#also i feel like this is more of a transmisogyny post than an imperialism post thats why i only tagged it

[melody-magic]

so as a third world transfem there's a bit of a parallel that ive noticed and it goes kinda like this:

if you live in the Imperial Core (or maybe even first world countries in general tbh), you never have to consider the third world in your worldview. what i mean is, you can be born, have a long, rich, fulfilling life and then die of old age, never having thought of any of us beyond the 5 minutes after you get shown some sort of news piece. there's vast, vast swathes of people that think of mexico, or nicaragua, or argentina, or or or or - as basically just names on a map, if that much. we're not people to them, not really. and when we stand up and say "no actually, we are human beings, people worth just as much as any citizen of the Imperial Core", they get upset! because we are shaking the fundamentals of their worldview.

and there's not necessarily any malice involved! like, obviously some people that feel like this are malicious, but their personal feelings are irrelevant. the point is that their position insulates them both from knowing us and from any consequences of not knowing us, while we most assuredly are not protected from either of those things in response.

if you are not transfem, even if you are also queer in some way, a similar concept applies. you can have a full, rich, fulfilling queer existence while never having to take us into account! you can go to queer and inclusive events, watch queer and inclusive creators and shows, read queer and inclusive books, and so on and so forth, where we don't feature at all, or if we do, we are a throwaway! and so, when we stand up and say "hey actually we deserve as much space and respect as anyone else", they get upset! because we are shaking the fundamentals of their worldview.

im not saying they're related but ultimately both of these worldviews stem from a position of privilege, and can only be eliminated by destroying that privilege. i dont really know how we do that but this is mostly meant as an observation rather than a solutions post.

[transmutationisms]

Sorry if this is kind of a loaded or unorganized question but I'm interested in seeing your observations: similar to how you've talked about how some viewers tried to absolve Kendall of his responsibility in the waiter's death, do you feel the scene with shiv and the threesome gets interpreted too 'sympathetically' as shiv trying to deal with her own orientation in a straight marriage instead of the more prominent power dynamics in that scene? I don't discount her as being attracted to women especially since the show plays with gender dynamics but I feel like focusing solely on that, makes her seem more powerless than how she actually is in that context.

And as you said before, Shiv is backed into corners and has less power than her brothers' due to misogyny, but coupled with some takes about her ending on the show I think this 'zero agency' interpretation is too unquestioned, not helped probably that the mainstream audience has also mostly unquestioned ideas about feminism and imperialism/capitalism (and also related to that, and on a more personal note, I find the meta posts people make about Shiv coupled with Andrea Dworkin excerpts a bit silly)

yeah i talked a bit about shiv's threesome here; to me it's very clearly supposed to recall other examples on the show of homoeroticism and homosexual desire that are only able to be expressed through power-bound relationships: tom and greg, roman and the personal trainer, the way kendall talks to lawrence. the violence and imbalance of these relationships (employer–employee; more to the point, capitalist–labourer) are the necessary preconditions for homosexuality to exist. it's the explicitly erotic extension of how logan can talk about 'fucking' someone in a business sense, even though the thought of actual homosexuality disgusts him.

specifically, shiv pursuing a yacht employee is supposed to recall the cruises scandal, which we know involved covering up sexual violence and the deaths of sex workers and migrant workers, and is pretty heavily implied to have also involved the 'wolf pack' engaging in outright sex tourism. shiv chooses a yacht employee specifically for this threesome because, like the others in the upper echelons of power at waystar, she sees this woman as disposable and as a tool for shiv to use as she wishes. the woman's 'consent' becomes ambiguous with this framing, and with the fact that the show excludes her perspective to indicate how shiv and tom take into account their own desires but not her agency. to them, she's a body, to be used for their sexual gratification; again, this deliberately echoes the way the cruises scandal involved the use, violence against, and then discarding of vulnerable bodies: those of dancers, sex workers, migrant workers, &c.

so, there is homosexual subtext in this scene, the same way there's homosexual subtext between roman and the personal trainer. and in both of these cases, the expression of homosexual desire is specifically enabled by these relationships being made structurally continuous with the larger patterns of violence and exploitation that the show discusses: capitalist exploitation, racism, misogyny, and so forth. homosexuality can exist if it's an articulation of violence; to analyse these scenes without reference to the violence of the social forms is missing their central function in the story.

