the head of house’s bloodline. and the children produced with the first spouse (grey box) become the household heir(s)... usually.

and while all of the spouses/consorts may be married to the head of house, any/all parties can engage in whatever intimate activities they want with each other. the only “unacceptable” thing would be to produce any children that does not involve the head of house.

so you could have two husbands or wives that are way more into each other than the head of house. and it’s all seen as totally cool and fine. such attitudes however are more common among the sith than with humans.

now speaking of heirs.

for those in the upper castes, having An Heir of some sort is important and kind of a big deal. it’s part of the reason why getting juuust the right marriage partner is so important. it’ll usually be a thing the families discuss and negotiate over months or even years.

it’s serious business... lol.

but regardless of type of marriage (monogamous or poly), there is the one getting married (crown) and the one being married off (no crown).

those that are married off take the family name of their spouse and all resulting children of the union have that family name.

with the children you’ll either have an heir or a chosen heir.

in the GREEN circle up above you have an example of a plain, regular heir. that is to say, the firstborn.

in the ORANGE circle you have a chosen heir. not the firstborn.

there could be a myriad of reasons on why the family decided on a chosen heir over a regular one. maybe the oldest kid is a dumbass and fucks up. maybe they died before getting married. maybe the kid didn’t want that responsibility. etc.

again, as we move down the caste ladder, the less and less important all these inter-familial details become.

most “common” folk simply hook up with whoever they like, have kids, and their kids go off and do the same. they may not even take on their spouses name depending on how much they care about that.

just on a side note, if the married couple isn’t capable of producing children by themselves modern medicine and technology can help. or if the option exist, they could go the old school, natural route.

for example, among same sex sith couples (PINK rectangles) they will look for and hook up with other couples and... help each other out.

these unions don’t happen too often since they’re only there to make the babies and go on their way lol. though, the two families could stay connected and friendly if they wish.

now this is a lot of pomp and circumstance to get some babies! and you’d be right lol.

bringing in some REAL LIFE FACTS lol, but here’s how things went down and are going down for ppl irl on earth.

you see everywhere on the planet, before the advent of industrialization, you had populations like this.

all the babies. so many babies. but not too many old folk. 

and it’s obvious why. no birth control, lack of modern medicine, famine, diseases, wars, etc etc etc. a lot of ppl died before getting ripe and old.

nowadays, or at least among the Wealthy Industrialized~ nations, it looks something like this.

also a couple of real graphs just to show how drastically things have changed.

a lot less babies!

this is attributed to a LOT of things. full super in depth research here if anyone wants: https://ourworldindata.org/fertility-rate

but in short... yea. birth control, women being educated and being allowed to work means they don’t have to just pump out kids. (which is GOOD btw). and the fact we have a lot more food and access to medicine means more ppl are living longer.

this ofc, is leading to Actual problems tho. bc if you don’t have enough New Ppl to replace the Old Ppl... yea, there will be some societal issues. now, i’m so nOT an expert but imho countries like the US could off set this by... immigration. by letting other ppl into the country to make up for a declining birthrate... but i digress!

within the empire you could have something like this during wartime where you’d have a portion of your adult population go off to fight and probably die.

but the IDEAL is this:

a perfect square of population if you will lol.

as older generations age out and die off, you have newer generation to fill their roles and keep the imperial dream going.

now unlike some modern countries irl that do a terrible job of trying to incentivize young adults into having kids (we all know who lol), the empire aids and supports parents 110%.

paid leave (for both), govt run daycares and schools so that when the kids are old enough to go to those the parents can focus back on their work. either tax breaks or monthly allowances from the govt to help pay for the kids. and usually, extended familial support is more common in the empire. so the question for most ppl in the empire isn’t “do you want to have kids?” but rather “when are you having kids?”

if however someone just vehemently opposes the idea of being a parent, there is no down side. the empire will not force parenthood on ppl since that’s a terrible idea for everyone involved.

that’s basically it... a more informal and jumbled post i know lol.

a few side notes?

teen pregnancy isn’t really a thing. if it happens the attitude is “you’re basically a child so no, you’re not gonna have baby.” (abortion is seen as a health service)

when imperials join the military at 20 (the legal adult age in the empire) everyone, regardless of sex, gets a birth control implant. bc having a lot of young adults close together... ppl are bound to get horny and you don’t wanna have the possibility of anyone having kids in inopportune circumstances so yea. they can have the implant removed whenever their mandatory service is done and get straight to making babies if they want lol.

children born out of wedlock def exist. very frowned upon in upper castes. not really a big deal with lower castes.

can you adopt kids. yes. and unlike rl where you have to pay lots of money, you don’t really pay anything. but the govt will require a lot of forms and check ups and visits and etc etc.

can adopted children become house heirs? yes. if that is the wish of their parent.

god the drama and tropes there must be in their media... “well your father is a lesser consort, so how bout you stfu!” “D:<”

are there “pure love” marriages in upper castes? yes. but a lot of drama revolve around those depending on who is the one being married off.

also, sith can and have been totally disowned if they decide to marry someone without their family’s approval. (this is serious business for them! lol)

y’all are free to send me questions or comments or whatever.

#swtor #worldbuilding #god idk what else to tag this as #literally just... brain vomit #composing some thoughts into one place #long post