chamerionwrites

[chamerionwrites]

i don’t think most cis people realize that we already live in a society that on some level believes there is more than two genders.

[chamerionwrites]

#when i tell you i STRUGGLED with this #going with fëanor tho. mutuals who i just know will have Thoughts on this subject u know who u are #tolkien tag

[chamerionwrites]

“Tied to this assumption of a ‘universal female experience’ is the idea that if a woman surrounds herself with those that embody that ‘universal’ woman, then she is safe from patriarchy and oppression. The concept of ‘women's safe spaces’ (being women-only) date back to the early lesbian feminist movement, which was largely comprised of white women who were more affluent, and prioritized addressing sexism over other forms of oppression. This notion that an all-women space is inherently safe not only discounts the intimate violence that can occur between women, but also ignores or de-prioritizes the other types of violence that women can experience—racism, poverty, incarceration, and other forms of state, economic, and social brutality.

Written after the work of, and influenced by, transfeminist pioneers like Sandy Stone, Sylvia Riviera, and her Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), the Transfeminist Manifesto states:

‘Transfeminism believes that we construct our own gender identities based on what feels genuine, comfortable and sincere to us as we live and relate to others within given social and cultural constraint.’

The notion that gender is a social construct is a key concept in transfeminism, and is also essential (no pun intended) to an anarchist approach to feminism. Transfeminism also criticizes the idea of a ‘universal female experience’ and argues against the biologically essentialist view that one’s gender is defined by one’s genitalia. Other feminisms have embraced the essentialist argument, seeing the idea of ‘women's unity’ as being built off a sameness, some kind of core ‘woman-ness.’ This definition of woman is generally reliant on what is between a person’s legs. Yet what specifically about the definition of woman is intrinsic to two X chromosomes? If it is defined as being in possession of a womb, does that mean women who have had hysterectomies are somehow less of a woman? Reducing gender to biology relegates the definition of ‘woman’ to the role of child-bearer. That seems rather antithetical to feminism. Gender roles have long been under scrutiny in radical communities. The idea that women are born to be mothers, are more sensitive and peaceful, are predisposed to wearing the color pink, and all the other stereotypes out there are socially constructed, not biological. If the (repressive) gender role does not define what a woman is, and if a doctor marking ‘F’ on a birth certificate do not define gender either, the next logical step is to recognize that gender can only be defined by the individual, for themselves—or perhaps we need as many genders as there are people, or even further, that gender should be abolished.”

–J. Rogue, “De-essentializing Anarchist Feminism: Lessons from the Transfeminist Movement” (2012)

#gender stuff

[chamerionwrites]

I'm one of those 'i don't like sweet and savory' people and like. the answer is yes. I hate carrots and sweet potatoes. I don't like corn very much either, but especially sweet corn or elotes. if a vinagarette is too sweet it doesn't taste good to me. the flavor combo is genuinely not good to me even if it occurs naturally. yes this does mean I don't eat enough vegetables xD

That’s totally fair! It can just be very hard to tell where the line is if you’re not someone who dislikes that combo, you know? Like…what about citrus fruits? Oranges have a fairly pronounced sweetness, so I can see how they would be out with savory food, but what about limes? Can you squeeze a lime over your tacos? What about lemons or grapefruits? I think you could ask these questions to three different people who dislike sweet+savory and get three different answers.

It’s not that it’s an invalid preference to have. It’s just that different people mean different things by it. You hate carrots and sweet potatoes. Some people love corn and carrots and sweet potatoes and peas, but hate honey mustard. Some people who claim to hate sweet+savory never even consider that this might apply to things like honey mustard or sweet pickles, but they can’t stand the combo of meat & fruit or the use of warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, etc in any meal except dessert. Which can get kinda confusing to people like me who love to frankenstein flavors together.

#culinary adventures #ask box #my posts

[chamerionwrites]

Sometimes I encounter people who are Very Opposed to sweet & savory flavor combos, and the thing is. I do not mean this judgmentally at all, I think they should live their best lives eating what they enjoy, but. This is not as clear-cut a category as people seem to think it is.

Like…a lot of fresh vegetables have sweet notes (carrots, beets, corn, sugar snap peas). A lot of cooked or otherwise processed vegetables have pronounced sweet flavors (caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes). A lot of flavors that aren’t particularly sweet in and of themselves are so associated with sweet things that some people will still read them as “sweet” (ginger, cinnamon, coffee). If you say you don’t like sweet+savory, does that mean you’re going to object to bread and butter pickles on a hamburger? To a lime vinaigrette on a salad? To squash or sweet potato roasted with salt & pepper & rosemary? I swear I’m not being willfully dense here it’s just - it’s not clear or consistent when something becomes Too Sweet to be allowed with savory!

