#like I would ideally love to see real fireflies one day but also this was more than most ppl in my country got I think

[falderaletcetera]

something sweet for tumblr in general and @tamlin-the-ninth and @trivalentlinks especially, if either of you want it:

we don't get fireflies where I live. except that we kind of do.

when I was a kid, my dad had the occasional slightly unusual idea for family fun. he's a wine-maker, so one time he took us all out to the downs to pick gorse, which is a lot like picking blackberries (complete with pricks) except that you don't get to eat them along the way (which I don't anyway, so I appreciated the novelty.) I don't know how it was for my siblings, but he successfully tricked me into thinking it was the best fun ever, and collected the several gallons of tiny gorse flowers he needed.

(it's still one of my favourite places in the world - the cliff just ends right by the sea, which stretches on forever, so it feels like the edge of the world.)

then there were the times, always at a certain time of year, always at night - making it exciting already - where we'd be driven out somewhere special for a walk. we didn't use torches, and sometimes we'd have to pick our way around the quiet looming shapes of cows, which anyone who's seen one cow get curious and start a stampede can tell you is a slightly tense affair. and we went there to spot glowworms.

with the species here, it's the males that fly and the females that glow. some years the grass hadn't been cut in a while, so the tiny lights of them were much harder to spot; other years it was easier. always there would be bits of chalk standing out brightly in the grass that you'd squint at and think might be a glowworm until you get closer. always the first time you really see one, you'll know it for sure.

so we'd walk, and we'd call them out as we spotted them for the others to see too, and sometimes we'd catch a glimpse that would be immediately hidden behind shifting grass and we'd end up craning our necks on the spot in an effort to find it again; and sometimes the more sure-footed of us would walk out from the path - careful of both glowworms and cowpats - to spot them closer up. we didn't take anything, didn't do anything, just called them out excitedly to each other and kept count.

and it was magic.

(in the first year of the pandemic, as one of my healthier coping strategies, I started going for night-time walks along a route I wasn't familiar with. it turned out to lead to the sea if I kept on long enough, and there was a cat along one road who was friendlier than any cat should be at three in the morning. the route also ran right past a few farmer's fields.

until then I'd only seen glowworms in the place my father took us, and the streetlight glinted off the grass at the edge of this field in a way that made it easy to second-guess myself the first few times, but after a week or so there were more. they were real and they there and they were glorious. it was an unexpected and welcome gift from the world.)

they don't tend to photograph well, or at least my dad hasn't managed it with his much fancier camera. here's my best attempt so far.

I looked it up, and their family is Lampyridae, which wikipedia does call fireflies. colloquially, I tend to say that we have glowworms instead of fireflies, and that seems accurate too. but we do have these, and we hunted down and plotted out the constellations in the grass with the love and the wonder they warranted.

[motherofdogs1010]

Little Darling II (Thomas Shelby x Reader)

Summary: Birmingham has received a new club, one that is showcasing a exotic type of dance that is drawing in crowds, but it is one particular dancer that catches Thomas Shelby's eye... one that goes by the stage name: Little Darling

Warnings: 18+ only, eventual smut, dry humping, stripper!reader, mentions of prostitution/sex work, language, mentions of nudity, drinking, canon Peaky Blinders violence

A/N: I've seen a lot in interest in my story and a few people asking for a taglist, so if anyone interested, comment below! I'm still new to posting stories on Tumblr so please be patient with me ❤️ thank you for all the love, I also write on Wattpad ❤️

Also if anyone knows any good accounts that make dividers and banners for multiple fandoms, let me know! I plan on expanding into more fandoms like House of the Dragon and Law and Order: SVU!

💋 Dividers @firefly-graphics 💋 Banner @vase-of-lilies

Part I Part III

Y/N yawned as she stretched her body, she lightly slapped her cheeks in a effort to finish waking herself up as she moved about her kitchen. Last night's shift proved to be a good one thanks to the Peaky Blinders that had attended and the lap dance she had given to Thomas Shelby.

She rubbed her eyes as she moved about to begin getting her breakfast ready. Working as a dancer might not have been ideal for some women, but the money was worth it as she was managing to use some of it towards her mother to help with her father since his failing health had put them in an troubled position.

After breakfast and getting herself ready for the day, Y/N grabbed her small handbag, wicker basket and hat, walking out the front door and locking it as she began to make her way to the market to buy food for her parents.

As she walked down the street, she heard the rumbling of a car beside her and she glanced over to see him.

"Hello there", Thomas Shelby called out to her. "Y/N right?"

Y/N felt her pace slow a little as shock came over her... how the fuck did the man find her? Cherry would never out her, they wore masks to hide their identities to prevent trouble that the working girls get from men and angry wives.

"Hello", she answered back with a unsure look. "What can I help you with, Mr. Shelby?"

He slowly followed her down the street, she passed by some people who quickly walked by them as she stopped and sucked in a deep breath, turning to look at the man.

"Just wanted to know when you're working next, Little Darling", he smirked, his voice teasing.

Her eyes widen a little in shock and anger as she gritted her teeth as he stopped the car, leaning back in his seat and she approached the door.

"Didn't Cherry tell you 'no talking about the club'?" she hissed, Thomas chuckled at her.

She hated how attractive the man was; the lap dance that she had given him the night before gave her a real close-up of his features and she was able to tell he found her attractive.... well, she could also feel how attracted he was to her but he did respect the rules of not asking for sex or a blowjob from her since that was against the policies Cherry had put in place.

"She did", Thomas said, amused as he began to light a cigarette. "But I haven't been know for being a rule follower, love."

"Who blabbed?" she demanded, he grinned a shit-eating grin.

"I believe her name was 'Sugar'", he replied as he took a drag of the cancer stick.

That damn bitch... Sugar, or Annie as she was actually called, had it out for her for weeks now for some unknown reason.

"I'm not telling you", she replied, "have some other dancer service you."

"Why don't you come on in?" Thomas asked, reaching over to open the passenger door. "I'm sure you'd be more interested in discussing... our matter of affairs in here."

Narrowing her eyes, she pursed her lips as she moved to sit inside the car and shut the door behind her. She placed the basket in the backseat as she stared at the man, who took another drag of his cigarette.

"We have no matter of affairs", she said, "I performed a service for you, that was it."

"A service?" he said, "you're making it sound like you had my cock in your mouth."

"Oh, don't be so vulgar", she said with a roll of her eyes. "If you wanted your cock wet, you could go see Lizzie Stark like every other man."

"Lizzie doesn't move like you do, darling", Thomas said.

"Unfortunately for you, if you want another dance", she said, gathering her things, "you either find another dancer down at the club to give you a dance or you wait."

"Wait for what?" he asked as he watched her get out of the car.

"For when I'm working."

With the money she made, she managed to get enough food for her parents for the next week or so; carrying the now heavy basket, she walked up the steps to her parents' home, lugging the heavy wicker basket as she knocked on the door.

She waited a few moments before the door opened, revealing her mother; her hair was tied up as she wore a shawl around her. Her parents were older, Y/N having been a miracle baby of sorts from what her mother would tell her because of her mother having been pregnant with her later in life.

"Y/N", her mother said with a tired smile. "You're father will be happy to see you."

"I brought you food", she answered, her mother's hands came to caress her cheeks.

"My sweet girl", her mother said before letting inside.

After going inside and leaving the wicker basket of fresh food in the kitchen, she left her mother to walk to her parents' bedroom, where her father seemed to be most of the time.

She found him sitting in bed as he just stared out into nothing.

"Hi dad", she greeted, sitting on the edge of the bed.

But he just continued to stare into nothing.

It was a day later when she went into work, Cherry was eagerly awaiting her when she entered from the back entrance. All dancers especially were meant to enter from there since The Scarlet Letter prided itself on its secrecy of the dancers, the girls may know each other under the masks, the customers did not.

Well, they shouldn't... except that bitch Sugar apparently was running her mouth as Y/N seethed.

"Y/N", Cherry grinned, pushing her strawberry blonde hair from her forehead. "You have repeat customer."

She sucked in a deep breath through her nose as she lowered her purse onto her vanity before saying, "Sugar's been running her mouth to customers."

Cherry's grin fell and a deep frown replaced it, "She's being a rat?"

"Seems like it", she answered as she moved to the wardrobe. "Ratted me out to Thomas Shelby."

"And by coincidence, he's here tonight", Cherry said with a shake of her head.

Y/N pulled out a blood red piece, the bra was made differently compared to the ones that were popular; instead of making her breasts flatter, this bra accentuated them, cupping them in vibrant lace and shimmer. The underwear was different as well, not like the shorts that she would normally wear under dress, but instead had thin string that went around her hips, red fabric covering her ass and front just enough to leave imagination to wonder.

"What did he want?"

"Wanted to know when I'd dance again."

Cherry was silent as Y/N moved to the drawers on the vanity, opening it and pulling out a matching mask.

"I'll have another talk with Sugar, let her know she's on thin ice."

She had those pinned curls again, a red feather on the side of her head where the hair was slicked up against her; the matching sinful red lips pouted as she slid down the pole. Tommy watched with a cigarette hanging, she was like a siren calling to him with those half-lidded, bedroom eyes that were haunting him.

Tommy knew Arthur and John were somewhere in the club, probably getting dances in the private rooms but he had to wait. He saw her sway her hips as she held the pole, he could feel his pants begin to tighten a bit as she slowly dropped down into the splits, a wink sent his way.

Y/N found herself straddling Thomas Shelby again, her head tilted as she stared down at him.

"I see you waited", she said, "didn't take you for having patience."

"In the right situation", Thomas said as he leaned back in the chair. "I can be a bloody saint."

She began to grind her pelvis down in his, a groan escaped the man as she loosely wrapped her arms around his neck, her tits in his face as she moved like a seductress. Unfortunately, her grinding down on him added stimulation to her clit, making waves of pleasure begin to take over her.

"Awful rule you've got here, no touching."

Suddenly, she felt his grip her hips before grinding back up into her, a startled gasp escaping her as he grasped her chin and knocked off her mask.

"Too bad I don't like following them, darling."

He smashed their lips together and she moaned at the searing, hot feeling that seemed to tingle her body as she continued grinding... well, more dry humping down on Thomas.

She knew it was only going to complicate things, but at the current moment, she ignored it for the minutes of pleasure the man was giving her.

TAGLIST

@amanda08319

[slasherhaven]

The slashers reaction to their child mimicking them killing someone and the child responds with "I want to be strong like you."

The Slashers reacting to their child mimicking them killing somebody:

Thomas Hewitt

Thomas wanted to keep both you and his children away from all that violence but that just wasn’t realistic and he knew it.

You and even his kids would eventually see something at some point. No matter how hard he tried.

So yes, you’re child had seen the violence that happens on occasion.

But Thomas isn’t please with this. You’re child mimicking the violence they’ve seen their father commit.

He’s torn by the gesture.

He doesn’t want to encourage them into violence at all. 

But “I want to be strong like you” absolutely melts his heart. They want to be like him? Why? He doesn’t understand but, god, does he adore his child with his whole being.

Michael Myers

Unfortunately doesn’t see the problem with the child mimicking him.

You know Michael Myers raising a child isn’t exactly ideal but you love him and you love your child, not matter which parent that start to take after more...

“I want to be strong like you” Yes, their father is strong. Well done for noticing that...okay, fine, he admits that it was kinda cute! Are you happy now?!

But he’s not an idea, a murder scene isn’t a place for a child, even he knows that, and he’s not about to take his child out on the kill with him.

That’s your problem to deal with...

Jason Voorhees 

Jason tried to protect your child from all this bad stuff but it was bound to happen.

You and you child going for a walk in the woods, running into their father as he killed somebody.

But the child was never afraid of him, he never gave the kid to a reason to be.

Not a fan of the child mimicking the swing of his machete, he wanted to protect them from that no participate in it.

He won’t get mad at the child, of course he won’t, but he will discourage the behaviour.

“I want to be strong like you” will make him falter. Not in a bad way. It’s just so precious! He could never be mad at his child, especially for something they unfortunately learnt from him.

Brahms Heelshire

It was a one time thing! Somebody broke into the house, Brahms dealt with it...your child happened to see it.

And instead of trauma, they just thought it was great that their father was protecting them and you.

It wasn’t long after that, that your child starting mimicking the action

When you asked why and your child responded with “I want to be strong like Daddy!” Brahms was smiling like an idiot.

See, Y/n! Even your child can see that he protects you!

You’re going to have to deal with the consequences. Both discouraging the behaviour in your child and wiping that grin off of Brahms’s face.

Bo Sinclair

Bo does do his best to keep his child as far away from the dark truth of the town as much as possible, he knows it’s no place for a child and they’ll learn about it eventually.

But it’s a small town and people show up unexpectantly. Which is how your child witness their father killing a man. 

Honestly, it freaks Bo out a little bit. He never thought he would be a good father and this is just like evidence of that.

But he makes sure they aren’t scared, told them that it’s just something they have to do for the town and the family. It’s all okay.

It’s a couple of days later when you both witness them mimicking that they saw Bo do.

He already knows you’re glaring at him and he’s apologetic, he just isn’t going to say that.

“I want to be strong like you!” It catches Bo off guard more than it does you. He’s still questioning his fathering abilities but they must think he’s doing alright if they want to be like him!

Still, he nods along when you mention that you should be discouraging that as much as possible.

Vincent Sinclair

Vincent does want to keep your child as far from the darkness of the town as much but it’s nearly impossible.

Your child is completely allowed in their father’s workroom, as long as he doesn’t have a victim there.

But this time a victim escaped and headed for the house, were you and his child where. He had to protect you both so he caught them and killed them, completely horrified when he realised that his child had witnessed that.

It was you that sat down to explain it to your child, knowing that Vincent was beating himself up about it.

Vincent was also horrified when your child started mimicking the action.

“I want to be strong like you!” your child claimed with a bright smile.

Vincent melted at that. They wanted to be like him? God, he loved them so much. But there were much better ways to be like him than to hurt people, he’ll work on teaching them that.

Lester Sinclair

It’s not often that Lester actually had to kill a victim himself and one of the few times it happens, your child just so happened to be around. To be fair, they attacked him first!

Brushes it off to your child as “it’s just something we have to do for the town, just protecting ourselves, okay?” but also adds a very serious “Don’t tell your mother/father”.

But then the mimicking began, explained by a “I want to be strong like daddy!” so Lester wasn’t getting away with this one. He can’t even lie about it, he looks too guilty because he knows he messed up.

Don’t worry though, Lester is just as eager as you to discourage this behaviour and not have your child mimicking a murder.

Bubba Sawyer

Bubba is so used to the violence normalised in the family that he doesn’t see a huge issue on the effects it could have on your child but he does really want to shelter them from it all as much as he can.

When your child starts mimicking his actions, he gets concerned.

He doesn’t want them to hurt anyone and he doesn’t want them to get hurt.

“I want to be strong like you!” Oh okay that is cute...they want to provide for the family like him! But no, this is wrong, doesn’t matter how cute it is...

Works extra hard to keep your child away from all that bad stuff in the future, with your help of course.

You both just want what’s best for your child. 

Billy Lenz

Like Brahms, it was a one time thing! He was protecting his family from an intruder! He was doing the right thing and it wasn’t his fault that your child saw it!

He knows you’re going to kill him when he first sees your child mimicking, and tells them to not do that around you. 

They do though and Billy is looking anywhere other than at you.

“I want to be strong like you!” okay, you both can admit that’s cute but it’s still not good!

Admittedly, it does get Billy smiling. His kid wants to be like him and he thinks that means he’s doing a good job!

You still have to discourage the behaviour, even Billy can see the issue here.

Otis Driftwood

It’s impossible for your child to avoid what happens in that house, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

Otis is way to supportive until you remind him why he should no be supportive of this.

Is still secretly supportive of it.

But even he has enough sense to not actually encourage the child to harm a person...that’s something that they have to decide to do in their own time, and when that time comes Otis will be a proud father who will teach them how it’s done.

You knew what you were getting into when you got involved with this family!!!!

Baby Firefly

As I said, it’s impossible for your child to avoid the shit that happens in the Firefly household! It’s a reality that you are going to have to come to terms with as parents.

...not that Baby is very concerned about it. It’s a family thing! What’s wrong with it?!

