#but a lot of the times the criticism of sex in media that i see on here is straight-up 'it shouldn't exist' and hm

[gendercriticalthinking]

The way that my friend felt disappointed when he found out as a kid that an androgynous character he idolized was a woman because he quote "couldn't relate to the character anymore" and the way that the creator of Celeste """discovered he was non-binary""" because he wrote a female character that he was able to relate to are branches off of the same vein of misogyny I think

[cigarette-room]

if you find sex repulsive why do you go to a sex book shelf, pick out a sex book, read it, go to a sex website, read more of sex book-related sex stuff, then go loudly angrily complain that there's sex in it

[0-therw-0-rldly]

I’ll preface this by saying I’m not really a shipper. I just enjoy canon couples on TV Series/films.

Terms I’d like B*ddies to remove from their vocabulary because they don’t know how to use them correctly:

Media literacy: For a group that uses this term a lot you sure do misinterpret everything in this show.

Queerbaiting: Going to expand on this one. A show that’s already been pre established for having queer characters simply cannot queerbait.

Ship baiting: While sometimes you can argue that they could be doing that, that’s only if you look at the show in a very biased manner. You might think this is the case but the general audience doesn’t think the way you do.

Ship war: This isn’t a one tree hill situation where there was Team Brooke Vs. Team Peyton where the middle guy (Lucas Scott) had canonically been with both women. This is people not understanding fanon vs. canon and not being able to just watch the show. It’s like playing quarterback on Madden and thinking you could be better than Patrick Mahomes.

Plot device: everything’s a plot device. Move tf on.

Predator: You sound like crazy MAGA supporters calling everything regarding the LGBTQIA+ community as predatory. Sit down.

Co-parenting: I know this is a big one and discourse was brought up during the hiatus. Oliver and Ryan have loosely mentioned this years ago but it was never to be taken this seriously. Do y’all even know what co-parenting is or are you that big of a donut? Buck is someone who loves his best friend deeply and by extension, his kid too. Him taking care of him frequently does not make him a co-parent. Maybe he is a parental or uncle figure, but he isn’t a co-parent. Also, I swear y’all need to learn how a will works. He is a GODPARENT, not a GUARDIAN. Stfu.

Hag: This especially applies to women, but to say that someone 25-30+ is a hag for still being in fandoms or enjoying tv shows/films is inherently misogynistic. Men are never held to this much criticism for enjoying fictional media, but women aren’t allowed to?

Queer Coding: people of the same sex “looking at each other”, hugging, or having intimate moments all together doesn’t make them queer coded. It could mean that they just love each other that deeply platonically. While representation is amazing and just because you interpret a character as queer coded (just like my ship baiting comment) doesn’t mean others interpret it that way as well. In addition, network TV has stipulations, and also actors are allowed to decline storylines. Ryan has mentioned his character is heterosexual an abundance of times which means (at least for now) that he isn’t willing to go for this storyline.

Dead naming: Y’all construing the fact that Buck wants people like coworkers and some of his former love interests, to saying Evan is his dead name is inherently transphobic because do you even understand what a dead name is? Evan Buckley is shown as being fine with being called Evan by both Tommy and his sister. I’m pretty sure some of his love interests have called him Evan as well.

Fetishizing: You guys saw two hot guys who “looked at each other” and for 6 seasons have wanted nothing but to see those two make out with each other. Those of us who enjoy Tevan saw Buck giddy at the thought of Tommy and have wanted domestic fluff for them since.

Anything to do with racism, homophobia, and misogyny: I’ve seen the way you guys have conveniently weaponized Henren and by extension Aisha/Tracie when you didn’t get the Ryan/Oliver interview, don’t try to act like you’re morally superior. Not to mention wanting a canonically gay man to die in a show and not even holding those who use your ship name to write CSA fics accountable because you’re petty and want to throw hissy fits. Anyone looking at your comments as an outsider would think you’re homophobes and yes queer people can be homophobic.

I do hope you can expand your vocabulary. 🤍

[kateysummers99]

Do you think the WWBM Interacial movement has now got to a critical point where momentum has starting to challenge even the majority of White Women now as far as there choices for relationship ? May we as White Males even lose this group of females to African Men more then we keep ourselves ?

The short answer is definitely yes.

Because of my own personal experiences and also just looking at major social trends, it's pretty obvious that IR relationships (in general, but specifically white girls and black guys) are much more common now than they were 10, 30, and 30 years ago. 

I think there are lots of reasons for this and I’m obviously not an expert (I work in finance, not cultural psychology), but lets just look at the obvious trends:

Girls today are more empowered in general, and especially regarding sexuality and romance. I mention this a lot on this blog, there are less things hold girls back than there used to be. Movies and TV and culture in general are so much more accepting that people can love who they want to love, and that applies especially to society being more accepting of girls expressing their sexuality. I grew up in a time when dating black guys was an obvious but implied no-no, and it's just not the same today. (Note this is NOT true everywhere. Sadly there are racists and homophobes still, but they will probably be holdouts until they die.)

Black men are idolized for their physicality and masculinity by society more and more every day. Sports, music, advertising media, movies, social media and TV shows - you name it, black guys are constantly the icon of masculinity, status and power. This is really true for their masculinity, where we regularly fetishize the sexual prowess of black men in every day culture with phrases like “once you go black you never go back.” 

Porn is free and everywhere. Also something that wasn’t the case when I was growing up, but now you just pick up any cell phone and in a few seconds be privately and anonymously staring at an amazing black man and his huge black cock (or whatever your fantasy is).

Also in the last few years, social justice and institutional racism has become a hot topic, I think a lot of women recognize that the same old white male patriarchy that has been suppressing women since the beginning of time has also been responsible for suppressing Black people. This puts white women and black men on the same side on a pretty deep level, where they see each other in the same existential struggle for happiness against the common enemy that is old white guys.

Another interesting thing that I've read reports about is more and more young white guys who are essentially "staying single" forever, sometimes due to porn addiction. They make a sexual connection with porn that is easy and judgment free, which is the opposite of the real-world dating situation where they deal with complex social dynamics and competition (including trying to compete against more masculine black men who are constantly in movies and music).

So if that's a growing tend... then young women find themselves more free in choosing partners, society idolizing black guys, exposed to IR sex and porn, and more culturally aligned with black guys… and young white guys basically removing themselves from the dating pool.

As for me personally, I have always thought think black guy / white girl couples are the most beautiful -- there's a special passion and primal attraction that goes deep down that you just don't see with other couples.

So yes, I think black guy and white girl couples are definitely more and more popular. I don’t think we’ll ever get to a point where all white men are unwanted forever (sorry white boys who message me, desperate to live in such a world), but I do think increasingly empowered girls and wider acceptance of female sexuality will naturally trend to more black guys and white girls together - which is all beautiful to me :)

[bimbolita]

I’m so glad everyone is having the same visceral reaction to episode 4 like I did. I thought I was being too sensitive but fucking no. It is painful. It is horrid. Knowing that this type of abuse actively happens to sex workers and those who are trafficked. It’s jarring because I didn’t expect to see this dark and explicit depiction in a cartoon that jokes about penises every 2 minutes. It’s like when light hearted coco melon shows start talking about death, it was just unexpected because I never took this show serious. I’m going to share more of my thoughts below! Trigger Warning: Mentions of SA ⚠️

I don’t think it’s my place to deny or confirm if the ‘poison’ scenes were fetishized, I personally believe it’s subjective. I know how I feel but I think no matter where you stand, you are right in your own way. Many things can be true at once. What we can all agree on, is that it was harsh. In a way, I hope the audience is able to understand how exploiting and non glamorous sex work is. There is nothing fun about having your body used multiple times a day by people you do not know and having said scenes recorded then plastered all over the media. Of course all forms of engaging in or creating adult content are different, I am specifically talking about sex workers who have no say or control over their bodies and finances. Like Angel. Let us put emphasis on WORK in sex work.

It is demanding. It is laborious It is scaring. Remember that and remember the unheard voices who must do this to simply survive.

There is a lot of criticism about angel’s personality and yes I agree it is annoying but you have to understand, it is a trauma response. Hypersexuality is a common trait among those who are sexually abused. Angel just outwardly expresses it all the time because it is all he knows. This thought process is the only way to tolerate his behavior. I say thought process because it is only an interpretation. It’s very obvious viv just adores writing sexed up characters with zero nuance or depth but let’s just pretend she can actually write male characters that think beyond their cock and balls. Let’s pretend that Angel Dust is a two dimensional character and not (grits teeth) fetish bait.

Now, let’s talk about Charlie. Alright great, she saw her friend being mistreated and was about to stand up to his abuser, ok good good. The victim (Angel) gets upset and wants her to leave because he was beaten. Yes, average response of someone who is an abusive relationship, he is afraid and wants to avoid more conflict between him and Val. The situation at hand couldn’t be more than obvious. How does Charlie respond? She cries. And not because she is frustratedly concerned for the safety of her friend. It is because he yelled and rejected all her poor attempts at helping. Charlie is weak as shit and I think that interaction was weirdly written. I wish she had the mental fortitude to understand how much danger Angel’s life was in at that moment. I cannot enjoy her ‘aggressive kindness’ cutie do no wrong baby girl type of character in a moment like that.

And I feel the same about Husk’s song. Out of all the responses you could’ve made, this is what made it to the final cut? Do better. I don’t care if I lack the mEdIa LiTeRaCy twitter keeps yapping about. It’s bad. You just showed a sexual assault montage and the rebuttal was basically “my uncle broke his neck tap dancing once :/“ lol we’re both losers and that’s ok, suck it up buttercup, I like you regardless. This was the best response to an SA victim? No degree in media literacy would ever help me think that was an acceptable response. I dunno about ya’ll but I major in common sense at the university of using my eyes and fucking ears. Now imagine, if that entire segment, when Husk and Angel are at the bar plus the musical number; imagine if all of that was placed BEFORE we see Angel and Val interact and then poison plays as the final song. It would be 10x more impactful because then the audience sees how deep and stuck Angel actually is. Trauma olympics is never acceptable but neither is trauma participation trophies. It is not right to make Husk’s issues be seen as the same as Angel’s issues. They are not the same and it is ok to acknowledge that Angel has it worst than Husk. It’d be more genuine if Husk were to just hug him in complete silence after dragging him out of the bar and have Angel tearfully embrace him back. The first non sexual and benevolent interaction between them. The first physical act of care with no ulterior motives of lust.

I grind my teeth at the wasted potential.

[theabigailthorn]

Surely with how popular you are you would have had a few cancelling attempts, but you're drama free. How? I thought you'd be target number 1 with TERFs.