#and i say this as someone who doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth #(or probably more accurately - who likes bittersweet or salty-sweet or sweet-and-sour but tends to find sweet-sweet cloying) #culinary adventures #my posts

[chamerionwrites]

We all know that I am not much of a Recipe Follower as a rule, but I will note that Sami Tamimi’s Falastin is an absolute win of a cookbook

#that galette in particular is INCREDIBLE #i do tweak the tahini rolls recipe only to make it with sourdough starter rather than yeast #but otherwise i am uncharacteristically faithful to the letter as well as the spirit of the recipes in that book it’s just written v well #culinary adventures #my posts

[chamerionwrites]

I’m sorry if this is offensive and maybe I’m just really pea-brained, but I can’t grasp how someone can capture the raw appeal of men with such pinpoint precision while having zero attraction to them. Is it that you exclusively date women, hold a small amount of attraction to men, but just choose not to date them? Sorry if this is invalidating to you as a lesbian in any way. I know my share of being invalidated, given that I’m a bi woman, but I just had to know.

I’m not even remotely attracted to men and I never have been, I’m just a very good writer

#^^^^^ #on writing #gender stuff

[chamerionwrites]

The Mighty Loon!

#this is why it’s hilarious to hear loon calls in soundtracks when there’s no large body of water nearby ftr ^^^ #laugh tag #birbs

[chamerionwrites]

Ultimate tell of most USAmerican movies/shows being produced in California is when the foley artists put loon calls in scenes that are, in ascending order of hilarity, (1) during the dead of winter when all the lakes are frozen over, (2) way too far south, or (3) not remotely close to water of any kind

#loons spotted (/heard) in bg3 also lol #the curse of living in a boreal forest: cocking your head like a confused terrier@ every spooky atmosphere track in every game and movie #particularly entertaining because now is about the time they migrate. so it’s like is that the first loon call…? nope that’s my computer #birbs #bg3 #my posts

[chamerionwrites]

no one writes love stories better than aromantics send 

#on writing

[chamerionwrites]

A man once asked me … how I managed in my books to write such natural conversation between men when they were by themselves. Was I, by any chance, a member of a large, mixed family with a lot of male friends? I replied that, on the contrary, I was an only child and had practically never seen or spoken to any men of my own age till I was about twenty-five. “Well,” said the man, “I shouldn’t have expected a woman (meaning me) to have been able to make it so convincing.” I replied that I had coped with this difficult problem by making my men talk, as far as possible, like ordinary human beings. This aspect of the matter seemed to surprise the other speaker; he said no more, but took it away to chew it over. One of these days it may quite likely occur to him that women, as well as men, when left to themselves, talk very much like human beings also.

— Dorothy Sayers, Are Women Human? Astute and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society

#l o l #gender stuff #on writing

[chamerionwrites]

Writing hot take: I think acting like treating writing characters of the opposite sex as some kind of enigmatic riddle is so silly. I know people complain about men writing women as boobily breasting sex objects (or conversely women writing men as feral brutes), but I fear there's an over correction when people think that means there's some kind of challenge in writing the opposite sex.

It's literally so easy. If you just write them as human beings that you yourself can relate to, you're already like 90% of the way there. You can figure out the other 10% with the tiniest bit of empathy and attention toward real-life people who aren't exactly like yourself.

I feel like writers will put pressure on themselves and be like "ok, I wrote a female character, now how do I woman her up?" and then oversteer themselves into making that character's personality revolve around their gender, get too touchy about how they're representing them, stress themselves into shitty writing, and end up making things even worse than if she had just titted breastingly down the stairs.

Same goes with writing people of different races/sexualities. Like the self-induced pressure to conspicuously represent that aspect of their character results in some stiff writing that feels unnatural and limits their characterization. This also applies to writing characters in time periods you never lived, characters who have professions you never worked, etc. Just start with a three dimensional human and work from there, don't gag yourself acting like it's more complicated than it really is.

