#it treats assault like this horrible fucked up thing

[t4tails]

this just feels like a pretty horrible systemic issue that any so called empathetic protagonist worth her salts would address and fight against but similar to how racism against nympths is never criticized in any meaningful way, she doesnt care and actually uses it to benefit her.

this doesnt make me like persephone. it makes me hate her and everybody else in this fucking story

[inkskinned]

how odd, to watch the creative writing exercises of angry men in the comments of instagram. you noticed it first in the comments of conventionally attractive women - but then it started appearing everywhere else, too.

a young man talks about what lunch he's packing his wife. there is a little story under it, with 300 likes, fabricated from nothing. "this is pointless. if you treat her like this, she will take the lunch to her office and fuck her boss and divorce him and take all his money."

you scroll. a young woman talks about what lunch she's packing for her husband. it is always uglier when the subject of the video is a woman, you've noticed. "you sit on camera and you smile and you are cheating with the neighbor and then you're going to lie about being sexually assaulted by your husband and -"

you stop reading. it has 567 likes.

where did this even become a thing? people making up stories in their head, disgusting long-winded assumptions about intention and sexual disgrace. the evil twin of fanfiction.

like - it's just a lie. it's a lie that they are telling, baldfaced and assumptive. the undercurrent is of course misogyny, but the trouble is that they're so fucking certain. that's what makes the hairs on the back of your neck rise. there is this pervasive, inventive desire for them to be right. that they must be right. all women are cheating, lying, gold-digging bitches. no exceptions.

in the reverse, when women say i'd rather meet a bear in the woods than a strange man - men funnel in from the sides. they defend each other with a vibrance and capacity for empathy you wish applied to like, the other half of the population. a man could be saying i absolutely did kill her and these creatures in the comments would rise up with king shit. she made it happen. they love each other to the point of this sick strange self-gaslighting, a fervent and unhinged cognitive distortion. all men are good, wonderful people. all women are terrible, conniving, seditious, annoying.

and when did it become okay to just, like... say that kind of a thing? at one point, you find yourself typing out a witty and snappy retort. why are you spending so much time fantasizing about other people babe. but as you stare at the screen, some part of you pictures this man in public, saying these things to your face. his soapbox, high and mighty. his mirrored sunglasses and his empty life: tired and lonely.

what a sad and horrible loop he's locked in. he is terrible to women, so women don't talk to him, which he uses as an excuse to act more terribly. he blames this "failure" on women, rather than on his behavior. it cannot be that he is the problem (that the solution is to just put his ego down and accept women as equals) - he begins to invent a sculpture to replace the flesh frame of each person he sees.

it isn't just a woman posing on the beach. it is now a slut with a desperate need for each person to crave her body. it isn't just a woman yelping with surprise during something upsetting. it is a hysterical, unhelpful cretin who will probably make things worse instead of better. it isn't a person.

someone's very sweet wedding vows get moderate attention on instagram. in the comments, a man says good fucking luck you'll waste your life providing while behind your back she's absolutely fucking the best man. this will be so cringe in 2 months when she walks out on you.

you think - is that what you need to be true? is that what you need to happen, for the world to make sense to you?

[loveless-arobee]

Hey, aces, can we have a word?

I've seen a bunch of post venting about how sex is treated in this society by calling sex "unhygienic" or "dirty", or calling people who have sex "weird" or "disgusting".

I get the impulse to rant about how sex is pushed onto you. I do this about romance all the time!

But one thing you don't have to do for that is literally reuse homophobic talking points.

Sex is not unhygienic or dirty, as long as you practice proper hygiene and safe sex. I hope I don't have to explain to you in detail how this is just repeating homophobic talking points, especially against gay/queer men, right? The AIDS-crisis ringing a bell?

People who have sex aren't disgusting, freaks or weird. Even if you include AlloCisHets in that, the people you're mainly attacking with your words are queer people who have historically been (and even still are, in a lot of countries) murdered, assaulted, imprisioned and executed for having sex, and are even in more "accepting" countries where it's legal often still horribly mistreated. The AlloCisHet people don't care for what you have to say about how disgusting they are for having sex. Queer people do.

You can totally vent about not liking sex, and how society is pushing people to have sex! Just maybe don't do that by repeating straight-up queerphobic talking points. Because society is definitely not pushing queer people to have queer sex.

I say this as an aromantic gay man who has been made uncomfortable and felt unsafe in many general a-spec spaces by vents like this. Please remember that your oppressors aren't "people who have sex" but CisHetAllo-society that is pushing everyone into a very specific mold.

Thank you.

Also, if anyone wants to use this post to call aces in general homophobic: fuck right off. I'm just kindly pointing out a problem I've seen in the ace- and general a-spec community, if you use that as an excuse to be aphobic, you're going to be blocked. No discussion.

I doubt the aces saying this are being intentionally queerphobic. They are usually young and venting, and probably don't know the problematic history and implications behind the words they're using. Because they're oftentimes children. You know.

Have a nice day.

[vivithefolle]

Hi Vivi! I'd like to ask something as a Ron fan. How abusive is Ron really in book six? He gave Hermione the silent treatment, and when I decided to research about the silent treatment I found it's a form of psychological abuse???? WHAT??? I love him so much but he literally disgusts me in this book, making girls cry, and what he did to Hermione isn't exactly forgivable. The more I think about it the less I like him which is a shame, because I would defend him with my life but the hbp makes it IMPOSSIBLE for me to feel sympathy for him. And it kinda icks me how hermione keeps crying over a boy who might not even be worthy her tears. Jkr clearly wants to villainize him in some way and make us hate him and think he's gross and unworthy. And unfortunately, that bitch succeeds by ruining his arc

Okay okay, valid. Somewhat.

Because. Really. Remember.

Who's the one who later *extends* the silent treatment?

I'm sure you've read some asshole basher's take on HBP!Ron and yeah it's certainly not his proudest book. But know who else is an absolute dickface who's not worthy of Ron's tears in that book?

Hermione.

Hermione and her "spared Ron one look of disdain". Hermione and her treating Ron coldly when he reacts to Lavender being nice to him (while Hermione withholds attention from him deliberately, WHICH IS ABUSIVE BEHAVIOUR but Rowling justifies with "oh but that's how girls are like tee hee"). Hermione and her "golden bullets", Harry and his "yeah Ron you may have just gotten assaulted but shouldn't YOU apologize to Hermione cause yknow it's basically your fault if she's an unhinged violent asshole who thinks she's allowed to hurt you as a form of retribution?". Hermione and her "I like really good Quidditch players". Hermione and, when Ron *immediately* tries to talk to her once he sees her upon returning from Christmas, her blatantly ignoring Ron and keeping the silent treatment going UNTIL RON'S BIRTHDAY IN MARCH. RON KEPT THE SILENT TREATMENT GOING FOR LIKE ~3 WEEKS, HERMIONE KEPT IT UP FOR MONTHS.

You see, the book keeps crowing that Ron is immature and stupid and isn't Hermione just so out of his league and so much better than him, isn't it such a tragedy that such a good girl cries over such an unworthy boy?

