#we're gender fluid with this story

[is-this-yuri]

i think maybe the only thing that can't be yuri is trans men (unless a trans man feels differently about this)

hi let me tell you all a secret

i'm transmasc and also a lesbian. i consider myself butch. i'm in a relationship with a wonderful girl who is also a lesbian, and we joke about being yuri occasionally.

my pronouns are he/him, i have a beard and a deep voice, i've had top surgery, and to the general public i appear to be a cis man. i like it that way! i believe this aesthetic is as far on the butch side of the butch/femme spectrum as you can get. men, even cis men, can be butch. it just happens to be the default for them due to cultural expectations, so we don't generally think of it like that.

i never felt quite comfortable with the gendered expectations of being in a straight relationship. i've been reading yuri since i was a tween, and back then i considered myself a lesbian too. once i realized i wanted to transition to male, i thought i had to let go of the lesbian label, even though i didn't really feel straight. i even felt guilty and creepy for reading yuri, so i stopped doing it for a while.

i've always related to lesbian romance more than straight romance, so i decided to not let go of the lesbian label for myself. i'm also very lucky to be dating such an understanding girl that can look past my flesh shell and love the real me inside, and our love is very gay, despite appearances.

this may be a rare story, but it is real! yuri, yaoi, gay, straight, man, woman, they're all just words we use to imprecisely attempt to describe an infinitely complex reality. all words are like that. we made them up to create pretty much arbitrary dividing lines, and now most people insist on following those lines to a T. even though many people don't even agree on where those lines lie!

the truth is, words are fake. but love is real. self expression is as fluid as the blood in our veins, and true identities are as numerous as individuals.

and while yes, words are useful as a tool to communicate, they should not be mistaken for the reality they attempt to describe. the beauty of a tool that can change is that you can use it however you want. i will respect your words, and i'd want you to respect mine too. we can use different words to describe the same thing and still agree. there's no point in us telling each other we're using the tool wrong, as long as the job gets done.

what i'm saying is we should all take this stuff a little less seriously. describe yourself however you want, and i'll respect that! you can do whatever you want forever. but in a queer and open minded world, nothing and nobody are exempt from potentially being yuri.

#asks #i didnt expect this to happen so quickly after ditching the yuri bit but here we are #a little nervous to be posting this one haha

[genderfluid-culture-iss]

for the baby genderfluid tips!!

this could just be me lmao, but DO NOT donate your fem clothes if you feel masc for longer than usual. or vice versa.

keeping a gender journal is something that can be really helpful to actually look back on and see how it changes (and also have proof of fluidity for when you begin to think "hmm actually im just a trans girl. nothing else." no, you probably aren't. you felt completely boy/nonbinary/etc just a month ago, and thats okay.)

basically it can be really hard to embrace that your gender is not static, especially if your gender stays stable for a slightly longer period. it took me so long to stop rotating between "im a girl always" "no, im a boy always" "actually, im nonbinary always" to just admit im genderfluid.

also, make genderfluid content. you don't have to show it to anyone, but sometimes it can really help to make poetry or art or write a story about being fluid and your experience in particular. i have an easy avenue for this since i write fanfiction (haven't published any of it yet lmao) and i just hit my favorite characters with my genderfluid beam and go nuts

follow people who are genderfluid, read genderfluid books, maybe join a genderfluid discord server (there are barely any, so actually maybe make one), try to make genderfluid friends. you are not alone, even though it sometimes feels that way.

if you have plushies or anything similar, make them genderfluid. i have a genderfluid squishmallow who i use she/they pronouns for, and a little husky that switches between he/she. idk it just helps sometimes lol

some of us change gender daily, or multiple times a day. some of us change gender only a couple times a year, or even less. we're all different and that's fine.

tips for presentation:

if you have a day when you can't figure out gender, go neutral clothing-wise

take little things to ease dysphoria if you switch when you're out somewhere (ex. lipgloss, eyeliner, leather bracelet, etc)

if you can, get pronoun pins. seriously, get pronoun pins (or a colored bracelet for subtlety or if you're not out). you can wear multiple at a time, you can switch them whenever you need to. you aren't a burden if your pronouns change. you don't have to stick to they/them to be easy for people.

if you can, get a versatile hairstyle that you can make suit your gender no matter what. if you cant, try to get a hairstyle that makes you the least dysphoric overall.

if you are organized enough, separate your clothes based on gender/what you feel comfy wearing on different days. do not pressure yourself to fit stereotypes. some people can only feel comfortable in skirts when theyre boys, so they only wear skirts on boy days. do what works for you.

it's kinda complicated, but if you can expand your vocal range to sound more fem or masc depending on how you feel, it can help. alternatively, vocal train to make it more androgynous.

keep makeup wipes with you in case you need to take it off part way through being out. basically, make it as easy as possible to be able to change/tweak your presentation if necessary.

this could just be me, but having lots of hoodies in different colors and styles will save your life

sometimes you might have "blender days", which is what i call it when your gender feels like its in a blender in a bad way and you can't tell at all what it is, everything feels wrong, it's changing like every 10 minutes, etc. tbh on these days all i can do is put on sweats and a hoodie and feel dysphoric. listen to music if it helps. do a hobby.

non-clothing items can help a lot. a blue tshirt and jeans can be whatever you want it to be based on what you wear it with. (ex. sneakers/ballet flats, leather bracelet/sparkly necklace, baseball cap/eyeliner)

and lastly: YOU ARE AMAZING. keep being you, keep being incredible, and know that being genderfluid is a gift. be proud to be who you are, have fun, know that you are unique and special and wonderful!! we're ever-changing, and that's awesome. you are precious. i love you.

🩷🤍💜🖤💙

dont wanna link my tumblr, but my name is kiley if you want to attach a name to this!

Okay this is a lot more than I was expecting LMAO /pos

Thank you so much for this Kiley <33 I’ll start working on a masterpost with links to all this.

#genderfluid #genderfluid culture is #genderfluid culture #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbtq+ #anon #anonymous #Genderfluid tips #Baby genderfluid tips #Genderfluid help

[sapphixxx]

Honestly been really drawn to crossdressing romance manga the last few years. The fact there is such a focus on passing, anxiety over what the other partner might think or feel, the satisfaction of presenting in ways that feel good, the joy of being loved and desired in different forms, and the generally kind of weird funny fluid nature of gender and attraction all feel very relatable to me in ways that Yuri, and even Western lesbian and trans comics don't always reflect. "Is this gay or straight? Am I gay for this? Are *they* gay for this? Whatever is going on here it's not *not* gay and either way I'm committed" is a pretty unique mix of emotions familiar to my bi trans experience after all lol. Unfortunately most of them range from merely sucking to nuclear weapons grade hateful, so it's pretty rare to find a good one.

