#bc I’m not 100% sure it’s just my conclusion

[nnato]

Hiii! I genuinely mean no disrespect, I'm very new to FE so it has got me curious, why does one half of andre's face look like it was punched?

Hi! No worries :) I think it’s a birthmark. I couldn’t find an example but I think I’ve seen pictures where he already had it as a kid!

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

Is shattering permanent in the comic (especially with the force fusions and cluster) or can it be fixed down the line like future did? Asking for your opinion on this too bc I found out about it in Future and it makes me feel weird (bc now it feels like any SU stuff and shattering has no consequence or tension, so haven’t been able to read or write stories). Maybe I’m seeing this wrong? Would love your thoughts

Hmm...

So to answer your first question: The comic for WDAU works on the same rules as canon does. I have no intention to over-write anything canon clearly stated to be true.

The ability to put back together shattered gems is definitely a part of that.

So yes, theoretically, even in WDAU, gems being shattered is not 'the end' because they can be eventually re-instated through the work of the diamonds, IF they someday decide to Change Their Minds like they did in the original series.

That being said...

I want to talk a little bit about something you said, because it tickles my brain in an interesting way:

"now it feels like any SU stuff and shattering has no consequence or tension"

And the best way to talk about stuff, I've found, is to ask questions about our underlying assumptions. So my questions for you (all) today are:

For us humans, death certainly IS a constant that remains ever-permanent, and thus it's easy to compare it to shattering and draw that parallel... but is that a fair comparison?

In fiction, death is often circumvented and there still remains reasonable tension in things like magic-heavy worlds, vampire novels, sci-fi where almost any sickness is eradicated, etc. Is this not quite similar to what shattering is for gems?

Is the perceived permanency of shattering the only reason it feels like a heavy consequence?

Are there OTHER consequences of being shattered that make it just as interesting, if not more than, to be explored as a plot device?

Must there be an ever-looming threat of something horrible and permanent happening to make a story good?

There isn't a right or wrong answer to these questions, necessarily. I'm not posing these in order to lead you to a singular, 'absolutely correct' conclusion or way of writing.

For some stories, death DOES need to be permanent in order not to make light of what the characters go through! In some forms of writing, there IS no other way around that consequence.

But I daresay SU is not one of those stories.

Let me put it this way - 100 years ago, medicine had only BEGUN to develop into the thing we know it as today. Sure, there were therapies and treatments for diseases, broken limbs, poisonings, etc. Some of them were quite good, even! But overall, the death tolls back then from basic illness were MUCH higher than they were today.

Pnumonia, Malaria, Syphillis, Smallpox, Bubonic Plague, AIDS.

These were things that people died from, with near CERTAINTY, for the LONGEST time. They were considered the road to a permanent black screen.

And today? Even though they are still, without proper intervention, JUST as deadly, we now have new tools and vaccines to combat them. Hell, if you get vaccinated fast enough you can get bit by a rabid dog and live to tell the tale, unscathed! Rabies used to be a one-stop-shop to the afterlife.

Despite this, we still view these diseases with appropriate fear. They are still dangerous - in the right conditions.

In the right conditions, the consequences for a LOT of things can be permanent. If permanency is what you're looking for.

So alright, the Diamonds can heal shattered gems now. Booooring. How easy it is to fix any shattered gem! What a simple solution to anything tragic.

But................... will they ALWAYS do so?

In fact...will the Diamonds ALWAYS be around?

Will the gems who got shattered always be picked up, piece by piece, and be brought back to them, perfectly preserved? Or will they lose pieces of themselves along the way - literally?

And what NEW consequences can we think of, when we stop thinking of the permanency of death, and start thinking of the Impermanence of those tools that keep us here longer and longer?

Just food for thought. 👀

[philosophiums]

Megumi Rant bc I'm So Tired

I was gonna talk about 271 and the ending chapters of JJK in general, specifically focusing on how Shonen Jump puts a hard end date on each series it publishes (which are based on conversations with the mangakas, sure, but with no leeway once it’s determined because SJ wants to keep cycling through new publications in order to keep making money - and those hard line end dates cannot possibly account for, say, sudden illness that would prevent a mangaka from releasing a chapter) and how it’s the best end to the series that many fans could have asked for given that info, but I’m tired and I don’t feel like yelling at a wall, so here’s a rebuttal aimed at a lot of Megumi hot takes™ I’ve seen since, really, 269 dropped.

Obligatory thing up front bc I know the JJK fandom hates reading and critical thought more than anything in the world, and that it operates on a very "but what about me" mentality: It's totally fine if you are dissatisfied with JJK in general or even just the ending. It's totally fine if you have mixed feelings about the way the story was wrapped up. It's totally fine if you think it could have been handled better even given the above information in the link above on how SJ operates. I'm not telling you to feel a certain way, but I'm walking you through the end of the story (read: Megumi's character specifically) bc I am so fucking tired of reading bad takes about "Gege hating Megumi" or whatever.

Holding everyone's hands as I go through these. Let's take these steps in shedding directionless rage together.

(Forewarning that this is long as hell. Gomen.)

Common Argument Number 1: Megumi didn’t have a character arc/didn't grow as a character

The first thing that needs to be understood to realize why this is wrong is that all of the characters in JJK have arcs based around power - gaining it, losing it, being overwhelmed by it, and so on. This is not new information as of the last few chapters; we've known for years now that JJK isn't a story that's focused on deep introspection nor prolonged emotional development. Power. Cursed Techniques. That's where Gege kept his focus. However, it's impossible to write a story with heavy themes of loss and fear and love without touching into a character's emotions at all, some of which become central enough to turn into arcs. (We'll circle back to this in just a moment.) The second thing that needs to be understood here is that, in the general sense of All Media (and not just JJK), not all character arcs have to span the entire length of a story. A full and complete character arc (which is to say, the movement that happens while a character is actively changing) can happen in half of a story or less, and it is no less satisfying for having done so. Now, what does all of that have to do with Megumi? Very explicitly, it means that Megumi not only experiences growth as a character, but that he also goes through not one, but two character arcs. ((He's not the only character with two arcs, but he's the reason for this post, so you guys can track down the others on your own.)) Both of his arcs are complete, in my opinion, even if they're not 100% satisfying. But satisfaction isn't the argument here, so we can touch on that later. Maybe. Megumi's first arc (his power arc) starts right out of the gate, but it doesn't begin to take shape until the chapters at the detention center (I would argue it specifically starts to become an "arc" [which is to say, experiences movement] right at the point where Yuuji dies - this is the inciting incident in Megumi's story), and it concludes during the Culling Games (the exact place of it's conclusion is a little waffle-y for me but it's between either the moment he is able to use his technique to beat someone solo within the depths of his shadows OR the exact moment that Sukuna looks at him and thinks that he's strong enough now to be Sukuna's vessel). This arc follows Megumi coming to terms with the reality that if he wants to save people, he needs to get stronger and he needs to get more in touch with the side of himself that is/creates his CT. And he accomplishes that. Is there more growth in this department that he could have had? Yes, absolutely. Taming Mahoraga, a fully realized domain expansion, etc. All of that could have happened, but none of that needs to happen in order for this arc to be complete. He sought power, he got power, and he used it to save people. That's a fully realized and completed arc. Megumi's second arc (his emotional arc) happens during the time Sukuna is wearing him like a suit. This arc has nothing at all to do with anything that happens before this point in time (it has nothing to do with power, nothing to do with fighting, nothing to do with saving people). Before this, Megumi's emotional state is fairly stagnant; any goals and/or momentum that he has outside of wanting to become stronger are usually skipped over or not acknowledged at all. Once his bodily autonomy is stripped from him, all that's left is emotion. And we get to see a complete emotional arc here - starting in stagnation, inciting incident of being possessed, and then the slow chipping away of his resolve as Sukuna kills his sister and performs a ritual to suppress Megumi's soul completely. Megumi is at his lowest point here, but he overcomes it and chooses to live. That's a complete arc. That's a conclusion. No amount of wanting him to mourn Gojo or of wishing for This, That, or The Other things change the fact that his arcs do in fact reach natural conclusions within the story.

