#anti essentialism

[icannotweave]

#‘this and not-this’ is still a binary#binaries have hard borders and borders require policing#the binary makes the policing inevitable and necessary if the binary is to exist#there is always something or someone being cut and cudgeled and Warned ( @gatheringbones )

One recent answer to these critiques has been the introduction of the concept not-men. Most attempts at defining this category are extremely clumsy. At times it is used to mean not-cismen, or to explicitly say that faggots are not welcome at certain meetings. At others it simply means women plus trans people. Some feminists have even said that the category at times includes ‘emasculated men of color.’ Usually it is just postmodern shorthand for women. As with any other categories, it only functions if it has a firm border, and this border will always be policed. At every step of the way, it is ceaselessly problematic. The least problematic definitions of it (such as the one in “Undoing Sex”) are so vague as to not have any practical application. And it is always in the practical applications that these theories enact their violences. The prospect of a political body of largely cisgendered women determining which genderqueer or transfeminine individuals are not-men enough to participate in their groups is quite nauseating. This categorical policing mirrors all the others. Meet the new binary, same as the old binary. A way out of this dilemma may be to start from experience rather than identity. To seek out conspirators based on a shared experience of a range of gender violence. Some proponents of not-men have defined it similarly (‘those who are raped,’ ‘those who do caring labor’) but none of these experiences are limited by identity, and to accept a phenomenological or experiential framework would dispense with the utility of the category at all. If the concept is either problematic or useless then why has there been so much fancy footwork put into an attempt to save the concept? What we’re really seeing is a desperate attempt to save binary categories, in a world where they’ve long been decomposing.

baedan: Against the Gendered Nightmare

[ablueberryblogs]

I don't know what trans man need to hear this but you're allowed to be angry. It doesn't make you evil. You are allowed to experience all possible emotions without apology and still be a good man.

*this is about trans men specifically, do not derail. You are free to make your own post*

[ovaryuri]

i feel like the reason most people still support sex work (prostitution) is because they have a very westernized, unrealistic view of the sex trade

these days, when most people hear the phrase "sex worker," they automatically think of an affluent OF model that's in a western country and treats it as a fun thing to do on the side. however, they don't realize that these type of people only make up 0.1% of women in the sex trade.

the reality is that most "sex workers" are women, sometimes children, who are forced to be in the sex trade— usually out of survival or trafficked into it. if they're "working" for a pimp/trafficker, they usually don't see a cent of the money that johns use to purchase their bodies. they are most suspectible to stds, unwanted pregnancies, and male violence— with little to no way of protecting themselves. they wish to leave the sex trade, but find it impossible.

if people saw the true colors of the sex work and not the glittery girlboss side hustle portrayal of it seen online and in media, more people would definitely feel disgusted by its premise.

[cherry-pop-elf]

New Chapter

Anya x Reader

Can be read as platonic because we all want the best for her

SUM: Anya gets an abortion so you and the rest of the crew wait for her. You were the first one, however, to see her after surgery. Also because fuck you, abortion rights

Warnings: Abortion, sexual assault, jimmy, medical situations, abortion rights, domestic happy family

“How long is it gonna take?” Daisuke asked, as he was worried but also excited. Excited for Anya to feel better. Worried for well….Not like he’s had the best reactions to medical situations. Example A being Curly in the wheelchair next to him.

Curly was doing so much better now that he was actually on the planet again. The doctors were still jaw dropped that Anya was able to keep him alive with so little. Was not only a testimony to how she refused for him to die, but him refusing to leave his crew behind as well. It’s still a long journey ahead, but he was in clean bandages and clothes at least. Was even able to talk again. Sorta. Rather raspy but he will get there.

Jeez where to start on how you all got here to begin with.

“She’s going to be fine. Abortion is way less invasive than you think. It really depends on how far along, but luckily she isn’t too far for it to be to extreme. Not sure what type she went for, but whatever she chose she chooses. Just grateful we were able to return home before she reached to far along.” You would admit, as you would check up on Curly’s IV bag for him. Taking over Anya’s roll until she could return.