These pages really made me happy though. These two don't really get along as coworkers, but are immediately head over heels goofy eyed when encountering each other having genders in their off time (at this point neither recognizes the other or knows their gender). Cause like, I've had that experience SO many times where someone got under my skin, and then years later we run into each other after figuring some shit out and suddenly we're like irresistibly magnetized.

(Note: The term Lolita used here refers specifically to the style of fashion, and has no sexual connotations)

A lot of these manga are written in a very "That's Really a Guy!?!?!?!?!?" frame, but a surprising number even among the shitty ones don't seem to really ascribe much in the way of that like, meaning a whole lot. That's Really A Guy?? But she has effectively completely socially transitioned and is known, loved, and desired as a woman, I dunno, feels pretty trans to me, complete with the scrutiny, misgendering, and gags at her expense that I've known in my life. Being Really A Guy seems to lose very much meaning in that instance. Which is comforting to me as someone who works a public facing role and constantly gets gendered and perceived in weird ways that don't match who I am.

Are these intended to be read so charitably? I don't know, and I also don't really care. That hasn't stopped us from reading transness in Lain or Evangelion, or reading Dungeon Meshi as a lesbian love story has it?

#op

[softandwigglybones]

Fantasy story about alchemy where it's established very early on that the name for a new concoction is determined by smashing together the names of its constituents.

Over time we're introduced to two alchemical substances, Der and Gen.

At the end the protagonist combines them to create gender fluid and saves the day thanks to it.

#is this anything #wizard posting #wizard #wizardposting #wizard problems #wizard shit #wizardblr #wizardry #wizards #wizard tumblr #wizardblogging #wizard blogging #wizard business #alchemy #gender #gender fluid #fantasy

[anarcho-smarmyism]

"Firstly, in many cases, we simply can't know people's motivations with any certainty. We know, for example, that at least 400 AFAB people fought in the American Civil War -but most of their names are lost to us, let alone the complexities of how they understood their genders or the multiple factors that led them to enlist. But if we assume that their gender must be 'disguise' until proven otherwise, we're privileging one possible interpretation over several others: bringing cisnormative assumptions to history, and letting them color the way we read it.

Secondly, these stories provide a valuable history for the ways in which gender is often fluid and situational. Fluidity is often used as a reason to dismiss people's gendered experience as 'not real', which harms genderfluid people in particular, but also obscures the ways in which everyone can experience their gender differently in different situations. Just because someone only lived as a gender different from the one they were assigned for a short proportion of their life, then -such as living as male for a six-year term in the army- we shouldn't simply dismiss the validity of their short-lived trans experience.

And we should, I think, call it trans experience. This is the third reason I believe these stories must be treated as part of trans history: because regardless of what motivated them, the stories of people like the American Civil War soldiers show us that gender is malleable and has never been limited by birth assignment. To argue that gender fluidity and creativity are 'non-traditional' is to ignore this long history of gender disruption. It doesn't matter why they did it: the very fact they did it demonstrates that people living and being respected as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth -temporarily or permanently- is far from a new phenomenon."

-Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam

#trans #transgender #gender #lgbt #trans history #before we were trans #education multiplies power

[blue-grama]

Jesus motherforking shirtballs

Or: I am asking every business journalist to take one (1) gender studies class before I tear my hair out.

This interview came across my dash and it's a lot of fun, particularly Apo's "dad joke" actually being a hilariously cringey pickup line, but one aside by the writer made me wince.

ASDKHGKJ. This is not the first time I've seen an article about BL or gay romance in general speculate that the reason female audiences enjoy gay male romance is because there are no other threatening, icky girls on screen. I find this exceedingly irritating and misogynistic and I'm gonna rant about it. Now, look. Maybe there are women-identifying people out there watching mlm romance because they are threatened by beautiful actresses. Maybe. I haven't met every woman in the world. But this reasoning is, in my opinion, some male-gaze bullshit and needs to be smacked down. A non-exhaustive list of reasons to like mlm romance that AREN'T based on some weird idea of female competitiveness and insecurity: 1. Queer people... exist? Look, the LGBTQ+ community alone isn't the reason KP had huge international success. Just numbers-wise, it was probably watched by more straight people than not. But ignoring that audience makes absolutely no sense, especially because sexuality is fluid and many viewers interested in LGBTQ+ media may be uncertain/exploring. Cultural anthropologist Thomas Baudinette has talked about how many "straight women" exploring BL turned out not to be so straight. It's a thing. (Here on Tumblr the LGBTQ+ audience is THE thing, but there's a lot of selection bias here, obviously.)

2. A good romance is a good romance

In my personal (and admittedly limited) experience, cishet men have a hard time grasping this, but give me a good, swoony romance and IDGAF about the genders involved. I've noticed this is very common among my female-identifying and nonbinary friends, regardless of their sexual attractions in real life. Good chemistry is good chemistry, a good story is a good story, and honestly it's kinda insulting to silo LGBTQ+ romance off as something you need a particular reason to watch, if you're someone who likes watching romance. 3. Female gaze

Look. Mile and Apo are blisteringly hot individuals. It's interesting this article mentions the action sequences and not the inherent appeal of, say, these two humans exploring each other's bodies in front of God and Deutsche Bank:

Perhaps it's a family publication.

But to get a little more thinky about horniness: If you're a female-identifying person interested in men, it can be a tough slog out there. I'm coming from a western perspective, where romance is looked down upon in general. (Asian media seems more willing to look at the romance audience and go "hmm... $$$!" instead of "ugh, girl stuff.") And even when you get romance-driven stories, the male gaze is fucking ubiquitious. I remember having my mind blown some years ago by Outlander -- a show I did not make it through otherwise -- because the wedding episode in the first season has a sex scene in which the camera lingers on the male lead's face. That is some female gaze shit that you just do not see. I just spent a couple minutes checking in with the sex scenes in Bridgerton, probably the biggest romance-genre hit in the U.S. in some time, made explicitely for a female audience in mind, and even there, the camera spends FAR more time on the female leads' faces in sex scenes. Presumably the idea is that the female viewing audience will be inserting themselves into the scene and imagining her pleasure as their own, but ... show me a man's O-face, you cowards.

