#i have a trans child who already suffers

[the-itzy-bitzy-spider]

Okay but my kids literally get called "kike" at school? So we literally do have to live with it? Yes, I'm already registered to vote and will be doing so, but that doesn't mean we don't have to live with it??? Congrats on not being harassed for being part of multiple minority groups but some of us will actually suffer before the election?????

regardless if it was real or fake the way we have to live with the aftermath now and this is just going to radicalize the right, a party already itching for violence

[buttercuparry]

I will keep it short, since time is of essence here and it would be better to act now than later:

On November 6 2024, Suad ( @suad-khaled ) updated her gofundme and wrote that she has not been able to provide her newborn son with either milk or baby formula. The blockage imposed by the occupation has resulted in high inflation rates, and Suad has not been able to buy anything nourishing for a long time. As of now baby Khaled is having to drink rice water as a substitute.

Every basic necessity for childcare has shot up in price ( a pack of diapers can cost as high as $50 USD). This is impossible to afford, and children are falling ill, when families are having to make do with cheap and expired products. Khaled suffered from diarrhea last month after drinking cheap baby formula.

Another important thing is that Khaled needs regular medical attention. He is suffering from painful chest infections due to breathing in toxic debris dust and asbestos that is now present in the air of Gaza Strip after more than year of incessant bombing by the occupation forces. Khaled, who is only five months old needs daily nebulizing sesssions and other medicines which are expensive.

Suad is trying her very best to save her child but tumblr keeps shadowbanning her and thus makes it difficult to reach out to people on here for help. So please follow Suad on her blog and pay attention to her posts. Things have been especially difficult for her, often with no donations coming in for days. Everything costs tenfold now and Suad writes: I am, trying to give my child some small sense of security in the midst of chaos. I can’t help but wonder, is $20 too much to ask to keep him alive?  For a child who’s already suffering from malnutrition, a small donation could mean the difference between life and death...

So please boost and donate. Currently at $36,271 USD. Please get Suad to $37k.

Verification #279

@appsa @lamngen @turian @timetravellingkitty @schoolhater 

@aces-and-angels @magnus-rhymes-with-swagness @malcriada @jezior0 

@neptunerings

 @brokenbackmountain @khanger @determinate-negation 

@transmutationisms @sylvianritual

 @imjustheretotrytohelp @sunflowersmoths 

@maaszeltov @heliopixels @zigcarnivorous 

@armysurplus 

 @executing @venus-is-in-bloom @lesbianmaxevans 

@trans-to-the-misogyny

@furiousfinnstan @paparoach 

@celadonwanderer @girlinafairytale @2tbssd 

@forgetfulrecord 

@lesbianmaxevans @fading-event-608 @repulsion @noncathartic 

@gusherbug 

@autisticmudkip @erectiledisfigurement @tiredguyswag @briarhips 

@three-croissants 

@fly-sky-high-09  @maoistyuri @noble-kale @heydreamchild @thedailydescent

[marudol]

kabru and the dungeon lords

kabru is a very critical character to dungeon meshi for a thousand and one reasons, and not merely for his status as the point-of-view character in the story's b-plot. kabru represents the compass by which dungeon meshi's world works. he has big-picture motives that involve the entire world, much grander than the original a-plot of "let's save falin."

he is our classic hero, a character who suffered great personal tragedy and must ensure that no one suffers the same fate. as such, he is a great parallel for dungeon meshi's most integral characters:

the dungeon lords themselves.

🚨manga spoilers ahead.🚨

thistle

picture this: you are a child, separate from anyone else in the world who looks like you due to circumstances beyond your control. you are taken by pale-skinned adults who try to treat you well; who clothe you, feed you, and put a roof over your head.

it is not enough.

who am i describing - kabru, or thistle?

kabru-thistle parallels focus on their shared past as trans-racial adoptees. their shared experiences are not a universal one to all trans-racial adoptions in the dungeon meshi universe: the floke twins are treated well by their gnomish foster (grand)parents; allowed to be children while they are children and treated as adults when they are adults.

not all trans-racial adoptees are given the same courtesy. kabru was raised by an elf who infantilized him, even once he was fully-grown. milsiril did not always know what kabru needed from her, so she defaulted to treating him the way she would treat an elf his age rather than understand what his age meant as a tall-man.

by contrast, thistle was raised by tall-men. freinag saw thistle as a son and so he and delgal thought themselves as brothers. but as delgal aged and matured, thistle remained stagnant. eventually, delgal's relative age surpassed thistle's- but no one could even conceive of that, because thistle's numerical age made the tall-men around him treat him as an adult rather than a teenager.

they both feel immense responsibility for the tragedies suffered by their people. kabru explicitly believes there must be a "reason" he survived utaya and that the reason was to destroy the dungeons to ensure it never happened again, and thistle IS the reason the golden country survived their war, and why eodio made it to adulthood all.

kabru and thistle are characters pre- and post-accomplishing their goals. kabru has yet to assume total responsibility; thistle already has.

they must save them- they must protect them all.

[🩵]

marcille

once upon a time, a child lost a parent before they were ready to, and the trajectory of their life changed forever. desperate to understand, the child grew into an adult and dedicated themself to preventing their personal loss from happening to anyone else ever again. as a result, they looked downward into the dungeon's depths.

they will find the answers they seek.

who am i describing- kabru, or marcille?

marcille and kabru stand as important secondary figures to laios, our main protagonist. in the words of another excellent post, they are the heaven foils to laios's earth. where laios is grounded and thinking about the here and now, they have both identified big picture problems plaguing their world and pursue these goals with intense fervor.

however, these goals have been diverted by censorship. marcille cannot access information about historical ancient magic through traditional means and the elves won't tell kabru what happened to utaya's dungeon, so they both decide to go and do something with their own two hands.

entering the dungeon is a step towards their grander goals, which are both rooted in opposition to long-lived supremacy. critically: the solutions they come to are vastly different.

marcille's solution is very fantastical - "fixing" everyone's lifespans by making EVERYONE long-lived (though her original solution seemed to be more grounded; being a lord gave her the chance to indulge in the full fantasy).

on the other hand, kabru wants something more concrete and based in the real world. he wants to use the dungeon as a means to an end before destroying it entirely, whereas marcille wants the dungeon to be the end. hers is a magic idea borne about by escapism, while kabru wants to solve a societal problem with something tangible to improve the lives of the shorter-lived without resorting to the fantastical.

