#I’m also thinking of that one post that explains why it’s so gross when ppl like awakening anders but not da2 anders

[yourlocaldisneyvillain]

I know this is a really stupid question, but why is the Jan stevens kink (I don’t know what it’s called sry) kinda upsetting for some people? Like, toxic or whatever. I totally respect it, it’s just not clicking in my head if that makes sense? I’m just not totally clear on what’s wrong with it. I haven’t thought about it much though, so maybe that’s on me. I just thought maybe you could enlighten me, ‘cause now I’m curious. Thx 💟

hi!! ofc, happy to explain it!

the way i wrote it, it's really not extreme -- and that's the level of that kink (i generally referred to it as alvinolagnia -- a belly/midriff partialism -- will include some info at the end of this post) that i was personally comfortable with writing. there is nothing wrong with that kink per se -- however! if we are talking specifically about feederism there is a lot of..... let's say... disturbing stuff associated with it. in certain spaces (online and irl) a lot of feeders are men who enjoy forcing their female partners to eat absurd amounts of food and gain an absurd amount of weight -- so much so that they need to rely on their partner to do things for them. it also involves those men calling those women pretty nasty slurs, and a popular one is to call your partner a pig. a lot of fatphobia combined with misogyny in that community, but also glorification of obesity (we are talking about people who gain so much weight they can barely walk by themselves anymore). it's..... a lot.

HOWEVER. you could argue that most kinks have their extreme sides. in the bdsm community, for example, you could have a light dom/sub dynamic in the bedroom, or you could be someone's full time slave, have your partner control every aspect of your life, including your finances etc. so basically, another person practically owns you. that's also real icky haha. but then again, we all like to read a nice smutty fic with light dom/sub dynamics, right? and i think there's no harm in that.

what rubs people the wrong way about this kink is that it can get real disturbing and extreme real fast -- and a lot of people who are into it ARE on the extreme side. however, there are definitely people who just enjoy some harmless belly kink stuff, but i feel like they are not as loud as the disturbing part of that crowd haha, so people don't tend to pay attention to them. for them, belly kink + feederism is immediately something very extreme.

i think a lot of the ick people feel for that particular kink is because of deep fatphobia that runs in our society. people would literally rather drink piss than feel bloated for one (1) hour haha. bc when you look at it, how is that ickier than like... feet? or piss? or even breeding, which is a very popular kink online lol (also with that one you could find heaps of Problematique(TM) stuff, such as forced pregnancy stuff etc.). or like plain old choking. how is choking less disturbing that like... being bloated and getting off on it lol. so that's for sure something to think about.

so basically, the overall take would be -- every kink can range from fun, mild, and harmless to very disturbing/borderline abuse -- some kinks can skew into the icky territory much faster than others though, so that is also something to keep in mind.

so, there -- those were yourlocaldisneyvillain's hot takes for today. enjoy kink!week :))) see you tomorrow :*

(that being said -- ppl are allowed to dislike or be grossed out by any kink for any reason. there doesn't have to be anything deeper to it) some info about alvinolagnia/ belly stuffing/feederism that i already included in the jan fic is under the cut!

Alvinolagnia is another term for a belly fetish. Alvinolagnia is a partialism in which an individual is sexually attracted to the midriff or belly. The belly is widely considered as an erogenous region, meaning it holds multiple nerve endings that make it sensitive to various sensations. Therefore, having a belly fetish usually coincides with belly-related sexual acts including but not limited to touching/rubbing the belly region, using sex toys and other objects to stimulate the belly region, rubbing one's belly against a partner's belly, or licking or sucking the navel.

A kink that closely relates to the belly fetish is belly stuffing — which is when people get a psychological thrill and sexual pleasure from the idea of eating a lot — doing it themselves, or witnessing someone else do it.

Belly stuffing can be related to feederism. Feederism is a fat fetish subculture in which individuals eroticise weight gain and feeding. Feeders are individuals who are sexually aroused by feeding their partners and encouraging them to gain weight. Feederism encompasses people being turned on by feeding, belly stuffing, weight gain, fat, and often, dominance and submission.

[bliklotepblogs]

let's hear the boymom rant!

okay so i’ve tried to type this like four times and i keep getting worried i’m not explaining it right so here’s an article that explains it better than i could! if you don’t want to read the article, a #boymom is essentially someone who acts really weird towards their sons and promotes some really gross traditional and toxic masculinity.

so my own personal thoughts have a lot to do with my own experiences - i have a daughter who is three and i don’t know how i feel about sharing her full name on here but i’ll call her W for this story so i don’t have to type my daughter over and over again.

essentially there’s this mom at her preschool (who is 100% a #boymom) who likes to make jokes about W being her son’s girlfriend. i know this is a thing and people love to say that little kids are “dating” but i think it’s so weird and it makes me deeply uncomfortable. anyways, she always makes these comments and one day i was like “i don’t like to put those types of labels on my kid, they’re so little, they can only really be friends” and she proceeded to tell me that W and her son “flirt” all the time.

😳😳

i kinda laughed it off and was like “she can barely talk i don’t see how she can flirt with him” and this woman deadass is like “they hug all the time”???????????? SO WHAT????? THEYRE BABIES???? BABIES HUG????? also i seriously doubt that bc i have seen W hug this kid maybe once and she really doesn’t like to be touched so like SHE IS NOT HUGGING YOUR SON “all the time”.

anyways we had a whole conversation about it and i was very reasonable and was just like “well i’m not super comfortable with that, they’re little kids, i just think it’s kind of odd to imply that they’re flirting just because they’ve hugged.” and this woman rolled her eyes at me and was like “it’s just a joke” as if she didn’t just sit there and try to defend it for five minutes straight??? if it was just a joke you should’ve said that when i started getting uncomfortable?

anyways i facebook stalked her later that night and saw a lot of posts along the lines of “you have pink and bows, we have poop jokes and trucks” like ??????? you’re weird??? my daughter hasn’t let me put a bow on her since she was a baby and she also likes trucks??? her favorite color is blue? why are we pushing weird gender stereotypes onto kids???

anyways i just don’t vibe with that group of ppl!! and the #girlmom(s) are similar but i haven’t had nearly as many run ins with them so oh well

[doctormage]

jumping in on the anders apologism bc now i'm feeling strongly about it too, it's also just baffling to me how people can play da2 and villainize anders. bc youre right, the game spends a lot of time showing you chantry atrocities, plus one of the most interesting things about da2 to me is the prominent theme of how oppressors control the narrative, yet so many people miss it! the framing device for the entire story is varric telling the story of how a rebellion started to a chantry seeker, recounting chantry injustices but in a dark room away from the public, where it can be suppressed. that means something, but people still call anders a terrorist or murderer and i'm just like. well that's an interesting way to refer to slave revolts, lol. kind of the entire point was that the chantry lies to justify religious persecution and villainizes anyone who resists, but i guess you somehow missed that and are doing it for them...

“the prominent theme of how oppressors control the narrative” yes!!!! fuck!!!!

it’s especially funny to me given how they kinda beat us over the head w that in DAI (which obv came out after DA2 but like, we can use it as a lens to look at previous games bc it’s been out for 8 fucking years and we’re all somehow still arguing abt its predecessor lol). even the first two I can name just off the top of my head — the shit w the seekers wrt tranquility & the shit w inquisitor ameridan — are both instances of the chantry lying about their shittiness & those lies having serious long-standing implications for the entirety of thedas, but ESPECIALLY for marginalized groups (elves, mages, tranquil) (not to mention how trespasser explores similar ideas but i don’t want to derail)

also failing to acknowledge varric’s role as the storyteller AND the situation in which he’s being forced to tell the story, like you mentioned, is some big fat beef i have w DAI. how are yall gonna constantly bring attention to the fact that DA2 isn’t a direct narrative but instead a story being told while being interrogated by not just a seeker but THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FUCKING DIVINE, then want to demonize the revolutionary YOU created so bad that you backpedal enough to be like no varric was telling the 100% pure unbridled truth actually. he has a perfect photographic memory and remembers everything exactly as it happens, and then he wrote it down as such with zero exaggeration at all. despite him literally saying on multiple occasions that he loves to lie and sensationalize. not with this tho we trust him. HUH???

and don’t even get me STARTED on how they named the mage underground as such to draw parallels to the actual fucking Underground Railroad and were then brainless enough to be like “well that’s bad actually :/” lmao????? girl (gender neutral) WHAT??

but yeah at the end of the day youre absolutely correct, people will fall for this shit even at the hands of the fantasy catholic church and refuse to see otherwise. the games can straight up tell and SHOW us that the chantry & all the organizations that report to it (the templars, the seekers, the circles) are corrupt and LIE!! outright LIE and kill people to protect those lies, and still people will be like “okay well what about the rich people huh? what about all these made up scenarios i created to make myself feel better about hating when the oppressed stand up to their oppressors?? I’m enlightened for saying all violence is bad, even when it can put an end to more violence<3” lmfao not only are they doing the brainwashing themselves, like you said, but imo a lot of them are missing the point on purpose ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[m4nd0l0r]

Five Hargreeves Headcanons (That Have Consumed Every Single Space in my Mind-)

Description: “Live.. Laugh… Love the insanity the apocalypse brings me.” -Five Hargreeves, tired after a caffeine rush and/or from a drunken high. 2019. (this is canon.. HE TOLD ME HIMSELF)

Author’s Note: this is just how I’m dealing with writer’s block— i swear i’m still working on my upcoming Five fics- 😭😭 so uh have this for now i guess 🥲 no warnings btw!! its just me writing in lowercase a lot- a shit ton of crack and swearing- (five’s body is aged up- and his consciousness ranges from 30 to 50 in my works— however you decided which age you want for your experience :)))

Five Taglist (i forgot to tag im so sorry 😭): @ells-graveyard @noahspector @aelinismyqueen @sunweee @reinaeru @ne0boss @twauna00 @placidpluto @eichenhouseproperty @heartsforsuyin @ghostlywavelengths @technicallydifferenttraveler @seconds-not-decades @magical-girl-on-fire @emotionally-unstabel @peachy-wolfhard @its-loki-bitch @raven-fandomtrash @theilliterateskankula @magicstrange @ne0boss @venusrambles @whereintheworldisspencerreid @honeycombdumbass @mivzai @oscarisaacsleftballsack @zenithinthebin @peachteeaaa @rchaoz @wickedmystery @wordsandnerds @umbrellatte @666abby6666 @iameddiemunsonshair @starlightinhumanform @vennythearsonist @trashmouthsahra (if you want to be removed/added, pls tell me via pm!!)

he likes bitter coffee candy (if the mf cant get coffee he’d raid a candy shop rather than logically coming after a cafe-)

likes slasher films for how creative the deaths look (esp if its practical effects, he’s a sucker for those) (he likes nightmare on elm street, he gives me that impression for WHAT)

