#i have a hard time seeing any of them being non poc

[olderthannetfic]

sorry it didn't entirely occur to me that race play wasn't inherently racist. Guess I literally should've just googled that to see, flew over my head. Wasn't intending to be bait or whatever, I was genuinely confused what goes too far in fiction or not, since you could write practically anything including immoral stuff. It was hard to wrap my head around and entirely forgot POC could write stuff that would be considered racist if a white person did it. My bad I understand the reasoning now. Again sorry was genuinely just curious cuz I'm not a "professional" in what's right or not (I usually follow the majority to determine what's right, I'm a sheep, my biggest fear is to be offensive in any way so I try to listen to people who know their stuff and follow), terms and complicated words (at least complicated to me) tend to go over my head. Perhaps I should've used a tonetag to show I was being genuine in my response and meant to be curious and not to harm. I apologize sorry for making you mad have a nice day/night afternoon :) I really appreciate the work you put in this blog, it's very informational for me

--

Oh god. You're in earnest? Well, in that case, you were doing a pitch-perfect imitation of the people you've been reading, and those people are annoying.

--

It's fiction. Who cares what's in it?

The thing that makes it matter is how the fiction is disseminated and the whole context around it. For example, media aimed at young children is held to higher standards because four-year-olds often aren't that competent at telling fiction from reality or understanding that depiction isn't endorsement.

Mainstream US TV shows have millions of viewers. If they reinforce mainstream unconscious prejudices, that tends to encourage the audience to continue unchecked in those beliefs.

Weird niche porn or fanfic on AO3 have tiny audiences, often deal with things that are already contentious, and are labeled as non-mainstream in the first place by their very nature.

"But what if people write immoral fiction?" is itself an unethical position. It is the domain of the religious right, radfems, and other assholes who believe in thought crimes.

Yes, sheep do follow these people. This is an unethical behavior, but it is common.

The tyranny of the majority is not a good thing. The fact that a large number of people on social media say that such-and-such makes them feel gross is not an excuse for them to tell a smaller group with "gross" tastes what they're allowed to do in their own circles. Lots of people are horny over weird shit. This is fine.

The fear of ever offending anyone is a prison that will cause you to make bad choices.

Genuine harm is bad, but lots of people are offended at the drop of a hat. Yes, this goes for nonwhite people too, and it definitely goes for idiots white knighting in fandom spaces and going "You can't write X about characters of color! You can't write Y! Everything is problematic!"

As has been discussed on here many times, a lot of fans, including nonwhite fans, find that kind of behavior stifling to the point where they can't write about those characters at all. The response is often a huffy "Well, they shouldn't feel like that." But they do feel like that. It's not on purpose. Most people feel like that, to be honest. Living in a fishbowl has a chilling effect on art just like being afraid of offending paralyzes you yourself.

Offensiveness is highly dependent on context. Not only will it vary with your cultural background, but a great writer can handle material and make it feel nuanced, while a crummy writer will fall flat on their face with the same material.

If we are too precious about "Nobody should ever offend anyone", we're calling for all fans to publicly disclose their demographic and for all fans to be extremely skilled. Pity the poor, dumb teenager who just wants to write about their black blorbos because they are black themselves... and a shitty writer... who likes sex pollen.

If you look again, you will notice that a lot of fandom drama around offensiveness boils down to "You have a rape kink and that's not okay".

The bottom line, anon, is that fandom has a bullying problem. The internet has a bullying problem. People who are too scared to have their own stance on what's offensive or what's correct behavior are easily weaponized in bullying campaigns. This is the problem with being a sheep. You'll reblog shit saying "Well, I'm not sure, but this sounds important..." and then it turns out to be a smear campaign. Or maybe you personally won't do that, but you will stay silent when you should speak out.

Doing the right thing often involves offending people.

Look, anon, I've been canceled before for supposedly being "fandom's worst racist", and yet there are a bunch of fans of color in my comments section because they're tired of prissy jackasses who won't ever expose themselves by having an opinion, think it's more important to never be wrong than to have a conversation and risk changing their minds, who think only one very specific, very American, and very era/platform/fandom-specific standard is okay, and who hate on kinky fanfic day in and day out.

--

To interact with other humans is to risk offending someone. Yes, I think it's on all of us to at least recognize extremely blatant racist stereotypes, but that doesn't mean agreeing with every single moron who walks up and goes "I had a yucky feeling, and now that's your problem."

A lot of this pearl clutching makes one think of that line from Cold Comfort Farm:

"I saw something nasty in the woodshed!"

The matriarch of the family took to her bed years ago, claiming to have been prostrated by the sight of some unnamed horror (in context, probably people fucking). For years, she has used this supposed ~harm~ to bully and control the rest of the family.

Fandom is also full of this behavior lately. "Other people's fiction made me shake and cry!!!" is not actual harm. It is, at best, people who are genuinely upset but who need to take it up with a mental health professional. Very often, however, it is shitty, manipulative, abusive behavior that is entirely intentional. Do not fall for it.

Some people are just children and need to be told "No."

[caratheewriter]

'Teasing the fans' - Harry Collett x poc! non-binary! reader

Synopsis: You and Harry explain the premise of your upcoming movie and your characters while teasing the fans.

Rating: PG-13

Warning(s): mentions of swearing

(the interview questions are bold)

Word Count: 694

Swords & Spirits' Y/n L/n & Harry Collett talk Swords, Spirits, and Character Dynamics | Explain This | Esquire

"Hi! I'm Y/n L/n."

"Hello, I'm Harry Collett."

"And Esquire asked us to explain some things."

"Some things?"

"Yes. Some thin- things about our movie, Swords & Spirits."

"That's better."

"Oh hush."

"If you could change one thing about your character, what would it be?"

You take a minute, thinking hard about your answer, "I would change the fact that Z uses their parents' death as an excuse for their attitude. Sometimes it was valid and other times, it was just too much and it got so fucking annoying. I won't say much but Z will take you through an emotional rollercoaster. Haz?"

"I would change Icarus' nothing. Icarus, to me, is a pretty stable characters. He sticks to his morals and holds Z accountable which is much needed. Yeah, Icarus is fine. He's also more emotionally aware than Z and he also a damn good best friend."

"He reminds me of Percy Jackson."

"Really?"

"Yeah. 'cause Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty and there are moments where Icarus' loyalty to Z is sometimes deadly."

"Yeah. Yeah, I can see that."

"Describe Icarus and Z's dynamic as if you were explaining it to a 5-year old."

"Ha! I don't know if I can do that."

"Ok, ok. Here's how it'll start: Z and Icarus are best friends. But sometimes they get closer than that."

"I can hear my niece going, "like mommy and daddy?" and I will not answer that."

"What would you say?"

"I would just say that they are best friends and leave it at that, besides why is a 5-year old watching it anyways."

"Fair point."

"How was it, fighting with actual weapons?"

"It took a while to get used to. The swords in House of The Dragon... there's a real one for scene stills and when we're filming, the one I had was made from aluminum, I believe. It was really hard to learn archery 'cause Icarus also has a bow and arrow, and I had to learn within a week so, I had a limited amount of experience and teaching."

"It was cool but, I hated the fact that I couldn't get a butterfly knife."

"You wanted a butterfly knife?"

"Yes! They said that a butterfly knife is too detailed to make a prop of and I couldn't use a real one for obvious reasons. Even though I know all of the precautions and how to safely use it."

You stick your tongue out to the camera.

"Explain the progression of your characters' relationship."

"Icarus and Z are best friends."

"Childhood besties, and they are very close mainly due to their mothers' friendship. Their moms were soul-swords during their time as active duty in the Society of Swords."

"Z and Icarus are also soul-swords. Z is the one that gets them into trouble, and Icarus either goes along with it or tries to reel Z back in."

"And then, they are relieved of their duty after they disregard direct orders. Losing your sigil is painful and you can feel the connection breaking. Icarus and Z never really had to tell each other what they were feeling because the other already knew."

"But now, they lost that soul connection. They don't know what to do with themselves. As the film progresses, they get to connect more naturally and feelings are caught."

"My favorite scene that shows the interpretation of them is when Mrs. Kennedy, Icarus' mother, tells them who they're named after. Icarus and Z start to reevaluate their feelings for each other. As for, do they become a couple or not? You just have to watch and find out."

"Is there any tension between Icarus and Z?"

"Yes, but you have to really analyze them. At first glance, it seems like they're just being besties but, they do have their moments."

"There's this one scene that's actually a flashback. Icarus and Z's first kiss and afterwards, you can see the moment where Icarus falls. Z, however, is a bit more complex. They spend more time training and plotting revenge on the High Table so, dating is like the last thing on their mind."

"But who knows? Maybe? maybe not?"

[suffersinfandom]

Alright, I’m gonna talk about Ed and abuse.

“Why? Why are you spending your precious time on Earth typing about some dumb fandom stuff when you could be doing literally anything else?”

In short, seeing the “Ed is an abuser who’s inevitably going to hurt Stede” takes has been driving me absolutely bonkers since I first noticed them. They’re not going away, so I have to essay about it. 

In less-short: it’s because abuse is a serious thing and, as someone who’s experienced it, I get riled when it becomes a topic of discourse in my silly pirate fandom. It’s because it’s upsetting to read meta after meta accusing an indigenous man of being an abuser when the text doesn't support that reading. It’s because a lot of the abuse discourse in the fandom fails to separate real-life abuse from violence in a show. It’s because the vast majority of the abuse talk only acknowledges physical abuse which, while terrible, is not the only kind that hurts people and utterly destroys their lives. 

It’s because calling Ed abusive or insisting that he’s a future abuser can harm people who are like him -- people who have suffered abuse or get angry sometimes or have hurt people when they were hurt. Victims of abuse, especially those who dealt with it in childhood, often fear becoming abusers themselves. They bottle up their anger for fear of hurting someone. They hurt themselves in a misguided attempt to protect others. They don’t need to see meta that enforces their fears.

Before I get into it…

I may as well come clean and say that I’m on team Ed absolutely isn’t abusive.

