#then the second concept for the masc was just to do the same as the fem but i wasnt vibing with it as much | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ghelgheli · 2 months

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So I absolutely agree that gender is socially constructed, but I have always had a hard time with the idea of gender as being a set of "behaviors/expressions/desires" like you say, for the same reason why I'm uncomfortable with the Judith Butler "performance" idea. Doesn't that inherently leave the door open to say that, if someone says they are a trans woman, but they're behaviors/expressions/performance/etc don't line up with what a woman's are supposed to be, then we can just say "No, you're not a woman. You don't fulfill the criteria for womanhood." Like it feels like this inherently sets gender nonconforming people up to be blocked from the gender they identify with and forced back into one they don't. Am I missing something? This isn't a gotcha, I genuinely think I must be misunderstanding something, but no matter how I look at it, it seems like that would be the result of defining gender that way.

oh I don't think this at all! did I say I thought this? if I did I fucked up.

to start, my (second-hand, tbf) understanding of performativity in butler's sense is that it is widely misunderstood. the notion of gender as performativity is descended in part from speech-act theory a la JL Austin and so on; these are discussions of how certain utterances (like a priest declaring a marriage) can have uptake in the world and change it—ive just summoned the phrase "illocutionary force" into the minds of those readers that know. to perform such a speech act is to change the world just by speaking. this is the notion of performance at work in butler's theory (again, as far as my second-hand understanding goes. I'll read gender trouble soon)

in that theory, gender is built by people performing gender, and people performing gender constantly rebuild it. I think this can accommodate gnc expression because, like a speech act, someone can assert that they are performing a particular gender by fiat even if that performance is aberrant relative to whatever the dominant performance is. that is the kind of thing a masc woman does when she asserts that she's a woman despite "doing gender wrong". but that's enough of me defending butler by proxy. I don't actually think performance is a successful theory of gender, because it fails at identifying its material etiology

as far as I'm concerned gender is something that is done to people and that people take up themselves because they are wise to the ways it can and will be done to them. it is an organizing principle of cisheteropatriarchy which, along (and inseparably) with racialization, constitutes part of the superstructural foundation of our political economy. this precedes capitalism, but today has been fully adapted by it. it is the stabilizing grip of the family as an economic unit and is essential to the maintenance of division of labour as it exists today, designating certain groups (again, bearing in mind intersections with race) not just for reproductive labour but for any of the more invisibilized, precarious, subservient forms of labour c.f. the relationship between trans womanhood and sex work

the aesthetics of gender (behaviour expressions whatever) are just its visible surfacing and one of—along with its medicalization and racialization, e.g.—the methods of demarcating and enforcing it. deviation is punished only proximally because of this or that kind of outrage. the ultimate reason for punishment is the maintenance of capitalist homeostasis, insofar as such a thing is supposed to be possible (it is not, of course). and as the post I cannot stop talking about points out, transmisogyny is one of the most violently feverish of capitalism's autoimmune responses. but despite its violence, it is never a successful response, and on the contrary it manages just to condition defenses against it.

trans womanhood, for example, is not a historically stable object. it has as much ontological essence as any gender-inflected concept: none. it is one construction in response to the experiences of betraying maleness and its demands (linguistic, economic, behavioural, psychological... these are fuzzy concepts. there is no one narrative) and being subject to transmisogyny as a result. there are other constructions (crossdresser, transvestite, travesti, hijra...) that have been formed in response to transmisogyny, and all of them are stubborn tumours that capitalism will never be rid of; thus it tries to starve them.

but to get to your point: gender concepts, particularly "deviant" ones like trans womanhood, but even womanhood itself (which I conceive of as an umbrella) can accommodate nonconformity because no amount of, say, masculinity is going to redeem a trans lesbian as far as cisheteropatriarchy is concerned—ask me how I know. trans lesbianism, as a declared divestment from simply being a man, is unacceptable however it is instantiated. you may accuse me of being pessimistic here. I am!

#ask answer #transmisogyny #if this is super sketchy it's because IM STILL STUCK ON MY PHONE!!#EVERYTHING WILL BE ABRIDGED CONDENSED COMPRESSION JPEG FOR ANOTHER TWO WEEKS

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ursa-tan · 10 months

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Hi! This might be a very niche but I was wondering if you could do a

Wally x reader, 🍑, consensual soul eating where he either fucks us during it, or it turns into a type of invisible/soul sex

(And if you didn't know: soul eating is where Wally eats with his eyes and feeds off of our emotions/energy, but it's like a kind of a weird sleep paralysis out of body experience for the person he's feeding off of, I've seen people also use the concept for kissing and more)

I'll show you

Wally Darling x Masc!Reader

Word count: 4,221 Reading time: ~16 mins

A/N: I hope this is what you wanted anon! I know it went a little off-request, but I hope you're still satisfied with it! Please let me know if you can!

Upon joining the neighbourhood, you were under the impression that you were the only one that would eat. Being the only human in a village of sentient puppets, the assumption made sense. In fact, the first time you say a puppet eat you were convinced it was some sort of joke set up by Barnaby to get you to embarrass yourself by asking questions. It wasn’t until said humorous puppet ask why you were staring at Sally so weirdly while she was eating that you realised that these puppets actually do eat.

You spent the next few weeks tallying up the number of times you saw each puppet eat. Well, you tried to at least, before you gave up. It became apparent pretty quickly that all of them ate on pretty much the same schedule as you, even if you didn’t see it happen. Sally would often tell you about how strict her diet is as a performer, Poppy offering you things she had baked, and Eddie talking about being a fool for skipping breakfast because he woke up late. Sufficient to say, the puppets ate, just like you did.

What struck you as strange though was that you had never seen Wally eat. Not once. He held food, stared at it, carried it around, yet he never seemed to eat it. Not even when Julie and Frank took the time to put a picnic together. He just held an apple in his hands the entire time, staring at it occasionally, but never eating it.

“It’s strange,” You mumble to yourself, breaking apart a chocolate bar and placing a square in your mouth. Your eyes are fixed on Wally, who’s currently engaged in conversation with Eddie and – once again – holding an apple that you know he isn’t going to eat.

“What’s strange, Kiddo?” Barnaby, one of your closest friends since joining the neighbourhood, asks. He’s standing next to you, doing nothing in particular.

“Hm? Oh, just the fact that I’ve never seen Wally eat. I mean, I’ve seen him holding food plenty of times, but I’ve never seen him eat it.” You don’t take your eyes off the smaller puppet – almost like you’re afraid that if you blink, the apple might disappear and you’ll seem crazy. You nearly spit out your chocolate when Barnaby next speaks.

“Yeah, that’s cuz he doesn’t eat,” he chuckles, placing a massive paw on your head and ruffling your hair, making a mess of it.

You push Barnaby’s hand off your head but don’t let go of it, knowing that he’ll put it straight back if you do. Staring at him in confusion, you wait for him to continue. When, after a few seconds, he stays silent, you know that you’re going to have to ask questions to get answers.

“He doesn’t eat? Like, at all?” You keep Barnaby’s arm in your grasp, looking up at him with a curiosity that needs to be satisfied.

“No, he eats,” Barnaby looks down at you, chuckling at the way you’re looking at him, “Just not like the rest of us, that’s all.”

“Not like the rest of us? What does that mean? How does he eat? Does he need to eat then? What would-“You don’t get to finish your barrage of questions as Barnaby uses his other hand to silence you, placing his massive paw right in your face. In much the same way that a cat would if you got too close.

“Slow down with the questions there, Kiddo!” Barnaby chuckles, holding his paw against your face for a second before removing it.

“I just-“ You’re once again interrupted by a paw to the face.

“Just tell me you’re done.” He slowly removes the paw from your face, as if expecting to have to silence you a third time.

“Ok, ok, I’m done. I’ll stop with the questions.” To say you’re disappointed is an understatement, you’re brimming with questions that you’re absolutely desperate to ask. It seems like Barnaby can tell.

“Why don’t you ask the man himself?” He gestures towards Wally, who’s still obliviously chattering away with Eddie, “You know he likes you, he wouldn’t say no if you asked politely.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s Wally, he’s my best friend, I know him like the back of my paw,” Barnaby holds up his free paw, looking at the back of it proudly for a moment. That moment doesn’t last long, however, as he takes any opportunity he can to crack a joke, “Huh, never noticed that spot before.”

You can’t help but giggle at his antics, finally freeing his other hand as you do. He takes the opportunity to ruffle your hair again, just making more of a mess as you hadn’t had a chance to fix it last time.

“Off you go then.” Barnaby makes a shooing motion, pushing you lightly towards Wally. No plan, no time to come up with one, no help from the comedian, it’s all up to you. You aren’t even entirely sure what you’re supposed to do.

You find yourself stressing slightly as you approach Wally and Eddie. You hope that you can just slip into the conversation, and ask Eddie how his day has been. But you don’t get that chance, because just before you get there, Eddie says goodbye and walks away. Now it’s just you and Wally.

