#on all the gross discourse today then do read more

[teddy-bear-d]

Some art to celebrate the occasion

And a rant below the cut bc peoples responses has me thinking \/

I don’t really get why this is such a big thing, I myself couldn’t care less if Dream decided he never wanted to face reveal. But I can’t help but be astonished at how far this reached.

Last night some of my non-mcyt enthusiast friends texted me freaking out about his face reveal, saying things like how they had never expected him to actually do it. And this surprised me bc they call me a Dream Stan, to contextualize this I have never watched a single one of his his streams and only a couple of his manhunts. I stick more to Bench trio and the old school mcyt’s.

This morning a TikTok-er, that I have been a fan of and very inspired by for around 4 years, posted a video saying they “wouldn’t say anything about his looks but would like comments.” And they liked comments making fun of Dream, talking about how he was just average and a white guy. Some of these comments were funny and tasteful but I found a lot to just be bordering on rude. Now this shocked me bc this TikTok-er always preaches against western beauty standards and not judging people for much past character (that being not their looks or interests). It also shocked me bc this TikTok-er had previously stated that they would never interact with the mcyt community bc 1 they had no interest in the content and 2 they were “racist and homophobic.” I understand where that reputation comes from and I know that if you stick to the outward sections of the community (like twitter) it can be very hostile so I never felt like those remarks were anything for me to think about. But now I’m stuck, why would someone who claims to want nothing to do with our community decide they had the right to make jokes against a big event in out community.

Certainly, I understand least why Dream has to be this perfect person. He makes Minecraft content for goodness sake. Yet people act like he must be top of his game 100% of the time and have some sort of god like beauty to him or else he’s worthless and he and his fans deserve death. Like what? Why can’t he be a normal guy??? And I get it, there are far too many plain white guys getting success just because of white male privilege. But I would argue that’s not why Dream is popular and successful. Sure it plays a factor, obviously, but he is as popular as he is bc people like the content he puts out. People act like he just sits there and looks pretty for views despite the fact that he hadn’t face revealed until yesterday. Like what? Honestly it feels like misogyny and I don’t know how to explain it. I’m sure given the time and energy I could write a whole essay on that. But basically he’s hated on bc he isn’t perfect, bc he isn’t a super model, he is undermined at every turn, and people discredit his accomplishments. As an AFAB feminine presenting person I can say that that is what misogyny feels and looks like a good portion of the time. So why is a white man getting this flavour of hate??? I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t tell you why he gets hate in the first place. But that’s my observation after being in the DSMP community for almost 3 years.

Idk if any of that was coherent or even had a point, but those are my thoughts and I felt I had to share them. (Honestly the Dream hate feels like misogyny thing has been brewing in my mind for at least a year now, or at least since that time he was forced to tell, was her name Kasey I don’t remember, if he was gay or straight. Which is a whole other world of gdhsjajsn that I could rant about)

#dreamwastaken fanart #dream fanart #dream face reveal #dreamwastaken #if you just want to see fun art I suggest not clicking read more #if you want to see my ramblings #on all the gross discourse today then do read more #I just needed to get that out bc I’ve been finding some of the responses awful #especially after seeing Ranboo’s comment about how this is why he’s never planning to fully face reveal #I think we can discuss how privilege works and is generally bad without just being completely awful to a white guy who actually puts effort #i love you #take care #and step away from the internet if you feel caught up in the bad vibes of discourse

[rthko]

People on this site keep talking about how social media has become more prudish and anti-sex, but I kinda wonder if that's just because you're sharing space with 15 year olds? Like do you think adults are actually anti kink and anti sex in movies etc, or are there just a bunch of (understandably) squeamish teenagers with a platform who will probably grow out of it?

I think about this a lot and have a few converging theories.

-Like you said, teenagers. Being squeamish about sex as a teenager is normal, but excessively projecting that outward instead of treating it as a "me problem" is abnormal. I think a lot of this comes down to the state of online behavior and the factors that shaped it.

-Internet moderation. The crackdown on sex work, nudity, or even in TikTok's case swearing, to appease advertisers. Tumblr's porn ban the most notorious example, and it caused a lot of people to migrate their discourse from a blogging platform with hyperlinks and no character limits to 140 character tweets and one minute videos.

-Everyone is radical and nobody is. ACAB is just a catchy slogan, every corporate PR department has something to say about "uplifting BIPOC voices," and kids who love to tweet about how "Stonewall was a riot" will call the cops on you if you wear a harness. I'm being slightly hyperbolic, but I think much of today's radicalism comes down to aesthetics and branding. It requires no real examination of biases and mechanisms of control. You can dress up even downright reactionary takes in progressive language and be applauded for it.

-The noble cause of Me Too and its weird mutations. It's understandable. If you read about how women in film are treated, I can understand why you'd have reservations about sex scenes. Then again, this doesn't account for "it's gross" and "it doesn't advance the plot." I know we don't want to hear "has Me Too gone too far," and I don't believe that, but am I wrong to also wonder if people arguing about the "power dynamics" of couples in slightly different stages of their 20's are feeding into something sinister?

-Sex positivity is cringe now. So is polyamory, kink, or any non-normative relationships or pleasure. Couldn't tell you why, but I can tell you the internet is full of TERFs and other reactionaries and the joyless, gullible people who listen to them.

-Queer assimilation. This sounds like an oxymoron, but I think the label of "queer" is going through the same identity crisis now that "gay" went through first. We're seeing a new vision of queerness that is fluffy, neutered, de-clawed, and flying off the shelves. If you grew up with "love is love," you don't have to relate to the seedy counterculture of yesteryear, but you don't have to snub your nose at it either.

I do think some of these people will grow out of it. I did, at least. I want to say none of this matters, that it's just online behavior, but everyone is so online these days that it's hard to draw these lines. TERFs, for instance, are some of the most miserable, online people on the planet, yet their real-world impact is undeniable. So many right wing movements are driven by simple outrage and disgust. This has all been very gloomy, so if you want to talk solutions: live your life and live it loudly. Encourage people to live with a healthy amount of discomfort or mind their own business. Everyone talks about growing up like it's just about stress or responsibility, but growing up can also mean no longer caring about things that used to bother you. It's fun! Everyone ought to try it.

#for the love of god rthko just get a medium account

[rilli-luci]

What does Pro/Shipper Mean?

I’m only typing this cause I had to explain to a friend why the label of pro/shipper is so controversial and I like to act on the benefit of the doubt that some people may not be informed so under the cut I’m gonna explain this and why there’s so 

I’m not really gonna debate the morality of it but I am going to just explain the general gist of the term and WHY a lot of people don’t like the word and I hope it helps some people when it comes to fandom labels.

Reblog if you want but please do not come to my inbox or IMs to debate this topic. This is an information post ONLY. Not a discussion one.

Warning before you read, this post will cover Problematic Ships with triggering topics. They are mentioned for the sake of information. But I don’t want to unintentionally trigger anyone.

Going to start with the fact that this word has changed meaning over time. When I first got into tumblr rp and heard this term, it meant a completely different thing than it does now. And I think this is important cause when words change meaning and people just may not know, it can lead to a lot of misunderstandings that could be avoided if people just y’know...communicated. But that’s besides the point.

Pro/shipper at some point USED to mean one who supports a specific ship or shipping in general.

I’m currently very much so still in my Owl House hyperfixation so I will be using ships from this fandom to better explain the point. So if you are a big fan of Goldric (Hunter x Edric) then you were considered a pro/shipper for that ship. The opposite of this would be an Anti-Shipper as you did not like this ship. There was nothing generally wrong with being pro or anti as long as the ship was not problematic. Most of the discourse came from Antis sorta flooding the tags of the ships either due to their pettiness or tumblr’s shitty tagging system.

HOWEVER that is not the case now. Roughly around the 2010s (I like to think it happened somewhere around 2012-2015) the word changed its meaning.

That’s because people who supported what are called Problematic Ships.

These are your ships (with examples) that ignore canon sexualities of one or both parties of a ship (such as Hunter x Amity), are in/cest (Such as Lilith x Eda),have inappropriate age differences (such as any ship regarding a minor and an adult), those that display abusive dynamics ( such as Lilith x Belos ), etc. Ships that generally will make the average fan feel uncomfortable.

Some people who highly enjoyed problematic ships started using the term Pro/Shipper as a way to either defend their ships or justify their reasons as to why they were okay.

At this point the meaning has changed.

Pro/shipper NOW means one who supports a ship or shipping deemed problematic and/or believes in the freedom to create and consume fanworks with such elements.

Now content with toxic or abusive dynamics is more of a gray area, they’ve sorta always existed even before fandom culture became what it is today and it of course isn’t just purely tied to ships (For example, Hunter and Belos have this dynamic but are HOPEFULLY not a ship). Its all dependent on if the person making the content genuinely ships it or is making content for some other purpose that’s far less problematic and its complicated and definitely a case by case basis. But for the previous problematic examples, well there’s really no reason to ship in/cest now is there? Its just pretty gross. 

So when a person says “I’m a pro/shipper” today while there is a good chance they’re very much so meaning the first definition, it may be automatically assumed by others that they mean they are the latter. And for those other people, they may not have the energy or time to invest in meeting this person and learning what they think a pro/shipper is and if they still stand by that label if they know the connotations it presents. Its generally safer to them to just call it a lost and not interact.

So if you read this and  you still think this label is for you, then this is the sort of risk you are taking by taking on this label. Does it suck? Maybe, depending on who you are. But like I said, this post is meant to inform people and I’ve done just that.

Words have power now and days, more than people know. Especially when it comes to labels.  And when words change meaning like this one did, then I feel its important that everyone gets on the same page.

#psa #fandom culture #fandom terminology #tw: incest mention #tw: abuse mention #tw: toxic relationships #tw: proship #tw: abusive dynamics mention #tw: homophobia mention #tw: lesbiphobia mention #tw: problematic ships #I think I tagged everything but if I didn't please tell me

[emodennis]

I'm looking around at all the iasip podcast discourse and has nobody clipped the ridiculous Thanksgiving food convos yet??? (filling your mouth with stuffing via Glenn, accidental double entendres which just *sent* Charlie and mime eating bits that Rob finds gross smh) Today's ep was wholesome af! btw, didn't expect to hear them dissect scenes like Charlie's match profile or just how they construct scenes with a duo in general! The creeps actually learn stuff this time?! What was your fav bit?

hi anon! someone did clip glenn's "i want everything in my mouth at the same time" bc of course ;) but youre right the rest of the convo was really funny as well :))

i found it really interesting when they talked about how they decide whether or not to include a scene based on how much it moves the story forward! it makes me want to look for more scenes that may not do that, just to see what they think is funny enough to include on its own. but i think there are usually ways to justify a scene in terms of story because the storylines aren't too complex lmao.

my favorite moment is def a tie between glenn's thanksgiving tales and when rob sasses glenn & glenn gives him that annoyed stare. BUT the clip of megan reading the therapy ad is also really cute and funny so idk!! but yeah lots of great stuff in yesterday's ep!!

