#I mean yeah society does call me gay

[hundredpoundsofsassyandunstable]

I will never, and do quote me on this, never, forgive society for destroying kinder surprise eggs.

[libraford]

I'm not bothered by the conversation so much as I am a growing approach to activism which makes it impossible to interact with other people. Which echoes a lot of that conversation I had with Ginger this week.

He refuses to have friends that are not faithful to Jesus. Like, he can have a productive conversation with a non-believer and nearly connect with them socially, but if he learns that they don't go to church or don't believe in christ, he finds it difficult to take them seriously because their words were not god-inspired.

Ginger was in a cult. I do not mean this colloquially- Xenos/Dwell is a prominent pseudo-christian cult in central Ohio that preys on college students in need of community. There are rules about who you can date, who you can hang with, they practice gay coversion therapy, and will tell you not to visit your family if they're not Christian.

There is a lot of focus on purity. Actions, thoughts, social groups- it's very controlling about what you can and cannot do.

So. When he goes out into the world with us sinners, it becomes difficult to interact with general society.

We were talking about Merve, one of our foremen, and I said: "the first time I was in a car with Merve, he introduced himself as a Democratic Catholic Pervert. And honestly- yeah that's a good summation."

Ginger didn't like that at all. "Well he's not a very good catholic with all that talk of pornography, he should be ashamed of himself- honestly shouldn't even call himself Christian."

Merve is very much a womanizer, but it's all talk. He's gross about it sometimes and it rubs me the wrong way, but in all fairness- he warned me. Outside of that, he's what I expected from a 60-something landscaper.

"Well, I think whether he's a good Christian or not is up to God, not us."

And he got a little pissy over that comment because I caught him judging.

He only hangs out with 'the faithful' at work, which consists of three guys who are religious in a similar way and it's caused a bit of a rift in the culture. It's gotten a little... preachy. It wasn't preachy before.

So I am making... parallels to this behavior and a particular strain of activism that's been affected by purity culture.

Nothing is ever good enough. If it touches racism, it's banned forever and you have to spread the word about how it's racist. Where doing things that are well-intended puts you in the spotlight for the underlying and actually bigoted reason you're doing a nice thing. And prevents you from doing the nice thing in the future.

Because yes you did a nice thing, but it wasn't enough- you could be doing more.

Yes you did a nice thing, but you did this nice thing instead of tackling this bigger issue.

Yes you did a nice thing, but it was through this program that you didn't know was funded somewhat unethically.

Yes you did a nice thing, but your motivation for doing it wasn't the goodness of your heart, it was motivated by guilt.

Yes you did a nice thing, but it took a horrible event to do it when you should have had the morals of goodness ingrained in you and you should have done this from the start.

Yes you did a nice thing, but you only did it when it started impacting your life and you should be thinking of others first.

Yes you did a nice thing but the nice thing doesn't align perfectly with my worldview.

The goalpost is forever moving backwards.

No one likes to be called 'racist.' It's a really easy weapon to use when something does something you don't like. If you look at anything closely enough, you will see it's racist roots. You could say the same for misogyny, homophobia. Our society is built on hatred and inequality. Untangling it and living a morally pure life free of ridicule is impossible.

Recognizing the roots of an action to be bigoted is the first step. The second step is knowing it when you see it. Step three is pointing it out.

But there are more steps.

Pointing it out, or calling it out, and chastising someone for ignoring or not knowing something actually isn't all that helpful. Because it leaves you to wonder- okay, now what? What can I do to remedy this situation?

Which is the next step- actionable items. Yes, I have done something wrong- I am sorry.

I am sorry. Now I will try to make it right.

I will try to make it right by donating, by volunteering time, by listening to the people who have been hurt and lifting their voices.

Part of healing from an oppressive Christian community is realizing that people are going to sin whether you like it or not. And barring harm to themselves and others, you're gonna have to let them.

If my tarot practice is derived from a 15th century racist, then it was derived for a 15th century racist. Refusing to participate in a past-time that helps me connect with my family doesn't make it not racist. It will still be racist. But I'm not sure who it's hurting in 2024 and I don't have a time machine and I'm not being given clear instructions for how to unracist it.

[alphajocklover]

This is me currently and I’d absolutely love to be turned into the straightest, douchiest, big and beefiest jock you got! Thank you for the stories 🙏🏻.

So you want to be a straight, beefy, douchebag jock, right? Actually, scratch that, if I remember correctly you want to be the straightest, beefiest, douchiest jock possible? You aren’t content to be just a jock. You want to be the biggest, best jock around. A real alpha male. That's a good start. All jocks need to be ambitious, especially alpha bro douchebags. I can definitely help you. Well, more accurately, the Douchebag Revolution can help you. I checked a couple of things and I’m absolutely certain that you’re a victim of SAD, a douchebag jock that was turned into a gay nerd using time travel. I’ve talked about both SAD, the Society Against Douchebags, and the Douchebag Revolution before. The revolution are the people who gave me my time machine after all. So this is going to be less about turning you into a douchebag jock, and more about turning you back into the douchebag jock you were always meant to be. Now, there are a few different methods that the Douchebag Revolution uses to help those changed by SAD. One I showed in an earlier post is a serum that combats the effects of the nanobot SAD injected you with. It also includes a pretty strong dose of testosterone and some steroids from the future, so even if you weren’t already supposed to be a douchebag before this will definitely make you into one. Not that someone who doesn’t have those nanobots inside then should use the serum though, that could mess you up. Another is, of course, the time machine. This one is very complicated, because while using the time machine would mean they’d get the chance to stop SAD from changing you at all, if SAD noticed them your entire life would be transformed into a battle between the two groups, and trust me when I say that that can get messy. Time travel is already complicated enough without starting a time war, so usually they avoid that method. The final method would probably be best for you. It’s called Douchebag Rehabilitation. It’s not an instant fix like the others. It’s sort of a… program.  How it works is that the Revolution takes you to a secret facility somewhere in the far future. They use a mix of drugs, specialized training, and seminars that could turn the nerdiest gay guy into a raging douchebag. It usually takes about a week or two, a month at most, and with time travel it’ll appear instant to anyone watching from the outside. They’ll take you away, and five minutes later, the new you will be back and ready to have some fucking fun. This method does take longer, but from what I’ve heard it's actually really fun. You get to spend a whole month working out, meeting fellow douchebags, and banging hot bimbo volunteers. So, let's get you on your way! If this is what you want there isn’t any point in putting it off. I hope you have fun at Douche Rehab!

Ok. Yeah you… definitely had fun, didn’t you. I can tell from the cocky smirk on your face, and your now massive muscles, that the program definitely did its job. How long did you stay there, a month? You’re big even compared to most douchebags! I wonder how many girls you fucked. I hear most fuck at least 20 girls during their stay but I bet a stud like you got up to 40 or something. I’m glad I was able to help you become your true self. I kind of wish you and the other douchebags would stop referring to me as ‘that fag reporter’ though.

[anomaliex]

Bad Kids (partially shameless projection) queer identity headcanons be upon ye

Notable that I think culturally literally anything that is not human has different ideas of gender than us. Some are very close to the point it hardly matters in a discussion like this (like elves and dwarves. It's mostly the same but I do think most elves are what humans consider to be feminine because they have a different idea of masculinity ((grace)). Or like, most dwarves seem masculine to humans for the simple reason that they all tend to have beards. Stuff like that.), but the further away you get from being hey pretty close to what a human is (like orcs or goblins) the further you stray from human understanding of how things work.

