#it's actually very interesting to see how attitudes and norms have changed

[wild-at-mind]

Re: my last post- I'm just remembering a time when with book recommendations especially it seemed like you were expected to do a comprehensive list of problematic aspects and potential triggers in the book when you recced anything. People on twitter would say stuff like 'I can't believe x is being recced, I read it and its triggering in such-and-such way.' In a way that implied they blamed the person who recommended it.

Of course I never wanted to trigger anyone, so I started thinking about the books I love, all the things I might list in each that were problematic. It gets to the point where any book could be reduced to nothing more than a list of its triggers and potential harms. And you look at it and think 'why would I even rec this? Why would I risk it?' And then you don't. (This is a book you truly love.)

Look, I'm not saying don't warn people about obvious stuff. The Color Purple is one of my favourite books and I would never rec it to someone without warning that it opens with a rape. But for stuff that is less major than that, I'm going to say that recommending something that upsets someon else who reads it- it's horrible that they are hurt, and I wouldn't want anyone to be hurt, but also it's not the fault of the person recommending it. It's not a blame game at all. You can't engage much with books at all if you think like this. And also I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of thinking is what put us in the place where how a subject is framed in a book is considereed barely relevant, when in reality it's the most important thing.

[codenamesazanka]

With this new mystery person I’ve been people saying a lot of things from it’s tenko to it’s the new afo the kids are gonna stop by preventing him from ever being a villain. Among all that there’s been a fair amount of people saying this is showing hero society is doomed now that shigaraki and the league are gone. My question though is how would shigaraki and the league winning or teaming up with deku and the heroes for the future prevent this? Like what could have actually been done to prevent this? Like tenko says he’s gonna be the hero to the villains but that doesn’t change the problem, he’s still one guy the league members are a finite amount. Even if every single fighter on that battlefield decided hey let’s all work together for a better future, how does that stop people from falling through the cracks? Like short of a totalitarian surveillance state where every single person has a twice clone with them in case something happens there’s still gonna be incidents where no one that can help is around for some reason.

So it's true that as much as I hype up the League and Shigaraki and insist they are right (and they are! to a point), they were indeed less interested in the new world they will be building, and more just interested in tearing down the old world. The world that comes after destruction was at best vague, at worst just pure lawless chaos, a quirk free-for-all. But for them, in their imagining, it would've been a freer world in some aspects, in that the rules and norms they felt trapped in can be destroyed. Heroes as a civil servant/law enforcement job wouldn't exist; they're free to use their quirks; the standards that called them inhuman and crazy and the such and rejected them could be abolished. It's true that it wouldn't have been a better society for everyone - which is why the League and the Villains had to be defeated.

What would've been (and still would be) ideal is the Heroes taking lessons from this - hearing out the League's discontent of the deep structural issues of their current society, and doing something about it. But see - here, its not about Heroes or fighters. It's about change on all levels of society. Change in attitudes and cultural mindset and institutions. You stop people from falling through the cracks by getting rid of the cracks the best you can; by building multiple safety nets above the cracks; and finally by having people who reach into the cracks to pull out those who've still managed to fall in.

A lot of the issues the League went through really could not have been solved by Heroes; did not need to be solved by Heroes, if the proper cultural progress was made and the social support services were available. So like, Toga:

Her parents seemed to have been very concerned about abiding by the prevailing norms of society. This could be because society values conformity and ostracizes those who can't fit into a neat, little box - despite the fact that quirks should've broaden and redefined those boxes, after a whole century since quirks appeared. Change the need and the pressure to conform - educate people to be more tolerant and accommodating - and her parents might have felt less fearful of having a child that wasn't 'normal'. Heck, change the definition of 'normal'.

I've always wondered what exactly a Hero can do about the emotional abuse Toga's parents inflicted on her. For one thing, I doubt they were screaming 'inhuman demon child' at little four-year-old Toga in public at a frequency and volume that would make a Hero take notice. (Remember, they wanted to be seen as a nice, normal, middle-class family. All the abuse was probably kept at home, behind closed doors.) And I wonder if someone did try to intervene, the parents might not have tried to claim it's simply discipline, because after all, Toga has an instinct to drink blood - relying on the Heroes' own understanding of human taboos and preconceived notions of 'villainous' quirks. Plus, no one in this situation is using their quirk - no law is being broken. For this to be addressed, we go back to the point above - education about the definition of 'normal' - as well as a more robust child welfare system.

Quirk counseling! When the lady said Toga had "deviant behavior" and said "Let's get you all reformed, nice and normal" and promised Toga's parents that "we'll be sure to iron it all out", that's her doing her job. A job that the government supports, given how they have general quirk counselings at schools. A job that UA Hero Factory Principal Nedzu probably helped developed in some way, since he's apparently an influential and world-renown expert in 'quirk morality education'. Quirk Counseling Lady is there to give Toga therapy. She was probably incredibly nice and professional about it. She was probably properly following all procedures. There is nothing you can arrest her for. No, the issue is the goal of quirk counseling itself - to make someone 'normal'. And we're back again to point above.

And then there was all the teachers throughout the 9 years of Toga's public school education that could've taken notice of anything wrong at home. Probably should've paid more attention to the bite wounds at Toga's wrists.

Hell, there probably could've been a hotline for Toga to call or a youth center for Toga to go to, if she felt she was struggling and reaching a point of break. Why didn't she go? Maybe because she was afraid she'll be called inhuman, that she'll be turned away. Why does she think that way? See first point above.

She stabbed Saito, but even then, I think the right response could've stopped her from stabbing more people. After the stabbing, Toga went on the run, and she's been fearful ever since that she would be killed by Heroes. Instead of turning herself in, expecting to still be treated as a person and that the justice she’ll receive is appropriate, she figured it was better to throw her lot with Villains and the underworld at 15 years old. She believed that she had a better chance surviving homeless on the streets with harden criminals, than with Heroes and whatever juvie they put her in. I think there's an image issue there that Heroes and police should fix. Yes, criminals should feel guilt and horrible and prison has to be unpleasant in order to be a deterrent to crime, but in the interest of harm reduction, maybe rethink that.

Also maybe if the media didn't go and put her parent calling her a demon child and disowning her on air. Kinda feels like the type of thing that burn bridges and makes her feel she can't return, even if she might have wanted at some point. Who the heck authorized that segment???

This is a lot of speculation, but I don't think it's illogical. I don't think the problem just started when Toga stabbed Saito and a Hero failed to beat her up and arrest her, a 'fighter' that couldn't be there to prevent the incident. I think the problem started when her parents freaked out at seeing her quirk manifest and their first instinct is to slap her and accuse their 3-year-old of catching a bird to kill it and drink it's blood and then proceed to worry about 'my child is not normal!!!', instead of gently taking the bird away, be concerned about germs, and giving her unconditional love but also firm parenting.

Consider the mirror opposite: Iida, who went rogue and tried to get revenge on Stain.

First off, I think UA - Aizawa specifically - failed so badly in it's job as teachers. Iida's brother is attacked and paralyzed by Stain; Stain was last seen in Hosu; Iida wrote on his Internship form he wants to intern at an agency in Hosu (and left it as his only choice in a form that give three choices). That's a giant red flag??? And they let the kid go??? So that's a missing safety net.

Manuel seeing just how obvious it was that Iida was after Stain. He gave him a talking to, which is good, but that was it. Should've ordered the kid home immediately. Second missing safety net.

