#anything can be a slur with malicious intent

[creatingblackcharacters]

"Calling Out Racists? Help!"

(shout out to the situation sender who's chosen to remain anonymous!)

NOTE: People of color, if you feel that your efforts would be in vain or cause more pain than it's worth, I fully respect not doing it. I've been there, and tbh I usually don't. But white netizens, I expect boots on the ground. Racism festers when no one does anything about it.

So, it's finally happened! You've come face to face with antiblackness in your fandom space. You never thought it could be this bad! Naturally YOU don't condone this behavior, so you take steps to remove yourself from this person.

However! Your friends and other fans are still happily sharing from someone that you KNOW is capable of this. Would they still be comfortable knowing they're yapping amongst racists? And then you wonder- should I tell everyone about them? I mean, surely everyone should know?

Thus we've come to the decision:

The Callout

In my honest opinion, callouts are morally neutral. When used to reveal consistent harmful beliefs, intentions, and behaviors to other people, usually of marginalized identities, I think they're critical. Our safety and humanity matters far more than someone's internet fame. If I can't stop someone from being a racist, I at least don't want their vitriol on my dash, and I ALSO don't want people thinking I agree! Racism shouldn't be tolerated at all, but unfortunately, many an antiblack racist has a popular following and will not be removed. Anything less overt than a slur like the example above is more often than not, not a dealbreaker for many.

On the other hand, when it is maliciously weaponized to drag someone down on nothing but hearsay and rumor, it can be devastating. It has often been used as retaliation against those very same marginalized peoples to shut down discussions of racism and other forms of bigotry. In my opinion, you should not do these sorts of things when you don't have any solid proof or an actual education on what you're talking about. Period.

I say that all to say, be intentional. Use your discernment and some critical thinking.

How Ice Deals With It

Let's say you see something that concerns you. First, you need to pay attention to if other Black fans have noted this person's behavior. Has it been previously noticed, have they seen dogwhistles you've completely missed? Keep in mind as well, antiblackness does not have to come from a white person. Don't let "I'm brown" fool you.

If you're confident: confront the person on the particular issue you've noticed.

‼️‼️‼️ For the maintenance of your mental health, you CANNOT go into this expecting to change someone's mind and behavior. If you do, 9/10 you will face demoralization. You cannot walk into these thinking they care. Most people don't, and will deny the harm of their behavior. It sucks, but it's the truth. Change your perspective. The only goal you need to have is pointing out the harm done, so that this person loses the excuse to be racist out of "ignorance". Once you've spoken up, ball's now in their court.

Confrontation doesn't have to be negative! It can be as simple as "hey, what you said was not okay, here's why, and I hope that you can learn from this to do better for yourself and for your fans." Simple, to the point.

‼️Keep in mind, from Fans of Color: the private confrontation is a sign that we're trying to give you a chance to do right. Everyone's not going to receive that grace, nor do I expect every fan of color to offer it. It might just be up with you and your racism that day. 🤷🏾‍♀️ I would take the chance if offered.‼️

We're going to go two routes here.

1) It works

If it works, then what should come next is 1) a full acknowledgment of the violence and harm, 2) visible steps to ameliorate that harm, and 3) an apology to those harmed.

It doesn't have to be a complex apology (unless the situation itself was that large). But it has to be genuine and the change needs to be seen.

Very often you'll see apologies for antiblackness... To white fans. You cannot apologize for your actions to people who were not harmed by them, because they are not the ones with the right to accept the apology!!!! It's not a real apology. They've just covered for being exposed, is all. Be willing to hold each other accountable!

2) It doesn't work

This might still happen after the "it works", btw! Some people genuinely just want the appearance of progressiveness.

Here's where it gets gritty and you'll experience the most discomfort, I'm just being honest:

They might fucking suck!

They might suck, they might make it a point to share with their followers that you suck, and those same followers might also suck! You know how they sound? Like those people who fought for rapist Brock Turner because "he had a good future and this shouldn't ruin it". Yeah.

Recognize that this backlash you may experience from strangers is not coming just from their need to be entertained, but from a realization that if their fave is antiblack and they agree, then THEY are being antiblack too.

That acute pain you're feeling from this effort- you're now feeling a part of the chronic pain that is being a Black fan! And if you're white, you just temporarily sacrificed your whiteness to defend what was right, and now you are seeing a piece what that whiteness shields you from. Idk how else to put it.

Now what?

Well first, this shouldn't make you go "oh well there's no point in fighting racism bc they're so mean." Why do you want to identify with the people who just acted like that lmao. Antiracism is hard, but the right thing isn't always easy. Stand up and dust yourself off, soldier.

Take the steps to protect yourself. That might be a break from socials to decompress. Block people as necessary, use the tag blocker thing.

Recognize that you are not in the wrong for wanting this harm to be accounted for. If this person didn't want to be seen as a willful racist, they should have chosen to do better. They didn't want to, they chose to triple down on their racism, which they are now aware of doing! They just don't care. And that's not within your control. They wanna be a racist, let them be treated like one!

"Curate your space" as they say, and recognize that antiblackness is going to have you potentially removing folks you thought were cool left and right. You might see some people close to you show their true colors. It's time to make some tough personal decisions. I can't walk you through that. But I don't want to be around people who treat antiblackness with apathy, because birds of a feather... 👀

I obviously didn't cover every single scenario here. And this is only *my* way of dealing with these things (if I do at all, anymore). Some folks may go about it differently. But yeah, in summary, go in to point the racism out, and don't let the response determine your self value. 👍🏾

[lewistoferrari]

I'm gonna just come out with this first and say that I am actually black, unlike some of the anons who come on here, but I genuinely want to believe auspicious is trying and will improve in the future.

There is a big common difference in language in other countries than in the US. There are words they use that are offensive here but aren't there, and it's not always an excuse. I'm not saying she can't educate herself, but she even said she really did not know which I'd like to believe instead of holding a shade over her head.

We are cultures apart from countless people all over the world, and there's bound to be some mistakes here and there. Is it common for us as poc people to experience situations like this? Yes, most definitely, but that doesn't mean every single white person is doing/saying things out of malicious intent.

Her writing was done terribly wrong, the entire situation looked horrendous, but it felt like instead of educating her like we should do, you took how fed up you were and placed it all on top of her. We don't have much representation in this world. There aren't many black writers or black characters out there for us and were often treated wrong, and it's tiring. That shouldn't mean we take that frustration out on her.

It just seemed like really bully behavior to say most of her writing is shit instead of reaching out and saying how she could change and do better. Maybe I'm an optimist who tries to always see the good in people, but this entire situation could've been handled better.

honestly telling me that you’re black (and on anon at that) does not move me when you’re sitting up here trying to tell me that i should go out of my way and educate people about racism and anti-blackness when i definitely don’t have to do that. if they have access to tumblr, then they have access to the internet. i am not anyone’s mule and definitely don’t have to anything i don’t wanna do just because you say so. if you’re so concerned about educating her & the masses then YOU do it.

“there is a big common difference in language in other countries than in the US.” mind you the n word exists in every language but alright!!!

also the “not all white people” line doesn’t work on me so you can dead that.

i’ll take my frustrations out on whoever the hell i want to especially when she was warned twice on anon about the characterization and her use of a slur (which is the only thing y’all keep focusing on, instead of focusing on the stereotypical way she wrote a black male character). she was also talked to in private. and instead of apologizing and taking the fic down, she tried to edit it and repost it. she only wrote that lil essay (still no apology) and deleted the fic after she saw ppl discussing the issue.