What if being intersex is way more common in a race of people, the concept of gender immediately becomes either way looser and less important or important with completely different values. Also I work under the assumption that whatever counts as "humanoids" (which is a very human-centric term but I like to think that's just because our POV is from a language that is inherently human) is a mammal and will generally have two sexes. But like, there's organisms with more or less than that, and in a fantasy world there's absolutely societies of intelligent species with similar characteristics. Imagine a weird hand wave, not relevant to this specific discussion as the bad kids are all human-shaped but it's something I find interesting. What would gender be like in that society if they had it at all? Living somewhere where that concept isn't really a thing (or at least not a thing in the way we understand it to be) sounds kinda awesome.

That said. Solace is a society mostly shaped by human standards and everyone who lives there somewhat conforms to them; and anyone who grows up there is probably socialised accordingly. Also Gorgug is adopted and doesn't seem all that connected to his roots and Riz is a third gen immigrant who doesn't get to see his extended family all that much. What I'm saying is everything I just said hardly matters in the context of the Bad Kids. Yeah. I just wanted to say it. I'm. I'm autistic. Thanks for reading my word vomit you're a real one for sticking through this far here's what I actually wanted to say.

Kristen. Obviously a lesbian. she/her and calls herself a woman but ultimately doesn't really. Care that much? About gender? And would not mind being referred to with masculine terms, it's more a matter of being afab so that's what she's going with.

Adaine I think has experimented with she/they pronouns. Often times she feels like her perception of life goes far beyond whatever societal constructs influence the present and she does not feel particularly attached to the idea of womanhood. I think she's aro spec but probably allosexual? Develops interest in all that a bit later than her friends and even then it's not. The same. She thinks guys are attractive, maybe girls sometimes, but doesn't actually feel inclined to do anything about that? Isn't looking to get into relationships or anything but yeah.

Riz is aroace because yeah. Personally I think oriented aroace because Baron being masc-ish does mean something to me, so he doesn't necessarily say it / find it relevant for other people to know but Riz personally IDs as gay + aroace. He does think some guys are attractive he's just sex repulsed lmao. I think he's the flavour of aroace where he'd happily engage in deep emotional bonds he just really doesn't understand what the fuck romantic feelings are supposed to be and how it'd be different than just loving his best friend(s) truly so much and is discomforted by the societal expectations and restrictions around the concept of "dating". ALSO about gender he's a he and its whatever. Does not care. Gender apathetic in the way Kristen is.

Gorgug isn't particularly attached to any labels, I think. He just likes who he likes, which is several people sometimes because he's also polyam. I think his lax view of his own inherent queerness has a lot to do with how open (and also inherently queer) his parents are. He just never really thought about it. Hit puberty and started thinking guys are hot and went okay this is not in any way special I'm way more worried about my favourite emo band breaking up rn. The only reason he ever came out to his friends was because he asked them for advice on how to bring up that he's polyam with Zelda (who I think was super cool with that and honestly from what we know that might be culturally normal to her), he does not consider it to be particularly noteworthy. Gorgug is similarly not particularly concerned about gender. I think he goes by any pronouns but also doesn't bring that up unless someone asks because he truly does not care or think it's a big deal.

Fabian's entire general person-ness feels queer to me idk. Bisexual and polyamorous. Probably aro-spec but he needs more time to figure that one out. Exclusively finds himself interested in women who are taller than him, this has nothing to do with being queer I just wanted to note that. He's the only one of the Bad Kids where I want to confidently say yeah this is a he/him man and he feels both comfortable in and connected to his masculinity. He ventures into gender nonconformity (starts with painting his nails, then make up, maybe a skirt when he's chilling at mordred manor) more and more as he gets older and more comfortable, I think, but that kind of only reaffirms to him that he's a man and loves being a man? Idk lol. Also for the record this is nonconformity in the context of Solace. For (high-)elven standards he's not like hypermasc dude bro but he's a pretty "manly" guy. Fallinel is like twink nation idk what to tell you. Now whether he's cis or not is a different question, while I personally think he is I do make a little mental cheer every time someone makes him trans.

Fig. They/she/it. She struggles with the disconnect she feels between her and the girl she thought she was a lot and it sucks, but eventually it does lead them to reexamine how they see themself and their identity and stuff. I think she eventually comes to the conclusion that yeah she has some attachment to femininity but ultimately exists in a space beyond the binary. Which is cool. Idk what label Fig would use, if any at all, but maybe something loose like genderqueer.

I know it's very commonly accepted that she's bisexual but like. Honestly. I think that was comphet. I think Fig is a lesbian who had some of the most horrendous comphet imaginable. None of their interest in those (concerningly) older men was genuine and it was all pretending to be someone else to get something and she isn't even sure why she wants that something that she can't quite place. And even though it longs so badly for the validation and confirmation that it's fitting into whatever role it is Fig is trying to emulate, she doesn't ever actually dare to get "serious". That's not actually what she wants. Uncomfortable and deeply concerning desperation for sexuality from a teenage girl who probably isn't a girl and certainly isn't actually interested in any of the men she's pursuing, and is so scared of just having to exist as herself deep down is such a real experience and if d20 wasn't a comedy show this could be the most visceral arc.

[ryotono]

Upper moons and [Y/N] and quotes and Chaos and love for akaza and more, that's all

It's 5am and I can't sleep, enjoy ;)

[Y/N]: it's always "I love you" and never "igtfkdtlb"

Akaza: what does that mean?

[Y/N]: I'm Going To Fuckin Kill Douma That Lil Bitch

Akaza: I "igtfkdtlb" for you

[Y/N]: <3

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[Y/N]: I commit murder against humans bc i can't commit against you

Gyutaro: because I'm a demon?

[Y/N]: no bc i love u

Gyutaro: alright

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Muzan: [Y/N] stop sending me memes, I already have lot of them bc of you

[Y/N]: who said it's me?

Muzan: you are the only one who found Deez Nuts memes funny

[Y/N]: well, that's sad, guess I have to send them all to Dee

Muzan: Who's Dee?

[Y/N]: Deez Nuts

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[Y/N] in every situation: that's sad, nakime play Despacito

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[Y/N]: Stop looking at me with those eyes

Kokushibou: what eyes?

[Y/N]: this fucking six eyes it's terrifying

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[Y/N]: say "I like boobs" and no one bats an eye

[Y/N]: say "I like akaza men boobs" and

[Y/N]: SOCIETY... SOCIETY CALLS ME GAY

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[Y/N]: ur telling me that you have 4 hot as hell clones, that mix and transform into a massive power kid?

Hantengu, crying: yes?

[Y/N]: and you walk like this?

[Y/N]: seriously man, no rizz

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[Y/N]: Describe your boobs using only a pic of them

Akaza: [Y/N] it's 4am stop asking me for pictures of my chest

[Y/N]: so no boob?

Akaza: no

[Y/N]: that's sad

[Y/N]: u know what would cheer me up?

Akaza: what?