“Oh, hello neighbour,” Wally smiles up at you, his eyes droopy and half-lidded as always. He’s still holding that goddamn apple.

“Oh, uh, hi Wally, you, uh.” You find yourself attempting feebly to stumble your way through a complete sentence. Wally’s eyes don’t leave you for a second. He’s staring straight into your eyes, almost like he’s trying to stare straight into your soul.

“Are you ok neighbour?” He’s looking at you with that cat smile. It’s so relaxed and yet you feel so tense.

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” You mumble, reaching up to pick at your arms slightly, flaking off an old scab that you never gave time to heal, “Just wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight? Maybe I can come round yours and we can have dinner?” You can feel his eyes leave you as you ask this question, but the nerves keep a tight grip on your neck and you can’t find it in yourself to look at him to find out why.

“Sounds delightful, neighbour.” The apple is gone. You look down at him when he speaks and the apple is gone. He hasn’t dropped it or stuffed it in his pockets. It’s just gone.

“Right, right… I’ll come round at about… 7?”

“yes, 7,” Wally nods, smiling and waving at you, “I’ll see you later neighbour.”

You wave at him as he walks away, watching him walk over to Julie’s before knocking on the door and waiting for her to let him in. Once he disappears, you turn back to Barnaby, looking at him with a quizzical expression.

“What’s up, kid?” He chuckles, looking at you as you find your place back at his side.

“He… Did you see what he did what that apple?”

“No clue, I was more focused on how awkward you looked,” he chuckles, reaching out to ruffle your hair for a third time. You swat him away before you get a chance.

“Seriously, did you see anything? Anything at all? It can’t have just disappeared!” You sound exacerbated, desperate for answers.

“Maybe he ate it,” Barnaby chuckles, pulling his pipe out and placing it in his mouth.

“I thought you said-“

“You should ask him about it, you’ll have him all to yourself tonight.” He lets out a puff of swirling iridescent smoke. You know that you aren’t going to get any more answers out of him. He’s being belligerent on purpose, something you know that he’s grown to enjoy when talking to you. Said it’s something about how you look funny when you’re frustrated.

Instead of trying – and ultimately failing – to wrangle more information out of Barnaby, you decide to head home. It’s not a long walk, but it gives you time to think. The main question on your mind for the next few hours is how you’re going to bring up the topic of how he eats.

You’re so consumed by the question that you don’t even realise how quickly the time passes. Before you know it, it's 6:30 and getting kinda dark outside. You know if you don’t get ready now, you’ll be late and it’ll be dark by the time you get there.

You choose to put on a nice pair of black trousers and a colourful cardigan – something you think Wally might like. You also gather up some simple snacks, the kind of things you’d want someone to bring to yours if they were going to come over. Once you’re sure that you’ve gathered everything you think you’re going to need, you set out towards Home.

Wally is opening the door before you even knock on it, wearing something much more comfortable than his usual outfit. His hair is down and he’s wearing a light pink robe that he seems to have purposefully pulled off his shoulders.

“Neighbour, you’re early,” He smiles up at you, eyes half-lidded as he holds a hand out, “Come in, please.”

“O-Oh, ok!” You shift the bag you were holding so that you can take his hand, allowing him to pull you into the house. His hand is surprisingly warm in yours, soft against your palm and small enough that you could crush it with ease if you wanted to.

“What would you like to do, neighbour?” He stops and looks up at you once he’s brought you to his living room. The main light has been turned off and replaced by the presence of a lamp. There are already a few different snacks laid out on the coffee table – you notice that he’s got your favourite. You aren’t sure if he got it on purpose or if he just already had it, maybe you can be nosy and ask Howdy when he brought it later on.

“I don’t mind…” You mumble, realising you hadn’t prepared for anything other than asking Wally how he ate.

“Would you like to make something? Maybe we can paint together,” He’s still holding your hand while he speaks, “Or we could just talk?” He’s looking up at you with something in his eyes that you can’t quite put your finger on.

“Talking sounds nice.” You smile, sitting uncomfortably on his sofa. The sofa itself is quite comfortable, but you perch yourself on the edge.

Wally doesn’t say anything, instead just coming to sit next to you. He presses himself against you, his head resting on your shoulder to the best of his ability.

“Wally, can I ask you a question?” It feels far too serious to say that, but you also feel like you might implode if you just outright ask the question that’s been on your mind for so long.

“Of course, neighbour.” He slimes up at you, moving to intertwine his hand with yours.

“I’ve noticed that you uh… I don’t… I haven’t…” You look down at his hand, and the way it holds yours, fits so perfectly has you struggling to speak, “ You… How do you eat?” Eventually, you manage to just spit it out and ask him. He doesn’t react like you would expect him to. You expected him to look up at you with that lazy, half-lidded gaze that he always had. Instead, he jumps in his seat slightly and continues to stare straight forwards.

“Well, neighbour, it’s hard to explain,” He chuckles lightly, finally moving to look up at you. His pupils are restricted, small and not looking into your own but rather focusing on your lips, “ It would be easier to show you.”

“Show me then.” You know you sound way too excited, it's probably a little off-putting.

“You have to promise not to… React badly, neighbour,” He mumbles, letting go of your hand and shuffling away from you.

“I promise.” You have to force your voice out, feeling the excitement bubble up inside you.

“Stay still.” Wally stands up, moving until he’s in front of you and can rest his hands on your thighs, just above your knees.

“O… Ok?” The excitement subsides, confusion taking its place. His hands move slightly, shifting up to rest about midway up your thighs.

Before you get a chance to ask a question, Wally is climbing into your lap and situating himself until he’s pressed as close to you as he can get. You try and ignore the way that he’s sitting directly over your crotch, or how his hands are now resting on your chest.

“Open your eyes for me,” His hands come up to cup your face, holding your head still with a surprising amount of strength, “Don’t move.”

“Wally I don’t understand why this is necessary-“

“I’m going to show you how I eat, stay still and open your eyes.” His fingers dig into your cheeks, almost painfully holding you in place. You just close your mouth and nod as best you can, deciding that you don’t want to face whatever emotion Wally was just feeling.

His pupils blow wide, almost completely consuming his eyes. You can barely see the whites of his eyes in just the corners. It’s almost scary as he stares into your own.

Suddenly, something starts to envelop your mind. A fogginess that you can’t seem to shake off no matter how much you try. Wally continues to stare into your eyes, his own almost completely black and entirely unmoving. The fog begins to numb your limps, starting in your lower legs and tingling as it leaks into your thighs. Pins and needles seep into your fingertips, crawling up your arms in a warm sensation that leaves you unable to feel anything. You try to speak, but you can’t even open your mouth. Your lips are sealed shut, leaving you unable to do anything but let out a soft whimper.

“Don’t worry,” Wally speaks, hands moving to rest on your shoulders. You don’t move your head – you can’t move your head. “This is supposed to happen.”

You try and open your mouth again, attempting to ask him what this is. Yet, no matter how hard you try, you can’t get your jaw to move. The only thing you can do is whimper pathetically, unsure of what he wants from you.

Soon enough, you realise that you can’t move your eyes either. Unlike when you experience sleep paralysis, you can’t move your eyes at all. The only thing you can focus on is Wally’s charcoal eyes, blown so wide that you feel like you’re going to fall in.

“Just relax, you wanted to see how I eat, didn’t you?” Wally shifts forwards slightly, pressing himself further against you, managing to lightly grind himself on you, “ If you want me to stop, all you have to do is close your eyes.”

With those words, you realise you can move your eyelids. While your vision is focused on those deep pools of black in front of you, your eyelids begin to twitch and flicker. You don’t feel the need to blink, your eyes aren’t dry or irritated. And, despite the fear of being unable to move… You can feel something in your mind telling you to let this continue.

“Good… Please relax neighbour, I promise this won’t hurt.” You can barely see that he’s smiling as he speaks. His hands move to run over your chest, splaying his hands out over the top of your shirt, wrinkling the material slightly and causing it to lift slightly and show your lower stomach.

A sense of pleasure starts to take over, the pins and needles like tingling becoming a warm, dripping sensation. It starts in your fingertips, slowly trickling upwards, moving like honey in thick, sticky rivulets. The feeling leaks into your chest, pooling warmth right above your heart that’s spread further and further with every beat, being spread through your veins. Soon enough, your entire body is enveloped with the tingling euphoria.

“I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now, neighbour,” Wally mumbles, his usual, sleepy voice breaking you out of your focus, “You always were smart…”

You whimper in response to his statement. You hadn’t figured it out, you hadn’t figured anything out. All you know is that you feel amazing and that you can feel Wally’s ass pressing against your slowly hardening cock.

“You haven’t?” He seems surprised to ask this question, almost as if he really did think you understand what’s going on, “Should I explain then, neighbour?”

You let out another soft whimper, no longer caring about what’s happening. You’re losing yourself to the sensations, to the way his soft body feels pressed against yours.