“it just seemed like really bully behavior to say most of her writing is shit” mind you this is what i said. so don’t come into my inbox putting words in my mouth.

i also find it funny how some of y’all have been clicking that “ask anonymously” button and are trying to tell us that we’re overreacting. you better think again the next time you come into my inbox talking out the side of your neck. this was me being nice.

[eaps-discussions]

🌘 INTRODUCTION 🌖

Heyy.. My name's Moon..

Or Moonstone, Moonlight..

Whatever name you pick.

I opened this blog with my.. other half?

Everybody seems to be doing it so I thought..

Why nothhh .... whaaa...hhh

hELLOOoOo FRIENDSJSJS! IM SUNNNN!

OR WELLL SUNSHIENJD? SUNRISEEeEeEe? SUNDR0PP? THERES TOO MANY NAMESSHSS!!!

I CANT WAITTT TO MEET YOU ALLL 😄🌈 IM SURE YOUR ALL GREATTSHHS!!!!!

WELCOME!

🌘 DISCUSSION RULES 🌖

🌙 RULE 1 :

Discriminating behavior towards anyone in the blog will NOT be tolerated. Regardless of their Opinion, Headcanon or Ship. If we see any insult, slur or indication of malicious intentions, only then, will there be consequences. All TSBS confessions are welcome, we don't do EAPS only!

🌙 RULE 2 :

People, misunderstandings happen all the time, there is no need to get so defensive. If you feel like something is not of your taste, just block the person or tag. IF the problem is rooted rather in actions and not taste, make sure to contact the blog so we can interfere.

🌙 RULE 3 :

No matter what, do not share sensitive media of yourself or anyone to us. We are strangers on the internet, regardless of everything, there's always danger and we can't prevent it. Even if you actively avoid/dislike said individual, it gives you no right to call them out and name drop them in public websites because of a disagreement.

🌙 RULE 4 :

This blog is not connected to the TSBS confessionverse. It is inspired by it, but since we don't have contact with the rest, we can't claim the blog canon to theirs! If they ever wish to contact and welcome us in their confession family however, we would be more than happy to join!

🌙 RULE 5 :

We are open to roleplays of all sorts, but we can't promise we would be actively doing that. There's not much to add here, simply when seeing a roleplay happen on this blog don't intrude randomly without asking for permission.

(Side Note: This blog is run by two people, Vin'nyl as Moonstone and Ruby as Sunshine. We are MINORS so please avoid confessing suggestive content to us.)

🌘 DISCUSSION TAGS 🌖

#eaps discussions

Our submissions from you sillies!

#sunshine responds

Sunny's answers to everything and anything provided!

#moonstone responds

The same as Sun's, just Moony answering instead!

#the owners' respond

If we ever have to break character, Vin uses pink and Ruby uses red when writing.

#the eaps roleplays

Just the tag we'll use when rp happens (can be blocked)

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

im sorry but so much music, including some albums you've posted here, promotes misogyny, so your rule about no hateful albums is kinda limiting

so the conversation that goes with this question is so much bigger than one i can really have right at this moment, but i'll try to do my best with what i do have. hopefully that works for you.

⬇ rest of it down here

from a purely functional perspective, i'm unfamiliar with the vast majority of albums that are submitted to this blog, so unfortunately i'm not the best equipped to detect when albums are promoting bigotry, and there is absolutely not enough time in any of our days to go through the lyrics for every single submission (especially when some might not have been transcribed anywhere) to check for any bigotry.

then: there is the threshold. if we're aware of something that might be an issue, at what point does it become too much? for example, i have, in particular, given leeway to certain uses of un-reclaimed slurs when the date of usage may precede knowledge that those words are harmful, especially if the works are considered culturally significant (either in general or in the genre/movement itself). it's rather uncomfortable, but all things in their context.

the threshold is particularly relevant when talking about things that are deeply normalized in this cultural context. did this songwriter set out recreate violence or is it a really unfortunate reflection of the beliefs of the society the song was created in? obviously intention can only "protect" one so much since you have to look at the practical effects as well, but if you look at an album and can see that it was created to intentionally push hateful messaging, then that would be an example of something we wouldn't want to have on here without question.

you would be right to say that not allowing any discriminatory anything at all would be extremely limiting. most album covers with sexy women on them, i'm sure, are a reflection of societal misogyny. that's why, when we're aware of it, we have to judge things based on that context and hope that the people submitting albums also thought about this before submitting. we don't have so large a follower base that i'm particularly worried about malicious actors.

general criteria for stuff that i would consider over the threshold include (but aren't limited to): active use of dog whistles, especially in the titles, connection to a hate group, calls for violence (toward a vulnerable population), album art that is meant to make vulnerable populations feel afraid

the thing is, i have to be careful that if i'm going to reject an album submission, i have to be sure that any of my own unidentified biases aren't potentially causing me to do so. this is, i think, particularly relevant when minority/oppressed subcultures reflect bigotry that only exists in those communities as an end result of imperialist pressures. this is a difficult line to walk because i don't particularly want to participate on that side of, say, pinkwashing and its ilk. because of this, i tend to err on the side of permissiveness when it comes to subcultures that i'm not part of or familiar enough with.

anyway, if anyone thinks we might have missed something with an album that we've posted, please feel free to reach out and explain why we should take it down. please do this clearly and in a way that won't be easily misinterpreted, though. sending an ask off anon is the best way. again, it's really, really easy to miss stuff at the scale we have to do things at.

[furiousgoldfish]

Hi, just a little reminder to everyone who has attempted to message me or talk to me, and didn't get a reply or didn't get a reply they wanted.

I often have people messaging me expecting instant friendship and emotional support and talking to me as if we already knew each other. I don't think this is done with ill intent, but I do want to gently remind everyone that we are complete strangers when interacting online, and that I cannot grant anyone instant friendship; to me you are a person I don't know. I will talk to you as a stranger would. Even if you've been reading my words and taking solace and imagining a friend telling them to you, to me you are someone I've never met or known, and I cannot function as an emotional support on a personal level to strangers. It ultimately is not helpful for you to convince yourself that a stranger on the internet is your personal friend, or to push that stranger into trying to act the part; I am unable to fulfill this role. I am not emotionally well myself, and I do not have a support system, so being put in a situation where I'm expected to be one for a stranger feels unhealthy.

Another thing I'd love for everyone to remember is, that I don't have all of the answers. I love to help where I can, but ultimately I am a person in a lot of distress, trying to deal with multiple disorders without any access to therapy or even friends who understand what I'm going thru. I am isolated and posting on this blog is often all I have. If I knew how to get rid of trauma, how to deal with disorders, how to not be sick or in pain, how to evade abuse or how to feel okay, I would use this advice to fix my own life. But I am sadly, lost like the rest of us.

There are times where I am in too much distress to talk to anyone, if you sent me a message and it went unanswered, it is very likely that I was in a state so bad I could not communicate. I will usually recover from it within several weeks, but by that time I feel bad even reminding someone they've sent me a message, it feels asinine to try and reply so late. And it reminds me of the period where I felt bad looking at the message, unable to respond. I'm not ignoring messages on purpose. If you try again some time later, you're likely to get a reply, if I'm in a good state of mind.

