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#Media sucks so bad for women
kthulhu42 · 2 months
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Media (to women): Fat means lazy. Fat means you've given up. Fat means you've let yourself go. Fat is the worst thing you could possibly be. You could be the nicest person in the world and it will never be enough to overcome being Fat. Look at this celebrity. Look how small she is, she's half your size, you can see her ribs, SHE'S STILL FAT.. And what does that make you??
Tiktok Girls who have grown up with this constant rhetoric: "Ew. She's fat."
Media: "Do women not care about each other?? Do women not have a class consciousness?? Or solidarity?? Can women not be kind? Can women not judge each other based on looks??? Can women move past their shallow beliefs??
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gophergal · 8 months
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Honestly the fact that so many things are marketed based on gender has always been so fucking weird to me
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chainsaw man manga fans and whatveer their problem is vs chainsaw man anime fans all being fucking spy family konosuba refugees desperately trying to flee the invading smart fridge empire forces vs the creator of chainsaw man whos kind of more insufferable than either of those types of guy
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lampreykisses · 1 year
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thinking of remaking too because im just not satisfied with who or what i used to be especially in the selfship community
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chemicalbrew · 1 year
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okay let’s be real: live a live probably didn’t age as well as most people think it did (bc i still can’t shake the feeling of ct having similar ideas and vibes executed way better after playing for weeks), but like. complaining about the game having a single optional female protagonist is not it chief
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ndiecity · 7 months
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At this point I think there could be a reverse bechdel test where the relationship between two men in a piece of media can be read as homosexual simply because the creator sucks at writing women so bad that any potential female love interest only serves as a prop to remind audiences that the protags aren't gay
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miniwheat77 · 3 months
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You belong to me. (Ghost x Reader.)
!reader is a Virgin, virginity loss, p in v sex, unprotected sex, Ghost is a little possessive, this is age gap smut and you’ve been warned. Ghost is like 40 in this. Absolutely NO minors!
This is not edited so sorry for any mistakes
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He doesn’t know what did it.
He doesn’t know which part of you started this… obsession.
Maybe it was your smile. Or your personality. How lively you were for being in the military. It was a cruel job and you still managed to be so happy.
Maybe it was just that you were not his normal type in women. A young virgin. Who despite being exposed to some of the toughest situations out there was still so innocent.
But something caused it, made him have that one dream. He was tucked away in his bed, sound asleep. He seen your face as he fell into a deeper sleep. You were laughing and smiling. Turning to him to acknowledge him as he walked into a room. Greeted him with a kiss.
Ghost woke in a hurry, where on earth it had come from. He doesn’t know. He had never had these feelings for you before this. They came out of nowhere. And it started fast. Like he got sucked into a black hole and could no longer figure a way out. He was gone- done for. Every second he spent around you after that, he dreaded. Because Ghost didn’t do this. He didn’t have feelings for people. But your smile. Your laugh and how it could pierce his ears from what felt like miles away. How when you spoke to him, like you were talking to a friend made his brain foggy as he watched your lips move. Lost in a daze. Most of the time you had to repeat yourself because he was so spaced out he heard none of it.
He knew he was in too deep when he started looking into you.
Finding all of your social media accounts. Coming across every single post you’d ever been featured or tagged in. He knew who your parents and grandparents were and how close you were with some. He even snuck into Price’s office once and stole any file that contained you. He knew everything there was to know about you, down to your shower routine at night.
Ghost knows he’s got to be sick for how obsessed he’d become but he just couldn’t help himself.
When he came to the conclusion that you must be a virgin, he was by your side always.
If anyone else found out that you were a virgin- it would be bad. Especially some of the men who they called enemies. They were cruel and dangerous to women. During any missions at all, Ghost was right with you.
When it started, you didn’t understand it. Why he was all over you all of a sudden but you didn’t mind. You liked Simon. If he wanted to be friends, that’s okay. You didn’t mind. It wasn’t until he was killing for you that he knew he had a problem.
When an enemy had put their hands on you, he was merciless. He could be brutal, violent. But never to you. Not ever. It ate him alive that he liked you so much and he couldn’t have you. You weren’t his. You didn’t have to listen to him, you didn’t have to consider what he said. You had no ties to him whatsoever and it drove him mad. Ghost was bothered deeply by his infatuation with you. You would never go for someone like him, not when he’s old enough to be your dad. Some nights, when it’s especially cold. He can barely stand it. He wants you close to him, by his side at all times. He wants you. He wants it all.
“Alright. let’s have a chat, shall we?” Captain Price’s voice snags Ghost out of his thoughts.
He’s sitting off to one side of the large oak table sat in the middle of the conference room. Everyone else is inside as well. You’re next to him because he chose to sit down next to you. “Obviously, we’re going to go on a break for a few weeks, I wanted you all home for a while to relax before we started up on these next few missions. If you didn’t want to go, I can still find you guys something to do on base. There will still be other commanding officers and some other new recruits keeping it up and running. If you wanted to stay on base I need to know by tomorrow.”
Ghost will always respect Price. Always.
“I’d like to stay on base, Captain.”
Ghost respected him, and right now he almost wanted to give the old man a kiss once you’ve spoken up.
“Okay, Y/N. Anyone else?”
“Me, always.” Ghost mumbles. “Right, obviously.” Captain Price nudges him. “Workaholic.” Price mumbles, making Simon smile underneath his balaclava.
Ghost doesn’t hear another word of the meeting. You don’t say anything else and that’s all he wanted to hear. Although he wondered why you were choosing to stay on base when you had a family.
Once the day came when everyone else left, Ghost was going to miss them. He always did during breaks. Especially on the few he’s been left alone. He missed Price’s lectures. Soaps banter, Gaz’s pranks. He missed them all, they were the only family he had of course. But he didn’t mind this time, not since you’d be around. You keep him company until they came back, if you liked it or not. Ghost was getting soft as he got older, he knew it. But he couldn’t stop it. He didn’t really want to anymore. He liked to be close with people even if he knew it would kill him if he lost any of them.
It takes a few days before Ghost finishes up what he usually does. Cleaning up his room, getting rid of some things. He likes to reset completely when he has the time. When he’s done, he finally decides to seek you out.
It seems as if you’re doing the same, your door is propped open and he walks right inside. “Hey.” You’re reaching for a book on a bookshelf. “Oh, hey Ghost.” You smile at him. You turn back to the bookshelf, turning back to him in a hurry. The book topples over onto you and you step away as the rest follow suit. He can’t help but laugh. “You’re.. not wearing a mask.” You blush. “No, I’m not.” He laughs. “You need help?”
“No I just didn’t expect you to come in here with your face out like that!” You laugh, picking up the books and setting them on your bed. “I mean.. I can put it back on.” He laughs. “No! No- I just. You caught me off guard that’s all.” You blush, avoiding his gaze as you stumble over his words. “You can’t walk in here practically naked, I mean you’re showing so much skin.” You joke. You can actually see his lips turn up in a smile and it makes your chest ache just how handsome he is. “Yeah, I know it’s a lot of handsome to just throw around like this.” He smirks, hearing you laugh. He loves it.
If he could only hear that for the rest of his life, he’d never complain again.
You roll your eyes.
“I see we had the same idea, bit of a reset.”
“Yeah, I just wanted it to all be set up and clean for when we go back out. Swear I’m still cleaning up sand from our trip to Iran.” You laugh. “Oh god me too.” Simon laughs. He sits down on the edge of your bed, watching you as you replace the books. He offers you help of course but you deny it. “I was wondering why you chose to stay, I thought you had mentioned visiting your parents?” Ghost doesn’t miss the way you stiffen.