^ cos of this- i basically headcanon that in his commission days- he’d kill creatively- as if it were his canvas, my guy is an artist with blood 💪

idk why but he’d be an avid “gelato is NOT ice cream you idiot” typa guy (fucker knows italian and my ass RAN W IT)

he watches julia roberts romance movies (cos i like her rom films so im projecting-) (he def likes the maturity of the ending of my best friend’s wedding)

for some reason he considers mocha as chocolate rather than coffee (like the old man he is)

actually likes caramel, never tells anyone for no reason (fucking punk ass smh)

he’d say he hates animals but he’d give a pat to a dog/cat if he’d see one (but he’ll glare at the poor thing if it scratches him-)

from ptsd from the apocalypse- he tries to never indulge w small things like getting large amounts of food- cos he has the mindset that he “might need extra in case something bad happens”

he’d hate physical touch at first- flinching like a surprised cat on steroids— but he gets used to it slowly- and one person at a time

also i dont give a shit on what anyone thinks- FIVE IS A LITTLE SPOON IN HUGS— why you may ask? fucker is a touch starved ptsd filled mf- he needs those hugs ASAP- he would hold your hand 25/8 to reduce his paranoia i just know it (i PROPHESIZEEEE)

the first beer he drunk was a bottle he found in a post apocalypse alcohol store and the liquid was full w small grime and dirt- but he wanted to try some to “check off a bucket list”

LOVES dark comedies, he just does, he CACKLES when he watches one (but he only shows amusement when he’s alone, never w his siblings)

^ he’d also slap his thigh if he finds something soooo funny (old man behaviour smh)

has a personal vendetta against ppl who WOULDN’T put pineapple on pizza (klaus converted the grandpa and at first he felt gross eating it but as he continues he thought: “ok. this isn’t that bad.” the next thing you know, you see him on the phone calling the pizza place for 2 more boxes of hawaiian pizza—)

listens to edith pliaf RELIGIOUSLY (you would gift him a vinyl of hers and his eyes would SHINE) (the only time you saw his eyes the brightest-)

with modern music— he’d prolly like radio music (until you berate him and convert him to alt & indie rock)

has an odd fixation with guns and knives (like the papa he is) (would explain EVERYTHING ABOUT A SPECIFIC WEAPON) (he’s a nerd) (he’ll never admit it) (ever)

has a switchblade on his dominant arm pocket (he could use anything as a weapon, but he likes to be “prepared”)

like on s1, he’d pretend to be a kid and all innocent & shit to get free shit from strangers (you’d hop on the bandwagon and **nicely** ask him to get you stuff too.. he complains and says no but you’d see him on the next day with the shit you requested on his hands)

^ continuation with this— fucker prolly got a coffee machine cos he went up to some lady- went on, put a sad act, and went “oh no.. i dont got a gift to give to my dad.. he always wanted a coffee machine after ours broke” and the lady would have pitied his ass and bought a cheap but durable one for him— this would lead to a situation where the rest of the umbrellas try to take away the coffee machine away from his addicted ass-

viktor: should we?? do something??? diego: we’ve took THREE of those damn machines- what else can we do??? klaus: it’s like… he pulls it out of his ass.. you think he shits out coffee beans?? or is it just liquidated coffee at this point? you: i should call the ambulance before he falls off the window from the coffee… can’t deal with a cranky five.. luther: (is tired of it all and just wants to enjoy his married life) .. yes. please do.

in conclusion? never take away five’s coffee- he will drive you mad—

whenever he’s drunk- he acts like a goddamn sloth (esp if he’s comfortable with you- mf will CLING ON YOU LIKE SOME PARASITE—) (i wouldn’t mind tho 😏- i mean what?)

though as much as he likes bitter coffee- i see him DESPISE BITTER BEER, he would spit that stuff out of with the most offended face ever (all scrunched up like crumpled paper)

for my fellow filipino readers- he unfortunately SUCKS ASSSS when speaking in tagalog… you either tease the living fuck out of him about him or smile through your ear pain going “wow! galing! (amazing!)” (no he was not amazing he sounded like a screeching tire or smth- /lh)

[relaxxattack]

hi im asking u this bc u seem to be bee duo enthusiast so

ive been calling c! beeduos relationship platonic because i thought that was what their cc’s said, and i thought they had said that they were uncomfortable with ppl shipping the characters. But ive seen a lot of posts that say their relationship is canonically romantic? and i absolutely do not want to come across as homophobic by watering down a mlm relationship to just friends because that happens so much in media so.

what is the canon state of their relationship / ur opinions on the platonic thibg

dont worry abt answering if u dont want to!! i see a lot of differing opinions and i trust yours :)

aw it’s totally fine, im flattered you asked me about this!

let me put it simply: it’s a whole mess, lol.

first im going to talk about what’s happened fandom-wide that caused differing opinions, and then i’ll explain my own opinion/interpretation. :]

(this got really fucking long im so sorry)

ranboo and tubbo initially proclaimed the relationship was romantic, specifically in argument with the wiki editors who had set it as platonic by default. (you can see this in the vod where they decide they’re canonically married— it’s very funny. chat tells them the marriage is already on the wiki, they check, tubbo is jokingly offended that it says platonic and asks if he needs to up the romance).

tubbo also makes jokes about adultry, which sort of implies the relationship is not necessarily a platonic one.

(theres definetly more in that stream alone but it’s been a long time since i watched it so i don’t remember a lot of it.)

the wiki, because of this, suffers from going back and forth on platonic and romantic, seemingly unsure where the joke ends and the canon begins, or if its canonically a joke! a mess, as you can already tell.

this gets more complicated as the marriage bit goes on: outsiders, such as phil and scott, both at one point say “platonic marriage”, which then ranboo and tubbo agree with. however, when chat asks them if they’re platonic, they say the opposite. so there is a lot of confusion there.

there’s also the difficulty of being able to tell streamers and characters apart. ranboo and tubbo both don’t like being shipped irl, and that’s their boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed. (they’re also minors, but tbh when they’re 18 in a year i will still be following their boundaries regardless of their legal age).

due to people not wanting to be accused of minor shipping, they started adding the platonic tone indicator to most of their drawings— basically a way of saying “no homo”. meanwhile, tubbo frequently on stream flirts with ranboo and makes quite a bit of nsfw comments towards him that are frankly hilarious.

this goes on for a while with nobody really sure what’s canon, but a lot of people assuming it’s probably platonic, until: the drama of the mods night. a few mods dmed all the wiki editors telling them ranboo wanted his canon character relationship officially set to platonic.

unfortunately for those mods; the very same day, a few hours later, ranboo on stream makes fun of puffy delivering him and tubbo “friendship flowers”. because, and i quote, “bruh. we’re literally married. this must be how the ancient greeks felt.”

in case you don’t know, the internet often jokes about how historians will call ancient greeks ‘very good friends’ when they are quite obviously gay. so in this context, ranboo is joking that people will call him and c!tubbo, who are married, “close friends”, when he doesn’t think they are.

basically, ranboo canonized romantic bee duo, the very same day the mods told everyone he’d wanted a platonic one.

chaos and drama immediately erupted everywhere. on tumblr, we were talking about how weird it was of his mods to do something like that without asking him first. we ALSO talked about how weird it was of them to assume that ranboo can’t make his own decisions, or assume teenagers cannot be in relationships without it being sexual. twitter did the same thing but in the opposite direction: called ranboo mods homophobic, or said they were mad ranboo felt pressured into making a romantic relationship canon ‘just so people could have mlm rep.’

i dont want to go into detail about the drama that happened that night because apparently official people follow me and i dont want to stir it up or have them come “clarify” things. im just saying what we talked about.

ranboo in typical ranboo fashion apologized quickly and seriously. he was deeply sorry for possibly offending anyone with how he’d portrayed his rp relationship with tubbo, and he also assured everyone the mod thing was just a miscommunication.

he said he would talk to tubbo and they’d decide once and for all whether it was platonic or romantic, and then announce so everyone would know.

it’s now been a few months and we've had no word from them on that development. we still have no clue.

-

now, here’s my opinion:

i want to take ranboos word for it that it was a miscommunication with his mods, but... we had it on good authority from people on the wiki team and people in the discord with the mods that (while it was happening) they were really going after the wiki admins, and also made some weird comments about it. that combined with the way ranboo seemingly had no clue (considering he canonized their romance that very same day).... it’s very. sus of the mods.

then there’s the canon we’ve got since then. although occasionally adults in the room have called it a “platonic marriage” and tubbo once (back when it first started) called it a “plankton tectonic” marriage, in roleplay it’s been... kind of not that. tubbo and ranboo make nsfw jokes about each other in character, and their characters also share a master bedroom and bed in the mansion. there's also the way c!tommy really thinks it’s a romance between them as well, and they agree with and play off that— for instance confirming that they “fell in love” when he asked, or ranboo confirming that they “make out on occasion”.

people will still put platonic on their art and posts, imo, because they’re worried about breaking ranboo and tubbo’s irl boundaries by looking like they ship them. or even just being accused of shipping real life minors. and that’s a valid fear to have.

the thing is though: c!bee duo are not cc!bee duo. they’re roleplay characters. cc!bee duo are not okay with being shipped, but they made their characters get canonically married, and call each other “husbands”. so it’s okay to write the word “husband” in your comic without adding “platonic” to it, i promise.

telling the ccs that their characters have to be platonic is... weird. it comes off as not only babying them, but also as saying teens can’t date without it being gross. which isn’t true.

(this is why seeing people overuse “platonic husband” so much bothers me. like, they ARE husbands. you can just say it. what are you trying to hide...?)

-

do i think they’re canonically romantic? ehh, its likely. it’s still okay to interpret them as platonic, because again, it’s hard to tell where jokes end and roleplay begins. like, maybe it’s jokes in the rp too, and c!bee duo are just friends. friends can and should be allowed to make jokes like that with each other! aro & ace marriages exist!

or, maybe it’s actually part of the rp, and they’re very much romantic. we don’t know!

some people say they could be a qpr (queerplatonic romance), which i could see. (a qpr is a relationship that fluctuates between, or can’t quite be sorted into, “romantic” and “platonic”. people in a qpr can do romantic things while having platonic feelings for each other). in my opinion this is a very valid interpretation as well!

-

CONCLUSION (sorry this got so long omfg):

are c!bee duo romantic?

its likely, but you can still interpret them however you like!

should i put /p on bee duo content?

ehhh? i find it annoying when it’s overused (as do others), but if you’re worried you can. its up to preference. putting it too much is weird though

should i put /p on things cc! bee duo do?

no. you’re not the one saying it so you can’t decide the tone tags for that. imagine you said something to your friend and a random stranger came up and was like “haha but that was /p right...?”

can i ship c!bee duo?

mmm. i’m not sure on this one. they are canonically married and very flirtatious, but the ccs don’t like being shipped and they’re close enough to being the ccs that actively shipping might be against boundaries.

can i treat c!bee duo as romantic?

yes. literally just don’t be weird about it. it’s not that hard! you can understand that two characters are husbands without making it weird

here’s the most important thing: boundaries. cc bee duo still haven’t told us what their preferences and canon is about this whole thing.

right now, i am assuming based on what they already show us they’re comfortable with, but! the second they give us any more info! all these opinions will change!

i am only going off what they do. i would never want to cross boundaries at all. i just wish they would make theirs a little more clear.

