#as an fyi most of the people talking about racism and sexism are doing so because

[epic-the-musical-confessions]

I feel like people kinda need to chill about epic. Like this is meant to be a fun musical adaptation, not the most accurate Homeric canon compliant thing ever. And- hot take here- you don’t have to be a damn literature professor to enjoy media. Yeah there are tons of kids on here that honestly have no clue about the themes of the story or which characters are good or bad, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’re racist or sexist or “defending sexual assault.” maybe they’re just. people who haven’t taken a literature analysis class because they’re 7th graders, and they see a hot evil white Guy and go “he’s my babygirl!” nothing wrong with that. They’re kids having fun. And I’m saying this as someone who relates to the story of the original Odyssey very deeply, and I write analysis of the morals characters in the story with regards to actual Ancient Greek customs and values for fun. leave the kids who are being just a little stupid about this story alone

.

[roboticutie]

We talk a lot about either being lumped in w women and being completely erased from medical narratives when we aren't lumped in w women, but we don't discuss cis men refusing to align with trans men enough. Trans guys already know as a given that cis men don't see us as one of them the majority of the time. Even some that try will have a subconscious divide between men w dicks and men without, which takes a lot longer to work on even when they're actively trying. The majority just don't try.

This is such a given that we don't end up bringing it up because it's a huge fucking bummer, and bc we live with this every day it's kind of an unspoken background truth that every trans guy in the room knows.

But no one else seems to realize this, because it doesn't get said aloud. So I want to bring it up and remind y'all that yes, the stories of cis male family members and guy friends at work or school giving us a "pass to the boy's club" is sweet and real. But systemically that's not what's going on. And the fact that there are a handful of these stories vs hundreds of daily occurences where we ARE ousted for not being men in the "right" way and are at risk of abuse by cis men for threatening their understanding of manhood is still a very real issue.

Trans people threaten every cis person's idea of what their gender is so long as we're all taught first that gender is what's in your pants and we have to unlearn that in order to feel comfortable with our identities. This means that cis men don't actually like trans men a lot of the time. They don't see it as gaining another to the team, often we're seen as a threat to their established male heirarchy at best and a delusional woman at worst.

Cis men's gender is constantly threatened and used against them, especially those raised in hypermasculine environments that took in the sexism prevalent in the American and Canadian militaries (the phrase "Alright ladies!" to a group of men working under the boss, "you fight like a girl", "this is what REAL men do", "you're not a man you're a coward", "are you a man or not?!"). Their "man card" is constantly under threat of being revoked by someone more "man" than they are. They don't even take each other's personal identities seriously a lot of the time.

This results in a lot of cis men being seriously defensive when it comes to doing literally anything out of line with what they're taught manhood is. This is widely known to contribute to abuse against women, feeling threatened by and then hurting trans women, but it's also a major cause of abuse by male family members to male family members, men in same sex relationships, AND attacking any trans man who asserts that he doesn't have to have a dick OR conform strictly to masculinity to be a man.

Cis men fucking hate us and do NOT want us to be recognized as men. Why does anyone think we are, en masse, totally chill and fine w cis men?

Obviously the answer here is not to divide ourselves from cis men further than they already divide themselves from us. It's most important to bridge that divide and be taken seriously as men, hopefully breaking down a tonne of sexism, transphobia, and racism fraught in our cultures in the process. But my point here is that that's not our reality right now, and just because your insular leftist echo chamber sees us as men as much as cis men are (though subconsciously you might have a bias still there too fyi), that doesn't mean that's actually trans men's day to day lives.

Trans people just aren't respected equally to cis people. Yes, even the men. Cis men don't even respect each other equally as men, why would they respect us? It's redundant and erasure to try and push otherwise.

[thegreymoon]

Hi I have been a fan of your work for a very long time and so I sneak into your tumblr from time to time.I counldnt help but notice that you post a lot of political/sjw stuff and I know it is none of my business but since I am probably absolutely opposite in my political views I can't help myself and ask: I understand that you are Asian, but you don't seem to be interested in real or imagined injustices in your country/continent and are mainly interested in USA, why is that?

Hi, anon!