“Uh.. well.” You turn to him. “It’s.. kind’ve… personal I guess.” You mumble. “Oh, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” He looks up at you. “It’s just this.. family friend we have.” You start, looking at the cover of the book in your hands. “He’s been my dad’s friend since I was in my early teens.” Ghosts hair stands up, worried at where you’re going with this. You sit down at the small desk you have in your room. “He always acted really weird when I was around and when I was home last… he tried.” You pause. “He tried making a pass at me, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. It turned into this whole thing. My dad got involved and him and my mum didn’t believe me. They believed him. So yeah, they planned this big party for me to come back. But I found out they invited him so I lied and said I was stuck here. But.. I think you needed some company anyways.” You smile. You’re trying to make light of what you’ve just told him.
“I’m sorry to hear that. He didn’t touch you did he?”
Ghost knows he’ll track him down. Torture him for laying a finger on you.
“He tried.”
Ghost nods. “He left with a bloody nose.” You laugh. “You know, if he ever does anything to you. This entire base will have his head on a pike.” He looks up at you. The way he looks at you has chills rising on your body. He’s deadly serious. You smile. “I appreciate it, but I don’t plan on going back. Not when they sided with him so easily.” You laugh. “Ah, you get to missing them too much, just take me with you. I’ll be your body guard.” He laughs. Inside, Ghost is seething. How dare he. How dare he try to hurt you.
“I appreciate it, but I’m not putting you through that. They’re hard to get along with. Besides that if I brought him a guy twice my age I’d probably give my dad a heart attack.” Ghost laughs at this. “What the man doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?” He winks, seeing the pink rise to your cheeks has you turning away from him.
“You’re funny.” You giggle.
———
For the next couple of weeks, you spend nearly every second of every day with Ghost. He helps you with your chores, you help him with his. You get done faster and get to spend even more time doing practically nothing together. You aid on a couple of spare missions, he shows you a little bit of mechanic work, he even rents a rental car in the town you’re in so that he could show you around. It’s by far some of the most fun you’ve ever had and you like being so close to Ghost. But there’s been something nagging at you in the back of your mind.
And that’s your growing feelings for him.
Your parents have nonstop harassed you to come home, even if it’s for a couple days. You ended up folding but the thought of leaving Ghost here alone drives you crazy. You never thought you’d be so close to the Lieutenant.
You’re sitting at the edge of your bed when he knocks at your door. Right about now, the two of you would be going down to have dinner. But this time, he shows up with trays in his hands. You smile as you open the door. “Mess hall is full, thought I’d bring you something before there’s nothing left.” He laughs. “Thanks Ghost.” You smile. “Is something going on?” He asks.
“Ah… I just.. thought I’d ask you something.” You say nervously. “What’s up?” He asks. “Well.. my parents have been nagging me to go home.” You sigh. He nods his head, sitting down at your desk. “And.. I told them I’d go home for just a couple days, no longer than a week.” You shrug. He nods his head. “Yeah? Are you going to be okay?”
“See that’s the thing. I.. was wondering.” You laugh. “If you’d go as like.. my.. I don’t know.” You pause. “Pretend boyfriend?” You laugh. He turns to you. “Yeah, no problem.” He looks up at you. “Wait really?” You ask.
“Course, not like I got anything better to do. Besides, if that bastard puts his hands on you it gives me an excuse to hurt him.” He shrugs. You laugh. “Hey. I really appreciate it. You have no idea.” You breathe out a sigh of relief. “My dad is probably going to give you a lot of grief for how old you are though.” Ghost laughs. “Love, I’m in the military. I’ll be just fine.” You smile. Thank god.
———
You sigh, which makes Ghost turn his head to you. “What’s going on?” He asks. He’s pulling into the driveway. “That’s.. his car.” You sigh. “Hey.” He places his hand on your thigh to reassure you. “He’s not going to do anything. I swear I won’t leave your side.” You smile. “Thank you Ghost.”
Captain Price was surprised to hear that the two of you had left together, but after speaking to Simon in private he understood why. Simon felt a little bad for spilling your business but he was your Captain after all. You still had another few weeks before you were due back anyways, you had time to kill. Ghost helps you unload your bags. Carrying them up to the front door with you. Once you reach the door, your mum opens it up.
She’s shocked to see that you aren’t alone.
“Hi Y/N!” She smiles. Bringing you into a hug. “Hey.” You mumble. “Who is your friend?” She asks. “Oh uh.. this is Simon.” You nod. Simon reached his hand out. You can tell your mum is slightly intimidated by the sheer size of him. She takes his hand anyways.
“My boyfriend.”
Your mums eyes nearly bulge out of her head when those words leave your lips but she smiles nonetheless. “It’s nice to meet you, Simon.” She stands to the side. Allowing the both of you inside. “Your dad and Mike are in the back.” She smiles. Ghost can see you go stiff.
So his name is Mike.
“Simon I can show you Y/N’s room. So that you can go see your dad.” She turns to you. “That’s alright, Y/N said she wanted to show me her old room.” He smiles, rejecting her offer. You mentally thanked him. “Oh alright than. Well. I’m just finishing up dinner.” She smiles. “You know where to find us.”
You nod your head, leading Simon up to your old bedroom. “You are literally a life saver Simon.” You mumble the moment the door is closed. He laughs. “So.. am I staying in here with you. They got any strict rules?” He laughs. “No weird rules but there’s only one bed.” You blush. “That’s alright. Just don’t be a blanket hog.” He nudges you. “Let’s go meet Mike.” He grasps your wrist, tugging you along. You groan out. “I know you wanna bite his head off Simon but you can’t.”
“Says who?”
You can’t help but laugh. “Definitely not me.” You mumble. You lead Simon out to the back door to the back yard where everyone now sits. He opens up the door for you, your mum notices how kind he is to you immediately. She didn’t say anything to your dad yet, unsure of how this would go. It’s quiet the moment the both of you move closer. “Uh.. hey honey.” your dad smiles. He’s skeptical. “Who’s this?” He stands up. Ghost sees the man that’s made you uncomfortable. Staring him down from the moment they lock eyes. Only looking away to shake your dad’s hand. “I’m Simon.” He smiles.
“My boyfriend.” You finish for him. Your dad nods. “Nice to meet you Simon. You seem a little old.”
“Ah, to be honest I thought Y/N was older, she’s pretty mature for her age.” He nods. “Yeah, that’s true. She’s a good girl. Smart too.”
“Absolutely.” Simon agrees. Simon can see that Mike is uncomfortable upon hearing that you’ve got a boyfriend. It only makes Simon want to tear him to shreds even more. “Oh uh. Simon. This is Mike, he’s a family friend.”
Simon is sure to grip his hand extra hard as he shakes it. Towering over him. He wants him to feel small.
“Let’s sit for dinner yeah?” Your mum breaks the awkward silence.
It was nice enough outside to be able to sit outside to eat. Everyone keeps asking about Simon. How the two of you met and how you came to be. Simon made up something cute on the spot and you couldn’t deny the butterflies it gave you. Simon is a great man, and it sucks that you have to fake this.
“Hey Y/N. You mind helping me get some stuff out of my car?” Mike speaks up.
“Nonsense, no reason she should do it when I’m around. I’ll help you.” Simon Stands up from the bench. Mike stiffens up. It’s clear that there he had an ulterior motive. He’ll most likely have to come up with something in the spot. Simon expects him to say “oh I forgot.”
He leads Simon to his trunk.
Simon quickly notices that it’s empty. “Oh shoot. Maybe I forgot to put it in here after all.” Simon lets out a laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s not that you wanted to get Y/N alone so you could be a fucking creep toward her some more.”
“Excuse me?”
Simon grasps hold of the man, slamming into the back of the car. His hands gripping his lapels.
“She told me about you. And I’m not gonna let her be alone around you because you’re a fucking freak. If you even so much as look at her wrong I’ll bury you. And nobody will ever know where to find you. Do I make myself clear?”
Mike nods his head eagerly. “Yes I understand.” He flinches. “Great. Don’t come around again while she’s here. If I see your face again we’re going to have a problem. And if you tell her dad about this conversation we had, I’ll be sure to make the bullshit worth my while. Now go back in there and let them know you’ve forgotten about something and that you have to go.” He nods his head, and finally Simon lets him go. They both walk back into the house and Simon returns to his spot next to you. “I must’ve forgotten it at home, but my boss called me and asked me to come in for some last minute questions, so unfortunately I’ll have to get going.”