[Y/N]: foto teta

Akaza: STOP

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[Y/N] to Akaza: im going to beat his ass

[Y/N] injured with a missing arm: I did not beat his ass

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Douma: He lied

[Y/N]: She believed

[Y/N] and Douma: Sbeve

Muzan: stop

Douma: he's okay because he lied

[Y/N]: she's broken because she believed

[Y/N] and Douma: SBREN

Muzan: I'm going to SBEVE and SBREN your two if you don't just sHUT THE F*CK UP

[Y/N] and Douma: :(

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kokushibou to Kaigaku: and this is [Y/N]

Kaigaku: who are they?

Kokushibou: our pet

Kaigaku: and they bite?

Kokushibou: no, worse, they judge you

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kokushibou to Kaigaku: and this is [Y/N]

[Y/N]: Ayo wassup babegirl ar u single betterbe becase imahere to make u simp oh yeah rizz goes BRRR Konga konga

Kokushibou: don't worry, no one here understand what they say 90% of the time

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Yeah that's all, thank you for reading! ;)

English is actually not my first language, so if there's a mistake u know, happens :P (give me a break, it's 6am now)

[frooogscream]

And stop calling Con queer he’s just a white gay men from an extremely colonialist country who never bothered to check his privileges! There’s nothing queer about him!

To pre-phrase this: You don’t need to bother sending more of these unhinged messages, at this point it’s pretty clear that you’ve completely lost the plot and I’m not gonna answer to further asks on this topic.

We do not know if Con is gay (hence using the broader term of queer is extremely appropriate here), we only know from himself that he is part of the queer community and from a ("I just look straight") T-shirt he wore and him mentioning his husband that this is in regards to his sexuality not his gender identity.

Gay and queer are not mutually exclusive terms like you are pretending here, there are a lot of gay men who consider themselves queer. If we use the commonly used queer as a more inclusive way to say LGBT+ then that by definition includes all gay men (unless they specifically say they don’t want to be labelled as such). If we use the more political and/or queer as in ‘at odds with cis heteronormative society’ then there are as well many many gay men who fit into that category.

Con personally also does fit the "political" definition of queer, since he is very openly and loudly supportive of trans people, calls out shitty anti social and racist politics in his home country, (as much as you guys love to completely ignore all of this and comment about the one single time he liked a post by a Zionist four years ago when the topic of the post wasn’t Palsatine/Israel instead) has posted ONLY in support of Palestine, directed the talk towards queer right and what we can do to keep them on convention panels etc. etc.

A person being privileged in one area dosnt erase their belonging to a marginalised community or that they have potentially experienced discrimination in other areas. And yeah him being a middle aged white gay/bi/pan/whatever man in the UK might mean that he has a relatively "easy" life compared to other parts of the community NOW. Do you know what else it means? It means that in his early twenties he witnessed the hateful crusade of Thatchers government against queer people, not only did section 28 happen but it also didn’t happen in a vacuum, it was born from years of political fear mongering that framed gay men as dangerous and perverted! It means that Con was about 15 when the AIDS epidemic devastated the queer community and in its wake didn’t only brought death and the loss of you loved ones but also a giant wave of homophobia! I’m not even taking into consideration personal experiences of homophobia (and let me tell you as someone who has friends in the UK, 40 years ago people were beaten up with baseball bats for "looking gay") that Con maybe has. There probably is a reason that he only publicly came out at age 56! I HATE nothing more than young queers (because if you’re cisstraight dear anon, then fuck off so much, this would make it so much worse) policing the "right way to be queer" for older people in the community or invalidating their experiences. Frankly the only reason I’m publishing this ask is that I hope even the last clown sees how incredibly ignorant the "Con does queerness wrong"/"Con being kink positive/having dirty humour/showing his body is predatory" -people sound.

[unnaturalequilibrium]

Capítulo 8

- Mafin rewatch (Sueños de Libertad)

Watching Fina with tears in her eyes trying to say sorry to Petra who accuses her of taking advantage of their friendship is pretty much as much fun as a Friday night of drinking pickle juice and giving yourself recreational papercuts. It has to count as a form of unusually cruel punishment. That look on Fina’s face however as realisation dawns, that Petra have been using her to get to the position at the store. The way you can see her go from sincere sorrow to sadness lined with righteous anger.

Fina stage whispering “I’ll kill you” at Carmen as she’s called her dad because of her weird and inexplicable sickness. This friendship is a gem. Isidro as always cutting through the bullshit and calling Fina out on her faked illness. “I’m not six years old-” and the response of “well stop acting like you are”, but it’s not said in a condescending way, he just checks her on her behaviour. His words though, they work her over and before long he has her up and out of that bed, on her way to face her new job and the mistakes she’s made. Like I said, I get why Fina is the way she is and it's a lot to do with who Isidro is as a parent I think.

Claudia in the store babbling on about how most men are a bit of a scoundrel and Fina just straight up zoning out with as much subtly as a brick to the face. Gods, she really just fucking kills Tasio at every opportunity she gets. “You lost me at Tasio and noble” - she excuses herself when Claudia calls her back to reality. Fina never change.

Also Claudia, just listen to Fina. Sure she’s just had her heart broken by the manipulative snake in a dressing gown standing next to you, but she’s not wrong. There are a lot of people who will take advantage of others in the name of love, Tasio most surely would be one of them. Being heterosexual is not a valid excuse to be stupid, shape up Claudia.

Am I a vindictive bitch, yes, but that does not stop me from taking great pleasure in the fact that Marta does not really see Petra, she just steamrolls right past her, but hiccups as her eyes land on Fina in that uniform. Yeah, I think this was actually the start. She continues her quest of being a harsh but fair mistress, telling Fina she’s not doing her any favours, but she expects hard and good work from her. Still though, that “you look different in the uniform” gets caught in her chest and seems to stumble from her lips in a most uncharacteristic way from the otherwise eloquent queen of keeping her shit together.

Petra blackmailing Fina who despite all of it sort of stands her ground. Fina says she’s sorry, she didn’t mean to offend or overstep a boundary, but she doesn’t deny what she did, there are no excuses she tries to offer up. She owns the kiss even though she apologises for having read Petra’s intentions wrong. That takes some fucking courage, especially how she then calls Petra out on her unfair behaviour as she tries to blackmail Fina out of a job because of it. She is clearly scared of being found out, about the possibility of her father finding out, but at the same time she doesn’t grovel. She doesn’t even deny being a lesbian. This is the start of why I find her so refreshing as a character, especially in a period drama. Being gay, society and our upbringing often encourage us to be apologetic about our existence, many of us filled with internalised homophobia from a very young age through the intentional and subconscious acts of the straights around us who matter to us (and those we wish didn’t). Fina however, no. Fina apologises for her actions, which were misguided, but she does not apologise for the drive behind them. And as Petra blackmails her she is clearly worried, but mostly - well mostly she comes across as really fucking angry at the injustice of it all. She will not say sorry for being gay, but she will rage at the world for treating her unjustly because of it. That’s fresh. That’s why she very quickly has become one of my favourite fictional lesbians and a bit of a role model.

We are not at fault, if the world can’t stomach us - then that is its problem, not ours.

[lucysarah-c]

Hi ik you’re not taking requests but could you share what you think the canon aot characters would think about gay people?