First of all, I am not Asian and I’m very sorry if I ever did or said anything to mislead people into thinking that I was. It was unconsciously done. I have no intention of offending anyone or appropriating an identity that isn’t mine, so if I did something of that sort, please let me know and I’ll do my best to correct myself. I often reblog stuff about China because I think it’s an amazing country, I’m learning Mandarin (not making much progress, though), love their culture, nature, architecture and am a big fan of their historical/fantasy dramas. Also, the two fandoms I was the most active in (coincidentally) happen to be a Japanese anime and a Japanese video game, so I have a lot of love for their art and aesthetics.

I’m actually very surprised that you would ‘notice’ that I post a lot of ‘political/sjw stuff’, considering that I mostly use Tumblr to repost Merlin gifs, cast/crew news and fanworks. There is maybe one reblog on just about anything else for every fifty (perhaps even more) Merlin posts, so I really have to wonder which of the RL issues I posted about bothered you so much that you would describe them as ‘a lot’.

I may be misinterpreting the tone of your ask, so forgive me if I misread your intentions and am responding too harshly, but in my experience, ‘SJW’ is a term that is used to be dismissive when people are talking about real social issues, plus I found your wording of ‘imagined injustices’ very… interesting.

Also, I find it odd that somebody would unironically ask me why I’m ‘mainly’ interested in the USA.

First of all, the global market is oversaturated with American media, American products, American news, American movies, TV series, music, you name it. It’s everywhere. Of course I’m going to know more about it than, say, Lichtenstein. The exposure of American public figures is insane and it just happens that the stuff that appears on my dash is most often related to the USA because that is what the people I follow also follow (and for the record, on Tumblr, I mainly follow the Merlin fandom and to a somewhat lesser degree, various artists, baby animals, Chinese traditional outfits, Buzzfeed and NASA news). I absolutely do reblog pure evil, injustices, hypocrisy and intentionally inflicted misery in other countries too when I see them, but I don’t actively go looking for them on Tumblr, just like I don’t actively look for the USA posts either. The USA posts are simply there, without much active input from me, while other countries are not. An important point, of course, since we are having this weird discussion about why a random person outside of the USA is consuming so much American media, is that English is the only foreign language I am fluent in, so when it comes to foreign content, I am primarily going to read and interact with posts in English. And which country creates the most content in English? Yup, you guessed it!  

On a similar note, everything that happens in the USA affects other countries too. Nothing that goes on there takes place in a vacuum and the USA has made damn sure that it has its fingers in each and every single pie all over the world. Everything, the good and the bad, spills over and trust me, we feel the effects acutely in my unstable, politically fraught little country. The economic and cultural implications are enormous, so you can bet American issues are very personal for me, even if I don’t live there. My country’s government consists of puppets in the hands of various world leaders playing tug of war with actual human lives. My literal paycheck depends on the stability of the dollar. The survival of the entire human species hangs on how we deal with climate change right now and that ignorant, illiterate orange shitstain Americans voted into power is now standing on a global platform, spouting nonsense that is barely one step removed from Creationist bullshit and Flat-earther conspiracies. And you seriously ask me why I’m interested in the USA? 

The USA loves to dub itself as ‘the leader of the free world’ and ‘a global superpower’, and has managed to stick its nose into everybody’s business everywhere (usually with no good intentions), but somehow you question why the rest of us are now going to be interested in what is going on there, not to mention critical when the US government spouts absolute rubbish not just on a domestic, but also global scale? So, yes, I am personally invested in what is going down next in the USA and am sitting here, half the world across, cheering Americans on as they fight to have that shame they elected removed from power and, hopefully, incarcerated, along with all his corrupt cronies, advisors and family members. I’m going to be genuinely celebrating here when he finally goes down!

Secondly, I come from one of those countries that the USA and its allies have destroyed for their own gain and where they have ruined countless lives over multiple generations. I have every reason to notice, take a personal interest in and comment on the hypocrisy, the grandstanding and the false moral high ground that is assumed by the USA (and any of its bootlickers) when I see it.