..... i hope that helped anon, i went way off the rails... i need to go to sleep.

[recycledbeercans]

Good god I can’t do this. I gotta break my personal rule to not make txt posts on the internet because I GOTTA say something or I’m going to burst.

I cannot, cannot, for the life of me understand Freela as a ship.

I think most ppl are more willing to give it a pass or just shrug and say it’s cute because no one dislikes Fry or Leela as characters, and hell, I don’t even dislike Leela (she’s awesome, I love her, 11/10) but I cannot wrap my head around WHY this ship is canon when it’s written so fucking badly. I’m not even against het ships bc I have plenty I absolutely love, but this one just hits a nerve in me and it grates me even more every time I rewatch Futurama. The older I get, I’ve gone from initially finding it cute to just, loathing it.

Hhrgh ok before people point pitchforks at me, lemme try to explain… my thoughts are kinda all over the place but my biggest gripe with Freela is that it is so ONE-SIDED and FORCED. Leela NEVER shows interest in Fry unless her other options (literally anyone else) don’t work out. She views Fry as childish, immature, and bosses him around much to Fry’s dislike. Most of the time (if not exclusively) whenever she shows any appreciation for Fry, it’s over what he does for her, but she never shows interest in doing anything back for him. You never see her make any grand gestures of love or affection towards Fry.

And ok, yeah, when Fry is saving her life by giving her his oxygen, or jumping in front of a killer bee to try to protect her, it’s easy to go “aww” and want them to end up together. But, at least for me, I realized most of that was directed at how I found it sweet that Fry cares about Leela, not that the two of them are a good couple. Fry loves Leela enough to give his life for her and try to protect her, (but he also feels similarly about Bender, in godfellas really the only reason he even eventually gave up in looking for Bender was because Leela convinced him it was time to move on), but it’s, genuinely something that makes me sad because when does Leela ever return that energy? She doesn’t. Fry pines over her for YEARS in the show timeline and she just constantly turns him down and rejects him, and shows blatant disinterest, until she almost seems worn down because none of her other options are working out.

And maybe you want them to end up together, because you want Fry to be happy, but it sticks out so sorely that Fry isn’t the kind of person Leela wants. Without even getting into how uncomfortable the writing is with Fry constantly pestering and pushing himself onto her and whining that she won’t date him when she explicitly tells him no over and over (the way Futurama treats consent wigs me out but that’s a whole different topic), whenever Leela does show interest in Fry, it’s NEVER because Fry is someone she would pursue or even sees potential in.

This is constantly reinforced throughout the show, such as in the episode where the parasites allow Fry to express his feelings for Leela in a romantic way, the climax/takeaway is that Leela is won over by Fry’s romantic gestures that fit what she wants, but has no interest in him as a person or his gestures when it comes from himself, and even feels grossed out by him at the end.

In The Devil’s hands are idle playthings, ok, yeah, Leela let’s Fry finish his song at the end, and you can say it’s sweet that she listens, but if anything it just feels sad because Fry is trying to express his love for her, and because it’s not ~good~, she’s not even watching with the intent to date him or return the feelings, she just lets him pour his heart out to her I guess, just because, to be nice? is it pity?

Everything about it makes me sad at how empty it all feels! You see a character like Fry be so affectionate and loving, and Leela on the other hand is clearly more independent and goal oriented so she’s not really the kind of person Fry would really get to have his energy matched with.

Not to mention in The Sting, throughout Leela’s whole fever dream after being poisoned, she never expresses missing or wanting to be with Fry because she loves him, she just constantly states that she feels responsible and guilty for his death, but her subconscious has Bender state that Fry is the one person he always excluded from “kill all humans”.

Even in Bender’s Big Score, Leela isn’t interested in Lars (older Fry) because he is like Fry. Lars is a completely different personality, much more mellowed out, completely lacking in basically every characteristic that makes Fry, well, Fry (can you even consider Lars to be Fry when he doesn’t even express anything towards his first friend he made in the future, Bender? lol). I think the point the writers were trying to get at is that Fry still had some growing or maturing to do, but honestly, it’s presented in the worst way possible. Fry is, what?, in his late 20s/early 30s in the show timeline by this point, is he really supposed to wait until he’s like 40 so he’s finally “good enough” for Leela? Is he supposed to become a completely different person so she’ll finally see him as dating material? Like, everything about this is basically just saying that Fry can have Leela, but only if he stops being Fry. Meanwhile, in this same movie, Bender cries for a thousand years because he was forced to kill Fry, and immediately runs and jumps into his arms as soon as he sees Fry is ok. Then to make it even worse, after Leela realizes Lars WAS Fry, she still didn’t decide to try a relationship with Fry, making it apparent she does not see Fry as Lars. They may as well just be different people. Plus, Lars was just, being romantic and suave and wooing her, and once again there wasn’t really anything she was doing to pursue him...

The whole series focuses on Fry having to change himself to be what Leela wants in a romantic partner, never Leela actually liking Fry for being himself. She can’t stand most of his habits, and it throws me even more for a loop that the focus is on Fry having to figure out the right way to win her over, as if if you perform a certain amount of steps properly, you can get someone to like you. It’s just, bad.

Like why is their relationship written SO BAD?! It’s so so so bad.

You can’t tell me that Fry and Leela are supposed to end up together when their romantic chemistry is in the negative, Fry has to both push himself onto Leela, make constant one-sided grand gestures to win her over, give his life for her multiple times, and change his entire personality to be appealing to her over YEARS, and she has to fail with everyone else to finally consider him.

MEANWHILE, Bender, fucking Bender, is so happy to be Fry’s roommate, considers Fry the most important person in his life, is always hugging him, throwing himself at Fry, shows open affection, cries over him, becomes sober when Fry doesn’t give him attention. Even Bender’s negative traits, like his possessiveness, jealousy, are directed at Fry in such an intense manner, that regardless of whether or not it’s healthy, it’s just, precious? sweet? The lengths he’ll go to for Fry’s attention and approval. The entire ending of Beast with a billion backs is Bender being unable to handle not being with Fry and so getting him back, and Yivo feeling cheated on because Fry sent a letter to Bender, meanwhile Leela wanted nothing to do with Fry and even said she needed space from him. Bender loves Fry just the way he is. Fry doesn’t have to change himself to be with Bender, they already live together, they have the same interests (I don’t even think Fry and Leela share interests), they love to goof off and laugh together, Fry is just, himself around Bender. He’s happy around Bender. All these things that make me throw up my hands and ask why Fry and Leela weren’t written this way if they were supposed to get together.

In the episode where Fry is a mutant, Leela wouldn’t even touch him, while Bender just threw himself into Fry’s arms.

And like, here’s the thing, Leela and Fry as characters don’t even have a bad dynamic on paper. Like, I get it! The tough girlboss type character and her dorky idiot bf IS a cute dynamic, but the writers just, wrote them so badly? Like, even if you try to argue it’s to follow the trope of “will-they-won’t-they”, you could easily do that without Leela showing negative interest in Fry? Without Fry having to force himself on her? It could have just been that she DOES want to date him but has hang ups about relationships, or that Fry is too scared to confess to her, if they could have just have, a natural progression of growing closer without all the forced shit inbetween of Fry begging her to date him and Leela saying no and showing her blatant disinterest a million times.

I know some people like to poly ship Fry, Leela, and Bender also but even as someone who is 100% on board w/ poly ships, I can’t see that here either because neither Bender or Fry really are what, Leela wants.

But don’t get me wrong, Fry, Bender and Leela have a great dynamic, those three interacting is WHY I watch the show, but Leela very much exudes mom-friend energy, like she has to chaperone these two dorks and so it’s not really about her getting her needs met...

So uh yeah, i think there’s more I want to say, I could pick out so many specific examples but I’ll stop this here because it’s getting long, maybe i’ll write an essay. But,,

Freela sucks.

Actually the ship just pisses me off I’m not even going to give it the “well they are cute” treatment. I want to see Fry have his clingy, affectionate energy matched because it just makes me sad to think about the fact that he wouldn’t get that from Leela, but Bender would absolutely baby and smother him in affection and return his energy 110%, as he should. Bender loves Fry exactly as the idiot manchild he is.

Those two should have ended up together, or at the very least Freela shouldn’t have been canon. But whatever, I know ppl will say it’s a product of its time, but good god it still pisses me off how mediocre the writing is.

I’m FUCKING FERAL I’M FOAMING AT THE MOUTH OVER THIS.

[jonathanbiers]

Listen I don’t care for hellcheer particularly, but I’m rooting for them for your spite! I hate when people forget that filtering tags exists and then make it out to be someone’s fault for running their blog how they see fit. Especially since the ships you post aren’t like morally reprehensible in any way. Anyway as a ride or die steddie who respects those who are mutli shippers I’m sorry you’re getting so much hate.

i feel like saying i'm getting hate is a stretch. i never said that gjfdgk it just really fucking gets me when someone sees a ship (ESPECIALLY when it's a rare pair like edancy) that isn't hurting anyone and, like you said, isn't morally reprehensible in any way, and instead of just going, "oh, that's not for me, lemme ignore that real quick," they go out of their way to reblog or interact with a fanart or gifset someone spent hours making just to be like "???? i don't like this ship romantically." because guess what, no one asked and that creator sure as hell doesn't care if you like it, they made it because THEY like it. i saw this happen more than once in my notes today while i was at work and it irked ME and i wasn't even the original creator. it was just people who happen to follow me (it wasn't any of my mutuals but honestly i'm so picky about who i follow i don't think any of my mutuals would ever say something like that. i love y'all)

it's not like we're out here condoning abuse (cough h*rringroves) or ignoring characters canon sexualities. (cough ppl who ship romantic stobin) and it's also not a problem for people to hc eddie as exclusively gay. but it's really fucking weird when people act like even the thought of shipping him with a girl character is gross (and no, i'm not making this up, i've seen with my own eyes people saying shit like: "it feels gross to ship eddie with a woman") i'd actually really love it if they could explain to me why it's gross without it being misogynistic. and i know it's not just 'cause they don't like to see steve and eddie shipped with anyone but each other (also something i'm not making up; i've seen ppl say this shit too) because then they'd have that same energy with stonathan or other mlm ships involving the two. you know how up stargyle's ass i've been lately and i haven't seen a SINGLE person opposed. some "huh never thought of that" but no one explicitly saying "no i don't like that, platonic only." it's just when there's a woman involved. no one unfollows me for posting about stargyle every damn day, yet EVERY time i reblog hellcheer at least 2 people unfollow me. half the time someone unfollows me when i reblog edancy. (getting unfollowed is not something i'm upset by, i don't give a shit about numbers. it's the double standard there)

[rainbowsky]

More on the Fan Fic issue

I have a few more asks about the issue raised the other day, some of which are long and go into detail on the 'wars' that have been happening on Twitter and AO3.