#asks #phoenix talks #podcast asks

[bisluthq]

Lol I cannot fathom how LOUDLY misogynistic all of you are on this blog. I don’t follow florence and didn’t know what she posted but your discourse about her post(without having any knowledge myself about it) made me feel that your opinions were laced with misogyny of some kind so I went and checked for myself and damn y’all say anything don’t ya? Nothing was wrong with her post and she clearly stated she isn’t phased by their comments on her boobs or body nor was she uncomfortable while wearing the dress neither is she now, while writing the post. So pray tell why does “big d energy” mean you shouldn’t point out how gross and awful men are to women online? She didn’t write that post because it phased her Im sure she’s familiar with mens gross behaviour online since she has such a huge platform but she took to that post to point out the sheer misogynistic comments and disgusting objectification women celebs face on the daily and somehow y’all made it into disliking her wild era and her dating a guy as old as her dad??? ( both of which are weird and y’all should drag her for that) I never thought I’d agree with the anons who say you have internalised misogyny but I do today because according to you women should just not speak up about these things instead like Z just vaguely address this and get on with it? The way you’re like oh you’ll get comments if you post like that and say this so easily as if it’s not a deeply misogynistic statement is beyond me. Why should she not address this? Has she always pointed out the gross shit men comment on her photos DAILY? NO she did it today because she wanted to point what happens to her and many others everyday and yall are fucking weird and misogynistic about it lmfao wow. Anyways she can make any posts she want and I hope she keeps pointing this shit out more often and make men and women like you all uncomfortable.

This is the most 16-22 speech I’ve ever read in my life so:

We’re not uncomfortable lmao we’re just not kids 😭😫

#nat talks social stuff #nat talks generations idk

[liliesloves]

birthday ; iwaizumi gets a sweet surprise.

“Trust me,” Tooru says, “it’s every guy’s dream.”

His arms are crossed, his back is straight, and his legs are shoulder width apart. Even his eyes reveal a glint that up to now, you’ve only seen when he’s on the volleyball court.

You imagine that to an observer, his stance betrays an intense discourse between the two of you, a conversation about something serious like politics or climate change. It’s nothing like that. Tooru’s only, you know, trying to get you to confess to your crush of 8 years.

“It’s been eight years,” your best friend continues as if he were reading your mind. “I mean, don’t you want closure?”

“I’m fine this way, actually,” you tell him, biting back a smile when he throws his head back and runs his hands through his hair. “Tooru, I don’t get why you’re playing on the offensive all of a sudden. I know that I’m your best friend and that he’s your best friend so when I pine over him you may feel uncomfortable, and I’m sorry, but—“

“No!” Tooru blinks. “Wait, don’t tell me you didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Oh my god, you didn’t know.”

“Just spit it out, will you?”

“Today’s Iwa-chan’s birthday.”

Horrified, you take a step back. You’d always been friends with Hajime, but the past month had been storm after storm of assignments and exams, leaving you perpetually fatigued and with a constantly warped sense of time. You weren’t even sure of the day, let alone the date.

But still, it’s Hajime’s birthday, and you can’t let it pass like that.

Now you’re racing to find him. He’s not in the library or at the crosswalk cafe, so most likely…

Round the corner to get to the gym, you run straight into someone. “Sorry,” you shout, pushing yourself up and ready to resume your mission, when your name is called and you look up into the eyes of Hajime.

“O- oh,” you pant. “Hi. I was looking for you.”

“For me?” he questions, crouching down to where you are on the sidewalk. “Hey, are you okay?”

The golden sun is setting, draping Hajime in all his glory with the most flattering shadow and light. You wince, thinking of how gross you must look.

“Yeah,” you mutter, looking away. “I just wanted to wish you… Happy birthday.”

Hajime holds out his hand.

“What?”

“Where’s my gift?”

The logical part of your brain tells you that he’s joking, but it’s hard to listen to the logical part of your brain when Hajime is looking into your eyes, and his hand is right in front of yours, like he’s offering for you to hold it.

What you think of instead is stupid Tooru telling you: it’s every guy’s dream. So that’s what you blurt out:

“I like you.”

When he doesn’t respond at first you curse yourself, screwing your eyes shut. Then you paste a smile on your face. “I was—”

“Do you mean it?”

You look over at him, properly this time. The sun is still kissing him goodbye, unable to disguise the fiery red spread across his cheeks.

Unable to say anything, you nod. He collapses on the concrete next to you. “Oh my god,” he says. “You have no idea how much I hoped— this is the best birthday gift ever.”

Hajime glances at you, cheeks still burning, and takes one of your hands. “Is… this okay?”

“It’s more than okay,” Overcoming your initial shyness, you interlock fingers with him, strangely thrilled and gratified when his blush spreads to his ears. “Although to be honest, Tooru convinced me.”

“So that’s what he meant by giving me the best birthday gift ever,” Hajime laughs. “Well, he wasn’t wrong.”

#haikyuu!! #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x you #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu scenarios #iwaizumi hajime #iwaizumi hajime x reader #iwaizumi hajime x you #iwaizumi x reader #iwaizumi x you #hq iwaizumi #happy birthday iwa #i love u so much

[handsataniser]

Random thought because I've been talking about this today but I wish, I wish, I could get into fandom the same way other people are bc like. I recently finished MDZS and I'm mutuals with so many awesome SW blogs and I have so many Thoughts and Love for Genshin??? I want to share this enjoyment with other people??

But no now I log onto tungle hellsite and see people shitting on blorbos and the anti/proshipper wars and #Problematic Content and I end up feeling like that one scene from Community. You know the one:

it feels like fandom now is more about the Discourse (tm) and starting fights and cancelling people for shipping characters with a two year age gap and it really, genuinely, sucks the life out of me when all I wanted to do was look at some art and squee about That Cool Scene When... or "Look at how cute this moment between these guys is I love them" with other people? When did having a common interest with random strangers on the internet become so stressful and unenjoyable? Why are people accusing other people of being garbage human beings for liking X or Y character/show/book/movie like it went and punched their newborn puppy?

I'm not saying that every fandom is toxic or that there isn't some weird/gross/nasty implications in fiction sometimes, and in some respects I admit I'm probably generalising, but I honestly feel like it's become less about finding a community where people connect over a shared love and disagree respectfully, and more about treating fiction as a life or death, ride or die cesspit where disagreeing on a small point is tantamount to being the spawn of Satan.

Anyway this is brought to you by a lengthy discussion about Sonic the Hedgehog and Genshin Impact with my flatmate, rant is over, I hope you reading this are having and continue to have a lovely day, I'm gonna crawl back into my hidey hole to find more fic <3

#mini rant #sorry for the rant #i just wanna vibe #and not be sad #i love these things but exploring my dash for more than two seconds almost makes me relieved i never talk about my blorbo fiction #except with close friends #which is a pain because i dont want to ramble about Psych or MDZS or Dishonored with people who arent interested in them yknow #but also #bombarding people with hate because they liked a post about xyz thing you dislike? come the fuck on #think thats enough internet for me today #night everyone

[wolf-queer-discourse]

Adventures in Aphobia #3

My last two Adventures in Aphobia both took on similar flavors of eye-rolling at shameless, obvious bigotry to anyone willing to look or care. But today, I found a different type of aphobia, and I’m actually eager to talk about this one. Have a read of this first.

Look, the bar of respect for ace people is so low it’s all the way in hell, but I mean, to many people, especially allosexual people, they may look at this post and think, “No, this isn’t aphobia. The poster wasn’t blatantly cruel.” But what some fail to realize is that politeness can be the thinnest of veils over the ugliest of takes. Polite bigotry gaslights the victims into thinking they can’t be upset about this.

So what’s the deal with this post?

PARAGRAPH #1 starts off innocently enough, saying ace discourse wouldn’t exist if people recognized complex relationships to sex and relationships. Even taken on its own, I do not agree with this. Ace discourse ranges all the way from outright denial of asexual existence to the strong hatred for and exclusion of aces from the queer community. Nearly everyone recognizes people have complex relationships to sex...that...that doesn’t mean ace people won’t be discriminated against. In fact, it’s an argument aphobes use constantly to try and gaslight ace people into erasing themselves. Ace discourse comes from a lot of places, but at the end of the day, it all stems from people’s refusal to acknowledge ace people and their unique experiences. This poster absolutely does not get to say “IT’s CoMpLicAteD”, and expect ace people to just disappear. Honestly, it’d be better and more honest if they said “Lol, ace people should go fuck themselves and hop to the back of the line with everyone else.”

PARAGRAPH #2 and #3 are not very objectionable on their own. Everything said is true. Society has very complicated views on sex, and life happens to all people. The ugly part of this is that the poster is setting up an argument here in which they will hand wave ace people into the “everyone else” crowd and pretend as if we’re all just too similar and no labels should even exist.

This is literally what enby-phobes do. They say “Well, gender is COMPLICATED”, which is true, but then they say “So like...aren’t we all really nonbinary when we think about it? Why should enby people label themselves?” I swear we’ve all seen this. The poster is agender. This argument could easily be whipped in their face. Different forms of bigotry can share very clear overlaps, and it’s very important to acknowledge where these arguments come from and why they exist. It exists as a way to shut people up. It happens to bi people too! Every day, people come out as bi and someone tells them “pff, everyone thinks girls are hot. I had a crush on my best friend once, that doesn’t mean I’m not straight! All people are like this!” Let’s call out this erasure where we see it. It’s not the same thing, and if anyone saying stuff like this truly believes what they’re saying, maybe they’re the ones who need to reevaluate their own identity.