Hi, dear! How are you?

I feel so giggly when people ask for my opinion on topics; I don't know why. So, I'll take a minute from my birthday to reply!

This is such a good question, and I'll do my best to respond respectfully as someone who isn't part of the LGBTQ+ community. I would say that overall, most characters of AoT, or at least the ones we know well (not like the civilians inside the walls), wouldn't "mind it." For example, I don't believe Erwin, Levi, Hange, Eren, Mikasa, Jean, etc., would mind it or be homophobic. I'll summarize the upcoming rant with a quote I heard once and feel encapsulates my view of the AoT characters:

"The woke of today are the fascists of tomorrow."

It's true. Everything you fight for today to normalize, to create awareness, etc., will hopefully be granted in a few years. Society will evolve, and the new generations will think we are "close-minded" to a certain degree. There will always be homophobic and misogynistic people across generations, but probably one kid or two will call us out in a couple of years. This is great because it means society is learning.

With that said, when I get asked, "Would Levi be misogynistic? Would Levi or Erwin be homophobic?" I always think, "They wouldn't… for their period's standards." I don't think the society within the walls is very open-minded by 2024 standards. Even in my own fic, I write that homosexuality is banned inside the walls, which was the case in many countries until not long ago. In some places, it still happens. Even in societies like Korea, being homosexual isn't "illegal," but you could lose your job if your boss finds out. I follow a YouTuber from Spain who does vlogs about his life in Korea, and he's gay. He has to keep his relationship with his boyfriend secret because his Korean boyfriend could lose his job and family if people found out.

It's extremely sad that people can't live their lives proudly and loudly because of this, but it's a reality even nowadays. So, I don't really think being open about your sexual orientation if you're not a cis heterosexual person would be safe inside the walls.

Now, do I think that AoT characters are homophobic? No. The only characters that come to mind who might be openly homophobic, based on the vibes they give me (not on panels or canon proof, just my feelings), are Folch, Porco, Zackly (because he's an old man), and Zeke. Zeke would probably pretend that he doesn't care but be really homophobic deep down and maybe even use it against someone.

The rest, I don't feel they would be homophobic. Maybe they would make some uncool comments, but mostly out of ignorance rather than hate, like maybe Jean. On the other hand, I do feel like they wouldn't have a 2024 approach to the topic, especially the men. I'm not saying women can't be homophobic, but historically, women and homosexuals have had a more "ally" relationship.

I think this is also due to misogyny. I can see AoT guys being like, "Yeah, we're cool with it… as long as I'm not the one that guy is into," or "As lond as nobody thinks I AM gay," which is a very usual approach for men. They fear other men being into them because men are deep down scared of being treated or seen as they treat women. Men often see gay men as "lacking masculinity," which has nothing to do with it but is usually correlated for heterosexual men. Especially in military settings, barracks, shared showers, locker talks, etc., men are supposed to be "men's environments." Particularly in the scouts, as they are all outcasts of society and very few in number. If they got picky about who they decided to get involved with, they would halve their numbers.

In conclusion, I feel like most of the AoT characters wouldn't mind at all. They might not be open about their sexuality because of societal prejudice, but their opinion about it wouldn't be as "supportive" as many of us are these days.

Thank you so much for your ask! I hope this somehow answers the question!

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

what meaningful plenaration does "sane" add to "safe sane and consensual"? safe and consensual are both pretty intuitive as to what is and isn't and why they're important, but what is the aspect of this nebulous hypothetical insane sex (this would work better as a phrase if insane sex wasn't already a thing people said about good sex. much to think about) which is uniquely best to avoid but not already covered by safe or consensual?

i've been thinking about that one thing i saw a while ago about reevaluating ssc in the face of increased awareness of like, mad liberation and the ways that mentally disabled people are barred from sexual agency by ableism & the psych system and i genuinely can't come up with a reason why sane was in there in the first place

great question! let's talk about it!

but first: hey. what on earth does plenaration mean. I absolutely understand the question that you're asking but I don't know that word (unusual for me, if I may flex a little!) and google is giving me NOTHING.

anyway, moving on!

SSC was initially popularized by in 1983 by the New York group Gay Male S/M [Sadism/Masochism] Activists, and particularly activist David Stein. let's take a look at their full statement:

GMSMA is a not-for-profit organization of gay males in the New York City area who are seriously interested in safe, sane, and consensual S/M. Our purpose is to help create a more supportive S/M community for gay males, whether they desire a total lifestyle or an occasional adventure, whether they are just coming out into S/M or are long experienced. Our regular meetings and other activities attempt to build a sense of community by exploring common feelings and concerns. We aim to raise awareness about issues of safety and responsibility, to recover elements of our tradition, and to disseminate the best available medical and technical information about S/M practices. We seek to establish a recognized political presence in the wider gay community in order to combat the prevailing stereotypes and misconceptions about S/M while working with others for the common goals of gay liberation. (x)

GMSMA was founded three years prior in 1981, which is only important because that was also the year the first AIDS patients were identified. I don't know if you're familiar with a little thing called The AIDS Crisis, but suffice to say that during the 80s the public perception of gay male sexuality Was Not Good, particularly something double deviant like sex that was gay and also kinky. in a later essay reflecting on (and criticizing!) the mainstreaming of the term, Stein said he wanted to SSC framework to distinguish mutually consensual sadomasochism from "the criminally abusive or neurotically self-destructive behaviour popularly associated with the term 'sadomasochism'."

in other words: while I can't tell you everything that lay in the heart of David Stein when he first used the phrase, it's very clear that the GMSMA seemed invested in improving the public image of kink by separating it as much as possible from the notion that it was something only practiced by crazed degenerates - you know, something queer people have been forced to do for pretty much all queer sex throughout history? in the same 2000 essay linked above, Stein reflects on how many people took SSC as "a welcome validation for a type of sexuality still considered "sick" or "crazy" by much of our society."

is there still ableism baked into that narrative re: the notion that mental illness is a bad thing to be affiliated with? yeah, absolutely, and we'll get to that! spoilers: it's been a source of much criticism, which is why many people now prefer RACK over SSC. but give me a second to get there!

in the essay I've been pulling from, Stein freely admits that GMSMA never attempted to offer concrete definitions of SSC, particularly not the latter two: "We left "sane" and "consensual" much vaguer, "sane" because it's pretty vague to begin with once you get past the obvious meaning - able to distinguish fantasy from reality - and "consensual" because we didn't realize how tricky it is."

the idea of "sane" meaning a person is meaningfully able to distinguish fantasy from reality was echoed by Gil Kessler, a longtime kink educator and board member of GMSMA. rope enthusiast Tammad Rimilia defined it differently, saying that sane kink referred to a situation where "all parties are engaging in this activity by direct intention and can judge the effects of their actions." you can see that echoed in Stein's earlier statement about differentiating the kind of sex that GMSMA encouraged from "self-destructive behavior."

tl;dr, the "sane" is mostly there to specifically draw attention to the fact that some people engage in sex in ways that may be a form of self-harm and/or may want to engage in sex when they are experiencing reality in a way that prevents them from making rational, fully-informed choices, such as psychosis or manic episodes. per their own statement, it seems the GMSMA would discourage having sex with people in this category.

obviously that may already fall under the purview of safe and consensual, but show me an organization that's never gotten a little redundant in its mission statement and I'll eat my shirt.

now, back to that criticism! as Stein notes in the essay I've referenced heavily in this answer, understandings of safety, sanity, and consent have come a long way since 1983! the risk-aware consensual kink model (RACK) has gained popularity for many reasons, with much of the conversation centered on both the inherent ableism of SSC and concerns about the promise of "safe" and the unhelpful and unrealistic expectations it may set. hell, even notions of consent are constantly growing and evolving. and that's wonderful! SSC comes from a very specific time and place in the history of kink and may no longer be the pinnacle of best practices for everyone, but there's still plenty to be learned from its origins.

