#harm reduction works btw

[celibatevegan]

[charlesoberonn]

just saw your cult post and i wanna add something a bit controversial? (probably not for this website tho but yk)

im from a religious country in the middle east, and until i was like 16 i hadnt heard the word "cult" and i had no idea what it was.

when i looked into it and read about it tho, i realized that islam (the religion of my country) IS a cult. and then i went around online asking my other ex-religious friends about what they think and some also told me that they think their religion was a cult too. and no im not talking about like obviously culty religions (mormons, evangelists, etc), im talking about whats considered the norm for a religion to be practiced. whether it be islam, christianity, or any other one.

i started wondering why not ALL religions count as cults when they literally fit the bill to a tea, and tbh the best explanation i found was that, they ARE cults but they are so old, have so many members, and are so entangled with our cultures that people just accept them.

i told this to someone who was an atheist herself and even she got defensive and said that its not okay to call peoples religions cults "if its not hurting anyone" so i dont say it to anyone because i dont want to be an asshole and i accept everyone no matter what religion yk?

but that all being said, i still wholeheartedly believe that ALL religions are cults (im talking about organized religions tho btw. like native people having their religions is a completely different thing that i cant comment on because i dont have enough information about those)

i think that if you are in any religion then you are in a cult and you should leave, i know its controversial, but it is what i think yk?

I see where you're coming from but I think this is dangerously reductive.

The problem is that you're thinking in terms of a 'cult-not cult' binary that doesn't work to describe the nuance of real life groups.

What makes a cult are the methods of control they use on their members. A cult, or high-control group, will use extreme and predatory methods to try to control their members as much as possible.

The difference between a religious cult (for there are non-religious cults) and religion is the level of control and the harmfulness of the methods the group utilizes.

I don't know about what religion is like in your country, but not all religious groups are high-control groups. Many of them don't try to control or exploit their members.

By equating all religions to cults you're not only making accusations of harm against groups that don't deserve it, you're also muddying the distinctions for people, allowing actually harmful groups to pass themselves off as harmless.

[roboj0e]

"girl please" is a neutral phrase lmao but my bad ig. anyway, to 99% of the population a fetish and a kink mean more or less the same thing. if there's a difference could you explain it? thx... btw you're not a feminist if you think it's ok to draw or get off to sexual art of children, even if they're fictional/cartoon... you do realize a lot of shota and loli content is traced from photos of kids, right? my abuser made cartoon csem traced from my photos. :/

My dad used to force me to watch csem and distributed csem of me also exists. I actually get sent it sometimes on facebook who I know are just my dad using sock puppet accounts. Did I win the CSA Olympics? Am I now enough of an authority of this trauma to make unsubstantiated claims? I could trauma dump unsolicited on you too but I have compassion so I won't and also I'm not about to plead for my humanity from someone who won't listen and engage in good faith anyways.

I'm sorry that happened to you but it would have happened regardless of the existence of lolisho. Abusers are gonna abuse no matter what. This was the first thing I learned in therapy. What's funny is it was lolisho that help me realize my abuse. Yes I understood sexual abuse conceptually but I couldn't recognize it happening to ME until I saw my situation reflected back at me in a safe sane scenario. My therapist said it was bc I was repressing it in denial and only allowing myself to fantasize about it in a safe environment was I able to recognize it as abuse. Funny how life works like that huh.

Oh to explain I completely forgot bc I had to write this twice bc Tumblr crashed. A fetish is a sexual reliance on something to achieve sexual arousal or gratification and can be sexual.outside of sexual contexts. A kink amplifies sexual gratification, usually has to do with roleplay or sexual acts/positions/height/weight and has to be negotiated and communicated and consentual. Ppl do use them interchangeably BUT specifically with the word fetishize ur using it wrong in this case. To fetishize something there must be both dehumanization and objectification. U can not dehumanize or objectify fictional characters they are not human and are already objects.

No I don't support sexual art of children. This sort of phrasing is just a deliberate misrepresention so u can position urself as morally righteous and disengage from the conversation early and not have to examine what anyone is actually saying. They are fictional characters. They can be any age, any race and body type and have any name at any time. They are objects. They don't exist and can not accumulate trauma the way you or i can. They do not need protection.

If u don't like it that's fine. Especially considering your trauma. But ur claim is unsupported and wildly inaccurate. Do not projects ur trauma onto others especially as it pertains to facts about criminal psychology and sex crimes. This is unhealthy and will lead to paranoia that same paranoia that brought u to ur conclusion here. This is not pervasive enough in lolisho to be considered a trend or even the default. But you also could be sharing real abusive images/scenarios no matter what form of media u engage with. But that doesn't not mean we should sanitize art and media on the off chance someone could be evil. Your not exempt from the same personal responsibility ur trying to place on me just bc u don't engage in fictional pornographic material and it's not especially heinous when it's fictional art versus and any other medium. We could all be unknowingly sharing and engageing with abusive material but all we can do is protect and believe victims and figure out as a society how to reduce harm.

No banning lolisho or any media is not a solution. Studies show most csem is produced/distributed by parent/guardians. The best way to protect children is to advocate for children rights and the reduction of parental rights. Experts have been saying this for years. Children being treated like property both by law and society is what is perpetuating their abuse. Not fictional art.

Censorship is not the solution. Any historical application of censorship has always ALWAYS lead to the mistreatment and silencing of victims and marginalized communities. This will make it difficult for victims to appeal to censors and share their stories which are valuable for understanding abuse but also valuable bc it is art. And incentivizing ppl to invade other peoples privacy to be sure they have the right identity/trauma to create a specific type of art is fascism. So is censoring or banning that art. This will do nothing but silence and shame victims. This is happening still right now and has happened plenty in the past. Guilt and shame ONLY perpetuates sexual abuse.

