#have a fucking experience; make yourself a person not a statistic

[tbposting]

As I get older I realize more and more how incredibly helpful it was for me to get exposed to queer erotica when I was young. Had some friends who were furries and through them I got to see various kinds of queer erotica, which sexualizes and loves the human body in such profoundly different ways than cishet porn and erotica does.

It was helpful because it helped chip away at the idea of normativity, the idea that there is one central ideal towards which all things must strive.

Not in a "queer porn made me enlightened!!!" kind of sense, but in the sense that once the time came that I was ready to start confronting my internalized self-hate and body shame and insecurities, I had some ammo to work with. I wasn't going up against it alone - I could point to this art - gay male art, lesbian art, furry art, art from the transgender perspective, all of it - and know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I still had to do some work to accept it, and internalize it, but I could know because I had evidence that, yes, there are people who desire bodies like mine, and who love those bodies earnestly and viscerally.

And regardless of whether I am attracted to those people in turn, whether I want to date them or sleep with them, it means that that insidious little voice which is drilled into the back of our heads telling us that our bodies do not meet the standard of quality that qualifies us for love is, quite simply, wrong. Beauty ideals are not a universal value, and they arise from no necessary truth or rational principle, they are a series of deliberate choices made by cultures, influenced by the culture's values.

And when that culture is struggling with a history of white supremacy, with a history of systemic sexism and homophobia, when that culture is dictated in large part by the whims and interests of billion dollar corporations intent on selling Products & Services™, the choice of beauty ideal is neither neutral or healthy, and you can unmake that choice for yourself, and find something better.

Anyway, I guess my point is that porn is good for you actually, especially the gay stuff. Replace all the Marvel movies you watch with filthy Ao3 fiction and furry smut.

#inb4: none of this is an argument that you should enjoy being fetishized #inb4: I am extremely obviously kidding with that last line leave me alone #give disney as little space in your head as you can though; they hate your body literally no matter what it looks like #also i do not want to hear any fucking thing about “evolutionary biology” on this post sit your asses DOWN when the humanities are talking #“um actually humans genetically prefer symmetry since it indicates fitness” no we literally do not have you ever met a real person #humans stumble ass-backwards into one another's orbits; we are at the mercy of our strange gravities #have a fucking experience; make yourself a person not a statistic #tb blog

[bearsbeetsbeskar]

did some writing last night lovelies, here's a little snippet of another joel oneshot that i'm working on 🌚

study days with joel

preview beneath the cut

Joel was right. You knew he was, as much as you hated to admit it.

But above all else, he genuinely cared about helping you succeed, and if there was anything he could do to make life easier for you, or let you know that you weren’t alone in your struggles, he would do it. And he always spoke about conquering those struggles as a team, as your partner, always willing to carry the load for you if you couldn’t handle it yourself. 

Not that he doubted you in the first place. But it was always ‘we’ or ‘us,’ never just ‘you,’ or ‘I.’ It’s one of the reasons why you were head over heels in love with him. Sometimes you wondered if he realized how much strength he gave you by simply existing. 

“Remind me again,” he shifts his arms so that they wrap around you, gluing you to his body, “What’s the difference between.. Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder?”

Although you’re not looking at him, you know that he has a smile on his face. He fully knows that you know the correct answer. Sighing deeply, you turn your head to the side. 

“Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder where a person experiences psychosis, or hallucinations and or delusional thinking, but schizoaffective disorder is when a person experiences the same psychotic symptoms, along with symptoms of a mood disorder like depression or mania.”

“Like it was straight from the fuckin’ textbook,” he whispers in your ear, before leaning down to kiss your pulse point. “My smart cookie.”

Shivering in response, you tilt your head to the side as his lips trail down your neck, pressing soft kisses and nibbling ever so slightly. Gasping, you tilt your head further, giving him more access and melting in his embrace.

“Mmm,” Joel rumbles, the deep vibration reverberating through his chest. “Why don’t we try another study method and see how it works?”

Little did you know that another study method would involve you laid out beneath Joel, his broad frame caging you in as he took you apart with his mouth. Every kiss, every lick, every suckle to your clit, had your eyes rolling to the back of your head as Joel tested your restraint. 

“Tell me again baby, I know you know it.” He whispers into your wetness, pulling away to press soft, wet kisses to the inside of your thighs. When you don’t answer immediately, he sinks his teeth into the soft flesh, applying the slightest pressure that makes you gasp and look down at him. He doesn’t say anything else, save for quirking his brow up at you, patiently waiting while his tongue soothes over the indents on your skin.

“Stat-fuck” You lick your lips, and swallow, throat dry from the hoarse moans and whimpers you’ve been letting out.

“Statistical significance is- is when the rela-relationsh-shit,” you pant as Joel’s tongue traces your outer lips, sucking slightly, “between two or more variables is caused by something other than chance.” The last part comes out as a rushed gasp but Joel praises you nonetheless.

He hums and gives you a devious smile. “Good girl,” he purrs, grazing your slit with his middle finger, gathering up the obscene amount of wetness leaking out of you, before sliding two thick fingers into your cunt.

You barely have time to catch your breath, choking on gasp as you revel in the stretch of his fingers. So fucking long and thick. You never get tired of how they fill you so perfectly. 

“My good fucking girl. So fuckin’ smart.” He growls into your cunt, curling his dexterous fingers, effortlessly pressing up against that spot that makes your eyes roll back and clench around him.

Do we want more of study joel??????????

#joel miller #joel miller smut #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller oneshot #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x female reader

[brightgnosis]

Herbalism Is Dangerous & "This Is Not Medical Advice" Will Not Save You

There is a vast difference between (A) Writing up a Monograph or a summary of your own research on an Herb that mentions its traditional Folk Medicinal uses for particular conditions ... (B) Writing about your own personal experiences using x herbs to treat your own conditions that you have ... (C) Giving out a plaintext Herbal Remedy (whether traditional, from a modern book / blog, or even self created) ... (D) Making and selling Remedies ... (E) And outright making a post stating that if you have x conditions, then x herbs are good for those conditions, and explicitly encouraging people to use them in those capacities for those conditions.

The former two (A and B) are not a form of Medical Advice; the first (A) is just a profile or summary of a plant and its variety and spectrum of historical uses that you've researched. The second (B) is just a record of your own personal experience with a plant ... When done correctly, three and four (C and D) is just giving out a recipe or a product- and both have to be done in a very specific way ... However? No matter how much you preface it with "this is not medical advice and I am not a Doctor", the later (E) is and remains a form of Medical Advice and always will be.

Some of y'all newer people getting into Herbalism desperately need to learn the laws and how to properly stay in your lane to avoid stepping over that boundary. Because saying "this is not medical advice and I am not a Doctor" does not actually give you a free pass to say whatever you want about Herbs and Herbalism. Because you can get in a lot of trouble for it, and this will not hold up in court when you do get dinged if you are not careful.

