#but NOT religion the way jkr writes it

[impishtubist]

In 25 years of reading SBRL fic (yes I took a 17-year break but best believe I caught up real quick on all I had missed when I came back in 2020), I've only read one fic that actually addresses the fact that godfather has religious connotations to it. Like, it really is intended to be someone who guides your child in the faith. It is not automatically someone who has guardianship of your child after you die.

Idk, I'm not a religious person, but I think that should actually be explored more in fics.

[smertelig]

Fuck you for using Against Me, a band fronted by a trans woman, specifically a song about being trans unashamedly, to make a post about an IP owned by a woman who wants us dead. Please do educate yourself on this instead of blindly hiding behind the excuse of separate the art from the artist when the artist is using profits from the art to lobby for laws that make children kill themselves. Go fuck yourself also

Hi. Thank you for your comment. I think what you’re saying is incredibly important and your anger is justified, but misdirected. Please believe me when I say I am sorry for how that post can look. It can be misinterpreted and I should have thought about that and made the context more clear. I am myself non binary, an avid LGBTQ+ and trans rights activist, an Against Me!-fan and a literary scholar, so I hope you take me at my word: I do not support JKR WHAT SO FUCKING EVER. I’d say she should go to hell, but not even hell deserves shit like her.

As such, I should have recognised how references to the HP universe are triggering and can be read as supportive of the author. My post, however, was intended as a reference to the Maurauders universe, a spin-off universe based on fan-writings by independent creators, whereof the ones I follow are openly opposed to Rowling’s despicable actions and opinions.

I believe the Marauders-fandom is heavily influenced by people like myself - queer kids who grew up loving HP, only to have that joy broken and spat upon when JKR showed her true colours. I personally find it healing to read fan made Marauders-works that include and celebrate diversity - in ethnicities, religion, class, disabilities, body types and, perhaps most importantly, gender identities and -expressions.

So when I say I think Sirius Black would’ve loved Against Me! and Laura, I’m referring to a fan made, queer & gender nonconforming kid from the 70’s (and I take immense pleasure in how that would piss JKR right off). Laura’s battle with self destruction and gender is something I believe that version of Sirius would find strength in, just as I and many other trans people have.

I do not believe in separating the art from the artist. I do, however, enjoy the act of taking back something that has been made hurtful and turning it into something healing and joyful again. Now, whether we agree on that or not is a different discussion - but either way, I love your anger. We SHOULD be angry. I myself am pretty fucking furious, so I’m right here with you.

Tl;dr:

JKR is trash, I hope the thought of gender non conforming Sirius haunts her nightmares. May all TERFs choke and die.

Best regards, Robin ✨

[marta-bee]

I've been fixating a bit on Good Omens, specifically on Neil Gaiman being accused of sexual assault and the petition to get Amazon to fire Neil as writer of Good Omens S3.

What I've read about Neil Gaiman assaulting those women seems credible to me. I mean, I try to believe women who say they're assaulted generally and give wide berth for the sometimes odd ways trauma can keep them from coming forward as soon as I'd like, or giving clean accounts of their assault. But I was busy, I hadn't read the reporting, and I also liked Gaiman's writing and felt like I knew him (of a sort) because of years of following his Tumblr feed. Now I've done the reading, and at least based on the evidence available... I believe them.

Which raises a very uncomfortable question. I like the Good Omens novel, and the show, and I do want to see what happens. I enjoy the fanworks even more, but the originals also has a special place in my heart.

A lot of discussion around the petition starts with the (strange to me) idea that no one owns art once it's shared publicly. I do think we all own our experience of the story, and if the creator meant us to experience it a certain way, it's their responsibility to lead us down that road. Probably it's impossible to create that experience in the same way for all readers or viewers, because humans are messy and we bring all sorts of glasses, rose-tinted or otherwise, to everything we read. (I'm thinking of that line from the Lord of the Rings introduction: "It is perhaps not possible in a long tale to please everybody at all points, nor to displease everybody at the same points; for I find from the letters that I have received that the passages or chapters that are to some a blemish are all by others specially approved.") So yes, people are going to experience fiction from their own vantage-point, and our own experience of a story is our own. I'm really not very interested in interviews or other secondary statements about what an author meant. I mean, if JKR wanted Dumbledore to be gay she should have written him that way, etc., etc.

Even so! The story as it is (not as it's experienced, which can be quite different) really is the work of the people doing the telling. We all have the right to our own perception, the story that lives rent-free in our head.

But to say the person who fashioned the story doesn't in some sense own it -- legally or ethically -- just feels odd to me. I suppose Amazon would be within their rights to fire Gaiman. Maybe they'd even legally be allowed to not film the third season. But to say he's just one writer among many, and that we're entitled to the show without the brain that (co-)birthed it? That doesn't feel accurate and I don't think I can get on board with it. It actually seems extremely presumptuous and entitled to me. I'm imagining if someone objected to something they found out about me and decided to just rewrite one of my fanfics. That would feel invasive af, and I can't imagine anything I could do that would give them that right.

What are the other options? Well, the obvious one is the JK Rowlings approach: she created the story, it's hers, and it's precisely because she's so hateful now we shouldn't engage with it. Applying this to Gaiman, maybe we say we can't watch or reread it, maybe we push Amazon not to release it or other companies not to develop his stories into shows. Morally that makes more sense, though it feels like a shame because Good Omens pokes fun at religion's foibles in a way I know a lot of people found very helpful. It also seems like good queer representation, and it's also just plain fun. I'd hate for us all to lose that.

Personally, I've gotten quite good over the years at enjoying good stories told by bad people. I still watch my DVD's of Oliver Twist and The Pianist, even knowing what Roman Polanski did. The Cosby Show still makes me laugh. Etc. It helps those are things I already own so I'm not giving those people I object to more money. Not sure what I'd do about Good Omens S3; probably I'd pirate it or wait for DVD's I could get through my library, because there's not another season we need to get greenlit and I'd rather avoid giving him more money if I can help it. But I don't feel some moral imperative to shun meaningful, enjoyable art because someone involved with it did something wrong. Certainly not the other art people have made around it, including fanworks.