This is also forcing ppl to engage in art and fiction with a paranoid analysis FIRST. telling ppl they can tell whose a good or bad person based on what they draw/write or engage with is not healthy and is antithetical to educating ppl on how to recognize abuse. It's irresponsible and It's giving children and teens anxiety disorders. Look at any ex anti/proship anonymous confessions. Look at the damage ppl are causing with this third grade level of word association and cause and effect. Ppl are developing POCD. Me included ALMOST.

Experts have been saying for decades now that fictional sexual material has no link to escalation into sexual violence or engaging in paraphilias. No fiction doesnt effect reality. these same psychologists that have debunked claims such as "violent video games cause violence" have also researched how it operates the same with fictional sexual material. There's no special circumstance just bc it's sex or porn.

Just bc u navigate the world on disgust and paranoia doesn't mean I have to. I listen to the science and research. While also having my own experience to draw from.

As a CSA victim with a SEX THERAPIST do u really think I would not have done my due diligence before engaging in any community?? I've done a hell of a lot of work to get where I am now. Sexually liberated and healthy. Both personal growth and LOTS of research into sex crimes. And I really don't feel like hearing regressive religiously programmed sex negative thoughts on the fiction I enjoy.

I am a feminist tho. I'm just not regressive and reactionary. 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

[age-of-moonknight]

Hi!! Hello

I feel like we are not getting a lot of steven as much as both marc and jake, like what motivates them and such. Having said that, what would your aproach be at developing steven both personally and in his relationship with jake and marc?

Btw, your blog is still my favorite one in all of tumblr, I look forward both to new releases and your commentary after every single one <3

Hello! And thank you so much for the ask and for hanging around! :D I am immeasurably glad that this blog is something that sparks a little joy in your life. 🤍🖤 As for Steven, I see your point! You actually brought up something I've been mulling over deep in my brainpan for a hot minute, so (as always seems to happen when I answer asks whoops), this got a little long. There's a bit of preamble on how I came to my conclusion, but I'm pretty sure I more directly address your question in the second part, so you can just skip to there if you'd like hahaha

Part I: Preamble Not to hijack the whole lunar theme, but Moon Knight comics do go through phases and one type of phase involves some authors giving a bit more panel time to one of the guys (e.g. Jake in the first volume of Vengeance of the Moon Knight, Steven through a lot of the first Moon Knight volume as I recall). Currently, we're in a phase of focusing a bit more on Marc and, while MacKay's work on Moon Knight has been some of the most consistently enjoyable comics I've encountered in a while, I do miss Jake and Steven. Steven in particular, has been a little out of focus. On the one hand, I can kind of see how that happened. After how previous authors chose to portray him, my interpretation is that Jake's character needed a bit of time dedicated to returning him back to his essence (but that's a whole other kettle of worms). Additionally, I will always be the first person to rail against comic characters getting pigeonholed by editorial as having a certain "role" within a comic and once that role's been fulfilled elsewhere, editorial struggles to know what to do with that character and potentially discards them entirely (or worse, warps them beyond recognition, but again, I don't need to be bring up here how salty I am about how Marvel editorial has treated other characters hahaha) and I believe that might be a bit of the case with Steven. For a long time, the guys' dynamic was understood as Steven makes money and high society connections, Jake makes friends and underground connections, and Marc makes uuuuuh let's say "extreme bodily harm to his enemies" and is not really fit to be seen in society due to, you know, the crimes against humanity. Now that Marc's lost all of their money and, in a turn of events frankly more miraculous then his multiple resurrections (perhaps to no one's greater surprise than Marc's), established himself and the Midnight Mission as upstanding parts of the community, Steven's two main "jobs" in the reductive sense aren't as easily inserted into the narrative anymore. Part II: Actually Answering Your Question (Sorry) HOWEVER, even beyond my never ending love for Steven just as he is, I believe there's more to explore.

Particularly, when I first read your ask, the first thing that popped up in my head was this page from the most recent Moon Knight annual:

Moon Knight Annual (Vol. 5/2024), #1.

Historically and including in Moon Knight (Vol. 9/2021), #24, writers have portrayed Steven as the respectable one who wants to settle down, but this idea that Steven's just as much a thrill seeker as Jake and Marc -- it just manifests differently -- greatly intrigues me. As such, personally, I would LOVE to see more of Steven's work on the logistical side of things. They don't need huge sums of cash to throw around; Steven's probably just a bit more adept at understanding how financing both legitimate and illegitimate ventures work, so he can either direct them or manipulate them as necessary. He can be messing with criminal finances for Moon Knight work in ways that carries just as much risk as pounding the pavement. Authors have alluded to such things previously, with Mr. MacKay highlighting how critical finances are to continuing the Midnight Mission's work in the community and how Moon Knight can even use them for fighting crime.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu (Vol. 1/2024), #0.

This little gem of an infinity comic actually addressed the topic even more explicitly.

Avengers Unlimited (Vol. 1/2022), Infinity Comic, #64.

I get it, white collar crime and financial maneuvering is a lot more difficult to make appear exciting in the comic medium as opposed to, say, fisticuffs or edged weapons. In my opinion at least though, this is cool!!! Marines make jokes about their organization's history of struggling with logistics, but that underlines how critical that aspect is to making sure anything can operate effectively! Using the full range of skills and resources available to most efficiently execute justice is just something that feels very Moon Knight to me. That interpretation also helpfully supports my argument that Steven should be just as involved in Moon Knight work as Marc and Jake, just in an "occupational specialty," if you will that looks as different from what Jake and Marc do as how different Jake's networking looks from Marc's....very kinetic approach to problems. Accordingly, I guess I would just like to see Steven utilized in the narrative more as the "scalpel" of the trio. There is a time for everything, including Marc cracking skulls, Jake shaking hands and slapping backs to collect HUMINT, but also for Steven's precise and surgical approach that can dismantle a whole organization perhaps without even any bloodshed. After all,

Moon Knight (Vol. 9/2021), #25.