Plenty has been typed in Ed’s defense by POC in the fandom, so I’m not going to go into how deeply unfortunate it would be to make an indigenous main character an abuser. I’m just going to say that, when you consider OFMD’s genre and attitude towards violence, it seems clear to me that you can’t call Ed abusive without calling out other characters unless you have some kind of bias against Ed. His actions are deplorable in the real world, a bit much in OFMD’s world, deeply unhealthy, not okay by any means, and shitty and traumatizing for his crew, but they aren’t abusive.

Remember: Our Flag Means Death is a comedy with tons of over-the-top violence. If your theory is unrelentingly grim or looks at violence and its consequences in a real-world light, consider stepping back and remembering what genre the events of the show are happening in.

And if you think that only the violence committed by the indigenous lead is abuse, look at the actions of the other characters and ask yourself why Ed doesn’t get the same grace you’ve granted the others.

What is abuse in the real world?

Abuse “includes [a pattern of] behaviors that physically harm, intimidate, manipulate, or control a partner or otherwise force them to behave in ways they don’t want to. This can happen through physical violence, threats, emotional abuse, or financial control.” (1)

“Emotional abuse includes non-physical behaviors that are meant to control, isolate, or frighten someone. These behaviors are often more subtle and hard to identify but are just as serious as other types of abuse.” (2)

It’s important to emphasize that not all purposeful harm to another person, physical or otherwise, is abuse. “What abuse really means is control. When a truly abusive situation exists, it’s because one party is seeking to control the other through abuse.” (2)

Abuse is a pattern of behavior that involves one person intentionally harming another. That harm is meant to control, and it can take on more forms than just physical. 

In our world, all abuse is terrible. Vitally, our world is not a pirate rom-com.

Adding context: what is abuse in Our Flag Means Death?

Our Flag Means Death is a romantic comedy with one core romantic couple, Ed and Stede, whose story takes priority over everything else. It can be dark, it can be serious, but it is, at its core, a comedy, and not a subtle one at that. (3) Sometimes things are just funny and that’s it.

The show’s meanings aren’t hidden under layers of red herrings and subtext; if you’re compelled to bring out the conspiracy corkboard, you’re probably in too deep.

But this isn’t just a rom-com: it’s a pirate rom-com, and that comes with gratuitous violence. Here’s a short, fun list of examples of things that we can consider canon-typical pirate violence:

Tying hostages to the mast and letting them cook a bit

Wanton murder during a raid (“Note the gusto!”)

Threatening a crush at gunpoint until they stab you

Whippies and yardies

Cutting off toes and feeding them to people “for a laugh”

Literally any violence directed at a racist (this violence is, in fact, good and encouraged)

There’s also the pirate-typical killing of other pirates. Duels don’t seem entirely unusual, and Izzy outright tries to get Stede killed at several points in season one. When Chauncey Badminton and the English navy show up after being summoned by Izzy, Stede’s life isn’t the only one on the line: the rest of the crew is also put in potentially life-threatening danger.

In short, Our Flag Means Death has a lot of violence and peril, and very few instances of violence (looking at you, Hornigold) are treated as anything other than socially acceptable. But do you know what’s really important in the show?

Feelings.

The way characters feel as a result of something is given an immense amount of weight. The show’s subtleties are in the realms of the mental and the emotional, and that’s where the real pain is too. 

Nigel Badminton’s death was bad because it was emotionally and mentally devastating for Stede. Ed’s father’s murder was bad because it hurt him and forced him to create a monstrous alter ego to cope. Both of those men -- Nigel and Father Teach -- are totally acceptable casualties. Their deaths would be net positives (in this universe where abusers are punished for their behavior) if they hadn’t had such strong impacts on our leads.

Feelings are everything in Our Flag Means Death, and the feelings of our leads are the heart of the show. That’s where the story is. That’s where the complexity and ambiguity is. 

So what is abuse in this context? The casual treatment of physical violence and the seriousness of emotional distress tell us to adjust our own moral judgments accordingly. Physical violence is everyday, straightforward, and often comedic; emotional violence is devastating and complicated. Physical violence is cartoonish and, often, part of a punchline. Emotional violence is real and raw and not a joking matter. Planning to murder a guy and steal his identity can be shrugged off; ditching your boyfriend after experiencing a traumatic event is more complicated.

When we ask ourselves if something in OFMD is abuse, we have to consider the act in the context of a rom-com that’s all about the feelings of two guys, set against the violent backdrop of piracy, and absolutely packed with people getting maimed and murdered in casual, comedic ways.

So...

Is Ed abusive in the context of the show?

No.

Aaaand we’re done!

Joking, joking. Obviously I’m going to pick out the examples of “abuse” that people cite and discuss each one, but first: we need to talk about Ed, violence, and anger. 

Ed is not a violent person. He’s not full of rage that’s threatening to erupt at all times, and he’s not some kind of sadist who revels in hurting people. The violence of Blackbeard is a fuckery: it's the theater of fear, an illusion of cruelty calculated to terrify others into surrendering and obeying without (much) bloodshed.

Ed has his whole thing with murder that's rooted in childhood trauma. Killing his abusive father to protect his mother scars him so badly that he distances himself from the situation -- he blames Father Teach’s death on the Kraken, an invented monster. As a pirate, he creates loopholes and rules that technically put one step between him and killing (in his mind). He orders murders and causes deaths and maims and maintains his image as the bloodthirsty Blackbeard, but Ed doesn’t do “the big job” himself until the end of season two. When Stede’s life is in the balance, Ed can kill to protect him. 

Edward Teach kills only to protect.

But that’s killing, and we’re talking about general violence. It's true that Ed is casual about the day-to-day violence of piracy. He participates in it, incites it, and doesn’t feel bad about it. No one does; violence is part of the job.

That leaves us with the "anger problem." Ed is sometimes characterized as an angry person who lashes out when enraged, and canon doesn't at all support this interpretation. Ed gets mad, yes, but his anger is always at least understandable (and, in my opinion, he's one of our more restrained characters). It isn’t a constant, simmering thing that turns him into an abusive monster when he’s triggered. He doesn't always deal with his anger -- or any of his other feelings -- in a good and constructive way because both of our leads lack emotional maturity, but I think it's a grave mistake to characterize him as an angry person.

Hopefully I can elaborate on this idea -- the idea that Ed is only violent and angry in a normal and canon-appropriate way, and anger is by no means one of his defining characteristics -- by doing a run-down of all of the times Ed is accused of being abusive or showing signs of being an abuser-in-the-making.

---

Ed loses his shit on a falling snake during his nature adventure with Stede (S1E7). In this scene, he’s embarrassed about the treasure hunt, oblivious to Stede's intentions, and annoyed by the very existence of nature. He is not relaxed. When nature takes him by surprise, he stabs the crap out of it in a scene that is played for comedy. There’s the important part: this is comedy. Ed is grumpy and his childish tantrum is harmless and silly. It isn’t a red flag. Overreacting while irritated isn’t an indicator that someone will be abusive.

Ed punches Izzy after the English have taken the Revenge, captured Stede, and turned Ed over to Izzy (S1E9). Honestly, I think the fact that Ed lets Izzy talk before punching him demonstrates a great deal of restraint on his part. This is justified anger and fear for Stede’s life. This is not an indicator that Ed makes a habit of hitting Izzy.

In his post-pillow fort era, Ed is cleaning up his cabin when Izzy confronts him (S1E10). Izzy insults Ed, tells him that he’d be better off dead than as he currently is, and says that he serves only Blackbeard (Ed better watch his fucking step). Ed reacts by grabbing Izzy by the throat and telling him to choose his next words carefully. This is, in my opinion, a reasonable reaction and exactly the response Izzy was fishing for. The only pattern this scene indicates is one where Izzy goads Ed until he starts performing the violence expected of Blackbeard.

Which takes us to The Toe Scene.

In real life, it would be extremely fucked up for a boss to remove an employee’s toe and make him eat it. OFMD is not real life. One episode earlier, Ed was talking about the life he was glad to leave behind -- the life where The Toe Thing was done “for a laugh.” Not as punishment, but for fun. It’s set up as something that’s gross (“yuck”), not a grave punishment. When Ed feeds Izzy his toe, he gives Izzy what be asked for: he gives him a violent captain. He gives him Blackbeard. He gives him the guy who fed people toes for fun.

But what’s important here is that Ed is not having fun. He’s having a lot less fun than Izzy is, going by their expressions in the scene. This isn’t who he wants to be, but after having the possibility of a better life snatched away, Ed throws himself back into the sure thing. He becomes the Kraken -- the captain Izzy wants, the violent monster that Ed thinks he is and tries to distance himself from, and the only thing Ed thinks he can be. It’s sad. It’s desperation, not anger and abuse.

In the second season, Ed headbutts Stede after he’s revived from his coma-death (S2E4). In the next scene, Stede is holding a cold steak to his face and calling it an accident. Roach says “that’s what they all say” -- a line that alludes to domestic violence. The thing is? It’s not, and the crew has expectations of Ed that Stede doesn’t (as indicated by Stede's earlier assertion that Ed's a nice guy in response to Olu's concern that Ed will kill him).

Ed is freshly out of a coma (or newly alive). He’s nonverbal. His brain is, medically speaking, couscous. He still has one foot in the gravy basket. When he sees the man who left him hovering over him -- the man he loves, the man who just appeared to him as a mermaid -- he tries to say something. When that fails, he resorts to a headbutt. This is a single violent action perpetrated by a confused and hurt man who doesn’t know what to do with all of his feelings. He can't talk. He can't push Stede away.

Stede understands all of this, even if the other characters don’t. He sees the headbutt for what it is: a bit of a bitchy move. He isn’t afraid of Ed. He never is. 

Stede also isn’t afraid of Ed when he acts out later that episode. When Ed learns that Stede went back to Mary, he excuses himself from the dinner table, smashes a chair against the wall, and knocks a vase to the ground. In this entire episode (this entire season), Ed is having intense feelings that he doesn’t know how to express or work through. The reveal that Stede returned to his wife is the final straw. He takes his tangled feelings out on an acceptable target (a chair, a vase) instead of Stede because he doesn’t want to hurt Stede.

