#I'm sure other countries have equivalent services.

[wormsagainstnuclearkillers]

Triple J Unearthed links for the Aussie artists:

tilly tjala thomas - kardajala kirridarra - baker boy

Free and ad-free streaming of all the singles mentioned in this post. No Spotify bullshit.

bro i LOVE indigenous fusion music i love it when indigenous people take traditional practices and language and apply them in new cool ways i love the slow decay and decolonisation of the modern music industry

[rockofeye]

Ogou, a project finally finished, and upcoming possibilities!

The calendar has gotten ahead of me, and here we are again on a jou fet/feast day for Ogou. It's been quiet around these parts for a minute (more on that below..), and it feels like that kind of timing that puts you in exactly the right place at the right moment. Funny how divine providence works.

If you've hung around for a minute, you know the story I'm going to tell. Maybe I sound like an old person who walked barefoot up a hill in three feet of snow to go to school, but it's something that stuck with me and it's something that really did change my life.

Today is St. George's feast day, which is a day given to at least one Ogou for most if not all vodouizan; it's probably one of few overarching pieces of sameness that you can find country-wide in Haiti. Ogou is central to Vodou; it was Ogou Feray and Ogou Je Wouj who sprang up during Bwa Kayiman and who stoked the revolutionary spark that made the first free Black republic a reality. He is probably more central than he is given credit for; he is certainly overlooked at times in favor of others.

I've had the grace to not be able to overlook Ogou. He made sure of that when he (among others) brought me to my spiritual mother and the lineage named after nasyon Nago, the family of Ogou.

He also made sure of that when I was careening down a very bumpy road towards kanzo. It was 8 years ago now (!!) that I was sitting in an apartment that I would end up abandoning not knowing how in the hell I was going to get everything in order for kanzo just a few months later. I didn't have the money, I didn't have the stuff I needed, I don't even think I had my passport at that point. I was in serious trouble, and I knew it.

So, I did what I could and sat and made a small service for Ogou. I bought what little I could put together, made it pretty, and presented it to him. In retrospect, it's kind of cute what I thought I knew and must have been like a small child presenting you with the product of their toils: the spiritual equivalent of a mud pie with dandelions stuck in it and a macaroni necklace.

But, I did it and I told Ogou that I knew I had made a promise, I knew that I was in trouble, and that I would do whatever he told me if it got me into the djevo. I lit the match and gave it to him, he set the fire and burned my life down.

Within two weeks, I abandoned the apartment I had and packed my car to make a couple of trips into Boston to live in a teeny tiny rented room that was close to my job that Ogou would direct me to quit. I sold my car, any possessions I had that were worth money, and took my stacked vacation time money from the job I quit, all while working up until a few days before I needed to fly to Haiti and hustling at night with whatever side gigs I could find. I bought my flights to/from Haiti before I prepared anything else or even had the money I needed in my hands because I figured that it would be pretty awkward if I had to fly to Haiti and just...hang out when I had been planning to kanzo all along.

It looked like things were going to work out. I was barely sleeping, but the money was coming in and I had the things I needed to go to Haiti with....but what would things be without a last minute twist?

Two days before I left for Haiti, I found out that the way my rent was going to be paid while I was in Haiti fell through. So, I spent two days moving what I could into a friend's basement and abandoned the rest of my belongings, again. I had some boxes, a couple bags of clothes, my suitcase to go to Haiti with...and that's it. Everything else was gone, and I found myself in an airport unsure of where I was going when I got back.

I made it to Haiti after delayed and canceled flights and some crying in a corner, and the rest is history. Ogou (and all my lwa) held me up during the process, and held me up afterwards while he helped me rebuild the life I gave him to burn down. Literally everything I have now descends from the hands of Ogou and my lwa. Career and professional success, home, relationship, spiritual opportunities...all of it down to the last little piece. Nothing is without his/their influence, and my life has become worth living because of it. He saved me, and it all really started on this day 8 years ago. It's been a wild ride the last 12 years with the lwa, and I genuinely couldn't ask for anything better.

'Gratitude' is not a sufficient word because it cannot encompass how I hold all these things inside of me. It is beyond language and verbalization, and when I find myself in front of Ogou and wanting to thank him yet again for all that he has done for me, words are insufficient. I look at him kind of despairing to explain, and he just nods. He knows.

And here I am. Like I said, a wild ride. I looked at a calendar the other day and it really has been 12 years since I got dropkicked into Vodou. So much has happened and so much is to happen and to become. I am not yet the reflection of what I believe the lwa want for me, but I do believe I am climbing closer each day.

I've been pretty occupied in the last year with big stuff; I wrote previously about the completion of my husband's immigration process FINALLY which has him in the US with me permanently (and back and forth to Haiti as life allows). After that, a rather large project occupied most of my time/energy.

Details about that and upcoming stuff behind the cut.

I keep a lot of things close to my heart and am careful about what I write about here, both for practical and esoteric reasons. I strive to be transparent and vulnerable in healthy ways, and yet maintain some semblance of privacy, especially for those closest to me, like my husband.

But we did a thing and it's such a big thing that it deserves a mention in the place where I have detailed some of the most important bits of my life. Presenting our first collaborative effort:

Bondye, all the lwa, and the power of our collective ancestors gave us the opportunity to bring this soul and newest ancestor into being. We are happy to have our little potato with us. This is what has kept me so quiet here; pregnancy is not for the weak and it was a ride I, your friendly neighborhood gender non-conforming houngan, never thought I would take....and yet life with the lwa brings new twists and turns and beautiful gifts. I was deadset on never having children of my own, and here I am with a little potato.

This has opened a wide new world for me and boy have the lwa had a lot to say before and after the potato arrived. They are a tiny pitit Ginen and the lwa have been clear that we can never forget that.

So...there's that. It's funny, but being the caretaker of a potato that the lwa are deeply invested in brings me back to why this blog was started in the first place: I was having experiences that I did not see reflected anywhere, so I decided to write it all down.

I am not the first parent in the world, of course, and absolutely not the first vodouizan to bring forth a child...but again I don't find anyone else with my particular constellation of experiences having a similar experience. This time, at least, I have plenty of people to call and chat with when I have questions about the intersection of Vodou and the potato.

I expect some of it will make it here and some won't. My rule about writing about people that are close to me is that they get to consent about what details I share. When I write about my (human) husband, I share it with him before it posts. As the potato has not yet developed the capacity for consent, what is presented about them will be limited. Their face won't make it onto Tumblr or any other platform or social media I write on, and personal details will remain as neutral as I can make them. If you are one of the folks who knows me in an offline kind of way, I'd ask you to respect that as well.

Other things:

Tomorrow, I will have a post about an upcoming opportunity to celebrate Kouzen. I had hoped to have something put together for his actual fet day on the 1st, but like November is given over to Gede, all of May is Kouzen's month. Look for details tomorrow.

By next week, I will be live on Medium. This will allow folks to get my long-form posts directly in their email or via the feeds they use elsewhere. My long-form posts will continue to be posted here, and I will continue to answer questions and interact with posts here.

Website is coming!

I am toying with launching some online educational opportunities and have some specific plans, but would also like to hear what folks are interested in having live educational opportunities on. I'll post separately about that as well.

My husband is launching his atelier, expect posts about what he has available as well!

So...how are you?

[superkooku]

honestly is it just me or do i just think the trope " Greek gods struggling in modern era due to lack of worship" is kinda stupid trope... like even if you dont count pagans

i just feel like the gods would try adapt to modern society and i feel like certain gods like Hermes , Hephaestus or Athena would benefit from it , while some others like Hades , Poseidon or Zeus dont really change that much since their domains are more nature based...

Like I think Hephaestus would be doing really well by the rapid advancement where he has boosted serveral other gods aswell like Hermes because of the internet. Hermes would be racking up so much money from all the side-hustles and delivery services that he ends up really rich because of that. Athena meanwhile could be a lawyer and instead of fighting on battlefield she fights Ares(also a lawyer) over the "evidence"

Thanks for this wonderful ask. I felt very inspired 😄

To me, the gods struggling in our modern world shows a lack of creativity

Because

They're struggling in USA ! Of course ! Let's use an American trope (fantasy being in modern world, fish out of water) in an American setting

Those are gods, inventors of many parts of our daily lives ! You're completely right, they should not struggle to blend in.

In fact, not only would they adapt to the world, they would also shape it.

How more creative would that be to world build an equivalent of our modern earth but with Greek gods having a huge influence. Maybe different countries are more associated to different gods, we could definitely incorporate some elements of history

And also, Greece would definitely be at the center. This is the gods' home country, it's capital has Athena's name, Zeus is from Crete, MOUNT OLYMPUS IS IN GREECE (or the planet Mars lol).

To me, with the gods around, it's impossible to make a world perfectly mirroring ours. They'd fundamentally change everything: no religious wars since there'd be one religion (except if we incorporate them all but it'd be incredibly messy), wars between mortals like in real life but also others that the gods orchestrate.

Festivals honoring them, rituals, various oracles, heroes from different eras. In the wild forest, one could meet nymphs, satyrs, heck even Artemis (naked if you're unlucky). Or stumble onto a dionysian procession.

How could one mix our world's scientific concepts with the magic from the myths ?

Hermes and internet is so simple yet amazing as an example. He'd also revolutionize business in ways that I can't describe because I suck at economy.

Obviously the nature gods (especially Demeter) would be extremely helpful or destructive based on how they're treated. The medicine gods would also make some wonderful discoveries.

Maybe the space exploration would be radically different, i feel Hephaestus would speed run the technological advancements (if he opens himself up to mortals), or maybe other gods do it. How would Helios and Selene react ?

Also, natural disasters will always be recorded as "Some idiot offended a god", because that trend doesn't seem to die out.

(for exp, COVID would happen because some guy vandalized one of Apollo's temples 😂.

Or x earthquake because someone offended Poseidon offended and he's feeling grumpy idk)

Ultimately, giving some mortals aka our counterparts achievements is still important, because they live in this world and still are conscious creatures. But the gods would be superior influences who could change everything based on a simple idea.

There'd be so many cool ideas ! Maybe turning it into a sci-fi Greek mythology themed Earth with heroic OCs ?

Stop making the gods hide from humans because "convention lol" and exploit the idea of their presence. That'd be so much more creative and just fun than the cliche secret fantasy world in USA.

I'm sure @margaretkart could provide a nice addition, since she already mentioned the possibility of modern AUs and new characters. And she'd expand on Greek culture specifically.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I would love to ask about the logistics, legal and financial options for a world with worldwide secret organisations that are not the government because they deal with things unknown by the government. I'm not sure how to deal with this other than completely ignoring all that and say it's just the way it is or if they ever do get on the government radar, the government is just given the complete runaround with no consequences.

Addy: So first off, you're going to need to think about the dynamics of how this all is going to actually work.

- where do they get their money

- what sort of regulatory body controls them/do they have relations with (as in who protects them/organizes things as they go abroad, how do they deal with political fallout if an agent gets caught, how do they bargain for access into closed countries, who do they have in their corner)

- how do they hire people

When you get any kind of organization with power, governments want to have some kind of relation for their own security. If some random person gets caught in a high-security area, the government officials in charge aren't going to go "oh, they refuse to answer our questions, I guess we'll give up"

You're going to get invaded. You're going to get a highly organized military force breaking down your doors, taking your family hostage, and tying you up and prying your jaws open so you can't crack open a suicide tooth. If you refuse to answer questions or play along, and they know nothing about you, they are going to assume that you are a threat that has infiltrated the area to an unknown extent, and they are going to excise that influence in their country.

That happened to a mafia family once when some of their guys ended up in the secure areas of a naval base that did work on nuclear subs. Their houses got broken into in the middle of the night with strange figures holding automatic weapons, and the whole family got strung up, strip-searched, and had their teeth checked. 

When the Navy found out that it was just a small gambling ring, they let 'em all go, because they didn't really care about that.

They cared about people trying to get access to highly sensitive files in a sensitive location in a controlled & classified environment.

You can do something like the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders, where it's an international service organization, but with a sort of dedicated task force for supernatural threats or diseases, but... governments don't like threats to their security

You could also have something like the Plumbers, which was an illegal group run by Nixon. They're the people who did Watergate. 

But also like... if you are *ever* part of an intelligence organization (like if you worked at the FBI food court or something), you cannot work in the Peace Corps. They will not accept you, because they do not want their reputation tarnished by aspersions of spies or whatever 

.... I think the closest equivalents I can think of are

- human trafficking organizations

- drug cartels (which are known *about,* to an extent, though the details are unknown)

- Epstein's island (money from an external source used to fund interior operations and stuff)

But seriously, how do you hire people? Who runs your food courts, how do you find interns? Who does your plumbing? What if they switch jobs (say they had a kid and want a different life), and they need to explain what they did on their resume? What about the daily commute?

