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Having read it, I don't think it fully manages to deconstruct alternative explanations. I get the impression Gwyndolin is loyal to their divine family even in isolation and of the culture they were raised in. If Gywn isn't killed and replaced, everything ends. You don't need to bear him ill-will to see that. I also see comments saying the author misunderstands how ambiguous the Japanese text is (and the English text DOES frame Gwyndolin as male and raised differently purely for cultural reasons). I am only going to do so much of my own research right now, but people are also saying Gwynevere uses the term "brother" to refer to Gwyndolin (and does something similar in Japanese).

I'm really not anti-trans reading either; it make sense that the characters in this setting, especially ancient ones, lacked some modern terminology we might use. Gwyndolin DOES live in a feminine role and spends the entire first game living through the illusion of a beautiful woman. But transmisogynists in the community being real and cruel about it also don't mean the trans interpretation of the character is definitely the true one. I take issue with how it feels like this article combines a small amount of textual support with what feels like a counter-reaction to the worst types of fans.

Looking purely at the text, we have a character put into a gender role by their family due to their unusual traits for a "masc" body (this is not framed as a choice they make or agree with, its just something that happens to them). They then serve that role until their entire family is either gone or completely mad, then prop up the legacy of that family and keeping their most beautiful city looking at its most splendid. This character is gendered male in English and, according to at least some people who speak Japanese, apparently similarly gendered in the game's original language.

This is also a theocracy. Real followers of religions bind themselves to rules put upon them without needing someone to watch them and make sure they do so at all times. I also don't think the idea that Gwyndolin was forced into a role by cultural norms regardless of their personal wants to be a harmful one; it helps paint the picture of this destructive divine family imposing rigid beliefs upon everyone they have power over. It is still saying something important that can and does happen.

To be honest, I am really conflicted about the article. I think it is expressing a lot of real emotions trans people a forced to feel when interacting with bigots and that the author connected with a reading of this character. I also think a lot of the actual text (meaning Dark Souls 1 and beyond) doesn't support that reading (but some does such that it's not ridiculous to believe this theory). I think there is much stronger evidence that this character grew up in a controlling, extremist theocracy and feels they must perpetuate the world as they were taught it indefinitely and regardless of the lies that must be told to do so.

apologize to them

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every time I see some bigshot scientist revealed as a fraud my knee-jerk reaction is "hell yeah elisabeth bik got 'em good" AND IM RIGHT

SHE NEVER QUITS!!!!

ICONIC!!!!

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I had always thought Gwyndolin was like literally forcefemmed by his family for being born under the "girl" signs but that the implication seems to be he would identify as male without the astronomical social pressure to do otherwise.

If that's objectively not true, I'm not misgendering the character on purpose, by the by.

apologize to them

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so im suddenly unsuspended from twitter, but this comes with a catch

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— Ursula K. Le Guin, from “A Rant About ‘Technology’”

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Mass Effect is such an important example of queer rep in games too cause it was right in the middle of this American moral panic against homosexuality.

This was one of the first depictions of a full homosexual romance option in a major mainstream videogame. Gay marriage wasn't legal and wouldn't be for another 5 or 6 years. Conservatives were lying about the game containing hardcore porn because any depiction of homosexual love was perverse and graphic to them. They were doing the exact same fear mongering about gay representation that they do about trans representation nowadays.

It got so bad that it actually scared the publisher into removing gay romance options from the sequel, out of fear of further conservative backlash. A wrong that had to be righted in the DLC, and in Mass Effect 3.

Like this was a BIG deal, and a really important moment in queer representation.

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in los angeles, the historically Black community of altadena has been decimated by the ongoing eaton fire.

afropunk has created a spreadsheet of gofundmes of displaced Black individuals and families affected by the current los angeles fires. the list is constantly being updated.

please donate what you can and share widely.

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Did you see Adrian’s posts on 4chan? So the guy has admin privileges + is in the know of X’s policy and such?

anyone on 4chan can set their display name to whatever they want. it is notoriously the troll site. also that admin UI does not exist

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while everyone else was busy writing slop articles about how adrian dittmann sounds like elon musk i decided to actually find him. an investigation with Jacqueline Sweet and Ryan Fae

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Bottom surgery is fucking awesome I recommend it

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Switching to Firefox was annoying for like a day and then it was fine and I never think about it

Google finally did it. Is it time to switch to Firefox? I believe users should be in control of what they can install and use on their desktop or laptop. There's uBlock Origin Lite, which replaces the original uBlock Origin for Chrome and similar browsers. Give it a try.

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A recent investigation in Germany revealed this HORRIFIC chat room filled with predators and rapists. Sharing 'advice' on how to sedate and rape women... a lot of whom are family members and close relatives of potential victims. When I say don't trust most men I'm being so serious.

Also, we don't know their names or who they are targeting. It's just despicable.

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Fun game, but I did eventually cheese it by selling the overpriced store wallpapers (maybe carpets?) that felt like they weren't intended to be sold and quit when the last bit of the story required beating a megadungeon.

WHAT DO YOU MEANNNN

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Hey. You. The American teenager inexplicably reading this. Don't join the US military. You're better than that. The military is a bunch of cops. Are they technically diverse and inclusive? On some level, kind of, almost. But their job is to kill people. They kill innocent people every day. They abuse their own members, especially their members who aren't white cis het middle class Christian men. The US exists through perpetual violence against the global working class, including its own working class. The military is how it carries out a large portion of that violence. You deserve better. You're better than that. Don't join.