#gender abbreviations

[thestitchesart-chive]

Guys new headcanon

haha get it? Because nb? And nb? Same abbreviation? Aren’t I funny? Hahahaha?

[i3utterflyeffect]

you know. i know my victim is extremely dark but it has made me think about the very funny scenario of the mercs having an Intervention abt the whole revenge thing.

victim starts scaring everyone with how violent they are and the mercs drag him aside and go 'hey uh, i think this needs to stop'

[gremlingirlsmell]

we need to bring back "twerf" and "casab"/"cagab"

[eshithepetty]

alrighty, since y'all said that you're interested - woe. OCs be upon ye

I'll do my best to make this short .. but basically, Kuratse and Metze are the vajai of the town they live in - which means they are, in short, representatives of the two species and cultures which have come to mingle and hybridize in their town (I call them moths and cats for a lack of better terms for them for now). And Thor and Etiri are their children, that were unfortuntely born at a bad time due to threats of war on the horizon..

As for their personalities - Kuratse is a big old nerd who knows intricate fiber art knowledge way more than it knows how to deal with people; Metze is a goofball dad who, despite being a leader of sorts, is really bad at giving orders; Thor is the chaotic younger sibling who isn't above taking advantage of the fact that people look down on him; and Etiri is... in three words, stubborn, protective, and directionless. And the 'main character' of this story, sorta...

Especially since, after some point in the story - it's the only one of this family left alive.

But it's not entirely alone.. so, introducing:

Mark and Muka are two childhood friends of Etiri's, and one of the few who survived the death of their town. They are half siblings, and as for their personalities - Mark is a retired bully who is alergic to letting people know he has any vulnerabilities whatsoever; and Muka is also alergic to showing any vulnerability whatsoever, but is a lot softer about it. It's also deafblind - and likes playing a sort of 'therapist' role to its friends (mch to Mark's chagrin).

There is a lot more to each of them, as well as other characters to meet (like Mark and Muka's parents, and Etiri's qpp), but I'll leave that for another day .... mostly because I don't have completed individual drawings for them yet lol

So yeah! This is just a short introduction, expect seeing more of these goofs in the future <3

[lilliryth]

why are theee no reader insert fanfics of fujimoto from ponyo im going to cry and eat my own hair

[smugraccoon137]

Confession: sometimes when I'm typing Ftm or Mtf my brain gets confused and thinks we're spelling teenage mutatant ninja turtles and it's just like

Ftm? Are you sure you didn't mean? Ftmtn

[metaphysicae]

tragic! local communist & hardline leftist perceived as centrist. endures most awkward car ride ever

[strangelyregular]

this is a checkpoint, please stop and collect your factory assigned gender, thanks!

[elkian]

Love the way FF14 abbreviates jobs like, RPR, Reaper, makes sense, so on and so forth.

Now we know that HRT stands for Hrothgal.

[floofysmallbob]

ok, but now please take that brilliance and apply it to other gendered terms

like whatever was going on in op’s brain is on to something I need more gender neutral terms please

since mrs, ms, and mr are all descended from the latin word magister, i propose the gender neutral version should be mg, short for "mage"

[renshengs]

大梦归离 fangs of fortune names + titles masterpost

brought to you by @mengyan and @renshengs <3

*note: this is only for what we consider as main characters, or recurring side characters! if you need clarification for a character that isn't here, send either of us an ask!

common terminology:

daren 大人 (suffix) — gender-neutral honorific often translated as Mr. or Ms. (e.g. Pei-daren = Ms. Pei)

xiao 小 (prefix) — little (e.g. Xiao-Jiu = Little Jiu)

jie/jiejie 姐姐 (suffix) — older sister (e.g. Wen-jiejie)

ge/gege 哥哥 (suffix) — older brother (e.g. Xiao-Zhuo-ge)

didi 弟弟 (suffix) — younger brother (e.g. Bai Jiu-didi) 

“A-” 阿 (prefix) — added before a single character of someone’s name/address, to indicate affection, familiarity, closeness etc (e.g. A-Heng, A-jie)

