#feminizing art DOES something to me

[fawnnpaws]

femming art what have u done to me...... completely demasculating him and then using his cock to make yourself cum I'm gonna go bonkers - his eyeshadow and mascara bleeding down his cheeks as you bounce in his lap hhhhhggughhgg

POPPY YEEWW GET ME

essentially making him a pretty doll for you to fuck aauurrr you do his makeup so pretty, pink blush and sparkly eyeshadow with lipstick to match, non-waterproof mascara that you bought specifically because you know it’ll run the second he gets teary eyed….. he’s such a crybaby you know it’ll be all over his pretty face almost as soon as it’s been put on. he wants to be good so bad, he lets you tie a pink ribbon bow around his neck and doesn’t complain when you take off the cute pink panties you’ve had on all day and tell him to put them on. how can he when he feels how damp they are with your slick, when he has proof of your arousal against his skin? his pretty cock drools all over them, his pre mixing with the essence of you until there’s a dark wet spot marring the baby pink fabric. his whole body flushes when you sit him down in front of your full length mirror with his back to your chest. you let your hands roam over his bare chest and stomach, the only thing covering him are your little panties, stretched taught against his straining dick. he tries not to look at himself but one of your hands grips his jaw and keeps his eyes forward.

“don’t be shy, baby, look how pretty you are.” you tell him, unashamedly groping his cock over the thin cotton with your other hand. “don’t you think i made you look pretty?”

he nods his head and his eyes nearly cross, but he keeps them focused for you. he has to be good. he needs you to tell him he’s good.

“say it for me, sweetheart. use your words like a big girl.”

“i- i’m pretty, you made me- made me look so pretty.” he’s getting lightheaded watching you touch him in the mirror. he squirms and tries to roll his hips into your hand. “fuck- fuckfuckfuck- can i have more? please? please! i’ll be so good- make you feel good!”

you lock eyes with him in the mirror and give him a smile that makes his stomach swoop. you shed the remainder of your clothes, then crawl around him and settle in his lap. he can feel the wetness from your bare pussy through his panties. “gonna make me feel good, huh? you gonna make me cum on this pretty angel dick?”

he looks up at you like you hung the moon and the stars just for him and you swear you see him start drooling. you pull his panties to the side and let his dick spring free. it bobs for just a moment before you’re lining yourself up and sinking down on it. poor art’s eyes roll back into his head so hard he thinks he might have blacked out for a moment. you waste no time chasing your own pleasure as you start bouncing yourself on him, the sound of your hips against his and his balls against your ass filling the room with a lewd plap plap plap plap. his breathing is uneven beneath you, a stream of little whimpers and choked out sobs are being ripped from his throat and tears are streaking down his face. his mascara runs in thick black lines down his pink cheeks and he’s leaning up to try to kiss you. you duck your head and bite his earlobe before you speak. “can’t kiss you, baby, we’ll ruin your pretty lipstick.”

he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and whines. he looks a mess. once pretty eyeshadow is now smeared and blends in with the ring of black melted mascara around his eyes, his cheeks are stained with remnants of highlighter darkened by thick black tear tracks and tears that are still falling.

“‘s already ruined! please please- kiss me, need you, ‘m ruined- you ruined me- please mommy-” his tears keep falling and his makeup keeps smearing, so you give him what he wants. you tongue his throat and he takes it eagerly, planting his feet on the floor to piston his hips up into you. even in his fucked out state, one of his hands finds your clit and it’s not long before he feels your pussy choking his dick as you crash over the edge.

“oh fuck yesyesyes— cum for mommy, babygirl, c’mon- give it to me, give it all to me,” you moan into his mouth and he follows your command, pumping you full of hot cum and clawing at your body to get you as close as possible. you stay intertwined and panting as you come down together. when his dick has softened you slide off of him, but stay hovering above his lap. you move the panties back over his dick and swipe two fingers inside of yourself to gather some of his cum, then sit back down on his lap to let the rest drip out and soak his panties even more. you grin and run your cum covered fingers over his lips. “there, new coat of lipstick for you, baby.”

his eyes flutter shut and he lets his body fall backwards, flat on the ground, as his dick kicks back to life and he says, “you’re fucking evil.”

he loves it though <33

[jrwiyuri]

My teacher said I should try making some of the symbolism in my art less obvious but like.. idk how? Or how that would benefit it?

[lune-redd]

Hello, it's Lelly.

As you may know, I have recently deactivated my Twitter account. A lot of people are speculating I left because I was being harassed for drawing my older depiction of Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls as chubby. However... that's not the direct reason I left. In fact, I didn't really see much of the comments of folks on there getting riled up about it as I muted the tweet the morning I saw that it blew up. I was only merely aware of it all by being told about it from friends, with there being some other users on the site making other really fuckin' stupid comments about my art.

This does however lead into why I actually left Twitter, and it's because of Twitter's overall toxic nature. Overtime, I've really gotten sick of how absolutely revolting Twitter has become to experience. The site is basically built around dunk culture and doom scrolling. You know that one tweet of someone making an example of Twitter's utter stupidity by using pancakes and waffles as an example?

I bring this up because I think this fits my point about how Twitter has this thing of assuming the absolute worst about the most insignificant things, even the most innocuous. The "Bubbles obesity" comments weren't the only stupid comments that came out of that post. I also got a quote retweet that I was "forcefully feminizing Buttercup", even though the whole fucking point of that drawing was to depict a usually tough character in an unusual situation for her. I have also gotten stupid comments on other drawings though, like the one where Mitch pushes Buttercup down for trying to look taller than she is and I got called a misogynist for it, though I'm pretty sure that one was bait (Twitter users have a tough time figuring out what is and isn't bait, it's dunk culture that I'm about to talk about really doesn't help this).

The site's dunk culture is also really fuckin' bad. Quote retweets are a disease, as unlike Tumblr's reblog comments, quote retweets count as a different post. Someone disagrees with you? Show your audience how stupid they are on your page! Hey, are you trying not to see the most abhorrent racist statement imaginable? Well TOO BAD FUCK YOU here's a le epic own giving them all the attention in the world even though one of the most common internet rules are DON'T FEED THE FUCKIN' TROLLS YOU IDIOT. Oh hey, are you trying to explain how you prefer a certain artistic choice over another in something you like? Well you're a deranged ungrateful whiny nitpicker, get owned!

I've seen so many of my friends be belittled for simply discussing their artistic preferences of things they're passionate about. I had a friend who said he prefers the original Crash Bandicoot design over his redesigned look in Crash 4, and had legitimate reasons for why he felt that way (even if he didn't really explain them clearly), and he got dunked for it which made me mad. I'm sick and tired of it all. The reaction to my art is only a mere example of the shit I despise about that site.

I had been planning on leaving Twitter for quite some time, as my follower count was growing nearer and nearer to 10K. I had planned on leaving after 10K followers because that amount was wayyyy too fuckin big for me to handle. I'm a young and growing lad, and I felt it wouldn't be good for my mental sanity to handle all that, so I dipped. The amount of attention I've been getting is simultaneously both wonderful and extremely overwhelming. Even the explosion of new followers and asks on here is quite the load! (Seriously, calm the fuck down y'all) I am very grateful for all the supportive asks I've gotten even though I won't be able to answer them all, thank you all so very much.

tl;dr I didn't leave Twitter because I was being harassed or anything, but rather because of the site's overall toxic and belittling environment.

Adios.

-Lelly

[befemininenow]

All those hormones, surgeries, document changes, and the rest of the pros and cons have paid off. All you see in the mirror is an alluring trans girl seductively painting her lips in front of her girlfriend. Gone are the days where you spent your life pleasing others and feeling miserable all the time, to the point of hating mirrors. In spite of all the hate you got for being yourself now, you're not backing down. You won, they lost, and you made that known by writing it in the bathroom mirror.

The party hasn't stopped; it's just getting started.

