#and spread around lots and lots of ableism

[majaurukalo]

Disabled people who shit talk their disability (and other disabilities) and think less of themselves if they don’t overcome their disability and are so full of self-hate and even go to social media or television to spread that kind of thought always raise in me some mix feelings.

The first reaction is anger. I’m angry at them for spreading such an abysmal view on disability and other disabled people and basically downgrading all the amazing work real disabled activists do everyday to make us see as humans and for having such horrible thoughts of a community they belong to.

They also trigger a very sensitive spot inside of me and I think they shouldn’t be given a platform to talk in such a way.

But then I try to calm down and rationalise and remind myself that I was in their shoes once.

That is basically internalised ableism which I, as many other disabled people, suffered from for a very long time.

Throughout my childhood and teenage years I would shiver at the idea of ending up in a wheelchair, I prayed that I would be healed and “fixed”, I would cry myself to sleep just to be normal. I hated myself.

I didn’t know any better. My parents didn’t teach me a better view because they didn’t know any better either.

You know what helped me accept and love myself? The disabled community.

All the amazing disabled creators, who talk about this topic in a healthy, empowering way.

So what I think is… disabled people who still suffer from internalised ableism are not our enemies. They are just people who haven’t found this community, who are still processing this difficult reality (and maybe they are newly disabled so that’s even more understandable). They are traumatised, they are suffering from the toxic views the able-bodied society puts on us. They probably don’t have a healthy support system, maybe just family and friends who are pushing them to get fixed, who are telling them to not give up to that kind of life. They think they are unlovable.

So let’s not shit on them. Let’s not insult them because that’s not how they will feel welcome into the community.

Instead, let’s encourage them to change view. Give them positive and empowering disability resources and examples.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

I have no clue how this guy hasn't divorced his wife. If my partner looked at me with disgust about anything that wasn't literally disgusting, I'd be googling "divorce lawyer."

by Sam Williams

A week ago, my wife and I went to John Lewis to look at air fryers. As we entered the store, I put on an FFP3 mask because of Covid. My wife looked at me in disgust and said, “Oh, you’re wearing a mask?” I replied, “Yes. There’s a lot of Covid around, and I don’t want it. Do you?”

She responded, “Well, the trouble is, I’m not wearing a mask”.

I said, “Yes, I can see that. I wish you would. The trouble is, every time I’ve caught Covid, it’s been from you. I’m disabled with long COVID, and every time I get reinfected, it makes me really, really ill”.

So here’s my question: does my wife not care?

I want to use this piece to spark a debate about who we are as people. Are we kind and virtuous, or are we selfish and indifferent? Writing an article about what stops people from wearing masks, while I live with the pain caused by my wife not masking, feels like an oddly meta activity.

That’s right, folks: it was probably my wife who gave me Covid in the first place. Although, to be fair, neither of us knew about masking or long Covid back then.

The case for masks amid rising Covid I need people to wear masks or ensure clean air so it’s safe for me to go out—especially in healthcare settings. Yet, most people refuse. I asked my wife why she doesn’t wear a mask, and she said, “There’s no point, because nobody else does.”

I understand the futility in her statement. Many people don’t wear masks simply because they don’t care or because they think Covid is over.

If my wife were a cruel or unkind person, it would be easier to accept her refusal to wear a mask. But in my experience, even many kind people—even those on the political Left—can be cruel when it comes to disabled individuals.

Although my wife has struggled with my disability, she is generally a kind person. In my autistic brain, it seems perfectly logical that she should wear a mask to protect me from airborne viruses. Yet, logic loses when it comes to personal choices and disability.

Misconceptions about Covid and masks People think Covid is “just a cold.” Some even believe masks themselves make you ill. I think people don’t mask because of ableism and because they’ve been conditioned to associate masks with the pandemic itself.

It’s the same conditioning that leads them to blame lockdowns and vaccines for Covid, rather than recognising these measures were designed to mitigate its spread.

When people see me in a mask, they’re reminded of the acute phase of the pandemic. My presence confronts them with an uncomfortable truth: their refusal to mask contributes to the deaths and disabling of others. It reveals they may not be as caring as they like to think.

I wish more people would remember the Covid dead and choose to wear a mask to prevent further loss of life.

Why people don’t mask The biggest reason, I believe, is a failure of public health communication over wearing a mask. The government declared Covid “over,” and most people still trust what they’re told. Many would resume masking if asked, but the government is too afraid of the right-wing media and too indifferent to disability to make that request.

Then there’s the pervasive idea of “health supremacy”:

The belief that only people with pre-existing conditions get long Covid.

The notion that a “healthy” immune system can fight off the virus.

The argument that we don’t need vaccines or other preventative measures.

Some even suggest that “living your best life” and going out for brunch are more important than protecting loved ones. The low mortality rate of Covid is used as justification, with a dismissive attitude towards the elderly and those with long Covid.

Many fail to consider the quality of life endured by those with long Covid or the rising number of children affected. Parents, it seems, don’t care enough about their kids, or they’re unaware that long COVID in children has doubled in the past year.

There’s also peer pressure and groupthink. No one wants to stand out by wearing a mask. “If it were really unsafe, wouldn’t everyone else wear one? Wouldn’t the authorities tell us to mask up?”

When I do convince others to wear masks, it’s usually a flimsy surgical one—barely adequate protection.

The personal cost of not wearing a Covid mask If we continue as we are, everyone will eventually develop long Covid. Those who still mask are only delaying the inevitable because we’re so outnumbered.

I know people who’ve lost friendships and family connections over masking. Others restrict their contact with loved ones to stay safe. Some have even been lied to by family members about masking.

And all because people must have brunch.

It feels grossly unfair to be forced to choose between family and health. For me, it’s not just about Covid. With a weakened immune system, other airborne viruses are just as harmful. Every cold or similar illness sets me back by months.

The fatalist in me whispers: stop masking. If no one else is wearing a mask, why fight it – just let long Covid take me. Every reinfection only worsens my condition.

A systemic failure The government—New Labour or otherwise—has shown little interest in preventing the spread of Covid or developing treatments for long Covid. The societal denial of this reality is overwhelming.

Until we build a society and government centred on community and care instead of selfish individualism, we’re doomed. Is thinking of others really too much to ask?

If only long Covid weren’t an invisible disability. If it caused something visible—like the loss of a limb—perhaps people would be forced to act.

The point of wearing a mask: not just for Covid Here’s why masking matters:

It reduces your viral load if you get infected.

It sets a good example for others.

It shows courage and strength.

It protects vulnerable people, including the disabled, chronically ill, and immunosuppressed.

It proves you have empathy and intelligence.

[anachronistic-falsehood]

i. don’t really know what to think about the whole forever situation. because i have seen people say “he’s addressed this a long time ago so why are we bringing it up” but i haven’t seen WHERE he’s addressed it in the past. nary a tweet or clip of anywhere he may have talked about it, but i would love to see an older clip of him talking about this if possible

I’ve seen people say “his tweets and messages were translated in bad faith to give english speakers a bad perception” which. ok yeah understandable but if that’s the case i still don’t know what exactly the situation is or how serious it is

“she was 13” “she was 15” OK WHICH IS IT!!! both are bad but one is still significantly grosser than the other and i don’t know which is true!! or are there multiple girls!!! i don’t know!!!

