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sixty-silver-wishes · 1 year

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Dear Cis People and TERFs: Transphobia Hurts You Too

I want to start this off by saying I'm a cis woman. When I first heard about what being trans was, I was maybe in middle school or so, and for years afterwards, I'm ashamed to say I did not have a positive understanding of the trans community. It took a lot of reflection and communicating with trans people to bring me to the understanding I have today, which is why I want to share my perspective, in hopes that people who think the way I used to will hopefully see where I'm coming from now. The trans community is currently facing an unprecedented barrage of hate not just in the United States, but also around the world, which is why I want to state this as clearly as possible: if you consider yourself a feminist, you should be terrified, no matter what you identify as. I'd also like to point out that while you should support the trans community, first and foremost, because it's the right thing to do, this post is mainly focused on why trans rights are in everyone's best interest, not just trans people.

First, let's get one thing straight. Feminism, simply put, is the belief in gender equality. Already, this definition makes transphobia and feminism incompatible; if you believe trans people do not deserve the same rights and freedoms as cis people, you are discriminating against them on the basis of gender. If you believe that men and women are of equal value to society, then what is the difference between them that would make it so wrong for someone to transition between genders? If you had a child that was born male, and if in another universe, that child just so happened to be born female, a loving parent would love them the same either way. So if someone transitions from their gender assigned at birth, should they be thought of any less of a person for doing so? If the answer is "yes," then the only way they can justify that answer is with sexism, the belief that people are unequal to each other due to gender.

If you believe that women are capable of anything that men are, then if someone transitions from one end of the spectrum to another- or decides that they identify with a different idea of gender entirely- then what is this big, defining idea that separates men from women that would make being trans so wrong? Is it that men are strong and aggressive, while women are docile and matronly? That can't be it, because there are aggressive women and docile men. Is it that women can give birth, while men can impregnate them? That conclusion only reduces people to their reproductive organs, and besides, there's also the matter of infertile or sterile men and women. If it's down to chromosomes, then what about intersex people? For every "masculine" or "feminine" trait you may come up with to distinguish men from women, you will find exceptions that disprove the rule, whether social or biological. This leaves you with the conclusion that gender is not only a social construct, but a fluid one. This isn't to say that it doesn't exist; it does, for many cis and trans people alike, but it's a far more complicated topic than we're often led to assume.

Additionally, please ask yourself this- why are the politicians who support bans and restrictions on abortion, among other policies that target the freedoms and rights of cis women, also the ones who are most frequently attacking trans rights? It's because the existence of openly trans people suggests that gender, and the norms associated with it, are not binary, rigid structures. The advancement- and reduction- of the rights of both trans people and cis women go hand in hand, because equality for women suggests that they are as capable, intelligent, and human as men. It closes the socially-constructed divides of a perceived gender binary, which in turn allows society to accept a more fluid and nuanced view of gender itself, where more is achievable to more people than just cis men.

Being a trans ally is beneficial to cis men, just as it is to women. We've all heard of "toxic masculinity" and how it's linked to misogyny against women, but a less-discussed, albeit important, argument is that it is also harmful to men as well. "Toxic masculinity" is the idea that harmful masculine-coded traits, such as aggression or chauvinism, must be perpetrated in order to make one "man enough." But what does "man enough" even mean? If a man isn't "man enough," he's still not considered to be a woman. He may be described in demeaning terms with misogynist connotations, such as being called a "pussy," but people will still address him as "he." Even as regressive as it is, toxic masculinity mandates that some men are "manlier" than others, thereby suggesting that gender is a social spectrum and not a strict binary. However, these standards are still damaging to men, as having to prove themselves as "men" puts pressure on them, and may even lead to them inflicting physical or psychological harm on themselves or others by adopting abusive or destructive behavior. While men are promised a spot at the top of the pyramid in a patriarchal hierarchy, they in fact must compete within this system for social validation and acceptance. Patriarchy determines that to be a "man," a man must not show any qualities socially associated with women, most prominently showing any emotion other than anger. Showing affection to other men, for instance, is considered "gay," which is frowned upon because gay men are seen as effeminate- which is the worst thing to be in a patriarchy. Therefore, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia all intersect with one another.

However, accepting trans people and non-rigid gender structures, again, helps relieve cis men of this pressure to conform to standards of manliness. A trans man determines that he is a man, simply because he feels that he is. Why shouldn't cis men do the same? They don't have to prove that they're men to accept the validity of manhood; if that they determine for themselves that they're a man, whatever that may mean to them, then they're "man enough."

And above all, why should society decide how an individual should identify themselves, when only that individual can experience how it feels to be themselves?

#lgbt #trans #transgender #trans ally #trans rights #pride #pride month #feminism #discourse #lgbtqia #queer

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tigerrsmn · 3 months

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"Many decades ago, I transitioned and I have not one single regret. And here's what I can tell you from that perspective. Cultivate your strength. And when you don't feel strong any longer, turn to your loved ones and your community and find more strength with them and cultivate your resilience. And when you feel like you can't go on any longer, find someone's hand to hold and go on together. Cultivate your joy, because living well indeed is a good revenge. But cultivate your joy. And when it seems to have fled, throw a party and let other people bring trans and queer and non-binary and two spirit joy to you, and lend your brilliant strength and resilience and joy to everyone else who needs it."

Rev. Justin Sabia-Tanis, associate professor at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, speaking at the Twin Cities vigil for Nex Benedict, organized by Thomas Edison High Gender and Sexuality Alliance. (transcript below)

[As a trans man standing before you today, I declare to you, you are standing on holy ground. This is holy ground because we remember Nex Benedict. It is holy ground because we gather as non-binary, as two-spirit, as trans people, and as those who support and love us. You are in a sacred place tonight. There is so much living and loving art and beauty from Nex that the world will miss, because Nex is no longer among us. And we grieve in this circle tonight.

And I worked teaching ethics and justice, and I see people out there who are perpetuating lies about us, saying that we are a danger when we are the ones in danger, that we are a threat when we are threatened. In order to get more votes or make more talking points, they lie and say that they are protecting vulnerable young people from extremism when it is their extreme laws that force children and teens and young people into increasingly violent circumstances. We know they are lying because if they genuinely cared about us, they would be outraged at every incident that happens in the bathroom. Every child bullied and beaten would be a cause for outrage as it is for us. But they are silent.

If they cared, they would stand up each and every time one of us is hurled threats or fists against us. And they do not. And worst of all, they're using their religion and faith to justify their lies and their silence and their bias. Those who make anti-trans laws and encourage their passage are complicit in the deaths and the acts of violence that occur because of what they say and because of the laws that they pass. And we must--

(Crowd) Say it again!

Those who make anti-trans laws and encourage their passage are complicit in each act of violence that occurs because of what they say against us and the laws they pass. We must and will hold them accountable for their actions. So let me tell you the truth. The Bible they cite is filled with calls to love your neighbor as yourself and to care for those who are different and those who are vulnerable. I won't go into it, but there are story after story in which eunuch people who live outside the binary are the heroes of the story, the ones who are included. And the Bible says that all of creation, including each and every one of us, is good and very good. Never believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Whether or not you're a person of faith, I hope you hear this message that you are good, very, very good at the core of your being. I believe that God calls each of us to discover our authentic self and our very heart, and that living that truth, living that authenticity, is being faithful to the holy voice that you hear within you.

Many decades ago, I transitioned and I have not one single regret. And here's what I can tell you from that perspective. Cultivate your strength. And when you don't feel strong any longer, turn to your loved ones and your community and find more strength with them and cultivate your resilience. And when you feel like you can't go on any longer, find someone's hand to hold and go on together. Cultivate your joy, because living well indeed is a good revenge. But cultivate your joy. And when it seems to have fled, throw a party and let other people bring trans and queer and non-binary and two spirit joy to you, and lend your brilliant strength and resilience and joy to everyone else who needs it. This is holy ground tonight. It is holy because we gather here to remember Nex Benedict. It is holy because you and I are here and we are sacred, holy people. Thank you.]

#nex benedict #trans rights #protect trans kids #protect trans youth #protect trans lives #protect intersex lives #nonbinary #gnc #two spirit #mmir #faith #twin cities #minneapolis #minnesota #vigil #anti trans violence

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cowboyjen68 · 2 years

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Hi Jen, and hello every butch reading this. I need your help.

I don't know where to begin, this has veen a problem for me for almost a decade now. I've followed you (Jen) for a few years now, and you're a very comforting figure to my brain, so I was hoping you and possibly others could help me out a bit. If not answers, then some good advice, open mindedness, patience, and possibly links to resources and helpful places. I've wanted to reach out to older butches and such about my issues with gender for a while, because I've flipped between a few and always have my mind coming back to butch in some form or another. Whether I act on it between each circle back or not, it stays.

I came out as some flavor of trans around 13, and then moved towards binary FtM around 14 or 15, which is when I met my first partner ever. I've had a ton of jumps back to being just kind of butch but in a weird middle butch state of not lesbian, not ftm, not anything but butch. I grew up in the midwest for 10 years (starting at 10,) and came out as a lesbian at 11 or 12. Regardless of how I was identifying in highschool, I was bullied and catcalled as a lesbian my whole childhood, seen as a d/ke, called it, I got the worst of it all, had girls try to kick my ass and dudes try to "turn me." I hung out with the fem cishet alt girls half my height and half my weight, carried them around, I was the ugly tall bitch that protected them. Had a wicked shaved head, wearing mens clothes handmedown, mens boots, brought a swiss army knife everywhere and my own wallet and housekeys. Getting pencils thrown at my head, smoking weed in the girls room, forced to change in the gender neutral stall for gym cause the school didnt know what to do with me. Guys would honk as they went past and shout dyke at me, so I started trying to blend in with highlighter shirts and jeans etc. Typical midwestern shit. I feel that despite now living as a man, i had the lived experience since a very young age (even before moving to the midwest,) of a butch. I am now fully living life as a cis man, stealth, and dating an amazing queer trans dude whose possibly genderfluid, and also very fem. He also identified as a lesbian for a long time and experienced a lot of toxicity there, and was nonbinary in his past, and I met him when he was agender and queer. He's amazing, I'm going to marry him, and he's everything I love in a partner. Feminine, went to cosmetology school, pretty nails, chubby, likes to bake and shop and wants to cook me steak, wants me to carry his stuff and his groceries, calls me his scary dog privleges, wants to scratch my sideshave. He realized he was trans and came out after we met, and I've been his biggest support against everything else, and I always will be. I love him, I'm attracted to him and he's the only person i ever have been. So I dont think I qualify anymore as a butch, despite using the term and being a butch for so many years. I was a butch, I still feel it even if I'm not really into many people at all including women (also on the aro/ace spectrum haha), but now I'm a man, I have a beard, I have a boyfriend I will never leave, who knows how I feel and loves me and we both know no matter where we end up gender wise or sexuality wise that pretty much me and him are it, and if it contradicts, who gives a shit, yknow?

My dating history has always been feminine nbs, feminine trans boys, and femme lesbians. I have never dated a masculine cis man, masculine nb, anyone masculine at all. For lack of better terms due to my situation, I have always been butxh4femme and at least masc4fem. I have always been the guardian and gentle giant of my fem partners, I also am mostly a stone butch due to sexual trauma and asexuality. Due to my aroace-ness, I've also hardly dated literally anyone lmao! Maybe 3 people longterm and seriously in my entire 21 years. This is getting really long, and I'll be honest, I've been yelled out of all communities I've been in for being so damn complicated. I'm scared I'll hurt mt partner and he'll feel I don't see him as he is, I'm scared I'll hurt lesbians despite living and growing as one most of my life, I'm scared I'll hurt me by identifying as butch because I feel like I'll have to detransition. I also kinda look fuck ugly without a beard nowadays, cause lord knows I've shaved that shit fullon twice now because of this exact issue.