However, if you send me a big number of messages at once, start talking about your issues without asking if it's okay first, send several messages without a reply and then keep sending them and demanding a reply, put pressure on me to communicate with you, try to guilt me into giving you an answer you want, or assuming I'm maliciously ignoring you, you've made me uncomfortable and I have to listen to my instincts and stop talking to you.

I am sensitive to anger, aggression, ranting, swearing, slur-use, and doing that in a conversation with me it will make me feel threatened. Because we're strangers, and any stranger acting like I'm an acceptable target to take their anger at is dangerous. We are not friends, and dealing with angry strangers is terrifying. In that situation I have to do what I would advise anyone else to do - leave the conversation.

The last issue is with people attempting to trigger me on purpose, pretending they need help then defending abusers, trying to convince me that all of my resources are harmful and doing nothing but damage, or trying to get me to delete my content, change my posts, advocating for abusers, siding with my abusers, telling me I'm a monster, insisting they're victimized by me unless I personally disprove my smear campaign to them, and generally trying to get me to lash out in order to post it online to claim I should be cancelled. That is the worst thing you could be doing to a traumatized abuse victim. I am a person, of course I sometimes say something wrong and not well thought and put out. That doesn't mean anything I ever do to help others is worthless and should be erased. And you will not convince me that my blog is useless or harmful. It helps me. And I am someone too.

[merakiui]

Tw: dubcon, noncon, more incel!Idia, choking, attempt at running away, bdsm themes, etc.

Oh little kitten wants to take the lead? That's new, Idia obliges to let you take the lead to ride him, oh such an obedient little kitten you have become, you even want to pleasure him out of your own will!

You slowly sink on his dick in your stupidly slutty get up (a maid outfit that can spill your breasts, it doesn't matter big or small it will spill from how thin and small the coverage from the fabric is. Also a tiny skirt. Idia forbids you to wear underwear)

As you were pulsing on him, thinking he is almost climaxing, your hands grip on his neck, genuinely trying to choke him to his death, Idia passes out.

You took this chance with your wobbly legs and skimpy dress to run out of the dorm. Where should you go?

Octavinelle can provide protection but you would need to give something in return. Also there is no telling that they themselves wouldn't assault you too.

Heartslabyul would cause you to be collared and disciplined by Riddle though they can provide protection. But then again it's not worth the trouble.

Savannah Claw is the den of bullies, it would require a lot of strength to even reach out to Leona/Ruggie and they aren't even guaranteed to help you, Jack is most likely already asleep in this hour.

Pomefiore seems promising but that creepy stalker Rook is not up to any good.

Diasomnia sounds like the best choice, there is no way that Malleus would have any malicious intent against his favourite child of man right?

As darling finished pondering in which dorm to go to, you jumped into the mirror in which they end up in the hall of mirrors, they spotted teachers who would at least keep them safe until you reach a good dorm.

Flashes of horror can be seen in your eyes, not a single teacher cared nor did they want to help you, especially not in that get up,

"Isn't that the dumb mutt who ditched my class for the last 30 days? Why should I help you, from what I see, you were just busy goofing around being a slut." Crewel sneered.

A similar answer was what you got from the other teachers, as you were about to dip into the Diasomnia mirror, a long pale arm was holding your neck into a headlock.

"You think you can get away with choking me then attempting to flee?"

"How did you find me?"

"Are you stupid? I have a tracker planted somewhere on your body, you will never be able to find where, but wherever you go I will always take you back, there's no point in running. No one will ever help you."

"Let me go you disgusting creep, don't touch me!"

"You didn't change one bit, stupid slut. Just flaunting yourself to everyone in public, did you really want to be a communal cumdump? And I was being so generous to save you from these wolves."

Your body feels shivers, cold sweat all over. Why does Idia seem so scary now?

He brings you back to his dorm, this time he put a collar on you that you can't take off without his assistance, the collar electrocutes you (only enough to make you feel it but not actually hurt you fatally) when you run out of the "safe" zone. It also sets alarms all over the dorm.

He decided on actual mind break to punish this kitten. He starts by spanking you with his own hands, then an electric paddle. A vibrator taped on your nipples, clit, and a fuck machine of his exact size, no matter what he uses you still clamp uncomfortably.

It gets worse from there. You can't even talk properly, all you can do is slur his name by the time he was done, he truly has made you into his cumdump.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I kinda wanted to write Azul too but I haven't had a clear image on what I should write huhuhu

IZUNA, I AM CLAWING AT THE WALLS OMG!!! this is so good... orz everyone really is against reader here. No one will bother helping, so now you're stuck with Idia forever. </3 Knowing Crowley, he wouldn't do anything because Idia's parents are rich and have probably helped the school like how the Asim family has made donations and such. And Crowley can't say no to lots of money generous donations!

Maybe the collar he puts on you has a little bell on it so you're more like a kitten. <3 by default, you have to wear cat ears and a tail plug. It would totally ruin the immersion if you didn't! He buys you lots of revealing outfits and cosplays to go with the cat look, and when you're finally, truly broken down and obedient then he can possibly trust you. Still, it's annoying you'd try to kill him and then run. Where else can you go? No one in any of the dorms is willing to help, the professors will mind their business because they're nowhere near as influential or wealthy as the Shroud family, and you're not very familiar with the town beyond NRC. Good luck trying to get off the island as well. You are, in all ways possible, trapped. And Idia knows this, and he uses it to his advantage.

His level difficulty really is that of a final boss. >:)

[uselessheretic]

weighing in on the "should you interact with anti izzy posts or not" because i love to talk to myself:

i don't think it's a black and white thing tbh. more than anything, i think people should seriously examine their motivations for responding to hateful posts in that at times it can be a bit self harming. especially if you find yourself seeking out conflict, or are spending more time in fandom responding to negativity rather than doing things that make you happy.

one thing i think izzy fans do well is maintain a balance of ensuring their fandom experience is predominantly focused on things that spark joy. which happens to mostly be sexualizing that old man. for a lot of izzy stans, if you scroll through their twitter/tumblr, it'll be more about liking him as a character than generic izcourse. when it comes to izzy discourse, it kinda has flashes across izzy side of fandom where people respond in short bursts before largely just moving on. can't say the same about izzy haters.

when it comes to responding to things, i largely think there's not a point in direct interaction, however, i wouldn't say it's completely without merit. sometimes i'll respond to long "meta" in the izzy tag literally just because if i have to see your bullshit take then you have to deal with mine as well. that's the tradeoff for being obnoxious in the izzy tag.

i think there can be value in correcting misinformation or refusing to allow the narrative to be controlled completely by izzy haters. "here's why izzy is racist" is annoying and i don't think the main people perpetuating this will ever admit they're wrong. Still, at the same time a lot of these posts are full of misinformation. this misinfo gets parroted throughout fandom and that's bad. "donkey is a slur against polynesians" is a good example. it's not. that was made up on tumblr. every polynesian person i've ever seen comment on this has all said that they have never encountered this as a slur irl. find me a single source outside of tumblr that says "donkey is a slur against polynesians" for fucking real.

