#the existence of lgbt people is not inherently political

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Me watching the LGBT community who almost never rarely gives black women and girls, asexuals, or aromantics genuine respect, pretend we’re all friends and have always treated us right the minute it’s June 1st and want to use black women(mainly darkskinned) and girls as their little poster girl:

#asexual #aromantic #It’s always coming from the non black people(including other racial minorities) too #and the stuff coming out of the lgbt community towards black women and girls has gotten real nasty #i have seen numerous people(although they’re mainly black) say that black people are inherently queer because we’re unnatural and strange #in the eyes of white supremacy and white people #like are you ok in the head??? why do you want to say that black people are inherently strange and we defy every social standard #as of our existence is a social statement #I personally think the worst thing I’ve personally heard(from yet another black person) #was that black women and girls would get seen as men or trans women because our hair is nappy #what does our natural hair have to do with getting seen as men or trans women?? #and the white lgbt people just applauded them and hearted their tweet #it annoys me how for some weird reason political and social movements will mainly use black women especially darker black women as rep #and It’s almost always by a non black person #like why don’t you use a girl or woman from your own race in your political and social justice artwork #oh wait that’s right #because in general the lgbt community views black women and girls as magical negras who will be their ride or die sista soulja #who will mule and fight for them no matter how badly they outright insult us or sneakily talk badly about us #pride month is basically another black history month when it comes to how everyone reacts to it #every reaction to it is superficial and they’re only celebrating us because they feel like they had to or wanted social points #had it been any other month they would’ve been focusing on the group that they belong to

[nekropsii]

Hello, pardon and I don’t want to be a bother but I would like to ask for your take on something. And if you’re not down to answer this question, that’s completely fine, you seem to make large opinion posts on a noteworthy basis so I understand if you don’t have the energy or motivation to give an opinion right now.

But I wanted to ask for your take on the ethics of enjoying Homestuck in the modern day. Many people such as myself and seemingly you as well enjoy Homestuck but are painfully aware of all the gross stuff in it. And as I see the comic pop up in more and more dni lists, with people claiming that enjoyers of Homestuck are supporting these things inherently, no matter the fact that most of us stand against Hussie and attempt to reclaim Homestuck as something to express joy and our identities in, it makes me wonder more and more the ethics of enjoying Homestuck. Since you seem to have thoughts on the matter, I was wondering if you’d like to share your take.

I once again want to stress though, absolutely no pressure to answer. I am not entitled to your time or hearing your opinion. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. I was just asking in case you wanted to speak about it.

Hi, Anon! This is a very interesting question, and you were right to assume I have thoughts on it. They might not be as long and complicated as some of my other essays, but they still exist, and I would quite like to share them. Thank you for the opportunity.

My opinion on The Ethics of Enjoying Homestuck is that I believe it's perfectly fine to do so. I also think it's perfectly fine to dislike, or hate, or not want to associate with it or any fans of it. This is a personal boundary set by and for the individual, and it's not my business to question, nor my place to cross it. However, I don't really agree with the way some people go about communicating or enforcing this boundary. I've seen some people put Homestuck and Harry Potter on the same level before. I've seen some say that enjoyment of either piece of fiction is, at least in part, comparable. I heavily disagree with this- and the fact that this is a point that comes up shows to me that there's quite a few people who don't actually fully understand why so many people are saying to stop supporting Harry Potter.

The conflation of the two things reads to me as if some believe that Harry Potter has been "cancelled for having a problematic creator"- and that's not wholly true. Yes, J.K. Rowling is, by definition, problematic, and she is the creator of the Harry Potter franchise, but people have drawn such a hard line against supporting the series not just because J.K. Rowling is Transphobic, but because she has honest to god legislative power. She is, as it stands, currently the backbone of the TERF movement, and is spending a lot of time and money to ensure that Transphobes dominate the government. Monetary support of Harry Potter pools into her funds, which adds to her ability to further Trans Genocide. Communal/Fandom support of Harry Potter increases her visibility as a public figure, which adds to her ability to further Trans Genocide. J.K. Rowling has made very clear statements saying that she takes any support of the Harry Potter franchise- any at all, including Queer/LGBT+ Friendly fan content- as support of her beliefs. Support of Harry Potter is a method of legitimizing and validating Transphobia, and is being used as a way to further Trans Genocide.

If J.K. Rowling was just an average Transphobe, the outcry would not be nearly as severe, and the line wouldn't be nearly as clear cut. It would just be disappointing, bring to mind the phrase "same shit as always", and many would make the personal choice to distance themselves from it. But that's not the reality we live in. We live in the reality where J.K. Rowling has sway on the government, and is getting real people hurt and killed.

Andrew Hussie, creator of Homestuck, however, is just some random asshole with no political power outside of his own vote. Yes, Homestuck is filled with plenty of unsavory elements- random out-of-place interjections of Hussie's own past bigotry included- but at the end of the day, Homestuck has no influence over government action. Hussie has no tangible political influence, and does not want to have tangible political influence. We don't even have evidence that Hussie still holds the same beliefs as he did during and prior to the creation of Homestuck. This is just some random indie comic, made by some random guy in 2009. J.K. Rowling is dangerously close to billionaire status, and using that power for evil.

It's fine to like something that's not very morally clean- or something made by a not very morally clean artist, during a not very morally clean point in time in a not very morally clean place in this world. It's okay. The fixation some have on this is OCD-inducing. The best that can be asked is that one recognizes the bigotry, and doesn't perpetuate them. That's all. You can read, watch, play, and enjoy just about anything, as long as you don't make the more unsavory elements out to be a good thing. Don't start acting like Racism is awesome, or Antisemitism is cool, or Transphobia is based, et cetera, and you'll be totally fine.

