#cousins are a social construct anyway

[thecoolersouthparkforeignkids]

oi jo m8 u wanna come ova for a cuppa n sum beans on toast?

“I know you’re trying to take the piss out of me, but beans on toast sounds good right now. I don’t drink tea though, Angel does, but she puts like eighty sugars in it.”

“No I don’t… I only put like five in… Seven if I’m tired.”

[overly-dramatic-artist]

Week One: Introduction!

@encanto-extended-edition

OMG how have I never done a proper introduction of my girl??? Anyways…

Full name: Angela Leilani Yaamil Morales Estrada

Age at the time of the movie: 48 years old (December 8th, 1901)

Angel was initially a name holder for the reader insert in my fic, “Why did it have to be me?” She was never intended to become a full fledged OC, but thanks to several supportive friends, Angela evolved into what she is now.

Angela is born to parents Guillermo and Anamaria in 1901, and shortly after childbirth, Anamaria sadly passes away, leaving Angela to be raised primarily by Anamaria’s parents, Quinuama and Raymundo. She is the youngest of six cousins on her maternal side, and she knows very little about her father’s extended family. The passing of Anamaria puts Guillermo in an inconsolable depression, leaving his daughter to be brought up by her grandparents due to his emotional absence. Her family owns and runs a tailoring shop in the Encanto, renowned for their fine fiber arts and beautifully crafted clothes. Angela is best known for her impressive bead work and crocheting, as she enjoys fixating on tiny details.

At age five, she befriends the Madrigal triplets, the four of them becoming close companions, but especially between Angela and Bruno. The two of them grow close over the years, considering the other to be their best friend. I’ll save the juicy details of their companionship for Week two, but to summarize, their friendship takes a dramatic twist following the breakup of Angela and her fiancé when she is 19.

Following in her mother’s footsteps, she joins the church choir at a young age, and quickly blossoms into a vocal star, devoting her time to organizing musical events and writing songs. Later in life, she takes to traveling outside of the Encanto, something inside her yearning to know more about the world and escape the limitations she feels trapped in. She gains herself a notable reputation as a performer in multiple social clubs and lounges, her name taking her across South America, and eventually across the sea.

Angela’s personality and mannerisms are based a lot on my own. She is extremely caring and compassionate for others, but often has a hard time deciphering her own emotions, and will usually bottle up her complicated feelings to save herself from causing trouble. She is often lovingly criticized as being overly dramatic by her family and friends, causing her to become extremely cautious and anxious about how she presents herself to others. Sometimes, something small will set off her temper, and she gets very cold and unresponsive as a defense mechanism, or if something makes her deeply upset after a buildup of repressed feelings and stress, she will fall apart into tears. Often times, her stimming gets interpreted as flirtatious behavior, and her attempts at masking usually have the same effect (hair twirling, too much eye contact, smiling and nodding).

A few little bits of information and trivia:

The bracelet she is almost always seen wearing was gifted to her on her fifth birthday. It had originally belonged to her mother. It is made up of pearls, jade, and a thin gold chain. Her rosary is constructed of similar materials.

Leilani was her intended name in canon, as Guillermo wanted to name her after his mother, but Anamaria immediately called her baby ‘her angel’ when she was born, so the name Angela was chosen instead and Leilani was bestowed as her second name.

I imagine her voice sounding like that of Angela Aguilar when she’s younger, and evolving into a vocal powerhouse like Beyoncé or Selena.

She is terrible at cooking. Her grandmother and aunts had tried to ingrain the kitchen skills into her at a young age, but it stressed her out because she wasn’t naturally gifted in it. She can make a good cup of coffee, but it’s best to leave to crafting of fine foods in the hands of someone more capable and confident.

💖Some amazing art from some amazing people💖

@prophetic-hijinks @egofan4evr @lvnamuraart @dororoxpenana 💖

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

this might be controversial but hear me out.

prostitution is sold to impoverished women as their only option - but not to men. so what are impoverished men doing? are they all unemployed? i dont think so.

some men go into prostitution as well - but its not as common and not as much sold to them as a last resort. why? because mainly men buy sex, and most men are not gay or bisexual. almost as if… sex is not a service but actually selling your body and sexuality.

i think that impoverished women are systematically pushed into prostitution, and i think the rhetoric of prostitution advocates supports this.

because why is there an absolute lack of options for women, but not for men, which makes them enter prostitution en masse? why arent women supported and advised to enter construction work, cleaning, farming, dish washing and other „low skilled“ jobs that impoverished men (and some women) do?

we know that the answer is misogyny. this is nothing new. but what i have wondered is how much the rhetoric of „they have to be in prostitution, they have no other options“ is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

you are not doing women in prostitution any favors by destigmatising and normalising being bought for sex. many just accept their fate: well there is no other options, im not even going to try. the women i know do this. i cant get a job on the regular job market anyways. everyone tells me this is how it is.

what if the lack of options is artificially created, and pro prostitution advocates unknowingly enforce this?

listen. dont men have a class interest of keeping prostitution alive and well? because they want women to be sexually available, to be legally sexually exploited, because they want less competition on the job market, because they dont think women being abused is a big deal and the legitimisation of prostitution as a real profession is validating men who sexually abuse women for payment.

what if many young women are groomed into prostitution by being told this is the only option. they are guilt tripped by saying this is the only way to support your family. i know that, especially with eastern european women who immigrate to germany, they are usually advised to enter prostitution in germany by women they know who are also prostituted in germany.

we will never break this cycle if we keep advocating for legal prostitution.

if buying sex stays legal, the next generation of girls is already being groomed into prostitution. they already see their sisters, mothers, cousins and friends enter prostitution. it‘s normal. the woman sacrificing her body and dignity for her child or her family, sometimes her partner. and the social workers tell them you are a professional. and the liberal feminists tell them you are empowered. and the sex buyers keep calling them slut and whore and ask if they can pay extra for anal penetration or pissing on them.

but hey they say they can take it and they dont know what else to do so lets support them by keeping them in prostitution! are you so for real right now? dont you see how fucked up it is to tell a woman who says she has no other option but being sexually abused for money „you are right, you dont have options and i support men sexually abusing you because this is your choice“. like

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

Do you have any favorite Descendants headcanons?

Yes! This is absolutely a permission to share an absurd amount of them, right? (Say yes, please-)

Anyway. Canon is a suggestion and so is Rise timeline.

Uma and Harry have been married pretty much since Ben's coronation. They... Kind of got drunk along with every other Isle kid and decided to get married, as you do. It's legal. They don't remember a thing.

Neither does Harriet. CJ however knows and is just waiting for the best opportunity to tell her brother. The Lost Revenge crew also knows, mostly, but just assume that the Captain and first mate also know. Which would make sense.

The mother of the Hook siblings was a siren (that bloodthirsty type that lures sailors to their deaths) and Captain Hook was completely in love with her. He was also completely blind to all of her murder attempts.

As a result, the Hook kids think that murder is a love language. Like, yeah. Mama tries to kill papa from time to time. That happens. It works for them.

They are having fun.

As is Ursula. She watches Hook family drama (tm) as a telenovela and used to take baby Uma with her. This might or might not be how Uma and Harry met.

None of the Isle kids knows how death works. This would be because Hades decided that Isle kids and their still-alive siblings are too much headache to deal with, especially while on vacation, when technically, the Underworld is a problem of his younger brothers.

CJ Hook treats the Underworld like a bus station. Hades has resigned about when she was ten and now lets her take the Cerberus for a walk from time to time.

The Isle kids regularly try to make s'mores over Hades' hair. The only one who ever got Hades to cooperate was Anthony Tremaine, while looking after his baby cousins, who really wanted the s'mores. That would be because he actually asked. (And Hades felt his suffering on a deep personal level. Younger siblings.)

