#but my man they're trans. nb. not ace.

[alongtidesoflight]

so here's my honest thoughts on dragon age: the veilguard, after ~40 hours of playing. i finished the main quest after having finished all companion quests and major faction quests. just to clear up what content i saw, i played as an elven transmasc rook who is a member of the lords of fortune. he romanced lucanis (although after finishing the game i'm now leaning towards taash). i don't know what's happening in playthroughs that have a different race, gender identity, romance or faction going on.

full spoilers ahead, i mean it. don't read further if you want to avoid them. i don't want complaining about it in my asks.

oh and also, if you're worried because of a few negative reviews online i can comfort you by saying don't give a fuck about a certain big name youtuber who is very much tied to bethesda franchises giving this a negative review. i'll explain why.

i'm starting off with the things i liked

the game looks really pretty. i was worried it wouldn't feel like thedas anymore (with them trying to "focus on northern thedas only" i thought they'd make a clear cut in environmental design. they do and they don't. it's complicated. i'll elaborate on it when talking about the negative stuff). anyway it does. minrathous feels like kirkwall. treviso enchanted me like the winter palace did. the hossberg wetlands reminded me of the hinterlands and a couple other inquisition maps. arlathan looked like... arlathan. the crossroads were different, but familiar. overall i like the way it looks and feels. it's thedas, with a twist. it's a good one, and gives everything a solid but unique feel.

combat is top tier. if you're a hardcore dragon age player you WILL miss the tactical aspect of it for a bit, but i promise you, once you're used to the way the combat works, you will be lapping that shit up. and once you get to ability combos you'll mourn the control you used to have over your companions in battle a bit less

the MAIN quest and its story. i expected worse, way worse. and for a while the game even had me tricked (harr harr you'll get it in a second) it is Really That Much Worse. but holy shit was it good. i walked away satisfied ngl.

your choices have SOLID weight. there's consequences, good AND bad. i got minrathous blighted, ruled over by venatori, and the leader of the shadow dragons ultimately died because of my decisions. i made those at the beginning and throughout the game. he died at the end. DAVRIN died because i didn't expect what i was saying to have that much weight. i thought i was in the clear. he had hero status. well turns out, your choices can still get your companions killed even if you do everything right. i fucking love him. he shouldn't have made that sacrifice just because i told him to do everything it takes once.

the inquisitor, morrigan and dorian being there, surprisingly. there's also negatives to this though, see below.

speaking of companions dying and the inquisitor playing a bigger role: the final quest feels like me2's suicide mission. i was blown away by it and the fact that i got to see the results of all my efforts playing out in front of me.

bioware are NOT trying to redeem solas. they love him as a character yes, but i wasn't forced to see any good in him. he betrays you. he fucked my rook over twice. he fucked him over right back, for good this time (the veil wasn't torn down, i anchored it by binding him to it, he's doomed to uphold it). but solas really lives up to his name as the trickster elven god. rip to all the people who grew really attached to him over the years.

varric died. if you like him that's probably as hard reading it as it was watching it. varric died and the game lies about it until the very end. when the realisation hits, it hurts. but in the very best way.

the amount of care they put into gender expression and trans identities this time around. (i'll add onto this with negative points as well too).

rook feels very much ingrained in the world of thedas. he doesn't ask questions that expose the player to lore through dialogue as if he's stepped foot into thedas for the first time. those conversations feel very solid and good. i hope other faction players got as much joy out of this as i did.

and the things i didn't like and boy there's a lot unfortunately

the music. let's just get that out of the way holy shit. it doesn't feel like it belongs in this universe. it gets so incredibly sci-fi-y at times you'd think it's taken straight from mass effect andromeda. there's not a single song unique to veilguard that i really enjoyed. it broke my immersion, real bad. hearing a busker play the tavern songs from inquisition on a lute right after i killed some venatori with wobbly bass songs playing in the background is just odd. weird tonal shift. don't like it. it's made for people who like flashy light-weight cinema.

tevinter nights is required reading. the podcasts are required listening exercises. the game is so fast paced, especially at the start, that there's no time to introduce you to characters and how much weight their names carry in-game. i would not have known who half these people are if i hadn't skimmed over tevinter nights. i'd care even less about them than i already did. there is no time to get properly attached to them. people will act as if you're talking to a legend personified and you'll be thinking man goddamn which chapter of tevinter night were they in again and what did they do???

there's a weird mismatch with the animations. you'll have beautifully fluid ones, like emmrich casting spells. and then you'll have rook's face animating in the most unnatural manner that's sorta reminiscent of mass effect andromeda's "my face is tired" addison, when their emotions SHOULD be landing with the player rn instead.

i'm not vibing with the art style. sometimes it works. most of the time it doesn't. at points i felt like i was watching tangled.

that also brings me to some of the dialogue. same issue. i am watching frozen. i am watching tangled. someone on the writer's team really likes the adorkable trope. bellara is its victim.

for all the talk about identity, bioware sure doesn't like theirs. the grey warden armor got a redesign again and it just makes them look like a generic army. i hate it lol

in general, i don't like the armor design. the wardrobe/appearances system is fine, but it's just not helping if all the armors are just... kinda bland or downight bad looking? and don't get me started on the lords of fortune armor. that is orientalism personified.

the world states should have been carried over, full stop. i know they said they didn't because they want to separate what happens in the north from what happens in the south, which... i could have lived with that. but the inquisitor sends you letters that keep you up to date on... the south of thedas. you learn that there's a blight again, that people are standing strong but it's difficult, denerim's fallen, the rulers are taking care of it, orlais is fighting and they're successful for a while, etc etc. what's good bioware. i thought we don't care about the south this time around. why are you feeding me so much boring generic information. if you're not gonna show any of it and just write letters, then carrying the world state over should not have been an issue. i have a game dev background. those few lines of code would not have broken your budget or pushed your engine's limits. fuck right off.

this gripe of mine carries over to all the cameos. as a lord of fortune you have to deal with isabela a lot. it's fun. i missed her. you get to go drinking with her and taash and bellara! also my hawke romanced her. she's not mentioned once. they had the opportunity to put a sentence or two about her in there with not a lot of effort, trust me.

when varric dies, all she has is a single line about it. for gold, for fortune, for varric. she only says it if you interact with her on your way to the final push. that's not mandatory.

morrigan is there. kieran isn't. the old god soul that mythal and then solas absorbed? who cares at this point, the gods are dead now and solas is locked away for eternity. i suppose? why is morrigan there. she feels unneeded. i wish they'd just left her down south, at least that way i wouldn't have had to witness her god awful redesign.

dorian at least feels as if he belongs in this story. the shadow dragons are a crucial part to protecting minrathous. he's also weirdly underutilised. isabela and morrigan had more lines than him in my playthrough.

on the topic of romance: bro that was underwhelming. no, genuinely. you know when romance picked up a bit? after the point of no return. i heard maybe two lines of companion banter about it before that. maybe i missed something which i honestly doubt, but romance did not play much of a role in lucanis's storyline. i saved his grandmother as he wished me to (and if you read tevinter nights you know she was rather abusive and their relationship not the healthiest) and told him to focus on his family. a reunified family my rook wasn't even introduced to as a partner at the end of all that.

really, do not buy this game if you're only in it for the romances. others might be better, lucanis's basically gave me nothing. except for an outing (the second coffee date i had with him, it was getting repetitive) all of it played out once i committed to the final quest. the sex scene was a fade to black. annoyingly right after davrin died. if you're looking for well paced and good spice, pick up something else. the sweet talk and the final goodbye were nice though.

for all the good the ever-presence of gender identity does, it is brought up in such a disruptive manner too. it doesn't even play out naturally if you CHOOSE the lines that are meant to be said. hearing the words trans and non-binary in this setting doesn't feel right, and i'm saying this as a trans guy. i think it could have been handled more gracefully. the amount of times my rook went "i'm a MAN" as if he's about to start drumming on his chest and roaring any second now got super nerve-grating. "i'm so glad you're into me... the me who is trans. remember?" just. tell me one trans person who'd talk like that to a person they've grown close with and are trying to romance. this game doesn't handle sexuality well, so all this hey my body might not look like the way you're expecting it to look talk amounts to nothing anyway. i feel about this the way i feel about krem: this is partial exposition to trans experiences... packaged up for cis consumption. the ONLY exception to that is interacting with taash. holy shit was all of that heartwarming and bro did it feel good and natural to talk to them about theirs and rook's gender.

