#alter ethnicity

[rainbowt33f]

Related to the last post I reblogged but. g/d it drives me fucking crazy when zionists or sympathisers claim denouncing israel is actually damaging to all jewish people and that 'saying you want israel gone is saying you want jewish people to DIE'. number one you're a fucking idiot. number two this is a strawman argument actually. it takes such a simple level of reading comprehension to know vocalising hatred for a genocidal government DOES NOT EQUAL wanting an entire fucking ethnicity/religion of people to die. good fucking g/d

Anyway Death to Israel and Free Palestine :]

[b1asho]

Some doodles of kixeli (mainly arasit) and their wacky sail carvings

altering their fins and sails is a very common body mod! Don’t worry, that area is not super vascularized and the healing process is fairly simple.

Arasit sails are (for most ethnicities) thin and flat, made from thinner springy cartilage strung between harder support ribs. Cutting them can be a fashion statement and/or a statement of their identity (rejecting/not conforming to what Arasit are supposed to do/act like)

Wing membrane carving is a more extreme mod, ill have to do a separate post on that with some examples lol. Nearly every arasit living in the DRSS has some form of membrane alteration (namely a small opening cut into the membrane around their chest to allow for them to better wear 'appropriate' clothes) but some go much farther by removing a lot of the skin between their suportive gliding extentions . Due to how permanent this is, it’s a big deal when someone does it. Traditionally, it's a signal to others that they're 'grounded' aka not an arasit or taking a permanent role in the community. Unless they spread their arms out, the shapes in the membrane are harder to see because the skin is floppy.

[whencyclopedia]

The Indus Valley Civilization was a cultural and political entity which flourished in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 - c. 600 BCE. Its modern name derives from its location in the valley of the Indus River, but it is also commonly referred to as the Indus-Sarasvati Civilization and the Harrapan Civilization. These latter designations come from the Sarasvati River mentioned in Vedic sources, which flowed adjacent to the Indus River, and the ancient city of Harappa in the region, the first one found in the modern era. None of these names derive from any ancient texts because, although scholars generally believe the people of this civilization developed a writing system (known as Indus Script or Harappan Script) it has not yet been deciphered. All three designations are modern constructs, and nothing is definitively known of the origin, development, decline, and fall of the civilization. Even so, modern archaeology has established a probable chronology and periodization: Pre-Harappan – c. 7000 - c. 5500 BCE Early Harappan – c. 5500 - 2800 BCE Mature Harappan – c. 2800 - c. 1900 BCE Late Harappan – c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE Post Harappan – c. 1500 - c. 600 BCE The Indus Valley Civilization is now often compared with the far more famous cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia, but this is a fairly recent development. The discovery of Harappa in 1829 CE was the first indication that any such civilization existed in India, and by that time, Egyptian hieroglyphics had been deciphered, Egyptian and Mesopotamian sites excavated, and cuneiform would soon be translated by the scholar George Smith (l. 1840-1876 CE). Archaeological excavations of the Indus Valley Civilization, therefore, had a significantly late start comparatively, and it is now thought that many of the accomplishments and “firsts” attributed to Egypt and Mesopotamia may actually belong to the people of the Indus Valley Civilization. The two best-known excavated cities of this culture are Harappa and Mohenjo-daro (located in modern-day Pakistan), both of which are thought to have once had populations of between 40,000-50,000 people, which is stunning when one realizes that most ancient cities had on average 10,000 people living in them. The total population of the civilization is thought to have been upward of 5 million, and its territory stretched over 900 miles (1,500 km) along the banks of the Indus River and then in all directions outward. Indus Valley Civilization sites have been found near the border of Nepal, in Afghanistan, on the coasts of India, and around Delhi, to name only a few locations. Between c. 1900 - c. 1500 BCE, the civilization began to decline for unknown reasons. In the early 20th century CE, this was thought to have been caused by an invasion of light-skinned peoples from the north known as Aryans who conquered a dark-skinned people defined by Western scholars as Dravidians. This claim, known as the Aryan Invasion Theory, has been discredited. The Aryans – whose ethnicity is associated with the Iranian Persians – are now believed to have migrated to the region peacefully and blended their culture with that of the indigenous people while the term Dravidian is understood now to refer to anyone, of any ethnicity, who speaks one of the Dravidian languages. Why the Indus Valley Civilization declined and fell is unknown, but scholars believe it may have had to do with climate change, the drying up of the Sarasvati River, an alteration in the path of the monsoon which watered crops, overpopulation of the cities, a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia, or a combination of any of the above. In the present day, excavations continue at many of the sites found thus far and some future find may provide more information on the history and decline of the culture.

[whetstonefires]

I don't think it would have taken centuries without Columbus, either, because yeah a couple years later Portugal, in a natural extension of their ongoing forays along the African coast, had rounded the cape and the horn, gotten in quarrels with local pepper magnates, discovered that while they didn't have the general upper hand in India the way they'd gotten used to in Africa, shipboard cannon was an out-of-context problem in the Indian Ocean, and started throwing their weight around with gusto. And the new, wetter version of the spice trade accelerated changes in European ship technology and behavior.

Someone would have tried something vaguely similar, although it's unlikely anyone with good math would have sailed straight across into the Caribbean like he did. More likely there would have been a Viking-style coast-hugging process in the north, via the cod fisheries. Or less probable but very interesting, a replication of the Pacific island-hopping that almost definitely landed people in South America in the first place.

It would have been later and progressed along at least somewhat different lines, because many elements of history are contingent, but at the same time, yeah. Imperial behaviors are kind of predictable, and this pattern was well grounded already.

On the other hand, interesting to wonder if, with the western hemisphere out of the picture a little longer and not fueling the intra-Iberian rivalry in the same way, the colonialist lunacy would have escalated somewhat slower in afro-eurasia and indonesia.

FINE, you get another go at the time machine and the ability to prevent one birth (or commit a murder up to you), don't worry about the butterfly effect, we want the butterfly effect that's part of the point. Your actions will prevent them from ever rising to prominence. Original poll here There may be a face off poll at the end. Hitler still isn't an option because we'd all chose to kill him.

Am gonna go Pontius Pilate and say my hands are cleaned of this one. All of the below are nominees.

[impostoradult]

one of my hotter takes is I don't actually think you can make a lot of workplaces "neurodivergent friendly"

I follow a few LinkedIn people who try to train workplaces and managers to be more 'inclusive' of neurodivergence. and while I think that's an admirable goal, I don't think it can be achieved without RADICALLY changing how workplaces operate on a fundamental level. and I just don't see that as a realistic prospect

a lot of inclusivity training around gender/ sexuality/ race/ ethnicity/ religion/etc CAN actually be helpful because it is mostly teaching people how not to say and do offensive things in a work context (typically independent of the actual work that is being done 98% of the time).

to make workplaces neurodivergent inclusive, you'd have to retrain EVERYONE on ALL basic communication. How they talk to one another, how they write emails and slack messages (the content, the number of them, the timing), how they conduct meetings, etc. you'd also have to completely change a lot of workflows. you'd have to level a lot of your basic processes and norms, and re-start FROM SCRATCH. and you'd have to significantly alter habits of MOST of the employees to do this.

it's a whole other level/degree of change. and most employers simply are not going to take on that level of radical change.