I want to be called sir, and I love being on T. I hate getting a period, and my bottom dysphoria is agonizing, but I probably wont get bottom surgery. I want to not be catcalled. I want to get top surgery eventually, and maybe I don't want a full beard. I wanna cut all the sleeves off my shirts again and get some sexy workboots and jeans. I know I want my pretty femboy boyfriend on my arm forever, I don't care how he ends up identifying or me either, and to see him wear his dress on our wedding day. I want to be butch but still be seen as a man, but I don't think I'm allowed because so many people have shit on me for it and said I'm not. But I still wear my keys on my belt. I still lift the heavy shit, emotionally or physically, every day for him. I still do my role, I still protect the people around me. But I don't want people to look at me when I say butch and assume me or my boy are women, out of respect for him and me too.

Advice needed, please, anybody that's willing to help me and help me find my path. It's been so back and fourth so long. Thank you.

- R

i am sorry for taking so long. Fall is a very busy season with all my jobs ramping up and getting ready for winter on the homestead.

Your writing was a lot to absorb and I admit I read it several times and had to come back because it weighed on my emotions and heart heavily. I was driving tractor last night so I had lot of thinking time. I went over in my head how you much feel, how I could possibly answer this with any coherant advice or even just some comforting words.

You are only 21, my advice if you were my child (i have 3--25 year olds, a 22 year old and a 16 yo), would be to slow your roll. 3 serious relationships by 21 is a lot. At a time when we are sort of socially and mentally programmed to be free and using our energy to exlplore our individuality you were putting efforts into maintaining viable relationships with other people who were probably also trying to figure themselves out. I was 23 before I even had one serious relationship and i was probably still NOT ready for it.

When we never live a single life or a life on our own it becomes hard to separate who we are from our partner. It is normal to bounce off of each other and to both want badly to share the same values, identity and interestes EVEN if as individuals those things might never have lined up.

I am NOT a therapist nor can I possibly know you or your exact feelings, I can only go by what you told me. When I am asked for advice I am honest but kind, go from my experiences and or those stories I have been told by friends. Sometimes what I say is NOT what you want or expected to hear. That is okay. You can take what I say or leave it. Or use what helps, ignore what doesn't . So here it goes.

My point about you both meeting young,and thus relying on each other to work on your individuality comes into play here. You are both, I am guessing around 21. Neither of you have had any time to forge exactly who you are. Stastically what are the chances of two women who both lived as a lesbian meeting after you transitioned and the partner ALSO being trans but not coming out until AFTER the fact. Until after the relationship has progessed.? Speaking in terms of how many trans people are in the population that feels like quite a statistical anomally. What are the chances? Now I suck and math and I know the percentage of any given population in the LGBT+ community as compared to greater society seems sketchy, based on shitty research and at best a bad guess. It just gives me a bit of pause and might give you some food for thought, a chance to think over outside influence vs life long dysphoia or other factors.

I preface this by saying I can in no way know you or your partner or pasts or any actual feelings, only what you have told me. I appreciate your stark honesty and your willingness to admit you are struggling. Reaching out is hard even as an anon. Is it in any way possible your partner was influenced heavily by wanting badly to share your life, your values, to feel more inline with you and to feel more close to you and to solidify the relationship in a space that she perceives as more comfortable to you. OR perhaps even your friend group?

You talk aboout pressure from all sides to be this or be that and if you are a trans man I am sure she was getting not too subtle pressure to not use lesbian even though she was maybe just fine with that, it felt right. There is a vicious push from inside the house to tell people how to describe their sexuality and relationship when it is no one’s business. Others feel uncomfortable when two people live their lives as they see fit and don’t rely on how people perceive them to be happy. It makes some people nuts in fact.

To your concern about detransitioning or not or what makes you happy. I know detransitioners and they slide just fine back into the lesbian community they used to have or they have found their own new lesbians friend group. It is not impossible. At many events I have been to in my life, women’s festivals included, there were tans men there who lived soley as men outside the protective walls of women spaces but were happy to be seen as women within the safety of the limited time and space of the event. You can find community among lesbian no matter how you land, it just takes a little bravery and ultimately being okay with yourself.

I am not going to tell you it is easy no matter the path you choose. Reidentifying as a woman with a full beard and staying on T is never going to be as easy as just saying “I am THIS “. You would have to spend time coming back out, explaining etc until such a time you formed a community who knows you and understands your past.

Everything you described that you love is everything I love about being butch, I am short, 5′3 so I didn’t experience some things like you have as tall woman in high school, BUT I was definitely clocked as a lesbian even with great effort to be seen has just wearing “typical midwestern shit”. My entire wardrobe was T shirts, sweatshirts, jeand and tennis shoes. I gave up my beloved cowboy boots because others said they made me “look even more like a boy” and in the 1980′s I tranlated that to “butch lesbian” even if I did not have those words. I knew damn well what they were inferring.

I also know lesbians who take T and remain in the lesbian community, they just feel they need to pass more as men in the larger world for their peace of mind, safety, job, whatever. So deciding that lesbian and butch is right for you does not mean you can’t continue to utilize tools that help you to feel okay.

This is getting a bit long and I will admit I am unendingly biased, I have never denied that and don’t hide the fact that I think being a butch lesbian is wonderful. GIven all the factors and insecurities you have shared with me being a butch seems like the path of least resistance. Cutting back on T, not constantly worrying about “am I or am I not” and getting back to the basics of what you seemed to understand as you were coming out, before there was transitioning on your table. EVEN in the face of bullying and knowing being a lesbian was not desirable to the outside world you could not escape it and you came out. Perhaps because when you can’t escape you meet something head on and embrace it since that pulls power from the outsiders.

When you and your partner are alone, away from all others. In the safety of you bed, talking softly and about your day or your plans tomorrow, the world gets no say. You both know that is true in your hearts and please don’t let those in the world, in our own community poison that with pressure and accusations. DO NOT give them control of your heart, of your love.

Best of luck and butch hugs to you.

#butch #femme #trans man #love #pressure #lesbian

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comfortunit · 10 months

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ALSO also this is tangential at this point but i love to write fiction with characters who are against or outside of the gender binary and i thought like, an entire series where the characters singularly and only use It for not only the protagonist but another really important character, a fictional universe written to exclude transphobia from the outset with nonbinary minor characters thrown in at random, and you still have people misgendering the fucking protagonist and finding ways to write in misgendering it into the text. at least i could pretend people would respect my character choices when i look at mainstream fandoms but seeing the like rampant transphobia in a series that is trans itself? heartbreaking. depressing. made me want to put down my pen for a whole moment (not even getting into how much "person treated like product/who had their agency invalidated learns how to direct their own life" narratives mean to me and expecting to see people who got that theme instead of. treating it like a product to force to do whatever they want. do people not see the sad irony there. its like seeing an anime girl whos character arc is "people objectify me against my will and i fight against it to reclaim my personhood" and then watching the fandom/company turn around and only sell/interact with highly sexualized shit of her. like i THOUGHT people who were fans of something showing corporate and consumer hypocrisy would be a lil smarter! ive underestimated the average persons ability to be in denial of things and themselves however) ok ok im done sending my silly little asks i hope you have a good rest of your day

right, and a MAJOR theme of mbd is, as martha wells put it (i'm paraphrasing), 'the 'ugly' parts of trauma that no one talks about'. murderbot is traumatized and it's a person but it is repulsed by the idea of being 'humanized'. it just wants to be comfortable after so much time spent being told what to do, what to be, everything. prescribing it pronouns other than what it itself has 'written' in its DIARIES (wow a concept... 🤯 first person pov. fucking mind-blowing, y'all, firsthand experience actually lets you know how someone thinks/feels/perceives things. i know. it's crazy), forcing things onto it, projecting things onto it, that it never opted in to... it's just more of the same. murderbot's ultimate goal is to feel like its own person, it wants to BE. it's literally a struggle for autonomy, and i'm sure humans in-universe and in the fandom alike, they just don't get it, they think murderbot is going about things in a counterproductive manner like "oh if it hates the company so much then why is it still so attached to being a secunit and protocols and all this bullshit?" like god do these people have any fucking idea how trauma works? have they ever understood the trauma of others? my guess is a resounding NO.

and re: my gripes about it being aplatonic and no one fucking caring enough to give it the decency of this canon fact in their fanfic re-creations of it; it GETS MAD at perihelion for trying to FORCE its emotions out. and people write this off!! because they want to believe this is like "aww it's MAD because it LIKES ART" like actually people who care about each other can be terrible to each other! and not everything is secretly cute and adorable! a big POINT of network effect is that ART DOESN'T GET IT; it DOESN'T know what murderbot wants, it DOESN'T know how murderbot feels. it DOES NOT GET IT. the fandom insists on smoothing everything over because the idea that murderbot might have genuine feelings of hate, or intrusive feelings that it both is internally upset with but also embraces... it's like they can't fucking handle this complexity. they can't. they act like they can and they can't fucking handle it, or i wouldn't see it represented so fucking atrociously in fanfic, lmfao.

it's fucking INFURIATING !!!! 🤝

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cansomeonetoldmewhoiam · 8 months

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I'm the "right" type of trans. I experience dysphoria, I present according to gender stereotypes, I have all the sign, I knew it since I can remeber, I don't make it "my whole personality"(aka "I'm too scared to even say the word "trans" in pubblic), I use he\him pronouns, I'm binary, I pass, I never complain about transphobic jokes.

Guess what? Transphobes hate me at the same. They don't want to "make us normal". They want to erase us. Because if we turn against each other, there's no way we'll survive.

So, stop moaning "the strange trans". Stop moaning no-binary people, neopronouns users, people that you don't understand. Just respect them.

You want to use neopronouns? Use them. You want to present yourself as your AGAB? Do it. Your identity is usually misunderstood? Don't erase it. Don't supress yourself just to make some transphobes happier.

When they say "I hate that type of trans" they mean all of us. Every single one. They won't stop.

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black-arms-hivemind · 2 years

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This is a threat, send me all your Darms lore from canon and TEoS (and send pics so I can look at they)

Okay okay so!!!

Canonically they don't have official genders or sexes, I don't think they're ever referred to with any gender related pronouns, but in my lore they're all AMAB, but every single one of them except for Blurk turned out to Not Be Cis, with Cyzer being non-binary while Cregal and Rhygenta are trans girls.

They're wisps that were genetically modified with Black Arms DNA by Eclipse when they were still in their eggs - there were originally a lot more of them, as shown in Shadow Fall, but when Eclipse’s escape pod crashed on Angel Island, a lot of them sadly didn't make it, leaving just the four we know and love.

This is the first time we see them fully revealed in the comic. Did you know that I used to constantly get Cyzer and Cregal mixed up? The two are rather similar and have a shared character trope of "siblings that fight", so let me say that Cyzer is the cyan one, amd Cregal is the red one.

Each of their names are a combo of two different words that describe them in each way, one word being their color, while the other one is just something that's relevant to that Darm specifically in some way

Cyzer (I pronounce it "Ky-zer", yes even tho Cyan has a soft C) = Cyan + Lazer (their ability)

Cregal (I pronounce it "Kre-gul") = Crimson + Eagle (a reference to her ability - which is to give whoever uses them wings to fly with)

Rhygenta (I pronounce it "Re-jen-tah") = Magenta + Rhythm (She's special in the fact that "Magenta" ALSO refers to the type of wisp she is/was originally, and also while in a meta sense, "Rhythm" is a reference to it's ability, since Eclipse didn't know Rhy's ability at the time, it's probably story-wise referencing how they resemble a eighth note in shape)

Blurk (i pronounce it "Bl-urk", that one's a given) = Blue + Lurk (I'm not actually sure how this one relates to him? I figure Eclipse just picked a word that sounded cool for that one. Blurk's ability is to make the person who uses him invincible for a brief amount of time)

Admittedly, Blurk, Cyzer and Cregal in canon are just kinda There. Like yes, they're cute, amd are great companions and "minions" for Eclipse, but they don't have a ton of character beyond a few traits. Cregal and Cyzer are messy, they fight, and give off a vibe of general cockiness, and Blurk is also messy (even more so), grumpy amd one can infer from him apparently needing to be reminded to chew his food - impatient.

Rhygenta on the other hand, has more going on. This first apparence of her and her siblings already sets the tone for the whole ass character arc she gets throughout the Total Eclipse storyline. Eclipse says that while she is well behaved, they don't seem to have any powers.

Rhy's arc is very much a side-plot thing, but there's enough there that it's pretty easy to see why it's the fan favorite among her and her siblings.