[castlebyersafterdark]

I was always so confused why people think Will being emotional is a bad thing because I thought we as a society had mostly moved on from the “boys don’t cry” nonsense that used to plague us. I mean, it’s not like Will is the first emotional male protagonist! Based on how people act, you’d think every male protagonist was some kind of super stoic! Also, music culture had shifted tremendously, right? Was there not a whole era where emo music was popular, which led into emo rap music, both of which were male-dominated?

But then I realized that while guys are often allowed to be more emotional in music/in the arts, the top male artists currently are all more “traditional” cause there’s still that stigma (hence why morgan wallen will always be more popular than troye sivan). And even with male protagonists who are more sensitive/emotional (Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon, Samwise and Frodo, Luke Skywalker, Percy Jackson, Aang from ATLA, even Harry Potter!), there is still a tacit expectation that they’ll “grow out of it” and have their big, damn hero moment. People are STILL mad at Aang for not killing the Fire Lord and for being “whiny,” and many of them think he doesn’t “deserve” to be with Katara because of it.

Male characters like Will are truly rare, and I’d say they’re confined largely to indie films, but even so, most characters similar to Will are girls. And it’s not because Will is particularly flamboyant. He’s more “feminine” for sure, but still in a boyish way. He’s a boy with boy interests like star wars who is still deeply emotional and sensitive and artistic and kind- and that’s genuinely terrifying and confusing to people. I think a good analogue is Gordie in Stand By Me? But that came out a long time ago. And Will is probably more emotional.

Will is super rare, and a lot of people don’t know what to do with him, so they make him out to be this anime crybaby caricature, or they focus on his bowlcut. I value these kinds of traits in male characters, but so many people don’t, way more than I realized. People don’t see the massive amounts of quiet bravery he has. They just see this weak, useless, wimpy boy who cries, who can’t accept that Mike doesn’t like him like that, who “can’t even defend El from being bullied.” I saw this one Reddit post this week where someone was saying he should have punched those bullies in Cali, because everyone knows the only way to be a man is to use physical force 🙄

You see this in the recent american election too, with people- and not just fringe people, but people with huge influence like tucker carlson- casually calling tim walz “gay” because of his emotional demeanor, despite the fact that he’s a married heterosexual man who hunts and coaches football. Gender essentialism is back. People- even those who aren’t actively anti-LGBTQ rights- see everyone who doesn’t fit a narrow standard of masculinity as being a “soy cuck beta liberal,” and it’s so disheartening to see. And it doesn’t help that Will IS gay, so that adds to people not liking him (or not WANTING to relate to him). I think these people picked the wrong show to stan, but that can’t be helped now. They’re in for a rude awakening come Season 5 when Byler happens…

We have most definitely not moved on from men being emotional being seen as a bad thing or unacceptable. I think things do improve, I think there’s sometimes a perception that things are better/worse than they are. An annoying yes and no situation. Overwhelmingly - you do not get praised or rewarded by society by being emotional and a man. Or, hell, not emotional and a woman either but that's a whole other conversation.

But good examples, it's true many will love characters like those because of their sensitivity and how they tap into emotion - but many will cruelly criticize them. Will? Yeah, he cries on screen. For valid reasons. He tears up often and easily. I think it's healthy to let your emotions play out authentically and he's a male character who does that. And he's not rewarded. What are his two cliches by casual fans? Bowlcut. Crybaby. Ughh. Shut up.

It's a societal fear of vulnerability and men cannot be that, right? It's very pervasive, especially now it seems to have taken a big swing back this way.

Anyway. Will and his personality and reliance on emotional expression are reasons I personally love him as is the case for his fanbase. And as is the case with his writers/creators! That's how he's written. And it's not done as criticism. That's how he is. So, regardless of society at large - opposed to common belief, public opinion does not dictate what happens in the show. Our Will is our Will, exactly how he is, and I do agree. I think all too many are watching the wrong show.

[frostyblustar]

First off: I absolutely LOVED „stray, the wolf will eat your head“!!

Second: PLEASE DO TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE DETAILS AND SYMBOLISM IN IT!!

Oh my god where do I even start with this fic?? I’m just gonna talk about random things that pop in my head as I scroll through (this is gonna be long)

The Path is literally called ‘dull’ ‘straight’ and ‘boring’ but also ‘safe’. This alludes to the Path being a metaphor for straightness.

Why is the forest filled with seemingly random objects/places-? They pertain to Nico’s identity, but also queerness can seem confusing.

The singular boot represents Nico’s initial loneliness. They come in pairs, and he has no Bianca or Percy at this time. He feels utterly alone, and feels alone in his own struggles and initial feelings about the forest.

Why is Bianca mentioned to have a more gray dress than white when she’s based on the Girl in White from The Path?… Because it would make her ‘The Girl in Gray’ but I don’t think anyone has catched on to that. Also she represents a sense of innocence before venturing into the world/experiencing a traumatic event, similar to The Girl in White from The Path.

The wolf will eat your head is essentially saying if you trust a wolf, you’re brainless. They take away your wits. There is also the scarecrow with no head in the flower field that is kind of a mockery of this.

Where is Bianca’s body?

Her bones are in the scarecrow in the flower feild. Since she serves as a strawman for a lot of people arguing against the forest. She was stuffed in there by one of those people long after her death. She is resentful of her lover who left her body to rot.

How did she die?

Dirt. A mudslide. Yeah the line ‘You make it sound like the dirt killed your family.’ is supposed to be irony, but since Bianca’s death is never mentioned it’s not really anything you’d catch onto, just background info.

The sword in the stone reference is just based on Nico’s love for stories, but he also gains a means of defending himself through it if needed. I believe this could mean he finds stories like these fuel his curiosity and give him wits to hold up on his own? But really it’s just a fun thing.

Dianthus and green carnations are the two flowers in the flower field. Dianthus mean ‘Flowers of the gods’ while green carnations represent homosexuality.

The powerlines between two poles represent Percy and Nico having a connection.

Piano and flute. The piano is supposed to represent Italian heritage while the flute is a symbol of nature. Also, I looked up ‘gay instruments’ and a lot of people think flute players are stereotypically gay so… Yeah…

Why does Percy wear blue? Well cause boy in blue cmon I CANNOT PASS THAT UP! Blue also represents a lot of things like freedom, open spaces like the sky, and a lot of the times sadness.

Who is Percy referring to when he says he knew someone who knew flowers well? Honestly, probably Calypso, but it’s 100% an ex he had to leave after being treated like shit for being bisexual. That’s all I had written out for that. If you don’t like Calypso, I also thought Jason might fit this ex role.

