#how do the politics of having not only 1 but TWO genders come into play esp overlapping w things like class and race

[chewispodium]

like listen i know a/b/o exists in every fandom under the sun but there seems to be a particularly high percentage of a/b/o works in relation to overall number of entries in the f1 ao3 tag in general. why do yall think this is

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - August 1-7

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1. Zoo hails birth of 'one of world's rarest animals'

“[Jasper] the Persian onager was born to mum Azita after a year-long pregnancy. […] Conservationists at the zoo said there are less than 600 surviving wild onagers[, … which] only survive in two small, protected areas in Iran, a Chester Zoo spokesman said. […] Mike Jordan, animal and plant director at Chester Zoo, […] said Jasper is "doing very well" and added that "mum Azita is doing a fantastic job of nurturing and bonding with her new charge". "He’s full of energy and enjoys playfully kicking up sand as he races around his habitat", Mr Jordan added.”

2. Charity creates 50 community orchards in city

“Community orchards are returning to Birmingham, with the aim of teaching people how to grow their own food and be part of the solution to climate change. […] Once established, the long-term aim is to distribute the produce to those most in need, but local people are also invited to pick the odd bit of fruit. […] By planting trees and plants and encouraging biodiversity back to these areas the charity is also doing its bit to help climate change. They even use locally sourced wood chip which helps to put carbon back into the soil. […T]he hope is that these edible landscapes can also be enjoyed by local people for years to come.”

3. Farmer-led badger vaccination could revolutionize mission to tackle bovine TB

“[… T]he results of a four-year pilot badger vaccination program co-managed between farmers, scientists, and conservationists […] show the percentage of badgers testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the study area dropped from 16% to 0%[….] While most bTB incidents in cattle are caused by transmission between herds, transmission from wild badgers plays a role in the persistence of the disease. […] Blood sampling showed that the proportion of badgers with bTB fell even though overall badger numbers remained high[….]”

4. Every Colorado Anti-Trans Ballot Initiative Fails To Collect Enough Signatures

“Anti-transgender politics are becoming increasingly unpopular in polls. […] A recent LA Times/NORC poll found that 77% of voters believe elected officials use transgender debates to divert attention from more pressing issues. The poll also showed significant opposition to forced outing policies. […] A Gallup poll published in June revealed that while Americans have mixed views on the morality of transitioning, the majority oppose bans on gender-affirming care for trans youth. […] “The fact that they could not get enough signatures, barely half, to be placed on the ballot shows they lack support from everyday voters.”

5. In a fight to save a rare bird, Indigenous communities in Guyana are winning

“The partnership [between Indigenous communities and Smithsonian researchers] sparked a decades-long community-led conservation movement that has protected the red siskin and helped locals reconnect with nature. [… T]he South Rupununi Conservation Society […] established one of the country’s first conservation zones to protect the species, covering 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres) of Indigenous land. […] To plant the seeds of conservation, they’ve implemented an after-school program in more than 16 communities, [introducing children] to ecological research and surveying, and also [teaching] about Indigenous culture and tradition, including fire management skills.”

6. North Adams hospital gets federal designation which pays for health care in rural areas

“[The hospital] received a federal designation on Wednesday that is key to its long-term financial stability. […] The designation pays for staffing regardless of the number of patients[… and] “works to resolve stark inequities in rural and underserved communities as it relates to our nation’s health system."”

7. Andrea Vidaurre: Leading the clean transportation revolution

“Thanks to Vidaurre’s relentless advocacy and strong community support, these regulations introduced the first national standards for train emissions and set a groundbreaking goal for all freight trucks to be zero-emission by 2036. This initiative promises cleaner air for Californians and paves the way for a zero-emission vehicle future across the country. Studies predict these measures will prevent thousands of respiratory illnesses and save countless lives in the coming decades.”

8. Boston announces a new climate resilience office

“Through its Climate Ready Boston initiative, the city has worked to […] design creative adaptation plans with community input[, …] includ[ing] everything from redesigning waterfront parks and planting more trees, to modernizing the city’s underground sewer system[….] The Office of Climate Resilience will be in charge of coordinating work across city departments and with community groups[….]”

9. Combining Green Thumbs and Sustainable Fashion in a Swap Event

“This unique plant and clothing swap event in NSW is championing both environmental and fashion sustainability through native plants and preloved clothing. […] To participate in the plant swap, attendees brought their environmental weeds in a bag to the Council stall and exchanged them for free native plants. […] The event sparked valuable community conversations about the benefits of plant and clothes swaps, the impact of textile waste[, …] support a circular economy and combine a love for nature with practical, eco-friendly practices.”

10. Growing Green Spaces to Protect the Endangered Regent Parrot

“On Schools Tree Day, celebrated on 26 July, students from a local NSW school planted trees and shrubs to create crucial forage habitat for the endangered Regent Parrot, enhancing local biodiversity. […] Approximately 50 [… plants of] native species were chosen for their ecological benefits, helping to attract native birds, bees and butterflies while providing essential habitat and food. […] They [also] raise awareness about the regent parrot, encourage conservation efforts and emphasise the importance of protecting local wildlife. Additionally, conserving [the regent parrot] supports the health of their ecosystem by helping with in [sic] seed dispersal and maintaining plant diversity.”

July 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[namazunomegami]

emperor!geto x imperial concubine!reader

a/n: I’ve spent way too much time to research about chinese imperial concubines, playing with Royal Chaos during my highschool years and I had a boring shift at work. This is the result. Probably out of character as hell but hey, I wrote this for my enjoyment.

This is part 1 of a lil historical AU drabble series. I’m already finished with Sukuna, Gojo is in the works, and I got some ideas for Choso and Toji but don't think too much about it, ideas are just ideas.

I was so close to write reader as gender neutral but reader owns a type of traditional chinese headgear used exclusively by noblewomen so... yeah, reader is afab if you squint (very hard).

Likes and reblogs are appreciated, mwah <3

wc: 1011, I initally wanted a few headcannons but I got a full ass drabble

cw: suggestive, false accusations, implied murder, mentions of whipping, choking (not the kinky kind), yandere behavior

credits: renmakia for the gorgeous fanart and my dear @notveryrussian for proofreading and just putting up with my massive jjk brainrot every day, luv ya darling <33

MDNI, if you do, I'm gonna catch you like I'm gonna catch Gege.

He’s a monarch who considers his mind a weapon and information as a whetstone despite being born in relative peace. Spending his leisure time reading Sun Ce, the scripts of Confucian and Taoist scholars, sharing afternoon teas and long walks around the gardens with Buddhist priests and conversing about reaching enlightenment. As if he desperately wanted to understand how the world he was meant to rule works. His mandate of heaven brought prosperity, a flourishing economy, a strong connection between allied realms, a good education system that produced more scholars than in any other time before.

Competing for his attention is not an easy task. You almost gave up, bracing yourself for a long and uneventful life where you can only admire him from afar. You sit in the shade of a willow tree with a board of xiangqi, your playmate having left you not so long ago and you were trying to figure out which tactics and strategies they should’ve used to defeat you. You’re so lost in your thoughts you can’t notice him standing there, in the presence of his guards. You kowtow to him, excusing yourself for daring to bother him, pleading for his patience while you pack your things and leave. He likes that your manners are spot on, and he rewards you with a command to stay, to play with him, since xiangqi is a game between two people. And based on the positions of the pieces on the board you’re an experienced player.

Of course, he defeats you with ease, but he’s grateful you showed him everything you’ve got and didn’t let him win. He tells you that his victory lies in applying the teachings of Sun Ce to his playstyle. Your eyes light up and you beg him to elaborate further, maybe he can help you improve your tactics in the next game. He’s such a well-read man, so hungry for knowledge, so desperate to understand people. You’re sure he wants to figure out your thoughts too, what you think about the world, what values dominate your heart. And the secret to win him over is to shower him with all the details and even politely disagree with some of his beliefs and explain your point of view. That’s what gets him going, knowing your place in the hierarchy but not being afraid to stand your ground. Mindless obedience, at this point, bores him. That’s probably the reason why he slowly starts to favor you, your conversations refresh him, inside and outside of his bedchambers.

You may think that earning your place in his heart is a lengthy and hard process, but when he becomes sure that your infatuation comes from an honest place, he generously rewards your efforts. He showers you with gifts, each more thoughtful than the other. He sends you scripts from his personal library about topics that interest you, fulus he received from his priests to protect you and your chambers, phoenix crowns so elaborately adorned with pearls, sapphires, small dragons, and phoenixes made from solid gold. Gowns embroidered with clouds, cranes dancing around them, gifting you a small piece of the sky itself he descended from. He elevates your rank quickly so you can accompany him during events. Letting the whole court look at you, wrapped in everything he gave you, standing so close you can see him stealing glances at you from under the twelve tasseled crown. He rewards your family with money, grain, rice, political power. If he lifts you up, he does the same with everyone important to you.

But Geto’s court is highly competitive. It’s certainly not easy to be his favorite. You can literally smell the stench of jealousy eminating from the other consorts. Their gaze pierces your skin deeply when the eunuchs drag you around the Palace of Heavenly Grace with a brocade blanket hugging your naked figure. They must endure the sight every other night and they have no idea that the son of heaven is ready to serve you and do as you please behind closed doors and not the other way around, as tradition dictates.

Though he can comfort you, outside of his chambers you fear for your life. You needed a food taster now and never dared to walk the gardens without at least four guards in your proximity. You begin to doubt the trust between you and those you’ve befriended, because they can only blame you for his negligence towards them.

And then, the first accusation about you begins circulating around the palace. Some concubines claimed that you were guilty of witchcraft. So many of them are against you, with so much made-up proof you cannot do more than spend the night crying, believing that at dawn, guards will come for you and throw you into a well. You have no idea where Geto is or how you could beg him for protection.

The next day, strangely, a new set of officials deem you innocent. What boggles you even more is that he comes to your residence instead of having you delivered to him. Even his scent is not like it usually is, there’s something metallic, salty, and musky mixed in with the incense smoke.

That night he cradles you, shushing you, promising to keep you safe at all costs. Keeping it a secret how brutally he disposed of the rumor mongers, how he had some of his officials whipped bloody for not believing your testimony or about the thinly veiled threats that he’ll make anyone’s life a living nightmare if anything happened to you. Your heart skips a beat and simultaneously sinks deep in your chest when those of higher rank than you lower their head, trying their best to not look at you as they pass you by. With dark marks staining the skin below the neckline of their gowns, not even the empress consort being an exception.