Steven's got his own way of doing things.

I guess, ultimately, is it too much for me to ask that Steven, Jake, and Marc be all equally valued for the unique skill sets they bring to Moon Knight? That they support each other, particularly with how wonderfully complimentary those skill sets are? hahaha

[ninyard]

since I love the way you write about kevandreil/jerejean I'm here to ask you the hc things for either Dan or Allison.

Just because I know you're powerful when you write yk <3

thank you!! (obviously only if you want and you're still doing it)

oh ALLISON my lover my darling. i am constrained by the prompts of these hcs but allison is my wife. my darling. my muse. id die for her.

realistic headcanon: allison has a really low tolerance for how much she can take people talking about or doing drugs in front of her. since seth's death, she gets triggered really easily when drugs are mentioned around her. she is terrified of other people overdosing in front of her/not noticing that somebody is overdosing. if she's at a party and knows somebody is on coke or MDMA it drives her crazy because she will obsessively watch them all night to make sure they're okay, or she'll give herself really bad anxiety when she can't find them thinking that they've overdosed. (she gets really into harm reduction and stuff once she's left college and maybe works with college athletes to keep them safe if/when they're doing drugs)

may not be realistic it is hilarious: she had a notes app note in her phone of evidence to support her case that andrew and neil were a thing before it'd been proven. she knew from the moment of the kathy ferdinand show that something was up and she started documenting it all like

day/month: neil went out clubbing with the monsters for a second time. willingly.

day/month: neil stared at andrew again today. for way too long btw.

day/month: andrew looked like he wanted to kill neil today. but like. endearingly?

it's really long and Dan thinks she's literally insane until she reads it all and goes okay...maybe i see where you're coming from now...

heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends: allison noticed kevins weird relationship with food INSTANTLY. she confronts him about it after a while because it was really starting to bother her, he tells her she's seeing things, and so she goes to andrew about it because she's freaked herself out that kevin is going to pass out during a game or something, andrew obviously laughs at her and tells her to fuck off, but after a while of just watching she talks to him about it again. for some reason he decides to explain the truth to her, and she understands that it's not really a body image issue for him, but a bad habit he's kept from the nest. she tells him about the dietician she's worked with, and they get to know each other a bit better, and even though they """hate""" each other, they actually get along pretty well. they understand each other in a weird way. i think they're way more alike than they think tbh!!!

unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own: allison and kevin? they fuck. if they're drunk n horny they'll 100% hook up with each other. maybe they quietly hooked up in the cabins too. they'd never date but they're 1000000% each other's #1 booty call.

[rezcowgirl]

-internal screaming-

My corp goth look this week. Everything is thrfited and mostly vintage except the Vivienne Westwood necklace. I got the authentic Burberry scarf for $6 btw.

External screaming:

cw: drug use, death

Just wrapped up a week of interviewing for the person who is going to be my new supervisor. After slogging through them (only occasionally crying in the bathroom), the VERY LAST interview of the week was the person we all unanimously agreed: "They're the one."

Which feels good.

They've been doing this kind of work for decades and still seem to function okay. Yay.

My work sucks sometimes. All the self-care in the world doesn't save us from the soulcrush of it. Because in year 8? 9? of the toxic drug crisis, we're still arguing about whether drug users* deserve basic human rights. Whether they deserve to live. Whether they're worth "the cost".

Hey. You know what would reduce the "cost" overnight? Safe supply. Unrestricted access to safe supply. Safe supply. It's safe supply.

Harm reduction has been politicized in a way that makes it almost feel unsalvageable. Now everyone thinks they're an expert on it because some conservative tiktoker told you a thing. Or hey, maybe you saw a Tumblr post one time that used it to explain elections. (DON'T. Still meaning to write a manifesto on that...)

Harm reduction belongs to drug users and sex workers. Harm reduction is sound public health policy based in science with years and years of research backing its efficacy.

But, oh no: drugs bad. And I like my public policies to be based in ideas of morality!!!

So: people die.

1700+ people died this year in BC alone.

I was kneeling in the middle of the street screaming for help during one of those 1700+ overdose deaths. I felt his pulse drop away when the naloxone I had wasn't enough (opioid-benzodiazepine overdoses are more difficult to reverse. Fent cut with benzos is becoming the standard). His death was ugly, undignified, traumatic, and completely preventable. I am furious. I hate that I have to be powered by fury. I know it's not sustainable. I sometimes want to look for another job because jfc.

We all have days where we're like "hahaha why am I doing this?" The heartbreak and frustration and exasperation in this article from yesterday sums up just...so much. Someone died of an overdose in a HOSPITAL BATHROOM.

I don't like being touched by people unless explicitly established, but when the street nurses come in, they always hug me and I hug them back and attempt to pour all the rage-y stubborn hope inside of me into them. Two of them have been doing this for 30+ years. Talk about rage-y stubborn hope. Through the AIDS crisis, and now through this.