But then you remember the actual events, you remember the stuff that Hermione actually did and that Rowling treats as though it's just desserts for Ron or "girl stuff", you remember that Rowling talks at length about all that Ron fucks up and how he's sooo mean and horrible for making girls cry waaah... but then remember. Remember Hermione's actions, remember how Hermione treats Ron as though he belongs to her, how she consciously withholds affection from him to control him and once he subverts that control? She consciously, deliberately, physically attacks him. Then starts months of silent treatment that only end when Ron ALMOST FUCKING DIES.

At every turn, she proves worse than Ron ever is - Ron accidentally harmed Demelza, Hermione deliberately harmed Ron; Ron did the silent treatment a bit, Hermione prolonged it even as Ron tried to reconnect; only thing she didn't do is make Ron cry and that's because Ron isn't allowed to express hurt by crying because he's a boy, but she definitely hurt him just like he hurt her, and perhaps even worse because she deliberately targeted his insecurities.

And remember, Hermione is supposed to be "the mature one". "She who is out of Ron's league". The sacred all-knowing brilliant girl who is so nice and loving and only the worthy may wield, or something.

This is the behaviour of our "mature above all" goddess? Ron's behaviour, except worse because she does it for longer and with full intent? If Ron's behaviour in HBP makes him unworthy of Hermione, then what does Hermione's behaviour in HBP make her? I think, perhaps, it makes her unworthy of being considered someone Ron should "prove" worthy of.

In short: whatever Ron does in HBP, Hermione does, and worse. It's just that Rowling deliberately puts more emphasis on Ron's behaviour so you will think he's bad, and "softens" Hermione's bullshit with "oh but she's a girl, she's emotional, and it's really just Ron's fault she acted like an abusive dick :/" which in my language we call victim blaming and sexist double-standards.

Ron gets ruined by Rowling. And Hermione? Hermione is Rowling's idea of a perfect girl. A bossy, controlling nightmare who can make your "best friend" think it's YOUR fault she hit you. A dickhead who weaponizes her tears as a shield to deflect any form of criticism, an actual child who can't reflect on her behaviour for shit and will always make it everyone else's problem, a tantrum-throwing brat who for all her supposed "intelligence" has nothing to show for it but grades that don't mean shit in an actual job.

If Ron isn't "worthy" of this, then I'm happy for him. Indeed it feels more like Hermione, despite Rowling's intent, is less of a prize and more of a curse.

[sciencebecameouraddiction]

Hiya! Hope you’re doing well! Checked out some of your work, and absolutely loved it! You’re an amazing writer.

If you’re still taking requests, what about a fluff/comfort with Angel Dust x reader? Like reader helps take care of him after the shoots with Val and one night, Angel returns the favor by taking care of reader after a rough night?

omg of course! Love Angel so so much.

i hope you enjoy and thank you for your ask and your patience on this!!!

warnings: mention of abuse, physical abuse, it’s angel and he works for val and val sucks in the show… so that’s this. val sucking-not in a good way but in a bad way.

some nights were harder than others and you could always tell when it had been a hard shoot day for angel. he’d walk into the hotel, his shoulders drooped a bit, his hair just a little bit more floppy and his eyes always had these shadows that seemed they would never leave.

this night wasn’t a bad night, it was a down right horrible night. angel came into the hotel, and quickly made his way up the stairs and to his room. you watched as he spoke to no one, and quickly got up to follow him. you walked through his door at the end of the hall, only to be greeted by a shirtless angel, a bruise forming across his ribs and a few cuts on his arm.

“what the fuck happened to you?” you asked coming closer, stopping when angel backed away.

“i don’t need ya help. get out.” he muttered, an icy tone slicing through.

“you’re bleeding. i’m not leaving until i bandage you.” you say plainly, grabbing the first aid kit and sitting on his bed. he glares at you and you see his black eye. your face darkens. “what the hell did he do?” you ask, not saying his name like it was a bad omen that could call him back to angel.

“nothing i can’t handle.” angel responds back, crossing his arms and then grimacing at the pain. you watch him, waiting for him to finally let you help him. this game of cat and mouse happened every time until angel finally gave it up.

angel sighed and then sat down next to you. you quickly moved, kneeling between his legs as you bandaged his ribs, working on his arms next, treating and bandaging the wounds there. he played with your ears as you did so and each time the treatment you put on would sting, he’d yank your ears a bit, gasping with the pain. he murmured his apologies each time and each time you whispered that it was okay. finally, you got something cool and had him hold it to his eye and helped him lay down in a comfortable spot.

you deposited the first aid kit in his bathroom and came back, sitting on the edge of the bed. you gently combed your hand through the tufts on his head, as angel finally cried. each cry punctuated with a gasp because of his ribs. your quiet shushing and gentle touch calming him down until he was finally asleep. you settled fat nuggets in front of him and laid down in front of him and fat nuggets, creating a barrier between angel and the door, ensuring whoever came in would see you first but that you could intercept anyone who might’ve wanted to come in. angel was always there for you and you were glad you could be there for him.

_________________________

many times you taking care of angel or vice versa was always returned. this time the reciprocation happened quickly as two days later, you were helping with some of the cleaning and renovations for the hotel. alastor had been in a mood all day, and finally snapped. you just happened to be the first one he laid eyes on, so you were the one who got the verbal assault.

“can you do nothing right?” alastor asked coldly.

“w-what?” you whispered, this being the last thing you want to deal with, and the last thing you could deal with today.

“you are incompetent. how many ways does it need to be said?” he asked, and at that point it was enough. tears flooded your eyes as you stood there and he continued to berate you, until angel came up, dropping off something nifty needed and heard alastor talking at you.

“no. no. we’re not doing this. cmon.” angel said taking you with him as you were still crying.

“i was not done talking, angel.” alastor exclaimed as angel led you away.

“welp, ya are now smiles!” angel said, glaring at alastor. “learn some fucking empathy and then maybe it can be a longer convo next time.” angel quickly takes you to your room, grabs your favorite stuffed animal and a bottle of water and sits you down on the bed.

“i’ll be right back, okay?” he asks and you nod, still hiccuping slightly. angel comes back quickly, with snacks and your favorite movie. your eyes widen as you see the snacks and the movie.

“movie night okay with ya?” he asks. you nod and settle back on your bed as angel hops up and sets the snacks between you both, taking a sip of your water. he pulls you into him and squeezes. “don’t let things that shitty people say get to ya doll.” he murmurs. “you’re doin’ jus’ fine.”