“I eat with my eyes,” He starts, still staring deeply into your own, “But I can’t just eat food, it’s not enough… I need something more substantial, something bigger… Which is where you come in. I just need to take a little from you, some energy, I guess you could say.”

There’s nothing you can do as Wally continues to stare into your eyes, still smiling slightly, eyes still blown so incredibly wide. You wouldn’t stop him even if you could. You have plenty of energy to share if he was telling the truth about that. It doesn’t matter really, the feeling of warmth throughout your body and your slowly growing erection made you desperate for more.

“It seems you’re enjoying this neighbour… Maybe I should give you a little something in return.” Wally seems to be thinking out loud, wondering about what he should do for you.

It doesn’t take a second for him to begin slowly rocking his hips. His ass is pressed against your cock, slowly grinding into it, causing your erection to grow more and more with each passing second. The way he rocks his hips causes you to groan, eyelids flickering slightly but never once blocking Wally’s view of your eyes.

The puppet's hands trail downwards, eventually reaching your lower stomach. Slowly, he inches one hand under your shirt, touching your skin in soft, barely-there circles that cause your muscles to twitch involuntarily. He pauses his movements when he feels your muscles quiver under his fingers, seemingly cherishing the movements before continuing his ministrations. Wally manages to get your muscles to tremble again, many times.

The hand that isn’t under your shirt moves down to your belt buckle, undoing it with practised ease and quickly pulling it from your belt loops. Wally tosses it over his shoulder, letting it clatter to the floor somewhere behind him that you can’t see. His eyes never leave yours, not once.

Next thing you know, the puppet is popping your trouser button open with one hand, unzipping the zip as well. You groan again, only this time it’s out of disappointment, as Wally has shifted backwards and off you’re your painfully hard cock so he can shuffle your trousers down. The fabric bunches up around your mid-thighs, giving Wally space to sit on your crotch again, now only with your boxers in the way.

You want to buck your hips upwards, thrust yourself into his small body, and maybe even get the chance to hold him down and fuck him. But you still can’t move, so everything is left up to Wally. He knows this. You know he knows you know.

He removes his hand from underneath your shirt, shifting his small body backwards to leave your thinly veiled cock exposed to him again. He places one of his hands over you, palming you softly through your boxers, applying just enough pressure to make you feel something so delicious that you want more. It’s not long before he’s pulling your boxers down, freeing your cock and allowing it to spring up and hit the stomach of your shirt. It leaves a small, dark patch where you’re already leaking precum.

Wally begins to focus on undoing his trousers now, popping the button and somehow managing to pull them off within seconds – all without breaking eye contact. He gets his boxers off as well, throwing them somewhere behind him, probably letting them join your previously discarded belt.

Despite being unable to move your body yourself, your lips part seamlessly when two of Wally's fingers press against them. It allows him to slide the digits inside your mouth, pressing the pads of his fingers into your tongue. You can feel you're saliva coating his fingers, making them slick. You want to curl your tongue up and against him, wrap it around the fingers in your mouth, allowing you to suck on them lightly.

Slowly, Wally pulls his fingers from your mouth. Thin strands of your saliva connect your lips to his fingers, glistening in the light and drawing your attention for just a moment - even if you can only see them in your peripherals.

You aren't entirely sure what he's going to do with his now slick fingers until he reaches backwards. Wally's hands slip behind him, begging to slowly tease and dip into his tight hole. You can just about feel the way his hips shudder as he begins to finger himself, slipping both of his now-slicked fingers into his ass.

Your cock twitches as he lets out a soft moan, hips bucking backwards a little. He's fucking himself on his fingers, thighs starting to tremble slightly as he continues. The way he moves makes you want nothing more than to have him, the feeling is a burning lust in your chest that drives you mad.

Eventually, Wally stops pleasuring himself and pulls his fingers out, moving his previously busy hand round to his front. You think he's going to touch you, until he begins to stroke his cock in long, languid movements. The fact that he isn't touching you is driving you crazy, your cock is aching and you're desperate for his touch, but he won't give it to you.

Until, that is, Wally shifts slightly forwards. He uses the hand that isn't stroking his cock to lightly grip yours, lining it up with his tight hole. You can feel your leaking cock press against him, meeting a small amount of resistance as he begins to lower himself down onto you. You can feel yourself sliding in slowly, your saliva making it easy for him to push himself down.

Wally bounces gently as he pushes himself down further, pulling up slightly to be able to slip more of you inside of him. After a few soft, subtle bounces, he reaches your base, leaving you fully hilted inside him.

The combination of the thick, honey-like pleasure and the tightness of Wally's tight hole around your cock has your mind beginning to fog. You know you aren't going to last long, not like this. Especially as the head of your cock presses into his soft, gummy walls. Wally's surprisingly warm body squeezes around you, tightening more than you thought it could.

Slowly, he begins to rock his hips again. The soft rocking progresses into a bouncing motion, causing Wally's soft inner to glide along your cock, sending waves of pleasure through your body.

The pleasure starts to overwhelm you. Everything that's happening is getting too much, the thick, tingling pleasure, the rolling waves of euphoria, it's pushing you towards climax. You're desperate to orgasm, to finish and fill the small puppet sitting in front of you.

Soon, the growing, building pleasure becomes too much. Your orgasm comes crashing over you, muscles twitching, your mind flooding with pleasure. You can feel yourself cum, waves of complete euphoria rolling over you as you.

Wally doesn't stop bouncing as you reach your peak, seeking his finish. The sensation of his soft walls becomes too much, overstimulating your now sensitive cock. You can feel your eyes tearing up, although you don't dare to blink. He clamps around you, body stilling and thighs trembling as he orgasms. Hot, sticky ropes of cum shoot out and ruin not only your shirt but also his cardigan.

A few seconds pass, Wally practically panting, before he finally breaks eye contact. Immediately you feel as if there is nothing left of you. Your eyes are sore and your body is tired from what just occurred - but your mind is also foggy.

Wally doesn't bother speaking or even getting up, instead just leaning forwards and cuddling into you. His head nuzzles into your neck, cock still hilted inside of him. You don't want to move either, still enjoying the feeling of him. So instead, you opt to wrap your arms around the puppet and hold him close, almost immediately falling asleep.

#fanfic #fanfiction #x reader #nsft fanfic #playfellowxxx #male x male #no use of y/n #wally calls reader “neighbour”#human reader #mentioned sally starlet #mentioned eddie dear #mentioned poppy partridge #barnaby b beagle #soul eating

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respectthepetty · 11 months

Text

Reading the (Visual) Rainbow 101

Lesson 6 - Cultural Awareness

Because I get so many asks about colors, I decided the best way to celebrate Pride is to educate anyone who is interested in how to better Read the (Visual) Rainbow and simultaneously allow myself to appreciate queer media.

With each lesson, we've been working through how to read visual messages, but what if the message is in another language, literally or figuratively? What happens when you Just. Don't. Get. It?

This will be the toughest lesson because it requires active engagement with the media you consume, so let's get to work!

Basics

Ethnocentrism is the practice of evaluating other cultures based on the expectations of your culture. When you do this, you misinterpret messages and place value on concepts that aren't important to that culture.

Cultural Literacy is the capability to understand one's culture as well as others while appreciating the similarities and differences.

Way back in Lesson 1, rhetorical situations were mentioned. Within a rhetorical situation, we must think about the work's creator and its intended audience because sometimes, the intended audience isn't YOU and you cannot relate to the creator. So what do you do?

All of the video examples I have suggested up until now are from American artists or artists whose country predominantly speaks English. Language and culture are closely connected, but language isn't the only aspect of culture. However, for time's sake, think about how not knowing a language hinders us from understanding a culture. If we can't understand what people are saying (literally), we won't understand what they are trying to say (figuratively).

Which means we have to actively investigate the media we consume.

Video Examples

Much like Hayley Kiyoko's "She" music video, where we needed to understand the cultural reference for "This Coke is a Fanta" to understand its purpose within the video, the two videos suggested in the previous lesson require cultural understanding. Both were from cishet men yet dealt with trans rights, but if you were unfamiliar with the cultural context, you probably missed it.

Sweden

Avicii's "Silhouette" is a song about progress and self-realization. The video reflects this. We see a masc-presenting person wake up in the morning. The video shifts to a fem-presenting person waking up later in the day. The transition between cool lighting to warm lighting lets us know this isn't simply a difference in day or two different people, but an evolution of ONE person, a concept we learned in Lesson 2. We see similar bottles next to the clocks, with two additions later in the day.

If you didn't realize these characters are the same person, go back and notice the use of red. While the first person is being operated on, we see red blood mixed with shots of the second person in red.

So how is this about trans right? We can see it is about a trans woman, but we have to think about the rhetorical situation to understand the rest.

