#But there's a lot of folks I used to talk to and

[joy-haver]

It’s like this in Louisiana too. I grew up working with guys from the prison on peoples farms and stuff. It was 25cents an hour per prisoner, which I think 20cents went to the prisoner (which is not much). People working in restaurants were often from the prison, people working at the schools. I garuntee you thag if you are in the US some of your food has been grown by prison slaves.

The prison itself is an old plantation. And plantation owners still rent out prisoners for their plantation gardens. A lot of folks in the prison are descendants of the folks who were enslaved at those same plantations.

And I’ll tell you this. I will never believe it when someone says one of those guys escaped. They say one of ‘em escaped and you know that means they forgot to pick them up from a work detail. Cause most of the time that’s what happened. Get 5 or 10 years added cause you missed the bus back to the prison from being rented out as a slave.

I’ll never forget the day they sent one of the higher ups from the prison to come talk to my class in middle school. One of the kids asked him something about “how do you know you always got the right guy?” The prison official said “well, ya know, even if we don’t got the right guy it’s important to keep ‘em locked up. Cause that’s where all the work comes from. Y’all be glad when you hear we have someone a few more years or locked up somebody, cause that’s a lot of work we gon make em do”

[renthony]

(Article date: December 26, 2024)

I liked this Rolling Stone article about the upcoming potential TikTok ban. People like to make fun of TikTok users, but it really bugs me that so many people aren't thinking of the folks relying on TikTok for income. Livelihoods are being impacted. The category of "influencer" includes a lot of small-time artists barely scraping by. A significant number of my Patreon backers & regular donors found me via tumblr. If that went away overnight, I'd be screwed, and it's the same with TikTok for a LOT of people.

It reminds me a lot of Etsy changes screwing over indie artists--and as an Etsy seller, holy shit, y'all, so many Etsy sellers rely on TikTok to advertise. I don't, but I know several who do. TikTok pulls major, major numbers.

Like, the platform has issues, absolutely, but those issues exist across social media platforms, and a TikTok-specific ban is such a blatant case of "privacy violations are only okay when AMERICA does it!"

Article highlight:

Much of the talk around finances on the app has remained largely antagonistic against large-scale influencers. Users have joked that a ban will finally force big-name creators to get real jobs or join the real world. But smaller creators say this mindset completely leaves them out of the equation. ‘TikTok being banned is going to hurt me financially and I’m not an influencer. I’m not a big creator,” posted one emotional TikTok user, who said she usually only has around $122 left after bills for food, gas, and her mother’s medical supplies each month. “I entered the creative rewards program in July and I started making TikTok Shop videos once a month in July as well. It’s not been life-changing money, but it has been life-saving money for me. I don’t mean to be dramatic but it has saved us. I’m going to have to go back to figuring out how to survive.”

[legalmente-loca]

OKAY COULD YOU DO #1 WITH SOLDIER BOY BUT WITH LIKE A LOT SMUT..?? ALSO CONGRATS ON 100 FOLLOWERSSSSS

Christmas At Vought

Prompts: You dressing like a cowgirl

Pairing: Soldier Boy/Ben x Female Reader

Summary: You and Ben have a relationship in the shadows, even if he doesn't agree with it. Will he be able to resist you in disguise at Christmas?

Word Count: 1,623

A/N: Oh, darling, I couldn't just make a drabble of this

Tags/Warnings: 18+, smut, fingering, cowgirl inverted, dirty talk, language

You and Ben had a complicated relationship. In fact, according to everyone else, you didn't have any kind of relationship other than professional. You hid your relationship knowing that Vought wouldn't approve. After all, he was with Crimson Countess for popularity reasons. But you didn't have powers. You worked at Vought as the director's secretary and interacted with superheroes, but what would the fans of the first hero think when they saw that he were dating someone inferior to him?

So the two of you had a discreet relationship, in the shadows. Whenever you could (and even when you couldn't) you would sneak out to mess up your hair and clothes.

But it wasn't enough for Ben. Ben wanted to show ownership over you, to place his hand on your ass so that others knew you belonged to him and kiss you whenever he wanted, without worrying about who was watching.

But that was how things had to be.

It was normal for Vought to have parties every month, each with a different theme. This time, for Christmas, Vought had decided to have them dress up as a bygone era, so you didn’t think twice.

You had dressed up as a cowgirl, a checkered shirt with ripped jean shorts and a belt that held a fake gun. You also wore a cowboy hat.

“Well, look who came as a sexy cowgirl.”

You recognized the voice and turned to look at him. Obviously the great Soldier Boy would come as he wanted without respecting the theme. He simply came in his hero uniform, helmet included.

“Soldier Boy-”

“You know you can call me Ben, gorgeous.” He smiled charmingly and walked over to you, looking you up and down openly.

You sighed and glanced at him out of the corner of your eye.

“Ben, you know they can’t see us in public.”

“And you think I care about that?” He moved closer to you and pretended to look around as he whispered in your ear. “I could touch your entire body dressed in that tight outfit and I still wouldn’t fuckin’ care.”

You cleared your throat and turned to look at him.

“You need to control yourself, don’t make a scene.” You murmured.

“But you know I love to make them.”

He ran a finger down your arm, his body radiating heat and burning your skin.

“Ben…”

“Honey…”

You sighed and glanced around. It was a difficult task to resist Ben.

“Listen, later we’ll do whatever you want, but for now, let’s stay away from each other.”

He growled and placed his hand on your lower back possessively.

“I want you now.”

“Well you won’t have me.”

“Who fucking says?”

“Me.”

You pushed him away and started walking, knowing Ben was watching your every step.

An hour passed. Conversations surrounded you and the sound of Christmas carols was low. The whole place was well decorated, well, you had been a part of decorating. And Ben had often come to “help” you.

You had passed him a few times, but he didn’t even look at you. Maybe that was your punishment or maybe he had decided to listen to you for the first time (it was probably the first one).

You were chatting with some other people when he came in, drink in hand.

“Hey, folks.” He said as he patted your coworker on the shoulder, almost knocking his arm out of place.

“S-soldier Boy.”

It was very common for people to turn to look at him whenever he walked into a room. The attention was only on him and everyone wanted to get close to him if he was in a good mood. If he wasn’t, no one wanted to be around.

“Having a good time?” He asked with a smile.

“Very good, sir.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

The conversation continued, your coworkers clearly pleased to be talking to America’s great hero. But at one point, Ben stepped forward and tripped, the contents of his drink falling on your shirt. You gasped and looked at him in annoyance.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, doll.” He grabbed your own cup and quickly passed it to one of your companions before grabbing your arm, not giving you two seconds to think that he was already pulling you away. “Come, I’ll help you get all cleaned up.”

He led you to the bathrooms and immediately pinned you against the door as he took off his helmet and threw it across the room.

“Ben!”

“I can’t stand seeing you like this anymore, talking to other people like you don’t want me to fuck you right there.”

His movements were quick and unexpected (in part). He grabbed your breasts through your clothes and squeezed them, making you moan and arch your back.

But he didn’t even have time to look at you naked. He needed you right now.

He grabbed your arm again and dragged you to the bathroom sinks, sitting on the counter and placing you on his lap with your back to him.

“Since you’re dressed like a cowgirl whore, act like one.” He undid your belt and pulled down your shorts along with your panties and pressed his mouth against the side of your neck. “All this time, watching you like this, imagining you riding me until your thighs ached.”

He grabbed your legs and had your feet placed on top of his knees. He moved his hand to your pussy and began to caress your folds.

“God, Ben...”

He kept moving his fingers, teasing your hole before slipping one in.

“Fuck, you’re so tight, cowgirl. But it’s not time to take pleasure, it’s time to fucking give it.” He pulled off the bottom of his suit, his cock springing out, big and wet at the tip. “Now, ride me like it’s your fuckin’ job.”

He helped you up slightly, placing his hands on your ass, helping you down afterwards. Your eyes rolled as you felt his cock enter your pussy, your toes curling in pleasure.

