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As an adult you must cultivate the skill of “Gross! Oh, well. Not my business.”

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Okay, look:

The reason people often read Faith as being openly and unashamedly attracted to women (or at least more so than Buffy) isn't because they somehow missed the fact that Faith is full of ill-disguised self-hatred. (Of course she is, that's fundamental to her character.) It's not because they missed the fact Faith flirts with random men all the time but doesn't do the same thing with women. It's not because they missed the fact Faith never actually refers to herself as a lesbian or as bisexual and never mentions any previous girlfriends when she's describing her dating history to Buffy. It's not because they missed that she never openly asks Buffy out.

Given the era in which Buffy was made -- given that Eliza Dushku was being given explicit instructions by at least some of the writers to dial down any lesbian subtext as late as her appearances in Season 1 of Angel -- all that is kind of a given. (I think some people in today's fandom really underestimate just how much of a huge deal Willow coming out in Season 4 was. This was not something that happened on popular genre TV programs. By modern standards the show is painfully coy about it, but that is not how contemporary audiences saw it!)

It's not because they feel asleep during Who Are You? and never saw how Faith interacts with Tara, either. (Which, sure, you can interpret as Faith projecting her own internalized homophobia onto Tara if you like. But which you can also explain pretty easily when you remember that Faith really doesn't like Willow -- she's just been reminded in an earlier scene how much Willow doesn't like her, which she responded to by immediately fantasizing about stabbing her -- and that she's doing this because she doesn't want Willow to be happy.)

No, the reason for thinking that Faith is open and unashamed of her sexuality in a way Buffy isn't is that this is the obvious conclusion you reach once you start to take the queer-coding of being a Slayer seriously.

If Slaying is a metaphor for queerness -- which moments like Joyce reacting to Buffy coming out as Slayer in Season 2's Becoming ("it's because you didn't have a strong father figure, isn't it?") or later talking about "marching in the Slayer Pride parade" in Season 3 or, as early as Season 1's Never Kill A Boy On The First Date and as late as series finale Chosen, Slaying being given as a reason Buffy can't have a "normal" relationship (i.e. one with a boy) or ever make "the guy thing" work all suggest it is -- then what does that imply about Buffy and Faith's respective attitudes to Slaying?

Well, Buffy spends years hiding the fact she's a Slayer from her mother, only ever shares this part of herself with a handful of trusted friends, openly wishes at times that she could give up being the Slayer, tells herself that being a Slayer makes her "a freak", insists against all evidence that she doesn't really enjoy Slaying. And Faith tells people she's only just met how much she loves Slaying ("Buffy never talks that way!" Joyce notes when Faith comes around for dinner), doesn't try to live the double-life Buffy has pursued (where she's both a Slayer and a "normal girl"), and repeatedly challenges Buffy to admit that Slaying is "fun" and something she wants to do for its own sake ("tell me you don't get off on this?" she asks in Bad Girls).

I mean, am I wedded to this being the best or only interpretation of the character? No, not at all. As I said, Faith's self-loathing is a huge part of her characterisation, and -- even if it's not something that originally stems from her (assumed) attraction to women -- it makes sense it would bleed through into it. You can tie that back into the metaphorical reading too, pretty easily. Faith isn't as happy and confident about being a Slayer as she pretends to be. She isn't having as much fun as she'd like Buffy to think she is. She is, in fact, jealous of Buffy's "normal" life.

But I think, if you're going to be critical of this reading of the character, you have to seriously engage with why it's popular. People don't just assume Faith is unashamed of being attracted to women because they just decided she should be and they're ignoring all the explicit clues to the contrary. Rather, they're approaching the show in the context of US network television in the late 1990s -- when explicit confirmation of a character being anything other than straight was almost unthinkable -- and taking their cues from the metaphorical reading instead.

And from that lens, "Faith is proud to be a 'Slayer' [if you know what I mean] and enjoys spending the night 'Slaying' with other 'Slayers'" really is the natural conclusion to come to.

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Cannot believe that it took me until 2015 to watch this masterpiece!

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bitches will hear a song and be like 'this makes me feel like i have a gaping hole in my chest' and then they put it on repeat. its me im bitches

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buffy the vampire slayer

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ai does not belong in creative spaces. period.

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[Image Description: A Tweet that reads: Hey, you. You're valid for writing fanfiction. Someone has stayed up late reading your words on their phone with auto-rotate off. Someone has dropped everything when they got that update email. Your work has made someone happy and you do it *in your spare time*. You're awesome. End ID.]

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Maybe I’m an old man but goddamn, these vampires with blood dripping down their chins–that’s your food!! THAT’S YOUR FOOD!! Close!! Your!! Mouth!! You think some asshole slobbering chicken noodle soup or yogurt or clam chowder all down themselves would be sexy??? What makes you any different, you sticky-stained slackjawed screwball??? Close your mouth!! Use a napkin!! And for godssakes stop looking so smug, like, “Oooo, I’m a creature of the night look at what sustains me” yeah uh huh a fucking lack of basic hygiene is what I’m seeing and it is not impressive!! At all!! My nephews are three years old and they drool less than you do!! You’re how many centuries old?!?! ACT LIKE IT

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bangel x do i wanna know? (hozier cover)

thanks hozier for giving me editing motivation <3

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to those of you who are moving here from tiktok, from someone whos used both tiktok and tumbr for years...

1. DO NOT censor your posts

dont censor sex, abuse, suicide, dont censor it. we dont have censors like tiktok does, you wont be banned for talking about these things and tagging them properly helps people avoid them (also, we dont have shadowbanning here)

2. we dont really have an algorithm

you follow who you follow, and you see posts from who you follow or what you search. the 'for you page' is basically useless here. this also brings me to my next two points

3. dont crosstag

we get it, on tiktok you have to crosstag for reach, but thats not really a thing here. just tag your posts properly (also posters often leave more info about the post in the tags!! and when you reblog stuff you can leave your own notes in the tags, kind of like the old "repost comments" on tiktok)

4. dont expect to go viral/be famous

"viral" isnt really a thing on here (at least not for the average blogger). your posts will probably get 2-10 likes and you wont get nearly as many followers than on tiktok. thats just how tumblr is

5. blocking is your best friend

tiktok is VERY discussion based, and while tumblr is much more discussion based than other social medias, its still not a good place for ragebait/discourse. dont interact, itll make your experience worse in the end, just block and move on

6. you cant go into someone elses house and start rearranging their furniture

this is tumblr, not tiktok. dont diss old tumblr users for how they use the site or try to change them, thats like going into someone elses house and trying to rearrange their furniture. we've been here longer and we're familiar with the site and its culture, either find your niche, adapt, or find a different app

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