Is pretty supportive and proud of your child picking up her bad habits.

Calls you a ‘party pooper’ for suggesting that maybe it’s not great for your child to be mimicking killing someone.

Won’t force your child to do anything but if, in a few years, your child wants to join her in hurting someone...she isn’t going to stop them...

I said it one and I’ll say it again, you knew what you were getting into when you got involved with this family!!!!

Yautja (Predator) 

So proud!

Obviously, in this case, this isn’t your child mimicking some stabbing motion and pretending to kill an innocent.

It’s your child doing their best to mimicking their father’s combat stances and strikes.

Will happily teach your child combat.

But he knows that they’re still too young to actually take on a hunt.

Soon though!

Don’t you worry, Y/n, he’ll take care of them!

You trust him with your child’s life and know he won’t put them in any real danger. He’s just proud of them!

“I want to be strong like you!” Yes child, your father is strong! See, Y/n, they can see that he is strong as well! He’s going to teach your child to be strong just like him, just like they wanted.

You’ve never seen your mate so proud.

[space-city-traffic]

yet again im back on my bullshit so... (gazes with mixed feelings at the TV show Firefly) i could fix him.

my extremely long thoughts about my Own Personal Good Version of Firefly (with plenty of spoilers for the show and the movie) under the cut:

things that are getting axed first thing no question:

out with the whole “let’s add in a thin veneer of Chinese cultural aesthetics out of context for ~flavor~” deal. just no.

instead, let’s hire some actors from a bunch of different cultures and work with them to figure out how their characters would bring those cultures into space with them!! and also hopefully bring some experiences with immigration/alienation/travel into it, since the Whole Core of Firefly is about how humanity always brings our doomed and silly and stubborn and unique warmth with us even into the cold void where nothing is familiar or homey in the slightest.

let’s respect our sex worker character shall we?

i do appreciate that Inara’s work as a companion is described as legitimate and well respected in the show. however please stop having your captain and hero call her a wh*re every five seconds against her clearly expressed wishes and portraying this as just a totally acceptable thing

let’s be more respectful of our characters of color and also have some more diversity, shall we?

others have put it better than me but yeah, the way Zoe and Book are treated is very uncomfy, and the rest of the show is depressingly monochromatic. come on let’s do better.

stop the weird confederacy hat tips

again others have pointed these out with much more thoroughness than I could, but the names of some characters and locations, as well as some of the language used to describe the browncoats, has uncomfortably confederate vibes. instead i propose we very Clearly tip our hats to the Alliance equaling space capitalism instead! you can’t go wrong with space capitalism as a villain.

don’t! make! the! psychotic! character! violent!

listen i love River Tam with my whole heart. but you should absolutely not portray your only character with psychosis as violent because of that psychosis!!!!!!! and yeah, a huge part of her character is that her brain got fucked up by the alliance and so she hallucinates and is also a super ninja. but like. she doesn’t need to be a super ninja for her character to work, okay? the crew does not need to be scared of her for her character to work, okay??? more on this later bc it would take a lot of care and nuance to make her character work but i really think it can be done

things we are absolutely keeping:

found family tropes my fucking beloved

this should be self evident. this is why the show is as appealing as it is despite its flaws, at least in my eyes.

malcolm reynolds, the knight in dusty armor

there’s something so appealing to me about what Mal stands for. because at his core is this ridiculous, silly, stubborn, doomed devotion to what he thinks is important and right, a romantic idealism thinly covered by cynical cowboy platitudes that he thinks make his bleeding heart totally invisible. and he is so obvious and entirely incorrect. bless. this is a man who will do anything for his family, who charges into swordfights to defend his friend from a man who wants to turn her into an object despite having no clue how to hold a sword. at his worst, he starts brawls in bars just for the martyr’s thrill of being persecuted for supporting the right; at his best, he inspires downright religious belief from his crew because he represents a romantic and chivalrous and doomed dedication to the right thing over any practical concerns. and then he throws a “selfish” quip over it with 100% confidence that everyone fell for his clever distraction and believes him to be a dirtbag. he’s oblivious and ridiculous and god he makes me want to be a better person because he’s just so goddamned sincere. stupid, but sincere. 10/10 himbo. <3

Mal and Inara ultraslowburn friends to enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers to friends to...

there’s nothing i love more than a ship that’s just two people who know each other way too well, and they’re each the only one who knows the other well enough to call them out on their bullshit. the way Mal and Inara interact in the show sometimes makes me uncomfy but like. the core of their relationship has to stay.

space western aesthetic

i need the cows on a spaceship scene to stay like i need air okay

that sweet sweet religious shit

mal, who lost his faith in gd and a whole lot else during the war. who lost his faith in himself, and now feels he has to hide the part of him that still wants to be good, because he knows he can’t be anymore, and he feels like it’s embarrassing for a guy like him to want something so unattainable. who takes a preacher on board, and the preacher has lost something, too. the preacher has his own past, and his own questions. but not questions like the observant neurodivergent girl, the one who wants to interact with and understand this thing that’s so important to him, but it just doesn’t click with how her brain works and she feels like something needs to be fixed, either the Bible or herself. and Mal takes care of them all, and slowly, he begins to find gd again, not in a prayer but in humanity. humanity doesn’t need to be fixed, like the alliance thinks. the shining imperfect strawberry sweetness of it in his family’s smiles is something to be worshiped and served and devoted to. and he finds he has something to believe in again. (and his crew find that he’s given them someone to believe in, too. and maybe suddenly he’s a saint.)

and finally, my brilliant ideas as to what i would like to add:

TRANS WOMAN KAYLEE RIGHTS

listen her femininity is so important to me okay? it’s so thrilled about everything that’s pretty, from dresses to the spaceship’s electric innards, and it’s so non-traditional and grease stained until it’s not and it’s pink and ruffly and twirly, and she never sees any of it as a contradiction, because none of it contradicts, it’s all just her! her gender is warmth and love and prettiness, feeling pretty and appreciating the pretty and making her friends��� days pretty too.

i want us to find out she’s trans in that episode with the ball, and i want us to find out alongside Mal who just never asked or never realized. Kaylee gasps and squeals at the dress in the shop window and Mal makes an off handed, ill considered comment, and then... someone yanks him aside and hisses a few very significant words in his ear. and suddenly he remembers what the blue white and pink she painted all over the engine room means, and he knows he has something to make right. so he buys her that dress himself and lets her know just how pretty she looks, and when he walks into that ball with her displayed on his arm like something precious, he looks the proudest out of any man there. and she notices. for a few seconds, of course, until there’s chocolate, and ‘nara, and a chandelier—and some horrible girls, but she’s used to that, until—suddenly, she finds her people. a group of old men who light up when she jokes about compression coils and whack presumptuous boys who ask her to dance. they adopt her as a treasured granddaughter, and Mal is beaming at her like a proud dad, and she finds that one of her new elderly friends gazes a little too long at her bracelet, and so she gives it to xem and teaches xem a few new words, and... it’s a good day, huh? it’s a really good day. (of course, then the captain has to go and punch somebody in the face, but it was a real nice party up until then.)

also she and Simon are both transhet t4t im correct and you know it

time for a better River Tam

the first thing we’ve established is that this version of her is not unpredictably violent and the crew is not scared of her!!!! it makes no sense to take a kid who’s primarily brilliant, experiment on her brain, give her telepathic powers....... and tack on the fact that she also has super strength and speed and dexterity and what not, AND say that they programmed her to be super violent. no! no. not only is that extremely harmful rep, that’s also just stupid.

instead!! my version of River is in fact not terrifying to the crew, but is actually the one they feel safest around. River has always been totally blunt, she was one of those kids you could tell realllllly early was autistic, and she doesn’t like being disengenous at all. so you can always trust her to tell the truth and not play weird passive aggressive games or have any hidden agenda, which makes her just a really chill person to be around. also, one of her longtime special interests is music and dance, so whether or not she’s nonverbal on a given day, there will always be some sort of beautiful sound when she’s around. she does have the singing voice of a dying crow unfortunately but that’s ok bc Simon’s is even worse and they’re both incredibly competitive so you’ll at least get free entertainment out of the affair.

my version of River does have psychosis and hallucinations because of the trauma of the experiments, and they are really troubling to her. she and Simon work together to find ways to cope and meds that help, and it’s a process, but there are some things that help.

the only thing she gained from the academy was the ability to hear people’s thoughts and sense the future a little bit. and yeah, that led to her picking up a few spooky secrets at the beginning, which, yikes. and for a while, it was hard to figure out which voices were real and which were hallucinations. but around her friends, she always feels safe to ask “did you just think about triple cheese burritos or was that just a me thing?”, and they’ll always tell her the truth no matter how embarrassing their thoughts are, bc it’s important to all of them to respect her and help her sort accurately through what’s reality and what’s not. and bit by bit, she gets better and better at figuring out what kinds of things tend to be telepathy and what kinds of things tend to be psychosis, and that each one feels a little different. and because of the trust and respect and support of her found family she’s able to do that in a safe environment!!!

trans man Simon rights

listen i wanted to keep him as just a side note on Kaylee’s list but he is my son and he’s important to my heart so here goes

out on the outer rim where Kaylee’s from, gender ain’t much of a big deal, there’s an individualistic quality to life out there, and so if the trail you blaze is the trail of a woman or a man or neither or both, that’s respected even in the rare cases where it’s not outright encouraged. but in the inner planets, where competition and connections and public faces and family names are everything, you have to be what’s expected of you to survive. you can’t change your brand, you can’t be anything other than what your family planned for you since before you were born, it’s incredibly hard to survive in such a hyper competitive environment, and so your very identity becomes just a tool in how to market yourself for better success.

needless to say Simon (just as autistic as his little sister and also very trans) fuckin hated it there. but he was very good at it. correction: he was very good at his very specific field of STEM, good enough to where people stopped talking about how cute he looked in bows and started talking about how impressive his work was from a very young age. and his work had no gender. he could be whatever he wanted to in equations. so that was where he could express himself, and gd, he got so much praise for it, he never wanted to stop.

not until he discovered that his sister needed him, and ran away, and needed a disguise, and realized... suddenly, every stifling rule and prying eye was a million miles away. he was freefloating, freefalling, with none of the charted paths he’d been following all his life... so you know what? fuck it. he’s always enjoyed the name Simon. and since it’s not on any legal records, it’ll make him just that much more untraceable.

and on Serenity, starting over with new people who never knew him before his transition feels like an unbelievable blessing that just dropped right into his lap. he has to keep up the secrecy, he has to make sure they never find out who he used to be, because gd, it’s so nice when they look at him and say his name right, and he doesn’t know if he can handle losing that, not when it’s so new and so important to the person he’s finally becoming. but then one day, the unthinkable happens, the wanted posters for his arrest have an old name on them, they’re looking for the Tam sisters, and... nothing changes. the crew of Serenity could not give even a tenth of a percent of a fuck, and it doesn’t seem like they even know they’re supposed to. huh. that’s new. Simon could get used to that, he thinks.

i’m sure there’s more i could add, but it’s 4:30 in the morning now, so if more occurs to me, ill simply add it in a reblog tomorrow. if you’ve read down this far, i am in love with you. please let me know your Better Firefly ideas, too, bc im always down to yell about this show!!!

[transgirl-catra]

Alright i started writing snippets from the catradora firefly au I've been kicking around for a while as a way of beating writer's block so. here u go if that sounds interesting.

“Understood, captain. Running dark until your signal,” Entrapta’s voice crackles over the intercom, enthusiastic as ever even in the face of the worst possible danger. As loathe as she is to admit it, Catra finds it… comforting, in a strange way.

“Thanks ‘trapta. I’ll hit the light when we’re clear. Stay shiny.” Catra returns as she settles herself into the captain’s chair. She can hear her engineer start to echo the statement before the last traces of power bleed out of the onboard comms.

The main generator shuts off with an abrupt clunk, the sudden deceleration of the flywheel shuddering the entire ship with a force that she can feel even all the way forward, about the furthest point on the entire ship. They still have some power, of course. The life support systems and the low-powered emergency lights along the base of the walls switch seamlessly over to batteries. But crucially, batteries don’t make noise. Meaning that the entire ship is completely, eerily quiet.

And with that, there’s nothing for them to do but wait as the Melog coasts forward on its own momentum. Catra hates this part, no matter how many times she’s done it. She trusts her crew, of course. And she trusts Melog, even if no one else does. And she, at least mostly, trusts herself. Which is exactly the problem. Running dark means having absolutely no control over the ship. Playing dead and hoping to pass yourself off as just another piece of space junk until you can skate by unnoticed, before powering back up and putting as much distance as possible between yourself and whatever you were hiding from before they can turn around and catch up.

They’re almost in the shadow of the reaver ship now, darkness filling the glass of the viewport and blocking out the last bit of light that Catra has. It’s huge, easily a dozen times the displacement of the Melog at a low estimate. Far, far too large to be out this far into alliance space normally.

That’s an advantage for them, she tries to remind herself. A larger ship means its easier for Melog to slip by unnoticed, really.

It sure doesn’t feel like one. They’re all the way under, now. It would be absolutely trivial for a ship this size to pull them in, and then…

Catra cuts herself off before she can start thinking about what would happen next, gripping the armrest so hard that she can feel it creak under the strain. Deep breaths, she tells herself. There’s nothing she can do now but wait.

Time is crawling now, despite the fact that Melog is moving as fast as she was when she went dark. Catra is trying, she really is. Drawing breath, counting to five, exhaling. Over and over again. It’s tenuous, but she still feels present at least. It's her duty as captain to be the one to stay aware during situations like this, and she intends to do it.

Maybe it's the stress of the day, the unexpected return of someone she thought was out of her life for good, or maybe its the fact that she could swear she sees something shift on the vessel above them, even though it’s probably just a trick of the slight warping of the viewport glass. Either way, something snaps. Catra draws her arms to her shoulders and pulls her legs into the chair, pressing her knees to her chest, the panic that's been swimming around the edges of her mind finally consuming her. Her breaths are sharp now, failing to draw much in the way of useful oxygen. She can see her reflection clearly in the glass before she screws her eyes shut. She looks pathetic. The fearless smuggler, Catra D’riluth, captain of the last of the fireflies, reduced to a crying mess. This is why she had come up here the second they spotted the ship. She can’t let anyone see her like this.

-------------- “I just… can’t believe they’re actually real,” Glimmer says nervously, staring at the scrap of napkin that she’s folded and unfolded dozens of times in the last few minutes, “I thought that they were just a campfire story”

“Oh yeah! They’re actually pretty routine out here, honestly,” Scorpia answers with a disturbing amount of cheer. “A lot worse than the stories, though.” She adds, making Glimmer and Bow cling to each other even tighter, somehow.

“Scorp. Not helping,” Lonnie interjects from the other end of the dining table where she’s been perpetually checking and rechecking her gun ever since the lights went out. “She does mean it about the routine, though. Get up and walk around if you need to. We might be like this for a while.”

“Okay. right. Adora, you need anything? Food? Water?” Glimmer asks, turning her gaze over her shoulder to where Adora had been sitting against the wall just a moment ago, only to find it completely empty.

“Fuck”

-----------------

Catra is almost on the verge of passing out, simply allowing the panic to pull her under, when she feels a hand softly brush against her own Normally, being touched unexpectedly when she’s like this would send her jumping out of her own skin, earning whoever was responsible a quick claw to the face. But there’s… a strange familiarity to this one, the way the fingers start to press between her own and the way that her own allow them to do so, parting without resistance as they slowly intertwine.

Scorpia doesn’t really have fingers to do this with. Entrapta tends to be pretty respectful about the no-touching-me-without-warning rule (and would also probably be using her hair). Lonnie, much like Catra herself, is just… not a very touchy person in general, outside of her partners. Which means…

Adora is silently standing in the doorway when Catra manages to look over her shoulder, those wide, pale-blue eyes almost glowing in the darkness.

“I’m fine, okay? Go back to the mess with everyone else, your friends are probably looking for you,” Catra manages to choke out, despite the fact that she is, very visibly, not fine.

Adora stands her ground wordlessly. But no matter how much time and distance is between them, Catra and Adora don’t need words anymore. She knows what that pleading look means on a basic, almost instinctual level: let me help?

