#i didn't mention gay trans people. in fact all i did was say that obviously aromantic cishet men are queer

[celestiachan]

straight trans people do have straight privilege over gay trans people have you never heard of ray blanchard or hsts???

please. please. please. please. talk to queer people who are over the age of 17

[pillarsalt]

Wikipedia anon here, i feel SO embarrassed for misremembering so much about that article. the concept of the cotton cieling and the reminder of the sheer amount of institutions/resources that have been taken over by tims/tras makes me so upset i didn't want to recheck the article again, even though i should have. (it was some time ago i saw the rb of your comic and did my first check, then saw your comic again and remembered about doing so, to clarify. yes i'm an absolute mess i apologize)

i appreciate you so much for not only getting what i was trying (and failing lmao) to explain but also looking into and linking the talk page because JFC!!! so sharing differing opinions for a topic (with cited sources!!) on wikipedia is a no-no, but it's totally fine when you and your friends retroactively decide pro-topic views make you look bad and so you delete the entire article and rewrite the definition of said topic to be about generically "being left out of spaces :.-(" instead of being honest about it being homophobic, rapist rhetoric (which is the reason you're trying to hide it in the first place) hoooooooly SHIT

if genderism ever blows over (with how long it's stuck around for, and with no one being willing to talk about objective/legal concerns like the WPATH files and Maya Forestater, let alone even have a conversation with a GC person, at this point i'm not hopeful...) everyone who contributed to the widescale abuse and trauma of women (especially lesbians), girls, gay men, gnc people, and tip (medicalized or not) could spend the rest of their lives begging for forgiveness and it wouldn't be anywhere near enough. not that i'm expecting them to do that, of course. it's not even blown over yet and we can see from the cotton ceiling article that they'll absolutely try to just gaslight everyone and pretend it never happened (and if it did, it wasn't that bad, and if it was bad it was your fault for not doing your research, etc etc)

ANYWAY i'd rather end on something positive, so thank you again for sharing your wonderful art on here!! seeing there's a talented, feminist female artist who's into pokemon and mlp but hasn't bought into trans ideology is so healing for me. hope you have a lovely day!!! :) :) :)

I wouldn't be embarrassed, I mean the article's not completely empty but it's obviously been stripped down to next to nothing compared to what it used to contain, and half the cited sources aren't really relevant at all. They briefly mention the MTF porn actor who coined the term but failed to mention the scores of other popular MTFs who were vehement proponents of the rhetoric (Riley J Dennis is the first one that comes to mind). And yeah that dude in the discussion page saying he's going to be watching the page and reverting any edits he doesn't like, isn't that very wikipedia illegal? I don't edit wikipedia but I'm fairly certain that camping on an article to make sure your edits aren't edited is not allowed.

It's definitely been a trend with "progressives" to flip the script on anything they've done and can see was wrong in retrospect, claiming "no actually YOU said this, not me." It's a very good reason to keep things documented, and I have huge respect for people who keep the receipts so we can hold people accountable for the harmful bullshit they've spread around. (Speaking of which, I think now is a good time to remind everyone that Eli Erlick is a rapist, another interesting fact that has been unsuccessfully scrubbed from the internet.)

Thanks for your wonderful words as well :) Have a great day too!

[polychaeteworm]

My abusive mother is finally trying to do family therapy and her therapist wants to talk to me on the phone first. I have no idea if this means I'm getting into a session with her but like, she's about to be exposed for not telling the truth if she hasn't already.

This gonna be soooo fun!(Genuinely) Happy birthday to me!

I wrote her the "Here's the facts about why I haven't spoken to you in a decade" email and told her to share it with her therapist. Because at this point, it's like, painfully obvious that she's enmeshed with me and has a number of tightly held delusions that she's good at masking... Until someone pokes holes in her story. Poke poke poke! I promise human mother you do not want me talking to this PTSD therapist that you've told a false story to, but heeeeere we gooooo.

We're talking about things like, she thinks I was kidnapped dispite being told by literally everyone she moans to that I left on my own. She doesn't think I can, she can't believe it, so to her, it simply didn't happen, even when it plainly obviously did.

She petitioned the court to hand her my autonomy and it got thrown out to the tune of her making up conspiracy theories about why they didn't think that was a good idea when there was no evidence that I was incapacitated.

She seemingly cannot process the concept of me disagreeing with her validly and on my own. Any time I hold an opinion she doesn't like, one of her "enemies" put it there. Or she blatantly steps around it like it's not there.

The time she assaulted my system, we were both alone in a supermarket. Nobody told me my mom grabbed and dragged me, nobody hyped me up and convinced me of that. I was not brainwashed, I was not hypnotized. it was a real thing that actually happened.