For any of my USA followers here, I would just like to note that I am perfectly capable of distinguishing between ordinary people and disgusting government policies enacted by corrupt or incompetent politicians. I realise this post sounds angry, but I wish only good things for you all, people are people everywhere and the stuff I’m talking about is way above the average person’s paygrade. I also realise that the USA has screwed over so many of its own citizens; including its war veterans, PoC, minorities, the poor, the weak and the disabled. My heart goes out to you all, truly, and I love you all!

(BTW, I intentionally have not said which country I’m from because I’ve stopped publically stating my location online, simply because it makes it too easy for malicious people to identify me IRL that way. I don’t necessarily hide my RL identity if I have a valid reason to reveal my true name and location, but please forgive me for not stating it outright here, on a public platform, to satisfy the curiosity of an anon ask. My country is misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to all who are non-conforming and my job prospects are hard enough without my online pseudonyms being generally known in my RL circles. I used to be much less secretive about it, but have since learned the error of my ways and am now taking the most basic of precautions.)

With that said, yes, my country has issues! And, fyi, I have ranted and raged and cried about them before online, IRL and in private. I have posted about my country’s political problems everywhere, including here, when I was just too angry to hold it in because I’m absolute shit at being careful even when I make a conscious effort to be. Most recently, I raged about our elections which were a punch to the gut. If I was to start typing about the corruption, injustices and absolute evil going on around me, I would never stop, but I’m not going to do that because that’s not what I come to Tumblr for. This is primarily a fandom space, mostly for fandom stuff, where I come to look at other people’s things and almost never create content of my own. Just about anything political has been reblogged from someone else because it showed up on my dash and touched a nerve. Very little of that is stuff from my own country because nobody creates and reblogs posts about it in the fandom circle I mostly interact with.

I’m now trying to think back to what ‘SJW’ issues (as you put it) I reblog the most often and how any of them are ‘imaginary injustices’. Off the top of my head, the ones that usually touch a nerve are about the oppression and discrimination of women, patriarchy, sexism, various kinds of abuse, sexual assault, overworking, capitalist brainwashing, mental health issues, LGBTQ issues, freedom of speech, resurgence of Nazism, the gap between the rich and the poor, climate change and criminal religious institutions regaining power in society. I can assure you that none of these is ‘imaginary’ and the negative ways in which they affect me and the people around me are very, very real. Also, none of them is unique to the USA, which is what you seem to be the most concerned about, and even if the post is from or about the USA, these problems definitely overlap with things that I, and countless people around the world, are personally experiencing and have a lot of feelings about. The only social issues ‘unique’ to the USA that I often reblog are the ones related to the particular US brand of racism and the appalling, still-ongoing genocide committed against the indigenous people there, and how can you not empathise with that when it’s so egregious? I will reblog them every time they cross my dash to spread awareness since the US government is actively trying to stifle it and rewrite history and idc who is uncomfortable.

With all that said, I’m open to corrections and have no problem admitting to being wrong once I realise I’ve made a mistake. So, this goes for all the people following my blog: if any of the posts I shared are about ‘imaginary’ issues (just… wow at the use of this word) or contain false information, please feel free to let me know and I will take it under advisement. I’m always willing to learn.

[tdotsspot]

IT’S A NEW YEAR B*TCHES

I seriously don’t think I’ve EVER been this damn happy to start a new year. Actually, I haven’t. I’ve NEVER been this happy to close a year out. To reflect on everything that happened, and while 2017 wasn’t like, THE most horrible year of my life personally or even really that much but, it was a CRAZY year all around. 

I’m sure I’ll forget a lot but just off the top of my head:

Trumps bitch ass. I’m still here like, maybe that was a dream, right? Everything that’s come with Trump. The lies, the embarrassment of this country, this ridiculous ass tax break that crushes the middle class, and happy makes the extra extra rich, even richer. There’s literally at least 10 breaking news stories everyday with his ass, so just watch CNN and figure out how fucking stupid he’s making America. However, a plus would be that it’s the most informed in politics I’ve ever been in my entire life, and it’s brought me out to vote other than the presidential 

The inexplicable amount of racism, sexism, hatred. Club Pulse.....so sad. The airport shooting, wtf. Some of that footage still freaks me out. Can you even imagine???? Going out for a fun night with your friends. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU GONE PARTYING WITH YOUR FRIENDS without a SINGLE worry other than a hangover. And your lovers, friends, family......dead. Traveling. Jesus. Dame and I travel all the time. I can’t even imagine trying to find my luggage and seeing people falling beside me over some bullshit. It’s heartbreaking. Freakin Vegas, damn I almost forgot about that. WHAT THE FUCK. HOW THE HELL DID THAT EVEN HAPPEN. I’ve personally been to Vegas three four times. I’ve passed that area many times and like....wtf. 