“Fine. You can stay,” Catra relents more out of curiosity than anything else. Something in her just has to know if the girl that she fell in love with is still somewhere inside this strange, broken shell of a person that’s wound up wandering her ship.

Adora looks delighted at that, more emotion on her face than Catra has seen since she climbed out of that cryo-crate as she steps forward, never letting her hand leave Catra’s shoulder until she’s effectively draped herself over the back of the chair. Only then does she allow it to move, wrapping her arms around Catra’s chest and dropping to press her face into Catra’s hair, brushing slightly against her ears as she does so.

And then she starts humming, and that’s when Catra knows. The rise and fall of the song is familiar, because they’ve done this more times than Catra can count. Catra doesn’t even like this song, really. Just some old thing from their homeworld, romanticized ideals of freedom in space that have never really been true. But it was the one that Adora knew how to sing reliably. And so she did, over and over again whenever Catra’s anxiety got bad. In their bunks as children, on the battlefield, dozens of other places throughout their life.

Even just from Adora humming the tune against her, Catra can feel her breathing starting to calm down, her body starting to unwind.

She didn’t even realize she had started muttering the words that go with it under her breath, in absence of Adora being able to use her voice. She didn’t even know she still remembered them, really.

Adora shifts against her, and Catra can see her expression of surprise reflected in the glass. She hadn’t been expecting this to work, but she still had to try.

“Of course I still know it, dumbass,” Catra says, voice still shaking as she elbows Adora lightly, “Start over?”

Adora obliges, burying her face in Catra’s hair again and resuming the tune from the start. And Catra allows herself to sing for the first time in… god knows how long, honestly, her soft voice filling the cockpit and mixing with Adora’s humming. It’s shaky, at first. She’s rusty and stressed and hits all the notes just a little to the left of where they should be, voice nearly breaking on some of the higher ones. But she gets progressively more steady as it goes, and it feels good to be working in tandem with Adora again, regardless of her feelings about the sudden reunion.

By the time the song finishes, they’re well clear of the other ship, and Catra releases a long breath as she slips her hand from Adora’s, flipping the red switch on the console to turn on the signal in the engine room. Seconds later, the Melog roars back to life, Catra ordering Scorpia to punch the throttle. The danger has passed now.

Catra pushes Adora’s arms off her as she stands up, desperate to reestablish her walls.

“You should go back to your friends. They’re probably still worried about you. And I have a ship to run.”

Adora looks… sad, almost. But she nods, and then disappears down the hallway. She’s gone almost as quickly as she had appeared.

Leaving Catra with one answer, and a whole universe of new questions.

[ms-rampage]

Writing prompt

23. Fluff for Kate and Wheaty!!! ❤😁😊

Firefly

Writing Prompt

FLUFF

23. “I think I love you”

Warnings: Cute shit, Fluff!!

_________

So Kate Winchester, and Whitetails Militia member, and radio host Wheaty have been spending a lot of time together. 

They’re friends’ group is of the same people, and that’s how they met. He was basically her male best friend, while Morgan is her female best friend. 

But after a couple months they started dating, and finally Kate was with someone that actually cared about her. Never took her for granted, and would never hurt her. 

Wheaty on the other hand, fell for her the moment he saw her. So before they started dating, he already had feelings for her. They have a lot in common from loving the same types of music, hating the Cult, collecting vinyls, knowing how to fire a gun and a bunch of other stuff. 

Making out in his station area inside the Wolf’s Den. Kate with her arms wrapped around his neck. Wheaty, with one hand on her upper back and the other on her waist.

While some music faintly plays on the radio behind them, making out and listening to pirated radio is always a simple, good date for them.  

Eli had walked in on them kissing twice, and Tammy just avoids going into his area. Not wanting to interrupt the “horny teenagers” and their make out sessions. 

Kate breaks the kiss, resting her head on his shoulder. He holds her tightly, holding her close to him. She moves her head off his shoulder, and rests her forehead against his. 

Finally speaking up, “What you’d wanna do later?” she asks, smiling at him. 

He lets out a short sigh, “I don’t know. We can stay here, or go to the Grill Steak”. Giving her some suggestions.

“The Grill Steak? Doesn’t Chad use road kill animals for his meats?” she asks him. 

He shrugs his right shoulder, giving her a small chuckle “Yeah, good point”. 

She moves her hands, placing them on his jaw and kisses him again. 

Eli steps into his area, sees them making out and awkwardly clears his throat. Wheaty breaks their kiss and looks over at him. 

“We’re heading to Grand View to raid the place” Eli tells him, “Check around for any of our people survived Jacob’s brainwashing shit”. 

He nods his head, “Okay, I’ll get ready”. Eli leaves to pack up and get ready for the raid. 

Turning back to his girlfriend, “I have to go with him”, 

She nods, “It’s fine. I understand. You gotta find your men, and I also have to get going as well”. He kisses her once more, and goes to get his gear. 

Him, Eli and a few others raid Jacob Seed’s brainwashing facility, checking for any of their people. If they survived his torture methods. 

As he’s doing corpse duty. His mind keeps wandering that he doesn’t even hear Eli calling for him. 

“Wheaty!” Eli calls him in a hushed voice, “Wheaty!”. 

His thoughts are bombarded with Kate. Distracting him from his duties, taking him forever on checking the corpses. 

“Wheaty!” Eli says slightly louder, putting his hand on his shoulder. Making him snape out of his Kate Winchester trance. 

“Huh? W-what?!” he mutters, looking at him and the others confused. 

“What’s wrong with you?!” he asks him. Dumbfounded, and stuttering over his words, making Eli immediately know what’s going on with him and gives him a somewhat serious talk. 

“It’s Kate, isn’t it?” he asks. Wheaty nods his head, “Yeah, it is”. 

He lets out a sharp exhale, “Don’t forget your duties, I know you care about her, but we have a job to do”. 

He nods his head again and continues with corpse duties. After raiding the Grand View Hotel, and going back to the Wolf’s Den. Wheaty does his thing with his vinyl records and plays them over Whitetails radio. 

As he’s doing his thing, the radio plays a few of his and Kate’s songs which are “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet, and “Just Like You” by Three Days Grace. 

A smile on his face as he cleans his weapons, 2 of the 3 songs that played when him and Kate first got together, then what makes him realize that he’s in love with her is when “Firefly” by Breaking Benjamin plays.

Which is his cute nickname for her “Firefly”. 

Coincidence? that all 3 of their songs played one after another. Finding the confidence to tell Kate how he really feels about her. He loves her, part of him feels like it's too soon, but if he doesn’t tell her then he’ll end up never telling her. 

A few days later, Kate stops by the Wolf’s Den to visit her boyfriend, and Wheaty swallows his pride and tells her his real feelings for her. 

Their ideal date is spending time together either at the Wolf’s Den or in a secluded part of the Whitetail Mountain near the bunker. 

Making out in their usual spot, he breaks the kiss and looks away from her. 

“What’s wrong?!” she asks, concerned. Trying to find the right words and tell her that he loves her. 

“Wheat?, What’s wrong?” she asks again, growing worried. 

He takes a deep breath, looks back at her, and softly says “I think. I think I love you”. 

Her eyes widened, taken aback by his words “What?!”.

Fearing that he might have overwhelmed or scared her, “I’m-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t-”. He gets cut off by Kate wrapping her arms around his neck and kisses him deeply. 

“I love you too” she says against his lips. He holds her closely to him, gently stroking her hair. A huge smile on his face.

In the next room over. “I told you he was gonna tell her” Eli whispers to Tammy. 

[ferie-anon]

Hey Swettie 🙃 I don't know if you take request but, if you did, can I please get astrology ship with ateez/straykids? Im taurus sun, leo moon, pisces sun, aries venus, aquarius mars and taurus mercury. Thank you soo much and have a wonderful day💛

(Top right picture: "I’ll love the genuine things, the truth, the real feelings, and myself" )

Hiii, first I’ll do Ateez since currently two ships request in one ask is a bit much for me. Here’s your analysis of your placements~ (You can request for straykids when I reopen my ship asks if you want) Okay so you have taurus sun with pisces moon and leo rising after clarification of your placements, and wow can i just say u must be quite the lovable pretty human being 🥺. Taurus sun you are grounded and there is an inherent desire for productivity or routinely manner when you implement your efforts such as your blog managing for example, I notice you consistently or do a bundle or a bunch of asks for the moodboards and then post them all at the same time or in a frequent but not everyday manner. Your work ethic is quite admirable and it also partially stems from your leo rising, these natives with this placement are quite active with their individual interests and opinions/goals, working silently hard or loyal towards their objective. And then your pisces moon allows you to be able to interpret emotions and feelings in different ways, the tangible and untangible. It also makes sense how well put your moodboards are and how accurate they are with the embodied moods :3. Your pisces moon is able to discern these emotions or vibes and they can channel this at time in numerous ways, creatively, to help others in a therapeutic way, and etc. Aslo with your placements general, you may be friendly or very down-to earth to others, empathic (like an empathic listener for example) and friendly but also have quite solid self individuality and well balanced management of your personal and other needs. But I only got to half of your placements 💖✨ I’ll talk about your taurus mercury and aries venus now.

Woah see here is where your individuality could be more heightened. With taurus mercury, you are not afraid to say your honest opinions, rather it would be better or the only option to hear the truth or genuine thoughts than shield with only pretentious superficial words of comforts, ofc you genuinely want the best for ur loved ones and all, and comfort and support is natural, however filtering the reality from your friend is only going to hurt them than rather benefit them so. You’re quite blunt but in a subtle way, its not like you want to let others know you are a blunt and honest person before convo, but simply they realized this fact afterwards. Your aries venus is also quite bold or affectionate, your physical expression of love or care for friends and partner/family etc is warm and obvious to them. These natives with their venus in aries can get their emotions quite strongly at times to their important ones, you sorta give me a love warrior goddess sorta vibe but more controlled/calm. You love with sincerity and passion, but also try to not lose yourself for others. You have aquarius mars oooh, you strive for new and mental stimulating ideas or topics that you are interested in, this could range from hobbies or crafts that involve your interests. Your aquarius mars can be quite fixated as the sign aquarius is also a fixed sign (the modality is a fixed sign) so you may consistently work in your field of interests, but sometimes you try not to put heavy pressure on yourself too much to reach your goals as your motivations are consistent but you aren’t rushing yourself too much, preferring to work at ur own pace becuz u will get there~

In Ateez... your match is san!

Omgg san has a cancer sun with taurus moon, he has water and earth in his sun and moon similar to yours, and with him having the same sign in his moon as your sun (Taurus). There is an immediate emotional understanding, and easier opening up to each other. Idk why but San and you have such similar dynamics, you both would be the warmest and down to earth chaotic pair?? San with his cancer sun is always ready to help and pours his heart into everything, his love for his members and fans, and passion when dancing lol. (Satanic san~) Your pisces moon would feel comforted and safe with his cancer sun, as you seek for someone to not judge your emotional vulnerability/sensitivity and San being consoling and having a non-judgemental soothe to him, bingo. You both would have similar beliefs and point of view at times, which would relate to an immediate click. The first time you met each other, it was like two fireflies flickering towards each other. You weren’t close to him at first, but you were aware of his presence from the first encounter, and soon you both planned subtley how to approach each other more often~

Alright a delve at his taurus moon, San is loyal, self-consistent to his ideals and perspectives, and more inclined to familiarity. With his taurus moon, San is always ready to be there for his members, family, and close ones. He is also a bit solidified in his own goals and self views, sometimes not wavering from ofher opinions till he sees proven true. I can say that with your taurus sun, you would appreciate his grounded ways and calm but warm nature. Your pisces moon connects well with his cancer sun, as both are water signs and have a easier time reciprocating and processing emotions. (So San can easily comfort you when you may be feeling down or experiencing emotional turmoil, he may know what to say or do when comforting like hugs or soothing affirmations, it’s everything the opposite of awkwardness) I think San may find your softness and sensitivity cute and understanding, that you can also be an ambitious or strong individual but also have a soft spot.

Next up San has a leo mercury, and here’s where his chaotic energy will be talked about lol. San is obviously the opposite of calmness when he is naturally having fun and interacting with his members by being himself, he is quite creative and a loud eye-catching speaker. (You don’t need to be told twice he’s probs a living speaker in the dorms wildin) San’s way of communicating may be a little different from your taurus mercury, as your placement tones are more focused on maintaining a calm and chill vibe, while San could be too hyper at times. However, your aries venus would definitely appreciate his energetic actions and manner, both having fun engaging activities. Also San’s mercury in leo and your taurus mercury are similar in a sense they both are vocal or stand clear to their opinions and views. You both won’t hesitate to be honest and there will be better mutual trust becuz of this. And despite different perspectives at times, you both may find the other point of view interesting and it may not lead to frequent altercations and more of enlightening banter. 

(This gif summarizes sorta a leo venus being overdramatic of their s/o in a loving manner or complimenting them lol, and its basically san)

And what do we have here, San’s venus is in leo also :> Leo says we meet again~ His way of showing affection can be more physical and expressive, he is definitely proud of his partner/s/o and will shower them with compliments. Venus in leo’s love are genuine and very deep, and with your aries venus (both signs in venus are fire) you definitely love the physical interaction and display of affection from San. Similarly, once close and in a relationship you aren’t shy from showing your love, sometimes you may be flirty or surprise-hug (or other skinship) San. Dates will be fun and probably have high-tension like you both are clearly enjoying the time together (ngl it might seem obvious to others in the same location as your date that you two are rlly lovey-dovey with each other) That being said you both always lift each other up, whether in terms of mood or personal feelings like insecurity at times or nervousness, you two could be each others number one supporter. His leo venus (and his mercury in leo) are opposite to your aquarius mars so there may be conflict or a clash between differing actions/methods and beliefs, but nonetheless you both end up learning from a wider point of view with each other and find the differences intriguing. (Also notably his leo venus and mercury is conjunct to your leo ascendant, so an instant chemistry or attraction mentally and physically is apparent :3)

Lastly, San’s mars is in scorpio. His scorpio mars is opposite to your taurus sun and taurus mercury (scorpio and taurus are sister signs aka opposing signs), but in this case this could further his interest and a spark between you two often. The first impression was impactful to him, and he may be more initiative to getting closer or being in your presence in general. His scorpio mars is quite devotive, in terms of personal goals and passions, and important things he considers in his life (aka his partner, friends, family, etc). Your aquarius mars is also pragmatic when needed but due to your natural logical sense, however you tend to be more loose with your scheduling and activeness. However, despite some differences between pace, you both are consistent and stable when you decide on something. His scorpio mars is also passionate, and with your aries venus the energy levels are able to be matched and complemented with the rest of both of your chart placements. 

Overall, with both placements in synastry and analyzation, you both won’t get drained out by each other a lot able to change the direction of interaction between energetic to calm and serious, lighthearted conversations to an inherent empathic awareness during conversations. I was writing this, and I can’t help thinking wow they really match well together. Chemistry platonically and romantically, you both get along rlly well. In this ship pair, you two are the best friends and lover couple, close in general and caring about each other, and did I mention the charismatic ones? I bet yall would be the most openly charming couple .ㅅ.

[himbowelsh]

Hi there! Could we also get a Valentines A-Z for Eugene Roe? I am hopelessly in love with that man

valentines day alphabet  ( accepting! )

aren’t we all, anon? aren’t we all

A   :   AFFECTION.   how does your muse show affection?

Very subtly. Eugene Roe isn’t a “words” man  ---  his language is action, tiny gestures which show the people he loves how much he cares. When Gene cares, he cares a whole lot...  so it’s important to him to do things for the people around him. He’ll fix a broken fence without asking, clean his mother’s kitchen, replace a vase of flowers if they’re starting to wilt. Little, practical things, which nonetheless show a depth of care for the other person, and an understanding of exactly what they need in that moment. If he’s really close to someone  ---  at a point where he feels perfectly comfortable with them   ---   he’ll also offer physical affection from time to time.

B   :   BOUQUET.   does your muse like flowers? which ones are their favourite?

He actually knows a surprising amount about flowers and herbology, just from watching his mother, a passionate gardener. He’s not fond of store-bought bouquets. If possible, he’ll throw something together himself, just from what can be found in the local gardens, and it’ll look damn lovely.