My very first post was about loving the girl in the mirror. To celebrate the one year milestone, I made a post about loving your feminine side. As a part of celebrating two years of captions, and to "finish" my 2D TG art caption "trilogy", I made this one: loving the woman out of you.

Even though this fabulous art is an extra pic from one of those forced feminization stories (something that may not resonate with some of you, I know), I really loved the art of this pic and it captures the seducing beauty of femininity. Of course, I captioned this pic with a twist and I loved the message of the caption since it goes well with the theme of the picture (even if it probably has nothing to do with the original).

Hope you love this caption and I'm happy you've been supportive of my captions from the beginning to now! I can't believe I actually hit two years now! If you loved the pic and want the original source, click on the highlighted links below. Thank you!

P.S. The art used for this pic does not belong to me. Digital art was created by DreamLN01 and commissioned by Nicegent42 for his story Girlfriend's Daughter. Original art used for the caption belongs to their perspective owners.

[genderqueerdykes]

Idk if this is the right place to go but I'm not quite sure where else to put this. I'm very sorry if it's not the right place!

As a trans guy, I just have to wonder just how bad my luck is with trans women blogs and my general interaction with trans women IRL???

I'm stating it now that every single person can be an asshole. No matter their gender. I know I'm just having severely bad luck. Trans girls are forever my sisters and I'll back them up if I need to.

But also, why am I only encountering trans women who unironically want to put trans men and trans masculine people's heads on a spike.

I've close genderqueer friends but never managed to become friends with a trans girl yet (I know a few I'm acquainted with, as an art student in college - trans people of all shapes and sizes are a dime a dozen here) because at some point the fact they fundementally hate trans men comes out into the open. It's scary. Why are we in-fighting? Why does my sheer existence hurt you? The cousin of my crush is a trans girl, and she threw such a fit when she heard her cousin was going to go on a date with me. Not that it matters, relationship didn't work out (we're great friends) but I had never talked to this woman!! Ever!!!! My crush just relayed to me at the time that she did not like me because they told her I was a trans guy!!!!!!!

Trans men who hurt them obviously should be held accountable. They're pieces of shit. Again: every gender can be a fucking asshole. But why generalize? Why would you suddenly ostracize me if I revealed myself as a trans guy to you instead of a butch woman when we've had nothing but pleasant conversations up until now?

I feel like I'm being oversensitive, or that I'm making a big issue out of something so minimal. But why are we in-fighting? Why? Why, why why???

you're not being over sensitive, this is a genuine problem right now and it's affecting people in real time. what people don't seem to care about is that this deeply hurts and affects the people who are being ostrasized. which is something people should care about

you're not imagining things or anything like that and your experiences are very important to be discussed. it is quite literally "the right thing to do" or "cool" or whatever to shit on trans men right now. like currently, in 2024, almost 2025, we are seeing now more than ever, people who proudly hate trans men. this is transphobia. people NEED to care. you're not alone in feeling this way. even i feel this way, and i'm an intersex trans wo/man. i shouldn't have to feel this way, i'm literally a trans woman and i'm made to feel weary about other trans girls suddenly hating me when they find out i'm also a trans man because gender is complicated and being intersex is a complex experience

people will gladly openly hate on trans men. we are now the sacrificial lamb. we are now the punching bag. for a while people really hated cis gay men. like really hated them. the "im twinkphobic" shit was literal overt homophobia and nobody cared. everyone was on board with hating cis gay men for one reason or another. a lot of people were calling feminine cis gay men transmisogynistic, or transfem eggs. now things have shifted and its trans men who are the big problem.

rad feminism is taking over large parts of our community and people refuse to talk about it. people are happily rad fems, and a lot of trans girls identify as transradfems, which is just about as transphobic as you can get. it's never progressive to hate someone for their gender. ever. it's always transphobia. i don't know how so many trans girls got it in their heads that rad feminism just needed to accept trans women and trans women only for it to be a good ideology. i've said it before, but the unfortunate truth is a lot of trans women are desperate to feel validated in their womanhood, and some see man-hating "lesbian" women as the most "woman" thing you can be, as it's the "direct opposite" to being a man. trans women will gladly walk down this path for the sake of gender euphoria and attacking trans men because they're taking someone else's gender personally.

it doesn't matter if you don't see trans men as trans- we are. trans men are trans. transgender, transsexual, transvestites- doesn't matter. trans men get called trannies, too. trans men get misgendered. trans men face corrective rape. it's seriously not cool to see trans men as "copying" trans women, or whatever. i've seen people claim that trans men are really just masculine girls, and that it's okay for women to dress masculine so we should just do that instead. i've seen people say that trans men literally aren't trans because who would want to transition into manhood? i've heard people say that trans men just transition to hurt people. i've heard that trans men aren't "real" trans people and "Aren't trustworthy" sources of information on trans experiences

it's ridiculous. people are completely blinded to what the real problem is. the real problem is the queerphobes above us. i'm with you: why are we infighting like this again? what's the point? the entire point of the queer community is to accept people who step outside of the cisheternormative panopticon we've invented and enforced. it's such a broad array of people. not all experiences will be the same. manhood is desireable, just like womanhood. manhood is not inherently toxic. it's not something everyone wants to escape.

i sincerely hope people wake up and start realizing this is doing nothing but helping conservatives, terfs and transphobes. it's not helping other trans girls. some trans women are also trans men. intersex trans women exist. multigender trans women exist. genderfluid trans women exist. some trans women are also men and we're shooting everyone in the foot by behaving this way.

like do people not realize there are trans women who are also men? you're alienating all of these women with all this man hating. you're not just hurting cishet and trans men here: you're hurting every possible group of person. not every trans woman despises the concept of manhood. wanting to transition out of manhood doesn't mean you have to hate or condemn it. manhood being bad for you doesn't mean it's bad for everyone else

i hope you start to feel better soon. you are more than welcome to come back any time, it's really pervasive right now, but we have to stick together and challenge it when we see it. we have to remind ourselves that this is absolutely unhinged entitled behavior that doesn't reflect how trans men are treated in the real world and how we operate and function. it's shitty but fortunately there are lots of trans women who are allies to trans men. it's a very vocal minority that hate trans men that badly

[nikalaeva]

And yet Feyre is the High Lady?

I already wrote - I don't hate Feyre. In ACOTAR she was a little bit silly and smug, but good character.

If you are reading this, you know Prythian's rules. Not me or you or anyone else, but the author wrote it. Wives/mates of the High Lords have a title Lady of the Court.

Now the question is - if Rhysand is a true feminist, why didn't he change laws for his darling Feyre? Then he could have said to Helion: "It is now the LAW of the Night Court that High Lord's wife is his equal." "Because I love her" is not something to reason your political decisions with. And one more question - why should the other High Lords call Feyre High Lady? Rhysand's decision has no legal force even in the Night Court, much less outside of it.

Why does Feyre need to be a High Lady, for SJM Rhysand's pride? What exactly does Feyre want to do that can't be done without "High Lady" title? Does Feyre want to change some laws or introduce new ones? Does she want to change the social hierarchy, democratize society or, maybe, prepare it for an absolute monarchy? She is not interested (and does not understand anything) in politics at all, but the title is important for politics. I doubt very much people would want a ruler who is only interested in art - not finances, not diplomacy, not domestic and foreign trade.

Charity work is not main duty of ruler.

Being able to read and write is not enough to control the Court's tax system and fight poverty. Feyre's fans would probably agree that people with same level of education would plan the country's budget or, idk, calculate their salaries and pays.

Banning service for fairies of the CoN 'cause you don't like them personally is illegal - they are also citizens of the NC.

Refusing to communicate with one of the High Lords 'cause he is your toxic ex is blatant political illiteracy.

Feyre's feelings don't matter on political arena. And the meeting of the High Lords is such a scandal, which proved - Feyre's title is a "mask" of feminism, just a check mark for "girl boss" trope. There is nothing but incompetence under it.