We don't see them again until the next issue of the arc, as Eclipse has gone out on their own to hopefully get food, and maybe try again to convert Shadow who knows-

But, ignoring the source pronouns used for Eclipse, here is when the Dark Arms first fully realize the situation they're in, and immediately get an antagonistic view of Team Dark & Friends, obviously pretty pissed off/concerned that these strange people want to harm their caretaker. But for now they're left to let these feelings fester while Eclipse is out fighting.

Take note of each expression in the second panel- Blurk, Cyzer and Cregal are visibly angry, ready to fight, while Rhygenta is scared and worried. Though no words are used to convey it, this is another building block of Rhy's arc.

Once again we're made to wait until the next issue to see these four again, but when we do see them once more - Eclipse has returned to them, amd they make their yearning to join Eclipse in their fight against the heroes known, with Cregal once again being the first one to speak - what a talkative gal! Eclipse is doubtful, not wanting them to get hurt, but agrees to it, which excites them - and probably the reader too, as we're about to get a lot more Darms action!

In a confrontation with Rouge, Relic, Omega and Fixit (Oh. And Julian too. He's our fucker to hate this arc since Death is dead), Eclipse uses a variety of Dark Arms abilities to render them unable to stop them as they take the Master Emerald. Take note of how everyone gets to show off their power - except for Rhygenta. Again, a non-verbal (or non-dialouge-bal?) detail to further along her arc. A lot of her arc is like that, and I find it pretty unique! It's a subtle little B-plot that you more pick up on re-reads rather than your first time through.

Since this post is getting rather long, let me skip to the end of the arc, when the climax of Rhy's arc happens

In the midst of trouble, Eclipse once again calls upon all the Dark Arms, except for Rhygenta. Blurk, Cyzer and Cregal quickly become tired and unable to fight, amd all hope seems lost - until Rhy steps in and reveals that, despite what Eclipse had thought, she is in fact the strongest of all the Dark Arms, blasting Knuckles and Shadow away with a Sonic Boom, giving Eclipse and the others enough time to escape out of the situation alive and well.

That's all for canon lore, and also for the images, as I've reached Tumblr's image limit 😔

BUT

The Era of Shadow is essentially a sequel to this arc, taking place a few years later.

The Dark Arms, while still being kids obviously, have grown a good bit, taking the initiative to learn Hi-Bloosiæne (Blarms language) & English in order to communicate with more of their brethren than just Eclipse. Rhygenta in particular has taken an interest in genetic engineering just like Eclipse, and after doing a ton of research on it's own and with Eclipse, created her and their siblings darkling bodies to inhabit and pilot in order to both feel closer to Eclipse and the other Black Arms once they meet them, and to better be able to present their gender identities. These bodies are able to shapeshift just like regular Blarms, and basically work like bio-mech suits.

While Rhygenta is obviously the most book-smart of the four, none of them are necessarily dumb, and work together with Eclipse and each other very well.

But yeah, that's all really. Might reblog this w/ the darkling suits if I get around to drawing them

#dreamcast popstar #long post #undescribed #hive rose red #hive replies

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wahlpaper · 3 months

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Some Girls Do Review

Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan

CW: Abusive Parent, Emotional Abuse, Physical Abuse, Homophobia, Queerphobia, Legal Struggles, College Admission Struggles, Money Problems, Swearing, Underage Drinking, Blood, Violence, Discussion of Sex, Mentioned Transphobia, Outing, Bullying, Domestic Abuse, Misogyny, Classism, Slut-Shaming

5/5

Sometimes a book will give you something you weren't expecting. In my case, Jennifer Dugan's Some Girls Do gave me closure for Hayley Kiyoko's Girls Like Girls novel. They each have a relationship with a similar dynamic, even though they're set 15 years apart. It's what Kiyoko's book should have been. Some Girls Do also made me understand why I still had a draw to Dugan's writing despite her other books (more on this later). This novel was so sweet and well written, and it also understood how to handle the heavy material included.

Some Girls Do starts when Morgan transfers to a new school near the end of the school year in her senior year of high school. Ruby runs into her that day, almost. Despite their rocky start, these two girls can't help but be interested in the life of the other. Morgan is facing a legal battle with her old school, which had discriminated against her for being a lesbian. She's a track star, but this is leaving her future in question. Ruby is seen as white trash because she's poor and does pageants at her mother's request. Except she doesn't have much control over her life at all. What she wants is to fix cars, and she might have a plan to do that. Will Morgan and Ruby be able to help each other or will they make things worse?

My first introduction to Dugan was Hot Dog Girl. I liked the book well enough, I even recommended it to a few people. Ultimately, the relationship didn't really work in it. The love interest deserved better than the main character. I tried Verona Comics next. Shakespeare, comics, and a bi dude? That absolutely sold it! Unfortunately, the relationship was so toxic that I'm not sure how I made it through the book. Despite only having read these two books by Dugan, I never swore off her writing. Her books have been on my radar. I can tell they do well because there's always a line on Libby. I'm careful about putting books on hold because I don't want them all to come in at once, but I finally put two more of Dugan's books on hold (look out for Love at First Set in the future!). I'm glad I did, as I was enamored with Some Girls Do the whole time.

It should come as no surprise by this point that the thing I valued the most in Some Girls Do was the relationship between Morgan and Ruby. Only one was out and both were experiencing queerphobia within their communities. Morgan had recently left a bad relationship and Ruby didn't feel safe enough to commit to one, no matter the gender. There were a lot of chances for their relationship to not work, but the book explored what they could do about that. It never felt like Dugan was asking us to accept a situation that felt toxic as romantic. She learned, for sure. She also included a range of queer experiences and showed the importance of queer spaces for teenagers. Other queer identities included in this novel were trans, non-binary, and pansexual. Different experiences and situations were also explored. Not everyone has the same queer experience, but we can still be stronger and safer together.

One thing I enjoy about Some Girls Do is that not everything has to be neatly tied up or turn out the way you expect for the characters to find happiness or a good future. The book absolutely has an ending, but there's the suggestion that the story is still ongoing for Morgan and Ruby. They still have things to face and enjoy in the future, but we got to be there while they went through this part. Although the pacing was confusing at times it didn't affect my appreciation of the novel. Dugan is great with plot and world-building, and now characters too. This book was released back in 2021, so I'm excited to see how she's grown since!

If you're looking for a heavy but wholesome queer teen love story, Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan is a great option. You'll get rewarded with 2 whole instances of the title being said by characters, relatable queer thoughts, and lines that make you laugh out loud. Go on and give the book a try, you know that some girls do!

#some girls do #jennifer dugan #book blog #bookblogger #queer books #queer characters #wlw #enemies to lovers #romcom book #contemporary ya #queer sports #queer book review #hot dog girl #verona comics

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gremlin-time-shenanigams · 1 year

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'Consorting with Angels'

This drawing is based on a poem written by american poet Anne Sexton, called 'Consorting with Angels', which can be read in full here-

I studied Sexton's work back in 6th form, and ever since this poem struck a chord and stuck with me. I think partly because of the way she used Christian imagery to express sentiments that go quite against traditional conservative Christian values- I find this very appealing. I didn't grow up in a religious family, in fact, I was raised in an explicitly atheist household. But I was surrounded by cultural Christianity, attended schools where we said prayers and sang hymns, and just generally existed in a country where that is the largest religion. I love churches- I don't love going to church, I love the buildings. This is the opposite of how it's supposed to be, the church is supposed to be the people, the community, not the building, and you're supposed to love the people not the building. But I love the smell of old wood and stone, I love stained glass windows and candles. I like the idea of ritual that takes place there, even when it's boring to sit through in reality. I like the sense of divinity that exists there unrelated to actual religion or dogma. So I love things that take this sense of divinity, these images from Christianity like angels and saints and heavenly gates, and turn them into something deviant like in this poem. I love the description of angels in the poem, as weird, unique, almost conceptual,

'and the nature of the angels went unexplained,

no two made in the same species,

one with a nose, one with an ear in its hand,

one chewing a star and recording its orbit,

each one like a poem obeying itself,

performing God's functions,

a people apart.'

In my drawing I drew the angel as alien like, kinda like the classic grey aliens, and I also gave them three eyes, arms and wings. I was going to put eyes all over the body, like those fun biblically accurate angels, but it didn't feel right and was visually cluttering. I think I may have also been thinking about the angels from welcome to nightvale? It's been years since I listened and I don't remember if they ever actually describe how they look, but I liked those angel characters.

The other reason I like this poem so much is the way Sexton rejects the interminable bullshit of being a woman and expresses gender non-conformity and non-binary gender. This poem was the first thing that actually made me understand that people can just reject the gender binary and that's a fine and totally valid way to be. Honestly it was a concept I struggled with when I was younger- I broadly understood what it meant to be a binary trans person since I was pretty young, I knew that sometimes people changed their gender between male or female, and that checked out with my child brain, like yeah, some people are born with the wrong body for them and they are actually the other gender, okay, cool, makes sense. But that there was an option other than male or femle confused me. Like, how could you be neither, nothing, have no gender? But reading this poem I got it-

'The bowl was filled with purple grapes

and the flies hovered in for the scent

and even my father came with his white bone.

But I was tired of the gender things.'

It's that line, 'I was tired of the gender of things.' It just clicked like, yeah, sometimes it is just super tiring to have all these expectations put on us because of gender, and it would be so nice to be free of it. Sexton was writing specifically from the point of casting away some concept or role of womanhood, but being a man has plenty of bullshit expectations some people want to be free from too. And the older I get the more I get it- sometimes I just feel so bogged down by gender, like, my own or the concept generally. Like I just wanna shake it off for a minute and be weightless, a weird, unique being consorting with the angels.

With the awareness of non-binary genders really increasing in recent years I'm still learning about the many ways for people to express themselves and identify outside of the binary, whether it's through being both or neither or nothing or something inbetween- and I just think that's cool and interesting. Another line of the poem relating to the rejection of binary gender is,

'I was not a woman anymore,

not one thing or the other.'

But my favourite part of the poem is the last three lines, which are probably my favourite last lines of any poem, it's such a strong ending to me-

'I'm all one skin like a fish.

I'm no more a woman

than Christ was a man.'

These lines have been rattling around my brain like a dried bean in a tin can for years since I first read this poem. They really resonates with something within me, like this idea I have of divinity being unbound by sex or gender. Also just the transgression of referring to christ as anything but a man is so fun. 'I'm all one skin like a fish.' is such a good line too, and I could analyse it more in regards to the presentation of sexuality in the poem, but I am not a literature student anymore so I think for now I'll just enjoy the words and rattle them around in my own brain a bit more.

#poetry #anne sexton #illustration #poetry illustration #drawing #digital and traditional #don't mind me i'm just cleaning my brain out #poetry analysis #kinda I'm not really analysing it I'm just talking about a poem I like

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flightlessnightingale · 3 years

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On Lesbianism

I’ll state it at the top here, because many have not understood my stance. The purpose of this essay is not to say that Lesbian cannot mean “Female homosexual.” Rather, my objective is to show that Lesbian means more than that single definition suggests. Female Homosexuals are lesbians, unless they personally do not want to use that label. Now, on with the show: Lesbianism is not about gatekeeping, and I don’t want to have to keep convincing people that the movement popularized by someone who wrote a book full of lies and hate speech then immediately worked with Ronald Reagan is a bad movement. In the early ’70s, groups of what would now be called “gender critical” feminists threatened violence against many trans women who dared exist in women’s and lesbian spaces. For example, trans woman Beth Elliott, who was at the 1973 West Coast Lesbian Feminist Conference to perform with her lesbian band, was ridiculed onstage and had her existence protested. In 1979, radical feminist Janice Raymond, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, wrote the defining work of the TERF movement, “Transsexual Empire: The Making of the Shemale,” in which she argued that “transsexualism” should be “morally mandating it out of existence”—mainly by restricting access to transition care (a political position shared by the Trump administration). Soon after she wrote another paper, published for the government-funded, National Center for Healthcare Technology — and the Reagan administration cut off Medicare and private health insurance coverage for transition-related care.

Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism is a fundamentally unsustainable ideology. Lesbianism is a fundamentally sustainable existence.