[dyketubbo]

right. so considering how this person talked about things (using wilbur and george as main examples, even liking a tweet of someone pointing out the irony of one of wilburs songs saying not to trust british men, notably someone who immediately believed the allegations against tubbo) its incredibly likely that this was someone whos bitter about wilbur and/or george and wanted to discredit shubble and caiti (not to mention others like lexie and andi who have also come out with their stories) as "allegations with no evidence". notably they point out the AI not acting like a boy, but nothing about the story implies the victim is a boy, its the profile having a woman's name, and since their account existed before this i dont think they had chatgpt come up with their username for this.

shubble and caiti didnt have "no evidence". they both had friends who could corroborate their stories, and even people who previously associated with the creators were able to confirm things. shubble's story actively mentioned wilbur hurting her in front of their shared friends, other ccs had experience with him biting or otherwise being rough with them, several ccs admitted that he was a horrible person to them too, wilburs ant infestation was talked about before shubble mentioned it in her story, several of shubbles friends were aware of her experience before she talked about it publicly. caiti's story included something personal about george (the tickling kink) that only people who had experience with him knew about (from what i know), george has openly admitted to not caring about hurting his friends on camera, and others were able to confirm that george talked inappropriately about them as well. wilbur and george both actively responded to each story even without their names being said because the stories were familiar enough to them that they didnt need to be said. they knew it was about them just based on what the victims said they were like.

its extremely fucked up to make a social experiment out of all of this, and i dont think it was really a social experiment out of any sort of academic interest in the first place. its a fake story made up to make actual victims seem unreasonable and dumb for coming out and being believed based on what this person believed was word alone. the very fact that they either didnt notice or just left in the obvious contradictions with the set up (accusing a gay man who cant drive of assaulting a girl while driving her home from a party in the pandemic, which he didnt leave his house during) actively shows that they believe the actual victims' stories are as "dumb" as this and genuinely believed that they didnt have actual weight to them. they truly did think there was "no evidence", that people were just spreading around baseless stories and taking them at face value, that no one even thought of innocent before guilty.

the only people who need to learn are the ones behind this story. but if there is anything to learn about on others ends, its to be aware of people like this who will discredit the victims' and accuse their stories of being dumb and lacking evidence, who will defend abusers with "innocent until proven guilty" while also targeting actual innocents. have actual victims in your heart and mind and dont let shit like this deter you from what actually matters: continuing to support real victims and paying attention to the issues that they bring up about misogyny, abuse of power, and the dangerous culture surrounding how victims are treated in this community by diehard fans of their abusers. this fake story and the mindset of the people behind it only shows just how far some people will go to try and discredit and downplay what shubble speaking up has started to do for this community

[gloriousburden]

This is SO late, but I just have to say my piece on the Loki Series and Mobius (both derogatory).

The only good part of the series was when Loki landed in the Gobi Desert and flicked away his gag, after that, all the gentrification, oocness, and other stupidity began for me. The way he would never say 85% of those lines, and how he was made to be so “quirky” via humiliation after the Battle of New York?

Mobius is so fucking far up his own delusions, like he basically watches other realities and people through screens, he only socially interacts with other TVA staff, is friends with one of the main fascists in charge, etc. 

His fucking “I’m a nice guy” act makes me want to fucking punch him all the more harder.

In some ways, I have more respect for that TVA officer in Roxxcart being like “they’re all going to die” and Loki for say that also in Pompeii, than Möbius’s meandering holier-than-thou bullshit of basically softening the blow with “good taste” by distracting a little girl with candy as he blows up her timeline.

People hate on Brad for his treatment towards Loki, but love on Mobius for that v similar treatment. Talking down to him, condescending him as not a threat, calling him privileged and harmless and basically saying that he knows Loki better than he knows himself.

I will be forever be disgusted and spiteful that Mobius never got treated as nearly much contempt as Brad and Renslayer, nor did he have something horrible happen to him because of Loki.

Like he just EMBODIES the naive, starry-eyed fool that arrogantly thinks he’s an expert on someone but will never get out alive once meeting that someone.

It was far more interesting to me to see Loki in captivity in “Avengers” and “Dark World”  (both had flaws for me) acting like Hannibal in “Silence of the Lambs” than the bullshit I saw in the Loki Series. And “Dark World” also let him have some more vulnerability without completely demolishing his dignity and character.

I got up to the episode after they met He Who Remains, and I don’t think I’m going to finish this mess. 

So sorry for seeing this months later. Thank you for the ask! Honestly… The second I pressed play the first episode of the series when it came out in 2021, I just knew that… this is going to be really bad. When he first walked into the tva, I was bewildered at how out of character he was. This is Avengers 2012 Loki we’re talking about! He would not say that shit. Instead of his usual dry, sarcastic, old englishy-esque way of talking and humor, it was, as you perfectly put it, very… “Quirky.” He wasn’t even that “quirky” in Ragnarok!

Exactly! The “I’m a nice guy” thing about Mobius has always irritated me so badly. I’ve really never liked him, and was surprised to see such a positive reaction. The negative reaction to Sylvie, I expected of course, But… they’re both bad! Wish people would understand that.

Yeah.. the double standards with Brad/everyone else, and Mobius are so annoying. Why is it okay for Mobius to continuously belittle Loki, throw him into a time loop where he is repeatedly physically assaulted, mock the death of his mother, and all the other bullshit he put Loki through just because you want them to be together romantically? And… this isn’t even some toxic relationship “turned better” situation. They don’t even acknowledge the shit Mobius has done to Loki!

People don’t even talk about the other bad things Mobius has done. It’s a series about people being mislead and morals being questioned, yet… so called fans don’t get into any of it at all. Just ship discourse, and fanon. If I liked the series… I think I’d get into the themes of chaos versus order, the people of the tva being mislead and lied to, etc… But they don’t even do it in the series as everything is a second thought, and doesn’t match up. The writers don’t care, and neither does the fandom.

Agreed! Series fans always say that the belittling of Loki, and the underutilization/erasure of his past characterization is just him… “healing” and being “vulnerable”…. Loki has been vulnerable before after the events of Avengers 2012 (Tdw), and he still was him! It wasn’t an immediate switch in his behavior, and didn’t erase everything that made him, him!

The psychology of Loki’s character from Thor 1, to the dark world was so interesting, and even well done at times. I know a lot of people on this side of tumblr don’t love Tom that much after the series, but I truly do think he understood Loki very well, and portrayed him beautifully back in the day. There was so much care put into his characterization. He stood out from the snarky, quirky superheroes of the mcu.

I miss when it was understood that Loki’s character should reflect the origins in Norse myth. That he is not evil, nor good. Not that he’s strictly good, and not at all evil just because he’s suffered! He’s the god of mischief, chaotic in his nature. Not the god of anti hero with a shitty redemption arc!

Ugh, people are so blind to everything that happened with Mobius, because they’re too focused on shipping him with Loki. Some have the nerve to complain about the mischaracterization, while not realizing that their ship is mischaracterization as well! You can’t cherry pick.

Thank you for the ask!

[iheartpeppino]

Here's what I think the Pizza Tower cast thinks of Maurice Spaghetti...

Peppino: The poor guy can't stand Maurice. He's one of the biggest reasons Peppino doesn't come home for Christmas anymore. After putting up with his abuse for years, Peppino is just... tired of Maurice. He's tired of arguing. He just says, "I know," to every horrible thing his brother says about him. And the worst part is, Maurice seems to invite himself into Peppino's life whenever he least expects or wants it. This is because Maurice is such an asshole he literally has no friends and relies on Peppino for company.

Gustavo: He also can't stand Maurice. He HATES him, actually. Gustavo really cares about Peppino, so the fact his own brother treats him like shit infuriates him. He has threatened to kill Maurice before (remember Gustavo's catchphrase?), so Maurice is (rightfully) afraid of Gustavo.

Brick: Our rat buddy can smell a bad egg a mile away. He does NOT like Maurice and will hiss at him whenever he appears. Maurice claims that Brick is "the second-biggest rat [he's] ever seen", so he's... a little unnerved by the sight of him.

Mr. Stick: He hasn't met Maurice yet, but I guarantee you if he DID, he'd try to scam him out of a lot of money and would likely succeed. Cue Maurice crashing with Peppino until he can get his house back. Peppino is miserable and not amused by any of this.