Update: oh yeah, all of Feyre's achievements after getting title are belong to fighting/war. And while we see the High Lords fighting on the front lines, their main job is to govern and support society, the citizens in peacetime, not only fight villains.

[bullet-prooflove]

Feminism: David Hale x Reader (Feat: Jax Teller)

Tagging: @kmc1989 @hatersaremymotivators @bennykk @kelpies-shed

Companion piece to Graffiti, Crime Wave, Distraction & Art School

Jax thinks that he was in love with you. The problem is you were bad for the club which meant you were bad for him so he cut you loose. It’s one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do.

Your crime?

Feminism.

You don’t like the way the club treats it’s women and you’re vocal about it, not just to him but to others too. It gets Clay’s back up which is why his President tells him to put you in your place.

“A quick slap will knock that shit right out of her.”  Clay tells him as he puffs on his cigar.

But Jax, he could never raise a hand to you so he does something worse, something  irredeemable. He offers you out to the boys, he makes it clear you’re fair game, free for a fuck. He does it because he knows you’ll never stand for it, that you’ll be out of the door as soon as you realise he’s betrayed you.

“She’s a firecracker when you get her started, pull her hair, choke her a little and she’ll be the sweetest gash you’ll ever have.”

The words taste like poison on his tongue as he looks at you over by the bar, talking to one of the croweaters. You have no idea what’s coming.

It’s Tig that takes a run at you, that puts your hand on his cock and tells you he knows exactly what you like. You almost twist his balls off before giving Jax a look of complete contempt. That’s the night he comes home to find a five foot dick spray painted across the front of his house and David Hale tucking you into the back of a cruiser because a neighbour called the cops.

“Look, don’t charge her.” He tells Hale because he knows it’s shit like this that will get you kicked out of art school and he can’t stand to be the man that shatters your dreams. “I deserved this.”

“I have no doubt about that.” Hale tells him as he jots something down in his notebook before slipping it into his pocket. “I’m just surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.”

He doesn’t see you again for a couple of months after that and that’s the way he likes it. He knuckles down, focuses on the club, fucks every woman that crosses his path. That’s how he learns to forget you, if he’s buried in pussy he’s not thinking about the woman who isn’t occupying his bed.

He doesn’t expect to see you on Main Street, he doesn’t expect it to be with Hale. He’s heard rumours that the Deputy Chief is seeing someone, that he’s got some prep in his step. It isn’t until now that he realises it’s you.

The two of you are outside the ice cream shop, waiting for the queue to die down. Hale’s arm is around your shoulders, his lips by your ear as he whispers something into it. You tip your head back and laugh and that sound, Christ it feels like his heart is being ripped right out of his chest.

It gets worse because there’s love there, real love. He can see it as clear as day. It’s in the way your fingertips chase along Hale’s jaw, your thumb brushing over his cheek. When you kiss him, it’s with a tenderness that the two of you never had and that’s when Jax realises that he’s fucked up. The man you’re in love with, he’s determined to bring down SAMCRO and there’s no way in hell Jax can ever let that happen.

Love David? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[amorbidcorvid]

Fibers in Fiction - A Silmarillion Writer’s Guide to Þerindë's Craft

It's the @silmarillionwritersguild's Meta Week, and I wanted to contribute my two special interests -- fiber art and Tolkien -- and my real world degree in Medieval European Women's History. So here's a essay with writing resources for Day 6 - apply real-world disciplines to Middle-earth.

Most of this I had sitting in the back of my head and do not have quality, academic sources for. Links are either to written or video resources, or to picture credits.

Intro

What is fiber art? My personal definition is the manipulation of some sort of fiber into something functional and/or beautiful. There are a few characters in Tolkien’s works that are associated with a fiber craft of some sort – Vairë the Weaver, Míriel Þerindë, and Arwen Undómiel come to mind the easiest. I've seen various fanworks that have Caranthir also be a needle-worker, but that's not canon the way these three women are. There's a lot to be said about the intersection between "women's work" and needlework and feminism, and Tolkien's inclusion of those patriarchal standards, but ... that's not this essay.

There’s a lot of methods and a lot of disciplines that can be put under the umbrella of fiber art. The purpose of this essay is to help fic writers expound on the process of a fiber craft using the correct terminology, gain an understanding of period(ish) appropriate tools/techniques, and the differences between some of the major forms of fiber arts.  

What is a fiber? 

Starting with the basics. A fiber is a material that is longer than it is wide and typically used in textiles or electronics. This is Tolkien’s world, we’re not worrying about electronics, so let’s turn to textile fibers. There are four main types of textile fibers: 

natural fibers - flax, hemp, cotton, jute

animal fibers - silk, wool, catgut (not made from cats), angora rabbit fur, goat hair (mohair, cashmere)

synthetic fibers. - polyester, acrylic, nylon, rayon

Metallic fibers - gold, silver, copper, mithril that have been formed into a very thin wire

Obviously, unless the Valar let Fëanor get into oil extraction, all those synthetic fibers are right out. Leatherwork does not count as a fiber art, since true leather is a processed animal skin. Cords can be cut from leather to act like string, but that’s not a true fiber. And don’t talk to me about pleather or vegan leather. That’s just plastic and it’s bad for the environment. 

Spin a Thread, Draw a Wire

For the three types of fiber that could be used in Arda, there are two methods to turn these materials into thread: drawing and spinning.

Drawing a wire: a small piece of metal is pulled through a device called a draw plate. A draw plate may have many holes through which the wire is pulled, each getting successively smaller and smaller until you reach the gauge (size) you desire. As you pull the wire through each smaller hole, the wire gets thinner and longer. Rinse and repeat until you have a wire of the desired thickness. If you’re combining a wire with some sort of flexible fiber (couching, weaving, etc, see below) it needs to be extremely thin in order to be flexible enough to bend with the fiber it’s attached to. 

You need a lubricant to ensure the wire doesn’t get stuck in the draw plate. Covering the wire in oil is a good way to go (this is called dry drawing. Wet drawing is when the draw plate and the wire are both submerged in oil as you work). Application of heat can make this process easier, but depending on the metal, you might not need very much. 

Gold, silver, and copper are all very soft metals in their purest form -- alloys will make them stronger, less malleable, and harder to draw. Mithril, given that it’s a fictional metal, I can’t confidently comment on, but it’s said to have been very malleable, so I would imagine that the same process for creating very thin wires would also work in the same way as it would for the other metals listed.

A spun thread is an assortment of individual fibers that have been twisted together to make a stronger unit. Natural, animal, and synthetic fibers can all be spun. 

Usually when we describe something as a thread, we’re talking about a spun fiber that is fine/thin and smooth enough for sewing or weaving applications. Spinning a thread involves taking a pile of washed and combed but loose fibers (a bundle of these is called a roving) and literally twisting it until it forms a thread. This can be done with a drop spindle or a spinning wheel. A drop spindle is the more mobile form of spinning, and simple enough that medieval families would often have children spin. With practice you could even do it while walking. Imagine, for a moment, Míriel Þerindë walking through Beleriand during the Great Journey, drop spindle in hand, making the thread she is known for. That’s some good stuff. I’m begging somebody to write this. 

Here’s some video tutorials on how to use a drop spindle and how to use a spinning wheel. I can’t explain it succinctly, and a visual is always a good tool. 

Plyed Threads Make a Yarn

Yarn is several threads counter-twisted around each other. Counter twisting is what holds the yarn’s structure. If the individual thread is twisted clockwise, the yarn must twist all those clockwise threads counterclockwise. The tension holds the shape of the yarn.

Yarns (usually made from an animal fiber like wool, goat, or angora) and twines (usually made from natural fibers like hemp or jute or cotton) are made the same way because they make the threads stronger and more durable than they would be as individual threads, but their material usually dictates how they’re used. Yarns are softer, better for knitting or crochet or weaving. Twines and cords tend to be rougher, better for securing things to other things, for outdoor use, or … you know. The things they do in Angband.