(note the similarity in these compositions!)

kabru and marcille are aiming for the heavens; they have chosen to act as stewards to bring about a better future for as many people as possible.

but eventually, they must crash back down to earth.

[🩵]

mithrun

a long time ago, a dungeon lord met their maker and the demon ate its fill, but failed to breach the surface. carnage and destruction was sown in its wake. in the aftermath, a survivor dedicated himself completely and utterly to the cause with no room for reproach.

the dungeon will be conquered. and if he has it his way, it will be conquered by his hand.

who am i describing- kabru, or mithrun?

if thistle represents kabru's past and marcille represents kabru's present, than mithrun represents one branch of kabru's future- and a rather bleak one.

mithrun has suffered great tragedy at the hands of a dungeon and, as a result, dedicated himself to be what he believes is his one remaining desire: to finally be consumed entirely. he thinks he has nothing else to live for, so he runs himself ragged every single day just to inch closer and closer at a chance to kill himself while pursuing his goal.

this great fervor is one that kabru artificially mimics long before meeting mithrun. kabru is willing to die for his goals. he does die for his goals. he thinks he is going to die without a chance for resurrection when he sabotages the canaries, which is why his 'last' thought is "it's up to you now, laios!"

remember: kabru believes his survival has to serve a purpose- his survival must have been 'worth it.' in order to make his own survival palettable, kabru dedicates himself entirely to the dungeon's destruction without long-lived intervention as a means to avoid repeating utaya's fate. kabru self-deprives, fails to care for himself, and he is constantly killed in pursuit of his goal to conquer the dungeon before people like the canaries can. while kabru has desires, he only indulges in the one that has guided him for over a decade.

functionally, he and mithrun are identical when they first meet.

kabru has purposefully deprived himself of his desires beyond ensuring another utaya doesn't happen again, and mithrun is proof of what happens when you follow that to its logical conclusion. however, over the course of their week together and the final arc of the story, kabru makes the choice to divert from mithrun's fate.

kabru looks into the eye of his ultimate goal, and in the culmination of his arc, ultimately refuses this destiny.

what do you want, kabru? are you hungry, kabru?

kabru indulges. instead of blindly following through the dungeon's destruction and sacrificing what he wants for the greater good, he wants, and he befriends laios instead of ending his life. he leaves mithrun's fate behind...

...and senshi- one of the most steadfast representatives of dungeon meshi's thesis- sets mithrun on a path where he, too, can learn to chase after newer, healthier desires.

[🩵]

laios

one day, a child was hungry for the answer to a question: "what is wrong with me?"

there is no satisfactory answer. a mother and a sister believe nothing is wrong, but everyone else in their small world disagrees. those eyes, that personality- something must be wrong.

but there is no recourse.

so, these children endeavor to focus on the world around them in ways that won't hurt them. one chooses to study and love humans, because humans are beautiful and complex and amazing. the other chooses to study and love monsters, because monsters are easier to understand and always obey one simple rule: eat or be eaten.

they double down on their interests soon enough. monsters have hurt one child enough, and humans can't get enough of hurting the other.

you know which one is kabru. you know which one is laios- dungeon meshi's fabled narrative foils.

laios and kabru are as textually close to being explicit foils as humanly possible. the first sentence of kabru's page of the adventurer's bible says it perfectly: "in every possible way, he's a contrast with laios. laios loves monsters, while kabru has an endless interest in humans" (56).

in basic terms, a foil character is a character with traits that contrast against another's, typically the main protagonist. this contrast serves to highlight the themes of the story, and we see that illustrated perfectly with laios and kabru.

where kabru has denied himself care, laios gives it to him without thinking. where laios believed no one could ever want to be his friend, kabru proves him wrong. the nature of nourishment and human connection are both critical foundations to dungeon meshi's story, and the main character struggling with human connection while his foil struggles with nourishment is no mistake.

kabru wanted to be laios's friend all along. the b-plot of dungeon meshi is driven by kabru's unconscious desire to understand and ultimately aid one inscrutable laios touden. the reason they cross paths at all is because kabru wants to meet him! he takes a chance when toshiro appears and sees his chance through.

but kabru doesn't realize it until he's already said it. he betrays himself, completely unaware that his supposed interest in the touden siblings skews a little more to the right than he could have possibly known.

killing laios would have been the ultimate preventative measure. he was yet to be dungeon lord, and with the canaries intent on handling marcille, kabru could have dealt with him right then on that cliff. but kabru doesn't take the opportunity because he doesn't want to.

he'd rather befriend laios than see him dead, and he takes the chance by the sleeve and doesn't let go until he is listened to.

and in the end, kabru is rewarded for his leap of faith: laios puts an end to the demon. laios has ensured that another utaya will never happen again.

laios saves the world.

all because kabru allowed himself to be selfish.

[johannestevans]

feel really sick about the AI news today and just wanted to remind ppl that like.

it's not "CP", or "cheese pizza". it is not "pornography" when it's made of children, who cannot consent. it's CSAM (child sexual abuse materials) or CSEM (child sexual exploitation materials)

every time a piece of CSEM is shared, that's a real child or children who were not only victimised in the creation of that imagery, but are being exploited and revictimised, if not retraumatised, w every share and download of that imagery

this is why for all ppls moral objections to like, sexual art or whatever of kids, CSEM is a specific morally evil thing bc. its not bad bc a paedophile might get off to it, its not bad bc its gross

its bad because its a REAL child suffering the worst violations

and its existence and propagation furthers and continues that child or children's violation

like. even as an adult, if you've been forced to feature in CSEM, you live in fear of being recognised, of it being shared about you, of it being linked. every time a reminder.

and the idea of this shit being thrown into AI datasets when already ppl quite comfortably adultify and sexualise some kids in the media and the news - particularly Black and dark-skinned children, trans children, etc - is horrifying. its just. its really bad.

and i know its easy to be blasé and go like "haha the death of AI!" or whatever but like. those are real ppl? whose worst moments have been not just captured on film, but then fed into a machine and used to potentially generate analogous images of similar suffering?

[nerdygaymormon]

I liked your post with all the scriptures showing that we are to love trans people. What are your thoughts about the changes made to the church handbook?

The LDS Church used to ban gay students from attending BYU. The church used to put a permanent notation on gay member's records and forbid them from having callings that work with children or youth. The church used to promote conversion therapy even when every major medical and mental health organization denounced such practices. The church forbade the children of gay couples from getting baptized.