Iida goes and attacks Stain. This is where Iida starts getting helped. Deku and Todoroki figured out his plan and went to help him, instead of, say, deciding that, 'Wow, he's breaking the rules. Maybe he's not such a good guy after all. Should disassociate myself from such a person if I want a successful school and Hero career.' But they helped, and so Iida and Native aren't dead in a alley - or 'worse': Native dead, but Iida is alive, and part of the responsibility possibly put on him.

Biggest help: The police chief deciding to help out these kids by not pressing charges, by making sure the story is not released to the public, and ensuring that the small number of eyewitnesses stay hush.

His family also didn't disown him or become estranged from him for getting caught up in all this. They love him, so they wouldn't.

I get that Iida is an excellent student and promising Hero student who made an error in judgment when he was caught in whirlwind of emotions regarding his beloved brother, and Toga was less so. (Maybe. She was a year younger and we didn't know her grades and we weren't quite sure the exact sequence of events the led to her stabbing Saito, which was due to her getting caught in the whirlwind of a romantic crush, perhaps her first taste of love after receiving none at home). But had he not had the support he had, he would've kept falling. And where would he have landed then?

You don't need a Twice to prevent these incidents. You don't even need Heroes, exactly. You needed understanding and caring citizens, in a supportive community. Now make it a culture that produces such citizens.

With Mystery Person. We don't know what their deal is, or what their past. But if they are a victim of abuse and confinement from their parents who couldn't handle their quirk, then a Hero saving them is a Hero coming in after the damage has been done. I think the better fix is to stop the damage before it happens - making sure parents never conclude they should be zip-tying their kids as a solution to anything.

Sorry for the long response! And sorry for how pseudo-sociologist it got. Don't trust me on this. It's only my thoughts. Thanks for the ask!

[solarwynd]

An interesting turn of events - it is fascinating to see Jikookers being as vile they are right now towards Tae. Now I will preface this by saying I absolutely dislike that man. I think he’s fkn annoying, cringey and his pretentious attitude gets to my nerves. I have muted all JK related key words too. I am here for JiHope. And Jimin is my forever ULT. But in the shipping world up until 2021, the norm was Jimin getting the absolute worst shit on Twitter for doing nothing while JK and Tae get away with everything. Like the things Jimin would be labelled an attention seeker or whatever for, will be called cute and adorable when TH does it. And Jikookers largely really did pretend like OT7s for the longest time. They wanted to be the ones with common sense, middle ground, moral superiority. Their “you can never make me hate taetae(barf)” ideology was pretty strong.

But I have seen a new flurry of Jikookers that are absolutely unhinged lol. There’s this gang of theirs on Twitter, like a clique and they are all petty hateful towards Taehyung. They call themselves KM solos I believe and I think they really do hate him. I have majority shipping accounts blocked but I was on the trends yesterday and I saw a tweet with Jimin cropped out by a Taekooker account, and the qrts were filled with quality edits and shit and pure spite towards TH. Someone even made a meme where he looks like a donkey? And there were several hit tweets there with thousands of likes, all belittling TH. I also saw some “OT7 joker” getting ripped a new one because they said JKKrs are the same tkkrs. Like the comment section destroyed her. It’s a real shift for those who have witnessed the shipping landscape evolution. He used to get away with a lot and babied. Idk what changed. Now it’s still not even remotely close to what Tkkrs does to Jimin. There’s simply no comparison, but it’s interesting to see a counter narrative. Literally nobody gets benefitted from shipping except for JK I guess.

Can’t wait for the members to start revealing their relationships etc. I will be getting the butteriest pop corn and a front row seat.

You’re actually very right about the bulk of jikookers wanting to appear as OT7 and I never got that. You go on any of their accounts and it’s nothing but Jikook/JK/Jimin on there. What’s the point to even pretend. It seems exhausting putting up that kind of front knowing that you don’t care about the other 5 members to stay in armys good graces. Especially when you’re already ostracized by them. It’s the same as these diet solos who still try to act like they’re armys. Like I can’t imagine if I had decided to continue faking being an army past April of last year.

I think it’s easier for jkkrs to mask their dislike towards Taehyung cause unlike for taekookers, Jikook’s existence does not hinge on Taehyung being seen as some type of wedge. I feel like the bulk of them are indifferent or just don’t care about him. And I do know the exact clique you’re talking about. Including the main one who’s too invested in dragging Taehyung unprovoked and always gets Jimin dragged.

I also did see that big jkkr account that got ratioed and deservedly so, cause frankly idc how neutral or upstanding you’re tryna be. If you bias jimin, your priority should be him. To hell with Taehyung and his fuckass stans.

[australianwomensnews]

Teenage girls know a lot more about democracy and what makes it tick than teenage boys, but when it comes to political ambition the boys win hands down.

A global study of 82,000 teenagers from 22 countries showed that almost without exception girls had a greater engagement with and understanding of government, equality, public trust, voting and representation, than their male peers.

But boys were more likely to say they were interested in becoming a politician

“Australian girls are outperforming boys on knowledge, attitudes and values that support a greater competency when it comes to participation in civic life,” said Rachel Parker, from the Australian Council of Educational Research, who worked on the study.

“One of the few areas where boys outperform girls in the study is the intention to be politically active.”

The report, Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Challenge, found that girls were far more knowledgeable about how parliament works, globalisation, independence of statutory authorities and voting and representation.

Girls were also far more likely than boys to support gender equality and equal rights for migrants and cultural groups to access education, employment and political participation.

They were more engaged with big issues such as environmental protection and more likely to participate in civic activities.

However, girls were less likely to report expecting to join a political party or a trade union or stand as a candidate in an election.

The study did not dig into the reasons why, but previous research identified parental influence and societal expectations as feeding gender norms relating to political ambition, as well as widely held perceptions that politics is a man’s world.

Indeed, 40 per cent of boys thought men are better suited to being political leaders than women, while 25 per cent agreed with the statement that women should stay out of politics.

Ella Curran, 18, harboured an ambition to become a politician when she was in Year 9, but a school excursion to Canberra cured her of that notion.

“I started to think more realistically about the sort of lifestyle I wanted for myself. And we did a legal studies excursion to Parliament House and watched question time,” she told AFR Weekend.

“I felt it was so aggressive and personal in the insults that were being thrown about that I just thought it was not the sort of workplace I could feel comfortable in,” said Ms Curran, a first-year arts and philosophy student at the University of Sydney.

“I’m just not prepared to face that kind of abuse or have my appearance or relationship status mocked in public rather than focus on what I am actually doing.”

Ms Curran’s two great passions are climate change and gender equality.

“I’m concerned about climate change, particularly Australia’s response to that because we are one of the worst countries in the world for our emissions,” she said.

Lulu Hamilton, 16, who counts women’s rights and climate change as her two greatest passions, also harboured a fleeting ambition to become a politician when she was younger but abandoned it without any fanfare.

“I thought it was the best platform to make change because if I could have power, I could make my goals become a reality,” Ms Hamilton said.

Having spent the first 12 years of her life in China, seeing democracy in action, including the free exchange of information and ideas, was a head-spinning affair.

“It was such a jarring difference. I never would have spoken to my friends in China about climate change, gender or politics. Even our textbooks had stuff whited out because the Chinese government didn’t want us to read about Tibet and Taiwan. We had very limited access to media.”

As for a future in politics? That’s out of the question.

“I feel the negatives outweigh the positives.”