C   :   CHOCOLATE.   does your muse like chocolate? which one is their favourite?

He’s not going to go feral over it, but he’s got a healthy appreciation for chocolate.

D   :   DATE.   what is your muse’s ideal date? where / who with / etc?

He’d love to do something outdoors. Maybe a picnic in a quiet place, on a sunny day, with a canopy of trees proving shade overhead. Dappled sunlight falls across his bare arms as he stretches out on the blanket, leaning slightly against his partner; they made sandwiches while he brought lemonade and fruit; the chocolate chip cookies are freshly-baked. There’s no chill in the air. Somewhere close, birds are chirping. The entire world seems completely at peace, and he’s so happy to be enjoying it with someone he loves.

E   :   EMBRACE.   does your muse like hugs? what are their hugs like?

Gene’s really not a hugger...  so when he does seek out physical affection, it means something. Maybe he’s emotionally exhausted, or maybe recognizes the other person needs it in the moment; at any rate, his hugs are like finally exhaling a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. They’re not too much, but just enough to leave someone feeling relieved, like a weight’s been lifted from their shoulders.

F   :   FLIRT.   is your muse good at flirting? how do they flirt?

He’s got gorgeous eyes. We know that. Say that dark gaze locks with someone else across a crowded room, and draws them in instead of letting go...   or perhaps they’re close enough that it’s easy to brush up against each other just slightly, hands accidentally caressing each other when reaching for the same thing...  Gene’s flirting is very subtle, and has no right to be as seductive as it is.   (Please note:  this is strictly Sober Gene. Sober Gene and Drunk Gene are two very different people. Drunk Gene gives lapdances.)

G   :   GIFT.   is your muse good at gift - giving or do they struggle to get it right?

He’s okay at it. No one would call him a gift-giving master. Sometimes he gets it right and sometimes he gives Lewis Nixon a chia pet. When Gene gives great gifts, it’s clear how much effort he put into it; when he misses the mark completely, it’s hard to tell if he put any effort in at all.

H   :   HEART.   is your muse quick or slow to give their heart away?

He’s guarded by necessity. Gene keeps his heart locked away behind no less than a dozen fortified walls. Breaking through them requires a wrecking ball, chocolate, and a lot of determination. He’s cautious, because when he cares he can’t help caring deeply, and quietly dreads the inevitability of getting hurt...  but sometimes letting people in is worth the risk. He’s...  still working on realizing that.

I    :   I LOVE YOU.   does your muse find ‘i love you’ easy or hard to say?

...  more difficult than it has any right to be. Again, Gene’s not great at the whole “expressing his feelings” thing. If he’s in love, he wants his partner to know it...  but coming right out and declaring it is one of the hardest things in the world. He’d hedge his bets, working to show them his love rather than spelling it out. If he has a very verbally demonstrative partner, he’d be able to say it more easily over time, just because he’s used to hearing it...  but on the rare occasions Gene does say “I love you”, it’s that much more precious, because he’s feeling it so intensely in the moment that he can’t keep it inside.

J   :   JEALOUSY.   does your muse get jealous in a relationship?

Oh, yeah. Ye-eeahh. Not over just anything, but blatantly obvious things  ---  like seeing someone flirting with his partner, or touching them shamelessly... it gets Gene riled up. He’ll loom over the interaction, not saying a word, but silently intimidating the hell out of the interloper until he backs down...  and once he has, Gene steps up. He and his partner usually have to make themselves scarce quickly, because Gene can’t refrain from touching them. As soon as they’re alone...  all bets are off. Instinct takes over; all Gene can do is press them up against the wall and kiss them, hard and hot, until all thoughts of that other fool have flown out of their head.

K   :   KISS.   is your muse a good kisser? why / why not?

Gene starts out shy...  but, with the right encouragement from his partner, finds his footing very quickly. Uses touches very sparingly, but with great effect; tends not to linger in a kiss for long, parting for air just to allow his breath to caress his partner’s flushed lips, before diving back in for more. When he really gets into it, Gene becomes hungry, clutching harder at his partner, sucking at their lips and gasping in the short pauses for breath.

L   :   LOVE.   who does your muse love?

He’s very devoted to his family, especially his grandmother when she was alive; Gene loves his hometown, everything about it, and he loves the people he’s grown up alongside. Certain people, like Babe and Renee, hold places of honor in his heart; once he’s grown to care for someone that much, he’ll do literally anything for them.

M   :   MOONLIGHT.   is morning or night a more romantic setting?

Gene is a morning person. It’s not by choice. If he knew how to sleep in, he absolutely would, but his body just isn’t wired that way. He tries to be romantic at night, but after a long day, he’s usually crashing by around midnight. Obviously when he forces himself to, he can stay up (copious amounts of caffeine helps) but any time he’s got the time is a romantic time, far as he’s concerned.

N   :   NAUGHTY.   what is your muse like in bed?

Gene is intense to the point that it’s nearly overwhelming. His caresses, his movements, his kisses...  everything is charged with an electricity that can become overwhelming if his control slips.  He’s a demanding lover, giving his partner little time to rest;  his hands are doing one thing while his mouth is doing something else, all designed to elicit a reaction from his partner. It’s not something he thinks through in the moment   ---   Gene’s a purely instinctual lover, but he’s got some great instincts. Loves to have his mouth on his partner’s neck, slowly trailing down to their bare chest. He’s silent in bed, but vocal partners really do it for him; he could get off on his lover’s moans alone.

O   :   ODE.   does your muse have a way with words?

Oooooh no, he’s not a “words” man at all! Gene struggles to verbalize his emotions; for as much as he feels deeply, getting those feelings out is like trying to speak a language he’s never learned. People close to Gene must learn to read his expressions and gestures, as well as his variety of “hmms”, because they say a lot more about how he’s feeling than he ever could.

P   :   PARTNER.   what does your muse look for in a partner? looks / personality?

Gene needs someone who cares. Not just for him, but...  about lots of things. Everything. Gene is drawn to people whose compassion is endless, who make the room seem a little kinder for their presence. He also appreciates someone who can lighten the mood, because maybe he gets a little grim at times, and who can get him to smile even on his roughest days. He’d love someone with a good singing voice, and a grounded side, even if they don’t show it that often.

Q   :   QUESTION.   would your muse ask the big question or expect their partner to?

(Go down and read ‘WEDDING’ first!) Once he’s made his mind up, asking is a piece of cake. He doesn’t go all out with the ring  ---  Gene’s not gonna marry someone who needs a huge rock on their finger, and frankly he can’t afford it  ---  but he finds the perfect place to propose. At the top of a hill, under a tree he used to climb as a little boy  ---  maybe the same place they had their picnic  ---  he won’t drop to one knee, but pull his partner close and slip the ring out of his pocket. A quiet “If you’ll have me,” is all it takes to make his intentions clear.

R   :   ROMANCE.   is your muse a romantic or a cynic?

He’s shy about his romantic side; it’s not something he likes showing off, because he feels a little silly for being taken in by all those fairytale ideas. Gene would love a scene out of a Disney movie  ---   rowing on the river with his partner with fireflies all around, or kissing each other in the rain. Thing is, those aren’t realistic things to want, especially not from someone who considers himself so grounded. Gene’s romantic nature is buried under a heavy layer of practicality, but he can be heartrendingly romantic when the situation is right. 

S   :   SWEETHEART.   did your muse have a childhood sweetheart?

Nah. He was a real wild child in elementary school, and most of the girls were wary of him. By middle and high school, he kept to himself more, and didn’t have much interest in dating.

T   :   TRUE LOVE.   does your muse believe in true love?

He...  genuinely doesn’t know. Maybe it’s real for some people, but until he’s experienced it himself, hard to say. It’s not something he thinks a lot about.

U   :   UNREQUITED.   has your muse had their heart broken?

He’s been burned before, and that’s hurt enough. Gene isn’t eager to have his heart broken entirely.

V   :   VALENTINE.   how does your muse feel about valentine’s day?

Lowkey, Gene would love to do something nice for Valentine’s Day...  but he’d be hesitant at scheduling something himself, both because he’s bad at planning surprises, and because he wants his partner to enjoy themselves just as much as he is. He’d straight out ask them, “what do you want to do for Valentine’s Day?” and they can brainstorm from there. As soon as they’ve got a good idea, Gene will work out all the technical details...  and from there, they can just enjoy the day.   (Even if they’re not doing anything, he never forgets to get his partner chocolate, because that’s just a Valentine’s Day tradition that can’t be ignored.)

W  :   WEDDING.   would your muse get married? why / why not?

He...  doesn’t plan on it, no. Doesn’t actively plan on it. It’s not something he has any interest in, or gives any consideration to, until he meets the right person. At some point in the relationship   ---   once he’s it’s casually occurred to him, “yeah, this feels right, I could do this forever”   ---  the realization will hit him like a ton of bricks. He wants to get married. He wants to spend the rest of his life with this person. He feels nothing for the idea of marriage, but everything for the person involved, so they’re his deciding factor.

X   :   XOXO.   does your muse use / like pet names?

He’s veeeery sparing with nicknames. The only times he’ll use them are when he wants to put someone at ease  (like when someone’s injured, and formalities have to be dropped, because they’re already panicked enough)  or when he’s very close to someone. All his family has nicknames, and Gene uses those without a second thought; if he cares deeply for someone, it’s way easier to be informal with them. For a partner, he’ll still be sparing with pet names, but may throw out the occasional “cher/chere”.

Y   :   YOURS.   does your muse get protective easily?

We talked about the jealousy thing, right? Gene’s protective streak is on a completely different level. He’ll throw down for the people he cares about, no question. For such an unassuming man, he can be fierce when pushed to it, and the one thing guaranteed to set him off is seeing someone he loves threatened.

Z   :   ZZZ.   how many people has your muse slept with?

He had a few girls back home   ---  teenage experimentation, and it never really went beyond that. He’s also got that sexy Catholic Guilt going on, so he feels a bit bad about it; sleeping around is not for him. At most, Gene’s had...  two previous partners.

[werevulvi]

Not the anon you replied to but I think the nonbinary argument falls apart for me because no one can be truly sexless nor a hermaphrodite person so this idea that they "should" be is like someone feeling they should be a minotaur or a fairy. It's so disconnected and almost entitled to bend reality that it grates on me, especially when its combined with some flavor of "but it's not a mental illness!".Even from a health pov there is no viable HRT that makes u both. And no gonads+no HRT = bad

Well, that's alright. I might just not see it from the same perspective as you. I don't really view nonbinary as one specific thing, but rather as on a greyscale kinda between male and female. It is not saying that mixing male and female traits on the same body in various ways necessarily "makes" a new gender, or truly sexless. The "gender" is merely personal interpretation.

I still battle this with myself, so it's difficult to talk about, but since I'm the only nonbinary person who's brain I know well enough to speak of... I guess I'll try.

First off though, usually the point with nonbinary isn't to be a specific "third" sex, sexless or to be some mythological hermaphodite. Humans cannot become truly sexless or be both sexes for real, but at the same time females cannot become males or vice versa either. So is it pointless to transition (with hormones and surgery) at all then?

Because at the end of the day, we're all just bio males and bio females, regardless how we feel about it, and regardless if we transition or not. That's what the reality is. But wanting to look different and putting a gendered meaning into that difference, isn't necessarily wrong, bad or illogical to me.

Like I have a teddy tiger which I sometimes refer to as simply "my tiger" even though she's not a real tiger. Because the toy resembles a tiger, and was made to resemble a tiger, it's logical enough to call her a tiger, even though it might sometimes be important to specify that it's made of fabric. Likewise, a nonbinary person might just be a female who looks partially male and partially female, due to hormones and surgery, like myself. To then say that me looking both male and female and liking it "makes" me nonbinary is no more untrue than saying that the soft toy "is" a tiger.

Because I resemble a mix of both sexes, just like the soft toy resembles a tiger. I cannot produce both sperm and eggs so I am not of both sexes for real; and my tiger cannot roar nor scratch, and is not a living creature, thus it is not a real tiger. Often times we call things not only what they are, but also what they resemble. Especially when it comes to art and other creations, but really all sorts of things. Like comparing someone's red hair to fire, or calling my balcony during hot summer days a sauna, even though red hair is not actual flames and my balcony is not an actual sauna. Why? Because it help with communication. Parables are important to describe things or to make a point. I even made another parable to describe a parable, to prove a point with a parable, just now.

Granted that most nonbinary (and binary) trans people do not view themselves as a parable to the gender of the sex they consider themselves to be, but I do.

So, consider the fact that transition doesn't actually change the person's sex, only polishes the surface to either look like the opposite sex, and/or some ambiguous variant of both/neither sex, but it can still make that person feel better about themselves. Is it then pointless for them to do things that make them feel better and find ways to lead a more functional life, regardless of how redundant it might seem to you? Because to me, the point of transitioning is not to become something else (whether that be male, female, sexless or a hermaphrodite), but to reduce dysphoria to improve over all life quality for the dysphoric person. And yes, dysphoria is a mental illness. I wouldn't wanna argue against that. I view my dysphoria as the defect, not my sex. And no, transitioning doesn't help every dysphoric person, but I think it's pretty clear that it helps for some. So then there's just not that much of a difference between... say, transitioning with T and top surgery to live as a self-perceived man - and transitioning with only T to live as a self-perceived half man-half woman. Because neither of those two examples can truly become anything other than a female anyway, so why does it matter? It might not matter to you, but it probably matters to them.

Also, I don't think anyone "should" be of the other sex or some other variant either. I just think people can do whatever they want with their own bodies if it makes them happy, and call themselves whatever they want if they feel that's useful for them somehow.

Both males and females, as well as intersex conditions that look ambiguous exist. Fairies and minotaurs do not. Even if they might be loosely based on bulls and fireflies. I could literally fool people to believe that I'm both male and female by simply saying some stupid shit like "I was born with both a dick and a pussy" because a lot of people have heard that can be a thing, even though they would know it's rare, they likely know it's humanly possible in some way. Getting people to believe I'm a fairy or minotaur would probably be a lot harder, unless they’re 5 years old.

How much or what kind of dysphoria somehow has doesn't really matter, I think. Dysphoria is dysphoria. And yeah, I would at least be willing to possibly extend that non-dysphoric people who seem genuinely more satisfied with themselves post-transition. Because then so what, good for them.

But yeah, I know even I have an easier time accepting certain types of nonbinary more than other types. Someone wanting no genitals, I would personally find very concerning, but someone wanting both a dick and pussy, I wouldn't be nearly as worried about. Someone wanting physical changes that can realistically be acquired through hormones, surgery, etc, would not be as concerning for me as someone wanting... say for example a big beard but not a deeper voice, and start dabbling with testosterone anyway.

You're right that there is no hormone that makes you "both" but it's possible to look androgynous in various ways with the hormones available. Sure, I may pass as male, have a beard and flat chest, but I also have a curvy figure and a pussy. To me, that's kind of a way to look like "both" sexes at once. Not evenly, and not like a hermaphrodite stereotype, but it is a combination of male and female sex characteristics that together makes me look kinda half and half. How I "achieved" that was simply by first going through female puberty (naturally) and then taking testosterone (on standard, "full" dose) for a significant amount of time, and get a mastectomy. Totally doable. Although my personal results depend highly on my genetic as well, of course. For other variants of androgyny, some manage to achieve that with low dose hormones, or going off the hormones after a shorter time on them. Some also go on and off hormones (not sure how healthy that is though.) Not everyone gets their intended results, but I have seen many variants that have looked good to me. I’m not advocating for getting one’s gonads removed and then not take any sort of hrt, or doing hrt without a knowledgable doctor’s supervision.

So really all I can say is I'm generally okay-ish with the concept of nonbinary, but some aspects/variants of it does concern me, make me uncomfortable, make me roll my eyes, or even viscerally upset me. I'm still quicker to critisise nb than I am to defend it, however... I do both critisise and defend it.

Whether I want to admit it or not, I'm practically nonbinary myself, even though I scoff at the concept and can name a hundred things wrong with it. I don't wanna label myself that, though. I hate it.