It's not easy to be his favorite. It’ll never be easy.

But he’s a god, the son of heaven, and heaven will forgive him and so will you.

[hattedhedgehog]

hihihi i have one million questions about veilguard if you're willing to answer

what's the party banter like (quantity, quality, how often it triggers)?

can we talk to companions outside of the lighthouse (like in origins)?

how in-depth can we go with the questions we ask companions? and on that note - how varied can our responses be? is it like origins with a shitton of variety, or inquisition where you're mostly limited to two or three opinions?

how fashionable are the armors? any favorites?

how much do we get to interact with the infamous egg? is it anytime, or only in specific cutscenes?

could you go a bit more in-depth about how gender and transness works for rook?

does rook have their own room in the lighthouse, and if so, is it customizable (and to what degree)?

how much impact does your race have on story/banter/gameplay?

if you're allowed to tell us, how large of a role does the inquisitor play?

how tall/short can rook be?

how in-depth can rook get when it comes to political discussions (related to #3)

on a scale of 0 to videos of soldiers coming home to their dogs after being at war, how much should we expect to cry?

can we see your rook?

thanks!!!

I'll do my best! Some I won't be able to answer but I'll give it a go for ones I can. Spoiler-free answers below:

1: The party banter is lovely! It's very frequent, it ranges from rivalry to potential romance amongst each other, and happens at the Lighthouse as well as on missions.

2: Sometimes!

3: Depends how close you are to them. There aren't as many options as in Origins but it doesn't feel like the conversation is limited. You also get extra dialogue options depending on your faction/gender/relationship etc.

4: I found lots of them very aesthetically pleasing, though of course there are some that missed the mark. There's a huge range of outfits, and you unlock more with each area you go to. I can't show my favourites as they're spoilers for the achievements sadly! Emmrich's outfits are particularly fun and give me Locked Tomb haute couture vibes.

5: Infamous egg can only be accessed at certain times (like with companion cutscenes) but it happens multiple times at useful points.

6: In character creator Rook has separate categories for pronouns and gender identity, which his amazing! The pronouns are for how other people refer to them in dialogue, and the identity is for expanding on gender in conversations. For instance, my Rook was nonbinary and used he/him pronouns, so other characters referred to me as He, and I got to talk to other characters with dialogue specifically about how Rook wasn't a man or a woman (and how he felt about that!)

7: Rook does have their own room! You collect items in-game that you can place around the room as decor, and interact with to explore Rook's personality.

8: It impacts your character's origins and how you interact with/relate to characters.

9: Can't tell you, sorry!

10: Depends on the starter build!

11: Quite in-depth!

12: The latter...

13: I'll post my Rook on launch day!

Hope these help!

[unpredictable-probabilities]

A Vow Claimed || Chapter 1: Arranged

Summary:

After discovering that his family has fallen into hard times, Hob Gadling takes it upon himself to accept a wealthy proposition of marriage to an inscrutable scion.

Notes:

Thank you so much to @signiorbenedickofpadua for all the resources about the Regency era~

Still, this fic is more Vibes than Historical Accuracy and there will definitely be anachronisms especially about gender, people of color, and politics in general.

And as always, a big thank you to @patchyegg87 for helping me brainstorm this and for beta-reading <3

One last thing:

Apeiros (ah-pie-ruhs) - a surname to replace "Endless", from Ancient Greek ἄπειρος (ápeiros), meaning “infinite, boundless”

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Word Count: 3,503

Square/Prompt: C2 - Arranged Marriage | @dreamlingbingo

Ship(s): Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Regency, Historical Inaccuracy, There's no homophobia, Arranged Marriage, Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Hob has good parents, Dream does not

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59599552/chapters/152005054

═════ ◈ ═════

Hob swung his leg over the tall gate and dropped on the ground with a grunt, his winter coat barely softening his fall. One might have expected the only son of Lord Gadling to conduct himself with more grace, but anything resembling propriety had left Hob after his fourth mug of ale, and sneaking back into their house in the dead of night required more urgency than elegance, anyway.

He unsteadily rose to his feet, looking around at the windows to be certain that none of the lamps in the rooms were lit. His parents had retired to their bedroom before he even left the house and would most likely be asleep by now.

He made it to the entry hall and saw that there was light coming from the living room. Perhaps some servants were still awake, but he was friendly enough with them that none would give him any trouble should they run into him. He was about to head for the stairs and to his bedroom when he heard what sounded like hushed voices.

He furrowed his eyebrows and quietly approached the living room, staying hidden in the shadows of the corridor. He slowly peered around the corner and saw his parents on the sofa, a small lamp and two goblets of water on the small table in front of them.

“We could always sell this house,” said his mother. “With a land of this size, we could acquire enough fortune to move somewhere smaller and use the rest of the money to keep the farms going.”

“But this house belonged to your mother,” Hob’s father said. “And her mother before her. You had said that you wish to keep this house in the family,” he gently added.

“Oh but I don’t know what else to do, Frederick. It is only the beginning of December, and we have long weeks of winter ahead of us still. We can survive well enough until spring, but what then? Our crops will not grow nearly fast enough to replenish the money we had spent these past months.”

Hob felt something twist in his stomach. He was entirely aware of the part he played in why their finances had been nearly depleted, but he had no idea how bad the situation had gotten.

The alcohol that had been clouding his mind was dissipating, the pleasant haze of inebriation being steadily replaced with the realisation that he had been sneaking out a few nights a week for mindless amusement while his mother had been considering selling their home.

“There is still… the deal that Lord Apeiros had proposed in his letter,” his father said.

“No,” Hob’s mother shook her head. “I will not force our son into such an arrangement.”

Hob frowned. Even among the nobles, Lord Apeiros was exceptionally influential. His ancestors were barons and served as advisors or generals back when the country still had a monarchy, and House Apeiros still retained much of their wealth even when they no longer served the government. Why would someone like Lord Apeiros even take notice of their little family, and what did Hob have to do with any of it?

“Neither will I,” his father said reassuringly. “But perhaps we might take it into consideration, if it is something our son would be willing to do. He is six and twenty; he is more than old enough to make the decision for himself.”

His mother looked down at her lap and fidgeted with a handkerchief. “He had already given up half his salary for the administrative work he does for the farms, I cannot ask him to do this.”

“Do what?” Hob stepped out of the shadows and faced his parents.

“Hob,” his father said in surprise.

“Are you heading out at this hour?” his mother—who he now noticed had red rims around her eyes—frowned at his winter coat.

“What does Lord Apeiros want with me?” Hob asked, but was only met with the hesitant gazes of his parents. “Mother, please.” He walked over to sit beside her, taking her hand in both of his. “How can I help?” He looked to his father in hopes that he would explain. “Let me pay back the fortune I had lost.”

“The tavern brawl was not your fault, son,” his father said kindly, the grey half-circles under his eyes giving him a weary expression. “You merely defended Miss Johanna’s honour.”

“And who knows what would have happened to you two had you not fought back,” his mother squeezed his hand.

Hob knew they were right, but even before that night he had already been spending their money on lavish parties he held in this house to celebrate the harvest season, as he had done so for the past three years. The hefty sum they had to pay for the damages done to the tavern was merely the final straw.

“What does Lord Apeiros want?” Hob persisted.

His mother looked down at their joined hands and pursed her lips, a worried frown creasing her forehead.

It was his father who spoke, slowly as if being careful in choosing his words. “Lord Apeiros has expressed his faith that once this winter is over, we will continue to be the town’s main supplier of crops. He is interested in… being involved with our livelihood.”

Hob furrowed his eyebrows in thought. “He means to purchase our farms?” He supposed it made sense, rich noblemen had been known to buy lands and businesses they might find profitable. But that still didn’t explain what it had to do with him; he just worked at their farms but the ownership is still under his father’s name.

His parents exchanged glances, and his mother’s grip on his hand tightened a fraction.

“He has a son of the same age as you…” she said, still looking at their joined hands. “If our families were to legally unite, so would our finances.”

Hob’s face went slack with realisation as his mother’s words slowly became clear. He was frozen in place as his mind tried to deny and reason that perhaps he had misunderstood.

His father met his gaze, and Hob dreaded to hear the explanation that he had been insisting upon.

“He means for you to marry his son. Mr. Morpheus Apeiros.”

═════ ◈ ═════

“My lord?” The voice of their librarian took Morpheus out of the story he had been reading. “You’re here early. Have you broken your fast?” She approached his table.

“I had no appetite to do so,” Morpheus said without looking up from his book, staring at the fine grains of sand in the illustrated hourglass. “And I still do not have it, so I would thank you not to bother with convincing me to have a meal,” he cast a sideways glance at her.

Lucienne sighed. “I do wish you would develop healthier eating habits, my lord.”

“And I wish you would stop calling me by that title in private. It seems we are both disappointed,” he said lightheartedly. They were childhood friends and he had grown closer to Lucienne than some of his siblings; it always made him want to wrinkle his nose whenever she called him by a title.

Lucienne pulled up a chair and took a seat to his right. “What’s got you brooding on this fine spring morning, Morpheus?”

He closed the book and placed it on the table, resting his palm on the cover. “The meeting… is today.”

Lucienne was silent for a few moments. No doubt she knew of today’s significance; all the house staff were made aware so as to prepare the necessary arrangements. Far be it from House Apeiros to disappoint guests.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Lucienne asked quietly, kindly and without pity. It gave Morpheus some degree of comfort.

“No,” he said sincerely. The time for second thoughts had long since passed. “I am simply making the most of what little time I have left available to myself. Once the arrangement has begun I might not have the luxury of being here at my leisure.”

“What do you mean by that?” Lucienne furrowed her eyebrows. “You will still have time to yourself, will you not?”

Morpheus leaned back in his seat. “Mother and Father do not approve of my spending time reading books that have nothing to do with making profits. What sort of spouse do you imagine they have handpicked for me?” He had already accepted the possibility that he would have to hide his reading habits from yet another person in his life that he would be forced to live with, and yet it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Lucienne fell silent, knowing that empty words of comfort would just upset him further.

“It’s strange,” Morpheus smiled without mirth. “They named me after the Greek god of sleep and dreams, yet they see little value in me resting or engaging in anything remotely artistic.”