[thestobingirlie]

Somewhat tangentially related to that other ask but I wish fandom would just acknowledge that Eddie is also bully in his own right and just because he's antagonist towards jocks doesn't mean they deserve it by virtue of being jocks (no matter how much fandom likes to pretend it's warranted because Eddie is bullied himself- this is nowhere near canon and I'd go so far as to say it goes against canon if we're basing it off of Eddie's own behavior) and beyond all that; like the other asker and yourself said Eddie isn't just antagonizing jocks! He openly scorns band kids, geeks and pretty much everyone that isn't his specific brand of nerd which is not about academics so much as nerdy interest like fantasy and "non-conformist" music.

I put that in quotations because Eddie is actually probably the one that buys into the whole high school hierarchy spiel more than any other character on the show; by setting himself up as such an anti-establishment non conformist (all within the high school setting mind you we see nothing to make me believe his ideals go beyond that setting and it makes sense to me considering he's a Peter Pan archetype stuck in a state of arrested development- but I digress) because he sets himself up in such a way that his entire persona is built off of the abject refusal to adhere to societal expectations he's by and large helping to perpetuate them. He's cosplaying this attitude more than living by it because the societal norms still very much dictate how he views himself and how he approaches others.

Ironically Steve is the real deal in this regard by shucking what others expect from him and living his own life the way he wants it divorced from the excepted norms he used to let dictate him as late as mid s3 while changing the things he didn't like about himself behaviorally while still retaining his core personality and interests without the need to revise himself fully.

But because he doesn't have an alt style or interests that go against the mainstream, fandom refuses to see him in this light. He also doesn't let his new friends change his own interests nor expect them to change theirs for him.

I guess this rant makes me sound like I don't like Eddie but I do! I think fandom Eddie is entirely separate from canon Eddie however, to the point where his only recognizable qualities are his interests and aesthetic. Fandom really seems to martyr him in that regard and fully drink his kool-aid which is hilarious because it's largely performative with no substance lmao (even the "woe is me hunt the freak huh 🥺" falls flat narratively when a whole ass dead girl was found in his home).

I think the duplicitous nature of his personality and his hypocrisy (while still fully being a good guy! If you ignore the whole uh selling hard core drugs to a 17/18 year old girl who clearly never did them before thing) I think it's this dual nature and slightly shady actions while still having a caring heart and good intentions is what makes him a good character and we don't get to see that hardly ever with the way a laaaarge portion of fandom worships at his freak alter.

god, beautifully written. i agree with every single point. honestly, you anons just know how to word exactly what i’m feeling.

yes! eddie pretends like he rejects societal ideals, but he just reinforces them to the next generation. he’s built his life on being the freak, he plays it up to get attention, and to rile up his classmates. i honestly think eddie won’t know who he is post high school. which is, like you said, ironically the way the fandom tries to portray steve. but we see that he’s much more secure in himself and his life than eddie. does he have everything figured out? of course not, he’s 18!! but he knows a hell of a lot more than eddie.

but because he isn’t a nerdy outcast, the fandom would have us believe that he actually hates his life and who he is, and secretly doesn’t want to be a jock. fanon steve is honestly way more like canon eddie than i think the fandom wants to admit.

(and yeah, chrissy is found dead in his home. people aren’t just witch hunting eddie for no reason lmao)

all this is what makes canon eddie an actual interesting character!!! and the fact he (and steve) are entirely stripped of these characteristics is one of the reasons that i just can’t vibe with the fandoms rendition of steddie.

[nerves-nebula]

Very interested in Hondo rn, bc he started out being abusive @ Quinn (?). What did his character used to be like, and how would u say they’ve changed?

Yea so Hondo, like Quinn, has really on maintained surface level similarities to their original concepts. Same look, same smugness & sass etc. but the original idea of his character that I made up when I was like 13 was a racist sexually abusive slave owner. Quinn was his slave, and Thatcher was his friend who was like “hey I don’t think it’s good to have slaves maybe?”

They were an abysmally dysfunctional and abusive trio who were like kind of friends and kind of not. Quinn could never fully be their peer cuz they were a slave obviously. Thatcher was of lower status than Hondo too, but admittedly not by much. Quinn was raised alongside Thatcher and Hondo but you know. As a “companion” for them. Wasn’t great.

Honestly the character that’s changed the least is Thatcher. Thatcher always had a kind of strong moral compass/emotional reaction to injustice, but was also afraid to rock the boat. Slavery was the norm in their high status households and Thatcher didn’t think it was right but also didn’t see how they alone could change it. Thatcher might’ve been feeding info to anti slavery groups tho cuz they felt it was all they could do, but for the most part they saw themselves as kind of a stagnant coward and covered it up with an upbeat & boisterous attitude.

Anyway Hondo and Quinn fucking hated each other. Ok it was mostly Quinn hating Hondo but it went both ways on occasion. Lots of gratuitous humiliation and abuse cuz I was 13.

Then I was like hm actually I don’t really want to write about slavery I don’t think I’d do a good job handling the topic. and totally uprooted the whole story. Hondo became rich a sexually abusive best friend in the dreaded three person friendship group.

And then stuff kind of just kept drifting over the years between little tweaks and lore adjustments until Clement popped up and ended up taking on the role of “high society serial sexual abuser” and Hondo became something else entirely.

Now Hondo is a normal, somewhat bitter guy in a poly relationship with a high priest and a dancer, who he’s been friends with his entire life. He’s a part of a persecuted minority religious group and is still snarky and sarcastic but like. He’s a fully different man. Modern Hondo would eviscerate his progenitor no questions asked.

He still does some fucked up things tho don’t worry :3 they’re just if a different nature

[dragonagitator]

One of the more interesting time-travel-related wrinkles I've been thinking about a lot for my House MD isekai fanfic is about how both House and the author self-insert OC will be 45 years old, but House is a Boomer and my OC is a time-travelling Xennial / geriatric Millennial. (While most demographers would place me in Gen X, culturally I've always been much closer to Millennials -- being raised by a software engineer meant I've always had a home computer, and have been on the internet since I was 12 -- and I'll be writing my OC like that too.)

So there's going to be a weird dynamic where they'll have all the usual Boomer/Millennial generation gap issues despite being the exact same age. That's going to be a lot of fun to write (my OC will be introducing the phrase "okay boomer" to the team's toolkit for dealing with House's microaggressions), especially when the slow burn starts heating up.

Boomers were the last generation to be raised with the norms "you HAVE to get married" and "it's normal to hate your spouse" and thus they tend have a lot of really awful beliefs about love, romantic relationships, marriage, etc. that younger generations find super weird and sad. You can track this generational attitude change pretty closely in comedy and television. "I hate my wife" jokes used to be a staple for stand-up comedians, but you almost never hear them anymore because modern audiences don't find them relatable or funny. The "spouses who hate each other" trope used to be incredibly common in sitcoms, but now you usually only see it in dramas where everyone is awful anyway. Even cop shows and other murder mysteries are having fewer and fewer "the spouse did it" culprits.

House's cynicism about love and marriage is pretty typical for his generation. For a guy who prides himself on rejecting social programming, he actually absorbed almost all the standard Boomer norms about marriage except the very last one -- he believes, like most Boomers, that marriage is awful, it is normal to hate your spouse, etc., and his only deviation from the norm is deciding "well then I just won't get married."