Let me put it this way: In an ideal world I'd just exist as myself like this, take my testosterone just because I like it (and not because I'm x, y or z gender), dress however I want (without it being questioned to mean I wanna be x, y or z gender), and be openly proud about my bio sex being female (without people telling me they don't believe it), without having to label myself anything at all. Alternatively, I'd also be fine with carrying a label which doesn't exclude ANY of those things I like being/doing with my body, style, name, etc.

But thing is I don't live in an ideal world. I live in Sweden. And in Sweden, we call freaks like me nonbinary. Because women don't wanna take testosterone to look like bearded men in dresses, and (trans) men don't love being female. Only nonbinary people do. So I’m only really nonbinary because I don’t fit any other label, and well, most people I know/come across dislike it too.

At the end of the day my body is just me and I just am like this. It doesn't actually "mean" anything, other than that I had dysphoria and acted on it. I love being female and I love being transitioned. Thus, I feel like I am in some highly abstract and vague sense "a little bit of both" sexes, and I don't think that's a particularly strange conclusion to come to, given my situation. I don't mean it literally. It's just how I relate to my body, and it's how the world relates to me. Sure, far from everyone “reads” me as nonbinary, but the sheer number of people who have told me I should identify that way... is flabbergasting, seriously. It’s like 20+ people who told me that, unprompted. Both people I’ve known, and strangers.

So, as I'm reluctantly trying to slap the uncomfortable nonbinary label on my own ass... perhaps I "shouldn't" invalidate my own kind, while I'm at it. However, the only thing I'd kindly ask of others to "validate" about me is my humanity, and to respect my bodily autonomy. If others think of me as a man or woman, both or neither, I truly do not care. But would I ever truly advocate for the nonbinary community? No, I don't think so. For the most part it’s regressive and goes against my values. I'd rather have gender be done away with, because ultimately I think that's a much better goal... even though it’s a pipedream. We can all dream, right?

So I mean... I'm probably not the best person to come to for some solid argument in support of nonbinary.

[nate-santos]

O, Death || Nate & Morgan

@mor-beck-more-problems

Nate gets his tarot read! Nothing bad happens!

Nate had never had any sort of psychic reading done before, and while most might think the whole practice was fake or silly, he wasn’t so sure. At this point, Nate had seen enough to know that pretty much anything was possible, even the ability for someone to read his future with a few pieces of cardboard. He was overwhelmed with nerves all evening as he ran around his house making sure it didn’t look like it was entirely in disrepair. Sure, he’d just gone through some flooding and he’d never really made the interior feel like home aside from towers of take out boxes, but Morgan didn’t need to know that he lived such a sad life. Not that she wouldn’t be able to tell just by reading his future...god, was all this stuff really real? He paced the familiar path next to his front door as he waited for Morgan to arrive, jumping into action probably quicker than he really should when her knock finally came. “Hi! Hey! Welcome! Sorry- I’m uh...a little nervous...Would you like to come in?”

Morgan felt bad for how easily Nate fell off her radar. He’d admitted he was a zombie to her, over the internet, and he was always on the town social media checking in on things or saying nice things about other people. And somehow he was willing to pay her twenty bucks to hang out and give him a tarot reading despite knowing divination wasn’t her magic department. If she hadn’t needed the money so bad, she would’ve taken back the idea of compensation to get some good energy going in her favor. “Hey!” She said brightly. “Love to!” She stepped inside and--wow. Maybe the reason Nate was so nice for the same reason she tried to be: his existence away from the rest of the world was so...sad. “This is...great! Did you build the whole place yourself? It’s enormous.” She asked, tiptoeing around the takeout. It was nice, or it could be nice, if he knew how to give it a little love. She wandered to the back of the main room and looked out the windows. Trees on all sides and the brightest view of the night sky and the waxing moon. Nate would have made a good warlock, she decided.

Nate ran a hand through his hair, nervously looking for something to occupy his antsy fingers as Morgan looked around his sparse living space. He had been so proud of the design, and looking over the space now, he felt an overwhelming surge of guilt at how he was treating his “dream” home. This was supposed to be he and Mari’s forever house and he had only decorated it with take out boxes and safety proofing equipment. It was so pathetic when he looked at it through the lens of someone else. “Y-yeah! I designed it myself...I wanted to have a nice view and stuff...it was uh...planned for a while. Didn’t think I’d build it in this town but- well…” He trailed off, his eyes falling to his feet. “So uh...where are we supposed to do this? Do you need candles or something? ‘Cause I don’t think I have any...fire hazard and all that.”

“Well you definitely got the view down with these windows. And this deck!” Morgan exclaimed. She swiveled back over to him. “I brought the atmospheric candles, don’t worry. And your homeopath-tastic cleanser of choice. You seem like you might be a cedar and juniper kind of guy, but I also have lavender if you want to have a softer mood. And we can do it anywhere!” Immediately after she said this, however, she had a distinct feeling that no amount of magic, real or otherwise, would make this living room the kind of space where you would feel cozy hashing out your feelings. “But, since you’re asking, I would love to spend some time on your porch! It’s so nice out, it’d be a shame not to, right?”

Nate smiled lightly at Morgan’s positivity. The whole experience made him nervous, but then again, most things made him nervous. But she had an optimism to her that made Nate remember what it was like to feel happy, even if his nerves were overtaking him. “Oh uh...I’m not sure? I don’t really know what any of those smells...do? But I think uh...softer might be...ideal?” Nate kicked at the toes of his shoes, unsure what to do with himself. “Outside? Uh- yeah, sure!” Nate glanced out the window, noting the bright sky, the nearly full moon reflecting on the river. It did look peaceful, almost like it wasn’t the back yard of a man who would become a monster once he died. Nate grabbed a few blankets and led the way out to the porch, plugging in the few strands of twinkle lights he’d installed and rarely ever used. “Is this ok? Or should I turn them off? I’m- I’m sorry, I’m a little nervous…”

Morgan beamed at Nate, nervous about everything, even a little aromatherapy. But, yep, in spite of his lumberjack figure, Nate was as soft as a flower petal inside. If she’d met him in person before, she probably wouldn’t have bothered with the cedar in the first place. “Lavender is perfect,” she said. 

Somehow she ended up leading the way to the porch and setting out space for them. Blanket, candles, lavender. “Are you kidding? The lights are perfect! You need to have people over more often, you could throw some amazing parties!” But, that was probably not going to happen anytime soon, if they were being realistic. Morgan took her seat on one end and gestured for Nate to take the spot opposite. When he was ready, she passed him the deck, “So, what do you want to know about your life right now, Nate?”

Nate chuckled. As if he even knew enough people to have a party at his place. Even though he’d originally designed it for entertaining, without Mari around, it just felt...empty. All the time. And that was fine. Sometimes Nate thought maybe he liked the sadness it brought. It was like a penance for not being there to save her. As if being bitten by a zombie wasn’t bad enough. “I uh- yeah...maybe when it gets warmer out,” he hedged. The view overlooking the river would be the perfect backdrop for a backyard BBQ, complete with neighborhood kids running around and his friends laughing over a beer. Nate shooks the thought out of his head. He settled in, focusing back to the present. “I-” he paused, wringing his hands in his lap. “Will I die soon?”

“Nate! Your whole future isn’t written in stone! And there’s nothing in you that could have the answer for that besides your own fear. Ask something that acknowledges that you have some agency over yourself. Fate--” Morgan hesitated. Fate, as far as she could tell from Deirdre, was a real and terrifying bitch. Fate wanted you for life, sometimes. But Fate couldn’t possibly have her hands in everything. There was too much universe and too much magic for her to steal Nate’s potential on the mortal plane or her fucked up family curse. Right? “Fate doesn’t have every card in the deck. You have some power, right now, to choose how your life takes shape. Doesn’t it matter how? Isn’t there anything you want to make sure happens before the end?”

Nate stared at his hands, falling silent for a long while. He wasn’t sure that he did have agency over when he was going to die. He liked to think he did, and he sure did try hard to make sure it wasn’t any time soon, but at the end of the day, he would still become a monster when it happened. For all his research and all his attempts, there was still nothing he could do to change that. He racked his brain trying to think of an easier question, perhaps something that might even ease his mind, if only for a moment. “Ok...ok…” Nate crossed his legs and sucked in a long breath. “Will I...find peace? Before the end?”

“There you go,” Morgan said. “How will you? What do you need, right now, in order to find peace at the end? She took the cards up and gave them a shuffle, thinking of Nate all the while, and laid them out in an arc facing him. The fireflies buzzed gently in the air, looping their peaceful infinities. They buzzed near Morgan’s neck and dipped across Nate’s vision. She hoped, for his sake, the pull of life to him was a good sign. Okay, thinking about what you need, right now, to find your peace, draw a card.”

Truly, Nate wasn’t sure what it was that would bring him peace. Seeing Mari one last time? A guarantee than once he died, he wouldn’t wake up and murder the first person he saw, consuming their brains? Knowledge that there was a real cure to what he was? He closed his eyes for a moment, centering himself as much as possible. He resisted the urge to swat at the fireflies, knowing they weren’t poisonous, before reaching out to pull his first card. Flipping it over, his stomach knotted, unsure what it meant. “Is that...good?”

The card was Death. Poor Nate, Morgan thought with a sigh. It was good, insofar as anything was good, but it sure would’ve been helpful if the cards had been less...aggressive. “So, you may not believe it, but yes. This isn’t about literal dying, it’s about letting go. Letting something that’s tired, broken, and no longer helping you...die. And out of that passing, finding space for something new to take shape.” She gave Nate the most encouraging smile she could muster. “Sometimes death is something that is, something that fits into the balance of everything. This Death, it only comes for you when it’s really time. When the bones your dragging are ready to be laid to rest. Especially when those bones are old stories you’re used to telling yourself that just don’t do what they’re supposed to anymore. Am I making any sense?”

Nate wasn’t familiar with tarot cards or their meanings, but a card that literally reads DEATH couldn’t be good. He could feel the familiar wave of panic cresting over him and his hands gripped his chair. “Y-you sure? It’s- literally...it’s death!” Nate rocked slowly, trying to calm himself. Death and rebirth. Death of things he’s been carrying around. Death of his fear of dying? Did that even make sense? Nate wrapped his arms around himself and looked up at Morgan. “Is- there another...would the next card maybe...be better?”

“Nate, please don’t freak out,” Morgan urged gently. “Death can be--” She hesitated, wondering for a moment if there wasn’t something in the cardstock after all that knew she was here and taking a two-way jab. “--Even real death doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It can just be. Or be a gift. I don’t know how exactly, I just heard it from someone who’d seen a lot of it and that’s not what this is about anyway, I want to emphasize that--but it’s possible. And if even real death can be a gift, then letting go of this something in you can be a gift too. It just wants you to let go. As gently as you can. And it’ll be caught, and so will the rest of you. You won’t fall when you let go. This Death will catch you and the whole world will open up.” She smiled sadly at him, and decided not to question who she was more sorry for in that moment. “But, you should definitely draw another card!” She said, straightening herself up with cheer. “Three card pulls are nice and easy.”

Nate drew.

“Ooh! Look how strong he is, right? This is what you’re really aiming for, what’s waiting for you after you’re caught! The Hierophant is a master teacher. He’s got all the rules, the knowledge, usually in some kind of organized structure? And, as counter-intuitive as it might seem, you could actually move closer to finding that kind of firm, organized knowledge if you let go. Or maybe there’s someone you know like this already, and they want to help you! It doesn’t have to be a man, I should probably mention that. All these energies are around and in us. It’s what they’re offering you that’s important. Is that--does that--make you feel any better?”

Nate struggled to calm his breathing, squeezing his eyes shut before managing to suck in a few deeper breaths, forcing serenity into his body. He was afraid to open them, to see the next card that could destroy his future. But what was he gonna do? Chicken out? Pretend like any of this wasn’t real? Maybe...maybe he would get caught. Maybe Morgan was right. Maybe death wasn’t the death he thought. Nate slowly opened his eyes and stared down at the cards, flipping the next. Morgan’s reaction was all he needed to feel the smallest bit better. “Y-yeah,” he started, feeling one of the zillions of stress knots in his stomach start to loosen. But as was always the way with Nate’s luck, a shadowy figure sent him straight into another panic. “But...uh, M-Morgan? Were you uh...expecting anyone else?” His eyes were locked on the figure behind Morgan, making its slow approach towards the house. “C-cause my...neighbors are...out of town….”

Morgan was preparing to explain the next card, the Hanged Man, making a full set of major arcana cards, no suits, just big, demanding energy, when she noticed Nate go still with alarm. “Someone else?” She asked, confused. She looked over her shoulder and-- 

No. 

No, this was bullshit. She was not seeing him right now. This was some evil, cursed, supernatural bullshit. Morgan felt sick. She sank onto her hands, her chest tightening. His face had been all wrong, sagging to one side, swollen on the other from the impact of hitting that tree, like on that last day. Morgan fixed her eyes on the deck, waiting to see his staggering footsteps. She waited. Nothing. Morgan risked a look up and-- nothing still. “Fuck this,” she hissed, and scrambled to her feet towards the door.

Nate scrambled backwards, feeling the sense of unease rolling off of Morgan in waves. Whoever this was was not welcome here. “W-where are you going? What’s happening??” He rushed after her pulling them both into the house and locking the door out of reflex. “Do you know that person?” His brows furrowed, not understanding why she might have invited someone else to their reading, but honestly hoping she did. It was better than the alternative which of course was that some shambling stranger was wandering around his yard in the pitch black darkness. As if he wasn’t already horrified of his future.

Morgan pressed her back to the door. “Person?” Morgan hissed through her teeth, voice shrill. “What kind of person disappears as soon as you stop looking at them!” Was this some kind of hex? More White Crest bullshit? Morgan’s brain was firing too fast for her to think, and she didn’t even know half the critters that lived in the cursed place. But whatever was making her see her Dad, mangled and estranged from his real self as he’d been on the day she lost him, after the time she’d had with the treasure chest coins, was on her list. “That is a thing,” she growled. “Some stupid curse, some ghost out of a stick or I don’t even know! But I am not putting up with this!” She went to her bag and started rummaging. Nothing stood out, nothing seemed right, she was running too fast from this to think. “What do you know about the weird things here?”

Nate shrank back at Morgan’s change in demeanor. She’d been so calming before the  appearance of the man, though Nate couldn’t fault her. He was straight up terrified now. “I don’t know!! But it- it looked like a person!!” Nate eyed the door, knowing his locks were more than secure, but if that...thing wasn’t a person after all, would all the locks in the world even work? “I know...there’s a lot of it? Everything’s weird?” He wasn’t sure what Morgan had in her bag that could help them right now, but he prayed she knew more than he did about this sort of thing.

Peeking through the door’s window, Nate’s stomach dropped to his knees. No longer did he see the figure of a man, but a lumbering woman, limping along with one arm barely hanging onto her shoulder. In the pale moonlight, there was no mistaking her. Mari. Nate crashed to his knees, his head slamming hard against the door as sobs raked through him. “N-no no no no….she’s- she can’t be-” Somewhere in the back of his mind, Nate wanted to try to help Morgan, but it was all he could do to breathe. His love had come back after all. It only took nine years, but she’d finally found him. He wondered if she were able to eat normally she might have some sort of chance at a real life, like Remmy had. Crawling over to the front window, he saw Mari’s intestines trailing behind her, muscle and raw sinew draped across her shoulders like some sick shawl from beyond the grave. “M-Morgan-” Nate croaked, pointing out the window.

Morgan screwed her eyes shut and tried to remember breathing. In. Hold. Out. She was doing it too quicky, and under her lids she saw the palm tree lunging towards them, the way his body bounced against the steering wheel on impact, how still he was. She opened them. What had Nate said? She? “‘She’ who? What are you talking about?” Morgan turned and staggered back. The figure was pulverised, bloody and draped in gore. “Do you--do you know her?” Distracted, Morgan found her iron and salt. If this thing wasn’t a ghost, it was at least ghost adjacent. That had to mean something. “Nate, get back from the window. She’s not--whoever you think she is. If this turns out to be another bullshit curse thing...” she added through her teeth. There was nothing to say after.