“You like this big cock, cowgirl?” He murmured against your ear before nibbling on your earlobe. “C’mon, get started.” He growled, slapping your clit.

Your hips rocked and you felt more fluid between your legs. The position you were in only caused your insides to stretch further.

You began to move up and down, your hands resting on him to help you.

“Feel so good, Ben.” You let out a sigh.

“I know.” You rolled your eyes at his arrogance, but continued with your movements. “Are you a good cowgirl, babe? Can you ride a good, big horse like me?”

His gaze was locked on the globes of your ass, one hand squeezing your flesh. Your juices were running down his cock and you began to feel your orgasm approaching, leading you to move faster on him.

You heard a countdown in the distance.

“Fuck, it’s almost Christmas and I’ve got a cowgirl on me.” He slapped your ass and you gasped.

“Y-you’re so filthy... I’d rather you kept your mouth shut.”

“Oh, yeah?” He held your jaw, turning your face to look at him. “You love it when I talk dirty to you. And the fact that you’re moving like a sex addict fucking proves it.”

The countdown was at five and you kept your gaze on him. You didn’t even move your gaze or close your eyes when his fingers began to play with your clit roughly. Your legs threatened to close, but due to the position you were in that wasn’t possible. And it was there, the moment the countdown hit zero, that you came. Your insides tightened around him as a wave of pleasure flooded your body and your juices wet Ben’s cock even more. For his part, he brought his mouth to yours and kissed you fiercely as his cum shot out inside you.

“Merry fucking Christmas.” He snorted after a few seconds.

“Same here.” Your breathing was ragged and slowly returning to normal as you rested your head on his shoulder.

“You know what? If I knew this was my Christmas present, I would have wrapped you up and put a fucking bow over your pussy and a cowgirl hat on your head.”

“Oh, God…” You rolled your eyes and lifted your head. “Gross.”

“What? You know you’d love it if I tied you up in Christmas lights like a fucking Christmas tree and spread my cum all over your face.”

“Enough of this dirty talk.” You said as you stood up as best you could and climbed off of him, your legs shaking as soon as your feet hit the ground.

He snorted and stood up, putting his suit back in place as he gave you a look up and down.

“What?” You asked as you noticed his gaze.

“Oh, nothing, I just would love to see you even more in that costume, even with the stain.”

“Well, maybe I will do it for New Years. But only if you’re a good boy.” You pointed at him.

He frowned and slapped your hand, moving closer to you.

“I’ll be a bad man who will give a pretty cowgirl a good beating if she doesn’t do what he says.” He muttered close to your face.

You bit your bottom lip and tilted your head.

“Alright…”

He smirked and slapped your ass before bending down to pull your shorts back into place. You felt Ben’s cum spread across your shorts and you shifted uncomfortably. He stood up straight and patted your cheek.

“Good girl.”

He left a kiss on your cheek which he smacked before exiting the bathroom.

“This costume won't last.” You muttered before rearranging your mind and clothes and exiting the bathroom as well.

One Hundred Followers

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[gatorbites-imagines]

Hi, can I please get Wally West x trans reader? Maybe something where the reader is feeling dysphoric and he comforts them, and also some dry humping?

Wally West x FTM reader

Headcanons

Readers vaguely based off of Daredevil, since I like that guy a lot. And the mental image of Wally and his gritty boyfriend is fun to me. Don’t correct me on if keystone city is right, idc.

Nobody could really tell when you and Wally started dating. You just happened to be a vigilante in Keystone city before Wally showed up after being kid flash and all that. His presence really messed up your mojo.

You were the devil incarnate, ready to break as many bones as it took, but you didn’t kill. That didn’t stop you from maiming folk though. Having Wally swoop by to bring people to the hospital and then be back to try and lecture you, really hurt your image.

You were there first though, so there was no way Wally was gonna stop you from doing what you had to do. In the beginning it was kind of like a new tomcat showing up in someone else’s territory.

You didn’t have the speed to be all over the city like Wally, so it was kind of accepted that hed take care of everything else when you were busy. People started begging for Wally to be the one to catch them doing a crime, since you’d break their kneecaps, and then nail them in the head with your billy club.

The relationship between you two was kind of a running joke in the league, especially in the Titans. They all knew that Wally thought you were hot in your own broody, horned way. Someone, probably Garfield, would joke about your suits matching, since you both were red. And yellow, if you wear the yellow and red daredevil suit.

You two were kinda like Batman and Superman, in a way. With you being broody, growly, the night, I am vengeance and will make you suffer the consequences. And Wally being easier going and lighter, full of jokes and hope.

That didn’t mean Wally couldn’t snap and get down and gritty if he needed to. That was probably when you started feeling attracted to him in return, when he couldn’t go easy on somebody who deserved it.

Up until this point you’d have picked up the changes in his pheromones and body heat, as well as his heartrate, which made you understand that he liked you. But it was after you smelled the blood on him and heard his blush rushing through his veins from an almost animalistic adrenaline that you started returning the feelings.

You guys probably date for months, if not a year before the league and the Titans figure it out. Wally would say something about needing to get back to the city since he had to make it in time for your anniversary dinner, and that’s when everyone would figure it out.

The two of you a very much opposites attract. Someone is gonna try to use your relationship with Wally to make you join the league, but he wards them off before you can break tall their teeth for even asking.

You being trans doesn’t matter much to Wally, outside of how it may affect your relationship. And by that I mean, if you for example don’t want him touching your torso or specific areas of your body, what wording to use, helping you with your T injections, so on and so forth.

Hes more perceptive than people think, at least after you guys have been dating a while. Hed start noticing the different signs that point at you feeling dysphoric. Like you going out for longer patrols because being the devil makes you feel more masculine. Or you wearing your binder for too long, if you need one of those.

I don’t think hes just gonna appear and demand answers, instead Wally has tried to figure out overtime what might help. He knows you aren’t the type to just talk about all your feelings and what can be done about it, so Wally would try to find other ways to be supportive and helpful.

You can always tell what he’s doing, since Wally starts going on about how handsome his boyfriend is, how manly you are and smell, how good your muscles look. Even if he’s buffer than you, you better expect him to drool over your muscles.

If you are fine with being touched, Wally would also just cuddle you when you have days where you struggle to look at yourself or even being in your own body. Hes always ready to talk or make changes if he can do anything to help, or just lay in silence if that’s what you need too, even if laying still for a longer time is difficult for a speedster.

Having a speedster boyfriend also means it’s easy to sense it’s him. Having the abilities you do, means you can point out any hero or villain you’ve met before, even in a crowd of a thousand. But the speedster’s connection to the speed force makes them so easy to point out.

It becomes a comfort for you, to feel the buzz that’s seemingly always present around Wally. It’s different around each speedster, but Wally is the most special out of all of them, to you anyways.

Having a speedster boyfriend also means you have access to something very few do, a boyfriend who can vibrate and who has close to no recovery period. This just means Wally is all over you on days where you are fine with that.

And if its one of those days where you want to get off to deal with dysphoria, you barely have to say anything before he’s on you, or beside you, or behind you.

Dysphoria means you don’t want to be touched skin on skin sometimes, and on days like this, good ol dry humping is just as good as anything else Wally could think up. Hes especially a fan when its him laying down and you on top.

It makes you seem so strong and in charge, even if your eyes can’t meet since well… you cant see like the average person. Wally is just giddy and almost buzzing out of his skin as you guys grind together, his hands shaking where they’re holding your hips.

Your heightened senses let you notice just how much he starts buzzing when he gets close. Other people would never notice until he’s just above to fall over the edge, but you can almost taste how his scent and pheromones start buzzing in the air when he’s turned on.

Hearing his heart race and his blood rushing through his body becomes a turn-on in its own way, just as much as grinding down on him and listening to him moan. Wally is also the type to kiss when you guys grind together, his tongue almost fizzy feeling against your own.

It becomes a lot easier to forget your dysphoria with a boyfriend like Wally, who does everything in his power to distract you from it, especially when he gets to rut against you and moan into your ear or neck. Just watch out for small sparks that might come off him, and that your senses don’t get too overwhelmed thanks to the speed force.