#correct! #on writing

[chamerionwrites]

Niche personal pet peeve possibly but art that's technically accomplished but wherein every human being portrayed is stunningly Conventionally Attractive TM makes me want to claw my face off just to add some interest to the viewing experience. Why do you want to live in an uncanny valley of Sameface Syndrome but WORSE because it's hundreds of faces and not a one has a crooked nose or an asymmetrical eyebrow. Why do you want to live in an everyone is beautiful and no one is horny Hollywood movie except WORSE because at least the magic of high definition still shows us crow's feet. Why do you want to feed your eyeballs a steady diet of nothing but creme brulee

#love and desire slide off a featureless surface!!! #the beauty of absence vs the beauty of substance!!!!!!!! #thank you for being one of the most correct people on the internet #beauty #on writing #art things

[chamerionwrites]

im gonna kill whoever invented waxing. shiny hairless ripped guys make me weep with boredom. i want to see hair on a mans stomach so my eyes will bug out and go awooga humina humina

#anyway bringing this back! imo we should be more shamelessly horny about men #peace and love on planet earth to the person in the notes saying they’re called happy trails for a reason #beauty

[chamerionwrites]

🧂

The problem with prose in the style of “she breasted boobily down the stairs” is NOT that it is horny (I support horny prose!) nor even that it is offensive and objectifying (slightly spicier take but imho You Are Allowed To Write From The POV Of Wretched Misogynists Sometimes is a logical extension of You Can, Should, and Arguably Must Write Unlikable Characters; obviously it’s worth criticizing when an author shows zero ability and/or desire to write from any POV but that of a wretched misogynist, but as far as general principle goes I’m always going to come down on the side that there’s nothing inherently wrong with writing bad people).

No. The problem with prose in the style of “she breasted boobily down the stairs” is quite simply and straightforwardly that it is BAD WRITING. It tells us nothing about the woman in question, except that she has a nice rack (or at least that the POV character thinks so). It tells us nothing about the POV character, except that he’s a basic bitch who likes tits (groundbreaking stuff for your Very Cishet Male™️ character). It’s not even good at being horny!!!!! Sure, perhaps it could be argued that I, Chamerion, am not the target audience when it comes to the luscious allure of boobs. But imo genuinely good erotic writing should be able to make desire legible to any audience. If you’re describing a hot woman, and doing it well, then a straight woman or a gay man or even somebody who’s ace ought to be able to see the appeal. (If you’re describing a hot man and doing it well, then a straight man or a lesbian or an ace reader should be able to see the appeal!) And if they can’t understand any part of the attraction even intellectually, then you have failed at your single most fundamental writerly job: conveying feelings with words.

In all seriousness - rule number one of descriptive writing is that sentences such as, “the puppy was cute,” or “the woman was beautiful,” are all but empty of meaning. And yet descriptions of desire for women are constantly like ooh her skin was soft. Ooh her hair was shiny. Ooh her curves filled out her dress. Ooh her breasts were the perfect size. WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS MEAN, YOU MEALY-MOUTHED ASSHOLES. YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO TELL ME WHY THIS SENTENCE DESERVES TO TAKE UP SPACE IN YOUR NOVEL. Again, I freely admit that I am not the authority on feeling verklempt about boobs but I do have it on excellent authority that people who DO do not all agree on what “perfect size” means, unless by perfect size you mean “I am imagining that they might fit nicely in my hands,” in which case SAY THAT. Like, even saying that her shirt had one button too many undone - it’s far from an original description of desire, but at least it conveys information (that she got dressed in a hurry? that she’s trying to catch the eye of someone in particular? that she likes to dress a little daringly, and the POV character appreciates daring? we might not even know at first from the context, but it’s a description that at least has us analyzing and asking questions!). It may not be the sharpest and most specific description on the planet but it’s miles ahead of the boob-shaped Rorschach inkblot that is “perfect-sized breasts.”

Anyway. I could go on at length about the kind of writing that I think does convey desire effectively, and maybe I will elaborate later, but this is the heart of my cranky-old-man-on-the-porch rant. I’m not saying we should talk less about the sexism of certain authors. But I do think we should spend MORE time sending them to art jail for the crime of being unutterably formulaic and boring.

#show don’t tell motherfuckers!!! #on writing #beauty #ask box #my posts

[chamerionwrites]

The more explicitly “feminist” a piece of art characterizes itself as being, or the more it claims to address the experience of Being a Woman, the more alienating and incomprehensible it feels to me. Why?

#gender stuff

[chamerionwrites]

🧂

FINALLY getting the chance to finish these up, sorry.

Anyway I think being a personal chef would be fun, except for the part where you work for rich people. Alas (as anyone who has ever worked in any sort of customer service can testify) a very high proportion of rich people are nightmarish divas AND I think I would very quickly develop icky ethical feelings about feeding the rich rather than eating the rich, so the daydream of getting paid a lot of money to cook fancy meals on someone else’s dime must remain unrealized.

#culinary adventures #or not #ask box #my posts