#but its all about lesbian solidarity

[hattersarts]

watch what happens when one ruthless tiny alien meets one huge soft drow.

[quillkiller]

omg i reached the tag limit theres so much MORE!!!! i think about this fic all the time:((((

everyone has that one specific fic idea that lives in their head that they will never get around to writing but are completely & unreasonably & unfathomably obsessed with right

[lunar-wandering]

its pride month so im thinking about like headcanoning LMK characters with specific sexualities and genders and stuff and like.

with me im bi so i'm biased to assigning other characters as bi just automatically if i relate to them an all that. most of the time though i do like. fairly deep thought on it. does this actually seem to fit the character and all that.

and the thing. about Sun Wukong. is that. i cannot get a read on him. nothing fits. and you know what?? honestly??? i think not being able to get a read on him fits way better than slapping any kind of label on him

i shouldn't be able to get a read on what his deal is. he's a centuries old being with powers beyond imagination. in some ways he's borderline eldritch. it makes complete and utter sense that i don't understand what the fuck is going on here

he just has his entire own thing going on. i love this for him.

[genesisinversion]

I didn't realise I liked Mona so much until I managed to find a place for her in this fanfic too

she's not gonna be as important in this one as she was in ddatsib but like, she's there!

[mamawasatesttube]

#its so fucking annoying#kon being gay makes more sense to me than anything else#primarily BECAUSE he seems to suffer from comphet#and seems specifically NOT really attracted to women and just acting out the idea that he's supposed to be#heres a tip!!! if he was bi and into women he wouldnt have that fucking problem!!!#because hed be attracted to them!!!#the idea that hes GAY adds a lot of depth to his early (predatory) dating history and the followup comphet relationships#he dated some of the worst women alive bc they groomed him and he didnt have anyone protecting him#and then proceeded to flirt with only lesbians and Extremely Safe Teammate Women who put him on a pedestal (sorry cassie)#(i mean i also think cassie likes girls and might be a lesbian but shes more borderline than obviously-lesbian-cass-cain) and nat...#like im sorry but its really obvious to read that as comphet and a gay csa victim trying to stay safe and struggling to accept himself#especially since he also wrestles with the masculinity expected of him#you can be gay and masculine and its so goddamn annoying that fandom cant grasp that#but i AM interested in kon truly trying to grasp that#i think if anything he might be overcompensating with masculinity in his comphet era specifically because#he was more frequently in vulnerable positions with t*na and kn*ckout.#and therefore wouldnt really want to be vulnerable in relationships after that. and so put on the strong stoic masculine aspect#even though thats never really been who he is#(kon has always cried easily; kon has always liked to be silly and goofy; kon has always had a deep emotional well and empathy for others)#hes just literally always had shit going on in his life preventing him from coming to grips with who he is and who he could trust/love#grooming. friends dying. homelessness. new family. dying. coming back. lost in space. new universe.#when was he supposed to learn how to learn how to be vulnerable to love again? :(#also VERY importantly in the post above:#tim at least has some compelling female love interests that were healthy#what the fuck do people care about kon's relationships with women for???#what are you trying to defend? jesus christ#his relationship with cassie was the longest and healthiest but there was zero chemistry and work better as friends#like are you defending casskon? tana and kon? (ew) KNOCKOUT and kon??? (even bigger ew)#what is the point of being upset that he might be gay and not bi?? what are you trying to defend and leave him open to????#just let him realize he's gay and only likes boys. jesus. (via @comphetkoncass)

YOU GET IT.

tbh i do think regularly abt how funny (read: infuriating) it is that fandom loves both homophobia and biphobia (ft. misogyny) so much. like people diminishing tim's female love interests bc clearly the male one is more important/more real, but then turning around to be SO averse to the idea of kon being gay and not bi. what's up with that. is it that you all think only twinky guys can be gay and that only gay men are twinks or something? (like tim isnt even a twink lmao that man has been working out daily since he was 13 but. you know.) like every time ive posted abt the idea of kon being gay ive gotten people being SO fucking annoying in my notes. is it that you guys can't handle the idea of a superman-shaped guy being gay because clearly all gay men have to be dainty and effeminate? hmm. and therefore he HAS to be bi as a default option to keep him shippable? (as if thats not also like. such a shitty way to treat bisexuality.) hmmm... fascinating.

[shame-kink]

the eternal temptation to pull a ‘men dni’ on main (i.e. here) even though that makes literally 0 sense

[dykewithbenefits]

I'm so so into making people worse. That identity that means so much to you? I wanna break it down till its bastardised. Make a trans guy a walking bimbo with a tit obsession who'd throw ~~his~~ her T away to suck a cock or lick a cunt

Get a lesbian so fucking brain dead that she throws herself at disgusting drunk men and records her rape for me

Maybe getting all of them to betray others with their identities just to get me more porn and fleshlights

Turn a trans boy into a femme slut who has to get bred on camera to afford all the implants she's getting.

