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shoobydoo · 11 months

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Why arranged marriages are the perfect tool to oppress women - for dummies

So, I recently saw this comment under a pin on pinterest (which praised a woman who broke up arranged marriages) which dissappointed me so bad.

I responded with this.

Now, I obviously know that two people wanting to marry eachother and two people wanting to have an arranged marriage are different things. But fact is, once you want an arranged marriage, there is no way out. You don't go searching on the side on your own and as the women, you definetly do not get to say "no" more than twice to your "elders" (=oppressors). I will explain this in more detail way more into this post. I blocked the person who responded to me but what they basically wrote is : " Desire has nothing to do with if it was arranged or it just happended."

So I absolutely lost my sh!t and am now gonna post what I posted there. Have fun reading.

„I don't agree with you. Because most of the time, spouse's of arranged marriages do not get a chance to meet each other a lot before the marriage. It's not about their feelings, it is simply a tool parents use to to build or maintain economic and social stability. So there is absolutely no room for a coincidental romantic development between the two. In most of these orthodox, strict and religious family's, girls are seen to be fit for marriage after their first period, which a lot of girls already get around the age of seven. And because women in these kind of society's are often seen as unfit for work or a proper education, they AND their family's, are financially completely reliant on her husband, which therefore has to be a man, who is already economically very well established and therefore, much MUCH older. And because of the fact that men are not so financially reliant as women, they ACTUALLY have more of a word in these decisions. Women do not. That is the reality of arranged marriages. Not some fetishized manga or anime lovestory where they just happen to fall in love uwu. I dare you to look up the amount of brutal physical and psychological abuse women in arranged marriages have ti endure. Just google it. But you won't get these picture's out of your head very soon. That is because a women in a marriage like this has no, absolutely no chance to leave. The financial stability and expectations of her family and the one of her spouse's family are pushing down on her. Plus, in community's like these, women are still expected to please and obey their husband, so a women who wants a divorce, is automatically branded a human of lower class, not a "real" women and is looked down upon by the whole society, not getting any support ever again. So do not, even for one second, try to tell me that arranged marriage is not a weapon to oppress women with. In a world where women are supplied with their rightful fundamental human right's (which isn't the case right now, but should be) there is absolutely no reason for arranged marriages to exist. If you actually belive in the sick fantasy that little abused girls actually "fall in love" with the man they are forced to have sex with and have to breed children for, you disgust me. We all know, that victims who are stuck in relationships of uneven power dynamics (which these are in 100% of the cases) often develop an unhealthy, unconditional affection for their abuser/capturer, simply because it's a waste of power for your brain to hate someone you are forced to be so close with for forever, even if they constantly hurt you. I cannot believe you are actually downplaying and defending arranged marriages here. shame on you and the harm you do women all over the world by choosing to be an ignorant piece of sh!t everyday.“

—

Now you hopefully get what I meant by writing "once you want an arranged marriage, there is no way out". Because parents who choose this path for their kids, choose by two very simple factors: money and social status. Which both, are not in any way tied to the character of the individual or the chemistry he or she could have with their spouse. That is an arranged marriage. Your parents choose someone and that's it. If your parents actually look for people they see fit for you and set up some dates, that is merely a little bit of help while dating NOT an arranged marriage. Either you libfems get your vocabulary right or you should just shut the fck up about life experiences you have never made and never will make. Goodnight.

#radfem #radical feminist #radical feminism

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nerdby · 11 months

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I both am deeply concerned for and deeply disgusted with the fanfiction authors on this site.

I love fanfiction especially Marvel and Loki fanfiction just in case the profile pic wasn't a dead giveaway. But while reading fics on this app, I've been noticing a very triggering trend which goes a little something like--

Avengers treats love interest like shit but the love interest forgives them as soon the Avenger confesses because they wanna be worshipped by them and be associated with the Avengers.

And like I knew there was something familiar about the plot, but I couldn't really figure out what it was until I roasted someone this morning for hating on Rob Pattinson for being in Twilight. Cause Rob loathes those movies and for very, very good reasons aside from the fact that Edward is a controlling, stalkery, manipulative dick who wants Bella to be a kept woman with no close friends other than his own family or people he's hand-selected from the vampire community, there is all kinds of cringe shit going on behind the scenes with the author of the series Stephanie Meyer.

Meyer is a self-proclaimed conservative Mormon who has bragged about never swearing or seeing an R-rated movie, and that makes me so sad for her. Cause aside from the fact that she is missing out on some of the greatest cinema of all time, it sounds like she has the personality of a literal twelve-year-old. Like Stephanie Meyer is stuck in a neverending LARP session where she roleplays as a puriteen influencer.

🤮

I'm referring to Mormonism as LARPing cause you are seriously delusional if you think that shit isn't a cult, and it only gets more disturbing there. Like all of the Twilight characters are named after people from her real life and the pedo-wolf love interest Jacob Black is named after

Stephanie Meyer's brother.

Fucking YIKES😬

But anyway getting back to the point, I finally realized that the fics I've been reading have all been ripping off the plot of Twilight. Especially the ones with Loki as a love interest cause for some reason the fic authors on this app all have degradation kinks and are desperate for Total Power Exchange relationship dynamics.

For those of you who aren't in the know, a Total Power Exchange dynamic is when a sub agrees to allow a Dom to control certain aspects or sometimes even all areas of their personal life. Basically, it's when you get off on having a controlling partner.

Edward and Bella have what could be considered a TPE dynamic except that the difference between their relationship and a real TPE dynamic is that Bella never consented to Edward controlling every aspect of her personal life. In BDSM the key to a healthy relationship is open and honest communication -- Safe, Sane, and Consensual, right? I mean, that's the key to every healthy relationship but it's especially important in BDSM because of the sadomasochism aspect. Some people take it a lot farther than just spanking.

And aside from the aforementioned issues this trend concerns me because Twilight came out when I was in high school, right, and I went through a serious Twihard phase. It's fucking embarrassing. It was also dangerous because not only do I have a super abusive mother who did not give a shit about what I did, I also had a whole bunch of undiagnosed mental health issues -- thanks, mom🙃 -- and ended up internalizing a lot of what I read in Twilight because I had zero media literacy because of said mental health issues.

So I ended up fetishizing abusive relationships, I got married way too young to an abusive asshole and had a string of abusive relationships after we divorced, I got raped, and ended alternating between couch surfing and homeless shelters for a while. And it was all because of Twilight.

And you could be like, "Well, it's not Stephanie Meyer's fault that your mom's a cunt and you were stupid." And you're right. I take responsibility for my own questionable taste, but there's also a little something called artistic integrity.

Artistic integrity is a personality trait kind of where an artist -- IE Stephanie Meyer -- gives a shit about their audience and the media they are putting out into the world. They aren't doing it for a cash grab -- they're doing it because they have a story to tell and a message to send. One that is important, culturally relevant, and asks important questions -- their work is political. It questions the social norm. These things, in my opinion, is what makes something art -- it separates art from trash.

Stephanie Meyer has no artistic integrity.

She didn't stop to wonder if readers like me or with issues similar to mine exist -- we do and, yeah, I'm kinda bitter about it. That is why Twilight is a problematic series -- that is why everyone from Robert Pattinson to Stephen motherfucking King has roasted that series to hell and back.

And I know someone out there is gonna be like, "Well, Rob said he lied all the time bac--"

Well, Robert fucking Pattinson is an actor and a damn good one.

And he wasn't lying when he said that Edward Cullen was a whiny, pathetic, suicidal virgin. Ya know how I know this -- because I read the books, for one thing, and for another I paid attention.

Like have all the Twihards out there suddenly forgotten when Edward tried to commit suicide by stepping out into the sun half-naked, so he could he trigger the Volturi into curb stomping his ass? Or when he straight up told Bella that he wouldn't fuck her until AFTER they were married cause there was just one rule that he wanted to leave unbroken?

It was in the movies, so if reading is too hard for you there ya go.

And, yeah, I'm triggered right now and no, I'm not sorry cause if you are knowingly ripping off the plot to Twilight to use for Marvel fanfiction and give absolutely ZERO shits about your readers' mental health you are a shit person. I don't care. I'm not sorry and that brings me to the part that is most concerning about this situation.

I know that there are other ND and mentally ill users on Tumblr. I know that some of them have the same issues I had growing up because of lack of access to mental healthcare. That means that some of these authors are doing this subconsciously: Some of them aren't even aware that they're copying Twilight or why it's wrong or why they need to be concerned about having artistic integrity. And to you guys, I am truly so so sorry and I really hope you are able to get some sort of help or at least talk to someone about this.

But the rest of ya -- the ones who truly do not give a shit that I know exist because this app is crawling with TERFs, radfems, and tradwives -- that movement was popularized by white supremacists by the way. Look it up. And those people are abusive, self-obsessed cunts with a perpetual victim complex that don't care who they hurt cause they will always, always, always try to blame someone else for their actions.

You guys -- the abusers that decided to basically plagiarize Twilight to boost your reblog numbers for your fanfics -- are shitty people.

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idreamtofmanderleyagain · 2 years

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Ok, lots of great reviews coming out for the new Hellraiser, so that is promising. That said (and this is not an assessment of the quality of a film I havent seen), Bruckner said the following in a recent interview:

“And in exploring that we just felt like our attitudes on you know, that direct of a BDSM reference had kind of changed. You know, black leather in particular and that entire subculture, something that is not quite as transgressive as it was in the 80s. It’s now something that’s pretty above board. You know, we can talk about it, it’s the culture, the time, the communication. My mom’s reading Fifty Shades. Like, it’s just a different time.”

I find the statement dissapointing and kind of ignorant...

I get what he's trying to say, but lets be clear: kinky imagery is mainstream now. The idea of kinky people existing is more normalized. In an absatract way. I guess. Actual kink is still very much not in the public conciousness. People still don't know what it is, not really. What we have is the fetishization of the fetish if you will; vanilla people gawking at a still kind of taboo idea, even experimenting, who ultimately have no real knowledge or interest in the emotional nuances of the lifestyle. The emotional dynamic of consensual power exchange and why someone might explore them is usually totally absent from mainstream depictions. The power exchange in Fifty Shades is ultimately about misogynistic aggression, not the pleasure or emotional experiences of the submissive, even though as a novel it ia designed to excite women.