Oh, and The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions no longer exists so we're back under the generic Ministry of Health

I don't know what that means yet. (<-I do not work for gov, but gov adjacent public health. We do the work that the gov SHOULD be doing. :)))))

*"drug user", along with "people who use drugs", is the proper term, NOT "addicts". "Drug user" is generally used to refer to a very specific kind of drug usage, even though most of us are factually drug users. For some reason, it's just the ones that have to access illicit supply that get labelled as such...hmmmm. Can you imagine if we referred to everyone who drank alcohol and coffee as "drug users" and "addicts"???? If we called bars/pubs "safe supply sites"????? hahaha. Unless.

[qweerhet]

btw, i do understand that when most people talk about running someone out of town, they're thinking it'll only be requested in situations where, like. someone has continuously abused their power in multiple spaces and that abuse of power will not stop. someone who is, like, in a position of authority over many different people, and consistently uses that authority to commit egregious acts of violence. people like drug dealers who use their position to make addicts reliant on them and repeatedly violate them sexually or otherwise, like abusive bosses who sexually traffic people through their company, etc etc etc.

thing is--running someone out of town is a tool, and we have to understand that any tools we choose to make standard in our community toolkits will be applied to people who did absolutely nothing wrong. i have been privy to many, many community cases where someone was accused publicly of sexually violating someone who they had never interacted with sexually. there are material benefits to casting oneself as a victim, if you're white and want to punish someone for unrelated reasons, and white people take advantage of this dynamic currently, in the world we live in. but it's not acceptable to push for a world where we do not believe victims of harm when they speak up--so we need to understand that whatever tools we put in our community toolkits, we either design them so that minimal harm comes of it if they're applied to the wrong person, or we accept the collateral damage of occasionally uprooting the lives of people who have done nothing wrong (and/or enacting physical violence on them).

this isn't even getting into the weeds of things like: sometimes, someone is in severe pain and extremely activated from their recent trauma, and it means they need to interact with the person who hurt them as if that person was an intentionally malicious figure who has a significant amount of power and hurts other people with it regularly. this is okay; the victim should have the ability and space to do that, they should be able to cut off the person who harmed them and do their trauma work in the way that works for them. but it doesn't objectively, outside of that space, mean that the person who harmed them is otherwise dangerous or objectively a malicious figure with a lot of power.

like. i was date raped. after we broke up, i needed to view her as malicious and intentionally violating my consent, in order to heal from the trauma i had experienced. but, like... with time and plenty of trauma work and after getting a handle on my nervous system's activation patterns? i'm pretty sure she was just inexperienced and thought that was how consent worked. she had a lot of dubiously consensual sexual experiences as a kid, and i'm pretty sure she just... thought that was how sex worked for everyone as adults, too. she wasn't a dangerous predator who needed to be run out of town, she was a traumatized 18-year-old who needed to be removed from her abusive household and taught about drugs and alcohol and consent.

everyone who acted on what i felt and said during my activated trauma state, and attempted to run her out of town and threaten her with violence? was making a mistake. that did nothing to address the harm she caused. she barely knew what she was doing.

so: harm reduction and redressment toolkits should also take into account extremely real, biological functions like nervous system activation in trauma victims. this isn't infantilization, this isn't removing autonomy, this is acknowledging that someone in a highly activated vulnerable state isn't in a position to make decisions for an entire community of people. asking a heavily traumatized, currently-activated person to direct an entire community in addressing the harm that just happened to them is putting too much on their shoulders, no matter how well they're dealing with what happened. they should have complete and utter autonomy over what they do and how the community treats them in this situation, but asking them to decide what happens to the other person/people isn't fucking fair. asking them to make a realistic assessment of if this person is a predatory danger to the community that cannot be addressed, or a person with minimal power who also needs help to address their dysfunction so they don't harm people, isn't fucking fair.

(not that that's even a binary to begin with!)

[meanslavic]

this is so sweet. anon i hope you know that no diagnosis is a monolith and a checklist of symptoms isn't a prescriptive lifestyle or death sentence. traits can be managed, coping skills do work and recovery/harm reduction/a slightly better life is literally always possible.

and remember that if you find yourself not relating to the public faces of your specific condition, swaths of people across a range of disabilities feel the same way. what gets popular online is usually not a reflection of the general population's life, which is obvious but sometimes harder to see when it comes to small communities like ours. try not to give them so much credit that their experience invalidates your own (easier said than done).

(btw i swear dont hate the other blog being mentioned at all, i'm just being ultra cautious about what i share now about my specific diagnoses given RFK's 'wellness camps', their connections to the troubled teen industry and how vocal i've been in the past about that stuff. probs paranoia but idk)

[trans-axolotl]

Hi from the UK!

A friend of mine (not on tumblr) is suffering at the hands of psychiatrists rn, desperately wants help but they’re not listening to her and just keep sending social services and threatening her with institutionalisation. I was just wondering if you know of any UK anti psych groups she could reach out to for support? Or any good book recs on living with schizophrenia and complex childhood trauma. Tbh anything you think could be helpful for her, I’d really appreciate it :)

I think you do great work btw, it was through you I discovered the concept of mad liberation and it’s really changed my worldview on psychiatry and institutions. Big lov mad respect :)

Really sorry to hear your friend is having to deal with this bullshit right now.

Definitely would recommend reaching out to Campaign for Psych Abolition--they're a fabulous antipsych group that's UK based, they do some direct action, organize mad pride, and also have a Mad art club regularly for people to meet and get support. They're cpabolition on Instagram.

If self harm is relevant for them at all, I've heard good things about Battle Scars Self Harm, which is entirely survivor led and provides harm reduction resources and support.

There's a ton of Hearing Voices groups across the UK, and there are usually a lot of people in those spaces who have antipsych values.

For book recs, I really liked The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang. It's a collection of essays, many which have antipsych themes and are about the authors experience of living with schizophrenia.