I can respect people who come down on the other side and say, nope, Good Omens = Neil Gaiman so I'm no longer going to touch it. This idea that we can somehow cut Gaiman out of this story and somehow enjoy it without worry just doesn't sit right with me.

(I can 100% understand people who can't read the book or watch the show without thinking of him, to the point it's no longer enjoyable. I tend to get engrossed in what I watch to the point I'm not thinking of the RL people behind it, so that's less of a problem for me personally; but that's my personal quirk. And thank goodness for that- I studied philosophy, and there are lots of "interesting" biographies going on there...)

[blitheringmcgonagall]

The most annoying part of the canon v fanon Sirius debate is that canon Sirius never had a romantic partner but people will insist that he does. I’ve seen bullying over this and that’s when the debate stops being a bit of fun y’know?

I think that we need to let people come up with their own ideas! Bullying is never okay. As I previously mentioned, while we get a reasonable amount of backstory regarding Sirius, he’s most definitely NOT the main character in the series.

Just because we don’t get information about his love life, or lack thereof, doesn’t prove or disprove what his sexual orientation was and whether or not he was interested in dating/sex etc?

JKR clearly says that canon Sirius is not gay for Remus. She more or less invented Remadora to prove this point as apparently lots of HP fans were convinced Wolfstar was canon (but it being the 1990s etc, they thought that she couldn’t say it openly) and she wasn’t happy about it.

I genuinely think all options can be defended:

Asexuality/ace spectrum/Grey-A (canon says he had no interest in girls/boys looking at him and no GF/BF is mentioned in the books)

Gay (for RJL - the whole “embraced like bros, Lie Low At Lupin’s, 40 line stare, buying presents together” etc)

Straight (he’s got posters of muggle women and motorbikes on his wall)

Bi/pan (both of the last two)

Personally I’ve read really excellent ace!Sirius and Blackinnon fics. And as you probably know, I personally think of Wolfstar as canon. @plecotusauritus explains it really well in a humerous post:

Plus, they are the star (brightest star Sirius) and moon (Moony) in canon. And JKR herself confirmed lycanthropy = equivalent of AIDS in 1980s etc (yeah I know, it’s not great and in fact terrible/horrible comparison when you add Greyback etc; but anyway the AIDS link unwittingly despite herself gave Remus a non-straight background, in fact the way she wrote Remus and Sirius had the director assume Wolfstar was canon!)

Having said all that, in canon, while the classmate was ogling Sirius, he was completely oblivious of her interest as he was too busy staring at James Potter. Ahem. Make of that what you will…!

I completely respect you thinking he never had a romantic partner. Who knows? JKR says that he was too busy playing hard/messing with his bros on his flying motorbike and fighting a war to want any serious relationship. She doesn’t confirm did he have one night stands or other types of encounters. And most people at this stage don’t really care what JKR thinks of Sirius.

The whole point of fandom and shipping and fanfics is to imagine/reimagine all the massive gaps in our knowledge of a character. It’s ok not to stick to the canon info, otherwise the fics we read would be extremely limited, short, and all very similar and boring after a while. I personally prefer when a character’s personality isn’t changed completely (ie when they retain the features that make them recognisable from the original story). But I am very happy to alter other aspects of them - like their race, colour, sexuality, religion etc. Also if you are writing a comedic piece, the characters will not be written the same way as when you write a more dramatic/in depth/ Angsty fic or a very fluffy one?

Everyone should feel free to use their imagination and also not worry about people bullying them for their alternative views. We should all be secure enough in our views that we don’t feel the need to bully others who disagree with us. I’m sorry if that’s happened to you or to people you know 💗💗💗💗💗💗

[slitheringghost]

Love the metas and rec lists! 😊

I’m always curious about where authors draw their inspiration, and about the unique caches of literary experience that inform their work. Are there any particular texts (novels, poetry, stories, plays, etc.) which inspire you, or which have shaped your tastes, or which you find yourself drawing-on, consciously or not, as a writer? Or any texts that have caused you to interpret the HP texts (themes, characters, etc.) in new ways?

Thank you so much for the ask! I’m glad you’re enjoying my metas and fic rec lists.

So my all time favorite books are His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and The Passion by Jeanette Winterson.

I feel like I've drawn on The Passion and HDM for my writing a bit. I especially like how the former portrays war, which has influenced my First War fic to an extent.

As for analyzing the text, I try to weave out as many of the references JKR made as possible (i.e. like to the Aegis, expanded on in this meta). This can be hard because I haven’t read a lot of basic Greek mythological texts that many people have, and I’m also not familiar with Christian tradition (and Abrahamic religions in general) and so catching the biblical references can be difficult.

This article and this one were incredibly crucial to my understanding of the series, that I’ve elaborated on in my meta And Cain Repented Not Of What He Had Done: Harry Potter As Retelling Of Cain And Abel. I would say that how these characters all play Cain - including Lily and Harry - is in fact much more important to understanding the text than their roles as Christ/God figures, Satan, etc. After reading it I felt like I got what HP as a series was Truly About more than anything else. It’s genuinely one of the most brilliant retellings of Cain and Abel, and I wish more people knew about that aspect of it!

Also thanks again for this ask, this made me pick up some of my fav books again and got briefly inspired while doing so :)

[worldenough-and-time]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💙

Omg I love this ask so much 🥰

1. Not Enough to Save You: (Wolfstar) Look, don’t ask me how many times I’ve reread my Remus Lupin is Joan of Arc fic. I feel like this needs no other pitch. Remus Lupin is Joan of Arc. Sirius is a princess who falls in love with her. The pen was on fire the entire time I was writing this. I’m really proud of the prose all the way through, especially the smut. If my chef’s special is smut described through beautiful figurative language, this fic is my 5 Michelin star tasting menu.

