#but like if someone asked me if i was trans specifically I'd say yes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nekropsii · 5 months

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Ask Game Speed Round!!

[For the Unpopular Opinion Ask Game!!]

These are all a bunch of smaller ones I thought would be too cumbersome and spammy to post on their own... Enjoy!!

Content Warning: Long.

While I do really like Dave's character as it exists in the comic- no clue what version of Dave most of the fandom is talking about, but I don't know him- I kind of like the themes in Davesprite's character more than I do Dave's. It's another Hal situation.

Dave's character tackled a lot of things very personally relatable to me in ways I'd never seen illustrated before, but Davesprite is more interesting to think about, and seems a little more fun to write. Dave was great representation for me, as someone who grew up in a very bad home, but Davesprite just has that extra oomph with his talk of humanity and individuality. Really like that guy.

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@lupinecalibrator

This may come across as crass, or stepping out of my own lane, but I don't think giving them either multiple sets of pronouns, neopronouns, or both actually rids them of the bigotry in their characters. Lipstick on a pig situation. It just seems like a lazy, incurious fix. Yes, trans headcanons are great, but more and more often I see people use it as a cure-all to the issues a character has, either in a Doylist or Watsonian way. Queer friendliness does not eliminate racism. If a character is a bigoted caricature of a specific group of people, then slapping on a leftist layer of paint by saying "actually they're a minority icon in this other way" doesn't actually... Get rid of the problem. It's just kind of... Tone deaf.

We see this often with Transmisogynistic Caricatures getting claimed as Gay Icons, and people just saying that because they've just claimed them as a campy gay queen, the transmisogyny has been nullified- you can't talk about it anymore, they're the real good leftist in the room, you're a killjoy, and they've defeated bigotry. Not how it works.

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Kind of tired of how some act like her only character traits are Silly Ditzy Furry Girl. Jade is an incredibly, incredibly intelligent young girl, an excellent marksman, and so, so deeply lonely. We need to talk about Jade's chronic loneliness more.

Also, I think she's some kind of Psychotic. One of the flavors. It just feels right to me. It feels canon-adjacent. Or, at least, a textually valid way to read her character. I have a whole post about it somewhere. Mituna and Jade shaking hands on the Psychosis.

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Taking this opportunity to defend Aranea. Some people really need to stop acting like she's worse than Vriska. We all know what Aranea did was justified. Maybe not correct, but justified. And fucking awesome to watch.

Like, look. She spent an unfathomable amount of years being shot down and ignored and belittled by people who were supposed to be her friends... Aranea had to literally pay Meenah, her own best friend, to listen to her infodump, and even then Meenah couldn't afford to give her own best friend enough respect to just listen to her talk about something she's passionate about for 5 minutes.

I need you to think to yourself, genuinely. If you spent thousands- and I mean thousands upon thousands- of years getting ignored and walked on by everyone around you, even your own friends... If you spent thousands upon thousands of years getting called boring and a doormat to your face by even your own friends... Wouldn't you go crazy, too? Wouldn't you snap? Wouldn't you want to do something drastic just to get people to look at you? Just to be seen as something other than weak and boring? Just to be seen as worth even an iota of interest, a shred of someone's time? Wouldn't you? Because I think any normal person wouldn't take thousands upon thousands of years. I don't think you would last a decade. I wouldn't either, and I'm a pretty patient person.

Y'all are just jealous you can't play billiards with planets using your mind when you're mad. That shit was so awesome.

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@searedtroutpeacharugula

This is not an Unpopular Opinion, or even an Opinion, I'm just pointing this out. Do you ever think about the fact that we hardly got any conversations between Rose and Jade? I do. This haunts me. This fucks me up so bad. We get plenty between John and Dave, and Dave and Jade, and Dave and Rose, and Rose and John, and Jade and John... But hardly anything between Rose and Jade!! This is so fucked up. We were robbed. I need to watch them hang out.

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Okay, this is less of an Unpopular Opinion, and more of an Unpopular Fact, but... Mituna doesn't just throw slurs at people. That's one of the things people jump to when they're talking about Defanging Mituna- they always say something about how he "calls people slurs every two seconds". He literally doesn't. That is legitimately not a thing he does. If you heard that before and believed it, you were literally lied to. That is straight up demonstrably not true.

Like, if you're trying to think of something Mituna does every two seconds unprompted, it's either sex jokes or apologizing. Slurs aren't a thing he just slings around casually. He said a grand total of one slur... To Meenah... And it's a fake troll slur. And then we get it defined to us... Aaaand it's the troll equivalent to "Cracker". That's it. That's the crime he's committed- calling someone a word that is immediately after defined to us as "Someone who is at the top of and benefits from the furthering of the oppressive Fuchsia-Down power structure, and the Lowbloods that help enforce it." That's the slur he used. That's what made people start declaring that "he would totally say the N Word" with full and complete confidence. Absolutely ridiculous. He's called no one else any kind of genuine slur. He just called Meenah a Wader once, and then she and Kankri got upset about it, because they are both, by definition, Waders.

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Leijon Hot Take Party Pack: If you think Nepeta shipping her friends together is fine, or even adorable, but then sneer at or get grossed out by Meulin doing the same thing, you're a hypocrite. I don't care if you say "Meulin's writing Friend Fic, though, that's weird!!" the problem with Shipping Your Friends and Writing Romantic Fanfiction Of Your Friends is at the same root.

The problem with these things isn't the presence of writing, it's the presence of, you know, shipping your friends? If you're fine with Nepeta doing it, you've gotta be fine with Meulin doing it. Be fine with both or neither. It's the same damn thing. I'm pretty sure both friend groups are fine with it, too, so it's not like this is a boundaries issue or anything. Both or neither. Pick one.

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Observation: I do think it's cool how Jane and Jake are related and have similarly opposing relationships with their gender. Jake's oft presented with Feminine themes and imagery, and Jane with Masculine themes and imagery. Very cool. Wish more people made that correlation.

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Okay, that's all for now!! Thank you for reading, if you did. Have a nice rest of your day. :)

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genderkoolaid · 9 months

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Do you think a white straight non-disabled cis woman in the west faces oppression on some level? Personally this question has been giving me some thought, so I'd like to hear your answer... Yes misogyny exists, but on what level can we say this woman is oppressed when ableism and racism are so much worse.

Yes, absolutely.

I don't think there's any value in saying that ableism and racism are worse than misogyny. To quote Cherri Moraga:

"In this country, lesbianism is a poverty-as is being brown, as is being a woman, as is being just plain poor. The danger lies in ranking the oppressions. The danger lies in failing to acknowledge the specificity of the oppression. The danger lies in attempting to deal with oppression purely from a theoretical base. Without an emotional, heartfelt grappling with the source of our own oppression, without naming the enemy within ourselves and outside of us, no authentic, non-hierarchical connection among oppressed groups can take place."

And to quote myself: trying to rank victims of oppression is like asking which of two murder victims is more dead.

On a large scale, there are obviously numerous ways a largely-dominant woman like you described is "less oppressed" than someone else. But on an individual level, you could have a Black trans woman whose lived a largely easy life with lots of social acceptance, and a White cis man whose experienced life-derailing violence as a result of classism. It's of course still important to recognize the axis you haven't or won't be targeted because of, and this hypothetical Black trans woman isn't not oppressed. But the meaning I have taken away from the above quote is generally that being a woman in misogynistic, being brown in a racist society, being queer in a queerphobic society, being poor in a classist society– all of these ruin lives and all of them kill. We can talk about, say, how a middle-upper class White woman's death because of misogyny gets more attention and sympathy than the death of a poor Black trans man. But we can and should do that without acting as though that woman isn't permenantly dead because of systemic misogyny and that she is somehow less dead than the Black trans man.

#i feel like i could say this better but i have a migraine rn so i hope this makes sense #m.#ask box

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ftmtftm · 4 months

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Hey!

I enjoy following trans guys on here because they tend to talk about masculinity in complex and interesting ways without tending to fall into MRA type pitfalls that are a lot harder to avoid in a space like Reddit. My question with that as a cis(ish) guy is always like...do you...want solidarity from cis guys on stuff like this?

