#I know wlw history that you would not believe

[the-hopeless-haze]

Wondering what Taylor is going to sing tonight… the implications… dianna’s birthday… girl help

[kavehater]

Was that man and his wife looking at my . . .

[girl4music]

Happy 29th anniversary to the pilot episode of XENA.

Original air date: September 4th, 1995.

Directed by Doug Lefler. Written by Robert Tapert.

Lead starring Lucy Lawless as Xena.

and Renee O’Connor as Gabrielle.

I will watch and write meta about other TV shows.

I will watch and write meta about other TV ships.

But nothing I watch or write meta about in this world will ever come close to matching my fan passion and loyalty to the TV show ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and the TV ship Xena and Gabrielle. They are my one true love.

What ‘Sins Of The Past’ does once you’ve seen the whole TV show and watch the episode back over is it shows you how intertwined these soulmates already are as the event of them meeting saves their lives and once you are aware of the wheres and whys of this - the show itself completely changes into something more valuable than you initially saw and understood. I recommend people go back and watch it and only view it as a love story from the very beginning because the way it hits you when you do is just mind-blowing.

They set up a beautifully complex and layered WLW love story between Xena and Gabrielle without really realizing that that’s what they were doing because it’s such a very natural and authentic queer storytelling of two strangers that find home in the soul of each other.

"There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met” is a lyric in a song written by Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher from ‘The Muppets Movie’. Writer and co-executive producer, who wrote many of the most formative episodes of ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’, Steven L. Sears affectionately ascribes that lyric to Xena and Gabrielle because he believes it perfectly describes the incredible soulmate connection that the two main characters share right from the very beginning of the TV show. And I would have to say that I agree with him on that because no matter what alternative Universe, Uber timeline, reincarnated lifetime or afterlife it is, they meet each other and they develop an attraction to and affinity for each other that seemingly goes way beyond basic friendship and romance and they have a dynamic that is so strong, so substantial and so damn profound that the studio gave up on censoring them. It’s a dynamite chemistry that can be felt so viscerally that you can watch the episodes countless times over and still pick up on fresh new things about the way these two characters are with one another and how they balance and complement each other so perfectly that they’re basically the human representation of yin and yang. And you can read my Xena and Gabrielle: Character study thesis to learn what I mean by that.

Their relationship is incredibly well-written in that it’s so carefully and conscientiously slow-burned and evolved from friends into lovers that it will make it impossible not to ship them together. Believe me - even if you’ve seen Xena before, you haven’t seen it like this. You haven’t seen it as a WLW love story from the beginning to the end. But once you do, you will be attached to it in ways that will make you just like me.

That is… Lifelong dedicated to and enamoured with it.

This is a TV show that finished airing in the year 2001 but it’s been my everything since I first discovered it at 5 years old just flicking through the UK channels bored out of my mind or so my parents have told me.

I cannot even begin to imagine of who I’d be without this TV show and TV ship in my life and I know no other will ever come close to it or them for me for the rest of my life. So all day today I am spending my time celebrating not just the TV show’s anniversary of its pilot episode but also Xena and Gabrielle’s anniversary of meeting and becoming the greatest love story ever told in TV art/entertainment history. They’re iconic and legendary in the LGBTQ community for a reason. That reason is that they’re the first and, honestly, still the best WLW/queer representation that can ever be witnessed and engaged with on the TV screen. The factors as to why that’s true are many,… but mainly… it’s because they were allowed to exist and evolve together as the only lead main female characters in such a way that no other WLW ship on TV ever would or could do so again. They may have been severely censored as an explicit romantic and fully maintext confirmed and committed couple on screen but the creators never let that prevent them from providing a depiction of an all-encompassing love that was much like a romance and still went beyond a romance. Xena and Gabrielle’s love went way beyond the boundaries of romance. I’m not ever saying it’s not that. I’m just saying that it’s more than that and that’s exactly what makes it even more romantic than anything else ever created at least in the TV format and paradigm it was.

Since then, the landscape has changed so drastically that TV WLW/queer ships are never given what they got. Which was a 6 seasons, 22-24 episodes-long epic journey of them just being each other’s absolute EVERYTHING. You can see, hear and feel every single moment of that in who Xena and Gabrielle are as both individual main characters and as a main character dynamic because they do not ever neglect any real and raw aspect about them. The only thing you do not ever get to see between them - although it is heavily implied often - is sexual intimacy. That really is not a loss because everything else that should or needs to be there is there way more than it is with any other WLW/queer TV ships in any other TV shows because they’re lead main characters. In fact… they’re the only lead main characters that are credited throughout the entire run of ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and, honestly, sometimes I do wish TV ships in other TV shows would censor themselves every now and again so that they would be forced to dig deeper into the nuances and details as much as they did with Xena and Gabrielle.

I know many would disagree with me here but I’m adamant that the censorship helped them more than it hindered them because what you got instead with them was such a powerful representation of true love that didn’t have to rely on sex to represent it. I know that they couldn’t be shown to be sexually intimate because it wasn’t allowed to be sexual. Nowadays it can but I find that sex is used too much now when it shouldn’t be because a real life WLW/queer ship is more than sex and that’s why Xena and Gabrielle is still better representation even in this day and age.

It’s a combination of queer censorship, unbelievably strong chemistry between the leads and the creator/cast/crew’s sincere intention with queer storytelling that gave us the truly EPIC WLW love story that we got with XENA and I wouldn’t have it any other way because, for me, that is everything I could ever want.

So if you love this TV show and TV ship, please join me in celebrating the timelessly magical experience it is by writing meta about what these things mean to you.

XENA: “You know, I’m sending you home in the morning.”

GABRIELLE: “I won’t stay home. I don’t belong there, Xena. I’m not the little girl that my parents wanted me to be. You wouldn’t understand.”

XENA: “It’s not easy proving you’re a different person.

*Gabrielle eyes her curiously, Xena throws a bundle of blankets at her, gestures to the other side of the fire*

You can sleep over there.”

XENA: “You know, where I’m headed, they’ll be trouble.”

GABRIELLE: “I know.”

XENA: “Then why would you want to go into that with me?”

GABRIELLE: “That’s what friends do. They stand by each other when there’s trouble.”

XENA: “All right, friend.”