“he met a fan for flirtatious/sexual reasons” “he met a fan for normal content creator reasons” WHICH IS IT!!!! I DON’T KNOW!!! i guess only he and the fan would know what the intent was when they met, and even then i don’t know if they met alone or if it was a normal ass fan meetup with multiple other people there

“it’s been 7-8 years, he’s changed” ok. now we are making some sense. he has not exhibited this kind of behaviour in years it seems and he appears to be the kind of person who would not say or do these things now. no one is irredeemable and no one is beyond change. still, it is important for some people to know. many fans would rather know this and make the educated choice on whether to support him or not than continue to support him in blind blissful ignorance. even though it’s stressing me out and i’m still clueless about a lot of it, i’m glad i know anyway.

“what about the past transphobia and the ableism and the and the and the-” That Is Not Relevant To This Conversation. this is a different situation. he has apologized for his past opinions and everyone has had ample time to come to terms with them and make peace with supporting him despite his past beliefs.

“he’s deleting past tweets” i mean if someone was digging around my account for things i’ve said that i no longer stand by, i would delete shit too. sure as hell doesn’t make him look innocent but i would do the same. i HAVE done the same, albeit for much more minor and trivial reasons for posts i made when i was like 15, but still

“he apologized and said he’s getting a lawyer!! no guilty person would do that!!” your content creator is not an angel. guilty people take their accusers to court all the time and get away with it. also, it is up to everyone individually to decide whether to believe him or not. you cannot push others to believe your side but you can give context to some things

there’s nuance to this like there is with everything, and people are jumping to conclusions saying either “he’s an innocent little lamb how dare you!” or “he should be deplatformed and we should never speak of him again!” i will never fault anyone for supporting the alleged victim. if your decision is to stop watching him immediately or even stop supporting the qsmp itself, no one should ever fault you for that. it is ultimately up to you to make that decision. the situation is not clear enough for me to make a decision, so i will withhold judgement for now. i will not doompost about it, and i will not call out people for defending or dropping him.

but for the love of god, just. everybody keep your cool. especially english speakers, we may not have full proper translations for the messages and tweets. take a deep breath. if you want to find more info to form an opinion now and spread information that people don’t already have, go ahead. if you want to step back and not think about it for now, go ahead. there is no shame in taking a step back and thinking about other things. you are not morally obligated to be invested in this situation. you are not morally obligated to drop him immediately and you are also not morally obligated to keep supporting him just because he’s friends with your favs. stick to your gut and do what you feel is right. you will be okay. this is not the end of the world.

[a-little-revolution]

heya, this might be too much for a single post, but i would delight in a ramble about the overlap between dwarfism and disability (whether or not you/the community as a whole generally consider it a capital-D Disability or if theres more nuance like with the autism or HOH/Deaf communities where it just Is and folks feel the the struggles with outgroup folks are like, culture clashes, or perhaps a secret third thing?)

similarly, id love for a ramble on the overlap between dwarfism and queerness, especially The Genders. i have ehlers-danlos syndrome and theres a huge number of us who are trans or nonbinary, to the point where masculinizing hrt is (anecdotally) understood to be a bit of a treatment for some symptoms. i know theres a lot of overlap between queerness and disability as a whole, but so far the couple of artists with dwarfism ive found and followed are all some flavor of trans or nonbinary, so id love to know if thats as common of a thing in your community as it is in mine

dwarfism is for sure underrepresented in discussion about both disability and queerness, and as a disabled queer person they are so intertwined in my head, and im forever curious about other folks experiences so your thoughts are appreciated!

Hello!! I love these questions!!

Firstly, yes, I do identify as being both a little person and disabled, but that isn't the case for everyone with dwarfism. Though dwarfism falls under the classification of a physical disability, not all little people find it physically debilitating. For me, my Achondroplasia dwarfism has resulted in sleep apnea, arthritis, chronic pain, hearing loss, limited mobility and dexterity. I cannot walk long distances and I use multiple moblility aids (wheelchair for long distance, rollator most of the time, and cane for short distances or around the house). My disability is dynamic, meaning that my ability changes day to day depending on pain levels, spoons (unit of measure for disabled energy), and activity.

Being that I am both a little person AND noticeably disabled, I have experienced ableism within both the abled community and the LP community, which is something I don't often talk about. I've been in situations where I feel alienated from my own community - additionally for my queerness. When you exist at the intersection of as many things as I do, you experience many flavours of ignorance and discrimination from the very people who should accept you.

That being said, I have also had the privilege of meeting other little people who are trans, queer, and nonbinary like I am. Our community is incredibly diverse, but spread along the globe. It is easy to feel a profound isolation, but the internet has provided me with a means of connection which I greatly appreciate.

Disability and queerness is something I discuss in depth in my public speaking roles, as I deeply value intersectionality in education and activism (I hope to share some of my talks as I record them in the future!).

I am forever painful aware that ableism is alive and will within the queer community - even when "all are welcome", we are still an after thought. I really urge my fellow queers to think beyond our own community to bipoc and disabled folks, otherwise you're really just dipping your toes into radicalism. Read more books by black disabled trans women of colour, and expand your thinking. (Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk lol)

I can't really speak to hate from the other direction, as all of the disabled folks I know on a personal level are also queer. Though I will say that I certainly receive queer-phobia from older (white) disabled folks - in my experience, when white folks become disabled with age and have not faced any other injustice in their life, they can be very hateful.

This has been quite a post, so I hope I've answered your questions in full! I would be happy to discuss it more if not/answer other related questions! Thank you so much!

Elliot (they/them)

[lobo-inu]

saw a post that reminded me of my really bad past experiences with tesblr, and how lucky i am to finally have a tes server that’s like…. actually safe. and full of people who are nothing but genuine. especially now that i’ve healed a lot, too.

i’ve heard SO MANY horror stories about rumors people in this fandom spread - and i’ve also been a victim of them too, lol. been called a scammer (was getting donations for a live saving surgery. thats it), a mysoginist (literally just explaining my mother-based trauma and being scared of adult women lol), and also like. had rumors go around about me apparently letting minors into an 18+ server. even tho i fucking hate interacting with minors online w a passion. i made a past server that was previously 15+ to 18+ and kicked all minors bc they could not fucking behave and respect boundaries.

oh, also pure ableism when it comes to a Very stigmatized diagnosis of mine. :| that was from the same person who called me a mysoginist. people over here making insane headcanons for me, i guess 😭

….so yeah. just awful, out of character shit going around.

i’ve lost a good few people i considered friends who were quick to listen to these rumors instead of just. idk. communicating with me.

this fandom irks me a lot with it’s behavior on a personal level beyond that, though. Skyrim had been one of my most intense hyperfixations since i was in a single digit age. so it sucks having such a hostile and drama-hungry community when all i wanna do is share OCs and shit.

this sounds fucking insane, but past experiences here have caused my anxiety disorder to skyrocket to such a drastically dangerous degree, so its kinda crazy that i’m even back here. typing this out is giving me chest pains lol. like this is probably one of the worst fandoms to get involved with

with that said, thank you @ the people who’ve made my return an enjoyable experience. and thank you to those who stuck around even after i left in 2023, and stuck by me and my honesty vs rumors. yall are the fucking real ones. and also the babygirls server, friends both new and old - i love u guys. thank yall for helping me continue this personal healing journey of mine (yall know what i’m referencing).

if anyone has had any ridiculous experiences here, do feel free to share 😭 cause i know i’m not the only one. also god i love the babygirls server. pls join the babygirls server

[euniexenoblade]

I'm transmasc and I don't think I completely understand the discussion around TMA/TME.