My OC pointing out that it's possible to simply... marry someone you actually like... might be the first time he really hears and absorbs something like that coming from someone whom he can't just write off as young, naive, inexperienced, etc. I'm happily married IRL and my OC will have been happily married back in her own timeline, too. (One of the reasons the slow burn will be so slow is that she'll be grieving her husband for a while.) So she actually objectively knows more about it than he does and will not hesitate to rub that in his face.

It won't be enough to completely change his views (the Boomer brainwashing is strong), but he'll be slightly less resentful about it when the two of them have to get married to avoid being forced to testify against each other in court.

(House and my OC are going to commit SO MANY CRIMES, you guys. One of the ways I'm working through the "this kinda feels like cheating" discomfort of being happily married IRL but shipping my author self-insert OC with another man is by making my story a bit of a cautionary tale about what I might get up to without my IRL husband's good influence and constant admonishments of "no murder!" My OC is going to commit AT LEAST three murders in her efforts to change the timeline.)

[soundbodys]

AMBROSE BASSFORD: autism?

hi!!!! welcome to part 1 of "i've got some thoughts on adamandi" >:) i have some other analysis that i do want to share about other things, not just randomly diagnosing fictional characters! but this post is about ambrose being on the autism spectrum <3

i'm not a medical professional by any means, but this is just coming from both my experience as an autistic person and the research i've been able to do about the disorder. and other people's experiences! please dont come for me if things are just a touch inaccurate. without further ado: lets fucking gooooooooo!

[ID: ambrose bassford with his hands on vincent lin's shoulders. he is looking into the distance with a determined look in his eye. vincent looks towards him with concern. end ID]

(please excuse my terrible quality screenshots. um. yeah.)

i'll also preface this by saying that yes, much of this is also informed by his status as a transgender student in the early-mid 1900s. i still think it's fun to analyze and compare my (and others') experiences to his!

THE MARMORIUS SOCIETY

[ID: preston monterey and adrian farthington (or miscellaneous marmorei) putting a letterman jacket on ambrose. ambrose is smiling. there is a caption at the bottom reading "rooftops that nobody frequents where secret societies meet" in all caps. end ID]

firstly, i will address the marmorius society. i'm fairly certain that the marmorei in "word to the wise" are meant more to represent the then-present-now-past members that welcomed ambrose freshman year rather than preston and adrian, but thats ok. what matters more is the subtext in word to the wise that we can glean from the choreography and interactions between ambrose and vincent. beginning the song, and similarly his freshman year, ambrose struggles to fit in like each of the other students entering ardess. he initially seems more comfortable interacting with vincent, but then gets taken in by the marmorei. this is exactly where his mannerism and attitude shift

here, we see ambrose fitting in (or, making an attempt to) with the other marmorei. from vincent's account, we know that ambrose's actions and behaviors almost completely changed after becoming part of the society. this is a really roundabout way of saying hey, ambrose found a place where he thinks he might belong! rather than learning and adapting to normal and regular social rules, he latches onto and mimics a very specific subset of people. to him, they know what they are doing and they have a way of being social that he can't understand so he mimics instead of just adjusting the way he already was. this mimicking makes a bit of sense in that he's not quite conforming to social cues (he still doesn't exactly fit in), but he's trying to. it feels to me a bit like how it is to feel alienated from your peers, even though you are trying your hardest to mask. of course, his "off"-ness is also contributed to by his transness so take that as you will.

2. WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?

[ID: ambrose is standing facing vincent. vincent is facing him with his hands to his back uncomfortably. the caption reads. "i've been looking to include more variations in body type." end ID]

this one is shorter than the marmorius society bulletpoint. actually, most of them are. that one is long winded. ANYWAY, ambrose is kind of... interesting when it comes to his interactions. specifically, he encourages vincent to join the marmorei by saying he's been "looking to include more variations in body type." to him, he's being completely honest and genuinely wants vincent to take interest in his phaethon project. unfortunately, to both vincent and much of the audience, this comes off as comically insensitive at best or offensive at worst. this comes from a lack of awareness of social cues, similar to the lack of knowledge of social norms from the previous bulletpoint. while he knows how to conform to the marmorei, there is still a lot of social cues he needs to work on. often, autistic people will speak bluntly and honestly in their communication. this is really not that far off, even if it was just a little gag!

3. OMG, SENSORY ISSUES!

[ID: caption reading, "he didn't eat the apple because he said he didn't like how its flesh felt on the skin of his thumbs." end ID]

kind of self explanatory. all metaphors aside, ambrose doesn't like the flesh of a peeled apple on his thumbs. i understand (<- i loooove peeled apples though)

4. BLACK AND WHITE THINKING: IF NOT ME, WHO?

[ID: lyrics reading, "if i was stronger i could fix this; / cut the bad and leave the good / be the marble and the sculptor / like my father says i should." end ID]

[ID: lyrics reading, "so my parents and my girlfriend / my closest friends and you / will know i deserve their love / once there's no more work to do / there are only three people who'll be perfect in their eyes / me, myself, and i" end ID]

two screenshots! often, autism causes what can be called "black and white" or polarized thinking. it's like, there's only one solution or there are only the extremes (although, this isn't to be confused with the black and white thinking associated with BPD. i don't have experience on that but ive heard quincy and vincent can fit the bill). for ambrose, there's only one solution to both his dysphoria and distorted self worth: becoming the perfect man by... becoming marble or whatever. as if there is only ONE way to do this, without alternative methods. i sometimes find myself in the same spiral, and have meltdowns either when it doesn't work out or if i'm offered an alternative solution that goes against what i thought might work. even in the second screenshot here, we see that he thinks the only way to earn love is through this specific task. he cannot be unconvinced, even if vincent tries to offer him an alternative solution.

5. WHY APOLLO, BOYS?

[ID: ambrose is hanging off a ladder, his hand out and mouth open singing. the caption reads, "apollo's look is yours: sound body, sound mind" in all caps. end ID]

this is where i dip more into the headcanon territory than i already have. i couldn't really include every screenshot where he talks about a) apollo, b) sculpture, or c) fitness. this is kind of part of his character in general but i like to think of it as his special interests. it's remarkable how many autistic people i know who have majored in something related to their spinterests (including myself! in a way)

6. DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF, LIN!

[ID: vincent awkwardly puts a hand on ambrose's arm, ambrose looks at him longingly. end ID]

ambrose... did not interpret the social cues correctly in the scene directly after "sound body, sound mind." it's really just written in the text, but just in case, i will remind you that vincent pretty much says "hey, i kind of strived to be like you because i had this incorrect assumption of who you were, sorry about that lol" and ambrose took it all wrong and thought this was a romantic advance. he just... didn't interpret it right. honest mistake, but a very common mistake among autistic people. and, unrelated to the autism thing, his comeback isn't smooth at all lmao

THERE YOU HAVE IT! i'm sure there could be more to be said, but my hands hurt (disability) and i can't think of any more off the top of my head. feel free to add on with anything you want to say!!!! thank you for reading!!!! here's the sillies for you, as a reward for getting this far :)

[ID: preston, ambrose, and adrian with their arms on each others' shoulders, stepping in sync. end ID]