Weaving a fabric

So you’ve got your thread and/or yarn. Now what? Well, you can dye it now (see next section), you can start knitting a garment (you need good socks on the Helcaraxë), or you can start weaving a fabric. Fabric has two components, both made by individual threads in sequence. The warp is generally static, and the vertical thread in most diagrams, including the ones I’m including here. The weft is the thread that passes back and forth horizontally. You can have the weft go over/under/over/under like this diagram (this is called a plain weave) or you can have the weft skip over a number of warp threads to create a pattern or a texture (satin or twill or denim weaves skip warp threads). The pattern depends on which warp threads get lifted or lowered with each pass of the weft, which is typically attached to a shuttle that glides through the shed. 

Weaving requires a loom, but that loom can come in various form-factors. A backstrap loom maintains tension in the warp by the position of the weaver, who has a strap attached to the loom going around her back while she manipulates the weft in front of her. This was, and still is, commonly used in native South American communities.

Early medieval Europe typically used a warp-weighted loom, where the warp threads were tied to a loom weight that dangled off the back of the loom frame. This was replaced later with the horizontal loom, which included the invention of heddles (loops that lifted warp threads in sequence to make a shed (opening) so as to make a pattern) and treadles (foot pedals that control the heddles). 

Later, the horizontal loom gets mechanized, and somehow we got computer programs out of Jacquard looms. Fascinating, but not relevant here. 

One of my favorite types of weaving is tablet weaving, which instead of heddles or treadles to form the shed, uses square cards. Four threads go through the corners of the cards to form alternating sheds that can form complex patterns. Tablet weaving is great for decorative trim and edges. You can use a backstrap method, a warp weighted method, or an inkle loom to create tablet woven articles. This video is a gorgeous introduction, but a bit long. 

What about Vairë’s tapestries, I hear you cry out into the Void? See below :) 

Add a splash of color, become ungovernable 

Color! The world can create rainbows, and we’ve been trying to make thread to match for ages. Luckily you can make most colors with natural dyes. Purple is the hardest color to get with a natural dye, along with blacks; yellows and reds and browns are easiest.

You have to prepare your dye (usually taking some natural material (onion, cochineal insects, gallnuts, walnuts, marigold flowers, woad, madder, whatever you have) and your thread/yarn/fabric separately before combining them with heat. 

Prepping your dye depends on the material you’re using. Sometimes it’s just an overnight soak in a pot, sometimes it’s crushing beetle carcasses into a fine powder, sometimes it’s boiling. I leave it to you, friend, to research the exact color you’re looking to make with a natural dye and how to get that, but this chart might be a good start. 

Most thread/yarn/fabric needs a mordant. Mordant is a dye fixative. After all that work making the fabric, you don’t want that gorgeous Fëanorian red (madder root) to come out in the wash water, right? Mordants are acids that can be found naturally, either by processing some plant materials to create tannic acid (oak trees and oak galls) or oxalic acid (wood sorrels), or by working a chemical process using alum, chrome alum, or sodium chloride, or ammonia (stale urine was commonly used before modern chemical processes). Mordants stink to Angband and back, so historically dyers would be outside town or in their own district as to not offend everyone elses noses. 

You can get a richer, more saturated color by overdyeing – dying twice or even three times. Dyes are hard to color match; each batch is going to have its own variables (weather, temperature, concentration of the dye, concentration of the mordant, quality of the fiber, etc). 

I’ve found this website that goes into a lot more detail. I’m not affiliated with them, but it’s a good starting point.  

Tools

A non-exhaustive list of standard tools a fiber artist may use and material it could be/typically is made of: 

Thread, yarn, or fabric (described above)

Scissors/shears (metal)

Sharp sewing needle in various sizes (bone or metal)

Blunt needle in various sizes (sometimes called a tapestry needle, bone or metal)

Spindle (wood)

Loom in various sizes (wood, wire, thread)

Shuttle (wood)

Knitting needles (bone, wood, or metal)

Nalbinding needle (bone, metal) (nalbinding is a cousin of knitting and crochet, good for hats and socks)

Crochet hook (bone, metal, wood)

Bobbin (wood, bone)

Lace pins (metal)

Lace pillow (fabric)

Embroidery hoop (wood)

Embroidery frame (scroll frame, slate frame, wood)

Embroidery stand (wood, metal)

Thimble (leather, metal)

Fiber Crafts seen in the Legendarium 

Tapestry Weaving

Tapestry weaving is different than standard weaving, because the weft does not go across the entire length of the working area in a shuttle. Tapestry weaving typically uses many, many bobbins or needles of colored thread worked in a plain weave in small areas to make an image. In medieval Europe, tapestries would be used as a form of insulation, to keep the cold out, and as a status symbol. (All I’m saying is, give Himring more tapestries, and maybe the Ever-Cold fortress would be a bit more homey). Here’s this article from the Metropolitan Museum of Art about tapestries, and here’s a video about the making of large scale tapestries, which is the technique I imagine Vairë and Míriel use for the Halls.

Embroidery

Embroidery is the practice of taking individual colored threads (usually cotton, wool, or silk) and sewing them into a ground fabric to decorate that fabric with a design of some sort. There’s SO MANY ways to embroider things. Cross stitch, which is what your author started out doing, uses stitched squares on a grid to effectively make pixel art with thread. You can do blackwork (which doesn’t necessarily need a black thread) which makes a repeating pattern on a grid but doesn’t make squares. Or there’s more freeform embroidery which lots of people use for natural scenes (flowers especially) but can be used for portraits, landscapes, silly sayings – the world is your oyster. The Royal School of Needlework in the UK has a Stitch Bank which documents how to accomplish many, many, many kinds of stitches. 

I’m going to highlight a few stitches that absolutely should be in your writing toolkit if you are working with a character doing embroidery. I’m not going to describe every stitch, but knowing what a stitch is called is half the battle. Okay, maybe a quarter of it, you still have to either do it, or write a good description of doing it, which may be the other 3/4ths of the battle.

Satin Stitch - a good, all purpose filler. Made by stitching parallel lines of thread. Uses a lot of thread, since you should be bringing your needle up through the ground on the same side of the thing you’re trying to fill every time. 

Couching - another good, all purpose filler. Made by laying thread or wire flat on the ground fabric, then taking another thread (close in color or not, depends on the vibe) and stitching it down in place securely. This is the main filling stitch in the Bayeux Tapestry (not a true tapestry, it’s just a really big embroidery) and undoubtedly how Arwen made part of Aragorn’s banner with mithril wire. 

Straight stitch - makes a dashed line

Back stitch - makes a solid straight line

Stem stitch - makes a solid straight line that can easily curve

Chain stitch - good filler, makes interlocking loops

Daisy stitch - a chain stitch that doesn’t interlock the loops, but stitches down the loop so it doesn’t move. Makes good simple flowers

French knots - tiny filler, lots of good texture. Tiny knots made by wrapping the thread around your needle.

Stump work - 3D effects for ages. Want flowers or leaves to literally jump off the ground fabric? Stump work is your friend, and my personal nemesis. 

Conclusion

Knowing the terminology of a craft is integral to learning more about it, and writing it accurately. My hope with this resource is that you might have learned a new term or two, or gotten a few new resources to use in your writing. Even better if this is something you don’t know a lot about, or have never given much thought to, then I hope you’ve learned something valuable here. 