PARAGRAPH #4 dips its ugly toes straight into blatant aphobia, having the gall to call ace and aro people “obsessed” with pretending their relationships with sex and romance are wholly unique and different. Nah, fuck right off with that bullshit. The poster even goes on to say ace people have created entire new social classes. Uh...WHAT? Is there some secret ace society with a caste system living in the shadows?? What is this person talking about?? I suppose you can’t be a true bigot unless you have some vague grievance to weakly hand-gesture at that you couldn’t prove given 20 years to do so. For the love of my sanity, just say you hate ace people! It’s okay! (I mean, not actually, but Jesus Christ does it save us all some time). They also say things like “somehow excluded from”. Replace asexual people with nonbinary people and take a joyride through this section, because the arguments are scarily similar. What would it take for this poster to acknowledge ace and aro people have their own experiences? Seriously, what? What holds you back from doing this?

It’s also funny to note the actual lack of substance to this argument. The poster is not giving any specific examples or even bringing up what being ace and aro mean. Yes, there is a pretty noticeable difference between feeling sexual attraction and not feeling sexual attraction. How many “allo” people do you know that say they’ve NEVER experienced this? Come on. The poster reduces asexuality and aromanticism down to allo people’s, in their own words, hyper-specific contexts where they don’t want sex or love. At least the poster admits any circumstance that allo people are comparable to ace people are extremely specific. But for real, are we hinging a whole argument on a few very specific examples of allo people having some similarity to ace people?

“Nothing about your relationship to sex or love makes you more or less LGBT. If you are gay and don’t want to have sex, ever, you are still gay. “

Mini strawman alert for the idea any ace person thinks you’re less gay if you’re also ace. And bonus points for an aphobe who refuses to use the definition of asexuality: not experiencing sexual attraction, and instead goes for “don’t want to have sex”. For the last. Fucking. Time. Not wanting to have sex and being asexual are NOT the same. Don’t make me pour gasoline in my eyes every time I see this.

After this, the poster goes on a tangent, which by the tone, seems to think it's very inspiring, and says no matter how you want to have sex (including only certain days of the week), you’re still straight! It’s so fucking condescending and gross to talk ace people out of their own identity like this.

“EVERY person who is heterosexual is different in how they perform or experience.”

Oh. My. GOD. THEY DIDN’T EVEN SAY STRAIGHT. THEY SAID HETEROSEXUAL. WUGGYUEGYUG. God help me. Can one be both bisexual and heterosexual? No…? Okay. So then. How is one both asexual AND heterosexual? What single brain cell in this poster’s head was responsible for this Chad of a sentence? I—

*deep breath* 

So. It’s interesting how the poster says “perform or experience it”. Asexuality is an identity. It is not a performance, and it is not defined by your actions. A straight person not having sex does not become asexual. And sure...people with the same label can experience their sexuality differently, but...to a point, guys. You can’t experience your sexuality out of the DEFINITION of the label. Heterosexual: Sexual attraction to the opposite gender. Asexual: Sexual attraction to no one. If a “heterosexual” isn’t sexually attracted to anyone, they are by definition, not heterosexual. It takes insane mental gymnastics to make this argument, so A for flexibility, I guess? 

“Gayness, straightness, and bisexuality are not defined by HOW you do or don’t want sex or HOW you do or don’t want to date, it’s just defined by WHO you want to be with.”

The first part of the sentence is correct, but it also defeats this person’s entire argument. Ace people AGREE with this. Being asexual is not the act of not having sex!! It’s not experiencing sexual attraction! You can google this! The second part of the sentence is mostly correct, depending on your interpretation. The issue is in part with the words the poster used: gayness, straightness and bisexuality. These words are not all equivalents. Gay could refer to sexual and or romantic orientation. Thus an ace gay person. Straightness is not actually an equal word to gayness. This is because straight is an exclusive term for a normative sexuality (in society’s eyes) in terms of sexual and romantic attraction. Some ace people DO call themselves straight, though it’s inaccurate. Ace people can be heteroromantic, but because being straight is so exclusive, you need to be both sexually AND romantically attracted to only the opposite gender.

The post basically ends telling ace people they’re all actually straight and were just confused the whole time. Lovely. And an erasure of gay aces too! Believe it or not, gay ace people do not like having their ace identities erased. Who’d have guessed?

Honestly, if anything this post is just kind of sad. A sad reflection of what people believe and how they truly do not see their own bigotry. They believe they’re freeing ace people from an incorrect label. They’re the heroes.

They’ll say “it’s okay, you’re not asexual” as if they've like...lifted a burden off of ace people. Like, “Oh, you think I’m not asexual? Cool, cool. Glad you cleared that up for me!” It’s sad how aphobes think, some very genuinely, that asexuality is just some high school party that went off the rails, and we’re all just coming out of the drunken haze, ready to go home. Ready to all laugh about it later, tease one another about how wild and silly it all was. 

Having your identity erased like this is fucking horrible, and I hope people like this can take a look in the mirror and see themselves clearly. All ace and aro people have a right to their identity, whether gay, bi, heteroromantic or anything else. End of story.

#discourse #queer discourse #LGBT discourse #Adventures in Aphobia #ace discourse #asexual discourse #aphobia #ace #ace discrimination #asexual #asexuality #aromantic #aro #LGBT #queer #rant #why does this post think it's so intellegent #why did this post try so hard to sound nice at first #it's still aphobia

[forbiddenship]

it bothers me so much how people make the whole matt/sofia age gap thing into such a big deal just to invalidate portwell. as if this isn't a literal disney show. sorry for the negativity, i just saw a bunch of people talking about it today and it just soured my mood.

yeah, that bothers me too. and don’t apologize! i’ve actually wanted to address this for a while but just never brought it up.

it’s really just one more example of #those shippers’ hypocrisy and how they say literally whatever they can to fit the narrative they’re spinning that r*na = good and portwell = bad.

on the one hand, they make the usual comments about the actors’ age gap. this is valid, because i’m not here to tell anyone what they should and shouldn’t be comfortable with.

five years is a sizeable difference especially with one of them being a minor still, and as much as it hurts my portwell heart, i get why the show withheld that kiss from us. i’m honestly glad they did it too because 1) i now have that to look forward to in s3 and 2) if portwell had kissed in the finale, all the haters would’ve erupted and created a kissgate scandal and the scene would be kinda tainted by all of that negative discourse about it being gross/wrong. i think it’s much better that we get the kiss only once sofia turns 18 and there’s no valid reason for people to complain anymore.

all of this that i just talked about is (imo) a valid thing to be worried about when it comes to portwell, if i was thinking from the perspective of someone who doesn’t ship them (we gotta try to take the high road here, right?). what’s not valid at all is using the fact that there’s an age gap to draw your own illogical conclusions, like “matt and sofia didn’t kiss in the finale because they’re clearly uncomfortable filming a kiss.” don’t make dumb extrapolations without knowing anything.

i saw so many r*nas take matt’s words and just twist them around beyond recognition. in the live the day before the finale, he talked about how he and sofia were laughing a lot during the “hey babe” scene - which was a little awkward bc of their heights being so similar (and tbh i noticed it looking a little weird too but just from the back. but anyways it’s only bc of the boots sofia was wearing in that scene otherwise it’d be fine). and of fucking course they heard that as “portwell is awkward because no chemistry = they shouldn’t be together”

so many people are just pulling out of their asses that matt/sofia aren’t on board with portwell (when they’ve both been nothing but supportive and matt literally rambles on about pw making each other happy in every interview), they’re super awkward and uncomfy with it, etc. first of all: them laughing during takes and not being able to contain their laughter is because they’re best friends irl. it’s pretty obvious that they’re like one of the coolest dynamic duos to come out of this show and that they get along really well. they’re also super chaotic and laugh all the time.

none of that has anything to do with them having onscreen chemistry as screen partners. it’s very common that relationships and chemistry onscreen are reflections of real friendships offscreen, even if they’re not romantic in nature. the first example i can think of off the top of my head is jennifer and josh from the hunger games. they’re chaotic best friends and they’ve always said they love each other platonically, but no one would dare say they don’t have chemistry as their characters. that’s part of what makes portwell so appealing, and rina too. they capitalize on the natural chemistry between the actors. obviously this doesn’t mean the actors have any sort of feelings towards each other, i mean, nobody says that about sofia and josh, right? it’s literally just about how they play off each other. which is why chemistry readings exist and why they were all cast opposite each other in the first place. if you think about it, each of the core four has chemistry with the three others.

but okay, even if i were to play devil’s advocate and go along with the r*na line of thinking that matt/sofia don’t have any chemistry and only give off sibling vibes, the logic still crumbles. if the relationship btwn the actors is a siblings relationship / no chemistry, then why are all of them so pressed about the ship and the age gap? they’re only saying the age gap btwn the actors is weird because of the romantic connotation (which isn’t even about the actors but yk r*na logic), so how can they also say that the same actors are incapable of creating a romantic connotation? which is it???

anyways, sorry for such a long answer to your ask 😭😭 this has just been pissing me off for quite a while.

disclaimer: i do NOT ship the actors in any way, and nobody should be doing that because sofia is a minor and shipping real people is not a good idea regardless. most portwell shippers know how to separate the characters from the actors and don’t do this anyways. we just gush about how cute we think matt/sofia’s irl friendship is, which ofc our wonderful r*na friends just love to take out of context.

#portwell #sofia wylie #matt cornett #hsmtmts

[idreamtofmanderleyagain]

Five years ago, the women on this site who treated me like trash over loving Labyrinth and shipping Jareth/Sarah were almost always obliviously consuming Radfem propaganda, or were out and out Radfems/Terfs themselves.

They were the types of people who casually threw the word “pedophile” around against grown women who shipped an adult Sarah with Jareth, aka literally one of the most popular ships for women in fandom for 30 years.

Pretty much invariably, these women had serious sex-negative anxieties, which included a severe paranoia about any and all kink and fetish, and porn in general. I saw a lot of shocking, fear-mongering propaganda surrounding sexual expression. Pretty much invariably, their method of approach involved immediate personal shock-value attacks on anyone they perceived to be “bad.”

Today, you can look at the way some people react to other popular so-called “problematic” ships and recognize the same toxic, fear-mongering rhetoric coming from women who consider themselves regular, trans-inclusive feminists. Sometimes it even manifests in the words of very well-meaning people (including myself here), who feel the need to talk about specific issues that pertain to their own experiences of trauma and oppression.