This looks like displacement -- when “an unacceptable feeling or thought about a person, place or thing is redirected towards a safer target.” Displacement is an “intermediate level coping mechanism.” That is, it’s more sophisticated than the ways children deal with intense issues, but it’s still not entirely mature. In an adult, it indicates a level of emotional immaturity. (4) Ed is emotionally immature, not inherently violent. He gets overwhelmed by his feelings and lashes out -- not at a person, but at something that can’t get hurt. 

Displacement is not an indicator that someone is an abuser. It’s a coping mechanism. It’s an attempt at emotional regulation. It’s not the best coping mechanism, but it’s not a sign that someone is going to go into a rage and assault people.

Stede cringes when Ed smashes the chair and sends the vase crashing to the ground, but he’s not afraid of Ed. He is never afraid of Ed because he knows that Ed isn’t a real threat to him. He cringes because sometimes that's what a person does when a loud thing happens. That's what people do when chair shrapnel starts flying. Also? It's kind of embarrassing behavior on Ed's part. They're guests enjoying a mediocre dinner! That's no way to act!

And this leaves us with the first two episodes of season two.

Ed is fully in his Kraken era. He has no hope that Stede will return, he no longer trusts the crew, and he feels trapped in a life he absolutely doesn’t want. He thinks that he has to perform Blackbeard until death sets him free. He sobs in his cabin when no one’s looking. Publicly, Ed fades into the role of remorseless and bloodthirsty pirate captain.

Needless to say, this makes for a shit work environment. Ed works the crew (and himself) too hard. He drinks and does drugs (note that his drug of choice is rhino horn -- visually coded as cocaine -- instead of alcohol, the drug associated with his father) and runs everyone ragged. He’s an absolutely terrible boss, but he isn’t abusive.

That isn’t to say that the crew left on the Revenge isn’t traumatized. They are! They’ve been thrown off balance by the sudden change for the worse in someone who was previously a pretty cool guy, and they’re traumatized by the neverending violence that the constant raids -- raids that are bloody and deadly, not the fuckeries of the past -- demand of them. They’re traumatized by that final night in the storm when Ed does everything in his power to goad them into killing him, almost murdering everyone in the process. They’re traumatized by their own attempt at murder and their own capacities for violence.

In S2E4, Blackbeard’s crew has flashbacks to the violence they perpetrated under the Kraken: Jim fighting Archie, Fang breaking a man over his knee. They’re haunted by guilt about what they did to Ed, as evidenced by their Lady Macbeth-style scrubbing. Their own violence is a significant part of their trauma.

No, that doesn’t absolve Ed. He drove the violence -- demanded it of both the crew and himself. He hurt other people because he was hurting, and that’s terrible. 

Ed’s behavior in the first two episodes of season two is horrible, especially when his desperation reaches a fever pitch, but there's no attempt to control and no habitual mistreatment. Nothing he's doing is normal for him. He's spiraling and unraveling and pulling the world apart around him. Not all bad or violent behavior is abuse.

(We also have to ask ourselves just how bad Ed’s behavior really is. Archie, someone from the pirate world who has no idea what the Revenge was like pre-Kraken, tells Jim “that’s how these things usually go” at the height of Ed’s violence. She doesn’t act like she experienced anything out of the ordinary.) 

But what about Izzy?

What about Izzy indeed. Let’s walk through the first two episodes.

One of the first things we see Ed do in season two is shoot a man. At first this seems like the show telling us that Ed is embracing the kind of violence he couldn’t manage before, but if we pay attention, we can see that he’s still following his “not a murderer on a technicality” logic. The man he shoots has a sword through his chest; he's as good as dead. He also falls offscreen before Ed shoots, making the action less impactful.

OFMD is not subtle and this is a quick way to communicate what’s going on with Ed. He’s not doing well and he’s more violent than he was last season, but he’s still himself under the Kraken’s makeup. He hasn’t done a moral one-eighty. If the show wanted us to think that Ed's a monster, they would have made him a hell of a lot more violent.

So. Izzy.

Immediately after Ed tells Izzy that he’s replaceable in S2E1, we reach the scene that some point to as proof of domestic violence. This is where Izzy breaks down because he has just been told in no uncertain terms that he’s not Blackbeard’s special little guy. That’s devastating to him, and he cries when the crew approaches him with kindness and sympathy. 

Jim tells Izzy he’s in an unhealthy relationship with Blackbeard. Frenchie describes their relationship as “toxic.” 

A toxic relationship is “any relationship [between people who] don’t support each other, where there’s conflict and one seeks to undermine the other, where there’s competition, where there’s disrespect and a lack of cohesiveness." (5) And you know what? Yes, Ed and Izzy definitely have a toxic relationship. And is their relationship unhealthy? It sure is -- for both of them. But the crew is, understandably, more sympathetic towards Izzy because they’ve never been present when Izzy was hurting Ed. 

(Only tangentially related, but the crew must have really liked Ed pre-Kraken. As far as they know, the man went dark with no warning or cause. They deal with him for approximately three months (assuming one raid a day), and he has to go so far before they put an end to him. Remember when they were ready to toss Izzy overboard after, like, twelve hours under his command?)

Even though they only have one side of the Izzy and Ed story, the crew isn’t accusing Ed of domestic abuse. The term doesn’t apply to the mutually fucked-up thing that Izzy and Ed have and, beyond that, the scene is played for laughs. Jim and Frenchie use comically modern language. The whole thing feels like an intervention for a stressed-out middle manager with a shitty boss. It's funny. It's a comical thing in a comedy show.

Izzy returns to Ed and tells him that the crew won’t throw treasure overboard to make room for more treasure. Ed says, “And that’s another toe.” Losing a toe is the penalty for failing the kind of captain that Izzy said he will serve. It’s obviously not okay to punish an underling by taking toes, but we’ve already established that toe-removal isn’t a cruel and unusual pirate punishment.

(Specifically, toe-chopping is the cost of Izzy’s failure. Frenchie disobeys and lies to Ed in his short time as first mate and he doesn’t lose a single toe. Izzy bears the brunt of Ed’s cruelty because he’s the one who demanded it.) 

This is not who Ed wants to be, but it’s who he thinks he has to be. It’s who Izzy told him to be.

Next, Izzy makes the mistake of invoking Stede and Ed storms above deck. He holds the crew at gunpoint, one by one, and asks them if they think that the vibes on the ship are poisonous. No one gives him a positive answer and Ed turns the gun on himself. He works himself up until Izzy interrupts and the following exchange happens:

IZZY: “The atmosphere on this ship is fucked. Everyone knows why.” ED: “Well, I don’t. Enlighten me.” IZZY: “Your feelings for Stede fucking Bo--”

 [Ed shoots Izzy in the leg. Ed steps over him on his way back to his cabin.]

ED: “Throw this shit overboard and get suited up.”

The fucked up vibe is not because of Ed's feelings for Stede. Ed's feelings for Stede resulted in Ed having a nineties-rom-com-style breakdown and proposing a talent show. The Kraken and the ensuing fucked atmosphere were ushered in by Izzy.

Izzy is only shot after he proposes talking it through (something he attacked Ed for in S1E10) and publicly places all of the blame on Ed's feelings (feelings that he previously threatened Ed about -- Izzy owes his loyalty to Blackbeard, not a "namby pamby in a silk gown pining for his boyfriend" who would be better off dead). Whatever Izzy's intentions are, it's not irrational for Ed to interpret this as a further threat or an attempt to stir up a mutiny.

What’s important for this post is this: Ed's actions are not unusually cruel for a pirate captain who considers his first mate out of line. Shooting someone in the leg is the kind of thing that the idea of Blackbeard that Izzy worships does to maintain his reputation.

Fang cries when Ed shoots Izzy because he knows Blackbeard. He has been with Blackbeard longer than anyone else, and this isn’t Blackbeard. Blackbeard doesn’t work his crew this hard. Blackbeard doesn’t disregard the deaths of long-time crewmates like Ivan. Blackbeard doesn’t shoot his own crew. Fang is off-balance and distraught because his captain of twenty years is acting far, far more cruel than the one he knew.

This is not Ed as he usually is. Ed at his worst is breaking all of his past patterns. He’s behaving like a different person. His actions at this point in time are not typical of his past actions or predicative of his future actions.

When we reach S2E2, Ed is chipper. He’s cleaning up, he’s tying up loose ends, and he has decided that, no matter what, this is the day that he dies. He’s determined. First, he’ll give Izzy a go at killing him; next is the storm, the destruction of the steering wheel, and taking increasingly desperate actions to get the crew to stop him. He tells Jim and Archie to fight to the death. He goes to blow the mast away with a cannon and doesn’t react as nameless crew members are being washed overboard. 

Ed is stopped only by Izzy’s reappearance and the violent mutiny that follows.

None of what Ed does here is abuse. This is desperate violence. This is an unwell man begging everyone around him to send him to doggy heaven.

And finally, we have the big murder party in the season finale. A surprising number of fans interpret Ed’s willingness to cut down naval officers as a sure sign that he’s gotten worse and he’s more violent than ever. This is, in my opinion, a take that completely ignores everything we know about Ed and his relationship to violence.

It bears repeating: Edward Teach kills only to protect. He murders his father to protect his mother. He kills as Blackbeard to protect himself (and no matter how he tries to distance himself from that violence, he still causes deaths). He mows down colonists for Stede. He kills for safety and for love, and by the end of season two, he has made some kind of peace with the Kraken and his own capacity for violence.

It’s sweet. It wouldn’t be sweet in the real world, but in this world? In a world where physical violence is funny more often than it’s serious? In a world full of pirate characters who all have hefty body counts? It’s growth. It’s Ed healing.

Ed is doing better. He’s not a threat to the man he loves, and now he’s not a threat to himself either.

Anyway.

No, Ed is not abusive. No, there’s no indication that Ed will become abusive in the future.

Dislike characters. Take issue with things. Feel whatever you want to feel, but remember that abuse survivors are not a monolith. Consider, just for a moment, that the abuse you think you see in the show is not textual. Ask yourself if Ed is truly worse than all of the other characters or if you have some bias warping your view of him. 