[chumphell]

HotD S2 E3 Spoilers Ahead!!!

After all the interviews I’ve read between the actors or show runners, I genuinely think people are missing out on a lot of HotD by not interpreting Alicent and Rhaenyra, at least partially, as WLW. Sara Hess and the other producers have explicitly said that there’s a deeper love between them. Even if they “don’t have the words or ability to recognize it as romantic or sexual attraction.”

All of the actors who play Rhaenyra and Alicent (younger and grown) have said they intentionally inject homoerotic tension into their scenes. Idk idk I just don’t think we need to see them kiss on screen to know the intention behind the way they act with each other

I truly believe if you don’t clock the longing glances and lingering embraces as romantic then you’ll miss out on the ongoing characterizations of Rhaenyra/ Alicent in the show.

I see a lot of people say “Rhaenyra should have never snuck back into kings landing,” or “Alicent should have killed her in the sept” and yeah, sure, that would make sense if they didn’t have years of subtly placed romantic interactions between them. Because of their history and the love they have for one another it’s no surprise to me that Of COURSE Rhaenyra trusts that she won’t die during the mission, OF COURSE Alicent lets her go after.

Their relationship is so much more than being girls who were close friends when they were younger………….

[hamliet]

Hello, Hamliet.... is it true that the Bible said homosexuals should be punish in new testament? If I'm not wrong remembered (yes, I'm from christian household) is it not that king david have 'special feelings' for jonathan?

My mother has really strong belief in religion (christianity) and she is an anti-LGBTQ+. But do you believe that her brother (my uncle) who is definitely a queer (wear make up, dresses really feminely, and sometimes called himself as she, never married until he's in sixties), my mother said he is normal ?????

That's why I want to know more about LGBTQ+ (eventhough in my country it is still a taboo topic).

Do you think it's weird Hamliet, if I prefer to read mlm & wlw instead of het romance? I just felt fed up with reading or watching het romance (wlm)....

Thanks to you Hamliet, I know more about myself, eventhough there are still a bit if feeling guilty every time I read or watch LGBTQ+ contents....

No, it doesn't say it should be punished in the New Testament.

It does get mentioned once, arguably three times, but really for certain once, and that context has nothing to do with punishment.

I'm going to give a very bare bones explanation of my understanding of it below! There are also lots of theology papers on it and I'm like, skimming the surface here.

The arguable ones lists a word that is often translated as "homosexuality" in a list of sins that "won't inherit the kingdom of God." However, the two words that get translated as such need more looking at.

One is always translated literally as "softness," but is always used in reference to prostitution. Most likely (given the letters it appears to and the communities they were a part of and the prevalence of temple prostitution there) temple prostitution (which should not be thought of as largely consensual in this context, either). There are also some fair arguments based on the words used and the known history of these cities that it's referring to ritual p*do abuse of children.

The other of the Greek words that gets translated as such is extremely unusual. So unusual that it's never seen elsewhere.

Yeah. It's a made-up word.

Now, the word arsenokoitēs certainly had meaning to the specific community to which the letter it appears in is addressed, but it's not like a word that can be translated with 100% certainty. What we do know for certain is that parts of the word are taken from words that refer to "men" and "bed/sex." So I see why people translate it that way. The thing is, though, it occurs in two lists, and these lists consist of issues concerning idolatry and slave dealers. Hence, the context strongly indicates that it's condemning some form of exploitation involving men who have sex with males.

The larger historical/cultural context also indicates this. If you read ancient Greek texts, like, say, Plato's Symposium, you'll get a very distinct view of exactly which same-sex relationships were normalized in those days, and you'll also be somewhat horrified. Basically the idea was that mentors (adult men) would mentor teenager boys, and the teen boys would be receptive to the adult man having sex with them. Does it sound creepy and exploitative? Because it is!

Yes, even for the time period. It isn't unique. Julius Caesar--yes, THE Julius Caesar--had to deal with rumors that he was one of those boys to an older mentee (Nicomedes). Because clearly, being on the receiving end of male-male sex means that you're actually a woman, which as everyone knows is the WORST thing you could possibly be (sarcastic). Anyways, this type of exploitative bs was extremely common, and even back in those days, it was known to be somewhat, y'know, f*cked up.

The other time it's talked about in the NT is in Romans 1, during which the main theme of the passage is that giving yourself over to lust is a bad thing. Paul cites women having sex with women and men with men as examples of overabundance of lust. I think most Christians, even sex-positive ones like myself, would agree that being consumed with lust (or with anything) to where it controls you and you start losing control of your life is unhealthy.

Now, that said, you can make an argument that Paul's view seems to be that homosexual tendencies stem from over abundance. But we know that's not true nowadays. And that gets into how you read the Bible as a whole.

I love the Bible. I see it as God's word to humanity, divinely inspired. I also think that to truly see it as God's word, you have to acknowledge what it is.

It's literature.

That doesn't mean it's fiction or whatever. It just means that God chose literature as a means to communicate with human beings, and that means that God knew that the whole point of literature is that people wrestle with the concepts and debate the themes. It enhances my respect of Scripture and my love of God to do precisely this, to dig into the text and its historical context and discover the timeless themes. To call it "inerrant" where every word can be taken out of context and seen as a command does a disservice to the writers God used to craft poetry, histories, stories, measurements, and letters to friends. To view the Bible as God when the Bible itself says that Jesus is the Word of God personified misses the forest for the trees, the spirit of the law for the letter.

The other really cool thing that genuinely excites me about Christianity is that God works with human beings. Individuals, yes, but also communities. He works within cultures, too. Despite modern evangelicals claiming "No Compromise!" Scripture is FULL of God compromising with humans, bargaining with them, accepting that they are flawed and working with us. He worked within human limits so much he became one to save us from death; it's kinda the premise!

So, God working to deliver his very message to us through human writers of literature is kind of amazing to me, awe-inspiring. But that also means human beings are limited by what we know and our own time periods, our own cultures. And, that's okay. Yes, keep working to do better, but it means that we can have grace for ourselves and one another. Even now, when we know a lot more about the world as a whole, we are still very limited by our own experiences, cultures, and time period. There's this attitude that modernity has reached the stage of ultimate enlightenment and boy have we not.

