#but if you want you can go to their blog and search up 'trans' and find the post i found. and then some

[heartburstings]

hi b/apo friends. don't want this getting in the tags as i am so so scaresicles. but i went into the tags bc i haven't been there in a quick sec and uh.

i doubt that they'll be a staple of the community but it should be good for u to know that they were highlighted by shinigami eyes, and and that this is a terf. (likely bc they reblogged this post from another terf. and idk abt you but rbing a post claiming that transactivists are erasing gay history and then not only adding onto it, but also not disputing that itty bitty little part... yeah <3)

scrolling thru their blog a bit (w/ shinigami eyes) will show that they follow a few other terfs. it will also show u that they rb and agree w shit like this and this (which isn't transphobic but uh... still wild). anyway. hope ur having a good day friends.

#wynn speaks #i feel like i'm literally going insane whenever i see a terf in the tags . and going thru their blog to find terf stuff to point out. #but not all of them are super obvious. #so if u r still not convinced: they rbed the first post from the source which either means they follow this person already OR #they were in tags which would give them this post which is meant to and let's not kid ourselves here #accuse trans ppl of erasing gay history as if they are not part of the lgbt community #and if u scroll thru the blog of the op of that post btw u don't need to scroll far to see 1. aphobia and 2. transphobia #which isn't a lot. but you know. i feel like i'm going insane with red string over here anyway. BUT #jsyk. there's someone to block and hopefully they don't show their face again. #but if you want you can go to their blog and search up 'trans' and find the post i found. and then some #not so blatant stuff. but they did rb a post abt how 'queer' isn't something ppl should identify as and if they do it's a red flag. so. #you knowwwwwww. :P. #anyway. back to living life.

[fandom-hoarder]

Ok, so I got an ask for mutual aid. Of course, it's human to want to help someone in need, even if all you can do is reblog their post. But you also don't want to be scammed, or help spread a scam. So you look for clues, or you only reblog your mutuals' aid posts because you at least know they're *real*, or you don't reblog aid posts at all.

So, what are the tells? (I'm not an expert, this is just what I've learned through osmosis.)

Do they follow/interact with you, outside of the mutual aid request?

Is their username weirdly generic?

Does the blog look like a real tumblr user, and not just someone who made a tumblr to ask for aid? How old is it? Is it involved in any fandoms? Does it seem staged?

Does their aid ask and needs description make sense? Is it overly vague, or bogged down with unneeded details?

If you quote-search the body of their aid ask, do you get any similar hits for scams on other sites or under other names?

Does the account for donations look legit?

What do you find when you reverse image search?

So, having received an ask that sounded very much like someone whose mutual aid I would want to support if they're real, but already having two red flags from the jump (not following me and not in my notifications, weird wording and grammar on ask), I endeavored to suss them out.

Screencaps of my adventure under the cut.

Like someone else has said, please don't go harrass this blog. Even if it's a scam, at some point there's a person behind that screen.

So here's the ask.

Red flags: they don't follow me, I don't know them, the ask is long, the grammar and punctuation are bad, word choices are odd or misspelled. These don't mean it's automatically fake, but it looks more like a weird AI than someone using google translate to communicate in English.

So I check their blog.

Their pinned post is this (click to read, it's a longass pic):

I don't take any links yet.

I take a block of their post and check it in google; all I get are snapshots of tumblr reblogs for their aid post. I click the "buy me a coffee" link, and it looks...idk, fine I guess. There's a tumblr logo, but clicking it seems to do nothing. (I'm on mobile)

A quick search of their name on tumblr gives me 2 posts mentioning them spamming this same message to people.

I read the one with the readmore linked here

After reading wannursyafiqah74's post about it, I got on my laptop and went back to casualdonutfire.

Mostly random reblogs; cats and other random reblogs of mostly pics, many with comments that could've/should've been tags, and no actual tags whatsoever. Like set dressing that says, "See? I'm a real person! I'm leaving comments about my reblogs that show I'm not a bot! I interact! I know what I'm I'm reblogging!"

It gives me a creepy vibe. I try google again to see if I can find their presence elsewhere on tumblr. The returns are still all snapshots of their mutual aid post. I open their archive. Ok, their tumblr has archive on...?

There are no fandom-esque posts until the very first reblog, a comment on One Piece fanart on October 18, 2023.

Their first post about needing aid was on November 7, 2023. Nearly the same wording as their pinned post, except they don't mention having a child. Zero specifics on what amount is needed for what or a timeline or anything. Not even anything about Christmas coming up. Tagged generously for trans surgery and other visibility words.

Oh. AND. The buymeacoffee is different. Adela, not Adella.

Then their next post for aid is fresh on January 11, 2024; nearly the same wording, except now there's a daughter and a birthday -- no date for the birthday, though, is there?!

[reblog linked here] If you go to their January 12th reblog and click on the "video proof," it's an audio-only black screen upload to imgur, with no identifying info for what's going on other than what they describe (and it doesn't really sound like what they describe; it sounds like a kid ready for christmas but not disappointed, like idk what more you're supposed to get out of it)

Then I clicked on their buymeacoffee link and noticed something. When I hovered my mouse over the tumblr symbol under their blurb, the link embedded there showed up at the bottom of my screen. And it was NOT casualdonutfire.

It was deepeagletimetravel. And, of course, it's a nuked tumblr. Hence doing NOTHING for me on mobile.

So I went to google again!

And lo, what do I find in those lurking reblogs?

ANOTHER MUTUAL AID POST IN EVERYONE'S REBLOGS. WITH A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSONA AND STORY. BUT THE SAME WALL OF TEXT + BAD PUNCTUATION STYLE

Using a stock photo for their initial "bio" that seems awfully misleading when you don't say it's a stock photo.

And with stolen/uncredited art by thetransformistress as a thank you.

And, of course, the buymeacoffee page it linked for Ameera (buymeacoffee.com/AmeeradelzC) is blank. 👀 Totallynormal, nothing to see here.

But this makes me think. I go back to that Nov 7 casualdonutfire post, with their first buymeacoffee link to "Adela" (buymeacoffee.com/adelladomil)--

and what do ya know, the tumblr that opens is casualdonutfire!

So did they forget they made an adela account, and change their ameera buymeacoffee account to adella for their new post, forgetting to change the deepeagletimetravel tumblr name?! 🤷‍♀️

#possible scam #scam alert #scam likely #casualdonutfire #deepeagletimetravel

[grassbreads]

I’d love to know about Yulma and how important it is to representation in shounen manga

This has been sitting in my askbox for a couple months (because I am incapable of punctuality), but anon sent this to me back when I was talking about Yulma over on my vnc blog. For those unaware, Yulma refers to Yu Kanda and Alma Karma from the manga D.Gray-man.

So the thing is, to be honest, I don't know if you can say Yulma is/was important for representation. They don't tend to get brought up as an example of representation (except by diehard d.gray-man fans like me, lol) in shonen, and their whole thing is complicated enough that I feel like the queerness of it all flies over a lot of people's heads.

However! They're very important to me personally, and I do think it's kind of remarkable their story came out in like 2010. Because even though their queerness gets overlooked a lot, it's like. really there no matter how you interpret it.

The short version of their very complicated story is that Kanda and Alma are a couple who were resurrected into new bodies. Alma was a woman when they were originally together in their past lives, but is physically male in the present. Kanda is still very much in love with them by the end of their story, which, depending on the reading, makes Kanda very bi and/or Alma very trans.

This sound like something you want details on? If so, let's talk about how D.Gray-man's fan favorite edgy badass toughguy character briefly became the star of his very own heart-wrenching tragic queer romance.

Here's a brief crash course in Yu Kanda and Dgm for the uninitiated:

D.Gray-man is a manga about a group of exorcists (in the loosest and most anime sense of the term) in the 1890s fighting a holy war against mechanical demons powered by the souls of the dead. There are two things you need to understand about this plot for me to explain Yulma:

The Black Order, the secret branch of the church that exorcists work for, has a long history of committing horrific human experiments to further the war effort.

Due to complications of world building, only a tiny number of people can become exorcists, and tracking down new ones is extremely difficult.

Yu Kanda is one of the exorcists, and though not the actual main character (that's the lad in my icon), he's a very important secondary character. Arguably he's the most important secobdary character, since he's the main guy's biggest foil and the first character to play deuteragonist in a major story arc. He's also a huge fan favorite. The character popularity polls that Jump used to do always had him and the mc going back and forth over who won #1 most popular.

Kanda was also a classic edgy toughguy character. His first two scenes are him almost murdering the main guy because he thinks he's an intruder, then complaining about people grieving for their friend too loudly. He never smiles. He argues with the righteous mc about wasting time/energy protecting civilians. He threatens (and delivers) violence on anyone that annoys him. He looks like this:

TLDR; Kanda was an adored-by-fans mean badass archetype in a 2000s shonen manga. Not generally the guy you peg for starring in a piece of queer romantic storytelling.