I haven't read it, but I've heard some good things about Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving: A Guide and Map for Recovering From Childhood Trauma by Pete Walker. My friends who've read it said that they felt like a few chapters kind of annoyed them, but they still found enough value from it to recommend.

always cool to hear more people are discovering mad liberation from on here <3 lmk if you or your friend need any other recommendations, and wishing your friend the best of luck!

[susansontag]

it wouldn’t be incorrect to suggest that my experience of OCD informs some of my politics and general ideas about the world tbh! it’s no surprise to me that I’m against the idea that thoughts have the inherent power to harm others or enact real violence, and this extends to my ideas about speech and writing/reading in most cases. it similarly doesn’t surprise me that I’m skeptical of all forms of religion, but also quasi-religious thought and cult-like dynamics and groups, and quasi-religious thought does include ideas about manifestation and fate btw (so yep zodiac, tarot, etc, all included). I’ve seen how these ideas can lead people down self-destructive paths where they feel completely helpless to factors beyond their control

this isn’t meant to be reductive, I think when managed correctly and done in moderation some of these ideas can even be helpful. but I won’t pretend they’re more than helpful ideas and actually represent some deeper truth or meaning about the workings of the world, because they don’t. and it’s healthy to be suspicious of people trying to tell you that they do because they’re usually trying to control or limit your expression, thoughts, or behaviour in some way

[thistlecatfics]

I mean, *someone* has to ask you about Andromeda for the hp character therapy ask, right? Maybe after a few different 'milestones' in what we know of her life? (Loving these btw! <3)

Doshu!! I hope you know I’m answering these instead of working on a fic I’m gifting you lol. 

Omg Andromeda. 

So I really hate working with parents haha so I’m going to pick two pre-mother times and try not to totally lose myself in my answers

Just after she runs away -

I could see this going one of two ways-

First, the transition is just extremely overwhelming, and therapy is just focused on her adjustment to the muggle world. (definitely billing this as an adjustment disorder lol.) we’d do grounding skills, space for venting, validating her feelings around inadequacy when she doesn’t understand things and also utilizing a strength based approach focused on utilizing her strengths to adapt. 

Also - assessing for alcohol use disorder, harm reduction around that, nonjudgmental support, potentially some motivational interviewing though it’s not so much my vibe, doing a lot of skill building in early sobriety to cope with the sheer amount of bad feelings she now has to endure

OR - she’s one of those people for whom as soon as they get out of their family (or any other abusive situation), they just need to verbally get it out. Each session would just be venting about a different family memory without a lot of feeling associated (beyond protective anger). She doesn’t want to talk about this stuff with Ted or with anyone else so therapy is that space. 

In either case, I’d hope she’d stick to therapy long-term and actually get into the emotions behind those memories. (After she takes a break to have a baby - then it’s just more coping skills and venting time.)

Validating that she can still love her sisters (and Sirius), and that’s ok. 

I headcanon her (obviously) as experiencing sexual abuse from both Cygnus and Bellatrix, and I would (totally not projecting here!) imagine it takes 5+ years for her to admit that in therapy. We spend a lot of time with just nonjudgmental support and then potentially doing EMDR with the core beliefs of I’m defective. (Young child Tonks is actually a major trigger, and that's a big reason she starts talking about it and feels moved to process it.)

Or, she’s a teenager and she’s sort of quietly acting out/breaking down and she’s made to go to therapy. (would her family ever make her go to therapy? Lol it’s a game of pretend.) 

She does not trust me. Ever. Every adult is a potential spy of her parents, especially if they’re being paid by them. 

We just do coping skills work, and she vents about schoolwork and academic pressure, and I think she’s not actually absorbing anything until one week she casually mentions she used 5 senses when she was overwhelmed and it “helped a bit” and then transitions quickly to talking about her potions essay. (I leave the session and do a little happy dance I’m so thrilled that she utilized something from therapy.) 

(When I learn she ran away from her family because it's a public scandal, I’m over the moon and need to process my intense counter transference in supervision so I don't do something inappropriate like send her a congratulations/I'm so proud of you letter.) 

Oops lost myself in the answers haha. no one is surprised.

[blowflyfag]

Ok so like I said earlier I wanna go on a ramble about how Gangrel is super cool if you know the rules of Vampire the Masquerade. And I’m doing that now so sit down. This will be a bit of a longer ramble gulp.

Ok so. First things first! What is Vampire the Masquerade you may be asking? Well. Vampire the Masquerade is a table top rpg! Focusing on your life as a vampire in a neo gothic world where you main priority is to protect the Masquerade and make it to the next night.

Now you maybe be asking. Masquerade? What is that!? Well the Masquerade in VTM is an act every vampire plays to keep their secret world of vampires hidden. Now not all Vampires Believe in the art of protecting the Masquerade and this is the first talking point I was to bring up. Btw you’re all gonna learn a lot of Vampire terminology so get your notebooks ready.

1. Gangrel and the Sabbat.

Sabbat? What’s a sabbat? In VTM there’s what you can consider. Political beliefs, Camarilla, Anarch, and Sabbat. I won’t be going into the other two but the major thing between Anarch and Camarilla is they believe in upholding the masquerade, which is the idea that you should keep being a vampire hidden from mortal society, while the Sabbat does not. One of the Sabbat’s core beliefs is that they are monsters. And they should be proud of it and show it off.

Now does that sound like a certain vampire we know? If Gangrel was trying to keep secret that his character was a vampire that would be a different story. However how he proudly gloats it with the blood and sharp fangs he proudly shows off. He feels like a Sabbat vampire! There’s also a brutality with the way he fights that can be associated with the Sabbat.