I think advocates for neurodivergent inclusivity have to think more broadly about how to address the this issue, rather than acting like it can be addressed through simple inclusivity seminars. you might be able to make some very marginal improvements like that. but you aren't going to address the FUNDAMENTAL issue that way. labor and communication norms would have to be revised on a societal level for it to actually have substantial impact

[poeticallyspiteful]

hiii! could you please write a regulus black x potter! reader? maybe something like reg and reader secretly going out and getting discovered by James?

thank you!! have an amazing day 💗💗

his muse (pt. one)

regulus black x reader

fluff / angst

cw: unedited as always 😌, a sex joke but it’s a titanic reference lol, marauders being overprotective, kissing, cuddling, someone may threaten to pull out someone’s teeth and put them on a necklace (it seemed like a very regulus threat), artist!regulus because 🥰

summary: you’re the honorary little sister of the infamous marauders; what happens when they catch you with a certain someone?

notes: hey love, thank you so much for the request!! just so you know, i don’t like to write readers to be related to another character, because i want my readers be able to relate to the ‘reader character’ without altering their preferred fancast for another one based on things like race or ethnicity. that is totally on me for not putting that in my request post and i will do that asap, but i hope you enjoy this anyway <33

more notes: i did get just a tad bit carried away and decided to divide this request into two parts, just to make it less overwhelming for me and y’all as well. anyways, enjoy <333

“oh reggie, paint me like one of your french girls,” you giggled, draping yourself dramatically across regulus’ pristine sheets.

he looked up from his sketchbook, brow furrowed in a way that made you want to kiss him until you both passed out from lack of oxygen.

god, you loved him.

“what?” he asked.

“nothing.”

evan and barty had both left the slytherin dorms, off to some place or another, giving you the perfect opportunity for some alone time with your lovely boyfriend. you’ve made sure to do this at least once a week since you started dating in your fourth year. now that you’ve reached sixth year, the tradition had only grown more cherished; precious were the moments spent with someone you’d been otherwise forbidden to see.

“he’s dangerous, (y/n),” sirius insisted, only just finished with his dramatic act of fake vomiting. you had made the grave mistake of assuming your friend would have a normal reaction upon hearing who had asked you to the yule ball.

“a slytherin, (y/n), how could you?” james moaned, collapsing onto the auto-man like he was faint in the heart. “you have been my little sister all my life—”

“you met me when you were twelve and we are not related,” you corrected.

james feigned offense. “how dare you question our bond? blood does not matter! we are family and that is that, young lady.”

“leave her alone, the both of you,” remus laughed, throwing an arm over your shoulder and pulling you to his chest. “our little girl had to grow up someday.”

sirius looked appalled. “not with my bastard, slimy, death eater of a brother—”

“he’s not a death eater, we’re fourteen!” you exclaimed, pouting dramatically at the older boy. “just one dance, i promise padfoot, if it’s that weird to you, i’ll never see him again.”

you lied.

sunlight peaked in through the curtains, the golden rays hitting regulus in such a way that made him look angelic. so focused on his sketchbook, glancing up every few moments to gaze at you like you were something to be revered.

you sat up in his bed, fiddling with the hem of his sweater that lay around your mid thighs; though you loved to, you rarely got the opportunity to wear reggie’s clothes, given sirius would recognize them in an instant. so, you took advantage of these moments whenever they came your way.

you loved wrapping yourself in the soft, strong, warm smell of him: minty cologne, sea salt, and pine trees. the scent was practically woven in the fabric, making everything feel so much softer, so much more him.

you did have a couple shirts and sweaters you’d stolen over the years, but they remained in your dorm at all times.

well, mostly.

it was a moment of stupidity. a dreary saturday morning, a hogsmeade trip, and you had slept in. naturally, you had to rush out of your dorm to get to breakfast in time; but, you didn’t need to change, did you?

why not wear the sweater you had slept in and save yourself a little time?

so, after changing into more appropriate pants, you made your way down the breakfast and sat in your regular spot; in between remus and james, and smack dab across from sirius.

he noticed his brothers favorite sweater the second you sat down.

“what’s that?”

you’d barely sat down by the time sirius spoke and continued making your morning coffee as the group grew silent around you. finally looking up, you glanced between your friends in confusion.

“what’s what?”

you lifted your sleeve to rub your nose, breathing in quickly through your stuffed up sinuses; stupid fall allergies.

you froze as the familiar sent cooled your insides, eyes darting over to the slytherin table across the great hall.

oh.

that’s ‘what’s what���.

“who’s jumper is that, (y/n)?” james asked, arm draping over your shoulders to tug the sleeve on the other side. “doesn’t look like one of mine—”

“or mine,” sirius chimed.

“or mine,” peter chirped, though you hardly stole borrowed his sweaters anyways (too scratchy).

“it’s mine!”

you were surprised to hear remus’ leap to your defense, as you knew damn well the sweater wrapped around you wasn’t his— still, you weren’t about to question it.

“mhm,” you hummed, taking a sip of your coffee, hoping the boys didn’t notice your shaking hands. “i don’t know what that third degree was about, but i stole this from moony a month ago.”

“what’re you thinking about, lovely?”

regulus was suddenly just inches away from you, sketchbook tossed to the side, instead opting to look at his muse more close up.

“nothing,” you mumbled, smiling as he dipped down to kiss your collarbone, working his way up to your lips with featherlight kisses that made you wish you could stay with him forever.

though at this point, everything he did made you wish you could stay with him forever.

“you’re beautiful,” he whispered, eyes scanning every curve and point of your face like a work of art; his work of art, his muse.

he’ll never get tired of that word.

you breathed in deeply, the smell of him practically making you glow like some sort of protection charm; you’d never felt safer than you did with regulus near. you felt untouchable with him, like nothing could ever hurt you.

“what are you doing here?”

lovely.

a grating voice to disrupt your terrible day.

“hey,” severus called. “i’m talking to you.”

you spun around, glaring at the greasy haired boy across from you with as much contempt at you could muster. “piss off, severus!” you shouted; you’d never bit back like this before, but the shocked look on his face was worth it. “really, cornering a younger student in an empty hallway? pretty cowardly, don’t you think?”

before you could debate the consequences of your actions, severus’ hand was gripping your cloaks and you were shoved up against the wall.

“you filthy little—”

just as quick as snapes hands were on you, they’d been torn off, and you scrunched to the ground. regulus shoved him up to the wall opposite you.

“defending your little mudblood, huh?”

“shut your filthy mouth about her or i swear on merlins grave, i will rip every single one of your teeth out and put them on a necklace like a string of fucking pearls,” regulus bit, baring his teeth, an emphasis to the threat. “you got that?”

that night, you ended up in a very similar position to where you were in now; wrapped up in your lovely boyfriends sweater, curled in his arms, and having sweet nothings whispered in your ear.

“y’know, i mean it when i say you are beautiful,” he muttered, pressing a kiss to your temple as he spoke, breath fanning over your face. it tickled, but you didn’t care; you just wanted to hear his voice. “breathtakingly gorgeous, inside and out.”