He looks pale. You know immediately something has happened. “Aw, sorry to hear that Mike. You have a good day alright?” Your mum smiles. Simon wants to scowl at her but knows he can’t.
It’s getting late. Both you and Simon are tired from the time zones and your parents are going to go play Bingo, Mike invited them out.
Unusual when you were home. Simon must’ve really scared him. “You two get some rest, we’ll be home later tonight.” Your mum smiles. Once they’ve left, the weight leaves your shoulders. “Fuck me, thank god.” You laugh. You start up the stairs and Simon follows you. “What did you say to him?”
“What are you talking about?” He asks. “Mike looked like he’d seen a damn ghost, you know exactly what I’m talking about. What’d you do to him?”
“Me? Say something to Mike? No way.” He smirks. He stretches back and his jacket raises and you can see his toned stomach, you have to turn away. Swallowing hard. “Liar.”
“I’m the Ghost he seen, darling. But you don’t have to worry about him anymore. Alright?” He forces you to look at him. Nodding your head. “Thank you Simon.”
“Nothing to it sweetheart.” He laughs. “Your parents probably think you’re going through a crisis. Did you see the way they looked at me all day?”
“Yeah. It’s just because you’re older.” You giggle, laying down on the bed. Simon throws himself down beside you. “First guy I’ve ever brought home and you’re almost as old as my dad.” You laugh. You freeze up as the words leave your mouth. “I- I mean-“
“No worries, your secret is safe with me.” He turns to look at you. “What?”
Simon chuckles. “I know that you’re a virgin Y/N.” You can feel your blood run cold. “What? How do you know that?”
Ghost laughs. “I can just tell.” You look down, blushing.
“Hey. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” He rolls onto his side, resting on his hand. “It’s actually kind’ve impressive. As pretty as you are I’m surprised nobody has scooped you up and married you yet.” He laughs.
“You think I’m pretty?” You look up at him.
He laughs. “Of course I do. What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.. I guess I just never thought that much into it. I didn’t think I was that pretty.”
“So clearly you’ve never looked to a mirror.” He rolls his eyes. “Tough talk coming from you. I had no idea how handsome you were until you surprised me without a mask on.” You roll your eyes. “Oh? Handsome? Don’t let your panties get too wet.” he winks. Crimson creeps up your cheeks and you shake your head at him. “Shut up. You’re so full of yourself.” You roll your eyes. He laughs. “I’m kidding.”
Once the conversation has died down, you’ve nuzzled closer to him unintentionally.
“Y/N.” He speaks up out of the blue.
“Yeah?” You look at him. “There’s a way to make this easier yknow.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean.. we’re faking it. Right?”
“Yeah?”
“What if we didn’t?”
You sit up, looking at him in confusion. The way your hair falls perfectly as you look at him, so beautiful when you’re confused. “I don’t think I understand.” You laugh. “What if we didn’t fake it?”
“Are.. are you saying that-“
“I want you to be my girlfriend.”
You didn’t understand metaphors in person until those words left his lips and the earth stopped spinning. It feels like your blood freezes over in your veins. “I-“ you freeze up. He sits up. Taking your hand in his. “I know I’m throwing a lot at you right now. But I’ve felt this way about you for some time. I mean you had to have noticed me coming around you more right?”
“I.. I guess so. I just thought it was because… well I don’t know.” You blush, looking down. “I know a little bit more about you than I should.. and I know it’s wrong of me. You’re so young and I can’t ask you to give up your life for me.” He breathes. “How?”
“I did a little snooping. Through your social media. And.. your file.”
“My file? Like the one in our Captain’s office?”
He shrugs.
Heat pools between your legs, you’ve never been so attracted to anyone in your entire life. “You.. stole files to get to know me?” You look up at him. “Well when you put it that way it sounds like I’m a creep.”
“You are a creep. If you wanted to know you could’ve asked me.” You smirk. You’re clearly poking fun at him. “Yeah, doesn’t take a genius to see how perfectly innocent you are. You n your perfect unfucked pussy.”
Your mouth drops open and you shove him back. “I’m kidding- I’m kidding.” He laughs. “Watch your mouth, Riley. I might be a girl but I’ll still kick your ass.”
“I believe it. I’ll be on my best behavior.” He laughs.
“So what do you say?”
“You really want me to be your girlfriend?” You ask. He nods. “You’re not just saying that?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not going to have sex with me and than dump me are you?”
He looks stunned by your question. “I might be an asshole but jeez. Have some faith in me.” He mumbles.
“Fine.” You laugh. “Yeah, I’ll be your girlfriend.”
“Good, god I’ve been waiting for this.” He sits up, pressing his lips to yours immediately.
He pulls you back beside him, his lips not moving from yours until he feels he’s had enough. He pulls you closer into his side, tugging the blanket up over the both of you.
Simon almost never sleeps well. He spends most of his time awake, seeing nothing but darkness. But with the bedside lamp on, he can see you clearly. And he thinks you’re even more beautiful asleep.
He knows how stressful this has been for you. You never stopped tapping your foot once you left the airport. You never noticed him making an attempt to soothe you. Holding it still so that you would relax a little more. You briefly feel his fingertips gliding through your hair. You’re peaceful when you’re asleep. Nothing bad. You’re safe here, so long as Simon is around.
He only hopes you’ll want him around forever.
———
“Honey… is everything okay?” Your mum asks. Simon is still asleep, it’s early. You’re sitting down across from her at your table.
“What? Why?”
“Because.. Simon is so much older than you honey. You.. you don’t really expect this to go anywhere do you?”
You pause, looking up at her. “Excuse me?” You cross your arms. “Y/N… I’m not trying to be mean okay. It’s just.. men like Simon don’t want a relationship. They just want-“
You raise your hand up, stopping her.
“Don’t you dare categorize Simon.”
She sighs. “Y/N. You know that’s not what I mean. I just mean that men like Simon only have one thing on their mind.”
“Yeah? And that is?”
“You know exactly what I mean Y/N.”
“Sex? You think he’s only with me for sex?”
“Y/N… lower your voice.” She seethes.
“Yeah well if he only wanted me for sex he’d be long gone by now.” Her eyes widen.
“You’ve already slept with him? How long have you been together?”
“Couple weeks.” You shrug. She shakes her head. “I thought we raised you better than this.” You freeze, looking up at her and laughing. “I don’t even want to hear any of that considering you wouldn’t even side with your own daughter after Mike made a pass at me.”
“Not this again Y/N.”
“Yeah, not anymore. Because if he touches me again Simon is going to break his hand.”
She shakes her head. “What has gotten into you?”
“I’m not a kid anymore. I can make my own decisions. I mean for christ’s sake, I kill people for a living.” You scoff. “And for the record. Simon isn’t like other guys. I’ve watched him kill people for trying to hurt me.” You laugh, standing up. “I think we’ll probably be heading out first thing in the morning, this was clearly a mistake.” You make your way upstairs. “Maybe we won’t be here when you change your mind, when he hurts you.”
“You wouldn’t be there anyways.” You roll your eyes. You hear her leave through the front door. Her car starting.
You make your way upstairs. Simon sitting at the edge of the bed. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. Did you hear that?”
Simon nods his head. “I’m sorry Y/N.” He breathes. “Mike is a fucking creep and they’re fucked up for not believing you.”
“What? No. That’s- no.” You laugh. “I could care less about them believing me about Mike. It’s her shit talking you that drives me crazy. You’ve always been good to me and that’s wrong of her to say.”
Simon laughs. “I don’t exactly have the best rep Y/N. You should’ve known that before you started dating me.”
You turn to look at him, and the look in your eyes has his smile fading. “I… I’m sorry.” He scratches the back of his head nervously.
