#this could be the basis for my first throuple story

[hanarinhightown]

Miranda and/or Jack!

I'm gonna do Jack!!

First impression

hmmmmmm conflicting wlw stirrings with skepticism about the men that almost assuredly designed her

Impression now

she has one of the best arcs among the squadmates and i wish we got to spend more time with her in ME3 to hear more about how she's actually doing. also the way her voice breaks when she says "Shepard?" if you call her before the final push in Priority: Earth haunts me, it's one of the most beautiful heartbreaking sounds (Jack's VA in general is 👌👌👌)

Favorite moment

i just love making jack the biotic specialist during the suicide mission. especially if you've spent the game talking to her, and supporting her with her loyalty mission, and she's sort of warmed up to you and starts to actually feel like she's in a place where she can be herself and, yeah, you hired her, but you aren't trying to exploit her and you're letting her make her own decisions about what she does with her powers and the information about the cerberus base and all that? it's beautiful to think about shepard asking jack to serve in that role and not thinking she's a tool to be used or a weapon that could backfire. she's a person. she's part of the team. and i love her.

Idea for a story

jack x miranda x tali throuple when

Unpopular opinion

oh gosh idk i give up again i'm sorry

Favorite relationship

There is no basis in reality here except i had a blast when my squad was just jack and kasumi for an entire playthrough so now i'm obsessed with jack and kasumi being friends and causing problems for everyone around them

Favorite headcanon

she gets to come to one of my chakwas/joker/kolyat drinking parties after the war and makes kolyat uncomfortable with the stories she tells about thane that aren't...untrue, they're just....weird observations?

Send me a character and I will answer these prompts about them

#thank you!! #ask game #khel babbles

[thevagueambition]

Danish Loki

To contextualise how Loki is thought of in contemporary Danish culture (as opposed to Anglophone and specifically Danish because I don’t want to speak for Swedes and Norwegians), I’ll go through some Lokis from Scandinvian art, then some popular culture Lokis from Denmark. 

Loki in 19th Century Scandinavian Art

Balders død (Baldr’s Death), 1817, C. W. Eckerberg

A sneaky evil boy.

Ægirs gæstebud (Ægir's Feast), 1857, Constantin Hansen

The most pretty boy!Loki I’ve ever seen outside Marvel. 

A few years before (1853), Constantin Hansen drew him like this, though.

Loke och Sigyn (Loki and Sigyn), 1863, Mårten Eskil Winge. 

Buff Loki. Earliest depiction with black hair I’ve come accross. 

1895 illustration, Lorenz Frølich.

Loki looks appropriately annoying here. Least slender Loki I have ever seen. Pretty much how Frølich depicts Loki in all his illustrations. 

Now, have a couple  Þrymskviða!Lokis where Loki is way more chill about what’s happening than Thor.

1893 illustration, Gunnar Vidar Forssell.

1895 illustration, Lorenz Frølich.

1895 illustration, Lorenz Frølich.

Loki in Popular Media

Valhalla, comic, 1978-2009

A comic based on the Poetic Edda. Hugely influential on the Danish conceptualisation of all the Gods, particularly visually. Apparently inspired by a newspaper comic called De gamle guder (The Old Gods) from 1941-41 but I haven’t been able to find any pictures of how Loki is depicted in that. Probably at least part of why Loki has mostly been depicted with black hair ever since. Unsure what, if anything, the relationship to Marvel!Loki is.

More Þrymskviða!Loki

“Well, what do you say, boys?”

Valhalla, animated movie, 1986

This movie personally forms the basis of my childhood impression of the gods, including Loki. Buddy cop dynamic between quick-tempered Thor and manipulative Loki.

Jul i Valhal (Christmas/Yule in Valhal), 2005

The other basis of my impression of the gods before I read the Eddas or anything. In the Nordic countries, we have a tradition of shows (usually for kids) that run one episode a day from December 1st to Christmas Eve and have some Christmas-y theme. This was a ridiculously popular one that took it’s inspiration from Norse Mythology (loosely so, but it’s still a lot more accurate than Anglophone depictions tend to be, so...)

Loki is a central figure. The plot starts off when two modern kids discover him chained up in a nearby cave and are eventually manipulated into removing his chains, setting off events that will lead to Ragnarok. By the end of the story, though, Ragnarok is prevented by redeeming Loki.