There used to be a lesbian bar or queer bar or gay bar in practically every small town — sometimes one of each. After surviving constant police raids, these queer spaces began closing even Before the AIDS epidemic. Because TERFs would take them over, kick out transfems and their friends. Suddenly, there weren’t enough local patrons to keep the bars open, because the majority had been kicked out. With America’s lack of public transportation, not enough people were coming from out of town either.

TERFs, even beyond that, were a fundamental part of the state apparatus that let AIDS kill millions.

For those who don’t know, Lesbian, from the time of Sappho of Lesbos to the about 1970′s, referred to someone who rejects the patriarchal hierarchy. It was not only a sexuality, but almost akin to a gender spectrum.

That changed in the 1970′s when TERFs co-opted 2nd Wave feminism, working with Ronald fucking Reagan to ban insurance for trans healthcare.

TERFs took over the narrative, the bars, the movement, and changed Lesbian from the most revolutionary and integral queer communal identity of 2 fucking THOUSAND years, from “Someone who rejects the patriarchal hierarchy” to “A woman with a vagina who’s sexually attracted to other women with vaginas”

How does this fit into the bi lesbian debate? As I said, Lesbian is more of a Gender Spectrum than anything else, it was used much in the same way that we use queer or genderqueer today.

And it’s intersectional too.

See, if you were to try to ascribe a rigid, biological, or localized model of an identity across multiple cultures, it will fail. It will exclude people who should not be excluded. ESPECIALLY Intersex people. That’s why “Two Spirit” isn’t something rigid- it is an umbrella term for the identities within over a dozen different cultures. In the next two sections, I have excerpts on Two-Spirit and Butch identity, to give a better idea of the linguistics of queer culture: This section on Two-Spirit comes from wikipedia, as it has the most links to further sources, I have linked all sources directly, though you can also access them from the Wikipedia page’s bibliography: Two-Spirit is a pan-Indian, umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a traditional ceremonial and social role that does not correlate to the western binary. [1] [2] [3] Created at the 1990 Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering in Winnipeg, it was "specifically chosen to distinguish and distance Native American/First Nations people from non-Native peoples." [4] Criticism of Two-Spirit arises from 2 major points, 1. That it can exasperate the erasure of the traditional terms and identities of specific cultures. a. Notice how this parallels criticisms of Gay being used as the umbrella term for queer culture in general. 2. That it implies adherence to the Western binary; that Natives believe these individuals are "both male and female" [4] a. Again, you’ll notice that this parallels my criticisms of the TERF definition of Lesbian, that tying LGBT+ identities to a rigid western gender binary does a disservice to LGBT+ people,—especially across cultures. “Two Spirit" wasn’t intended to be interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian"; [2] nor was it meant to replace traditional terms in Indigenous languages. Rather, it was created to serve as a pan-Indian unifier. [1] [2] [4] —The term and identity of two-spirit "does not make sense" unless it is contextualized within a Native American or First Nations framework and traditional cultural understanding. [3] [10] [11] The ceremonial roles intended to be under the modern umbrella of two-spirit can vary widely, even among the Indigenous people who accept the English-language term. No one Native American/First Nations' culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all, or even a majority of, these cultures. [4] [8] Butch: At the turn of the 20th century, the word “butch” meant “tough kid” or referred to a men’s haircut. It surfaced as a term used among women who identified as lesbians in the 1940s, but historians and scholars have struggled to identify exactly how or when it entered the queer lexicon. However it happened, "Butch” has come to mean a “lesbian of masculine appearance or behavior.” (I have heard that, though the words originate from French, Femme & Butch came into Lesbian culture from Latina lesbian culture, and if I find a good source for that I will share. If I had to guess, there may be some wonderful history to find of it in New Orleans—or somewhere similar.) Before “butch” became a term used by lesbians, there were other terms in the 1920s that described masculinity among queer women. According to the historian Lillian Faderman,“bull dagger” and “bull dyke” came out of the Black lesbian subculture of Harlem, where there were “mama” and “papa” relationships that looked like butch-femme partnerships. Performer Gladys Bentley epitomized this style with her men’s hats, ties and jackets. Women in same-sex relationships at this time didn’t yet use the word “lesbian” to describe themselves. Prison slang introduced the terms “daddy,” “husband,” and “top sargeant” into the working class lesbian subculture of the 1930s. This lesbian history happened alongside Trans history, and often intersected, just as the Harlem renaissance had music at the forefront of black and lesbian (and trans!) culture, so too can trans musicians, actresses, and more be found all across history, and all across the US. Some of the earliest known trans musicians are Billy Tipton and Willmer “Little Ax” Broadnax—Both transmasculine musicians who hold an important place in not just queer history, but music history.

Lesbian isn’t rigid & biological, it’s social and personal, built up of community and self-determination.

And it has been for millennia.

So when people say that nonbinary lesbians aren’t lesbian, or asexual lesboromantics aren’t lesbian, or bisexual lesbians aren’t lesbian, it’s not if those things are technically true within the framework — It’s that those statements are working off a fundamentally claustrophobic, regressive, reductionist, Incorrect definition You’ll notice that whilst I have been able to give citations for TERFs, for Butch, and especially for Two-Spirit, there is little to say for Lesbianism. The chief reason for this is that lesbian history has been quite effectively erased-but it is not forgotten, and the anthropological work to recover what was lost is still ongoing. One of the primary issues is that so many who know or remember the history have so much trauma connected to "Lesbian” that they feel unable to reclaim it. Despite this trauma, just like the anthropological work, reclamation is ongoing.

Since Sappho, lesbian was someone who rejects the patriarchal hierarchy. For centuries, esbian wasn’t just a sexuality, it was intersectional community, kin to a gender spectrum, like today’s “queer”. When TERFs co-opted 2nd Wave feminism, they redefined Lesbian to “woman w/ a vag attracted to other women w/ vags”. So when you say “bi lesbians aren’t lesbian” it’s not whether that’s true within the framework, it’s that you’re working off a claustrophobic, regressive, and reductionist definition.

I want Feminism, Queerness, Lesbianism, to be fucking sustainable.

I wanna see happy trans and lesbian and queer kids in a green and blue fucking world some day.

I want them to be able to grow old in a world we made good.

#Lesbian #Trans #Transgender #Queer #Queer positivity #Queer history #Police brutality #Gay #Linguistics #Sappho #History #Femme #Butch #R #TERF #Terf friendly haha jk fuck tERFS

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attemptsonherlifepdf · 3 years

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transgression, the other, and the evolving shape of the gothic: a comparison of the bloody chamber and dracula

transgressive behaviours are at the forefront of gothic literature, a device used to impart messages surrounding temporally relevant cultural fascinations and anxieties. this theme runs throughout the reactionary genre’s timeline, including through bram stoker’s contribution to establishing the progression of gothic tropes in the victorian era, and angela carter’s 1970s prose. stoker’s fin de siecle novel explores the threats that transgressive behaviours pose to social norms and british values through binary oppositions, drawing upon victorian fears of reverse colonisation, sexual liberation and disease. conversely, carter’s modern subversion of the gothic explores these threats via stories of transformation and metamorphosis; both authors utilise the supernatural to personify these menaces to the norm, as is a vital characteristic of the genre. by having non-human characters commit explicit acts rather than humans, gothic authors can characterise the acts as monstrous and convey messages surrounding what these threatening acts mean for the characterisation of humanity. as put by kelley hurley, ‘through depicting the abhuman, the gothic reaffirms and reconstructs human identity.’

stoker’s traditional prose utilises the gothic concept of binary opposition in order to depict and villainise the threats posed upon his idealised christain characters by dracula. dracula himself, as an abhuman entity, is representative of sexual fluidity and the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, ideas which are consistent with vampirism but are at odds with victorian english values. lucy’s brutal punishment, however, is contrasted with the anticlimactic demise of dracula himself, where his ‘whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight.’ stoker could be using this opposition to suggest that those who give in to threats against typical societal conventions and fail to uphold british values are more deserving of punishment than those who actually pose the threat. the contrast provides an implication of moral inferiority: while villains are transgressive by nature, their victims who fail to resist their ideologies betray the moral code they originally conducted themselves upon. this initial betrayal is what allows the threatening character to infiltrate the population and continue to corrupt the ‘good’ characters. buzzwell supports this, suggesting that ‘lucy’s moral weakness allows dracula to repeatedly prey upon her.’ stoker arguably serves as an other himself, writing as an irish protestant in london. the opposition he constructs here between lucy and dracula’s respective manifestations of vampirism not only examines cultural variations but exemplifies and exaggerates the differences in the reactions of other characters towards them. given the author’s own ‘otheredness’, we could consider the novel a criticism of victorian xenophobia, where o’kelly argues that stoker ‘[pokes] fun at some of the victorian era’s most cherished beliefs.’ however, this view of the novel’s depiction of threats to the norm is highly disputed, with gibson highlighting stoker’s own russophobia as ‘a hatred that determines dracula’s negative portrayal as a condemnation of the orthodox eastern and slavic peoples historically allied to russia.’

contrastingly, carter’s presentation of characters succumbing to villains who jeopardise established values centres around ideas of solidarity, which she demonstrates through the ‘victims’ experience of metamorphosis. her techniques differ from stoker’s in that his use of binary oppositions is undoubtedly traditional of both the gothic and of the manichean mentality of victorian england. the usage of metamorphosis, on the other hand, allows carter to force audiences to grapple with liminality and she suggests to them that ‘othered’ groups or individuals are not entirely evil. this is a view which reflects carter’s modern, second-wave feminist perspective. jaques derrida’s ‘theory of the other’ posits that ‘otherness often provokes a paradoxical response in the viewer: fascination and repulsion.’ often the fascination is morbid, working in conjunction with repulsion: audiences are curious to understand what disgusts them. the tiger’s bride and the courtship of mr lyon, two stories within the bloody chamber collection, are subverted retellings of the traditional ‘beauty and the beast’ fairytale. while maintaining the general events of the original ending, where beauty stays with the beast of her own volition, carter offers up two dynamics between the human and abhuman that serve to recharacterise ‘othered’ creatures as less threatening and more sympathetic and innocent.

the courtship of mr lyon characterises mr lyon as a ‘leonine apparition’ and an ‘angry lion’ throughout, emphasising his predatory nature and resulting in negative connotations surrounding his ‘otherness.’ his initial threatening aura is quickly negated soon after beauty’s introduction to him, as they warm up to one another, and the story concludes with mr lyon’s transformation into a human man: ‘her tears fell on his face like snow and, under their soft transformation, the bones showed through the pelt, the flesh through the wide, tawny brow. and then it was no longer a lion in her arms but a man…’ carter’s use of metamorphosis here humanises a character that would otherwise be considered a threat to traditional norms, suggesting to readers that he may have been ‘just like us all along.’ his change in physical nature is triggered by beauty’s display of affection for him; implicit in this is the notion that we can undo our villainisation of marginalised people, and emphasises the significance of understanding between privileged and unprivileged groups. carter draws the line between what is a threat and what is simply unconventional, stripping marginalised identities of their ‘dangerous’ qualities that are attributed to them by those who abide by social norms. similarly, the tiger’s bride uses metamorphosis to suggest that those who challenge established identities are not inherently menacing, and that typical and atypical creatures can coexist. rather than have a character transform from beast to man as in the previous story, carter’s ending depicts a woman-to-beast transformation. this serves to suggest that people’s desire to understand what disgusts them can manifest as identifying with the ‘other’ and unlearning their own prejudices against them. beauty’s transformation is detailed in the closing sentences of the story: ‘and each stroke of his tongue ripped off skin after successive skin, all the skins of a life in the world, and left behind a nascent patina of shining hairs. my earrings turned back to water and trickled down my shoulders; i shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur.’ beauty’s metamorphosis can be read as a sign of solidarity towards the beast, or an understanding of his nature. roberts posits that ‘to be beast-like is virtuous. to be manly is vicious.’ carter takes this concept and uses it to criticise conventional reactions to unconventional behaviours. she deconstructs the binary that stoker relies upon, and uses a far more modern gothic convention to negate his black-and-white depiction that presents anything challenging the norm as a threat that can infiltrate civilised society, and instead presents these ‘threats’ as liberating.