And for the entirety of the original anime adaptation's 103 episode run, for the first 188ish chapters of the manga, you do not learn a single thing about his early life. You learn he joined the Black Order very young, and you meet the mentor that took him in at that point, but although there are little hints, a couple cryptic mentions of him searching for a certain person, his early origins remain a complete black box.

Then came the Alma Karma arc.

This is the point where I start getting into spoilers.

To make a very long story short, the Alma Karma arc reveals that Kanda is one of the Black Order's human experiments. The Order ran a secret project 9ish years before the start of the series in which they essentially tried to re-use dying exorcists (since finding new ones is so hard). They took the bodies of dying or recently deceased exorcists and harvested their brains, implanting those brains into new magically grown child bodies.

Key to this project—the second exorcist project—is that these newly grown second exorcists were not supposed to remember anything from their previous lives. Kanda, however, recovered a few hazy memories from his past self. Most importantly, he can recall an unclear image of the woman that his past self was in love with. This memory gradually becomes Kanda's reason to live. He wants desperately to find and meet that person.

Now, aside from Kanda, there was one other successfully revived second exorcist. This was a boy named Alma Karma.

Over the course of their brief shared childhood, Kanda and Alma become extremely close. However, due to a series of horrible events that I'll spare you the details of, Alma is eventually driven to murder-suicide. He wants himself and Kanda to die together to spite the Order, and Kanda almost lets him do it.

The one thing that keeps Kanda from letting Alma kill him, the thing that drives him instead to kill Alma, his most beloved and only friend, is that he can't bear to die without finding that woman again.

Have you figured out the twist yet?

9 years later, in the present, Kanda discovers that he didn't actually quite kill Alma. The Order kept Alma secretly half-alive in order to do more dubious experiments. And, more importantly, when they meet again, Kanda discovers the truth. The woman that he's been searching for his whole life, the woman he's in love with, the woman he tried to kill Alma in order to find, was also killed and made into a second exorcist. And her brain was placed into the body of Alma Karma.

After quite a lot more violence and tragedy, Kanda and Alma end their story arc by running away together on their deathbeds. Alma dies, for real this time, in Kanda's arms, and his last words are to tell Kanda he loves him. These words are presented as something Kanda hears from both the boy and woman versions of Alma's soul.

So! At the end of a very long and complicated story, one thing holds true: Kanda and Alma are in love. As passed down from their past selves, they are specifically in romantic love. They were a couple. And to speak as a fan, the sheer absolute devotion to how Kanda's love for Alma is presented is seriously intense and moving.

Now, given the absolute hell that is Alma's life, gender identity is frankly the last thing they have time to worry about, so it's hard to say how the whole "literally a woman's brain in a male body" thing might have settled for them if given time to think about it. But that is inherently a pretty trans narrative. And given the whole Alma gender situation, there's simply no reading of their whole situation where neither of them is queer.

If you take present day Alma as a guy, which is more or less how he's presented in canon (though again, who knows how he would've felt about that male body in different circumstances), then congratulations! You've got mlm in your shonen manga. They were straight in a different life, but now one of them's a dude, and they are still deeply in love with each other. They've even got not one but two "let's forget it all and run away together" scenes, just as every mlm couple seems to have.

On the other hand, if you go with the angle that Alma's still a woman based on her mind/soul, even in her new body, then Kanda may not be canonically queer, but Alma is inarguably trans. Again, literally a woman's brain in a male body. It may not be how most people end up trans, but that doesn't change the facts of her situation.

You see what I mean about how they're undeniably queer, but also kind of easy to miss? There's so much other insane shit going on in their story that Alma's whole gender situation can get passed over. Plus, you can look online to this day and find people arguing that Kanda's not "technically" explicitly in love with the present day male version of Alma, since he doesn't 100% unambiguously say as much. I love reading comprehension.

Also! As a possible extra reason for why people don't talk about them much, the official English translation of the manga translated Alma's final "I love you" very differently. There's always a lot of nuance and argument when it comes to translating "大好き" into English, but given the full context of their relationship and the scene it's in, Viz's handling really sets off the censorship bells in my head.

Here's the different versions (Japanese then fan then official), if you want to compare:

Nothing more classically queer than censorship by way of questionable translation 🙃.

At the end of the day, Kanda and Alma are in kind of a strange middle ground. They're each in love with the other one, but the whole second exorcist brain transfer situation makes it complicated enough that people argue their feelings aren't explicitly romantic (and thus not gay) in the present. Alma is literally a woman's brain implanted in a male body, but we don't have time to dwell on the gender complications of all that because of the hell that is the rest of their life. They're canon but not canon—queer people whose stories don't have space for them to be queer.

However, given that all this messy, tragic ambiguity was published in a fairly popular shonen manga back in 2010, it still feels kind of remarkable to me. Alma is somewhat an antagonist (it's complicated), and he dies at the end of his arc, but once again, Kanda was/is the fan favorite! And when he re-enters the main story after Alma's death, he's more important than he's ever been, and his history with Alma continues to be a huge part of his character.

Katsura Hoshino took the much-beloved edgy toughguy character from her long-running shonen series and, after keeping his origins secret for such a long time, confirmed that his whole life has revolved around love this entire time. Almost every facet of his character can be traced back to his love for his lost best friend or his yearning for his past life's missing partner. And then she reveals that the best friend and the partner are one and the same.

You can go back and forth about the degree to which they work as representation, but in any case, I think their story is something people ought to know about. It's romantic and it's heart-wrenching and it's fucking wild, especially given the context in which it was published (a Shonen Jump spinoff in 2010). I never see anyone besides the few remaining hardcore dgm fans talk about them, and I think that's a shame.

So anyway, that's tale of one of the most insanity-inducing romances I've ever seen put to paper. I love queer people.

Here's some choice pages if you want to cry with me (the last two are a sequence):

#followers!! I know my demographic #I know that most of y'all are Tragic Queer Romance Enjoyers #and if that describes you. you should read this post #come learn about a truly wild piece of manga history #I bring you the gift of discovering Yulma without having to read almost 200 chapters of shonen manga for context #don't pass this up <3 #dgm #d.gray-man #yu kanda #yulma #alma karma #invasion of the frogs #also I really hope that at least one of the besties reads this and has a Realization about who/what my queue tag is a reference to #maybe I flatter myself to think that anyone remembers what my queue tag is. but I just think it would be funny <3 #also also. I really did not intend for this post to turn into an entire essay when I started writing it #so uh. whoops #ID in alt text #anon #ask

[what-do-bunyips-look-like]

This crab day thing has gotten so frustrating so fast. The person who suggested it is an anti-abortion anti-feminist right wing christian transphobe. Many of the people spreading additional posts and info are ALSO anti-abortion right wing christian transphobes. Seriously. Start clicking their blogs when you see these posts. Search "abortion" and "feminism" and "trans" and "gender" and "groomer." This is really easy to confirm. But people don't give a shit because "crabs fun." okay.

And its not like people aren't aware of it at this point. Search "crab day" on tumblr and a good chunk of the results are asks saying "hey btw crab day was started by a transphobe/right wing christian." and most of those people have responded with something along the lines of "Um okay but like its a good idea though??? You guys can't even collaborate with conservatives for like a second to achieve a political goal? UGH this is why nothing ever gets done 🙄." or "Um okay but like that post had nothing to do with their political beliefs. so like its fine lol. Crab fun." Or "oh no omg im so sorry thats so gross i deleted the post but im still gonna keep reblogging all the other posts by the conservative transphobic anti abortion right wing christians whos blogs i wont check because we need to save tumblr!!!!"

Let me make this really fucking clear for those who don't get it: it doesn't matter if the post is not about their political beliefs. You and all your mutuals are reblogging them. You are making it easier for them to network and find each other. You are bringing them new followers, a bigger audience, a bigger platform and a bigger pool of people who will spread their oh so relatable non-political posts. Which will bring in more followers. And some of those new followers are going to be young dumbasses who are going to see all their posts about "groomers" and "mutilation" and the evils of porn and the horrors of abortion and how feminism actually harms women and do i need to tell you how that story ends?

You are showing that "crab fun" is way more important to you than the safety of trans tumblr users. You are giving them a bigger platform and a wider net with which to potentially harm trans people. By saying that you're not going to let their political beliefs ruin your fun, you're making it very clear that trans people are less important than your fun. And you're making it VERY fucking clear that you'd RATHER tumblr become a safe and welcoming place for anti-feminist anti-abortion right wing transphobes than give up fun crab.

