#im not an expert on post colonial theory or anything but... ??

[rosacarolina]

I've read your pinned post and wanted to say something, as a white girl but also a South European: the "homestead" term is historically bounded to white supremacy, yes, but only in those countries of the Western world that actively participated in colonialism and built their economic fortune on slavery. I'm a contemporary history graduate and I can assure you NOT ALL OF WESTERN WHITE COUNTRIES WERE INVOLVED IN COLONIALISM. Go ask a Hungarian, a Moldovian, an Albanian if their grandparents were white suprematists because they owned a homestead and they will laugh. Also, some European peoples were themselves victims of colonialism. So please please please when you all talk about specific historic issues consider learning how to divide nowadays political discourse from actual historic work. "Fancy" political discourse has most of the time nothing to do with serious historic researches (at least, in European universities; I cannot speak for the level of academia in the US...).

I am also a history graduate student at a european university, but thank you for this ask anyway. I don't disagree with your general point-- that colonialism is not a strictly racial divide with white people being the colonizing party and all non white people the colonized. Like that's definitely true. When speaking about the term homestead, i am discussing it as a white supremacist dogwhistle, not saying that anyone who grows their own food is a racist. i would expect that the words agrarian subsistence farmers in hungary, moldova and albania used to describe their homes and their lifestyles would not be "homestead" because it is, an english word.

Consider also that this is a tumblr aesthetic blog and not a historical research conference, where the focus of discussion is, in fact the "fancy" (whatever that means in this context) political discourse which pervades the space and has pervaded it historically.

I'm sure as a student of contemporary history you would understand the historical connections between colonialism, white supremacy, and "blood and soil" rhetoric which used the visuals and languages of pastoralism. this is what i am referring to when i say that homestead is used as a dogwhistle.

also, the idea that a country or a people being subjects of colonialism means they cannot also, at the same or another time, be the perpetrators (or beneficiaries) of it is laughable. i would say that yes, EVERY western white country was involved in colonialism, to varying degrees, at the same time that some are/were subjects of it.

my apologies if this response was disorganized; but i found your assertion that political discourse (which i take from context here to be discussions of the current effects and manifestations of colonialism) not only is but should be largely divorced from serious historical study to be misguided at best. In fact I find it difficult to think of an example wherein the discussions are unrelated.

#i am unsure how you are defining 'real serious historical work' #such that is precludes discussion of the major political economic and philosophical underpinnings of the last four centuries #rosa mail #cw discussion of racism #im not an expert on post colonial theory or anything but... ?? #anyway if ive ever ignored ur ask its because when i answer one i immediately get eight more lol

[normal-thoughts-official]

Do you think Alec and Magnus use condoms? How do you think warlocks deal with STD?

REALLY interesting question, i must say that i love it. thank you anon. i hope you know that i will take it way too seriously

okay, so the first question is, ARE magnus and alec susceptible to STDs? unexpected p-words are not a problem because warlocks are sterile anyway (and, if you subscribe to both magnus and alec being of the same AGAB, also because it's not possible to get both gametes or whatever), so let's focus on the STD aspect (really important!). i think human STDs would not affect them, or at least not magnus. maybe alec because shadowhunters are notably more susceptible to weaknesses humans have, like disease and mortality and whatnot. but would human STDs affect warlocks?

i tend to go with no, because warlocks are immortal. immortality, especially as it is built in the sh verse (immortals can be killed but their body won't die on its own) kind of implies that they have, like, supercells or superorgans or something, that don't deteriorate - or, alternatively, that can rebuild way faster than they could be deterioriated. im saying that because stuff like aging and eventually dying is essentially the process in which your body can no longer replace dying cells at the same speed at which they die, which leads to your body weakening as a lot of its functions are impaired. therefore, immortality as in not aging and not dying on your own but still being able to be killed if you are, say, stabbed, implies that that process simply doesn't happen. so we have one of the two: either the cells don't die, or the speed at which they are replaced never changes

in my understanding, this implies that diseases don't affect immortals. maybe they can even contract them, but their body is too strong for it to have an effect. like having a disease without symptoms. but i tend to believe that rather than living with 8945134081 deadly viruses and bacteria inside them just sleeping around, the viruses and bacteria simply can't live inside them - both because superbody means super-immunological system and because superbody means that the bacteria and viruses essentially have no place to grow in, as they can't break their cells or whatever it is that that particular strain does

like - and that is true particularly for viruses as far as i remember, not so much bacteria - the way these mfs work is that they attack the cells of a body and use them to reproduce. but if you are talking about a body that has cells that are essentially unbreakable or so highly regenerative any attack on them is dealt with so quickly it doesn't even have an effect, i don't think any virus should be able to break into their cells in the first place. they would die without reproducing and bam, done. if you are going with the second theory (warlock cells do die, they just can keep replacing them as much as they want without a problem) then you probably have a situation where the virus can reproduce, but its reproduction doesn't lead to any problems because the dead cells are replaced as fast as they are killed. in that case, the warlock would be, technically, carrying the disease indefinitely. but i tend to think that considering how strong that body is and the fact that they have an immunological system (as they are half human and have no reason not to inherit that from their human parents) that is ALSO mega strong would mean these viruses would probably be eliminated quickly

