blacksilkcravat

[blacksilkcravat]

This is a reminder to:

Never mention a possible pregnancy/abortion to anyone, especially not through a social media app messaging service such as messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Snapchat, etc.

Delete all period tracking apps and to start tracking using a planner or physical calendar

Book appointments for a form of birth control if possible, or to always carry condoms for yourself and other

Look into sterilization options if that is the route you want to go down (here is a list of 1000 doctors willing to sterilize you without a fight)

Protect your fellow person, protect the women in your life, the queer people, the disabled people, everyone will be affected by this

Form communities. Tell your people that you love them. Protect one another. Check in on one another. None of us are alone.

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@celluloidbroomcloset ‘s post here just hit me in the feels.

I’ve been mulling over the devices used to present Ed and Stede for a while in terms of gender identity and traditional hero/heroine archetypes. These are just threads of ideas I’ve tried to pull together.

For me, Ed’s personal journey is somewhat of a traditional female narrative, which is groundbreaking when you consider he is also characterised as Blackbeard. Wronged and jilted by a lover. Suffering and dying brokenhearted. Brought back to life by the love of a Disney Prince. Ed can be quite passive around certain masculine behaviours. Struggles with agency. Leaves things to fate. Talks to woodland creatures. Emotionally open when allowed to be.

And it also got me thinking how many times Ed is presented lying down in the show compared to Stede. I mean, he’s barely upright.

It’s all very therapist’s couch. But it’s also a feminine aesthetic, this reclining. Ed’s even recumbent privately during the Kraken-spiral, whilst publicly performing hyper-masculinity. It’s a pressure-valve whilst alone. Emotional release.

Whilst tortured on deck by Ned Low’s crew, the trope continues with Ed flat, Stede upright.

There are times Stede is the one lying down. At the cute-meet and just afterwards. Stede, the sleeping damsel rescued and watched over by a fervent prince. The pattern repeats again in 109, Stede in the bunk waiting for his Ed to come up with a rescue plan.

But it’s Ed who’s jilted. By 1.10, Stede is seen through a chivalric hero lens; Ed the lover who needs rescuing, emotionally.

The characterisations are so complex. They’re both queer, both enjoy traditional masculine identities, but also gnc ones. Both capable of being the rescuer and the rescuee.

Through an artist’s lens, Stede, represents the masculine vertical, Ed, the feminine horizontal. The perpendicular lighthouse and the flattened mirror. The light enhanced in the reflection, the mirror needing something to reflect (104). Stronger, more beautiful together.

In literary terms, Ed’s a sort of a male heroine. Stede, a femme hero.

Really, they both represent the complexity of the human condition. They are both characterised with male/female tropes and the subversions of these tropes.

Like them, we’re individuals, one-offs. Imperfect, contrary, vulnerable and brave. Whether we’re standing or lying down; or in a diagonal slump like I am most days. Honestly, I just love them. Through all of the art and symbolism, I love them for being so damn flawed and relatable and adorable.

[blacksilkcravat]

OK: it is spectacular that OFMD did not, in fact, bury their gays. Their gays lived happily ever after. They ended on a gay wedding, and the gay main couple moving into an inn to continue their life, and their healing, together. It ended with a boat full of queer people sailing off into the sunset, and two men who literally died and came back to life to look into each other's eyes, smiling at each other across their shared porch on the threshold of their shared home that they are preparing to rebuild together.

It ended with such a moving message of hope that, even if the story has more to come, will forever be meaningful.

The gays lived.

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you ever think about how back right after s1 in all his interviews about ofmd rhys kept being like "all the dramatic acting was really challenging because i'm just a silly little comedian! i hope i did all right" and then how he must have felt getting the scripts for s1 and being told ok this time you're going to find out the love of your life died in despair and misery under circumstances you consider at least partially your fault dashing your hopes to reunite with him, which has been your driving goal since you last saw him and which you burned down your entire life for, and you're going to push those emotions aside for a couple scenes and then let the weight of it hit you as you look upon his face in death for the first time since realizing you loved him but then you get the smallest hint that he might be alive and in that moment of desperate hope you're going to call him out of a coma with the power of your love. you cannot play any of this even a little bit for comedy because the only comedic element to this scene will be something you film completely separately

and then he goes and knocks it out of the park actually

[blacksilkcravat]

People died. Innocent people died Granda. And they were someone’s mother, father, daughter, son. Nothing can ever make that ok. And the people who took those lives, they’re just gonna walk free.

[blacksilkcravat]

Friendly reminder that almost half of the states in the U.S. have same day registration! This means you can go to the polling center for your location, register there, and cast your vote same day. So if you are over 18, are a U.S. citizen, and live in one of the states listed below, it is not too late to register and vote! I’m going to put notes for some of the states where voting is extra important due to the political climate of the state.