2. The name.

Gangrel is the name of a clan in VTM. Clans are the types of Vampires you can become once you are embraced (turned into a vampire.) and there are many to choose from.

Many people once turned into Vampires will change their names to leave their old lives behind. Some Vampires have lived hundreds of lives depending on how long they’ve been alive.

Also this is a side point but for Gangrel to be named Gangrel they have to get the approval of White Wolf (the people at the time who were Producing and writing VTM books and such.) so we can assume these guys had base knowledge of the character they were making.

3. The Brood.

In VTM games, the group you play with is your Cotiere. A cotiere is a group of vampires that you work with, associate with, are friends with, etc. in a way. While I have personal Headcannons for what type of Vampires Christian and Edge could be. (Personally I think Christian is a Tremere and Edge is a Lasombra. But I’m willing to hear others opinions!!!) I don’t know if I’d call the brood a group of friends, but they definitely work together to incite fear into the federation. HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THE BLOODBATH SHIT THEY DO ITS METAL AND ITS SO COOL THEY DO IT TOGETHER

4. Ok this might be a reach- The intro music.

Ok so Gangrel and the Brood’s entrance theme starts with whispers. Now what the hell could this relate to huh? Well in the 2004 video game Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines. (Considered to be one of the best RPGs of all time you should all play it if you have a chance twirls hair.) the player clan Malkavian hear similar whispers. Malkavian’s vampirc curse is their… madness. While the representation in Bloodlines can be considered extremely harmful to people with mental illness, there have been many strides to have better and more accurate representation for players today. It’s just.. a bad product of the time. However I’m not here to talk about Bloodlines I’m here to talk about GANGREL BABY!

Anyways the whispering used for their intro theme and the whispering in bloodlines is very similar IMO and it once again relates Gangrel to VTM Lore

5. Iconography and signs

Gangrel and the Brood had a repeating sign of the Ankh. Which is heavily associate with VTM. The Camirilla, Sabbat, and Anarchs have their own reductions of the ankh that they use, and on Christian and Edge’s pants we can see the ankh being used. While not every vampire in VTM uses these symbols many do to communicate that they are kindred without having to outright say it. Think of it almost like a hanky code of sorts!

6. Fire.

Fire in VTM lore. Is the biggest Killer for Vampires. If a flame gets just to close you’re done for. Final Death. What I like to see and use in my interpretation of VTM is Fire with power. The ability to have something so deadly close to you and not be worried what so ever is such a telling piece of story IMO.

Now how does Gangrel come down to the ring? He comes up surrounded by a ring of fire without worry on his face. In Fact he’s grinning. Laughing. He’s so close to something that could kill him a second time. And he’s not worried at all. It's such a Show off way of power to other vampires, and people who know how fire is with vampires.

7. Literally just this ad in a edition of the WWF magazine

What’s next to him is the first like guide/rule book for Vampire the Masquerade.

In conclusion. Gangrel is sooo much cooler if you know VTM lore and rules and it’s so cool as a fan of both to try and piece together what vampire stuff Gangrel does/ participates in. Like there’s so much cool Vampire lore and events that happen that’s so fun to think about!

I have my own personal ideas of Gangrel’s like. Lore or whatever that I would be willing to go into if people wanna hear it but. For now this is my Ted talk. :3

[bunny-heels]

i saw your post about not rebloging from people who are proship and if im being honest, that mentality terrifies me as someone who just learned this word. what if there is a new word that circulates in places im not familiar in and i get blacklisted for just rebloging something specific without seeing the entire blog? i really try to stay on top of all this lingo but it gets tough. also is bdsm proship? bdsm is not a cover for abuse even if people try to use it as such, when done responsibly and in the right communities that value safety as a first rule they often are more aware of harm and the reduction and prevention of it then movements that wont allow the depiction of stories that help survivors identify their abuse. am i proship if i appreciate a artful depiction of an abuse in tv that helps me learn how to recover in a healthy way and find skills to help others not get hurt the ways i had to? am i proship for making jokes that might read as hurtful to an outsider who dosnt know my relationship to my friends/partner? im sorry i just want to understand the line here so i can understand the harm these people are actually doing.

i think youre just terrifying yourself, friend.

proshippers only have 3 terms they use, as far as i know; proship, comship [meaning complicated ship], and darkship [meaning dark topic ship].

you won't be blacklisted just because you reblogged a post created by a proshipper, especially if you dont follow the person who created the post and you didnt know they were a proshipper. stuff like that happens all the time, and not just with proshippers. lots of people unknowingly reblog from terfs, racists, nazis, zionists- hell even i've reblogged posts made by people who were like that. but if youre followers actually know who you are, then they'll know it was a mistake, and they'll likely warn you politely about it just to watch out for you.

BDSM is not proship. BDSM has to do with rough and physically tasking acts in sex that are discussed and consented on extensively. lots of people into BDSM, such as subs and doms, will tell you that they regularly check on each other and have a system to let them know if they're okay or need a break or if something goes too far.

plus i myself am into some extreme things that i would never do in real life, let alone without someones consent. its either a 100% yes or there's no doing it all.

liking media with depictions of harmful topics that put it in an educational or meaningful light is also not proship. one of my favorite indie games is My Eyes Deceive, which i find to be a beautifully morbid game that touches well on the topic of abuse towards children and shows how horrific it can really be.

not proship for making jokes either. i'm friends with a chick who we both used to date the same guy who turned out to be a pedo. we often joke about how we were victims of grooming because really, we were.

checkin to see if a person is a proshipper isnt something scary or even that hard to do you'll find. i mean, if you'd make an effort to check if the youtuber youre watching is racist or if the twitter acc youre following is a nazi, then i dont see it as a lot of work to go to a persons blog and double check to make sure they arent a creep.

which btw, you'll know instantly if they are. everyone on this site is not afraid to say what they like or what theyre into. there is a good 90% chance that if the blog youre checking is proship safe, then they will proudly say it on their pinned post or carrd or whatever they use to put their info. its not too hard to spot.

buddy, you have nothing to worry about, and i promise you its not that hard to be a good person. you see someone who has shitty ideals? just block and move on. you didn't know the person you interacted with was shitty? delete it, block them, and move on. like avoiding a food you find gross in a buffet or taking out the trash. you'll be fine.