The people who shit on Labyrinth often seem to not really be able to comprehend that the Goblin King, like the film itself, is canonically a representation of a teen girl’s psyche, a soup of fears and anxieties and desires and dreams. He’s not a literal human adult preying on a literal child, and to read the film that way seriously undermines the entire point of the film. 

When I (and people of many fandoms) say “This is fiction, calm down,” I’m not just saying it’s not real so it cant hurt you and you can’t criticize me. I’m trying to call attention to what fiction actually is - artistic representations of feelings and experiences. The Goblin King is Sarah’s fiction. Therefore, he can be anything she or any woman who identifies with her wants him to be, including her lover when she’s grown and ready for such a thing.

I once took an alarming dive into Beetlejuice fandom to see what content was there (the cartoon was a favorite when I was little). Chillingly, what you’ll find is an extremely wounded fanbase, with a sharp divide between the older women who had long been shipping BJ/Lydia because of their love for the cartoon series (and whom were previously the vast majority of the Beetlejuice fandom), and a massive amount of young people riding the wave of the musical fad who had decided that the entire old school Beetlejuice fandom was populated by literal pedophiles. 

I saw death threats. Suicide baiting. Constant, constant toxic discourse. It did not matter how the BJ/Lydia fandom dealt with any particular issues that would exist in their ship, in fact I’m certain that the people abusing them cared very little to even consider if they were trying to handle it at all. The only thing that mattered was that they were disgusting subhuman scum asking for abuse. If you have at any time reblogged recent Beetlejuice fan art or content from fans of the musical, you have more than likely been engaging positively with the content of someone participating in toxic fandom behavior.

Nobody is really sticking up for them, either, as far as I saw. It’s really hard to imagine how painful it must be to have such a large group of people explode into into your relatively private fandom space to tell you that you are evil, vile, and deserve constant abuse, and also you are no longer allowed into the fandom space to engage in it’s content. But I think there’s something very alarming indeed about this happening specifically to the BJ fandom, and I’ll explain why. 

The pop-culture characterization of Beetlejuice, which is heavily influenced by the cartoon series to be clear, has always in my mind been a vaguely ageless being who matches with the psychological maturity of whatever age Lydia is supposed to be. He’s more or less like an imaginary friend, a manifestation of Lydia’s psyche. In fact, I would argue that i think most of us who grew up with the cartoon or it’s subsequent merchandizing before the musical ever existed probably internalized the idea as BJ and Lydia as this ageless, salt-and-pepper-shaker couple beloved by the goth community, similar to Gomez and Morticia. In each version of canon he may be a creepy ghost in the literal sense, but any adult who is capable of identifying literary tropes (even just subconciously) would read cartoon!BJ as an artistic representation of a socially awkward outcast girl’s inner world. Lydia’s darker dispositions and interests, which alienate her from most others, are freely accepted and embraced by her spooky magical friend. BJ/Lydia in the cartoon were depicted as best friends, but to my memory there was always an underlying sense that they had secret feelings for each other, which I identified easily even as a small child. In fact, their dynamic and behavior perfectly reflected the psychological development of the show’s target demographic. They are best friends who get into adventures and learning experiences together, who have delicate feelings for each other but lack any true adult romantic/sexual understanding to acknowledge those feelings, let alone pursue them.

Though I haven’t seen the Musical yet, I’ve read the wiki and I would argue that it embodies this exact same concept even more so for it’s own version of the characters, in that Beetlejuice specifically exists to help Lydia process her mother’s death.

This is not a complicated thing to recognize and comprehend whatsoever. In fact, it looks downright blatant. It’s also a clear indicator of what BJ/Lydia means to the women who have long loved it. It was a story about a spooky wierd girl being loved and accepted and understood for who she was, and it gave them a sense of solidarity. It makes perfect sense why those women would stick with those characters, and create a safe little space for themselves to and imagine their beloved characters growing and having adult lives and experiencing adult drama, in just the same ways that the women of the Labyrinth fandom do. That’s all these women were doing. And now, they can’t do it without facing intense verbal violence. That safe space is poisoned now.

Having grown up with the cartoon as one of my favorites and been around goth subculture stuff for decades, I was actually shocked and squicked at the original Beetlejuice film’s narrative once I actually saw it, because it was extremely divorced from what these two characters had evolved into for goth subculture and what they meant to me. It’s not telling the same story, and is in fact about the Maitland's specifically. In pretty much exactly the same way two different versions of Little Red Riding Hood can be extremely different from each other, the film is a different animal. While I imagine that the film version has been at the heart of a lot of this confused fear-mongering around all other versions of the characters, I would no more judge different adaptations of these characters any more than I would condemn a version of Little Red in which Red and the Wolf are best friends or lovers just because the very first iteration of LRRH was about protecting yourself from predators.

I would even argue that the people who have engaged in Anti-shipper behavior over BJ/Lydia are in intense denial over the fact that BJ being interested in Lydia, either as blatant predatory behavior a la the film or on a peer level as in the cartoon (and musical?) is an inextricable part of canon. Beetlejuice was always attracted to Lydia, and it was not always cute or amusing. Beetlejuice was not always a beloved buddy character, an in fact was originally written as a gross scumbag. That’s just what he was. Even people engaging with him now by writing OC girlfriends for him (as stand-ins for the salt-and-pepper-shaker space Lydia used to take up, because obviously that was part of the core fun of the characters), or just loving him as a character, are erasing parts of his character’s history in order to do so. They are actively refusing to be held responsible for being fans of new version of him despite the fact that he engaged in overt predatory behavior in the original film. In fact, I would venture to say that they are actively erasing the fact that Musical Beetliejuice tried to marry a teenager and as far as I’m aware, seemed to like the idea (because he’s probably a fucking figment of her imagination but go off I guess). The only reason they can have a version of this character who could be perceived as “buddy” material is because...the cartoon had an impact on our pop cultural perception of what the character and his dynamic with Lydia is. 

We can have a version of the Big Bad Wolf who’s a creepy monster. We can have a version who’s sweet and lovable. We can have a version that lives in the middle. We can have a version who’s a hybrid between Red and the Wolf (a la Ruby in OUAT). All of these things can exist in the same world, and can even be loved for different reasons by the same people.

I’ve been using Beetlejuice as an example here because it’s kind of perfect for my overall point regarding the toxic ideologies in fandom right now across many different spaces, including ones for progressive and queer media, and how much so many people don’t recognize how deeply they’ve been radicalized into literalist and sex-negative radfem rhetoric, to the point where we aren’t allowed to have difficult, messy explorations of imperfect, flawed humans, and that art is never going to be 100% pure and without flaw in it’s ability to convey what it wants to convey.

This includes the rhetoric I’ve seen across the board, from She-Ra to A:TLA to Star Wars to Lovecraft Country. We don’t talk about the inherent malleable, subjective, or charmingly imperfect nature of fiction any more. Transformation and reclamation are myths in this space. Everything is in rigid categories. It is seemingly very difficult for some of these people to engage with anything that is not able to be clearly labeled as one thing or another (see the inherent transphobic and biphobic elements of the most intense rhetoric). They destroy anything they cannot filter through their ideology. When women act in a way that breaks from their narrative of womanhood (like...not having a vagina), then those women must be condemned instead of understood. Anything that challenges them or makes them uncomfortable is a mortal sin. There is an extraordinary level of both hypocrisy and repressive denial that is underlying the behavior I’m seeing now. Much like toxic Christian conservatism, these people often are discovered engaging in the same behaviors and interests that they condemn behind closed doors (or just out of sheer cognitive dissonance). As an example, one of the people who talked shit to me about Labyrinth was a huge fan of Kill La Kill, which to my knowledge was an anime about a teenage girl in like, superpowered lingere (hence why I stayed the fuck away from that shit myself). Indeed, they even allow themselves plenty of leeway for behavior far worse than they condemn others for, and create support systems for the worst of their own abusers. 

Quite frankly, I’m tired. Instead of talking about theoretical problematic shit, we need to start talking about quantifiable harm. Because as far as I can tell, the most real, immediate, and quantifiable harm done because of anybody’s favorite ships or pieces of media seems to consistently be the kind that’s done to the people who experience verbal violence and abuse and manipulation and suicide baiting and death threats from the people who have a problem.

#Beetlejuice #Labyrinth #toxic fandom

[1ddotdhq]

💀Wed 28 Oct ‘20🏡

Zayn is back, Louis has pink hoodies (sort of), Liam is tik tokking like a pro, Harry feeds fish, Simon Cowell’s surgery recovery has stalled and is going poorly (great! couldn’t have happened to a more deserving human), but we’ve got too much real news to waste anymore time on that asshole! 

We ended last night with ZAYN SINGING TO US!! Beautiful black and white footage of beautiful Zayn and his perfect voice; he shows us little snippets of himself crooning James Bay's Hold Back the River and Paolo Nutini's Last Request (not for the first time on this one, he did this song before in the lead up to Icarus Falls... more on that in a minute) while reading lyrics off his phone, captioned 'Cover Sessions.' Good god but I have missed his ethereal warbling! The post alone is an unexpected blessing and a gift but the implied promise of more to come?? YES PLEASE I CANNOT WAIT. Some wonder if it could be for a Spotify Sessions, others are screaming about how Icarus Falls' drop was preceded by weeks of black and white cover song videos on instagram (when asked at that time if he was releasing something he said “yes why else do you think I'd be on here singing for you??” LOL, adore this man, but also, hello!) Anyway yesterday we got not only music and the promise of more to come, but also interaction! He chatted in comments, offering a coy 'maybe' to a comment saying 'acoustic', posting laugh cry emojis at his own jokes (“no YOU stop”), and sending love back to his happy zquad, who were of course overwhelmed and over the moon. He's cut his hair off but with all he's given us today can we be sad? It's a small price to pay. James Bay reposted the cover of his song-- “nice one man x.”