Furthermore: You can (and will) actively kill people with this stuff by (1) Using bad resources to educate yourself (especially since AI generated resources are increasing yearly); (2) Not preparing your remedies correctly (with proper sterilization, proper storage, etc); (3) Not knowing anything about the history of the people you are giving advice to; (4) Not being specific enough in the advice or recipes that you give (such as specifying alcohol types, or using proper Botanical Names and Terminology, etc); (5) Generally just not being well enough trained to be handing any kind of advice out in the first place; and so on and so forth.

There are a lot of ways that Herbalism can go very, very, very wrong- and those chances increase tenfold whenever you start giving things out to other people. And this is not a fearmongering "if", or a slippery slope ... This is an absolutely guaranteed outcome of doing the wrong thing incorrectly in Herbalism.

Well meaning people have absolutely killed many people through poorly or improperly practiced Herbalism. And often those people are the Disabled and Chronically Ill who've been left behind by the system to begin with. And sadly, in a disturbingly large number of other cases, many have also killed their own children- and often themselves- through such improper practice.

I am literally begging you: Do not add yourself, or another person, to those statistics.

For those getting into Herbalism because of practices such as GreenCraft especially, I cannot stress enough that this is not simple "Fuck Around And Find Out" territory like the rest of magic and the occult is ... This is 100% "Fuck Around and Potentially Die" territory and it must be taken seriously as such.

No matter how easy materials make it seem, I really, desperately, need people who have no actual training (with a school) and are just getting into it (often as a hobby) to understand that you cannot just fuck around with Herbalism willy-nilly; to understand just how legitimately dangerous this can actually be.

This is based on research, in addition to 15+ years of experience as a Lay Herbalist, and 20+ years of experience as a magical practitioner. If you found this helpful or interesting, please consider Tipping or Leaving a Ko-Fi (being Disabled, even $1 helps); you can see my other "Original Content" here.

#rosalyngray #bruxazgord #Original Content #Original Herbal Content #Herbalism #2023 #Verderer #Oklahoma #Green Witch #Green Witchcraft #Witchy Gardening #Witches Garden #Witch's Garden #Gardening #Gardenblr #Plantblr

[art-eat3r]

My "hot take" on Piggy and his role in LOTF (more like a rant)

These are all my opinions and interpretations of the book. Feel free to discuss in the comments :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) The Metaphor around his character

I personally view Piggy as a metaphor for logical thinkers and intelligence in society . He's the smart and logical one out of the group, well, as smart and logical a preteen boy can be, but he's significantly smarter than the rest. He knows things. Piggy gave Ralph most of the important ideas used throughout the book (Conch; social rule, assemblies; order/community, etc), even if it was in a smart-ass way. He helped Ralph and the others with more analytical and aware tasks in earlier chapters (Keeping track of the Littluns, names, organizing tasks, etc). His ideas and proposals are logical. (I'll come back to this)

2) What's with all the teasing?

Surface-level, he's an overweight kid with asthma and wears glasses. Very easy to tease, especially being the only one physically different in a group of young boys (coming from experience). Metaphorically speaking, I truly believe that Piggy and his constant, public humiliation from (mainly) Jack, who represents the "evil in society" and pure instinct (Ralph POV), reflects on how as a society, people tend to shut down and ignore new, intelligent thoughts and ideas. Now, society and people are constantly evolving, yes, but people hate change and feeling questioned as to what they already belive as true. So, as Piggy is bringing these good and new ideas to the group, he gets teased and shut up because what do his ideas cause? Change and questions.

3) His name

Now, I can't be the only one who is a smidge upset we never get to know Piggy's real name. However, although it would be nice, I do belive Piggy's name has a very...poetic? meaning to it and is significant to the book. Now, he was reluctant at first to tell Ralph, but ended up telling him that kids used to call him Piggy. This makes Ralph laugh and tease (if I remember correctly). This is what he was used to. Now, all he wanted was for Ralph to NOT tell the group that he was called Piggy before the crash. It's an understandable request and not that hard to fulfill. However, what's one of the first things Ralph does? He calls him Piggy AS he's being teased. This makes the humiliation worse for Piggy and the little trust he put in someone on the island was broken.

Now, every Bigun on the island has a real name, an identity, except Piggy. He is the only one without a sliver of his identity before the island. He will forever be remembered by the boys as Piggy. Piggy, a nickname used to taunt and brutalize his self worth and identity.

"Well why didn't he correct the other boys?". As someone who went through bullying because of their physical appearance, these names really take up every ounce of your self-worth and your identity with yourself. Piggy knew himself as the names he was called. What's the point in getting your name out there if it's going to be stomped on and ignored? It would just be another jab at himself, wouldn't it?

4) His death and everything to go along with it

Piggy is the last character to die in LOTF, and his death has immense symbolism and meaning to it. Now, he recommends that Ralph's small tribe of (4) go and get his glasses back. Not a very possible request, if you look at it statistically, but hey! Piggy does the thinking and Ralph does the leading, right?

Fast forward and Ralph is trying to be reasonable. He comes in peace, essentially saying "What the fuck? You could have just asked." Now, who's coaching this speech, reminding of the main reasong they came? Piggy. Of course, things don't go Ralph or Piggy's way and Jalph is having their fight. Samneric (symbolism for battle between moral and evil) are tied up and ignored. Roger is throwing rocks, still not daring to disrupt the taboo that he crated for himself. Everything comes down to Piggy. And what does Piggy do best? State what's on his mind. His intelligence.

"I tell you, I've got the conch! Surprisingly, there was silence now; the tribe were curious to hear what amusing thing he might have to say" (Golding 180).

The tribe is ready to laugh at Piggy's reason. This part of the book is where the conch comes into a big play. It represents social order and reason. It's so well protected throughout the book and having it out in order to reason with "savages" is a ginormous risk. But hey, intelligence has control over the social setting currently, and what's the best way to combat against savages?

(This is getting long so I'm going to sum this up. If you're curious, read pages 180-181 with this idea in mind).

-------------

"High over head, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all of his weight on the lever" (Golding 180).

Roger, the character we spent learning as someone who is sadistic but doesn't dare interrupt that once sense of normalcy around Samneric and Ralph as he throws rocks at them, dropped a big ass rock on Piggy's head, reaching his final turning point.

The conch, all social order and structure, is smashed into thousands of peices, never to return again.

Piggy, intelligence, rational thinking and logic, has his skull cracked in half, and dies how he lived. A social mockery. Someone who's only identity is a sick nickname, taunting him for as long as his story his told.

The island has reached a point of no return.

Society and order in the group, gone and washed out into sea, alongside the peace that once was.