The creator is Avicii who was a Swedish DJ and producer. The audience would be other Swedes. In 2012, when the video was released, the Swedish government debated whether to amend its transgender laws. The most significant being forced sterilization, which was a requirement if a person underwent gender affirmation surgery. A person also had to be unmarried. People were loud about this.

In the video, right before the masc-presenting person is about to undergo surgery, the song stops as the older doctor's CD player begins to skip. He hits the player several times while cursing, "Does it have to be so fucking difficult?"

When the song comes back on, the lyrics pick back up at:

Straight ahead on the path we have before us Day by day, soon the change will come Don't you know we took a big step forward Just lead the way and we pull the trigger And we will never get back to To the old school To the old rounds, it's all about the newfound We are the newborn, the world knew all about us (We are the future and we're here to stay) We've come a long way since that day And we will never look back, at the faded silhouette

If you weren't a Swede in 2012, you probably missed how significant this video was, and it's because you don't understand most of the context in which is was made (rhetorical situation) since you weren't the intended audience.

Puerto Rico

The other suggested video was Bad Bunny's "Yo Perreo Sola" which translates to "I twerk alone." It's a feminist anthem about a woman not wanting to be harassed while dancing by herself rather than for the attention of men. However, it's also about trans rights.

We begin the video with Bad Bunny as a fem-presenting character in red with X's in the doorway. We see him in various scenes like the pink room surrounded by pink flowers and chained up by women as he continues to push against the ideas of masculinity.

All are important, but the most significant is the scene where his two characters meet and dance with each other.

The neon signs read "Las Mujeres Mandan" (women rule) and "Ni Una Menos" (not one *woman* less). These two signs are layered historical messages.

The first started as the title of an old Mexican movie about a man who left his wife and kids for his mistress (shenanigans follow), but the famous Mexican musician Paquita la del Barrio popularized the saying by turning it into a feminist anthem about demanding respect from men. It's on the level of Aretha Franklin's "Respect."

The second sign is a fourth-wave feminist saying popularized in Argentina regarding femicide and other gender-based violence. Its message demands that not one more woman be the victim of this violence.

Now, to start connecting the dots: Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican. His audience would be other Puerto Ricans and, largerly, Spanish-speakers in Latin American countries. That's a lot of people who understand these two messages. But also, Bad Bunny placing himself as a feminine character emphasizes that trans women are included in these messages. Trans women are women, so they too rule, and we should also be concerned for their safety. This video was his way of commenting on the murder of Alexa Negrón Luciano, a Puerto Rican trans woman.

The murder rate for trans individual is high in PR, especially for trans women. A month after releasing this video, two Puerto Rican men were charged with the murders of two trans women. Puerto Rico is a United States' territory; therefore, it abides by US federal laws, yet this was the FIRST time Puerto Rico charged a person with a hate crime. Advocates have long been vocal about the need for change and should not be brushed aside, but having an internationally famous musician approach the topic helped people see the need for this type of law, but if you weren't the intended audience, you might have simply believed his video to be a fun journey through gender expression and gender performance.

What can you do?

Because most of us are watching our favorite shows with English subtitles, we tend to associate what is happening on our screen with our culture, but we must always remember, for a majority of us, this isn't our culture; therefore we must be aware of the disconnect. Awareness is the first step. Education is the second.

For example, Thai shows might include coordinated colored outfits because Thai culture associates certain colors with days of the week. Depending on the day of the week, there is a good and a bad color to wear. Make a mental note of it, and you'll start noticing it in other shows.

A show might mention a historical event or a holiday in passing that the intended audience would understand, but as an outsider, you might know nothing about. Look it up!

Or the show might touch on current events like unarmed protestors being beaten and arrested. LOOK! IT! UP!

There is no easy way to gain knowledge. Media is a great way to be exposed to other cultures, but you have to be willing to do a little extra work and actually learn about the culture and the issues you are seeing depicted on your screen.

It can be as simple as looking up a book shown.

Or what the characters are eating.

If you want to be a better reader of the visual rainbow, you have to look up cultural references you are unfamiliar with. You don't have to know everything, but you should be curious enough to look up something because you are watching a visual form of media from another country, and the visuals are important to the overall story.

Activity

Watch both videos and notice their similarities and differences. Note any symbolic objects and, of course, the colors.

Lady Gaga x Ariana Grande "Rain On Me" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoAm4om0wTs

Naomi Watanabe x Yuriyan Retriever "Rain On Me" parody - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psSdawz69kc

See you for Lesson 6 - It Could All Mean Nothing!

#Reading the (Visual) Rainbow #lesson six - cultural awareness

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metalyre · 11 months

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What are your thoughts on Infidget (the ship of Infinite and Gadget the Wolf)?

i think its fine? i dont inherently dislike it or anything, and i dont mind seeing it from time to time. the only thing that i dont like is like, a lot of the shipping community's interpretations of it. and by that i mean the people that twinkify and feminize gadget into being a little wooby baby that cant do anything without his big strong man and infinite is just the stereotypical scary-on-the-outside soft-on-the-inside masc/male/im a man/im he him boyfriend. either that or gadget is fine and its just infinite who is extremely out of character. i had a lot of "he would not fucking say that" moments with infinite when infidget was at its most popular bc these kinds of depictions were everywhere and it was really annoying

the only version of infidget ive ever shipped was a lovers to friends to enemies to... somethings type deal where they dont go back to how they used to be by the end but its not vitriolic, they just outgrew each other in their own ways during the events of forces. that or their relationship cant get mended at all and theres no closure bc infinite dies or whatever like he did in canon. and i know this is the best version of infidget bc i made it up, thanks

i actually shipped it before forces even came out bc i thought that that was sort of the route that sonic team was going to take with tying the avatar into the story. it made sense to me for the avatar (or in this case gadget) to have some sort of previous history or connection with infinite bc in my onion, that makes their dynamic a little spicier and more compelling. in my version, gadget and infinite (then zero) used to be very close until zero started getting more involved with a local gang, the jackal squad, which began to drive a wedge between them until they got more and more distant from each other. and then some more time passes and gadget hasnt heard from zero for a long time and then the events of forces start. i think part of the idea was from this dialogue that we got to hear when footage of infinites second battle came out before the game itself:

(image text reads as infinite saying "and those eyes.. i feel like we've met before.")

-which implied that the avatar and infinite had history. which was technically true, but it was within the timeline of the game bc it turned out he was referring to like. the flashback cutscene of the avatar being too scared to fight back the first time they ran into infinite before joining the resistance, so it wasnt what i was hoping for

another reason iirc was uhhhh whatshisface? sega scourge on youtube? they made a theory video about infinite getting his mind wiped by the ruby or something and that added fuel to the fire. its a really cool concept and while i dont think that the avatar wanting to avenge those they lost is necessarily bad, i feel like its just kind of meh for the kind of story forces was trying to tell, what with the friendship-is-cool themes and whatnot. so i thought the avatar/gadgets arc was going to be we get to find out how they and infinite (or at least just the former lol) know each other, and how infinite became infinite in the first place, and gadget wanted to both help put a stop to everything but also get his friend back through, you guessed it, the power of friendship. hooray! i read a really good fic that was like that called til we touch the sun on a03 (that fic still makes me go insane thinking about it) that went with a sidestory for gadget that was quite similar to what i just described

plus the idea of infinite and gadget having shared a past but only one of them remembers it and now has to deal with a monster that looks like who they used to be but is no longer the same in every other regard due to them going dark side (willingly or unwillingly) is super angsty. and i like my ships raw and some degree of brutal for the soul. it keeps me young

but yeah im overall neutral. tl;dr: infidget is a fine ship, i just wish it had more canon-supported flavour and i wish the majority of shippers would stop writing infinite so poorly to make him fit properly into their milquetoast domestic fluff romances, but whatever. we all get enjoyment out of different things, even if theyre wrong :3 (for safety reasons i have to disclose that the previous statement was a joke)

#he said ask #thats my new ask tag. nickisnotgreeners understand the reference #fortywholecakes #engie.txt #infidget #sonic forces #gadget the wolf #infinite the jackal #sth #and i just have to reiterate that i dont think that anyone who does twinkify gadget or any other chars for ships are bad people #i just think its really boring and heteronormative to make a male char excessively feminine just for the sake of a ship #like do we have to talk about how assigning hetero-relationship roles onto queer couples is weird and stupid #or can we not bc i thought that got left in 2015 #i should also add that i have not been in the infidget tag in years so idk what people are up to nowadays #hopefully more progressive than 2018 lol

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ghostpi22 · 16 days

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I meant your hcs and opinions, Alpha Ghostpiss :(

Sure we can do that too,

So unpopular opinion but Isaac is my least favorite main character, which doesn't mean I don't like him, he's very well written but he gets on my nerves a lot. He is arguably the easiest to draw tho. He's left handed in my brain, also sharksaac. Isaac is very shark and bird coded to me, idk just sharks Man.

I loovveee early fic Edward I love how chaotic he was, he mellowed out a bit in season 2 which I find sad but I still love my boy. Genderbent Edward hot (I can legally say that). I am very confused on the James beef tho I admit I have no idea what's happening there.

