#and of course there's other harmful norms in other cultures. but this one is so fucking prevalent

[satedsaint]

imo the neutral state of humanity should be a person with body hair. it skeeves me out so bad that up to 50% of americans (not accounting for other countries) remove their body hair on purpose, some of them going so far as to surgically or permanently remove it.

especially growing up as a girl seeing shaving presented as a norm just the same as your first period or your first bra. seeing shaving presented the same as having a healthy diet and being active. seeing body hair as the same as infections and illnesses.

every time i see a woman in a tank top and she raises her arms and it's bare it always takes me aback. i wish we hadn't been raised like this i think people would feel a lot more free in their bodies if we hadn't been forced into gender and sex norms from birth

[canine-economy]

On Swansea’s (often understated) role in Mouthwashing

I say this as a big swansea fan but I don’t rlly understand why ppl are acting like he’s not also complicit in what happened to Anya? AUs where “Anya tells Swansea” and he jumps to violently defend her don’t make sense to me because canonically she does tell him, as he admits to Jimmy. But swansea represents another way of interacting with the capitalist heteropatriarchy that ALSO harms victims: holistic jadedness and resignation.

Swansea is across the board unkind to the Tulpar crew. We can’t forget that he calls anya a “so-called nurse”

and says this to Jimmy, which (if unintentionally) reiterates Jimmy’s own warped perception of Anya’s usefulness and competence. This allows Jimmy to feel justified in his imagination of the nurse’s inferiority. Swansea’s clear lack of respect for Jimmy does less to hurt Jimmy than his lack of respect for Anya harms Anya, because at the end of the day, Swansea’s attitude is contextualized by the violent culture it exists in and he does nothing to reconcile with that when Jimmy becomes the captain. His resignation can thus be weaponized even by Jimmy, a man who Swansea disrespects but whose power he doesn’t try to meaningfully jeopardize, because his across-the-board disdain punches people already marginalized by the environment twice as hard as it does those with power.

Swansea doesn’t position himself as an ally, he positions himself as willfully uninvolved in everything, an observer to the shitshow ride to hell. Just because he dislikes Jimmy doesn’t mean he aligns with Anya. He makes it clear that he’s not on her side, either. After a life of doing what he felt was expected of him, Swansea on the Tulpar looks out for Swansea and Swansea’s comfort. In trying to situate himself outside of the politics of it all as an older white man, he simply allows them to play out. The toxic culture keeps existing, playing out in the microcosm that is this freighter, and Swansea in all his experience recognizes that shit has hit the fan and elects to coast through it, even explicitly numbing himself to it by breaking his sobriety. It is, of course, hard to force yourself to be sober—to see clearly. But had Swansea forced himself to get involved sooner, he might have set a precedent for Daisuke to recognize Jimmy’s abuse, which could have saved Daisuke’s life as well as created a safe space for Anya. But Swansea’s inaction forces both victims to confront an abuser on their own, unable to reap benefits from his privilege and experience.

Jimmy is clearly intimidated by swansea in a way he is not by Anya, Daisuke, or a post-crash Curly (Swansea, for example, physically manifests as an aggressor in Jimmy’s “responsibility sequences”, and Jimmy ties Swansea up to avoid what he sees as the real possibility of pushback that he doesn’t conceive of Anya being able to do). Swansea has a power he does not act on or with until it is far, far too late. In fact, he acknowledges in his final monologue that he was dissatisfied with the discomfort with opening his eyes and living an exemplary “good man”s life. The best days of his life are ones in which he’s belligerently drunk—days in which he didn’t have to hold himself accountable. He regrets the life he spent performing for higher-ups and we watch him reject it by scorning Captain Jimmy, but he also doesn’t want to be held responsible for helping other people when it’s their turn to endure the expectations and violence from similar (if not the same) higher powers. Tragically, he possesses the hindsight to recognize that how he acted on the Tulpar consequently wasn’t what Daisuke needed out of a role model, leading to Daisuke becoming a victim. His hands-off approach to emotional engagement with his young male intern (another symptom of patriarchal gender norms) may have been to avoid Daisuke turning out miserable and jaded like himself, but it doesn’t actually indicate to an already-confused Daisuke what the dangers of that attitude are. Swansea never admits his own shortcomings in a tangible way which, had they come from a man with experience and prestige like himself, may have shifted that culture that failed Anya. She comes to him with the story not because he has situated himself as any earnest friend, but likely out of desperation on a ship Jimmy now controls.

When we allow “the machine” (Swansea’s own words) to beat us down to the point that we don’t find it productive to challenge unjust power dynamics, we become complicit. I think too many people get hung up on his disdain for Jimmy and Jimmy’s fear of Swansea as a marker of allyship with Anya, but the truth is that Swansea. Is a bad ally. He’s hardly one at all. His long stint in the demanding capitalist environment molded a perfectly complicit result out of him, as it aspires to do, even if Swansea bitterly recognizes that. Jimmy’s overt violence from a position of power is a different and much more brutal approach to abuse enabled by people who have been left too tired and bitter to care that he does it. A man who could’ve intimidated and even threatened Jimmy is too resigned to try until there is literally nobody but himself left to fight for, which is an attitude carefully cultivated among the lower rungs of hierarchies to keep the top safe. Swansea in particular seems very unhappy with the capitalistic, patriarchal expectations laid out for him as a father, husband, and laborer. His decision to just stop trying and spare himself the grief instead of questioning why those expectations exist and how they would hurt the others onboard only delays him being directly targeted by Jimmy and doesn’t interrupt the latter’s violence.

Not a single man in mouthwashing is innocent in Anya’s victimhood. This is a statement tentatively uninclusive of Daisuke, because I think the game very deliberately positions him outside of manhood through his youth and thus struggling with the concept of “fitting in” to the patriarchy. Curly, Jimmy, and Swansea all represent different failures that ultimately perpetuate Anya��s suffering and force her to defend herself and finally take her life into her own hands. A holistic analysis of rape culture in MW necessarily engages with all three of them. Only not being a friend and ally to rapists and other male abusers isn’t enough, and Swansea proves it.

