#but that doesn't mean its gone

[tawaifeddiediaz]

you know what boils my blood.

over the last 2 weeks, i've seen countless patients walk into my urgent care center, symptomatic for so many things, refusing to get tested for covid and flu, citing that they don't want to knowingly bring it to their holiday tables. i had a patient tell me, verbatim, "i don't want to test for covid, because i don't want to be the asshole who brings it on a plane."

i understand that - i understand that holidays are times where people look forward to meeting loved ones that they might only see once a year, or where they get a break from the hectic back and forth of their lives.

but here's the thing - whether they get tested or not, they will bring whatever they have to their holiday tables. it's pure recklessness to know that you're sick, and walk into someone else's house spreading the disease.

today, january 2, i saw 91 patients, many of them who have tested positive for covid and flu. many of these patients are the same ones who didn't want testing 3 days ago, until their events were over, and now, they will have to reach out to everyone they know to let them know that they were positive because they were showing symptoms well before their event.

the next week or two? we're going to see many, many more, all people with symptoms that started around christmas. these are the only two viruses we test for rapidly in our office, but they are potent and can be fatal in many people.

so here's why i wrote this post, and maybe it's a little late, but - if you care about your loved ones, please get tested if you know you're sick. it doesn't have to be at a clinic if you don't want it to, because the over-the-counter tests work just fine too (if you test within 5-7 days of symptom onset). just...please don't try to run from the knowledge that you might have covid, because immunocompromised people, elderly people, people with co-morbidities like asthma, pregnancy, diabetes, etc...many of them may not recover. and they may not be sitting at your holiday table in the future because of it.

#zee rambles #this isn't to guilt trip anyone #but im so so tired of people coming in and just refusing testing because they want to see grandma or whatever #and on top of that people are avoiding vaccinations and all that too?? #we all lived through the pandemic - everyone saw how many people unfortunately passed away from it #now because of vaccinations and some amount of herd immunity we're finding milder cases in healthy people #but that doesn't mean its gone #that doesn't mean it doesn't have long-term repercussions even in healthy people and that doesn't mean people aren't still dying from it #honestly i just needed a lil rant #and if this helps at least one person??? im all for it #also i can't sleep so here we are spilling thoughts into the voidddd

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance - Braig / Xigbar

#kingdom hearts dream drop distance #khddd #braig #xigbar #my gif #his pointy shoulders deflated with age #...do you ever wonder about his scarf? #radiant garden took pride in its beauty and ansem the wise was a ruler who was beloved and admired by his people (despite... yknow) #so is it safe to assume that being a guard of this world being tasked with protecting the castle/its ruler/and the townspeople- #would be considered a prestigious occupation? #yet we see braig wearing an old tattered scarf #it's a curious addition to his uniform that looks out of place among other guards #i dont think it was added to his design to help him stand out because cmon it's not like he's competing for relevance with dilan and aeleus #braig fights from afar with his guns it's not like he's some scrappy guy that might have messy clothes from battle #i wouldn't be surprised if this was ephemer's scarf that he somehow came into possession of #and is holding onto it with the possibly of it being used as some kind of medium/waypoint #who's to say he's not still wearing it under his organization coat? just because we can't see it anymore doesn't mean it's gone #riku had an entirely different outfit under his own organization coat so who knows what xigbar has under there #i like to think braig used to be scolded for wearing the scarf because it covers up the uniform's emblem #and wearing old ripped articles of clothing isn't part of the image the guards would presumably have to uphold #but eventually they gave up on making him take it off because he just does whatever he wants #just something i think about from time to time #xigbar has always been so mysterious and cryptic i can't help but keep an extra close eye on him #especially since he's been revealed to be so much more than what he seems. who knows what tricks he has up his sleeve #i don't think it's outside the realm of possibility

[bericas]

isaac & scott / mason & theo | sometimes all i think about is you

#twedit #twvid #scisaac #mason x theo #twrarepair #back on my scisaac masontheo parallel bullshit btw #back on my masontheo is just scisaac if they were True enemies to lovers bullshit. btw. if anyone was wondering. #like of course scisaac and masontheo get paintaking scenes. its enemies to lovers. ofc mason calls theo a bitch its FULL enemies to lovers #for clarity the hands at the rave and the masontheo hug r parallels to ME bc its touch with an excuse for it #scisaac can brush hands when theyre holding a needle between them and theo can hug mason when its a means to an end #the rest i feel r fairly straightforward but i wanted to share the vision for that one #mason hewitt #theo raeken #scott mccall #isaac lahey #tw #oh also the last shot is the last shot of isaac and theo respectively. if that wasnt clear. #like how isaac and theo both nebulously sort of Gone from beacon hills #and the theo shot also to me looks like footage from The masontheo ep 618. btw. which just brings me joy #actually i have more to say. hi. masontheo r just so. #you know how isaac kind of has. he has the awkward tenderness of someone who has never been loved and is forced to improvise #theo doesnt even have THAT!!!! scott holds out a hand and isaac takes it with an awkward fervor #mason keeps his hands to himself because he doesn't trust what theo might do with it and theo can only help when its helping himself #bc the tenderness will be TOO AWKWARD. so isaac says he wont leave without scott and theo says we need to find him so i cant leave you #so isaac grabs scott because scott makes him feel safe and theo can only grab mason when its part of a script bc thats how he feels safe #HELLO. IS THIS THING ON. DO U GUYS HEAR ME. SCISAAC IF THEY WERE TRUE ENEMIES TO LOVERS!!!!