in regards to the second half of your question: i really haven't spent enough time with dworkin's work to have a confident opinion on it, besides disliking the obvious issues (her anti-porn stance, transmisogyny / bioessentialism, &c). what i can say about shiv the character is that, whilst the show does portray her as being subjected to misogyny in her family and in the company, it also portrays her as benefitting from capitalist patriarchy insofar as she can leverage her wealth and whiteness. a lot of analysis of shiv fails to take this second part into account, or to contextualise the roys generally as capitalists (not just 'rich people') who are trying to consolidate a 21st-century empire. also, i don't think a framework like dworkin's is really capable of accounting for the way patriarchy deals with, eg, roman's effeminacy; the figure of the 'sissy' and the functioning of transmisogyny are actually, i would argue, critical to understanding how gender functions for the roys, waystar, and capitalism writ large.

[yurious-george]

House Rules

I can come across a little condescending or contrarian sometimes - sorry about that! It’s not intentional.

I’m more likely to respond to ask games if you include the question with the emoji. (Thank you!)

I don’t do chain/copy paste ask games, but I appreciate getting them!

I won’t post fundraisers sent in my asks or submissions. I just don’t have the spoons to vet them myself, and I have no income besides. I will reblog them, however.

I’m not “pro” or “anti” ship, I go outside, and you should too.

Karibu karibu, enjoy your stay!

I only accept anon hate in the form of limerick. Please be aware of this before sending or your message will be blocked & deleted without comment. My blog MUST remain a silly space.

Blacklist Tags:

#important - catch-all politics & current events tag.

#this is cassandra - talks tag. From the song by Talis Kimberley.

#sadismposting, #the intersection where the bodies meet - horny violence babyyyy

#something rotten in the house - incest, haunted houses, and greek tragedy. context

I can be rather inconsistent when tagging!

Interests:

wazungu wednesday is an occasional wednesday event on my blog where I muse on my life as a previous american-african immigrant, being othered both in and out of Africa explicitly for my whiteness, and how my ostracisation functioned under the same imperial banner as African & Black exploitation. Don't use my suffering to justify your bigotry. Also just african-related goofs and opinions.

For personal reasons, "afab transfem" more accurately describes my relationship with my gender than "tme" does, similar to mzungu describing my relationship with my race, rather than what race I am. For all practical applications, I do have cis privilege, and refer to myself as such. But I've had to reclaim my femininity after being de- and mis- gendered for such a long time; I resonate strongly with transfems, and they are my sisters & equals! I regularly post about transmisogyny, but sometimes vent about poor theory. As long as you don't drink t*rf koolaid, you're fine.

I'm trying to engage with more political and economic theory. I’m firmly anti-capitalist, but have my criticisms of communism... I identify as an anarchist with strong marxist leanings, but I struggle to read theory, so I’m still working out the kinks. Communist, anarchist, or socialist, everyone who believes in a kinder world & concrete action is welcome on my blog! No tag.

Opera - #opera tag

Textile arts, focused historical techniques & materials. I’ve knitted hand warmers from yarn I cleaned, carded, and spun myself! - #textile, #move the sheep and the fences around

Fashion - mostly “vintage”/historical women’s styles, with the occasional kitenge or si-fi-esque look. - #clothing

Sub-Saharan African mythology & cultures, particularly the Maasai. East Africa for culture, and West Africa for mythology, just because I think the West African gods are cooler. (Sorry, Kenya.😅) - #africa

Farming, homesteading, animal husbandry, etc. No tag. Lots of chickens.

