#Creating Safe Spaces

[livingwellnessblog]

What Victim Blaming Looks Like

Understand Victim Blaming: Educate yourself about victim blaming to recognize and avoid engaging in it. Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any harmful act is held partially or entirely responsible for the incident. Example: In a racist context, if someone suggests that a person of color experienced discrimination because of the way they dress, they are engaging in victim…

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[secretsandillusions]

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Trigger Warning: This post is going to be talking about "Sibling Abuse" and the things that go along with it. If this topic - or the topic of abuse in general - is upsetting for you please move on. If you decide to move on: Have a wonderful rest of your night! If you decide to stay, you've been warned.

What is Sibling Abuse? "Sibling Abuse refers to any form of harmful behavior or mistreatment that occurs between siblings within a family. It encompasses various types of abuse including physical, emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse. Sibling abuse can involve acts of aggression, violence, intimidation, manipulation, or control exerted by one sibling towards another. It may manifest as repetitive patterns of abusive behavior or isolated incidents of harm. Sibling abuse can have profound and lasting effects on the victim, impacting their emotional well-being, self-esteem, and overall development.

Yes, some types of behaviors exhibited by siblings that might fall under those categories are normal. Teasing, for example, is common and normal between the sibling dynamic, however it can also very quickly go from fun and light-hearted to something that is to be concerned about.

This includes things like playfully teasing each other about music taste, accomplishments, having funny nicknames for one another, and just in general having a back and forth banter that doesn't delve into truly harmful insults or nicknames.

It especially stops being light-hearted teasing when it becomes one sibling insulting another, using derogatory language, when one sibling is singled out over the other(s), when it starts including physical violence such as pushing or hair pulling. It also crosses a boundary when it starts being done in the eye of the public, even if the "public" is just other family members or friends, in a way that is meant to make the victim feel humiliated.

Physical fighting out of anger - or playful fighting morphing into physical fighting - as well is not considered a healthy or normal aspect of being siblings, especially if it is consistent.

☆★☆

My Story - 1

Now I wont get into every story today, this is already a fairly long post so I don't want to make it even longer, but I'll share a story I thought was completely normal until I looked into what Sibling Abuse was after hearing it during class one day.

I do want to make something clear though, something that should've made me realize this wasn't normal behavior sooner, but when you're in the situation you don't realize what exactly is wrong.

My sister was TWENTY years older than me. She was a grown woman by the time I came out of the womb basically, and obviously continued to be a grown woman as I grew up. She also was in the army and was a cop.

You might also have caught on to the "was" used to describe her that is normal in a couple places, but might stand out in another. My sister is dead. Has been for almost two years now. That is why I feel comfortable enough to be able to share what has happened to me as there is no risk of her coming across this and knowing it's me, even with a fairly anonymous account. She did have her ways, after all, though those are stories for another day.

Anyways. That background out of the way, here is story number one, though it is an amalgamation of events that happened between the ages of 9 and 13, something that stopped right as I hit puberty and just changed to something else.

The first time this happened was in private, I was sitting on my moms bed watching TV with her (my mom) and my sister and out of nowhere my sister smacked me across the chest, hard enough to knock the wind out of me, and make jabs towards the fact that I was flat chested. Obviously this was because I had yet to go through puberty so there was no estrogen being produced to promote breast growth. This is very normal. However, I didn't have this knowledge and figured something was "wrong" with me, however as a child with very, very, VERY, limited internet access there was no way for me to learn that this was normal for pre-pubescent girls.

My mom did not say anything about this, opting to just focus on her show instead of her nine year old daughter that had been hit across her chest by a twenty-nine year old woman who was vastly stronger than she was, and who was also subsequently gasping for air. I was called "dramatic" though.

This continued to happen whenever it was just me and my sister alone, though it would also sometimes happen during family gatherings or during my birthday parties in front of my friends while all the eyes were on me, such as when I was opening presents, or blowing out birthday candles.

One of these times was at my eleventh birthday party. I was running around playing with water balloons, as that's just apart of a summer birthday party when it comes to children, so my heart was already beating pretty fast and my breath already fairly short as, again, I was running around and having fun. My sister decided to join in on this fun and for a minute it was fine, and then she found me where I was hiding, trying to take a breather because my chest felt a bit funny, like it was racing extra fast compared to before, and this was new to me. She decided to smack me across the chest and make fun of me for being flat-chested. I felt my heart skip a beat.. and then another. It only skipped two and then raced a bit afterwards before becoming normal for me again. This was scary. I felt my face tingle and my left arm go numb a bit, and my pulse go crazy even after I was able to hold my hand over my heart and it felt normal.