2. Tough, Tried, True Blue: (Wolfstar) The long fic of my heart!!! My pitch for this fic is that the next time you get the urge to comfort reread the Harry Potter books, you should read this instead. I’m basically writing the kids books I would have wanted to read that would have saved me a lot of time figuring out that I liked girls. It’s simultaneously deeply nostalgic about the OG books and deeply hostile towards JKR.

3. stupid and alive: (AFTG) So this fic is basically a courtroom drama and I’m the lawyer and Nora Sakavic is the witness and I cross examine her until she breaks on the stand Legally Blonde style. Except it’s actually just a deep character study of Andrew Minyard. I reread this a little while ago, and I don’t want to brag, but that is the point of this ask so. The prose in this fic fucking rips. Like, I was really on some shit. I also think the therapy scene in chapter two is some of my favorite dialogue I’ve ever written. I had a point to make and I made it, everyone clapped.

4. The College Years: (The Atlas Six) Of course I have a soft spot for this fic because it was the first fic I ever wrote and it was co-written with @capacity-for-wonder. We had too much fun writing this, and everyone should read it and then gaslight Mel into thinking that she enjoys writing! She’s very good at it! Essentially I wanted to write The Raven Cycle but Maggie Steifvater already did that so I had to write this instead as the next best thing. The fact that we wrote this before reading any marauders fic is unbelievable, because this is also basically a marauders fic. If you like TRC and Marauders fic you should absolutely read this. You don’t even have to read Atlas Six first, because it’s a prequel.

5. Immaculate Conception (Girls Kissing Remix) (Wolfstar) Sapphic horror fever dream based on an AU from Claude’s (@achilleslikespeas) incredible brain? Yes please! This fic is like a little Neapolitan ice cream treat. The vanilla is sapphic Wolfstar, the chocolate is a demon baby, and the strawberry is religion. They finger bang in the church basement! Need I say more?

[c0smic-coral]

About Me! (Updated 10-12-24)

Icon by me :)

My name is Coral/🪸 (not real name). Welcome to my galactic reef.

Age: 20 (will be 21 on 5-15-25)

Pronouns: She/her

Sexuality: Bisexual with maybe a little bit of a preference for guys

Disorders: ADHD, autism (at the level that was formerly known as Asperger’s), anxiety, depression and adjustment disorder

Location: Based in the East Coast of the USA. I’m not comfortable with specifying further

Fandoms: I’m in several, but my biggest ones are Star Trek: The Next Generation, Marvel Cinematic Universe/X-Men films, BBC Sherlock, Star Wars and Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss

Music I’m into: Taylor Swift, Green Day, Melanie Martinez, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, various musicals

Main ships: Qcard, Spirk, Stucky, Benthan, Lokius, Johnlock

Blorbos: Bucky Barnes, Q, Sherlock Holmes, Billie Joe Armstrong (kin) Jim Moriarty, Alastor, Logan Howlett, Poe Dameron, Steven Grant/Marc Spector (crush)

Sideblogs: @swiftie-sherlockian for BBC Sherlock and Taylor Swift and @the-greatest-moth for rambling about my OC Nora

My YouTube channel

My Reddit

Fics:

~COMPLETED~ Living in the Night (The Band Ghost, Terzo x Sister of Sin!Reader, Explicit, 4.6k, 2/2)

he looked right at me (like he didn’t even know me) (Marvel What If…?, Stucky, Mature, 5.6k, 1/1)

~WIPS~ Unraveled (Star Trek TNG, Qcard, Mature, 26.5k, 9/11)

in my heart and in my head (BBC Sherlock, Johnlock, Teen and Up, 12.2k, 3/6)

~UNRELEASED SONG LYRICS~ grab your pencil, we’re writing a tragedy (BBC Sherlock, Johnlock, Mature, 711)

OCs: Qira “Quiggs” Quiggles, Malorie Mission, “Frank” Tarrank, Qevin, Qai, Ginnithan Q (Star Trek), Anneliese “Clover” Holmes (BBC Sherlock), Candace Kayne (Hazbin Hotel), Nora Everly/Echofox, Lavender James (Marvel), Amilia Syko (Star Wars), Carmila Cardenas (no fandom), Jade Armstrong (Green Day), Emily Jaxon (no fandom)

OC x Canon ships: Malverly (Mal x Beverly), Cloviarty (Clover x Moriarty), Candastor (Candace x Alastor), Norgan/Wolverfox (Nora x Logan), Poemilia (Amilia x Poe), Stevender/Lavenmarc/Lavenmoon (Lavender x Steven/Lavender x Marc, Jake scares the shit out of her)

DNI: Homophobes, transphobes/TERFs/truscum, racists, anti-Semitics, Islamophobes, atheistophobes, if you discriminate against any religion or lack thereof, ableists, pedos/MAPs, zoophiles/anyone who does bestiality, anti-otherkin/therians, people who think incest is ok, MINORS UNDER 13, proanas, proshippers, cyberbullies, people who post pornographic photos, people who romanticize problematic stuff like trauma, people who assume all Potterheads are transphobes, people who support problematic people (ie Trump, JKR, Kanye), people who support cringe culture

You can also ask me anything, but nothing too personal. I have the right to not answer an ask for any reason, so if I do not answer your ask within 24 hours of you sending it, do not pressure me to answer!! If you do, you will be blocked!! If you spam my ask box, you will also be blocked. If you ask blatantly sexual questions, you will also be blocked.

IF YOU MAKE ME UNCOMFORTABLE IN ANY WAY, YOU WILL BE BLOCKED!