Hence, yeah, Paul's writing in Romans 1 especially might be kinda homophobic by today's standards. The ultimate premise--don't let yourself be under anything else's control--is a good one, but him using homosexuality as an example as if potentially all of it emerges from lust is not exactly woke, but also not necessarily abnormal for his time period and his culture. He's a flawed human being, after all, but God himself still worked with him to do some pretty great stuff, and to write some pretty cool letters that still have beautiful resonance today (the love passage in Corinthians? That's him!)

(Also, funnily enough, people--even the strictest evangelicals--actually do accept this about Paul and culture when he's writing about slavery. Because Paul doesn't endorse slavery and instructs masters to be kind to their slaves and treat them well, but he doesn't outright say "you're sinning by owning slaves" whereas today we'd definitely think that. Funny how that doesn't apply to gay people though.)

Lastly, your mom sounds like my mom. She claims she thinks it's a sin because she believes the Bible says so, but she genuinely is happy for friends who are gay and happily married and wishes them well. It's like she feels she has to believe it, not that she actually does in her core. And of course that's not an excuse, and I would never tell a gay person they should not be upset with her. Even within our modern cultures, it can be hard to unlearn things too especially if you grew up in such environments.

But reading mlm or wlw stories is actually a great tool for helping people empathize with others. Fiction absolutely helped me leave the cult I was raised in. I don't think it's inherently weird at all; curiosity exists, empathy exists, good stories exist, and also there's something to be said about people who exist in cultures that are very non-accepting seeing themselves in stories where a relationship that might often be condemned is accepted. Even if the person is straight and cis, they might have parts of themselves they see as something society would hate, and so they see themselves in the characters.

Oh actually, the real last lastly. Jonathan and David. Er... yeah. I mean, yes, people do have extremely close, extremely intimate, brotherly platonic friendships, even between men. But their relationship is certainly up for interpretation considering they literally refer to each other as having love for them that is "better than that of women." The words and phrasing used mirror those used in like, the Iliad to describe Achilles and Patroclus, and Gilgamesh between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

David also married Jonathan's sister and didn't treat her very well, but did go out of his way to protect Jonathan's own children. Also, there are several other passages where the ancient Hebrew used could contain sexual nuances, although it doesn't necessarily have to. You can't definitively state either way what it is--the writers clearly wrote in plausible deniability. Still, there's enough to raise eyebrows even within that old ancient context that, whether or not it was ever physical, Jonathan and David were not platonic.

(Personally? David invented the Disaster Bisexual archetype.)

[my-coven-is-claudia]

I said i would do this so here i present to you the underrated beef between katelyn and garroth i.e. the epitome of wlw mlm hostility

in diaries when katelyn first arrives in season 1 everyone is distrustful of her. obviously because she pulled up in a massive okasis ship and implied that aphmau had something to do with jeffory’s death. right off the bat garroth and katelyn’s relationship gets off with a great start when katelyn wishes to meet aphmau and garroth stands in her way,, saying that “before you get to her you address me.” in true katelyn fashion she responds by threatening to pull his tongue out. i love her sm <3

this first interaction defines their relationship for the rest of the season; full of distrust and doubt. although everyone else may be slowly accepting katelyn and realising that she truly is on their side garroth still holds his suspicions. katelyn on the other hand treats garroth as well as she treats everyone else and doesn’t seem interested in conflict with him. until the final episode. because everyone else is incompetent and is too busy listening to zane’s disney villain speech katelyn is the only who attempts to actually get the amulet garroth stole out of his hand. she tackles him and they get into a proper brawl. no swords,, no claws literally just them kicking it on the grass. garroth unfortunately overpowers katelyn and obviously we know the rest.

over the course of season 2 katelyn bonds with everyone and finds her place amongst the cast,, finally settling into the role as a guard of aphmau’s. in contrast to the main trio of aphmau,, laurence and garroth in season two it’s now aphmau,, laurence and katelyn. now i don’t think katelyn replaced garroth per say (i actually think laurence did as he and aph developed a similarly intense relationship like she did with garroth that she just does not with katelyn) but she gains the same amount of trust aphmau had in garroth. he and katelyn have very similar personalities,, both being quiet stoic individuals but having a more fun,, adventurous side underneath. both hiding beneath formal language and deathly stares they act as the support pillars of the group.

the main difference between these two is that katelyn was eventually able to loosen up a little whilst garroth still remains fairly uptight in season 3. obviously it is partially just his personality but,, to me at least,, it always felt like he was holding something back,, especially considering how we see him act in mystreet.

speaking of season 3,, the most interesting part of their history! i think some of us forget that when garroth returned from the irene dimension he had missed months worth of developments. he likely barely recognised katelyn,, completely different from her cool collected self all the way back in season 1. he was not there for the entirety of her development as a character. last time he saw her all of his friends only slightly tolerated her and now she’s best buds with them?? aphmau,, his lord,, trusts and speaks fondly of her??? garroth did not know katelyn. all he knew was the flashes of kicking her to the ground as she scratched at his face. his last memory of her was her attacking him. there’s a clear dissonance between them in season 3,, a conflict even. by then they have had 3 whole years to get to know one another and they still act like they did when they first met: arguing and threatening each other.

i think a key example of this is garroth’s suspicions of liochant. he suspects he may be a spy from tu’la and insists on it again and again. katelyn on the other hand finds his distrust insane,, especially considering liochant is a part of her group the dragon’s ward. they fight constantly about this throughout the season and even have a fierce argument about it that is only put to a halt by aphmau yelling at them.

they don’t trust the other’s judgment at all. they refuse to believe the other can be right about anything and are so childish about it that during their argument about liochant they start bringing up each other’s families.

they don’t feel like friends is what i’m trying to say.

across all their iterations i’ve had this impression of katelyn and garroth’s relationship. they feel more like two people who share a lot of mutual friends so end up occupying the same space and consistently have to be around each other,, even if they’d rather not to. their more pure and sweet interactions happen in pdh (e.g. garroth joining katelyn to aaron’s senior prom) when they’re still in their youth,, yet to be scarred by the world. as adults bruised by their surroundings and long having put up their respective shields they cannot open up to one another. you can’t exactly make conversation if you’re both just brick walls.