She would always hit me with at least the same level of strength as the first time, just hard enough to knock the wind out of me and make my chest sore for a few hours but never really hard enough to leave a bruise.

Then, one day, we were in the Starbucks drive through. I was thirteen at this point and it was one of the last times she would do this as I would be hitting puberty in October of that same year as my 13th birthday.

Anyways, we were in the drive through and at the window where you pay / get your drinks. As the barista was handing over our drinks, making direct eye contact with me and smiling as she could see I was excited over my silly little Pink Drink, I suddenly doubled over in pain. I was hit in the chest, again, but this time with not as much accuracy as I was leaning forward, causing stomach pain as well as chest pain. Gasping for breath, as well as coughing and gagging. The barista didn't say anything, but then again what do you say when you witness that happening? She did look horrified though, and I'm sure that was the talk of the mid-shift for at least a few minutes after we drove off.

That time it wasn't paired with a "You're so flat", "Birdchest", or "What are you, a boy?" comment from my sister, probably because that would've been a step too far in front of the barista at the window.

Like I said, this sort of thing happened between the ages of nine and thirteen, only stopping after I hit puberty because I no longer was able to be called "bird chest" though it did eventually morph into making fun of me for still having a small chest. 34A gang, where you at?

I remember my mindset at the time - I would look at myself in the mirror before or after a shower, turned to the side and looking at myself in the mirror. Comparing my developmentally normal chest to the women around me, who had already gone through puberty, some even already having had children, and finding myself gross and weird for being so flat compared to them. Well... Yknow, no shit, I didn't look like them but how was I supposed to know that I was normal?

The kids in my class had gone through puberty sooner than I had, a lot of them quickly growing bigger chests, and eventually classmates joined in on the "birdchest" and "you look like a boy" comments my sister had been saying towards me, without them ever knowing she said that.

So for, what, four years? I had to deal with nearly-daily and sometimes multiple times a day, being smacked full force across my chest, hard enough to cause actual physical pain and shortness of breath, while being insulted for looking like a boy.

This took a toll on my health not only mentally and emotionally but physically. Not too long ago I got diagnosed with an heart arrythmia. This was something my doctor stressed as a concern in general, but even more so when I told her that the first time I noticed my heart being "weird" was back in that birthday party story I told, and it just became more common since that day, though I will say it has recently gotten better over the past few months. That being said, I didn't even know at the time, and only learned recently, that repeated, hard, impacts to the chest could cause a heart arrythmia.

I'm sure some of it is genetic, I do have heart issues that run in my family on both sides, however for it pop up this early on in life is extra concerning.

Again, I have a handle on it now, But I shouldn't have to have a handle on a heart condition at the age of 18 that, on average, happens in people in their sixties*.

I think this will be the end of story one. This is kind of a lot in general and something I should probably bring up with my therapist before the internet, but hey I told my boyfriend about (some of) this beforehand so it's fine, right?

Okay

Bye

I'll share more later - probably

*(Approximately 70% of individuals with AF are between 65 and 85 years of age - National Institutes of Health)

[lilybug-02]

Some Symptoms of ADHD from Someone who is diagnosed:

Forgetfulness that impacts daily life

Difficulty remembering others names and even faces

Hard to stop fidgeting or moving when bored. Difficult to stop even when aware

Hyperfocus

Lack of motivation in tasks, even more so when external motivations are not given

Difficulty in being organized for extended periods of time

[[Symptoms of Adult ADHD]]

[candlesoul]

[shouyuus]

but popstar!reader x vi where she leaves the biggest, darkest hickey on the side of your neck the night before a big concert, and she's convinced that you'd be trying to cover it up, but when you get on stage in your usual outfit, the neckline is popped and pulled down over your shoulders so everyone can see the bright pink lipstick mark painted on your neck.

you make a bit of it, winking at the camera, tapping it with a finger before pressing the same finger to your lips like shhh as if it's a secret btwn you and the audience. everyone goes wild for it and immediately, there's speculation of what it might mean, if it means you're actually with someone or if it's just another marketing tactic to generate buzz.

when vi comes home later that day, she finds a tube of bright pink lipsick on her side of the bed, with a note that's just a giant heart around a lipstick mark that's very clearly yours.

[balkanradfem]

I've managed to curate my small misogyny-free space both online and in real life, and now I'm no longer used to misogyny, it's no longer normal to me. So when I accidentally glimpse it, I'm not desensitized to it, I'm always shocked and unbelieving.