Turn a trans girl into a pervert femboy who fantasizes about groping women and spends all his free time jerking off to misogynistic porn.

Turn an enby into a broken mess who you can dress like a doll and who'll let you use his/her holes for sexual relief whenever you feel like it.

Turn a dyke into a straight whore who's so addicted to cum she'll go outside naked just for a chance to get dicked down by boys.

Turn a faggot into a straight boytoy; a walking dildo for cis girls and ex-dykes to ride whenver they have an itch for cock.

Turn a straight person into a gay slut who turns into a giggling, drooling mess at even the slightest attention from their own gender.

Turn a bisexual person into a sex-repulsed ace and then whore them out anyways.

Turn an ace into a hyper-sexual bitch and then put them in chastity and edge them for days upon days until they're so horny and stupid they could never function as a member of society ever again.

Turn an aro into your loyal spouse who you can kiss and cuddle and ultimately dump for someone better.

In the name of queer solidarity, don't let anyone go safe~!

[sunderedstar]

good books of 2024

according to meeee.

there is no order here, at least one of these was published ages ago, I'm just working my way through my 2024 timeline, godspeed spiderman. 🫡

Metal from Heaven

surprise hit of 2024. top of the charts. stunning, spectacular. gorgeous. Metal from Heaven FUCKS. almost every single main character is an explicit spicy toxic hot mess of a lesbian committing literal highway/train robbery, the bad guy is literally named Industry, leading to such peak sentences as "I am going to kill Industry." the prose is synesthetic in a way that most writers cannot sustain for a full novel but which here culminates in a moment of pure blissful Neon Genesis Evangelion that I will not elaborate on due to spoilers. the author pulls out the FUNNIEST lines, and also the most abrupt and heartbreaking tragedies. we're not here to be subtle, we're here to put the pedal to the metal until the engine explodes. such a damning, whip smart condemnation of industry, capitalism, power. all in the form of Lesbians. also the phrase 'clown orgy' is mentioned. this shit is like gideon the ninth with CRUNCH. NSFW.

but don't take my word for it. take amal el-mohtar's.

Absolution

Absolution is a hard book. requires thought and rigor at all times to absorb what's going on - and also a reread of the entire trilogy beforehand, because there's time travel nuance involved, which makes it next to impossible to sum up the plot coherently on its own without spoiling things. jeff vandermeer described it partially as 'fuck that alligator from the movie' and - valid. the first 60% had me; the later section...swapped gears drastically, which meant it took a while to hit its stride (aka until it reached Area X again). in hindsight I was just not prepared for one of the POVs to be the Freudian, violently stoned, unreliable narrator love-child of Karkat and Dave Strider whose perception/conception of the heart of the Southern Reach is extremely phallic. and then suddenly cannibalism happens. I liked Annihilation and Acceptance better, but damn. it almost feels like this should be the set up to another trilogy. much 2 think about.

Yield Under Great Persuasion

I don't know why I didn't hear anything about this one before it came out! (instead, I only saw posts about rowland's other book released this year, running close to the wind - which sadly did not hit for me at all). Yield Under Great Persuasion is just ridiculous enough to be fantastic. stubborn little gremlin man, big mad about Pumpkingate years after the original inciting incident that set him at odds with his love interest, attempts to pack his little rucksack and run away from all his self-inflicted gay problems, fails, is forced to deal with said personal problems by direct goddess-intervention. you know it's gonna be good when the guys are hate-banging by page 2. a short, delightful mix of (extremely silly and low-stakes) enemies to lovers and hurt/comfort and working out your emotional and communication issues on page style comfort food. self-indulgent in a fanfic way that is rowland's trademark in a taste of gold and iron (which was also fantastic and probably deserves a reread now.) NSFW.

The Spellshop

between this and yield under great persuasion there's an odd cozy fantasy pairing here. a self-isolated shut-in spellbook librarian who lives for her work escapes the fall of her city and sets up shop back in her old hometown on a severely magic-deprived island. there's some internalized trauma being worked through, against a simply charming backdrop of community and solidarity and magic spells. really. I was. charmed. which is a rare reaction on my part.