“really?” you teased, nuzzling your nose further into his chest, arms wrapped around his torso.

“really,” he laughed. “i could stay like this forever.”

you pouted, pulling yourself half on top of him. “but my daft friends just have to get in the way, don’t they?”

you hear a gasp from the doorway.

“did you just call us daft?”

[mariacallous]

Google Calendar has removed International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Jewish American Heritage Month from its default display in the United States, part of a broader removal of cultural and ethnic observances from the app.

The removal is being noticed now as companies across the United States roll back a range of diversity, equity and inclusion measures following the Trump administration’s directives against DEI. But Google told tech news outlets in recent days that the changes to the calendar date back to mid-2024 and have to do with workload rather than government policy.

“Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable,” the tech giant, which is valued at $2.3 trillion, told The Verge.

In addition to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Jan. 27, and Jewish American Heritage Month in May, the observances that no longer automatically appear include Pride Month and Black History Month. Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, some official commemorations of International Holocaust Remembrance Day have been canceled amid the crackdown on DEI.

The changes to Google Calendar came to public attention the same week that Google Maps changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the new name Trump proclaimed. On Tuesday, the White House barred an Associated Press reporter from a briefing after demanding that the news organization alter its style guide to reflect the new name.

[komsomolka]

The literature on Orientalism is very applicable to understanding russophobia as Russia has historically been depicted as an Asian power in Europe. Orientalism is the study of how the Orient is the Other of the West (Said, 1978). The Orientalists have three defining characteristics that are consistent with propaganda techniques: exaggerating the difference between the East and West, assuming a hierarchy of Western superiority and Eastern inferiority, and the persistent use of clichés and stereotypes above facts in analyses (Said, 1978). The West is rational, humane and developed, while the Orient is irrational, aberrant and underdeveloped. [...]

The Oriental stereotypes often rely on simplistic ethnic typology and the assumption of fundamental divergence from Western morality and norms. The superior-inferior dichotomy is expressed in generalisation and the Orient never fundamentally changes as this would itself alter the subject-object relationship between the West and East. Last, there is a tendency among the Orientalists to assume an eternality as the Orient never changes, which results in absurd assumptions of historical continuity. In the case of Russia, the West casually draws anachronistic comparisons between contemporary Russia and Tsarist Russia or Stalinist Russia to fit the narrative of continuity.

Russophobia: Propaganda in International Politics by Glenn Diesen.

[writingwithcolor]

How do I respectfully discuss the topic of diversity with a co-author, as well as assigning a race to an “ambiguous” character?

Anonymous asked:

My co-author and I, for context, are both white and in highschool. For the main cast of our story, each of us ended up creating three characters. All three of her characters were white. Two of mine were white as well, alongside one character who is ambiguously brown-skinned. Do you have any advice on respectfully bringing up the subject of diversity to a co-author, even if it means potentially changing our established characters? Additionally, do you have any advice on retroactively assigning a race/culture to a character? I now understand after reading this blog that “ambiguously brown” characters should be avoided, but I did not when initially creating him. I worry that I could fall into stereotypes— while portrayed positively, he’s somewhat of a “nerd” archetype. But I don’t want to whitewash him either.

“Hey, why’d you think we made a mostly all-white cast?”

In other words: Just be normal about it. As you yourself note, you also didn’t exactly put a great deal of thought into the racial/ ethnic identity for your single brown character either, so it’s not just about your writing partner. This is about how you guys like to create as a team, and what sources of inspiration you both tend to gravitate towards. If a pair of high school students who write together can’t have a chill conversation about the races of the characters they are creating, then I’d worry more for their dynamic as a creative team. Discussions of race are only as weird and awkward as people decide to make them, and that’s often framed by the baggage each person is bringing into the conversation.

Whether or not you change the characters is up to you.

“Diversity is a marathon, not a sprint!”

Write diverse characters when and because you want to. I think the push for diversity is best when it’s self-motivated. Strangers on the internet telling you to do something is definitely not the reason to do it. I’ll note the same applies IRL. Otherwise, you’re changing your behavior for the sake of peer pressure. Writing groups on the internet like our blog do not exist to sit in judgment of your work. These are venues to discuss, critique and receive feedback, but the final choice always rests with you.

There’s not enough info for me to tell if the experience of whiteness is so intrinsic to your characters that changing their race will alter them greatly. I would argue the same for gender and sexual identity. Sometimes, changing dimensions of a character’s identity alters a lot about who they are. Other times, particularly if the character is not thoroughly fleshed out, changing their race only adds to their characterization. Only you can say which scenario applies here.

Other mods have written on how to handle your dilemma of “white as default” in an earlier post available here. Please explore our #POC Profiles for more inspiration. 

Your third paragraph can be answered by re-reading all 3 sections of the FAQ and exploring our archives using the tags. 

Marika.

[powersocial]

𝕀𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 '𝔸𝕕𝕠𝕡𝕥 𝕒 𝕊𝕚𝕞' 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖, 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕦𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕚𝕟𝕗𝕝𝕦𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕪 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕕𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕡 𝕓𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 "𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘".···•✦

❁ You cannot alter ethnicity, but you can make adjustments to them through realistic methods like weight changes and muscle development.

❁ Feel free to use the prompts provided below they are completely optional, or introduce this little baby to your sim family and see how your parenting helps little Summer develop in game! (oﾟvﾟ)ノ (the first prompt isn't really important for Cas but it can give you an idea on the baby's life & personality)

❁ This is my first ever challenge so I'm sorry if their are any inconsistency's! (pls be kind) Don't forget to tag me @powersocial so I can see and share your sims! If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them.

download:🍼𝕃𝕖𝕥'𝕤 𝔸𝕕𝕠𝕡𝕥!🍼(also available on the gallery, ID @seyvia)

✦•·················• 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭���𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬! •·················•✦

You could also put the list of prompts on a 'picker wheel' if you'd like! Have fun! ♪(^∇^*)

@ts4challengehub

[socsurveystuff]

Big Radqueer Survey Results

This is going to be pretty long. I may in the future take sections from this (+ maybe elaborate) and make them their own posts. Disclaimer that any viewpoints discussed below are not necessarily my own and that I am trying to approach this from a place of pure curiosity and am not including my own moral stances. Thank you everyone for taking the survey. We’ll get started under the read more!

Alright, so immediately we’re working with a large radqueer majority audience, so keep that in mind! There is some diversity overall, but this did end up being a very pro-radqueer heavy population. Fairly normal age distribution compared to the rest of tumblr, I’d say, though I would take note of the majority 13-18 population and significant under 16 population.

Big piece of data here!! Interestingly enough, about 76% of responders identified as plural or part of a system. Based on written responses, it appears like a lot of people cite their plurality as a reason for having certain transIDs. I got a few responders who stated they were answering as multiple alters and therefore there answers may be contradictory. There seem to be a minority of endogenic systems, with most people either answering ‘traumagenic’ or that they’re unsure/nuanced about system origin.