[bilesproblems]

Warnings for this post: discussions of lesbophobia, transphobia, and the way people of certain identities are perceived as wlw/dykes. If reminders that queerphobes don't see trans people as who they really are can feel misgendering to you, please skip this post. I do not believe people who aren't women are 'basically wlw' if they're AFAB, and a lot of what I say in this post is "this is what a queerphobe believes" and is FAR from my own beliefs. If it's still hard to read, you may skip this post and my feelings won't be hurt. Actual post below the cut.

Saying that dyke is a slur that only lesbians can reclaim makes no sense. Lesbophobia doesn't only affect lesbians. It affects ALL sapphics, all sapphic-adjacent people, and all people that queerphobes view as sapphic.

Yes, lesbians get called dykes. Guess who else gets called dykes?

Mspec women are called dykes. People who use slurs they can't reclaim do not care for queer politics. If they perceive you as a woman who loves women, you're a dyke to them.

Nonbinary people who love women, regardless of if they identify as lesbians or even sapphic, are called dykes. Especially if they're AFAB. People who call others dykes cruelly do not give a shit about your actual gender. If they think you're AFAB, they think you're a woman, and since you love women, you're a dyke to them

GNC women, and people who look like GNC women, are called dykes. Whoever is calling people dykes can't fathom why a woman would be butch if she wasn't a lesbian or at least liked girls so if they perceive you as a GNC woman, if they perceive you as a butch, you're a dyke to them.

Trans men and (AFAB) transmascs are called dykes. This is especially true for transmascs who like women. They perceive them all as women, and therefore they see any relationships they have with women as being wlw. Transmascs in relationships with other transmascs get called dykes too, because they're both seen as women. Even if they don't know their dating history, they may call them dykes because they see them as just being GNC women. They do not care about their actual identity, they will see you as a dyke anyway.

Even straight women in relationships with trans men could be called dykes. If they see your partner as being a woman, that makes you wlw in their eyes, and that makes you a dyke.

For other lesbians to act like we're the only ones who can say dyke is ridiculous. Imagine telling someone, potentially someone who gets called a dyke on the daily, that they have no right to reclaim something that's used against them because they're not a lesbian. Slur reclamation doesn't have neat little boxes about which identities can say what slur. It's for everyone who is perceived as sapphic by queerphobes, even if they don't actually identify that way. You can reclaim dyke if the lesbophobes/queerphobes think you're a dyke. To them, you are, because they don't respect your actual identity and they don't care for queer discourse.

[amtrak12]

❤️🧡🤍🩷💜A WLW ASK MEME❤️🧡🤍🩷💜 List the top 10 ladies you’ve been obsessed with Ever Of All Time! Then send this on to 5 sapphic mutuals 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

Yes, fun! :D Thank you!!

Okay, I went fictional characters with this because I just don't really get obsessed with RL people outside of like a 5 year period between 2005-2010 where I followed select actors around to other shows. Also, there's only three ladies who I can confirm fit both 'obsessed' and 'ever of all time', so I've trudged through my entire childhood for every fictional lady who's helped shape my personality to round out the list.

In Chronological Order (to me not by air date):

Margaret Houlihan (M*A*S*H) -- Oh MASH reruns on the Hallmark channel, my beloved 💚 Now, I'm primarily talking about the juicy middle seasons after Potter took over command and Loretta Swit was able to wrestle some better storylines for Margaret, but there's some gems in the early years too. I've been drawn back to MASH three times as an adult and each time I get sucked deeper and deeper into both the real life history of the Korean War and the fictional character of Margaret. Do I have a thousand and one headcanons for how she handles life after the war? Yes. Am I obsessed with whatever platonic/sexual relationship she's got going on with Hawkeye? Yes. Have I plotted out what her D&D character might look like? YEP! She's a paladin :P I also believe if you examined her character through a queer lens, you'd find a trans man rather than a queer woman, but your mileage may vary.

AndrAIa (ReBoot) -- Yeah, yeah, yeah it's a cartoon, but bb 11 year old me was absolutely OBSESSED with this show, and AndrAIa was a big part of that. Look at her little capital AI in her name! 😭 25 years before corporate greed ruined the acronym, that AI was adorable!! And very clever given that she was an NPC game sprite who decided to leave her game and live as a real sprite. Her whole existence and vibe was very formative for me. I love her.

Harley Davidson Cooper (Guiding Light) -- Yes, her full name is absolutely necessary, even if no one ever used it. So, I was SUUUCH a CBS soap girlie back around 2000-2002, and I've been very nostalgic for it in the last few years. As the World Turns was my primary soap, so I figured one of my regular blorbos like Rose or Katie or Romana would be the one I miss most. But then Harley's actress Beth Ehlers popped up during my Law & Order SVU watch and I LOST MY MIND!!!!! Her face and voice instantly filled my soul with joy! So Harley gets the trophy. Even if she didn't have any stand out storylines during that era (apart from her and Gus being Very Hot), she was always my favorite character from GL.

Piper Halliwell (Charmed, original flavor) -- Technically, I had Turtle Wexler from the book The Westing Game on this list instead because I didn't remember Piper until after I'd drafted all ten slots :S But listen! That's because health problems have made my memory shitty! It is not because Piper doesn't stand up to the test of time! Ugh, I remember the show never treated Piper like she was the fan favorite and I hadn't discovered online TV forums yet so I felt so alone in my love for her :( But being on lesbian millennial Tumblr makes 14 year old me feel SO validated, because Piper is the only Halliwell sister anyone ever talks about on my dash. 💜 Congrats everyone. We were right all along.

Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls) -- Yeeeaaah.. we've hit the Big Three that I alluded to earlier. I was very, very gay for Lorelai (and Lauren Graham) in the latter half of my high school years, and I did not realize that until way later. She taught me how to be quicker with the comebacks and, more importantly, to marry someone who could cook instead of learning how to feed yourself. And I really took that to heart. My spouse is a fantastic cook! :) (Don't get scared for me guys! I do actually know how to cook three (3) entire meals now that I'm in my 30s :P lol)

Rose Tyler/Billie Piper (Doctor Who) -- I will list the actress here, because my love for Rose Tyler is probably split 50/50 between the character herself, and Billie Piper's charisma and hotness. She's gorgeous!!! 😍 That seemingly common question in the mid-2000s of 'Who would you kiss if you were gay?' always left me stumped until New Who aired in the states. Then, I was finally able to answer 'Billie Piper' and actually mean it. Because that's what you were supposed to do with that question, right? Take it seriously and not treat it like hyperbole? #totallystraightbehavior #swearsies Alas, it would take me two more girl crushes and interacting with genuine queer women in a femslash fandom before I recognized my feelings for what they were. But Rose was still a very significant step forward!

