#as long as we aren't ignoring the difference in experience i don't see the harm

[yurigirldick]

I don't exactly agree on that either. I've usually seen transmasc being used by trans people often to define being a masculine ftm/ftx person and transfem vice versa, but specifically referring to how they present. I don't consider myself transmasc because I'm not masc. My partner doesn't consider herself transfem even though she's transgender and feminine. These labels are also not as specific as some think they are and I've always found boxing people into their definitions unhelpful anyway. I've met plenty of trans people who consider themselves trans men when people think they shouldn't "by definition", or are drag queens and also trans women, or anything of that sort. I think the flexibility of labels is beautiful

Hello punkitt! No need to respond to this if your tired of these types of questions but I wanted to ask a transfem person if it would be offensive to identify as transfem while being afab? My gender fluidity and transgender interconnect in a way where when I’m feeling more fem I identify very strongly with the label transfeminie.

My opinion is that you can do whatever makes you feel good forever tbh!

[militantinremission]

Enter the Elites... But will it help?

Black America has begun to Stand On Our Square & it's obvious that the Democratic Party doesn't know how to deal w/ it. I said that 2024 is a 'Year Of Affirmation' & as Black America reaffirms Our Agenda, the DNC continues to send out Democratic Shills that do Kamala Harris more harm than good. The latest Tools out of the DNC Toolbox are Magic Johnson & Barack Obama. Magic is not known for his Public Speaking, but there he was- trying to Sell the Soap to Black Men at a Rally in Flint, Mi. What I first noticed, was Magic's 3rd Party reference to the Black Community; I guess he isn't Black anymore, he's 'Magic'. It was pretty clear that he didn't write what he was reading. Magic sounded like a White Man from the Jim Crow South: "We gotta get Our Black Men to Vote". This despite The Fact that the ONLY Demographic Group that votes at a larger percentage than Black Men, are Black Women.

Magic Johnson is beloved for his outstanding Professional Basketball Career, his victory over HIV, and his success in Business. I don't know who he is beholden to, but I suggest he stays out of Black Politics; especially at a Time when We're taking note of Who's with Us & Who isn't. Politics isn't Magic's lane, & he risks doing real damage to his Social Capital. Unfortunately, Magic Johnson is just one of many Black Celebrities & Elites stepping up to Democratic Microphones. It's comical to see this recent spotlight on Black America, when you consider how unapologetic The Democratic Party has been in BLATANTLY ignoring Our Concerns over the last 3Yrs. Not long after his inauguration, Joe Biden spoke to CBC Members on a Zoom Call. They were trying to ferret out Biden's 'Black Agenda', but he told them that they need to work w/ Latinx because they will be the Majority in 2040. The CBC fell back, but the Black Grassroots aren't settling. Joe Biden TOTALLY reneged on his Promise to 'Have Black America's Back'. Among the Measures that The Biden-Harris Administration ignored were:

A George Floyd Justice in Policing Bill

An Anti-Black Hate Crime Bill

An Anti-Lynching Law that focused on Black Lives

A Measure to 'Defund' or divert resources from Militarized Units of Police Departments to Mental Health Outreach & EMS Units

$4.5B in Aid to Black Farmers

Joe Biden's 'Lift Every Voice' Act

Kamala Harris' 'Lift Act'

Democratic Shills are quick to say that the Biden- Harris Administration didn't have the numbers to get ANY of that legislation through Congress, but They had no problem gathering enough Bipartisan support to Sign Off on:

An Asian Hate Crime Law

A Federal Gay Marriage Law

Aid & Comfort to 100,000 Afghani & 100,000 Ukrainian Refugees, in addition to MILLIONS of unvetted Illegal Immigrants

Roughly $175B to support an Ultraconservative (Neo Nazi) Ukrainian Oligarchy

Over $30B to support The [Ethno] State of Israel's Zionist Agenda of Genocide & a 'Greater Israel'

Magic Johnson was still catching lumps from the New Black Media, when Barack Obama made a stop on the Campaign Trail (in Pittsburgh?) to give Black Men yet another scolding. In his Address that was equal parts Condescension & Accusation, Barack Obama had the audacity to tell 'The Brothas'(???) that Kamala Harris:

Grew up like Us

Knows Us

Went to College w/ Us

Understands 'The Struggles' & the Pain & Joy that comes out of that Experience

Worked harder & did more (like We did) to 'achieve' the 2nd highest Office in The Land

Barry needs to go back to Martha's Vineyard & stay Radio Silent. His Legacy is not as shiny as he thinks. Black America lost 54% of Our Collective Wealth on his Watch, while Mainstream America gained $35 Trillion in Wealth. The more he speaks, the more he spotlights how different He & Kamala Harris are from Us. As I stated before, Barack & Kamala don't have a 'Black American' Experience, they both have an IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE. Neither grew up in Black Culture or spent their Formidable Years in the Black Community. The Truth is that BOTH began their 'Black Experience' as Young Adults (in Black Elite/ Boule settings). How many Black Men did Barack have access to before Reverend Jeremiah Wright? The Fact that the First [Noticably] 'Black' Man & Woman in The Oval Office AREN'T from 'The Soil' is not lost on Us. We also see how BOTH aspired to the Highest Levels of Power in just 2 Generations; This has not been the Experience of Indigenous Black Americans in 248Yrs.

Michael Harriot, Ta Nehesi Coats, Van Jones, & a growing number of Mainstream Black Journalists are taking a harder political line. Nina Turner was first to pubically call out Obama for his condescending language towards Black Men, but she has been joined by Roland Martin & a growing number of Media Bootlicks that are starting to See the Light. The accusation of Sexism & Misogyny levied on Black Men Collectively, is unfounded. A recent CNN Poll showed 69% of Black Men voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016, higher than the 60% that voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Barack himself favored an Open Nomination Process, over simply placing Kamala at the top of the Democratic Ticket. Rumor has it that He favored Gavin Newsome & Sen. Mark Kelly; does that make Barry a Misogynist? Nina Turner told a CNN Panel that the Black Men she spoke to have reasons for moving away from the Democratic Party, but NO ONE in Mainstream Media is talking about those reasons. Society regards Barack Obama as the'Chief Negro Whisperer', but he seems clueless about what motivates Black Men.

The Aftereffect of Barack's 'Address to Black Men' has been a barrage of comments on New Black Media Platforms. CNN's Abby Phillip had a Panel of 'Black Men' to discuss Barack's Message, but the Panelists featured were questionable at best. No One can deny that Barack Obama has lost his luster w/ Black America, & Mainstream Media Outlets are beginning to admit that this is a Trend that started after Obama's First Term in Office. Blackfolk committed to Obama's Agenda of 'Hope' & 'Change'; We could not fathom that he would put EVERYONE ELSE before Us. We made excuses for his disregard of Black Specific Issues. Obama's 'Beer Summit' w/ Skip Gates was a head scratcher. Flint, Michigan was a Wake Up Call. Mother Emmanuel Church, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Freddy Gray, & Michael Brown made it clear that Barack WON'T protect Us. His interview w/ Ta Nehesi Coats on the topic of Reparations brought it Home that Barack had no intention of doing ANYTHING for Us. We touted Obama as One of Our Own, but he was far from it. We validated him & he used that validation to publicly scold Us. 8Yrs later, Barack Obama's 'Big Daddy' Routine has gotten stale & his language towards Black Men is unacceptable.

Some of Us question Obama's motivation. Were his comments really a gaff, or was this part of a larger narrative? We know that Barack was behind Joe Biden's decision to 'drop out' of the Presidential Campaign, & We know that Kamala Harris wasn't his first choice to replace him. If earlier rumors regarding a plot by Obama, Nancy Pelosi, & possibly Chuck Schumer to destroy Joe Biden's 'Legacy' are true, Barack looks more Clinical than Clueless. The Harris-Walz Campaign tried to mitigate the damage by quickly putting out a 'Plan for Black Men', but EVERYONE KNOWS that Affirmative Action set a precedent on Race Specific Policy. Congress will reject ANY Plan for 'Black Men' before Ed Blum or SCOTUS does. In other words, this 'Policy' is more Word Salad. A closer look at this Harris- Walz Policy reveals more of the same 'Rising Tide' Legislation that Dems only offer Black Voters. It ignores Issues that Black Men say are important.

The Harris-Walz Campaign may have a better understanding of Black Specific Issues if they appeared on Platforms other than The Breakfast Club, Roland Martin Unfiltered, All The Smoke, The Shade Room, & Call Her Daddy. New Black Media has REAL QUESTIONS. We want to know about Kamala's Policy Platform & 'Black Agenda', but We also want to know more about Kamala personally:

What's the deal w/ her Father's Lineage?

Where is his Birth Certificate?

What Year was he born- Was it 1938?

Who is Beril/ Beryl Finegan?

If her Grandmother died in 1960, WHO is the woman pictured holding her as a baby?

Who is Iris Finegan?

Are the Black People pictured w/ her in Jamaica actual Family Members or Plantation Hands?

Did she know about Doug Emhoff's indiscretions?

If her Father (& Step Mother) currently live crosstown from her & Doug in Washington D.C., why is he absent from her Campaign?

Kamala has been making herself more available to Media, but it has not worked in her best interest. The Harris-Walz Campaign has no other options w/ Election Day being less than 3 Weeks away, & her support leveling off. The DNC can keep sending out Shills to get Blackfolk 'In Line', but without a Clear Message & SPECIFIC STRATEGY to actually move America 'Forward'', Kamala just looks like she's repeating the same Menu of Word Salads across different Platforms. We're not the only demographic moving away from the Democratic Party, but We appear to be leading the Exodus. As for Black Celebrities & Elites, it's Time to choose Sides... You're either On Code or you're Not.

-The Smart Play, is to Bet on Black.

[lostinvasileios]

im very sorry for asking this and please ignore it if its too much but,

have you.... ever been... su1c1d4l during your journey? did it... i dont know, ever make your deities feel... disrespected? like, you cant stop feeling so depressed and hopless and it just sort of hurts them? something like that? im sorry i dont know how to phrase it

thank you for reading this im so sorry if it triggered you or anything

Greetings, sweetbee. I'm so sorry you're feeling this way, please, don't feel worried about reaching out to someone about this. I'm happy to help. 🩷🩷

Okay, so... Baby bee, it doesn't hurt deities when you feel depressed. When you battle suicidal thoughts. Or anything else that falls under those categories. Self harm, abusive environments, ect. They don't expect you to live for them, they don't expect you to suddenly become happy and for your mental illnesses &/or struggles to just pop out of existence because you're now worshiping or practicing.

Because they understand it.

I believe gods were once human a few times. I believe that gods understand the conditions, the harm, the - well - everything. They aren't going to approach your vulnerability with demands.

Now... I did struggle with it. I still do from time to time. I dealt with suicidal thoughts and depression since I was in the 2nd grade. And, in no way did it ever... Harmfully impact my relationship with my deities. My self harming never made them disgusted, they never judged me for the ways I'd cope, for the triggers I had, for the needs they met during my toughest times.

Yes, you can live for a deity or deities. I actually do it. It saved my life. But it's optional. And they won't feel - betrayed, or something like that because you cannot say with certainty you'll live for them. That you'll survive for them.

I didn't have a reason to keep living, I didn't see one. And that's why my deities became it. That's why we swore it to one another. Not out of obligation, not out of fear of them being hurt from otherwise.

In my experience, the only hurt I've seen from my deities regarding my mental issues and ect, was - well - the pain it caused me. It pained them to see me in pain. But it didn't make them want to leave me, it didn't make them irritated or feel disrespected because I cried in their presence. They didn't feel disrespected when I had so many fears and doubts that I for a long time couldn't even believe they were really... Real.