#lotf #lotf analysis #lord of the flies #analysis #ops interpretation #lotf spoilers #lotf piggy #piggy lotf #rant #spoilers! #tw - violence #My weird nerd rant #symbolism

[hello-nichya-here]

lmao you're so angry that you know shit about radfem so made an entire fucking essay of actually... PROVING IT??? of made up facts to make radfems look like a boogieman liberals wants us to make 😂 it's so pathetic omg, ok step by step:

1)lol what? radfem is about WOMEN, woman's safety, it doesn't matter who exactly was the abuser, what matters is to help female victim because it a movement about WOMEN. Take your head out of your ass.

2) Laetitia Ky, Artė, any south Korean radfem cuz any other type of feminisms won't work there hundreds of woc radfem here just 🗿

3) lol what? did you just imagined it yourself lol?? i'll repeat, radfem is about women well being, it doesn't matter who exactly was the abuser, what matters is to help female victim because it a movement about WOMEN not victims of abuse. and it just so happened that men commit about 90% of abuse, that's a statistic you can google go educate yourself

4) didn't libfem tumbler came out with this bs? it's the same labeling woman, putting them into unneeded categories that liberals like so much? i'll repeat, radfem is about women well being which means no separation from one another and no judgment especially about your sexuality. Take your head out of your ass.

5) ohhh yess we all just haaaaate ace.... no lmao. no one gives a shit, maximum is questioning the label itself cuz it's pointless, your asexuality is a low libido. no radfem gives a shit.

6) lmao where do you take this shit? 😂 can i take your narco dealer's number? also, oh what's this? several public researches that proves that TIMs exhibit a male-type pattern of criminality? rapes in prisons where trans women were sent? hundreds of assaults in public restrooms??? wow shocking!

7) you don't need to be saved, some therapy, cuz i doubt you'd like to be beaten/choked/ect in any other circumstances. another question does it not bother you that your partner would enjoy "playfully" hurting you? in short it's called coping mechanism to deal with abuse and trauma, go educate yourself

8) yeah for some reason we don't support child trafficking, rapes, murders, pedophilia and etc. that comes with prostitution. go watch interviews with those who escaped prostitution, they all hated it. they were abused and traumatized. Take your head out of your ass.

9) hun, we don't hate you we pity you at worst. it's not our job too look out for men, it FEMENISM it's about WOMEN and only WOMEN. adult human female, comprende?

and listen i may not be the best person in the world but at least i'm not spending my life chronically online writing incest fics ;) one again, pull your head out of your ass and educate yourself, here's some masterpost https://manlarp.tumblr.com/post/667874370724691968/accessible-radfem-ideology-masterpost bye bye :)

Saying "WE ARE ALL ABOUT WOMEN" doesn't change shit. You once again proved my point by saying that my experience with radfems spewing out abuse apologism towards me when they thought I was being abused didn't happen based on nothing but your favorite go-to defensive line. YOU didn't see it thefore it didn't happen to ME. Way to prove you guys don't try to silence women who disagree with you by trying to exactly that.

And yeah, I know there are woc of who are TERFs. There are also women who are even more misonygistic than some men. There are plenty of slavic countries where nazism is still a big thing even though Hitler hated slavs. Self-hating idiots have existed and always will. Doesn't change the fact that you fuckers are racist all the damn time.

"We don't care if people are ace, we don't devide women" literally a quick search will show that you guys do. A bunch of the anti-ace discourse was literally INVENTED by radfems, something they are very proud to admit. And plenty of queer radfems are biphobic all the fucking time, something I, a bisexual woman, have to put up with every single time one of your friends comes bother me. Go lie to someone else, bitch.

"Those who ESCAPED prostitution hated it" Yes, people tend to hate things they were forced to do. Doesn't change the fact that you guys are more concerned with making women who WANT to do sex work be labelled as criminals than with punishing human traffickers.

And once again, we have you being all condescending. "Let ME tell you what YOU want. Let ME tell you what makes YOU feel safe." And gotta love how you heard me say I'm kinky and immediately assumed I'm submissive, instead of a dominant or a switch. And then of course you have to go for the slut shaming of "You write kinky porn therefore you are automatically wrong."

"FEMINISM IS ONLY ABOUT WOMEN" Which is why it is dying. If your movement cannot accept that the world isn't black and white, and that societal hierarchies are much more complicated than just Group A is always the all powerful one and Group B always gets screwed over, it WILL fail because it will be ignoring real problems for the sake of keeping a narrative alive. Which is why nobody fucking likes radfems, and the world would be better off if you idiots were gone.

I don't need to read your bullshit, because you idiots will scream your nonsense at me all the time, like you just did. And not once have any of you ever said a single word that was worth listening.

Don't bother sending me more asks, I'll just block you. Go larp with your fellow radfems about every single woman who has a problem with you guys is "brainwashed by the patriarchy" because there's no way you guys could EVER be the problem and that your "activism" is as shallow, stupid and fake as you are.

#asks #fuck radfems #fuck terfs #fuck swerfs

[dailyanarchistposts]

The primary thought you must have firmly in your mind, keep in your minds forefront, when questioned by police is if they, your police interrogators, possessed a solid, airtight, open and shut case against you they would not be bothering to question you at all. When you are approached refuse to be question and immediately demand an attorney be present to advise you of your constitutional rights before any questioning takes place. In an ideal world, and by well, established law, at this point all questioning is supposed to stop but that does not always happen as “clever” ploys are used by police to get you to volunteer for questioning or be forthcoming with information that rarely benefits you, a suspect but furthers the goal of their investigation. Never answer any questions, no matter how innocent they sound, after you have invoked your right to an attorney. Do not respond to any question no matter how fucking tempted or how harmless you think it to be! When read the Miranda rights you were told anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law and that is precisely what it means. Anything you might say of even a microscopic incriminating nature will be interpreted as a major admission by creative minds which can and will be used against you. You can take that fact to the bank.

Police interrogators aren’t your friends! Don’t provide them with anything to use against you, only provide your basic statistical personal information such as name, age, address, birthday and social security! [Different states have different laws about what information one is required to give, check out you local laws.] They’re your enemy if questioning you! Volunteer nothing! Either you are a suspect, friends or comrades are suspects or they are attempting to gather information to be used against you or your associates in the future. Your best interests, for you as a person, is the last thing on their minds. They’re merely performing their government job. Don’t allow yourself to become frightened or worse still to be lulled into a false sense of security. If they assault you, you can practice the popular American martial art of “I Sue!” Politely listen to their games. Remain silent no matter how long questioning lasts and don’t allow yourself to be wore down with time, a favorite tactic employed by skilled questioners. Recognize their games and realize their societal job function is to lock you up, to clear a case file that may result in the destruction of your life, making you, your family and loved ones suffer, sometimes for months and in the worse scenario for years! Remain silent. Sooner or later they will give up questioning you altogether. They will move on to a weak willed person to manipulate into prolonged imprisonment.