KP (and BL in general) does that.

I mean, quite literally. But also figuratively - men are posited as objects of desire, and the viewer is the agent desiring them. Taking a straight female as our theoretical viewer: We're so, so socialized to see females as the objects of desire and men as the agents of desire that even media made with straight women in mind parks the camera on the female lead. BL turns that on its head. The female viewer isn't watching a stand-in for herself being desired. She's actively desiring. I hope it's clear that this is miles away from "other girls are threatening." It's about being the one with agency for once.

4. Removal of the burden of one gajillion years of patriarchical bullshit

This is like a trauma response or some shit, istg, but sometimes it's nice to watch a romance not weighed down by 300,000 years of hetero gender relations. How many times have we seen a female character who is just a male fantasy or who starts out great but gets ruined by bad writing and it's like... fuck. Someone has probably written about this a lot more eloquently and intelligently than me, but sometimes it's just like, geez. Leave women out of it. Let us rest. I'm joking a bit, and this entirely elides the fact that non-het relationships can be just as abusive and problematic as a het relationship out there in the real world, but in the realm of fantasy I do think there's an appeal to stripping away at least part of the gender discourse. Especially for a fully escapist show like KP -- personally, I love a good female character, but I did not have any problem with the dearth of them in that series. Don't make me worry, even subconsciously, about the mafia's maternity leave policy, okay?? Contrary to idea that the mlm aspects save some sort of self-insert space for me in that romance, I as a woman-identified person did not want to be anywhere NEAR that hot mess. I wanted a world that touched on exactly zero of my real-life concerns.

Ok, maybe one real-world concern: How to find a small animal vet at an inconvenient hour.

Anyway, like I said at the start, I can't possibly explain everyone's motivations for watching KP or BL or anything, really. The world is a rich tapestry and sexuality is not a simple binary. But boiling it all down to, "women are insecure" ain't it and I would love to see that explanation permanently retired from casual use. EDIT: I forgot the link to the original article.

#kinnporsche #thai bl #lgbtq media #yelling about things that pissed me off over my morning coffee #please feel free to add thoughts bc i'm sure there are many more reasons people like this genre and this is a rant #not an academic thesis #romance #ps I just really enjoy the female and queer gazes as like things that exist #lotta resentment to straight male gaze supremacy from my quarter #mileapo

[chillyneon]

I think it's fun to experiment with my gender identity and genitals in selfshipping with F/Os, because it's been like, oddly cathartic and fun since I started doing it? And it's super fun interacting with my F/Os who are completely fine with my fluidity, or I even experiment with theirs. I've been worried it makes me "less legitimate" with my own gender if I mix and match my S/Is genitals and body however I feel, but I'm gonna toss out some positivity because I shouldn't have to hold myself to someone else's gate keeping of self exploration and fun having!!

There's something real fuckin noice about getting to change your body at will within fantasy, be it SFW or NSFW reasons. And yes you CAN do it for just horny reasons if you have any, you don't NEED some kind of story driven or deep meaning reason for whatever is going on in your body identity, it's your self insert and they can be or feel as whatever they want on any given day! You're not disrespectful to gender identity as a whole if you do it just to be horny, it's YOUR personal exploration and fantasy!!!

Want to have a dick today? There you go. Maybe feel like having a pussy instead? Sure thing, it's your fantasy you're in charge! Want both peen and puss to ramp up that extra horny production, and your F/O is so fucking into it they can't keep their hands off you? Your wish is granted!Maybe you don't even want genitals, just be smooth like a goddamn Barbie? My friend, my sweet friend it's your fantasy and you make the law!!!

Want to fluid through any genitals or gender you feel like at any given moment? NOW WE'RE COOKING, LET THE FANTASY RUN TO YOUR SELF SHIPPING HEARTS CONTENT

Your F/O loves you no matter what is going on with your body or identity, you're so awesome and amazing and so cool and they LOVE YOOOOOU 💖💖💖💖💖

#self shipping #self insert #selfshipping #selfinsert #self ship positivity #this is more for myself tbh #gender is hard but fantasy is delicious #reader insert #readerinsert #f/o positivity #selfship #self ship #youre amazing your f/o told me

[ineffectualdemon]

Its important to do introspection if you're drawn to one kind of pairing over others in fanfiction abd media even if it doesn't so as far as hating wlw stories.

(Almost everything below this is relevant to m/f ships as well but I'm focusing on w/w)

Because I engage in mostly mlm and mostly write it, and I wondered why. And for me, I think, firstly, it's because I don't see myself in very many women characters. I have ones I love and am very attracted to, but I don't often relate to women characters. I don't see myself reflected in them very often and it's hard to write about characters I don't project onto in some way.

Secondly, when I do or try to read and write fanfic about wlw relationships, it feels more personal. It feels more private and exposing in some way. Maybe even more taboo. It feels....shameful. Not in a bigger cultural way but in a very internalised and personal way. Like anyone else can do it and it's great, wonderful even! But it's shameful if it's me. I spent a long time in the closet and I have a lot more internalised trauma around that and i think religion than I thought.

Which is a shame because I gave some great wlw stories rattling around my head but it's so hard to write them

Which brings me to the last point which is very related to the second: I kinda feel I don't have a right to those stories

I have barely any experiences with women. I was closeted until I was 20 and by that point I was engaged to a dude. He's great and we're still married (20 years this autumn) which means I don't feel a right sometimes to those stories despite my attraction to women. Add in how fluid my gender is I feel even more conflicted.

mlm stories feel safer and help me explore my gender and its easier for me to relate to the characters

But that doesn't mean I have to stay there

Clearly need to work on some internalised homophobia still knocking away and religious trauma as well as some bisexual imposter syndrome