“Don’t be.” You mumble the words under your breath. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to offend you-“ you start toward him, kissing him hard. You push him back into the bed. “Woah- Y/N.” He pushes you up. “What are you doing?” He breathes. A gasp leaving his lips when you climb on top of him to straddle him. “Shit.” He grits his teeth. “Hey- listen. You aren’t thinking straight.” You look up at him, eyes dripping lust. “I’m thinking just fine.”
He grits his teeth as you rock your hips down into him. He quickly flips you over. “Y/N. You’re not ready for this.”
“Simon.” You’re breathless as you look up at him. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more ready for this, to be honest.”
He stares down at you. God he wants this, of course he does. But he doesn’t want to take advantage of you. That’s not him. He lowers himself down again, locking his lips with yours. Your heart is thumping in your chest and he can hear it. “Is this really where you want to do this?” He pulls away. You look around. Biting back a smirk. “I’ll take that as a yeah.” He shakes his head, standing up. The door doesn’t have a lock, so he puts a chair up in front of it. When he turns back you’ve already shed your shirt, and you’re working on your pants. He’s still wearing sweatpants.
“I don’t have anything..” he sighs. “It’s okay.” You nod.
He pushes you back, moving himself between your legs. “You trust me?” He asks. You nod your head. Looking up at him. “M’gonna try not to hurt you.” He breathes. “I want you to know that I’d never take advantage of you. If you don’t like anything at all, you tell me.” He presses his forehead to yours. “I know.”
He slides down the soft pajama pants you’ve got on. He tried so hard not to smother you the night before. He wants it all with you but knows not to move too fast, he doesn’t want to scare you off. He kisses you, moving lower down your body. Scattering kisses over your soft skin. Hearing you whine out as he moves down your chest. Over your stomach and onto your thighs. You lift your head, looking him in the eyes as he glides his tongue through your folds for the first time. The first time you’ve ever been touched by a man. Your eyes grow heavy, and you gasp. He sucks at your clit and watches you squirm as he tongues your clit. You try to clamp your thighs shut but he forces them open. Wanting you to get used to him touching you, relax you a little bit. He’s going to need you relaxed for when he enters you for the first time. He keeps it up for a few minutes until your thighs are shivering. You’re right on the edge but he doesn’t want to overwhelm you.
Pulling away just as he’s got you to the edge. Hearing you whine out.
You’re already sweaty and your legs are jello.
“Relax. You’re ready for me sweetheart.” He moves himself between your legs, kissing back up your stomach and chest. “You are so beautiful like this. So beautiful.” He shakes his head. “I’m gonna fuck you now. Do you think you can handle it?” He asks. “Yes.” You answer fast. He pushes his sweats down to his mid thigh.
Just then, you hear the door close downstairs. “Shh. It’s alright.” He spits in his hand, gliding it over his cock. Slicking himself up as much as he can. Not wanting to hurt you any more than he has to. He holds your thighs open. Lining himself up with your entrance. He starts to slip between the folds of your pussy, your mouth popping open. He knows you’re about to cry out, clamping a hand over your mouth and burying himself the rest of the way inside of you. Sealing the deal.
This isn’t just casual anymore. You’re his now.
He lowers himself down. Still halted.
“You belong to me.”
You cry into his hand but he muffles it. He slides himself out of you and rocks his hips back into you. Feeling the wetness of your tears on his hand. “My god you are tight.” He breathes. Clenching his eyes shut. He rocks into you at a steady pace. A knock at the door has you going stiff and he rests his hand on your stomach. The other around your mouth still. He draws his hand away from your stomach, pressing his index finger over his lips. Shushing you.
“Y/N. We need to talk.”
It’s your dad.
Simon slowly draws his hand away from your mouth. Making sure you’ll be quiet. But he doesn’t stop his thrusts.
“Okay- I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Mike is here.”
Simon grits his teeth, shaking his head. “I said I’ll be down in a minute.”
Your dad sighs at the other end of the door. His footsteps disappearing down the stairs.
“Focus on me. M’gonna make you feel good baby.” He breathes.
He adjusts himself to be angled just right. Holding you still as he starts to rock himself into that one spot. Your mouth falls open the first time he brushes up against it. That spongy spot that’s so sensitive. “Cover your mouth darling. S’alright. Just relax.” He’s whispering. His voice so low you can barely hear it. You clamp your own hand on your mouth as he holds your hips steady, rocking into you. You’re barely keeping it together and that’s what he wants. He wants you to fall apart. He wants you on him. Clamping down around him. He wants to draw you in closer. You’re his and he wants to show you that. He holds you steady, keeping the same pace. He wants to be more rough but knows you aren’t quite ready for that. He moves your hand away from your mouth to kiss you. His lips move against yours sloppily and you notice his thrusts are a little sloppy as well. He’s getting close, but so are you. The unfamiliar feelings of a knot builds in your lower belly.
His teeth latch onto your bottom lip. Pulling it between his teeth and sucking at it. Your whines egg him on. Pulling him into you. He’s addicted.
“Simon… I’m really close.” You whine. Your voice is low and he knows nobody can hear you. Thank god, they don’t deserve to hear such angelic noises. You’re good. You’re the perfect amount of good Simon needs in his dark life. You make him better. His cock throbs hard inside of you. He grits his teeth. “It’s okay, you don’t have to be so gentle with me. I can take it.” You breathe, looking up at him. He laughs. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into baby.”
“I think I do.”
Simon lifts you up, laying you down on the floor, if they’re downstairs, they’ll hear the bed creaking. He pushes your legs up, and starts his bruising pace. Fucking into you like it’ll be the last time. Your eyes widen, but he clamps a hand over your mouth. “You wanted this. You can take it.” He growls. Your eyes roll back and you fall apart. Throbbing around him as you reach your high. You’re clamping down around him tightly and he can barely keep himself together. Of all of the people you thought you might lost your virginity to, Ghost was never one of them.
He takes one last hard thrust, jawline clenching up as he grits his teeth. His eyes screw shut and you realize that’s he’s just finished inside of you. Your eyes widen as you feel his warmth filling you.
He relaxes himself into you.
“Fuck- m’sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking I just couldn’t stop myself.” He breathes. “It’s okay.” You look up at him. You’re mesmerized by him.
He laughs, letting his head hang. “You can’t look at me like that. I won’t let you walk away.” He laughs.
You let your head rest against the floor. “You have to go with me.”
“I wouldn’t let you go down there alone. Not with that prick down there.” Simon growls. Sliding out of you. You gasp out as he does.
You redress yourselves, Simon letting you borrow one of his hoodies. A way to assert dominance, but you didn’t need to know that.
You make your way downstairs and he follows close behind. “What’s going on?” You ask.
“Mike wanted to apologize.”
Simon grips your hand in his. Pulling you closer. “What?”
“I shouldn’t have done what I did and I’m sorry Y/N.” You swallow hard. Your mum and dad look guilty. “We have to apologize too. For not believing you.” Your dad speaks up. “I don’t forgive you. Not any of you.” You breathe. “We’re heading out first thing in the morning and I won’t be back until I’m ready to.”
You pull Simon along, out the front door.
“How about I show you around? Where I grew up.” He smiles. “Course.” He smiles. Following you down the drive of your parents’ house. “You’ll have to show me where you grew up sometime.” You smile. “Yeah, of course. I’d love to darling.” He laughs. “You’re a strong girl you know that?” He opens up the car door for you. “I don’t know.”
“M’serious. You’re brave and strong. They don’t deserve a girl like you.”
You smile.
“So what does that tell you?” You ask. He moves closer. “I don’t know.” His lips ghost over yours.
“Don’t fuck it up, Riley.”
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danibeanie · 22 days
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astro observations 😙
-y’all this mercury retrograde is no joke.. I’ve already had 2 past flings come back. one thru social media another one at work… don’t even get me started with the solar eclipse😭
following ⬆️ I had mercury (communication) conjunct my chiron (past wounds) in my 11th house(friends) in my lunar return chart.
