#I don't know if she meant trans people because that's not what we were talking about

[neck-thats-made-for-bruising]

So I have realized of my best friends (?) is like,, kinda mean and I feel so uncomfortable

shes saying things like 'eww the pimples in his hairline are sooo gross he probably doesn't even wash his face' and I've learned that if people are making fun of someone but I don't want to say it's mean, I just say something about myself so I said 'oh yeah I have lots of pimples in my hairline cause my hair is really oily' and she said well yeah but that's different

and then today our class smelled like fish (it's also a cooking class) and she started saying it was one of the girls and I felt really bad and then another girl said it's proably you (to my friend) and she got upset but I mean she was doing it to someone else so

asdfkjshda teenagers are really fucking mean

#Oh and also she was asking if a kid was gay #and I said yeah he's pan #my other friend said he's bi at the same time #and then my friend was saying what's the difference? Why are there so many categories? Gay lesbian bi pan There's so many #I mean those are just really simple lables #but anyway I kinda explained bi vs pan #and then she just started saying why can't people just be what they were born as #... #I don't know if she meant trans people because that's not what we were talking about #but she knows I'm bi and our friend is gay so #idk man

[demilypyro]

Okay since this doesn't seem to want to go away here's me addressing every single "allegation" that I've heard about. I hope to have at least given a good explanation where the horrible things being said about me came from, and why I consider them either just totally not true or badly misconstrued. Some of my friends have recommended I don't say anything at all, but I've always preferred openness and honesty, so I hope that's appreciated.

I understand that some people will still dislike me even though the things being said about me are not true. That's fine. I don't need everyone to like me, but it's when I'm being consistently harassed and lied about that it interferes with my mental health and ability to work. So I'm gonna try and end things with this.

"She's racist"

From what I can tell this is about one time when I said I keep my interest in anime to myself around new people. I do this because showing you're a Huge Fucking Nerd right off the bat can make a bad impression. I could have said the same thing about Star Trek or comic books, I just happened to be talking about anime in that moment. Someone seems to have misconstrued this as me finding Japanese culture something shameful and lesser than other cultures?... Which I would call a total willful misinterpretation. The rest of this seems to stem just from being Dutch, because the Netherlands is a country that has a problem with xenophobia. This is true, but uhhh I'm mixed myself so I'm pretty well aware of that, and I obviously don't support our infamous "blackface holiday." Just because I live here doesn't mean I agree with everything this country does, be that historically or in the modern day.

"She's friends with racists/misogynists/transphobes"

The only thing I can guess this is about is when I was mutuals with a user called porko-rosso at least 5 years ago and didn't really believe it when people told me they were a bigot. I haven't interacted with this user in over 4 years but people still claim we're like best friends, which was never true in the first place, we just knew a lot of the same people. Most of the resentment from the people who repeatedly spread these rumours about me seems to have started here. So for the record: no, I am not friends with any racists, misogynists or transphobes.

"She thinks she's better than other trans women because she passes better"

This is just not true. This idea seems to pop up just whenever I post about enjoying the benefits of HRT or surgery, but most recently this was misconstrued from a post where I said being trans is about being yourself as much as possible. Since this was in response to someone saying that me trying to pass is "erasing my identity", people thought I meant trying to pass is the same as being good at being trans, which was not what I meant, but some people didn't seem to want to believe me when I clarified. My apologies for the misunderstanding I guess, but that's all it was. So no, I do not hate people who don't pass as well as I do, nor do I think all trans people should be transitioning medically, and I resent the implication.

"She has a secret discord server where she makes fun of pictures of other trans women and calls them slurs"

I had absolutely no clue what this was about when I first heard it. I was sent screenshots that supposedly prove this but all they show is me being rude about someone's appearance one time in january of 2022. I actually thought these were faked because I don't remember this happening and the things said confused me, but one of my friends says she found it was in her server, where she had showed a picture of someone and asked everyone present (mostly other trans women) if they were hot. Apparently I did not think they were hot. So yes, I did insult someone's appearance back in january 2022, but it was an isolated incident. Frankly even I find my remarks in these screenshots distasteful, I don't know what I was on when I wrote that stuff. I'm sorry to that person specifically. What I said has weighed heavily on me and I apologize for it. It's not something I approve of, and don't intend to repeat that mistake. Still, to say it means I hate trans women and I love to make fun of them in my secret discord server and call them slurs is just... a super-villain level of exaggeration. I didn't even know about the word that was named as an example. It's not true.

"She's often rude"

I can't deny this one. Autism gonna autism. I've seen many therapists, doctors, experts, what have you, to try and help me with this, but it seems my particular brand of autistic in combination with the cultural differences between mine and other countries just really often ends with my foot in my mouth when I speak English. I apologize! I have never meant to personally offend anyone. It just keeps happening and I can't stop it from happening.

If after reading all this, you still consider me bad enough to hate my guts, I can't stop you, but I wanted to have at least had my say. I swear that everything in this post is the honest truth as I understand it, and that I've never acted with purposeful malicious intent.

#and yes feel free to reblog and share #demilypyro #demily pyro

[when-november-ends]

witchcraft things

that didn't work for me

and why

- kitchen witchcraft

i love cooking and i love working with plants, however incorporating spells into my food didn't work for me. i got way too distracted by the spell part, that i completely forgot to make the food taste good. and as much as i love magic, it took the fun out of cooking for me. because now, cooking wasn't something fun where i could experiment with flavors and textures, it was something i had to put thought into beforehand. and i like to be spontaneous with my cooking.

- protection spells

protection spells seem to be the most important part of the witchcraft community. and i do think it's important to know how protection magic works, but it's also very unnecessary to have protections up 24/7 if you're not famous or have many enemies. i tend to forget about my protection spells, so they just sit on my altar, untouched for months and i forget to make new ones. hasn't hurt me so far tho, so i'll be saving those up for when and if i actually need them.

- casting a circle

not gonna lie, i tried that once and never again. it felt so pretentious to me.. like i was in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. and not in a good way. i stumbled across that practice on witchtok first, that was when i thought i was wrong for practicing my way and not how other people said i should. i don't think casting a circle is a bad thing to do, but it absolutely is a bad thing to do for me.

- bowl spells

bowl spells are one of my favorite kinds of spells because they're interactive. you put things in, you take things out. the energy doesn't feel stagnant and the spell is always working it's magic as long as you interact with it. ....but unfortunately my adhd made it very clear to me that those kinds of spells aren't something that works for me. i forget about them 5 minutes after i made them and they never get interacted with, so they don't do much of what they're supposed to. i would definitely recommend them to people who remember to take out and put in stuff tho, because the concept is great.

- scrying

gods, did i want that to work. divination is my favorite kind of witchcraft and i'm great at it! so when i learned about scrying, it was something i immediately got interested in and tried. i tried fire and water. fire worked a bit better, because the flames are dancing and water is reflective. that meant for me, i was always seeing things in it that were physically there, and couldn't concentrate on the scrying part. honestly i don't really remember why the fire method didn't work out, but i assume i got distracted really fast or lost in my thoughts.

- veiling

veiling can be done for many reasons. mine was, that i wanted to use it as a way to protect myself from all the different types of energy in public places. every person has their own life, with their own problems and their own current state of being. and since i have social anxiety, i thought veiling would be worth a try so that public places perhaps wouldn't get overwhelming as fast. well, that backfired because before i could try it, i realized i was trans and the head covering made me feel very dysphoric when i put it on at home. i never attempted anything similar again after that.

- ancestor work

i lost someone really close to me in early 2020. she wasn't a blood relative, but she was my dad's best friend, our landlord (who lived in the same house as we did by the way) and she saw me grow up since i was a baby. i was so desperate to try and talk to her. i tried to reach her myself, i asked other witches for help, but it never worked. after a while i decided to let her be, because the constant getting my hopes up and then being disappointed didn't help my mental health. i just wanted to know if she was okay now, but i think i just have to trust that she is. as for my other ancestors, i don't know anything about them and i am not really interested in finding out. i wasn't close with any of my great grandparents because we saw each other about once a year until they died. they didn't do anything wrong, but i don't want to force a connection.