But that's why it's good to reflect sometimes

#self reflection

[k1rameki]

i think i need to expand on my losergirl ayana agenda bc lord have i become hyperfixated (buckle up bc i have gone absolutely insane over this) (this might also end up becoming a hc dump uh oh) (also bear in mind thanks to all the recent art ive been seeing of her ive been on a real ayana kick when it comes to ships n shit so yeah some hcs with the other characters imma mention can be interpreted romantically too teehee) (and also!!! more general ayana hcs too :333 i have a cavity in mein cranium that can only be filled with soft ayana content)

also quick emoji keys for dialogue i may add for this ^_^

🎸 - aldryx

🩻 - tabi

🔻- ayana

🎧 - dalia

📼 - agoti

some of the many reasons i believe ayana is an absolute girlfailure is her complete and utter failure in her previous relationship/s (I SAY THIS BC SHE PROBABLY HAS BEEN IN A FEW THAT HAVENT WORKED OUT LONG BEFORE SHE MET BOYFRIEND,, also shes just awkward as hell but thats a story for anotha time)

NOT ONLY THAT BUT HELLO??? she appears so calm and collected whenever shes engaging in simple conversation but internally shes freaking out and she has no idea where anything is gonna end up going and often times she can and she WILL let stupid things slip out of her mouth and immediately she regrets it

and let me tell you this she gets more and more pathetic and losery around dalia,, this woman is in LOVE (hence that stupid doodle i made where aya's just freaking out over the slightest bit of affection given to her) (looks like she might have abandonment issues sorry what)

IN FACT. GIVING PHYSICAL AFFECTION TO EVERYONE. SHES ALL FOR THAT SHIT,, hugs, kisses, stroking hair, you name it, this girl is a massive cuddlebug you cant convince me otherwise

i mentioned my pastry chef ayana hc in passing but i'm gonna fully expand on that now: SO. also aya family hcs bc people should talk ab that but ayana's dad is a chef (no specific speciality, but he does make a lot of baked goods) and growing up she would often mirror what he does and that eventually led to her practicing and honing her skills! :D (she also studies culinary arts at college teehee) ALSO!!! she brings all sorts of baked goods she makes over for all her favourite people to enjoy constantly whether that be cookies, pastries, cakes, all of that yummy stuff

despite being an absolute loser girlfail idiot she can jam on the bass like its no tomorrow. IM TALKING ABOUT SLAP, FINGERPICKING, YOU NAME IT, SHE CAN DO IT ‼️‼️ here's an example of the bass playing style i had in mind for her, very energetic and fluid heuehehehehehe

SPEAKING OF (and this ties in a little with my band au) and whenever she drops an epic bassline everyone just stops and stares at her totally being in the zone

🔻: –casually having the time of her life playing a bassline like theres no tomorrow–

🎸: "yo holy crap aya where has this energy been this entire time"

🔻: "huh what do you mean"

HAIR EXTENSIONS!!! ive talked about this on discord before but ayana with naturally shorter hair so she wears hair extensions! (also bc gender euphoria but shhhh)

i also believe that aldryx and tabi had zero idea that she wore them and just believed her hair was naturally long. this is how their conversation went trust;

🔻: " hey guys ^_^"

🩻: ".....did you cut your hair?"

🔻: "no? my hair has always been short"

🎸: "IT HAS??!!??!!??! 😨 I THOUGHT YOUR HAIR WAS JUST REALLY LONG"

🩻: "ME TOO— jesus christ my life is a lie"

🔻: "theyre hair extensions not the holy grail calm down 😭😭😭"

AND NOW THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT AYANA INTERACTING WITH THE OTHERS, LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO MY AGOTI/AYA DUO HC BC HELLO romantic or platonic these two are fucking adorable, the loserboy + losergirl pairing ever frfr (also bc i hc that theyre really close in age bc iirc ayana's birthday is january 28th so that would make her around 3-4 months younger than agoti to me at least teehee)

those two gossip about anything and everything and every single night they do each other's hair n spend time doing full fledged spa routines while talking shit about anyone and everyone bc theyre high maintenance as hell and take pride in their combined collection of bazillions of good smelling bodywashes and shampoos

🔻: "oh my god, goti i cant believe i forgot to tell you about some crazy interaction i had with someone earlier today i swear its driving me crazy"

📼: "BITCH AND YOU DIDNT TELL ME SOONER? YOU'D BETTER START FROM THE BEGINNING I NEED DETAILS IN FULL"

🔻: "OKOK SO WHAT HAPPENED WAS—"

also she works as a seamstress in her spare time when she's not doing music or baking ^_^ she often uses her expertise to create some outfits (with the help of sketches done by either tabi or agoti) and often has trouble finding someone to be her muse so she often gets dalia to help

she takes this VERY seriously by the way if she hears a singular complaint she will go insane

🎧: "how long is this gonna take 😔😔 my arms are getting sore babe i cant stand like this for much longer"

🔻: "dee i love you but i swear to god if you say that one more time i'm going to stab you with this needle until your arm is red and swollen BE PATIENT PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU 😭😭😭"

🎧: "😀😀😀😀😀 youre gonna WHAT"

also. shes got a BIG sweet tooth — she and tabi bond over sweets and trying all sorts of new things together, especially chocolatey things bc theyre both obsessed with chocolate anything

🩻: "aya i went to the store and i found this wafer cake thing and i thought you and i should try it"

🔻: "TABI THAT LOOKS DELICIOUS OMG go grab two spoons right now you and i are eating all of this right now"

🩻: "OKAY SURE :] i can already tell this is gonna taste good"

also sometimes she forgets to eat proper meals and will consistently only have sweets and snacks all day until someone calls her out on it, shes very forgetful, oopsies!

#this is what nearly three years of hyperfixating on ayana does to a person #anyways!!!! aya my beloved #I HAVE WAY MORE THAT I COULD PUT HERE BUT THIS MAY END UP BEING AN ENTIRELY SEPARATE POST #also yes i am capitalising on the fact that ayana is so shippable w anyone especially w the four i mentioned in this post #this girl is in LOVE #also people should draw more short hair ayana i will happily eat that shit up #like pleasepleaseplease i need to see short hair ayana drawings #anyways yawl can already guess that i am ayana's biggest fan and her unofficial ceo so...... what i say is instantly right/j #fnf ayana #fnf tabi #fnf agoti #fnf aldryx #fnf dalia #my art #digital artwork #headcanons #fnf headcanons

[queenofthearchipelago]

The good omens fandom has been disappointing lately, and I don't mean because of Neil. I mean because of the small pocket who lashed out at Neil not long ago.