Myka Bering (Warehouse 13) -- MY GIRL!!! My Lady of all Ladies. I would die for her. I would kill for her. I would kneel and raise my sword and swear fealty to her. MYKA FUCKING BERING, EVERYONE! 👏👏👏👏 Watching her fall in love with Helena made me realize all my girl crushes were real crushes and that I was bi. Bless her. Bless Joanne Kelly. And bless the incomparable Bering and Wells fandom. *kisses everyone on the mouth, sloppy style*

Erin Gilbert (Ghostbusters 2016) -- Look, I know that I can never get away with pretending that Erin isn't my favorite ghostbuster, but I do usually think about her in the context of her relationships! Like 8 times out of 10, when I'm headcanoning, I'm thinking about her and Abby's relationship. And if I'm not, there's a not-so-small chance I'm thinking about her relationship with Patty instead. (RIP to Holtzy who I virtually never think about outside of the foursome. Her fanbase just ruined it for me :S) But um... yeah, Erin's my favorite. I even have Pokemon parties picked out for them all. And their daemons.

Eve (Lucifer) -- Okay so I know it hasn't even been a full high school (aka 4 years) since I met Eve, so I can't really say she's someone I'll stay obsessed with forever and ever and ever. You probably don't even believe I'm obsessed with her at all given the bulk of my Lucifer talk is about Lucifer/Chloe -- but that's just cause that's where the storyline is! Trust me, Eve is my favorite character, even if she was in the least amount of episodes (RIP me). When she pops up in the background of a Deckerstar fanvid, I'm instantly distracted and have to marathon every Maze/Eve vid in my collection. I decided to use a fandom name in the first time, like, ever, when creating my Lucifer-specific Twitter account and I made it Eve themed. She's my favorite, bestest girl who can do no wrong and -- YES! -- that does include accidentally-definitely-on-purpose starting a demon mutiny that led to newborn Charlie's kidnapping. She had never been dumped before okay? First woman to ever exist and she'd never been dumped. Did you handle your first break-up well? No! I didn't think so :P

Alex Cabot (Law & Order: SVU) -- I've only know Cabot for four months, but if anything happens to her, I'll kill everyone in this room and then myself -- OH WAIT! She already left me. 😭 I am in S17 now, which is like ten seasons past when she went into witness protection and barely ever came back, yet there's not an episode that goes by where I don't think about her. So, I say that counts as longevity and am sticking her on the list. This woman has Issues. Plural. Period. She makes me say shit like 'I want to dig into her brain with a fork' and it's actually an accurate metaphor for what I feel. I love her your honor... now who can I sue for emotional damages?

[caffeineandsociety]

White cis gay men are often seen by mainstream society as the default face of The LGBTQ+ Community; this is both caused by, and feedback loops into, the way white cis men are privileged by society. When it comes to representing The LGBTQ+ Community, white cis gay men are often relatively privileged over other subgroups.

HOWEVER.

Gay men, regardless of race or AGAB, are...you know, still oppressed by society at large. In fact, many homophobic tropes about gay men have a uniquely gendered bent to them, from the "effeminate limp-wristed fruit", to the "burgeoning predatory bear", to the "devious AIDS vector" (which is also frequently aimed at trans women, thanks to popular bioessentialism and proximity to transphobic "deception" tropes), to the "greedy decadent hedonist who would destroy society as long as he gets his quickie at the club"-

And cisheteropatriarchal society FUCKING LOVES IT when people end up parroting these tropes in the name of "feminism" and "uplifting other queer subgroups".

Now, I want us all to think back to the ToddInTheShadows video about James Somerton for a moment. Remember what that video was calling out - the way Somerton's very limited original content was, primarily, repeating common misogynistic and transphobic tropes, but spinning them not as misogynistic and laterally queerphobic stereotypes, but as Very Common Bad Behaviors By Privileged Subgroups Of Oppressed Groups.

I want us to recall - he got away with this for years. He got well-meaning people, who nominally knew better, absolutely eating it up. He probably very sincerely believed it himself! How does that happen?

Consider the trope I highlighted. The "greedy decadent hedonist who would destroy society as long as he gets his quickie at the club".

Consider for a moment, how important it is to recognize how white cis men are relatively privileged over other queer subgroups - and how that kind of relative privilege can serve as a blinder to the suffering of other queer subgroups - and how, as a result, there are prominent white cis gay voices who don't see the problem with gentrification, or with highly censored rainbow capitalism; how that relative privilege can turn into throwing people under the bus...

And I want you to consider just how easy it is for criticism of that pattern to slip right into repeating that trope. Into an implication that every white cis gay man is Jeffree Starr or some shit. Into an implication that Jeffree Starr's flamboyant aesthetic is inextricable from him, personally, being a shitty I-got-mine sellout, especially if you can tie it to a critique of the misogyny in the makeup industry. Oops! We're now on a runaway train straight into homophobia town!

And the thing is, just like the example with James Somerton, you usually won't even notice it's happening. Look at how many people watched Somerton's videos. Again, he probably believed everything he said himself. We Live In A Society. We live our lives simmering in this toxic brew of stereotypes. We internalize them. After ToddInTheShadows pointed it out, of course, so many of Somerton's former viewers became thoroughly unable to unsee it - but before that? It was background noise. Of COURSE women fetishizing gay men is more of a problem than lesbophobia and misogyny! Of COURSE the presence of a single-digit number of wlw couples in children's media proves queer women are super privileged over queer men! Of COURSE trans people are being divisive by trying to distance themselves from their AGAB, that's TOTALLY inherently the same thing as denying the shared history of the communities! Because the assumption that women are just that airheaded and reckless and frivolous, and trans people are just playing pretend, is such a common set of beliefs in mainstream society, that it was just taken for granted until someone came along to shine a big, bright, glaring spotlight on it.