[futuremercifulnerd]

*farts*

Reminded of when i went out to dinner a few months ago and a friend invited her bff and this girl sat there talking about the work she does for the socialist movement and her politics, and the crazy amount of patience i displayed by keeping my mouth shut the entire time. My issue isnt with socialism btw, had this happened at literally any other time besides the 2024 election i wouldve been willing to listen. My issue is with people like this girl, because how can you sit there talking about not caring how the election turns out because you "just need to get 5% of the vote to be on the ballot next election" when your bff is black. Firstly, IF we have another election, secondly you care so little for our friend that youre willing to sell her out because voting for the Kamala made you feel icky, how fucking selfish can you be. And then she tried to say she wasnt privileged when someone else called her out for another topic (housing) and she went "im not privileged, i only have a house because someone else bought it for me, i would be struggling too. So i get it. I get things are hard- blah blah blah." I DONT THINK YOU DO GET IT IF SOMEONE ELSE BOUGHT YOU YOUR HOUSE.

People like that are so fucking far up their own privileged ass and were so sure that the incontinent orange would never be reelected that they sat back and relied on OTHER people doing the hard work (all while actively telling people to do the same as them) so that they could simply sit there on their moral high horses and not feel bad because boohoo we want PERFECTION. "Genocide is a deal breaker, we want genocides to stop," bitch the ONLY options were literally a woman who wants to help make things better and resolve the genocide, while proving she listened to her voter base (especially on that topic), and an 81 year old man who sundowns and shits himself who had literally stated he wanted to speed the process up. Go fuck yourselves. I dont want to hear it from those people about how they "didnt know," you did know and you just decided it didnt matter more than you being uncomfortable. Me and millions of other people arent going to let you fuckers live it down either. "I dont support genocide" cool then you shouldve voted accordingly and voted for harm reduction because now NO ONE is going to be helped AND things are going to start happening here too. Hope it was worth it for you 🥰 sorry youre not as smart as you think to truly believe youd break the chain THIS time, despite everything at risk, sorry you fell for the koolaid THEY handed you 🥰

[spiegelgestalt]

Does the bible endorse slavery?

Soooo. A few weeks ago I watched the new video by Dan Olson. It’s about the futile quest to prove creationism is real by proving that dinosaurs and humans lived during the same period of time. It’s a good video. There was just one part that triggered me no offended me to my core and it was this one: the fundamentalist try so desperately to prove creationism because they want to keep the bible as unquestionable authority so they can continue their bigoted beliefs. And this angered me. I wasn’t angry at Dan. I’m pretty sure he’s right. There are Christians who think that the only thing standing between them and their ability to subjugate humans and treat others badly for their own personal gain is science, secularism and a critical read of the bible.

And as a Christian i just can't let this stand

This is me cleaning house (she said if anyone would read this and if she had any authority) Get your grabby fundamentalist prosperity gospel slavery apologist hands away from my holy scripture. We don’t want you here. Go away.

Does the bible think that slavery is okay?

Short answer: No.

Nuanced answer under the cut:

The bible has a harm reduction approach to a lot of social issues. A lot of rules and laws apply to concrete problems people had at the time. Some things were so far out of the realm of possibility no one thought of them yet. But the bible is very clear how all laws and rules should be applied:

They should protect those who can’t protect themselves – especially vulnerable people without a family unit: widows, orphans, poor people, foreigners, slaves because God is always on the side of those people

You can’t serve God properly if you are mistreating your fellow humans

Treating your fellow humans well is more important than the correct prayers/cult

One of the fundamental myths in the bible is getting freed from slavery. God is someone who saves you from slavery.

But and here comes the nuance: there was slavery in the bible. And it wasn’t abolished. here we get to the harm reduction approach. In the bible if you have slaves you should always remember that you (or your ancestors) used to be slaves themselves So you should treat them accordingly – one free day a week for everyone (BTW part of the ten commandments) , enough pay to have a decent life, and after seven years they should get the possibility to leave and be free but they could stay if they wanted to. Basically the enslaved person is a human like you.  This approach should make several things impossible which are usually highly connected to slavery: treating people as things/furniture (imo one of the biggest sins in the bible btw – you can always spot a godless person by the way they treat the people and animals around them), not paying them, destroying their families, beat them to death…

But what about Gen 9, Spiegel? What about Ham and this particular verse: “Cursed be Canaan;

a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.“

Okay so you are saying that this one line makes chattel slavery acceptable, that makes it acceptable to breed people like animals, to break up their families, to rape and abuse them, to treat them like trash to this very day. This one line makes racism and slavery okay?  

This one line which is said by a Noah who drank so much that he lied around naked and was disrespected by his sons is enough evidence to make slavery okay? This one line which was clearly meant as jab at the neighbors of israel is enough evidence.