perhaps an incredibly modern reading of carter’s metamorphosed characters is as an allegory for transgenderism. discussions around gender identity during the 1970s in britain, even in second-wave feminist circles, were more concerned with rejecting and redefining traditional gender roles than they were with the personal identity of individuals, so we can assume this was not carter’s intention when writing these stories. however, ideas of physical transformation, and how proximity to the ‘other’ can ‘radicalise’ one’s own identity are very fitting with treatment of transgender people both historically and presently. genres that stem from the late gothic, namely sci-fi, have been known for using metamorphosis as an allegory for marginalised identities, using physical transformation as an allegory for ideological or emotional transformation. a prime example of this is lana and lilly wachowski’s series the matrix. written as a trans allegory, the movie series criticises the social pressure for conformity the way carter does and attempts to explicitly recharacterise trans people as an innocent non-conforming identity rather than a threat. carter’s exploration and reproval of established values similarly tends to centre around ideas of gender, making this reading not entirely unreasonable. carter and stoker’s gothic texts are equally reflective of cultural anxieties in their respective temporal contexts, but where stoker reinforces racist ideologies that are at the heart of british imperialism and victorian politics, carter suggests that societal fears surrounding gender identity and liberation are unfounded.

both carter and stoker identify the victimisation of women as an established norm that is essential to the functioning of a patriarchal, capitalist society, but once again carter criticises this and stoker instead reinforces it. the notion of female vampirism is a vehicle for this discussion in both gothic texts, particularly in terms of how these supernatural women contain sexual traits that simultaneously fascinate and repel other characters. this duality is vital to what characterises them as a threat: jullian identifies ‘the gothic…’ as a genre ‘where danger is so near to pleasure’. the sexualised traits of vampire women is what allures other characters to them and allows them to infiltrate civilised society. stoker’s ‘hostility to female sexuality’ as described by roth, bookends the events of the novel with the early introduction and later reappearance of the eastern vampire women of dracula’s. their overt sexuality is repeatedly described as purposeful, with explicit juxtaposition between their attractiveness and the threat that they pose: 'there was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive.’ these women are an extension of dracula that serve to specifically explore the threat of sexual fluidity, and the crew of light’s destruction of dracula ultimately eliminates that threat. van helsing’s justification of killing these women, 'then the beautiful eyes of the fair woman open and look love ... and man is weak', demonstrates that it is men’s inability to resist sexualised creatures that will result in this threat infiltrating england, but the responsibility is placed upon the women. while this echoes stoker’s suggestion that those who succumb to villains are at fault, it inevitably criticises women regardless. kaplan argues that ‘the sexualisation and objectification of women is not simply for the purpose of eroticism; for a psychoanalytical point of view, it’s designed to annihilate the threat of women.’ the threat that kaplan refers to here is that of the new woman, an early feminist concept arising in the late 19th century. the new woman is entirely threatening to established victorian values as she ‘was often a professional woman who chose financial independence and personal fulfilment as alternatives to marriage and motherhood.’ (carol senf) by acting opposite to the ideal victorian wife, the new woman challenges normal behaviours and expectations. this is another example of stoker exploring threats to the norm via binary opposition: mina is contrasted with the vampire women, including lucy, a contrast pitting an ‘angel in the house’ character against new women. mina’s pious, devoted and submissive wifely characteristics fit the victorian ideal known as the ‘angel in the house’, a title that originates from coventry patmore’s poem in which he depicts his wife as a model for all women. this stark contrast illustrates how female sexuality threatens the value women are attributed as it prevents them from performing their expected duties for men. having a threatening or taboo act committed by a supernatural figure is a hallmark of the gothic and serves to convey to readers that the act or concept is monstrous. female sexuality is a common victim of this trope during the early and fin de siecle gothic periods, but has since been commonly subverted and empowered in more modern gothic literature.

for instance, the lady of the house of love is the most conventionally gothic text in the collection, using traditional purple prose and exaggerated, decadent settings to frame discussions about heredity, sex and death. it features a countess, whom carter depicts as simultaneously being a victim and a villain. the duality of her character is a result of carter’s signature liminality, wherein the lines between what is threatening and what is innocent are blurred to explore female sexuality as a complex trait rather than fitting the ‘good vs evil’ binary that stoker attempts to attribute it to. much of her characterisation mimics that of stoker’s vampire women, but is subverted to present the countess as a sympathetic villain: ‘her beauty is an abnormality, a deformity... a symptom of her disorder.’ the girl’s attractive traits are made synonymous with a deficiency or sickness, as is the fact that men are inevitably attracted to her. carter suggests here that the girl’s reliance on seducing men for her survival is a hereditary curse, implicitly commenting on the generational trauma women face as a result of having to rely on their relationships with sexually threatening men in order to live financially comfortable lives. this mimics the way in which society relies upon established values and social norms even though they restrict and stifle us. the countess weaponises her sexuality, and while her motivation is survival, this act is conventionally taboo and is therefore committed by a supernatural entity, to traditionally characterise it as monstrous. while carter does draw on this typical gothic trope, she uses sympathetic language to paint the countess as ‘helplessly perpetuating her ancestral crimes.’ the ending of the story, however, mentions the first world war and carter hints at the notion that humanity itself is more dangerous, more of a threat, than the threat of the perceived supernatural ‘beasts’ that people project their fears onto. once again, carter feeds into kelley hurley’s idea that ‘through depicting the abhuman, the gothic reaffirms and reconstructs human identity.’ liminal characters, such as vampires or characters like frankenstien’s monster in mary shelley’s ‘frankenstien’ that exist between life and death, exist as vehicles to discuss the complexities of human nature.

ultimately, carter paints various traits and identities that are widely considered ‘threatening’ to be multifaceted and liberating instead, as she views the established values that they ‘threaten’ to be restrictive and in need of changing. in the preface to the bloody chamber collection, helen simpson writes that 'human nature is not immutable, human beings are capable of change', arguing this point as the core of carter’s work. she suggests through her writing that what is perceived as a social threat is often based upon what is uncomfortable rather than what is actually dangerous. her work is partially ambivalent in that it does not instruct what is right or wrong the way stoker does, but instead depicts societal relationships and allows the audience to interpret it. stoker’s use of transformations that involve protagonists always has them revert back to their original state, a reinforcement of the status quo. those who do not revert to the norms are killed or punished, eradicating the threat and putting readers at ease. the exploration of threats is central to the gothic as a genre that depicts and discusses transgressive behaviours and the implications they have for wider society. as put by punter, ‘the gothic is associated with ‘the barbaric and uncivilised in order to define that which is other to the values of the civilised present.’

i.k.b

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sapphosboy · 3 years

Text

Bisexuality has always included trans people. Just because all you know about pansexuality was from a line on TV show that was written by cishet people doesn’t mean you actually know what it is. Stop only listening to non-pansexual people and actually pay attention to real pansexual people tell you what it is.

You screaming at pansexual people that their label is “transphobic” doesn’t actually help trans people. Real trans activism requires actual work and is about widespread change within government and societal messaging. Instead of getting angry at pansexual people for a living their lives, how about you get angry at the people who are literally murdering trans women and men in the streets.

You argue that allowing people to use the pansexual label is “perpetrating transphobic stereotypes” and then turn around and do nothing to actually help end said stereotypes.

Not to mention that their label has nothing to do with you. If someone using the label “pansexual” bothers you, then that sounds like a you problem.

Also for the love of goodness stop trying to pit bisexual people and pansexual people against each other. It literally isn’t helping anyone. And does it really need to be spelled out for you? Bisexual means attracted to multiple genders, and pansexual means attracted to all genders. These are different because “multiple” isn’t the same thing as “all.”

Also, just to add onto this, both of these include non-binary people. And, once again, trans people are included in literally all forms of attraction. You could be a lesbian and be attracted to a trans woman because she’s a fucking woman.

Also transphobia comes in many forms some major, some small, but the only sexuality that is transphobic is those fucking idiots on TikTok that called themselves “super straight” and that’s not even a fucking sexuality that’s just cishet transphobes being assholes.

#pansexual positivity #tw panphobia #bisexuality and pansexual solidarity #tw transphobia mention

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possibilistfanfiction · 3 years

Note

Okay Elsa is annoying but … any Elsa thoughts on the future?

i also agree that elsa is annoying but u know shes a good mom honestly. also we all know casey is non binary in our hearts so. here's something i guess :) also on ao3

////

the morning gates stay open (i’d be there)

i’m born to be somebody, then somebody comes from me i’ll tell you about the rabbit moon and when to keep walking

— clairo, ‘reaper’

you see izzie — and no one else — waiting for you when you head out of the terminal at lax.

‘hey elsa,’ she says, giving you a hug when you open your arms, even though you’re a little confused. ‘casey’s in the bathroom,’ she rushes to explain, rolling her eyes fondly. ‘they had like six la croixs today, even though i said it was a bad idea, and —‘

you don’t really process much else because then casey is barreling into you, even though ever facetime call has ended abruptly with an adamant refusal to return any sentiment about missing each other. ‘hey mom,’ casey says into your shoulder, and when you back up you have to smile at the sun-kissed freckles and cutoff shorts fraying at the hem, even though it’s february and snowing in connecticut. casey looks happy, and links hands with izzie, who tries to take your suitcase for you before you glare at casey, who sighs and takes it instead.

you’ve visited before; you helped both of them move into their dorms, and then you’d flown out with doug for a weekend in october. casey and izzie came home for thanksgiving and winter break, but you have some miles saved up now and casey hadn’t sounded too annoyed at the idea of you visiting for a few days to get out of the cold. they drop your things off at the hotel you booked near campus, and then izzie levels casey with a look and then says, ‘i have to meet with a group for a midterm presentation, but i’ll see you for dinner.’

you give her a hug and she kisses casey easily, quickly, and says, ‘i love you,’ far too seriously for an afternoon apart. you don’t know what’s going on but you think back to what izzie had said earlier — not about casey drinking too many la croixs; listening to rules has never been a strong suit, after all — but, you think, if you were listening, maybe izzie didn’t say her, which might mean—

‘let’s go to the palisades,’ casey says, then starts to ramble nervously about how they’re closer to the west side than laguna or manhattan but not as crowded as the pier, and who wants to be around that many tourists anyway, and there’s a little cafe if you wanted some snacks. you listen patiently and agree to any plans, because it’s a beautiful day and you don’t, actually, want to drive that much in la traffic or be by so many tourists. eventually casey runs out of things to say and turns on the radio to some music you don’t know but honestly don’t think is half bad. the windows are down and the sun is bright and you’ve been to pflag meetings in new haven for over a year now; you think you’ll knock it out of the park if casey tells you anything.

you do stop by the cafe, which is cute, and pick up a few snacks. casey had packed a big beach blanket, one you’d given as a joint gift to izzie and casey for christmas, which makes you smile. casey’s hands are shaking, a little, though, and so you don’t mention that it was, in fact, a great present that apparently they use all the time, according to izzie, who always politely and enthusiastically returns your texts and calls with all sorts of updates.

you sit down in the warm sand near the water and you know casey; sometimes, you just have to wait it out.

‘so.’

‘hmmm.’

casey fiddles with the edge of the blanket and then with some of the fruit you got at the cafe, before staring straight ahead at the waves. ‘i’m, uh. whew. well.’

you don’t laugh, will your body not to. instead, you squeeze casey’s hand, just once.

‘i’m just your kid, okay?’

you sit with that for a moment, try to process what you think casey is saying, but you don’t want to get anything wrong or jump to conclusions. ‘today, at the airport, izzie said they, when referring to you.’

casey sits for a second, shoulders tense all the way up toward the sky, and then says, ‘oh.’

‘i don’t think she was even thinking about it.’ casey nods. ‘but, is that what you’re talking about?’

casey sighs. ‘yeah. i guess. is that — is that okay?’

‘of course it’s okay,’ you say, because it definitely is okay, and also it’s not the most shocking news you’ve heard. casey hasn’t wanted anything to do with femininity, really, for as long as you can remember; you’ve grown used to, and proud, so often, of having a queer child — and another bonus queer child, too, which is what you consider izzie now, no matter what.

casey sniffles and then leans into your shoulder. ‘i know you’re, like, bursting with questions.’

you laugh, just a little, and feel a small smile against your skin. ‘not if you don’t want to answer them.’

