#isn't that what makes them role models for a culture??

[seventeendeer]

this isn't at all meant to be condescending or finger-waggy because 100% we all have blind spots like this, but I'm really, really hoping that the people who never found Gaiman's approach to his own fandom concerning in any way will take this all as a learning moment.

he was an older, hyper-famous author engaging directly and frequently with an online audience of largely vulnerable young marginalized people. he presented himself as cultured and worldly, and made himself approachable as someone to go to for advice, encouragement and "wisdom." his manner of speech was extremely pathos-heavy and clearly intended to be comforting and encouraging in exactly the way his target demographic needed it to be to swallow every word. the way he spoke about stories and creativity was designed to make young creative hopefuls feel special and important, while sweeping real analytical techniques under the rug - in hindsight, likely so no one would think too critically about the disturbing amount of patriarchal abuse played for cheap shock value and voyerism in his own body of works.

Gaiman saw a target demographic that was desperate for an older creative role model to tell them they were worth something, and he exploited that pain to twist a narrative around himself where he was king and any critique leveled at him or his works were the enemy.

to be clear, he could have been innocent. he could totally have been just an out-of-touch old man saying nice things to people because he wanted to be kind and he thought he was a lot smarter than he really was. red flags are warning signs, not a surefire way to tell if someone is actually "secretly shitty."

but if you used to look up to him, PLEASE take this moment to revisit the ideas you absorbed from him. did you take his words to heart because they seemed to have objective merit? or did you take them to heart because it felt good to believe what he said? do you still hold these values? does knowing he was intentionally manipulating his online audience make you less certain? do you need more information from a different source before deciding one way or another?

again, I'm just really, really hoping people on here will take a moment to reevaluate the ideas and opinions he's injected into tumblr fandom culture, because his reach is immense and he has absolutely been manipulating popular perception of relevant topics to gain further influence and control the narrative around both his own and Pratchett's legacy. please, please take this moment to notice what he's been doing - and next time someone tries to pull the same shit, hopefully we'll be able to apply what we've learned from experience.

[genderkoolaid]

hey, i don’t know if you know the answer to this, but from what ive seen on your blog you are really well informed about gender stuff. so i saw someone say that transmedicalism is inherently racist and ableist. i was under the impression that transmedicalism is just believing that you need dysphoria to be trans. how is that inherently racist and ableist? if you don’t know the answer that’s okay and i am sorry for bothering you

For the racism:

Transmedicalism is fundamentally based on a Western understanding of transness as a medical disorder. But throughout human cultures, the experience we label as "transness" is seen in a ton of different ways. Many of these do not place special emphasis on one's discomfort with their assigned gender role (assuming that concept is even applicable). On top of it being a generally problematic way of constructing transness, it isn't relevant to all trans people. Transmedicalism tends to be very exorsexist (not believing in nonbinary identity); this is obviously at odds with cultures that have always had gender identities outside of a strictly female/strictly male binary. Transmedicalism tends to be at odds with a culturally relativistic way of understanding transness because of its roots in the Western medical system, which views itself as objective and authoritative.

For the ableism, I'm not 100% what the person you saw's argument was exactly. But I have seen people make the argument that it is ableist because many people have disabilities that prevent them from accessing medical transition in various ways. Now, many transmeds are more concerned with people's desires than what they can feasibly attain; that being said, the way transmedicalism tends to manifest and the worldview it promotes means that everyone who isn't cis(het)-passing tends to be viewed with extreme suspicion. When you divide all trans people into "Real Transgenders" and "fakers who make us look bad," there's an impetus for everyone to constantly be monitoring others' and their own behavior for any signs of impurity. Which means people who can't afford medical transition, people who physically can't get it, people who don't want it, people who are gender-nonconforming (at least in the "wrong ways"), non-white and non-Western people who don't perform to white Western standards of gender... they all tend to be heavily scrutinized. Additionally, transness being medicalized means its subject to the ableism inherent to our medical system. Transness being a disorder means its seen as a problem in need of solving, as a disruption in need of re-aligning with the status quo.

On a more general note: transness-as-a-medical-condition undoubtedly emerged from cissexist views on transness & a desire to control trans people's minds and bodies to prevent us from meaningfully threatening the patriarchy. That doesn't mean anyone is wrong for feeling that is the best way to describe their transness. But as a model for transness in general, it has major flaws, has caused clear harm, and there are very good reasons for moving away from it.

[bayetea]

so you’ve mentioned before the trouble with frazel raising a child. BUT, what stuck in mind was you said they’d have conflicts with having a son and not a daughter.

what do you think would happen if frazel had a son?

what do you think would happen if frazel had a daughter?

so this is informed by my own analyses of frank's canon material and upbringing, but at the end of the day this is my own interpretation, so you don't have to take this as like a fact or anything!

but the crux of my thoughts on this subject boils down to this: frank didn't grow up with any male role models that we know of, positive or negative. his household has always been highly matriarchal, especially after emily went to war and he was left in the care of grandma zhang, who is stern and unforgiving and absolutely impossible for frank to relate to at all. in an ideal world "male" and "female" role models wouldn't be a significant distinction at all and positive role models of any gender would be equally accessible for all children - but realistically kids often prefer people that resemble them in some way (gender, race, ethnicity, etc) as such, and frank appears to have had no men to help him develop and navigate his masculine identity. we can also note that in western pop culture asian men are most dominantly represented in two forms: martial arts action movie heroes or... brainiac nerds. frank is neither. like I'm not gonna get into this much (because it's a big topic) but like we know how asian men are stereotyped as and deemed less than for being """less masculine""" in the west so I think that might be a thing to keep in mind when considering frank's feelings, i.e. why he might care more than others about his own masculine self-image

anyways, there's this one line from grandma zhang in son of neptune that I've always found very poignant, and honestly kind of chilling:

Men do not cry. Especially Zhang men. You will endure, Fai.

it isn't made 100% clear when exactly she said this in the books but I believe the implication was that she said this to frank during emily's funeral - which is fucking crazy lol. his mom just died and his grandma is pulling a "boys don't cry" on him. I can see that she just wanted him to be strong but the complete lack of tenderness during the worst time of his life and emphasis put on his expression of sadness as a detriment to his masculinity would make any young man feel like shit. we aren't given any insight as to how frank felt about this line specifically in this chapter but we do know that frank almost never pushes back against the things his grandmother says, because emily zhang is quoted as once saying to frank:

There is no arguing with Grandmother. It'll only make you suffer worse.

now the line "especially zhang men" was probably quite meaningless to frank in the moment because he did not care even a little bit about his family name or his chinese ancestry - and he certainly doesn't see himself upholding his grandmother's notions of what a zhang man is supposed to be, but a man in general? what's a young boy to think when he has no men, no male role models in his life and his grandmother is telling him that men don't cry? he has no grounds to push back against that. and I think this teaching is exacerbated heavily by frank going to camp jupiter, which appears to uphold the same general principle that showing weakness is unacceptable - not for men specifically (as far as we know), but validating that idea at all is just. not what I think frank needed to be hearing

funnily the first positive male role model that we know frank to have had is percy, who is slightly older than him - and frank immediately attaches himself to percy and likes and admires and respects him so so much. and although percy is put through the freaking wringer in son of neptune, frank doesn't ever actually see percy shed tears (percy does cry/almost sheds tears/gets emotional to the point of his voice breaking about twice in son, but both instances occur in front of hazel, not frank). the only time he really sees percy showing emotional weakness is the scene where he gets so freaked out by evil centaurs that he gets triggered and can't move - and that wasn't even a voluntary moment of vulnerability, he was legit triggered and got physically sick over it. I'm not gonna go so far as to claim that percy becomes frank's image of what an ideal man should be, but ehhhhh from the way frank talks about percy throughout hoo and especially son I don't think that would be the biggest reach either

and there are several bits and pieces throughout the books where frank expresses a desire to assume a role of conventionally masculine importance. I'm not gonna go to the trouble of singling out like all of them but here are three instances that I consider most noteworthy:

frank in son:

Whenever [Hazel] wanted something, he had the irrational urge to provide it. He wanted to be the old-fashioned knight riding to her rescue, which was stupid, as she was way more capable at everything than he was.

frank in son:

If he admitted how weak he was, that his whole life depended on a half-burned stick... Hazel would never see him as a hero. He'd never be her knight in armor.

frank in hoh:

Frank was so pleased to be holding [Hazel's] hand, [...] He felt needed--useful. Not that Hazel required his protection. [...] Still, Frank liked being next to her, imagining he was her bodyguard.

all these of these instances are specifically related to hazel, which I find significant - because they say something about how frank thinks he needs to be for a female romantic partner. like the first quote literally has him wanting to be a provider for her and the second has him fearful that if he appears weak (think about the "men don't cry" line) then he won't be good enough for her, so I don't think it's wrong to assume that frank still has some not great ideas in his head about the specific ways in which he needs to be a man. do you guys know those jokes about "the masculine urge to bleed out in the snow" or however it goes. frank retweets the shit out of that post every time he sees it and piper is in his dms like "are you okay???" /lh

furthermore we see frank really taking pride in himself as a son of mars towards the end of son when he's mouthing off against alcyoneus - and I think his godly parentage plays a role in this. mars is a highly "virile" god and considered the second most important deity in cj's roman pantheon. he's a highly significant figure in the roman mythos because he is considered the pater (father) of the romans, the father of romulus and remus from whom all romans are descended - aka the father of rome itself. so there's something inherently paternalistic about frank, the son of mars, assuming the role of co-praetor at camp jupiter. it's the ultimate fulfillment of his repeatedly expressed desire to be able to perform his masculinity in the specific way that he really wants to

and alllll of that is basically just to evidence that I don't think frank would be the sort of father who's going to parent his kids the exact same way regardless of gender. I think I see frank being tougher on his son (if he has a son) in the future than his daughter as a result. not to such an extreme that he would say terrible harsh things like "zhang men don't cry" to his own boy (I don't think he ever wants to make his kids feel the way his grandma made him feel) but just in little ways that build up over time

whereas if frank had a daughter, I think he's more likely to spoil and be lenient and extremely protective her. not necessarily to the point of sheltering her excessively or refusing to let her fight (i.e. I think he'd be happy if his daughter joined the legion or ever became a praetor herself) but just in the way of not having the same kind of, say, rigid masculine expectations that he might have of his own son

and like. I'm worried that my saying this might incur frank hate or whatever but I want to say clearly that I think he'd still be a good dad? good enough anyway. obviously it would be great if frank could unlearn some of this and care less about gender norms but the books kind of just... put all of this stuff on the table and don't resolve/address it meaningfully so I'm just working with what we've got. hilariously despite being from the 1930s I think hazel would be more evenhanded towards their kids regardless of gender so I can totally see this being a thing that they clash over in the future. not in a relationship-ruining way but just as an add-on to the issues they'd have as parents that I mentioned in my other ridiculously long post on frazel child-rearing lol

(and if their kid is neither a girl nor a boy then I think frank would be a little confused lol but still highly supportive and willing to learn)

[lilderitter]

Hi Lil! Since you mentioned you worked on Tyril’s route - do you have any extra info to share about the year he spent searching for MC? Or just about their relationship in general? 👀

Hello! Just a reminder that this answer isn't the offiicial word, it's just the understanding I was personally working with while writing material for Blades 2 & 3. Anyhoo let's go! I'm actually going to hijack this very intriguing ask for a second to clarify something that I think didn't fully end up being clear in Blades 2. All of the core four (our original four party members) did spend the majority of the year looking for MC. They just didn't agree on how to do it and they didn't agree on predicted outcomes. Personally, I always went with the idea that the whole group tomb raided together (hence Imtura and Mal's tarred and feathered tomb trap story at the bathhouse) until Imtura started to lose hope and pointed out that Mal seemed suicidal so putting him next to death traps may not be the best idea. When Mal denied it and no one agreed with her, Imtura and Nia said some very unkind things to each other (as detailed in their dual premium toward the end of Book 3) and Imtura left the group and turned to alcoholism. Nia, Tyril, and Kade (and the nesper(s) depending on how many you have) did notice that something was off with Mal but didn't exactly know how to talk about it because of how Mal had reacted in the first place, so they decided to kind of subtly "suggest" a project to Mal that would help tie him to the world other than the search. Nia tried to model this notion of doing what MC would want them to do by taking a larger role in the church, so Mal began to multitask as well. Mal and Nia were still supporting Tyril's searching/tomb raiding (and sometimes adventured together), it's just that it was a matter of keeping Mal tethered at the same time, because keeping the group together was a big part of making sure MC had something to come back to, and since none of the core four had significant leadership experience aside from the now absent Imtura, they were having to figure out a lot as they went along, all while internally feeling guilty about taking "MC's role" and doing it badly beside.