The Hunter's Gonna Lay Low

the curveball of the list, The Hunter's Gonna Lay Low is a translated (gay) Korean web novel, and it's the perfect intersection of a decent translator meeting an author who knows what they're doing. notorious tumblr user @spockandawe has a write up of the plot and its major themes here, but in essence it hooked me with its hunter/super-hero meets Pacific Rim setting, its themes of gifted kid burnout and unacknowledged trauma with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and the fact that the author clearly plotted out all of this in advance, with minor details from the opening chapter being extremely plot relevant a hundred chapters later. also, the characters are FUN! the relationship compels me. clownery abounds in all the best ways, while the world-ending stakes are also scarily sky high. its translation is currently incomplete as far as I'm aware, which is literally this story's only downside right now, since you can read it online for free - but so much of the main story is up and translated already that it's hard to imagine how much higher the stakes can go, and I'm dying to know if these two make it through and get the happy ending they deserve. a delicious repast.

Apostles of Mercy

I'm gonna rant here. this is the story of a series that got the redemption arc it deserved.

if you don't know, axiom's end is lindsay ellis's blatant Bayverse Transformers female lead alternate history fic. period. she has openly admitted this. you can easily and clearly pick out the Optimus/Megatron/Starscream expies. and that first book was GOOD. it understood the assignment. loved it.

then...truth of the divine happened. book two of the series. was frankly. god awful. it was like twilight's new moon, where the main character's depression saturates and therefore stagnates the entire narrative, in this case to its detriment. it dragged. the entire appeal of first book of the series is the bond between the main character and her new definitely-not-a-Transformer life partner, and book two managed to both sideline that - the entire point!!! the main thing you're reading it for! the alien time! - and introduce the most skeevy and (for me) unpleasant to read human hetero romance of all time. it was so unpleasant I actually forgot how bad it was.

somehow. somehow. palpatine returned. after I spent three years mourning what could have been. book three saved it. Apostles of Mercy addresses the whole damn skeevy toxic mess that was book two and refocuses on what matters - the alien love interest and a LESBIAN love interest. yes. it's true. once again the sapphics won. we now have a book where the main character is reliving lesbian sex memories as an alien-robot-insect-definitely-not-a-Transformer mindmelds with her so I mean. good job team? her love interest also acquires an alien life partner of her own to expand this into potential alien foursome range? the assignment is once again UNDERSTOOD. in terms of the action scenes, to quote myself while reading it, "I can't believe I'm saying this but you needed to channel far more Bayverse" [for book 2], and doing so for book 3 has produced a work of art. I would say skip book 2 entirely and thank me later, but experiencing how bad the series got at its darkest point is part of what made book 3 such an exhilarating high in comparison. possibly that was the goal all along, impossible to appreciate until now. I just need lindsay ellis to get the contract to write the currently-in-publication-limbo books 4 and 5. because the series deserves it. it only just got good again! NSFWish because I can't remember currently how explicit they got all these months later, forgive me.

The Deep Sky

yume kitasei is new to me, but this book hit some interesting notes as a sci fi debut. it too is about gifted kid burnout and imposter syndrome, funnily enough, in a thoughtful take on the standard sci fi concept of 'a bunch of rigorously trained young adults are sent out into deep space as an ark to save a dying humanity' that actually does discuss how fucked up that is as a concept, both for the kids as they grow up under enormous pressure to win a spot on the mission and for all those people being left behind, in what might just end up being an overhyped waste of resources, since civilization sure is still kicking when they leave. the summary on the book is somewhat misleading - asuka, the main character, doesn't fall under suspicion until wayyyy late in the book, and spends the majority of it in a pseudo-detective role that is absolutely sanctioned by those in charge. she's not 'an immediate suspect' like the book blurb insists. go figure. it didn't knock me out of the park like most of the books above, but it was an engaging little read.

The Bees

a weird one from 2014, picked up on a whim - it's literally about bees! fictionalized bees! with personalities and priesthoods and caste politics and everything! I cried about it to be honest. very plotty, somehow all of it neatly taking place within the Lifecycle of A Bee™️, which takes some real craftsmanship to pull off and make compelling as a narrative. since I'm an unrepentant Raksura fan, I was like 'wow...how Raksura coded...' knowing full well that Raksura are dragon bee people, not the other way around. also the Raksura could never be as toxic (complimentary) as these bees are. 😂 it's just good literature your honor.

honorable mentions:

Heavenly Tyrant

has not come out yet. but let's be real. it's on the list in anticipation. it's what she deserves.

The City in Glass

I love nghi vo's work, have read and adored all of the singing hills cycle novellas. it took a month for my library hold on this book to be available. and then I promptly got distracted by metal from heaven and the hunter's gonna lay low 😂 I will read it!!! the first eight pages were good! vitrine's voice is very good! I've just had a very busy end of the year interrupting my everything. (update: I read two more pages and it immediately and promptly popped off. whoops. guess I'm reading that next. whenever I have free time again...)