‘depends on the questions.’

‘do you have any term you like, or any concept or something? i’ve been doing a lot of reading, and i’ve met a lot of other parents in pflag who have children who are also gender non-conforming, and—‘

‘whoa, slow your roll,’ casey says, but seems to deflate a little in relief. ‘non binary is fine, i guess. i’m just — not a girl. i’m just casey.’

that makes you smile. ‘your name is still casey, then?’

it produces an eye roll but then a begrudging, ‘it’s a good name. i like my name,’ so you’ll take it as a win.

‘i have great taste.’

‘ugh.’

‘you use they/them pronouns?’

‘yeah,’ casey says. ‘but, like, it’s okay if you don’t always get them right or whatever.’

‘no, it’s not,’ you say gently. ‘i’ll try really hard. i’ll get them right. it’s important.’

that produces a fresh round of tears that they try to dismiss by saying the sun is really bright and they have a hangover, which you know is false because casey had been asleep by 9 last night after an all-nighter and cross country the day before. but you let them have it, eat a few grapes and then toss one their way.

it elicits a reluctant laugh but it works all the same. ‘izzie corrects people all the time so she’ll love you more than she already does.’

‘i’m so glad you brought my favorite child into my life.’

‘wow, thanks elsa,’ casey deadpans, but then digs their hand into the sand and smiles. ‘izzie’s been so awesome, with all of this. i really love her.’

‘i know you do,’ you say with a smile, pat their hand.

‘and i’ll tell sam and dad eventually, but i want to tell them in person because sam won’t care, i’m sure, but dad is… you know.’

‘he loves you,’ you assure them. ‘i won’t say anything, of course.’

they look at you suspiciously.

you hold your hands up. ‘i swear i won’t. i know i love to meddle but i would never out you.’

casey sighs and nods. ‘i believe you,’ they say. ‘but, for the record, meddling is your most toxic trait.’

‘yeah, yeah.’

‘i don’t really want to talk about this anymore,’ they say quietly after a few moments. ‘it stresses me out, sometimes.’

‘okay. any time you want or need, though.’

they nod. ‘love you, mom.’

‘love you, casey.’

they pop up off the blanket, then, which whips sand into your face and all the food, and then take off toward the waves, laughing. you let them have a little space for a moment, watching your brave child chase off into the surf, fearless as always.

you take izzie to lunch the next day; casey has class during that time and you like to spend time with izzie anyway. she sits straight and proper but you see how she’s relaxed a little too, here, maybe getting to have a childhood for the first time ever. her hair is long and perpetually wavy from her runs by the ocean, and her eyes are bright.

‘thank you,’ she says, ‘for being so good with casey yesterday. they told me that you were awesome.’

‘casey, my child, said those words about me?’

izzie laughs, delicately takes a bite of her quinoa bowl, then shrugs. ‘not those words exactly. but they meant it. and they were so happy this morning, like a weight was lifted or something. i told them they didn’t need to be that anxious to tell you or anything but it’s been a process, you know. i think it’s been hard for a while.’

‘they like to let things stew, don’t they?’

izzie huffs. ‘it’s the worst.’

‘welcome to my world.’

‘casey is… quite the person, that’s for sure.’

‘thank you, too, izzie. for loving them so completely.’

izzie blushes, looks down at her hands. ‘impossible not to, i think.’

you think back to all the times casey has driven you up the wall over the years, the tantrums and fights, and then reach out to squeeze izzie’s hand. ‘impossible not to,’ you agree.

casey and izzie come home for spring break, and casey is pacing around and so you order food, send izzie to go get it, who thanks you quietly with a little squeeze to your shoulder.

you sit down on the couch and make sure that sam and doug are actually paying attention and then casey sighs.

‘is this an intervention?’ sam asks when casey doesn’t say anything. ‘i don’t know who it would be for.’

casey sighs again. ‘it’s not an intervention.’

‘okay,’ sam says, ‘good.’

casey tries to still their hands on their thighs and then says, ‘i’m not a girl. or a boy. or anything else, really, i guess. uh, if that makes sense.’

doug looks genuinely baffled but sam just nods.

‘there are many animals that don’t fit into a gender or sex binary. most commonly, it’s referred to as sequential hermaphroditism.’

casey nods contemplatively and your heart warms a little.

‘one of my friends is trans,’ he says, then takes out his notebook. ‘what are your name and pronouns?’

you can tell casey is trying not to cry, but they just clear their throat. ‘uh, casey, and they/them pronouns.’

sam writes something in his notebook and then nods. ‘got it. sibling? is that okay?’

casey is really trying not to cry now. ‘that’s great, sam.’

‘cool,’ he says. ‘is that all?’

‘oh, uh, yeah,’ casey says, ‘thanks, sam.’

‘sure, i’m just glad this wasn’t an intervention,’ he says, then stands and leaves the room without another word.

casey is smiling but then they turn to really look at doug, who has a furrowed brow.

‘i’m sorry, case,’ he says, which might not be the best start, but you’re fully prepared to jump in anytime they need. ‘i don’t — i don’t understand fully.’

he doesn’t sound angry, and he gets up to sit by them on the couch, squeezes their shoulder once.

‘i love you, though, and i guess, uh. you’re my kid. i just want you to be safe and happy. i’ll try to learn, okay?’

casey swallows once, and then again, and then hugs doug tight. ‘please never quote this, and only remember it for your sake and not mine, but mom knows a lot. she can definitely help explain stuff.’

you beam and doug nods. casey rolls their eyes.

’not now, though,’ they say. ‘izzie’s back with the food.’ they flash their phone. ‘she’s just been waiting outside until we were done talking. elsa, i see what you did there.’

‘you’re welcome.’

‘that pizza better not have pineapple or else i’m taking back everything i just said.’

‘extra pineapple, believe it or not.’

casey stomps off, and then makes a little noise of satisfaction from the kitchen when they discover that, in fact, you had actually ordered pepperoni. you hear izzie laugh.

‘so… we don’t have a daughter anymore?’ doug asks, quietly. ‘that’s not what i should call …’

‘them,’ you supply. ‘casey is our child,’ you say firmly, ‘they’re just casey.’

he takes a deep breath and then nods. ‘okay.’

‘we can practice. i’ve been practicing.’

doug looks relieved. ‘okay, good.’ he waits a beat and then laughs, just once. ‘you know, of all the things casey has ever come to us with, even though i don’t understand the details, really, this might be the one that makes the most sense.’

you smile, lace your fingers together. ‘i thought the same thing.’

when casey and izzie come home for a few weeks in the summer before preseason training begins, casey has a few more tattoos and a buzzcut and the biggest smile you’ve ever seen. izzie is in a crop top and long, flowing skirt and they’re both as enamored with each other as always, sweet and considerate and happy. you make peace with it all, because casey is kinder by the day, it seems, even to you.

zahid comes over one night and smiles and says, ‘sick shoes,’ to casey and leaves it at that, even though earlier you had told them that you thought they looked like geriatric shoes — not even in jest, you were worried about arch support or something — and izzie had laughed and casey had spluttered, ‘they’re jordans.’

it’s not hard to realize, as the weeks pass, that casey is better than they’d ever been; you’d read that a lot of trans and non binary teams have a really hard time during puberty, especially, and casey had been going through so much on top of trying to process this part of their identity. you fight the urge to wish you had known more then, even though they’re healthy and thriving now, it seems.

they get everyone to help organize a slip n slide in the backyard made with tarps and soap and water, and it’s genuinely hilarious when they set up an obstacle course. for two division i athletes, casey and izzie do terribly, falling all over each other and getting bubbles everywhere. you’re pretty sure casey is wearing a binder instead of a swimsuit or sports bra, and when they finally finish their ridiculous game, they lie back on the grass with izzie.

they’re both breathing hard and laughing periodically, not really talking. you bring them popsicles and it’s been a while since you’ve seen casey look this young.

things settle.

you miss your kids, of course, but they seem very genuinely happy. but one night in the fall, you’re just sitting down with a glass of nice merlot, ready to watch the newest episode of the bachelor even though casey relentlessly tells you it’s ‘misogynist garbage’ — which you know, obviously, but it’s mindless — when your phone rings.

it’s casey, and casey never really calls you for a good reason, and your heart jumps in your chest. you put down your wine and pause the tv.

‘case?’

you hear them sniffle on the other end of the line.

‘what’s wrong?’

your mind runs through a million different scenarios, each worse than the last.

‘izzie’s hurt,’ they say, finally, and casey has been known to be a little dramatic so you don’t know how hurt, or what you need to do.

‘what happened, honey? what do you need from me?’

’the trainers are taking her to the hospital for an mri right now but they think she tore her achilles in practice today. i don’t — she was running next to me, just intervals, and then i heard a pop and then she was screaming and — can you come? i’m sorry. they think she might need surgery, i guess, and, i just. please? can you come?’

you put down your wine and walk to your laptop. ‘i’ll look up flights right now, case. i’ll be there as soon as i can, okay?’

they let out what you can tell is a very relieved breath. ‘okay.’

‘i found one that can get me there tomorrow morning. i’ll find a hotel and keep you updated.’

‘mom,’ they say, ‘thank you.’

‘i love you, and i love izzie.’ it’s firm, but you mean it like that: there is no question; you will be there. ‘i’ll see you both soon.’

izzie does need surgery, you find out by the next morning when you uber from the airport to the hospital. casey is hunched over in a hoodie, trying to stay awake with a cup of coffee, but izzie smiles sleepily and happily when you come into the room quietly.

‘i’m high,’ she says, giggling a little.

casey rolls their eyes, clearly exhausted, but gets up to hug you tight. izzie squeezes your hand back when you kiss her cheek.

‘you didn’t need to come,’ she says suddenly, a little furrow to her brow.

‘of course i did.’

her lower lip starts to wobble and casey rolls their eyes but huffs a little laugh anyway. it’s an uncharacteristically chilly, rainy day outside and it’s surprisingly easy to convince casey to go back to the dorm to shower and nap for a few hours before they come back in the afternoon. izzie mostly sleeps, but you take careful notes when the surgeon comes to speak to you, because izzie really is out of it and, although they promise to come back and explain things later, you don’t want them to be missing any information. plus, they always process information better when it’s written down anyway.

izzie eventually gets discharged and has to come back a few days later for surgery. you have savings, so you’re lucky enough that you can stay for a bit. izzie is groggy but gets to have an outpatient procedure, and you help casey get her situated back in her dorm afterward. she has a big padded boot on her foot and ankle but you picked up pain medication for her and so she mostly sleeps. casey settles in next to izzie on the small bed and kisses her forehead, then looks at you, eyes big. their hair has grown out so that it falls floppily over their brows; it makes them look young and you have to fight to not want to kiss their forehead or hold their hand.

‘just — thank you, mom.’

you leave after a few days because izzie is doing better, taking just tylenol and very coherently getting around fine on crutches and so therefore casey has relaxed as well, their easy smiles back and their posture relaxed, slouched like normal.

they both come to see you off at the airport, casey doting carefully and izzie swatting away any attempts. you kiss izzie’s forehead and then do the same to casey, even though they fake gag.

within a few weeks, izzie is walking again, tenderly at first but then without any pause. casey actually gives you studious updates about her recovery; from what you can tell, they go to every physical therapy session they can possibly make it to. you know izzie has gone to therapy for years, now, and all of the drama from when she and casey first started dating seems to have faded into the background. but injuries are difficult, you think — scary and painful, especially because of what running has been to izzie. but eventually she sends you a selfie of the two of them by the beach, clearly having just run, with fly away hair and casey’s cheeks flushed red, huge smiles squinting into the sun.

a year passes, full of holidays and casey complaining about finals and izzie sending you pictures of pies she tries to bake in the tiny dorm kitchen. they run; sometimes when you’re pretty sure they’re a little high, casey will facetime you just to say hello. you and doug help them move into a small duplex together at the beginning of junior year, a bright sunny kitchen and the breeze from the ocean floating through the windows.

casey takes you to get coffee when they visit for thanksgiving — so you know something’s up, because they would never voluntarily spend time alone with you unless they really needed to talk — and when you sit down they smile at you, gently and openly, a rare occasion, and say, ‘i’m gonna have top surgery in the spring.’

you’re not surprised, and you’ve done casey’s laundry enough times when they’ve visited that you know they’ve been wearing a binder most days; you know they love being an athlete, and izzie has sent you enough articles about non-binary athletes in women’s leagues that you know casey has a place in sport.

that this surgery is happening, though, is a little different. you feel scared, because casey is your child, but mostly you feel excited for them. relieved for them.