So the thing is, people on the internet have and do try to wreck my life! But it's true that I get less of it than a lot of other women, and I often ask myself (and them) this same question. I think it comes down to a few factors. In no particular order:

I'm white and thin

I don't post selfies very often

The Philosophy Tube Jutsu: I never use my platform to say anything bad about individuals, so I don't make enemies

I'm British

I don't put my pronouns or the word 'trans' in my bio. I mention it if it it's relevant but to a casual troll looking for someone to go after there are more obvious targets

My brand: in terms of online content, my brand is 'Educational and Compassionate.' I try to be even-handed and listen to all sides and never be angry, and people are maybe a bit reluctant to get mad at someone who does that? In terms of acting, my brand right now is 'I'm Trying Hard and I'm On My Way Up!' which I guess people like?

I have a posh accent

I don't make online content about video games

I'm pretty enough that men like looking at me but not so hot it makes them angry

I transitioned in private before I came out publicly. I knew that when I did I'd get a lot of backlash, so I pre-emptively muted LOADS of words in my comments section and wove a kind of digital safety net

I'm so busy that I often miss whatever the discourse du jour is and don't get involved. As a wise woman once said, 'Do Not Tweet.'

I deliberately dress and present myself as 'classy' in public-facing stuff

Most of my content is scripted, so by default it attracts people who like to sit down and listen

Philosophy Tube is literally all about critical thinking and not taking things at face value. So if a typical Philosophy Tube Subscriber sees a post that says 'I saw Abigail Thorn kicking a puppy down the street!' they're more likely to stop and think, 'What's the evidence for this?' This means that when there are hate campaigns and lies spread about me (and there are, from time to time) my core audience sees through it and sticks around

I have very good mods! Big shout out to all the lovely people on r/philosophytube and all the people who moderate my livestream chats!

I have a social media manager who can look out for hate and pre-emptively guard against it

I don't hitch my brand to other people. I sometimes do little collabs or appear at events with other creators but for the most part I fly solo. That means if another creator blows up or posts something awful I minimise my chances of cancellation-by-association. I'm friends with lots of creators but for the most part I keep it behind the scenes (Learned this one the hard way!)

I'm not a sex worker. Those people get hate like you wouldn't believe - the sex workers I know are the toughest folks I've ever met!

I'm not very fun to bully! I do get death threats and hate campaigns and people make fake porn of me and libel me and all that stuff - literally every day - I just never talk about it publicly so trolls don't get the satisfaction of seeing me get upset. I just mute and block and move on silently. When I have to talk to a lawyer or the police about someone causing a problem, I handle it behind the scenes

Platform size. When TERFs in British media go after someone they tend to pick on people smaller than them, cause they're bullies.

I built my platform slowly, so I've had time to adjust and get used to how it impacts my life

People have tried to cancel me in the past and it's blown up in their faces, e.g. the Trump Transition Tweet Incident and the B*ck A*gel Affair.

To be absolutely clear, a LOT of this is luck and privilege. I'm not trying to blame the victims of online harassment: yes, some of these factors are things I choose to do but not everyone is able to make those choices. It's also the unwinnable game of respectability politics: yes I might get less hate because of the way I dress or whatever, but fundamentally that won't protect me if I get arrested and sent to a men's prison. These things aren't a substitute for a more just distribution of power. There's also this final possible factor:

It just hasn't happened yet.

[astrosirensblog]

Sirenas Astrology observations

9

• moon hard aspects to mercury could be an indicator for having a hard time expressing your emotions verbally. Not having words of affirmation as a love language or having a hard time giving and receiving compliments or loving words. The type of person who says “I don’t have to say I love you everyday , I rather show it”

• the placement you have Aphrodite in can tell you how you can enhance your feminine energy and feel more beautiful inside and out. For example having Aphrodite in taurus could mean that cooking and taking more time to rest will make you feel better and nourished. Aphrodite in gemini needs to socialize and read or write to flourish in their feminine energy better

• people with permanent 10th house placements are known even when they’re not socializing much. They’re the type of person who don’t know many people but many people know them. It’s hard to ignore their presence, even when they don’t do anything

• People with mars in the 10th house tend to attract many people. Even people who hate them get obsessed with them and try to humbled them as much as possible. People with this placement don’t realize how intimidating their presence is and people see them as constant competition. Selena Gomez has this placement and we all know how other celebrities and even fan basis treat her even though she doesn’t do anything actively to provoke them. Honestly taking care of her mental health and not letting anybody humble her was the best decision she could have made for herself

• psyche in synastry can tell you about what you really need in a relationship in order to feel happy and fulfilled and become a better person. With your psyche placement you can learn on which parts you have to work on yourself too. With this placement it’s less about the physical intimacy and more about the intellectual and emotional intimacy of two souls coming together

• people with many 12th house placements tend to take criticism really personal and don’t like hearing it at all since they already have a hard time accepting themselves. They also struggle with feeling seen and appreciated even when people try to make them feel good, it’s never enough because they often lack self validation

• People with virgo placements take working out and looking fit really serious. I never meet a person with virgo placements who didn’t care about their physical appearance

• Having Mars in 4th house conjunct to the north node is a huge indicator of generational trauma that has been passing on in the family a lot. And this could bother the natal person a lot and it can cause friction in the family dynamic when they try to heal from that trauma and break the cycle

• Lillith shows up as the part of yourself that society has tried to repress or make you feel ashamed of. If it’s for example in the 3th house, you could have been told a lot to not share your views or opinions. Or people made fun of your voice growing up. You can take back your power by becoming more confident and expressing these parts of yourself freely

• Women who have Lillith conjunct sun and or asc often use their appearance and sexuality as a way to get what they want. For example Megan Thee Stellion has Lillith in Taurus conjunct her asc and she’s known for her beautiful and hot appearance and her lyrics where she also talks a lot about sex. Marylin Monroe also has Lillith in the first house, I didn’t need to explain how influential her appearance and sensuality is in the media to this day

• people with Lillith conjunct their first house tend to have sanpaku eyes too, here’s a reference:

• Neptune in the chart shows you the part of life where you have to be more firm with your boundaries and don’t overshare because Neptune indistincts your intuition. For example if you have Neptune in the 11th house don’t force connections or friendships, don’t overshare to your friends and be really firm with your boundaries because you tend to let people cross over the line too much. Also don’t expect all of your friends to have the same intentions as you do, some people just want to use you or dim your light so be careful and stay safe

• The planet your sun is conjunct to can be a part of your life where you feel more confident and you don’t like it when people tell you what to do. For example if your sun is conjunct your venus you tend to make the first move when you like someone and you don’t like it when someone tells you that this person is out of your league or you can’t get them to like you. Ego and love go hand in hand with this aspect

[radfem-polls]

Open ended question: what made you “peak”?

For me it was finally realising that women and made to cater to men but men never have to do the same. Example transwomen constantly forcing themselves into women’s spaces but men never have to do the same for trans men. Transwomen still having all the privilege of men while frequently putting down women and telling them they’re not doing enough as allies. So yet again women are constantly being forced to defend themselves and overexplain. Women spaces being shut down on social media like Facebook and reddit but men spaces and women hating spaces being allowed to thrive. Trans subreddits openly talking about how much they hate bio women and how they are prettier and better than any bio women while women in any subreddit including “lesbian” subreddits being made to walk on eggshells or censor themselves. Etc and the list goes on.

Hi thank you for your submission! Everyone it's time for our next...

Saturday open ended question!

Radfems and radleans, what made you "peak"?

Peaking often refers to switching one's perspective from being accepting of gender and/or gender ideology, to becoming gender critical. It can refer to becoming critical of genderism in a conservative context, an LGBTQ context, or both.

Alternatively, peaking can refer to any aspect of becoming a radical feminist (as opposed to mainstream feminist or opposed to mainstream conservativism), such as becoming critical of the sex industry, pornography, BDSM, reproductive restrictions, surrogacy, marriage, etc.

If you're referring to non-gender related peaking, specification would be great for people looking through the replies/reblogs, but you don't have to ofc 🫶🏾

Replying to OP under the cut (opinionated) 👇🏾

Huge agree, it's so clear that whilst trying to erase our sex, they still mistreat and silence us along sex lines. Despite obsfucating the definition of woman, they still know who is a woman when it comes to who to denigrate, debase, and intrude upon!

I personally feel that I peak again and again almost every day; each abuse a new reminder that they are male and of the oppressor class.

Essentially two big reasons I peaked can be summed up as 1) TIMs are sexist and 2) TIMs are racist.

Part 1:

One of the things that peaked me was, back when I was trans-identified, seeing how openly violent trans women were towards trans men. Some would even say the trans men and other tifs were not "truly trans" (and they are??), wish them rape or other violence, for perceived social missteps, or tell them they cannot talk about the oppression they experience for being female (AFAB), lest they perpetuate "transmisogyny."

It was like watching a miniature patriarchy surrounded by a veil of gaslighting and DARVO where it was insisted trans men or other "transmisogyny exempt" people were the real oppressors. It's truly no different to how men, particularly incels, DARVO women, insisting we are not oppressed and somehow inflict suffering onto men (usually by way of having boundaries). No different to "transbians" talking about breaking the cotton ceiling (🤢🤮) and positioning sex with lesbians a form of validation.

Part 2:

Another thing that peaked me is how trans women and other tims talk about black women. It's disgusting! They insist we have some imagined "proximity" to them by way of our "womanhood" being denied to us, but in this statement lies the misogynistic ideas they have around what womanhood even is.

They aliken their oppression to black women being considered "unfeminine," or being limited in what parts of femininity black women can access (which is a real problem in the US due to their history with the enslavement of African Americans, although not all black people are AA in the first place. Which ties into how a lot of LGBTQ politics is stinkingly USamericentric, whereas radical feminists prefer to look at the whole world).

This, however, misses the entire point of what womanhood is in the first place, and displays a grave misunderstanding in how gender seeks to oppress the masses. Harping on the second point first, trans women seem to not understand that femininity isn't a desire for women, by which our oppression takes place when we are denied that desire.

Femininity, rather, is a code of conduct that is forced onto women in order to control us, to control our sexuality, to control our reproduction, and to control our lives altogether. Femininity seeks to quash us under the thumb of men by embodying every aspect of a tortured and enslaved mindset. Everything from heels being considered professional while causing physical pain, short skirts limiting our ability to take long strides, bend down and even walk altogether, (and long skirts limiting our ability to run, climb trees, etc). To the very way we are expected to sit to take up less space. I could go on and on but there are many more analyses of femininity. The point is it is a tool to control us.

Black femininity was just as enslaving as white femininity in AA slavery USA. However it contained an additional aspect of dehumanization that white women weren't subjected to (of course, all women are dehumanized under the patriarchy. but due to our race, black women were/are additionally dehumanized). The modern march amongst black women to achieve hyperfemininity (essentially the expectations for white women ×10) is a seek to be dehumanized in a generalist way rather than racially-specific.