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

cw: mentions of fatphobia, body image issues, gendered beauty standards

hey sex witch! love and appreciate your sex ed posts and the resources you've shared. i noticed that you've answered some asks about becoming more comfortable with expressing sexual attraction, and finding ways to see yourself as desirable -- i was wondering if you had any similar thoughts about becoming more comfortable with other people expressing attraction to you, especially verbally. it's something i'd really like to start enjoying in a casual way (i'm more okay with it within a long-term relationship or a kink dynamic, partly because it's something i can negotiate), but it's pretty consistently something that feels "off" for me and kills my interest. i don't want to react that way! i actively want to enjoy it, especially with people i otherwise like and connect with, and i feel like i might enjoy it a lot someday if the circumstances were right or if i changed my mindset/framing. plus, i know that i really like complimenting people i'm attracted to (if i know that they like it and i know what it means to them), and i'd like that to be a mutual thing.

to be clear, i haven't experienced sexual trauma, i'm nondysphoric (transmasc), and i'd say that i really like my appearance (in a nonsexual/aesthetic sense), so i think i can rule out a few of the common reasons that people feel this way. others have suggested that i might be aspec/demisexual when i've talked about my experiences, but i've gone through that particular questioning process before (and identified as aroace/"not interested" for most of my life), and i feel like it's probably something else.

i think a significant part of the problem is that when people have flirted with me/said that i'm physically attractive, they've usually referenced beauty standards that i'm both very opposed to and which are at odds with my sexuality and what i see as beautiful. i'm a guy who's always been viewed as thin and as having a "conventionally androgynous" (?) body type, and i've generally been attracted to people with body types and/or presentations that are noticeably different from mine -- that includes feminine-presenting people, fat and chubby people, and trans and gnc people who present in ways that combine masculinity and femininity. i've pretty much never been attracted to men who look like me. but when people compliment me on my appearance, they often compliment my body type or size directly or indirectly, and i feel like there's a certain undertone of "i'm labeling you as attractive because you don't look like Those People." i don't want to be around that attitude, and i don't find it flattering or "nice."

i generally wouldn't want to assume that a person who uses these compliments actually has extremely normative views on sex, is fatphobic, etc., and i believe that attraction is morally neutral no matter what your "type" is. it's not like i don't have specific preferences myself, though i probably have some biases that i'm not yet aware of. the whole idea of people being attracted to you because of aspects of your appearance that you didn't choose is...inherently messy, i think. i also know that in most cases, i can just leave, or ask people not to talk about me in these terms. but i still find the whole thing alienating and off-putting, to such an extent that i feel disconnected from most discussions and portrayals of sexuality, especially re: attraction to men. and that's on top of having to deal with the very common assumption that it's a universal experience for women and trans people to hate their bodies and want certain types of validation (but that's kind of a separate issue that i won't get into here).

do you have any thoughts on how to navigate this? i feel like i might be missing something important, but maybe i just need to understand and accept what doesn't work for me.

thanks!

hi anon,

I hate to be so brief when you've presented me with a veritable novella, but listen: you've already answered your own question here.

if I'm reading this right sounds like what you're experiencing isn't an issue of disliking compliments because you lack self esteem, but disliking compliments that are focusing on your body in ways that you don't enjoy. the problem in this scenario really isn't on your end. no matter how well-meaning people might be, you're not under any obligation to make yourself enjoy compliments that make you uneasy, and I'm certainly not going to be the person who tries to tell you how considering I operate my own life almost entirely around the notion that if it sucks, one must hit da bricks ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

you already said it yourself: if you don't like the way someone talks to you, especially if they're someone you'd like to continue having a relationship and building rapport with, the best move is to ask them not to talk about you that way. (if they're someone you'll never see again and don't give a shit about, by all means just blow it off.) if they're not cool with that boundary, awesome! you've learned something very important about them and can terminate that potential relationship immediately.

[felixravinstills]

absolute primogeniture idea: livia cardew's mother is also named livia cardew

i tend to think of the capitol as less patriarchal (to a certain extent) because i find it interesting to imagine that the capitol pursues some ideals that i (the reader) might agree with while also pursuing others that are very clearly dystopian -- the locked tomb series explores this more explicitly, but i feel like in thg, something similar is present in the background. same with the apparent lack of homophobia tbh. like, as long as you serve the empire, does it matter to the capitol if you're gnc? (<- that's the part that' similar to tlt. possibly.) if the capitol is anti-religion, does the enforcement of "traditional" gender roles have too close a connection to beliefs/loyalties that the capitol is trying to get everyone to leave behind? katniss mentions that in district 12 there's free housing (assigned at the justice building) and the right to marry whoever you want (whatever that's actually implying), so i could see some gender-equal laws/institutions being the norm in panem -- and maybe not just the norm, but something that's specifically valued as important to society. even if in practice it's sometimes less egalitarian

i don't think about movie canon as much, but the fact that the academy requires all students to wear both pants and a skirt at the same time is definitely Something as well

it does seem like panem probably has a more recognizably patriarchal history, considering its attitudes toward sexuality (especially re: how the grandma'am talks about lucy gray, and how snow thinks about tigris), but that doesn't necessarily mean that gender roles, relationships between gender and class, etc., haven't changed a lot. idk. there's a lot to think about and i really appreciate how people interpret the capitol in so many different ways in fic/theories

Yes! Yeah, this is exactly how I feel with how the Capitol is! Also love the tlt connection!

I do find it interesting that the Capitol is anti-religion. In my head (and fics), I explore this translating into things needing to be translated into know and unknown. People in the Capitol not being the best equipped to deal with things on faith. They need to justify things even if it’s faulty logic <- Volumnia and Coriolanus

I also really love reading people’s thoughts on the Capitol! It’s so interesting!

[cast-iron-bug]

Kinda fell off the face of the earth but I'm BACK!

nothing much but have some exploration sketches of Phyllis and her final design!

If you are interested in some of her character lore and personality, feel free to read under the cut!

Otherwise enjoy these few doodles 👍✨

EDIT!!!

I changed up the lore section to be Phyllis's backstory as my au lore is still under construction 🚧 so feel free to read under the cut to see the updates!

Phyllis has gone through a bit of development since I last shared her lore here and is now a finalized character!

Personality:

Phyllis is very street smart and has the attitude to match...on the outside, finding it easy to taunt others and make sarcastic remarks.

HOWEVER, she is also very introverted.

Since both her parents died by the time she was seven, the tribes being sealed away shortly after, Phyllis was left all alone to fend for herself in the surface world, growing up in complete isolation. In response to that, she developed some...unique habits that come off almost creepy to others (like her bone collections and how her home defenses are literal corpses) and is incapable of socializing properly.

So while she loves to throw out witty comebacks and sarcastic remarks in the moment, she can get pretty socially awkward and even dismissive/mean to those she has prolonged contact with. She just isn't used to being around people for long and is used to hiding away from them.

Despite this, if someone is persistent enough and SOMEHOW earns her trust, Phyllis will turn out to be pretty loyal. This is a difficult task to achieve but if done she is dedicated to protecting you, even becoming overprotective because she's terrified of loosing another person she cares about.

So ye! In summary, Phyllis sarcastic, witty and mayyybe even a little insane, all with a hint of social awkwardness.

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Lore:

Now in terms of lore aspects, Phyllis is a character that i have written straight into the Ninjago timeline, meaning key points of her life actually line up with the show. For example the is born during the first serpentine war and is a young adult(serpentine age slower) by the time the serpentine are released, her true adventures beginning with the start of this au. These adventures are also affected realtime by events happening in the show, such as the fall of Ninjago city in seasons 8 and 9, or the great flood in season 15.

So Phyllis is the daughter of Victor Vervain, a venomari archer, and Amelia Vespertine, a fangpyre Nobel woman.