-the most important people in my life have scorpio risings. people don’t talk about how strong the bond is between sister sign ascendents.❤️‍🔥
for my fellow venus risings or if u just have a strong venus in general. Getting dolled up is SO IMPORTANT. look good feel good right?
-following up having no conflict with people and just good boundaries is good because trust me it’ll show on your face when u don’t.
-women that have cancer placements tend to be more curvy. my coworker the other day was like “your hips are so pretty”(cancer mars). I believe it’s the moon influence, sadly I didn’t get blessed in the chest area.. (cancer saturn)😭
-most mutable placements I know have an addiction to something (even me). I mostly see it in pisces and virgo placements. def the neptune influence
-I can tell when someone has a stellium it’s just a “in your face energy”. depending on the sign of course
-my fav synastry so far is 8th house as of RIGHT NOW. when it’s good it’s good and when it’s bad it’s bad but when it’s good the bond is unbreakable.
we know that earth rising (cap,virgo,taurus) are known to have rbf and I never realized mine until my grandma pointed it out..
ex- im not a morning person WHATSOEVER and I try to not show it on my face but the rbf is there and I don’t even notice it which sucks.. like I CANT CHANGE EVEN IF I TRYYYY😓😓
not even kidding.. y’all having saturn in 3rd house in my solar return sucks. I took a gap semester which wasn’t planned at all. I also have this natally and I always was behind when it comes to my peers , but ik I’ll get rewarded at the end 🙂
if someone’s main planets fall into your 3rd house chances are you met thru high school or middle school.
ex- the guy I used to date my senior year my venus fell into his 3rd house which conjuncted his north node. my really good friend during my high school year had her venus and moon in my 3rd house too!
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azure-cherie · 4 months
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PAC :
What's in your store for January
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Pile 1 -3
Hello love's hope you had a very happy and fruitful new year , I'm praying for the happiness and well being of all of us one more year together I'm so grateful for each one of youuu
Please choose using your intuition and take what resonates
If you'd like a personalized reading for new year
Paid readings , paid readings 2 , masterlist
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Pile 1 :
First of all what are you guys even dealing with good lord The energy is pretty heavy , I will not be surprised if you have prominent Saturn in your charts this month I believe you are dealing with karmic cycles , Things ending in general, you might be a bit shaken up soon something you thought never would happen will happen
I'm sensing career or home sector fights could be there as well as inner conflicts beware and take precautions don't get too caught up about what others have to say rather choose your own story this also indicates you might soon take a stand for yourself its really required something has to come to an end because the time is over now you are to urge for more ! Financially! Abundance is written for you this time your creativity will pay off I know you like you play with fire but remember life moulds you like a clay some fire glazes some melts you gotta choose your own battles why do I feel like I'm talking to myself lol .
You will understand the worth of spontaneous plans soon sometimes you gotta do stuff for the sake of doing it and you just gotta act wild just be careful about the fact that everyone you go out with isn't a friend every co worker doesn't mean good for you learn to see through people's mask ! Theres one video by persephonesmind its perfect she explains it really well , followed by ten of swords some of you might experience a rock bottom moment however it isn't for everyone but with the world be assured you will pick yourself up this might seem like a bad ending but it's a good one or turn out to be good it's a matter of time bae anyone who tries to play you cheat on you will be ashamed themselves because they will see the purity in your heart .towards the end of the month I see some enemies becoming friends.
Pile 2 :
You're a bad bitch period !! This month is about embodying the best version of yourself move on despite the snakes around you ignore the people you're gonna be investing on something that is worth it it's a sign ! Friendships are something you will be blessed this month new and old you will also actively let go of a fear of yours I heart heights and abandonment issues.
If you're looking for commitment from someone it will be given this month like engagements marriage yay social media fame is also written there would be more family functions to attend to I see more active energy in this pile. You will understand the worth of standing alone and work your intuition through difficult situations .Your dreams might be a clear indicator of something also I feel you're making someone cry or someone is making you cry ask advice from someone who's been there in your situation you can also ignore if the situation isn't as important I also feel ignorance energy I guess it's good because you're also healing from abandonment issues .
You'll be doing some course on money management or get advise from your elders on your resources. Sometimes we make our own problems dont get sucked into that take time but let your loved ones know that you need it ! Also you really need that money management advice as you might end up losing something but I also don't think it will he a bad loss ! Sometimes sacrifices are necessary you might understand the worth of small losses now but that will protect from bigger issues later.
Pile 3 :
I don't dress for women I don't dress for men lately I've been dressing for revenge! That's your main mood this January you're gonna show everyone who didn't believe in you what you're capable of you're going new heights reaching new goals making new ways I'm so proud of you
You have struggled a lot to do this actions manifesting you are getting closer to what you want , might fetch yourself a new leadership position this month you're gonna be an example an epitome of grown beside the struggles because you're so ready to work despite all the sneaking going on behind your back you're gonna be doing the thing needed to defeat your enemies you will undergo momentary defeat and might cry for a while because you might feel all forces are against you this is the time to pour into your inter child
When trauma shows up remember to shadow work nothing ever goes away one needs to heal with it don't get swayed away with temptations and fake promises I heard devil is strong but so is the knight know that your emotional strength will lead you through this you have to be more intune with your emotions but also lead with logic it's a hard balance to learn but once you're on it you become undefeated and you will be I'm so sure about that.
Thank you so much for reading
Have a great day/night ahead ❤️
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the-great-ladyg · 4 months
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Did someone notice in the new Somerton's video that he didn't adress any of the misogyny or transphobia accusations? Like, yeah, he said "people say I hate women but that's not true" and only that. And he also addressed the misinformation, in which we can include the misgendering, but he still didn'h fully talk about this even when those accusations were, along with plagiarism, the most talked about on the internet.
This dude didn't give any reason for why "he doesn't hate" women or trans people, it truly was a "source: dude trust me" and Somerton expects us to believe him, when no, he threw shit on women in every chance he got, he showed transphobia in many times for no fucking reason other than he's got something against women and trans people.
And he also didn't address any of the racism people has pointed out since a long time, but more specially since HBomberguy and Todd's video. This dude only focused on plagiarism, and even that he sucked at since he implied it was an accident. How can you plagiarize on accident?, you have to write, to read, to check what you're doing, he read and Nick's scripts, he must have noticed the copying and still left it with no citation. He said he loves investigating and reading, then he must notice the copying, yet he also said he "didn't notice", like this dude can't recognize he did this on purpose, it was all "an accident".
Also, he just tried shifting the blame, placing it on Nick or, again, like it was an accident and he didn't mean to it. Somerton knew what he was doing, all of us are taught at school, specially college, that plagiarism not only is bad, it it diminishes the quality and credibility of the person that stole those words, it can get you expelled or fired, and let's not forget the people you're hurting by stealing from them, and this case the people whose experiences and words were stolen. Somerton is in a more privileged position than many people in the LGBTQ+ community since he's a cis white man, and yet he decided to attack this way many POC and trans people, not only he stole their words, but he also used racist and transphobic rhetoric, he misgendered, he erased sexualities and put all of us on the same box of "cis straight white women".
"I wanted to make my channel a safe space", yeah, sure man, like saying all the negative things of an MLM media is straight cis women's fault, or misgendering, erasing the bisexuality of a woman or changing "trans" for "queer" is going to make to make your channel a safe for queer women and trans people.
I just deep down know he won't change at all, maybe except for the citations, but we must expect he'll continue being a misogynist racist transphobe dumbass that will keep ignoring this accusations and using the homophobia card.
I really feel sorry if he truly felt so bad he harmed himself and ended up on an hospital, if that's real I hope he gets better and never gets to that point again. Maybe I'm naive, but I want to believe this is not a tactic to manipulate us to forgive him, but... idk, I just expect anything from this man that has used the homophobia card to protect his ass from any criticism.