bacterial diseases are different since mostly what bacterias do (again as far as i remember) is that they live inside the body, not necessarily inside the cells, but using the body's space to reproduce, and eventually their presence - usually due to the fact that they produce toxic elements that affect the host - leads to nearby cells dying/the space they are in deteriorating, etc. but again warlock's cells are either essentially unbreakable or highly regenerative, so that wouldn't be a problem, and they could overpower invasive bacteria easily before a colony could form. so, no human bacterial diseases would be able to flourish, either

and that's not even considering the fact that as they are half human they probably have an immunological system that is ALSO superstrong and therefore able to fuck up any disease causers. or the role magic might take in protecting the body, like, who's to say the magic itself doesn't kill any invasive bacteria or viruses that come into the body before it can do anything? why not?

so all of that, allied with the fact that many viruses and bacteria are evolved to develop within the systems of a particular species (for example, that particular virus has evolved to grow in a cow's digestive system, and therefore can't survive for long in a monkey's or a human's), is interpreted by me as "warlocks can't contract human diseases", since warlocks are a different species from humans, as are shadowhunters. sure, they're hybrids, which makes this part of the argument a little more complicated but obviously their demon side is stronger than their human side, since they are immortal. and demons definitely aren't getting rabies or whatever because that is just too fucking lame

so okay! no human STDs. we have established that now. bUT, i think it's possible that warlocks are able to contract their OWN diseases - strains that attack warlocks specifically, particularly a warlock's magic, since again they kind of have a superbody but i feel like the magic is a more fragile thing, especially as they aren't fully magical (because they're half human)

don't ask me how these work <3 obviously magic can interact with non-magical beings and elements so maybe there are bacteria are viruses that developed specifically to settle in magical components, but that sounds like a huge evolutive leap since magic is so different from like, cells. or maybe there are also magical beings that work as disease transmitters in a similar but essentially different way. and they probably can also be transmitted via sex because i mean, why not? sounds as good a mean as any

but, could magnus and alec transmit those to each other? i don't think so, because shadowhunters have wildly different magic from the one warlocks do - their magic is angel magic, warlock's is demon magic, AND, furthermore, they work in completely different ways. for starters, shadowhunters magic is so pathetic diluted that some of them don't even consider it magic at all. i mean, that is also because of good ole racism (hardly the first time racism led people to call the exact same thing by different names so they can convince themselves their way of being is superior even when it is the same) but there is a huge difference because warlocks are able to conjure and interact with magic and have it as a part of their beings and experience of the world through it, whereas shadowhunters can "borrow" particular powers for a small period of time at best. it is possible that the magic doesn't even exist within them, they are just capable of handling it inside their bodies for some time, which is why they need runes to use it and it has a limited effect

so i think diseases that affect warlocks could not be passed between magnus and alec, and WOW is it weird to realize that magnus and alec are of different species. like i knew that but when that knowledge comes to practice it's just so weird. anyway

and idk if diseases that affect warlocks would be able to live dormant inside shadowhunters and then be transmitted because, like i said, shadowhunters have completely different magic if they even have it at all, and i don't think the disease beings that live in warlock magic would be able to be inside their body. so, to answer your first question - i don't think magnus and alec would NEED condoms, because i don't think they are capable of passing STDs to each other, and in at the very least magnus' case (debatable for alec, i tend to think that because shadowhunters are essentially human they can catch any disease humans can, altho maybe they have a rune to begone them) i don't think they can even catch human STDs. and magnus has a cum kink so that probably means no condoms

as for how warlocks deal with STDs! like i said i think they are only affected by STDs (and diseases in general) that affect their magic, not their body. so, they probably have treatments for those. we gotta remember that warlocks have a very developed society full of academics, so they probably have worked to find cures for magical diseases, if they exist at all. so, there are probably particular treatments for those. i don't think magical diseases abound or anything, particularly because the amount of magical beings is pretty limited and magic is so different from non-magical elements so non-magical beings such as viruses and bacteria would have to change a lot to be able to evolve into magic-affecting beings. again, if they even exist. but yeah i think they as a (group of) society(ies) have worked on cures for those. which is funny to think about because like, do they blast the magical diseases with begone rays or something? please say yes. id love that

with all of that being said, i hope u know that i was planning on answering asks the next weekend (not this one, the other one) cuz ive been busy as hell lately and it'll be the first time i'll have time lmao, and i was literally just in a bathroom break between readings when i saw this ask and i just couldn't resist answering it. this is it. what broke my studying resolve. magical STDs. you should be proud

mandatory disclaimer that please for the love of god use condoms, you are not immune to STDs. also, this post is about show canon, not book canon, so i don't care if this is in accordance to what the books say. also, i'm no expert in healthcare, this post is just for fun, so don't take anything i used to build my arguments as scientific truth or anything like that