[theinfiknight]

ASKS BE UPON YE!!!!!

1, (post a pic of ur current favourite blorb) 4, 7, 11, 27, 35, 40, 49, aaaaaaaaaaaaand 56!

Ok ok I've put this off long enough

1) Selfie of me:

Me with the pals (the post never specified the selfie had to be irl)

4) What are you looking forward to

Weeerrllll, I might eat some real nice spicy korean noodles tomorrow and even better, I might get to read the Avatar Roku novel next week! Yippee!

7) What was your life like last year

Hmmmmmm, kinda bad actually. I had taken a gap year from college to try and start HRT but couldn't find a single psychiatrist willing to take me seriously. I was basically just rotting away in my room while also running around the city humoring people who were trying to psychoanalyse me with an archiac and invalidating framework. Things are a lot better now in comparison.

11) Are you listening to music right now?

Yeah! It's Keiran's theme from Pokemon scarlet violet. My favourite pokemon rival since N

27) Things I hate

Hoo ok. Brace yourself.

Power outages. Hot food that's gone cold. People who are thoughtlessly mean, people hating on something you like after you told them you like it. People who live entirely inside their own heads. Random old men for some reason being allowed to decide your life. The inevitability of entropy. The fragility of human existence. Stupidly low catch rates on pokemon (whyyyyyy does magby or mantyke or sudowoodo need to be nigh uncatchable). The after effects of colonisation that define my life. Planned obsolescence. Vanilla ice cream. The fact that anything you can think of has been done better by others before you. People who spread hate and fear on an industrial scale for personal gain. Stories that treat characters as archetypes or plot devices instead of people. Random old men for some reason deciding that people on the other side of the earth need to die and then directly causing their deaths and facing no consequences for it. Comphet. The way Fushiguro is being treated in jjk. The way Sasuke and Sakura were treated in Naruto. The trivialisation of super Saiyan god immediately after it was introduced. Wasted potential. Random chance. The lack of any sort of higher justice. The fact that you have to pay separately to access Nintendo online services. Paid dlc that costs more than the base game. The short lifespan of hard drives. Too much nutmeg. The fact that you can randomly lose abilities you've had all your life. The Police. JKR. The power parents have over children. The anime pervert trope. Gender essentialism. What the main continuity Marvel comic writers have been doing to Spiderman for the last few years. The inevitable enshittification to the point of unusability of every company we rely on for society to function. The stock market. The intricacies of punctuation. The desecration and reanimation of long beloved works of art for the sake of short term profit. Monopolies. Teachers who do not see students as people. Generative AI. The incredible height of the skill ceiling of today's industry standards. The power shareholders wield over public utilities. Authors who cannot or more often do not bother to write female characters as people. People who treat real world problems like thought experiments. The fact that scissors get gradually less usable with time. Doctors who can no longer see humans as anything but cases. The disproportionate power of the USA. Having to 2D animate. Guns(sorry, I know you like those). The oversaturation of absolutely everything. Surveillance cameras. Visas. The trend of making characters who had bad parents also end up as bad parents to their kids. People's egos. Games with chairs and benches that do not allow the player character to ever sit. Organised religion. The pokemon diamond and pearl remakes. Songs that require more than two hands to properly play on the piano. Airport security. Gender segregated queues. Things that were once free, now costing money. Social media algorithms. Myself.

So yeah. You asked.

35) Favourite subject

Mildly embarrassing because I don't have very much in depth knowledge on any one subject but I have surface level knowledge of many. So my favourite subject would be maybe Pokemon or well done high fantasy. Or really just any engaging story with characters that feel organic. Bonus points for a well thought out magic system, more points if the story actually has a message, and even more points if the writing is smart, funny and well thought out. Needless to say I consider Terry Pratchett to be the absolute peak of literature.

40) Favourite memory

Ooh this is a tough one. Hmmm.

The exact moment when you defeat Giratina in Pokemon Legends Arceus and you think the battle is over and then the flatline plays and the music changes into its Pokemon Platinum theme and it turns into its Origin Form and you're just there staring at the screen and physically yelling with excitement.

Apart from that I had some pretty good times back when I lived in hostel, staying up overnight playing smash bros with my two then best friends. I miss those guys and those times.

49) Where I want to be right now

Honestly I'd be entirely satisfied being exactly where I am now, only without the uncertainty ruling my life.

Aaaaaaand

56) Favourite foods:

Buldak noodles, naan and paneer butter masala, a good spicy burger with spicy mayo and jalapenos, anything chocolate based that's well thought out, chilli chipotle chicken rice bowl, nachos with salsa, a nice spicy paneer or chicken wrap, chilli mushrooms or baby corn, Lotus stem when it's prepared dry, underbaked chocolate cake with ice cream, a nice spicy salad, just chilli paneer/chicken in general. Also a decent pizza. Or a good spicy vegetable sandwich.

[myopicry]

I've already sent you an ask (more like a ramble on aesthetics and its relation to women) around a week ago, you're probably inactive atm (which isnt a bad thing btw!) but i'm gonna send another thing in (something unrelated to my last ramble lol).