Sorry that went a bit long, but I think it's important context.

Tyril's "lost" year was kind of a bizarro version of his search for vengeance for Kaya. The poem I shared was about his struggle to describe MC because he really does get overwhelmed thinking about them, especially as time goes on. (In my mind, Tyril is always in love with MC, regardless of whether he's being romanced or not. He's just really respectful of your friendship so he follows your lead on whether to act on it.) Anyway, when he mentioned the problem to Kade, Kade said it sounded like a a problem a poet would have. Tyril always liked reading poetry (it's somethin he shared with his Kilma), so he nervously decided to try it. But we all know Tyril is a perfectionist and really struggles with nuance so he felt that everything he was working on was terrible and not worthy of MC. It also doesn't really help that Kade was so excited to "talk shop" with another writer that he kind of gave Tyril workshop style feedback when he wasn't ready to hear it. (As brilliant and articulate as Kade is, in many ways because of his childhood illness he's a bit of a "homeschool kid." It always warms my heart to see him be so popular at the bars in Whitetower because he kind of had a fresh start with them.)

I think it's also at this time that Tyril really realizes how similar he and Sarenya are, and he kind of has to work through his feelings about whether his father was cruel to have seemingly never addressed the difference in their desires for physical intimacy. (For what it's worth, I think Sarenya never would have brought this up to Valir. There's too much shame surrounding it. There's a lot of not-talking in Elven culture despite them being so verbose. Hopefully she continues to work through that because the revolution is a nice start on undoing that social programming.)

The last thing I'll say since this is getting long is that in D&D parlance, I've always thought of Tyril as a paladin. Before he meets MC, he's a paladin of vengeance/The Light, but he begins to see himself as a paladin of MC in the year they're gone (which is where we get all the "celestial, god(dess) " language in the route.) As you might imagine, this notion would be sacrilegious as hell in Elven society, so he gets very defensive of the Elves/Empire out of guilt as well as working through standard cultural hegemony. He already knows he's a "bad Elf" so he overcompensates. Meeting Ittar and Bakshi is so complicated for him, I think, because on one hand, he sees himself in them so strongly, but the idea that he could have that kind of falling out with MC absolutely terrifies him.

Also, Tyril and Nia are the only true "switches" in the sexual sense in the party I think. Imtura's a dom, Mal is a sub (lovedddd working on that ropeplay premium for him let me tell you), and Valax and Aerin are still kind of working it out since they're so inexperienced.

Hopefully that all makes sense and again this was just where I personally was writing from, not PB canon.

[mswyrr]

People are very confused by femmes, aren't they? A femme girl who dreams of being another girl's wife is being very queer. Her femininity and desire to act as a lady wife isn't an object for anyone's use (as Otto and Viserys treated it), it's an expression of herself and her desire. It ought to be a source of pleasure for her, with the girl (or person of another gender) she loves, not a duty or obligation where she has to pour that out for just anyone. (Like Otto and Viserys treated it).

It is the difference between singing because you're happy and singing because someone is pointing a gun at you. "But you're a singer, you can do it and even like it, so why does it matter if you're being forced to or not?" Of course it matters! The context is everything. A woman who can enjoy being feminine and loving in a wifely way doesn't owe that to everyone; she should have the freedom to do it in ways that give her pleasure and satisfaction. Forcing her to do it when she doesn't want to--to be the lady wife of a gross old man when she wanted to be his daughter's wife--is a violation.

When thinking about queer women, people need to dismantle a whole lot of baggage heteropatriarchy has given them about what these feelings and roles have to mean - dismantle the rigidity and the idea that femininity is an object for use vs. a form of personal *expression*. This dismantling is something that needs to be done re: feminine straight women too, of course. (And the idea that straight women owe people femininity is nonsense: sexuality, gender, and gender expression are distinct things in a Venn diagram with each other).

A femme queer girl is just as radically queer (and whenever women do not accept their interpersonal femininity, feminine ways of loving, and their bodies as an object of use vs a cite of their own pleasure and expression that is inherently radical) as a futch or butch or etc queer girl.

Sure, a homophobe like Criston can look at Alicent and see a "normal woman" because she's feminine and assume that her love for Rhaenyra is due to Rhaenyra being the "unnatural woman" who "intoxicated" her... but that's because he's a homophobe who doesn't know wtf he's saying. His entire culture has trained him to be completely incapable of seeing what is right in front of his eyes.

The fact that huge swaths of modern day fandom truly aren't capable of comprehending queerness better than Criston Cole really makes me think about how shallow acceptance for queer people actually is. It's disheartening, to say the least.

People seem completely unaware, for example, of the "queer second adolescence" and how young and immature parts of a person can be until they get to come out and actually live as who they truly are vs who they've been forced to pretend to be? Which is why Alicent and Rhaenyra both act so young around each other in the Sept scene and finale scene...

There's also imo "split attraction" model at work here, where there's questions around what exactly their canon genders and sexualities are (beyond the fact that both are clearly queer!). But it's achingly obvious that they wanted each other desperately as girls and that Rhaenyra, in particular, has a special place in her heart for a homoromantic love of femme women like Alicent and Mysaria.

The whole season--from Criston and Aemond's conversation about how Alicent "holds love for the enemy" [where Criston plainly says Rhaenyra "intoxicated" Alicent!!] on to all the symbolism between them and the explicit (gay kiss with Mysaria!) and implicit (complex gender feels) stuff with Rhaenyra--is about how queer they are - canonically - and it all leads up to their final scene. People can disagree on how well that was executed. But it is a clear arc, developed throughout the season, and a valid artistic choice. And part of the problem with how a lot of people are "reading" the season is that they blankly refuse to see it. And once they do see it, they hate it and think it's an invalid artistic choice! But it's really not inherently invalid. It's simply not to some peoples' taste. Those are different things.

[sykeboy]

It's time to talk about the moms

With last week's and today's episode we got a good look at the different ways in which the moms reacted to the news that their daughters are in love w each other so lets take a peek shall we

I will start with this picture of our lovely lady Uang

On patriarcal societies the women are in charge of the reproductive labor which not only means giving birth but also to educate children on how to fall in line with the satus quo, women serve the patriarchy by teaching their children to follow it's rules. We are social engineers, we take care of the social events, the family gatherings, home related issues, etc.