The Tremaines have the only neutral territory on the Isle. You see, if you fight by the Tremaines, you'll get kicked out of the hair salon and you won't get your hair done. This threat works because the Isle kids are vain as fuck.

Anthony Tremaine/Harriet Hook/Ginny Gothel. Mutually destructive threesome.

Audrey Rose and Anthony Tremaine are vibing. They bonded over fashion, their horrible grandmothers, and Auradon's disaster finances.

Audrey is generally vibing with the pirates, as she deserves.

Aro ace Audrey Rose.

Freddie and Celia Facilier and Marya Rasputin are basically half-demons from a different end of the spectrum.

Freddie can walk absolutely quietly even with all the gold trinkets CJ gives her.

Uma and Freddie wore ninety percent of the Isle gold at some point or another. The last ten percent is still locked in EQ's vault and the Isle kids are very much trying to break in.

Uma just. Feeds people to the sharks. That's a thing that happens. She also doesn't necessarily bother to kill her hostages before that. (Harry very much supports this. He might drag some hostages to her, too. Murder is a love language and all that.)

Claudine Frollo was adopted by the Hook siblings and is a part of the Lost Revenge crew. She is a bitter bitch and I love her.

She is also wholeheartedly convinced that the Lost Revenge is a cult, and she is right.

The de Vil cousins couldn't give less of a fuck to the rivarly between Uma and Mal.

Evie has already mentally killed Cruella in about forty six different ways. She is counting.

De Vils, Hearts and Hooks argue over who wears red the best. They can and will kill over it, but that's fine. Death is a social construct.

Fairy Godmother sealed off Jane's magic.

On the Isle, Mal misses the concept of wings, freedom, something that she has never had.

Evie has social anxiety due to ten years spent alone with her mother.

Mal can be controlled by a laser pointer. As can CJ. And Harry. Yzla and Zevon. Marya Rasputin. Begrudging Uma and Harriet. Technically, Claudine Frollo, who will start praying and backing off and will never touch the surface with the laser dot again. De Vils and Faciliers know this and they are having a blast. (Carlos will just shine a laser pointer away from him when he wants to work on his trinkets and it works.)

Alice accidentally fell down the rabbit hole on the Isle and consequently kidnapped a kid. That kid happened to be a twin sister of CJ Hook. (Alice and Ally's ages don't match. This works ✨)

There is a reason why there are three schools on the Isle. The reason is: „You could never pay me enough to deal with more than one sibling at time, now fuck off.“

If I remember anything else, I'll add?

[talenlee]

Story Pile: A Sign of Affection

You know an anime is going to be a time when just looking up ‘hey, who made this’ is a question with three answers one of which is only available in chunks on fandom wikis because that’s a space where no information is too unreliable to be posted. A SIgn of Affection is a 2024 anime, and it’s a 2019 manga, made by a plural femme authorial identity known as Suu Morishita, which may be two people who each have their own pen names, or may be something else and I don’t have the insight into who or how. The anime and manga were made with the consultancy of Yuzuki Miyazaki (Yuki for short in the translated interviews I’ve seen, which is coincidentally the name of the main character of the series) and now I’ve gotten through what’s normally the first clause of a first sentence.

A Sign of Affection is a pedestrian romantic love story about two people with a shared interest in communication. He’s an impossibly hot, stylish maybe-biracial language geek who loves to learn different ways to talk to people, and she’s a shut-in college student who’s experiencing her first days interacting with people and learning how they communicate, because oh yeah she’s also deaf.

Content and Spoiler Warning: I’m going to talk about some of the material that shows up in the later parts of the story, and about how the core romance the story sets up in the first episode plays out to an extent. This isn’t a story built around a dreadful amount of tension and I’m about to dissolve it. Also, this story is light on stuff I’d normally warn about content-wise, but I am going to use the term ‘deaf’ to refer to a character, and you may not be here for that language choice. We are crossing multiple language barriers here.

For anyone unaware of what that might be, it’s that ‘deaf’ is a term that not every person who cannot hear self-applies. There are people who cannot hear at all who do not consider themselves deaf and there are people whose hearing is only slightly below what we medically diagnose as ‘poor’ that consider themselves deaf. Deafness is a social construct and we’ll talk more about what that means.

Anyway, hi, this is a manga about Yuki Itose. She’s a 19 year old girl who attended a school for the deaf until high school, then enrolled in a public university. A random encounter on the way to her university classes involved bumping into an international tourist, who didn’t recognise her inability to understand them was because of not a language barrier but a hearing barrier, and it was then that this mild social awkwardness was interrupted by Itsuomi, a truly all purpose prettyboy hunk who attends the same university. And this is one of those ways that this series has just enough resistance to make it stick, because this could be a huge coincidence, until you realise it’s not, because this is about two people catching the same train because they go to the same school and they go to the same school around the same time because they have similar classes because she has special language needs and he’s doing a bunch of language classes.

As these two very gently moving DVD menu logos start to bump around the corners of the screen, waiting for the point where they thock into the corner with one another at the exact same moment, we introduce the surrounding cast; the people in their lives, the separate friends they have and the things they do and how those things start to relate. Yuki has her old childhood friend Oshi, who learned sign language to bully her, and is shocked, shocked I say, to find that this hasn’t actually set them up to be a couple now. There’s Kyoya, who’s a cousin of Itsuomis, who runs a bar, and that bar is where Yuki goes to hang out with her bestie, Rin, who is attending classes with her to help her taking notes because, again, deaf, and Rin encourages to go to this bar, because she wants to jump Kyoya, because she’s been to that bar before.

Then we round out the crew with Ema, who is That Bitch in Itsuomi’s life, a girl who’s really into him and he’s not into her and she’s thinking if she’s unrequited at him long enough and hard enough he might go for her if she’s really convenient and makes alternatives inconvenient, and then there’s their mutual bestie, Shin, who is a hairdresser and he’s why Itsuomi has weird hair.

Listing the characters like this and seeing how they all form a sort of ricocheting path through the narrative that proceeds very deliberately and very carefully while still having a constantly changing texture of details is really enjoyable. You can pick any three of these characters, chuck them in a bag and the ensuing story that happens from scene to scene is going to be informed by who they are and how they feel, and the story mostly makes everyone interact with someone else and finds good, reasonable reasons for them to interact.

And then Yuki and Itsuomi get together. The manga keeps going (and it’s also very sweet and good), but this is a story so focused on people and the material of their interactions and the actual sequence that happens is mostly about these pieces bouncing into one another and things settling down. All of this is informed by Yuki being deaf, and the ways this imposes on her life, and this is where I want to pull back and talk instead about disability.

You might notice that I haven’t necessarily referred to Yuki as a disabled person or a person with a disability not because those terms are fundamentally bad terms or poisonous ways to use them but because I find those terms are best deployed when dealing with people who tell you how they want them used. A disability is a socially defined situation; some people who have a different set of abilities, even ones that we consider wildly non-normative, don’t want the term, and some people whose situation is a lot less obviously non-normative do want the term. Not my place to label people, I just use the label they want used.

As for Yuki? What Yuki is? Well, Yuki is deaf. She wears hearing aids that are designed to normalise the audio that she experiences, which is otherwise a debilitating cacophany. I don’t know the kind of hearing problem this is, but the basic point is that she experiences hearing in a way that we don’t, and her hearing aids are to make functioning in society around her possible even though they don’t, as it were, ‘make her hear.’ She attends a school that makes accommodations for her but the travel to that school doesn’t. Her own family seem to have a prescriptive view of what can’t do.

Yuki is sheltered, which is a byproduct of how she was brought up, and that upbringing is an effect of being born deaf. But that deafness brings with it a common form of communication that brings with it its own affordances that are kind of easy to forget. For example, she and Oshi can have an enthusiastic conversation while a whole storey apart from one another. That’s something about her and how she engages with the world informed by her deafness.