Finally: please keep in mind that I’m not trying to present The One True Interpretation. I’m just rolling all of my arguments and thoughts into a ball and throwing it out into the wild. You don’t have to agree with me but, if you don’t, I hope you’ll at least consider what I'm saying.

Peace and love and goodbye.

[axelsagewrites]

Sage, my dear! I was reading your Daemon fic's and they are just perfect!😘🤌🏽 (especially the ones with poc!fem reader, there are so few stories where the reader is poc/non-white in this fandom… And it's great to find this kind of representation, and yours are so well written!!!) That said, could I get a shameless smut Daemon x poc!fem focused on his rings, as if reader is very attracted to his hands and rings and even fantasizes about him fingering her and he notices and gives her what she wants please?

Daemon Targaryen*Rings

Pairing: Daemon x f!reader

Word count 2540

Warnings: flirting, teasing, hand fetish, rings, fingering, orgasm, nipple play, biting, smut 18+

Translations Zaldrīzesītsos – little dragon Ñuha qēlos – my star

a/n: first of all thank u annon ur so sweet <3 but also it should not be this hard to find poc ppl for my post headers smh i use pintrest but any other suggestions are appreciated

Masterlist Here

It felt like the small council meetings drew on longer and longer as the months moved by. Sure, the wine was nice but that was only because you had it imported from Essos yourself. Most of the issues these men babbled about were of little concern to you anyhow as you were only here to represent your families across the seas while these men whined about taxes and castles. The only pleasure you got from these meetings was catching your Daemon’s eye across the table.

In all your time in Westeros he was the only one you could stand, and you supposed it helped that he was the one you were betrothed too. The arrangement had only been settled last week and you smiled when you noticed the dragon ring wrapped around his ring finger, a gift you had had carved from Valyrian steel when your engagement was struck.

Your mind began to wander further as the men droned on about something they would never decide upon anyhow. While usually you would stare into the stars instead your eyes were focused on Daemons hands. How they lazily lifted the wine to his sweet lips, how his fingers trailed over the curve of the glass in his boredom, or how whenever he grew frustrated, he clenched them into a fist so tight you wondered if his nails cut his palms.

Some may worry about a dragon being violent or unpredictable, but you were far too distracted by how you could use their fire to good use. Daemon had recently begun to deck his fingers out in fine silvers and stones with multiple rings on each hand. When he learned any man of importance in Essos wore a ring on each finger, he slowly began to adopt the practise. Three on one hand, two on the other. Soon he’d have quite the collection, not that you were complaining.

You wondered what it would feel like if he would leave the rings on. How the cool metal would sting your skin when he grabbed your hips like he so loved to do. Or even how it would feel when his fingers slipped inside of you, bringing you to the edge with only one hand. It was almost a challenge to Daemon; learning what to do to make you turn to water in front of him. It was a welcomed challenged to you.

“my lady!” A sharp voice shocked you from your thoughts, your head snapping up with a bewildered expression you tried to cover but you knew you had failed from the way Daemon smirked holding back his laugh, “are there any foreign affairs this week we should be concerned about?” Otto Hightower asked with a pointed look.

“no, my lord,” you said with a tight-lipped smile. The man was slimy since the day you first were forced to make his acquaintance. “Essos manages to run itself quite well, no issues on our side,” you said as you sipped your wine before adding, “though I think the crowns payment for their latest shipments of silks from the east is still pending but im sure you had that covered my lord,”

Otto did his best to cover his sneer as he nodded his head, “of course my lady. I’ll even see to it myself,” he said, his eyes not wavering from your gaze leaving you both in a stalemate.

An awkward clap from the king himself broke ottos gaze. Ha, you thought, bet you there Hightower. “well, that’s everything for today then. Thank you all for your sage advice and council but you are all dismissed for now. Lord Hightower a moment please?” The king said, barely managing to stand on his own as everyone began to filter out the room.

You had always made sure to sit at the chair farthest from the king so your exit would be the quickest, but it did not stop Daemon from catching up to you as you reached the stairs. “my lady,” Daemon said, and you didn’t even have to look up to see the smirk on his face. “are you quite alright? You seemed distracted today?”

“my mind had elsewhere to be my lord but do not fret,” you said, matching his tone as you took his arm to walk down the stairs, “your future wife is not gone with the fairies quite yet,” Daemon chuckled at the way you had began to pick up the Westerosi phrases the longer you were at court but with no more evidence he could not protest the issue any longer.

When dinner rolled around Daemon had invited you to join his supper in his chambers with three of his highest-ranking gold cloaks. Something about ensuring you had friends in high up places who were good with their swords as Daemon had put it. You tried to join in with the conversation, but your mind constantly wandered, your eyes flickering back to your betrothed, his hands specifically that was.

It was a fascination you did not know you had until the council meeting earlier but now you were fascinated with each movement and each ring. “careful my lord your lady wife looks like she’s readying to rob you of your rings,” one of the men’s jokes snapped your attention back to them.

All the men chuckled, and you did your best to force one out, “that’d be rather pointless,” Daemon chuckled, flexing his fingers to show off his rings. Gods that were not helping the arousal growing in your stomach. “most of them were gifts from her, weren’t they ñuha qēlos?” Daemon said, his eyes flickering back to you.

It was like the wind knocked out your lungs for a moment as you stared into those lilac eyes, “yes,” you eventually managed to stutter out, ignoring the curious look from Daemon however luckily the rest of the men had drunk so much wine they hadn’t the faintest clue this was out of the ordinary for you.

“perhaps we should call it a night,” Daemon said after a moment, standing from his chair, “before you drink me out of house and home,” he laughed as he helped the men to their feet. You did your best not to embarrass yourself again as the men dismissed themselves, bowing goodbye to you in a way you would never get used to.

When Daemon finally shut the door, you turned to begin gathering the plates into a stack, ignoring how Daemons eyes were fixed onto you. “you were rather quiet tonight ñuha qēlos,” he said, leaning against the door with his arms folded over his chest, “something the matter?”

“no,” you said glancing back at him with a fake smile, “just tired from a long day,”

“tired?” Daemon questioned, not moving from the door. You looked back ready to lie again when you noticed him playing with his rings. Your movements paused, your eyes locking onto the way he twisted the ring around his finger. When you saw Daemon looked up you quickly turned your eyes. “you don’t look tired,” he mused as he pushed himself off the door, lazily sauntering to your side as you tried to keep yourself busy.

“how kind of you my lord,” you rolled your eyes, trying to put your walls up when you felt his hand wrap around your wrist. “my lord- “

“we have servants to clean,” Daemon cut you off, pulling you to face him, your body just inches from his. You tried to think of something to say but you couldn’t as you felt his rings press into your wrist, wondering how they’d feel in other places. There was something about the way Daemon gazed down at you, his eyes unmoving that made your words stick in your throat, “if I didn’t know any better,” Daemon said as his free hand moved to hold your chin up, his lips now so close but so far away, “I’d say you were hiding something from me,”

“what would I have to hide my lord?” You said but now your voice could barely go above a whisper.

Daemon stepped in closer, his body now flush against yours, “I’ve never seen you so quiet. Tell me zaldrīzesītsos,” he mused, leaning down till his lips brushed against your ear, “what has been on that pretty little mind all day?” He whispered, before gently kissing your ear.

“nothing,” you said but you could not hide the shakiness in your voice.

Daemons hands moved to wrap around your waist, pulling you into his chest, “you can tell me ñuha qēlos. After all who am I to judge for what the heart wants,” he said, moving to look you in the eyes once more, “I only wish to help you, my lady. After all it is a husband’s duty to keep his wife pleased,” Daemon said before kissing the hollow of your throat, his head moving to rest on your shoulder.

“there is something,” you said after a few moments making Daemons head perk up. “its not important,” you tried to brush it off, but Daemon began to shush you.

His hands moved to cup your face, the rings metal feeling cool against your skin, “all your wants are important to me,” he said, his lips brushing against yours, “now tell me. What is it you want?”

“you,” you whispered as your hands moved to hold his wrists, “your hands, your fingers. I’ve been thinking about you all day,” you said, moving your head slightly to kiss the palm of his hand.

Daemon kept one hand on your face, the other moving to rest on your hip, “that’s all you had to say,” he said before you felt his lips crash onto yours. You couldn’t help but melt into the kiss, your body desperate from your mind’s thoughts all day. Daemon gripped your hip tightly, his other hand moving to the back of your neck so you couldn’t escape but you had no plans of that.

Daemon began to pull at your skirts, desperate to feel your skin on his. Your hands moved to the ties of your dress, making quick work of the fittings till you felt your clothes loosen. Daemon quickly pushed the dress down your shoulders, not caring as it hit the floor and got crumpled beneath his feet. His hands moved to your ass, squeezing it harshly making you gasp into the kiss as you felt the cold metal digging in.

You began to tug on his shirt and Daemon wasted no time in breaking the kiss to pull of his own clothes. You moved back, sitting on the table as you watched him undress till, he was bare in front of you. Your hands roamed his chest as he finally pulled himself free of his trousers. As Daemon went to reach for his hands to pull his rings off your hand shot out to grab his wrist. Daemon looked at you, his eyebrow raised in confusion, “leave them on,” you said, kissing his shoulder as your hand moved to hold his. “I like the rings,” you said as you traced the precious metals.

Daemon chuckled as he stepped closer, his hands moving to grab your hips, “good to know,” he hummed, his head dipping to capture your lips again.

He squeezed the flesh of your hips, the rings digging in making you moan into the kiss. Deciding to test the waters Daemon placed a soft spank on your ass, loving the way you gasped when the cool metal bit your flesh. After a few moments of enjoying himself and your noises Daemon turned his attention to you.

Your breathing caught as you felt on of his hands trail over the tops of your thigh, inching closer and closer to your wetness where you craved his touch. You whined when you felt him swipe a finger up your folds and heard him chuckle at your noises. “someone’s eager,” he said, his lips moving from yours to your jaw, kissing down your neck as he teased his fingers around your hole.