This version contains the same inaccuracy as Marvel!Loki in that Loki claims to be Odin’s adoptive son rahter than adoptive brother -- still, this is just Loki talking. We can be generous and just assume he was lying for sympathy. It’s not a big point like in Marvel.

What people who watched it as kids remember best about this Loki, though, is his, uhm... revenge song with fur bikini back-up dancers. 

Valhalla, live action movie, 2019

Live action adaptation of the first arc of the comic book. Personality-wise, the characters are generally less cartoonish versions of their comic book counterparts -- Thor is still quick-tempered and Loki is still manipulative, but Thor’s rages aren’t as over the top and his fatherly side is more emphasised and Loki isn’t as obviously smug and his calming influence on Thor is more emphasised. He’s a somewhat minor character in it, though, mostly there to form a duo with Thor.

First depiction of Loki as a moc!

Also you could literally read Thor, Loki and Sif as a throuple in this movie and nothing would contradict it. They lived together in the comic and animated movie as well, so it’s always been there, but it really struck me with this movie. IIRC they all sleep in the same room. Which is perhaps fitting for the setting regardless, but nevertheless. 

Aaaand that’s about it! At least for stuff I’m aware of, lol. 

#loki #loke #norse mythology #danish #long post #valhalla #jul i valhal #art history

[toomanythoughtstoshare]

Polygamy Should Be Legal

(DISCLAIMER: Everything stated here is based on my opinions and experiences, and is written in the format of a persuasive essay.)

(ESSAY BEGINS HERE)

Polygamy is the act of being married to more than one spouse at a time. This is also illegal in multiple countries, including the United States of America, the country that is this essay’s main focus. Polygamy is not to be confused with the term polyamory, which is simply being in an open or closed relationship with more than one consenting partner. Polygamy should be polyamory with the involvement of marriage, but sometimes it isn’t due to lack of consent. 

There are many arguments on why polygamy should or should not be legalized. On the side of why it should not, people tend to cite generalized evidence that shows minors being involved in the marriages as spouses. This is not something polyamorous individuals are in favor of. It is impossible to find statistics on how many polygamous marriages actually involve minors as spouses because polygamous marriages are not legally recognized until legal charges are brought into place, and that is still only a small percentage of polygamous marriages. Along with this, the vast majority of polyamorous individuals who would like to be in polygamous marriages do not actually become involved in them because they wish to avoid legal charges over doing something as simple as marrying the people they love.

It is often claimed that legalizing polygamy will lead to less protection for child abuse and sexual assault survivors, but it must be kept in mind that there aren’t many polygamous marriages out there, and that those that do involve child abuse or sexual assault survivors would still be able to receive legal protection and persecution through laws against both those things. Along with this, child marriages wouldn’t even be effected by polygamy being legal or illegal because that is dependent on each individual state’s laws on age and consent requirements for marriages, not how many people are permitted to be involved in marriages. To properly address abuse, sexual assault, and child marriage, people must specifically speak against the current laws and call for reform within them, not within polygamy laws. Some states have recognized these things, and are now attempting to lessen the blows of polygamy laws because they find them to be unjust.

Another issue some individuals cite in regard to legalization of polygamy is that “wives” would potentially have a portion of their rights stripped away. This does not have to happen, and the constant use of the term “wives” is incorrect, it should be “spouses” because polygamous marriages can and would involve people of all genders in varying degrees, meaning they would not strictly be one man with several wives. All the rights currently given to spouses could remain in place, just with the chance of some slight editing being needed due to things like more than two parents being involved in custody issues. Things like power of attorney and ownership of the property of dead spouses could also be easily figured out be tying a bit more paperwork to the marriages, with it being put in place for the purpose of clarifying what will happen in any case where a spouse can’t make their own decisions. This is truly no different than what happens in any other legal case, as everything is viewed in a case by case basis, not generalized into what seems to loosely happen in the vast majority. Like everything else in the history of any nation, laws have evolved and been edited to fit the changing views of the nations’ peoples. 

The only other major argument often presented in terms of polygamy remaining illegal is that it is unethical, usually due to either personal or religious views of the individual speaking, and this is not a valid reason within the United States of America because there is supposed to be a separation of church and state, and of opinion and law. Some of the founding principles of the United States were to provide freedom of religion and speech (among many other things), and to keep religion and opinions out of the government’s decisions, all of which are still supposed to be being followed to this day. This has been a failed task multiple times throughout history, so it is not surprising that it continues to be an issue, but that does not mean that it is not a valid issue. This could also be a fixed issue upon proper following of and adherence to the nation’s principles.