We can see this throughout the series, the women are preparing the food, the ceremonies, they're taking care of their children, their husbands and each other. AND they're making sure the men's wishes are fullfilled: mostly we've seen this in terms of preparing their daughters to be married off to whomever their fathers or another man (Kuea for example) wishes

This is alienating for women because we reproduct a social order that causes us direct harm so in a way we are taught to hate ourselves

Now on to the moms

Patt reacts in an a very violent way, she lashes out at Pin for not abstaining herself from her dessires cause a woman is not suppossed to act on her own wishes according to Patt and to society

Aunt Patt has a lot of internalized shame and she thinks Pin should too. This is related to 3 factors: class, gender and sexuality

The one that seem to be closer to the surface for her is the one related to class. Patt is also adopted, she is the og Loyal Pin, she feels overly indebted to the royal family. She is also literally their servant, she serves them with her reproductive labor (as I explained it before), she is the beacon of womanhood, and she has taught Pin to be the same as her

So when Pin falls out of line this triggers her own unresolved issues. Patt must have been really troubled by her feelings towards Im, they go against all she believes in. She has learned that she is inferior, that she should be grateful for what she has and not to wish for more

Patt believes -as Pin does cause she thaught her- that sacrifice is the way in which a woman can gain some sense of control in a society that takes away our right to choose. This is a self fullfilling prophecy, one gives up on one's destiny and that gives you a false sense of control

Alissa on the other hand is not so present on Anin's life (and her father doesn't seem to be either), I would argue that this is one of the reasons why Anin is not so lady like, cause she's been said to be raised by her brother so she didn't have such a prevalent feminine role model

Anyways, this might have actually given her a little advantage in the sense that she had more freedom to figure her own identity out

Alissa is very surprised and afraid when Anin comes out, she is adamant on sticking to thai customs and rules. And she reminds Anin that her marrying another woman simply has no place in their context AND she reminds her that se must marry someone OF HER OWN RANK, just like Patt reminded Pin

Alissa isn't rude to Anin, she seems to tackle the issue in a very matter of factly manner, she even goes to keep her company every night after Anin moves back to the palace

Alissa also seems to be particularly worried about mantaining the monarchy intact and therefore, the social and cultural structure. She even tells Anin what worries her most is her potentially giving up her title

Once again, the moms roles in all of this are mainly related to those dictated by the reproductive labor that they must perform for the patriarchy, and today's episode is a constant reminder of that, not just for the moms but for all of our girls 😢

[bylrray]

My take on lesbyler (as someone who's been yurify-ing alot of mlm ships since ages) bcs I'm bored and we're out of content so

When it comes to genderbending characters, I think the main question is: do we want to keep the original personality intact, or focus more on replicating their character arc exactly?

For me, the appeal of genderbending is seeing the same character—their traits, quirks, and essence—expressed through a different gender. That’s why I tend to prioritize personality over arc when I explore it.

With Will, part of what makes his canon self stand out is how emotionally open and sensitive he is—traits often seen as traditionally feminine in boys. So in a genderbent version, the natural counterpart to that would be a girl who's similarly soft, expressive, and artistic.

I absolutely respect butch!Willow interpretations, and they can be super cool! But for me personally, it would honestly feel like a different character entirely—almost like turning him into someone else, like Robin. To keep that “nonconforming” arc, I like imagining Willow still being into D&D and other interests that might clash with her father’s more conservative expectations of a daughter.

And maybe, because of the Byers’ financial situation, she ends up wearing Jonathan’s clothes—especially if Jonathan's a girl with a more tomboyish style. But Willow would still wear them in her own way, adding her own gentle or feminine touch. I imagined Jonathan as a girl that'd 100% be a masc girl since she would be defending her sister from their father— or mother if we were going full genderbend.

Same goes for Mike. I’ve seen femme versions of a genderbent Mike (Michelle), and while that’s totally valid, it doesn’t quite click for me. Mike’s personality is traditionally masculine—he’s intense, outspoken, impulsive, and a little bratty. Those traits can absolutely belong to a femme girl too, but then again.. isn't that just Nancy’s vibe?, which changes the family dynamic.

In canon, Mike is the rebellious one, the “problem child.” So if he were a girl, I can’t see her just conforming to Karen’s expectations or becoming another “perfect daughter.” I can imagine Michelle trying to present more femininely at times—maybe to impress a crush like El, or to feel more accepted—but deep down, I think she’d land in a more tomboyish or butch space that feels true to her.

That dynamic also fits really well with her bond with Eddie. Mike’s look in season 4 isn’t nonconforming because it’s feminine—it’s because it pulls from alternative, metalhead culture. Genderbent Eddie as a butch girl would make an amazing role model for Michelle.

That said, everyone’s interpretation is valid! If someone sees Willow as butch or Michelle as femme, that’s totally cool. This is just the take that feels the most true to the original characters to me.

[camcat1320]

Dang it, Shakespeare!

This man's plays of old hath dost inspired me so yet again. I weep at the thought of the pain my characters will experience therein.

I'd like to start by saying the characters in the ATLA comics lack depth and complexity. Ursa and Ikem (later Noren) are made too perfect. This makes the characters feel more like cardboard rather than a multifaceted human people could relate to. Initially, I was just going to follow suit in my writing. However after watching Othello, it has inspired me to give them more depth and complexity.

In my fanfiction, "Book 4: Air, the Missing Element", I intend to redesign Ikem/Noren and Kiyi to be BIPOC, drawing inspiration from Malagasy culture. This decision was made prior to me watching Othello.

In a previous post, I had mentioned that I had thought to make them also deaf and/or mute for intersectional representation. However, I have redacted this decision. I do not wish to make my only recurring BIPOC characters to have no voice and unintentionally perpetuate a negative societal message.

The relationship of Ikem and Ursa reminds me of Katherine Parr, the 6th wife of Henry VIII. Katherine had loved a man and wished to wed him, however, the king came along proposing marriage and Katherine had no choice in the matter. Upon Henry's death, she returned to her previous love and married him. Katherine's characterization in SIX the Musical is inspiring for my rendition of Ursa, being an advocate for female education and equality.

Wait, isn't this supposed to be about Shakespeare?

Yes, I'm getting to that. I had recently watched Othello by William Shakespeare hoping to gather inspiration for my writing. The main characters Othello and Desdemona are a interracial couple, similar for my intentions for Ursa and Ikem/Noren.