“please,” you whined as Daemon bit down on your collarbone, “I need you,” you whined as he pushed two fingers in, feeling the way he was already stretching you out. Daemon began to leave dark purple hickeys on your chest, knowing exactly where to leave them to avoid being caught. As Daemon began to curl his fingers you gasped when you felt his rings, loving the way the cool feeling against your wet skin.

“so desperate,” Daemon muttered, kissing down your chest, “so perfect,” he mumbled as he kissed around your nipple making it harden. Daemon chuckled as he saw your body’s reaction before taking in his mouth, sucking on it gently at first.

Your hand moved to his hair, tugging on his silver strands as you felt a familiar knot tighten in your stomach. Daemons spare hand moved to your free breast, squeezing it harshly making his rings press into the soft skin and making you moan again. “such pretty noises,” Daemon said, releasing your nipple for only a moment before he began sucking on it harder, his teeth grazing the sensitive bud.

You gasped as Daemon softly bit your nipple. You squirmed as Daemon moved his hand, repositioning it so his thumb could rub soft circles into your aching clit. “Daemon,” you whined as you felt yourself get closer with each pump of his fingers.

“look at you,” Daemon said before biting your chest making you gasp and your hips buck, “do you like when I fuck you with my fingers?” He asked, his lips ghosting over your skin.

“yes,” you whined, desperate for his lips against you again.

“you wanna come undone on my fingers, don’t you?” He said, nipping at your skin, his fingers curling to find an all too familiar spot making your body jerk.

You could feel your orgasm approaching, threatening to spill when he gave the command, “yes,” you moaned, not caring how loud it was as your fingers grasped his hair. “please,” you whined as Daemon kissed your neck. “I can’t wait anymore,”

Daemon moved his lips to hover against your ear, his breath fanning your neck, “then don’t,” Daemon whispered, biting your earlobe again, “I wanna see you fall apart on my fingers,” he said, his curling precise and his lips sucking harshly on your neck. You couldn’t hold back anymore, your legs twitching with each curl of his fingers and rub of your clit before your orgasm crashed through your body, your hands clutching onto Daemon as you rode it out not caring how loud you may be.

As you came down from your high, your legs feeling like mush and your body sweaty, you fell into Daemons chest. Daemon stroked your back, kissing your forehead gently. “so, you like the rings then?” He said, a smirk in his voice.

You looked up, laughing slightly as you regained your strength, “I guess you could say that”

Daemon lifted your chin with a finger, kissing your lips softly, “I’ll have to buy some more then,” he said before pulling you to stand from the table, his arms wrapping around your waist, “but im not done with you yet zaldrīzesītsos,”

Taglist: @clairacassidy @valeskafics @starkleila

[eetherealgoddess]

ꨄMASTERLISTꨄ

꧁ I specifically write Tokyo Revengers fandom stories on my tumblr, ao3, and wattpad. I write non fandom content on my wattpad under eetherealgoddess! Report if you see any of my works posted on any other platform or under anyone else that isn’t me. ꧂

꧁ In my head, Y/n is a 18+ black cis female or male (depending on the story). I try to write it to where you can insert yourself so it doesn’t really matter if you’re not (besides 18+. minors aren’t allowed) though I do say this for representation purposes bc a lot of writers make stories that are ‘y/n’ but she/he is literally described in a specific way that I think makes it hard for not only poc but plus sized, bald, etc people to be included. They might as well be an oc at that point. ꧂

꧁ The only reason I don’t write y/n as anything but cis gendered female or male is bc I don’t have enough info to feel comfortable in writing for non binary or gender neutral. ꧂

꧁ Obviously I understand the concept of ‘playing a character’ as y/n so some things are fine being set if it doesn’t match with the reader, but things like the physical appearance is lowkey annoying. ꧂

READ MY NOTICES THOROUGHLY ON EACH STORY OR ELSE YOU WILL BE IN FOR A SURPRISE!!

ꨄRULES FOR REQUESTSꨄ

Considering I like to write my stories a specific way, I wasn’t going to allow requests. I’ve changed my mind so here’s how we’re gonna do things…

✩I only write yandere stories. That means by default your requests will be written yandere style ❦

✩I don’t write fluff, cute stories. I write horror, dark, suspenseful, and gut wrenching content ❦

✩i do NOT write necrophilia, pedophilia, biological (half or fully) incest, and/or beastiality. anything else will be brought up when the time comes❦

✩I don’t write ‘innocent’ ‘little one’ baby readers or whatever purity shit i’ve seen on here. no offense ❦

✩If smut is included, it will mostly consist of noncon/dubcon so if you request smut that is how it will be if you don’t specify what you want ❦

✩If I simply don’t want to write your request then I won’t ❦

✩I only write for Tokyo Revengers, specifically Sano Manjiro, Hanemiya Kazutora, Sanzu Haruchiyo, Haitani Ran, and Haitani Rin. Other characters will be background or non - existent ONLY❦

✩I mostly like writing all of them x reader but if you want a specific focus then i will do that❦

✩If you request something and it’s already a thoroughly written out story then you will be ignored cuz you might as well write it yourself at that point ❦

✩If you don’t hear back from me for a min, do NOT spam bc I’m either in the middle of writing your request, focusing on another and I’ll get back to you later, or I’m just ignoring it. Spamming will do nothing but make me continue to ignore it ❦

✩I’m only comfortable writing for cis female or male reader. I don’t have enough info on gender neutral or non binary therefore I can’t write from that perspective ❦

✩Specify exactly what you want or else it might be written in a way you didn’t expect ❦

CHECK BACK HERE REGULARLY WHEN YOU WANT TO SUBMIT A REQUEST BECAUSE I MIGHT CHANGE OR ADD SOME RULES!!

[daystarvoyage]

Luz Shouldve Been Dressed By A POC (Person Of Color Or Luz Batista To Show Better Cultural & POC Reprensation)

Hello Tumblers, This is kyoko cane of daystar voyage, as a proud black person who’s genderqueer who makes content creations On Pop culture such as Cosplay & drag, I do talk on Animation & Family Entertainment So glad to get this topic cause what we see on tv can be put into reality, Now (Disclaimer)

I will not accept hate on the daystar voyage anyone who can’t handle different opinions, ship whatever (unless legal) if not walk out or off this spaceship into a asteroid belt and black hole

Don’t hate appreciate.

One more thing I do love my girl Luz pilot outfits, there goals however wish they had time to put patterns into her clothes often, like I said in my hootview

However the female cast had a better closet then her, and I did discuss that in my video, for some time they did make her dress in a shonen archetype, (which I made a post about her hair) or an spicy Latina Which of of course personality wise too, (cause she’s made to be the gender non confirming character) but excuse all that cause in a way, the staff shoulda hired someone whos Either Afro, African American Or Latin to dress this girl.

Oh boy now that im done rewatching The Owl House there’s so much in store soon anyway,

I do feel its time to start this short post, I have a fashion hootview which is the intermission so there’s still a lot to come meantime, finished my rewatch of The Owl House as an animation lover,

Lets discuss this topic at hand,

2020s animators need to take notes on costuming & style tips to make characters stand out in environments and to treat there characters better in fashion or color coordination,

yes you can have a color coded character and not rely of a main palette to be able to bring out there features & complexion,

Animators need to take notes, how to properly show kids & there audience that good clothing could be put onto a character of any occasion & not have to rely on sexuality or Stereotype (Disney Programs have a hit or miss on certain shows.)

while proper fashion can do justice, that goes into making a franchise and making a product to sell for marketability in retail & consumers.

if the character or product can be sold with a great design if executed flawless by character, design, costuming, and the app that comes within the series,

This goes to the fandom cause there might be future artistsor small indie creators reading this who probably never read, or look up fashion brands, magazines either hot couture or brand clothing and don’t have that knowledge But that shouldn’t stop you from being able to experiment with different color palettes on what goes into your art.

The fandom needs a wake up call that not only is everything’s perfect and people have the right to critic and criticize a show or any form of art.

cause fandoms today has a self righteous way of bullying others of different opinions and ostracizing others and ithas to stop,

Here’s a quick tv trope in color-coded characters, & a Toonsmag article on fashion in animation.

Marketability is a important factor, industries rely on that to make the money off of that series, be a cartoons or projects,

it impacts the character and representation that kids see when they purchase said item and teaching kids, see good representation within media can matter if done right.

Especially POCs if executed well however

DONW BELOW in some cases miraculous ladybug fumbles it hard, at one point had all the poc of color (EXAMPLE limited to alya and nino if not max be lighter tones on there merch.)

You know lighting character's skin tones like Alya and other brown or dark skin characters, on their products & merch (bad ethnic representation award goes to them).

Not to mention the whole Vas underpaid controversy, that’s been discussed countless times.

(still disappointed about there business decisions)

I appreciate the love of anyone who can view and read this article if you gotten this far,

thanks for reading make sure to check my Tumblr and YouTube vlog cause so much of this particular series I’m gonna debunk

The show had a-lot going for it however feel flat including in the fashion department along miraculous ladybug that’s another thing to be discuss OH BOY so anyway

here’s an example of the video game art of Guilty Gear showing great costume progress years later

always educate yourself cause I do want my platform to show variety on what I offer creatively and semi-education-wise to be able to let people be inspired and that you don't need to follow trends, thank you very much seeya on the next space voyage.

[hp-confessions]

As a POC myself (Afro-Latina), I don’t like the whole race-swapping thing.

Yes, diversity is needed and very important! But maybe don’t change an already established characters race and culture just because they’re white. White people are pretty diverse too.

How about instead of focusing on all the white characters, and than complaining that there are not any or enough POC characters, you reread the books, focus on the multiple non-white characters that make appearances throughout it (i.e, Dean Thomas, Angelica Johnson, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Blaise Zabini, Cho Chang, the Patil Twins, Lee Jordan, etc), and write about them. I mean, it shouldn’t be hard, when you guys have written whole essay’s and backstories on characters with little to no background.

You changing a character’s race to another doesn’t really make you inclusive. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, and it’s disrespectful, and just lazy. And anyways, most of the time when this is done, it’s just awful stereotypes being placed on these characters you’ve changed and them being oversexualized.

