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negobeauriva · 1 day

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The Windows95manifesto: In defense of Finland's performance for 2024

Happy first rehearsal week everyone!

The first wave of rehearsals is done, and with it, we have gotten a wave of comments about the performances. Some filled with praise and approval, but some others completely hateful and rude. And today I'm going to talk to you about this second kind of comments about one of this year's controversial entry: Finland's "No Rules!" by Windows95man (Teemu Keisteri) ft. Henri Piispanen.

Many people have said that this entry is a joke, or that it doesn't deserve to be in Eurovision because it's distasteful. But here I am, in defense of uniqueness and weirdness, not only because this entry is in my top 5 this year, but also because it's important to understand what "art" is about. Here's to all the "weird" Eurovision entries that have been called unworthy of stepping on stage because they've been misunderstood.

A special shoutout to @/tottakaibi on Twitter/X because she gave me one of the pointers for this article in particular! And she's constantly in the lookout for Teemu and Henri's projects.

Without further ado, step in and enjoy the read.

No Rules! is, undoubtedly, the most distruptive entry this year - the nudity, fast-paced music and unique mise-en-scene, all make for an entry that many have deemed nonpalatable or not artistic. But behind every art display, there is a story, and I'm here to tell you a little bit more about it.

To start, the staging of No Rules! refers to the Kalevala, a book of finnish folk poetry from the 19th century that contains the myth of creation: Earth was born from an egg, with the shells forming both sky and land. Goddess Ilmatar, mother of nature and creation, soon realized that whatever she touched would grow and her every move was an act of creation itself. And so, she gave birth to Väinämönen, the first man to ever walk upon Earth.

Teemu arising from an egg is a clear reference to the Kalevala myth of creation, and he's even referred to it in some way in a video recently posted by UMK, in which he tells the tale of how Windows95man was born and Henri, in the figure of an eagle, becomes his friend so he can walk on the rule-burdened Earth without caring much for the impositions. It's both a mythical reference and a song of liberation: to not care about what others think and what others say to live freely and happily. To disregard societal "rules" in order to pursue happiness (this, of course, in the sense that you shouldn't care about "neat" or "appropriate", and not about the lack of order).

This song has also been called an anthem of liberation for LGBTQ+ members: No Rules! refers to the absence of gender norms ("Quiet, as I speak / I am the king, I am the queen" // "Is there something wrong with the way I look? / Is there something wrong with who I am?") and to live your life expressing yourself in the way you deem the best fit for you. As an agender person who's constantly told what to wear, what to say and how to act, this song is very meaningful and close to me. It makes me feel a bit better about my identity.

Now, to the point that interests you the most - how can No Rules! be considered an artistic performance, with the disruptive elements that make many shriek in disgust?

Let's begin with this - art is subjective and it's meant to make you feel something, whether good or bad. Art is meant to move something inside you, to make you question things. Have not many artists in the past made paintings about poor people's lives to protest poor living conditions or to showcase how hard it was to get on by? To many, art forms like paintings and sculptures that we now consider artistic were once considered scandalous or distasteful. This is the exact point of this performance.

In a recent documentary called "No Shame", Teemu referred to this - the point of his art is to appeal to disgust, to weirdness and to what makes you question what's tasteful or not. Shock factor also plays an important part in modern art performances. It's about going into the raw parts of your psyche and make you uncomfortable.

Teemu has been a visual artist since 2008, under the name Ukkeli. Vibrant colors, strange outfits and drawings, uncovered butts as part of his art installations and the message "No Rules" as one of his oldest mottos (not surprising, considering that in an interview he said he grew up with hippie parents that were very permissive) are the main features of his work. It's reminiscent of early 2000's adult animation shows, who also had a big shock factor and were frowned upon back then.

In this appeal to weirdness resides the charm of Windows95man's performance - in making you feel uncomfortable and weird, you're proving the exact point of the song. You will be bitter about how Finland could've "sent something better", but that won't change the fact that Teemu and Henri were chosen by his people because they understood the art beyond the shocking display. They understood what living with no rules means, to embrace weirdness, to embrace unique, and not care about what others say. If it makes you feel happy, who says that you're not allowed to like or pursue it?

Let's take a look back - Go_A's Shum, who was also catalogued as weird due to Kateryna's bewitching voice and vocalizations, made it to 5th place with no problem in 2021. Zdob si Zdub & Advahov Brothers' Trenulețul 2022 got to number 7 in 2022, after being called disruptive noise, and Konstrakta's In Corpore Sano made it to 5th place even when it was called creepy by some. Mama ŠČ! by Let3 made it to an impressive 12th place last year, and 3rd place in Dora this year with their strange Baba Roga.

If every country sent the same cookie-cutter type of "safe" song to Eurovision, the contest would be very repetitive and monotone. Let's face it, the public loves unique, loves something that will blow your hats off for three minutes and wondering what happened. They love songs that go off the "normal" standard because it takes you for a trip and makes you jump off your seat. It's no wonder that, in contrast with No Rules! getting so much hate, along with Doomsday Blue (another of the misunderstood entries, reduced only to its wrongly called "satanistic" character), 5Miinust and Puulup seem to be favorites this year, along with Joost Klein, who is rumored to win. People either love or hate weird and unique. Sadly, Finland got the worst end of the stick, and I think that's very unfair.

There's also the double standard, many think that it's inappropriate for Teemu to show up in nude-colored underwear, but they had no problem with female contestants in revealing outfits in previous years. Here's the thing - it's either okay for everyone to wear revealing outfits, or it's not. The argument that 2022's Chanel is given a pass to wearing revealing clothes because "she's a sexy girl speaking about being sexy" is invalid. Beauty, much like art, is subjective. And I do think that Teemu is very beautiful. He is allowed to wear what he wants (of course, according to EBU's standards, and they seem to have approved of the performance as is) and you don't get to say what's tasteful or not based off an aesthetic standard settled in sexism.

To finish this off, let me sum up the most important points of my mini-essay: No Rules! is an artistic performance because it's disruptive, it has elements that refer to Finnish myths and it's a liberation anthem that is meant to reach all those who feel like being themselves is wrong, to make them forget about this world's standards for three minutes and remember that the only person they need to please is themselves. As such, this song accomplishes its goal perfectly and beautifully. To call Teemu and Henri's performance a joke is to bypass every element of its artistry and to insult the artist standing on stage. Finland chose them, and so we must respect their decision and refrain from sending hateful comments.

I do think that we need to keep high hopes for this performance. I know that the two of them will go beyond everything we know and expect and will blow us all away when the Semifinal 1 comes in May 7th. After all, Henri's vocal skills have improved greatly since UMK, and Teemu's charisma can only grow by the second. These two have everything to go far and to show everyone that sometimes, all you need is to not listen to your surroundings and act as your heart commands.

Sometimes, the only rule is no rules.

