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fozmeadows · 3 years

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race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.

#race #racism #c-drama #fandom #fan wank #fandom wank #microaggresions #culture #the untamed #bronies #whiteness #ficwriting #fanwriting #cultural bias #discourse

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nothankyousirr · 3 years

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my opinions on the different mbti types (from an intj)

enfp - you can be good to hang around in moderation. i appreciate your charitable nature; how you aren’t one to pass judgement, but that also leads to a lack in understanding one’s depth. i appreciate how easy it is to befriend you, you’re able to keep the conversation without any expectations on my part to contribute, and although you can be stupid and impulsive, it’s to a point where it’s almost fascinating, which makes it somehow nice to be in your presence. in moderation, of course. you can be very draining at some points.

entp - you’re funny to watch, but actually conversing with you can be...confusing? i do appreciate your ability to see things from other perspectives, but sometimes you need to take a step back and understand the overall reasons behind those perspectives. confidence is important, but don’t get too over zealous, we all have things to improve on.

enfj - i cannot understand you. at all. you’re so nice, it seems like you have some sort of ulterior motives. i do not trust you, you are just so warm i feel like i’m being judged every time i talk with you, or are even in the same room as you. your general demeanor is just so kind it’s threatening, you need to be less optimistic.

entj - a lot of people hate you, which i can understand on their part, but i appreciate your approach to things. with every entj i’ve met, no matter my friend’s/peer’s opinion, we’ve always had a mutual understanding of some sorts. although, i do see a lot of naivety; which i’m 99.9% sure none of you will ever admit. i admire your drive, your confidence, and things along those lines, but some words of advice; you can’t change anyone. as hard as you try, some people are just stuck the way they are, unfortunately. it’s something i’ve had to learn as well, but a lesson i think would do you well.

infp - you are adorably killing yourselves with every move; like small puppy who’s favorite toy just happens to be laid perfectly in the middle of ongoing traffic. your impulsivity hurts me deep inside. please, just try to be aware of your surroundings, at least a little. i know, ironic coming from me, but it’s all i could ask. think out your actions, just a bit. i know life may suck, but take it upon yourself to change that, instead of just falling victim to your own hurt. i wish i could just pick you up and live your life for you, it hurts to see you do these things.

intp - i like you. your humor is refreshing as well as your insight, you just cannot stay organized. you take pride in your discombobulation; your lack of care, which confuses me. because of that, it’s hard to empathize with you when you have troubles, because it could’ve been easily prevented. it makes me upset for you when i see you do this. it doesn’t come from a place of trying to overly pressure you, rather a place of care. i hope that can be acknowledged.

infj - i enjoy your presence, you are just are hard to get. i always seem to upset you in some way, so i implore you to be better at communicating those things. your productivity and insight is very much appreciated, i feel your anxiety is holding you back. we all experience anxiety, it’s a valid human emotion, of course, but don’t let it dictate your life. confidence is important, you’re allowed to acknowledge your accomplishments. also, i implore you to think deeper in terms of morality. why do you believe those things? what is the axiomatic rout of those morals? by understanding that, you gain a better understanding of the people around you. the people you deem to be bad, may think they’re good by their own definition.

intj - from one intj to another, i feel like there is a lot to grow on. we tend to be very book-smart, but oblivious when it comes to how people work, including ourselves, but just because those things are acknowledged from mbti posts and whatnot, that does not give any excuse to avoid improvement. knowledge is important if we ever want to achieve our goals, and having that insight can make things a lot easier. as much as it seems like time is easily slipping away from us, taking control and trying to pick up on those details we may normally be ignoring, may teach us something valuable. it’s also important to take care of ourselves. i find routines are an easy way to remember to do so. having designated times for everything helps maximize the amount of time to get things done, while also taking care of your needs. and give yourself breaks. having fun, relaxing, etc. can also be productive in itself. not everything that’s productive isn’t what’s directly seen as such.

esfp - you can be a lot. its very hard for me to truly understand you, and i get the impression that you feel the same about me. i feel like there’s a lot of miscommunication. we’re practically complete opposites, not just literally (intj-esfp) but in practice as well. what you find fun and what i find fun is so drastically different from one another, i feel like it’s impossible to truly have a meaningful time with each other. from both parties.

estp - i like your confidence. your humor as well. i feel like we get along quite well, although it can be hard at some points because i tend to live in the future a lot, while you’re the “go with the flow” type. that is appreciated, though, and i feel like there’s a lot to teach each other. that’s just a matter of taking the time to communicate with one-another and be understanding.

esfj - i like you, from the sidelines. i appreciate the way you think, i’m just not sure if that is reciprocated. i tend to come of very strong, which i think is quite anxiety inducing for you, but you’re very passionate about the things you enjoy. i do think it’s important for you to have more insight, though. the world is vast, and an understanding of it can be very beneficial to you.

estj - your drive is commendable. you’re very confident, know what you want, which i appreciate. i do think it’s important to take a step to think about things further to acknowledge the nuances in things, instead of dismissing them as confusing. not everything is as blunt as you’d like, and may take a bit of critical thinking to truly understand. things happen, yes, but why may they do that? is there anyway to prevent the things you don’t like from happening? those questions are something i think are important to keep in mind.

isfp - for lack of a more kinder way of saying this, i dislike you. i wouldn’t go as far as to say i hate you, but i am very frustrated with you. you tend to dismiss things for the main reason of someone just “being that way” without taking into account any other factors that may come into play for that behavior. with the isfps i’ve met, you’ve seen my behaviors as “trying too hard to be a certain way” or “pretentious” without truly understanding why i act the way i do. it gets frustrating. your very confident, but in thoughts that are lacking in insight. take a second to learn about what you’re talking about before you say things. for my own sanity.

istp - even though you seem like you’re about to kill yourself with your approach to things, you always some how get it done, which is respectable, yet fascinating. you’re surprisingly very fun, even though from the outside i wouldn’t think we’d be at all close friends. you’re not one for deep conversation, rather the kind of conversation that always leave’s me feeling refreshed. it’s important to sometimes take a break, and you’re the type of person that i can easily have that with.

isfj - you’re very adorable. your moral standpoint to most things can be a bit frustrating at some points, but you make up for it with your kind demeanor; a genuine kindness as well. your happiness and drive to help people is a commendable quality, just don’t let people walk all over you. you tend to be a bit too charitable, when sometimes it’s okay to recognize that people just aren’t the right match for you. it’s okay to take care of yourself. i know i come off strong and that can be a bit intimidating, but i promise that it comes from a place of care. be confident in yourself. to truly be able to take care of the people around you, you need to take care of yourself first.

istj - i respect you and your approach to things. i think there are a lot of things we can learn from one another. your ability to easily figure things out from your surroundings is admirable, and it’s interesting the way your mind works. i haven’t met many istjs (of my knowledge) but i think we’d get along quite well from the information given to me.

#mbti #myers briggs #enfp #entp #enfj #entj #infp #intp #infj #intj #esfp #estp #esfj #estj #isfp #istp #isfj #istj #16 personality types #personality #cognitive functions

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sasa-gay-yo · 3 years

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Levi Gives You A Promise Ring

Request / Summary: Levi worried about reader before a scouting mission (maybe they were hurt in the last one or something), and to make him feel better about it he gives reader a promise ring?

Timeline: Pre-Season 1

Warnings: some swearin’ and suggested NSFW

Art Credits: AoT

He had called you into his office to try and convince you to stay back for today’s expedition. Walking to that dark, stuffy office, you were thinking about the numerous arguments you could give him that would make your place on the expedition team solid. You were a squadron leader. You were one of the best fighters that the Scouts had currently. Levi couldn’t hold you back just because you two had a relationship. How was he supposed to assign you to his elite squad next week when he can’t even let you go on a simple expedition?

However, you knew why he was worried about letting you go today. Last expedition you were injured by an abnormal. A new recruit was shellshocked by seeing his first titan and was easily grabbed off of his horse and body thrown towards the titan’s mouth like a snack. You swung through, shoving the boy out of the way, and your ODM line was caught by the titan. If you were to survive, you’d have to cut one of the wires and fall about forty feet to the ground. Levi watched helplessly as your body fell, but not before you sliced into the titan’s ankles.

Miche was the first one to reach you and pull the abnormal’s dead, limp body off of you. Levi came next, frowning at the fact that you were laughing at your bad fortune. The new recruit was also looking at you like you were crazy, and Levi made them run laps for that after their return. Levi, not able to show care in public, watched helplessly as Miche took you on his horse and cared for you until they returned from the expedition. Miche had done Levi’s job. In the HQ’s makeshift hospital, he watched as Hange wrapped feet after feet of bandages around your middle. Broken ribs and a sprained ankle and wrist. Still, he couldn’t come near you while Hange and Erwin were laughing at your jokes. He just had to sit back and watch the others care for you. At that moment, he decided that you wouldn’t be joining them for next months expedition, but he hadn’t told you of his decision yet. He couldn’t live like that. Always having to watch your risk your life for any member of the Scout’s while he sat on the sidelines.

You, now with a healed ankle and wrist and only a few bruises left on your abdomen, were about to get him to change his mind.

You knocked on his door and a grunt from inside signaled he knew it was you. You opened the door and slid in, closing it behind you. By the way he was sitting in the chair, you knew he was Captain Levi to you right now. Not the man who likes his shoulders massaged after hard training ODM with the new recruits.

“Squad Leader (Y/L/N), thank you for coming on such short notice.” You wanted to roll your eyes at his formality, but you knew that it would give him a reason to actually bar you from the expedition.

“Captain,” you let out, short and sweet so he knew how you were feeling about this meeting. He didn’t smile or smirk at you like he usually did with your sass, he just stared straight ahead thinking. Over and over in his head, he was replaying the image of you falling from the titan hands, your body bounding off the ground on impact. If only you listened to him when he said that it wasn’t your job to save the recruits, then you two wouldn’t be in this position. You crossed your arms, waiting for him to respond.

“I don’t think it to be wise for you to go on this expedition with your injuries still fresh.” He was bullshitting you. If your injuries were still fresh, why did he have you in his bed the day prior? He didn’t care about your injuries when his fingers left bruises on your hips. His secret marks of passion.

“With all due respect, Captain, my injuries have healed, and I’ve been cleared by Hange. I think medical knowledge outweighs your concern. Are you going to not let Petra go on this expedition too when she was injured recently?” He drew his eyebrows in with annoyance, one hand going to rub his temple. Why couldn’t you just listen to him, so he didn’t have to worry about you?

“(Y/F/N) can you just sit out this one, please? Everyone would understand why. There’s no reason to-“

“I thought you said you would never give me preferential treatment, Captain.” Little did he know, his actions when you were injured stung your heart. Even if he felt the need to hide your relationship, that doesn’t mean he can’t care for you as a worried Captain. He just stood there, watching Miche carry you on his horse, no protest or quick jabs of insults. Even when it was only Hange and Erwin, the two people who were already suspicious of you two, he barely looked or responded to your yelps of pain. He would only visit you once a week for five minutes, weary of the others who lay in the cots around you. It hurt you that you were visited by that new recruit whom you hadn’t know existed till you saved him more than your boyfriend, who you’ve known for five years. And now, after all of that, he’s showing whatever kind of concern this is by barring you from the mission?