There are two logical outcomes to interrogations. When questioning is done you are free to leave to join family, friends or comrades within the movement, a wiser, stronger willed soldier tested by fire, or you are locked up. If locked up, and you kept your mouth shut, as soon as possible as the opportunity presents itself after you request your one allowed phone call then call a bail bonding company or your lawyer. Your attorney will be pleased he/she has a client who remained silent and did not give a statement! Because of your wise silence your attorney may be able to perform the magic taught in law universities and colleges of law. Your attorney may be able to have the case dismissed in court later due to the lack of evidence at preliminary hearing if you are charged with a crime! If you have felt the need of confession other than to a priest then forget about lack of evidence dismissals. You volunteered so endeavor to enjoy your unique incarceration experience, dummy! Should there be other evidence against you (“Opps! Forgot my gloves! Fingerprints are Hollywood bull shit, right?!”) by choosing to remain silent you have expanded your lawyer’s defense strategy choices which may win your case in court in front of a jury made up of people of average ignorance. Those of you who immediately thought of the O.J. jury, shame on you!

Give up nothing! Give up nobody! Don’t let your mouth put your ass in jail! Retain your rights! Remember you have the right not to incriminate yourself! Say nothing you or your friends will regret later in court while facing a stern faced judge and anal retentive, irate government prosecutor!

If you stayed with me to this point, the following will be some shallow, laughable mind games they may try to play on you with all the intensity of a child examining the first insect they encounter! Remember the cops talking to you, cajoling you to bear your soul, clear your conscience, “make yourself feel better” by telling them what happened because they “understand” after you do will laugh in your face, later in their locker room howl with laughter with each other about how utterly naive and gullible you are, call you an ignoramus and various other things, pat each other and themselves on the back and then pleased with their day’s work go home to screw their wife, boyfriend or girlfriend and kick their dog, or vice versa.

After the interrogation is over as a just reward for your cooperation with these hardworking public servants who serve and protect the public, you will be led away to a filthy barren cell reeking with combined odors of sweat, body waste in liquid and solid form, stale tobacco smoke and hopelessness with dubious characters as your cell mates. You may have to fight to keep a food tray, a place to sit or sleep if you aren’t immediately bailed out, you may discover yourself in a struggle to retain your shoes, shirt or jacket from predatory social prisoners. Remember how you felt your privacy was violated when a bathroom door was accidentally opened by another person on you at home, office, workplace, or elsewhere? Well, prepare yourself to forfeit all privacy expectation when Nature calls and you must answer the call in the sight, presence or within arm’s reach of other hapless people! You may be forced to learn what it means to literally and figuratively stand your ground for the first time in your life in a jail or in prison. You may be forced to defend your sexuality, defend yourself against sexual predators or some people are forced to temporarily switch their sexual preferences becoming bisexual by circumstance to survive incarceration intact. Yell for help? None is forthcoming except in cases of extreme brutality or mutually combative situations as those who swore to serve and protect usually turn a blind eye to prisoners. If you confessed to police interrogators, aided with the crime investigation efforts, in an ill-fated effort to prove yourself intellectually superior to those questioning you stuck your foot in your mouth, you have condemned yourself with your own words, then you will in all likelihood, not pay the slightest attention to the following word of caution. Once booked, fingerprinted and slammed in a cell you should not talk about your case with those around you who may express interest in why you are locked up! Each prisoner willing to listen to your tale of woe is a potential threat of showing up in court to testify against you as a jailhouse informant or a cop put in the cell with you whose sole purpose was to gain confidence and solicit a confession! You may be a target so realize this fact and shut the fuck up! A classic example of this is years ago in the early 1980’s, a State prisoner in Tennessee named Gary Hartman confided to a cell partner, Raymond Frazier, about a murder in which he was involved. Frazier got with another prisoner, Kenneth King, and they, with the aid of prison officials, contacted the attorney general’s office and law enforcement, collected a $1,000 reward and Hartman was convicted and sentenced to death. After a decade plus on death row Hartman’s death sentence was overturned on appeal and he was sentenced to life in prison. Just like during W.W. I and W.W. II, loose lips sink ships!

If you made a statement you may as well be pleased with your lousy career, life and health choices since you have volunteered for a stint, however prolonged or brief, in your chosen hell by “cooperating” with police? Not exactly a Norman Rockwell picture, is it? I refuse to “sugarcoat” this description of a potential first confinement experience horror to save your sensitivity or cater to your squeamishness. I would rather shock you to serious thought by speaking truth motivated by love for my sincere activist brothers and sisters engaged in struggle against the monsters of the earth guided by their hearts and knowledge of what is right rather than let you find out the painful hard way and begin a nightmare which will rob you of your life, of your productive years, and the progress you could have made during those forever lost years to the struggle.

#acab #organization #revolution #anarchism #daily posts #communism #anti capitalist #anti capitalism #late stage capitalism #anarchy #anarchists #libraries #leftism #social issues #economy #economics #climate change #anarchy works #environmentalism #environment #solarpunk #anti colonialism #mutual aid #cops #police #gestapo #survival #interrogation #anarchist survival guide for understanding gestapo swine interrogation techniques #staying free by shutting the fuck up!

[azrielgreen]

Hey Az I was wondering if you had any advice on jealousy. Or more “envy” I guess. I know we should write for ourselves and try not to rely on external validation, but I find it so hard. I’m constantly comparing myself to other writers, seeing how many kudos and comments they got, wondering why I don’t measure up. Wondering why certain readers left a super long comment on a certain work and then a short one on mine. I don’t want to be resentful, and I know this feeling is toxic and bred from insecurity. I keep trying to improve and to find new ways to get over this mindset, but nothing seems to be working. I just obsess over why I’m not good enough, why I’m not on rec lists, or why readers stopped commenting when they had previously reacted to every other chapter. It’s embarrassing and pathetic to even type this all out, but I figured you’re the best person to go to with shit like this because you’re so honest. I keep coming to the conclusion that “if I was a better writer then I’d have better statistics, and people would stick with my stories, so I must suck.” I wonder if there is something I’m actually doing wrong technically or if my negative attitude is somehow seeping through the words I write. I don’t know. Maybe I just need therapy. But yes, any tips on how to not see others’ success as my failure?

Thank you so much for even reading this stream of consciousness diary entry. And thank you even more if you respond. xx

Hello lovely. I'm so sorry it took me so long to reply, I've been working my way through these and I wanted to devote a little more time to yours because this is a really common feeling that's rarely discussed.

So, envy and jealously about other writers is, I think, natural given the system used to publish fics (hit counters, kudos, etc...) and also the fact that this fandom is a very loud, wide open space. I've been in very small spaces before, sometimes with five or six people total in the entire ship and that was a very different vibe. I really wish more people get to experience that.