[ladystoneboobs]

no of fence to jon snow fans who for some reason care about his exact age, but these discussions just annoy me no end. not only bc there's no way any weirwood flashbacks bran has to rhaegar/lyanna will come with time/datestamps, but also bc there's always comments like this:

SEVERAL turns of the moon (ie, months)?! have these people never seen a human baby before or just have no concept of their ages? even if we take into account travel time from the toj to wf, meaning jon was not a newborn too fresh out the oven when catelyn and robb arrived, there's still a difference between a newborn and a 3mo and an even bigger difference between those infants and an older baby 5-7mo. there's very good reasons these lines were cut. whatever birthdates can be worked out internally for jon and robb from when they're first mentioned as 15 and 16 don't matter in the end, bc grrm doesn't care about a consistent timeline and the actual text of catelyn's pov and ned's convo with robert about cheating on her should outweigh any guesstimates about jon's official nameday wrt robb's. catelyn may not have cared for jon, but she would sure as hell have noticed his nameday if it came before robb's and made him ned's firstborn. if jon's birthday canonically came before robb's then either ned's cover story would not involve adultery (not impossible for him to sire a bastard before his wedding), or he'd just give jon a new nameday along with his new name to fit the adultery lie. it makes no sense for him to lie about one and not the other, undermining the big lie with a little public clue of his story not adding up. whatever else she was as a stepmother, cat wasn't stupid and a bastard who was actually the eldest son being raised alongside her trueborn heir could be an even bigger insult than whether he was born of adultery or not.

BUT, the unknowability of jon's true birthday is not the only reason this annoys me, it's bc this is all based on the assumption that jon must be older since rhaegar/lyanna ran off together before ned married cat, as if both boys must have been conceived asap as robb canonically was when his parents consummated their marriage. and that's not how human reproduction works! even if you don't understand how fast babies grow in the first year, you should know that people who get pregnant do so through ovulation cycles and a lucky sperm finding an egg and all that, not just immediately getting knocked up as soon as one has p-in-v sex for the first time. not unless you only know mean girls sex ed where if you have sex you will get pregnant and die. (even tho lyanna did die, there's plenty of canon examples where pregnancy did not lead straight to death. also examples of people who did not get pregnant right away and even some who are/were sexually active and childless without always having moon tea on hand.) we can't know how long lyanna was having sex before that sperm+egg match happened or even how long she was with rhaegar before losing her technical virginity. if they were married, doesn't it make sense to think they didn't consummate their relationship until the wedding night either? that's the only leverage there is to ensure a status as wife rather than just mistress.

and while i just said grrm doesn't care about exact timelines and a lot is still foggy surrounding the rebellion and esp rhaegar, there is one timemarker wrt robert's rebellion he voluntarily threw in, time and time again: that stannis was besieged at storm's end for almost a whole year. that siege, which mind you, did not match the duration of the entire war. it only started after robert won his battles at gulltown and summerhall, returned to storm's end, and then went out and lost the battle of ashford, leaving his homeland open to the reachermen. the same siege which only ended when ned made a detour there after the sack of king's landing, before going to the toj. even if lyanna may not have given birth that exact day ned found her, she could only be waiting in that bloody bed for weeks at the most, not months. so if rhaegar knocked her up the very same night he carried her off and jon was still a newborn when ned found her after the siege of storm's end had ended, wouldn't that mean lyanna was pregnant for well over a year? that's not how human pregnancy works either! so, maybe that's proof that jon and robb, whichever order they were actually born in, were actually very close in age as babies, much closer than if they were both conceived asap.

and really, jon's actual birthdate does not matter imho, when he was raised not just as the bastard to robb's trueborn heir, but with robb also known by catelyn and the world as ned's firstborn (which he was, in any case, as jon was ned's nephew by birth). what difference could a birthdate before robb's make (even were there some means of discovery) after ned, cat, and robb are all dead? if one is looking only at his birth parents then he's only a firstborn child on lyanna's side, but definitely a second son on rhaegar's side. maybe he was always meant to be a second son with a not much older half-brother! even if the aegon fka young griff is not in fact rhaegar's son, he'll still be known as aegon vi targaryen, meaning jon will never be known as any father's elder son. if i may reference mean girls again, it's not going to happen.