Thought about it a bit more, have some extra thoughts:

I think it's really easy to look at something and go "oh, they'll just refuse to answer" without thinking about what that looks like for the people asking the questions. If I have someone in custody who I think may be part of some kind of terrorist cell (planting weird devices, asking strange questions, found in a place they were not supposed to have access to), I'm going to think that we have a security leak. Leaks are not be left to fester - leaks are arrested, charged with espionage, and imprisoned to use later as a political bargaining chip.

Everyday social interactions, if someone refuses to answer your question, you back off and let them be. That isn't how a government works, not with threats.

For the suspected terrorist/spy… Warrants, warrants everywhere. Your house, your family, your friends, your workplace, your digital information, everything - all of that is going to be pulled and examined because you are a threat and you are not talking.

If you want to give the government (any of them, really), you need to think about what that looks like and who your organization has in their corner to back them up. What's their leverage?

… can you tell I like spy dramas?

Licorice: the main obstacle to your scenario is this: “they deal with things unknown by the government.”  There are no things on the scale you’re thinking of - worldwide secret organisations - that are unknown to all governments. The security agencies of powerful governments know far, far more than they ever make known to the public. Worldwide secret organisations normally have a base of operations  in at least one friendly country where the government is sympathetic to their objectives. If those objectives are nefarious, then their activities are usually directly at some specific country, group of countries, or ethnic group. If, on the other hand, they are working for the good of humanity, then there usually isn’t much reason for them to be secret unless they’re handling something so scary (like aliens from outer space) that it’s deemed better the general public never know about it. 

One of the main purposes of government security agencies is to identify, monitor, and if necessary infiltrate, take over or destroy secret organisations. They’ve been doing this for a long time and are extremely good at it - much better than would-be secret organisations are at hiding themselves. No one gives government security agencies the runaround. Individual hostile agents may occasionally, through sheer luck or by identifying a rare blind spot, fly under the radar or slip through the net, but a whole big global organisation, for decades on end? That isn’t possible, not in this world.

[imperial--orthodoxy]

Re: Purgatory

I always assumed that the Orthodox believe in some type of purgatory too??? I was born and raised in Romania btw which is an Orthodox majority country. I myself am not Orthodox though I know the basics beliefs because it was taught in school.

If you don't believe in Purgatory or the Orthodox equivalent, why are things such as prayers for the dead practiced?? I'm specifically asking about things I see Romanian Orthodox practice. I went to the funeral of a professor last autumn and the priests prayed for the repose of his soul. (Whereas in a Protestant funeral you wouldn't do that because we believe there's nothing more you can do after the person died.) Any tragedy that happens, people light candles and put them on the graves of the victims, and those also symbolise a sort of prayer for the repose of their souls. And every year people go to pray for their dead loved ones and have a specific ritual for that. It's called pomană in Romanian. Google translate says "alms" but I'm not sure how accurate that it. Anyway people gather to pray for the dead person's soul years and years afterwards, and also eat some specific funeral food etc. There are many different customs in regard to death and burial. And traditionally especially in the countryside people do other rituals such as throwing chicken over the grave etc. (I'm not making this up). Maybe some are not truly in the theology of the Orthodox and just Romanian tradition but. I always assumed the prayers for the dead were inseparable from the doctrine of the purgatory.

I'm not TERRIBLY familiar with the Romanian traditions, but as far as I can tell from your description of the memorial service, it's not conceptually too different from what we have in the Greek tradition, even if some of the finer details are different.

One of the big things to remember is that despite being a very traditional form of worship, we don't really like to make things "official doctrine" unless we are ABSOLUTELY sure that it's correct, and things can understandably get confusing. There are of course monastics that will talk about the concept of Tollhouses but the level of acceptance amongst theologians, clergy, and laity is suspect at best. More pertinently, the memorial service makes no reference to any particular place of purgatory, nor is there any formal description of purgation or of any sort of cleansing that happens after death. What we do, is pray for God to forgive their sins and allow that soul (and ours when we die) to enter paradise. There is no positive or negative claim on whether or not God will do it, nor is there any sort of claim on whether a soul needs to go to a particular place known as Purgatory or even anything like the Tollhouses I mentioned. I can see why people might see that as a sort of purgatory, but as far as I know the actual doctrine of Purgatory formed in the West after the Schism. That all being said, what directly happens to us after death is a mystery, and it's probably a practice in futility to agonize over the direct accuracy of such details. I apologize for getting this out to you so late, I wanted to ask my Deacon about it at Sunday school just to make sure I wasn't making any more of a fool out of myself than I usually do.

[littlethingwithfeathers]

And listen... you can still live the homemaker dream. It's not an either/or situation. Not even a little. I'm the """domestic engineer""" for my polycule, but I absolutely have the ability, access, and knowledge to be independent if I needed to. Interdependence is absolutely okay and good in a lot of ways! I know -all- our mental health is better because house-stuff is taken care of. But it can leave you vulnerable if you depend on it blindly. Here's what you should do... -Have a bank account in your name. You don't have to do anything with it. But have it with a little money in it... enough to cover a month or so of bills so you're covered for a hot sec if there's an emergency. -If you've never paid rent in your name get your name on the rent/mortgage ASAP. (See also: me. I went from dorms to married and had no credit so my husband initially had all the rent stuff in his name but you can change it.) This gives you a credit history. -Same for anything you make payments on... car payment, utilities, internet. All that shit. Make sure it's in your name too so if something happens you are not in the fecal creek paddle-less. (not even like death or divorce... what if your partner ends up in the hospital for an extended time?) -Get your name on major assets. This is things like the deed to your home, cars, business stuff. It's yours too. Your work helps your partner be able to focus on their work which is how you afford those things. -Have a very small but real job. Medical transcription, hold down a desk in a nonprofit one day a week... something. That way you don't have a gap in your resume. And if at all possible, don't have it be a 1099 type job. Get a job with a W2. (Or whatever your country's equivalent is... basically get a job that contributes to taxes and social services for you) Or if you have a family business, make absolutely sure you're listed and paid as an employee with a job title. As an example, I do copyist work for our local symphony. It's maybe... 60 hours in a year. It's not much, and it doesn't pay super great, but this gives me a consistent work history and current references. -Get a credit card in your name and use it to buy one thing a month and then pay it off. Use it for something monthly and predictable, like an insurance payment or your google fiber payment (not another credit payment like a loan or credit card payment). Set that on autopay so that it has a zero balance at the end of the month. Otherwise, bury it in the backyard and don't use it. This will build your credit over time. (this is also good advice for building credit in general) Be involved with accounting for your household. You don't have to be the one paying the bills, but you should be able to access accounts, look at things, and make payments if you needed to. And you should be involved in major decisions if only for the practice. In my house this means any purchase over $200ish dollars gets at least a quick "Hey I want to buy this. Are we cool?" We also have a weekly meeting where we sit down and stare at our accounts and talk through expenses that have happened and are coming up. If you're being the domestic worker in your house, then you absolutely have a job that entitles you to access and a say in the money that work is helping to earn. (If the other partner(s) aren't doing laundry so they can work, then that's actually two people working). Also be present for major appointments with accountants, bank officials, and for major purchases like home/car etc. -Make sure if -you- the house-spouse are run over by a bus, your partner(s) have the ability to do -your- job. Make sure child care details are accessible to others in your household. Make sure any bills, services, accounts, etc in your name are all visible and accessible as well. If any of these are off limits to you because of any reason in the realm of "my partner wouldn't like it" or "our religion forbids it" please consider that's quite possibly abuse. Even """unintentionally.""" You are a whole person and deserve a say in your world.

the funniest thing about the tiktok tradwife craze is people learning financial abuse exists but like, as a hypothetical. "wait what if the relationship doesn't work out and you have nothing of your own and nowhere to go?" congratulations you figured out a common reason people remain in abusive relationships and why it's important to maintain some level of financial independence

[stusalgus]

Iceland

9 April

Our nightflight to Iceland was just shy of six hours. Compared to longer haul trips like NZ to HK or NZ to JP this didn't give us enough time to get in a decent snooze. Making things more difficult, perhaps was that we were flying through high latitudes, which meant that six hours of flight took us six hours into the future. So when we landed at about 6:30am it was 12:30am Chicago time, and we felt like it was very much bedtime first thing in the morning.

Iceland! This land of myth and adventure! Of ice and fire! Of eye-watering expensiveness! Our first task was to catch a coach into Reykjavik. The driver was very professional, and good thing too: we'd paid $250NZ for a return airport transfer. It seemed that as with other Scandanavian countries Iceland was a high tax nation.

The landscape on our drive into town could best be described as "desert roady", although it was principally made of frozen lava rather than layers of volcanic ash. We drove past the turn off to Grindavik, an evacuated village that has been under threat from volcanic eruptions over the past few months. The Grindavik sign had been politely taped through, with a certain finality. (On past behaviour the eruptions are likely to be happening on and off for a number of years, so Grindavik is considered to be over.) We saw clouds of smoke or steam rising from that direction. I'm not sure if it was the eruption or the famed (and now frequently closed) Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, or the power station that has also been threatened by lava It was odd having contact with a country's global news event, especially just a few miles out of the airport. But I guess much of Iceland is lava waiting to happen.

Reykjavik has a population of 140k but it managed to feel smaller than that, lacking a centre even as substantial as that of Nelson or New Plymouth. Instead the overall vibe felt more "Scottish fishing village". The morning was overcast and grey and many of the buildings were 1970s style and faced with stucco concrete, which seemed extremely bleak. Luckil other buildings were painted jauntier colours.

Given our tiredness it was with some relief that we were allowed to check in early to our hotel (Center Hotels). I think it's best practice for the jetlagged to stay awake as long as possible to adapt to the current timezone, but in this case we decided "bugger that", and went to bed.

Iceland's equivalent of TV2 only seemed to be showing a live volcano feed.

We awoke around 1pm local time and staggered out to visit the Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran church built to cathedral scale, which featured a string winged spire. Indoors it's pretty sparse per Lutheran taste, with a tremendous organ. A bloke sat down at a smaller organ to give an impromptu performance, although I got the impression he was practising for a later service. The walls were decorated in grey stucco similar to the grim buildings I saw earlier. Again it was a little offputting, but perhaps Icelanders are at home with grey.

Across the road we had lunch at a cafe called Loki, where we blew $150NZD on two dishes and a dessert. We shared a lamb rack, and some other Icelandic delicacies: dried fish with butter (the fibrous fish sort of functioning a bit like bread), and pieces of sweet ryebread with various fishs upon them. We even had small cubes of Iceland's infamous fermented shark. The texture was quite odd, but not out of the realms of a Chinese fish ball. The alcoholic aftertaste was more intriguing, though, but not an experience I feel an urgent need to repeat.

Overall, the lunch/dinner was excellent. Chicago had been a gastronomical ordeal for us, and I was glad to eat a meal that felt nourishing.

We had a bit more of a stroll around Reykjavik, in the more touristy end of town. We then retired for the night.

10 April

Today was day one of our two day tour of the south of Iceland, conducted by Nice Tours. Our guide/driver was named Pavel. He is a Pole who, like millions of his countrymen, has taken the opportunity afforded by the EU's open borders to make a new life anywhere in the EU that's not Poland. I like their gumption, but I think a native Icelander might have had more context to impart. Or maybe not; in any event he seemed a decent chap.

We left Reykjavik in sunshine and was immediately by the beauty of the landscape. The cliche is that you see something new in Iceland every few miuntes/miles, and I have to agree. By midday the clouds began to worsen, and eventually the sky became overcast.

The van had wifi (my first experience of 5G - well worth the UN mind control, I reckon; but I guess I would say that…), which proved disastrous as Angus spent most of driving time watching YouTube videos rather than enjoying the scenery, as most 9 year olds generally don't. It did keep him quiet - it's an ill wind, and that - but I lament the low quality of the content. (Meanwhile I listened to a multi-episode podcast about the American Revolution. Well, at least I kept looking out the window, and took innumerable photographs of rocks.)

Throughout the day I have to confess that there we had so many stops I'm having trouble remembering all of them. I can recall a big waterfall cascading downm a cliff. We also visited a vast 17th century lava field festooned with luxuriant deposits of moss. We saw various outlets for the Vatnajokull glacier including one up close. We also the famous diamond beach - a beach littered with lumps of ice) ejected by the glacier. (I tried not to think about how much of the Vatnajokull glacier will be left in a century's time.) In sunshine the diamond beach, with its glittering ice on black sand, is a wondrous sight. We got it with angry dark clouds and a late afternoon gloom. Getting back to the shuttle I found Pavel was showing Angus how to fly a drone, with our lad grinning away, having previously passed on the lumps of ice on the beach.