Given that tumblr is kinda unique among social media spaces in that the norm is posters who are either women or queer, I don't see a lot of conversations between cis and trans guys for me to go off of as a norm. Y'all seem way more busy dealing with (what must be very tiring) discourse with women about whether being dudes automatically rounds trans men up to being oppressors.

Like, the defense I usually see mounted against that very simplistic mentality is--as you've said a fair bit and I would absolutely agree with--that patriarchal society doesn't give a fuck how you identify and short of someone who's managed to "pass" going completely stealth, there isn't even the option of being granted a very contingent male privilege.

Building off of that response I tend to go further and say "Yeah, and I mean, even if you were a cis dude, the hurdle isn't suddenly over if you're assumed to be biologically male, broad swaths of male privilege are contingent on performing hegemonic masculinity. If you don't, won't, or can't play that role, you're just trading being viewed as a failed woman for being viewed as a failed man. And again, that's only if you're someone who can "pass" and who is willing to go stealth in the first place."

But I don't know if me saying that would be recieved as...helping? Considering me saying "yeah, dudes aren't suddenly welcomed with open arms if they have a "he/him" pin and some stubble, there are absolutely core social advantages compared to women, but there are also punishments for failing to adhere to patriarchal standards that some men will be constantly incurring" causes a knee-jerk "THATS MRA BULLSHIT" response in the average tumblr user, which you seem to have to deal with plenty even when you're just quoting bell hooks or something.

So yeah, don't know if chiming in on the experience of grappling with hegemonic masculinity is like... helpful solidarity or muddying the waters? But I figured I'd offer at least.

Oh this is a very fascinating ask because in many ways I'm inclined to say yes absolutely, it can be incredibly helpful. There are some ideas presented here I'm a little hesitant about and I think it can be situational because of that. Ultimately though it is probably more dependent on your own personal threshold for dealing with bullshit than anything else to be frank.

Like I was just saying in response to a previous ask - some of the most productive conversations I've had personally about gender were actually with an older, disabled, cis man who was my coworker. The social perception of his gender was really dependent on his age as a man in his 60's, his class as a blue collar maintenance man, and the disabilities he had due to life circumstances and his lifetime of physical labor. This was also, socially, at odds with the fact that he was a poet and an artist and a deeply emotionally aware/intelligent person - which goes against a lot of Patriarchal expectations for men. The Patriarchy doesn't really give a shit about the emotionally in touch, disabled, working class, maintenance poet because he is not an asset to maintaining system.

So I do think there is absolutely space for solidarity between trans men and cis men in that regard! There is always more that joins us than divides us. Always.

I do think, however, that it might be smart to gain more experience - of any kind - outside of online discourse before entering into specifically online conversations (though I'm also guilty of jumping into this one too sometimes I'm not gonna lie).

When I say "experience of any kind" I really mean it though. Be that life experience, academic experience, interpersonal experiences, etc. I would just start with talking to people about their lives and engaging with their lived experiences and also letting them engage with yours!

I think here in this specific conversation on Male Privilege cis men hold a dual positionality of both people impacted by the same systems and as allies. To specfically be a stronger ally is to spend a lot of time learning before speaking yourself - while also never forgetting that the learning is never "over" - in my opinion.

Like, that's expressly why I took a break from writing about gender theory for a few years to explicitly spend time just reading racial theory so I could be a better ally as a White person and understand the ways in which White Supremacy both uplifts and harms me and the social positions I hold due to my race. I'm currently spending a lot of time reading intersex theory, but not directly involving myself too much, for the same reason. It's a similar concept here but with gender and Patriarchy.

I do also want to make sure it's very clearly stated that this conversation isn't really a binary "men arguing with women and vice versa" issue - despite it often being framed that way. Many of the people who have been the harshest towards me personally have actually been other trans men and nonbinary people and less so women. At least in this particular conversation, as I've also dealt with my fair share of TERFs/Radfems but that's unrelated to the convo on trans men and male privilege.

All in all it sounds like you're on a relatively solid path though. The solidarity and allyship is nearly always appreciated - especially when offered in good faith and with the intent of growth. I'd still really, genuinely recommend taking kind of a circular path outside of online discourse into academia (institutionally or on your own!!) or ground work or something like that before coming back around into engaging with the internet directly if you're able to though! It does wonders for the brain and helps give you more space to examine potential biases in safer environments than Tumblr or Reddit imo.

#long post /#dukeofankh #asks #transandrophobia

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divorcedfiddleford · 14 days

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Random but - if you were given an opportunity to rewrite Ford's character and his arc in the show (and later J3), how would it be like?

canon gay and trans

so the thing is that i think most of how ford himself is written is really really good! i just think that the writers (particularly alex) have a bias against him, and so a lot of the narrative ends up feeling like he's either being punished or being forced to atone for his past. so i'm gonna ramble and daydream for a bit but i want to be clear i actually really like how he's written in general (yes, even in the book that i have so much beef with!!)

there's very few moments of catharsis for him, and those that he gets are either short (reunion with fiddleford) or undermined by the writers' bias (the ending of journal 3 where he burns all his bill stuff but has to keep reminding us that he was stupid for trusting bill in the first place). so i think a lot of the problems i have would be resolved with tonal shifts and a few cuts, like that fucking scene in the stanchurian candidate with the mind control tie. the implication of reaganite ford is bad enough but then to have a guy who has very specific trauma relating to being mind controlled/not being in control of his own body just hand that over is really fucking stupid. then again i think that whole episode is stupid so i'd end up rewriting all of it lmao

i've said before but if i really had my way i'd cut roadside attraction entirely and replace it with another ford episode. i loved how goofy and fun dd&md was and i think if more of that lighthearted side of him was shown it would endear him to the audience more. a long time ago i had an idea for an episode where they go back to the bunker and ford basically does puppy talk to the shapeshifter who is actively trying to kill them. i never followed this idea through to its conclusion but i think it still sounds entertaining, plus it would also give more time for him to reunite with fiddleford so it wouldn't have to be squeezed in the finale.

speaking of the finale... my personal fantasy is that i'd love to have a scene stuck in there where stan apologizes to ford. it REALLY stood out to me that despite all their fighting, ford still at least says the words "i'm sorry" to stan. stan never apologizes for anything he did to ford - neither for breaking his project, nor for banishing him to the hell dimension for 30 years. i get that they were mistakes, but you still have to apologize for mistakes (and if i allow myself to get very self-indulgent for a second, i've often thought the whole story would be a lot more resonant if stan broke ford's machine on purpose). i had a whole section in here where i talked about what a scene like this would look like but it was so long... if people want to hear more about it i'll say more but it's the kind of thing that warrants its own post.

anyway. moving on from the show itself. so possibly my hottest take is that i think journal 3 should not have been published KJSHDFLGKHSDFGUIWEHRGJSDF. basically i think instead of trying to write the actual journal 3 they should have picked a handful of stories from his research era that they wanted to tell and made a graphic novel about that. i got WAAAAAAAYYYY off topic and wrote PARAGRAPHS about this but it's not related to the question you asked so i'll just summarize by saying i think it would play more to their strengths as writers, leave more to the imagination, and they could leave out all those fucking retcons that i hate

as it is, though, again, i think that ford is written pretty well in the journal. there are a few off-handed comments and lines that give me "he would not fucking say that" vibes but overall it very realistically portrays what it's like for someone to be manipulated, isolated, drawn away from his loved ones, etc. it's a very poignant story which resonated with a lot of people, myself included. again my main problem is that it's undercut with the writers being like "BROOOOO HE'S JUST LIKE ICARUS!! FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN!!!!!!!!" as though it's all his fault, and that it ends on a very moralizing "i learned my lesson" note. so really the biggest characterization problems i have with journal 3 have to do with fiddleford, but that's a whole other can of worms

anyway i hope this was... interesting? informative?? i hope i answered your question to your satisfaction. have a nice day :)

#gravity falls #tales of the wild zeep

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bijoumikhawal · 4 months

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Bite the Hand that Starves You: Chapter Four

Fic as of this chapter contains: discussion of abortion, references to drug use, intersex and trans characters, torture/graphic violence, colonialism and its aftermath, implied sexual violence, disassociation

Kardasi: Peikirvi - would translate to something like "concubine", specifically refers to an individual that socially presents as male, and was assigned such at birth, but can carry children (and often could impregnate someone else), who is legally bound to someone. Usually this is done with a pre-existing couple who has fertility issues.

