#'due to personal reasons i cannot write women'

[mixelation]

i will also share with u the absurd toxicity (reborn au au (tm)) rpf lore developed with @waffliesinyoface

point one: obito would not be naturally drawn to fandom, but he IS a troll who likes absurd things, and it's important to him to know what's up with the people in his life. he has read the entirety of icha icha (more than once!) for the simple pleasure of sniping kakashi with a well-placed reference. when tori gets fixated on ninja rpf, he also obviously starts reading it so he can have fuel to tease her.

unlike kakashi's brand of obsession (which is PRIVATE, obito, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS), tori's obsessions crave interaction. you want to talk rpf with her? she is going to drag you down into a terrible vortex of rpf fixations

obviously "driven to making insane decisions for petty reasons" tori is obito's favorite tori. he is SO supportive of her ongoing war against the sasori girls.

obvious outcome of point one: obito becomes a kakashi girl

tori is SO supportive of his psychosexual kakashi obsession. she thinks him working through his feelings like this is good for him. also she likes reading fic

obito is not well-liked in kakashi fan circles when he's writing in under a pen name because he keeps writing kakashi as a damsel in distress in constant need of rescuing due to chakra exhaustion. fangirls hate this because kakashi should be cool and badass all of the time???

point two (horrible realization): in this au, obito retains his uchiha pretty privilege. he's also the infamous loose canon of the yellow flash's students. there's ABSOLUTELY insane fic about him

obito's favorite ship is obviously him/kakashi, but NO ONE writes it right???

yes he and tori are dating. no she doesn't care he keeps looking up kakashi/him. she knows what she signed up for.

in fact, tori inspires him!! if tori can go hunt down a random sasori rpf writer to argue with her, OBVIOUSLY he can go have a converastion with some obito writers and gently push them in the right direction!!

but he has to do it cool and mysterious, see, so they get him. he shows up in the dead of night in his super dramatic madara personality. he just wants to talk. he gives a dramatic speech and throws in some killing intent for Effect

obvious outcome of point two: everyone stops writing obito fic because they're terrified.

tori: realizes there's still READERS for obito fic but no writers

tori: that's free real estate

she's converting. she's an obito girl now. (obito: babe that's SO sweet of you)

NO ONE likes her obito fics either because she writes him as a deeply pathetic whackjob who cries during sex. she gets multiple replies that are like "when will obito show up to murder THIS writer"

instead of being normal she's like "FYI he DID show up in my bedroom but that won't stop me because I AM NOT A COWARD"

third, miscellaneous point: obito is shunned by fandom when he's a faceless person writing in. at in person meet-ups, people love him despite his rancid opinions because he is hot. :'(

tori: PUT THE MASK BACK ON I HATE THIS

obito in kakashi cosplay??? with kakashi's real clothes he stole???

i thought about writing a joke about them going to an in-person fic exchange and people not realizing they're together to mirror the ANBU Party Debacle. however i do not think this is the mood for Torito because they cannot physically resist bothering each other for more than 90 seconds at a time. obito shows up holding her hand so he can swing their arms like literal children. if he doesn't pay attention to her for long enough, tori WILL tug his hair/loose clothing/etc. he attempts to sit in her lap at least twice. they're both super into the other person's rancid headcanons. they are so fucking obnoxious

no one ever matches obito-in-person with obito-showing-up-to-harass-fic-writers because of the insanely different personalities

people are okay with obito in person despite his personality because he is. hot. and a man. and they're a group of mostly women who are attracted to men. do you see? but they still fucking hate tori

a rumor starts that the reason tori can write bonkers obito fic without him murdering her is that when he showed up to threaten her over it, she slept with him. so not only is she annoying, but she cheated on her hot boyfriend (obito) with famous ninja uchiha obito! she doesn't deserve either of them!!!

(obito: that's exactly what happened tho. i gave you my super cool and scary "write better fanfic" speech and you slept with me. <3 / tori, who will never EVER admit she found his stupid "madara" personality kind of hot: (tea kettle noises))

#reborn au au: it's gotten sillier #the torito content you crave!

[katasstrophy]

I feel like I've seen every Bluelock boy paired with a very cute, very bubbly, and chill gf/reader before, but I haven't seen any of them paired with a cool and competent or even bossier type. Are there any guys you think of liking that type??? Or maybe just deserve that type to be kept in line lmao 🤣

nonnie!! 😳 NONNIE UR BRAIN I’M GIVING IT A THOUSAND KISSES UR SOOO RIGHT FOR THIS!!! i guess it doesn’t really show with the fics i’ve uploaded so far – which is a damn shame, i should fix that – but i am absolutely all for readers who are just… out there, ya know? they’re prickly, or easy to anger, or sardonic as all hell, or way too clever for their own good or yes yes, bossy<3 i eat that shit UP like it’s my last meal. this is not to say i don’t enjoy sweet, bubbly readers (bc i do!) but the type you describe just… scratches a certain itch iykwim 👁️👁️

i think one of my first posts ever about blue lock on this blog (cw. mid writing LMAO) was exactly about this. obviously most of the blue lock guys are only extreme egoists when they’re playing soccer, but i do think that aspect of their lives will ultimately start to bleed into their personality as they grow up/go pro. so having someone who’s just like “yeah that’s great and all but if you won’t make it to date night i’ll leave your sorry ass” is just. so sexy to them like?? they haven’t gotten their ego knocked down a peg in a while so i think they’d be drawn to a partner like that askdhxnbz idk if i’m explaining this very well but as far as i’m concerned all blue lock boys deserve an unhinged reader lol 😤

THAT BEING SAID!!! >:))) i have a top three list of blue lock men who i, personally, would love to put in their place and encourage anyone out there to do so as well LOL

1. MICHAEL KAISER — this cocky motherfucker ugh need i say more 🙄 the urge to censor his name was real strong but i persevered still cannot believe i’m (sadly) attracted to this horrible, horrible man. he’s sooo insufferable and just so obsessed with himself like he unironically refers to himself as the emperor when i tell you there’s nothing i want more than to make this man beg on his knees i mean it – what a pretty sight that would be hm? <3 all his past lovers probably treated him like he was god’s greatest gift to women (HE IS NOT) – and by now he’s not only used to it but comes to expect it – so when he meets you and you’re like “mm you’re kind of a prick leave me alone thenk yew✨✨” he’s just. so scandalized LMFAO suddenly he’s the one chasing after you and vying for a shred of your attention oooohh yes that’s exactly what he deserves how it should be

2. ITOSHI SAE — listen he might be my precious babygirl now but i used to hate this mans guts like no other and that little resentment still lives on in my heart in the form of wanting this man’s downfall to be a woman like don’t tell me that’s not the hottest thing you’ve ever heard. he’s just so single-mindedly focused on soccer – japan’s treasure and what not – and thinks he can get away with being an asshole because of it but you place down your foot and tell him to cut the bullshit or you’ll find someone who treats you better (AMEN SISTER) and suddenly he’s grappling with the reality that shit he might just fall apart without you yes girl make him suffer

3. OLIVER AIKU — i couldn’t not include the resident fuckboy here mmmm the possibilities for him are endless and each one more delicious than the last. he might not be as insufferable as the others but he still thinks extremely highly of himself, especially when it comes to his way with the ladies. typical “oh no i don’t do relationships” kinda guy who can show you a good time for a night before dipping in the morning – and you just don’t want that. so you reject his advances, say you’re not interested and move on, but for some reason, oliver can’t. literally physically wounds his pride when he crawls back for a second chance but you don’t budge, still wary of him due to his past behavior unless he can show you otherwise. and the way he scrambles to prove himself as trustworthy to you? god tier groveling from a man YUMM

#—ping! new message from (anon) #AKSHHDJD THIS GOT SO LONG AND RAMBLY AGAIN SORRY!! #but you have a fat juicy brain on you nonnie #idk if this is exactly what you wanted but these are the thoughts that jumped out so hope that’s okay!! <3 #blue lock x reader #—bllk.thoughts!