“er” 儿 (suffix) — added after a single character of someone’s name & is an affectionate term used by someone (often older) whose relationship to them involves some kind of caregiving; can be romantic or platonic (e.g. Wen Xiao’s foster father calling her Xiao’er)

common mistakes:

referring to someone with only one character—in chinese this is generally considered odd (e.g. Zhuo Yichen as “Zhuo”) and is not recommended unless done in-story (e.g. 蜚 Fei’s name just being Fei).

referring to a character by only their surname (e.g. Pei Sijing as “Pei”). chinese names put surnames before given names. (to call her by just her given name, use “Sijing”.)

referring to a character with a 2-character name by only their given name (e.g. Bai Jiu as “Jiu”). since his given name is only 1 character, it can’t be used on its own. using just the given name generally only works with 3-character names (e.g. Zhao Yuanzhou can be referred to as just “Yuanzhou”).

NOTE 1: calling a character by their given name usually implies closeness and informality. generally it is more common among chinese-speakers to use each other’s full names or their surnames combined with a title.

NOTE 2: to call a character by their surname or 1-character given name, you add on a prefix or suffix (e.g. Xiao-Zhuo or Xiao-Chen with Zhuo Yichen, Wen-jiejie or Xiao-jie with Wen Xiao)

NOTE 3: jiejie, gege, didi, (+meimei, what Wen Xiao called E’shou) are not just addresses exclusive to those of blood/familial relation! they can be used to address anyone younger/older than you and also be used in a flirtatious manner (e.g. Wen Xiao’s “Pei-jiejie” is very different from Bai Jiu’s “Pei-jiejie”)!

characters!

name: Zhu Yan | Zhao Yuanzhou [朱厌 | 赵远舟]

abbreviation: ZYZ

nicknames/titles: Great Demon (大妖 -> Da Yao), Stinky Brat (臭小子 -> Chou Xiaozi)

who uses what:

Wen Xiao: Zhao Yuanzhou, Da Yao, Zhu Yan (early on), gege (once)

Zhuo Yichen, Li Lun, some minor characters: Zhao Yuanzhou, Zhu Yan

Pei Sijing: Zhao Yuanzhou, Da Yao

Bai Jiu, Ying Lei: Zhao Yuanzhou

Ying Zhao: Chou Xiaozi

name: Wen Xiao [文潇]

abbreviation: WX

nicknames/titles: Baize Goddess (白泽神女 -> Baize Shennü), Wen Xiao-xiaojie, Wen-daren, Shennü-daren, Wen-jiejie, Xiao-jie, Xiao’er, Archivist Wen (文典藏 -> Wen-diancang)

who uses what:

Zhao Yuanzhou: Wen Xiao, Wen Xiao-xiaojie (early on)

Zhuo Yichen, Pei Sijing: Wen Xiao

Bai Jiu: Wen-jiejie, Xiao-jie

Ying Lei, Ying Zhao, Zhu Yin: Shennü-daren

Fan Ying: Xiao’er

minor characters (often people who aren’t close/are lower in position): Wen-daren, Wen-diancang

name: Zhuo Yichen [卓翼宸]

abbreviation: ZYC

nicknames/titles: Xiao-Zhuo, Xiao-Zhuo-daren, Zhuo Yichen-daren, Xiao-Zhuo-ge, Zhuo-daren, Xiao-Chen, Zhuo Xiao-Chen, Commander Zhuo (卓统领 -> Zhuo-tongling)

who uses what:

Zhao Yuanzhou: Zhuo Yichen, Xiao-Zhuo, Xiao-Zhuo-daren, Zhuo-daren, Zhuo Xiao-Chen (once), Zhuo Yichen-daren (once)

Wen Xiao: Zhuo Yichen, Xiao-Zhuo

Pei Sijing: Zhuo-daren, Xiao-Zhuo (very rarely), Zhuo-tongling, Zhuo Yichen (once)

Bai Jiu: Xiao-Zhuo-ge, Xiao-Zhuo-daren, Zhuo-daren (once)