I'm pretty sure I mostly agree with you. Like, "transandrophobia" is not a helpful or accurate description of the transmasc experience, and I can see how it could be used to belittle what transfems go through.

Transfems definitely get more attention from hate groups. Transmasc erasure sucks, but it can definitely be a blessing when the bigots are picking their targets.

I keep seeing posts comparing trans men to incels and MRAs. I haven't seen many transmascs who would warrant that comparison.

That's not to say it's necessarily an unfair comparison. On the contrary, it probably means that there's a lot of transmisogyny going around that I'm not seeing. And if I'm not seeing it, that probably means I'm inadvertently participating in it.

IDK why I felt the need to send this to you. I guess I was hoping you'd tell me how to do better, which totally isn't your job. Feel free to ignore me and/or tell me to fuck off.

I'll send you $20 for tolerating my bullshit. Have a nice day.

Ok I wanna answer this before I get too high (I'm honestly feeling it already). Thank you for the $20, when I realized I forgot to pack a lunch today that money helped me eat still so legit thank you.

So first off, "trans women get more attention from hate groups, transmasc erasure sucks but can be a blessing." (I can't copy and paste on this screen, so I'm paraphrasing) yes but I wouldn't call erasure a blessing, no matter who it's for. They're two sides of a very fucked coin, on the one side transfems get lots of attention and vitriol, and the erasure of transmascs makes it harder for some transmascs to understand they can be trans. But on top of that, the form of transfems we see are never real representation, 99% of the time it's a transmisogynistic ideal of trans women, it's the weirdo white boy spreading lipstick all over their face just before they smash the mirror in a fit of "dysphoria" kind of shit. Though transfems have extreme visibility, our actual selves are not visible, we are ultra violet rapist horn dogs or we're the super ignorant, super emotional crybaby.

And, a side tangent, cuz you sorta did a thing the transandrodorks do that is frustrating. It's not a measurement of what's "worse." That's not how oppression works, that's not what we are saying, we are talking about the forms of oppression.

Men are not oppressed for being men. They can be oppressed for a variety of things, racism, ableism, interphobia (is this the right term I forget), homophobia, etc etc. Masculinity is rewarded, masculinity is the desire, patriarchy exists so men get to be above women. Things like "misandry" do not exist, they are inventions of violently misogynistic men, your MRAs, your incels, your conservatives (this includes liberals btw).

The person who coined "transandrophobia" used to talk about wanting to correctively rape lesbians. I'm not gonna go at someone's kinks, but the blog was not presented as a kink blog, I literally went there myself and read the posts when this first popped off and they come off as true lesbophobia in the context of their blog and coupled with the misandry posting, this person literally looks like MRAs and incels. The defense the community uses is "it's a kink are you kink shaming?? It was on a private locked blog!" Which, the latter, no it wasn't, I literally went there and looked, and the former. Idk I think if you're saying you want correctively rape lesbians while also talking about misandry and counting "transandrophobia," you look misogynistic and homophobic.

The main writers people follow for transandrophobia related content are straight up liars, who make shit up, and one specific non horse entity consistently cites himself as his own "source" and when he doesn't, he cites terf blogs that are connected to kiwifarms and sites of the sort. They will take bits talked about in feminism and present it as a thing they discovered and present it as transandrophobia. Ie. "Men can't show any femininity and can't cry and that's misandry" despite things like this are discussed at length in feminist texts, men can't do these things cuz that makes them more "woman" in the societal lens. Yeah it's fucked, but it's misogyny, not misandry.

I am, consistently, misgendered by the transandrodorks, and so is every other trans woman that disagrees with them. And it's definitely intentional.

Then there are token trans women who don't know much of anything about feminism or transphobia and will straight up harass you for saying women are oppressed. They often weaponize transmisogyny against other transfems, they misgender, suicide bait, or in velvetvexations case, will stalk your blog for two days even though you ignore her and when she's sees you're on a date with your wife, she goes to your wife's blog and starts messaging her instead. Legit, this woman is one of the worst people on this website, the only reason she's not seen as communismkills 2 is cuz men like her.

On top of this, terfs consistently support "transandrophobia" as a concept and constantly say that transandrophobia is compatible with terf ideology. The transandrodork community is ripe with terfs and crypto terfs. Like that one who said he hoped a friend and I get raped, cuz saying "men arent oppressed" warrants wishing rape on people. Or the trans guy that outright said "trans women are male" and tripled down harder saying "trans women don't experience misogyny and oppress transmascs cuz they're really men," claims that were so wild that even velvetvexations couldn't agree with them lol.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: not every person that believes in transandrophobia is a bigot or a bad person. A lot are just young transmascs who are under read about oppression and history, and this terf/transphobe community swoops in and pretends to be representing them and sucks them in. For every disparaging transmisogynist piece, there's two more that are talking about the problems of transmascs. So when you tell these guys "that's a hate group" they don't remember the post calling trans women men, they remember stuff about T being super illegal. So they think we are attacking them for having a problem, not the actual bigotry on display.

Honestly, if these people would just stop misgendering trans women, they might have more trans women who'd be nice to em. But that's the consistent trend.

Transandrophobia is a violent, transmisogynistic ideology that is propped up by terf ideology. That's why they are compared to MRAs and incels.

[hard--headed--woman]

Gen Z activism will never lead anywhere because it is centered around people's feeling rather than aimed at really end discriminations, poverty, injustice. Their goal isn’t to improve society by making real changes and destroying what needs to be destroyed, it is to make sure everyone can do whatever they want to do without never being hurt, and more precisely to make sure that they and people who agree with them can do whatever they want to do without never being hurt. It's a mix of their self-centered world view, their individualism and their "us vs them" philosophy. Any opinion that goes against theirs is seen as hatred, any criticism of their words or actions is perceived as discrimination against them. If you say you disagree with them, they will reply "why do you hate us? why can't you leave us alone?". If you tell them what they do is bad, they will reply "why are you so mad at people existing ? why do you want us to die?". It doesn't matter if you have good arguments or if they genuinely are spreading nonsense or harmful rhetoric ; you can't say anything, because their feelings are more important that the truth, than social justice, than feminism, than anti racism activism, than anti capitalism, anti homophobia, anti poverty activism. It's me, myself and I against the evil people who do not agree with me and want me to disappear.