I should say something about the temperature. It was a few degrees above zero, but the wind chill took it well south of that - at least, that's how it felt. Pavel told us that to him this amount of cold was nothing. Nice for him, I suppose, but despite the number of layers we wore it definitely felt like something.

Around 7 we reached our accommodation for the night, a late 70s/mid 80s single story lodgey thing operated by a local farming family. It felt a bit eccentric, but not unpleasantly so. For dinner we ate a lamb burger (beef was off) and "lobster" (read prawn) pizza, along with a yoghurty cheese cake and some deep-fried dough. It was filling and tasty, and again, a joy compared to US food. (If you're wondering about our lunch, the most memorable aspect was a bowl of tomato soup, for which Iceland, with its year-round hothouse tomatoes, is famed.

We then retired for the night.

11 April

We had a quick breakfast livened by Angus locking himself in the toilet. Then we drove to the jojoskull glacier to venture into an ice cave. We got driven there in a 4x4 which went bumpity bump, and we put on hard hats and crampons/cleats to tramp up to the cave on the glacier ice. The translucent textures of the cave ice were remarkable esp interspersed with ash from innumerable volcanic eruptions. This will seem obscure, but what the the way remind me most of are the "magicube" flash bulbs that my grandfather had on his Kodak instamatic camera. We had an Icelandic guide, and I asked him how much the glacier was retreating. He said that in 1900 it was at the main carpark (at least a couple of km), but that the ice would return "in a few years", citing no evidence. I'm fairly sure this prediction goes against scientific orthdoxy, but I just nodded in agreement - partly out of politeness, and partly because I wished it was true.

On the way back down the glacier Angus tripped and sprained his ankle. Our guide, Pavel was attentive and we later made a special stop to get some anti-inflammatory cream.

After the ice cave we ended up at Black Sand Beach, which is exactly that, but it also has hexagonal lava columns, of which the most specatcular example is the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. The most impressive aspect of the beach though is the huge waves roiling angrily into the shore. There were lots of warnings not to go too near the water, and guides seemed particularly keen to warn people away.

Next we visited not one but two waterfalls, simultaneously. On the south coast there were lots of cliffs for water to fall off. There's not much to say other than the spray from the waterfalls drenched us, and the moss perched on adjacent cliffs absolutely loved it.

We came back to Reykjarvik and bade farewell to Pavel, before checking into a new Hotel, different instalment of Center Hotels, and sadly not quite as mod. Sally was keen for hot water after all that ice so we booked the spa for an hour. I have to say I'm not a fan of sitting in too-hot water (sitting in a bath at the temperature I want is preferable), and even Sally felt she was being cooked. Angus enjoyed himself thoroughly however, even if he spent more time capering outside the hot pool than in it.

We then retired for the night.

12 April

Today we had another bus tour, this time a day trip to the Snæfellsnes peninsula. We drove through a long tunnel under a fjord, and I wondered how a country with a population the size of greater Wellington could build such things when New Zealand seems incapable of creating infrastructure without decades of fuss and rancour. On reaching the peninsula we visited Kirkjufell, a pleasingly shaped mountain that I know chiefly from a Google Chromecast wallpaper image.

Though not much further north than Reykyavik, the Snæfellsnes peninsula was covered in a thick layer half melted snow that was tricky to walk across. We no longer had the boots we'd hired for Angus on the previous tour, so his feet got wet and cold, and he became increasingly miserable. This was the third day of bussing about, and the majestic vistas that had my eyes out on stalks two days earlier were getting a touch monotonous. What's more, our (native Icelandic) driver was a bit of a jerk, and I was missing my old mate Pavel.

Time passed by and we were returned to Reykjavik. We sauntered to the waterfront to get some dinner at a food court. We passed by Iceland's coastguard fleet (two ships, looking in good order). After dinner we checked out the the Harper, the Reykjarvik opera house. It's a flash modern building covered with glass polygons that recall Iceland's hexagonal basalt columns, or (in my head at least) fish scales. The building might be designated an opera house (perhaps to class it up) but it's got lots of different rooms, and - even at 9pm when we wandered in - had a feel like a community drop in centre. Again I was a bit regretful that Wellington is incapable of building something similar.

We then retired for the night.

13 April

We spent our final morning in Iceland wandering around Reykjavik. We bought more pastries from Braud. I should revise my "Scottish fishing village" assessment of Reykjavik from our first day. It turned out there was a modern commercial district, a precinct of government buildings a bit like a sawed-off Molesworth Street, an embassy row like a Nordic Thorndon, and so on. We visited the city council buildings, which were beset by swans and geese. We

Although I'd appreciated Chicago and could have done with another, more sedate week there, I hadn't felt sad to leave it. I was definitely sorry to be leaving Iceland.

At the airport bookshop there was a pile of copies of Njal's Saga, a 14th century transcript of a 10th century recounting of a bunch of goings on between Icelandic chieftains. I'd actually read Njal's Saga perhaps 25 years ago, as my flatmate Andy had a copy. I'd completely forgotten the story, however (and for good reason, as it's a bit rambling and there's a cast of thousands). On a whim I bought a copy and read it on the flight to Washington.

[sharpe-teeth]

omg i just saw your horse post i had no idea you worked with horses. perfect bc i have a question - i used to ride when i was younger and now i’m just interested in refreshing my horse husbandry/tack skills. basically i want to know as much as i can on how to take care of a horse, riding would be fun but not required. do you know if places offer any kind of workshops or lessons just for that?

Hi!! I do have some ideas for you!! The way I see it, you kind of have two options! A lot of this may depend on the country you live in. If you live in a country where the government owns most of the horse farms, it may be harder to find.

Option One is find a 501(c)3 nonprofit (or your county's equivalent) which is centered around horses in some way. Therapeutic Riding would be my top choice because they have a lot of oversight, but a good rescue facility will also suffice. Depending on your area, you may have horse-related "cultural centers" like the Kentucky Horse Park which require volunteers to run. All of these places are ALWAYS looking for people to help care for their horses, and will be happy to train you!

The benefit of volunteering at most places is that you usually sign up for a "shift" and when it's time to go, you go, so there is less of a chance for being taken advantage of.

Option Two is to look up some horse farms in your area and start sending out emails/facebook messages. Make sure you get "good vibes" from their websites or facebook pages. Basically just draft the same email to every one explaining 1.) what you are looking to learn, 2.) any work you are willing to do in exchange (ie muck stalls, groom, bathe), 3.) the day(s) and time(s) you would be willing to be there. Make sure it's really clear that you are savvy and smart, but a beginner.

This is important because the horse world is full of people who might see a beginner and try to take advantage of them. Be very clear about your boundaries, guard your time jealously, and if you EVER feel unsafe in a situation WALK AWAY.

I would be happy to answer any other questions you have and I would also be happy to help vet any farms you might be looking to reach out to!

I wish there were more opportunities for people who are looking to get involved in the horse world (especially as adults or outside of a lesson setting) and it's actually something i'm passionate about providing as a service whenever i own my own farm.

[fullkittenbear]

How Putting resources into the Tech Market Could Earn You a Lovely Cent

Experienced financial backers are bullish on the profits of putting resources into the tech market, and there are heaps of justifications for why. Despite the fact that we have seen some astounding innovation throughout recent years, numerous portfolio directors that spend significant time in tech stocks accept that customers haven't seen the best yet.

First of all, they notice the development limit of Web related innovation and media access in areas that are recently considered inaccessible, like Gold country. Surely, numerous monetary specialists accept that the grass is as yet green, taking into account that there is as yet an overall market of purchasers that need portable admittance to new data and emotionally supportive networks.

Beside the standard Web applications, numerous financial backers are searching for innovation that can be applied to different fields, for example, medication, medical services, and other related administrations. Money Road masters are in any event, saying that the tech market is buzzing, with a lot of tech stocks ready to go.

Since not all stocks are made equivalent, the genuine issue lies in distinguishing which ones truly do introduce a stable and generally trustworthy venture portfolio, particularly for those that are new to the tech market. As referenced above, stocks connected with medical care and medication are getting master gestures, as well as those from the interactive media, illustrations, security programming, and correspondence fields.

Envision this situation: a doctor rehearsing medication in a far off region in the far north, having the option to effectively and immediately talk with his partner at John Hopkins continuously, similarly as though both of them were sitting across a foot stool. Let the imagination run wild for a moment and benefits of having the option to send and get test results, analyze, and other basic data to and fro - all made conceivable through the tech market.

Envision likewise the upsides of clinical specialists and researchers having the option to share essential data on information empowered cell phones. Indeed, a portion of these innovations really do exist today, however the potential for development is phenomenal. Presently, envision that you're effectively putting resources into the tech market while these advances emerge. Not a terrible spot to be, isn't that so?

Also Read : Tech Stocks Exchanging For This moment

Medical care conveyance administrations are likewise getting a lift. I'm a major devotee of this and viewing the right organization could demonstrate as very productive.

There is something else to the innovation market besides iPhones and gaming workstations. The savvy financial backer in the tech market might want to grow his portfolio and require another glance at tech stocks, in the event that he hasn't as of now. In the present current world, expect to see innovation being applied in fields where you ordinarily don't anticipate it. What's more, it's smart assuming that you're not too far off when it works out.

[thebibliosphere]

This is more of a problem on Facebook and Twitter, but there are some fellow authors who get a tad... upset when you talk about money and royalty earnings.

Needless to say, my frankness about how royalties work and just how little many of us are earning from our labor has drawn the ire of a few people, even here on Tumblr.hell.

I'm not particularly bothered by this. In my view, they're the same people who won't discuss wages in the workplace because they don't want anyone else to earn what they do. They know the system is unfairly rigged, but they like it that way because they're scared if more people are educated about how things work, they'll lose whatever competitive edge they think they have, thus enforcing the status quo.

Needless to say, I don't care for this view.

I'm very much a "holy shit, two cakes" kind of creator. I also very firmly believe in pulling people up behind me and spreading the wealth of information that was shared freely with me by other like-minded individuals who also believe that the mysteries around publishing are gatekeeping bullshit and everyone deserves the chance to earn money from their creative endeavors, not just the people who can afford to.

Anyway, David Gaughran's 'Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish And Why You Should' is an invaluable resource for indie authors and provides great insight into how publishing and distribution work. It is available for free through the retailers listed on his website.

If you don't want to publish exclusively through Amazon, draft2digital.com does global ebook and also paperback distribution. (I've only used it for ebooks, but I'll be trying out their paperback options for my next book.) You can pair it up with a books2read account to create easy-to-post buy links. Draft2Digital also allows for distribution through library lending services like Overdrive. So that's neat. (NB: if you use d2d, you can't use Kindle Unlimited, so be aware of what links you have active and where if you decide to enroll in KU. You can always opt for wide distribution again once your KU time expires.)

D2D also recently partnered with FindawayVoices.com for audiobook distribution. You can find voice actors there, or you can upload your own files if you already have them. You can submit to Audible through them, too, but you'll earn a pittance more if you upload directly through Audible. Findaway also allows for library lending distribution through Libby and several other global equivalents.

If you need ISBNs, you can buy them cheaper in bulk from Bowker at myidentifiers.com

Individual storefront options like Payhip.com and Gumroad.com are also great ways to allow people to buy directly from you, though I soured on Gumroad after the whole NFT thing and their CEO harassing people on Twitter over it. Payhip is now my preferred storefront, and as an added bonus, they calculate VAT in European countries as well, so that's one less thing for me as an indie author to work out. As an added bonus, Payhip can be directly integrated into your author website if you have one. It's a feature I'll be implementing soon.

itch.io also allows for the sale and distribution of ebook files, though I haven't used it yet.

If you don't have the means to hire a cover designer or the means to do it yourself in photoshop, Canva.com has some decent-ish ebook templates. Just make sure the images and fonts you're using have the right licenses for commercial use.

Editing and formatting are also extremely important, though I know not everyone can afford them. If you can, I highly suggest doing so and shelling out extra to have them format your work across mediums. Ebook formatting is different from paperback formatting, and it can look very strange if you just try to format an ebook into a pdf. It is a skill you can teach yourself (plenty of youtube videos) if you really want to, but I prefer to throw money at my editors, who provide formatting as an additional service. Whatever you can afford to do to streamline the process is money well spent.