now that i've spent time both in radfem/"terf" spaces and trans positive/inclusive(?) ones, i've noticed how scared the latter are of being even *slightly* associated to the former. it's oddly funny and kind of silly when you think about it. ppl have talked about this before but i'm referring to stuff like "op is a terf" and "terfs dni". the latter has been especially poignant to me recently for some reason: a trend ive seen is that ppl often write that in their bio after having created a post which some radfems or GCs reblogged/engaged with and they've used the classic "so terfs have come across this and i just wanted to let it be know that i dont like you guys" (altho worded much less kindly). it's like they're *terrified* of being perceived by ppl who share their views as even just somewhat affiliated to the "other" in any way, shape or form. or they're terrified of the other following them and interacting with their content. it feels very defensive and overly "loud" to me, idk?... the "op is a terf" has been talked about a lot in the radfem/GC spaces, so this might be a shorter section (update: it's not, lmao), but as that one post said: "it's a thought terminating cycle". I think that's one of the reasons i haven't checked out what the hell these "terfs" were actually saying and arguing (apart from screenshots of JKR tweets) for so long. it rlly proved to me how engaging with media from other "sides" is crucuial, even if you probably wont agree most of the time. if anything, i think i just wanted to be a good ally: i love debating and i wanted to know how to respond to "terf rhetoric" better. i remember feeling surprised by what i saw, not feeling the immediate "this is illogical and bad" feeling, and having trouble arguing against certain points. i couldn't even find good counter arguments from other ppl. and then there was a domino effect (altho i havent adopted all radfem and GC POVs and dont consider myself as a radfem or rad leaning/GC). even some trans friends of mine were surprised when i reported my findings to them. i'll stop here even though i can talk about this for much longer, but those "terfs/radfems dni" bios rlly stick out to me now and made me think lol. hope to see you back soon! ~🪼

hi hi! apologies for the delay! I did in fact spend some personal time offline, it was quite nice and it is probably a much healthier thing than spending most of my day on tumblr lmao but I can't deny I did miss speaking openly about my opinions on things, especially certain observations that I absolutely would not be able to discuss with my irls unless I wanted to sit them down for a multi-hour lecture just to make sure I wasn't misunderstood ^_^|||

anyway I just saw both your asks (eloquently written as ever!) and will respond to this first just because I saw it first lmao. not much to add other than maybe rambling myself about some of my own similar experiences and what not. you've put it into words great though! there is almost this "mystical" denouncement of terfs/radfems/gender criticals who are mislabled as just radfems etc. within trans spaces, and as I've looked more and more into "terf" ideology this kind of hatred really does go back far, to a point where it's basically impossible to even mention radical feminism or gender critical feminism without immediate hostility. like a sort of legend or custom, being wary/outwardly hateful of the demonic terf. maybe this is why when I heard gender ideology being likened to a religion, the analogy really clicked with me, because on some level trans-inclusive spaces really do make terfs feel like "the devil", some root of all evil, the parallel to the "divine" that they liken themselves to. I'm fairly atheistic myself in regards to just religion in general, so understanding being gender critical as essentially "gender atheism" helped me realize how logically flawed and slightly harmful a vehement belief in trans ideology could be, just as a non-critical perspective on any religious ideology can be.

I definitely relate to the point of basically falling into the radfem rabbit hole accidentally. I don't really feel like I'm properly a radfem or especially an activist (I do just write what's on my mind and that I can't really get engagement from my pre-existing social circles lol) and I honestly got into the ideas not through radblr but imageboards and forums through my bad habit of looking for material to "invalidate" me as some kind of "doom-scrolling" practice, but instead of finding blind hatred (even in the most niche of internet corners, where the ideology does get radical indeed) I found logical, cogent arguments and reasoning for why these people were so against gender ideology. I mean, yes, there was still hatred, but there's hatred on every corner of every internet space, and it also made me realize how my belief in not committing "thought crimes" by even entertaining "terf" rhetoric was simultaneously making me blind to the genuine flaws and ickier aspects of the trans + queer community that I was just sort of ignoring with cognitive dissonance. as a woman and someone with really god awful people-pleasing habits, I was unfortunately quite good at ignoring things that made me uncomfortable in order to maintain social acceptance and a good reputation in the eyes of others, and even if I don't share every radfem or gc belief, I can't deny being exposed to them all was absolutely integral to unraveling some of that unhealthy behavior.

based on my personal experiences, it is really actually quite disheartening to see that "radfem/terf dni" thing happen so much online. you really can't expect to never challenge your own thinking. in fact, challenging your preconceived notions is the only way you can grow as a person in your personal philosophy and conception of the world. I get it though, it is probably scary to engage with the "forbidden fruit" if your whole self-proclaimed all-accepting community says that this is one thing that is absolutely intolerable and will get you kicked from this welcoming "club". I will say, having opened this proverbial pandora's box of theory, I get a bit more angry and cynical at the state of the world (how did I never notice the staggering affects of misogyny before?), and I get a bit more sad that I'll never be able to have that unquestioning community with people who are supposed to understand me. I wonder if there are more people who would honestly be able to understand the nuances in critiquing gender ideology out there, but they fear that ostracization too. if by some random chance anyone like that ever reads this exact post (lol what are the odds) I always like to remind people that a burner email and account on something like tumblr is incredibly easy to set up!

alright, lemme get to your other ask because it is really interesting and thanks again for visiting!! I genuinely missed engaging with this kinda stuff offline, and I also get tired being the one to drip feed new ideas to people in person. it's really nice to just get a nice well written insight to engage with unfiltered (well, as unfiltered as a tumblr post under a pseudonym can be lmao)

[happiness-of-the-pursuit]

9 favorite books

Thanks for the tag @daisymae-12!!! Much like you I have read more fanfic than books as of recent, plus I have the very bad fun habit of re-reading books I love rather than starting new ones. So a lot of these I read in middle school/high school but continuously come back to. Apologies in advance for the length. Also, this isn't in ranking order, this is in reverse chronological order of me reading them I've decided.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - pretty obvious, but long story short: I've never seen myself so much in a character before meeting Alex Claremont-Díaz. I held out on reading this book when it was first popular b/c I didn't know what it was about and it was "trendy." When I learned what it was about I was like wait, duh, I'd love that. So that'll teach me.