“Are you upset with me for caring about you?” He had completely transitioned from Captain back into your Levi, but you wouldn’t let him have this moment. Your arms were crossed, jaw clench, and your eyes were boring holes into him. These were all the telltale signs that you were angry, having studied them in secret for years.

“You have no consistency, Captain.” He sighed this time, knowing now exactly what you were talking about. Did you really believe he felt no remorse? That he wasn’t fighting inside himself to go and grab you from Miche’s arms? To put the bandages on you himself since Hange was causing you even more pain with her incompetence?

“You know I cannot express my care for you under the watch of the others. Not only is it for privacy, but your safety could be at risk.” This time you rolled your eyes, loud and clear. He doubted so many of your abilities.

“My ability to defend myself shouldn’t be a problem, Captain, and your ability to just show a little care for me as a fellow soldier shouldn’t either. You can patch up Petra’s wounds, but as soon as I’m hurt, your hands don’t work anymore, it seems.” He slammed his fist against the table at the mentioned of Petra’s name. Why is it always Petra? Oh, yes, besides the fact that she told you that she had feelings for the Captain, why was it her?

“Do you think I don’t feel pain when you’re injured?! Is that it? You don’t think I care about you?!” Now, all formality was off. You were yelling. Hopefully, someone didn’t walk by and ruin Levi’s want for privacy. It was a possibility to, seeing that the expedition is supposed to depart soon.

“If you care you have a funny way of showing it, Levi! Not doing anything when I get injured, not visiting me, not tending to my wounds, only to order me to not go on the expedition?! You know my squad needs me, so you’re being selfish now, but how come you can only be selfish behind this door, huh?” You pointed to the wood behind you, the one you were about to walk out of and slam in his face. It infuriated you that he thought he could assert his control over you like this. If he showed you one ounce of concern while you were hurt or in the medical barracks, maybe, just maybe, you would let him. You would stay behind, sleeping in his fresh sheets, and rest a bit longer. But now, it seemed he was only concerned about you because he was in pain.

He stood up slowly from his desk, eyes still on his fist which connected with the wood.

“How dare you think I don’t care about you. Do you know how much I wanted to go to you? How I wanted to rip those bandaged out of Hange’s hands and do it myself? How I wanted to kill that new recruit for not only causing you harm, but for visiting you and talking about you during training? I’m suffering inside because I can only hold you at night. I can’t sleep when you’re not with me! Do you know how many days of unrest I got while you stayed in the barracks? I want to tell everyone. I want to get up on that damn table in the lunch hall and announce to your little fucking fan club that you’re mine, goddamn it! But I can’t. You know why? I care about you too much to let the Royal Government put a target on your back because of me! To let everyone know that you’re Captain Levi’s would let those who want to kill me know the same. There’s so many in the Underground who I know would jump at the chance to hurt me, and I’m not ready to let you live through my past mistakes. I’m not ready to let you get hurt in front of me while the only thing I can do is stand and watch!” He was breathing heavy at this point, and you had your hand on your heart. It was beating fast at this sudden burst of emotion. You weren’t used to this Levi. Only in your shared bed would he show a glimpse of what the demons he was truly fighting inside, but now he yelled it loud enough that it Erwin was in his office, he would have heard all of Levi’s soliloquy. The last line. That last line wasn’t about his past or the Underground. That last line was about the expeditions. About watching you fall to the ground before his eyes, the titan falling on top of you.

His breathing hadn’t stabilized, and you couldn’t see his face to know how he was feeling. You couldn’t get a glimpse into what he was thinking.

“Levi,” you said, your voice soft. Had you known all of this previously, this problem wouldn’t have occurred. If only he told you about how you felt, and only if you told him your frustrations with his displays of emotion. Your problems were always about communication. Levi didn’t know how to communicate love to anyone.

“Do you know how many times that scene replays in my mind? You falling? Your body smacking into the ground, rolling as the titan falls on top of you? Over and over. Erwin knows about our relationship because he heard me yell for you when it happened. I shouted my name for you.” Your eyes widened, remembering hearing that. Hearing the name that he gave you behind closed doors be announced over the battlefield. The name that signified his private love for you. The name he never used around anyone, for it being too revealing of his emotion. You thought it was your mind playing tricks on you then. There was no way that the man who turned a cold shoulder to you had shouted that out of the battlefield.

“Erwin knows.” It wasn’t a question, but more of a confirmation to you. Confirming that Levi had told someone on his own accord, even if it was because of a mess up. Someone knew about your relationship, and it lightened some metaphorical load on your shoulders. Erwin knew. The Commander knew and he had a whole month to tell you two that it was against the rules for officers to have certain relationships with each other on the pretense of nepotism. That meant he didn’t care, or rather, he approved.

“I wanted to give you something, at a different time and in a different setting, but I don’t think I can let you leave today without it.” That made you lighten up even more. He was letting you go on the expedition.

“What is it?” He opened the top draw of his desk and dug into it, walking over to you with something in his palm. When he opened his palm, there lie a small circle of green jade. Your heart sped up again, not knowing what this was for.

“Levi…?” You asked breathlessly. You two had only been dating for a few months, so it couldn’t have been that, but you’ve almost never gotten a gift like this from him. It was always tea or some chocolates he brought back from meetings in Mitras. One day, he brought back clothes for you, and you had to tell everyone you bought it in Trost, fighting back to the urge to brag about Levi’s care for you. However, this ring, whatever it was meant for, this wasn’t just something you could lie about or hide in your dresser drawer.

“I read about this in a book. The main character wanted to give something to the person he loved, just so they knew how deep it was. Its a promise. A promise to love you. To care for you. As long as I’m alive. No matter how cold I seem to be on the outside, I care for you. I care so much it hurts. And… and if you’re ever in a situation when you’re doubting me, like the one we are in now, then you have this,” he held it up for you to look at, before grabbing you hand and slipping it on. The jade felt cold against your finger, but you were surprised at the sung fit. Your eyes teared up.

“Levi, it beautiful,” was all you could breathe out. You were on cloud nine, receiving this gift of devotion, but also having him say it out loud. The shouts of the past fifteen minutes had faded in your memory with one touch of this jade. He linked his fingers in yours, holding your hand up so he could see and feel the jade on your finger. He marveled at it too, something inside of his tightening at the thought of a ring on your finger. A ring he had given you.

“I promise to be by your side forever, (Y/F/N).” You looked up at him this time, wiping the tears from the corner of your eyes. Never had anyone in their lives devoted themselves to you like Levi just had. Instead of responding verbally, you pulled his face in, kissing him in the middle of his office. His grip tightened on your hand as you did this, allowing you to feel the passion run throughout your whole body.

A knock at the door had broke you two apart, but your hands were still connected. Erwin’s head popped in slowly, knowing that he might walk into to something very different. He’d seen you stalk off to Levi’s office in a huff, ordering some cadet to hitch your horse for you. Yet, he saw that your hands were connected, and when Levi didn’t push you away from him, hands still together for Erwin to see, your smile radiated enough for Erwin to feel his effects. Good. He needed his two best fighters to be happy again.

“Hurry up, you two. We’re leaving and it’s going to be obvious who’s missing soon.” You were the first to let go, knowing that you’d probably have to feign some innocence for the others. The fan club Levi had mentioned liked to know your every move so they could cater to it. You decided that walking down with Erwin was probably the best bet at secrecy and so you bid Levi a smile goodbye before walking out into the hallway with the Commander.

“I didn’t know he told you, Erwin.” The blonde man huffed once in laughter, looking down at your hand. He recognized that ring, Levi quickly confining with the man about relationship advice. Erwin wouldn’t tell you, it wasn’t his place, but Levi was as eager to finally have someone to talk about your relationship with.

“It was due to a mistake, but yes, he told me. He threatened me as well. A very bold move for a subordinate.” You knew he was only joking, and you lifted your hand up to cover your laugh, imagining Erwin punishing Levi of all people for that.

“I’m sorry on his behalf, Commander.” You reached the door out into the field, everyone getting lined up in their formation to leave. Somehow, Levi was already there, sitting on top of his horse with that same neutral expression. When he saw you and Erwin walk out, it didn’t change at all, but this time it left no sting like it had previous.

“No worries, Squad Leader (Y/L/N). I’m glad the ring fits, he was worried about that.” The wicked smirk that broke across your face was confirmation to Levi that Erwin had told you something about their secret conversations about you. He glared at the blonde as he climbed up on the horse next to him.

“I moved Squad Leader (Y/L/N)’s camp closer up in the middle so you won’t have to worry, Captain.” Erwin purposely said that out loud, the others around them trying to pretend they didn’t hear their Commander’s words. Levi’s glared intensified and he gripped the reigns. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you mount your horse, only thirty feet away from him.

“Why would I care, Commander? Good for them. Now when they mess up, they can have us to back up their asses,” Levi growled out, trying to make it sound as harsh as possible. That made the others around stop listening, hearing a normal response from their Captain.

“I’m glad it fit, Captain,” Erwin said lowly, starting his horse to walk up to the front of the formation to give a rousing speech. Levi’s expression softened a bit, but he looked forward, testing out angles that made sure you were always in his periphery.

“I am too, Commander.”

Masterlist

#levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman x you #levi ackerman scenario #levi ackerman #levi ackerman imagine #Captain Levi #levi attack on titan #shingeki no kyoujin levi #aot levi #snk levi #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #attack on titan x reader #attack on titan x you #AoT requests #request

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taeggukstime · 2 years

Text

A kind non-anon sent me a message over here and asked me not to post, but ended up giving me permission to upload part of our convo - properly censored - in case it helps someone feel less alone.

...

Back in the day you were allowed to question things and have different opinions as a taekooker, but now I think they've been slowly brainwashed into believing you need to fit a strict criteria and it's difficult to be accepted as one if you don't, so those who don't fit tend to directly reject the tkker label. This behavior puts a lot of people off and stops them from diving into the community, therefore it stays pretty homogeneous. Having a low profile & supporting from the sidelines, that's the way you can find peace. I understand that interacting with others (especially if you're trying to befriend someone) while silencing your true thoughts makes you feel alone and somehow oppressed. It's not the best experience. It'd be wonderful if rather than having a single concept of being a taekooker we'd have a bit more diversity and subgroups where we could feel welcomed. Anyways, lately I've been finding comfort in going back to focus on BTS' success and just them as a group and individuals because that's what's most important. Supporting them in their choices and walking besides them. If it turns out TK are dating and one day decide to come out, well, that's when they'd truly need our support, not before when we don't even know what's going on. The fandom should simply be inclusive and accepting of the lgbtq, make people aware of the possibility of any member being lgbtq and protect them from heteronormative attitudes, and that would be enough to make TK a lot more comfortable if they were to be in that situation. It's not necessary to specifically push for TK and convince everyone that they're 100% real & evolved according to this one narrative under the argument that if you have doubts then you're not a supporter. Those people are looking for the validation of their beliefs and are the same people that get into ship wars, feeling so threatened by other pairings and their followers that they can't fathom anyone questioning the pillars of their own beliefs in search for answers, getting incredibly aggressive and choosing blind faith at the expense of rationality, even hating on TK's loved ones. It looks like they lost sight of what they're fighting for and convinced themselves that they're doing it for TK.

