#it's actually valued. you know. as a treat.

[drdemonprince]

Is there a polar opposite of transphobia?

Like I’m a newly transitioned trans man and suddenly everyone wants a piece of me. In a weird way. Like people have started asking me to join committees and talk to youth groups and shit so they have their “representation”. I’m now the token trans person. I live in a small lefty town. People either want to ask me allllll the questions or they are too scared to even talk to me in case they offend me. Suddenly everyone wants to be my friend. I feel like I’ve joined a club I did not agree to sign up to. Like is this normal? Is there a term for it? I have a lot of gay male friends who are awesome, no other trans people local. I’ve started connecting with people online.

I mean some people have been cunts for sure. But mostly it’s nauseating fawning. I know this is a stupid thing to be complaining about but I guess I’m curious.

I’m not that special, I’m actually just an angry little man.

My brother dear, what you are experiencing is a very common combination of the growing visibility & tokenization of being a newly out marginalized person, and the massive increased authority, social trust, social value that comes with being a man.

Welcome to male privilege baby, to put a spin on a far more undermining phrase that typically gets hurled at trans femmes. You will be considered a trustworthy authority on trans issues, a valuable contributor to panels and workshops, a needed (but also highly convenient to access) form of "diversity" for a workplace, a welcome attendee at all manner of events, and you'll be deferred to over women, especially trans women, for pretty much the entire rest of your life, if you continue to remain out about the trans side of things.

Guys like us are invited, centered, included, listened to, treated with respect, treated with WARMTH, viewed as intelligent, perceptive, sensitive, safe, trustworthy, reliable, and desirable to include. In the eyes of the cis public, we are a "safe" kind of trans person who does not make people uncomfortable to look at and who doesn't challenge their pre-existing understanding of gender hierarchy; when they listen to us, they get to trust in the certainty of a MAN giving them information, but they can also feel comfortable and safe around us as a kind of enlightened, sensitive nonthreatening figure.

We're men who can can explain sexism right back to women. We're trans people who went from being subjugated as women to being rewarded with privilege as dudes. In this way, trans men being positioned as an authority figure reinforces the existing gender hierarchy, which feels soothing and right to people's brains.

You will have to be conscious of this power differential for the rest of your life, around cis and trans women alike, because otherwise it plays out in a pretty traditionally sexist fashion: people (especially women) will go quiet when you start speaking, you will be given credit for ideas that were a collective effort, your emotions will be more likely to be taken seriously and seen as a sign of principle rather than weakness, and you will be regarded as special and memorable while dozens of other people and their concerns are passed over.

Another factor that is at play here is a phenomenon that is less specifically gendered, because it does happen to trans women too, and that's the phenomenon of cis groups making the newly-out trans person their token and educator, because typically it is the newly out person whom they have the most access to and power over.

The moment that a trans person transitions they immediately start getting singled out as an expert and resource on the trans experience, asked to lead workshops at their jobs and explain concepts to people and attend events and sit on panels. I think on some intuitive level cis people kinda *know* that the newly out are in a vulnerable, uncertain state and have fewer communities ties and less experience than more seasoned trans people do, and so they make the ideal "translator" of trans experiences to them as an audience.

In cis people's minds, you're not gonna push back, you're not going to complicate their narratives, you're not gonna be tired of answering offensive questions, and you will be freely available to them as a resource, because you've just come out. You'll put a friendly face on transition, one marked by newness and hope, rather than be jaded, complicated, or assertive at them. That's their expectation.

It makes no logical sense to make a newly out member of the community the arbiter of transness or the educator on the trans experience, but it DOES make sense that a powerful group would view such a disempowered and disconnected (relatively speaking) member of the trans community to be the most attractive to include.

Of course, this might not be true to who you actually are. But on a gut level, this is how the newly out trans person is typically seen: nonthreatening, moldable, convenient, so thankful to be included that they won't be angry. And you will be doubly rewarded for fulfilling that role if you are a man.

The only way to upend this narrative being forced onto you is for you to speak up, every single time you are invited to an event, and demand that just as many trans women be included in that event as trans men. Make sure to have a nice list of experienced, wise trans femme friends whom you can recommend as speakers and co-panelists in your pocket.