Spotted feathers, from what I found, represent a scattered mind (which is why they bother Nico specifically after Percy is talking) I also used removing them as a way of showing Nico rebelling against society/tradition.

A lot of the language used is supposed to be transferrable into a different context. Replacing the forest with homosexuality makes things super obvious. Honestly too much of the dialogue is supposed to be like that.

Anyways that’s all I got off the top of my head, thanks for reading. Ask any more questions if you want, start a thread even! I can definitely elaborate on even things I’ve already brought up if you want that.

The link to the fic I’ve been talking about by the way.

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Large Adult Son

Eric Stenbock: hello midnight society Stenbock: i'm Count Eric Stanislaus Stenbock Stenbock: [producing life-size mannequin] and this is my son le Petit Comte Thomas Ligotti: Ligotti: Ligotti: Ligotti: Stephen King: you're uh King: really staring at that mannequin kinda intently there, tom Ligotti: hm

Eric Stenbock: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the true story of the vampire Stenbock: one sec, let me just get le Petit Comte comfortable first Stenbock: how are you doing le Petit Comte Stenbock: Ligotti: Stenbock: Ligotti: Stenbock: Ligotti: Stenbock: he says he's doing good

RL Stine: hey does your puppet talk Stine: my puppet talks Stenbock: does my what talk? Stine: your puppet Stenbock: Stenbock: you mean my son? Stine: yeah your puppet there Stenbock: Stenbock: never speak to me or my son every again

RL Stine: i just wanted to know if le petit comte talks RL Stine: [producing ventriloquist dummy] cuz knothead here talks RL Stine: especially when i drink a glass of water RL Stine: watch he'll sing the old gray mare Stenbock: how dare you

Stenbock: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the true tale of a vampire Stenbock: it's the story of carmilla Sheridan Le Fanu: Stenbock: not THAT carmilla Stenbock: a totally different carmilla

Stenbock: this carmilla story is not to be confused for sheridan la fanu's carmilla Stenbock: for one thing, this isn't a lesbian vampire story Stenbock: it's a gay vampire story Stenbock: extremely gay Bram Stoker: oh no Anne Rice: oh yes

Stenbock: so carmilla lives in a castle with her sexy brother gabriel and their dad Stenbock: and she's narrating this story so Stenbock: she's all "hey its me carmilla, let me tell you what i look like" Stenbock: "i'm just an average girl, but i think i'm pretty hot" Stenbock: "but boy my brother, damn what a smoke show" Stenbock: "pouty youthful mouth, tangled blonde locks, the whole deal" Stenbock: "you know how it is"

Stenbock: "so my brother was so kind and gentle, filled with nothing but love" Stenbock: "just loved animals" Stenbock: "and animals loved him" Stenbock: "he was a delicate cinnamon bun too good for this cruel bitch of a world"

Stenbock: "anyway this vampire comes to our castle" Stenbock: "and he's always hanging out with my brother" Stenbock: "but my brother is suddenly all sick and pale and doesn't have as much blood as usual" Stenbock: "suspiciously vampiric"

Stenbock: "anyway then my brother died and the vampire left, the end" Stenbock: what do you think of that Ligotti: Ligotti: Ligotti: King: thom it's not going to move, it's not real Ligotti: hm

[theclockwitch]

I got your Astartes Gender Trouble right here

Yeah okay back to theory for this one and today we're diving into Judith Butler.

Performativity is the one everyone gets wrong and interpellation no one has ever heard of. LFG.

Skip to first ***** if you hate theory. Skip to second ***** for options and to third ***** for requisite disclaimer.

Performativity =/= performance. Performativity is about the ability/possibility to successfully inhabit both a biological and social construct of gender. Spoiler: it's always impossible.

Where people go wrong. People read the first two syllables and decide that it means 'performance'. That you can just 'perform' gender by wearing certain clothes or styling your hair a certain way, etc.

That ain't it, chief. If it were, butch lesbians would be men. Butch lesbians (my sister is my source here) do not want to be men. They want to be...butch lesbians. Performance =/= performativity.

Another example is drag queens. It used to be straight men were drag queens and it was a much more transgressive thing than it is in current society, where most drag performers are gay men. But again, the performance of womanhood (makeup, hair, dresses, body gestures, etc) does not make them women, and the gay men who do drag, I would argue, do not WANT to become women. Even back when straight men were the majority of drag performers, it was the same. It was a ludic joke, that you can dress a man up as a woman, have him perform gender but because of the other word (interpellation) he was always already male and even his fun play cannot hide his True THROBBING Masculinity.

Personal experience. When I was in the Army, I was regularly mistaken for a dude. I had a pixie cut, and under my helmet you couldn't see it. I have broad shoulders. I'm tall for a woman of my generation. I learned, being stationed among men, how to walk like a man. And I mean fellow soldiers thought I was a dude and civilian women thought I was a dude. Apparently I look like a REALLY HOT 18 year old guy.

I was not a dude. I did not want to be a dude. I was just existing in a male space and picking up male habits like how to walk with a higher center of gravity.

SO here's vocabulary word numero dos: interpellation. It literally means 'calling forth from within'. Meaning, the reason that me being mistaken for a dude in the Army was only ever HILARIOUS to me, was that I knew, from inside, that I was not a dude. And I wasn't trying to be a dude. A drag queen isn't magically a woman because of his performance of drag, and he wouldn't want it that way, because he knows from inside, that he's a dude.

Necessary side note because people on this site like to go off half cocked: Let's talk about transgender people. Because it's absolutely the same thing: every transgender person I have talked to say they always already knew they were the other gender. Even Aydian (yes I know Aydian Dowling his mom used to be my boss) says that he was suicidal and once someone mentioned the idea that he could be transgender, it clicked, and he...knew. He had always been male, in a female body. Even though he didn't consciously know, his mind always already knew he was male. He was in the wrong body for his *interpellated* understanding of who he was.

I bring this up bc people always read Butler and think she's transphobic. She's not. You're just not understanding her. Gender is not your biology but who you always-already knew yourself to be on the inside. It's like the OPPOSITE of anti-trans.

Nobody can successfully (and this is the trick about performativity) 100% and 100% of the time, perform their gender. Occasionally you have to run to Target with no makeup and your hair in the worst messy bun in existence, wearing your boyfriend's snowboots bc you can't find your own.

Same thing with men.

*****

SO Back to canon. Because QOTD is 'heretic Astartes could genderqueer the fuck out of everything' and yes, but also no. Or yes, but with caution.

Sidenote because we need to talk about Spotlight Arcee. In Transformers, Simon Furman who I once had to be nice to at a 'con bc I wanted the rest of the unreleased Dreamwave scripts because my love for Jetfire knows no rationality, wrote an Arcee origin story where Arcee was a dude, kidnapped by Jhiaxus an evil scientist and part of Jhiaxus's Evil Science was to make Arcee...the first female transformer. First and only. So we have a character who was nonconsensually transitioned, who was not always already female. As a result, Arcee becomes, as the tagline which rips off Byron, 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'. She's insane, violent, and just terrible. But she is 'pink. and she does have the 'it's a girl now' boobkini armor. Arcee LOATHES herself.