#valyrianscrolls #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #robb stark #jonathan snowflake starkgaryen #i want him to succeed me as king in the north #jon snow #ned stark #lyanna stark #like this isn't prompted by anyone except that reddit post and its comments this has just annoyed me for so long #that's why i made that show!robb/show!jon coming of age gifset years ago bc narratively jon is always a second son #bc robb did everything first as elder bro and the only milestones jon will hit first will be the those robb can't since he's dead for good #(obviously starting with jon being first male stark to be brought back from the dead) #not that everyone interested in this debate thinks this way but it just feels tied to the idea of jon being a trueborn heir #not only was he never a bastard he was an eldest boy! eldest surviving boy with those pesky half-dornish sibs gone! point missed. #sorry i just dont think grrm means for a targ restoration with king jon any more than fake eldest boy kendall roy could win his succession #(c)lsb #i had to look up all the quotes on the big storm's end siege bc it makes me feel like i'm taking crazy pills #thinking what abt stannis starving for a year while others are like we just can't know how long rr was. was it even 9mons? #like yeah lollys's pregnancy doesn't add up but bc grrm really slowed the tl down postacok prob w/o really thinking #thats diff from repeatedly saying something lasted almost a year when he didn't have to give such a timeframe!

[bloobluebloo]

I still find it incredible, actually, that TotK had banging lines such as "Allow me to offer you my sincerest apologies on behalf of the Gerudo for taking so long to accept your repeated invitations" and being allowed into the protective embrace of the kingdom of Hyrule "to serve it faithfully" (not to mention the nuances in other languages that further demonstrate the submission Hyrule expects of the Gerudo) and you still have people denying that Hyrule was being imperialistic or, at the very least, questionable in seeking alliances from other tribes because Ganondorf is evil and obviously being duplicitous and is going to turn out to be aggressive and Rauru and Sonia were nice to Zelda and didn't attack the Gerudo they just asked nicely multiple times and Ganondorf was always free to say no and Rauru has Link and the Master Sword's support so he is obviously right and meant no harm at all (even though they had a standing army at the ready and super powerful artifacts at hand *just in case*).

#if you don't want to read in between the lines its fine #I keep saying that people don't want to see more than what they're told directly #but this #was so direct like #how could you not see it for what it is #good intentions doesn't mean that the way it's gone about is good #anyways I think the current world climate makes me return to this thought over and over again #people need others to think for them and make things viral to make them understand #and thats scary #ganonthots

[girldewar]

honestly feel like you can't fully understand why the nhl functions the way it does unless you have an in-depth understanding of american conservatism specifically. like. the nhl is run by a collection of people who function on conservative nostalgia, purposeful obtuseness, and a direct opposition to progressivism. they're the type of american traditionalists who think that we should go back to the good old days when people respected their elders and didn't think too hard about things like civil rights or what equity actually means. they believe in a homogenous culture of assimilation and obedience, and they rely on the people within that culture to perpetuate it via mutual surveillance. it's what the wealthy white american right has always been, especially since wwii and the cold war after it. and it's what the nhl has always been. it's a culture that is determined to keep itself locked away in the 1980s while the world around it evolves, and as it grows farther removed from the world it exists in, the more reactionary it gets. it's fucking. every 70 year old republican senator who refuses to step down until they keel over dead in congress. that's it. that's all.

#like. okay. yes obviously love travis dermott thank u king etc etc #but this whole thing is just. it means nothing. none of this means anything #the nhl never loved you. the nhl never believed in gay rights or trans rights or poc rights or any of it #the nhl floated along on the exact platform they've had for decades and let the teams decide what political stances they'd move forward on #until an opportunity presented itself for the conservatism underlying the entire stupid organization to rear its head #just because they changed the rule doesn't mean it's gone. it just means it's hidden under a dozen different layers of pr and performatism #hurray we get pride tape back. i'm sure this will stay the case forever and never change or be an issue ever again. #ok sorry for being cynicallll i should go do my readings #bees speaks

[soracities]

Hi! So I tried not to say anything about some anti makeup posts I saw on your blog but I need to say this. I think you're very wise and I agree it's very important for us to love ourselves as we are. But some people like myself doesn't care about 'empowering' of makeup or whatever but we just have fun with it and we just love it. I say we because I know there is a lot of people like me. Yeah, we are feeding capitalism or whatever, but world is beautiful and it's also terrible so people trying make themselves feel good, have fun, ect. I see a lot of people who don't wear makeup and i'm happy for them! I didn't wear makeup until i turned 20 i think and felt good.

One thing I wanted to add is in response of post about feminine girls. I think everything needs balance and sometimes people tend to overreact in their opinion and divide everything in black and white. Personally I never cared how women around me looked and what they were wearing. But I would like to have same treatment, and not to feel silly for wearing pink or feminine clothes.

Sorry, I don't know English very well so maybe I can't translate my idea entirely. What I'm trying to say i think everyone should do what they like and leave each other in peace.

Sorry for this essay, just wanted to share my point of view.