Drew likes gardening, that's the headcanon. He feels like an outdoorsy person, he collects rocks. Trans drew for the win, if there are no trans drew enjoyers left I AM DEAD. Trans masc and transfem both work, he is trans in every single one of my aus. It's why he's a tortoiseshell in my warrior cats au SO FUN FACT. He's also jade in my Homestuck au which is also basically the same concept. Drew is so Deer coded to me. The branches growing out of his head when he heals look like antlers!!!!! He has big pretty doe eyes, he has freckles in my brain but only during the summer. His genderbend name is dove. He sees a wider spectrum of colors than most humans because of his powers, I think I'd be fun if he saw light other people cant pick up on like ultra violet.

Nevin is the vriska of ibvs. I'm not Taking that back. I'm waiting for him to do something truly horrible and twisted. The way his powers work is that he apparently just knows what someone is feeling, but i think it would be much much more fun if he could actually feel other people's emotions. He would feel or can read the emotions of people that are closer to him or that he has a bond with easier or stronger. So feeling Drew's emotions would basically be second nature to him while reading or feeling the emotions of someone like Edward would take more effort and would be more cloudy. Also like, the shipping possibilities with that guys GUYS. I think it would also be fun if he could influence other people's emotions in a similar way, not majorly think more like, red makes you angry, yellow makes you happy kind of deal. I wholeheartedly support the nevin has a demon in him theory, that boy is not normal. I also think that maybe he tampered with drew memory, considering Drew's dream was a flashback and there is no reason for current nevin to be there ESPECIALLY when flashback nevin is also already there. I find that very suspicious. He gives fan favorite edgy side character in shounen vibes, think Sasuke. I think he is secretly very pathetic, like even more than Chris that is my headcanon.

Chris is my dearly beloved favorite boy. He's literally me guys we even have the same scar. Anyway he is dyslexic that boy can't read for SHIT, he probably has terrible posture from hunching over the entire time, he is a dog person, big fluffy dog. He is also dog coded, the type that chases his own tail. His voice gets really high pitched when he is embarrassed or surprised, he listens to white girl music while driving, he seems like the type of loser to listen to shit like JTmusic like 💀. I also precisely headcanon him to have no ass at all, built like a brick, his bones hurt from sitting, because it's funny.

I'm gonna be honest I don't think about Barry at all. Anyway Barry x Cody.

Rachel seems like the type of girl that'll sit in the back and ship the homophobic boys in her class together (same girl), canonical fanfiction fan!!! She is one of us!!! She sends her friends the most out of context gen z ass tiktoks that no one understands, in the middle of the night. She laughs at children falling over. She'd be a chronic genshin Player (☹️)

Niki prank calls the elderly. She is the second character that qualifies for vriska status.

Ethan wears his hoodies like a cape on his head. And then goes outside looking like that, boi 💀

Evil Justin writes in unintelligible cursive

Felix would wear the big red boots.

There are more but it's almost 1am and I got finals tomorrow 💀

#jumpscare er er er #headcanons

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random-lil-illing · 2 years

Text

Okay so I just got an ide for a ROTTMNT/TMNT 2012 crossover fanfic but I'm shit at writing so uhm here's the idea if anyone wants to write it. If you do write it please credit me/tag me/message me lol. You don't have to ask for permission just like, make sure I know about it/can read it thamks

Anyway, the actual idea is as follows:

Okay okay so it's set post-movie (like a few months later ) and everyone's recovering and healing their trauma and all that right? So they're all doing pretty ok but Leo's doing like worse than the others ptsd/mentally-wise and is very wary about like the concept of time/dimension travel.

So, Raph, Mikey and Donnie, being the good brothers they are, don't being up the topic around him, but they talk about it when he's not around cuz Donnie's making a multi-dimensional gun because since he's proved time travel, he also wants to prove dimensional travel.

Anyway so he finishes the gun, right? And so he takes his brothers (minus Leo) to test it out somewhere secluded. And it works!! And alternate veraions of him, his brothers, April, Splinter and even Casey (all 2012 mind you) come through the portal!! And everyones confused and excited so they introduce themselves and clear everything up and all that. So then the 2012 gang turn around to go home but the portal closed and the gun's not working for whatever reason. Shit.

Raph offers they stay with them, and then Mikey reminds them of Leo and everyone (-2012) is like 'Oh shit what are we gonna do'

And so they decide on a plan. The 2012 gang are going to stay in their lair until they find a way to send them back and tell Rise! Splinter about it, but make sure Rise! Leo, under NO CIRCUMSTANCE, finds out.

And the whole fanfic is them trying to navigate life while keeping the 2012 gang a secret from Rise Leo

In the end (think like a month more or less later) Leo finds out and freaks out but like a week later Rise Donnie sends them back to their universe so yeah. The Rise gang did get the 2012 gang's phone numbers tho so possible chatfic about that too??? Idk

Alyo since we're here basic headcannons about the Rise and 2012 gang!!

Rise:

Raph: -Oldest at 16 (I like to think the movie happened a year after the show)

-Genderqueer, He/She pronouns, any terms (Fem, Masc, GN), AMAB

-Likes women (technically not straight)

-anywhere between 6'10 and 7'5

-ADHD and Anxiety

-Mom friend/sibling

Donn: -Second oldest at 15

-Nonbinary, They/It/Tech, GN/Masc terms, AMAB

-Aroace or nblw (Non-Binary love women) can't decide

-6'4

-Autism and Social Anxiety

-Very sarcastic

Leon: -Second youngest at 15 (He's the younger twin)

-Transmasc, He/They and possibly Star/Starself, GN/Masc terms, AFAB

-Gay, the closet is made of glass (dating Usagi)

-6'2

-ADHD and Insomnia

-Flamboyant af

Mike: -Youngest at 14

-Genderfluid, if you don't know then use They/Pizza/Sparkle/Brush, terms depend on what they feel like that day but if you don't know use GN terms, AMAB

-Panromantic Ace

-5'10

-ADHD and a bit of Autism

-Therapist friend but at the same time unhinged friend

April: -19 y.o

-Female, She/They, Fem and GN terms, can’t decide whether AFAB or AMAB

-Lesbian, there was never a closet in the first place (dating Sunita and Cass)

-5’6

-Probably ADHD lol

-Chaotic big sister energy

Cass: -19

-Demigirl, Any pronouns, any terms, AFAB

-Lesbian (dating April and Sunita)

-5’8

-OCD and ADHD

-Unhinged and throws hands any chance she gets

Casey Jr: -14

-Questioning but definitely Masc, He/Him pronouns as of now, Masc/GN terms, AMAB

-Questioning but definitely Ace

-5’9

-ADHD and Anxiety

-Has like 3 moms and 2 dads

2012

Raphael: -Second oldest at 19

-Transmasc, He/Him, Masc terms, AFAB

-Straight (dating Mona Lisa)

-5’0

-Anger Issues with a side of OCD

-Angry tiny

Donnie: -Second youngest at 19 (they’re quadruplets)

-Non-Binary, They/He, GN terms, AMAB

-Bisexual (dating his Casey)

-5’6

-ADHD and OCD

-Wants to be unhinged but his Leo wont let him

Leo: -Oldest at 19

-Bigender, He/She/They, Any terms, AFAB

-Bisexual (And does NOT have a crush on Karai, it was gender envy)

-5’1

-ADHD

-Acts all serious infront of his Splinter but when he’s gone he’s more silly

Mikey: -Youngest at 19

-Genderfluid, if you dont know then They/Pizza pronouns and GN terms, AMAB

-Aroace

-4’9

-ADHD and Autism

-Chaotic af

April: -19

-Girl, She/Her and sometimes They/Them, Fem terms, AFAB

-Bisexual

-5’2

-Bit of Autism

-She’s either done with the Turtles’ shenanagins or she’s doing the shenanagins no inbetween

Casey: -20

-Transmasc, He/Him, Masc/GN terms, AFAB

-Bisexual (dating his Donnie)

-5’8

-ADHD

-Super chaotic lmao

I don’t have enough headcannons for the Splinters for them to have their own category but basically:

Gender/Pronouns: -Rise! Splinter - Man, He/Him, AMAB

2012! Splinter - Man, He/Him, AMAB

Sexualities: -Rise! Splinter - Bisexual

2012! Splinter - Straight

Heights: -Rise! Splinter - 3’5

2012! Splinter - 6’1

Anyway thats it lol, make sure to tell me where I can find your fic of this if you decide to write it (or any animations/drawings of it either) <3

peace y’all

#rottmnt #tmnt 2012 #au #tmnt 2012 rottmnt crossover #cassandra jones #casey jones #casey jones jr #Leonardo #donatello #raphael #michelangelo #master splinter #april o'neil #sunita

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boomclowntown · 8 months

Text

Anyway here's some MascCharacter×MascReaders that I think of, that would make good prompts. Can be read as TransMasc or CisMasc. All SFW.