...

Because of this, when Army accuse “serious shippers” a.k.a. “supporters” of being part of a cult they're sadly not so far off 😔 I'm sure there's more people in this situation, caught in between useless rivalry and feeling like they don't belong anywhere. There's a real problem going on, a totalitarian way of thinking that makes this community quite hostile and silences those who think differently, pushing them away. It's currently not such a positive space after all.

#asks

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olderthannetfic · 3 years

Note

It's really surprising that you're so well versed in older fandoms and yet participate in new popular ones (that cdrama, kpop) is this by design? Im in my twenties and my interest turnover is already way slower than it used to be

You know, that’s a really interesting question. I wouldn’t say it’s by design exactly in that I do tend to just follow what strikes my fancy, and I can’t force myself to want to write fic for just anything. (I find it easier to like reading fic without serious involuntary emotional investment, but writing takes more. Vidding I can do on command most of the time, but I don’t usually bother unless I have a lot of feels or I’m fulfilling someone’s prompt.)

However, me getting into BTS was 100% due to me wanting to understand BTS enough to explain to people who weren’t very interested but wanted to know what was going on in fandom lately. Under normal circumstances, I run the dance party at Escapade, the oldest extant slash con. We borrowed vividcon’s thing of playing fanvids on the wall--all of them set to dance music--as the soundtrack for the dance party. This means I’m creating a 3-hour mixtape of fannishness, which has amazing potential to make people feel in the know about Fandom Today... and equal potential to make them feel alienated if nothing they care about shows up. Only about 100-150 people attend the con, so it really is possible to make a playlist that feels inclusive yet informative--it just takes a huge amount of work.

Every year, I do a lot of research on which fandoms are getting big and look for vids from vidders people won’t have heard of, so there is an element of consciously trying to keep up with things. Generally, I only get into these fandoms myself if I had no idea what they were and then suddenly, oops, they’re my kryptonite, like the buddy cop android plot in Detroit: Become Human, which sucked me in hard for like 6 months on the basis of a vid.

(So if you’re into cross-fandom meta and associated stuff as one of your fannish interests, you tend to have broader knowledge of different fandoms, old and new, than if you’re just looking for the next place you’ll read fic. It’s also easier to love vids for unfamiliar things than fic.)

But though I was only looking for a basic primer on BTS, BTS has 7 members with multiple names and no clear juggernaut pairing, not to mention that AU that runs through the music videos and lots of other context to explain. The barrier to understanding WTF was going on at all was high enough that to know enough to explain, I had to be thoroughly exposed... And once I was over that hurdle, oops, I had a fandom.

In terms of old vs. new, here’s the thing: kpop fandoms in English and c-drama fandoms in English right now feel a lot like anime fandom in English did in the early 00s. I had a Buddy Cops of the 70s phase in the middle, but my current fannishness is actually a return to my older fannishness in many ways.

What do I mean about them being similar?

Yes, I know some wanker will show up to say I think China, Korea, and Japan are indistinguishable, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the way that I used to routinely meet Italian and French and German fans, Argentinian and Mexican, Malaysian and Indonesian and Filipino too. English-language fandom of SPN or MCU may have all those fans from all those countries, but it feels very American most of the time. English-language fandom of a non-English-language canon is more overtly about using English as a lingua franca.

It also tends to attract people who as a sideline to their fannishness are getting into language learning and translation, which are my other passion in life after fanworks fandom. (I speak only English and Spanish and a bit of Japanese, but I’ve studied German, French, Russian, Mandarin, Old English, and now Korean.)

Nerds arguing about methods of language learning and which textbooks are good and why is my jam. This is all over the place in English-language fandoms of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean media. Those fandoms also tend to be full of speakers coming from a Germanic or Romance languages background who face similar hurdles in learning these languages. (In other words, if you’re a native Japanese speaker trying to learn Korean, the parts that will be hard for you are different than if you’re an English speaker, but you’re also usually not doing fandom in English.)

There’s also an element of scarcity and difficulty of access and a communal attempt to construct a canon (in the other sense) of stuff from that country that pertains to one’s fannishness. So, for example, a primer explaining the genre of xianxia is highly relevant to being a n00b Untamed fan, but just any old thing about China is not. A c-drama adapted from a danmei webnovel is perhaps part of the new pantheon of Chinese shit we’re all getting into, but just any old drama from decades ago is probably not... unless it’s a genre precursor to something else we care about. Another aspect here is that while Stuff I Can Access As A N00b Who Doesn’t Speak The Language may be relatively scarce, there’s a vast, vast wealth of stuff that exists.

This is what it felt like to be an anime fan in the US in 2000. As translation got more commercial and more crappy series were licensed and dumped onto an already glutted market, the vibe changed. No longer were fans desperately trying to learn enough of the language to translate or spending their time cataloguing what existed or making fanworks about a show they stuck with for a bit: the overall community focus turned to an endless race of consumption to keep up with all of the latest releases. That’s a perfectly valid way of being fannish, but if I wanted that, I’d binge US television 24/7.

Anime fandom got bigger, but what I liked about anime fandom in English died, and I moved on. (Okay, I first moved on to Onmyouji, which is a live action Japanese thing, but still.)

Hardcore weeaboos and now fans of Chinese and Korean stuff don’t stop at language: people get excited about cooking, my other other great passion. Times a thousand if the canon is something like The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, which is full of loving shots of food preparation. People get excited about history! Mandarin and Japanese may share almost nothing in terms of grammar or phonology, but all of East Asia has influence from specific Chinese power centers historically, and there are commonalities to historical architecture and clothing that I love.

I fell out of love with the popular anime art styles as they changed, and I’m not that into animation in general these days. (I still own a shitton of manga in art styles I like, like Okano Reiko’s Onmyouji series.) I’ve become a filmmaker over the last decade, and I’m very excited about beautiful cinematography and editing. With one thing and another, I’m probably not going to get back into anime fandom, but it’s lovely to revisit the cultural aspects I enjoyed about it via live-action media.

BTS surprised me too, to be honest. I really dislike that early 90s R&B ballad style that infests idol music (not just Korean--believe me, I resisted many rounds of “But Johnny’s Entertainment though!” back in the day). While I like some of the dance pop, I just don’t care. But OH NO, BTS turn out to be massive conscious hip hop fanboys, and their music sounds different. I have some tl;dr about my reactions in the meta I wrote about one of my fanvids, which you can find on Dreamwidth here.

But back to your comment about turnover: I know fans from the 70s who’ve had one great fannish love and that’s it and more who were like that but eventually moved on to a second or third. They’re... really fannishly monogamous in a way I find hard to comprehend. It was the norm long ago, but even by the 90s when far more people were getting into fandom, it was seen as a little weird. By now, with exponentially more people in fandom, it’s almost unheard of. I think those fans still exist, even as new people joining, but we don’t notice them. They were always rare, but in the past, only people like that had the stamina to get over the barriers to entry and actually become the people who made zines or were willing to be visibly into fanfic in eras when that was seen as really weird. On top of that, there’s an element of me, us, judging the past by what’s left: only people with an intense and often single passion are visible because other people either drifted away or have seamlessly disappeared into some modern fandom. They don’t say they’re 80 or 60 or 40 instead of 20, so nobody knows.

In general, I’m a small fandoms and rare ships person. My brain will do its best to thwart me by liking whatever has no fic even in a big fic fandom... (Except BTS because there is literally fic for any combination of them, like even more than for the likes of MCU. Wow. Best fandom evar!) So I have an incentive to not get complacent and just stick with one fandom because I would very soon have no ability to be in fandom at all.

My appetite for Consuming All The Things has slowed way down, but it also goes in waves, and a lot of what I’m consuming is what I did back in 2000: journal articles and the limited range of English-language books on the history of m/m sex and romance in East Asia. It’s not so much that I have a million fandoms as that I’m watching a few shows as an expression of my interest in East Asian costume dramas and East Asian history generally.

I do like to sit with one thing and experience it deeply rather than moving on quickly, but the surface expression of this has changed depending on whether I’m more into writing fic or more into doing research or something else.

But yes, I do do a certain amount of trying to stay current, often as a part of research for fandom meta or to help other people know what’s going on. Having a sense of what’s big doesn’t automatically mean getting into all those things, but I think some fans who are older-in-fandom and/or older-in-years stop being open to even hearing what’s new. And if you’ve never heard of it, you’ll never know if you might have liked it.

#fandom meta #fandom history #Anonymous

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sunbeams-and-honey · 3 years

Note

hey! i realized something about my chart the other day, and would love to hear some thoughts. using wsh, i have mars, mercury, and jupiter in the first house (virgo) and saturn, moon, and venus in the eleventh house (cancer). i don’t have a house with a benefic without a malefic as well. what are some reflections of this happening in a natal chart? thank you :)

Hi darling! Thanks for the question.

I've already gone over the following placements! Click on each one to find each respective post:

Virgo Mars

Virgo Mercury

Cancer Saturn

Saturn in the 11th

Moving on, your Mars is in the 1st House, which makes you somewhat reckless, in that you don't tend to consider the feelings of other people. You're very confident in your abilities and power. You are energetic, physical, and love taking risks. You are very impulsive, and you're definitely not one to think before you speak. You can be quite impatient but also very free-spirited. You want things done your way and get irritated when this doesn't happen. You might be prone to hurting yourself due to your impulsive nature so maybe keep an eye on that. You really want your dreams to come true and are ready to work extremely hard to make them happen.

You have your Mercury also in the 1st House, which means you are naturally confident. You are great at picking up subtext and reading between the lines. You are very intelligent and have a great thirst for knowledge. You're curious about more or less everything and so want to accumulate all the knowledge that there is. You are very open-minded, which makes you a great visionary. You always look at things twice just to see if they are any extra secrets to be found. You are more than happy to change your ways of thinking or of doing something if you need to. You have a natural affinity for communicating with others and for sharing information.

Your Virgo Jupiter makes you someone who likes to stick to your tried and tested ways of doing things. This is quite contradictory to your Mercury placement, so perhaps you change your mind frequently as to whether or not you are willing to change. You are first to act in a crisis, always wanting to help other people no matter what might be the problem, or what might be going on in your own life at the time. You are quite intuitive in that you have a gut feeling when something is about to go wrong, so listen to that feeling. You're usually right. You are also very analytical and productive.

Your Jupiter is in the 1st House too, which means you are very confident in your goals and what you want to achieve in life. You may find that things generally seem to go your way, so you're a naturally lucky person. You are optimistic, elegant and extremely honest, almost to the point of hurting people's feelings due to your bluntness. This can get you into trouble, even if you only mean the best, so perhaps keep this in check. You may love travelling and seeing new places. People are usually very impressed by you for various reasons. You very much believe in something once you've seen it with your own eyes, rather than just taking someone's words for it.