Hi, anon! I'm sorry for the delay in getting to this, but I appreciate you writing this (and your English was fine, don't worry)

I think the main argument of those posts (and my own feelings about this) is not about makeup on its own, or even judgement about who does and doesn't choose to wear it--what they are criticizing is a particular part of the society we live in which puts a huge emphasis on women's beauty and appearance in order to fulfill an idea of what a woman "should" be, and the role that makeup plays in that as a result. Because whether we like it or not, whether we believe in them or not, whether we feel pressured by them or not, these expectations do exist. How we personally respond to them does not change that.

I personally don't have an issue with makeup or the concept of it (in almost every culture on earth, humans have been using makeup of some kind for literally thousands of years)--but what I do have a problem with is when we treat makeup, or other traditionally "feminine" forms of expression as neutral things when they are not. A comb or a hair tie is neutral--it's just a thing. Lipstick and eyeliner are also just things, but only when they exist by themselves--and in reality they don't exist by themselves: they exist in a world where we value women on their physical appearance before we value them for anything else--lipstick and eyeliner exist to emphasise parts of your appearance, to make you look a certain way--and in a society where we put so much importance on women looking a certain way, they aren't just ordinary things you toy around with for fun. You can have fun with them, but it doesn't change their role. They can't be treated as exceptions from the world they are used in.

I think sometimes people assume that being anti-makeup is the same as being anti-women-who-wear-makeup, which misses the point (and also suggests a very dangerous idea which I think, sometimes, is why people respond so angrily to these criticisms: because if we believe that being anti-makeup = being anti-women, then therefore makeup = womanhood, and this is simply not true). Whether you wear these things just for fun and to enjoy yourself isn't what is being talked about because these criticisms are not about you on a personal level: they are about looking at a society that is as image-obsessed as ours, and asking why makeup has the role that it has when 1) it is almost exclusively aimed at women--women who, as a group, have been historically marginalised, and whose value, historically, has almost always been measured in terms of their beauty before anything else and 2) the makeup that is emphasized, the trends and styles that come and go, are often not so much about self-expression (if they were, people would be freely wearing all sorts of wild colours and styles: when we talk about "makeup culture" it's not the same kind of makeup used in the goth, punk, or alt scenes for example where makeup plays a very different role) but almost always about achieving or aspiring towards a type of beauty that is valued or expected: to make you look younger, to make your eyes brighter or larger, to make your lips bigger or sexier, your cheekbones more prominent etc--again, on their own, these things may not be a big deal, but they exist in a world where having these looks means you are valued in a certain way as a woman. And when this exists in our kind of world, where the power dynamics we have automatically mean women's perceived power is through beauty, and where we insist so much on women being a particular kind of beautiful (and this starts in childhood) we have to ask and investigate WHY that is--why this type of beauty and not another? why (almost only) women? who benefits from this? who suffers as a result?

The argument of "not all women" wear makeup for empowerment misses the point of these criticism, because it is focusing on a person's individual choices in a way that suggests our choices can define the world we live in, and they can't. We are deeply social animals. Therefore, how we appear to each other and to ourselves is a socially influenced phenomenon. This applies for race, for sexuality, and for gender. How women are perceived at large, in different social structures, is a social phenomenon influenced by the societies we exist in and the values of those societies. These criticisms are about the society we make those choices in and how that can affect us. For you, makeup may be something fun and enjoyable and that's fine. I'm not saying that's untrue or that people don't feel this way or that you are wrong for feeling this way. It's also not saying that you are brain-washed or oppressing yourself for it. But it doesn't change the world we live in. Someone feeling perfectly happy to go out with makeup or without makeup, and feeling no pressure to do either, is great--but it doesn't mean there aren't a lot of women who do feel pressured into wearing it, and that pressure is a social one. It doesn't change the inequality that exists between how women's physical appearances are judged compared to men's. It doesn't change the fact that almost every childhood story most kids hear (that aren't about animals) have a "beautiful princess" (and very little else is said about her except that she is beautiful) and a "brave" knight/prince/king/whichever: the princess (or maiden or whatever young woman) is defined by how she looks; the male in the story by how he acts.

It also doesn't change the fact that so many young girls grow up hearing the women around them criticize various parts of their bodies and that they carry this into their lives. It doesn't change the fact that we expect (in Western countries at least) for women to have criticisms about their appearance and they are "stuck-up" or "full of themselves" if they don't. It doesn't change the fact that magazines photos, red carpet photos, films, tv shows etc., feature actresses who are beautiful in a way that is absolutely above and beyond exceptional (and who either have had work done cosmetically, or are wealthy enough to be able to afford to look the way they do through top-class makeup artists, personal trainers etc) but who we think are within the "normal" range of beauty because faces like theirs are all that we see--how many famous actors / entertainers can you name who look like they could be someone's random uncle, or "just some guy" (writing this, I can think of 5). Now how many actresses, equally famous, can you think of that are the same? Very, very, very few.