More often than not, you will be thanked by cis people and rewarded for having the brilliant idea of including women in a conversation about gender minority status. How the trans women in the equation get treated, well, you'll need to pay close attention to, and be ready to stand up and speak out the moment any passive aggressive exclusionary bio-essentialist fuckshit gets going. You can do it! And lots of times you ARE the person with the power to set things right. You're trans and you're being singled out, but you also are a man.

[lakesbian]

Do you have any analysis about Miss Militia. Its an interesting character concept in worms setting, generally well meaning hero who's ultimately still a cop that wont in any violate the law even in spirit to do good, but in practice I dont know how much is Taylor bias rather than her actual flaw. I could have sworn there was a post about it, but I cant find it because my blog is a horrible disaster.

i feel like a woman from an imperialized country immigrating and americanizing to the extent of being worm's stock All American Hero would be a good spoof on the All American Hero cape trope if wildbow had better geopolitical awareness and genuinely emphasized that this is like. not an awesome thing for her. and that she's not doing good things with her station no matter how she feels. but i feel like worm treats her backstory and current position as kind of like. value neutral or without political implication. so i don't know if it's much of anything. but i think in an improved worm it could be something. that's basically my miss militia thoughts

[omnium-gatherums]

Like I don't know if you guys know but if you ask anybody out on the street if they know what dissocistive identity disorder is, you're most often going to get responses along the lines of "I don't know/I've never heard of that/what is that", "like multiple personalities?" and any other number of misconceptions and sometimes even downright actively ableist as Hell responses.

It is incredibly, incredibly difficult to get a therapist for any kind of mental health problem, and even MORE difficult when you have DID, even moreso when you also have to balance finding a therapist who ACTUALLY knows DID or claims and acts like they but then go on to refer to it as "split personality" (which was a real thing I experienced from a psychiatrist in 2023).

People with CDDs are constantly demonized and fake-claimed. You'd be hard-pressed to meet somebody who has heard of DID let alone knows anything about it.

Many of us have experienced very extreme abuse as children, abuse so horrid that most do not believe that it happens, abuse so horrid that we cannot believe it ourselves, abuse so horrid that we can't talk about it to most people, not even online.

Our memories are constantly questioned, not only by ourselves, but by society at large. People still believe in "false memories." People still believe DID is rare. People think DID is only caused by "the most extreme, horrific abuse ever."

People don't even believe DID is real at all.

Trying to find CDDs represented in literature, movies, anywhere is practically like trying to find a half-decent, barely edible apple in a pile of rotten apples, with like one or two rare perfect pieces.

DID is a heavily mysticized disorder, representing our switches as if we are demons becoming possessed for shock value, "SWITCH CAUGHT ON CAMERA!" is a common click-bait YouTube title, our switches are played up for shock value and to show us interesting zoo animals instead of human beings.

Very real and common and normal experiences that people have when they have a CDD are mocked, made fun of, disbelieved. If you have "weird" names, you are mocked. Alters are treated as fascinating characters to be treated like play dolls. Polyfragmented systems who are incredibly large are disbelieved and mocked and fake-claimed.

People will join system servers meant to be safe spaces for supporting systems are instead raided by bullies and ableists who screenshot messages and post them online, laughing and mocking and making fun of very real, valid, and even common and normal experiences that people with CDDs can have.

People with CDDs simply cannot exist as themselves, as who they truly are.

You are not helping me or anyone with CDDs by doing nothing but screaming and yelling at endos and harassing them and making fun of them and talking about how much you hate them 😐 You would do better channeling that energy into actually caring about people with CDDs by showing us support, caring about us, educating yourself and others, sharing resources, spreading positivity.

[tumblingxelian]

Gonna ignore the Anakin defenses to focus on OPs stuff cos I completely and totally get you, seriously. I just wanna focus on the Tuskan's actually cos like here's why so many fics do not vibe for me:

1: No one but Padme knows!

What I mean is Ashoka, Obi-Wan, the other Jedi, ETC, no one gets to choose whether or not they are OK hanging out with child murderer mcgee.