#eurovision #eurovision 2024 #esc 2024 #esc24 #no rules #windows95man #teemu keisteri #henri piispanen #get this guys to top 5 asap #finland #umk

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handbarfs · 7 months

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OKAY JRWI RIPTIDE THEORY TIME

i wanted to talk about the prophecy a little more, try to analyse it a bit and some of my dumb theories! spoilers for episode 110 ahead!

"An entity threatens world stability Caged in the deepest layers of infinity" The egg from the one shot that Drey took most probably released this entity and caused the hole in the sea.

"The seal remains locked by a key of divinity." If the Ferin bloodline possesses divine or special blood, it would explain how Drey, by holding it, could open this egg. Perhaps this egg was sealed away millennia ago by the two main goddesses, with the warriors who served them. The conflict may have started between two factions: those in favour of this entity and those opposed to it, maybe? The tree mentioned four bloodlines in the world, and it's possible that one of them had a disagreement with the other three, which eventually escalated into this war. This particular bloodline might have used this entity as a weapon in the great war, but perhaps things spiralled out of control?

this is what the tree said- "a war won by these combined efforts sealed an entity away and together created not only its prison but a key and a warning. this warning is the original prophecy meant to be passed down until the inevitable- time." and visions of tritons riding leviathans, red haired olympian looking elves flying with own wings, gargatuan dragons, casters controlling the elements like they were born to do so.

"Its release in time, an inevitability." The chains that imprisoned the entity might have a time limit I guess OR like most ancient prophecies, this one recognizes the inevitable hunger for power among most living beings. It foresees that people will attempt to find this entity to gain control over it and hopefully use it to become more powerful in Mana. Maybe the navy's secret project or Nikalus's personal plans are related to this entity?

"A sea god's last egg, the chosen is born underneath an eclipse, in the midst of a storm " The prophecy didn't come into action with Gillion's first birth but, in a way, with his second birth in the episode "Moonlight, Storm, and Sea" when he emerged from the Luxbris Pearl. I'm not entirely sure if it was an eclipse during that moment though; I just remember it being pure darkness, without a moon.

"foreboded calamity, the chosen is warned the shape of all life shall take a new form" If people have desires with with selfish motives, there will be repercussions. It's the same deal with Nikalus; he grants people's wishes, but they need to be pure-hearted. If someone asks for something with greed and self-serving intentions, it messes them up, with the tar corrupting and eventually killing them.

"the shape of all life shall take a new form" so this corrupted tar affects all creatures, all life forms- turning them into tar monsters, with their greatest fears and needs plaguing them as they become undead- a new form.

"A choice to be made, with no time to mourn." This part gets pretty confusing because the story hasn't really touched on the idea of making choices (except for that culty nonsense the elders fed Gillion). Maybe there's a choice between fulfilling personal desires or attaining true freedom from the desires that lock us into labels and hinder personal growth. Like Chip's burning desire to find Arlin, which keeps him stuck in his painful past and memories, preventing him from moving forward and growing. Or Jay's dilemma, torn between her Navy Ferin family and the loss of her sister, versus taking control of her life and focusing on herself. And Gillion, caught between the undersea rules and manipulation that's easier to accept, versus facing the pain and fear of confronting the lies and manipulation the guardians have fed him, discovering a much larger and complex world beyond the undersea. Their freedom from these desires would leave no room for mourning because they'd be too busy enjoying their liberation from such constraints.

A couple more things- Niklaus's powers bear a striking resemblance to the entity that corrupts the Black Sea. Maybe his freedom is tied to freeing this entity, giving him full access to his abilities? Another character with powers similar to this entity is Kuba Kenta, involving black tar oozing from wounds inflicted by him and and nightmares of people's worst fears. Kenta's powers have been described as otherworldly (the probability of different planes, existence of creatures worse than demons and fiends that come from the darkest depths "crawled from the darkest depths of creation itself"). All of these powers—Black Sea corruption, Niklaus's, and Kenta's—basically lead to a slow killing for their victims, exploiting their fears and greed while breaking their sense of self before ultimately killing them. My theory is that one of the bloodlines involved in the great war against the others dabbled in forbidden dark magic, and invited this entity into Mana. Things likely spiraled out of control, and the other bloodlines had to quell it through the great war and cage it within the egg, and then shunning out this particular bloodline for its actions. Now, it seems this bloodline is trying to regain its place in society by tampering with this entity once more, and I THINK it has something to do with the Hendrix bloodline and Nikalus's desire of freedom.

And I also think the Navy is aware of this entity and its history (maybe Ferin family secrets) and is trying to create a machine to help control this entity and ally with fiendish creatures like Kenta under their ranks. They plan to USE the entity to stay in power socially and militarily in Mana.

#just roll with it riptide #jrwi riptide 110 spoilers #riptide 110 spoiler #just roll with it riptide 110 spoilers #jrwi riptide #jrwi gillion #gillion tidestrider #chip jrwi #jrwi spoilers #jrwi jay #jrwi jay ferin #jay ferin

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coochiequeens · 1 month

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Long article but worth the read.

Some things make less sense the more you study them: the SNP’s finances, Joe Biden’s sentences… and being nonbinary.

Nonbinary is an umbrella term used to describe those people who believe they are outside the gender binary. They believe that they are neither male nor female.

When you ask nonbinaries what they mean by this, the response usually boils down to men saying they feel kinda feminine sometimes, and women saying they kinda don’t. It’s not exactly The Communist Manifesto. When you point out that some men and women have felt this way since time immemorial, without feeling the need to turn it into a political cause, nonbinary males become aggressive and nonbinary females become sulky. All of which suggests that this nonbinary LARP may require some more thought.

If, like me, you prefer to identify as non-lunatic, you might be tempted to dismiss the nonbinary phenomenon as a passing fad, like the Tamagotchi ‘egg’ toys popular among children a couple of decades ago. But there’s a difference between the idea of nonbinary and fads like Tamagotchis, especially among the young. Schools banned Tamagotchis in the 1990s because they were a distraction. This time, our public institutions, from multinational corporations to medical bodies, are actively promoting the idea that you can be neither male nor female.

Advocates themselves seem unclear as to what ‘nonbinary’ means. Some seem unsure where to draw the line between being nonbinary and being trans. The huge American LGBTQ+ charity, the Trevor Project, insists that ‘It’s important to note that not all nonbinary folks identify as trans’. But the UK’s LGBT Foundation argues that nonbinary fits under the so-called trans umbrella. This isn’t much help, however, since the trans umbrella has by now grown so huge it could be used to protect the polar ice caps.

Throughout much of the 20th century, the prefix ‘trans’ tended to be used in relation to transvestites or transsexuals. It implied a transition from one gender or sex to the other. But this started to change in the 1990s. Disappointed by the physical results of transitioning – think big-jawed, deep-voiced ‘transwomen’ and miniature, small-boned ‘transmen’ – the trans lobby started to look for a new vocabulary that might capture what it is to be neither male nor female.