‘that’s so wonderful, casey,’ you say, and they blink just once and then a grin lights up their face.

they tell you about their surgeon, and the type of surgery they’re going to have, how izzie has gone with them but how, they admit, they would love if you facetimed in for their next pre-op appointment in a few months.

‘can you help me explain it to dad? sam and i already talked, to be honest, because he asked me. which is, like, inappropriate from anyone else, but he’s sam, so it was mostly just so he could research statistics and stuff.’

you laugh, squeeze their hand. ‘i’ll help, absolutely.’

you go out to la a few months after casey’s surgery with doug and sam; everything had gone well and casey had cried in joy and relief when they’d seen their chest afterward for the first time, which had set izzie off, which had set you off too. you’re pretty sure doug had even sniffled.

when you’d left, though, they still had bandages and bruising but now it’s almost the beginning of their senior year and when you go to the beach they take their shirt off and then shove sam into the sand with a laugh. sam grumbles but gets up to dust himself off, izzie rolling her eyes as she helps you set out the blanket.

casey races off into the surf, turning back and yelling at all of you to come join them. you always have; you do.

#fic #atypical #cassie x izzie #cazzie

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theydjarin · 3 years

Note

dincobb server got this on my mind, so dincobb where Din settles down in Mos Pelgo in some capacity with Cobb and starts experimenting with different styles of clothing

Thank you for the prompt!! This is longer than I planned, and rated M.

Featuring cross dressing, trans masc Din, but also general gender fluidity that neither of these two have a name for.

[still accepting trans prompts for any din ship]

It's one of those days where Din wakes up bored. It's his day off from his duties in Mos Pelgo, during his month off from his duties on Mandalore, and he's bored, fingers itching and mind racing. But he doesn't feel like going outside and being around people, confronted with the small talk and gossip of a small town. So instead, he finds himself looking through the nooks and crannies inside of his and Cobb's home. It's mostly items he's seen or expected, miscellaneous vaporator parts, countless ribbed red shirts and scarves, his own armor, and the like.

Eventually, he makes his way to the second, less-used dresser, not expecting much different. He doesn't even realize what he's seeing at first, assuming the red is just yet another scarf, until he notices the fabric looks different. A different color, yes, but it also looks... softer, more fragile. His hands reach out before he can think about it, and he's right, the fabric is incredibly smooth and soft, so smooth that he almost thinks he shouldn't touch it, that his hands will damage the fabric from how much roughness they've seen throughout his life.

He doesn't damage the fabric, however, and he pulls it from the drawer, quickly realizing it's a red dress. It's such a contrast to the rough flight suit and unyielding armor he's worn nearly every day for his entire adult life that Din doesn't even know what to do with himself. He feels his heart pounding in his chest for reasons unknown, and he just can't stop touching the fabric, resisting the urge to press his face up into it or to hold it up against his body, maybe to imagine--

His train of thought is interrupted by the door to the bedroom opening, his partner walking in and taking in the scene in front of him.

The look on Cobb's face isn't angry or embarrassed, but it's... shy, shyer than Din has ever seen before, and it's then that Din realizes just why Cobb has this dress in the first place.

"Hey," Din says softly, his lips twitching up into a small smile. He can tell the winds have been kicking up all morning, judging by Cobb's wind-blown hair and the distinct line of sand and dirt above where he would have been covering his mouth with his scarf.

Cobb walks closer to him. "Hey yourself," he says, putting his hand over Din's over the fabric he's grasping.

"I was snooping," Din admits.

"Is that so?" Cobb asks, looking amused, the shyness gone from his eyes. Din wonders how much Cobb can see spread across his own face. "Ain't really snooping when it's your room too." He leans down and presses a chaste kiss to Din's lips.

"I like the dress," Din says, not sure how to express the full depth of the thoughts speeding through his mind at a hundred parsecs a minute.

"Oh yeah?" Cobb asks and kisses him again. "Wanna see?"

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

Cobb takes his sweet time in the refresher, but Din's breath is taken away when he comes out. He took the time to wash his face and hair of the day's grime, and the dress looks stunning on him. Where most of the clothes he dons are more functional than anything, the dress is anything but. The dress reaches just to the middle of his thigh and the thin straps show off his deceptively strong shoulders, decorated with scars from a lifetime of survival. Cobb is practically glowing. The red on his cheeks just about match the dress, and it's from more than just the harsh light of the Tatooine suns. His eyes are shining bright and-- and happy.

"You look amazing," Din says when Cobb reaches him. His hands move forward to rest oh-so-gently on his waist and his thumb rubs circles against the fabric, still so soft against his skin. "Why haven't I seen this before?"

"Thank you kindly," Cobb says. He looks away and wraps his arms around Din, holding him close. "I've never worn this around anybody before."

"I'm honored," Din says into his neck, smelling the artificial soap they both use and the smell of Cobb underneath it. "Do you still want me to use 'Cobb'? And... he?"

Cobb hums considering. "I'm still a man," Cobb says. "Well, most of the time, I suppose. Right now, to be certain. Sometimes I feel differently." He shrugs. "But most of the time, I just like it. Feels good against my skin, feels... free. Don't rightly know how else to describe it."

Cobb presses a kiss to the side of Din's head, and Din lets his hands explore, feeling the fabric as it presses against the taut skin of Cobb's back.

"Is it sexual?" he asks.

Cobb laughs, presses another kiss to Din's head, then pulls his face up into a kiss, deeper than before. Din opens his mouth up to him and they kiss for a few seconds, Din's hands still touching Cobb all over, reveling in the feel of the dress. He wants... he wants...

"Can be," Cobb finally says when they part, breathing heavy. "I've had to get rid of some mighty tough stains, that's for sure." Din can feel the heat of Cobb's hardness against his thigh and Din presses up against it. "But not always. Some days I'll just wear it while I'm doing my normal shit. Cooking, reading a book, fixing up 'round the house."

Din can imagine it. Cobb lounging on the couch, legs apart like always, reading something on the datapad. Cobb with flour in his hair from baking. Cobb with a streak of grease on his face from doing repairs, ruggedness standing in contrast against the dress.

"Can I..." Din starts. The question gets stuck in his throat, and he leans in to press his lips against Cobb's collarbone.

"Anything you want, darlin', just say the word."

"Can I try it on?" Din blurts out.

Cobb freezes for a second before he starts shaking, and Din realizes he's laughing at him. He frowns and starts to pull back and away. "Never mind," he says, "it was just a-"

"No! Darlin', no, I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just not what I was expecting, is all." He pulls Din back in for another kiss and smiles against his lips. "I thought you were going to ask if you could grab that dick of yours in the bedside table and bend me over the dresser."

Finally, Din catches up and a smile pulls on his face to match Cobb's. "Wouldn't be opposed to that, if you want."

"What I want is for you to try on the dress." He presses a kiss to Din's forehead and pulls back. "Not this one though."

He moves over to the dresser and pulls out another drawer, picking out a yellow bundle. A dress, in the same style as the one Cobb is wearing, but a bright mustard yellow instead of the sharp red. Din's mouth goes dry and he reaches out to grab it. This time, he doesn't stop himself from rubbing it against his face. The fabric pulls against his stubble and feels unbelievable against his skin. Cobb looks at him so, so tenderly that Din damn near wants to cry.

"Go on, then." He nods towards the fresher. "Take as much time as you need."

"No," Din says breathlessly. "I'll-- here." He wastes no time in pulling off his dark shirt, throwing it haphazardly where he normally would take the time to put it away, and pushes down his long pants, kicking them away.

The dress goes easily over his head, but getting his arms through the straps proves to be somewhat of a challenge. Nothing he can't overcome, though, and soon enough it's situated, and he just looks up at Cobb and smiles. He brushes his hands down his chest that he knows is only adorned with his binary scars, down to his thighs, feeling the soft fabric all the way down. The dress is lighter than he expected, and, weirdly, he feels like he can breathe easier. Easier than he could in his flight suit, easier than he could in his sleepwear, and easier than he could when he was wearing nothing at all.

"You like it?" Cobb asks him. Din feels higher than he did when Cobb introduced him to that leafy green spice of his.

"Yeah," he says and it feels like an understatement.

"Wanna take a look?"

"Yeah."

Cobb pulls him to the fresher, the only floor length mirror in the abode.

"You're breathtaking," Cobb tells him as he stands behind Din, holding him close.

Din's not one for vanity, but in this case he has to agree. He never thought he'd be capable of looking so soft and vibrant before in his life. And together, he and Cobb make quite a pair, complimenting and contrasting each other in equal measure, red and yellow burning bright together.

Cobb's arms wrap around Din's waist and he's pulled in, back flush against Cobb's front. Cobb rests his chin on Din's neck, admiring the picture of them together in the mirror.

"How'd I get so lucky?" Cobb asks, holding him tight. Din turns around in his arms and kisses him.

"I ask myself that every day." They kiss for a few moments more, the silky smooth fabric of their dresses sliding against each other so easily that Din can feel everything. "Now how about instead of the dresser, I bend you over this sink."

Cobb laughs at that, shining and beautiful, and presses Din up against said sink. "Darlin'," he says, "I thought you'd never ask."

#din djarin #cobb vanth #dincobb #my fic #trans din djarin

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butterflyinthewell · 3 years

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To trans folks who are trying to set trolls straight about Chris-Chan’s gender: Your hearts are in the right place, but the trolls do not care. They will keep misgendering Chris to piss you off and screenshot your reaction.

Yes, I’m talking about THE Chris-Chan. CWC, creator of Sonichu.

(TW: this post will mention rape and incest.)

I know, I know… “But if we let people misgender Chris, what’s stopping them from doing it to other trans people?”

Nothing.

There’s nothing you can do, unfortunately. The thing with trolls is they aren’t here to learn, they’re here to frustrate, annoy and anger you. They throw out all kinds of little hooks by saying offensive things, or things that trick you, and it’s all a game to them when somebody bites the bait.

It wouldn’t surprise me if trolls are saying horrible things about autism, too. That’s more my lane and partly why I don’t dig too deep in the tags about this situation. Again, I stress not engaging with that to correct trolls. They don’t care, they want to offend you.

As frustrating as it is, take note of the people who use Chris’ current pronouns and recognize that there are people who make an effort to get them right. I’m sure the trans people reading what you say will see that and know you care to gender them correctly.

It’s possible Chris transitioned believing she can get with lesbians. It’s entirely possible she’s exactly the stereotype that TERFs rant about and her shitty behavior might be used in the future to argue their views. TERFs will be TERFs. Some of Chris’ trolls may be trans themselves.

As it stands, Chris presents as a woman, so I’ll use she/her pronouns unless she decides to present as non-binary or a man again. You’re welcome to do the same when talking about her. Don’t waste your time trying to correct trolls, just use Chris’ current pronouns and leave it at that.

It sucks, but that’s how trolls troll.

Moving on…

I wonder if Chris would’ve been a weird, harmless nobody if Mimms never took her photo in The Game Place.

This all started because her photo was taken without her knowledge or consent and posted on a forum, which ended up spreading to the wider web and…yeah.

Would she have been an internet sensation? Would she have transitioned? Would she be a known name on the web?

Maybe everything would’ve gone down the same, but without an audience to bear witness.

Regardless, Chris is a trainwreck of a person. I don’t say that lightly. She didn’t deserve the trolling and abuse she got, yet she isn’t innocent in this either.

I felt sorry for her at first because I’m autistic too and was bullied severely in high school, some of it included physical assault and attempted murder. I reacted to the constant name calling and mockery irl a lot like Chris reacted to her online trolls. I’m thankful that my most volatile years happened before I had internet access. I’m two years older than Chris. I had my own drama with trolls that lasted a few years, but I grew up a bit more.