Eventually the church reversed all these positions.

I used to speak up behind closed doors for queer youth to get to participate, it's been many years since my local leaders tried to do something like forbid a lesbian from attending girls camp or want her to be isolated at night in a cabin separated from the rest of the young women.

It is sad to me to see these same mistakes being implemented against trans/nb/genderfluid/gender nonconforming/intersex members.

Gay people were not predators, we were not the danger they imagined us to be. The same is true for those whose gender doesn't conform to the imagined binary.

How does preventing an 8-year-old child from getting baptized fit with Jesus' admonition to "suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me"?

How does limiting someone from gender-specific classes and callings fit with the apostle Paul's teaching that in Christ we are one, that "there is neither male nor female"?

Why is forbidding a trans youth from spending the night at FSY acceptable? It will be so stigmatizing.

We're really going to police the restrooms? Even me, an openly gay man, I am allowed to use the facilities with men even though I might be attracted to some of them.

This ban on "social transitioning" (meaning name/pronouns/grooming/clothing) continues the false notion that appearance equals worthiness and is in direct contradiction to God telling the prophet Samuel that "the Lord looketh on the heart." Social norms are not eternal norms and shouldn't determine whether an individual can receive gospel ordinances.

The top LDS leaders prefer the term "same sex attraction" instead of gay, lesbian and bisexual, and I think a similar thing is now happening as the Handbook language has shifted from "transgender individuals" to "individuals who identify as transgender" and "individuals who transition away from their biological sex."

None of these policies are required by doctrine, evidence for this is these restrictions didn't exist 5 years ago or even last week.

It's depressing the church doesn't remember the lessons from its treatment of gay people as it replicates similar policies.

It was already hard to be a gender diverse member of the LDS Church, and it just got more difficult. Everyone should have access to a spiritual home and church community if they want it.

While I can't control what the LDS Church does, I want you to know I embrace and support you. I wish I could sit on the pew with all of you and I wish I had a table large enough to break bread with all of you.

[ceilidhtransing]

It's frankly horrifying how blasé some American queer people are being about the stripping away of legal rights under a potential Trump administration.

I'm very aware that queer politics and queer liberation are bigger than just “what's legal” or “what the state allows us to do” or whatever. Queer people have a very long history of existing without state support and building our own community structures when the rest of society fails us. But oh my god this doesn't mean that our legal rights aren't important. Protection against discrimination is important. The right to marry is important. Being able to access legal HRT is important. The right to legal gender change is important. Adoption rights are important. Protection against “gay panic” and “trans panic” defences is important. Not being classified as a “mental illness” or a “sex crime” is important. Having laws that are on our side isn't everything but it sure as hell isn't nothing.

I feel like some queer people today have this idealised, romanticised idea of what life was like for the queer community in the west in the 60s, 70s, 80s - this sense that Yes It Was Tough, But It Wasn't Anything We Couldn't Deal With, that it was more “radical” and “punk” and “politically pure” and so really we should be wanting to return to that because That Was When All The Cool Grassroots Queer Organising Was Happening before we started getting proper legal protections.

But a lot of the organising that people were doing back then - not all, but a lot - was towards the very rights that some people now don't seem too concerned about throwing away. They fought hard for stuff like anti-discrimination protections and HRT access and I know that's not “glamorous”, it's not “throwing bricks at cops”, but it's important activism that makes a genuine material difference to the lives of so many queer people. They wouldn't have fought so hard for these rights if they didn't matter. And the idea that acknowledging this is somehow “anti-revolutionary” or “bootlicking” or whatever is absurd.

And from these people there's so little recognition of the fact that actually, for many of us, we didn't survive this era. Or we survived but endured so much avoidable suffering. There's a tendency to romanticise “community organising” that tries to compensate for a hostile state while forgetting that community organising can't save everyone. [And it's much, much easier to do community organising when you have a modicum of legal protection. It's a lot harder to organise your queer community pantry and support hotline and safe sex supplies dispensary when the law now defines running any kind of queer venue as “child grooming” or “a public obscenity” or whatever and starts jailing people for it.] Don't rose-tint this time as one of Cool Underground Radicalism without acknowledging that a hell of a lot of people suffered and died because society was far more hostile to them and they didn't have the legal framework that we have now.

Am I saying that, because queer people have some legal rights now, everything is lovely and perfect? That queer activism is “finished because we have gay marriage now”? No. Of course not. Inequality persists. Discrimination persists. The rights that currently exist still don't protect everyone equally, especially where queerness intersects with other forms of marginalisation. There is still so much more to push for.

But pushing for more is completely incompatible with allowing a rollback of what we already have. This casual “so what if Trump takes away our rights; I'm still not voting Democrat” is a spit in the face of all the people who fought so hard for queers to have these rights. Throwing away your vote in order to make a political point and thus allowing someone into power who plans to remove legal rights for queer people - and who is also unimaginably worse than his opponent on basically every other issue - is not what queer activism looks like, and this casual willingness to sacrifice hard-fought rights is demonstrative of either immense privilege or an incredible blindness to what life is like for queer people who don't enjoy these rights. There are queer people in the world who are still fighting for their identities not to be fucking criminalised, who will be looking at the attitude of essentially “who cares if Trump gets into power and sets fire to decades' worth of queer legal victories, if that's what it takes to prove a point to the Democrats” with utter appalment. (And if you're not queer, but are perfectly unconcerned about sacrificing our rights on the altar of Refusing To Vote For A Democrat, that is disgusting, and you are not an ally.)

People fought so hard to have these rights. Rolling them back will have horrific consequences. Please don't just toss them away.

[gimmiesophiebaek]

Let Sophie be Sophie

I need to put this to words because it’s all over my favorite tags. But first, an obligatory Benedict gif because I can’t wait for him to lead S4.

First to clear things up: Benedict is not bi. He’s pansexual. Even Luke T. said that in his interview. Personally, it fits his vibe. He just attracts on people’s vibes. I do find the throuple scene to be tastefully done. In the end, it was all about him exploring his pleasures with two: one he’s familiar with and one he’s intrigued with. Sadly, the editing made it look like they had a weekend screwfest when it all happened in one night.

But this post isn’t about the threesome and whatever Benedict wants to label himself after this. This is about Sophie and how people already demanding to switch Sophie into a man or MTF trans. Sophie’s gender is a major point of her storyline. She’s a bastard (whether she’s an Earl’s bastard or not remains to be seen) and a maid. She doesn’t want to repeat her mother’s mistake of bringing another bastard child into the world and suffer the same she did. If you have a ween, you have more power than one with a vagina back in the day, even if you’re a bastard. So it’s not going to work.