[genderkoolaid]

also this post reminded me of when i saw someone complaining about the concept of antimasculism because it implied that butch women and men have similar experiences and issues and That's Bad, because everything butch women go through must be 100% misogyny.

and like. putting aside that i am and have lived most of my life as a butch woman, and that literally one of the first people who helped me shape the term was a butch specifically talking about how this impacted butch lesbians... why is that such a bad thing? like its pretty well established (in the spaces im in, at least) that butches very often are pressured to be unemotional and strong and act as bodyguards/protectors for others and be dominant/tops. those are all experiences that many men go through, and its very clearly related to the expectations we associate with masculinity. if you are gonna throw a fit about being grouped in with men yknow. okay. but i think me and plenty other butches are gonna find solidarity with men on this instead of continuing this fucking "lesbians are a different species than men and can never relate to them in any way" routine terfs have tricked you all into thinking is helpful in any way

[twig-tea]

Twig's GL Recs for March-July 2024

[Here’s my rec list for GLs through to Feb 2024 ]

Fake Buddies Korean, YouTube, 7 episodes (one ep BL, one ep GL, one ep crossover, and then 2 more BL prequel eps and two more GL prequel episodes), approx 45 minutes when compiled, Apr 27-Jun 28 2024

At first this was a little three-part series in which it turns out both members of the couple are secretly in a homosexual relationship with their best friends and using the other as a beard. Lots of comedy of errors and puns (“I like lilies better than roses”) as the characters try to make each other understand the situation they’re in. The backstory prequels were really cute friends to lovers, and it was really nice to see these couples land in solidarity! This series is short and cute and pure fluff.  

To the X Who Hated Me: YunO x Jane Korean, YouTube, 3 episodes ~6 mins each, aired May 22-29 [microseries complete, X who hated me series may be ongoing]

When the previous 2-ep miniseries under this umbrella landed (which I wrote about here: ), I had no idea it was going to be a series of microseries! These are all short but good second chance romances. This one has a “reality”-show-within-a-show format, with a frustrating misunderstanding, and a good kiss. Be sure to always watch past the credits for this series! 

You Are My Star, Thai, YouTube, 1ep 37 mins (aired as 3 12-min eps and then they compiled into this one short film), May 18 [complete]

This was a cute Thai GL that I enjoyed mostly because of the very clear cribbing of specific scenes from recent BLs. It was mostly trope-y (both cuteness and drama), with good kissing. See if you can spot the BL references.

Xiao Xiang Yi Jiu, Chinese, YouTube, 7 episodes 2 mins each, May 20-June 3 [complete]

This little microseries is about a girl becoming an intern for her crush/idol. Happy ending, and they do become explicitly girlfriends! No kiss because censorship.

Lonely Girls Korean, YouTube, 4 episodes 8 minutes each (32 mins compiled) May 14 [complete]

This is about a couple that struggles with the closet, lack of communication, and how to make their relationship last in the face of uncertainty. Also there’s good kisses. SukFilm have done other series before and since, but this is my fave GL of theirs so far. 

The Two of Us Deep Night spinoff, Thai, YouTube, 6 episodes, 15 mins each, airing May 30-July 4 [complete]

I was so confused at first, because I didn’t realize this was supposed to be their story during the events of Deep Night that we didn’t get to see. I was excited about this one but bummed that we started the miniseries with a health scare and then a threat by Meiji to marry some guy just to make Freya jealous? I found it a little frustrating that two women in their 40s could not be honest with each other. The couple is so cute, but the storytelling is not, so take this rec with a grain of salt. Still, it’s so nice to see women in their 40s being super cute and in love in between the drama so I’m keeping it on this list! I am very glad to have gotten the dance sequence and the bath sequence. 

******

And of course currently airing right now so take with a grain of salt because i don’t yet know how they end, but 

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko Japanese, 8 episodes, 25 mins, airing July 4- August 22 [ongoing]

This is a laugh-out-loud funny office comedy in which Akaya flirts desperately with her senior colleague at work, Hiorko, who then spends her evenings complaining to her friends at the lesbian bar about oblivious straights who don’t understand the meaning of what they say. I've written a little more about this show here. It is my favourite GL of the year so far and if it stays this good is on its way to being one of my favourites of all time!

The Secret of Us Thai, 8 episodes, 50 mins each, airing June 24-August 15 [ongoing]

This series starts with the cutest episode of all time and then devolves quickly into serious drama lol but it did a good job avoiding pure “noble idiocy” so I’m hopeful it will continue to hold up. As of ep3 things are happening that I did not expect, so I’m really curious how this one will go. In the meantime, it is also worth noting that these actresses are excellent kissers.