Common Argument Number 2: Megumi didn't have a satisfying conclusion

I think this argument is a bit of a pull from a misunderstanding that revolves around argument number one. People are looking for an arc that is wrapping up in the final chapters, and they're upset that they're not finding it. And the reason they're not finding it is because, as mentioned above, Megumi's arcs concluded before he regained consciousness post-Shinjuku. Also, this may come as a shock to some people, but "satisfying" is relative. Which also means that I can't exactly argue against what people are feeling, because in this specific instance, it's all feelings based. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try!! I already covered that Megumi fully concluded both of his arcs, so it's not that he's lacking in power or emotional development. I think what people get stuck on is what Megumi says before he begins to fight back against Sukuna: that he wants to try to live for someone else. A lot of readers seem to take this as a step backwards for him, a return to who he was before everything in the story, but I disagree. I think it's actually a large step forward for him and, beyond that, I think it's realistic beyond simply satisfying the narrative. At the beginning of the story, Megumi is living for nothing. It's common for the fandom to think he's living for Tsumiki, but she's fully comatose and cursed; I doubt that he's living for her. At most he's living just in case a miracle happens and she wakes up, but that's not living for her. He's in what I think of as a transitional space, and he's stuck there. He's the only one in his year at Jujutsu Tech, he's not trying to develop his CT, he's just existing - going on missions and rolling his eyes at Gojo and doing school work. At the end of the story, Megumi actively chooses life. He had a way out, he felt that in many ways he was already dead - or at the very least, that he was irredeemable and better off dead. But he chooses to live. He chooses to fight back. And, more than that, he chooses to become an active participant in life. Yes, for him that means living for Yuuji, but even that still requires wanting to keep going, wanting to keep putting one foot in front of the other. He wants to face the world and all it has to offer - despite all the bad, and maybe in spite everything he went through. That's a satisfying character conclusion in my eyes. Everyone wants realistic representation of the struggle surrounding mental illness and how victories with them are not as "grand" as for neurotypical people until they're actually presented with realistic representation. Then all of a sudden it's "bad writing" and "unsatisfying" because the character didn't end the story without any gaps or holes and with a perfect little bow wrapped around their neck. God forbid there be an implication that a character gets to continue to live and grow beyond the last page. Anyway, just because he didn't have the conclusion you wanted for him that you built up in your head after years of living with the fanon version of Megumi you created doesn't mean his conclusion was bad or unsatisfying.

Common Argument Number 3: Megumi's characterization went right back to how it was during the Culling Game arc

...Duh??? I mean... where else was his personality and his behavior supposed to go? He spent a month completely suppressed by Sukuna. The only thing he was going to do without intervention is regress, not progress. What happened to Megumi when Yuuji reached out to him was him coming back to himself - and the only "himself" he had in recent memory was who he was immediately before Sukuna took over. Character progression cannot happen in stagnation, and stagnation is all Megumi had while he was suppressed in the bath™. Expecting any of that to change him for the better or to push him in any "forward" momentum is, quite honestly, ridiculous. The only direction Megumi could have gone is backwards, and he is (which means also we are) just lucky that he was able to be dragged into the version of himself that had already grown and that was waiting for his return.

Common Argument Number 4: Megumi didn't do anything during the fight against Sukuna

What gets me about this stance is that it seems to be the only one shared between the "shonen bros" who only read manga for the fight scenes and the hardcore Megumi stans who wish so desperately that he was the main character of the series. But like... what do you want him to do, here, exactly? Somehow find within himself the urge to get up and fight what seems to be a losing battle after watching his own hands kill not only his sister but the most prominent adult figure in his life? Resist all on his own (with no prior arc moments to support it) whatever mystical magical bs makes the bath™ work in keeping his soul suppressed? Do you want a good and well-structured character arc with logical emotional weight, or do you just want your favorite character to defeat a villain that is not "his" villain? I'll wait. Megumi's struggles during this story arc are internal, and his inability to fight is reflective of that. If he were to be resisting against Sukuna the whole time - trying to wrest control of his CT back or attempting to attack Sukuna's soul himself - then we would still be sitting in his power arc during this time. Megumi's inaction is physical representation of the inner turmoil and struggle that he was in during the fight, and I don't think that's very hard to understand. He is fighting; it's just that he's fighting himself. And he wins that fight. And he does do something in the fight against Sukuna. I firmly believe that Megumi choosing to live sealed the deal on Sukuna's death. Why else would Sukuna have been panicking so hard and doing everything he could to keep Megumi depressed and stuck in the ruts of his mind? If Megumi hadn't chosen life, hadn't decided he wanted to keep fighting in that moment, Sukuna would still be kicking. I don't think it's a stretch, actually, to say that Megumi delivered the blow that weakened Sukuna to Yuuji's kill shot. Megumi was integral to the fight - he just needed to go through his emotional arc first.

I'm sure I'm missing things, I'm sure I forgot things. But this isn't college and I'm not writing for a grade. What I am is tired of both Megumi hate and Gege hate. Megumi is a well-written character who is good representation of depression (at minimum), and who is also not the fucking main character. Like, I'm sorry that the character you project your mental illness onto acts mentally ill, and I'm sorry your favorite character is a side character who is written like a side character. These things tend to happen.