Spiders - #spiders

Ancient legends, media analysis, meta narrative. Enemies to lovers, too; if the Epic of Gilgamesh did it, I can put it here. #can’t argue with a monomyth, #the play that eats the players, #enemies with benefits, #stories

Angels - I am not religious but feel strongly associated with them. #angels

Character tags: #gawainposting, #gearposting, #ishtarposting

Fandoms & medias & sideblogs & such

Abzu, Journey, Sky cotl (@starsfallhome)

Hollow Knight (@bobbinbugs)

comicaurora (no longer like it but left my side blogs up.) (@aurorar34, @gaias-letterbox)

Kiwi Blitz (@normalkiwiblitz)

Dungeon Meshi

Princess Tutu + princess tutu abridged

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Blue Eye Samurai

Lego Monkie Kid

Mabel Podcast

House of Leaves

Death Palette, Outer Wilds, Portal 1 & 2, Ultrakill

Hatoful Boyfriend

Paul Shapera (no longer following but soft spot for older works)

Medieval literature

The Epic of Gilgamesh, Inanna's Descent Into the Underworld, various mesopotamian stone tablets

[cuntess-carmilla]

If you followed me recently for That post about US imperialism...

Since that post seems to have died out for now, I feel it’s finally time to address some things. A ton of people started following me from That post going viral. I want to warn anyone new that this is not a politics blog.

I post about politics pretty often, but it’s above all a personal blog. If you followed me to get a charge-free political science class or some shit like that then you’re out of luck. I’m not a walking lesson. My life, thoughts and emotions aren’t a learning experience or case study for anyone. I’m a human being.

Now, some warnings:

I’m a man-hating dyke, this is an unironic misandry zone. I really fucking hate men and I’m not and will never be apologetic about that. If you think that this somehow excludes oppressed men you’re wrong lol (I’m looking at you, gay and bi dudes). I don’t wish men oppression because I don’t wish that on anybody even if I hate them. I’m not gonna be automatically rude to men as individuals unprovoked, but I ABSOLUTELY will if I’m given reason to do so, and I will not filter out my words whenever I whine about how much I fucking hate men in general. Got it? Good.

White women are insufferable too tbh.

Also speaking of men AND white people, please read the first fucking line of my very short description. It’s right there, for fuck’s sake. White women or otherwise white non-men, this includes you. I stg I’ve rarely had moc follow me since I put that in my description but a ton of white bitches seem to think that “men OR whites” = white MEN. No, baby. It means you girlies and gentlethems too. <3

I’m not too found of body-abled people or allistics either! Also of doctors and shrinks.

Specifically when it comes to psychiatry and psychology, I’m anti-psych/mad pride. No, I don’t think all the issues that psychiatry and psychology often poorly attempt to address are “fake”. Come on, I have many of those Issues myself and I’ve seen real human suffering by multitudes. It’s much more complex than believing none of those things are real. Click here if you want more details on my views on this.

Wlwoc, twoc and disabled woc are the people I prioritize most of all, lesbians in particular when it comes to wlwoc, but I do NOT tolerate biphobia, as I don’t with transphobia and transmisogyny either (as much as I’ll admit I’m not infallible with any of those because I’m not part of any of the affected groups*, but I do try). All of that said, I do not give passes to people for lesbophobia. I have done it in the past in specific situations, but not anymore. I don’t care who you are or what your intentions were. I’m sick and tired of it.

I don’t take kindly to people sexualizing me without my explicit consent. I don’t want to ever receive comments about my tits or whatever EVEN IF YOU’RE A WLW OR A GAY MAN. Call me pretty and shit like that if you want, but if you cross this boundary I’m cussing you out and blocking you immediately. The only person in the world who has my consent to sexualize me is my fiancé. I’ve had this happen to me too many times and I’m TIRED of it.

I’m extremely whiny. Complaining is one of my major hobbies. It’s an art. I’ve mastered it through the years. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I can get really annoying when giving my Opinions and like, I’m a multiple Scorpio with a lot of Virgo and some relevant Aquarius so I’m a highly opinionated bitch. I’m the personification of “AND ANOTHER THING...!”

I rant a lot even when I’m not being a pissbaby! I’m a VERY silent autistic offline and, as I’ve mentioned in recent posts, my brain NEVER shuts up so in turn I don’t ever shut the fuck up online because I infodump and vent everything I don’t out loud in here! Among many other things, I often rant about interests the majority of the population doesn’t share with me. I will, in particular, post often about goth music and the goth subculture in general. I mean, I don’t get why anyone would be surprised about that after taking a look at my blog for 0.1 seconds, but I HAVE, incredibly, been unfollowed for Goth On Main Crimes. Also I’m not kidding when I say that this is me when I’m talking about music:

Also astrology. I like astrology a lot and I’m also that picture ^ when it comes to infodumping and theorizing around astrology. I do it a lot less now than I used to a while ago though.