In the play, Othello's jealousy and insecurity drives him to villainy and tragedy. However, in my writing, I'd like for Ikem/Noren to overcome his inner turmoil by communicating with Ursa. This would provide positive role modeling to my audience on overcoming jealousy and insecurity.

This drama would also serve double as a cautionary tale or foreshadow for what is to come for Aang, Katara, and Zuko.

Rather than overcoming jealousy, Aang would fall prey to it, sending him spiralling down a dark path.

Now, I must take my leave before I venture into a rambling tangent.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

i dont think most people (on here anyway) try to argue that shit about transfems for biological reasons? usually it has more to do with people believing in gendered socialization, which you refer to believing in in your own post ("men arent taught to treat women with respect") like also that's the exact logic people use to argue that transfems are dangerous because they were "raised as boys" lmao. men suck bc they have privilege and power. even a good man can exploit that. its the whole problem

The issue here is that the brush being used here is bioessentialist. Yes, transfems do grow up being taught about how gender is ordered in society, but we all do. That teaching is not someone sitting down and giving you "the male talk" or "the female talk" for your entire life. It's passively taught through exposure to media, to the news, to the words of people in power. We all internalize it: this is part of how women can end up defending and sustaining patriarchy.

This gets very strange when we start talking about the trans experience, because a lot of people did not grow up in life being the type of guy with access to that privilege in power, and once you become transfem, you lose access to that privilege in its entirety. The point here, essentially, is a rebuttal of the idea that because transfems may still grow up as "sissy" men, they are complicit after they come out.

Transmascs are, however, capable of being admitted to that privilege and power. The nuance here is, obviously, that access to that privilege is very conditional on that transmasc's proximity to idea white supremacist ideals of masculinity. Many of them do just flatly fail at this. This is, as something I've said before, something that transfems are just flatly denied.

This is what I mean by the brush is bioessentialist: it refuses to see the ways in which we are all socialized into being taught how gender roles work in society, and instead a heavy focus is spent on the childhood and adolescence of transfems: a time in which even if they knew they were transfem, they often don't have the autonomy to express it. The importance is placed on their AGAB over anything else. It's bad!

In conclusion, and since this was supposed to be a tl;dr that exploded into multiple paragraphs: Gendered socialization as a primary societal force is a myth (and, it really should be stated here, a TERF myth). While there is a ton of socialization on how society should be ordered, the proper place of men and women, and what not, the ways in which society and culture reaffirm patriarchy, everyone learns them. You don't get tradwife accounts on tiktok without that. We should, and it is in fact a duty, challenge those patriarchal norms at every step.

Since everyone ultimately internalizes the tenants of misogyny, much like how racism is internalized by everyone in turn, you need another model to actually discuss this phenomenon: and it is as you say, the model of privilege and power is far more relevant than any other. I don't think everyone gets it right, and there is a tendency in frustration to overgeneralize, but this is ultimately what I was getting at. Men have access to more power and privilege than women do: this is consistent among pretty much every marginalized group, although that marginalization is also really important and shouldn't be discounted (black men's pay, for example, is constantly under white men's and often under white women's as well.) Trans men ultimately have the shakiest claims, but it is present, especially with white trans men who pass well. This isn't even going into the invisible privileges that exist in the world, privileges that are subconscious and exist regardless of the person ever knowing your face. The fact that having "a guy name" tends to get you treated better and makes it more likely you get taken seriously is a big one.

We ultimately cannot get actual equity in society without tackling the messaging that men, as some divine (very often Christian) providence, are entitled to those things in life.

[grossdyke]

ok so now i can't stop thinking about lesbian effiemonty... buckle up..

they meet at a pride parade in the 80s, mid aids crisis. monty is a butch and/or masc lesbian, a few years older than effie, maybe twenty five years old. effie is a desi femme lesbian, maybe twenty one years old. it's lust at first sight, and eventually it's love

they fall in love when it's still very difficult to be in love as lesbians. arguably still is, but you get it... they're both heavily involved in the british lesbian scene. they organize marches, volonteer at pride, volonteer at lesbian youth hotlines, heavily involved during the aids crisis, etc.

they're young, and being lesbians is their entire identity. fighting against their oppressors, truly the angry lesbian stereotype x100. they're young and have all the time in the world to rebel and fight the system. nothing else matters, them against the world type beat

it's such a passionate relationship, nothing exists outside of the two of them and their chosen family. on good days they even manage to forget the world outside of the lesbian bubble they've created. they even live in a lesbian/queer housing with like seven other roommates

this is the happiest point of their lives, and it all goes down-hill the older they get. the more the world changes. the more they let the outside world in

monty comes from a priveliged household, and even if her parents don't necessarily understand/or believe in 'the homosexual life-style' they never disown monty. they see it as montys rebellious phase, something she'll grow out of eventually. and the sad thing is... monty sort of does. she doesn't stop being a lesbian, but she sort of grows out of the lesbian culture/life-style

montys father offers her a job (at sleekeazy's ??) and monty takes it. she wants to provide for effie, and for her community. (<- sidenote, lesbians with successful jobs/good pay used to give a portion of it to their communities. and that's monty's intention at first, too.)

this eventually allows monty to buy her own house, and so monty and effie move out of the collective. they're very excited about it, to live together just the two of them. they have no intention to separate themselves from their lesbian community because of this.

but sadly, that's what happens. and they move to a bigger house, and they grow older, and then an even bigger house, and monty is busy at work, and effie eventually finds a job she likes, too. and she doesn't have as much time to volonteer. they start discussing marriage and children as they start assimilate themselves more and more with their heterosexual peers that have gradually increased as their lesbian circles have started to decrease. they hadn't even realised this was happening

like. there are no lesbian or homosexual role models at this point. there still, today, isn't really that many homosexual role models. gay rights is still new and most of us are making it up as we go. and monty and effie met in the 80s, during the aids crisis, and without almost any homosexual role models. what else is there to do than follow the only rules you know? you fall in love, get married and have children- especially now that gay people are finally allowed to have those things

so they fall into heterosexual roles. monty becomes the provider with a successful job and effie becomes the housewife type making dinner and cleaning the house. they have james, and they love him more than anything in the world while at the same time they start resenting each other for what they've become. even if they don't have the words to express it. even if they don't know what else they even could've been

they create the very picture of a happy family, assimilating with the nuclear family ideals. in their neighborhood monty becomes one of the guys, effie one of the girls. they're 'good' lesbians, constantly teaming up with their oppressors and getting their approval. they used to love being lesbians, but now the reminder makes them anxious. they stick out like sore thumbs in their neighborhood, will always be the 'lesbian neighbors' but atleast their peers will chuckle with them and say 'if only all homosexuals were normal like you two' as if this is a compliment. as if they're not saying 'you're not freaks like those other ones'. effie and monty feel constantly feel like traitors, like imposters.