Among these major arguments surrounding polygamy, there are also many small ones. These smaller arguments can be tackled in a similar fashion, with references and mentions of things like civil rights, human rights, the constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and historical events being used in favor of polygamy, rather than against it. There will always be differing opinions on polygamy, but it is important for every individual to remember that opinions are not supposed to influence laws, and to remind those around them of it too.

(ESSAY ENDS HERE)

For anyone wanting some further information/reading material on polygamy and polyamory, here are some links that appear to be solid sources for information. - 

1.    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/14/polyamory-everything-you-need-know-throuples-communication/4759860002/

2.    https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/28/health/polyamorous-relationship-meaning-wellness/index.html

3.    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/us/utah-bigamy-law.html

4.    https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/06/29/polyamorous-rights-advocates-see-marriage-equality-coming-for-them

5.   https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vol38_2011/human_rights_spring2011/should_polygamy_be_permitted_in_the_united_states/

6.    https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/polygamy

7.    https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/920/polygamy

8.    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polyamory-relationships-how-common-is-non-monogamy-cbsn-originals/

9.    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/11/05/polygamous-foreign-marriages-under-u-s-law/

#polygamy #polyamory #polyamourous #polyam #essays #my opinion #i got pissed off and wrote an essay #i may have went overboard #essays are nice #it took me forever to finally post this #i think i'm satisfied #Who am I kidding? #I will never be satisfied #Yes #that was a Hamilton reference #I couldn't help myself

[discyours]

I finished watching the latest season of Shameless and it’s reaffirmed to me how terrible this show is at LGBT representation so I’m gonna complain about it. Spoiler warning, obviously. 

Okay so first of all, Ian and Mickey were one of the best parts of this show. I’m not a gay man so my opinion on this is not that valuable, but as far as I know it was very well received by the gay community. Their relationship was as raw and as realistic as everything else that’s good about this show. How uncommon is it, even now, for media to show that guys like Mickey can be gay? How uncommon is it for them to show a genuine connection between growing up being shaped by an environment like Mickey’s and the way he deals with his sexuality, rather than just creating a character that never took on any part of their upbringing because they were simply too camp to fit in. The way Mickey and Ian both felt about their sexuality very much shaped their relationship at the start of it, but it grew from there. The writers didn’t make the mistake of making the relationship about the fact that it was gay. Neither character was killed off, the relationship was very on-and-off but wasn’t intentionally cut short, and they didn’t shy away from showing on-screen affection while also (in my opinion) not coming off as fetishistic either. Mickey and Ian was everything that is usually done wrong done right, and unfortunately the only real example of that on this show. 

The Kash storyline actually came before Mickey, but I wanted to start this post off with a positive example so I didn’t sound too salty. I have mixed feelings about how realistic this one was, and since I’m not a gay man I really don’t think it’s my place to state whether it was or not. But one thing is for sure; it wasn’t positive. I mean, it’s an affair between a seriously underage Ian (I think he was around 15 in the first season?) and his significantly older, married with children employer. Kash is also middle-eastern so this story fed into both homophobic and racist stereotypes. 

In season 2 Ian sleeps with yet another married man: Ned/Lloyd (Jimmysteve’s father). Lloyd is even older than Kash (likely 50s/60s) while Ian is still underage. Lloyd describes his sexuality as “anything that walks” meaning this isn’t actually bad gay representation, but terrible bi representation. 

Jumping ahead to season 6 (after Ian has been working in a gay club and had many hookups, but no real relationships aside from Mickey so nothing worth mentioning), Ian started dating Caleb, a black firefighter. Caleb turns out to be HIV positive but the show (in my opinion) handles it extremely well, making it a point that it’s possible to manage it with medication to the point where you can’t transmit it to anyone. It was a genuinely great, healthy relationship, until they decided to make Caleb cheat with a woman. Again, terrible bi representation, and once they’ve broken up the experience leads to Ian attempting to have straight sex too. It’s something a lot of gay men go through so I don’t think it was necessarily bad to add it to the show, but I do take issue with that even being needed as a plot device to show that Ian is truly gay, as that’s the way a lot of society views homosexuality too. 