Tattoos on the Heart: The Powers of Boundless Compassion by Father Greg Boyle - Read this my senior year of college for a class and was literally lying on the couch crying reading some of these stories (I don't cry often from books either). These are stories of a Jesuit priest who runs Homeboy Industries, a gang intervention program in LA.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - I haven't re-read this since my senior year of high school but I absolutely devoured this book, which is saying something because it was summer reading. This author is blowing up for writing Demon Copperhead, which I haven't read yet, but this story about a missionary family who moves to the Belgian Congo in 1959 was impossible to put down.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel - Also read this in high school for class when I was struggling with religion and figuring out my relationship with it. I found a lot of comfort in this book and the beautiful storytelling.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - The second book on this list that made me absolutely SOB when reading (still vividly remember sitting and cyring while reading the chapter at like midnight on a school night alone in a dark kitchen). Beautiful, not sure a book has ever made me feel so much (also loved learning about a different part of the world), don't think I could read it again (but you should absolutely read it once if you're cool with the contents).

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - First up: this author is a huge bigot, full stop, way worse than JKR. So don't read (or if you want to read but don't want to support the author don't buy the book). However, I read this as a middle schooler before knowing his background and it is an all time favorite because of one of its messages: "I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves." Aka this idea about empathy and that to truly understand someone you have to love them - too bad the author missed his own point.

Psion Beta by Jacob Gowans - A favorite dystopian series that's super niche (I think he originally self-published on Amazon before it was common). A plague, super powers, world governments, the Western Hemisphere are the bad guys in an unusual role reversal for books written by Americans, what more could you ask for???

Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - If you are a nerd and want to feel like a bigger nerd/be proud of that nerdiness this is the series for you. Seriously one of the best YA series out there, plus there's a recent new addition (2019) of them grown up if you missed it!!!

Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan - I love these books so much and could go on forever about them, probably the books I've read the most in life outside of HP (exception being The Lightning Thief-I was a teacher and taught this book so I've read this book like...a minimum of twelve times). I can't wait to bring #1 and #9 from this list together for our massive WIP, "Super Six and the Siren's Call" for the fan fic of the century lmao (co-writing with @read-and-write- and @inexplicablymine).

Wow, I had so much fun choosing this list, thank you!!! If you love one of these books lmk let's talk :)

Tagging @mudbloodpotter05 @read-and-write- @kiwiana-writes @inexplicablymine @14carrotghoul @littlemisskittentoes and anyone else who wants to do this!!! I'm sure some/most of y'all have already been tagged and maybe even posted, I just want to know what y'all are reading :)

[kosegruppaa]

*head in hands* may I hear your hot takes about GO and Neil G.? I'm very curious!!

hehe, not sure how hot they truly are? i don't think neil gaiman is a raging homophobe or anytihing. and i like a lot of his writing. i love aziracrow, especially show!aziracrow and i like the show itself well enough too

BUT

i just find it annoying how he was like 'you're interpretation is your interpretation :) but you are making stuff up' for a very long time about them, and then when the show came out he would say things like 'it's a love story, yes' but get pedantic about calling it gay because they are angels and sexless beings (never mind that the entire show is based on them loving earth and humanity - which they have done through more or less living as human men specifically, for 6000 years).

which is all fine and dandy, a story can have queer coding and sub-text without being queerbait. but then you cannot also be hailed as writing the best queer rep of our time. this is mostly a complaint against fans, like if people were in any way discussing it, you could get accused of being ace-phobic or not believing in non-binary people or whatever (and those are also valid readings of the show for sure - but certainly not very established in text. neil gaiman's socials supports some of these readings. but honestly, i don't care about at that much, like i thought we agreed that that type of word of god rep was bs when jkr was doing it?)

he's basically historically been somewhat 'no homo' about it all, but in the most annoying way possible. all the while people jump on people's throats if they don't act like it is canon confirmed queer (like e.g. ofmd) (all this is pre-s2, obviously)

and the newest stuff is this:

which is so silly to me. "the homophobia is perhaps something you brought to the scene yourself"??? why would you discourage readings that are deeper than surface level? how can you write someone saying to a male presenting angel "your boyfriend in the dark glasses" in that way and not realise it will come accross as having a homophobic undertone? are you so separated from the reality of homophobia??? also you are now writing a CANON queer relationship (no matter if we read them as men or non-binary or completely removed from any kind of human concept of gender - the fact that they mostly present and are acted by men is significant imo though) and insist that reading deeper into queerness and its links with heaven & hell & religion etc. i just don't get it. even if you aren't going to delve into it on the show... this respons is so dumb to me. like is he scared of having homophobia in his show??? i do not get it!!!

BUT i adore aziracrow as a ship and i think michael sheen and david tennant do a stellar job in it! and i do enjoy a lot of the writing as well, of course. i like a lot of the stuff he does both on this show and otherwise. but i will never kiss his ass like some people do on here, and i will make fun of him for all the loser takes he has on his own show.

[pommedeladiscorde]

Future pinned post

So easily we're persuaded  ...      an  independent and  selective portrayal  of  Regulus Black of  the   Wizarding World of Harry Potter. .  canon compliant(ish) .     ...  No one ever starts that way

 an exploration in ...      self-flagellation, predeterminism, religion, found family, lost family , morality, the ghost in the machine.

low activity,  dark  themes  present. written by  birb. 30+ est. 

                              | carrd |      | memes |   | put something here|

* under construction

sideblog to @birdysmuses

also found at : @mhstark3000 and @retrocognizantrecreant

MOBILE FRIENDLY RULES & ABOUT (beneath the cut)

add the fucking about here, cunt.

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[gilmore-angel]

byi !!

I'm a minor who writes smut occasionally, if this makes you uncomfortable in any way please dont read and/or follow, but please dont send asks complaining about it cause I'll just delete them!

dni !!

homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, zenophobic, racist, sexist, body shame, pro ana, porn blog, 18+ blog (as in you dont let minors follow you), support T*m F*lton or JKR, anti taylor swift, pro life, terf, use religion as a weapon, pro israel!

regarding 18+ accounts

if your blog is 18+, meaning you only allow adults to follow you/interact with your posts, you should not be following me or interacting with my posts. I see many 18+ blogs complaining about minors interacting with them (which is awful!!!), but then will proceed to do the same to minors. if you want people to respect your boundaries, then respect theirs!!