For those reading my post out of context, let me explain quickly that Neil has always said, very specifically so, that Aziraphale and Crowley are not men, and therefore are not gay. That being gay is a human thing, and angels and demons generally don't even really understand it. (This is not a direct quote from him, but I've read this sentiment from him a few times.) And in response to that, I've seen popular members in this fandom respond in harsh anger because they feel that when Neil says these things, that it comes from a place of internalized homophobia that he's been holding onto like his life depends on it for the last 30 years.

If I may gently offer a different perspective... and please do not come for me, I really genuinely do not want to interact in debate or argument, I simply want to lay out how I see this, and lay it down as a kinder perspective for those it may help.

Neil (and Michael and David) have always used incredibly vague language to determine who and what exactly Aziraphale and Crowley are to each other. The only consistencies are that they are an angel and a demon and they love each other, they're in love with each other.

If it comes to answering any questions more specific than that, like if they're gay, then the answer is that Aziraphale and Crowley are not men, they're supernatural beings.

This is not coming from a place of bias, this is coming from a place of protecting the fandom.

This fandom is such a diverse and beautiful place. I see many people who headcanon them as being gay. I also have met people here who headcanon them as lesbians. As being trans. As being asexual. As gender fluid. As being every different type of orientation and identity possible. The theories and headcanons on who and what Aziraphale and Crowley are, is just as varied as every single person in the fandom.

And that's so important.

For a group of people who know what it feels like to not have representation on screen... for some since the book has come out more than 30 years ago and for some who have only come into this fandom with show 5 ish years ago, you guys know how important representation is.

I can't help but feel that some of this frustration and anger towards Neil for not blatantly saying that it's a gay love story comes from a place of wanting their version of Aziraphale and Crowley to be deemed superior to the others at the cost of erasure of the orientations and identities possible in everyone else's headcanons.

It's a queer love story, whatever that means to you. Before the first season aired, Neil directly said that no one was trying to take your version of Aziraphale and Crowley away from you. And do we not all read the same blog? I see posts from this man celebrating how different members of his readership, young and old, find representation and comfort within this story he AND TERRY PRATCHETT made.

I do wonder if you would treat Terry this way. I sure hope not.

We're never going to get Neil Gaiman saying these characters are gay, because it would crack the very rare and delicate and beautiful thing that's been created here. A couple of characters in a deeply loving relationship where you the audience get to decide what their relationship is? Where you get to decide their gender, because they literally don't have one? A story where the characters could genuinely, canonically, be like you because there's nothing inside the story saying that aren't like you? Where that freedom to interpret is part of the very foundation of the characters?

What other story would you guys be getting that from? Because I don't see any others like that on any bookshelf I've scanned recently.

Neil isn't going to ruin that for you.

And even if he did, he's also directly said that his stories speak for themselves. He isn't Word of God. Neil doesn't pretend that extra information he brings on Tumblr dot com actually adds anything to the story we all watched. That stands on its own, anything extra he may say or not is up to us to decide if we think it's canon or not. Do you, yes you, very specifically YOU... do you care about Word of God? Do you care about Author's Intent?

These are choices you make as a reader, as a viewer of intelligent television.

Aziraphale and Crowley are whatever you want them to be. They're in love. They always have been. And whatever that means to you, is yours and you can have that and share that and no one (not even Neil Gaiman) is ever going to take that precious thing away from you.

So write your fanfics and draw your fanart and participate in roleplays and take your comfort and guard your peace.

It's supposed to be safe here.

#I might delete this later #good omens #thoughtsfromthequeen

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

lmao I used to have a binge eating disorder and ate like 7k calories a day. Crazily enough when I started eating a normal amount of food for my gender/height/activity level I lost weight and my sleep apnea went away, I can now walk up the stairs in my house without excruciating pain, and I have 500x the energy that I used to and my brain fog is 99% gone. But I'm sure being 190lbs overweight and eating until I felt like I was going to vomit was totally healthy and my pain was just a manifestation of my internalized fatphobia or w/e lmao

People must have somehow magically evolved to be morbidly obese in only a few decades, it can't possibly have anything to do with insane portion sizes, mass production and availability of unhealthy food, a food pyramid sponsored by companies wanting to sell you their trash and food now being full of sugar, corn syrup, artificial colors and other garbage. We're also so magical that being fat is totally fine for us unlike the thousands of other animal species in existance.

Keto and intermittent fasting literally saved my life. I was able to go down from 10 DIFFERENT MEDICATIONS to only needing 4 of them. I've literally talked to hundreds of people with the exact same story.

“I traded my BAD eating disorder for a GOOD eating disorder” is not the flex you think it is anon.

By your own admission your issue was having an eating disorder, not being fat, if you think every fat person also has an eating disorder you are projecting your own trauma and insecurities onto other people because you apparently think your experiences are universal. Most fat people do not eat until they puke actually.

The reason obesity is dangerous for a lot of animals is because, get this, animal physiology and adaptations vary greatly between species. Do you think you have the same needs as a flea? Bears, seals, whales, hippos, boars, and several other species have to carry a lot of fat to survive. Humans are bipedal and have fat stores that build up away from organs and joints. This keeps a lot of the strain off the back and prevents many of the issues you will see in quadrupeds and birds from emerging.

Ease and rate of storing fat in humans is largely due to genetics. People who were born by a starving mother naturally hold fat more easily because this is an adaptation to prevent starvation in famines. Increased fat stores is also hereditary so people who had ancestors that were starving will carry weight more often than those whose ancestors had an easy access of food for several generations. Because this was something humans adapted to over the course of millennia as nomadic groups who had to deal with inconsistent food availability due to different climates, flooding cycles, droughts, etc, humans did in fact evolve to have a fluid metabolism and hold stores of fat just fine. If you think fat people are a new invention, I have insane news for you about noble and royal families in Europe for hundreds of years. Being fat was a status symbol to show off how much money you had and that you had no need to toil in fields. This is documented very well.

Keto and [starving yourself] is not healthy. If your entire argument is that being some arbitrary level of “overweight” is unhealthy, you should consider not promoting a diet that causes you to have calcium absorption complications, chronic arterial diseases, kidney stones, and other serious issues long term. Anorexia is not a health trick either, once again, that is an eating disorder.