Pepperman: Met Maurice during filming of The Noise's "Swap Mode" movie. Pepperman thinks Maurice is really unpleasant to deal with due to his negative attitude and close-minded outlook. Even a pseudo-intellectual like Pepperman runs circles around Maurice intellectually, which the pepper is happy to do, much to Maurice's frustration.

The Vigilante: Met Maurice during filming of The Noise's "Swap Mode" movie. He does NOT like him. He actually feels bad for Peppino; it must truly suck to have such an immoral piece of cow dung for a family member. Apparently the guy conned his own granny out of thousands of dollars! The Vigilante keeps a very close eye on Maurice the whole time they're around each other. Maurice feels his sins crawling on his back the whole time.

The Noise: He's generally neutral towards Maurice. He thinks all the mean things Maurice says about Peppino are funny. It's when Maurice starts spouting racist rhetoric he's like, "DUDE" and rendered completely speechless because... well, he's never heard Peppino talk like that, so where'd his fucking brother get it from!? Anyway... The Noise only hangs around Maurice if he needs him for something, like annoying Peppino. Maurice has tried befriending The Noise, inviting him to hang out, but The Noise isn't interested in being friends with a racist prick. He does, however, want to remain on Maurice's good side in case he needs him, so he just makes up excuses about being too busy.

Noisette: Noisette is not the kind of person who hates people easily. She tries to see the good in everyone. However, she sees no good in Maurice. She hates him, openly, and without regret. She hates the mean things he says about Peppino. All the bigoted, ignorant blather he spews. How he once assaulted an innocent laundromat worker and called her a bitch just because she told him he couldn't pay to do laundry using nickels. Noisette growls like a rabid dog whenever Maurice is around. Maurice is (rightfully) terrified of Noisette...

Fake Peppino: Our favorite frog man met Maurice during filming The Noise's "Swap Mode" movie... he doesn't like him at all. Maurice is loud, mean, and generally unpleasant. When they were filming Swap Mode's Fake Peppino boss fight, Fake Peppino actually tried to kill Maurice. The Noise had to step in and scare Fake Peppino off. Fake Peppino had to pretend he was simply getting a little too into his role instead of trying to actively hunt down Maurice. Playing dumb. Playing pretend... and sneaking a hiss or growl in Maurice's direction when no one else is looking. Maurice is absolutely terrified.

Pizzahead: Met Maurice during the "Swap Mode" movie. Holy mozzarella sticks, this schmuck is Peppino's brother!? And he... bullies Peppino? WHAT THE FUCK, THAT'S HIS JOB!! Pizzahead acts polite and even friendly towards Maurice at first, but as soon as they're alone together, he very calmly threatens Maurice's life, telling him to leave Peppino alone or else, all with a big, unnerving smile on his face. Maurice practically pisses himself in fear as he's forced to agree... for now...

Pillar John: Met Maurice during filming of "Swap Mode". Decided he absolutely did not like him, judging him for every hateful word that came out of his mouth. Fortunately, Maurice is so terrified of Pillar John's sheer size and strength, he doesn't pull his usual bullshit with the big guy.

Gerome: Met Maurice during filming of "Swap Mode". Gerome doesn't like Maurice at all, but he's not too bothered by his presence. In fact, he completely manages to ignore him. Maurice is insulted, but he's not about to talk shit about Pillar John's brother...

[acotarfrustrations]

An ongoing list of ACOWAR grievances I'm keeping track of while I read (because there's too many to make a post about all of them) pt. 2

I'm on chapter 15 now and feeling the urge to complain again so here we go

1) the writing is way too overdramaticized. Like every other paragraph is some remixed version of feyre going "I wondered whether it would be eggs or bacon for breakfast. But when I looked at Rhys I realized that he was giving me my own choice. My mate, my high lord. In our home. With our family. Every thing was always my choice" and its CONSTANT, LIKE OH MY GOD GIRL SHUT UP

2) every thing about Lucien's plotlineand the elain mating thing. I HATE this subplot with a PASSION

3) feyre immediately fucking rhys when she got back instead of going to see her sisters

4) feyre and rhysand acting like they've ben separated for forty centuries instead of a month

5) the contradictions about how the high lord thing works. Like it was established that its a government position given to you through basically fate and being chosen by the cauldron or whatever which is why siblings kill each other for a chance for the throne and yet they just went to a priestess and swore feyre in as high lady?? It makes her title not feel real like it's purely ceremonial. It doesn't even make sense that she would be able to be HL of the night court as she has no more ties to that court than she does any other court. Is it because she's mated to Rhys? I don't understand the HL lord at all, it just keeps changing

6) the fact that Feyre, Rhys, and Cassian tell Lucien about their tragic backstories and everything that's happened to feyre at the NC and he just immediately does a Feyre™️. Like he's suddenly "Oh yeah you had a horrible childhood and took feyre into your found family without letting her explore relationships outside of the IC, that totally makes up for all the evil shit THAT IVE SEEN YOU DO WITH MY OWN 2 EYES. wow i cant believe youre not evil even though you killed 50 winter court children and sexually assaulted your mate and mind raped her constantly to get her to like you"

7) the way they're treating Nesta. It has been a MONTH since she was stolen from her home, brought amongst a race that she is terrified of and THAT ENSLAVED HER PEOPLE, and was forcefully turned into ONE OF THEM and the IC is acting like she's being unreasonable for not wanting to talk to them or to mate with Cassian. WHY THE HELL WOULD SHE EVEN BE THINKING ABOUT CASSIAN RIGHT NOW?? WHY THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL BAD FOR HIM? Instead of him worrying about how his mate is doing regardless of his own comfort he's like WOE IS ME, SHE DOESNT WANT TO FUCK ME?????? GET OVER IT ASSHOLE?? WHY IS FEYRE EVEN LETTING CASSIAN COME NEAR HER AND ANTAGONIZE HER?? DOESNT SHE LOVE TO FLAUNT HER HL STATUS AROUND?? THIS IS THE TIME TO USE IT, PROTECT YOUR GODDAMN SISTER FROM HIM? ITS SO OBVIOUS THAT SHE DOESNT GIVE NEARLY AS MUCH OF A SHIT ABOUT NESTA AS SHE DOES ELAIN!!

8) the fact that sjm didn't keep cassian's wings shredded. Him learning to live with that would have been a badass character development but now sjm doesn't want me to have good things

9) the mating bond in general. I think it could be a potentially good plot device but no one ever employs it well and sjm is definitely the most egregious with it

10) the fact that the ic never gave consequences for their fucking actions. Feyre dies in acotar? Turn her into a fey and give her ALL of their powers. Stealing a precious artifact that they didn't even end up needing and getting a bounty on their head in the summer court and then getting that court invaded? That's fine because feyre is SOOO brave and says things that are common fucking sense which makes her SOOOO smart so we obviously need her as an ally so we'll just rescind the blood rubies. Getting the spring court sacked? That's fine we didn't like them anyway. Rhys and feyre's bond gets snapped? Well they didn't know about our super secret mating bond that is actually the only thing that gives our characters chemistry so we still like each other. Rhys causes irreparable damage to every court for 50 years and kills 50 kids? Well that's fine he was being held hostage and hey! We don't know he actually killed those kids 😡 Feyre, a 20 year old girl who's been fae for like 6 months and training for even less goes up against thousands of years old beings? She beats them effortlesslessly! Rhys gets sexually assaulted for 50 years! Well he planned all of it so it has no negative consequences on him. Cassian gets his wings shredded? Well he worked really hard and they're fixed now 🥰. Rhys FUCKING DIES?? Well that's no problem, tamlin can just resurrect him, nvm the fact that there's no reason why he WOULD. like no harrowing situation is ever interesting cause we all know sjm isn't actually going to do anything to the ic

11) "my mate" STOP SAYING IT PLS IM BEGGING

12) "males and females" STOP SAYING IT PLS IM BEGGING pt. 2

[shoezuki]

ok it seems dream has slowed down or went to cry himself to sleep or something idk but now im gonna try n chronicle this shit as unbiasedly as i can. but whoooooa baby

anyways. it started when Nicolas Cantu (yes yes junkyjanker gumball voice actor) was replying to the dream parody account, dreamwastalen.