Nate shuffled himself backwards away from the window, clenching his eyes shut. Whoever - whatever Morgan had seen had to have been awful if it had snapped her into such a frenzy. If it was anything like Nate’s ghost from the past, he wondered how she could still make complete sentences. Then again, Morgan seemed a good deal stronger than Nate in a lot of ways. He backed himself up against his weathered couch and wrapped his arms around his knees, waiting for the next instruction. “W-what kind of curse?” He stammered through sobs. “She’s- it’s not really- please tell me it’s not really-” another round of sobs choked him off.

Morgan had to bend over to keep from looking at the broken girl in the window. Her stomach was trying to spiral its way up to her throat and having the iron and the salt didn’t really solve the problem of ‘now you have to get outside and touch it with those things.’ And Morgan knew just like she knew that she’d had it too nice, too balanced, too cozy, that if she went out to take a swing at that thing, it would turn back into her dad. Or maybe her mom. Or maybe her college roommate, freshly lacerated with glass from her fall. And she wasn’t ready for that. She couldn’t stomach this punch from the universe. Even if it meant another one would find her later, she’d handle it over this. “No,” she snapped, breath hollow in her throat, “No it’s not really her! I don’t know what it really is but it’s mean and it’s awful and if I made this happen with my stupid danger zone, I’m sorry!” She straightened up and looked around the house. Suddenly it seemed like there were too many windows, too many places for it to find her, and her Subaru was too far away for comfort. “Where’s your toolbox? You’re gonna need salt and iron and to stop looking at whatever that asshole is! Just stop, stop looking at it, it’s just being cruel!” Her voice was growing shrill as she spoke, the more she fought herself for control, the more it seemed to run away from her. She went for the kitchen and started pulling open drawers and cabinets, pulling out anything that looked close enough to what she needed that it would transmute easily and shoving it onto her pop socket, til there was a steady pile of each. The knives she left alone. Maybe Nate would be able to use it in a pinch. “I’m sorry,” she said again, arming herself with one of the extras. It made her feel safer, having a spare.

Nate peered up at Morgan with tears in his eyes. He didn’t take it personally, but her biting tone cut through him like a knife with his nerves as raw as they were. Shrinking into himself he muttered a response. “T-tools are- the shed-” Sobs continued to crash through him, along with every image of Mari’s mangled corpse from the woods so many years ago compiled with these new fresh horrors. His hands slapped to his head, fingers curling his locks into knots. Morgan flitted around him in a frenzy, ripping open drawers and pulling out random knick knacks. It was clear out of the two of them who would be useful when the apocalypse came and who would immediately turn into a blubbering mess, incapable of doing any real help. Whatever magical strength had come over him when he saved Taylor and her boat was beyond his reach now. Sucking in as much air as he could between sobs, Nate tried to pull himself together, just in time to see Morgan preparing to flee. Oh no….no no no no no. She couldn’t leave him here with- her. “W-where are you going?!”

Morgan had her jaw set and her resolve doubled down. She could take a lot from her curse. She had, in fact, already taken a lot. More than a lot of people she knew. But this was too soon, too much, and the curse magic could call her up another time to yell about it. Throw something different. Mulligan on the misery. She marched to the door, thinking about how much she needed to see, what she really needed to focus on to get out of here alive. “I just can’t do this right now Nate!” she said. “But whatever that thing is, it’s not your friend, so don’t look at it!” And before her conscience or her fear could reach up to pull her back, she was out the door, gunning for the safety of her Subaru. It fluttered comfortingly to life and in the dim, she leveled her gaze to only the barest, closest strip of the road. Behind her she heard something like buzzing, but for all she knew it was the thrum of her own brain trying to shut away what she’d seen.

[g0dblessthefandom]

Favorite Female Characters

Tagged by @mini-oddity​. I’m too excited about this, y’all.  Rules: List ten of your favorite female characters in different fandoms and then tag ten people.

(I’m just going to be a blanket **SPOILER ALERT** for every show here, I’ll tag it just in case, but be forewarned.)

1. Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess) I got to meet Lucy in 2018, and it was basically the highlight of my life. Xena was such a HUGE influence on me as a kid, and I don’t think I ever got over the impact she made on me. Her bravery, her love for Gabrielle, her intelligence, she’s the whole package and spent almost every episode kicking dudes in the face, which is like, the dream. I think that she was very clearly a queer character also made a huge difference for me, because even though baby Frankie didn’t know it, she was gay as hell. Seeing the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle play out and that ‘love that dare not speak it’s name’ was kind of a revelation for me, even though I wouldn’t realize it for a while. 

2. Martha Jones (Doctor Who)

I think there was something so special about Martha Jones that most people didn’t see (youknowwhy.gif). She was more than just that girl who was pining away for the Doctor. She saved the world at one point just because she was willing to put everything on the line, and in some small ways it was for him, but in larger ways it was for herself. In the end she walked away because she knew that she deserved better, and she was right. She was just in general such an awesome character, and I hope that I can  be more like her one day. 

3. Dana Scully (The X-Files) 

Scully was the skeptic, but also, weirdly the believer because she was pretty serious about her faith. I remember having so many feelings about Scully and not really being able to explain them (it was the queerness, Lil’ Frankie), but in general beyond just being gorgeous she was so smart, and so good at dealing with Mulder’s BS. She would take things in stride as well, and made the most of the circumstances that left her in a worse situation than before. She was a scientist first, and so when she was elbow deep in a carcass, giving everyone answers that they didn’t know they wanted, she was in her element. I know that people are aware of the Scully effect, and I think that it’s just a testament to how much of an impact this character had on popular culture. I just loved her resolve, and every time she had a terrific storyline, I cheered. 

4. Captain Kathryn Janeway (Star Trek: Voyager)

I clearly have a thing for no nonsense red heads, so maybe there’s a type here, but also, Kathryn Janeway was an amazing character. I think if she’d been a man she would have gone down as one of the greatest Starfleet Captains of all time, but alas, sexism is a thing, and we’re in the 21st century, not the 25th. Janeway had the absolute worst situation that a captain could ask for, and she made it work somehow. In the end, she gave everything to make sure that her crew (both Maquis and Starfleet) could get home safely, and that’s what a good captain does. I first talked about this in 2007, so, yeah, you know that I mean it. Captain Janeway had to navigate a world without Starfleet, and in her own way manage to build a crew and keep a ship going through the most desperate of conditions, and I think she did an amazing job. (It’s also just a coincidence that my favorite episode is ‘Year of Hell’ where she gets to run around in a standard issue Starfleet tanktop and shoot people)

5. Santana Lopez (Glee)

If you follow my blog, it will come to no surprise to you that I flipping love Santana Lopez. Played by Naya Rivera, she’s one half of my Forever OTP: Brittana. And Santana on her own is a fantastic character. She comes out to her grandmother, and faces shame, and struggles with some life choices that she was once sure about. She goes from being this grade A butthole who’s dealing with her own problems, to caring about those people who are the closest to her, and in a way, finding her own family. It’s a really beautiful journey, and when it was given the time that it deserved on Glee, I think that the show was better for it. Of course, her being so talented didn’t hurt either. 

6. Dr. Joan Watson (Elementary)

I’m the kind of her that will pretty much appreciate a genderbent anything. When I heard that a new show was coming out about Sherlock Holmes and they were changing Watson to a woman, I was pretty excited. When I learned that it would be the love of my life Lucy Liu, I was ecstatic! Watson is very much the chocolate to Sherlock’s peanut butter, but their relationship is so good and so real that it’s just the icing on the cake (mixing a lot of food metaphors, so bear with me). She’s a scientist (doctor/surgeon) like Scully, but she’s changed careers and now she works as a sober companion (at least at the beginning of the season). Of course, the reason that she and Sherlock get along so well is because Watson is smart. Super smart. Sometimes smarter than Sherlock, and he readily admits as such. She was her own woman and she made Watson into someone who was on par with Sherlock, and a force to be reckoned with in her own right. And, of course, they were best friends. 

7. Carol Susan Jane Danvers (Captain Marvel)

I was a big fan of CM before the movie came out, so I’ll mostly talk about the comics, but Captain Marvel in every incarnation is a terrific character. I first read Civil War II with her and Tony Stark going at it, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the passion that she brought to the table. Carol Danvers is the kind of character who, right or wrong, just does what she’s going to do, and you know that her heart in the right place. In the comics, she has a relationship with Rhodey, and that makes for some interesting drama. She’s the kind of person who punches first, asks questions later, and it’s that kind of himbo energy that makes me love her. She goes all in, and god help you if you get in her way. 

8. Eleanor Shellstrop and Tahani Al-Jamil (The Good Place) Is a twofer cheating? Probably. Do I care that much? Nah, son. For the record, I do ship Cheleanor, but I love these two together in every single imaginable way. They both have their own baggage, and come from less than ideal backgrounds (Eleanor generally, and Tahani because of her family life), but they have learned and grown so much over the last four seasons and I can’t wait to see how things turn out for them. They’re also such good friends, so I really appreciate their relationship with each other. Neither really had friends in their “real” lives. (Even though Tahani pretended to) The fact that they have each other, and really care for each other, just makes both of them so much better in my opinion. I was rewatching the first season and during the episode where they both confess their feelings to Chidi, Eleanor says that she’s going to make sure that they don’t become like to women feuding over a guy, and they proceed to spend a terrific day together. That’s female friendship right there! I love this show in general, it’s definitely my favorite on TV right now, and I’m so glad that it’s on! 

9. Zoe Washburne (Firefly) I have shipped exactly three het ships in my entire life: Rick and Evie O’Connell, Eleanor and Chidi and Zoe and Wash. I dunno, it was something about their relationship that just moved me. She loved him, and she didn’t care who knew it, and they just had this terribly healthy relationship, and it was stupendous. Sans Wash, though, Zoe is an amazing character. She’s smart, she’s strong, she’s loyal, and she’s played by Gina Torres, who only seems to get more and more attractive as the years go on? Like, I’m not trying to be that person because Gina brings so much to to the table, she’s so talented and clearly intelligent and passionate, but she’s also super duper hot? Like, in the year of our lord 2020? It’s wild. She was also on the Black Lady Sketch Show and she was hilarious, so there’s that. She can do it all! Okay, but back to Zoe, I just love her character, and her relationship with the other folks on the ship. It was something awesome to see. 

10. Sister Night/Angela Abar (Watchmen TV Series) This is kind of a new addition, but I hope that doesn’t make you think any less of this amazing character. Regina King knocked my socks off in the best way imaginable, and I’m just so enthralled and obsessed with this character, I don’t even know what to do with myself. She has such AGENCY and she’s a woman who makes her own decisions and is in charge of her whole life. Dr. Manhattan fell in love with her because despite everything she put everything on the line for him, and you’ve got to appreciate that amount of determination. Of course, I love that she spent most of the show kicking racists in the head, so you know, I’ve got a type, clearly. 

Throwing out a special shout out to: Kelly and Yorkie (Black Mirror), Alex Danvers (Supergirl), Eve and Villanelle (Killing Eve), The Doctor/13 (Doctor Who), Lt. Uhura, and the thousands of other amazing, bad ass female characters that I didn’t mention. 

-------------------------------

So, that’s it. To continue this I’d like to tag @leigh-kelly​ @chuckleshan​ @daborgh​ @battybookworm​ @lesbeauregarded​ @ambirrdy-brittana​ @yourstreetserenade​ @itcameuponamidnightqueer​ @vikingstad1​ @stephanie-beatriz​ @skywalkerchick1138​ @mayqueen517​+ anyone who wants to do this! 

[wherethewindtakesher]

actually all qs cuz I wanna get to know u :) boink!

OF COURSE BOINK ANON!

I will be excluding the ones Ive done (:

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans? Wine glasses/water bottles c:

3. bubblegum or cotton candy? Bubblegum! im not really a big fan of cotton candy tbh.

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups? for some reason, soda from plastic cups hit different 😞

7. earbuds or headphones? headphones in the winter, earbuds in the summer.

9. favorite smell in the summer? the smell of my oncoming de- the smell of flowers blooming.

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day? it depends, some mornings I skip breakfast all together, others i’ll have a light snack, or I just have some cereal or make an egg.

12. name of your favorite playlist? ‘Recently added’

13. lanyard or key ring? landyard so I can find my keys easily. I still lose it tho-

14. favorite non-chocolate candy? spicy or sour candies are dope a f.

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment? The first book I read that I actually enjoyed was twilight.

16. most comfortable position to sit in? with my legs w I d e open because I cant sit properly.

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes? my tan/floral converses.

18. ideal weather? cloudy, cold, and raining 😌.

19. sleeping position? on my stomach, leg raised to my abdomen while the other is in the open air, and hands underneath my pillow. the BEST.

21. obsession from childhood? picking my scabs-

22. role model? my mom and sisters.

24. favorite crystal? garnet. It’s also my birthstone! I have it as a gem for my class ring.

25. first song you remember hearing? “bidi bidi mom mom” by selena quintanilla.

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather? if it’s not scorching hot, go on walks.

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather? snuggle up in a blanket and watch movies.

28. five songs to describe you? ‘humble’ kendrick lamar, ‘cry baby’ melanie martinez, ‘stupid’ ashnikko, ‘paparazzi’ lady gaga, ‘or nah’ ty dollar $ign.

29. best way to bond with you? send me M E M E S-

30. places that you find sacred? my bed.

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? ripped jeans, boots, a crop top, and a jacket.

33. most used phrase in your phone? fuck.

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? that empire carpet wash commercial.

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing? DAT BOI.

37. suitcase or duffel bag? duffel bag.

38. lemonade or tea? how about both of them combined 😉.

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie? I hate pie 🙊

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school? someone brought a gun and it fell out of their backpack during 2nd period.

41. last person you texted? @caws5749

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets? pants pockets. BUT THE DEEP ONES NOT THOSE SMALL FUCKING ONES.

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket? hoodies or a bomber jacket.

44. favorite scent for soap? Lavender.

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? superhero!

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in? naked-

47. favorite type of cheese? queso fresco.

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be? mango.

49. what saying or quote do you live by? “im a bad bitch you cant kill me”

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? anytime my friends and I joke around.

51. current stresses? school, personal issues, and my NEW JOB THATS RIGHT YALL YO GIRL EMPLOYED.

52. favorite font? calibri.

53. what is the current state of your hands? kinda rough but smooth.

54. what did you learn from your first job? that people fucking suck.

55. favorite fairy tale? little red riding hood.

56. favorite tradition? eating tamales during christmas time.

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome? that im not perfect, my flaws are just as beautiful as my perfections, and that im just ug-

58. four talents you’re proud of having? im not talented aT ALL. uh...

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be? ‘let’s fuck ‘em up’

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be? sasuke from naruto or mey-rin from kuroshitsuji.

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? “see you in a minute”

62. seven characters you relate to? natasha, cristina yang, dexter, ford, thor, scott lang, and tony.

63. five songs that would play in your club? ‘bodak yellow’, ‘man of the year’, ‘rockstar’, ‘bickenhead’, ‘slumber party’.

64. favorite website from your childhood? I forgot the name but it was that educational site with the orange robot and human.

65. any permanent scars? my entire body is riddled in scars no joke.

66. favorite flower(s)? hibiscus and roses.

67. good luck charms? my dog’s name tag.

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried? onions-

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned? that cracking your joints won't give you arthritis.

70. left or right handed? im mixed handed but I do the majority of stuff with my right.

71. least favorite pattern? plaid.

72. worst subject? MATH FJSKSJKFSJS I HATE IT.

73. favorite weird flavor combo? have yall tried chocolate milk with chicken nuggets-

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen? 8-9 because I tend to fight back and not admit there is something wrong going on 😬.

75. when did you lose your first tooth? 2nd grade I believe.

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)? for some reason my love of tater tots has come back.

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill? uh cacti?

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store? coffee from a gas station cus im not trying to die-

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo? oh man, I look like shit in both of them. School id.

80. earth tones or jewel tones? earth tones!

81. fireflies or lightning bugs? ive never seen either 😔.

82. pc or console? i’ve own consoles for most of my life.

83. writing or drawing? writing. I cant draw very well.

84. podcasts or talk radio? podcasts! I listen to ‘last podcast on the left’.

84. barbie or polly pocket? barbies! did anyone make their barbies have sex or was it just me-?