The ability to find value in something impure or unsavory is a valuable one. Some may not want to associate with that, or find the particular flaw in the work in question to be too uncomfortable to stomach, and that's fine, too. Not everyone can just sit through Era-Appropriate Casual Homophobia or Racism and come out feeling fine enough to keep going. I'd argue- hope, even- that most feel at least a bit bothered by such things. It's all about personal tolerance levels. No one's committing a moral crime by either enjoying it or not wanting to even look at it.

#homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #cw transphobia #homestuck.pdf #nekro.pdf #nekro.sms

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for ditching a long-term friend?

I (35F) had a friend (S, 33F) for years. We bonded the first night we met. We had ups an downs, and went everywhere together. I helped her kick her bf out after he tried to hit her and helped her through two miscarriages. She helped me through a family member death and a career change. We would speak almost every day, for hours.

She was always slightly more conservative than me. When 2016 rolled around, she supported Trump. I didn't like that, but it wasn't my place to bitch about it to her, it was her decision.

By 2020, she'd changed. Idk how it happened but she went from slightly conservative Christian who loved school and being a nurse and had friends who were LGBT+ (myself included), to deadnaming trans patients, refusing to do a blood draw on a patient after she said it was a prerequisite for an abortion, forcing patients to pray with her, even when they and their families spoke out against it, and bugging her coworkers to pray with her. She got fired from the hospital and was completely unable to hold down a job after that, and went through about 6 jobs that year, getting fired from them all. She got with a guy (B, 32M) and he is a... Well, he is a damn nut. Flat earther, antivaxxer, anti- Department of Education, anti-cell phone, thought bluetooth was turning kids trans, and that covid is 100% a hoax. Absolutely bonkers. But she was smitten, so I supported her, barely.

It's important to note that I backed away from her a bit after she was fired from the hospital. We were only speaking once every few weeks at that point.

Shortly after she got with B, my nephew was born. My nephew is half Mexican, half white. She called him "cute for a half n*g" because she thought my SIL is black. This blew me away because she's half Mexican. I told her off and distanced myself even further.

In 2021, she was a huge supporter of Jan 6th. She LAUGHED when that one cop killed himself. I stopped talking to her completely after that. Deleted her contact info and forgot she existed for almost 2 years.

Cut to October of this year, and she calls me. I didn't recognize her #. She and B are getting married! And she wants me to be a bridesmaid!!! Yayy! (sarcasm). She told me a long-winded variation of "I know we haven't talked for a bit but I promise I'm not as bonkers as I was, I think I let Facebook suck me in, and I'm sorry."

So, I let her back in. Not emotionally, mind you. She's not the woman I once knew anymore. I don't tell her where our house is (my partner and I moved while S and I weren't speaking), and I didn't tell her what car I drove. I didn't tell her anything about our lives, and kept the conversation solely on her, to try and read her out a bit.

Sure enough, two conversations in she starts ranting about how black people are black because they received the mark of Cain (it's a Christian thing? I guess? Idk I'm not religious) and thus should be avoided because they are inherently "up to no good," and that systemic racism doesn't exist because the US has had a black president.

I roll my eyes, hang up the phone, block her number, and end it, permanently, right there. I received a few odd texts from a number I didn't recognize, probably B's phone, so I just blocked that number and deleted them without reading most of them.

Cue our mutual friends. 🙄

She misses you! People can have differing opinions and still be friends! Why are you being so closed minded? She told us you yelled at her! 😭😭😭

Lol. I didn't say a word, but whatever.

I'd rather adjust my life to her absence than adjust my morality to her ignorance.

My partner is on my side, they saw her change, too. But our mutual friends are still upset. I shared some the racist and sexist text convos between me and S, and it's like they hadn't even considered my side of the situation. One is on my side now, the other two are still questioning how I can throw away a 6 year friendship over "differing politics."

So, Tumblr, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole #suicide cw #slur cw

[refloralisation]

Amazed at the narratives coming out of the dont worry darlings shitstorm. Either Olivia Wilde is a cougar/predator who completely destroyed her marriage and preyed on poor, innocent Harry Styles; or Olivia Wilde is only getting beaten on because misogyny, because she dared to do what men do all the time. Florence Pugh is devil incarnate for not being professional and doing the press tour. Olivia Wilde is somehow a feminist who is now seeing her downfall.

Consider: Harry and Olivia are both adults with presumable intact cognitive functions, have been in the industry long enough to be fully aware of how decent professionals behave, and yet chose to initiate and continue a sexual relationship on set that made their co-stars uncomfortable. Both of them are equally culpable for creating this environment; at all times, both of them could have stopped to think about what they were doing. Harry Styles is not an innocent victim; nor is Olivia Wilde a predator.

Consider: Men having the licence to do dodgy for ages isn’t the argument that you think it is. Some things are dodgy irrespective of who does them. Olivia Wilde isn’t a feminist just because she did what men do. In a professional work environment, any two people being involved in a romantic/sexual relationship does not exist in a vacuum, it is situated in a larger context where unimaginable amounts of money, time and effort are going into creating a product with only a 50% chance to succeed. Instead of engaging in whataboutism, perhaps the conversation needs to be on what acceptable standards of behaviour on a set actually are. How much can you put on “creative synergy” and “creative licence” and get away with? Where should one draw the line?