—TransIDs: Racial, Age, Abled—

I believe the visual charts for these look a bit busy, so I will summarize the main points I got here:

Out of being transabled, transage, and transracial—being transage is the most common according to responders. Most transage folks identify as being younger, but age sliding/experiencing several ages depending seems to also be common. Compared to the other types of transIDs listed, more people seemed to identify as transage due to trauma (others seemed more related to atypical dysphoria + wanting the label for fun).

For transabled people, identifying with both physical and mental disabilities is most common. Besides that, mental is more common than physical. More people reported being transabled ‘for fun’ compared to the others (though again, atypical dysphoria was majority reported). From what I’ve seen, identifying with life-long disorders (developmental, intellectual, chronic, etc) is more common than identifying with temporary conditions.

The majority of transracial people reported being bodily white, though not by a wide margin. Based on general tumblr demographics, I’d say there’s not really compelling data there to say whether bodily white people are more likely to identify as transrace within radqueer spaces than others; though, as one might expect, it seems that bodily race/ethnicity can have an influence in the different nuances as to *why* someone might identify as a different race/ethnicity.

I don’t have anything in particular to add to this graph, I just wanted to include it here. It’s surprisingly pretty evenly split.

—TransIDs: Harmed/Harmful—

Responses to these were actually really fascinating and helpful. I could write a whole other post on it, honestly.

I’ll do my best to summarize here.

The majority of people who identify as transharmed/harmful fit both labels. You can see this in the chart. Besides that, transharmed seems more common than harmful.

Based on written responses, it is very clear to me that identification with these labels tends to stem from trauma. Though some also claimed they take them on for fun or for sexual reasons, many *many* people specifically talked about wishing their trauma was worse. Over and over again I saw sentences like, “I feel like my trauma wasn’t valid”, “I feel like it should’ve been more severe”, “people would believe me if I was more traumatized”, “I wish people would take my issues more seriously”.

This is a very common mindset among people struggling with trauma and/or mental illness. Many responders reported having these feelings about past experiences with grooming and childhood abuse. Feeling like something bad should’ve happened to you when you were younger is also often a sign of CSA or other traumatic memories that one might’ve blocked out; in other situations, it may also come from a lack of support for already existing issues.

In some cases, seemingly more commonly in those who identified with the transharmful label, people might seek out this transID to cope with or mitigate guilt from intrusive thoughts. It can be an outlet for anger, some reporting that they find a type of relief in fantasizing about hurting the people who hurt them, or hurting people in the same way they were once hurt. For many, transharmed/harmful was also related to plurality—specifically the existence of fictives/introjects and their own memories of their source material.

Though some expressed distaste for the way the general radqueer community seems to have conflated transharmful/harmed labels for kink and the want to seek out conabusive relationships, there were several people who said that they identified with these terms for specifically erotic reasons.

There was also a common theme of gratefulness for a space to express commonly taboo desire in a way that minimizes potential for harm. Especially for people who were once abused, being able to experience these things in a controlled environment was important; the desire to return to abusers themselves is considered common, so the want to recreate some aspects staying away from actual abusive situations was noted as incredibly helpful.

As some did point out in the survey, the similarities between conabuse and (sexual or nonsexual) BDSM are very apparent. Consent was consistently reiterated as necessary to many of these people, though a few also expressed concern with the way conabusive relationships have played out specifically in online spaces.

The majority of responders were positive or nuanced towards the concept of conabusive relationships. The question of minors engaging in such relationships seemed like it really depended on the individual situation for many. Maturity especially was a big factor.

—Contact Stances for ‘Big Three’ + Incest—

(TW for… all the stuff that’s involved in discussing that)

Just to preface, the reason I including the ‘regardless of consent’ answer was mostly for the section on beastiality, necrophilia and pedophilia—online, I have rarely seen the opinion that engaging sexually with beings that do not understand or relate to our societal concepts of sex (or are… corpses) cannot be harmed by it. I am also aware that some people simply don’t care about committing harm. I included it here for consistency.

Consensual incest was definitely one of the more accepted ‘taboo’ acts in this survey, with a majority of ~59%. Although, it’s important to note that for many people the pre-existing relationship of those involved would make a difference in their opinion.

Necrophilia was overall the most supported (adding up both the red and blue sections of the pie chart there). In written responses, I also saw people claiming that conditions such as relationship to the deceased and likelihood of contracting illnesses would also be relevant to their opinions. Interestingly, there seemed to be a higher percentage of anti-contact here than for incest; some who chose such an option mostly highlighted the issue of dead bodies not being able to revoke consent during the act, and therefore not having the ability to be fully consenting at all.

Zoophilia was not supported by the majority (71%). ~25% of responders believed consensual contact with animals was possible; out of those who did, the belief that animals can consent if they initiate contact was most popular (followed by perceived enjoyment and intelligence level). Interestingly, I got several responses from people who labelled themselves as either pro or anti contact zoophilia who claimed that they believed sexual contact with animals *could* hypothetically be done ethically, but that the vast majority of people do not have the knowledge of animal behavior and biology to do so.

Pedophilia/Hebephilia was considerably more divisive. Comparing the pie chart here with the data below, I believe it would be accurate to say that we have a majority (~59%) of people who believe youth cannot consent to adult advances, and others whose opinions seem to be more situationally-defined. Keep in mind that not everyone who answered the first part answered the second.

According to written responses, those that were pro or nuanced on the issue tended to prioritize maturity level and sexual education for minors. Some people claimed that kids of almost any age should be able to express consent to (a few specified: non-penetrative) sex in a society that better educated children on their bodies and relationships. There seemed to be a group of people who agreed that, philosophically, children have the capacity to say yes or no to sex in the same way they would for anything else—most of these people, though, agreed that this would not work in our society due to the prevalence of CSA and lack of protections for children.

I found it interesting that more people identified as anti-contact for zoophilia than pedo/hebephilia. I saw two or three responses that claimed it was mostly an empathy issue (more for animals, less for children); but a more common outlook seemed to be that—while some minors have the ability to communicate what they want and understand the culture we have around sex—animals cannot meaningfully consent within the framework of our society.

As we can see here, the majority (62%) of people would feel comfortable interacting with people who had one or more of the ‘big three’ paraphilias, but have not engaged in them. For many people (~35%) there is the additional caveat of being anti-contact.

For those who *have* engaged in any of those paraphilias, comfortability interacting falls significantly. There’s still a majority of people willing to interact (adding the yellow and red sections together), but most of the people in that category (~41%) would only be comfortable if they considered the other persons’ contact consensual. ~43% of people would not feel comfortable interacting at all.

I don’t have a ton to say on this chart, but I thought I’d include it here.

—CENSORSHIP—

I have less to say in this section, but I find it notable that (admittedly, by a small margin) people found the ethics of AI child pornography featuring real children’s faces (but not bodies) more disagreeable than fully real images of children. Also notably, ~27% of responders believe children can consent to keeping sexually explicit images/videos of themselves available. Based on written responses, I believe some or most of this percentage comes from people wanting it to be acceptable for youth to keep/potentially distribute nudes of themselves without fear of legal repercussion.

Here we have a majorities for not banning sexually explicit writing or animation portraying children. As I expected, writing has a little more support than visual depiction.