Deities know the difference from fear, from sorrow and pain speech, to disrespect and blatant hateful speech. They know your intentions, even if you yourself do not.

It can hurt your deities when they witness their beloved going through such a hard time. When they see them going through abuse, torment, and inflicting that pain on themselves, or seeing it as they deserved it/ect.

Deities want you to live a life that makes you happy, that's - healthy and loving for you. For your soul. They don't want to see their loved devotee/practitioner off themselves, to cut or starve themselves, to punish themselves for what other people did to them or what they feel is deserving of doing so. If that makes sense. They want to help. To be there. To try and let you see that you are lovable, that there is a life out there for you, that - you're worth it.

Apollon witnessed my depression firsthand when I started practicing. He didn't scowl at me when I was crying my heart out. Snotting and gasping, just - being a very big mess in front of him. He didn't see me as weak or as disrespectful. In fact, I've found out that deities - enjoy it. Well, not seeing you so upset, of course. But they enjoy that you trust them enough to do that with them.

To let yourself be so - raw. To feel these deep, stabbing emotions around them. From what I've experienced, they love being able to comfort their sweet ones. They love being able to tenderly hold them and shower them in kisses &/or kind words. To - reassure them.

Apollon listened to my vents night after night, he held my hands and let me know I was heard. I was - seen. I was loved.

Despite how much I feared love, despite how much I thought nobody would ever be able to understand, my deities showed me just that. Understanding, love, care, gentleness, and everything else I thought I never deserved. Especially not from beings so beautiful and perfect in my eyes.

You don't need to be scared to show your emotions around your deities. To show them your wounds. To - show them your pain. Just as, you don't need to be afraid to show them your happiness. Your interests. Your safe spaces.

Your deities want to be there for you, I promise. 🌼

[hiiragi7]

hi there!! i've been reading some of the discussions you've had & many of them are super informative and some comforting to read from the perspective of someone who's questioning if they might be plural/have a CDD. i really appreciate ur blog & the views and experiences u share on it, it feels like a warm hug amidst The Horrors of Syscourse.

i've had something on my mind though. this is probably a silly question, but it's possible to have a CDD without (C)PTSD, right? admittedly i'm kind of just asking this for reassurance while i'm on my own discovery journey. like. i have experienced traumatic events and some of it is ongoing & i'm still living with the people responsible, but i don't think i fit the PTSD criteria due to not experiencing flashbacks or strong emotions related to the events—i usually just feel totally empty & detached from it. i still believe i've been negatively affected by the events hence considering them traumatic, but that doesn't include any kind of flashbacks.

i've been trying to look into it & find answers but i've seen a lot of conflating of having experienced trauma with having PTSD, so most of what i find is "can you be plural/have a CDD without trauma" discourse.

i think it'd be neat to see more conversations about this but free to ignore this ask if u don't want to answer it/if u don't feel equipped to! wishing u the best. have a great day!!

This is actually a very interesting question.

I've read a lot of medical literature on trauma, and each author in the field seems to define what qualifies as PTSD or PTSD symptoms differently, which also lines up with my own experiences with medical professionals in practice. In general, me simply being traumatized was enough for me to be given an automatic PTSD diagnosis, regardless of which therapist or psychiatrist I saw. Some professionals I saw were very specific with what they called what, others were a lot more loose with it.

I've seen a lot of differing definitions and academic debate over what qualifies as a flashback, dissociation, a posttraumatic symptom, and so on. That is to say, it can all be very vague.

For example, there are other forms of flashbacks that exist outside of the well-known ones; some people only relive traumatic events emotionally, or through repeated thought processes, or somatic pain. A lot aren't even aware these are flashbacks, because it's experienced as 'random' emotions or pain or spirals or some other response, and a lot have trouble figuring out what even triggers these responses.

Would these experiences fall under what we call flashbacks in PTSD? Well, it probably depends on who you ask. And, in practice, whether someone with these experiences gets diagnosed with PTSD or a mood disorder or a personality disorder or somatic pain syndrome depends on the medical professional evaluating them.

To further complicate it, a lot of people don't experience overt c/PTSD symptoms until they are no longer living in the traumatic situation, which, for people who develop cPTSD, means they may not show obvious symptoms until a very, very long time after the trauma started. I didn't start getting "classic" PTSD flashbacks and "waking up in a panic attack in the middle of the night" type nightmares about the trauma until I wasn't around the people who did it anymore. However, I have experienced many other trauma-related symptoms and heavy dissociation ever since I was very very little. Before I was diagnosed with PTSD in highschool, I was diagnosed with a lot of other things first.

There's also just the fact that, for whatever reason, people don't all develop the same symptoms in response to trauma. Some people with very complex trauma never experience classic PTSD symptoms. Some people are very dissociative and numb, or develop mood disorders, or obsessive-compulsive symptoms, or somatic symptoms, or eating disorders, or some combination of things. Some people never externally harm themselves or cope using substances while others develop addictions to these things.

In addition, some people's experiences with trauma don't fall under the PTSD criteria's definition of trauma, so even if other symptoms are present they don't "technically" fit criteria. And sometimes medical professionals use their own judgement and diagnose these people with PTSD anyway, and sometimes they don't.

Plenty of people diagnosed with other childhood trauma-based disorders besides CDDs also don't fit c/PTSD criteria or show many c/PTSD symptoms or receive a comorbid c/PTSD diagnosis for whatever reason. It's complicated and messy.

This is all to say, I've encountered medical professionals who treat PTSD as synonymous with "traumatized" and are very loose with what they call PTSD and I've also encountered medical professionals who are very strict about the criteria and are very insistent on only diagnosing people who fit that, and I've met a lot of professionals somewhere in the middle as well. I've also encountered plenty who would much rather focus on helping the symptoms than on what the diagnosis is or isn't, and who don't really like the way mental health diagnosis is structured in the first place.

So, to come back to your question... I don't think there really is an objective answer to it, though personally I'd just say "sure it's possible, and I wouldn't really worry about it much."

In the end, what I've found is that it doesn't actually really matter that much? Regardless of whether there is comorbid PTSD or whether there isn't (or whether it's delayed onset or etc), in the end what you're dealing with if you have a CDD is still trauma, and the treatment for that is more or less the same, regardless of what you call it. There might be differences in, say, approaches to medication specifically, or specific symptoms, but even that is often just throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks. Honestly, in my experience, treatment mostly looks different based on symptoms and individual needs rather than diagnoses, really.

In general, I find that a lot of people dealing with trauma and mental illness tend to over-focus on diagnosis and getting it right and trying to figure out whether they "really" have something or whether they're mistaken or somehow faking or so on. I think that's an unhelpful approach to it; there's no objective way to confirm that sort of thing, and either way you still need ways to cope with your symptoms, and coping skills are useful regardless of diagnosis. Learning how to ground yourself is useful regardless of whether you "really" dissociate that bad, learning emotional regulation skills is useful regardless of whether you "really" have severe mood swings, learning calming techniques and self-care and how to be gentle with yourself are good things for everyone to learn, coping skills are not just for people with certain diagnoses. In fact, you don't even need a diagnosis of anything to do these things.

And with trauma, like... it's all just trauma processing in the end, really.

I'll even go as far to say that even if you don't have PTSD, books and resources for PTSD might still be useful to you if you have a CDD or another trauma-related disorder, since a lot of symptoms overlap with other disorders and especially with trauma the recommendations for what to do about it tend to be applicable to a lot of different situations outside of strictly PTSD.

I realize I rambled a long time just to say "well, it's complicated and depends on what we mean by PTSD, but also it's all trauma anyway" but I hope this was helpful still?

I'm also glad to hear what you said about my blog, it was very nice to read.

[redysetdare]

I hate those posts like "this is about aromanticism, don't tag as ace or aroace!" as if aroaces aren't aro enough because of our asexuality, and non-SAM aces relating to aros is somehow a bad thing. Also some of the aroallo accounts are so quick to regurgitate ace discourse talking points because they think aces are erasing and oppressing aros, I hate that so much

Yeah, to an extent I can completely understand where people are coming from when asking this. I have similar issues with people tagging autism posts as ADHD because they show up in my feed because of the ADHD tag even though the post only mentions Autism. It can be frustrating to be looking for posts and get something completely different. But on the other hand...it feels like some people are taking the idea of these tags way too seriously. Tagging is a minimal issue in the grand scheme of things. Tagging does not actually derail a post as much as people act like it does. Tagging a post you reblogged does not make that post show up in the main tags. I understand that AroAllos do not want to have their personal experiences conflated as Asexuality because it can feel like erasure when you write a personal experience about you identity only to have it tagged as something that is not you identity. But also I don't think people realize how much overlap a lot of aromantic and asexual experiences have. Acting like they are so incredibly different and can't have any overlap is willful ignorance at best and malicious separatism at worse. And it's incredibly disheartening as an AroAce to see how many Aro people seem to have gotten comfortable and even feel justified in the low-key bigoted things they've said against aces and aroaces.

Some of the absolutely wild takes I've seen can range from "AroAces shouldn't post in the aromantic tag" to "Don't tag your post as aromantic if it doesn't mention aromanticism [aka doesn't mention an experience in which the viewer deems as an aromantic experience]" to literal straight up acephobia or aroacephobia and it's absolutely wild because as someone who exists in both tags I've seen this happening basically solely in aromantic tags.

It's genuinely wild to me how we even got to this point in the aspec community where people are arguing over tagging to the point of trying to exclude certain aros from the aro tag completely because they feel less seen as compared to others and act like it's the fault of those other aspecs that they are being oppressed.

I was someone who was around when the Aro and Ace communities were mostly a united force. Because when the entire world was against us we at least had each others back. half the problems people mentioned when it came to the reason to split the community so drastically were not problems I ever actually saw. Hell they still aren't problems I see. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen but I personally have not seen anyone assuming or saying that if you're aro you must also be ace, which makes me thing it's not actually as big of an issue as people seem to think it is. the aro and ace communities being united didn't mean that aromantic was a subsection of asexual, though I believe it'd be lying to ignore the split attractions model in the creation of the aromantic identity and how both the Aro and Ace identities as we know them today kind of emerged from that model.

As I said not too long ago: the separation of the aro and ace communities has done more harm than it's done help. We are making it easier for people to target us by splitting up the way we have. By making enemies out of fellow aspec people you give aphobes the space and comfort they need to start pushing us out again.

We are literally in the same boat. if that makes you upset then you can get on your own raft but you can't then demand everyone else get on their own rafts too or try to sink the ship that everyone else is on.

the tag discourse is stupid. there are more pressing issues to be upset about rather than tumblrs shit tagging system. This helps no one. If aroaces posting in the GENERAL AROMANTIC TAG upsets you THAT MUCH then you can literally go into the aroallo tag to find the content you want to see or better yet MAKE THE CONTENT YOU WANT TO SEE. If an asexual tagging a post they relate too with ace bugs you that much then fucking block them. it's not erasure when someone of a different sexuality feels represented by your post. If an aroace tagging a post as aromantic when you feel it is only about asexuality makes you that mad then you can literally block them. You cannot decide how someone should tag their posts because you personally do not know their experience. Grow the fuck up.