But talking by myself, as a genderfluid AFAB person who consumes and creates queer content and felt so insulted by his racism, his misogyny and transphobia, and noticing how he avoided the topic, I don't accept his apology and hope he disappears from the internet before he can do any more damage.
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thepersonnamedsam · 1 year
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enjoy the butterflies - dr3
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pairing: daniel ricciardo x genz!driver, max verstappen x genz!driver
summary: daniel explaining a young female driver that winning isn't always the most important thing
word count: 1.1k
warnings: crying and fluff
note: omg, i love the gen-z driver, i know that there are multiple stories already with that trope, but i hope it‘s okay for me to write some more gen-z driver stories
masterlist / taglist
Daniel Ricciardo, the reserve driver for RedBull Racing, has seen pretty much all about F1 in his time as a racing driver. But a female driver racing? This was news to him. He sees you struggling a lot of times, coming back up to your feet too, but struggling most of the time. He felt bad for you, having been in this exact situation at McLaren a year before.
He once again saw you storming away from your garage, tears stained your eyes. You were disappointed with your performance during FP1. The car was okay, you were in a mediocre car, which was okay, because it was running good. But your performance was not good, at least you thought that. Because when you entered the garage, your engineer was standing there, happy about your performance. It was just you who gave you a hard time. You were the first women in a long time racing in Formula 1, you had to show those misogynist assholes that you were capable of the same things as all the male driver on the grid.
Daniel felt sympathy for you, you were a rookie and female too. With Seb not in the grid anymore, he felt like he had to take over the role as grid dad. So, the next time he saw you, he jogged towards you and stopped you.
„Hey Danny, what’s up?“, you tried not to show him your disappointment in your voice. „Hi y/n, the sky, that’s what’s up“, he laughed his significant laugh and smiled at you. You only shook your head, already forgetting why you were angry. Daniel had a way of letting people forget all their negative emotions by just being him. „Jokes aside, do you think I could talk to you for a second?“ You nodded your head, agreeing to spend some time with the reserve driver.
He led you to the RedBull hospitality, you were unsure of being there, not racing for any RedBull team. Daniel noticed your uncertainty and insured that it was okay that you were there. He took you to Max‘s drivers room, never having been inside. The wall had a big flag of The Netherlands on it and pictures of him and Kelly, occasionally one of him and P. As you looked around, Daniel observed you. You were thin, thinner then usual, shoulders were up to your chin, indicating a tense posture. You were stressed and it showed. Even if you didn’t let anyone know how you felt, your body betrayed you.
„Listen“, Daniel sighed, unsure how to actually tell you what he had prepared in his mind. „With Seb gone I feel the responsibility of taking over the grid dad.“ You met Seb once or twice, he was there when you were still karting. But you were never on the same grid as him. Your admired Seb, posters graced your childhood bedroom with his face on them.
You only nodded, not sure what Daniel was trying to tell you. „What I’m saying is, look kid, you’re good or else you wouldn’t have made it to Formula 1. You’re not here because you sucked anyone off, despite what the Media always says. You’re here because you are good!“, his voice loud and decisive. You looked at him, eyes starting to water. You thought you hid your disappointment well, not really anyone noticing it and no one ever spoke to you about it, not even your engineer.
„I see you, always dissatisfied and angry with yourself, y/n you’re a brilliant driver, always in the points in your first season! How can you be disappointed in yourself?“
You started to cry, not believing a word Daniel has said to you. You were not great with compliments, not believing them and always reflecting them negatively on yourself.
„Enjoy the butterflies. Enjoy being naïve. Enjoy the nerves. The pressure. People not knowing your name. All that stuff. You don’t know when it’ll be the last time. Enjoy being a kid.“
He hugged you, seeing you so upset made him feel bad, he didn’t want you to cry, he wanted to take some of the pressure off. He wanted to help you, not make it worse. You hugged him back, tight. With travelling so much and your family not coming to all of the races, human touch was a rarity. You enjoyed being held in his arms, feeling the warmth of another body and not your heating pad for once.
„Thank you“, you whispered, barely noticeable. He only nodded. He held you for a bit longer, letting you break off the hug. When you did, he looked at your tear stained face, he wiped some of the falling ones away. You laughed, overwhelmed with the whole situation. If the media would walk in at this second, the next headline would probably be; ‚RedBulls reserve driver with Rookie?‘ But he was just like an older brother, or as he said; a grid dad. But more an older brother, because with his jokes and his lightnesses he would never be a dad.
You were thankful of him, you were thankful he told you that and you were thankful that he was there for you. And that’s what you told him. He was happy to hear that. Knowing what if felt like being alone on the grid. Your tears threatened to fall once again, when Daniel took of his ‚Let’s Fuck’ ring and gave it to you. „It’s a reminder to just let all the stupid things fuck themselves“, he looked at you and laughed when the first tear slipped from your eyes.
With a loud thump, the door to the drivers room opened and a visibly confused Max was standing in the doorway. „What did you do to the poor kid, look at her, she’s crying!“, Max exclaimed. His face twisted to a confused look. „Nothing, those are happy tears, right y/n“, Daniel asked you and looked at you with hopeful eyes, awaiting your backup. „Don’t worry Max, Danny couldn’t ever do anything to make anyone cry sad tears“, you insured Max. Him now letting out a breath of air, relieved his teammate didn’t make a teenager cry. „But thank you for your concern Max“, you hugged the older man. He didn’t like hugs in particular, but he knew you were a big hugger, that’s why he always let you.
You were grateful for all the people on the grid, from your engineer to every driver. They made you feel welcome and worthy of your seat. And in FP2 you placed your best placement ever. Without all the pressure coming from you, driving felt like your passion again and not just a proof of what you were capable of doing.
°°°
taglist: @ironmaiden1313
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gophergal · 8 months
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Honestly the fact that so many things are marketed based on gender has always been so fucking weird to me
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A year in illustration, 2023 edition (part one)
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(This is part one; part two is here.)
I am objectively very bad at visual art. I am bad at vision, period – I'm astigmatic, shortsighted, color blind, and often miss visual details others see. I can't even draw a stick-figure. To top things off, I have cataracts in both eyes and my book publishing/touring schedule is so intense that I keep having to reschedule the surgeries. But despite my vast visual deficits, I thoroughly enjoy making collages for this blog.
For many years now – decades – I've been illustrating my blog posts by mixing public domain and Creative Commons art with work that I can make a good fair use case for. As bad as art as I may be, all this practice has paid off. Call it unseemly, but I think I'm turning out some terrific illustrations – not all the time, but often enough.
Last year, I rounded up my best art of the year:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/25/a-year-in-illustration/
And I liked reflecting on the year's art so much, I decided I'd do it again. Be sure to scroll to the bottom for some downloadables – freely usable images that I painstakingly cut up with the lasso tool in The Gimp.