And of course.....there’s the probably 74 life lessons I learned in 2017. Here are some of my favorites!!!!

*Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t. AKA you cannot please everyone, you really can’t. Even the people you WANT to please, you can only partially please. So basically, do what you feel is best.

ALSO I NEED TO FOLLOW UP ON MY ONE DAMN NEW YEAR FOCUS, DISCIPLINE. I started this post on the 30th, its the 4th lmao. 

But i just got off the phone with my friend and just talked to my HUSBAND, since you know, I got married this year and it was super fuckin fly. And said FUCK ALL THIS PRETTY SEAN CARTER SHIT NIGGA HOV.

Listen to me when i say “bam” literally LITERALLY speaks to my soul. ‘just set your price and live your life my nigga!’ for real. RESPECT YOURSELF. I realized how I’m now learning I’ve played myself for pennies before. How I’ve let people take advantage bc I’m not a total bitch. But I’ve also realized being a female in my work work, hell is ANY work world, if you don’t HOLD YOUR OWN people will try you. 

NOT THIS YEAR MY FRIENDS. Idgaf WHO you are to me, I'm not with the shits. If that means I lose some ‘friends’ I’m actually totally ok with that. I’ve also realized shit, I barely like anyone anyways, so let me tighten my circle, or really, tighten how I spend my time. I have people in my life for 100 different reasons, and I never want to actually burn bridges, but at the same time.....if youre not on the same wave as I....well carry on.

I don’t want to hear about your excuses as to why your life sucks, why your sig other sucks, why your job sucks....if your not bothering to REALLY do shit. (as I stop my edits to finish this post) but thats ok.

Oh yeah, back to what I learned.

I learned also that I get WAY too friendly and trusting with people before getting to know them. WAY too damn trusting. And that’s my fault. No one really gives a damn about you, even those who say they do. I mean, they MIGHT but at the end of the day, it’s YOUR life, and when you think about that.......

I learned that weddings are stressful AF and even though the end result was BOMB, i still think I would’ve been ok eloping in vegas and having a wild story to share. Nonetheless, what I really learned during that process, is who actually has your back. Who’s phony, who’s fake. People I was cool AF with FUCKED me over, people I had really low expectations surprised me. 

I learned that a fake christmas tree is actually winning. 

I also learned that I really want to move out of Philly. PHILLY you’re doing WAY too much these last 2-4 years and its really pissing me off now. Also, that this city is RUDE AF for no damn reason and mean and petty.com.

I learned I have to do better at letting go, and part of that is not taking the responsibility of other peoples BULL SHIT. When you know that someone is just on their BS and throw some shit towards you, no matter HOW fucking corny, let it go like frozen. Half the time people can’t deal with their own truths, and they’d rather just make someone else miserable. Know your audience, and big them farewell if need be.

I’ve also learned that people are jealous of me. And it really makes me laugh. People swear my life is easy breezy cover girl because I work from home and for myself. ummmmm so the fk what???? lol I swear people think I sit on my ass all day “oh IM sorry I have work today” “ummm ok? so do i bih” But I’ve really REALLY realized that people just don't get it. It makes me laugh. And just FYI just because I have control over my time, doesn’t mean I have free time. I allocate it as I see fit, because I fucking can. Because I took a crazy leap of faith and said fuck working and being dead inside. And because I believe in myself and luckily the two people I love the most believe in me too.

I learned that OH ha. I learned when traveling to a third world country........research more. I’ll just leave it there. Cuba was still dope but like.....wow. I still don’t look at certain chicken meals without wanting to throw up.

Idk mannn, just set your price and live your life.