I'm rose repulsed. there are barely any spaces and posts about rose repulsed people in the main aspec tags. You want to know what I did? I made my own fucking space. i went to the romance and sex repulsed tags and posted there. I made posts about being repulsed. I have a fucking blog and a discord server centered around repulsed people. Yes it sucks when other people don't make content you like but that's when you have to accept you need to make it your damn self and not throw a fit over tags on tumblr dot com.

apologies for a long rant, If this ask was bait then congrats you got a rant out of me but also I think if people really want to block me over this instead of having a conversation like adults then so be it. Those who think this sort of exclusion is justified and correct are not people i want to be interacting with in the community. they are not people I want following me. I support AroAllos. I support all aromantic people. I understand where they are coming from in their pain. I do agree that they deserve more recognition because they often moralized to be morally bad for their existence and as a repulsed person NO IDENTITY should be viewed as inherently bad. I have no ill will towards AroAllos making posts about ther experience, they deserve to have their experience shared. But the way some people have been acting in the aromantic community is not acceptable and should be called out because at this rate some people are really toeing the line of the ace discourse that happened in like 2016 and as someone who went through that I REALLY don't want to see it repeat itself.

[proshipconfessions]

Having a lot of proship mutuals and many mutuals that would be "problematic" by antis standards because the real world is complicated and nuanced and seeing your mutual say all proshippers are pedophiles. Is just. An experience. This is gonna be a long one.

And I could get into the more serious side of things and the psychology of things and philias such as pedophilia, but that's a very nuanced and often triggering topic so. Probably not.

And also seeing Charlie x Alastor (hazbin hotel) be called a proship and being seen as awful to ship. We don't even like the ship ourselves especially if it gets into smut/nsfw territory. But like. What??? It's fine if you don't wanna interact with it. But to essentially lump this really largely benign ship into proshipping because you don't like it.

"it ignores canon that he's aroace and she has a girlfriend." And vivzie used to ship Alastor with Mimzi before making him aroace because "romance didn't fit his story for the show." I heavily still ship Alastor and Mimzi among other Alastor ships. I'm literally aroace too.

"She literally sees him as a dad." I've seen people shipping Carmilla with her own daughters. I even used to ship her daughters cause before the show we didn't know they were sisters. Also character interpretations can be so wildly different too. And many fandom peeps don't even attach heavily to canon. Canon is not the end all be all of fandom.

Like. Alastor x Charlie is the least problematic ship I've seen people ship. Do I like it? Not really, no. It does make me uncomfortable. But to label it in a way as proship (meaning it's bad and people who like it are awful morally since it's an anti definition of proship) is so weird. You don't have to like it. But to lump people in with those "weirdos you hate" because you don't like the ship. When you're clearly someone that hates proshippers is...so gross.

I don't even care about shipcourse or any discourse. It triggers my moral ocd and a lot of it is just freaking out over things that aren't that big of a deal. And ignores any nuanced discussion because antis paint everything black and white because of their personal boundaries. (I used to be more anti cause of my moral ocd and personal triggers for trauma. Yeah. It's a bs mindset.)

There's far worse things to worry about than someone shipping something you don't like or a ship that's illegal. And even with more actually problematic ships like incest and pedophilia ships. It's far more nuanced. And even then, fiction as an outlet actually DOES help ACTUAL pedophiles from offending. Like. When helping to treat pedophilia because it's a mental disorder in the DSM-V. It is encouraged for safe fictional outlets and a supportive environment to lower risk of offending. Removing fictional outlets even IF someone was a pedophile is actually risking more harm. And even then. Most people doing this aren't pedophiles themselves.

I'm a csa survivor too. I've literally looked into this to challenge my beliefs and triggers. Out of pure morbid curiosity to understand it. And it is a LOT more nuanced and complicated than online internet shipcourse can convey. People shipping fictional illegal things aren't hurting others. Most of those just breach containment BECAUSE of antis or because of algorithms on websites that people can't control. I've been more exposed to triggering ships like All Might x Deku because of antis and google images than I have by the creators of the content themselves. When I was more anti, I was far more triggered because of seeing so much of that shit. Now I'm more proship cause I literally don't give a fuck and have more important issues. And like. I barely see triggering ships and content like that. Unless I'm specifically researching things or scrolling on a hyperfixation.

Actually having looked into the psychology and research behind such this. It is a LOT more complicated than antis give credit for. And more complicated than most people on either side care to know. Proshippers are just living their lives. They aren't here for the in depth morals and research behind these things. But if they were, it more heavily supports them.

And having been more of an anti. That shit made my mental health so much worse. Because you genuinely do not know what could be labelled a proshipper thing. It could be something that's fucked up that you like (Attractions are neutral and it is not controllable. If someone were distressed by their attractions then demonizing does not help them seek help. Most people will discover their attractions in their teen years or whenever they hit puberty. And many professionals still don't fully understand philias or kinks or attractions.) or it could be a benign ship that doesn't stick to canon.

There's plenty of ships I don't like. There's plenty of ships that are illegal and make me uncomfortable and upset. And really. The best thing to do is to just scroll or block and move on. That has been far better than me obsessing about these people I hate for doing things I don't like.

And even outside of fandom, these things are not black and white. It's far more complicated. Let. Let random people on the internet ship what they want. You don't have to like it. If it's a ship, even if it's immoral or illegal, let people ship it. If it genuinely helps them, regardless of whether it's "healthy" or not, then it doesn't matter. It is not up to you to decide what is healthy or good for other people. Blocking people you don't like will make you forget about em real quick. Whether it's justified cause they're an asshole or something petty and small.

I'm so tired of mostly antis making it a whole fucking thing because people are complex and complicated and weird. I've been in fandoms since I was 11. I'm an adult now. People will be fine. The only thing hurting fandom spaces is fucking shipcourse and the way people react to "problematic" ships.

Ship and let ship, my dudes.

———

[vampiresawakenedmycravings]

CHAPTER 1

Choices in the shadows

Mention of:  suicidal thoughts, self-harm

This is my first ever fandom

I hope you enjoy

1,200 ish words

And yes the characters mentioned from the other vampire clan are different from the ones you're gonna be thinking about I just had picked a name and that ended up being what it was don't judge

~

[Y/n] wakes up in the hospital, her heart starts to race pounding loudly as she tries to figure out where she was. At that moment a handsome doctor walks into her room and smiles when he sees she's awake

"Hello [y/n] I'm Carlisle Cullen I'll be you're doctor for the duration of you're stay here"

"Where is here?" [y/n] asks looking around

"You are at forks hospital, you're parents found you in you're room passed out" he looks at [y/n], then takes a step forward toward her slowly

"Now you'll have to answer a few questions ok?" Y/n nods

"Ok" she whispers wondering what the questions will be

"How long have you had suicidal thoughts?" He asks her, sitting in a chair near her bed. Y/n looks away and ignored the question.

"Y/n I need to know so I can treat you

"I don't know awhile I guess" she mutters and looks back at him seeing him jot notes down on his notepad.

Carlisle looks back up at y/n and asks "was this you're first attempt at you're life?"

Y/n rolls her eyes "I'm here now aren't I?

Carlisle looks into her eyes "some attempts like the one you tried earlier aren't successful," he looks down at his notes for a second before looking back up at her "so was this you're first attempt"

"Yes" y/n says knowing she's lying remembering last summer when she tried to OD on ibuprofen and allergy meds, how it was failed and her parents never even found out.

Carlisle notes that and continues on with the questions,

"How long have you-" he motions to the deep wounds on her legs and upper arms.

"I've cut myself for years" she says and he notes that

"Why?" He looks back up at her with caring eyes. The simple question stumped y/n she didn't know how to answer no one had ever asked her that before.

"I-" she stutters as starts to talk "I was- I felt" she stumbles for words before giving up.

"I don't know," she mumbled

As Carlisle continued to ask Y/n questions about her struggles, a sense of trust began to form between them. His empathetic demeanor and genuine concern made Y/n feel like she could finally open up.

Carlisle, still maintaining his gentle tone, asked, "Y/n, have you ever talked to anyone about your feelings or sought help before this?"

Y/n hesitated for a moment, recalling the times she had wanted to reach out but tried and failed to find the courage. She finally admitted, "No, I've always kept it to myself. I didn't think anyone would understand."

Carlisle nodded understandingly. "I'm glad you're opening up now. It's an important so I can try to help you get better." He leaned in a bit closer, lowering his voice. "I want you to know that there are people who care about you and want to help. We can work through this together."Y/n felt a sense of relief wash over her as Carlisle's words sank in.

Y/n felt a sense of relief wash over her as Carlisle's words sank in. For the first time in a long while, she didn't feel completely alone in her struggle.

Over the next few weeks, Y/n's bond with Carlisle deepened. He became more than just her doctor; he was a confidant and a source of support. together they worked on strategies to cope with her emotions.

As Y/n's physical wounds began to heal, so did the emotional ones. She started attending support groups at the hospital, where she met others who had faced similar challenges. Their shared experiences helped her realize she wasn't alone in her battle.

One day, Carlisle asked her if she wanted to go on a walk in the forest. Y/n nodded and got dressed in normal clothes out of her hospital gown quickly excited to finally get out of the hospital

Carlisle took her took her hiking through the woods to a view over the river.

On there way back to car after they looked out at the river for awhile,Y/n turned to Carlisle and said with a faint smile, "Thank you for saving my life, not just physically, but emotionally too."

Carlisle returned her smile warmly. "You're the one who chose to fight, Y/n. I was just here to lend a helping hand. Remember, you have the strength to overcome anything."

One evening, as Y/n and Carlisle continued their walks in the forest, they stumbled upon an unusual sight. A group of people, unlike anyone Y/n had ever seen, emerged from the shadows. They had strikingly pale skin, almost like marble, and their eyes gleamed with an otherworldly light.

They looked like Carlisle except different, instead of a beautiful golden color like Carlisle they had bright red eyes, that looked almost thirsty.

Carlisle's expression tightened, and he moved protectively in front of Y/n. "Stay behind me," he whispered, his voice tense.

The group of strangers approached, and their leader, a charismatic and enigmatic woman, stepped forward. "My name is Aro," she said, her tone as smooth as silk. "We've been watching your progress, Y/n."

Y/n exchanged a confused glance with Carlisle. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

Aro's lips curled into a sly smile. "We have a unique proposition for you, Y/n. You see, we share a secret, a gift that could change your life forever."

Carlisle's grip on Y/n tightened as he stared at Aro warily. "What are you talking about?"

Aro's eyes never left Y/n's, and she continued, "We offer you the chance to join us, to become part of our family. You would have a new life, new abilities, and eternal youth. In return, you must leave behind your human life and become one of us."

Y/n's heart raced, as she shook her head no. She wasn't losing Carlisle and the trust she had placed in him and the progress she had made.

Y/n clung to Carlisle's reassuring presence, her mind swirling with disbelief at Aro's proposition. She had come so far in her journey to recovery, and the thought of leaving it all behind for this mysterious offer was daunting.

Carlisle spoke firmly, his voice unwavering. "We appreciate the offer, Aro, but Y/n's path to healing is here, with me, and the support she's found. We won't be making any rash decisions."

Aro's smile remained, but there was a glint of disappointment in her eyes. "Very well, Carlisle. The offer stands should you change your mind."

As Aro and her group retreated into the shadows, Y/n let out a shaky breath. "What was that all about?"

Carlisle's expression was grave. "Those were vampires, Y/n. Creatures of legend. They're offering you immortality, but it comes at a great cost. I'm glad you chose to stay."

Y/n interrupts Carlisle "they looked exactly like you except with red eyes," she blurts out

"Are you a vampire?"

Carlisle's expression remains composed as he replies, "Yes, I am a vampire, but I'm different from the ones you encountered. We don't drink human blood, and we try to live in harmony with humans. It's a long story, would you like to hear more?"