- dragon work

damn. i really love dragons. all my life and with all my heart. and i truly believe that they are out there (not physically, like dinosaurs were, but in a similar way the gods are out there). i've done a lot of research on the topic, but my mental health got in the way. i don't have the concentration to reach out to them, nor will i be able to dedicate a specific amount of time to them regularly, which i feel like they won't like. i will try again when and if i get better, but until then it goes on this list of witchcraft things that didn't work for me and why.

#witchcraft #witchblr #witch #witches of tumblr #norse pagan witch #pagan witch #witch community #witchcraft community #witchcraft 101 #witch tips #beginner witch tips #beginner witch #baby witch tips #baby witch #kitchen witchcraft #dragon work #scrying #spells #witchcraft spells

[tanoraqui]

the thing is... JK Rowling did write the books. She certainly did write the books, which was the pivotal first step.

However, here is an incomplete list of people who meant more to my experience of reading and enjoying the Harry Potter books than JKR ever did:

My grandmother, who read them because she loved to read and because she wanted to understand what the hell her granddaughter - whom she'd recently moved 3,000 in part to live near - spent 90% of her time talking about; who passed away this past fall.

My other grandmother, who read them for more or less the same reason except without the cross-country move; who passed away in 2014. It was in her honor that I bought the current set of books I own.

The uncle-shaped family friend who always listened to me expound on my latest theories for the next book, and told me his own like an equal in intellectual debate

That one writer on Mugglenet's fanfiction archive who wrote a crack soap opera fic in which Professor McGonagall got pregnant from Crookshanks, and the children were cat-human hybrids whom they called "kiddens." That haunts me to this day.

Honestly, collectively every single person who wrote content, be it recordkeeping, fic, or analysis, for MuggleNet circa 2005-2008. Some people spent their internet-childhoods on Neopets or Club Penguin; I read every single page on MuggleNet.com.

The summer camp counselor who'd read HBP when I hadn't yet, and who responded to my positively tsundere attitude toward spoilers by telling me straight-faced that Harry started dating Luna [not Ginny]. A) The fucking audacity! she lied right to my annoying 10yo face! B) I got to experience the giddiness of finding out what happened twice, once then and again later when I read the book! Thank you, Natalie(?) from Y-Camp!

The two friends with whom I went to the DH midnight release party at my local secondhand bookstore, in closet cosplay. We were all in the first 5 people to get our books, and we promptly started reading them while standing outside the bookstore, in the light coming through the front window. 1 of them was parentally required to go to bed but the other and I stayed up all night reading, until we finished the books sometime mid-morning.

My dad, specifically when he (still) tells the story of having to make a "walk of shame" (his words) back to the bookstore the next afternoon, to ask if they had the broom we'd accidentally left behind.

The tourists from America, England, France and China who were all waiting in line at the Platform 9 3/4 overpriced photo op in King's Cross Station the same time I was, in the summer of 2013, which unironically made me feel more spiritually connected with humanity as a whole than possibly any other experience in my life. Like, this is embarrassing. It's a pure tourist trap. Yet people from LITERALLY all around the world had all made the same journey I had to be there, just because we all loved the same books. and that's...really special.

...you know? So, JKR is doing real harm to the trans community now, and will continue to do more and maybe even worse in the future; and I am so, so sympathetic and angry about that. I have no intention of giving her money or any other support ever again, nor of encouraging anyone else to do so.

But all her present vitriol is only drops in the lake of my warm memories. I don't let them give me a falsely rosy view of her, but nor will I let her poison them. And I encourage others to let themselves find the same balance, if they can.

#hp #i am...not going to tag this beyond that #it'll travel in the right circles if it's meant to #this is me

[beatrixstonehill2]

"OK, guys, don't get mad.... Buuuut I'm detransitioning! I know, I know, I said I wasn't thinking about it. But what trans girl doesn't occasionally fantasize about what it'd be like, especially those of us who went on blockers and never went through male puberty. Sooo, I didn't think about it super often. Like people would occasionally ask me if I wanted to detrans and I'd shrug and be like, "I dunno..... maybe someday? Who knows!" I never seriously considered it outside of like shower thoughts or the occasional jerk off session before work....

But I met this girl, Alexia..... Guys. She is beyond fine. She's absolutely beautiful. She contacted me out of nowhere and asked if I wanted to hook up. This beautiful cis girl with boobs even bigger than mine. And lol, yes I know mine are way too big as it is. Just another reason to detrans, my boobs make me soooo dysphoric! Ugh! I can't believe I ever thought I was a girl..... Alexia got me thinking a lot about myself, and made me realize I'm totally just a femboy. Like I'll wear dresses and makeup, but I want no boobs, no big fat estrogen booty. I want to be lean, and to grow some facial hair maybe.....

Alexia started talking to me on our first date about how a lot of trans girls are really femboys and they just don't know. Especially us ditzy ones that go on blockers so young and never go through boy puberty. She miiiight've told me how hot it was if I were to detrans and try out becoming a femboy. I told her about how I hate having huge boobs and looking like some dumb college slut who's pushed out a dozen kids already. Like look at the stretch marks on these udders! I told her I wanted a slim, elegant figure, and to embrace having a cock, not hide it. That I wanted mine to be really big..... She agreed, she said she wants a sexy feminine boyfriend she can go dress shopping with and share makeup, but who can also fuck her good, get her pregnant. I told her I'm not experienced as a top and she just shook her head.

'You poor, dumb boy,' she said. 'You probably can't because all that estrogen turned your cock flaccid and pathetically small.'

She wants me on testosterone ASAP. She already helped me make the call to schedule my top surgery, to get rid of my boobs.... We only met a couple weeks ago..... She wants me to be a boy now, and I'm not about to say no. ❤️ Goodbye girly body and big fat udders, I'm detransitioning like a good boy. My girlfriend is very needy and bought me penis growth pills. She wants me to have a huge, meaty cock and wants to teach me how to use it like a guy.... She's gonna teach me to top her, and more importantly, she wants me to get her pregnant to prove what a man I'm becoming..... I told her I don't plan on getting super macho and she said of course not. I'll always be lean and elegant, and she'll even peg me when I've been especially good..... But she did tell me one thing..... I'm not allowed to masturbate. I can only cum two ways: If I'm topping her, or if she's pegging me, which I'll only get as a reward if I can please her like the boy I'm meant to be. Guys.... I think I might be in love. Either way, so long to being a girl. ❤️"

#mtftm kink #mtf detrans kink #detrans kink

[nyxsealia]

An example of why LGBTQ+ representation in media matters, especially children's media.

As a child I didn't know LGBTQ+ people existed. There were no queer people in my family, or in family friends. (At least, that I was aware of) I remember one time we went to the library and there was an educational table set up outside with information about pride. I asked my mom what all the rainbows were for. I don't remember what she said, other than I remember her mentioning one of my older brother's friends who apparently had two moms. I was very little. I forgot about that conversation and was no more aware of queer people.

I don't remember seeing queer characters in media. The first time I can remember seeing LGBTQ+ people depicted in anything was in the music video for Avichii's "Addicted to You" the plot of the music video follows a pair of female robbers who are explicitly in a romantic relationship. I was absolutely fascinated by this music video when I saw my brother watching it. I was eleven. This music video follows a lot of the common queer TV tropes. The women are criminals, the "bad guys" and they die in the end. But this was the first time I can remember seeing lesbians.

Even as a teenager, I don't remember seeing much LGBTQ+ characters in media. I was intrigued when the token gay side character would show up in a TV show, but that wasn't really representation. I still knew nothing about queer people. A boy in my art class came out to me as trans. The exact words he used were "I'm a trans guy." and I legitimately didn't know if that meant ftm or mtf. I accidentally misgendered him once because of it.

In my early teens, I said some pretty ignorant things. Luckily just to my family, but still. It wasn't until I started questioning my sexuality in my late teens that I actually started to learn anything about the LGBTQ+ community. I did a lot of research, not all related to figuring out my sexuality, just about LGBTQ+ experiences and identities. I watched videos by LGBTQ+ YouTubers, listened to podcasts, read articles, all by queer creators.

I especially made a point of understanding transgender people, because that was something at the time that greatly confused me. So I looked for videos, podcasts, articles etc, made by transgender people themselves where they talked about their feelings and experiences. It made a huge difference. I wasn't confused anymore, I couldn't relate to how they felt, but I had understanding and empathy. I went from confused and unaware, to understanding and supportive. Just from a bit of research.