#ed mention #ed recovery

[alexanderlightweight]

Prompter of that last one here absolutely crying with laughter over it! I had no idea what you would do with it but was not expecting that! Poor Alec is so traumatised, he started so serious trying to live up to Magnus's trust and his word for the downworlders, and taking Madzie's trauma so seriously, only to end up traumatised by baby launching fluids!

ahhh i'm so glad to hear that because i reread it before i posted it and i was just like 'wow this is not what anyone is going to expect because i dont understand how this happened and i wrote it'

Alec is very earnest in certain areas okay, but he also has his own issues and he's gonna try to get a handle on them. but if cat could stop making fun of him and sending him emojis of pregnant women and then the water drop emojis for even just a day he'd be very grateful.

magnus gives him a whole 57 hours of peace and then immediately joins in on the group chat with cat.

alec locks himself in magnus' closet and sulks for about 5 minutes before he's giving in and making comments himself.

'magnus, i had a transforming werewolf in my arms and the worst part of it was not her teeth or claws near my arteries. it was when her water broke. it was the most horrific experience of my life and i will cry if you ask me to it again. i will do it. but i will cry.'

Magnus cackling as Alec gets into retelling the story with flailing hands and waving motions, 'and then they tell me to wait! she's howling over my shoulder and we're both a mess and she's crying and i want to cry and then i have to get my jacket ready in case the baby comes because obviously it couldnt go on the floor -- magnus stop laughing it was horrible- and i let her break my hand a dozen times -magnus this was days ago, my hands fine i had an iratze active so she couldn't pulverize the bones-- and then i put my foot in it'

'i can't believe you asked her if the baby was safe to hold!'

'magnus the baby just came out of a vagina. a vagina that exploded all over me. I wasn't going to hold her without being sure it was safe!'

alec is very aware and understands that genitals dont make the gender and he's even wiling to try out something new if it is with magnus. however anything not to do with magnus is gross, especially if it's a vagina. look this all started because clary has a vagina (under the assumption she's cis) and rouse thought they were together.

alec's hatred of them went up by 200%. he has admitted this reasoning to magnus because magnus was concerned when they were talking about what alec is comfortable trying out with magnus (almost anything once). magnus now finds it hilarious and while he's somewhat sympathetic, alec did give him blanket permission to tease him about it.

cat just thinks the entire thing is hilarious

thank you for the prompt and the feedback!

#lumine talks to ppl #lumine rants about words #writing wednesday #writing wednesdays

[pretensesoup]

Queer books, day 31/30

Turns out I like writing about books in this format, but I read a lot more slowly than I write.

I asked on Mastodon for everyone's favorite romance novels with an NB character in them. Partly because I'm in the process of writing my own NB character and I wanted to see how other people had dealt with sex scenes (in the anatomic sense). Partly because I just wanted to see how anyone else conceptualized nonbinaryness*. That request led me to Sword Dance by AJ Demas. It only sort of answers my questions, but that's okay because it's amazing.

In an alternative version of the Mediterranean, Damiskos is an ex-soldier (now disabled) and current quartermaster who has been sent to visit an old friend (Nione) to secure a contract for fish sauce. At her house, he meets: a bunch of tedious philosophers led by Eurydemos (who seems to preach a very anti-alien, anti-LGBTQ agenda, and yet is writing poems for...), Varazda (a sword dancer and eunuch from Zash, another country in which Damiskos was once stationed and for which he harbors a deep affection), Varazda's "owner" Aristokles, and a few others. Quickly, Damiskos surmises that all is not as it seems--first, he foils an attempt on Varazda's life, and it becomes apparent that the relationship between Varazda and Aristokles may be a lie--in fact, they are conspiring to hide something far greater than the fact that Varazda is not actually a slave. Soon, Damiskos is teaming up with Varazda to solve a murder, then to avert a war and recapture Nione's villa from the philosophers. Oh, and falling in love.

Varazda is an interesting character. He (Damiskos's POV is the only one we get, and he uses male pronouns for him, although he says he thinks of himself as both male and female) was made a eunuch after his father lost a military engagement of some kind. He was then enslaved for a while, until he was sent to the Zashian embassy in Boukos, and then he was freed. This is obviously a major source of trauma, and Damiskos is in a unique place to appreciate that because of his time in Zash. As a result, Damiskos is extremely careful in their nascent relationship to let Varazda lead. Their relationship is very sweet in part because of this deference, and they deal with consent very well.

Key quote: (Varazda has been discussing how he doesn't always achieve an erection because of being a eunuch.)

Rather boldly, Damiskos said, "Want to see if we can make it happen again?" Varazda looked up in surprise. "What--right now?" "Yes, of course right now! Immortal gods. We're sitting on your bed, talking about how beautiful you are and whether or not you like sex--it's surprising I even need to say anything." "I am literally a eunuch, First Spear." After that they were both laughing...

As you might have guessed from the summary above, this is a world in which there is violence, homophobia/transphobia, and slavery, including sexual slavery. Women have some rights to own property, but they aren't voting citizens. The implication, reading between the lines, is that in the world generally, same-sex couples aren't too uncommon, and it's just Eurydemos's students who have a problem with them. (Eurydemos and his students reminded me a bit of Socrates and Plato, but of course Plato doesn't care that much about same-sex relationships, c.f. that one story from Symposium that got turned into a song from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. But I've been privileged to hear some angry Jesse rants about Plato since doing the podcast, and it reminded me of that. Anyway, as Plato says a lot, philosophers with bad opinions were a dime a dozen back in Athens, so.) Also, warning for explicit on-page sex.

*: Is Varazda nonbinary or is he gender fluid? I don't know. At one point, he says, "I never really think of myself as a man, but most of the time I'm quite happy for other people to think of me that way." Elsewhere, he implies that he doesn't want to be neither male or female, so he tries to be both. Maybe genderfluid is a better word for him. Maybe he can't articulate exactly how he feels, because he's not speaking to Damiskos in his first language, or because there isn't a word for how he feels. Either way, I enjoyed the way the character was portrayed.

That's it. Lots of action/plot, a good amount of romance, very engaging, love the setting. 10/10, go read it.

#pride #queer books #thirty days of books #lgbtq books #book review #queer fiction #lgbtq fiction #novel #aj demas #sword dance #alternative history #greek-adjacent #disability rep #nonbinary romance

[sadcatjae]

A Very Late Introduction

HELLO!

I'm doing this because I've been here for a while now but haven't actually introduced myself, which is kinda rude but hey! Better late than never(?)