rivain and nevarra are new locations added by veilguard. they're also incredibly underwhelming, small and constricted maps. rivain is a coastline with a few ruins. the hall of valor is a partial ruin nestled into a cave on a beach, with a fighting pit. isabela is there in her skimpy outfit commentating your pit fights. that's it. i'm sorry if you were looking for a bustling pirate cove or whatever. you're not gonna get it. the nevarran crypts btw are a long ass dungeon crawl. that's it.

speaking of maps. i thought people were being dramatic when they said you're gonna be fighting the same enemies on them again and again. i thought they were figure of speeching it. they're not. you WILL fight the same amount of enemies. in the same spot. every time you reload the map. best to stay on a map and clear out the enemies and do as much questing on that map as you can before leaving, because you WILL have to do it all over again once you return.

the three choices i made for my inquisitor didn't matter lol she didn't have to face solas and therefore couldn't stop him at any cost as she had sworn (maybe because my rook tricked solas into binding himself to the veil, there was also an option to fight him. would she have stepped in? who knows). blackwall wasn't mentioned. and either her using a small amount of her forces in the final fight was the reason the civilians of minrathous fared so well..... or it just didn't matter. ultimately i think she had very little impact on anything

[citizensun]

Queerness and the House of Usher (spoilers!)

See I just added these Thoughts to the tags in @quecksilvereyes 's post but now I have Feelings too

TFotHoU (or HoU, as I will refer to it here), as expected from a Mike Flannagan show, has a bunch of Queer Rep™ to talk about. HoU is, also, about remarkably evil people - amoral capitalists who'll step over anyone if it means they'll get something from it. And look! Some of them are queer! Kinky too!

That's bad queer representation... right?

The show isn't that clear when stablishing sexualities, but we see that at least three of the Usher kids - Napoleon, Camille and Victorine - have same sex SOs/assistants with curious job descriptions. Prospero's taste for orgies probably implies queerness too, but honestly I don't remember if he gets it going with any guys in the story. I honestly have no idea about Tamerlane's voyerism thingie and Frederick is the only one with a "traditional family" going on.

Unrelated, but: Leo is definitely cheating on his bf Julius. Completely dismissing about his worries for him too. And for his cat. That's objectively evil, clearly. Vic literally killed her fiancée Alessandra, though she didn't stuff her under the floorboard, which is an L when compared to Poe's original. Cam doesn't believe in true love. Perry blackmailed his sister in law. Mean. He's also got a surprisingly high kill count for the family's disappointment, but since unlike Roderick he only killed rich people, we stan. I don't belong in Kinky spaces so I haven't got a big take on Tammie, only that - well, she's completely dismissing of her husband and sees him as a prop, just like the sex worker she hires.

Huh.

See, the nature of a story called "the fall of X family" is that X family is going to be the main character. The title kinda implies that they're falling for a reason, ergo, they're despicable fucking people. And they're queer! They're very queer. Many flavors of gay. They're the main characters, and they're monsters, and they're gay.

No, that's not bad rep.

Queerness as a movement, a community and a theory is very focused on scaping a cisheteronormative society's binaries (ie man/woman, husband/wife, public/private) and creating living conditions to those who fall outside of these categories - mlms and wlws, the trans, the nbs, the aros and aces... we are all queer, strange and estranged from this weird and limited worldview. And so we create a community for ourselves. It's very focused on care and anti-stablishment. Since a cisheteronormative society tends to be very white, rich and western, it's also focuses on anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism. Y'all know that, this is Tumblr and we love leftist Discourse.

I also know many, many gay people irl who are not like that at all. Libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, terfs, completely apolitical people and the like. Sexuality at it's core is personal, not political, so there are gay people out there who are perfectly comfortable with their sexuality on an individual level but do not see the point of getting involved in the broader context. They're queer, but are they...?

Well—

Not to mention there's lots of asshole gays out there! Don't you have a shitty ex? Have you never been almost run over by a drunken butch who blew cigar smoke into your face? I have! Life experiences are just like that. Maybe you should touch more grass. You'll probably find a lucky gift from your neighbour's dog, who is an astrology-obsessed bisexual and also really hot but stopped making out with you at a party once she found out you're a pisces (the neighbour, not the dog).

(Granted, none of this is as bad as implanting an experimental heart contraption into the fiancée you just killed because she dared to have ethical principles and then being so consumed with grief you stab yourself in front you'd your dad but you know how it goes. We're not the 1%.)

My point is, queer people are people. We are complex. We fuck up, and sometimes there's still times to fix things and sometimes... there isn't. We're consumed by jealousy and regret and sometimes we're so locked into our own head we stop believing the rest of the world is real too. Just like any other people, because unfortunately, queerness isn't a sign of morality.

And even if queerness does mean community, kindness and acceptance, tell me... Where the hell would the Usher kids get those from? The people around them are not really peers – they're ass-istants, blowjob-giving apartments, orgy mates, heart surgery providers, hired fitness moneybags, perfect housewives. Even if the partners are all shown to care for the Ushers, there's still a distance, a power gap, that makes the relationships fundamentally wrong.

And the partners? Arguably they're the good queer rep in the show, but look – even when Julius and Alessandra are shown to be good people (or at least people with an ethical boundary), they're not the good gays, they're simply the good SO's to a family of psychos. Exactly like Bill and Morrie, who afawk are straight people.

Which leads us to HoU's parameter of morality - Auguste Dupin. He refuses to drink the Amontillado, symbol of all the Usher opulence over the years. He got screwed over by the Usher twins and by the Raven herself, but he refused to cave in (except for the informant part, admittedly). He's not a good gay guy; he is gay and he is a good man.

The fundamental difference between our show's main tragic yaoi couple isn't that Auggie is a happily out gay man (and therefore is good) while Roderick is a sad divorced hetero (and therefore is bad). Auggie is the richer man because he is a good man; he has a spouse and children and grandchildren he loves with all his heart. He has a family and a community and he has found a sort of happiness no money can buy. Roderick owns the world – but what does he really have? What do his children even have? How could they ever build communities for themselves if they were never in one? Their father made them compete for his love. He never nurtured their bonds, he just showered them with money and excess until it was too much for them to handle. Juno herself pointed out - they were never a family. The House of Usher was only that. A house. It is empty and soulless.

What is queerness without a community? How could the people who represent the relentless corporate normativity and cutthroat capitalism ever be good queer rep? How can they even be queer?

Hear me out: on the most individual, simple level, being queer is still about not fitting in. These kids are bastards. They are are PoC and women in a predominantly male and white dominated space. They're on top of the world, but they're still outsiders to their own House. How could they not be queer?

And yes, I know this discussion takes a different turn when it comes to representation in media, but it's not like Flannagan fell into a Hays Code-era flamboyant villain trope. Queerness is just there. Just like Victorine and August are both black people in (arguably) the opposite ends of the morality spectrum, there are queer characters of many kinds here. The story just happens to be about the fucked up ones.

HoU is a poignant critique of capitalism and a surprisingly funny adaptation of Poe. We'll judge it by that. It happens to be queer – more things should be.

[kairithemang0]

Putting out my silly sexuality and gender headcanons for these silly guys because I'm obsessing rn (can't wait to watch this show tonight with my dad)

Ella: ace sapphic

The Prince: bisexual (you can't tell me that man isn't insanely bisexual)

Tadius: ace pansexual (HE AND THE PRINCE ARE BI4PAN TRUST ME)

The Stepmother: Aromantic bisexual

Putrice: Bisexual nb

Rancilda: Straight

Fairy Queen: is above both gender and sexuality

Justine: Transfem lesbian <3

Lucy: Bisexual

The Narrator: Bisexual nb

Subject to change, these are just my thoughts right after watching it. I love this show <3

Obviously none of these are canon, they're just my thoughts. Didn't mean to make both of the Mariah characters trans but idk they give the vibessssss

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/753295388848553984/thinking-the-progressive-pride-flag-is-ugly-is#notes

Bruh, I'm sorry but that reasoning does not hold up to any scrutiny if you even give a lick of care to learn the actual bullshit that goes on in queer sphere.