On the other hand, there is something that this series has going ‘against’ it that is a little awkward to explain, and I have to take my source on the matter for it. If you’re familiar with deafness on Youtube, you might know about Jon Urqhart, who I … straight up just sent an email saying ‘hey, check out this anime and let me know what you think.’ He made some tiktoks about it, and yeah, one point he makes is that Yuki’s inner life is still expressed as ‘speaking’ language – that is, she thinks in the way that a speaking Japanese person would, with the grammar of a Japanese person.

But like… how do you do otherwise?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying ‘sounds hard, give up,’ I’m saying I don’t know how that idea could even be meaningfully expressed in a media that starts as a comic and progresses through to a form of animation where a character’s inner life is traditionally represented by a voiced dialogue, and that voiced dialogue is going to be ‘translating’ thoughts in a way that is also unrealistic. It sounds like an amazing challenge, something that we should get to look at when that kind of thing is explored next.

And the thing is, that thing this series includes that fascinates me that I like so much is the use of sign language. Not just sign language, but the many permutations of it; the way that there are big gestural sign languages, things that are meant to communicate, as it were, to the outsiders, gestures that are intuitive to Yuki but also meaningful to people who don’t sign. There’s also ways that Yuki relates to writing text, where she indicates she is happy to write answers down and make sure she gets them right, but people often get impatient and guess ahead of her, in a way that trying to be helpful actually makes you disrespect a person’s needs. There’s also her phone, which she types into, and sometimes she’ll type it out and show you directly, and sometimes they even show her face-timing with a deaf person, holding the phone, and signing with her other hand.

This is all super interesting, and what makes it even better for me is the way that these choices are not necessarily explained. The signs are coherent, and animated from other angles, but there’s a sign in the opening that you will only make sense of if you watch the whole series and make an obvious inference – imagine an anime that shows you a five-word sentence in an alien language in the opening but watching the anime, you’ll only learn four of those words.

I think about this kind of media in terms of ingroups and outgroups. Specifically I think about it when I hear a joke that I parse as ‘a trans woman told another trans woman this joke in front of a third trans woman,’ a joke that’s designed to be laughed at by people in the space who know each other and are familiar with the kinds of boundaries they grapple with when things are serious. I laugh at those jokes, usually, because I get them, and I get them because I listen to my friends.

It isn’t like A Sign of Affection is a hard anime to like or a hard manga to like. Even setting aside the questions of its execution, and the level of tension it presents (barely enough to be worth watching), it has just the right kind of interesting hook to it that you can watch it and feel like you’re getting something special out of it. When this show comes up, people tend to like to point out A Silent Voice as another ‘deaf anime.’ But that is a story that focuses on the perspective of a hearing person wondering if maybe it was a bad thing to bully a deaf girl.

When someone brings up A Silent Voice around A Sign of Affection, it sticks out to me, it seems to me to be… wrong. These are things which have a shared trait, they both feature a deaf character who uses sign language, but their treatment of deaf people and deafness are very different. They are so different it would be like recommending The Talented Mr Ripley because it’s also about a person who really likes a boy and wants to learn about his world. They are similar but their whole characterisation and focus of the world is wildly different, is unrelated almost.

This isn’t to say that A Silent Voice is a bad show and this is a good one and that’s how you should feel about them, it’s about how these two things have so little in common that they feel qualitatively different. It’s possible to get diagnostic about this – to try and find some way, some explanation as to why the two series are similar but so different, and that’s… silly. I don’t think I can tell you tea-leaves, why that show isn’t as good as this one, because this one’s just really good and making anime that’s really good is really hard.

A Sign of Affection was made in part by people who found the idea of it – a sign language based manga – interesting, and they went the next step and found a JSL language consultant who was, herself, deaf from birth and able to provide a bunch of insight. At least three people ‘made’ the things that led to this anime that I like so much, and the result is something I think is really special, once you get past the way it’s so very unremarkable.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[fanficfish]

micronations and their parent countries: a hetalia ramble

so i was thinking about this and couldn't find shit so here goes my headcanons

well it feels more like i'm stating facts but there's some headcanons in here and def since I haven't read the latest episodes properly. I'll probably make a proper headcanon list later

First off- i imagine them as like. What happens when a group of people get ambitious, and suddenly this personification pops up like some weird ritual. This post sums it up. I mostly agree with it.

anyways

Austria: from my parenting post: he's a lot better at ot it now, or maybe he just decided that trying tobdo anything to Kugel is just too much work. He's...definitely one of those parents with the slightly-feral child, and okay so he did try to profit off the kid but he does that with everything including his own famous composer, his own landmarks, and everything in between. Look, the kid's (usually) fed, has endless art supplies, and as long as he doesn't do anything too destructive Austria lets him be. Actually he and Sweden might be in kahoots, considering that time both Ladonia and Kugelmugel planned to do some construction work....(Veneziano is just a little jealous Kugel doens't have no-pasta punishments)

Speaking of Sweden: total pushover. Ladonia knows this. Sealand is learning this. If your eyes are big enough you WILL get the reward. But he's also best dad, such a dad, had a closet of dad stuff, we all know this he's a family man (Finland is the babysitter bestie that ends up at Sweden's half the time because the man lives in an IKEA and it's a little bit chaotic he won't lie) (I imagine they did quite a lot of renovation work to make the IKEA liveable, but that does beg the question: how many living rooms does Sweden have and can you imagine trying to leave Sweden's after a night of drinking- actually maybe that's why, Sweden was trying to do a social experiment on drunk Denmark-)

but anyways yeah, Finland lets Sweden deal with the children. His kids, his problem. It works, and anyways between them they already have Aland and all those other bits of their countries to deal with. Finland's got his hands full. Sweden's def the dad teaching you how to fix all the problems yourself though, Ladonia and Sealand def know how to unclog a toilet and change a sink pipe. Probably have the most human-like family experience, excluding NikoNiko. A sense of normalcy if you will.

America is more like the cool older cousin. He's already got 50 states and too many territories, why not add a few micronations? He and Canada treat the micros like the rest of their states minus the boring legislature stuff- their micronations can run wild, just don't cause problems, pay your taxes, and they can run themselves it's probably fiiiiine. I mean, look at Alaska and Hawaii! They're doing fine! Uh, don't look at Florida, or look at Quebec wrong. Though unlike the states and provinces, the gaggle of North America micronations tend to submit more to their ruling country considering 1. America and Canada are very very very strong and 2. Why try to fight for independence when you can chill out and have them do most of the work for you? Their states and provinces they reside in kinda just don't care too much, but Nevada and California are also Just Like That anyways, no comment on the Aerican Empire's colonization of Mars though. America and Canada keep some awareness of their micronations but unlike China and Japan, who have all their provinces with them in one house, it's spread over like....70 hours total....so for the NA bros, just an occassional check-in is usually fine to them. The micronations end up being a bit free-reign from this but America and Canada tend to be a little occupied being superpowers. America did get Molossia that weird pet of his as an apology a long time ago, and Canada sends maple flavored cookies to his micronations whenever he does a baking stream with America.

Australia: Probably the strictest of the parent countries, somehow. Cracks down on Hutt River's missed taxes, insists on the Wy Driveway Issue, etc. He's a wilderness hellscape trooper, alright? New Zealand is the cool uncle that's tired of playing parent so he lets everything be.