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Mel Medarda

she is the richest woman in piltover who left her family because she didn't agree with the way they did things (conquering and murdering). she sponsors jayce and viktor, and courts jayce, which makes people upset because, you know, jayvik. she and viktor are CANONICALLY parallels with much of their imagery mirroring the other's and they are literally the same height. and people are so weird and misogynist and racist about her. they argue she is manipulating jayce and doesn't actually love him. i am cognitively disabled and cannot explain things well, but, she is so fucking shouldered

Black woman who has a romantic arc with one of the main characters Jayce. Jayce has a best friend called Viktor and their relationship is pretty important plot wise, shown as a direct contrast to his relationship with Mel even though only one is canonically sexual/romantic. So naturally fandom as the transformative safe haven it is villainized Mel horribly coming up with theories about how instead of being a complex morally grey character she's actually evil and just wants to seduce Jayce for Evil Reasons. Since they couldn't use her as a supportive female friend with no personality, others just ignored her existence entirely or acted like Jayce would ditch her for Viktor. Majority of m/m shippers will reduce her down to her relationship with Jayce and an obstacle in the way of JayVik, ironically writing her as a far worse and less complex version of the character we get on screen. The misogyny reeks and combined with the racism? It's a pretty bad case. Only slightly mitigated due to the fact that the main characters of the show are women (and the lead is a lesbian) so thankfully the male focus of fandom is lessened as opposed to filling almost every inch. Still awful to try and search for good Mel content, godspeed girlies with taste.

She's one of the most interesting characters on the show, a rich politician, smart and beautiful and has a really complicated and intriguing relationship with the city's golden boy inventor. unfortunately golden boy has a sickly twink science partner so she gets sidetracked SO BAD

Juno

She's honestly a way deeper character than people give her credit for, her arc is that of acceptance and being true to your heart despite what society thinks of you. Oh yeah and for the record she doesn't stand in the way of Lougosi because of her crush on Legoshi because I honestly think that she was more in love with the idea of being in a same species relationship than she was with Legoshi himself. I'm talking about the part where she falls for Louis and struggles with the knowledge that if she actually pursues him she's gonna be seen as a freak and never reach the social status she strives for. There's a lot to discuss with her character arc but NOOOO let's all just laugh at how she gets no bitches because Beastars fans see Juno as a joke. (I'm not mad I'm not mad it's fine it's fine)

shes cool but she doesnt have good chemistry with her canon love interest and therefore the fandom chalks her up to having no personality whatsoever. they see her as either an obstacle or a sex object basically

Done dirty by the writers and fandom alike

#poll #round 1 #mel medarda #mel arcane #arcane #arcane netflix #juno beastars #beastars

[herrlindemann]

Interview with Till's lawyer, Simon Bergmann, for Cicero.

Mr. Bergmann, what are the criminal charges against Till Lindemann, which prompted the Berlin public prosecutor to start investigations?

The authorities in Vilnius have already stopped their investigations due to a lack of sufficient suspicion. The investigations by the Berlin public prosecutor's office were not triggered by criminal charges from victims, but by two people and an association who refer to media reports or a YouTube video. 

So the Berlin public prosecutor's office did not officially open proceedings, although the information was publicly available, but only reacted to the criminal charges?

As we can see from the investigation file, this is the case. I cannot say whether the authorities reacted to public pressure. On the other hand, we have nothing against it. An investigation has the advantage that the allegations are clarified by professionals and not by investigative journalists. We'd rather have the public prosecutor's office check that than leave it hanging in the air. I also know of cases like this, where suspicions are reported, but at the same time there are no investigations at all. This is a new phenomenon.     

In the case of Julian Reichelt / Axel Springer, the old publisher Dirk Ippen intervened in Munich and at the last moment prevented any publication about alleged misconduct by the Bild editor-in-chief in the Ippen group. As a result, his investigative team resigned and went to Spiegel together . Der Spiegel must and wants to use these people and make full use of them. 

The most spectacular result so far is the cover story from June 9, 2023: "Rammstein: Sex, power, alcohol - what the young women from 'Row Zero' report", produced by 13 authors. Do you see a pattern in the recent suspicious reporting? Is this a new development with results that were not seen five or ten years ago?

One gets the impression that the topic has gained a whole new spin in the media with the MeToo movement and Harvey Weinstein. You noticed that this topic triggers people. It attracts a lot of attention, just the catchphrase "MeToo" alone, and it guarantees high sales figures, especially in the digital sector. 

That's why you will hardly find any MeToo reports without a payment barrier. They appear in the print edition - which you have to buy - and often in the paid subscription area, so they are not freely accessible. The reason for this is that they also want to make money with it. This has led to a significant increase in impermissible reporting of suspicions and to a dangerous shift in the guidelines. 

Where do you draw the line between permissible and impermissible reporting of suspicions?

This is very complex, actually a case for legal seminars. There is no such thing as black and white. It must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. In order to be able to report identifyingly, a celebrity must usually be affected. If it is not about a celebrity, the story is usually dead, because then there is no public interest in naming or depicting the person. The reporting interest of the public must not only be given, but also relatively high, because the risk of stigmatization is enormous. You are reporting something that has not yet been clarified.

The authors and one of the publisher's legal advisors recently said in a video discussion with selected readers – “ Spiegel – Backstage” from June 29th – themselves: “We don't know whether what we're writing is true.”

That's how it is. There are accusations, there are clues or witnesses or there aren't. The person concerned denies it or does not comment. One does not know whether the person did what someone claims. That has to be clarified by the investigative process or by a court, or it will clear itself up. Only: As long as that is not clarified, the accused has to be considered innocent. That is why there are these strict requirements from the Federal Court of Justice to the Federal Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.      

As far as the public interest in Rammstein is concerned, you don't have to worry too much: Yes, of course such allegations are also possible in principle. In any case, the lack of prominence is not the KO criterion. Only: The article would not really work for Lieschen Müller or the average consumer anyway. It takes celebrity to make it sell. 

The second hurdle is then the main one: Depending on the severity of the allegations, the press may only report when sufficient evidence is available or has been determined. The press now has to see for itself: Is there enough evidence that the person did it? It must have a minimum number of connecting facts and, if requested, produce them that support its presentation. Only then is she allowed to publish her suspicions. This is where most mistakes are made. 

Do you assume that such legal disputes and even defeats as now before the Hamburg Higher Regional Court, which also cause considerable costs, are factored in by the magazines in their sales expectations from the outset?     

I do believe that publishers see the risks and consciously take them. The Spiegel legal counsel and also the investigative editors have recently commented on the alleged thoroughness of their research, even before a legal dispute arises. I am very surprised that the press obviously feels compelled to justify its research in such a proactive manner, given that it is a matter of course in journalism.

Or she turns the tables and uses the opportunity to celebrate her own professionalism, impartiality, her ethos and thus to do additional advertising. On the one hand you want to arm yourself against criticism, on the other hand it is a marketing tool: "How did our research in the Rammstein/MeToo case go?" New people are attracted to listen to it: Take a look and you can consider getting a subscription. This is really new.

Is that voyeurism that is being exploited and exploited in terms of sales? Especially since you know next to nothing about the private life of the band Rammstein. They isolate themselves and allow no insights, let alone home stories; which makes you really curious.

Definitely. That's also my point of criticism. The alleged perpetrators do not peddle their private lives. In the case of Luke Mockridge, the preliminary investigation had been discontinued when the reports began, in the case of Rammstein suspicious reports were used as the basis for a preliminary investigation, and in the case of the gallery owner Johann König, there was no preliminary investigation at all until today, which did not prevent Die Zeit from getting started against him .

What is the evidence in the Rammstein case ?

I ask for your understanding that I do not want to comment on the status of the criminal investigation. On the other hand, I can judge what was put forward by the publishers in the press law disputes. And the means of making the allegations credible - rape, administration of knockout drops to enable sexual acts - do not convince me in any way.

There is surprisingly little, considering what has been announced in the articles and headlines. Der Spiegel is an example of an approach that I have observed in numerous recent MeToo reports: When the article says: We spoke to around two dozen women and this resulted in a certain pattern, a system. A man who pushes boundaries. A man who does not respect the will of women. You read the article and you think: Well, two dozen women – that sounds pretty bad. There must be something to it. And the higher the number of witnesses, the more one believes that this is true.

As a person affected, you then have to sue, so in this case apply for an injunction against Der Spiegel . Only then do you have a chance to find out what's actually true about it. Most of the time you don't even know who is accusing whom of what. These are often alleged or actual events that happened years ago. So you have to force the press in court to disclose the results of your research.

As part of a process, the court then has to check whether the stated principles of reporting on suspicions have been complied with. Other criteria are whether the reporting was balanced and objective, and whether the opportunity to comment was given. And it shouldn't be prejudiced. Incidentally, all points that I believe were disregarded in the article. Anyway. Then you go to court and then Der Spiegel presents its research results and then you check: where are the two dozen women actually?