Don’t deal with the shits this year.

Tdot, out.  

[northernreads]

hi i think the black witch is like, suuuuper duper problematic, if u look up some of the articles that have been written abt it........ jus fyi......

Thank you for being polite about this, so far other anons have not been. I did read them though . Frankly I think most of those articles missed the point of the book. I do acknowledge that it has problematic language in it because it is a fantasy book that explores and problematizes homophobia, racism, xenophobia, fascism, and sexism. It also explores the idea of unlearning all that prejudice. So of course it’s all in the book. Afterall, you can’t talk about it, explore it, and unpack it if it’s not there.I think that point had been thoroughly lost on some people. I also think more people should have read it themselves before rating it.

[flightofancy-blog1]

Benvenuti!

Join me on a vino adventure unlike any other--mostly because I’m not going to hit you with 92-point cab savs or snub the 2011 Syrahs that don’t quite pass muster. I’m not going to roll my eyes at your ignorance about “legs,” and I shan’t scoff when you pronounce cuvée incorrectly. I’m no sommelier by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, lover of wine though I am, I am most irrefutably a neophyte in the field. 

And guess what.

Today was my first day on the job in the Sonoma County wine industry.

So! You’re jumping in on the ground floor, the first stop, the primary port of call--congratulations! Stick with me for a wild ride through vintages and pairings, broken glasses and shattered egos, research revelations and aha(!) moments on the job as I navigate my way through the *cue epic movie trailer announcer voice* wine industry.

I do want to take the amount of time it would take me to pour you a taste of our rosé to lay out some ground rules:

This blog is a research repository and a memoir reservoir. I will generally do write-ups on what I’ve learned at work and through experience, augmented by (or sometimes, let’s face it, totally eclipsed by) stories from my own life.

I will never smear/intentionally harm/talk badly about any given winery or establishment with which I come into contact in the hospitality industry. That is not my prerogative. Should they earn the criticism, I of course reserve every right to intellectually and thoughtfully offer constructive feedback. I’m an unusually positive person though, so I don’t see this being a problem! Understandably, I shall often employ the use of pseudonyms if my stories involve specific people who aren’t public figures, out of respect for their privacy.

Please feel free to respectfully and genuinely ask any question you wish--this becomes more fun the more interactive it gets! I hardly need type this, but you do know that a question doesn’t automatically and arbitrarily warrant an answer.

You are a multi-faceted person. I am a multi-faceted person. This blog, therefore, shall be a multi-faceted blog. Some lifestyle things, art/photography things, political things, expect it all...with a glass of vino, always.

This blog rather obviously caters to people old enough, taking into account diverse drinking ages around the globe, to buy and enjoy wine. Such people are typically old enough to have heard some pretty juicy swear words in their life. This blog is not adverse to the use of such words, just fyi.

Everything I publish is under my copyright. Original photos, writings, and illustrations are just that: Original. Unless I name the artist/writer, I am that artist/writer, and I will fight tooth and nail and wine-glass-shard for my work.

Lastly, this is an inclusive space. I do not tolerate any form of bigotry/sexism/racism/ableism/Islamophobia/homophobia/transphobia/classism/etc. PERIOD. This is non-negotiable. Please, write me if you feel I’ve overlooked something of this nature in my own content that needs to be addressed.

Sounds good?

All right then, cue the flight, let the pouring commence!

xoxo,

S

[bedboundactivism]

Leggo the Ego

So, today is the day after Theresa May’s incredibly silly decision to call a general election, and her incredibly naive announcement that it is “business as usual”. Before I get into talking about this, I have two things to admit:

1. I am a full-blown, refugee-loving, allotment-having lefty and Corbyn fan (spoiler alert: I was delighted with how the election went, even though we lost). 2. I was incredibly upset and negative on election day. I felt certain that the Tories would gain another majority despite their terrible campaign and that thought hit me hard. There was a lot of despondency, I think I cried at least twice. I even threatened to not bother voting because I thought it couldn’t possibly make any difference (I still did vote fyi - even if it were just for the right to complain about the result).