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

one thing that bugs me about atla's feminism is that it kind of does that thing where it encourages women to break roles but still treats the traditionally feminine thing as inferior. like women should learn to fight but there's no corrollary of men should learn to heal, even though that would fit really well with aang's struggle to maintain his peaceful values in a war-torn world. he'd love to learn water-healing! this is a spot where i could genuinely see a new adaptation improving the show, whether by adding an arc of aang learning or even just a background shot of men joining water-healing classes.

but natla somehow did this worse. when water-healing is first introduced in atla, it's as an impressive new power that great benders have, and it feels emotionally significant, as a metaphor for the ability to heal from the fire nation's damage or for being able to heal and forgive a friend who hurt you unintentionally. but in natla, katara gets bait-and-switched, thinks yagoda's just another waterbending master with more openings or something and is kinda interested in healing for .2 seconds before being pissed that that's all she's expected to do. healing is just a thing that waterbenders can do, a magic power, there's no meaning behind it. in the original, katara and the audience see water healing as a cool impressive ability before learning how it's perceived, and it's pakku who tells her that and pakku who she rages at, not yagoda. when she's kicked out of pakku's class and goes into yagoda's class she looks at all the women and girls in the class and we see some conflicted feelings on her face, like she wants to learn fighting but she doesn't want to be disrespectful to these kind women offering to teach her a sacred art of her culture. part of the injustice is that we the audience know water-healing is a great power and don't think it should be seen as lesser. pakku says women are forbidden from learning waterbending and then says that women learn to use their bending to heal - does he think that's not real bending? what an asshole!

and then katara's healing abilities are crucial to two of the show's biggest episodes. we see how wrong it is to treat it as a lesser ability. in fact, we consistantly see non-violent uses of bending (e.g. healing, seismic sense, lightning redirection) portrayed as incredible and special powers, because it's an anti-war show with a pacifist protagonist who ends up refusing to fight on the terms of his oppressors, who refuses to abandon his beliefs and give into violence. that's a major part of the show.

but in natla, all the women abandon the healing huts to fight in the battle - despite nothing showing that they've been trained in fighting, and as if healing doesn't matter on a goddamn battlefield. as if healing doesn't matter period. atla wasn't perfect on this front but at least it established that this non-violent and viewed-as-feminine ability was valuable and powerful and not something to be thrown aside for violence

[allastoredeer]

Aren't you guys kinda over feminizing Alastor a little bit????? like I get it that we want him to sub/bottom, but aren't you guys doing the same thing you hate that people do with Lucifer???? Like Alastor to me would never wear a dress? unless like he's joking or something??

....Alastor wore a nun outfit....out of the two, he's canonically worn a dress.

If you're going just by the show--no headcanons, no fanon, no tropes, no fan-art--Alastor has exhibited more fem-like qualities, has acted more feminine, than Lucifer ever has. I'd go as far to say that Lucifer is actually pretty masculine in the show, he just happens to have a pretty face.

And I mean, we don't know if Lucifer would wear a dress either. He's only ever worn pants, shirt, and a jacket, we have no evidence that he would wear a dress. But people like to put him in them anyway because of ✨vibes✨ - which I totally get. Vibes are important. It's not like I don't think Lucifer wouldn't wear a dress. I totally think he would and he'd rock it.

As for Alastor only ever wearing a dress for a joke, I definitely agree, but I think that guy would do anything for the bit. He'll do whatever it takes to get the last laugh. He trolls for the sake of trolling. He's a menace. But it's not like he wore the nun outfit as a joke, it was more of a manipulation tactic when you think about it. He's as faithful as a nun 🙏 see how faithful he is, Charlie? He'll never lead you astray.

I love Alastor's masculine and feminine sides. He does both so well. If I have been leaning more into feminine Alastor recently, well, it could be on account that I haven't come across a lot of content of him being feminine, and make the content you wanna see, right?

But thing is, I don't think we have been over-feminizing Alastor, at least not to the extent that Lucifer has been feminized, in my opinion. I mean, Lucifer has been feminized to the point that he's--in some cases, not in all cases--unrecognizable from the show. Whereas with Alastor, at most, I've been posting gifs from the show of him being his girlypop self. Something's not mathing, because it's not adding up. These two things feel very different.

Tell me if I'm wrong, cuz I very well might be, but I'm getting the vibes that this is going back to Alastor's ego being the reason he wouldn't wear or act in a specific way.

I just don't see how his ego would stop him from wearing a dress. It's not like he has anything against feminine clothes or attributes, nor do we have any evidence at all that he would be against it. If anything, I get the vibes that he appreciates and respects femininity more than masculinity. I don't see why he would be against being in a dress, or appearing feminine, when he's done both in the show.

It smells of misogyny. My boy is many things, but a misogynist he ain't.

[blackangelism]

Dear Nobody’s Daughter, to Live Through This, you scrape off your Celebrity Skin; you know full well that you’re Pretty On The Inside...

HOW TO GET INTO HOLE?

• Angel Dust guides: I.

Aimed at @elexnorislingtxn and whomever wants to get into Hole...

HOLE is an American nineties’s kinderwhore band with a turbulent line-up and pure chaotic gold for music yet overshadowed by the controversial image of the lead singer and frontwoman of the band, Courtney Love. A staple in the grunge scene, the critically acclaimed sophomore record Live Through This of 1994 marked a peak in Hole’s career although the band was gaining audience for their 1991 debut: Pretty On The Inside. Celebrity Skin, the 1998 album, proved Hole’s peak which was rightly concluded by 2010’s Nobody’s Daughter thus finishing the legacy of Hole.

...In my very humble opinion, Courtney Love is a cunt. And, I love her music.

DO TRY Hole if you are into: Jack Off Jill, Bratmobile, Nirvana, Babes In Toyland, L7, Veruca Salt, Mommy Long Legs, Bikini Kill, Lunachicks, et cetera. Or, if you’d like to try something dolly and chaotic with an edge of feminism and aggression. I promise, listening to Hole makes you feel like a doll.

DO NOT TRY Hole if you’re a filthy misogynist who can’t stand the fact that the wife of a popular artist does in fact make good music on her own.

Yes, Courtney Love is a cunt, but she makes good music. Seperate the artist from the art.

If you’re still present here, welcome! Now, moving onto the actual guide...

FIRSTLY, I think to decode this, we’d have to learn about the albums individually. Of course, I’m going to leave my recommendation for listening, but to best suit yourself, you can find your own way around with the descriptions I give for each of these albums...

“ PRETTY ON THE INSIDE ”

Slut-kiss girl... PRETTY ON THE INSIDE of 1991 is about beauty, which is the life as a sex-worker about Courtney Love’s time as a sex-worker. It includes Courtney Love on vocals and rhythm guitar, Eric Erlandson on lead guitar, Jill Emery on bass, Caroline Rue on drums, produced by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and Don Fleming of Gumball.

tracklist. TEENAGE WHORE, BABYDOLL, GARBADGE MAN, SASSY, GOOD SISTER—BAD SISTER, MRS. JONES, BERRY, LOADED, STARBELLY, PRETTY ON THE INSIDE, CLOUDS.

IF YOU WANT... angry, chaotic, messy and sloppily mixed music that is very heady and makes you feel like a doll, listen to this album first.

Blending elements of punk rock, the album features distorted and alternating guitar compositions, screaming vocals from Love, and “sloppy punk ethics”, a style which the band would later distance themselves from, opting for a less abrasive sound on subsequent releases. Love’s lyrics on the album are often presented in an abstract narrative form, and describe disparate scenes of graphic violence, death, and female sexuality. The record was dedicated to Rob Ritter of the Los Angeles punk rock acts the Bags and The Gun Club. [< source, wikipedia.

If you want a more refined yet more depressed version of this album, migrate to Live Through This after; if you want a more refined and self-assured, slightly sarcastic but honest record after this listen, go to Celebrity Skin.

FUN FACT: the song BABYDOLL is allegedly inspired by Madonna.