Shortly after this, Trevor is introduced. Like I said, I’m not a gay man so my opinion on all of the former was of limited value, but I am a trans man and dear fucking god I hated Trevor’s story. Trevor is the embodiment of a character whose only defining trait is that they are LGBT. He’s overly sensitive to anyone not being immediately understanding about trans issues, and his relationship with Ian infuriated me. Trevor was offended that Ian lost interest upon finding out that he was trans, and the show made it seem like he was in the right for it. Ian apologised and they end up dating. They end up fucking. All this right after having shown that Ian tried to sleep with the opposite sex and absolutely hated it. Pure virtue signaling and my personal annoyance that every trans person in Trevor’s friend group was shown to be an “SJW snowflake” who had to introduce themselves with their pronouns is worthless next to the genuine harm that was done by showing that gay men can and totally should sleep with the opposite sex as long as they’re trans. 

I don’t even want to move on from that because of how genuinely terrible it is, but let’s do so anyway because there’s more. Further building on the pattern of terrible bi representation, there was the minor season 1/2 character Jasmine. She’s married but unfaithful, and her showing interest in women is seen as a part of her being so “free spirited”, if you can call it that. 

The “throuple” between Kev, Vee and Svetlana is another example. This post is getting long but I mean, for god’s sake can this show have a single bi character that isn’t super promiscuous if not a fucking unicorn? Every bi woman who’s ever used dating apps deserves to be mad at this storyline. 

Now for the thing that actually got me to write this post; the lesbian representation in this show. The first lesbian we see is Bob/Roberta, in season 1 and 2. She’s a literal stereotype as an extremely butch truck driver, dating a woman who is generally presumed to be straight. She and Monica try to take Liam away on the basis that he’s black and needs a black parent. Just like with Kash, this is doubly negative representation. She’s a minor character and all she does is “turn” a character by being so butch, and try to steal a fucking baby. 

In early season 9 this stereotyping stunt is repeated. Debbie meets Alex, another black woman so butch that she’s introduced as someone who’s passing as a man. Alex makes Debbie question her sexuality (though Debbie is later revealed to be bi, she wasn’t at this point so this was still falling into the “straight woman is ‘turned’ by an ultra-butch lesbian” trope) and they move in together right away. When they have lunch together after an argument, Alex spends hours talking about all of her exes, eventually reaching a point where Debbie can’t take it anymore and leaves. 

Also introduced in season 9 is Carl’s girlfriend, Kelly. When this character was introduced it was immediately obvious to me that she was coded to seem like a lesbian. She's the daughter of an army officer and plays softball, and just about everything about the way she looks and acts seemed gay. I initially thought that they made this character date Carl to kill any suspicions of her being a lesbian before they could begin, but then they actually turned “queer baiting” (not my term) into a plotline. They made her character flirt with Debbie, made Debbie try to “steal” her from Carl (again, a bi character not respecting established relationships), and very much hinted at a relationship happening. The preview for season 9 episode 13 showed them kissing, and they still ended that story with her being straight and apologising for accidentally leading Debbie on. 

I’ll throw in an honorable mention to Lea Delaria’s very brief appearance as a character so minor I can’t even remember what it was called; Lip’s potential AA sponsor; another ultra-butch stereotype, and an asshole. Oh and there was the whole gentrification plotline, where a bunch of rich lesbian couples (you guessed it, stereotypes!) moved into the southside. And Ford’s exes that Fiona met when she went bowling, which were barely actual characters and more of a joke about how gay they looked and how Ford clearly had a type. With Kelly being revealed as straight, the closest this show has ever gotten to a lesbian character that took actual part in the plot beyond being a stereotype was the lesbian couple in Fiona’s apartment building, and they still had one of them sleep with a man (off-screen, luckily) as a Totally Necessary Measure to get pregnant. 

Shameless was genuinely one of my favourite shows and it wasn’t too hard to look past most of this at first, considering so many characters are terrible people anyway. But I can’t ignore the flaws at this point. This goes beyond comedy and I’m almost angry that Shameless has ruined itself for me just by being homophobic.

#OP #shameless #shameless US #LGBT representation #ok to reblog #long post #this post is non-exhaustive btw I'm 99% sure I've forgotten a few things