He traced his fingers on the embossed letters of his name on the book cover, so familiar and yet distant. He could not be any more different from his namesake; the god Morpheus was free to create stories and shape the dreams of others, while he was not free to shape his own. 

“Sometimes I think they just named us after gods to sate their vanity,” Morpheus muttered half to himself. “Perhaps Father found out what our family name meant in Ancient Greece and decided to lean into the Greek aesthetic.”

Lucienne huffed a chuckle. “That does sound like him.”

They sat in relatively comfortable silence for a few moments before she spoke again.

“Do you really not think it possible to become friends with your betrothed? You could both make the situation better for yourselves if you could at least confide in each other.”

Morpheus could feel a slight frown crease his forehead. He had asked Matthew to gather all the information he could about Lord Gadling’s only son, and suffice to say he was not holding out hope that they would get along well. With his famous parties and rumours of drunken nights at taverns, Robert Gadling seemed frivolous at best and a scoundrel at worst. More likely than not, Lord Gadling was hoping to force his son to be tempered by marriage to an influential family, or at the very least make him someone else’s problem. 

Morpheus sighed and opened his book again. “I should like to be left alone now, Lucienne.”

She nodded and stood up. “I will tell Matthew to bring you some food.”

Morpheus turned to her and frowned. “He is my secretary, not a servant.”

“He’s the only one who is never afraid to approach you no matter how grumpy you’re being,” Lucienne pointed out.

“I am not grumpy,” he said indignantly, to which Lucienne responded with an amused smirk. “And I thought no food is allowed in the library?”

“It’s allowed if I say it is,” Lucienne said with finality before turning on her heel to presumably fetch Matthew.

Morpheus allowed himself a small smile as the door closed behind her. If nothing else, he knew he would always have the two of them.

═════ ◈ ═════

“Can’t remember the last time I’d seen you all dressed up.”

Hob had been standing beside the carriage and he turned at the sound of Jo’s voice. “I could say the same about you, Miss Johanna.”

They dressed more like the common people whenever they went with their friends outside, mainly because their friends were common people, and they’d preferred to blend in.

Today was different, however. Hob’s entire ensemble was tailor-made and designed to impress even the most scrutinising nobles, while Jo was dressed in fine outdoor clothing befitting of her stature as the daughter of a viscount.

“We haven't seen you in months and now you’re off getting engaged?” she had walked over and leaned against the carriage with her arms crossed.

Hob managed a smile. “No engagement yet. Everyone still has to agree to the finality of it in today's meeting.”

Jo snorted, which looked mildly unnerving given her elegant dress and hairstyle. “You're not going to be able to go out with us anymore, being a married man. We'd have one less bloke to bet on card games and pay for drinks.”

“Abel usually has enough coin to bet, and from what I hear Rachel's buying you drinks now, eh?” Hob quipped. He wasn't entirely surprised about it, anyone with working eyes would see how those two looked at each other.

A light blush coloured Jo’s face even as she glared. “We're talking about you now.” Her scowl turned into something resembling concern. “Are you sure about this, Hobsie? The Apeiros aren't just any noble family. You'd have eyes on you all the time, your every movement criticised and catalogued for the papers.”

“I don't believe it'll be that bad,” Hob felt like he was trying to convince himself more than her. “The man I'm set to marry is hardly ever in the papers. Perhaps his preference for solitude would work to my advantage in staying out of the public eye.”

Jo took a step closer and lowered her voice. “I’ve met Morpheus Apeiros in a handful of social events, always stiff as a board and never deigns a smile to anyone. He might seem like one of those prissy lordlings you find challenging to swive, but you would actually have to stay with him for far longer than a night of bedding.”

Hob almost winced at the blunt reminder of who he had been just months ago. “I know, but I don't see him as someone to bed as a challenge, I actually hope to befriend him. It's reasonable to assume that he would like to avoid a miserable marriage just as much as I do.”

Jo sighed. “I know your parents aren't forcing you to do this. So why are you?”

Hob absently traced his fingers on the family crest engraved on the ring he was wearing. As the firstborn he was obliged to wear it to important appointments. “I have to do this, Jo. I gave my word to my parents three months ago that I would do all I can to help and make up for my past mistakes. And I'm standing by it.”

Jo shook her head. “You never should have fought with those thugs back in September.” The guilt in her voice didn't escape Hob’s notice.

“I wasn't referring to that,” he said sincerely. “They deserved it, and I'd do it again. But maybe smarter next time, and with not as much property damage.”

Jo rolled her eyes fondly.

“Miss Johanna,” said the delighted voice of Hob’s mother.

They turned to see her arm-in-arm with Hob’s father, walking down the front steps following the coachman who took his place in front of the carriage.

“What a pleasant surprise,” Hob’s father smiled. “We had not seen you in a long time.”

“You have grown so much!” Hob’s mother cooed as they stopped walking in front of Jo.

“Lord Frederick, Lady Amelia,” Johanna returned the smile and curtsied politely. “I just came to see old Hobsie before he's gone.”

“I'm going to get engaged, not hanged,” Hob scowled at her playfully.

His mother chuckled. “Well, we best be off now. It would not do to be tardy,” she patted Hob’s arm.

They said their goodbyes and soon enough the carriage was rolling along the path to the wealthier part of town.

Hob could not have guessed how long the journey had been, nervous as he was and feeling cold despite the sunny weather.

It felt like no time at all and they were stepping out of the carriage and onto the grounds of the Apeiros manor. Hob vaguely noticed the carriage drive away once more, and the pleasantries exchanged by his parents and the house staff as they were invited in. They had arrived a bit early, apparently, and they were being led to some chairs and tables in the garden to have some refreshments while the banquet was being prepared.

The chill that Hob had been feeling in the carriage ride had completely disappeared and he could almost feel himself sweating under his clothes. They were outdoors but somehow the imposing walls of the manor felt suffocating, the tall windows like eyes looking down upon him with judgement.

“I'm sorry, pardon, can I take a stroll while we wait?” Hob asked one of the footmen nearby.

“Of course, Mr. Gadling,” the footman tipped his head politely. “You may all walk the garden freely, and you will be summoned when it is time for lunch.”

“Are you well, my dear?” His mother asked, frowning in concern.

“I am,” Hob forced himself to smile. “Just need to stretch my legs after the carriage ride.”

“Don't you want some refreshments first, at least?” his father gestured to the drinks and fruit slices on the table.

“No, I'm fine, really.” Hob hoped his nausea didn't show on his face. “I'll be right back.”

He turned and walked away slowly enough as to remain polite and inconspicuous, but couldn't stop his feet from speeding up once he was out of sight of everyone.

He stopped beside a fountain and took out his handkerchief to dab at the sweat on his forehead. He had managed to keep relatively calm about this arrangement for the past three months, and now it seemed that without the worries of winter occupying his mind, all the nervousness was catching up to him.

A sudden flap of wings startled him and he gasped, almost tripping on his own feet as he stumbled backwards.

A black and white raven had perched on top of the fountain, looking at Hob with beady eyes and its head tilted slightly to the side. Was it curious? Hob hadn't spent enough time with birds to know.

“You gave me a fright,” Hob addressed the raven if only to work off some of the uneasiness thrumming under his skin. “I thought my heart would stop, and I have no intention of dying today, thank you very much. Or ever, if I can help it.”

“Did I hear you say you have no intention of ever dying?”

Hob whirled around and nearly stumbled again, searching for who had spoken.

A fair man dressed in fine dark clothing was walking towards him. He seemed to have come from the bench a few feet away that Hob had failed to notice when he first turned this corner. Embarrassment heated Hob’s face as he realised that the man had just watched him have a conversation with a bird, though he noticed that the man didn't seem to be mocking him. There was only curiosity in those piercing blue eyes.

The man held a book to his side as he walked, a finger placed between the pages to keep it from closing entirely. He carried himself with far too much confidence to be a servant, and was dressed too elegantly besides. His black shirt was obviously tailored to his slender frame, and the waistcoat hugging his torso was embroidered with deep blue and white patterns that blended well with the rest of his clothing, making it appear as if he was wearing a piece of the night sky.

“Uh, yeah,” Hob belatedly realised that he still hadn't responded until the man was standing right in front of him. “Yeah, that's right,” he offered a smile that he hoped looked playful yet polite.

The man glanced at the raven before looking at Hob again. “She will not harm you. She is merely curious about unfamiliar faces.”

His voice was deeper than Hob had expected, and quieter. It made Hob think of weighted blankets on cold nights.

“Good to know.” Hob returned his handkerchief back to his breast pocket, and the man’s eyes followed the movement.

“Robert Gadling?” the man asked, his gaze meeting Hob’s after having seen the ring on his finger.

“Yes,” Hob instinctively straightened his posture. Something about hearing his name in that voice reminding him that he should conduct himself properly. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Sir…?” he held out his palm.

The man regarded him for a moment before accepting the handshake. “Morpheus Apeiros. I believe we are indeed meant to get acquainted today.”

Hob felt as if his heart had dropped to his stomach and then proceeded to turn into fluttering butterflies. Of course, of course this would be Morpheus. This was his house, for God's sakes.

Their handshake was already done, but Hob could still feel the cool smooth skin against his palm, and he gave a silent prayer of thanks that his hands hadn't been sweating despite his nerves.

Several thoughts were vying for Hob’s attention at once; embarrassment that he didn't recognise his betrothed, wondering if he had already made a fool of himself, relief that Morpheus didn't seem put off at all.

But one thought rang more clearly than the others, bringing a warmth to his face that had nothing to do with the weather.

I'm going to marry this man.

═════ ◈ ═════

(Dreamling Bingo Masterpost)

(Masterlist)

[cryptid-called-ash]

Soul eater headcanons because it’s 1:30am and I have insomnia (mostly the trio)

Reapers have two names. The first is their title (ie lord death and death the kid). The second is their true/personal name, one only to be shared with family and the closest of friends. Kid’s name is Eros, lord death’s is Orcus. Only Liz, Patty, and eventually Blackstar know Kid’s true name.

Reapers have a unique language called Archayk, which sounds like an odd mix of Japanese, old Gaelic, and French.

Crona is Afab nonbinary and asexual. They bond with Kid over their mutual lack of understanding gender norms and sexuality.