---

It wasn't a baby. In terminating it, you were admitting that- it wasn't a baby. It never breathed, thought, or spoke.

Garak wished there was something physical that made sense. He knows if he asked, they'd show him some vial, or petri dish, with an unidentifiable clump, and that didn't feel right. It didn't feel like something worth funding over. In terminating it, you were admitting that it wasn't.

It wasn't a baby, so of course it didn't look like one, and it wasn't worth fussing over. Not once it was gone, anyway.

“Everything checks out.” Dr. Ammshah said. “I also talked over a few options for your care going forward with Dr. Bashir. First, I know you said you wished to keep all your organs, but we still can do a tubal detachment-"

“No.”

“I thought you might say that.” Dr. Ammshah looked away- purposely a display of deference. “In that case, there are implants available which don’t need to be replaced more than once every kashmim. It’s a lot longer lasting than the shots preferred in the Federation, and if you ever want to have children, it’s not too difficult to remove. I know you’ve had issues with an implant before, so let me reassure you: this implant has no electrical components. The worst it can do is move somewhere it shouldn’t.” She's rolled her sleeves up- most likely a nervous habit. It reveals inked scars on her forearms.

Garak thought for a moment. “Doctor Bashir.” The observation of her arms is distant and evokes no feeling in him. He knew from the moment Julian said her name why she had been eager to help him in particular.

His head turned to Garak quickly- he hadn't stopped paying attention, but hadn't expected to be called upon. “Yes?”

“If I were to do shots, would I be allowed to keep the doses on hand and self administer them, or would I have to come to the infirmary every time?” His own arms are unmarked. It was too dangerous, given who would see his bare skin, for Tolan to give into that form of sentiment- to permanently have Garak carry evidence with him.

“Normally I give patients a few doses and they self administer. I see no reason why you'd be different.” It was not said with anything but pure neutrality.

“I wanted to be sure. I'd rather use the shots, in that case.” His name would have become fetid in her mouth if she knew of Garak outside the boundaries of this room and those marks.

“Would you like me to go ahead and give you the first dose?”

Garak nodded. No more incidents like this. At last.

The first time he sees Kel, the stripes of her childhood have faded, and he assumes she is Barkan’s. So did everyone else. As her age of emergence approached, its clear to everyone they'd assumed wrong. One time at Bamarren, in the garden, and Barkan a week late coming back for Palandine's cycle-

It must've been embarrassing, when Barkan realized. Most peikirvi fucked the wife too, at least once. Historically, it was thought all they did was transfer the husband's seed, with a little of themselves- ultimately, they were not recorded as the father in that case. They knew better now.

Barkan never allows the two of them in the same bed without him as a physical barrier. They went back to Prime a few times- Garak has his own room in the historic Lokar home after the ceremony.

Dr. Bashir put the hypospray down next to his hand. “I'll go ahead and have the pharmacy retrieve a few more doses for you so they're ready when you leave.”

Garak’s hand curled around the handle. “Thank you, doctor.”

The round circle of metal (always cold) went a half inch past the end of his neck ridges, under the chin, like always.

He never sleeps well there. He kept remembering- one time he'd been helping prepare guest rooms, and fell asleep on top of an heirloom silk quilt. Mila never locked him in a closet, but she'd roll out a mat of rough sticks and make him kneel on it in front of the estate cenotaphs for hours.

He'd lived decently on his own as an Order agent, but never that decently.

“Do you have any questions for me?” Dr. Ammshah asked.

“No.” He'd already dismissed the one from earlier. Except- “If this happens again, will Dr. Bashir need to call on you?”

She turned to him. Like with now, and the examination, she'd had Dr. Bashir take careful watch. “I think that may be something at his discretion. Normally, I would have someone observe quite a few procedures before trying to undertake one. But usually I'm dealing with residencies, not a full fledged doctor. Most likely, I'd still end up supervising over video at least.”

Dr. Bashir inclined his head. “I do think I’d be able to handle it, but yes, I would most likely call you just in case.”

The Lokars have silk quilts too- they'd been very fashionable, six to eight generations ago. Barkan has him on top of one once. The whole time Garak is thinking about the launderer, a quiet young thing, and wondering how the hell he was going to clean it.

The Garak cenotaph on Tain’s estate was blank in his childhood (Tolan is on it now), but the message was clear- you will die here.

Garak nodded and leaned back. “I don't plan on this happening again.”

It was better if it wasn't a baby. If it was, where would he bury it? Where you buried your dead was your home. What name would be put on the cenotaph he did not have, on a station with no soil deeper than his knee?

---

Jabara sat next to him, jarring him out of his thoughts. “You're three hours into overtime today.”

Julian wished he could say he hadn't noticed, but he had. Perfect internal clock and everything.

Dr. Ammshah would be leaving in a few days. A check up after a day, a few days of buffer in case of a last minute emergency, then she'd be on her way back to Vulcan. Which left him with one less pair of hands soon.

“I'm just trying to make sure everything goes smoothly.” Julian rubbed a hand over his face. “How's setting up the storage bay going?”

“It's going fine. It hasn't really been used since the last time we needed it, so it didn't need to be cleared out.”

He had been to send his earliest cases home with a minder. That freed up eight beds, with more flagged as being viable to go home under the same conditions. However, he still had more patients coming in- both newly ill and those who'd tried to tough out what they'd assumed was a bad dining choice at first. The surgical suite had a few beds in it now.

Calculations in his head guessed that at least they'd seen a slowdown starting the day Dr. Ammshah left. “That's good. Are any beds ready yet?”

“A few. Yaatare wants to move the first patient over in the next hour or so.”

“I'll want to look things over first.”

“I know. And I was hoping I'd have to comm you to tell you instead of finding you still here.” Jabara stared scalpels in the side of his head.

“Everyone's doing overtime right now.”

“When was your last day off?”

Julian sighed. “Jabara-”

“You're comfortable telling off the rest of the medical staff and any Starfleet officer you see for poor work habits like too much overtime, but you set a poor example.” Jabara leaned back. “You asked me to be blunt with you from the beginning sir, so- it gives the impression that you're a hypocrite, or that you don't trust your staff.”

Julian flinched. It wasn't the first time Jabara told him that- the fact that she fully took him up fully on the request to be blunt was why he preferred working with her. “You want me to check on the storage bay and go back to my quarters.”

“At least. I also frankly don't want to hear you came back here any sooner than eight hours from now. Ten would be better.”

Julian put his hands up. “Alright. I'll go.”

---

Quark’s was perhaps not the best place to unwind if your stress came from how busy you were. Normally the sights- bright lights, Dabo attendants covered in glitter and rhinestones, flashes of brilliant color everywhere- sounds- shrieks of delight and anger, the wheels turning, glass clinking, conversations- smells- all kinds of food, astringent alcohol, a bit of sweat, cleaner (Quark never allowed vomit to sit the way he never let a paying customer's glass sit empty)- made it exciting.

Right now, Julian was just regretting his choices, holed up in a corner alone. Quark had taken one look at him and mixed something without even asking what he was in the mood for- it was vaguely reminiscent of a hot toddy. Julian found he didn't mind it.

He wiped the red foam from the corner of his mouth and sighed.

“I don't usually see you here by yourself.”

Julian managed a smile as Jadzia slid into the seat across from him. “Well I'm not by myself now, am I?”

“Mm. Is this how it usually works for you?”

“How what works?”

“Dates. You sit alone, looking sad and pretty, and someone eventually walks over.”

“Ah, so I'm pretty.” Julian said, sipping his drink. “And no, usually I'm here for fun and enjoying myself.”