#sh #shadowhunters #magnus bane #alec lightwood #dirty words #hello everyone! i have been gone for quite some time. please accept: this #now back to studying #lore #meta #ask #anonymous #long post #im not sure if this is very comprehensible but i did my best

[scriptlgbt]

hey i saw that youre not taking mods under 18 but i think i could do a good job. im 17 in one month and i am really ok w seeing asks abt sex, considering that this is a writing advice blog i dont think there will be anything bad. i feel like 17 year old ppl and exactly 18 yr old ppl dont have that much separating them, and the ability to handle Sex Stuff really doesnt have much to do w age. u could make a sideblog for sex questions too. anyway can i still apply

In the kindest possible way, we are not going to budge on this. We are not making a sideblog for this purpose either (aside from it being not part of the ScriptFamily protocol to do something like that, it would not be enough, as this transcends even separating minors from sex questions). 

It matters that you understand why this matters to us.

When I posted the application, explaining that the issue is about sex questions was a convenient summary that didn’t require TWs. The fact of the matter is that nearly every time we have made a statement that should be universal and obvious (like: necrophilia and pedophilia are bad), we get asks in retaliation that we ethically cannot post. That aren’t warned for and can be traumatizing, and are triggering sometimes for some of us.

A minor does not have the same level of support that people above 18 do. Even though I was paying my own rent and supporting myself in full at 17, I still wasn’t legally allowed to do most things without my parent signing off on it. Even with things that I legally had a right to access, they were still frequently barred from me because most people didn’t understand that. And I didn’t have the kind of power or sway in the world I would have needed if I’d had to deal with getting some of the asks that we get here.

This has also been discussed with the mod team and was a unanimous thing. Because this is a new rule, we had mods in the past who were under 18 when they started on the blog, who have since retired (for an array of reasons), who agree that we shouldn’t accept minors as moderators. While being 17 and 18 don’t feel very different for you, it matters for a lot more reasons than just psychologically. If it were just about psychology, I might even suggest raising the number higher.

Along with this, one of the qualifiers for people to be able to join a ScriptBlog is that we would be confident in our ability to answer questions on the topic as an expert witness in a court of law. (Think like, a scientist being asked to take the stand to explain the nuances of certain drug interactions, studies on the subject.) And being able to be cross-examined and have your research and expertise be questioned. Being able to answer questions with the quality of an expert in the field.

In this case, the field is LGBT+ topics and studies. Including our histories, medical issues, sociological determinants of health, subcultures, intra-community issues and dynamics, legal issues, prominent figures, how colonial forces impact gender, how to research LGBT+ historical figures (and what kind of coded language to look for and sometimes why that language was used), etc.

Being LGBT+ alone qualifies you with a lot of expertise, but we often get asked the kinds of questions that most researchers at the front of these topics haven’t even looked into yet. Sometimes, I have to use translators to access textbooks from 1920s Germany (bless the Hirschfeld Institute for having repatriated books online) just to answer a given question. It’s finding firsthand documentation, it’s reading textbooks and understanding what those textbooks say, and being able to develop your own independent idea of something because you’ve taken enough references (including your own firsthand experience) into account. It’s feeling qualified to write textbooks, even if just in theory.

Not that one person can know everything, but just as an example, I can list a bunch of names of Two-Spirit activists who I have learned certain things from, so I can refer people asking on certain topics where to go. I know that binarism is a colonial force of asserting a white colonial gender binary. That knowledge isn’t something that comes up on the first page of Google. (*cough* This was in the application and most people who answered it, got it wrong! But if you know this was you, you can totally go back to the link and edit your answer.) I know these things because I’ve done relentless research, over the course of years. I’ve been interviewed by Xtra (a gay paper, the gayper if u will). I’ve had a Medium article on my trans body experience selected by the editorial team at Medium as an article they wanted to hire someone to do a voiceover of.

These are just accolades. We don’t ask about accolades in the application, we ask what you know. We’re not asking what awards you’ve won for activism, we’re asking what you can advise on.

While I understand that young prodigies exist, that’s just not the norm. The majority of us are not experts in any field at 17. Or 18.

But we have to draw a line somewhere, and 18 is a minimum that falls in line with a lot of other important things. So it is the line we draw.

- mod nat

#Anonymous #mod nat #mod post #why can't I apply? #it's not that you aren't the expert on your own experience #it's not that we don't think you're tough and capable #it's that your mind is still developing hardcore and we don't want to put you in the line of traumatic fire #especially when you have no resources to put said fire out #I believe in you and your capability to acquire knowledge! #one day you may be ready. but alas #'tis not this one #lgbt #lgbt history #lgbt studies #I'm not trying to say this to intimidate people away from applying also #chances are you can get a handle on your qualifications based on your ability to actually fill out the application #since it's kind of a test in a way and if you can answer a bunch of those questions with confidence that's a big deal