Also, do not be shy about using affiliate links to sell your work. Authors lose a solid chunk of money to places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, etc., in distribution fees. Whatever pennies you can scrape back through affiliate links for directing traffic to those sites is hard-earned--and it is literal pennies sometimes. You can also integrate any affiliate links you do have into draft2digital, so they auto-generate, which is handy.

When it comes to paperbacks, BookShop.org offers the best affiliate earnings, and a percentage of the sale goes toward supporting indie bookstores. They do not take that percentage from your earnings, they pay it themselves. Libro.FM is the audiobook equivalent of BookShop.org, and they also give a percentage of sales to supporting indie book stores.

Anyway, I hope that helps someone. Good luck out there.

Also, if you're the person who sent me the irate email about "giving away trade secrets," feel free to die mad about it. 😘

[argylepiratewd]

Proofreading commissions open!

Money has gotten super, super, super tight for me lately, and my bank balance keeps sinking down to numbers that scare me. I'm also hoping to branch out into freelance proofreading properly in the near future, and I'd like some more experience and some stuff for a portfolio under my belt. Soooooo, I'm offering up my services as a proofreader to the wilds of ye ol' hellsite! Yay? Yay! \o/

Who are you?

Hi, I'm WD! I'm someone who's been on Tumblr since before boobs got banned and in fandom for way too long. IRL, I've been proofreading for a weekly newspaper publication for over five years. Local happenings, sports recaps, opinion pieces, obituaries, legal notices, ads, poems—I have proofread them all. Nearly every piece of writing that gets published each week goes through me, and I am trusted to be the last guaranteed pair of critical eyes on a piece of text before it goes to the press. Very little escapes these peepers.

I'm also a writer. I've been writing fiction for close to 20 years, and I've been cleaning up my own words for as long as I've been writing. I know how important your words are to you and how much you want them to sparkle and shine without the tarnish of typos. Let me help your precious words!

What are you offering?

Proofreading. I hunt down the typos and grammatical errors and other pesky problems in your work, mark where they're at, and send it back. I'm not serving as a full-blown editor—I'm the person who tells you where to aim your power washer...or something like that. I'll probably offer a little style input, too. Can't help myself. And you're more than welcome to go, "Nah, I'm not changing that," afterward. I won't mind.

Details, rates, and more under the cut:

What will you proofread?

Stuff under 10k words only, please. Fiction or nonfiction. Fanfiction welcome, though I cannot guarantee familiarity with your fandom.

I'm willing to read erotica, mpreg, A/B/O...a whole bunch of other stuff. If you want to be sure, ask.

I prefer to work with Google Docs, but I'm willing to use Word if that's your Thing.

What will you not proofread?

Works that are over 10,000 words (I'm trying to conserve my spoons here; if it's just a teensy bit over, talk to me)

Works in languages other than English

High school (or lower grades, or your country's equivalent) homework

Dense, jargon-y texts; sorry, but I am le tired well have a nap

Works featuring animal harm, incest, graphic human-on-human noncon, scat, or explicit sexual content featuring characters under 18

Works promoting homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, or other discriminatory topics along those lines. I'm willing to give stuff including these things a look-see if it's part of a plot, but not if you're being mean. Meanness is unnecessary. Just let people live.

Anything requiring me to do math. Math and I are not friends.

Heavily religious content

I will not work with people under 18 years old. Sorry.

I reserve the right to decline any proofreading job for any reason.

How much? How to pay?

Default Rate: $0.01 USD per word, minimum charge $5 for works that are 500 words or less.

Rush Orders: $0.03 per word, minimum $15 for 500 words or less. Guaranteed Turnaround Time: 24 hours for works of 5k words or less, 48 for longer ones.

Rush+ Orders: $0.05 per word, minimum $25 words or less. Turnaround Time: 12 hours for works of 5k words or less, 24 for longer ones.

A 5% discount is also available if you're willing to let me include your work in a proofreading portfolio in the future. I'm willing to let you stay anonymous, if you'd like. Discount not available for fanfiction or rush orders.

Rush orders not available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. Those days belong to The Day Job™. I will only take one rush order at a time.

Payment due upfront using PayPal, Ko-Fi, or Cash App. Full refund will be given if I cannot complete the commission. For rush orders, partial refund will be given if I fail to get the piece back to you within the agreed upon time.

I have something much longer than 10k, and I really want you, WD.

Can we work something out for more money?

If you give it to me in sporadic chunks, sure.

Can I pay you with something besides money?

Sorry, my bank account is crying at the moment, and last time I tried giving the bank offerings of priceless, beautiful blorbo tears and blood, they said no. :( Capitalism, am I right?

Will you do this for free?

No, sorry.

But—

No.

How do I request your services?

Either through this handy form or by email. Much as I love this beautiful hellsite, I know how temperamental it is. My email address is argylepiratewd at gmail. Note: This is NOT my PayPal email address.

If you choose to use email, please put [PROOFREADING] at the beginning of your email subject line, or [RUSH PROOFREADING]/[RUSH+ PROOFREADING] for a rush order. Include word count and a description

I can't afford/don't need your services, but I want to help you out. Can I toss you a few bucks?

Sure! My Ko-Fi is here, and I'll give you my PayPal or Cash App info on request.

Reblogs are also very much appreciated. Please reblog! 💖

[olderthannetfic]

i saw a thread on twitter saying that otw elections being only for $10+ donators is intentionally leaving out people from the global south and other financially challenged people. i know that it's kind of BS but i cant exactly put my finger on why

--

It's not entirely BS.

Literally any price point has this issue. $10 is quite a chunk of change for some countries and is less than 2 fancy coffees for others.

We discussed this when we were setting up OTW. We opted not to have a labor-instead-of-money thing because it would involve keeping "Fannish name X is wallet name Y" records. I think we can all see that this practice would lead nowhere good.

(In nonprofits that are some uncontested "save the children" stuff, I think it would make sense to allow people to donate services instead of $10. People serve in those under their wallet names anyway.)

We also opted not to make it $1 because if you put it very, very low, it's not an effective deterrent to people from rich countries who would misuse it.

People do try to game the Hugos, which is expensive, but it's people who might well already have attended those cons or bought the supporting memberships. For a lot of things, once you get above a couple of dollars, the temptation to buy 5 in your friends' names goes away.

--

Moreover, this is not the only way that money shit is unfair internationally.

In the early days, we couldn't accept donations from a lot of places. I'm sure there are still some where it's an issue. There are tons of fans who could save up the equivalent of $10, but they can't get a credit card or access to Paypal or any of the easy ways to send money to the US.

Being an international organization of this type means providing services to a wide array of people who simply can't participate financially.

--

Building something like AO3 is inherently the work of people with more resources for the purpose of benefiting a larger community with fewer.

It sucks that some passionate people simply cannot participate in voting. But that's the reality of organizations: sometimes, practicality has to trump being scrupulously "fair" about giving absolutely everyone a turn.

Making a system where the barriers to entry were so low that douchebags in the US could flood in with spurious voting accounts would also not be fair to people from the global south who just want an uncensored archive that stays up.

--

I think it's less that the OTW rule itself is unfair and more that it highlights inequality that already exists and is a fact of life.

In an ideal world, sure, OTW would find a way to charge different prices depending on local cost of living. Maybe they will one day. But doing that requires time and resources. There is no magic "Be fair and nice to everyone! It costs nothing!" answer here.

--

So basically, I think that observation is true as a literal fact.

The reason it smells fishy is that you can tell the people saying it have ulterior motives.

They want to pretend that the ~noble oppressed people~ of the world would side with their pro-censorship message. Or they want other whiny people from rich countries to agree that OTW is Big Unfair Meanies. It's not actually about figuring out how to get the ability to vote to specific fans who genuinely want it.

I'll also note that you don't have to be a voting member to be a volunteer or a staff member or to run for the Board. Someone with few financial resources but with time and skills could still have a fair amount of power in OTW.

There are other practical realities aside from money that are also not fair, like many volunteers being in one time zone and not another, so realtime meetings will suck for the outlier. OTW operates in English and has a strong American contingent; culturally and linguistically, that excludes people who are nonetheless welcome to post works on AO3. Working for OTW requires a lot of free time and specific skills. Not everyone has those.

Life ain't fair.

[greatlordfluffernutter]

So I get the part about nft's basically being the crypto equivalent to those "buy a star" websites but I'm still confused on how they're bad for the environment if it's just the world's worst art commission service. If you feel like it, could you explain?

Sure thing!

Doing crypto stuff, especially NFTs, requires a lot of computing power in order to ensure everything stays accurate. I'm fuzzy on the details rn cause I just woke up and can't recall everyone properly but just know that you need to put a bunch of computers through a lot of work to do this stuff.

How does that hurt the environment? Simple. Having that many computers running that much to do something that stupid requires a lot of electricity. Statistically speaking that electricity comes from coal or oil or some other nonrenewable source of pollution. Crypto companies are using more energy than entire countries leading to way more resource consumption than before.

I guess theoretically if we went pure renewables maybe it could work but that sounds like a waste of solar panels.

[moonraccoon-exe]

Hi, Connie. I know it's been a while since you did any headcanons and idk if you still do them, but I'm curious of your opinion. I realize the wall is one giant quarantine bubble, but the people are still free to do as the please inside it. How do you think each of the chocobros would handle an Insomnia-wide quarantine like what's going on in most of the world right now? What if one of them got sick (assuming a FFXV equivalent of COVID-19?) How would Regis, as King, take care of his people?

PS: Aparently the Keep Reading line is having some troubles. May appear right under the question (how did it get THERE?) or nowhere at all lol pls forgive tumblr he trying. 

HEEEEEEEEEELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s definitely been a while since I did any headcanons, but that’s because school has kept me busy like crazy, and when I have spare time, I put it into my two big fanfics going on (I don’t want people to wait too much!) but I’ll definitely keep doing these, every single one of them, until I finish, even if it takes me years and years <3

The ask prompts are one of my favorite things in the world so of course I’ll keep them going!

HOH

YOUR PROMPT IS SUPER INTERESTING!!!!! AYYYYY, let’s see what this raccoonie brain has there!! 

FFXV Insomnia in a quarantine

First things first, the government

Regis, as King:

Regis is going all the way into making sure EVERYONE can stay home.

Regis is going to ask the other countries to lend Lucis money. As in. M I L L I O N S.

“Your Majesty, you ARE aware we’re nowhere half to repaying that debt in a near future?”

“THIS IS A LITERAL PLAGUE WITH NO CURE YET THAT’S KILLING DOZENS SOME OF WHICH THEIR FAMILIES CAN’T SAY GOODBYE TO AND YOU W O R RY  A B O UT   T HE  E  C O NO M Y   ¿¿¿? ?!??”

Regis has brain and, most importantly, humanity. He’s definitely going to put the country in debt for the next 15 kings is that helps people right now.

Mostly because he’s aware it’s no one’s fault. 

Regis is announcing what he’s going to do to keep people safe publicly:

The next three months of any loans are forgiven. Mortgage, rent, water, electricity, and all the public services will be free for the next three months. If you own any debts, be it a house or a little clock, you don’t have to pay on the next 3 months, and instead that amount will be divided into future months in small amounts so it’s recovered in the medium or long run. No one needs to spend one gil in any of the basics, don’t worry about that, it’s covered, government’s got you, SO PLEASE STAY HOME. 

Regis is aware that some people can’t stay home because what little they earn is what they spend in basic food; Regis is going to spend lots of the money he burrowed in them.

Regis is going to pay as well to teachers and artists for online classes and entertainment, because he’s aware of the mental/emotional distress people can be in after certain time indoors. 

Regis is going to put most the money in the medical and cleaning services.

Regis is going to keep online and phone polls for people to fill in particular cases (I still need to go out because I need to go look after my mother each friday, I still need to go out because I need to go get medicines each certain time at this district) so the Citadel’s intel know best what to do.

Regis is going to make sure to have teams sanitizing public transport and places everyday.

Regis is a no-game man, dammit.

((Regis is the reason Insomnia only needed three months before being free))

Makes sure the media broadcasts not only the death cases, but also and most importantly the healed cases. Not gonna let the media get stupid with this for money or paranoia, no sir

Noctis, as prince

DID YOU THINK HE WAS JUST GOING TO MOP, THIS IS THE PRINCE

(Remember the game tells us he was a damn good prince as in politically? what a bean <3)

Noct was taken more off guard; Regis acted immediately like a (good) madman, Noctis still needed a bit to process it

Noct is who comes up with some ideas that Regis puts into action (the phone/online polls, the online classes, for example)

Noct too manages some of the intel going on during quarentine to see how the city is progressing and how else they can help.

Noctis is in charge of the interviews along the...health minister (?) everyday, while Regis stays at work and intel.