[rivertalesien]

A lot of ideas can co-exist.

There are activists on Tumblr. Some have been "activated" online. They've grown up on Tumblr. Tumblr is a default location for so many to try and urge others to act on their own best interests. There's no better way to use Tumblr than through fandoms.

That means the bad faith operators use them, too.

We've seen radicalizing in fandoms for years. Terfs do it, fascists do it.

One of the ways they have been particularly effective is in shutting down any conversation they don't want people to have. And it has worked. There are outcroppings in every social media sphere where people are: NO POLITICS. NO LGBTQ TALK. NO GENOCIDE TALK. NO BAD STUFF. PERIOD. No one wants to go through the drama of sorting it all out. It's been traumatizing for a lot of people. Cutting everything potentially problematic back is one way of dealing with the problem and making sure nothing toxic starts to take hold again.

There's upsides to that and some downsides: how people have been radicalized says a lot. I know some folks just want to get the revolution started and think banging heads together out here will do it.

So there's folks who have grown up here to reject that, fight against it and try to push others toward "action" without ever really being able to define what that "action" should be. There's folks who don't even realize they're desperation for "action" turns them off the folks who do not want anymore trauma. When you're deep in that mindset, you're not much better than a troll, really, and about as effective.

Yes, mental health/physical trauma is a real and valid reason some folks will not engage with political content of any kind.

Want to be an effective activist?

Online is never where it is at. You are simply not going to move people here. It won't happen. The need for the protective bubble is just too strong. You can use your platform to spread information, activist activities that are happening offline or specific ways people can help themselves and others, which people can then choose to participate in by sharing with their circles. That's it. That's what you can do here. If something goes viral here, it won't be because you pushed it on folks, judged them. Made them feel bad. People have to walk by themselves. They can't be forced along.

If you really need to feel some movement in the world, get involved locally. Join a school board. Library board. Volunteer at food banks, community gardens. Setup a booth at the mall or other community location and learn how to engage with people directly. More people will just walk on by, but once in a while, someone will come up to you and really want to know what's up. It doesn't feel rewarding or cinematically revolutionary, but that's how it's done. You can't start with a massive audience from day one. It's one to one to one to one until there are ten. Until there are twenty. Until there are a hundred.

If you need to go a step further, help a labor union. Join the picket lines. Encourage others to join unions. That's big right now and an effective way forward.

And don't forget that a huge part of what is going on in this world is a lack of compassion. A lack of humanity toward others. Everyone needs it. We need love and gentleness and kindness. If your activism doesn't start there, it won't end there. You may not believe it because you live in your own bubble of Rightness. If you think other people's suffering justifies you being a dick, you're not helping them. Donate to their GFMs. Encourage others to. Kindly. *That* helps.

Online is where we archive. Where we keep track. Where people find solidarity in the things that keep them going. That keep our humanity intact. That's the best of it. The worst is when we stomp around on it and tell others how they should feel and how they should live. That's not activism. That's policing. If there's one thing activism should never involve, it's policing others.

I'm a good twenty-odd years in this game now. I work in my community and my state and I'm telling you: you're not going to change the world online. The movements you have seen that seem to arise and build awareness? Online was incidental. It wasn't what made it happen. Bitching at people for "not caring enough" not sharing enough trauma posts or what not, is not what makes change happen. Nobody knows you. You're a stranger who walked into their house and told them YOU'RE DOING IT ALL WRONG and only added to their own trauma. It's not helping anyone at all.

PS: people talk politics all the time. They just might not be talking about it with you. For a very good reason.

Humble yourself a little. It won't hurt.

We need all of us in this time. Set a better example. Let people come to you. Go out and meet your neighbors. People need connection, not judgement. That's how this works.

I am actually begging some people to just let some spaces exist untouched by real-world issues and horrors.

Like I've lost count of the amount of times peaceful game or fandom servers have been ruined by people stampeding in with political rants, bitching about world issues, demanding internal activism, demanding vent channels so they can whine about their shitty parents, ect.

Like. Respectfully. Not every single space has to be inclusive of and welcoming of outside topics. The real world sucks. We don't needed to be reminded of that absolutely everywhere.

[genderqueerdykes]

Just a rant about some things I have been seeing for a while now on some videos.

Basically the videos I'm referring to usually have something to with LGBTQ+ (Mostly TQ+) and then when I go to the comments I see something like this,

'I'm a gay/bi/lesbian and I don't really care about the TQ+ side and because of (random thing that really isn't an issue like pronouns) this is why the LGB is divorcing the TQ+ side day by day."

It really just annoys me how people can be acting like this to their own community. They make it sound as the TQ+ is the 'louder minority' as so they put it they are less normal than them the other people that a part of this community.

It really just annoys me, with the way they say 'The LGB side should divorce the TQ+ side because they're weird and making us look even stranger than we already are!' Like buddy, I have actually seen those stuff twice, one when I was a homophobe and the second one when I realized I was multigender and cupiromantic/demisexual.

And let me honest, my first reaction to those comments the first time were literally, 'Oh hush, you all still weird as fuck with or without the TQ+". Because seriously, no bigot sees any difference between the casual gay person and trans person. All still abominations in their eyes, talking from my point of view before I stopped being homophobic.

Plus, they are all meant to correlate?? Like you can be trans masc and be gay. You can be a nonbinary lesbian. So people who say the stuff genuinely confused me as I myself is a gay multigender who also so happens to be trans.

It really just hurts how some people don't understand we need to stick together.

yeah i've literally never understood this logic either ??? thanks for coming to point that out, i've been thinking about this a lot lately. like when i see "lgb without the t" my brain just goes ??? because it just makes literally no sense

like why on earth do some people think the queer community "belongs" to cis perisex lesbians, gays and (sometimes, not always) biexuals, and that they're just "lending space" to trans people, intersex people, other queer people, questioning people and so on. i've literallly never understood the logic that cis perisex gays, lesbians and bisexuals are the "real" community, and then everyone else is toxic weirdos trying to "invade" their community. where did they get this from, because it's not historically accurate at all

it's disturbing that this is about controlling the queer community to folks who say "lgb witout the t(q+)". nobody should be in control of the community. we all share it together. equally

trans people have been fighting for queer rights alongside cis queers since the beginning. genderqueer, gnc, genderfluid, agender, multigender and intersex queers have been standing right beside cis queers at marches and rallies. trans people have been writing about homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia and intersexism alongside the cis queers in modern queer history. why do people think they need to erase that? why would you erase progress for the sake of being petty??

its wild as hell that people genuinely think like this, i agree, it's one of the most unhinged takes i've seen in the longest time. like imagine if us trannies said "gbtqi+ without the L" literally all hell would break loose. tumblr's servers would crash from the monstrous level of backlash people would be facing. you'd be shot dead in the water. but for some reason, it's perfectly okay when you slice off a huge, very important chunk of the community because some people are uncomfy with not being able to tell what genitals a stranger has. it's so petty

i hope people who think this way get past it soon. it's dumb. like you said, queerphobes see us all as gross nasty freaks. it doesn't matter what you identify as. the thing nobody fails to realize:

the queerphobe can't tell what you actually identify as.

let that sink in.

they are guessing. they can't read your mind. even if your pin says "I'm a genderfluid trans neutral butch!" that does not mean a queerphobe knows what the fuck that means. queerphobes see: dyke, faggot, tranny: one of them queers. that's all they see. that's it. they don't know what anything else is. it's not trans' peoples faults that they see us as dykes and faggots, so how is it trans people's faults that other people get slurs hurled at them? it's not. they hate you for being queer. that's. it.

blaming trans people for other queer people's oppression will never make sense. thanks for stopping by! take care. this shit pisses me off too, i'm glad it's not just me

[idwl]

Milieugender: A Guide

[pt: Milieugender: A Guide /end pt]

An explanation on why being against BAF transfems and BAM transmascs is harmful, and why transness shouldnt be restricted to one's birth sex.

"Woah, Idwl! Those are a lot of words! What does this one mean?"