In addition, Sophie is probably the emotionally strongest of the Bridgerton wives. This woman had hard life and was handed nothing but scraps. But she never lost her soul and steadfast values when the world turned against her. With due respect to Kate and Penelope (and Lucy if we ever get to Greg’s season), Sophie is tough as nails. I want to see a strong street smart female go head to head with the “community bicycle”, especially a certain offer comes to play.

Most of all, people forget that sodomy was a crime in England at the time. Yeah you can be discreet about it, but for it to be a happy ending, you can’t go and hide in the shadows. Even if you move to the countryside, you would be caught. And before people throw in the Frannie/Michaela comparison, it’s easier for women to get away with it as they can say they are friends. Plus Frannie will be a widow by then. While I feel for those who love Franchael, I’ve come to accept it. I hope they do this with care.

Now I saw someone thinking of a Mulan plot of crossdressing. I was thinking along the lines of Twelfth Night or As You Like It (if we’re going with the Shakespeare theme). But I doubt Shondaland will pull it off with care and without disrespecting trans actors if they go there.

Benedict’s arc is about being free right now but he’s also internally and emotionally set adrift. It’s the love of and for Sophie that will be his anchor. The love of a bastard daughter turned maid who saved him from illness after he saved her almost rape by her last employer’s son is going to open his heart that not even all the orgies and threesomes can compete with.

So yeah… let Sophie Beckett be Sophie Beckett. I don’t care which race or ethnicity. Just let her be a cis female.

(okay one more Ben gif for good measure)

[cementarybf]

The woods brothers.

" A duet never played ."

(A series of my headcanons for both the brothers except its not in order AT ALL)

• I was originally just gonna copy and paste my docs of them for this I'm ngl..

• Between the two jeff is the youngest, being three years apart from the older.

• Jeff's a bastard child within the woods family, as his mother committed infidelity making him a foreign mixed child in his home environment (his mother being Chinese, his biological father being Hispanic)

• Liu had been more than excited to be a big brother, even if his mother was less than excited. He would cuddle up with her, mostly to whisper to her belly about how excited he was to be a big brother and that he loved his little sibling already.

• jeff is actually trans his dead name being (junjíe俊傑 meaning elite,high standing) a name he actually prided himself on, but when they moved to Ohio (WHICH ACTUALLY IS CANON?? WHY IS HE IN OHIO) he wanted to be more..Americanized, mainly due to the bullying he suffered for keeping a foreign name- teachers struggling to pronounce it made him disgusted so he chose a simpler name one that they couldn't make fun of.

• jeff was never deemed as "normal", growing up he struggled to behave like other children- diagnosed at an early age with [ narcissistic personality disorder ] and [ early stage child apathy ] which stemmed from a series of neglect given from his parents along with the strict religious household.

• due to this liu had taken up the role of raising his younger brother without much issue, due to taking up the parental role his own view on his parents had easily soured over time when he had gotten into multiple arguments with them.

• liu and jeff were pratically attatched at the hip mostly due to jeff seemingly mimicking his brothers behavior as to appear more friendly to his peers which in the end worked, as he was quite liked in his schools.

• liu had originally been the only one in the family to play piano but jeff followed suit easily only for a moment before he took up learning violin instead as he found it be more suiting. A perfect duet they had made.

• they originally had lived in shenzen before moving to Ohio due to their father getting a job relocation out there (hence jeffs sudden urge to fit ih)

• jeff never actually told his parents he was transitioning due to his mother's heavy religious belief, he'd rather let her believe he was being a "tomboy" then tell her.

• jeff and liu had done multiple recitals together once jeff finally got to understand how to perfectly play the piano. However they never did get to finish their duet that they written themselves.

• liu was the only person he told, along with the one he had asked to cut his hair. He hasn't cut his hair nor let anyone else cut his hair since that night due to the fact he doesn't know how to and is more afraid he'd mess it up (we gotta go bald moment).

• liu was NOT sent to a jail when he took the blame for jeff but instead a boarding school for troubled youth where he may or may have not discovered he may have been bisexual.

• after dying and being revived by a mortician [SUSAN] who was all too curious about death, he met [BALAAM (SULLY)] who had used his jiangshi state against him and encouraged him to eat the woman so she could have her soul.

• after trading a part of his soul and entering a contract with [BALAAM(SULLY] his memory is EXTREMELY bad, similar to a goldfish he's constantly forgetting things and doesn't actually remember how he died outside of the autopsy report. He doesn't remember jeff but he knows he had a brother and that he needs to find him. Even in death he still needs to take the role of worrying for him.

• jeff cannot stand hearing classical music or anything with piano, due to it reminding him of liu and how guilty he is.

• jeff once tried to play violin again but due to his nerves being so badly damaged and the face he was missing his finger on one hand he couldn't play it perfectly, it caused him to have a melt down and he in rage he smashed it to pieces.

[missmastectomy]

hello, pretty freshly detrans here. i finally understand what all those ‘annoying cis people’ meant when they said gender isn’t a feeling. like, actually, i fully comprehend it now. if you unpack all those supposed ‘gender feels’ it all wraps back to stereotypes and gender roles, whether you identify as a soft boy or a big rugged stereotypical man like i did. because that’s all gender is. and holy shit, i feel duped!

you’re telling me i could’ve spent all this time being a hot hairy butch who defied the social expectations placed on women but i was so entrenched in the idea that i was somehow a man, which is DEFINITELY a real innate category of being and not a made up social class assigned to a given sex to give them more power (sarcasm) that i lost half my family to it? that i argued with people i know and love over it? that i experienced trauma in the church because of it? only to realize that gender itself isn’t even real, something i knew the whole time but hypocritically refused to apply to myself. i’ve been scammed. i dressed up my personality in a blue box and told myself it was a boy. fuck.

at least there’s freedom in sight now. sorry to rant in your inbox, i hope it’s relatable if nothing else.

I completely understand. I also used to feel annoyed when “cis” people said they don’t know what feeling gender is like. The thing is, though, trans people’s gender feelings are actually very easy to understand once you get to the bottom of what dysphoria is. Often trans people will describe their gender identity as stemming from dysphoria, a disconnect between the mind and body. The discomfort and desire to be the other sex is so strong that people transition and the vast majority of trans people describe that as the state of “being a woman/man,” instead of “hey, I’m a bio female/woman transitioning in order to cope with dysphoria.”