One of my very conservative, religious grandmothers owned a copy of Fifty Shades. This to me, was not a normalization of kink. It was vanilla women gawking at a spectacle. If I had pointed out the book when I spotted it, and told my grandmother "oh hey, I think I'm kinky! I didn't know you appreciated the subculture!" The response wouldnt have been "oh ok, TMI tho." I would have been interrogated and shamed by her and my father, and everyone in that side of the family would have been quickly informed, judgemental and repulsed at my existence.

Kink isn't normalized. The domestic and sexual abuse of women is normalized. Theres still a lot we can say about BDSM through art.

#hellraiser #now we know why they got rid of the leather i guess

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deviltries · 1 year

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THE DEVIL WITHIN ! A PRIVATE AND SELECTIVE WRITING BLOG FEATURING PARK YEONJIN FROM THE GLORY. A STUDY INTO THE ADVANTAGES OF MONEY, THE ROT OF SELF, SELFISHNESS AT ITS FINEST, AND THE WORLD THAT COMES CRASHING. LARGELY HEADCANON BASED WITH PERSONAL INTERPRETATIONS. AS VILIFIED BY MACY. EST. MAY 2023.

RULES BELOW CUT.

GENERAL

18+ only. mutually exclusive. softblock when breaking mutuals.

formatting doesn’t matter to me. just cut your posts, and do not use a picture/screenshot as your reply. i’m selective with those who primarily use gifs as it screams being affiliated with a certain icky side of the rpc.

DNI.

do not interact if you use idols for faceclaims ( exceptions are made for some ); are a multi and primarily use east asian fcs ( especially if they are korean ) because that screams fetishization to me; write historical or real muses; use youtubers/influencers as fcs; and/or soley focus on sexual nsfw.

CONTENT & TAGGING

i don’t use tw tagging format, and i only tag overtly graphic and explicit content.

be aware that the glory is centered around abuse, trauma, bullying, torture, and suicide ideation. follow at your own risk.

this blog will have implied sexual nsfw content, but very rarely, as it’s not my thing. smutting will likely not happen unless we’re close and it will never be on dash.

SHIPPING & MAINS

this blog is multiship, though yeonjin is a fairly difficult muse to ship with off the bat. that being said, romance is typically not top priority for me and i tend to prefer other forms of dynamics: antagonistic, platonic, familial, etc.

mains and exclusives happen if we vibe a lot or write a lot, otherwise don’t ask <3

WRITER & CREDITS

i’m macy, 23, she/her. this is not my main blog so activity will limited. discord available upon request.

ABOUT PARK YEONJIN :

park yeonjin in present era works as a weatherwoman. well known, established, renowned. wealthy, classy, and elegant. has a young daughter whom she dotes on and a husband she couldn't be happier to have. her life is sparkling and clean and everything a person could want. but she hides an ugly past and wears a mask that has been super - glued on for the sake of blending into society. park yeonjin as a teenager was the devil incarnate, taking advantage of her mother's wealth, power, and influence to dish out violence to whomever she wanted to. yeonjin cared about nobody and dealt with her boredom in cruel, unorthodox manners. with a small group of friends who followed her every step, she terrorized her targets at school to do her bidding ( and to simply provide herself with entertainment ). if anyone knew, they wouldn't say it. if anyone dared to tell on her, they would regret it. park yeonjin always got her way.

although her cohorts had been with her for most activities, she hides the truth of one of their victims — she was the cause of yoon sohee's death, of which had been ruled a suicide.

as an adult, yeonjin had grown more skillful at hiding her true self and presents herself as the charming, kind wife and philanthropist. even with her position at the weather channel, she exploits younger assistants to write her scripts for her and uses fear to maintain control over younger, ambitious co - workers seeking to replace her.

her body count is one and a half, but that's only if we're counting literal deaths. she's snuffed out far more spirits than that.

HOW TO WRITE WITH YEONJIN:

your muse would never know that she was a bully in high school. your muse would never know that she killed someone in high school or that she nearly killed someone as an adult. yeonjin is an expert at acting and playing a role. she's charming, funny, gentle, down - to - earth. she would be a good friend at first. she's incredibly fake though so it would make sense for your muse to be put off by it or sense that something is off. she could've been an enemy during high school or college or even during her early career days but in a ' shielded ' manner so it's not so scandalous as being labelled a bully. yeonjin also has connections in high places, mostly due to her mom, so that's an option. anything could work tbh !

#hehehehehooohooo

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cacaitos · 11 months

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so this is i think one of the last rants i had left, also abt incest so like.

what is it about incest that makes it even appealing in the first place...??? like this is not an essay i’m genuinely just ...??? and like writing the thought process so im gonna try to keep it as short as i can.

mostly abt fiction and fetish as smth that hinges on the social nature of a type pf relationship. what i mean is that tho incest exists as an action, im talking of the fetish part that through the conceptions of what a, say, sibling-like relationship is usually known of gets inserted into another relationship or are elements that are framed to arouse.

moving on, what i don’t get is what even, unique to a filial relationship, is supposed to be attractive. like for starters let’s forbode noticeable agegaps and intergenerational incest bc age taints over the incest combined or not (like even for ppl born basically at the same time they assign them power over other thru age, but i mean what i see it’s the main appeal point abt that little sister-older brother for example, or niece/uncle/stepparent thing is the age-power dynamic that the incest is subservient to or as an aid).

even staying purely horizontal here, see how people talk about cousins, even in things that have absolutely nothing to do w incest; a counsin they see only every 5 years, [aunt’s name here]’s family, their family; politically like close enough to keep X family resource inside but far enough to get external resource or relationship or benefit, those incestuous flings ppl seem to have as in ‘we’re not THAT close’ ‘that’s not THAT much blood relation’. frequently theres a sense of distanciation, sometimes they’re talked as if theyre not or just barely family, like theyre some rando.

honestly similar can be said of how ppl talk abt step siblings, or half siblings or adopted ones, even unrelated to incest, it’s just a tendency to Other family members like that much theire detriment sometimes. but w all this as far as reasons go abt justifying incest or why they just gravitate to incestuous relationships in fiction/fetisg even **if for not-so-malicious intents, to me there’s the Despite-of and the Because-of. So the ones where the incest is minimized of just that the pair are revealed to be related later on (real or fictional) for example are Despite-of. In contrast the Because-of is where i’m still perplexed about.

like anyone can say abt using incest as a narrative tool to say Y and Z abt The Human Condition, relationships or horror etc like sure ig, w good writing it’s meant to say smth significative. very big brain and all. or bc an exemplar coincides w more common and popular, unrelated to incest, tropes. But. i don’t think that’s what porn actor are thinking about. and i say actors or porn directors and not porn writers bc writers are still obligated to develop a story in its own right (regardless of writing quality) while porn, video, comic, images, whatever can exist on its own and whose context can be summarized in a single title w/o any story whatsoever.

WHAT about the idea of siblingry, in its most simple platonic ideal, is what’s sexy, regardles if the people are actual siblings or not, bc the title could also be put over ppl that didnt even have the concept of incest in mind and were not involved in the titling at all. again unlike age, or physical or any other type of power dynamuc that usually has v defined roles, WHAT can you insert abt siblingry, that’s unique to it, into a sexual or romantic relationship that appeals to some basic taste, need ot whatever.

i dont need to follow the thought process of a pedophile or a chaser of any kind to, at the very least, recognize the demographics they pursue and recognize why they do, or rather what allows them to predate them. you can at the very least understan that looking after vulnerable people or marginalized demographics is very convinient, be it individually (say, a drunk person), or as a class/group (lgbt teens). but can you describe A Sibling. even based on stereotypes, try to visualize a sibling. what does it look like, what age are they, like not even one related to you just the idea of a Sibling etc, its all relative. you can say the same abt parents ofc but more often than not, you can visualize an average age, reasons they couldva had children, that theyre parents BC they have children, thats a relative thing, but you dont need to know the age of the kid or how they look bc the subject is Parent, not Child, no matter the stage of life either of those are in, theres a clear division of roles. but people have no control over siblings, theyre just givens outside their own control that you have to live with. it doesnt necesarily mean a cordial relationship or a jealous or a confrontational or competitive type of relationship, in my opinion.

it doesnt click yet in my mind what even the most basic, path of least resistance popular reason about it is that makes it, all in all, a very popular fetish, i try i really do. like if it’s just Bc It’s Taboo reasoning, literally you tell a kid not to do smth so theyre gonna do it stronger logic, i hope i don’t lose contact from the eyeroll im gonna do.

#txt #judgement turned down moreso to avoid going into 800 tangents and bc this is just a trend observation #incest tw

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audreydoeskaren · 3 years

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do you know Chinese symbolism for homosexuality?

tw homophobia, pedophilia

Hi again, for gay men there are a couple really well known ones but I’m not sure if they were real or fabricated, because all the articles describing them always cite the same couple sources from Antiquity... I tried to verify them but the only articles that didn’t copy and paste from the same source came across as extremely homophobic, so I decided to give up. The most common and reliable one is probably 断袖 or “cut sleeve”, which I mentioned in a previous ask. I would like to use this opportunity to talk about some tangential but more important topics regarding homosexuality in China though.

As a followup to my previous ask where I said I'd look through some Ming and Qing novels to see how homosexuality was perceived at the time, the conclusion I (unfortunately) came to was that homophobia was very much alive and well in Chinese literature and society. A lot of people like to argue that gay people fared pretty well in China historically by either pointing to emperors who were or were rumored to be gay or time periods where gay sex was prevalent as a form of consumption. This is extremely shallow and also kind of Orientalist in my opinion, these arguments always go for the emperors and do not take nuance into consideration or dive into wider societal discourses on homosexuality in imperial China. If you research homosexuality in Europe by only looking at royalty, you’ll find plenty of homosexual behavior too, does that mean gay people had it very easy in Europe historically?? Not to mention that they usually don’t differentiate between dynasties, let alone centuries or decades, even though public opinion on homosexuality in China (or anywhere in the world tbh) could change very quickly. This is also sort of Orientalist, assuming “imperial China” to be a never changing entity with a never changing stance on homosexuality. Since I know nothing prior to the Ming Dynasty I’ll share some of my random findings on homosexuality and homophobia in the Ming, Qing and 20th century.