“Ya know….My wife had an abortion.” Swansea said, and it made all of you look over to him in pure surprise.

“What’s the funny look for? Ya think I’m a freak that would refuse my wife that? She needed it! The kid just….It ain’t my place, but the kid just wasn’t gonna survive. Either she carried it to term and die with em, or she just skips the heart ache. Not like it was her fault. We got two healthy girls at the end of the day. We got em because she got rid of that fucked up one.” He explained, as Daisuke seemed wide eyed in respect.

Explains why he snapped more clearly.

Anya had explained to Swansea what had happened, and before you pre Daisuke knew it Jimmy’s head was sliced off and rolling across the kitchen floor. Poor Suke threw up all over you from the sight, and shock. Then threw up again when he learned why he did such a thing. Lots of puking and crying. Fitting.

“Glad that damn company is dead. Whose wise idea was it to have a single woman surrounded by men. No offense you two-“ Curly would wheeze, before you would help him take his medication. Sure is easier to take pills when you actually give him water and take it slow. No choking or crying.

“Thats a can of worms I don’t want us to talk about.” Swansea would scoff. As a father to two girls he had a lot of things to say. Daisuke would be willing to listen, sure, but honestly you all had enough emotional fatigue to last multiple life times.

Thank god Curly was so high up on the food chain at the company. They knew they would get into more hot water if their, once, top captain suddenly vanished. Wouldn’t make their bankruptcy any smoother. For once they did the right thing and sent Simeon to save them.

Funny. A capitalist corporate organization took responsibility for their actions. For the right reasons? No. But they still took it. Strange. Isn’t it?

“Is she done yet?” Daisuke would whine, as you laughed at his childish nature. As if waiting on a sister to get out of the dentists office. You found it rather endearing honestly. That despite it all he was still having a heart full of love and excitement.

“Go play on your toy.” Swansea would grumble, as Suke whined. Regardless he would pull out his game boy. A nice excuse to play video games with out any guilt on wasting his time. Enjoying life shouldn’t be a burden.

“Need anything, Curly?” You would ask him, since you planned on going to the bathroom. Yeah Swansea and Daisuke could handle him, but you still wanted to be polite. Maybe you could grab him something from the vending machines. Maybe a soda. Some sugar in his system would do him good. Anya said that sugary bubble water of some kind, like sprite, can help quite a lot with indigestion.

“I should be fine. Thank you for asking though. Sorry you have to…” He would admit, as he looked himself over. His missing limbs now properly covered up with fabric to keep them clean, and allow him some kind of independence. The fabric on the stumps were padded. With enough practice and effort he would certainly be able to roll himself around.

Then again this was a world of space travel. He was going to get cyborged eventually, but you need to be healed first before such an intense operation. Can’t rush something like this.

“Hey. I do it because I can. Not because I have to. You are our captain. Let me be a good solider.” You teased him, and even in his broken face you could see a smile.

Swansea have you a head nod to indicate he would ‘take care of the boys’ and you were off to use the restroom.

Once done with that you would grab a soda from the vending machine for Curly, a bag of candy for Daisuke, and some pretzels for Swansea. As you were making your way back a nurse would motion you over.

“Miss Anya was asking for you. She has finished her operation, and wanted you to see her.”

You were surprised at that. You expected Curly to be her first guest. Did something go wrong? Oh you couldn’t help but freak out.

You followed after the nurse quickly, and all you were shown was Anya resting in her hospital bed. Tired, but relieved. Mostly. You saw that familiar stress in her eyes. That same stress she had when asking you if she made the right choice in asking Jimmy for help with medicating Curly.

That worry of if I did the right thing.

The nurse would leave you to alone, and you would quickly set the snacks aside. Now you were sitting next to her, in a chair, and holding her hand. Ready to be the shoulder she needed.

“Hey there Doc. How you doing?” You asked her, as you carefully stroked the back of her hand. Made sure to be mindful of all the tubes and wires.

“Well….It went far smoother than I expected. It was just so quick. They didn’t even need to put me under. The IV is more so for the issues I already had because of being stranded on the ship for so long. It was just so quick. So painless. Was just like pulling a thorn out of an arm. It was….Simple.” She would try and explain to you. Needing to make sure to stop herself before using doctor jargon.