I talked about it before, but if you understand why women get harmful cosmetic surgeries because they cannot stand living in their bodies, or why anorexics will hurt themselves in pursuit of a perfect body, you already understand half of trans identity. People often try to reinvent themselves when they’ve been rejected or traumatized. People often try to mold themselves into someone else, someone you were “always meant to be,” but ultimately never will, because the image you’ve created in your mind is completely fictitious.

Most trans people operate like this. Ime there are vanishingly few trans people who recognize that their sex doesn’t change and that they are ultimately still men or women. Most consider gender to be innate, therefore they were always actually men or women. Few acknowledge that it is basically a lifestyle choice. Honestly, a poor one at that, considering the adverse effects it has on your body and social life.

Some transmeds cite sex dysphoria as the reason for transition, but where does it come from? They often argue that transsexuals have brains that map out the body of the opposite sex and that causes the dysphoria, but there’s poor evidence for this. Ask a trans person how they knew they were trans and they will say 1) they always felt uncomfortable in their body/didn’t connect with others of their sex or 2) I’m a boy/girl but engaged in stereotypical activities of the opposite sex. It’s really just a bunch of made up nonsense to explain the suffering a lot of gnc, gay, whatever people experience.

A lot of trans people don’t realize that everyone else also has “gender feelings,” but they just don’t describe it with the language trans people do. Because of this disconnect, trans people often take this as evidence that their gender identities are real and infallible. But if you talk to, say, a woman who was very masculine as a child and didn’t fit in with girls, you will literally hear the same feelings of discomfort that most transmen describe. The difference is that these women grew out of it or learned to cope and accept themselves. Most transmen do not.

The conditions for trans identity to form are a combination of wrong place wrong time. I have a hard time not feeling sympathetic for the old fashioned transsexual types who recognize bio sex because I understand how debilitating dysphoria can be, but the religious mumbo jumbo speak of the modern trans movement is insufferable and harming thousands, if not millions, of people. It’s time to come back down to reality.

[sniigura-archive]

ok we know what adam and reader think and do for their children, unconditional love etc... and im going to assume the relationship between the kids are just like normal siblings, taking that little paragraph were one of them cursed at another kid for insulting their sibling; and they know that their parents love eachother, the constant sibling factory and accidental walks in are enough proof. But what are the kids thoughts about their parents? most of them are mom kids and since reader is the ruler in the house i think they are alright with reader, but what about adam? since teenagers are his least favourites, they have more troubles with him but now im courious of what do they think of adam and reader?

i sorted the kids by birth order btw

eden opinion on reader: respects her and loves her. comes to her mother when it comes to emotional support. thinks reader should enable adam less (she tries ok)

eden opinion on adam: capable guy. she thinks adam should take some deep breaths before acting (he does already 😭). she likes working with him together on their car projects and she always knows she can count on him if shit ever hits the fan

kane opinion on reader: he’s a total mamas boy which causes him to put reader on a pedestal. he was a highly sensitive child with undiagnosed ADHD and reader was the parent who handled his outburst and emotions the best. reader always suspected that adam also has ADHD and after kane finally was diagnosed and adam was like „what that’s what everyone does“ she forced him to get diagnosed. kane takes his meds regularly while adam. doesn’t. kane and reader work together on the garden!!

kane opinion on adam: thinks his father is an idiot and likes to act like they aren’t related (he’s very much like adam and hates when it gets pointed out). likes to make divorce jokes which adam HATESSSSS like don’t wish evil like that upon him!!!! the older kane gets the more he mellows out and is able to properly connect with his father. so what if they hug properly for the first time when he’s in his 30s

abram opinion on reader: respects his mother a lot and sees her as a role model. has autism and reader makes sure all his needs are met. it was his idea to get chickens and he loves every pet a lot that the family has. he thinks his mother can be very unempathetic, since reader has the tendency to think if every physical need is met that the children shouldn’t complain (what childhood poverty does to someone)

abram opinion on adam: good husband and ok father. he’s aware that adam tries his best so he can’t stay mad at him. they both work on projects around the house like making their own furniture, they build the chicken coop together etc which he enjoys a lot

setha (comes out later as Nick!) opinion on reader: good mother but they don’t share many interests together. still loves his mother a lot. the first person he came out to as trans masc but only because adam can be so insensitive

setha (comes out later as Nick!) opinion on adam: thinks his father is the coolest actually. have lots of shared interests and opinions. was scared to come out as trans masc but it all went well in the end. picked out his new name with adam!! plays drums and it pains adam but he tries to smile through it

ada opinion on reader: got into anime and nerd stuff in general because of her mother so loves her for that. has a tendency to hide away in her room which reader tries to push against. poor girl is just a huge introvert but knows reader only has good intentions

ada opinion on adam: coolish guy but they don’t have much in common. get along well. takes her father to conventions and sends him links to figures and mangas she wants since reader has a tendency to forget birthdays. adam on the other habd makes every birthday a blast for the kids. he suffers through the conventions because he wants to make sure his daughter is always safe

isaac opinion on reader: when he’s older he appreciates that reader forced the whole family into signing lessons, since he was born deaf. takes out his hearing aids and closes his eyes when his family annoys him. thinks reader babies him too much

isaac opinion on adam: fave parent because adam rough houses with him. gets his love for martial art thanks to his dad. randomly jumps on adam’s back for a surprise attack

lazarus opinion on reader: thinks reader is an amazing cook and loves cooking with their mother together. had their coming out as non binary by simply saying at the dinner table to only use they them pronouns from now on and everyone just nodded. knows that their mother tries to make it right for everyone and appreciates the effort

lazarus opinion on adam: wants adam’s rib recipe but he refuses and says they will get it as their inheritance. it’s his secret (he’s just being extra). adam is sad he couldn’t convince his child to change their name to smth band related. thinks their father should be more open minded but from the stories reader tells they know adam improved a lot

delilah opinion on reader: too strict 😔 (the only one who says no to her. youngest child privileges), has a tendency to bump heads because of that. at the end of the day they love each other but in the mornings and afternoons they want each other dead

delilah opinion on adam: daddy’s girl, loves her father. probably because he spoils her a lot. she’s very obvious adam’s favourite, since she’s a girl and looks completely like reader

[non-bee-knees]

HEYO because I can

why I think the Team Star crew originally got bullied:

Starting with:

Atticus: Neurodivergent (specifically Autism). This guy is so incredibly passionate about his samurai thing, and fashion [screams special interest]. He also keeps his face covered, even though we see it in flashbacks - me thinks this is a sensory thing

Eri: we already know that she was picked on by Carmen out of jealousy, because when Eri started, she was considered pretty and funny and well liked, right? So what could Carmen have used against her? Her build. Eri is tall, and has a strong build - this makes her appear more masculine, and thus makes a target for bullying [in the whole ‘how can she be pretty when she’s so boyish’ kinda way]

Ortega: he’s got flair for fairy types and clearly he’s got a whole aesthetic thing going on. Paired with his ‘I’ll say and do what I want, just try and stop me’ nature, and you better believe this kid was bullied for being ‘gay’.