Consider: Professional behaviour should never violate someone’s boundaries. The derogatory way in which Ms. Wilde spoke about Florence Pugh in that infamous video was extremely unkind and unprofessional. Florence is right to draw her boundaries and go about her business politely. Drawing boundaries isn’t “unprofessional” or “rude”. She’s not obligated to be nice to someone who was rude about them.

Consider: a woman making films isn’t inherently a feminist act. Olivia Wilde isn’t a feminist by the virtue of being a woman in the workplace. We need to ask ourselves tough questions; feminism isn’t a flag you wave around. It is movement, it is a war, it is fighting in a war that won’t end in your lifetime. Instead of sucking Olivia Wilde’s toes; ask yourselves tough questions. How many women did she hire as crew on her set? Did she give equal pay to these women? How much did Harry Styles make compared to Florence Pugh? (Reportedly, Pugh made less than Styles despite being lead, but i can’t find verified sources for this) What about on-set energy? Did she foster an environment that wasn’t only professional but also kind, and gave women the space to express discomfort? Of the women she hired in her film, how many were POC? How many were neurodivergent? What kind of men did she work with during the making of this film?

Glass ceilings don’t get shattered because one white woman who is conventionally beautiful was able to make films. Glass ceilings get shattered when women uplift women, at the cost of labels like “feminist bitch” and “biased” and “d*ke” - when women sacrifice the social capital they would get from men by turning their back on women, and choosing women at each turn (like men have chosen men but that is neither here nor there); by being aggressively, militantly pro women, pro LGBT as well as anti class, anti caste, anti racism etc.

* trans women are women

#dont worry darlings #dwd #olivia wilde #florence pugh #harry styles #shea lebouf #a rant #feminism #film #chris pine #gemma chan #venice film festival

[animentality]

Thoughts on this post?:

https://www.tumblr.com/animentality/64152073250/abc-newsman-proves-danger-of-allowing-transgender?source=share

thanks for reminding me to delete that post I made in literally 2013 when I was 15 because it doesn't reflect who I am as a person anymore.

is this supposed to be a gotcha?

are people supposed to be born woke?

I am amazed you managed to even find this post with like 6 notes, where I legitimately asked people for their opinion on the subject because I was unsure about it and I had certain taught biases that I hadn't learned to abandon yet.

it might amaze you to know that I once told a guy he'd make a great wife when he mentioned he liked cooking.

this was in 2012.

how cisheteronormative of me, right?

but you were all so woke in 2012, weren't you?

you never said anything that was not PC as a teenager.

you never told edgy jokes or said stupid offensive things.

you were born perfect, I'm sure.

it's not like I'm proud of the dumb stuff I said.

but I didn't start identifying as nonbinary until I was 18, and I didn't start identifying as trans until I was 21.

I was raised by an older mother, not a gen x er or a millennial, but a baby boomer, whose inherent biases still sometimes surface in me when I least expect it.

I was raised Catholic.

I had JUST STARTED PUBLIC SCHOOL, after spending literally 6 years in a fucking Catholic school.

I DIDNT UNDERSTAND transgender issues, nor did most people in 20 fucking 13.

how the fuck could I

my mom to this day doesn't know what the fuck nonbinary or trans are, and I identify as both.

how was I supposed to know?

I'd never even met anyone in the LGBT community at that point, nor had I realized I belonged there either.

I literally didn't even know I was pan at that point, or that I was nb/trans myself, or how I felt about most political topics.

that's why I ASKED.

and I said the wrong things. yeah, I did.

but no one had taught me the right words.

and in that post, no one bothered to explain it to me either.

I had to learn that over time.

and guess what?

I'm still not perfect now. I'm still going to make mistakes because times change, as they always do.

and all we can do is try and forgive people who are trying and doing their best, and remaining open minded to things they don't understand right from fucking birth.

but by all means, do search my history to your hearts content.

honestly, I kinda wanna see what dirt you find because this was an interesting look at the kinds of things I thought in 2013.

I can look back at myself and see how far I've come.

this post was interesting to read for me because it was wildly off mark, it misgendered trans women, and it lacked political, historical, and social understanding...

and so?

yeah?

it's offensive. it's bad.

and I didn't know any better.

but lol.

people learn things. people change their opinions.

if you people spend all your time digging up dirt and trying to cancel people for who they were, rather than who they are, or who they're trying to be... I have news for you.

your existence is pointless and your efforts are meaningless.

but I am flattered you did such a deep dive, anon.

please do find more and send them to me.

I'd like to know what other gotchas you can yank out of my ass.

I used to be on Facebook in 2011 before I deleted it in like 2013.

see if you can find anything there.

I used to write cringy poetry. it might be funny to read now.

[lumberjackloverboy-moved]

“being lgbt/queer is an inherently radical act and assimilating ourselves into cishet society just ignores our history and culture while also harming our ability to organize and protect ourselves” and “existing as a political entity is exhausting and horrible for your mental health and some people just want to be able to exist and live without being alienated from the world around them” are ideas that can 100% co exist. the lgbt/queer community is vast and complex, and someone choosing to be stealth or get married and have kids and someone choosing to fight the good fight and define themselves radically are both valid ways to exist as a queer person

#if one more person calls me a bootlicker for being steal I WILL commit violence

[genderqueerpositivity]

Not to be controversial this morning, but I have to say that seeing this dramatic increase in discourse on my social media feeds because of pride month is hilariously sad.

We are currently seeing a massive surge in transphobia and homophobia.