The point of those posts, and why I feel so strongly about this, is that we have a deeply skewed view of beauty when it comes to women, because, as a society, we place so much on how they look in such a way that it is not, and was never meant to be, achievable: therefore anything that contributes to how women look, that markets itself in the way that the makeup industry does in this day and age, needs to be questioned and looked at in relation to that. No one is saying don't wear eyeliner or blush--what they are trying to say is that we need to be aware of the kind of world eyeliner and blush exists in, what their particular functions as eyeliner and blush do in the world that they exist in, that we exist in, and how this does impact the view we have on makeup as a result. Your personal enjoyment may be true to you and others, but this doesn't change the role of female beauty in the world because, again, our personal choices don't define the world in this way. Often, it's the other way around. And we cannot deny this fact because, while it may not affect you negatively, it does affect others.

I absolutely agree with you because I don't care how other women around me choose to dress or express themselves, either--that's their freedom to wear what they want and enjoy themselves and I want them to have that freedom. But my view is not the world's view, and it's certainly not the view of a lot of other people, either. I don't care if another woman loves pink and wearing skirts and dresses--but, like makeup, pink, skirts, and dresses, are not neutral things either. They're tied to a particular image of 'femininity' which means they are tied to a particular way of "being a woman" in this world. I'm not saying, at all, that it's wrong to wear these things. But I'm saying we can't treat them as though these are choices as simple as choosing what kind of socks to wear, because they aren't. They are choices that have baggage. If a woman is seen as being silly, childish, or treated unequally because she enjoys cute tops and ribbons and sundresses, that's not because we are demonizing her choices, or because being anti-makeup is being anti-woman (again, it is absolutely not): it's because we as a society demonize women for any choice. That isn't because of anti-makeup stances--that's because of sexism.

You mentioned that you want to be treated the same as anyone else for wearing feminine clothes--but the fear that you wouldn't be isn't because of the discussions critiquing makeup and other traditionally "feminine" things--it's because we live in a society where women are constantly defined by how they appear on the outside, and no amount of our personal choices will make this untrue. Whether you are a girly-girl or a tomboy, you'll always be judged. And, in reality, when women follow certain beauty standards they do get treated better--but this doesn't mean much in a society where the standards are so high you can never reach them, and where the basic regard for women is so low to begin with (not to mention the hypocrisy that exists within those standards). This is what all those criticisms towards makeup and "empowerment" are about: it's about interrogating a society that is built on this kind of logic and asking why we should insist on leaving it as it is when it does so much damage. It's saying that that if we want everyone to truly feel free in how they choose to present themselves we have to go deeper than just defining freedom by these choices on their own, and look at the environment those choices are made in. And that involves some deeply uncomfortable but necessary conversations.

Also, and I think this important to remember, views on makeup and the social place of makeup will also depend on culture and where you are, and the beauty expectations you grew up with. And when it comes to the internet, and given American dominance online, a lot of these posts criticizing makeup and the way makeup is being used to sell an idea that wearing it is "empowering" to the woman (which is basically saying: you are MORE of a woman when you wear it; you are stronger and more powerful because, in our society, beauty is portrayed as a form of power: it tells you, you can battle the inequality women face by embracing the role beauty plays in our lives but it doesn't tell you this emphasis on beauty is part of that inequality), are based on the way makeup is portrayed in mostly English-speaking Western countries. My views are shaped by what I grew up seeing, and while a full face of makeup (concealer, primer, foundation, mascara, highlighter, contour, blush, brow tint, brow gel etc) may not be daily practice or even embraced in a place like France or maybe other places in mainland Europe (but that doesn't mean they don't have their own expectations of feminine beauty), they are daily practice in places like the US and Britain, and this is what most of those posts and criticisms are responding to.

We can argue as much as we want about makeup, but when you grow up in a society where women feel the need to put on makeup before going to the gym there is something seriously wrong. Embracing makeup and enjoying makeup is one thing, but it cannot be a neutral thing when so much of it is about looking like you're not wearing makeup at all, or when we assume a woman is better qualified for a job or more professional when she wears it. It cannot be a neutral thing when a singer like Alicia Keys goes makeup-free for a red carpet event and it causes a stir online because people think she looks sick (what she looks like is normal--I would argue above normal--but wearing makeup to cover up "flaws" is so normal now that we genuinely don't know what normal skin is supposed to look like because the beauty of these celebrities is part of their appeal: they are something to aspire to). It is absolutely very normal for me, where I am, to see young girls with fake lashes and filled in brows: it's not every girl I pass, but it is enough. I'm not saying they are miserable, or brain-washed, or should be judged. I can believe that for them it's something enjoyable--but how am I supposed to see something like that and not be aware of the kind of celebrities and makeup tutorials that are everywhere on TikTok and YouTube, and that they are seeing everyday? How am I not supposed to have doubts when people tell me "it's their choice!" when the choices being offered are so limited and focused on one thing?