Mela: She seems like a normal enough kid, and I think she would have suffered a lot from being purposefully left out of things, because of her nature. True to her favoured typing, she has a very aggressive and loud nature. That hasn’t made her mean or rude in any way, she’s just passionate. Unfortunately when people are too passionate about things now a days they get laughed at behind their backs and left out of things [as I write this I’m realising she could also be autistic •_•]

Giacomo: [beware this is the most headcannoned part of this because I latched onto this silly child INSTANTLY] Neurodivergent (specifically ADHD). Out of the lot he defo gives the most ‘bad kid’ vibes, in the sense where he would have gotten below average/barely average grades, would have trouble paying attention in class, brought his music everywhere and got in trouble for it, the whole jam. Unfortunately in a lot of cases, this all translates to undiagnosed ADHD with unmet needs. He would have probably been picked up by some actually Bad Kids at some point, but the once they realised he was actually nice, he would have gotten ditched. Giacomo is a genuinely sweet kid, he’s just not got the support he needs

Why his eyes like that??

Penny: 1) she’s a quiet kid, and as we find out, she’s got a quick tongue. Most likely people just kinda avoided her

2) she’s trans [I adore this headcanon]. Her writing, the whole ‘being who you are’ narrative, she the ‘new girl’ (we find out she left for a year and a bit, only to come back and no one seems to recognise her??), her Pokémon’s are all eeveelutions, a Pokemon based around the idea of adapting; on top of that her main is Sylveon, a Pokemon practically claimed by the trans community, and finally someone pointed out her hoodie, which is baggie and oversized, aka a ‘dysphoria hoodie’

ANYWAYS these are all headcannons, tho I do take most of the info from the games themselves

[is-the-fire-real]

Posted without review

I feel less afraid now than I did in 2016.

No, I don't think things will be better or easier during a second Trump presidency. Yes, I do question whether or not we will have democracy as we understand it by the time 2028 rolls around. I am not naively suggesting that we Pollyanna our way out of this.

But in 2016, I was a trans man in a queer relationship with a disabled person. And I already knew from long, long experience that the vast majority of leftist spaces would not protect or save me. I knew the queer community really didn't think of me or my spouse as being part of it. I knew we weren't really safe with anyone. We were extremely alone.

And right now, I feel... well. Frightened sometimes. But I keep thinking about how I still have Judaism class tomorrow and I've got these prayers to memorize. And my report on Nachmanides to deliver. And that we should be going to the beth din in June of next year, if not sooner. And that I may be extremely pregnant when I get dunked, and therefore, my child will be born Jewish.

And... it's scary. It is. I knew this could happen, there was always a good chance of it happening.

But I don't feel alone.

I have never felt more immediately embraced by a community, and more unconditionally, than I have by Jews when I tell them I'm converting. I have private messages I still read and treasure from Jews telling me that my willingness to convert right now gives them hope for their people and the future.

Gays I've asked for help have turned me down and not shown up. Leftists straight-up enjoy my suffering and want me to die.

Jews who I ask for help just want to know what they can do for me.

And I think: well, it's very dangerous, and very frightening. But my answer to the danger, if I can figure it out, will probably be what I tell the beth din about how I will cope with antisemitism. It will have to do with being given times to grieve and times to celebrate while being permitted to do both at the exact same time, if the need comes. It will have to do with how bravery is really doing it scared. It will have to do with how much less scary everything seems, if only for a moment, when you look back on a long history of very scary things and share a meal about it.

It'll definitely have to be about how you see and experience suffering and pain and you cry and scream and argue with a G-d you don't really believe in, and then... you pray over the Shabbat candles and envision a different world.

Jews on my screen, I love you.

I know many of you are scared right now, and I won't tell you how to feel, but the fact that you exist makes the world a less frightening place.

[havegaysex]

Why are you telling people to vote for the guy committing genocide :/

because voting is not an endorsement it's harm reduction.

Trump is going to be at best doing the same as Biden and likely much worse for Palestinians and all the countries suffering from American Imperialism than Biden is.

Republicans want to bring back child labor and get rid of social security, medicare, Medicaid. As someone who is surviving on Medicaid and social security I don't want those taken away. The Republican majority house already put a lot of limits on food stamps in this past term and I don't think we'll still have food stamps if we get a republican Congress and a Republican president.

They've made it pretty clear that if they get a republican Congress and a Republican president they're going to enact project 2025 and call a conference of states and try and take our rights back to the days when only wealthy white men had any rights when women and racial minorities had no rights, they want to make it illegal for LGBT+ folks to safely exist in public and get lifesaving healthcare.

In short

Do I support every single thing Biden has done as president?

No.

Do I like him?

Not particularly. But I'm still voting for him because apathy is not a choice.

Do I think that Joe Biden having another term means that we can actually make more progress for labor rights, trans healthcare, abortion access, advancement of the rights and protections for disabled people and so much more?

Yes absolutely.

Do I think that the genocide in Gaza needs to end and the United States needs to stop sending weapons to israel?

Yes, I think that un restricted flow of humanitarian aid into Palestine needs to happen, the siege needs to stop, and the country of Israel and the United States need to be held accountable at an international level. I think that the soldiers of the IDF/IOF need to be held accountable for their war crimes and pillaging that they continuously post evidence of on social medias. I'm trying to put a read more here so ce I've put a few linked articles and quotes from them.