You have your Moon in Cancer, which makes you a person who prioritises the dreams and desires of other people above their own. You need to learn to not feel guilty for putting yourself first. You love to be taken care of by the people you love. You need to be completely comfortable and satisfied with your partner and they should respect and understand this. You are very intuitive when it comes to the emotions of other people, so if you have a feeling that someone isn't feeling okay then you should probably act on this instinct; you're usually right. You can be quite sensitive. You do have a tendency to exaggerate a situation when it isn't actually as bad as you make it out to be.

Your 11th House Moon means that you absolutely have the capacity to achieve great things in life. You crave support and love from your friends, almost to the point where you become too dependant on them. You're a very helpful person but you can be rather unstable when it comes to your emotions. You have many dreams that you want to reach and you really do have a good heart. You only mean the best. Your goals do tend to change depending on your mood, however. You really click with people who are on the same wavelength as you. Your family is very important to you, biological or otherwise, and you are very supportive and appreciative of your family.

Your Venus is in Cancer, which makes you someone who wants to protect and take care of the people you love at all times. You want to constantly make sure that everything is going as you believe it should, which can mean that uncertainty makes you quite anxious. You want to prevent any problems from appearing. People often rely on you to remind them of important things. In relationships, you want to be treated the same way as you treat your partner. You prefer to stay at home and relax rather than go out. Domesticity is quite appealing to you. You need to learn to accept that change has to happen sometimes and that it isn't always going to be bad. You also need to understand that sometimes you have to take action rather than watch from the sidelines.

You have your Venus in the 11th House, which means that you need constant variety in your life or you run the risk of getting bored and uninterested. You put a high value on any and all of your relationships. You're always on the lookout for interesting people to talk to and befriend. Your curiosity actually helps you to create a solid foundation for your relationships, as you really do take an interest in other people's lives. You're very diplomatic, which means that you tend to get on with more or less everyone you meet. You do tend to confuse platonic attraction with romantic, so you may struggle to tell whether you want to be someone's friend or you have a crush on them.

Words Of Advice:

You need to find the right balance of being careful and cautious and of not letting your anxieties control your life.

Don’t take everything for granted.

Don’t let your inhibitions control your life.

Don’t worry too much about what others think about you.

Be careful about the things you start.

Watch how your confidence might be unintentionally scaring people off.

Boredom can actually serve a purpose to you.

Try not to rely too much on your assumptions and your past experiences.

Find more ways to build some sort of security in your life.

Collaborate and work with others more.

Focus on the deeper meanings of the things that happen in your life.

Listen to and trust in your intuition more.

Thanks for the question darling and I hope this helped! Sending good vibes your way and have a wonderful rest of your day!

#astrology #asks #theclankingofcrystal #venus in the 11th #cancer venus #mars in the 1st #cancer moon #moon in the 11th #virgo jupiter #Jupiter in the 1st #mercury in the 1st #virgo mars #virgo mercury #cancer saturn #saturn in the 11th

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mistabullets · 4 years

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Hello I wasn’t sure if requests were open if not pls ignore me oofb but I would like to request HC of Pt3 Jotaro, DIO , and Bucci gang with a super affectionate s/o but when in a fight she becomes super strong fierce and like a total savage! Thanks

gentle reminder that max characters allowed for hc requests are three (if you want the usual bullet point hc’s). pls be sure you’re reading the rules. anyway, i’m going to do abba and pt 3 jotaro and dio. enjoy anon!

Jotaro Kujo

You’re the only one able to give Jotaro the slightest bit of affection. Of course, he’ll gruff and huff about it, muttering his usual catchphrase but he relaxes in your arms in minutes. While he didn’t like the attention drawn to him and the other crusaders teasing him, he couldn’t be mean to you. It was hard to deny you anything really.

You’re the complete opposite of your boyfriend. You can be super loud and annoying, but often times people thought you were the sweetest person out there. You were always finding gifts for your fellow crusaders or hugging them after a long intense battle, much to Jotaro’s dismay. But people notice how Jotaro was so much different around you.

It wasn’t always like this. Jotaro at first, thought you were another dumb bimbo (or himbo). He was mean to you, telling you shut up but you would just laugh at it off, much to his annoyance. No one could really bring down your spirits and you figured black-haired boy had others things to worry about. Eventually, he learned to tolerate you and your antics.

Jotaro’s opinion of you did a complete 180 in the midst of an enemy’s attack. While the man was completely immobilizied by the stand, you had jumped into action. You had discovered the enemy’s weak spot by quiet observation with its interactions with Jotaro. Then you strike, a ferocious glint twinkled in your eyes as swiftly approached it, getting in a critical hit.

Usually, he would never return your hugs but that night, he did, patting the top of your head. Since then, he’s been more patient with you. He tried his best to engage in small talk, discuss about normal high school life, and how much you miss home. Jotaro would make plans out of blue, without your knowledge but you were more than happy to tag along.

Whenever you said something kind of cheesy or stupid, Jotaro rather ignored it and gave a small chuckle. He began to reciprocate more of your touches and made advances of his own. Your blossoming relationship with the teen was quite bizarre. No one thought he would ever consider dating someone like yourself. But things worked in mysterious and weird ways.

Dio Brando

You’re one of his favorite pets! Dio enjoys just how submissive you are, willing to give in to him, and satisfied him with all your kisses and caresses. You’re able to love so naturally and devote all of your time and energy to Dio. Plus, with your love, comes obedience. You were perhaps the easiest to discipline, always learning from your mistakes with grace.

Dio usually goes through pets but he has kept you around the longest. Some of his agents and servants may be confused. Sure, you’re cute, but there are certainly humans who could beat you when it comes to natural beauty. What they don’t know is... you’re not a simple domesticated housecat, but more like a wild tiger prepared to strike Dio’s traitors.

Sure, the vampire is particularly invincible but that doesn’t mean some of his servants have attempted to rid the world of such vile evilness. After one particular night, an agent managed to sneak in the master bedroom. In reality, the agent turned out to be a spy sent by the Speedwagon Foundation to aid in the Crusaders efforts to discover Dio’s stand.

However, you had woke from the creaking of footsteps, carefully listening. You had two options: devote your life to Dio or take the chance to escape while you can. Perhaps being here for too long had deluded you but you choose the former. You believed you had come to the mansion for some sort of purpose, it would be to protect your lord Dio.

After careful observation and quick thinking, your brought forth your stand. The spy would have never guess Dio’s mistress was possibly a stand user as well. Your master awoke to the gargling of blood and behold the sight of you standing over the corpse. When he demanded an explanation, you were honest. There was no reason for you the hide the truth.

“This man was going to hurt you. So... I felt the urge to protect you, Lord Dio.” You unveiled your stand to your master and an amused grin spread his lips. Never did he imagine his pet to be so loyal and protective. This is way, to this day, you’re alive and well. Always by his side. Perhaps one day, he’ll bestow the gift of immortality to you and have you forever.

Leone Abbacchio

Out of all the men, Abbacchio just doesn’t feel like he deserves any attention; no ounce of love could ever redeem him. Which is why at first, he tended to avoid you. He chalked up an excuse of you being simply too loud and annoying. In actuality, he was afraid of becoming too close with another human being. The only one he could trust was Bruno.

However, he was technically your superior, so Abbacchio had to oversee some of your missions. He kept you on the sidelines, constantly near him. Leone would hate if you, the newbie, were to be hurt by the enemy. Or worse, dead. But one particular mission, you became annoyed. Your stand was perfect for this mission but he told you to stay back.

You defied him. He saw the determination beamed in your eyes. Abbacchio was too shocked by your insubordination that he couldn’t stop you from running headfirst to the battle unfolding to help Narancia. He tried to yell your name but you ignored him. You unleashed your stand. Thanks to Narancia’s Aerosmith, you had the upper hand.

With both of you focusing on one target, it was quite simple to bring down the enemy. Narancia feared for the lecture you would receive from Abbacchio... you could tell he was angry with you. But you were surprised on the car ride back, he didn’t dare raise a voice at you. Weird, you have always seen him lecturing the others for their recklessness.

He checked on you that evening, for any injuries and for a mission report. “Hey,” he said in an almost-whisper and your eyes met his, the golden hues softened. “I don’t mean to doubt your abilities. I’m just very cautious and don’t want to possibly risk losing someone in vain.” You reached for his hand and apologized for the trouble. He blushed at this gesture.

Since then, the both of you learned how to communicate with each other... eventually, Abbacchio tolerated subtle touches, eventually craving for more... likes hugs and kisses. The two of you developed feelings for each other, surprising considering how cold and brutal Leone could be around others. But it seems like each day, he seemed a littule brighter.

#jotaro kujo #dio brando #leone abbacchio #my writing #sfw #headcanons #violence mentions #jojo #jjba #jojo’s bizarre adventure #golden wind #vento aureo #stardust crusaders

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likesomekindofcheese · 3 years

Note

Hello! Can I get Marvel, Harry Potter, Bohemian Rhapsody cast and characters ship? 💖 179 cm tall; dark brown, past shoulder-length hair with bangs; blue eyes (the left eye is mixed with hazel, aka, heterochromia iridium); heptagon face shape with dimples; rectangle body shape. Hufflepuff. INFP-T. Bisexual. Pisces-Aries cusp sign. ”Looks like could kill you, but is actually a cinnamon roll.” At first, I may come off as reserved, shy, yet polite. I, as many of us, have a resting bitch face, that’s why people may think that I’m in a bad mood. It takes me a lot of time to warm up to somebody, cause I have social anxiety. Hate small talk, or speaking in front of the public. When I’m nervous, I tend to mess up my words or forget what I was supposed to say. I’m usually playful, dirty-minded and goofy around close friends. I’m the so-called, ”fashionista and mom” from my circle of friends. A perfectionist, punctual, over-thinker, slight control/clean freak. Stubborn in some situations. If I’m annoyed or getting impatient, I can say something witty or sarcastic. I’m constantly fighting an inner battle with myself, trying to accept myself. I don’t like to smile or laugh in public, cause of the small gap between my front teeth. I really hate taking selfies or somebody else taking pictures of me. The clothes I wear depends on my mood (and the weather outside), but it’s always a mix of smart casual/vintage/or comfortable. Don’t like doing things out of my comfort zone, prefer to stay indoors. Hate crying in public, or asking people for help (it makes me feel uncomfortable). I don’t like arguments, but I will square up if they come for my family or I snapped. I’m a kind-hearted person, always ready to help someone in need, quite modest as well. Used to be a people’s pleaser. My hobbies include listening to any type of music, reading, watching movies or tv shows, traveling (if given the chance), and cleaning. Have a thing for writing. Very protective of my family. Divorced parents. Motherly towards kids and friends. An old soul, and the ”black sheep” of my family. A 100% feminist, support LGBT community. Sometimes I like to try and cook easy recipes. Dislike coffee, prefer tea or orange juice. That’s it, - thanks!

Hello there! Thanks so much for your patience! I was not only dealing with my job but the Christmas holidays and my family and spending time with them as much as I can for them.

So anyway, I would say for Marvel, I ship you with..

Bruce Banner!