The lesson we need to be taking from that is not James Somerton Is A Bastard; it's the importance of being CAREFUL when criticizing lateral aggression from an oppressed group to make sure that it's not looping right back around into its own flavor of lateral aggression.

In the case of gay men, for example, we need to be careful NOT to reinvent the same old stereotype that's been around...presumably since the first time someone decided that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were the gay sex more than the closed-off cruelty.

[darkdoverpseeker]

 🐭 20f looking for 18+ roleplay partners 🐭  hey there c: ive recently come back from a hiatus, and most of my roleplays have died off, so, im back and im looking for more! before i dive into all my brain rot and current fixations, id like to say a little about myself c: im a full time university student, so my schedule is hectic as fuck, but i often find time to come online and chat. i also have the worst work schedule in human history so i try to keep my partners updated on my work schedule as well! and i do not ghost - i would appreciate it if you don't do the same. if at any time you feel the roleplay isn't where you'd like it to be, or you're simply uninterested anymore, just let me know! it won't cause any hard feelings on my end. im not too strict on replies, just please give me enough to work off of! i believe in quality over quantity. When it comes to pairings, my preferred pairings are mlm and mlw, with selective wlw.  i do wish to play the female lead in mlw due to how rusty i am at playing male leads. as of now, i am unable to double up. i know this is a deal breaker, but depending on how many roleplays i begin, i want to be able to timely respond without the stress of extra long replies. i am so sorry </3 when it comes to smut, please be comfortable with it. i do not fade to black, i am sorry! smut won't happen every five seconds, but it will happen! now for the fun stuff - below are the super vague and shitty ideas that i have. these can be further developed privately!!

- i recently succumbed to the game of thrones universe, and im begging for something royal-centered. I think it could be super cool to maybe do a royal x mistress/paramour. i love the angst that could come with our characters sneaking around, hooking up in secret places, and having to hide their true intentions and feelings from those around them, as well as the fear that could come with getting caught! if infidelity plots aren't your thing, i would also love something a bit more cliche, perhaps an enemies-to-lovers situation. maybe an arranged marriage plot where they start out hating each other, but eventually begin to love one another. 

- zombie apocalypse brain rot!!! literally will always be down for an apocalypse roleplay. the simplicity is *chefs kiss* 

- vampires <3 love them. i have this idea that involves a super bitchy vampire lady who ends up falling in love with a super goofy himbo boy. im a sucker for cliche tropes, especially black cat x golden retriever types. this is very bare bones, but get me excited and i can totally come up with something!!! 

- alright here's the hella weird request that'll get me nowhere BUT HEAR ME OUT- im like, so deep into the hayden christensen verse than i am on my knees begging for someone to be willing to use him as a fc. idgaf about the plot ( i do but i also don't ) in return, ill use whoever you want as a fc!! this wont be doubled, but ill try to make it as even as possible that way we can both enjoy the roleplay! 

alrighty roo that's it. like this and ill try to reach out at some point this decade <3

like if interested !

[findyourrp]

🍓🧀 🐭 20f looking for 18+ roleplay partners 🍓🧀 🐭  hey there c: ive recently come back from a hiatus, and most of my roleplays have died off, so, im back and im looking for more! before i dive into all my brain rot and current fixations, id like to say a little about myself c: im a full time university student, so my schedule is hectic as fuck, but i often find time to come online and chat. i also have the worst work schedule in human history so i try to keep my partners updated on my work schedule as well! and i do not ghost - i would appreciate it if you don't do the same. if at any time you feel the roleplay isn't where you'd like it to be, or you're simply uninterested anymore, just let me know! it won't cause any hard feelings on my end. im not too strict on replies, just please give me enough to work off of! i believe in quality over quantity. When it comes to pairings, my preferred pairings are mlm and mlw, with selective wlw.  i do wish to play the female lead in mlw due to how rusty i am at playing male leads. as of now, i am unable to double up. i know this is a deal breaker, but depending on how many roleplays i begin, i want to be able to timely respond without the stress of extra long replies. i am so sorry </3 when it comes to smut, please be comfortable with it. i do not fade to black, i am sorry! smut won't happen every five seconds, but it will happen! now for the fun stuff - below are the super vague and shitty ideas that i have. these can be further developed privately!!

- i recently succumbed to the game of thrones universe, and im begging for something royal-centered. I think it could be super cool to maybe do a royal x mistress/paramour. i love the angst that could come with our characters sneaking around, hooking up in secret places, and having to hide their true intentions and feelings from those around them, as well as the fear that could come with getting caught! if infidelity plots aren't your thing, i would also love something a bit more cliche, perhaps an enemies-to-lovers situation. maybe an arranged marriage plot where they start out hating each other, but eventually begin to love one another. 

- zombie apocalypse brain rot!!! literally will always be down for an apocalypse roleplay. the simplicity is *chefs kiss* 

- vampires <3 love them. i have this idea that involves a super bitchy vampire lady who ends up falling in love with a super goofy himbo boy. im a sucker for cliche tropes, especially black cat x golden retriever types. this is very bare bones, but get me excited and i can totally come up with something!!! 

- alright here's the hella weird request that'll get me nowhere BUT HEAR ME OUT- im like, so deep into the hayden christensen verse than i am on my knees begging for someone to be willing to use him as a fc. idgaf about the plot ( i do but i also don't ) in return, ill use whoever you want as a fc!! this wont be doubled, but ill try to make it as even as possible that way we can both enjoy the roleplay! 

alrighty roo that's it. like this and ill try to reach out at some point this decade <3

.