Activist Riki Wilchins played a key role in the development of nonbinary. He originally came to prominence in 1991, when he co-founded Camp Trans, an annual protest against the exclusion of transwomen from the women-only Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. In the mid-1990s, he sowed the seeds for the idea of being nonbinary by coining a new term to describe himself – namely, ‘genderqueer’.

It was a fortuitous moment for Wilchins. From the late 1990s onwards, with queer theory flourishing in universities in the UK and the US, a slew of new identities and neologisms were being turned out, from agender and bigender to demigender and genderfluid. Nonbinary started to be used by activists and academics to encompass these new identities in the 2000s. Indeed, in 2002, Wilchins co-authored the tellingly titled Genderqueer: Voices From Beyond the Sexual Binary.

It wasn’t really until the latter half of the 2010s that nonbinary moved from the spheres of academia and activism and into mainstream culture – largely because an army of idiot celebrities embraced it.

Singer Sam Smith was one such bandwagon-jumper. In 2019, he declared himself to be ‘nonbinary’ and embraced ‘they / them’ pronouns. Smith was once an attractive young gay man. In his new nonbinary guise, he has come to resemble someone forced to twerk in fishnets as a prank.

See rest of article

#Riki Wilchins #Camp Trans #The TQ+ harassing women

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barbiegirldream · 5 months

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Okay so, my understanding is that the usa is so protective/supportive of israel because israel is a us puppet state that gives them easy access to the middle east and its resources, but, is there more to it? Why is the us so obsessed with the existence of a Jewish state? Is it also cultural and not just politics? I know, the us has a very high jewish population, but in my mind that doesnt explain the obsession, why isnt israel just another allied country like all of western europe? Why is israel so special? There are other countries in the middle east or close to it that are in nato, turkey & greece for example.

The US is obsessed with killing as many Arabs as possible. Seriously once you plow through the pretend interest in Jewish people any republican will admit they just like seeing Arabs die. Liberals don't even need that pushing they're going full mask off hoping it happens in the US.

I noted this when I was fifteen. If Israel is planning to get rid of all the Palestinians. And everyone else wants to move all the Jews into a blown up and apartheid ready state... what is the plan for us then ? Seriously most zionists are fundamental blood thirsty chirstians. This is like Americas shot at the crusades.

Also they want oil in Palestine. And the US is still in Syria blowing shit up at random. The United States you have to throw out any pretenses that it's a democratic nation. It is a money hungry war machine that revels in blood. Genocide is it's oldest and only successful endevor. Israel is the sort of last bastion of American and British imperalism in the form of a real 1700s style colony.

I recommend reading Patrick Wolfe (Of both Irish and German Jewish descent) on the Journal of Genocide Research. He is known for his writings on settler colonialism and uses Israel as one of the largest examples. Genocide is done differently to different people. Black people are taxonomy slaves forever look at the Congo. But Palestinians are Indigenous and so they are being erased the same way Natives in North America were. Kill them and the ones you can't kill force out.

The biggest lie anyone ever told was that colonalism was an era of the past. Empires did die after WWII. They collapsed and stumbled and threw all their left over eggs in the Israel basket. But Israel will get crushed one day. All colonial projects fail eventually. Every government in the world from the very first thought they were eternal.

To quote Ursula K. Le Guin "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words."

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harveyb-wabbit92 · 2 years

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Emmet x Bug! researcher Reader [1/2]

Afab reader: they/them

{A Bug Pokémon researcher has a run of bad luck when the egg they've been raising is stolen from them while riding the subway, fortunately the thief's get away is halted by the younger of subway twins, and from there a new friendship is forged]

[Reader's team: Shedinja, Frosmoth*, Orbeetle, Armaldo, Tyrunt, (??) Egg.]

"Hey! Somebody stop that man, he stole my egg!" Y/n's frantic voice yelled as they tried to push their way through the sea of subway passengers, causing a few people cussed them out for bumping into them, but Y/n could hardly hardly care less about other people thought at the moment; seeing as the result of 12 months of their long hard work was being snatched away before their very eyes! One minute they're riding the Subway to Nimbasa city, since they'd been transferred to the new Pokémon research lab.

Everything was going good, they had their ID, their bag and most importantly, they had their research project a Pokémon egg. It was a very special egg that contained a bug variant that had long gone extinct from Unova. The egg was kept in it's portable incubator and sitting securely on in their lap and as their train was arriving to their final destination, the Gear station. A man suddenly stood up and snatched the incubator right out of their grasp!

Y/n understandably freaked out! they got up from their seat and started chasing the man down; hurling every obscenity known to man at him and screaming for someone to help them! So far no one seemed to be in a hurry to help the assumed crazy person flailing around and yelling non-sense in the subway station. Then when it seemed all was lost, an arm suddenly jutted out and clotheslined the thief!

He yelped and did an almost cartoonish like flip as he went down and in the process he threw the Incubator! Y/n wanted to scream horror and nearly fainted as they silently watched the egg go airborne and...go splat! but to their utter amazement the incubator was caught by what looked a bug Pokémon's sticky web, It was then they noticed the Galvantula hanging off the ceiling, It gently grabbed the incubator; reminding Y/n of a crane machine as it carefully lowered it into the waiting arms of it's mystery savior.

He was rather tall fellow hw dress all in white with silver hair and matching eyes, Y/n was in tears and nearly collapsed to their knees at they approached the man holding the incubator, before he could say anything the researcher broke down; threw their arms around him and started crying. "Thank you urg...thank you so much!" they sobbed as the man blushed and awkwardly rubbed their back.

While this was happening the thief groaned in pain and tried to sneak away only to freeze up when he saw the menacing look the man in white shot him, the thief shuddered stayed right where he was; cause he had feeling if he tried to runaway things would only get worst for him...

Later when Y/n calmed down the man who introduced himself as Emmet Trevithick, Aka; Subway boss Emmet helped escort Y/n out of the station, after making sure they were alright and thief had been dealt with of course, turns out the thief was some remnant of Team Plasma... and thought he was doing a good deed by "Liberating" Y/n's egg from their evil clutches.

The way Emmet rolled his eyes at the man's confession pretty much told Y/n that this wasn't the first time something like this has happened, but didn't pressed it they were just happy their egg was okay! Then the questions started about their egg. "It's one of those Fairy-types, right?" Emmet guessed by the eggs pink and white shell which had a pearl like gloss to it when held in the light just right, Y/n was impressed he figured that out as Fairy-types weren't well known in Unova. "You’re half right, it's also bug type." Y/n said while checking and adjusting the incubator's environmental gage, this made Emmet perk up the white clad conductor loved Bug-types!