Crona has an ouroboros mark in the centre of their back because Medusa branded them as a child. When the gang find out, they go out of their way to help them feel better about it. Patty tells Crona how cool it looks, Soul saying he wants a tattoo like that, Blackstar comparing the mark to his star, Maka telling them all the interesting lore about ouroboros she knows. In time, Crona comes to see the mark not as symbol of Medusa’s control, but as a loving connection to their friends.

Kid lived in the death room for the first 6 years of his life, practically glued to his father’s side and speaking exclusively Archayk. He moved into gallows manor when he turned 7 and would live there alone until he partners up with the Thompson sisters.

Liz can’t cook for shit and patty is banned from ever setting foot in the kitchen, so Kid does all the cooking at gallows manor. And he’s pretty good at it too. It’s one of the things he learned to keep himself occupied growing up. He would beg Spirit to bring new ingredients when he would make his weekly check-ins.

As he didn’t have any real contact with people outside of Spirit, Marie, and his father; Kid picked up a lot of skills to pass the time. On the tamer side were skills like learning to play the piano and the harp, calligraphy work, embroidery and needle work, drawing, and (as mentioned above) cooking. On the more eccentric side were skills such as dueling and fencing, learning dead languages, gymnastics, throwing knives, studying both current and historical politics, and apothecary’s remedies.

Speaking of Marie, she tutored Kid before he enrolled in the DWMA. she is one of the very few humans able to speak the reaper language and so was able to teach Kid before he learned how to speak human languages.

Maka’s mother has a twin sister who is a witch, though Maka and her mother are not. However she chose a path of kindness and actively try and spread good through the world, in hopes that one day other witches will do the same.

Maka moved in with Soul after her parents divorce. They had been partners for a year at that point and Soul wanted to help his meister any way he could. Maka cried when he suggested she move in with him, hugging him for the first time. That’s when Soul started falling for her.

After Kid becomes a full-fledged reaper, it takes nearly 2 months for him to adjust to the name change. He’d been death the kid for most of his life, so suddenly being called lord death was a big change. It takes Soul and Maka even longer to stop calling him Kid. Blackstar outright refuses to call him lord, so he gives him the nickname Prince. And though he’d never admit it out loud, Kid loves it. Liz and Patty also don’t call him lord death, instead simply electing the call him brother in public and Eros in private.

At first Liz and Patty slept in their own room when they came to live at gallows. but after a particularly hard mission, the trio all slept in Kid’s room. Not long after they all just silently agreed that they would continue to stay in the his room together.

Liz is two years older than Kid and Kid is two years older than Patty. Soul and Maka are the same age. Tsubaki is a year older than Blackstar.

Liz loves to dress her little siblings and taught them both how to properly apply makeup. She especially loves getting them all matching dresses or shirts and wearing them together.

Tsubaki’s favourite tea is lemon and hibiscus with a teaspoon of honey mixed in.

Though they can’t speak it, the sisters can understand Archayk well enough to know what Kid is saying when he speaks it.

Blackstar becomes Kid’s right hand man when he ascends his father’s title. Blackstar is known as ‘The Shadow of Death’.

Kid’s sanzu lines don’t all close at the same time, rather they close one by one over the span of 2 years. The process is referred to as a coronation. The first line closes the night Asura is woken by Medusa, when kid is 14; the second closes when he’s 15 and he rejects the power of madness promised by Eibon, choosing his friends and sisters over his own desire for perfection; the third closes after Lord Death fights Asura for the final time and chooses to pass his power and title onto his heir, leaving Kid the lord of death at just 16 years old.

Liz and Patty are called ‘Death’s Angels’ after becoming Kid’s death scythes.

Soul has a bad knee from a car accident when he was a child. It usually doesn’t hurt very much, but when it flares up he can hardly walk. He wears a knee brace all the time and uses a cane during flare ups. The cane is covered in stickers the gang put on it.

[capostone]

The Research Begins

So essentially, I have three ideas. Two of them exist in a similar sphere and have some relation to each other, while the third is completely different and arguably more limited on the conceptual level. But I think they're all worth exploring anyway, so let's get into it. 1. Event Planning. This is the outlier of these topics, and the one with the most solid Form potential from the jump. I'm involved in Castle Point Anime Convention, and that sort of event planning is one of my favorite activities. The logistics of putting such an event together are fun to consider, and there's always something new to consider or focus on. The type of venue, the types of vendors or guests, the types of attendees we'll be catering to and what kind of activities they'll want, how to get around things like distance limitations, food options, space limitations and how to get around those, security and medical information, the list truly goes on (https://www.socialtables.com/blog/event-planning/how-to-get-logistics-right/). Then there are other considerations such as how to comfort paying customers when they worry things may not be going to plan-- good PR and polite lying are crucial for event planning. In general, there are a lot of interesting things to consider with this topic, but not many unique directions to take it.

2. Makeup. Why do different makeup looks look different? Why do different countries have such different ones? Why are certain makeup looks considered more socially acceptable than others when the only difference is color or sparkle? Why is it only acceptable for some people to wear makeup? And when people that aren't them wear it, who decides what styles are acceptable? Why is that where the line is drawn? There are so many questions and not that many answers when it comes to this topic. I'm particularly interested in the differences between different makeup styles across different countries and cultures. As an example, Japanese eye makeup (https://www.tumblr.com/asian-makeup/177452951954/japanese-eyes-makeup) vs Korean eye makeup vs Chinese eye makeup vs the typical American eye makeup look.

Makeup as a general tool for self-expression and by extension for gender nonconforming purposes is also an interesting subject, with things like drag makeup existing in its own space, and men's makeup becoming an increasingly feasible market (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dahvishira/2024/03/06/makeup-is-more-than-a-trend-for-men-its-a-rapidly-rising-market/). Graphic makeup styles and similarly artistic and over-the-top styles are super interesting to me, too. These sorts of style also play into some really interesting fashion subcultures like Gyaru, Decora, and China's Dopamine Girls.

3. Gender-neutral fashion. Fashion as expression is super interesting to me and I love looking into different subcultures and their rules, but one thing I've noticed seems to have no rules is gender-neutral fashion. I largely believe this is because in the fashion world, "gender neutral" is equal to masculine or masculine presenting. A quick Google of "gender-neutral fashion" yields dozens of pictures of tall, thin models with good proportions and no real curves or unavoidable secondary sex characteristics wearing largely masculine clothing silhouettes. The occasional masc model in a sweetheart neckline or skinny jeans pops up, or a prominent LGBT celebrity wearing a dress to an event everyone would expect a suit. Otherwise, staples like dresses, skirts (particularly anything shorter than knee-length), and even crop tops are almost entirely left out in favor of blazers, slacks, loose-fitting t-shirts and sweatshirts, baggy jeans, and oversized cardigans. Generally, a lot of the more obviously feminine or revealing clothing is seemingly relegated to femme-presenting models as well. The idea that only men's clothing is gender-neutral is fascinating to me, as someone who likes dressing both ways and exploring these things in other cultures is also really interesting. Different cultural standards lead to different ideas of gendered and gender-neutral fashion, and that's also something worth exploring further. Social expectations, the idea of gender-neutral as a concept, male as default, the fashion industry, I think it's all worth considering and researching further going forward.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Li Zhou at Vox:

A massive gender gap has been evident in poll after poll of this election — a significant trend that underscores the pivotal role women could play this November. Most recently, a late October Quinnipiac survey of Michigan found 57 percent of women in the state back Vice President Kamala Harris, while 40 percent of men did the same. Conversely, 56 percent of men backed former President Donald Trump, while 37 percent of women did. That’s repeatedly been the case in national polls, too. For example, a recent poll from USA Today/Suffolk University found that Harris had a 16-point gap in the support that she saw from men and women.

“It’s the battle of the sexes, and it’s no game,” Quinnipiac pollster Tim Malloy said in a statement. “There is a glaring gap in Michigan and Wisconsin between the number of women supporting Harris and the number of men supporting Trump.” In Quinnipiac polls conducted in five of the seven key swing states throughout October, Harris had a significant lead among women, while Trump saw a comparable advantage among men in those same places. (Quinnipiac has not released October results for Nevada and Arizona.) Women supporting Democrats over Republicans isn’t a new phenomenon: Members of the group have been more likely to support the party than men since the 1980s, and this political divide has only grown over time. This time around, though, that split could have major implications for the election outcome due both to how tight the race is, and other demographic shifts.

According to recent polls, Democrats seem to be losing support among groups they’ve counted on in the past, like Black men and Latino men. Those losses could be made up by boosting turnout among women, particularly since women are more likely to vote than men, and historically do so in larger numbers.

[...]

The gender gap is a sign of the inroads Democrats have made over time

Women have backed Democrats by a significant margin in multiple cycles now. In 2020, President Joe Biden won 55 percent of women voters, while Trump won 44 percent, and in 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won 54 percent of women voters, while Trump won 39 percent, according to Pew Research Center. If the actual outcome approaches the figures that pollsters are seeing, Democrats could well maintain these margins.

Part of Democrats’ growth with women comes from ideological shifts: A higher proportion of women across all age groups are now identifying as liberal, compared to two decades ago, according to a Gallup survey published in February. And younger women between the ages of 18 to 29, especially, are one of the groups now far more likely to identify as liberal than they were in the past. Gallup found 40 percent of young women identified as liberal in 2023 compared to 29 percent in 1999. While the left is adding women, it’s gaining few men, however. In that same 24-year timeframe, Gallup found the proportion of men who identify as liberal across age groups has stayed relatively unchanged: Just 25 percent of young men identified as liberal in 2023, only 1 percentage point more than in 1999. Women’s leftward shift has been driven by a combination of factors, including opposition to misogynistic rhetoric from GOP leaders and allegations of sexual misconduct faced by prominent political figures — like Trump, who’s the subject of more than 20 accusations of sexual assault and misconduct, including a new allegation this week.

Polling in the 2024 Presidential Election has featured a massive gender gap, with women favoring Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and men favoring Republican former “President” nominee Donald Trump.

[fllagellant]

ok sending u two!! :] 4 for andromeda and 9 for the trilogy (and whatever characters ur thinking of, if you want)

THIRTEEN SONGS COMING FRESH OFF THE GRILL !! Due to how long this will be I will put this under a read more ! Also I will be skipping any songs from the OSTs for the games bc . That feels like Cheating

Andromeda first …

1. Runaway - Tyto Grey

“But if you give me your Heart,

I’ll give you Mine.”