Sorry for grouping these but I wanted to put it all under a cut because these are long, and also in case people don't want to dig into these issues (which would be understandable).

Anonymous 1 asked:

"I am very strongly of the opinion that the BJYX term is still a fandom umbrella term" I agree. Mainly because Bjyx is the most popular. Many antis always say bjyx, and have no idea the others. So sometimes it's easier just to say bjyx instead of explaining all three. I myself more like "who cares as long as they happy." So I enjoy Yizhan in all contexts. Many bxgs I know also like that, mostly ibxgs. I think deep down all bxgs (no matter which position they prefer) just want Yizhan to be happy

Not sure we can be so certain about that last part, Anon (I think for a lot of people GG and DD are just characters in a smutty story they have in their heads), but I agree about the term being popular regardless of the type of fans people are.

From what I can see the BJYX term seems to be used 80-90% umbrella, 10-20% dynamic in both international and c-social media (for every 10 times you see the term used, only one or two of those usages - probably less - are referring to a dynamic). This is my totally unscientific estimation, but I think even 10-20% dynamic is being generous. The number of people who are fixated on a sexual dynamic aren't nearly as large as they'd like to believe.

Anonymous 2 asked:

about the promptfests - i’ve been on twitter since early 2020 and what i’ve noticed is that this influx bjyx-only promptfests started gaining speed once lots of rational voices started leaving the fandom recently either because a) new interests have caught their attention or b) the toxicity of the popular bxg circles on twitter have become too much to handle.

gdgdbaby was usually the organizer of dynamic-inclusive events, and she’s received lots, and lots, and lots of backlash by bxg, sometimes even by accounts with thousands followers, for using bjyx as a catch-all term. and as her interest in yizhan has since waned—hopefully for reasons unrelated to fandom toxicity—many of the people who were attracted to the welcoming environment she created distanced themselves as well.

zsww/lsfy fans have become an outnumbered circle who try their best to create exclusive events to avoid the “is bjyx a catch-all term” discourse, but never seem to gain as much traction as gdgdbaby (who has a sizeable following) or those who host bjyx-only events (who also have sizeable followings).

meanwhile the dynamic war has only become more and more hostile and bjyx is clearly the more populated group… ao3 is simply a battlegrounds, if i may dramatize the situation a little for the sake of humor, and the promptfests are a reaction to this irritating t/b discourse that has made bxg twitter completely inhospitable for me…and lots of other fans too.

(i’ve also noticed a huge reinforcement as of recently where ppl will call gg laopo, a milf, an omega, etc even outside of rpf (i.e. posting pictures of him at events and saying he looks pregnant or he’s going into heat) and it’s just… uncomfortable.)

(also please note i have a biased account of all of this drama bc many of my friends were harassed over it, and anyone who disagrees with my take may feel free to interject.)

I took the liberty of adding paragraph breaks because they are pretty important for some readers, particularly ND readers like me.

It's sad to hear how fucked up everything has become, but I'm not even remotely surprised. Toxicity leads to toxicity, and the whole idea of dividing up a RP fandom by sex position was misguided from the outset - no matter why it was done or how good the intentions might have been.

And yes, like I said, these people aren't just framing things this way for fan fic. This is how they talk about IRL GGDD.

I had written a lengthy essay here about homophobia in the fandom but deleted it all. Perhaps I'll post it separately at some later point. Suffice it to say that this stuff creates a climate that's often hostile for queer people. So much of it is deeply homophobic, whether people are aware of it or not.

It's really sad to hear about gdgdbaby being mistreated in any way. Anyone who steps up and sticks their neck out to help organize and coordinate activities that benefit a broader group of people should be celebrated and supported, not run out of town by an angry mob.

I've read some of her stories and even have one or two on my rec list. And here's someone who is not only writing good works, but also supporting others to write more good works. Such a shame.

Anonymous 3 asked:

Hello Mr. RBS! I think I can chime in a bit about the fanfic topic as I’ve watched this all unravel on twitter (where a majority of authors/readers are). I apologize if this gets long but it’s been something that’s also been on my mind.

I want to preface this by saying that I’m not a fan of the distinctions of dynamics as, like you said, the supposed line between real life and fanfic is long gone, so I’m not trying to be biased against one group over another.

Short answer to the question of, “is this retaliation?” : I do believe it is. (From here onwards I’ll be using bjyx as the dynamic term just for the ease of simplicity.) To understand why, I’ll have to explain with a bit of background info. On twitter, I’d say that there’s a quite large divide between bjyx and zsww/lsfy. That itself isn’t really a problem because people are free to like what they like and associate with whoever.

However there is a big problem where bjyx people are not just bjyx but also anti-zsww/lsfy. To the point where I’ve seen people say that they feel physically ill when they accidentally read zsww. I don’t think this type of behavior should exist in any dynamic bc in the end GGDD are real people with a real relationship behind this content and it’s just a gross fetishization at that point.

With all this happening, zsww/lsfy people have gotten more outspoken on how GG is often portrayed in those types of scenarios, mainly the over-feminization of him, bc it’s not just done in the context of fanfic but regular discussion of GGDD at this point. This tension between the dynamics kind of boiled over when the pregnant xz fest was announced, as you can take a guess at how that went over with zsww/lsfy people. lol.

But around that same time, another zsww/lsfy event was announced (I’m not sure if it’s the one anon was talking about) but the creator of the event suddenly got a ton of backlash for excluding bjyx, with the reasoning that bjyx is technically a part of lsfy. But the event was done to highlight zsww/lsfy (as all specific events are) bc the community and content for these dynamics are much less than bjyx.

Which is how we come back to the starting point of, is all this recent bjyx stuff retaliatory. I believe so bc the events (preg fest, dark event) are very specific prompts that target exactly what zsww/lsfy people have been outspoken against.

As to the point anon made about trying to drown out the tags, keep in mind that zsww/lsfy content is very minimal compared to bjyx and has only just recently started to gain more traction. I think most people would love to just peacefully exist in their own circles but I don’t see this problem between dynamics disappearing anytime soon.

Like I said with the above Anon, I've added paragraph breaks for ND readers.

What a mess.

I have absolutely nothing useful to say here about the fandom on AO3 and how it's managed by community members, but I do think it's unfortunate that people choose to be war-like rather than make space for diverse voices, and I think it's a real shame that some people have been essentially run out of the fandom because of this garbage.

Thanks for giving some context for how/why the major shift in tone of fan fic lately. I had no idea any of this was going on.

I urge people to work hard to give space for all voices and perspectives, and not just the ones they favor. I'd also urge people to reflect on how their thoughts, behavior and actions in the fandom might affect queer people in the fandom.

As always, we have no control over what other people do, say or think. All we have any control over is how we respond to what other people do, say or think. Hopefully we'll chose the path of peace and try to avoid fan wars or fights that only ruin the experience for everyone.

I guess one thing I'd ask any of the Anons who have written me about this issue - or anyone who has thoughts about it - is, what can we as readers/fans who care about diversity of voices and perspectives do to support that here and on AO3, without getting involved in any kind of war?

[ocdhuacheng]

@dumbweebracoon hiii not bothering, I talk shit about starember a lot but I’m not sure if Ive ever made a coherent post listing all the reasons why so here we go:

(Also I hope it’s okay that I made a separate post about this rather than just replying on the other one, because I’m petty and I want it in the tag)

draws incest: if you do a google search of starember lotr art you will find a whole bunch of sexual (either suggestively or explicit) art of thranduil and legolas, who, idk if uve ever read or watched it, are in fact father and son

Draws pedophilia/shotacon: in a lot of these pieces Legolas is portrayed to be visibly underage

Used naziism for the aesthetic???? : There was at least one of these where the characters were being all “”””sexy”””” in SS uniforms and with the nazi flag/imagery which is. Barf. This is a bit harder to find because I think they deleted it but there was a post out there with more information but I can’t find it anymore sorry. If anyone knows where the evidence for this is feel free to link it, but i hope you’ll trust me when i say I’ve seen it so like it iiiis real and I’m not making it up 😅

Racism/colorism: the way the banyue people are drawn, especially in comparison to banyue herself is really bad. Theyre pretty much arab stereotypes, while banyue, who is supposed to be of the same race as ke mo & co. (At least from one parent, forget which one) is super pale and dainty. Saying ie. Dark skin = barbarism, being wrong, etc, and light skin = being good, etc. Considering ke mo and squad are the only dark skinned characters in the entire manhua entirely (iirc) is also. Not a good look. It seems they’re allergic to drawing darker skin unless it’s on antagonists. I’ve seen a lot of asian/middle eastern ppl explain this better than I can but yeah that’s the gist

Similarly, exotification of the Middle East: remember that one awful hualian art where xl is in really revealing, “””sexy””” (putting this in quotes because it’s not actually sexy it’s just really uncomfortable) “””middle eastern harem””” clothing and is sitting in hc’s lap like he’s about to get fucked and it’s all very embarrassing and gross. Like starember Idk why it’s so hard for you to not draw other cultures in a superficial objectified way but like go off queen I guess

Fujoshi crimes lol: yea u mentioned drawing hua cheng super buff but like imo this isn’t just a personal taste issue it’s just she draws him so ridiculously masculine (San lang is better I think iirc, but hua cheng....... that is not hua cheng. That is refrigerator kylo ren) and xie lian so dainty and feminine it’s so obvious that they only see them as ~seme and uke~. Their visual designs, and also the way I think they ignore their canon personalities just to make xie lian all blushy and vacant (especially in their separate fanarts) and shit and hua cheng all 😏😏😏😏😏shows they do not give a shit about gay men at all beyond how well they can get off to them.

Personal taste but also not really: Also the ugly ass redraws are increasing this fetishy kind of thing too. Why does everyone always look like 👁👄👁when they draw them????? Why change their eye color and face shape to be more “white” for a lack of a better term. It’s so uncomfy. Their original style from the earlier chapters was fine, and actually even enjoyable in places so idk why they’re changing it. Also they’re just incapable of putting any emotion into their art like yeah it’s like. Pretty or whatever but everyone is so 😐 it’s just boring. ALSO SAME FACE SYNDROME. LMAOOOOO. The other complaints I have about their art are pretty much all just objectively personal taste so I won’t go into it but yeah. Their art is so overrated.