Yet for trans women, this oppressive code of conduct is what they desire in order to "be women." They think this code of conduct is womanhood, and anyone who seeks to fit into it is a woman, and anyone who detests it is not (see: multiple cases of trans women saying "if you hate womanhood so much, why not be a man?" or telling butches they are "closeted transmascs").

This all comes to the first earlier point that trans women misunderstand (or intentionally refuse to accept) the meaning of womanhood in the first place. It is not femininity. It is not an act. It is not a thought process. It is not a feeling. It is not immaterial.

Being a woman requires 3 things.

Be a member of a human species. Currently there is only one human species alive; homo sapien sapien.

Be an adult, which is usually considered the age by which one is mature enough to engage in the world independently. In much of the world this is 18 years old. It may be 16, 21, or even 25.

Be female. Notice how trans women do not fit into this. To be a female human, one must have at least 1 X chromosome along with either no Y chromosome, or the Y chromosome's SRY gene is missing, inactivated, or damaged beyond functionality. This karotypical makeup will result in the development of phenotypical traits that aim to partake in the production of the large gamete ova. This simple definition covers all females, perisex or intersex. Any human who does not meet this definition is a male, whether perisex or intersex male.

In short. Be an human adult female (adult female human, however you like to place the adjectives). It is on this basis of our SEX, female, that we are oppressed. The way black women are "distanced" from womanhood is on the basis of not being considered human. This is completely different to trans women and other tims as they are not women due to not being female. Claiming they are "denied" womanhood the way black women are is racist and appropriative of black women's struggles.

The other argument they have (which is even more racist) is their argument black women are "mistaken" for being male and attacked. It is true that *white* attackers sometimes target black women on assumption they are male. This is because white men are fucking racist and don't know what black women look like. Black men rarely struggle to tell if a black woman is a woman or not, unless that woman has an intersex and/or hormonal condition making her ambiguous.

In the latter, it is not blackness that is "analogous" to trans women's experiences, but possibly intersex. I'm not intersex so that is for intersex people to define to which degree they are in proximity to trans women, if at all. Altogether, mistaking black women for men is because of a lack of exposure to what black people and therefore black women look like. Using ethnic features as a marker of sex distinction is xenophobic and sexist against women. Whether that's a white man beating up a black woman because he thinks she's a man, or white TIMs on Xitter trying to prove a random black celeb looks like a man, it is at the core, racism.

I should iterate, obviously, beating up other people is repulsive, hate crimes are repulsive. Beating up trans women is repulsive. However by shifting the responsibility of these actions from the attackers, often white men or whoever else is most racially/ethnically privileged in a given region, onto black women, TIMs are being racist and misogynistic (misogynoirist in particular).

Of course, not every trans woman or other TIM is a virulent sexist and/or racist. But the core concept of womanhood being a commandeerable trait or thought process, rather than a material state of being that is oppressed in human society on the basis of sex, is sexist, immaterialist, psuedo-religious, and very easily leans itself to racist thinking.

That understanding of gender ideology as fitting into those above traits, my friends, is why I peaked. There's so, so much more I could say, but this is a poll blog and we'll be here all day 😅

If you read this far drop a flower emoji in the comments/reblogs/tags 🌷

Let me know if you want to see more under the cut soapboxing on Saturdays lol 😆

[lovra974]

Dream Match 1

Hi! This story is inspired by the book Perfect Match, the Dragon King by I. T Lucas. I loved the concept of shared dreams. I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to be tagged for the next part just ask!

Warning for the chapter : Bakugou x reader, fight, violence, questions about sex, manipulation (not from bakugou), female Y/N, tell me if I forgot one!

Summary : Being a hero is a very challenging profession. Bakugou knew it but being confronted by journalists and analysts who want him gone is far worse than fighting any villain. He struggles against them, feeling trapped each time he watches his rank drop.

So when his parents decided to get him out of this cycle, they bought him a Dream Match ticket and told him it was a holiday service agency. But the truth is, this agency is a sophisticated matchmaking service that pairs people to have shared dreams.

A lot of things can happen in these dreams. And sometimes, your subconscious clashes fantasy and reality. It blurs until it leaves answers beyond dreams.

A blast made the villain step back. He jumped on a building, his kangaroo’s legs propelled him. He struck Dynamight in the chest and sent the hero flying. Bakugou crashed against a wall. He felt the shock in every bone in his body.

“Dynamight !” Screamed his sidekick. ”You okay ?”

The blond grimaced. His ears were ringing. Blood covered his face and mixed with his sweat. His suit was ripped on his back. He got out of the wall, his members aching. He ignored the pain. He stretched his fingers and breathed out. 

“Get ready, Cry-Baby.” spoke the hero while swallowing the suffering.

The sidekick jolted and ran away. His quirk made him control his tears. The guy could pour them out like a river. It was perfect to block Dynamight’s blasts. 

Bakugou walked up to the villain. The bad guy jumped a little and smirked. 

“Can’t get enough Dynamight?”

“Come here !”

They both moved forward. The villain was fast. His powerful jumps allowed him to dodge the hero’s attacks. Bakugou kept him away but didn’t touch him either. He couldn’t get close enough to end this fight and began to feel frustrated.

The solution appeared with another hero. The earth shook and rock walls pierced the ground. They rose and surrounded the villain. 

A voice shouted, “Go Dynamight!”

Bakugou eyed the hero Gem Girl on the top of a building. He nodded. Nitroglycerin ran between his fingers. He raised his arms. His sidekick was ready too and protected the buildings. The explosive hero gave his all in his next shot and aimed at the villain. 

“DIE!!!”

…

Bakugou just got back from his battle. The big TV in his office was turned on and played his fight. 

“It was time Dynamight showed up! Twenty-five minutes to get help! I would be ashamed… It was their sector. I feel like there is some slaking. We can see it with this fight. If Gem Girl didn’t step in, Dynamight would still be there!”

The blond ground his teeth and turned off the TV. He wished the talking would stop there but it never did. His manager questioned him about the fight to know what she would say to the media. He would rather be fighting more crazy kangaroos than listen to one more hero analyst. 

He did his reports, followed diligently his schedule, went on patrols and answered calls from his managers. Photoshoots, calls, patrols, reports, meetings and more reports. 

His days began early and ended late. The time between two days of work was just enough to go back home. But most of the time, he slept at his agency. He installed a couch in his office. The thing destroyed his back. But at least, he won a few minutes each day by being already here for any crisis.

But critics never stopped. They questioned his behaviour, his social image, his ranking… He didn’t arrive on time, his quirk was dangerous, his agency communication was shit. Nothing was ever good enough. The journalist always said it was an aberration that he was in the top 10. 

For years, he gave his all. Despite the difficult missions, the failures, the impossible rescues… It was too much. 

His fans were loyal, they trusted him and always defended him. He was thankful, even if he didn’t say it. But it annoyed him at the same time that they felt obliged to defend him. He didn’t need them. He was a hero, he didn’t need anybody.

He saw Kirishima on patrols or sometimes when he was too restless and went to the gym. It was rare. For the other, it felt like forever since he saw them. The last time must have been for Mina’s birthday. Or when Sero presented them to his new girlfriend? Anyway, it was months ago. 

Bakugou was writing a report when his phone buzzed. When he saw who was calling, he hesitated. It was his mother. He could already hear her screams. It had been a long time too since he saw them. He didn’t give much news. And he knew, that if he didn’t respond to her call, she would do much worse than scream through it. Like coming to the agency. 

A horror shiver forced him to click on the green phone. 

“Finally! The brat just remembered he got parents !”

He exhaled. His mother began a monologue he didn’t listen to. Sometimes he heard his father’s voice trying to calm down his spouse. 

“Katsuki !”

“What ?”

“Did you make your appointment?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You ungrateful brat, you’re talking to your mother! Did you use your birthday present ?”

He frowned. His birthday present? Why was she talking about it? He didn’t even remember what it was. 

“I swear Katsuki” she menaced, “if you didn’t use your birthday present…”

“What’s the fucking matter?” He shouted.

“You had one year to use it, you dumb hero! I can’t believe it! Can you believe it, Masaru ?”

Bakugo heard his father talking “Maybe he was busy? He reached the top 6 this year…”

“I don’t care! This ticket cost millions of yen!”

“Are you going to tell me what the hell you’re talking about?” He screamed. 

His mother breathed out. “You had one year to use your Dream Match ticket. And you, you little ungrateful hero, you didn’t use it! You got one last week to make an appointment before your birthday.”

Bakugou checked his calendar on his desk. Indeed, his birthday was next week. He completely forgot about it. Not that he cared, he didn’t plan to do anything. 

Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered a peach-coloured envelope his mother gave him last year. Her smile was too big when she gave him this damn envelope. He felt like she was up to something.  

“Dream Match?” He repeated.

He shouldn’t have. His mother understood he didn’t open his present. She threw new insults at him, his father had to take the phone out of her hands. 

“Katsuki still has time. He just had to make an appointment this week. I’m sure he will.”

Mitsuki made him swear he would make an appointment this week before completely leaving the phone to her husband. 

“We know you are busy, Katsuki. But it would please us if you went to the appointment.”

“What is this Dream Match shit? What about the appointment ?”

His father took his time to respond. 

“Look at their website. You will have all the answers you're looking for. But let’s say it’s an agency that proposed holiday experiences without leaving the agency.”

“I don’t have time for this…”

“You only need three hours.” Calmed his father. “You don’t really go on a vacation. Promise.”