Jadzia peered at his mug. “Oh, Quark gave you a Sweet Howler.” She grimaced a bit. “I heard kunowaat was going around. I didn't realize it was this bad.”

How badly was this going to hit him in the morning? Julian sighed. “It's not the worst thing to deal with. A steady, high, clean water intake, and a constant drip of diozaine, and basically anyone who catches it will live. It's just resource intensive and… annoying."

“I can imagine. I'm glad I'm vaccinated.”

“We've been working on that.” Julian muttered. “I told other Starfleet Medical doctors on Bajor to make it a top priority, but the problem with Bajorans and vaccines…”

“We still haven't built up everyone's trust after the Occupation.”

“No. Especially not in rural areas, like where it started this time.” Julian looked up at her. “Enough about work. How have you been? Any interesting holosuite programs you've discovered?”

Are you alright after the Joining Council almost let you die to save themselves some face?

“I've been okay. And no, no new interesting programs have made their way into my clutches.”

I've been okay, often meant something very different, Julian found.

“And which ones does the major like?” Julian asked.

“I don't think she has a preference yet.”

“Really?”

Jadzia shrugged. “She likes a little of everything, and nothing in its entirety out of what I've introduced her to. We've been trying out more programs recently…” she cocked her head. “Some people are just a bit picky. That makes it all the more special when you do find what they like.”

Interesting.

“How has Bareil been?”

Jadzia gave him a puzzled look. “Why would I know?”

Julian tapped his fingers on the side of his mug. “You just mentioned you've been with the major a lot lately. I thought she might’ve mentioned something.”

Jadzia doesn't quite buy it, still giving him an odd look. “She hasn't, really. Since when are you interested in what vedeks are doing, Julian?”

“Well, he's not just any vedek. If I'm to live right next to Bajor I ought to know what's going on with… politics.”

Jadzia squinted at him. “Do you know something I don't?”

“About Bareil? No.”

“Hm.” Jadzia leaned back.

“Are you going to report me to Odo?” Julian said lightly.

Jadzia softened a bit, not that she was especially hardened in the first place. “For all I know, he put you up to asking me.” She looked around, then peeked under the table. “Doesn't look like he's nearby, though.”

“You can't tell.”

“Well, not anymore.” Jadzia admitted. “It used to be something was a little off about whatever form he took. He's gotten better recently. A spare jacket in one of the labs turned out to be him and made me jump half a Quark into the air a few days ago.”

Julian snickered. “Half a Quark… I'll have to remember that one.”

---

Garak sat on the floor.

His holding cell was now an apartment. A ransacked apartment- Garak had accidentally slept in his shop last night, and Dukat hadn’t hesitated to seize the opportunity to target him in his tantrum- but just. An apartment.

He wondered if he'd be pushing his luck to request different quarters now.

He looked around, taking stock, and halted on an ajar wall panel. He yanked at it, heart pounding, and the metal bent- the red box was still there. Garak cradled it in his lap for a moment.

The recitation mask stared up at him. And kept staring.

Garak picked it up and threw it at the wall.

It only bounced off. The mask was lightweight, but the stone was strong and resilient.

Garak let out an angry sigh- bordering on a growl, really- as he got up off the floor. He picked up a chair leg that had broken off.

The mask gave him no more satisfaction than a clunk.

Garak tried, all night- throwing it, stomping on it, putting it under a table leg and then pushing down with all he had- the mask did not break.

#ds9 #garashir #Ds9 fic #Fic: bite the hand that starves you #garashir fic #Cipher talk

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socialistexan · 1 year

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Hear me out. Conservatives want to hold pride month at gunpoint, right? Make the consequences for having anything queer in the store so high that they just can't afford to do it. What if we do the opposite? Go out of our way to support anyone who does risk their necks by making pride merch. There's been a trend to say rainbow capitalism is surface level and manipulative and not to be supported, but this year I think it's important to make a statement. Conservatives are saying 'if you dare to sell the merchandise of my enemy I will commit vandalism and pull 14% of your stocks'. They're justifying it by focusing on how we're MARKETING to the CHILDREN! Let's undermine that statement with our actions. If a company keeps pride merch in their store, buy it; certainly favor it over other brands of the same item. Buy stocks, if you can. Make retail workers' lives easy. If you see someone leave a mess, straighten it out. If they ask why - say you're worried about the conservatives messing with stores ever since the violence and arson, and you want to support those who stand behind pride month as it was intended. Because... that's true, you know? Their goal is to scare us into hiding or lashing out at them so they can paint it on a billboard and say 'see! they're just hateful! we're the good guys here, we want to protect your children!' I think the most important thing right now is to stay visible, and specifically to stay visible in a way that people can't avoid the contrast of what conservatives are doing (violence and arson over... kid shirts that say happy pride? 'light binding effect' - so, what, a sports bra? 'tuck-friendly, extra coverage' - so they're mad we're covering up kids' junk better?) versus queer people being... Excessively kind and generous in every way. Which, you know, is hard. Conservatives are making it hard. But they're making it hard out of petty spite because they think they're losing. And to a decent degree - they are. As long as we can call attention to what they're doing, I think we can keep it that way. I dunno. I'm all over the place, and I'm a baby to this community anyway. Trans rights and happy pride.

TBH, I'm pretty much of the same mindset this year.

Like, people want to kind of ignore the cultural power that having allies, powerful allies and the way of showing that we aren't going to go backwards has, but it is absolutely necessary.

I hate to say it but there are absolutely people who are what I'd call soft allies. They don't really keep up with the community and what's going on with the people that hate us, or really don't think of us day to day but are generally supportive because that's the way the culture is moving. They'll defend us and be on our side so long as we hold ground. What could be flippantly called "virtue signalers." We need those people to remain on our side if we're going to fend off this current wave of attacks.

I understand if people in the community scoff at this and why they wouldn't want the support of people like this, but let me tell you, I was an out queer teen (preteen!) in an era where the culture was very much against us and really just beginning to come out of that. It is awful. I was around when not only gay marriage was illegal (and absolutely unthinkable), but being LGBTQ was fully illegal in over a dozen states including my own. I don't want to go back to that, I don't want to see those laws return. The cultural tide turning in our favor was extremely important in that.

I kind of look at the allyship of corporations like Target and Starbucks in the same way I look at allyship of the Democratic Party. It makes thinks so much easier for us, because it signals to our soft allies that their continued support is okay.

Are these cultural powers and instiutions bad? Yes. Should we have to justify our existence through appealing to them? No the fuck we shouldn't. Should we do it anyway before the cultural tides totally turn against us and leds in a very bad direction we can't come back from? FUCKING YES!

It sucks, but we need to stem the tide N O W, because what lies after this should the fascists win this round is not pretty.

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shakespearean-snape · 2 months

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Hi there! so glad to see you posting again I like a lot of what you have to say about Snape. I noticed you say a few times tho that your visual headcanon for Snape isn't conventionally attractive and I just wondered if you had any reference of what he looks like in your mind? An actor or other famous person? just someone like that?

I'm just curious how you imagine Snape because I admit I just see Alan Rickman as Snape in my head since I started with the movies as a kid and didn't read the books a few until years later. It always interests me so much when people say they read the books before the movies or read the books with the movies coming out and saw Snape as someone else.

Its ok if you can't think of anyone just thought I'd ask. thx!

Hello!

*waves enthusiastically like an idiot with zero chill*

I get so giddy when someone sends me an ask like this so I hope no one thinks I don't enjoy questions about Snape or my headcanons. As anyone who knows me knows, I think a lot and especially about those things I love so I always have lots of thoughts rolling around in my head I can be positively overeager to share with anyone interested.

So to answer your question, I don't have a specific person pinned down that is 100% like how I picture Snape in my mind but some close candidates would be a young Adrien Brody (which I think is common enough among Snape fans as a choice, right there with Adam Driver these days), obviously the man that JKR based Snape around, John Nettleship, someone like Adarsh Jaikarran as a potential Hogwarts-era and early 20s Snape (even if he is more good-looking than I usually lean, in some pictures he just channels Snape vibes for me quite a bit) and a very young Julian Richings if you've ever seen photos of him in his younger years (I have two here for you so you can see my point a bit, here and here).