“ LIVE THROUGH THIS ”

Miss Worlds... LIVE THROUGH THIS of 1994 is about the changes that come with marriage and motherhood, themes mainly being motherhood, body image, depression, child abuse and elitism. It includes Courtney Love on vocals and rhythm guitar, Eric Erlandson on lead guitar, Kristen Pfaff on bass, Patty Schemel on drums, produced by Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade.

tracklist. VIOLET, MISS WORLD, PLUMP, ASKING FOR IT, JENNIFER’S BODY, DOLL PARTS, CREDIT IN A STRAIGHT WORLD, SOFTER, SOFTEST, SHE WALKS ON ME, I THINK THAT I WOULD DIE, GUTLESS, ROCK STAR.

IF YOU WANT... a tragic and softly edgy listen with a harsh sensibility and pure womanly depression scrawled all over, listen to this album first.

Live Through This marked a departure from the band’s noise rock roots toward a more alternative rock format. Love had sought a more mellow sound for Live Through This. The resulting music was starkly less aggressive than the band's former work, blending more structured melodies and smoother arrangements with heavy guitar riffs. Consequently, this featured a mixture of songwriting techniques, including use of power chords as well as arpeggios, and occasional use of keyboards. [< source, wikipedia.

If you want a tougher, rawer, more journal-entry music than this, migrate to Pretty On The Inside; if you want a more refined and self-assured, slightly sarcastic but honest record after this listen, go to Celebrity Skin.

FUN FACT: Courtney Love’s late husband Kurt Cobain does backing vocals on ASKING FOR IT.

“ CELEBRITY SKIN ”

Petals... CELEBRITY SKIN of 1998 is about the lost people, the more opulent Los Angeles and Californian culture, about the promises and agonies of Southern California; it was aimed to divulge greatly from the grunge sound of before. It includes Courtney Love on vocals and rhythm guitar, Eric Erlandson on lead guitar, Melissa Auf der Maur on bass, Patty Schemel on drums, produced by Michael Beinhorn.

tracklist. CELEBRITY SKIN, AWFUL, HIT SO HARD, MALIBU, REASONS TO BE BEAUTIFUL, DYING, USE ONCE & DESTROY, NORTHERN STAR, BOYS ON THE RADIO, HEAVEN TONIGHT, PLAYING YOUR SONGS, PETALS.

IF YOU WANT... a rock-fueled pop sound with many lyrics that are references and have layered meanings, a comforting almost listen, listen to this album first.

The band sought to use Los Angeles and the state of California as a unifying theme and began writing what they conceived as a “California album” in 1997. Unlike Hole's previous releases, the final songs on Celebrity Skin featured instrumental contributions from several musicians outside the band, primarily Billy Corgan, who co-wrote the musical arrangements on five songs. Auf der Maur's former bandmate Jordon Zadorozny, as well as Go-Go's guitarist Charlotte Caffey, also contributed to the composition of one track. Frontwoman Courtney Love, who wrote all of the lyrics, named the album and its title track after a poem she had written that was influenced by T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land. Motifs of water and drowning are also prominent throughout the album, as well as recurring themes of angels, Heaven and stars. [< source, wikipedia.

If you want a tougher, rawer, more journal-entry music than this, migrate to Pretty On The Inside; if you want a grungier yet more depressed version of this album, migrate to Live Through This after.

FUN FACT: Love clarified that she had derived the album name from a short-lived band in Los Angeles named Celebrity Skin, as well as a bootleg pornographic magazine featuring nude candid photos of celebrities.

“ NOBODY’S DAUGHTER ”

Dirty Girls... NOBODY’S DAUGHTER of 2010 is about the time of rehabilitation that Courtney Love went through after a long cocaine addiction and legal troubles following that, written in rehabilitation; about feeling lost, confused. It was supposed to be a solo album of Love’s, but was made to be Hole’s last album after their 2002 dissolution. It includes Courtney Love on vocals and rhythm guitar, Micko Larkin on lead guitar, Shawn Dailey on bass, Stu Fisher on drums, produced by Michael Beinhorn, Micko Larkin, and Linda Perry.

tracklist. NOBODY’S DAUGHTER, SKINNY LITTLE BITCH, HONEY, PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, SAMANTHA, SOMEONE ELSE’S BED, FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, LETTER TO GOD, LOSER DUST, HOW DIRTY GIRLS GET CLEAN, NEVER GO HUNGRY.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM VERY FIRSTLY, but, IF YOU WANT... a polished and the most mainstream-sounding of the four albums, sad, confused, lost record written during rehabilitation, this is your key.

Before the album’s release, former Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson publicly disputed Love’s use of the Hole name, claiming it violated a previous agreement between the two, which Love contested. On its release, Nobody’s Daughter received generally mixed reviews from music critics, with some praising its instrumentation and lyrics, while others criticized it for its folk rock elements as well as production issues and Love’s vocals. Despite this, Love said in 2010 that she considered it the best record she had made. [< source, wikipedia.

If you want a tougher, rawer, more journal-entry music than this, migrate to Pretty On The Inside; if you want a grungier yet more depressed version of this album, migrate to Live Through This after; if you want a similar but more scattered listen, to Celebrity Skin.

FUN FACT: The painting on the cover is of Marie Antoinette and the tracklist page has the edited background of a painting of Anne Boleyn.

MY RECOMMENDED PATHWAYS...

Lastly...

HOLE is a kinderwhore band, which is minutely distinct from riot grrrl. And, Courtney Love has a lot of beef with, to be honest, mostly everyone. So, yeah... For example, Babes In Toyland, a band often mentioned in the same vein as Hole, has their frontwoman, Kat Bjelland, in hatred with Love. I do not recommend looking up to these people as people, but please do try their music.

Die, cry, adore Hole.

FUN FACT: My favourite Hole album is Pretty On The Inside!

Dear Nobody’s Daughter, to Live Through This, you scrape off your Celebrity Skin; you know full well that you’re Pretty On The Inside...

DID YOU GET INTO HOLE?

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Why can’t these people understand that it actually seems like Kate has never let her title and position define her? Without William, who is Kate? A woman who loves children, art, fashion, photography, sports, among other things. Yes, she came to the world’s consciousness because of who she married but why would that matter if she was never in it for the fame and popularity in the first place? If they were in it for love, does it really matter that she wasn’t already a famous somebody before William? She met a dude, fell in love, married the dude who happened to be a prince. This “she was already an actress” narrative really is just a big deal to these people because they are focused on fame and popularity, and why? Because their idol is too, which proves your original point.

I can’t claim to know Kate’s innermost thoughts, but with how she has handled her private and public lives, one can theorize that it actually seems like she chose this life more because of the private life she envisioned with William more than anything else. And anyway, as I said, even without William, Kate has proven herself to be a woman of many talents.

This is one of the reasons the portrayal of her and Carole Middleton on The Crown pissed me off. They made it seem like Carole patterned Kate’s gap year activities from William’s gap year activities. They even said it in a dialogue that William was supposed to go to Florence too for an art-related thing and that was the reason Kate went to Florence. But there was no record that William ever planned to go to Florence for his gap year. The art thing was completely Kate’s thing, and that very thing is actually proof that she really was just doing her own thing that year. But alas even that detail, they used it to suit their narrative.

Is it just me or there seems to be a weird kind of misogyny towards Kate where the people who act all high and mighty and like to scoff at her for being a female consort (implying there’s something backwards about that) are the very people who are actually really misogynistic towards her and refuse to see her for the wonderful, talented, strong, and intelligent woman that she is? They act like she has no voice or she doesn’t know how to use her voice but the truth is they just aren’t listening.

It's not just misogyny. It's also "feminism" - people who can't understand that a woman would be more fulfilled from her marriage, raising a family, and having happy, well-adjusted, thriving children than having a career.

[velvetvexations]

Oh btw about predatorjacketing and kinkshaming trans people;

This is generally going on among modern fandoms and among young queer and trans adults outside of just transfems.

I've seen plenty of non-transfeminine nonbinary and transmasculine folk get hunted down and harassed over cartoon porn they draw. I don't know in detail if it's more frequent or violent towards transfeminine folk (it could be, - given how mainstream transmisogyny relates to the gay or gnc men as predators myth).