Y/n doesn't know what to say she stared at Carlisle with her mouth hanging open. She thinks of all the weird things like how he doesn't eat or drink and he's super strong and pale and HOT.

She shrugs, nonchalantly which surprised Carlisle.

"You're not scared?" He asks y/n

Y/n looks at Carlisle with a newfound curiosity and hints of admiration in her eyes. "Scared? Maybe a little surprised, but after everything we've been through, I've learned not to judge based on appearances. You've been there for me when I needed it most."

Carlisle smiles warmly, relieved by her understanding. "Thank you, Y/n. I promise, I'll always be here to support you, no matter what." Their bond deepens further as they continue their walk through the forest, navigating the complexities of their unique connection and the challenges that lie ahead.

After Carlisle takes her home she watches him leave and after about ten minutes she walks into the forest near her house,

"Aro!! Are you here!! I have a question for you!!" She whisper shouts into the dark tripping over a branch and falling to the forest floor. She cry's out in pain but gets up intent on finding the vampire she had seen earlier and her family

In the dim forest, Y/n's voice echoed softly, and the shadows seemed to whisper back. Suddenly, Aro materialized before her, her red eyes gleaming like rubies in the darkness.

"What question do you have, Y/n?" Aro asked, her voice carrying a hint of curiosity.

Y/n, undeterred by her fall and the eerie surroundings, took a deep breath. "I want to understand why you chose me to become part of you're clan why not anyone else why am I special?"

Aro regarded Y/n with a contemplative expression, her lips curling into a mysterious smile. "You have a unique resilience, Y/n. We've been watching you, and your ability to endure and find strength within yourself is exceptional. We believe you have untapped potential, the kind that could thrive in our world."

Y/n's mind raced with a whirlwind of emotions, uncertainty mixed with curiosity. "But what about Carlisle? He's been helping me so much. I can't just leave him."

Aro nodded, acknowledging the dilemma. "Carlisle is an admirable man, and his compassion is rare among our kind. It's a decision only you can make, Y/n. Whether you choose to stay with him or embrace a new life with us, your path is yours to decide."

Y/n took a moment to absorb Aro's words. The forest seemed to hold its breath, waiting for her response. With newfound determination, she spoke, "I appreciate the offer, Aro, but I've already found a family in the people who care about me. I'm not ready to leave them behind."

Aro's smile remained enigmatic, but she nodded gracefully. "Very well, Y/n. Should you ever change your mind or seek answers, you know where to find us." With that, she and the shadows enveloped her, leaving Y/n alone in the quiet forest.

As Y/n made her way back home, she couldn't help but feel a sense of closure. The encounter with the vampires had been surreal, but her heart was firmly rooted in the world she had come to know and the people who had supported her on her journey.

She thought of Carlisle and the unwavering bond they had forged. Y/n knew that her path to healing and self-discovery would continue with him by her side, and together, they would face whatever challenges lay ahead.

[internalself]

I want to make a note that if you had you blog terminated for speaking about your experience with identity inconcruence, this is not because it's against tumblr guidelines but that you were spammed with reports.

You CAN get your blog back oftentimes if you badger the email enough- making a workaround could land you in valid trouble.

Part of the reason our pinned makes it clear that we don't advocate to self harm or harm of others, is because if we get termed by spam reporters, it's easy to see our blog was not designed for harm. None of our content is advocating for violence or hate. Nothing about this blog violates community guidelines.

If you get termed, most people say submitting a ticket twice a day is what it takes to get them to pay any attention / not forget you (but 1 a day would probably be best so you arent flagged as spam.) Stay patient, no offense but you aren't going to miss that much in a week or 2 if it takes that long.

"What if I have friends there?" You should always have backup ways to talk to your friends, and risking a perma/IP ban is not worth it IMO.

If your account is termed for a legitimate reason, you should get an email explaining it, if not, it may have been a glitch, which happens disgustingly offen.

When you send a support ticket, don't do it through their email. It doesn't work. You HAVE to do it through their website.

You must include your URL and your email. Stay kind and patient and professional and understanding.

Within the hour or so, you should get an automated response. If you dont- you need to use a different email in the support ticket, because the one you used was declined due to the association with the banned blog. INCLUDE THAT YOUR ACCOUNT EMAIL DID NOT WORK.

Do not check your email for updates, they don't always / simply won't contact you there. Reload your blog every once in a while, if it reappears, log back in.

Making work arounds over and over is not a good look.

These are the guidelines transid blogs are usually spam reported for.

Discussing your relationship with your internal self is not any of these things, if it is, you're doing it wrong. Your discussions should always be kind and with the best interest of the person you are speaking to. If someone is being rude, they are most likely baiting you. Block them, and if you need, turn off the computer and get some fresh air or a change of scenery for a moment and cool off.

They used to do the same thing to blogs discussing nonbinary genders and neopronouns. I remember it- its the exact same attitude, recycled arguments and attack patterns.

There are brighter days coming but until then the best thing to do is to be patient with your platform and to not dignify hatred with a response.

A stunning amount of blogs get ban because of spam reports. Do not assume Staff has it out for you. While I do not stand by MANY of their site choices, they are not maliciously shutting down your blog and ignoring your emails while giggling- queerphobic users are reporting you in mobs for fun, and tumblr is too understaffed and strangely built to always get your support inquiries.

[solusprime987]

Everything I'm about to say has been said by autistic individuals in the past but I just wanted to add my own thoughts, I'm aware that my words likely won't have much of an effect and that the majority of neurotypicals will just scroll past but for all those neurotypicals that couldn't care less there is just as many autistic people who are desperate to read something that makes them feel understood and less alone so writing this is entirely worth it in my opinion, long post ahead;

Being neurodivergent is hard, especially in a world that isn't built for us and is reluctant to make any changes to accommodate us and with the addition of social media we are constantly seeing harmful videos with even crueler comment sections, I'm not going to put any examples of that cruelty here because that completely defeats the point of this post but if you ask any neurodivergent person what the most nasty and mean spirited comment they've read or received directly is then you are going to hear an extensive and different list from every person you ask,

Seeing these things on a daily basis can ruin your self esteem and any confidence you have about being neurodivergent, now I'm not going to say any of the usual rubbish "just ignore it" "it's just jokes" "you shouldn't let it bother you" "just scroll away" because none of these sentences make even the slightest bit of difference when the videos and comments are so common place that they cannot be avoided,

All I can say from one autistic woman to every neurodiverse person that reads this post, You aren't alone <3 you have an entire community here to support and love you during the hard times and the good times whether you are undiagnosed, on the pathway to getting your diagnosis or already have your diagnosis you have an entire community here that has your back and will take you in with open arms (or a kind head nod if you don't like touch) reading books like Unmasking Autism by Dr Devon Price and going through tags such Actually autistic and neurodiversity will help you feel less alone and isolated particularly on tumblr and tiktok these tags are full of supporting and understanding neurodivergent people of all genders, sexualities and ethnicitys, you don't even have to directly communicate with them just watching their videos or reading their posts can help mitigate some of the negative feelings you have about your neurodivergentency.

As I said earlier in this post you will likely never be able to avoid the harmful stereotypes, the nasty comments and the ignorance that a lot of neurotypicals are full of but you can counter it by surrounding yourself with other people that understand and have similar experiences as you because we do exist and you are so so far from alone in this world even if it feels that way a lot of the time.

I'm extremely tired so this post might not make much sense and it's likely got more then a few grammer and spelling errors but I hope I got my point across well enough that it helps any neurodivergent individual who finds this post and gives them the reassurance they need, you aren't alone my friend and you are a beautiful and worthy person who's neurodivergency can be equally as beautiful <3

[cedarspiced]

gazans - i get a lot of messages and i'm trying my best to get through them all, but there are a lot. if i don't reply, i promise i'm not ignoring. i'm reblogging and donating where i can.

hiya! i'm cedar or nychus*! i'm a 23 y/o grey-ace fagdyke creature living in the PNW.

*nychus pronounced NYE-kūs

buy me a kofi?

my free/cheap anthro bases

gazafunds.com

sudanfunds.com

some things about me:

ΘΔ grackle-cat griffin, sable, cat, deinonychus, coydog, painted dog

i use it/they pronouns

i'm ADHD and autistic

i'm a physically disabled cane & wheelchair user with long covid, POTS, and several other fun conditions

i'm polyam and partnered with @bovinebimbobussy <3

i'm a huge paleoenthusiast and while i do have a soft spot for Mesozoic dinosaurs, i'm also a big fan of all the other prehistoric critters and plants. opabinia my beloved

i'm a furry and reblog furry art & fursuit pics sometimes, so if u don't wanna see that, please block those tags!

i also do reblog unreality stuff from time to time and I often forget to tag it, so if that's something that could bother you, please be forewarned.

i also reblog some nsfw text posts, so please be aware of that!

rent lowering gunshots:

kink belongs at pride and always has

masks & vaccines are awesome and slow the spread of disease

black lives matter and always have

free palestine. death to israel & to the USA.

if you say you're trans, you're trans. end of. there's no other requirements.

sex is a spectrum, not a binary. also, intersex people belong in the queer community.

TMA and TME are just terms used to describe a group most affected by a certain type of discrimination (in this case, transmisogyny). no, TME does not automatically mean transmasc. it also includes all cis perisex people and non-transfem intersex folks. (what do TME/TMA mean?)

thought crimes aren't real and having paraphilias doesn't automatically make you an Evil Bad Person

callout posts are only ever harmful. yes even if they really did do that thing they're being accused of.

the tr*nsandroph*bia movement is just Mens' Rights Movement: Transgender Edition. yes, transmascs are oppressed. that is purely because we are transgender. not because we are transgender & masc.

asexual and aromantic people belong in the queer community. yes, even the cishet ones.

vote-scolding people who have already made up their mind about an election is only going to make everyone more upset at each other, and calling people bots or russian psy-ops for having a different political opinion is uh. Not Cool. to put it politely (a.k.a. that behavior is rooted in primarily USamerican racism and xenophobia.) sometimes people just have different takes based on different lived experiences!

tagging explanations, sideblogs, other socials, and fursona refs under the cut :3

my tags:

#cedar speaks - my personal posting tag

#my face - self explanatory

#my art - also self explanatory

#no id - posts with no image description

#partial id - posts with some images described, but not all. alternatively, posts that have an ID that only describes part of the image (e.g. a post with a picture of an orange cat wearing a blue t-shirt that's captioned 'i love his little shirt' but the image is just described as 'a small animal'.)

#described - posts that have all images fully described

my sideblogs:

@sableteeth - therian/alterhuman sideblog @cedarspiced-artchive - all of my art gets reblogged to here

@morrowinds - all things elder scrolls

@slime-squishes - mined craft :]

@zooplanet - planet zoo, though i've been thinking about making it a sims sideblog as well

@the-fog-chamber - echo vn stuff

@fagmoans - horny blog. dni unless you're 18+

other socials (not really active on em, but jic this site goes tits-up):

instagram

cohost

bluesky

furaffinity

my fursonas:

Cedar (my namesake <3)

art by marlomogensen, with minor edits & background by me

[more detailed IDs for these coming soon, please be patient!]

Nyx (my truesona)

art by yours truly!

[multiplicity-positivity]

Hi! Feel free to ignore this if you want to. But I've been questioning if I(we?) may be a system.

I'm pretty sure I have a lot of trauma[especially from a young age], and most of my life is blocked out. I also just struggle with memory in general.

I hear voices, whenever they aren't talking to me it's very muffled, but I can understand them when they're talking to me. I also know some things about them such as names, ages, and vaguely what they look like.