If I notice a m*n talking about a woman like she's 'just some ***' I'm immediately aware that this is in fact a demonic creature who needs to be burned. If I see anyone using a slur against women or pretending women are at fault for any of the world's issues, the hair on my neck stands up at the unbelievable amount of hatred.

Anyone implying that women should be in any way controlled, punished, forced to do anything against their will or dedicate their lives to anyone but themselves, is preposterous and villainous to me, I'm at loss that someone could even think that way about a half of the human population who are creators and administrators of life.

I know I am in a bubble, but it feels different knowing deeply in your heart that all of this is not normal, that casual or normalized hatred against women is absolutely insane, that it's sharp and painful and dehumanizing at every turn. It's insane to realize that women just have to live like this, believing all of that is normal, that I once lived like this, wondering what was wrong with me and why I couldn't just be what everyone was expecting me to.

I think still, if I can make a small space without this hate present in it, without anyone or anything implying we should be anything but free, anything but full complete human beings with absolute control over our lives, then we can strengthen and grow these spaces, and get more women in, have more women experience what life is like when hatred is removed. There is hope for women.

[dykedvonte]

You ever just see a Mouthwashing take that makes you want to bang your head into a wall? I literally just saw someone claim Curly couldn't have been emotionally abused by Jimmy before the crash because he was in a higher position of power than Jimmy.

-Shrimp Anon

The mouthwashing fandom has shown me that people genuinely do believe that certain types of abuse are not as detrimental as other types especially when they deem those immune/resistant, ergo, believing one is objectively worse no matter how it affects the person nor the intersections of power, history and dynamics at play.

Get ready cause this is a yap session:

Cause like it's heavily implied that Curly and Jimmy's friendship was toxic and abusive, pointedly in the direction of how Jimmy uses Curly's belief/comfort in him. Curly wasn't forced to enable Jimmy but he was emotional and mentally on edge around him in almost every scene in some way. Mental and emotional abuse are not contingent on what positions you have at work. Yeah, he's Jimmy's boss but he was Jimmy's friend first and it's like getting into Psych discussion to talk about how social power tends to overshadow any perceived organizational power in the human mind. People are concerned about their jobs ofc but they tend to hang onto and put more value/investment into their personal relationships, hence why there tends to be laws and restrictions around mixing the two.

I always see the sentiments that "Curly is a grown ass man", "Curly is bigger than Jimmy", "Curly is Jimmy's boss", "He just needed a backbone" as criticisms of Curly and while I do agree that on the surface level all of these to be true and viable ways Curly could've taken more control of the situation, I often look at the parallels of Anya and Curly as victims of Jimmy pre/post crash.

The way Jimmy talks to Anya post crash is how he talked to Curly in the pre-crash segments. It's hard to pin-point mainly because we know he hates and wants nothing to do with Anya compared to his contrary but similarly handled obsessions with Curly. It's a weird sort of "honey-moon" effect of abuse Jimmy does in terms of emotional and mental victimization. He is always horrid to Anya, always talking down or questioning her abilities and thoughts in a situation, this of course includes the harassment and assault. However, he has a moment of attempted gentleness/conditioning when he question her about the mouthwash when she's contemplating drinking it at the table. The key difference is he has no personal investment in Jimmy outside wanting nothing to do with him, meaning there is no sort of romanticized version of him that he can condition her off of. He knows this, hence, why he always reverts to trying to make her to scared to oppose him.

This sort of give and take of "kindness" doesn't work on her because she knows he is just doing it to take more from her than whatever he could possibly give but it reflects even the "softer" scenes between him and Curly where he always rewords or rephrases Curly's sentiments and concerns to sound more shallow. He is feigning a deeper understanding by reworking Curly's emotions into something bad and needing to be hidden. Everything is laced with envy and resentment, an outburst just around the corner, I mean he even slams the table in the birthday party scene, a tactic in emotional manipulation to set the victim on edge and cloud their ability to respond. Even if Curly knows Jimmy won't get physical in that moment, the physical actions is intended to make him back down in the confrontation in case it does. This is something that is just not person specific. It ingrains itself into how you interact with the world and life and it shows in major and minor ways with Curly.

Post-crash, the abusive nature is more in tandem to the physical victimization Anya went through and the stripping of voice and autonomy we see take place. Like the parasite in HFIM, Jimmy speaks for Curly most of the time and puts words in his mouth, similarly to how he takes Anya's plans as his own. He very commonly, with the both of them mind you, supplements the worst aspects of himself into them; pettiness, selfishness, lack of understanding... And tries to cover himself with their best qualities; kindness, planning, initiative, etc...