the issue with this though is what constitutes as harassment. disagreement doesn't equate to harassment. responding to someone's meta isn't harassment. izzy haters purposefully position disagreement against them as harassment and instances of bigoted behavior. i remember someone once listing an example of how izzy stans are racist as "made fun of a post about how izzy is homophobic." the poster was white. the person who made fun of it was me, a black fan. this isn't racism. at most this is me being a bitch.

i don't think that necessarily means that you should never interact, disagree, vague, or screencap random bullshit. i do think you need to be intentional as well as firm. it will only harm you more if you concede to allowing people to describe your actions as abusive when you know for a fact that they are not. words like harassment, racism, homophobia, stalking, abuse, etc all have meaning. they have definitions and while there can be gray areas when it comes to certain things, the limitations for what constitutes as abusive does not change just because you've arbitrarily decided that you are the good guy in this interaction.

overall, i think there can be times when having conversation, even ones of disagreement, has value. i don't think everybody with a shitty opinion is a malicious actor who needs to be discarded immediately. that said, there are groups in fandom who have demonstrated time and time again to have zero ability to self reflect and are overall narcissistic, self obsessed, navel gazing folks deadset on defending their ignorance to the death. there isn't any use in direct engagement. all it does is feed a perpetual victim mentality and gives them the attention they so desperately crave.

also? while we're here? keep receipts. i'm not even joking. screencap shit when you do have a direct confrontation. if you criticize someone's meta make sure you have their exact words. when someone insults you keep that on hand. people straight up lie on here and when they do shit like say "izzy bought ed as a slave" or "you can go send izzy stans hate for all i care" or "i'm not being passive aggressive, i'm being aggressive" hold them to that. if not for any other reason other than the fact that it's kinda funny watching them lie on their mother that they never actually said this and clearly this was a misinterpretation that only occurred because they are 12 years old and super sleepy when they wrote this and didn't actually mean it like that :((

[anon-e-miss]

As someone who identifies as queer- yes that is it exactly! Huge difference between “ oh yeah I’m pretty sure they’re queer” and “ yeah ‘they’ are a queer”

That language stuff can get really tricky though especially when people use things like homophobia and racism to explain why a word can’t be used. That’s all well and good, but sometimes the explanation is *only* that the word is homophobic/racist/etc and that lends itself to the sort of “queer is a slur actually” terfy discourse that keeps rearing its ugly head. (No hate to folks who don’t identify as queer/don’t want that label applied to them of course!)

Always double check your sources and the context friends and it will save you from people trying to manipulate your sense of respect and care for others to suit their own interests.

You're exactly right.

I think a good way of avoiding offending someone with a "label" is to ASK. I'm not going to refer to someone as queer without them telling me that is how they identify, but I'm also not going to call someone gay, a lesbian, bi, pan, nerdy, geeky, or ANYTHING that can be potentially hurtful if I am WRONG. And it's not because any of these "labels" are inherently hurtful it's just because smacking our misguided impressions of people on them can lead to hurt.

This covers everything. I got labelled as depressed when I was in my twenties. Why was that harmful? Because I wasn't. What I was, was anxious. But my anxiety was misidentified as depression and massively delayed me getting the appropriate treatment.

So yeah, always ask how people want to be referred to, from labels to pronouns to names. Don't assume every Michael wants to be called Mike, or David Dave, etc.

And always apologies if you harm someone, even if no malicious intent was there.

[tsuki-nii]

‘Trap’ Discourse and anime

I've seen the fights over Trap being derogatory before and I'm here to give you some different viewpoints on it. It's a doozy, get popcorn TL;DR at the bottom.

Trap can be used offensively or non offensively in various situations IRL. People saying women with too much makeup are a trap, that sexy bystander at the bar is a trap, star wars jokes; hell a person with a bunch of puppies is a trap. Basically anything that's "not what it seems" can be a trap; so yes, any lgbt/queer person can fall into this, but it's not exclusive to them.

Here's how trap is being used in it's anime context. It's similar to the otokonoko(which literally means boy in japanese but it's used in a trap way idk) tag one might find. Males dressing as females. Reverse traps being Females dressing as males. If someone related the term to real life, it would be Transvestite or cross dresser; and even cross-play falls under the category along with Drag Queens/Kings. Virtually all the time this is used in anime, it's a male, who identifies as a male, but dresses like the stereotypical female. Vice Versa for Female traps. Transgender characters and people do not fall into this category. That is the genderbender category. Depending on the site, genderbender includes traps. It's all a mix of random tag names to find shit easier.

Remember, these characters in the stories, yaoi or not (the teacher from utapri is a trap), are not looking to become a different sex or gender. They're just changing clothing. The only exception to this that I've seen is Hourou Musuko (wandering son) that actually focuses on transgender aspects. Unfortunately there isn't a widely used tag for that genre yet. I wish there was, because then there'd be an easier way to find transgender focused fiction or anime

I've had friends from farther up California (i'm socal) tell me that in a certain area, assholes use trap as a slur to many lgbt, transgender or not. This isn't a big thing down here in san diego, in the town I live in in the mountains, or in Denver where I've been multiple times and my family resides. It's rarely used outside the context of anime then aimed specifically at queer people. But there will always be exceptions due to bigoted assholes using whatever they can think of to put someone down. A great way to stop that from happening IRL is to own it. Some one says you're a trap maliciously? Tell them you look damn fine, you're comfortable with yourself and they can go eat shit. My college did that and now queer is not a slur. It's an all inclusive term for people on campus that fall into lgbt categories.I've used it off campus with family and friends with no problems too. I'm not saying that it's a sure-fire or always feasible solution; but it's better than fighting friends in your community about something not intended, or used to offend you.

Trap being a slur for transgender people is pretty recent too. It's always been in the western anime comunity since way back. It was never meant to be derogitory, was never a prominent slur and there's never been a problem with it until now.

You can't dictate an entire community's sorting medium because you take offense to it. I don't take offense to the Japanese 'Yankee', just because I'm an american; and we're technically historical yankees. Same word, completely different contexts and communal origins. Same thing for stereotypes. They can be comedic or bigoted; depends on the situation and fucking CONTEXT.

"lol Italians love wine" vs. "They're italian so they should like wine right?" vs. "Italians are fucking Drunkards!"

See the difference in context???1st is a joke, 2nd might be slightly ignorant, 3rd is straight up hate.

Gay started out as a term for happiness and merry making, and then people started using it as a slur toward "gay" people. They went from homosexuals to "gays". YEARS later, it's now in a sense, just a term for sorting people into queer categories. No malevolent nature to it, unless someone is blatantly using it to hate on you. But no one's going to say gay is offensive now. No one's going to say anything unless it's used in the context of a slur. I'm not going to go smack everyone that utters the word just because that dick Jim from down the street and my small town hates gays and it offends me. I'm not going to hit my grandparents either, because they're old and they still use it in the happy sense. I AM going to smack Jim if he says 'gay' to me. In that instance, in the context of Jim being a bigot directing hate towards me, 'gay' becomes a slur; and I will take offense.and smack him

Not taking offense to, and using Trap as an anime term doesn't discredit anyone IRL. It doesn't invalidate anyone/anygender/anysex/anyorientation digitally or in real life. What does invalidate, and hurt is shitting on someone for using something that has been there since the beginning and never had a bad rep until YOU decided it was the worst thing in the world. All because one asshole called you and you're friends a "Trap" somewhere. Even though nothing changed in the anime community with regards to loving or hating traps. You came in here and attacked everyone for some hate that doesn't apply here.