Unlike say... Catra, or eve Vegeta, where everyone's either directly or at least passively aware of the sit they pulled & can make a decision on whether to engage with them. None of these other characters can do so. Their view of Anakin is inherently stilted and ill informed.

2: This could be interesting, but!

I do not get the sense that the authors writing these care all that much that he murdered those children. In some stuff I've skimmed it kind of just seemed ignored and wile that 'can' work if the author is cognizant to the implications there-of, if they aren't...

Well it ends up feeling extremely skeezy to me at best. Very, "Well the white boy I like got his happy ending, let's just ignoring the pile of mutilated babies he's been standing ankle deep in since forever."

Conclusion:

Basically, one could tell an interesting story where Anakin doesn't fall, and potentially even no one finds out what he did.

Though it'd be a HARD sell.

But doing so would necessitate, at a bare minimum, treating the Tusken's as people whose lives had value. Or even just as what they were, narrative tools to signal Anakin's willing embrace of not just the Dark Side. But also his willingness, even when not being manipulated or juiced up on Dark Side to just wash his hands of all that death.

Its why I never really enjoy those comedic, "Oh Anakin took a nap and didn't betray anyone, happy ending for all" AUs, cos I'm like... He still murdered a ton of babies and children and while I can handle characters being unaware of that, I can't take the authors acting like it is not a thing, not a part of his character or canon.

Does that make sense?

I’m gonna be honest, one of the main reasons why I can never really understand any defense of Anakin or get behind a good majority of “Anakin redemption” fics, is the fact that he murdered children.

Like let's just ignore the multiple genocides and enslavement of the galaxy for a moment, since technically you could argue that he only had a hand in that and didn't actually do it all himself, Palpatine, manipulation, blah blah blah-

He personally murdered children.

On two separate occasions, mind you.

Yes, murdering adults is also bad---don't think I'm saying it's not---but at least adults can actually try to defend themselves, most of them don't depend on the people around them to survive, and they have years of experience living in the galaxy that's given them skills they could use to survive if they managed to get away.

Children do not have any of that or---if they're a bit older and do---the skills they have are extremely underdeveloped. They cannot defend themselves, they depend on the people around them for everything, they have not lived long enough to develop sufficient enough skills to survive on their own in a world that's turned against them.

Argue all you want about the Council being "evil" and "stagnant" and "needing to die for the betterment of whatever," argue all you want about the other Jedi being "terrible to Anakin" and "deserving" their murder because of whatever reason, the CHILDREN had done NOTHING!!!

What could the children that Anakin murdered have done to "deserve" such a fate? Why did they have to die? Why couldn't they have been spared.

And the Tuskens!

Even if we assume that all of the adults in that village were personally involved in murdering Shmi, why did he murder the children? What did they do to "deserve" murder, other than having no control over who they were born as?

And like, we see in TBoBF that the Tuskens aren't just heartless monsters, they protect their own especially their young---are you telling me that none of the children tried to run? That none of the parents or elders told them to go while they tried to fight Anakin off?

And still, Anakin hunted them down and murdered them.

So no, even if you could explain away all the other atrocities Anakin has committed, I still wouldn't think any less negatively about Anakin.

He murdered children.

And I don't think that's excusable.

[orchid-n-petals]

So I've already shared parts of this on a discord server, but I have to scream about Ketheric Thorm on here as well. Obviously spoilers about the character under the cut! It's a long one.

The entirety of act 2 is about him, right? Jaheira, Shadowheart and numerous other NPCs shit on him for his fickle faith. First Selune, then Shar, then, as we meet him, Myrkul. You hear about his changes of faith on a whim, you hear that he's the person responsible for the shadow curse, he is painted as a villain, plain and simple.

You can figure it out pretty early on that Isobel was resurrected and that she is his daughter; the detail as well that he wants Isobel alive is so on the nose, it gives him away completely but there are still a few questions that remain unanswered, mainly about his faith.