Milieugender

BAF

BAM

Exorsexism

Transmedicalism

Bioessentialism — “Bioessentialism, a shorthand for biological essentialism, is the idea that we are born with specific, immutable traits by virtue of our sex. To a bioessentialist, sex maketh man.” Sourced from here

Please read this post all the way through until making assumptions or coming to conclusions. I would appreciate if readers kept an open mind while reading.

Introduction

[pt: Introduction /end pt]

The trans community, like any other community, is often divided on multiple topics and viewpoints. That is the nature of community; everyone has differing opinions. One topic that's been plaguing trans spaces as of lately has been the existence of BAF transfem and BAM transmasc folk.

BAF transfem and BAM transmasc are identities often used by those who are intersex, nonbinary, or detrans, but there are a slew of other reasons to use this term, as well. But we're not here to discuss the term itself; there's plenty of other posts explaining why people identify this way. No, today I would like to dicuss the people who are against it, and how it's rooted in bigotry.

This post is long, because multiple types of bigotry play into arguments against this identity. I'm here to talk about them all. This post does not aim to spark discourse, but rather, I aim to spark polite discussion, and help others understand the implications of being against this deeply nuanced and complex identity.

Transmedicalist Rhetoric

[pt: Transmedicalist Rhetoric /end pt]

First off, I want to start with how transmed rhetoric plays into being anti milieugender. Simply put, being against these identities is deeply rooted in transmed rhetoric. What is transmed rhetoric, though? And what does this mean for folks against this identity?

Transmed— a shortening of transmedicalist— is a person who believes that dysphoria is required to be trans.

This is rhetoric that has often hurt the community rather than helped. Why exactly is transmed rhetoric harmful, though? It is because it has often been weaponized against nonbinary people, used to uphold the gender binary, and invalidate nondysphoric trans people. It has also been weaponized against the MOGAI community; those with neogenders and xenogenders have often especially been the target of transmeds.

But how does this tie into milieugender experiences? Well, arguments against milieugender folk often rely on the very same arguments that transmeds use towards non-dysphoric or nonbinary folk; arguments about validity, struggle, dysphoria, etc...

A huge part of transmedicalism is viewing transness as involving suffering— transness, to transmeds, is not a happy or prideful thing, or an identity, but a medical condition. Most transmedicalists also view medical transition as necessary to being trans.

What I really want to point out here is that tidbit about transness involving suffering. Most transmeds, as a product of viewing transness as requiring dysphoria, view suffering as necessary to the trans experience. This argument, no matter how you come to the conclusion, is harmful.

You can see this argument when BAF transfems are brought up; often, it is argued that BAF transfems cannot be transfem due to not understanding the experience of MTF folk. This experience? Transmisogyny. I have seen similar arguments for BAM transmascs. Isn't it a bit harmful to boil down transness to one's discrimination and hurt?

(As well, to act like milieugender folk do not experience discrimination is just plain wrong; as, again, these people are often nonbinary, intersex, detrans, multigender, etc.)

So, while not inherently transmedicalist, arguments against milieugender folk often rely on the same kind of arguments that transmeds use.

Intersexism

[pt: Intersexism /end pt]

(Due to me being perisex, I consulted intersex people for assistance in writing this section. Thank you to @the-astropaws for your assistance.)

Most people who are milieugender identify as such because they are intersex. While perisex people still use these labels, yes, a lot of intersex folk do, too. Due to this fact, being against these labels is rooted in intersexism. I would like to touch on this.

Most arguments against milieugender folk involve some sort of statement about how they can't transition to something they already are, or are seen as.

When you imply that BAF trans women are already seen as women, and thus don't need to pass or transition, you are making a lot of assumptions about these trans girls. Yes, even perisex folk. By reinforcing the fact that BAF = feminine, you are reinforcing bioessentialism, which directly hurts intersex people. You are also invalidating the experience of intersex people.

User @/the-astropaws explained very well how this argument is intersexist. I would like to quote what one member of The Alternates, Aoba, said on this topic. I cleaned it up a bit, but it should have roughly the same meaning.

"[Claiming] all afabs are default feminine or can't "transition to fem" [...] is just, not true at all for both perisex n intersex people. The idea that afab = grew up feminine is the same excuse literal terfs use against intersex people who say they're tfem regardless on if they say they're afab OR amab.. an agab does not mean anything about what people were raised or seen as. [Enforcing] that idea on perisex people is [by] default targeting intersex people like me that did not at all get a default based on agab?? [While the] perisex experience will never be the Exact Same as an intersex experience, [...] many have similarities and a lot of wording hurts both sides"

Exorsexism

[pt: Exorsexism /end pt]

Let's take a common argument, one I've heard multiple times: "BAF trans women are already women, and aren't trans. If you're BAF and a woman, you're cis."

Before I delve into this argument, what is exorsexism? It is linked above, but to put it plainly, it is the discrimination against nonbinary individuals, intersex individuals, and those with gender modalities other than cis and trans. Here, we will focus on it's definition as discrimination against nonbinary individuals.

Further defined, as quoted from the MOGAI miraheze wiki, "exorsexism is the belief that the only allowable genders are wholly and exclusively male and wholly and exclusively female, and one cannot identify as both male and female, or as neither male nor female. It also includes the belief that the only allowable gender modalities are wholly and exclusive cis and wholly and exclusively trans, and one cannot identify as both cis and trans or as neither cis nor trans."

So, I'm sure you can see how this argument is, quite plainly, relying on a lot of exorsexist rhetoric. Even if you're not comfortable with BAM nonbinary people calling themselves transmasc, or BAF nonbinary people calling themselves transfem, to imply they're cis is disrespectful. It is also heavily ignorant of other's gender experiences.

There are multiple reason someone may be a girl and BAF, or a boy and BAM yet not cis. Being bigender, for example. Being demigender. Being genderfluid. Being a forasgirl. These are all nonbinary experiences. To say all women who are BAF and all men who are BAM are cis or "basically cis" is simply incorrect. It also relies on exorsexist rhetoric, because you are implying that womanhood cannot exist outside of the binary; i.e, you are implying you can only be either wholly, solely female or wholly, solely male. It's also invalidating to multigender folk, who often do not identify as cis.

Transphobia

[pt: Transphobia /end pt]

There's another part about arguments against these identities, and that's the fact that they're also rooted in plain transphobia. This quite frustrates me; in an attempt to protect FTM and MTF trans folk, when arguing against milieugender identities, FTM/MTF identities are often invalidated.

I would like to bring back a point from the intersexism section; the fact that milieugender folk cant be trans because they're already perceived as their gender. e.g. BAF transfems are already (perceived as) feminine, and BAM transmascs are already (perceived as) masculine.

By saying that being BAF inherently means you are feminine, or perceived as such— even for perisex folk— you are implying (intentionally or not) that ftm trans men and transmascs are inherently (seen as) feminine. You are equating the female sex and femininity as going hand in hand. The same goes for if you make this argument for BAM transmascs and manhood.

Sex should be an inherently neutral thing,. To imply sex comes with certain characteristics, once again, reinforces bioessentialism, which hurts trans folk.

This argument, while not intended to hurt FTM or MTF folk, will inadvertently do so, in one way or another.

Hypocrisy

[pt: Hypocrisy /end pt]

Generally, I also think it's just quite hypocritical to be against identities such as these if you're for other good faith identities. Isn't the whole point of good faith identities to, you know, assume good faith? Sure, some labels may not make sense or seem weird, but really, what harm do milieugender folk bring to the community? They're not appropriating labels any more than a boy identifying as a lesbian, are they?

Ultimately, it harms nobody. One cannot help if a label is most euphoric for them, or makes them most comfortable. And while FTM/MTF folk deserve their own spaces, certainly, milieugender folk existing isn't harming those spaces. In fact, most milieugender folk are aware of the differences between themselves and FTM/MTF folk, and try their best to be respectful.

This isn't to say there aren't entitled or hurtful milieugender people, but you know what?

There are entitled and hurtful people everywhere.

The whole point of transness is that it's for everybody. Why are we denying it from anyone? Why are we denying people happiness? Have we learned nothing?