Specifically with MK1 in mind since that's my current interest

•Love the idea of Masc Characters realizing their attraction to a MascReader very late into their companionship. This underlying romantic tone in their friendship that's very apparent to the reader but not the canon character, until they're doing something mundane or having conversations with other characters that makes them stop in their tracks and go "oh damn...that's what that is."

•Masc reader dropping hints abt their interests in the character, but the character being timid or second guessing their own interest.

"I'm flattered but... I'm not really sure if I could follow through with it."

"It's okay, you'll always be my friend first. I would just rather know the answer, than never say anything and live my life wondering."

•MascReader/Masc Character realizing their attraction to each other mid-spar

•MascReader with a little bit of a staring problem that Masc character would poke fun at.

• "20 dollars is 20 dollars"

"I'd suck your dick for free, actually."

• comments from other characters not meant to demean the other, but genuinely interested or concerned about the development between him and the reader

"Never took you for a man's man."

You could spin this to be a surprise to both the reader and the character that their connection became romantic or just as a surprise to the character, either way both people exploring the newness of their relationship is cute.

•Masc character unused to being on the receiving end of romantic gestures, like compliments, flowers, gifts or letters, it might feel like an emasculating experience for a moment before it sort of blossoms into a sincere, wanted feeling. Having been the dominant party for a very long time, Masc characters might find themselves spinning in light of the readers initiative in the relationship.

• Throwing in Aromantic concepts, Masc Reader and Masc character valuing the consistency of their relationship, that does develop into a personal and sexual connection. But it's difficult for outsiders to discern if their relationship is romantic or not.

• Specifically TransMasc concept, where the Masc Characters is cis and still navigating his understanding of trans culture through their partner. This same prompt could be used for gay culture in general, if you'd want to see how a Masc Character who previously believed he was straight, learns about gay culture through his partner.

#masc reader #mk1 x reader #mk1 #not specified characters #i feel like a dork ass writing this but it was fun still

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transhitman · 1 year

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Honestly I'm sort of obsessed with how the Deltora anime is a case study into how even small details in adaptations can utterly obliterate how a character reads. Jasmine specifically is such a huuuge victim of this and it makes me a bit insane. Like somehow her anime version ends up reading absurdly misogynist despite most of her dialogue and most of the stuff she does being the same as in the book. Forgive me for writing essays about children's media but hear me out for a second.

Ok so to start, Book Jasmine is almost cartoonishly badass. Like she would 100% be a stereotypical Mary Sue, animal companions and all, if it weren't for the fact that she's wildly abrasive and unlikable to a lot of the other characters. And even being hypercompetent in many areas, Jasmine is definitely not overpowered. She is stated and shown to be the smallest and physically weakest of the group. Making the token Girl of the group the weakest would usually end up reading as sexist, however Jasmine does not. She is never truly excluded from any combat or major events because she's weak. As shown during the Rithmere games, she's screwed in a direct contest of strength, but has developed a unique fighting style that evens the playing field against bigger opponents. She always read as a ranger/rogue type to me -- somewhat frail, but very precise, and most useful outside of combat. Which, in combination with the rest of the writing + strong women in the series, is just sort of realistic for someone in her position. She's a really good character imo even if we don't get to see all that much interpersonal stuff between the cast. But what we do get works really well.

But then we have Anime Jasmine, who just like... Is bad lol. Even though she makes most of the same decisions and accomplishes most of the same tasks, she comes off as irrational, annoying, and generally incompetent lmfao. I think part of this is that her anger issues and difficulty expressing herself in the books gets turned into cattiness instead of like a genuine character flaw that causes issues. Part of it is also that for some reason Barda isn't allowed to be sarcastic since he got flanderized into the stoic adult (telling jokes isn't masc enough I guess???), so Jasmine got designated the group funnyman. Which honestly wouldn't even be a big problem if she told actual jokes? A sarcastic, dry wit would totally work for her. But she's just sort of catty for no reason instead of being funny. I do understand that the general tone of the show is a lot lighter than the books as well, so having a really angsty character would go against the more child-friendly direction they went. But there are also others ways they could have changed her while still keeping her general concept and vibe the same.

But the majority of it, I think, is due to the line delivery/visual design. In the anime she's very whiny and like. Cheerful? Which... I guess isn't technically an incorrect interpretation, but it's certainly a weird one considering how much she mutters and hisses her dialogue. Her visual design is, however, completely contradictory to how she's supposed to look. In the books, she dresses in worn-out military-esque clothing, is unkempt, and is -- to some degree -- androgynous. And this physical appearance doesn't really call to mind a huffy kid. In the show they made her dress a lot more brightly, and she's like weirdly sexualized imo? Which is a pattern with the women in the anime. But that's a whole other rant I could go on. Basically, my point is, because of the tone in which she reads her lines and the way she is disallowed from being Actually Disheveled, her decisions are tainted by the misogyny of the writers. You know? Like you can tell that the in-character intent behind her actions is different because the writers themselves view her a certain way. She objects to the monarchy not because she has a strong sense of justice while being somewhat vindictive, but because she's an irrational, emotional Woman. She gets sidelined in fights not because she's trying to find a way out that doesn't involve getting pummeled by a creature 10 times her size, but because she's a weak little girl. Her hating Neridah gets turned into some kind of cat fight instead of the party rightfully being distrustful of her. The whole thing with Doom goes from being about Jasmine's trauma and loneliness, to being about her finding a big strong father figure to... Idk fill some kind of emotional void only a man can fill? Some of the differences are very subtle, but they really do change the entire vibe of the character from "jaded, violent survivalist" to "quirky girl with an attitude" even though the actual events in the anime -- up to book 8 at least -- are pretty 1-to-1 with the books. The weird characterization somehow retroactively makes things that happen in the books kinda misogynist!!! Maybe I'm insane for thinking all this but really do believe it. It's such an odd feature of the writing and it's honestly so fascinating to me. Anyway this is what I think Lindal would look like in the anime

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cool-island-songs · 2 years

Note

DO KYLE :333 for the ask game ;3333

Thanks for the ask, Rooster! :333

Sexuality Headcanon:

Open to anything. It's really dependent on the story/context for me, but I definitely saw him as 100% gay back in the day. I'm more open to bi Kyle now and also like the thought of him being a late bloomer or questioning things into young adulthood

Gender Headcanon:

Ok but fr usually cis. Trans masc Kyle is also interesting. I'm not rigid about any of this stuff tbh. No sexuality or gender hc is OOC to me in itself. I just like to be sold on characterizations, personally

A ship I have with said character:

Back in the day I was hugely into style, k2, and kystophe and I still like these though idk when the last time I read kystophe was (writing some rn though!)

These days, I'm mainly thinking about style, k2, and twyle dynamics but open to a lot of things

A BROTP I have with said character:

Not to be real boring but he comes with a built-in crew—da main 4! Occasionally estranged super best friend, bro he sometimes dgaf about, loathed frenemy. They're all there! Particularly interested in K2 atm, both ship- and BROTP-wise

A NOTP I have with said character:

I don't really NOTP anymore but I have specific conceptions of certain dynamics and then some I just don't think about

A random headcanon:

OCD and scrupulosity OCD in particular - Kyle's the most neurotic to me after Tweek

General Opinion over said character:

I never know wtf people are talking about when they do Kyle discourse. Fundamentally uninterested in the question of if Kyle good or bad. Kyle regularly enters situations wanting to be good and righteous, and yet he often does bad things (see also: virtue ethics). In my view, this is the defining function of his character on the show, so treating it like a binary when the cartoon's regular starting point already has more nuance than that is a step backwards

Kyle was my second fave after Tweek back in the day—projected onto him hardcore, identified with his desire to do the right thing, and the struggle that comes with determining what that is and carrying it out. I don't understand when I see him deified and his faults elided because I think his flaws and failures are super interesting, relatable, human

No one is required to view him the way I do, though, and I always hope people are having fun and expending their energies in fulfilling ways in fandom. Would be downright evil to hassle people with different viewpoints! Especially when hearing different interpretations and headcanons can be so fun and stimulate creativity. It helps when people can stay respectful and self-aware that we are all ultimately working with our own subjective interpretations of fiction, all projecting and relating in our own unique ways

Because I'm tired of the same old discourses, here are my proposals for alternate Kyle discourses:

Kyle's actions having any lingering impact on geopolitics re: Cuba, Canada, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict

Kyle's ongoing health issues re: hemorrhoids, transplanted kidney, diabetes, does he have the human centipad scars i must know

Kyle's relationship with Kenny after he tells his mom he doesn't give a crap about Kenny, then proposes rounding poor people up into camps and exterminating them. Are they good???

Cucking?