The two had fled from the war, living on the run as Victor was deemed a traitor and Amelia now being hunted down. Victor left for moral reasons, having frown up near a human village and even befriended some as he grew up. He felt that it was wrong to be fighting against them, especially when the armies would raid innocent villages. The fact that no one would tell him why they were fighting in the first place only made Victor feel worse, and he inevitably left. Amelia left for similar reasons, since even as a higher up she could not justify the war.

Because they were on the run, Phyllis was raised very nomadic and most often within nature. Constant moving became the norm for her, but she didn't mind. Even with the lack of contact with other serpentine, the only consistency Phyllis seemed to need was her parents.

Having said that, you better believe they get separated.

Amelia is killed when Phyllis is 5. She died while defending Phyllis and Victor, giving them time to escape.

Victor actually ends up dying to an elemental master, the master of ice. He and Phyllis are out on a hunting trip, hunting deer.

Victor armed with his iconic bow 🏹 is aiming for a stag when a patrol of elemental masters are patrolling nearby. The master of ice catches sight of the venomari archer with arrow drawn and skewers him on sight with an icicle, killing him almost instantly.

This occurs literally RIGHT before, or even during when, the serpentine are sealed away, so from this point on that Phyllis is truly on her own and won't see another serpentine until she's an adult.

From this point until the serpentine are released from their tombs, Phyllis grows up in isolation. She is still quite nomadic, living in more dense, woodsy areas as often as possible.

She even learns dark magic, having found an old spell book deep in the woods. She teaches herself different forms of magic, takin to necromancy quite quickly.

She is practically a cryptid at this point, with only rare sightings... Especially since as a hybrid with her magically abilities, she wouldn't be identifiable as a commonly known serpentine

Despite this though, there are occasions where she will make deals or take on jobs with others to get by. This practice becomes at lot more common when the Serpentine are released and become a more frequent sight.

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The AU:

The au begins a good while after the serpentine are released, at the earliest after season four, when the Serpentine and humans are on relatively good terms.

You'll be seeing a lot more of them in Ninjago city, even a few in the police force! (I will elaborate of these characters in a future post!)

Because of Phyllis's paranormal connections, I do like the idea of this occurring in Ninjago city during season five, whilst the ninja are busy with Morro

Maybe a team of ragtag heroes hear of a mysterious masked figure who stole a powerful artifact. As they follow clues to track down this unknown villain, the find themselves in over their heads when they face her head on- their elemental powers rendered almost useless and the masked figure escaping.

When our heroes find out there are four of these artifacts in the series, a race to the second begins, both parties discovering more about the mysterious villain's plan along the way, and the true mastermind behind it all.

I won't spoil much last this point, as there are many elements I feel could be better portrayed in comic or written format! So that's all for now and feel free to ask questions about the au or characters, as I have many more to share and plenty of fun facts n details!

[veilchenjaeger]

please please please please make a case for the specific kind of dyke xue yang is pleaaaaase <3

!

I am very, very tired, so I don't know how coherent I'm capable of being, but I'll try my best!

One interesting thing about Xue Yang is the way his non-conformity with societal rules works, because he imo utterly does not give a fuck about the society around him and the way he relates to it, outside of the fact that he doesn't fit in. (With some exceptions, of course.) I read him as kind of having an attitude that can be somewhat summarised in three points, which are:

Society expects certain things, and other people play the game of society by either conforming or not conforming to these things. Xue Yang is highly aware of societal expectations and moral ideals how they're in conflict with what people actually do. He sees through the elaborate dance of social norms and interactions, he knows all the steps, he just thinks it's a stupid dance.

He does whatever he wants. He's not bound by societal conventions in any way; he makes his decisions according to what does and doesn't feel good to him personally. (That isn't entirely true because he's still influenced by society, but I'd say it's mostly true.)

He is important; society and other people are not. He knows how he and his actions are seen and judged, but it doesn't matter, so he'll just go ahead doing what he does! (It does matter to him. Deep down, it does. But that's imo restricted to his anger and hurt at being considered worthless or monstrous, and not as related to any specific actions others judge him for.)

So, Xue Yang's style of non-conformity is drastically different from e.g. Song Lan's. Song Lan cares about society. He deliberately places himself in opposition to its norms, because he sees them as harmful and hopes to change that. Thus, he takes part in that dance, even though the steps he chooses are different. Like, even deliberate subversion of and non-conformity with societal norms in some way reproduce these norms. (Which in itself is a completely neutral thing; subversion and non-conformity are reactions to something and kind of depend on that thing existing in the first place.) Every action is a dialogue with society. And I don't necessarily think that Xue Yang isn't in a dialogue with society, but he goes about it in a different way. He doesn't choose his steps, he just moves, no matter whether he ends up going with the flow or not. He's currently on his way to the buffet table.

(Xiao Xingchen doesn't know the dance. He's stepped on Song Lan's feet thrice already.)

Introductory meta done. Now onto dyke Xue Yang.

To preface that, of course everyone who reclaims the term "dyke" is a dyke, no matter how they present. I'm going with this term partially because it is so vague, partially because it's connected to rebellion and has the same "You think I'm worthless and insult me? Fuck you, I'm going to own everything you despise me for so hard that you'll have no power at all over me" vibe Xue Yang has, and partially because, when used to describe an aesthetic rather than an individual person or a group, it evokes certain images for me that imo fit Xue Yang pretty well. If there's a more precise word for that aesthetic, I don't know it. I'm going to argue in favour of dyke aesthetic Xue Yang, and there are two main points I want to address.

One, Xue Yang's non-conformity is so volatile that I don't think it would fit into a certain category. There's something deliberate about things like being butch or femme, both in terms of these labels having a certain history in a community (I don't think Xue Yang would see herself as part of a queer community, at all) and in terms of the societal dance. It's a specific way of choosing your steps. For Song Lan, that sort of deliberate non-conformity works super well imo because canon Song Lan is so deliberate about the way he doesn't conform! For Xue Yang, I doubt she'd think about things like the way she performs her gender. It doesn't matter. She does what feels good, no matter whether that's inconsistent or fits into any categories. Again, I don't think Xue Yang has the drive to seek out other people who share her experiences or identify with anyone else, which is after all a part of giving the way you do queerness a specific label and arguably a part of openly performing that kind of queerness in the first place.

This isn't particularly uncommon or anything; most lesbians are neither butch nor femme. But on top of that, Xue Yang also doesn't give a shit about conforming or belonging to anything else, so I imagine that the way she looks is... maybe not blatantly, visibly queer? Because that would require her to want to look queer, but also not not visibly queer, because she'd entirely ignore cisheteronormative ideals of How To Dress.

Which brings us to the second point, which is the question of how removed from the dance of society Xue Yang actually is. Bc I think there are some things she would care about. Considering his CQL aesthetics especially, but also in the novel, Xue Yang is edgy! He named his sword Jiangzai! All the not giving a shit about society aside, there is one thing Xue Yang does imo care about performing, and that is the very fact that he doesn't give a shit about society. Which of course stems from the way he was harmed by the prevalent social structure and the hurt he compensates for with his blatant disregard for any kind of morals or propriety. So, like, dyke Xue Yang would still care about looking different, maybe in some way that seems somewhat dangerous and certainly in a way that gives a middle finger to everyone who'd disapprove.