[calebwittebane]

alright can i just say something.

can I just voice my opinion can I be heard. this post Bovvers Me. now i know this is a joke post. but in reality, in practice, as it has been released into the world, its a half-joke-post. it gained so much traction because people really do think like this and not for entirely self-deprecating ways--though that would be bad too. listen, when it comes to LESBIAN GAY BISEXUAL TRANSGENDER sex, being submissive is more readily accepted in the culture that is afraid of sexuality, because to a certain degree it appears to remove involvement and intent (which of course in reality it really doesnt, and the idea that it does has been used by predators to obscure abusive dynamics, but i digress). being dominant, being horny without guilt, initiating and "leading" the scene, it involves a level of earnesty that many people are scared of. it is Cringe to them even tough they crave it, but what they want is an oscar worthy performance that hits all the unspoken levels of subtleties and post-post-irony, done by someone without feelings or boundaries or different levels of comfort, who is just here to act out someone elses fantasy and leave. it is a dreary picture of gaysexhavers SO afraid of being earnest, so intent on needlessly judging and policing others all because they do it to themselves first and foremost. a pursuit of joy and understanding gets trampled over by the need to appease The Shame and The Voyeur and The Peer Judgment and to conform to norms even in privacy. the notion that its shameful to be horny, that wanting things is predatory, that youre making a mistake and committing a sin to even be doing this in the first place. the need to have someone to project anxieties and shame onto, the need to look at someones "right" to have a sexuality, unspoken social currency, self-policing. moreover, when a person is designated inherently less deserving of normal things like safely expressing desire, kept perpetually afraid of unknowingly becoming a predator due to some intrinsic quality of theirs, their boundaries are more easily trampled over and their safety is not as readily taken into consideration. not to mention that such pathologizing of agency and expression mirrors the same old dehumanizing patterns found in wider society, as it ends up harming those most marginalized within lgbt spaces--POC, especially Black people, trans women, very gnc people, disabled people, and so on.

TL;DR - people will think and talk like this and then be like "where are all the doms..." this and "no one wants to top..." that

[drbased]

another thing I'm getting from this history of satanism video is how quickly and effectively society responds to feminism and redirect attentions away from men as a class.

second-wave feminism brings to light recognition of rape in the public consciousness as something done to all women -> satanic panic (rape is done by certain evil groups), stranger danger (rape is done by unknown men), serial killers (rape is done by specific, very bad men). the satantic panic one is especially interesting because it's such a clear diversion away from recognising where child abuse actually comes from: instead of recognising child sexual abuse as something done by men - any man from any background - to establish dominance over the family unit, child sexual abuse is redirected into something that happens under some evil corrupting force in a shockingly organised form. instead of it being random, it's done as a ritual; instead of it being patriarchal, it's done as a rejection of healthy patriarchal norms.

now we can look back and see that the psychiatrists who championed 'repressed memories' were agenda-driven and unprofessional, but the their motivations are never really given enough focus, and neither of the motivations of the general public, who were so ready to accept these now entirely debunked ideas. religious fears are the oft-cited reason, but as with all attempts to explain historical events without feminist analysis, the questions of why invisible, trauma-inducing child sexual abuse was the central fear are left on the table. feminist analysis makes the connection clear: as with any societal upheaval, there always needs to be a backlash, a re-establishment of social norms, an attempt to cram in the genuine rebellion of feminist ideas back into something palatable for the patriarchal society. recognition of rape as something done to cause harm and instill dominance makes a connection between rape of women and rape of children that society wants to ignore; the traditional view is that rape is of something erotic and adult-oriented, leaving child sexual abuse to be something rare and an aberration, and therefore scapegoatable.

so when feminist activism brought to light the inescapable connection between rape and patriarchy, the 'satanic panic' was a panic of patriarchy much more than anything - professionals, clients and society alike were so desperate to create a connection between child sexual abuse and literally anything other than patriarchy that they were willing to invent false memories of it. child abuse was once again recontextualised into an aberration that could be scapegoatable. and then within a relatively short period of time the ideas of both satanic child abuse cults and false memories were very rapidly debunked and dropped; they lasted for as long as it needed to to quash patriarchal fears, and then its cultural legacy was the implicit belief that you can't always trust people (women) who claim to be victims of sexual abuse.

as every cultural idea of its kind, there's a kind of dual purpose that serves as a two-pronged attack on feminist ideas: feminists bring to light criticism of a certain aspect of patriarchy -> invent a right-wing version of it that's farcical and absurd on the face of it -> debunk that idea as soon as needed so that the feminist critique is lost and forever tarred with the implication of extreme right-wing absurdity. of course, it's always impossible to say how much of this is deliberate; but leftist analysis always seems to uncover just how beneficial even seemingly damaging societal attitudes are to the power structures that perpetuate them - what's most likely is that these things are happy accidents and that power systems are incredibly adaptable. but also we see in our personal lives just how purposeful and knowing people can be in their actions in a way that seems unknown to them (freud brought to light the idea of the 'unconscious'), and it seems that this translates inter-personally/culturally as well. it seems to be hard-wired in us to seek out and perpetuate things that benefit our sense of self-preservation, even if they harm us in other ways. self-harm wouldn't be so attractive otherwise - people will come to the end of a journey of self-harm, depression, substance abuse etc. and say 'oh, I was doing that because my father left when I was 3' or something to that effect. we're creatures of narrative, and seem to desire to live according to it, and we're also social creatures who communicate with each other via narrative, creating a collective narrative. so it makes sense to me that societal patriarchal narrative-making would be as purposeful, arcane and self-destructive as individual narrative-making.

[historyinclusionist]

History Inclusionist

An "Inclusionist" who believes that identities which are 1) shown to be supported in the community's history 2) are harmless personal identities that don't pose harm to others are valid and should be included in their communities.

Overall:

"History Inclusionism" refers to being inclusive of personal identities based on the identity being:

A self affirmed personal identity (locatable only within a person's interaction with and relations to the world around you)

Historically shown to be included in an identity subculture (Such as in a notable number of personal accounts, poems, zines, books, or other media from a subculture)

Shown to be non harmful to other identities or persons (Such as in more than one professional study)

Examples: - Different studies over human history have concluded that being raised by gay parents doesn't cause inherent harm to children. Therefore, gay relationships are provably shown to be non harmful. They are included here. - Different self-reports, comics, zines, and other writings from the past 60 years mention male lesbians, bi lesbians, and lesbians in relationships with men. Therefore, it is historically shown to be included in lesbian culture, and is included here. - Studies, reports, and other examinations by professionals over the course of human history have come to the conclusion that minors in relationships with adults cannot properly consent and are harmed by those "relationships." Therefore, personal identities that try to justify these "relationships" are not included here.