But even at this point, there was still little to no LGBTQ+ media representation. When I came out at 18 and felt comfortable picking movies focused on queer characters, I had a heck of a time finding any. I did find some, and while a lot of them weren't great, I did find a few really good ones. (Saving Face and Late Bloomers are two of my favourites)

Things are getting better, slowly. We're starting to see more media focused around LGBTQ+ characters, and children's media including the topic. It's long overdue and we're still not quite there yet. You're gonna have a hard time finding media focused on LGBTQ+ characters that aren't white, able bodied gay, lesbian, or bisexual characters. Representation for trans, non binary, asexual and aromantic identifies, queer people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, religious queer people, and disabled queer people, and any combination of the above, is still lacking. We still have more work to do.

Having these kinds of shows and movies would have made a big difference for me growing up, and it will make a big difference for thousands of other kids who are growing up right now.

This isn't a negative post to complain about the lack of media, it's an example of it's importance and optimism for the future. I do believe this will continue to get better, however slow that may be. This is just my little reminder of why it needs to.

I hope anyone who reads this is having a good day. You're valid and loved, no matter who you are. Stay safe.

#lgbt #lgbtq #queer #lesbian #nonbinary #transgender #gay #pansexual #asexual #aromantic #queer media #queer representation #lgbt media #lgbt representation #lgntq #lgbtq representation #lgbtq media #genderfluid #agender #genderqueer #lgbtq movies #lgbt movies #queer movies #queer tv #lgbt tv #lgbtq tv #queer kids #lgbt kids #queer youth #lgbt youth

[foone]

Every time I try to tag some thing as trans whatever, Tumblr suggests #biblical trans shitposting, and every time I'm sad I don't have more content for that tag.

The world needs more biblical trans shitposting, damn it.

So, uhh.. Let me just do some biblical shitposting:

Jesus is obviously a trans man, so is Noah and Saul/Paul, Rahab was a trans woman, and God is non-binary.

Angels are too, but they don't have sex in either way. They're tools. And not like the kind you might talk about having in your pants.

And speaking of pants, Deuteronomy 22:5 (no cross dressing) , much like Leviticus 18 (no gay sex) were both intended as "don't do the weird shit those foreigners do" rules that were and are being taken out of context. They're not intended as eternal and universal commandments in what is morally right and wrong in the world.

Also when I said "Noah" up there, I meant Moses, because both Jesus and Moses were born at a time of KILL ALL THE BOY BABIES and survived. But fuck it... Noah is trans too now.

God said so. They called me up on my orange hotline phone. (I'm a pope, so I get a direct line to the big G)

Who else is trans... Eve, obviously, by the same reasoning as Jesus (they both only have one "parent" who could have given them chromosomes, and yet are a different gender to them).

Sarah (wife of Abraham) too. She's got it all: meaningful name change and she laughed when told she'd have a child. Was that just because she was already old... Or because she didn't have a uterus?

(well, through God all things are possible, so jot that down Sarah)

Joseph (of the many colored coats) is another trans man. Man (no pun intended), the Bible is just full of trans men.

As I've said before, the victim in the story of the good Samaritan is trans, especially now.

Also not to get off the subject of being trans (do I ever?) but I was just thinking that a running theme of the Bible is "The Empire".

There's aways the Empire. Who they are changes from book to book, but they're always there. Babylon, Egypt, the Seleucid empire, the Romans, the future world-spanning empire john talks about in Revelation... They're big and powerful and oppressive and cannot be fought in traditional ways, but they will not win. They can't. They won't. They may be horrible and causing so much pain right now but they will be overcome and we will be free and safe one day.

And really, if that's not a good message for trans people right now, I don't know what is.

#biblical trans shitposting

[drdemonprince]

I don't know if this a place to share, or if this even relevant to anything, but i want to share an observation. I've been around queer groups for a decade or so, usually just observing and listening, and something i have observed is that very slowly trans women (specially out trans women and non-passing ones) seem to have incredible being reduce in meetings and talks. Like i used to see way more of them but now it is becoming less and less. For some reason they seem to have been push out of the spaces very subtly and nobody seems to care (i don't have an explanation of this at all). On the other hand the amount of trans men and trans masculine folk seem to have maintained some consistency. I don't exactly know whats going on this communities, but there seems to be something that is pushing trans women away, while not having the same effect on trans men. I don't have any solutions, just wanted to share because i feel like as a trans woman I am less and less welcomed in queer spaces but can't really pin point why is that.

Thanks for your message anon and for sharing this observation. The thing is: We know what is going on! Trans women talk about this all the time! Trans men and other TME trans people speak over them, sexually harass them, downplay their concerns, talk about them having "male" socialization, take advantage of their emotional labor, ignore them, don't give them room to be vulnerable, nitpick their stories of abuse and mistreatment, disbelieve them when they have been victimized, and all the while complain that they are so much more visible and have so many more resources than trans mascs do (which just is not true) and talking about how disgusting penises are.

You probably have not noticed these dynamics happening directly; most men are oblivious to sexism to an extent, and even men who have experienced plenty of sexism themselves as trans guys can miss these dynamics when they are experienced by trans women. It also is the case that a lot of the worst abuses happen behind the scenes: there are a lot of predatory people who are trans or enby yet behave as invasive chasery creeps to trans women, all while constantly indicating to trans women that they will not be believed if they come forward about abuse -- and in fact will be accused of being the abusers themselves.

I have multiple trans women friends here in Chicago who simply cannot show up to certain queer community events like beach days or club nights because they know there's a specific "afab enby" there who will grope them and then accuse them of abuse. There's entire self-defense guides designed for trans women meant to address this specific issue because it is so widespread.

And that is just one issue that a lot of trans women face in gender diverse or generally queer spaces. At a queer/pup karaoke night two weeks ago, multiple drunk bar patrons harassed and physically attacked a trans woman there, and then when the cops arrived, they tried to arrest the trans woman. (Thankfully all the bar staff and event organizers were very very clear that she was not the one provoking the fight -- but the cops still didn't really believe them. The man who attacked her is banned from the bar now forever. She isn't. If she'd been in a slightly less sympathetic crowd, who knows what would have happened).

In another local queer community group I used to attend, a trans femme board member was accused of abuse in the vaguest terms possible -- by someone who has now, years later, been outed as abusing multiple women close to him himself. Most people in this group have no idea about it, of course. It all happened in shadowy conjecture and whisper campaigns. I could go on and on and thanks for your patience but you get the picture.

I don't know what the vibe is in the groups you frequent, and I can't guarantee that any of the trans women have dropped off the map because of anything as severe as this, but I pretty much can guarantee there are some dynamics there that are making them uncomfortable. My suggestion? If there were any trans women in the group that you liked, try hitting them up. Ask some of them out for coffee. Ask what she's been reading or watching lately. Go to the museum or a show. Be her friend. Don't pry about why she stopped going to the group, just be a friendly, supportive presence in her life. In time, you might learn why she and others like her stopped going to that space. or you'll just have greater gender diversity in your life and your support circle, which is really important. Some trans spaces are utterly ruined by the presence of a few toxic trans mascs or aggressively afab-identified people. But you can help to build better spaces one relationship at a time.

Thanks again for your message.

[royalrebelpropaganda]

ooh you should elaborate ooh

( @oklotea ) ( @dollmenace )

why ofc 🤭 with no further ado here are my transfem headcanons & explanations

duchess :

manifesto largely here , here , and here , but I don't ever clarify as to WHY I think she has trans girl energy, so I will elaborate now.

first of all, narrative role of swans in stories. especially in stories like the ugly duckling, where there's an "ugly" kid who is socially outcast, excluded, harassed, and ends up becoming something beautiful like they were always meant to be-- it works really well as a trans metaphor, and duchess is literally a swan <3

but that's not her story! and you'd be right to point that out. to me, there's something about the way she's constantly feeling left out of the other princess groups because she's not a "happily-ever-after princess," the way she's basically dismissed by the princessology teacher by her saying "are you sure you're a real princess?" -- and wanting so desperately to be one.

so she follows around ashlynn, so she yells at apple, so she tears raven to shreds. she is so jealous and I honestly really think that the jealousy translates really well to a sort of gender envy -- especially since she's constantly dismissed by the same girls. she's constantly portrayed as wanting to "steal" their stories, and really all she wants is a happily ever after, the same safety and comfort they get by being a princess. I think the metaphor kind of speaks for itself.