Noctis makes sure to do a livestream each certain days to greet the people, answer questions, or just have a bit of fun, and to remind them to stay home and to keep the spirits up. We know Noct would rather rot in boredome in his sofa because Sleepy Boy, but he knows the effect he has on his people, so he does the livestreams for them; to keep them entertained, informed, and simply to keep them sane.

Noctis came up with the idea of making an app/text service for those that suffer of domestic violence; “staying home” sounds easy to him because he has a huge house and a good family, but he’s aware that not do everyone. 

(Putting a keep reading here)

Noctis

Sleeps it away lmao

Honestly Noct doesn’t have much troubles with the whole “stay home” thing. He likes home. He LOVES staying home. LET HIM STAY EVEN AFTER QUARENTINE IS OVER.

Noct has videogames and his bed. You don’t need to tell him twice to stay home. 

Noct sleeps most of the day. 

Noct decides to not shower everyday.

The only trouble Noct goes through is that his room starts getting super messy everyday and Ignis isn’t going to appear to help him out. 

Noctis spends his time doing homework and mumbling about how “teachers didn’t use to give us this much homework until quarentine, this is just their excuse goddammit fuck this shit”

I feel you Noct

Besides that, videogames, trash food, and sleeping.

It’s 9 pm, he’s in pajamas. That he hasn’t taken off in three days. 

It’s 6 am and Noct is out of bed. He hasn’t slept since 2 am.

What is this guy’s sleep schedule.

Despite the careless and carefree attitude, Noct still worries. He still has to stay the most informed, as the prince, of the international and national situation, and it sometimes gets stressful.

When Noct sees numbers grow and a gloomy future, he gets stressed but won’t say it; that careless attitude is his way of coping. Like pretending it’s not true.

Noct worries about the poor, too, and the low and working class. He too came up with more ideas along with Regis to keep them safe too and not force them to work while the middle and upper classes stay indoors like it’s not the big deal.

Noct thinks a lot about Prompto. He knows he doesn’t need to go out too much, but he also knows how much of a terribly, horribly emotional distress Prom is in when staying at his house for too long.

Noct takes up on video-phoning Prom, everyday. His best boy can’t be sad, stressed, or messed up, and he’s going to keep him sane and cheer him up everyday. 

Noct may or may have not ended up inviting Prompto to spend quarentine at the Citadel with him. He hadn’t finished saying it when Prom was already at the Citadel’s door asking to be sanitized before going in.

If he got sick, everyone around him would be more scared than him LMAO

“OHNOTHEPRINCEISILLHE’SGOINGTODIEIAMNOTREADYFORTHISNOOOOOOOOO” 

Noct: so can I skip online school like this?

He’d be looked after with almost paranoia, there’s only two of the Lucis Caelum alive and honestly losing the heir and only one that can have kids at this point to the virus woulnd’t be very epic on history books

Noct IS worried, just pretending he’s not. 

Noct is going to avoid Regis LIKE A PRO. He’s going to ask to live somewhere else, will ask to sanitize his room and keep it locked, will ask that Regis gets nowhere near ANY of his belongings. Basically, Noct is going CRAZY over avoiding Regis...so Regis doesn’t catch it :’’( 

What a pure bean

Even if Regis tries visiting him, and even if the whole place is sanitized and like a little bubble away of the rest of the world, Noct will still not want him to come inside. 

Honestly, this is going to make Regis really, deeply sad and maybe even hurt. He wants to stay positive, but he keeps thinking of what if Noct dies to it, and not only dies, he’d also die without having held him for a last time or seen him.

They meet through the window. They phone each other and just touch through the closed window... :’) </3

Noct knows he may be over protecting Regis, but he’s honestly not going to have it any other way. He has way more than enough watching his old man grow old too fast from the Ring to run the risk of giving him this stupid virus. If he has to make his old man sad in order to keep him healthy, SO BE IT. 

Ignis

He’s fine.

He’s just so cool with this.

“Ah, of course. A plague. It was our turn, as was expected.”

...w...what are you talking about, Ignis.

He’s barely impressed. 

Master of following instructions, they told Ignis to stay home and THAT he did.

The store? The neighbor? Just an inch outside his main door? NO. THAT’S NOT INDOORS.

It’s not that he’s paranoid, he’s just not bothered by the idea fo not going out and he knows that the more he stays home the faster this will pass that he just. Stays in, sometimes not even looking out the window for a day or two.

Ignis still phones Noct each two days to remind him his room is messy do something because I won’t, or do nothing, the cockroaches will help you with the crumbs and leftovers in a day more.

Ignis isn’t bored. He still has home office and paperwork to do, the poor, young, miserable thing. 

In his spare time he likes doing stuff he likes, as he normally didn’t have the time to do. 

Ignis is making sure to call the other chocobros to make sure they’re ok. He’s particularly attentive to Prompto.

Boy is having video calls with Gladio because Best Friends. 

Ignis attempts to do as your raccoonie; will try to finish two-week worth of his paperwork in one or two days t o have the rest of the time free LMAO

(I hope, unlike me, he’s succeeding at that)

Ignis worries mostly about others and the outside Lucis. He takes up on the advantage of being bros with the prince to suggest something, that Noct can suggest to Regis to make it better for as many people as possible.

If he got sick, he’d attend hospital and not go out until he’s 100% okay AND spent 2 weeks with no fall back into it. 

He’d thank the doctors and nurses like every five minutes honestly. Iggy appreciates they’re doing such high risk job, keeps admiring them. Dammit.

He would accept no visits. Is it the prince? tell him to FUCK OFF. 

Mostly the throne family Ignis won’t dare visit even after he’s healed.

“IGNIS IT’S OK YOU’VE BEEN FINE FOR A MONTH”

“TALK TO ME WHEN QUARENTINE IS OVER AND/OR THERE IS A VACCINE, GET THE FUCK OFF MY FRONT YARD”

Ignis is not overly worried about the illness. He has stupidly strong defenses and can see himself getting out of this. He worries just what’s normal but keeps spirits up with all the numbers of healed cases.

Go Iggy! 

Gladio

Surprisingly, he’s taking this really well.

Gladio’s sort of more scared than the rest at the news; he was so prepared for physical enemies, the idea of an abstract, non-physical one suddenly sweeps him off his feet.

But he handles it well. So long he doesn’t watch the news.

Gladio won’t listen or read the news on the virus; he’s aware of it, he’ll take care and be careful, but he won’t read or hear numbers or updates, he’ll just live this out until it’s over.

Gladio takes his mind off it with indoor exercising, lots of it. 

Gladio’s job was mostly physical, so he takes on the advantage that he has nearly no chances of home office to do stuff he likes; mostly, this nerd will drown in history documentaries on KupoTube, will watch the equivalent of Disney and Dreamwork movies, will read like the world is ending, and will take up on online courses.

He likes crafts. Okay? Leave him alone and let him give his baby steps into watercolor painting. 

Gladio is video calling Noctis. To force him to exercise LMAO

“OY, NOCT, THIS IS PRE-RECORDED, DO YOU THINK I’M AN IDIOT? COME BACK HERE TO YOUR COMPUTER OR IT’LL BE WORSE”

Gladio is holding back a Desperate-To-Go-Out Iris.

She’s not irresponsible, she just HATES INDOORS LET ME GO OUT IT’LL BE JUST AROUND THE BLOCK

Gladio’s not letting Jared go ANYWHERE

“SOMETHING HAPPENS TO YOU AND I DIE, YOU STAY HERE, I’LL GO BUY GROCERIES AND DON’T YOU DARE GET ANYWHERE NEAR ME AFTER I’M BACK UNTIL I’VE SHOWERED”

Gladdy it’s ok :’)

A bit paranoid when it comes to others, though will still be a bit paranoid about himself.

Gladio is mostly calm about it; just a few times every now and then he’s stressed and a bit too troubled for an easy sleep.

Video calls Iggy every day because Best Friends.

Iggy keeps him sane, the baby :’(

Honestly, Gladio also makes sure that Ignis is ok. Ignis is always looking after all other three, but Gladio is who’s most aware of looking after Ignis. Ignis won’t say it, but he’s probably feeling very lonely after a month indoors, as his family won’t pay much attention to him. Gladio’s making sure to keep him happy, distracted, and in good spirits, and in company.

If he got sick, he’d probably have a very bad emotional time at first.

Gladio would cry and think nearly for sure that he’s dead already.

Not like in drama, he would seriously get sad and be very, very scared :’(

Same than Noct, he wouldn’t let Clarus near him or any of his belongings, nor Jared. Not Iris either, of course, but he worries more for the older men.

Gladio would probably not do very well emotionally in hospital. He’d spend there the necessary time, but then he would probably like most to be in an apartment for himself if available or in his room without letting anyone near. 

Gladio will keep thinking of the chances to live or die, of how scary the idea of a virus with no cure is, will get really gloomy and negative on it.

His family try to provide emotional support, but every time they call Gladio just drowns himself in ideas like what their family would do if he died and it just makes him sadder

The doctors and Iggy are what keep his spirits up, to be honest.

The sadness lasts the first days. AFter that, Gladio’s going to handle the ilness like a DAMN WARRIOR

“YOU INJECT THAT THING, DOC, BRING IT ON”

A new treatment and the consequences are unsure? BRING IT ON.

Whatever it is, Gladio’s HEAD IN FOR IT

Baby boy just needed some time to process it. After that he’s just taking it so lightheartedly, even the doctors get cheered up at his bright attitude towards it.

“You’ve progressed on a 1%”

“HELL YEAH ONE PERCENT!!!!!!!!!!! :D”

What a beautiful boy omg

Prompto

This one is the chocobro that REALLY gets hit by quarentine.

Prompto’s not hyperactive, he can stay indoors if they ask him to...the problem is his house.

Prompto gets easily anxious staying at home for too long. He spent his childhood locked away in there, isolated. No parents, no friends, nothing. He stayed locked away in what was the toughest moments of his life. He doesn’t hate indoors, he hates indoors at his house. It brings all of that back.

Prompto’s trying to keep all the lights on to make it less like in his childhood; gets easily guilty remembering the huge debt the King put himself into so he doesn’t have to pay for electricity and now he’s wasting it. 

Prompto gets easily anxious around food nowadays. Remembers it was staying indoors doing but eat what got him so fat and lonely.

(Prommy it’s ok, fat is not bad :(( this poor angel )

Honestly Prompto’s so busy emotionally stressing over being indoors at his house that the pandemic in the world isn’t even super concerning, it’s just as if there was a storm outside; he knows it’s bad and that not everyone can stay safe from it, but he’s just worried in his own situation at home.

His parents get to stay indoors with him for home office, which is as good as it is bad.

For some reason it’s not so comforting because it makes Prompto think of how absent they used to me. For some reason, it also IS comforting because unlike his childhood, at least they’re there now.

Prompto tries to make the best out of this and tries bonding with them when they’re not busy.

It actually works <3 They don’t get overly emotional or anything but they get to spend some good time together, watch movies, talk more, etc.

It helps Prom with the food issue that Dad does the cooking this time.

Good as his parents are with him during quarentine, it’s home, like the physical place what keeps gnawing at his emotional health.

Prom is going to try EVERYTHING to keep himself distracted. 

Iggy phones him constantly, which helps a lot. Noct videocalls him everyday, which really keeps him up.

Prom is taking BUNCHES of online courses and classes, bECAUSE THIS BOY LOVES DOING AND LEARNING STUFF

Week 6 of quareantine, Prompto has made his own jacket out of kitchen towels. It’s...actually impressive.

If he got sick, he too would be paranoid.

More than sad, Prompto would be openly scared and nervous.

EXTRA

The chocobros as a Four:

They’re having online video parties and meetings.

The four got a pizza each. They’re video meeting, and pretending it’s the same pizza lol

“YOU ATE THE LAST SLICE HOW DARE YOU, I TOLD YOU I WANTED IT!!! >:’‘(”

The guys are showing their quarentine achievements to each other.

“Look, I’ve let my feet nails long because I don’t need shoes anymore and I shaped them like I’m a dragon haha”

“Oi look, I learned a new trick with my yo-yo”

“Look how GREASY my hair is right now haha. what do you mean if I’m attending the national interview later like this, of course I am”

The chocobros are sending each other online courses that they think the others or one of them will like

They’re having one of those online movie in different computers together. 

Also multiplayer games because they can.

Ignis wins every time. 

The chocobros are playing a 4-members Squad mode in Battle Royale games. Noct and Prom are okay. Ignis is the Pro. Gladio is the bait.

Iris:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Cor: 

Cor is surprisingly calm about this.

Cor is spending his time meditating.