[UPDATE: Of these two that were airing, I ended up thinking I was going to have to retract for The Secret of Us but instead retracted for Ayaka Is In Love With Hiroko. I had way more fun with Ayaka week to week but the ending was really disappointing; The Secret of Us in contrast nailed the ending. I wrote about it a bit here. ]

[orkbutch]

So, I'm not really in the weeds of Transgender Discourse on the internet (I have a life and also care about my mental health) but I've seen something discussed here about trans masculinity and I wanna talk about it.

I'm very masculine. I'm butch, I'm trans masc, I've always wanted to be masculine and I feel most comfortable when I'm presenting as such. Without much effort or any intention on my part I am read as a cis man day to day. Because I don't present more fem, in queer spaces I am read and recieved as a man, maybe trans, probably into other men. People do not even consider if I'm a butch lesbian unless there's Significant context indicating it. Because of this I'm viewed through 'Man Lens'; It feels a different if I say 'bitch', if I talk about my attraction to women. I don't get smiled at, people put physical distance between me and them as much as possible.

This is familiar for a lot of trans masculine people and trans men that aren't androgynous/fem leaning in their style, and it is an upsetting change to happen. It makes us feel judged or misunderstood to suddenly be causing this wariness in others; it feels prejudiced. I've seen people putting words to this like transmisandry. This is something they want to lessen in their communities, so they don't have to experience this anymore.

Now, here's my opinion part: That's not going to happen. You cannot tackle the "problem" of people responding to your masculinity with wariness. They aren't controlling the wariness, they can't. More importantly, their wariness toward masculinity and what registers in their brain as "man-like" is well founded. It's based in lifetimes of experiences and trauma that has told them men can be very unsafe to be around, and that is true. Most men are cis, and cis men are the most threatening thing in this world to non-cis men. They are usually* socially privileged above others, more likely to inflict violence, more likely to abuse and murder others, are typically physically more powerful than others. Everyone thats not a cis man DEEPLY internalises a very rational wariness of men, and masculine presentation as an extension. Especially men that are strangers. (*This is of course different when we consider intersections of race, colonialism, classism, ect. But globally this generalisation is still pretty accurate.)

Honestly, I don't think this wariness towards masculine presentation is something thats useful or realistic to challenge. Like many internalised processes it's probably a good idea to examine it and consider its usefulness, but I think it'd be easy to conclude that it is a useful wariness for people to have. Women have lots of reasons to be wary around men, including the unique threats of transmisogyny. Queer and gender deviant men have lots of reasons to be wary around men. This is The Reality of patriarchy.

Personally, the place I've come to with how women and queer people react to my masculinity (which is not entirely negative btw, the wariness is just one aspect) is that... I understand their wariness. I have it too, toward those my brain assumes are cis men. I cannot control how they feel or what they think about me. I can only be respectful to others and to myself and live my life. I flag my butchness where I can, I make my gender clear to those it matters to, and the rest I accept as largely beyond my influence. All of us have to do this in some places in our lives.

Even though my masculinity makes other queers wary, I have lots of friends! I've had no real trouble dating or finding intimacy. Initial wariness is just that. Once you understand each other, break the barrier, its usually settled. For anyone who finds my masculinity so offputting that we can't break the barrier, I'm glad neither of us put each other through that discomfort. I understand where a fear like that comes from. I will still hold community with them because that's what solidarity entails.

Anyway thats my ramble about masculinity in queer community, good bye until another. who knows how long

[mothman-can-write]

heya! i also saw your tag about aro maria and ace natasha. i'm very fascinated about that. what's some of your takes on that dynamic? i've personally leaned towards ace/aspec, but it's always interesting to me when someone who identifies along there but more into sex or adverse to romance. just shows how diverse that spectrum is!

This is such a fun question and I'm going to preface it by saying these HCs are purely based on vibes and my own projection as someone on the aroace spec. I like to play around with their sexualities a lot bc it makes for interesting dynamics, but I'll stick to my thoughts about them being aspec for now haha. I can't promise this will be coherent and make sense but I'll try my best!

This got pretty long, so I'll put the rest of this essay under the cut:

A lot of my opinions of marvel characters are influenced by the comics, especially for Maria since we were given so little of her in the MCU. She has an interesting vibe to her that just... sort of screams being entirely uninterested in anything romantic. She's a very private person anyway, but never expresses interest in wanting romance, but she still wants so desperately to keep those she cares about safe. It's not that she doesn't care, because she does, a WHOLE lot. She just cares about everyone in a very platonic, dutiful way. And yet, somehow, she gives off the biggest lesbian vibes in the world. Therefore, aromantic lesbian. It also somehow just makes sense to me that casual physical relationships would be easier for her to keep as a crucial member of an international secret organisation. Outside of her own team who is she going to date? She goes to a nice bar and she drinks a scotch and she waits for the nearest femme to take her home only to disappear in the middle of the night. Satisfy some urges, and prove to herself that she isn't an evil monster to the naked eye, two birds one stone. There's no real evidence to her having any sexual relationships (that i can think of anyway) but the vibes just sort of work to me, or at least that she would have them. Sometimes i think she's too much of a loser to ever actually go home with anyone. So, in that respect, I can also see her as being aroace too. She just generally has more important things to worry about and isn't necessarily interested in things she deems so personal and unimportant.