Gayness as disease

Nowadays the symbol of the cut sleeve is just a benign historical allusion but historically it seems that it was used in a negative and condemning sense, implying that people thought of homosexuality as a disease or deviation from the norm. The common phrase used for the cut sleeve is "断袖之癖", usually translated as "the passion of the cut sleeve" nowadays, but the meaning of the word 癖 here leans more toward "fetish", "obsession" or "hobby" with pathological connotations. I thought maybe this word had a different, nuanced meaning historically but it seems that it was used to describe what it means :(( The only silver lining is probably that with the progression of language it isn’t offensive anymore.

In a lot of popular novels from the Ming and Qing, homosexuality was depicted as a "perversion" and a decadent lifestyle that plagues morality, and gay characters were often either killed or straightened out by the end of the story. An example of this is the story 黄九郎 Huang Jiulang from the series 聊斋志异 Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by 蒲松龄 Pu Songling written in the 17th century. In this story, one of the protagonists was gay; he died after confessing his love to the other guy in a very fast paced bury your gays arc which somehow reminded me of the Supernatural finale, and reincarnated as a straight man because of his piety. Thanks I hate it. Pu uses the symbol of the cut sleeve to refer to the protagonist, presumably in a negative manner.

Gayness as power/status symbol

Another thing was that historically in China a lot of people confused homosexuality with pedophilia. This is a global thing, but its presence in China is often overlooked. This could be seen in the popularity of another term for homosexuality, "娈童", meaning something similar to "pederasty". I read somewhere that since the late Ming, pederasty was considered a type of tasteful consumption for high society, along with things like fashion, food, music and art. This was not equivalent to the "cut sleeve" or homosexuality as we know it nowadays, which refers to a personal sexual orientation, pederasty historically often refers to an imbalanced power dynamic where a wealthy, privileged man takes advantage of a young boy as a leisurely activity. It’s more to show off that someone in a position of privilege and wealth has the power to procure sexual objects, gender and age don’t matter much in this regard. I cannot help but cringe violently whenever someone brings up pederasty as proof of China’s historical “openness” toward gay people. Talk to me again when in this time and place you could marry someone of your sex (not a minor) and be considered a respectable couple instead of two jerks with a degenerate fetish (not saying that gay people have to marry, it’s just that the ability to do so is an important indicator of equality imo). Pedophilia and homosexuality are not one and the same good heavens.

I hypothesize that the reason why Chinese society was historically homophobic despite having no religious condemnation of homosexual individuals was the idea that having many concubines and male children was a status symbol for men. Women of marriageable age were seen more or less as commodities and male children could supposedly "continue the bloodline" 传香火 and were vessels for passing down prestige, so having them were of utmost importance to a privileged man. Being just gay or lesbian, however, meant that you didn't perform the "man strong working woman weak making babies" heteronormative family prototype, and was thus prone to criticism. When gay men didn’t have children they “couldn’t continue their bloodline” and were emasculated, when gay women didn’t have children they failed to “fulfill their duties as a woman” and were shamed.

It kind of makes sense considering how being bisexual was never a problem in comparison, especially for men. If you were a rich guy who had both male and female partners, you would still have children and concubines both male and female so nobody gives a shit. Emperor Zhengde of the Ming (reign 1505-21) was presumably bisexual and had both male and female lovers, nobody had a bone to pick with that; he famously liked to fuck around but those who criticized him did so for his debauchery instead of focusing on the gender of his partners. This is different to homophobia in Europe where same sex attraction was considered evil and immoral in and of itself because of religious reasons, in China it was rather the other practical implications of homosexuality (not having children or a family) that attracted hate.

By the way can we just take a moment to talk about bi erasure in Chinese history. From all accounts of Emperor Zhengde I’ve read he comes across as extremely bisexual, but a lot of people try to make him a gay icon? I mean, he liked women too.

One interesting homophobic angle in ye olde China which I find kind of funny was straight women who wanted to climb the social ladder by marrying rich men talking shit about them after figuring out they were gay lmao. Historically, there were not so many work opportunities for women, so the easiest way to improve social standing was to marry a rich and powerful guy. Not saying that women didn't work, they did but their upward social mobility was restricted because they couldn't enter the imperial examination system which was how men became rich and powerful. This angle is relatively benign and kind of helps illustrate that historical Chinese homophobia was indeed fueled by classism and patriarchy.

Gayness as crime

I used to think that there were no anti-sodomy statutes in China (laws prohibiting sex between gay men), but it turns out that there was one decree in the Jiajing era (1521-67) and one in 1740, and private gay sex was not actually decriminalized until 1957. Same sex marriage is still not legal in China at time of writing. I couldn’t find detailed information on what these laws entailed or how they were enforced, but they’re enough to prove that homosexuality in China was legally punishable from the 16th century onward. On top of that, even when there was no law prohibiting private sex acts between people of the same sex, displays of gay affection such as kissing or holding hands could still be legally punished under “public indecency” or “hooliganism”, which was frequently what happened in the 20th century.

#lgbt #queer history #chinese history #gay #mlm #ming dynasty #qing dynasty #republican era

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elise-jupiterstyle · 3 years

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this is a very cynical bomb that i’m about to drop with absolutely no context but they really did just fetishize rio to gain viewership without actually ever giving a shit about his value as a character, and i’ve gotten myself into a bit of a spiral stewing about it.

tw: my opinions again

like i didn’t want to think about my favorite show so negatively before it ended so i tried to steer clear of any posts that discussed it for the sake of my own enjoyment but after how short the finale season fell from my expectations, it’s hard not to be pissed off. because ever since they had beth shoot rio in season two i’ve been waiting for them to reconcile such a gruesome choice by developing the characters further, their relationships, their knowledge of themselves, but it just didn’t happen. beth never took accountability for the shooting, rio never took accountability for kidnapping and pressuring her, and dean never took accountability for his infidelity or faking cancer, which were the three main points of conflict that the writers should’ve focused on resolving before ever even thinking of introducing new conflicts.

i’m not saying i wanted rio to forgive beth, or that i wanted beth to forgive dean, or that i wanted any of these resolutions to happen immediately after their conflicts took place. and sure, you could say that beth’s character compartmentalizes and that beth and rio aren’t good communicators and didn’t have a strong bond of trust to begin with so it wouldn’t be in character for them to discuss what happened, but that’s where character growth is supposed to come in! you’re supposed to write characters with these flaws so that they have a better version of themselves to work towards that is slowly developed as they encounter each conflict. they’re not meant to make them into worse people until the show is entirely unbearable to watch because all of that old resentment and tension is just rotting away beneath the rug it’s been swept under.

it’s not a creative choice to have characters directly create conflict and then never address it again while they move onto the next big thing -- it’s lazy writing, and it makes it crystal clear that they were written in solely to shock the viewers and create tension between the characters, not to cultivate growth, and that is very frustrating when you have a group of characters whose inherent morality is constantly insisted upon.

what’s especially frustrating about this is that it not only means there is a lack of depth to all the characters, but there’s a lack of value to the ones that the writers did not favor. based on the season one storyline that culminated in rio shooting dean and letting beth live -- essentially getting even with her in a way that didn’t involve killing off the protagonist, even though that would’ve been the most likely course of action based on the consequences that other disposable characters suffered (i.e. eddie) -- it’s my belief that the writers didn’t expect to keep rio on the show past season one (honestly, it kind of feels like they didn’t even expect to get another season, based on how messy the storyline felt as the seasons progressed), and therefore didn’t value rio’s character the way the audience came to by season two.

when i say the writers didn’t (and honestly, i still think they don’t -- not in the same way they value the girls, dean, stan, or even fucking boomer) value him, i mean they didn’t see him as being worth the effort of giving a character arc, a background story, personal relationships, etc. they threw in marcus at the start of season two to be like “he’s a dad! that means he has depth!” and then never really touched on it again. there was like, one other scene with marcus that i can remember, and then he, too, was sidelined until they needed to humanize rio again after he got shot. all of the other kids -- the bolands, sarah, harry, and ben -- are regularly featured because they are a driving component of the women’s motivation to survive and succeed. with rio, his kid is only used to relate him back to the women, to make him seem human for a moment, but marcus’s real value as a character lies in how he makes beth feel as she grieves rio, not how he contributes to rio’s behavior, motivation, and overall character.

and yes, i know that rio is technically a side character, that the children of the protagonists are going to have more development, but if they actually wanted to add depth to rio’s character through the facet of parenthood, they would’ve shown more than one interaction with him after he spent supposed months away from him without a word. that kid would’ve been traumatized by that, and seeing rio’s reaction to his kid mourning his disappearance would’ve provided a much more real and interesting angle than them all smiling and happy, like we’ve seen in every other scene with him and marcus. it would’ve showed that the writers care about rio’s pain, about how his absence affected those he loves, but to be blunt, they don’t. they showed beth grieving him when she shot him, but we didn’t see him recovering from that traumatic event. they didn’t even care enough about him to give him fake scars, for christ’s sake.

everything that happened to rio throughout the show was either done to further the other women’s development or appease the viewers, and they made zero effort to hide that. they walked his characterization backwards so many times (him threatening beth’s family when it had been insinuated thus far that that was the only line he wouldn’t cross; him touching her and making suggestive advances on her in exchange for bail money when she was clearly uncomfortable; him returning all of her stuff and happily accepting her as his superior when there was no development in their relationship to suggest he’d forgiven her or would be receptive to her having power over him) and almost every single instance of them using him to promote the show exploited his outward appearance and the fact that so many viewers have fetishized him as this “exotic” bad boy without any regard for how minimizing and insulting that marketing tactic is.

looking through their instagram, i saw no other instance of an actor’s picture being posted next to a bunch of thirsty tweets or captioned as being “another reason to watch good girls.” it’s fetishization disguised as playful, well-intentioned endorsement, but if they were really referring to rio’s character rather than his appearance as a reason to watch the show, we wouldn’t be seeing his face on nearly every episode promo and highlight with him only occupying about five minutes of screen time every 50-minute episode.

there’s not really a neat bow-tie conclusion to this, but what i’m getting at is that the writers wanted it both ways. they wanted the viewership and fan engagement that manny’s character garnered, but they didn’t value him enough to give him the screen time and characterization that he deserved. this resulted in all of the revelations that were made about his character -- his son, rhea, his dynamic with turner, his backstory, his hobby, his grandma, nick -- feeling pretty underwhelming because they were never touched on again. they were there because they had to give us something, but they weren’t important enough to the writers to be expanded upon, to be used for personal growth or connecting with the other characters. i think that’s why it felt like such a hollow victory -- we got exactly what we wanted in theory, but there the foundation of it all was too weak for it to feel truly meaningful.

we wanted rio to be acknowledged and written as a permanent fixture on the show, but instead the rest of the characters were hell-bent on getting rid of him and his primary aspect of redemption was what he meant to beth, not what he meant to the show. even in the finale when she finally came to the realization that she won’t ever be able to give up crime, rio’s role in contributing to her self-actualization was passed over by a character who has been in seven episodes, and i think that really spoke for itself the loudest in terms of how much the writers truly valued him.