Ying Lei: Xiao-Zhuo-daren

Li Lun: Zhuo Yichen

Zhuo Yixuan (ZYC’s brother): Xiao-Chen

Fan Ying: Zhuo-tongling, Xiao-Zhuo

Tiandu citizens: Zhuo-tongling

minor characters: Zhuo Yichen, Xiao-Zhuo-daren, Zhuo Yichen-daren

name: Pei Sijing [裴思婧]

abbreviation: PSJ

nicknames/titles: Pei-daren, Pei Sijing-daren, Pei-jiejie, A-jie, jiejie, Pei-jie

who uses what:

Zhao Yuanzhou, Zhuo Yichen: Pei Sijing, Pei-daren

Wen Xiao: Pei Sijing (once), Pei-daren, Pei-jiejie, Pei Sijing-daren (once), jiejie (once)

Pei Siheng: A-jie, jiejie (occasionally)

Bai Jiu: Pei-jiejie

Ying Lei: Pei-jie

minor characters: Pei-daren

name: Bai Jiu [白玖] / implied to originally be named Situ Jiu [司徒玖], after his father’s surname, and took the name Bai Jiu after his mother, Bai Yan

abbreviation: BJ

nicknames/titles: Xiao-Jiu, Little White Bunny (小白兔 -> Xiao Baitu), Bai Jiu-didi, Bai-daren, Bai Jiu-daren, Xiao Bai Jiu, Tu’er (Disciple)

who uses what:

all characters: Bai Jiu

Demon Hunting Bureau squad, Zhen Mei, Wen Zongyu: Xiao-Jiu, Tu’er

Zhao Yuanzhou: Xiao Baitu

Wen Xiao, Pei Siheng: Bai Jiu-didi

Bai Yan (Bai Jiu’s mother): Xiao Bai Jiu

minor characters: Bai-daren, Bai Jiu-daren

name: Ying Lei [英磊]

abbreviation: YL

nicknames/titles: Little Mountain God (小山神 -> Xiao-Shanshen), Shanshen, Shanshen-daren, Little Ying Lei, child

who uses what:

all characters: Ying Lei

Zhao Yuanzhou: Xiao-Shanshen, Shanshen (once)

Wen Xiao, Zhuo Yichen: Xiao-Shanshen, Shanshen-daren

Zhu Yin: Little Ying Lei

Ying Zhao: child

name: Li Lun [离仑]

abbreviation: LL

nicknames/titles: daren, Boss (老大 -> Lao Da)

who uses what:

almost all characters: Li Lun

Ao Yin: daren

the pagoda spirit: Boss/Lao Da

name: Pei Siheng [裴思恒]

abbreviation: PSH

nicknames/titles: A-Heng, didi

who uses what:

almost all characters: Pei Siheng

Pei Sijing: A-Heng, didi

[danhoneyyysblog]

hihihihi!! hope ur having a good day!!!

could.. I request Scar with a reader who’s mainly centered around a jellyfish? like, their movements are always smooth, and they kinda resemble a humanoid jellyfish!!

thanks for your time :3

author note: hey, i’ve been having an amazing day so far! I FINALLY GOT JIYAN AT 68 PITY!!! hope you are doing great! and this idea is SO CUTE! Scar being the silly, crazy guy he is with a reader who acts so similar to a jellyfish, i absolutely love that!

❝GOODNESS! YOU’RE SO CUTE. I MAY AS WELL MAKE YOU INTO A JELLO-FISH TO EAT UP!❞

CHARACTERS MENTIONED: Scar x Gender-Neutral! Reader, Rover, Phrolova.

WARNING, MAY CONTAIN: may be slight ooc — as game recently released, simple information on each character. if you don’t enjoy ooc, don’t suggest! (reader) in third person (they/them/their), an accidental kiss - supposed to be CPR, mentions of petnames (jello-fish), mentions of being taught without having a clue on what’s going on, mentions of kissing.