Queer exclusion will always hurt queer people, period.

Redefining trans girl, transfem, transmasc, and trans boy

[pt: Redefining trans girl, transfem, transmasc, and trans boy /end pt]

So, where does that lead us?

I think, as a queer community, we should redefine transness. Transness has always been a label of self-identification, one you had to opt-in to by your own choice.

Trans girls should just mean girls who are trans. Trans boys should just mean boys who are trans.

Transness, now, places a focus on the birth sex. Personally, as a trans man, I would feel a lot happier if trans man would come to mean a man who was trans. Because it makes him happy. And who are we to deny queer people happiness and their right to self-identify?

Not only that, but this is better for everybody. It will include intersex people, people who dont plan on physically or socially transitioning, nonbinary people— it will include all people who feel as though they are trans. It's also, ultimately, safer.

While you may still not agree with my identity, I hope you were at least able to get something out of reading this.

---

tagging for reach, ask to be removed; @radiomogai; @noxwithoutstars; @daybreakthing; @flutteringwings-coining; @rwuffles; @scr-ppup; @smilepilled; @floraeth; @the-astropaws; @somniabyte; @circulatoire; @cyberneticloverboy

[thelawfulchaotic]

Being a jerk to someone part of a different group (especially a morally judged group) is a grand old human tradition.

If violence is infliction of harm, the words you use to inflict harm on people are violent words.

Honestly, folks, consider removing the judgment words from your vocabulary. Not only are they violent, but they’re nonspecific and counterproductive — they invoke defensiveness and hurt.

“Cis guys suck”

vs

“I feel anger towards cis men, *because of* specific behavior x and y”

“Down with cis”

vs

“The people I work with have difficulty understanding gender identity and it often frustrates me because i want to be accepted/I want it just ignored/I find it triggering”

Okay these sentences are a lot longer, yes, much less efficient, but they put the attention where it needs to be: on SPECIFICS. If your friend bro hears you talking about how guys keep manspreading on the bus and hitting on you while you’re listening to music, he won’t be like “wow this is unpleasant for me”, he’ll be like “ah these are things I do not do because I am not an asshole and I know I am still accepted here.”

It also places emphasis on what you’re actually feeling and why you’re actually feeling it. Name! That! Emotion! Many people have trauma and issues recognizing what emotion they are feeling and practice helps; besides that, you’ll be able to focus on what the problem actually is, and maybe think up something specific for a solution. Want Kyle at work to stop making a big deal out of every pronoun? This is not the same problem as Steve now refusing to be in the same room alone with you now that you’ve come out.

And notice in none of these have I said judgment words like “unacceptable behavior” or “being the worst” or other ways to judge. This is not because I have no opinions. It’s because judgment interferes with communication. It’s a tactically nonviolent choice. If you come in thinking of someone as More Bad than you, you will behave in ways that show that judgment, on purpose or not. Even people who do bad things are people and usually have some way they’re reachable. It takes a toolbox that very few of us are taught.

It feels real good to judge people. Judgment and social punishment are reinforcing — to the punisher. You feel good while doing it, so you do it again. It becomes a habit. It becomes a dogma. It’s a trap. Punishment never works, and if it briefly accomplishes its intended purpose, it always comes with a thousand more negative effects down the line. Alienation of your non-in-group friends. Entrenchment in your social groups. Echo chambers. And the inability to make anyone listen to you about anything important.

However, if someone is not engaging with you in good faith, tell them what they’re doing that makes you feel that way, tell them how it makes you feel, and tell them you will not engage further until they come to the table for real. Not punishment, just ending the discussion without any uncertainty.

Hot take but I really do think that some of y’all need to consider how/why/when/how often you’re making fun of straight people for being straight

I do it too, I’m not going to pretend I don’t make jokes about the hets, or the down with cis bus, or whatever

But I recently befriended a cis, straight dude and I have watched him be dismissed, degraded, and unambiguously insulted for the perceived “crime” of being straight — all in queer environments where he is allegedly “completely welcome” and surrounded by “friends”

This guy is not a toxic person! But I have seen him be made to feel so small and like his comfort and safety in those spaces are conditional on his silence and acceptance of being treated like a human dunk zone, and I think that some of y’all have had so much shit from straight/cis people that the second you feel like you’ve got an inch, you want to luxuriate in the perceived catharsis of bullying someone who— actually —doesn’t deserve it

And until he very, very carefully mentioned to me in private that it makes him feel bad, I didn’t even clock that I was involved in doing that, that it had become so instinctive for me to make casual jokes like that, and that— well meaning or otherwise —I had been contributing to an environment that made someone I really really like feel like shit

So, I dunno, I think maybe some of y’all should think about that too

[littlestarbigsky]

ahhh happy christmas to all my folks who celebrate !!!!

if you need me i’ll be here talking about asthmatic soda while i do my breathing treatment (i’m okay!! i just get wheezy in the cold lol)

- soda has has asthma since he was little, the first time his parents knew something was up when he literally passed out from a lack of air when he was playing at the park with two-bit; they had to take him to the hospital and dear god what a fiasco it was

- he loves to joke about it, and he typically is good at recognizing when he needs to take it seriously, but every now and then he pushes himself a little too far and darry or pony have to sit him down and remind him to take a breather

- it’s mostly activity induced and also if he gets to anxious and worked up, but for some reason some cologne pony tries also has him gasping lol (two-bit swiped it for the kids birthday, he thought the whole thing was hilarious)

- darry swears sometimes soda is TRYING to aggravate it bc why the hell is he so set on chasing the deer out of their neighborhood or racing steve to the lot to play football

- one of his biggest scares was when they went to swim down at the lake and he was on a rope swing and ended up flying wayyy past where he should have been and darry had to swim out to get him bc he was about to pass out

- he probably has to have a nebulizer at some point (lol same babe) and my god he HATES IT like he can NOT sit still for that whole treatment

- i saw someone say a while ago that soda doesn’t like to use his inhaler or do treatments before bed even if he probably should bc that medicine gets you WIRED, he just laughs at darry and says, “darry i can’t take that now i wont sleep for a week.”

- pony isn’t a huge fan bc it stresses him tf out but he’s very glad to not have his brother kicking him all night lmao

[destinygoldenstar]

Don’t pause your story to explain characters/character chemistry.

What I mean by this is putting your story to a halt to have a paragraph or two explaining who your characters are in sentences you use on character sheets.

Now I’m not saying don’t use exposition. It’s necessary after all.

But there is a way to get your audience to understand who your characters are without pausing the story progressing. You can tell your audience who they are without it feeling like you’re shoving the info in their face.

I’m going to show an example from one of my own works:

“Charlie Sue is the world of Fate’s well known Chosen One. Every week on Saturday Morning at the strike of twelve, it’s his job to go out on the town to hunt for crimes to fight and bring justice to. However, despite his fame status, he’s rather unenthusiastic of this action, and would much rather keep quiet and curl up in a book to read about the average life of the folk without destinies. But due to his status, he will still do the job and can’t say no.”

“Sherilyn Rosuto, his housemate, is quite the opposite. She loves these crime fighting outings. She’s an action seeking girl at her core, taking interest in the brawling going around town, sports or otherwise. She is loud, carefree, and impulsive in how she approaches things, so Charlie has to keep her in check.”

“Charlie and Sheri are childhood best friends. They care about each other very deeply and want each other to be at their best. Sheri is Charlie’s Number Two. Wherever he goes, she will always be thrilled to tag along. She keeps him motivated about the next outing, whether it be training, or her own enthusiasm. Despite destiny decreeing Sheri as merely a sidekick to Charlie, Charlie truly values her as a good friend he can’t do without.”

What’s WRONG with this?

Well, one, this is a character sheet from mine before I even wrote a draft.

These paragraphs are good at directly telling you who these two characters are and what their dynamic is.

BUT that’s all they do. They put the story in a screeching halt to give the audience this exposition. As a result, it’s telling you how you should feel about them, without actually giving you a reason to care about them or their chemistry.