Their stans: okay I’ll admit that this isn’t really starembers fault but I have to put it in here because the way a lot of you people talk about them is super embarrassing. Like. Kind of cult like. And if anyone has criticisms of them, you harass the shit out of them. Like chill, unclench, they’re not a god (people have unironically said they are) and it’s not a war crime for people to not like them or their work. Also always going to the “people hate starember because they’re jealous of their talent” comeback is so tired like no I hate them because they’re a shitty overrated person, or even just because I don’t like their art style, definitely not because I want to draw like them. People have valid reasons for not liking starember and Idk why that’s so hard for their stans to accept, and they act as if not liking starember is some moral failing it’s ridiculous. Cult, I swear to god.

Not really explained well But yeah. If I’m forgetting anything feel free to add on lol

[adorpheus]

on fujoshi and fetishization

Lately, more and more, both here on tumblr and on other sites, I keep seeing people spew unfiltered hatred at fujoshi - that is, women who like mlm content such as gay fanfic and fanart featuring men with other men. And I don’t mean like a specific type of fujoshi, like the ones who are genuinely being weird about it, but just like a general hatred for girls (but especially straight identifying girls) who express love for gay romance.

I hate to break this to you all, but women (including straight women!) actually are allowed to like mlm fanfiction and fanart, even enthusiastically so. A woman simply expressing her love of gay fanfic, even if it is in kind of a cringey way or a way that you personally don’t like, is NOT automatically fetishization.

I’ve been on the receiving end of fetishization for my entire life, from a very young age, as many black and brown folx have, so I consider myself pretty well acquainted with how it works. Fetishization isn’t just like, being really into drawings of boys kissing, or whatever the fuck y’all are trying to imply on this god forsaken site. 

Fetishization is complicated imo, and can encompass a lot of things, such as (but not limited to):

1 - dehumanization, e.g. viewing a group of people as sexual objects who exist purely for entertainment purposes, rather than acknowledging them as actual people who deserve respect and rights

and

2 - projecting certain assumptions onto said people based on their race/sexuality/whatever is being fetishized. These assumptions are often, but not always, sexual in nature (like the idea that black people in general are more sexual than other races, etc etc etc).

I’m going to use myself as an example to illustrate my point. Please note this isn’t the best or most nuanced example, but it is the most simplistic. A white person finding me attractive and respectfully appreciating my black features as part of what makes me beautiful is not, on its own, fetishization. A white person finding me attractive solely or mostly because I’m a PoC is now in fetishization territory. Similarly, assuming I’m dominant because of my blackness (like saying “step on me mommy” and shit like that) is hella fetishistic. 

That being said, theres definitely a difference between how fetishization works in real life with real people, and how it shows up in fandom. 

Fetishization manifests in many different ways in fandom, but most commonly on the mlm side of things, I personally see it appear as conservative (or centrist) women who love the idea of two men together, but don’t actually like gay people, and don’t necessarily think LGBT+ people deserve rights (or “special treatment” as its sometimes dog whistled). These women view queer men as sexual objects for entertainment rather than an actual group of people who deserve to be protected from systemic oppression. I’ve noticed that they often don’t even think of the men they “ship” together as actually being gay, and may even express disgust at the idea of a character in an mlm ship being headcanon’d gay. In case its not obvious, this is pretty much exactly the same way a lot of cishet men fetishize lesbians (they see “lesbian” as a porn category, rather than like, what actual LGBT people think of when we read the word lesbian). There’s a pretty popular viral tweet thread going around where someone explains seeing this trend of conservative women who like mlm stuff, and I have also personally witnessed this phenomenon myself in more than one fandom. 

The funny thing is, maybe its just me buuuut.... The place I see this particular kind of fetishization happen most is not in the anime/BL fandom, from which the term fujoshi originates - I actually see these type of women way way more in western fandom spaces like Supernatural, Harry Potter, and Hannibal. I can’t stress this enough, there’s a shocking amount of people who are like, straight up trump supporters in these fandoms. If you want to experience it, try joining a Hannigram or Destiel group on facebook and you will probably encounter one eventually especially if you happen to be living through a major historical event. Like these women probably wouldn’t even be considered “fujoshi”, because that term doesn’t really apply to them given they aren’t in the BL/anime fandom, yet they’re the ones I personally see actually doing the most harm.

Of course this isn’t the ONLY kind of fetishizing woman in the mlm/BL world, there are other ways fetishization shows up, but this is the most toxic kind that I see.

A girl just being really into BL or whatever may be “cringe” to you, or she may be expressing her love for BL in a “cringey” way, but a straight woman really enjoying BL is not, on its own, somehow inherently fetishization. Yes, sometimes teenage girls act kind of cringe about how much they like BL and that might be annoying to you, but its not necessarily ~problematic~. 

That being said, IT NEEDS BE REMARKED that a lot of the “fujoshi” that you all hate so deeply, are actually closeted trans men or nonbinary people who haven’t yet come to terms with their gender identity, or are otherwise just NOT cishet. I know because I was one of these closeted people for years, and I honestly think tumblr and the cultural obsession around purity is one of the many reasons I was closeted so deeply for so long. STORYTIME LOL!!! In my early adolescence, I was a sort of proto “fujoshi”. I identified as a bi girl who was mostly attracted to men, or as most (biphobic) people called it, “practically straight”. I wrote and read “slash” fanfic and looked at as well as drew my own fanart. We didn’t use the term fujoshi back then, but that’s definitely how I could have been described. I was obsessed with yaoi, BL, whatever you want to call it, to a cringe-inducing degree. I really struggled to relate to most het romances, so when I first discovered yaoi fanfics (as we called them at the time), I fell in love and felt like I finally found the type of romance content that was made for me. I didn’t know exactly why, I just knew it hit different. LGBT+ fanart and fanfiction brought me an immense amount of joy, and I didn’t really think too hard about why.

At some point, in my early 20s, after reading lots of discourse™ here on tumblr and other places like twitter, I started to get the sinking feeling that my passion for gay fanfiction was ~problematic~. I had always felt a sense of guilt for being into mlm content, because literally anyone who found out I liked BL (especially the men I dated) shamed me for liking it all the fucking time (which btw is literally just homophobic, like can we talk about that?). In addition to THAT bullshit, now I’m seeing posts telling me that girls who like BL are cringey gross fetishists who inspire rage and should go die? 

Let me tell you, I internalized the fuck out of messages like this. I desperately wanted to avoid being ~problematic~. At the time, I thought being problematic was like the worst thing you could be. I was terrified of being “cancelled”, before canceling was even really a thing. I thought to myself, “oh my god, I’m gross for liking this stuff? I should stop.” I beat myself up over this. I wanted so badly to be accepted, and to be deemed a Good Person by the internet and society at large.

I tried to shape up and become a good ally (lmfao). I stopped writing fanfic and deleted all the ones I was working on at the time. I made a concerted effort to assimilate into cishet culture, including trying to indulge myself more deeply in the few fandoms I could find that had het content I did enjoy (Buffy, True Blood, Pretty Little Liars, etc). I would occasionally look at BL/fanfic/etc in private, but then I would repress my interest in it and not look for a while. Instead I would look at women in straight relationships, and create extremely heterosexual Couple Goals pinterest boards, and try to figure out how I could become more like these women, so I, too, could be loved someday. 

This cycle of repression lasted like eight years. Throughout it all, I was performing womanhood to the best of my ability and trying to become a woman that was worthy of being in a relationship. I went in and out of several “straight” relationships, wondering why they didn’t make me feel the way reading fanfic did. Most of all, I couldn’t figure out why straight intimacy didn’t work for me. I just didn’t enjoy it. I always preferred looking at or making gay fanfiction/fanart over actual intimacy with men in real life. 

Eventually, I stumbled upon a trans coming out video that someone I was following posted online, my egg started to crack, and to make an extremely long story short, after like 3 years of introspection and many gender panic attacks that I still experience to this day, I realized that I’m uh... MAYBE... NOT CIS..!? :|

I truly believe if I had just been ALLOWED TO LIKE GAY STUFF WITHOUT BEING SHAMED FOR IT, I probably would have realized I was trans way way sooner. Because for me, indulging in my love of gay romance and writing gay fanfic wasn’t me being a weirdo fetishist, it was actually me exploring my own gender identity. It is what helped me come to terms with being a nonbinary trans boy.

Not everyone realizes they are trans at age 2 or whatever the fuck. Sometimes you have to go through a cringey fujoshi phase and multiple existential crises to realize how fucking gay you are AND THATS FINE.

And one more thing - can we just be real here? 

A lot of anti-fujoshi sentiment is literally just misogyny. omg please realize this. Its “women aren’t allowed to enjoy things” but, like... with gay fanfics. Some of the anti-fujoshi posts I see come across my dash are clearly ppl projecting a caricature they invented in their head of a demonic fujoshi fetishist onto any woman who expresses what they consider to be a little too much enthusiasm for gay content and then using their perception of that individual as an excuse to justify their disdain for any women, especially straight women, ‘invading’ their ~oh so exclusive~ queer fandom spaces.

 god get over yrselfs this is gatekeeping by another name

idk why i spent so long writing this no one is even going to read it, does anyone even still use this site

*EDIT: HOLY SHIT WHEN DOING RESEARCH FOR THIS POST I FOUND OUT THAT Y-GALLERY IS BACK OMG!!! 

[shizzlinghotbrason]

ok so nearly everyone in the fandom is doing this and as sad as it is that we need to remind these simple things to people, I feel the need to talk about this too.

I won't make this too painfully long because I know y'all most likely already know this and I just wanna put out a basic list of shit you should always follow in the fandom. But for those who don't, a lot of fan content creators, be it artists or writers or just general fans trying to enjoy their time, have been leaving/quitting the fandom.

Why are they leaving, you ask? Toxicity. Toxicity nearly everywhere. People can't hold respectful debates or discourses on interesting topics regarding characters/the books/ships anymore without someone toxicly stating that only their opinion is correct, and going off on anyone who has different opinions carried with a lot of aggressive, rude and shallow behaviour. Fanartists have gotten death threats and are scared of drawing art for the Riordanverse without getting anxious af.

Now the thing is, having done those (eXcepT for the death threats) doesn't automatically make u an entirely shitty person. Maybe you made a mistake and came off as rude without rlly meaning to. That's okay. Here's how to identify if u ever did so, and to change that behaviour. Again, it's okay to make mistakes, but we rn as a fandom srsly need to try to turn things around.

Some basic shit you should remember being a part of the fandom:

• NO NSFW STUFF WITH MINORS!!! That means fanarts, fanfics etc. But here's the shocking thing- when someone does this, you can actually hold them accountable WITHOUT SENDING DEATH THREATS AND CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES! Cuz doing that only makes YOU stoop just as low. Pl e a s e remember that always and be respectful whatever you do.

• That being said, ppl are allowed to write nsfw stuff IF said characters are aged up, aka 18+. Ofc, it's a must that they put a content warning beforehand because many people may not want to read that. BUT, if you don't want to read it and if they've aged up the characters so nothing's morally wrong or gross, then please do NOT hate the author in the comments, do NOT report their post/account. Seriously dude, they gave warnings, if you don't want to read it just scroll past it's not that hard. Unless it's with minors, you shouldn't be reporting innocent ppl's accounts like that.