#ask game #kyle broflovski #roostertuftart

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rotationalsymmetry · 2 years

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Also I really cannot overstate how much “x group experiences such and such systemic discrimination” is not the same as “every x person has experienced this form of discrimination” and in particular “every non-x person has not.” I know a (straight I think?) woman who got financially cut off by her parents when she was in college for becoming sexually active. I know a bi woman who as far as I know has never so much as kissed another woman, who lost a job for identifying as bi. Het people can get misgendered. Cishet men can experience the sort of discrimination trans women face. So can cis women and trans mascs.

Bi/pan people and aces can experience homophobia.

Straight people can experience homophobia.

As far as I can tell, anything under the lesbophobe banner short of things very explicitly tied to the label “lesbian”, can be experienced by bi/pan and/or ace women who do not identify as lesbians.

And vice versa — gay people who don’t identify as bi can get harmed by biphobia.

I just get so pissed off when people are all “oh, kink/polyamory isn’t a queer thing because those people aren’t oppressed” ok first, clearly you have never met a Leatherman or Leatherwoman, for some of us “queer” and “kinky” are not separable concepts and for some of us kinky is more central to our identity than what gender we’re attracted to, but also? Polyamorous people and kinky people experience every single form of discrimination gay/lesbian/bi/trans people do, with far less societal awareness and (for kinky people) less ability to talk about it as a love rather than sex thing, which makes it more palatable to the normies, and nothing remotely resembling legal protection. So far.

I didn’t live through the same sex marriage fight in the 2000’s when most of the anti-marriage-equality arguments boiled down to “ew gay people are gross” and “ew if we legalize gay marriage what’s next, multiple spouses?” and “ew look at these perverted homosexuals at Pride (pictures of gay men in bondage gear)” — like, the second they’re not sure the idea of cocksucking and anal sex is gross enough to get people voting with their squick reaction rather than their sense of fair play, they fall back on BDSM. Is that because homophobes think BDSM is more socially acceptable than gay sex? Let’s think about that for a minute here.

But that’s not going far enough. We need to be real about this and recognize sex workers as being inherently queer (even when they’re not also, you know, queer in a narrower sense, which they very often are.)

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sarcastic-salem · 2 years

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It bothers me when people say Lokean blogs come and go really fast without going into any detail. Its not just Lokean blogs, in general — its all kinds of Heathenry and Norse Pagan blogs. Lokean blogs tend to get hit the hardest because Nazi Odinists/Folkish and because of radfems who are impersonating Lokeans or are in love with Loki and weirdly homophobic despite being queer themselves?????

Seriously, I’ve seen posts in the Godspouse community going around about how Loki is supposedly a man hating lesbian???

I wouldn’t even be surprised if these people didn’t even own copies of the Eddas. List of Loki facts according to The Norse Eddas —

Loki is genderfluid transgender. Genderfluid is a nonbinary identity that falls under the transgender umbrella, and Loki has the ability to change his gender at will, get pregnant and give birth, and to impregnate women. Not only that but he spends a good 75% of his time in The Eddas presenting in a masculine or masc-leaning form.

Loki is bisexual — not a lesbian. Its stated in the Eddas that Loki will pretty much fuck anything that moves and I do mean anything. Part of this is because monogamy wasn’t really a thing way back when. Or at least it wasn’t the cultural norm. Having multiple spouses or lovers was considered normal, and monogamy was popularized by Christian converts for mostly misogynistic reasons. The other thing is

People love to tap dance around Loki’s sexuality and transness because of the radfems and TERFs I mentioned. Oh, I didn’t mention the TERFs — well, that’s because a lot of the radfems are TERFs.

And also because of the homophobia because for reasons beyond my understanding not even bisexual or pansexual women can stomach the idea of fucking a guy who likes dick????

Guys, tha—that’s not how this works. First of all because its hypocritical and disgusting. And second

Because how the fuck are you gonna judge your partner for who they chose to date or fuck?

That is some Gold Star Lesbian bullshit, ok. Gold Star Lesbians, peeps, are biphobic lesbians who refuse to date women who have fucked men at ANY point in their lives. Even if those women identify as LESBIANS themselves at the moment.

And if you’re pulling this bullshit you’re not bisexual — you’re an asshole👌🏻 Nonbinary people, like Loki, are a third gender and once you get into nonbinary labels and identities there are EVEN more genders that fall under the nonbinary umbrella. And there are enbies with dicks and transmasc enbies and nonbinary trans men and so on and so on and so on. And some of those people with dicks or transmasc folk will have

FUCKED OTHER PEOPLE WITH DICKS & TRANSMASC FOLKS…..

So if you’re bisexual but you’re not attracted to men or people with dicks or transmasc people……???? I cannot — this do not compute, and the entire point of being pansexual is that you give zero fucks about your partners’ gender. Why would you judge them for their partners’, past or present, genders?

I mean, seriously you’re not bisexual — you’re an asshole.

Getting back to the topic at hand, Loki — and I say this with love — is a slut. Personally, I take the word slut as a compliment and I think Loki would, too. Cause if you’re trying to hate on someone for the number of people they fuck

That’s just jealously. People who slut shame are jealous cause they’ve been with the same person in the same bed in the same positions for the past 20 years and some of them are lucky if they’re getting any once every two or three months.

Not only is Loki a slut but its documented — once again, IN THE EDDAS — that he has gotten pregnant and given birth to multiple children at least THREE times. That we know of. And people always write off Sleipnir as a bad joke or as Loki being raped???

Asgard, and Yggsdrisal for that matter, a world is full of talking animals. Odin has a secret news network made up of a pair of ravens, and are we seriously going to sit here and assume that Loki cannot communicate with his own children……??? Like, I mean……Really????

Everything about the conception of Sleipnir was consensual. Die mad about it.

So these TERFs and Nazis literally just come in and bully all of the queer and transgender people — especially men — out of the Lokean community, and no one does anything to stop it. This behavior has been on the rise since 2018 and no one cares because everyone in the Heathen community would rather pretend that there is no discourse than confront the Nazi assholes. And they would happily just throw newcomers under the bus.

Because a lot of people in the Heathen community are pretentious reconstuctionalist assholes. And they dedicate their lives to pretending to be historians so that they can look down on other Heathens and Pagans.

Recons: Hi, we’re gonna need to know your GPA from the last university you’ve attended and how many books on Norse mythology you currently have published.

Newbies: Uhhh…😦

Recons: Do you have all the myths memorized yet?

Newbies: No?

Recons:

In what way is that meant to be welcoming, exactly?

That is the ugly truth of why Lokean blogs come and go so fast.

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merps · 7 months

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writing about past me remembering how I came out to a group in English class in 12th grade, related to project we ended up doing, and... how brave younger me felt, I typed out "How her heart" [felt so heavy yet brave], which was like hm.

the post about how gotta become more masc to dress more femme, it really does roll around in my brain, and I'm at the point where I think to myself maybe I am okay with she/her, but the moment anyone else says it, it. feels. wrong. They not know the nuance of my inner world. One coworker does a thing where if he mistakenly calls me "he", he quickly corrects himself "Avery...", and in a way made me play around mentally with Nameself pronouns.

I'm toying with it in my brain the same way you'd twirl a phone cord sorta ya know? I also like it/its it feels very calming to me, bc I think of myself as a concept, just a being. I just haven't had many people use it/its for me and idk if I'll be responsive in the same way I am towards typical pronouns (in terms of recognizing the language).

anyways, my character in fashion dreamer is almost exactly like a self of me I saw in a dream, the first time I saw an entity and felt that immediate recognition, vs looking in a mirror and investigating what parts make me up (the 0.00005 second delay, which has gotten better over transition vs 0.1 second), in the dream there was 0 delay. And I get so much euphoria dressing her up, they're so cute, and the game is so much fun. I feel so happy making all the lookits, and I'm so happy looking at myself/my muse. The addition of purple hair is even better than one of my dreamself (not calling dreamself directly bc it's a facet).

#merples #I initially was going to keep the dream in my journal but just I'm filled with so much euphoria when playing

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gloriousmonsters · 1 year

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hi!! obviously feel free to ignore, but just in case my other ask got lost i wanted to send another :) i just recently got into tgcf and have been going through various tags and i really liked reading your posts!! i was just curious to see how you view sqx's gender since rereading? the more fic ive read since finishing the book, the more surprised ive been to find that most of it (at least that ive read so far) really ignores any discussion of either gender id or having sqx be gnc or anything. like, it seems like if its a serious fic people write him in male form and if its a fun fic people write her in female form (and my/hx in female form as well, which is a whole other convo) and regardless of form its all very much adhering to expectations for whatever gender the author is writing, not really any gnc stuff. anyway! sorry, i got carried away, but i guess im really just looking for an insightful take on gnc cis sqx so that i can have some hope restored that there are people who have a nuanced take lol

hey, sorry for the late reply! I got your other ask, I just have been pretty caught up with work and other distracting things the past few days..../week. what is time

Honestly I haven't read much fic for TGCF at all and less featuring SQX, but i'm... sadly not surprised at hearing what you've mostly run into. People don't often seem to be up for any sort of complicated gender stuff on the average day, so it makes sense it wouldn't be addressed in a lot of fics, and SQX's femininity--in whatever form--being treated mostly as a 'fun' thing instead of a serious part of SQX's gender is... frustrating but again, not surprising.