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everything-laito · 3 years

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In theory, if Laito was human, how do you think he would have turbed out instead? Because clearly in the supernaturals they don't seek help nor is it recommended. But for humans it is clearly recommended that you sort your issues out if you want to survive in the society. Laito would sinply be almost forced to see the error of his ways plus he would most likely be accused of harrassments and/or rape (I'd actually like a very long analysis on this because I find this an interesting concept lol)

Alrighty anon! I’ll try to make it a long one. Just the length usually varies with the ask but I’ll go as in depth as I can with this one as requested!

So let’s start off with the thing I’ve mentioned quite a bit on this blog: the power dynamic between Laito and Yui/his other victims. The reason why he has so much power on top of his mind games is that he is physically stronger than Yui by a LONG shot. There’s absolutely no way (that Yui sees) that she can physically beat him. So he takes advantage of that. Most abusers in real life do the same thing too: preying on weaker people. “Weak” in this sense can be weak mentally, emotionally, physically, or having weak connections (little or no connections with others). So from that point, Laito being human would definitely be a bit of a game changer, but if he’s as smart as a human as he is a vampire, he still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

I wouldn’t say that not seeking help is a vampire thing. We don’t know a lot about vampire culture who aren’t nobles. All the vampires in the game are higher class vampires. Although I’ve seen some characters be like “it’s a vampire thing,” I have an inkling that most characters (except Shu of course) haven’t interacted with people who aren’t nobles. Laito says that killing for vampires is how you express love, but the only people I’ve heard say that has been Laito and Cordelia (However please please correct me if I’m wrong on this), and we know that Laito gets a lot of his “morals” from Cordelia. We really don’t know a lot about vampire society like we think we do.

Same goes for people in real life, humans. The rich lead lives that are very different from most of us. A lot is kept hush hush about celebrities and rich people, not to mention that lifestyle must be very suffocating. On top of that, we still have a stigma in our societies today that therapy/getting emotional help is “bad.” I recently heard that my roommate’s brother said he wouldn’t go to therapy cuz it’s a “liberal thing.” Like bruh. No, getting therapy is not political. But we make it a political issue for some reason, despite it being there for everyone and we should normalize it as such. On top of that, many people brush off many rich people’s emotional health issues, because “they have money.” Sure money can get you a lot of things, but having that much money or at least those very high expectations can put a lot of different emotional stresses on someone.

So I believe it would still work for Laito in that manner. He’s nobility, and this seems like old fashioned nobility too. People having mental illnesses and getting treated for them was out of the question and taboo to talk about. Not to mention having a sexual abuse scandal. So I think that Laito would be coerced into not saying anything if he had the option of getting help somehow. I’m still unsure why he stayed silent about it. I don’t think he ever said why, but I have an inkling it’s because he didn’t want Ayato or Kanato to worry about him + he didn’t know how to say what happened + he didn’t know what was happening was bad. Those are my theories though.

I don’t think he’d be able to see the error of his ways because growing up in that family, he was very isolated. People higher up are still isolated from what happens to the lower classes, or simply just don’t care about it, or it’s just normalized. A big example is sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace done by CEOs of companies. Or sexual abuse scandals involving priests. Both are in positions of higher power and use that power to abuse. It’s more of a control fetish for them, and on top of that they weren’t taught to respect other people (specifically women and children). It doesn’t seem like the diaboy families are taught that, given their backgrounds. I’ve also mentioned before that it would be very very hard for Laito to get convicted of sexual harassment and assault in real life. I answered that part of this ask here which is also a lengthy ish doozy as well. Feel free to read the whole thing, but I’ll highlight htis paragraph here:

When it comes to real life, many people in power don’t get easily called out. That’s why the #MeToo movement was so amazing, because it gave sexual abuse victims a chance to stand up for themselves against their abusers who they were silenced by. When it comes to political and powerful figures, they definitely use hush money, blackmail, or other means to not let this information get out to “taint” its brand. Or even so, when it comes to any type of abuse, abusers know how to silence a lot of their victims so they don’t talk to anyone about this through manipulation. It’s a lot more nuanced than this.

So no, I don’t believe Laito would get convicted of his crimes, even if he was a human.

Hope that was long enough for you! If you would like me to elaborate on anything else or have any questions, please let me know!

#analysis #diabolik lovers #laito sakamaki #sakamaki laito #raito sakamaki #sakamaki raito #diabolik lovers analysis #dialover #dialovers #dialovers analysis #laito sakamaki analysis #ask corn

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cluescorner · 3 years

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have any opinions on part 4 of JoJo?

It's the best one in terms of writing, plot consistency, and actually being coherent. The relatively lower stakes (trying to find 1 serial killer instead of trying to save the world) lends itself very well to a story set in a small town and also allowed for more character moments. One of my favorite parts about Part 4 is that we get to see the characters just...being kids together. Like, one of my favorite episodes is the Harvest one where Josuke and Okuyasu are just being dumbasses together constantly.

Josuke is probably my favorite JoJo so far, but I haven't gotten past Part 5 yet so that might change. He really feels like just some guy who happened to be born into the Joestar family and now has to deal with this crazy new world. He makes a lot of mistakes because he's inexperienced and also a LITERAL TEENAGER, but he also is his father's son. He is extremely clever and can quickly manipulate the situation to his advantage. He's like a Joseph who's also a decent person and not friends with a LITERAL N*ZI so that's nice. He also wears his heart on his sleeve and he see him get visibly upset and happy and angry and just overwhelmed throughout the Part. He feels like a real person that I can relate to, not just a badass punch man with 3 personality traits. So he's the best JoJo so far imo.

I also think the general main cast is also all solid. There really aren't any that ruin the show for me, even of the ones I like least. Okuyasu is such a good character and I honestly feel like he was underutilized both as a fighter and as a character. The Hand is so overpowered and literally could neutralize Kira in the span of like 5 minutes, so I feel like giving that overpowered Stand to Okuyasu, a character who isn't exactly bright enough to understand the full capabilites of his Stand and how to utilize them, was a good decision. Even if it was ultimately underutilized a LOT.

And the potential behind his character, a kid who has been only with his brother and his father (who are both kinda monsters in their own right) for as long as he can remember who then LOSES his brother after trying to fight Josuke, who then becomes friends with Josuke DESPITE all of this and quickly works his way into his friends' lives, who has a power related to taking EVERYTHING AWAY IN ONE TOUCH (Stands are a reflection of their user's soul so...), AND who is shown to be extremely kind-hearted despite his trauma but is also likely suffering in silence?? I think Okuyasu had the set up to be the best character of the part but Araki just didn't follow through. This kind of stuff is why I enjoy fanworks so much, I have already read so many that explore Okuyasu and they're all fantastic. I absolutely adore Okuyasu and his 'death' was the first moment in JoJo that I almost cried real tears.

Koichi is...fine. I like him and I get why everyone else likes him. In any other season I'd likely have way more to say about him, but every single character is pretty good in this season so I don't really have that strong of feelings about him.

Rohan is so funny to me. Like, this man only cares about his manga and does NOT care about being a good person and he doesn't try to hide it. One of the first things he does is try to fight our heroes because...he wants Koichi for his manga. He was about to force Okuyasu to kill himself and Heaven's Door is such an OP ability that I feel like I don't have to say anything. And the only reason he loses is because Josuke doesn't like manga and he insulted Josuke's hair. This is the kind of stuff that I love about this part, the ways our heroes win are so weird and clever that it makes the battles feel more real. Rohan is also a pretty well-written character and he contrasts very well with the other characters to create some very fun dynamics.

Part 4 Jotaro is better than Part 3 Jotaro. A major reason why I didn't really love Part 3 is because I didn't like Jotaro as a protagonist. He's too disinterested and stoic for me to enjoy as the LEAD OF AN ENTIRE PART but I always thought that he would work better as something else. And apparently, that something else was a genuinely amazing mentor character. He has seen the worst that Stands have to offer and he's very familiar in dealing with them, so he makes for a great contrast to our extremely inexperienced team. And he's also given less screen time, which means I don't get tired of his stoicism and OP-ness as often. I actually enjoyed that he only uses Time Stop when it's absolutely neccesary, since that's the ability that killed SO MANY OF THE PEOPLE HE KNEW. But Part 4 Jotaro also isn't infallible. He almost dies to a FUCKING RAT and that was honestly one of the most human moments Jotaro has ever been given. He's just waiting for Josuke to figure out what to do while he keeps getting turned slowly yet slower into a pile of fleshy goop. And he also cannot handle Kira on his own like he could handle DIO because Kira is a far more subtle opponent. You can't just beat Kira by punching it until it dies, you have to actually think about what you are and aren't doing. It makes Jotaro feel more like an actual character and less of 'Protagonist Syndrome'.