85. fairy tales or mythology? mythology. yall don't know this but I have fallen into the greek mythology rabbit hole-

86. cookies or cupcakes? I fuck heavy with cupcakes TILL THIS DAY.

87. your greatest fear? to see those I love die.

88. your greatest wish? to be happy.

89. who would you put before everyone else? myself.

90. luckiest mistake? guessing on a question and getting it right 😎.

91. boxes or bags? i’ll go with boxes. it makes everything easier to stack and organize.

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights? fairy lights are so pretty.

93. nicknames? clown by @caws5749, bottom by @domromanoff, and variations of my real name.

94. favorite season? fall/winter TIMEEEEE.

95. favorite app on your phone? mario kart. if anyone wants to be friends give me your friend code-

96. desktop background? it’s black with a colorful smoke cloud exploding.

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized? mine and my oldest sister’s because she has had that same number since I was in the WOMB.

98. favorite historical era? I would say the WWII era since ive studied more about it than any other era.

UPDATE; this would've been done last night but my screen decided to just crash and not save anything I had done and my girl sent my ass to bed so I couldn't finish it but here ya go boink!

[slasherhaven]

can I request how the slashers would behave on Valentine's day? 🥰

The Slashers on Valentine’s Day:

Thomas Hewitt 

He’s excited to get to spend the holiday with somebody for once and wants to make it special for you.

He’ll take you out to a secluded area he knows, having a picnic where nobody will disturb either of you. He wishes he could take you out properly but he can’t, not that you mind.

Luda May will probably bake something, either for your picnic or for when you get back.

Will definitely get you a gift. Either homemade or something little he got Luda May or Hoyt to get for him when they went into town. He just doesn’t want to give you anything that he found on a victim, not for Valentine’s day at least.

And, of course, the day ends in the bedroom.

Michael Myers 

You’ll have to explain the day to him in the first place. He’s never celebrated it, possibly never even been told about it.

And, big surprise, he thinks it sounds dumb.

But, with some convincing, you get him to play along.

It’s not like the two of you can go out together so you keep it in the house. A nice dinner and a dessert, Michael certainly can’t complain about this. He might even watch a movie with you.

Jason Voorhees 

Might need a small reminder that the holiday exists. He never thought he would celebrate it with anyone so he probably just forgot about it all together.

But he will try to make it special, feeling bad that you have to spend the day stuck around the camp because he can’t go anywhere else.

Will take you for a picnic in his favourite part of the woods, a beautiful area he found.

He will get you a gift, most likely homemade.

Brahms Heelshire 

He’s eager to celebrate properly.

A candle lit dinner with classical music playing. He can be a real romantic when he tries...you might still have too cook. No! You’ll cook together!

After dessert, Brahms will invite you to dance. He just wants to replicate the kind of romantic dates that he’s read about, and he’s doing a good job at that.

He’s also extra sweet with you in bed that night, still trying to be as romantic as possible.

Bo Sinclair 

Big shocker, Bo thinks it’s stupid...but that doesn’t mean he won’t do anything on that day.

He might actually take you out of town, taking you to get something to eat else where. Where his brothers aren’t around to bug the two of you.

See, he can be romantic when he wants to be. 

Once he allows himself to relax and just enjoy himself, the two of you have a lot of fun. It’s also nice to be out as a couple somewhere other then Ambrose.

Vincent Sinclair

Vincent feels bad that he can’t take you out of town but he does want to celebrate with you.

He takes a candle lit dinner a bit too far. He has a lot of candles, he got a little carried away...but still very romantic! 

He’ll also cook dinner, his treat. Bo will try to steal some. So Vincent will either cook extra or just fight Bo off all afternoon.

He worries so much about you liking it that you need to calm him down, promising him that you would enjoy yourself no matter what he planned. You just wanted to spend the day with him.

Lester Sinclair 

Even though he could technically take you out for dinner somewhere, he’s a very casual guy and would feel more comfortable just doing something in the house. Which turns out great because the two of you can get a little loud once you start joking around.

So you just spend the day together at home. Having dinner, listening to music, watching a movie. 

To him, it’s more about you just spending time together and enjoying yourselves than some fancy date.

Bubba Sawyer

It’s difficult to get any privacy in this house. So, Bubba packs up a picnic and takes you somewhere on the grounds that he knows the two of you won’t be disturbed.

He’s just happy to be spending this time with you.

Will gift you something homemade. He’s proud of it but really hopes you like it. Of course, you do.

Expect lots of hugs, kisses, and cuddles. That’s what the day is about, after all. Not that Bubba needs an excuse for these things.

Billy Lenz 

Of course, you’ll be staying in the house. You’ll probably make dinner for you both and just spend the day together.

Billy is pretty excited. Does this mean that he is going to get every little bit of your attention?

He knows about the day but hadn’t really celebrated it before. So, he’s eager to get to it.

Dinner followed by cuddling up on the couch to watch some movies, Billy loves just laying there with you.

Until the kisses on your neck tell you that it’s time to move to the bedroom for the rest of the night.

Asa Emory (The Collector)

Asa will take the day off (at least from his night job), and spend it with you.

He’ll take you out for a nice dinner. It’s normal date because this is part of his ‘normal’ life.

He’ll be extra romantic. It might even surprise you.

Returning home, the two of you will sit and talk over wine. You hadn’t seen him so relaxed for a while, maybe just focusing on you was helping distract him from all his responsibilities.

Continues to take the romantic route with you once he gets you to the bedroom.

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull) 

Get’s a little carried away, as he always does when it comes to to treating you.

You’ll be going for a very nice dinner in a very expensive establishment. You aren’t sure if he is trying to show off to you, show off to other people, or just spoil you.

He’ll even buy you a whole new outfit for the date. As well as a bouquet of your favourite flowers and a box of chocolates, because they’re the more traditional gifts.

He also has some more...unsavoury gifts waiting for you at home. But that can all wait until you go to bed, of course.

Otis Driftwood

What you do that day is up to you.

If you’re into the same ‘hobbies’ as him, that’s how you’ll spend the day, because that’s the ideal date to him. 

If you want to go out, he’ll take you to a bar to get drunk and have a little fun. 

If you want something more private, Otis is happy to stay at home with you and just spend the day together since there aren’t many peaceful moments in this house.

He’ll get you something. Something he made himself or something he stole.

If you did decide to just stay home, you’re probably going to spend the whole day in bed.

Baby Firefly 

Baby will take you out to a bar to drink and dance, to just have some fun together.

But she is very clear that this is all about the two of you. If somebody tries to bother either of you, she’s just scaring them off. It’s not about getting a new victim either, she just wants to spend some time with you.

Will definitely give you some stolen gifts. When you’re out and you see something you like, she will get it for you because that’s what today is about!

Yautja (Predator) 

Well, you’re going to have to explain the tradition to him first.

Then he will do whatever he thinks he’s supposed to do. Flowers, chocolates, gifts, dinner, a whole lot of romance. He will do it all, to impress and please. It’s sweet, even if he goes a little over board.

Or you can take control, planning the day. He will still get you a gift if he’s heard that’s what he’s supposed to do.

He doesn’t actually think that the holiday is silly or pointless, he likes the idea. It’s oh so human but it’s cute. A day to celebrate relationships, a day dedicated to spending time with the one you loved. Yes, he likes that a lot.

[himboholhorse-moving]

oo!!! 1 2 4 5 8 10 11 13 15 17 21 22 29?

Yeehaw !!!

1) If someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?

How many showtunes can one listen to before being driven insane. But I’d say Falsettos and Fun Home. “Last Podcast on the Left” is what really drove me to get my podcast on campus. I’d also say to watch like, a TON of old movies because those are a Big hyperfixation of mine. In particular I love Peter O’Toole and James Stewart, as well as Malcolm McDowell. I’d also say Milk and The Times of Harvey Milk. “M*A*S*H” as well is really big to me, ofc. Mmmmm as far as reading I can’t really think of anything. I love the Romanticism-era poetry tho. I also really love “Hamlet” and “Macbeth” and “The Things They Carried.” Watching and reading Ordinary People is also very big and close to my heart.

2) Have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who?

I probably have but I can’t think of any rn h a. I CAN say that the symmetry of Wes Anderson films is intensely pleasing to my OCD ass. (Shoutout to Prozac btw.) Like, that shit is just SO good to me and I’m like Mr. Anderson. You Get It.

4) Do you like your name?  is there another name you think would fit you better?

I quite like my name and also like Sheridan, which was almost my name, whether I was born male or female. Would have gotten named after a tank tho so. We All Have To Make Sacrifices. Feel free to call me Hawkeye too!

5) Do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?

Bro I’m just existing. I’m just kinda here doing shit and being shit and being perceived by others and not liking being perceived differently than how I see myself. But for like, my WHOLE life my identity was based around my academic achievements which blows so I don’t like to identify myself by anything academic now. I’d like to be identified by my kindness and passion for things.

8) What musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime?

I grew up listening to the B.B. King and Eric Clapton album “Riding With The King” and I have a very vivid memories connected to that album, like ones of a better time in childhood. All Time Low as well, I’ve been listening to them since my freshman year of high school. Anything classic rock really but Journey has just been a big thing around me since middle school. MCR and FOB were also bands I listened to growing up, as well as Panic!. Franz Ferdinand I started listening to 2 years ago but I love their stuff. I also have a soft spot for classical music but can’t name any people in particular. I’m a big fan of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”, the 4th movement specifically. It slaps. “Adagio for Strings” by Barber as well! I’ll also say Shura.

There’s a video of the 4th movement of the “New World Symphony” being performed for the Pope I believe and that conductor is just OFF THE SHITS it’s so good.

10) Do you have a creed?

Not really, not that I can think of. I just try and believe that I should give people the benefit of the doubt or at least, consider other emotions and reason why people are acting a certain way and not just immediately dismissing them. I try and keep an open mind about most things, just taking everything into consideration before I pass judgment or judgments.

11) Describe your ideal day.

Oooh, I’m going back into the brain bank for this one.

Bringing back “Riding With The King”, a cool summer day, doors open and letting the air come in. My favorite music played loud, I’m hanging out with my friends and loved ones, having drinks and eating good food out in the backyard, playing in the old inflatable pool by the back deck that made jumping in real easy. Having grilled shish kebobs, watching the sunset and looking at the stars in the night sky, chasing the dog around in the backyard, looking at the fireflies.

Another later memory was getting up at a good time, the windows are open and it’s a crisp spring morning, I’m at the desktop computer playing The Sims 2 loaded up with custom content from the now-defunct Sims 2 website exchange. My dad makes a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, English muffins with apple butter. He probably found a war movie on TV. I’m making plans with my best friend Kim to come over the next weekend or the weekend after. I just get to act like I’m a regular kid with a regular family and things are good.

13) Inside or outdoors?

INSIDE... unless it’s cool out, in which case outside. I’d love to have a screened-in porch someday. I hate bugs.

15) Five most influential books over your lifetime.

HOO okay let’s think. The “Shiloh” series and the “Warrior Cats” series. “The Things They Carried” as well as “Ordinary People.” I’d also say the “Harry Potter” series because that was really big for me growing up. I’m gonna fudge this and add “Twilight” and “Vladimir Tod” because I loved vampire fiction. “Frankenstein” as well, and “Hamlet.”

17) Would you say your Tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”?

I’m a lot dumber in real life. Beez pucciverse just saw a video of me last night eating a stick of butter. I’m just an impulsive idiot and y’all should be thankful and grateful I don’t post EVERYTHING going thru my mind because I have to weigh if it’s better for Tumblr or Twitter HSKDFHSKJF. But I’m very Not Smart.

21) Do you love easily?

I have a stuffed animal right next to me that I’ve had since I was 5 so I’d say so !! Cheer Bear has. Seen A Lot.

22) List the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.

OOO okay... Sleeping, watching YouTube videos/movies/TV, playing Revue Starlight or other games but that’s about tied with YT/movies/TV, listening to music/podcasts, and writing a podcast script!

29) Three songs that you connect with right now.

Mmm “What’s It Gonna Be?” by Shura, “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John, and “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie!!

Thanks for asking all these questions !! It was a lot of fun

[gifsbysimplysonia]

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions, don’t cheat. Tag 10 (or however many) people

Thanks to @savemefromanepicoftimewasted & @sovietghoststories for the tags/for thinking of me!

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions, don’t cheat. Tag 10 (or however many) people.

Brooklyn 99

Doctor Who

Bob’s Burgers

Golden Girls

Firefly

1. Who is your favorite character in 2? The Twelfth Doctor

2. Who is your least favorite character in 1? I do not have one, everyone on B99 is essential and hilarious in their own way. OH! LIES! Charles Boyles’ ex-wife is a REAL horrible B lol

3. What is your favorite episode of 4? Episode 2.24 “To Catch a Neighbor.” Cops have to stake out the GG’s neighbor, so they set up shop in the GG house. There are 2 cops, Al & Bobby. Al is older (GG age) and in charge and Bobby is a young rookie (played by George Clooney). Anyways, Al and Dorothy REALLY clash and anytime we see them, they argue/shout at each other. But at one point, they are fighting in the kitchen and then Al decides to go out on the lanai to try and get a glimpse of what’s up with the criminal neighbors and he “invites” Dorothy to go with him. More arguing and then THIS happens and it’s honestly one of my favorite scenes in ANYTHING of ALL TIME (and if you know me/been around this blog long enough, you know exactly why)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LETidmvn9E

4. What is your favorite season of 5? There was only 1 lol 

5. Who is your favorite couple in 3? Linda & Bob Belcher are literally ideal? Marriage isn’t a chore and they don’t hate each other or being married to each other. They just tackle each day, each problem, each ridiculous scenario that pops up in their lives as it comes, and they do it together. And they still love each other/are interested in each other cuz they play with sex dice and try to do special things for each other lol. I luff them.

6. Who is your favorite couple in 2? RIVER AND THE DOCTORRRRRRRRRR! And I refuse to pick which Doctor cuz River and Eleven had that amazing “I hate you” / “No you don’t” vibe which they originated. But then River and Twelve had their own vibe and it was SO tender and precious at the end. Sigh. LOVE THEM!    

7. What is your favorite episode of 1? Episode 2.22 “The Chopper.” Captain Holt finally stops worrying about Madeline, gets into the investigation, and declares that his call sign is VELVET THUNDER and it’s honestly one of my favorite moments in the whole series lol but Captain Holt is honestly just one of the best characters on TV.

8. What is your favorite episode of 5? I haven’t watched Firefly in SO LONG. ‘Shindig’ is pretty good cuz Mal lets his feelings for Inara show when he gets all jealous. ‘Jaynestown’ where Jayne is a hero is crazy. And then ‘The Message’ is just ... it’s breathtaking in a lot of ways. 

9. What is your favorite season of 2? Season 2 is really good but I honestly watch that show every night I go to bed and I’ve seen all episodes SO many times lol

10. How long have you watched 1? Maybe 2 years? My brother started me binging in one day and then before I knew it I was like, “I can’t believe how good this is!” 

11. How did you become interested in 3? Since the first episode. Before that, even. Funny thing is, with how bad my memory is, I couldn’t tell you how we even found out about it. We stumble onto some weird quirky sh!t but we’ve definitely been watching Bob’s Burgers since episode 1 and our loves only grows with each episode. 

12. Who is your favorite actor in 4? I will always and forever worship Bea Arthur, but props MUST be given to Estelle Getty because she played a character SO MUCH OLDER than she actually was and I honestly didn’t even realize til years later. 

13. Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5? ROODE, not choosing lol

14. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3? I’ve seen all episodes of both so I’m not sure

15. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be? Dorothy Zbornak, hands DOWN! I wanna be able to say what I mean in a shady way that cuts to the quick lol

16. Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work? No, but it’s an interesting concept! I would’ve loved to have seen the Golden Girls animated and in Bob’s Burgers world.

17. Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple? I honestly think Amy Santiago and Rosa Diaz could be a VERY complimentary couple

18. Overall, which show has a better storyline, 3 or 5? Firefly was amazing and got canceled WAY before its time and I have always wanted to know where that story would’ve gone

19. Which has the better theme music, 2 or 4? If you don’t sing along to the GG theme when you hear it, what are you even doing with your life?!?!? LOL but the Doctor Who theme is also iconic without lyrics so it’s a tie.