It doesn't work for several reasons. First, I know it might sound mean but when it comes to activism, your feelings literally don't matter. Activism isn’t about you personally. It's about systemic liberation and social justice. It's not about making you feel good. If it hurts you when someone criticize something you and other people do, because this something is rooted in, let's say, misogyny, racism, ableism, homophobia, because this something reinforce and encourage these, well, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that your feelings are hurt. What matters is to destroy misogyny, racism, ableism, homophobia - and a lot of other things. This is way more important than your feelings. Activism isn’t about your feelings. If it hurts you when we point out that you're wrong about a social thing, or that you're doing something harmful, it doesn't matter. We can and we should criticize what other people do.

And then, if you accept everything because you don't want to hurt anyone, you will end up accepting harmful and disgusting things. Some things people do and say should be critized and fought against, because they are harmful, rooted in misogyny, homophobia, racism and what not, because they reinforce and encourage discriminations, hatred, or exploitation, or because they're based on fake news. If you don't criticize anything, you let the door open for everything you claim to hate.

Feelings shouldn't come first. Feelings are personal, and making their protection a priority is inherently self-centered and selfish. Feelings are sometimes stupid and irrational. Feelings aren't always built on good things. What we should do is wondering if something is true or not, if it's harmful or not, what is it based on, who it benefits, when it appeared, who it exploits, how it works... we shouldn't wonder if it's going to hurt people on the internet if it ends up disappearing. We don't caee if it does.

[ckret2]

I was going to just reply to this post, https://www.tumblr.com/ckret2/760386247709622272/chapter-updated-and-crossposted-to-ao3-this-one, but then my message got so long and I got kind of heated about what I was saying so I decided to just make it an ask. I’m talking about what you were mentioning in the post, about how people apparently didn’t understand Bill doesn’t just not understand human hygiene.

I understood it the first time. I thought it was very obvious, actually. I don’t know why other people apparently didn’t. I can’t see how it could possibly give anyone the impression that he doesn’t get hygiene when he literally uses the fact that he gets hygiene against his captors so clearly because how else would he be able to even know that he could rub the grossness in their face? To make himself feel better about how he’s a prisoner and also kind of has no choice?

Unless they genuinely forgot because of… I think it might be a kind of be a result of societal ableism— a problem with ableism and how it’s influenced trends in fandom. I’ve been in a lot of fandoms where I noticed that people do this a lot with any characters with a certain kind of neurodivergent air— characters I often related to— who act how they want and generally don’t care about social standards or being “normal.”

An annoying portion of the fandom just starts treating them like they don’t know any better instead of knowing and not caring, and start talking about them like they’re dumb in a way that kinda reminds me of how I’ve been treated as an autistic person, whenever I thought any social rule or norm was pointless. Like people would just keep explaining to me that it existed no matter how often I clearly expressed that I knew it existed, I just didn’t see a reason to care. Other kids who acted neurodivergent got this too, no matter how obvious they made it that they just didn’t care.

I mostly got this as a girl who didn’t act “girly”— or ashamed of myself— for being not feminine enough or tomboyish enough. Teachers and parents and even a lot of classmates who just kept trying to “correct me when they realized I basically wasn’t “properly” ashamed. They talked around it, but autistic people are not dumb, and their underlying logic was almost always just that. With adults they genuinely seemed to think they were helping me, and just refused to get it, but classmates would get more patronizing after a while. Idk but- anyway…

I’ve started to identify and dread when people might do this to any character I related to in a certain way who chose not to care about social norms. And there was definitely something awfully familiar about the way people seemed to begin to think about them after a while. Especially if there hadn’t been any new episodes with that character or something for a while, they’d just start to remember them as stupider as their minds fell into certain patterns.

And people who do this to the characters, start talking about them like they’re canonically dumb and start almost infantilizing them in fanworks. I remember this one character I really related to, where people started writing fanfics and shipping them with this other character who was kind of a bully in canon, “teaching” them how to act more normal and treating them like a child, and this awful dynamic became The Most Popular Ship for that character. It was disgusting.

And then other people start to get the idea that this is canonical, when it’s entirely fandom based canon that shouldn’t even be fancanon and only exists because of ableism in the first place. But it spreads because people see this group of the fandom talking about it and, especially newcomers, just start to assume this is normal, this is what canon looks like. That’s where the fanworks featuring this come from.

And Bill is one of these characters. I can’t put it into words but he does share that certain ADHD ish quality that I relate to as a neurodivergent person and that makes me worry people will twist him into the Stupid Boy Don’t Know Anything Normal set mold too. Anyway, I’m pretty sure this bs is the reason for any “misunderstandings” like this about Bill.

I think in this case it might have just been mostly people treating Bill like he’s dumb as they forgot after a while of reading the chapter and started thinking of him… the way they think of characters (and people) with adhd or some other form of neurodivergence who don’t fit in, automatically, w/o realizing. And they started building it worse off each other. And then newcomers came in and saw how they were talking about Bill and started unconsciously reflecting it. It wasn’t in anything to do with your writing.

And I’m sorry you had to deal with it, too. I hope you didn’t have to cut down or dumb down your story, or… not too much, because of it. You shouldn’t have to bring down your work because you’re afraid an audience won’t understand. In this case, I really think it’s more because of a fandom trend and a societal problem than you actually being bad at writing Bill in any way. You shouldn’t have to dumb down the story to make it more obvious for this. And it wasn’t your fault in any way I can think of. But yeah.

I was trying to delicately avoid flinging accusations right at my own readers, especially since there's no way to know what any one given particular reader is bringing into a story—but honestly I've assumed all along it's either ableism, racism, or fatphobia, three issues that predispose people to see the affected person/character as both "stupid" and "dirty" and all of which apply either to Bill or to his human body.

I can't cure ableism, racism, or fatphobia in a fanfic. But I can make it harder for people to default to Ignorant Dirty Gremlin Child stereotypes. And I want to make it harder, because I'd like people to understand my work on the terms I intended to present it. An author's job is to communicate their ideas in words that accurately convey those ideas to the reader, and if a lot of readers don't get it, it's first and foremost the author's duty to see if there's anything else they can do to couch their ideas in language readers will get.

Anything beyond that is out of my hands. I've now done my level best with chapter 8.

[echo-goes-mmm]

Juno in "Abandoned"

My Writing Masterpost

Juno Collection Masterpost

Warnings: slavery, implied past noncon, ableism 

Master was growing tired of him. He could tell.

Master didn’t hit him as much. Didn’t call him to sleep at the foot of his bed. Didn’t show him off to his friends on Saturday nights. Didn’t make him do tricks like before.

He couldn’t understand it.

Juno did everything right. He was good. He was obedient. He didn’t resist when Master strung him up and beat him until he couldn’t scream any more. He spread his legs on command and let it happen. He begged properly for scraps like a good boy.