So, if you’re going to just sit there and complain about there not being enough characters of color within the fandom, but then turn around and hyperfixate on originally white, race-swapped characters, then perhaps you shouldn’t even be complaining. As you obviously don’t care, because if you did, you would take the time to actually see and focus on the already amazing, established POC characters there. You would write more about them, draw them, write whole essays on them, and bring them more to light, yet you choose not to. 

(And this is by no means me hating on anyone because I understand. I understand wanting MC’s to be of color, to have kinky, curly hair, beautiful brown skin, a flat or hooked nose, to speak another language, etc. I get it; I still find myself wishing Harry was Afro-Latino and a girl/woman, but in the end, he isn’t. He’s a little British white boy, and there’s nothing wrong with that.)

~

[ellaphnt]

Is it actually racist to relate to Toshiro as an autistic person? The argument seems to be that calling Toshiro autistic disregards the context of his culture, but I feel like the manga made it pretty clear he has issues even beyond his restrictive cultural norms. No one else he knows from his homeland act like he does, and I thought they made it pretty clear that he was an odd child even in the context of his culture. Maybe it is just a coincidence, but I feel like there's room to acknowledge the contexts of his cultural upbringing while also relating to an autistic reading of his behavior.

Hi hi! I agree! Toshiro/Shuro’s behavior have roots in growing up Japanese, but his behavior has made him an odd one, even at home. I like to say he’s sort of an “outcast everywhere.” I think it’s definitely one reason he envies Laios, and also possibly one reason he is infatuated with Falin! I’ve written about Toshiro and Falin before (as many have!), about how he views her as 1) someone he wants to be like and therefore liked by, and 2) someone who might understand him. He doesn’t have a lot of those types of people in his life.

Not to mention the lack of confrontation. Hien, Benichidori, Maizuru, Tade, all don’t fear speaking their mind! They do it many times. Only Toshiro, hm. I find him relatable in many ways, and I’m sure Ryoko Kui did that intentionally. Was this made for a Japanese audience with commentary on their culture? Yes. Can non-Japanese audiences relate to it anyways? Yes. Can his behavior also be attributed to autism? Can it be an intersection between both his cultural upbringing and possibly learning to mask? HMMMMM either way, I’m really glad autistic POC fans have given their take on it. Tons of POC and non-POC have already spoken about just the cultural part. I’m glad to see commentary on both.

Hearing other POC fans analyze his character is amazing, but I was worried the “it’s just his cultural upbringing” angle would mean his nuance as a character will mainly stay in POC circles. POC relate to POC! (Not a blanket statement, I’ve seen POC who don’t like Toshiro and that’s fine. Not to mention the frequent inability to relate to each other) But if someone is not POC, namely white, and the faults of his character are ONLY attributed to being POC, why try to sympathize with him at all? Lowkey, that might be one of the reasons there was so much hate towards him last week. I’m not saying Toshiro must be any way palatable to a western audience, but hopefully you see my point.

Which is why I think, again, that Ryoko Kui made him relatable to a broader audience. Toshiro’s behavior stems from being Japanese but the fight is not JUST about that culture clash. It’s about anyone who find it hard to confront others and speak their mind. And thats why his character was picked up by autistic fans too! It’s a broader experience than people give it credit for.

You’re in good company of fans who also see themselves represented in either a cultural and/or autistic interpretation of his character! No it’s not racist. Reading autism into a character does not undermine their cultural upbringing. Autism does not flatten a character’s nuance that does have a lot to do with his cultural upbringing. On the contrary, it ADDS to it.

A character can be both. Think it makes them cooler tbh. They have their own things to work on still, they still have their flaws. They could even do something wrong and hurtful! (Shocking!) It doesn’t excuse anything, it just adds another layer to them.

And in the end, it’s just a reading into the media. A singular take, if you will.

I hope I covered everything you mentioned!

Ending it off, here’s some posts other POC have made about this topic because I cannot speak for the community!:

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

[philsdrivinglicence]

Killing the white supremacist inside you. Easy mode. From one whitey to another.

Disclaimer: I am not an academic or an expert. Just a white person who's life was changed for the radically better during the BLM protests of 2020 who wants to share what worked for them.

Below is a non-comprehensive list of first steps you can take to begin the hard work of unpicking the layers upon layers of white supremacist bullshit baked into you from birth by the culture we live in (even if you grew up progressive or in a big city you are not exempt from this).

I made this list because POC in the phandom have been doing a lot of heavy lifting the past few days. I figured the least I could do is share what worked for me to understand what racism is and how its more subtle forms can manifest.

I hope we can all use the below as a starting point to help make the phandom a less racist and more welcoming place.

(btw I do think we are generally more self ware than many fandoms but as we are a mostly white space we have to keep ourselves accountable as white supremacy is an insidious bastard that will catch you unawares if you let it.)

So. Without further ado.

- read this article

- Read "Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race" by Reni Eddo Lodge (how you choose to source this book I will not judge but consider supporting a local book store)

- Stop being so afraid of being called racist. - Hopefully, if you are engaging in good faith then you already accept that racism is baked into our society. Racist is not a dogwhistle for "evil person". It is a descriptor of very specific behavior that we can all fall into if we don't keep ourselves sharp. So part 2 of this step is -

- Look back on your life and identify a time when you have participated in racism. My go to example is my 14 year old "never met a black person in real life" self, yelling along to N****s in Paris (uncensored, duh) at a house party with a bunch of other white 14 year olds. If you're getting really introspective you'll probably have multiple of these such moments. Sit with them, feel the cringe, think about what you might say to that version of yourself now, how you might have acted differently had you been aware the behavior was problematic. And then forgive yourself. Self flagellation does nothing good, the thing to do now is learn and progress. But you can't know what to change/avoid if you don't have examples to work off of. (This one is lowkey hard mode but worth doing early on so you can see your own progress over time. Also, if the examples you are thinking of were directly harmful you may also want to consider making amends in some way).

- Look at your playlists/album collection. If you don't see many/any POC musicians make a conscious effort to change that. Seek out interviews with your favourite artists and see which black artists have influenced them. Add them to your rotation.

- Do this with youtubers, authors, actors, screenwriters etc, etc. In all forms or art and entertainment, look at what you consume and if you find it overerall skewing white, make an effort to fill it with colour.

(Kill the voice inside you that says "I just prefer - blank-", or "the stuff they make just isn't for me, I prefer stuff I can relate to". This is the white supremacy talking, POC are not a monolith, look harder, you will find artists you connect with)

- Every time a POC points something out to you that seems off to them (I often refer to this as "this doesn't pass the sniff test") before jumping in to defend your fave/point of view/TV show etc. really sit with what they have said and try to consider why what they are pointing out, while not a big deal to you, could be a big deal to them.

Like I said up top, this is a non comprehensive list and is only intended as a starting point.

I usually wouldn't post something like this as I prefer to stay out of discourse but the conversation going on this past few days has really disappointed me. So many people are being dismissive toward POC fans and completely missing the points they are trying to make. So here's my two cents. Hope it's helpful.

[ca-suffit]

It's not even particularly for you to post (you can if you want) but just to show you the kind of responses you get if you're voicing even a slight concern about the difference of promo.I'm not saying one is right one is wrong but can we have the conversion without calling the other party annoying?

https://x.com/starswheeled/status/1817694495510761671?t=-ng3Yh2_XwIKXcT-QdjwEA&s=19

Also I hate seeing post like ''let the people celebrate we have been waiting for decades'' I doubt even 30% of the active fandom are long term fans. I do respect the joy of (non

-racists) book fans who dreamed for the time they would finally see TVL adapted and i'm really hoping for them,AMC won't screw this because as a comics fan myself,i know the deception when they don't do justice to something you cared for a long time.

I get why so many fans are just quitting,i'm a comics fans racism in fandoms is totally normalized so i didn't expect TVC to be different,well i did still expect because the cast was 3/5 with POC...i'm rambling anyway thanks for this Tumblr.

"I'm the anon who send you the twitter link,i wanted to add,that I do know a lot of hype we are seeing is not totally because of AMC it's just fans doing most of the tractions and it's not the executives fault if a rockstar is more fun and attract more people than the dark tales we had in the 2 first seasons and it wouldn't be honest from me to recognize this fact."

ur ok to ramble, that's what this is here for<3

like u wrote, it's not so much that AMC is doing different marketing, it's that the fandom's response is so different and ppl notice that.

it's rly hard to talk about anything in most spaces bcuz there's so much effort put into downplaying the real issues most of the time (especially if it's about race / racism) that ppl get confused and then talk about shit they don't know what they're talking about. then the internet encourages dunking on ppl and "winning" instead of having any discussion. it's forever counterproductive.

it's also crap when ppl downplay concerns bcuz of gatekeeping shit. that's fandom racism in a nutshell tbh "I don't care about ur feelings bcuz mine are more important." u can have both??? idk how ppl can enjoy things while knowing others aren't having the same experience, but we normalize being selfish assholes in fandoms so much so here we are.

[savefrog]

Hi! I shouldn't assume that being a longtime follower means I know you but I gotta unfollow anyone engaging in "vote blue no matter who" rhetoric and figured I'd say so on my way out. You have every right to do whatever w electoral politics and I agree there's a level of pragmatism to voting. But like, are you saying that about the USA Dems?? They're bombing Gaza to the point of genocide as we speak! Even if you're not proud of that fact, what would be the aim of such a vote? I doubt anyone of any party committing war crimes can be pushed by freely given votes, no?

You're welcome to unfollow. But essentially I'm entirely on the pragmatism end here.

Me saying vote blue in this case is not going "woohoo ok dems i love everything you do, do whatever!!!!"

it's a matter of "red quite LITERALLY wants to remove all ability to protest and say this shit is wrong".

see summary of Trump on shutting down the ability to protest

blue is not entirely clean on this matter either but i would take getting run over by a motorbike over getting run over by a truck.