She claims my trans status is a surprise. She's finally calling me by my systems preferred name (not sharing for our safety) and acting like I just never told her. Which is both cool and absolute bullshit.

Even though she very clearly physically assaulted me for cutting my hair and full on dramatically feined heart attacks Stanford and son style when I tried to calmly talk to her about anything LGBT related, other people defamed her, it was other people, not her own actions.

It's very worth mentioning that this woman isn't your typical flavor of ignorant parent either.

She's a LOA new age cult entrenched hippie fag hag hanging on to her Catholic childhood when it comes to the concept of purity. She lost all her gay friends when they found out she was the "not my kid tho" type. She is a spiritual tourist that had a child(hi it's us) with a native man to trap him in a relationship.

She's charismatic and nice until you disagree.

I feel like something about my gender threatens her and I'm not entirely sure why but it's not my fault and not my responsibility.

I'm only planning on attending therapy with her to, as my therapist puts it, "say goodbye". She has stage four cancer and this might be the last time I interact with her. You hope for the best but I am not expecting the presence of a therapist to change her mind. This is just the showdown I owe to the young folk of the system.

They need to see me advocate for them in this exact environment. I've been waiting for these exact conditions and the spirits are definitely throwing out good signs.

[swaggy-pregnant-elf-man]

I posted 2,985 times in 2022

That's 1,767 more posts than 2021!

23 posts created (1%)

2,962 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@elytrians

@thekidsfromyestergay

@cttrajan1206

@discardedcandywrapper

@greenbeany

I tagged 1,232 of my posts in 2022

#mcr - 290 posts

#ofmd - 79 posts

#art - 65 posts

#toh - 41 posts

#birds - 21 posts

#tiktok - 18 posts

#lol - 15 posts

#lmao - 14 posts

#fuck capitalism - 14 posts

#prev tags - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 74 characters

#🦀🦀🦀😁🦀😁😁😁😁😁😁🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀😁😁🦀🦀😩🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

HELP ITS ME SUMI

The londoner in ur birmie squad sjdhhdf

i am so sorry bro i dont think i am who u think i am 😭😭

8 notes - Posted June 11, 2022

#4

aras have you seen the Joan of Arc outfit yet

I HAVE NOW KSKDKLEODJ DKDOEOL I AM GOING RVEN MORE INSANE GOING TO WATCH THE STREAM NOW

10 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

#3

3000 posts!

ashamed 😔

16 notes - Posted July 31, 2022

#2

clownwife

19 notes - Posted August 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I love the energy and all and I don’t want to offend but as a Muslim girl i can tell you that it is literally haram to identify as anything other than your god given gender. Like I’m not trying to be rude and I’m glad that there a respectful supportive people out there but if you’re looking at the Quran and other islamic book you’ll find stories about how its considered haram. Accepting the islam religion means accepting everything and dedicating yourself to it you can’t just pick and choose.

omg my first anon hate hahaha

i know im not obligated to answer hate but im going to anyway bcuz of i have things to say (sparkle emoji) (im on pc and dont have the energy to find an emoji keyboard)

okay first of all nowhere did i say that I identify as Muslim. i get that it was ambiguous tho so its cool. to clarify,, I am personally not Muslim but I kind of have to act like one so I don't get kicked to the streets or some shit lol and maybe I'm a bit of a coward idkkk but anyways

I would be interested to know what other Islamic books ur talking about btw, but I'm pretty sure the quran doesn't mention being trans anywhere at all. in fact I'm pretty certain, I've read it multiple times with translation and commentary interpretations and anyway being trans wasn't really a 'known' thing back then? bcuz obviously patriarchy and gender roles n segregation blah blah was wayyyy more yk. shit I forgot the word. uhhh yk like prevalent?? ofc the quran does mention a shitton about gender roles,, so yk men r the breadwinners, women raise the kids and keep house and be good wives etc. and also remember the big important fact:: GENDER AND SEX R DIFFERENT THINGS!!! meaning technically u cant be 'born' a gender (omfg my keyboard hates me imagine a question mark here) ur born with certain genitals and society assigns u a gender based on that . sounds a bit fucked when u put it like that actually but anyway back when the quran was being revealed this wasn't a known thing cuz yk they didn't have studies on this stuff,, and yea ur probably gonna say 'but the quran came from allah and he knows everything' well the fact of the matter is he either forgot or smth idk I don't speak for God but trans people definitely exist that's a fact we know so yeah. oh I should come back to my point which was, even with the quran saying those things about what ur supposed to do based on whats in ur pants which is crazy outdated anyway it doesn't take gender ≠ sex into consideration either soo ye that's the most it could've said about being trans and that not very valid anymore rip and that's not even mentioning non-binary people