"Seems to me we need to win this thing so you can always be a girl." - Sparrow Hood to Duchess Swan, Next Top Villain

dexter :

manifesto here + also I ADORE @tiny-leafbug's transfem dex art

now I know a lot of people headcanon dex as transmasc, which honestly I can actually fully understand in the context of the show and diaries. the idea that he's constantly trying to perform this paragon of masculinity, and constantly falling short. I get it.

HOWEVER! the books is where I fell in love with dex, and in the books dex's vibe is different. he doesn't care about being a "prince charming," not really, and his relationship with his brother seems much more affectionate, with him responding to daring's ribbing in turn and not really caring about daring making fun of him. this lack of caring makes all that pressure put on his shoulders by his parents seem more like something he never wanted to live up to in the first place. on the boxes, he says -- well, I'm good at hero training. and in the books, raven notices the calluses on his hands, the skill he has in PE class. it's not that he's ever been bad at what his parents what him to do. it's that... he doesn't want to do it.

at some point he says "well ... everyone else has been able to recite their story since they learned to talk, while I'm facing this huge unknown." there's something about this lack of direction and destiny that sets him completely apart from students that need to be a certain thing. all dex ever had to do was be a prince, and still, he wants to rebel. still, he followed raven into the dark. because maybe he didn't want to be a prince at all.

raven said "check you out, totally rocking the prince-to-the-rescue gig," and dexter said "what? no, I mean... that's not really me." - Storybook of Legends

dexter, in the books, is constantly torn between the royals and the rebels, this loyalty he has to the first person that's ever seen him, and daring, who still wants him to be, yknow, him. he is expected, at all times, to perform as his brother, to be his brother. and he doesn't want that. he doesn't want that at all.

“And Prince Dexter Charming?” Kitty smiled hugely. Her smile lingered a moment after she disappeared. She reappeared beside Dexter, holding a broom, which she thrust into his hands. “He might become a wicked witch!”

Dexter looked at the broom, shrugged, and gave a small laugh, glancing over at Raven as if to check what she thought.”

- The Unfairest of Them All

cedar :

I don't have quite as much to say here; this isn't a headcanon I have 24/7, it's just fun to think about

she is constantly talking about how she "wants to be a real girl" and idk there is something trans about that. to me.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Cedar. “Am I supposed to sit with my friends same as always? Or pick a side based on what I want? I’m not a Royal, but then again I do want my destiny, when I’ll be changed from a puppet into a real girl, but then again, I do want others to be able to choose if they don’t like their destiny so… so I don’t know what to do now!” - The Unfairest of Them All

I hope this helped <33

#sockspeaks #cedar wood #dexter charming #duchess swan #transfem headcanons #ever after high #eah

[sideblog-delete-later]

Let's talk about the doc. I'm going to share the notes I've made as I read through it. (just in case disclaimer that Alex said that he uses any pronouns so sometimes in this I refer to Alex with she/her and sometimes he/him)

Okay I'm reading the doc and the part I'm currently reading talks about Alex' gender identity and the screenshots provided are just... Alex talking about being confused about her gender identity, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with that? This feels kinda transphobic. The perceived problem is Alex being parasocial, not Alex being trans

"Before Alex left Server B, he publicly explained that Amelia was a joke after a member expressed they were uncomfortable that Alex shared their dead name. People who were supportive of the change would feel weird about this." WHAT

I don't blame Alex for backtracking on the new name after SOMEONE SAID THAT THEY'RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT.

Like I understand that seeing your dead name can be uncomfortable but it's not like Alex wanted to upset them. Alex was (presumably) just experimenting with going by a name she liked.

Even if Alex is a bad person, can we not be transphobic against her?

So far, the way the doc is worded makes me think that stirringjuice wants people to think that Alex talking about her gender is a part of the reason why we should dislike her.

Compare "I decided to release some information into this server because I was tired of hiding everything. These were my friends as well. From the beginning, we planned to release this publicly..." to "Originally, I decided against talking about my side of the story especially when I promised to keep quiet, however, I feel like it is necessary to understand the context. I and several others have noticed this behavior pattern that Alex exhibits. This was dealt with in private many times before coming to a conclusion."

It comes off as Ven trying to make people think that the 16 year old mentioned is DB. The "this was sent to a 16-year old" is squeezed conveniently between Ven talking about DB. And then, after the doc is released and people assume (logically) that the 16 yo mentioned must be DB, Ven basically says "btw DB is an adult and I don't know why anyone would assume that they're the 16 yo mentioned".

"I do not want my name to be associated with this situation and all other names will be censored (the victims are allowed to come forward if they wish to). I understand it will be impossible to hide and that’s why, afterward, I will be leaving my accounts associated with this name" and then Ven went on to post many more messages on his Twitter and some on Tumblr (some of which he later deleted)

I've also noticed that there's emotionally manipulative language used throughout the document meant to evoke a strong emotion and make the reader feel sorry for Ven.

The annotated document I saw (a reblog of it can be found on this blog) sums everything up perfectly.

"He understands power dynamics" except for all those times Ven said that he didn't

"A quote from DB’s father, who is a lawyer consultant" it's a quote from justia dot com

Also why did Ven censor his username and profile picture in some of the screenshots, even though it's not censored in other ones? (this includes censoring his face, why would he censor Alex's face when we all know what Alex looks like?)

#alex kister #mandela catalogue

[sequestered-song-skirmish]

Round 3 Poll 13

Use My Fkn Pronouns：　「I first met Allegra on the bus in 8th grade. I thought they were cool, but I didn't approach them for a couple months because I couldn't figure out if they were a boy or a girl. When I finally did talk to them, they told me they were nonbinary and explained what that meant. They asked me why knowing their gender was so important to me that I was afraid to talk to them, and that question spurred a series of epiphanies that lead me to who I am today.

The conversation moved on. We giggled about how mad their mom was that an *allergy medication* of all things used the same name just a couple years after she had her baby. They told me that they were a guitarist and that someday they were gonna be a rockstar. I said that when it happens, people will finally think of the musician first and not the medication, and we cheered.

Being openly gay and trans in a red state is fucking daunting now, but it was even moreso a decade ago. Allegra was *the* out queer kid in our class. Having the grit to withstand that kind of social abuse while remaining a goofy and deeply kind person speaks to their character. They used their music to carve out a precedent for the classes below us: showing them a queer person can be out and well-liked and successful while still having personal boundaries. Even here.

Next month they'll be onstage performing at the biggest music festival in the state. The song I submitted is the flagship single from their second album. It's about how tiring it gets to have to ask for simple respect all day every day. It's at about 3,600 some streams on spotify now, which puts it above the stream limit. (I submitted Windmill, a personal favorite of mine off the same album, as a backup.)

I think Use My Fkn Pronouns should be included in this bracket because it represents my friend standing on a stage and singing out to thousands of people, in the face of a government that is actively trying to erase them, that their life and experiences have value. They're gonna stand up there and BE the role model we needed when we were kids, and they're gonna fucking rock while they do it.

Even if it doesn't win, I want everyone to know that I am so, so proud to be their friend.」

Fang into Vein：　「okay listen.

Not only is this a chilling and beautiful song about vampires (the way he sings "it means nothing to me" the first time?! HOLY SHIT) it also is by someone so fantastic I don't have words for it.

So he is a Trans Elder TM, he is iconic for many reasons but most of all because he transitioned publicly in his mid 40s after having an established career and EXPLAINED THAT HE IS A CHANGELING, that a faerie had lived his life for him under a glamour while he the real boy had been kept in faerieland! It's the best metaphor of all time and he has stuck to it for 15 years no matter how much it baffles cis people. Also he is kind and thoughtful and if he were a spiritual leader I would follow him. Might be too popular for this bracket but this song only has 1.7k plays on youtube (I can't check spotify because I don't have a computer)... so, thank you for your consideration!」

#good luck on this one everyone #poll #allegra hernandez #alexander james adams #underground music #lgbtq #Youtube

[samwisethewitch]

I know this isn't the theme of my blog but as 1.) a genderqueer person, who 2.) has a media studies degree, I want to talk real quick about JK Rowling, the idea of separating art from the artist, and why you literally cannot consume media created by JKR without contributing to real harm against real people.