England looks at Sealand like his annoying little brother, or that little cousin you have to keep an eye on. He's plenty guilty for the whole war thing, but is usually too busy fighting France or America or restoring castles or dealing with royals to keep tabs on a child at the standard he'd prefer, so he lets Sweden handle Sealand most of the time. Sealand's first instinct is to bother England though, so that's that. It's actually kind of sweet, once you get past England's default mode being being pissed off by something and Sealand mouthing off on purpose to be The Problem (for attention). And England, despite his threats, will never leave Sealand out in the rain on his doorstep. To the point he's canonically sat through weird phone conversations. He's just...not ready to be essentially a parent again, after America and having to let go of Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand...... (he is also very scared of his family tree if he thinks about micronations)

Japan is an old man. He's a socially Awkward baby deer who's somehow in charge of all these prefectures and now he has to deal with NikoNiko poping up every so often???? Screw that! (He does give NikoNiko his personal number though. The kid might have a living family and micronation friends to hang with and the prefectures to bother, but Japan's still a believer in raising them right, and his door's open no matter how...odd....the circumstances are)

Seborga just hangs with the rest of Italy's former city-states. I headcanon that when Veneziano and Romano became the two prominant personifications for Italy, the others backed off like with Germany's older brothers uniting to form Germany, except the two already existed. Most of them disappeared, but a few stuck around and surrpsiingly because Seborga couldn't decide if he should be his own country or not he got to stick around too! Italy V doesn't mind and neither does Italy R, so Seborga finds himself quite relaxed with two older brothers, he's disappointed he doesn't get to grow up but he's probably the most "normal" of the micros and honestly? The Italies treat him like he's a state, so he's fine where he is in life. At least he gets to see his brotheres frequently enough

actually it was probably like he woke up to find out everyone was one country now, and was like "cool whatever i'll do the paperwork later", few asleep, and later on he was like "oh shoot" but Italy had unified and at some point Seborga kinda just accepted he was a micronation when his people went "yo" since he never actually signed anything and the Italies were like "lol thats funny yeah that's fine whatever". Oh gosh, does that make Seborga technically adoptively realted to Austria and by extension Germany and wait does that Make Kugel technically Seborga's cousin-

wait omg that one episode where Seborga asks Austria about Kugel.

welp that's enough for one day

idk thats it for now i need to catch up on the new guys.

[mostspecialgirl]

i dont think i can do “artist spaces” anymore because i’m really stupid. - ramble post with no point or central focus aside from making myself feel less weird

like…. i’m stupid. and i like it! But every artist i meet is like some kind of super genius and irs kind of nuts, everyone’s got such vision and intelligence and honed skill and all these interesting things about their lives and practice away from the arts and i’m some kind of inert orb who doesn't have much soul in her work aside from "isnt this cool like a animes" or "this is how im feeling". at least when it comes to Drawinf a Pitures.

i can deal with spaces where everyone’s just hanging out and Some People Happen to be Artists but spaces primarily composed of people steeped in the arts actually remind me that i'm a socially inept cavewoman who barely knows how to use the microwave. sufficiently talented artists ('sufficient' referring to people who have labelled themself an artist and have been online for more than 2 years) who i end up talking to online are 80% of the time some kind of Art Student Med Student Math Prodigy or Mentally Ill Genius Socially Inept Outsider Artist with insane Honed Unique Skill and when you apply that 80% to a whole lump of people in a GC or a Discord Server where the other 20% don't really talk there it gets real mentally exhausting as someone generally quite unimpressive and classically unskilled.

i dunno. I just kind of find it interesting that people with such talent, skill, wit, and (as ive repeated endlessly) intelligence are always drawn to the arts. a lot of my friends ive made who are very smart people ive learned 3 years into the friendship they used to do painting studies and are some kind of closet picasso while ive been showing them my meager collection of shale and sediment. is the pursuit of the artistic a mark of something deeper? what must one’s character lack to not seek creative self expression? what separates a creator from a consumer, and the blind from the perceptive? is creating art for the simple purpose of “cool and fun” shallow? does that answer change with ones talent? what is shallow art? is there truly such a thing?

cough

anyway. i’m just kind of a dumb baby, and it makes me sad that i never really feel like i can talk about art with most people because i don’t know anything. i’m not looking for construction or anything, i just want to be able to say “isn’t making something fun” without being reminded of my own inadequacies. i feel like art shouldn’t have to be this “smart” thing, and it isn’t, but art itself draws in the smart, and so like in many other spaces i feel a bit outcasted. obviously the solution here is to talk to MINORS from TIKTOK (gets cancelled)

but i really dunno. i feel stupid a lot these days and i feel like there aren’t any spaces that fit me, even when on paper these should be the spaces i should be in. even off the paper, anywhere i go i can’t help but feel like a bit of a bump on a log. like an erroneously flipped bit. i’m the stray ray from the sun beamed into the nintendo 64. that’s how i feel among other people, no matter who i’m with. it’s strange, because i really do like myself. i’ve passed a lot of the self deprecation and self doubt that used to chain me, and is it strange to say i believed casting those aside would help me find a bit more belonging among other people?

it hasn’t! life’s the same! maybe worse? i’m not self actualized or anything, but i think i’ve really grown as a person, so it’s sort of sucky that i fit better in place as a problem child. well i suppose as the Old Ones spoke, every group needs The Rick Friend. meeting people is hard. wanting to stay among people i’ve met is even harder. i like to blame a lot of it on the Modern Internet and the sheer amount of how many people have invaded my once cozy corners. with The Net these days being less of a space for Niche Freaks and instead being Grandma And Your Little Cousin Just Saw You Post Your Wiener On Instagram i’d think it’s only natural i’m running into less likeminded people. but i dunno. i feel like some of it’s my fault. i’m a weird little giblet of a girl, aren’t i? and man do i EVER hate people. I’m a big hater.

everybody i meet these days just makes me drool because everyone’s some kind of Valorant Edater or Reddit Object Show Minor or The Hypersexual or Someone I’m Too Intimidated By or Someone Who Does Not Want To Be Talking To Me. where’s Literally Anything Else. Everyone i meet these days fits into those categories. Give me anything else. What is wrong with my Spaces

i really don’t know how people make friends online these days. i’m always posting these days about Haha I Need Friends and Haha I Need A Wife that falls endlessly into the empty infinite void (much like now) for a reason. no matter where i seem to go, i walk dragging my feet, half-lidded and unengaged with a soft scowl on my face. i’ll figure it out, right? i’ll certainly make new friends, right? because i have to, right?

i dont wanna go to work tomorrow dude

[patrickpatrovichluxury]

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[miscellaneousruminations]

A Literary Analysis: How Is Hair Implicated in the construction of femininity and identity in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘Bernice Bobs Her Hair’?

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘Bernice Bobs Her Hair’ is a story that concerns gender, femininity, and social competition.

Bernice, the book’s namesake, is an eighteen-year-old woman who has come to spend the summer with her cousin, Marjorie. Popular with a ‘fairylike face’ (1920, p.1), Marjorie is fashioned in contrast to her cousin, who Fitzgerald positions as awkward and socially withdrawn. Constructed against a backdrop of rapid socio-cultural change during the 1920s, Bernice turns to Marjorie (a decidedly modern woman) for social guidance after overhearing her protest about her social ineptitude to Bernice’s aunt. Bernice is reinvented in Marjorie’s image, altering her behaviour and appearance – most notably, toying with idea of bobbing her hair to gain social success. Although Bernice is not wholly committed to Marjorie’s plan she agrees anyway, thus securing herself a prominent position on the social ladder. Her newfound social success drives Marjorie to resent her cousin, having courted the attention of Warren (Previously ‘crazy’ (1920, p.1) about Marjorie). Marjorie publicly challenges her cousin’s commitment to bobbing her hair which pressures Bernice, who had no intention to act upon her words, into bobbing her hair to prove a point.  Her haircut is anything but celebrated which leads Warren to lose interest. Subsequently, Bernice requites her cousins cunning and cuts off her braids as she sleeps.  And just like that Bernice sets off into the night having reclaimed a sense of agency, but not without throwing her cousins served tresses onto Warren’s front porch for good measure. A deciphering of Fitzgerald’s short story offers primary insight into the intersection of hair, gender, and agency in the 1920s.