Cor has barely any paperwork, as his work is mostly physical, so he gets a lot of time free with Regis’ politics for a proper literally-no-need-to-go-out politics. Meditation that is.

Cor is phoning Prompto each now and then, too. 

Prompto would answer happily that he’s fine and with no virus. Cor finally once tells him he’s not asking if he’s ok about the virus. Prom needed no more explanation and just said he was ok, if a little sad.

Cor is working out at home.

Cor is getting bored.

Cor is reading, watching series, or meditating, or cooking just for the sake of it.

Cor just has one problem.  He’s a workaholic. You give him no work, this man starts slowly having a meltdown and descent into the abyss of madness. He needs to die of stress, how else do you expect him to live?

The first weeks were fine. After the first few weeks Cor starts getting anxious about needing work to do.

Cor you stupid thing 

Cor is starting to get distracted in meditation because he keeps getting anxious about working in something.

Cor starts phoning Regis.

“Do you have any paperwork for me now?”

This is every two days. 

Regis COULD have given him something. Regis doesn’t. Cor needs to learn to know how to be AT PEACE FOR FUCKING ONCE.

Cor is making paperwork up to work on lol

Cor was diagnosed with the virus. They put the virus in quarentine for its safety. 

[script-a-world]

(sorry this is long) I'm creating a fantasy matriarchal society that's a combination of like America post WW2 and like the amazons/valkyries crossed with magical girls. I could use some help figuring out the gender dynamics, since part of my goal is to use the swap to highlight some inequalities that still exist in our gender expectations today by flipping them. I'm trying to figure out if it's better to have the men be primary caregivers (1/?)

since there’s no reason to assume that the gender that gives birth has to be the caregivers) or if I should go the “matriarchal society would value childrearing above other jobs” route. Some thoughts I had: Women are the main magic-users in society (magical girl/amazons blessed directly by the god who rules the city with power)and that perhaps all young women are expected to go through military service of some sort before becoming matrons, politicians and doctors. (2/?)

Maybe women are associated with Life and Death and “important duties” that revolve around them, including duties regarding both killing and saving lives. So healing, leading armies, fighting, hunting, childbirth (possibly care?) and politics are feminine jobs, while “lesser duties” that revolve more around menial labor are relegated to men (manual labor, maintenance, ‘uneducated’ jobs, support jobs like scribe and secretary, cooking, cleaning, perhaps some jobs like fashion design or art). (3/?)

Do you think this is a good balance? What are some other ways I could divide gender roles? The world situation is a magical land with about early 20th century level tech (trains and private schools and like phones/radios).Also, what is the best way to objectify men in this society? I was thinking of making it so men are seen as useless/only for the purpose of providing sexual pleasure and siring children to women. (4/?)

They don’t’ actually create children or take the ‘important jobs’ (the poor dears just don’t have the brains for it, they’re too simple and direct, men don’t have the emotional maturity to handle serious issues, they lack empathy, they only want sex anyway so it’s not like you need to worry about their emotional needs, etc). I’d love some suggestions on how a society like this might work or if there are other ways to divide the gender roles, (5/?)

as well as some ways men might experience objectification in society. How would fashion be different, and how would this society put pressure on men to look or act in certain ways (and women as well). Any suggestions? Thanks, and sorry for the long question(6/?)

Mod Miri Note: If you have a question that requires multiple asks, please use the google form! That way there’s no risk of parts of the question being lost.

Tex: “Do you think this is a good balance?” No, I do not. I disagree with the notion that a group of people ought to be objectified, neglected, abused, pigeon-holed, or otherwise mistreated under the guise of inversion as a way to tout a certain prescription of thought. I think this methodology perpetuates stereotypes, and with stereotypes come all the -isms that are used as excuses to treat people poorly just because they’re different from the originating group.

I’m going to be radical and say “none of the above”. There’s a few reasons for my answer, but aside from the brief overview in the previous paragraph, let me go through and try responding to all of your points in a more precise manner.

Let’s start with American culture post WWII - and I’m going to assume that, because of this choice, you’re working from an American perspective. This is important! But I’ll handle that detail in a bit.

Post-WWII culture is heavily influenced by WWII culture. For women, this meant enlistment in the military, as well as filling the gaps in the domestic labor force left by men being shipped off (History.com, The Atlantic). Their service in the military - quite often voluntary - was as critical and crucial as their domestic work (Wikipedia 1, Wikipedia 2, Wikipedia 3). They usually received lower pay than men, true (though interestingly the women in the UK were often treated better; Striking Women), though governments of the time admitted that without women the war effort would have crumpled.

Rosie the Riveter is a popular piece of propaganda (where it was also considered patriotic for women to join the workforce and military service; National Women’s History Museum), but don’t let that dissuade you from thinking that women were not recognized for other types of work during the war. Many women in the US were recognized for their military service (USO), and other women’s histories endure today - Lyudmila Pavlichenko (Wikipedia), Vitka Kempner (Wikipedia), and Virginia Hall (Wikipedia). I’m going to toss in the official synopsis of Queen Elizabeth II’s involvement in her own military to round things out (The Royal Family), complete with a picture of her in uniform (Wikipedia).

Many women after the war went back to strictly domestic duties, and I think that parallels their wartime efforts - both situations are of the “all hands on deck” type, but the play of gender roles here means that the duties of a functioning society are divvied up by different functional spheres - and make no mistake, men and women relied on each other equally as much to cover the gaps, despite the sexism inherent in modern Western society. The difference between war and non-war time cultures was that the latter wasn’t necessarily cultivated by patriotism that could unite the different “factions”. The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History gives a thorough examination of this topic.

The following era - typified by the birth of the Baby Boomer generation - saw a marked increase in economic prosperity (Wikipedia). With that came increased social mobility for women (Citation 1), usually catalyzed by the actions of their fathers (Citation 2). This may typically be achieved by consistent, conscientious public policy formation (Citation 3). In short, many cultures - if they haven’t already - are realizing that it’s good for business to let women control how they participate in society and the flow of money.

In the US, this was precipitated by the boom of social development (American History; archived version). Aside from the Truman administration negotiating price fixing to prevent inflation, a significant factor was the passing of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (AKA the G.I. Bill). This primarily benefited the Greatest Generation, though other pertinent legislation by the 79th Congress benefited the Silent Generation onwards: the Fair Deal, Revenue Act of 1948, Taft-Hartley Act, Employment Act of 1946, National School Lunch Act, and Hobbs Act.

It’s debatable how well this impacted long-term economic development, considering the almost immediate rise of McCarthyism in the US in 1947, which was heavily intertwined with the Truman Doctrine that precipitated the Cold War. The results of the war, at least economically, were… mixed (Wikipedia 1, Wikipedia 2). I have no doubt that this impacted the social mobility of women in all affected countries - which is all of them, but I’m sure hairs could be split on this if you wish.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s tackle the Amazons.

The modern, popular interpretation (that is slow to be shaken by archaeological evidence) is mostly mythological (Wikipedia). While some ideas are thrown in the way of a Minoan Crete ancestry to the myth, there are more similarities drawn to the Scythian and Samartian cultures on the Eurasian Steppe (CNET). It’s possible that instead of the equally-extreme pole end of the gender dichotomy that is patriarchy-matriarchy, the Scythians just scandalized the Athenians with a comparatively more fluid society (Smithsonian Magazine).

As for Valkyries… there’s been a revival of them in pop culture, probably as a net-casting to see what’s out there aside from Amazons. TVTropes covers the many, many ways media utilizes them as a trope, to varying degrees of mythological and cultural accuracy. As they state, valkyries are a form of psychopomp, as they decide who among the battlefield’s dead will go to Valhalla (ruled by Odin) or Fólkvangr (ruled by Freya). Freya seems to have assumed the “type” (as opposed to characteristics salient to a particular individual) of a valkyrie, as the female counterpart the warrior archetype. To wit, Freya herself may be a type (Wikipedia).

Here’s where the issue gets thorny - modern popular understanding of valkyries, and by extension Scandinavian women, is skewed through the modern lens.

@fjorn-the-skald has a lovely series called Viking History: Post-by-Post, or An Informal Crash Course & A Historical Guide to the Vikings, that typically focuses on medieval Iceland. In his post “Lesson 13.c - Women in the Viking Age, Part III: Were Women “Vikings”?”, discusses the particular penchant of modern times to romanticize and/or skew history to their own biases - in this instance, how medieval Icelandic women functioned in their culture, as well as how valkyrie myths play into this.

The TL;DR of that is: “viking” women were a societal anomaly, the battlefield was a male domain (and they were expected to die on it), a woman’s prowess of the domestic sphere was highly respected to a level often equivalent to men, and the domestic sphere was the sphere of commerce. Scandinavian culture prized strong women, just as they prized strong men, and their culture rested upon the concept of different genders having their own distinct, complementary, and equal domains.

Fjörn builds upon this history in an ask about gender roles outside the usual dichotomy of male-female. Valkyries, and shield-maidens, may be classed as a third gender in medieval Scandinavian culture, because women were temporarily occupying the male role in their society. While valkyries are of divine origin, shield-maidens are not, though they seem to have taken on a supernatural bent by performing feminine qualities while living in the male sphere (something that they can literally wear, by the donning of their armor).

That probably comes across as distasteful to, especially, a modern American perspective, but many ancient cultures are like that. There’s a footnote on that ask about links to a contemporary perspective of same-sex relationships, as well, to round out that talking point.

With those historical and mythological details discussed, let’s move on to magical girls.

Interestingly, the genre and trope derive from the American TV show Bewitched (Nippon.com). Its evolution reflected Japan’s changing tone about female sexuality, focusing on girls.  Magical Girl doesn’t seem to be intended to attract the male gaze in a sexual light - and in fact was generated as a form of female empowerment by by way of growing up (TVTropes), but it seems to happen anyways (TVTropes).

Magical girls, as a genre, originated in the 1960s - the archetypical Sailor Moon encompasses not only magical girls, but also the kawaii aesthetic. Kawaii, incidentally, followed after the magical girl trope, and plays upon women performing as girls in society.

As magical girls are intended for young girls, a demographic known as shōjo, it is considered a subgenre of the target audience. Please note that shōnen'ai (Fanlore) and yaoi (Fanlore) are also subgenres of shōjo.

For some context, the adult female target audience is known as josei, the young adult men is known as shōnen, and adult male audience is known as seinen. Many manga and anime are often misattributed to the wrong category, so it helps to know which is which, and why.

Kumiko Saito argues (through an unfortunately paywalled article that I’m more than willing to disseminate to those without JSTOR access) that magical girls reinforce gender stereotypes as well as fetishize young female bodies. She argues this point more eloquently than I can, so I’ll be quoting a few sections below.

Page 148 (7 of 23 on the PDF):

The 1960s “witch” housewife theme waned quickly in the United States, but various cultural symbolisms of magic smoothly translated into the Japanese climate, leading to Japans four-decade-long obsession with the magical girl. Bewitched incorporated the concept of magic as female power to be renounced after marriage, thereby providing “a discursive site in which feminism (as female power) and femininity has been negotiated” (Moseley 2002, 403) in the dawning of Americas feminist era. Japans magical girls represented a similar impasse of fitting into female domesticity, continued to fascinate Japanese society, and came to define the magical girl genre. In direct contrast to the American heroines Samantha and Jeannie, however, whose strife arose from the antagonism between magic (as power) and the traditional gender role as wife or fiancée, the magical girls dilemma usually lies between female adulthood and the juvenile female stage prior to marriage, called shõjo. In other words, the magical girl narratives often revolve around the magical freedom of adolescence prior to the gendered stage of marriage and motherhood, suggesting the difficulty of imagining elements of power and defiance beyond the point of marriage. In fact, these programs were broadcast exactly when the rate of love-based marriage started to surpass that of miai (arranged marriage),4 which implies that the magical girl anime, founded on the strict ideological division between shõjo and wife/mother, may have been an anxious reaction to the emergent phase of romance.

Page 150 (9 of 23 on the PDF):

The combination of magical empowerment and shõjo-ness framed by the doomed nature of transient girlhood naturally created ambivalent, messages in Akko-chan as well. In the societal milieu in which Japan was undergoing the politically turbulent era of Marxist student movements at the largest scale in the postwar era, Akko-chan’s super- human ability to transform into anyone (or anything) is quite revolutionary, implying a sense of women’s liberation. Despite this potential, her metamorphic ability never threatens gender models, as she typically dreams of becoming a princess, a bride, or a female teacher she respects. The use of magic is also largely limited to humanitarian community services in town. Akko-chan’s symbolic task throughout the series focuses on how to steer her power to serve her friends and family, leading to the final episode in which she relinquishes magic to save her father. Akko-chan embraces the cross-generic mismatch between the radical idea of empowering a girl with superhuman ability and the hahamono [mother genre] sentimentalism idealizing women’s self-sacrifice. All in all, the new setting adopted in this series, that a mediocre girl accidentally gains magic, became a useful mechanism for the underlying theme that the heroine is foredoomed to say farewell to magic in the end. This rhetorical device transforms latent power of the amorphous girl into the reappreciation of traditional gender norms by equating magic with shõjo-hood to be given up at a certain stage.