By all measures, he was good.

So why didn’t Master love him anymore?

Juno threw himself into being extra good. He made Master’s favorite meals everyday. Baked him sweets upon sweets, made sure his chores were done earlier and earlier. He tried his best to be perfect.

But none of it, not a thing, got his Master’s attention. 

What was he doing wrong?

___________________

“Juno-” Master snapped his fingers- “Come.”

Juno came, as quick and light-footed as he could. Master had finally called for him! It must be good.

In Master’s hand was the leash, and Juno was confused, but obeyed when it was clipped to his collar.

He quietly followed Master outside and onto the streets. It was a cool morning, and his socks didn’t quite help his feet stay warm from the cold cobblestone.

His confused excitement vanished when they rounded the corner and he saw where they were going.

No, please! He wanted to beg. I’ve been good!

But Master had beaten words out of him a long time ago. He couldn’t make them anymore.

Master undid his collar, and he felt the loss so keenly he nearly felt like crying.

Master exchanged money with the slaver, a pitiful amount, and Master was no longer his Master.

They took his clothes away and bathed him in cold water and soap. His hair was brushed out and dried. He was given loose pants and a shirt, but they weren’t his from home.

He didn’t have a home. He was ownerless.

It wasn’t until they started clipping his nails and filing them round that he started to cry.

They chained him down, at the end of the display, and all there was nothing to do but wait.

And wait.

And wait.

___________________

The other slaves sold faster than him.

All of them did.

Multiple rounds of all new faces passed him by, all going to homes with a master, and he was left behind.

“Stupid,” they called him. “Can’t even talk.”

I’m not stupid, he wanted to say. I can do lots of things!

But his hair grew longer and longer, and his price was lower and lower.

Juno wrapped his arms around himself, shivering. It wasn’t even cold out, but he felt cold.

He was unwanted.

He watched the dogs following their owners on walks; poodles and labradors and shepherds.

Juno was jealous.

He was made to serve and be useful, and so were dogs, but dogs got to be pets.

Juno wasn’t even worth being a slave.

He wept, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

taglist: @paintedpigeon1 @phoenixpromptsandstuff

[sysmedsaresexist]

As someone with OSDD (if I’m right) what’s the worst misinfo about DID that us endos discuss in our spaces? /genq

JCYDJFCYS I love this question, I want my mods to jump in, too, but I'm going to spice it up with the worst misinformation from both sides.

For me, Dude, the worst I've seen in endo circles... is that DID is the same thing as mediumship. This is going to seem like I'm vagueing one of two people, but it's not you two (you'll know who you are). There's actually someone from before them that gave me the worst taste for that discourse, and probably made me a lot more angry about it.

In anti circles, it's got to be that dissociation is solely trauma-based. It's the most fundamental misunderstanding that leaks into everything else

I think those are my two biggest peeves.

-

Mod Quill here to say FFFFFF I HATE MISINFO. Gosh it really is in all the communities, too.

In endogenic spaces, it’s hard for me to decide, but I think it’s the idea that the ToSD is ableist because “it supports final fusion” (which is its own can of worms, which I think Mod Robo might touch on, if my guess is correct). The ToSD doesn’t even fucking mention final fusion get off it. I hear about the ToSD being ableist constantly, and genuinely, it seems like just being medical at all in any way is considered ableist…

Meanwhile, anti-endos? Good lord. The worst misinfo I see is the gatekeeping of trauma. “You can’t develop DID from XYZ” — congrats! You’re a fakeclaimer who doesn’t understand how trauma works. I pray no newly discovered systems find you.

-

Mod Robo here! Oh gosh, what misinfo haven't I seen? I swear I've seen the wildest shit!

Some of the worst stuff from pro-endos was them claiming or implying that CDDs are just the "broken" versions of endogenic plurality. I've seen people claim that DID doesn't require trauma, that the DID diagnosis only exists to stigmatize endogenic plurals, and that CDD systems who use terms like "parts" or "alters" just want to dehumanize ourselves and others.

Around 2019, a pro-endo started spreading a rumor that MPD was renamed to DID in order to stigmatize plurals which is just so horribly incorrect. Multiple dissociative disorders were renamed at the same time to have the word 'dissociation' in them, and it was done by a team of researchers. The pro-endo used the previous DSM chairman's ableism to spread lies and drag innocent DID systems into discourse.

Like mod Quill said, there's been a ton of misinfo from pro-endos over ToSD (theory of structural dissociation). I've seen people claim that it's completely bunk because one of the researchers who worked on it (there were multiple) lost his medical license for abusing a patient. I've also seen pro-endos try to apply ToSD to endogenic plurality and conclude that ToSD must be bunk because it doesn't fit? It just makes no sense to me because the theory was created to explain trauma-related dissociation caused by disorders like PTSD and DID, etc... It has nothing to do with plurality.

I've also seen tooons of horrible shit from pro-endos AND anti-endos about final fusion and fused alters/systems. I've seen people say it's comparable to grooming or suicide, or that these systems are just secretly "pluralphobic" and trying to become singlets. Honestly, the hatred and misinfo I've seen people say about fused systems is some of the worst.

As for anti-endos, I've seen lots of bad misinfo too... One of the worst things is gatekeeping common CDD things based on trauma type. For example, saying that nonhuman alters are only possible in systems who experienced ritual abuse. Other common CDD things I've seen anti-endos say can only happen due to ritual abuse: gatekeeper alters, subsystems, polyfragmentation, alters with number names or color names, switching due to triggers, alters who feel loyal to their abusers, alters that other alters can front through, certain headspace stuff like checkered floor tiles, having a headspace in general, etc.

I could say more but my reply is already longer than both Dude's and Quill's combined. I'll just leave it off here!

-

Mod Signal: I like this ask a lot lol. It shows genuine curiosity and a desire to improve spaces. Misinfo collects like dirt around syscourse. We all have to sweep regularly to make sure that shit gets thrown out.

On the pro-endo side, the worst I've seen is endo systems attempting to lean into the fantasy model of CDDs to support their own plurality. That model has been debunked for quite a while, and it has hurt so many goddamn people. CDDs are trauma-based, we don't have to reverse scientific progress or fakeclaim some of the first cases of recorded CDDs to support endo systems.

On the anti-endo side, my least favorite bit of misinformation is the idea that the TOSD shows how different people's trauma ranks in the trauma Olympics. The idea that someone with polyfragmented DID must have had things worse than an OSDD 1B system who must have had things worse than someone with BPD, etc. The level of dissociation required for each label in the DSM relies on so many more factors than just "who had it worse". There are biological dispositions to dissociation to take into account, there's the reminder that what's traumatic to a child isn't always considered traumatic to an adult, there's attachment styles to take into play. There is so much more to the science than "I had it worse than you and I have the diagnosis to prove it".

--

Everyone is welcome to reblog and add their own. This could be a good learning opportunity for people to go, "wait, that's not true??"