Bakugou still felt sceptical but he made a promise. His father ended the call a few minutes later. He looked at the clock and sighed. He had another patrol in ten minutes.

~~~~~

“Congratulations Gem Girl !” 

“Good job! “ 

“ You nailed it!”

The hero smiled. She walked through her agency like a conqueror. Her brown boots shined on the floor. Praises kept coming her way. 

Nobody seemed to notice the shadow following the hero. Nobody ever saw her. 

Gem Girl closed her office door after one last smile to her team. Then she sighed and passed a hand in her blond hair. She turned toward her sidekick and said “ Well done Y/N. Do the report. We had to send it quickly to the Commission. I feel this intervention will make us rank up !”

Y/N sat down at the desk in her dark suit. Her boss went to take a shower while she kept working. Her report stack kept getting taller. Not surprising when she had to do her sidekick's job and her boss’. 

Gem Girl formed her agency a few years ago. She reached the top 20 recently. The media said it was because of her dedication and her interesting way of using her earth quirk. 

It was also because Gem Girl did a lot of interviews and publicity. It could be surprising for an active hero, however it was very appreciated by her fans. 

The truth behind her success was that Gem Girl found a sidekick with almost the same quirk as her. Her sidekick did the mission while Gem Girl pretended to fight under the projectors.

Like today, Y/N had a long-range to perform her quirk. So she could use it from afar while Gem Girl harvested the laurels. 

The hero trapped the young and inexperienced student with a contract. Nothing was legal inside. Gem Girl would have everything, her quirk, her talent, her recognition. It left Y/N with pitiful pay, pressure and a lot of culpability. 

“If you open your mouth about it, I will destroy every chance you have to ever be a hero. No agency will ever hire you. They wouldn’t even want your sorry ass in a police academy !”

The agency was not helpful, far from it. The ones aware of it made a point to make her remember her place. 

“Talk and we will all be jobless. Is that what you want? Are you that selfish? Make peace with it and do your job, girl.”

The contract said she had to work at least five years in this agency. It was good for a first sidekick job. Even more so when you didn’t attend a big school like UA and Shiketsu. But for Y/N the last three years were pure torture. 

Her pay was barely enough, she didn’t sleep well and her phantom status made her sick. She did Gem Girl’s work. On patrols with her, she had to walk behind dressed like a civilian. Same for missions. 

Gem Girl was smart. She made sure to never expose her trusty sidekick. She was never mentioned on TV, damn Y/N couldn’t write her name on the reports with her hero name! Most people in the agency didn’t know of her existence and she has been there for three years.

The agency had the duty to promote their heroes and sidekicks, to make them gain visibility. But Gem Girl was the boss.

It was her fault, thought Y/N. She should have been more careful when signing. She should have been wary of Mashika Risa aka Gem Girl when she showed interest in her quirk. She should have been less naive. But she jumped on the opportunity, too happy to quit her last job to pursue her dream.

Now she paid for it. She would be free in two years… if Gem Girl ever let her leave.

~~~~~

“Wait, wait… You've possessed a Dream Match ticket since last year, and you haven’t used it yet ?”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. It was one of the rare patrols he was paired with Kirishima. They walked in a quiet street. Some civilians stopped to ask for a picture or an autograph but most didn’t dare. Despite being in the top 10, Bakugou was still too intimidating. His PR team blamed him every week for it. 

He preferred it that way, he avoided the insults and scandals at the same time. Kirishima walked by his side, eyes blown wide. 

“If you want to get rid of it, I know someone who would be happy to help you.”

“Who?”

“Me!” Screamed his best friend, making heads turn their way. 

“Tsk… What’s this Dream Match anyway? My father told me it was a travel agency or something…”

Kirishima pointed to an enormous billboard. The picture wasn’t really explicit. There was a purple cloud armchair in the middle. The background was blurry. And he could read a weird catchphrase at the bottom. Meet your dream partner…

“It’s so much more,” gushed the red hair. “The agency sells shared dreams. You can dream of anything! And bonus, they pair you with the most compatible person with a ticket. They never missed.”

Bakugou stopped himself. He just understood why his mother gave him this stupid ticket. He felt the need in his guts to scream.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!?”

More civilians turned their heads and quickly walked away. 

“A matchmaking agency? The old hag lost her damn head! Do I look like I have time for this?”

Red Riot gave him a side glance.

“Well… look like you don’t have time to sleep either. When was the last time you had a day off, man?”

“What do you mean, Shitty Hair?”

“I mean… man, you could have the best night of your life! Peaceful holidays, and phenomenal memories in just three little hours. We both know you need it!”

The blond grumbled something. He knew what Kirishima was about to say. 

“You should try it. You don’t have to do more with your match after. You got a good night of sleep, an epic adventure and that’s all !”

Bakugou thought about it. It wasn’t a bad idea. He could use a good night if they were as good as they said. 

“How do you know about it? Did it?”

“Man! Sero met his girl with it!”

Bakugou blinked. He met Sero’s girlfriend once but everybody thought the same thing. They were perfect for each other. They were crazy in love and very complimentary. Not too overbearing in some way. 

The blond hero would never say it out loud, but he had been disturbed by their complicity. It was like they’d always known each other. Maybe, he felt a little jealous of their bond. But he extinguished it quickly, his dream was to be Number One. Not to find a partner to satisfy his mother’s desires. 

Kirishima seemed to feel his hesitation. “You don’t need to speak to your partner after the dream. It can be a one-dream-only thing, you know? Don’t think too much about it, Bakubro.”

“Mmh…” he murmured to acknowledge his friend and nodded.

~~~~~

After her long day, Y/N was completely exhausted. She did patrol after patrol, hers then the ones with Gem Girl. Then she wrote both of their reports. She dragged her feet to her door, all her body was popping from the over-use of her quirk.  

Sometimes, she asked herself if it wasn’t better to forget her dream of being a hero. But each time she asked, the answer was always no. Not when she saved people, even if Gem Girl was thanked for it. Not when she saw every morning the drawings of the children saved in the agency hall. 

Putting them here may be a strategy. And it was a good damn one! 

She opened her door, her eyes half-opened.

“Hello there! Have you seen the time?”

Y/N blinked. The robotic click from Mei Hatsume’s babies followed her everywhere. Her friend with pink hair was spread out on her bed couch. She smiled brightly at her. 

“Hatsume…”

“Tsk tsk tsk.” Hatsume cut her. “Do you believe it! I didn’t have any news for months! What kind of friend does this? Right, my babies ?” 

The robots beeped for approbation. Mei’s smile became even larger. Y/N sighed but her mouth’s corner quirked up.

“I had to ask Booboo to open your door for me.” said the support engineer. “Seriously I wouldn’t leave a cupboard with that kind of protection Y/N. It was crap !”

Booboo, a little robot with propellers rang. Y/N just stood there, not knowing what to do. She was too tired to react correctly to the scolding. Mei took out a cheap bottle of alcohol from nowhere. 

“I have a bottle !”

The two women lay on the bed couch, a glass in hand. Their cheeks became pinker, the drink left a pleasant warmth in their body. Y/N felt her members relax and sink into the mattress. She hummed a song at her long-time friend, happy.

“And then,” continued the engineer, “The director just looked at me with big eyes. Like I was the crazy one and just couldn’t believe what I did! It was so basic by the way. Like come on, of course I could do it. Voop, my baby is so talented !”

Y/N swallowed her drink and said, “ I bet the man left without saying anything.”

“Of course not! What could he do ?”

Y/N straightened, her eyes bright. “Apologise first, then admit he was wrong with you and end it by giving you a raise.”

Mei bursted out laughing. 

“If he was someone good, yes that’s what he would do. But we are so far from it. And you, how’s Gem Girl? Did her Highness break her nails this week?”

Mei knew about her friend’s problem. They fought together to find a solution but they found a dead end. The trap kept tightening around Y/N. The more she worked for Gem Girl, the more she was popular, and then influential. 

The hero didn’t lie. She could destroy Y/N’s career. The sidekick saw how she talked with workers from the Commission. The people who were supposed to control the heroes’ actions. They would never believe Y/N over Gem Girl, not when the agency was with the hero.

“She wouldn’t risk anything. She is ranked 16, her head is too big to take any risk anymore.”

Mei didn’t laugh. She crossed her arms and her babies flew closer to her. Y/N had stopped singing.

“You should be ranked 16.” spoke her friend gently. 

Y/N shrugged. She tried to not think about it. 

“You know if you could come to my big presentation by the way ?” “No.”

The sidekick couldn’t lie, she didn’t have the energy to. She would never have the time. She turned toward her friend, her heart sore. ”I’m sorry Mei.”

“They still won’t give you a day off ?”

Mei wasn’t someone who got angry easily. But the situation was truly unfair. Y/N felt numb. Her days off were as rare as acknowledgement. For the three years she worked there, she never had either. They were lucky she never got hurt. What would they do without her?

“All the greatest heroes have days off !” grumbled Mei. ”Look at Deku, Endeavor, Hawks…”

“Right, but there’s a little difference. I’m a sidekick, not a hero.”

“You’re more like a tool rather than a sidekick…”

Y/N missed the time she went out with Mei, drinking and dancing. It felt like forever ago. 

“I have something for you.” murmured the engineer.

Her friend gave her a peach-coloured envelope. Mei had a big grin, almost a crazy one. Y/N blinked when she recognized the logo. She wouldn’t have known what she had in her hands if the city wasn’t covered with their publicities. Mashika Risa couldn’t stop talking about it. 

A Dream Match ticket.

“Mei…”

“I won it. And I’m offering it to you.”

“Mei I can’t…”

“Oh yes, you can! I’m not taking it back so you better use it !”

“I don’t have time for it, Mei.”

“We always have time to dream.”

The sidekick arched a brow. Using the company’s catchphrase shouldn’t count as an argument. Mei opened her phone to show her Dream Match’s website. She forced her to answer the one hundred and fifty questions to create her account. Then the girls looked at the large choice of dream propositions. 

“How am I supposed to choose one? There is so much choice!”

CEO, fighter pilot, futuristic doctor, cursed royals, her eyes couldn’t stop on a picture.

“This is excellent,” exclaimed Mei. “They know marketing, I hope their tech is just as good. But according to the comments, it’s revolutionary.”

Y/N saw a picture with a castle and a dragon in the background. She clicked on it. 

“Look! It’s like in the shojo we read in junior high!”

“The what?”

“You know, the Roses’ Ashes! It was about two kingdoms at war for a sacred mountain. The hero was from the West but he was banned !”

Mei watched her friend with her crazy yellow eyes. Maybe it was the alcohol, but her pupils looked blurry. Her babies flew high, sometimes bumping against the ceiling while scanning every inch of Y/N’s apartment. The earth’s quirked girl rolled her eyes. 

“The first kiss was during a meteor shower.”

“Yes! I remember! It was a good one I’ll admit.”

“You drooled on the hero’s abs.” Mocked the sidekick.

“And? I can appreciate fine art when I see it!” She retorted, fakely hurt. 

Y/N chose this dream. It had been a very long time since she read it. But it has been memorable. Yeah, if she wanted a dream with her supposedly perfect match, it would be a story like this one. 

Mei stood up and stretched. “Well, I’m going.”

“You don’t want to stay the night?” Proposed the host, not thrilled to have her friend walking at night.

“No, you need the sleep and I have Dynamight’s new gauntlets to finish before his visit… in three hours.”

Y/N smiled. Mei gave her a wink. Her babies flew by her sides, protectively. The door closed and the sidekick fell asleep.

~~~~~

Bakugou was in his office, writing a new report while drinking coffee. He didn’t like it, he avoided it if he could. But today, he felt absolutely exhausted. So maybe a little couldn’t be so bad. 

He made his fingers pop when he finished. His red eyes stared at his computer. His talk with Kirishima never really left his mind. The implication and the promise of rest lived in his thoughts. 

Maybe he could just… Look at the website. For a ticket this expensive, they should be good. The blond was surprised when he discovered the website. He expected something shady that would pressure him to pay. It was the opposite. The homepage presented the company, and then their technology. All of this is to propose shared dreams with your dream match. 