It's been a bit since I last looked at TGCF, but my personal interpretation remains that SQX is a femme man, much as I view Ling Wen as a butch woman--I very much don't want to say it's not as valid or interesting to interpret either of them as trans, but for me personally both characters are most interesting to read as GNC cis characters. That's its own whole struggle, one that the issue of their worshipers essentially deciding what their gender is for them--because they don't conform to the conventions of their own--is painfully resonant with.

(I'll try not to talk more about Ling Wen more on this SQX gender post, but I'll make a last sidebar about I wish people would talk about Ling Wen's gender more in general.I barely even see people acknowledge that she HAS a male form or any of her character as it relates to her being masc/butch.)

SQX clearly enjoys wearing his female form, and it very much comes across as dressing up in clothes that really express how you feel--he's so much cuter, it's so fun to wear a female form (to such an extent that he will try to pester anyone left alone with him for five seconds into doing so, because how can you NOT ENJOY looking pretty??). But to me he never seems dysphoric about his male form--just bored and sometimes hurt by the limitations it imposes on him. Being a man isn't an issue for him, acting like a man is.

And I understand that for some people there's little difference between those things--a lot of people find their gender nonconformity means they're not that gender at all. I feel like another factor is the well-meaning anvil that got dropped a while ago of 'you can't write a stereotype, so all your queer men have to be normal macho and all your queer women have to be normal feminine' which further erased the very concept of GNC-ness, at least when it came to writing fic. I think that's one of the reasons I'm so attached to cis femme SQX--GNC characters, or even interpretations more complex than 'completely conventionally cis or binary, also conventionally (gender) trans' are thin on the ground in fandom.

(a sidebar: writing a guy as a uke-in-all-but-name is not the same as writing a guy as meaningfully gnc. like pursue your bliss and write what you want and all that, but I had the haunting suspicion that there's probably some 'gay twink that cries a lot and always bottoms' SQXs out there and i want to register that it's nooooot what i'm talking about when i talk about being gnc. WHOLE other discussion packed away inside that one. let's skip it for now)

I wish I had something more specific or insightful to say here, lol. You can enjoy looking like a woman and not be a woman. You can dislike being masculine and still be a man. SQX clearly, despite the not-cool reasons for him having it (because the implications of two gods being close, even if they were brothers, was just TOO GAY, we gotta make it straight! are their worshipers those people who genderbend just one sibling to write incest because i have some Annoyed Words for those people. Stop Making It Boring) is very attached to his female form and enjoys wearing it, and while it's not given a great deal of time, there's obviously friction between him and his brother based in the fact that, even while not wearing a female form, SQX just doesn't... act quite like a man should.

(This is pure personal interpretation/headcanon, but he often doesn't see the problem with how he's acting because he simply has an internal sense of gender that doesn't clash with looking like a woman or not acting like a man--gnc gender identity is no less deeply or completely felt than any other. It takes SWD or someone else reacting badly to remind him, ah, apparently not every man would be like this if he had the chance. Which seems fake, but ok)

if there's a conclusion, there's this--to write SQX as either a straightforward male or female character is just missing his whole point. He can be a gnc man, genderfluid, a trans woman--but whatever he is is complicated, despite how untroubled he usually seems by it all. There's tension between what he is, how he's viewed, and the limited means he has to express himself, and while that obviously can't be the point of every fic he appears in, it's always there. And cis gnc SQX remains, in the end, my favorite lens. It's unlikely, but I do hope someone got that boy a cute outfit at some point postcanon, it's the least he deserves.

#there's so many words in this and who knows if any of them make sense.... i'm very tired tonight sorry lol #thanks for the ask though!#and you're right in female form hx/my being a whole other conversation...#Gender In TGCF And What The Fandom Does With It is a whole thesis and a half #and it's located in a minefield. least where i'm concerned #replies #vic reads tgcf #remains my tgcf tag i have none other

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lunarflare64 · 11 months

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Hello! Disability ask meme: 1, 3, and 8 please

(Disability ask meme)

As promised, the chatterbox train got rolling, you're welcome for the read more

1. Ooooooh boy here we go, its a whole ass List.

Autism, ADHD, OSDD/DID (we aren't certain enough to find out which on our own), ARFID, Non-24 sleep/wake disorder, anemia, Raynaud's syndrome, POTS, and arthritis (we're not sure which type specifically yet, we're on a waiting list to see a rheumatologist)

2. For mobility aids we primarily get around on crutches, on a good day at home we use our cane, and hopefully soon we'll be getting our wheelchair for the bad days. Our first set of crutches got the full sticker treatment, the second set we just haven't gotten around to yet (but we do have the stickers ready, they're neon). Despite us getting the cane first its remained customisation free, every time we consider decorating it we chicken out because unlike with the neon stickers we wanna put stickers from fandoms on it, and we're worried about wasting them because the cane.....we should get a better one, its really not good.

For sensory aids we just have our headphones, we mostly just use them when we're out and about because unlike outdoors where we're tense and on guard all the time and thus hypersensitive, indoors we NEED to be able to hear lots of little things, we freak out otherwise (and having headphones on all the time while you're a glasses wearer........."fucking OW" is putting it lightly)

We also uses braces sometimes, mostly for our wrists and knees (thats where the arthritis is), but we tend to use compression more, since the stiffness from braces can cause its own issues. And as for meds, we've got a low dosage of Ritalin for the ADHD, and some opioids for the arthritis pain. We also need iron infusions once every year and a half or so, since our body isn't the best at absorbing it in our diet (and to make things worse our diet isn't very rounded, thanks to the eating disorder)

8. Oof, identity question for the freshly hatched egg carton (do you like that term? We love it, what a fun term for a plural egg), this is already confusing. I mean, obviously the plurality affects every aspect of our identities in a large scale, its a given, so we'll brush past the specifics of that one. How our disability affects our gender? I'm not one of us who has that, gender is such a hard thing to define, the others have gender in the sense that they are pulled to masc or fem presentations, but I don't know if any of us really understand it. But we HAVE heard that not understanding these concepts isn't an uncommon thing for autistic people, so I guess that's one way it can be affected. Queerness (in terms of attraction) is the same, generally we're aroace (with some oriented-ness from some of us), that's also a common autistic thing, a decent portion of aroace folk are autistic, its no biggie to us.

Culture? We're assuming culture here means "the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society", but we're white and Australian through and through, not much there to be culture-y about. If we were to pretend Australia had a culture that was found though its own community and not theft from others, there is a MASSIVE issue with foods. A lot of "classic Australian foods" are the exact things our eating disorder wants us to avoid, family gatherings (which are ALWAYS barbecues, don't laugh its just how it goes here) are miserable for us (and it was so so much worse when we were a kid and people would yell at us for not eating), we can't eat anything, and even if we CAN find something its always a pasta salad that you can only eat so much of before you want to curl up in a ball and wither away, its an isolating experience, not being able to bond with family through food. We don't even feel that big of a draw to our family and it still hurts to miss out on eating with them

Aaaaaanyways, hobbies and life goals. We're not so good at the life goal thing, picturing the future is literally impossible, we see nothing and we want nothing, we very much live in the present (is that the autism, the ADHD, or the plurality? Hopefully we find out one day), but hobbies? Oh boy here we go

We have many. Many many many many hobbies, and dream hobbies too. The dream hobbies aren't really possible for us anymore, things like surfing, gymnastics, archery (chronic shakiness and sharp flying objects sounds like a bad combo), pole dancing, skateboarding, canoeing, dancing, hiking, and trampoline tricks (you could say all of these are possible with the right accommodation, but its too much for us now). One hobby we do have that we don't get to do often now is baking, we loved baking so much, we would do huge batches of cakes and cupcakes and cookies and breads and then give them out to people we knew, we didn't really keep much of it for ourselves, we just liked baking for the sake of baking, and the joy of giving treats to others was a great bonus. Nowadays we can't really do that much even on the rare occasion that we CAN bake, the heat makes us pass out and all the movement and standing sets our arthritis off so bad, its best to save any baking for when someone can be there to make sure we don't get hurt.

We don't let it get us down too much though! We have so many other hobbies, drawing and writing and knitting and crochet and loom weaving and the guitar (even if we haven't touched it in a while 😬) and drums and animation and architecture and gardening and photography and sculpting and woodworking and candle making and learning about oceanography and biology and physics and so so much more, our hobbies list is a literal list, we have it in front of us now, the ink has faded into odd colours and it COVERS the page, top to bottom, no space wasted, we have a lot of things we like to do and want to try, some things cant be done anymore but it doesnt even cross half the list off, our disabilities shape what we can do, but its hard to let it get to us when we have so much to do

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