[steaming-system-takes]

my hottake is many people misinterpret what people mean by "doubles dont exist"

all we are saying is that doubles do not literally exist. we arent telling you that you being uncomfortable isnt valid or whatever, we are simply trying to point out that no two introjects of the same source are the same person or said fictional character, source-separated or not.

as an introject, i and many other introjects in our system used to get uncomfortable around other introjects who shared our source. (I SHOULD MAKE THIS CLEAR THAT IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW I AM TALKING ABOUT IN THE CONTEXT OF BEING IN A PUBLIC CHAT OR SERVER, NOT AN ONLINE MEDIA ACCOUNT! a server vs a tumblr blog for example are different. my issue here is when it comes to discord/other public chatting sites.)

you know what we would do? either leave because it is our responsibility or we toughen through it and remember that person is literally a different person from us. im trying hard not to come off mean or invalidating but im really bad at wording

you're an introject on a tumblr blog and people sharing the same source as you make you uncomfortable? valid. blocking is a thing. just dont say anything and block. if someone is invading ur DNI on purpose thats on them. just block and thats it.

you're an introject talking in a system server/chat and someone else happens to have the same source as you? excuse yourself from the chat for the time being or ignore that person.

please do NOT go up to someone and call them a "double". i am not you. you are not me. we are not fictional characters. do not go around calling people " doubles". i could go up to you and say the same thing.(i wouldn't obviously bc i hate that word and it's rude i just mean that i LITERALLY could and it would be the same thing you hypothetically did) i am not a clone of you. (not saying everyone uncomfortable with "" doubles"" does this i just see it happen a lot.)

obviously, also respect when someone says "doubles dni". i just don't.. like it being called doubles bc its kind of dehumanizing and isn't. real in how the term means. it doesnt work for DID/OSDD.

we got over the double thing, and thank god we did, because all it literally did was fuel our DELUSIONS WE EXPERIENCE and PARANOIA from believing it. it also made us have internalized ableism towards other systems for a while. (again not saying everyone who has this as a discomfort is like this, just that it wasnt very healthy for us and ive seen a lot of people where it isnt healthy for them or the people around them either.. ive seen people literally yell at others over their identity??? can we please stop normalizing the double mentality thingie. introjects are NOT THEIR SOURCE or all the same person..)

we've had our unreasonable and finnicky triggers. hell we used to have a trigger for FUCKING APPLES. (long story.) and eventually you have to learn how to get over them. sorry that sounds really rude but i wish people would stop this!! calling people "doubles" is so fucking hurtful like yeah you are allowed to be uncomfortable but please dont spread the doubles thing or yell at people. you dont do that stuff and you just block or ignore and move on? cool. you are a cool person. stay cool

god i really hope this made sense. im the worst at wording.

im paranoid people read my messages wrong so heres now a list of clarifications;

>i believe alters are allowed to NOT source separate if they dont want to separate. as long as it isnt hurting them. even then thats for them and their own system to figure it out, and source separation shouldnt be forced.

>im not forcing people to INSTANTLY get over their discomforts and triggers. it takes time. i know. im just asking *some* people to change the way they view things or at least treat it differently (ie stop using "double" and use a different term or wtvr for it, be more responsible abt it etc) and strive to get better about it. i hope that made sense. im not trying to belittle people i genuinely just dont know how my tone is coming off and im paranoid im coming off rude/gen

>yes some of us still get uncomfortable around source-sharing people. it used to be really bad when we were younger but it's gotten better. yes we do experience different kinds of delusions and have severe paranoia and im aware those can be part of why source-sharing people can be triggering to some. this post is only talking about the people who INSIST on calling PEOPLE "doubles" or instead of being responsible for their own stuff and just blocking or ignoring these people will yell at random people. it does not happen a lot but it does happen. this is a post against that, not people who are merely uncomfortable and/or just block/leave without saying anything. if you are just uncomfortable and block or wtvr again UR COOL ur cool /gen

>and honestly im just asking people stop saying "double"... use "source sharing person" or smth else instead 😭😭 the word double is strange and dehumanizing

sorry this was so long.

/lh

^

we genuinely love getting these long and thought out takes, its nice being able to see someones full opinion on something and why they feel the way they do

[the-secret-narnian]

I was looking for some cutesy mileven fanart on twitter and stumbled across an artist I follow being homophobic towards bylers, so here’s a rant.

This whole thing probably won’t be very organized at all but this shit got me actually upset and I’ve been a silent member of the ST fandom for so long now and I have the urge to address this crap.

TW: I’ll be showing two prints that showcase clear homophobia

This is the first print I found when looking trough my notifications, I didn’t really think anything of it at first but with the context of another tweet, this one, posted by the artist themselves, makes it very clear that the intent behind this repost was not to talk about fetishization of queer people but to be hateful.

I don’t think I really need to elaborate on what is wrong with this one

The main problem here is not the homophobia (even tho it is a HUGE problem that I’ll also address separately later) , but the fact that this person, and multiple other within this and other fandoms, keep justifying their prejudice behind shipping.

I have seen so many people saying the most awful stuff to try and prove that their ship is the “right one” or “better one” or anything similar to that. I’ve seen misogyny, homophobia and ableism just by looking trough the byler/mileven tags here on Tumblr.

It is not okay to be aggressive and hateful just because you have a disagreement with someone over something as simple as shipping, and it’s even worse to involve shipping in your hate.

If you are going to be a bad person, just do it. Don’t try to pretend to be above that because of who you ship. Acting like that not only will make you look bad for being homophobic and trying to excuse it, but also helps with the negative stigma over ships.

When you do that type of shit, you are actively giving a bad name to your ship and harming other shippers who didn’t do anything.

This kinda of behavior is what results in the “bylers are ableist” and “milevens are homophobes” discourse, because “how can you say that it’s not true when it is happening before our very eyes”.

By acting like this you are causing aggressive behavior within the fandom to worsen, you harm yourself, the people you are being prejudicial towards and other fans.

Do you dislike the ship and not want to see stuff about it? Filter the tags, mark it as “non interested in this” and most importantly DONT INTERACT.

Don’t go commenting on someone’s edit because you think your ship is better, don’t go around talking about how “X ship sucks because-” whatever the reason is. By doing that you are inevitably spreading hate and making more content of that ship appear to you.

I can’t tell anyone to “not be homophobic” because that is something that people need to do for themselves.

It’s not just about being super straight forward with the prejudice either.

What I believe to be the case with a lot of homophobes is that they are incapable of understanding that they are causing harm to the LGBT+ community even if they don’t “technically hate it” and are just “not supportive”

You don’t have to be actively saying stuff like “all (respective slur to whatever minority it is) should die!” A phobia is not only to hate or be scared of something, but a general aversion towards it with no rational reason.

You can’t just “not support it” because you are just trying to make yourself look and feel better about something you know is wrong. By “not supporting” queer people you are also not supporting people’s rights to be themselves; sexuality, gender and romantic attraction are not a thing that people can change, it is a part of you.