They showed some of their best sellers scenarios that didn’t look so bad. Crime solving, space travels, festive and romantic settings. 

They had something for everyone. The coffee he was drinking seemed to be efficient because he felt very awake now. Without questioning his actions he clicked on the little rectangle to create his account. Once the ticket’s code was registered, he went face to face with a very long quiz. 

It was a one hundred-and-fifty-question long quiz. Some were to type, some were boxes to check or even to rate on a scale. Bakugou spent more time than expected on this. 

How would your friends describe you in five words?

Which characteristics do you wish your partner possessed?

What are your life goals?

And some much more intimate things that made him blush. If there wasn’t the little talking blop on the corner saying none of this information would be shared, he would never have answered. Knowing one of his closest friends did the quiz, did help. Cellophane had a few scandals during his career. But nothing about his kinks. 

When he finally finished the quiz, he could choose his dream. He ended up scrolling the website through the tens of propositions without knowing what he wanted. What did he like? His whole life was about his dream to become the Number One Hero. 

He asked himself if there was someone under Dynamight’s mask. He wore it more than his own face after all. This thought froze him with horror for a few seconds. He pushed it aside. Of course, he was someone!

To prove it, he clicked on the first picture that caught his eye. It was one of a dragon and a castle leading to fantasy dreams. Perfect, he thought. A knight story, it was exactly what he needed. There he would have a change of scene. 

He thought about one of his favourite shoujo. He didn’t read it recently but the story was memorable. He particularly liked the redemption arc of the hero. The romance, while slow, really made the characters shine and showed how compatible they were. 

He took a deep breath, feeling butterflies swirling in his stomach. It has been such a long time since he felt them. Fear followed. It was always behind when he stepped into the romantic field. The rejection, the expectations, the disappointment, the failure and the feeling of never being enough for the other…

He answered a new quiz, way shorter than the first. It was about little details in the dream that needed to be cleared. The blop pops up in the middle of the screen, smiling. It said his request would be processed quickly and they would contact him when they would find his partner. 

Bakugou closed the computer, tensed. He thought he would feel relieved after doing it but no. Waiting was not liberating. He kept thinking about his answers, cringing at what he just did.

How many times do you think it is healthy to have sex in a relationship? Type your answer.

[What the hell is this question? I don’t know? As many times as agreed ?]

Maybe he should slow down on the coffee…

[waitmyturtles]

THE MORNING AFTER: ONLY FRIENDS, EPISODE 12 -- WHEN ONLY FRIENDS GOT 2GETHER-ED

TRIGGER WARNING: EVERYONE'S UP FOR CRITICISM HERE, JOJO AND TEAM, FORCEBOOK, FIRSTKHAO, ALL OF THEM. Read at your peril.

Well. Big deep breaths. I spent a lot of time on a show that had been marketed as not-a-BL, that ended as a BL. As a mom with not that much time to spend on watching and writing on dramas that were marketed incorrectly, I am feeling some kinda way (fucking pissed off).

So many people had amazing takes yesterday, on both sides of the aisle, regarding how the show ended (pro-ending here, anti-ending here, here, here, here, here, and here, and my dear friends @neuroticbookworm and @lurkingshan did heavy lifting on reblogs yesterday, so stroll on over to their blogs for more).

I want to set up a constellation of points to touch upon before I get into the meat of this post.

1) I referred quite a bit to my review of Theory of Love throughout my watch of Only Friends. In that review, I meditate on how the majority of the general global public judges sex, and casual sex, and people who have sex and/or casual sex. Generally speaking -- even in countries that makes as progressive art on sex and sexuality as Thailand and the United States -- that's a rule of thumb that I can rely on. Sex is judged by the majority of the global public.

2) I hate to say it. I cannot believe this happened. But I was right about monogamy being an ultimate theme in Only Friends. Not just a theme, fam. A theme by which people judged others for having open, casual, and consensual sex. Queer sex. Queer sex that is so very often had outside of the constraints of a monogamous relationship.

There was a reason why that holiday party was populated by couples, except for Boston, and Boston had to grovel to them in apology for their friendship. In Only Friends: monogamy wins, and casual queer sex loses.

3) Unfortunately, in part though an analysis of Cheum inside of last week that I accidentally started (ha), I see that points 1 and 2 come together to have created a fabric and framework of judgement that Only Friends ended on.

The last paragraph in this excellent post by @benkaaoi notes that the assumption by a large portion of the OF fandom that the creative choices that were made to end this series were designed to save the sanctity -- economic and otherwise -- of the shipped pairs of ForceBook and FirstKhao. This rings true to me.

Most of the BL shows that I've watched this year are older shows, through my Old GMMTV Challenge, in which I've been studying the changes over time that GMMTV and other Thai networks, have made towards their editorial choices, attitudes, and risks in producing BLs. I included Only Friends on this syllabus to note the show's impact as a kind of zeitgeist measure of how much heat and literary controversy GMMTV could take in airing increasingly progressive queer media -- even though Only Friends wasn't originally intended to be a BL.

To the theory that Only Friends needed to save the ships... and to another theory that the ships needed to be saved in the most moralistically judgmental way that I could have ever imagined (I was actually blown away by how heavy-handed this messaging was) -- I look to the ending of 2gether.

The majority general reaction to the ending of 2gether from within the existing BL fandom in 2020, was one of guffawed incredulousness. BrightWin/SarawatTine did not kiss in the first season of 2gether. It took Aof Noppharnach to come in to make Still 2gether to indicate that these two young men may have been at least vaguely sexual with each other throughout the course of their fictional relationship.

Yet, 2gether was a massive success. Many theorize it was because 2gether was the first big BL to air during the start of the COVID pandemic, and new BL fans had time to be at home and watch shows. But I posit in my 2gether/Still 2gether review that 2gether was also successful PRECISELY BECAUSE IT LACKED SEX (and by sex here, I mean plain old kissin').

As I stated earlier: sex is judged by the majority of the global public. With BrightWin NOT kissing, new fans who may have been implicitly and/or explicitly turned off by physical depictions of queer love could glom comfortably onto 2gether, and watch a BL without the "threat" of physical depictions of two men expressing their love to each other.

Subsequently, BrightWin gained massive social media followings, 2gether made GMMTV buckets of money, and GMMTV went -- well, hot diggity.

Many of us had impressions of Only Friends as...something else than it ended up being. Early on, Jojo Tichakorn, for instance, cited an early non-GMMTV, non-BL show, Gay OK Bangkok, that he and Aof Noppharnach worked on in 2016 and 2017, as being referential to Only Friends. Gay OK Bangkok centered on a group of queer friends, mostly cisgender men with Jennie Panhan in the mix, as they lived their lives and dated away in Bangkok.

I'll tell ya, GOKB didn't end the way Only Friends did, and I'll get into that more in a bit. I believe @benkaaoi, @lurkingshan, and others are absolutely right that the ultimate moralization on casual sex that this show depicted -- and how Only Friends punished Boston for his casual sex -- was an economic decision designed to reflect on the sanctity of monogamy that shipped couples like ForceBook and FirstKhao can sell back to their fans, fans that may have actually flocked to GMMTV shows from 2gether, and that demand a fantasy of devoted monogamy from both fictional characters and professional actors who are actually only just doing fan service to earn their livings. GMMTV has known for a long time how to make money, and money the network doth has made from Only Friends, and from shipping their ships around the world to service the growing fandom.

Casual sex in fiction, casual sex that breaks up the ships.... fucks that economic shit all up.

GMMTV has taught us our lesson, a lesson that we had already learned from the no-kissing rule of 2gether. Loose lips shall not sink ships at this network. And I think we lost a chance for a big and progressively artistic zeitgeist that GMMTV could have taken risks on, if it had the courage to risk depicting something truly novel.

I want to note quickly another framework that I dug into while I was watching this show. I sent a flare to @lurkingshan before I started watching the episode that I was going to, in part, watch this last episode from my personal Asian lens. I wanted to ask myself, as I was watching this disaster -- is there anything happening here that strikes my heart with fear and doom as an Asian?

Indeed, yes. I didn't expect it, but there was a dialogue on individualism vs. collectivism.

Boston. My dear, sweet Boston. Boston, named after a city so very distant from Bangkok.

Boston was punished by his group of friends because he didn't adhere to the rules of the group. His individualistic actions and preferences -- his preferences to "roll alone," as Nick stated, would not work in the frameworks of either monogamy with Nick and/or the group dynamics of the hostel crew.

The link I linked above is an amazing answer to an inquiry I posed to dear @absolutebl last year about how Asian social collectivist paradigms are depicted in BLs. In that question-and-answer dialogue, I asked ABL Sensei about the motif of queer revelations in BLs, and how seemingly straight characters respond in kind to being approached with a proposition to a queer dalliance and/or relationship. Generally speaking, the Asian collectivist mindset is to at least attempt to respond in kind to those kinds of propositions, as one's behavioral habits are designed to be responsive to others instinctually, as opposed to only servicing oneself. To only service oneself is not only seen as selfish, but also as disturbing to the general flow of public existence among one's societies. To respond in kind means that you will not cause potentially disturbing angst to another individual or group. (Collectivism explains why Asian countries performed much better with mask mandates during the pandemic than we in the States did.)

So -- Boston filming Ray, Boston sleeping with Top, created waves in the friend group. He was so severely punished for it.

And the show iterates, and repeats, Nick's preference that Boston move forward alone in Boston's life, because of Boston's tendencies to make decisions that suit himself. As an Asian-American, I mutter to myself: god forbid.

Nick will not commit to Boston -- and yet, will also condemn Boston for making his own decisions outside of the specter of a monogamy that does not exist between Nick and Boston, and that Boston will still get judged for, as referenced in the Sand/Nick conversation depicted above.

In other words: if Boston makes a decision for himself? That's punishable. Because it might hurt someone else's feelings -- a someone else that actually hasn't committed to Boston, and/or allowed Boston to commit himself to.

This group caught Boston in a moralistic and collectivist catch-22, the likes of which I just would have never expected from Jojo and team, even if the creative team faced the economic pressures of the GMMTV bigwigs. I'm sorry to state that I am beyond disappointed in this condemnation of individualism, sending Boston alone, judged, and friendless, off to New York City to live in, what, the immoral boundaries of Chelsea? Homey, get a fucking SWEET-ASS PAD, and FUCK THESE LOSERS, leave 'em BEHIND in your cloud of airplane gas emissions. See you at the La Quinta rooftop bar on 32nd Street, friendo.

Only Friends could have ended so much better. And I understand that in the Only Friends novel, published AFTER the script was finished, that it did end somewhat better for Boston (cc @jinitak, reporting from Thailand, thank you for this heads-up about the novel!).