First let's talk about Death of the Author, because I see a lot of people misusing it online. Death of the Author is a theory from postmodern literary criticism that basically says that an author's intentions and personal beliefs shouldn't impact how readers interpret their work. Basically, this means that the author's own interpretation of the work is just as valid as any reader's interpretation, and vice versa.

Critics who subscribe to Death of the Author believe a work should only be judged by what actually appears in the text, not by what the author later claims it "really meant." So if, for example, an author becomes radicalized after publishing her books and later claims that her racist, pseudo-fascist villains were secretly a metaphor for trans people, Death of the Author would tell you that interpretation is utter bullshit and doesn't magically become canon just because the author said it.

I see a lot of people online equate Death of the Author with the concept of "separating art from the artist," but these are separate concepts. Death of the Author just means that the author's own interpretation of their work isn't any more valid than the audience's. Separating art from artist means we as an audience can appreciate a person's artistic achievements without condoning all of their actions and beliefs. So, for example, I can appreciate that HP Lovecraft revolutionized horror fiction while also acknowledging that he was horrifically racist -- and me condemning his racism doesn't change how influential his work was.

Setting aside that there's a huge debate over whether it's even possible to separate art from artist, the main difference between HP Lovecraft and JKR is that Lovecraft is dead and has in fact been dead for so long that his work is in the public domain. That means no matter how many times I read his work, watch films based on his stories, or talk about his role in the history of modern horror fiction, he doesn't make a penny. Whether I engage with his work or not does not change the fact that Lovecraft is dead and is not getting any money from me.

JKR very much is making money off people engaging with her work, and she's openly using that money to hurt people. (See here, here, here) As long as she's raking in Harry Potter dollars, she is going to keep turning around and funneling them into hate.

I don't want this post to get too long, so here's a quick rundown of some of the defenses I've seen and why they don't work:

"I only watch the movies on streaming services! I've already paid for the subscription, so it doesn't matter what I watch with it." That's not how streaming services work. Streaming services track views to determine what content is worth throwing more money at. This is why "hate watching" makes no sense. Streaming services don't care if you like what you watch. They only care about how many viewers it brings in, and if something gets a lot of watchers, they're going to renew contracts, greenlight sequels and spinoffs, and give more royalties to the creator.

"I only watch the movies when they run on cable." Again, not how this works. Like streaming services, cable networks track views to determine what programs are bringing in the most viewers. The reason these networks run the HP movies so often is because they know people will tune in to watch, which makes them more money. They're going to keep paying for rights to run these movies until they stop bringing in viewers.

"I checked out the books from my library! I thought we were supposed to support our local libraries!" In general, yes, libraries are great, but they also operate on supply and demand. That means if books are consistently checked out and have a long wait list, the library is much more likely to order new copies to meet the demand.

"I grew up on Harry Potter."/"It's my favorite book series."/Other appeals to nostalgia. Thankfully, the HP books genuinely don't actually do anything that hadn't already been done well, if not better, by other authors. If you're craving fictional wizard schools, allow me to recommend Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett and A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Last but not least, I want to remind everyone that JKR also publishes adult fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith. Don't buy, rent, or borrow Galbraith books either.

#transphobia tw #transphobia #antisemitsm tw #antisemitism #terfs fuck off #terfs dni #fuck jkr #jk rowling #harry potter #robert galbraith #books #bookblr #media #lgbtq+ #queer

[fem-blade-adept]

Nimona illuminates the final part of my entire gender crisis and not only what led up to who I am but the truth of who I am and who I know myself to be.

I use she/her, they/them, and any and all pronouns.

I grew up knowing I was different like most trans people. I could never explain it because I never had the words. That inability to understand what any of my confused and festering feelings meant.

I grew up alone. I had family, but they were so invested in turning me into the ideal man that they refused to meet me at my level.

As I entered school, friends didn’t last very long. My longest friendship was 4 months until I entered college. I still don’t talk to anyone from high school because no one cared to invest their time into me. So I stayed lonely.

It had been long past the time I’d discovered it was a gender issue. At 12, I discovered that being a guy at all was distasteful to me. Acting masculine felt like I was pouring acid on my skin while being told to not act feminine was, fittingly, like stifling tears. You know they want to come out and they will eventually and you can’t stop it no matter how hard people tell you not to, but you bottle it anyways because people won’t like you if you cry.

That bottling.

That shoving down all of those trans emotions.

They don’t go away.

And when you also live in Utah, the state of the high and mighty. The self-righteous. And you hear EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. For 21 years. “Being gay is a sin.” “Being trans won’t get you to heaven.” Hearing the scoffs of disapproval at a guy acting feminine. Seeing the bullying. Witnessing the abuse and control your parents carve into you by saying things like “stop acting like that” or “walk it off” or “you do what we tell you because you live in our house.”

They wait. And they bubble.

It’s like a volcano. Pressure builds. For 10 years, it builds. And that volcano does release steam every once in a while. But it sits. And waits. Until it can’t anymore. And then…

People used to think volcanos were monstrous creatures that sat beneath the earth. It’s not true for real volcanos. It’s true for people.

It hit in high school. All of that pent up frustration. All of that anger and rage and sorrow. Just slowly releases for 5 years. And the wild thing is that it just. Kept. Going. I hit 22-23 and I was still ripping my own world to shreds. Friendships, family relationships, a marriage. All torn into tatters.

And it wasn’t just the undiagnosed ADHD. It was a person who kept forcing herself to fit into the boxes and the roles and the expectations of a girl who was trying to fit the mold of a lie. A false ideal. A belief that someone else had shackled her with.

And when she broke those shackles, she saw how people saw her.

As a monstrosity. An abomination. A creature. A demon. A nameless entity that people refused to care about or accept.

That monstrosity tried to kill herself 3 times over that span of 7-ish years, almost adding another tally to Utah’s record of being the state with the most suicides. Because like Nimona said…

"I don't know what's scarier. The fact that everyone in this kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart... or that sometimes, I just wanna let them."

I’m much better now. After my marriage fell apart, I got into therapy. I got my ADHD diagnosis and I’m working towards getting an anxiety diagnosis and maybe a few other things that are screaming inside the cage that is my brain.

I’m still not good at making friends. Between the neurodivergence and the transgender pride that I carry and wear out in the open, not a lot of people want to hitch their cart to a fluidflux creature like me.

I don’t bottle my feelings anymore. I also don’t take shit from the people that continue to view my existence as a threat or treat me like a villain, an abomination, and a curse. Because as we all know, people fear what they don’t understand. And even when what they don’t understand is me, a “monster”, they try to kill me or force me outside the walls or attempt to capture, restrain, and shove me into a box.

I considered letting them win several years ago. Never again.

However, that ideal that Nimona carried sits within my soul.

Maybe I am a monster. Maybe it’s why I hyperfixate on gods and monsters and myths and the darker side of the stories we’re told and the creatures that loom in the shadows.

Because I know how the world sees me. They see a monster.

And maybe that’s not so much of a bad thing. Maybe it’s better to be the thing they fear.

#nimona #trans pride #personal rant #i am a monster #and I accept it #and i love it #and you can’t stop me #I strive to be the thing you fear #I will be your worst nightmare

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

A/N: Writing this mostly for me as a comfort since my dog just died, but I'm letting you guys enjoy it as well. It is mostly just a love letter to Steddie and miscommunications. You're going to see a little bit of my weirdness in this. Also, a little bit of a love letter to Trans people, too. I love trans!Eddie.

Leah Henderson stood in the mirror as she stared at her reflection. It was strange how she loved the way she looked, but at the same time, she's always doubted that anyone but her would ever find this attractive. She was wider than she was tall with boobs bigger than. . . Well, actually, she didn't think there was anything bigger than her boobs. Boobs. Boobs. Boobs! Leah giggled. What a funny word. She twirled around, her skirt flaring out and grabbed her boobs in her hands. Gah! Why were they so goddamn big? She flipped her curly auburn hair over her chest and boinged one of her curls before putting it over her lip like she had a mustache. Leah nearly screamed when there came a knock on her bedroom door.

"Leah?" Her brother's voice floated through the door. "You've been in there for a while. Are you sad because you knocked something over with your boobs again?"