Yes, obviously, more could have been done with him and the wrapping of his character (and all of the characters) if the ending wasn't rushed, but that's not Gege's fault. Blame capitalism if you want to point fingers. JJK isn't the first manga with a rushed ending for exactly that reason, and it won't be the last.

Okay, I have to force myself to stop talking or we'll be here forever but:

The ending of JJK is not "bad writing," it's the best outcome that could have happened given the time constraints and publication constraints.

I agree that it would have been nice to see acknowledgements from the characters of the trauma they went through, but also I think that those things realistically take time. I don't think it's unreasonable that their first instinct would be to pretend that everything is normal for as long as they can. However, Megumi was not handled poorly, and he was not abandoned by Gege, and Gege does not hate him. He was well-written start to finish, and he was given a lovely ending that leaves his future wide open for possibilities.

Take a deep breath and stop trying to be the loudest voice in the room. Look at the text and supplement it with reality and the hard truths of a really shitty work culture, and understand that being upset is valid, but it's not valid enough to justify seething hatred for a mangaka whose entire work you probably read for free <3

[yeahspider]

tooth brush 🫀

Ve’s note - this is fluff . i love a good friends to lovers trope and this is exactly what this is . han jisung x gn reader . this was inspired by that one dnce song . no actual smut but illusion to sex and alcohol mentions .abrupt ending as usual bc i suck at conclusions . i’m gonna get better at posting more frequently and proofreading i swear . (also i’ve gotten a lil critique on my writing style recently but i write how i talk . very casual and very realistic . this is 100% a personal choice and won’t be changing anytime soon sorry *kinda*) anyways i hope your enjoy and feel free to request in my inbox !! <3

you didn’t expect you’d end up here . never in a million years . staring at your reflection in the mirror it’s safe to say you look a mess . bare feet on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor . hair in every which direction . clothed in only a shirt which definitely didn’t belong to you . maybe you had one to many last night . and now you had to deal with consequences .

taking a deep breath you turn on the faucet sink to splash some water on your face . you needed to be 100% awake for the conversation that awaited you once you stepped out your safe haven . just a few steps outside the bathroom door was your childhood best friend han jisung . it’s been awhile since you’ve seen each other . life taking you on different paths . him to a studio and you to college . your bond never severed though .

you had came home from school and decided to have a sleep over with at his house . an event which has happened several times but not once has it ended the way it did last night . you could blame the liquor or you could blame the unresolved feelings that have sitting between you two since you were both 15 .

you knew hiding in the bathroom and waiting for him to leave the room so you could sneak out wasn’t a realistic option . but it was the one that brought you comfort . confronting the hours you spent embraced in each other last night was scarier in comparison . you could smell the breakfast his parents were cooking for you both downstairs . yeah sneaking out was seeming less likely by the second . picking up your sparkly blue toothbrush you left there after your last sleepover you decide to buck up . you were both adults . adults have sex . it’s normal ….maybe not with their childhood best friend but your sure it’s happened before . spitting out the paste you run yours hands through your hair and take a deep breath . you could do this .

“are you going to hide out in there forever or are you gonna come out eventually ?” you heard jisung say from the other side of the door . you could just picture the smile on his face . it leaked through his voice . there went your resolved , down the drain with your toothpaste . your hope of sneaking out officially ruined you grab the doorknob and step out .

“ah there you are i thought you had fallen down the drainpipe or something .” he said as he took in your disheveled appearance . you were rooted to the floor , scrunching your toes in the carpet and gripping the bottom of your - jisung’s - shirt out of nervousness . you couldn’t find it in you to respond to him . and that’s when he burst out laughing . shocking you out of your stance . how could he be laughing right now . this is a serious situation . but the longer you laughed the more weight you felt lifted of your shoulders . you realized that this was just jisung .

you quarter your shoulders . hand on a hip and sled him what exactly was so funny . your tone mocking an anger that you didn’t really feel .

“you’re just cute when your nervous.” jisung’s said as he gestured you to come lay back in the bed . making your way over to him you grumbled something out about not being cute . he pulled you into his lap as you crossed your hands over your chest . pouting at him for laughing at you .

“hey don’t pout it’s okay i have no regrets .” he said as he swirled soothing circles on your bare thighs . bringing a comfort over you as you smile at him . you asked him if he was just saying that to make you feel better .

“i’ve been in love with you since we were like 15 i’m just glad you feel the same way …unless you do regret it ?” he posed the question to you a hint of insecurity in his tone , to which you brushed away as you planted a kiss to the mole on his cheek . you would never regret him .

“cmon my parents made breakfast we can talk seriously after you eat.” jisung stated as he took your hand and lead you out the bed and towards the smell of breakfast .

[fight-nights-at-freddys]

hey there! Feel free to block me if you want, especially if you find this rude or anything. This is actually genuine, i’m NOT being sarcastic or anti.

i’m on the fence about proshipping. On the one hand, don’t like it? Don’t read it. I’ve read some crazy fanfiction that teeters on the line, but that’s not the point. On the other hand, it gets to a point where…you’re just normalizing r@pe or inc3st in fiction. And people say it’s just fiction, but fiction can definitely influence reality! But writing shouldn’t be censored. People should be free to write what they want, however they want. It’s art and should be treated with the same diligence. However, the when, where and how proshipping fanfics are presented SHOULD MATTER. It’s not censorship to require warning tags, or restrict it from young readers more severely.

okay, that’s my little rant lol. Again, i’m not gonna think you hate me if you block me and never answer this ask. Just wanted to get some other points of view and share my own.

dwdw. and thank you for being so respectful and nice abt it <3 anti or not, its always appreciated/gen

and i (personally) have some views that are probably pretty controversial LMAO. Which is pretty much, if something is normalized in fiction and it doesn’t breach over into real life, we’re okay.

say for instance, murder is common in fiction, it has been justified, shown as good, etc etc. practically doesn’t get portrayed or seen as bad. yet irl if someone goes out there and kills a random family, ppl aren’t going to go “oh yeah, thats normal” they’re going to be upset and appalled for what that persons done.

same thing with incest and rape, theres been a lot of fanfics over the years that have those two things, yet both are absolutely abhorrent in real life bc they hurt people, and no amount of normalizing it in fiction will normalize it irl.