The text is about the "casting system", but also about the accusation that Lindemann used knockout drops or had them used to make women compliant. And we only attack this latter, this really serious accusation, because the "casting system" is more a question of moral evaluation. You may ask: Do you still have to go to bed with groupies these days, do you have to make a “selection” based on visual criteria? You can evaluate everything critically and raise the moral index finger. I find this feigned indignation completely exaggerated. For me it's a puritanical hypermorality that's being shown. 

But: If there were criminal offenses, then I don't want to defend it. I just can't see it at all right now, at least not in terms of a "casting system". And as far as the knockout drops are concerned, I didn't find anything relevant in the documents and evidence provided by Spiegel . The district court of Hamburg has meanwhile also assessed this in the same way. 

So what follows from this? 

The media must find out: Is a statement credible? Are there additional indications, facts? The thesis that in testimony-against-testimony offenses the man always wins because of the principle "in case of doubt for the accused", i.e. it should never be reported on, is wrong. It's not like that. Criminal proceedings on sexual offenses are checked very carefully because the public prosecutor's office does not want to be accused of stopping such proceedings too quickly. 

That's how it should be. It's different from a few years ago. There are other options; you have very well-trained civil servants, above all. There are indications such as Whatsapp messages, signs of injury, cell phone data on whereabouts. This is often the subject of an indictment. Whether or not there will be a conviction is another question, but prosecutors are trying their best. 

But abuse of power is also accused of Lindemann.

Because of serious sexual offences, which, given the current state of affairs, is not even remotely possible and, by the way, is not even covered by the allegations made by Der Spiegel : I did not find any evidence in the file about the knockout drops. At this point, Der Spiegel is already rowing back and says that it did not raise this suspicion at all, but that it primarily came to speak of this "casting system" and of abuse of power.

What is the abuse of power in the Lindemann case?

If you compare this with the Weinstein case, you realize that the abuse of power does not exist. What kind of power is that supposed to be? Rock star prominence is said to be power. He uses it. Only: You could level this accusation against any celebrity who has sex with a woman who may not be his own.

Have you found any indications that your client has given or promised anything to women? Does he put together a backing choir? A dance group? vocals? Or did he conversely threaten them with the end of their careers if they are not compliant?

Nothing like that. The women whom Der Spiegel is now using as witnesses do not claim that either . The affidavits I've seen make no mention of that. On the contrary, the majority of women say they knew there would be sex at the after-show party, and they went anyway. Only two of these affidavits come from women who report from their own experience. Others only report atmospheric. And that they left when they became uncomfortable. 

Were women prevented from walking when they wanted to?

I did n't find anything about this in the documents provided by Spiegel . But I was never there myself. So I can only reproduce the statements I have seen so far. Result: None of the women say they were prevented from leaving the room. And none of the women talk about abuse of power. On the contrary: Most of them, at least that's how I understand the statements, were interested in sex.

I also see the problem that, as a person affected, you first have to put a lot of money on your table before you can even attack an issue of Spiegel or anyone else.

That's added. I have clients who honestly say: Unfortunately, we have to lay down our arms, as sorry as we are. It's no longer financial.

If it goes all the way to the Higher Regional Court and then to Karlsruhe, that will be really expensive - and woe betide you lose in the end. Do you have an example?

I'll give you a case. The client, himself active in the media, was accused. We took action against the mirror , applied for a restraining order. That took a long time. It was issued in essential parts, so initially a success, but the mirror raised a hearing complaint and the BVerfG suspended the enforcement of the temporary injunction. 

Consequence: What we had achieved, the deletion of passages from the article, is reversed and the text can be put online again. Negotiations were then to continue in August, which lost another two months. And Der Spiegel had already announced that it would go through all the instances and also force my client into the main action. Against this background, the continuation of the proceedings no longer made any sense. 

So if things go as Spiegel has threatened, that means: In the injunction proceedings you have two instances with two oral hearings and you then have main proceedings with at least two, but probably three instances, because then it goes from the regional court to the higher regional court to the Federal Court of Justice.   

How much money does that add up to?

This depends on the amount in dispute and the course of the proceedings - the more serious the damage to reputation, the higher the costs. If the client loses in the end, which thank God rarely happens, he has to bear all the costs, including those of the other party. That can add up to a six-figure sum. Of course there are people who can and must afford it, but there are also clients who are prominent but not millionaires. 

And they are brought to their knees.

And the media, the opponents of the trial, know that. They take into account the financial situation of the person concerned. They say to themselves: We'll report on the suspicion despite all our reservations, but the scoop is so big that it definitely pays off and we'll include the lawyer's fees. My impression is that the mirror has now reached the level of an image newspaper. In the specific case even clearly worse than the picture . Methods are used that are actually attributed to tabloid journalism. This is a bad development. 

#rammstein #till lindemann #great insight into the case #* #it's all about money really

[moophinz]

I’ve made a post on this already, but after acquiring heaps and reams of knowledge, I’ve decided to go at it again.

(From Mine’s TV Tropes page.)

I cannot stop anyone from wanting to view Mine as bi, and my intentions don’t lie there. But instead, I wanted to bring up that it hardly seems like the intentions of the devs and especially Yokoyama. Mine is a pretty big deal in being a heavily implied gay character regardless of having been a villain, partly due to how he’s just as masculine as his peers and his love for another man is a core part of his characterization where sympathy comes into play. On top of that, they do not shy away from heavy handed hints in his total lack of interest in women romantically and sexually.

Yokoyama is not only a non stranger to commentary on how much he loves Mine, but he’s also made remarks that imply he finds it funny that women are attracted to him though they can’t have him.

RGGO is particularly revealing about this thanks to how much room it gives to focus on character elements they couldn’t do in the actual games.

—A beach event in Okinawa has Kanda wanting to throw a party and see who between them can invite the most women. Mine is less than uninterested, but still winds up getting a few women interested in him. He can’t seem to outright reject them, but gives them very bland answers.

—This is a big trend in other Mine centric stories. Upon being asked by a woman if he’s by himself, he gives a slightly roundabout answer instead of outright saying anything more direct. He agrees to do something with her despite his ongoing lack of enthusiasm.

—As told, he’s gone on dates with women thanks to being unable to turn them down (he’s interestingly kind enough to women even though there’s some popular jokes about him being a misogynistic gay man). But if he sees a woman once, doesn’t really see them again. All in all, this is incredibly different from many other yakuza men who adore women as they slot into the three important status symbols: power, money, and women. All things that Mine brings up at the end of 3 as stuff that wasn’t really giving him any meaning or purpose in life. His line about having any woman he could want goes largely misunderstood. Especially after he ends that line with saying living life that way was a lie.

Comparing an outright love confession to Mine being thankful to have had Katase around feels almost laughable. On one hand, I’m at least glad the person who wrote this acknowledges the romantic feelings with Daigo, but on the other hand… “heavily implied?” With Katase? No… Not every meaningful statement or even so much as breathing the same air as one another between a man and woman is grounds for love.

Genuinely, it feels like they’ve done nearly everything but outright use any direct wording for his sexuality. He’s the only character they’ve gone this far with. Others get more vagueness or subtlety.

(From Majima’s)

(From Zhao’s)

I’ve talked to @04tenno quite a bit about this. And as usual, they’re the reason I know quite a bit, too.

Majima’s section is bizarre to me for immediately throwing out there that he’s a huge ladies’ man. (This was listed elsewhere in his section). Which is just… hilarious. Sure, plenty of irl female fans adore him, but in universe, he’s nothing of the sort and often interacts with women by using a more friendly tone of voice (probably to seem less intimidating) along with other behavioral changes. I also take up issue regarding the way the person who wrote this seems to completely downplay Majima and Kiryu’s relationship to the first game. But that’s a whole other conversation…

Zhao’s section feels incredibly different compared to the other two due to how the person writing it seems to completely lean into the potential signifiers and stereotypes surrounding him and includes other instances beyond that. There’s nothing about him being in a hostess club automatically meaning he’s attracted to women. As such, even a lot of dudebros seem to openly view Zhao as not being bisexual, but instead, straight up gay. This seems to be due to the fact that Zhao is never shown playing into the typical mainstream macho type stuff as opposed to Mine.

I didn’t take a screenshot, but Daigo even gets the assumed-to-be-into-women-because-he-was-next-to-one-treatment. While he went to hostess clubs, he looks so extremely despondent and out of the moment when we see him there. I can’t find it in me to assume he’s attracted to women just because he went to those types of clubs. His sexuality is totally up for debate as several others are as well. And we can all see him however we want. But, overall, immediately assuming things for such and such reasons starts to feel a little off to me. All in all, Mine gets this treatment the worse thanks to his sexuality actually being a big factor in his character.

#yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #like a dragon #yoshitaka mine #queer characters #gay character #queer analysis #sort of in a way maybe possibly #Mine Yoshitaka my favorite Daigo kisser #majima goro #zhao tianyou #I sure hope this makes sense and reads well because I always get uncertain of myself with these things but anyway #who’s going to take it upon themselves to add an entire Ho yay section #anybody? …anybody? no…? #but like I said you can see things how you want of course #it’s just kind of funny to me that some have picked up on Zhao not being excited to be in a hostess club but some others #immediately assume Daigo was overjoyed to be at them himself…apparently #maybe he’d be happy in some other instance but from what we were shown buddy boy is dead inside #also Project X that crossover game was crazy for having Majima talk to women the way that it did like bro that’s how he talks to men #women get the nice customer service voice with a side of playfulness

[anya-ackerman]

So I said in an earlier post that I think Levi is “old fashioned” so I felt like elaborating on that

Putting under a read more cause this is really just super indulgent for me in particular so if this ain’t your thing, no biggie :)

☕️ So I guess to preface this, I kind of think it’s a bit of a result of Levi’s upbringing with his mother and Kenny’s influence. I’ve talked before that I think, due to his mother’s unfortunate circumstances, Levi was forced at an early age to realize how brutal and cruel men can be towards women for their own gratification. Then when Kenny took him in, Kenny did his best to impart onto Levi what “it meant to be a man”, though in some regards I think Levi opted to do the exact opposite of what his uncle would do.

☕️ For one, Levi is genuinely chivalrous. He cannot stand the suffering of others if he has a means of preventing it. He realizes he can’t solve everyone’s problems, but if he sees someone in need and he has the ability to help, Levi knows he can’t turn away from it.

☕️ Levi will legitimately be the type to open and hold doors open for you. He’ll put his coat on your shoulders if he notices you’re cold. He pulls your chair out for you and will rise from his seat when you get up to leave and when you return. He’ll make sure you’re towards the inner part of the sidewalk, away from the street, and he makes sure to hold his hand out to you to help you step down. Bonus for me, as someone who gets anxious easily, Levi will talk on your behalf when it comes to strangers.

☕️ Levi views it as his duty to provide for you if he’s in a relationship with you. He genuinely takes it super seriously. He wants to be the type of person you can count on to take care of you. Levi himself doesn’t mind if you have a job as well, whether it be being in the Scouts yourself or having a shop in town, but Levi will make sure you know you can come to him and ask him for anything. He genuinely wants to provide for you and prove to you (and maybe a little bit himself) that he can give you a good life.

☕️ Levi doesn’t date, he courts. Like legit. Levi doesn’t enter into a relationship unless he knows, without a doubt, he’d want to marry you. And I’m not kidding that he abide by courting etiquette. He’ll spend time with you just to talk to you, write letters and send you gifts. Just know that if he’s doing all this, he’s already 110% committed to being with you for the rest of his life.

☕️ I know people have said that Levi’s “thug vernacular” is part of the reason people are taken aback when they meet him but I really don’t view it as such? Kenny in particular speaks in what one would associate with the vernacular of someone more “rough and tumble”. Levi is blunt but how he speaks is very calm and measured and he speaks in a way that is very eloquent and articulate. He just speaks his mind very bluntly that it takes others off guard, especially given Erwin’s more poetic means of speaking to rally others.

☕️ I had heard that supposedly Isayama once said that Levi has trauma from Kenny abandoning him that he feels he has to be perfect in order to keep others from leaving him and I just. That absolutely translating to how he cares for himself and presents himself. Yes, his cleanliness obsession most likely stemmed from growing up in the Underground (and due to his mother dying of illness) but also it’s the fact that cleanliness is associated with people of high standing as well. Levi is meticulous with his personal grooming, his hygiene, his manner of dress and speaking.

☕️ I don’t think it comes from a place of wanting to ignore or forget the fact that he came from the Underground. Levi isn’t the type to ignore his own past or history. But I think it comes from a place of wanting to be seen as more than where he came from. And maybe also as a means to distance himself from the image in his mind he had of Kenny by trying to be the exact opposite of Kenny.

#❤️ The Soldier and his Songbird ❤️

[milburnandnyman]

DON’T BULLSHIT ME - the analysis

Why I think there’s no fucking way Joy wouldn’t be Jakob’s and why I’m almost betting they had to write Mikael out and that’s why we got that bullshit, lacking-in-context story:

1. Jean can be a silly woman, but she is not dumb. I cannot imagine a sex therapist who wouldn’t be highly aware of these things and also as someone who has already been pregnant once in her life, to miscalculate things so horridly as in not to know who the father of her child is.

2. Jean was very outspoken about protection, there is a scene from S2 where she is attending the SexEd class at Otis’ school and she tells the students “remember, it is always your right to say no” as in response to a case where someone insists on not using protection.

3. According to these words and the fact that she is a sex therapist with a previously quite sexually active lifestyle, I am 100% sure she has always used protection, no exception.

4. Yes, Jean slept with both Jakob and Dan on that very same day which is evocative, but as previously mentioned, I am sure she’s used a condom, both with Dan and Jakob, because even if she and Jakob liked one another, I don’t think you just tell a person that you’ve had a vasectomy when you’re about to have sex with them for the first time and even if, they were still strangers, I don’t think that’d convince her not to use it, at least in terms of STD’s etc. I think it’s highly unlikely she got pregnant on that day by either of them.

5. Despite Jean kissing Remi, there was no one else in terms of sex after her and Jakob started dating. She was exclusive with Jakob.

6. I believe as Jean and Jakob became exclusive and things got serious, I think that’s when Jakob probably mentioned his vasectomy to Jean. It’s no secret that a lot of couples prefer to have sex without a condom, so the fact that they were a serious couple and that the vasectomy should theoretically keep them “safe” (haha), was probably enough of a reason to go au naturelle.

7. A lot of women actually get pregnant despite the man having had the vasectomy. You can find a ton of such stories, also, the doctor herself had said to Jean “stranger things have happened”. Yes, condoms can break, but if you’ve been cream-pied by your bf god knows how many times, despite the vasectomy, that’s a lot of shots. Pun intended.

8. While the timeline is not thoroughly explained, according to the story, S1 begins at the start of the school year and S2 is supposed to be around spring term. Jean gives birth on October 25th in S3, which is post-summer break. Jean is not due for 8 weeks at the time, so her due date should be sometime in December, meaning, Jean got pregnant sometime in March or early spring. (I think S1 and S2 contain some more dates to confirm this, a bill at Maeve’s trailer and some other stuff that kinda support bits of the timeframe.)

9. I highly doubt that the first season stretched from September and all the way up to the next spring, I think S2 actually started during the spring term and there was a time jump, so I personally think the sex with Dan was too far away for him to even be considered the father (of course, they can imply whatever they want, but according to logic - again, seems unlikely).

10. I think the time jump could have had Jean and Jakob dating in secret anywhere from a month to a couple of months, now, while we cannot be 100% sure of this, I still think a certain amount of time had passed in between.

11. Jean says she found out she was pregnant “quite late on”, but has also stated “I really didn’t know what I was going to do”, probably implying she still had the time to decide, this means she wasn’t pregnant for longer than 12 weeks. It is usually up until the 12th week mark where you have the time to decide to terminate the pregnancy. In my opinion, she must have found out somewhere in between 8-10 weeks, considering she called it “late”.

12. She had already broken up with Jakob when she found out, it could’ve been merely days or a good week after that, maybe more, but who knows, it does however give us about an extra week into the pregnancy and we can consider that when assuming how long they could’ve been a couple for beforehand.

13. The moment Jean found out, she was obviously surprised “but that’s impossible” and right away blurts out “but he’s had a vasectomy”. She right away thought of Jakob and has even expressed her surprise, due to his vasectomy, but it didn’t make her question if the baby might be someone else’s. Again, the doctor confirmed getting pregnant that way is not that unlikely.

14. Since Jean had already broken up with Jakob at the time and he had made it clear, that he doesn’t want to reconcile, Jean was quite free to decide about her pregnancy. If she ever doubted that the baby wasn’t Jakob’s, I see absolutely no reason why she would feel forced to keep it and turn her life upside down. I think Jean knowingly kept that baby, because she knew it was her and Jakob’s and there was the inevitable emotional attachment to it, so it would probably be hard for her to terminate the pregnancy and she even says it later on how one of the reasons was that “it just seemed fated”.