A quote from the article below:

"While our map focuses solely on high school aged youth (age 13-17), some states, such as Oklahoma, Texas, and South Carolina, have considered banning care for transgender people up to 26 years of age. "

I've seen lawmakers in some states try to make it felony punishable by life in prison to get your trans child healthcare to keep them alive because they want to make it illegal for us to exist and a legal for anyone who helps us exist.

some quotes from the article above:

"Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president’s second term — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024. With a nearly 1,000-page “Project 2025” handbook and an “army” of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the “deep state” bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers. “We need to flood the zone with conservatives,” said Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project and a former Trump administration official who speaks with historical flourish about the undertaking. “This is a clarion call to come to Washington,” he said. “People need to lay down their tools, and step aside from their professional life and say, ‘This is my lifetime moment to serve.’” The unprecedented effort is being orchestrated with dozens of right-flank organizations, many new to Washington, and represents a changed approach from conservatives, who traditionally have sought to limit the federal government by cutting federal taxes and slashing federal spending. Instead, Trump-era conservatives want to gut the “administrative state” from within, by ousting federal employees they believe are standing in the way of the president’s agenda and replacing them with like-minded officials more eager to fulfill a new executive’s approach to governing. The goal is to avoid the pitfalls of Trump’s first years in office, when the Republican president’s team was ill-prepared, his Cabinet nominees had trouble winning Senate confirmation and policies were met with resistance — by lawmakers, government workers and even Trump’s own appointees who refused to bend or break protocol, or in some cases violate laws, to achieve his goals. While many of the Project 2025 proposals are inspired by Trump, they are being echoed by GOP rivals Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy and are gaining prominence among other Republicans. And if Trump wins a second term, the work from the Heritage coalition ensures the president will have the personnel to carry forward his unfinished White House business. “The president Day One will be a wrecking ball for the administrative state,” said Russ Vought, a former Trump administration official involved in the effort who is now president at the conservative Center for Renewing America. Much of the new president’s agenda would be accomplished by reinstating what’s called Schedule F — a Trump-era executive order that would reclassify tens of thousands of the 2 million federal employees as essentially at-will workers who could more easily be fired. Biden had rescinded the executive order upon taking office in 2021, but Trump — and other presidential hopefuls — now vow to reinstate it."

"There’s a “top to bottom overhaul” of the Department of Justice, particularly curbing its independence and ending FBI efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. It calls for stepped-up prosecution of anyone providing or distributing abortion pills by mail."

Personally I think that voting for Joe Biden is better than someone who wants to enact this stuff on day one. It's like they read handmaid's tale and want to make that the reality of this country.

"Chapter by chapter, the pages offer a how-to manual for the next president, similar to one Heritage produced 50 years ago, ahead of the Ronald Reagan administration. Authored by some of today’s most prominent thinkers in the conservative movement, it’s often sprinkled with apocalyptic language." Ronald Reagan is a big reason we have a lot of problems we have today with our economy and with a lot more things. The people that supported Ronald Reagan do not need another term in office.

A quote from the article linked below:

"Trump has given no indication that he would be more sympathetic to Palestinian claims, nor that he would place more pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire. “The approach of the United States would be that Israel needs to win this war, it was attacked brutally,” Trump’s ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, describing how Trump would act. Friedman is now a campaign surrogate for Trump."

Personally I think Trump telling Israel to finish the job is indicators that another Trump presidency doesn't mean that weapons would stop being sent to Israel from United States

I fail to see how another term of Donald trump will be any better for the victims of the ongoing genocide in Palestine than President Joe Biden.

i think our system is absolutely messed up and broken but I don't think abstaining from voting is going to actually help.

[zannolin]

hey!! hope you’re doing well! i’m the person who wrote the narnia fic “first love, never die” and i just wanted to recommend a few fics that inspired me and made me INSANE. after ur comment i just. kept thinking “wow zannolin would probably love those fics i read last year….” so eventually i caved and here i am

number one for peter ptsd: “golden child, lion boy” by theandrogynousdragon . WHEN I TELL YOU I CRIED. you would love it, he’s so fucked up and full of anger and angst and suffering. the concepts in this fic made me ILL. oh god… i just reread it and i wanna read it again already i feel sick i feel crazy

next, a longer fic that’s still not too long with a similar past and present format to mine, with more caspeter and !!!!!!! really good sibling interactions and grief. “keep the faith” by adrianicsea . i’m gonna be ill. it’s super super good and beautiful and the sequel is excellent too and edmund-centric. also edmund is trans and that is explored and !! so good. it’s an angsty character-study disguised as a caspeter fic. the author has a few other posted narnia fics but i don’t think ive read all of them yet…. but i bet they are amazing. definitely recommend checking them out.

and finally we got “our battle cry shall be: ‘at least our leader means well’” by paperclipbitch . mainly caspian-centric, got some caspeter, and goes thru caspian’s life and angst and issues. also deals with the bitterness between caspian and peter and explores their characters. very good

there were some other recs but i checked ur bookmarks before sending this and you had already bookmarked all of them!!

also i saw you posted a narnia fic while i was in the car on a long trip and when i tell you i YELLED. i was like “i need to read this” and my mom was like “girl you have a project due TOMORROW !!” and i was like. i knowwwww :( so anyway !!!! i looked at the summary and i can already tell it’s gonna fuck me up….. i’m so excited. wait for an incomprehensible comment. idk when bc im busy asf rn but like. watch out. sleep with one eye open etc etc

hope you like this fics if you read them!!!!! hope ur having a great day :D

omg hi hello how does it feel to be the person singlehandedly responsible for dragging me down into caspeter hell?

i have actually read that last fic there i believe but these other two ooo i'm making such eyes at them i can't wait til i've got a min to do some reading *rubs my hands together evilly* and ahem yeah i went through like the entire caspeter tag. it was a thing.

i hope you have fun whenever you do get to read the susan fic (so sorry about everything in advance) but you'll be pleased to know i am currently 7k strong into a proper caspeter fic as well right now so that'll be coming someday soon! so YOU sleep with one eye open etc etc ;)

thank u for the recs and for writing the fic ever <3 i sure am having a great day rn and i hope you are as well!

[magneticmage]

What are people's thoughts on a transgender Brosca or Aeducan?

Like we're told that Orzammar's caste system is based on one's same-sex caste, right? But, like, how complicated are someone's feelings towards their sex and how it differs from their preferred gender when the entire foundation of their culture is so sex segregated?