You are showing that your need to throw money at a corporation is more important to you than trans tumblr users. I get where you are coming from. I do. You want tumblr to keep existing. I want tumblr to keep existing. I also want the other trans people who use this fucking platform to keep existing because frankly, they are the only reason i'm here. and if they aren't safe here and if you will throw us away just to keep tumblr shambling along a little longer then I have no fucking interest in tumblr.

"Okay but we need to save tumblr uwu!!!!" Look I'm just some dumbass and I don't know shit (and to be PERFECTLY honest, so are you), but I think this is a little more complicated than "if we raise enough money we can save the school/family farm/community centre/(insert cozy heartwarming thing that needs to be saved)!" As other smarter people have said, tumblr is operating at a yearly $30 million deficit. Thats $30 million just to break even. For one year. not become profitable. Its not a bail them out once and its all good forever situation. Tumblr is not a small message board run by volunteers who actually use donations to stay afloat. They are not a non-profit. They are not running a pledge drive. Throwing money at a corporation does not a nonprofit make. It makes you a consumer.

Your response to "tumblr making bad changes" is "give them money for making the bad changes to show that we don't like bad changes!! A reverse boycott'll show 'em!!" You sure about that??? (And some of you are calling this """""unionizing?"""" Put that word back on the shelf.) You don't know what you're doing and you're not listening to the smarter people who have tried to explain it to you. And once again, you're showing that this half baked scheme is more important to you than trans tumblr users. because crab fun.

And @everyone whos clambering over each other to "collaborate with conservatives for a good cause," we already fucking know that you love to do this shit. You are the same people who will say "yeah but theres bad people on both sides!!!" and who wont give up your Harry Potter or your Chick-Fil-A. You will throw us under the bus the SECOND it gets you something you want. Even something as stupid and small as pickle brine or a shitty videogame or fucking "crab day." And guess what. The second all your "shared goals" are accomplished and the conservatives get what they want FROM YOU??? You're going straight under that bus too.

And also, isn't it maybe a little hmmmm. SUSPICIOUS that CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS want to throw money at the site that we've been bitching and screaming at for how unfairly it censors any display of queer sexuality????? They don't have the same problems with tumblr that you do. You think that collaborating with THEM is gonna stop that? Gonna get the porn ban reversed? Gonna turn tumblr into a co-op? Gonna "unionize this bitch?" Hello????

If you must. MUST participate in this because crab oh so fun and tumblr is oh so in need of saving then for the LOVE of FUCK make your OWN POST and STOP PLATFORMING THESE PEOPLE. i don't want to hear "Oh but its a good idea it doesn't matter if a bad person came up with it separate art from the artist lol" if you're not MAKING AN ACTUAL EFFORT TO EXCLUDE THEM FROM THIS. BLOCK THEM. CHECK THEIR BLOGS. BLACKLIST THEIR URLS. ITS EASY.

and then maybe go give your $3 to an actual non-profit. or to an actual leftist independent organization. Or wikipedia. Or inaturalist. Or to one of the many hyperspecific message boards out there who are struggling along on donations from like 5 people. Or maybe, maybe, give your fucking $3 to an abortion fund or to a trans person's go fund me so they can buy food. Or to a womens shelter or a fucking homeless person or to any of the other people who anti-abotion anti-feminist right wing christian transphobes want to stop existing.

My partner is afraid to leave the house alone because people with these exact same political beliefs are in power. People are getting their HRT ripped away from them because people with these exact same political beliefs are in power. People are being forced to give birth because people with these exact same political beliefs are in power. Every day I'm ready to get the news that the state my partner is in is no longer safe and we have to figure out an escape plan. These people do REAL HARM in the REAL WORLD and their beliefs are, tbh, way more fucking insidious and mainstream and tolerated than those of TERFs.

But fun crabs are more important. okay.

#I have almost no followers here like 3 people will see this but i can't not say anything #prob gonna lose a few beloved mutuals over this screed tbh well so it goes #I'm sorry this is so aggressive i realize that some people still dont know but im VERY frustrated by the response here #I'm pinning this post and everyone who clicks on my blog to look at a cute bug has to see it #being trans on tumblr is infuriating #being trans in THE WORLD is infuriating #crab day #the crabbening #july 29 #crab week #save tumblr #anti crab day #etc etc etc #DO YOU REALIZE HOW FUCKING DISAPPOINTING IT IS TO SEE ALL THESE TAGS AND SEE HOW BIG THIS THIS HAS GOTTEN AND STILL NOONE GIVES A SHIT

[soaps-mohawk]

hi hi hi !!! i’ve already expressed to you in your inbox how much i love your writing and here i am expressing it again!! you’re an amazing writer and i love rereading your new series. but i do have a question. (a couple, sorry)

i’m new to the whole alpha/omega verse thing and i could just go on google but i’d rather get an answer from the author writing the story.

what’s a heat and how does it work?

i’ve kinda pieced some bits together but i’m still confused. is it like a monthly thing or is it like losing one’s virginity?

and does the menstrual cycle come into play at all or do female omegas not get it at all?

and are omegas only females? are there no male ones?

thank you in advance, cheers

Hello!! Thank you!! I'm so glad you're enjoying the fic!! Don't apologize for asking questions I love explaining things!! (Also I do have a running tag right now, if you search 'crcb lore' on my blog it'll bring up a bunch of asks and such with world building/lore/explanations and stuff if you're interested. I meant to put a note about it on the masterlist but I forgot)

To answer your questions:

A heat is sort of exactly like what some animals go through. It's basically an intense period of arousal where, the omega in this case, is fertile. The exact details vary depending on the version/author but in this one, omegas are only fertile during their heats and they happen about every three to four months. They don't have a menstrual cycle as we do irl, the heat cycle is their menstrual cycle basically.

To break it down, omegas experience something called a pre-heat, basically signs that a heat is coming. In the reader's case she gets more clingy, her appetite spikes, and usually omegas will start to nest more than usual to prepare for it. Once the heat hits, the body temperature spikes and basically they just get insanely horny to the point it can get painful. Their scent changes and becomes basically an aphrodisiac for alphas which is why they can be dangerous if you're not somewhere you can be safe from alphas. Alphas kind of lose their minds once they smell an omega in heat (like animals) and they slip into a rut and want to breed the omega. If there's multiple alphas in the vicinity, they will fight each other over the omega, even if one of them is bonded to that omega and the others aren't. Heats last about a week, and while alphas can take the caretaker role during that time, packs with betas will usually have a beta that helps keep the alpha and omega fed and hydrated during that time because, of course, they're not really going to be considering that.

I did touch on gender in a different ask, but status is not dependent on gender. So there can be male and female alphas, betas, and omegas. Identifying as non-binary or trans won't change how you're seen in your status since anybody can be anything, and transitioning will not affect ones status either.

Thank you for the questions!! I always love a discussion and some world building!!

#i love it so much really #it's so much fun!! #answered #crcb lore

[variousqueerthings]

a list of queer online archives and research spaces

A list of some spaces I’ve been reading up on queer history, culture, and politics -- spaces like researchgate are also gold mines if you’re doing more specific research, but the below are easy to navigate if you want to go down rabbit holes, look for sources, gain hitherto unknown perspectives, etc.

A lot of these are very guerilla, a few are more established/have funding -- all of them have stories that have historically been deemed immaterial by colonialist -- and therefore queerphobic -- mainstream societies. I was trying to keep a focus on history, but there’s some question about how we define that -- personal histories? recent histories? histories of media? blog posts that are older than x?