[joannerowling]

Scottish Hagrid (bonus point because OP is British) (also, no explanation as to why Hagrid would be offensive for a Scottish person?)

Dumbledore's famous sister, Aurelius Dumbledore

"Harry Potter was my religion!" (thank god OP never obsessed to that degree over any actual religious book, that's how you get St Paul)

All-powerful casting director JK Rowling who hires and fires actresses on a whim for being black… or not being black? unclear

"Some characters were imperfect and/or did Bad Things and weren't immediately cast into a pit of flaming snakes, plus the narrator voice didn't say *this is a bad thing that this character did, they must be punished*. Bad writing!"

"Viktor" "Krum" apparently not a Bulgarian name??

"Fleur Delacour" apparently means "flower of the heart" (hell of a thing to read as a French let me tell you). "And that's a bad thing! for err reasons"

"Delacour is NOT a French name!!!" (… si. si, c'en est un.)

"Seamus Finnigan. ENOUGH SAID."

(At this point i think OP has a problem with names in general)

"Some characters weren't main characters!!!! Bad writing!!!"

"A man preys on young boys to give them a chronic condition that makes them a danger to themselves and others. Yep, that's a GAY MAN!" Interesting jumping to conclusions right there. Clearly, it's JKR who is the homophobic one.

"Cho Chang was Chinese!" Cho is literally from Gloucestershire. Also, Cho Chang is a perfectly serviceable name for a British-Chinese citizen (makes less sense for a Mandarin name, but most Chinese immigrants in the UK were from HK and there are more languages in China where it fits such as Cantonese), just with a non-standard romanisation. Many Chinese immigrants spell or used to spell their names in a way that would make the pronunciation easier for English speakers (hence Ch- instead of Zh-).

Etc. etc. i don't have time to unpack all that, but good god

I know this isn't something that's in any way unsaid or new, but there's a handful of people (myself included) that are uniquely situated by virtue of our position to fully and properly point out every single one of Harry Potter's flaws. Because those books were my religion. I was an autistic british ten year old irl, what else could you expect? A book that offered me community, a series about outcasts that get back at the people that hurt them? It was one of my first hyperfixations. And now I have stacks of books hidden at the top of kitchen cupboards and wands stuffed under clothes at the bottom of my closet because it hurts too much to knowledge how this series formed me. But I think this post is what I feel like I owe from loving Harry Potter for so long. So here is an extensive list of how literally 90% of the characters are single-layered, single dimensioned at best and straight up stereotypes at worst.

Harry Potter: His character "depth" is literally just being obnoxious and having a sob story. Ron was pretty much the only character he didn't dislike to begin with. He watched as the Ministry became so easily overtaken by Voldermort after having being pretty right-wing anyway and then decided not only to continue supporting that system, but to become a cop. And don't even get me STARTED on how he treated the women in his life, namely Hermione and Ginny.

Ron Weasley: Like Harry, he was insanely obnoxious and took Hermione completely for granted - but was seen as completely justified when he was pissed off at her for dating Krum. His relationship with Lavender morphed from "I like her" to the typical "Ugh I hate my girlfriend" and then, again, Lavender was the antagonist for being upset about him becoming distanced.

Hermione Granger: She was bullied for her looks, but instead of finding inner beauty, she had her teeth magically altered to be more normal and used a tonne of product on her hair (neither of which are bad in their own right) but it was never once mentioned that perhaps she shouldn't have been bullied into changing herself. Whenever she got fed up with being taken for granted, her arguments with the boys always ended with "Oh, you guys!" And then her doing their homework again. I don't even need to mention how she was seen as annoying for supporting slave rights. AND ON TOP OF THAT, the reason she ended up kissing Ron for the first time was because he suggested they should view house elves as living beings. That is not even an exaggeration.

Draco Malfoy: A Very Potter Musical put it better than I can. His casual racism, misogyny, xenophobia all went completely unchecked by any teacher, but everything was okay in the end because he stopped his mother from torturing someone. He, I remember, was praised for having depth. What depth? That he was willing to kill a guy to be invited into the KKK and then didn't? Wow.

Ginny Weasley: Not only is she completely ignored by her own family because she was the only girl, she only had any kind of significance until she became a love plot point. By that point, she had her brother and her crush fighting over her, so what more could she want?

Dumbledore: "Oh, Dumbledore was such a good guy-" No he wasn't. He raised Harry to be killed, yes, but he also let racism run rampant in his school. He wasn't gay in the books OR movies - even in the movies AFTER he was "confirmed" to have had a relationship with Grindewald - but Harry Potter CAN'T be homophobic because Dumbledore was gay!

Severus Snape: Snape. Snape, Snape, Snape. Completely unoriginal and on-the-nose name aside, let's talk about his "redemption" arc. This man had a girl he was in love with who left his friendship when he called her a racial slur, mentally and physically abused her son for seven years and somehow the first point excused the second? Okay. He was racist, aided racism, abetted racism, but who cares about that, he had his feelings hurt twenty years ago :(

Luna Lovegood: You guys love to peddle her around, don't you. The stereotype that autistic people don't care about what other people think or, worse, don't understand that people think we're "weird" is so tired and Luna perpetuates that while simultaneously not even being canonically autistic. The idea that she doesn't care about other people somehow means it's okay when everyone, Harry included, is disgusted by her in private.

Cho Chang: You've heard this one before. She was Chinese but with a Korean/Burmese first name and had the singular personality trait of being emotional and weak. Okay. JKR literally just took the first "Asian" name she could think of, the first Asian stereotype she could think of, and used them to make a cardboard cut out for Harry to make out with.