Saito discusses the thematic shifts in the magical girl subgenre in the 1980s to a more sexualized view, and the according rise of both an older audience and otaku fans, the latter of whom, she clarifies, make a habit of recontextualizing canon to categorize characters into stereotypes that are stripped of the majority of their original context.

On pages 153-154 (12-13 of 23 on the PDF):

The conventions of the magical girl genre transformed significantly against this paradigm shift. Both Minky Momo and Creamy Mami originally targeted children, recording a decent outcome in business and eventually leading to the revival of the genre. Because the plots are directly built on the genre clichés, however, the jokes and sarcasm of many episodes appear comprehensible only to adult viewers equipped with the knowledge of the Töei magical girls. The intrigue of these programs largely lies in the way they parody and mock the established genre conventions, especially the restrictive function of magic and the meaning of transformation. The genre is now founded on the expectation that the adult viewer has acquired a diachronic fan perspective to fetishize both the characters and the text’s meanings.

Creamy Mami presents the story of fourth-grader Yū, who gains magical power that enables her to turn into a sixteen-year-old girl. Yū’s magical power is more restrictive than Momo’s, for her superhuman capacity simply means metamorphosis into her adult form, who happens to become an idol singer called Mami. Given that the magic’s ability is self-oriented cosmetic effect and bodily maturation, the heroine’s ultimate goal by means of magic is to grow old enough to attract her male friend Toshio, who neglects Yū’s latent charm but falls in love with the idol Mami. The series concludes when Yū loses her magic, which correlates to Toshio’s realization that Yū is his real love. Mami’s thematic messages teach the idea that magic does not bring much advantage or power after all, or rather, magic serves as an obstacle for the appreciation of the truly magical period called shõjo. The heroine gains magic to prove, although retroactively, the importance of adolescence preceding the possession of “magic” that enables (and forces) female maturation.

It’s noted in the article that the 1990s-2000s period received criticism for showing a physical maturation of girls, so codified euphemisms via garment changes such as additional frills and curled hair were used instead. This “third-wave” magical girl challenged standing norms of its predecessors by doing things such as likening adult responsibilities (“childrearing and job training”) as a sort of game, as well as the transformation implying that the character’s power is in being herself, something that juxtaposes previous norms.

Due to shifting power dynamics and other changes in Japan’s culture, it became more common for boys to become magical girls as well, further separating the magical girl concept from a strict reflection of gender roles. As such, Japanese culture - insofar as my English-based research can guide me - no longer immediately implies a direct and distinct correlation between magical girls and the female gender.

An analysis of Puella Magi Madoka Magica (PMMM) by Tate James (2017; PDF) discusses an additional dimension of the magical girl genre. Two pertinent points of the piece is that 1.) PMMM dismantles archetypes pitting women against girls, and 2.) PMMM reinforces the gender stereotype that the best type of girl is a passive girl.

Now for the issue you’ve raised about who ought to be the primary caregiver of children.

Consistent, immediate, and continuous interaction between a mother and her child benefits both of them (Citation 4, Scientific American 1, Live Science, Citation 5, Scientific American 2, UNICEF, WHO). Mothers have a distinct neurobiological makeup that predisposes them toward caring for infants (Citation 6), and likewise infants have a predisposed preference to their mother’s voice and heartbeat (Citation 7). I would like to think that is sufficient evidence as to why nearly all cultures encourage mothers as the primary caregivers.

This said, cultivation of a father-child dyad is immensely beneficial to the child (Citation 8, Citation 9), and can alleviate the effect of maternal depression on the child (ScienceDaily). Partnered men residing with children have lower levels of testosterone but a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and adiposity (Citation 10). It’s interesting to note that higher prolactin levels in the mother’s breastmilk has a correspondingly higher level of sociosexual activity with their partner in cotton-top tamarins, which stimulates pair bonding (Citation 11), as well as in other species (Citation 12).

Paternal postpartum depression is recently recognized in fathers, to severe and reverberating deleterious effects on themselves and their family (Citation 13). Screening tools for detecting depression in Swedish fathers is not sufficiently developed, and many men may be passed over despite reaching cut-off suggestions in other criteria for depression (Citation 14).

It has been observed that while human mother and fathers have the similar oxytocin pathways, the exhibit different parenting behaviours when exposed to elevated levels of oxytocin - primarily that fathers will react with high stimulatory behaviour and exploratory play (Wikipedia).

Men being socialized in a culture of stoicism and an encouraged reaction pattern to violence have poor mental health that can culminate into death and other long-term effects (Citation 15). Suicide in the US is currently the leading cause of death at time of posting this response, that the total suicide rate increased 31% from 2001-2017, and in 2017 male rates were nearly four times higher than females (NIMH).

On the topic of magical culture: it’s incredibly difficult to research because it’s a component of overall culture, and one that’s not typically available to strangers/foreigners/the uninitiated. As such, a lot of authors default to what they already know. It’s not a bad thing, but if someone wants to reach outside their comfort zone, they’re going to have some trouble.

I’m going to go off the three, four-ish, cultures you’ve already come to us with: American, Scandinavian, Scythian/Samartian, and Japanese just to round things out.

For a very, very rough overview of America, we have:

Native Americans of the contiguous US

Hawai’i

Alaska

Whatever the colonizing peoples brought over (including, but not limited to, English, Scottish, Irish, Norwegian, German, and Italian)

Whatever the myriad cultures of Africa brought over as slaves

Hispanic

NB: I’ve put Hawai’i and Alaska as separate items because they’re not part of the contiguous US.

European settlers were of a few groups:

The merchants working on charters

Indentured servants from the merchants’ homelands

Slavs

Immigrants in post-colonial eras

This is an important distinction because 1.) contemporary culture matters a lot politically, 2.) how people came to the US determined how they and their family were treated, and 3.) the contemporary job culture determined their social class.

(Slavs, as a note, are the origin of the English word “slave”, something that Western Europeans historically liked to propagate.)

I’m not going to go into the details of everything the US has to offer in terms of cultural diversity aside from a nudge in the direction of Santería. What you pick up to research is up to you.

Scandinavian folk magic is known as “trolldom” (Swedish-language Wikipedia), and the region was known for their cunningfolk. Please note that klok/-a, klog/-e, and related words relates to the English word cloak, and these people are so named because wearing one was an integral part of how they interacted with the supernatural.

The InternetArchive has a book (albeit in Swedish) about the history of magic in Sweden, which is available in multiple formats. If you’d prefer to have something in English, you can either buy this book, or inform your library you’d like to them to buy it for you.

I’m a little surprised you hadn’t mentioned either the völva (Swedish Wikipedia, English Wikipedia) or seiðr (Wikipedia), as they’re quite a well-known part of Scandinavian folk culture. Fjörn, as always, is my first stop for this area of research, with the post “Lesson 7 - Viking Spirituality”, the Víkingabók Database, the tag of Old Norse words, and the post “Norðurbók: A List of the Tales and Sagas of Icelanders” as incredibly good starting points. I encourage you to peruse them, especially because the words you learn will help you be more precise during research.

The Scythian culture is quite far reaching, as they had occupied most of the Eurasian Steppe during the Iron Age, and much of this area can be found in modern-day countries such as Russia, Iran, and China, among others. Because of how far their peoples spread out, the Scythians intermixed with their neighbors, and as such there are sub-groups to the culture.

The Sarmatians were more Russian, as that’s where a large amount of their territory laid, and were absorbed into early Slavic culture. Both their and the overall Scythian language group is eastern Iranian.

In order to help you orient yourself, here’s a map from Wikipedia:

Description: Historical spread of Iranian peoples/languages: Scythia, Sarmatia, Bactria and the Parthian Empire in about 170 BC (evidently before the Yuezhi invaded Bactria). Modern political boundaries are shown to facilitate orientation.

Japanese magical culture is intrinsically tied to their religion, and as such it would be beneficial to read about Shintoism and Japanese Buddhism. The wiki for Japanese mythology is a thorough primer, though if you get stuck, then I’m sure @scriptmyth would be glad to help you on not only this culture, but others.

As for the jobs you’ve proposed - I’m going to jump right into scribes because the irony of that is it’s historically a male-dominated job, and is the progenitor of jobs such as “public servants, journalists, accountants, bookkeepers, typists, and lawyers”. It is, with even greater irony, European women that are noted in Wikipedia, and that medieval women are increasingly thought to have played an integral part in manuscript writing (New Scientist, Science Advances).

I’m not the best person to ask for medieval culture, unfortunately, so you’ll need someone more knowledgeable than me on the subject to direct you to the finer points.

The wiki for women in war links to a lot of lists, so I would suggest poking around for historical references by era (that will likely lead to by culture) to orient yourself on how women have participated in war in the past. There’s quite a bit of mythology to be found there, as well, so if you pick up some specific goddesses you get stuck on, then pop over to @scriptmyth.

Likewise, the wiki for women in government is an interesting read, as is women in positions of power. Since both are primarily modern-times oriented, I would suggest looking at the list of queens regnant for a more historical perspective. I would have difficulty giving you more than that, as you would need to pinpoint your reference cultures first.

As history often neglects women’s contributions to society if they weren’t a ruler or similarly powerful ruler - and, frankly, that frequently applied to men as well the further back you go - I’m going to toss a couple of starting points at you for the area of medicine:

Women in medicine § Ancient medicine - Wikipedia

Women in medicine - Science Museum: History of Medicine

One thing to keep in mind is that as goalposts changed for medicine - the standardization of knowledge and the need to attend a medical school to be legally allowed to perform medicine - the availability of women to participate went down.

Another is that medicine, historically, relied upon herbal medicine, and Wikipedia itself notes that there’s a heavy overlap with food history - something that’s traditionally a domain of women. This abstract by Marcia Ramos‐e‐Silva MD, PhD, talks about Saint Hildegard von Bingen, and the first page available tells you that medieval women were in charge of quite a lot despite not being allowed to participate in the male-dominated sphere of war. The Herbal Academy dips briefly into not only the saint, but other historical aspects of herbalism that might interest you.

The wiki of women in the Middle Ages, along with that of Hildegard of Bingen, nicely rounds out this particular topic.

I need to bring out the fact that Ancient Egypt was and is well-known for the equality and respect afforded to their women - in the interest of staying on subject, particularly in the field of medicine (Ancient History Encyclopedia). Isis was well-known as a goddess of healing (Wikipedia), an aspect she has in common with goddesses in many other cultures (Wikipedia). As an added side-note, Merit Ptah in her popularly-known context has been concluded to be an inflated misunderstanding - and misconstrued interpretation - of a historical figure with significant fabrication (LiveScience, Oxford).

The presence of women in medicine fluctuated in every culture, an in ancient times often shared some correlation with the use of magic (Citation 16). Healing, historically, has a high correlation with the supernatural - and if you care to look, women are usually responsible for the domain of the supernatural. (Or at least the feminine part, which was complementary and complemented by the masculine part.)

I’m going to hop back to politics real quick to bring up abbesses, particularly the social power they exercised as women heading religious orders. An article by Alixe Bovey for the British Library gives the TL;DR of medieval women and abbeys, though if you’d like something with a bit more detail, Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275 to 1535 by Eileen Edna Power is also available.

Abbeys, with their rise and fall, are important to modern American culture. Midwives, to be even more particular, have the most direct impact. In Western Europe, a midwife may under certain circumstances perform baptisms. This was a debated topic of its time, as baptisms were rituals of the Church, and the Church had strict regulations allowing only men to perform their rituals.

During the 1500s - and up to the 1800s, in some cases - midwives were defamed to be witches. You’ll notice that this corresponds to a standardization of medical knowledge, with its corresponding legal restrictions on who may practice medicine. For the Church, the politics playing behind the scenes of midwifery and female physicians fluctuated with their observations about women’s power relative to their own (Citation 16).

Malta is an excellent case study of this phenomenon (Citation 17), and encapsulates the movement of witchcraft accusations that took place throughout this period - something historians noted as corresponding to the rise of Protestantism (ThoughtCo). There’s some debate that the increasing orientation to wages in contemporary economy facilitated this adverse behaviour against women, as well as various other social pressures as politically mitigated by the Catholic Church (Wikipedia).