[bchemiqn]

the Wednesday series is so silly goofy for even IMPLYING that gomez and morticia wouldn't know how to cover up a murder properly, let alone that Wednesday would be unironically scandalised by learning her parents had killed someone. like...do the clowns writing this show actually understand the premise/ethos of The Addams Family? why does this show constantly have them allying with/grovelling at the feet of institutions?? why bother making a show about Wednesday and by extension the Addams family if you're not going to honour their competent oddness and satirical anti-establishment roots? and that's before we even get into the weird ass colourblind racism all throughout this show. I cannot believe there's a scene in this show where morticia addams, a white woman, tells a Black man he has "no idea what it's like not to be believed." I can't believe that the ringleader of the bullies who is bigotedly abusing the "outcasts" is a young Black boy. The antiblackness is insane. like, really? it's so obvious there are next to no poc in significant creative roles on this show which is so fucked considering they not only made Wednesday Latine, but made her ancestory an integral part of the series. I feel like a broken record at this point, but surface level diversity in casting means absolutely nothing so long as the people holding creative control are white. It's just elaborate puppetry, and too many of you fall for it everytime. All this show does is use actors or colour to pay lip-service to the "whitewashing" of history, while it the show itself is written and directed almost exclusively by white people. As far as I can tell there is one director of colour, Gandja Monteiro, who directs 2 mid season eps. Every single other person in creative decision making roles is white. It's an absolute JOKE.

i got this in my inbox a while ago and i have been wracking my brain trying to come up with a decent reply. this person makes SUCH a good point about the show and i totally agree. since tim burtons name is attached to the show i wasn't really that surprised since he's know to be kinda racist... there really has to be a change in the industry. not only for POC but also for LGBTQ and disabilities rep. Show with WLW and POC are constantly getting canceled and i'm honestly so tired of it.

back to the point of this persons message, i'd love to hear other peoples thoughts on this topic!

[fuck-off-im-ace]

Oh don't get me wrong, I adore Jade with all my heart. I'm just too excited with the possibility of a love triangle between three women. And not just any women but the chosen one, the heir/princess and the knight. It's juicy and I haven't seen it done in any other show. I do think Airk will most likely survive but I'm also certain that Elora doesn't feel for him and that she's just enamored with the idea of him.

Kit though, she is clearly the one Elora has connected with the most in the whole show, firstly through hatred and jealousy and then it seems that they genuinely found common ground. Idk if I'm reading too much into it but they connect and take a leap of faith together, and it's interesting how Elora's all about "love being stronger than anything" in the first episode and then when they have to jump, it's that what pushes her to believe and overcome the obstacle that is the Shattered Sea, meaning that Kit and Elora's love and connection is stronger than anything. (Don't mind me I just like headcanoning shit in my head and maybe this is just too much of a reach).

Now if they got engaged, I think Elora would slowly start falling for Kit (while Kit's in a relationship with Jade but they have to pretend for the public) because let's be honest, Kit's magnetic and she's just someone that challenges Elora and makes her a better person. And Elora needs her and needs someone who can push her to her limits like Kit would do, like she's done the whole season. They just have that spark that Graydon and Elora lack, imo.

God I'm sorry for sending you so many asks, I'm just interested in your point of view!

Never apologise for the asks, its always fun to theorize about characters!

It would be pretty fun to have a wlw love triangle, but i tend to find them hard to watch, cause i'm polyamorous, and usually shows go for the "You cannot love more than one person, you have to chose!" way and it just sucks. Like this is a tv show, you can make your characters poly, nothing is stopping you. So i always hate when they lose good opportunities and just go with either someone dies or someone gives up to solve their triangles. Its lazy writing.

Now. Kit having two girlfriends? Thats something i can get behind. The princess who is always chosen as a second option, the left behind one, ending up chosen by two? Jade, loving someone who loves her back, trusting in that love. And with Elora there, she doesnt have to feel bad for leaving for knight training or family visits. Kit having Elora to rule with, both of them trusting each other, the heart and soul of the kingdom (we all know none of them have a braincell, thats why they need Jade). Elora have someone that cares about her, not about her history or legacy. Kit have someone that will call her out on her bullshit, but always be there for her.

I got so much more thoughts about them, but this is enough for now. Final point is just that i want Jade to be happy, and a poly couple is the best way to make everyone (including myself) happy!

[punk-rockdyke]

you simply cannot compare gender and sexuality in this sense. yes gender and sexuality are both spectrums but the history of the words we use to describe these things is important. we are currently in a state in society where the concept of gender is changing and we are constantly inventing new words to describe our experiences. words like gay and trans are both catch-alls for the queer community and trans community respectively. the thing you have to understand is that lesbianism has always had strict definition in contrast to all these new terms that have been invented in recent years. “mspec lesbians” are invalid because lesbianism in not an umbrella term. i understand how bisexual women could feel a sense of connection with lesbian history and culture because queer women have obviously always been in community together. but the word lesbian has never and will never include attraction to men. i do believe that trans masculine people are included in lesbian when only dating other non men because they have historically been a huge accepted part of the lesbian community and have been called lesbians for a long time. i honestly think a lot of discourse related to this topic would honestly be solved if people on the internet learned about queer history and got into community with other non chronically online queer people.

also a quick disclaimer so people don’t come at me, yes, i do say things in this post that would insinuate i believe only wlw is included under lesbianism which i simply do not believe (im literally a nonbinary lesbian lmao) when talking about these topics i often use words like man or woman for lack of better terminology. i think using agab in these contexts often lead to bioesstenialist mentalities. using fem people excludes butches, mascs, and trans masc people. and saying girls and enbys/trans mascs feels like im treating trans people as women lite lol. i just prefer to use binary gender to make my argument more accessible and because i believe we do not have the language to properly include everyone in a couple words. and i know the og post didn’t directly mention lesbianism but like 99% of the time when people have this sentiment its about lesbians lol

"yeah gender is infinite and all but you can only have 1 of 4 sexualities and if you label your sexuality in a way i deem wrong you're a bad person" genuinely how some of you sound sometimes.

[selfcarecap]

would like to know more about your opinions about punk 57 :))

Hii Yesss, okay so I’m just gonna say eeeverything (but warning it’s not positive lmao) it’ll probably be a lot so I’ll put a readmore lol (also spoilers)

Okay idk where to start. So this is obviously fully my own fault but I misread the blurb (several times💀) and thought this was a wlw story and was a tiny bit disappointed when I realised it wasn’t lol but at the same time I was still really excited to read it bc I’d only heard good things and either way I thought the pen pal thing was super interesting and could be cute

Right from the start I didn’t like Misha like aren’t the male MCs supposed to be likeable and loveable in a romance book? Lmao. I guess he wasn’t bad but even before the thing with his sister happened I didn’t like him.