Days pass by in Jinzhou - one of Huanglong's six major cities. To add onto that, the only city in the Outer Huanglong, as it is one of the recent cities established in Huanglong and could be addressed to 'the throat of Huanglong'. It appears to be nestled within a great lake, embraced by the waters and cradled by the mountains. Jinzhou may be beautiful, but it doesn't stop the fact how dangerous the outside of those walls dug deep down into the waters, making contact with the sand. What lurks behind those enormous walls? Tacet discords, abbreviated as 'TD's, creatures that have the ability to mimic shapes and behaviors of others.

As the people who feared to become one of these beasts stay within the walls. A certain male roams behind them, arms raised up with his hands behind his head as he whistled a tune to himself, having to be sure not to get caught, otherwise he'd get thrown into jail. Who would this individual be? None other than Scar. To put more in his name, he can be known as one of the Overseer members for the Fractsidus - an organization whose ideals are currently to accelerate the next Lament. To bring more into that, another desire of theirs is to capture somebody by the name of 'Rover'.

Back to what was currently happening... Scar strolled around, waiting for Rover to come out of Jinzhou, to make another one of his many dramatic entrances. From the corner of Scar's eye, he is able to see a sort of bioluminescence light coming from within the waters, resting by the walls. That's odd... He could have sworn it was never there. Scar glances around, seeing nobody around, he bursts into sinister chuckles. "This is interesting. Let's see what lurks beneath this lake," Scar speaks out, rotating his body towards the edge and dives in with no hesitation.

Swimming further down until he floats in front of the spot that glowed so brightly. It appeared there was an opening, but it was pitch-black, unable to see what stays in there, but Scar went in, anyways - typical Scar. The deeper he went, the darker it was getting for him. At one point, he reached his hand out, wondering if there was anything resting in front of him. Through his gloved hand, he felt an odd, rough texture. With no fear of what it may be, he ripped it out of where it stayed, bringing it as close as possible to his face until he was able to detect what it may be. It was a... coral.

Hold on. Aren't coral supposed to appear more colorful? It looked completely lifeless. But at the same time, coral tend to look bleached when dead, no? Let's not forget, algae could surround it. This doesn't make any sense... If it's not alive, but it's not dead. Then what was it? Could this coral be a tacet discord?! No... not a possible. For what Scar knew, no tacet discord lives within the waters. Next thing Scar saw, shocked him. The suspected 'dead'-coral lit up in a marvelous shade of blue. The coral was bioluminescent! Within the sight of Scar, all of the organisms such as coral, algae, sea stars, fish, and a bunch of others lit up in the same hue of blue.

It was all bioluminescent! Who would have known the Jinzhou kept a secret like this! Yet for some odd reason, Scar could have sworn his breathe was being taken away from the sight... Wait... HIS BREATHE WAS BEING BEING TAKEN AWAY. Scar's eyes shot wide open, attempting to swim up, but due to feeling his own breathe disappearing, it was causing him to lose energy. Oh, well. Scar will always find his way back up! As he began to lose his consciousness, a silhouette of a person swam towards him, as reminiscent as a... jellyfish. Though he simply assumed it was the afterlife coming to retrieve his soul...

What do you know! Scar's consciousness was coming back to him. As his eyes slowly flickered open, greeting by blurriness. Within Scar's vision, it looked like the same silhouette as before. The moment Scar snapped back into reality is when the figure leaned in towards him, pressing their lips against his - attempting to do CPR, but it appeared they weren't doing it correctly, an accidental kiss. Though Scar didn't bother to move a muscle, seeming to find what was happening, hilarious. Once the person moved back, letting out a gentle sigh out of their lips and opening their eyes to glance down at Scar, who they assumed was still passed out,

WAS LITERALLY SMIRKING UP AT THEM, alongside a snigger. Terrified by the fact he was literally greeted in the wrong way in the best way, they burst into screams - sounding as if it was music. Scar immediately sat up, slapping his gloved hand onto the person's skin that oddly glowed. Taking a couple of glances around, taking notice on how he appeared to be resting on the shore, far away from Jinzhou. Slowly moving his covered hand away from their hand, brushing against their lips.