On the subject of Kira, HOLY SHIT KIRA IS SUCH A GOOD VILLAIN. I still think that DIO is the best villain so far, but I flip flop on him and Kira more often than I'd like to admit. Kira is the perfect 'low stakes' villain. He's a serial killer with a fetish for hands and a desire to live a 'normal' life, which prompts him to stay hidden as long as possible. I tend to dislike whodunnits where the audience knows who the killer is, but Kira's inability to actually stay hidden for long makes sure it never feels like it goes on for too long. I also adored his ability, it's a far more 'planning' based one than any ability we've seen up until this point. You need to know what you're doing with your ability and Kira, though he's also a dumbass at times, knows Killer Queen inside and out. Bites The Dust is also a great ability for him to have and his weird sort of relationship with Shinobu also made him very fun.

The Bites the Dust arc is the best JoJo has to offer. In the same vein that many told me that the DIO's world arc +the final battle was worth every minute of the rest of Part 3, I am telling anyone who is still unsure of whether they want to watch Part 4 that the Bites the Dust arc is worth every minute you spend on Part 4. Though, if you really aren't feeling it, you can start when Kira first shows up and just watch from there. The other episodes are great, but if you don't like low-stakes slice of life stuff then just start when Kira shows up. Because the Bites the Dust arc is so good. It's just so good. It feels like a culmination of everything we've built towards throughout the season with crescendoing character moments and an impossible situation that only desperation and preparation (funnily enough the two traits Kira is most defined by) can solve. Really, the Bites the Dust arc is so good that I'm not even gonna talk about what happens during it explicitly. I refuse to spoil this arc, watch it yourself please. But try to find a Trigger list for it, because it gets DARK. Be safer than I was while watching it, lol.

So yeah, I love Part 4. It's probably the best part so far. Is it my favorite part? IDK, gay italians and women are real in Part 5 so I think I'm still more about that part so far. Part 5 is my favorite, but Part 4 is the best and it's honestly not even close. Even if you don't want to watch JJBA (entirely valid, I hate this show sometimes and if you aren't a fan of sausage fests...this show isn't for you probably) I still recommend Part 4 or at least the Bites the Dust arc. It's the best JoJo part, hands down.

#jjba part 4 #diamond is unbreakable #diu #josuke higashikata #okuyasu nijimura #jotaro kujo #koichi hirose #kira yoshikage #rohan kishibe #bites the dust arc #bites the dust #part 4 is the best one #hands down #I still like Part 5 more so far tho #But if someone asked me which Jojo part is actually good I would say Part 4

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saintheartwing · 3 years

Text

The Continued Targeted Harassment Campaign from the Troll Mundo De Bee, aka Debtoons, Aka Dedehbee

I'm sure this particular person I'm thinking of who recently sent me some VERY unkind guest reviews on my "The Pigshit Troll" tale on FF.Net will find out about this. I didn't WANT to talk about them anymore but then they kept sending more and more vitriolic reviews. Not just to me, but to my friends.

See, here’s some of the things they said along with accusing me of trolling their fic, which I didn't, my critique was that their story seemed to be overlooking the fact Zim had done the mass slaughter of innocent humans and enslavement on top of that, and was Dib and Prof. Membrane hostage and can kill them at any time...all to make Gaz love him. So there's an inherently abusive power dynamic. But this person who I...at FIRST...was reluctant to name disregarded these very real issues I brought up and just told me, and I quote, "Go away, then. This story is happening whether you want it or not. :/" This happened months ago. In fact, I brought attention to what they said back in OCTOBER on my DA account. So now you’re getting an idea of what they’re like. In response to a reasonable critique about problematic undertones, they just basically told me to get lost, then blocked me before I could respond to that. I tried to reach out to her friends after she complained about my review, and then she got mad about my "Jeremy" story, seemingly thinking that because I did a story about dark subject matter, I was being a hypocrite for complaining about what Zim did.

Uh...that’s NOT HOW IT WORKS.

The issue was the story wasn't addressing what Zim did as bad, my story made it REAL DAMN CLEAR what Jeremy had done was a tragedy and horrible, and that what he'd been through WAS VERY BAD.

But YOU? YOU didn't do that in your story, it almost came off like you were putting Gaz in Stockholm Syndrome and going a kind of "Twilight" route of sort of glorifying a very problematic relationship. Now, I didn’t SAY specifically that in my review, do I actually think that what’s happening IS Stockholm Syndrome or exactly LIKE Twilight was, but it’s problematic in a SIMILAR VEIN. And THAT was my problem. Not the dark subject matter, but you not caring about the implications...at least, that's how it looked to me. Or at the very least, not, in-story, treating Zim like what he'd done was wrong when it was.

Anyway, that was months ago. I had basically forgotten about them until just I got these three anonymous guest reviews. I'm guessing that because they blocked me, they had to do it that way, they don't want to unblock me to leave a normal review. The reason why I'm pretty sure it's them is because they said, in their review, AND I QUOTE...

"And if my story had ANY grammar/spelling mistakes, that must be because I'm... not from U.S.? And don't speak English fluently? As a matter of fact, if you speak "only" intermediate English in my country (like I do), that's already one hell of an accomplishment. That's already getting xenophobic, ok?" Okay one, me criticizing spelling errors isn't xenophobia, how am I supposed to know you're from another country unless I actually go to your webpage or the like, and I'm not going to see that if I'm just replying to a review. So that's one reason I think it's her.

Another is that she wrote, in her third reply, from "Opinadora (Guest)". Since that's Portuguese, and it happens to be the most spoken language (based on my Google research) in the home country this person says she's from on her homepage, i was damn sure it was her. She saw my Pigshit Troll story, thought it was about her even though the story was really more about addressing the...well, the actual, real life Pigshit Troll going around FF.Net, while also doing a critique both of common tropes in typical Zim story fare and also critiquing the common critique. It was me addressing issues with my own stories just as much, with Gaz forcing Dib to realize his own flaws. It wasn't really about this person who happens to be from Brazil (if her page is to be believed). They also said stuff like "I would say you draw like a 12 years old, but that would be a compliment, 'cause when I was 12, I used to draw at least three times as better than you" and "Also:I forgot, but if we're talking s*** about each other's works: not only you draw like a 8 years old, but the titles to your stories are also so f*** creepy that they make me nauseous even before reading the first chapter".

So "Frost" is creepy? I can get why "The Pod People Invasion" is creepy, but a title like "Don't Read This Book" isn't inherently creepy. "Soft Hands" isn't. You're kinda just cherry picking. I made this journal pot on DA because she had decided to keep this "thing" going on going by leaving those guest reviews and assuming the story of “The Pigshit Troll” was about her, and she was just a total jerk about it. I had left her alone for weeks, MONTHS even until she popped up making those guest reviews again. And then she wrote "P.S.S.: If you give my name out to anyone who has nothing to do with this, and tell them to hunt me down, like you did to my watchers (which, BTW, wouldn't surprise me if you did), that just proves you're indeed a troll, and no better than PigShit here, okay? ".

I was trying to be civil... despite how INCREDIBLY PISSED I am at you. And she also kept calling me a religious fanatic and other crap to her friends. I'm not, a simple look at my journals on DA or my posts here would prove that, so it amazes me that you couldn't be bothered to do research on me yet you expect me to instantly know you're from Brazil. So I find it interesting you expected me to look you up and find out things about you so I wouldn't leave a review you could find objectionable...but you couldn't be bothered to do any research about me. I mean, you seem very liberal, concerned about LGBTQ rights, worried about the deforestation in Brazil, those are big issues. And I sympathize also with having a fascistic leader in charge. You got Bolsanaro, we have Trump. I get how it feels.

That doesn't excuse how you behaved towards me. I'd stopped reviewing your stories, you're the one who brought all this back by reviewing mine. So if you want to talk, unblock me on FF.Net or here, and let's talk this out like adults. If you've got a problem with me, actually outright say it, don't leave it in a guest review.

Now, if she’d said "Look, ZAGR is just what I'm into, it's just a fetish of mine", then fine! FINE. She should have just SAID that to me. But don't just dismiss the moral questions I had by going "Don't like don't read". Because that's a fallacy. A story can start out great, but turn bad. Or start out bad, but turn better. And how am I supposed to know if it'll do either if I don't keep reading? Take, for example, Star Wars's sequel series. Started great! Amazing!...ended poorly. Star Wars prequels! Started bad! But the ending was pretty darn good! So don't just go "don't like, don't read/watch", because that's not a real, actual good argument.

I had hoped, writing all this, she’d actually try and reach out. Or she’d stop.

But she didn’t. Let me quote what she sent to me next. "I was only mad because you plain trolled me on your review. Did you ever heard of "common sense" or "constructive criticism"?"

Which my critique was.

It was a critique of the character behavior of the main characters, not trolling. Bringing up the fact that Zim had taken Gaz's family hostage and could kill them at any time, but we were supposed to overlook that is a perfectly reasonable critique.

But instead of responding normally, you just leave another guest review. I was willing to talk to you normally and to work things out fairly, but you keep being a jerk. Everything you've said hasn't been an actual, reasonable, fair criticism of any of my stories. It's just been 'ad hominem'.

What IS ad hominem? That’s when you don't address the SUBSTANCE of someone's argument, you just attack the person arguing. Like if someone says "I think your story is glorifying abusive, unhealthy relationships" and you go "Yeah but you're into the inflation fetish so there"! That doesn't actually address the problem brought up about your story, it's just you attacking the other person. And she was doing that.

For weeks I was nice enough to not bring up your name, but I said “if you keep it up, I’ll reveal your screen name because you're the one being unreasonable now by keeping this going, when I was willing to let sleeping dogs lie.”

Her response?

“Opinadora:I find it funny how you know you can't strike me back, because you know that I'm ten times more talented than you and that you're just jealous of me... u.u I'm not one to talk down on other artist's work, but that's what you get for being a snob. You're no better than me and you know it. In fact, you're no better than ANYONE, and I say that because you really are worthless. Yet you like to act superior and talk down on everyone to have some fun or... IDK. People like you shouldn't even be called "people". You're just psychos.”