Republican governors are passing anti-trans bills, literally harming trans people to build support for their party. Trans youth are losing their healthcare and being banned from playing sports. LGBTQ+ teachers in certain states are at risk of losing their jobs. The supreme court stands to dismantle the legal right to medical privacy, abortion, and bodily autonomy literally any day now, with marriage equality likely to follow.

Conservatives in North Carolina are threatening pride organizations for planning to host a drag queen story hour event, while Texas Republicans are seeking to ban such events entirely. Montana has made it almost impossible for trans people to correct their birth certificates and in Florida (already home to a "don't say gay" law) they want to ban Medicaid coverage for gender affirming care for everyone regardless of age. Last month South Carolina banned trans kids from playing on teams that align with their gender identity and everyone has already forgotten about it, while Ohio may soon pass a similar bill that could also force a kid whose gender is questioned to have a pelvic exam in order to continue playing on a girl's sports team.

Do you know what Republicans don't care about? They don't care if "aces are inherently lgbt" and they don't care if "queer is a slur". They don't give a shit about the differences between bisexual and pansexual and they don't give a fuck how many letters belong in the acronym, and they especially don't give a shit about "kink at pride" discourse because they already believe that we are all sinful deviant perverted gr/oom/ers and no amount of engaging in respectability politics will ever convince them otherwise.

LGBT community discourse is so fucking disconnected from reality. Republicans are really trying to make it impossible for us to exist, I'm over here worrying that my state government will pass the bill that will make it legal for medical professionals to refuse to treat me due to their "conscience" because I'm queer and trans, and folks in my Instagram feed are having flag discourse. It's fucking surreal.

#op #discourse tw #homophobia tw #transphobia tw #as much as i do want to go to pride this year #pride month doesn't feel like a celebration this year

[kaleidescopeghost]

Hey with the stuff on womanism, why do you think those like 2-3 white folks were say hating? On the black community, from what I saw they saw a word they never read before and were confused. Instead of educating people told them to choke and die which I don’t think helped anyone out

Well, I don't think those folks were intentionally hating on specifically the Black community as a whole, but they were definitely hating on the term Womanism (simply for,, sounding Black and being a term they never heard before, even if they didn't realize that was Why the term sounded so strange and unnecessary to them) ((probably bc they don't ever actually Talk to Black people tbh)).

However, that being said, it was Not just a case of innocent ignorance, they weren't Just Confused, they were incredibly rude and that's a Major distinction that needs to be acknowledged--Even the people who looked it up on a very surface level immediately agreed with the people who had No clue what it was Stupid and basically pointless, which was just ignorant and rude even when read with good faith. They looked at this term that wasn't theirs, wasn't even About them, and started piling up on this one Black person for calling them out on their aggressive and willfully ignorant behavior (one of those people being an open LGBTQIA+ exclusionist who has a long ass post with the phrase "inclusion is harmful" in it and the Context being they believe the queer community should be, well. Just LGBT, and they consider Q+ folk to be just,, inherently invalid which is Just nasty behavior that I want to mention because it matters who says what and what they believe in conversations like these).

Frankly, I don't mind educating. I'm very used to it and I'm good at what I do-- but this Black person showed discomfort and distress because these folks were just. Attacking a movement that is Important To Black People and Other People Of Color, and they were met with "Just Educate These Adults!!!" "Do you get mad when Literal Children don't know things?? Do you tell them to die when they have Questions???" "People don't know keywords to search for!!" And pushing all this blame for the situation on this person which wasn't fair because truthfully we live in the Internet age and marginalized communities don't Owe anyone a calm, polite, collected, gentle education when those same people are calling shit they don't even understand stupid just for existing, especially when it's culturally relevant, and we're Especially allowed to get mad about the way these people can just Say Whatever and immediately get backed up when they were just incredibly rude for no reason-- we're allowed to get rude back too! :') in all honesty, it was the call out and the disapproval that Was the education ( the lesson being What They Said Was Bad! And that they needed to go give themselves some reeducation bc their ignorance is leading them to say harmful things). It can be a tough pill to swallow, especially when you don't know the gravity of what you're even saying and then being met with harsh rejection, but the only reason that happened was because these folks looked at "Feminism But Black Inclusive" and immediately was like "this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard or seen" 😭 and they Swarmed and Ganged Up On the first person who called them out. Not okay behavior. We're not going to be nice to people who can't A.) genuinely just look things up. If you look up Womanism, you'll see your search engine literally Gives You key terms to help you in your research. And B.) be open minded and calm when hearing Black terms.

We just can't constantly sacrifice our health for these people, because it is genuinely a lot of work and pressure we're expected to just Offer Up at any time simply Because we are Black and just magically know everything and are now also expected to be spokespeople for our entire race which is unfair.

So yeah, I don't think it was completely unfair that this Black person was mad. They used ways of expressing that in a way I wouldn't have, but I'm very much against the idea that Black people need to be Perfect, Articulate, and Polite to people who are aggressors and who speak ignorance. It might not seem like it to someone who doesn't know what Womanism is, but those people dropped the ball in a Major Way. You can't just trigger marginalized people like that and expect a kind, specifically catered education from strangers just because You don't know something-- sometimes you say something fucked up and people yell at you and everybody should be able to learn from their mistakes in these scenarios.

(also, it could be the autism, but they weren't telling people explicitly to die :') just to choke lol in my mind people can survive choking lol + the whole reason it was said was to be like "you might as well be physically unable to speak because I don't care what you have to say here". Like I said, not the way I choose to express myself personally, but I get why it happened and I don't think they deserve crucifixion about it and I Definitely don't think their anger invalidates them at all.)