Then, Louis officially dropped his Kill My Mind Lyric drop (on the 28th!!!):  the lyric being represented is “the devil in my brain”, and it is indeed a skull with a tophat over a cauldron. The new stuff features the cute little logo embroidered on various black cold weather wear items (including a sweater!) and says 'lyric drop 2' inside the collar of the shirts. BUT! There’s more! We’ve got some more wavy walls hoodies in pink lettering, as well as fuzzy red lettering and a marble red and pink design. Love it! However, it was discovered that this new merch does not ship to India or LATAM (except Costa Rica) and honestly?? RUDE!! Louis’ LATAM fans are the FUCKING BEST (no I’m not biased wdym???). They do, however, ship to Vatican City for some reason so catch the Pope in his Walls merch! Louis did respond to this issue on twitter, though, and said, “I’ll get more info on this ASAP. Anywhere else?” so dioceses all over the world will soon be able to rock out in their KMM merch. Celebtm also came back for round three to tell everyone that they were removing themselves from the narrative until January (good riddance), but not before leaving a message from Michael Straus (ugh) to Louis and his “son” (the quote marks are theirs, not mine, in case you’re wondering where they stand on the issue). Straus’ last hurrah included claims that Briana gets a direct deposit from Louis (or his team) on the first of every month, spends it all immediately and is left destitute for the rest of the month, and that neither Briana nor Freddie have health insurance. He then offered to help Louis get custody of Freddie. Um, right. I’m sure his help would be invaluable. Also, we all agree that he’s a liar and likely doesn’t know shit and is trying to make himself seem like the hero instead of the gross misogynist he is right? 

A story was also released about Harry’s car breaking down in the UK over the summer. He did what anyone would do (I suppose?) and knocked on someone’s door to see if they could help. Well, it turns out their daughter is a fan, so they invited him in for a cup of tea, and allowed him to snoop around her room. They even took a picture of him feeding her goldfish! The photographer who took the picture is (coincidentally?) a professional, who has worked with Kasey Musgraves before. The fan did not get to meet him, but he signed her album, and left her a note promising to meet her at a concert, which he would be inviting them to. Harry has done some other cool things in the last few days (being politically active IS cool), and has started filming DWD in Palm Springs. He was spotted by a fan (though no pictures were released) and he signed her phone cover - it reads “Golden” with a little heart. 

Harry also ignited discourse by *shuffles papers,scratches head in confusion* his endorsement of Joe Biden? Well, there were a few layers to this condemnation. The first were the people who... thought he might be a Trump supporter and were disappointed that he was not? Well, uh, clearly they have not been paying close attention, because this man has been seen this year in a BLM rally, has shouted “fuck Boris, fuck the government”, and has waved multiple different pride flags (including the trans flag!) at his concerts. IDK how that screamed Trump supporter to some people. And then there were the people who were angry that he captioned the tweet “I would vote with kindness”. The words I have seen thrown around are “disingenuous” “privileged” and “this is not enough.” Well! Harry has often been criticized for encouraging fans to simply “vote” without talking specifics; now he's endorsed a candidate, just as requested! And while no one actually LIKES Biden there is no question (in any world except absurd fandom wank circles) that this endorsement is the correct one out of the viable candidates. He is not saying that Biden is himself kind, which yes would be weird, he is saying that voting for Biden is the kinder choice and you know what? He is correct. If you think that we at 1ddotd are gonna condemn him for taking a stance against a fascist, uh, THINK AGAIN!

It was confirmed that Liam’s mystery collab is Dixie D’Amelio, of tik tok fame, and I’m going to refrain from commenting until I hear the song! Liam continues to lean into both Christmas and Halloween by doing his spooky tik toks and NOT putting jump scare warnings in ANY OF THEM, thanks so much for that one Liam, love it loads! His fun, spooky, dorky ones (in full AWESOME looking makeup thanks to MUA Abby Roberts who’s quickly becoming a regular) are amazing though, and I will miss it when Halloween is over. And Niall was on the Elvis Duran show, mid-golf game with his cousin actually, to talk about them about his concert, the venue, the cause (calling his crew “like family”), and calling out the government (go Niall!)! He ALSO took to twitter and said, “I wish I could vote”. He would also not be voting for Trump, in case anyone actually needs that spelled out.

#zayn #louis #harry #liam #niall #hey ive seen some misinformation going around from my research from yesterday #if you agree with my theory that Louis both sign and rescinded VDP forms then the central premise #is that the money he's them is NOT CHILD SUPPORT in the legal sense its SOMETHING ELSE #based on the info we're seeing this IS whats happened and this matters because in this picture he CAN'T be the father #and for all the questions of 'why hasnt louis taken briana to court' #MY question is 'if louis has paternal rights why hasnt BRIANA taken HIM to court???' #also if youre like me in quarantine I recommend checking out a youtuber called Blake McClain #especially his Walls lyrical breakdown #because for the whole like two hours hes trying to get around saying that all the songs are about Harry because he KNOWS #but also doesnt want to say it on main and its very funny to try and watch him work around that #i wont spoil how he handles it BUT ITS AMAZING #anyways! #song of the day! #Forgetting You by Cam #im not kidding when i say that Changes is one of the things i am most looking forward to this weekend #also Discourse wrote Zayns part because she had THINGS TO SAY and I LOVE THEM ALL

[akookminsupporter]

This is maybe going to be a controversial thing to say but I am seeing a lot of top and bottom speculation in parts of the Jikook community and thought I would humbly offer some thoughts. This is something that people might be doing and not aware of how inappropriate and sucky it is. I beleive in free speech so I don't think anyone should listen to me if they don't want. But ignorance is not always malicious. Sand sometimes it helps to hear perspectives from different people.

Using terms like 'alpha' to describe why anyone thinks someone is a top is wrong on about a dozen levels. It's sexist first of all. It's dehumanizing. It sounds like someone bases their idea of same sex relationships from reading abo fics. While I personally don't have a problem with people writing and reading that kind of stuff, please please know that it doesn't reflect real life. When a person uses this language and makes an argument like "I can't see × bottoming because he is alpha", (which I did see someone write today. ugh) it is frustrating and toxic. It also implies that cis women and at birth female assigned people who like being penetrated are.... what exactly? Not powerful? Never dominant?

Lgbt people have a long history of being asked inappropriate and invasive questions about our sex lives. We are almost taught that it is ok for straight people to say things like "he is giving me a lot of top vibes" because it means they are not openly grossed out by us (which should make us hashtag grateful). We are kind of fed the message that setting these sorts of boundaries could alienate us from well meaning straight people. I can't tell you how many times I have listened to someone assuming what position a gay man takes in sex (and it is always under the assumption that this role is fixed). Fanfics are fiction. But when it comes to analysis of real life people using real life "evidence", that kind of discourse crosses the line in my opinion. Kpop shipping culture is complicated for many reasons, not least of which is that it is constructed from a predominantly hetero and eroticized worldview. When I see people having these kinds of conversations (on other blogs), and spouting some ignorant, unexamined shit, it shows me how comfortable they are in commandeering conversations about gay sex and sexuality. It shows me they believe their personal interest makes it reasonable and decent for them to debate the penises and bums of living human beings on a public forum.

A lot of times, assumptions about being the top or bottom are loaded with other stuff. It is a way to fit a same sex relationship into a false 'm/w' binary. It makes the lgbt relationship into something that a straight person can relate to or project themselves into. It draws a false distinction between the 'weaker' (or smaller or more fem) partner and the 'stronger' (ie the man, the alpha) one.

Bottoming does not make you passive or girly. Nor does topping make you a jealous, testosterone fueled manimal.

Almost all cis men and people assigned male at birth (including straight guys), have a 'p spot' or, as it is medically known, a prostate. It is a walnut sized gland located below the bladder. Internally, it can be accessed by probing about 2 inches up the rectum. Externally, it can be stimulated by pressing against the skin between the scrotum and anus (the taint). Stimulating or massaging it can produce extremely powerful orgasms. (The thing colloquially known as the female 'g spot' in cis women and people assigned female at birth is sometimes referred to as the 'female prostate'. It can be accessed internally through the vagina). The internet is full of ideas on how to safely, skillfully explore this pleasure center. Some people are open to it. Some aren't. It's no big deal and no one's loss. Everyone likes what makes them comfortable. But in case anyone didn't know, that part of the anatomy produces the sensation what feels good when a male at birth person is an anally penetrated (with lube etc). So my point is: what does having a prostate and liking having it touched have to do with being feminine? It is literally a bundle of nerves in the cis male anatomy. Many straight men like to be pegged with strap ons by their girlfriends. Does that make them omegas? Or girls? No. It makes them cis men who like having their prostates stimulated because it feels good. Often times it has meant having to rewrite a lot of societal baggage in their mind and tear down the box one is placed in.

Also: lgbt men aren't always tops or bottoms. Sometimes they are both. Sometimes neither. OBVIOUSLY. Why limit or call the shots on a person's sexuality? Roles can be versatile. Sex can be versatile. Prescriptive ideology should not limit anyone's exploration of their own, unique, precious human body, or motivate them to label anyone else's.

Straight cis men's sex lives are not as often subjected to scrutiny in the media. Nor can their 'normative' sexual practices be used against them (for the most part). Justin Trudeau can kiss his wife and look at her adoringly without inviting widespread speculation as to who is giving what to who on a public forum and what that means in a larger behavioral context. Shouldn't same sex couples enjoy the same respect? Gay sex has been pathologized greatly for the better part of the past century. It takes a long time for hateful undertones and connotations to be neautralized. So wouldn't it be best if we wrote about real life m/m couples with greater care? How would our considerations of these discussions change if different gender dynamics or identities were in play?

POWER in sexual relations is NOT always dictated by who is the penetrator. And the way someone carries themselves on the football field or in the boardroom doesn't always having bearing on their genitalia or how they like to use it. Prescriptive sociocultural forces still seek to label leaders as tops or masc presenting or having an abundance of testosterone. And if someone lives up to the cultural stereotype of a flamboyantly gay presenting, femmy, ballet and make up loving bottom? Well that is perfectly powerful and lovely.

Sorry for this very long spiel.

Thank you so much for this opinion anon, your words carry a lot of truth. Thanks for the little explanations. Thanks for the little anatomy lesson too.

I have said several times that I will never discuss or talk about Jimin, Jungkook or anyone else’s  sex lives, although I may be crossing a boundary by speculating about their love lives, talking about their sex lives is a boundary that I will never want to cross.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with talking about sex, I talk about sex with my friends, it's a topic I enjoy, especially when I'm in a group with several conservative women 😏😆🙈(  I don't bring it up, others do, but I'm not shy to talk about it) I'm comfortable talking about sex in general or my sex life, but never about other people's sex lives, especially when they are not present.

Anon, THANK YOU for your long spiel. 