You can claim that you just disagree with their life choices as much as you want, but in reality it is just as bad as any other prejudice. Racism is also about people not having the rights to be who they are and live normal lives.

They are both equally awful.

I won’t be accepting any comments claiming that one is worse than the other, because pain is not something to be compared. Both have caused great suffering and deaths of many people across the years

I won’t be diving any deeper into the racism discussion because of I did I would have to get into how people treat Lucas and Erica in comparison to the other characters and I have already seen a great post diving into that topic (I’ll try to find it and link it in the comments if anyone is interested)

I will also be adding, the don’t interact thing also counts for proshipping content. Most proshipping accounts are from people doing rage bait and it is common knowledge that many problematic people thrive with attention, don’t hate, don’t DM, just report it and block them.

I also won’t be going deeper into this topic cause it brings many discussions on what’s okay and what’s not when it comes to fictional content and how it affects people, and if were to say everything I thought of the topic this rant would be just a book.

I really had the need to write this down after seeing those tweets because I am a queer mileven shipper and I just hate that I have to be associated with people like that because I think Mike and El make a cute couple.

I just really want our fandom space to be more pacific, fighting and being disrespectful towards people because you think fictional character A would be better with C instead of B is silly and makes the fandom experience worse for most people.

I like to live by the principle that you shouldn’t say anything if you don’t have anything good to say, and I believe we could all have more harmony if hateful people kept the hate to themselves.

This goes for other fandoms other than Stranger Things too.

TL;DR: Shipping different characters is not a justifiable reason to be an asshole to anyone.

Edit: I just realized I wrote “tumblr” instead of Twitter, so sorry for that I am sleep deprived 😭

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

As we’re facing the next COVID surge (brought on by holiday travel), I thought I might try a different kind of COVID post. You can skip to here for some easy to do tips and tricks you might have missed, or you can read down for my discussion of why this is important.

I have recently been writing and thinking a lot about why so many of my friends and family’s actions on COVID are so different from mine. Namely why so many people I know no longer seem very interested in either preventing themselves from being sick or, importantly, not spreading sickness to anyone else.

In my own case, the experience of staying home to stop the spread in 2020 forced me to strongly reconsider my behavior up to that point. Why had I ever thought it was OK to go to work or ride the subway with the flu, unmasked and taking no precautions, knowing that the flu certainly hospitalizes and kills people each year? Even if the flu was no big deal for my body, my behavior had limited other people—particularly disabled people—from comfortably being in public during flu season. I had knowingly spread around an illness. I radically reconsidered a lot of my behavior, and in particular, 2020 pushed me to focus more specifically on disability justice in my activism. A disability justice framework pushes us beyond thinking about individual access to consider how ableism limits us all from liberation.

Getting back to why this reconsideration didn’t happen on a mass level, understanding disability justice also means understanding that ableism is the current social order. And if it’s the order of the day, like other oppressive ideologies, that means we are all drenched in it and it is impossible to avoid ever doing something ableist. Furthermore, most people are going to act in ableist ways, most of the time. None of this are exempt from this, but not even trying is definitely worse!

I am also well aware that good COVID information is hard to come by, especially if you are not on the regular lookout for it. And if you do go looking for it, it can quickly get overwhelming. So I’d like to offer here a very short, distilled list of things people might have missed since 2020. (I’ve not taken the time to track down citations for all of these things; you’ll have to trust me that I got them from trustworthy sources or you can verify on your own. I’m happy to give more info on any of these too.)

Some of these things are easy enough to do. I’m offering this list because from a “stop the spread” mindset, each specific thing you do is helpful. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, and it’s hopefully not overwhelming. You don’t have to be perfect or avoid COVID 100% of the time or make this part of your identity, but I’d like to ask everyone reading this to take one step up in your mitigations for the holiday season, since this is reliably a time with huge increases in virus transmission. With around a thousand people still dying every week from COVID in the US, you don’t know whose life you may save by being a little more careful.

Masking This is the biggest bang for your buck, precaution-wise. If it’s hard for you to mask all the time in public, consider masking in places that disabled people really can’t avoid, like the pharmacy, the grocery store, and on public transportation.

I’d also suggest that if masks are uncomfortable, try different kinds of masks! The Aura is my favorite mask – it’s tight to my face so my glasses don’t fog and head straps don’t hurt my ears like ear straps do. Wellbefore sells masks in different sizes and colors, and Armbrust has sampler packs. Just try a bunch and see what works for you!

Finally, know that if at all possible, you should wear an N95 or KN95 mask. This is a change since spring 2020 because the current variants of COVID are more contagious.

Mouthwash Washing your mouth out with a mouthwash containing CPC (cetylpyridinium chloride) before or after seeing people, or just regularly, will kill some of the virus in your mouth and keep you below the threshold to get sick and/or shed the virus to others. This is a really easy one; CVS brand mouthwash has CPC.

Sip mask These valves will allow you to drink without breaking the seal of your mask. This is great for airplane travel, crowded conferences, or other risky spaces that you need to be in for an extended amount of time.

Airplane The most dangerous time on an airplane from a virus transmission standpoint is the time sitting on the runway (because of the way they circulate and filter the air onboard). Even if you don’t mask up during the flight, this is the best time to mask. (And if you do mask, this is the worst time to have a snack or drink – try to keep your mask on for all of this period.)

Space out risky or crowded events Don’t go to a wedding and a concert in the same weekend! Illness takes 3-5 days to develop after exposure, so give yourself time to know if you got sick from the last thing before potentially spreading that to the next thing.

Air purifiers work! This is a great one for places that you can’t avoid, like school, work, or daycare. You can make your own Corsi-Rosenthal box, but there’s also a variety of high quality air purifiers you can get for $70-100. You want to make sure it has a HEPA or Merv13+ filter on it, and check how quickly it changes out the air in a room. Since COVID is airborne, there can be COVID in a space even after the person has left it. Setting up air purifiers and/or opening windows until enough air has circulated before you remove your mask is a great way to make a space COVID safer

Test before going to events, even if you don’t feel sick Rapid tests (the kind you’re used to getting from the government and at the drug store) False negatives from these are rampant but a positive test reliably means you have COVID. The accuracy of these tests also increases a LOT if you take two of them 48 hours apart.

Better home tests are now available Metrix and Pluslife are both testers you can buy that offer a similar level of accuracy to a PCR test (that is, very accurate!). These devices are expensive, but so is another COVID infection: think of the missed work, cost of Paxlovid, and potential for Long COVID to keep you down even longer.

It’s a good idea to get an updated vaccine 2x a year too; like the flu shot, these vaccines are updated to try to fend off the particular variants that are circling. Be mindful though that vaccination will not necessarily stop transmission, especially of asymptomatic cases. Handwashing is also good for general prevention, but it doesn’t really stop COVID transmission. In the early days of COVID, researchers guessed that it was spread by physical droplets. That’s why we were instructed to wash our hands and groceries. But now we know that COVID is airborne; it spreads more like cigarette smoke than spit!