TLDR:

BIPOC, Especially Black people do not owe anybody an education. We're just people and it's really strange we're expected to be polite teachers in the face of ignorance and aggression.

Those people were willfully ignorant, called the wrong thing stupid, and then got yelled at by people who belong to a marginalized demographic where that word really matters to them. It's not nice, but it is fair.

It shouldn't be our cross to bear, to educate people who act like this, simply because we were born Black or otherwise POC. Honestly, a lot of the stuff we know, we know because we had to educate ourselves using the same internet we're asking them to use but during our time, there were way less resources. To us, it very much is a matter of needing these people to Want to put in their Own work on their Own time, using the resources that already exist. There's loads of BIPOC authors, journalists, and creators who talk loads about this stuff, and the learning process is kind of like math in the way you can't always just be given information plain and simple on a silver plate without a Lot of other context. Which is also why we have such an emphasis on educating yourself. All you gotta do, essentially, is check Who is writing what you're reading and cross reference different material to make sure you're getting a well rounded understanding of what the general consensus of the community is. I literally used a Britannica article to brush up on my knowledge before posting and it wasn't hard to find :") the article wasn't even written by a Black Person from what I can gather.

This might not be the answer you want, but I trust you to see how these people expecting an education from random Black folk They upset is presumptuous and a bit entitled. She didn't owe anybody any sort of gentleness in this situation, even if she said some mean stuff. It wasn't nice, but neither were they and the whole situation could've been avoided by Them looking things up for themselves before calling something that was heavily implied to be influenced by race stupid. It sucks for people who just Don't Know Shit, but BIPOC aren't obligated to be helpful to people who Already aren't putting in the work.

But the good thing is that there Are loads of preexisting resources from willing professionals from all across the world and all across time who are respected that teach you everything you need to know that are Free and At y'all's finger tips. Y'all just gotta look. The reason we're oftentimes so frustrated is because We also did the same research because we cared about learning this stuff, so we Know if these people cared, they'd do the same thing.

Okay! Very long post lol but I'm done now! I am still open to further questions and clarification but I hope this was helpful. We're all just people in the world, and we're all just learning, but it's good to practice just. Being polite and looking before you leap 😅 because the initial thing that started this whole mess was people saying some really rude stuff about something that means a Lot to us culturally as Black people.

#womanism #feminism #race #critical race theory #black feminism #it really sucks that we're made out to be hyperaggressive freaks without a cause for 'no reason' also :') #like i said‚ those people weren't just confused. they were rude about something that mattered a lot in front of the wrong people #so Yes we got mad! we're human just like anybody else. we get mad when we're disrespected like that and it Is hard to keep your composure #i had quite a similar internal response to reading those comments myself honestly! i just chose not to post about them

[leolaroot]

not even close to informed or involved w the current republican ao3 staff drama (obviously) but im reminded of that poll that was going around star trek tumblr that asked "do you think a bigot could be a trekkie?" and dozens of people were giving their impassioned takes of how OBVIOUS it is that trek could never be enjoyed by someone whos racist or homophobic or disagrees with Their Personal Beliefs. never minding how star trek is full of bigotry both fantastical and real-world. even the highly praised "progressive" elements like televisions first interracial kiss! (was not actually tvs first interracial kiss) when watched in context its a white man being forced onto a black woman. never mind the wide swaths of openly right wing fans who love the franchise. i like it and im Progressive, so it Must Be Progressive And Revolutionary.

people who identify strongly by their personal perception of their own political beliefs have a knee jerk angry reaction to learning that people with other beliefs enjoy the same things as them. its why certain misogynistic rock fans dedicate their online existence to shitting on babymetal or whatever. its why any tumblrina has ever made a post about liking something in a way that is inherently more clever or thoughtful or deep than any other fan does (bc theyre smarter than Those Fans and not like Those Fans and tbh Those Fans are Not Real Fans)

of course a person can support the republican party while also working for ao3? there are republicans who consider themselves lgbt allies. there are gay republicans. there are gay people who are white supremacists and antisemites and transmisogynists and xenophobes. there are people who masturbate privately to the fantasy of trans bodies qnd its alluring specifically BECAUSE of how publicly they devalue and despise trans lives.

when you learn that you enjoy something thats also enjoyed by bigots, the response shouldnt be to defend yourself, or launch into no-true-scottsman bullshit, or to forcibly distance yourself from those bigots. the appropriate response is to return to the source material and ask yourself why it might attract bigots. ask yourself whether you noticed those themes the first time. (its maybe more obviously true that a fanfiction archive accessible to anyone will have a lot of highly offensive shit, sure, but this is true for any movie, book, or tv show you enjoy.) ask yourself this: if watching a tv show with gay characters ISNT enough to make a person an ally, what am i doing that makes myself at all different from those people?

you will struggle find a fandom or media property or piece of art that is one hundred percent pure and untouched by cruelty or hate. because everything and everyone is the product of the world they come from. make personal judgements and pay attention to the underlying intent and messages of the media yiu internalize and share with others. i dont remember what this post was about. OH YEAH its not even slightly surprising or confusing to anypony who thinks for more than a second that the "my free speech at the expense of anyone's comfort (including the comfort of the people im writing porn about. and yes that includes sexual rpf of child actors)" website would have right wing support. oky bye

[thricedead]

@uraynuke I am glad to see you bring this book up, because it's the very book I read excerpts from two days ago, and since I wanted to reply to you, I picked up where I left and finished it.