and anyway Islam is literally all about acceptance and respect and everything so idk it would probably be better if u didn't go around telling ppl they're 'literally haram' for being trans or gay or any typa queer bcuz its literally not our choice (insert question marks) believe me I would fucking love to be comfortable in my 'female' body but I cant no matter how much I try to force myself so I'm sorry dude. no one would choose to be stuck in a situation like this. personally, I believe Islam needs a super massive reformation. well not Islam exactly, but a lot of things said in the quran r outdated wildly now, while a lot of it will also always be relevant, eg. everyone being equal and yk give to the poor etc. i have absolutely nothing against Muslims (I have it against my family for being so forceful about religion - different thing) yall r super cool and ik being a Muslim girl isn't easy believe me, but genuinely seeing Muslim people around and yk, just existing in wider society outside of Islamic spaces makes me feel so proud of where I came from even if its not been the best experience. have u seen the show We are Lady Parts (question mark) its about an all female Muslim punk band and there's only six episodes I literally watched it all today but the message of it is what I'm trying to get to you. u don't have to be the perfect pious wife to be considered a 'good Muslim',, there are so many ways u can show faith. you don't have to be a big strong man who can handle all pain with ease while single-handedly providing for a family either.

anyways peace out that sure was a journey lol and I definitely have forgot some of the things I wanted to say but yea that's all don't forget to like and subscribe <3

(colours r to make it easier to read for people with shorter attention spans,, they don't have any other significance)

36 notes - Posted February 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[satanfemme]

contemplating/venting about work under the cut

also. fuck my job for giving us such a low borderline-meaningless raise. I wanna know what kinda raise the CEO got this year. all the higher-ups are like "YAYYY!! you guys are making more now!!! isn't that so exciting ^_^!! see! we care about our employees!!" meanwhile it's still nowhere near enough to live on, all of my coworkers and I are poor as fuck, and the job is inherently emotionally/physically destructive. it's a sacrifice we all knowingly signed up for, but NOT for the "reward" of poverty. imho.

I have coworkers living with both a partner AND roommates just to afford one tiny apartment. one of my coworkers moved down the street from work to save on gas money (among other reasons). lots of us have side hustles, needless to say. whenever I mention having a whole studio apartment for myself, the first thing I'm always asked is "HOW?!?!?! how do u afford that?!?!?!" and of course the answer is "I don't, lol. nearly all of my paycheck goes towards it and then I take on debt to afford most other things". but I mean, look at that exchange, isn't that insane? an adult mentions to a co-worker that they're renting one (1) shitty room for themself and a dog to spend most of their time in, and the co-worker's immediate reaction is shock cause that's a fucking Luxury lifestyle? might as well say I own a yacht. but the reaction is literally rational and correct!!!!! it's so depressing. it's so so depressing that this is just reality. our CEO was making the equivalent of $80/hr last year. all the higher ups think we should be over the moon for $16/hour this coming year. what kind of raise did the CEO give themself? what will $16/hr cover a year from now really; in autumn 2023? cause in autumn 2022 it's already not covering much.

the deafening silence during our budget meeting, when all us wage employees were asked if we had any questions about the raise. we were previously told (tho, in no on-paper legally-binding way) it'd be to $17/hour. $17 was the Bare Minimum living wage for this area back in 2019. it's now 2022, and we were denied that wage. why? that's my question. but I didn't ask it either, obviously.

I know I'm not the only one feeling stuck and scared. every convo with my co-workers lately, no matter what topic it started with, has somehow turned itself into mutual grief of "I wish I weren't struggling to survive. I really like this job. there's no better animal welfare jobs in the area. this was my escape from a shitty animal welfare job. there's no guarantee that any other job, in any field, would let me be gay/trans/disabled/mentally ill/myself/etc the way I can here. many jobs would turn me away immediately. I feel overworked. I don't know how to afford things." ...and then I bring up the "CEO makes $80/hr" fact and lol. the unspoken tension that plain statement adds to the conversation.