“Too easy?” You puzzled.

“Yes. It was just….I expected pain. Pain and anxiety and horror. Suppose even a nurse can come to learn a thing or two…..”

She was hiding something, and you had an educated guess on what.

“You expected Jimmy to break down the door. Weren’t you?”

There was silence, but it told you everything.

“Scoot over. Move it sister-“ You were now crawling into the medical bed with her, moving the wires around, and soon snuggled into her side. Hugging her close, and especially with your arm over her stomach.

“You did the right thing. It’s your body at the end of it all. You took responsibility of taking care of yourself. You wouldn’t have been able to live a proper life. You went to med school. You don’t need me to tell you the horrors of pregnancy and birth. That alone is terrifying. But also you simply not wanting to be pregnant is enough. Ain’t no Jimmy’s gonna storm in and say otherwise.” You huffed, as she smiled. Her head leaning into yours.

“Yeah….No more Jimmy’s. Pretty sure Swansea will make sure of that.” She did her best to joke, and you were proud of her for it. This whole ordeal was hell. Hell none of you will ever truly walk away from. But that’s ok. You all had each other to lean on.

“I think I’m ready for everyone now.” Anya would whisper, as you gave her hand a squeeze. You were so proud of her. This was all such a nightmare, but she’s taking it in stride.

“Hell yeah.” You agreed, before climbing out of the bed. You made sure to grab the snacks, and exited the hospital room.

“Come on guys-! Anya is waiting on you-!” You shameless shouted outside of the room. She couldn’t help her face palm. Daisuke sure was an influence on you.

“I wanna push Curly!”

“Like hell you are-!”

They would bicker away, before Curly said ‘fuck it’ and did his best to roll himself over. He sure was a stubborn one. Made it half way before you figured that was enough work out for one person.

“Pretty far! Getting better at it-!” You encouraged, as the two men realized how far Curly rolled off on before finally following you two into Anya’s room.

“HAPPY NO BIRTH-DAY!” Daisuke would cheer, as Anya shook her head at such a joke.

“God dammit kid-“ Swansea side, before he came over to Anya. Giving her head a kiss. Just comforting her much like a father would.

“How many of us need to be in medical beds?” Curly would give a raspy snort, as Anya reached her hand out. He would lean his head over, and she would give it a stroke. As if all his hair never burned off. A means of holding his hand, in a way, compared to just grasping a limb.

She didn’t need children.

She had all of you.

What else could a woman want?

Since you were willing to read through this story to the end, and get a nice in depth look on the importance of such why not donate to some organizations? : D

Planned Parenthood

Nation Network For Abortion Funds

National Abortion Federation

The Bridge Alliance

The Satanic Temple

ActBlue

No worry on donating. Spreading awareness and signing petitions still help! The more people learn and understand the better! Could also like reblog with other organizations or petitions!

Abortion is healthcare!

[mallgothchloe97]

Soo

Women get 15 years I repeat 15 fucking years in jail for having Illegal abortions, but MEN ONLY GET a year in jail for raping women and killing them.

America is a joke.

An absolute joke.

[lilithofpenandbook]

One thing I'm never getting over is how James Potter bullied and abused a poor, lonely boy for the mere crime of existing and decided he wasn't worth anything based on who he was

Only for his son to grow up bullied, abused, neglected and lonely just for the mere crime of existing and was decided to be worth nothing based on who he was.

It's a dark sort of irony. It's almost poetic justice, even if it's cruel and unfair because Harry truly did nothing yet he's being punished. But so too did Severus do nothing yet lived his entire life in punishment.