And I genuinely think that might be anything! I can truly see Xue Yang dress in anything from a full biker suit to a 2014 Babymetal stage outfit - the crucial point imo is that she'd always look different, slightly to the left from anything you could give a name to or put your finger on. It would probably be something at least vaguely practical - she needs to be prepared to stab people and wouldn't want to be held back by her clothes of all things - but that's about it. I think that general vibe - neither truly GNC nor truly conforming to anything, neither masculine nor fully feminine nor deliberately androgynous, but always visibly different from the cishet norm - fits the term "dyke" pretty well.

Also, I just think she'd wear knockoff Doc Martens.

[cavegirlpoems]

See, the thing is, I'm not actually that bothered about changeing people's minds. This post isn't intended to change D&D 5e fans' attitudes towards Not Playing D&D, it's directed towards an audience of people who already broadly agree with me. I'm commenting on an observable quirk in the way these conversations go.

My personal oppinion is that "D&D 5e fan" and "TTRPG player" are broadly different social demographics. There's overlap, sure, but there's also overlap between both and (say) "mtg player". It's similar to how "40k fans" and "miniature wargamers" are different groups. Yes, many 40k fans play the game, but very few of them have any interest in - say - 12mm scale historical recreation. They're functionally different hobbies.

Now, personally, I find many of the cultural quirks of the D&D 5e fandom quite annoying, and many of the (often quite toxic) dynamics you see in D&D groups aren't commonly encountered in wider ttrpg culture. In the same way that playing historical wargames filters out the toxic gamer chuds who fixate on 40k, I am quite happy for the D&D 5e fandom to stick to their containment game so I don't have to deal with them.

Most conversations between these two groups occur at cross-purposes, because one side is fans of a specific product, and the other side is hobbyists in a very broad medium. These groups have different goals, subcultural norms, and expectations. Which is why you get the frustrating question "what should I replace D&D with", it's a mismatch of expectations.

The problem with the 'play another game that isn't D&D' thing is that every time it comes around, inevitably, somebody says something to the effect of: "So what's the game should I play instead of it" and this just makes me want to slam my head into the floor in frustration because it totally misses the point. There is not, and cannot be, a single game that I can cheerfully reccomend blind to everybody to replace D&D as their forever game. This is for two reasons: 1) Different players (which includes GMs) have different tastes. People look for different levels of complexity, levels of narrative control, levels of competitiveness, amounts of customisability, genres, tones, settings, campaign-lengths, degrees of generic or specificness, and required arts-and-crafts projects. Without knowing somebody's specific tastes - which they might not even really be sure of themselves if all they know is D&D - you can't reccomend them a game that will suit those tastes, because taste is subjective. 2) you don't actually want a single forever game that you play to the exclusion of all else. People will want a change of pace, or to explore different ideas, or the excitement of novelty. Instead of simply having 'my game that I play', you want to pick the game that works best for what you want to do today. "Oh, what game should I swap in to replace D&D?" is a fucking assinine question. It's like asking "you're into music, what song should I listen to?" My man I don't know you, and even if I did even the best song is gonna suck after the 500th repetition if its all you listen to.

[timemachineyeah]

We need educational reform.

And specifically, we need education to trend toward the more individualized and self-driven. Where people pursue things at their own pace and in their own way.

This means getting rid of a lot of the arbitrary ways we segregate education right now. We segregate subjects from each other, teachers and resources from each other, and sort student by age instead of by ability and interest.

Re-organizing our education based on relative individual needs is a must. This is a goal we should be actively working toward, and it will make both education and society better.

I know next to no one who will disagree with this.

So now I’m gonna tell a bunch of those people a thing that will inevitably be a result of such changes, because I feel like from some of their attitudes that they haven’t really thought about it.

When you congregate students by interest and ability instead of age, more kids with age gaps will get into relationships.

And while these relationships, like all relationships, will have the potential to be toxic, they will not inherently be so.

Two classmates or club members who see each other every day and work together and eat together are on a relatively level playing field, and can date in a healthy way even if one is 14 and the other is 17 or even (gasp) 18.

I say this from experience. Because my education was a bit different from the norm. So there was a lot of intermingling between ages. And you’d hang out with someone every day for two months before you found out they were fourteen or eighteen and you’d go “WHAT??” and then immediately get over it. And people dated each other. We all basically took turns dating each other! And there were age gaps and it didn’t even occur to us that it was weird because, here’s the thing, it wasn’t. It wasn’t weird. It was so incredibly normal, and remarkably healthy. I actually ache with fondness thinking about it. We were friends. We were kids. We were all in the same relative place in our lives and we didn’t have institutional power over each other. We didn’t exist in those dynamics. We were just kids having fun and learning about romance and exploring in a safe way. Yes, even the seniors and the freshman together.

I realize this can sound like apologism, but I would never defend a predator. There is no excuse for abuse, for grooming, for targeting kids.

It’s just that high school kids consensually dating other high school kids and maybe making out with them isn’t predation. And I started college at 16! And you know what also wasn’t predation? Flirting with my 19-20yo classmates who also still lived with their parents and had no income and were taking the same classes I was. It also wasn’t predation when they flirted with me, especially because they had no damn way of knowing I was 16 unless it came up in conversation, which? It virtually never did.

Listen. I know adolescence is fraught. And people in that period are very vulnerable. And I also know, firsthand, that there are people out there who want exploit what they see as innocence and naïveté. Exert their power over someone they see as less than, someone who might not know how or when to say no or how to protect themselves. Or that they have a community to rely on. And it’s evil. And it’s inexcusable.

And having those examples of safe, healthy, silly dramatic adolescent drama to look at to see what was normal when you weren’t isolated, when you were all friends, when people weren’t possessive or controlling, was actually protection against that.

(Yeah. You fucking heard me. Not only was being a 16yo who flirted with and kissed and dated a 20yo or two and then a 17yo who flirted with a 15yo and all of that not abusive - that community I was in was protective against attempted abuse. They’d be the first to pull me out of a situation if I was uncomfortable, and I’d do the same for them.)

But if you believe, like I do, that we need to improve education to meet people where they are instead of force them into lock-step with their same-age peers, then you’ve already acknowledged that people can meet the same milestones at different ages, which means that people who have a small age gap can have about the same level of experience and the same goals and the same relative power.

And if you acknowledge that, then you have to admit that preventing grooming, predation, and abuse is more difficult and involved than just making a list of rules about who is or isn’t allowed to fancy each other or it’s “abuse”. You have to actually build community and safety nets and resources and check in with each other and give people a veritable buffet of meaningful relationships and reliable people so they aren’t as susceptible to isolation and disempowerment. But that’s complicated and hard and it’s so much easier to just say “if I just make sure no one with more than a two year age gap ever makes out in the drama club dressing rooms I have Stopped the Pedophiles!” but you haven’t actually. And what’s more, by segregating the kids by age so much, you may actually be contributing to the isolation and inexperience that will make a kid unable to recognize what is or isn’t normal for those interactions, and also more likely to put those older than them on the kinds of pedestals that enable that kind of grooming.

If you hang around a bunch of kids of a bunch of ages, you know an 18yo is just another idiot like you and there’s nothing special there. If you segregate them and call them a whole other species, then wow! Senpai noticed me! And Senpai says I’m so mature for my age! Wow!

What I’m saying is, if you really want to prevent child grooming and weird toxic power imbalanced relationships, you actually need more normalized interactions between people of different ages, not less.

Also it would massively improve our education system. So there’s also that.

