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maehustisya · 6 years

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BL, “Okama”, and gay stereotypes in animanga

Since BL and fujoshi discourse is the hot topic du jour, let’s talk a bit about gay stereotypes in Japanese manga and anime.

I’m seeing a worrying number of people not only saying that all BL and fujoshi promote homophobic stereotypes, but that BL is the primary or sole instigator of homophobia in Japanese society (excuse me, I choked on drink there).

For those who don’t know, Boy’s Love (BL) is a niche category of shoujo/josei manga that focuses on M/M relationships (commonly known in the west as “yaoi”, though that is a misnomer). It’s still frowned upon, both for being gay content and for being mainly romance aimed at women. The word “fujoshi” — used today to mean “female fan of BL” — even has seriously misogynistic origins.

So far, BL is published on specific magazines, and most anime adaptations are OVAs that aren’t aired on TV. Although it has a significant following, it’s definitely not popular enough to change the opinions on gay men of the entire anime fanbase, much less of Japanese society as a whole.

Homophobia in Japan has a long history, but one of the most impactful chapters was the Meiji Restoration (1867-68), when Japan’s isolationist foreign policy was abolished and rapid westernization began. Negative Christian views on homosexuality disseminated throughout the country and public opinion of practices such as nanshoku/wakashudou declined until they were practically criminalized and banned.

For reference, both BL and yuri had their origins more than a century later, in the 1970’s-80’s.

I find that a lot of criticism of stereotyping in BL is, unsurprising, very US-centric. The thin, androgynous, pretty and emotionally sensitive characters of BL may coincidentally fit western gay stereotypes, but this type of character just represents an East Asian beauty standard for men. Guys who fit these bishounen and ikemen types are considered desirable by Japanese women and are generally assumed to be straight.

A handful of pretty boys from Touken Ranbu.

In the US, your idea of a stereotypical gay dude may be a metrosexual twink with a lisp and a limp wrist, but different countries have different stereotypes. In Japan, the appearance of イカホモ/イカニモ (“ikahomo” or “ikanimo”, a stereotypical gay man) is a heavy-set masculine guy with short haircut, strong face, and facial hair.

Sort of like the guys you see in geikomi, right?

Pin-ups by Jiraiya, long-time artist for G-men magazine.

But we’re talking about entertainment media, more specifically about animanga. We’ll get there soon.

Gay men in Japan are stereotyped by the general population as being camp, and using feminine clothes, language and pronouns. Those who present femininely are often referred to as オネエ (“onee”) because they use オネエ言葉 (“onee kotoba”, feminine speech), and may or may not identify as male. Many entertainers who are out use onee personas on TV to, well, entertain the audience. That may be the only exposure an average Japanese person has to a real-life openly gay or trans person.

As for fiction, media creators tend to fall back on archetypes based on prejudices for minority characters, and that includes gay men. A bit like how the US has the “fairy” archetype, Japan has the “okama”.

Now, オカマ (“okama”, lit. rice pot) is not a word used in polite conversation to refer to people. It’s a homophobic and transphobic slur, directed at people who fit the onee stereotype. If you’re not a Japanese queer man or transfem individual, you shouldn’t direct it at anyone, period. Not even yourself. Although there are some who reclaim the term, it’s still largely considered derogatory and insulting.

Japanese media has an okama character archetype, which reflects how society thinks a gay man looks and acts. You may be surprised to hear that it’s not the willowy, androgynous bishounen of shoujo manga.