—CONCLUSION, NOTES—

Again, I want to thank everyone who participated. The survey will continue to stay open if you haven’t taken it and want to add your own perspective.

I still have some questions, particularly regarding the diversity in definitions of consent I saw, as well as some of the more… ‘cosmetic’ (?) based TransIDs that I’d be interested in understanding the thought behind.

I feel like I have a much better understanding of some of the psychology behind a lot of this, at least. I won’t go into any ultimatums here, because I believe they might be influenced by my own ethics, but I’ll just say that much of this community is very understandable if you take an empathetic approach. It’s interesting that an online culture so focused on being able to identify as ‘other’ in a very individualistic way seems to have also brought many people into community that they were seeking. There’s quite an emphasis on the shared solidarity between different “deviancies” (as societally-defined), and for better or for worse this has led to the public broadcast of the many diversities of opinion these people have on some of the most taboo subjects one can think of.

[featguler]

baby steps, baby ────── a late night conversation in his car. threading on a whole new thing with kylian.

♡ ────── pairing : kylian mbappé x reader ♡ ────── tags : reader's gender, ethnicity, nationality, and appearance is not specified. reader lives in an apartment in paris and is a normal person. reader is somewhat insecure and is filled with doubts abt their relationship. ♡ ────── wordcount : 710 ♡ ────── notes : seems like i'm just writing whatever the fuck i want. send in req's pls ♡ masterlist.

You choose not to ask Kylian if he had ever felt the way you are feeling before.

Why would you?

His past relationships are none of your business, the previous pairs of lips he’d kissed are none of your business, and the beds he chose to spend his nights on before yours are none of your business either.

He opens the door to your side of the car, he orders your food for you, and asks if you would like to share a dessert to hide his own eagerness. He is endearing, and the right now you have is enough.

It’s silly to obsess over did-not-happen-yet scenarios. Your brain, though, cannot help but string you along.

As he drives down the road leading to your arrondissement, on your third night out after an awkward confession in your apartment, Kylian talks about how he has to fly soon to Germany. He talks about how they—whoever they are—have begun integrating group games and activities into practice, and he talks about how keeping a team cemented requires more HR work than anything else.

It still feels out of your mind that you are dating Kylian Mbappé—superstar footballer, conceited on field and humble off it. Grace lace his strides and half the world wants him. Or maybe not. You’re not sure. That’s what it feels like, though.

You wouldn’t imagine that you’d be sharing a drink together a few months back, moreover a car ride, moreover a night out, moreover a kiss.

“...come with me?”

You noticed that you were dozing off the conversation, preoccupied with Paris’ night light just outside your seat window.

“To Germany?” You ask, trying to gauge the context of the conversation from what you remember. “Me?”

He laughs a hearty laugh, glancing over at you as quick as he looks back to the road.

“Yeah,” his grin is illuminated by the occasional streetlights—you recognize the quirk of his eyebrow as the sign of an incoming jest. “Watch me play, beat the whole tournament in one game.”

You laugh along with him. “I’ve watched you plenty, Kylian.”

“Not outside France,” he retorts before stopping for a quick second. “And not outside Paris.”

“Well,” you hesitate, “I’ve got a job and all, you know? Can’t exactly drop everything and leave for Germany.”

You watch the fist around his steering wheel tighten, his lips pursing after yet another one of your rejection. He’d always asked you to come to his games—begged you, even. Far before you had recognized the intention behind his invites, he’d send texts asking if he should save a ticket. It would be a game in Spain or Germany, always somewhere far-off, and always on a working day.

You would think that he had gotten used to the disappointment, but you try putting yourself in his position, and imagine how he would feel. It’s probably different from the hurt you feel every time he has to leave you for long, but you try matching it.

“But anyway,” you speak, hoping to distract the sudden tense atmosphere invading the car. “How do you win a tournament with just one game?”

“You never know,” you hear the light returning to his words. “If I score 20 points in the first 30 minutes, maybe they’d change the rules.”

“I’d change the rules,” you counter. “For you.”

You turn to watch the road ahead, but from the corner of your eyes, you see a quirk of his lips, and then a quirk of his eyebrows.

“That’s sweet,” he reaches over to touch the hands folded on your lap, grabbing one in his. “But it would be boring if all the rules were altered to fit me.”

“Yeah,” you chuckle, flipping your hand to return his hold. “You gotta take it one game at a time, one goal at a time.”

“Uh-huh,” he nods. “Baby steps. I’ll get there in due time.”

He pulls your hand over, pressing a kiss on top of your knuckles. This right now feels too good to be true—if it were you and him against the world, it seems like it wouldn’t be as scary as all of the imagined scenarios in your head.

“Baby steps, baby.” You look at him and cannot hold back the smile, “Baby steps.”

[tanadrin]

Some notes on "The Tribes of Yahweh," by Norman Gottwald

(will update more as I read more, this is just stuff I found interesting so far)

Israel as a social system emerged in Canaan by stages, and there was never a fixed form of pre-monarchic Israelite society. Obviously this means there was also no "conquest" of Canaan, as there is in the Exodus-narrative. The prehistory of peoples who joined Israel in its later stages must have overlapped chronologically with the history of an emerging Israel, and so aspects of proto-Israelite life reflected in, e.g., the patriarchal narratives may well have been historically contemporary with the early stages of the development of Israelite society itself. In addition to the tendency of Biblical sources to retain certain proto-Israelite ideas and memories, there is also a tendency to retroject later Israelite conditions onto the past.

There may have been a "Moses group" whose traditions contributed to those of Israel, but it is impossible to say anything about a historic Moses, and difficult to say anything about this "Moses group," insofar as the Biblical narrative of Exodus is so clearly a product of a much later, much more developed tradition, concerned with much later social and rleigious circumstances. But this Moses group may have been responsible for introducing the figure of Yahweh to the Israelite confederation. It is probably impossible to say anything about what the earliest beliefs about Yahweh were among the Moses group, since we have only faint traces of their existence in a much altered, much later form.

The Moses group may have also contributed the ideas of covenant and law alongside the cult of Yahweh, a legacy of their own structure of self-rule, though it's certainly possible these were a later development, and it's not possible to say that the form in which we have these ideas in Exodus is based in what might have been the original form they had among the Moses group.

Gottwald himself seems to think there was likely an 'Egyptian-oriented feeder revolt' among a proto-Israelite people, but acknowledges there are interesting and "arresting" arguments that Moses and the whole Exodus narrative is a complete fiction, without a kernel of historical truth.

"Although it was Yahwistic, the Moses group was not Israelite and, therefore, even its Yahwism was not simply coterminous with the more fully elaborated Iraelite Yahwism. We must not be misled by the anachronizing periodization of the canonical traditions into assuming that the religion of Yahweh among the Mosaic Levites outside of Canaan was the same phenomenon as the religion of Yahweh among the greatly expanded congeries of mixed pastoralists and agriculturalists who came to practice it in succeeding generations in Canaan. Important continuity there was, but the critically important discontinuity can be grasped best by comparing the two confessing Yahwistic communities: on the one hand, a small, relatively homogenous group forged out of a common experience of Egyptian oppression; and on the other hand, ethnically, culturally, economically, and historically variegated groups in Canaan with highly tenuous grounds for unity. The small, historically focused Moses group was not the large variegated people of Israel, even though its members became a part of greater Israel. Correspondingly, while bearing the same name and some of the same traits, and even being confessed by some of the same peoples in the two settings, the Yahweh of the Moses group and the Yahweh of variegated larger Israel were in important respects two different Yahwehs."