#anon #ask #serious conversation #JMJK #jkkrs

[betelguwuse]

I’m starting to think maybe I don’t want to get married. Hypothetically I’d love to be in a godly marriage with a man who respects me and sees me as the person that God does (and not only me but women as a whole), but realistically do christian men like that even exist? Mainstream christianity, especially gender discourse, is so watered down and twisted into something that’s more political than biblical. I feel like this is gonna piss off both the christians and feminists, even though I’m both (though some might say I’m not a real feminist, whatever idc lol). Might also tag as Side B because I feel like this is also maybe a Side B mood? But here goes.

Color coded by vague topic, bolded so it’s easier to read.

Like I recently heard of a pastor being criticized for saying it’s a woman’s duty to look good for her husband, and the boomer conservatives were acting like criticisms of this pastor was the end of christianity. There’s no way “looking good” in a biblical sense was anything more than basic hygiene, nowhere near the beauty standards of today; and that is if the idea of looking good for your husband is even in the bible. These people siding with the pastor were saying that any woman who doesn’t shave or hide her “flaws” with makeup or basically completely embody the tradwife meme are bad wives. Like what the literal hell.

Honestly the entire tradwife aesthetic seems to be the goal for a lot of young christian couples, when it’s not inherently biblical. I used to be into it myself because heck yeah staying home, housekeeping, taking care of children, and wearing cute flowery dresses sounds like a dream. But my goals aren’t universal! Some women don’t want kids. Some women want to work. Good and God-honoring women of the bible didn’t all have kids and stay home. I mean the timeline of the bible spans so long, so yeah maybe there were times when most women did. But that doesn’t mean women who didn’t were bad wives or lesser women. Not to mention there’s such a blurred line currently between cute tradwife lifestyle and creeps who fetishize the idea of a traditional (and by traditional they mean submissive) wife. Gross.

Another thing too many christian men do is say women can’t be in any position of power in the church. There is the whole specific issue of whether or not women should be the highest up actual pastor of the church, and I don’t know enough about that whole debate to validate or debunk it, but I’m not talking about that specifically here. Aside from that one position, a lot of christians think women can only teach other women and girls but not guys, even like literal child boys. That’s so weird, like imagine thinking a little boy has more authority than, or even equal to, a grown woman? Couldn’t be me. And this whole idea comes from an out of context “I do not permit women to speak in the church” from a regular human guy. And the reason he said this was that the women around him were spreading heresy. I still think it’s flawed logic to exclude all women from speaking in that situation just because most of them were wrong, but again, this wasn’t a command from God. This was just a guy recording his church experience and doing his flawed human best to manage it. Various women throughout the actual bible outside of this one leader’s timeline held positions of power in various churches. And modern day american christian men think biblical womanhood is all about subservience? Bro what bible are you reading?

I just want to make it clear that these are all just generalizations, but having been in various actual biblical communities and conservative christian communities, I can kinda pick up on the general sexist behaviors of the latter. But unfortunately in today’s political climate more and more young christians are only being exposed to political opinions that are surface level americanized good christian morals, but not actually biblical.

Even on top of that, even if a man knows of these biblical misconceptions, we live in a society. Like we’re constantly exposed to women’s sexualization, and it’s pretty impossible to escape that. I don’t want to spend my life with someone who’s grown up in a world where women are seen as weak, objects, pleasure machines, etc. And yeah we can unlearn these biases (honestly I hate the word unlearn but I can’t think of a substitute rn), but it feels like a hassle to casually figure out whether a guy can make an effort to understand what women go through, and if I were to just bring it up I’d scare them away. And that’s not to say I’m some perfect person who’s never sexualized men, we are all sinners after all and we live in a fallen world etc etc. But a whole society where women are so objectified that it’s normal for little boys to be watching porn, that just doesn’t really happen with little girls. I can’t speak for all women, but when I started seeing men sexually it was in my late teens when I realized like ‘oh I can sexualize men too? wild. ok I’m an adult lemme check it out’. Still sinful, but not ingrained in me from porn ads as a kid the way most young boys have been since like the creation of the internet.

Even the men currently in my life who genuinely want what’s best for me are so incredibly misogynistic it’s baffling. My male family members see any woman who breaks an imaginary dress code or ideology is some kind of deviant. I just want to make it clear that this is MY family and I’M the only one who gets to complain about them. We all love each other here even if the males are horribly wrong.

So I shaved my head for halloween and my dad could barely look at me, not because he was exactly mad or anything but just because I looked ugly to him. He always says ‘close the windows in your apartment because men will spy on you changing’ but after my hair was gone he was all ‘actually don’t bother because nobody will look at you looking like that’ like wow I wasn’t aware men only sexualized women for their hair. Like you really think a gross creeper is gonna be turned off by a fully naked oblivious vulnerable woman just because she’s bald? That’s not how any of this works. And just today my sister was watching a goth youtuber egirl or something, I didn’t see her makeup but my dad said stuff like ‘ew why does she look like that, maybe it’d be cool as a costume but how is she going to get a job’. Like, I’m not one to go ‘women don’t wear makeup for men’ (because most women who only use makeup to hide their insecurities and follow beauty standards very much just do it so they don’t get backlash from others, if not directly to please men), but when it’s a fun crazy look that’s not meant to be pretty, I’m all for that shit and generally I hate when men lose respect for a woman just for wearing something they don’t like. Like fashion isn’t real and your appearance should be as costumey or weird as you want without people losing respect for you. Also like...do men know that makeup isn’t permanent?? Like if she wanted a job that required no makeup she could easily wipe her face off and get one?? Not only that, but people can work from home and/or be self employed. Maybe youtube itself was this girl’s job. Who the hell cares man. And the worst thing here is my brother outright said one time “the root cause of feminism is pride”. B r u h. And this was back when I considered myself an anti-feminist, even then I knew that feminism started for good reason and I was absolutely furious. I think I kept it to myself like a coward lol, but if anyone said that to me now I’d tear them apart. In a debate I mean, not like literal violence.

Tldr: I’m not trying to say men are inherently more evil because there’s evil in everyone, but the way it takes shape in men in most societies is so insidious and inescapable. I love my family and guy friends, but I don’t want to deal with one in a romantic/sexual relationship because I don’t know if even the most educated and goodest christian boi in this world can see me as a true equal. It sucks because I want sex and children, but when the mainstream idea of hetero sex is female submission, it just makes me shrivel up and contemplate becoming a nun. I’m not even catholic. But even nuns are sexualized and degraded in coomer’s disgusting brains. In conclusion I’m going feral and starting my own woman-only church in the woods let’s go ladies.

#christianity #biblical womanhood #christian woman #christian feminism #feminism #side b #side b christian

[otterskin]

I didn't like the LOKI show, no matter how hard I try, and it's messing with me.

My mother died at the end of December. A lot of other bad things happened as well, like the severe brain injury of my father.

I didn't cry. There was so much to do. I did it. And even then, when there was nothing left to do, I didn't cry.

I found distractions.

Today I went to see the Green Knight after a tough week at a new job that had me leave my father in another province even though he still needs help. I was trying to get back to the life I'd dropped.

I loved the Green Knight. The Arthurian Legends are as dear to me as Norse Mythology, and my copy of them had the Green Knight on the cover. The film was truly excellent, evoking the feel of the story whole still doing something unique and very A24. I cried at one point, like I did when watching the first THOR, because of how much it meant to see something I'd loved since the very first years of my existence finally make it to the big screen and be...right. It's own thing, it's own artistic product, but right.

Then I opened a tab in a browser and saw I had some messages on a website I comment on. It was just some minor criticism of the LOKI show I'd posted beneath an article and how it handled certain things.

I was downvoted. Berated. Hated. Lumped in the ad hominem twitter users who attacked the director and writer (I'd never, ever!) Told I was biphobic because I wanted to see more of a queer lens (I even addressed how difficult it is for bi people in queer cinema and society in general in my criticisms of the romance, but even that wasn't good enough - just disliking it was 'bad'.) I was told I just wanted my 'fanfic' made (I never made any laundrylist of plot points I demanded). I was accused of being a begrudged shipper (ha! If anything I'm an anti-shipper). I was told that I should love the show, it was awesome, and I was bad for not thinking so.

And I started to cry.

I don't cry. Only at movies. Not at real life. I didn't cry at my grandparents's funerals, I didn't cry when I was left with the body of my mother in the hospital room and my brother cried on my shoulder. I didn't cry when working through my dad's severe new disabilities as I realized how much he had lost. I didn't cry while realizing how messy my parents' finances were. I didn't cry when my mother's friends called me in the middle of the night and cried into the phone. I didn't cry when saying goodbye to my dog and going back to a rundown apartment with a terrible smell so I could go to work in a dark room for hours at a time.

But now I'm crying and writing this.

I've realized why. During everything, I looked forward to the LOKI show. The first THOR is deeply nostalgic to me and I watched it often in my first year of Uni when I was away from home. It tied in thematically to what I was going for. Thor 2 came out before I went on exchange, and while I disliked it overall, talking about it was a welcome distraction from my anxieties. Thor 3 was nerve-wracking, but it also came out during my first major job which I was struggling with, and I saw it so many times in theatres...it was such a huge comfort.

Looking forward to LOKI wasn't just a distraction. It was like a promise. A promise that I'd make it till then and see it and maybe it'd give me some comfort.

That's on me. That's a personal thing. It's an unreasonable expectation.

But I needed it, all the same.

Then it came out.

I tried. I really tried to like it, to forgive it, but the problems are things I've criticized for too long in so many other things. I always try to be respectful about, I never go ad hominem and attack the creators, only critique their work and I always mentioned what I liked but...

I didn't like it.

I have no urge to rewatch it.

And the Green Knight...the Green Knight was everything I wanted and needed it to be. It didn't let me down, though I've been anticipating it about as long as the LOKI show. They're very different, obviously, but in my heart they share the same compartment.

And after a very trying day...I realized how badly I needed to rewatch a Loki show I liked. But I can't even enjoy THOR or Thor:Ragnarok anymore. It's like everything I did like has been poisoned.

This thing that got me through immense pain is causing me pain. I don't want to be toxic. I'm sure it's in me. I try so hard not to wallow in disappointment, but to not even be allowed to talk about my problems without being lumped in with abusive online monsters...

I can't do it. I just can't.

This is supposed to be an escape, not another trial.