He’s one-half of the science bros so he always tries to impress you with what he knows. He will be sputtering out facts and then say “isn’t that cool?” with big, puppy eyes and you will say “yes!”

Both of you are shyer so it took him a bit to ask you out. You just seemed so cool and badass to him that he was in awe for a little bit. But Tony helped him get his shit together and he finally took you to a cute coffee shop! But he found out you don’t like coffee so he switched and got ice cream instead, and it was just as cute.

Both of you get to watch tv shows and movies all the time and cuddle. You keep him so happy with your goofiness and humor that it keeps the Hulk at bay when it’s inopportune.

He even likes to trace your face when you hold each other, feeling the dimples and kissing them. In turn, you steal his glasses and put them on.

He would love your kind heart, how you always go out of your way for others. He admires it so much.

He would love the gap between your teeth and encourage you to smile. But to smile naturally. With confidence.

And he makes you genuinely smile a lot.

For Harry Potter (including both generations), I have to say I ship you with...

Remus Lupin!

He was in the library, looking at how the Hufflepuff’s were visiting. In curiosity, he turned a corner and had a look at you reaching for a recipe book.

With your hair past shoulder length and your eyes and height and body, Remus was in love at first sight.

He noticed how kind you were, especially to first years who were overwhelmed, and how you comforted them, so his heartbeat even harder when you passed him in the hallway.

Only when you were reading out in the courtyard did he try to make conversation with you, the other Marauders rooting him on from the sidelines.

You begin dating and kind of become the whole school’s OTP. Since your family life isn’t great you get three extra brothers with the Marauders!

He especially loves listening to music with you. You introduce him to all sorts of “Muggle” music and he eats it up.

Plus you’re so kind to him about his “problem” that to this day he can’t believe someone as beautiful and sweet as you still love him in spite of it.

Now for the BohRap characters, AKA Queen, I ship you with...

Deaky!!!

Deaky is a Leo in spite of his quiet, cute, wholesome persona. So your Aires-Pisces cusp works really well with his inner fire.

Both of you love kids. When you walk in the park you befriend kids at the playground or the kids of family or friends. You both hold hands and talk about having your own little army of children someday.

Both of you are tall, so you joke that maybe with Brian you can start a basketball team.

Both of you are playful. He’ll do his prank of taking photos of you when you aren’t ready and you will say a dirty joke that will make him laugh.

Plus you get to go to all sorts of movies together and spend lazy Sunday afternoons watching tv, even if he does want to fiddle with the knobs.

Both of you dance together with music and it makes you laugh when he spins you around and then catches you!

Lots of cute dates at home are essential, but he’s so understanding of your social anxiety and patient

After all, you’re the person of his dreams!

Now for BohRap actors, I’m leaning more for you with...Gwilym Lee!!

He’s a tall fellow, so he loves that you’re tall too. Both of you talk about photo-taking being awkward or the bath being so short you crunch in there or the shower head hitting you in the head and have a good laugh.

He’s an adventurous Sagittarius, which works with your cusp. So you two travel a lot to all sorts of beautiful places, whether it’s modeling gigs or filming or anything!

With your goofiness, you tease him over his voice work, lovingly. You both will be lounging on your phones when, giggling, you tease him, saying “puff puff!” and he laughs.

Or you both will be making a snowman out in the wintertime to be silly and childish. He looks at the lumps and tilts his head “looks more like a...uh, monster.” So in a shot, you tell him “aren’t you the master of monsterkind!?” and burst into giggles as you throw snowballs at each other. (see this post for reference)

Plus imagine, just, imagine the cute outfits you both could put together! With your vintage looks, it would be *chef’s kiss*

Even if he grumbles about cleaning, you get him to do it with you and you both listen to music and enjoy working on something together.

But he adores your spirit, not just your good looks with that dark hair of yours, and you both attend protests and watch the news and vent about it together, educating yourselves and fighting for what’s right in tandem.

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youvegot-timetogrow · 3 years

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v. cool of you to ask for receipts and then have replies turned off in your post, unless you didn’t actually want receipts and just wanted to look self righteous in the fjorester tag. unfortunately for you, I’m stuck in a broken down bus and your post is just right there, waiting for me to be petty. but yeah, on Twitter, the worst of the discourse has been from widowjest & beaujester accounts, as well as people who don’t even watch CR but hate the fandom who are repeating hearsay to prove we’re all toxic rabid shippers who aged up Jester, who was formerly a toddler, for the sole purpose of making her a sex object (/s). the age gap/aging Jester discourse has been pushed by all three camps, and there’s been some shitty hypocrisy from widowjest shippers on Twitter. I blocked one person who repeatedly tweeted “you can be uncomfortable with the fjorester age gap and still ship widowjest” which,,, the fuck kind of logic is that statement based on? and several people @‘ed Matt this weekend for supposedly calling out widowjest shippers with his Twitter thread even though 1. he didn’t name any names and 2. as mentioned, there are several camps of people pushing this discourse, so why on earth would Matt have the impression that just widowjest shippers are the cause of it? Anyway, this is all to say that over the past few days, some widowjest shippers have been shitheads and other have really been displaying some victim complexes, so your post in the fjorester tag reallllly seems to follow that second trend. you really just look like a bonehead when you cleary know enough about the current discourse to know that it exists, but don’t have anything to offer than a “not all widowjest shippers, just Twitter widowjest shippers” post in the main fjorester tag. Have you instead considered calling out the people who have made the handful of “this is how Caleb can still win Jester” posts in the main fjorester tag, which *do not even try* to hide the fact that they view Jester as a prize that can be won, shrouding their misogyny and infantilization of Jester with cries of “wouldn’t it be so angsty and romantic”??? There are obnoxious widowjest shippers, just as there are obnoxious fjorester shippers, just as there are for literally every ship in every fandom. either own that fact or stay out of fandom arguments

Hi anon, hope you got off the bus fine and home safe.

Ima start off by saying i... Genuinely did not realize the replies were closed (i just checked and they were set to followers/mutuals only. I hope that's fixed now). You're free not to believe this but I'm not exactly big on Tumblr and i am also not on Twitter (virtually; i do have an account but it hasnt been used in years, and having a vague idea of what goes on there i tend to steer clear).

Having said this...while it wasn't in my intentions, I see now how that post comes off as self-righteous, victimistic and defensive, and I should probably have known better than to post it in the f/j tag (I'll probably remove that tag). While as I said it did not come from a place of hatred, either for the ship or the shippers, it really doesn't add anything to the conversation.

I understand your frustration and I'm sorry that my post only contributed to fuel that sentiment; it was born out of my own frustration to see the community and content creators I love constantly under fire, but I realize that your community is right now under a similar fire and I should have been lifting you up, not trying to shift the blame to someone else.

From what you're describing of the Twitter discourse, the age gap argument does come off as extremely hypocritical, especially from the w/j side; so much so that I genuinely did not conceive there could be people actually making that argument. I haven't seen any on tumblr, but that might just mean i did not look hard enough/scroll down enough in either tag. I did see some negativity on the w/j part, but it mainly boiled down to sadness/disappointment/taking some time off fandom, but the same posts came with congratulations to f/j shippers, so I kind of assumed that was all there was to it. That was my mistake as all my years watching fandom from the sidelines should have taught me that the well of toxicity in fandom is a bottomless pit and can hide on any side.

(same goes for your plead to call out the toxic part of the fandom rather than pointing fingers elsewhere: believe it or not, I haven't come across any of the examples you made. That is on me for not looking thoroughly enough I guess, but still)

Finally, I think I will take your suggestion and avoid fandom discourse altogether from now on, probably even going so far as to unfollow a couple of my favourite meta blogs or creators who discuss such topics. Might go the extra mile and avoid fandom alltogether and just enjoy the show.

Stay safe out there!

#whew this was exhausting

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yshai-tia · 5 years

Text

LFRP: Y’shai Tia ☀️🌙

LFRP – Y’shai Tia (Crystal, Balmung)

The Basics ––– –

Age: 27

Birthday: 28th day of the 1st Umbral Moon

Race: Miqo’te, Seeker/Keeper mutt.

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Homosexual

Physical Appearance ––––

Hair: Black as pitch, feathery cut with oft adornments of small braids tied off with beads, a style from his young Tribal years that he continues to maintain to this day. Lazy days will have the braids undone and free flying.

Eyes: Blue on the left, green on the right. Pupils a touch wider than the average Seeker's though it's hardly noticeable at a distance.

Height: 5 fulms, 9 ilms. (5'9")

Build: Built and toned, compacted muscle that's common among his race. Broad shoulders and noticeably sculpted arms and thighs. Much like their totem, Miqo'te of the Y tend to build strong physiques through years of swimming and tree climbing that mark their hunting ways.

Distinguishing Marks: A scar of his jawline, dark coloured traditional tribal tattoo on his nose. His torso is covered in angry scars that healed poorly, along with distinct lightning scarring (lichtenberg scars) up along his arms and various spots of healed burns on his hands and fingers. However he's rarely seen in revealing dress so these are usually covered up.

Common Accessories: Gloves, more often that not fingerless. Silver hoops in his ears. When in casual, work dress; a toolbelt around his waist adorned with various pouches, holds a number of things; pliers, flint stones, needle and threads, at least one marginally clean rag, magnifying glasses, gil pouch, adhesive, a balm or two for soothing burns, just to name a few. When dressed for fieldwork rarely is he seen not sporting a pair of scarlet goggles.

Personal ––––

Profession: Hunter, tradesman, jack of all trades for hire. Not exactly picky with the work he picks up as long as it pays and isn't abhorrently morally askew. Naturally he'll jump at any chance to work with tech, however. Most of the gil he pockets comes from repair and commission work.

Skills: Former huntsman of the Y turned engineer, skills lie in archery, tracking, marksmanship and machina work. Things he would consider more hobbies than skills of his own are botany, fishing, swimming, weaving, leatherworking, carpentry and cooking, as these were basic skills taught to all tribespeople of the Y.

Languages: Eorzean Common, Huntspeak.

Residence: Previously the Raincatcher Gully in Eastern La Noscea, currently frequenting various inn rooms depending on where he last picked up a job. Most often spotted in Gridania and Ishgard.

Birthplace: Raincatcher Gully.

Religion: Though not as fervently as when he was at home, he still personally follows the teachings of Azeyma. He has a desire to learn the teachings of Menphina as well.

Patron Deity: Azeyma the Warden, Goddess of Inquiry.

Fears: Tight, closed-off spaces, caves deep underground, cages, etc. Freezing to death. Being bound and imprisoned.

Relationships ––––

Children: None.

Parents: Y'sharai Vanoh, high priestess of the Y (Mother, Status unknown), unknown Keeper (Father)

Siblings: He considers those he grew up with around his age group as his siblings regardless of blood relation

Other Relatives: In reality, blood relations matter little and, though he left, he still considers all of the Y of the tribe he grew up with his family. However strained.

Pets: Not that he would consider him a pet in those exact words, but his Chocobo, Omelette. Don't ask about the name, or do if you fancy seeing Y'shai embarrassed.

Traits ––––

* Bold your character’s answer.