No one's victim blaming you all either. The one's experiencing this trap slur rise are victims yes. However, everyone being screamed at here, are now victims of that irrationality and anger from outside, when they've done nothing wrong. They didn't call you trap, they didn't sneer at you, they didn't hurt you. They've kept to themselves online, enjoying, appreciating, loving something you claim they're destroying. They never spread hate, ignorance, or resentment, you did by bringing your reality into a non existant plane.

There are safe spaces online and IRL. But you cannot censor the internet, you cannot censor art, and you CANNOT CENSOR CREATIVITY. Plus don't kinkshame, rood.

If you TL;DR'ed, then here's the key points:

Trap is meant for transvestites in anime. It is a western term for an anime genre. It is almost exclusively for transvestites. Anything else would likely fall into the genderbender category. Take your pick.

It's been used positively for said genre all this time with the exception of those that aren't into that specific genre.

You think trap is rude? Talking about 'trans' as an all encompassing group but glossing over or even excluding transvestites is worse.

If you're trans-male, trans-female, or agender/other non-binary trap barely even applies to you. A trans-male, dressing as a male isn't a trap, it's normal. They're male, they wear male clothing. Same goes for anyone. I think anyone should where anything they want, but that's just me

Unless you exist inside of that anime/manga, you cannot be a trap or any of those tags. Doesn't matter what you are at this point, you're not a fictional character. You're a living, breathing human being who isn't bound by words.

You're taking a slur from an entirely different community, throwing it at the other community and then blaming them for it when they're peaceful and accepting of it.You can't give a cartoon shit, they don't exist. That's like having a Japanese person come to America to give me shit for being mixed race. They're pressure on mixed natives doesn't apply to me. I'm in a different country, in a different community where it's fine; we embrace diversity here.

A similar example is the use of 'nigger.' In the African American community, it can be used as a friendly term. Like calling your best friend a bitch in greeting/or whatever. Harsh word, but not malicious in intent or context. Saying it outside the community is usually racist, because it's used harshly, with the intention of insulting. In that sense the african american community is taking back the slur and removing it's power.

It's not right to yell at them for using nigger in their own community; thus, the same goes for any community, like the anime community.

In the end, trap is just another term to help sort through japanese stories and art. The same as horror, cat, slice of life, shounen, or sparkly unicorn farts. Whatever tags one can pull out their ass can apply to anime, but it'll never be intended for real life people.

Fiction can never harm you unless you can't seperate it from reality and act on it, or you have a mental disorder. A story with triggers can't physically follow you around or force you to experience it. A word can't jump out and stab your eyball or anything. It's all there for entertainment, imagination, relaxation, or controlled exploration. TRAP CAN NOT DEPRICATE TRANSGENDER PEOPLE BECAUSE IT'S NOT TALKING ABOUT THEM AND IT'S ABOUT CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT REAL PEOPLE.

MOSt IMPORTANTLY NONE OF THESE ANIME TERMS APPLY OR SHOULD APPLY TO ACTUAL PEOPLE. JUST TO FICTIONAL CHARACTERS. THEY CANNOT HURT YOU, OR STOP YOU FROM BEING YOU

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You can tag me as ass, nasty hetero, pansexual alien or whatever the fuck, but it's not going to change my life. It's just words I'll see for 2 seconds and then forget when I'm eating my weeb kibble and enjoying my anime traps with their cute clothing. I LOVE MY CUTE FICTION BABIES and I love my real life trans friends. FUCKING SUE ME

Before any of you try to shit on me and say I don't know what I'm talking about:

I went through training to be a queer ally. TWICE. and guess what? bigger problems lie with queers segregating other queers, as opposed to the rainbow of hateful words we get.

My close family friend is a gay man who's a Professional Drag Queen and is fabulously gorgeous. He takes no offense to trap.

My sibling is currently sorting out zir gender identity, and as of right now is a blossoming trans-male or gender fluid, fucking ANGEL. Loves anime, no offense taken to trap.

I regularly cosplay, play games as, and assume a fictional male persona online. I've dressed as a "guy" on may occasions. I take no offence to the word trap.

Yeah sometimes trap is being used in a bad way, but once again, it exists in two different contexts. Whatever shit people say out in the real world has no value here in anime fun land. If you give someone shit for their tastes in fiction, you might as well throw them in a box and say "you can't be happy with you're cartoon/anime/book because it offends me IRL"

You hating me for liking anime Traps is the same as someone hating you IRL for being a different "trap". I'm not disrespecting you, but you're disrespecting me for some attack on you I never made; just because the same word was used differently.

[7oji]

mirror sex with REINER BRAUN.

MINORS/AGELESS blogs DO NOT INTERACT. fem!reader, full nelson, size + light praise kink.

“ you are too pretty. ”

reiner slurs his words, and he's usually so sweet with them that you forget he's a bit of a pervert. it's evident by the position he's got you in: your feet resting by his shoulders and his dick going in and out of you in a slow, torturous tempo. he loves to see every part of your body, but right now his eyes can't leave your pussy. your lips are so puffy, so teased, they ache for him.

“ you are so beautiful, baby. ”

he's finally leaned over to cover one of your legs with tiny kisses, but you have grown tired by now. your eyes shine with malicious intent when you take one of his hands.

the wet trail you leave on his index finger makes reiner's cock throb inside you, and he's fully stopped at the sight of it disappearing into your pretty lips.

reiner doesn't give any warning when he turns you over. carrying you to the front of the mirror with no effort, he makes your legs fly upwards so that they are side by side with your ears. the sight of you spread open before him has got you shocked.

“ you think you can tease me like that? 'think i won't do anything about it? ” he says into your neck, and there’s no trace of your sweet boyfriend in the mirror.

it comes so easy for him to pick up the pace and fuck you there with no other support than his arms. his darkening eyes follow your every reaction, but you can’t do more than watch him bounce you on his dick.

the tight grasp on your thighs is sure to leave a mark when the tips of his fingers have whitened.

“ don't fucking look away, ” he scolds you when your eyes trail off to his veiny arms.

unfortunately for you, he's not done when you both climax. it's best to be careful with what sets reiner off.

[quandaryqueen]

Oops I forgot to mention it was for YJ, BTAS, Harley Quinn Riddlers with ex-spouse who is hero and sometimes old flame comes back  so he wants to kiss them just for S/O to go " No, no. We made a mistake, we're not doing it again."

Sorry for mistake, you can delete that last ask.

Don't let old flames burn ya

Edward Nygma X Reader

Ohoho, this should be fun *rubs hands together with malicious intent*

💚 Young Justice

It was... A heat of a moment.

He forgot that your relationship was over since five years ago, he still fucking loves you, and there's a certain excitement the current predicament that had him wanting to pull you in for a celebratory smooch.

"Whoa, whoa," you nervously chuckled, palm held up to stop him from leaning his head forward. "We are not repeating mistakes from ancient history, understood?"

... he's hurt, but he can't exactly fault you for thinking that way.