"Personal Identity"?

"Personal Identity" is a purposefully broad term meant to apply to most self-affirmed forms of identification (plurality status, orientation, gender, etc).

Being a History Inclusionist means that you are in complete support of the following personal identities:

Plurality which does not attribute its origins to trauma

Lesbians who are also male / Gay men who are also female

Lesbians who are also mspec (bi, pan, poly, etc) / Gay men who are also mspec

Transgender / nonbinary people who don't experience dysphoria or only feel euphoria

Nonbinary genders, including xenogenders / nonbinary genders that are "atypical" (based on fictional characters, highly specific, based on animals, etc)

"Atypical" relationship formats such as polyamorous relationships, relationship anarchy, kink-focused relationships, etc (Or generally any other form of relationship between two or more consenting people that would not fall under anything on the list below this)

Gender presentations which conflict with and/or defy the expected norm (Women who use he/him pronouns, men who present feminine, etc)

Being a History Inclusionist means that you absolutely do not tolerate or support the following:

Acting on or encouraging attraction to children as an adult (Ped*philia)

Acting on, encouraging attraction to, or associating positive feelings with the attraction to one's family members (Inc*st)

Acting on or encouraging attraction to, or associating positive feelings with the attraction to animals (Z*ophilia)

TransID/TransX communities, the idea that someone can transition into or identify as an age, disorder, or condition they physically are not or do not have (transrace/diarace/trace, transabled/transdisorder/'transplural'/transautistic, and so on)

Arguing with other members of the LGBT community over who is allowed to use derogatory words (Q-eer, f-ggot, d-ke, and so on)

Tagging: @mogai-sunflowers @neopronouns @radiomogai

If you're interested in reading more about why I consider XYZ a good faith thing and why I don't consider XYZ the same, I made a Carrd! 📖🏳️‍🌈

[neonswitchhouse]

Pop Culture Witchcraft and the Importance of Being Cringe

Cringe has become a bit a loaded word nowadays, being at first a word to describe feelings of second-hand embarrassment, arguably from failings to impress others or to raise one's social capital. Think for example failed motorsports stunts, falling into pools with a tray full of fruity drinks or even worse; someone trying to impress a crush by molding themselves into someone they only think the other party would like via baseless assumptions. Your body recoils, seeing a dirt biker tumble down the course. Your stomach sinks, watching someone plunge into the shallow end of the water. You squirm watching someone try to convince their crush to go out with the facade they made. That I would describe as "empathetic cringe"; a reaction based on witnessing something you do not wish upon yourself like physical harm or embarrassment.

The modern definition of cringe however, is a different beast entirely.

Using the Urban Dictionary meaning as defined by user Screech McGee, "Before the internet trolls changed the meaning of this word, "cringe" was a verb used to express embarrassment or disgust. Now, this word is mostly used to define something that you dislike or do not understand. Internet trolls use this word as an insult towards people in fandoms, with bad grammar, or both combined. Trolls also use this word to describe memes on some occasions."

Doing a quick search on YouTube or Tiktok for "cringe" gives you an array of oddities to the average eye; people dressed in rainbow-colored wolf fursuits, teens expressing their love and attachment for their favorite anime character, or perhaps someone outwardly displaying behaviors considered aneurotypical. They fall outside societal norms and standards of behavior. They aren't perceived as "normal or acceptable" to the standards set by white-cis-het-able bodied-neurotypical persons and communities.

But in it, the furries, the fandom-lovers, and even the "neurospicys" are harming none. They're doing what they want.

Sounds kinda familiar doesn't it?

Lets loop around to what you're probably reading this rant for; the witchy reasons.

Witchcraft as a practice, is already an outsider to most societies, especially to those predominated shaped by Protestant Christian beliefs. It's already something outside the norms. Even back during the hey-day of reality tv shows like Wife Swap, those who weren't considered Christian or followed more "earth-based" religions and lifestyles were presented as the butt of the joke. And while witchcraft and non-Christian beliefs as a whole have becoming more popular nowadays, it's still considered something outside the norm or in the minority of persons identifying themselves as witches and pagans voluntarily.

So we're already ticking one "cringe" box according to societal norms

Chaos Magic as a whole is based on using belief as a tool or as a fuel source to workings to enact change or bring it about to oneself or to the environment around them as a whole. Hence the whole "nothing is true, everything is permitted" thing in that there's no one strict set of rules to make something work.

Pop Culture Witchcraft and Pop Culture Paganism deriving from chaos magic, while with several theories as to how it works, the crux is in "belief", in energy fueled into something or even someone.

Going off the egregoric model, egregores are formed and fed by the energy (ie: belief) fueled into them. This is where fandom comes into play. Fandom is fueled by passion, by love, by admiration, by forming community around shared likes, interests, or even dislikes. Fandoms are funnels for that collective energy, passion, creativity, etc.

And to some, pouring in so much joy, passion, fervor, and creativity can be seen as something out of their grasp of understanding; something that they're the outsider to and not the main target audience of. It's "not made for them". Therefore it's deemed as "cringe" underneath that definition.

But why deprive oneself of joy just for the approval of others?

Why force oneself to conform to arbitrary rules and norms?

As long as your joys and passions affect only yourself and do not harm others directly, why shield it from view?

To get the most out of a pop culture practice, it's good to have it based on what you're passionate about; what you're well-versed in. What gives you that fuel or belief. What brings you joy and makes you want to pursue things even further.

So be cringe, be passionate, be able to go on a dang unprompted 20minute rant about the lore to your favorite failed RPG series. Be able to show a whole dang portfolio of your self-insert smooching your favorite character on the cheek. Be absolutely, unapologetically passionate about something and see what happens. See what happens when you drop the worries of how others perceive you.

So stay safe, have fun, be cringe, be free, stay spooky.