To approach this text, I will employ Judith Butler and Michel Foucault’s theoretical framework to examine how hair and its associated practises inform the construction, maintenance, and subversion of identity. Implementing Butlerian thought will bolster my assessment of hair as it pertains to gender performativity, which concerns repetitive actions, gestures, and language (Butler, 2006).  On balance, a Foucauldian approach allows one to dissect the role of normalising judgment and disciplinary practises on bodies, thus illuminating how the likes of Bernice are a product of, then free from, expectations enforced by the panoptic gaze (Foucault, 2020).

Although Bernice believes Marjorie is devoid of the ‘blessedly feminine’ (Fitzgerald, 1920, p.3) qualities that she deems paramount to womanhood, Fitzgerald positions her cousin as emblematic of a ‘modern girl’ (1920, p.5). It is this notion of a ‘modern girl’ that Bernice holds herself to, acting under the influence of normalising judgments to align herself with these socially sanctioned norms (Which were rapidly changing, as shown by the disparities between the young, ‘eighteen,’ and the old, ‘forty-five’ (1920, p.3)). To achieve popularity, Marjorie is quick to enforce disciplinary practises she too has already internalised. She expresses how, once a woman is ‘perfectly groomed and dressed she can forget that part of her. That’s the charm’ (1920, p.5). Fitzgerald highlights the performativity (i.e., gestures and beauty practises) that constitute the construction of a well-to-do woman, which are articulated in response to societal norms and expectations (Butler, 2006). Marjorie acts as a vehicle through which the notion of grooming is presented as essential in the production of femininity. Bernice’s eyebrows prove to be another point of contention that illuminate how power is exercised through woman, namely via normative assumptions about appearance. Her ‘black and lustrous’ eyebrows are ‘straggly’ and a ‘blemish’ (1920, p.5) according to Marjorie. To gain popularity, Bernice will need to internalise the disciplinary practises perpetuated by her cousins scathing observations – which are reflective of how society at large uses power to act upon bodies (Foucault, 2020). Fitzgerald illustrates the hierarchical disparities amongst the two girls, Bernice must mould her identity by way of corrective procedures that align with the normative gaze. Foucault’s concept of Seriation would suggest Bernice’s task to scale said hierarchy, by engaging in a series of progressive tasks (2020), is realised through her performance of ‘modern’ femininity. Moreover, the emphasis on hair care and eyebrows focusses the performative, action-based, construction of gender, in that it is based on the unstable ground of fluctuating beauty standards.

Bernice progresses socially with ease under Marjorie’s guidance, and it is her hair that warrants much of her newfound attention, as does her bold attitude. As made explicit by the author ‘of all Bernice's conversation perhaps the best known and most universally approved was the line about the bobbing of her hair’ (1920, p.8). Her witty remarks pertaining to the subject were ‘greeted with a ripple of laughter from the men and a series of quick, intent looks from the girls’ (1920, p.7). Fitzgerald structurally illustrates how Bernice’s has transitioned from the likes of the girls casting an ‘intent look’ a mere page prior, to cultivating male approval solely through the way she enacts her identity. As a literary construct she emphasises the instability of identity through the way in which her production of self is context dependant (Butler, 2006). The author presents her hair as a conduit for social approval as he notes that Warren ‘liked the way she had arranged her hair’ and ‘wondered if it was brilliantine that made it glisten so’ (1920, p.7). Moreover, Foucault facilitates the deconstruction of this point in examining the implications of social power on the body. The act of arranging, maintaining, and applying products to one’s hair can be seen as a disciplinary practise. Whilst quite literally being monitored by Warren who epitomises the normalizing gaze, she is held to conventional expectations of womanhood which is embodied in the heavily gendered connotations of hair. Bernice enacts femininity even in the minutiae of her grooming routine, which exemplifies how the perfomance of one’s gender in socially sanctioned ways fortifies these expectations and norms (Butler, 2006).

When questioned by her peers about her supposed line to bob her hair she succumbs to their scrutiny and finds herself ‘riding down-town through the late afternoon beside Warren’, feeling as though she were ‘Marie Antoinette bound for the guillotine’ (1920, p.9). Through metaphor Fitzgerald presents hair as a crucial aspect of femininity. To Bernice the prospect of cutting her hair is a death of sorts, thus illustrating its significance is constructing notions of identity. The authors description delves further into the semantic field of death by way of presenting the Sevier Hotel Barbershop as a ‘guillotine’ and the barber, a ‘hangman’ (1920, p.9). Interestingly, both the ‘guillotine’ and a ‘hangman’ are inherently linked to the idea public spectacle, which in turn perpetuates a sense of pervasive surveillance denoting the way in which Bernice’s hair is a site that reflects the workings of power (Foucault, 2020). Furthermore, the heavily male-centric connotations of a barber shop perhaps allude to the transformative shift Bernice is soon to undergo but a much less contrived analysis illustrates how far removed from femininity bobbed hair is when held to normalising judgments. Bobbed hair was a notably new phenomena in the year 1920, something Fitzgerald nods to by constructing Bernice’s public shaming, so to speak, in a barber shop – at a time when hairdressers weren’t equipped to bob hair. Bobbed hair, then, is a way of enacting one’s identity but not through socially sanctioned means, consequently illustrating the advent of Bernice’s subversion of her identity (Butler, 2006).

Fitzgerald positions the barber’s shop in a perpetual state of visibility, akin to Foucault’s theory pertaining to Bentham’s panopticon. He establishes a sense of surveillance, first, by drawing the readers attention to the ‘two bold plate-glass windows to the street’ (1920. P.9) that situates Bernice under the scrutiny of the normative gaze. The author reinforces the magnitude of her deviation from prescribed gender norms, in that a ‘passer-by stopped and stared; a couple joined him.; half a dozen boys’ noes sprang into life, flattened against the glass’ (1920, p.9). Butler’s approach acknowledges that performativity goes beyond an individual act and becomes a public one, in which the act of cutting hair becomes a site of negotiation between performativity and disciplinary power. The public reaction before Fitzgerald has revealed her hair to the reader utilises public spectacle to establihs the disciplinary forces operating within the framework of socially acceptable behaviour – which ultimately complicates the idea a woman is static identity category (Butler, 2006). Bernice ‘flinched at the full extent of the damage that had been wrought’ when she was spun to face the mirror, likening it to ‘lifeless blocks on both sides of her suddenly pale face’ (1920, p.10). Once more, Fitzgerald personifies her hair as something that was once alive, but now lay ‘lifeless’, which is a testament to the role of hair is constructing ideas of femininity in 1920. The rich dialogue shared between hair and the construction of Bernice’s identity demonstrates that, now without an emblematic element of womanhood, gender is an unstable concept which exposes the artifice bound within these roles (Butler, 2006). The mirror with which she is confronted with a changed version of herself acts as a conduit through which Bernice perceives herself in relation to the expectations of women. Disciplinary power operates through the reflection of normativity, consequently as she ‘flinched’ Fitzgerald suggests these norms have been internalised (Foucault, 2020). The authors employment of the mirror serves as a potent symbol for the profound effect Bernice’s hair has on her gender identity and sense of self.

Fitzgerald juxtaposes Bernice and Marjorie against one another through their grooming practises. Having arrived home, she now ‘passed her comb through her short hair’ yet Marjorie ‘tossed her own hair over her shoulders and began to twist it slowly into two long blond braids until in her cream-colored negligée she looked like a delicate painting of some Saxon princess’ (1920, pp.10-11). The interplay between Butler's and Foucault's theories is evident in Marjorie's grooming practices. The gendered act of tending to her long braids aligns with traditional ideals of femininity, thus reinforcing gender norms. Simultaneously, the act carries a sense of power and control, reflecting how grooming practices are not just personal choices but also mechanisms that contribute to the maintenance of societal order. Marjorie's deliberate engagement in traditional grooming practices stands in stark contrast to Bernice's bobbed hair. This distinction highlights the disciplinary power of societal norms, where the act of maintaining or altering one's appearance becomes a site for negotiating gender identity within a larger cultural context. Fitzgerald renders Marjorie as though she were a ‘princess’ because of her hair, highlighting just how quickly Bernice has fallen from grace. Conversely the rapidly shifting influence of socio-cultural context in producing gender identity reinforces the instability of it (Butler, 2006).