It’s something more like this:

Keep reading

#A GREAT POST #PLEASE READ #BL

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maehustisya · 6 years

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「BANANA FISH」PV 1

#BANANA FISH #ash lynx #eiji okumura

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maehustisya · 7 years

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YOI best moments: Victuuri at the kiss and cry~

#yuri on ice #victor nikiforov #katsuki yuuri #THE KISS AND CRY MOMENTS LOOKS SO GOOD

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maehustisya · 7 years

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Meeting Pierce Brown

08/27/17 @ Raffles Makati for The Philippine Readers and Writers Festival #GoReadWrite2017 by National Bookstore

Hello! I’m really inactive on tumblr but I want to make a crappy visual (doodle) report/diary thing so that I can preserve this memory forever...or at least until this site exists. I dra—invited my biffle Gabby (@gabbyganchie on twitter) to come with me to Piece Brown’s Author Spotlight and Book Signing so that I won’t be a total awkward scarecrow, not to mention that it might be a once in a lifetime chance to meet Pierce Brown in the Philippines. She became a howler after I lend her my Red Rising trilogy books over a year ago and now, we’re lowkey crazy about this man’s books...

Gabby and I planned to meet at Raffles Makati at 6 AM even though the registration will start at 8:30 AM because the line for Pierce’s signing will be crazy with only 300 slots.

I arrived at Raffles at 6:15 AM with a line of over 30 people, including my buddies on Red Rising Philippines (a.k.a. The Philippine Howlers.) My first agenda is to meet Chai, the one who organized to buy members a cute Howler hat and claim mine. However, I didn’t went straight due to my awkward/shy tendencies and waited for over 30 minutes to go when we’re seated to wait for the registrations to open.

After I got my hat, Chai also gave me a paper to raise up when Pierce makes his entrance for the Discussion later. I got to my seat and waited a bit more until they finally open the registration as early as 7:30 AM due to the growing crowd. We are asked to go outside again to form a line. I got my book signing ticket which is 40 out of 300 with a sampler of Pierce Brown’s Iron Gold and ID as an attendee of The Philippine Readers and Writers Festival almost around 8:15 AM. They also gave away free entrance pass for the upcoming 2017 Manila International Book Fair.

My friend Gabby still hasn’t arrived yet so I waited for her until she arrived around 9:45 AM. Apparently, she got lost b̶̶̶u̶̶̶t̶̶̶ ̶̶̶I̶̶̶ ̶̶̶w̶̶̶o̶̶̶n̶̶̶’̶̶̶t̶̶̶ ̶̶̶g̶̶̶o̶̶̶ ̶̶̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶t̶̶̶o̶̶̶ ̶̶̶t̶̶̶o̶̶̶ ̶̶̶d̶̶̶e̶̶̶t̶̶̶a̶̶̶i̶̶̶l̶̶̶ ̶̶̶b̶̶̶e̶̶̶c̶̶̶a̶̶̶u̶̶̶s̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶s̶̶̶h̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶m̶̶̶i̶̶̶g̶̶̶h̶̶̶t̶̶̶ ̶̶̶s̶̶̶m̶̶̶a̶̶̶c̶̶̶k̶̶̶ ̶̶̶m̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶s̶̶̶o̶̶̶ ̶̶̶I̶̶̶’̶̶̶l̶̶̶l̶̶̶ ̶̶̶l̶e̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶̶̶h̶̶̶i̶̶̶s̶̶̶ ̶̶̶a̶̶̶s̶̶̶ ̶̶̶i̶̶̶t̶̶̶ ̶̶̶i̶̶̶s̶̶̶.

We ate our brunch at Tim Ho Wan. Both of us were really sleepy and hungry but our conversations about the trilogy and Iron Gold is full of enthusiasm because we’re so pumped to see Pierce Brown later. Afterwards, we strolled around nearby malls until we decided to go back at 1:30 PM to wait on Ballroom 2 of the hotel where the discussion and signing will be held.

We arrived to Ballroom 2 past 1:30 PM and the seats are almost 90% full! We hurried to find at least a decent seat and we did find out somewhere 4-5 away from the last row. Gabby and I also reserved one more seat for two of our friends that’ll be coming later.

It’s a very interesting sight. People of different walks of life and age are attending. As a fan, it made me smile a lot. Few minutes later, the venue is full and there are no seats available anymore but the organizers added more seats at the corner rows a̶s̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶a̶n̶i̶c̶. Because I’m seated on a corner row, adding new seats made me have new seatmates. They’re very chill middle-aged women that didn’t know much about Pierce but very interested to listen on the discussion.