And we can even get into old examples like with Greek Mythology where rape and the incest were seen as normal(-ish) in the stories, and still, people think that those things are horrible in real life, so fiction didn’t affect reality there. So, why would it change with like, idk, a wincest or willmike fics.

yes writing can influence reality, but only if you let it. Do research, look at studies, don’t rely on words that a random person made up to tell a story, because then, you are at fault, not the creator or the work. (You spoken generally here, not at you anon)

If you live your life and base your knowledge only on fiction and nothing more, then yeah, your reality is going to be skewed, but again, thats not the fictions fault. - 🧁🍕

ofcofc! so, just to clear up any confusion, being proship JUST means being anti-harassment, and pro-ship and let ship. you don't gotta like what other people ship, you just gotta respect them enough to be able to block and move on.

i def agree, tags should be applied correctly, and mature content should be age restricted, but there's a limit to that imo. like, i wouldn't agree with sites making you show your ID or anything, due to the invasion of privacy, when a lot of the issue of kids being in spaces they shouldn't be could be solved by better parenting.

i also don't agree that certain kinds of fiction "normalize" rape or incest. fiction CAN influence reality, sure, but it's never gonna make you go from "incest bad" to "incest good" just from watching, like. game of thrones, ya know? there would 100% have to be a problem with the individual to begin with to even reach those kinda conclusions (and that's largely a problem with lack of parenting, education, or mental health resources)

my point is, if someone reads a yucky darkfic, and rape/murder/incest/whatever is depicted as good, it is still on you as the viewer as to how you react to it.

again, it's totally fine to think those kinds of fics/ships are disgusting! you're allowed to feel your feelings! but to assume that everyone who reads those fics has even the potential to be bad people just because they read those things is, like. objectively the wrong way to go about things

#/nm ofc - 🏁🎸

[bringthekaos]

Would you like to hear my terrible prediction for the start of s2? We ended s1 with a lot of important people in the Council Room about to be blown up, one being Viktor. For some reason I've always thought it odd that Jayce dragged a sick and dying Viktor before the Council to announce what Jayce has done. I guess to show he has a Zaunite backing his plan?

But I think the *writers* wanted Viktor in that room, bc I think he's going to be severely injured in the explosion, possibly losing his left hand (so it can later be mechanized) BUT more importantly, so when he is taken to hospital and examined for his injuries it's discovered what he did to himself with the Hexcore.

The situation would be totally out of Viktor's control, and probably Jayce's. It would be INSANE and I want it so bad.

Oh, I 100% think this is exactly what’s going to happen. This is how his experiments come to light, and might also lead to them finding out about Sky (not sure how, but it’s just another box checked on “Viktor Is Now the Council’s Scapegoat For This Entire Conflict” Bingo.

In regards to Jayce bringing Viktor to the council meeting… yes, I think it is partially because Plot Reasons. But they’ve been talking about Zaun for weeks with nary a Zaunite voice to be heard, and then when they did bring one in (Vi), they didn’t like what she had to say on the matter and tried to have her forcefully removed. And I think it was important to Jayce that he bring Viktor for two reasons—one, to remind the council that there are two parts to Hextech… that thing that made them all filthy rich and kept them in positions of power. To present a united front and show the council that 100% of Hextech is dedicated to not building weapons, not going to war. And two, to have a Zaunite voice present as they’re discussing the possibility of war against Zaun. Yes, Viktor was not doing so hot, but that’s never stopped him before, and this was important to both of them. Honestly, in this circumstance, Jayce probably couldn’t have stopped him from coming along if he tried.

It does tickle my fancy though, that there is an implied missing scene after “in the pursuit of great, we failed to do good. We have to make it right,” wherein Jayce asked Viktor to come with him to the Council meeting and they planned out what they were going to say. Cuz clearly it was Jayce’s plan to have Viktor deliver the bombshell “Jayce has brokered a peace with Silco in exchange for the Undercity’s independence.” Like he pauses and looks over at Viktor, waiting. He wanted this news delivered by a Zaunite. And I do think it was more impactful, more telling—seeing how they react. I’m not sure they would have jumped up and screamed and generally lost their shit if Jayce had said it. They likely would have been more diplomatic, because in their eyes that’s “what his station deserves.” And they showed their ass to Viktor. So in a way, it allowed Jayce and Viktor to gauge how receptive the council was going to be to the idea, and they got a damning conclusion.

[unexpectedgeese]

I’ve been thinking about how ORV is like, 100% made to help teenagers like KDJ cope with the Horrors. The prose, the tropes in the beginning, the length of it, the themes– All of it!

Those first three are simple, and I already lost a draft of this to the Tumblr gods, so I’ll keep it quick.

PROSE: as @kimdokja pointed out in a post a while back, ORV sits firmly at the reading level of your average high schooler. This is intentional; It’s a story for those highschoolers, so it stays simple so it doesn’t alienate anyone.

TROPES: I’m pretty sure someone’s already talked about how ORV sets the stage up in the beginning so it can subvert itself later– that’s not what I’m here to say. I’m here to point out how ORV HARDCORE presents itself as a power fantasy. In the beginning, Kim Dokja’s the archetypal power fantasy self-insert character. He’s got a purposefully vague appearance, a cold and ruthless demeanor in the early scenarios (don’t say otherwise, I’ve SEEN the comments on the webtoon), and the world’s most overpowered cheat of knowing everything ever. 

The length, too, plays a big part in this. By giving us 500-some odd chapters of story, Sing-Shong is letting the reader engage with ORV’s themes over time, cloaking them in Cool Scenes to make the experience fun as well as helpful– and they’re giving their audience an escape from the real world, which!! Is both what KDJ had in WoS, and!!! When paired with the book’s later conclusion of ‘books great, but real world also great’, is a really gentle way of getting the audience to not Kim Dokja themselves into inexistance!

The Prose, the Tropes, and the Length are all the ‘how’ of it: ORV uses them to attract their target audience and keep that audience engaged. 

But… What’s that? It’s the Themes, coming in wiTH A STEEL CHAIR?!?!??!

That’s right! The themes of ORV. We’ve talked about these a LOT in the ORV community. But today, I have a different thesis on them:

*Almost every single one of ORV’s themes is hand-tailored to help struggling teenagers.*

(read more, bc this post boutta be LONG.)

If you try, you can point out a lot of examples of this!

The idea of people being able to do bad things without being a bad person, for example, is something I personally really needed to hear when I was younger. And KDJ’s character development from being this closed off non-character to letting down his walls, making friends, and giving a shit about his own life is a really strong argument for the reader doing the same, made all the stronger by its focus on what was originally an emotionless self-insert for the reader. The importance of reaching out across boundaries is a big argument for asking people for help/making friends, etc. etc– I could do this all day.

But my favorite example of this is KDJ’s relationship with WoS. Because it manages to stress the importance of livin through more than just stories without, in any way, vilifying the readers who use them to cope, by portraying stories as both important (you can understand things from new angles, feel new things, cope with reality) and ultimately limiting (you can’t understand someone fully from just reading about them, in order to be loved you need to be seen, reading together > reading alone, KDJ taking down his walls, etc.).

And it’s just like… MAN. This really is a story written for just that one reader (you)...