Enraged by the duplicity of Marjorie for treating her like a plaything, Bernice decides to leave her aunts that night, burdened by the ‘consequences’ of her ‘new look’ ((1920, p.11). Before she disappears, Bernice shears her cousin’s plaits in a moment of revenge. As the text draws to a close Fitzgerald makes evident a shift in Bernice, with which she is presented as the most active and agentic she has been in the book’s entirety. The author elucidates this through her ‘deliberate and calm’ demeanour in tandem with the clinical verbs ‘severed’ and ‘amputated’ to describe the act of cutting hair (1920, p.11). The author articulates Marjorie’s hair as if it were a living entity separate from the head it sat upon. The semantic field of surgery presents her cousin’s hair as, both an anatomical and social, necessity. In establishing a newfound sense of agency within the titular character, Fitzgerald presents the subversive practise of bobbing hair as a means through which Bernice removes herself from the panoptic gaze and normalising judgements. The story ends with Bernice hurling Marjorie’s hair onto Warren porch where she ‘laughed’, now ‘no longer restraining herself’ before taking off down a ‘moonlit street’ (1920, p.11). Such restraint can be likened to the pressure imparted on her to conform and self-monitor. Now, no longer bound by normative expectations of femininity, Fitzgerald depicts Bernice as a woman much changed from Marjorie’s naïve protegee.  

In conclusion, Fitzgerald provides a compelling exploration of femininity and social dynamics in the socio-cultural landscape of 1920. Approaching the text with Butler and Foucault’s theoretical framework illuminated poignant reflections on the intrinsic relationship between disciplinary practise, performativity, and the prospect of individual agency in fashioning of identity. Butler’s ideas prompt one to question to what extent does an individual subject have agency to produce their own identity or is a product of the culture. Fitzgerald's narrative suggests that, even in the face of societal pressures, acts of subversion can redefine and liberate the individual from normative constraints, fostering a dynamic and evolving understanding of the interplay between gender and hair.

Bibliography

Butler, J. (2006) Gender Trouble: Feminism and The Subversion of Identity. New York; London: Routledge.

Fitzgerald, F. (1920) Bernice Bobs Her Hair. Available at: https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/bernicebobs.pdf. (Accessed: 15 November 2023).

Foucault, M. (2020) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of The Prison. London: Penguin.

[bagelb0nes]

more creechur farmer???? (it doesn’t have to be a drawing, just lore or anything like that works, i absolutely love the idea and art!!!!)

Omg hahaha i didn't expect this many people to like my lame ass farmer (i love my child 🫶). Tbh i haven’t pieced out everything about em myself and i'm just making doodles/illustrations of em and putting them together, especially in the cryptid department. But i can tell you some of the more basic stuff and maybe some of the cryptid things that I think are not gonna change…?

Anyways here are some of the writting stuff:

TRAITS:

The farmer can speak but just doesn't cause it, well they don't want to. They do occasionally when they feel like it or when it's necessary. Otherwise they just use a notepad or sign language. 

Tends to be quite curious, like borderline dumb curious. Went inside a water cave once because they thought there might be treasures inside of it. Got dragged out by their older cousin.

Silent fucker, doesn't make any sound usually when walking to places unless they are carrying something heavy. 

Got quite strong after moving to the farm, the farmwork and construction helped them build more strength. 

Falls asleep easily in uncomfortable places. Idk why the guy is just weird.

FAMILY:

The farmer has a family back in Zuzu city and some relatives near the valley, like a couple towns away( more lore I guess? There is so much haha). I have actually made a family tree for em but it's mostly sketching and the portraits are quite old so I will need to update it at some point. 

The farmer's family consists of one sister and two moms. The farmer and the sister are not adopted. 

Baby farmers' first words were bark. 

They are only close to one of their mom’s, their sister keeps them at arm's length (no idea why) and their mother is quite strict.

POST-FARM:

The farmer is in their mid 20’s and did not go to university, the guy took one lecture and dropped out. Instead they took some courses and job hopped until they landed in Joja. They worked there for only 3 years. 

Used to volunteer in the animal shelter, quite fond of animals. Sometimes they thought they could understand them.

Very minimalist when it comes to stuff like clothes, food and activity. They keep a certain amount of clothes since they don't find it necessary to have more than what they can use. If they do get new clothes it is usually because the old ones are destroyed. 

Used to live in a tiny apartment (I mean TINY, I will make a sketch of the old apartment if i remember.) somewhat resembled a studio apartment but less picturesque. But they liked it, felt cosy to them. 

Has actually quite a lot of friends even though they never tried to socialise, the guy is often described as “magnetic”. They do have a couple close friends and usually talk to them in their free time. 

Likes pickles as a snack and collects bear related stuff. On their weekends they would go to the animal sanctuary to look at bears and eat cucumbers.

RELATIONSHIPS:

HA, this bitch cant pull. They do attract but they can't pull, horrible at socialising, just awful. 

As said before even though they absolutely suck ASS at socializing, something about them is magnetic to people. But those people are usually kept at an arm 's distance, since the farmer knows that they don't seem to really have an interest in em.

Has had a couple relationships before, mostly stiff and boring ones since they never desired anyone to THAT extent. But if they do fall they fall hard. 

Their closest relationship right now in the valley is Linus, The wizard and Evelyn. They are trying really hard to befriend others but don't know how to properly approach it besides just giving them gifts and doing tasks for them. 

Does in fact have a thing for Shane. Poor guy is going through it. 

CRYPTID RELATED:

The farmer does have avian genes from the non grandpa side of the family.

The grandpa had “relations” with a forest guardian. By relations i mean that Gramps and the forest guardian become friends after Gramps comes across the secret woods and FG was like “hey i think you are cool and a good candidate as a future holder of the valley” and gramps was like “nice” and then he gave them some hair, skin and sweat. FG mixes it and after a year the farmer's mom and other siblings are born. 

They are kind of a “fae” I guess but i don't know if they qualify as they do have some of the traits but not all?

 When the green rain happens it  causes them to forcefully transmute into their more avian form. They have no control over it, since it's a new thing to them. Their wings are usually as big if not bigger than them and they get a tail. The change is mostly painless as for the most part its natural materials around them that helps them shape it. Besides the fur and feathers that shit is coming out of them.

The aftermath of the transmutation it's usually a lot of shedding and getting their instincts in check since when it happens their senses get heightened.  

Shane has seen them in the midst of a tranz when walking back from the mines, it was one of the first times the farmer started noticing the weird stuff going on with them.

Oh yeah, they do have fangs or something similar to it, they occasionally puncture their tongue so they are unable to speak for a certain amount of time.