PEEBEE SONG . Specifically a Peeb in the beginnings of a romance . This song makes me think of her + Sara due to the singer calling their lover a ‘ Goddess ‘ but .. anything can be gender neutral if you want it to be . A song about someone wanting to run away , make a big name for themself before they can’ t , but not wanting to do it alone . It’ s not worth it alone . It’ s only meaningful if their lover and muse is with them . Idk man this is VERY Peeble to me . Definitely picturing a Remtech ruin confession for this song < 33

2. Pomok naka Poktoinskwes ( Casey MQ Remix ) - Jeremy Dutcher

MUSIC OF THE FUTURE . I can hear this playing in bars and nightclubs across the Initiatives many settlements . This is what Reyes hums while he works and what Sloane has playing when she’ s getting ready in the morning . This is what SAM has on shuffle in the Pathfinder’ s quarters and this is what Gil plays during long repairs . This is what bartenders dance to and what gets people moving . This is one of the first songs the Angara hear . They feel a connection to the chanting and the beat of it all . Yeah < 3

3. It’s Called: Freefall -Rainbow Kitten Surprise

“You could let it All Go, you could let it All Go

It’s Called: Freefall. It’s Called: Freefall.”

Ohhh god Vetra song . Vetra before she fully commits to the Initiative . Vetra still holding onto Milky Way contacts . People she cannot rely on but can talk to . People who do not care about her , but push her to join anyways . Vetra trying to get help without getting it . Vetra . This is her trying to talk to her contacts and getting nowhere but being told to just do it . This is her final bit of hesitation before she joins them . This is her in-between . Her final days with her Milky Way contacts who won’ t be following her

4. Honey in the Hair - Blackbird Raum

“I’m just walking in Circles…

I see the Lines in Chalk on the Ground.”

Not normally a band I listen to and think “ sci - fi ! “ but that is the point isn’ t it ! Early games vibes for me . The crew altogether but facing this mass responsibility . From the failing colonies to the dominating threat , from the political catch up they have to play to the political importance they’ ve gained all at once . The weirdness of it . The strange whimsy that comes with it . The feeling of going nowhere but knowing it’ s all changing . Knowing they’ ll be doing something so far out from what they originally planned to do , and having a strange sort of almost peace about it

Okok Trilogy time < 3

1. After Dark - Mr. Kitty

“Your lips were Soft like Winter,

In your Passion, I was Lost.”

STARTING OFF STRONG HUH . Me3 love confession . Literally fits any and all romance I think . I think this hit more harder for me3 only romances since the song is about that desperate yearning and wanting to confess before it’ s impossible to . This song is for all romances but I think it belongs to Femshep/Traynor and Mshep/Cortez a bit more . Also hurts a bit more when it’ s with Shepard and a character that cannot be romance bc it’ s like .. they never got that confession . That closure . There’ s something about the desperation and just needing to let the other person know . Even if they do not reciprocate . Just so they know you loved them . You always loved them .

2. Alien Blues - Vunderbar

“I try to tell you what I Think

And play it off like it’s a Joke.”

Hmm Joker : ) . The barely contained bitterness and the constant back and forth . Knowing he’ s ostracized and making jokes about it , but still being upset with it . Wondering what he could do differently but knowing it won’ t matter . Guilt with who he is , how he sees himself . Fits no matter what era of his life he is in . A farmboy . A pilot in training who isn’ t respected . A pilot with no ship . A man at the end of the world . A man mad after everything . A man who deserves to have a bit of bitterness

3. Come As You Are - Nirvana

“As I want you to Be

As a Trend, As a Friend,

As a known Memoria.”

Nirvana just feels like a band James would listen to , so it’ s hard not to connect him to their songs . This makes me thing of a younger James , at least a James before ME2 . He’ s struggling . He doesn’ t fully know what he wants to be or how he sees the people around him . He already has a streak for being less than cautious with himself . He doesn’ t know who will be there the next day , who he might have to leave behind . He can keep the memories , everyone can be kept in a memory . But he still needs to find how they fit in while they still know each other .

4. Sisters - The Halluci Nation

MORE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE . This is the type of song Jack would blast from her little hidey hole on a good day . Music that is illegally downloaded and shared around the Normandy . Glyph would play this to get the party more rowdy I think . A song to get people on their feel and MOVING . Someone DEFINITELY listens to this while in combat . Do I have a definitive answer ? No . Can I picture everyone listening to this on the battlefield ? Yes and I cannot narrow it down just yet . Get on your moccasins big boy we got a Reaper to take down

5. Repeat After Me - KONGOS

“So hard to leave what I've defended,

So hard to separate what's blended.”

Indoctrinated characters RISE ‼️‼️ this song is about religious / catholic guilt so be careful if you listen ! But I can definitely take this and apply it to Saren + Benezia very easily . Characters who have moments of clarity and knowing what the Reapers are doing to them , but not having enough power anymore to fully pull away . Too many ifs , too many maybes , too many nights spent hearing the whispers of the Reapers . Repeating their words while having that voice in the back of their heads questioning and wondering if they can still get away from all this . Just knowing what is happening to you but not being able to stop it and the realizations of your condition so few and far in between

6. Cluster - Slipknot

“So Cut, Cut, Cut me up

And Fuck, Fuck, Fuck me up.”

Combat theme . Everyone at the end of their ropes , the candle that was burned at both ends , the final push to tip them over . Angry with where they are , how they ended up there . How everything could have been simpler , how things could have been prepared for . The sort of anger that makes it hard to focus right , the kind of anger that numbs pain , the kind of pain that pushes further and further . I think Javik would fucking LOOOVE Slipknot but that is a different discussion . Idk man everyone has their limits and I think everyone deserves to got a bit batshit rage off the walls violence on the field after seeing the Horrors they have . Just for fun . Maybe for shits and giggles

( i have officially lost audio link rights here . uh Oh )

7. Curl - Jack Stauber

“When you turn the Master Key,

You’re Higher than a Star!”

Ohhh Crew bonding . Teasing each other . Hanging out together . Going on brief shore-leaves together . Reminding each other to try and live a bit . Remember the happy moments that they get , and not to let them go . It’ s them reminding each other they can still live , they are still alive and they’ re allowed to live . Take joy in the now , find joy in the now . Live now , even if it is hard . Even if it is difficult . Help each other find whatever joy they can , make sure they do not feel guilt for the joy . Giving each other something to look forward to , after everything is over . They’ ve always cares for each other , it’ s time to show it . Now that it matters more than ever

8. Fireworks - The Tragically Hip

“Complete with the Grip of Artificial Chaos,

And believing in the Country of Me and You.”

Oh hello Mr. Kaidan alenko . How are you . This song is so loudly Canadian it is hard to not picture him . This makes me think of Kaidan and his LI postwar . Learning how to live , navigating normalcy . Becoming more civilian than solider , after everything is over . Since I have my own personal biases I AM picturing Joker and Kaidan specifically . It doesn’ t help I believe that the Moreaus came from Manitoba . So it’ s both of them , going back to Canada . Settling down again , falling into a rhythm with each other . Just relearning what it means to be people after everything . Also the bit about seeing fireworks in the distance . Yes . Far enough away the sound is muted or just not there . Just watching the lights . Kaidan and his LI . Finding normalcy < 3

9. Gronlandic Edit - of Montreal

“I guess it would be Nice, to give my heart to a God,

But which one, which one do I Choose?”

Something about funky little beats and the tone of this song make me picture that blue archeologist . In between ME1 and ME2 . Those strange two years . Being a recluse , trying to figure out how to live again . She has to learn how to reach out to people , find her drive again . She’ s willing to stagnate , but that doesn’ t mean she should . And she knows that . Liara can have her struggles and weird girl moments anytime she wants . Because this song definitely is that . Liara lives in a state of limbo for six months and this was playing on loop the whole time . She’ s just feeling a little funny don’ t worry ( maybe you should worry )

[horizon-verizon]

Collection of Race, the Medieval Ages, and the ASoIaF Franchise

🔗 LINKS, LINKS, LINKS!

Game of Thrones & Race  

(Guardian Article) “There are no black people on Game of Thrones’: why is fantasy TV so white?”

(Tor Article) “Game of Thrones’ Complex Relationship to Racism and Colonialism”

House of the Dragon & Race 

A) 

(Harper’s Bazaar Article) “Fantasy Has Always Been About Race”

Excerpt

But fantasy has always been about race. And medieval fantasy is not history, but a reproduction of history and its metaphors. The West cannot tell itself about itself without the inclusion of race. As a European invention emerging from colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade, race is the story of Europe’s encounter with difference, and the West’s primary way of organizing the world. The racial hierarchies of our world get translated into fantasy races that reflect the measure of one’s humanity. Race is the dominant social system in The Lord of the Rings’ Middle-earth, and as the blueprint for “high fantasy” literature, its racial allegories are reproduced across the genre: In fantasy book series, role-playing games, and films written in its tradition, race is the social hierarchy and source of conflict; in Game of Thrones’ Westeros, race is more of a political geography. It’s even the first decision (race, gender, class) a player must make in creating a character for any campaign in the iconic Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games. In fantasy, race is not just part of world building. It is the world.

B)

(Cosmopolitan Article) “‘House of the Dragon’ Cast Black Actors Only to Toss Them Aside, Like I Knew It Would”

Excerpt

I didn’t have high expectations for diversity when watching HotD—I mean, it’s a TV show about dragons, and Black characters historically haven’t appeared outside slave or servant roles (Grey Worm and Missandei from the original Game of Thrones come to mind). So when Steve Toussaint was cast as Corlys Velaryon (aka the Sea Snake), I felt slightly apathetic. Game of Thrones had already fumbled its two Black characters, so I believed the prequel would do the same.

[...]

Nowhere in the first season does HotD mention the Blackness of its few Black characters. All we’re told is that House Velaryon has blood from Old Valyria, which means they are really close to the Targaryens and often marry each other to keep the bloodline “pure.” Nothing wrong with that, but since the Velaryons are Black, shouldn’t all Velaryons have Afrocentric features? The casting department didn’t think so, apparently. One of the main storylines in the first season is the denial that Rhaenyra Targaryen’s children are bastards even though they have white skin and loose curly black hair while their “father” is Laenor Velaryon, a white-haired Black man with dreads. The book Fire & Blood (which the show is adapted from) also follows this plot point. But the Velaryons aren’t Black in the book, meaning it’s somewhat believable or at the very least plausible that Rhaenyra’s children are Leanor’s. I know this is a fantasy show, but there’s something really cringe about (1) trying to pass three obviously white children off as Black and (2) making the one Black family on the show the center of a *checks notes* paternity scandal. Even if House of the Dragon were only following the book’s plot point—the question of the legitimacy of Rhaenyra’s children—the decision to cast House Velaryon and thus Laenor as Black means that race and racial connotations needed to be introduced as well. You shouldn’t cast a white character as a person of color and then ignore their racial identity.