California

Colorado

Connecticut

D.C.

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Iowa - recent polls indicate state could flip from red to blue

Maine

Maryland

Michigan

Minnesota

Montana

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina - swing state! Could go red or blue

North Dakota - voter registration not required

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin - swing state! Could go red or blue

Wyoming

You can go here for more info on voter registration

I also have a huge list of voting resources here

[blacksilkcravat]

Vote for those who can't

Some of you who live in the US might not be enthusiastic about voting this year.

Maybe you hate both Trump and Harris. I've heard your reasons, and I'm not here to argue about them.

But if you can't find your own reasons to vote, I urge you to vote on behalf of people who can't vote in this election. What are their needs and interests, and what can your vote do for them?

Young people who are not old enough to vote. They will live in the future longer than you will. What kind of world will we leave to them?

Disabled people who can't get to the polling place in person but live in states where it is difficult to get an absentee ballot. Which party will make it easier for them to vote in future elections?

People who don't already have the form of ID that is required in their state. They would have to pay a fee and send off for a birth certificate, and then get to a government office during business hours to get a suitable ID. Maybe they don't have a car and can't get time off from their two or three jobs (and cash is still tight). Again, who will make it easier for them to vote?

Felons who have completed their sentences but whose voting rights have not been restored. What policies will encourage them to reintegrate into society and avoid re-offending?

Non-citizens who are in the US legally. They don't have the right to vote here, but they pay taxes and our government policies affect them too. What is fairest to them?

In fact, I hope you will care about people who are here illegally. Which party will treat them humanely?

People outside the United States. I'm not going to use the trite phrase "leader of the free world," but the President of the United States is one of the most influential positions on Earth. Who will make things better for everyone, not just for Americans? I've heard your concerns about Israel's war against Gaza; but please be sure to consider the opinions of actual Palestinians, not just online leftists in the US.

See vote.org or vote.gov if you need information about where or how to vote.

[blacksilkcravat]

due to systemic oppression, usamerican leftists don't currently have the political power to instate a leftist president. we do, however, have enough power to make one of two candidates lose the election. we could use this power to make the white supremacist lose to the black woman, or we could use it to make the black woman lose to the white supremacist. the obvious choice for leftists would be to prioritize making the white supremacist lose, but tumblr users have devised a loop hole, where they agitate primarily for making the black woman lose, but omit the detail about who she would be losing to. this makes their stance more palatable to people who correctly believe that having a white supremacist president would be the worst possible outcome.

[blacksilkcravat]

All of this. People, you gotta get involved in your local community if you want to effect change. All these anti-trans and anti-abortion laws? They start at the local level, with your school boards and your library boards, your city and town councils and county boards of supervisors. A lot of state and federal level politicians get their start at this level, and voter turnout for local races is habitually low. Pay attention to your state legislatures, your state delegates and state reps and state senators. Find out who your state's attorneys (or commonwealth attorneys, if you live in one of the 4 commonwealths in the US) are, what their politics are, what crimes they prosecute and what they let slide. And at an even more micro level? Get involved with your homeowners and condo associations (yes I know they suck, but one of the reasons they suck is because they're run by old fogies with too much time on their hands who are incessantly nosy about what their neighbors are doing). Get involved in community groups. Does your apartment building have a residents' board or association? Get involved with it. Volunteer. Build coalitions with like minded people. This is how you agitate for change. Most of the laws you live by are decided at the city, town, county and state level. That's how all these abortion trigger laws took effect after the Dobbs decision - they were already on the books and there may not have been any, or enough, pressure to repeal them. The best time to repeal them was while we still had federal protections in place, but the second best time is NOW. Please, get involved. And familiarize yourself with non-candidate ballot initiatives, what they mean in plain language and make a plan for how you're going to vote on those. Get your local and state jurisdictions in order, because if there is no established law at the federal level, then state laws apply. And it's much easier to get laws on the books or repealed at the state level than it is to do it at the federal level. Please, please get involved, however you can, to the best of your ability.

I would say vote if you can tomorrow and then no matter who wins, get involved in your local community.

[blacksilkcravat]

if you are capable of taking a one-time low-personal-cost action to make it less likely that netanyahu gets the genocidal outcome he wants re: palestine, and you do not take that action, you are complicit in genocide.

netanyahu wants trump to win the united states presidential election because a trump win would best facilitate the outcome he wants for palestine.