I really did approach it with the best of intentions - I was especially glad to see prof. Brake bring up gender and race right at the beginning of her study, for I truly held hope that the many amatonormativity preachers on tumblr may have simply misread the point of the concept which Brake may have envisioned the same way I did - as an intersection of preexisting axes of power. However, I found myself severely disappointed the moment I ran into this segment

I can see that Brake is, at the very least through reading, aware of patriarchal, racial amd colonial dynamics as well as statistics on LGBT discrimination. However, she insists on presenting the discrimination of non-partnering (and non-monogamous people, which is a separate can of worms but I began to find the amount of times she brings polyamory and urban tribes up tedious) individuals as an entity separate from misogyny, racism and classism and so on. The like race class and sex is incredibly jarring that she fails to see her precious "amatonormativity" where it rightfully stands within the causality of oppression. I found myself yawning as she went on for dozens of paragraphs explaining that marriage is a faulty, falsely celebrated and highly mystified institution that holds no inherent value - we know this! It becomes incredibly apparent here that Brake is a self-identified political liberal. Any leftist, no matter how mild, is clearly aware that marriage is as it is, and was essentially established in order to be so; a way to control women, a way to curry favor and wealth, a tool of control. It retains today many of the insidious characteristics it held at its conception. Brake does mention that there existed and still do exist non-white societies that viewed partnering vastly differently from the western lens, but in the typical way of a liberal philosopher she does not pause to consider that this is tied to how different societies perceived women, and the amount of colonial power they held. She does not pause to confess that the form of marriage prevalent in the world today is a white christian's marriage - naturally dyed in ugly patriarchal, racist, capitalist colors. She continues to write as though society's insistence on exclusive romantic coupling exists in a near-vacuum, even though she admits it does not. I essentially agree that marriage ought to be demoralized, deconstructed and potentially reconstructed. However, I don't particularly intend to fight for its reconstruction for the sake of throuples, urban tribes, asexuals and aromantics. I wish for its reconstruction to be centered primarily on the autonomy of women (because they continue to disproportionately suffer marital abuse), gay, bisexual and transgender people, people of color and especially Black people, mentally and physically disabled people (who still largely cannot afford to marry). When this is established, I assure you that one half of aromantics' and polyamorous people's issues will have already been alleviated, and should those people contribute to the fight of our society's most oppressed, they will surely have a voice in building a new model of partnering.

TLDR, a well-intentioned but very frivolous book. I find Brake to be a very moderate liberal who does not particularly look farther than her own discomfort...

I will reply to you in the same vein you did to me: though I didn't glean much, this was a fun read! Thank you.

[anamericangirl]

I recently saw you got an anon from somebody else talking about LGBT stuff. Specifically, those of us who say we just wanna be left alone and exist in peace, but now we have things like kids being exposed to drag culture, which is inherently sexual and not appropriate for children at all. Drag Queen Story Hour, kids being groomed and put on puberty blockers and stuff like that. The anon seemed to imply that everyone in the LGBT community is not only ok with it, we’re actively trying to force this shit on people and expecting them to just passively accept it, and that was our plan from the start. But I’m bisexual myself and I’m friends with quite a few LGBT people and I can assure you we HATE that shit, too, and we really do just want to be left alone. We always have. Every sane LGBT person I’ve spoken to agrees with what I’m saying here because they’re making us look like a bunch of freaks and degenerates screaming “We’re coming for your kids!”.

Don’t let the Rainbow Mafia fool you. Most of us want NOTHING to do with them. Which is why organisations like Gays Against Groomers exist. We’ve literally been fighting against these harmful stereotypes for decades, and we almost won, but then the Rainbow Mafia took over and now MOGAI is a thing. Plus we’ve got pedos pretending to be LGBT, kink at pride and all kinds of disgusting shit the community shouldn’t be tolerating. Most of them aren’t even actually LGBT, they’re some kind of fake MOGAI gender or pretty much anything that’s not gay, bi or trans. Those of us who are legitimately attracted to the same sex and/or dysphoric to a certain degree are mostly just normal people who merely wish to be left alone to live our lives as we wish and love whoever we want without being discriminated against for it.

But apparently that’s too much to ask…not from you, ofc. If it weren’t for the alphabet mob, we could and would just live our lives in peace. But they’re perpetuating all these harmful stereotypes that we’ve been fighting against for generations and grooming kids, et cetera, that make people who are genuinely homophobic and transphobic think they’re right about us.

I can certainly sympathize with those of you who are getting a bad rap because of the degenerates that have infiltrated the community. I know, and I’m pretty sure most people know, that on an individual level most people in the pride community aren’t groomers or pedophiles and don’t support any such thing. And I love organizations like gays against groomers and the work they do in fighting the very real problem.

The problem is the community as a whole is not fighting against those things it is engaging in them. And while there are definitely individuals such as yourself who realize what is going on and hate it, there are also several individuals in the community who just deny that it’s happening or actively support it. I’ve spoken to people like that. And these people unfortunately are the loudest and they are the main face of the community and the organizations that stand behind the pride community also support it.

On an individual level lgbt people aren’t a problem, but the community is and that’s why the sane lgbt people need to distance themselves from and completely reject the community. Their political and social goals are abhorrent and we need the sane people like you to take an active stand against them.

The sane people are the quiet ones unfortunately because understandably you want to be left alone so you’re leaving people alone which is how it should be in an ideal world. But we don’t live in an ideal world and the pride community is creating hostility towards lgbt people and we need more decent people to fight against them and their messages.