Pleasepleaseplease feel free to add with country-specific archives and research spaces, especially if you’re from outside of America or England

***

MakingQueerHistory: An amazing site with tons of history, that’s also always looking for writers who want to make additions (I believe currently anyone who’s not writing on America or England is preferred). At the bottom of each article are a list of sources. If you have some extra cash I recommend throwing a couple of dollars a month their way, the work they do is astounding [link] (global)

Queer As Fact: A podcast that explores a range of historical people, places, media, etc. Very enjoyable rabbit holes, and it’s fun to hear as things are being explored and learned [link] (global)

The Intersex Roadshow: I confess I’ve had a hard time finding a dedicated space centering on intersex people and intersex history. However this one has been running since 2009, and before you think that isn’t so long, consider 13+ years of words! The link goes to the first post on the site, introducing Cary who’s been running it. It’s both personal and broad in its scope [link] (misc)

West Yorkshire Queer Stories: A series of oral histories from West Yorkshire, interviewing people about Pride, community, personal histories, intersectional rights, etc. Over 200 stories! [link] (local, North England/West Yorkshire)

Queer Music Heritage: I haven’t delved as far into this one as I want (yet), but does exactly what is says on the tin! I can’t even begin to describe how rich this site is, you’ll have to simply experience it [link] (global - may be Western-centric)

National AIDS Memorial: I’ve only used this to see the interactive AIDS quilt (and if you haven’t I recommend you do), and I believe this is America-specific, however its historical and current work is amazing [link] (America)

Digital Transgender Archive: Possibly one of the best resources out there -- tons of materials, user friendly, global. If you want to take an aimless stroll, or have specific searches in mind, it’s worth a look. A tangible feeling of History [link] (global)

Museum of Transology: A beautiful building of story, with the very simple message that the materials that make up trans peoples lives are worthy of being saved, documented, and remembered. You can check out the various collections + the page dedicated to QTIBIPOC stories [link] (UK)

To Survive On This Shore: A treasure trove of stories and images of older trans people -- sometimes we’re fooled into thinking that we really don’t have a lot of elders or stories, but we really really do [link] (America)

t4t: A series of articles, essays, and stories about being trans and non-binary, by a variety of writers. the writing includes sex, bodies, divinity, and more and it periodically gets updated [link] (America)

76crimes: This is not an archive as such, but it covers news in countries that criminalised/currently criminalise homosexuality, and so has a lot of information from around the world, both historical and current. Global ally-ship is very very important and so is acknowledging how much homo- and transphobia have been created by colonialism [link] (global)

QueeringTheMap: People placing their personal stories all over the world onto different parts of a map, with little bits of texts -- anything from first kisses, sex, gender affirming surgeries, support, fun, life-changing events, etc. [link] (global)

The Smithsonian: The LGBTQ+ section of the Smithsonian covers articles on history and culture [link] (I believe global)

Gay History and Literature: So this historian called Rictor Norton just has this website where he uploaded a flipping ton of his writings. It’s mainly threw a gay male lens, but he allows himself to bloom out into lesbian, bi, and trans history here and there. So worth a looong exploration. I first stumbled on it, because he has a whole section dedicated to a history of guys writing each other love/sexual letters. He also has a bunch of links to other websites, but I am far from doing a proper sleuth yet! [link] (global)

***

Movies, articles, misc

Body Talk: A series of conversations on the history of transness in cinema between Willow Maclay and Caden Mark Gardner [link] (global - Western-centric)

Isaac’s Law: Essays on transmasculine camp, queer masculinity, gay dudes and the like... [link] (personal, misc)

The Anarchist Library: Not queer specific, but you can search for keywords and there’s a wealth of essays, dating back further than you’d think (be aware if you’re searching for words like “gay” or “queer” older texts will be archived with them under their older meanings [link] (I believe global)

Queer Movies: Specifically curated lists of queer movies that covers everything from specific genres to history to documentary. Regularly updated, always interested in suggestions [link] (global)

Trans Male Movies: A site documenting representations of trans men, transmasculine people, and non-binary people who were assigned female at birth (as this can often be a messy overlap in film) in media [link] (global)

#queer stuff #trans stuff #queer history #trans history #queer culture #i really ought to have a tag for this and yet! #lists #I have so many lists #i feel like im missing something but then im definitely missing what i dont know #long post #resources #queer resources

[befemininenow]

Deconstructing the sissy in you (extra)

Let’s go back to the beginning of the tutorial. However, let’s amplify it a little more. You always had a thing for this thing called “feminization”, which involved forcing men into wearing feminine clothing or adopting feminine roles in an embarrassing manner. That kind of thing was your kink/fetish for a good while and imagined what would it be like if it happened for real. Little did you know it was a gateway to explore your sexuality.

You browse the web for TG captions and transformations as a way to spend some “me time”. All of a sudden, you see this post:

“Damn, she’s sexy!” you say out loud. You obviously want to be inside her body, but deep in your mind, you secretly want to be in her body. As in, you want to feel her soft skin, her boobs, her skirt, hair, you want to be her!

In no time, you start to see more pics like this:

Eventually, your feed begins to fill with captions like these...

...while some daring strangers fill your inbox with captions like these...

Soon enough, you start to get into female fashion, changed your way of words, became interested in men, and slowly incorporated your feminization in your public life. Those hypnos and captions have changed your thinking! It got to the point where you opened a Tumblr, started to make "sissy besties", and asked for tips on how to become more "feminine". It felt mutual, it felt exclusive, it felt like becoming a part of the Mean Girls!

But you wanted more. You wanted hypnosis that can destroy your "manhood". You wanted captions that affirmed your "sissy identity". You wanted hormones to grow boobs and ass. You wanted to become a woman at an instant!

But how? Desperately wanting to view more captions, you decide to find more of them on your search bar. You type "feminization captions" and the results are abundant! But as you scroll all the way down to a dead end, you find a picture of a sexy, blonde woman in red that catches your attention:

"OMG! She's so gorgeous! She's the type I want to become! I need to find out who she is!" Just as you click to the image, you're sent to a blog that you're somehow familiar and/or following. You try to find the image and as you keep on scrolling, you found it belongs to a certain blog: @befemininenow. ""Be feminine now?" This is it! This is what I need! Someone who can instantly change me into a feminine woman!"

But as you read the pinned post and the introduction greeting, you feel a little conflicted. You like feminization, but the blog doesn't cater to sissies. Yet, the captions feel so persuasive and alluring, you don't know where to start. You decide to go all the way back and finally found the one that seems the sexiest.

What was the caption that caught your attention?:

Of course the one with Lilly Roma and her tight, revealing, black suit! But instead of being a sissy caption, it's a caption that tells you to be a fellow sister! "Sister? Mmm... I... I like that. Better than sissy!"

You browse the blog and find more than enough caption to your taste:

Some were a dream, some were so sexual, some were unbelievable, and some... hit right at home.

Very few captions mention the word "sissy" and when they do, it's usually not as you expected it to be. That's because the blog is about embracing femininity instead of treating it as humiliating. You try to find if there are more blogs like hers and luckily for you, there's a bunch more...

Joanna's Journey, A Miss Inside, Every Alice, Gym Bunny Candie Hart, GGS-Trans-Inspo, and so much more!

It took a while for you to realize that some of those feminization blogs aren't like the rest, including sissy blogs like Sissypinkfashionfun. They may seem a bit unrealistic at times, maybe a little overboard with the "wipe masculinity" posts. But what you love about those blogs the most is that all of them have something in common: they are not ashamed of femininity, but rather embrace it as their own.

It all makes sense: as a kid, you wanted to be a ballerina:

Later on in life, you wanted to become a princess:

But now...

You just wish you can come out as your true self! Why be ashamed of being feminine? Why do you need to be punished for showing weakness? Why be subject to bullying for behaving a certain way? You don't really want to be a "sissy", but you want to be a girl. You love your feminine side.

But in order to move on from your "sissy phase", there is one step you would have to do:

That's right, girl! It means you have to come out. Whether you like it or not, it's the next step to your change. You can keep hiding in the closet, experiment with the "sissy lifestyle", and reblog feminization captions all you want. But as much as you hate to face reality, she is you. You're transgender. You're a woman inside, even if your current anatomy doesn't match it.

The latter sentence didn't discourage Mikaela Ville nor Angelick Poleth (girl in the next pic) from postponing transition. Look at them now. Don't you wish to want to be like them?

But to be sure of the change, to be sure of what you really want, how far will you go into your life change? Do you want just dress feminine, but still identify as a man? Maybe you identify as a different gender? Or do you want to go further and take hormones to turn into a woman?

Whatever you end up identifying as, know your identity and femininity are valid. Find your nearest gender support group, talk to doctors and therapists who can assist your gender change, and be very safe in today's environment. Remember, you are not a sissy, but a brave woman! Unlock the cages and let the lioness inside out!

(End of guides. Thank you for reading 'till the end!)

[mangocheesecakes]

Fraudulent gofundme's by one "Michelle Diaz" of Berwyn, IL (And connections to tumblr scammer Laura Deramas)

Tumblr user widelys

A few weeks ago, @kyra45 called out now-deactivated user widelys for sending out suspicious asks and failing to provide consistent answers to questions about their fundraiser. (As an example, they couldn't clarify whether they were raising funds for their twin infant children or for their twin sister.) (Check out key's tag for the posts documenting what went down).