"Oh... Haha, yeah... I was... Um..." He awkwardly clears his throat, placing his hand at the back of his neck to avoid fidgeting in front of you.

But when he meets your gaze again, you were holding your hand up for him. Instinctively, he gives you a high five and finds himself smiling, eased from the awkward mess he has dug himself into. At least this was somewhat has the semblance of what your relationship had back then.

"Let's just stick to high fives, okay?"

💚 Batman the animated series

"Thank you for being here." Edward looks up at you with tears in his eyes.

💚 Harley Quinn

"No problem. I'm always here to help."

After finding himself pathless upon his release from Arkham, he didn't know where else to go. He didn't want to come to this, but he was just desperate. He had no place to come home to, no one to greet him, he was all alone. You were his only one, and you were the one that got away.

Caught in his longing to be welcomed in one's arms again, he leans in, but his closed eyes flew open when your finger stops him in his tracks. He looks up at you with pitiful, waterfall eyes.

"No Edward. That was the past. We are not doing that again."

"Apologies..." He swallows thickly, running the cuff oh his sleeves under his eyes. "Thank you for letting me know that I crossed a line."

"Heeeeeeeeey there--"

"Edward, are you drunk?"

"Mmmmm, don't know whatchu mean babes~"

... Yep, he's drunk. Hell , a 3 AM call is enough of a giveaway for his intoxicated state, as even he won't be much of a dick to call you at these unholy hours. But, you geared up nonetheless. Can't have a vulnerable crook who's made enemies everywhere in the middle of the night.

"Do you have anyone with you?" You asked, sitting up from your bed.

"Yeah, Jonathan. But he's gone. I don't know where the fuck he is... And where the fuck I am..."

"Okay, Edward. Can you turn on your locations for me?" You asked, shrugging on your coat.

"Of course, doll, anything for you~" he slurs and you swore you heard something in the background, probably a gunshot. The more reasons to get to him as soon as possible.

Checking on his location, you find him in a secluded destination located between alleyways of the active spots of crime. Sighing, you risked your good night sleep and stepped on the gas to get to him. Lo and behold, there he was hugging his knees to his chest by the trash bin.

"You came!" He slurred, shooting up from his seating position and wrapped his arms around your neck.

He reeks of alcohol and he's had lots of them. But you didn't bother to ask, you just wanted to get him to your car and drive him back to your place to look after him. Before you can make any step, he then tries to lean forward, with his lips puckered. You held your palm up, encasing his whole face with it.

"No Eddie, you're drunk and we're not making the same mistake again."

"... Yeah, you're probably right..."

"Let's just get to the car, okay?"

"Okay..."

He cooperates to get to your car, trying his best not to completely rely on you. Once he's strapped to his seat, he dozes off at the duration of the drive, thinking how grateful he is for you.

[bccksmarts]

   ❝I wouldn't know that now, would I?❞ Her eyes roll playfully, ❝The only time I've seen you in white was at the fourth year Yule ball for the Triwizard Tournament.❞ Which was a fact; she'd only seen him in blacks and greens any other time. His uniform shirt didn't really count since it was always covered by a jumper or his robes. And seeing him at the Yule ball, well... Pansy Parkinson was bloody lucky that night, but she wasn't going to say that out loud. ❝And I hate to break it to you, red is in fashion,❞ She responds primly; not that she knew what that meant really, though she had a gorgeous, new red dress back at home to prove it, ❝I actually meant browns, beiges, those types of colours. Those would suit you, I reckon. Though, if you want to stay in your broody colours, be my guest.❞ If she gets her way, she's dragging him shopping for sure.

   Hermione blinked. Gods, was this what they were doing tonight? Apologising? It went from teasing and light to this way too quickly for her taste, but... they were bound to get onto the subject at some point. Sometimes she thought that they've already done this since they sat together so often, talking and teasing. The pompous air from him still being a thing but with no malicious intent... it just felt somewhat normal, like they'd been doing this their whole lives.

   In a way, they had been, but there was nothing friendly about those times.

   ❝You're not that little twat anymore,❞ she spoke then, her voice soft and reassuring ( she hoped ). ❝Still a twat, but not that sort.❞ She hummed as her lips curved into a slight smirk before going back to her previous, warm smile, ❝In all seriousness, though... you did what you had to. Especially to survive. There were choices you could've made to do things differently, but... I understand. I'm not going to berate you, or think differently of you.❞ Especially with how she did think of him, good Godric— ❝I do, though. In a good way. I can gladly admit that I do enjoy your company... to an extent.❞ She teased, that smirk appearing again. She enjoyed it more than he knew. He was more reserved now than he was in school, but he still had that pompous, twatty air about him—it wasn't the bad sort, like when he used to call her that god awful slur that was now a permanent carving in her forearm.

   With tension finally dropping, thank the Gods, Hermione peered at the notes. Scribbles, lines crossed over errors, things that weren't working... ingredients, things he'd tried before. Maybe some of the measurements were wrong, or maybe the combination of them? No... No, he was one of the best wizards when it came to potion brewing; he was Snape's favourite, after all.

   ❝You want a more permanent solution...❞ She basically reiterated, her index finger going over his handwriting ( still bloody gorgeous, by the way ), ❝Is there anything you haven't tried? Ingredients, methods? I know you've only been using yourself as a testing dummy, but... I just feel like it could be fatal if we don't try other options.❞ There were pain relief based potions, but he wanted something that would eradicate his pain for good. It could be done, and maybe it could take a different ingredient to do it... but chances were, he'd already tried them—but she really wanted to help. She could get a hold of somethings, you know, with her golden girl privileges and all, but she never liked to use them. She liked to earn it. So how could she help?

“Oh I look fantastic in white,” Draco assured her airily, before a small laugh escaped him as she continued. “What the hell are ’comfy colors’? Do not suggest putting me in anything red. Nothing against you as a Gryffindor, Granger, but I’m not going to look more washed out than I already do.”

The teasing air vanished when the heavier subjects came back. Under normal circumstances, he would have shut down, gone mute, and it was an instinct of self preservation. If he was still, if he was quiet, if he kept his gaze down instead of up…

But Hermione was different. She deserved better.

He remembered the scar, when she made reference to it. He remembered her piercing screams in his own head, echoing in the drawing room, as Bellatrix carved into her flesh, remembered the pool of blood that started to run across the floor. And he remembered feeling so sick, sicker than he’d ever been, wanting so badly to do something but being too terrified to move.

He would never forgive himself for that. He couldn’t understand why Hermione would.

“I’m still sorry,” Draco said quietly. “For everything, not just…not just for being too cowardly to protect you better. I don’t want to be that little twat anymore.”

As she gazed at his notes again, he sighed a little, propping his cheek on his fist. “Short term, some of my results seem to work, but then they have side effects that I didn’t think was possible. I want something that will work permanently, that won’t wear down as time goes on, and won’t be addictive.”