I'm transmasc and I don't have a NSFW art platform at all because I'm THAT scared of people finding it, associating it with my mains and then slandering me over it. I can not find community around my kinks etc. because I feel unsafe to discuss that with the vast majority of people. And yes, my transness is a factor. I always feel that it if I was a feminine cis woman I would be seen as cute and innocent. I have a very deep instinctive feeling that my transness to many people represents a sexual threat and that it's easier to demonize me over kinks bcs I stick out too much etc.

Even in a women's changing room I feel that my masculinity is in this stark direct contrast with most people I share that space with, - that I have to be really careful of how I move, where I look and how I come across. I have felt for my whole life, even when being a fem presenting teen, that I am clocked as a boy thing that doesn't belong there. Now on T, with boobs... I also have to avoid talking in those changing rooms. In the company of really fem presenting cis women I feel socially and culturally hypersexualized for my deviant masculinity, for being an apparent dyke in the midst of women. I have cptsd from being around feminine people because of how othered I am + some experiences of being subtly ruled out of the Girls TM club.

Being a sexual being with my kinds of sexual interests while having this experience as a transmasculine person is something quite vulnerable and difficult to fully become confident in and love oneself about. I think transandrophobia and transmisogyny have that whole "you're a predatory impostor among women" thing and "you emasculate straight cis men by existing" thing in common... Just from a slightly diff. angle but there's so much similiarity.

A lot of the chronic policing between transmasc people over kink and sexuality is actually a result of internalizing the idea that we are dirty masculine predators. There is a high social pressure to be cute, feminized, sanitized and say "PROSHIT DNI >:/" because transmascs have an instinctive self-awareness of how we're easily thrown to the wolves when our gender-nonconformity or sexuality is no longer cute and Christian Values Friendly enough.

Being terrified to death about some kind of predatorjacketing over writing fanfic or drawing weird cartoon porn isn't exclusive to transfems. Any transmasc person encaging in fandom or any online art subcultures is waaayyy too intimately aware of this fact 24/7.

Oh and? Transmasc people with feminine partners who are tops / encage in some kind of roleplay where they're in the 'aggressing' role are extremely stigmatized too. I see people instantly write this off as toxic masculinity or inherently gross because a transmasc does it.

A lot of transmascs (speaking from experience) who actually prefer these "scary" roles in fantasy etc., feel social pressure to over-emphasize how bottom uwu sluts we are. I've recently stopped doing this because I realized it makes me dysphoric + I only do it to make my sexuality more palatable to other people. And I see so many transmascs as like... Having to reduce themselves to these cute slut boytoys. While I fully believe this is the authenthic preference of many of them, I think as a transmasc there is a strong social pressure to be /that way/ because being seen as Gross Threatening Men is like a social death sentence.

(there's a lot of good discussion about everything on this blog btw and I love to read it. I just wanted to add 2 cents to the anti kink vs trans people discussion.)

I don't think there's any difference literally at all between how transfem and transmasc sexuality is "handled" by the internet. People have it in their head that everything is an exact 1-1 of everything else so the fact that a trans woman is more likely to be visibly tagged as a pervert just for walking down the street (transmasc members of Velvet Nation please let me know if that's inaccurate) gets transferred to the internet as though everyone treats trans men who have being trans in their bio as the first thing everyone sees as cis men.

At most TERFs might report trans women more often and I don't want to downplay the seriousness of that but get fucking real if one doesn't think trans men aren't under constant scrutiny.

[ravenelyx]

Since I dont think it'll be ready tonight, here's a work in progress <3

Arranged Heartbreak - Sebastian Sallow x Fem! Reader

(not edited yet)

Taglist is open

This is now finished so:

LINK TO THE COMPLETE FF

The first time Sebastian truly realised his feelings for her was during their sixth year.

He sat in the dorm with Ominis, the latter immersed in yet another book about feminism: the only books he had read since the disagreement.

Not that he had much choice, because as soon as Sebastian noticed the pages running short in the blond’s alabaster hand, he would go and fetch him yet another book from the same section.

“Do it for me.” The brunet always said, and Ominis had no idea what exactly that did for him.

Nor did he know if the world-weary sighs coming from his fellow Slytherin were directed at how slowly he was reading this last book or at something else entirely.

“What’s got your wand in a knot?” He finally asked, putting his own red-glowing-and-not-in-a-knot wand down and closing the book.

“Nothing.” Said the other boy nonchalantly, as if his suspires hadn’t become gradually louder in an attempt to annoy the blond enough to make him pay attention to him.

“Is it her?”

Ah, of course he knew.

“No.”

But Ominis knew exactly what he was getting at, and frankly was done with his antics, so he decided to ignore him again.

Sebastian’s eye twitched at the silence, until he let out a loud groan. “Fine. Yes.” He yielded, letting his hands fall loudly on the mattress for good measure. “It’s her.”

“What about it?” The Gaunt boy asked tiredly, expecting Sebastian to go on a tangent on how she had bested him at Defence Against the Dark Arts again. But Sebastian’s mind was too preoccupied to care about his reputation as the best duellist in the school.

“I want to court her.”

Ominis stopped in his tracks, his pearly eyes widening as his friend’s words sank in.

"You... you want to court her?" he asked, his heart skipping a beat.

Of course, he knew that the Sallow boy had shown some… softness around the new student. And that he seemed to think of her with higher regard than others. But never would he have imagined the words ‘Sebastian Sallow’ and ‘courting’ in the same sentence — unless he thought of him as best-man for his sister Anne.

Still, despite the seemingly distressed state of his friend, he couldn’t help but tease him as good mates usually do. "After seeing how you two interact, she'd chew you up and spit you out, then curse you for not having done better. Still, I suppose it's the thought that counts.” He said with a smile in his voice. “I won't dissuade you from pursuing her... just maybe think twice before you do, alright?"

"Well... thank you, it's good to know you have my back." Sebastian scoffed sarcastically. "Are you sure you're not trying to dissuade me from having her so you could woo her yourself? I thought I had your blessing.”

Ominis couldn't help but give an amused laugh at his statement. "Not even I can play that dirty, Sebastian. If that's what you want, I won't stop you; I'm just warning you not to set your heart on it if you can't handle the rejection. Not only is she beautiful, according to your words, but she's smart and quick-witted, too: not an easy combination to win over."

“If my attempts at romancing her are anything like your attempts at getting her forgiveness, then I’ll surely be sporting that rejection soon.” Sebastian sighed loudly once more. “What should I do? Should I buy her flowers? Chocolate?”

“Flowers usually do the trick,” Ominis replied thoughtfully. “Perhaps you could get her something sweet as well.”

"But... But what are her favourite flowers? Or worse, what if she doesn't like flowers, or chocolate for that matter? What if she prefers white chocolate and I get her milk chocolate?" Sebastian was clearly starting to panic, and Ominis’ lungs couldn’t help but replicate those weary sighs, too.

"Does anyone really dislike flowers?" Ominis asked rhetorically. "I'm sure even if they're not her favourite, it'll show you're putting in effort. As for chocolate, I'm sure she'll forgive a little mistake. Just pick the best you can afford, and you'll do just fine. But," he added, a smile returning to his face, "you should try to get to know her tastes a little better first before you bring her any kind of gift. Have you not learnt anything during all this time you've been friends?"

“We don’t usually talk about flowers.” Sebastian replied indignantly.

“Right, right. You’re more keen on blasting each other to pieces in a duel. Both mental and physical.”

Sebastian smiled fondly.

“Or, to be precise, she blasts you.” Ominis added, amused.

Sebastian’s smile disappeared.

[spectordameron]

sorry you had to see that poll nym 😭 people are so weird about the sequels still

Ten years (nearly) after they started and five after they ended, and people are less normal about them still than I, resident "very not normal about the sequels" nerd.