I would like to preserve the ability to say the government sucks ass and while I totally get where people are coming from when they don't want to vote dem...I'd say that abstaining from voting to "send a message" is akin to complete silence in this current election climate especially considering the stakes, and there are a lot of other ways to get a message across that isn't passively allowing the literal white supremacist in - who by the way said BIDEN of all people was too soft on Palestine and that he wanted Israel to hurry up and "finish the job":

source (It is also recorded on various other news sources)

Though frankly I agree with this quote here, from an article that is also critical of Harris and Biden:

“Trump would be the worst,” Asmaa Nimilaat, 50, said from a hospital where thousands of people are sheltering in Deir el-Balah, an area in central Gaza. “But any candidate that becomes president will not support Palestinians.”

The USA as an entire machine is so heavily invested in Israel it's hard to imagine a pro-palestinian president ever being elected. That is why I said the election is "picking your opponent".

The ideal situation is a complete rework of the US. As much as not voting FEELS like protest here...it is not going to do anything meaningful in this regard. It is indistinguishable from a non-vote from someone who couldn't get off work or was screwed out of an accessible voting location by red bullshit or just skipped out of apathy.

But we can at least not let the guy in whose ideal is to restructure the government to only allow fascist kiss ups in, heavily criminalize any opposing voices and militarize against them, has already set a new standard to allow the executive branch to do "What the fuck crime ever", and continue to use poc and lgbt in the US as a scapegoat and target of violence to radicalize his people. And then CONTINUE to protest and make pressure.

By all means I'd say no matter someone's plans for the actual voting day, TELL democractic nominees you're undecided and will not vote if they don't call for a ceasefire that lasts more than 10 minutes.

You can do whatever, but im personally not interested in a situation I see as letting conservatives take what is already bad and making it 3000 times worse and 80x less improvable and I guess I would encourage others if they can stomach it to make that same consideration rather than treat the election like a moral pageant. If they truly believe not voting will actually send a message, cool. But I want people to think really hard on whether it will. And then for the love of god don't stop at just voting.

If anything I encourage people to vote dem in state elections if only because there are dems right now trying to make ranked voting a thing, so that we can finally be free from having to vote dem at all and actually make it viable to pressure them in ballots!!!!

[love-toxin]

miss ellie i'm realizing now that i never told you now revolutionary your ocs are. like. i've been on this website for literal years and the day i found your blog was with an oc post where you introduced such a dynamic lineup with so much variety, it was the first i had ever seen. maybe i wasn't looking hard enough but you had poc yanderes AND trans yanderes it was the first time i had ever seen any (i know it sounds crazy to say but i'm being so fr rn.) even when i look through your old posts and reread them i just get blown away by how each one is different and has their own personality even though you have so many?? anyway it's late and i just wanted to say that ty <3

will you marry me?? 🥺

LOL to be for real though that makes me sooooo happy you don't even understand, I'm really glad i get to be that way for you and all you lovely people 💕💕 it's a blessing to be able to write & post my work and I'm genuinely happy to see people connecting with it.

tbh, the representation i try to portray accurately is a really long-standing relationship i have with writing & authorship in general. this might not be a terribly interesting bit of lore but back when i was in my teens and consuming a lot of fanfic online in the early forms of it (ff.net my love </3) that was something that hit me a lot in reading self-insert fic, because I'd always been a huge reader and was just then tapping into self-inserts and community fiction posting rather than just books. and i remember distinctly (i think partly bc I've always grown up in multicultural neighborhoods/had mixed family growing up) reading fanfics and having the thought of "huh, i can relate to this description or this experience, but that makes me wonder whether other people can."

funny enough, it was partly when i would read descriptions of the author giving a self-insert long hair or referencing their hair in some way, and I'd start wondering how girls who wore a hijab would read that same piece, cause i went to school with a bunch of girls who wore it or a full niqab. and so i started wondering more like "if i was black, would i relate to this experience in this fic? if i was trans or gender non-conforming, are there characters i can relate to? if i were a mix of these things, could i find somewhere i belong in this setting?" and since then it kind of became a focus in the way i wrote stuff going forward.

i think using inclusive language in fic writing is really integral to a greater horizon of people enjoying it, and thinking on my ocs i always wanted to have characters that people could really relate to. I'd stop a lot in my process of creating my initial sets of characters and try to keep in mind those thoughts that i had in reading fics; "if i were this or that, could someone in that position relate to the stories I'm writing? and if not, what can i change to make that happen?" because if people are going to enjoy my characters or find comfort in them i want everyone possible to have the ability to. it's kind of intimidating at times to write for experiences i haven't had personally but it led me (and still leads me) to do a ton of research, and in doing so I've been able to learn lots of really fascinating things in the process. in doing so, it made it really easy for my characters to develop their personalities through my writing because i think they inherently have identities that are complex, which is always the goal you want for any character in the first place.

sorry that this kinda went off on a ramble LOL, but after so many years of writing and with my degree under my belt i still really think about it a lot. I'm really glad what i wanted to do has come across and i hope you continue to enjoy my ocs!! ❤️❤️

[haileyywrites]

Summary: Scaramouche after getting hold of the gnosis of his creator prepares to leave Snezhnaya for good, but is confronted by one of his fellow Harbingers. One who he could almost trust...

Pairings: Scaramouche/the Balladeer x Harbinger Reader!

Notes/warnings: Gender neutral reader! POC friendly! Little angsty, little fluffy! No other warnings really.

Scaramouche had never intended to stay loyal to the Fatui or the Cryo Archon, even when he was taken in by them when all others turned their backs on him. He didn't care for them or their goals, he was only seeking after his own ends and the Fatui were the easiest way to gain them. Most of all he did not care for his colleagues. Most were crazy, annoying or otherwise intolerable and insufferable - it didn't matter as long as he didn't have to interact with them much.

Betraying them wouldn't be difficult in the slightest, if anything it was a reward for enduring them f6ir as long as he did. Though he would never admit it to anyone... even himself, he did hesitate in the end - because of you.

You were annoying for sure, but nothing like the other Harbingers. You were by no means a saint or even a good person, but you were not crazy like them. In a way you were like him, he didn't interact with his fellows and you tented to keep to yourself. You did get along with everyone as well as anyone could with the likes of them... But still preferred to be on your own.

Your unexpected bond was created one snowy night, with the fake stars lighting up the sky and moon rising in the distance. You stood underneath the roof of the courtyard to avoid the snowfall and simply admired the nightly scenery. You turned your head to face the direction of approaching footsteps to see the Balladeer approaching with a scowl, which was far from uncommon. It was as if not scowling all the time would somehow kill him.

“Something wrong number 6th?” You asked halfheartedly.

“Why do you care.” He barked back.

“I don't. Just felt like the polite thing to say.” You replied with honesty.

He scoffed, “Exchanging pointless pleasantries is a waste of everyone's times.”

“I'll keep that in mind.” You leaned against the railing to look better at the sky.

“What, never seen the sky before?” He scoffed again.

“Just because I've seen it a thousand times doesn't mean it's any less beautiful to me.”

“Whatever.” He said as he walked off.

For whatever reason these nightly unplanned meetings became an almost everyday occurrence. He didn't require sleep and you were simply a night owl or just insomniac. Things progressed slowly as both of you didn't trust each other and wished to keep everyone at an arms length at all times. You both had your reason for it and for being here, but it wasn't loyalty or faith. If you weren't loyal to an Archon whose bidding you were actively acting out, then who could you be loyal to?

Though you got closer to him and made your way into his non-existent heart he never fully let you in, he just couldn't let anyone betray him and his heart. You knew he couldn't and never tried pushing him to do so, you feared it would push him away from you. So you remained a little more than strangers and colleges despite all that happened between you two.

You knew he would one day leave with the gnosis of his creator and betray the Fatui along with the Tsaritsa, but you thought it would be so much later in the future. You never gave it much thought before the very day it happened, you always thought you'd have more time and he would tell you before hand... A foolish thing to think and believe.

"Were you going to say anything?" You caught him mid packing.

"Should I have?" He asks in a monotone voice.

"I suppose not." The dissapointment in your voice is hard to miss.

He paused to say something to you, but in the end didn't. Perhaps it was for the best anyway...

"Did you... ever consider taking me with you?" You manage to ask despite your nerves.

He stops again and turns to look at you, but doesn't know what to say... There is something he wishes to say in reply, but he hesitates too long for you to take back your words.

"Forget it, it was a foolish question. I will be on my way then." You turn to leave and he doesn't stop you.

You want to stop and demand he take you with him, that he at least answerers honestly to you! But you don't. He won't let you in and he won't trust you, do there is nothing you can do...

"Goodbye, 6th." You say before walking out of his room without waiting for him to reply.

Your shoes clicked against the marble flooring as you walked away, you couldn't hear anything besides it. You remained as silent as you could - foolishly hoping to hear his door open with regret, that he would ask you to come with him like you had suggested... But you didn't. It never happened. You walked away and he left like the wind.

A/N: :'D

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

I hate it when people draw characters with WAY darker skin than they really have... like, there's a particular fandom that I'm in, where the main character is played by a mixed race actor with pretty light skin, and people draw him the color of chocolate all the time. Nothing wrong with that skin color, of course, but isn't it kinda racist to look at a guy and say "ok, he's not white so he's gotta be BROWN" to the point where it doesn't even look like the actor? Is the real life person just not brown enough? I dunno, it just weirds me out.

I wonder if it comes from a place of fan artists not feeling confident about their abilities to draw distinctive facial features. So they worry that the accurate skin tone will cause people to accuse them of "whitewashing". 🙁 I get that, if so. It's just a shame that fan communities can be so awful.

THANK YOU!

I read a lot of Yuri on Ice fanfic and it always drives me up the wall when writers describe Yuuri as having darker skin than Victor. Look at these two

They have the exact same skin color. You'd have to go into photoshop and search around with the color picker to find a different shade on their faces.

It's like they can't admit that Japanese people can have pale skin because in their woke brains everyone is separated into White People--Evil, Bad, Pale Devils, and People of Color--Oppressed, Dark Skinned, Perfect. And when they're confronted with a "POC" that has light skin, they can't handle it.