You can call me Jae (but anything works), and my pronouns are they/them. I'm 30, non-binary/gender fluid, neurodiverse, QTPOC writer who's an administrator by day and deviant by night. I dipped my toe into professional writing with my short stories and theatre works, but decided that indulging in my real passion (gay whumpy trash writing) is what I actually live for.

I've been into whump the entire time I've been cognisant. I always thought I was weird or broken for obsessing over whumpy scenes in media & books. I'd also write, fantasise, and act out whump scenarios. It wasn't until I discovered the online whump community a few years ago that I realised this is a Real Thing, and most likely a response to a traumatic childhood.

I currently live a very quiet and domestic life in New Zealand with my partner. I'm working full time while my partner studies and in a few years, I hope to go to grad school. We're both agoraphobic, so we spend our free time writing, RPing or playing video games. They know about my interests in whump, but don't fully understand it themselves. They always ask me if something is a 'whomp' and they look pleased when I tell them that yes, yes it is in fact a whomp.

At the moment, I'm working on Rin the Rat, which is my white whale project (though currently on hiatus). I'm also actively writing my Heathers fanfic Meant to Be Yours and at times working on this blog.

You can find my masterlist of writing HERE.

You'll find that I'm active in bursts, so if I'm gone for ages don't worry I'll be back! I update sporadically when I find the time & motivation to write (which is hardly consistent). Otherwise, I'm doing whump prompts or odd one-shots that I also include in my masterlist.

Please note that all of my characters are over the age of 18 and this blog is for those who are 18+ only!

LIKES

My absolute favourite character archetype is the Villain. Anyone who is reviled, hated, and ousted. They are misunderstood to a degree, but the hatred against them is almost always justified. My characters thrive in the grey, and they are both undeserving and deserving of their punishment. So you're going to find a lot of unlikeable characters in my stuff. On the bright side, you get to see them get battered to a pulp c:

I also like:

>Whumper turned whumpee

>Whumpee turned caretaker

>Hero x Villain

>Enemies to Friends/Caretaker

>Hidden ailment

>Hurt/Comfort

>Explicit NSFW (incl. non-con, somnophilia, etc)

>Royalty whump

>Endurance whump

>Emotional whump & angst

>Painful recovery

>Fevers and sickness

>Permanent injury/scars

>Robot whump

>Eating disorders

>Drugs/Poisons

>Substance abuse/addictions & withdrawals

>Mental illness (particularly PTSD, anxiety & depression, BPD)

>Trauma and harmful copes

>Conditioning

>Insomnia/sleep deprivation

>Whump with an audience

>Drowsy/semi-conscious whump

>Scapegoat whumpee

>Genre/trope subversion (eg. big strong whumpee and frail whumper)

>Favourite genres & settings include fantasy, modern world, sci-fi, royal/historical, and East Asian-centric settings.

DISLIKES

>BBU/Pet whump

>Lady whump

>Kid whump

>Too Much Torture (yes, this is a thing)

>Dehumanisation/animalisation (in some cases this is OK)

>Major character death (don't like reading it, absolutely love writing it)

>Bio-family caretakers (found family is OK)

>Real life whump

Sorry for the novel length! I might edit this later and add/remove stuff. Feel free to message me prompts or questions or anything at all :D I would love to hear from you <3

.

#whump introduction #whump community #whump #whump writing #sadcatjae #hello this is very late but hi #i love u all <3 #lgbtq #whumblr

[rayman-chibi]

What is one head-canon you really REALLY like but don't actually want it to be canon?

I'll go first (TW Long rant about Rayman being trans and people not liking it)

As you may know, I was one of the first known Rayman artists to make the head-canon that Rayman is transfem, (which is ironic considering how manly Rayman is in his games like 95% of the time, but y'know, some transfems might have actually been like that before their eggs cracked, sometimes maybe even after to repress their gender dysphoria (not to be personal though -v-'))

When I first posted the drawing of Rayman holding the transfem/gender-fluid flag, I first thought that this would get me banned from the faces of Tumblr, Instagram, even Twitter (ESPECIALLY Twitter) just for making some video game character who's canonically male to have a more feminine gender... but surprisingly, people were cool with it. In fact, some people actually encouraged me to keep going with this head-canon. So I did. I've been showing off this head-canon to Tumblr and Instagram (mainly Tumblr), with other artists praising me for the stories I make with this head-canon, but this got me thinking at one point, "how would a more public audience react if this were canon?"

Now, this is where the second part of the question comes into play, because as much as I like the idea of Rayman suddenly realizing that he was an egg all this time and coming out to everyone he knows- his friends, his family, even his own worst enemies- that he's a trans woman/transfem and everyone just accepting it and even helping on defending him whenever some random person makes transphobic remarks to him... I'm kinda paranoid that this would hurt the series and the creators of said series as a whole.

So far, I only have one reason, but it's a reason to keep in mind, and that's the fact that there is a possibility this would end up in a situation similar to Snapdragon from High Guardian Spice or Bridget from the Guilty Gear series, with people getting angry at the creators of their respective series and even sending... pretty gruesome threats towards them. The only main difference is that while with Snapdragon and Bridget, when they were being feminine, it seemed to be a part of their characters and it's also what helped them grow to realize about themselves, with Rayman... well, what about Rayman?

As I've stated before, Rayman hasn't been very effeminate in the games; there was a time in a Hoodlum training video where we supposedly saw him dressed up as a ballerina for a few seconds and another time in the Raving Rabbids series where he dressed up as a grandma as a wearable costume... but that's just it. That's all the real explicit potential there is to make him a transfem. The effeminate aspect of him has been pushed aside by the creators and people brought those examples back up just to go, "oh meh gerd, look at how silly this is! Haha femboy go brr".

Now, again, it is possible for transfems to go through a masculine phase before realizing that they're trans, but this is a fictional character someone made and publicized who can't even talk much about their problems to you directly and therefore can't defend themselves from the many brutal messages coming from those who were fans of them we're talking about here, so the problem then is how people are going to react, and we all know how people had reacted to fictional characters going from effeminate men to trans women so suddenly.

It's also possible that that won't happen, but it still might because I'm kind of scared that the internet as a whole wouldn't learn their lesson and just dunk on Rayman of all people for being written to come out as trans, drowning out the actually accepting people who would come to those same terms.