so they both end up having affairs. they both find their way back to their roots, their beginnings, but not together. they're too far gone currently and they don't know how to talk to each other anymore if they're not talking about james. they don't trust each other anymore, not with themselves and their unhappiness. they've both grown into their anti-selves, and they both blame each other for this. so they have affairs, finding their way back to lesbianism and finding their way back to themselves. honestly, something they need to to separately in my opinion because they changed into who they became together. so they sort of need to go back on their own before facing each other.

and they DO face each other. they both come clean about their affairs eventually. they both come clean about their resentment. they both sit down together and just talk. when they're ready, they'll talk- and they find their way back to each other. they forgive each other and themselves. it takes a long time to find their way back to each other, but they do. they put in the work, because they love each other, and because they only ever wanted to be together. it's not their fault that they didn't know how to. and they acknowledge that. and to be perfectly honest, i think the people they had affairs with end up becoming lifelong friends of theirs. which is ALSO a sign of them finding their way back to lesbian circles/lesbian culture, which differs so drastically from heterosexual culture/life-style/views on monogamy and possessiveness

and monty quits her job, finds something else. they move to a different house, something that isn't as close to the heterosexual suburbs vibes. effie finds a job she likes. they slowly unlearn the heterosexual roles they fell into. they raise james and they love him. they reconnect with their lesbian friends and james gets a million aunts and uncles. they start volonteering together as often as they can. monty's parents are disappointed in her but she threatens that they wont get to see james if they don't drop it, so they do.

THEY COME BACK TOGETHER......... against all odds, they come back together… lesbians WIN

[emeraldspiral]

Those polls about if Zim and Dib would be good parents, made me wonder, would they be able to rise a child together? Let's think the kid is a mix of human and Irken, Dib is at least 30 and Zim too but in Irken years.

I think Dib would feel an obligation to look out for any child in Zim's care whether it was his or not. Like, even if they were just friends or still enemies Dib would want to butt-in and intervene on the child's behalf because he's got that Messiah complex he inherited from his dad and feels like he has to take responsibility for everyone's problems.

Even if Zim has some nurturing instincts he comes from a culture where parenting is a foreign concept. Like, Irkens are born already capable of fending for themselves for the most part so they don't need a caretaker and childhood for them pretty much just consists of job training. There's no concept of like, children needing toys or art supplies or playgrounds to provide stimulating enrichment or needing attention and emotional validation and touch or needing a role model to teach them morals and appropriate behavior. He would be totally clueless about how to take care of a kid beyond just plopping them in front of the TV or indulging their tantrums over toys and tacos to get them to shut up like he does with GIR. But he would have the same unwarranted over-confidence he approaches everything with and would refuse to read any parenting books and just assume he'll know what to do through pure genius instinct.

Dib would drive him crazy with unsolicited advice like:

"Zim! You can't leave the baby unattended! Especially not locked inside the Voot on a hot summer day!"

"Zim, yelling isn't going to make the baby stop crying. You need to figure out why it's crying. Have you tried burping it?"

"Zim, you've been in your lab working on your latest evil death machine for 76 hours and you missed your son's softball game. You really need to cut back on work and spend more quality time with him. If you don't make the effort to show him that he's important to you, he's going to start thinking that you don't care about him at all. That his feelings don't matter and he's unworthy of love. He'll start acting out just to get some attention, even if it's negative, and let other people treat him like trash because he doesn't think he deserves better. And sooner or later, he'll realize that you're the root cause of all his self-esteem issues and he's going to resent you for it and if you're still too self-absorbed to let go of your ego and your pride and apologize and try to do better, he's going to stop speaking to you and leave you to die alone in some shitty nursing home.”

The only difference if they're a couple and co-parenting is that Dib would be a little more gentle and tactful with his advice and Zim would be more open to listening and trying to better himself (and unpacking the effects his own upbringing had on him which he doesn't want to repeat with his offspring).

[bloobluebloo]

I really do see Ganondorf to be quite queer in his masculinity, be it cis or not, and frankly I don't think he follows any standards but himself, I do think he considers himself masculine but he doesn't allign himself with other cultures masculinity or what even Gerudo may see as masculine currently, very purposefully and he makes this quite clear.

I think this is some projecting as a butch trans man myself I imagine Ganondorf's situation a bit adjacent to mine that it is hard to relate to my so called own people, the lgbt community, even other south east asian queers, when masculinity is very tied to one idea that favours whiteness, when I as a man favour gold.

I think Ganondorf perhaps looking into history of what masculinity and all manner of men looked like he quite realized these standards always fluctuated , what would be considered contradictions at once would be considered normal a few years later. Trying to find perhaps a model to reference, he realized he wanted to reference what his heart desires soley.

and I think at that point he really took masculinity for himself and created his own standards. He doesn't fear from taking things that are traditionally feminine or being percieved as such either, he thinks why should masculinity exclude beauty anyways, why should he wait a thousand years for the trends to change when he could set them himself, if it can be one way to another, it can be another to him.

He didn't shy from calling this quite queer and I guess that's where being butch comes in, it's not just his expression, but it is his mind, and experience. It'd be an expansive masculinity essentially, rather than a list of rules and norms, its was as vast and queer as the ocean.

Like in my head in my ocxcanon world I thought a younger Ganondorf dressed what would be considered feminine, though a few oddities, I think he was considered extravagant even for a king, so outsiders may not have recognized him as the king of gerudo at the time. This was merely cause he enjoyed dressing that way at the time and thats what he considered masculine to him personally, if it was satisfying to his heart.

He was truly a shameless man who'd laugh off anyones confusion and just say call it what you want, it wouldn't change his heart.

YES. I've always argued that Ganondorf, as he is, cannot fit the standards of what one considers traditional masculinity or heteronormativity. For Ganondorf, being a man and a Gerudo simply means he was born a king. After all, the Gerudo fill all roles that their society needs to thrive. They are mothers, merchants, architects, engineers, archers, warriors, chiefs, business owners, aka there is really nothing that they are bared from doing on the basis of gender because that concept simply does not exist. If he decides to wear makeup, or paint his nails, or wear whatever he wants, or deck himself out in jewelry, it is as Gerudo to him as being a proficient warrior. I personally imagine that he would study what voe outside the desert are like as a matter as being a king of a nation and understanding how to interact with them, but I don't think being a man is very important to Ganondorf. If you see him and respect him as a king then that is about as much as he expects from anyone in regards to his gender. He most certainly isn't interested in fitting in with other men.