"(poc+trans) they’re marginalized even within the community,"

I'm a bisexual woman. I've been explicitly and blatantly excluded from queer and LGBT+ events when it came out I was 100% bisexual. Even at times where I had a woman as a partner. I've had to deal with accusations of being a predator from the lesbian community when dating lesbians, or "invading" lesbian spaces. I've dealt with accusations of transphobia for using the label bisexual, rather than "more inclusive" labels. I've been told to shut up when talking about my experiences as a bisexual woman, especially if it was me criticizing the behavior from the rest of queer spaces.

I've had to deal with being excluded from queer community events, helplines, or other resources for queer people because I was bisexual. Do not get me started on the times I was with a man, or male presenting partner. I've had to deal with people demanding that bisexuals get dropped from queer spaces, and that we should "choose a side" and that bisexuality doesn't exist.

And you know what? I know that the exact same shit happens to aces. In a slightly different coat of paint, but it nonetheless the same level of vitriol and exclusion happens on a constant basis. There's a reason why there's such a deep solidarity between aces and bis "It’s a flag that was created to draw attention to intra-community issues,"

It's a flag that pretends to draw attention to intra-community issues, but in reality only shines light on a tiny part, and in reality doesn't even do that well. I don't even think most people flying that flag have any idea as to the alleged specifics of why these designs were made. I've seen people throw out incredibly subjective and/or vague assumptions and assertions as to why they exist, while they're clearing doing guesswork.

It's not your accusation that people believe that the "progress pride flag is separating trans people and POC and acting like they weren’t previously included" it's that it feels incredibly shallow and ignorant of queer history, and queer POC history and racism-even from within queer POC spaces-.

It's the problem that people think that flying that flag while doing absolute fuck all to change the problems in queer communities is enough, intra-community also doesn't work if the communities represented don't also actively weed out their own problems. Don't add me I know about the NB-phobia, and inter-trans transphobia, "If you want to pass you're a traitor", dumbshit like "no rice or spice" shit from poc users on (certain) queer dating sites... That shit is and was never exclusive to white people.

The rainbow flag as a battleground for these issues feels cheap, shallow, and childish because it was never created to exclude or target a specific sexuality. It was always a symbol of togetherness and fighting for our rights and right to live. Then some people decided that the flag that always represented the message "We're standing together" suddenly doesn't represent that message anymore, not because the flag doesn't stand for togetherness or the message has changed. No, it's because some idiots completely unrelated to the flag and it's meaning are being terrible people. No, just because someone is queer doesn't mean they get to poison the well for all other queer people and rot the meaning of a flag that always was for everyone, or their actions suddenly get to smear that the meaning of the flag from the get go included everyone, black, white, asian, brown, fucking translucent, and was always meant to show solidarity between all the sexualities. We're standing together as queers, but that doesn't mean individual queers can't be shits all on their own.

At this point we should just slap a triangle on all the pride flags, the flags themselves have absolutely nothing to do with it, but at least we can pretend like it does something, because a few dingbats can't behave and happen to be #that-sexuality/genderID. Let's add a bi and ace triangle to the gay, lesbian and trans-flag. Add an extra trans triangle to the trans-flag, maybe the NB and bi flag as well.

You can have your progress pride flag. You can have your feel good messaging if that's what it takes. But for the love of the rainbow, stop pretending the flag is anything but a shallow way to show-off that you at least know the surface level issues in the queer community.

--

[total-drama-atlas]

Character Headcanons

this is just sexuality and gender hcs lol but here we go! I'm going to go in first elimination order in their debut season, except for the new cast (because i haven't finished the season yet, so I dont want to spoil it for myself) which will be in the order that i remember them, then the hosts.

Ezekiel: I think he's cishet. just the homeschool stereotype and all that. but maybe he discovers something about himself between meeting alejandro and going completely feral

Eva: she's a butch lesbian. i personally think she's cis, but i could see transfem eva

Noah: gay trans man. i mean have you guys even seen his character

justin: I think he's aroace. again, i personally think justin is cis, but i could see him being trans

katie: trans lesbian. i just know it okay

tyler: he's bi. he absolutely had a crush on alejandro. you can't change my mind. i also think he's cis but again, i could see him being transmasc

izzy: shes transfem. of course. and i think she's a lesbian, but i could see her being bi or pan. assuming she's lesbian, her relationship with owen could either be just strategy or comphet. you decide

cody: have you seen the way that boy dresses? trans man bisexual disaster.

beth: personally, i think she gives cishet vibes, but i could see her possibly being bi and/or transfem.

sadie: obviously lesbian. she and katie are in love. of course. and idk if she's cis or trans. i could see either. but I think she is also trans. t4t

courtney: as much as i love duncney... i think courtney is lesbian. i think she has extreme comphet and she doesn't realize her sexuality until wt, and then doesn't come to terms with it and accept herself until all stars. but i think she's cis

harold: transfem harold is canon. to me. idk their sexuality tho. i could see them as omni or pan tho.

trent: bisexual trent is so real guys. again, i personally think he's cis, but I could see transmasc trent

bridgette: i could see her as transfem, but I also could see her as cis. also she gives me pan vibes but I can also see her being straight. idrk

lindsay: shes pan. i just know it okay. i personally see her as cis, but again, i could see transfem lindsay. or transmasc lindsay.

DJ: cis, aroace. he's just a really sweet guy

geoff: cis, bisexual. i just know it okay

leshawna: cis, bisexual. i just. i just know it okay

duncan: cis bisexual. he'll call you a slur tho

heather: transfem lesbian. trust me guys. i could also see her being ace tho

gwen: transfem bi. i just know

owen: cis bi. he is canonically bi btw. he had a crush on justin. it was played as a joke but. that's just what happened

blaineley: i could see her as straight or queer honestly. i personally think she's cishet.

sierra: transfem. for sure. and i think she's a lesbian with comphet. just like heather and courtney.

alejandro: I think he's cis, but i could see him being trans. also he's bi. trust me. but i mean i could see him being gay. it's plausible.

staci: she doesn't have enough screen time for me to tell. she has like. ten minutes total. but shes trans

dakota: transfem pansexual. i just know it okay

B: i think they're nb, or at the least a trans man. i mean. his deadname is a traditionally feminine name.. it lines up. they're not cis i can tell you that much. anyway i think he's aroace

dawn: genderqueer panromantic ace. just trust me okay

sam: he gives me cishet vibes, but also i could easily see him being bi or pan.

Brick: i feel like he's cis but I also like the idea of him experimenting with gender nonconformity. and as much as i like jo x brick as a ship, i also think brick is probably gay. or bi with a heavy male preference

anne maria: transfem anne maria is canon. to me. anyway she's very much bi.

mike: i feel like he's cis but i could see him as trans, and i think he's pan. i'm also treating his alters like separate characters, though i know very little about multiple personality disorder, so idk if that's exactly how that works (feel free to correct me in replies)

vito: i hc him to be cis but idk. also he's pan. if vito finds you hot, it doesn't matter what you've got going on.