You know how you can also read this: You can read this as the Deluge not working. Because here’s the thing: There was a Deluge because conflict, evil and wars got so out of hands that God tried to switch creation on and of again. (lets not talk about the morality of this). God tried to switch creation on and of again and the people were still evil. That’s what they realized: People won’t change. People are evil. And so I won’t punish creation again just because people suck. – and how did God realize it – because even Noah wasn’t perfect. There’s a new dawn – new humanity and once again Noah’s putting brother against brothers – unlawful hierarchies appear and the whole cycle starts again.

But what about the slavery in the new testament, Spiegel? Paul said it was okay. Paul said slaves should remain with their masters. Huh! What do you say now?

Paul also made it abundantly clear that their was no significant difference between a slave and a lord. In the eyes of god they are all equally sinners and equally saved.

Paul honestly thought that the world wouldn’t exist much longer. It was very much: this is a temporary thing – tomorrow Jesus comes back and then all of this doesn’t matter anyway. So his drive to change the world/change the rules/ create a just society wasn’t really there. His stance was mostly: you got what you got so try to live the most god fearing live wherever you are. So as a slave with a unjust master that meant suffering but still trying you best – and know that you take part in jesus’ suffering. While as a master you should treat the people under you like Jesus treated them -> serve them, suffer under them, help them – the vibe was very much: if everyone acts well and decent we don’t even have to have a revolution. Is that realistic – no – but I don’t think Paul was big into structural criticism. The important thing is: would Jesus endorse chattel slavery? HELL NO!!What the fuck are you talking about??

Pauls stance on the whole unjust hierarchies thing is actually pretty interesting because it was basically an anarchistic stance. A Christian is completely free – they only serve God – but because serving God means serving your brothers and sisters they are a slave/servant to everyone at the same time. If you are a Christian there are no gender barriers, it doesn’t matter were you come from, it doesn’t matter if you are rich or if you are poor, your education doesn’t matter – you are free and out of that freedom you decide to serve other to the best of your abilities.

So TL/DR: Dear fundamentalist Christian: It’s not only science/secularism/liberalism which stands in the way of your selfish, ignorant, hateful ways it’s also the bible because Plot TWIST a lot of liberalism/secularism/socialism grew on top of or in conversation with Christian theology  and the first person who wrote about the Big Bang theory was a catholic priest. GTFOH

[burning-bubble-tea]

Weirdly despite the honestly dark depressing hole that I’d thinking about worsening climate disasters, I’m weirdly not that scared? Like it’s still scary. The LA fires affected loved ones and it was really scary worrying if they’ve evacuated or not but like, I’m seeing this out pouring of mutual aid! Donations, volunteers!

Like yes the climate disasters are going to continue but look at people supporting their communities in times of crisis.

I truly believe that climate change isn’t the end of the world. Like will the world get more dangerous especially for the marginalized? Yes. So one of the easiest ways I’ve found to build hope is to see that people do care. People are willing to help. Communities can respond and help each other. But it’d be a lot easier if these communities were empowered. If funding was given, if policies are implemented.

Like let’s stop tearing each other down over whether we’re a good vegan or not, we are differing people with differing views who are more politically aligned than we like to think.

So me shouting into the void right now, when you see the climate scientist say shits fucked, turn to your community and see the ones doing the work. Knitting scarves and hats to keep people warm. Artists bringing joy, activists advocating, harm reduction workers supporting people, doctors healing, educators teaching, like there’s so much, shit isn’t entirely fucked but I want a world that is as wonderful as possible for as many people as possible and climate change is increasing misery.

Like I dunno how to communicate to youth that yes climate change is bad, yes be angry, but no you have a future. A beautiful future. If you want kids your children and their children have a beautiful future, but it can be better. As an individual you might not be able to make the whole world a better place but you can make it better for someone. Do the dishes for some else. Hold the door open, practice seeing other people as beautiful individuals, so that if you’re ever called on to help another, you will. Because you love your community. You care for your friends. And a stranger you help is someone else’s friend and loved one.

So we’re not cooked. It’s not over. It’s not giving up time. In all honesty do what you can, even if it’s imperfect and if you really don’t want to do anything at all which is your choice I can’t make that for you, at least be ready to be there for others.

When the fires come. When the floors surge, when the drought hits and the food prices continue to rise, you can help others evacuate, you can share food, you can give and know that others can share with you.

I really do hope that the climate disaster you get hit with; you’re resilient enough to survive. I hope that when it happens, you and your family, friends, community and neighbours are there to support each other.

And it doesn’t have to be grand.

One of my proudest moments is helping a lady get to her bus stop when ice froze the roads and our bus couldn’t go anywhere. I saw her struggling and almost falling on the icy streets. I do remember many people asking if she needed help but eventually it was me and Belinda against the world. We were not abandoned btw it was just very clear I was helping her and too many chefs in the kitchen etc.

Like what I did wasn’t crazy groundbreaking. I just held this woman’s hand as we crossed an ice covered street.

But she was so thankful, and I was happy to help. And I know that when I’m old, when I may need help, others can help me. Now I’m not blind to the fact that some people may not help me and I should be at least prepared to be self sufficient but that’s not the point. The point is that plenty of people are willing to help.

So many people care and love. When the shit hits the fan, I know that people will survive because someone cared about them.

And this is what I mean when I say a solution to climate change is community. It’s not some peace on earth bullshit. It’s the willingness to help out another in crisis. And the climate crisis is a crisis.

So donate warm clothing to a shelter, or money, or time. Be there for someone. Anyone.

Anyways I write these things to make myself feel better. To remind myself that it’s not a temperature rise and we all die.

It’s a temperature rise and things get uncomfortable. Dangerous. Scary. Unpredictable. But I do predict that we will continue to see care, even during the worst of it. Someone will be kind.