Then we met Ryen and I didn’t like her either. I mean most people wouldn’t like her at the beginning obviously but she’d been so horrible that by the time we found out why she’s the way she is, I didn’t care anymore 😭 also I think 18 is old enough to know better and not act like that.

Omg and generally age wise? There’s no reason for these people to be 18 and in high school. It’s like Euphoria in that way lmao. They should have been in college. I didn’t know whether to expect YA or New Adult and I still don’t know what it was because it’s clearly not YA because of all the sex but then why are they in high school? I didn’t really enjoy the smut bc it was weird knowing they’re barely legal. I’m not much older than them or anything but most people I knew when I was 18 (and actually it hasn’t changed much in the two years) were not having that type of sex lol (sure some people do and good for them lol but just make them older lol. This is a book adults are supposed to read so?). It was so so cringe to me when they were having sex on the library floor and in the car with their whole class right next to them omg.

And also about the sex, so I genuinely don’t mind the word slut during sex lol BUT NOT WHEN IT COMES OUT OF NOWHERE? If you haven’t talked about what you like during sex yet and the guy suddenly calls you a slut? 🚩🚩🚩 I mean Misha was generally a red flag tho, he was so aggressive and weird and I get he was heartbroken because of his sister but I just didn’t get him. and he was suddenly a criminal as well like idk he was such a ‘bad boy’ but like for no reason and he wasn’t even cool. He was just an annoying man (boy) who was very unlikeable and I didn’t see any character development? And yeah just very mean and aggressive towards Ryen. They definitely had sexual tension (although it kind of came out of nowhere too) but I never got why she would like him, especially before she knew who he really was. I get their history but I still didn’t believe that they actually liked each other romantically.

And for Ryen idk😭 I usually support women’s rights AND wrongs and sometimes I love a messy female protagonist but I just couldn’t like her, she was just a bully and so was Misha. And yeah she kiinda redeemed herself at the end but yeah by that point I just didn’t care. Also why did she have to be pregnant in the epilogue? It’s so random when authors put that in an epilogue it literally ruined the story even more lol. And like I said I would not believe that they’re still together after 5 years because they didn’t seem to actually like each other. I’d believe that they liked each other while they were still writing letters but irl I didn’t see a connection except a sexual one, especially because Ryen didn’t even know who he was for ages.

And just generally they were extremely immature all the time. And yeah they’re 18 but then it’s weird to see them fucking the whole time when they’re acting like (violent lwhejs) 14 year olds.

Okay now an important point. I would feel very differently about this if it was like a dark romance or not even romance at all lol. But as far as I can tell it’s apparently a romance book. But it just isn’t lol. There were hardly any romantic moments in it. It was a badly written dark high school erotica at best and if it was marketed as that genre, I still wouldn’t have liked it a lot but I would be a lot less disappointed lol and yeah I think selling it as a romance book is just not appropriate and telling anyone that that’s a healthy romantic relationship is just not right lol. (I mean I guess in the book it was never claimed that it’s a healthy relationship lol like of course the characters are toxic but they never stopped being toxic? Like there was a bit of character development in Ryen but Misha was nothing but an asshole to her and everyone else (except that guy Manny? I think that was his name lol. Only character I liked😭😭)

Omg also I just remembered the amount of times Ryen was in Misha’s lap and they were lowkey making out in the lunch hall😭😭😭 why would an adult write that lol. Also literally every single scene in the school was so so unrealistic and cringe lol. And if people really act that way in school, why has no adult done anything about it??? Lmao

It also definitely did not pass the bechdel test loool. I understand women can be mean and I’m not saying Ryen should be friends with Layla or whatever her name was but I would have loved to see at least one nice woman or healthy female friendship. Or reconnecting with her sister. I know there was one sentence about how her sister doesn’t hate her anymore or something but come on 😭 give us something 😭. I’m concerned for Ryen because Misha’s not good for her and she doesn’t even have a female friend to be honest with her about it. Yeah there was Delilah but that’s not what I mean obviously. With the whole fitting in theme etc I think it would have been so important for us to see Ryen connect with another woman or at least not be a pick me (she wasn’t a pick me generally I guess but in that regard she was). (Female) friendships can be even more important than a “romantic” relationship so just because she has her toxic unlikeable misogynistic bully boyfriend she inexplicably likes now, doesn’t mean she’s gonna be happy forever.

I really wanted to like this book and I’m genuinely happy for the people who do but I just can’t see the appeal shsksj

BUT at the same time I did read all of it (although I was tempted to dnf at many points😭) within two days which is fast for me so it couldn’t have been all bad lol.

What do you think? 👀 lmk!! (Whether you agree or disagree with me lol I’d just love to hear what other people think!!!! <3)

[foxounderscorecube]

A Short History of Queer Women - Kirsty Loehr

3 ⭐

This book was alright, I suppose, but it was trying too hard to be funny and it's a bit obnoxious.

The cover is 10/10 and I think the people and topics that Loehr discusses are important - I'm definitely going to put some of the bibliography on my to-read list - but it's hard to take it seriously. It's not like history (or non-fiction in general) has to be written in a really dry or academic way, don't get me wrong, but it's just a bit... well, too much for me. The most bizarre "funny quip" was "Oh, the older relative! We've all been there. For me, it was a sexy great-aunt." Have we? Have we really all been there? Ending the book with "Right, I need to get laid." was also certainly a decision. Maybe I'm too asexual to understand and this is on me.

It's not a bad overview of the history of wlw, I don't think, and it's good to see something written about the people who are notoriously straight-washed or just ignored. There is a glaring lack of mention of trans lesbians, and a couple of people are included who it seems might not have been too fond of being included in the category of "women". Some acknowledgement of genderqueer, women-adjacent people is there, but generally only those who were AFAB. I don't believe the author is transphobic per se, but there's occasional hints of transphobic bias, if that makes any sense. The book does acknowledge that the terminology we have now is kind of hard to apply retrospectively to people who didn't have the same language with which to self-identify, which is very true, so I'll give it that. Still, I would have thought more gender theory-based stuff would be included in a book about queer women, you know?

I don't feel like this book was a waste of my time, but I don't know how highly I'd recommend it, either. There's some really fascinating pieces of history between the cringe, but I guess your mileage may vary!