Svetlana: transfem lesbian. trust me okay

chester: cishet ally.

mal: look i like the queer hcs for mal. y'all are so real for that. but i think he's cishet and homophobic and transphobic

manitoba: trans manitoba is real. to me. also he's pan. trust me y'all

jo: trans butch lesbian

scott: cis gay man

zoey: she could be either cis or trans. i think she's transfem. and also she's pan. i don't think an explanation is necessary

cameron: she was very sheltered, so i doubt she would have been exposed to LGBTQ+ stuff so she wouldn't know it at first.. but I think cam would be transfem. bc i saw a post where someone said that it would be funny if cameron realized she was trans because lightning kept calling her a "girl" and that was her awakening lol. anyway she's ace

lightning: cis gay man

beardo: he gets like ten minutes of screen time and he doesn't really talk.. cis bi

leonard: cis gay. i just know it

amy: cishet +homo/transphobic (i'll explain in a minute)

rodney: he's cis, okay. and pan. i just know it

sammy: shes transfem lesbian. trust me. That's why Amy hates her sm. it lines up with real experiences that I know people have

ella: she's bi. i just know it. but i'm not sure what their gender situation is.. but she uses she/they pronouns

Topher: cis gay man. just look at him i mean

dave: cishet. undecided on his opinion of queer people. (he decides he's an ally when he finds out sky is queer but he then declares himself homophobic when she rejects him) he would call you a slur

scarlett: transfem lesbian.

max: transmasc gay.

jasmine: transfem bi

sugar: cis lesbian

shawn: transmasc pan. i just know it okay

sky: transfem bi/pan. i just know it okay. also that's why dave decided he's homophobic and transphobic now

Tammy: trans lesbian. trust me okay

Pete: cis gay. also he's married to gerry

Gerry: cis gay. also he's married to pete

Ellody: trans lesbian. also she's dating mary

Mary: cis lesbian. also she's dating ellody

laurie: cis bisexual. also she's dating miles

miles: trans lesbian. also she's dating laurie

tom: cis gay

jen: cis lesbian

kelly: cishet ally

taylor: cishet homophobe

jay: major cishet vibes. but idk he might learn some things. once he's actually esposed to the outside world

mickey: see jay.

lorenzo: cishet. i didn't really care for the stepbros team so i haven't really put much though into it

chet: cishet. see lorenzo

rock: nonbinary bisexual. also he's dating spud

spud: trans gay man. also he's dating rock

dwayne: cishet homophobe

junior: he's like. 11. i'm not saying you can't have figured our your sexuality and gender at that age. but junior definitely hasnt

ennui: trans bi man. canonically dating crimson (and i'm keeping taht)

crimson: trans bi woman. canonically dating ennui (and Im keeping it taht way)

stephanie: cis bi woman. i just know it.

ryan: cishet ally

devin: cis bi man

carrie: cishet ally (she's a HUGE ally okay)

kitty: cis lesbian

emma: cis lesbian

josee: transfem lesbian

jacques: trans gay man

macarthur: trans butch lesbian. also she's dating sanders

sanders: cis lesbian. also she's dating macarthur

brody: cis pansexual. just trust me okay

axel: trans butch lesbian. also she's in love with nichelle

nichelle: cis femme lesbian. also she's in love with axel

emma: cis lesbian with extreme comphet

chase: cis bi man with lots of internalized homophobia. anyway he's in love with ripper

ripper: cis bi man. also he's in love with chase. (i don't like ripper or chase. they're perfect for each other tho)

wayne: cishet ally (he's canonically an ally!!)

raj: cis gay. also bowraj for life

bowie: cis gay. also bowraj for life

i need to make another block of text bc i reached the character limit lmao

scary girl/lauren: transfem lesbian. i just know it

zee: nonbinary pansexual. trust me

julia: cis lesbian. but she'll call you a slur. she's dating MK

damien: i think he's a cishet ally. but i could see him as bi

caleb: cis aroace. no i will not elaborate

millie: transfem lesbian

priya: cis lesbian

MK: nonbinary lesbian. they're dating julia

The host with the most, chris mclean: trans gay man. he'll call you a slur tho. he's married to chef

Chef Hatchet: cis gay man. he's married to chris

Don: cis gay man. he hates chris's guts.

that's every character. anyway next week it's going to be a tierlist of all the characters <3

[redheadbigshoes]

my attraction isnt a switch i control but just have turned off for men. like. i can see a butch i think is cute then find out they're a cis man and i just lose that attraction immediately?? i cant control that?? when i am attracted to another non-binary person (im a nb aro lesbian) and i find out they dont lay within my realm of attraction or are uncomfortable by it, i immediately lose attraction. again, i dont control this.

there's loads of jokes about butches and twinks having moments where they're like "hold on you're not a dude?" - "you're not a butch?" and going whoops and having a laugh because they dont swing that way.

idk i dont get the anon being like "what do you think lesbians are attracted to in women that we can’t be attracted to in men?" because as demonstrated, there might be things that overlap, sure, but that doesnt change anything about how attraction functions as a lesbian?? im into women and nonbinary people who align under the lesbian ROA, and anything else i cannot turn that switch on for.

if lesbians can just… "find something attractive in men" then i guess aros and aces can just "find people attractive" in general if that's how that works. if i had to turn on any switch it'd be the lesbian romantic attraction switch but i cant.

and i dont know why it works like that. truly. but why the HELL do we have people in our own damn community asking us to PROVE OURSELVES and our attraction - that we are not secretly into men - as a counter point to lesbophobia? a "nonanswer" as such could apply to so many sections of the community (ive had this used against the explanation of my nonbinaryhood) and this entire thing is so fucking homophobic i cannot even describe.

WE CANT KNOW EVERYTHING. what we do know is lesbian is a term that evolved to describe exclusive sapphic attraction, it includes trans women OF COURSE that is BASELINE. it includes nonbinary people who align with that attraction. it includes aromantics and asexuals. it doesnt include men and trying to devolve the meaning of the word for reasons that aren't even conclusive, and all come down to things like blatant transphobia & nbphobia, blanketed internalized and externalized biphobia as well as misogyny, lesbophobia, aphobia, is honestly just deranged.

i am TIRED

Not to mention finding someone attractive is not attraction. You’re just noticing someone’s beauty. Gays can find women attractive, straight men can find men attractive, straight women can find women attractive. But when it comes to lesbians we can’t recognize a man’s beauty without people doubting our sexuality and telling us we’re actually attracted to men.

Having the mindset that lesbians have to prove our sexuality is very similar to what cishets think of us. Cishets often think queers have to prove their sexuality, and when a queer person have this mindset it just seems they’re siding with cishets.

[neonstatic]

sex ed season four... not surprised the writers had no idea it was the last season. it's definitely the weakest season. i still remember how hooked in i was by s1 and s2, and i was in love w otis and eric's friendship and deeply related to both their personal struggles. and ofc i love all the characters too: maeve, aimee, ruby (ofc), adam (yes him too ofc!!), viv (underused underrated), jackson (ditto), isaac (literally my husband) and jean (milf).

i think the season lost me bc of its setting? why is cavendish some sort of lgbt haven school. it rly pulled me out, felt v utopic. i loved that there were new trans characters---and that they had a v untypical dynamic. roman is a gnc trans man and abbi is a trans girl, and i expected they would have as close to heteronormative sex as possible but nope! (i personally found roman v charming, he's my bb boy. but wtf does he have his gf's name tattooed so big non his chest jesus) i liked that there was a deaf character, aisha, who is queer and poly...but all 3 of them were so lacking in personality. they felt like checkmarks :/ i liked cal's introduction to the story in s3 but they too feel like a checkmark. i know that they're nb, dysphoric, quiet, and like to smoke. that is sooo little info. even o---whose character was butchered and made into a villain post-production according to yasmine benoit, her creator---has a lot more personality. and ykno what, yeah o was very unlikeable. she looked smug and two-faced. me personally? i like that and i found her cool. it's still sad tho that it wasn't the intention at all, and that it makes one of the few ace characters in media into a manipulative dick whose coming out scene didn't feel genuine.

still glad maeve and otis broke up i rly couldn't stand them together anymore teehee no more push and pull, no more on-off!

eric meeting god was corny ok. wtv happened to realism. rly had to suspend my disbelief w this one. (lowkey also when the pastor went to the school ball. it feels too good to be true idk.) but it's fitting htat he wants to be a pastor. ruby should become a pr manager srsly. and she should date me. jackson and cal should get back together also. or not. i don't believe in hs sweethearts. (says the one who was classmates w elementary school sweethearts)

joanna was such an annoying character im sorry. why would you do that. and who tf is dan i dont remember him

anyway yeah you can tell it shouldn't have been the last season. i was happy to get a finale cus so many shows go on forever but yeah that wasn't a proper ending. oh well!