"The patriarchal period is not a separate autonomous phase in the history of Israel. It is a synthetic creation of canonical Israelite tradition in which scattered memories of the proto-Israelite experiences of some Israelite groups are intermixed with later Israelite experiences and beliefs and cast in the form of a history of genealogically related eponymous ancestors. The Mosaic phase is not a separate autonomous phase in the history of Israel, although it is a separate autonomous phase in the history of Yahwism which contributed basic beliefs and practices to the later Yahwism of united Israel. … From the patriarchal traditions we can derive information as to the prehistory of some peoples in Israel, as well as hints as to how some peoples in later Israel thought of their earlier fortunes. It also means that from the Mosaic traditions we can derive information as to the pre-Israelite phase of Yahwism as the source of key all-Israelite beliefs, as well as abundant evidence concerning the cultic-ideological forces at work in later Israel. The available information in these various categories is of uneven quantity and quality. From neither set of traditions, however, can we derive a straightforward history of Israel. The information in the patriarchal and Mosaic traditions will be helpful historically only when we have established the early history of Israel in Canaan from other sources."

The building up of basic themes within the Pentateuch reflects the way in which many different groups are coming together to form Israel, and each has their own sacred traditions and sites. There are two big themes that structure the narrative frame of the Pentateuch, the deliverance from Egypt and the entry into Canaan, with other themes introduced serially into the cult of Yahweh over about 150 years.

Regional cultic loci are a centrifugal element in early Israelite religion and culture, with groups striving to retain their individual identity within the whole.

"Given these diffused and decentralized pre-1sraelite tenderıcies, which unques­tionably persisted within unified Israel to a marked degree (witness the stories of the judges!), the achievement of the national Yahwistic cult in detaching these traditions from their peculiar loca! associations and projecting them into a massive all-Israelite cultural history is obviously of the first importarıce in estimating the forces at work in producing a united Israel"

the all-israelite sublimation of local material came to a culmination in the Yahwist source (J), but the process began much earlier, when the basic themes were still taking shape and attracting scattered traditions. The beginning of this project is in fact the clearest clue pointing to the beginning of the formation of Israel as a distinctive social group.

Though the centralizing tendency "won out" in one sense, it did so by finding a place within its structure for all the other decentralizing tendencies, which was probably a precondition for the proto-Israelite groups joining the community of Israel and maintaining their membership.

[caliburn-the-sword]

the main talking point of a lot of people that love eah but bash on descendants is that "eah was deep!! descendants was just a disney knockoff that meant nothing and was just a cashgrab" SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP (to be clear i am an eah lover). analytical thoughts to follow:

consider also, that auradon is portrayed as very technologically advanced in direct opposition to the isle being associated with magic (even with its ban) and a lot of of clearly second hand, worn and torn fridges and tvs and whatever

also, the fact that she felt PRESSURED to not only culturally assimilate into auradon culture, but alter her physical appearance to assimilate further. consider mal's costuming in the first movie. on the isle, we see her with (what i assume is her natural) purple hair, leather, etc. she is even, to a degree, gender nonconforming. pretty much the ONLY time we see her in skirts is when she's trying to impress ben for her plan to work

compare this with the hair costuming in descendants 2:

(i actually can't remember which scenes the third one was in but whatever) they have taken away her sparkle!! she's assimilated firstly into auradon fashion by dressing in pastels like them, and in SKIRTS which she textually only wore in the first movie when she wanted to impress ben. now with the added context of her wanting to impress auradon. and it really speaks a lot that she feels she has to conform to gender norms more in order to be accepted by auradon

and what about hair. she's felt the need to not only change the way she dresses, but change her hair to the eurocentric standard, so blonde that it's almost WHITE to conform to auradon's society (because let's be real, her mum's a fairy/dragon and her dad is a greek god. i'd be MORE surprised if she was DYING her hair purple than it being natural). changing your natural hair in order to to conform to and be accepted by the majority... where have i heard that one before??

shoutout to @soniccat

(to be clear. it is not a one for one analogy. "hey using a spell to force someone to forget what you did is an invasion" to me is like going "well actually people were right to fear mutants in x-men because some of them were walking weapons" IT'S A METAPHOR THAT IS ALSO A PLOT DEVICE)

('backwater' being used ironically, do not let my meaning be misconstrued here. a better way to word it is that immigrants are guilttripped into having to be 'grateful' for their oppression in a first world country because microaggressions or assimilation is considered better than the alternative, being back in your home country where living conditions may be considered poorer)

in the sense that for instance, jay put a VK spin on supporting feminism. like yes, he could've done it the rulefollowing, create a petition and gather signatures route, but INSTEAD he finds and exploits an existing loophole to let lonnie join the team. or evie shouting out dizzy's creations, uplifting her voice despite the fact she could've still taken the credit since she was the one that paired the outfit with the accessories. etc

are the descendants movies objectively bad movies?? yes. but this was to me, one of the most compelling analogies for immigrant struggles. take particular notice how almost ALL the main VKs are either racebent from the original disney movies (evie, carlos, uma) or were already based on an ethnic character (mal, jay)

but wait, mal is the whitest white girl to walk the planet. how is she already based on an ethnic character?

glad you asked. it is quite unclear in the descendants movie (basing its portrayal of maleficent on the disney sleeping beauty) is a fairy or a dragon. while the maleficent movie isn't canon to the descendants universe, i'm still going to use the fact that she's a fairy with the magical ability to turn herself into a dragon

a lot fairy folklore comes from ireland. the name maleficent itself, and i quote

shares similarities to the name millicent. millicent has irish (or scottish) roots (even a coat of arms) as in

thus one could argue that maleficent herself could potentially be irish coded

whether or not you agree with the idea that maleficent is irish coded, it is undeniable that mal is the daughter of hades, a greek god. it's a shame that that was a retcon in the third movie and not planned from the start, because the role could've gone to an actually greek actress (please google the ottoman empire and greek independence day if you still think it's not fitting for me to group mal with the others)

where was i going with this?? right. it's extremely telling that most of the main/side VKs, save for gil, are ethnic, in the story of a group of misfits finding themselves in an unfamiliar country with new social norms for them to learn as they try to fit in with and become accepted by their peers

[aalinaaaaaa]

ANOINTED OF THE LAKE — Eshani Faison

Thanks to @bardic-tales for the tag for the OC Profile game! :D

Basics

Name: Eshani Faison

Age: 168

Gender: female

Type of being: Fae

Nationality: Vaera, Helindian

Ethnicity: Seladian (Vaera)

Magical Abilities:

- Shapeshifting — if she wanted to, she could take the likeness of any living being she so chooses, but her most common usage of it would be to change her height, turn into a phoenix or alter her appearance in some way to match her fashion (such as changing her eye or hair colour, for instance)

- Teleportation — a rather important ability for her in the context of her profession, but it’s a lifeline and freedom for her also. It helps her to confuse, manipulate and otherwise get past people, but she will sometimes teleport to some other city or locale she has previously visited for a fun day trip or something

- Flame magic — she likes the drama and grandeur of it, using it for flair or to intimidate people. In addition, she uses her flames for seemingly minor things, such as for light, igniting campfires, lanterns/other controlled fires, roasting meat and so on so forth.