"Oh! A Fairy-bug, a Sweetiefly?" he asked excitedly Y/n cocked a brow at the Pokémon's incorrect name. "You mean Cutiefly?" They corrected he nodded the researcher shook their head, "No." Now Emmet's curiosity was really peaked as he asked for a hint. "Let's just say, this bug is an extinct variant of a very familiar breed." Y/n said while petting one of Emmet's wayward Joltiks.

Emmet brows scrunched up as he tried think of any other bug fairies...But was drawing blanks. "You see them everyday." was the hint the you gave him, the conductor repeated what the researcher said. "...I see them everyday?" he murmured in a far off tune unfortunately for him, Y/n wasn't able to give him a another hint as their ride finally arrived to picked them, Emmet quickly asked for their contact info so he could call them if he got the answer right.

Later Emmet was at McMimes with Ingo though he barely touched his food. He was still stuck on the Egg conundrum. "A familiar bug... I see them everyday.." kept repeating in his head as he absentmindedly chewed on his drink's straw, Ingo was concerned when noticed his brother hadn't touched his food. "Emmet, what's wrong?" Emmet nearly jumped out of his seat forgetting his older brother was there.

the younger twin nodded at his brother as if asking what's up? "You been spacing out all afternoon, what wrong?" Ingo repeated Emmet was reluctant to say anything at first, as he wanted to solve Y/n's riddle himself but the whole thing was driving him nuts!

So, he told Ingo what happened and the whole guess what's in the Egg game he had going with Y/n. "Bug types You see everyday? Hm." Ingo also looked very stumped at the hint, but then one of Emmet Joltiks skittered across the table causing Ingo to lift his tray so the little spider wouldn't get into his food. "Dang it, Emmet you didn't check your coat fo-..." Suddenly the coin flipped and the answer came rushing to the Twins like a freight train!

"JOLTIK!"

The brothers sat up and shouted at the same time causing everyone in the restaurant to jump from their volume. A few people started choking on their food some threw or dropped their trays from the sudden fright, while others just gawked the twins table in startled silence.

Upon noticing how quiet it suddenly got Emmet and Ingo noticed everyone in the restaurant was looking at them bewildered; they sheepishly muttered out a quick apology then sat back down and went back to their food.

Meanwhile

Y/n was in their new lab observing and recording the Egg's progress; it was now safely nestled in the laboratory's more secure incubator, things seem to be going good for it; despite the excitement from this morning. A quick ultrasound showed that though the embryos {Joltik eggs can carry at least two-three bugs at once) had shifted around bit from this morning’s unscheduled flying lesson, they were relatively unharmed and going strong!

...Well, least two were going strong.

The third embryo was always on the smaller side; even by Joltik standards! Y/n was worried it won't be alive when the egg hatches... And if it did survive, They were very doubtful it was going to live long after; which sucked all around.

Y/n sighed and sat down on their sofa, suddenly it felt like their body was made of bricks as they rubbed their temples in exasperation. "Oi.. What a day." they sighed and went to check their phone for any messages. There a few from their friends and family members back home and a voicemail from an unknown number.

The Y/ht cocked a brow as to who it was until Emmet's excited voice met their ears. "It's a Joltik! You made a fairy Joltik!! How? call now!!!" Y/n winced at his volume as they stared at their phone in astonishment, they've never had anyone be this hyped up about one of their bugs before!

Well... Except for their mentor and a few other bug enthusiasts, and believe Y/n, there weren't a lot those out there. People usually humored the researcher with forced smiles or an awkward "Hey...Yeah, that's great." and walk away making it very clear that they weren't interested or were completely grossed out by Y/n's career choice, after some mental coaxing the researcher took a deep breath and pressed call number....

#pokemon fanfiction #submas #subway boss emmet #subway boss emmet x reader #afab reader #platonic! subway boss Ingo #joltik #bug type pokemon #pokemon x reader #submas x reader #subway bosses

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fuckdnd · 9 months

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So What's Wrong With Dungeons & Dragons?

the purpose of this blog (of this project) is ultimately to get people to play games other than D&D, which of course invites the question why should i play a game other than D&D?

D&D is enormously popular, to the extent that most people don't understand that there are tabletop role playing games (TTRPGS) that aren't D&D-- for me, this means that when i talk to people about my hobbies, i just tell them i play D&D instead what i actually do, which is play TTRPGs. this is largely because D&D is the most commercially successful type of this thing and one of the earlier forms of it at all (i am not knowledgable enough of the history of RPGs to litigate the claim that D&D was the first TTRPG, particularly given the amount of self-mythologizing that accompanies D&D as a venture). that popularity means, in the real world, that a huge number of people all over the place have extremely warm, fond memories of playing the game. this can make it difficult to critique D&D as a product, a coprorate entity, and an experience. people can very, very defensive when exposed to critique to something they like. it can be easy to see criticism of something you like as a criticism of yourself.

all of this to say, i am not critiquing the level 14 sorceror you played for two years bimonthly with your friends. i am interested in critiquing D&D as a product, a corporate entity, and an experience.

within the boundaries of that critique, i would like to expose people to games that might be new to them and talk about them in relation to D&D as experiences. essentially, if you like xyz in D&D, you might like this other game.

i also think it’s worthwhile to briefly mention that D&D has been a site of a lot of drummed up culture war bullshit, which can make it much harder to talk about the actual problems with D&D. in the 1980’s, following an enormous number of liberalizing social changes and an increased visibility of crimes committed against children, a number of new cultural expressions became subject to reactionary backlash. this backlash is dubbed the ‘satanic panic.’ in a lot of ways, it did not end (see: Five Nights at Freddy’s). D&D was subject to a huge amount of satanic panic hoopla, with various conservative groups insisting that it would teach children how to summon real, actual demons and in attempting to do that, children would like, murder each other and shit. this is not a legitimate critique and any attempt to claim that my objection to D&D is along these lines is horseshit.

Okay But What's Wrong With Dungeons & Dragons

i'm so glad you asked!

since its inception as a game, D&D has been subject to intense litigation. no one at D&D has been particularly keen to pay people what they’re due— quite literally, there have been disagreements since the fucking eighties about who owns D&D and whether or not they should get paid (see here).

D&D as a company knows that they have a goose that lays golden eggs, and they’ve known that forever. additionally, tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are intrinsically generative. this means that the company has an extremely fraught relationship with their customers.

with D&D, the asset being sold is, ultimately, purely conceptual. when mattel sells a barbie, there are physical limits to the plastic material that constitutes barbie. similarly, barbie as an object within the physical world is easily recognized and firmly defined. dolls that aren’t barbies are usually easily distinguished. D&D sells ideas and tools to keep track of those ideas.