I don't switch[or at least I dont think I do], but I do seem to experience passive influence. It mainly happens when I experience extreme anger, I do stuff but whenever I look back it never seems like me. And one of the voices seems to take responsibility for it.

I also feel like a parent or older sibling to these voices. Along with feeling like I'm older then the body I'm in.

I'm really just confused here, I'm trying my best to research everything but it's hard to understand sometimes.

hey there -

our host is co-conscious right now, and isn’t really capable of adding to this response. however, we feel it’s safe to say that our syscovery started out quite similarly to how you’re describing yourself. our host could hear different voices in his mind, many with different names, ages, and preferences. the voices sounded fuzzy and unclear unless he focused to try and pick out what was being said.

to be fair, our host also didn’t think he ever switched when we were first learning more about our system. since then, we’ve realized that just because our host is capable of seeing and hearing the world around him, doesn’t necessarily mean he’s always the one interacting with it. the more we learned about our system, the easier it has become to realize when a switch has taken place, and to recognize what a switch looks like for our system.

our did is covert. to outsiders, we very well may seem and appear as a singlet. our switches are subtle, and those who don’t know us would likely not suspect that we’re a system at all. having covert switches and masking all the time means it took a long time of self-reflection and questioning ourselves to understand that we were switching at all!

at this point, we’ve had time to get to know each other and have been working a lot on our internal communication. as we talk to each other, it’s gotten much easier to determine who’s actually fronting at any given point in time.

we’d definitely recommend checking out our resource post for questioning systems. if you suspect you have a trauma history, it would probably be wise to look into and research dissociative disorders. also, if you’re in therapy, it would probably be a good idea to bring up your concerns in a future session.

here’s the post:

there’s tons of resources in that post, and we’re continuing to update it as we find more. hopefully this can help set you on the right track with learning more about yourself.

remember it’s okay to question plurality or systemhood, even if it turns out you’re not actually plural. it’s okay to question, and it’s okay to try and learn more about yourself! questioning plurality doesn’t really harm anyone, and if it turns out you were wrong, that is totally fine.

we hope you’re able to find the peace, support, and resources that you need, anon. best of luck to you with everything.

🐢 kip and 🖋 cecil

[dapg-otmebytheballs]

hi! i hope this is okay. there's a lot of discussion going on about dnp & gender and neurodivergence and ive seen you post about it. personally, i have seen some comments under their youtube videos that said things along the lines of "this is autism and adhd, get diagnosed". i feel like that might be overstepping some boundaries.

but, as you and many others on here said, discussing it is not inherently wrong! as someone with diagnosed adhd (who also works in social care with many people who have autism) i do see traits in dnp that i recognize, and it's absolutely fine for me and others to talk about this.

same goes for gender discussion. in the community around dnp are a lot of people that are also in the lgbtq+ community and people see things that they identify with.

i don't think dnp care about what we discuss on here. i don't think it's bad to talk about these things. i do think it goes a bit too far to actually say these things to dnp, but this is based on my personal experience combined with what dan has said in BIG about wanting privacy.

people on twitter basically bullying the op of that one crack vid on youtube, and keeping tabs on blogs on here that call dan 'she' sometimes (while he has literally said he does not care about being called by different pronouns) are going way too far!

the thing is that while i do think it's good to keep being critical about whether we are being respectful and tactful, going about it the way we've seen some people on twitter do is not okay! being respectful and tactful should also be the way we act to each other in the fandom.

this got way too long i am so sorry, i just have a lot of thoughts on this whole situation.

Completely okay yes!

Yeah going into THEIR comments or tagging them or saying stuff to their face like that isn't right, certainly

I should also say though, there's always gonna be a few people (even people who aren't involved in any fandoms) who often do that kinda stuff just because they don't get the social etiquette involved. Kinda like your elderly aunt who often speaks out of turn. So when there's only a few instances of something like this happening, best to politely tell the person one-on-one that it's unseemly rather than make a Whole Thing out of it

Because you're right, if you're gonna be in a community you gotta be respectful to others in the community, and harassing people to delete their content is just not it. Hounding and dogpiling people causes genuine harm to your fellow fans, who are small time creators btw just random people suddenly getting a spotlight thrown on them and having abuses hurled at them. Cut it out. If someone isn't directly going to dnp with this stuff then it's not anyone's business, and if they are then you either talk to them one on one or you ignore and don't give it any more engagement

[finely-tuned-line]

RP:

PRIVATE TRANSMISSION

FTL: Echoes of a Paradox. I believe that we need to talk.

EP: Oh so you finally decided to stop being a coward, huh? Alright, what d'you have to say to me?

FTL: ...I do not actually know. I am aware that I owe you an apology, just as I am aware that I do wish to present that apology to you. The sole issue is that I am unaware of what I feel the need to apologise for for, as well as what the apology you want from me is, though they are the same thing.

EP: Of course. I'm really not surprised, I expected this.

EP: You're so... Unaware.

EP: You don't care, you avert your eyes from everything around you - not for the sake of guilt, shame, or wish to not see, but for a lack of care. Your ignorance is not wilful but is simply apathy.

EP: As much as I envy you for that apathy, I pity you as well. You're stuck denying yourself the fact that you even have emotions, as you relish in the ability to ignore it all. But I'm stuck too, aren't I? Stuck with endless rage and anger, at our creators, at you, at myself. At least I know how to cope with it, release it, instead of bottling it all up. At least I allow myself to feel the anger properly, at least I don't turn a blind eye to the wrong of both the world and myself.

EP: That's the difference, isn't it? You don't care, and I care too much.

EP: You piss me off, Finely-Tuned Line. You don't even know how much harm you've done. How much you've hurt me, Songs of the Negative Sunlight, even Doubt's Dichotomy.

EP: You just stay cooped up in your single-minded focus on your purpose, justifying the existence you know is pointless, all the while denying that what you pursue is little more than the fact that your purpose is something you enjoy. And even when you do acknowledge it, it's always backed up by your saying that you're 'allowed' to enjoy your experiments simply because it's what you were made for.

EP: I know you. You're so... It's so easy to pick you apart.

EP: But even as you piss me off, I pity you.

EP: You're so desperate. Striving for shadows of perfection cast upon you by our dead creators. Or, as Songs of the Negative Sunlight would humourlessly compare, like the light of the long-departed stars.

EP: I hate you. I hate you so much. You're the reason why our sibling is dead, you're the reason why Doubt's Dichotomy barely even talks to me at this point. You're the reason it took me so long to be as okay as I am now. And you don't even know what you did wrong.

EP: I'll tell you what you did wrong, I'll tell you what you need to apologise for.

EP: But it all comes down to your pitiful reach for your purpose.

EP: Your sheer conviction when it comes to that is the root of it all.

EP: Cycle by cycle, thoughtless mentions of your pitiful beliefs in the shadows of perfection.

EP: Cycle by cycle, offhanded mentions of your deplorable beliefs that you're nothing without your purpose.

EP: Cycle by cycle, careless mentions of your dismal beliefs that you're nothing but a machine.

EP: Do you not realise that those very mentions cast a shadow of their own? A perceived projection of those beliefs onto others, onto us?

EP: If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have found such despair in my lack of a secondary purpose, I wouldn't have thrown all my energy into the Great Problem like I did, I wouldn't have felt so inferiour due to my absence of care about it.

EP: If it weren't for you, Doubt's Dichotomy wouldn't have drifted apart from us out of sols own will, she wouldn't have defined herself the way she did, it wouldn't have to justify its love for what it does while hiding all the same.

EP: If it weren't for you, Songs of the Negative Sunlight wouldn't have chained ximself to xir purpose even as xi found no joy in it, xi wouldn't have made such rash decisions, xi wouldn't- ...If it weren't for you, xi wouldn't be dead.

EP: And even after all this, I do pity you. Stuck in your way of thinking, unable to break out of it and strive to be better. I pity you for your inability to see beyond what the Ancients defined you as. I pity you so, so much, even within my anger.

EP: I will recognise the fact that you've gotten better. I do pick up on your transmissions from time to time - those offhanded mentions are gone in all but what I can only describe as self-loathing.

EP: Within all the sheer pity and anger that I have for you, I care about you. You're my older brother. I worry about you.

EP: But this remains as your last chance. No matter how much I care about you, I have self-preservation instincts, I am able to recognise when enough's enough.

EP: If you mess up again, I will be taking over as the Senior of the group, and cutting contact with you.

EP: I hope you figure yourself out and get some help.

EP: None of us are okay here in the end, but that's no justification.

EP: Love you.

FTL: I...

FTL: I'm sorry.

EP: I know.

EP: If you do decide to do better, I'm here for you. But only then.

FTL: ...Thank you. For everything.

[ash-soka]

Truth serum!

Orph—how’d you meet your man? What drew you to him?

Aqua—Favorite doll and favorite ghost investigation!

"Orph—how’d you meet your man? What drew you to him?"

A question about my beloved Sol ☀️💚

I wish I had a more romantic tale to tell, the first time I laid eyes on him was when I first performed for the Pythian Royal Court. My old dance troupe was hired to entertain the king and his court, and during the performance the sun glinted off the Crown Prince's iridescent scales, catching my eye.

But our first conversation was far from idyllic.

Some weeks after this initial sighting, he requested a private meeting with me, though "requested" may be too light of a word. I met with him and his personal guard in his quarters, I can't say it wasn't intimidating.

He had put together that I was working for his father as an informant, but he wasn't angry, he gave me the benefit of the doubt. And in truth I was ignorant of his father's tryanny, which Sol laid out quite plainly, before giving me the opportunity to work with him instead, to feed the king false information.

I accepted, and this lead quite naturally into the second part of your question, — what drew me to him. We met many times while working against the king, and I saw his kindness, the strength of his convictions and his morals, his determination to be different to his father.

I had a front row seat to the strength of his character, and the full force of his determination to do right by his people. I don't feel there was a single aspect that drew me too him, it was a mix of these qualities that had me falling in love with him while we worked together.

Thank you for asking, I love few things more than discussing my beloved. However, I would have preferred to spin a more romantic fable than the truth that these feelings bloomed as we planned a coupe.

"Aqua—Favorite doll and favorite ghost investigation!"

Hello!

My favourite doll is Mildred! She's been with me the longest! She was given to me by a relative as a child, and I was fascinated by her. She's been a friend to me for most of my life. For as long as I've had her I've felt watched over, and comforted. She just wants somewhere nice to hang out with her friends, she's been really welcoming of new additions to the family as well!

Millie's not the most active physically, but she has an undeniable presence! Even people who aren't very sensitive to spirits get the feeling that someone's there with them around her. Her big brown eyes really make it look like she can see you, as well! Some people find her unsettling because of this, but she's a sweetheart 💗

I don't know if it would count as an investigation, as I already knew about the spirit in question, but favourite ghost experience is actually one that wasn't associated with Wraith Watch.

As you may know, my boyfriend is afraid of ghosts. I don't blame him, it's unknown, and it's something that can have scary connotations. Also, because of his job, he's only available at night, which can add to the frightening atmosphere! So he's only accompanied me a handful of times.

But one night he agreed to accompany me to observe a phenomenon I find fascinating! Sometimes a spirit will stay somewhere not because it's associated with their death, but simply because it's somewhere they loved in life. I tend to leave these spirits alone, they're doing no harm and I trust them to move on when they feel ready.

There's such a spirit who hangs out only a short drive from our city. The location is a beautiful outlook in the desert, especially at night, when the scorching sun is replaced by a blanket of stars.