I wish I could beam the vibes in my head directly to you because I'm doing a terrible job of explaining them with words, but generally Maria comes off as a very cold character who actually cares very deeply about those around her and that can hit home for a lot of aspec misconceptions and stereotypes. As far as I know, she's never been in a relationship either, which for marvel comics is practically an olympic feat. In one comic she says Natasha is the person she trusts most in the world because shes lonely too, and that shes the only person that scares her. what is that if not lesbianism aspec solidarity

As for Natasha, well we all know what her past is like, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that she might have some trauma around it. But honestly I just like to think she would always be asexual bc it's fun. She's really the character I have less evidence for, but I'm a sucker for the trope of a character who is sexualised by everyone around her actually being a big softy who would rather cuddle. That woman could count on her hands how many times she's been hugged in her life, I think she'd truly get the most out of a relationship where she is shown innocent affection. She's been treated as a physical asset her entire life and I think she deserves to be wined and dined outside of that. Maybe its just me trying to break her free and projecting at the same time but let that woman be the little spoon.

IDK man, she just gives me vibes. She's a cutie. She's a hopeless romantic thrown into a world of people that think she's hot. She's been forced to live up to a role that feels like an act, and is only able to play it so well because none of it has felt real from the start. Sexuality has always been a game, and she's so good at playing because she's always been outside of it. The second someone shows her genuine romance she doesn't know what to do with herself. She likes to give people flowers.

In terms of dynamics together, I don't actually tend to mix them together in this way, I usually pick one or the other because the fic is focussed on them having a functional relationship. I do, however, think Maria would be very accomodating of Natasha if they were in a relationship with this specific dynamic, because as characters they have a very similar need of wanting to be loved for who they are as a person. And to Maria any sexual drive is always going to be second to a real human connection for the first time in her life.

Honestly, the dynamic should be great for angst but I can't find a way to make it work because theyre very similar characters to me. Even if Natasha needs someone to love her whole heartedly for herself, someone to love her innocently outside of her body, Maria is still going to give that to her. It might not be romantically, but she is desperate for human connection anyway. The worst I can think of is that Maria becomes frustrated with the fact that Natasha wants more from her, whilst not being able to tell her the full extent of her own attraction, so theyre both stuck at a bit of a stalemate. Suffering in silence through their friendship because they both want something the other isnt able to give and both of them are too soft hearted to ever force it

I think that's about all that I've got in the tank right now, so I hope that answered some of the curiosities you had! Let me know if you have any more specific questions, because i'm always happy to talk about them :)

[chaifootsteps]

I think you may have deleted the post, but I wanted to talk about that insta story Amir posted with the lesbian flag fan and the “#king of the lesbians” comment.

I want to start by saying I don’t know Amirs gender identity or sexuality. Everything I could find stated that Amir’s pronouns are he/him, but there are he/him lesbians, and there are also trans lesbians who aren’t out yet, and still pass publicly as male. I don’t know if Amir identifies this way, and don’t really want to say anything super critical that would pressure him into coming out if this is the case.

I know a lot of helluva criticals are also a bit critical of his online presence, but he does seem to have acted as a pretty good ally, and talked about how **requiring** pronoun disclosure for work can accidentally have the side-effect of forcing people to out or mis-gender themselves, which is a good point.

Despite knowing all of this, as a nonbinary lesbian, seeing that post did make me anxious. I think it’s mainly because, even if Amir IS a lesbian (and I know some people may even laugh at that thought, or act like that could never happen, but the truth is we DO NOT KNOW Amir, and do not know anything about his inner life or identity that he has not explicitly shared) but even if he is a lesbian, seeing *anyone* proclaim themselves “King of the Lesbians” just sets off alarm bells in my head.

I think its most likely because since I don’t know if he’s part of the community or an ally, it feels very much like someone claiming to speak for us or be representative of lesbians.

And I’m VERY sensitive of celebrities or people with influence claiming to speak for us or have clout with us—especially since JKR started using lesbians as a shield against all criticism of her transphobia.

I know I’m probably overthinking all of this—over something I’m pretty sure was posted as a joke (and I don’t even know if the “king of the lesbians” caption was made by Amir himself, or a social media manager).