Leah sighed but smiled fondly anyway. Dustin could be a nosy pain in the ass but he meant well. She opened the door, being reminded again that she was the same height as her much younger brother when they came face to face.

"No, butthead, that's not it," Leah said and pouted. "I miss Steve and Eddie. I kind of wish I went with them."

"Look, I miss them too, but we hang out with them enough as it is, especially you," Dustin said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked with a scowl. "Aren't you the one who's always up their asses?"

"And you're the one who always interrupts their date night," Dustin said.

"I do not! They just started dating! They don't have an official date night yet!" Leah said. "They're the ones inviting me to hangout!"

"Leah, why do you think they went away on vacation? If you were there, you'd just make things worse for them and for yourself," Dustin said.

"You mean like I always do, apparently? They were so goddamn tired of me that they had to run away to fucking California to get away from like Joyce did, their own personal monster from the Upside Down?!" Leah exclaimed, tears in her eyes.

"Leah, that's not what I meant!"

Leah slammed the door in his face, locked it, and threw herself on her bed as she broke down in tears. Maybe Dustin was right. Maybe she always makes things worse. It's why Steve and Eddie left. It's why their father had left. It was all her fault. She ignored the knocking on her door and proceeded to cry into her pillow until she fell asleep. She continued to ignore Dustin for several days, and even on the day that Steve was supposed to return with Eddie. She had spent days agonizing in her room over it. She did spend too much time with Steve and Eddie, hoping for something that clearly would never happen. She decided to change that. She was almost out the door to leave for her date when Dustin stopped her.

"I'm so sorry, you know that's not what I meant. I was just trying to give Eddie and Steve the privacy that they deserve after all of the attention Eddie got," Dustin said, his lip quivering.

"I know, Dusty, I know you didn't mean it," Leah said with a sigh. "Look, we'll talk later. My date is waiting for me. I just need to move on. Just move forward from Steve and Eddie. They do deserve privacy."

"Why are you making it sound like they're your ex? Or maybe you're in love with them," Dustin chuckled, and Leah bit her lip as his face fell in realization. "Holy shit. You're in love with them."

Suddenly, the door burst open. Eddie strolled in with open arms, a wide grin on his face.

"We probably should have gone straight home first, but we wanted to stop by and see our favorite Hendersons. . . Well, don't everyone come running to greet us all at once," Eddie said. "What's going on here?"

Leah rolled her eyes and brushed by Steve as he was coming in.

"Jesus, what's her problem?" Steve asked.

"Who's that guy, and why is she getting into his car?" Eddie scowled, his face pressed right up against the window.

"That's her date," Dustin replied.

"Her what?" Steve and Eddie asked as they watched her drive off.

Steve whirled around, shutting the door, and placed his hands on his hips.

"Why was your sister so upset?" He asked, and Dustin winced.

"It's kind of my fault," he replied.

"What did you do, you little shit?" Eddie asked as he turned on him.

"It wasn't what I was implying at all, but it kind of sounded like I was implying that you ran away to California to get away from her but really it was the assholes in this town. And I might have said that it would only make things worse if she were there, but only like as a third wheel scenario. Those situations suck!" Dustin exclaimed.

Eddie shrieked, took off Dustin's hat, and began hitting him with it.

"It's the complete opposite, you asshole!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Stop! Stop!" Dustin yelled, and finally Eddie gave him back his hat.

"We're completely in love with her, but we thought it would freak her out if we asked her to join our relationship," Steve sighed.

"Oh shit! Oh. Shit, I fucked up big this time!" Dustin exclaimed.

"You sure did," Eddie glared.

"Look, she's going on a date with another guy thinking that you two want to be as far from her as possible, but the truth is that you two love her and she loves the both of you! I made her think that it was the worst thing in the world, but I swear, I didn't mean to hurt her," Dustin cried.

"We know you didn't, buddy," Steve said. "You need to calm down and tell us where they're going."

"She didn't say," Dustin said meekly.

"Okay. So, we either look all over town or we wait here," Eddie said as he paced the living room.

"There is a third option," Dustin said.

"Which is?" Steve asked.

"Call El and have her look for Leah," Dustin said.

"Nope! Not only would that be a violation of her privacy, but it would also be using El's powers for our own personal gain. Not very wise," Eddie sighed. "As much as I don't like it, we're just going to have to see what she decides when the date is over."

"And if she falls head over heels for this guy?" Steve asked.

Eddie sighed and placed his hands on Steve’s hips.

"There's no way she'd choose some stranger over Steve Harrington," Eddie replied. "No fucking way."

Leah sobbed as she walked home, shoes in hand. She should have known it was too good to be true. He was so nice to her, so understanding. He had been the first guy she had liked since Steve and Eddie, but she should have known that he didn't really want her. She prayed for rain to wash it all away, but it was a clear night, not a dark cloud in the sky. When she got home, her mother's car wasn't there reminding her that she was working the night shift. Eddie's van was still there, which meant Steve and Eddie were still there. Leah cursed her rotten luck. She couldn't let them see her like this, and she also couldn't go into the house like this either. She walked around the back of the house towards the garden hose, wincing when she bumped into the patio table. Leah wiggled out of her dress. She turned on the water and started spraying down the piece of clothing that was soaked in pigs' blood. Suddenly, the back door flew open, and Steve came out wielding a bat while Eddie held out a chair.

"Leah?!" Eddie and Steve yelled, immediately dropping their weapons.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Eddie asked.

"Okay, so, this looks bad," Leah said. "But this is isn't my blood."

"I don't think that makes us feel any better!" Steve exclaimed.

"Well, she's not hurt," Eddie said.

"It's pigs' blood," Leah said, rolling her eyes as she wrung out her dress. "Yeah, I think this is ruined. Probably my underwear, too. Can you guys fetch me my robe?"

Eddie and Steve sighed before sharing an angry look with each other.

"Carrie," they said together.

"Was it your date who did this?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, turns out the whole thing was a joke," Leah laughed darkly.

"Name. What's his name?" Steve asked.

"It's - I'm not going to tell you," she replied and sighed. "It was just a prank. Can someone please fetch me a towel and a robe?"

"It was assault!" Steve exclaimed.

"Look, I just want to rinse myself off so I don't drip all of this blood all over the house, go inside, take a shower, crawl into bed, and have a good fucking cry! Okay?!" Leah snapped.

"Of course, baby," Eddie said softly. "I'll go get you those things."

Leah rolled her eyes and started taking off the rest of her clothes. She sprayed herself down and flipped her hair over to get that, too. Steve quickly turned around. When Eddie came back, he quickly yelped and put his hands over his eyes.

"Do I look that ugly naked?" Leah asked.

"No!" Steve and Eddie exclaimed.

"I want to bite your thighs," Eddie blurted out.

Leah blushed, having witnessed Eddie in action biting the things that he liked.

"Yeah, okay," Leah said awkwardly, unsure of what to do with that information. "Towel?"

Eddie blindly started to walk over to her. Leah sighed before walking over to him and slapped his hand away from his eyes. He yelped but handed her the towel. She dried herself off, and once she was finished, she handed Steve the towel. Leah turned around to find Eddie holding the robe open for her. She turned around and put her arms through. She felt Eddie's arm wrap around her waist, his fingers brushing against the skin of her belly, and he closed the robe before tying it off. He pulled her closed her hugged her tightly, brushing his lips against her ear.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. They're going to burn in hell for what they did," Eddie whispered.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"I'll dispose of your clothes," Steve said, kissing her cheek.

"Thank you," Leah said.

Eddie wrapped an arm around her and led her inside. Dustin caused them both to yell when he jumped out at them. He was holding out Tews. Leah held a hand to her chest, glaring at her brother.

"You know very well, Dusty, that Tews is NOT an attack cat," Leah replied.

"What happened?" Dustin asked.

"Ask Steve when he comes back inside," she said. "I'm going to go take a shower."

Eddie followed her to her bedroom, where she started pulling out a large black and yellow night shirt. Just then, they both heard the sound of Steve explaining what happened to Dustin.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH!" Dustin yelled.

"Where the hell are you going?!" Steve asked.

"TO COMMIT MURDER! HE WANTS TO SEE BLOOD?! I'LL SHOW HIM BLOOD!" Dustin yelled.

"I guess you don't want hot chocolate then, Conan," Steve said sarcastically.