15. During the entire S3 there are too many lines that support Jean’s indeed very sure and convinced of Jakob being the father: Otis’ “mom, you have to tell him” - I’m pretty sure you don’t lie to your own son about who the father is, “you’ve impregnated me”, “I’m 48 and he’s had a vasectomy” so confirming in front of a therapist, that even to her it seemed impossible, yet, still, it happened, then the way she remained so sure when Jakob was beginning to grow doubtful “don’t be ridiculous”, agreeing to that DNA test without even a glimpse of a doubt and being completely shocked by the results later on. All of these to me are not behaviors of someone who “a part of me always knew she wasn’t his”, but quite the contrary.

16. The fact that Jean, despite loving Jakob, couldn’t even go back to confront him and has, for example, only decided to make it known that she “wanted to try again” later on at the therapist’s, just goes to show how vulnerable she felt after the heartbreak, so no wonder she waited a couple of months before even gathering the courage to tell Jakob, she was probably terrified and upon doing it, she actually tried to play it cool at first like “I only want you to be involved if it’s something that you would like”. So, I don’t think she’d go into it lightly and lie about it if she had any doubts about the paternity, just to use Jakob. Even the therapist asked her if she decided to keep the baby, because she still wanted to be with Jakob, to which she replied “absolutely not” and I really think that she’d probably rather just ghost him forever if she knew the baby wasn’t his as opposed to trapping him into being the father. Jean is the kind of person who really prefers to run away from her feelings at times like these.

If you actually managed to read the entire thing, thank you, you are a champ.

Yes, I know this fucking analysis won’t change S4 and they have made their choice, all I’m trying to say is, that I am suspicious of this all and I really think there was something about not being able to cast Mikael Persbrandt, that have made them change the story last minute, because it just felt so loose and if this was actually intended all this time, then all of these things from before simply don’t make sense. It puts their entire arc to question.

All of these are also the reason why I always believed that the DNA thing was just something to play with them some more and have never doubted Jakob being Joy’s father, not even for a moment.

#jean milburn #jakob nyman #jeankob #gillian anderson #sex education #sex education season 4 #jean x jakob #mikael persbrandt #wasting my life to analyze shit like this #god help me #yes i am vulnerable right now

[crossdreamers]

“Common sense” used as an anti-LGBTQ weapon

Too often the concept of “common sense” is used to invalidate people bigots do not like, whether they are women, people of color, queer or transgender people.

“Common sense” is the lazy person’s replacement for knowledge-based reflection. It is a catch phrase used to cover any prejudice a specific social group holds dear. It is a term used to strengthen the social bonding of the members of a tribe.

What it truly is not is “common” or “sense”, or at least not all the time.

Common sense as a script

I know some would argue that “common sense” serves an important role in the lives of humans. Common sense is an intellectual short cut that stops you from having to think through every facet of the problem you have to solve. Common sense refers to “scripts” or “truisms” that make it possible for us to navigate the world without having to question everything.

There is some truth to this. We cannot all question everything all the time. The problem is, however, that even if such scripts may be useful or even benign, the problem is that they are far too often hijacked by world views and belief systems that are both oppressive and violent. 

If you ever doubted the idea that language and narratives can make even the best of people tools for oppression, the frequent use of the term “common sense” in defense of hate activism should dispel that doubt.

Truisms from history

“People who live outside the Polis are barbarians who deserve to be enslaved.”

“Slavery is a natural thing, and no civilization would survive without it.”

“Women are a weaker version of men, emotional and unstable. They cannot be politicians, philosophers or warriors. That is just common sense.”

“Nordic people are intellectually superior to black people. White people have built Western civilization through hard work. Black people cannot build anything.”

“Men who have sex with men, engage in effeminate and unnatural behavior condemned by God.”

“A man who wants to live as a woman is mentally ill. No one with an ounce of common sense wants to be a woman.”

"Your gender is defined by your genitals. That is just common sense."

And so on and so forth.

‘Against the «common sense» of anti-rights groups’.

My friend Amilka González, a trans activist from Venezuela, recently published an article on bigotry and common sense over at our new Spanish language site for LGBTQ issues. 

We have now published an English language translation of this article over at Crossdreamers: ‘Against the «common sense» of anti-rights groups’.

Amilka writes:

But if we look at what is happening today, where we are a greater threat to the planet, we have to admit that it has been of no use to inherit common sense from centuries and millennia, especially when there are people and political groups whose common sense gives them “authority” to say that there is no such thing as climate change caused by human action and that it matters little whether there is evidence demonstrating the impact of human action or whether there is a scientific consensus that supports this impact.

For some curious reason of fate, which is relevant to this article, people who deny climate change in the name of common sense tend to also be anti-LGBTIQ rights and, paradoxically, sometimes argue that inclusive laws for this population are a «real» threat for the survival of humanity.

The main drawback here is that, due to its nature as a cognitive shortcut, common sense is the antithesis of critical thinking. While common sense is a type of quick knowledge that takes the shortest routes without using a lot of information and nuances, specialized knowledge such as science and philosophy needs a lot of information, a lot of analysis and a methodology that is clear enough to draw valid conclusions about their objects of study.

Needless to say, unlike common sense, science and philosophy cannot allow generalizations based on appearances and surfaces — not in vain, visual evidence alone has not been considered a priori scientific proof for centuries.

Read the whole article here!

Photo: Professor25

Originally published over at Medium.

#transgender #trans #lgbt #lgbtqa #queer #nonbinary #lgbtq #common sense #discrimination #culture #politics

[deducter]

What can a wedding ring say?

Here is the post you all wanted me to write (post) sooner, based on the final result of the poll:

Today, I’m going to share the project I’ve been working on for a while. I’ve been observing wedding rings for a long time, and now it’s time to share every single detail I observed; from their presence to their absence, and even the tiniest scratches and tan lines they leave behind.

Let’s begin with the material: The chosen material and design reflect one's character, while the inclusion of specific gemstones may indicate sentimentality or a desire for luxury. In certain cases, the material itself may even hint at one's financial standing.

Look for a date/name: Another noteworthy aspect to observe is the engravings adorning the rings. They offer a glimpse into the emotional connection shared between partners. They often show a date or a name (The date on the ring is often the wedding date, obviously).

Tiny scratches or well-maintained ?: A meticulously kept ring signifies attention to detail, while signs of wear and scratches may suggest a more adventurous, hands-on existence. Such marks can be a sign of a person’s occupation as well.

There is a peculiar observation I must share: I have noticed that widows often choose to wear their husband's wedding rings as necklaces—a sentiment-filled gesture. The ring, too large to fit on their finger, serves as a cherished memento of their late husbands, transformed into a necklace to keep their memory close. Additionally, recently widowed women are also likely to wear their own engagement rings due to their sentiments.

Culture: Now, let’s talk about the placement of these rings. There are some countries, where people wear their wedding rings on their right hand. So the ring placement can tell a lot about where someone is coming from. 

These are the countries where people wear their rings on their right hand: Germany, Chile, Colombia, Austria, Russia, Denmark, Georgia, Greece, Norway, Poland, Spain and Venezuela.

Conversely, nations like Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Iran, Mexico, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Slovenia favour the left hand. Intriguing, isn't it?

You can read more about this part here. 

Ah, and now we come to my favourite part—the absence of a ring. Its meaning can vary greatly, encompassing personal choice and even professions that discourage its wear. Allow me to elaborate further:

Personal choice plays a significant role, as some individuals opt not to wear their wedding rings, defying tradition. So yes, you may encounter married individuals who forgo the wearing of engagement rings altogether—a matter of personal preference.

Consider also the implications regarding marital status. Not everyone is married, and the absence of a ring can indicate being single or even divorced. However, I must caution against hastily jumping to conclusions based solely on the absence of a ring. There may be more to the story than meets the eye.

 Tan lines: And let us not forget the telltale tan lines left behind by these rings. Though sometimes challenging to discern in poor lighting or other unfavourable conditions, they can provide valuable insights. Tan lines may indicate consistent wear, an occupation or engagement in outdoor activities, or even a sun-soaked holiday. 

Allergies, skin sensitivities, or medical conditions can render wearing a wedding ring uncomfortable or impractical, leading some individuals to forgo its presence due to these constraints. I’ve met many people that are married but don’t wear a ring due to skin sensitivities. 

As I always say, you have to observe the person completely. You have to gather all the pieces of the puzzle, you cannot complete if you only stare at one single piece! 

These are all the different aspects that I’ve observed till now, and are based on deductive reasoning. So if you met someone who has a ring tan line, don’t jump to the conclusion that they’ve been travelling. Look for other clues. Observe the whole thing. 