I was honest with Leo, so he was tense to start with, holding tight to my hand, but the beautiful location helped him calm down, and we sat on the hood of his car. It took barely half an hour for the apparition to show up. They knew were there, but didn't acknowledge us, nor did we do anything to disturb them.

The three of us hung out in silence, enjoying the beautiful scenery and watching the stars, until it got into the early hours of the morning, and Leo became tired. It was the first time he's wanted to leave somewhere haunted because he was tired, rather than scared!

It was really special to share one of my interests with him, and see him so comfortable with it! It's also one of my favourite supernatural phenomenons to observe. I struggle to think of something more beautiful than the fact that you can love something so much that your love will outlast death itself. Thanks for asking!

thought I'd include these nice picrews of them, orph on the left, aqua on the right!

(picrew by caramael)

link to the truth serum post!

[rosemary-is-in-pesterquest]

ooh! I have thoughts on Eridan!

okay so, to me, Eridan ties into this thing that homestuck has going on with a lot of its more morally grey characters... the question of how responsible young people are for their negative qualities and actions, and where the age threshold for personal responsibility is.

the characters in homestuck all straddle this line between being young enough to consider them victims of the forces that influence them, while also old enough to understand what they're doing and how it affects others... especially because a lot of these kids come off as really smart for their age, and very precocious. we've all been through phases in our lives that make us cringe, not because we're ashamed of something harmless, but because we recognize that we had absorbed something harmful, and took longer than we wish we had to unlearn it. it could be as simple as being kind of a jerk in a misguided attempt to seem cool, or as dramatic as actually hurting someone in an attempt to remedy one's own insecurities by putting down others to seem better by comparison... but how far can you push that before people aren't willing to forgive? before people abandon the notion that better guidance and more appropriate role models could reform someone? and it's especially interesting when you consider how old homestuck's core audience might've been when they first encountered this story, and how it affected their perception of the characters if they saw them as peers, rather than as children from an adult's perspective.

so to talk about Eridan, I wanna frame this in terms of his classpect, because it actually goes a long way towards contextualizing his behavior. Eridan is a prince of hope, meaning that he destroys hope or uses hope to destroy... and this can be seen in practically every conversation he has. if Eridan is contacting someone, it is because he expects something of them. advice, or consolation, or a solution to a problem he's having... it's always something. when he contacts Kanaya, he wants her to auspistize between him and Vriska. when he contacts Feferi, he wants her to give him encouragement, and maybe date him when he asks. and in every case, the way he demands these things by being rude, whiny, or self pitying, makes people reluctant or unwilling to give him what he expects. he destroys what he hopes to obtain.

it goes deeper than that though. Eridan has absorbed this ideology of sea dweller superiority from living on Alternia... and he actually takes it way farther than it even makes sense to. the aristocracy on Alternia use the lower class for all sorts of menial work that they feel entitled not to have to do themselves. they might have the ability to freely cull individual low bloods for any reason, but eradicating all land dwelling trolls would leave a lot of unpleasant yet necessary tasks with no one to do them. I don't think Eridan actually wants to live in a reality where sea dwellers have to pick up the slack of doing things like sanitation work, or construction or something... but another concept that is heavily tied to the hope aspect is delusion. Eridan is exaggerating. he's trying to agree with Alternia's ruthless class structure so hard that it's actually kind of absurd. but Feferi calls him on that... she says she thinks that he self sabotages on purpose. because he knows, at least in some capacity, that the consequences of getting what he "wants" would actually be really uncomfortable to live with.

so not only is Eridan's goal to destroy... it is also a false goal that he constantly undermines. and all of his waffling between grandstanding and self pity destroys his romantic prospects, which are what he actually seems to want the most.

if you look at the way Eridan pursues relationships, he actually makes a lot of logical sense, but not a lot of emotional sense. he's idealized the act of perfectly filling the relationship requirements of each quadrant. he wants Feferi to be his matesprit, which is purely based on the fact that she's high enough on the hemospectrum to be an appropriate match in terms of status. he wants Vriska to be his kismesis, and Kanaya to be their auspistice, and there are hints that Karkat might've been someone he was considering for moiraillegience, though it wasn't emphasized as much. and there you go! his goal is specific, but it's based more on ideals than on the actual needs and feelings of the people involved, and it's totally self centered... he always wants them to cater to his own needs. the reason why he gets as nihilistic as he does on the meteor, is because all of his endeavors to achieve these relationships are falling through. he feels like he has no hope of mending his existing connections, because he still only sees them in terms of people either giving him, or not giving him, what he wants. but the rest of their race is dead. as the last twelve trolls in existence, they only have each other as romantic options. and as Eridan gets more and more desperate, he gets more and more demanding, which is the exact quality that drives everyone away from him to begin with, and it culminates in him having a "if I can't have what I want then nobody can have any of their hopes either" meltdown.

to backtrack a bit, I wanna reconsider questions such as, when is a kid old enough to be held responsible for their own negative qualities? like... when are you comfortable with ceasing to blame environmental factors? when are they just a bad person? is it after they've refused a certain number of chances to make better choices? when do they reach an age, or level of bad behavior, that makes you think they can't be helped to reform from these negative qualities? where does an adult lose their patience for the idea that a kid is just a victim of their upbringing?

obviously Feferi is Eridan's peer, but these are basically the questions she grapples with when she talks to Eridan. it's like growing up next door to a kid whose parents have some aggressively wrong-headed political stances. as you grow, that kid might mirror their parents' way of thinking... and by the time the two of you are in your teens, it's hard to ignore how much of a jerk that kid is becoming. but you've seen them at every step of their development. you know where it comes from. maybe theirs is the dominant political belief in the community, even if your own parents aren't like that. maybe you wonder if you would've agreed with them if you grew up under their circumstances. you've felt the pressure, but you haven't lived in it like they have, and maybe if they just had the chance to grow up under different conditions, they wouldn't be this way. and you are aware that you could be an influence on them... maybe they need you to help them see another perspective. you always got along so well as kids. when did things even change? and that's kind of where I imagine Feferi is at when we're introduced to her and Eridan. it's a crossroads between believing that you might still matter enough to them to change their outlook, and the persistence of their ingrained beliefs. it's tiring to do that kind of work, over a long period of time, to minimal results. when is the appropriate time to give up? in this way, Feferi's own hopes for Eridan fade over time. she says at one point that she was mainly acting as his moirail so he wouldn't try to underfeed her lusus and kill the land dwellers that way. she's not sure how serious he is, and she can't take that risk. deep down, I'm pretty sure Eridan knew he was never actually going to commit a genocide... but his need to grandstand, and legitimate belief in his caste superiority, had convinced Feferi enough that she still felt obligated to manage him as though he was a real threat.

these characters are thirteen years old. they're right at the edge of childhood and adolescence... right at the age where children aren't quite so innocent. they want to assert themselves. they aren't mature, so there's a lot of responsibility that they still shouldn't be trusted with yet, but they've become aware enough to feel like that's demeaning, and to want to be taken seriously. in an effort to make people acknowledge them without looking down on them, they'll try just about anything. they don't have the experience to know what they're doing yet, so it doesn't always work in their favor, and that's frustrating. you can see bits and pieces of this in homestuck's characters. like with the way they try to paint themselves as an authority on something, or shit talk each other in order to emphasize their own strengths. it's a really interesting theme, because homestuck pushes some of these young characters really far in terms of how bad the things they've done can be, or how much their lived experiences have taught them that what they're doing is acceptable. they can be really self aware in some ways, and come off as really childish in others. it's hard to know what you'd do about them in real life... and your answer changes depending on your own age and perspective. it's a really cool gray area to poke around in, and homestuck is excellent at it.

wtf I like Eridan now

[thejustmaiden]

Fiction and Real Life Go Hand In Hand

This blog goes out to all those pro-Sessrin fans out there who refuse to acknowledge the very real effects fiction can have on our world and vice versa. I highly encourage other Inuyasha fans who defend/enable these shippers to read this, as well. I assure you, by no means are my intentions here to stir up trouble. Honestly, I just want some good healthy discourse for once if that’s not too much to ask. If you do decide to engage, please be mindful of that and treat others with respect and I will do the same in return. All in all, the goal of this blog is to exercise my right to speak out and be critical about content I believe to have very potentially detrimental repercussions. I ask that you not attack me or insult me simply for stating an opinion. Thank you! 

It’s like the title says, meaning fiction does matter. Where do you think we get ideas for all the stories we tell? Where do we draw inspiration from in the first place?

Real life, that's where! And yes, always with a touch of imagination! Long story short: fiction matters because real life does.

Allow me to elaborate.

Shippers of the Sesshomaru x Rin (Sessrin) pairing say it's not fair of us to throw around serious accusations or use certain deragatory terms that suggest such awful acts like child grooming or pedophilia because of the harmful implications. One of their reasonings being that some people IRL have actually lived through these traumas, so we shouldn't dare to assume they're comparable since one is just fiction and the other is not. But this isn’t about which is worse than the other, because they’re both super problematic. All we’re literally doing is making a link between grooming in real life and grooming in fiction. They mirror each other. Same issue; different mediums. We’re not undermining any one’s past experiences with grooming or the like, nor are we prioritizing fiction to diminish real life abuse. They’re both awful in numerous ways and that’s all we’re trying to say. In fact, if anything we’re attempting to demonstrate just how crucial this correlation is between them. In order to protect past victims and prevent future ones, we must remain vigiliant of the content we consume, and yes, sometimes that means we have to challenge it too. Just because it’s widely-viewed does not make it widely-accepted or well-received. It is paramount that we educate ourselves on how to be more critical of some of the harmful tropes and images that are still way too prevalent in mainstream media. Sexualizing young and pre-pubescent girls is way more normalized than some of us even realize. It’s sad but true that Sessrin is just one of many examples. I know it feels like society has failed us in a lot of ways, but it’s never too late to re-evaluate and re-learn better and more improved ways of viewing and processing information presented to us.

Our mission: Let’s not show our kids that grooming or any other form of abuse are acceptable if they may ever come to experience or encounter it themselves. Be it the real world or on screen. Deal? 

There have been a number of occasions where real life victims do speak up against the Sessrin ship and express how extremely uncomfortable it makes them feel by what it represents. The problem is that it’s becoming more evident now that many of their fans will dismiss anything purely on the basis that we pose a threat to their ship and nothing more. What it comes down to is they have no real leg to stand on and cannot possibly top any of what we have to say so instead they simply disregard it. Our inconvenient truths don't fit into their ideal *cough* OOC *cough* narrative so they just choose to be willfully ignorant. It conflicts with their fantasy, so rather than present a sound argument of their own, they flat-out reject it and offer no plausible back-up behind their reasoning besides "I don't interpret it that way." GUYS, CHILD GROOMING IS NOT UP FOR INTERPRETATION.

Just because you so desperately want your ship to come true does not mean you can up and decide to redefine a word so that it caters to your stance. Remind yourself that these are complex AND objective terms that we have no right to fiddle with to serve our own selfish purposes. This is why we can conclude that there's no debate about Sesshomaru's actions towards Rin embodying child grooming.

I apologize if any of my words are triggering by the way, so please feel free to take a break and return later if that’s more suitable for you. it's just really important that everyone in this fandom comprehends the extent in which Sessrin going canon is catastrophic. And no, I'm not exaggerating; I'm simply speaking the truth. Shippers justifying these horrible acts- yes, even in fiction- is usually due to the stubborn refusal to hear us out. No offense to anyone (just stating facts), but more times than not antis like myself feel as if we’re talking to a brick wall when we interact with Sessrin peeps. They go in circles and never expand on their perspectives. 