Gabby and I just talk about random stuff like on how I said that Pierce’s display picture on the projector looks like he escaped some room and is about to expose the antagonist of some story. Gabby defended him and told me that he looks really handsome on the picture which I agreed 100%

The discussion started 5 minutes earlier than scheduled (2 PM) and when Pierce stepped inside the room, I’d never been so drown with screams and howling a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶s̶p̶l̶a̶y̶e̶r̶s̶/̶a̶r̶t̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶i̶g̶n̶i̶n̶g̶.̶ Even the boys are screaming. Is this really a discussion and book signing event or J-Pop/K-Pop idol fan meeting? Despite saying this, I was also howling while making a heart sign at one point after I got tired of raising the printed wolf picture I got from Chai so I’m not the one to talk. LOL. The charisma of the man that’s been labeled as the “Hottest ‘Young Adult’ Author in the World” is a force to reckon with.

As soon I’d witness this sight, I know that it’ll be a different book discussion than anything I’d ever attended in my lifetime. You know, the formal clapping and the stuffy professional air on discussions? You know what I’m talking about. I didn’t feel anything like that and I’m very happy that I didn’t feel something similar to that ‘cause it means Pierce doesn’t put invisible barriers within himself and us fans.

The discussion started and it was an amazing one. It opened on the steps of Red Rising Trilogy as a successful book and what are the elements inspired the theme of the book + Iron Gold. Like seriously. I want to talk about it point by point but I haven’t written it down and my brain is still in post #PierceBrowninPH blues so I’ll just list down the highlights/left the lasting impression to me:

- Pierce has a love affair going on with adobo. - He’s also loving bagoong. - He thanked his girlfriend for the support (which most girls answered you’re welcome. LMAO.) - He’s going to Palawan tomorrow (August 28, 2017) - Pierce’s mom didn’t read the first book he finished but pretended that she did. - He tried to write 4k words a day like Stephen King but it made his family stressed by the pressure he puts on himself. - He writes once day without any time/goal set but tries to make at least 4 hrs. a day. - Pierce wanted to talk more about the red Rising movie that is in development but Hollywood wants to keep it shut for now so he didn’t say much. - For aspiring writers: Keep writing and keep trying. (He said a lot of very inspiring stuff before he said this so...yeah.)

Pierce Brown’s discussion is a success and the crowd gave a loud yet sophisticated applause with howls. It’s time for the awaited Q & A. The majority is itching to ask questions but only less than 10 people are entertained. It was a very intense Q & A. The questions are directly related to the series which the host is very surprised with as I observed. Pierce answered every question in detail which is totally satisfying. To Eriele who cosplayed Eo and asked about Roque and Tactus’ possible relationship to Pierce, I salute you! I’m so happy to know that there’s a PH howler passionate about Roque and Tactus’ possible relationship like me.

I really want to ask him about Lysander’s character inspiration and thought process while making him + his future characteristics after all the shit happened in the trilogy and how it will affect his actions at Iron Gold. I’m quite salty not being picked because I’m raising my hand with my whole might without standing or making a scene and the host still didn’t notice me. ̶I̶’̶M̶ ̶V̶E̶R̶Y̶ ̶S̶A̶L̶T̶Y.

Gabby comforted me that there’ll be next time if Pierce’ll return to Philippines again to promote Iron Gold while the middle-aged women beside me roasted the host to cheer me up because they observed that the host is only calling the one’s on their left side. I thanked them and told that I’ll try to bring up my question on the book signing instead.

The time for the book signing has finally arrived and the first 20 people are called. Pierce is seated and has a long black table in front of him. I observed that the first batch took pictures while Pierce is still seated with the long table blocking fans apart so at some point, Pierce encouraged the fans to go at his side. I want to call them the lucky ones because Pierce talked to them for quite a long time. After that, he disappeared (to probably take a break) for almost 15 minutes. He returned not wearing his suit anymore and changed his orange shirt with a black one with some organizers bringing a circle high table and have the long black table moved slightly at the back.