[sodascribbles]

hello would people like sly cooper gender and sexuality headcanons bc i have figured out the truth and as we all know the truth is lava-proof /ref

slyfox is t4t sly and carmelita told me themselves /j

sly (he/him + neos) is transmasc and bisexual (hes just like me fr) though personally i also think he's grayromantic possibly demi. he doesnt think abt it too hard tho! trades neos w bentley like pokemon cards

carmelita (she/her) is transfem btw also. bisexual queen we love to see it.

murray (he/him) is like the only cis one of the cooper gang but hes also like canonically gay (bi at the very least) hes a gay man ok

hot take but. trans girl bentley (she/they + neos). also under the aro umbrella i think and i think shes ace. penelope and them are qpps. them and sly trade neopronouns around like pokemon cards

penelope (they/she) is also transfem actually. demigirl <3 theyre aroace her and bentley are qpps still. they had a whole sexuality crisis over sly but NOPE it was the aesthetic attraction come to kick them in the ass

HOT TAKE. dimitri (he/it) is a trans man. hes gay i think. possibly aro and homosexual but is not opposed to being in a relationship.

tbf im aro so maybe im just projecting onto these guys but who's to say. :3

nb panda king (they/he but rlly doesnt care) for the win im an agender panda king truther. does not mind any gendered terms or pronouns. doesnt label their sexuality but does have a wife (er. used to have a wife)

also nb guru (any) but in the other direction. hot take pangender guru. tends to use masculine terms for herself but switches it up every once in a while. i think they're also aroace but again IM aroace so maybe im just projecting. either all or nothing w it i think either pan or aroace /hj but hes probably the one ive thought the least abt

and a bonus round of just me speedrunning other chars and not explaining

raleigh is transmasc and transphobic and also gay and homophobic

muggshot is a closeted gay w a lot of internalized homophobia

i think mz ruby is a lesbian

youve heard my opinion on panda king

clockwerk stopped thinking about it after version 2 i dont think they care

youve heard my opinion on dimitri

rajan. cishet i think. probably not intolerant but not an ally just indifferent yknow

contessa. aroace i think. married her husband for money and money alone. cis i think?????? but i could also see her as transfem

jean bison is a homophobe and i just think that's canon

we dont see enough of arpeggio for me to get a good read on him but based on like the way he talks alone i think hes cis and gay but i can also see him as transmasc whoops

neyla i think just doesnt care. aroace and agender made one choice and it was No but is not above flirting/whatever to get what she wants

octavio is either gay or homophobic w no inbetween

also fun fact i think bentley figures herself out as trans tm between sly 2 and 3

anyway what's the 2nd villain

Oh

the mask of dark earth is. end sentence

ok uhhh 3 is the black baron that's just Penelope boymoding /hj

TSAO

homophobic a transphobe AND a misogynist

dont ask how much trouble i had spelling misogynist

id call him a terf but hes not a feminist of ANY kind thank you

lefwee is a pirate and that's pretty gay in general. pansexual. the most accepting villain of the bunch /hj again

dr m is again either homophobic or gay w no inbetween. probably a transphobe tho

using that tag a lot

update apparently the species of bird that he is only the females are red w black beaks so hes also trans heart emoji

"cooper?? no you must be the coopers daughter!" "yyyyyyyyyeah about that" <- real conversation between him and sly /j

you get exactly 5 comments on 4 bc i know exactly 5 new characters

el jefe is a homophobe i think

rioichi is cishet but an ally

toothpick is gay sorry not sorry

tennessee is a trans man and i will die on this hill

le paradox. is a terf i think. ive met him exactly once and know little to nothing about him but just based on Vibes

[elegantmadness]

Marvel + Assassin's Creed RP Search

Hi there! As the title indicates I'm currently on the hunt for new RP partners for the above two fandoms c:

Basic Info:

I'm (old af) 34 now, so I'm only looking to write with partners 18+. This is non-negotiable.

I default to third person present tense. I'm more than happy to switch to past tense if that's your preference, but I won't write in first or second person for RP purposes. In the same vein, I can't write with a partner who uses first or second person. Sorry guys!

Expect there to be some NSFW content; I don't fade to black. That said, I'm happy with smut-focused threads or plot-focused ones with NSFW as more of a side feature. Please let me know your limits so I don't step on any toes! Also expect at least some mention/discussion of kinks.

I'll write on discord, through gdocs, or over email (in order of preference). Please do not ask me to join your server/group RP or to RP here on tumblr. Please also note I will not use tupperbox for discord.

My post length ranges upwards of 5-7 paragraphs per character to novella (multiple discord limits). I'd like my partner to be comfortable writing at least 5-7+ paragraphs as well.

I can generally give you a response several times a week; if they're not every other day, then you'll get at least 2-3 posts from me per week. Ideally, I'd like a partner who can offer something similar (at least 2 posts per week). I am absolutely not a rapid-fire RPer or a daily replier!

I'm more than happy to write pairings of all dynamics (m/f, f//, m//, including trans, nb, and otherwise gnc characters).

I will not exclusively write tops for your bottoms, men for your women, or canon characters for your original characters. I am, however, happy to double/triple/write casts/write poly so we can each write what we like.

You'll find all my fandom info as well as contact info outside of tumblr under the cut!

Fandoms:

Here I'll give you a little more information about the fandoms I'd be interested in writing! If anything's unclear or you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!

Assassin's Creed

Specifically, I'm wanting to write an f!OC (or maybe an f!Eivor??) opposite Basim (preferably in Mirage and beyond its plot, perhaps leading into Valhalla?). I'm not super interested in doubling as anyone from Mirage, though I'm open to other possibilities?

I'm familiar with the first Assassin's Creed, the Ezio trilogy, Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla, so conceivably any canons from those would be fair game? If pressed, I'd say I'd be most interested in writing a canon from Odyssey, Valhalla, or og AC. I'm also down for a canon/canon pair on your end if that's more your pref!

Marvel

Hoh man. I've been on a Marvel binge recently, catching up on all the marvel tv I haven't been keeping up with and so my Big Two are X-Men '97 and the Loki series. Please note I have no familiarity with the actual marvel comics! I have seen most of the MCU and marvel tv tho.

(I think at this point the only things I haven't watched are Secret Invasion, the I Am Groot series, Werewolf By Night, Black Panther Wakanda Forever, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Thor Love and Thunder).

I would like to write an f!OC opposite an MCU Loki (whether or not you've seen the Loki series!).

I'd also like the chance to write an f!OC in a poly situation in the X-men '97/animated series universe (specifically, my self-indulgent Gambit/OC/Magneto/Rogue poly sorry not sorry). That said, if poly isn't your thing I'd also be down just to write my f!OC opposite Magneto or Gambit! I'll happily double here (I recently rewatched the entire animated series so I'm pretty familiar with it now).

It's also totally okay to ask for specs on how the poly would work, just fyi!

I will say off the bat I have no real interest in writing Steve Rogers or Dr. Strange. This list fluctuates and changes, so please bring me multiple options; the same goes for canon/canon pairs!

You're more than welcome to send me a DM here on tumblr, tho it's also okay to jump onto discord and add me on there (my username is Resoan).

I hope to hear from some of you soon!

[paranormal-potatoes]

17 + 18 oc asks? :)

17. Do you share identity with any of your ocs? Which ones?

yup! some of them were created before i realized it though lol hmm lets see, off the top of my head:

John Gray, my fairytale detective from Dark Parables. gay trans man. although i don't identify as gay per se, its more *vaguely gestures questioningly* idk, i stick with queer personally. created before i realized i was trans lmao

Michael. look, they're basically an oc at this point okay. bi trans masc nb. they/he. i projected my issues with pregnancy on them so hard he launched their gender at me.

Teagan, my beloved bloodborne hunter/elden ring tarnished <3. also a trans masc leaning nb but is very much Not a man. they call themself aroace but are closer to demiromantic/demisexual. while i AM ace (and maybe aro??? idk???) we have different flavors of asexuality

18. Do you prefer to give your ocs specific labels, or keep it unspecified? Why? If applicable, do you change their labels depending on circumstance?

tbh it depends! sometimes i start writing them with a specific identity in mind and then they go "hmmm not quite right" like with Teagan! they're actually a variation on an lotr oc that rapidly took on a life of their own. lotr!Teagan (aka my undead babe ily) was initially a cishet woman but Bloodborne!Teagan rapidly decided "uh no. fuck gender and fuck that", and thus they became an nb aroace. then i started watching someone's elden ring playthrough and soon after seeing the radahn fight, teagan went "I Want Him."

usually my ocs are some flavor of queer though, even if they didn't start out that way. i don't often consciously decide to change their identity. actually i can't think of any i have? hm idk

thanks for the ask!!