And here's the thing. If James hadn't started it, Sirius wouldn't have either. Severus wouldn't have been bullied that badly. And while he always did have a liking to the dark arts, if he didn't have the trauma of the marauders abuse, he may well have eventually decided on his own that while he liked the dark arts he didn't need to join the death eaters. And here's the thing: James and the marauders essentially did to him what the Slytherins did to muggleborns, just without using the word Mudblood. If the supposed 'good guys' were no better than the 'bad guys' then it almost justifies him wanting to join the death eaters, at least they had a purpose. If James hadn't bullied him, maybe he would have been less able to justify the actions of his classmates because then the bad/good divide would be obvious. And if he hadn't joined the death eaters, he wouldn't have told Voldemort the prophecy. And if he hadn't done that, maybe no one would have, and there wouldn't have been any need to hunt the Potters, because the prophecy was canonically nonsense. It wouldn't have come true at all. None of it was real. But Voldemort heard it and believed it and caused it to happen. If no one told Voldemort about it, he wouldn't have hunted the Potters. James and Lily would have lived. Harry wouldn't have grown up abused by his uncle and aunt for just existing, have grown up being bullied and hated just because he existed.

James Potter ended up creating that fate for his son. Harry literally paid the price for James's sins.

[paulrobinsonshotel]

It's been two years since The Power of the Doctor, and on my rewatch, the clothes change bothers me even more now than it did then. It's the absolute worst example of faux progressivism in Doctor Who.

"We can't show a man in women's clothes because it will cause mockery of drag."

So we should now avoid showing anything that will earn the ire of right wing bigots? Should we now only show straight white males and females dressed in gendered clothing and acting out traditional gender roles? (And maybe, just maybe, if you're worried about people mocking drag, don't cast a drag queen as a villain a few episodes later).

I'm not a believer in tradition by any means, but I've always loved seeing the new Doctor in the old Doctor's clothes. It feels like the essence of the previous incarnation is still there as the new incarnation's personality forms. In The Woman Who Fell to Earth Jodie not only wears Peter's outfit, but actively keeps putting his coat back on until encouraged to change by Yaz.

While I was hoping we wouldn't go straight back to a male Doctor straight after Jodie and would get a good few female incarnations after her, in the back of my mind I thought when the next male Doctor eventually came I was looking forward to seeing him in a female Doctor's outfit. But instead we get this. Jodie can wear Peter's outfit and respect his legacy and continue his character journey, but RTD won't allow David to do the same.

The worst thing about all this is that Jodie designed her outfit so it would be as gender neutral as possible, so that anyone could dress up the Thirteenth Doctor and feel included. But RTD decided to stick his middle finger up at that because he didn't want his cool manly hero to wear a "woman's" outfit.

I hate it with a passion.

(Everything by the Thirteenth Doctor era team was great though).

[alicentsaegon]

They actually took the BEST male love interest in all of the Bridgerton universe and made him into a woman destroying both his and Francesca's characters and arcs going forward.... Like I'm sorry but the gender roles Michael and Francesca have are integral to their story... The infertility, Michael inheriting all of John's estate and title....and the guilt that comes with it. They even give him John's old clothes to wear

[devilsainz]

she ate with this concept here

bonus

i hope they dont get mad at me for screeshotting them but feel free to contact me if youre the acc and want this post deleted

[deanofsam]

how would dean even have TIME for d*stiel…. he’s completely booked and busy making his entire life and being about sam

[thee-radio-host-is-a-kookaburra]

Until all the radfem ideology and gender essentialism is gone, I will forever feel unsafe in the trans community as a trans man.

To any trans men who also feel unsafe: I love you. It will get better. People who bully trans men will one day be shunned, trust me. Keep going. You are amazing and wonderful. For every trans person that bullies and harasses transmascs, there are 10 more that love and support us.

[pyrosex]

“Anti-transmasculinity isn’t real but it should be” is such an unbelievably transphobic thing to say, just in general

[sad-scarred-sassy]

“And if they do not kill Feyre outright, then they might realize what they stand to gain if gifted with offspring from her, too.”

“My stomach had turned over at the implication. That I might be stolen—and kept—for … breeding. Surely … surely no High Lord would go so far.”

Does it puzzle yall that this is essentially what ended up happening? This was Ianthe arguing with Lucien about not letting Feyre train. I fucking hate Ianthe and I do think this conversation should have included Feyre but I think these points are valid (even if she probably had ulterior motives for making them).