-ND

#deduction #tumblr #deducter #deduce #deductive reasoning #science of deduction #tumblrpost #answers #science #observant #random observations

[lovecaitlined]

What a roller coaster. My thoughts on KaySun in episode 61. 🖤 (semi-rant, read at your own risk).

But here’s the gist—the show may excel in writing certain characters properly, but writing for other characters is inconsistent for the sake of the plot. I’m framing it from the perspective of psychology and writing. I wish the writing in the show would better explain Suna’s actions because it shows unnatural character behavior written under the guise of supposed mental instability that only conveniently appears when it furthers the plot (much like Ferit’s on-and-off again diabetes).

1. I personally think Kaya has been written very consistently thus far, he has just been framed badly. He was never going to hit Suna; Ferit just stopped him, but if Ferit hadn’t stopped him, Kaya would hit the wall. I just hate how they made Suna flinch because she’s never done that. Love how he apologized and reaffirmed his love for Suna, so when she implodes (and I fear it is coming soon), she will have him to turn to.

2. I personally disagree with people saying Suna is not being OOC. I still think she is being OOC. I never expected Suna to be mentally well; she definitely is not over her wedding rejection with F, and she has trauma and anxiety and a whole lot of insecurities. However, her being brain dead and acting like a zombie intent on getting Ferit due to a fortune teller is crazy. She is not THAT crazy, and it is so OOC for the girl who loves her sister and supported SeyFer (to the point of scalping Ferit’s mistresses) will be so weird about this. Mind you, she was looking at Kaya with heart-eyes in that one ep before becoming crazy due to Ferit.

The fact that Suna was able to point out 1) the fact that her father Kazım did not change, but just changed tactics and 2) lead Kaya to believe what she was doing with Ferit was due to Seyran and hide aspects from him (because she knows it’s WRONG) screams clearly logical and sane to me. Now if old Suna from S1 pulled crazy stunts like this, it would’ve been understandable. But I don’t believe she can regress this quickly after so much character development, so I really think they are making Suna OOC and dumb for the plot. She is way too inconsistent, and not in an impulsive way. You cannot switch insanity on and off, so I choose to believe she is just badly written and OOC.

3. A moot of mine, Raj, pointed out that it is possible that Gunger has ego problems and is trying to undo everything Leyla did. He hates women anyway so I believe this, lol.

4. I do think the FT plot will be revealed soon to Kaya and he will confront Suna about it. However, I also feel like Suna is bound to implode soon. There is a reason why there was a public KaySun fight where Suna vehemently denies anything and Kaya is made to look paranoid. That way, when Suna implodes (they better not make her cross that line, and no I will not write what I think will happen) in front of the mansion and gets humiliated and punished, the audience will not blame the people living in the yalı for what has happened to her. In fact, they’ll think she lied and went against her own words, and that she deserves it.

5. This parallels a lot of Gunger’s writing. He always makes women say sht and do the opposite. For example, Seyran and Gulgun used to say they’ll never return to the mansion and their husbands, but they do it anyway and look like clowns. Imagine if Suna publicly denies something and then crosses a line with Ferit? 💀

6. I just like how they made Kaya consistently in love with Suna so he won’t abandon her, and if she implodes he will take it back. Ngl I wanted Suna to beg and confess and even get jealous—but whatever, I’ll take what we can get for KaySun endgame.

7. No one come for me, but I would prefer Pelin and Pırıl back so long as the former will mess with SeyFer. The way I see it now, there are no obstacles for SeyFer except for Suna, which is OOC af. Pelin or Akın can be the villain in their story, just leave my girl Suna out of this and let her be happy together with Kaya.

Anyway, thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far! Lmk what you think. ✨

#dizi #kaysun #beril pozam #taro emir tekin #yalı çapkını #yali capkini #theory

[buckybarnesss]

Okay, so I am doing research for my fic and so I'm reading about nogitsune. So far, what I've read indicates that they do sometimes possess people BUT they prefer women because they tend to feed off of the life force of women. They also hide during the day, are afraid of swords and dogs, and are not necessarily always malevolent.

Kira and her mother, by definition, would be considered nogitsune because they are not in service to the goddess Inari.

Tangentially, it does seem that Allison should have been the target of the nogitsune since she is the preferred target. Stiles' weak emotional anchor either played a role in his possession, or he was targeted for a very specific reason (Derek and his dad would do anything to keep him alive, whereas Allison and Scott have weaker protectors.)

this is interesting, definitely. the show didn't really care about appropriate lore so lol.

i do remember how fandom theorized that allison was actually the nogitsune or there was a 2nd nogitsune especially after riddled where she didn't answer her phone when stiles was missing and was left that message in japanese.

you've got me writing meta on this now lol

the so called "darkness around the heart" that came from the proxy sacrifice made scott, allison and stiles the most attractive targets because they were participating in a ritual and left vulnerable

now i have a few ideas as to why stiles was chosen over allison and scott.

we can eliminate scott immediately though. he was left vulnerable but not for possession as he was never an option. he is already something magical. one cannot be a fox and a wolf.

when the cellar collapses during the freak magical storm jennifer created in lunar eclipse allison, isaac, melissa, chris and the sheriff are all right there under the nemeton. allison would've been an easy attractive choice.

however i think the nogistune booked it the hell outta there only to come upon stiles.

after the sacrifice scott went off with deucalion to confront jennifer, lydia went to the loft, allison and isaac went to find the nemeton together and stiles was all alone with the jeep.

where he crashes due to the storm and he was unconscious for an unknown amount of time. so not only was stiles vulnerable due to the proxy sacrifice creating a darkness in his heart but also that he has no mental defenses at that moment.

but was it just the nogitsune hitting the jackpot?

i'm not so sure.

that episode showed us that allison, scott and stiles were all around the nemeton the night of wolf moon.

(also the nogitsune was present when derek killed paige and it would have access to stiles knowing about it. how spicy. how interesting. i'm sure it tehehehe'd about it).

so why stiles and not allison?

allison doesn't have the access stiles does. she's a hunter which gives her fun toys but not full access to the sheriff. the nogitsune possessing stiles destabilized the entire police force by personally compromising the sheriff.

possessing stiles compromised both scott and derek. i cannot stress enough that if scott and derek are both freaking out than nothing gets achieved. sure scott would be useless if allison got possessed but derek would be like "that's sad. anyway." neither of them are willing to kill stiles. scott would rather die and derek would throw himself at anything rather than do that.

stiles knows shit about everyone. he's a smart and resourceful bastard child. the way stiles is the common vector for knowledge someone shouldn't have is high.

allison had a stronger anchor with isaac than stiles did with lydia AND allison and isaac remained together. isaac was literally holding up the ceiling to save everyone. lydia and stiles were separated. maybe if lydia had remained with him it would've helped.

everyone wanted to protect stiles. chris was reluctant to harm him despite the code. it's not that i think chris would be eager to harm or kill allison but i think he'd feel way more obligated to keep her from harming people and terrified of her being kate like. he'd feel responsible for allison doing harm in a way he doesn't for stiles. even peter wanted to help with stiles (whatever his own ends were). tbh i think the only person who wouldn't budge on allison would actually be scott.

and the 6th secret reason is if you believe that stiles is something.

it's interesting that the nemeton tried to warn stiles about the nogitsune and it tried to warn allison about kate being alive.

except allison died.

i think an allison possessed storyline could've been fun though.