Ironically, Julian Richings in the later years of his acting career would probably have been my first choice for a Voldemort fan cast back in the day when any Harry Potter reboot was purely in the realm of the hypothetical (I mean, c'mon, look at this and tell me you can't see it too) but as JKR is an unapologetic anti-feminist/TERF I provide no monetary support to any of her projects including any licensed games, the watching of future reboots or purchasing of future tie-in books in the HP universe, officially licensed HP merchandise, or even by giving traffic to what was formerly Pottermore, etc.

All I bring to the fandom now is my fan theories and love for Snape, which she not only does not benefit from but never seemed entirely at peace with given how the character got away from her and took off. I can't think of a better way to spite someone so utterly spiteful herself than to take the character she was most shocked by people loving in any capacity and celebrate him in every incarnation (gay, bi, trans, ace, autistic, poc, etc.) with my queer, gender-nonconforming little heart while she gets zero money off me for it.

Anyway I hope the visual guide gives you a little more insight into my mind. I've never seen Snape as "ugly" (even when I joke my Snape is "ugly" and I like him that way) but my mental picture of him is of a man whose looks might fall into that unconventionally attractive sphere or what some people call homely. Occasionally I veer off that a bit, as with Adarsh Jaikarran, oh, oh! And also Lee Soo Hyuk, Song Jae-Rim and Kento Yamazaki (ever since I saw him in the live-action Bloody Monday manga series adaptation)!

But yes, my favorite Snape and the Snape I love isn't usually model attractive but also not quite the gargoyle Harry describes (that kid had some ridiculously high standards of beauty tbh, about the only characters he didn't have mentally critical notes on their appearance was the unnamed Veela, Fleur, and Narcissa Malfoy so yeah he totally thought "Draco's mom has got it going on..." Lol!) but somewhere in that "unconventional" categorization of attractive which I feel really suits a man who so often defies easy categorization in general.

(Excuse all the edits. After I gave a few examples more started hitting me and I was like ohhhhh I should have shared them, why didn't I think to share them? So I may come back and make more edits throughout the day, no promises I won't! Lol)

#severus snape #pro snape #snape community #snape fandom #snapedom #snape headcanon #fuck jkr #anti jkr

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hihimissamericanbi · 5 months

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oh HELLO SMUT IDEAS

celine you're brillant all of these are amazing HOW CAN I CHOOSE

but hmmm ok i'm going to say:

Make your fuckboi jealous at the club. regulus making either james or barty jealous?

and

Maybe time for some suffocating roommates to lovers tension solved via a stubborn ass game. ROSEKILLERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR or maybe pandora x barty (do they have a ship name? idk) OR lily x barty x evan could be fun

Alrighty crow boy let's see what we can do here. This gets p explicit by the end so... oops?

Jealous fuckboi was fleshed out in a previous ask, BUT using your prompt, I'd say in this case Regulus is at pandora's birthday party. He had JUST gotten brutally dumped by barty, like, that day or something. Really really raw, fresh wounds. Barty is a dick but he's the skittles' dick even with all the shit he pulls so he is also at the party, already all over someone else. Regulus is both furious and heartbroken (remember, he is a sad wet cat on the inside). Enter: James motherfucking Potter, tits out, eyes only for Regulus. "Where's your boyfriend Reggie?" "Oh you mean that asshat over there with his tongue down some guy's throat?" James is like 😈😈😈😈😈 fuck yes reggie is FINALLY single it's JAMIE TIME or something equally cringe inside his head. So he just completely destroys Regulus with some smoking hot sexy banter, lays it on real thick, and soon flirting becomes dancing and dancing becomes making out and holy shit James is so fucking hot I can't believe he's touching me like this meanwhile James is like wanted you for so long let's show him how pretty you look bent over for someone else and James spins Regulus around and bends him over so his ass is in the air as James grinds up against it.

It barely passes for "dancing"

And when he hauls Regulus back up he whispers in his ear from behind, look baby he's watching, all for you. He's the dumbest fuck on the planet for letting me get my hands on you. I'm going to ruin you for him and for anyone else.

Praise kink sex in the club bathroom ensues.

Ok ok so for roommate plus tension-filled game I'm going to take lily×rosekiller bc I am not super familiar with rosekiller as a ship BUT I have seen the little sprinklings of throwing Lily in there with them and I LOVE POLY SHIPS so let's go.

Rosekiller established. Lily is their roommate, who they met through Pandora. It's really important that the vibes from the get go is ANYONE CAN HIT IT for all three of them. Pan bi queer whatever they identify as it's basically Hot People Are Hot (aka same sexuality as us irl tbh). So there's a lot of rosekiller just LEERING at Lily shamelessly and vice versa. It's not just rosekiller being extra handsy with each other when she's around or "accidentally" leaving the door open that one time or being intentionally loud when they know she's home. So finally they are stuck home one night together because Lily's plans got canceled and rosekiller are like oh no 😈 play a game with us? 😊

I'm going to make them play strip never have I ever. So the real tension/sexiness of the story is in the stripping, and the leering getting more and more out of control, and the completely out of pocket comments about each other's bodies. And it's extra fun because we have a mix of genders and bodies going on here (Trans Evan? Trans Evan.) But yeah I love this set up because no matter what body the reader has chances are they can find some body parts to relate to in this story and those parts are going to get specifically called out and praised and told it's hot.

The sex finally happens when Evan is the first one to be totally totally naked and his cock is wet and swollen and peaking out from his folds and Lily is STARING and blushing and so turned on and Barty is like have you ever sucked a cock like Evan's before and Lily motherfucking Evans is actually SHY and she shakes her head and barty is like mm it's the fucking best and Evan is so sweet, you'll never taste anything like him, would you like to try a bite? Here I'll show you how he likes it.

And then they are off to the races. There will be lots of "kissing the taste" of one another into each other's mouths and a lot of praise/dirty talk in the third person; ie. talking about one partner to the other partner like the first partner isn't even there.

Tl;Dr: languid body appreciation/praise smut for a mix of genders

Whew!!!!

#wip tag game #smut game #celine's smut #celine spills #crow tag #caw caw #jegulus #lily x barty x evan #trans evan rosier

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xxlovelynovaxx · 5 days

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Good job deceptively burying most of the panels under a cut.

Yes, it's a bullshit question, but not because a fear of 50 percent of the population is somehow rational. Not because I highly doubt that this person would actually respect a man's distrust of them. Not just because it's assuming that it's a man asking, and not say, a trans person who has been deeply harmed by gender essentialism and especially the positioning of (cis) women as the passive victim gender and (usually all) men (or at least all those recognized as "real" men, with cis manhood the standard they're being compared to as the active perpetrator and aggressor gender.

Would I rather be alone in the woods with a human or a deadly animal that will kill me if I get too near its cubs, its food, if it's hungry enough, if its territorial, if its mating season, because I startled it, or for any other number of reasons.

Idk, I'd trust the vast majority of men over a mindless animal with giant knives on every single one of its toes and in its mouth and that's multiple times my size and weight.

I happen to recognize that most men aren't in fact murderers, and that in fact in cases where men are violent it's almost never a stranger, but someone the victim knows well (and in fact that men are more often the victims of violent men than women are!).

I happen to know that in fact this widespread fear of men actually serves the patriarchy, and specifically white supremacy, because it positions (white) women as valuable (white baby producing) objects needing protection (from men, via ownership), from all other men but especially nonwhite men (because their nonwhite genes pose a direct threat to maintaining a steady production of white babies)..

Even if you replace men protecting women via ownership with women protecting women, well, then you just get radic/al feminism. Which, even when supposedly "trans-inclusive" is typically extremely violent towards nonbinary people, transmascs, non-transitioning and masculine-presenting transfems (such as butch transfems), intersex trans people; and it either ignores or actively erases and covers up the actions of women who perpetrate violence and abuse against other women while often harming men (and those perceived as men) who have not so much as been a threat, let alone violent. This is especially true of trans men, who are often treated as having power over all women by cis women who have significant power over them, and men of color, who are treated as threat to white women who hold life-and-death power over them.