She was engaging in the very behavior she said I was doing. I don’t get how she functions like this. This was getting insane.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!

She posted a of blog entry and I'll quote what they said. "I've been contacting a troll of mine" Anonymously, you did it via guest reviews on my story, you started all this again after I left you alone for months with three meanspirited reviews insulting me and my work when I'd been leaving you alone. And yeah, I responded by making the "fight" public, you refused to speak to me normally. I was willing to speak with you normally through notes or PMs on FF.Net or DA, you were the one who ignored that and kept insulting me in guest reviews because you still have me blocked. "He's not being civil enough to keep anyone anonymous." I haven't used either your real name (which I don't know) or your screen name. So this is just a lie. "He's going after my watchers to complain about me" I contacted ONE of your watchers who I knew that also made a story in which an entire chapter was deliberately invoked to insult me because an obvious villain character with my SCREEN NAME was used as an easy enemy for Zim to blow up. I contacted them to say "Can you please tell your friend to stop". Here's the full text, basically. "I’m sorry I keep sending these messages to you, the only reason I decided to note you to begin with was because your friend (NAME REDACTED) sent me three anonymous guest reviews, and called me a bunch of names like “douchebag” while insulting my art at the same time. I was willing to ignore her until she sent not one but THREE meanspirited shots at me. And I can’t reach her, so..." So it wasn't "your watchers" plural, it was ONE watcher whom I knew you knew because I couldn't find any other way to contact you, because, again, you childishly blocked me and refused my olive branch. "He should have enough common sense to know that his issue is with ME and none other." But you refuse to let me talk to you openly. On top of that, you're the one who blocked me, not the other way around. "He's such a lunatic he said he would give out my REAL NAME, if he knew. O.Ò" I never actually said that, I was clearly referring to your screen name. "I was nice enough to not bring up your name, but if you keep it up, I WILL use your screen name, because you're the one being unreasonable now by keeping this going, when I was willing to let sleeping dogs lie. " So now you're just lying. Plain and simple. I would say you should be ashamed of yourself, but it appears you don't understand shame. I know some people say "don't feed the trolls" but that doesn't always work. Sometimes shining a light on them is the only thing that does. And I swore to publish every word they've said to me if they kept doing meanspirited guest reviews done solely to insult me.

What was their response to THIS? Well, they called me a retard.

"Seu retardado:It isn't Stockholm syndrome...? And I KNOW that nobody will believe you 'cause you're just using ANONYMOUS reviews against me. Now, you've been quoting me on your tweets nonstop even after I blocked you. Just so you know, I ALSO reported you for abuse multiple times." "But go ahead. Do you really believe that they'll take your side of the story? I only gave out your name to warn my watchers about you ONCE, but you just keep quoting me when I blocked you, so we'll see what happens THEN." "VSF:Wow... You must REALLY be retarded. And here I was just saying that to insult you. O.Ò But I'm not apologizing for that when you didn't apologize for flaming my story, attacking my watchers, nor even trying to act superior, when... You're not. O.Ò And still you want to believe that you're a better artist than me. I should be laughing about that. 9.9 Seriously, what did you take? "

I’D HAD ENOUGH. Because they didn’t JUST call me all these names. They started going after fellow artists on FF.NET and friends of mine and leaving insulting guest reviews too. So...

What’s their name? I dunno their real name. But their screen name is Mundo De Bee. AKA Debtoonz AKA Dedehbee.

This is their page.

https://www.deviantart.com/mundo-de-bee

This is their Twitter. Both normal AND NSFW

https://twitter.com/Bee_Zorra

https://twitter.com/Bee_Zorra_Total

Their current FF.Net account (or at least I BELIEVE it is) https://www.fanfiction.net/u/8252861/Debtoons

And their instagram. https://www.instagram.com/bee.zorra/

They keep leaving really nasty reviews on my work. You can find some of their “samples” here. https://www.fanfiction.net/r/13241492/0/1/

Here's what they've also said.

And this:

They also said this on a friend's story in an anonymous review.

""Debtoons chapter 1 . 3h ago

You think Shaeril McBozo did all this? You're mistaken troglodytes. Shaeril McBrown is a stand by, she works for me, doesn't have a choice in the matter. Pigshit is an urban legend, he works for me. You're all such fools, you have yet to realize there is more to come, much more, and I will bring you all down. I have not forgotten what you all have done. I'm always watching, you're all my pawns, the game is mine, and I play to win. La Cefiera Queen Bee AKA Debtoons Also, stop copying my ZAGR ships, yours suck was."

I've tried to ignore her. But this has now been going on for MONTHS. I am done trying to be NICE, and trying to hold back. So I’m exposing her for what she is. She’s a bully. A hypocrite. A troll. She NEVER ACTUALLY RESPONDED to any of my actual problems about her story, instead just DEFLECTING and misrepresenting my points, then attacking the misrepresentations.

I wasn’t even sure, at first, it was her Even after getting another anonymous review from someone who said "I already know your name. Shaeril and little Debbie told me. Hi I'm Striberz. Actually, I'm anyone I want to be, but let's go with Striberz for now. Good to meet you b***!"

Little Debbie. Debtoonz.

She also sent THIS anonymous review to me.

The way the review is written, the style, the little details, bringing up "Oompa Loompa" and the like and other little things that I never brought up publicly...this is why I believe Mundo De Bee, aka Debtoonz, is leaving me targeted harassment reviews.

But even THEN. After ALL THIS. My online friends suggested hold on, slow down. One of them said "I'll ask her about this". To try and get her side of the story. MAYBE it wasn't her. MAYBE it was just someone posing as her and trying to emulate how she talked. Months later, Mundo had written another story called 'Something called love', another ZAGR and DATR story. In the story, Zim was 20 years old, but Gaz was only 16. A friend of mine reviewed the story, making mention of the age gap and said 'Wait, that's illegal'.

It was mostly a joke review but in all of five minutes, Mundo furiously spouted off not one, not two, but THREE pissed off PMs, calling my friend “Some Dude Who Likes To Write” on FF.Net retarded and the review retarded. Pretty horrible. Nevertheless, Some Dude wanted to be diplomatic, even after Mundo left a super nasty review of my story. Theyw went to her Deviantart and asked if she left that revieand she said 'No', but the second they brought up the 'Oompa Lumpa' insult, a comment that Mundo had used directly to me in a note, well...she hid the comment and then ignored the other ones that were left and blocked Some Dude, pretty much indicting herself.

Then, several weeks later, guess who leaves a review in which she accuses Some Dude of being a xenophobe, transphobe, misogynist and homophobe? Well, Some Dude knows someone who knows Mundo. They ask to talk. She PM’s them, she asks "What do you want to accuse me of now”. Some Dude says he’s not accusing her of anything, they just don’t like being called a bigot. Her response was to just deny leaving that review...and then to block them AGAIN. Then we see a series of dozens of insult reviews, false accusations against myself, Zim’sMostLoyalServant and Some Dude along with others, all being attacked by her. She also evidently admitted to Some Dude that if she came across any review Nick and I left, even if it was positive, she would report it and tell the admins we sent the authors death threats. Which would be a LIE.

And so...that’s what happened. Now you all know the truth. This woman from, I assume, Brazil, has been harassing me for quite a while. Me AND my friends.

All this...because I wrote a bad review of her story asking why the story was glossing over Zim's cruel behavior and how much the story seemed to be like "Twilight" in a problematic way. I could have overlooked Zim falling in love with Gaz easily. My issue was why the story was overlooking his blatantly evil mass murder/blackmailing stuff and not acting like these were bad things at all.

Her literal response was, and I again, I quote from her directly, "Go away, then. This story is happening whether you want it or not. :/" So no actual response as to why the story wasn't addressing the elephant in the room. Just that...and then blocking me when I tried to reply.

I call that "cowardly".

She's always responded like that. She never unblocked me, she just sent nasty guest reviews to me instead of reaching out to me directly on DA, or Twitter, or a variety of other methods. It can never be her directly putting her name on anything because she didn't have the courage to do that.

She's a coward, she's a bully, she's a troll, and she's a hypocrite, doing all the things she's accused me of. What projection. How disgusting.

When I have an issue with a story, you know what my issue usually is? A moral one. And I'll say things like "This looks like domestic abuse, why are you acting like it's a you-go-girl moment for Gaz" or "Why is the fact Zim caused millions of deaths just casually overlooked".

It's not "YOU SUCK!" or lots of swears or insults or all caps. Cuz that sort of thing IS a flame. That IS a troll.

Saying things like "Why is the story acting like this character is a badass when their behavior's morally repulsive" isn't a flame. Or being a troll.

Anyway, now you all know. Mundo de Bee, Debtoonz, La Cefiera Queen Bee, Dedehbee , whatever you wanna be called, this is what she’s like.

SHAME. ON. YOU.

#Debtoonz #debtoons #Mundo de Bee #La Cefiera Queen Bee #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction net #fanfiction.net #troll #trolling #Dedehbee #call out #call out post #Invader Zim #ZADR

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thezodiaczone · 4 years

Text

Scorpio Compatibility

SCORPIO + ARIES (MARCH 21 - APRIL 19) Aries' ruler, passionate Mars, also wields minor command over Scorpio (whose main overlord is Pluto). Fierce physical attraction draws your signs together, but it's a game of sexual gunpowder and erotic explosives. Not that either of you is afraid of such things. No sign is as darkly intense as watery Scorpio. When mixed with Aries' concentrated fire-power, you stir up quite the hydroelectric charge. However, this match can only last if Scorpio has evolved from a ground-dwelling, vengeful scorpion into an elevated "eagle" state. Here's the fundamental challenge: Aries takes; withholding Scorpio takes away. When Aries reaches out his grasping hand, Scorpio's first instinct is to jump back, which wounds the sensitive Ram. Aries energy is consuming, which leaves Scorpio weak-kneed but scared. Aries will need to temper the raw desire, or at least mask it to avoid overwhelming Scorpio. Jealous Scorpio will need to stop Google-stalking Aries and hiring private detectives whenever the independent Ram goes out for a beer with friends. One way in which you're alike? You're both hyper-sensitized to abandonment, and may even shun each other in a self-protection paradox: "Go away before you leave me." (This tactic only guarantees another hot reunion tryst.) Selfishness can also be this couple's downfall. Scorpio is the sign that rules other people's resources—his karmic job is to create wealth from another man's pocket. Aries is simply born entitled. In a sense, you both live by the credo "What's mine is mine; what's yours is mine." Who will refill the coffers once you empty them?