[blood-orange-juice]

About Childe and his weird gender again, expanding on this post.

I think it has a lot to do with how gender is constructed. Male gender has very clear-cut prescriptions, mostly it's everything that is considered "good" or "human" in current culture. The expectations it places on a person may not be realistic or achievable but they are very clear. Great importance is also placed on separating itself from Everything Female. Things That Are Too Much. Things that break the current culture meaning-making procedures.

Women, while having quite a few prescriptions of their own, also deal with whatever falls through the cracks. Someone needs to ensure the world still functions and reality is never completely covered by whatever official model of the world we currently have.

So women deal with the things men have the luxury not to notice. Mostly bodily and psychological aspects and societal injustice that are not supposed to exist in the ideal picture of society men have imagined. (to be fair, it happens to anyone oppressed and othered. the task of not letting the oppressors meet with reality is delegated to them. I'm just talking about women specifically in this post. but there's a reason oppressed minorities always have ties to supernatural in folklore)

In a way, feminine women are very scary. Walking semiotic horrors.

And I explain all this to say that Childe can be perceived as feminine in two ways.

First, with his disregard for all and any societal norms he just doesn't follow the normal gender prescriptions. He plays a superhero/knight role because it's shiny and it reminds him of the stories he loved as a kid. He doesn't suppress his love for his family because it brings him joy. He looks pretty because looks are a weapon too. He does all these things that would be either stereotypically masculine or painfully unmasculine for anyone else who cares about what society thinks, but he doesn't really see any difference between them. He truly, genuinely doesn't care what others think.

Second, he's also painfully aware of the dark and insane parts of the universe everyone else has the luxury to ignore. He also knows no one cares so he dances around the things a normal guy would never have to deal with (it's such a stereotypical female experience. sometimes I wonder if that's why women rarely like Lovecraft. his brand of scary isn't scary or exciting to them, it's just Tuesday).

But that's just our perception, a trick of light. These are not necessarily gendered.

He also gives an impression of someone extremely vulnerable, yes, but I don't think he handles his vulnerability in a feminine way. He just doesn't hide it and we are used to labeling everything vulnerable as feminine.

He also doesn't really do anything feminine-labeled in a characteristic female way. He isn't really in contact with his emotions (despite having a lot of them), him caring about people takes the form of "protector and provider". his cooking... have you seen his cooking? He doesn't look for support and doesn't try to build things that last. He's self-sacrificing in a very male way too. Because he was there and because he could and because it's a cool thing to do.

So he's just that. Himself. Someone outside of gender.

(or rather his gender is knightcore)

If we perceive him as feminine it says more about how our culture perceives gender than about who Childe is.

Also, quoting my previous post, it's a part of him being full of contradictions. For every thing that he does he also does the exact opposite, and this holds for gender too.

Yes he lives the male power fantasy. He also does it in an incredibly feminine way. I think this was Hoyo's original intention and then it blossomed into this human disaster we see.

And to end up on a joke, surely you all have seen that leaked art that is theorised to be Skirk but could have also been an early design of Childe before Hoyo decided to make him a guy.

[osakanone]

Would you amputate my limbs while I screamed for you to stop and shove me in a mech pilot “training” pod

Technically, no. Obviously, yes...?

I don't operate in an SEZ, so I don't get to waive your rights:

That's your job.

Your limbs in question would be cuffed, removed, carted off to be bio-supported for the duration of any such training in prep for restoration post-removal.

This is of course in conjunction with a formal contract drawn up, which defaults to you getting the limbs back or equivalent compensation if you don't present me with enthusiastic consent within three months or less.

That said...

Given the sheer amount of stuff you've signed to let us pump your nervous-system with...

The pattern/depattern training of your nervous-system retraining all of your associative responses... What makes you turn your head... What gets you excited, what gets your blood pumping...

The cultured augmentation of your default mode network... The kinds of things you dream about... The way you feel about fear on a fundamental level... (death-fetishization isn't uncommon, but this kind of reward-hacking is undesirable for obvious reasons).

This of course usually requires a traumatic event for maximum effect.

Essentially, that you start calling your concept of body into question keeps the mind nimble and flowing, which is why you're not out for the detachment procedure.

The affected areas are:

intraperital region (back of your head),

basal ganglia (right in the middle through the ear),

presupplementary motor area (up top toward the front),

premotor cortex (Same again),

and cerebellum connecting them together.

I've heard the recovery of the procedure described as that pleasant drunken feeling during high altitude, with a deep dread knowing something is wrong as all your bits are doggie-bagged up, sprayed down and then put in the preservation tank for later.

A paralytic agent is obviously helpful here, but in theory, we do kind of need you awake for some elements of the keyhole micro-craniotomy and follow-up cell conditioning so you're wide awake and physical for the whole procedure.

I genuinely don't think you're capable of not giving enthusiastic consent, and the numbers back that up.

What you won't see in the brochure is that the contract is largely a formality, which I'm not really supposed to tell you but you did ask nicely.

Technically you power of attorney returns to you after the first 90 days of intrasystem training, and you get the final say.

So many have insisted they have the willpower to know if they do or not.

That they'd be different, or special or beat the training some how.

Some are excited they can get a few free adaptations, or think they're setup for a future career as a freelancer with a full kitout.

A few even bet their debts on it.

In theory, you absoloutely have the opportunity to say no...

But reality doesn't work out that way.

This is of course assuming you weren't sold to us, or that you aren't being recycled as part of population management of a colony somewhere.

So, I'm guessing you have questions about the procedure or the pod?

The pod and attachment is pretty bog standard stuff.

Zygomatic projector (a fancy laser which draws pictures on your retina, attached to your cheekbones).

DARYL-cuff-stump attachment model

Infared braincell attachment for read

Writeback with bio-radio cellular response for cognitive monitoring

A nice tight shock harness suit with vacuum seal, and G-force compression.

Any further specialization tends based on whatever role you're spec'd for.

For the record, no I don't have any long-term bio-storage for anything we'd remove from you. We did for a long time, but it sat unused, so we just increased our uptake rate to make use of them.

Look forward to hearing from you.