Occupation: High Councillor

Role: protagonist

Personality

Eshani is the type of person that naturally draws people in, puts them at ease but all the while, they catch none of her personal life. Because she keeps herself highly guarded, for fear of anyone using her identity against her.

In the position she’s now in, her tendency to collect people’s secrets is a great advantage. She pulls strings around her, for better or for worse, her stubbornness and tenacity a double-edged sword.

For those that she favours most, she is a deeply loving, selfless individual. In the past ten years she’s been away from her loved ones, there has not been a day when they haven’t crossed her mind. She feels a great amount of guilt for abandoning them, but all the same she has a tendency of leaving her loved ones in the dark when she’s dealing with things, doing things on her own so she doesn’t have to worry about the people she cares about getting implicated.

To those looking in from the outside, she seems like a bright, intelligent, if a bit manipulative lady that also seems a touch haphazard. She has a tendency of shifting mid-air or mid-movement, pulling stunts such as jumping off high places and sometimes teleporting straight behind someone. The more comfortable she is around someone, the more likely she is to be spontaneous and mischievous.

—

Traits: chatty, charismatic, playful, intelligent, manipulative, stubborn, self-sacrificial

Likes: chatting, painting, sculpting, flying, her birds, travelling, fashion

Dislikes: fighting, sprites, Helindian superstitions, certain crows

Way of Speaking: In a lively, witty sort of tone, with a touch of sass for good measure. Her words come across as eloquent and deliberate, each one carefully picked to engineer what she wants out of the situation at hand.

Clothing Style: red and black are the dominant colours, green, blue and purple some less frequent flourishes. She favours things that are light and free-flowing, so as such she has a lot of dresses, skirts and long coats in her wardrobe. Her general style tends to focus on elegance, as opposed to the flashier affairs favoured by some High Councillors and Morilesian nobility. That being said, she has picked up a common trait of her clothes being a demonstration of intent; her normal, calf-length red dress is a sign of normality, her long coat with all the gold embroidery and the blue fabric trailing out the end is a sign that whoever she is encountering is about to face some harsh consequences.

Habits: idly weaving flames around her fingers, giving forehead kisses when kissing someone, walks at a fast pace, crosses her left leg over the right when sitting

Fears: getting afflicted by a sprite, her loved ones getting caught up in Morilaste/getting used as pawns against her, Claudia finding out who her loved ones are, getting couped, usurped and/or otherwise assassinated

Hobbies: swimming, painting, sculpting, taking in and looking after sick and injured birds

Describe her room: A small, cosy bedroom with a central skylight above the bed, pots of small trees and plants hanging from it. A door faces her bed, leading to her bathroom, a study, an artist’s studio and a walk-in wardrobe.

Items in her back pocket: a pen and note paper and a gold coin with sigils of a phoenix and flames on the respective sides.

Pets: The rake of birds in her sanctuary! Of them, the most significant are the phoenix she got from a dealer in Selade and a black ilasivine she saved from the brink of death in Arobyre.

Relationships

Cerigo Verasse: estranged lover, the pair were friends before they realised their love for each other had a romantic edge to it. Unfortunately, their romance was fairly short-lived as Eshani saved him from who turned out to be the High Councillor who preceded her. Though they tried to keep in contact afterwards, Eshani stopped once she realised she could be putting her family in danger.

Cheyoria Faison: her daughter, the girl was five years old when Eshani left. Just the mention of her is the quickest way to make Eshani vulnerable, she loves her more than anything. What little memories she does have with her, she treasures dearly, and the guilt she has is a big part of what drives her desire to leave Morilaste.

Claudia Emar: fellow High Councillor, these two trust each other but don’t. They share a mutual respect for the power and competency of the other, wary and reticent to become each other’s enemies. Therefore, they choose to keep a close, cordial rapport, but yet neither can breach the other’s heart. Their dynamic is deeply professional, yet somehow more.

Namon Darüven: another of her fellows, but their rapport is much warmer. The two of them consistently banter with each other, keeping each other at arm’s length, yet the chemistry between them is undeniable. And Eshani hates that. From the first time they met, Namon’s sought a more deeply romantic and physical bond between them, but Eshani can’t bring herself to do so. Though she’s estranged from Cerigo, in a court where word will not get out past its borders (or at least, any such words are depicted as exaggerations, fairytales, hearsay, etc), indulging Namon’s desires feels to her as if she’s wronging Cerigo. So she only indulges him in literally anything and everything except physical touch. (Well, except that one time she let him kiss her, as a sort of “there, are you pleased?” situation)

Appearance

She has the build of a model; she’s tall, slender, and fast on her feet. She exudes this fluidness, this grace in her movements, yet unpredictable as a flame. Not a single stutter in her steps, movements nor in her magic, she naturally draws the eye just by her existence.

And this especially goes for her true form. Most of the time, she prefers to walk around in human form because it makes communication easier, it doesn’t greatly intimidate people and thus she doesn’t have to feel so self-conscious. But unfortunately for her in that aspect… her true height is way taller than the standard person (thanks to the effects of Morilast’s Mark) and though she’s long adjusted to that, she’d still give it up in a heartbeat.

She has flowing blonde hair that she normally keeps down, but she will sometimes tie it up in a bun or a high ponytail or something, depending on her mood, what she’s wearing, etc. She has a pair of phoenix hair pins, where each pin is half of the whole. They’re long pins, so she’ll sometimes just use one instead of both.

Despite her affinity with flames, her eyes are a deep shade of green, which she’ll not change tremendously often unless her outfit calls for it. Her skin is as pale as the clouds, her face sharp and delicate, and her hands are not adorned with jewellery. In fact, she normally doesn’t wear it, not even earrings. She also only has one tattoo, on her upper back, and that’s the very Mark that binds her.

Features in:

Stories and Snippets

A Deal Between Dealbreakers

The introduction for A Healing of the Birds! (she’s one of the protagonists!)

A Broken Seal (this is going to be slightly retconned, because this was written before I decided that Eshani would teleport away with the acolyte!)

A Lesson in Observation *

Tainted Orchestrations

A Sacrifice Made Twice

A Pawn for a Greater Cause *

The Forest’s Disgrace

Monsters and Their Pawns

A Locket Without the Key

*She’s mentioned by appearance in these two, but doesn’t actually participate in the narrative

Ask games:

page seven of A Healing for the Birds

a snippet of her with Namon

Questions about her gait and favourite animal

A summary of her thoughts on her current status

A ballpoint pen and a sad face (for a character ask game)

A question about my favourite/least favourite aspects of her

Some battery percentage questions!