I know I interact with men while recognizing their personhood daily, and the vast majority of them I would completely trust in a survival situation where we're more concerned with staying alive than anything else, but even in a more casual situation.

I also know that even if we're specifically talking threat of sexual violence, the way so many people are like "the worst that can happen with the bear is my death, at least the bear won't rape me" is abhorrent. As a CSA survivor, hearing "you'd have been better off if you died", because that's what that message is no matter the intent, is horrific. Rape is survivable, and you can heal from it, even while it is horrific and traumatizing. Trauma can be healed from. Death, by definition, is neither survivable, nor can it be healed.

Like, someone in the comments was like "yeah, there's nuance!"

No, there's not, actually.

I wouldn't want to be in the woods with a known or suspected rapist or murderer, but that's true regardless of gender. I'm in more danger from any human over being visibly genderqueer than over being potentially perceived as female by a man, and I'd still choose the man. Heck, in a survival situation specifically my disabilities make me a potential target, and I'd still choose the man.

Having grown up camping regularly in grizzly and even cougar territory, I'd choose the man, because I actually have a realistic idea of how potentially dangerous a predator animal is when you're blundering around in its home turf for extended periods. Especially if you don't have proper equipment or training, which I doubt the people answering "bear" do - it makes me wonder if there's a correlation between people's answers to this and their answers to what they think is the most dangerous animal they could fight. Like, some of y'all think you could take a badger, let alone a bear, easily.

I'd choose a man, cis or trans, regardless of whether or not he was disabled, neurodivergent, queer, a man of color, otherwise marginalized, or not, over a bear. And given that some people were like "at least people won't blame me if I get attacked by a bear" - 1. If it's not a polar bear there IS a chance that it's at least partially your fault, because as much as I recognize how dangerous bears are I also know ways of minimizing the danger; and 2. I'd take a man over a woman because less people would believe me if a woman assaulted or raped me, and might even label me the aggressor as a trans person.

In fact, I'll choose a man over a woman who chooses bear every time, because those women almost always believe themselves to be categorically incapable of doing the level of harm they are afraid of being done to them, and anyone who refuses to recognize their own capacity for harm (especially with physical and sexual violence) is an actively dangerous person.

I'll choose a man even knowing how to have the highest chance or survival in subpolar bear species' territories, even knowing what to do to have the best chances in direct encounters with bears, because the man and I might actually be able to help each other, and at least I have a chance of being able to predict whether or not he's trustworthy.

And all this aside, because I'm petty, Twilight Sparkle would not spout proto-ter/f ideology and rancid gender essentialism. I promise, "men inherently dangerous women inherently safe" will neither protect nor liberate women, and it in fact upholds patriarchal gender standards and is not harmless to ANY gender itself!

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spiraledfaun · 2 years

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I'm a Deerboy Toy!

Welcome to my blog, everyone, I'm Faun, your friendly neighborhood deerboy ^^

🦌Facts About Me🦌

I'm 30

Grayromantic Demi-Bisexual

Trans Man (1 year on T!!! :D)

Exclusively a Submissive Bottom (though I will occasionally switch for other subs)

Dumb Slutty Hypnokinkster

Obsessed with Spirals

I write Hypnosmut

Erotica and Play Menu [Here]

I follow from another blog, so if you're a fellow kink blog assessing if we're mutuals for safety reasons, shoot me a message!

✅️Please Use These Terms✅️

Boy, man, guy, dude

Slut, toy, pet

Chest 👍🏻 (Paid good money to not have tits so this is the only word I'm good with rn)

Cock, dick, tdick, cocklet

Front hole, pussy, boypussy, cunt, boycunt -- I am a boy with a nice, wet hole. You can only use these terms with the "boy" part in mind :) Abuse these privileges, and I block you.

Dumb (not stupid), needy, desperate, slutty

Basically all degradation/humiliation through at least a mild praise kink lens

❌️Please Don't Do These❌️

Do not interact if you are under 18/a minor. I know different countries have different age thresholds, but this is my choice regardless. (Ageless blogs will be blocked)

Don't ask me for pictures. If I want to give you pictures, I will offer.

Don't assume I want to enter a dynamic with you! I am open to finding someone, but it does not consume me. I'm also grayromantic demisexual, which means, for me, I'm not interested in getting romantic with anyone new.

No misgendering/detrans/sissification/forcedfem kinks in my inbox or on my posts! I am a believer in kink and let kink, but those ones are going to stay far away from me, thank you.

Don't call me anything not in the lists! If you're unsure or think it's pretty close (like if I'm cool with slut, then Spiral Slut is fine) but isn't there, please ask, I'd so much rather answer a respectful question than have to block you for being a dick.

I love chatting with others, and my inbox is always open, and anon is always on, so feel free to chat or play~ I will always talk with any trans person, big T4T Vibes, so don't be shy and say hi! I'm open to playing or talking to anyone so long as you're respectful, but I will be more cautious if you're a cishet man.

😈Main Kinks😈

Hypnosis(/Brainwashing/Mind Control): The Big One. I love going down and feeling nice and fuzzy. Mmm. Yes please.

Spirals: This is not usually listed as a kink, but I love spirals, especially flashy ones that fill my mind 🤤

Corruption: Mostly sexual in nature, but I don't *not* enjoy religious corruption.

Tentacles: I am a big sucker (👀) for tentacles, especially in combination with other listed kinks.

Aphrodisiacs/Drugging: This mostly means weed (and fantasy drugs/pollen/nectar), but someday I want to (safely) try other things for this kink ^^

Toy/Pet Play/Free Use: Combined because they check a lot of the same boxes for me. I've never quite indulged in pet play before, but I am a deerboy and I love being petted 🥺

Exhibitionism: This is pretty much exclusively offline, but I do like being shown off, even online, and I like thinking about people watching me get off or get used and enjoying themselves 😊

Mommy/Lactation Kink: Very very specific, I want to be made to drink someone's milk from their breasts and have it corrupt/hypnotize/drug me 😅

CNC: emphasis on the Consent, but holy shit please it's so hot. I'm not into super violent stuff but more in line with my other kinks, for reference.

I am totally into one-offs, anons, new friends that I haven't met yet, and mutuals dropping in to drop me, so come play! I'm just a dumb, slutty little toy and I need to be used. 🥺

#spiraledfaun

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swearyshera · 1 year

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Reliving this is a trip. I was an interesting feeling the first time thru, and I'm not saying that to humorously downplay a horrific situation. It drew out a little bit of sympathy for Catra I really thought I'd used up by that point, if only cuz what Prime does is really that vile. That's super unusual for me. I went in rooting for Adora to take back someone she cared about, not necessarily cuz it was Catra specifically if you know what I mean, but this got me to want Catra rescued weirdly well. I almost never feel for villains at their nadir like this.

Twisted how empathetic paragon heroes like Adora are among my most treasured characters in fiction, yet I suck at extending the same sympathy they can. You're supposed to see characters like Catra (or Azula or Bakugou or whoever you please) going thru awful things as flawed people with interior lives and subject to exterior circumstances that the heroes are kind/strong/savvy enough to see and incorporate into their responses and my knee jerk is still "fuck off with the pity party, get to the atonement." Or in a lot of cases to laugh while they're down. I always sabotage myself by seeing the author making horrible things happen to the rival/villains, and contrasting them with worse villains, as a cynical tactic to get me and the heroes to sympathize before they've started changing for the better.

It helped that Catra already saved Glimmer at her own peril, and Adora already would've saved Catra no matter what, but still. This is a big reason why villain mind control is one of my least fave tropes. Manipulation and coercion are all good because meaningful agency and responsibility are still there even if characters can't see it, and that is everything in my eyes. To me mind control is the writer hitting pause on a character's growth til a more convenient time in the plot. Or just forever. *cough*🌊🦂🧙‍♂️.