[woman-respecter]

hi, i'm the soviet jewry anon

there's so much to kvetch about, i dont know where to begin

i was gonna traumadump but im gonna rant about jewish history instead

well ever since i noticed activism becoming an internet trend i knew we were doomed cuz a part of soviet antisemitism is an intellectualisation of jew hatred (that's why stalin would publicly condemn antisemitism and then be antisemitic in a manner he could treat as just "anti nationalism not antisemitism"). first of all jewishness/antisemitism is already so complex which means it's really easy for people (jews and non-jews) to misunderstand it and harm us. so when i saw people quickly latching on to binaries such as the oppressed/oppressor and good/bad and removing all nuance, i knew things were gonna go downhill. yes all forms of hatred are very complex but in my opinion even the most basic forms of antisemitism like "jews control the world!" aren't properly grasped by gentiles which strengthens antisemitism since they're so ignorant about us lol. this is particularly dangerous because most people have never met a jew or know much about us and we are only like .2% of the world. what's worse is that they view us through a culturally christian lens as well instead of seeing us for who we really are.

the phrase antisemitism makes you stupid is too real. it feels like a stupidity epidemic has really made itself clear with the rise of antisemitism which opens the door to other hatreds too.

back to soviet antisemitism, i cant really discuss it properly because yk tumblr antisemites are everywhere and i dont want you to get harassed by them but here's some things i wanna bring attention to

taken from this incredible book "The Jews of Eastern Europe, 1772-1881" by Israel Bartal, "The imperial project to enlighten and reeducate the Jews in the spirit of the autocratic Russian state was to be implemented through the establishment of a system of Jewish schools, with instruction in Russian. The actions of the authorities in the days of the affair of ‘‘government- sponsored enlightenment’’ were similar to those taken by colonial regimes that sought to disseminate European culture among the natives in their overseas colonies." of course this didn't work lmao but it was one of their many many many efforts. people don't realise the scorching similarities between native americans and jewish people and it is so frustrating. people don't understand the extent of both of our suffering.

2. In the early 1960s the image of the Jew in the Soviet Union was that of an evil capitalist carrying out illegal capitalist deals which resulted in a high number of death sentences and executions of Jews which was not really out of the norm since death sentences and executions were already "normal" punishments for Jews, it was just a new excuse :/

3. a book i read a long time ago about soviet jewry said: a) jews are more safe in the democractic centre than everywhere else and b) jews in the soviet union were not allowed to assimilate or live a jewish life, nor were they allowed to immigrate even though the soviet union didn't want them there which i found very interesting. i cannot remember the name or author but i will look and let you know later if i find it.

4. the newspapers in the soviet union in their antisemitic propaganda would list the full names of jews along with their home and work addresses, job positions, etc. these newspapers would also illustrate the jew as disrespectful and harmful to "even their own jewish people and synagogues" to show how bad we are lmao.

5. theres so many jewish political movements partly because when everyone is so dedicated to wiping out jewish culture, these political movements form a jewish culture as an attempt to make up for the absence. this may seem simple but it seems like people really don't understand our desperation for survival. moreover soviet union "atheism" mostly attacked jews and really shows how atheism/secularism can be damaging to us as well.

LASTLY. some book recs :)

the jews in poland and russia by antony polonsky, a writer at war by vasily grossman and anything by joseph roth.

sorry for this long rant but im tireddd

hi anon, thank you so much for this information! there really is nothing new under the sun when it comes to antisemitism huh. usually i’m a weenie when it comes to publically answering asks about jewish topics but i think this is too important and interesting to just leave in my ask box so i’m gonna post this one. hopefully some of my followers will take interest in it

and thanks for the book recs!

[eyesmadeofpearls]

Since it's not 2020-21 anymore i feel there's one thing i have to say to you all (Prepare for a yap session, and please remember that just because something isn't canon doesn't mean you cant ship it! please, continue to ship as i don't think anyone has a problem with it! :) This is just for people who seriously believe that any of its going to be put into the show and have went as far as harassing horikoshi, so if you find yourself getting angry with my words, then you've probably got a guilty conscious)

The bakudeku shippers who harassed the author and put him under social pressure have completely ruined the series. 🤗

Saying that he "doesn't understand English so he can't be affected by what fans say 🥺" is extremely rude and sooo fucking annoying of you. Of course bro knows English, he kind of has to?? To further my point i think it's pretty well known that the people of Japan are very particular about how others perceive them, they definitely care more than Americans do, that's for sure. To add onto my point above, the social culture over there is extremely lawful and strict, so stepping out of the norm can be scary. Crossing that unspoken line has created problems for people in the past and it's why there's a huge mental health epidemic over there. If you can imagine a handful of people over there harming themselves and becoming shut ins because of that pressure from people in their country, then imagine being a huge artist and show maker in that situation. Except.. It's not just half of Japan who's got their eye on him anymore, it's half of America too now. That is more than 'just' pressure especially when you know how die hard fans can really be.

I firmly believe that in his case he opted not to make any ships canon because he didn't want to anger bakudeku shippers. All of his official art both out of his work career (drawing just for fun) and in his work career (the manga and show) have been set up to ship uraraka and izuku. People seem to have forgotten that although a majority of the show watchers from America are teen girls like me, this show is for teen boys living in Japan because it's shonen. In japan it's also more socially acceptable to be straight and that's why it took so long for gay marriage to be legalized. So no, i don't believe that the horikoshi would be making a boy love anime and manga about teenage heroes in training. Notice how the plot doesn't focus on who he's in love with but it's been very clear he has a crush on uraraka? Yeah, that's what Shonen is. It's more plot than inner life things. It's like dragon ball z. Yeah, goku's got a love interest but guys aren't worried about that. Still, it's cool to see he's got a girlfriend since that's what's inspiring to teen boys i guess. I also dislike fans treatment of "feminine" acting guys. Midoriya isn't feminine, you're just an American and so am i, but at least i know that the way they raise boys over there vs here is wildly different. Our boys are quite frankly super disrespectful, loud, and ignorant as teens. The boys over there have to be respectful, they have to follow the rules, they can't afford to be loud, and their main focus is on being an adult and getting a job. Though i guess their parents strictness no matter how hard they try doesn't stop them from being rowdy after school. It's nothing compared to how guys over here are rowdy though. Because guys over there don't sit in the back of your class making fake moaning noises or begin to flip tables and scream loudly. Think of Midoriya like spiderman, he's just easily flustered, kind, and respectful but not "feminine" or gay.