But I digress…

Chris didn’t get the internet safety talk that I got before getting let loose online, and people took advantage of her gullibility, her autism, whatever mental illnesses she might have and her obsession with getting laid. She ignored warnings to the contrary and in some instances her mom enabled her while her dad tried (and failed) to reign her in.

At the same time, Chris has a history of being racist, ableist, homophobic and misogynistic. She ignores people’s boundaries even when they were clearly stated. She’s entitled and thinks everything bad is a conspiracy against her. She acts like the world operates on cartoon rules and can’t handle it when situations don’t turn out in her favor like she believes they should. It’s a strange view of “Anything I do is good because I did it, and anybody who tells me it’s bad or treats me badly is evil or a troll.”

How she comes across to others and how she thinks she comes across are incongruent with each other, and she refuses to take any correction. An example is the claw hand she used to do while railing at trolls. It’s clear she’s imitating stuff she saw in cartoons, but doesn’t grasp that it looks silly in real life. It leaves me wondering if she ever watched her videos back to see how she really looks before uploading them.

Chris did a lot of disgusting things of her own volition, like not leaving people alone, uploading that sexual drawing featuring Megan, using pepper spray without provocation and trying to hit someone with her car.

Trolls tricked her into humiliating herself and shared the results, like hacking into her email, sharing chats where she gave out embarrassing details about herself, prank calling her house and posting the infamous blowup doll video.

If you know “Christory”, you know what I’m talking about.

If you don’t know, it’s something that’s gone on longer than some people have been alive.

No side is innocent here. I don’t blame Chris for attracting trolls, they chose to go and harass her because she jumped when they poked her.

I’ve followed Chris’ story off and on since 2008, back when she was making her Sonichu comics and being awkward. I never participated in trolling her. I’ve only ever seen the aftermath of troll operations, but the things she endured were cruel. (The Miyamoto saga and the BlueSpike saga come to mind.) I looked her up to see if she was alive and okay. I sent her my AFBV message a couple years ago, but never got a response.

I wonder if this could’ve been avoided if Chris never got trolled and was supervised better while online. That’s where her parents failed her. I felt bad for her; she didn’t know how to conduct herself and kept falling for trolling schemes because she was so desperate to get a girlfriend. It’s like she ignored that little gut warning that says “hey, this feels like a trick” and it was like watching someone fall down the same hillside over and over.

But after what she did to her mom, I lost any sympathy I had for her. Yes, trolls have traumatized her and messed with her head for over a decade and that’s gross, but what she did to her mom was unconscionable. It’s indefensible. It’s morally abhorrent.

She had sex with (or possibly raped via coercion) her elderly mom, who may have dementia.

Chris’ autism was taken advantage of for years, and now she might’ve taken advantage of her mom’s dementia to harm her for the past month.

Think about that. There is no defending that. She finally did something she can’t just wave away or pay her way out of.

Trolls didn’t put Chris up to that, she did it all by herself.

Now she’s under arrest.

Time and again Chris has had run-ins with the law and got away with slaps on the wrist, but I don’t think she’s going to walk away from this so easily.

I hope this situation finally gets Chris the help she desperately needs. I don’t know if her dimensional merge stuff is a delusion from undiagnosed and untreated mental illness or if it’s a paracosm she’s chosen to live in and act out because she can’t handle how cruel the real world is. Please note that I don’t say mental illness lightly either, because I’m aware of the stigma.

At this point I think she needs a caregiver who will supervise her online activities and help her manage her finances. (She will likely resist this…)

Chris’ autism and whatever else she has going on appears to make it very difficult for her to see things from any perspective besides her own. I’m autistic too, so I understand this— sometimes I get this way and have to walk myself back to see other perspectives, or I ask people to give me their side of it to help me understand how they see it even if I don’t agree with their view.

Chris needed more guidance and reality checks growing up, but didn’t get them, and now she needs both more than ever as she faces the results of her behavior. If she is delusional, she needs help to navigate it and I hope she can do that away from trolls. She needs to face consequences for (possibly) raping someone.

I wonder what the legal system will do with her, and I hate that her life has come to this. It was so avoidable. 😞

Sorry, Chris…I hope you’ll get help now, and I hope Barb is okay.

#Chris-Chan #chris chan #swearing #long post #I couldn’t tag with the r word or the I word or tumblr wouldn’t show it in tags #I hope the warning at the top is enough.

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carryon-countdown · 3 years

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MLM/Trans Rep Issues: a conversation

Hello everyone!

As was announced to the public in this post, we’ve noticed some voices of discontent from mlm/trans people in this fandom. We’ve spent the past week talking to many mlm/trans people in this fandom, to listen to what has likely been hurting them/making them uncomfortable. Our goal here was to educate ourselves on views that we’d been overlooking and to have a conversation about how to move forward.

We’re glad to say that every person who reached out to us was very patient and informative, so now we’re able to share what we’ve learned with our followers and the rest of the fandom. What makes everything a bit more complicated, however, is that it became clear quite quickly that not every mlm/trans person experiences these issues the same way. Most people we talked to had their very own way of viewing things, and we, as admins, think that each individual view had something valuable to say. There’s not a very clear right or wrong here, so we’re going to ask everyone not to approach these issues like there’s a definitive right or wrong.

What we’re going to do instead is explain the different views, in hope that it will educate many of you who’d had a blindspot to these issues. And then it’ll be up to each individual person to self-reflect and decide what you think is important. Once again, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive right or wrong, so we think the best we can do is make sure everyone has as much information to make their own choices with.

Fetishizing

One of the main issues that was brought to our attention is the fetishisation of mlm ships (in this fandom’s case mainly snowbaz). Some people we talked to said they came across this quite a lot, others felt like it happened here and there, and others said it happened so little that they had never been able to come up with an example of this within the fandom. So that already gives everyone an idea of what we mean by people seeming to have very different experiences.

What it means to use a ship for fetishisation is that you interact with the ship in a way that is purely focussed on the “hotness”/aesthetic of the ship, instead of focussing on the actual dynamic of this ship. This turns the ship into something more like an object of your fantasies, instead of seeing it as a representation of something real.

Everyone we talked to agreed that fetisising is wrong/hurtful. There were, however, more divided opinions on where the lines lie between content that is and isn’t rooted in fetishisation. Some views are more quickly to label a piece of smut that’s just straight up porn, with a strong focus on the “sexiness” of it all, as a piece rooted in fetishisation, while others think it’s more okay to have smut like this because wanting to celebrate a ship that you love having a bit of sexy-time can definitely come from a place of loving the ship for who they are rather than a objectifying sexual fantasy standpoint.

This shows that the whole concept of judging whether a piece of fan content is fetishising the ship isn’t something that’s just black and white. Something that is easier to judge, though, is yourself and where your love for the ship/certain pieces of content comes from.

We do thus strongly encourage you to take a look at yourself and the way you interact with the ships and content in this fandom. It’s good to ask yourself what your intentions are when creating/sharing any content relating to these ships, and to question whether you might be fetishising. We hope everyone will refrain from engaging with this ship from a fetisising standpoint. It’s often not something that happens to intent harm, but it is something that makes people who are actually represented within the ship highly uncomfortable and upset. It’s not a form of support to any sexuality/type of relationship that might be represented in the ship.

(Note: please don’t instantly write off the idea that you might be fetishising because you, for example, aren’t even attracted to men, because that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t look at a mlm ship in an objectifying way. Please, just, absolutely everyone, take an honest look at your view towards the ships in this fandom, and try to see if there’s instances where you are fetishising these ships.)

Genderbending

Genderbending/genderswap was the other main topic of the conversations we’ve had with mlm/trans people. Genderbending is simply put: changing the genders from one or more of the characters present in your work, to a gender that’s not their canon gender. In our fandom we mostly see this trope used on snowbaz, thus having them become fem!snowbaz.

A big critique for genderbending is that, very often, with genderbending the appearance/physical features of the character is what changes, and thus “that changes the gender”, which is a way of viewing gender that completely excludes the experience of trans/nb people. In the case of snowbaz, this means that Simon and Baz remain the same, but suddenly they have boobs and more feminine features, so that must mean they’re now women. While really, if you want to represent snowbaz with more feminine features, it doesn’t instantly have to mean that they’re now women, and being a woman doesn’t mean you need any kind of feminine features. It basically treats sex and gender the same, when they’re not. Genderbending also often treats gender like it’s binary, which it isn’t. For a bunch of the trans people we talked to, this is something that they consider quite harmful, not only to themselves but also to the way it inspires you to look at the concept of gender.

Besides that, there are times where genderbending gets used to explore a certain concept, such as: having one of the characters able to become pregnant, when really you can also avoid using genderbending here by using a trans headcanon/au for such a thing. The idea that the only way for you to explore these concepts with a mlm ship is having them turn into cis women comes across as both excluding the mlm and trans experience. So there are trans people who prefer if you use a trans au or trans headcanon instead of genderbending in these cases (here it is also preferred that you then have a trans person look at your work before you post it!). With this we do also want to note that not necessarily everyone trans person we spoke to experience trans au/hcs as something positive, and actually actively avoid them.

Now that we’ve spoken about the views against genderbending, there are still other trans people we talked to who don’t have an issue with genderbending. Their views on it with snowbaz are that when you have a ship that canonically consists of two cis men, it makes sense that people would have them be cis women when applying genderbending. (Also, not always everyone makes them cis women when doing a genderbend). The people that didn’t see an issue with genderbending generally came from the standpoint that people’s intentions behind genderbending are completely innocent and not done with the thought in mind that sex=gender, and that is enough for them to not feel hurt by it.

A thing that was also brought up here is that genderbending in this fandom is often used by wlw people to find a way to represent/express themselves in a fandom they love. The people who are in favor of genderbending see this as a very valid reason to keep genderbending around. If it has a positive influence on someone, and isn’t done with the idea in mind that sex and gender are the same, they don’t see why genderbending should be seen as a bad thing.

With this we also want to note that not all wlw are the biggest fan of genderbending. There’s definitely plenty that use fem!snowbaz as a way to see themselves represented, and for them it’s a very positive thing. There are, however, also wlw around who’ve spoken up against it. They see turning a mlm into a wlw ship by genderbending as a very objectifying way to look at a wlw couple. They don’t consider a mlm that now looks like wlw actual wlw representation. They often feel like it comes across very feishising and it makes them uncomfortable. So saying that it’s something positive for all wlw in this fandom is definitely an incorrect way of looking at it, but it is still also a positive thing for quite a number of them.

This shows how polarising the concept of genderbending is, and it’s really not in our interest to tell you what side to pick. We hope that you take in these views and use them to educate yourself on the topic. We hope you put in the effort to understand the different takes on it and then decide where you land. We want to at least make sure that your decisions around genderbending don’t come from a place of ignorance.

We also want to ask everyone to always tag genderbending if you do decide to post anything with genderbending. This way the people who are really hurt by it can at least avoid having to see it by blacklisting it.

This about sums up what we’ve been talking about with the people who reached out to us. We really hope everyone will use this to open their minds to different views on these topics. Since everyone's opinions on these topics seem influenced by personal views and experiences, we really cannot ask you to decide for others what’s right and wrong, and so we ask you to reflect on yourself and your own views instead.

We really want to thank @nonbaznary, @krisrix and others who will remain anonymous for taking part in this conversation! You were all super helpful and patient!

Both @nonbaznary and @krisrix told us that they were open to talk to people who still have questions surrounding these topics. Both of them represent different views, and thus will be able to give you different answers. (Please, if you decide to contact them, be kind to them and actually make an effort to listen to them. They’ve been nothing but helpful in all of this. Treat them well, this is something that can take a lot of energy out of a person)

@nonbaznary also mentioned that if anyone is ever looking for a trans person to look at your work before you post it, they’d be open to doing that for you, so you can contact them for that as well.

We hope that the actions that were taken here will help everyone feel a little more at home in this fandom, even though the solution is such a vague one.

Much love, The admins of the Carry On Countdown of 2020

#carry on countdown #coc 2020 #carry on #carry on fandom #simon snow series #snowbaz #discourse

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