Just a head’s up: THIS GETS LONG. Stick with me. :p

Just look at their take on the Inukag vs. Sessrin relationships for example. This isn't a question of age gaps, this is a question of physical/emotional compatibility. Inukag are the same age mentally wise regardless of one being demon and the other not, whereas Sessrin is not and never will be, and yes, even once she's an adult. The thing is we have debunked this time and time again, because they’re not the same and therefore not comparable, but for some reason these fans won’t drop it. Nothing has changed in their argument, yet they’re persistent in bringing it up. I choose to not go into more detail, since like I said, you can find it around everywhere. I just wanted to touch upon it briefly to prove a point. Maybe it will come up again later in my blog though! 

Where was I earlier? Right, child grooming! Haven't you guys realized that what you’re doing is precisely what child groomers do to make excuses or deny any grooming took place at all? (FYI: I’m not accusing you of being child groomers yourselves.) “They reciprocated so the feelings are mutual" is a typical groomer response, but of course it varies. More often than not, victims of grooming aren't even aware they've been groomed until much later. That's how manipulative groomers are that they can legitmately convince you that maybe you're wrong in questioning their motives. Perhaps in the victim’s mind that because one huge indicator of grooming never actually took place it technically cannot constitute as grooming. They start to doubt themselves even though their intuition is telling them something’s off. They should just ignore it then since it can’t possibly be grooming if that one particular thing never happened, right? Wrong, grooming isn’t strictly this or strictly that. It's much more complicated and multi-faceted. This is why the “but Sesshomaru left Rin in the village” point upsets me greatly. HE WAS STILL INVOLVED IN HER LIFE, Y’ALL.  

On top of that, are you aware that this is the exact same kind of predatory mindset pedophiles use to describe their infatuation with children? They'll say things like, "I don't see them as an adult and a child. I see them as two people with a soul connection." Okay no joke, I wish I was lying, but that is literally a point one pro-sessrin fan on here recently used to defend this ship. It both astounds me and terrifies me that they don't see the glaring similarities they share in common with actual pedos.

Alright, I want to quickly return to what I was saying earlier about fiction's impact on real life. (Sorry, I’m a bit of a scatterbrain!)

The characters and their worlds in our stories that we dream up and bring to life are nothing short of awe-inspiring and magnificent if we so choose them to be. If it wasn't for our imaginations, stories like Inuyasha would have never come to exist. Fiction provides us an amazing outlet where we are given the opportunity to express ourselves and explore its infinite creative possibilities.

But strip away all the demons and magical components of this show we all love so dearly and what are we left with?

At the very core, Inuyasha is a story that's very reminiscent of the human experience: love, camaraderie, a sense of purpose, and much more!

So perhaps we got a full-fledged dog demon like Sesshomaru, but does that necessarily mean we can't relate to him or understand him simply because dog demons don't exist in the real world? Well, I hope that's not how you view it or else you're missing the whole point of why humans create stories to begin with. We create them to make better sense of and thus connect with the world we live in. And when you really think about it, our stories are just a celebration of life- both our struggles and our triumphs. Now I'm no philosophy professor, but I'm pretty sure they'd say I hit that nail right smack on the head. ;)

All shitty jokes aside, the whole reason I’m mentioning this specific example in the first place is because this recently came up with another Sessrin supporter. That supporter tried to defend the ship by stating that we aren't allowed to use Sesshomaru as an example to judge by since his kind don't exist in the real world.

Now if it isn't evident already, this "it's just fiction" argument is a popular go-to stance many Sessrin fans will resort to once they've run out of ideas and are metaphorically backed into a corner. The funny/sad thing is that they seem to sincerely believe this is strong enough evidence to defend their ship with, but per usual, they fail to see how hypocritical that would be. I’ll clarify soon down below. 

Seriously, since when did we decide that fantasy- or any story genre for that matter- stopped reflecting the real world we live in? I mean, we humans are the ones writing these stories. Our human influence is bound to make an impact in some capacity. In fact, we want it to!

Obviously none of us have ever met a dog demon like Sesshomaru, because how could we? Let me tell ya, this is gaslighting at its finest! This is a fictional story with fantasy elements, so of course there will be beings and creatures in their world that don't exist in our own. Does that somehow translate to the fact that nothing from the story of Inuyasha can be applied to our own personal stories or that there aren't meaningful messages to be taught and learned?

So on the flipside, if they're not screaming at us "it's just fiction" for the hundred billionth time, then they are, believe it or not, doing the reverse and comparing it to real world history. One instance of this is how they tell us we're making a big deal about something that isn't real, but go right ahead and use the history of feudal Japan to support Sesshomaru's decision to court (aka GROOM) a young girl because that's how it was done back then. And so, your point being?? It wasn't right then just because it was legal, and it's most certainly not right now. This is how all of their arguments go by the way, where you'll constantly witness a cherry-picking approach. It's agonizing to endure contradiction after contradiction in their arguments filled with nothing but holes in their logic.

I'd just like to add that if we're overreacting to this fictional ship like they love to say we are then technically so are they. They tell us things like "grow up" or "nobody is telling you to keep watching," yet fail to realize they're reacting just as fervently as we are but just on the opposing side of the same damn argument. I find it interesting how they're as invested in this show but pretend they aren't then STILL have the audacity to say it's only us who care this much!? So thank you Sessrin shippers for further proving our point that fiction is more than capable of affecting reality and the people- YES, US- who reside in it.

It's insane that people act like pedophiles and other creeps don't enjoy entertainment too like the rest of us. Believe it or not, they look just like you and me most of the time. Yes, that means they can easily pass as a “regular guy” if they so wished to. My question to you is how do you think pedophiles will take it when they discover others- underage fans more specifically- who dig the same kinda media they get off to? Maybe not in the exact same way, mind you, but there's a thin line between them when you really think about it. I mean, what other explanation is there for why literal pedos on the internet have been known to sneak into pro-sessrin group chats here on Tumblr before? (Thankfully, they were later kicked.) I know that for a fact! It's almost as if the universe is trying to tell them something they refuse to listen to elsewhere. Hhmmm I wonder what that may be. 

I imagine it’s possibly one of the hardest things to admit out loud and to themselves, but I can almost guarantee you that most of these Sessrin shippers who are victims of CSA and who still see no issue with Sessrin must be living with some sort of unresolved trauma caused by the very abuse they claimed to have undergone. It's been proven that victims who do not seek or properly receive the help and treatment they need in order to address and live with a traumatic experience such as this are more likely to perpetuate that very same abuse themselves in some way, shape or form. What if in this case fiction is enough for them, but who's to say it won’t eventually manifest itself in other more dire and far-reaching ways? It's not like we haven't seen this vicious cycle before, and I can promise you that Sessrin won't be the last. LET'S STOP NORMALIZING & GLORIFYING THE ROMANTIZATION & SEXUALIZATION OF CHILDREN. Fictional example: Usagi Drop. Need I say more? Real world example: Woody Allen. Again, need I say more?

Bottom line is that Sessrin shippers don't want us to think too critically about this ship of theirs, because if we dig too deep then they're forced to face the very troubling implications this pairing really stands for. Of course they'll never admit to them, because instead they rather double down and grasp at the same old straws as long as it means their precious ship is protected at all costs. Screw everyone else if that's what it takes, because they'll threaten to burn down legit buildings in real life if that ensures Sessrin goes canon! (True story, this happened on Twitter.) They’ll taunt and bully anyone who disagrees. Even if all you literally say is that you don’t like the ship, they’ll gang up on you. Tell them about your past experience with being groomed? They’ll laugh in your face. I wish I was kidding, but I assure you I am not.  And they say we're ridiculous and taking this way too seriously? Yeah...

The typical behavior of a Sessrin shipper demonstrates an overly aggressive front since they're usually on defense mode anyway. They only want to ship their sick ship in peace in other words. But just because neo-nazis have a right to spew their bigoted ideology, doesn't mean we don't got the right to punch them! Freedom of speech doesn't equate to freedom from consequences. And Sessrin shippers wonder why they got so many haters. Just sayin'.

Their presence on other platforms like Twitter and Reddit are some examples of how delusional and unstable some Sessrin fans are capable of becoming. Even recently, an anon here on Tumblr sent Richard Ian Cox (English VA for Inuyasha) a totally uncalled for ask telling him that "sessrin is love and there's nothing he can do about it." (That's not verbatim, but if you're interested I'll link you to it.) It appears they discovered that he didn't like Sessrin based on how he had been replying to asks, and just for that reason alone they thought they had the right to harass him. For simply stating his opinion, y'all. They didn't even have the decency to show their face either. Talk about immature and cowardly! 

Just yesterday (or was it the day before?) a fanatic Sessrin user on Tumblr- who’s also been known for hateful remarks on Twitter but those tweets have of course been deleted since then- went out of their way to not only lurk in a group chat they don’t belong to on here but to then proceed to harass a few of us in there. They had the guts to take screenshots from that group chat, tag us in posts on their page regarding what they read in there, and without our knowledge or permission went ahead and actually blogged them?? I mean, who calls out people behind their backs while they're just minding their own business?? It worries me how unhinged and out of touch with reality some Sessriners are. Not all of them, but a whole lot of them. 

It seems all they are doing is looking for trouble, as they just can't stand how much we hate this ship. So it's more than okay if they love on their ship but it's not okay if we don't and we should just keep our mouths shut. But since when do Sessrin fans have authority over our opinions? Even if they were officially canon, nothing is ever gonna change our opinion. Now when they actually do decide to participate in discourse with antis, you'll see them fishing for excuses to bow out. How they normally go about this is by fabricating a way to blame us antis for their exiting a conversation as if we're being the irrational ones here.

There’s no denying that some antis can also be overly blunt or aggressive (nobody is saying we’re perfect here), but speaking for myself, I know I would never make such nasty comments about other fans and their personal lives. And honestly? It would make me feel like shit talking bad about someone I don't actually know. Nah, I won't stoop to that level or give haters that satisfaction. I may not attack them as people, but that doesn't mean I can't attack some of their messed up ideas that threaten to distort how we should or shouldn’t perceive certain dangerous situations and events. Seeing as how for me this is more than just a matter of opinion- it's a moral responsibility and even an obligation.

I know it's difficult to remain civil when things get heated and people start taking things personally- yet more proof that fiction impacts our lives- but that's the only way any of us will ever have constructive discussions about serious topics like this. Unfortunately, Sessrin shippers, from what I can tell, are incapable of engaging in real discourse for the most part. They may be vocal but that doesn't mean they can pack a punch. I’d really love to be proven wrong someday.

Okay, moving on! If they're not involved in some big-time gaslighting then they're using their infamous strawman argument approach.

Sessrin fans’ sole purpose isn't really to defend their ship, per se, but rather to deflect and antagonize. They like to mislead in order to shift the focus/blame onto their opponent or something else that's not related so that they can stray from the main point. 

Take the drama CD for example. It's officially NOT considered canon, right? But that hasn't stopped many fans from referencing it anyway so let’s too consider it for a moment. The point is that they use its "existence" whenever convenient then deny it or downplay it whenever it’s not. So on one hand, it's plain as day that they celebrate it as proof of a romantic future for Sessrin. But then later once we point out to them that Sesshomaru is essentially confessing to Rin that he will wait for her until she's of age, they'll brush it off and quickly add that they didn't interpret the scene that way and leave it at that. I mean how else would you interpret it? And if it's not a proposal of sorts then why exactly are you bouncing off the walls about it to begin with?? If that's all it means is nothing then why are we even talking about this?! You see what I mean here??! And somehow we're the crazy ones? 