(also yes he knew it was a parody acct dude said he was roleplaying lmao)

Dream qrted the 'you can't joke when u an actual pedophile' tweet essentially saying that cantu is a horrible person, accusing him of assaulting dream, treating an uber driver horribly, and that he was saying the r word and being racist. Also says cantu apologized to dream on twitter by blaming it on alcohol and weed.

nicolas qrts, saying 'yes i slapboxed you in front of the hoes', confirming he mistreated an uber driver and said he tipped the driver well after and has been handling his drinking, says he called dream 'fat and a predator'. Nicolas denies being racist. He ends it with "hire a harvard professor to calculate why despite texting every twitch streamer in austin not a single one wanted to fuck you."

also in a qrt to a now private account that basically said 'dream reaching out to streamers doesnt mean he wanted to fuck them' nicolas said dream was sending streamers dick pics.

dream replies saying that nicolas didnt even tip and with screenshots of the dms nicolas had sent him apologizing. The dm is a massive text of paragraph . In an attempt to summarize it is essentially cantu apologizing for hitting dream n that he was out of line, mentioning he was drinking and high, that he thought dream would be an asshole but says he is 'humble, grounded and decent', that he relates to the pressure/discourse around having to deal w fame and havin a lot of influence at a young age, and also that he doesnt know who is and isnt lying w the allegations but he knows having lies n rumours spread bout u sucks.

worth noting im not sure when this message took place so I cant say if its extremely recent, but later dream i believe mentions it having to do with the latest twitchcon. idk [edit: looking ahead robbo mentioned this happened months ago]

Another contender, robbo, comes in saying he was there and that dream was slapped for calling a girl they are friends with a whore. They technically recant this accusation, saying they mixed the cantu slap up with another event that took place at twitchcon, but they continue to claim dream did this.

dream qrts this saying robbo 'wasnt even in the same state' at the time, that he doesnt know who robbo is, that he doesnt go around harassing women and accuses robbo of upholding the benevolent sexism trope of women being weak and needing to be protected by men.

Nicolas cantu makes a reappearance and screenshots dreams reply and tweeting it, then qrting his own tweet with a video of classical music and showing a text allegedly from dream (the name 'clay' at the top of the screenshot) saying 'tsk tsk whore' to someone. The video also has a clip from when dream was in mcc with captainsparklez and said 'we should lynch them' in reference to i think ppl allegedly cheating?.

thats the most of it so far. although robbo and dream continued to argue and at one point dream said he was going to sue them for slander/defamation and robbo qrted with 'sue me.' theres more to that bit but im not puttin screenshots this shit is already too long

anyways. my final opinion: i literally odnt know like half what happening here or if nicolas cantu really was racist or if that screenshot was 'real' and cantu said he wouldnt reveal who the friend dream called a whore is cuz he dont want to pull her into this. so im like what. but dream gettin clapped by nicolas is fucking hilarious and dream pullin the suing thing again is wild. i seen ppl in qrts saying how he already said he was gonna sue amanda and didnt, sayin he instantly pulled the dms w cantu but wont show the evidence showin amanda lied, etc. and those r a lot of what i think a this like. i feel he got angry and exploded again when eh coulda let it die out. but that always happens

[stromuprisahat]

Though compared to other characters and ships in the books, do you think that darklina could be called toxic from both parties (Aleksander + Alina)? Sorry if this offense anyone I only read the first book.

First of all- fuck offending people. Fiction is written to be discussed among other things and asking a question without ill intent should never be something to be afraid of.

As for the matter at hand- yes, absolutely.

There's plenty written on how did Aleksander wrong Alina and although most of it could be chalked up to caution, strategy and having to deal with mentally damaged girl necessary for his plans alongside more pressing matters like war and incompetent leadership. It's undeniable his feelings got involved, so he hardly remained simply cold and calculating.

He's also a petty bitch, who won't let an offense against himself and his goals slide, if he is in position to take revenge. (See: Genya's punishment, Nikolai's volcralization, partly burning that Saintsdamned orphanage..) Plus he knows words don't cost him anything, but often could work as well as actions (threatening to skin Alina, kill Grishenka etc.).

The main issue is that neither Alina, not plenty of readers see the difference between Alina as a person and her as a strategically important figure, later a leader and figurehead of part of his opposition. Or cannot grasp that a single action rarely has just one purpose with the Darkling.

For example burning that orphanage isn't necessary to prove how far he's willing to go- Alina already sees him as evil incarnate-, but it:

Destroys symbol of the past Alina keeps clinging to, even though it's holding her back.

Destroys one of few things she truly cared for.

Lures her out of hiding, so at least the Civil war can end.

Frees Alina from her shitty mother figure.

Settles the score of dead horrible women that kept damaging their "children" even from afar. And no, I won't cry for Anne Cunt any more than for Ol' Bags.

The other way around is often overlooked. Partly because Aleksander's viewed as a heartless monster by plenty of people, partly because he's the bad guy AND a ("white powerful") man, so he "cannot be abused", especially not by the heroine, from whose POV we see the story unfold.

Aleksander's only role model regarding long lasting relationships is his toxic mother, so he treats harm as affection, therefore we never see him complain, but let's be fair- if he were the one promising Alina to join her, only to proceed trying to kill them both through her powers, he'd be judged for it even more than he already is.

Alina from the first book never saw him as a human being. She found him attractive- yes-, but denied him something as basic as ability to have feelings. and once a salvation in a form of older female figure with puritan attitudes appears, Alina embraces her lies as a word of God, and immediately flees from him, never to stop and think about wider consequences of her sudden disappearance. Her dehumanization of him in the tent scene is quite something.

Alina from following books has fleeing moments of empathy, only to slide back into her "Evil man-needs to be destroyed" attitude. She feels ashamed of wanting him, she finds funny the notion he might've been sexually assaulted, she never considers his points or losses. There's probably more, but this already got longer than I intended, so I'll drop a link to my tag on their interactions I write as I go through the books.

While his unhealthy treatment of her is a combination of centuries of losses, damage caused by narcissistic mother and desperation of a cornered leader, hers of him is about bigotry, shame and will to be responsibility-free no matter the cost.

It's rather ironic, that he keeps trying to teach her- even though it's often the "tough love" he was taught at Baghra's knee-, while she uses "wisdom" of the same woman as ear plugs

Actually, the only truly nice action from her side I can think of is her honoring his last wish.