I'd call myself a lil firestarter for it, but the info is public and easy to find. I'm surprised I'm the only one who did the math but I'm glad more people are becoming aware of it. the wage employees are the ones DOING the actual work here, u know? the paperwork, and blog posts, and emailing bestie PETA (ugh), and handshaking the governor (who's actively attempting to pass transphobic legislation but shhhhh) are all very important for the business the cause as well I'm sure, but an animal welfare org would not EXIST without the laborers who know how to, you know, care for the animals. even at the expense of ourselves and our safety.

oops idk, is this rant getting mean? the higher ups are always very nice to me, I'm being a lil mean. but I had to help give a co-worker first aid the other day, and when we were like "hey, you clearly broke something, you're covered in blood, you're fading in and out of consciousness, and we don't know how long you were out before you were able to call for help. let's drive you to a hospital now." they refused to go anywhere but an urgent care clinic cause, u know, money? and then I clocked out late cause we're so overworked we can't afford a single detour during our shift like that. (and can't clock out til all the work is done ^_^). so yeah if I'm coming off a lil bit like a mean commie rn maybe that experience is why. I wonder how often the CEO gets injured on the job? do u think the $80/hr is to cover all those dog bites they get on the daily ... in their personal office space nowhere near the animals?

idk if we're gonna unionize any time soon, but I know I'm not the only one feeling this way. maybe that's the silver lining. still, it doesn't stop the nightmarish elephant in the room either. anywaysssss that's my rant for the day thx

[cheekbites-moved]

People really need to learn that queer coding and subtext does not mean queerbait. It’s basically what authors have to use when they cannot be blatant about it but want to have it in there. That doesn’t make it any less true just because they’re not looking straight into the camera and saying every little minute detail.

i agree with you fullheartedly. especially emphasizing that sometimes coding or subtext is all a creator can get away with, and their efforts to give us the best representation they can within that does not deserve to be belittled or undermined.

however, what makes vnc a particularly infuriating case is that it's not even coding or subtext.

i guess for vanoe specifically you could argue that vanitas is currently only bi-coded, not explicitly bisexual & noe is gay-coded, not explicitly gay.

but, again, when the series has multiple canon lgbt characters already, it's not baiting anyone for having a gay couple that's currently only romantically coded. especially since the series is not over yet. trying to declare it as bait when we're not even 60 chapters in, & will probably end up with 100+ by the end, is bullshit all by itself, honestly.

and there's other shit i didn't even mention in that post!

we have an on-screen f/f kiss with chloe and faustina. and while the circumstances around that kiss are obviously not good, nor are they meant to be taken as good/romanticized, the fact that we got a f/f kiss in the manga (and anime!) at all is still nothing to sneeze at!

louis is universally accepted as noe's first love in the fandom for a reason. the feelings in the manga are quite tangible, even without any sort of confession or declaration.

and vanoe's flirting is just. like. SO blatant. the amount of times they've blushed at each other, and said shit to each other that's more romantic than a blunt love confession could ever be is nearly absurd (in a good way, of course), especially when we aren't that far into the manga's run, all things considered.

vnc just doesn't use any specific terms. nobody's screaming "im gay!!", but we have multiple instances of characters of the same gender blatantly flirting with each other.

& luna didn't say "im trans!"/"im non-binary!", but they did specifically say that they're neither female nor male, so, like... enough to be trans by definition (the definition of transgender simply being not identifying with your assigned gender, btw. if anyone was unaware).

we're not always gonna get a character directly declaring what their specific representation is, but that doesn't mean that representation doesn't exist or isn't valid.

bottom line...

people just need to stop throwing specific terms around. period. especially terms meant to describe a form of oppression. it takes away from these issues when they are actually happening, and makes the fight to get actual cases of it eradicated that much harder. it has to stop.

[caffeineandsociety]

If there is such a thing as a universal AFAB experience, it is being told constantly - even in queer spaces - that it's not your turn to have your issues heard. It is being told constantly that your problems aren't serious, or aren't real, or aren't what you say they are. It's being told over and over and over again that you're overreacting, and that other people have bigger problems so you need to sit down and wait. It is having violence against you downplayed with "but did you die?" in some hat or another.

Scared at the loss of abortion rights? Well, just stop having so much sex then, slut! It's not a REAL problem! Frustrated that you're being obsessively micromanaged by dress codes while your male classmates or coworkers aren't? Ugh, first world problems, don't you know that there are countries where women are still treated like property? You ARE being treated like property? Well why don't you just leave him or call the cops, you hysterical clown? You clearly just want something to complain about! Assaulted because some guy wouldn't take "I'm a lesbian" for an answer? Well you must have been very rude!

No problem you ever face is REAL and SERIOUS to anyone but you. To the rest of the world you're just a child LARPing at having problems for attention, trying to take away from people with REAL struggles. Even if one of these problems is acknowledged as systemic, "well, did it happen to YOU personally? It did? Well you clearly didn't get the worst of it, you're alive, stop complaining!"