I’m not saying the showrunners did a disservice to fans of color by trying to diversify. But they did checkmark casting by beginning and ending that effort with casting Toussaint as the Sea Snake. If the showrunners took real time to consider how color-conscious casting could alter the show, maybe Black viewers like myself wouldn’t be disappointed that the only Black family in the series has mostly not survived. There’s a scene in episode 4 where Laenor, Leana (the Sea Snake’s daughter), Corlys, and his wife Rhaenys are walking down a flight of stairs into a wedding scene. That three-second clip SCREAMED Black excellence. Watching it gave me the tiniest hope that maybe the showrunners had it together. But three episodes later, the majority of the Black characters had been killed, with only two Black Velaryons still on our screens: Baela and Rhaena, Corlys and Rhaenys’s two granddaughters.

And I get why the characters were killed off—Laena and Laenor don’t survive in the books, so why would they live on in the show? But the showrunners could have shown the Black Velaryons for more than 10ish scenes while also sticking to the source material. Instead of rushing to the main conflict of the Targaryen civil war, we could have seen the development of Laena and Daemon Targaryen’s relationship or Rhaenyra and Laenor’s struggles at King’s Landing. I’m just saying the show had options, k? They chose to cast House Velaryon as Black knowing Black fans like myself were excited to see Black fantasy representation onscreen, only for said representation to be sidelined in a span of three episodes. Like, damn. Can Black folks have anything? Maybe the showrunners will do better with their “diverse” representation in the upcoming seasons. Probably not. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that fantasy series can have dragons, White Walkers, and dreamers who can see the future. But Black folks? That’s where they draw the line, apparently.

Other Articles about Black People/Territories in the Medieval World (c.400s - c.1400s)

The Table of Contents for the Public Medievalist’s “Race, Racism, and the Middle Ages” Series

Perfect Victims: 1096 and 2017

“Race, Racism, and the Middle Ages: Tearing Down the ‘Whites Only’ Medieval World”

“Uncovering the African Presence in Medieval Europe”

“A Brief History of a Terrible Idea: The ‘Dark Enlightenment’”

“Who were the African people living in Medieval and Tudor England?”

Finding Islamic Culture in a Christian Space

Introduction: Jews, Anti-Semitism, and the Middle Ages

“Ripping Anti-Semitism Out by its Roots”

A Tale of Two Europes: Jews in the Medieval World

Anti-Semitism Is Older Than You Think

Were Medieval People Racist?

Fascism and Chivalry in the Confederate Monuments of Richmond

Guardians of White Innocence

Is “Race” Real?

“Race” in the Trenches: Anglo-Saxons, Ethnicity, and the Misuse of the Medieval Past

A Vile Love Affair: Right Wing Nationalism and the Middle Ages

Recovering a “Lost” Medieval Africa: Interview with Chapurukha Kusimba, part I

Race: the Original Sin of the Fantasy Genre

Race in A Song of Ice and Fire: Medievalism Posing as Authenticity

Game of Thrones’ Racism Problem

Improving Dungeons and Dragons: Racism and the “Barbarian”

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Ideas #19: Star Wars, but make it Empress Palpatine

The thing I love about Star Wars is that, force powers aside, the situation is one we all can easily see happening. (It can be difficult to believe that a mostly peaceful, benevolent Federation of Planets can spawn on Earth and come to encompass a good chunk of the galaxy a la Star Trek, but the rise and fall of an authoritarian state is all too easy to imagine, even in another galaxy.)

But when asked to given an example of an authoritarian ruler, I can only think of examples like Emperor Palpatine - which is to say, even looking at the wikipedia page on the subject I can't find a female example. So I thought... what if? Or more specifically, what if it was Empress Palpatine?

Just imagine it:

Specifically, imagine a universe where absolutely nothing changes except for Palpatine's gender. This has a few cascading effects in how Palpatine relates to Ankain and how the senator/chancellor is viewed by the galaxy at large, but does not change the overall course of events.

Instead of a wise old man, Palpatine is a wise old woman, presenting a matriarchal, grandmotherly care towards Anakin. This has the side effect of pulling Anakin in two more "opposed" directions - maternal from Palpatine, paternal/fraternal from Obi-Wan - instead of Palpatine and Obi-Wan "competing" for the same slice of the father-figure pie, as it were. Again, it changes nothing in the long run, just the dynamic of how their influences over Anakin play out.

For instances, a boy may tell his mother things he'd never tell his father, and vice versa. Also, there is a tendency to assume women are more compassionate and empathetic, so Anakin going to the woman he's closest to with his problems might raise fewer eyebrows than running to another male in a position of authority.

It might also put a subtle mother-in-law/daughter-in-law tension between Palpatine and Padme if Anakin keeps going to his mother figure with issues one might traditionally expect to be brought first to a wife.

This dynamic could be even more interesting to the explore than the mother/father of Obi-Wan and a female Palpatine, as there might be something I almost hesitate to call Cersei-like about it. Both are powerful women in politics from Naboo, but, without knowing the Sith plot in the background, it looks a lot like young, beautiful Padme's star is rising while old, aging Palpatine's star is falling. I'm sure an enterprising Sith can find some way to manipulate Anakin with that.

But otherwise... everything stays exactly the same. Fall of the Republic, rise of the Empire - and, later, fall of the Empire. The only difference is we have an Empress.

Perhaps it makes some parts of the Rebellion harder, as a female overlord might be assumed to care more for her subjects than a male, or at least speak as if she does in a manner that might be subconsciously believed more, but otherwise makes no difference.

And that's it really. All this idea boils down to is: give me Star Wars, but give me a slightly different set of interpersonal relationships between the antagonists, and, consequently, between the major figures in their lives.

Bonuses include: 1) all too often female representations of evil involve sexual deviance and/or extreme sexualization. Not here. Palpatine should be as sinister, tyrannical, and sexless as her canon counterpart. This should be especially clear in the differences in how Palpatine and Padme dress. 2) Everyone in the Jedi Temple reading a different set of problems into Anakin's friendship with the Chancellor. And 3) Luke, at some point, having learned Darth Vader is his father and seeing the relationship he has with the Empress, being force to wonder if Empress Palpatine really is his grandmother.

As always, feel free to adopt this bunny. Just let me know if you ever do anything with it.

More Terrible Fic Ideas

[lafcadiosadventures]

Madame Putiphar Readalong. Book One, Chapter Five:

Debby has gone to bed fully dressed, wakes up at 1 o’clock in the morning, leaves for the forest through the hardest route, taking pains to avoid being followed. Her state of mind is still shaken, given how she constantly feels like she is being followed, only to find nothing when she turns. It is true that the strange shadows and sounds in the woods confuse our senses at night, but is it really her perception playing tricks on her?

Also within: gender non conforming couples, hair and fashion as resistance to imperialism, marriage vows, and Debby’s other half.

Debby hears an ancient melody. It’s her Patrick’s voice. Yet, she is cautious, reaches their meeting point and yells out their conveined password: “To be!” to which Patrick replies: “Or not to be!” (iconic)

The catholics are playfully blasphemous, Pat calls her “Deborah full of grace and punctuality”, to which she replies she is “blessed among all women” because her Lord is with her. Love is their religion.

Debby regrets bringing bad news to Patrick, who seems so happy, but Patrick actually already knows what has been happening in the Castle. Lady Cockermouth has already informed him of it while trying to ward him off. In an effort to put him in his place, the countess has insulted him, tutoyé’d him and called him “Pat”. Later Lord Cockermouth himself has hit him on the forehead with his riding crop. Debby reveals her bruised shoulder to him, they both blame themselves for the other’s pain and misfortune. But like Debby says, their fates are entwined, If one of the two’s fates is fatal, it will surely drag the other to a fatal end.

Patrick mourns their careless days. The time for frolicking and herborizing has passed. The time has come to take action and fight for their freedom. Patrick’s speech is of course political. The furrow between them has been dug by the aristocracy. Debby is “one of theirs”, and Patrick is “one of the people”. And adulthood complicates it all. When they were children class seemed to matter less. Debby’s uterus and children are also property of the aristocracy. As adults, Patrick’s caresses become an outrage and a stain, a potential damage to Deborah’s biological capital that must be preserved for her future husband.

Patrick reflects that although they are still teens, they will have to live on memories as old couples do: during Cockermouth’s stay in the colonies he was allowed to love her, study from her books, herborize with her, polemize and quarrel, make controversies on botanical classifications (I am sorry but I love this so much, it goes beyond the romantic trope of linking the lovers with nature, they are huge nerds, and I adore them) learning the pharmaceutical properties of the local plants, planting and caring for some of them together... loving each other, loving their country, its soil, its vegetation. But the Aristocracy has dug the furrow between them, separating them “like Romulus from Remus”, and like for Remus himself, crossing back to Romulus means Death. But Debby corrects him, they are both deep in the furrow and must climb out of it together.

Debby contemplates Patrick, who has started walking up and down under the moonlight, hard at thought. He looks like a spectre, or like the unavoidable picturesque traveller added for scale in landscape paintings. (any time is a good time to make a dig at artistic clichés)

The narrator describes Patrick so we can gaze at him along with Debby. He is tall, blond, has fine features (the description is vague enough to allow for reader input) The only thing that marked him as a plebeian was a lacking of rude shamelessness. He wore simple clothes, resembling the traditional costume of the area. His hair was arranged in glibs, traditional irish matted braids, usually paired with a shaved nape and undercuts, and he wore a crommeal moustache. (a traditional Irish moustache, usually paired with a beard, outlawed by English colonisers who at one point forbade anyone who did not speak English or had hair above their lips inside the city walls.)

Patrick makes quite a contrast in these garments and hair styles. Even to his compatriots, who complied to English fashions and took him for a madman.

But the narrator tells us Patrick had consciously decided to become a living monument to his beloved elders, to times long gone.