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized (in a chaotic way he can make sense of)

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional information ––––

Smoking Habit: Never / Sometimes / Frequently / To Excess Drugs: Never / Sometimes / Frequently / To Excess Alcohol: Never / Sometimes / Frequently / To Excess

RP Hooks ––––

★ I Can Fix That: A freelance tradesman and borderline obsessive tinkerer, Y'shai is pretty handy when it comes to most styles of craft. Clothes need mending? Chronometer on the fritz? Aetherotransformer not converting properly? Did a Big Bad blow a hole in your armor? He might be able to solve your problem for you-- for a fair price of course, guy’s gotta eat after all. Though it's said that if he's brought an interesting piece of tech his curiousity will override and he'll eagerly look at it for free. ★ Custom Built: Along with repairs Y'shai also offers a modification service on the side-- mostly for firearms, though more mechanically built bows also fall under his expertise. Looking to add a scope? Or alter the chambers so you can utilize different sorts of elemental-aspected ammunition? Or maybe you're just looking to get some fancy engraving work done. If you're looking to treat yourself and your six shooter, look no further. ★ Skysteel Frequenter: With his recent apprenticeship at Skysteel Manufactory he's currently seen in the workshop quite a bit. If you happen to also be in and out of there on a nigh daily basis chances are you've seen him around. Whether it's a mutual love for the marksman life or to geek out together over tech, there can be common ground to be struck here. ★ Putting the Cat in Catburglar: Though he doesn't exactly make it common, public knowledge, when Y'shai needs to replenish his sources of Garlean tech he'll wait until night falls and raids the nearest Castrum for parts. And to cause a general ruckus. Do you hate the empire? Do you have an interest their magitech? Love storming their bases just for the hell of it? It'd be a lot easier to carry out more parts with more hands on deck after all... ★ Ehcatl Nine Blackguard: It's not uncommon to find Y'shai around the Twelveswood, originally he sought out Gridania for multiple reasons; to improve on his archery, to learn of Keeper culture, to visit the woods his mother once spoke of so fondly. But it was among the beastribe of Ixal known as the Ehcatl Nine where his, at the time, novice experience as a craftsman was free to take wing. Literally. Though it's been some moons since he finished contributing to the development of the Dezul Qualan airship, he still enjoys visiting from time to time to see how they're coming along. He feels permanently indebted to Sezul and his crew. ★ Moon Gazing: Though not all too open about his heritage, Y'shai does have a secret desire to learn more of Keeper culture and the teachings of Menphina. Part of him feels he shouldn't care, not as if his Pops was ever a part of his life-- but on the other hand it's clearly something his mother knew of and loved enough to stay distant from home from some time. Are you a tribal Keeper? A priest/priestess of Menphina? Don't mind inelegantly asked questions? Apologies in advance. ★ Jaguar of the Rainforest: Fellow members of the Y who grew up in the Raincatcher sept would know Y'shai as family or former family considering their stance on his departure. And, though very rare, there is always a chance outsiders have happened upon the Y settlement in the past and met Y'shai long before he became who he is today. (this would take some pre-plotting together!)

★ Restoring the Firmament: Working out of Ishgard via the Manufactory means Y’shai is in prime, and eager, position to devote a good portion of his time to the recently begun restoration of the Firmament district. Are you also dedicated to seeing Ishgard flourish once more? Crafter and/or gatherer of no small renown? Maybe you’re just into watching from the sidelines and admiring the very nice view of all the hard-working men and women doing heavy lifting.

What I’m looking for ––––

Just about anything and everything in between. Friends, enemies, rivals, someone you have to work with that you can’t tolerate but secretly admire (and oh no they’re kinda hot?), a complete stranger to get drunk with under the stars and discuss the intricacies of life and why apkallu omelettes are superior to dodo omelettes-- c’mon dude they are way fluffier! I love light-hearted slice of life moments, intense, high-stakes action scenes and espionage, meaningful angst and scenes rife with emotion, falling into the dark underbelly of Eorzea and learning what grey morality really is. Chances are if you think it sounds dope and worth exploring so do I! I love writing for the sake of writing and if you feel similarly we’ll probably click.

The ultimate dream is fulfilling my favourite trope of a Found Family, but ‘course something like that would take dedication!

OOC info ––––

18+, Canadian, EST. Here to have a good time.

I have discord and all that jazz so if you want a snappier way to communicate just lemme know. I like to think I’m pretty laid-back in all regards and not too much can ruffle my feathers, so don’t be scared to hit me up, world is your oyster! yeehaw

my boy also has a carrd, you’ll find everything here on there but with Extra Lore™!

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neurodiversenerd · 5 years

Text

How to Include Autistic Women in Your Feminism

Hey, given that this is an activist post, I might be mentioning certain issues that might be triggering to some. Check the tags and stay safe. Ily. ❤️

Ever since activist and feminist Audre Lorde devised intersectionality as a way of describing the experience of multiply-marginalized women, feminism has adapted to include women of color, trans women, queer women, disabled women and religious minority women. Although white, non-intersectional feminism is still pervasive and is the dominant ideology carried on by cishet white women, a significant portion of the feminist movement has embraced the identities and diversity among various groups of women.

Intersectionality allows for us to look at the various ways womanhood affects those experiencing it, instead of just slapping one catch all experience of femininity onto all women. It lets us understand that a woman of color, for example, has less amounts of racial privilege than a white woman and must deal with the burden of specific stereotypes around being a woman of color. Intersectional feminism centers the women with multiple identities, or “intersections,” that society considers unfavorable or marginalized.

However, with all the strides intersectional theory has made in social justice circles, the plight of Autistic women is largely ignored by even the most inclusive feminist circles.

Disabled women as a broader group are often lumped together, even though cognitively disabled, intellectually disabled and physically disabled women contend with incredibly different forms of ableism. Alternatively, the feminist movement also tends to cater to physically disabled women who often have more visibility (which, granted, isn’t a lot) and acceptance than those whose minds are thought to be lesser.

It’s common in the disabled community for people to justify their humanity by asserting their neurotypicality, while erasing and oppressing non-neurotypicals. The pro-Autistic movement itself is mostly made up of women, queer individuals and people of color, and yet somehow it always ends up headed by cis white men. In both feminism and Autistic advocacy, women (especially ones with multiple intersections) are ignored and pushed to the sidelines despite typically facing greater oppression than cis autistic men.

Thus, it’s important to make sure to be inclusive towards autistic women and GNC individuals in both feminism and disabled activism. Here are some ways that I’ve compiled on how to make your feminism both inclusive and accepting as a queer, Autistic feminist.

1. Mention Autistic Women and Bodily Autonomy

Women’s rights to their bodies are an important topic to discuss in feminism, but Autistic women deal with specific challenges in regard to consent and access to care and their bodies, so it’s important to bring up these issues in your discussions.

For starters, the court case Buck v. Bell still stands to this day. The case itself took place in the early 20th century during the eugenicist movement, and the court’s ruling allowed the forced sterilization of anyone labeled feebleminded. It’s legal for parents and guardians of the disabled to sign paper and sterilize anyone under their control regardless of whether the person in question consent to it even now. This is especially unsettling for women of color, who have historically been abused by eugenicist doctors. (See The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and the book Imbeciles for more information on these topics).

In the medical industry, there are also barriers Autistic women must deal with. Today, there are still ableist debates about whether Autistic and other disabled people deserve emergency medical treatment and organ transplants. Once again, this is especially bad for women of color who deal with medical abuse and malpractice committed against them in modern times.

The gist is, the most vulnerable Autistic women often don’t have the ability to consent to harmful and damaging procedures.

For transgender Autistic women, the burden is tenfold. Many Autistic trans people on social media have shared their stories about how people struggled to believe that they were trans because of their neurological difference. This makes transitional care and access much harder for GNC Autistic people and trans people, as their gender identity is viewed as a symptom.

2. Talk About Consent

Along with consent to medical procedures, there’s also the fact that Autistic women are particularly vulnerable to the whims of violence against women. Here are some ideas to mention when talking about consent.

First off, many Autistic women use alternative methods of communication. Neurotypical women can usually say an explicit ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ though they still face violence. For Autistic women who are nonverbal and communicate through AAC, in a victim blaming culture such as ours their hindered ability to consent can be used against them.

Through ABA therapy, Autistic women are also further taught that their ‘no’ doesn’t matter. True ABA therapy, created by Ivar Lovaas, is essentially legal conditioning. The aim of this psychological form of abuse is to train Autistic children into seeming more Neurotypical instead of embracing their unique neurology and changing their environment to fit their needs. These kids are taught to obey authority at all times, or else they’ll deal with the use of an aversiv e. This of course, discourages their active consent to a situation and puts Autistic women in a dangerous position.

If they are physically as well as cognitively disabled, they may not physically be able to resist or run from an attacker. In many cases, an incidence of assault is justified by the perpetrator claiming that the victim wouldn’t have had a consensual encounter otherwise because they are “ugly” or unworthy of a healthy relationship. Autistic women are often considered to be such..

Trans women and women of color, who are often assaulted more frequently than cis white, women are of course very vulnerable when it comes to this issue. As such, it’s vital to mention this at any discussion of consent.

3. Know that Toxic Femininity Affects Us More than Neurotypical Women

To preface this, I want to say that there’s nothing wrong with being feminine. I myself identify as a femme woman, out of my own personal fashion sense and aesthetic. I like being a feminine woman and wearing dresses and having long hair, though these also aren’t the only ways to be feminine, of course. Embracing femmeness does not mean that someone is servicing the patriarchy, and embracing androgyny and/or butchness also doesn’t mean said person has internalized misogyny. Everyone is entitled to the way they want to present, and feminism should be about uplifting how people choose to present themselves instead of putting down women they don’t think look “liberated” or “feminist” enough.

That being said, the patriarchy tends to enforce feminine roles on cis women and police the feminine expression of transwomen to make them “prove” they’re really trans and “sure” about being women. I like to call this “Toxic Femininity,” the way that women are pressured to conform to Eurocentric femininity regardless of how they actually want to present, but then oppressed for both their femmeness or their alternate presentation if they disregard the aforementioned. Either way, women can’t win.

Abiding by gender roles is exhausting for anyone, but for Autistic women who have limited energy to go into their daily activities and deal with sensory issues and neurotypicals. As such, gender presentation is often pretty low on our list of priorities. Autistic women are often unable to conform to society as our hindered social skills prevent us from perceiving these norms. It’s hard for us to fully conceptualize what’s acceptable and what’s not. As such, it takes extra effort for us to live up to Toxic Femininity.

With our sensory perception, certain clothes are uncomfortable for us and it’s sometimes a necessity to wear certain textures. Men’s clothing or androgynous clothing are often more comfortable, so it’s not uncommon to find us wearing those. As such, we are often labeled butch or non-femme regardless of how we actually identify our presentation. We are cast aside by Toxic Femininity.

This is of course, even more true for fat women, trans women, and physically disabled Autistic women, who’s bodies already don’t abide by the unattainability that Toxic Femininity forces us to live up to.