[starbornsoulrider]

this whole horse girl mess still really confuses me and I do agree with what ppl are saying on here, like sso should use redefine instead of reclaim. but I mean... on the other hand depending on the context “horse girl” can still be used maliciously. Obviously it’s nowhere near as bad as much worse slurs and sso shouldn’t treat it like it is, and that nowadays people say it in a more playful way than mocking way. But I’ve seen people use the term “horse girl” as a way to belittle someone as recent as like... two years ago now I think? and a few times after that.

this incident comes to mind every time sso brings up this whole thing about the term horse girl, and whenever I see people saying no one rlly uses horse girl as an insult anymore. I’ll try to be as vague as possible since I don’t wanna like, expose anyone I guess? but like two or less years ago there was this activist I often saw on my tik tok for you page. I don’t remember her very well or even her username, but a LOT of fascists and trump-supporters targeted her. one day she just posted a normal video of her chilling or playing with her horse, I don’t exactly remember. and the comments were flooded- and I mean FLOODED- with typical trump supporters saying “of course she’s a horse girl” “you’re a horse girl you really think your opinion matters” “shut up horse girl”- yknow stuff along those lines. obviously it was disgusting, and of course those ppl were just saying that stuff cause they didn’t actually have good a arguement, but still. mocking a woman’s interests and saying they made her inferior, typical misogynistic bs.

and there were a few less bad but still kinda sucky uses of “horse girl” I was exposed to. or just like general sneering at having an interest in horses. SSO was what re-ignited my love and interest for horses, but for maybe the first year of playing it I was kind of nervous to express it. I overheard my sister say to her friends “yeah, their thing is horses now” in a tone that felt like... a little mocking, I guess? and I felt the need to speak up and say “o-oh, I just play SSO out of boredom, I’m not actually that horse crazy, haha” and I’m pretty sure I felt the need to repeatedly say “I just like SSO for the weird and wacky story, that’s all!” on multiple occasions, too.

so yeah incidents like that were what made me hesitant to fully express that horses were a big hyperfixation of mine now, cause I felt like all my friends and family would find it silly and cause I had already seen some pretty viscous attitude towards horse lovers before. even now I’m a little cautious talking about it at times. like I feel embarrassed whenever my family makes a remark about my interest in horses sometimes cause deep down I worry that they think it’s childish or something.

anyways, idk where I’m really going with this, I guess I’m saying that yeah there’s DEFINITELY a better way sso could approach this, although I wouldn’t say this “standing up for horse girls” stuff is completely out of nowhere? Idk, I feel like it’s important that “horse girl” can be a playful term but there are times where it’s used in harmful contexts. I mean, it’s definitely not as bad as slurs, and as I said before sso should rethink this and use better wording. it’s just ever since they started this whole horse girl campaign and saw people saying it felt a little ridiculous, I felt like sharing my personal experience with the term, so I supposed now was the time to finally do that. I wasn’t born into the horse world or really grew up with it, though there are quite a few equestrians on the other sides of my family. again, not exactly sure where I was going with this and I have a lot of “ehhhh...” feelings towards SSO’s approach at this topic for several reasons, even though they do seem to have good intentions, I dunno if my input will help at all but I felt like if I was ever gonna say anything about this it might as well be now. not trying to be like “YOU’RE ALL WRONG HORSE GIRL IS A BAD WORD” of course, my experience with the term “horse girl” has been on my mind before the “reclaim horse girl” post was made and the post and people’s reaction to it made me remember it again. I guess basically, I think sso’s heart is in the right place and I don’t think it’s totally out of nowhere but this was definitely not the best way to approach it.

[lazarusemma]

WELL I CAN NAME ONE PERSON WHO ISN'T THINKING OF JEWS,

This reply has been deleted from my post. I have blocked this user. I am choosing to leave the username in the screenshot so that other people can block them as well. I do NOT condone sending any follow-up hatemail or other inflammatory messages, on my or anyone else's behalf. Please block without engaging.

This was a reply on my Dracula post, specifically this version with my addition. This user left a reply initially saying that the vampire myth originates from folklore and "not everything is about you btw" (quote). I pointed this user to the addition, and got this response.

I really, really don't want to look up statistics of antisemitism. I'm not going to do that. It is very easy to look up those numbers, and I won't do it to my own mental health. When I am posting about antisemitism, it is not because "I wanna be oppressed." I have personally heard someone threaten to set Jewish people on fire, and I live in New York City. If you don't believe that antisemitism is real and a serious issue, I don't have anything to say to you.

However, I do want to address this, so that's beneath the cut for length. CW for, obviously, mentions and discussions of antisemitism. The TL;DR is this: My post was created for the PURPOSE of asking that people do, in fact, think about jews while reading goddamn dracula.

I think my initial post as linked above speaks pretty well for itself; I won't repeat my claims about the antisemitism in the text. Dracula as a book is rooted in the bigotries of its time. That's not a point I'm going to argue further. The vampire figure has strong ties to the fears associated with the Jewish community. If someone wants to insist that there isn't any connection, despite having those connections pointed out to them, I'm not interested in continuing that conversation. That's not a conversation; that's talking to a wall.

The exact problem is that people aren't thinking of Jewish people while reading this book. [Pause at this point to remind gentiles that it comes off badly to say "Jews" if you aren't Jewish yourself. It's not a slur, it just leaves a bad taste: it's reminiscent of those who do use it derogatorily and we ask that you avoid it.]

Uncritical consumption of media, without examining (or at least giving a cursory glance at) the underlying problems, is exactly how we end up with Attack On Titan (!) fans telling Jewish bloggers that they just want to be oppressed.

I'll say it again: If you don't understand the bigotries embedded in the texts you consume, and/or fail to see how context shapes the text, you are more likely to cause harm, even if it is unintended.

I'm not interested in the details of authorial intent (see, again, the addition linked above) because I don't think it's possible to determine with certainty and because I don't think it's relevant - whether Stoker was deliberately drawing on antisemitism for malicious intent or otherwise, these tropes are present, they mimic harm, and they make these ideas palatable.

In reading a story about a Jewish-coded character who is scary and evil, an incautious reader is entirely capable of internalizing these ideas. The media we consume forms & reinforces pathways in our minds; stereotypes become shortcuts become biases.

Learn to recognize the things that reflect historical and current issues. No one is asking you to boycott every Victorian novel. I am also reading and enjoying Dracula Daily. The only thing I am urging with my post is that people pay attention, so that I don't have to see comments like THIS. Thanks for reading this far.

[richardleerutgersblog]

The Controversial "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers"

Kendrick Lamar has always been widely regarded as one of the most gifted rappers of his time, a lyrical genius who knows how to move his audience. And so, with the release of his most recent album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, expectations of Kendrick were evidently high. After taking a 3 year break, the mystery of what the rapping legend had in store for the rap community was suspenseful. Well, it seemed that after that break, Kendrick had lost some of his touch in the rap game, as this album was rather average. Widely described as being "as inefficient as it is awe-inspiring: a dynamic, if occasionally awkward, thesis on lineage and legacy", Kendrick's new album was found to be not consistent with his award-winning music of the past.

While the public consensus tends to be harsh on big names in the music industry in general, I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with this take on the album. While the music is not terrible, I don't believe that it follows the normally upbeat music that Kendrick has released in the past, and rather focuses on the negatives of his past, and the detriments in his life. For instance, Kendrick's "Father Time" paints his father (Kenny) as a villain and his harshness as an obstacle in his life. Another example is in "Mother I Sober", Kendrick talks about how he used to beat himself up for not being able to protect his mother, another major obstacle in his upbringing. The main theme of his album seems to revolve around family, as the cover of the album of his new family, an attempt to display the evolution from a harsh upbringing full of conflict, to a happy and stable family portrayed in the cover. And so overall, while I do believe that the album was a bit messy and different in comparison to his past music, I do not believe that this album deserves to be regarded as a poor performance from Kendrick. Unfortunately, the controversy doesn't end there.