What an amazing man. He could leave that as it is but he wanted a closer interaction to fans so he decided that he’ll sign the books standing. Take note that he needs to interact with 280 more people and sign over 300 books. I saw posts of people who waited until the end of the signing that he stood for over 3 hours without taking a break. With that arranged, the second batch is called. It’s finally my turn. Hallelujah! My friend Kris who arrived at the middle of the discussion offered to document the moment of my signing which I’m very thankful for. The turns are a lot quicker compared to the first batch (most likely due to a schedule) so I didn’t wait really long until it’s my turn and get to see him up close.

We looked each other on the eye and while almost everyone says that he’s hot, can we also talk about his eyes? It’s a different genre. It’s hypnotizing. I now get why Sevro collects people’s eyeballs because eyes like Pierce Brown exist.

I also need to mention that we smoothly shook hand. Like...ho—how? I never had a smooth handshake when meeting someone new. I’m a bit scared with handshakes because I know that it’ll end up awkward but on some miracle, it didn’t happen with Pierce. Here’s how our conversation went after the handshake — Pierce: Mae? Have we talked before? Me: Yeah. Back when Morning Star was released. I asked you when will the paperback will come out and you said it’ll be out six months later. I told you that I couldn’t wait that long so I pre-ordered the hardbound because our bookstore don’t have it yet. There’s also that one time at goodreads. Also, I replied to your tweet days ago regarding #GoReadWrite2017. P: I saw your tweet and liked it. Thank you for coming! And yes, I remember that! I find it strange that it wasn’t out on the bookstore when it’s a worldwide release. M: My cousin borrowed my copy of the trilogy w/c includes my hardbound Morning Star and hasn’t returned it since so I bought your books again. P: Your cousin is a cheeky book thief...! *signs my books* M: Yeah. I asked for my books a lot of times but they never returned it. [National Bookstore official gesturing to take my phone for the photo] M̶e̶ ̶(̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶s̶)̶:̶ Oh crap. I haven’t told him my inner geek -ings about Lysander. What to do?! M: *glances on my phone* Before I forgot, I drew Victra! I was supposed to give you a print but I haven’t finished on time so this drawing is still incomplete. *shows drawing* P: Oh wow, she looks lovely with that dress. Make sure to tweet it to me once you finished it. M: Sure thing! (̶I̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶r̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶a̶i̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶T̶B̶H̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶r̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶.̶ ̶N̶o̶w̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶ ̶L̶M̶A̶O̶.̶)̶

Pierce then pointed at the official. He got really antsy because I talked more and my phone hanged when I’m about to set the camera. My friend Kris also took some pictures when the official tried to stop him because the policy said that only the official is the one that’s allowed to take a picture but Pierce being so smooth to this signing told the official that it’s fine.

I haven’t told a pose to do so Pierce settled on holding my shoulder while I shakily hold his waist because of the height difference. I think he felt my hand shaking so he gave a light squeeze to the shoulder before he told that we’re ready to take a picture.

After the picture is taken, Pierce handed me my books and added before we parted— Thank you for supporting my books...twice! Also, tell your cousin that they need to return your books or the reaper will come to them.

I feel like my brain melted a bit after talking to him to the point when Gabby asked me almost instantly on how is it, my sentences are pretty incoherent. When I recovered, I told her that I forgot to ask Pierce for a hug so I’m hoping that she’ll avenge for me. Gabby did ask Pierce for a hug but Pierce told her that “You’re free to hug me even if you didn’t ask.” (If you want her story on what happened to their meeting, bug her on twitter). I hugged Gabby tightly as soon as she returned and said that she avenged for me. I have such awesome friends.