What could’ve happened if Eshani’s perspective got cut (WIP Folder asks)

More questions for another character ask game! (about strange food and alcohol)

An obscure moment

Tag Games:

OC in Fifteen

OC Interview Tag

Writing Share Tag (Eshani’s first meeting with Alycja)

Last Line Tag (angsty pining scene part #1)

WIP Wednesday (angsty pining scene part #2)

Proud of Tag (angsty pining scene part #3)

Friday Kiss tag (angsty pining scene part #4)

WIP Wednesday (more angst, just ten years later)

Height Comparison Tag

WIP Wednesday (a snippet of Chapter Two of A Healing for the Birds)

Out of Context Line tag

Trivia Tuesday

Character Voice Tag (“Do your worst”/”Fight me”)

Other

The High Councillors of Morilast

The Tag Part

Tagging the General taglist here (ask/comment/reblog etc to be added or subtracted): @mr-orion @the-ellia-west @guessillcallitart-deactivated20 @thereadingfoz @glassstardust22124 @honeybewrites @ashirisu @drowsy-quill @oliolioxenfreewrites @theglitchywriterboi @seastarblue @gioiaalbanoart @rae-butter @corinneglass @thelaughingstag @oros-ash3s @jacqueswriteblrlibrary @rainbowsnowflake @fourwingedwriter @oddcryptidwrites @ark-inkweaving plus @winterandwords @houndsofcorduff @nightmaricwriter @jconstantines @oleanderbailey @abitscripturient @tryingtimi @flock-from-the-void @ieppiq @aquadestinyswriting @thepeculiarbird @space-writes and open tag for people to show off their characters!

Template:

Name:

Nickname:

Type of Being:

Age:

Gender:

Appearance:

Occupation:

Family Members:

Pets:

Best Friend:

Describe their room:

Way of Speaking:

Physical Characteristics (posture, gestures, attitude):

Items in their back pocket:

Hobbies:

Abilities/talents/powers:

Relationships (how they interact with other people):

Fears:

Faults:

Good Points:

What they want more than anything else:

[citrusotakutea]

I was worried about "Severus Snape as he was" being replaced as soon as the reboot was announced. Not only is it happening, people, including so-called Snape fans, are happy about it and want you to be as well.

People have been telling me not to worry this whole time but the show hasn't even finalized the cast yet and already people are JUMPING at the chance to change canon, fanart, their headcannons, and more because of one actor.

As I thought, no one truly cared for the greasy, poor Half-Blood, his story or what it had to say.

But he's "just fictional", right?

Mark my words, they'll retwist his character into something unrecognizable from the original. As of last week, they've created a new character. This reboot is supposed to last 10 something years. Original Snape fans, when you get shit for liking anything resembling pre-2025 Snape, don't say I didn't warn you.

Snape was perfect to me. I didn't see any reason to change his story or likeness, which yes, is very very VERY important to his character. Just because you could swap it out for other ""undesirable"" (the actor is a conventionally attractive man, just black) features, doesn't mean that that actually fits his current story. They will have to alter his motivation, mannerisms, and backstory for this. More. All for one actor.

They did not think this casting choice through by the way, if you think they care about Snape's character or representation at all. It's painfully obvious someone unfamiliar with the plot as a whole but also unfamiliar with Snape made this choice. They chose the actor and will twist the story to fit him. Not the other way around, where the story made sense in some parts, and then they made the decision to cast an actor of non-English or non-Irish decent. There are different ethnicities that could have fit this (personally, if I had to, I would have gone with someone of Rroma descent, not hard to find in England) regardless, it would have made sense that he would be visibly mixed race.

I pointed this out back in December but many parts of Snape's backstory being stolen taken and attributed to a black man, now living in England in the 60s/70s, makes the story take on a racist undertone. Many Snape fans could point out what his backstory originally intended to highlight in terms of discrimination, especially in terms of classism. But HBO took a look at a young, poor, abused child who fell into the wrong crowd, joined a cult (or gang, if you will), who then reformed but ultimately had students and peers alike distrust him because of his looks and past... and thought "Yep, let's cast a black man in this."

Right.

Not to mention one of the books is called "Half-Blood Prince"? Where is the half? If he isn't mixed at all, are we going to hear about the pureblood Prince family of African descent living in England for hundreds of years? Slavery? His pureblood classmates immediately target him despite knowing his family's history. Hello?

Let's be honest, we all know this was a poorly thought out attempt at getting more people interested in the show by using diversity and controversy. What about Hermione? If she's not cast with a black actor either, honestly this just doubly confirms my point about Snape. Not to mention, the potential for casting colorism if she ends up being light-skinned and mixed but the Half-Blood Prince is not. Hell, Harry and James should be South Asian just going off what's popular.

This is just as bad as J.K. Rowling's Twitter stints where she'd just make up stuff on the spot because she could. In fact, it's exactly like that. They're throwing BIPOC fans, not bones, but scraps desperately hoping a couple thousand more people will flock to the show BECAUSE of the political controversy it will create.

As for long, die-hard Snape fans, they could care less. Even though he is pointedly one of the characters in the history of ever with the biggest, most rabid fanbases-- to the point where we have a famous religion and/or cult. I've been asked if I was a Snape Wife. The girl reading this, I'm sure you have, too.

This will change how you're allowed to interact with Snape in the fandom. Even if the reboot gets canceled early or if it's largely ignored by fans, some people won't allow you to acknowledge the original Snape. Because "his appearance doesn't matter", you'll have to recognize him as Paapa. His "status doesn't matter", so you'll have to recognize him as Paapa. "Snape doesn't matter."

Snape, in all honesty, in terms of characterization is one of the most thought out characters in Young Adult fiction I've ever read. There is not one word on a page that isn't meaningful in some way. It's not wrong or bad to acknowledge that. It's also not wrong or bad to like his old appearance.

Snape fans, please know that we don't have to take this lying down. Speak out about it on social media, contact HBO, or sign a petition. Anything. But, please, don't stay silent.

Ah, yes. Snape the person who got lost his best (white, childhood, a girl) friend by saying "mudblood" while being sexually assaulted, joined a "Nazi wizard cult", and later on shows personal growth by telling the portrait of Phineas to not say "mudblood" and dying for someone else's son. Will Petunia get hate for immediately distrusting him? Will James and Sirius? Doesn't matter because they (Marauder's Era) were RIGHT to immidiately distrust the *checks notes* only black man in their private school in the middle of bumfuck England. Snape supposedly didn't wash his hair, had bad teeth and an ugly nose, and was hated in school because he involved himself with dangerous dark magic. One of those being a "shanking spell" (my joke here) he created. Hell, he's constantly emasculated by the characters and story. Not to mention, Snape's parents, an abusive alcoholic and a (also ugly) neglectful witch, will now be portrayed by black people. Yay! Diversity win! It's not like those were issues among families and young men that were being highlighted in English society, either. Clearly all inherently black traits. Yep. I'm glad this is what our community is seen as.

Whether you want to argue that being ethnically English is important to Snape's character or not-- I'm sure they thought this change through very well. Just trust me bro, his original story doesn't matter, accept this.