TTRPGs are intrinsically generative. because they are constituted of ideas, they invite people to make new rules. this can mean things like new character classes, new character races, new abilities, new settings. a lot of people play D&D in a setting that’s unique to their group, a shaggy thing made together that only exists between those people and in that moment in time. however, some people work quite hard and make incredibly polished and interesting and new rules for D&D. and if you work that hard to make something new and share it with other people, aren’t you entitled to be paid for your work?

for a long time, D&D was published under the open gaming license (OGL). this meant that third party publishers (people who aren’t working officially under D&D) could publish new rules (new settings, new NPCs, new monsters, new character races, new abilities, etc.) for use with D&D and sell it, totally above the table and totally cool. essentially, D&D is still owned by wizards of the coast as a subsidiary of hasbro, but if you sell a supplement about your original NPC gerald of ingeborg and his town (ingeborg), you won’t get sued into oblivion. it also allows for using D&D as a jumping-off-point for all new systems. do you want to use D&D rules to, say, play as a superhero? sure thing! what about using D&D rules to make a supplement to add ghibli-esque creatures and towns to your game? no problem! in 2022, wizards of the coast (the subsidiary of hasbro that owns D&D) announced that they were changing the OGL. in january of 2023, io9 got a copy of it, and it turns out: hasbro is extremely, extremely, extremely mad anyone other than hasbro makes money off of D&D. the details of this are technical, i will not articulate them correctly, and i highly encourage you to read the io9 post about what happened here. after intense backlash on social media and the regular media, hasbro backed down and did not implement these changes. however, this attempt didn’t happen in vacuum. wizards of the coast (the subsidiary of hasbro that also own D&D) has been making a huge marketing push in recent years. this includes the D&D movie but also all of the toys for the D&D movie. this also includes D&D branded nerf toys, D&D graphic tees, official brand synergy with shit like stranger things. but is also means stuff like pushing players to D&D Beyond, which is a proprietary subscription based service that paywalls the number of characters and encounters in a game, as well as access to ‘homebrew’ content.

idk i would not emphasize homebrew content after the OGL bullshit but what do i know! additionally, in spring of 2023, hasbro sent the fucking pinkertons after a guy who received yet-to-be-released magic the gathering cards in error. all of this is before you even touch shit like D&D’s ongoing issue with systemically dehumanizing anyone who isn’t white (there’s a whole section of wiki about it, which is a great place to start!). and to be clear, D&D's issues with race are not exclusively regrettable artifacts from the 1980s that they've apologize for-- this is showing up still. i do not believe this is a company that has earned the amount of support it has, and i think continuing to support this company lends credence to the notion that it’s acceptable for companies to sell ideas but people cannot sell ideas. there are a lot of great alternatives to D&D (like pathfinder, which started as D&D modules evolved into an independent, open system!) but it can be overwhelming to try and find something new. i hope this blog helps people find games that are exciting and don’t put money in hasbro’s pocket.

#fuck d&d #ttrpgs #play a different game

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tiredtiresias · 6 months

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Fraldarius’s Academy Ball solidarity makeover creates unexpected discoveries for all involved…

I call this picture “Girls of the Blue Lions”

I remember when I used to ignore my dysphoria by studying the blade and hating all of the men around me lol

She’s in Ingrid’s spare uniform bc it’s the only one that fits, but Mercie suspected she wouldn’t mind…

#fe3h fanart #fe3h #fe3houses #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem felix #trans headcanon #transfem #dress up #fe mercedes #fe annette #fire emblem ingrid #felix fraldarius #ingrid galatea #mercedes von martritz #blue lions #project egg liberation

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sullustangin · 7 months

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Her Birthday, 20 ATC (3633 BBY)

Rating: T (this chapter)

Quick Quote:

Trant narrowed his eyes at him. “So what are you going to do? Sit in your apartment and wait til the whole thing blows over?”

Flippantly, Theron perched himself on the edge of Trant’s desk and made a grab at the man’s yet-to-be touched breakfast. No pastries, but an egg over a breakfast muffin. It’d been awhile since he’d had the spirit for such audacity.

Resignation was strangely liberating.

“Going to do some work for myself. Maybe find some new swoop gang; went to Manaan and everything and didn’t even hit up the circuit. Finally go riding with the guys from Thonboka – they are persistent in trying to get me to come back. Got a few spaceport restaurants I haven’t tried yet, and well, now or never with the Eternal Empire,” Theron rattled off his list, irreverently. “And I might fight them off, single-handedly, by myself, if I’m feeling bored, and --

He had quit. Trant couldn’t do anything to him.

“Go get your smuggler.”

Except that.

#swtor #swtor fan fiction #theron shan #marcus trant #jace malcom #theron shan x smuggler

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lifeonvenuswriting · 1 year

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MY BLOG IS NOWHERE NEAR DONE YET LOL BUT!!! I wanted to make a pinned post. My blog is best viewed on desktop!

Here's a fun little link to my ao3 :)

Requesting rules are the same as my ao3! I can write a better fandom list on here tho-- just note that other than danganronpa I probable won't write full fics about franchises! But I'm happy to talk about them and my headcanons! (Faves are Wonder Egg Priority, Zombieland Saga, and Yuki Yuna is a Hero).

Anyways here's a list of media I may write for! (BOLD text means I'm currently interested in it.)

Fionna and Cake

I Was A Teenage Exocolonist

Good Omens

Inscryption OR any character from the Daniel Mullinsverse

Fire Emblem (Fates, Awakening, Three Houses. I HAVENT FINISHED ENGAGE YET SORRY!!!)

The Adventure Zone (Balance Arc, haven't finished the others SORRY AGAIN!!)

Undertale/Deltarune

Homestuck (Not including the epilogues and Homestuck 2)

Hiveswap (Tentative)

Danganronpa (THH, GD, UDG, GBHH, Haven't finished Killing Harmony Oops.)

Also might write the occasional Warrior Cats Fanfiction. I'll update this list as it goes on LOL

Also if you're a weirdo and ship incest/pedophilia I DO NOT want you here. Additionally zoos, MAPS, and other very basic DNI criteria. I use the block button liberally.

I DO WRITE NSFW (Of adult, non-animal characters. That should be a given)!!! Minors/Ageless blogs begone.

Anyways I think I hit all the marks??? If anyone has any questions feel free to DM or shoot me an ask!