SCORPIO + TAURUS (APRIL 20 - MAY 20) You're opposite signs who can fall into a real love-hate dynamic, mainly since you both like to run the show. Taurus is the bossy Bull, and Scorpio rules power and control. It's like two mafia kingpins trying to rule the same territory: it works as long as you're loyal, but cross each other and you're getting whacked. Differences can be a turn-on for some signs, but for this pair, they're often a deal breaker. Taurus and Scorpio are both "fixed" signs, gifted at perseverance and holding your ground, terrible at adapting to other people's personalities. This inflexibility can lead to serious power struggles and enmity that burns bright after the relationship ends. If ever a couple needed a prenup, it's you. Better yet, you'll need to be extremely self-aware and conscious of your personal power. If you can avoid arousing the sleeping dragon in each other, there's plenty of rich material here. You both love music, food and sensual delights. You're equally intense about your beliefs and passions, and sex is a lusty, no-holds-barred affair. You'll give each other the attentive listening both of you crave. The Bull's earthy nature can be grounding for watery Scorpio, whose emotions can warp his perspective. Practical Taurus will pull Scorpio out of depressive slumps, and Scorpio will help Taurus look below the surface to see hidden motivations and agendas. You're loyal and protective of each other, so stay off each other's sacred turf and respect your differences.

SCORPIO + GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUNE 20) You live on completely different planes, which either turns you off or utterly fascinates you. Both of you are accustomed to reading people like flimsy comic books, then tossing them aside. Here, your X-ray vision fails to penetrate each other's psychic shields. Mutable Gemini is the shape-shifting Twin, home to a traveling cast of personalities. Intense Scorpio is shrouded in mystery and bottomless layers of complexity. Being baffled leaves you without the upper hand, but it also stokes your libido. You're piercingly smart signs who love a good puzzle—this is your romantic Rubik's cube. The challenge sets off sexual dynamite. You tease each other with cat-and-mouse evasions, neither of you making your attraction obvious. This prickles your insecurities, daring you to strive for the other's unbroken gaze. No two signs are as quietly obsessive as yours! There will be frustrating moments, too. You're both prone to depressive spells, and swing from giddiness to unreachable shutdown. Clever mind games edge on cruel or callow, breaking the trust that Scorpio needs. At times, airy Gemini may not be emotional or sensual enough for watery Scorpio; in turn, the Scorpion's emotional and physical passion can be overwhelming to Gemini. However, if you combine your strengths, you'll go far. Gemini is dilettante and a trivia collector who's always got a pocketful of creative ideas. Instinct-driven Scorpio rules details and research—this sign hones in like a laser and masters his chosen field. Whether it's starting a family or running a business, you can be an indefatigable team, with Gemini playing the rowdy ringmaster and Scorpio running the show from behind the scenes.

SCORPIO + CANCER (JUNE 21 - JULY 22) ♥♥♥♥ You're an ideal match, twin Water signs with deeply complementary natures. Highly suspicious and protective of your privacy, neither of you trusts easily. As a result, you intuitively trust each other. The good news is, you've bet on a winning sea-horse. These two signs can mate for life, and the emotional facets of your relationship deepen into an intimacy few couples reach. Romantic and sentimental occasions never go uncelebrated: birthdays, Valentine's Day, the five-month anniversary of the first time you said "I love you." Sex is a sacred, erotic act that can transport you on a one-way trip to Tantra-ville. You feel safe enough together to try anything. The challenge will be breaking the ice, since you both tend to clam up in a red-faced fluster or any icy aloofness around a new love interest. It helps to talk about music, books, films—anything but your feelings. Once you get past the awkward phase, it's smooth sailing. You genuinely enjoy each other's company, and like to do almost everything together. As parents, you're incredibly nurturing and hands-on, and may struggle to cut the cord when your kids reach adolescence. In fact, control is the big challenge for your signs. Jealous and possessive, you know how to avoid your mate's hot buttons—or to push them when you're feeling spiteful. (The Crab pinches and the Scorpion stings; both can wound the relationship fatally.) At times, Cancer's sulking seems childish to Scorpio, and Scorpio's sharp edges can maim the Crab's tender feelings. Fortunately, you know how to win your way back into each other's good graces once the moody spells pass.

SCORPIO + LEO (JULY 23 - AUGUST 22) This combustible combination drips with power plays, a white-hot dynamic you find infuriating and sexy in equal measure. In many ways, you're complete opposites. Secretive Scorpio is a private soul who rules the night. Leo is an exhibitionist ruled by the sun, and his piercing rays expose Scorpio's hidden shadows. Scorpio hates to feel this vulnerable—especially in public—yet, behind closed doors it can be thrilling. You're both passionate and imaginative in bed, with very little you won't try. As business partners and collaborators, you can make a dream team, too. You're both super intense, outdoing most people with your drive and focus. Leo plays the glamorous showstopper, and Scorpio acts as producer behind the scenes. (It worked for Leo Jennifer Lopez and Scorpio Diddy, who collaborated on her breakout album.) At least you don't compete for the spotlight, which can be a saving grace. But you'll struggle for the upper hand, since Scorpio likes to be in control and Leo is the bossy ruler of the jungle. Flirtatious, charismatic Leo can also spark Scorpio's jealous streak. Remember: darkness absorbs light. Leo must be careful not to get swept into Scorpio's powerful undertow and vengeful obsessions.

SCORPIO + VIRGO (AUGUST 23 - SEPTEMBER 22) ♥♥♥♥ Virgo and Scorpio are two of the zodiac's shrewdest signs. Your collective gaze misses nothing, and your conversations can be as hair-splitting as Freudian analysis. You're both insatiable when it comes to understanding the human soul, and examining your own neuroses can keep you busy for weeks. While your obsessive natures would drive other people mad, it only makes you more fascinated by each other. You're like two scientists in the lab of love, researching, analyzing, and measuring data. Moody and introverted, you both have spells where you crave total privacy, and you'll grant each other that space. You unconsciously absorb so much energy from your environments, and you need to clear yourselves on a regular basis. Nature is soothing—Scorpio is a Water sign, and Virgo is Earth—and you may enjoy a healthy or outdoorsy lifestyle. That can mean renting a private chalet on a pristine European lake, or devoting yourselves to raw food, vegetarianism, and yoga. Virgo is the zodiac's Virgin and Scorpio is the sex sign. In bed, Scorpio can be a bit too intense for earthy Virgo. You're both lusty sensualists, but if Scorpio breaks out the dungeon props and dominatrix gear, Virgo draws the line. The Virgin may indulge a fetish with strangers, but he keeps a strict boundary about how far he'll experiment with a partner. No matter. You're good friends and supportive partners who find beauty in the smallest details—the makings of a quality life commitment.

SCORPIO + LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 23 - OCTOBER 22) Libra is light and Scorpio rules darkness, but your searing sexual chemistry blazes through borders. As a couple, you're quick to bed and slow to wed. In many ways, the long prenuptial pas de deux is a mutual choice. Romantic Libra loves an extended courtship—long dinners, vacations and lavish gifts. Shrewd, suspicious Scorpio will subject Libra to a battery of character tests, gauging whether Libra can be trusted. Libra is an incurable dilettante whose surface skimming can feel lightweight beside Scorpio's obsessive, detail-focused nature. Because your temperaments are so different, your initial phase can be fraught with misunderstandings. Libra is an outgoing butterfly and an unrepentant flirt, provoking Scorpio's jealousy at every turn. Possessive Scorpio prefers passionate bedside confidentials to paparazzi and parties, but Libra quickly feels smothered without a social scene. To say you'll need compromise is an understatement. Combine your strengths, though, and you can also make a powerful society couple—with Scorpio dominating the world from behind the scenes, and Libra presiding as its lovely, doe-eyed diplomat.

SCORPIO + SCORPIO (OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 21) We like this combination, for seldom can any other sign so skillfully navigate your unspoken power dynamics. Talk isn't just cheap between you; it's unnecessary. You understand each other's wiring based on pure primal instinct, much like a dog leaves his scent as a calling card. We forget that human beings are animals, an amnesia that plagues modern civilization. Yet, Scorpios know that the one you love might also become your prey (if you're hungry or threatened), or could attack you by night. Your ruler is Pluto, god of the underworld; learning your mate's shadow side is a prerequisite to trust. Scorpio is a master at subtle cues, emotional intelligence, and feeling your way through each other's dark depths as though reading Braille. When it's time to let the other be the Top, you submit, then artfully ease him down to the mat when it's time to rule again. Power glides into your gullets like oysters, every bit the aphrodisiac. In the bedroom, you sexy, spiritual stinger-tails make a Tantric twosome with a twist. There's a hint of force and a danger to all you do, even in the way you fiercely protect your children and property. The real threat of this relationship is to the outside world, for you make an invincible familia that could send Tony Soprano on the lam.

SCORPIO + SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 22 - DECEMBER 21) Level with us: Would you really be interested in each other without the element of danger? There's always something that feels a little dirty here—and it's not because you share an aversion to showering (although the musky pheromones might play in…). Your combined willpower—enough to combust a small village—can yoke you together despite your own best interests. The issue is anatomical: Scorpio rules the crotch and Sagittarius rules the hips and thighs. From the waist down, a magnetic field pulls you into insatiable sexual attraction. Above the midsection, it's a love-hate drama as you battle for mental and emotional domination, one-upping and offending each other at every turn. You both love to have the last word, and deep down, you're pretty sure you're smarter than the rest of the population. As friends, this makes you smugly superior comrades, but in love, you tend to unleash your intellectual weapons on each other. Sag's sarcasm and Scorpio's acid-washed retorts will leave you both wounded and estranged. Yet, a good shag seems to erase your short-term memory between attacks. For best results, remain naked at all times, and only discuss problems in the afterglow. Grant each other your own turf and never cross the line of demarcation.