[littleabriel-blog]

Why You Shouldn't Watch Loki S2

With Season 2 of that show making its debut tomorrow, I thought I would make one last ditch effort to convince people not to watch it. It's not just because it's a horrible show that makes a mockery of my favorite Marvel character. There are a lot of problematic elements that contribute to the long list of reasons why people should not give Disney their money or ratings.

I am imploring people, one last time: If you must hate-watch the season, pirate it. If you must watch with some lingering hope that the real Loki will somehow make an appearance (and based on the reviews I have seen, that seems very unlikely), pirate it. Please don't contribute to Disney's ratings. Disney isn't going to care if you're hate watching or if you are only watching it hoping to get a glimpse of the Trickster we all know and love. They only care about numbers, and high ratings might mean we'll get stuck with another season of this utter dreck.

That said, here are some reasons why you should rethink giving this show your views:

It glorifies abuse and torture

In this show we are treated to the sight of Mobius using torture as "therapy", emotionally beating Loki down to the point where he capitulates to the TVA's demands, punishing him for having a crush on someone else by sticking him in a room for hours (at least) with an illusionary Sif who kicks him in the balls and punches him on repeat while further hammering the whole "you'll always be alone, you don't deserve good things" message, and generally working for an organization that subjects Loki to mockery, bullying, sexual assault (being stripped without his consent--that scene wasn't hot. It wasn't sexy. It was horrifying and I really, really have to wonder about the mental state of anyone who is at all turned on by it. Think about it, if Loki were a woman who was being forcibly stripped, there would have been loads of hatemail filling up Disney's servers), and slavery.

That's even before we get into the atrocious way Sylvie treats him. I've gone into how she treats him many, many times, how she belittles, invalidates, silences, and oh yes tries to kill him for daring to ask her to reconsider killing HWR. If the roles were reversed and Loki treated Sylvie like that? You ladies who love the ship so much would be boycotting Disney. It's no less abuse just because it's a woman doing it to a man.

It glorifies fascism

The TVA is very much Nazi coded yet they are framed as heroes...well, except when they're picking on Sylvie of course, since she's all pure and good and can do no wrong (Mary Sue powers activate!) They torture a character who is very much Jewish coded, an effeminate man who is very much the Other in the home he grew up in.

And what the hell is this?

As a Jew, I find this image deeply, deeply disturbing. It's a fucking gas chamber, y'all. It. Is. A . Gas. Chamber.

I don't know how anyone can NOT see how problematic it is.

It has Jonathan Majors in it

I really don't give a flipping shit if they're "only" allegations or if they wrapped up filming before the allegations came out. People boycotted Flash for Ezra Miller doing basically the same thing, so I don't see why it should be any different with Majors.

But then I know from experience that some of you so-called feminists out there are only about protecting or believing women when it suits you. Can't have a little thing like not supporting a domestic abuser get in the way of your wish fulfillment self-insert fantasies of beating the crap out of Loki before fucking him.

The first season was written by a total creep, and that same creep is producing the second season

'Nuff said.

Selfcest/Incest

I don't want to hear how "selfcest doesn't exist", especially in a fictional universe where you have sorcerers, witches, men with super soldier serum running in their veins, magic plants that turn individuals into superstrong Cat People, and talking raccoons.

And even without the selfcest, that ship is a very problematic one, as I stated above, and have continued to talk about at length.

It's just plain awful

The plot is predictable, full of holes, and not even that original (it's cribbed directly from a script Waldron wrote that was so awful, even SyFy wouldn't produce it, plus see my post with the clip from Batman Returns). Loki is grossly OOC in it...seriously, there is not a single hint of the character I had grown to love from Thor 1, Avengers, and the Dark World. He's nerfed all to hell (an Asgardian god who can take on Thor easily is beaten up by human rednecks?), and he's lost all his cunning, wit, intelligence, and grace all in favor of turning him into a sophomoric slapstick clown and the butt of everyone's jokes. The newer characters are poorly mapped out and one dimensional.

It's just...bad.

So there, that's my last ditch attempt to convince people to boycott this piece of shit. I realize my pleas might be falling on deaf ears, much as Loki's pleas fell on Sylvie's, but I had to get it out there.

Other Loki show antis can add to this or elaborate if they want. I'm too tired to be too coherent right now.

[doublycharming-tetraquark]

Claudia thoughts and meta - Part 1

So this is the first in a series of post I will make about Claudia. I have explained the context for it in my Prologue Post.

Okay, in this post, I will be talking about how I approach Claudia in Context 1, namely in terms of disability as a metaphor and how I don’t believe she was “always meant for the fire”. I will probably make a separate post about her entire story arc and body image issues.

Trigger Warnings for mentions of sexual assault, self-harm, lynching, and suicide ideation (The suicide ideation is mainly imposed on the character by others).

CONTEXT

This post is in many ways a reply to this post by @kutputli . I will be using both this and the show as I interpreted it to make my arguments. As kutputli said,

I don't feel sad about Claudia's narrative arc. I feel incandescantly enraged. And this boils down to the fact that Claudia's narrative is one of disability, and the thing is - disability is not an inherant tragedy............And very often disability has been turned into tragedy, centred around the inevitibility of the disabled person's death. There is catharsis provided to the abled people mourning them with the reassurance that their removal from the narrative was meant to happen...........When Claudia says, at the trial, 'you should have told me I had a defect' - that's every adult neurodivergant person whose parents refused to tell them their diagnosis. I am still not clear about how written in stone this 'defect' was. Am I supposed to believe Lestat's narrative of her making, and that he knew for a fact that she would be, what, emotionally immature?

So I already said in my reply to this that these opinions are very similar to mine:

Your thoughts mirror mine in terms of her being disability rep and also that her death was not inevitable but preventable. I hate it when anyone says "oh her story is a tragedy she was always going to die" because it is patently false and ableist and you are just parroting what her oppressors are saying to justify their oppression of her.

I am going to try to prove this in my post. First, I am going to discredit what Lestat and Armand are saying about her (as they are the main source of “Claudia is a mistake!” nonsense) and explain how they are merely imposing their pre-existing biases and ableism onto her that do not have any basis in canon. Then I am going to talk about how her relationship with Madeline is also a criticism of this concept. Finally, I am going to try to sort out my thoughts on whether “Disability as tragedy” is something the show is trying to peddle. I might be straight up ranting at some points but I am new to meta, so bear with me!

LESTAT

The “You should’ve told me I had a defect” scene is heartbreaking and makes everything Lestat does in Season 1 all the more blood-curdling. Okay, so you knew she would have a difficult time, then why the fuck didn’t you give her the tools to be able to deal with it? You knew exactly what she was going through in Episode 4 and Episode 5, and your response was to..make it worse? You made her watch her first lover burn. To what? Teach her a lesson? And what was the fucking lesson exactly? That you are an abusive piece of shit that cannot be trusted?

Then when she starts engaging in self-destructive behavior because she feels horrible and has no idea why, instead of trying to help her, explain to her why she might be feeling this way, he just doubles down on his abuse. “Because you are built like a bird. Because you are a mistake.”-  Imagine how heartbreaking it must be hearing that from your Father, and he was partly responsible for the way she acts in Episode 5. To reiterate: he made her burn her first love! He is all like “Oh, you will not survive out there in the Vampire world”, “Oh you are a mistake blah, blah, blah” without ever giving her any information that might be helpful in order for her to be able to better navigate her circumstances.