Also, telling fans they watched the show with their eyes closed just because we acknowledged midoriya wouldn't get with his bully and rival is crazy work.. "He apologized!!'' if a murderer apologized, would you forgive them?? Yeah, he apologized and changed, but that doesn't mean its all okay now. Bro literally told him to jump off a roof, burned the notebook he values the most, and then proceeded to throw it in the water causing all of his time and effort to be practically useless. Not to mention he beat him to the point of real injuries and continued to be a right dick even after "apologizing". (An apology means nothing if you don't actually try to change and be a better person.) And no, insulting someone on purpose isn't romance worthy material. Unless you specify you're joking then you have brain damage for thinking anyone in their right mind would date someone who constantly calls them a nutsack face, an idiot, a dumbass, a loser, pathetic, a nerd, and genuinely believes that you should be below them in every way unless they've got a twisted degrading kink. And also, sacrificing himself for Midoriya is just plot. Everyone at one point has sacrificed themselves for him because he's the main character, the entire point of them trying to fight for him before he does anything is to weaken the enemies so that Midoriya can go in and finish them off after they beat the villains to near death. They all work towards protecting his future and upping his chances to defeat their common enemy and the man who raised villain motivation by creating more of them. (AFO) So yeah, no, it's not romantical at all that Bakugo wants to be heroic and give the only person who can defeat AFO a fighting chance. Midoriya has gotten hurt trying to protect everyone, uraraka included. But now that you know this would you say to my face that he's got feelings for her too? Or all of his friends? No, you wouldn't. Because that's just what a hero does.

Him and uraraka were meant to be a slow build up, people keep saying "well he always blushes!" yeah, but never at other men. It's been only women who can make his face entirely red like that. In japan, anime uses blush for multiple reasons, so you need to learn to read context on why they're blushing and the room.. Shock, a feeling of content, happiness, embarrassment, and romantical feelings can all contribute to blushing. If a guy were to put him in a headlock and bring him close to their chest, he wouldn't blush.. If a girl did it, his entire face would become pink. To clear up the blushing accusations, he blushed at tsu because she asked him to put her down since she was embarrassed, and he got embarrassed too because she didn't want to be held and felt bad for making her feel that way after realizing the implications of the way he held her. He blushed at hatsume because her literal chest was in his face, on top of him. That's called shock and embarrassment which is something you'd feel if a random pretty lady landed on you chest first. The other times with hatsume he never blushes again like he did and they return to speaking terms other than that one time she held his waist but that's for the same reasons as before. Uraraka however has managed to get him to blush with a full face without even doing anything. He called her cute, he said he liked her hair, her outfit, and he's always got to be standing next to her in every official art piece. Tell me when he's ever said anything like that about a man other than "he's so cool"?

Remember that in Japan love is a touchy subject, you're expected to focus on your future first so that you can have all that you need to settle down. A lot of people don't even say i love you until marriage over there, so it's not odd that Midoriya isn't as open about his feelings unlike uraraka. I think it's just common everywhere for guys to not be the first ones to say anything.. When i met a lot of my exes i was always the one to say i love you first and to initiate things, and i think that's just because it makes guys feel better knowing that they're being chased for some reason or it could hurt their social reputation with their friends who'd probably tease them about it. But anyways, when you pay attention to the way they act near each other, things tend to fall in place. Your actions will always speak louder than your words.

[forallnumbersosc]

what could you tell us about Algebralien cultural norms, the do's and don't's? What's considered polite or rude?

Ooh that's a really really interesting one, because its a bit hard to answer!

Since we are so individualistic as a species, trying to categorize do's and don't's is similar to trying to find the social rules of a group of peoples that are completely unique from one another!

Because of this, if you're looking for things to know if you meet one of us and you don't want to be rude, just keep in mind you won't likely have any indication at first that you'll know how they respond to you, and that's okay! Like with most people, you may not click... but there are plenty of us to go around, and we aren't ones to spread rumors!

Expanding on that, no matter how judgemental some algebraliens' personalities may end up being, we don't really gossip or hold grudges? There are those rare moments of course, but since we know some of us are wilder than others, who are we to tell them how to act? ...Causing serious harm is a different story, but we tend to discourage judging others. There's no use for it if we're all different!

[awakenedsalamander]

Alright, so I’ve obviously given Mage and Vampire some attention. It’s about time I talk about Werewolf: The Apocalypse, you know, round out the “big three.”

Truth be told, I have kind of a love/hate relationship with Werewolf, though that kinda implies it’s an even split of things I enjoy and things I don’t, but that’s not quite correct.

A more accurate breakdown of my feelings would be something like:

- 60% stuff I really love and appreciate

- 20% stuff I go back and forth on

- 15% stuff I dislike but can tolerate (pretty standard for WoD)

- 5% stuff I really, truly, passionately loathe

And it’s honestly that last 5% that I struggle with most. To be clear, a lot of the WoD games have things in them I don’t just dislike, but find sincerely objectionable or harmful. (A certain Vampire sourcebook, the title of which I can’t even comfortably write out, immediately comes to mind.) But I get past those things, because 1) no work of art is morally flawless, and your tastes as a hobbyist or audience member are not your ethics as a human being and 2) a lot of that stuff is from the older editions and has largely been divorced from the game.

So what’s different about Werewolf?

Well, some of it lies in point 2— there are things in Werewolf that are bad and (barring the controversy of 5th Edition’s lore changes, which is a whole other kettle of fish that I’d rather not dive into right now) are still part of the game. Improved somewhat? Absolutely. But the ugliness of some choices still haunts the game.

The ways Werewolf: The Apocalypse talks about native peoples, from Indigenous Australians to First Nations Americans, is a big example. I don’t feel it prudent for me to go into those details, if only because I think it’s not my lane and voices from those cultures should really lead those discussions, but the game has a very weird attitude toward indigenous groups— at one recognizing their history and the atrocities they’ve come through with respect, while still finding ways to exoticize that history, and appropriate much of it. To say nothing of the ways in which it feels comfortable speaking over indigenous groups, even in matters of their rights.

That’s just one example. There’s the way Werewolf conceptualizes ethnicity and ancestry in general, which is weirdly archaic in places despite seemingly trying to criticize that view. There’s its approach to disability and bodies that differ from an assumed norm, which as many have observed can sometimes come across as genuinely eugenicist on occasion.

And of course, the game is about monsters— you’re not meant to agree with the Garou on much of their beliefs, and you’re meant to engage with those very real issues and wrestle with the right way forward.

