#and the communication on it was unfortunately shit

[agoodflyting]

Gods, yes, this.

I've been doing fandom shit since before the internet was a household thing and over the last ten years it has changed so drastically for the worse. I loathe the terms 'consumer' and 'content creator' with a passion.

Do you know the origin of those terms? Hopefully you know that every single social media app has one goal - to get you to spend as much time as possible looking at ads, so that the company can make money. Consumer and Content Creator are the terms created by this ad-selling industry to reduce people to their role in this process. 'Content creators' make things, which the social media program hosts and then intersperses with ads, so that 'consumers' look at both the ads and the content. That's what those terms mean.

You are not a consumer. You are a person who gets joy from certain things. They are not a content creator. They are a person who gets joy from making certain those things. We are more than the role we play in making some tech bro money. Unfortunately, when all the spaces you use to do your fandom things use that same terminology, it's easy to start internalizing it.

But back to the main point - consumer and content creator are both passive terms. Content creators endlessly make things and release them into the void where they are mindlessly consumed. That is the antithesis of a fandom, which is by-nature a collaborative space. If you consider yourself a fan of something, then you are part of a community and you damn well need to act like it. Stop letting capitalism define your fandom experience. Comment on posts, comment on fics, message people. Every single screen name you see is a person who likes the same stuff as you. They are not a mindless entity that churns out things for you to look at. If you're uncomfortable commenting on someone else's post, or fic, or what-have-you, then you need to ask yourself why. For most people, it's just because you aren't used to that kind of person-to-person interaction, because your entire internet experience has been curated to push you away from that sort of thing, by someone who makes more money the longer you spend mindlessly 'consuming' ads along with your content.

I think there's something that needs to be said about encouraging readers to leave feedback.

For me it's not about "tell me my writing is amazing and stroke my ego"

It's more about "please engage with me so that I can experience your joy secondhand and foster a connection with you"

I understand that not everyone wants this in their reading experience, some people are shy and a million other reasons why maybe someone wouldn't want to engage and that's perfectly fine!

But what I'm trying to steer away from is being a passive content creator with passive consumers. What I want to steer toward is fostering a community that is essential to fandom. I want to see your reactions because it makes me feel like I'm a part of something.

On encouraging reblogs —

I understand that not everyone is comfortable reblogging, especially explicit content. This is ok!

But just consider that the only reason you were able to enjoy a fic or fanart is because someone else shared it, and by not sharing it yourself you are potentially robbing someone else of the opportunity to enjoy it as much as you did.

As OPs our reach only goes so far and this website relies on reblogs in order for anything to truly get seen by a wider audience.

So that's really it! That's why I encourage these two things at the end of every story I post. Not because I'm trying to be demanding and "make people feel bad" if they don't do it.

I know most other social media sites encourage mindless content consumption and that's just the way of the world nowadays, but I am from a time when community was at the heart of fandom and I just don't want to lose that.

[bwat5-blog]

A Sister's Love: Jinx & Vi

**Spoilers For Arcane**

A while back I had a short but pleasant discussion with someone on one of their posts about Jinx's treatment of Vi, and how it can feel like Jinx doesn't seem to care about Vi in many instances. In hopes of further discussion, I posted in the community where many of you wonderful folks shared your thoughts on the subject and I got a lot of really good insight into this as well. I was thinking about that this morning and it got me thinking about Jinx in general, and more specifically the times when even if it's not as clear, her love for Vi shines through.

I've said this many times but it bears repeating. I am aware that I have been quite harsh on Jinx. The unfortunate reason for most of that is that a significant amount of Jinx fans have an obsession with comparing her to Caitlyn or Vi that borders on the fanatical. But my issue has never been, and will never be with the character herself. I think she is absolutely amazing as a character and loved watching her story unfold.

*I do this every-time but I think it's important. Especially because some of you have shared with me that your own mental health is what has made you connect with Jinx so strongly. I understand and recognize that her mental health plays an immensely important role in her character's journey. I am in no way, shape or form a qualified mental healthcare professional. So any disrespect or lack of sensitivity is not my intention*

Jinx & Vi:

The journey of these sisters is heartbreaking and inspiring in equal measure. It is many people's favorite part of the story and for good reason. They are so close when the show begins and ripped apart by the darkness in their world. Only to fight their way back to one another through love and sacrifice.

But their story is not without conflict. In fact at their lowest point they almost kill one another. There is much that can be said about Vi's love for Jinx, the times she fails her, and those important moments, but I want to focus on Jinx right now.