And then you get to the mausoleum and the picture assembles; this entire tragedy, the death of hundreds if not thousands and the complete ruination of a landscape was all, ALL because you had this absolutely wrenched, heartbroken father who had lost everything and nobody answered his grief. He was left woefully alone, the Goddess whose daughter his daughter was involved with did nothing to save Isobel.

Imagine outliving your wife and your daughter. Imagine dedicating your life to fight the Lady of Loss, your Lady of Silver's enemy, and then be left so completely alone and in silence with your grief, with your loss. It's so, so poetic how and why he turned from Selune, and it's so understandable as well; he broke. His spirit completely broke. He couldn't deal with that void of having lost the only two important people in his life, seemingly undeservedly so. He was going mad with this and a lot of his ire was likely targeted at Aylin who, in his eye, represented Selune; she's literally her daughter, after all, and it was implied that even before the deaths of his family, he sort of saw Aylin courting Isobel as Selune taking his daughter from him, despite his service. This relationship was clearly not seen by him as a boon of "giving his daughter to the Moon-maiden".

His ways in the past clearly didn't spare him from tragedy and having to cope with it (which he clearly didn't, he snapped under the weight of his grief). He was clearly angry and unable to do anything, furious and helpless, which is a dangerous combination. A good part of his first change of heart must have been fuelled by a sense of revenge.

But then Shar didn't provide any balm to his aching heart either. If you read his letters in Grymforge and in act 2, he is so focused on enacting the will of Shar because he believes that healing lies in oblivion. Everything would be easier if he could just forget, if the damn world could just forget, if nothing was remembered because without Melodia and Isobel, nothing was worth remembering.

Then came Myrkul. Literally the only god who was not only able, but WILLING to give back his daughter to him. Imagine spending your all, EVERYTHING you have to serve two gods who would not give a single shit about the greatest suffering in your life. You were basically nothing, your loyalty didn't matter for shit, everything that was taken from you amounted to no recognition whatsoever: you should simply cope and seethe. Your grief will not simply go unanswered (which is not inherently antagonising) but ignored.

And then comes this supposedly evil entity who can alleviate your pain just like that, snap of a finger and it's a done deal.

I am so serious when I say that I believe Ketheric's main incentive was to extend Aylin's immortality to Isobel as well. You can read in her diary that she feels a taint after having came back, and there are things not even Selune can cleanse, but at this point, Ketheric doesn't care about Selune, vengeance is secondary if not tertiary, he's done that war during his Shar years and what did it give him? Literally nothing.

He doesn't even care about the fact that Isobel is still her cleric. He cares about the single most important fact: Isobel is back. Life is worth living again, there is something for him, and it was not Selune or Shar who gave it to him but Myrkul, and for this singular gift, he would raze the world for the Lord of Bones. Like people can clown on him for being disloyal but the man has the loyalty of a dog bonded to its owner.

He is powerful and is willing to go to insane lengths for crumbs. What is raising a single life for a god? Nothing. It has happened and it will happen again. But Ketheric will go to the ends of the earth to serve the single god who actually listened to him. The one god who didn't ignore him.

He knows that what he does is not the morally upright thing! He is so insanely self-aware that allying with Orin and Gortash and doing this entire plot with them only to then betray them is morally reprehensible at the best of times, he knows that people hate him, etc-etc. He was a Selunite at one point and he's not stupid. He just doesn't care; it could be literal Asmodeus and he wouldn't care as long as he got what he wanted, no matter the price.

He is probably the only one from the three of the chosen who has complete clarity over his situation, he almost sways (if you pass the check during his confrontation), he is not an inherently evil man blinded by power.

But he is inherently loyal to those deserving, and as of the story's standing, completely broken by his grief. In his eyes, at this point, the only one deserving loyalty is the one who actually listened to him. Isobel lives. It doesn't matter that she hates him, that his entire life has fallen apart, that literally nothing else that is good has come of it, because Isobel lives.

I don't think he regrets a single thing. His consciousness might tear at him at the end, but I believe he would do everything over again, exactly as he did, because in the end, his daughter was brought back. Because what would a grieving, broken parent give to bring back their child? Everything. Absolutely everything. And it's such a simply given answer, no second thoughts, no doubts.