#anon #answered

[babbybones]

seeing a post like "you need to let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and venting etc" had me thinking "hmm, I can certainly think of examples where cultivating an atmosphere like that is ideal, like the 'kid-friendly but inclusive' direction taken by game communities like neopets/toontown or a short-term, fast-moving space like a stream chat where you want to stay on topic and respect the vibe"

but I look at OP's blog and they're singling out anyone making additions to their post along the lines of "yeah, while critical discussions relevant to the fandom can be valuable, fandom spaces don't always need to host off-topic heavy discussions" by basically calling them idiots missing the point and that they were specifically advocating for spaces with no criticism or negativity or politics whatsoever. and also a bunch of these posts were tagged with #proship #proshipping (???)

i think what's stopping more spaces like that from existing is that it would suck ass and quickly implode. if you try to grow a community where disagreements and being Real with people are discouraged, people will be excluded implicitly or otherwise feel unwelcome. maybe you're fine with that, and you just want to hang out with your inner circle, but it feels dishonest to try to sell it as a Mental Health Safe Haven Untouched By Real-World Issues. your own personal biases and stances on those real-world issues will affect your judgment calls re: what's considered Too Negative or Political for your community. this seems like it would be a nightmare to moderate and would end with a lot of people burned (and so I'm thankful that, as an example, neopets no longer considers LGBT identities too adult/political/divisive)

also the tags they repeatedly use imply that their ideal space could also welcome discussion of certain things that are inherently heavy, triggering real-world issues, yet any critical discussion or negativity would be unwelcome. this seems contradictory and maybe not healthy?

#babbybone to pick #text post #lost steam idk where i was going with this anymore

[lesbiansgoal]

I hate seeing my existence being debated

As someone who grew up in an extremely homophobic household, I really hate it when conservatives talk about the "LGBT propaganda shoving down children's throats", and how oppressed they are for being "forced" to accept gay people. not only that, but do they know how sexuality even works? It doesn't matter how many hours of drag race a straight person watches, if they are straight, no amount of "LGBT PROPAGANDA" will change that.

I remember seeing a tiktok made by this religious person about how they hate being forced to accept gay people or else they'll be labelled as a bigot. and all the comments were like "I don't care what others do - just stop shoving it down our throats" "we can agree to disagree" and stuff.

I hate how our existence is seen as inherently political. As if our existence is a matter of moral debate.

[vooshiemba]

Here is the printable project I made after a while. I still want to work on it but I think it meets the basics so far.

""

The plan for the next republican office taker has been released!

If you didn't know already the plan for the next republican is public and we all need to know about it. If you wish to read it yourself you can. It's called Project 2025, it's listed in the sources! Here are some outlines about it.

The president will be a dictator!

If you remember from your school's social studies, the US devids power into 3 houses so that no one person can control all governments. Project 2025 has a new radical idea to give all power to the head of the executive branch (the president) . This would make the president a king who could even order people to death.

Federal ban on reproductive rights!

The plan outlines the plan for the president to federally ban all abortion rights. This would mean that no state is safe. This would likely make all doctors who perform abortions will be charged with murder.

LGBT+ content will be banned!

The plan outlines all pornography to be banned from the US and businesses will be forced to remove content. The plan defines pornography as transgender ideology. The plan continues by claiming that public librarians who put these books about transgender stuff should be registered sex offenders. So this wouldn't just make pornography ILLEGAL it would also make LGBT people ILLEGAL not just in books, but online and in even in public! To treat a people group as inherently sexual is disgusting and shows just how far the far right is willing to go.

Much much more!

The plan is full of many other things like making it easier for discrimination and other strange awful things. I encourage anyone to read the plan for yourself!

The new Republican plan is awful and anyone who loves any American and America as a nation should hate it. 

Anyone that thinks women should have bodily rights should hate it.

Anyone who thinks LGBT+ people deserve the right to exist should hate it.

If you disagree with Project 2025 then make your voice heard!

This is a self replicating message brought to you by the people for the people. If you want to spend the word take a picture and post it anywhere, print it out. Spread the word. We will not be left in the dark. We know what may come!

""

Then I would add QR codes for the sources. And QR codes to get help for people to spread the word. I tried wording it to mostly target people who are not very politically active. I don't think that is the only strategy we should use to get support though. I want lots of versions of this/a simmer message. I also think different graphic design and stuff would be great.

#political #stop project 2025 #activism #random #trans rights #womans rights #lgbt rights #pro choice #fuck trump

[gemsofgreece]

https://youtu.be/BNAT4ybsz_E

Rare video of someone discussing about sexuality in Greece.

As a Greek myself i must say that i find frustrating the stereotypes lf Usians, especially with retellings like the Song of Achilles.

Yes there was homosexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome, but there were some problematic like older men using their power over younger men as an experience phase before, or even during marriage, because it was forbidden in society back then.

It had happened also in ancient Japan with the brothels, but in general there wasn't a total freedom back then. What bothers it's just that foreigners take a piece of media and turn a stereotype for a whole country.