So, after that, I also think it’s really important to say: I. Was. Wrong! I was so shocked and delighted to be wrong, but I absolutely was. Thanks to a surge in younger voters, not all UKIP voters heading over to the Tories and I’m sure many other things, Labour gained a huge number of seats (including Canterbury, which has been a safe Conservative seat since the 1800’s) and became the most winningest losers ever! I stayed up all night watching the results coming in (which was not good for my physical health, but fantastic for my mental health haha) and watched as time and time again, I was proved wrong for doubting the country and the strength of Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters.

It's so important to admit when your (*you’re) wrong - especially at times like these and, I guess, that’s what this post is about. Just like Mrs May’s announcement yesterday that everything should stay the same as it was before she called the election, a number of people over the past few years, both in the media and not, have upheld their blind denial that they may not be as unbiased or unprejudiced as they may like to believe. The very suggestion being automatically shut down with derision or anger and the conversation will end there.

A perfect example of this happened to me on the day of the election. The village in which I live has a Facebook group for the residents. If you thought that people in a village might be prone to nosiness and cliques, try adding a Facebook group to that and watch what happens. I always joke with my partner that so much is put online, I could be in the house with the curtains shut and still know what’s happening right outside my door. Of course, as with any public forum at a time like this, talk will usually turn to politics and will usually become heated.

In one particular discussion, I found myself weighing in. I try not to, but I was feeling grumpy and depressed that day and just really needed to argue my point with someone. The person who started the discussion was particularly difficult to talk with: the sort of person that throws around wild accusations and speculation with absolutely nothing backing them (at one point I even asked what their sources were and they responded “my sources are 100%, I can assure you”. Very comforting). I wasn’t the only one finding them frustrating and, after a comment they made about voting Tory because the school they worked at was filled with kids from different countries and having 27 different languages being spoken throughout, they were swiftly accused of being xenophobic by another resident. That was the end of the conversation. The person in question exploded at the accusation, deleted the post and decided the conversation was over.

This is something I see happening often, where an action could border on racism/sexism/homophobia etc etc and the suggestion causes fury. It’s so frustrating and it’s all ego. Is it really so much more important to not be called a racist than to pause and question whether your own actions are harmful? Would it really be so damaging to consider it even? I think no. Instead it halts, and sometimes reverses, progress.

During the EU referendum campaign last year, many people who were pro-leave were often questioned about whether the basis of this view was racism. Kind of understandably, it pissed off a lot of people. Although equally a lot of the response was that it was purely because of “all them immigrants”. After Britain voted to leave the EU, the number of hate crimes recorded rose by 41%.

I am not suggesting that everyone who voted to leave is racist or even that every one of those hate crimes were a direct result of the vote, but the majority of the people who voted (52%) aligned themselves with people and groups who are racist and therefore legitimised those views. However, so many people are clouded by defensiveness and reject any possibility that they may have a problem with race or sexuality that the message doesn’t go in. It’s too late, their ego is dented, their mind turns purely to anger or ridicule.

Today, Theresa May and her team are in talks with the DUP to try and get their help in creating a government. The DUP are anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion, have members who deny climate change and/or are creationists. They also, currently, hold quite a lot of power. It’s been mentioned a few times today in the media, and amongst some members of the Conservative Party, how concerning this is. It’s also been beaten down time and time again. The DUP of course wouldn’t try and affect our social policies and, of course, only hold ten seats so won’t be that powerful, don’t be so silly. However, those ten seats currently happen to be the only ten seats that Theresa May needs to hold power, and considering she called this election purely for more power, I wouldn’t put anything past her.

The point of this post is not for bashing her, though. It’s about starting to think about how to create a dialogue. We are so divided in Britain at the moment, we need to work out how we unify. How do we find some common ground with those that frustrate us and actually create some positive change? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that we all need to drop our egos sometimes to help things along. If someone questions if your actions could be problematic in any way, don’t automatically jump to defend yourself. Ask them why. Making a mistake doesn’t make you a worse person, being wrong doesn’t make you a worse person. It also isn’t a mark that is branded to your skin for the rest of your life. Being wrong is amazing. It’s an opportunity to learn and for growth, and it’s in that sticky, uncomfortable feeling of being wrong that the best progress can be made.