Scar crossed his legs, pressing his elbow on his knee as he rested his cheek onto his knuckles. He took this opportunity to observe the individual - seeing how their skin had a sort of gentle shine to it, with clothing resembling a jellyfish. To put more detail into that, they appeared to swim like a jellyfish when coming in to save Scar. Scar's smirk grew wider, releasing a chuckle from his mouth. "I'm guessing you're the pretty stranger who saved me?" Scar questioned. Only to receive a confused expression from the person - dotted-eyes, with a gentle head tilt, as if they were fragile. Afraid to properly move.

"Hm, best guess: You can't understand me. Can you?" Scar asked. He gained no response, as expected. He had no issues with this whatsoever. Carefully, the stranger rose from the ground, having sand attached to any exposed skin as they turned around, planning to head back into the waters. Scar watched their movements - arms swinging at a perfect pace, as well as the movement of the hips. As if anything this secretive person did was as smooth as butter. Scar was about to catch sight of something familiar, leaning his head forward, taking notice of a small tacet mark resting on their nape. This person was a resonator?!

Unconsciously, Scar arose and chased after this person, grabbing onto their wrist, pulling them back until they slammed their back onto Scar. Forcing the confused person to turn their head around, carrying the look of curiosity that Scar found funny. Scar leaned in, having his infamous smirk. "Maybe it's best to teach you a few things. Don't you think, 'jello-fish'?"

“This is who you were referring to by… ‘jello-fish’?” Scar’s sister, Phrolova, questioned. “Yes! Aren’t they adorable?” Scar asked. Here he currently was — lying down on the ground, on his front with his hands cupping his face and legs gently kicking back and forth. Silly Scar… What was he exactly doing? To put it in simple terms, training AND tutoring the clueless humanoid, who he figured was mainly centred around a jellyfish.

By listening to Scar’s demands such as to swim around in the waters — doing tricks such as jumping out of the waters, twirling in them as they swam around in a perfect pace. All movements made by me were fascinatingly smooth, and Scar didn’t seem to get bored of it. He wanted to flex off what he had been teaching the curious person to his sister.

“Speaking of which, I taught them another thing. Trust me, it’s really impressive.” Scar spoke out. Scar quickly adjusted his position — sitting on his bum, legs crossed as he snapped his fingers as loud as he could — managing to gain the attention of the person reminiscent to a jellyfish. They turned the direction of where they were swimming towards, elegantly making their way towards Scar and as soon as they were at a perfect spot, they leaped out of the waters and jumped onto Scar, who caught them as he fell on his back from the pressure.

“Did you see that?! Tell me that was adorable! They’re able to do that, like a dolphin!” Scar excitedly spoke out, a gleeful laughter mixed in with his words. “…Despite being similar towards a jellyfish.” Phrolova mumbled. She observed on how Scar seemed to be enjoying the person’s actions, where they were gently tracing the outline of Scar’s marks, while letting out a soft coo full of fascination.

Scar’s hands made it onto their hips, causing the person to softly hum out of confusion, which Scar giggled from — as if he was a boy who just got a sweet treat from the store. “Come on, jello-fish. Right here.” said Scar, pointing towards his cheek. Phrolova noticed how clueless the humanoid looked, about to speak up, but was shocked when they actually learned in and brushed their lips against Scar’s check — giving him a kiss.

“Ohoho~! Good, good! I’m so proud of you, jello-fish. Now then, another one here.” Scar praised, now pointing towards the tip of his nose. Once again, they leaned in and pressed a soft kiss onto Scar’s nose. What made this more hilarious for Scar was that this person had no clue what they were doing! “Now… over here.” Scar spoke out, his tone proving how smug he was. Where was he pointing? Towards his lips.

“Scar. Quit that.” Phrolova demanded, though Scar didn’t seem to listen. “Aw, come on! Don’t you want to see what they do—?” before Scar could even finish… they brought their lips against Scar’s lips, shocking Scar, only because he was caught off-guard. Phrolova let out a soft groan, turning around to give the two privacy as the person and Scar’s lips remained pressed onto one another.