But this fandom and many others are large spaces now and they'll only get bigger so we have this constant comparison, even though not widely acknowledged, of who gets more readers, who gets recced, hits, kudos and comments. It's difficult not to compare, even when you know you shouldn't so what you're feeling is completely valid. External validation for writing can be really important and it's one of the reasons fanfic can be so gratifying, with comments to boost you up along the way.

The thing is, focusing on those elements will only ever harm your self esteem because once you tie your worth to a number, a percentage, literally anything quantifiable and reliant upon people other than yourself, you're doing damage to your mental health and your understanding of what is or isn't "good writing". There are so many beautiful, stunning, fucking life altering stories on AO3 that have a mere handful of kudos and under 100 hits and I don't know why. I don't know what if it's word of mouth, if it's reclists, length, tags, word counts, I have no idea what makes something a "hit", but here's what I do know.

I know that when you don't look at those numbers, when you instead look ahead to your future and where your writing will take you, those numbers really don't mean much. I've had plenty of "flops" and I love them so much, I go back and reread them even after orphaning them and I see that maybe two or three people commented, hardly anyone even read it, but that doesn't matter because I'm already on the next project.

You are good enough. You are so good, you're brilliant. You're unique and you know this too, deep down, otherwise you would never have started writing. What people do or don't respond to is more to do with them and their personal lives than you and your work.

My advice is to never look at other people's specific success numbers and compare. There are only two outcomes of this. Yours will be more and you'll feel good that more people read your work than others - you ego will inflate artificially, it'll be tied to this numerical system. Or, yours will be less and you'll be feel bad that your work wasn't read as much as others was - your sense of worth will shrink, and to remedy this, you'll feel the need to create content that drives up these numbers. This is a toxic spiral, and believe me, I know it very well. I would tell myself, years ago, if I didn't get 25 comments on a new chapter, the chapter was awful. I had the most awful time waiting for comments to hit 25 and I barely even read them.

Give yourself space. Reconnect with your creativity. Fill a journal. Make a playlist. Print out all your good comments and read them and then burn them. Read more, find your inspiration. Be so fucking proud of yourself, love what you make and stay away from those numbers because they make no sense and they never will. Trying to establish self worth from anything less than your own self will always backfire. I know this is super vague, but it's my honest opinion.

More specifically, for you, I want you to know that this feeling is transitional and it'll pass and you're going to look back and think, "Wow, I can't believe I ever cared about that." So hold on, keep going, fuck what anyone else thinks, and make your art, my darling. Good things are coming, I promise.

Az.

💜💜💜

[selfidentifiednerdyprude]

okay, I'm going to need you to all listen, because it seems like some people don't understand:

I could not, and I truly do mean could not, conceivably have less fucking interest in litigating who "counts" as ace or aro.

you like to have sex for reasons that don't involve attraction? you feel like romance best describes the type of relationship you're in even though you also identify as aro? you enjoy consuming content about either of the above? cool. you have every right to.

but here's the thing I think you're all forgetting: you outnumber me.

statistically, both within the ace/aro communities and outside of them, people with an interest in sex and/or romance, no matter how vague or theoretical that interest may be, will always outnumber people without an interest in sex and/or romance. you definitely fucking outnumber people without an interest in either one. the group of people that I'm a part of (averse-to-repulsed aroaces) is a teeny, tiny minority within the queer community. we probably do not even make up one percent. I think I know and have had personal conversations with, what, two of them?

listen, when I first found the words "asexual" and "aromantic" it felt like a promise of freedom. it felt like finally, in the haze of "these are your teen years and you're supposed to experiment" coming from the secular world and "keep yourself pure in mind and body so your future husband can enjoy you :)" coming from the christian world, someone was FINALLY saying "yes, it's okay to say no, and it's okay to keep saying no forever if that's what you want."

like, I know for a fucking fact that if 14 year old me had encountered the ace community I see today, where it's expected that you're sex-favorable and kinky and write smutty fanfic all the time and if you're not then that's okay, you can just hand out water bottles at the orgy, I'd have been terrified. I'd have run away from it as far and as fast as possible. and I just worry about people like the person I was coming into the aro and ace communities and still seeing the same oppressive forces that they came to these communities to get away from. and I'm trying to be that voice of "hey, it's okay that you don't want what everyone's saying you should want, it's okay if you never want it, and anyone who's telling you that you should want it is fucking wrong." and that's not an attack on anyone who does want it. what's happening here is that I'm waving a flag and hoping others will see it and realize they're not alone. but some of you are really working hard to see my flag as a gun.

[megamindsecretlair]

heyy pretty gal 😩💞 been a min! can I plz have ur advice??

So i recently had sex for the first time. p.s. ate that shii DOWN 🏆👀 But it’s embarrassing cuz that mf got me sick .. Iykyk. 😐

I’m so heart broke ONLY cuz it felt so good & I’ve wanted that for so long.... Just for it to negatively affect me emotionally/physically. 💔 And intimacy is so addicting* (especially with childhood traumas.)

So it’s kinda like I played myself. Or did myself a disservice. By giving in, being intimate, & giving chances to someone who didnt deserve it. Damn i feel like a statistic.

But still, why are Black men so.. hurtful.. to Black women?? Should I have kept my promise & waited longer? How do you recoup after experiencing sex? especially after a person/situation like that.

I want to move on.. but idk when I’ll feel that closeness again. And as a Black woman? Im tired of using work/responsibilites as a “healthy” distraction. I just want an emotional break 💔 these niggas piss me off .

~ ik its a lot, but this a safe space right? <3

Hey girl. I am by no means a sex expert or mental health expert, take what resonates, leave what doesn't, but this is indeed a safe space and I'm absolutely honored you trusted me with this.

Having sex is a deeply personal decision, but you should never feel like you did yourself a disservice. FUCK THAT MF 👏🏽👏🏽 HE AINT DESERVE YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Unfortunately, theres no way to know that for certain when these mfs are scheming from jump. Black men are conditioned to be coddled. Family, especially Black moms, will cater to and coddle the hell out of their sons. Fix their plates, wash their clothes, etc. So when they get out into the streets, they're looking for that in their partners. Conversely, Black daughters are conditioned to overchieve to the point of perfectionism. They have to be cooks, doctors, therapists, maids, etc and outclass their counterparts in every way possible. So if a man don't get what he thinks he deserves, he feels no qualms about dogging someone out.

I'm sorry your first time sucked. Im so, so, sorry that it wasn't full of love and safety. Do not beat yourself up about this. Sex should be enjoyed safely with consenting partners. You WILL get there. One day, you will be screaming glory to the ceiling. I know this will happen for you 👏🏽

This is only one bad experience. But it cannot color your future experiences. My best advice is to listen to your gut. When you are in tune with the right person, you may not feel butterflies or anxiousness or feel that die hard passion that TV likes to lie about. The right person? Will make you feel safe. You will feel calm around this person. Your worries will melt away because his/her/their priority is to put you at ease. They will listen to you. They will communicate with you. They will never pressure you into something you're not ready for.