[venisonhare]

MAJOR COS SPOILERS: for my players at least for the ones on tumblr, I have faith you wont look at this one. Just this once I beg and trust

For some context, because I and all of my players are queer/trans I made this friendly for an all lgbt group, including switching some things around for them to have more fun in barovia. I also switched who tatyana was in love with bc I feel like the main cos story has been heard and known for eons and as a dm, I wanted to have fun with a story I played through and was already well versed in. Strahd is still the main antagonist since without a soul, all he has left are fleeing memories and the obsessive thought of who his lover once was. He cannot let things go and will 100% make it everyone else's problem

-strahd: "I am the ancient I am the land" that sounds nb as fuck to me. Strahd, till an absolute sleezy bastard goes by any pronouns and if not made obvious by who he keeps around for company, also a bisexual king. After taking the vampyr deal, he is unable to love fully, however, so he does view all his spouses/loved ones like treasured objects. Even though his consorts are treasured to him, his obsession with finding tatyana is stronger.

-rahadin: I feel like he's on the aro/ace spectrum because of how he views romance. It's not that he can't date but because of his absolute loyalty boner for strahd, there is no need or interest for anyone else. Also bros like an amoeba so he's perfectly fine if that's how things are. After the fall of the dusk elf kingdom, he accidentally proposes to strahd by kneeling down, offering him the crown of the king so strahd thinks they're married.

-Tatyana: Demigirl in the sense that she's a woman sure but like she's also her own individual person outside of the social standard. If she was called by any other pronouns she wouldn't mind

-ludmilla: she's demiromantic and understands that what she has with strahd can never be romantic. She's platonically involved with rhadin as they're the oldest members of castle ravenloft and is married to anastrasya.

-anastrasya: married Ludmilla before being with strahd for the immortality perks so she could be with her wife. Will only date non-men and supposed being situationally involved with strahd wasn't so bad since he's an entity, not a man.

-volenta: she and strahd are together out of entertainment and I feel like she will romantically involve herself with anyone regardless of gender as long as they can be chaotic with her.

-Escher: god I love barovias favorite twink so much. Married to strahd and is trying to court ludmilla. She finds him endearing and wishes to reciprocate but as the newest vampire, she wants to wait until he gets a hold of things. Was also with doru and ismark for a short time before being turned

-Ismark: was in a relationship with escher before he was turned. During the insurrection at castle ravenloft, the title of "lesser" was given to him in my game because he was the only person to come back from castle ravenloft unharmed/alive. During that incident, escher was severely injured so ismark made a deal with strahd to turn him/keep him as a consort. He now owes strahd a favor for keeping his lover alive and hasn't seen escher since. He has no clue if strahd held his end of the deal or not and drinks himself out of his lesser title and the uncertain end of his lover. Escher unaware of the deal refuses to visit ismark for his own safety

-ireena: demiromantic (aro/ace spec) I swear she's literally a ragdoll in the campaign I need my players to get her out of there. Engaged to victor, stalked by izek and strahd, will be almost sacrificed by the abbot when my players get to krezk. She literally wants nothing else but someone shes interested in for once and 10 seconds to be left tf alone.

-doru: was romantically involved with escher before the death march incident. Was turned into nothing but a mere spawn by strahd but father donovich managed to collect him and well the whole basement situation happened. My players managed to free him and now he's safe traveling with arrigal

-arrigal: 0 gender 0 labels. He's literally living his best life free from care of anything "trivial" like a label on who or what he is. Working for strahd, he drops hints about wanting arrigal to serve him as a consort but that would take his ability to leave the mist. Valuing his freedom above all else, arrigal pretends to not notice and this will become a subplot issue for my players later on.

-Victor: gay man. Turned stella wachter into a cat girl because he tried to turn her into "something he would like" without specifying anything and the tome tried to be funny. Literally in forced engagement limbo to women which he has 0 interest in

-abbot: the champion of lethander needs no gender. He may not be all there mentally, but I gave him the ability to transform a physical being into something that matches their soul. Free sex change by the abbot /hj

In honor of pride month I want to hear about how queer you made Barovia please and thank you.

For my game:

Strahd is a bisexual king right out of the book, which is awesome.

Rahadin is asexual, but not in like, an ace kind of way. Like in a single-celled organism kind of way.

Ireena is aroace! A decision partly inspired by a certain pool of water (iykyk), and also because she’s a little bit my self-insert. A PC hit on her in like session four and was immediately told, “Do not ever speak to me that way again.” She’s iconic and I adore her.

IZMARK. IZ. GAY. And madly in love with the druid. Unfortunately Izmark does not know he is gay. He believes it is very normal to lovingly stare into your homie's eyes and look down at his lips and imagine what it would be like to kiss him. And it is very normal to comment on how attractive your homie is, cause that's just what bros do.

Vollenta is a beautiful lesbian who refuses to let the fact that she is married to Strahd change the fact that she is a lesbian and nobody will tell her or her pile of bodies otherwise.

Ludmilla is on the ace spectrum. I mean, come on. She's with the guy for power and grant money. She says she loves him, and they're definitely intimate, but she's the kind of girly to take notes before during and after, you know?

Escher. What even needs to be said about Escher. He's Ravenloft's resident twink and proud of it. He's a little lonely and can't stop thinking about the boy he was in love with when he was young, who is now old and grizzled from age, while Escher himself remains the same age he was when he betrayed his lover and chose Strahd instead, but like... he's also pretty and immortal, so who cares?

(Escher Bonus Content: Two moms! They loved him very much and were upsettingly supportive of his decision to become Strahd's newest consort)

Anastrasya: idk she's dead pre-campaign in mine so if you came here looking for commentary on her you will not get it.

Ezmerelda is a trans lesbian! She's gorgeous and I adore her. She's just so confident that she can kill Strahd on her own and I think she's right for that. I knew I wanted her to be a love interest for one of my PCs, and it just so happens that the player in question has a type.

Danika is also bi, and she's very happily married to her wonderful little husband. This hasn't come up in the campaign at all it's just something I know to be true in my heart.

The Abbot: Gender! Fluid! Call them whatever you want. He/him when you want to play on ideas of masculinity in religious circles, they/them when you want to make them seem undefinable, she/her when you want your PCs to reflect on how much mom trauma they all have :)

Sergei is straight but that man loves the queer community so much and he deserves an honorable mention.

Arrigal is gay and very pissed that the party keeps knocking on his wagon door at 3am. His ex-husband/current boyfriend has been coerced into co-parenting a child with the cleric.

There's definitely others but these are my versions of the little guys. I am so interested to hear other people's takes on them.

[lilacs-stash]

Tlm identity headcanons + some ships

Okay so before we get started I just wanna say that these aren't necessarily canon to my nextgen "LCV" nor will some make sense, this is just what I believe deep down.

Emmet's a biromantic (with a preference for girls), gray-asexual, polyamorous GNC cis man (he/they). They're in poly marriage with Rex and Wyldstyle!

He knew he was gray-ace for a pretty long time, but had no clue he was also bi and poly till Rex (quite literally) crashed into his and Lucy's life. Ems uses masc, fem, and neutral terms Interchangeable, so you'll often hear Rex and Lucy refer to them as their wife or spouse.

Rex's a polyamorous, demi-bisexual, GNC Trans man (he/they/xe). Xe's in poly marriage with Wyldstyle and Emmet!

I don't know why I HC Emmet as cis but Rex as trans but I do. Their just trans okay man??? Like his husband, Rex had no clue he was bi until he met them. Unlike his husband, it took him a while to realize and except that. Rex only uses masc terms. The Xe/xem pronouns are only to be use by xir family and very close friends.

Wyldstyle's a bisexual polyamorous demi-girl (she/fae/they). Fae's in a poly marriage with Emmet and Rex!

Okay I'll be honest, this HC is just me protecting (minus they poly part, I don't think I'm poly). Lucy had herself all figured out before the first movie even happened. Fae mostly uses she/fae, but loves when people use they/them too.

Unikitty's Asexual, panromanitc, and Gender Queer (she/they/sprinkle). Sprinkle's a single Pringle!