4. Downplay the Voice of Neurotypicals in Autistic Women’s Issues

Despite their position of being privileged oppressors of the Autistic community, most of our advocacy is done by parents and relatives of Autistic people who believe that they are more entitled to our community and voices. They are the “Autism moms” and those with blue puzzle piece signs in their backyards, constantly yelling over us.

Most of the Autism organizations are run by these people, who often don’t consult with Autistic people about the needs of our community. Even though most of them don’t think they hate Autistic people and may even share common goals with the community, they still oppress us because they’re centering the voices of the privileges instead of the voices that are affected no matter how supportive they are.

An Autistic inclusive feminist space means downplaying Neurotypical rhetoric, meaning stopping the use of hate symbols like puzzle pieces and functioning labels. Cut out the influence of ableist organizations and monitor the use of words like “retarded” in your space. This will be difficult in a pervasively ableist society, but it will be worth it in making a more united social justice movement.

It also means allowing Autistic people to have input in their own issues, and allowing them to reclaim their agency. Know that no matter how many Autistic people you know, if you’re Neurotypical, you will never truly experience being Autistic even if you know more about the condition.

5. Autistic Women Can Still be Racist, Homophobic, or Transphobic – Don’t Be Afraid to Let Them Know

There are usually 2 stereotypes Neurotypicals believe about us, and strangely enough, they’re complete opposites. We’re either hyperviolent, unfeeling school shooters to them or perfect innocent angels who never do anything wrong. Obviously, these are ableist because they assume that all Autistic people are the same, but most people tend to look at us as the latter stereotype because it’s more “politically correct” even though both viewpoints are hurtful in different ways.

As such, when Autistic people are genuinely oppressive, they aren’t held accountable. I’ve had interactions with homophobic Autistic people who accepted me for my Autism but not the fact that I was a girl who loved girls. I’ve met misogynist Autistic men who viewed me as an object and wouldn’t respect my boundaries and right to say ‘no’ to a relationship. As an Autistic white person, I myself hold institutional power over Autistic people of color and as such, am able to be racist.

Autistic people shouldn’t be given a free pass for their bigotry, and assuming that they should denies them their agency and oppresses others in that space.

Autistic women have a lot to contribute to feminism, and neurotypical women should allow them the opportunity to rise against their own oppression. Thanks for reading and for making your feminism inclusive –

Trust me, it means the world to us.

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biden-is-a-bloody-war-criminal · 4 years

Link

In times like these it becomes all the more important to remember that tools like Zoom, Slack, and Facebook Messenger are not benign public services, and while the sentiment they've expressed to the global community in responding to the crisis may be sincere, it hasn't addressed the fundamental ethical issues with any piece of proprietary software.

After taking the LibrePlanet 2020 conference online, we received a number of requests asking us to document our streaming setup. As the pandemic grew worse, this gave way to more curiosity about how the Free Software Foundation (FSF) uses free tools and free communication platforms to conduct our everyday business. And while the stereotype of hackers hunched over a white on black terminal session applies to us in some ways, many of the tools we use are available in any environment, even for people who do not have a lot of technical experience. We've started documenting ethical solutions on the LibrePlanet wiki, in addition to starting a remote communication mailing list to help each other advocate for their use.

In the suggestions that follow, a few of the tools we will recommend depend upon some "self-reliance," that is, steering clear of proprietary network services by hosting free software solutions yourself, or asking a technical friend to do it for you. It's a difficult step, and the benefits may not be immediately obvious, but it's a key part of preserving your autonomy in an age of ubiquitous digital control.

To those who have the technical expertise and available infrastructure, we urge you to consider hosting instances of free communication platforms for your friends, family, and your community at large. For example, with a modest server and some GNU/Linux knowledge, you could help local students learn in freedom by volunteering to administer an instance of one of the programs we'll be recommending below.

The need to self-host can be an uncomfortable reminder of our dependence on the "cloud" -- the network of someone else's computers -- but acknowledging our current reliance on these providers is the first step in making new, dependable systems for ourselves. During dangerous and stressful times, it's tempting to sideline our ethical commitments for easier or more convenient ways to get things done, and software freedom is no exception. We hope these suggestions will inspire you to inform others about the importance of their freedom, privacy, and security.

Chat

When we can no longer communicate face-to-face, tools for voice and video calling often come to mind as the next best thing. But as evidenced by the size and success of the proprietary software companies that sponsor these tools, their development isn't easy. Promoting real-time voice and video chat clients remains a High Priority Project of ours. Though we may still be waiting for a truly perfect solution, there are some projects that are far enough along in their development that we can recommend them to others.

Audio calls

Mumble: Mumble is a real-time, low latency program for hosting and joining audio conversations. Clients are available for every major operating system, and even large rooms tend not to put too much stress on the network. When it was time for us to go fully remote, the FSF staff turned to Mumble as a way to have that "in-office" feel, staying in touch in rooms dedicated to each of our teams and a general purpose "water cooler" room.

Asterisk/SIP: When we give tours of the FSF office, people often think we're joking when we mention that even the FSF's conference phones run free software. But through Asterisk and our use of the SIP protocol, it's entirely true. Although it can be difficult to set up, it's worth mentioning that free software can manage your traditional phone lines. At the FSF, we transfer calls to digital extensions seamlessly with tools like Jami and Linphone.

Video calls and presentations

Jitsi: Jitsi was a key part of LibrePlanet 2020's success. Providing video and voice calls through the browser via WebRTC, it also allows for presenters to share their screen in a similar way to Zoom. And unlike Zoom, it doesn't come with serious privacy violations or threats to user freedom. The connection between callers is direct and intuitive, but a central server is still required to coordinate callers and rooms. Some of these, like the Jitsi project's own "Jitsi Meet" server, recommend proprietary browser extensions and document sharing tools. If you're able, hosting your own instance is the most free and reliable method.

Jami: While it's used at the FSF primarily for its SIP support, Jami (previously GNU Ring) is a solid communication client in its own right, allowing for distributed video calls, text chat, and screen sharing.

OBS: Another much-used software program this LibrePlanet was OBS Studio. Illness, different timezones, or unforeseen travel were no match for the solutions that OBS Studio offered. It's a flexible tool for streaming video from multiple inputs to a Web source, whether that's combining your webcam with conference slides, or even your favorite free software game. At LibrePlanet, OBS allowed our remote speakers to record their presentations while speaking in one screen, and sharing audiovisual materials in a second window.

Text chat

XMPP: If you've ever used "Jabber," older iterations of Google Talk or Facebook Messenger, then you've used XMPP. XMPP is a flexible and extensible instant messaging protocol that's lately seen a resurgence from clients like Conversations.im and encryption schema like OMEMO. XMPP is the instant messaging method we prefer at the FSF when we need to discuss something privately, or in a secure group chat, as everything is sent through servers we control and encrypted against individual staff members' private key. Also, access to the FSF XMPP server is one of the many benefits of our associate membership program.

IRC: Messaging services have become all the rage in office atmospheres, but nothing about Messenger or Slack is new. In fact, Slack (and its counterpart for video games, Discord) takes more than a few cues from the venerable Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC remains an enduring way to have a text-based chat in real-time, and as evidenced by Web clients like The Lounge, or desktop clients like Pidgin, it can be as stripped down or feature-rich as you like. For a true hacker experience, you can also log into IRC using Emacs.

Long-form discussion

Encrypted email: While it's asynchronous and maybe the most "old school" item on our list, GPG-encrypted email is a core part of the FSF workflow, and helps guard against prying eyes, whether they're one room over or in an NSA compound across the country. The initial setup can sometimes be a challenge, which is why we provide the Email Self-Defense Guide to get you up and running.

Discourse: Discourse is the message board software that powers the FSF associate member forum, and we couldn't be happier to recommend it. While the concept may seem a little antiquated, message boards remain a good way to coordinate discussions on a particular topic. Discourse's moderation tools are intuitive and easy to use, and it even includes achievements for users to earn!

Document Sharing

If you're unused to working remotely, finding ways to collaborate with others on a document or presentation can be a challenge. At the FSF, Etherpad is the main tool that we use to keep live meeting notes and work together on other documents. It provides all the features you need for quick collaboration, including comments, revision tracking, and exports to a variety of formats. You can host your own instance, or you can select an instance made available by others and start sharing.

File Sharing

At the FSF office, we have a common server to store our files. Not everyone has the luxury of a setup like that, and especially not due to the fast changeover from office to home. To avoid using proprietary "solutions" and disservices like Dropbox, you can turn to the widely popular Nextcloud to synchronize your text and email messages, share calendars with coworkers, and exchange files privately with your friends.

If you need something temporary, there's always Up1. Up1 is a temporary, encrypted text and image sharing program you can host locally, making sure those files you need to exchange are only there for just as long as it takes for your friend to download them. And while we don't use it ourselves, we've heard good things about the Riseup network's instance of Up1, and will occasionally suggest it to those wanting a quick and easy way to share files while retaining their freedom.

Conclusion

This is just a small selection of the huge amount of free software out there, all ready to be used, shared, and improved by the community. For more suggestions on both local and Web-based programs, visit the FSF's Free Software Directory, our volunteer-run wiki which aims to be a comprehensive list of the thousands of free programs available for everyday use.

As always, free software is a moving target. We reap as much as the community puts into it, and as more and more attention shifts to the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, the tools themselves are likely to see an increased amount of development. Please collaborate with us on the LibrePlanet wiki's entry on remote communication to help people find ways of communicating that put user freedom as a priority.

#open source #alternatives

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awesomekattyk · 5 years

Text

What/How I write [Pt.2]

Ipliers:

Darkiplier: Dark is a little more complicated than Anti. While he tends to stay on the evil side, if there is a large threat (which he highly doubts will happen) hed team up with the good, but only for that moment. He is usually calm and collective, and tries to stay away from most other egos, the few exceptions being Host, Phantom, and maybe one or two more. He's less fond of the Neutral people (like Mare) than he is of the Good aliance, as he believes it should be good or evil, no in between.

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @leobashi !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

Dr. Iplier: Not quite on Schneeps level, but Dr. Iplier is still a skilled individual! If Schneep ever goes missing, or is the one who needs medical help, Dr. Iplier is there to help! He's closer with the Septics than the other Ipliers, as most of the Ipliers are alligned evilly, but he does hang with them only for the purpose of feeling like a contributing ego for the Ipliers. The others usually dont mind him being around, but they also dont acknowledge him as much, which can be depressing. Luckily Scneep is always there to back him up!

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @freckled-words !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

Googleplier: Primary objective is to answer questions as quickly as possible. Secondary objective is to destroy mankind. Google is as nuetral as they come. This AI hangs around almost everyone, with the exception of Anti. Almost always obeys commands unless they bring harm to himself. Google memorizes everything he witnesses and can easily recite sayings and events word for word and moment for moment. He's also great at reading others emotions and decisions, and can usually tell what they're thinking. The only person he can't get a read on is Paultin...

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @luckydanart !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

The Host: Host is another character/ego I'm not too familiar with, but the concept of him is enough to make me want to write about him! Host is most connected with Dark, as they share a unique bond with each other. As for the way I write him, I guess you'll just have to see since I dont really know myself!