Most of my appreciation for pre-s5 Catra only built up in retrospect through meta-posts and following fanworks like this. So seriously thank you for this series; it's like experiencing the series as it was intended for the first time, weird as that sounds.

You're version of this sequence is as skin-crawling as I think we all could've hoped/feared. Prime is the worst kind of living scum. Great work. Now I can start counting down to the "you miscalculated." scene. Aimee Carrero crushed that line. Can't wait for your version. Positively dancing with anticipation.

It is - at least to me - a really interesting point for Catra to be at, narratively speaking, because it shows the dialectic in her journey. She both did and didn't "bring it upon herself" - yes, she tried to get in Prime's good books, but no, she didn't ask to be chipped. Yes, she saved Glimmer against his instruction, but no, she didn't know the full consequences of what that would do. And when you get people on different sides of the argument, some saying "poor meowmeow didn't deserve this" and others saying, "She's reaping what she's sown", actually they're both right, in this way.

I don't think it would have worked going straight to the atonement, anyway. We don't have these scenes to revel in the depth of her lowest point, we have them to show how bad, how inescapable it was - and then we set up to escape them!

The whole story with Prime has been an interesting writing journey, too. Every time I review the lines, I tweak them to make them that little bit more realistic, that little bit more uncomfortable. I'm painfully aware that we're seeing a lot of similar rhetoric flying around from real people in the media these days (particularly with anti-trans bullshit), and it's no coincidence that Prime is a reflection of this. But my focus isn't on "Oh look, doesn't this character sound like the person trying to destroy our lives", it's on "This character, like the people you've seen on the news, might think they're right but they will never win. They will never defeat us."

Indeed, the Save the Cat books (yes, this episode did remind me of them... It's probably where the name is from) talk about the 'All is Lost' point and the 'Dark Night of the Soul' - this is where we're at right now. It's bad, it's the worst - but it's going to get better.

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basedkikuenjoyer · 2 months

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A Tale of Two Hannya: Art Imitates Life

These are always kind of a trickier beast to write because by design the comparison casts a more negative light on a popular character. But they tend to be well received. Living near the path of peak totality for the big US eclipse, had me wanting to finish this one sitting in my drafts because well...we have both sun & moon themes as well as a dynamic of "upstaging" each other. Which is kinda cool. I really do think, when taken together, Kiku & Yamato give you one of the most interesting dynamics in this massive series despite the two faces almost never appearing together.

Let's step back a little though. Why? Why would our author structure so much of Luffy's story in Wano through the top two new faces for the arc? Almost splitting Luffy's story in half with mirror opposites; humble and helpful followed by flashy yet flawed. Pitting organic bonding against the spotlight. A very straightforward and earnest trans woman foiled by a deliberately inconsistent and ambiguous character falling somewhere you'd call transmasculine. Our Crane Wife and our Dragon's King's Daughter, forget the plot of One Piece for a moment...what's the reflection of our world they mirror?

As gross as it is to compare oneself to Doflamingo, I promise I'm going somewhere with this. And, to be fair I can think of a few specific people who'd make that type of comparison about me. I like to think I use my powers for good, but anyone with them would say that. Touched on it a little with the Otohime side story but over the 2010s I had my little strings in just about every corner of LGBT activism throughout a region that's now a solid gay haven in a conservative state. For the first half of that decade, it was thrust upon me because people saw how solid a representative a young, cute, well-spoken lady would be at diffusing old stereotypes. An MA in Political Science helped too.

Because it's currently Ramadan still, I'd like to share one story I feel was a high watermark and how it rippled in a way that is gonna shape my outlook here. When I noticed there was a shift. One I felt trepidation about aspects of initially and today feel vindicated seeing how Gen Z views their elders. It was Ramadan a fair few years ago now, while part of a board for something I got to know a local Muslim leader and his wife. They were used to inviting other community leaders to join them for Iftar, the fast-breaking meal. They wanted to show their young progressive members they were listening and respectfully invite someone trans, remember these are often very sex-segregated places. Even if there were some livid hardliners most of the women really liked me and you could tell it meant a lot to some of the older teen girls who really wanted to square more progressive beliefs with their faith.

Late 2010s, so if I told you there was backlash in queer circles guess who. More or less entirely people who'd fit that college radfem to transmasc mold. "I'd have gone to the women's side in solidarity and liberated those oppressed women being soo radical." "Don't you think what Rhea did was you know, kinda problematic? If I have to explain to you how it's low-key cultural appropriation I don't even..." "They only picked her because she acts like a little Barbie doll." Yes, that last one is peak feminism. They can call me wicked if they want; at least I was called to serve while they were all just rabble-rousers who decided they were the only morally pure enough ones to be local leaders. That's what this was all about, politics.

If you ask me personally about the current state of trans movements? It kinda comes down to that. Most Milennials, trans women, men, & even nonbinary folk, tend to use the community as a temporary safe haven but acceptance has come far enough it tends to stay temporary. Gender is but one aspect of our identity, the hugbox and group chats about pronouns only really feel like they're giving you something for so long. The holdout? In my experience that tends to be trans men or transmasc enbies who took a half-step before coming out in the relative privilege of radical feminist spaces offering a little space within. I don't have a whole lot of animosity towards these guys...it just feels like sometimes it becomes all of our problem when that radfem space pumped you full of a distorted vision of "male privilege" and you feel jilted you didn't get that by waking up one day and saying you are now man.

Was Eiichiro Oda going for all that? Fuck no. I was a longtime leader of a local movement, he's a cis author on the outside looking in. Better way these two make sense is more an author being aware enough (Japan had a similar trajectory over the last decade) these two serve well as standins for the extremes of what a teen today sees about this transgender community. Okama type caricatures just don't work anymore. Transmasc nearing 30 who feels like they don't even know what they want? Playing word games that feel like you never stopped and thought how they'd sound to other people? Chasing an idealized version of masculinity? It's not exactly an uncommon sentiment. It's a side-effect of finally getting that long sought visibility...scrutiny goes hand in hand.

It's a Tale of Two Hannya because it's weaving in the story of one community experiencing a Tale of Two Movements. Two movements that are at times diametrically opposed (foes). That's where the upstaging or "eclipse" aspect comes in. The way beats for one influence the other even without trying. Why Yamato's the one trying to find a place and Kiku's already dealing with average pressures of being a woman. Regardless of how you feel about that personally, you have to at least acknowledge this is the general impression teens today seem to have. Hypothetically, you could get the same effect between a more clear-cut trans man and someone kinda like Kamatari.

Ultimately, Wano is about who we are vs the roles we play. We see other places where themes of just saying you fill a role doesn't mean you are. I've said Yamato's a gentle critique of the extreme "you are what you say your are" side of trans movements. I understand why people would want to see things that way, but gender is a social phenomenon. For the record, I do think it low-key radiates dude energy to not care about shit like cannonballing tits out into the main bath, no one should have to act a certain way and all that. But it's a good pair for demonstrating where we're at in general. The emotions they evoke out of readers are a good reflection of where young men are kinda at on all this trans stuff. And both are still portrayed as cool, friendly people. But I do see where it's coming from when Oda shifts that classic immaturity element from Kiku more to Yamato.