“It’s unfortunate they’re unaware of what they’re doing, assuming it’s harmless…” Phrolova mumbled. They separated after a bit, thanks to Scar who wanted to keep the kiss longer. Within a second, he started squealing as if he was a little girl and tackling the individual into a tight embrace. “GOODNESS! You’re so cute. I may as well make you into a jello-fish to eat up!” Scar excitedly exclaimed.

Shockingly, they shot their eyes wide open, moving their head to stare into Scar’s eyes. That’s when Scar realized… “You can understand me for that, but not all of the other stuff I said?!” Scar shouted, not believing it. Scar’s loud voice accidentally terrified me, causing me to rise from what I was and rush back towards the waters, diving in. “Come back!” Scar whined. “Not only you scared them by saying you’ll eat them, but by yelling, too. I’m not surprised…” Phrolova said. “You’re not helping.” Scar argued.

author note: sorry if this isn’t what you necessarily wanted! if it is, i’m glad and i worked on this for a little while so i hope it does do well, truly.

taglist: @eroqista

[genderkoolaid]

I come late to organizing as a transgender activist. In doing so, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned transgendered people truly are everywhere and not just in New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. I’ve learned many want to quietly assimilate into the white, heterosexual, middle class status quo that is the dominant culture of our nation. I’ve learned quite a few of us have no wish or desire for such assimilation — that for some of us, our greatest desire is to shake up that dominant culture, to question gender and identity on every level — social, biological, political and personal. I’ve learned that perhaps right at this moment there is a transgendered person — most likely an MTF transsexual or crossdresser, most likely a person of color, being brutally murdered. I’ve learned people much younger than I are coming out as transgendered in ways I never believed possible when I was their age and are challenging not only the status quo, but also calling on “old” activists like me to take another look around and see the world through their eyes. And I’ve learned that, perhaps like all other communities, we love to eat our own. Some of you reading this are aware of the controversies and conflicts swirling within the transgender community, most of which focus upon the organization GenderPAC. For those of you who aren’t up on it, here’s an abbreviated version. A significant number of transgender activists and community organizations have taken issue with GenderPAC’s expansion of its mission and vision to incorporate a larger view of gender rights rather than a specific and focused emphasis upon civil rights advocacy for transgendered people. Depending on whom you ask, this reinventing of GenderPAC is either the logical extension of its organizational vision to secure the rights of all people to free gender expression — or the cold-blooded abandonment of the very community by whom and for which it was created, nurtured and financially supported. Being the baby TG activist I am, I come to this drama late. Long after the battle lines were laid down. Long after sides were chosen, opinions formed and set in stone. Long after wounds (both real and imagined) were inflicted.

I’ve watched carefully for the past couple of years as the battle has played out online, in internet chat rooms, and on mailing lists. I’ve read statements from individuals and organizations that have taken a stand on the issue. I’ve received press releases and announcements from one camp or another; a battle of media propaganda that would make the veterans of the Cold War proud. And through it all, I’ve tried to be a rather casual observer, if one can be casual as they watch some of the best and brightest of their community consumed in an internal battle that threatens to tear the entire community apart. Of course my being a casual observer hasn’t stopped a few folks from demanding to know where I stand. I’ve been pulled aside at conferences and been given “information,” primarily innuendo and accusation, so I am up to speed on the situation. I’ve been directed to websites that were little more than character assassinations in badly laid-out HTML. And I’ve been emailed privately and off-list by those concerned I was going to make the “wrong choice.” Want to know what my answer to these people is? Okay, here it is — I really don’t care. That’s right. I DON’T CARE. You see, I believe almost everyone entangled in this controversy is acting in what they believe are the best interests of the community with which they feel most closely aligned. I believe they’re doing the best they can with what they have. I believe mistakes have been made by everyone involved, that the personal has become political in the most destructive of ways. I also believe in change and evolution; that even organizations that have had to be forced to listen to me and to consider my issues can learn from their mistakes and realize they must make a seat for me at the table if they are to truly realize the dream of civil rights for themselves and for others. But most of all, I believe in hope. I was asked point-blank whose side I was on. This is my answer: I am on the side of whoever has the guts and initiative to end this thing and make a real effort to move our community forward out of this debilitating and destructive conflict. I’m on the side of anyone who is more interested in healing the wounds than in proving who is right. I’m on the side of those who have the ability and the willingness to put aside their personal and political animosities and seek some way to bring together everyone involved to begin a healthy dialogue, one without finger-pointing and name-calling. Until that happens, I guess I’m on the side of those who are the most negatively affected by this dysfunctional family feud. In case anyone needs a refresher course as to who those folks are and the issues they are dealing with, allow me to introduce just a few of them. The transsexual FTM who has lost custody of his child when he began transition; the butch lesbian who lost her job because she refused to wear makeup or shave her legs; the crossdresser whose wife is seeking a divorce and custody of the children he adores; the effeminate gay man beaten to death and crucified on a fence on a lonely Midwestern plain; the 17-year-old MTF doing tricks in the back alleys of San Francisco because her parents kicked her out when they found “him” wearing dresses; the FTM who died of uterine cancer because he couldn’t get insurance approval for a hysterectomy after he had completed sexual reassignment. Ultimately, it is these transgender, transsexual and gender- variant people who have the most to lose if someone doesn’t step up to the plate to end this.