That's all i have so far X0

[tears-in-my-tardis]

the first time i ever felt dysphoric

or maybe it was the first time i realized that i wasn't just a boy who dressed girly like just one of three brothers; there’s no girl in “i have two brothers”

i'm getting side tracked the first time i realized that my body and how i looked mattered in relation to what i was or wasn’t allowed to do the first time gender stopped me from just existing was when i was about 11 and i was wearing these pink and black zebra print pyjama pants and i came downstairs and my brothers were on the couch watching my cousin play video games and my older brother and my cousin yelled at me to go put on a shirt but it was hot and they both didn’t have shirts on and i was just different because i was i'm getting side tracked the gender dysphoria doesn’t go away when i’m a boy i guess there’s no “boy” in “i have two brothers” either gender can i be real it just doesn’t make sense to me clearly biology only factors in for biological traits not social ones like gender seriously its a construct a social construct something we made up to put people into boxes “my” pronouns aren’t used “for” me so much as “about” me i'm me to myself and you to everyone else idc about any other time i cease to exist between interactions i'm getting sidetracked i'm not a girl i'm not a boy so what am i anyway the point is i got boobs so i cant be shirtless even when i'm hot it sucks here

[thecoolersouthparkforeignkids]

Hi, welcome to the blog!

We’re the cooler group of foreign kids at South Park elementary!

“Because we aren’t total losers like those other guys.”

Technically only two of us are, by definition, foreign immigrants, but all these american kids don’t care about the literal definition, so we’re all foreign kids!!

“Hi I’m Angel, I moved to America from England when I was eight, so when I was in the third grade. I live with my parents and my older brother and younger sister, who I unfortunately have to share a room with.”

“I’ve been friends with Jo ever since moving here, we tell everyone we’re cousins because my family is from near enough the same place that Jo’s dad is from. And I’ve been friends with Tesni ever since she tried to sue me for sexual harassment… We’re good friends now, we even have matching necklaces!”

“A’ight? I’m Jo. Idk why I let these two talk me into this, but oh well I’m here now… Me mum is Scottish and me dad is from England. They moved to South Park when me mum was pregnant with me because they didn’t wanna pay their telly licence, but now they’ve gotta pay for healthcare so I guess they didn’t really think that through.”

“Me mum an’ dad are alright though, even if they are a bit daft sometimes. They’ve been propper sound with me being trans. Told them I was a lad when I was in kindergarten, they just told me it was sound and asked me if I wanted to watch the footy with them. It’s funny though, because whenever someone asks me if I used to be a lass I just say nah and make them question their sanity. Propper funny to watch that.”

“Trying to get Declan to join in with us, but he’s a bit of a prick sometimes. Love him though.”

“You’re a fucking prick… Love you too.”

“Hey cuties, I’m Tesni and I’ll be your serv- Fuck, force of habit… I’m Tesni and I’m literally one of the hottest girls in our grade, no joke. Like, I might not be a cheerleader or anything, but I work at raisins and I get the most tips, so yeah… Ugly girls don’t get loads of tips, not how it works in this society, unlucky for all those ugly girls.”

“Tesni, be nice. You’re trying to show off again.”

“Ugh, whatever. Anyway. My parents decided that this shithole town was better than their old house in Wales, and they brought me along with them in the womb. I’m trying to get as much money as possible so I can move away and become a rich model in like LA or something and forget all about this bum-fuck town.”

“I might bring Angel along with me too, she’s alright I guess…”

OOC vvv

Angel’s speech, actions, etc will be pink, Jo’s will be green, Declan’s will be blue and Tesni’s will be orange

Keep the asks tame please, nothing weird

I’ll be posting rp posts of each of them, art I make of them and maybe some sort fics of them being inserted into specific episodes but idk about that yet

This is my first time making an rp blog :0 and I’m very excited to interact with other south park rp blogs ^o^

Tag list:

#the cooler south park foreign kids = all posts

#this message is jo wilkinson approved = Jo’s posts

#angel posting = Angel’s posts

#that’ll be twenty five dollars please cutie = Tesni’s posts

#cousins are a social construct anyway = Jo & Angel posting together

#quit telling everyone we’re dating it’s hurting my tips = Angel & Tesni posting together

#why do we care about the same english girl? = Tesni & Jo posting together

#oocmoment = self explanatory

#for the last time I’m not a fucking leprechaun = Declan’s posts

#homiesexual got a bit too homosexual = Jo & Declan posting together

#Jo said I’m not allowed to make you cry anymore = Declan & Angel posting together

#just cause we’re queer doesn’t mean we’re nice = Declan & Tesni posting together

Pinterest boards:

Jo

Angel

Tesni

(In the process of making a Declan one)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Thanks for confirming that you're using the word "gender" in place of "personality."

And are you saying that sparrows have a plausible mechanism for postmodern philosophy and social constructivism? That aggressive sparrows and nuturing sparrows have been socialized into a system of "domination" and "oppression"?

Sex is a real thing, and so are sex-based behaviors and tendencies. We see parallels to our own tendencies in our evolutionary "cousins."

"Gender as a social construct" is a fancy way of saying that it's not a real thing, and we can ignore it. Especially when you say there's an infinite number of them. Social constructivism is itself a social construct.

If anything can be a "gender" then the term is meaningless. And you've successfully argued against a "mismatch" at the same time. There are only two sexes. If there are an "infinite" number of "genders," as many as there are people, then at most, two people in the entirety of existence will be "aligned" to their sex, so the idea of being "unaligned" is incoherent. Saying things like sex and "gender" are separate is as meaningless as saying "sex and fingerprints are separate." Making "gender" useless, and certainly not a basis for organizing society.

It also eliminates "gender dysphoria" as well, which I find a rather odd approach. Two sexes, "infinite" (your word) "genders" - it's not possible to experience dysphoria by your definition. Interesting approach; eliminates the justification for transition, especially when there's only two options: FTM or MTF. If you transition, you're still going to be "unaligned" with your "infinite" different "genders" to one of only two body plans (sexes). It'd be like saying "my sex and fingerprints are unaligned." And if "don't have to align" anyway, then transition serves no purpose.

We should organize around the demonstrable, immutable reality of sex instead, as that's the only meaningful form of category, and the only one in which any degree of objective reality occurs. It's uncontroversial - among those who aren't evolution and biology deniers, at least - that men have, on average, greater muscle mass and larger hearts than women; women have, on average, a general predisposition for social and people-based interests, while men have, on average, a general predisposition for thing-based interests. This tells us certain things about what we can expect of a society with men and women in it, such as the distribution and proportion of the sexes across professional domains.

We can't study "infinite" "genders" or even expect any meaningful information from the attempt. How do you control for "infinite" variables?

We're not going to have "infinite" bathrooms, for the "infinite" "genders." Or "infinite" sports competitions, in which you're the only competitor, since you're the only one with that "gender," because they're "infinite." Just as we don't have fingerprint-based bathrooms or sports categories.

"Infinite" amount of "genders" is the same as saying you're just an individual. Which makes "gender" and particularly "gender identity" redundant and useless. We already have laws and protections and the right to be treated as individuals. We don't need to do protections or considerations for "gender identity" since we already recognize people as unique, and we don't need vague, unnecessary language muddying things.

Under this model, you can't be discriminated on the basis of "gender" or "gender identity" since there are "infinite" ones and there's no way to form a stereotype or misconception about something that is unique in all the world. If there are "infinite" "genders" then "gender" discrimination is just someone taking a particular dislike to you, uniquely.

Thanks for destroying genderism. Much appreciated. 👍

(I always say, if you want to know if a religion is false, just listen to the believers, and they'll tell you themselves.)

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At this point, Pseudo-Scientific American is basically as reliable as The National Enquirer.

This is what ideological takeover looks like.

[mallowstep]

Tfw you want to write your own warriors fic but you know you'll accidentally have mates that are related to each other :")

i mean?

first off go for it. write fic. focus on small families and don't feel the need to say how everyone is connected

second off family trees are how i keep the wbcd lines good

third off like. i mean i think like. third cousins+ and you're fine. that's...great-great grandparents, i believe? it's ivypool and fernsong's relationship.

[celestles]

.