And honestly? That last part— the reality of the issues at hand— that’s what makes the bad parts of Werewolf so hard to look past. You know, the other games in the World of Darkness deal with real world issues, but they do so in a fairly abstract way. Like, sure I can and do identity the Technocracy of Mage with destructive and cruel systems of power in the real world, but like… there isn’t actually a league of hypereconomists using secret math to influence the fate of the world. That’s just an exaggerated and metaphorical way to engage with the problems at the heart of a late-capitalist world.

But Pentex? Pentex is basically real. The Apocalypse in Werewolf: The Apocalypse is climate change. It’s happening now. When the game tells you that you need to Rage against the dying of Gaia… that’s almost as literal as it gets. And that makes its fumbles, its mistakes, and yes, its deliberate offenses, harder to swallow. The stakes are high enough that when things are wrong, it really hurts.

But… let’s also acknowledge: The reality I’m talking about it? It’s what makes that 60% stuff I like so amazing. The lows of Werewolf are hard to stomach, but the highs are just… exhilarating.

Like, Werewolf is a game that says, “You see the state of the world? You see its monstrous past? Its insidious present that only hides the horror? Do you see the doomed future its on a crash course with? Let’s take it, and let’s rip it to fucking shreds. It these tyrants and thieves want to kill the world, then we’ll kill them first, if that’s what it takes. If the Apocalypse happens, it happens on our terms, on the terms of the people being victimized and shoved to the margins. You and I? We’re gonna build a better world or die trying. All our anger might ruin us, but we have to try. The consequences of our actions are dire, but we don’t go down without making the bastards work for it. Not without a fight.”

And fuck, when the game is saying that? It’s priceless.

In fact, this has all been too down on Werewolf as a whole. I want to get my problems with the game out front, just to acknowledge them and keep space for the critique and change that they demand, but at the end of the day, I am a Werewolf: The Apocalypse fan (if one with a lot of notes). I want to do something a little unusual and show you an outline for an Apocalypse chronicle I haven’t yet had the chance to run, to show you what I love about the game.

So, stay tuned for a glimpse into that later— a glimpse into “Blood Ripples Out.”

[onsomekindofstartrek]

I think fundamentally the lgbtq+ versus queer nomenclature debate comes down to this:

Are we better served by creating a new in-group, or by coming together in solidarity and recognition of the fact that, broadly, we belong to the out-group?

Assimilation is possible for some, not for all. I don’t think we can imagine a practical path to complete assimilation for everyone who wants it, and even then, it’s not desirable for everyone. The whole paradigm is frankly sort of imperial. “Become normal!” So that leaves either liberation or separatism, and I thank heavens that we’re not earnestly discussing separatism anymore. Leave that for the MRA’s.

And frankly the neat little package of “these identities in this list,” L and G and B and T and whatever we feel like tacking on the end “as a concession to the times” feels very assimilationist to me. It says “here’s a new in-group,” one that’s neatly defined so that we can push media representation and inclusion of these specific identities, as if they were a DLC for human society more broadly.

And that doesn’t work for me. That doesn’t work for someone who’s queer in four different ways. It doesn’t work for someone whose identity is difficult to even express to the cishet majority. Not everyone is so neat as to go into this math equation of a cultural movement a whole number of times with no remainder. Identifying yourself as “LGBTQ+” is an invitation for someone to ask “well, which one?” And what of the people who can’t answer in a way that’s concise, unambiguous and digestible?

For assimilationists, that’s inconvenient. For liberationists, our project is to make society tolerate us in spite of that.

So, while I might dislike the actual audible sound of the word “queer,” (it’s just an unpleasant combination of sounds, with some very unpleasant-sounding words just a few consonants away) I still say it’s the more useful term and the more useful political project. I don’t think the gender, sexual and romantic minorities, taken as a whole, are such a fancy club that it needs a goddamned list of who gets to be in it, let alone be named after that list in the form of an initialism. We’re… the weird people; the fucked-up people; the strangers.

(And I think when you’re reclaiming a slur taken from people who value conformity and strict social roles, for it to be a slur that literally means strange/weird/foreign is an incredibly strong and provocative posture.)

Frankly I have little interest in distinguishing between “real queers” and people with adjacent or shared interests who can stand in solidarity with us and do not harm our cause. Are cishet poly people queer? I don’t know, and frankly I don’t care.

Do they have a useful shared interest in changing romantic and sexual norms? Do they experience social rejection because of this practice or identity? These are more interesting and important questions. Unless you think that poly people are inherently child abusers or inherently cisnormative or heterosexist, which are all harmful stereotypes, you should be viewing them as potential allies if you cannot bring yourself to view them as members of the community. But of course some people apparently can’t bring themselves to call asexual and aromantic people LGBTQ+ or queer despite obvious shared oppression along common axes, so maybe I’m asking too much here.

And the same goes for other groups and other identities. I’m not interested in defining who “is queer.” I’m interested in who has shared interests with the queer community and who is willing to stand with that community when things get tough. When we fight intolerance and exclusion, it seems unwise to use as our weapons, intolerance and exclusion.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what I think either. I just think there are certain perspectives that aren’t going to help us in the long run, and making a little list of specific things the actual official name of our community is one of them.

[hellyeahscarleteen]

Life seems like it’s divided up into supposedly easy chunks with specific and inflexible timelines. You go to elementary school, middle school, high school, and college, and then, at least in my neck of the woods in Texas, it’s apparently time for marriage and kids. These feel culturally expected to occur by the time you’re 25 (or even younger!) and deviating from those norms may not instantly make you a social pariah, but it can make one wonder if they’re doing something wrong.

You may know, like I know, that there isn’t a single mold that all human beings should adhere to in terms of being “proper adults.” (And that measuring adulthood by sex, romance or making babies isn’t a great idea in the first place.) You may also know, like I know, that even with this knowledge, it doesn’t always feel that way when you’re scrolling through your social media feed and seeing what seems like everyone your age settling down and having kids except you.

Many social norms, macro or micro, can make it seem like the ideal — or even only! — time to start having dating experiences is in high school. You may get the message that doing it any other time, even just waiting until you’re in college, puts you at  some kind of disadvantage. To go against that grain may inspire some social judgement of you and, at least in my case, leave you wondering if you’re just fulfilling a harmful stereotype about what autistic people are capable and incapable of doing. Ugh, the weight of those potential consequences just from not dating people when you’re in 10th grade!