I go back and forth between this HC, her being aroace, and a lesbian. But this is my favorite right now.

Sweet Mayhem's bisexual (with a preference for girls), polyamorous, trans fem, and bigender (she/star/they). Star's dating Rose(OC) and Benny!

Feel like I'm the only one who headcanons her as bi and not a lesbian. They're both NB and a girl btw.

Benny's a pansexual, polyamorous, cis man (he/him). He's Dating Mayhem, Lenny, and queer platonic partners with Rose(OC)!

Pan Benny > gay Benny

Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi is omnisexual and gender fluid (all pronouns). She's married to Batman!

Queen's gender is as fluid as their body. He's known that since he was born. I might change them to pan idk.

Batman's a Heteroflexible cis man (he/him). He's married to Queen!

I don't see Batman as bi but he definitely isn't fully straight. He likes girls but still thinks Queen's hot even if they aren't a gal that day. Also I just don't ship him with joker lol.

Badcop is aromantic asexual and agender (he/it). It's single!

Triple A BC my beloved. I actually do have some ships for him, but those are for random side AUs and nothing actually important lol. Might end up making it in a QPR with Larry the barista idk. BC just doesn't have time for romance, he's to busy dealing with Rex's bs.

Vitruvius is an aromantic cis man (he/him). He's single!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Vitruvius is our aro grandpa.

---------------------------------

So those are my gay legos! I'd add more but Tumblr won't let me :(

These HCs may change in the future.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/730572795212398592/what-is-up-with-all-the-trans-men-on-this-hellsite?source=share

As a trans man, I might have some insight into this one. I'm a lot older than the standard uwu sparkle anti, but I was in my mid twenties for the first wave of weirdness about trans boys on Tumblr about a decade ago, so I was just too old for it then, and I saw a lot of guys my age and a little younger get swept up in it.

OTNF rightly points out that young trans men are a particularily vulnerable demographic. This is part of it, but we're also a demographic that doesn't sit comfortably with our identites (gender identities or otherwise) and are told by everyone (on every side) that we are Doing It Wrong, that our existence harms others, and that we must be this specific way to be good people.

I'm sure you've seen the "trans men are better than real cis men" rhetoric. It's meant to be inclusive and to reassure us that we're not bad people just because of our gender, but it also denies us our entire gender identity.

So basically, you've got a bunch of young guys, most of whom were socialised like girls and learned to never be too assertive, many of whom are straight up suffering from dysphoria and stress, being told by people both within and outside of their communities that the are Wrong and Bad and Harmful just for existing. It makes sense that a lot of them would would find a movement based on moral posturing that will accept them if they perform correctly and will use their real name and pronouns. That's what Antis are; they say "use this vocabulary, send hate mail to that person, put these terms in your DNI, don't be caught reading that story", and, unlike other groups that police people's tastes and performance that hard, they're not overtly hostile to trans identities. So you can spout the right rhetoric, use the right tumblr icon, and they will actually accept you (on the surface, for a time, but we're talking about young and desperate people who aren't looking at the long game).

Helping them harass those badwrong horrible NOTP shippers or aces or middle aged women or some random artist who got caught drawing the wrong age gap or whoever is the fashionable target will prove that you aren't a horrible monster for being a man, you're moral and upright and correct.

And yes a lot of it is internalised misandry (that word has a lot of dumb baggage, but how else can I describe a boy who hates himself for being a boy?), or self-loathing born of dysphoria and just plain having to live in a world that's hostile to trans people.

Being an anti is a way out. It's a way to manufacture acceptence. And they're too young and too hurt to realise that that acceptance is as temporary and hostile as the people who accept them only if they pretend to be girls; the antis will turn on them the moment they start acting a little too manly or if they're caught liking the wrong ship.

(I've seen something similar happen to young cis queer guys and trans girls, too, but it isn't as pronounced since being raised as a boy means you probably already learned that standing up for yourself is ok sometimes)

--

I'm sure it also doesn't help that tumblr is absolutely full of BL/slash fandom. There's certainly plenty of gender diversity in these spaces, but it's inescapable that the majority of participants are women. So for a young, insecure guy trying to assert that he is a guy, it's easy to fall prey to "Waaaah, I need to reclaim my hobby for me!" gatekeepy nonsense.

Sure, it's going to be turned on nbs even harder than on cis women and will be used to misgender other trans men in the end and misogyny isn't cool anyway, but that's not what your average traumatized young fool is thinking when they first join up. They're thinking "I hurt."

TBH, though, probably the largest component is that all of us—all of us—have a mental image of a default human for a given context. It's rarely a trans man. And so anything a trans man does stands out and is A Thing Trans Men Do.

This is true even if you are trans. It is true even if you are not a transphobic dickhead. Unlearning the 'why girls are bad at math' xkcd strip is extraordinarily hard because recognizing patterns and having mental defaults is just how human brains work.

There are shittons of cis women who become antis, but they're just not notable in the same way.

Are trans men more vulnerable to becoming antis? It's possible, and the reasons you outlined above are likely why. I think it's an interesting question to discuss if we are specifically discussing why the trans men who do become antis do so.

But we don't actually have any hard facts to support that they are more prone to it than anybody else. My guess would be that vulnerable people are more likely to become antis, so any cis woman with a strong source of vulnerability like a shittastic home life is similarly vulnerable to a young trans man with no support network, but who knows.

Maybe only 5% of trans men on tumblr are antis and 50% of cis women. Maybe it's 90% of trans men and 20% of cis women. Maybe it's 1% and 1% and they're just all very loud.

We have no data. We just don't know.

And we will never be able to trust our own brains on this until trans vs. cis is such a nonissue that we don't even notice it.

[personwithausername]

Haikyuu!!! Character Headcanons (LGBT Edition)

Okay I've been meaning to do this for ages so here we go woo !!

Also before we start I'd like to say I'm probably biased bc of my ships and also projecting lmfao

Sorry if you think I'm pushing identities onto characters too !! they're just hcs and it's entirely possible i went too far lmfao

I hope I haven't stolen other people's headcanons though so if I did I'm sorry

Also sorry for all the stuff in brackets lmfao

Schools: Karasuno, Nekoma, Aoba Johsai (Seijoh), Fukurodani, Inarizaki

KARASUNO:

Hinata Shouyou - pansexual (I think he'd just date who he wants to date tbh) also maybe trans, he/him pronouns

Kageyama Tobio - gay and demiromantic (he probably never thought about romance bc he never felt attracted to anyone that way but then he forms an emotional bond with someone and woo), he/him

Tsukishima Kei - gay and demisexual (I feel like he'd think he's ace but then he'd realize that he's demi ??), he/him

Yamaguchi Tadashi - bisexual (he gives such bisexual energy I don't think anyone disagrees) also he/they pronouns

Yachi Hitoka - raging lesbian and also probably demigirl, she/they pronouns

Nishinoya Yuu - definition of bisexual disaster lbr, also probably aceflux and a demiboy (but he'd use he/him pronouns i feel ??)

Tanaka Ryuunosuke - token straight. need i say more (he/him)

Ennoshita Chikara - i feel like he wouldn't label himself, like he just likes who he likes,,, either that or he's gay so i'm not quite sure, he/him

Kinoshita Hisashi - polysexual (maybe also polyamourous ??) and nonbinary, they/them pronouns

Narita Kazuhito - other token straight, he/him

Azumane Asahi - i'm sorry i get bi arospec acespec vibes from him, he/him

Sugawara Koushi - definitely gay (ik people usually say bi but idk i get this vibe from him) also trans he/they but they still wear skirts and shit because fuck you that's why (his makeup is always on point and they teach kageyama to do eyeliner)

Sawamura Daichi - i doubt he'd label himself, he probably knows he likes more than one gender but i doubt he really cares for labels, he/him

Kiyoko Shimizu - bi but she prefers girls i think ?? also trans with gorgeous long legs, she/her

{I added coaches for Karasuno but I probably won't for the other schools </3}

Keishin Ukai - omnisexual probably, he/him

Ittetsu Takeda - gayest man alive have you seen him, he/him

NEKOMA:

Kuroo Tetsurou - gay (ik a lot of people hc him as bi but idk giving very homosexual energy imo), he/him