They will wait 10 years to have sex with you if you're not ready. And will gladly wait those 10 years to make sure you're safe in their arms. I cannot stress this enough. Communication is your best friend 👏🏽 if you can't open your mouth and communicate your needs with someone you're willing to hop in bed with, why are you hopping in bed with them 🤔

Sex is a journey. A long, complicated, stressful, wonderful journey. The intimacy will come, the love will come. You gon get there, I promise 😚 even if its casual sex and youre not in love with the person, fight that instinct to retreat. Fight that instinct to close yourself off.

You dont need distractions right now, you gotta sit with this feeling. You gotta live with it. You gotta identify what it is youre searching for. And never compromise on that.

Black girls are never afforded opportunities to be soft. To be vulnerable.

Fight it!!! And keep fighting it!!!

#megaminds asks #im not an expert #and sorry this is so long #but you got this #you know you got this #dont let that raggedy mf take away any ounce of your softness and power #karma coming for them #you dont need to #i love you #this is always a safe space

[umbra-regina]

Immortal

Oh, this one should probably have a trigger warning for mentions/discussion of suicide.

Of course I'm not suicidal. I'm the only person I know who isn't at least a little suicidal, and it's so strange. I'm the only one of my friends who doesn't want their "miserable existence" to cease. The only one who isn't just barely surviving, who isn't just barely keeping the demons at bay long enough to go to bed and wake up again. I'm the only one angry at how little time we have.

I mean think about it - at best, you've got what, forty good years? The first twenty suck. You're too young to know how stupid you are, and you're too enamored by your own perceived greatness, your own invulnerability that you don't even realize how much time is flying by you. And by the time you've figured it out, your body is no longer growing; no longer repairing itself the way it used to. By twenty-three, you have to be careful because these injuries? They're going to last. They're going to alter your ability to function for decades. And all the dumb shit you did as a kid? It's starting to catch up with you. But at least you're finally (typically) done with the bullshit hormone dumps and crazy mood swings, right? So the good years finally start, because you can finally think clearly.

Then you're thirty, and statistically this is where the decline of the body really begins. Your metabolism slows, your tissues don't repair themselves at anywhere near the same efficacy they used to. Worse if you've got any kind of chronic illness and, let's face it, most people do. More than we realize, at least.

Forty, and if you had kids at 20 (I hope you didn't; you were still a kid yourself) your kids are now twenty. Maybe they're leaving home. Maybe our economy is so ruined that nobody can afford to leave their parents homes anymore. Maybe our parents can't afford their homes without the additional income. In this economy, you basically need three or four incomes for a good house, much less a proper diet. And dear gods, but isn't that infuriating? One used to be able to fuck off west, into nowhere, and build a home. Claim a homestead. You can't do that these days. And maybe, maybe, given enough time, you could change something. Given enough time, and money, and influence, you could begin to change things for the better! but -

Oh, that's right. You don't have the time. Between trying to make enough money to survive, and trying to be able to spend time with your family, it's been twenty years. You're sixty. If you've managed to make it that far without offing yourself or enduring a major injury, congrats! Now the physical decline begins to seriously accelerate. Despite best efforts, our bodies simply don't hold up the way they did when young. The process of aging is inevitable, and we still haven't found the fountain of youth. You got forty good years, physically speaking, and now you might (might) get to retire. Just in time to spend the (statistically) last 15-20 years of your life likely in assisted living or long term care because our society no longer holds value on the elders. They cannot as effectively contribute to our capitalist hellscape. Best to relegate them to forgotten corners and let them stagnate (literally, because how can one have integrity when forgotten and pushed aside? all that is left is stagnation and despair).

So no, I'm not suicidal. I'm angry. There is so much of the world that I want to see, so many things I'd like to do and experience and I don't have time. I don't have time, because we have such short lifespans - whispers of dust amongst the stars - and there is so much to appreciate. There are so many myriad things that make this life beautiful, and painful, and in that pain there is always eventually beauty because if it did not hurt, how could we know what it was like to be happy? If I had never known heartbreak, I could never love as freely and recklessly and deeply as I do. Heartbreak is not a pretty thing; I've discussed it before. But if all I focused on was the heartbreak, I would always miss out on the sheer joy of loving my husband. The euphoria of interacting with my friends. I would never notice how good the leaves smell in autumn as they crunch underfoot. I wouldn't be able to appreciate the crisp cold breeze that smells like the promise of snow. I wouldn't giggle at the snowflakes getting caught in my husband's beard, and I wouldn't eagerly call my friends over to look at the amazing sparkly rocks I find. We wouldn't travel hundreds of thousands of miles to vising the American National Parks and gawk at the glory of the ancient waterfalls that've been here longer than we have and that will be here long after we are. If all we focused on was how many things hurt, we could never see the beauty of a work of art, or appreciate the ancient graffiti that is so similar to ours.

There are as many infinite, tiny, myriad joys as there are myriad pains, and please, why can't you see them? Living requires as fierce and wild a joy and fury as being sad requires a determination. It is a difficult thing, both to be happy and to be sad. Why is it so difficult to also notice the things that make this life worth living?

Be furious. Be angry, because there is so much life to live in too little time. There is never enough time to notice all that should be appreciated. Love life with a relentless joy, with a passion equal to your hatred of living.

And please stop telling me paw prints in the snow aren't a good enough reason to be excited.

[sakebytheriver]

I'm gonna be real with you all for a second and say the reaction this website and the internet in general had to the news that the number of men under 30 are not having sex has tripled in the last few years was absolutely disgusting and I am disappointed in you all for being so dumb as to not realize there is more to this than just one man isn't getting some pussy

Like I get that it was a Vaush tweet that brought this to your attention and Vaush is well, Vaush and we could talk for hours about him but he's not the focus rn. And also he was fucking right. This is a problem. Like I don't think it's a bad thing to say that there is a problem with the fact that men under 30 are now having issues connecting with people and making meaningful relationships with women. Like this is not a "men think they're entitle to sex" situation this is a "there's something going on with how young men are being socialized by our society" situation. If this was an individual case and not like a well documented problem that is affecting an entire subsection of the male gender then it would be different, but we can't just chock it up to an indiduval incel sitting alone in his basement playing COD 24/7 eating his hot cheetos and drinking his mountain dew who hasn't touched a stick of deodorant in years or whatever other stereotype you had in your brain when you first saw that statistic, because it is not. This is just another part of the isolating and lonliness of patriarchy that says if a man cannot get a woman it is his fault, that there is something inherently wrong with him, something in him is bad and wrong and broken and it is all his fault and not the societal pressure put upon them to be this idealized version of what patriarchy thinks a "real man" is.