[liesmyth]

This post started out as a tag ramble (& became longer than the actual post as per usual) after seeing @mayasaura‘s tags in this post about the origins of Kiriona Gaia’s name. Especially the part about Kiriona’s first name:

#also yeah kiriona is her given name spelled using the phonetics of Te Reo #which I'm mentioning bc which language it is specifically is somewhat important #given that it's the language of John's people #that he likely never learned to speak fluently due to the colonial governement's attempt to exterminate it #so thematically that's rather signifigant #she's the only other person he's allowing to share in the legacy of his lost home #(lost because he blew it to kingdom come but lets not bicker and argue over who killed who)

I think a lot about the implications of names in the Nine House following a very specific theme (ancient Greek, Latin, and Biblical first names, Latin-inspired arithmonic House names) but John gave his daughter the name Kiriona. This is very interesting to me, especially in light of what those tags say re: John being Māori but most likely not speaking the language of his people due to colonialism. We don’t have the full picture yet, but a lot of what we know points to John choosing to preserve some of the ~foundational mythology~ of western civilization when shaping his empire. A colonizing Empire, though we really don’t know if “space colonization” was John’s plan for the Houses all along or if he decided it later. (Also an Empire that’s in large % made up of descendants of historically colonized people so there’s that too). At the same time, John shares his own cultural heritage with his daughter – and his daughter only, as if it’s something to be kept between the two of them and better forgotten at large.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this and I’m sure a lot of the implications are going over my head, but I think the initial cultural mould of the Houses tells us something about John as a product of a society that valued one specific area of cultural history above all others, and John internalizing that to the extent that he reverted to those stories and those myths when he was looking for civilization building blocks. And then he went and turned to the language of his people when naming his newfound daughter. Maybe it’s a public vs. personal sphere thing, maybe he wants to wear a different hat as a long-lost father than he does as the God-Emperor, or maybe it’s just that by the time he finds out he has a daughter he’s over the whole ‘Classics names’ thing and sort of regretting those initial choices.

fwiw, John probably wasn’t very coherent in the early days (maybe early years?) so who knows if he actually put any planning into what he did. As a scientist he probably had a lot of Latin engraved in his brain so why not use that? Sounds very smart. But, also, the fact that our scientific classification is based on Latin is itself a product of western supremacy and so on so forth. It’s a tautology: I’m God now and I guess God likes ancient Greek and biblical themes as filtered down to us through the lenses of Western Christianity. Why? Because that’s what God does. I guess.

(Also: compare all of this with the Blood of Eden naming system where they chose random bits of human culture to preserve. Not those deemed worthwhile by the elites, just… random bits. Shakespeare but also an Eminem song and a verse of an anthem in an indigenous language. That last one especially is Curious and tbh it’s the only detail giving me pause from jumping 100% to the very obvious conclusion that BoE was founded by the descendants of the FTL ships just because of who was on those ships and what cultural resources they would’ve brought along. But that’s a whole different speculation.) 

[nofacednerd]

rewatching s1 of The Boys again (because I’m insane) and I was pausing to look at the set design bc I think in general it’s interesting and occasionally very funny

and 1. theres so many pictures of Hughie and Robin around his room but one that they focus on was very obviously taken on set on the day they shot the first scene asdhffgsd??? also he’s got a wooden hand that he made to flip people off

2. my god. they really said he’s an audiophile and ran with it because he has like 4 different record players stacked on top of each other, several stacks of vinyls, random pairs of headphones around the room, 2??? massive amps??? (I can’t see any instruments in the room that he would be using those for so. I guess he just has them), so many speakers just sitting there for some reason. His neighbors must hate him so much

3. theres a bunch of misc wires on his desk that I thiiink might be a soundboard but im not 100% sure (update: it might be a disassembled music box???)

4. I noticed the assortment of gaming controllers on his desk but i did not notice the novelty cup collection he has (he immediately destroys this .2 seconds after you first see it)

5. There’s a giant stuffed snake hanging on the wall behind his door

6. and my personal favorite detail is the coat rack he has in his room solely for his flannels. this man is bisexual and you can’t convince me otherwise.

conclusion: he’s a massive nerd and the sterility of his apartment with annie in s3 is representative of how his grief has consumed him so much that his old interests and hobbies are nearly invisible now (something something trauma changes you irreparably)

[bylrlve]

Rereading the posts by @galecstatic and @chirpsythismorning about the edits to the script for 3x08, and I want to articulate my thoughts - screenshots taken from their posts

There are two angles to this - very confusing scriptgate implications and what it may say about Mike.

1.) It would be very, very strange for Nick to post fake scripts on 8flix, then go back and edit out bits of internal character dialogue. Not impossible, but strange.

One could argue that he did this because scripts usually don’t contain internal dialogue and ‘filler’ stuff, and he wanted to make them appear legitimate, and I certainly am by no means ruling it out, but he kept that kind of stuff in for the fake 404 and 408 scripts he sent out last summer in exchange for money, and we know the Duffers do include that sort of thing in their scripts - the confirmed 209, 407 and 409 scripts have those things.

From 409, to demonstrate my point:

It makes one think that these scripts did originate from Netflix, and that he was contacted at some point to have these parts removed - but then, what implications does that have for the script debacle of last August? It’s hard to make a firm conclusion, but nevertheless the potential implication is that this script, at least, is is real. I’m refusing to get my hopes up, but i’ll 1% conclude they’re real.

Now, onto what this may, potentially, possibly mean for Mike, if this script is real - and again, I’m not getting my hopes up about any of this after Vol.2 lol.

In and of itself, these thoughts and actions - angry with himself, what’s wrong with me?, I’m such an idiot, appearing confused, remaining still, what the hell just happened here?- are not entirely inconsistent with the explanations given in s4 for Mike’s inability to say ILY.

One could surmise that he’s aware in s3 of this insecurity about being a nerd, given that he spends the season trying to be ‘cool’ and ‘not nerdy’, being a bit brazen in front of her dad, but one could also guess that he’s perhaps not self-aware about the ‘don’t want to say Ily bc it makes losing her hurt more’ thing, hence why he’s asking himself what’s wrong with him.

However, he does say it to a room of people in 306, and tries to say the words in the grocery store. I have no idea whether this is intentional, but s3 and s4 Mike? Do not gel.

Back to the point; it’s strange that he’s confused by ‘what happened’ as it’s pretty straightforward: she overheard him a few months prior, told him she loved just then, and kissed him, and what’s wrong with me? is supposed to reflect his thoughts as to why he supposedly won’t ‘say it’, it being ILY. However, he’s then confused when she says it? The script also doesn’t reflect that look of realisation on his face at the end of the scene - I assume him realising… that she loves him? When she just said it? .