Nobody can tell me that this man is fickle. Nobody. This man was willing to burn the world to the ground, create a Boudica destruction layer all by himself for the one single thing he wanted. For any God that would listen.

I don't know, I just have a lot of thoughts about his character.

[owlheartt]

Something I really like about timebomb is that Ekko actually knows what he's getting into.

I'm not really seeing it get talked about but in season 1 they mention that Ekko and the firelights help people addicted to shimmer get off it and lead more fulfilling lives within the community. I should probably rewatch the scene for the exact wording (might be misremembering tbh) but that comment implies A LOT.

First: Ekko's mission is helping people where he can, he would probably try and help Jinx even if he wasn't in love with her

Second: He has experience dealing with severe mental illness as that often goes hand in hand with drug abuse, namely depression/suicidal ideation like what Jinx was exhibiting

Third: He's probably mapped out best course of action FOR dealing with this and has already figured out his own limits/boundaries. Meaning he knew what he was getting into trying to talk Jinx out of suicide, and was thus more equipped to deal with the aftermath

Fourth: He's probably helped ex members of Silco's gang. The firelights seem to have a theme of healing and repairing and recovering, so they've probably also learned to forgive. If they're mission is to rebuild the lanes into a safe space, they can't exclude people they don't like, they have to make room for them. I think they fought Silco out of necessity, and I doubt Jinx would be the first person they help who's killed one of them.

These all might be a bit of a stretch but I think it really fits. Beyond that, it shows that Ekko can ACTUALLY help Jinx. As much as unconditional love can do, Ekko has the tools for Jinx's recovery and a path ready for her. He also probably knows that her "healthy" will look different from AU Powder's "healthy." On top of that, I expect he knows how to respect her even in the middle of psychotic breaks and won't agitate her already frail mental state

[dukeofthomas]

why does every reconciliation fic go like this

[mengyan]

pei sijing get behind me. your moral code is too unyielding your values are too straightforward your speech is too candid your protection is too loyal your love is too self-sacrificial your heart is buried too deep and the darkness and overwhelming loneliness that rests on your shoulders and the haunted look in your eyes is too close to consuming you. they’ll kill you

[jamethinks]

eRm I know you said "we don't talk about the cruise ship arc" but I wanna know your thoughtss 👀

As long as a question is sent in my asks I have no choice but to answer:

1. Yor is a bodyguard when her job is assassin. Yes, in the end, she kills a bunch of people, but that was to protect a woman. I don't see the point in making a character have the most morally grey job and still try to ensure she's always justified in her killings. It's one thing for her to think it it's a whole other thing for it to he true

2. I love Anya and Twilight and I got a lot of enjoyment out of their scenes but I really wish the story just left them out of the main plot and let Yor carry the story by herself. Flaws aside you had a strong story, why are you not confident in your female lead to lift the story from start to finish

3. Adding in the clock bomb was the most glazey move ever. Take Twilight's dick out of your mouth abeg. There was no reason for him to even be on that cruise but him to swoop in a save the day gimme a fucking break. Get bent

4. Why write an entire story about Yor feeling guilty for not spending time with people she barely knows on a vacation they crashed? Mind you, Twilight never felt guilty for missing out on time with Yor and Anya. That nigga would leave his own child with a woman she's only know for FOUR months max (assuming the cruise arc happened five seconds before she went on break but in reality I am pretty sure it came before her midterms so like realistically 2 months) fuck off to another country risking death and at no point does he stop and say hmmm may I should stop taking these jobs and spend time with my family. But Yor spends her first supposed solo arc feeling guilty and bad for not dropping everything for them two randoms.

5. Why was the baby there? Hm. Tell me. Tell me now. Say it. Say it right now. You know exactly why you put that baby in the story, I see right through you btich

6. Yor being willing to die because her brother was "grown" and "able to provide for himself" ah this guy. You're gonna leave your clingy codependent brother to fend for himself and die like that? And the thing to give you back the strength to fight is that random crime lord's wife and her bobblehead baby? And Loid.... LOID? I can understand Anya but Loid... fuck that man and his tragedy sweaters girl STAND UP

7. Need i say more. Even she thinks that's crazy

Tldr: fuck you.