#my blog #teen wolf #thoughts on teen wolf

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

like im personally not fond of organized religion as a concept but being an asshole to people who are a part of it is icky

like yes some of these people definitely do come from a Christian background and definitely don’t understand the complexities of other stuff I’m not denying that. Ppl need to talk to others with lived experience

But like. People are allowed to be critical of things. It’s research and talking to people about it. Like there are far too many “progressives” who will flip out over say, a conservative Christian republican saying something mild about traditional family values because of their religion but then turn around and be like “this is okay actually because of culture and religion” upon being presented with something horrific from a Shariah country. Like if you’ve read the hadiths you’d know that they endorse killing Non/ex muslims and straight up said women have half the mind of a man and encourage killing and lashing homosexuals. Like organized religion like that is the reason queer people are “illegal in 72 countries” as Americans far too often joke about. My partner used to live in Saudi and was told by teachers not to write about certain things in essays because it was dangerous. One of my mutuals who lives there is trying to escape but is in danger of being forced into an arranged marriage and also can literally legally be killed for apostasy and lives in fear of that. Also a huge amount of women there have potentially deadly vitamin D deficiency despite being in an extremely sunny place… hmm i wonder why. Also just look at what’s happening in iran. I’m not gonna go into all the shit to unpack w that stuff, but there’s a lot. but then you get progressive people from other countries. And a lot of them have either been convinced that stuff like that is okay because “ueuuee its a different religion and culture” or recognize the issues but won’t speak up about it because they’re scared it makes them islamophobic. (criticizing a set of beliefs [especially ones used to design governments] is 100% fine, being an asshole to harmless individuals is not). And that seems really frustrating for activists who live in shariah countries. Making it sound like people aren’t allowed to criticize things isn’t helpful to the people who actually live in oppressive environments due to organized religion.

spiritual beliefs n stuff are chill but once you get into organized religion with rules it can become dangerous. But like if someone is being a dickhead to someone else on a bus about having a religious garment I’d help them get out of that situation. Like. it’s possible to dislike organized religion and be an activist against the ways religion can harm people without being an ass about it to individuals hehfhs. Telling people that they shouldn’t think critical thoughts isn’t helpful though and it helps perpetuate oppression

When your takeaway is that “Islam is violent and bad” and not “this region was victimized severely by western imperialists who like to sew dissonance, firebomb cities, and elect dictators in order to keep these countries in a state of disarray and war at all times to justify western troops stationing there to protect and seize western assets (oil and other resources) and use the desperate for cheap labor”

You cannot compare oppression under Islam in the Middle East to oppression under Christianity in the west because it was the Christian nations that did that to the Middle East. And they do the same thing in Latin America, east Asia, and Africa because if imperialists and capitalists can ensure that non-westernized countries at least LOOK less developed to westerners, they can get away with so much out of a self-aggrandizing perceived superiority complex that keeps the people from perceiving the constant US military presence in these countries as the act of imperialistic ethnocide that it is.

This isn’t as black and white as you think it is.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Mel Medarda

she is the richest woman in piltover who left her family because she didn't agree with the way they did things (conquering and murdering). she sponsors jayce and viktor, and courts jayce, which makes people upset because, you know, jayvik. she and viktor are CANONICALLY parallels with much of their imagery mirroring the other's and they are literally the same height. and people are so weird and misogynist and racist about her. they argue she is manipulating jayce and doesn't actually love him. i am cognitively disabled and cannot explain things well, but, she is so fucking shouldered

Black woman who has a romantic arc with one of the main characters Jayce. Jayce has a best friend called Viktor and their relationship is pretty important plot wise, shown as a direct contrast to his relationship with Mel even though only one is canonically sexual/romantic. So naturally fandom as the transformative safe haven it is villainized Mel horribly coming up with theories about how instead of being a complex morally grey character she's actually evil and just wants to seduce Jayce for Evil Reasons. Since they couldn't use her as a supportive female friend with no personality, others just ignored her existence entirely or acted like Jayce would ditch her for Viktor. Majority of m/m shippers will reduce her down to her relationship with Jayce and an obstacle in the way of JayVik, ironically writing her as a far worse and less complex version of the character we get on screen. The misogyny reeks and combined with the racism? It's a pretty bad case. Only slightly mitigated due to the fact that the main characters of the show are women (and the lead is a lesbian) so thankfully the male focus of fandom is lessened as opposed to filling almost every inch. Still awful to try and search for good Mel content, godspeed girlies with taste.

She's one of the most interesting characters on the show, a rich politician, smart and beautiful and has a really complicated and intriguing relationship with the city's golden boy inventor. unfortunately golden boy has a sickly twink science partner so she gets sidetracked SO BAD

Nyota Uhura

She's Spock's canon partner in AOS, and I get it because they're not a great couple, but she gets villianized in fic so much. They constantly make her an asshole (which totally has nothing to do with her being black /sarcasm) and abusive just for the crime of dating a man headcanoned as gay. And I mean, I think Spock is gay and her being a love interest was unnecessary but still! She's cool!

Oh my god so in the Star Trek reboot she’s Spock’s girlfriend and the fandom has no idea what to do with her??? Like she is ALWAYS either such a bitch or like the mom friend? And there is so much more to her character than that? But they always break down her character AND find a quick and easy way to break up her and Spock. I’m not even mad at that but at least treat their relationship with some weight instead of just being like ‘it never mattered’. People can love multiple people throughout the course of their lives. You know that right? Just because you loved someone before doesn’t make your new love any less special. And even headcanoning Spock as gay… you realize he doesn’t need to be attracted to Uhura for their relationship to have mattered, right? Even if he confused friendship for romantic attraction, him feeling such strong friendship and openly expressing it is so monumental for him!!! 

she's dating Spock, who people ship with Kirk, so fans have decided that it's horrible writing and "really, they're just defending her, the movies turned her into just a love interests," which is not at all true. The movies do so much more for her to the point that the fans who have only seen the movies think that the main characters are Kirk, Spock, and Uhura instead of the Kirk, Spock, McCoy of the original series. Also having a black women being shown as being desired and loved in mainstream media, particularly by one of the most popular characters of all time, is a good thing, not making her "just a love interest"

#poll #round 2 #arcane #mel arcane #mel medarda #star trek #nyota uhura

[nym-dawndane]

Nym, walked through the castle gardens, her footsteps echoing against the cobblestones. It had been two short months since her humiliation at the diner, and the queen and princess that had been found dead in their guest quarters. Questions lingered from that night, but Nym did not care to question them too heavily, she imagined it would be of no use. Gaian’s father, the king, seemed to decline in his health and Nym avoided him at all close as instructions from Gaian. But she, herself, did want to avoid him he lashed out, yelled, and had a guard killed for no good reason before her. It was troublesome and Nym saw less of Gaian due to it as he stepped into the role of his father. The role that was his sole reason for returning home. The autumn afternoon cast a golden hue over the landscape, as leaves began to fall like confetti from the trees. Gaian had promised to take Nym to be his future queen, and it worried her greatly. She was not as refined, nor as educated, as the princesses he was constantly presented with. Nym was nearly coming to terms with reading and writing, let alone the concept of aiding in ruling a whole kingdom, but she wanted to try for Gaian’s sake, but she was a daughter of a whore. She feared people would loath her for it, Nym found solace in the vibrancy and serenity of the gardens, often venturing there to collect flowers. As Nym gracefully strolled along the winding paths, a gentle breeze rustled through her hair, causing some strands of hair to become loose. Clasping a basket in one hand, she plucked delicate blooms from various corners of the garden. The vibrant colors offered a striking contrast against the backdrop of the castle's weathered stones, and Nym found joy in the harmony of nature's palette. Lost in her reverie, Nym's eyes widened with astonishment as she spotted her mother and two sisters. Who had never once visited the castle since Gaian bought her from her mother, far too easily Nym remembered, but she had visited her sisters? Though maybe not as of lately. Her heart ached with a mixture of longing, regret, and apprehension. Nym had missed them dearly and secretly hoped that her mother was actually there for her. She was not so sure if she would ever return to her mother, Nym was deeply in love with Gaian, but she also wished her mother had not been so keen on selling her as she had. She was a person, after all. Summoning her courage, Nym approached her family cautiously. Her footsteps softened on the grass, blending with the symphony of distant laughter and the chirping of birds. Her mother, looked more tired and worn down, which did not make sense to Nym. No, it only made her heart ache. She should not be working anymore, her mother was adorned in a dress reminiscent of autumn foliage, turned with an emotion Nym could not place, sparkling in her eyes. "Nym, my dear!" her mother called out, her voice laced with equal parts joy, but was it sincere? Nym could not tell. Embracing her daughter with open arms, Nym tentatively stepped into her arms. Nym's sisters, on the other hand, stood at a distance, their faces lined with uncertainty. "I cannot believe my eyes," her mother murmured, her hands holding Nym's face. “You are well-clothed and fed, I see.” Her mother spoke, Nym meeting her gaze as she stepped away from the embrace of her mother, and approaching her sisters. “How did you manage to get inside?” Nym asked, but looked at her sisters, “we stated we were your only family.” Bibita answered with a lift of her shoulder, Nym smiled at her sisters before leading all three women closer. “Seeing you is not the only reason we came to visit.” Her mother spoke, which made Nym still, and turned to look at her. “I wish to speak to Prince Gaian as well, I need to speak to him about his intentions with you.” Nym looked at her for a moment, but after a moment simply gave her a nod. “I will seek him out, wait here.” She spoke. She moved through the long halls until she was standing before the thick wooden door, knocking on it, making eye contact with the guards who were posted outside.