But. Idk. Regardless something about that post just gave me a real big ick. My initial reaction when I saw that post was “no, you’re fucking not. If anyone is king of the lesbians it’s Tracy Chapman, not you.”

It’s something minor, and I know I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but I can’t help but get frustrated by it. I want to say, “okay, what the hell have you done for us then?” You don’t just announce that you’re a gay or lesbian icon. It’s something that is earned and given to you by the community. Even if you are a part of the community I still think it’s something that has to be earned.

I know I’m just rambling now, but I wanted to let you know that yeah, that post was not okay with me either. I think I would have even liked the post if it had said something that was more supportive of lesbians like “let’s go lesbians!” Or “shout out to the lesbian fans!” Or something.

Anyway. Thanks for letting me vent. I know this is probably ridiculous to vent about but I wanted to get these feelings out, and didn’t feel safe talking about it on my own blog.

Nah, it's an entirely valid frustration. There are ways to show solidarity and that wasn't it, and also high five for recognizing Tracy Chapman as the queen of the lesbians she is.

(For the record, I deleted that post because apparently it's not yet common knowledge just how incredibly fucking creepy Amir is. Someday.)

[redgoldblue]

so @itwoodbeprefect tagged me in what was originally an ask game due to a chronological series of events and i wanna talk about songs so: shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up.

(the playlist i've listened to most is as it often is my on repeat but i'm taking 'favourite' as leave to go to my next most listened, which is:) springsteen songs that make you gay and/or trans

Racing In The Street - this is inherently a butch cassidy & the sundance kid coded song, which i don't mean in the sense that it's necessarily a ship song for butch/sundance/etta (although far be it from me to say it's not), but that it is fundamentally telling the same story. It's also one of the many songs on here that speaks to my thesis that the overlap between working-class and queer experiences is one of the major reasons Springsteen's discography resonates so much with queer people in its simultaneous disenchantment and hope. Also taking Martha & The Vandellas Dancing In The Street and making it into a melancholic ballad on living in transience and recklessness and the effect it has on your relationships and loved ones is just. there’s something gay about that whole concept. tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea / and wash these sins off our hands

Growin' Up - most of the songs on here I can classify into 'makes you gay', 'makes you lesbian', or 'makes you trans'. this is one of the few that I can only say 'makes you queer'. I do think it's underrated in general as a song, and I also think there's a full low fantasy queer found family story in there. but it's also just something about building a life in private you can't bring yourself to share, until you can. had a jukebox graduate for a first mate / she couldn't sail but she sure could sing

My Lover Man - I mean, i really don't need to say anything about My Lover Man, it says it all itself. it is quite explicitly singing to a male lover who, my interpretation, was trying and failing to perform comphet. come into my arms and fall / my lover man

Thunder Road - this one makes you lesbian. honestly i could just leave it at the Melissa Etheridge video, but the point is. he has songs that are subverting masculinity (Cover Me, also on this playlist, comes to mind, or Because The Night), and he has, somehow, songs that are subverting femininity. this is the latter. (i also wrote a wlw roadtrip romance set to thunder road quite a few years ago. it wasn't good but it is still a vibe). now i'm no hero that's understood / all the redemption i can offer lies beneath this dirty hood

Bobby Jean - oh i love bobby jean's inclusion on this playlist! this also does not fit into the aforementioned three categories, but only because as far as i'm concerned it's very firmly a wlw/mlm solidarity song. just... private but joyful teenage solidarity, and escaping for yourself, and not holding it against someone that they needed to escape for themselves. we liked the same music / we liked the same bands / we liked the same clothes

[hockeymarriage]

was talking with my hockey bud and wondering aloud, "why do I feel a tiny spark of warmth in my cold bitch jaded gay heart when the flyers do pride shit?" because I hate corporate pride, I hate the majority of queer representation in media, I hate empty signs of solidarity. so, is this just the hockey fan delusion speaking through me? probably a little bit.

I think it's a little different though, because sports is socially, politically, and economically structured with homophobia and transphobia baked in. the bar is on the floor, and it's a heavy bar to lift. there's some, but not as much financial gain to wearing pride tape and You Can Play as, say, Disney's bulllllshit. also, we known that there are gay hockey players, and there are players who face heavy consequences for voicing their politics. I want the culture to shift for them, I'm glad people are working on it, I think pride nights and pride tape and players going to pride events is a piece of that.

also, as a gay kid with a lesbian mom going to sports games in the 90s and 00s in a very liberal city (derogatory), my god the homophobia was everywhere all the time. they would say shit about people marrying dogs to my moms face with her EIGHT YEAR OLD right there. aaaaaand now, when I go to games, they play a little cringe video that says bigoted dickheads will get kicked out, and I know that if I do hear shit like that, I really could get someone kicked out. that is a thing that happens at the stadium.

so, like. it means a little to me. it doesn't mean that much, the NHL is politically a shit hole, my ideal political reality for sports is... not popular. but its nice! every year, Gritty is out with the progress pride flag (evolved from the philadelphia pride flag!) like a million times. they're a local queer icon.

the second the flyers/comcast walks it back, I will curse them. until then... aww, that's nice.