On the actual gofundme page, it says that the fundraiser was organized by one Michelle Diaz of Berwyn, IL "to help out a member of the community". The link to this (likely fraudulent) fundraiser is still up and can be found here:

Twitter scams

The other day, user @hannaweeny reached out to me after finding my blog while reverse-image searching pics being used by a twitter user they believe to be a scammer. Sure enough the pics were the exact same ones used by known tumblr scammer (and proven Laura Deramas alt) sheeyancjoje. The now-deleted twitter account (@JKrismoz8405) was once more claiming to be a "homeless trans" but now going by the name "Jess". This "Jess" was using a gofundme that was once more organized by, you guessed it, Michelle Diaz of Berwyn, IL. Link here:

Thanks to hannaweeny's screenshots and links, I found the twitter account that's sharing this new scam gofundme, user @/divinesanxuary. When you look up their account, their pinned tweet is another fundraiser they claim to have created for a Palestinian woman in Gaza named 'Azhar'. The one who supposedly organized the fundraiser is, once more, Michelle Diaz of Berwyn, IL:

I have no solid proof yet that this last fundraiser is a scam, as it is dated September 28, 2023, way before the internet and communication blackout in Gaza, but the way the other two fundraisers above organized by this "Michelle Diaz" person both turned out to be fraudulent makes this third one extremely suspicious and very likely to be a scam. The twitter account that is supposedly owned by this Palestinian woman also looks very untrustworthy (user @/burner74358009 if anyone wants to look them up). If this is indeed another scam, then it's a new low for this Michelle Diaz, to use the unimaginable pain and suffering being experienced by Palestinians right now for their own selfish gains.

Google Results

(After checking these twitter accounts, I then turned to Google to see what would come up if I try to Google gofundmes by Michelle Diaz of Berwyn, IL, and here are a few more that I found that all look suspiciously similar in wording to the ones I've linked above:

Screenshots of these Gofundmes in case the links above get taken down:

Twitter user @/divinesanxuary sharing the fundraisers for sheeyancjoje/Jkrismoz84035 and "Palestinian woman, Azhar"

The Laura Deramas connection

(deep breaths everyone, I know we are all so fucking tired of her. I will make a separate post for the screenshots of what I will describe on this part, as the post is already too long. For now, this is just a rundown of what happened as best as I can recall it.)

While I was writing this post, my mutual @thewondersmith was messaging with Laura on Facebook. Laura had contacted them a while ago asking them to tell me to take down my posts about her and her scams, saying that her irl friends and acquaintances have found out about her scams on tumblr, that they were mad at her and harassing her and threatening to report her to the police, and she was being called to their purok leader in connection with her scamming. After some prodding, Laura admits that she was the one behind the sheeyancjoje account. At first, she was still insisting that she wasn't responsible for the new one on twitter that was literally using sheeyancjoje's pics and typing exactly like her, but eventually, when her whining and guilt-tripping made no impact, she also finally admitted she was running JKrismoz84035.

From that point on in their conversation, Laura admits to owning sheeyancjoje, tumbsrrplzzstop, "A Cancer Girl" that "didn't go very far", widelys, AND the most recent blog milkydonutsh, which was found to have been using a Jessa Malubay paypal account. When asked about her connections to "Michelle Diaz" and Jessa and Joan Malubay, Laura gives confusing and conflicting details, claiming that Michelle Diaz messaged her on twitter saying she can help make her a gofundme (which doesn't explain how the widelys gofundme was made seeing as that one started here on tumblr, long before this recent twitter scheme), that there was another person, a "Tom" who shared it and has a "group chat of donations".

What we were able to understand from all of this, though, is that Michell Diaz organizes the fundraisers on gofundme, presumably using her American bank and money transfer accounts, subtracts a fee for running said fundraisers, then sends the remaining to Jessa or Joan Malubay's paypal accounts, which can then be transferred to Laura's Gcash account.

While talking to thewondersmith, Laura was all cry-emoji apologetic and remorseful, explaining why she was driven to do all of these scams, citing the usual excuses of wanting to fix her mother's house, her many different relatives being sick and needing money to go to the hospital. She begged thewondersmith "not to post about her anymore" because she's afraid people will post about her on twitter and "there are many Filipinos on twitter", sent videos of her son saying Merry Christmas and even had the audacity to ask them for "a gift" as her son's "godparent". She made it seem as if she was sorry for all the scams she was running and gave the impression that she was going to stop moving forward.

Despite all this, the tumblr blog milkydonutsh, which she has admitted to be hers, made a recent update just 5 hours ago (Monday morning here in the PH), as can be seen in this call out post by @confidenceiscrucial. When thewondersmith confronted her about this new update, Laura yet again tries to deny it, saying she no longer has access to this particular account. A few minutes after their convo, milkydonutsh was deactivated.

(The details on this part are up for correction in case I misinterpreted or misunderstood anything as I wasn't the one directly conversing with Laura. Oomf, thewondersmith, feel free to add any correction or clarification based on what you know <3)

#donation scam #laura mae deramas #laura deramas #jessa malubay #joan malubay #michelle diaz #sheeyancjoje #widelys #milkydonutsh

[z0urcherri]

Caught wind of the avewy situation, the copypasta anon asks and all that. I'm only getting involved bc i wanted to highlight some of the claims m3nrbad, a terf blog, makes here: "an absolutely disgusting person (avewy) saw me post about them (I did not harass, tag, or send them hate mail- the post is still there so I can prove that)." First of all, "saw me post about them" implies a post before this one.

This is, however, the first post on their blog. So for avewy to have seen them posting about them, the post before this one has to have been deleted or privated. Which is interesting. This blog also claims multiple times to want to start an archive of sorts, or a "receipts" blog as they call it. If so, it'd be in their best interests not to delete or private things that can be considered evidence of receiving threats or harassment. Additionally, they claim to go by the previous blog name sirona-ryan, but absolutely no trace of this comes up in the search and instead appears to be a name taken from a Harry Potter character. Funnily enough, this character in particular is hinted to be trans. So, they had to have known this and made the conscious choice to use it. Furthermore: "I didn’t get those rape & death threats until (s)he called me out, that’s proof that (s)he started this whole thing." Called you out on what? Again, it's not elaborated on. And when they mention "reporting nonstop on my crypto account" i still have no clue what that even means. What i'm trying to say here is that this blog here isn't the least bit credible. It's shocking how swiftly a troll blog like this can thoroughly ruin an innocent person. My heart goes out to avewy and all the trans women experiencing hate campaigns right now, there are many, and my only advice is to never, EVER, take a callout at face value no matter how credible it sounds. Always trace it back to its source. The kicker to all of this is this blog only started posting *THIS MONTH*.

#muzzle off #avewy #m3nrbad #harassment campaign #transphobia #transmisogyny #all this assuming of course that this all took place on tumblr and not some other social media

[lorenfinch]

Introduction

Hello! Very recently I found out about the existence of writeblr, and since I am currently working on a book series and trying to get the word out about it I thought I'd make a sideblog for it!

My name is Loren, and my full pen name is Loren Finch. I'm 24 at the time of writing this (though my birthday is less than a month away), I like to primarily use he/they, though I still go by she/her in some places due to not entirely being out and still experimenting with my pronouns. I am a mixed, queer, autistic/adhd, transmasc, aroace author who enjoys all things fantasy, gothic, and supernatural.

I am also an artist and you may find some of my character art here! My main blog is @circuslollipop and my art sideblog is @circuslollipopart! You can also find me on twitter @/circuslollipop and on insta @/circuslollipopart!!

I would love to meet and befriend fellow writers and seek out some beta readers in the future once I'm ready for it!

My current writing project was actually inspired by another writing idea I had! That project was moreso about faeries in a steampunk-inspired city, until I had a few worldbuilding ideas on how to integrate vampires into the setting. Then I came up with a couple characters and an entirely new setting, and found that I wanted to write about them instead!

For the time being. Perhaps when this monster of a project is all done, I can go back to that other idea! Or, idk, something about sapphic werecoyotes in an Old West-inspired town.

MY WIP

Currently, I am working on a new adult dark fantasy book series, with an aim for 5 books total. I would comp this as GRISHAVERSE x HELL FOLLOWED WITH US x THE WITCHER.

The Everdark. A vast expanse of forest and mountains where the sun cannot touch, where monsters roam wild and where magic permeates the very soil. To most mortals, the Everdark is a death sentence, but one young man hopes to make it a sanctuary. Renwick had always held a fascination for vampires, and now that he’s been turned into one, he revels at the chance to finally leave behind who he once was—scared and meek with no friends, shunned by his fellows who insisted he was a wretched little girl. Yet instead of the grand castles, billowing capes, and candlelit ballroom dances of his dreams, Renwick finds himself thrust in the middle of a conflict between vampires and monster hunters that threatens to turn deadly. With his new home and fellow vampires on the line, Renwick must uncover the secrets lurking in the fog, all while searching for his enigmatic uncle and grappling with the mysterious circumstances of his own transformation.

This series will feature vampires, undead creatures, elves, magic, a trans autistic MC, many queer characters, and an eventual MLM romance. The setting is inspired by mainly 19th century Europe with some medieval/renaissance era elements, and North American natural landscapes. Currently, I have just started drafting the first book! I am a plotter by nature, and have completed outlining book 1, and have mapped out where the rest of the series will go.