Sometimes I post VERY triggering content. I try to TW as appropriately as possible while dealing with brain fog, but keep that in mind. This includes when I vent about my personal life, feelings and trauma. I don’t filter myself much on that end and that includes talking about csa and other forms of sexual abuse/assault, lesbophobia, allistic abuse, peer abuse (”bullying”) and suicide.

I use the words “cunt”, “slut” and “bitch” very liberally, in case you couldn’t tell on your own yet. Reason for that: I’m Chilean. If that bothers you, the door is wide open.

If we’re not friends or at least mutuals and I haven’t asked for advice, please refrain. Unless you’re being rude or inappropriate I won’t attack you or anything, but it makes me uncomfortable.

English is my second language and I’m developmentally disabled and brain fogged from my chronic illness, so prepare for me sometimes messing up grammar and all that. Hell, I do it in Spanish too when it gets bad enough.

I practice what I can most accessibly (if begrudgingly) describe as “witchcraft”. I don’t talk about it often here but I do from time to time. Jic, I’m not pagan.

*I’m not cis, I’m a non-binary lesbian. However, I’m still a TME lesbian at that and I don’t think MY experiences are materially comparable to those of trans people (including non-binary ones), so I choose, individually, not to identify as trans. This by no means implies that I think non-binary people aren’t trans or that I have any place to decide who among us gets to identify as trans or not, including non-binary people who’re similar to me. This is all only about how I feel about myself.

[canmom]

softtrade replied to your post “personal, leave this one here on this blog please”

I also think that like... even if you think incarceration is necessary it should be like approached w a spirit of gravity that joking abt it makes me think that a system like that might be ripe for abuse by the people arguing for it, ya know?

yeah i rly don’t get it. and like admittedly a lot of these gulag jokes are directed at nazis but like. if you’re prepared to admit a large number of people got wrongly locked up under the Soviet system (for example: five years for being gay), things that you’d right be horrified by if it took place a capitalist regime, I don’t understand how you can use the word so flippantly.

like, if pressed, I think a lot of MLMs will take the position that there are a number of valid criticisms of the Soviet Union during the Stalin period, but overall a net good was done (improving life expectancy and living standards outside of the famine years, defeating Nazi Germany, etc.). but I feel like that acknowledgement seems to just be... forgotten almost when it becomes time to cheer for the SU? to the point of extreme callousness, like assuming the only reason anyone could have suffered under the SU is because they had their wealth and land expropriated and completely sneering at people who talk about family histories.

you might say ‘why are you dealing with these people at all’ but I find MLM approaches to modern day capitalism-imperialism very convincing, materialist analyses of gender and transmisogyny and so on persuasive, and like I want to understand the numerous ML(M)-(influenced) resistance movements outside the imperial core. in particular I want to understand Maoism-Third Worldism better. I really enjoyed the Manifesto of the Mountain with some caveats, and I’m meaning to read books like WotE and Night Vision properly (I was in a reading group for Night Vision but fell behind).

and of course I also want to have a historically nuanced understanding of the Soviet Union/PRC pre-Deng/Cuba/etc. rather than the standard ‘the SU/PRC was a terrible evil society ruled by Red Emperor Stalin/Mao, who was an absolute dictator worse than Hitler and destroyed the economy and killed like 70% of the population’ takes you tend to get from anticommunist histories written in capitalist countries. but conversely without trying to make excuses for things I would never try to excuse if done in a capitalist country, but to understand why they happened and how to prevent them (perhaps a bit moot because I’m unlikely to ever be making decisions in a socialist society lol).

I also don’t want to imply that MLM historiography is all apologia. e.g. I found this article about Pol Pot quite interesting and putting it in a lot better context, though I don’t know enough about the era to dispute any of the claims.

i guess i need to stop vagueing and actually hash it out with people next time this comes up.

(oh and pls don’t reblog this anyone ok? but I know I have some MLM followers, or did, and would appreciate talking about this a bit more with y’all, though I understand if you don’t want to argue about the fucking SU all over again).