A leftist streamer, Shark, posted the most milquetoast little tweet about how he has personally experienced this isolationg experience of finding that dating and connecting to other people in this day and age was really difficult and so he's found it easier to just give into the isolation and not connect to people anymore. And every single comment under his tweet was telling him he was a loser who should just kill himself and stop complaining about being a bitchless virgin

Like bro.

If you saw someone lamenting their own lonliness and your instinct is to tell them to just kill themself well, sorry comrade but I think you might be the problem and I don't think you belong on the left

The isolation and the lonliness and the fact that young men under 30 are not able to connect with people and have sex/intimacy with others is all a combination of the isolation of late stage capitalism mixed with the compounding factor of patriarchy telling men to stuff their feelings down and not to be emotional and that a "real man" deals with his problems in silence on his own or he sticks a gun in his mouth and blows out his brain before he can make his lonliness anyone else's problem. And for all of you to just dogpile that clearly alarming statistic that speaks to more than just the amount of sex these men are having and say that all of the men who reported not having sex were just a bunch of entitled whiny little bitchboys who think they have a right to have sex with women's bodies as if that was even the point of that statistic at all is absolutely abhorrent behavior and I think you need to take a step away from the computer for a while and contemplate why that was your first initial reaction to the news and ask yourself if you might be contributing to the problem rather than helping with solutions. Once again the internet needs to learn reading comprehension and what statistics actually mean to the greater scope of society before jumping to conclusions about the worst most bad faith rebuttals possible

Stop letting dumb manhating TERFs and MRA alpha males pollute your politics to the point where you can't have sympathy for the other 50% of the world's population smh

#ignore me #tw #i dont wanna tag this with anything because i am not looking for an argument #i just want to tell my followers and my mutuals where i stand on this #because like i saw some of you reblogging that post uncritically #and i need you all to not do that please

[scumtrout]

It probably doesn't do wonders for my mental health that one of my core beliefs is 'at any given time, there is a good chance that someone or something will fuck you over due to their indifference or malice (but mostly indifference)'.

However, the more positive flipside of this attitude is that you are the person most qualified to advocate for yourself, and you really, REALLY can't expect other people to instinctively serve your best interests, largely because (DUE TO THE SUBJECTIVE NATURE OF EXPERIENCE, which can be a very lonely thing but them's the breaks) other people don't KNOW what your best interests are, and you can't always communicate what your best interests are, even when they might otherwise CARE about serving your best interests.

Cynically, I'm inclined to suspect THEY BARELY EVEN KNOW WHAT THEIR OWN BEST INTERESTS ARE, JESUS.

Anyway even when you encounter someone who's an expert in their field, they are an expert in that particular field, not an expert on your particular situation. This might seem obvious, but it's so easy to assume that expert knowledge also always grants experts the ability to make clever inferences about your circumstances, when unfortunately experts aren't fucking psychic and you still have to give them the right combination of material info in order for them to make any inferences. I also wonder about how many experts who have a lot of confidence in their... expert-ness are more prone to use deduction rather than inference due to the whole 'when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras' maxim. (Which is not a bad maxim, but sometimes part of being an expert means knowing when to spot a zebra. If you think you can coast by on being a Horse Identifier, then you'll easily be replaced by an AI when someone creates the Horse Identifier 9000, which will do a much better job of telling people 'it's statistically likely that hoofbeats are caused by horses' than you ever could.) But that's another ball of wax.

[sea-buns]

Pride PSA

I know we're nearing the end of pride month so it's a bit late for this, but I had a 3am reflection on my coming out that I hope can be helpful for the queer youths of tumblr.

If you are not 200% sure that your parent, or guardian, or whoever you live with is gonna be chill with who you are do NOT risk it. Seriously. There is no room for "its probably fine" or "I'm pretty sure". If you can't say for absolute certain that there won't be backlash, then I plead with you to stay closeted until you know for a fact you are safe.

I knowww pride month gets us so excited and we see other people celebrating and we wanna join in. Trust me, I know. Especially if it's an impulse thing. Or you're tired of how suffocating it can feel to have to stifle yourself all the time. Or you're so pissed at the homophobic comments that get thrown around at the dinner table, you just wanna do something to spite it all. I've been there, I am there, I get you.

But having been someone who'd read and heard so many stories of coming outs going terribly, and thought "well that kinda thing will never to happen to me"

...ha ha spoiler alert I was incredibly WRONG

Sometimes your loved ones may seem chill and it gives you a false sense of security. Which really just fuels the impulse decisions.

I was completely isolated from everyone and everything for years. Any trace of me online before then was forcibly erased. I'm stuck mourning the loss of friends I never even knew I'd never speak to again, and the formative teenage experiences that I grew up anticipating but now will never know. This is just the TLDR, you guys. Though I'm an adult, I still live at home for many internal and external reasons, and I've only recently been able to very slowly integrate myself back onto the internet.

I feel grateful that I wasn't thrown out of my house. It may have come to that if I didn't back down claim straight out of fear. Those should never be sentences that anyone, of any age, can relate to. And it is for sure not the standard you should be holding people to. If that's where your bar is RAISE IT. Don't let me catch you with that bullshit.

I'm walking into this post fully expecting for some people to read it, think the same shit I did, and then make the same mistake. Unfortunately, it can be hard to grasp statistics without a physical form to hold in your hands. Even if you're the kinda person who cries at other people's stories, it is so freakishly easy to forget the fear when you see slightest glint that maybe it'll be okay.

It feels wrong to tell you not to hope. But it feels far worse to have the rug pulled out from under you.

I'm not saying to never hope at all. You will find people who love you and accept you. That's a hard fucking truth. It's going to happen. One day, you're gonna meet someone, like you, who lights up your whole world and it's gonna be amazing. Hold out hope for them, I promise you it's worth it.

Bottom line is, I'm hoping this sticks with somebody. I'm hoping I've caught you before the jump, and you've been able to earnestly consider what I've said before taking that leap of faith. There is nothing wrong with staying in the closet. Pride month is not "coming out month".

All I ask is that you prioritize your safety and well-being above all else.

Happy Pride <3

#pride month #pride 2023 #lgbtqia #queer #coming out #pride #pride psa is accurate right? its not just my brain latching onto the alliteration cuz its fun to say? #petition for tumblr to have heart flag emotes like on twitch #my options were either lame android flag 🏳️‍🌈 or every heart color cuz how can i pick just one. if im gonna spam hearts make em flags

[not-poignant]

Hey Pia

Fellow writer here. I cross post on wattpad and ao3 but started off on wattpad and have quite a bit of experience on it so just wanted to give you some helpful info.

There are many, many stories on wattpad that contain very explicit content, including r@pe and torture and sexual slavery, so the subject matter of your stories really wouldn't be a problem as long as you rate them as Mature and use appropriate tags.