[sanrielle]

I've been thinking a lot about Katara and her feminism vs. her desire to preserve her dying culture. Like I know that the SWT probably isn't as sexist as the NWT, but there are still a lot of enduring practices that have roots in patriarchy, as demonstrated by Sokka's earlier sexism.

So I think Katara would end up with an odd mix. She's obviously a staunch feminist who thinks girls and women should follow their own paths, regardless of what society in general thinks their roles should be. But at the same time, she can't escape from some of the subtler (and possibly more insidious) traditions of 'propriety' and the role of women as the homemakers.

[Obligatory disclaimer that I don't know that much about Inuit culture when it comes to these things. I'm purely basing this off of what is shown in the cartoon itself.]

Something that kinda goes along with this is Katara's necklace. To her, it's a symbol of her grandmother's struggle for independence, as well as a memento of her mother and the sacrificial love she displayed. In the NWT, it represented (at best) a romantic commitment and (at worst) a transfer of property. I don't think she'd associate hers with either, and she'd probably be insulted if Aang tried to give her a new one when proposing.

(I maintain that the necklace she wears as an old lady is the same one she had in childhood. The fact that it looks wonky in that one screenshot is nothing more than lackluster rendering.)

Anyway, I've gone a little off topic. I just think she's a really interesting study in how someone can rail against the negative parts of their culture that don't appeal to them, while also having an internalized fondness for some of those same traditions, simply because they are familiar and nostalgic.

Take Toph for contrast. I don't think she's the butch anti-feminine person a lot of people make her out to be. She just does what she wants. She's perfectly happy to go to the spa or wear dresses and makeup, but only if it's her choice to do so. She's railing against the repressive and oppressive culture of elite EK society simply because she previously had no agency over her life.

Meanwhile, Katara takes an active role in seeing to the physical and emotional needs of her brother/friends. And even though that 'motherly' role is largely a trauma response and something she deeply resents at times, I think it's also a source of comfort to her. Something about her culture that she desperately clings to.

I think a lot about her and Aang's life post-war. They would be very focused on reconstruction for years, most likely. Katara would have her own projects with the Water Tribes, but also spend a lot of time helping Aang. Some part of her craves the validation of appearing to be 'proper' concerning her relationship with him. Maybe she's a bit hypocritical about it: unwilling to wait until they've settled down to be intimate, but also reluctant to publicly break certain social 'rules'.

She keeps telling herself there's so much to do in the world, and maybe she feels this heavy burden to do as much good as she can before allowing herself to rest and slow down and create the family she's always wanted.

But then ten(ish) years have passed and suddenly! Baby on the way! Oops! Katara knows she's a public figure and cares a lot about how she's seen. She wants the respect of the people from her own culture. And so they stop. They get married. They settle down.

Katara becomes the wife and mother, which she definitely wants while also having some lingering regrets and conflicting feelings. She still wants to be a role model for other girls and women, but she likes not being constantly on the move and fighting people and playing politics. She likes getting up in the middle of the night to sing an old Water Tribe lullaby to her baby. She likes it the most when Aang is there because he's always seen her as an equal partner, not a piece of property.

Anyway, I didn't really have a point. Just rambling about my own headcanons. I've always put a lot more thought into Toph and Sokka's characters, but I guess Kataang has been on my mind lately. And tbh I never gave Katara the attention she deserved when writing fics, which is a travesty.

[iatrophilosophos]

I think the most basic points i want people to understand about medical history and civilization is this:

People generally do not like to do things that suck

All medical knowledge is at its root based on pattern recognition + predictive modeling. Doesn't matter if it's modern western science, dream interpretation, doctrine of signatures, whatever. Medicine is having an idea about what's going on in a bodymind and an idea of something that will impact that bodymind in a specific way.

People, generally, are pretty risk-averse (see: the concept of superstition). If someone gets hurt or sick after trying something new, there's usually a pattern recognized and we're less likely to do it again.

"it worked because I did xyz" also has a fairly low threshold. I like to think about measuring, a southern folk medico-magical practice to treat childhood asthma where a notch is cut in something (part of a house, a special tree, a branch of a special tree is cut and then stored in a special place) to measure the height of a child and when the kid grows past it, they'll be cured. Childhood asthma very often goes away as kids grow up, so, you can see how ppl would decide this works.

This should be a recipe to create medicine that can be sometimes silly or seem unnecessary in other contexts, but isn't actively harmful most of the time and works more than it hurts. This gets complicated in severe illnesses or when a certain illness very commonly results in death in a specific context: something that kills someone might be overlooked as something that just didn't work. It's also less reliable with harm over time for things that are culturally ubiquitous

Medicine, much like food, is a very good way to control people. Medicine is a very basic activity that has been observed in non-human animals; it's rlly just an extension of like. Self preservation and need cues. Leviathan knows that removing people's ability to independently meet their needs is the way you make people put up with stuff like slavery and producing excess for a ruling class and all that garbage. Ergo, the production of a specialized medical class is an important step in civilization. (6a: I'm not rlly aware of any cultures, civil or noncivil, that do not have some form of healer role-- medicine is a lot of information and works best as a social activity that spans many communities & that people spend lifetimes getting good at and communicating with other people who are good at. However, noncivil cultures--and leviathans not as complete as ours--still have/had a much greater degree of "common medical knowledge" where individuals still retain basic skills for taking care of themselves through lifes general illness and injury)

The ugliest medical practices--probably the one you're thinking of, unless it's something that's maligned in history but still literally in use, like bloodletting--arise in leviathans that have a significantly medically deskilled population & a specialized healer class. It's a lot easier to think that the thing you did that hurt someone just "didn't work" against their illness when you did it TO them and think You're Right bc you got, divine authority to heal or whatever (literal or in the case of industrial western medicine, only somewhat metaphorical): it's a lot easier to get people to go back to doctors that kill people when they don't know what to do themselves. Honorable mention for cultures that abuse their children; when you look at stuff like historical appalachian folk medicine--certainly a levithan but an area and time where the medical class was a lot less present due to geographic and sociopolitical conditions--a lot of the uglier shit is things done TO children, not things sick adults seek out for themselves, due to the above dynamic + bc of how child abuse replicates

"Modern medicine" (industrial western medicine) is not immune to this and applying this idea to medical practices that currently exist to see what we can say about them is a good idea with useful and interesting outcomes.

That is all. Maybe I'll make more posts like this trying to nail down a small set of specific ideas if people are interested in it.