These parallel are just to say that positional power has little to do with if a person can be abused and how it can even be flipped to further the abuse. There is no doubt that Curly could've picked up on Jimmy's envy of his position hence another reason he never confronted him as a Captain but as a friend as doing so would immediately put Jimmy in a space to be confrontational/combative.

I think the disdain some people have when they talk about the heavily implied if not implicitly stated emotional/mental abuse Curly experienced being Jimmy's friend is when treating it as an excuse to why he didn't do more. I can understand that completely because it is not an excuse to why he didn't do more but is a very real reason people in his position in these scenarios can experience whether in the context of a work or social environment. However, I also think the way people talk about it really does demonstrate a bigger problem when talking about abuse when somehow who is/was abused is either part of the issue or enabled it.

Harkening back to the sentiments about Curly's inaction regarding Jimmy, I think the exact phrases I used/have seen show how there is an inherent belief that it is easier to overpower the effects of emotional/mental abuse that go in tandem with the perception of Curly as someone who should be able to. There is not an age you suddenly stop being susceptible to abuse nor a set point or low where you realize how it has affected you. You don't suddenly know to stand up or put a face on to face your abuser nor admit that you inadvertently enabled them to subjugate someone else to the same treatment. Maybe it's my psych brain but their is this growing belief that direct action is somehow easy or always the best method with the game shows you instances where it is not always the case. In real life that rings true too. He should have done more, but it's not impossible to see why he struggled to find a way or didn't even if it makes us mad.

It's not easy to suddenly gain a "back-bone". You don't immediately want to resort to aggression, especially if it mirrors the type you were a victim to. You don't want to believe you allowed yourself to be treated this bad, let it get that bad or allowed something bad to happen to someone else. It is easy to be in denial, to retreat to your thoughts or make excuses to avoid the painful truth. It's frustrating but in a way we know is relatable. It why we both hate and love Curly for it. We know we'd be better, we think we'd be better, we like to think we wouldn't falter in the same ways but it's always easier to say that from the outside looking in. It's easy to see what he was doing wrong because we are seeing it, not him, but the game really does make you picture what you would do if this was your raw reality and it's why this debate about Curly seems so never ending/contradictory. We can all say what we'd do but bottom line is that's much different when you're in the moment with all the emotions and human feelings attached.

I personally think Mouthwashing tackles the themes of rape culture, enabling, toxic masculinity, types of abuse and patriarchy in ways that are meant to deconstruct the typical straightforward views we mostly have of these concepts and how little subtilities of them are just as, if not more, detrimental than the overt/obvious parts. The game deals with the idea of little details and bigger picture in a way to show that sometimes the bigger picture is not the issue but the little details that make it up. It's why I have a personal dislike of depictions of Jimmy as the typical horrible person who would of course do something like this because the game is about noticing the little warning signs, the foreshadowing and foresight.

It's why I dislike the typical discussion of "bro code" and "boys will be boys" for the game because the game makes a point to avoid the standard depictions of such. It is about the type of men who still enable despite not condoning, agreeing or even perpetuating harmful beliefs because they can't see the little details or the ways it seeps into their everyday. The severity is not obvious to them as it was not obvious to Curly, Swansea or even Daisuke the way it was to a woman like Anya. There are little details about Jimmy that should ring alarms but if you are too naive like Daisuke, too distant like Swansea or too conditioned like Curly, they are just off markers.

There is 100% more constructive/concise ways to say "Curly was a victim of Jimmy's abuse on an emotional and mental aspect that clouded his judgements and perceptions in the scenario" while also critiquing on the side of "Curly still had a responsibility to protect Anya as a crew mate and Captain that he failed to do due to biases and stigma's he failed to surpass" without the weird condemnation people give him about should've knowing better than to let himself be manipulated by a person he considered a close, if not family/best-friend and had his own reasons to trust initially. Also stop being weird about victims of abuse in general with this fandom, like sorry not everyone has a like social epiphany the moment someone's nasty to them. People are treating it like you immediately know when you are in a toxic relationship immediately or comprehend when a person is actively dangerous and either it's your fault for not knowing how to leave/cut them off or you deserve it. Like the hypocrisy of people believing how certain fans treat the story reflect their irl views but not their own is crazy.

End statement is: I honestly don't even know man, I've been writing this too long and just like no man on that ship was perfect or really helped Anya when it mattered and I feel like pitting them against each other in discussion on who did the least or most or how it was justified sucks cause in the end Anya always did the most and best thing for herself.