And if you transition? Suddenly it starts coming from "feminists" too. If you're a trans man? Well, if you go stealth you might get paid almost as much as a cis man, so corrective rape and medical gatekeeping are part of a privilege, they're not real violence. If you're nonbinary? Cool cool we'll play along with your little game acknowledge you but we need to know your REAL gender what you were assigned at birth so we can tell whether you're a scary predatory man or an annoying frivolous baby girl looking for attention by stealing a narrative from real oppressed people properly assess your privileges!

There's a subset of "trans-inclusive" "feminists" absolutely frothing at the mouth for someone to treat the same way cis men treat them - but if you call them out on it, they turn on the fucking crocodile tears and start crying about how DARE you accuse them of being sexists they're FEMINISTS and you're not a WOMAN so YOU'RE just a misogynist and they will PROVE they're better and more progressive people than you by violently ripping away every piece of support you have.

They're so thorough, in fact, that simply by mentioning how they treat trans men, some of you are probably assuming I mean to imply that they treat trans women any better. I do not. I am well aware that these are the very same people who uplift trans women as flawless powerful queens and goddesses until they set one toe out of line and suddenly they're predators - no, no, it's not because they're trans women, it's because they openly indulge in a children's cartoon on the same blogs where they make sex jokes, so OBVIOUSLY they're PEDOPHILES.

But I'm tired of only being able to discuss my problems under that framework. I'm tired of not being allowed to discuss my problems in isolation. Other marginalized people are allowed to, but me? Hell, AFAB queer people in general? Lesbian issues, if not framed in terms of how the same issues affect gay men, get treated as divisive and seen as a likely sign of radfem nonsense - not because they inherently are, but because those vile communities are damned near the only ones that allow it. Discussing transmasc issues, and not framing them as lesser collateral damage to transmisogyny, is seen as denying that transmisogyny exists.

I'm tired of discussions of my own struggles having to come with disclaimers that I Know My Place, because you all still think of me as a caricature of a woman - a screeching harpy whining about non-issues, a permanent baby with a massive victim complex, too weak to protect myself from mild discomfort so I must spin it as the end of the world for attention - and blend that with the Born This Way narrative and blame it on me being an entitled man.

Unity should not mean "you must frame your issues in terms of how they affect us, while we barely pay you lip service in discussing ours."

So, when will it be our turn?

When will you admit that you're just as prone to bioessentialist misogyny as anyone else?

[lanawinterscigarettes]

Kit Walker dating someone who's transmasc

A/N: I know Pride month is over, but this idea came to me in the middle of the night and I absolutely had to write it out. I'm transmasc myself, so I wrote this based on my personal experiences. Obviously, I don't speak for every transmasc individual, so if there's something you feel needs to be changed please let me know. I also wrote two sections to it, one set in the 60s and the other set in the present time. I hope I did this idea justice, it being my first time writing and all. Enjoy ❤

Warnings: slight mention of sex, being trans in the 60s, slight mention of transphobia, I curse at one point, uhhh I think that's it??

60s

-When you first met, he didn't know you were trans (you were eager to keep it a secret, it being the 60s and all)

-"Hi, I'm Kit Walka, what's your name?"

-Over time however, you saw how passionate he was about people being able to be who they are and love who they love without discrimination

-You were really nervous about coming out to him, and you were worried he wouldn't want to be friends with you anymore

-"Hey Kit, can I tell you something?"

-"Yeah, of course! What's on your mind?"

-"...I'm trans."

-He immediately gave you a big hug and told you he'd support and accept you no matter what

-He probably also asked you out at the same time

-"So...wanna go on a date?"

-You would have to keep your relationship a secret, especially if you weren't out yet

-Kit would probably be upset by the fact he couldn't kiss you openly in public, but you would remind him it'd be better not to, for both of your safety

-Posing as "roommates" so people wouldn't get suspicious

-Which means you also have a job somewhere

-Maybe you even work together at the garage, stealing kisses in between refilling people's gas where they won't see

-(You've probably done it on the desk before, or maybe even one of the cars, I'm not gonna lie 👀)

-Going somewhere discreet, maybe even driving out of state, just so you two could get married when it finally got legalized

-Thomas being the ring bearer and Julia being the flower girl at your wedding

-Lana also attending, probably as Kit's best man (or woman)

-Always wearing your wedding rings when you're alone

-Helping him take care of the farm and raising the kids together

-History will say you two were "just friends", unmarried bachelors who lived together all your life...but you both knew that wasn't the case

Present time

-Things would be a bit different if you met in the present time

-Meaning you probably told him you were trans one of the first times you met because of how open he is about being an ally

-(I personally see him as pansexual like myself, so do with that what you will)

-It would also mean you guys wouldn't have to keep your relationship a secret from the outside world, and you could hold hands in public and kiss and such

-I feel like Kit definitely does his best to be a good ally, even if he's not trans himself

-He made sure to do his research as soon as you came out in order to make you feel as comfortable as possible with him

-He asks you questions when he doesn't understand something, and always makes sure to stress that he doesn't mean to be rude or offensive when asking

-I also feel like he'd just have a lot of gay stuff??