(Disclaimer; I'm cisgender so I'm not sure how to word all of this right without coming off as lacking understanding of nuances, accidentally coming off as rude and ignorant, or something, but I will do my best. Please be understanding that I am trying to NOT be rude, just might be a bit ignorant on phrasing things? Under a cut because it can be a bit ramble-y and maybe off-topic in some spots)

So transgender Brosca/Aeducan thoughts are hard to word, especially since I usually play my main ones as being cisgender, but even that is...a whole field of Thoughts.

Like I am aware that cisgender female Aeducan should actually be a different caste (probably some kind of noble or upper warrior caste, if I had to warrant a guess but your mileage may vary) than she is, but is considered functionally royalty in what probably amounts to no small part of her being her father's favorite child (because who cares about rules when your father is the king?). And that cisgender female Brosca is already defying some form of cultural expectation by being a casteless Carta thug rather than being a noble hunter like her sister Rica (nothing against Rica here, as I adore her, but Brosca not being one definitely seems to be a Choice, ya know?).

And if they are lesbian or any other orientation that isn't heterosexual, this also has added dimensions of its own as well. All of which is super interesting on how it comments on Orzammar society. Blah blah blah.

But like....what about transwoman Aeducan? Or transman Brosca?

Like how accepting is Orzammar society of such a thing? I'd assume not very much because of all the implications around potentially changing castes, which is socially frowned upon? Like it may not as big a deal for someone whose parents are roughly equal in terms of caste, but when there's a huge disparity between social ranks like, say, a noble lord and a servant caste mother? And, to digress slightly, it does make me wonder if some lower caste/casteless mothers have ever tried to pass off their assigned female children as sons, regardless of gender identity, all in hopes of a better life for their children. Like how Mary Reed's mom dressed her as a boy to keep getting money from her father's family. I mean, that's happened in our world to some extent as well. And how would someone whose intersex be viewed in this society? Do they just...like get to choose? Or is it a guess?

I don't have any answers.

Back to Brosca and Aeducan though.

How much does Trian's sexist comments about women being breeding flesh sting an Aeducan who views themself as a woman and choses to be one? Does their father most likely acknowledging them as his daughter publicly affect things? What about a Brosca that knows that their assigned sex at birth matching Kalah's is what cost them whatever caste their father was? How do they see those born the same sex as them that then go on to become noble-hunters wishing for a son, so their lives can get better? Does it make them angry or sad? Maybe a mixture of feelings?

Like I know that suffering and issues like these are not all that makes up a transperson's identity and I'm not saying it has to either. I know that some people face enough of these kinds of issues in the real world and would rather not have to deal with it in their video games and that's also okay. They can just decide their character is trans and not make it a big deal and that's a perfectly okay thing to do!

But I just...I have questions and am curious about how it might work in cases where they might want it to be a big deal? Is that a bad thing? That or maybe I worded things badly here or in a way that doesn't quite hit the mark because I'm not transgender?

If anyone else wants to weigh in here with their thoughts, like, please do? Or if there's better worded-meta out there, let me know because I'd love to read it.

Thanks for your time.

[thebumblingbee]

It’s late and I’m sick and grumpy so I’m gonna rant a bit.

You know what narrative that’s being pushed that I’m getting very sick of?

‘You survived trump before. A second trump term won’t kill you.’

Because that is so. blatantly. false.

I mean, unless you’re cis, white, able bodied, upper middle class, and in a firmly blue state. Then you’re probably fine. But the rest of us aren’t going to be.

There are a thousand points that can be made here, but I’m just going to touch on what’s relevant to my personal life.

1. Trans rights. We all know that the second trump takes office, it’s one of his missions to absolutely obliterate trans folks in whatever way he can. That’s going to start with stripping healthcare away from them. No more HRT. Which will kill people.

1b. Another thing people don’t think about that scares me shitless: billing codes for doctor appointments. If you don’t know, every time you go to the doctor they submit the bill to health insurance using billing codes. Oftentimes, if you talk at all about chronic conditions or have a diagnosis for one, that billing code will be submitted. If you have ever discussed trans healthcare with your doctor, your bill is likely being submitted with associated billing codes. If all healthcare associated with being trans is outlawed, it’s likely that your doctor appointments won’t be covered by insurance because they have that billing code. So that completely wipes out all healthcare for trans folks, even that isn’t HRT related.

2. Gay marriage, and specifically walking back protections. If something were to happen and marriages would be dissolved (and don’t come into my notes telling me it’s impossible. After Roe v Wade, anything is on the table), people would start losing health insurance. Including me, a person that is so disabled that I cannot work and get my own insurance through an employer. Losing my access to health insurance would actually, literally kill me. I cannot afford my treatments out of pocket. I would just get sicker and then die.

3. Also related to LGBTQ rights, the whole thing about taking children away from families because their parents are queer. The intention is to put these children into an overburdened, abusive system simply for the crime of their parents not being cishet. This will result in the deaths of many children and adults for a number of reasons.

4. This is already happening, but will get worse: all of the women who have died due to their basic right to reproductive healthcare being criminalized.

5. The sheer increase in violence being perpetrated by trump supporters against anybody that doesn’t look like them or think like them. I’ve literally been threatened with murder by a trump supporter neighbor because I’m queer. And the city I live in is liberal as hell.

And I am well aware that many of these things are happening to people all over the country already. I am so, so sorry to all of those who suffer so greatly already. But we are going to see this on a much larger scale if trump gets a second term in office.

So you don’t get to sit here and tell me I’m not allowed to be scared. That I’m overreacting. That I’m a shitty person. That I survived last time and will survive again. Because I, and those I love, more than likely will not.

Until you’ve sat awake in the middle of the night planning how you’re going to leave your home and seek asylum elsewhere, you don’t get to tell me to get over it. Until you’ve had to preemptively rehome pets to prepare to be able to not be in your house quickly, you have no right to belittle me. Until you’ve had to think about your child, who has only ever known your home and your love, getting taken away and having to live in a fucked up system, you don’t get to tell me to calm down.

I am so incredibly envious of those that get to vote purely based on morality, who don’t have to worry about their literal survival. I’m so glad that you get to feed into your own superiority complex while many of us are panicking about the very real consequences on our own futures. Because we have to care more about ourselves and our families. Because we have to give in to the fact that we can’t help everybody in the world in one fell swoop. Putting our oxygen masks on ourselves before others, if you will.

So please. The people telling you that not voting is a smart thing to do are being malicious. Even if you don’t vote in the presidential elections, vote for your local stuff. Because that’s how actual change is going to begin happening.