When she inevitably gets tired of being treated like shit, she decides to leave.  We see her hiding out in universities, reading books on Vampirism to get the answers Lestat never gave her. That’s when she is sexually assaulted by Bruce. It is harrowing and heartbreaking to watch.

So she goes back to the only safe place she knows : home to Louis and Lestat. Instead of trying to help her through the horrible thing that happened to her, Lestat mocks her for it! He just see it as another way to control her. Points and essentially says, “See? I was right! You should’ve listened to me and never left”, as if this is somehow validation for him treating her like a broken thing and a mistake. LIKE FUCK YOU! YOU WEREN’T RIGHT! YOU NEVER TOLD HER SHIT! The only reason she left was because of you! Your way of helping was essentially abusing her and tearing her down. Now you are trying to use her trauma to justify your abuse of her.

ARMAND

Armand is, in many ways, worse. Because from the moment he meets her, he is already planning her funeral. He says to Louis, “Her mind, as strong as it is, will not survive the test of time....I have seen it all before” or something similar. Louis, who actually KNOWS and loves Claudia, says No, You’re wrong! She can survive! and also “Don’t give up on her. Tell her that she’s beautiful. Tell her that everyday.” And does Armand take that advise? Of course not! He just keeps peddling the “doomed by the narrative” bullshit. In fact, he goes out of his way to contribute to her suffering, by making her star in “My baby loves windows”. And when she clearly states why she doesn’t wanna do it? He decides the only solution is to further torture her by making her wear that demeaning dress all the time. Part of it is cult tactics, but part of it is also Armand trying to speed up her demise. If this had the effect Armand intended in deteriorating her mental health and making her commit suicide, he would have pointed to it, shook his head and been like “See? I always knew this would happen.” FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF, ARMAND.

Of course, that doesn’t happen, because none of these assholes actually understand Claudia, beyond what they impose on her. She is, above all, a survivor. She endures until she can find something better. Instead of letting it break her, she realizes that the coven is shit and finds companionship in Madeline.

MADELINE

Armand also tries to convince Madeline that Claudia is going to throw herself into the fire soon. Madeline shuts that down with “You don’t know that. Maybe I am what she needs to survive.” This is why I really love the Madeline/Claudia dynamic. Madeline, more than anyone, sees Claudia for who she is. She loves Claudia for who she is. She doesn’t see Claudia’s disability as something inherently tragic or as something that makes her “broken, or a mistake”. Here, she is essentially saying, “I will provide her with the help and support she needs to keep going.” And she does! I don’t know if you noticed, but the clothes that Madeline made for her (the pink dress and the yellow dress) are made to be form-fitting in  a way that make her look more like a woman. (I will find the post on how Claudia’s costuming was done in Season 1 to make her look younger and link it later). Then there is also this exchange :

”I think there’s something broken in me. Like I wanna go bang.”

"Then go bang. Then you’ll be alright. Then bang again...And after a while you get used to it.”

At every turn, Madeline is trying to give Claudia the tools to be able to navigate her life, something Lestat never did for her and should’ve. I think the Madeline character and her relationship to Claudia is the most clear instance of the show saying, “Claudia was not always “meant to die”. She could and was able to achieve happiness for herself.”

DISPROVING LESTAT AND ARMAND

“I am still not clear about how written in stone this 'defect' was. Am I supposed to believe Lestat's narrative of her making, and that he knew for a fact that she would be, what, emotionally immature?”

Okay, so this is also what makes me so mad. Neither Armand nor Lestat actually ever explain what is precisely defective about her. All they say is “It is a pity she would not survive” (*melodramatic music plays*). What the fuck are either of you talking about? She is surviving just fine? In fact, I would argue that by Episode 6, she is the only vampire who knows how to successfully navigate her life. As kutputli said:

”And the show itself proved that. Claudia was successfully navigating her life. She was capable of an autonomous existance, we saw that could take care of herself. And even if she had not been able to, Louis had made it very clear that he was happy to be a caregiver to her.........When he was not sufficient, we saw that she was capable of going out to find a new situation. When the cult that she joined offered a solution, she took it. It was a compromise that she found unacceptable and so then she found a way out. She found companionship and a way to ethically get it, without coercing anyone........And she made it out, the architect of her own happiness.......The show showed us Claudia as a metaphor for people with physical developmental disabilities and neurodivergance who keep trying to improve their material conditions and who are capable of the same mundane joy in being alive that any of us are who choose each day to stay alive."

But that doesn’t fit into either of their belief systems, so when they see that she isn’t following the script that they made up for her in their heads, they (along with the coven) conspire to have her lynched. Then they turn around and say “Oh, isn’t it so tragic how she was always meant to die” (*melodramatic music plays*). This is why I don’t particularly care that Armand wasn’t the one to save Louis. Because it doesn’t matter! That would not have redeemed him any more than it redeems Lestat. (no matter how hard the show and fandom tries). THEY GOT CLAUDIA LYNCHED!

Both Armand and Lestat use the “doomed from creation” myth to justify her death (lynching) to themselves.

People ask why Armand didn’t save Claudia. As Assad succinctly puts it “He doesn’t give a fuck about her.” Like I said, Armand is planning her funeral from the moment he meets her. So it was probably very easy for him to throw her to the wolves, justifying it by saying “oh she was always meant to die. What does it matter if it happens now or later?”  I don’t think he feels any guilt for it either, beyond how it affects Louis (and his relationship with Louis). This, in my opinion, is partly why he is so resentful that Louis hasn’t forgiven him for his part in Claudia’s death. Why should he feel bad for something that was always meant to happen?

I think, to an extent, Lestat also does this to justify letting her die while saving Louis. He also probably tells himself, “She was a mistake that Louis never should’ve forced me to make. She was always going to die anyway. So I should focus on saving only Louis!”,( in addition to his already existing resentment and hatred of her, and also believing her to be the main architect of his death, thus considering it a sort of sick-twisted justice for the “attempted murder of his being.”) In the trial, he only ever “goes off script” to defend Louis, and never Claudia.

Some final thoughts from kutputli:

”Even if Lestat and Armand's belief that she would inevitably kill herself was true, so what? Are we now going to sit around achieving catharsis every time someone murders a suicidal person? Even if she did kill herself 20 years down the line, or 2 years, or 2 months, was she not entitled to live the 60 days that she wanted to? Claudia was not stoned, she was lynched, and Lestat and Armand colluded in her premeditated murder. That is not a tragedy. That's a crime.”

I have nothing further to add to this.

CATHARSIS? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

"And very often disability has been turned into tragedy, centred around the inevitibility of the disabled person's death. There is catharsis provided to the abled people mourning them with the reassurance that their removal from the narrative was meant to happen..........And so I feel no catharsis, even at seeing Louis finally addressing his grief and growing beyond it. A profound injustice was perpetrated, and killing Santiago and the other coven members does not provide restitution. Accountability would start by Armand and Lestat both taking back their judgement about her unsuitability to live and survive and thrive.”