Of course, negative perceptions of people who wait to date by that basis alone are simply untrue. Even if it’s impossible to remember amidst the din of outside messaging world, there is no one right time for dating. That’s as true for neurodivergent folks, including those of us on the autism spectrum, as it is for neurotypical members of the world.

Why is it so difficult to remember that?

Read the rest of Douglas’ advice here!

[teasdays]

Hi hello I'm your friendly neighbourhood ghost, can I pretty please have the context about Wilbur abuse??? If you are ok with it of course , And thank you, I hope you are having a great day

hi hello ghost! Yeah no worries, I bet it's... difficult to wade through everything that's been going on

So last week, Shubble (streamer, she/they) hosted a stream about their experiences with an unnamed abuser. You can watch it here (if you prefer to read, turn on CC & read the transcript). It's a pretty hard-hitting video, and people pretty immediately guessed that it was, in fact, Wilbur Soot. He's since confirmed it himself in a statement/kind of apology (?) which u can find on his twitter... Shubble has, understandably, rejected it.

That's the short answer!

Uh for a longer one lol, there's more info here: this is an EXCELLENT conversation Shubble had (before W*lbur was officially named) with her friend lexiemariex. They both talk about the abuse and misogyny they've faced as women dating within the streaming community. Neither of them named anyone at this point either, and I actually haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet !! But about 45 minutes in so far they have both shared a lot of really important perspectives on domestic abuse, their experiences as victims (in their words) during & in recovery from those relationships, and about the really harmful norms within streaming.

Just to add a couple comments of my own: if a community is MAINLY dominated by white cis men, that's usually NOT a coincidence; it's usually (at least partly) because the environment is hostile to diversity. Several other people have also come forward about negative experiences with Shubble's ex in particular, but I REALLY think--personally--that it is a mistake to focus just on him. He is, for better or worse, Just Some Guy: it REALLY sounds like his behaviours reflect a deeply harmful culture within streaming. We can't and should not try to cancel all streamers, obviously! But... if we REALLY want to centre survivors? We need to hold the whole community accountable for the CULTURE they've gotten comfortable with.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that all white men in streaming are malicious people, who only want to hurt/abuse/have power over the weak & helpless women in their sphere. But there's been writing on the wall for a long time: there's a lot of casual misogyny that we HAVE seen streamers ignore, even if they wouldn't (necessarily...) make those jokes themselves. I do NOT have receipts on hand lol, but that's been my observation over the years. So I think it's... too simplistic to say that Shubble's ex, and lexie's, were just outliers. A couple of bad eggs.

We can cancel them, and exile them from streaming, sure--fine. We certainly don't owe anyone a platform. But we also NEED to look beyond the individual people & understand that every single one of them is a product of their culture and community.

tl;dr Shubble's ex is shitty, for sure, but he's not the whole problem! He's a symptom.

oh omg last thing actually: as people navigate how to respond to unfeminist/antifeminist content creators, I'd like to recommend Roxane Gay's perspective in Bad Feminist (excerpt here). As people who consume media, we have to understand that our consumption will always be imperfect, because (again) the problems are deeply embedded in like. the whole culture . We can & will continue to work for a better future, but in the meantime we've gotta forgive ourselves & our comrades for being imperfect <3

[sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee]

Can you do hcs for Gotham! Jervis with a reader who is just down bad for him. like their all over him all the times and they like obsess over him and cry causE HES SO BEAUTIFUL

(not projecting onto reader I promise I promiseeeeee)

"You give me fever" Gotham! Jervis x Reader

You should 100% project. If you don't project, what's the POINT? Cringe culture is dead, carpe diem and all that. Have a good time!

TW: mentions of hypnosis, unhealthy dynamics mention, suggestive

At first he's a little... curious. Not that he doubts someone could be so enamored with him, but it's not the norm. Light flirting, a bit of word play here and there- But you. You're different. You're special in how you hang off his words.

He doesn't even have to hypnotize you! Oh how easy it would be to command you to be his everything, to DO everything and anything to please him. All without having to put you under. It's like a fever dream that gets him rather hot under the collar. oh, he wonders if you'd even object to be put under for a variety of things...

There is a part of him that likes lording it over the other rogues. Do you have someone this fixated with you? Of course, not. See, he's not the only one who shows his "love" this way! This will only encourage his own bad behaviors, I hope you know that.

TWO people obsessed with one another in a relationship? There is a bit of a concern for a folie-a-deux situation where the two of you get an unhealthy dependence upon one another and spiral into... not the best states, mentally speaking. Best make sure there isn't a ton of isolation and that the two of you have healthy boundaries and "me time", all things considered.

If you ever actually cried because of his beauty, he'd be taken aback. Perhaps this is bit of an extreme reaction, no? Yet, he's touched all the same, giving you his handkerchief to wipe away those tears. We mustn't lose our composure, Alice, or else you'll constantly be in a state of weeping!

On a lighter note, expect to become his favorite partner and plaything in every aspect. Matching outfits, themed outfits, just the dorkiest theatrical shit. You'll have lovely tea parties in gardens where you'll sit directly next to one another as he hand feeds you a candy or pastry. A sweet for his sweet!

And should anyone try to harm you or get between you... It probably won't end well for them. :)

[biopanik]

The Morality of Fandom Activities

This might as well be an essay, so apologies for my long asf post. Just a few heads up: this is in no way talking about people who support incest irl and MAPS. Those are extreme cases that I'm not qualified myself to talk about, I only know that I don't want them on my page 😭

I stopped having a very active social media presence when I was finishing high school. For me, this was a huge deal, because as the token weird queer kid all my life, Tumblr and fandom culture provided a safe space for self-expression, developing my writing skills and exploring myself. Fandoms usually play a huge role for teens, since their interactions and their experiences shape their mindsets into the primary form their adult brain takes. Whenever I look at my old posts, I can see the points where I was maturing, I could see my opinions change very clearly without always connecting old posts to significant life events.

What is very important to take into account is that I was in ALL the "red flag" fandoms, even some niche ones. BNHA, Homestuck, RWBY, Okegom, Voltron, you name it. I was into it, I had Instagram edits of it saved on my phone. As a result, I am familiar with all kinds of fujoshi, yuri bros, proshippers, etc. I'm not here to inform you about my entire digital footprint though. I'm here to discuss fandom morality. Fair warning, I will be referring to a bunch of dark themes vaguely.