Hagrid: His name is Hagrid. Unironically, the Scottish character is called Hagrid.

Fenrir Greyback and Remus Lupin: A man preys on young boys to give them a chronic condition that makes them a danger to themselves and others. Hm. Yep, he's a gay AIDS/HIV stereotype. Remus has to suppress his werewolf attributes using special potions and is seen as the exception because he doesn't kill/permanently harm children. Okay then.

Dean Thomas: As one of the only Black character, I give you one question: Tell me something about him. No, go on. You can tell me a lot about all the others in his dorm - Harry, Ron, Neville, even Seamus. Tell me something about Dean. You can't, can you? He had no backstory, I don't think we even met his parents, he was just "Seamus' nicer friend". On that subject;

Seamus Finnigan: The only Irish character in the entire series. He has two character points - being divisive and enjoying blowing shit up. And his name is Seamus Finnigan. No more questions, your honor.

Fleur Delacour: And in the vein of "what the fuck even is this" nationality stereotypes, uh. The girl whose name means "Flower of the heart" in french (Delacour is NOT a french surname by the way) is petite, slim faced, obsessed with beauty and sweeps a random character off his feet to get married.

Viktor Krum: A Bulgarian whose name comes from Germany and Russia who somehow plays for the national team despite being a kid. He has two character points; not speaking English well and being gruff. Yeah, alright then.

The Patil twins: Putting them in one section because they have no. NO character development besides being Indian twins. The only time they ever mattered was when they dated Harry and Ron, and even then they were completely ignored and treated like shit. Did they get comeuppance? Did the boys apologize? No. They were too busy thinking about white girls.

Lavender Brown: Lavender didn't have any lines until she became Ron's revenge love interest. In the movies, prior to this, she had been played by black actresses Jennifer Smith and Kathleen Cauley. However, once her character had lines, she was replaced by Jessica Cave and - you guessed it - Jessie is white. The defense is that Lavender wasn't described until AFTER Jennifer and Kathleen were cast, but why was it so important that she was white, Miss Rowling?

Aurelius Dumbledore: Let's talk about how she was described as being 'wrong in the head' and so when her mother - and I kid you not - LOCKED HER IN THE BASEMENT AND TOOK HER OUT FOR LAPS AROUND THE GARDEN AT NIGHT, it was seen as OKAY. Albus said he "felt bad for her" but did he do anything about it? No. In fact, he resented her for needing him to make sure she doesn't get killed. Hm.

I haven't even touched on how fucked up the House system is, how ridiculous the concept of Slytherin is, how the Death Eaters have been akinned to queer people, how the house elves are happy with slavery, how the goblins are the most blatant antisemitic stereotypes ever, how the Durseleys are forgiven for all the pain they caused, how the only fat people are both horrible people and have loving to eat as a personality trait, how there were characters described as "african wizards in long white robes roasting a kind of rabbit over a purple fire" which, wow, there's a lot to unpack there. As someone who spent thousands, without exaggeration, of hours researching this series, learning trivia for this series, obsessing over this series, I know this shit. It isn't good.

[seven-saffodils]

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[evilwickedme]

who are the top 3 characters from any fandom(s) that you or others hc as Jewish, and who are your top 3 favourite canonically Jewish characters from any fandom? also please tell us why!!

Oh this is a delightful ask thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to answer this!!!

My longest lasting Jewish headcanon is for Lily Potter nee Evans, for several reasons. One is she gives me the Vibes. Secondly, I love a good angsty story about Petunia choosing to assimilate and punishing Harry for trying to reconnect with his heritage later on. I also think James converted for her and just... Fell in love with Judaism, as a religion, as a culture. One day I will write a fic with all of these headcanons put together but as of right now all I have up (on ff.net, not ao3) is a short chanukah fic that is honestly not worth reading. Also this headcanon is to spite JKR specifically

My next hc isn't so much a headcanon as much as an affront to God it isn't text yet. We all know Peter B Parker steps on a glass at his wedding making him Jewish - and also the only canonically Jewish Peter Parker. There is no version of Peter Parker that isn't Jewish, even Tom Holland's, who, when asked, outright said Peter Parker isn't Jewish, creating an enemy for life. You know the story of that guy who got hired to draw for marvel comics and the first thing he did was fix the slightly crooked M in Spider-Man that had been bothering him his entire life? Me forcing marvel to hire me to write for them and then making Peter Parker both Jewish and bisexual fite me

Another big one I used to be more involved with is Crowley of Good Omens. If you look far enough back in my Good Omens tag - like shortly after the show released - you'll see a bunch of really good posts by other people explaining why, but basically the same reasons Crowley is a demon are the reasons he'd be a fantastic Jew.

As for canon, Willow Rosenberg might be shitty jewitch representation, but BTVS is so important to me and seeing any sapphic representation at all when I was that young, let alone that of a Jewish one, was so so so important to me as a 12-13 year old. And still now, even as I grapple with the shittiness of having Willow hang crucifixes in her room or the bi erasure of the character.

Another one I like despite its problematic~~~ aspects is Annie Edison from Community. It's one of my comfort shows, and the way she insists on her Jewishness specifically in the context of Shirley's bigotry is often very satisfying to watch. I'm not personally a Shirley hater, fyi, but you can't deny she's an evangelical asshole whenever she encounters anyone who doesn't believe exactly the same as her. It's an underrated dynamic to watch.

I have mixed but mostly positive feelings for the Jewish rep in Crazy Ex Girlfriend. I feel like it doesn't try as hard to deconstruct Jewish stereotypes as it does sexist and ableist ones, but I appreciate that it's coming from the lived experiences of a Jewish woman at the narrative helm.

Bonus: I can't remember if the Jewish rep in ASOUE is canon or not. Somebody tell me so I know how to feel about it lmao

Anyway thank you for asking this was a fun question to think about!!!