As the practice of medicine was segregated according to sex - male patients to male physicians, female patients to female physicians - there were proportionally fewer men in trades such as midwifery than women despite the medieval shift toward male encroachment of territory (Wikipedia). This corresponding money- and thus male-oriented intrusion into the female sphere of medicine can be seen with the invention of the obstetric forceps (JSTOR). The rising culture of appropriation constituted the witchcraft trials that, incidentally, influenced American culture during their colonization years.

A pertinent name to remember for American history of the witchcraft trials is Margaret Jones, a Puritan midwife and the first person to be accused of witchcraft in the trails taking place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Wikipedia).

The Salem Witch Trials, as an offhand note, could well be an anomaly due to ergotism (Citation 18).

One thing I’m willing to bend on - a little bit - is manual labor, but mostly because you’re describing something very similar to what’s already been invented: corvée labor. There’s plenty of other forms depending on what culture you’re going for, though unlike what you’re proposing, does not necessarily imply the direct and permanent subjugation of people.

I will absolutely quibble with the idea of “uneducated” labor equating to “less valuable” labor - universities offer non-vocational degrees, typically in the areas of research and/or religion, and guilds were created as a means of quality control (that unfortunately got out of hand and committed crimes such as rent-seeking). Women in guilds were a thing, vulnerable to the same fluctuations as their other occupations outside the house.

If we are defining “uneducated” labour as “menial” labour, then this set of occupations inherently varies by culture, as does its relative weight of importance. One example of this would be writing; it may be menial but important, whereas holding negotiations could be a “major” role but wouldn’t exist without the support of workers “less than” them.

Correspondingly, gender divisions may not necessarily mean an assignation of “lesser” or “greater” when compared against each other. In medieval Europe, at least, the creation of textiles was split along the general lines of spinning and weaving. Women held the former (hence “spinster”), and men held the latter. Spinning was often not formalized into guilds then, but it was an important cornerstone of the economy that could support entire families. A guest post on The Freelance History Writer’s blog seems to indicate that this gender division was due to influence by the Bible, which seems to corroborate with the history of both professions as detailed on Wikipedia - the further back we go, and also the less connected to Christianity, the more textile work women presided over. This granted them greater control over their presence in society, since the selling of textiles was useful leverage to support themselves and others.

A similar discrepancy can be found with agriculture. Hamer women in Ethiopia are traditionally the one to cultivate sorghum, a cornerstone crop to their diet, and they exhibit preferences in which varieties they grow according to criteria such as which is easiest to grind and long-term storage feasibility (Citation 19). Accordingly, there’s been an increasing orientation around the growing of crops rather than the pastoralist habits of their men, with trading standards occuring at one goat for one Dore (“pile of maize or sorghum”) (Citation 19).

A study examining the male sphere of hunting within a society discusses the various cultural implications of defendable vs non-defendable meat sharing, with respect to how the meat is distributed and its corresponding social range (e.g. immediate social circle vs entire community), something I find interesting given that the kilocalories obtained from meat is roughly equal to that of the female sphere-acquired agriculture/gathering (Citation 20). The division of labour along gender lines when it comes to food flow in a community seems, historically, to be both comparable and compatible to each other - a recurring theme with many of the topics I’ve already covered.

Gender roles in their historical perspective - especially the further back you go - are often complimentary to each other, and are an economical way to divide up the burden of maintaining a society to a functional level. There are plenty of exceptions to this (see: third genders), as well, and many cultures exhibit the idea that a productive person is good for society; their roles may look a little different from the person next to them, and not only is the work considered equal in terms of importance, but also with a bit of poking around, you’ll find that few cultures have harsh punishments for anyone “stepping outside” their predicted roles.

Men are already objectified plenty. That their treatment by society looks different than women’s, or other genders, is by no means an excuse to sweep things under the room and pretend that they have it best - or worse, purposefully ostracize them in a fictional work to further mock, ridicule, and isolate them. This contributes to the societal issues in your culture that you wish to address, and stems from a uniquely pervasive perspective from modern American culture that differs from many other cultures in the world.

TL;DR - The way you wish to objectify men is already being done, especially in American culture. It is harmful, and will have an impact that will reach further than you might anticipate. This approach is counterproductive to your goals, and the cultures/media you cite either directly contradict your beliefs of said sources or otherwise undermine your beliefs. It is vastly more productive to take a deeper look at the origins of the issues you wish to address in your writing, as well as the reference material that you wish to use. Learning perspectives outside your native culture will benefit you immensely, and the results could surprise you.

Citations

Citation 1 -  PDF - Doepke, M., Tertilt, M., Voena, A.. (2012). “The Economics and Politics of Women’s Rights,” Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 339-372, 07.

Citation 2 - PDF - Fernández, R.. (2014). “Women’s rights and development,” Journal of Economic Growth, vol 19(1), pages 37-80.

Citation 3 - PDF -  Duflo, E. (2012). “Women’s Empowerment and Economic Development”, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 50, No. 4: 1051-79.

Citation 4 - PDF - Crenshaw J. T. (2014). “Healthy Birth Practice #6: Keep Mother and Baby Together- It’s Best for Mother, Baby, and Breastfeeding.” The Journal of perinatal education, 23(4), 211–217. doi:10.1891/1058-1243.23.4.211

Citation 5 - Faisal-Cury, A., Bertazzi Levy, R., Kontos, A., Tabb, K., & Matijasevich, A. (2019). “Postpartum bonding at the beginning of the second year of child’s life: the role of postpartum depression and early bonding impairment.” Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, 1-7.

Citation 6 - PDF - Bornstein, M. H., Putnick, D. L., Rigo, P., Esposito, G., Swain, J. E., Suwalsky, J. T., … & De Pisapia, N. (2017). “Neurobiology of culturally common maternal responses to infant cry.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(45), E9465-E9473.

Citation 7 - PDF - Webb, A. R., Heller, H. T., Benson, C. B., & Lahav, A. (2015). “Mother’s voice and heartbeat sounds elicit auditory plasticity in the human brain before full gestation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(10), 3152-3157.

Citation 8 - PDF - Pan, Y., Zhang, D., Liu, Y., Ran, G., & Teng, Z. (2016). “Different effects of paternal and maternal attachment on psychological health among Chinese secondary school students.” Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(10), 2998-3008.

Citation 9 - PDF - Brown, G. L., Mangelsdorf, S. C., & Neff, C. (2012). “Father involvement, paternal sensitivity, and father-child attachment security in the first 3 years.” Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43), 26(3), 421–430. doi:10.1037/a0027836

Citation 10 - PDF - Lee T Gettler, Mallika S Sarma, Rieti G Gengo, Rahul C Oka, James J McKenna, Adiposity, CVD risk factors and testosterone: Variation by partnering status and residence with children in US men, Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, Volume 2017, Issue 1, January 2017, Pages 67–80, https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eox005

Citation 11 - PDF - Snowdon, C. T., & Ziegler, T. E. (2015). “Variation in prolactin is related to variation in sexual behavior and contact affiliation.” PloS one, 10(3), e0120650.

Citation 12 - Hashemian, F., Shafigh, F., & Roohi, E. (2016). “Regulatory role of prolactin in paternal behavior in male parents: A narrative review.” Journal of postgraduate medicine, 62(3), 182–187. doi:10.4103/0022-3859.186389

Citation 13 - PDF - Eddy, B., Poll, V., Whiting, J., & Clevesy, M. (2019). “Forgotten Fathers: Postpartum Depression in Men.” Journal of Family Issues, 40(8), 1001-1017.

Citation 14 - PDF - Psouni, E., Agebjörn, J., & Linder, H. (2017). “Symptoms of depression in Swedish fathers in the postnatal period and development of a screening tool.” Scandinavian journal of psychology, 58(6), 485-496.

Citation 15 - Pappas, S. (2018, January). “APA issues first-ever guidelines for practice with men and boys.” Monitor on Psychology, 50(1).

Citation 16 - PDF - Kontoyannis, M., & Katsetos, C. (2011). “Midwives in early modern Europe (1400-1800).” Health Science Journal, 5(1), 31.

Citation 17 - PDF - Savona-Ventura, C. (1995). “The influence of the Roman Catholic Church on midwifery practice in Malta.” Medical history, 39(1), 18-34.

Citation 18 - PDF - Woolf, Alan. (2000). “Witchcraft or Mycotoxin? The Salem Witch Trials. Journal of toxicology.” Clinical toxicology. 38. 457-60. 10.1081/CLT-100100958.

Citation 19 - PDF - Samuel, T. (2013). “From cattle herding to sedentary agriculture: the role of hamer women in the transition.” African Study Monographs, Suppl. 46: 121–133. [Alternate PDF link]

Citation 20 - PDF - Gurven, Michael & Hill, Kim. (2009). “Why Do Men Hunt?.” Current Anthropology. 50. 51-74. 10.1086/595620.

Further Reading

Harry S Truman § Domestic Affairs - Wikipedia

Marshall Plan - Wikipedia

Interstate Highway System - Wikipedia

Medieval Icelandic Law (The Grágás) – Women’s Rights: On Reclaiming Property during Separation. By @fjorn-the-skald

Fjörn’s Library

“Notes on Valkyries and the like?” by @fjorn-the-skald

Fjörn’s chronological tag on women

Epigenetic correlates of neonatal contact in humans - Development and Psychopathology

Feral: So, obviously, everything Tex just said- round of effing applause!

I do want to hone in on one specific part of your ask, “since part of my goal is to use the swap to highlight some inequalities that still exist in our gender expectations today by flipping them” and direct you to this blog post on Mythcreants specifically addressing the Persecution Flip Story and why it’s not a great idea from a social justice perspective.

Happy reading!

[asking-jude]

Hey Jude, i think,i think my mother might be abusive. I'm not sure but sometimes she gets angry and she yells a lot. She's also hit me on multiple occasions(kicked me, pull my hair and tried to bashed my face) told me to kill myself(and handed me pills that i did end up taking)and that she'd kill herself if i didn't leave forever. And shes called me mentally upset I'm a minor. But like she's also incredibly nice at times??? And she's not majorly homophobic (I'm queer) am i over reacting?

Hi Friend,

I'm sorry you're experiencing this type of behavior from your mother. What you're experiencing is not OK, and you aren't reading too much into it. Anytime someone hits, kicks, or even tries to use suicide threats to manipulate you into harming yourself is not a safe person. It does not matter if the abuse happens only sometimes, and she can be nice. It is still abuse. It is common for abusers to jump back in forth between loving and harming to keep their victims in a constant state of confusion. It sounds like your mother may be experiencing some serious mental health challenges, and unless she gets help for them, she'll be unsafe for you.

I don't know where you live, but you most certainly are not safe where you are and need to find a place where you will be protected. If you live in the USA, you can call child protective services in your county. If there is an equivalent in your country, please call them. I'll share a link below for CPS in the US. I know that it will likely feel scary calling CPS and you may even feel like it will get you into more trouble than it's worth. I can't make you do anything, but I want to encourage you to call. Their job is to try to help you have the life you deserve—one of love and respect. Sometimes that means finding a new place to live, but other times it may be mandatory therapy, medications, or parenting classes for your mom so she can be a healthier person. 

You can also try to reach out to a trusted friend or adult, such as a school guidance counselor, teacher, religious leader, or relative. Tell them exactly what is happening and that you are afraid to be at home. They may be able to call for you. Alternative many shelters cater to helping youth escape from domestic violence situations, and of course, the police is always a viable option. They will usually get child protective services involved to check up on you if your mother is physically harming you.

Again, I cannot force you to do anything, of course, but I truly want to encourage you to take this seriously. You don't have to put up with being someone else punching bag. You deserve so much love, and no one should be doing those things to you, whether you were queer or straight as they come. Your homosexuality does not make you deserve this kind of mistreatment. I'm truly worried about your well-being. 

I'll leave some additional resources below to help you along the way. Please check-in if you need more help.

Resources for finding CPS number in your area:

https://www.childwelfare.gov/organizations/?CWIGFunctionsaction=rols:main.dspList&rolType=Custom&RS_ID=%205

Identifying abuse:

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect.htm

https://www.regain.us/advice/parenting/11-signs-you-have-an-emotionally-abusive-mother/

24hr Hotlines:

https://www.thehotline.org

http://www.thetrevorproject.org – help for homosexual youth.

Sincerely,

Emily

Asking Jude will continue to offer free peer counselling services on askingjude.org—a faster, more efficient alternative to Tumblr. Please, create your account and receive 24/7 support from the Asking Jude Team and fellow community members. Support our breathtaking transformation!