[spiderfreedom]

historical revisionism of second-wave feminism

I'm wondering where this idea that "second-wave feminism" didn't bring up race came from. It seems to be conflating liberal feminism, starting with Betty Friedan's "The Feminist Mystique", for the entire movement. But "second-wave feminism" refers to an entire era of feminist organizing, including lesbian feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminist, and numerous Black feminist works with multiple intersections. Why should Friedan and NOW's 'liberal feminism' be the representative of an entire era of feminist writing? What do we have to gain from pretending that there were no Black feminist writers during the second wave?

The US women's movement has always had ties to anti-racist movements like abolitionism and the civil rights movement, as well as the New Left and socialist/anti-war movements. White feminists tried to include racial analysis in their books - to mixed effect, e.g. Susan Brownmiller's book "Against Our Will" proved to be contentious for its treatment of interracial rape of Black men against white women (example).

It feels like there's been a wave of historical revisionism to make the second-wave seem more limited and single-issue focused than it really was, in order to make "third-wave" feminism seem novel, exciting, and necessary. It's resulted in a whole generation of feminist writers and cultural critics who don't read or quote or engage with the feminist works of the second wave. They are dismissed out of hand as irrelevant or limited. It feels like another way to say "stop paying attention to women's history, just believe me when I say the first and second waves were irrevocably damaged and that the third wave is the only way to go."

I think this article does a good job of capturing one of the reasons why an interracial feminism failed to form, which is that white women assumed Black women also wanted an interracial feminism, when many Black women, especially at the start of the movement, were not interested in solidarity with white women. The fantasy of a racially integrated society was often much more important to white organizers than to Black organizers, who may have instead wanted Black self-determination. I disagree with some of the points of the article (can elaborate if anyone is interested) but I recommend reading it anyway for a retrospective on why white attempts to reach out to Black women failed - white feminists did attempt to reach out, but failed to focus on issues that were relevant to Black women, failed or were offensive in their racial analysis, and failed to understand the importance of racial solidarity for Black women.

Correcting the record on the racism and failures of white feminists in the second-wave is necessary work to building a strong movement. But there's a difference between correcting the record and pretending that white feminists didn't try to talk about race at all. They did! They were participants of anti-racist movements! But they failed to understand their own racism. They failed to understand the complex dynamics between white men, white women, Black men, and Black women. They failed to focus on issues that resonated with Black women. They were failures of bad attempts, not that no attempt was ever made... and that's the part I find weird.

The idea that there was no racial analysis made during the second wave, by white women or Black women, flattens a complex history. Like fun fact - the Combahee River Collective Statement which is the foundation of intersectional feminism and third wave identity politics? Is a second wave text! It was published in 1977, in the late era of second wave activism in the US!

I have more to say later, but for the moment, I'd like to present you with some examples of second-wave feminist texts written by Black women. Read them, and avail yourself of another myth - that there is One Black Feminism. Black Feminists have always had internal disagreements, which frightens white feminists, because white feminists want to know The Correct Answer On Race. I highly recommend reading these (and modern Black feminist texts too!) to understand the situation Black feminists faced in the 60s and 70s. All of these texts were published between 1960 and 1980. They are all essays or excerpts - links provided where possible.

Black Women’s Liberation group of Mt. Vernon, New York - Statement on Birth Control

Mary Ann Weathers - An argument for Black Women’s Liberation as Revolutionary Force (https://caringlabor.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/mary-ann-weathers-an-argument-for-black-womens-liberation-as-a-revolutionary-force/)

Frances M. Beal - Double Jeopardy: to be Black and Female

Doris Wright - Angry Notes from a Black Feminist (https://yu.instructure.com/courses/49421/files/1918241/download?wrap=1)

Margaret Sloan: Black and Blacklesbian

Alice Walker - In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens

Angela Davis: Joan Little: The Dialectics of Rape (https://overthrowpalacehome.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/ms.-magazine-from-the-archives.pdf)

Michele Wallace: A Black Feminist’s Search for Sisterhood (https://www.amistadresource.org/documents/document_09_03_010_wallace.pdf)

The Combahee River Collective (https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/combahee-river-collective-statement-1977/)

Barbara Smith - Racism and Women’s Studies (https://hamtramckfreeschool.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/smith-barbara-racism-and-womens-studies.pdf)