It’s all confusing, but I’d be 100% willing to accept that these thoughts are supposed to be consistent with s4’s venting to Will and the monologue… if they weren’t removed, perhaps on request of Netflix. Because if they were, that has very interesting implications. Very 🏳️‍🌈? implications. And the timing of the edit could be meaningful, although I’m not sure when it was.

[cathwritestragediesnotsins]

i'll be honest idk how this works but i have a feeling you alr know my ships too well lmao. oli she/her & my mbti should be infp orrrrrr intp i can't remember hehe :D congrats on 1k cath!

No worries! After doing research it seems to me like you’re a INFP but I could be wrong. Also since you didn’t include sexual preferences I just went with whatever felt right but if you’d like me to redo it let me know it’s no problem :)

Anyway, on to the ship!

I ship you with: Sero Hanta!

(Pls this gif is so funny to me)

Congratulations you get one of your blorbos!

I love to ship my moots with their blorbos but rest assured I also genuinely think this would be such a cute relationship?? Like pls?? Where can I get something like what you two have??

Sero is great bc he is very versatile, he can be very laid back but he also definitely knows how to join in the chaos. (He also instigates things 100% for his own entertainment you cannot convince me otherwise)

I just feel like this would be such a good relationship bc Sero is always getting over looked but you, you noticed him and kept paying attention. You knew he was special. I just know you would cherish him and take such good care of him and that’s exactly what he deserves.

I’m sure he gets insecure about his quirk and maybe he gets worried that he won’t be a good hero or something and you would shut that shit down SO FAST telling him how much you love him and how he’s going to be an amazing hero. Your favorite hero.

And just imagine all the soft looks he would giving you 🥺 like boy constantly has an arm wrapped around your shoulders or your waist or is holding your hand bc he loves to be close to you and imagine him just standing there with his arms around you giving you such a fond look while you ramble about something you’re excited about to Mina. And she can see him simping over your shoulder and PLS WHERE CAN I GET ONE

In conclusion Sero is prime bf material and I couldn’t be happier for him to have found someone like you :)

[godsopenwound]

do you have any tips for finding a good therapist? i really want to start therapy but im scared of not clicking or finding a sketchy professional x.x

oh baby i don’t really know how to answer that.. i would say to ask people if they know someone to recommend to you, or else to find someone on the internet but always check out their reviews and stuff... but even that, doesn’t really matter sometimes tbh, my second therapist for example was lowkey famous and rich as Fuck but we still didn’t click AT ALL. even if he was That successful. so one thing is that i guess, try to find someone who is “good” for you, not bc of their high status or whatever. i’m not saying that you have to go to the first person you find!! do your research of course first, but still, practically you can only come to a conclusion when you get to start your sessions. the first step is to the unknown really hah. and then just make sure you completely and utterly feel safe with them. that they listen to you and understand you and they don’t make you feel uncomfortable or judged, not even a tiiiiny bit!!!!!! it may be awkward at first but that's totally expected and it's something you'll work on together. just make sure you don’t push aside any red flags you may see or feel.. bc it may be so tricky to think that 'maybe that's their way or how they work or hey maybe this will pay off somehow for me in the end'. there are many therapists who are literally emotionally abusive or have unethical behaviour in general. if you have any doubts or bad feelings, just search for someone new.. you don't have and mustn't stay in such environment.. so don't settle for just any therapist, keep looking until you find someone who feels right, connects with you and you can form a bond with. it’s actually most likely to try a few first, until you find someone you click with! unless you are lucky enough to find them from the first try. either way it's okay as long as you feel 100% okay! <3

i found these really nice articles with ways to find a therapist who's good for you: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 <3333

[angeljpg]

a little (long) vent under the cut bc i feel like some of my girlies in the self improvement/wellness/manifestation space might relate…. and bc i want to explain why i haven’t been posting my usual content as often 🫶

sooooo some of you may have noticed that i haven’t been posting as much of my previous content lately. it’s also been taking me a lot longer to get out my write ups or even my more casual posts… here is why:

i’ve been dealing with health issues which has put me on my ass completely. i was diagnosed with anemia, which contributed to my anxiety and exercise intolerance. i also just… completely lost my appetite and ended up losing 14lbs when i was already pretty lean for my height to begin with. the combination of my health anxiety and this has made it incredible difficult to be motivated to make any posts about health/fitness knowing i haven’t been able to do much of anything except walking for months. and i still am not sure when i’ll be up and running normally. i’ve always been a person that practices what i preach so me not exercising had made me a lot less inclined to talk about exercise/health routines.

i had a really high stress job in a toxic work environment for a year. like i was the youngest person in the company, and YET i was in a managerial position in the middle of a merger and huge company losses. i genuinely girlbossed too close to the sun and rage quit about 3 weeks ago lmao because i couldn’t stand the way they wanted me to abuse my direct reports.

i haven’t felt motivated for manifestation which sounds literally ridiculous but like… when my brain was so mentally taxed from dealing with the health anxiety and my old job, i just wanted to shut down and go to sleep. i believe so much in manifestation and it’s what brought me so many positive things in my life, but i haven’t felt good or “in-tune” with my guides in months. i feel like i’m going through a tower moment rn and i’m just trying to stick it out until things get more stable. i think being more transparent about this feeling is helpful because the reality of manifesting is that you’re not always going to feel 100% incredible all the time with your practice, but you keep it going because it’s the journey.

the online space that i operate in (the wellness/self-improvement/manifestation community) has increasingly become more and more… bizarre to me. and i don’t mean this as a direct attack on any specific creator or person (!!!) but i find that a lot of the newer posts i see tend to lean towards complete delusion and denial of reality which imo is not a healthy way to go through life or make lasting positive changes in your world. there’s also this glorification of specific celebrity women and projecting all of these ideals onto them about how they live their life, when they’re just beautiful girls with great PR marketing behind them. they’re still human but i feel like these spaces rarely treat them as such. also, there’s an undercurrent of right wing ideology that has been surfacing in these groups that actively work to oppress women but disguise it as “hypergamy” or “leveling up.” encouraging women to be hyper submissive and romanticizing outdated, exclusionary ideals of femininity that are literally just crafted to sell us more things and keep us silent.

in conclusion…. i’ll still be posting here and things but i will be pacing myself and working to share content i feel is helpful in a more realistic way. i think with the current economy, there are some luxuries that aren’t attainable for the majority of the population right now, and i want to cultivate a safe space for everyone to engage with regardless of their income/demographic/etc.

if you read….. all of this ily and take care of yourself

[bisluthq]

Harry and Taylor clearly hooked up on and off for a very long time. There are whole songs about it by both of them. That’s not a love story for the ages, but denying what’s spelled out is just… weird.