I needed the LOKI show to be good, so I could come out of the dark into the light, or at least walk through the night with a lantern ahead of me. And instead it was just more darkness, and it's not even entirely its own fault. It's the online discourse. It's the uncalled for harassment of Herron and Waldron. It's the taunting jabs at people who didn't have a good time as if we're all jerks. It's having people roll their eyes when you point out things that made you uncomfortable in the story, it's feeling slightly gaslit when you find something gross that the story intended to be gross and then being told it's not gross, actually.

I'm sorry. I don't want to cause pain. I just...

I needed it to be good. And unlike Thor 3, which delivered me respite in a dark time...it let me down. Worse, it's hurt me.

I said I don't cry, only at the movies. Something about them lets me cry in a way nothing else does. I can't cry at a funeral, but I can cry in a movie theatre at the drop of a hat. It's a release valve, a way for me to process things.

I think I was waiting for LOKI to give me permission to cry. To give me something that could release this pain in me. And instead, it just gave me more.

I never should have given it that power. I didn't want to. But I had to, to get through this.

I'm putting away the few THOR pieces of tat I have. I feel foolish. I always knew it was a capitalist piece of art, chucked from creator to creator with no creative shepherd, which in itself was stressful.

The fandom is no sanctuary for me either, since I'm primarily interested in the family dynamics and I'm sick of 'Odin is an ABUSIVE MONSTER' stories or even unrelated fics and posts just dropping in hate for him that's not at all canon but seems to be very popular to the point where people think it is. Especially since I often read these stories when I need to think of home and my father. Or, most pleasantly of all, when I get called an abuser or abuser-enabler because I say I like Odin as a character. I also can't really bear to deal with anything to do with Sylvie, whom I had high hopes for as someone who wants more female tricksters, but instead I got this...this Mary Sue that's very hard to criticize without being yelled at. I swear I'm coming at her writing as a feminist and I don't hate anyone, I don't, I just...sigh. She's just personally frustrating to me and not being able to discuss it without being called names sucks.

Not to mention I'm asexual, and I always struggle with romance in media being pushed as the 'ultimate relationship more important than any other'. Part of the reason I liked THOR so much was that romance was not the main feature of THOR and definitely not THOR 3 (while my disliked Dark World was all about it, and so is LOKI). And when I criticize the romance, I get called a prude (guilty, I guess), a troll, or, my favourite, just 'a hater'.

I don't want to hate. Who wants that poison in their veins? I'm here because the Thor series HELPED me because I LOVED it. And now I look at the things I used to love and I...don't, anymore.

So much is asked of me right now. I can't willingly invite this painful thing to sit on my chest as well, especially since the world is already shoving it into my face without my doing anything, in ads, in news, in everything.

I suppose that's why I've leaned even more into Odin lately. He was untouched by the LOKI series (though not the Simpson special, which worries me). He's a trickster, he's queer, he's nuanced, he's 'misunderstood' (that old cliche, but he's misunderstood and misrepresented by the people always yelling about how this or that character is misunderstood, which amuses me, except when it gets to me), and he's in many ways free to make my own.

I still have some stuff I'm going to publish that's practically finished. Finnesang has a lot more written for it but needs some major sit-down time for re-writes and edits. Lokabrenna is practically done, just needs tweaks and Beta. I'll be here a little longer.

But I think I'm going to have to step back for now and put my passions into other things.

I will be back. After all, after Thor 2 came Thor 3. Maybe Love and Thunder will right the ship and Thor can still be awesome, and maybe eventually a creative I love will come to work on the franchise. Really, that's the key for me - I loved Branagh before THOR, and loved Waititi before Thor, and disliked Waldron's work (though I gave him every benefit of the doubt and hoped and prayed to be wrong - sadly, it was what I expected.)

But...if LOKI season 2 is more of this, more romantic tropes I hate and Loki being an afterthought in his own show and his family being devalued for new characters...I can't do it. I can't watch something I used to love just throw that all away for something I dislike.

My tears are finally drying. I wrote a lot of this while the screen was blurry, so I hope there's no grammar or typo too embarrasing. I'm not sure I have the strength to re-read it. Sorry for the rant. It helped me feel better.

Thank you all. I hope I feel differently someday.

#loki show #loki 2021 #meta #loki thoughts #personal #update

[delusion-of-negation]

top 10 (ish) ridiculous or annoying FAQs:

(click at your own discretion)

1) "kids today rely on others to do everything"

ah yes, damn those participation trophies! if it wasn't for them my hands wouldn't be fucked, and I wouldn't need people to write for me. but seriously, stop reading boomer comics, and go outside to meet some actual young people.

2) "sus that a non-american says mom"

yeah, because it's clearly the superior version, and I'm not too patriotic to concede a defeat.

3) "sweaty, the victims of abuse by catholics are real people, stop appropriating their pain just because you want to hate catholics; plus teachers abuse people just as often anyway"

so firstly, I don't hate anybody. and secondly, regarding the fact that victims really do exist, [insert "of course I know him, he's me" meme here]; although I don't often talk much about the abuse I went through or what my religious beliefs are. but, more importantly, statements like "survivors are people" can be phrased like "some people are survivors", and when you're unable to act according to the latter (like when you don't even consider that somebody might be one) then you display a failure to recognise the former - you're projecting; a survivor can't be appropriating their own pain, but you can be appropriating it to silence one. and thirdly, teachers do abuse - the problem isn't and has never been purely religion, rather that abuse is often done by somebody in a position of trust, power, and familiarity; and that the lack of a global minimum enables totally legal abuse on top of the illegal stuff. people with access and respect have more opportunity to abuse than those without, and that goes for teachers too. but, once again, you can be appropriating the pain of survivors to deflect and silence people. please remember this before you say that shit.

4) "get help/therapy"

way ahead of you - years ahead of you. but it's not magic - people who say this often act as if you'll start behaving differently overnight. not only are some things simply beyond the ability of talking therapy to completely rectify, it also takes time and has to be selective. you've got to pick your priorities, and that's definitely not whatever ship or joke you're mad at me about today. therapy is a slow, arduous process that can't guarantee results - it isn't "anti-recovery" to recognise that, it's honesty. while I've been in therapy for a long time, it is not necessarily going to change whatever you don't like about me - whether that's because it can't, because my focus now is on more important or urgent things, or because I don't want to change that.

5a) "tell your family you ship incest, see how that goes; normal people find it disgusting"

actually, some know, and they're fine with it. in fact, one prefers sibling pairings in fiction to all other dynamics because, to paraphrase, "it's a deeper level of messed up co-dependence". so unfortunately for you, my remaining family (by which I mean those not dead or cut out of my life after abuse and so forth) actually are able to distinguish between fiction and reality. plus, my reasoning for caring if they find it gross or not pertains only to recommending books and such - their opinions do not dictate my tastes.

5b) "don't sexualise/appropriate incestuous abuse" and "I bet you enjoyed being raped" and other attempts to upset me over 5a

firstly, as I've already said here, survivors can't be appropriating ourselves. in addition, you're not owed people's history or trauma - it's not okay to require people's personal information, or else you'll send anon hate and accusations of appropriation. secondly, I'm not sexualising our abuse (not just because I write horror, and so a lot of my writing is intended to be creepy, not sexy); these stories aren't about us, they're not us at all. entire dynamics/people (fictional or otherwise) aren't all going to be applicable to us or identical to us, just because they have something in common with us; they're not us and they're not accountable to us. thirdly, the fact that people send this stuff (attempting to trigger people's trauma over ships) is so much more worrying to me than somebody making our communal imaginary friends kiss. you're trying to hurt people. and finally, to the "I bet you enjoyed it" crowd (if you're at all serious): do you think you'd enjoy being in a real zombie apocalypse, alone, afraid, and really at risk of being eaten alive? a fictional scenario does not feel remotely the same as a real one. this isn't rocket science - things that look like you aren't you; fiction isn't reality; don't send anon hate. (edit: comparable "just leave me alone, I'm not hurting anyone" sentiments for yandere stuff, and anything else you decide I'm naughty for.)

6) "you'll be sent off to do manual labour once your communist revolution happens"

while I don't know why people think that I'm a communist, a dictatorial regime probably isn't going to want me to do manual labour. they're more likely to just shoot me; I'm useless and a liability. call me crazy, but something tells me that "ah yes, we shall give ze deranged cripple ze power tools" isn't the communist position.

7a) "they/them can't be singular pronouns"

yes they can, and they're used as such in both shakespeare and the bible. but you don't have to say this - I'm also okay with he/him, so you could've just used those and chilled out. also, do I look like somebody who views the rules of grammar as fully immutable and imperative?

7b) "enbies/aros/pan/etc aren't valid"

do you really think that you're going to change any hearts or minds by putting that in my ask box or under my funny maymays? chill out, it's not worth the effort - you could be planning a party (in minecraft) and having fun instead. it isn't worth my time to rant at everybody who's saying something isn't valid, updating how I'm explaining it as my opinions grow and general discourse around it evolves; I'm just who I am, somebody else is who they are - why bicker in presumptuous ways about if that's enough? it ultimately is valid, in my opinion, but that isn't an invitation to keep demanding that I debate. (edit: old posts of mine probably don't phrase things incredibly, on this or anything... I tried.)

8) "what are your politics?"

my politics are informed first and foremost by the knowledge that I'm not cut out to be some kind of leader - I don't want to be the guy who tells everyone else what to do, I just offer what seem to me like valid criticisms of how we are doing things now, and general pointers on the values and ethics that I would prefer to move towards. things like individual freedom, taking the most pacifist route where possible, trying not to give excessive power to small groups of people (governments or corporations), helping those in need even when they're not palatable, and letting me suck loads of dicks. but please refrain from decreeing me something - there's not enough information in what I said, so you'll just be filling in the blanks with assumptions. (edit: workplace democracy seems cool to me; benefits are good; fair fines and taxes; and the "sperm makes you loopy" saga: 1, 2, 3, and 4.)

9) "you're a narcissist"

no, I don't meet the diagnostic criteria. joking on the internet that you're hot doesn't make a person a narcissist. the fact that I've chosen to keep my actual self-esteem issues to myself is not proof that they don't exist - you're just not entitled to that information about me. but it's also not narcissism to really like how you look. (edit: don't throw labels around carelessly too.)

10a) "kin list?"

the fabric of the universe, a zombie, dionysus, maned wolf/arctic fox hybrid, a comedian, big gay, big rock, ambiguously partial insincerity. (edit: kin list may or may not be incomplete.)