Of course, no single thing works perfectly. The best model is still the Swiss cheese model, but that also means each thing you do helps. If you’re reading this, please consider doing *one more thing* to take care of yourselves and others. I love you

[manforsale]

you are spreading so much false information. numbering systems are standard practice at mcr shows since back in the day and throughout frank and gerard’s solo tours. i’ve also never heard of fucking diapers being used at barricade so why don’t you think for half a second before wishing death on people you’ve never met

Okay cool numbering systems are a thing—now what? That doesn’t excuse their behavior or how they operate under the numbering system. Fan made numbering systems only work when everyone is in agreement. they also have limitations!

Here are some fan accounts of their numbering system and there are LOTS more but tumblr limits posts to only 10 images. I found them here, here, here, and here, as well as on Twitter and the notes of this post and this post

+shitty behavior and ableism

the bozo is cylia

As for the adult diapers, I didn’t say it with authority. I just said I saw someone say it. Whether it’s true or not is up for the individual to decide. It is common for people to wear adult diapers so they don’t have leave the queue they’re in. Just look up “adult diapers new year’s”. Either way I think that’s the least important part of this. Idrc if they do or not; I don’t have thousands of dollars to follow them around and find out if they smell. Like. Be serious. They’re being awful to other fans and this is what you choose to focus on…okay lol

Again, since I’m pretty sure you read my other post, you’re being deliberately oblivious and dense. And I actually thought for a full second before I drafted this response and what do you know? I STILL hope the Japanese fans crush them and if you want to be such a warrior for this group you can go ahead and die with them too <3

[selfportrait27]

Gonna say a quick thing about the Ween fandom, neurodivergence and ableism.

I don't have much energy left for this. I just want to listen to their music again (and keep archiving stuff and updating the Ween Wiki), and I need to take care of myself.

But some of the comments on this reddit post are important. I don't know what the original post said, it was removed by reddit for violating its content policy. It sounds like this person told a (probably made up) story about breaking a woman's nose, as some sort of weird flex. If so, then they deserved some harsh backlash, and they got it.

Having said all that, this was still the top comment:

"I swear to god if this is weapons grade autism instead of satire I’m unsubscribing."

Another comment reads:

"This is the worst fucking thing I’ve ever seen on Reddit, and that’s saying something. OP please take this down and address what is clearly crippling autism."

Nobody pushed back on either of these.

Am I surprised to see the spurious link between autism and violence come up yet again? No. That association is ingrained in the public's mind, and it's gonna take more than one generation for it to go away.

Does it still hurt, as a 35-year-old autistic, to see neurodivergence being scapegoated for destructive behavior in a community where "oddballs and misfits" are supposedly welcome? Yeah of course it does. I can only imagine the effect this would have had on a much younger version of me.

That's to say nothing of the way words like "psychosis" are thrown around when someone is being annoying (or just harmlessly weird). I would bet that quite a lot of Ween fans have actually experienced psychosis. How welcome do you think comments like that make them feel? Or do you not mind deterring them, because you assume that they're dangerous?

And then there's maybe the biggest issue of all: the way addicts are still thrown under the bus constantly by a community that thinks it's just so cool about drugs. (You'd think we all would have learned something about that by now, if nothing else.)

What do you think misfits and oddballs are, exactly? People who wear black and have purple hair? As the Dead Kennedys said, "You ain't hardcore cos you spike your hair, when a jock still lives inside your head."

Ween fans are a disabled, neurodivergent, monotropic bunch. And some of you might not be totally comfortable with this, but it ain't just their fans. Sorry, but if you look at Ween and see nothing but two neurotypical people, you don't know much about neurodivergence.

Here's part of an interaction I had on another thread:

These threads are still up, you can click the links and judge for yourself if you think I've represented them fairly. I'll link them again separately at the bottom.

The Ween fandom mess is complicated, and I'm viewing it from a distance (in terms of both time and location). Anything I can say about it here is going to be an oversimplification. But I really believe the seed of it all was when people made an unspoken collective decision - to varying degrees - not to see the suffering that was going on on that stage right in front of them.

When people aren't treating everyone like people, they stop taking care of each other, they stop trusting each other, and the infection spreads. Now there's a whole new generation of young fans who need the community that this could have been, and they're not gonna get it.

That's all I can really say about it right now. This is not about blaming anyone. There's a reason I say "us" and "we", even though I wasn't part of the forums etc 20+ years ago. I chose to take part in this online fandom now, knowing what I know and seeing what I see. That doesn't mean I'm personally responsible for anyone else's behavior. It means I have some accountability to myself for what I take part in, the good and the bad, just like everyone else.

As always, I hope this doesn't need to be said, but just in case: do not go and harrass any of the reddit users in these threads, or anyone else. It's not about them. It's not about me either. It's about us, maaaan. (But seriously though...it is about us, man.)

Thread 1 (original post removed): [x]

Thread 2: [x]

[transmutationisms]

In regards to full bodily autonomy, how do you relate that in regards to anti vaxxers? Or other such cases where the line between harming oneself and harming others seems to become blurred

first of all i've already said i think the bodily autonomy defence of anti vaxx actions is a bit of a smokescreen. there are a lot of different things going on here: first and foremost ableism (both the flagrant disregard for the lives of disabled people---which is really just a reproduction of capitalist valorisation of human lives exclusively on the basis of the profit they can generate via working---and the fear of vaccine injury that leads people to actually place themselves at more risk from the diseases themselves because they think they're avoiding adverse effects, whether real or of the wakefield autism conspiracy variety). this is also an issue that we should expect to see given the relationship between public health authorities and the state, as well as the ongoing legacy of deeply unethical and harmful behaviour from physicians, medical guilds, and so forth. reluctance to trust medical authorities is not irrational or even unwise, even though in the case of vaccines it can lead to pretty tragic and harmful outcomes. i also think that sometimes low vaccination rates are automatically assumed to be the result of vaccine hesitancy, but this isn't always true. for example, in a country without paid time off or universal health care, accessing a vaccine (and recovering from any mild symptoms it may cause) is not always simple; all the messaging in the world doesn't fix this type of materialist access issue.

but to answer your question within the framework proffered: it is generally understood that bodily autonomy does not entitle you to harm other people. if someone wanted to remain unvaccinated and literally never interact with another human being, i truly would not care. the issue is that in the case of vaccination, simply being around others when you are unvaccinated is the action that carries a risk of harm to them. the same way that living in society with others places limits on my ability to swing a loaded handgun in any direction i please, or to shout "fire" in public places, it also means i can no longer walk around unvaccinated with impunity. we accept in other cases that if we want to be around other people, we must sometimes live by certain codes of conduct. i think the framing of vaccine refusal as an autonomy issue is hiding the fact that people who genuinely refuse to get vaccinated either don't care about spreading infections or don't think that refusing vaccines will actually affect the spread of such infections. which, again, circles back to issues of ableism (disregard for vulnerable people they're around) or misunderstanding (sometimes wilful) of epidemiological claims made by experts and institutions.