[potato-lord-but-not]

As an aroallo person, thank you so much for making that aro Arthur comic. I know a lot of allo artists or writers can sometimes avoid writing or creating works involving aro characters because they're scared to get things wrong but I really appreciate what you drew and wrote and that you were open to criticism. I really like the comic. It reminded me of myself and I'm just glad we can live in a world where a big fandom artist can draw an aroallo comic. You did a really job. I guess I'm glad there's aroallo content being made because a younger version of me would've really loved seeing that and it mightve helped me figure myself out sooner. Just thank you for representing that you can be aromantic and still be sexually attracted or intimate with someone without it being painted like it's a bad thing . Arthur's guilt made me feel seen

WAHAHAHHSHAHAHAJAJ SOBBING I’m so glad it connected with you and that I can create art for people that makes them feel seen and heard <3333

[aaronsinferno]

Just gonna say this…

The BuckTommy hate isn't going to end anytime soon from buddies and it’s definitely going to get more aggressive when the show starts again.

They've been playing at this for six years, fueled by nothing but headcanons, twisted narratives, delusion, and theories that have repeatedly led them astray. So now that another character has swooped in, took the position they thought was reserved for their favorite “queer coded” hetero, and has gained a bit of momentum online, they feel very threatened/insecure and are going to make it everyone’s problem.

We've seen the lengths they’ll go to: from writing and spreading those vile fics to spreading queerphobic rhetoric, harassing cast, crew, and fans, and blatantly ignoring the source material to reimagine the show as they see fit.

If you want to truly enjoy this ship and the spaces you've created and joined to celebrate it, the best thing you can do is exactly that: enjoy it. Ask yourself why you're here, what makes you happy, and then focus entirely on that. Give little to no energy to any of their nonsense. It’s literally the only way we’re going to be able to thrive and actually enjoy ourselves from here on out. Because believe me when I say that they are having the absolute worst time and their behavior proves it.

Lets just have fun, guys

[piinktearxs]

It’s okay if you don’t own or want agere gear

it’s okay if you don’t own or want an agere room

agere inspo boards are fine but don’t feel pressured to conform to the aesthetic just because that’s what you see online - nobody is going to see that space without them being worthy of it (ergo non judgmental of how it looks or how it is) - you do what feels best for you in that moment, no pressure, this is YOUR safe space so whatever makes sense to YOU

[0vergrowngraveyard]

hey, so i don’t usually talk about this sort of thing on here and i’m not the best with words, but i need to say this:

you, the person reading this, have to survive.

you are strong. you are so, SO strong and so extremely brave. don’t give them what they want. they want you to be afraid, they want you to give up hope, but you cannot give that to them. do not give them power over you like that.

it’s only 4 years. that may seems like a very long time, but you survived his first term. you can do it again, i KNOW you can. and if his term somehow lasts longer than 4 years? i still know you can do it. will it be challenging? of course it will, but i and so many other believe that you can make it through to the other side.

take a break from the screens. go outside and just sit with yourself or invite your friends to sit along with you. spend time with your pets, indulge in your hobbies, or try something new. take the time to enjoy the little things in life. maybe reach out to a mutual you’ve never spoken to or who you haven’t spoken to in a while.

just please don’t give up. don’t give up on yourself. don’t let that smelly old man have power over you as a human being.

please survive. i know you can. it’ll be okay.

[deepspaceboytoy]

It is nice that Biden and Harris have given US libs the space to be as virulently racist as they had always wanted to be but couldn’t openly express in recent years

[lovelessrage]

An aroallo canon event is walking into a space designated as friendly and safe to "all of the aspectrum" [awesome, sounds good, I like being able to talk to people about issues that affect all of us] and realizing very quickly that you are not included in "all". It's the constant need to stick up for yourself in what is supposed to be a safe space that burns aroallos out of your community spaces. If you have a stark lack of aroallos in an all-inclusive zone, ask yourself if the environment is actually safe and welcoming, or if they are expected to constantly be their own advocate with no safety net. It's immensely common and underdiscussed.

Are you sticking up for the aroallos around you? Are you asking how you can be better? Are you expecting to rely on being "called out" rather than learning for yourself? Do you know what aroallophobia looks like? What sex negativity actually is? Please don't let aroallos fade away into the background of so many boundaries crossed and lines drawn that they have to go. We need bridges between the community now more than ever, and that means making it a two way street on each one.

[evankinkley]

I love scenes that include buck, tommy and eddie, because 1. the dynamic is comedy gold and 2. i can go through the reblog tags and block people like this:

[beingcultureis]

Being living in U.S culture is: :/ Oh. No.