You can get all this important information across through action and interaction.

Make some key lines implying who they are and what they’re thinking. Making it feel like they are who you want them to come across as.

In this case, two best friends who motivate each other.

So instead of using those paragraphs, I created a whole introductory scene of these two and their dynamic, setting up the action to progress the story.

What does this say about them? A LOT, ACTUALLY.

Everything in those paragraphs from earlier is established here, but it’s natural, and not pandering who they are. You SEE how good of friends they are and what their characterization is.

Now granted it’s not perfect, on a Google doc this scene is about 2 1/2 pages so it could be trimmed if you wanted it to be.

Charlie starts the scene lazily reading, establishing not only his interest in books, but what else he takes interest in on what he’s reading. It’s said what the title of the book is. So you get a picture on his interest in the mundane life outside of his current life.

Sherilyn is the one to bring up the time, AKA, what time it is they usually start their outing. And she spends this section trying to strike up a conversation with Charlie to get him to come along.

She also talks about a sports related event, showing she takes interest in that sort of thing. She is also a brawler of the two of them.

Sherilyn also smashes her mug to get his attention, showcasing her loose cannon personality. You can tell from that simple action that she’s not only the talkative loud type, but the impulsive type.

Charlie’s clumsiness is also shown here as he accidentally breaks a lamp throwing his book. (Lamps breaking is a running gag throughout this book btw)

Sheri also has ice powers. That’s shown as she uses it to take care of the lamp mess.

You also get a description of their sides of their room to get more sense of their personality. I personally love these sorts of setting descriptions, especially if they’re telling you something about their characters. Charlie has some more of those mundane books, again, bookworm into mundane stuff. There’s some trinkets on his nightstand, implying that Charlie likes collecting these mundane non-magical things. Sheri meanwhile is an artist, a spray painter to be exact, and she’s a bike rider and a boxer, those are the kind of things she does, and the sports she’s into.

Charlie also sarcastically cheers for the day at their dog, again showing he doesn’t actually like these outings.

Sheri then, playfully, gets them warmed up for this outing to motivate him. Which starts more of their banter and interactions to understand both their characters and how good of friends they are.

Charlie comments against not showing off his body, telling us he doesn’t like that kind of exposure.

Charlie mentions Sheri dreamed of getting muscle since her twelfth birthday. Indicating that these two have been friends for quite awhile. (They’re seventeen.)

Sheri also uses the dog to describe something world building wise. Weeklings. Which are implied in this scene to be monsters by Sheri’s playful description. Charlie also comments that Bridge (location) Dark Lords (character group) don’t usually carry the kind Sherilyn is describing. Telling us where they are on the worlds map and how low the threat level is where they’re at.

These two also have playful banter regarding weaponry, in a friendly way. Telling us Sheri doesn’t use weapons, and Charlie advices she try it, showing concern for her when he asks if her face counts as a shield.

Sheri gives some encouragement to Charlie. She understands him and that he doesn’t like these outings, indicating familiarity and that she’s known him for awhile. She cheers him up a bit by suggesting going to a movie afterwards. Not a bar brawl lol.

You also see how Charlie is the cautious one by speaking against taking a motorcycle to their outing. And Sheri is the athletic one and wants her friend in top shape.

SO MUCH INFORMATION AND SO MUCH CHARACTER, AND BARELY OF IT IS NARRATED DIRECTLY. YOU SEE IT NATURALLY.

This whole scene is meant to be a character establishing scene that helps you understand the main characters and to get the action of the story started. The crime fight outing they’re going to kickstarts the entire plot.

Show Don’t Tell. Move the story along.

If a scene isn’t progressing the story, it should be telling you something about characters and why the audience should care about them.

Your audience should be shown why they should care about your characters and their dynamics. By getting to know who they are and why they either care about each other or don’t.

[drdemonprince]

do you consider exorsexism to be an accurate/coherent concept in terms of describing structural discrimination against nonbinary people?

when i first encountered the term i thought it made sense, but now i’m wondering how it potential could tie into the ways transmisogynists use “binary trans woman” as a kind of dogwhistle. i have certainly encountered interpersonal bigotry from fellow trans people over my being nonbinary… but none of them had any structural power over me, so i tend to not feel particularly threatened by whatever “binary” trans people may feel about me. on the other hand, i do face a lot of structural barriers in a cis-binary world; but is that experience actually distinct enough from transphobia or cissexism to warrant its own term?

There is definitely a structural oppression of nonbinary people that exists and we need better tools to talk about. To this day a nonbinary identity is not legible to basically ANY government ID office, insurance provider, employer, school, hospital, or other large institution, that gender neutral or unisex restrooms and locker rooms seldom exist, and so many other public spaces & institutions are so rigidly gendered, such that nonbinary people are not allowed to functionally exist in society.

And speaking as someone who has inhabited both nonbinary and more binary trans identities, people absolutely do comprehend and honor the familiar binary options more, gender you correctly more often if you are binary, include you more often in social spaces and events, and are flat out more comfortable around you if you are easier for them to parse. It infuriates me when trans people shit on nonbinary folks as being self-centered and fake oppressed. This stuff is so clear.

And none of that erases the fact that TME nonbinary people often harbor deeply transmisogynistic views -- we live in a transmisogynistic society! all people are inculturated into those views and anyone who is not a trans woman does not get targeted by systems of transmisogyny. trans men are just as bad or worse wrt to all of this, so if anything the singling out of nonbinary people as fake, entitled not-really-oppressed trans people who are somehow uniquely bad to trans femmes is itself a manifestation of anti-nonbinary prejudice. theres nothing the "theyfabs" are doing thats any worse or an different from what you see from just about every trans man and cis woman.

Trans men often DO hold power over our nonbinary siblings, because we are men, often with many of the privileges attendant -- but also a group does not need to be positioned below another group on some straightforward hierarchy in order to experience a genuine and distinct loci of oppression. (see for example the differing experiences of bisexuals and gay and lesbian people). Lateral aggression is a thing, cissexism and coercive gender assignment at birth is to blame for virtually ALL of this, and of course, a lot of nonbinary people do in fact transition in some way (not just medically) and so moves to exclude them from discussions of trans oppression are a bad move.

[zundely]

As much as I love Dorian (and I love him A LOT) the fact that I can make him an Archon and the fact that he somehow seems more sensible of the two options in game is hysterical to me.

The man avoided the politics for better part of his life in order to spite his family and he admitably god VERY good at being as politically abhorent and unacceptable as it is possible. He will sometimes say the wildest, most out of pocket shit that comes to his mind. If there is a thing to say that will offend the largest amount of people in a room any given time, he will not only say it but make it ten times worst. And part of it is an act sure, but something about the way Emmrich talks about young Dorian makes me think he has put on this act for so long it's basically nature to him at this point. Like during half of convos he has with Solas- I am sure he doesn't mean to offend him... he is just so used to saying first thing that comes to his mind he does and he ends up saying some wild things. And the codexes we get that mention what Dorian has been up to in the Magestirium for this past years does tell me he still absolutely does this although he has gotten better at who he directs it at. But he still can't help himself, pretty much ever, to not cause some good old outrage.

All that to say- although Dorian is great at being a pariah and amazing at annoying the living hell out of uppity politicians... it does feel like he is not particularly careful about doing it or how it affects his standing. It may win him some support from the common folks, sure, but Tevinter isn't a democracy. What I am trying to get at is that to get good at politics Dorian would need to be a little bit more... well, a little bit more like Vivienne. And I am willing to belive he could do this in 10 year time skip but nothing in Veilguard leads me to belive he did. Which makes it hilarious he can become a political leader of this nation because I can just imagine what kind of things he will end up saying there.

[liatai]

Question!

Neurodivergent peeps of Tumblr, I have a question.

I know that "nonverbal" or "selectively mute" are specific terms that mean "I cannot force words out no matter how hard I try," so... is there a term for "I can speak if I have to, but right now it requires extra energy?"