"Gender, Identity Politics, and Eating Our Own" by Alexander John Goodrum (2001)

[scretladyspider]

ok let’s clear up some confusion about asexuality, celibacy, and abstinence

abstinence: the choice to abstain from an activity, often referring to the choice to not have sex. for example someone may abstain from eating red meat or smoking; in western culture it is usually assumed that a person is abstaining from sex unless otherwise specified.

celibacy: the choice to be unmarried and/or abstain from sex, temporarily or permanently, often associated with religious beliefs, but this is a choice anyone can make if they’d like, no matter their religion.

asexuality (often abbreviated as ‘ace’): a sexual orientation in which a person experiences little to no sexual attraction to anyone regardless of their gender; the ace may or may not have a sexual libido, engage in sexual activity with ot without partners, and/or experience romantic attraction. Aces can choose abstinence or celibacy and their asexuality does not make this choice less valid, and vice versa.

the behavior is a choice, whereas orientation is not.

thanks for coming to my annual Ted talk.

happy ace week.

[moltengoldveins]

My autocorrect needed a letter prompt cause it just got caught in a loop of “my gender is my gender is my gender” so here’s what a few different single letter prompts lead to (punctuation added for clarity) -

“My gender is a whole other person than my body is and I’m a man so I’m just a woman” (…. Surprisingly coherent??? I guess???)

“my gender is gay but my sexuality isn’t.” (Hhhhhhho boy I laughed so hard at this one. It’s also… true? Kinda? I got wiggly gender but I’m very ace)

“my gender is usually the most masculine thing to ever be a man in the whole of the universe but it’s just me being feminine so it’s okay 👍” (yes the emoji came as the suggested next word.)

“my gender is in my hands so if I have to be in the same place every time you come over to me and say you love my girl I don’t care about that and you can’t do it because I want you and you can’t be here and you don’t care what you do and I don’t care about that either I don’t want to do that to anyone but you-“ (this goes on in the same vein for a While without looping. I cropped it for reading convenience. My gender seems to be the topic of a reeeeeally messy breakup. Or a non consensual threesome. Yikes.)

“my gender is different from yours, but you can be a girl with me if you’re interested.” (Is…. Is this an inclusivity win? Is it…. Not? Is…. I’m confused.)

“My gender is your name.” (Gets caught in a loop of ‘is your name is your name’ after this. I fell like this one’s just ominous)

“my gender is just so pretty, I can’t be a woman.” (*baffled laughter*)

“my gender is kinda like a man and a man but it’s just me. being gay.” (*more uproarious laugher*)

“My gender is zero but my body has been a bit of a science experiment since I was a kid and I have been doing this since then so it’s a bit weird.” (The closest we have come to actually describing me.)

Type "my gender is" on your phone and let your phone finish the sentence, then tag your moots to keep the chain going, I'll go first.