A lot of the reasonings I saw for "why it hates women", too, just have me even more bewildered and frustrated. I feel like so much of this fandom's misogyny has completely clouded its perception of what the films actually were. And that's not to say the sequels are entirely flawless, though I feel this is an obvious statement that needn't be stated because no piece of media is without flaw, but this is the piss on the poor website, but I feel like a lot of the fandom's sexism just winds up skewering what the sequels really are- and it's a three movie narrative centered around Leia and Rey.

Oh yeah, bells and whistles of the tragedies of Han and Luke and Ben, but ultimately it comes down to Leia and Rey; it's a story of finding Leia's brother to bring him back to her. It's a story of trying (and failing, but trying again) to bring her son back to her. It's about people fighting in Leia's name. The Last Jedi novelization has D'Acy speaking her name with reverence, and Leia striding through the hanger is enough to immediately cease the division that rose up between the Resistance and Holdo's crew. It is in Leia's name that the galaxy pulls together to overthrow tyranny; it is Leia's legacy that Poe and Rey find themselves trying to carry, respectively. It's closure Leia deserved, with Vader, that Rey finds for herself by defeating Palpatine and rejecting his bloodline to choose her own family.

No, Leia doesn't have a big presence in the sequels; but she does drive them. She inspires everyone in the films, and it's a desire to do her and her legacy right that motivates nearly every other character. Leia is the symbol of the Resistance, of the Light, of hope in the films, and she can't even see it herself! But everyone else does.

So, quite. Leia is in a coma for most of The Last Jedi (oh no! The horror! She's now disabled! how completely sexist, as we know disabled women don't exist!), but she drives so much of it narratively.

And this concept that "some of the women antagonists are cruel, so it hates women" is absolutely mind-boggling to me? Of course Phasma is horrible, she's a fascist. And I don't take Holdo as a girlboss we're supposed to 100% believe is a perfect angel who does no wrong, when she represents so much of the elitism that the movie is so critical towards (she stands regally above the rest of the Resistance in fancy clothes that, if not in color, then certainly in trim lines more with the rich quality we see on Canto Bight; she immediately reduces Poe to a hotshot flyboy and nothing more, Finn to an ex-stormtrooper, and can't be bothered to even remember who Rose is, despite the fact that Rose is from Holdo's ship, and her focus is on bringing the New Republic back, which is a return to the status quo, which the film also pretty explicitly goes "no!" to). I don't think her self-sacrifice, or Leia using it as a teaching moment for Poe, negates those traits in the slightest. Holdo is - narratively - an antagonist:

a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

She was designed, specifically, to be a hardass that Poe and, we the audience, would not trust (according to the Art of the Last Jedi). The fact that two female antagonists (and one outright villain) is used as some sort of "gotcha!" that the films are somehow sexist doesn't sit right with me - it veers entirely too closely to the concept that women are somehow inherently pure creatures, and the thought that they might be anything but is sexist. Two white women antagonists embody prejudice? It's the end of feminism, cos white racist (and ableist, looking at you "bedpan duty" comment of Amilyn's from the novelization!) women is completely a myth right?

And people put so much more importance on Kylo than the films even do. They're so quick to write Rey off as nothing more than a mere victim, or like her arc is completely sullied by her having compassion for the villainous character - and the double standard is so completely obvious when Luke is praised for the same thing. But Rey dares to do the selfish, complicated thing - she develops feelings for the man she's supposed to hate! Who has hurt her friends! That's too much nuance, and the idea that Rey might have all the power here is too much for this fandom to comprehend, so we have to reduce her to a hapless little victim. So niave, and helpless but to exist as a mere prop for the white man.....

When in actuality, Ren serves as a prop for Rey's development. He makes her worse, highlights her flaws, and pushes her out of her comfort zone. The throne room is entirely the cause of (most) of Rey's insecurities in The Rise of Skywalker, and why she thinks she needs to earn her place in this story. She doesn't put up with any man's shit - she knocks Luke fucking Skywalker on his ass for lying to her, and when Ren makes it clear he isn't going to change, she kicks him out of her life. Rey has all the agency and uses it repeatedly, but it makes her a complicated character with nuance (an extremely traumatized mercurial one at that!) and that's unacceptable. So it's easier to pretend that she was done dirty, and existed solely for Ren's redemption (which is BULLSHIT because it was a last minute addition to the Rise of Skywalker).

There certainly are some complaints you could make (Rose's reduced screentime), but so much of what I see criticism about "sexism in the sequels" is simply at odds with what is actually present in the films themselves. Tell me again how the trilogy with more women than the first six films combined, which featured our first woman X-Wing pilot (because they'd been cut out of the original trilogy!) and had our Yoda figure be a dazzling, charming and flirtatious pirate queen, and so many other fantastic fucking background/recurring ladies (blows a kiss to Tallie, to Paige, to Kaydel, to all the other Resistance ladies my brain is blanking on atm!), for having ex-stormtrooper Jannah join Finn in helping topple the system that stole their childhoods from them, for letting a woman be covered head to toe and outwardly cold hearted but having a soft heart still as this trilogy's resident love interest scoundrel (Zorii).

The sequel trilogy loves women. It just loves messy, complicated women. Women that are sometimes wrong, who make mistakes, or are sometimes just outright pieces of shit.

So if you think women shouldn't be any of those things then, yeah. I guess it hates the idea that women should be perfect angels. But if you think that means it hates women outright, then I think you need to sit back and wonder what that says about you.

But I doubt the fandom is capable of that, when you had people claiming it was sexist that Leia trains Rey back in 2019.

[multi-fandom-lunatic]

I'm gonna be honest I don't think booktok is the absolute worstTM thing in the world but it does have certain ideas/tropes prevalent throughout it that weird me out. Like yeah people are allowed to just turn their brain off and read a book that's shiny and not that great, but demanding that others read uncritically regardless of the content being discussed, is pretty weird.

Booktok, in a vacuum, is a good idea. An online community to share book recs and gush over characters. But, like everything in the world ever, things don't exist in a vacuum. The prevelancy of certain tropes, white feminism, consumerism and anti-politics-ness of it make it a bright red flag that says "Hey! I'm full of society's worst problems packaged to make you feel safe!".

People absolutely should read books that are just to comfort them, regardless of the quality of said book. But the problem arises when we erase all critisism and discussion just to avoid discomfort. Of course, this has the ripple effect of books that actually discuss uncomfortable topics directly not being popular. And POC authors tend to suffer quite a bit from this.

Then also, books are, as any art form, meant to challenge the reader, so when authors try to write a book that appeals to readers without challenging readers, they just play it safe. White female protag who gets the guy. And despite the book truly having themes that could challenge the reader, they get diluted because authors are afraid to make readers feel discomfort and start having those discussions.

Books that stand in the face of racism and say "Hey! This is racism and bad!" and books that say "Hey! This is a nuanced discussion of a widespread problem that is addressed directly!" get dismissed and never become popular. I keep thinking of Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating, which would 100% be a Booktok favourite had it not had discussions on race and queerness. It's a fake dating trope with likeable characters and a fun plot. But talking the discussions, the heart, of the book out, would completely dilute the message. It wouldn't be half as good without its discussions.

I think what makes something a bad idea is the concept of it itself. As in, I don't think Booktok is a bad idea because a community of readers sharing books in and of itself is, by itself, harmless. But it's execution, what's it's turned into now, makes it just... bad in my opinion.

Booktok is really just a cesspool of society's worst attributes, so that makes it easy to pick on. I consider Booktok a sad case, because it could've been awesome, but obviously, nothing exists in a vacuum.

As always, thanks for the ask, anon. Booktok is super fun to discuss and I'm so happy to FINALLY have someone to discuss it with (when ever I bring this up with my friends, their reaction is usually "Wow that's so cool" or "Yeah that makes sense" or something along those lines, lol).