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The original AD&D hardcover cover art is seared into my psyche. For several years, there were few images I looked at so closely as these. When Hasbro pulled some world-beatingly sleazy stuff with the Open Gaming License, I knew just how to mod Dave Trampier's 'Eve Of Moloch' from the cover of the Players' Handbook. Thankfully, bigger nerds than me have identified all the fonts in the image, making the remix a doddle.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/12/beg-forgiveness-ask-permission/#whats-a-copyright-exception
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Even though I don't keep logs or collect any analytics, I can say with confidence that "Tiktok's Enshittification" was the most popular thing I published on Pluralistic this year. I mixed some public domain Brother's Grimm art, mixed with a classic caricature of Boss Tweed, and some very cheesy royalty-free/open access influencer graphics. One gingerbread cottage social media trap, coming up:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
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To illustrate the idea of overcoming walking-the-plank fear (as a metaphor for writing when it feels like you suck) I mixed public domain stock of a plank, a high building and legs, along with a procedurally generated Matrix "code waterfall" and a vertiginous spiral ganked from a Heinz Bunse photo of a German office lobby.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/22/walking-the-plank/
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Finding a tasteful way to illustrate a story about Johnson & Johnson losing a court case after it spent a generation tricking women into dusting their vulvas with asbestos-tainted talcum was a challenge. The tulip (featured in many public domain images) was a natural starting point. I mixed it with Jesse Wagstaff's image of a Burning Man dust-storm and Mike Mozart's shelf-shot of a J&J talcum bottle.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/01/j-and-j-jk/#risible-gambit
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"Google's Chatbot Panic" is about Google's long history of being stampeded into doing stupid things because its competitors are doing them. Once it was Yahoo, now it's Bing. Tenniel's Tweedle Dee and Dum were a good starting point. I mixed in one of several Humpty Dumpty editorial cartoon images from 19th century political coverage that I painstakingly cut out with the lasso tool on a long plane-ride. This is one of my favorite Humpties, I just love the little 19th C businessmen trying to keep him from falling! I finished it off with HAL 9000's glowing red eye, my standard 'this is about AI' image, which I got from Cryteria's CC-licensed SVG.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/16/tweedledumber/#easily-spooked
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Though I started writing about Luddites in my January, 2022 Locus column, 2023 was the Year of the Luddite, thanks to Brian Merchant's outstanding Blood In the Machine:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/26/enochs-hammer/#thats-fronkonsteen
When it came time to illustrate "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk," I found a public domain weaver's loft, and put one of Cryteria's HAL9000 eyes in the window. Magpie Killjoy's Steampunk Magazine poster, 'Love the Machine, Hate the Factory,' completed the look.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/12/gig-work-is-the-opposite-of-steampunk/
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For the "small, non-profit school" that got used as an excuse to bail out Silicon Valley Bank, I brought back Humpty Dumpty, mixing him with a Hogwartsian castle, a brick wall texture, and an ornate, gilded frame. I love how this one came out. This Humpty was made for the SVB bailout.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/23/small-nonprofit-school/#north-country-school
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The RESTRICT Act would have federally banned Tiktok – a proposal that was both technically unworkable and unconstitutional. I found an early 20th century editorial cartoon depicting Uncle Sam behind a fortress wall that was keeping a downtrodden refugee family out of America. I got rid of most of the family, giving the dad a Tiktok logo head, and I put Cryteria's HAL9000 eyes over each cannonmouth. Three Boss Tweed moneybag-head caricatures, adorned with Big Tech logos, rounded it out.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/30/tik-tok-tow/#good-politics-for-electoral-victories
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When Flickr took decisive action to purge the copyleft trolls who'd been abusing its platform, I knew I wanted to illustrate this with Lucifer being cast out of heaven, and the very best one of those comes from John Milton, who is conveniently well in the public domain. The Flickr logo suggested a bicolored streaming-light-of-heaven motif that just made it.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/01/pixsynnussija/#pilkunnussija
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Old mainframe ads are a great source of stock for a "Computer Says No" image. And Congress being a public building, there are lots of federal (and hence public domain) images of its facade.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/04/cbo-says-no/#wealth-tax
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When I wrote about the Clarence Thomas/Harlan Crow bribery scandal, it was easy to find Mr. Kjetil Ree's great image of the Supreme Court building. Thomas being a federal judge, it was easy to find a government photo of his head, but it's impossible to find an image of him in robes at a decent resolution. Luckily, there are tons of other federal judges who've been photographed in their robes! Boss Tweed with the dollar-sign head was a great stand-in for Harlan Crow (no one knows what he looks like anyway). Gilding Thomas's robes was a simple matter of superimposing a gold texture and twiddling with the layers.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/06/clarence-thomas/#harlan-crow
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"Gig apps trap reverse centaurs in wage-stealing Skinner boxes" is one of my best titles. This is the post where I introduce the idea of "twiddling" as part of the theory of enshittification, and explain how it relates to "reverse centaurs" – people who assist machines, rather than the other way around. Finding a CC licensed modular synth was much harder than I thought, but I found Stephen Drake's image and stitched it into a mandala. Cutting out the horse's head for the reverse centaur was a lot of work (manes are a huuuuge pain in the ass), but I love how his head sits on the public domain high-viz-wearing warehouse worker's body I cut up (thanks, OSHA!). Seeing as this is an horrors-of-automation story, Cryteria's HAL9000 eyes make an appearance.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men
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Rockefeller's greatest contribution to our culture was inspiring many excellent unflattering caricatures. The IWW's many-fists-turning-into-one-fist image made it easy to have the collective might of workers toppling the original robber-baron.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men
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I link to this post explaining how to make good Mastodon threads at least once a week, so it's a good thing the graphic turned out so well. Close-cropping the threads from a public domain yarn tangle worked out great. Eugen Rochko's Mastodon logo was and is the only Affero-licensed image ever to appear on Pluralistic.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/16/how-to-make-the-least-worst-mastodon-threads/
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I spent hours on the sofa one night painstakingly cutting up and reassembling the cover art from a science fiction pulp. I have a folder full of color-corrected, high-rez scans from an 18th century anatomy textbook, and the cross-section head-and-brain is the best of the lot.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/analytical-democratic-theory/#epistocratic-delusions
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Those old French anatomical drawings are an endless source of delight to me. Take one cross-sectioned noggin, mix in an old PC mainboard, and a vector art illo of a virtuous cycle with some of Cryteria's HAL9000 eyes and you've got a great illustration of Google's brain-worms.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/14/googles-ai-hype-circle/
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Ireland's privacy regulator is but a plaything in Big Tech's hand, but it's goddamned hard to find an open-access Garda car. I manually dressed some public domain car art in Garda livery, painstakingly tracing it over the panels. The (public domain) baby's knit cap really hides the seams from replacing the baby's head with HAL9000's eye.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town
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Naked-guy-in-a-barrel bankruptcy images feel like something you can find in an old Collier's or Punch, but I came up snake-eyes and ended up frankensteining a naked body into a barrel for the George Washington crest on the Washington State flag. It came out well, but harvesting the body parts from old muscle-beach photos left George with some really big guns. I tried five different pairs of suspenders here before just drawing in black polyhedrons with little grey dots for rivets.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/03/when-the-tide-goes-out/#passive-income
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Illustrating Amazon's dominance over the EU coulda been easy – just stick Amazon 'A's in place of the yellow stars that form a ring on the EU flag. So I decided to riff on Plutarch's Alexander, out of lands to conquer. Rama's statue legs were nice and high-rez. I had my choice of public domain ruin images, though it was harder thank expected to find a good Amazon box as a plinth for those broken-off legs.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/14/flywheel-shyster-and-flywheel/#unfulfilled-by-amazon
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God help me, I could not stop playing with this image of a demon-haunted IoT car. All those reflections! The knife sticking out of the steering wheel, the multiple Munsch 'Scream'ers, etc etc. The more I patchked with it, the better it got, though. This one's a banger.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon
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To depict a "data-driven dictatorship," I ganked elements of heavily beribboned Russian military dress uniforms, replacing the head with HAL9000's eye. I turned the foreground into the crowds from the Nuremberg rallies and filled the sky with Matrix code waterfall.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/26/dictators-dilemma/#garbage-in-garbage-out-garbage-back-in
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The best thing about analogizing DRM to demonic possession is the wealth of medieval artwork to choose from . This one comes from the 11th century 'Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros.' I mixed in the shiny red Tesla (working those reflections!), and a Tesla charger to make my point.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world
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Yet more dividends from those old French anatomical plates: a flayed skull, a detached jaw, a quack electronic gadget, a Wachowski code waterfall and some HAL 9000 eyes and you've got a truly unsettling image of machine-compelled speech.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/02/self-incrimination/#wei-bai-bai
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I had no idea this would work out so well, but daaaamn, crossfading between a Wachowski code waterfall and a motherboard behind a roiling thundercloud is dank af.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/03/there-is-no-cloud/#only-other-peoples-computers
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Of all the turkeys-voting-for-Christmas self-owns conservative culture warriors fall for, few can rival the "banning junk fees is woke" hustle. Slap a US-flag Punisher logo on and old-time card imprinter, add a GOP logo to a red credit-card blank, and then throw in a rustic barn countertop and you've got a junk-fee extracter fit for the Cracker Barrel.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#swiper-no-swiping
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Putting the Verizon logo on the Hinderberg was an obvious gambit (even if I did have to mess with the flames a lot), but the cutout of Paul Marcarelli as the 'can you hear me now?' guy, desaturated and contrast-matched, made it sing.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/10/smartest-guys-in-the-room/#can-you-hear-me-now
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Note to self: Tux the Penguin is really easy to source in free/open formats! He looks great with HAL9000 eyes.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/18/openwashing/#you-keep-using-that-word-i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means
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Rockwell's self-portrait image is a classic; that made it a natural for a HAL9000-style remix about AI art. I put a bunch of time into chopping and remixing Rockwell's signature to give it that AI look, and added as many fingers as would fit on each hand.