So. Any-fucking-way. Do y'all know how Gay OK Bangkok ended?

Of many lovely endings for the various GOKB characters, an older main character, Aof, was dating a much younger character, Big. (CC to @neuroticbookworm for our quick convo on this last night.)

Aof was sex-averse. Big wanted lots of sex. Big slept with a lot of people. He loved Aof. Aof couldn't handle Big having sex with other people, and they broke up. It was a lovingly handled break-up, written just gorgeously by Aof Noppharnach.

After their break-up, I thought Big would disappear from the show. Instead. Instead! Nong Big, the little brother to the core group of queer friends that centered GOKB, was welcomed back with open arms. Arm, Pom, Sathang (played by an effervescent Jennie Panhan), and others toasted to Big, telling him he would always be family, no matter if him and his ex, Aof, had broken up. In the queer circles of friends that I'm a part of, exes are not as commonly excommunicated as they are in straight circles.

Only Friends could have been this. Something, a little something, like this.

Instead, Only Friends punished a friend for acting outside of the rules of their group.

Boston was punished because.... because Only Friends had to end up being a BL. For the sake of the moolah, for the sake of collectivism, for the sake of the shippers who'll buy tickets around the world to see ForceBook and FirstKhao perform fan service on stage.

I just didn't think that the show would be so brutal, on so many levels, in the end, to people who want to have casual sex. I don't think any of us expected this. But, it's over, it's done, and the piece has been said -- GMMTV said, no casual sex today, and here's how we actually feel about it.

I'll see you over on Gagaoolala for Playboyy. Deuces, OF.

(It was an absolute pleasure writing meta with the Ephemerality Squad -- onto the next one! @lurkingshan @neuroticbookworm @ranchthoughts @twig-tea @slayerkitty @thatgirl4815 @distant-screaming @clara-maybe-ontheroad)

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/749333039047442432/httpsolderthannetfictumblrcompost74884185043?source=share

Sorry, long rant incoming.

Someone in the replies said it, but I think it needs to be said again where everyone can see it: I think a lot of the attitude that anon is somehow secretly pro-censorship because they think certain preferences are skeevy, and strenuously insisting that bad attitudes can NEVER be media's fault.... idk, maybe take it out of the context of debates about sexually explicit/pornographic media for a moment?

There are works of media that had pretty direct effects on activist and political movements, good and bad. Uncle Tom's Cabin inspired a lot of people to fight against slavery. The movie Birth of a Nation, which showed a history of the U.S. with the KKK as heroic, is considered by most historians to be a major contributor to the revival of the KKK in the 1920s. The Nazis used films, books, music, art, and so on in their propaganda, knowing it would help their ideas go down more easily. The Soviets did too. Every dictatorship did. Even democratic countries have done it as well, usually but not always in more subtle ways.

Do none of those count, because "oh, people who were going to be convinced by Birth of a Nation would be racist anyway"? "Good, non-racist people wouldn't be convinced by it"? I mean, the latter is true: there were plenty of people, especially black Americans but plenty of white allies too, who boycotted the film at the time. The NAACP led a boycott. But do you really think NO ONE was convinced? (What about people who previously didn't feel any way about it one way or the other? Were they just innately more evil, even if it might've just been that they weren't aware? Do supposedly progressive people in fandom realize how much this sounds like Christian original sin rhetoric...) And does it matter purely about media fully changing minds, or also how it galvanizes people who already think one way? If it gives them new talking points, new ways of thinking about it and convincing others? If it helps them believe their cause is more important and worth fighting for?

So why does this all suddenly change when we're talking about sex? Is porn really this special class of media where somehow all the rules about how we can both like things and also be critical of how media (fiction, news media, whatever) influences us - "be critical of the media you love," as a tote bag sold by Feminist Frequency said - just stop applying for some reason? Or maybe if something is bypassing your rational brain entirely and going directly for the pleasure centers, there's all the more reason to think critically about what it's saying? Propaganda is designed to bypass all that, too.

Also, if media really has NOTHING to do with it, that just wouldn't explain why it's disproportionately anime that feature these specific elements that seem to attract more people arguing for why it's wrong to be upset by rape or child exploitation in real life. I don't believe that everyone who watches slavery isekai or lolicon approves of those things irl - I think for the vast majority of people, it IS a fantasy and that's the point - but I have noticed that in places like the Anime News Network or Crunchyroll forums, the comments become a cesspool of creepy people arguing for why ages of consent should be lowered and mean feminists who don't like watching media with rape in it just need to get over themselves, in a way they just don't when you're talking about Attack on Titan or My Hero Academia or Shoujo Romance #4891 or whatever.

As another person in the notes said, abusers ARE opportunistic. They'll use something like Twilight as easily as they'll use the most uwu, soft, "non problematic" ship to argue for why they're allowed to abuse you. But I don't think that means we can't be critical (not calling for censorship, of course! but like, writing op-eds and stuff) of media that makes their arguments a little easier, maybe even directly makes their arguments for them.

You can believe both that everyone has the opportunity to read, watch, listen to, play what they want and make up their own minds about it, and that it's wrong for the government to ever decide what media is and isn't "acceptable," and also believe that media often is saying things that aren't apparent on the surface and that you should be critical of those messages, *especially* with the stuff you like.

The point is just that porn isn't like, fundamentally different from other fictional media in this way. (Or, hell, I would argue that fictional media isn't functionally different from other mass media in this way. If anything, fiction's politics are often more insidious in a way that makes it easier for them to reach people who might not otherwise be open to those messages in the form of, say, blatantly right-wing news media.)

It's particularly strange to me when people jump all over someone for expressing how something can be insidiously creepy in a more mundane way. The line people are upset about that used the word "unpack" was just making the point that even if we can agree lolicon isn't outright advocating pedophilia, even if we agree the point is that it's a fantasy and they're not like real children at all and that's what people like, it's still working within an idealization/fetishization of helplessness, innocence, and dependence, and that still has a lot that you can critique from a feminist perspective. It's still a thing that plays into some crappy societal ideas about who women are supposed to be, and is selling that to men as a romantic ideal. There's still a lot we can talk about there! And it's still totally fair for women to be wary of men where that seems to be all they're into - because for some (and I believe this was what anon was initially trying to say was their experience), it does impact how they treat real women. It doesn't have to be everyone for it to have an impact.

There's a lot of anime that presents women that way, even way outside of lolicon. A lot of it's anime I like! I'm still critical of that aspect of it. I still wish that particular part of it were different.

I still don't see how this makes me "pro censorship" unless I believe some kind of institution should mandate that that not be included. And whether that's the government, or the industry itself (people do kind of narrowly focus on "the government" in a way that would make a lot of industry-run censorship that was still very harmful, e.g. the Hollywood Hays Code, not "count"), or anyone, I very much disagree with that. Creators should be able to create what they want. A lot of what creators are doing with this is unconscious, is reflecting societal biases they learned but haven't thought deeply about.... which is precisely the point of critiquing how those show up in a work.

People love to talk about "secretly 'anti' attitudes" but at the end of the day, support or opposition to censorship is pretty straightforward. You believe someone should be stopped from making a particular kind of media, or you don't. If you don't, you're not pro-censorship, no matter how much you personally may not like that that media or a particular aspect of it exists. Most people who care about media have some media they wish didn't exist. It's about what they do about it that makes them pro or anti censorship. Talk to people who donate to or even work for the ACLU or other anti censorship groups; most of them don't like racist or sexist stuff, but they also don't believe it should be banned and that's the point.

Bringing it back to the discussion at hand, I think the point was just that you can't be blind to how power dynamics influence this stuff. I wouldn't even say specifically cishet men are at fault here, since some people who read this blog seem to think that anyone saying that is automatically talking about bioessentialism as opposed to like, societal stuff (don't ask me why, this has been explained on here enough times in enough different discourses over the years, I think). I'd just say anyone with power in that particular context. There's a reason why it's specifically mainstream media, aimed at groups in power, that tends to draw in creeps excusing the real thing... in a way that just similarly is not true of people in fanfiction fandom, who are usually a member of one or more oppressed categories, exploring that in their own marginal work. Fans of rape fanfiction just don't act the way that fans of slavery rape isekai do. It's because there is fundamentally a difference both when you're someone whom society tells you are entitled to everything you want in this particular arena, and also when a work is mainstream, broadening its reach, and speaking a particular message from the lens of people with economic and social power (who are making these mainstream works) and given approval by publishers/media studios/etc. in a way that is not the case with amateur work with tiny audiences. And, frankly, there's a difference between something that eroticizes rape from the point of view of the perpetrator vs. the victim.

Not a difference in terms of how legal it should be. Not a difference in whether every single person who watches it or likes it is bad. But a difference in terms of what it's saying, how it's saying that, and often the effects they have as a result. That, too, is true with every topic, not just sex.

I feel like a lot of people getting mad at these do fundamentally agree with this, but just have a weird blind spot when it's put in any sort of terminology that reminds them of certain bad arguments they've seen in fandom, uses any words that can be dismissed as "radfem" or "anti" or whatever, and so just refuse to engage with the actual meat of what is being said.

If you do actually believe though that it's wrong to EVER think media can have a negative effect on what people believe about irl issues, because there was always something "already there" that was going to "come out anyway" if it affects you that way (again, people: this is "original sin" rhetoric), and if you ever privately judge people for the media they like you're secretly pro-censorship. You do have to recognzie that both you personally come up short and also most peopel doing real concrete real world things to fight censorship would also come up short!

I think sometimes of an editorial that said "if you love Return of the Jedi but hated the Ewoks you understand feminist criticism" in terms of how you can be bothered by the sexism of a piece of media in a way you'd be bothered by any one individual element of it, and still overall like the whole. And also, you can be offended by something, even wish it didn't exist (don't we as nerds all have entries in some franchise we like or another that we wish didn't exist for fannish reasons?), without believing that it should be officially made to stop existing or have never existed in the first place. That last part does actaully matter as like, its own thing. It is in fact separable from just being able to have personal judgey feelings about media and about the people who liked it.

And opposing it does not mean in any way that we have to just stop thinking critically about the media we love, or that we have to act like media can never have any influence on people. We on the left tend to talk about sexism, racism, homophoia and so on as being influenced by culture and society. Well, guess what is part of society and culture? Fictional (and other kinds of) media. That's part of that societal programming we get. It's why you'll see some of it even from people whose parents very much tried to resist teaching them certain things, because they get it from media anyway. I was raised by strenuously feminist parents: it was the media that taught me what gender roles were and how I was expected to adhere to them.

--

Look, I realize it's a bit rich of me to say this, but people are not going to engage with your actual points if you cannot be more succinct.