My gender is a little bit more intense than I thought I could have done

@mirukosbitchywife @get-junpeid

[iamthedukeofurl]

One interesting thing that can happen in long running media is that the general cultural background can shift under the work, recontextualizing it as it is being written. I'm specifically thinking of the Order of the Stick, a Dungeons and Dragons themed webcomic that started in 2003 with the titular party of adventurers going through a dungeon.

From left to right, we have Belkar Bitterleaf the halfling ranger, Vaarsuvius the Elf Wizard, Elan the Human Bard, Haley Starshine the Human Rogue, Durkon Thundershield the Dwarf Cleric, and Roy Greenhilt the Human Fighter. The comic takes place in a fantasy setting that knowingly runs off the rules of Dungeons and Dragons third edition. Characters talk about rolls and bonuses and intentionally take levels in various classes. At the start, the comic was a pretty basic gag comic about the D&D rules, basic fantasy/adventure tropes, ect.

In the 20 years the comic has been running, it has updated about 1300 times, not counting bonus strips exclusively made for the printed version, and several print (or PDF) only side and prequel stories. It has also dramatically grown from it's roots, the art has improved while keeping the same general aesthetic, and the gag-a-day comic has become a sweeping fantasy epic. The characters have grown beyond their initial bits (Belkar is a Murderhobo, Elan is stupid, Haley is greedy, ect), and it's genuinely up there as one of my favorite stories. But anyway, let's talk about Vaarsuvius. If you look at the above art, You'll notice that the characters tend to have three types of body shapes: Rectangles for Roy, Belkar, and Elan, feminine curves for Haley, and Robes for Vaarsuvius. This presentation is a pretty consistent signifier of gender and/or somebody wearing robes. Early on, part of Vaarsuvius's running gag became their ambiguous gender. At the time, it was a fairly common joke in fantasy to talk about how Elven men had androgynous or "Girly" appearances, so V was part of that. Instead of a singular pronoun, characters would generally just abbreviate Vaarsuvius's name as "V", and whenever the narrative would have naturally provided some indication of gender one way or another, V would resolve the situation without providing any such indication. For example, an early gag has the characters seeking out a set of modern style bathrooms in the dungeon. When they find them, V says that their "More Efficient elven biology" means they don't have to go yet, so they wait outside while the boys go into the Men's room and Haley waits in the inevitable long line at the women's. When Vaarsuvius reveals that they are married, they use the term "Spouse" to refer to their partner, when we see their children, the children are clearly adopted (V and their partner both have pale skin, their children have darker skin) and refer to Vaarsuvius as "Parent". Vaarsuvius themselves seems to have trouble identifying other people by gender. Characters outside the central cast might refer to Vaarsuvius as "He" or "She", but doing so was always shedding light on that character's perspective, rather than saying anything about Vaarsuvius. The assumption behind the gag is that Vaarsuvius must be either male or female, and the joke is that the narrative/Vaarsuvius themselves keeps finding ways to avoid "Revealing" their gender. Fan wikis and official books list Vaarsuvius's gender as "Ambigious" and on the forum there used to be a regular, multi-part thread dedicated to debatings Vaarsuvius's gender, even after the author declared that it would "never be revealed".

Anyway, going back to the start, it's 2023, and something shifted at some point, both in the comic and in the general cultural background. The jokes about V's gender kind of fell off, not just because the gag got played out, but because the basic assumption behind it simply doesn't work anymore. Everybody knows that Nonbinary people exist. There's no point in the comic where Vaarsuvius switches from being "Ambigiously Gendered" to Nonbinary, in fact, the entire comic reads just fine if you read Vaarsuvius as male or female and just not caring enough to clarify their gender to anybody and at some point other characters just stop thinking about it. But it's interesting to see how a character trait that was once included in even the most basic character descriptions (Varsuvius: Elven Wizard. Arrogant, Intelligent. Ambigiously gendered) just kind of got washed away by a rising tide of cultural nuance towards gender. Also go read OOTS, it's pretty great.