Once we went out on the venue, me together with Gabby, Kris & Nat (that arrived 3 turns before my turn on the signing) strolled around the floor and took pictures before we decided to eat dinner at Kenny Rogers. We conversed and strolled more until we decided to travel back home.

Writing all what happened still feels surreal to me that I’m having a post-signing withdrawal. I’m thankful for National Bookstore that they invited Pierce to come over in the Philippines. I PM -ed them over a year ago about Pierce and when NBS announced that they’ll have him at #GoReadWrite2017, I’m beyond ecstatic and searched for a local Red Rising FB group. Joining the Red Rising Philippines, I discovered that there are a lot of PH Howlers that requested Pierce to visit Philippines too. I’m really glad that NBS reciprocated to our feelings.

Finally, Thank you Pierce Brown for coming in the Philippines. We Filipino howlers appreciate it so much! I hope that you’ll enjoy your last few days here and hopefully, visit us again soon.

Audentes fortuna juvat and live for more, my fellow howlers!

- Mae

#pierce brown #piercebrowninph #author spotlight #book signing #red rising #golden son #red rising trilogy #iron gold #long post #long text post #mae speaks random stuff

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maehustisya · 7 years

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tfw you’re a millenial but you don’t like avocado

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maehustisya · 7 years

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#haikyuu!!#crack #?#shitpost #???#i love this

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maehustisya · 7 years

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You can stop saying that cartoon fan art and fanfiction is “illegal” now.

And before you cry about anyone “supporting pedophilia!!!”, the point here is that what you’re complaining about (aka, shipping teenage cartoon characters, which has been a thing for decades) IS NOT PEDOPHILIA. Literally no one else has ever even considered it to be that before, and you’re abusing what that word means.

According to the 18 U.S. Code § 2256 (yes, the same code that antis have been using a screencap of, but omitting the last part of in order to conceal the truth):

“The term “indistinguishable” used with respect to a depiction, means virtually indistinguishable, in that the depiction is such that an ordinary person viewing the depiction would conclude that the depiction is of an actual minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. This definition does not apply to depictions that are drawings, cartoons, sculptures, or paintings depicting minors or adults.”

Also note the phrase “recognizable as an actual person” in 9ii.

(For real though–I have to laugh if you’re gonna tell me cartoons and anime characters look like real human beings. Like, who the fuck has eyes the size of fists and heads the size of pumpkins??? You guys are idiots…)

This is also further upheld by the Supreme Court ruling of Ashcroft vs Free Speech Coalition, and again in Ashcroft vs American Civil Liberties Union (the PROTECT Act has also had related portions–specifically 1466A, which antis love to parade around–judged as unconstitutional on a federal level, as was a result of United States v. Handley, in which the defendant was convicted due to a guilty plea bargain, and not actually convicted on the initial charges of obscenity. The plea bargain was made under the belief that the jury chosen to judge him would not acquit him of the obscenity charges if they were shown the images in question). Handley’s case is the only one so far that dealt solely with drawings of characters that did not exist in real life (as in, without further discovery of more serious content in the defendant’s possession–or ties to illegal sites–which is what occurred with other cases that antis tend to cite).

Also:

13-17-year-olds (aka minors) only make up 15% of this site’s user base. Meanwhile, the site has always allowed adult content. This means that staff is trusting you to browse appropriately, and to take responsibility for your browsing using the tools they have given to you (like blocking, and filtering search results). They are allowing you to be here under the assumption that you are mature enough to handle it. Your behavior is only showing staff that they might want to raise the minimum age limit (which is 17+ for mobile users, by the way). When faced with the choice of either trying to monitor/control millions of people, or simply adding a new age limitation, a company will always choose the easier option. Don’t ruin the site for all the teens that aren’t huge, easily-offended pissbabies.