-I know that probably sounds really weird, but I feel like anytime the two of you go shopping and he sees something that has the colors of the trans flag he just automatically puts it in the cart

-And during Pride month, when practically everything in the stores are covered with rainbow? He's a menace

-"Kit, babe, we don't need anymore candles, okay? We already have, like, fifty of the exact same one at home"

-"I know, but I'm trying to be a good ally! Also, it smells like watermelon"

-So basically he's all 😋👍 and you're all 🤨😑🙄

-Always makes sure people use your correct pronouns

-"And so I said to her-"

-"They use they/them pronouns, actually"

-He would probably start using they/them pronouns as well as he/him because he understands the importance of normalizing people using them and even though he's not nonbinary he'll help in whatever way he can

-Just imagine he/they Kit though-I think I'm in love 😍

-I could totally imagine him getting super upset if you were somehow discriminated against at your workplace

-And if he was there to see it when it happened? Oh boy

-He'd probably get thrown out for decking somebody in the face, I'm not even gonna lie

-Just hope it isn't your boss, or you'll have to be finding a new job

-"Kit, you really shouldn't have done that. That guy was my boss, and I'll probably end up getting fired"

-"Hey, don't blame me suga. He was the one who started it. He should have been respectful towards you"

-"I know, but that's kind of not the point"

-You help him raise Thomas and Julia to be open minded and accepting of all people

-He does his best to help on days when your dysphoria hits you like a motherfucking train

-He'll wrap you in a blanket burrito and binge watch your favorite show with you

-If you own a binder, he'll randomly check up on you to make sure you haven't been wearing it for too long

-"Suga, how long have you been wearing your binder for?"

-"Only a couple of hours"

-"Really? Because I saw you put it on this morning and that was at least 7 hours ago"

-"..."

-"I'll go change"

-If you plan on getting top surgery, he'll start saving up, and even if you say he doesn't have to, he'll insist because he "wants his darlin' to feel the most comfortable with themself as possible"

-Above all though, he'd love you unconditionally and would do whatever it would take to make you happy

Um, where can I get me a Kit please? He's so sweet it makes me wanna cry

[nicanario]

this post is a product of its time

tw: discussion of racism, homophobia, misogyny and a short mention of sexual abuse.

ok, this is basically gonna be a very long rambling post about my not fully developed thoughts on the justification many people give to bigotry when talking about the past: "it was a product of its time"

it would be fair to say, with me being a raging SJW socialist scumbag, that I don't think this is a very good argument and is most of the time actually an excuse to not think about the problems inherent to our society, historical or not, and, by extension, the problems with ourselves. but I do think that sometimes, just sometimes, this can be a valid point, or at least one that raises some interesting questions.

I'm going to cite examples from several pieces of media, but fear not, I'll try to make this as accesible as I can.

so, let's take Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) as our first case study. this show has, correctly, been called progressive by everyone except for clueless people who don't know much about Star Trek's history, Star Trek's crew, Star Trek's cast, or, frankly, Star Trek. because if you ignore the clear, sometimes in-your-face political history and present of the franchise, I don't think you know much about it at all. I do think you can call yourself a fan if you like it, you may have watched every single episode for all I know. but lots of mental gymnastics are needed to ignore the political progressiveness Star Trek has had since its very beginning.

episodes like Let That Be Your Last Battlefield are obviously anti-racist, at least in their intention. but the episode in question really is "a product of its time," and at the very end fails to uphold its ideals. the episode ends with the two aliens (who are LITERALLY. BLACK ON ONE SIDE. AND WHITE ON THE OTHER. BUT IN THE OPPOSITE SIDES.) fighting each other on their devastated planet, and the crew is like, "oh yeah if they both would give up on their hatred that they both share both of them equally" when it has been firmly established that one is the oppressor and the other one is the oppressed.

and that's a lot of Star Trek, not just TOS. even Discovery, one of the most recent series, has done Bury Your Gays (and Trans) TWICE (though both times literally rectified it, which is cool). there are episodes of the franchise that are overtly racist, or misogynistic, etc. TOS is lauded, mostly justifiably, as very progressive, especially for the standards of the time. they put a woman of colour as one of the senior staff, for fuck's sake. of course, when you analyse that same character, as with most of their intentions at being progressive, you'll see that she was relegated and sometimes even outright mistreated when she had the potential to be much more. but, at that time, it was a lot.