Okay, so when I consider her story only in this context, then I also believe there isn’t and shouldn’t be any catharsis for any of the characters involved. And there is no justice either. Even the show acknowledges that killing the Theatre Vampires does not the provide the restitution Claudia deserves. As Louis puts it: “What does it matter? Claudia was dead.” and after killing the Theatre: “My rage and madness left me. And nothing replaced it.” I want to be clear: When I talk about some catharsis for Louis for Claudia’s death, I absolutely do not mean it in this context! That has more to do with the second and third context in which I approach Claudia’s story and Claudia-Louis’ dynamic. (I will explain in the next few posts.)

SO, IS THE SHOW PEDDLING THIS SHIT?

Till Episode 8 and subsequent interviews, I fully believed that the show was doing this deliberately. That the point was to subvert “Disabled people are bound for tragedy.” As someone said (I will link the post of I find it), Vampire Society is very much about punching down. Claudia’s arc is tragic not because she was “made too young” or “she is a mistake”, but because she was living in a (vampiric) society that very much have “eugenics” notion of what an ideal vampire is. (Recall the law of Vampirism -  The gift should never be given to the elderly, children or disabled people.) To me, the tragedy of Claudia’s arc is that its not actually a tragedy, but due to the circumstances of her making and the cruelty of Vampirism, it becomes a tragedy because no one can let her live without their own worldview being shattered.

But....In  Episode 8, they had Louis say “I made you turn her just so 50 years later, she could...(die)”. A sentiment echoed by the fandom that I never liked. Now this could’ve been Louis expressing his grief, written in a somewhat clunky manner. (because from reading between the lines, its clear that this was the first draft that they weren’t completely happy with but couldn’t do anything about.) But some of the shit Rolin Jones has said makes me doubt it. Of course, Rolin Jones has no fucking filter and says the most bizarre shit. I don’t know. Maybe it’ll be clearer to me during the second rewatch. For now, I choose to believe that the show is criticizing it and Lestat’s and Armand’s comments are more a reflection of them than her. But if they are indeed using “Disability is inherently tragic” unironically, then this might not be the show I thought it was.

[velvetvexations]

(trigger warning: terf bullshit, sexual assault, cis people fetishizing detransition)

i really can’t abide by people who say terfs treat trans men “better” when i’ve literally seen terf comics eroticizing a trans man’s detransition. like, actively drawing how “beautiful” they think it is when a trans guy goes off T and feminizes his face and breasts start growing in again over top surgery scars. talking about how that’s how trans guys are “truly meant to be.” saw this years ago and it still makes me completely sick thinking about it. they’re only “nice” to trans men they want to forcibly detransition so they can fuck us. we’re not people to them, just a piece of meat for them to enact their transphobic fantasies onto. and imagine if we’re *not* fuckable? then what, y’know? it’s really horrible. it genuinely makes me sick.

(also to be clear, nothing wrong with people who detransition of their own volition, their choice is theirs and i respect that, but this definitely was not about that.)

In addition, if I may add on, it paints an extremely gross picture of how they view even cis women - how DO they feel about "not fuckable" women, anyway? I can imagine them lamenting that someone's transitioned away from beautiful elfin femininity only to be told that person is actually just a cis butch woman. For all they talk about trans women fetishizing cultural ideas of women they sure seem like they want to be surrounded by anime waifus.

But! What TERFs do wasn't even really the main point of this ask anyway, I don't think - I think the main issue you're bringing up here is that people will see what TERFs do and then still have the gall to act like that's just...what? A little condescending? It's so, so frustrating to see even second-hand, it sucks seeing people get told to suck these things up or to be grateful for how much better they have it, further driving them into the arms of people who are pleased as punch seeing trans people do half the work gaslighting transmascs into thinking TERFs have nothing but the loviest-doviest of intentions towards them.

[daughter-of-sapph0]

trans women are always on the defensive because literally every single thing we do could be misinterpreted as a threat or a reason to kill us by people with enough reality distorting shit fungus in their brains.

I could be in the lady's restroom, and have a cis woman try to initiate conversation with me. it could start off fine. we could both be complaining about the lack of paper towels or hand dryers. so I would say "I'll wipe my hands off on my jeans" as a joke.

and then the next day I find that the person I was in the bathroom with has wrote an article to an extremely far right new organization and to government officials complaining about how violent and horrible of a situation she was in and how me and everyone like me should be removed from public life, because she misheard what I said.

the entire time in the bathroom, she would be thinking "penis penis penis penis penis penis", which is definitely what normal people who don't have a psychosexual obsession with trans people's bodies think. and she's thinking it so much that she misheard "jeans" as "penis", and didn't once think "I'll wipe my hand on my penis" is absolutely not a thing anyone ever says and you misheard her.

and you think I'm making this up, that a terf lost her mind and started crying to far right news sources and the government begging for trans people to be annihilated all because she misheard a single word and is making up a completely false story and claiming she was assaulted. but it's real

like, imagine if this situation went any differently. Sophie could have been arrested or imprisoned because someone thought she said something.

imagine if this wasn't a trans woman. rather a cis woman who Ruby assumed was trans. imagine if this was you, and now thousands of people online are calling for your death because they would believe a far right conservative's insane reality denying absurd lies rather than accept the reality right in front of them

nothing is fucking easy for trans people. us simply existing is seen as a threat. small talk is now the equivalent to assault, according to transphobes. they will lie and deny reality and do everything in their power to completely eradicate us.

how the fuck do people treat both sides as equal in this situation?

[killlavendr]

Saw a snater say that he deserved to be bullied and that “someone had to” and I just want to voice my opinion idk 😭

First, I should just say I love snape he’s probably my second fav character, and I think he’s very interesting. HOWEVER. No matter what he’s been through, you can’t deny he is not rly a good person. In his entire adult life he’s, yes, miserable, but also just..not great. But this isn’t a post debating on his morals or whatever. My main point is that he didn’t deserve it, at least in the beginning. I’m not anti maruaders, but how they treated him was awful. And what did they have on him? What had he done wrong? He was poor and unnattractive. And that just because they can. That’s basically it in the beginning. He didn’t deserve that at all. The whole jinx incident was literally assault and a total violation. And no matter how much Severus had been being nosy, sending him to get killed by a werewolf is completely inexcusable. Idk, maybe as he starts to get more into the dark arts and bigotry he does. But for the first few years of Hogwarts, saying he deserved it, even if you don’t like him, is just stupid 🤷‍♀️

AND another thing I just realized. Correct me if I’m wrong I’m not British, but don’t “pants” in the UK mean underwear? So when James said “who wants to see me take off Snivelly’s pants?” He means “who wants to see me take off Snivelly’s underwear?” The memory cuts off after james puts the dangling curse back on snape and says that. So it’s very likely, not canon, by very likely that Severus was stripped further than his pants (or, well, trousers to be more specific in this case) Just like..

What the fuck?? That’s insane

No matter how stuck up, ugly, snarky, or weird Severus might’ve been as a 15 YEAR OLD, nobody deserves sexual assault and humiliation of that kind

And this was after the whole werewolf attempted murder thing I think? So saying that James saved him because he felt guilty and wanted to save him feels less probable now, as he’s apathetic enough afterwards to pull a horrible stunt like this. Anyway, just a thought. But seriously, hating/disliking snape is valid. But you shouldn’t deny he didn’t deserve the things that happened to him as a teenager