[blacksilkcravat]

The thing about attraction (and who you think is hot), especially for demisexuals (and I do think that Ed is a little on the demi side, and Stede is very much demi) is that you might think someone's good-looking, but once you get to know them (and like them as a person), you find them more attractive. And I think it's okay to write Ed as generally being into blond guys built like fridges, and then he meets Stede and he's initially intrigued, and the more he gets to know Stede the more he's attracted to him. Being attracted to Stede's mind also makes Stede's body attractive to Ed, and if you're writing a fic from Ed's POV, then I think it makes sense for him to think that Stede is gorgeous.

And to tack on to what @celluloidbroomcloset is saying, I agree that the stars today that most people swoon over don't really do it for me. I mean, they're attractive in a general sense I guess? But outward appearance isn't what draws me to someone. It's one of the reasons I'm a fan of David Tennant, who is not necessarily the Hollywood ideal, but he is an AMAZING actor and also a really kind and generous person, and that is what makes him attractive. The person he is on the inside makes the outside beautiful, if that makes sense.

Fandom Pet Peeve!

I do feel that sometimes we treat Stede as a "hot girl in glasses" circa 2002. (As in he's written to be objectively hot but we explain it away to support his characterization.) Like, we need him to be self conscious and outcast, but we can't fathom Ed being into him if he isn't peak DILF. So he's always hot AF but Too [insert whatever].

But I think being a little funny looking makes you interesting! And tbh I think Ed would think so too. I like that he and Stede are into each other because they find the other interesting, not just because they're hot.

What I'm saying is, let Stede be a little funny looking, as a treat. He's got a bit of a weird nose! And that's fine! He's still attractive. But he's also, objectively, a goofball weirdo.

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Like, c'mon, if Izzy isn't the absolute pinnacle of cis white male mediocrity? Dude has absolutely no skills that make him stand out or that allow him to really function in the "real world." His power consists of cruelty and bullying, and it is only effective when his PoC boss is around to give him authority. His entire career is based on being Blackbeard's second-in-command; he is famous by association (Jackie and Geraldo do not give a damn who Izzy Hands is, they give a damn that he represents Blackbeard).

He is a mediocre white man who exists solely as a support for the exceptional MoC and there is a tiny piece of him that knows that. He knows that Ed doesn't need him, but he desperately needs Ed and he deeply resents that fact.

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they did not have to have izzy say “for years” on his deathbed. they also did not have to have izzy say he knew full well that his actions were harmful to ed. i was so ready to buy in to the idea that izzy was always a jerk but he wasn’t actively trying to enforce specific behavior from ed until stede bonnet showed up, and i was ready to believe that izzy genuinely thought he was doing some of it for ed’s own good, and then in the finale he looked into the camera and said “you outgrew blackbeard years ago and i’ve known this and i have been knowingly and intentionally cruel to you for my own personal gain this entire time.” i’ve always been very firmly against the jerk with a heart of gold reading for izzy but they made him even worse to ed than i thought for way longer than i thought. they did not need to do that. but they did it and they did it on his deathbed meaning this was the last word we got on izzy hands, the thing they had the character speak into canon with his literal dying breath.

izzy was intentionally hurting ed for his own self interests for years before the show even began and that’s not just my interpretation that is the goddamned TEXT

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also i have a longer post abt this cooking in my drafts but i’m so tired of ppl summarizing lucius’s 2.05 storyline as “everyone is dismissive of lucius’s trauma and tells him to just get over it” bc what actually happens in that episode is that everyone else has moved on and lucius is MAD AT THEM for it to the point where he becomes dismissive of their trauma. even pete is just concerned and confused up until the point where lucius snaps at him like “you have no idea what i’ve been through” and THAT’S when pete is like “dude!! i am also fucked up by what happened!!! you’re not the only one suffering!!!” and then izzy gives him the shark and is like “do whatever you need to do to heal but you do need to put in the work, it’s hard but not moving on is worse” which to me feels wildly ooc for izzy to have this much emotional wisdom all of a sudden but redeemed!izzy in general was just a completely different guy from the izzy i knew. i got off topic anyway the point is the show is not dismissing lucius’s trauma it’s addressing a specific type of a poor coping method that i like to call “wallowing in it.” it’s something im personally familiar with and it’s a very easy and paradoxically a somewhat comforting way to try and cope with trauma/mental illness but in the long run it only hurts you and the people close to you. healing is hard and it takes active effort but it’s worth it

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Zheng, who has not yet been exposed to Ed's whole deal: don't you want to get revenge on the guy who did this??? We're actively at a funeral right now doesn't that piss you off

Ed, who is currently experiencing gigantic emotions such as I'm not happy Izzy is dead but I'm honestly relieved he's not in my life anymore and explicitly finally gave me permission to just be Ed and will never be able to take that back again: uh yeah sure 😐