No, fiction does not affect reality the way you want to believe. The statistics for rape, child abuse, assault, murder, etc. have all experienced a dramatic decline over the past few decades, in spite of our media becoming more graphically violent, and pornography being more easily accessible. Your logic just doesn’t hold up to the facts (by the way, this also applies to stories with mature themes like rape or murder, or stories with abusive or taboo relationships. IT’S JUST FICTION, PEOPLE. It’s a reflection of various aspects of our humanity, which includes the things we most fear. Writing and reading about them is one way we can strip them of that fear and power they hold over us. It doesn’t mean we stop recognizing those things as morally wrong–it’s just a way of reconciling their existence, and coping with it).

No, children wouldn’t find truckloads of porn in Google’s Safe Search. In fact, for most fandoms, you’ll have a hard time finding adult content even with Safe Search OFF. Google tailors its results to your browsing. If you’re finding “problematic” content, all that proves is that you were searching for it in the first place.

The internet is not a babysitter. Small children shouldn’t be on it unsupervised to begin with. If you wouldn’t let them go to a heavily crime-ridden neighborhood by themselves, then they shouldn’t be online by themselves. Public spaces are not “safe”. It’s not the job of millions of strangers to constantly look out for other people’s children (nor are they obligated to look out for you, for that matter). That’s the responsibility of their PARENTS. PERIOD.

An abuser can groom a victim without ever using anything sexual whatsoever. It’s about trust. It can be something as simple as an interest in model airplanes–does that make those “problematic”? As for those abusers, chances are that they’re not some random stranger on the internet, but someone known to the victim. You may not want to hear this, but the greatest threat to children statistically? It’s their own mothers.

Antis only came about within the past two years. Before that, there was no real drama in fandoms beyond the occasional shipping war, which no one treated like anything but a shipping war. You are the ones that made fandoms toxic. Fan art and fanfiction didn’t affect any of us the way you’re claiming before. Hell–people have been sexualizing cartoons for literally as long as they’ve existed. That’s almost 100 fucking years, and it hasn’t caused a goddamn thing. You’re abusing and trivializing extremely serious issues in order to use as leverage to threaten and silence others, and you bloody well know it. You choose the things that you’re aware that everyone hates: Pedophilia, abuse, etc. You know that just mentioning these things causes an instant knee-jerk reaction–one that few people will bother to look into beyond the initial claim. You’re deliberately emotionally manipulating others. Those are the tactics of abusers (and don’t even say “UM you’re calling survivors abusers!!”, because those who have been abused are the biggest demographic at risk for becoming abusers. No, it doesn’t mean every abused child grows up to be an abuser, but the number of serial killers that were abused as children is hard to ignore).

Adult content of fictional characters could actually help prevent cases of child sexual abuse. But then, we all know this was never about children for any anti, or you wouldn’t limit your concern to just the cartoons that you’re personally interested in. Honestly, I would think you’d be more concerned about the fact that sites like Pornhub and Redtube require no age verification, account, password, or credit card to access.

Point blank: What you are doing is called “crying wolf”, and it has real consequences. For example: Anti-vaxxers. All it took was one man claiming a link between vaccines and autism, and now diseases like polio are turning up again because of people who refuse to vaccinate their children. If you make claims of pedophilia where it doesn’t actually exist, you are hurting legitimate claims of pedophilia.

So, anyway, if you could stop accusing teenage girls (yes, the majority of the people you’re harassing are young women–usually minors themselves) of being “pedophiles” over something that’s 100% legal (which is shaming them during a period of their life where they’re using fan art and fanfiction as a safe means of exploring their own sexuality, and is honestly misogynistic as hell of you), and that was going on long before you came along without any issue, that’d be super.

Oh, and by the way–if you choose to falsely accuse another user of pedophilia, that IS enough of a violation of the Terms of Service for staff to delete your account. I’d tell you to just ask “bipolaramyrose”, but well…she no longer has an account for that very reason.

I’m going to tag a few blogs that may be interested in this:

@educating-antis, @shippingisnotactivism, @shipwhateveryouwant, @antisdontdoshit, @antiantis-saltmine

Feel free to tag anyone else you think might find this useful. Lemme know what tags I should add to the bottom for better exposure as well.

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