#daniel mullins games #i was a teenage exocolonist #danganronpa #inside job #fire emblem #the adventure zone #undertale #deltarune #inscryption #homestuck #hiveswap

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sllowshow · 8 months

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⭐ hazel

it does not matter if both their parents went on to have at least 3 more kids after they divorced: reilly will always always always be hazel's baby unfortunately. she loves having sisters and values that in its own way but she was a little girl who was just obsessed with reilly and spent a lot of time carrying him around and trying to help skye out with him she just imprinted for whatever reason and she would still coddle him to this day. after skye, he's probably the family member she's closest with. and he can do no wrong in her eyes.

was a dancer for most of her childhood. it had been her favorite part of the pageants she competed in, so it was the only thing that stuck with her until high school, but she got sidetracked somewhere along the way. she met leo when they were both getting business degrees, and she got so busy with that and her first serious boyfriend and her sorority that dance just fell to the wayside. she feels silly, but she just started taking lessons again to meet new people and socialize with other grown ups. she won't be competing again any time soon, but she's enjoying it.

largely got married to beat the odds. she knew how hard it had been for her mother and grandmother, doing things out of order and throwing all their eggs into Some Guy's basket before figuring out who they were. but she's ultimately of kyleigh's bloodline so she still wanted what they had (big families, lots of love, etc) so she just kind of tried to push through her timeline to get there. like she got her degree she got her man and if they had made it just a little longer she might have been having his babies (or...... nevermind.) . because it just backfired. she pushed herself through and now shes divorced in her late twenties and wondering where the fuck she could go from here.

lately? she's been dressing for revenge (has done a bit of a closet revamp for a confidence boost. her typical style is very classic, skirts and sweaters and blazers and whatever, but since leo moved out, she's gone a lot trendier and is showing a little skin. she wants her social media to go from the hazel who wore her little matching sets and mary janes to the office and put her litlte nose to the grindstone to liberated hazel, who's single and choosing herself and realizing how much more ~comfortable~ she is now that she can just be herself. now we can never say if that's what she's feeling. but it's definitely what she's trying to project.

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supernoondles · 1 year

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2022

With all the gratitude: in the end, it was a good year.

Here’s the narrative I’m telling myself. There were three main developments this year. Around May, I fell in love. This gave me enough strength to finally end (amicably, I would like to imagine) meeting with one of my advisors in August. Lastly—and this one took me by surprise—I accepted a tenure track job at a liberal arts college in December.

Love

Unfortunately for me, I have only ever dated my colleagues (i.e., other PhD students in my discipline) as I have never loved someone whom I wasn’t friends with first. Towards the aspiration of “being in my ho era,” and thanks to my now-partner booking a motel an hour away from the convention center, we hooked up…at the first in-person academic conference since the pandemic, in a room in a Airbnb shared with the rest of my lab mates.

It was less than a month later, I think, did they tell me they loved me while I was leaving their apartment for the night. Three months later, I traveled for 12 hours to attend their wedding in rural Ontario. While walking through downtown Toronto a few days later, they told me that it was so wonderful we could fall in love in so many different places this year.

I’ve never felt more alive and desired. I’ve also never been more horny. I had every desire indulged, every wish granted. This relationship was also crucial for taking off my rose-colored glasses towards my last relationship, to the delight of my friends. As both this tweet and Maggie Nelson (in On Freedom) say, a lot of energy—certainly mine—is spent chasing love. Because I was so fulfilled in my relationship, I found myself growing in wanting more.

Support

Last year I conceded and started working on a Bad Project my advisor said I should do to make my thesis. I kept on doing it through the start of this year, and among many therapy sessions and mental breakdowns, I did make some progress. Around the end of last year, I was also increasingly interested in greater teaching responsibility careers. I taught my first course as the instructor on record during the spring quarter, which was vastly fun and rewarding compared to the emotional damage I took every time I sat down to work on the project.

In July, I had to submit a written thesis summary as I was applying to a doctoral symposium. In my heart I knew it wouldn’t be about the project I was doing at all, and I ended up writing a different framing with the past projects I had done. I was shocked that I didn’t hate what I had produced. Suddenly a path to graduation that didn’t involve doing the project didn’t feel so unobtainable. Riding the newfound confidence bestowed by my relationship, I talked with my other advisor (a good egg) and committee member to strategize pivoting my thesis direction and stopping work on this project in late August. This took a while as folks were in and out of summertime travel, but was less scary than I thought and ended in me dropping both the projects and my meetings with my advisor.

It was wild how transformative this sequence of events was for me. Escaping the power dynamic of my advisor took a year of mental preparation and trying to appease his ways, and five years of miserable collaboration. It’s also certainly not over: he is still my advisor on paper (for logistical reasons) and needs to approve the final steps I’m taking towards graduation. And nothing really changed—he’s still awful to his other students. I don’t think he’s a bad person at heart, but I do think he lacks the skills to be helpful in any way in a mentorship capacity.

Only when I had left him—once I wasn’t trapped in the narrow and immediate reality of how much suffering he induces (as my partner, who is also advised by him, still is)—did I realize how supported I am. Particularly supported by women—often queer women and women of color—who wrote me recommendation letters, whose values match mine in an academy that feels so hostile, who treated me to meals and dispensed life advice and have given me opportunities. The job search that marked the end of my year would not have been nearly as…honestly…non-stressful…without them.

Finding a job

If you’re not familiar with getting an academic job, it’s its own ordeal: often a 6 month process from application to signing a contract. This year, the “teaching track” (liberal arts colleges, community colleges, public comprehensives, teaching faculty at research institutions) was expedited and had no overlap with research focused positions at research universities: I sent my first application October and received my first offer in December, before I could interview at any research universities. Thus was my surprise: that I would know where I would be going by the end of the calendar year, and that it wasn’t where I was originally anticipated.

I approached the job search by telling my advisor (the good one, now, and for the rest of this post) my values: to stay in California (as a proxy for being close to community, to family, to a life outside campus), to have free time (as a proxy to not have my labor exploited by an institution while still gaining the privileges and protections of their resources), and to do work aligned with my values (as a proxy for making scholarship also a creative practice). I applied to 10 teaching track jobs and received 5 offers, and 8 research jobs with one scheduled interview that I couldn’t get to because of the timelines.

I thought the process of applying to and interviewing for a job was actually kind of fun. Everyone I met was really nice, though it could come from my own institutional privilege of prestige. I also really like meeting new people! Even writing the statements to pitch myself weren’t so bad as I realized last year one of my long standing goals is to write a book, so when I thought of them as book pitches (I mean, it’s like, a hire me pitch) it was way more bearable. The job search was a full time job, as I had to make a new hour long teaching demonstration for each school I interviewed at. The most stressful part, however, was negotiation and handling exploding offers.

The school that I eventually accepted gave me a week to respond to their initial offer. I got this phone call 10 minutes before joining our holiday party, where I had not felt my blood pressure that high since watching NBC Hannibal and stress felted a frog while crying to faculty for (good!) advice. Initially, I wanted to say no—my first choice school was my undergraduate alma matter, so I could also stay in the bay. But after talking to a current teaching faculty there and learning about many red flags of the department and role (as well as they fact they might have a failed search this year due to bureaucratic lag), and after my advisor had a heartfelt but life changing conversation with me that the offered job was better in many ways than my envisioned dream job, and after getting most things I negotiated for (including a delayed start to Jan 2024), and after remembering that this is just the beginning of my career and that people move all the time, I accepted.