[lavendermoonlitskies]

The nature of Aziraphale & Crowley’s relationship (Good Omens)

So I know I have like 30 followers and probably no one gives a shit what I think, but the internet’s the internet and it’s free to post on Tumblr so who cares

I have gone back & forth a bunch on what I think of the “discourse” (if we can even call it that?) surrounding Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship in Good Omens, and I think I’ve settled on something.

I am still very much for the “why does this criticism only seem to come up when the pairing in question is of the same sex (or played by actors of the same sex)” argument against the whole “why can’t they just be friends” criticism that comes up in response to a lot of queer media, however, I can see why it doesn’t necessarily apply here. At least not in the same way.

In the book, and subsequently in season 1, their relationship is entirely up to interpretation. The information we are given at that point about their past can absolutely either be seen as platonic OR the grounds for something more. I don’t think it’s wrong to say you think it’s one way or another. With the way that their relationship works at this point in the story, they have a lovely friendship and if that’s the point where the progression of their relationship ends, that’s all well & good.

However

Moving on to season 2, we get a little more. There are people saying that the romantic element that has been added kind of ruined it, and I would like to respectfully disagree with that. First of all, the surviving author of the original novel is directly involved with the writing, so I have to say I find it kind of hard to say that anything has been ruined when it’s still directly from the mind of one of the people who wrote it. He is writing it with what the two of them had planned originally in mind. (I believe he said at some point that season 2 is a sort of stepping-stone between the original book and the sequel that he and Terry had in mind)

Second of all, the romance didn’t exactly come out of left-field. As I said earlier, you can interpret their relationship in season 1 however you like, but the notion that their relationship may actually be more than just a friendship is an interpretation that was clearly explored in the second season. Neil Gaiman is not one to shy away from queer storytelling, so if that is the direction he wants to take it, that’s where it’s gonna go. It’s 2023, LGBTQ+ representation in media is far less taboo than it used to be, and so he has virtually no reason to filter their relationship into something that he doesn’t actually want it to be as the writer.

If you want my personal opinion, I think that season 2 being “quiet, gentle, and romantic” is foreshadowing for their relationship’s progression season 3, so I can definitely see the romantic undertones that have more or less been there the whole time (of course depending on how you interpret it) being brought out into the limelight. (I know he said that season 3 will most definitely not be those 3 things, but that’s not to say that none of those elements will be showing up at all)

All in all I don’t think it’s wrong or “homophobic” to interpret their relationship however you see it, but in terms of my own theories, I think that if the fact that the (once again quiet, gentle, and romantic) season 2 is a “stepping-stone” between seasons 1 and 3 is true, their friendship is evolving into something more.

[34saveme34]

If the SMG4 crew, ESPECIALLY the writers weren't made up of such cowardly people, they already would've made the Gay Arc!

Think about it, the kind of attention that would bring to them, if they just let the gayness prosper into a long satisfying arc as it should, even in our reality

just a beautiful exploration of same sex attraction could make for such wonderful writing, I think it would simply absolve all criticism and reddit users would be screaming in glee as they hear the news of the gay arc and see it happen, seeing it unfold into this beautiful messy thing about same sex attraction, they would be losing both their marbles and balls, I promise you

they would be posting with the devotion of an ant colony and with the frequency of a bee's wing flapping

everyone would be discussing who they did best and there would be such heated arguments about it between people, being neck to neck because everyone would be written perfectly in this arc so they wouldn't have a single nitpick (unless of course they go on to misrepresent a scene, especially thinking about one where 4 would be really mean and rude to 3 about something and pea brains don't put together the idea that previously in the arc, as it would also have beautiful continuity, 3 hurt 4 in a way that he wouldn't be able to ignore without revenge, even if he previously confessed his beautiful gay love for him while dangling to their death because you can't waterboard a confession out of either so easily)

and meanwhile, tumblr would be prospering in interactions and new posts by the minute, the tag would be so busy, even twitter only fans would learn of this place and stare at it in awe too, as if they're thinking "the gay arc was so perfect and beautiful and everything that we wanted that it even revived tumblr"

twitter would have the smg4 tag and several ship tags trend for a long time

people would complain that it's taking up space but then they see what it's about and immediately apologise, reaising their mistake in criticising something absolutely perfect, something that brings tears to your eyes while you laugh yet a bittersweetness still strikes you with warmth as well, you would just be full of soul, even from witnessing a single screenshot from this arc. because every single frame would be so perfect and beautiful

and then twitter would find a problem with it, wanting to free up trending so that it keeps fresh and new but it keeps coming back, stronger and stronger every damn time

and then twitter learns and gets a new skin of sorts, a new look for both the desktop and mobile to honor the gay arc

and then twitter stocks go up but Elon Musk trips really hard on stairs and accidentally stumbles into and perfectly signs a contract to give twitter to an actually better person who knows how to lead a social media

and then it would all prosper, slurs would get removed, and everyone would celebrate the gay arc's influence for it

it would come out that the new CEO would be an old SMG4 enjoyer who still loves it to this day, and also their favourite arc would be the gay arc, as it would be everyone else's as well, which then would combust homophobes all over twitter, and also racists and suddenly twitter would be the greatest place to be in

now, the gay arc wouldn't only have smg34, that wouldn't simply be worthy of a perfect arc

even if they do become a focal point at some point with scenes that people would keep redrawing, making it a lot of people's favourite moment from the arc and also would change the minds of many people who don't like the pairing

the arc would revolve around ALL the gay ships

the SMG4 crew would build the craziest polycule ever that would be the most addicting thing to watch

it would all become instant classics in less than a week as people would keep talking about how amazing it all turned out to be, even the most critical ones struggling to come up with anything to nitpick

it would be so great, yet........ we can't have this beautiful, perfect and totally 100000000000% realistic scenario

[mywitchcultblr]

Terf/Conservative-lite bingo

Bingo or signs that someone might be terf/conservative leanings (even if they claimed to hate terf or conservative) if they match a LOT or ALL points below

Hates pansexual people

hates xenogender

kink critical, spending too much goddamn time ranting about people's sexual preference and what consenting adults do, overall being sex negative

hates asexual/aromantic people

Puritan about fanfic/fan art and shipping also they are anti-ao3, spending a lot of time policing fandom

Trying to instigate a fight between bisexual people against pansexual people

Doesn't want the term 'queer' to be reclaimed or used in any way

Dismissing the plight/suffering that trans men endured

Instigating a fight between trans women and trans men

Obsessed with media purity

Exclusionist and trying to divide LGBTQIA+ community

Overusing the term 'biological woman' too much to uplift themselves and to demean trans women, just another way to say "i'm the real woman and you will never be a woman" to trans women

Ranting about how women enjoying yaoi/mlm are homophobic and evil or fetishizing gay men (this mentality is common amongst sexist queer men, terf-men and terf woman) not caring with the fact that media consumption is not always reflect people real morality, also a lot of yaoi enjoyer/fujo are queer themselves

I often see blogs that match all of those specifics points above (from their dni/bio) and yeah they are not pleasant people, its like every goddamn time, its like a pattern

[elvisabutler]

show 'em

fandom: austin butler rating: m pairing: biker austin butler x female reader word count: 2,401 warnings: marking. a touch of blood kink. possessive behavior. unwanted advances from someone who isn't austin. a lot of talk about bruising. biting. p in v sex ( unprotected ). biker austin. austin has facial hair. public sex. sex on interesting surfaces. author’s note: welcome to day 2 of ally's wet hot smut summer, marking with biker austin butler. special thanks to @butlersxbirdy for brainstorming with me for it's been a long time since i consumed biker media as well as @blurredcolour and @eliseinmemphis for their read throughs to make sure i wasn't completely messing this up. to the anon who requested wil for this day, i am not forgetting you, i promise. like i said, i was gonna move you down a bit because i want to make sure you get a good wil fic. as much as i'm critical of my writing with austin and elvis, i am way worse with other media/things. consider this Sons of Anarchy inspired, austin a bit of a jax stand in with the reader as a tara one to be honest. i live for everyone's excitement about this little thing i'm doing over the summer and adore reading everyone's tags/comments/hearing the screams of delight. they truly are my lifeblood for writing a lot of the time.

Dating a biker is, in a word, complicated. Dating a biker when you are not the normal or stereotypical old lady is complicated and a pain that you wouldn't wish on your worst of enemies. As they say though, the heart wants what it wants and for both you and Austin that's no different. All it took was seeing him at a restaurant while you ate lunch with some colleagues and you were sold. Of course, with the way his club is set up, with how they do things that are most definitely not legal, you and him know better than to show off his lawyer of an old lady. It doesn't mean you don't show up at the club from time to time, but it does mean that beyond a very select few no one knows who you are to Austin. The shining light to a darkness that sometimes threatens to overwhelm him when he realizes he wants out of this life. You'll help him eventually even if he has to do his time for his crimes. The problem the two of you never thought about was that in not knowing who you were to Austin- you just looked like another run of the mill patch whore.

"I keep seeing you around here," a guy whose name you haven't bothered to learn murmurs from behind you. He isn't important, and you know this because important people know not to touch you in the club. Important people know that even if you weren't Austin's girl- you value your personal space to a degree that borders on antisocial.

Your eyes drift to the other side of the room where Austin is talking with some other members of the club and being sweet enough with the girl trying to hang on his arm. Another person might be worried, might see the woman as a threat but you know better, you know that there's a sting when you sit down from Austin's handprint on your ass and there's a hickey or five on his chest from your greedy lips and teeth. Still, you have to be pleasant, don't you? "You do. Thinking of joining and everyone's been really nice. I think I might fit right in."

The man hums and moves to step in front of you, blocking your view of Austin. His hand moves to cup your chin, tilting it to face him. "I'm sure they have been nice. You look nice too, you know. Could be a good girl on someone's arm."

Bile starts to rise in your throat as you grab at his wrist, attempting to pull his hand away from your chin. "I'm not- You're really barking up the wrong tree."

"Am I?" He laughs as if he's told the funniest joke in the room and not as if he's disagreeing with you over your desire to talk to him. To play along with his silly game. "You keep coming here and I don't see you leaving on anyone's arm. Kind of failing at your patch whore dreams when that happens."

You can't help the way a startled laugh leaves your body at the implication. He thinks you're a patch whore, a woman who wants to fuck her way through the club until someone decides that they want her as an old lady. You like to think you don't give off that vibe and yet apparently you do. "I have a job outside of here. One that doesn't really go well with being a patch whore."

"Really," he starts to move a little closer and you swear you hear a kerfuffle in the direction of Austin. Oh this was going to be bad. "I think you're just playing hard to get. What? I'm not good enough for the new little whore? Not high enough for your tastes? You want Butler? Or one of his little boys? Come on baby, that's not how this works— what the hell man?"