(these are the same people who though Chris Pratt tanning for Jurassic World was him trying to "look black", so we're not dealing with a lot of brainpower here)

I do think a lot of what you're talking about comes from being scared of being accused of whitewashing, because fandoms are super toxic about any character appearing even a shade lighter than they're supposed to be. But I also think at least some of it comes from people not being able to deal with the fact that sometimes non-white people have pale skin. Especially when the characters are animated. They see darkening the skin as "correcting" or "fixing" the character. It's super racist, and really exposes how much dark skin is almost fetish-like for them.

And honestly, when it's a real mixed race actor? It's doubly shitty. Mixed race people deal with a lot of stigma from within their communities and without. "Too black for the whites, too white for the blacks" is a common sentiment among Americans with mixed racial heritage. For fandoms, who love to act like they're super "anti-racist" and "allies", darkening a real person's skin in their fan art shows that they don't even know what racism is. It's just the sad state of modern fandom.

Thankfully, most medium to large fandoms seem to have groups that aren't like this, and they're usually not that hard to find.

[hjellacott]

Children vs Adult

Being an adult in my twenties, I have noticed (and in part thanks to the Gender Cult, part thanks to studying psychology and childhood studies) I have noticed an increased rush, particularly coming from the US, and people seeking to make a ton of money, to shorten childhood and hurry children into adulthood. And it's easy, because teenagers are also in such a rush to be adults, when it's convenient for them.

Before you judge me! I am a woman, an adult, a social scientist and an artist, a feminist, a left-winger, left-voter, a bisexual woman, and a campaigner for the rights of women, children, POC people, vulnerable people, and anyone who just wants to be free to love, to marry, whoever they want to. I am not a fascist. I am not some old person disconnected from reality, and I am not driven by any religion whatsoever.

But when I was under eighteen, I thought of myself very much as an adult, at times. I was always too mature for my age, and found it really difficult to connect with children my age, and always preferred to have friends aged twenty and over, but even in my early twenties, I found it easier to connect with people forty and over, than my age. Now most of my friends are twenty or thirty years my senior, because I always feel like people my age are, in many cases, immature, childish, and overly interested in reality shows and capitalist or superficial things that are really not my cup of tea. I always liked theatre, ballet, concerts... My idea of a fun Friday afternoon, from childhood, was always go to the library or the book shop, rather than out to get drunk and party. I say this so that you understand when I say children are in a rush to grow up, I was also a kid in a rush to grow up, but in a different way.

I didn't want to grow up, I felt grown-up. I was the kid my parents could leave alone because they knew I'd do the dishes, keep the house clean, wouldn't throw a party, wouldn't leave doors unlocked, wouldn't cause a fire, and wouldn't engage in illegal or questionable activities. I was essentially an adult in a very young body, and even then, now I'm closer to thirty than to twenty, I still look back and think, I was such a child, for many things. I had so much growing-up to do. I had so much left to mature. So if that was my case, being a mini-adult already at age twelve, imagine what's like for kids who feel like adults, but are utterly irresponsible, and basically just want to be allowed to drink, go into HRT, do drugs, or party hard until late.

When I was a minor, I wanted to preserve my childhood. I had enough maturity to understand I was growing up too fast, because of my personality and because of certain traumatic experiences, so I wanted to slow it down. I didn't wear heels or make-up until I was sixteen, while most of my friends my age, my classmates, already did at eleven or twelve. I didn't want to drink until I was old enough for it to be legal. I didn't want to be partying until one, while at one is when my friends' parties started. So in spite of everything I've mentioned, and my old person personality, I look back and I see an actual childhood. Don't get me wrong, I did break rules. I did drink underage at sixteen. I did party. But I didn't enjoy it, and I left it to a very dark period of my teens, and didn't continue afterwards. But I also enjoyed the blissful lack of responsibilities, of work, of taxes, of having to worry about where my life was going, of childhood. I watched cartoons and enjoyed childish things, as much as I liked adult conversation and adult things (non sexual). And when I turned eighteen, I actually had things to look forward to. The first beer with adult friends, at an Irish pub, the first glass of wine, the first time driving, the first debit card, the first smartphone, the first night out late... They all happened when I was eighteen and over. I went to university, and I was an adult, and for the first two years of legal adulthood, I was constantly catching myself thinking "oh I shouldn't do—wait, no, I'm the one who has to give myself permission, and I can do this". And yet I wasn't a full blown adult until my mid twenties.

You know what made me an adult? getting a job, paying taxes, reading politics, voting, understanding the laws, the legal responsibilities, paying national insurance, worrying about getting to the end of the month, doing my grocery shopping, realising I truly did not have money for non-essentials, ironing blouses and blazers for job interviews, going on said job interviews, having my first gynaecologist appointment, taking care of cleaning my house, solving DIY things, putting the washing machine, learning to climb on a roof and fix my bloody chimney, learning to do some plumbing at home, and fix electricals. I became an adult the day I realised I had nobody to turn around and ask to do something for me, or to deal with something that scared me for me, because I had to do it alone, myself. And when I first started babysitting alone, and I realised if anything happened to that kid, it was all on me. I had to be able to answer their questions, to rescue them, to help them, to keep them alive. I had to have all the answers. And just like that I understood adulthood, and my parents, and how fucking hard it is.

And you know what else I understood? That I knew nothing, as a kid, even when I thought I knew everything. And that kids now, know even less. They think they're so grown up because they drink or smoke under age, because they break the rules. They think they are grown-up enough to decide to do life-changing surgeries, to go on HRT, to decide they're no longer a boy or a girl. And there are selfless, irresponsible, greedy adults, who if it'll make them richer, will absolutely encourage them that they are grown-up enough to do all that. But they are not. Take it from someone who was also not grown-up enough to have made such decisions, even when I was probably the most grown-up kid in my class.

Now I understand the huge value of childhood. I get to be so grateful I went through such great lengths to keep mine as intact as I could. And even then, I wish I'd done more. I wish I'd been more of a kid. I wish I'd been sillier, funnier, crazier, more adventurous. Because if I'd known adulthood would be so hard, I would've enjoyed childhood more, even when my childhood was also very hard and challenging.

So this is for you kids. Please, enjoy adulthood. Don't be in such an enormous rush to grow up. Be kids. Experiment, try new things, be adventurous, make mistakes, jump in muddy puddles and mountains of autumn leaves, make stupid jokes, dress childishly, wear costumes, be immature, be stupid. Don't mistake heels, make-up, alcohol, and cigarettes for adulthood, and don't be in a rush to get there. Life is a marathon, and if you spend too much time wishing to get to the end, you will really stop enjoying the every day adventure. And if you're not old enough to understand that sentence, you're probably not old enough to doubt you're the biological sex that you are. Trust me, you are who your DNA says you are. You're just still becoming. You're the food waiting to be cooked. You're going to want to be patient, to wait it out, to see what you'll become, before you decide what you're becoming isn't good enough, because it is. Trust me. When you are a grown-up? You're going to see what an incredible person you turned out into.

[thedisablednaturalist]

This isn't meant in a judgemental way, just a thought I had after seeing your tags on that post about mandatory voting. Right now there are disabled people who need accessible housing to survive. Many disabled people are homeless because of a lack of accessible housing. Lots of cities criminalize homelessness. Making homelessness illegal has never forced cities to make accessible or affordable housing to exist, it's just given people tickets and jail time. I think if we made it illegal not to vote, there may be some mild expansion of voter assistance, but I think it would do the same. The US has 4% of the world population and 25% of the prison population. There are lawmakers that jump at any chance to increase the number of people in prison, especially if those people are POC. I think many lawmakers would see making it illegal not to vote as a great reason to make it extra difficult for certain people to vote, and now instead of just not voting, those people will also go to jail. Prisons can pull in a lot of profit from in prison people, by leasing them out as labor to private corporations. We should fight for all of those voters support programs, and I mean really snacks and water and everything should be free to anyone who needs it anyway, but the solution to voter suppression can't be giving the US government permission to literally enslave more people, just because other people in the government made it hard for them to vote. We need big support programs, combined with the government that people feel represented by enough their willing to spend a couple hours of their day on them. I don't think tickets and prison are going to be an answer that works out the way you want it to.

I think you are taking my advocacy in bad faith by assuming I want non-voters to be fined and jailed. This is not true, but I can see why you may think that.

This is one of the biggest issues people have with mandatory voting. Yes, implemented incorrectly (such as not providing resources to help people vote and not making election day a mandatory holiday) this law would be harmful, as with most laws.

Countries implement compulsory voting in different ways, but the most effective and least harmful ways seem to implement that people who are unable to vote would go unpunished. Having the law without actual enforcement has been found to still be effective

"For example, in Austria voting is compulsory in only two regions, with sanctions being weakly enforced. However, these regions tend to have a higher turnout average than the national average." - via

There are countries that DO have harsh punishments for non voters, such as Bolivia not allowing people to receive paychecks until they provide the card they receive when they do vote. Some countries will, yes, put you in jail for non-payment of fines that are accumulated from not voting.

However there have been few to no cases of this happening. "The non-voter may face imprisonment as a sanction, however, we do not know of any documented cases" - International Idea

I am not advocating for those methods, rather methods like the ones detailed here:

My preference is that people with conditions that may make it an undue burden and/or impossible to vote can be opted out from these laws. If these persons DO want to vote, everything must be done by the government to make sure they get to vote, whether that be free accessible transport, mail in ballots, virtual voting, or even an official traveling to the place of residence to collect the vote in person.

In some places, it is only mandatory for registered voters to vote, and if registration requires a physical address, then homeless people would be automatically exempt (honestly tho I dislike this as homeless people should still be able to vote if they want to)

I want to be clear, I do not advocate for any system that would put disenfranchised or disabled people in tough financial or legal positions. I am very aware of how laws can harm poc and those with disabilities. My advocacy does not end with voting, and includes prison reform and abolishment of fines for those who cannot afford them.

Btw, I do advocate for ranked choice voting and abolishment of the electoral college though!

I would check out the sources listed as well as

for an example of how this works in practice. They explain this concept way better than I can with a lot more statistics and detail. If anyone else has more context to add, feel free to add on!