I never wore makeup as a teenager and I still don't, but a lot of that is because I grew up surrounded by people who just didn't. Makeup was never portrayed as anything bad or forbidden (and I don't see it like that either)--it was just this thing that, for me growing up, was never made to be a necessity not even for special occasions. I saw airbrushed photos and magazines all around me, for sure, and I definitely felt the beauty pressure and the body pressure (for example, I definitely felt my confidence would be better if I wore concealer to deal with my uneven skintone, and I felt this for years). But I also know that, growing up, I saw both sides. No makeup was the default I saw at home, while makeup was the default I saw outside. And that does play a part, not just in the choices you make, but in the choices that you feel you are allowed to make. No makeup was an option for me because it was what I saw everyday, even with my own insecurities; but if you do not see that as an option around you (and I know for most girls my age, where I grew up, it probably wasn't) then how can we fully argue that the decision you make is a real choice?

If I wanted to wear a cute skirt outside, for example, and decided to shave my legs--that isn't a real choice. And it cannot ever be a real choice, no matter how much I say "this is for me" or "I prefer it like this" because going out in public with hairy legs and going out in public with shaved legs will cause two completely different reactions. How can I separate what I think is "my choice" from a choice I make because I want to avoid the negative looks and comments? And how can I argue that choosing to shave is a freely made choice when the alternative has such negativity? If you feel pressured into choosing one thing over another, that's not a choice. Does this make sense?

This is how I feel about makeup most of the time, and what I want more than anything else is for us to be able to have a conversation about why we make the choices we do beyond saying "it makes me feel good" and ending the conversation there. Again, I'm not saying people need to stop wearing makeup or stop finding enjoyment in wearing it, but I think we tend to get so focused on our own feelings about this and forget that there is a bigger picture and this picture is a deeply unequal one. That is what this conversation is about. I hope this explains some things, anon, and if I misinterpreted anything please feel free to message me again. x

#i think in essence what i'm trying to say is that #some things are true in a microcosm but you cannot make a universal application for them bc the microcosm isn't representative of the whole #and it is dangerous to assume that it is or that it can be bc you're erasing the bigger picture when you do that #it would be like a poc saying they never felt the pressure of skin-lightening creams which is amazing but it doesnt change the fact that a #whole industry exists selling skin-lightening products BECAUSE there is a demand for them and that demand exists BECAUSE there is an #expectation that they SHOULD be used and this is because there is a belief that lighter skin = more beautiful. regardless of how messed up #and damaging that logic is that doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the world #and therefore those industries exist to maintain that belief because that belief is what drives their purpose and their profits #and we are doing no favours to the countless poc who DO feel pressured to subject their skins to these products or who come away with #a deeply damaged sense of self-worth (not to mention the internalised racism that's behind these beliefs) bc of constantly being told they #are less than for being darker than a paper bag which is RIDICULOUS #saying its all down to choice is not far off from saying you can CHOOSE to not be affected by the pressure but like....that's just not true #you can't choose to not be the recipient of colorism any more than you can choose to not be the recipient of sexism. and its putting a huge #amount of pressure and responsibility for an individual to just not be affected by deeply ingrained societal pressures and expectations whe #what we SHOULD be doing is actually tackling those expectations and pressures instead #they are leaving these systems intact to continue the damage that they do by making everything about what you as an individual think and #believe but while we all ARE individuals we dont live in separate bubbles. we are part of and IN this world together. and it acts on us as #much as we act on it. but like.....i think i've gone on enough already #ask #anonymous

[reddd-robin]

I feel so crazy about that last episode I knew literally in my soul that the lich would appear eventually and be named the last scholar of golb. Throws up everywherr

#i canttt do this. i love betty and simon so much this new view on their dynamic makes me feel crazy #its undoubtedly like a strange power dynamic that simon is unaware of (heees kind of dumb but not a bad person by any means) that drives- #-betty to act how she does with him at first. like her perfect idolized interaction with a author she loves dearly #and for her to put aside her life like that for him in this manic sort of perfect scenario shes so enthralled by #gah i live them so much. simon being unaware of this and it damaging their relationship in the future unknowingly #she gives so much man. not to say simon doesn't i think hes just as great a lover as betty wanted but betty has this endlessness to her- #-devoting her time and her life and her dreams to this perfect world she gets to live in now #i do think she relaxes with it further into their relationship when she feels less like she has to be cool or prove herself to someone she- #-idolizes. and that they get better and closer and more equal (i say theyre never truly equal considering it revolves around simons whims)- #betty really learns to love for that period of their life. for however long it takes them to get to 'fianceès' its really their perfect life #and then everything happens. the crown. the portal. the war. the world ending. ice king. betty in ooo. and its all ruined again and she cant #acess simon so he is again returned to this state of a forbidden person she desperately chases and gives up her life for. she regresses to- #-when their dynamic was unknown woman and author she loves dearly appearing before her eyes #and that unnatainable aspect is what drives her insane. she cant do anything this time. he doesnt even know who *he* is. its hopeless #her trying to date ice king and freaking out about it because this perfect picture is gone and she doesnt /like/ him like this #agh. bety. siom #fionna and cake spoilers #fionna and cake #talking2myself