You look up to see Austin yanking away the would be suitor and pinning him to the wall beside you. "That's exactly how it works for her," he looks over at you and his face softens just a little. "He giving you trouble?"

You shrug, your thighs rubbing together through your jeans. "I had it handled."

Austin's eyes zero in on the way you're rubbing your thighs together and raises an eyebrow. "Yeah? Which is why if I waited for another minute I'd be seeing his hickeys on my old lady's neck."

The man realizes in that exact moment his mistake. You were already taken and not just by anyone, you were taken by one of the highest ranking members of the club. A man who could very easily kick him out right now if not just murder him for thinking his old lady was a patch whore. "Listen I didn't—"

"You did. You were gonna," Austin snarls, moving his hand to the man's neck. "You thought she was fair game. Thought because she isn't hanging onto me that she was your for the taking. You— No offense, but even if she wasn't my old lady, you're punching a bit above your weight class."

As if to belabor the point Austin sends a punch to the man's gut before letting him down off the wall. You can't help but lick your lips at the sight, moving close enough to Austin for him to nip at your neck, marveling in how he sees your skin darkening, a bruise starting to form. "What's a King gotta do to make it obvious she's taken?"

The question is rhetorical but the man and you answer nonetheless with the same answer. "Marks."

Austin's lips curl into a smile that reminds you of a shark— or at the very least some vicious predator and you're reminded of just how attractive and in love with him you are. "Marks," his lips move to your slightly exposed chest, biting harsh enough that you cry out, startled even as your arousal curls inside of you. "You want to look mauled by me, don't you? Debauched by the King? Was the hand print not enough? Was those few hickies not enough? Thought we were trying subtlety, babe."

Your breath quickens under his gaze, as he moves closer to you, causing you to back up against a pool table. The man has barely moved, too concerned the wrong move will get him killed until Austin looks back at him and growls. "Get everyone out of here. Or do something stupid to get their attention. You don't deserve to see this."

A shiver runs through your body at the implication that Austin plans on taking you against the pool table as you look at him. "Aust—"

His hands move to pull off your jacket, a leather number he had bought you after your second date. It's a bit oversized but you preferred it that way, told Austin it meant if your body changed for whatever reason it could still fit. You still remember the night after you told him that, the burn of his beard between your thighs a phantom whisper of a memory among the filth he had spewed from his mouth involving you and him.

"Austin," you utter his name as a warning that has him smirking down at you, doing away with the buttons of your shirt with such ease it's unfair. Your breasts are exposed to him, heaving in your bra and earning a growl as his hands grab at them, squeezing hard enough for you to know they'll be covered in fingertip sized bruises later on. "You going to at least kiss me?"

His face softens just for a moment at the request before he dives in, his teeth pulling at your lip and threatening to make you look every bit of that debauched woman when he was through with you. A moan is ripped from your chest as he takes a hand and busies himself with undoing the front clasp of your bra. You feel the second he manages to undo it, your breasts spilling from their confines and your nipples brushing against the fabric before pebbling at the cold air of the fan above you. Your nipples need attention, he thinks as he pulls away and sucks little marks all the way down your neck and clavicle till he reaches your breast and that little nipple. You get no warning before he bites at it, not hard enough to break the skin but enough to cause that angry rush of blood beneath the surface. You don't normally bruise easily but in this moment you swear your body has forgotten how to control itself. Austin's jacket is pulled off by you as he tries to help shuck off his shirt, noting how you're joining him in marking your territory, your nails dragging red painful lines across his chest and back.

He is yours as much as you are his and you want the world to know it after this. You've always wanted the world to know, despite the consequences you know are likely to follow the pair of you. He groans and whimpers a bit above you as a hand moves down to undo your jeans, mirroring one of your own. "Gonna maul me too, babe? Make everyone see I've got this old lady on my arm who's so powerful that everyone wants her?"

The whine that leaves your lips is embarrassingly loud and you are entirely aware that multiple people likely heard it but Austin's right, you want to maul him. You want both of you to be so covered in marks from each other that there's no question of who either one of you belong to.

"That's not an answer, babe. Come on, tell me what you want," Austin coos, as he allows himself the pleasure of pulling your pants and panties down just enough to expose your vagina to the cool air.

Your hands move to try and pull down his pants, frustration finally getting to you as you wrap your legs around his middle and force them down that way, his cock springing from his boxers as you tried to move against him. "I want everyone to see I'm your old lady, Austin. I don't want the women on you and I don't want to deal with any more guys like that who think I'm just a whore."

A snarl of aggravation rips through Austin at the word whore and his hands grip almost painfully at your hips. "If you're anyone's whore, it's mine. My pretty and smart little whore."

His fingers move down to between your legs, his fingers sliding easily through your folds and brushing against your clit when he pulls them out, he thinks he ought to taste you on his lips but settles for rubbing your arousal on his neck. A scent marker as primal and animalistic as it was. You swear you clench around nothing at the sight and grind against him once more, aching and begging for his cock. Smiling, he grips the base of his cock and guides it in, a low groan leaving his lips as he feels the tight grip of your vagina around him. This was his pussy to fuck. Your body was his to mark in whatever way he saw fit with your permission. The power he felt from it and the power you had over him because of it was unmatched.

The pool table's fabric felt strange against your back and you know you're likely to have some form of a burn to go with the burn of Austin's facial hair against your skin and the bruises he's sucking on your chest as he thrusts into you. Your nails dig harder into Austin's back, wanting to draw blood, to watch it drip from him as some form of sick claim. Marks only mean so much when they're not permanent but there's something about the idea of drawing blood from him that offers the chance to tie him fully to you. His thrusts are starting to speed up as you try to clench around him, using your internal muscles and a trick you know he enjoys.

"Babe. Not— I know we gotta be quick but kegels?" He whines pulling away from your skin and grabbing both sides of your face to pull you in for a harsh kiss, his beard scratching against your chin. "Wanted to take a little time."

"Tonight," you whisper, crying out as one of his hands somehow snuck down between your legs to pinch your clit. "Right now I just want to look like yours."

At your words Austin's eyes narrow and he thrusts even faster, keeping up with the way your hips chase his cock as he pulls back only to slam in over and over again. Things become a flurry of hands gripping and teeth and lips biting and sucking to the point where you're unsure of where he begins and you end. Your orgasm comes expectedly, your grip on his shoulders tightening as you almost fold in half from the pleasure your body feels, the aftershocks hitting you in the form of mild shakes even as you feel his come inside of you. Austin collapses on top of you, his entire front pressing against you as he catches his breath, seemingly trying to bite yet another mark on you.

Outside of the room you hear noises of people wanting to get back inside, whining about how it's hot outside and you roll your eyes. For a bunch of bikers, they could be so delicate about some things. "Austin, come on, we gotta get up."

The man in question whines against your skin, his lips curling into a pout you can feel before pulling away. "Don't wanna. I'm the King, they can wait."

You watch as Austin's head moves as your body jiggles when you laugh. A part of you wants to agree with him, but the part of you that's always mildly more mature knows better. "You are, but if you get up, you can show 'em off."

His eyes blink for a moment as he looks up at you through his eyelashes, his brain trying to piece together what you said before a hopeful grin flashes across his face. "Does that mean I can show you off too?"

"What's a king without his queen?"

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[distort-opia]

you know i often see people throwing around the claim "joker r*ped/sa'd barbara in tkj" (mainly to shame people for liking the joker or batjokes) even though alan moore has dedunked it at some point. like the only piece of media i can think of with joker as a rapist is the azzarello graphic novel which is shit and doesn't need to be accepted as canon. i know it's kinda of a touchy subject but i'd be interested to hear your thoughts

Well. You've pretty much said it, to be honest.

Even a cursory Google search will reveal that Azzarello's Joker (2008) is a one-off, non-canon story. The just as much stand-alone sequel, Batman: Damned has a grieving Harley Quinn almost force herself on Bruce, and yet I haven't heard people say Harley is a rapist. Hell, didn't Batman and Harley Quinn (2017) have Harley and Nightwing sleep together... with pretty dubious consent on Dick's side? And yet fans are able to acknowledge that these are not canon storylines and that the writer matters a lot-- in the case of the latter, it's co-written by Bruce Timm, who is infamous for his shitty portrayal of female characters (also see the animation Batman: The Killing Joke, in which Barbara very assertively has sex with Batman, because that's of course the only way a woman can exercise power). Actually, Barbara's character has suffered so much... there's even Batman Beyond 2.0 #28, in which Bruce apparently got Barbara pregnant, Dick's girlfriend at the time.

But we all dismiss these storytelling choices because we know they're idiotic. They go against the core of the characters, simple as that. Why is Joker not allowed the same? While what he canonically did to Barbara in TKJ was horrible, rape did not happen, and that's a fact. Any other implications of sexual assault can only be connected to Frank Miller's writing in the TDKR series (not canon), or that horrible (and again, not canon) book adaptation of TKJ by Christa Faust and Gary Phillips. Unfortunately, there are always some writers who think that it's just darker and grittier and cooler, more shocking to have Joker attempt rape or resort to sexual means of intimidation; though it's funny how it happens that these are also generally controversial writers for their sexist depictions of women.

But we do know why Joker is not afforded the same kind of treatment as other characters who got butchered by out-of-character stories, canon or otherwise. He's become the punching bag of the DC fandom; it's so easy to proclaim loud and proud these days how much you hate the Joker and want him dead. If you're an anti and looking to feel morally righteous and signal to your echo chamber how good and pure you are, it's a low hanging fruit to latch onto Joker and criticize him for all he's done. The problem, of course, is when these people start attacking actual, real-life fans over their fictional preferences, shipping or otherwise.

But to give a more general conclusion, and my actual opinion on the matter: Joker is a master manipulator. His main schtick is literally getting Batman to kill him by orchestrating all manner of situations; he manipulates his doctors, his henchmen, he manipulates Gotham itself through the media on countless occasions. The very reason why he did what he did to Barbara in TKJ was to manipulate her father into having a mental breakdown. Joker picks people to break and then breaks them psychologically, that is his MO. What he wants is to expose the people around him, he wants to show that deep down, everyone is rotten.

It probably becomes obvious why rape is inconsistent with this mindset. Joker isn't the kind of monster to make things happen by brute force, he's the kind of monster to manipulate people into the worst versions of themselves and then laugh at them as they hate themselves for it. He'll murder and torture and imply any manner of atrocity to make that happen, but the source of his glee is seeing people fall into the same dark pit, devoid of humanity, he's chosen to live in. (And don't even get me started on the fact that Joker was canonically shown to have been a victim of sexual assault himself as a child, in Batman: Streets of Gotham. As an adult, he's depicted as gruesomely taking revenge on the man who did it. Something tells me there's more than one reason why Joker would not resort to rape, and it goes beyond MOs or agendas.)