• one thing that I've seen a lack of in the fandom are trigger warnings. I've seen several fics whose covers are literally of blood. And entire chapters were written with intricate graphic descriptions yet with no trigger warnings or a tw wayyy down in the caption. you never know what may be triggering to someone if a lot of ppl see ur content but the least u can do is put trigger warnings on the most common stuff. I get that it may look aesthetically matching if it's a murder mystery sorta fic but isn't the well being of people more important?

• look I'm not saying you're not allowed to have opinions, but the problem is when you start treating your opinions like facts. I can't count the times I've seen someone state their opinion like it's facts and then trash on other's for having a different opinion. PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS. Stop attacking people for liking Jason more than Percy or vice versa, there's no rule that you absolutely have to like one or the other, ppl can like who they want. When you're stating UR opinion, it would be nice if you used stuff like "I personally think that..." or "... that's just my opinion" because again, Ur opinion is just that, not a fact.

• if you can't have discourses or discussions about certain topics respectfully and nicely then don't have them. if someone's done nothing wrong but state their opinions and you don't like it, don't go attacking them. if you don't have anything good to say, shut up and just scroll past. it's not that hard. we don't need any more negativity in the fandom. If you feel like you're about to snap, mute or block the account you don't like and move on with life. But for the love of GOD don't go out of your way to be agresive or hateful to ppl. They have feelings too and run fan accounts for fun, not to get upset and hurt.

• when a fan account owner has made a post saying what they think of a certain topic, and you comment saying you think they're wrong and they reply that you didn't get the point of their post, then chances are you most probably actually did not understand what they were saying. when this happens, pls don't go on forcing ur opinion onto them as if you got what they meant when you didn't. Maybe next time when someone says you didn't get what they were saying, ask them nicely to explain it to you instead of going off like that?

• firstly, shame on you if you've ever run a hate account. just why? how much more negativity do you want to add? if you come across a hate account please please report it and block it and tell your friends to do the same. if you're targeted in a hate post, I'm so sorry, please know that they're shallow ppl just trying to make you feel shitty, you're dont have a trashy fan account; what they say is false and done purely to spite. report and block them.

• I know Rick has written a lot of racist bullcrap and hasn't batted an eye when we complained about them, but that still doesn't give you the right to send him death threats. Again, no death threats to anyone, yikes.

• don't use fanart that's racist. don't repost them either. Piper has feathers in it? don't repost it. also if you can't exactly and properly credit artists, don't repost their art saying "credits to the artist". I've done that before too but now I understand that's not right.

• also, while we're at it, can we all please universally agree on non-racist fanon stuff and get rid of racist canon stuff? like Piper and feathers, and piper & hazel with colourful and golden eyes, Piper's stupid not like other girls behaviour, and all the other bullshit Rick has put into the books. We as a fandom don't accept it and pretend they do not exist, no racism in this place 🥰‼️

• ppl are allowed to have their own headcannons, it doesn't matter what's cannon. Don't go "but in the books it's.." because in the books there's a lot of shit, and besides, if someone wants to headcannon Percy as brown? black? totally alright! they're allowed to do so! don't go bUt pErCy iSnT pOc iN tHe bOoKs. same goes with sexualities and etc headcannons. as long as they're not erasing the already representation of a minority, it's okay to have headcannons of your own. Like Hazel is canonically black and we should respect that and bring out the best of that, yk what I mean?

That's all I have to say for now. I'm usually a very light-hearted cursed meme account on here but things are getting out of hand. I was wanting to make my 8 yr old brother get into the Riordanverse fandom but seeing the situation of the fandom rn scares me. We need to think about the kids in the future who'll be in this fandom, whose lives will be changed and shaped by these books. Surely, the older people in the fandom before us would be utterly disappointed at what it's become and it's our job to constantly look out for the fandom.

If you're leaving/have left the fandom, I'm so sorry that it got to that point, but ur wellbeing comes first, do what you feel is necessary to feel better, all of us send lots of positive vibes towards your way! and to the peeps who've still decided to stay in the fandom and use their account to talk about this issue, I cannot express how thankful I am of you for doing such an important thing right now. And to everyone - as Harry Styles once said - treat people with kindness.

[cometcrystal]

work saga updates cause i haven’t posted abt any of this yet and a lot has happened

cause i know at least one of you reads this shit. will be split into 3 parts

mute money incident 

i was the vault custodian that week and i was gonna take up mute money that day. mute is short for Mutilated and it means money that’s too gross/beat up to give out to customers, but is still real money and full enough to accept in deposits n shit. in the vault, we put them in straps marked with highlighters, so we know which ones to ship out to the feds

i was gonna do it the way another teller had done it before: gather enough bills to sell a full strap, with the mute money inside, and mark it with a highlighter and just sell that to the vault

head teller (im gonna say HT to keep it easier) says that’s wrong and i shouldn’t do it that way. according to her im apparently supposed to have each teller sell each individual bill they have to the vault and then i swap it out, swap it out for a good bill that’s inside an already- mute strap (cause they’re never 100% full of mute money), and bring it back (i.e. five 1s, three 5s, etc).

note i am still tense w her from smth she had done the previous evening

so im like Ok I Guess and start writing down how much each person is getting rid of on a piece of scrap paper. which makes sense right? cause if i’m gonna be bringing it back, i need to know how much to GIVE back.

HT sees this, takes my paper and crumples it and throws it away without asking me, and tells me i need to count it. i am upset and i said i WAS counting it and that’s why i had the paper. but apparently i have to hand count it every single time

also im apparently not supposed to give any back to the other tellers and im supposed to sell it back to my box when ??? like.

im trying to sort out this misunderstanding with her and truthfully arguing a bit because she is treating me like a child! and she looks at me and goes “do you want to learn or not. do you take this job seriously. because this is how we do this, and if you don’t want to learn, i’ll call [retail op specialist] and we can find someone else.”

so im abt to go inside the vault and shes like abt to come with me to help SWAP THE BILLS OUT and i was like i think i got it.

so i go in there alone and have to take a second and lean my head on the counter bc i am abt to start crying from how upset angry and insulted i am. she was just 100% talking to me like i was 5 years old and being EXTREMELY fucking condescending to me about the whole thing instead of just... explaining it. i have never once cried at work and i dont cry often in general. but she had nearly pushed me to that point.

when i go back out HT says “see that wasn’t so hard was it” in this I Told You So voice

so abt 20 minutes later i call her into the then-empty manager’s office so i can sit down with her and talk. because i am a petty person but im not abt to lose my job so i wanted to clear shit up w her.

TLDR i said its not that i don’t want to learn, it’s that the way you talk to me is condescending and it makes me feel like you think i’m stupid. and she said sorry and that she would try not to talk like that anymore, she was just frustrated cause she felt like i was arguing with her. so! i assume shit is cleared up

apparently, the next day, when the girl i learned the original mute money technique from came to work? HT pulled her aside and talked to her abt it and told her that we wouldn’t do it like that anymore here. and apparently! this bitch told her “apparently dott just doesn’t want to learn”! after i had that WHOLE conversation with her because i was trying to be a fucking adult! so i guess shit ISN’T cleared up!

and the funny part??? last week was HT’s rotation week so she was gone for the entirety of our new manager’s first week. and the other teller talked w the manager (MN for short) abt mute money and u know what she said????

SHE SAID JUST SELLING IT IN FULL STRAPS WAS THE EASIEST WAY SO THAT’S HOW WE’D DO IT. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

new manager

she officially started monday of last week, but had stopped by friday to get her keys and to introduce herself

HT is EXTREMELY angry that she didn’t get the position and she doesn’t hide it very well. and i like. i get it she’s been here for 10 years but also. just bc you’ve been here 10 years doesn’t mean 1. you have desk experience needed to be a good manager 2. you have the personality to be a good manager

anyway. MN is AMAZING and i love her. in her first WEEK, we got her putting her foot down but doing it in a considerate way, which is WAY more than could be said for our previous one, and is DEFINITELY something we need with HT. she’s very intelligent and i have very high hopes for her.

for one thing, TLDR we were cashing checks for ppl that weren’t there and had sent someone on their behalf, and we had apparently done that for a very long time but i never felt good about that. MN shut that down REAL quick as soon as she saw it happening, and the customers were all chill about it! literally the only issue is gonna be HT being upset that we’re changing that

the other big thing is its own section

Oh You’re GONNA Deposit It

so this one guy comes thru friday before last wanting to deposit a check into his business acct. let’s say his name is john doe, and the check’s made out to jack smith. jack has NOTHING to do with this account; he’s just one of john’s customers.

obviously we can’t fucking do this bc the check is made out to a completely unrelated person and not the business

i explain this to john doe and he immediately gets angry. hes like “oh youre GONNA deposit it.” with venom in his voice @ me. and i repeated myself. and he said “IS HT THERE??”

he’s asking for her because HT babies all these damn customers!! they’re spoiled as shit because she bends all these rules for them and then both of them, customer and HT, get angry when policy is cited at them

i was like ok! i’ll be right back! and i showed it to HT. and she goes over to talk to him. and even SHE tells him “we’re not supposed to do this” so she’s like “we’ll do it this one time because it’s a small check and you’ve been here forever, but we CAN’T do it again.”

SO EVEN HT HAS TOLD HIM THIS.

next friday, john doe calls in and says he has another check made out to jack smith that he’s gonna deposit. and if there’s any issue with it, he’ll close all his accounts out. like. ok lol

so he comes by and i do his first deposit for his personal bc it’s fine and then i pick up the business deposit and sure enough. another jack smith check, this time bigger.

so i don’t even talk to him, MN comes over to do that. she tells him the same thing i told him the previous week. he 100% straight up starts YELLING at her. not just raising his voice, YELLING. i can’t remember the exact convo but she hands the deposit back bc hes telling her to give it back and he speeds off

abt 30min later we get a call from someone at the call center just wanting to know the situation bc apparently he called them abt it and they told him the same damn thing we told him LMFAOOOO

so then an hour after THAT i pick up the phone and it’s him! he sounds calm and collected. he very politely asks for his account info because he’s gonna get stuff together to close all of his accounts and he’s gonna come by to do that. im like ok sir

he never comes by that day so idk if he changed his mind or if he’s planning to do it this week

the moral of this whole story is! this entire week is going to be extremely entertaining because HT’s reactions to all that MN has done so far (ALL GOOD THINGS!) is going to be extremely funny and vindicating! shes gonna be like “I’M GONE FOR A WEEK AND YOU LOST [COMPANY THAT’S BANKED HERE FOR 30+ YEARS]???” YEAH BECAUSE HE WAS BEING A MASSIVE CHODE GOOD RIDDANCE

[silver-wield]

1. After beating ffviir I was craving character analysis, not just theorycraft, which lead me to tumblr for the first time. And your posts were exactly what I craved to the point that you made me actually create an account so thank you very much for the high quality analyses! 2. What's your take on the meet red xiii scene? I love how even here tifa shows how considerate she is of a being they were about to fight minutes before

Hey, Nonny! I didn’t forget about this! Hope you’re having a good time in tumblr’s hellsite lol

Finally getting to clear some of the backlog of analyses and this one is one I've been excited to do for ages! Because it's fun talking about characters besides Cloud and Tifa as a couple and I love Red cause he's the brattiest pupper ever and deserves more love!