TAGS

ART: #character art

CHARACTERS: #ch: [insert character name]

TIPS: #ref

INSPIRATION: #inspo

I'll also add anything I see fit!

TAGLIST

@/angie-j-kay || @/digitalsatyr23 || @/sam-glade || @/worldsfromhoney

#writeblr #writeblr intro #writeblr community #writing community #writers on tumblr #queer writers

[librarycards]

hey there cav. this is sort of a fraught question but. how do I engage with psychiatry when I'm antipsych? I need treatment but I have so much distrust and I feel like it's all bullshit. I don't really have a support system and there's few peer support resources in my area. I can't do this myself but I cant trust this system. soooo... tips for finding therapists that don't suck & getting the most of it? really appreciate your blog and posts, thanks

thank you for entrusting this message to me, I appreciate it! I have answered questions like this a few times before (they're buried somewhere, if you can't find them in my "ask" tag, lmk and i'll try to dig them up!). it's definitely fraught inasmuch as we're never (as people who hate psych but need specific, urgent support that communities aren't by default set up to provide) going to get an answer that we 100% want, but also very not-fraught inasmuch as most of us agree that surviving in this sea of partiality is something we can do together, with love and nonjudgement.

so, for context: i was in therapy - first behaviorist OT as a toddler and elementary school child, and, beginning at 7, talk therapy - nonconsensually basically from the time I could remember until adulthood. i likely would never have tried it again, except for the small hiccup of needing letters for Transing Genders. so, this was when i first sought out "trans affirming care," as it were, and i didn't expect much. i went to my college's health center and got a list of possible providers, and ended up getting an excellent PCP, as well as a therapist who was a genuine cis accomplice: she wrote letters for Mad/psych disabled clients whose genders wouldn't typically qualify us for surgery/hormones in the eyes of the M/PsyIC. i did not share with her the things i "ought" to have shared, but she knew I had survived abusive therapy / forced institutionalization, and accepted that, and accepted my cynicism along with it. i was also first genuinely understanding foucault at this time, so rest assured i was quite a little shit (affectionate).

when she left to practice elsewhere, i went to a therapist at the same practice she recommended. she was fine, but not what i needed. by this time, I'd gotten the requisite procedures, so my therapy attendance wasn't required. i basically just ghosted this new therapist around the time covid hit.

when i came to grad school, i initially wasn't looking for therapy, though i had idly considered something for OCD, which I was (and am) managing in part through medication. after getting outright rejected for, essentially, being too crazy for normie OCD therapy, i directed my search specifically for Mad/abolitionist providers. i began by going through some of the archives of places like the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network, and some people who have posted guest articles on Mad in America / The Fireweed Collective -- many are providers seeking to disrupt/abolish the system. That provided some leads, though no openings (there are very few of them, and they are, understandably, in high demand).

I then turned to my community connections: over the years, I've amassed a large number of Mad colleagues in various fields. Many are a half-step from radical/antipsych circles, so I asked them. This time, I asked specifically about a possible therapist who was interested in critiques of "eating disorders" as a category, who had an abolitionist, harm-reductionist, and anti-"health" approach to care, and who, accordingly, refused to cooperate with institutions of psychiatric confinement. I was directed to a list of people, of whom my current and beloved therapist / colleague / comrade was the first to respond.

my trajectory with her has been a steady building of trust through a shared ebbing and flowing of closeness, frustration, enlightenment, and curiosity. it has been close to a year and a half now, and we only began speaking frankly about more "dangerous"/"risky" topics a few months ago. early in our relationship, i did a great deal of boundary-testing, and reacted with anger and shutdown the first time she asked a question that proved risky/activating for me. my biggest recommendation when engaging with ANY provider is to ask them explicitly, repeatedly, and critically about their relationships with your own risk/harm level, their ongoing history wrt patient institutionalization / "referrals" to "higher levels of care". take note about the way they reference past patient situations, as well as their own past experience. take note of how they respond when you choose not to provide the information they seek.

also take note of what info they're willing to provide upfront, including at a consult: what methodologies do they work with, what was their training, how do they feel about said training? what are their politics? ask whoever recommended them to you, too. look at reviews. this is obvious -- what might not be is looking up their work on google scholar. who do they cite? what do they advocate, who do they associate themself with?

i think that it's also a good idea to ask them explicitly about their experience in other/"higher" levels of care - most therapists have done some kind of rotation during their education, often in a hospital, group home, halfway house, similar. if you have ever been institutionalized, you may have even spotted / been abused by some! observe how they discuss these experiences. take note.

if and when you've established this person as someone you want to continue working with, trust notwithstanding, think personally about what you are actually looking for. they will ask you about your goals, surely, but it's a good idea first to think about your own personal goals outside of the verbalized relationship between you two. do you need a confidante, and of what kind? what sort of accountability do you need, and what are you willing to try to figure that out? *what are you paying this person for that you feel others cannot or will not do*? what part of this person's expertise can be of use to you, and for how long?

i think one interesting approach to therapy is to regard the provider as a teacher - they're there to share knowledge with you, and you're free to accept or reject it. they have some kind of training/experience you don't have, and you seek them out because you think it may be of use in your own life, and perhaps even to redistribute that knowledge if and when you gain it. at the same time, you also have knowledge to share with them - not to be extracted, but to be incorporated in their own work and practice. the biggest insight on the practice of good therapy i've gleaned is that, ideally, you're both teaching and learning forever. this is true of all good relationships. there is an exchange of knowledge based on shared trust - values - priorities. once you are in a space where you know that this person shares your general relational orientation (aka, doesn't want to institutionalize, etc. you and people like you) it's possible to begin sharing knowledge in a way that benefits from this imposed structure. the benefit, imo, is that it's okay that you "monopolize" the convo and direct the knowledge-production toward your needs, because that's the service you're paying for!

i guess, to close, i'll return to the classic Mad Pride framing of us as "psych users/consumers." this isn't the perfect term, but i think it's enlightening, as we can and should be able to seek out services that work for us. just like i go to a person who knows wtf they're doing when, say, i need my nails done or my car fixed, so too do i go to an expert interlocutor when i am interested in developing my self-/relational knowledge and/or am seeking support in times of emotional tumult. this doesn't confer them a status as superior to me, just like someone isn't superior to someone else by being a nail tech or mechanic. it simply means that we are entering into a relationship where my needs and their expertise meet. seek a therapist who understands this, and understands themself as someone who can learn from you, too. this approach to therapy, and to care, mean that you can't just throw someone away or lock them up when they say things you don't like. it means that, even in those moments, there is something to be learned, and that the relationship will grow in that process of edification.

#i...this was a Big Boy essay. prepare yourself #antipsychiatry #madness #ask #anonymous #world healing #also i have therapy friday if you want me to ask mine about her connections to ppl #most of which arein California but not exclusively

[transunity]

Applied Transunity Theory : I

Based on a recent reblog, I'm going to attempt to apply transunity theory to some of the examples of transphobia which Julia Serano brings up in Whipping Girl. I will be focusing on examples where she brings up trans men and nonbinary people, as her original analysis of trans men's and nonbinary people's oppression is often flawed (if not inaccurate entirely). If you wish to see some of my other analysis of Serano's work or Whipping Girl (henceforth WG), search my blog for "serano".

Without further ado, here is the first example I'd like to focus on - p.11 Trans Woman Manifesto

[Note: I am reading from an Ebook, the pages may not match up to physical copies of the book. If in doubt, look up the chapter name and search through].

This whole passage has multiple issues, but there is only one I'm going to really focus on today, concerning the very end of the passage:

"When women's or lesbian organisations and events open their doors to trans men but not trans women, that is not transphobia- it is trans misogyny"

From a transunitist point of view, it is immediately obvious that this rhetoric in the quote is one of many needlessly divisive lines which Serano inserted into WG. A rule of thumb for approaching Whipping Girl is to disregard anything she says about trans men, because she often speaks for or over trans men while saying very inaccurate things about them. This is one such example. A transunitist approach here would examine how there isn't only transmisogyny at play when cis women exclude trans women and include trans men, but also transandrophobia. In this post, its my intention to highlight how two arms of transphobia can work in tandem to the detriment of trans women and trans men.

So what would a transunitist analysis here look like? What would we change or reexamine about this example? (Repeated below for easy access)

"When women's or lesbian organisations and events open their doors to trans men but not trans women, that is not transphobia- it is trans misogyny"

I'd propose this analysis:

1.  What is meant by women's or lesbian organisations or events? Serano implies they are cisgender run orgs and events. If these cis women's groups are opening their doors to trans men, what does that imply about how those cis women see trans men? With this, is is actually a positive thing that the doors are being opened for trans men? Are trans men benefiting from this or are they actually suffering from this? Isn't the inclusion of trans men who don't want to be in women's events or spaces in those spaces an example of transphobia against trans men (transandrophobia)?