#one piece #tale of two hannya #Okiku #Yamato

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boyslugs · 1 year

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tumblr stop recommending me terfs challenge! yes i am a feminist, but i am also hugely trans and believe intersectionality is the only way forward. yes i believe in deconstructing gender and gender roles but i also know how important gender is to people's sense of self, and that it's impossible to try to categorize gender more specifically than "a [gender] is defined as someone who identifies as a [gender]" without excluding someone, just like when in metaphysics my professor asked "define what a chair is" and then pulled out so many examples of "okay, by your definition a stool isnt a type of chair" and "what about bean bag chairs" or "that could be a table, which implies that all tables are chairs"

terfs and swerfs could be fighting for and with everyone against the oppressive systems we live under but they're so set in their ways that they refuse to see how the patriarchy harms men too, or how even if the porn industry has a lot of problems, many people of all genders enjoy sex work and are fulfilled by choosing it as a career path, or how a lot of the things trans people are fighting for would result in a better world for everyone- but it's easier to just say "rights for me but all men are evil oppressors and trans people are either traumatised or are evil and anyone doing sw is coerced or damaging our fight"

i could go on about this for way longer but i already have a bad feeling this might end up spreading further than i'd like so TO REITERATE:

TERFS AND SWERFS FUCK OFF. THERE IS NO LIBERATION FOR ONE UNLESS WE UPLIFT EVERYONE. INTERSECTIONALITY IS KEY. ok bye

#tegan rants #feminism #trans rights #sw rights #intersectional feminism #terfs fuck off #really i think a lot of radfems could be huge voices for feminism if they learned how to have nuance and be intersectional #infighting gets us nowhere but solidarity holds power #like #i'm transmasc and any time someone refers to me as anything woman or femme related i feel so uncomfortable #but i was still born in a female body and still get read as a woman a lot and still was raised as a girl #so i will always hold space in my heart for that little girl who didnt know why men were whistling at her in sweatpants and a hoodie #or why her classmates were making uncomfortable comments at far too young an age #but i also have detatched myself from femininity a lot now because i find euphoria in the ways i express masculinity #and i know trans ppl fighting for that right to expression will make space for women who have deeper voices or broader shoulders #or even women who would just prefer to be butch and cut their hair short #i will shut up now but be nice to each other and hold space for each other #there is no way forward without solidarity

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rauchendesgnu · 1 month

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗 (i don't know if you do these sorts of chain-letter things, or if you'd prefer not to, but for my part i do like to know which of their works a given author is especially hype on, so consider this an opportunity to gush!)

hi there! I'm not really a fan of chain letters, but I do support people gushing about each others' (and their own) art. I hope you don't mind if I open this up to anyone who sees this (to anyone who sees this: if you're feeling like showing off your favourite pieces of writing or art or gifsets or music or sculptures or whatever you do, then please do so! I'd love to see everyone's best ofs! @ialwayscomewhenyoucall @al-in-my-head @chaosheadspace I am herewith asking you specifically to show me your favourite fics :D)

These are in no particular order:

A Gentleman's Guide To Dancing Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 8,433 Why is this a fave: Gay Regency Pining™️and dance lessons Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: Regency Era, Witchers still exist, Slow Burn (ish, with only 8k words)

Insane Twink Takes On Military (or how Lambert learned that Geralt's husband is actually terrifying) Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 1,068 Why is this a fave: BAMF Jaskier, also intimidation is one of the best skills in DnD and Jaskier rolled a Nat20 in this fic Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: BAMF Jaskier, do I need to say more?

New Perspectives Fandom: The Witcher Pairing: Geraskier Rating: T Words: 4,226 Why is this a fave: vaguely Victorian setting, people respecting boundaries, trans character, supportive husband (and friends) Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Jaskier, Arranged Marriage, Historical Fantasy (ish) AU (don't ask me to define the settings my brain comes up with), transphobia (not from Geralt), dysphoria

For A Moment We Are People Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: LonelyEyes Rating: T Words: 3,075 Why is this a fave: Hurt Elias. Also Peter trying to justify falling in love with a horrible man called Elias Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: Illegal Soft LonelyEyes, Peter finds out he doesn't like Elias in pain if it's someone other than him who does the hurting

Five Times Jon Faces His Dysphoria Alone... Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: JonMartin (Teaholding because I think it sounds cute) Rating: T Words: 4,266 Why is this a fave: the trans. also I projected a bit. maybe. and again, supportive partner and friends Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Jonathan Sims, gender dysphoria, comfort

I know it said five fics, but since everything I write concerning trans characters and being trans is kind of very personal and important to me, I'll have to add another of those fics (and feel free to check out the trans fics that I have not listed here)

Questions Of Identity Fandom: The Magnus Archives Pairing: JonMartin (Teaholding) Rating: T Words: 4,496 Why is this a fave: the trans (again, yes). again, projecting and me being angry at ignorant people. supportive partner and friends (do we spot a theme yet?) Other Stuff Worth Mentioning: trans Martin Blackwood, gender dysphoria, comfort, pre-T Martin

I'll have to add another note (sorry): I haven't done so for my earlier work, but my more recent fics all have content warnings about what kind of dysphoria is discussed. If dysphoria in fics is triggering to you, feel free to check the content warnings and take care of yourself <3

Last thing (I promise): feel free to ask me anything about these fics or any other stuff I write and post. I also love recommendations, if you feel like I might enjoy something you've seen or read :D

#ask #self rec #writing #fanfic #tma fanfic #the magnus archives #the witcher fanfic #geraskier #jonmartin #trans characters #my writing #jonmartin fanfic #geraskier fanfic #lonelyeyes #lonelyeyes fanfic

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malaurymalfunctional · 2 months

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1, 6, 12, 39

get asked things, dork (affectionate

welp, get your reading glasses out everyone

1: 3 things that shaped me into who i am

-1: luck. from the classic things like being born in a wealthy western country, being white (not inherently lucky but made me privileged/safer), having a relatively nice familly with no financial struggle, etc, to smaller stuff. like, it's a miracle i was never bullied in school. if it wasn't for that one person, maybe i would've died. i had free access to the internet since i was like 9, and somehow never stumbled on stuff that was inapropriate for my age

i consider myself quite lucky, despite all the hardships

-2: being trans. sorry to the people who think it's cringe when we make it our whole personnality, but it is litteraly so important. so central. i cannot fathom what i would be like if i weren't trans. that's just not the same person

-3: having weird ass parents. by that i mean that they're almost not like parents, more like... people i lived with that cared for me? i of course mean that in the sense that i don't have any special emotional attachment to them and all, but also that it doesn't feel like they raised me because they transmitted so little to me. my way of seeing the world, my hobbies, my fears, my political opinions, my general knowledge, my understanding of myself and others, my skills, i got them from, well, not them. the internet school, my friends, but not my parents. truly, i don't really know these people

6: best and worst part of being online

i've been here most of my life, so all the bad is just part of it. yes, that's where all the haters are. sure, all of the horrible things in existence can be found here. but that's also where my friends are. that's where community is. that's my only way of accessing at least 50% of what makes me happy. it has taught me so much about the world and myself, has held so many fulfilling experiences for me

if i had to choose 1 worst, i'd say transmisoginy i guess? i dunno, girl, i'm not even popular enough to get hate mail

12: a piece of advice i'd like to give

like i said in a previous post of mine i'm just 18. i'm like a baby. i feel like the least qualified person on earth to be giving advice. but i'll say one thing: advices are kinda bullshit. in essence they're opinions you think will be helpfull to someone else. but in my experience, they rarely are, especially when talking about life choices, mental health and the such. i watched hundreds of hours of self help videos, listened to people, went to therapy, and i felt like a fucking moron. i knew all the things, i had the advice, but it wasn't working. in the end, what helped me crawl out of the pit is time, love, and a bunch of stuff i'll never know about. find what works for you and ditch what doesn't; it's not because a piece of advice is true that it is helpful. searching for your solution will probably work better than just trying to apply the solutions others found

39: a youtuber i'm obssessed with

hard and specific

brennan lee mulligan? absolutely obssessed. a youtuber? not really

thegreatreview (he's french)? amazing youtuber. so fucking talented. obssessed? not really

dougdoug? obssessed by his entire cinematic universe for a while now. a youtuber? maybe 50%? it's all twitch streams highlights

john and hank green? ok i'll stop there

let's settle for brian david gilbert then, the man so nice they named him thrice. please buy his bed.

most well known for his Unravelled series on Polygon's channel, like the one about the sonic bible or the one about the smash bros osha violations, his personnal stuff is simply perfect, sometimes whimsical, like "i wish that i could wear hats" or "Pumpkin Cowboy", sometimes horrifying, like the one about the american healthcare system or "Teaching Jake about the Camcorder, Jan '97", often a mix of both, like "we like watching birds" or "earn $20K EACH MONTH by being your own boss". his comedic genius is at its best when it is also at its weirdest. he's also the guy who made the sibling dance song, i guess

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