I'm just gonna tell you right now that at the end of the day, this is just a fictional character, we and the original creators can do whatever we want with him (except make him into too much of a horrible person for either the stupidest of reasons or for no real reason at all), we can even call him a "her" if we so please, that is all.

Thanks for reading (if you've made it to this point at least)

#rayman #rayman chibi #it's text. it's all text. #transfem #head-canon #tw transphobes #tw long text

[trickstercaptain]

Can you elaborate on the "Disney Princess" Jack? Cuz I honestly feel he is one but I can't articulate in words how or why he is one, but I firmly believe the title fits him xD

       ahhhhh anon i ABSOLUTELY WILL elaborate on my Jack is a disney princess agenda, i adore you so much for asking as it gives me the perfect excuse to wax lyrical about this whole topic for a bit. because admittedly disney princess Jack is a sort of crack type thing, if we're being technical he's nothing like a disney princess — however i feel like there is a genuine argument to be made that he is disney princess coded, at least within his own narrative. you are right, he gives off those vibes. ( and we're not the only ones who think this — tumblr will not let me hyperlink the video but https://www.tiktok.com/@some.emmagination.huh/video/6961180862117367045 — the fact that Jack is so often seen with or around the princesses in the disney parks says a lot i think lmao ).

       it's possibly because he's assuredly not your classic white knight disney prince, he's not "bad" enough in own his narrative to be villain-coded, and his effeminate characteristics ( the famous story about disney execs thinking that JD was playing Jack as gay in the first film and absolutely freaking out about it ) play into that whole idea. I also think it's always fun to take a character like Jack, who belongs in a hyper masculine environment but consistently challenges those stereotypes, and consider him occasionally in terms of the feminine. Jack being a trickster archetype also helps with this; gender expression is inherently very fluid to him. plus potc plays with this too — Elizabeth is made the Pirate King, after all.

       but he does also fit some classic disney princess tropes! defining a disney princess is kinda tricky now because over the past twenty years or so that definition has (quite rightly) diversified from the more traditional princesses of older disney movies, but i wanna highlight some of the fun ways in which Jack fits into that vague category.

       he talks to animals! maybe not uhhhh... in the nice way that princesses generally do lmao, but he has his god-tier rivalry with Jack the monkey, openly admits that he'll have Cotton's parrot on board the Black Pearl in AWE because "at least I'll have someone to talk to," and in TPOF starts telling his new horse Caesar sea stories because he gets bored waiting for Ayisha. as a child, I am sure he also had very animated conversations with Tim the dog, too. he also sings, canonically. Elizabeth teaches him the song from the ride in CotBP and Jack continues to sing or hum that on two more occasions in the trilogy. he descends from almost literal pirate royalty, effectively already making him a princess. Jack might be the black sheep of the family but he comes from a familial line of very rich, very influential pirates within the Brethren Court. and calling him a prince just feels wrong, so princess it is. also if he gets together with Elizabeth post-AWE he "marries" into royalty and becomes the queen of the Brethren Court, true facts.

       another is that he has the most fairytale esque, romantic dynamic in the entire franchise with the Black Pearl. I've said it again and again, but if Jack's ship were a human and Jack still talked about her the way he does, he'd be the most romantic bastard in the fucking movies lmao. in TPOF, it was literally love at first sight, Jack stared at her on the dock when he first saw her ( and she didn't look her best, she was a ship that had been neglected for a while and Jack spent weeks sprucing her up and getting her shipshape ) and completely fell head over heels. he gets an entire paragraph in that novel about what it is to finally know what love is after hearing sailors talk about it for so long. he dies for her, gives up his immortal soul for her.... Jack is motivated by love in the trilogy ( no matter how difficult, or twisted, or toxic that love becomes ), I won't accept any arguments.

       Jack is surrounded by loveable sidekick type characters. potc is a great franchise for this anyway just in general, but Jack's crew fit a lot of those archetypes that you find in many disney princess movies. from the mice in Cinderella, to Scuttle/Sebastian/Flounder in the Little Mermaid, to the furniture/servants in Beauty and the Beast, there's a lot of overlap — and while you can also say that Jack, being a side character, also fits that role, as he becomes subject to main character syndrome in the franchise, he gradually becomes more and more at the centre of it instead of being with them on the sidelines. disney princesses, particularly from the older movies, are also frequently in need of rescue, and rescuing Jack from the Locker is the major plot point of the first hour of AWE. he might mockingly call Elizabeth the damsel to Will, but he is in fact the damsel put in distress in that movie.

       then there are the somewhat more angsty ones. disney is renowned for its absent mothers, particularly within its fairytales, and Jack is no different. I may have my well-developed headcanons about Jack's mother but in terms of the strict canon, we know nothing about her ( beside the shrunken head ) and that is on purpose, considering that the house of mouse would not let anyone, including the author of TPOF, write about Jack's mother or even hint as to her existence. Jack is also subject to the controlling influence of his single parental figure, Teague, in his early life, which is a classic plight disney princesses find themselves in, whether the dynamic is outright abusive like Jack and Teague's is, or less so. Jack — at least earlier in his life, less so in the trilogy itself — is easily manipulated by the "villains." the plot of TPOF hinges on Jack being manipulated and betrayed by Christophe, and then the plot of CotBP hinges on Jack being betrayed by Barbossa during the mutiny on the Black Pearl ten years prior.

       lastly and, a bit of an odd one maybe, but something I want to include, is that Jack is often coveted by others. it's most obvious in Jack's dynamic with Beckett which, whether you read into it sexually or not on Beckett's side, I personally think it's entirely up for interpretation, is very driven by Beckett's desire to possess Jack. he wants to control him and use him in the same way that he uses all material things, and is pushed to very extreme lengths when Jack resists that control and tries to assert his autonomy. I think Jack being such a free spirit, as well as the fact that he's a pretty boy and is unapologetically sexual ( the second not being a disney princess trait lmao ) he invites that kind of attitude from other people. he invites people to try to challenge that aspect of his character and put him in a box, or control him, or break him.

#anonymous. #&. depths few had ever begun to glimpse ( meta tag. ) #&. don’t ever insult captain jack sparrow in front of me ( ooc. ) #this is unhinged. there is no question about it #but also some of my proudest work on this blog lmaooo #this is what my blog is all about #arguing in nine paragraphs why jack is a disney princess :')