I want to start by saying I understand the appeal of a toxic ship. A ship that is straight-up problematic given the context of the story. Be it because the characters are abusive to each other, a very big age gap or them being blood relatives - I get it, even if I'm one of the people who's easily repelled by this shit. I get why Junjou Romantica, for example, became so popular. The big body proportions, the "forbidden romance" trope, the guilty pleasure, I get it. I understand how nerdy young women would fawn over yaoi because they craved a soft male touch. I understand the south park proshippers because they inserted their younger selves into the characters and imagined scenarios where their own fucked-up childhoods would make sense.

My experience with Funamusea helped me understand that things that are taboo can be appealing in a fictional form. There were a lot of issues because the horror used in Funa's games was centered around sexual battery and assault. To me, that made perfect sense. Funa games are packed to the brim with gore, war, mental abuse, and disturbing characters. Of course, there would be SA in such a fucked up setting. Rape is a horrifying thing that no one should face because it is a subcategory of violence. VIOLENCE IS SOMETHING NO ONE SHOULD EVER COME ACROSS. Therefore, why is it that people who write stories containing this trope receive so much hate, but 1940s war aus for example get praised? Why is FMA a pacifist masterpiece and not torture porn?

For "glorifying" real-life horrors? Triggering people? Let's broaden this.

Think of your favorite slasher film. Your favorite best-seller horror book. Do you think that the people behind these stories are freaks and murderers? Psychopaths are capable of fitting in anywhere they want, even fucking churches. So it is useless to assume creators are moral instigators for their VILLAINS. Now let's think about Colleen Hoover and Sara J Maas (or as I like to call her, Sara J Ass). Their "love" stories are super popular because of the immense marketing that they have received, despite profiting off romanticized harmful content. Backlash is still minimized in contrast to anime niche, because they are backed by million-dollar industries and the fact that they conform to the norms of a straight story. Although that, is a topic for another discussion - how problematic characteristics are "musts" in irl relationships.

Lastly, I want to talk about the so-called community saviors who want to protect these platforms. Those who want to build a safe environment so that no predators infiltrate our sacred grounds where we discuss Persona 5 ABO dynamics. A lot of them are oftentimes victims of this sort of abuse. I myself have come across groomers. But tbh 15yo kids who reblog Shiro X Keith are not really the enemy? Anyway, that's a little besides the point. I want to directly talk to these people right now, hear me out: you are hypocrites. You only pretend to care about Tumblr communities but do not hesitate to accuse someone of abuse (any kind) and tell them to end their life. How are you protecting anyone like this? How are you a positive role model for the children partaking in fandom activities when you show clearly that you wish death upon someone. VIOLENCE IS SOMETHING NO ONE SHOULD EVER COME ACROSS, I re-iterate and you possibly agree, but YOU ARE STILL VIOLENT, and justify it by being "virtuous". How are you any different from @\hivliving? Her actions will forever be engraved in her victims' heads, even if she was humiliated in the end. Then again, it would have been better for her to write a shitty low-quality fic about Hamilton having HIV or whatever the fuck, if looking up basic things about HIV was so difficult. After 7 years in & out of fandoms, there's one thing I'm fine with, and that's bad fics.

Ultimately there is so much more I want to say. I might cover this topic on my bestie and I's podcast sometime (soz it's in Greek). The bottom line here though is not about keeping a neutral stance on problematic media. It is to enjoy whatever the fuck you want just because it makes you happy. It is to differentiate what's a wolf in sheep's clothing from what's a sheep. It is to accept that kids will ALWAYS lie about their age to access all sorts of NSFW. God knows I did so. It is to recognize them and realize that their creators and fans are most likely not going to act out every bad thing that occurs in said story. Because if that were the case, with the rise of all the Yeagerists, we'd have so many bitchless college students trying to start little rumblings of their own, and the world would be a much funnier place.

Now go outside and spread your moral philosophies to people outside your Discord server

[etherealspacejelly]

I fear that i would be sad and becoming a hateful bigot that calls anything that’s different to the norm ‘bad’.How do i become not like this?

well i think the first thing to do is to throw out the idea that you have any clue what 'normal' even is! because none of us do!

normal is a very subjective term. it is affected by the country you grew up in, the culture and religion of your family, the media you consume regularly, the people you spend time with most often, the list goes on

you will never truly understand the vast extent of The Human Experience because there will always be experiences you cannot relate to or empathise with no matter how hard you try. so you need to get into the mindset that Every Single Human Being deserves basic human rights no matter what. they deserve healthcare, housing, food and water, bodily autonomy, etc. because in a society where your rights can be taken away because you did something Bad, the people in charge will find a way to make the people they dont like into Bad People, so that they can get away with taking their rights away. see: homosexuals are paedophiles, trans women are predators, Muslims are terrorists, etc. etc. etc.

the only way to ensure your rights never be taken away is to make sure No Ones Rights Can Be Taken Away Ever, yes even Those people. yes, them too. when i say no one, i mean no one.

keeping an open mind and listening to other peoples experiences is also highly important. if something makes you uncomfortable, sit with that. think about Why it makes you uncomfortable, and whether that is a rational thing to feel about it or if it is a knee jerk reaction that was taught to you by your family or the society you grew up in.

you will have to accept that you Are going to be wrong about some things. you are not always the good guy in every story. you will say bigoted things or be ignorant about something or offend someone, even if you never intended to. and your response to that should not be "omg i didnt mean it im not a bigot i would never do anything bigoted my mums brothers dogs cousin is [insert minority group]!!", it should be "ok, i messed up here. i clearly have much more to learn on this subject. im so sorry for [thing you did/said] and for any harm it caused, i will educate myself so that this doesnt happen again."

and its important to remember that having some internalised bigoted beliefs doesnt make you an Evil Person, you were just raised in a bigoted society. of course you're going to pick these things up thats what humans do! we learn from and copy the behaviours of those we grow up with as children. but you do have to do the work to challenge those beliefs and educate yourself. i believe that people should always be given the opportunity to grow and change, and that often times bigoted behaviour comes from a place of ignorance and fear. these people will never change their beliefs if we treat them like irredeemable monsters, it will just push them further away.

anyway thats my take on it i suppose. other people will have different opinions. i hope this helped you in some way :)