[seaweedstarshine]

Sometimes I think of Amy Pond, who grew up being called mad by those who wielded the word as a tool of exclusion and shame —

Amy Pond, who though forced into the hands of four psychiatrists, still clung to that which they called madness until those systems which elevate psychosocial conformity above humanity stripped it from her —

Amy Pond, whose imaginary friend reappeared for a single hour after twelve years and reignited that faith before disappearing for two more years —

Amy Pond, who spent those those two years under the same implicit threat ingrained in her through psychiatric violence, and thus began to believe the man who stopped the invasion was “just a madman with a box,” only for him to agree, and to also call her “mad, impossible Amy Pond,” reframing madness as non-negative for the first time in her life —

Amy Pond, who ignored the disembodied voice of her imaginary friend even as she ran away with him for real, who still lived each day with the traumatic internalization of deviancy dictated upon her by the psychiatric-industrial complex that shaped her from childhood —

Amy Pond, who wouldn't acknowledge the Doctor's voice, such that it took an Angel in her eye that was literally killing her to ensure she couldn't reality check herself —

Amy Pond, who stood before a room which muttered about “the psychiatrists we brought her to,” and though afraid, escaped their rigid parameters of acceptable existence.

[sunsetzer]

On one hand, I want a final fantasy 6 remake, because the game is criminally underrated and the amount of fan content (which is all absolutely fantastic btw) is Not Enough for my neurodivergent, hyperfixating brain.

On the other hand, that would inevitably encourage more people to join the fandom, which would be great, except it seems these days the bigger a fandom gets the more toxic it becomes, and I really like what we have going on over here in our little corner. We all just love the game and its characters and nobody fights about who should and shouldn't date who or who you shouldn't like because they're ~problematique~. Nobody's trying to make one ship morally better than another, nobody's calling anyone names or threatening to doxx people who don't agree with their opinions. It's so peaceful and I love that for us. We're just vibing. Moisturized. Unbothered. In our lane. Flourishing.

[the-marshals-wife]

fathers that don't treat their daughters like burdens are so cool. i wish they were real.

[emeryleewho]

The difference between a good plot twist and cheap shock value is in the *depth*. It's in the *characters*. A good plot twist should be evident even from a Wikipedia article. You should be able to read it out like a monotone robot and still see how clever and brilliant it is. It is a divine fact. Shock value relies on twisting your audience's emotion to get a reaction. It tries to treat disgust or horror as inherently valuable, worthwhile story techniques. But the second you zoom out, you recount the ending to a friend, you take a moment to actually think about where it comes from, it's *empty*, and even if it scars your audience enough to stay with them for a while, it's like the Boogeyman. Once you shine some light on it, you realize how empty and pathetic it is and it fades away. If you want to be a great writer, stop relying on shock value and learn how to write a plot twist!!!

[sallykie]

I've decided. I don't like the HTTYD movie sequels' xenophobia era. I don't think the themes should have gone that way.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

[just venting a bit into the void you understand you understand 😌] Lately I've been feeling very caught between "I have a lot of thoughts on Sparrow and Normal and all that with the ending and teen talk and feel like I need to get them out and voice them for my own piece of mind and resolution" and "I am lacking the strength and energy to actually sit down and write it all out and kind of really just want to fully move on to other things (AUs, fics, anything else)" but my brain can't seem to commit to either and that's quite frustrating cause it's just left me very restless. *Sigh*. Idk! Just needed to complain about that a bit ig, it's silly but this is what has been ailing me as of late.

[todayisafridaynight]

tw // suicide

on twitter some ppl were talking about THAT jo scene from iw again and someone commented fucking "you know he was thinking about using that gun on himself" and im not sane anymore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! added something something his faith in ichi kept him hopeful enough in the moment but then when he went to jail oh. ohhh !!!!!!!!!!!

nooo cause if That Jo Scene is the flashback scene with hoshino's death that really had to be SUUUCH a low point if not top five lowest points for him i wanted to throw up watching that <- replays it in my brain constantly