Wattpad only prohibits stories that contain actual photographic imagery (like photos/drawings), depictions of sexual activities containing characters under the age of 16, explicit scenes of child sexual abuse, the glorification of abuse, characters in incestuous relationships (if they're the main characters. Non-explicit incest or mentions of it between side/minor characters is less of an issue and isn't prohibited as far as I'm aware), and of course any plagiarized material.

As for chapter length you might want to break up each of your chapters in to 2 or even 3 chapters. This is because for some reason the wattpad website, and especially the app, starts to lag or freeze if chapters are too large. I'd say the best word cap is between 3k-5k per chapter.

Also when it comes to marketing, wattpad offers a ton of options. Like paid stories and applications to submit to Editor's Picks.

The LGBTQ+ collection is smaller than that on ao3 but it's a lot larger now than it was when I first joined in 2014.

There's also a lit of fanfic on wattpad, although there's far more original fiction.

Wattpad allows you to customize your profile page a lot more than ao3 and enables you to advertise multiple links.

And like ao3, wattpad let you see your story statistics.

So yeah, I think cross posting on wattpad could be really good for you. Whatever you decide, I hope it goes well.

You've been a huge inspiration for me over the years when it felt like there was no point writing. Thank you.

Hi hi anon!

I have actually posted about splitting all of my chapters, that's actually what prompted me to post about Wattpad here in the first place. :D It's such a pain in the ass. Tbh the biggest reason I've heard is 'attention difficulties from Wattpad readers.' Which makes me incredibly grateful for AO3 readers, like, even more grateful than I already was.

Wattpad allows you to customize your profile page a lot more than ao3 and enables you to advertise multiple links.

That's the main reason I'm joining! Which I mention in this post here. :) I wouldn't be doing this at all otherwise.

Wattpad only prohibits stories that contain actual photographic imagery (like photos/drawings), depictions of sexual activities containing characters under the age of 16, explicit scenes of child sexual abuse, the glorification of abuse

This is just it though, you're really not including everything here and I think maybe it's worth revisiting the TOS yourself to remember or read up on what they actually will remove. Your description doesn't include all the content not allowed on Wattpad, and very explicitly they state that content like this is removed:

Glorification of Sexual Violence. Wattpad classifies non-consensual sexual acts to include rape, sexual assault, kidnapping for sexual purposes, or sexual slavery. The content cannot be encouraging or promoting non-consensual sex acts.

Game Theory fits this, Deeper into the Woods fits this (Gwyn is literally fucked to the point of immediately tearing and bleeding), aspects of Eversion fit this, in fact aspects of a lot of my stories fit this. And while everyone has their own personal interpretation of a TOS, I'm going to follow the actual terms of service vs. someone's idea of the terms of service.

Like everyone knows you can put explicit sex up on FF.net even though it's technically completely banned, and get away with it. But if you get reported, you will have that fic immediately removed at best, and sometimes have your account removed too.

Publishing on Amazon is the same. Amazon has very strict (puritan lol) Terms of Service and plenty of people flout and ignore that all the time, but plenty of people get their accounts removed too and are never allowed to publish again. It's just not worth the risk.

I have written the glorification of sexual violence. I've written 'rape as titillation' (i.e. designed to get people off). I've written 'rape as sexually arousing' etc. I've written 'character literally captive and being raped to try and crush his psyche' in a sexual slavery fashion. I've written rape where characters have literal mental breakdowns because of it even though the sex scenes themselves were some of the hottest things folks have said they've ever read (Strange Sights) etc. All these things clearly violate the Wattpad TOS around allowed content. Just because it's posted on Wattpad doesn't mean it miraculously isn't against the TOS, it just means Wattpad doesn't have the manpower to vet everything properly.

Of my works which might work on Wattpad, I still have things like pseudo-incest (Ash/Augus - I fucking hate the tag pseudo-incest because like adopted brothers is still full blown incest, but for the sake of not getting my works banned I'll be using that tag) in my soft fics like The Wildness Within. And I also have a great deal of sexual assault. There's enough dubcon in many of my fics where 'the character eventually likes it' (like Eversion, The Beast that Chose Its Own Bridle, The Ice Plague, The Court of Five Thrones, The Spoils of the Spoiled etc) that I'm painfully aware that if I'm reported for that content I'll be falling into a grey area.

Since it takes about 5 hours to convert each of my stories into a useable format for Wattpad (i.e. shortening chapter length appropriately lol), not including the time spent making covers, it's just - imho - not worth risking going against the TOS that are literally clearly written out on Wattpad. I'm certain plenty of people get away with violating that TOS every day (as they do on Amazon, Apple, FF.net and everywhere with clear TOS), I just also know of too many stories of people who get banned / lose their accounts and then complain on the premise of 'but everyone else is doing it so why can't I.' Well, it was in the TOS, so that's why.

Like, just because you've found those stories on Wattpad doesn't mean they meet the TOS. It probably just means that Wattpad doesn't have the time to vet every story or chapter properly, and rely on reporting, like FF.net does. And I'm not interested in starting off on the wrong foot just because a stranger said it was okay, when the Wattpad TOS is right there very clearly stating what's allowed and what isn't (esp because you omitted a huge section of TOS material that I actually do write, and that is my biggest concern re: Wattpad). It's great those other authors haven't had their works removed yet for violating the TOS, I just don't believe it's worth the risk, personally, and thankfully on AO3 there's zero risk no matter what sexually taboo content I post as long as it's fiction (god I love AO3.)

So yeah, that's additionally why I'm not porting all of my stories across to Wattpad, especially the Fae Tales canon, and also why I won't be making Wattpad my homebase etc.

I'm glad you enjoy the site though! And it's good to hear that the stuff I'm already doing (making smaller chapters) is something that other folks from Wattpad agree is a good idea (I've already talked to several people who use Wattpad about this, which is why I'm doing it in the first place - I'm aiming for 1-3k per chapter, which is based on Wattpad's recommendations, and those of a Facebook group for professional subscription authors).

Tl;dr Please do not advise newcomers to a site to unwittingly violate the TOS, it's just not a good idea, even if everyone else is getting away with it. I consider myself fortunate that I literally have had that Content Guidelines tab up for months and that I've consulted with other professionals, because if I'd followed that specific advice and been reported, I could have had stories removed / and my account banned, when it's clear all along what Wattpad does and doesn't allow regardless of what people are getting away with.

#asks and answers #pia on wattpad #the whole 'it's fine because other people do it even though the TOS doesn't allow it' #just does not fly with me anon and it never will #i've seen too many people who write fanfiction and original fiction absolutely shafted by these kinds of attitudes #and it's nice for the thousands that get away with it #but there's hundreds who don't and have their careers - or part of their careers - destroyed #because people went 'oh it's fine' #even though the TOS is like 'OH THIS IS NOT FINE' #so yeah um i'm just going to listen to wattpad on that one #since they are actually extremely clear about what they do and don't allow #which i'm grateful for