This was probably the most stressful decision I’ve ever made—I constantly told my partner I felt like I was dying, I forced a close friend to quiz me on if this job was worth leaving the bay, I cried a lot, and I’m sure my Twitter friends were tired of reading my Tweets about the matter. I’m not thrilled about moving to suburban southern California again—but I’m so, so excited about everything else. Even though the faculty barely know me they (even ones outside my department) have all been incredibly kind, supportive, and welcoming. I think what is most important to me in a job (besides the values I listed earlier) is being in a work environment that is bigger than myself: where I am in solidarity and camaraderie with my colleagues, where I can serve as a mentor and teacher for students, and give back my dumb luck to the community. As the initial stresses associated with making a major career move tide out, I increasingly feel lucky and in disbelief about it all.

Personal

The other big change that happened this year was that I moved down the block to a much bigger apartment. I now have two rooms—a bedroom and an office—a unique SF luxury that I am grateful for every day. Crucially, this apartment actually gets direct sunlight exposure so on non foggy days I am very happy. This is what I have become: a simple man who just needs direct sunlight and a walk in nature. I love going to the Children’s Garden and sitting on the benches near the east side, as they get direct sunlight, and one of my most joyous days this year was discovering a secret garden/walking path nestled in the redwoods in a random neighborhood in Marin, or going to see wildflowers in the East Bay hills (IMO the most underrated feature of the bay) with my parents and finding a Chase Sapphire card (that I too got this year, anticipating the travel) that belonged to a lecturer at my alma matter. I held my birthday party in SF’s newest park and I ran into my PhD student mentor when I was an undergraduate, who is a professor in Denmark now, and I was truly astounded by those odds. I feel like I really do live in the most beautiful metropolitan area in the US and every day I am so grateful for it.

But back to my house: unfortunately one of my roommates does not know how to clean pans and the other one—despite many conversations—cannot keep the kitchen clean. It increasingly annoys me and I will continue to keep trying, but I think part of me is excited to live by myself (something I’ve never done before! Well, I want two cats) so things I clean will stay clean. Having experienced my most formative years in a 140 person student housing cooperative, I see the loss of living community happening to myself, and feel sad about it. But is it also because our priorities change? For instance, I am now into buying more expensive higher quality clothing (most of my closet came from a “normal” (e.g., Goodwill, Savers) thrift store, Costco, Target, or Uniqlo). I see many of my friends with Silicon Valley wealth trend towards this lifestyle: of buying high quality things second hand, of finding happiness in nice things. This will soon be me with a nicer road bike—but only because while my landlord was replacing our water heater, my reliant white and lavender Fuji (that I got for $200 off some rich guy in the Oakland Hills whose wife didn’t like the bike) mysteriously “disappeared” from our garage. :(

My last rat, my dear old George, passed away in August of this year. He, unlike my other two rats, lived a long (2.5 years!) and full life. He was so sweet and held out for me to come back from two back to back trips to die in my arms. I also think his death was way less traumatic than the other two rats’ so it was a lot easier for me to accept and process. I will love my rats forever, but boy will I not get another pet whose lifespans are so short.

This year I grew out my hair and I don’t entirely hate it. I am always pining to look like I did at the beginning of 2019. I’m having more fun with femme forms of gender expression (not unrelated to my relationship) and, shockingly, wearing more neutrals. Maybe in 2023 I will start taking T?

Art

I started this year by painting tigers with my family. I optimistically set an intention to draw a thing every month which went no where. I did manage to paint a huge griffin that hangs above the dining room table, though.

Perhaps more drawing can happen in the fall of this year, where I chose to become unemployed and a full time artist! (I want to get better at drawing, rendering, all of it—and also make a furry comic about my time in graduate school. We’ll see.)

It felt like I saw no shows this year, but going back through my photos revealed that I saw at least 15 (The SF Symphony, Caribou, Mitski which resulted in me driving to Lake Tahoe for a ski retreat at 4am the next morning, Rina, Sigur Ros, Jbrekkie+Courtney Barnett in which I was behind my advisor the whole time and I think he chose not to see it, Daniel Rossen, Andrew Bird (in which Iron and Wine played way too long of a set), Dudamel conducting Dvorak 9, LCD Soundsystem with a horrible 2 hour DJ soft opener, Avalanches, MCR after 2 years, CRJ, and SF’s wonderful free festivals of Hardly Strictly and Toro y Moi at Stern Grove). Renaissance by far outclassed any release this year which my Best of 2022 playlist reflects. Of note is that I started a very, very deep Harry Styles obsession when I saw his Coachella set livestreamed. I also really enjoyed playing with the Awesome Orchestra, and was flabbergasted when I learned good old Pat sponsored this year’s Flower Piano.

Travel

I traveled quite a lot this year, given a pandemic is still happening! I went to Seattle in February, New Orleans for a conference (the last conference I went to pre-pandemic was, ironically, also there), Canada for a mosquito-ridden wedding, Bend, Oregon for another conference (which I gave my bad advisor a lot of shit about since he helped plan it, until I made friends with someone with a car and went on a gorgeous hike, visited the Last Blockbuster, and walked through snow), a forest lodge in the middle of upstate New York for a grant retreat, Austin for a career workshop, and finally, Los Angeles five times—twice to visit my partner over the summer, and thrice for job interviews.

Resolutions

Let’s revisit the resolutions I made last year.

(1) Stop interacting with my bad advisor, thus to necessarily submit Bad Final Project. → Yes, though I didn’t even have to submit BFP to do so.

(2) Secure what my next adventure will be post PhD. → Yes! I’m really excited about it. The end, finally, is in sight. I think many people experience a bell curve during their PhD (if it was a measure of how bad it is) with the beginning and end being less bad than the middle. I’m honestly thrilled that I never have to write a line of code again unless I want to.

2023 will be my final year of being a student. While at times I felt frustrated with this nebulous status, wanted to leave, wanted to have a real job etc., now that I have one lined up I feel like I am more appreciative of the privileges students have—the privilege to learn and basically be accountable to only yourself.

In 2023 I want to:

(1) Exercise more consistently. I was good about this in 2022 and then the job stuff happened and I stopped, but it’s about time to start again.

(2) Get better at academic reading, note taking, and synthesis. The only things that lie between me and my degree are one more hot takes paper and a thesis. Both of these are mainly rhetorical projects (no more building for me!) that require consuming, understanding, and organizing large amount of text. I feel like I’ve approached literature reviews relatively haphazardly in the past, so here’s a perfect excuse to develop and iterate on methods I’m sure I’ll be using a lot going forward!