In general, I agree there are many problems with the wide misconception that “Ancient Greece was gay”, whatever that means. First of all, often this perception is not used as a way to imagine Ancient Greece as a place of freedoms and acceptance of all orientations but rather as a caricature, as the ultimate Eurovision wonderland. This can be fun at first but after the millionth joke it can soon become disrespectful or annoying when so earnestly spread in its inaccuracy, almost as a whole civilisation is solely defined by a sexuality or sex, like we are the bonobos. Secondly, it is not just used by the LGBT+ community as a way to express themselves or imagine a more hopeful place to have actually existed but from homophobes and anti-Greeks to bash on both. Thirdly, it is simply inaccurate and despite it being good or bad or simply fun, academia is responsible for spreading incorrect misconceptions. It being seemingly harmless doesn’t excuse them for perpetuating a misconception. Fourthly, it is frankly weird to see LGBTQA+ people saying “Ancient Greeks invented homosexuality” which I have seen a thousand times being said, because isn’t it very problematic to suggest, even as a joke, that sexual orientation is a human concept, a trend and a choice????

But now let’s go to the video you recommend. I will give this message the benefit of the doubt. I started watching the video, which makes many valid points and uses numerous ancient sources, and I was getting increasingly uncomfortable without knowing what the motivation of the YouTuber was behind making this video. Was it scientific, strict adherence to a historical truth… or something else? After about two points where I thought he was reaching and some cases where it seemed to me he repeated some offensive views more earnestly than he should, about half time in the video, I paused and searched his channel. Turns out that the guy is an antisemitic white supremacist Elon Musk fanboy. He is cunning enough to stick to facts and keep a polite profile as much as possible but the motive behind it is malicious if you pay attention. And his channel is demonetised. So, I stopped watching and hopefully you watched without noticing all that. The dude is doing all he accused LGBT+ and academia for, simply from the opposite side. He more or less admits himself that he is biased and that he dislikes how LGBT+ community tries to pass Ancient Greece as part of their heritage AND THEN immediately he explains that he dislikes it because he views Ancient Greece as the foundation of his utopic western white world (apparently ruled by straight males).

So as you see, it comes down to the same pattern when it comes to Greece. Marginalised and privileged alike, wronged and hateful westerners alike feel entitled to use the Greek heritage to define themselves and promote their agenda with too little care for historical truth or the moral implications of appropriating foreign heritage simply to serve very specific personal goals (whether good or bad ones). To the homophobes Greeks are macho straight “thoughtfully misogynist” fighters and to LGBTQA+ Greece is an inherent gay parade. Neither is accurate or realistic, if you think about it. Simultaneously, to homophobic Greek haters Greeks are a bunch of losers who of course would eventually lose some lands or wars in question because “they are whimps who like to take it in the butt” and to Greek hating LGBT+ people Greeks are immoral perverts that they shouldn’t be associated with in any way. So, I hope everyone understands why all this is a big problem from all sides.

As for what the truth was, the truth was that a) there were all sorts of sexual orientations in Ancient Greece like it happened in the rest of the ancient and modern world and people experienced them with the pleasures and the hardships that came with them as normal people and not as sex obsessed caricatures , b) there were different approaches on how to deal with less common sexual orientations depending on the era and the place / city-state in question, ranging from very homophobic to relaxed.

As an example, the Homeric era which is so romanticised by the LGBTQA community is most likely not one of the relaxed eras. Classical and Hellenistic period got to be some of the most relaxed and of course Athens in particular. As for pederasty it should not be either excused or beautified or immediately condemned based on modern standards because it normally was not supposed to involve a fully fledged out sexual relationship but we would be kidding ourselves if we denied that several older tutors didn’t take advantage of their protégés. As an example, the YouTuber is reaching when he says that erastes and eromenos simply meant “passionate for knowledge” LOL It is clear in every way that it meant that the young boy was the object of the tutor’s infatuation and / or devotion, regardless if that included a consummated sexual affair. But if erotic love did develop, the tutor was obligated to not lead the boy to an immodest lifestyle (that is, in short, being sexually submissive), which is after all a homophobic solution to a homosexual urgency, which is pretty strange (aside from the whole grooming problem). And pederasty was controversial even in Ancient Athens which established it! In general, we are not equipped to understand well how ancient people thought about sex, sexuality and genders, let alone try to excuse, defend, beautify or ferociously judge and condemn. Study and explore respectfully and impartially to learn more about the history of humanity is the only right way.

TL:DR the video makes many valid points but also reaches when the truth doesn’t benefit OP’s biases and the intent is harmful but presented in a very calculated, polite manner.

#greece #ancient greece #sexuality in the ancient world #Ancient greek civilisation #greek facts #anon #mail

[futchmemes]

im actually sick to death of people acting like anyone who doesn’t call themselves queer is like, inherently assimilationist. i understand where they’re coming from because there’s definitely a population of (particularly white) lgbt people who are like. what i’ve described to friends as “straight people who happen to be gay” (or cis people who happen to be trans, although that’s much less common) by which i mean they’re extremely gender conforming in the same way straight people are and so are their partners, and they don’t seem to have any cultural connection to being gay and tend to be ignorant about social and political issues. they ARE often assimilationist and homonationalist. i know they exist, and i understand the impulse to want to separate yourself from that because frankly if you’ve thought about cisheteropatriarchy in any amount of depth, behaving like that isn’t at all appealing or fulfilling, and neither is hanging out with people like that. but the way to do that isn’t to separate out people who call themselves queer versus those who don’t. i’ve known people who call themselves queer who have the absolute worst takes imaginable, and people who don’t use the term queer who are some of the most radical people i know. it’s just not actually a meaningful separation, it’s one of convenience. convenience is appealing, but with things like this it just isn’t super useful and does more harm than good, particularly since the people who say this stuff are usually using gay men and lesbians as a scapegoat and implying if not outright saying their identities are outdated and not inclusive enough which is just blatantly homophobic

#personal