"With the little marshmallows, please," Dustin said.

Leah bent over laughing as Eddie did the same. She walked into her ensuite bathroom before popping her head back out again.

"Could you come with me?" She asked Eddie.

"Into the bathroom or into the shower?" Eddie asked.

"Whatever you want to do," she shrugged.

Eddie followed her into the restroom and watched as she took off her robe before hopping into the shower. He stood outside the shower awkwardly for a moment, trying to decide what to do before he heard her sniffling. Eddie immediately stripped down and stepped into the shower. He turned her around and pulled her into her arms, cradling her against his chest. She cried for a while as he held her before she pulled back and looked at the scars on his chest.

"Do you miss them sometimes?" She asked.

"My breasts? Nope, not at all," Eddie grinned. "Why are you asking?"

"I don't know because sometimes I hate mine," she replied.

"May I?" He asked, motioning towards her breasts.

"Yeah."

He cupped them gently, holding them up.

"When you hold them, do they feel like yours?" Eddie asked.

"As mad as I get at them, I also love them, so yeah, they feel like mine," Leah replied.

"Whenever I held mine, they never felt like mine. I didn't hate them. It just felt like they didn't belong there, you know," Eddie said.

"Maybe they're somewhere out there helping a woman who's in a similar situation," Leah said.

"That's a nice thought," Eddie grinned softly. "I fucking hope so."

"After you told me and Steve, I kind of questioned myself for a while. I still am, and while I don't believe I'm like you, it's nice to question it, to not feel like you're just one thing, and maybe I'm not. There's just this fluidity to it, I guess, and when I look at you, I question myself, but in a very good way. I think it's so beautiful, and so are you," Leah said. "I'm really glad you're a part of my life, and I really hope that I didn't scare you and Steve off."

"You didn't, sweetheart, you could never," Eddie replied.

He leaned his forehead against hers and let the water wash over them, the conversation with it. Suddenly, Eddie leaned back again to look at her.

"You broke a glass with your boobs again, didn't you?" He asked.

"Eddie!" She snapped before sighing. "Yes."

Once they got out of the shower, they dressed and wrapped their hair up into a towel. Eddie winked and hip checked her on the way out of the bathroom. Steve was coming in with a tray of snacks and drinks as they were leaving the bathroom.

"I made hot chocolate and popcorn. I also got you those big marshmallows that you like," Steve said, placing them on the nightstand. "I grabbed some pretzels, too."

"Thanks, Stevie," Leah said.

"Do you want us to stay?" Steve asked.

"Do you want to go?" She asked.

"We always want you around, I just thought you knew that," Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah?" She asked, biting her lip.

Eddie plopped onto the bed and pulled her in between his legs.

"What our boy here is trying to say. . .do you want to be our girlfriend?" Eddie asked.

"You both want me?" She asked and he yanked her fully in to his lap.

"Hell yes," Eddie said.

Steve sat down on his other side, resting his head on Eddie's shoulder. Leah smiled when Steve pouted and widened his eyes.

"Please?"

"You don't have to beg. . . Unless you want to," Leah laughed. "Yes, I'll be your girlfriend."

Leah cupped Steve’s chin and gave him a kiss. She smiled as she leaned back, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Excuse me? Don't I get a kiss? I'm the one who asked?" Eddie asked.

"Hmm. . . Let me think about it. . . ," Leah giggled.

Eddie growled and pushed her back onto the bed as he began tickling her sides.

"You little minx," Eddie said and moved to kiss her but caught her cheek instead. "Leah!"

Leah giggled before pulling Eddie into a hard kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. He broke the kiss and brushed her nose with his while Steve collapsed on her other side.

"I like your shirt. You look like a cute bumblebee," Steve said and kissed her cheek.

"It's new. I got it because it reminded me of you and Steve," she blushed.

"Do you hear that, Eddie? We have our own shirt," Steve said, his eyes lighting up.

"I heard," Eddie said, his own eyes twinkling.

"I love you both," Leah said fondly.

"I know," Eddie said seriously.

"Eddie Munson! You did not just Han Solo Me!" Leah gasped and pushed him off the back. "Take it back and tell me you love me!"

"I did tell you, baby," Eddie cackled from the floor.

"I love you!" She said furiously as she looked over the side of the bed.

"I know!"

"Eddie! Damn it!"

Leah grabbed her pillow and began hitting Eddie with it.

"You know, he did the same damn thing with me!" Steve exclaimed as he looked over the side with her. "Eddie, if you don't be honest with her, she's the only one who will ever get to see my bare ass!"

"I'll be good!" Eddie said, sitting up and cupping her face. "Sweetheart, you make everything so much better. You make us better, and we are so maddenly in love with you. . . I love you."

Leah smiled and cupped his face right back. She leaned forward like she was going to kiss him but paused right before his lips.

"I know," she whispered and Eddie pouted.

"I love you!" Steve laughed.

"You know, our hot chocolate is going to become cold chocolate," Eddie said, rolling his eyes.

So, now here they were, sitting on her bed drinking cocoa and tossing marshmallows into Eddie's mouth.

"I have to ask. When did you realize that you loved both of us?" Steve asked.

"Oh, that's easy," she said softly. "When my dog died a few months ago, and you guys never left my side. I don't think that I would have gotten through it without you. You only made it better."

"I came late into her life, but Shadow was a great dog," Eddie said fondly.

"We're never leaving your side again. . .I mean, within reason," Steve said.

"We have to go to the bathroom at some point," Eddie said, and Leah giggled.

And later that night, she fell asleep between the two men that she loved, her heart lighter than air and feeling like she could whatever horrors the world threw at her with them by her side.

#stranger things #eddie munson #stranger things s4 #joseph quinn #eddie stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson lives #steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #stranger things original character #steddie x oc #steddie x henderson!sister #henderson!sister #eddie munson x henderson!sister #steve harrington x henderson!sister #dustin henderson #henderdads #henderfam #trans!eddie munson #stranger things fanfiction #rueleigh writes

[badoccultadvice]

So like, I have been having this weird experience analyzing the Harry Potter books lately, and please indulge me while I talk about J.K. Rowling's weird writing.

My goal was simple: read the Harry Potter books to find which parts were influenced/inspired by actual magic that people do in real life. My theory was that there was a lot more magic in the earlier drafts of the books, and that she took a lot out due to fear of backlash from America's ongoing reenactment of the Satanic Panic. For instance it's quite obvious some of their magic lessons got dumbed down so that very little of what's in the books could actually be tried in real life, and I think she took out a lot of astrology.

I also wanted to do a couple errands along the way, one of which was to check and see if it's explicitly written in the books that Harry is a cis man. I'm a trans man, SO I'D KNOW. (I'm a slow reader so all I can say for now is: the FIRST book does not explicitly state Harry is cis, but if he's trans, there's some implied worldbuilding with items like the Sorting Hat that comes into play. Also I'm fairly sure the Dursleys would have gone along with him being trans because that meant Petunia could reuse Dudley's old clothes instead of having to get girl stuff. I'mma save any other explanations on the topic for a video on it.) The reason I'm doing this read-through is because I think J.K. doesn't know anything about trans people and didn't think to make sure her wizard world was trans exclusionary. AND IT TURNS OUT THAT WE TRANS MAGIC USERS HAVE A WAY OF WIGGLING INTO MOST PLACES UNDETECTED BY NORMAL MEANS.

While I was doing the re-read I encountered two sort of broad revelations:

There's a lot of old stuff in there like Latin and Greek and tradcraft stuff, but also modern magic of the more recent era... but the incorporation of modern magic cuts off somewhere before the 80s. These books read like they were written by a early 70s magician. Like they honestly read like J.K. is a magical practicioner who just didn't read any magic books written after 1972 and never discovered what Chaos Magic is, (and also, never heard of most of what happened in the Cold War). I have never found a writer, in fiction or non-fiction, more dedicated to referencing magical stuff that most magicians alive today just don't care about anymore.

J.K. Rowling's knowledge of child abuse laws and general social mores regarding treatment of children also ceased to update itself by about the 80s. I keep getting distracted by this and having to make more side-notes about corporal punishment and researching stuff like when caning was banned in England. (HInt: it was banned before Harry went to school, so in Book 1 it's fuckin weird that he assumes that Wood is the name of a cane he's about to be whipped with.) Like, this woman raised children in the modern era, she should know when canes stopped being used.