10b) "kin isn't valid/that's just being insane"

haven't we established that I'm deranged, and that sending stuff like this on anon is simply a waste of your precious time? besides, I do not care if it's invalid or insane - it's fun, I'm happy. (edit: see 7b for my opinion on sending me yet another ask with "that's invalid" in it; I'm not in the mood to discuss the nature of validity.)

bonus: "it gets better" and "trigger list?"

as I've said before, things just don't always get better for everyone - sometimes things can't be cured or even treated, sometimes they kill you; in some cases it could get better if not for a blockade or lack of time. the world is messy. it needs to be more normalised to reassure or comfort people without relying on saying that their issue will get better or be cured. it does suck to be this ill, but it also sucks to be made out to be a lazy pessimist, just because I have the audacity to not play along. and as for the trigger list, I don't like providing people with an easily accessed list of ways to hurt my feelings or harm me - upsetting me is supposed to be challenging, and thus rewarding. if you want a cheat sheet then you're out of luck, I'm afraid.

bonus #2: "FAQ stands for frequently asked questions, it doesn't need that s at the end!"

yeah, I know, I just enjoy chaos and disarray.

bonus #3 (edit): "what are your disabilities and how exactly are they incurable and/or deadly?"

again, I don't tell the internet everything about me, especially when it poses a risk, especially not as an easily accessible list for you to refer back to whenever you feel inclined to hurt my feelings. that is understandably a sore subject. (edit: that includes physical health issues btw.)

bonus #4 (edit): "so we shouldn't be critical?"

if it wasn't clear from my answer about politics or my post in general, you can have opinions about things, and you can voice that. it's just not realistic to exist at extremes: to think that you alone should dictate what exists in fiction, or to think that people shouldn't be expressing disdain or criticism of any calibur. say how you feel about things, that's fine, but it's also fine if people find that they don't value your input. plus we're all flawed, we can all be hypocritical from time to time, we all get bitchy, and we all make mistakes, or even knowingly fuck things up. that's important to keep in mind, whether we're talking about the one being criticised or the one doing the criticising - poor choices of words, imperfect tone, or contradictory ideas are inevitably going to happen occasionally.

congrats on reaching the end! if you have, at any point, said one of these to me, you owe a hug to your nearest loved one (once it's safe).

edit: might add more links/bonus points in the future when I think of things, but it's late now. (sorry for links where prior notes in the thread have my old url, that may get a tad confusing; also, not all links are my blog or my op, since it is to illustrate points/vibes, not to self-promo.)

#don't take life too seriously #nobody gets out alive anyway #tw abuse mention #tw csa mention #tw incest mention #tw for any tws I missed #idk why I did this

[marithlizard]

First Impressions: RWBY v8c9, “Witch”

"Witch", huh?  Presumably Salem.  Are we going to get more backstory lore? Because YES PLEASE.

The Atlas army vs. the whale whose teeth loom like mountains on the horizon.  They look like toys. I can't help thinking these soldier mooks equal any Huntsman in courage, if not in skill.  And this is the first real large-scale action any of them have seen - that anyone in the world has seen in their lifetimes.

eyy Ren has gotten over the snappishness as well as the despairing angst.    Suddenly gaining control of his evolving Semblance must help a lot with the feelings of powerlessness.  (And though we haven't seen him use it on Jaune or Yang, I'm thinking being able to know for certain how much your friends care about you and have your back  is a source of power in itself.)

They're discussing fairy tales MY HEART

Ozpin continuing to confirm he has handed over the reins completely to Oscar.   I don't like this about the accelerating merge, though. It feels like we're going to lose Oz  very soon. And yet,  Jinn's vision definitely showed us Oz and host coexisting in middle age.  Did they not use magic in that lifetime?  Or is the merge somehow not about "losing" either one of them?

Team FNKI in a line of regular soldiers!  They've got to have mobilized all the students, but I wonder if we'll see any others besi-  Neon. Neon you are wearing rollerskates to the apocalypse.  

...well, why not?  

Marrow,  YOU'RE just a kid.  You can't be more than a few years older, and you're not that much more seasoned. Though I understand the feeling.

So, Hazel, you're ready to rejoin fact-based reality?  Or at least listen to someone who pretty much definitionally can't be lying?  

(Actually...the only information we have about Jinn comes from her, and it'd be a hell of an interesting twist if she was editing facts to fit her own agenda.  I don't think it's very likely for meta reasons, but it'd make a great fic premise, wouldn't it?)

Huh.  He sounds much much calmer, and like he's been thinking through everything for the last few hours.  

....what? He's not even going to ask???  THAT is a surprise.  The existence of Jinn and knowing Oscar  gave him the password in good faith  were enough to deradicalize a violent extremist. (Wish it was that easy in RL.)

Oscar's little wave

(You know, now that I think of it,  Ozpin has never interacted with Jinn himself.  She's greeted him twice and he hasn't answered.  Does he resent her for not answering his predecessor's questions more helpfully?  Mistrust her?  )

yes rescue Emerald good

"Just to be  clear" - oh god I thought that was Salem's voice and nearly jumped out of my seat.

"I'll come back for it"  crap crap crap  Hazel's redemption arc is going to be short, painful, and fatal.   And Salem will keep the lamp, if not have the password.

And we'll just all turn our backs on the divine artifact-entity and walk away.  I guess they don't think she's enough of a person to say goodbye to?  

And our eavesdropper is...the one person who CAN'T summon Jinn or ask her a question.  

Oh no. No.  Please don't have the fandom descend into "Jinn is ablist" discourse. (ETA: upon thinking further I take it back,  the gods suck and providing a Relic that not everyone can use is in its way a tiny symbol of their callous attitude to people. ) 

RJY working smoothly together, nice. 

Robyn said people are always suspicious of her, and her truthsense ability has a clearly visible limiting condition.    But Ren can apparently read the emotions of everyone around him all the time without them knowing.  Surely that would make a lot of people uncomfortable.  (Although I expect  the writers to ignore this, and will be pleasantly surprised if they explore it at all.)

That's always the way isn't it, you roll a 4 on your concentration check right when a demonic jellyfish is floating by.

Huh, they separated from Oscar?  And Hazel is worried about him? I'm still dizzy from the speed of this 180.  

uh...hi, Salem.  Nice...weather outside the whale today?  Seen any good dismemberments lately?

Hazel,  you are a terrible liar and you can't bluff.   Admittedly the stakes are a lot  higher here than in the weekly WTCH poker game.

Salem NYOOM

No one can accuse Yang of not understanding the core competencies.

"Juan"???  I did hear that correctly, yes?  Marrow not remembering Jaune's name is hilarious.  And I was about to say understandable, but no, they worked with the Ace Ops for weeks!  Did you just have him mentally filed as "the blond himbo tank"?

O-kayyyyyy.    I can't blame Emerald,  but this could go so horribly wrong so fast. 

Isn't Hazel-disguised-as-Oscar  way too heavy to pick up like tha-  OHHHHHHHHH.  Now things make much more sense.  Oscar was the one worried about Hazel earlier,  and failing utterly to bluff.  Infinitely more in character.

Awkward Semblance is also extremely convenient in short-cutting negotiations. Nice.

I do not, in fact, have any doubt that Winter would blow up her sister.   And in this situation  I can't say it's the wrong thing to do.  As far as they know their bomb is the only hope.

Wow. I really did not think we’d go to toe to toe with Salem herself at this point in the plot.  It's so traditional to save the final boss fight for, well, the final boss.  She's terrifying and unstoppable, but not actually more terrifying than the giant whale.    

Her regen is just like  the Hound's body morphing, but far smoother and faster with a thousand "deaths" of practice.

She sounds more normal right now, oddly.   Her voice is lacking both the measured slowness and the resonance it has when she's making speeches.  I like the idea of that falling away when she's surprised and exasperated.  

Our heroes are very very lucky that RWBY is not a darker show, or those Grimmhand  restraints would be doing a lot of gross agonizing damage with their nails.   There's no reason she'd want to be gentle at this point.

Yeah, there's the sonorous voice again. Although it wavers again with that "Why do you Keep. Coming. Back?"   Does she not know? How can she not know, Jinn's vision said Ozma told her everything.  Perhaps she means: why do you keep fighting  me instead of hiding like the hermit.

Yang, don't give her information,  gah!   "Her again."  She sounds pleased.  I think we are going to find out Summer's fate this volume after all.  Salem will reveal it to break Ruby’s spirit.  Prediction: it will work. 

(EDIT: I completely missed the significance of Yang calling Summer “my mom”.  Wow.)

She definitely intends to turn Emerald into something like the Hound.

"No more Gretchens."   Oh, of course that's what Oscar said he needed before they could leave, the cane.

Hazel's life expectancy is minutes long but at least it included a satisfying KAPOW.   And every single sparkly crystal he owns.  Somehow he seems smaller here, less bulky than he did at Haven.  Less a titan and more a man.

yigh he's pounding her into mush.  Which he has several times before, apparently.  This is all to buy you time, Emerald, why are you not running.   (I know, I know.   She's never had someone actually help her and care about her, only scraps of affection to establish control.    At this moment Cinder's hold on her is breaking forever.)

(Neo, on the other hand.  Will she bring the lamp to Cinder, who frankly has been a totally crap partner and deserves no loyalty?    Is she still after revenge?   My bet is still firmly on her planning to backstab Cinder as soon as Ruby is gone.  But beyond that, we don't know her thoughts at all.  She might join the heroes, or disappear like Raven to hide while the apocalypse works itself out.)

That's true, Oscar, but what can you do to stop her?  

Hah!  Clever,  Hazel.  And she's actually screaming in pain from the fire, whereas she didn't make a sound when being pulverized.

What does the cane DO?  It's impressive as heck, but I can't tell.  Channeling his magic, certainly.  Are we going to lose Oz  right now?  With no chance to talk to Ruby or Qrow or anyone, to reconcile?  It seems all too likely, and such a waste.

Which makes me think, in turn, that perhaps we will lose Oscar too in a way.  Unexpected - I have always thought the merge would end with Oscar holding all the memories.  But maybe he won't be quite either of them anymore, even if he remembers both and the others still call him Oscar.  And that thought also makes me sad.

Anyway,  good episode, though now the title doesn’t seem particularly relevant. Hazel was much more the focus. 

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby v8 spoilers #rwby volume 8 spoilers