Only Debby appreciates this revindication through dress and hair, and she calls him her cooleen, an already old-fashioned word for beloved. (just like the word calignero in provençal, says Borel, bringing the uniformization of language debate back to France)

Borel uses language, fashion and hair to reflect on cultural colonization. He considers weekly fashions trivial fads for sheep to follow. However, folkloric and indigenous fashions are always meaningful, and that is why colonizers take pains to forbid them, to uniformize, to modernize and civilize (albeit only in appearance, while keeping the colonized in a subjugated position, with only a patina of modernity, modern looking vassals and/or clients)

I hear echoes of Montaigne’s Des cannibales in this tirade by the narrator. Montaige quotes Claudianus: “The only real victory is that which forces the enemy to admit its defeat”. He talks of conquests that are shameful for the tyrants. They can only win in tangible force, but the conquered remain undefeated in their spirits. Borel talks here of captive peoples, who are nevertheless free in spirit because they maintain their dress and refuse the colonizer’s language (this is of course not a matter of choice, you cannot blame a people for their cultural genocide when the stakes are so high and the forces so unbalanced. Also, cultural genocide is never, never total and absolute. Something always endures, in covert, hybrid ways...) Language and dress, Borel claims, are the key way in which the colonized are assimilated to the colonizers. It seems naif, reductionist. But he is referring to -attempts of- acculturation, cultural colonization, as current today as ever. From first world powers exporting their mass media everywhere, to uniformization of language and customs applied from within country borders. The idea is to bit by bit deprive the colonized of their autoctonous means of expression. Clothing styles, language, movies, music, art and literature, are all borrowed from the aspiring masters. They emit everything that’s good, enjoyable, trendy and valuable. Dressing like the colonizer, speaking its language, creates a false sense of fraternity between colonizer and colonial.

Another evocation of Montaigne. Borel: “the Irish still dream of insurrection, even when their neck is under their enemy’s foot”. Montaigne: “(...)“if you fall to the ground fight on your knees.” (Seneca) (...) He who while exhaling his last breath stares still into his enemy’s eyes with disdain and pride, that one falls defeated, not by us, but by Bad Fortune; dead maybe, but unbeaten.”

---

I have been often surprised by how Borel rejects a lot of the common sense of his days. Here he declares that receiving feminine education was actually good for Patrick. (we are talking of a man who would not have recieved any other education in the first place, but there’s more than that to it. Borel alludes to culturaly assigned gender roles based on biology)(you can skip the next 3 paragraphs about femenine education in europe in the 18th c)

[Feminine education was lesser than that of men in most cases. Although education varied a lot from place to place and from social classes, girls were taught to read and write and mathematics in the 1700’s, but usually did not learn history, philosophy or latin. (i am basing myself on Diderot’s “je” in Rameau’s Nephew and his biography by P.N. Furbank)(but I wish I was familiar enough to go into the Wolstonecraft vs Rousseau debate on Rousseau’s Émile) they also learned dancing, playing the piano, singing, drawing, sewing, reading, some kind of etiquette too. Diderot claims teaching his daughter mathematics, history and philosophy was seen as an excentricity, common sense said it was unnecessary, even bad for women to know more than what they needed. Even Diderot’s wife was against this unconventional education for their daughter.

Rousseau's Émile starts promisingly enough claiming both boys and girls are children, and that it's absurd to have two names for creatures who resemble each other so much. But that degenerates soon enough. He soon lays a strong distinction on how boy’s and girl’s educations should be: women only need enought strength to do everything gracefully. "The exaggeration of feminine delicacy leads to effeminacy in men. Women should not be strong like men but for them, so that their sons may be strong."

An earlier author like La Barre, pleas for equal education for women, claims giving them equal education would reinvigorate the nation. (and Diderot talks of how France, Europe is willingly depriving itself of potential geniuses when denying equal education to women. Even Rousseau admits the few women allowed to make careers have never failed to shine and excel in their fields...)]

But Borel means here gender roles as well. Patrick was educated in etiquette and enunciation as Debby, so he speaks like a girl and maybe gesticulates like one too. He spoke with grace and elegance, and had become discreet. His appearance, percieved as wild, was very much in contrast with very graceful, delicate, effeminate manners. And for Borel this is a positive. In the same way that Debby’s company and education have effeminated Patrick, Patrick’s masculinity has also influenced Debby’s gender presentation, making her a bit masculine and that is also extremely positive in this book.

[This seems to allude to the perfect androgyne couple trope so beloved by Romantics -I’ve seen this a lot in Balzac who takes this from Swedenborg, who might have been inspired by Aristophanes humorous explanation of the origin of love in Plato’s Symposium/the Banquet? -> (soulmates exist because the primitive humans were dual beings. We had no backs, we were a single being conformed of two people blended in one. Aristophanes explains sexual orientations claiming the dual beings were conformed by two women, two men or a woman and a man. But the gods had them separated because these primigenian humans were too strong. So that’s why we are born alone nowadays, forced to search for our half which might be anywhere in the globe.)]

Their characters are described as complementary, Debby is passionate and impulsive, Patrick is usually calm and reflective. This is not attributed to an essencialism (!) these aren’t any intrinsic feminine and masculine qualities. They simply have what the other needs, just like Aristophanes’ proto-humans. Their opposition is also taken to their physical features. Debby has dark skin, black eyes, eyebrows and hair. The difference is also taken to the hair styling. Debby has to be proper and wear her hair tied up, ribboned and powdered.

But they have one trait in common: they both dream and are hungry for adventures.

[(tick “comparison to a sculpture in the Romanticism bingo card”: Patrick turns to Debby who is looking just like a funereal monument by Canova. My edition informs me Canova was first hailed as a hero by the Romantics, but later on dropped because his work was considered too cold and static)(his most iconic work might be his Cupid and Psyche which is very neoclassical but graceful and light, really pretty)(not a funereal monument but this Maddalena penitente seems really fitting, also adjacent to romantic interests and themes)]

Patrick resolves to leave alone. He doesn’t want to tear Debby away from her status and confort without being able to offer her stability. He suggests France, a country of which he has a very idealized, rosy eyed image. He thinks irishmen are loved and well received there. Especially if they intend to work as priests or soldiers. So Patrick proposes to leave first, get a job and have Debby join him once it’s safe. She refuses. She not only cannot bear the idea of being separated, but also has the imperative reason that is the final suitor her father expects her to marry under pain of being sent to a correction facility for women in England. She literally needs to leave now. So they agree to leave together. For France. Debby also idealizes France (we will see if our author does? Does he share the same exalted feelings for his nation we can find in authors like Balzac, Hugo, Diderot, who while being extremely critical, can also write in all earnestness that Paris is the brain of France and France is the Brain of the World? We shall see what kind of future France, royalist France has stored for our protagonists)

They agree to leave in the distraction of Cockermouth birthday party, at midnight. They kneel and exchange vows that are both catholic and pagan, their witnesses are God, Nature, Earth and the Heavens. Debby gives Phadruig her grandfather’s ring. They both thank the Desolate lands for having lent them so many times their discreet shadows. Their moans will never disturb them any longer. They blend into a violent embrace, they do not notice where they are standing any more until they feel the water of the torrent has already reached their knees. This peril only could break the spell that possessed them.

When returning to the Castle Debby once again has the impression she is being followed. But this time she almost certainly is. She looses her shawl, when she turns to pick it up, the shawl is gone. She hears a shot and screams out. Her fear is confirmed: the postern gate she had locked before leaving was now open.

[random-user-guy]

Darien Clifford

(made with picrew)  MC I sent some days ago to @cheerstotheelites-if​ 

PROFILE

Age: 17

Gender: non-binary

Pronouns: they/them

Class Section: 12-A

Nickname/s: Twisted Clown, Crazy Bastard.... etc. 

ID Number: 22-7895

Club: Photography

PERSONALITY

▶  Quiet / Loud in nature

 ▶  A genuine cinnamon (rarely) / Sarcastic Bitch (predominantly in school)

▶ Understanding / Insensitive

▶ The friendliest you’ll ever meet (a mix between Cooper and Eliseo)

▶ Emotional / Rational 

▶ Stoic / Expressive 

▶ Rule follower/Rule breaker

Hobbies

Playing video games alone or with his friends

Stirring up trouble (”School life would get boring otherwise”)

Hanging out with his friends

Petting Zephyrine’s cat

Bullying the bullies into stopping the bullying Rehabilitating the bullies (thanks god emery is coming in ‘the next chapters to change this idiot)

Helping their mom with the house chores

Taking photos of cloud shapes (The sky gets even more beautiful after the rain. The chaos creates new cloud shapes for people to enjoy”)

Writing poetry whenever inspired by the nature around them

Relationships part 1

▶ Parents

Has good relationship with both of their parents, but they are slightly closer to their mother than their father due to their shared hobby of photography. They tend to affectionately tease their mother a lot too which can get in Felicity’s nerves sometimes. If they’ve made their mother mad, they try to make up for it by helping her out or doing something for her. As for their father, they go to visit him at their work whenever they have time to. Both because they want to meet their father and because they want to see if any cat is around for them to pet. Darien will usually bring one or two stray animals for Zeke to check out if they are healthy or not and hopefully convince him to let them adopt one of the animals. 

“I’m grateful for the parents I have and for the friendship and bond they’ve created with me. I have seen them work hard to raise me since I was young, though I was lonely from time to time, so I’d like to one day, when they get older, to provide for them and make them proud.”

▶ Weylyn

His childhood best friend and the only person to whom they confide to. In Lumintoille they are polar opposites, one is an excellent twisted and hotheaded troublemaker while the other is the kind and warm President of Lumintoille.No one can even comprehend how this two are friends. But the crazy bastard becomes more normal around their friend. 

They lower their head and accept Weylyn’s admonishing when they’ve gone too far with their antics at school and try not to do them again, but not much change can be seen in their antics for now. 

They go to the Rutherford household to hang out with Weylyn and have a taste of the legendary cooking of Weylyn’s mother. They are currently learning how to cook from her so that they can make their favourite Rutherford dishes themselves. They are very obedient and polite when staying here quite different from when they are at school. 

“Weylyn is one of those friends who come only once or twice in a lifetime. I may not be as good of a friend as he deserves but know that I will cherish this friendship for as long as I live”

▶ Zephyrine (their soon-to-be crush/ RO)

An unusual friendship started over the love for cats. Zeph’s cat one day had gone outside the house and stumbling upon Darien who started cooing at her and tried to pet her. Zeph was searching for her and when she found her cat being petted by Darien. They started talking about her cat with Darien interrogating her on how she took care of her cat while keeping notes on their little notebook (they might have some screws loose now that I think about it😂). 

