#PICK YOURSELF UP!

[respectthepetty]

I've mentioned how Hira constantly lowers himself around Kiyoi because he has never seen himself as an equal.

But you know what Kiyoi has consistently done the past two episodes after telling Hira to never leave him?

He has treated Hira as his equal. He has looked Hira in his eyes, made Hira look at him by putting his hands on Hira's shoulders, and told Hira how amazing he is, how is is not a pebble, and how he is worthy of being by his side.

Kiyoi immediately comes home and becomes Hira's equal, lowering himself to the floor. He doesn't take the time to walk around and take off his jacket or bag. He stops right there, and discards everything about himself, to sit down, and talk to Hira as his equal.

Then he lowers himself even more when Hira states he is a failure.

The only time Kiyoi has been higher than Hira the past two episodes, is when Hira puts him there. Kiyoi was acting very much like Hira, admiring Anna on the TV, when Hira began taking photos of him. Kiyoi seemed uncomfortable being gazed at through the lens of the camera, but he understands this is what Hira likes, so he turns off the TV and walks over to the chair.

Yet he continues to try talking to Hira. Hira gives him brief responses. Hira is in his idol-worship zone, and Kiyoi is cut off on this pedestal talking to himself.

Every other time, Kiyoi is shown lower than Hira. If Kiyoi isn't making the effort to be equal with Hira, Hira is shown holding the real power in the relationship, and there is always something between them. Just like the sunglasses Hira wears when watching Kiyoi on set or the camera he takes pictures with, Hira is never really seeing Kiyoi in front of him. He is always seeing Kiyoi through a filter.

When they fight, Hira clearly holds the power as Kiyoi must look up to him.

But then again, Hira doesn't hold eye contact with Kiyoi until he crawls around the table to lower himself.

And that's when Kiyoi loses it.

Strangely enough, Kiyoi won't let Hira lay on the floor. He keeps picking up Hira.

Then he makes this comment:

Kiyoi has lowered himself and picked Hira up, but he is realizing that Hira never intends for them to be equal. Hira wants to maintain the dynamic they have of a god to a pebble, and no amount of reminding Hira that they are both humans is going to convince Hira to rise up to meet Kiyoi. No matter how much love and worth Kiyoi gives to Hira, no matter how many times he picks Hira up, and no matter how many times he lowers himself for Hira, Hira refuses to pick himself up. Hira states he doesn't want to bring Kiyoi down, but never once thinks he can raise himself up.

Because he is only a fan.

Not a friend.

Not a boyfriend.

Just a fan.

[lucidloving]

@roach-works // Melissa Broder, "Problem Area" // Mary Oliver, "The Return" // @annavonsyfert // Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer // Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance // David Levithan, How They Met and Other Stories // Tennessee Williams, Notebooks

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

[lotus-pear]

the dialogue choices in this game should be more diabolical

[corpsentry]

pick your battles

[hajihiko]

🎵Talk me down!🎵

[chalkrub]

thank you for a great art fight! here's some of my final attacks. had a blast, already missing it - see you next year!

[medicalunprofessional]

never change, man !

[citruscore]

not if you begged me

[s0fter-sin]

soap's whole deal being sniper and demolitions gets me going bc on the surface they sound so different but when you get into it, you realise it's bc soap's smart

sniping is all math; calculating distances and wind interference and bullet drop. something i think people overlook is he was listed as a sniper first so it can be implied that he's better at it than demolitions. he does more sniping in both campaigns than demolitions work; in capture or kill, ghost specifically calls on him to take down the aq snipers

and demolitions is math with a hit of chemistry; knowing what mixes with what, knowing how much to use, recognising environmental factors and adjusting accordingly. it's not just about the boom; so much work goes into contained/ planned explosions. especially when having enough power for a breacher charge and not bringing down the whole building is the difference between mission success and failure

the chemical bombs he makes in alone can't just be any old cleaners, they have to have the correct reaction to each other; he just knew off the top of his head what would mix with what to create what reaction. he would also potentially have to recognise them by sight/smell bc they would’ve been written in spanish

soap would also have to know architecture; recognising structural integrity and weak points so he knows exactly where to plant a charge to bring it down and how it'll come down

he has an incredible soldier's mind people just forget that bc he's sociable which itself is a skill

we know he tends to buck against orders he doesn't agree with like when he pushes back against ghost in capture or kill and shepherd when he tells them to release hassan

he gets closer to people and sees if he can trust them and that's when he follows them without question. really think about how he talks to alejandro and rudy; he asks about their home and alejandro's family and rudy's relationship with him. those aren't questions you ask a stranger after a few hours of knowing them. that's not even touching on his relationship with ghost

he also deliberately brings people of higher ranks down to his level; talking informally with ghost and giving him a shoulder punch, addressing alejandro (a colonel!!) by his first name and rudy by his nickname despite literally just meeting them. he personalises all of them and it’s in direct opposition to the reason most characters do that; it’s not due to insubordination or lack of respect, the more he respects and trusts someone, the more casual he is with them

he digs into people; he wants to know what makes them tick and that determines if he can one, trust them and two, follow their orders. once he decides that, he's the ultimate soldier; he bleeds loyalty which makes him vicious when that loyalty is taken for granted

he isn't naive or bubbly or insecure; he's an incredibly smart and aware soldier. he's aggressive and bloodthirsty and loyal and intuitive and i love him so much

[deoidesign]

One of my first digital pieces (2010) versus one of my recent ones (2024)

We all start somewhere!

[incorrectquotesconaisseur]

I really think that we, as a fandom need to talk more about the fact that 1. the first thing simm!master did to the doctor after his resurrection was the gay ass forehead touch 2. the first thing missy did to the doctor was to gay ass kiss him and 3. the first thing dhawan!master did to the doctor was to gay ass offer her the cottagecore dream in the australian outback

[deserthusbands]

obi-wan: cody, dear. have you seen my cloak? i'm sure i left it here.

cody:

cody, getting up, walking out– only to return with at least 20 cloaks in his arms: you might need to be a bit more specific, cyare. is it the one from yesterday, last week, or the one you wore to confront grievous?

obi-wan, sheepish: ah.. well, i suppose any will do.

[beaft]

we don't talk enough about the very special type of hell that is walking into a tiny independent store that sells, like, artisanal cheeses or hand-thrown pottery or vegan face creams made out of dried nasturtium petals, and realising almost immediately that a) you are the only person in there, b) everything is ludicrously out of your price range, and c) you can't leave because an employee has just approached you with a big smile and said, "hi, welcome to Martha-Jane's Quirky Ceramics Emporium! what can i help you with today?"

[chrysopoeias]

Most artists are not okay with (uncredited) reposts of their works especially reposts with their signature cropped off. It’s disrespectful. This should be common knowledge by now, come on... Do not do this without explicit permission. DO NOT.

At the same time, people learn to spot uncredited reposts and DO NOT engage with it. If you like the piece a lot then go find the original or at least a repost with permission/credit/signature. The majority of the time it is obviously not the re-poster who created the piece. Come on now.

[rebuke-me]

the pilot program are all autistic in this essay i will