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be short.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Please check my master post to see if I've already covered your question, thanx

Let's mosey!

Recap time!

So, we're in Hojo's lab and Cloud is reliving every nightmare he ever had, but let's not focus on our cinnamon roll for now because a new player takes the stage! And it's our best boi! Red! Who's been mako poisoned, so now I guess he's like a SOLDIER Red? Or maybe just regular poison because he's not acting like he did in OG where he was pretending to be dangerous to throw people off. He also wasn't stuck in a tank with Aerith and was about to run away when she chased after him, and she looks so happy to see him too. Aerith's reunion with each of her friends is adorable because she's the only one who knows about it, but her expression is so pleased she's got them back!

But we're not here to talk about Aerith being happy she's got friends (because she had no friends before).

Cloud and Tifa are ready to throw down with Red, but he's more interested in Hojo, so runs past them. We also get a glimpse of Aerith standing with her arms at her side because she knew Red wasn't a threat to them.

It's the same at the top of the lab in the hallway. Tifa's ready to defend herself and taking a spot guarding the rear, while Cloud and Barret flank Aerith. It's only when Aerith puts her hand out—towards Barret, who's literally about to shoot Red—and says stop that everyone calms down.

Cloud off to the side like “what now?” because this happened with the ghost in the graveyard too. They were allowed to fight one, but not the other.

Tifa's moved closer to Cloud as Aerith goes to touch Red and cure him. They have matching expressions of wtf confusion because even though they've been told that Aerith is special, it's something else seeing it in action.

And then Red speaks and the look in his eye is like “It? You called me it?” And I’m betting that’s why Red tail slaps Barret later. Because he called Red “it” lol

And Cloud and Tifa have matching wtf confusion expressions again and I'm only adding this because it's hilarious that they both look the same.

Also, there’s a point where they’re both standing over this grate that’s making them glow green. Cloud is a lot more green than Tifa, who just has her feet in it. It’s a lifestream scene reference to the fact that Cloud is more saturated by mako than Tifa.

Close up on Cloud to show it's Soldier Cloud, but then his eyes shut and we see the one eyed squint that morphs into real Cloud as Tifa's leaning forward all genuine surprise and asking if it just talked. At this point, Red would be an it because he's an animal, so a talking animal would be surprising. Red doesn’t punish Tifa for this, unlike with Barret, because she shows respect towards Red as an sentient creature the next time she speaks.

As Red moves around, Tifa's eyes are drawn to the number on his shoulder.

She recognises the number tattoo because of Marco's one and looks surprised to see Red has one, which is why she mentions it.

When Red explains where the number came from Tifa's immediate reaction is to reject the experiment designation. She's seen other experiments in deepground and Marco and obviously hates Shinra anyway, but probably is developing a very big hatred towards Hojo too, since she's heard from Cloud people are “numbers and meat to him.” She wants to know Red's real name to give him back his identity. Her head tilts and she smiles at him, trying to encourage him to share.

Red doesn't answer, and does this shy look away from Tifa. He avoids telling them his name and says they have to go. He's another mentally 16 year old boy who doesn't know how to deal with girls being nice to him lol

And please for the love of god if anyone takes that as evidence of grossness then you can gtfo rn because it's not. It's evidence of Red being a teenager and not an adult like he pretends to be. Teenagers are awkward.

In conclusion

Tifa's defensive to begin with because Red's a fire doggo and looks dangerous. With Aerith intervening she moves closer to Cloud for support, then expresses surprise when Red talks. Because talking animals aren't a thing. Her main response to Red is to return his identity to him when she hears he's been labelled as an experiment. This is the first interaction they have and it's showcasing how kind and empathetic Tifa is. She doesn't want Red to think of himself however Hojo labelled him—this applies to Cloud, too. She doesn't want him to think of himself as soldier Cloud when it's real Cloud who matters.

We also see evidence of both real and Soldier Cloud observing things before he has his Jenova freak out.

[robertodacosta]

hasn't leah williams already written several sketchy books? i think she did one of the age of x-man ones

she sure has. she wrote age of x-man: x-tremists which was a fucking trainwreck that a lot of people turned a blind eye to because of white gay rep, which was a problem in and of itself independent of her. but here are some posts unpacking a lot of what the fuck was gross about this book. these posts do not even touch on everything about this book that was actively harmful. fucking unbelievable. 

also, gwenpool strikes back, which is bad, both because of what vidhi describes in the post i linked, and also because of the sheer doublethink involved in the second issue where she spends a whole page establishing that gwen is ‘legal’ but still too young for deadpool, and then proceeds to have deadpool make a LOT of sexual jokes about gwen. it’s ‘the sex sells’ issue, but really makes you wonder who the audience is: not teenage girls who the original volume was written to and for imo. also my friends who are gwenpool stans say she writes gwen super ooc, which is a lesser sin but still annoying.

she’s also writing chastity for dynamite which is like. lmao. i do not have time to unpack how much i dislike this book, but suffice it to say it is a book about a hero striking back at the men who traffic her, and she is blatantly sexualized throughout the book. ESPECIALLY on the covers. i don’t know how to explain why this is horrifying if it’s not clear.

also she is wildly loud about shipping emma frost with her former student monet st. croix and when called out on it she was like ‘i never read generation x so i wouldn’t know!’ and i think what bothers me the most about her writing and online presence is that she hides behind strawman arguments SO consistently. wrt x-tremists, a book ostensibly about the experience of gay and bi xmen being forcibly closeted by this reality that never once allowed betsy to acknowledge or explore her own bisexuality outside of betsy sexualizing kwannon in a scene intended to be read at ‘betsy having #relatable body issues’ and blob wildly objectifying betsy, she ignored crit that a book ostensibly about the gay experience centered on a straight man objectifying a woman by dismissing ppl who took issue as being ‘fatphobic’ for not liking blobsy. or when she plays the ‘i’m a bi woman it’s why ppl criticize me’ card like. i’m a bi woman too and i’m criticizing you. you’re not special for being bi, it doesn’t negate the fact that you wrote racist things. own up to your shit, or don’t write. you do not get to play the victim when your writing hurts the people reading it.

[gunnerpalace]

Hi! Same anon as the previous one. Tbh, I agree wholeheartedly with you. Y'see I do ask rhetorically,too but i could really accept and understand how and why ppl can be oblivious to IchiRuki, and somehow felt that the 'canon' should suffice, even the most excruciating of all is the fact a number found the ending even acceptable (ships aside, too). Again, I could respect that. But it's my greatest bane when ppl ask 'why' and not be clear they are asking rhetorically because I literally will

provide you an actual answer. And I get it, it’s the reason why ppl find shipping wars toxic and silly. But then again, as human, conflicts are always part of us (partly because as social psych explains so, we are gravitated to the negative for that allows us to change and survive), and the reason why “logical fallacies” are coined in the first place. Human will always debate, and argue about something; the only thing we could change is how we approach the opposing views.

Again, I dont condone any way, shape or form of abuse and harm. In some certain extent, I could perhaps understand it’s much harder for some IH to approach the actual argument being there’s either too much noise, and trapped in their own island between sea of salt. Thus becoming too acquianted w/ few IH who shared the same thought until it became their views as the only truth (see, that’s why its important to have debates! it is what keep us grounded and fair! Just like you said)

Who am I to speak though? I never ever challenged anyone anyways. And as you said, you just have to understand things in every way you could possibly think of–endless ‘whys’. Which is where I agree in your reply the most–this silly fandom wars is just the black mirror to every truth that lies beneath human psyche–the dark and the grimy. Heck, being a psych major is like staring at dark hole–at times, good, but most just plain confusing, revolting even or just heartbreaking.

Sorry it’s been long, but for the final of this ask: let me tell how glad I was with IchiRuki fandom I found in tumblr. It was the saltiest I’ve ever been (im not generally a fandom person anyways) but it’s the himalayan salt–expensive and actually nutritive it really deepened my desire to become wiser in general. And you for your wonderful essays, critiques and whatnot. I definitively would love to talk with you more not only about IchiRuki but the wonders and nightmare that us humans! Kudos!

I have sitting in my drafts a post spelling out my thoughts on “canon” (and thus, the people who cling to it) in that as a concept it privileges:

officiality over quality when it comes to validity (thus violating Sturgeon’s law)

corporations (intellectual property rights holders) over fans, and thus capitalists over proletarians

hierarchical dominance over mutualist networking within fandom

curative fandom over transformative fandom

genre over literary content

plot over characters

events over emotions

It is notable that (1) generally degrades art as a whole, (2) generally advances the capitalist agenda, and (3–7) generally advances the dominance of men over women (as the genders tend to be instructed by society to view these as A. dichotomies rather than spectrums, and B. to ascribe gender to them and make them polarities). These form the sides of a mutually reinforcing power structure (in the typical “Iron Triangle” fashion) designed to preserve and maintain the status quo.

Who really benefits from say, the policing of what is or is not “canon” in Star Wars? Disney, first and foremost. And then whomever (almost certainly male) decides to dedicate their time to memorizing the minutiae of whatever that corporation has decided is “legitimate.”

One can imagine a universe in which fan fic is recognized by companies for what it is: free advertising. (Much like fan art already is.) Instead, it is specifically targeted by demonetization efforts in a way that fan art isn’t. Why? Because it demonstrates that corporate control and “official” sanction has no bearing on quality, and it is thus viewed as undermining the official products.

In the same way, by demonstrating that most “canonical” works are frankly shit, it undermines the investiture of fans in focusing on details that are ultimately errata (the events, the plot, the genre), which is the core function of curative fandom and the reason for its hierarchical structure. The people who “know the most” are at the top, but what they “know” is basically useless garbage. And those people so-engaged are, of course, usually male.

To “destroy” the basis of their credibility, and indeed the very purpose of their community, is naturally viewed by them as an attack.

(This is not to say that efforts to tear down internal consistency within established cultural properties are good unto themselves, or even desirable. For example, efforts to redefine properties such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Ghostbusters, for the sake of a identity-politics agenda have largely A. failed as art, B. failed as entertainment, C. failed to attract the supposedly intended audience, and D. failed to advance the agenda in question. Trying to repurpose extant media in the name of culture wars is essentially always doomed to failure unless it is done deftly and gradually.)