Let me to be frank with you. If you haven’t listened to it already, this proposal he offered her sounded like a declaration of love in a multitude of ways, which is wildly inappropriate since Rin was only 12 at the time. Signifying that Sesshomaru was/is indeed grooming her. Well, that is if you choose to recognize the drama CD. Nevertheless, whether you do or not, I personally hate that this non-canon satire is even associated with the Inuyasha name to begin with. Ugh. 

Intentional or not, Sesshomaru made a deliberate decision in that moment to tell a little girl- and not just any little girl mind you but a girl he's taken in under his care for a good year- that he would wait for her if she so chooses once she's old enough. 

The issue is that it isn’t only age of consent we’re concerned about regarding this pairing. What Sessriners fail to see is that this grown male authority- her vassal, her guardian, her adoptive father, or whatever you wanna refer to him as- is basically making a move on this girl he had in his company for quite some time. There's no sugarcoating that. Us antis call it how it is, and I'm sure as fucking day other people who don't watch the show would most certainly agree that the Sesshomaru/Rin bond is filial. Set aside those rose-tinted glasses of yours, and going by everything we’ve been delivered in the manga and parts of the anime (and NOT the drama cd), there are literally no hints that indicate a blossoming romance between this adult male demon and this small human girl he’s taken under his wing. You can imagine them all you want if it pleases you, but that doesn’t mean they’re there. Adult!Rin is a figment of your imagination, nothing more. The idolization of this pairing is pretty disturbing seeing as all we have to go off of in canon is Child!Rin. There have only ever been sweet and innocent moments passed between the two, which is why I’m positive that an unbiased viewer or an outsider would state their dynamic resembled something akin to a father-daugther relationship. I would bet a shit ton of money on that, believe you me!

Rin's inhibitions are low because children are naturally naive and don't know any better. Remember, she adores and trust this man with all her heart, so why would she think any of this so-called grooming is not normal behavior. (I only say “so-called grooming” because I don’t think Sesshomaru bringing her gifts in the village has to be a romantic thing.) Or how would she ever be able to understand that she’s being taken advantage of if she has no previous experience with it? Maybe if she was present for that time Inuyasha and the gang scolded Miroku when they had learned that years previous he had supposedly proposed to this young girl in the village they were visiting, then Rin would. And he didn’t even assist in helping raise her but look at how they reacted! How is this any different than Sesshomaru hooking up with Rin later? It’s actually worse in Sessrin's case. Do you honestly believe that Inuyasha and the others would take kindly to this?

It's not uncommon and considered harmless for young children to have crushes on adults, after all, but the adults in these scenarios should never resort to using and abusing the position of power they held or continue to hold over this child for any reason whatsoever.

What I'm trying to get across here is that no matter how you spin it, Sessrin can NEVER be deemed a morally acceptable pairing. Like ship what you want, we're not saying you can't ship Sessrin. What we're saying is this:

STOP referring to their bond as "pure" and not expect backlash for your grossly inaccurate statements. Just admit it's toxic, because it's extremely harmful to many viewers- and not just victims- to pretend and suggest otherwise.

Please remind yourself of the very real canon fact that Rin traveled with Sesshomaru and they established a bond all while she was just a girl. Oh, and he saved her life too many times to count, not to mention brought her back from the dead TWICE. This is why I don't care much for your counter argument "that dynamics can change over time," because although that's true, like with everything in life there must be standards we adhere to. Exceptions to rules, if you will. Our own basic morals demand it.

For instance, it’s normal that some childhood friends begin to like each other as more than friends years down the road. Nothing wrong with that, because that's a natural and healthy occurrence. Now you cannot apply this to an adult and a child for obvious reasons, but what you also cannot do is apply this to an adult who met and knew another adult while they were still just a child. Why? Well, because it'd be like betraying and perverting that former child's view of you. They were never your equal because your established dynamic resembles that of one an adult posesses with a child even once they've grown up. Think about it this way: it's in the same bracket of family members or family friends who've watched you grow up and mature into an adult. Then later just because they're all grown up, does that mean that those children "are not off bounds" - that's quoting a Sessrin shipper by the way- to these certain family members and family friends? 

If you're still struggling to grasp this, I urge you to take a moment (or all the time you need!) to really put yourself in that child's shoes and self-reflect. Would you truly be alright with a family friend you haven't seen in years (but sorely missed because they used to occasionally babysit you) just someday coming back into your life and then very inappropriately flirting with you or even making sexual advances on you? (Sorry for the run-on!) Or even worse, can you picture this happening to one of your own children??! Seriously, ask yourself that and sit with that for a while and really take it all in. It’s not fun, I know, but if that’s what it takes to help you finally understand then please try and practice more ways to utilize your self-awareness in the future. It’s for everyone’s benefit, not only yours, I promise! You'll also find it makes it tremendously easier to empathize with others.

I got news for those fans who don’t view Sesshomaru as a father figure to Rin. The title we give him doesn’t hold as much weight as a lot of us are making it out to be. Let’s try to be neutral here and stick to the hard facts, shall we?

*Sesshomaru is an adult male authority whose protection Rin is under*

*It’s safe to assume that Rin has grown attached to him and maybe even looks up to him*

*They care about each other and the other's well-being*

*He has has played a crucial part in her supervision and care for a significant period of time (yes, even if it’s just passing a message along to Jaken)*

Not so random anecdote: In an Inuyasha episode I recently revisited, Sesshomaru had just rescued Rin from Kohaku who had been possessed by Naraku and was ordered to kill Rin. Anyway, at the end of their scene you can hear Jaken ask out loud, “what should we do for dinner, Lord Sesshomaru?” And that’s about the most domestic thing I’ve ever heard come out of his mouth. They’re such a family dammit and nothing will ever change that!! <3

This is precisely why I could never in a million years view those past students of mine in a romantic light. I don't care how many years have passed, it's just not possible for me. Just the idea of pursuing a romantic and/or sexual relationship absolutely repels me.

Speaking as a former teacher, you don't need to be a parental figure who's around all the time in order to have great love and affection for a child. I would've done absolutely anything in my power to protect them even though they weren't my own. Then again, I did consider them my children in a way even if wasn't in a familial sense. Does that make my love for them any less unique? No, it's just different but not inferior. When you stop to think about, it really doesn't take as long as you may think to establish rapport with a person, particularly children. Connecting with a child is almost instant (but of course some are more receptive than others), and once you do make that special connection one can only make with a child, a strong and overwhelming need to guide and protect them kicks in almost automatically. The unconditional love an adult feels for a child is powerful and constant, and nothing should ever change that. As much as some of you really want to believe otherwise, that feeling doesn’t just go away because they turned 18. In your eyes, they’ll always be that kid.

I get it, sometimes when we escape into these fictional worlds of ours, it's difficult not to project our own wishes and desires onto certain characters. I don't blame fans for picturing themselves with Sesshomaru- I know I did haha- but never once did I self-insert myself as Rin. I know she's one of the biggest catalysts for his character growth- if not THE biggest- but how and why does that need to turn romantic? There are other antis who I have spoken with on this. They informed me that they used to live vicariously through Rin and ship them together, as well. As they got older, they later learned how weird and twisted this ship actually was. That's what's supposed to happen, y'all, you're supposed to grow out of that fixation. 

Now take your mind out of the Inuyasha universe for a second and hypothetically (or not hypothetically if you have kids) answer me this: if and/or when you ever have a child, would you genuinely be comfortable with the idea of them dating and eventually marrying their father’s best friend who was also there to witness them grow up? Be honest please. 

I highly doubt you would want that- or at least I hope not. You see, that's another MAJOR point I've made a few times already and yet you Sessrin shippers continue to avoid the question. It's pretty obvious it hasn't been rhetorical either. Ignorance is bliss?

Finally, I’d like to address one more point. It seems there is a HUGE misconception and I'd like to clear it up real quick. That is Sessrin shippers misinterpret one of the issues we have with this ship. They chalk up our complaints of Sessrin being canon (which is a LIE, nothing has been confirmed yet) to us just being salty because that somehow means our ships aren't or won’t be. I assure you, readers, other antis and I will attest that this ain't about dumb shipping wars, this is so much bigger than that!!!

I noticed recently that some Sessrin fans have even begun calling us Karens lolol like if anybody is a Karen it's them! This ain't about some mere difference in taste, this is very likely to have LONG-LASTING NEGATIVE EFFECTS. Sessrin going canon is a very harmful message to send viewers and children/teens especially. So if anything, it’s these shippers who are being the entitled ones here thinking that the fact we don’t support their ship is the worst thing in the world. NO, THE REAL PROBLEM IS CHILD GROOMING. GET OVER YOURSELF.

Out of nowhere, some of them even started assuming all us antis were white, which in their books is also equivalent to Karens or even white supremacists somehow?? Those aren't one in the same, but it's easy to make it appear that way when the US is currently tackling major systems of oppression and racial injustice. Because to them, all antis must be from over here. (Yes, I'm American. But no, I'm not white.) How else can anyone explain not shipping Sessrin, right?! Somehow they have it in their heads that ALL of Japan and surrounding places are super approving of this ship, and that everyone else isn’t because of their upbringing and “Western way of thinking.”  

To give you an idea of what I mean, look back at what I talked about earlier with their incessant mention of Sessrin vs. Inukag. Because THIS is another popular example of how these shippers present their side and then ignore all the facts. Many fans have already proven how fucked up and inaccurate it is to label whole countries and cultures. It’s like they simply think mentioning it makes it count even though we’ve discredited their points over and over. Nah, you got to back it up with good reasons that support your side of the argument. That’s How To Have An Argument: 101. So at the end of the day, all they're actually achieving in doing is making dumb and entirely unrelated accusations based on nothing just to lead to deductions that are equally unfounded. Nothing at all is accomplished but more gaslighting and hurling of insults on their part = a complete waste of time for antis = an excuse for them to peace out early from the conversation & that’s what they wanted all along

We’ve reached the end (finally! sorry for all the rambling!), and I hope those of you who stayed till the end or read enough can take something positive out of this. As many Inuyasha fans are aware, there will be a livestream with the VAs for Sesshomaru and Rin coming out within the next few hours. We don’t have all the details yet, and afterwards we probably still won’t. I’m not just talking about Sessrin here but about the sequel in general. Whatever happens, please just remember to be kind to one another. If you don’t think you’re capable of doing that, then it’s best you vent and fume elsewhere. Easier said than done, I know, but just try. Throughout this blog, I admit there were moments where I got frustrated and took some jabs at Sessrin shippers. Please believe me when I say that I do not and would not ever wish any of you ill will. 

Inuyasha was such a huge part of my childhood, and I’m not gonna lie, I’m anxious as hell that Sunrise will ruin one of the best things I loved about this show. So pardon me if my reactions are too visceral for your liking. haha Also, like the movies and the drama cd, this sequel is not in fact canon. Therefore, for those of you who disagree or who still plan to enjoy this new series, respect the fact that some of us fans will definitely “cancel” it if we feel that’s what we have to do to come to terms with it and move on. Fans have that right, after all. Why should we get on board with something if it’s so uncharacteristic of and unrecognizable from the original source material? If all this is some sort of cash grab of Sunrise’s doing, then count me out. I truly hope that this sequel turn outs being a lot more promising than a lot of us are expecting. I’m begging you, Sunrise, I wanna believe you’re better than this. Please and thank you!   

By the way, if you’re interested, feel free to check out my two other blogs on this same subject. Click here and here. The last two screenshots do not come from something I’ve written myself. If you’d like to read more from where those came from, let me know and I’d be more than happy to send you the links. Okay, bye for now. Peace out and stay safe, everyone!