I had a friend (emphasis on "had") who, after I told him about TOS's both progressiveness and constant misogyny, told me something like "imagine feminists trying to complain about a show from the 60s." so, with unearned spite, he was, in some way, trying to make the argument that it was a product of its time.

you could say Star Trek, all of Star Trek, is "a product of its time" in the sense that it's not always perfect. uh, yes, I would agree. but that doesn't mean people have to accept it. well, I mean, the show is kinda over, you have to accept it's that way. but you don't have to accept that it's not wrong just because it was a product of its time.

H. P. Lovecraft, as another example, was a greatly influential writer whose works still shape a lot of people's ideas to this day. I have only ever read like one of his stories, so don't expect me to have an opinion on his works. but I can have an opinion on what I know about him as a person (he did have a life outside his writing, after all). and, yeah, he was a huge asshole. if you want to know more in depth about the subject, please watch Hbomberguy's video on him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8u8wZ0WvxI

but basically, he was incredibly racist & homophobic. some people might even say, "he was a product of his time." well, there are two possible rebuttals to that. the surface level one, and the one that examines why that argument is wrong to the core.

The Surface Level Response to "it was a product of its time": um, no it wasn't. Lovecraft was more racist than a lot of people even in his time. he wasn't just a guy who carried the racist beliefs of his society like everyone else, he was a reactionary who actively thought and discussed how racist he was, and how right he was for being that way. but that's only applicable to Lovecraft. one can't argue the same for Star Trek: TOS, because TOS did try to be more progressive and more anti-racist than the rest of its society. that leads us to the next response.

The Response that Actually Deals with the Fact that No Matter How Progressive You're Trying to Be, Your Failings Can Still be Criticized: the thing is, trying to excuse Lovecraft's or Star Trek's bigotry because they were "products of their times" misses the fact that racism is still wrong, and some people knew that in those times as well. people from these times weren't all naive or stupid or whatever. they had the capacity for rational thinking. they could stop and think, "hey, maybe what we're doing is wrong." and the fact is, some people did. not perfectly, not to our standars, but they did. everyone could have stopped and think. but most of them didn't, and we can criticize them for it. racism, homophobia, sexism, etc. HURT PEOPLE. horribly. massively.

also, even if you agree with the "it's a product of its time" argument, some people aren't criticising people's or work's bigotry: they're explaining why they don't want to experience it.

The Talons of Weng-Chiang is a 1977 Doctor Who serial, and it's one of the show's more racist stories. almost all the villains are Chinese, every single Chinese person is a villain. there's yellowface, slurs, stereotypes, the Doctor speaking nonsense words instead of actual Chinese, and a general belittling of Chinese culture.

note that I'm neither Chinese nor of Chinese descent. I have been searching for hours for a few posts I've read a while ago (some by people who are of Asian descent) about this episode and I can't find them. sorry.

suffice it to say, even though I love Jago & Litefoot (the audio series and the characters), it's not an acceptable episode at all. but it's also important to remark that, because of it, some people aren't going to want to watch it. sometimes, people aren't saying "the episode shouldn't be this way," which causes others to answer that it was "a product of its time." sometimes, people are just saying, "this is an episode that attacks real people. I don't want to see it. I don't care if it was common in that era to be racist, i don't want to experience it."

however, there is an interesting point to the "it's a product of its time" argument. after all, everything is influenced by its society, for better or worse. and we can't change it anymore. TOS sometimes didn't quite understand the political themes it wanted to explore. Lovecraft was a horrible bigot. Talons was racist towards Chinese folks. and that's that. I don't think we should change the episodes/stories or anything. edit them in any way. that would be, in a sense, changing history. and we wouldn't learn anything from it, about how we can do better.

I think there are two solutions to this:

1. warnings before starting the text: this was done with The Talons of Weng-Chiang. on Britbox, where you can watch Classic Who, this serial has a content warning before the start. that's good.