I don’t have exact quotes on hand, but someone in the community made an excellent point during our discussion. Even when Vi and Jinx are at odds, and Jinx’s hallucinations try to convince her that Vi no longer loves her—that she’s been replaced by Caitlyn—Jinx fights back. She defends who she knows her sister to be, even if she can’t always silence those voices. It’s only pain, fear, or manipulation that pushes her too far, making her lose her grip on what she knows to be true.

During the horrifying sequence when Jinx is being saved by Singed, she hallucinates. And who does she hallucinate in that terrifying moment when she is in terrible pain and in such need of comfort? Vi. Even though she just tried to kill Vi on that bridge. The vision is only corrupted when Caitlyn appears, which all stems from Silco and Sevika feeding Jinx's paranoia.

Okay. I know what some of you are thinking seeing me post ANYTHING about the dinner party on a Jinx positive post. Hear me out. There is no question that Jinx does ALL sorts of fucked up shit here. But we are talking about her love for Vi. What does she want here? She wants things to be like they used to be. She wants her sister. She is in such a dark and twisted state that she cannot see how terrible her actions are, but at her core, she wants her older sister to love her like she used to. She doesn't hurt Vi (I mean aside from the bonk). Additionally, and again- I AM NOT SAYING SHE DIDN"T DO TERRIBLE THINGS HERE- Even with all she did to Caitlyn, she knows Vi cares for Caitlyn, she views Caitlyn as the one who was taking Vi from her, and yet she doesn't kill Caitlyn and she easily could have. This is not about justifying anything she does. It's about looking for what lies beneath the darkness in her to see the person she has the potential to be again.

Here at their lowest moment, when Vi and Jinx have almost killed each-other, and Jinx is glad Vi is the one who is going to finish her, Jinx screams "NO!" when Isha does this. She doesn't want Vi to die.

Vi is at her worst during her pitfighter arc. I'm not going super in-depth on this because this post is about Jinx but Vi is in a self-destructive spiral and totally alone. It's quite clear in one moment that Jinx is there in the crowd but if you slow down the whole sequence you actually see her there a few times. This was primarily what I was discussing with some other people and I believe Jinx was watching over Vi in the best way she could process. I'm sure there was some degree of pleasure in seeing Vi cast out by Caitlyn at first, but with all other signs pointing to Jinx caring for Vi I don't think Jinx was here laughing at her sisters pain. More trying to be there and watch over Vi but with no idea how to approach her with all that happened.

*I fully recognize there is a degree of speculation on my part for this point but I think it's reasonable, feel free to let me know if you disagree!*

With everything that has happened between them, the fact that Jinx comes to collect Vi when she finds out about Vander speaks volumes. There is still much to be worked out between them but she wants their family to together again including Vi. And although I couldn't find the GIF for it, when jinx is in the dark with her lighter after Vi and Vander fight is such a heart wrenching moment. She is clearly so afraid that she has caused the death of her sister, her dad, or both. She cares so much for those that she has left.

Jinx and Caitlyn's history is the furthest thing from simple. But in this moment, Caitlyn cast Vi out, hit her, became the commander and placed Zaun under martial law all because she wanted Jinx (this is not a who is right and who is wrong I'm just making a point), Jinx would HATE Caitlyn. But she knows what she means to Vi. And she just saw Caitlyn save Vander. Jinx easily could have let Rictus finish Caitlyn then jumped in if it was just about saving Vander but she still jumps headfirst into the fight.

In the aftermath of Isha and Vander's death, Jinx could easily have escaped Caitlyn. But Caitlyn tells Vi that all Jinx wanted was to make sure Vi was safe after Vi sacrificed herself to protect her.

Jinx's mindset in this moment is a complicated topic. But I want to focus her feelings about Vi. Vi has come and broken her out of jail, risked everything for her again. And Jinx realizes Vi will never give up on her. Even at great cost to herself. So Jinx punches her and leaves her, and almost begs her to start living for herself. Because she knows Vi cannot give herself that permission. She wants Vi to choose her own life, and to choose love.

Free and clear, obviously Jinx was going to do something horrible but thankfully Ekko talked her down. Even still, she could have done anything. But what does she choose to do? She chooses to ride to war with her people, honoring Vi's faith in her.

And of course, the absolutely devastating final sacrifice (I know she's alive but you get it) of Jinx saving Vi's life when the pain and grief finally overwhelm the fearsome brawler. I have mentioned it many times, but Jinx's core belief is that everyone who gets close to her dies. She thinks she is a curse on all who love her. But in her last action, she saves the life of the older sister she knows will always love her, and who never gave up on her.