SCORPIO + CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 22 - JANUARY 19) ♥♥♥♥ If you were to sign a pre-nup, Schedule A must clearly designate who will play the "Top" and who will be the "Bottom." After your attorneys haggle over the prone position, you may just call off the engagement. An inability to reach settlement is likely for two uncompromising Alphas such as yourselves. Although your business-savvy signs can make quite the contemporary Napoleon and Josephine, LLC, there are terms that must be negotiated in advance. For one, you'll need to swear off secrecy—and that will be the true test of your relationship. Scorpio and Capricorn are masters of underhanded power plays that could topple this merger fast. Your first job: learn and practice direct communication ("whip me like THIS" or "no, darling, the leather corset, not the PVC"). Master it, and the rest is a cakewalk. You can lash each other to bedposts, tryst on the conference table in your glass-paned office tower, or earn your mile-high wings with nary a flight attendant knowing. The 2.5 kids you produce will have some interesting conception stories, that's for sure. Not that you'll ever tell. A little secrecy with the rest of the world is fine. Just make sure to erase those sex tapes before the housekeeper finds them.

SCORPIO + AQUARIUS (JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 18) Years after their modern-day Mrs. Robinson relationship ricocheted the term "cougar" into cliché-dom, the Scorpio-Aquarius pairing of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher can still baffle the naked eye. Scorpio is an intense, seductive creature with ruthless ambition, eagle instincts and a complicated psyche. Aquarius is a silly prankster and a cold-souled nomad who avoids emotion, then releases it in embarrassing blurts of sloppy sentiment. You're certainly an odd couple, down to your values, style and interests. Then there's the power issue to settle. Scorpio wants ultimate control over everything, while rebel Aquarius chafes at any restraint. While Aquarius is happy to hand rulership of the household to Scorpio, any breach of personal freedom will be an instant deal-breaker. Possessive Scorpio must accept that Aquarius is a social creature with friends from all walks of life, and curb the jealousy. Aquarius will need to cut off a few friends (the ex you met at a strip club, the swingers "who are actually really cool") and adopt a few of Scorpio's interests, like Kaballah for Ashton. So where's the click? Different as you are, you both prefer a mate who's hard to figure out: it staves off boredom. To keep this strong, borrow each other's strengths. Aquarius needs Scorpio's depth, and Scorpio lightens up from Aquarius' outrageous jokes and impersonations.

SCORPIO + PISCES (FEBRUARY 19 - MARCH 20) ♥♥♥♥ You're both "spiritual beings having a human experience," Finding an equally sensitive, divinely connected soulmate feels like coming home. Scorpio and Pisces are compatible artistes who love music, drama and romance. Like a lighthouse for two ships adrift on the emotional high seas, your relationship is an anchor and a haven. However, it's not immune to the turbulence caused by your secretive, Water sign natures. Emotional withdrawal is a self-protective act you've both honed over the years, but this tactic backfires when used against each other. The trick is learning to catch a bad mood when it starts, then processing the feelings instead of lashing out. Once the righteous anger and wounded egos kick in, you're like two runaway trains waging a war of domination and submission. Scorpio control tussles with Pisces guilt, Scorpio withholding wrestles Pisces evasion, and so on. Yet, you both want the same thing: a partner who inspires absolute, unshakeable trust with a money-back guarantee. What you need to learn is how to give it before you get it. To adapt the saying, be the change you want to see in your partner. It will keep you together for lifetimes.

#scorpio #compatibility #astrology #zodiac #love #relationships #scorpio compatibility

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anarchistcommunism · 4 years

Link

The police exercise legitimate authority.

In fact, the average police officer is not a legal expert; he probably knows his department protocol, but very little about the actual laws. This means his enforcement involves a great deal of bluffing, improvisation, and dishonesty. Police lie on a regular basis: “I just got a report of someone of your description committing a crime around here. Want to show me some ID?”

The police are ordinary workers just like us; they should be our allies.

Unfortunately, there’s a big gap between “should be” and “are.” The role of the police is to serve the interests of the ruling class; anyone who has not had a bad experience with them is likely privileged, submissive, or both. Today’s police officers know exactly what they’re getting into when they join the force—people in uniform don’t just get cats out of trees. Yes, most take the job because of economic pressure, but needing a paycheck is no excuse for evicting families, harassing young people of color, or pepper-spraying demonstrators. Those whose consciences can be bought are everyone’s potential enemies, not allies.

Maybe there are some bad apples, but some police officers are good people.

Perhaps some police officers have good intentions, but once again, insofar as they obey orders rather than their consciences, they cannot be trusted.

Police can win any confrontation, so we shouldn’t antagonize them.

With all their weapons, equipment, and surveillance, the police can seem invincible, but this is an illusion. They are limited by all sorts of invisible constraints—bureaucracy, public opinion, communication breakdowns, an overloaded judicial system. If they don’t have vehicles or facilities available to transport and process a great number of arrestees, for example, they can’t make mass arrests.

Police are a mere distraction from the real enemy, not worth our wrath or attention.

Alas, tyranny is not just a matter of politicians or executives; they would be powerless without those who do their bidding. When we contest their rule, we’re also contesting the submission that keeps them in power, and sooner or later we’re sure to come up against some of those who submit. That being said, it’s true that the police are no more integral to hierarchy than the oppressive dynamics in our own communities; they are simply the external manifestation, on a larger scale, of the same phenomena. If we are to contest domination everywhere, rather than specializing in combating certain forms of it while leaving others unchallenged, we have to be prepared to confront it both in the streets and in our own bedrooms; we can’t expect to win on one front without fighting on the other. We shouldn’t fetishize confrontations with uniformed foes, we shouldn’t forget the power imbalances in our own ranks—but neither should we be content merely to manage the details of our own oppression in a non-hierarchical manner.

We need police to protect us.

According to this line of thinking, even if we might aspire to live in a society without police in the distant future, we need them today, for people are not ready to live together peacefully without armed enforcers. As if the social imbalances and fear maintained by police violence are peace! Those who argue that the police sometimes do good things bear the burden of proving that those same good things could not be accomplished at least as well by other means.

Resisting the police is violent—it makes you no better than them.

According to this line of thinking, violence is inherently a form of domination, and thus inconsistent with opposing domination. Those who engage in violence play the same game as their oppressors, thereby losing from the outset.

#police

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neostalgia · 5 years

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Dude mdzs is fiction, stop making it about fetishizing a relationship, religion or real life politics. It's not. It's a work a fiction. Stop ruining it. Because the fandom is actually nice. But well then there are ppl like you. (And I'm not religious at all so that has gotten nothing to do with this shit. Plus what about people being genuinely interested in chinese culture. You wanna seclude your country from the world? Go off but dont bother the fandom with this)

Hi there anon, I’m gonna work off the assumption that you’re talking about my post here. I spoke in very broad terms, so I’ll do my best to shed a little more light on my concerns of the matter. What I wrote on that post operates as a reminder for members of the MDZS fandom to exercise caution lest we continue perpetuating harmful racist and homophobic stereotypes in the content we create, nothing more. I only wish to promote the respectful demonstration of Chinese culture. All types of media, fictional or otherwise, mold real-world mentalities and have real-life consequences. Books are dangerous! That’s why they get banned, and that’s why LWJ and WWX’s relationship was censored by the Chinese government.

Sure, it’s easy to write MDZS off as an apolitical fantasy novel set in ancient China, but the source material itself is full of socio-political commentary, which debunks the idea that this novel is mere fiction. On a surface level, the novel is about the power dynamics and struggles between five large families: is that not political enough? But if you dig even an inch deeper, it’s very clear that MDZS is rife with anti-Japanese sentiment. That manifests through the Wen Sect, what with their red and white clothing and their association with the sun: MXTX specifically recontextualized a piece of ancient Chinese folklore and grafted its imagery onto the entire Sunshot Campaign in the novel. The name of the Nightless City is likely a reference to a tonally incendiary letter that a Japanese diplomat sent to the Chinese emperor at the time wherein he began with the line: “The Son of Heaven where the sun rises [Japan], to the Son of Heaven where the sun sets [China], may good health be with you.” MXTX was very heavy-handed in using the sun motifs as a means to propagate those anti-Japanese mentalities.

Regarding homophobic attitudes: what MXTX imbedded into MDZS makes no sense in Chinese historicity. Her choice in vilifying MXY (as seen with other characters’ treatment of him in the novel) holds little historical sway considering that homosexuality was something akin to normal at the time. Moreover, the general attitude of treating WWX as the “wife” in their relationship only further imposes heterosexual standards on a same-sex relationship, which really isn’t great, now, is it? Granted, MXTX did force that standpoint, but it certainly was exacerbated when some translators decided to ignore the gender-neutral term for “married couple” (夫妻 in the original text) and decided to call WWX and LWJ as “husband and wife.”

Religiosity is important, too. I’ve seen a lot of content where the Lan sect is portrayed as Catholic (for which I can see the parallels, considering the Lan’s propensity for repression and extreme punishment) when they are canonically Buddhist: why partake in the erasure of this fact in favor of a colonialist and racist narrative?

The thing is, I am happy that MDZS has attracted mainstream attention. So far the book and the attention it has garnered––internationally speaking––has promoted the spread of Chinese culture, which is something that has been sidelined in modernity. It’s nice to see people return develop a genuine curiosity for it. That said, navigating the realm of Chinese culture and history is difficult because it is uncharted territory for so many people, which is why I, as a Chinese lesbian who grew up in mainland China, wanted to bring attention to some concerning patterns of behavior I see. I truly mean no ill will, and only hope to educate and discourage laziness within non-Chinese consumers as respectfully as I can.

I implore of everyone to please listen to Chinese––and Chinese LGBT+ voices––around the discussion of MDZS and anything tangent to Chinese culture. Their voices, opinions, and concerns take precedence.

#mxtx critical #long post #encouraged to rb #mdzs #anons #answered #qi.txt

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