Like, I'm autistic. I have times where I can speak and even hold conversations, but stringing a verbal sentence together takes effort, the same kind of effort lifting a heavy load with your body would but in your mind. I can be perfectly eloquent and verbose in text when this happens, and sometimes I'll even make some of the limited signs I know in ASL without an issue, but speaking aloud uses up all my mental RAM and I can feel the metaphorical fans of my mind-computer whirring in overdrive. X3;

It's exhausting, too. Usually if I've been verbally social for a while, that's when it kicks in.

I can understand spoken words just as well as other times when this happens, as long as I don't have to speak to reply. If I have to speak, the mental effort and stamina needed to do it tends to push details aside in an endeavor to save processing power. ^^;

I know autism is a spectrum, and I'm hoping someone might have a name for this "not QUITE nonverbal but verbal words are VERY hard right now" feeling ^^; "Partially nonverbal" or "partially selectively mute" doesn't seem quite right.

Help?

[royalarchivist]

[A sad violin song plays over an image of a sad hamster]

Pac: This doesn't have anything to do with me – I wear a blue sweatshirt, you're crazy, this mouse doesn't even have a sweatshirt, this hamster! [Reading chat] Am I a depressed hamster?

[ Transcript continued ↓ ]*

–

Pac: Actually– that's fine! I embrace that idea – of course I'm going to be depressed, are you crazy? [He hits his desk, then starts counting off people on his fingers] Fit is gone, Richarlyson is gone, Ramon is gone, Bagi and Empanada who were always there when we were there are also gone, I haven't seen them! It's just me and Tubbo, and sometimes Philza shows up.

Pac: I lost Chume Labs, I lost the Favela, I lost Murder Mystery, I lost Ilha Chume Labs, it's crazy! Look at how much I've lost, and I've gained nothing! Of course I'm going to be depressed, are you crazy?! How am I supposed to be happy?!

Pac: [Reading chat] "You have us Pac," that's true, thank you. No, that's true, sorry.

* NOTE: Please note that this is an incomplete transcript, as I was primarily relying on Aypierre's translation mod at the time and if I am not confident of the translation, I do not include it. As always, please feel free to add on translations or message me corrections.

[i-really-like-phrogs]

When someone else’s art is so good you physically can’t look at it because of artistic jealousy

[hoppityhopster23]

Before I Answer your questions, I just want to add this:

If you are able, There are two books that I know of that will prove helpful when writing a story like this. The first one, and the more important of the two is Napoleon's Doctors by Dr. Martin Howard. I haven't read it cover-to-cover, but I have used it often when people ask me questions, and it is also the primary source I'm using to answer yours. It is filled with both the medical and political side of medicine during the First Empire. There are a few very minor errors, but nothing that ruins the meaning behind it.

The other would be Surgeons of Steel by Michael Crumplin. Heck, anything by Crumplin if you need to research treatments and disease names from the Napoleonic Wars. Surgeons of Steel is just his book on Napoleonic War medicine. Not only is he a retired military surgeon and has worked closely with many large documentary groups, but he's a relatively unbiased person with this stuff. From what I've seen, he leans towards the English side, but he isn’t blinded by it and doesn’t favor everything English for the Napoleonic Wars. 

If you can't afford the books, Loancat is a good source to find them if you can't borrow the book from somewhere nearby. 

Also, Dunard will not only be working with Larrey, but many other big names. Honestly, that would be the biggest challenge, convincing the head medical folk of the French army. Here are a few of the important names and my short rundown of them:

Dominique-Jean Larrey: My personal favorite of the bunch. He jumped between the head Surgeon of the Imperial Guard and the Chief Surgeon in various campaigns. He was Chief Surgeon during the Egyptian, Corsican, Italian, and Russian Campaigns. The rest of the time, he was Head surgeon of the Imperial Guard (specifically at Ulm, Vienna, Austerlitz, Berlin, Eylau, Friedland, Madrid, Asper-Essling, and Wagram), as well as Inspector General. However, he did help where he could. He was devoted to his wounded and would remain with them and even protect them when he needed to. He was hard-headed and strong-willed, going against assorted administrations if he felt it was needed.  

This did cause issues, however, as he would often choose the wounded over Napoleon. (most notably in Egypt, where, despite being offered to go with, he declined and remained in Egypt until 1801.) There are also instances where he even rejected the Emperor's orders to care for the majority, like when he was ordered to Embalm General Dahlmann. Being the hard-headed dude he was, He basically said that he had 800 men to watch over and refused to leave them. 

However, know that he was still fiercely loyal to the Empire and Napoleon, going as far as to tell a man who betrayed the Emperor that ‘the officer of that name he once knew died at Waterloo.’ He was beloved by the men and was almost always helped. When it was thought that he was killed in 1808, men of the Imperial Guard wept.

Please know that he also had a less-than-good side that isn't often talked about. Even I am at fault for this. (I should also note that he wasn’t inherently a bad person. He is just a lot more complex in that sense. At the base of it all, he still wanted to help people, and was willing to put his life on the line for them.) He had a bit of an ego all through his life, and it quickly exacerbated around the time of the Russian campaign. (it had been slowly getting worse over time, but hit hard during 1812.) He was also immodest, cocky, prideful, and vain. Sometimes, even his pride would rear its ugly head and compromise his judgment. He also tended to poke his nose into things he didn't need to. 

His own memoirs tend to be problematic in the sense that there are multiple times he makes himself look more important than he actually was. Sometimes, his memoirs gloss over sickness and injuries that other doctors wrote of too.

Amongst his peers, he wasn’t the most popular, but he wasn’t entirely hated either. It's even said that bickering with him was just an occupational hazard for senior medical officers. He was respected for his work, and he did praise others on many occasions. 

Pierre-Francois Percy: Another important person Dunard will most likely face. He's on the older end of the bunch, being born in 1754. Like Larrey, he was qualified quite young and was involved with the military starting in 1776, when he joined the Scots company in Luneville. He was Surgeon in Chief in Artois and Flanders in 1789, as well as during the Army of the Rhine. Was an inspector general as well.

He was very dedicated to his work, spending most of his free time studying. However, his skill set wasn’t as technical as Larrey was, being much better suited to leadership roles. He had the Charisma, Compassion, intelligence, determination, and conversationalist skills that made it possible for his role as a leader, teacher, and reformer. He was the inventor of the less famous Wurst and also was already seriously thinking about medical units being inviolable, an idea which was put into place 64 later, during the first Geneva Convention. He promoted the use of orderlies that were specially trained. Almost like a primitive version of a modern nurse, but with a little bit more administrative skills. Generally, he was very academically intelligent, writing many works on surgery and general medicine. His greatest legacy, however, would be his campaign journals. They were never meant to be published, and it shows. However, its accounts were daily and written shortly after the events. They weren’t edited in a way like memoirs are, making them contain more accuracy than most other resources. 

He was also one of the handful who was protective of the wounded, having rescued at least one man under fire, and taking the risk of getting shot after helping about 30 emigres, many being women and children, escape. He was also quick to reprimand any Officer de Sante who was being disrespectful of the wounded, as well as being Hard-headed. (no wonder he and Larrey were kind of friends, but butted heads, especially in the later years.)

Unfortunately, I haven't done much research on him, nor have had the opportunity to see his journals in English, so this is all I have. But I do know this: if Dunard can convince Percy, they’d have quite the ally. He was a force to be reckoned with. 

Rene-Nicolas Desgenettes: I need to preface this following bit with an important note. I don’t like Desgenettes. It's not a hate, just a dislike. But that is my own bias coming from my attachment to Larrey. I’m trying my damnedest here to keep this part unbiased, but we shall see. 

Desgenettes is considered one of the greatest Doctors in the Grande Armee at this time and is also part of the group of physicians who became barons. His time in the army started in 1793, when he was attached as a physician to the army of Italy. He very quickly shot up the ranks to Chief Physician, and also quickly became friends with Napoleon. 

He was the Chief Physician during the Egyptian Campaign, and worked hard during the plague epidemic. At some point, he inoculated himself with it to try and prove that it wasn’t contagious and boost morale. It kind of worked. In 1804, he became Chief Physician of a military hospital in Paris.