I have touched on most of this before but it was just on my mind this morning. I hope I didn't bore anyone. I know there are LOTS of strong feelings about Jinx and like I have said over and over nothing here is about justifying the wrong she did. It's just about looking at those moments that showed her true colors even when she herself couldn't see them. Hope you enjoyed, take care!

[velvetvexations]

Was going through the Playdoughs tag just to see what was up with the Homestuck vs Dykes To Watch Out For stuff and unfortunately saw that she apparently was also trying to paint Leslie Feinberg as a TERF and ngl might be a bit conspiracy brained but between that and the Bechdel stuff I'm wondering if she's just trying to shit on every single notable butch person out of a hatred for transmascs and "TMEs". Like no queer person has ever been perfect, but it's getting sus that transradfems never bring up any of the problems with Whipping Girl and decry anyone who does a transmisognist but they're allowed to shit all over Stone Butch Blues and Dykes To Watch Out For because the authors both have had some questionable takes.

It also especially pisses me the fuck off because Feinburg literally stopped medically transitioning to avoid the separation from the lesbian community(and expirience a bunch of butches say they shared on a post I found from r/ButchLesbians. Legit saw PD claiming the women in the book only exist to prop up tmascs and take care of their emotions which...idk in the context of that passage I legit can't help but feel like she genuinely thinks the isolation that came with transition was just and deserved. PD also compares Feinburg to a cis man writing misogynistic crap about cis women and truly, shut the fuck up. It's possible for anyone to be misogynistic, but Stone Butch Blues very clearly shows not only how much Feinburg valued the women around hir even as they abandoned hir for trying to become who ze wanted to be, but also how much violence and hatred butches and tmascs face, and honestly I think the latter might be her real problem with it. Can't let queer books about tmascs and butches exist, people might realize queer masculinity is actually NOT celebrated by cishet society! And ofc course asking any queer woman to stand in solidary with her butch community members is placing men's emotions over women's and implying women only exist to support and care for men. It would almost be funny if it wasn't so goddamn transphobic and cruel.

Anyway yeah, sorry to vent, that just bothered me so fucking much. I think it's perfectly fine to point out issues with well-known queer authors and activists but when you are specifically attacking masc queer people I start to get suspicious that combating transmisogny might not really be what's driving this. And again, it's awful that anyone could read that book(or just like Feinburg's wiki page) and come away with the belief that society and certain queer spaces never punish queer masculinity. It breaks my butch heart to see all of my fellow butches never making their body a home because they'd rather live a dysphoric life than end up alone with no community. I'd love for any transradfem to read those testimonies and tell me tmascs and butches aren't targeted for their masculinity, I dare them.

some trans women desperately need trans men to be cis men because cis men violently oppressing us isn't enough and they need a direct 1:1 equivalent to the relationship cis women have with cis men to feel validated

[mutatedtruth]

This is literally why so many guys are trooning out to be "trans lesbians".

They sign up to get told they are "perfect just the way they are" & any woman who has an issue with him must have some subconscious transphobia; that lesbians must bend over backwards to include him in their female-only activities. He can intimidate and pressure lesbian women to "try him out" so they won't have rumors spread that they are transphobes or TERFs. He doesn't have to worry about rejection, it's now the women who are put under scrutiny for rejecting him. They even get another group of mentally unstable women - FtMs - which they can take advantage of, bully as much as they like, and it's all excused by their communities because "it's a (trans) woman picking on (trans) men, who cares; (trans)misandry isn't real", " 'he' must be a transmisogynist, so it's justified for 'her' to lash out at 'him' " (Remember DARVO). I think this is where some of the worst abuse takes place.

They're very careful about their marketing because they know most of their marks won't go for "men's rights" bullshit so they have to rebrand the woes of "misandry" as "transmisogyny" ...

...while convincing every female that she needs to mark herself as "TME (transmisogyny-exempt)" so she never speaks over one of these special men.

It's funny because I don't think this was the outcome of coining "transmisogyny" that Julia Serrano intended, he even said that FtMs should coin their own word to describe their specific struggles, but most of the other MtF activists on tumblr are completely against the idea of any female person having a word to describe their issues that a special trans woman couldn't ever possibly relate to. They say trans women experience all misogyny, and if they can't then it's not really misogyny (i.e. forcing women to have children, reproductive abuse)["This issue affects (trans) men so it's not really misogyny" "trans men don't experience misogyny but trans women do", "misogyny is about hating women, not about hating pregnant people!" So it doesn't matter, if Woman is just an idea in a man's head instead of full-fleshed people that exist regardless of his will] or they jerk off to it and they say they WANT to be able to experience this abuse. "Trans women ARE women, this is more than just a slogan [delusion]! Convince yourself of that, live by that, don't think of us any differently than normal girls, or you aren't our ally."