[kyouka-supremacy]

I have a theory Akutagawa doesn't have any illness and just made up his lungs disease in the heat of the moment

#I mean not really but. BUT. like seriously what was the point of revealing that in that moment??? #It was really meaningless like all he said was all acting to begin with right? #Why did he feel the need to make himself so vulnerable in front of Atsushi?????? #So like. either author went “ah there was actually this plot point I need to close up before Akutagawa dies– #otherwise all the hints I've left because of it here and there will have been gone to waste” or... #Or he just made it up to live his dramatic sickly Victorian boy dream moment at its fullest #If anything that would explain why he doesn't suffer for it in Beast #(I mean. beyond the other reasonable explanation that it is. you know. result of Dazai's abuse) #He was there and he thought “how can I make Atsushi's life as miserable as possible even after I'm dead? Oh of course- #by making myself so pathetic he won't help but regret for every time he hurt / misjudged / misunderstood me for the rest of his life” #Bruh #bsd #bungou stray dogs #ryūnosuke akutagawa #bsd ch 87 #bsd ch 84-88 #mine #q. #05/09/22

[moe-broey]

Love Loses 😔💔 (aka second-worst festival you could possibly drag Moe into)

+ some rough sketches of the outfit!!!

I'm not too committed to fleshing it out, but I imagine it would most likely have a green color scheme, forget-me-nots and possibly pansies incorporated into its design (would probably have to figure out how all that would work together LMFAO but again. Not super committed to the thought!)

#fire emblem #feh #the pansies are a cool idea actually beyond the queer connection i have this bigass flower meaning book #and there's potential there! #i was just doodling though. plus i have other dod wips i consider to be more 'canon' in my heart #IT'S JUST. IT'S JUST. THE GOOFIEST THING EVER SOMETIMES. #like yeah i made this guy specifically to hang out w my blorbos. yeah it's going to fuck off completely now. #it's already fucking gone. good fucking luck finding it again. #moe is just. you're better off without me. the idea of leaving sharena behind fucks me up so bad i'm gonna throw up. #this doesn't say anything about me at all. i'm easily replaceable. and i'm okay with that. #yes i'm wearing the forget-me-nots. no that doesn't mean anything. and neither do the pansies. #don't worry about it 😊👍 #also i think the dysphoria acting up is actually less about the outfit (esp since alfonse is wearing something similar) #and more about the social 'role' it feels its being forced into. even if its the only one feeling this way #dysphoria will do crazy shit to you and fucl your entire life LMFAOO #i do think its suffering w those thighs out though. poor thang 😔 #fe alfonse #moe tag #summoner oc #my art

[nimblermortal]

The more sci fi I read the more pissed off I get about Bujold's uterine replicators. That stuff is not standard in every setting? You have people in Star Trek who are carrying babies to term inside their bodies? What sort of barbaric nonsense is this. It's non-optional? They're not just doing it as some sort of hippie nonsense? Do you have any idea how many health risks there are? What sort of complications? The lasting effect on the body? And you're just. Speculating. That in your highly advanced society. People choose to do this.

It just seems to me that in a reasonable world, uterine replicators would be interesting because of the way their impact on Barrayar is explored.

#have you not heard of postpartum bleeding #have you not heard of hair loss are your characters not vain #I am probably getting this mixed up with additional Bujold but I think you can tell if a skeleton has carried babies from its composition #I will grant you that Star Trek can probably cure pre-eclampsia but like. #why would they when they could just. not do that. #frankly astonishing to me that we're not closer to this in our own world #that and colonoscopies #HOW have we not eliminated colonoscopies yet??? #bunch of savages #anyway I was MEANING to make a post about how I can make Yarrow's whiskers go forward and back according to my whims #because he likes it when I scritch his cheeks #and he does not like it when I give him BOOPAH! #and he has not yet realized that my ability to make him smile and frown in this way is a source of entertainment #soon it will be gone - he doesn't do the cat ear twitch for me anymore #but in the meantime #BOOPAH!

[gxlden-angels]

how do i stop my internalized homophobia?

Ngl anon, it's less stopping it and more talking over it. If you were raised in a strict, homophobic environment, that little voice is still going to be there cause it was a part of your development. So you shout over it instead with new data

"Being gay is a sin" okay I hear you but my friends are gay and I can't really see them as sinful people

"You're broken/wrong/living in sin" okay speak your truth bestie but I'm happier living my life authentically so I'm okay being wrong for now

"You're going to Hell" cool cool but what about now? Am I happy right now? Am I living this life in a way that benefits me now? I'm focusing on this life, not a potential afterlife