Kenma Kozume - gay and bigender, he/she/they pronouns and their eyeliner is always on point, hasn't believed in gendered clothing since he was 4

Yaku Morisuke - honestly pansexual vibes, trans he/they

Kai Nobuyuki - bi but prefers girls, he/him

Yamamoto Taketora - token straight (shoulda seen this coming w tanaka also being token straight)

Fukunaga Shouhei - ceterosexual (attracted to nb folks) also nb themself, they/xe pronouns

Inuoka Sou - panromantic and asexual, he/him

Teshiro Tamahiko - straight (but not token), nb they/he

Haiba Lev - bisexual disaster, he/him

Shibayama Yuuki - gay have you seen this fellow, he/she pronouns

AOBA JOHSAI:

Oikawa Tooru - bisexual (i promise i'm not trying to go with the flirty bi boy stereotype okay), nonbinary they/he/she pronouns but they prefer they and he

Iwaizumi Hajime - gay asf but he looks very straight, he/him

Matsukawa Issei - bisexual and greyromantic, genderfluid he/xe (also maybe polyamourous)

Hanamaki Takahiro - gay arospec ace he/they

Yahaba Shigeru - asexual and panromantic, he/him

Watari Shinji - aromantic and asexual, he/him

Kindaichi Yuutarou - unlabeled i feel, he/him

Kunimi Akira - omni ace he/they and absolutely unbothered

Kyoutani Kentarou - gay. transmasc they/he pronouns also

FUKURODANI:

Bokuto Koutarou - pansexual !!! but really, like hinata i think he'd just like who he likes (ahem akaashi) he/him

Akaashi Keiji - gay tbh i can't see him liking women, he/they or they/he depending on how they're feeling

Onaga Wataru - straight he/him woo

Komi Haruki - romance favourable aroflux (or maybe i'm just projecting) unlabeled when it comes to what gender he likes, he/him

Sarukui Yamato - omni he/xe vibes tbh

Washio Tatsuki - hetero asexual he/him

INARIZAKI:

Kita Shinsuke - doesn't really label his romantic orientation but he is ace so !! woo ( i just don't personally see him as someone who'd be interested in sex) trans he/him

Oomimi Ren - aromantic heterosexual what a Chad, he/him

Ojiro Aran - bisexual he/him

Ginjima Hitoshi - polysexual nb, they/them

Kosaku Yuuto - cishet he/him token straight woo

Riseki Heisuke - disaster pansexual, demiboy he/they

Akagi Michinari - hetero ace, they/he

Miya Osamu - gay disaster, he/him

Miya Atsumu - bi disaster, also he/him (the twins probably had their gay awakenings around the same time)

Suna Rintarou - pansexual (and maybe acespec ???) transmasc he/they (difficult to argue against imo)

and that's it for now !! i'll maybe do a part 2 if i'm feeling up to it later (that'll probably include shiratorizawa, dateko, itachiyama and johzenji - maybe nohebi)

hope this is alright !!

drink water <3

[akira-med]

New pinned lol

Hi, you can call me Akira. I'm an adult transexual man, and this is my stupid little discourse blog where I complain about stuff.

Basic stances, DNI, tags I use and more info about me below.

Basic stances 💫

· Transmedical, obviously

· Asexual and aromantic exclusive

· Anti MOGAI, anti xenogenders

· Anti neopronouns

· NB neutral

· Battleaxe Bi

· The whole acronym is LGBT

· Proship, anti anti, profic, anti harassment, whatever kids call it these days

· Against radical anythings (radfems, radmeds, radcutes, etc.)

· Pro choice, supporter of women's rights to bodily autonomy

· Communism sucks, you're just stupid

· Terfs can slobber on my huge knob for all I care since they're so obsessed with me lmfao

DNI 💫

I don't have one lol interact with me you nasty pieces of shit idc

More about me 💫

· I go by Akira here, just because my blog is Persona 5 themed and I'd rather stay anonymous. I'm not a kinnie or delusional or anything like that.

· I don't publicly post my age online, because I highly value my privacy. I am an adult however, so if that bothers you, feel free to block me. I literally don't take any offense to it.

· Been in the tumblr discourse circle for 3 or 4-ish years now. I used to run the blog transmed-joker. Before anyone says "wow, I can't believe you've wasted that much of your life on pointless internet discourse", this is more of a passive thing for me. I check in every once in a while when I have nothing better to do. It's like reality tv for me.

· Diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia and gender dysphoria, if any of that matters to you. The only reason I don't call myself transsexual is because I haven't begun my medical transition yet, but I do plan to use the term when I start.

· So Fucking Bisexual It Hurts

· If something isn't on my stances list, just ask about it! I don't take offense to it at all. Anger is caused by fear, which is caused by the confusion of the unknown. By asking questions, you avoid anger, fear and confusion.

· I'm not that into Persona anymore, so don't be surprised if I change my icon to something non-persona. I will always keep my username though.

Tags I use 💫

All of my tags are prefaced with a forward slash / and are mostly for sorting and organization. Here's a list of the most prominent ones.

· /lesbian, /gay, /bisexual, /trans

Self explanatory.

· /asexual, /exclus

Posts about ace and aro exclusion.

· /pansexual

Posts about pansexual or other mspec identities and why they are transphobic/biphobic and generally harmful.

· /politics, /communism, /fascism

Your general political tags.

· /transmedical

Posts about the medicalization of transgenderism and transsexualism and why you need gender dysphoria to be trans.

· /q slur

Not for trigger tags. Posts about the q slur, why it is a slur, and why you should respect people who wish not to be called it.

· /curtain call

Personal tag for original posts.

Trigger tags 💫

I'm not one to tag triggers as I usually forget/don't care. However, I will trigger tag the following if they appear in a post.

· q slur, f slur, d slur, t slur

· violence

· nsft (i dont plan on posting anything very sexually explicit, however because of the nature of sexuality and gender, there may be phrasing and discussion that minors may not want to view.)

All of these will not be prefaced with a forward slash / in order to apply to user's filtered tags appropriately.

If you have a general trigger that appears frequently in posts I reblog, and you wish to have it added to the list, send in an ask and I'll consider it.

[yourbookcouldbegayer]

Hi!

I'm writing a medieval fantasy story with a cast full of LGBT+ characters and I have absolutely no idea of how to actually show/say they're LGBT+ (especially for the ace characters (as an ace myself, I don't really like writing about sex) and trans characters) because I can't use the labels. Do you have some suggestions ?

Thank you very much !

(Sorry for my english, it isn't my native language)

We had a bit of a discussion about this, since it covers different identities.

One way to show their identities without stating the label is to take the definition and work it into the story. Sometimes this might be explicitly stated, referenced in narration, or shown through experience. One way I showed a character as a lesbian was she described female characters more detailed and in a more attracted-to way (For example, she notes that a particular pair of earrings “seem to remind the eye that there was a neck there” while descriptions of men would be more distant, more objective).

Figuring out ways the character themself might describe their identity is another way to think about it. Even though I personally don’t think of my attraction to women as anything to do with men’s, a medieval person might have no other way to describe it. I have a bigender character who practices magic and describes themself as having both masculine and feminine energies, and they view it from a perspective of gendered energies since that’s a concept common in witchcraft.

Contrast can help too. One of my bi characters says that boys and girls are “on equal ground,” but references a gay character by saying he was different. And by having contrasting characters, characters can make comparisons. With a hypersexual person meeting an ace character, there may be an opportunity for surprise or confusion from the ace character as to encountering someone who does experience attraction.

Thinking on trans characters, especially binary trans characters, it can be difficult/require different things depending on where they are transition-wise. Especially in medieval times. There’s definitely instances of someone who "lived as a man/woman," but there's also those who never presented as their true gender. Especially if the character isn't the narrator. Look at actual historic examples of how they were referred to, but you have the opportunity of entering their heads a bit more.

Also, look at what other authors have done. The books The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Vitrue and The Ladies’ Guide to petticoats and Piracy are both books taking place in a time before these terms but has very explicit bi, ace, and gay rep, and I believe there may be some trans rep in it as well (in Ladies’ guide if it is, don’t quite remember.

This post by @nbwriting​ talks about showing nb representation and may also be helpful.

Good luck!

-Mod Emma