Does the framing of this quote direct disdain towards trans men for being "included" while trans women aren't? As pointed out in point #1, it is cisgender women running these spaces, nor trans men. Shouldn't the disdain at non inclusion be directed at the exclusionary women rather than trans men? Is Serano's anger being directed at the wrong group? Is frustration at exclusionary cis women being directed at trans men?

Wouldn't this sentence work if all reference to trans men were removed? What is the purpose of contrasting with trans men here? Does it achieve anything? Does the superfluous comparison negatively affect trans men?

Now that the background has been laid out, I want to explore how Serano correctly identifies the transmisogyny in the example, but either is oblivious to (or deliberately ignores or downplays) the transandrophobia here. Once we see that there is not one kind of transphobia going on here, but two kinds, we instantaneously have a more complete analysis right off the bat. Hence why transunitism is so important right now.

Serano's impmication is that there are no negative side effects to trans men being included in women's events. Plainly, it is misgendering trans men, first and foremost and is is already transphobia. (However, I will add the caveat this does not apply to trans men who grew up in lesbian spaces before they came out as trans men, who may consent to being in lesbian spaces. The same goes for trans women who were in gay men's spaces pre transition). For simplicity's sake, we are analysing this from the pov of trans men who don't want to be included in women's spaces, but are bombarded with offers to anyway. The bottom line is, the trans men in Serano's quote are often unwilling to be included in women's spaces and are distressed when offers are made to include us under the category of woman, because, you know, misgendering. But Serano either doesn't realise this or downplays trans men's issues to the point that basic misgendering against trans men doesn't register to her. In any case, there is transandrophobia present in this scenario.

The transmisogyny part is obvious, being the exclusion of trans women from women's spaces when they should be included.

Now, imagine if, instead of putting trans men and trans women against each other like Serano does in the quote, we reimagine this scenario's analysis by including transandrophobia and transmisogyny theory to explore how cis women's transphobic exclusion of trans women often comes with a transphobic inclusion of trans men. In other words… Two arms of transphobia intersect to inflict damage on trans women and trans men.

You can see this with other examples, such as when transphobes complain about inclusive language around periods and blame trans women for it. In that situation the first arm is the transmisogyny (blaming trans women for inclusive period language because they're hypervisible as trans people) and the second arm is  transandrophobia and/or exorsexism (ignoring that the inclusive langauge is meant to benefit trans men and some nonbinary folk and that the focus on helping these people has been lost, leading to further invisibility/ lack of support altogether).

This post is super mega long by now, but I hope this has been a worthwhile read. I would very much appreciate your feedback about this analysis, I know I can't cover everything in one post, but I'd be delighted to see your takes on this and other people's transunitist takes too!)

#Transunity #Transunitism #Transmisogyny #Transandrophobia #Exorsexism #Intersectionality

[astriiformes]

Hey, as someone currently in the US, and in what is a safe state (for now), but looking to move in the next few years, do you have any resources to look at for what areas are safe to be visibly queer in, in Minnesota? I suppose I'm asking about both safe suburbs and cities, but also Exurbs and Rural areas, if you know any of those that are safe. I've got a bunch of intersex conditions, so my transition is fast, but I'm definitely visibly trans, and I'd rather not risk issues with violence or bigotry if I could avoid those. Anyway, any maps, lists, or anything you can share would be super helpful, and I'd really appreciate anything you're willing to share! :3

Yes, for sure! I've talked a little about this same question before here, and you might be interested in searching my Minnesota tag on my blog ("land of eldritch lakes") for a whole collection of various thoughts about the state.

The quick version is that the Twin Cities are definitely the core of the safest area in the state (and I would say that both Minneapolis and Saint Paul are good in that regard), but there's absolutely spillover into some of the suburbs surrounding them. For example I've got queer friends living in Bloomington who have absolutely decked out their house in rainbows and occasionally get some trouble, but also get lots and lots of people telling them they love it, Saint Louis Park is where my top surgeon's office was located, I was once part of a particularly joyful Pride parade in Minnetonka, etc.

As far as other cities go I've heard mixed things about Duluth, but I think it's still generally a safer place to be (I know they elected a nonbinary representative to our state House of Representatives, which is kind of a big deal), and probably one of the safest not in or around the Twin Cities. It's also an absolutely gorgeous area, and they're currently working on resurrecting the rail line that used to go between Duluth and the Cities, so I imagine the increasing interconnectedness will be a good thing for queer folks up there!

I hope some of that is helpful! And if any other folks want to chime in on this post, with their own perspectives, feel free.

#land of eldritch lakes

[lovearne]

Village

Ghost (Simon riley) x reader (platonic)

Non gendered trans reader

No use of y/n, no mention of sex or gender

All of my fics and my whole page is 18+ only, if you are a child leave. I deserve a safe space to express myself, all blogs under 18 or no age will be blocked. Let me enjoy my experience safely on the internet, thank you.

I needed to get how I currently feel out. I know a lot of trans and non-cis people can relate. So I wrote this to be viewed by anybody who isn't cis. I do user the term transgender so please be aware of that if you don't identify as trans.

This fic is very loosely inspired by my resonation with 'the village by wrabble' there are some lyrics used as dialog.

Warnings: transphobia, Christian typical trans and homophobia, reader is suicidal, reader self harms, mostly Ghosts pov.

Word count: 1.3k

He was worried.

He was very rarely worried. Hardly hardly ever worried.

But he finds himself worried sick over you.

He'd watched for years as a friend as you'd gotten more and more tense. You'd started with bright eyes and a light soul. He'd found it irritating. He found you obnoxious. He hated obviously happy and bouncy people.

But after a particularly long break, coming back from his leave time, he'd seen you going into the mess hall for breakfast. You were still in the government issued pyjamas.

He found that strange.

It didn't take him long to see that your eyes had died a little. He'd clocked it instantly. The way you carried yourself as if you were surviving out of necessity instead of enjoyment.

You'd stopped the quirky nature you had. Your heart was obviously not behind anything anymore.

This also made you better in the field.

This made you harder, it seemed.

He didn't care.

At least he didn't want to.

He wanted to be able to say that you didn't worry him. But you were starting to.

That irritated him.

The last time he'd worried he'd gotten his people killed.

It wasn't until years later, and multiple leave periods where you'd stay at base the whole time that he was officially worried.

You'd lost all of it. All need for self preservation. All want to keep going.

The last mission the two of you endured you'd gambled the hardest with your life than he'd ever seen before. Well, besides that in himself.

You'd gladly throw away your whole life, just for the pain to go away.

It also didn't take much for him to notice things.

Self inflicted wounds.

He knew what those looked like.

He knew what those felt like.

He knew to some semblance what hell you'd put yourself through.

Although he didn't want to, he decided he'd needed to speak to you.

He spent the walk to your barrack going over the symptoms he'd seen you outwardly show, and some he'd seen through your mask.

The sharp knock his knuckles made on your door shook him. There was something he was missing.

"Lieutenant Ghost," you'd started,voice a little slurred, indulging in a little contraband on your off hours. "How may I help you sir?" Your voice was quickly slipping between professional and slurred.

"Have you been drinking?" You nodded.

"As much as I can." He nodded. "I know you have to write me up for it. Go ahead."

"No, instead of that, you're gonna talk to me." You rolled your eyes.

"Fuck," you sighed. "fine. Want some scotch?" He answered you and you let him into your room.

The two of you sat there, occasional sips from you with your alcohol and the steady sound of the tap that leaked just enough to lull you to sleep at night.

"So, Lt. Why not just ask me." He sat a little straighter to look at you. You nod. "Go on." You pause. "I'm curious as to why you'd even come here."

"I've noticed a change in you since you started." You nod.

"Yeah, war. Amirite?" You try to joke, bitterly.

"Not quite." You shoot your eyebrows up.

"Well, then what do you think?" He sighs, trying to remain a caring superior.

"I think that if I searched your garbage trail, I'd find bottles of empty alcohol." You nod. "I think that if I went to the general, he'd throw you home with 'dishonourable discharge' slapped on your file." You nod again.

"So that's what this is. An intervention?" You chuckle with dry humour.

"I didn't know about the drinking until you opened the door." His head shook. "But addiction isn't surprising. I just know it's not the only thing going on." He breathes. "I'm not pressuring you, I'm just trying to help you."

"So you walk in here wanting answers?" He nods. "OK, ask your questions." He tilts his head, eyes narrowing. "I've already been disowned. Worst that can happen is you transfer me." Oh. That's why you hadn't left base.