Stepping inside the council room where Gaian sat surrounded by men, Nym approached, feeling that perhaps it was a bad time. She walked over to him and gently leaned over, “My mother is here to speak with you. We will be in the throne room when you finish.” She whispered, excusing herself and apologizing before she took her leave, heading to the throne room where Nym had left her sisters and mother.

[starksmedici]

Let’s talk about Philippa Gregory.

This video by the wonderful TikTok creator Fawzia Mariam explain most of my dislike for Philippa Gregory. I have tried to like her, I really have. I love her writing style and as some of you might know I am a huge fan of historical fiction, both in books and in tv shows, and it’s kind of hard to omit this woman who is praised as one of, if not its grandest name. This also means that I am pretty capable of accepting some historical inaccuracies, as there is no such thing as a fully accurate period drama.

My problem with Gregory however, is that she is being put forward as an authority on women’s history, when she writes FICTION, and she feels to me to be quite internally misogynistic. This I have mainly noticed in the tv shows by Starz.

I have to admit that I have not yet read those particular books, and I’m probably not going to due to my dislike and the reviews (maybe I will read The White Queen, definitely not The Red Queen). But to what I have heard the shows are a pretty accurate adaptation of the books.

Now my claim of Gregory being misogynistic is mainly coming from the relationships that women have in those shows. It seems that none of them get along, when in reality quite a few of them did get along well/they were cordial. It seems to be perpetuating an image that women in high positions just cannot get along. Furthermore, Gregory likes to have women be scheming masterminds, and the reasons that bad things happen - not the men who mostly are paragons of virtue and if they are not, they are forgiven, often make (only) small mistakes (of course there are exceptions). Margaret is a perfect example because Henry only gets on the throne because of her scheming and she even kills the princes in the tower (for which there is no evidence), and tells her son to r*pe his bride, which he does but she seems to be the only one getting judged for it. By the way Margaret was possibly sex repulsed after getting wedded and bedded AT TWELVE YEARS OLD. So to have her *tell* her son to rape his bride, makes me feel ill.

Margaret seems overall pretty frosty also, and comes across as a caricature of a religious fanatic when she was a complex woman who is said to have been funny and kind, and was overall a badass woman who was clever and was a tragic victim of her time (again she was married at 12, gave birth at 13). A lot of the things that Gregory shoved in her shoes were unlike to have been her at all, or at least only her.

My particular issue with The Spanish Princess is the modern “girlbossification” of Katherine of Aragon who comes across as arrogant, rude and impolite (and again kind of like a scheming liar) when this woman had HUMBLE in her motto. It’s almost as if PG/the show runners did not think Katherine interesting enough the way she was, not feminist enough in our modern views, which I highly disagree with. KATHERINE OF ARAGON WAS A TOTAL BADASS.

So my point with this post is not to say that you cannot enjoy PG shows/books, by all means enjoy what you want (I too enjoy TWQ & TWP), but please do not accept her as a truthful source of history. I am also not saying that I expect or want period drama to be 100% accurate, however I do expect some degree of accuracy, and if I want to watch a show about this or that historical person, I want that show to be about them, not about a random person with their name.

And yes I am extra pissed because I am super interested in historical Margaret Beaufort and I highly protest against the character assassination that Gregory’s books are.

#philippa gregory #the spanish princess #the white queen #the white princess #Katherine of Aragon #Elizabeth of York #margaret beaufort #Lady Margaret Beaufort

[clocks-are-round]

In regards to your post w/ hcs about why they enlisted, maybe Donut enlisted since he's from Iowa and was enlisting since the army would pay for his college tuition? (Obviously dependent on your headcanon of Donut's home life but this would be assuming he grew up on a farm or something)

That’s a reasonable assumption for sure. I want to figure out a reason that alludes to what is known about him in canon, suits his personality, and ideally— is emotionally poignant in a way that adds layers to his characterization and explains why he stuck around and how he’s just as fucked up as the rest of the crew. So in short, it needs to be both likely and compelling.

Example with another character (because I love excuses to ramble about headcanons)

Simmons

- kissass to authority father figure (sarge)

- knows how to code and is viewed as smart (supposedly put in sim troopers due to being annoying and test anxiety rather than having low marks due to lacking knowledge)

- daddy issues (dad wanted him in women’s sports and seemingly didn’t take no for an answer, at least for some time)

- could be interpreted as a trans man and achillean from various lines

Why didn’t he pursue a degree and job in computer science/programming?

My headcanon: Simmons’ father is very traditional, a firm believer in the ideals he was raised with: homophobic, transphobic, and legacy is very important to him. Many women in his family were successful athletes, a few even Olympic level, and he expected this from his child. Though Simmons’ mom was… better at meeting his needs than his father, she was also hard on him and held him to high standards due to image being so important to her. This resulted in a irritable people pleaser with self-worth issues so desperate for validation from his neglectful father that he dropped everything he had worked for in life to risk his life in an attempt to prove himself because Simmons is nothing if not petty.

Reason for enlisting: desperate for validation

If this concept intrigues you, read my fic Dysfunctional on AO3

So following this method, Donut.

- grew up on a farm in iowa

- spent a lot of time repressing thoughts he had on the farm

- loves “feminine” things like decor and fashion, but was too insecure/guarded to really talk much about it towards the beginning (the “lightish red” bit, the seeming change in characterization through the first few seasons) until he warmed up to the team and lowered his guard

- was sent to conversion therapy at one point (came back to write this after writing everything down below but: i think he mentioned his dad here. but i might’ve come up with him to justify it when his mom is sapphic? seems a little weird if so because internalized homophobic mom putting her son through that before coming to terms with it and regretting it as she hypocritically starts dating a woman for the first time. they laugh about it but really both feel the tension that can’t be fully erased. please tell me i had a reason for putting homophobic dad man in the picture when the other option is more compelling PLEASE. ooh if not maybe HE’S the internalized homophobia all along oohhhh EDIT: yes his dad did “send him to a compound” so that part was a thing)

- two moms i misremembered this, it’s more OR less than one mom. the exact quantity of moms was not stated, only assumed by fanon (it’s from a psa but other things in this post are also from dubious canon sources. unless it directly contradicts canon proper in a way i cannot justify, i try to incorporate it)

My headcanon: Donut grew up on a farm with his mom and dad. He always felt like he had a pretty solid relationship with his dad as a kid. Many fond memories of playing catch, and his dad cheering him on at baseball games. As he got older his dad became more hostile about Donut’s other interests, suddenly dress up was a problem. His dad started becoming very vocal to him about what it meant to “be a man” and what needed to stop. Donut was also a theater kid, of course. When he was 15, his dad started sending him to “therapy.” His mom found out after two years of conversion therapy crumpled up the blabbermouth ray of sunshine into a more antsy and withdrawn teen. After about a month of heated parental arguments, his mom divorced his dad. It wasn’t long, months maybe, before she started dating a woman.

This Donut headcanon is rougher than the Simmons one. It hasn’t been considered as deeply and I haven’t cemented it into existence with fics. But there’s a key part that is missing:

Why did Donut enlist? What would be compelling while also cohesive with the character and backstory? As far as I remember he never mentioned college (correct me if I am wrong), or a previous career. Because of this and vibes, I headcanon him as enlisting right out of high school. I could put off the divorce until he’s already in space so that he enlisted to ‘toughen up’ for his dad, but that feels too similar to Simmons’ reason. He could enlist for college funds— but afaik he doesn’t go. Was it a lack of direction? Did he feel uncomfortable with a new person in his life replacing his dad, even if there were conflicting emotions there? Or maybe he wanted the money for a different reason. To help his family? Maybe his dad made a lot of the income before and the farm was falling into disrepair from lack of funds? That one feels close to my Caboose headcanon (wanted to apply to college to get an engineering degree to get a higher paying job than without a degree so he could make enough money for his mom and family to leave his abusive dad; then when the sign ups ended up being for the unsc he just rolled with it) but it’s different enough that I could potentially work with it. So for now, my best theory is feeling a little uncomfortable with the changed family dynamic, wants to help out his mom, and thinks the space marines sound cool (because of course he does). This doesn’t really resonate like the others did though, it doesn’t feel like it adds much depth or has that “that makes so much sense and explains so much!” vibe. I won’t feel confident about it until it feels right, and today just isn’t the day that I solidify my Donut backstory headcanon unfortunately. But that’s okay.

I don’t particularly want suggestions as a follow-up to this, but thought it would be fun to try to explain the subconscious process i go through when coming up with these.

I do appreciate the ask, as it gave me an opportunity to brainstorm as well as ramble for you guys haha

#red vs blue #asks #//*the tinkling of champagne glasses* #//*windows error sound* #rvb donut #rvb simmons