#◈ meta

[gcldfanged]

Just compiling a few historical facts in regards to prostitution, pregnancy, and contraceptives in ye olden times.

There was no age of consent and child prostitution was considered only 'slightly disgraceful' at large. However, slavers would often use abandoned (but healthy) babies as candidates for raising into prostitution and they had to repay the 'investment' quite early. These were not simply 'the children of prostitutes and slaves', but also children abandoned by poorer families or the recently widowed- who had little or no means to raise children on their own. Babies whose existence needed to kept a secret were also given up- to be left to die on a hillside or scouted into prostitution.

There were only very RARE examples of 'contraceptives', if that's even what they could be called. Apparently using a 'dried lemon skin' to cover the cervix was a method, but this hasn't been backed up by any physical proof or documentation besides vague testimonies during 14th century France in Montaillou.

In the classical world, infanticide was pretty much acceptable because the children of slaves and prostitutes fell under the same laws as to what a man could legally do to his OWN sired children and property- entirely without the mother's consent.

There were also institutions that would dispose of unwanted babies for a fee, though they typically claimed that the babies would be raised by a wet nurse. Typically, they were killed or merely left to die from neglect.

In some places like Naples, there were Foundling Hospitals that would raise abandoned babies and children to later apprentice them out as slaves, laborers, or even trained musicians. They often had a common surname to indicate they were orphaned.

Malnutrition before puberty onset contributes to lower fertility, while stress and extreme hunger can even cause temporary infertility. Fertility rates were a lot lower back then and those from much poorer backgrounds would often see the onset of puberty happen far later in life than what modern people now experience thanks to higher nutrition and body weight- which also reduces the number of years that pregnancy can occur during one's life.

Chlamydia is a common STI that can cause permanent damage to someone's reproductive system. This can make it difficult or impossible to get pregnant later. Syphilis also increases the chances of stillbirths, miscarriages, and eventual sterility.

Stress, hunger, and violence (both sexual and not) are many reasons why prostitutes back then often had miscarriages, but even healthier and well-fed women of nobility had a slew of miscarriages back then. In the case of deliberate miscarriage, this was often extremely dangerous. There were back-street abortions and a slew of 'folk remedies' which often involved toxic herbs and drugs that would permanently damage the patient. Pimps in charge of prostitutes would often beat them to induce miscarriage.

Surprisingly, non-penetrative sex was often commonly requested in pleasure houses due to the very real fear of catching an STI from a prostitute.

[edsrosetattoo]

This is the best idea in the history of film.

[ladyshinga]

[probablybadrpgideas]

The Monster Manual but it's blatantly written by the monsters

[mycroftrh]

Far worse, in my opinion, than the famous “he wouldn’t fucking say that” is “he WOULD fucking say that, as part of his facade, but you seem to think he would mean it genuinely”

[problemnyatic]

so matt's absolutely giving scorched earth orders behind the scenes right. Not only are publically visible transfems dropping like flies, but every third person who musters up the audacity to comment negatively on Staff or Matt about this vanishes fucking instantly

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[bakedbakermom]

plz reblog for science

[trainwreckgenerator]

a face you'd find on the side of a milk carton

[dyscomancer]

[gcldfanged]

Jae's a part of an alliance between three other major Korean gangs based off of the four noble plants of Confucian junzi: Sagunja/'Four Gentlemen'. He's currently "Bamboo", the other major players have similar symbolic names like "Plum Blossom", "Orchid", and "Chrysanthemum".

The eldest is the winter group under "Plum Blossom", they are based in Korea (Incheon, predominately) and are the resident old guard holding onto their glory days- They're kinda falling out of favor since everyone feels like they don't have the decency to just shut up and die already. Jae's more of the upstart young gangster group establishing a major foothold in the US, "Orchid" expanded to China and actually has some friendly relations with the Triads, meanwhile "Chrysanthemum" has roots in Russia. So they're pretty spread out and generally have a certain aspect of their business perfected (like Chrys mainly handles the sex trade and trafficking for example).

Some of the older gangs still hold onto biases like not wanting to trust or do business with the yakuza because of the occupation and enslavement, while Jae's kinda on the fence about that- He doesn't necessarily openly discriminate, but also he knows how Koreans are viewed by most Japanese, so he trusts them about as far as he can throw them.

Jae mostly deals with gambling, collecting debts, protection rackets, real estate fraud, and the black market. They're a bit old school in that they see themselves as a necessary evil keeping hostile foreign syndicates from infringing and preying on their community and clientele, but he absolutely allows street level violence and makes a clear statement when he feels they're not being respected enough.

[gendercensus]

The 2024 Gender Census is now open!

[ Link to survey ]

The 11th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 13th June 2024.

It’s short and easy, about 5 minutes probably.

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 - it’s what helped us get 40,000 responses last year.

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

The 2024 survey is now closed!

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.

For the curious, you can also spy on some graphs and demographic data for the incoming responses here.

Thank you so much!

[ Link to survey ]

Image credit: Malachite and rhodochrosite.

[stompandhollar]

like. imagine seeing your sibling at 18. and then not seeing them again until you’re 28. and then not seeing them again until you’re both 58. but you’re identical twins so every time you look in the mirror you wonder if this is what they would’ve looked like.

imagine never needing glasses but your brother did, and then in your adulthood your eyes get worse and you suddenly need glasses and you pick out the same frames your brother wore.

imagine always protecting your brother growing up cause he was different and kids picked on him. but you always protected him. and then you have a falling out and neither of you speak for years, and then finding out that in those years you didn’t speak, he was being isolated and tortured by a monster and didn’t think you’d come if he called. but then he calls and you go. and his house has blood on the floor in every room and writing on the walls and his journal devolves into paranoid ramblings. and you can’t protect him because you showed up and he got ripped away. and you can’t even ask him what the writing or the blood or the state of the house means because he’s gone. and you don’t have a penny to your name so you have to clean the blood up yourself and fix the house and live there. so you board up his room.

[andmaybegayer]

anyone else seeing weird mysterious failures on Tumblr

[ayo-edebiri]

When's the new season of Séance Dog coming out? You mean the show? Probably not for another year.

INVINCIBLE (2021 - ) I 2.07