There are some anecdotes of him protecting the wounded, even going so far as to refuse to overdose any of his patients when Napoleon ordered him to do so in Jaffa. He was also the soul who put his foot down and kicked Napoleon out when he got too close to some of the plague victims. In 1812, he was captured by the Russians and then shortly after freed by Tsar Alexander. 

From what I’ve read, this guy was an aristocrat with the elegance and assurance that came with it. Well, he was born into an aristocratic family, so this is unsurprising. He was a bit of a comedian too.

At least earlier on, he did not hesitate to go against Napoleon, and was very straightforward with him, whether Napoleon liked it or not. 

Jean-François Coste: In my mind, Coste is one of those folks you forget until his name pops up. He was the oldest of the big four, being born in 1841. He was involved in Rochambeau’s forces to America. He was even the first mayor of Versailles. He and Berthier were also pretty close friends, and this partially helped him become Chief Physician of the army in 1803, as well as an Inspector General. However, his time as Chief Physician was short-lived, as he faced the majority of Napoleon's anger about the lack of physicians and was replaced by Desgenettes. I tend to think this is one of the reasons why he never became a baron. It's also sad because of his administrative contributions to the army, which included the introduction of vaccination and improvements to hygiene. 

Alexandre Yvan: This one is short as there is nothing on this guy anywhere. Yvan was Napoleon's Personal Surgeon, and his contributions were not very big. Napoleon more or less picked him out of obscurity. There are only two artworks of him that I know of, he's that obscure. (he's the guy treating Napoleon's foot in the painting where he's wounded in Regensburg.) He was likely chosen for his conservative views of amputation and such. (we all know Napoleon was terrified of surgery.) 

Yvan was more or less Napoleon’s shadow and remained at his side until 1814 when he fled. Also, he may have prepared the poison for Napoleon's attempted suicide. 

Nicolas Heurteloup: Also a man worth noting, as he was big on the administrative scene. Yet another one in the Inspector General group and a baron of the Empire. There isn’t too much to say about him (more so because I haven’t gotten around to researching him) except that he was very good at organizing medical services, and most notably having done a superb job of it during the Austrian campaign in 1809. He unfortunately died in 1812. 

Jean-Nicolas Corvisart: Last of the most notable medical staff, but more so for his involvement with Napoleon than any contributions to the army, and some contributions to anatomical pathology. 

Corvisart had quite the personality. It's said that he was vigorous in manner, outspoken, honest, generous (especially to the poor), and tended to stray from tradition. Outside of the army, he was one of the first to push for a more rational approach towards diagnosis. Napoleon had great faith in him, even saying once that he didn’t trust medicine, but he trusted Corvisart. 

Now onto your general questions. I have them organized in the same way as you have.

Siege of Toulon: 

From what I've seen, most young men were recommended for these jobs. 

I don’t know exactly what they did, but we could break this down with what I do know. A Chirurgien-Major (surgeon major) was the senior Surgeon of a regiment. Sous aide directly translates to “under help,” which would likely mean one rank under, like an assistant. I know that doesn’t give you much of an answer, but understanding the setup of the medical side changed so often that it can be difficult to remember. But at least this is a start.

Contrary to what people seem to think, they were quite skilled in medicine at this point already. They were just missing major pieces like germ theory and a lot of our modern medicines and tools.

The problem with all these deaths was more the wounded never made it to the physician in time. What killed the majority of the men who had been treated were infections and diseases that involved filth and germs. They were already starting the push for more hygienic environments at the time as well. If you look at the little bit of statistics we have from that time, this much is obvious. Some of the major things that were missing were germ theory, Penicillin (how to realistically make it was wonderfully done in this post), things to do with blood transfusions, hypodermic needles (which were in their infancy at this time.), injectable medications, anesthetic (most reasonable start would be chloroform.) and CPR. These are just a couple of things that would be useful for them.

Dunard would likely meet Larrey and/or the others working or through Napoleon. More so working. Napoleon didn’t trust medicine all that much, making him harder to convince. I mean- I have a story a little like this but with an engineer, and how my character meets these medical people is through the unusual method (aka CPR) she used when helping someone who nearly drowned. So having Dunard catch their eye may be your best bet. 

Italian Campaign: 

Not really. It wasn’t unusual, but it wasn't too common either. Most were too busy keeping to the back and treating the men who came to their field hospital (these were more commonly called ambulances). 

I doubt it. 

Kind of. But nurses were more attributed to nuns at this time. Orderlies did non-medical work, and students the more medical work, if I remember correctly. 

Not at this time, no. It would've been too dangerous. But it was an idea that was thrown, especially Percy. Even Larry mentions it in his memoirs.

Egyptian Campaign 

Sadly, this campaign is one I have not looked too much into. But I do know that the infected men were kept separated from the other wounded. To note, the treatment for Bubonic plague is antibiotics. (more specifically Ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, Gentamicin, and Doxycycline.) Antibiotics did not exist at this time.

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Italian Campaign 1800

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Napoleons Reign 

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No. Napoleon was too distrustful of doctors. He didn't block them, but he certainly was troubled by them. I mean- he literally told Desgenettes “Chemistry is the cookery of medicine and medicine is the science of assassins!” 

The highest rank possible for a normal physician at this time would’ve been baron. Although it wouldn’t be out of the question for Dunard to get another rank on non-medical merits. 

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I do hope all of this helps, and I do apologize for how long this is. Please feel free to DM me on Tumblr/Instagram/Discord or send me an ask if you have any more medical-related questions :D 

"Back to another time" historical fanfic

a question to all napoleonic fans out there:

What should be changed or improved if a time travel were to travel back into the Napoleonic era?

So it's no secret of mine that I've been planning of writing a historical fanfic of a surgeon leonard dunard who's a pretty big napoleonic era nerd travels back in time during 1794 the siege of toulon. I've been kind struggling piecing this story together because of the not so many sources that I can go off

I just have alot of questions and not so many answers.

Now of course I'm not really thinking about giving napoleon the biggest W of all time there are going to be struggles but I think we can all agree that the peninsular wars and the attack to Russia can be avoided.

But I'm not only thinking of the way of how napoleon could've won but I was also think of how our modern surgeon Leonard could improve the medical field more.

I know that our boy larrey is definitely going to be involved since he was in most of the campaigns.

So I will just write down my questions under here and hope that some of yall can answer it I'll even organize it from which battle/chapter it would be used for you can ask me to explain further if some of it doesn't make sense.

Siege of toulon:

-how would a young surgeon inlist themselves into the medical field of the army?

-what was expected from a chirurgien sous aide major?

-what were the major issues the in the 18th century medical field? And how can they be fixed?

- how could dunard(oc) meet larrey? (So in what way could they have met eachother and stay in contact without napoleon introducing them to eachother)

Italian campaign 1796-1797:

-was is it common practice for surgeons to be in the midst of an active battle rescuing patients ?

-could a surgeon be given command to a battalion if it was needed?

-were nurses a thing in that time? And if not how could dunard incorporate them in the medical field?

-why wasn't there symbol for the medics to indicate that they're medical staff?

Egyptian campaign:

-how did the French army handle the spreading of the plague and could it be more improved?

-if the French fleet would have won at the battle of the nile against the British fleet would the British do more to sabotage the French army? Or would they just give up?

-> and would the Egyptian campaign only have taken 1 year to finish? Instead of 3 years

Italian campaign 1800

- what if desiax lived would he and davout been a unstoppable duo?

-if messena got navy support would he have continued fighting?

-should napoleon not have split his army that much in the battle of marengo?

Napoleons reign 1804-1812

-would it have been better if napoleon didn't become emperor?

-is it possible for a surgeon to become a marshal?

-could alot of the coalitions have been avoided if napoleon took the right steps?

Now I'm asking these questions because I struggle to find answers to these questions and I genuinely want to discuss more about my history fanfic so that I can maybe make fun fic to read that doesn't completely go of the rails i do kind what to keep it "realistic" if you know what i mean. so if your interested in it as I am I would love to talk about it more ^^