I'm very STEM-oriented so my therapist and I refer to it as "Plotting new data points" You kinda just have to listen to the internalized homophobia, say okay okay I hear you but have you considered this new data point that suggest a positive correlation between being openly LGBTQ and my own happiness? Yea I know this was regarded as a sin before but statistically speaking the chances of it actually being sin are insignificant. Yea it doesn't even have a 95% confidence interval. Loving who I am seems to have a positive outcome though but I'll need more positive queer experiences to be certain

#I don't know if this makes sense #It took a long time to realize but you kinda gotta put the cart before the horse so to speak #you gotta do the thing and pretend like it isn't terrifying before it becomes less terrifying #And I don't mean you have to come out or go to pride or have gay sex #I mean like. Saying in your brain I Am Gay #and noting the fact that you didn't get smitted by Jesus or brain exploded by the Lord #You take in new data #and the old data never goes away. it would be considered altering your research then #but as you continue to get new data it starts to lose its power #it becomes less statistically significant #Until it eventually doesn't bother you like it use to #I won't pretend like my internalized homophobia is gone #internalized transphobia too despite me potentially getting top surgery soon #but each day is a new day for research #it's still there #and each experience adds another data point #good luck anon #anon tag

[pirateknight]

god I fucking hate Riley so much

#'wahhh my girlfriend didnt cry in front of me while her mom was dying i'm gonna cheat on her and then tell her how good it felt to do it' #like bro says she didnt open up to him and its like not only does he feel entitled to her every emotion but also wants to control them #like he tells her when to cry and to hit him when she's angry and when she doesn't he breaks up with her??? #he's gone from boring tolerable to unbearable prick godddd #the fact that xander then blames buffy and the narrative supports him by having her agree?? she should have told them both to go to hell #and yknow while i'm on a btvs rant: #i havent minded xander so much but i might be reaching the point that makes everyone hate him #from how he's behaved this season he doesnt deserve anya. he lets everyone be mean to her for not understanding things #and she's with him bc she has literally no one else and he loves that about her #i really hope she gets a chance to flourish as her own person now she's got her job at the magic shop #i hope she and giles become close friends and he backs her up in dumping xander #btvs #chatter

[kiun]

maybe controversial??? i guess???? but I very much dislike how Yato still calls her Nora, which is something Hiiro has said multiple times that she despises being called. Like she's always made sure to call him Yato instead of Yaboku because she knows he hates that name. And yet Yato can't reciprocate that with her even here. It's just disappointing to me especially since this is supposed to be a moment where he tries to protect her :/

#blue.txt #noragami #this is NOT yato hate i very much love that after all they've gone through yato still chooses to protect and defend her against father #but it just feels so meh that he keeps calling her Nora #I know he revoked her name but hiiro is still there as a name #it's just kind of a nitpick i guesss #maybe they're setting up for her getting a new permanent name and that's what yato will call her by from then on #i really hope something like that happens because she absolutely deserves a name she likes that she picked out herself #i hate the other names she has especially eyami and mizuchi #eyami makes me feel so sick because it literally means plague #its horrendous and i really disliked takemikazuchi for that even though he's one of my favorite characters #and mizuchi doesn't have a horrible a meaning but its the name f*ther gave her and i want anything to do with him AWAY from her #thanks for listening to my ted talk ✌️

[perilegs]

not an astarion defender in the traditional sense, but in the sense that the whims he gets approval from are funny. i would also approve of someone throwing shit at people who asked them to smear their face with said shit

#it's funny to be a menace in a video game and im not going to pretend its not #killing a clown IS funny #his 'whim approvals' are so funny #leevi liveblogs #on another note ive seen people be like ''astarions traumatized so he acts like that :(' or 'despite all that he could still be an asshole #both true but i feel like both are reductive #when it comes to his more cruel approval it's clear he acts the way he does due to his past. (i know thats like a duh no shit we all do tha #) but i mean like. if you look at all the trauma he's gone through and think about how it has affected him as a person #it makes sense for him to be selfish and maybe even cruel #and there are reasons he acts the way he does. but it doesn't mean he's done nothing wrong ever. it means he's an asshole who has reasons #to act like an asshole. #no ones past is an excuse for the way they're acting. yes it's a reason. but just because you went through unimaginable horrors doesnt mean #that everyone should ignore how you act toward others. he can still be held accountable while understanding where he's coming from #but i also don't like people ignoring his past experiences and seeing him as just a selfish asshole who is and has always been #and will always be an asshole just for funsies #does that make sense #also sometimes people read too much into what was meant as a funny little option #like. you know how some games have a serious main story and the most batshit silly side quests and no ones holding the side quests as the #absolute truth of it all #does anyone know what im talking about #idk talking in the tags with the character limit is a pain in the ass i have a lot more to say

[brandycranby]

my big fat greek wedding is on again and im a mess

#its so validating - yes i still live with my parents yes its ok yes im a late bloomer bc of my fam but its ok #my culture is different it doesnt mean i cant find love or acceptance #we're all fruit 🥺🥺 #i mean it doesn't mean racism or xenophobia is gone but... its just nice to have hope... you dont get a lot of that as a child of immigrants #brandy rambles