2. the removal as a whole of the text from some places: I think before applying this one, there should be a lot of thought put into each case. I don't think removing a whole serial of Doctor Who or Lovecraft's stories from anything would be, well, fair. especially on tv episodes a lot more people worked on those, not just the writers and the directors. Lovecraft's writing influenced thousands. we shouldn't erase them or anything. but sometimes, for some cases, we should.

those in the US might seen a Confederate statue being taken down. that is, in a way, a form of removal of a piece of history.

but that is a good removal. statues glorify. one sees a statue and probably thinks "this was a person worthy of admiration." they should be taken down, maybe even with a permanent mark of why this was done (a plaque that reads "a statue of X was here, but he didn't deserve it because of Y" could be put in place of the statues, for example).

another example is the removal from DVDs of the short episode A Fix with Sontarans, a Sixth Doctor minisode that featured Jimmy Savile, a presenter who was later found out to be sexually abusing children.

the removal of that minisode is good, actually. it's not a full episode (it's not even Doctor Who). some might say that's "erasing history" but, like, you can still find it online or information about it if you want. this minisode deserves removal from DVDs and Blu-Rays and whatever more than content warnings. it's not an important part of the show and it prominently features a horrible person who did horrible things during that time.

so, after all that, I have explained why I don't like the "it's a product of its time" argument. it is an interesting point that deserves to be examined, but it's not very good.

I have had this in Drafts for so long I've probably forgot some of the points I was going to make, but eh, what can you do? hope you enjoyed reading this.

bye

[swaggy-pregnant-elf-man]

I love the energy and all and I don’t want to offend but as a Muslim girl i can tell you that it is literally haram to identify as anything other than your god given gender. Like I’m not trying to be rude and I’m glad that there a respectful supportive people out there but if you’re looking at the Quran and other islamic book you’ll find stories about how its considered haram. Accepting the islam religion means accepting everything and dedicating yourself to it you can’t just pick and choose.

omg my first anon hate hahaha

i know im not obligated to answer hate but im going to anyway bcuz of i have things to say (sparkle emoji) (im on pc and dont have the energy to find an emoji keyboard)

okay first of all nowhere did i say that I identify as Muslim. i get that it was ambiguous tho so its cool. to clarify,, I am personally not Muslim but I kind of have to act like one so I don't get kicked to the streets or some shit lol and maybe I'm a bit of a coward idkkk but anyways

I would be interested to know what other Islamic books ur talking about btw, but I'm pretty sure the quran doesn't mention being trans anywhere at all. in fact I'm pretty certain, I've read it multiple times with translation and commentary interpretations and anyway being trans wasn't really a 'known' thing back then? bcuz obviously patriarchy and gender roles n segregation blah blah was wayyyy more yk. shit I forgot the word. uhhh yk like prevalent?? ofc the quran does mention a shitton about gender roles,, so yk men r the breadwinners, women raise the kids and keep house and be good wives etc. and also remember the big important fact:: GENDER AND SEX R DIFFERENT THINGS!!! meaning technically u cant be 'born' a gender (omfg my keyboard hates me imagine a question mark here) ur born with certain genitals and society assigns u a gender based on that . sounds a bit fucked when u put it like that actually but anyway back when the quran was being revealed this wasn't a known thing cuz yk they didn't have studies on this stuff,, and yea ur probably gonna say 'but the quran came from allah and he knows everything' well the fact of the matter is he either forgot or smth idk I don't speak for God but trans people definitely exist that's a fact we know so yeah. oh I should come back to my point which was, even with the quran saying those things about what ur supposed to do based on whats in ur pants which is crazy outdated anyway it doesn't take gender ≠ sex into consideration either soo ye that's the most it could've said about being trans and that not very valid anymore rip and that's not even mentioning non-binary people

and anyway Islam is literally all about acceptance and respect and everything so idk it would probably be better if u didn't go around telling ppl they're 'literally haram' for being trans or gay or any typa queer bcuz its literally not our choice (insert question marks) believe me I would fucking love to be comfortable in my 'female' body but I cant no matter how much I try to force myself so I'm sorry dude. no one would choose to be stuck in a situation like this. personally, I believe Islam needs a super massive reformation. well not Islam exactly, but a lot of things said in the quran r outdated wildly now, while a lot of it will also always be relevant, eg. everyone being equal and yk give to the poor etc. i have absolutely nothing against Muslims (I have it against my family for being so forceful about religion - different thing) yall r super cool and ik being a Muslim girl isn't easy believe me, but genuinely seeing Muslim people around and yk, just existing in wider society outside of Islamic spaces makes me feel so proud of where I came from even if its not been the best experience. have u seen the show We are Lady Parts (question mark) its about an all female Muslim punk band and there's only six episodes I literally watched it all today but the message of it is what I'm trying to get to you. u don't have to be the perfect pious wife to be considered a 'good Muslim',, there are so many ways u can show faith. you don't have to be a big strong man who can handle all pain with ease while single-handedly providing for a family either.

anyways peace out that sure was a journey lol and I definitely have forgot some of the things I wanted to say but yea that's all don't forget to like and subscribe <3

(colours r to make it easier to read for people with shorter attention spans,, they don't have any other significance)