The album faced some controversy over Kendrick's portrayal of himself as a Savior Complex. For example, many reviews found that, "On “Rich Spirit” he compares himself to Christ and the Buddha", however contradicts himself in this album because, "he is markedly human on this album: paranoid, insecure, and flawed". I am religious myself, and believe that comparing any human to God or any religious figure can be offensive and an extremely bold statement, especially coming from an artist who's main theme of their album is literally their harsh upbringing and flawed past. However, if the albums only concern was surrounding that one song, the public backlash wouldn't have been nearly severe as it was.

The second and more major controversy that the album faced was the concept of "cancel culture". For those who don't know, celebrities who are "cancelled" by the Internet are publicly shamed and attacked for a mistake or offense, something that has been found to be very controversial in it of itself. While cancel culture is meant to call out celebrities or simply anyone who may think they are above societal standards or are untouchable; this act has spiraled out of control to the point where "it focuses simply on ending a person’s career rather than fixing the mistake they were called out for". And so Kendrick decides to speak on this aspect and essentially speaks down on this concept. While I agree that, yes cancel culture often goes too far with malicious intent rather than trying to remedy a mistake that someone has made, I do believe that sometimes it is necessary. Kendrick features someone who has been "cancelled" by society on his album, Kodak Black. Now, Kodak Black didn't simply write an offensive tweet, get caught saying a racial slur, or anything of that sort. What Kodak Black did that was so controversial, was pleading guilty to "raping a teenage girl inside his hotel room in South Carolina". Yeah. Some pretty major charges. So when Kendrick says "What the f*ck is cancel culture, dog?" on his album that features the likes of Kodak, I wouldn't be totally opposed to the controversy surrounding this album. Kodak, however, wasn't the only controversial figure that was involved with Kendrick. It was also found that "Top Dawg Entertainment, his record label (this is his last album for them), supported Kelly, a convicted serial sexual abuser, when Spotify threatened to pull his work". So, Kendrick being associated with these people, both groups mind you having sexual charges against them, does not exactly put his album in good light. And so, while musically his album was decent work, the people he associated himself with was what the public tore apart. This shows that part of the music industry is understanding strategy and public association, and not simply just the music that a person produces.

[softness-and-shattering]

Its not a bad analogy. People who become disabled later in life usually have a metric crapton of internalised ableism to work through. People born disabled have had ableism pushed on them their whole lives. And its something to work through in order to make your own life better and to be a better community member to other disabled people.  And if someone refuses to even begin to work through their internalized ableism, they’re gonna have trouble finding community who will accept them because lateral oppression is still harm.   Idk about the support group part of the analogy though. That assumes that people of minority religions and cultures are all together healing from christianity and deliberately gatekeeping resources from people who havent passed some kind of cultural awareness test. As far as I can tell thats not whats happening in practice or in spirit, and seems to assign malicious intent to simply pointing out someone’s cultural influences to them.  If I can draw another parallel that I see a lot, being queer doesnt mean you cant oppress other people. (sometimes laterally, sometimes not). If you dont unpack your internalised homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ace phobia etc. you ‘re going to hurt people with it.  Thats where we get usually kids trying to police what labels people use and who gets to reclaim what slur and who's a good LGBT person and who's a nasty queer making us look bad in front of the cishets. Thats perpetuating oppression. And you’ll see them say things like “how am I being homophobic when Im a lesbian!”. Well, by believing and expressing homophobic ideas.   You always have to do the work. There is no person alive who is unable to oppress others, there is no Most Oppressed person who gets a free pass on anything. Most of us are oppressed in certain ways, and everyone holds power over others in certain ways. You have to work to unlearn the power structures, the cultural christianity, the ableism, the homophobia, the antisemitism, the racism, the bigotries we have all absorbed as normal to varying degrees because of the society we live in. Those ingrained ideas dont go away because you consciously make a decision to change or be someone else or you realise you’re different than you thought you were. They’re still deeply ingrained.  Its not nice to realise that despite being hurt and oppressed, you still have the power to oppress others. Theres no neat oppresser/oppressed binary of people types. You can seek community and healing from your trauma, and that doesnt excuse you from all the other forms of oppression you (hopefully) unwillingly uphold. You didnt pick it up, it was given to you. You’re not trying to hurt people, but you’re fully capable of it. You need to learn how to put down your involvement in the systems of oppression you have grown up upholding without even noticing. 

I'm seeing arguments about the term "culturally Christian" a lot, and I have conflicting feelings, so I'm going to do the inadvisable thing and work them out here.

As I understand the debate, the difficulty seems to be that certain atheists — who were either raised Christian or, at the least, in a Christian culture without being of a minority religion — object to still being referred to as culturally Christian. Many of them were deeply hurt by Christianity, and all are frustrated at being identified with a religion that they do not participate in, that they vehemently reject.

People on the other side of the argument are mostly pointing out that acculturation — and the network of unexamined beliefs and privileges arising from it — doesn't go away because you reject the religious part of that culture, or by becoming a minority part of that culture. An analogy raised is that you don't get to opt out of whiteness by declaring you're against white supremacy.

To make my starting position clear, I am an atheist. I was raised as a Mormon. Mormon culture is mostly overlapping with the religious end of US Protestant culture, and participates in Christian culture more broadly, though probably 75% of people calling themselves Christian would deny that Mormons are Christians at all. (This is either over the Mormon view of the Trinity clashing with the Nicene Creed, or a conviction that no matter what they say, Mormons really just worship Joseph Smith, depending on the theological sophistication of the denier.)

I spent most of my time while growing up in Mormon-dominated areas — the Mormon Corridor of Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming — but I did spend several years as a member in places where it's a minority denomination, if not a minority religion. But culturally, I was not substantially an outsider. Holiday observances were largely the same, I wasn't under any pressure to conform my behaviour or appearance to local mores, and if other kids didn't have 6:30am religious instruction classes or dramatized Book of Mormon tapes in the car stereo, they had analogous things like vacation Bible study and whatever the thing was before they had Veggitales.

And I mean, I went through some serious shit from Mormonism and the Mormon church, and I went through some shit from Christianity writ large; I reject Mormonism and consider it a cult, and I don't have a lot better opinion of Christianity in any of its flavors. I've studied, both formally and informally, various religions, to varying degrees of depth, and I don't have a high opinion of the class of human institutions that fall under that umbrella.

But I can still be fairly described as culturally Christian. This is despite my rejection of the religion, and despite the Christians who would have denied me the label Christian to start with.

But I do get the antipathy to having that label applied to you. To someone who the Christian faith and its practitioners have treated horribly, it feels like an accusation that you, by exact virtue of having been abused, are still participating in that abuse to others. And sometimes that's exactly the point that people using the term are making. That being oppressed on one axis doesn't mean you're not participating in oppression on another.

But it can still feel like you recently had a spinal injury, that you're now in a wheelchair, and you're being turned away from a support group because you're culturally abled.