[unoriginalmess]

Untitled Feralnette Fic Ch. 1

Hiya there anyone who happens upon this first chapter of this fic. I would like to start out by saying that this is my first fanfic ever. I've been wanting to write a fic for the miraculous fandom for a while but I haven't had any inspiration until I stumbled upon this glorious AU created by @bigfatbreak. I highly suggest checking out all of their posts about this au because they are hilarious and genius and about 100 other amazing adjectives that could be used to describe them and their posts. Anyways enough with my rant and let's get on with the fic. ⚠️Slight angst⚠️ ⚠️Swearing⚠️

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When Marinette got home after her and Luka's breakup, all she could do was cry. She wanted to be with him, but her Ladybug duties came first. If lying is a deal breaker for him, then maybe it was best that they ended it now while their relationship was still in its early stages. Still, she couldn't help but feel the loss of her first relationship. She ended up crying for a whole entire day. She just hoped that Hawkmoth(or Shadowmoth or whatever the fuck he wanted to be referred to as this week) wasn't feeling particularly akuma-y today, because she didn't know if she could bottle up all these feelings, even though the world is relying on her ability to do so.

Ugggghhh!! It has been exhausting having to be "happy and perfect Marinette" and "happy and perfect Ladybug" All. The. Time. She's also pretty sure that Hawkmoth had discovered the similarities in her personality as Marinette to Ladybug, and that's why she's been targeted by multiple akumas lately. She has had to have her emotions under control even more than usual. If only there was a way to get Hawkmoth to stop targeting her. Maybe she should just not give a fuck anymore. Haha as if! It couldn't be that easy! Could it?

The more she thinks about it the more it starts to make sense. If she just let herself go completely crazy as Marinette, she would be killing like 10 birds with one stone. She would get hawkmoth off of her trail, she wouldn't have to deal with having to hide her emotions all of the time, she wouldn't have to deal with the added stress of maintaining her perfect persona, she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of Lila's lies taking her friends away if she didn't have friends in the first place, and so much more stress would be taken off of her plate! It was perfect! It might hurt a little at first, but it's for the best in the end. She spent that night planning out her outfit for tomorrow, doing her homework, and going to sleep knowing that, in the morning, François Dupont isn't gonna know what hit them.

....

Adrien Agreste had been having a rough week. He had been abandoned on patrol by ladybug, been broken up with by his girlfriend, and was feeling completely and utterly alone. He knows that his lady has been feeling overwhelmed by her guardian duties lately, and that he 100% deserved that verbal lasting that kagami had given him but he couldn't help but feel this way. He was also feeling guilty about lying to kagami and leading her on for so long. After she broke up with him he took some time to assess his feelings for her and realized that he had more of an admiration for her than an infatuation. He definitely didn't feel the same way about her that she felt about him. She told him that she LOVED HIM, and he was so distracted (blinded) by ladybug that he didn't even process her confession. So, he was looking forward to Sunday morning. He cleared his schedule and on that beautiful Sunday morning, he did what he is only allowed to do on very rare occasions: sleep in. Or at least... thats what he had planned on doing.

When Nathalie had knocked on his door that morning Adrien was not in a good mood. He vaguely heard her say something about father wanting him downstairs in some amount of time for something involving a business partners child and some other robotic sounding words that his half asleep brain couldn't process completely.

"I have a cleared schedule this morning, Nathalie. What could father possibly want me for that is more important than my precious sleep?" He asked snappily.

"Your father wants you downstairs to welcome the new guest that will be living in the house for the rest of the school year. You have 15 minutes to make yourself look presentable and I suggest leaving the attitude upstairs," she half informed/half reprimanded him. As she walked away, Adrien reluctantly rose from his nice warm bed and went to go get ready with only one thought racing through his mind: Who could possibly be staying with them?

....

Felix Culpa was not looking forward to living at the Agreste mansion for the rest of the school year, but for their parents' sake they would do what they had to. It wasn't all for their parents either, they were also concerned about the strange "dissapearance" of Emilie (who was his aunt in all ways except blood relation) and about the treatment of Adrien since said "disappearance".

You see, Felix Culpa is the heir to the Culpa Fabric Empire. The Culpas have been the sole fabric supplier of the Agreste brand since the very beginning. Felix's mom Diana was best friends with Emilie since their college days. Diana and Emilie made the deal with the two brands because as best friends who are both involved in the same industry, it just made sense to have a business relationship with each other. Diana never really cared for Gabriel as a person, but she could tell that he loved Emilie more than anyone else in the world so she could tolerate him for the sake of her best friend.

When Emilie went missing, Diana was absolutely devastated and tried anything she could to find her. She invested in missing person ads as large as billboards, organized search teams, tried to aid the police in their search for her in any way she could, but there was no leads, no legitimate calls to the number on the billboards, and the search team came up empty handed. While she was doing all of this to try to find her, she couldn't help but be furious over the fact that Gabriel was doing nothing to help in the search. All he did was hole himself up in his oversized mansion and call it a day.

The last straw for Diana was when Gabriel tried to use the "grieving my wife" excuse to try to abuse their business arrangement. That day, she told him that the Culpa brand would no longer be associated with the Agreste brand and that after the new collection is released, he would need to find a new fabric supplier. She knew that the Agreste brand would take a huge hit from having sub-par fabric, but she never thought that Gabriel would try to make up for that fact by using Adrien as a walking mannequin and locking him up in the desolate prison that he calls a home. As soon as she realized that he was doing this she scrambled to find a solution.

That is how Felix ended up here, standing in front of the mansion they would be living in for the next 9 months in exchange for Gabriel getting back into the Culpa brand's good graces. Don't get them wrong, they were excited about being able to be in Paris, home of the most innovative fashion pieces in the world, and about being able to see their honorary cousin Adrien (who wasn't half bad to be around despite him having no backbone whatsoever when it came to anything involving his father) but dealing with Mr. Agreste was definitely one of the low points of this arrangement.

They decided to just get it over with and knocked on the door. It was opened by the man that their cousin affectionately referred to as Gorilla. They nodded a thank you to the man, remembering that he was a man of few words, and proceeded to the bottom of the staircase. Mr. Agreste stood at the top with a very tired looking Adrien a few steps down. Felix wasn't even slightly surprised that this is where he chooses to welcome his guests, looking down on people must give him some sort of power trip or something. It's almost as if he heard the phrase "It's over, Anakin, I have the high ground," and made that his own personal motto. Whatever, let him have the feeling of false power if he wanted it, Felix knows that they have all the power in this situation and they're sure that Gabriel knows it as well.

"Hello Felix," Mr. Agreste greeted them with the same amount of warmth in his voice as liquid nitrogen, "while you are staying in this house you will abide by my rules. Adrien will inform you of them and show you to your room. You will attend school with him in the morning and I'm sure that you already know that you must represent not only the Culpa brand, but also the Agreste as well. I will be in my office working, do not disturb me. Contact Nathalie with any questions that cannot be answered by Adrien." He finished his spiel and left to what Felix assumed was his office space.

"Hello Felix!" Adrien greeted him with as much enthusiasm as he could muster in his sleepy state. "Come with me and I'll show you to your room."

Adrien led Felix to their room and listed all of the rules of the household that they were expected to follow. And... wow. Felix could not believe that their cousin had to live like this. The only social interaction this kid gets is at school and fencing? Pre-approved outings only with people determined socially acceptable by Gabriel? And if he gets even one "B" he isn't even going to be allowed to go to school at all? Felix knew that the living situation was bad for Adrien but know the only question running through their head was: What did they get themselves into??

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And... thats it for chapter 1! Mostly background info at this point, but next chapter will be the class' reaction to feralnette and felinette meeting for the first time. I just want to say thanks again to @bigfatbreak for giving me the inspiration to write a fic for the first time ever. Feel free to leave constructive criticism, I'm always looking to improve, especially at writing since this is my first time posting anything I've written online, so I want to get better so that I can make better content for you guys, gals, and non-binary pals. If anyone wants to be tagged just let me know and I'll make a tag list for ya. :)