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @tintas-galhadas !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

Wilford "Motherloving" Warfstache: Mmm yes, where to even begin with Warfstache! He isnt alligned with the good or the bad, nor is he neutral! Wilford is basically the stand alone guy who goes with the first thing that comes to mind. He is the only ego along with Paultin with the ability to break the 4th wall, and that's always fun to write! The only person he really spends time with is JJ and sometimes Paultin, as they both share some similarities with him. At first he wanted to use JJ, but then actually grew attached to the younger dapper and now teaches and protects him. Theres a good guy in there after all!

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @cyanacity !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

Nwtb's:

Natemare: The original Natewantstobattle ego. While technically born in the community first, Mare is the younger brother of Phantom. Mare is neutrally alligned and whomever he's with he enjoys to make a scene and cause chaos. There are days where he'll help Phantom and there are days where he wont stop until he knows his brother is pissed off. Mare doesnt know 'Magic' per say, but he has the unique ability to show others what they fear most in life. When this happens, a purple and black cloud wraps around whom he desires and until they are aware it's a spectral they are trapped in its course.

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @reverseblackholeofwords AND @st1ck-m1st3r !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

Paultin Seppa: The best Bard boi! Paultin Seppa loves how his name is a pun on Salt 'N Peppa, and finds it absolutely hilarious! One of the interesting things about Paultin is he's a 4th wall breaker, and loves interacting with the audience. Paultin is extremely talented with magic and music, and people usually notice who he is when they see him. There are actually times where he and Marvin will perform together, and when that happens everyone adores it. Paultin has a 'son' named Simon, who's quite the jokester!

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @mysnyasper !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

Pluck: Pluck is our bird boi who lost his ability to fly. While not quite as skilled at magic as Paultin or Marvin, he knows quite a bit of spells. Pluck usually prefers to stay out of fights and watch from the sidelines, but he'll join in if he realizes it's important or life threatening. The downside is when things get rough, he tends to encase the area in complete darkness... Pluck technically is a father to 6 lizard babies: Graven, Willan, Xrits, Alidiana, Davward, and Marvyre. Pluck loves his children greatly, even if they do tend to cause some trouble.

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @chatterghosts !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

The Phantom: The Phantom is basically the exact opposite of his younger brother, Mare. Usually calm and collected, Phantom thinks his plans through and is a manipulative person in general. He runs Phantom's Dream Emporium, in which many unsuspecting visitors have lost their souls to him. Having been through many timelines and eras, Phantom knows exactly what someone desires. In fact, in contradiction to Mare, Phantom has the unique ability to show others what they desire most in life. When the two work together, they are an unstoppable team. Phantom knows a much broader variety of spells than any other ego. Something to take note of is he often keeps and eye on Marvin... Wonder why...

THIS ART IS NOT MINE AND BELONGS STRICTLY TO @the-viiovi-soldier !!! DO NOT GIVE ME ANY CREDIT FOR THIS ART!!! FOLLOW THEM TO SEE MORE AWESOME STUFF!!!

Zack Spade: Zack is a mercenary, who was formerly known as The Deathslinger. He wields two dischargers (known as guns in this world) and is extremely skilled at using them. Zack usually keeps a stone cold expression, talking in a serious manner. Not many people are able to get his locked up emotions to show, but when he wants to he can crack a "joke" or two. The best way to see Zacks true colors is to challenge him to a drinking game, and Paultin knows this all too well.

See Part 1 Here!

#paultin seppa #phantom nwtb #phantom natewantstobattle #nwtb natemare #dark and dicey #pluck #zack spade #darkiplier #wilford warfstache #dr iplier #markiplier host #googleplier

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ollyarchive · 5 years

Photo

Years & Years’ Olly Alexander: ‘There’s entrenched homophobia at all levels of the music industry’

The frontman speaks to Brian O’Flynn about the importance of queer voices, the decline of pop music and how he keeps his mental health struggles in check

The past couple of years have seen queer pop acts climb their way up the cultural ladder. Artists such as Christine and the Queens, Hayley Kiyoko, Janelle Monae, Troye Sivan and Sam Smith are all pouring their sexuality into their music – by and large to critical acclaim. One of the most prominent members of this new queer cohort is Olly Alexander, frontman of British synthpop band Years & Years. But for him, there’s still a long way to go.

“There’s entrenched homophobia behind the scenes at all levels of the music industry,” says the 28-year-old. “It’s got so much better, but I think it’s gonna take a radical shift before these men who are in control of the funds and the labels and the radio stations are gonna be OK with overt queerness. They see it as turning off part of the audience.”

Years & Years, who play London’s O2 Arena today, came out in a big way in 2015. After being named BBC Sound of 2015 in January, the three-piece secured their first number one single a couple of months later, before topping the album charts that July with their debut record, Communion. Musically, they skilfully tapped into the then-zeitgeist for soulful pop-house.

By this point, Alexander was already a fairly familiar face, having appeared as an actor in the Channel 4 drama Skins, as well as Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void and Laura Wade’s The Riot Club. He was always out, but his lyricism at the time was more cloaked than it is these days, his hair a demure brown and his body wrapped in unassuming boy-next-door T-shirts. Three years later, you’d scarcely recognise him touring second album Palo Santo. His hair now a fiery red inspired by Rihanna – whom he recently met on The Graham Norton Show – Alexander bounces out on stages in glittery bodysuits and high-fashion ensembles while singing about BDSM and breaking up with boyfriends.

“There were a lot of people who were uncomfortable with how overtly sexual this album was,” says Alexander. “When we did our show for the first time we had a few comments that it wasn’t family friendly. I reject that completely.”

Though their recent single “If You’re Over Me” climbed to number six, Years & Years’ second, more unambiguously gay record hasn’t quite matched the chart-topping success of Communion, where the lyrics and visuals were more neutral. Christine and the Queens, too, has experienced a drop-off in mainstream chart success with her second album, itself more gender non-conforming in its aesthetic. Given what Alexander says about the music industry, is it possible that the wider public is still less comfortable with explicit queerness than we’d like to believe, for all the recent renaissance of the LGBT+ pop scene?

“The music industry has changed so much,” he argues, “and audiences have changed the way they listen to music, so across the board many artists haven’t been able to replicate the success they had a few years ago. Pop music is very trend-driven as well, and it’s very focused on hip hop now – look at Drake in the US. So, ‘pop pop’ music is definitely on the wane.”

“Pop pop music” is undoubtedly what Years & Years represent. Their synth-heavy, swooping sound feels like it belongs in a queer cathedral, like layered gay organ music, their lyrics riffing off this religious association in songs such as “Worship” and “Sanctify”. If there’s a church Alexander is genuflecting at it’s that of Britney Spears, and Nineties pop-R&B courses, quite clearly, through his blood.

The nervous, handwringing ebullience Alexander exudes when talking about Britney or Rihanna never fully leaves him. He’s restless and fastidiously polite, saying “aw, thank you” to any remotely positive comment and constantly apologising for himself (“Oh no, I’ve explained that so badly,” he often says). A lot of discussion around him is excitable and feverish, too, given what he represents for so many young gay people.

Just as Alexander has elevated the queerness in his work, so too he’s become a leading spokesperson for the wider LGBTQ+ community. He has used his TV appearances to protest homophobic laws in Poland, and patiently guided just about every interviewer and presenter in the global media through gay politics and identity. He also presented a BBC documentary on gay mental health, after a good deal of dark firsthand experience.

He says he still needs to be “militant” about his own daily routines to keep himself together. “I know it sounds so obvious, but I didn’t eat three meals a day for a very long period of my life so I have to make sure I do it now,” he says with a laugh. He’s mostly happy these days, though still struggles from time to time: “I had two weeks earlier this month where I just felt really low and it really freaked me out, actually. Whenever I start to feel a bit low, I think I overreact because I’m scared I’m going to retreat into this hellish black hole I used to be in as a teenager.”

We needn’t worry, though – he has routines in place now to keep him balanced: “I sing in the mornings and count my blessings like Cinderella!” Though Alexander projects this kind of warm, smiley enthusiasm, my main impression of him is one of measured realism. He coolly and carefully unpicks the state of queerness, queer pop, and his place in it all.

“I think the reason I’ve been so committed to advocacy is because I see so many people in pain,” he says. “We’re seeing a lot of infiltration of mainstream spaces which is super exciting and positive but... I don’t know if I’d call it a tipping point.

“I just don’t know if the perception of that ‘successful’ queer pop narrative is reflected in the realities of people’s lives,” he continues. “A lot of the fans who message me are really suffering. I really do worry there isn’t enough being done to help – enough provision in place.”

In the rush to celebrate the sense of joy and freedom that’s come along with figures such as Alexander, Troye Sivan and Sam Smith, we perhaps overlook how much work is still left to be done. This burden never seems to be far from Alexander’s mind: even as he works to project his own queerness, he worries about who he’s talking over. “There’s a glaring similarity between us,” he says of fellow stars Sivan and Smith. “It would be outrageous to say we haven’t benefited from whiteness. I always go around in my head like, ‘Am I just continuing to enable that system, am I just creating more problematic shit by taking up space as a gay man?’”

“It’s upsetting to see how poor the representation of such a diverse community is,” he continues. “It’s still the same people being asked to speak on things. Sometimes I’m like, ‘Can’t we have someone else’? But then at the same time, I’m like, ‘Well, if they’re asking me to speak I’d better say something!’”

Alexander isn’t content to just throw his hands up in the air, though. It seems he’s found a way to kill two birds with one stone; to make more provision for young gay people, and hand some of his speaking time over to those who are less represented. His next big project is his plan to create a queer festival called Rendez-Vous.

“It came from wanting to create an inspirational network for queer people,” he says. Their shows in London will be a trial run of sorts, a precursor to something bigger in the future. Trans icon Munroe Bergdorf will compere, there will be sexual health information stands and gender neutral bathrooms. “Hopefully it will eventually become a festival,” he says. “It’s basically about giving the stage over to amazing talent. I haven’t really experienced that anywhere yet.”

The London show will feature fast-rising pansexual popstar Rina Sawayama, and he reels off a list of acts he wants to see there in the future. Primarily, he wants to empower marginalised voices and share his platform, to leverage some of his accumulated influence on to those less heard. “We have a unique opportunity to introduce Years & Years audiences, who aren’t all queer, to some acts they wouldn’t come across in their usual Spotify playlists. And I want there to be queer thinkers giving speeches, and a place where you can get tested, have it be community focused. Giving back to the community is something that I care about,” he concludes. “Oh god, I’ve explained it really badly,“ he apologises yet again, though he hasn’t at all.

As LGBT and female acts tend to be sidelined in mainstream festivals, and straight men still dominate the industry, this is an exciting and novel prospect. You can’t be pushed out if you own the space, right?

In the meantime, Alexander’s off to make sure he gets some food before his show tonight, when he’ll get a different kind of nourishment. “You know when you’re playing a video game and Mario needs to eat mushrooms to get big and stay alive? Playing shows to queer people, it kind of feels like that,” he says. “It restores my energy.”

Years & Years are currently touring the UK

#olly alexander #years & years #yearsandyears #articles #interviews #the independent #palo santo #lgbtq

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