"OK. The first leave after you started. You came home early." You laughed again. This time in displeasure.

"Yep, yep I did." Your eyes had sunken.

"Why?"

"Being disowned and thrown out will do that." He nodded. "Next question."

"Why did you do that?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you take my place the last mission?" You shrugged.

"Didn't want you to die, I guess."

"Or you wanted to." Oh. You pushed a breath through your nose.

"Yeah, that's been a constant thought since puberty." He nods.

"Why don't you wear the cross?"

"What?" He leans his head forward.

"That cross necklace you had. Johnny has one like it." You laughed amused.

"Stopped believing in a puritan hypercult." He huffed at that.

"Why?" You looked at him.

"Why not? They are just a bunch of prices using the fact that people are afraid of death to push hatred into the world. I can't be loyal to a God that shuns people for things they can't help. Or a religion that stripped people of rights and culture. I couldn't do it anymore." He nods.

"So, why does he shun you?" You shake your head.

"Why does he shun you?" You retort.

"I kill people that probably don't deserve it. I leave a trail of bodies of coworkers and innocents behind me. I'm… fucked up. Twisted, you may call it." You emphasise with him.

"Heavens operated anyways."

"Your turn." He said. You gulp.

"I'm not," you start.

"Take your time. I'm here to help."

"I'm not who you see." He nods.

"OK." You close your eyes.

"It's like wearing a costume. And I hate wearing it, but no matter what I do, I can't get it off, I can't change it, I can't take away the parts I like and put on the parts I do like. It's like I'm constantly screaming, wanting out." He nods again. "I'm transgender." He nods again.

"There is nothing wrong with you." He returns. You nod.

"My parents think so, my ex religion thinks so, strangers think so. They'd rather me die than be trans." Then it clicked.

"It's one page in the Bible. One page."

"Christians aren't so smart, Lt. They pick and choose which pages to listen to." You laugh, butter again.

"One page in the Bible isn't worth a life." You close your eyes. "There's nothing wrong with you, there's something wrong with them."

"Why does it feel that way then? Why do they do that? Why do they-"

"Did you know in the wild birds will kill birds who are too colourful or not colourful enough?" You shake your head. "Society hates different. They want to stomp it down and ruin it. But you can't let that happen." You shake your head again.

"Some days it's harder." He nods.

"I know. Healing isn't a straight line." You nod. He puts his hand comfortingly on your shoulder.

"Now, anything you need for your transition if you choose to do so, I will ensure you have access to. And anything you need for yourself I will also organise. But first. You need to go to rehab. I will not allow you to be an alcoholic and drink your days away."

"That's a little hypocritical Lieutenant.

He laughs. And your eyes brighten.

Months later, your eyes and attitude are continuing to lighten.

He finds himself less worried with each passing day.

You're one life he's saved that he will always hold close in his heart. You were now his found family. You were as much his kid as you were his sibling. And he'd treat you as such.

Until the day he died.

And you couldn't ask for a better brother.

#simon ghost x reader #simon ghost riley #ghost cod #ghost x reader #platonic fic #trans reader #transgender #trans

[thelordfool]

i need help. again.

long and short of it: while i’m indeed working, a bunch of emergencies happened and i can’t afford to eat or pay the bills that are keeping me going to work. so i’m hoping the good will and kindness of people will shine through again.

for anyone that wants to see the proof and details, it’ll be below the cut. details on if you want to commission me so i can earn your money will also be down there. please share if you cannot comfortably donate. i will update the post as i get donations. i’m so sorry for doing this all the time. i just want it to stop.

Paypal.me/asrielelijahking / venmo: @thelordfool​ / CA: $thelordfool

$0/644.32

prelude: about me

i’m a disabled (CFS probably; severe chronic depression, ptsd, anxiety, definitely), queer (agender “trans masc” and wow people are pretty) artist that’s been having issues with employment for so long, and i know 100% my dr wont help me get a case for disability. i’ve gotten a job through a temp agency but the contract is month to month and i have no idea if i’ll be kept on. i’ll know by 10/7 if i still have a job on monday. there’s a few other things going on, like needing to repair my front door after my roommate’s kids kicked the glass and broke it, and needing to buy food both for the house and for the cats, but i’m trying not to worry about that at the moment because i’ve got the door covered in cardboard and there’s enough food for the next few days.

1. cat bills

After losing my cat, Cinderdoodle, on labor day, my eldest kitty, Scotty, needed to be taken into emergency. this was a huge, emotionally devastating blow to me. he’s thankfully alive and doing much better but the urinary diet food is very expensive. I’m only asking for help to cover the cost of the visit. I paid it on Care Credit and would really just like for it to go away as soon as possible.

2. personal medical bills

therapy’s fucking expensive! and i guess so is primary care. this is what i owe for both of them right now:

I do not have any more therapy scheduled currently. I’ll be unable to afford it anymore in the future, it appears.

3. rent

as some of you may know i live with my abusive ex because it’s either this or giving up my cats and entering homelessness. he’s been... better.... recently. i was able to work out that i can pay octobers rent in two parts to him, so i only owe him $190.

4. commissions info

if you search through the ‘my art’ tags on my blog you can find, well, my art. i am not going to change my prices again for this. art takes time, practice, and a lot of research and i’m proud of what i produce. here is my commissions sheet:

you can also check me out on twitter to see everything.

#pls reblog #pls share #and thank you #i cant say thank you enough

[alpaca-clouds]

How to Research Pt. 1 - Google-Fu

Alright. I have decided to make a little tutorial in how to use different ways to access information, especially scientific information. The reason for this is, that... Well, research has found that a lot of Gen Z and especially Gen Alpha struggle with doing online research, mostly due to being so used to use the internet via Apps. And having had to do a research project at university, where my fellow students massively struggled to find anything on the requested topic.

So... Let me start with the most obvious topic: Google.

Funnily enough I gotta say, that even a lot of my fellow Millenials struggle with google. Mind you, Google has become a lot less user-friendly over the years. Ten years ago it was a lot easier to google stuff, because Google pushed less advertisement.

It should be said, that these techniques also work with most non-google search engines. So, let me go through it.

How to Google

For reasons the question I will use to demonstrate this entire thing will be: "How many biological sexes are there?" Just because I had to show research on this in online discussions too often. (Me, that is, as an intersex individuum.)

The most intuitive way would probably be to directly ask google.

Now, on the first glance the results of this search do not look that bad.

Again, I am intersex. I am definitely not a male or female based on my biology. And obviously, as such I have read quite a bit on the topic before.

Now. One of the things you need to do, when doing research, is to be able to judge a source.

Scientific American is somewhat reliable as a starting point, but it is popscience, hence you should definitely not cite it if there is any other way.

The NIH is usually a reliable source. But, if you just look into the preview text (or read the abstract on the side) you will find, that the scientist completely just mixes through sex, gender and sexuality. Which... might not make for the best source.

The next one - from the Arizona State University - also is a bit too much on the gender part, and too little on the sex part. And if you look at the preview, you will also find something else there: Google has marked "gender" as an "exact result" by using bold fonts.

And lastly we have a result that is the private blog of some economics guy. Which... might not be a good source for this.

And if you scroll just a bit further down, you will find openly trans- and interphobic sites like Women UK and Emma.

This is the point where you should realize two things:

Maybe we should change the search

You really gotta be careful with what pages get brought up, when you use your google-fu.

See, here is the thing. Why in the nine hells is the 4th (!!!) result of the search some private blog of some dude? I can tell you: Google is basing the results partly on the SEO of the pages. And it just turns out that some economics blokes are actually really good at SEO stuff. That is search engine optimization.

Other than that, Google also basing stuff on traffic and how many people clicked at what link and probably some other stuff that us normal mortals will never understand.

So, how can you change the results? Well, you use the tools that google gives you.

Using " around a group of words or a single word tells google, that you want this exact group of words in the result and no variation of it.

Using - in front of a word or a group of words marked with " before means that you want to exclude these results.

And using * somewhere means, that a word can end differently and you will still accept it.

So, what have we learned from the other results before? Well, for one: We should definitely tell google, that we want to know about biological sex, not about gender. So we should probably mark "biologial sex" as an exact group. It probably would help also to include something like "intersex" because that way we give google something to go off on. Lastly: A lot of supposedly "feminist" sites will actually push their TERFy agenda. So, to exclude them, I will tag this search also as -"women's rights". And because I am not interested in someone's blog, I will also use -blog.

Hence we get the search term:

And look at the results I am getting:

Now, this might not be perfect - but it is much more like what I was looking for, right?

So, that is a quick primer on how to google-fu.

Tomorrow I am gonna talk a bit about Wikipedia.

#research #scientific research #science #how to #how to do resarch #google #how to google #lgbtq #intersex #transgender