You don’t have to be a Haylor or like them together to analyze the evidence and come to an objective conclusion. I don’t even like Harry and never have. I also don’t dislike him, I guess? He’s just there for me. I don’t think they fit together, I don’t find them particularly compelling as a couple. Context aside he’s probably one of the least interesting exes she has for me, right behind Conor Kennedy and Taylor Lautner.

But that doesn’t mean that if she says she thinks about jumping off a building to see if he shows up, I’m gonna act like “yeah I mean, I’m sure there were some feelings involved.” Like, you guys want to avoid being Haylors so much you end up being the other side of the same coin.

He wrote really devastating songs about her that he ended up not even releasing, probably because they were a bit much. None of us know the actual truth aside from Taylor and Harry, but my god, the woman said in an interview, when talking about Style, “it’s about that person that comes in and out of your life and you feel like the narrative is never truly over.” And there are pictures of them at the same party, dancing side by side, weeks before she got with Calvin.

Yeah, of course she dated Matty in the middle. Harry was literally dating some blonde model as well, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t hook up. Neither is a bastion of morality when it comes to this sort of thing and I doubt either of them were in committed relationships with those people anyway.

Why else would Calvin have such a visceral reaction to Harry? Cause idk if you guys remember but he used to block people with his face as their profile picture on sight. And when he and Taylor broke up, around the time of his tweeting rage about her, he followed Harry on instagram, who the hell knows what he wanted to accomplish. But it seemed like a pointed attack.

Harry legitimately wrote a sob song about Taylor dating Calvin a year into their relationship. You heard it, I’m sure, you talked about it.

“She dated Matty in 2023, so she couldn’t have hooked up with Harry in 2014/2015” is not a logical conclusion. Truth of the matter is that whatever she did with both or either of them was kept private and we’re all speculating, but there’s reason to believe one thing and absolutely nothing to back up the other.

As for Question, I fear you’re analyzing in too much detail with “I don’t think Harry is that confusing.” First of all, that’s not a reason to dismiss him as the muse lol. And second of all, she spells out how confusing he is in soooo many 1989 songs, an album written pre-first Maylor iteration.

Taylor is pretty straightforward with her Easter eggs and cross references. She interpolated a song that’s 100% about Harry, and then referenced lyrics from said song. And the song actually does fit Harry, and this thematic of “we always end up together” that she’d talked about in the past.

It’s possible it has Matty elements as well. I personally don’t see it, but I’m not gonna become a shooter against it bc I don’t actually care that much, but if she’s referencing Harry/his songs in it, then it’s most likely about him, and everything else is just cope from fans who don’t want it to be about him, for whatever reason.

And no, I don’t think Matty and Taylor were “super unserious and it was nothing hahahahaha” like some Swifties insist on saying, trying to erase the fact that she legitimately said “I love you” on stage. I just don’t think the first iteration of the relationship was that deep. There’s no indication that it was ever more than anything physical that happened a few times. I don’t think she was pining over Matty fucking Healy for 8+ years and close proximity while working on the album blah blah blah.

AT MOST Taylor and Matty hooked up for 2 months, given the timeline. Then it was Calvin, then Tom, then Joe, with basically no breaks in between, not really time for them to explore anything further.

With Harry they started something in the spring of 2012 and were on and off (most of the time off, of course) at least until fall 2014 with possibly one last encounter in early 2015. She admitted a bunch of stuff about Harry both in the OG 1989 and in the Vault tracks.

I also don’t think she was pining over him, or that she has feelings for him now, or that she wrote Question because of a 5 minute encounter at the Grammys.

I think Question was a result of seeing him in what looked like an adult serious relationship and also not feeling particularly good on her own. Wondering if things would be better if that person who she once thought would interrupt her wedding came sweeping in and saved her from how awful she felt in her current situation.

It’s not about Harry in particular. I don’t think she has delusions that they’d be compatible now. But it’s the most normal thing in the world to be sad about a partner and reminisce to good times with an ex. Obviously Calvin doesn’t elicit good feelings, Tom was a nothingburger, Matty even more so, at that point, I don’t even have to explain why her brain wouldn’t go to Conor, and who else is there? Joe Jonas? Married with a child. Jake and John? Who she knows had inappropriate relationships with her? Taylor Lautner? Also married.

It’s a process of elimination her brain probably did on her own. She explained what the songs were about quite well, and I tend to believe her and her very direct allusions and hints.

I think either extreme about Haylor is just fans wanting to bend reality to their perception, and I love you, but you always tended to minimize Haylor to a point that was almost like “they fucked a few times.” And then both of them had songs released/leaked that had you having to adjust your perception of them in real time. And I think, honestly, that you still have some leftover hesitance from then.

Admitting that they probably went on hooking up for quite a few years, even with long breaks in between, and that she allowed herself to think what if while having her heart shattered by who she thought was the love of her life does not mean you think they’re star crossed lovers and it was right person wrong time or whatever the fuck Haylors believe lmao

this is very well argued. I don’t necessarily agree but I am happy to respectfully disagree if that makes sense? I think you’ve made some excellent points. I genuinely do. The main reason I think Question is about Matty is because they’ve kinda said that? He had it on his pre show playlist and took it out when they started going on the fritz. He was also around when she was working on Midnights so while I agree she might’ve thought about other people and situations (including Harry) to me the song seems to pretty explicitly be about Matty and wondering if they could’ve worked out (which she then actively tried to do lol like shortly after). I think context wise it does seem like it’s about Matty? And she does rededicate songs regularly so I wouldn’t say something being “explicitly” about someone is necessarily proof it always will be. Love Story was explicitly about a specific guy but now it’s about her relationship with her fans yk? So I don’t think interpolations are proof of anything idk.

[coles-walloper]

Yknow I’m finishing the last 2 episodes of HoT tonight & am prepared to either go straight into the Oni Trilogy afterwards but there’s something about Episode 8 that I wanted to note!

(( Long rambles abound ))

I think I’ve heard a few people describe Kai’s behavior as very much jumping to conclusions when he faces off against Ray with knowledge of his parents’ alleged betrayals — and I do 100% agree Kai tends to be brash. Versus Nya’s behavior, in holding Kai back to get him to listen to their father.

But I think from the perspective of both Kai, it kinda makes sense why!

Like for Nya, since she likely wasn’t old enough at the time to directly know their parents, it’s understandable she’d want to her out her father because this is the first time she’s honestly seen or heard from him.

On the other hand, Kai’s personally grown up with both parents while he’s at an age to be conscious of his need for them & attachment as a young child who misses them. There’s a LOT of trauma in realizing your parents weren’t gone the whole time, that they were out there and just left you behind to do something else — something that wasn’t what happened but very much so was skewed to appear so. So likely the thought going through his mind would be ‘You weren’t there for us when we needed in order to do things for the people actively harming us?’ I thought that might be interesting to note.