But the deal is, Arcee is never ACTUALLY female. She's actually the opposite of a transgender person--instead of always already inwardly knowing herself as female and getting able to express that, she is now blocked forever, from properly expressing her interpellated gender. Trans icon? More like a fascinating case study of dysphoria. If Furman had been a better writer and not a moldy strawberry of a human being who just, honestly, hated women.

Many years ago, there was a study in comp and gender study circles about a middle school teacher who assigned a writing prompt, about 'what would you do if you woke up the next morning as the opposite sex'. Young girls (I think these were 11-13) wrote about all the new freedoms they'd have, about their clothing and food choices and hobbies (which is sad in a predictably feminist way) but the thing is, most of the boys? Most of the boys wrote that if they woke up in a girl's body, they'd KILL THEMSELVES. Because that's how much they would hate it. They could not imagine functioning in society as a female.

So at one point, yay even 11 year old guys have the ability to recognize that being a female in society can fucking SUCK and they could not handle it, but also...Arcee? Again. Arcee? Because that's basically what happened to Arcee. So it's no surprise she's mentally unstable and even JRo kept that part of her, trying to turn her into Prowl's very own Elektra Assassin or something.

Allright back to our transhuman murder boys.

*****

There's a few ways to go.

Would a heretic astartes decide they were just, for the lolz, gonna be the opposite sex? I mean yeah, and that's not only heresy, that would also be, ya know, a slap in the face to the trans community, because putting on gender as a kink could be fun (everyone should date a crossdresser at least once hashtag loredrop) but it's as bad as JRo saying that a character woke up one morning and 'decided' they were a girl. That's...that's really getting into some skeeeeetchy territory that totally denies the idea of interpellation. Is being trans a kink? Because that's one option: that heretic astartes would view trans as a kink and nothing else. Which sure would be offensive af, but they ARE heretic astartes so go for it I guess? I'd just be very cautious with the warning labels.

So option one: they Anode it up and just one day decide hey I'm a heretic what's the most offensive thing I can do, right! Treat transgenderism as a kink. Feels transphobic but ok.

Option two: could they be 'forced' into it, a la Arcee was, by the Chaos gods they serve? Chaos gods who tend to give 'gifts' that are actually terrible punishments? I mean to me, this one is more plausible and actually kind of interesting. A sort of hey you think you're a big bad cockswinging badass? You have a vageen now and an incredible need for doggy style sex. Or whatever. That sounds Chaos god. That sounds humiliation/degradation kink. Which GOD KNOWS I've written in my life so I'm not hating on the kink in the least (holy cow the things I did to Deadlock....)

Or secret third thing that I haven't thought of yet bc I never actually draft and consider the shit I post here but just WORDVOMIT. Put a pin in this. I'm good at finding ways to make shit happen if I give my subconscious enough time.

What WOULD be more fun, honestly, and if I were to write heretic astartes kink, would be to do what I did when I was writing all that Transformers porn: everyone's a hermaphrodite! The constant tension of negotiating the power dynamics of every sexual encounter could be really fun. OKAY maybe that's my current secret third thing. Gender then becomes this freefloating constant negotiation. HAWT. Absolutely genderqueering but strangely unproblematic.

The question is, WOULD heretic astartes even have a choice? Would they be given a choice? FR FR how much free will do Chaos gods generally grant? It doesn't sound like summer of love 'let's all get together, smoke some hash and explore our alternate sexualities in a supportive environment' type stuff to me, but what do I know?

****

Of course, one is ALWAYS free to write AUs where anything goes--Astartes as rescue kittens in a cat cafe, coffeeshop AU, AU where Nurgle is the boss of a health insurance company and the chaos knights are sent out to deny everyone's insurance claims, I mean, whatever. It's fandom. Write Ultramarines as all secretly having breast implants. WRITE WHAT YOU WANT, DO YO THANG.

I'm just over here being autistic and taking canon literally. Just because your 'thing' is not canon does not mean it is bad or wrong or shouldn't exist or whatever. In fact looking at canon writers (my beef against Furman rages to this day), there's a large chance that what you come up with is BETTER than canon.

And yes I am not encyclopedic and exhaustive bc I'm writing a tumblr post here and generalizing, and being overly general bc even so this is Too Fucking Long for anyone to read does not mean ignorance of, say, Fulgrim's existence or whatever. I'm doing basic contour mapping.

[recurring-polynya]

Okay, I am back, and by back, I mean 'ready to recap more of 2005 Bleach OAV The Sealed Sword Frenzy. (Part 1 is here)

When I left off, Renji was on the ground with a knife sticking out of him, and Ichigo was about to face down the baddie. His name is Baishin. I never gave you a picture of him, but here he is:

Kinda DILFy. Covered in knives.

Ichigo tries to fight him, and even though Number One is playing, it doesn't go too good. Baishin stops Zangetsu with one bare hand and then steps on Ichigo and grunts "I am a knife", which he also said earlier when he set all those shinigami on fire, so I think that might be important.

Here's another one for my collection of "Rukia and Renji try to attack someone in synch and get trashed for their trouble":

At first, I was wondering if Renji had Zabimaru again, but no, that's just the shotgun. Maybe Renji was gonna hit him with it? Maybe he forgot and thought it was Zabimaru for a second there, too? Maybe the shotgun is Zabimaru's gigai? This is going nowhere good. Let's move on.

[9:07] At this point, I don't know what I expected, but it was not Captain Hitsugaya to make a fucking sweet entrance, and yet that is exactly what happens.

Baishin dodges his first attack and decides to nope out through some sort of smoky portal, summoning a bunch of Hollows as he goes. Hitsugaya suggests they all get out of there, as well.

Hitsugaya somehow always shows up in these things and sighs deeply and gets his ass kicked a bunch, but I gotta admit, he comes of looking pretty cool in Sealed Sword Frenzy! Maybe it's because he left Matsumoto at home?

[10:37] What kind of Bleach ancillary media would this be if we didn't go the Urahara Shouten for some exposition?

Hitsugaya gives us this beautiful explanation over lovingly desaturated flashback-vision.

Who the hell are these randos???

Hitsugaya what

Okay okay, I joke, but this is Grade A, secret-act-that-was-never-recorded, Gotei-13 bullshit, which, as you all know, is my favorite thing in the entire world. We've got five captains here, none of whom we've ever seen before (although that one guy looks kinda like if Captain Amagai and Ashidou, Rukia's Forest-of-Menos hookup had a baby). Two of them died, plus a whole mess of vice-captains. They just sealed a dude in a mountain in the Living World and left him there. The head captain is nowhere to be seen. This is literally on the order of the Hollowification event, but everyone probably forgot it until ten minutes ago when Hitsugaya had to look it up on the Gotei-wiki. This is some lore. This is some stakes. This is the standard by which every filler arc and movie should be judged.

Anyway, the temple from the beginning was there to keep him sealed, which obvs didn't work. Now they are on a special mission to re-seal Baishin or kill him. At this point, Rukia notes, "That explains why even Hanatarou was called out," to which I say, no, Rukia, it does not.

[11:59] The other thing that's obligatory in Bleach ancillary media is Ichigo and Renji being gay for each other, so now it's time for that.

They start arguing as an excuse to put their faces really, really close together, but Hitsugaya yells at them before they can start making out. Spoilsport. He reminds them that the town is being attacked by Hollows as they speak (oh....yeah...) and then it's revealed that Ichigo doesn't actually know who Hitsugaya is.