They're literally obsessed with having the highest "victim points", because they think it translates to being treated with more deference and privilege in Progressive groups. That's why they try to say misogyny doesn't exist unless trans women experience it. They don't give a single shit about the truth, or the origin of patriarchy, or anything. They just want to secure their own social position, and make female people feel guilty and afraid to live their lives or even think about themselves uncentered around males. Then they get female people to pat their asses and tell them that everything's okay, that they're not evil men, whenever they have a moment of self-doubt or guilt, which they quickly reframe as "internalised transphobia/transmisogyny". This is how they try to solve all the fears that these men are describing right here. Unfortunately, a lot of people are manipulated by this bullshit.

If she really wants to know the answer to her question, it's here.

[heartru]

my least favourite thing from the watcher discourse has been people saying “WE never asked for higher quality” or “your most popular shows are where you just sit around and talk!!” - babes its likely not what THEY want to do for the rest of eternity lol. they’re allowed to want to grow as creatives and make things they are proud of?

[idolomantises]

How it feels writing an angel/demon character that’s into violent/scary people and you get a bunch of “Valentino wants to know your number” comments

[bbbbbbbbatman]

When Bruce is feeling petty he'll arrange an interview with the Daily Planet and specifically request Clark, then spend the entire interview in character as Brucie, refusing to break no matter how many times Clark tells him to knock it off, and then Clark has to write an article on whatever inane topic Bruce could come up with.

[knifearo]

ultimately when it comes to shipping and fandom space treatment of aspec characters i just don't accept "aro/ace people can still date/have sex" as an answer from nonaspecs. like yeah. mhm. okay. now i think we both know that you're not saying that out of real interest in the diversity of aspec experiences. so you can turn in your seventeen-page essay on why and how you plan to examine this character's aspec identity within the context of a romantic or sexual relationship complete with evidence from canon and peer reviews from multiple aspec people within the next week or i'm putting you in the pit from the edgar allen poe story

[softgothbabe]

Messy

[pluralhottakes]

Weird opinion as an endo myself, but;

Not all "anti"-endos are bad

Im sorta friends with someone who doesn't believe in them and to me thats okay, because they are letting me use the term

Its only when they harass people that it's bad

Just because we dont agree about endos doesn't mean we can't talk or we cant be freinds, its just means that endos are a touchy subject or something else, because to be fair, no one can know it all about neuroscience, no one can know every little thing that can lead to an endo, so not everyone needs to believe in it.

to clarify i am VERY pro endo myself, im just saying that not all anti-endos/endo nonbelievers are harmful and hateful

.

[beneathsilverstars]

siffrin post-canon h/c is like "dw you're not actually mean, we love you!" and loop post-canon h/c is like "yes you are mean, and we still love you!"

[garden-of-infinity]

"We need more diverse queer representation in dbd" half of ya'll can't even handle someone headcanoning your fave as aroace

[lightbulb-warning]

i used to freehand comics all the time as a child and since the part i liked was the drawing part i would just draw panel after panel because i didn't want to stop drawing to think about icky icky words, plus the story TOTALLY still made perfect sense! to me! and noone else, but 'whoooo caaaaares omgggg its not like comics and sequantial art are a communicative meeediummmm lmaoooooo'. i spent my entire childhood telling myself stuff like "oh pfft I know this story by heart- ill SIMPLY remember the dialogue and write it later" ...and. I can't help but admire baby maiora's (call that a minora ba tm tsk) fucking audacity? hubris? confident wrongness? kid couldn't even remember to finish the comics in the first place? INCREDIBLE levels of unearned self assurance, wish that were me, genuinely- what an icon!!! anyway i think i have forever cursed myself

[nebulo-philiac]

Stop interacting with minors jfc

OHH I KNOW WHO EXACTLY THIS WAS SENT BY LMAOOOOO, THE ANON AIN'T EVEN HELPING ATP (also I don't go out of my way to interact with minors?!?!)

[hiperchile]

three quarters through.

I know the stakes aren't really that high, but somehow that just makes it scarier.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

honestly it's been really healing being back to actively contributing things and writing out thoughts on tumblr the last week or so, because while twitter tends to be easier for me to write out Thoughts on without getting overwhelmed, the environment in the twitter fandom circles i'm interested in is not only infested with antis but cliqueish in a way that is caustic to the fucking soul if you try to express a thought that's more than three sentences long--a hundred times over if you're autistic in slightly the wrong way--and it's incredibly reassuring to come back to an environment where the very kindest and most inclusive people toward you are not clearly thinking the r-slur the entire time they interact with you lmao