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/20/everything-made-by-an-ai-is-in-the-public-domain/
(Images: Heinz Bunse, West Midlands Police, Christopher Sessums, CC BY-SA 2.0; Mike Mozart, Jesse Wagstaff, Stephen Drake, Steve Jurvetson, syvwlch, Doc Searls, https://www.flickr.com/photos/mosaic36/14231376315, Chatham House, CC BY 2.0; Cryteria, CC BY 3.0; Mr. Kjetil Ree, Trevor Parscal, Rama, “Soldiers of Russia” Cultural Center, Russian Airborne Troops Press Service, CC BY-SA 3.0; Raimond Spekking, CC BY 4.0; Drahtlos, CC BY-SA 4.0; Eugen Rochko, Affero; modified)
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yourgfdgirlfriend · 7 months
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can we talk about how toxic this whole “that small thing gives me the ick” narrative is?
like, girl, him using a basket at the grocery store or bringing water to the airport gives you ‘the ick’, but him never doing a single chore or believing women are inherently better at cleaning, like it’s some instinctual level ability is fine!? you’re gonna deal with him actually thinking he’s superior to you, but don’t he dare pick up a ping pong ball or you’re out?
wanna know what gives me ‘the ick’? rudeness. sexist behaviour. selfishness. masculinity, that is so fragile wind could knock it over. being unable to give a genuine apology. those are things that make me wanna drop someone; not normal human actions.
can we stop picking on any even slightly feminine perceived behaviour in men and just let them live without this ginormous expectation to always be this strong masculine picture of a man that no one is ever gonna be able to fulfil? you’re creating the same pressure on them we as women get all the time. you’re feeding into toxic masculinity. stop. make an effort to end this thinking instead. all the ‘icks’ I see on social media are so fucking stupid and misogynistic in their core; usually accompanied with sentences like “well, if he’s gonna cry about a birthday gift, he’s not my alpha anymore” no, he’s not. he is a real person with feelings, you fucking brainwashed-by-the-patriarchy monster.
give me a fucking break; i’m so sick of seeing people pressured into these roles their whole life and being so unhappy and hold so much resentment. just stop. let men cry. let men think kitties are cute. let men dangle their feet. let men giggle and be silly. let men have genuine moments of happiness without thinking about whether or not they seem masculine enough. cut them some fucking slack. and maybe there will be fewer men hating women, because they always had to be a certain way to be accepted. every woman knows the feeling of all these expectations and rules you have to follow. we know how much it sucks; how suffocating it is. so let’s stop repeating this narrative and start breaking out of it. reflect on where you’re coming from before criticising someone’s behaviour. we’ll all be happier for it.
and don’t anyone dare to use this as anti-feminist. this is inherently feminist, because it breaks with the tale of women being poor innocent damsels in distress unable to harm anyone or anything; always the victims. perfect little dolls. we’re not. women are cruel and flawed. women are offenders. women are judgmental. women are cold hearted and shortsighted. women are petty. women are misogynistic. (not all women of course *cough cough*) women are not perfect. we are human. of course the “women are capable and smart. women are superheroes” side of feminism is widely preferred. let’s be honest no one wants to hear bad things about themselves, especially when fighting against your own oppression; but it’s therefore no less true. both are legitimate; they’re two sides of the same coin. deal with it.
and if I see anyone hurting a sweet boy’s feelings, because him owning a stuffy or something adorable like that gave you ‘the ick’ I’m gonna personally bitch slap you so hard, that looking in the mirror will give you the ick for the rest of your life. savvy?
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edapparently · 5 months
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James Somerton Sucks For Many Reasons. But Also His Opinion On Heartstopper...
Ok so I was watching Todd in the Shadows' video on fact-checking James Somerton's vids (of course after having watched Hbomberguy's video). And a clip played of James lying (again) about straight white women complaining about a gay show. Except he mentions at the end of the sentence that these supposed people were "exposed to gay content for the first time in their lives via Heartstopper".
19:18 - https://youtu.be/A6_LW1PkmnY?t=1158
Now idk if that was supposed to be a joke or if that reflects any of his actual opinions on it (it's not like he's known for telling the truth anyway now tho)
But I'd just like to say anyway [this ties back into James I swear just bear with me]
I'm 18 years old now and I'm still dealing with issues cause by the homophobia I experienced in high school. And one of the few things that got me through it was when I got the first volume of Hearstopper when I was 16. And that actually was MY first real exposer to properly gay content. ME. Another gay boy. Not a straight woman.
And not only that, but it was the first time that I took in a piece of media and could honestly say "I see myself in this"
It was the first time I felt really seen and felt like I had my issues understood. And even as I've gotten slightly older through the two years, they've still been able to help me.
My friends will know that I've been struggling a lot with certain mental health issues that affect my physical health too. And I only realised how bad my problem really is and how much its been affecting me when I read volumes 3 and 4 and saw Charlie dealing with almost the exact same problem. I had been in such denial about it and worrying that it wasn't even real that I hadn't even considered it. But reading about him suffering from and eventually admitting to his problem and trying to get help made me think about what I had been experiencing. And gave me some perspective as to what exactly was happening in head and to my body.
The reason I'm saying all this is because I'm trying to show that these books about gay teenagers are REALLY good at portraying the experiences of gay teenagers. (At least based on my own personal life, Ik it could be very different for others and that's still valid) and they made me understand that what I had been through and am still dealing with because of that; are not isolated incidents and that I am not alone.
And James... someone who tried to give off the impression that he knows a lot about queer culture. Used it as an example of mindless romance fluff...
Which I think shows:
His lack of understanding of what it is actually like growing up as a gay boy in our current time. (Again, not trying to speak for everyone but it's very accurate to my own life)
And
2. His unwillingness/disinterest to look into what the books actually contain and how readers may respond to it.
[Also I just realised after typing all this that he could have meant the Netflix show, which imo wasn't as good but I think my point still stands?]
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idolomantises · 6 months
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What do you think of Velma x Daphne from Velma? I know everyone doesn't really like it, but I wanna hear your opinion. ( you don't need to answer if you don't want to)
I had a lengthy response in mind but decided to keep it brief: it sucks so much ass, jfc.
It's not really helped by how much the show objectifies women (especially teenage girls), it just feels like these two were only paired together, less because of chemistry (because there's none) and more like "these two women have to be together because men bad".
Velma is abusive and a bully (and also tried to... murder Daphne in the first episode??) , and Daphne seems to flip flop on how she behaves around Velma. Not that I don't love a good 'ol fashion enemies to lovers dynamic, but you gotta make it GOOD, make it COMPELLING. not "we fight a lot as friends, so we should be girlfriends".
Honestly I get pretty fed up with a lot of modern media really struggling with writing f/f relationships with good chemistry. not toxic dynamics that are brushed off as either justified and non-existent. And same goes for the inverse, so many bland couples that feel like co-workers than romantic partners.
i guess bubbline set the standard too high.
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