(3) Enjoy my final year in the bay area! I made a bucket list. I love this place so much, and am always grappling with my relationship to Silicon Valley and its various institutions, the influence of Randian libertarianism and California Exceptionalism, the housing crisis, as well as my position as a non-binary Asian American who did not grow up here but whose parents now live here. I also think about my friends and peers whom I’ve met (mainly through undergrad) who have, for the most part, stayed, and how their lives are being shaped by these forces 5+ years after graduation.

The end of undergraduate was a great time in my life filled with travels and new experiences. Similarly, for the end of graduate school, I hope to manifest 2017 energy into my 2023. I write this post on a day of a bomb cyclone sending widespread rain and wind across the region. I’ve spent most of the day waiting anxiously if my partner’s flight would land safely. It did, and they are here, and we are safe.

#noon's shitty end of the year summary posts

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dazzling-dollyz · 2 years

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Ugh, great. Tumblr is making me sad now too lol.

I knew there were terfs and radfems, but I didn't expect there to be SO MANY. You just see transmeds, radfems and terfs literally on NEARLY EVERY POST trans women will talk about their experiences, even if it has NOTHING TO DO with them, even if they're asked to not interact.

I straight up saw and had to block a bunch of radfems and terfs on here calling a nonbinary person a NARCISSIST just for talking about their experience exploring their gender identity over the years, and saying they just "wanted to be special". ????

Then I saw them dunking on another trans woman who was talking about this phenomenon transphobes often do where they project their feelings of cis men onto trans women (which I think was worded very well and it helped me really understand why a lot of transphobia occurs, and I'm super thankful she could explain it in a way that made sense), and all the comments were misgendering her and calling her crazy and delusional, and acting like she was forcing them to be into her when literally all she was saying was just "don't lump us in with how you feel about cis men cuz we're not the same and not even all trans women experience sex the same way". She never, at any point, demanded you be into her, she just asked to not be treated with disrespect. And I don't understand how all these radfems act like they get to tell her she's wrong when, hello, you're not trans? She is?? She knows the trans experience and other trans people? Who are you to act like you get to police that?

It just makes me really fuckin depressed and anxious, especially thinking about all my trans friends and my partner who probably have to deal with disgusting people like this, whether they're transfem, transmasc, non binary, etc. Radfems don't care - they just want a reason to hate on someone and use them as scapegoats and it sucks. It fucking sucks.

They even tried to speak for bi women when it's like? No?? I'm a bi woman and I'm not a transphobic jerk?? As someone who's a bi girl and is also afraid of most men to an extent, I'm not going to use my past trauma in order to be hateful because 1.) That's a shitty thing to do, 2.) Even if my nb partner had a dick i would still love them all the same bscause they are kind, caring, and listen so much better than anyone else I've been with, 3.) You're not going to solve misogyny with even more misogyny and bigotry.It makes me so fucking afraid even if I'm a cis woman because, damnit, I just want my fucking friends to be happy without hateful people like this.

Hell, I even saw them accusing CIS WOMEN of "not being real women" when they didn't approve of them. I saw some blogs rb some shit like " 'some women don't produce eggs--' are you sure they're real women?" And that just made my fucking blood boil. Because it just fucking PROVES they don't care about women. If they did they would understand plenty of cis women want kids, plenty of them want families but can't have them, plenty of disabled women aren't able to produce eggs due to their illnesses, plenty of women from other ethnicities like Hispanic women might have features they consider masculine like more visible body hair (something that, as a Hispanic woman, made me feel very icky and gross until I accepted body hair was not a gendered thing, no matter how much society pushed it to me as one.)

And I will never, ever understand how you would push these stupid expectations on women everyone, trans and cis alike, when you know damn well how fuckin hard and painful it is to constantly be forced to meet society's standards. If you REALLY want "liberation", why are you oppressing people even further? If you really want equality, why are you beating people down? Why are you forcing us all to fit in boxes?

They act like they're so woke and big brained to hate on trans people like this but really, they're just hateful and contributing to the hate non-men everywhere have had to endure for ages just for not being men. And I will never, ever accept someone that does things like that as a feminist.

You are NOT a feminist if your activism is limited only to women you personally like and approve of.

#tw vent #tw transphobes #transphobia #tw misgendering #if you don't like someone and they're not doing anything to you then just leave them the fuck alone for the love of God #feminism #i really needed to get this out there #i hope terfs don't fucking flood my mentions now #i just want people to stop being so hateful and gross #and to stop putting us in boxes #is that too much to ask

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sarasa-cat · 2 years

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Like clockwork, the Reasonable Rational People™ emerged right after the supreme court leak to chide anyone worried that Republicans are not going to stop at overturning Roe but want to take away even more of our rights. “I think the people catastrophizing about contraception or interracial marriage being next after Roe sincerely believe it,” a (female) Washington Post columnist snarked on Twitter on Wednesday. “But I’m sorry, I cannot take this seriously.”

I’m sorry, we should all be taking this very seriously indeed. On the same day that prominent columnists were telling people to calm down – and less than 48 hours after the leaked supreme court opinion – Republicans in Louisiana advanced a bill that would redefine personhood to begin at the moment of fertilization and make abortion a crime of murder. Yes, you read that right: the moment of fertilization. I’m sure the people involved in drafting this law have no idea about how reproduction actually works (they like controlling female bodies, not learning about them), but between one-third and one-half of all fertilized eggs never fully implant. Which means someone in Louisiana needs to arrest God – he’s responsible for a hell of a lot of abortions! This incredibly broad definition of personhood also means that anyone experiencing an ectopic pregnancy (which are not viable and very dangerous) in Louisiana has only two choices: go to prison or die. And that’s not all: experts are worried that the law would criminalize in vitro fertilization as well as some forms of birth control.

There’s a reason I brought God up just now. There’s supposed to be a division between church and state in the US but the people who drafted the Louisiana law seemingly forgot about that. The proposal contains a line about “the sanctity of innocent human life, created in the image of God”. This is clearly unconstitutional – but that doesn’t bother the bill’s creators who have made it very clear that they don’t care about democratic norms. Indeed, the bill’s text states that the state should enforce the law “without regard to the opinions and judgments of the Supreme Court of the United States” on abortion.

It’s unclear whether the Louisiana bill will become law anytime soon. But what is clear is that we are going to see more and more extreme proposals like this. As I discussed in a previous Week in Patriarchy, radicalized Christian nationalism is a growing threat in the US; a small but very organised group of people are intent on turning the country into a modern theocracy. A few years ago a researcher called Frederick Clarkson exposed a Christian supremacist initiative called Project Blitz, whose mission is undermining the separation of church and state. You know what one major component of their strategy is? Flooding state legislatures with so many bills that trying to fight them becomes a game of “Whac-A-Mole”. And as liberals are busy playing Whac-A-Mole with proposals like this Louisiana bill, extremists and evangelicals are busy consolidating power. So don’t let anyone tell you that you’re “catastrophizing”.

#cw: american politics #cw: america #cw: republicans #abortion rights

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