[thyandrawrites]

Recently saw someone post a meta saying that Best Jeanist’s lines during the war arc to Dabi about airing his family dirty laundry was a mistranslation, and that it was not supposed to be taken as Best Jeanist wanting him to cover up his family’s abuse but instead taken as Best Jeanist chiding him for using his family’s abuse and drama to hurt people. They relied very heavily on stressing that it was a mistranslation and you had to understand the culture fully to explain it, and very heavily implied that Dabi was very fake during his broadcast and only Best Jeanist got to see both sides of Dabi so knew that he was being manipulative and didn’t actually care about exposing hero society, he only wanted to hurt people at their lowest point.

I was wondering your opinion on all of this because something about it just doesn’t sit well with me as accurate and I don’t feel that the characterization of Dabi or Best Jeanist they talk about is accurate, but if you agree that it was widely mistranslated I think I’d really need to revisit those chapters because if that’s true it changes a lot.

mh, I have 2 issues with that take.

1. saying that you have to understand japanese culture to understand why Jeans reacts that way is a generalization. Not only that, but using Japan's group mentality as a way to brush off discussion of serious topics can quickly become a racist argument if you're not careful about your points.

It is indeed true that in Japan anything deviating from the norm is seen as a disturbance, as something that people side-eye. But to say that it's just a #japaneseculture thing and thus Jeans is exempt from criticism (or the issue is exempt from meta commentary) is... lowkey racist. It's like saying that no japanese person can ever think outside of those patterns. Or like saying that no japanese author can purposefully write a character who defends group mentality tooth and nail with the intent of framing him as a bad person for it.

Which I think is what Horikoshi was aiming at. Heroes like Jeans, Hox and Endvr weren't portrayed as heroic during the war arc. Here's a post specifically about Hox's framing as a bad guy. And here's some visual to further that reading of Hox as a villain in that specific scenario. Like, I get how this message might not be super clear. While Hori did portray the top three in the wrong (particularly during the press conference,) he also didn't give them any actual narrative consequences. But that's a separate can of worms. It doesn't take away from the fact that in this manga, heroes who walk over individuals to protect something bigger like an abstract "greater good" are portrayed in a negative light. So that by itself negates the "japanese culture" argument imho.

2. Another issue I have with this take is the implied victim blaming. To clarify, I do think Jeans was criticizing Dabi for weaponizing his trauma and making it everyone else's problem. Which Dabi absolutely did by the way. He changed his speech patterns and projected a different self-image during the broadcast with the intent of appealing to people's consciences. I have dissected this in great detail in another meta. I think you might be interested in reading it. You can find it here.

But, back on track. Jeans was criticizing Dabi for his selfish crusade against his father because it hurt the public's faith in heroes and thus made the country less safe. And that's precisely why we shouldn't justify him. What Jeans says boils down to victim blaming. He's saying that a victim doesn't have a right to talk about his trauma when that discussion hurts the status quo. When discussing it makes the public uncomfortable. Well, the thing is: abuse IS uncomfortable. Looking away from it and pretending that everything is fine is very tempting.

Not to bring real life into this, but this attitude is largely why to this day, despite how much times have changed, when victims ask for accountability and from protection by the law enforcement they often get ignored. This is an issue that I feel strongly about. Just in my country, I hear news of victims killed by abusive ex-spouses because the system looked away on a monthly basis. People who got restrictive orders against their ex partners and got killed by them regardless. Looking away—pretending the problem isn't systemic just because you can solve with a private deal behind closed doors between the two parties—isn't a solution.

To bring this back to Jeans, he had no right to say Dabi shouldn't have come forward with public accusations. In the world of bnha, purse snatchers who used their quirk in public get sent to tartarus, but heroes whose extrajudicial murder gets broadcasted for the whole country to see are able to walk free and keep being heroes. If heroes constantly and consistently get no repercussions for their actions, including their abuse of power, how else was Dabi supposed to get justice? It's true that by broadcasting his family business he was acting selfishly. That's not debatable. He didn't think of how it would affect the rest of the Todorokis. But at the same time, his need for accountability is not any less valid than their need to move on. And since it's the public faith in Endvr itself that shields him in an iron armor, Dabi's only way to nick it was making Endvr's less heroic side a public affair, too.

At the end of the day, this is just how I see it. I don't assume everyone will agree with me, but these are my two cents on the matter

[happilyeverbridgerton]

my thoughts on bridgerton season 3

(reposted from my main account, oops lol)

Like everyone else, with the news of the season 3 plot of Bridgerton, I've decided to share my thoughts! This will also include some of my opinions regarding on the direction of how the show is going compared to the books. I hope you enjoy and that we can have a discussion in the comments.

I should preface this my saying, that I was initially not very excited to learn that Colin and Penelope were the main couple for season 3. Benedict and Sophie are my favorite couple out of the entire series, so I was obviously disappointed. Especially after reading here on Shondaland's article that "it feels only appropriate in the third season of Bridgerton for a third son and a third daughter to take the lead."

No, it actually does not. Because by that logic, Benedict should have been the lead of season 2. I really do believe this change in which couple stars as the lead boils down to the reveal of Lady Whistledown at the end of the first season, and the hole it seems like the writers of the show have written themselves into.

But, I digress. I'm learning to separate the tv show from the books, and I will get there eventually.

Immediately, I wasn't sure how to feel about Colin helping Penelope to find a husband. As the article states "Pen values her independence," so I'm not so sure why she is eager to find a husband. Though she was not exactly thrilled at the idea of being a spinster in the books, I feel like it still gave her a sense of freedom and allowed her more room to continue to operate as Lady Whistledown.

However, I do think this plot does allow for some potentially great moments to see Colin slowly start to realize his feelings for Penelope. Similarly, it should allow for Penelope to also realize that her feelings are still there for Colin and have been for a while. I'm interested to see how the new suitors will be introduced and what sort of dynamic they will have with Penelope.

What I'm not necessarily excited about is the way the Lady Whistledown plot is panning out. I am, personally, not a fan of the way the Queen has been involved with this plot of the show. Making the stakes so high that the Queen wants Penelope killed is very extreme, and also just doesn't make sense to me. It seems as though it has the potential to be very 'witch-hunty,' and I'm not sure how it will pan out.

I am interested to see how they go about resolving the fight between Elosie and Penelope. Will this happen in the first few episodes or only at the very end of the season? I'm also curious to know if there will still be some scenes with Penelope helping and encouraging Colin about his writing. I think it provides a sweet connection between the two of them and helps to add to Colin's character.

My last thought does not actually relate to Penelope or Colin, but instead - Benedict. One of my original gripes about the reveal of the leads for season 3 is that it seemed as though Benedict was in the perfect place in terms of his character for when he meets Sophie at the end of season 2.

So far, we have seen Benedict see situations around him of people living outside the norms of society, and he himself has started to adopt the attitude that being outside the ton is not a bad thing (as seen in the first season). Not only that, but Benedict seems very lost at the end of the second season. This is especially present when he learns that he got into art school because of his family/money rather than based on his merit.

All of this to say is what will Benedict do this season? I know many hope that Benedict will at least meet Sophie before she disappears for 2 years, but I'm not so sure. And if that doesn't happen, I hope he is not completely ignored or reduced to comedic relief.

All in all, I am excited for season 3 and what will happen between Colin and Penelope. I adore a friends-to-lovers trope, so I am excited to see this on the big screen. In the meantime, I will work on managing my expectations when it comes to tv/film adaptions and the original material.