So like, when I mention that I'm doing some research in this area, this is the sort of stuff I'm reading for and the sort of stuff I'm encountering. I haven't been talking much about this journey because it seems like any time anyone brings up anything Harry Potter up whatsoever, we've got to talk about how J.K. is a terf in every other sentence. But like, y'all: I hope you slow down and re-read the books, because J.K. Rowling is a terf who is also a child abuse apologist and normalizer. She is a terf who is also a horrible fat-shamer. She is a terf who is also an ableist with a huge problem writing about mental illness. And she's a terf who's also a sexist who undermines feminism with her actual writing of female characters.

And I honestly think she double and triples down on the terf stuff so that people will only talk about that. I think it's worth talking about the fact that not only is she an awful person in the terf way, but like, every other way imaginable too. I think it's worth talking about the fact that with all the obvious biases she has, the group she CHOOSES to publicly marginaiize is trans women, and I think she makes that choice because she thinks that she'll get more allies that way. That if she wore all of her issues on her sleeve like she wears the terfness, that she'd lose a lot of allies, that a lot of prestigious charities would stop having anything to do with her. That she uses the identity of "terf" as a shield because she knows that certain people will protect a terf, and she does this specifically so people won't notice how much of a sexist, abuse apologist, ableist, fatphobe etc she ALSO is. Opinions that could lose her a lot of money and clout if people remember them enough.

She's trying to pick on who she thinks is the most unpopular kid in the class out of the hopes that the bullies in class will be her friends instead of pile up on her, but if the bullies knew what she really thought of them, THEY wouldn't even be her friends.

Also like... I just want someone else to read the actual words in these books and see what fucked-up choices she made as a writer. I think a LOT of people remembering these books are actually remembering the movies, which are way more different from the books than you might expect.

#this got long and rambly #every time i try to read the books i find a new thing that is weird #i had to look up when milk bottle delivery stopped in england #i know so many things about knickerbockers now #it seems like the only reason platform 9 3/4 is used is for the parking and that's so weird #why would you name something futuristic a 2000 when that's only 9 years from when the first book is set #who leaves a one year old on a doorstep #how come the dursleys are so affluent to have late-era milk bottle delivery at the doorstep #yet no 4AM joggers in the neighborhood who would have seen Harry before Petunia did #these books are an assault upon all logic and I am mad and angry that there is a theme park based on them that fails the ADA #you're telling me wizards can hide an entire castle yet they can't add a ramp to a shop's doorway #oh gods i'm never going to stop get me out of these tags I need a snack and a hug

[accessible-tumbling]

At source, the thread continues:

I follow/am followed by a lot of trans or trans-adjacent folks, but I have no idea how many people who follow me don't really know any trans people, and who, on seeing the rising hysteria about trans people, feel that maybe there really is something to worry about.

Maybe they feel no hostility to trans people, but have been led to believe that there are 'reasonable concerns' to be addressed, or that they are 'just asking questions'. At least one of my followers follows Cambridge Radical Feminists network, an openly trans-hostile group.

So if you're trans, or an ally, CW for transphobia and sadness here, maybe don't read this. But if you are feeling a bit 'on the fence' I'm begging you, listen to those of us telling you things are really bad here, and getting worse.

Neither my niece or my nephew were brought up with 'traditional gender roles'. My husband is the virtuoso cook in our household, and we have loads of pictures of both 'nephews' cooking with him. My niece wore her hair long, because she liked it long, and hated haircuts.

Her favourite colour is purple, so it featured a lot in her wardrobe, but I think because no fixed ideas of what it meant to 'be a boy' were imposed on her or her self-expression, gender was just a shrug to her. Until puberty hit, and suddenly she was very uncomfortable.

She was a bit grouchy and withdrawn, and began to act out at school. Not surprising for a kid in their early teens to be moody and challenging, not the stuff of newspaper headlines. We just took it in stride. Then a few months later it all came together - she was a girl.

We swapped pronouns, and once she decided on a new name, adopted that (it's a lovely choice!). My happy, goofy, animated little weirdo came back out of her shell. Her school friends are wonderful and supportive (we had a 'Gender Repeal' party where they brought hand made cards!

But getting healthcare, counselling and support for her was another story. Obviously we all had questions around whether this was a phase, or perhaps a stepping stone to something else - nonbinary identity, or just life as a boy who was quite gender-nonconforming.

These aren't things we are qualified to help her work through! Also, if in time and with a good counsellor it is established with certainty that yes, she is a trans girl, then we want her to have a therapist to help her with her feelings around that.

It's not an easy path through life, and it would be reasonable to have some anger, some 'why me' feelings, or some fears about that. We really want her to have that support.

We also wanted to have puberty blockers for her. She had expressed a desire for them, and it would buy her some time to think about what she wants from her future and her body without the pressure of a body that is changing in ways that are deeply distressing to her.

Since the Tavistock closed, there is no Gender Identity service on the NHS to refer her into. The new system is expected to open with a three year wait list. Her friends won't get their first appt until they are around 17 or 18.

We got her blockers privately. It's challenging because not all GPs will agree to share care with private services, so you're always hopping between two systems. It's not cheap either. Just over £100 a month. Not a lot of families have that going spare right now.

She had a fantastic youth club for LGBT+ kids that has been such a fantastic source of support. Their windows have been smashed more than once. Newspapers regularly talk about the threat trans women pose to us. There was even a debate about it in Parliament. It's hostile here.

At the beginning of the year, when Gary Lineker was being hauled over the coals for suggesting our government's narrative around targets of hatred was akin to 1930s Germany, the kids' parents offered them to move to Canada. Their dad texted us to say they seemed keen.

Canada has a better healthcare system for trans people, and there, my niece can change her gender officially with a minor bit of paperwork. Nowhere right now is perfect, but it's better.

So today, my niece and nephew left their home, their friends, their school, and most of their family to seek a better life away from the UK, which has become intolerably hostile.

I'm relieved. Canada is lovely. Travel broadens the mind. They are charismatic, kind, engaging kids. They will make new friends.

But we won't get their formative teenage years back, with them living ten minutes' cycle away. They won't get homework on my couch after school.

They won't get time with their dad or their grandparents, except for holidays. They won't play frisbee with their uncle, or go kayaking with me after school. We will be half a world away, hoping for the best.

This is the cost of the rising tide of transphobia. Lineker was right. Having a chunk of your family uproot for their safety and wellbeing while being victimised by your government probably does feel reminiscent of 1930s Germany.

I encourage you to scratch a little deeper at the 'just asking questions' brigade, at JK Rowling's desire to just 'protect women and girls'. That protection doesn't extend to my niece. The questions about her personhood left her without counselling, support or healthcare.

And one day, when she is not a trans child but a trans woman, I don't want her living somewhere that her identity is constantly sharing space with 'just asking questions about rapists', 'dangerous men in dresses', or discourse around whether she is allowed to pee outside her home.

The anti-trans brigade shares space, and a great deal of its ideals with fascism. Nazis attend their rallies. They quote Hitler. The policing of identity, the reinforcement of gender norms, the intense focus on fertility - all straight out of the fash playbook.

And those pressing for the marginalisation of a minority, squeezing them out of public life, pillorying them in the press, ruining their public standing - they don't stop there. Other targets for hate *will* emerge, if left unchecked.

One of the most famous images of Nazi book burning is from the looting of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexology, which was leading research in trans and gay identities/sexualities at the time.

And fascist powers don't start with laws that say things like 'kill all the Jews'. They are worded as positives. The first anti-Jewish law was 'Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service' barring Jewish and 'politically unreliable' people from service.

(You can read more about anti-Jewish legislation here)

So when you see things framed as 'protecting women and girls' and 'defending women's sex-based rights' (surely things *no one* reasonable can disagree with!) ask yourself protect *from who* and *at whose expense*.

As we are left behind in a nation that is increasingly demonising foreigners and turning on its own, I am left with the thought experiment we were all given at school, 'What would *you* have done if you had lived in that place, at that time?'

Now is the place and the time.

Please, do something.

#alt text included #twitter #politics #uk politics #canadian politics #lgbtq #current events #medical decision-making #nazi mention #history #laws #long post #if for some reason you're still on twitter that thread is quite the honey pot #i'm blocking people left and right