Now fast-forward to ACOSF and the whole pregnancy thing, how Rhys was hiding from her the fact she would most definitely die (while she could have avoided by shifting herself one more time with a risk of only hurting the baby) and in the same book we have the High King conversation that shows how much the Inner Circle weaponize the sisters.

“And do not forget that Nesta herself—and Elain, with whatever powers she has—is here. Feyre is here. All three sisters blessed by fate and gifted with powers to match your own. Feyre alone doubles your strength. Nesta makes you unstoppable. Especially if she were to march into battle wearing the Mask. No enemy could stand against her.”

Rhys seemingly turns the idea down but his actions speak otherwise.

I just find it very eerie how Feyre doesn’t realize what made her stomach turn is her reality. It is also sad that a character that had to always “earn” the love she received coincidentally ended up with the one who only began to treat her with humanity when she became powerful and useful.

[sad-endings-suck]

Traditionally “Feminine” Female Characters

THAT person: We need more traditionally feminine female characters again!

Me: Oh… okay. What exactly makes a female character “traditionally feminine” in your opinion?

THAT person: Traditionally feminine female characters are kind! They are soft, peaceful, express their emotions all the time no matter what, and maybe they are also smart idk, but they are NOT warriors that are tough and “badass” just for the sake of it.

Me: Well, it sounds like you are voicing frustration about two dimensional female characters that so happen to be tough and “badass”. What I DON’T understand, is why that’s a problem when the character is a woman/femme, but not when said character is a man. Especially when, historically speaking, one dimensional male characters tend to be reduced to “just badass and strong and unemotional” and nothing else way more often than AFAB characters ever have. Whereas women have largely been reduced to “soft and emotional and weak” for the better part of western written history.

That person: Because men are supposed to be strong and tough and women are supposed to be soft and kind and weak—

Me: Oops! There it is.

[the-witchhunter]

DP x DC The Crying Crown

So the ring of rage and the crown of fire are sentient

In the episode “Reign Storm” Skulker gives us information on Pariah Dark

Notice the wording

“Control the entities contained within the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage”

There is something contained within them, not just a power boost, but in controlling the beings within the crown and ring Pariah gains power

So this implies the crown and ring each have a will of their own, some kind of consciousness. They are sentient (though perhaps not sapient)

So whatever happened to them?

Well, if we recall the end of Reign Storm, Pariah got locked away with just the ring, and Vlad flew off with the crown of Fire

So we have a corrupt Billionaire with many shady business dealings, with a sentient artifact in his possession that probably isn’t very happy about that fact, especially as Vlad attempts to control the crown

Enter one detective John Jones aka Martian Manhunter aka a gosh darn telepath

Now, there are probably legitimate reasons the police might investigate Vlad, but J’onn is probably going to get sidetracked when his mind connects to an ancient sentient artifact that’s very upset

[whateverthought]

I know, for a fact, the writers put no thought into making the Velaryons black.

There was no way these writers saw how fucked over the House was in the books and could have not seen how bad it would look for all their black characters to be so second fiddle, so subservient to their main white leads. Its so obvious they only wanted to focus on Rhaenyra and Alicent and use every other character as tools, they straight up take out characters so they won't have to lose time building them up, Daeron and Maelor and Nettles and Sara Snow and Black Aly and Sabitha Frey and Jessamyne Redfort...

In the case of Daeron and Maelor, they did not intend for either to exist till they got backlash and are now implying Daeron as if he's this big reveal and Maelor this Helaena/Aemond bastard when they really just didn't want to use screentime and their own thoughts into writing them.

But in the case of House Velaryon, from the beginning the story fucks them over, from Rhaenys and her unborn child being passed over to 12 year old Laena being pushed for marriage by her parents to an old man, to Laenor being murdered by his lover or Daemon, to Laena being killed in the birthing bed and getting taken out of the story so soon, to Corlys having bastards and being a shit dad, to Rhaena and Baela being Rhaenyra Stans only. Why would you make them black? And I know the twins had waaay more personality in the books but I've already said they never intended to stray from Rhaenyra and Alicent

I wholeheartedly believe they only made them black so they could highlight the Bastardy of Rhaenyra's boys.