birdofdawning

[birdofdawning]

The 2025 Gender Census is now open!

[ Link to survey ]

The 12th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 30th August 2025.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

If you can't wait for survey numbers, you can click here for a public spreadsheet of non-secret info with graphs as it comes in, updated manually a few times per day.

Thank you so much!

[ Link to survey ]

[birdofdawning]

Dashiell Hammett, who basically invented the noir genre (think: The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man) hung out enough in the queer scene in San Francisco in the 20s-30s that he picked up some contemporary queer lingo that he folded into his stories. In The Maltese Falcon, there’s a scene where the wildly gay-coded villain shows up at a meeting with a skinny little blonde with a bad attitude and a gun in tow, and detective Sam Spade tells him to “leave the gunsel outside” — gunsel being contemporary gay slang for a young, effeminate man who probably bottoms (from the Yiddish gansl, meaning gosling). Basically, he’s saying “I’m here to talk to you, not your twink.”

However, a lot of writers mimicking Hammett did not know gay lingo or Yiddish, saw the word “gun,” and assumed “gunsel” meant “scary bodyguard with a gun.” They took off with a word they didn’t understand and spread it so fast that it’s now basically impossible to read a noir story written between 1930-1960 without someone accidentally being called a twink at least once. Look out for it next time you’re reading Raymond Chandler or his ilk, I guarantee you’ll find it.

[birdofdawning]

well yeah i have a pet hydra and it only has one head. i'm not going to cut its head off just to make it look cooler, you asshole. that's seriously unethical. and i'm not letting you cut its head off either. if you really want a hydra with multiple heads, you should go for a rescue- but if you want your pet to look cooler at the cost of its physical health, maybe you shouldn't get any kind of pet at all. no, the hydra's not for guarding my evil tower, it's my pet. have you ever heard of a pet? like a puppy or a kitty? you think i can't defend my evil tower by my self?

[birdofdawning]

It seems I do not have a felt tip pen or colouring pencil in the pink of the bisexual flag, I do not want to have to get paints out.

[birdofdawning]

there’s such an unbelievable multitude of this type of (straight) woman who’s like “when he mentions a ‘she’ 😡🥺👀” “when he calls some girl his ‘friend’ 👀👀🔪” etc and this person is like a different species to me. this person is a space alien. this type of person makes me feel like amy adams in arrival

[birdofdawning]

Mary Margaret: (Loudly) And we owe a lot of it to her. Regina helped save us all (3x10 The New Neverland).

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[birdofdawning]

Important addition from the tags ⬇️

"So... what's next?"

[birdofdawning]

the single most unrealistic thing about the old guard 2 is that nile freeman didn't look tuah right in the eye with the most unimpressed look mankind has ever seen and said "like the fucking app?" when he told them the villain's name is discord

[birdofdawning]

Tumblr gifmakers are better than $1mil worth of marketing. I’ll see endless ads for a show and be like meh but I’ll see one good gifset and suddenly I’m on s2 ep10 finding blorbo from my gifs

[birdofdawning]

Yes. Or alternatively:

Regina comes into Emma's room and tries her bed.

Emma (putting toothbrush away): "No, please, be my guest Regina."

Regina: "Yes, much more comfortable. I'll have this one"

Emma: "Excuse me? Uh, no. This is my bed."

Regina (gestures toward Emma's backpack): "You haven't even unpacked yet. Off you go. You're the second door on the right."

Emma (upends her backpack, spilling all her clothes about the place): "Oh hey, what's all this? Oh that's right, it's all my stuff. Unpacked. In my room."

Regina (sighs): "Must you be so childish?"

Emma: "Uh, I'll be however I like in my room."

Regina (rolling her eyes): "Fine, knock yourself out. But 'your room' is through the second door on the right."

Emma: "The fuck it is!"

Regina (condescending): "Emma dear, I want to get changed for bed and you're intruding. I know manners don't exactly come naturally—"

Emma strips off her top and tank.

Regina: "Emma, what are—"

Emma unbuttons her jeans.

Regina (worried): "Emma?"

Emma pulls off her jeans and socks.

Regina: "EMMA SWAN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

Emma: "Going to bed. My bed. In my room. And fun fact: I run hot, so I don't wear much to bed." She unhooks her bra

Regina (hissing): "Emma! This is completely inappropriate!"

Emma: "Hey, I'm not keeping you here." She slips off her bra

Regina (voice oddly high): "What... what if Henry came in? Or, or Snow!?"

Emma: "So leave! I think I heard that your room was through the second door on the right." She drops her bra and tugs the covers back from under Regina.

Regina: "... "

Emma (slides into the bed): "Move." She elbows Regina "Figures you'd be a bed-hog."

Regina: "How dare you!?"

Emma: "Hey, you don't like it, go back to your room."

Regina: "This is my room!"

Emma (turns off lamp): "Stay then. But I wasn't joking about running hot. You might have to lose a few layers."

Regina: "Like hell!" (dangerous) "Miss Swan, if you don't leave my bed this minute—"

Emma (yawns): "Whatever, Regina." immediately asleep

Regina lies awake on top of the covers for the next hour, furious but unwilling to lose

Finally the cold drives her under the blankets

Emma throws an arm around her

Regina: "Oh. You... you really weren't kidding about running hot."

Emma (muttering): "ugh, shutup'n go't'sleep 'gina, jesus"

And then, somehow, Regina falls into a deep, dreamless sleep

imagine they all go for a weekend in the forest and stay in a little cottage, David, snow, Henry, Emma and Regina. In the morning Henry can’t find Regina and ask snow if she saw her, she answer she probably went for a small walk. Then snow goes to wake up Emma because it’s already late and open the door to find Emma and Regina sleeping together like that. They both couldn’t sleep at night, Regina from a bad nightmare and Emma stressed about all the animals noises outside and just found comfort in each other arms.

[birdofdawning]

thought too hard about MRI machines today and had this come to me in a vision

[birdofdawning]

I love that Eliot’s issue with keeping the bat cave was that you couldn’t get a car in there, and that you can’t have a bat cave without a bat car

And I love that Hardison’s rebuttal was, “Hear me out. Two words: Eliot Signal.”

And I love that Parker knew that when Eliot dies he wants his body to be eaten by wolves. I love that Hardison made their new base a brew pub because he knew Eliot couldn’t resist. I love that Parker measured his head for his inevitable robot body, and that when it comes to relationships she immediately includes him with her and Hardison. I love that Hardison made him Mr Punchy, and the hyper-energetic Japanese energy drink commercial, and that he made up the song Two Good Ol’ Boys Behind the Wheel for them. I love that Parker heard him out when she wanted to kill the mark and trusted that he really would have her back, like he always does. I love that she asked him to teach her how to love food because he loves food. I love that Hardison loves him so much that even though he trusts Eliot to protect him, he doesn’t want to see him get hurt because of him, but he also doesn’t ask him to consider stopping.

I love how much Parker and Hardison understand Eliot

[birdofdawning]

my fave writing reminder

honestly, this phrase has been on my mind more times than i can count. i've kidnapped it, taken it as a hostage with no ransom money because i need it to live permanently in my head.

[birdofdawning]

it's genuinely bullshit that you should be required to own a mobile phone for participation in literally any aspect of life

[birdofdawning]

#married (25/?)

[birdofdawning]

I can't help but feel that 'Dominant' and 'Submissive' are becoming just another arbitrary binary. What if I'm a Consort? Or a Giver? Or a Soother? Or a Have Fun Guys Ima Peace Out Now-er?