We got a super nifty fight scene out of that so I’ll add that to my collection of cool Kai moments lololol.

Other HoT ending notes:

- The fusion dragon was absolutely EPIC! And a boiling sea that works with a master of fire & master of water???! That’s such a neat concept!!! These things make me wished that the season could’ve been implemented better bc HoT had such huge potential (I prob won’t criticize anything tho cause I feel other people wrote a lot over the flaws more eloquently!).

- Ray and Maya were pretty great for the short time they were there, but I have really mixed feelings on bringing them back. It was such a huge part of the beginnings for awhile — the siblings starting off alone in the Pilots, Chen holding the backstories of Kai’s parents over himself, then finally both siblings grieving in DotD with a beautiful scenes & the foreshadowing of their parents’ backstories when Kai wonders if they’ll ever figure out what happened. All of that was just implemented so well!

I heard alternate ideas proposed from those who thought the set up for an arc where Ray & Maya were actually evil would give a lot to explore. That’d definitely be interesting for sure!

But of my own personal preferences, I really liked them being on the good side but the issue stemming from a distortion of perspective obscuring the actual events & intention. And just overall the idea of them being dead but the story being years later, where Kai & Nya get to the bottom of things and unwrap what actually happened. Now that they’re back, and it might be hard for the show to fit them into the plot when they’re established as extremely important.

In a sense, I kind of worry about getting that same feeling for Lord/Sensei Garmadon the next season too. I already know what happens so I’m just bracing myself for it >~<.

Lastly, for the next season:

I can’t wait to finally get to watch the things I’m curious about the most!

In a jumbled list — I really want to see the implementation of Pixal as the new Samurai X, Skylor’s reappearance & role (& just more into how her powers work if she uses them!), the arc with Sensei Wu developing with the ninja, Nya-Lloyd dynamic, Karloff returning (omg - I LOVE them bringing back other elemental masters!!), and the Mr. E rivalry with Zane (the Echo Zane theories I’ve read are so exciting!!!).

I’m a bit scared though because the Kai character assassinations begin along with this marking the point of many people not being able to see Garmadon the same again :(. So I hope the good skill of the writers makes up for that bc I know this show does a lot with all of the elements surrounding it!

Aaaaaaa I have so many thoughts my brain won’t let me sleep 😭

[brainscrems]

I mean the difference between coercion and not coercion isn’t enthusiastic consent, because that simply is not remotely near the definition of coercion. Like I said, the standard of consent doesn’t change. I’ve personally consented non-enthusiastically and it was not traumatic, not rape, and it was a mildly fun time. I felt no pressure. I viewed it in a similar light as a favor. Was I there for the sex? Not really. Was I making my partner happy? Yea. Was that enough for me to be onboard? Yea. Would I use the word enthusiastic? No. Cause enthusiasm is a level of excitement I did not experience. It was also not sex work and I’m not trying to claim first hand experience with that. But it is a place where I can firsthand say the model of EXCLUSIVELY enthusiastic consent being consent breaks down. If it breaks down in any instance, then insistence of it as an absolute model is wrong, and it likely breaks down in more instances than one. If you are trying to call my own consensual experience rape, i just. Idek what to tell u except that it’s a happy memory that I’m glad I have and you trying to define my own experience as something it’s not to fit ur narrative is beyond fucked. Enthusiasm is not the requirement you seek for consent.

Anyway, I’m well aware of the coercive practices within the industry. I’m well aware of the trauma experienced by sex workers. I’m saying that labeling EVERY experience of sex work rape because it wasn’t enthusiastic does not actually help sex workers and I’ve seen plenty of sex workers say much the same. I’m not naïve enough to think that most sex workers are there because it’s the profession they wanted to. I’m well aware of the definition of coercive. Financial coercion is, of course, rape. I’m not saying it’s not. I’m instead saying that if we take a definition of coercion to be broad enough such that all exchanges of goods and services in our society are covered under that word, other important standards start to break down. Let’s break down one of these scenarios. I would argue, and I’m sure you would agree, that you are not morally obligated to hold to an agreement entered into under coercion. If we take the idea that all labor is coercion and continue to apply it let’s see the world we get.

So. Let’s say ou go to a doctor for life saving treatment. You enter into an agreement to pay the doctor for their services. You are being coerced bc u’ll die otherwise and not obligated to pay. But. The doctor, too, is coerced. Doctors need money to survive and eat just like the rest of us and under your framework, this doctor is being coerced. Coerced people are not required to hold up their end of an agreement. Ergo the doctor is not morally required to save your life. I think we can both agree this conclusion is bullshit. However. Given the assumptions we made, this leaves us two options. We could say, “at least some agreements made under coercion are valid.” This option is possible, but it requires creating a new framework for when you are morally bound to deals under coercion and when you are not. I think being able to find a consistent standard for this which accounts for situations in a way that reflects the practicalities of reality is going to be impossible. If you have one feel free to pitch it, but I’m doubtful of its existence. So for now I’ll move on to the second option. Redefining coercion.

We both have a working idea of what coercion means. I’m not 100% certain what yours is, but I’ll lay out my counterproposal here. A solid definition is complicated, but I would give an approximate definition of coercion as the use of personal power over someone to make someone do something they would not otherwise consent to. This makes labor not inherently coercive. Your offer of money is not INHERENTLY personal power over another person. Personal power is direct control over their life. A refusal to shop at a small business damages the person’s livelihood. Telling the business you won’t shop there unless they do something is not coercive because you do not hold direct personal power over them. Sex work DOES have more consequences than other forms of business. But, that just makes the standards of consent and coercion more important to observe carefully, it does not fundamentally change them. Consent in a medical setting is ALSO severely more consequential than in regular businesses. This does not change the nature of what QUALIFIES as consent, it simply changes the nature of the consequences. As such reputable medical facilities are supposed to be extremely careful in ensuring your consent. The standards should be and are the same for sex work. There certainly exist instances where people are coerced into sex work, and you CAN use your money to gain direct personal power over someone you intend on hiring for sex work, but the hiring itself is not direct personal power more than any other business exchange.

And, to the point of cherry picking voices. I’m really, really not. The people leading the cry of “sex work is work and deserves the rights and protections of any other job” and that it is not inherently rape ARE sex workers. In fact, places that institute policies to support that have been shown time and again to improve the quality of life and work for sex workers. This isn’t new news either. The best thing we can do, quantitatively, is to treat sex work like any other profession and give it the same respect and protections.

I think this messaging that sex is just the same as any other activity, that there are no special social conditions or statuses or emotions attached to it and that it’s just something you do has rotted people’s brains. In your attempts to normalize a human activity in the face of conservative shame mongering you have so removed the social complexities of sex that you have run right back around into the embrace of rape culture.