Darien has tried to make Zephyrine show her true self more to them at least but at the beginning they had no success. They, nonetheless, continued in their quest and still do even now. They want to be to Zephyrine what Weylyn has been to them.

“Zephyrine is my cat lover friend who I want to know more about. She might look like an open book and like she is a social butterfly with thousands of friends, but I can see a glimpse of sadness,loneliness and insecurity in her...” 

“I want to know more about Zephyrine.”

Bedroom Design

A plain,simple and minimalistic bedroom for a suprisingly minimalist student

[calliopethepoet]

To what extent is feminism still needed? - an answer to dismissive misogynists

There has been a lot of discussion recently, especially due to current politics and the new 4b movement, about whether the women of today really should be as angry and rebellious as they are, and if the modern world is truly as misogynistic as they say.

The simple response? If men are refusing to listen or help, and actually haven't noticed, then they are clearly too ignorant to be allowed to develop an opinion, let alone attack feminists with it. Unfortunately most people won't take that as an answer and will continue to argue on a topic they know the bare minimum about with overwhelming stubbornness, so in this essay I will take their side into account and counter it with actual fact, to try to make these people understand how ridiculous they are.

Feminism is the belief in full social, economic and political equality for women, and is advocacy of women's rights on the basis of no prejudice for any of the sexes. In simpler terms, it is the campaign for equal rights, mainly for women but it also includes better treatment of men, LGBTQ, people of colour and pretty much everyone who is oppressed or disregarded in any way. However it is mainly referring to the need for women to have the same rights and opportunities as men.

This has caused upset to many people, usually men, who believe it is either not necessary or have the misogynistic mindset that women are better suited to inequality, due to religion or general narcissism. Anthony Eichberger said "when someone is accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression." He perfectly elucidates the issue feminists face when it comes to persuading men that we aren't actually like them, and we have no intention of oppressing them just because of their gender, and that in fact we just want to be treated as their equals.

As to the obvious argument of "but women aren't oppressed!": yes we are. Perhaps not in the countries you know, but there's a whole world of misogyny out there. 58% of women who were murdered in 2017 were killed by a spouse or family member, and 1 in 3 women around the world experience physical violence or abuse (WHO). Around 650 million women across the globe were married before 18. Women experience at least twice as much time as men on domestic work, and over 2.7 billion women don't have the same work opportunities as men, restricted by law (World Bank). The global gender gap is around 22%, and nearly 82 million women worldwide don't have legal protection against discrimination in the workplace. Women make up just 25% of parliaments everywhere (inter-parliamentary union 2019), and women make up over two thirds of the 796 million illiterate people in the world because of laws restricting them from receiving education, which is unfortunate because in order to change those laws, women need to be educated.

If numbers and reputable sources can't even begin to affect your opinion then it's probably time to admit you're basing your knowledge of grudges and stubbornness, not reality.

A common argument against feminism is that men have higher suicide rates (whose fault is that) or that men get raped too. Yes! Well done! You have discovered that violence isn't just against women! Now will you do something to comprehend that society needs to change? Of course not. People only seem to care about such things in order to put down other arguments, which is a complete waste of time considering feminists are also campaigning for improved men's rights; It is the patriarchy that women are fighting, not men, and when that falls so do suicide rates, statistics about the lack of education, and the wage gap. Playing devil's advocate or arguing just for the sake of putting down others is just ridiculous in the face of something so serious and mature, and it's honestly no surprise teenage boys struggle so much with mental health - being less of an idiot and accepting that maybe women do have it worse, and doing something about it would help hugely in the long term for everyone, and rights wise it would be far more productive. By simply ignoring it because it doesn't affect you, or even worse trying to counter it with blatant stupidity, it's just making the whole situation far worse. What do you seriously have to gain from stopping feminism? It's not hurting you? Or are you scared that the oppression men have inflicted on women for our entire existence will come back and turn in you? That doesn't sound good does it? So why should women have to out up with that, and why in earth do you feel the need to stop us from being treated like people?

In summary, get a grip and support feminism.

[loves-em]

YOUNG AND BOLD

As previously stated, I do things. Such as many, many school projects. Anything I can get my hands on. In one of these projects, the members are a little bold with the teachers, who don't really seem to care much.

So not only am I part of the student exchange, I am also part of another project. For privacy reasons, I will not mention it's name. It's an international thing here in Europe where people from all countries meet up. They are connected through one language though. I am part of the team for my school and we are in planning right now. As of the time writing this, it's not much longer until we're headed off to the place. Updates shall follow.

Since we will be doing plenty of workshops there, we have to make preparations. We are 8 people in total and 1 used to be on the waiting list. She was allowed to join in recently because another school reported that someone would not be able to come. Two others, including the one that joined later, and me are in one subgroup. Our preparation task was to write a short play.

I'm kind of proud of it, so here's a summary: Two duos meet up. They're teens from 1966 and 1996, two each. One group has time traveled. After finding this out, they discuss the differences of their times and talk about what they believe the word freedom means. The play ends in us breaking character and telling the audience what it mean to us and how that differs from back then. We will also ask the audience to describe their current definition of freedom and ask their expectations for the future.

It's going to be one boy and one girl from each time, as to also tackle sexism in the play and have the binary genders' viewpoints represented as well. The initial group (us, the ones who write the play) is 3 girls, so only 2 of us should play in the play. So we wanted another 2 boys from the group to take the leftover roles.

Initially, it would have only been 2 girls anyway, but the teachers advised us to make it have 4 people, so we made it 4 people.

Now, noone of the boys wanted the roles. "It would be a lot to learn, text-wise". "They also had their own tasks in preparations". That was their main point. It was fair though, everyone had to do something. But someone needs to do this as well! And we're allowed to take the script up to the stage as well. It's not much to learn, only about 2mins of active talking each.

We (the writers) messeged into the group chat (where the teachers are!), asking for someone to please take the roles.

Context time: One teacher is a guy in his mid-late thirties, very chill teacher and an incredibly based person. Due to hum being so laid-back, students don't respect him much, talking over him often. He is one of my favourite teachers ever and I have him in both latin and history. Even though everyone disrespects him all the time, most seem to like him. Cool guy.

The other teacher is a woman, slightly older than teacher 1. She is incredibly strict when it comes to grading but also very consistent and fair in grading. Her requirements are unusually high, but fulfillable. She also dresses a bit oddly and has interesting manners of speech and behaviour. Most think she's weird and dislike her for her strictness. All she does is set boundaries for her students. She also just handles being disrespected with absolute consequences for anyone. She is a powerful presence and I love her so much for it. She really cares and is very dedicated if you ask for her help. She is so fair and professional and competent! Everyone else at the very least dislikes her techniques.

Context time over.

After sending our request into the group chat, it went wild. The chat used to be semi-formal. No fancy speech, but also very respectful. The boys went haywire. They insulted one-another as sons of bitches, and in return as sexists. They got political. They insulted mothers and other family members. They were vile and unhinged and straight up bold. They called both teachers by their first names for fun. This is a group chat with the teachers in it!

I was very confused afterwards. Where does such boldness come from? Especially with teacher 2! She is usually very much respected as a teacher, and now they go on to write insults (not to her, dw) in a group chat she's in and call her by her first name?! Crazy, so it seems. We still haven't decided on who gets each role, and we're leaving for the place in less than a week.

I hope the boldness of these young boys will wear off and they'll take the roles, otherwise that would mean stress and work for us.

If anyone reads this, what do you think? I find this boldness weird and wanted to ask if that's normal for boys that age (16-17).

[ebergeaud2]

Initial ideas for Extended Visual Essay

[Idea 1]

What deems a man, a man? Or a woman a woman? Deep in the recesses of our collective consciousness is the part of our brains that distinguishes the man and the women. Conditioned by our lived experiences, whether they be; anthropological, financial, economical, sociological or perhaps even geographical. After having written the 1st Year essay regarding femininity in the scope of Asian Cinema and Culture; I wanted to delve deeper into this idea of binaries which I had barely scratched the surface of in first year. In addition, it was from the writings of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler with their books ‘History of Sexuality’ (1976) and ‘Gender Trouble’ (1990) respectively, in the 2nd Year that piqued my fascination with the true definition of binaries.

Intrigued that such a topic is so deeply engrained within the fabric of our daily lives, that rarely do we question the boundaries and definitions that we set ourselves. Discussion around the topic has, what I think, started to become a bit banal; rarely spoken about across generations. Only recently gaining traction after the release of the Barbie Movie (2023, dir. Greta Gerwig). It was from this movie, that I had only started seeing and questioned aspects of it in our daily lives, what influences these stereotypes and how they came to be. Two possible avenues that I could explore would be how hobbies can contribute to the reinforcement of gender identities or perhaps how the passing down of generational philosophies inherently maintains the status quo of either binary.

Artists that come to mind are Grayson Perry. Especially considering his extensive work on the lives of labourers in the UK midlands, specifically quarrymen and factory workers; victim to the deindustrialisation and outsourcing of work from the UK. Not to mention the privatisation of the UK during the late 1980s putting people out of jobs. Perry investigates the psychological impact that such an event had on the masculine identities of the men inhabiting derelict industrial towns; The feeling of being emasculated as a result.

Possible artists:

-Douglas Greenwood

-Sophie Day

-Zanele Muholi

-Jennie Baptist’s

-Nan Goldin

-Corinne Day

[Idea 2]

One other idea also stems from the previous idea, but more of a focus into my personal background. My upbringing as a 2nd generation immigrant. South East Asian culture or perhaps encompassing Asia as a whole. Delving into queer identities and gender norms through the lens of immigrant communities. Not to mention gender politics and traditions pre-colonial era in the Philippines. One interesting facet of Philippine history was the Babaylan tribe.

Predominantly a matriarchal society, the Babaylans were a tribe that were prominent during the pre-colonial era. Consisting of mostly women in positions of power, with men playing a similar role. While my level of knowledge surrounding this topic. It is interesting that a lot of the gender traditions that persist today have been due to colonial powers. Because of this, I wanted to explore this transition and the history of these unique identities that pre-date the arrival of colonial powers.