(At the same time, this also shows what I was talking about last time, with regard to people seeing whatever they want to see. You will see people complain that Star Trek and Doctor Who didn’t “used to be so political,” which is obviously nonsense. These shows were always political. What changed was how their politics were presented. For example, Star Trek has, since TNG, always shown a nominally socialist or outright communist future, but was beloved by plenty of conservatives because they could [somehow] ignore that aspect of it.)

Of course, almost no one is seriously suggesting that one side of the spectrums outlined above be destroyed, rather merely that a new balance be struck upon the spectrum. But, as we have seen time and again in society, any threat to the status quo, whether that be 20% of Hugo Awards going to non-white male authors or the top income tax rate in America being increased by a measly 5.3% (from 28.7% to 34%… when the all-time high was 94% and for over 50 years it was above 50%) is a threat. This is why, for example, Republicans are out there branding AOC as a “socialist” when her policies are really no different at all from a 1960 Democrat who believed in FDR’s New Deal. (Which they, of course, have also demonized as “socialism.”)

(As an aside, all this ignores the fact that most of the “literary canon” of Western civilization, or at least English literature… is Biblical or historical fan fic.)

And this is when I finally get to my point.

Those people out there who denigrate and mock shippers and shipping, the people who hurl “it reads like fan fiction” as an insult, and so on, are the people who benefit from and enjoy the extant power structure. You will see the same thing with self-identified “gamers” complaining about “fake girl gamers.” Admitting that the hobby has a lot of women in it, and a lot of “casuals,” and is indeed increasingly dominated by “non-traditional demographics” is an affront to the constructed identity of being a “gamer.” They are “losing control.” And they don’t like it.

This exact same sort of population is what the “fanbase” of Bleach has been largely reduced down to through a slow boiling off of any actual quality. Of course they’re dismissive of people who are looking for anything of substance: their identity, their “personal relationship” with the franchise, is founded on a superficial appreciation of it: things happening, flashy attacks, eye-catching character designs, fights, etc.

(What this really boils down to, at heart, is that society at large has generally told men that emotions are bad, romance and relationships of all kinds are gross, and that thinking and reflecting on things is stupid. So of course they not only don’t care about such things, but actively sneer at them as “girly” or “feminine,” which is again defined by society at large as strictly inferior. And this gender divide and misogyny is of course promulgated and reinforced by the powers that be, the capitalists, to facilitate class divisions just like say racism generally is.)

(The latest trick of these corporate overlords has been the weaponization of “woke” culture to continue to play the people off one another all the time. “If you don’t like this [poorly written, dimensionless Mary Sue] Strong Female Character, then you are a racist misogynist!” They are always only ever playing both sides for profit, not advancing an actual ideological position. It is worth noting that there was a push by IH some years ago to define IR as “anti-feminist” for critiquing Orihime for essentially the exact same reasons [admittedly, not for profit, but still as critical cover].)

Which makes it very curious, therefore, that the most ardent IH supporters tend to be women. (Though there are more than a few men, they seem to tend to support it because it is “canon” and to attack it is to attack “canon” and thus trigger all of the above, rather than out of any real investment.) I think there are a number of reasons for this (which I have detailed before) and at any rate it is not particularly surprising; 53% of white women voted for Trump, after all.

What we are really seeing in fandom, are again the exact same dynamics that we see at larger and larger scales, for the exact same reasons. The stakes are smaller, but the perception of the power struggle is exactly the same.

Of course, the people who are involved in these things rarely think to interrogate themselves as to the true dimensions and root causes of their motivations. People rarely do that in general.

Putting all that aside, I’m glad that you have found a place you enjoy and feel comfortable, and thank you for the kind words, although I am not of the opinion that there is anything poignant about the non-fiction I write. It is, as I keep trying to emphasize, all there to be seen. One just has to open their eyes. So, it’s hard for me to accept appreciation of it.

Anyway, don’t feel shy about coming off of anon rather than continuing to send asks. We don’t really bite.

[thejudgingtrash]

I wanna hear the Dom/sub discourse!!! Also love ur blog :) (I personally am a proponent of dom percy just bc I like that idea but I’d love to hear yours!!! I didnt even know there was discourse!) love to hear your thoughts and again super cool blog!!!! :’)

* ALSO WOULD LIKE TO CLARIFY IF IT WASNT ALREADY ESTABLISHED BUT ONLLLLLLY IF THEY ARE LIKE IN THEIR OLDER 20S!!!! ppl doing that in the context of teens is *gross* (previous anon who sent in the ask before) :)

Oh! Thank you for the compliments. I’m still not used at being so visible now to people 🥺😥😅

Good that you’ve added your points because that essentially brings down my issues with this whole spiel. I guess I’m going to play the other card. My main issues with this whole thing are:

A) the fandom sexualizing kids

B) people not understanding that looks/behavior in or outside of a (romantic) relationship don’t necessarily have to correlate with sexual behavior, especially when powerplay is involved

Of course Percy is easier to grasp for us. We have five whole books where we hear his every thought, follow his every move and think we get to know him (that automatically makes Percy not a reliable narrator, just saying).

For every book quote that puts Percy into the „Dom“ slot, there’s also a book quote that would be fitting for Annabeth (the dance from TTC comes to my mind). I can see both going either way. Despite them having mostly different personalities (Percy internalizing his thoughts and motives, whereas Annabeth is doing rather the opposite), they are very similar when it comes to leadership and end goals. Annabeth can range from emotional to bossy in a similar way Percy does. They just express themselves on different levels and get seen by outsiders in different ways.

Did you catch that? Did you see the hypocrisy that I just committed? We are using book quotes to justify placing characters that are in that context and in overall canon minors/teens/essentially fucking children in sexualized categories. Tbh, as much flag as you can give Riordan, I can’t blame him for blocking people who do this. Not every author is a fan of fanfiction and fan theory and what not.

People throwing these BSDM terms around without a second thought makes me cringe (tbh, I’m too lazy to explain the psychology of power play and kinks in that regard, just know that the instigator is not automatically the top/dom and there are many, many, many layers in a pp relationship). You cannot base sexual behavior from the canon itself. We know nothing about Percy and Annabeth in that regard to even justify the slightest. Ripping actions out of context to give them a label doesn’t work like that so easily unfortunately.

The only way to settle this question for once and all would be by simply doing this:

The whole debate that happened months/weeks ago (quarantine makes everything blurry in my memory) was just fucking stupid?

Imagine being a 15 year old, anxious, frightened girl. You’ve been deeply traumatized since you’ve been seven years old, you’re scared to death because you have a crush on your best friend and think he might perish (newsflash: of course you as the reader can foreshadow that in that context the series goes on. The characters can’t as they lack that specific insight. Percy didn’t have to wind up dead in the books, but he could have been severely mutilated, gone missing (guess he did later), bruised, etc. apart from his mental struggles. The super power part is essentially the only thing that’s keeping him alive), you give him a kiss because you’re too shy to admit your feelings for him and he’s being an awkward cheeky bastard before looking for a fight and then some adult asshole has the caucasity of calling you a bratty sub. Literally what.

Some anon (or a group of anons, don’t know which) contacted a bunch of people with that Dom!Percy and Sub!Annabeth stuff. Anon, Liebste, homegirl, my love, mija, if you see this please slide into the DMs because whaddefuck? Your thought process hotdamn. Where did you pick this up? Let’s be open about this discussion. You didn’t go from A to B, you went from A to Z and robbed Jeff Bezos on the way out. I mean what???

People using canon to justify their headcanons is simply something I can’t get behind in this matter. The main issues is that they are children/teens/minors in canon. There is no way around it. Trying to justify/back up some of your thoughts in that regard with actual quotes only makes it worse because you aren’t only sexualizing them in your fanon, but you are also automatically transferring these thoughts to the actual books and thus fore sexualizing them in canon. You’re changing the basis and narrative.

I honestly don’t get the obsession that some have with their teenage sex life? This isn’t a personal attack on people but I’ve seen this throughout several group chats and social media platforms like Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest even and of course Tumblr. And popular stuff like Riverdale, Euphoria, 13 Reasons Why and New Adult Twilight rip-offs á la Shades of Grey and that Harry Styles fanfic honestly don’t help with the portrayal of „curious“ teens.

This also isn’t a strict PJO phenomenon, it happens across all fandoms. The odd trend with sexualizing kids/teens or things intended for kids has been going on for ages. I get it, you grow out of the related audience but that doesn’t justify the means? Canon won’t change simply because you do.

Percy and Annabeth are awkward teens that have never dated anyone else and had barely half a year between pjo and hoo before getting caught up in another mess. I’m not saying that teens aren’t curious and don’t experiment, some do drugs and/or have sex (let’s be real the probability of something happening in the stable scene in MOA is very high) but still? Putting dom/sub labels on them is sketchyyy. Also throw your fucking sex god headcanons out of the motherfucking window. They are 17-ish, if you need the mental image of some weird kids flopping on top of each other for two whole minutes for some odd reason, good for you but I’m side eying the fuck outta you.

You can’t really blame Riordan for not being more explicit. A) the series is for middle schoolers (aka kids), so it’s not strictly Young Adult and there’s only so much you can do B) publishers/editors interfering is a thing (especially with society’s views of sex = bad and violence = just fine) and c) the probability of sexualizing the characters of his own creation in that sense might have made him uncomfortable. Better to play safe, than end up with a bigger mess, just saying. I’m all for the sex talk in a non-berating, (slightly) educational approach when it comes to that in non-adult literature. Or even just stating a sex scene in a mere sentence. (Karen M. McManus did an amazing job with portraying struggling teens with a right approach in One of Us is Lying. Stating it or making it very, very, very clear between the lines. Then again, not everyone can pull that off or wants to go in that direction).

In addition to that, seeing stuff like the infamous ”the sea doesn’t like to be restrained“ or ”Percy has handsome features which shifted from humor to anger“ quotes getting constantly shredded is so… Meh. One simple question: what does Percy having a mean resting bitch face to do with his sexuality/sexual behavior? What does him being annoyed and on the moodier side have to do with it? For me absolutely nothing. The correlation isn’t really clear and out there. Pissed Percy doesn’t translate into Percy automatically being the dominant (in Percabeth’s sex life)?

I mean I get it. We all grow up. Erotica is a wonderful genre and art form (if you waddle through the trash). You will never be able to get that out of fiction and fanfiction. That’s also neither my goal nor my place to decide. As cheap and stupid as it is, I’d rather have people intentionally aging the characters up and stating their headcanons in that regard rather than people attempting to abuse canon where the characters are minors in order for sexualizing them. There’s no good way to prevent this from happening unfortunately (unless you really want to abolish all explicit fanon stuff).

Whenever you post a sexy headcanon just hold on for a second. If you have abstract future headcanons sure, go ahead, personally don’t see a problem with that. But if you use source material to fixate your thoughts on minors in canon to give them sexual labels… I urge you to seriously rethink that.

Stop sexualizing minors. Please. Pretty please.

Peace