This is so delightful to me because it's correct, actually? Ichigo probably saw Hitsugaya in passing once or twice at the end of the Soul Society arc and got told his name and promptly forgot it. He calls Hitsugaya "little one" and Rukia and Renji yell at him for it, but if I were Ichigo, I would be more like "hey, I think we need to have a talk about child labor practices in Soul Society." (To which Rukia and Renji would likely respond "a) he's older than us and b) we were child soldiers and turned out fine" and then if I were Ichigo I would never listen to them again)

[14:04] Apropos of nothing, a senkaimon opens, and these goons step out, one at a time, like they're doing a celebrity guest star reveal. They admit that they brought Zaraki, too, and have somehow already managed to lose him.

I hope they've already planned which two of them they're gonna sacrifice to put Baishin back in the mountain (Soi Fon and Hitsugaya, or possibly Zaraki is my guess). Why is Yoruichi even here??? She doesn't even work for the Gotei anymore!! Or is she a 1099 now, and gets paid triple the civil servant rate? That would honestly explain a lot, actually.

I am now halfway through this thing, but I am pretty sure I can get through the rest in one post (and then one more for the ED), so I'm gonna call it here.

Update: Here's Part 3

[kaiasky]

If you think basic feminism of “hey centering men as a distinct victim class of hegemonic power structures is bad actually” is “boys vs girls cootie wars” and “trans women’s oppression can be fixed by removing the stigma around their perceived masculinity” is real I think there is no saving you actually

I think maybe we are speaking towards the same goal in different ways. Like yeah, I'm wholly uninterested in "men are equal victims of patriarchy" shit. & certainly I'm not particularly interested in "ooh we have to make feminism appealing to men we have to encourage Positive Masculinity" stuff I just truly do not care. base and superstructure and all that, if you want to make change you focus on "do dv & homelessness shelters accept trans ppl" and "pass antidiscrimination and bodily autonomy laws" and "build up power and support in ur local area" etc. not "masculinity can b good".

& in that sense I think a correct queer politics is one that places very little political importance on correct identity or presentation. eg almost any sentence that must reference "femininity" or "masculinity" is extremely contingent and is better replaced w more universal values like "peoples presentations are their own" and "consent is important". (note that while these values are neutral, the actions one should take are not since the values conflict with inequalities in society.)

At the risk of sacrificing convincing power for clarity, I'm gonna diagram the argument as best i can and as fairly as I can (since it's hard to talk about while half of the text is sarcastic "not me thinking x")

A. Screenshot

Gender abolition (of some kind) is a goal of the queer community.

Masculinity as a form of expression can be just one form of being.

Within (some) queer communities masculinity is currently seen as something other than "one valid form of expression among others"

People coming to accept masculinity is necessary for achieving gender abolition.

B. Replies

Accepting masculinity is not the most important step for abolishing gender, contra A4

"Accepting masculinity" as queers means accepting patriarchal society, so A2 is impossible.

Gender abolition is a goal (A1) but it does not include accepting masculinity (A4) and involves moving beyond it

C: My reply

One example of A3 is that trans women often receive undue scrutiny to their "masculine" habits/hobbies/appearance.

B2 is false since obviously somebody having "masculine" performance is not in itself predatory.

B2 affirming that masculinity is inextricably patriarchal makes the expression of it essentially a "stain" on somebody's character--a person affirming B2 would be inconsistent if they didn't view butches, transmascs, gay men, etc with suspicion.

This conclusion (C3) means that B as a whole amounts to unproductive infighting.

D: Your ask

C4 misunderstands the context, because A amounts to the idea that men are a marginalized class

C1 amounts to arguing that transmisogyny is entirely due to perceived masculinity.

Things of note:

I don't know who the first screenshot is--I'm taking them at their word, but possibly they're a total shit head in which case I understand the difference in reactions. Notably, A4 just asserts that it's a necessary precondition while B1 calls it the most important one--either that is something A has said elsewhere, or its mistakenly introduced.

I guess I'm not much of a gender abolition believer so A1/A4/B1/B3 don't matter much for me. I think however that broadly I align more with B here in that I don't think gender abolition is something where you can point to specific social preconditions as much as to material conditions that lessen the importance of gender & the strictness of its policing over time.

I'll cop to "boys vs girls cootiewar" not being entirely clear, but D1 is clearly false bc it associates 1-to-1 men with masculinity and supposes that A considers masculinity oppressed globally, instead of rejected by people who might otherwise advocate gender abolition.

WRT D2--C1 gives a limited example and does not claim that this represents most or all of transphobia.

Anyways. hope that makes sense. And more importantly I hope the first paragraphs make sense and are something we share. Shouldn't have posted a snarky reply to a snarky thread--there was no way it would ever be received productively and so the only benefit gained is in being bitter online, a pleasure I probably shouldn't be indulging in. have a nice day anon, if you have concerns or think I misunderstood, feel free to dm me

[innocuousibis]

Blue Eye Samurai is trans, right?

I just finished season one and have some thoughts. I'm a fan of the author is dead and personal interpretations of media being valid, but if the coming arcs turn this into a queerbait situation I will be sad.

I read Mizu as a gay trans man who does not have the language or examples of transness present in his society to come to an understanding of who and what he is. Even for me as a trans person now it was really hard to come to full a understanding of myself and my desires with so few examples to identify with. I went for years living in an in-between state, verbally and internally denying my identity, and making failed attempts to assimilate into cis roles before I figured out what is really going on. I can't even image how much harder this would be for people living in the past.

Mizu's tendancy to want to confide his real sex to people he is close with feels to me exactly like what I have to go through when I am deciding to come out to people as trans. I live as a man now, and now people that I meet perceive and refer to me that way. But being trans is still a big part of my experience, and something that I often feel a desire to confide, while I also worry that it will change how I am perceived and treated. Mizu doesn't want to be treated as a woman, but he also doesn't want to deceive those he cares for. And he also wants to be with men and desirable to men, which creates another place of tension against his identity.

We see Mizu attempting to assimilate into the role of wife, and it is clear how uncomfortable in that role he is. The more his husband Mikio allows him to be himself and express his masculinity the more Mizu falls in love with him. He wants to be treated as a man and an equal in society, to be one of the guys and to spar on with Mikio on an even field. But when he finally fully shows Mikio his true self, the formidable swordsman he is, Mikio is repulsed and rejects him.

I think the most powerfully trans moment in the show was when Mizu was at the brothel and reacted to the sight of two men kissing. As a gay trans man he instinctively identifies with the two men.

It's possible that the next season will attempt to scrub Mizu's character of queerness and chalk all of his behavior up to pragmatism. We have this season, and it is trans as hell, but it would suck if the next season were to change Mizu to fit him into a cis narrative.

Perhaps Edo period Japan did not have any language to conceptualize what it might mean to be a trans person, but this is a modern piece of media, subject to modern analysis and interpretation. Considering how much blatant trans coding is built into Mizu's character, it bothers me that the creators refer to Mizu as 'she' while the character is almost never referred to that way in the show, and have nothing to say about the trans interpretation other than "oh that's cool, yeah you can call her 'they'."