Again, everyone I try to tag doesn’t respond/doesn’t see the tag/doesn’t feel like participating so if you want to, tag me as having tagged you!!! 

[preserving-ferretbrain]

I, Whedon

by Dan H

Monday, 23 February 2009

Dan on Joss Whedon, Nice Guy Syndrome, and the Man!Feminist~

So what with the release of Dollhouse, Joss Whedon's new series about how men treat womenthere's been a certain number of people on this site talking about good old JW's much vaunted feminist credentials. While none of us would go so far as

actually calling him a rapist

a lot of us get a little bit uncomfortable with the way he tries to pass off scenes of hot women wearing skimpy costumes as empowering.

A few of us have spent a while trying to put our fingers on exactly what we find so frustrating about Joss Whedon, and now our esteemed editor and I have started to rewatch Firefly, I think I've worked out exactly what it is:

Joss Whedon thinks exactly like me.

Or, to put it another way, Joss Whedon thinks exactly the way I used to before I grew up, got a girlfriend, and became less of an insecure douchebag.

Basically, Joss Whedon's portrayal of women tallies almost perfectly with the phenomenon known generally on the internet as

Nice Guy Syndrome

.

Just to clarify, the term “Nice Guy Syndrome” has two essentially contrary meanings (check out the

Urban Dictionary Entry

. Its first use is the perceived phenomenon whereby women date “jerks” because they're stupid/insecure/oppressed by the patriarchy/have Stockholm Syndrome when they should really be dating “nice guys” like – well – whichever guy is using the phrase. The second meaning of the phrase is the phenomenon of creepy, insecure guys who can't get a date because of the messed up way they treat women (usually by pretending they want to be “

friends

” with women they actually want to sleep with) who ascribe their lack of sexual conquests to their being “too nice”.

It's this second definition that I'm talking about here. I know exactly what these guys are like, because I used to be one and, to be honest, part of me probably still is.

To lay it all on the line, both for the women in the audience who are wondering why the fuck these creepy guys are following them around, and for the men in the audience who are wondering why women find them so creepy, the key points of Nice Guy thinking are these:

Respect For Women is Paramount: The basis of Nice Guy thinking is the idea that Women must be Respected. It is the duty of men who Respect women to protect women from men who No Not Respect them. A woman is, of course, powerless before a man who Does Not Respect her, she can be saved only by the intervention of a Nice Guy.

Women Do Not Enjoy Sex: This is the central, axiomatic tenet of Nice Guy thinking. Sex is a service a woman performs for a man. Ideally she will perform it willingly for a Good man (i.e. me) who cares about her and Respects her, but frequently women are tricked or forced into providing sex for Bad Men because women are Stupid.

Men Are Evil, Male Sexuality is Evil: To be sexually attracted to a woman is fundamentally disrespectful. After all, women don't like sex, they only provide it out of a sense of social obligation. Therefore a man who respects women will do his utmost to suppress any sexual desires he has, and he will certainly not tell a woman he is attracted to her (a really Respectful relationship has to grow out of friendship remember). Nice Guys tend to idealise lesbianism as the perfect non-exploitative relationship for women, they tend to do this to give them an excuse to fantasise about hot chicks doing it.

Women Are Weak and Stupid: The reason it is so important to Respect women is because you, and only you, are capable of protecting them from the undeserving men who would demean them. Women are not capable of protecting themselves, or making their own decisions. A woman who has sex with another man is effectively being abused. A woman who has sex with you is wilfully degrading herself for your benefit.

In short, this all adds up to one fucker of a Madonna/Whore complex, and a totally sexist worldview which is inextricably bound up with the belief that you Truly Understand Women.

Enter the Man!Feminist

I'm not going to get into the “can men be feminists” argument here. What I am going to say is that in my experience guys who pride themselves on their ability to understand women are guys women want to stay the fuck away from them. Men who self-define as feminists should, at the very least, take a long hard look at the way they think about women.

Anyway, this was supposed to be an article about Joss Whedon. Where to begin.

Joss Whedon is a feminist. And how. His shows are packed full of “strong women” and feminist themes and sisters doing it for themselves. Unfortunately they're also packed full of examples of fucked up Nice Guy logic.

I'm going to start with the big issue here, which is Whedon's portrayal of male and female sexuality. It isn't universal, but there is a strong tendency in Joss Whedon's works to view male sexuality as evil (see point three above) and female sexuality as play-acting (see point two).

I'm not going to count Angel and his Curse, that was a specific plot-event, and it was supposed to mirror a classic teen issue (“I had sex with this guy and he totally changed!”) but after the Angel drama, Buffy's next sexual encounter is with Parker who, while manipulative, is direct and honest about the fact that he's after sex. Of course the way he treats Buffy is horrible, but that's sort of my point – he's the Nice Guy's classic idea of the “jerk” who extracts sex from women by trickery. And of course corn-fed Iowa boy Riley only realises his own attraction to Buffy when it manifests in his punching Parker in the face (thus allowing the worthy Nice Guy to overcome the unworthy Jerk and claim his reward in the shape of hot Buffysex). Then of course Riley gets written out for being too boring, and Buffy gets with Spike.

The Buffy/Spike arc is telling, particularly when taken over the course of seasons 5-7. Like Parker, Spike is quite upfront about the fact that his attraction to Buffy is sexual and it's this as much as the fact that he's a soulless killing machine that makes their relationship so destructive. Buffy clearly doesn't actually enjoy having sex with him (see point two) she's just reacting badly to her traumatic resurrection experience. And of course Spike's Evil Male Sexuality finally culminates in an attempt to rape Buffy (because remember folks, all men are

potential rapists

). Then between series six and seven, Spike gets his soul back, effectively redeeming him, and his redemption, of course, manifests as his no longer being overtly sexually attracted to Buffy. His redemption arc culminates, in fact, when Buffy gives Spike the “best night of his life” by lying platonically with him while the world burns.

There's a bunch of similar examples in Buffy, Oz isn't allowed to have sex with Willow until he has first proven himself worthy by refusing to have sex with her, and of course when Willow gets together with Tara, Oz is effectively retconned out, with Joss insisting that Willow is definitely gaybecause, as per point three, lesbianism is inherently empowering. Faith's promiscuity is deeply intertwined with her psychological scars, and Anya's love of sex is presented, along with her literal-mindedness and love of money, as a mark of her ex-demon “otherness”.

Now I should stress here that I'm not saying that Joss Whedon has done anything wrong with his portrayal of the characters in Buffy. Like my earlier article on

race in fantasy

this is basically a call for people to be honest about their assumptions.

Anyway, that's Buffy. Next stop: Firefly.

Madonna, Whores, and Sacred Prostitution

The first thing I should say is that there actually are some reasonably sexually active women in Firefly. Wash and Zoe's relationship is clearly healthy and functional, and Kaylee has been heard to bemon the fact that she “ain't had nothing 'twixt her nethers don't run on batteries” (although that line was from the movie, and has been denounced by fans as out of character).

But if you're going to talk about sex in Firefly you really have to talk about Inara.

Inara, for those who haven't seen the series and couldn't work out what was going on in the film is a “Companion”. Companions are kind of space-Geishas, super-high-class prostitutes who are trained in – well – pretty much everything (possibly including espionage and martial arts, if we're to judge by Saffron, the evil Companion who appears in the episode Our Mrs Reynolds). Companions occupy a ludicrously exalted position in the society of the “'verse” (as Whedon cutely calls it) roughly equivalent to modern movie stars or corporate high-flyers. Whenever Inara walks into a room, people flock around her saying “oh my Lord, a real Companion, I've never seen one before! You're so amazing and empowered!” We are told at great length how the Companions are valued and respected, how a companion always chooses her clients, and how they basically have a free pass to go anywhere and do anything within the Alliance.

But every two episodes, somebody will smack Inara and call her a whore.

Not only does Mal (which means bad, in the Latin, by the way) constantly condemn her profession, but most of her clients treat her like property, or try to “take her away” from her fantastically prestigious career, or just generally treat her like shit. This is completely stupid. It's like having a series set in the present day in which one of your characters is on the board of directors for GSK, and having every third person they meet treat them like a street drug dealer. It's also a classic example of the way that Whedon will try to have his cake and eat it when it comes to these sorts of issues.

Inara is a classic male fantasy, but more than that, she's a classic Nice Guy fantasy. She's a woman you can have sex with without feeling bad about it. Indeed the whole Companion ethos is constructed around the assumptions of the Nice Guy worldview. Respect is paramount, and the whole thing is sublimated in ritual to ensure that respect is maximised at all times. The companions do not enjoy sex (you never once see Inara have an orgasm). The role of the companion is to select men who she considers worthy and allow them to have sex with her. It's “empowering” only in the sense that the Companion is always detached from the whole proceedings, the perfect untouchable being who briefly lowers herself to be with her client

Put simply, it's a very male idea of what female sexuality is and should be, and viewed as an ideal of female sexual behaviour, it's actually kinda creepy. Inara doesn't choose clients who she's attracted to, or people she thinks will satisfy her sexually (a number of her clients in the series are virgins she's been hired to make a man out of). Her decision to service somebody or not is almost entirely a judgement of their moral character which, yet again, is a pillar of the Nice Guy ethos, where sex is a reward for good behaviour.

And needless to say, Inara is always underneath.

Dirty Girls

The final element of the Nice Guy ethos is the most controversial and the most destructive. Deep down, all Nice Guys believe that women are weak, stupid bitches who don't know what's good for them.

This is the bit I'm going to get most flak for trying to pin on ol' Joss, but bear with me.

The really dangerous thing about the Nice Guy ethos is that it leads you down circular lines of argument like “I'm a nice guy, so there's nothing wrong with the way I'm acting towards this girl” or – to relate this back to good old JW “Joss got an award from Equality Now! That means nothing he creates could ever be sexist in any way”.

To put it another way, Nice Guys like to believe that the world is divided into Nice Guys and Jerks, and that the only reason that there are any problems with sexism at all is because of the Jerks (and that incidentally part of the reason there are so many Jerks out there is because women keep having sex with them, so really the women are to blame).

To put it yet another way, Nice Guys believe that there are Good People and Bad People, and everything the Good People do is Good and everything the Bad People do is Bad.

Let's bring this back to Whedon.

In the Firefly episode Shindig, Inara hooks up with an evil man named Atherton Wing. Atherton Wing acts like the stereotypical Jerk. He takes Inara for granted, gloats about the fact that everybody wants to have sex with her but only he gets to, and keeps going on about how she's his because he bought and paid for her. He asks Inara to come and stay with him to be his Personal Companion, and she considers it even though he is patently evil. Finally Mal baits him into calling Inara a whore, at which point Mal punches him and they wind up in a duel.

This then leads to the following exchange

Inara: You have a strange sense of nobility Captain. You'll lay a man out for implying I'm a whore but you keep calling me one to my face. Mal: I might not show respect to your job, but he didn't respect *you*. That's the difference. Inara, he doesn't even see you.

First off, see that word “respect” again. Remember guys, that's what it's all about. You respect women, other guys don't. How do you know? Well you know you respect women, don't you? And the other guy treats them differently to you, so the other guy must not respect women.

Secondly, look at what happened here for fuck's sake. Inara, a Companion, one of the most highly paid, high-status individuals in the entire 'verse, falls in with a Bad Man and she is completely incapable of extricating herself without Mal's help. She's supposed to be the goddamned poster child for female empowerment in the series but the moment she's faced with a man who (horror of horrors) “doesn't respect her” she becomes totally powerless and has to be rescued by Mal. Mal who, let us not forget, calls her a whore, pays no attention to her wishes, and generally treats her very, very badly.

But it's okay, because he respects her. Just “her” of course. He doesn't respect her choices, her career, her wishes or her privacy, but he respects “her” as a kind of abstract entity. But in the Whedonverse that's the way it is, there are Bad Misogynists who Oppress Women and there are Good Guys who fight against them. The idea that an otherwise sympathetic character could have an attitude towards women that isn't appropriate (or even, shock horror, that Joss Whedon could have attitudes that are not appropriate) is simply unthinkable. He's a feminist, therefore he cannot be sexist. He respects her, therefore his actions are respectful.

A big part of Joss Whedon's problem is that he wants at one and the same time to have empowered female characters and also draw attention to the fundamentally disempowering situations women often face. As far as it goes, this is laudable, but he frequently lacks the subtlety to do these ideas justice. Worse, because he is so fond of presenting Good, Virtuous, Powerful Women versus Bad Oppressive Misogynists he frequently falls into the all-too-common trap of presenting abuse and oppression as being direct causes of virtue or, worse, empowerment.

To bring this up to date, with a final example the pilot episode of Dollhouse sees Eliza Dushku taking on the persona of a shit-hot hostage negotiator. Said shit-hot hostage negotiator became a shit-hot hostage negotiator because, as a child, she was abducted and sexually abused. By drawing a direct line between childhood abuse and adult success, Whedon confuses empowerment with obsession. The shit-hot hostage negotiator literally would not have become the woman she was without the man who abused her. She owed her success to him absolutely. By entangling his female protagonists' successes so intimately with the indignities they suffer at the hands of his male villains, he creates a world in which women are defined only by how men treat them, and the only choice he gives them is whether to accept or reject the roles men put them into, and that is anything but feminist.Themes:

TV & Movies

,

Sci-fi / Fantasy

,

Whedonverse

,

Minority Warrior

~

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~Comments (

go to latest

)

Arthur B

at 11:28 on 2009-02-23

Its first use is the perceived phenomenon whereby women date “jerks” because they're stupid/insecure/oppressed by the patriarchy/have Stockholm Syndrome when they should really be dating “nice guys” like – well – whichever guy is using the phrase. The second meaning of the phrase is the phenomenon of creepy, insecure guys who can't get a date because of the messed up way they treat women (usually by pretending they want to be “friends” with women they actually want to sleep with) who ascribe their lack of sexual conquests to their being “too nice”.

I'm pretty sure the first definition was invented by guys who fit the second...

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Rami

at 15:23 on 2009-02-23*agrees with Arthur*

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Rami

at 16:30 on 2009-02-23I read part of

a book once

that argued that the "Nice Guy" effect goes beyond just sexual relationships -- that it's a kind of dysfunction that views *any* interpersonal interaction as an implicit contract of that nature. So you get thought patterns like: "I did well in school, therefore I deserve my parents' affection"; "I organize group activites and provide pizza, therefore I deserve Extra Regard and Love from my social circle"; "I Respect and Honor women, therefore I deserve for them to want to sleep with me".

There was lots of his argument that I'm not sure I agree with but it all seems to hit very close to the

geek social fallacies

, which is to say, very close to home...

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Dan H

at 19:08 on 2009-02-23Interesting, you might have a point there. It ties in rather nicely with good old Joel from Surrey and "I worked hard at school so I deserve to get into Oxford."

On another point (and I know it's a bit gauche to be suggesting further reading for my own article - sorry folks) it strikes me that one of the few times I've seen the "empowered prostitute" thing working in fiction is in Jaqueline Carey's otherwise awful Kushiel series. It works there, I think, for all the reasons Inara doesn't work: people genuinely treat the high-status prostitutes with respect, the main character seems to actually enjoy what she does, and enjoy it in the "get off on it" sense as well as the "derive spiritual fulfillment" sense.

Clue: when you compare unfavorably to Jacqueline Carey, you are in trouble.

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Nathalie H

at 20:37 on 2009-02-23Ooh, good article! I think I agree with everything you've had said (which is not as common as I'd like when it relates to feminism) - I think you've explained the things that bother me about Joss.

I'd like to follow up on this:

"The companions do not enjoy sex (you never once see Inara have an orgasm)." - that is true, but that may be because of US TV limitations. It's probably also worth considering Inara's one episode of sleeping with a woman, which according to your Nice Guy code appears to be the best thing for women...she appears to be enjoying herself, but then she always /appears/ to be enjoying herself. All we learn is that 'people are surprised' and 'people think two women is hot', which...yeah.

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http://rudecyrus.livejournal.com/

at 20:58 on 2009-02-23Don't you mean "hot-shit hostage negotiator"?

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Nathalie H

at 21:15 on 2009-02-23(Follow up to previous comment fail - should be "you've said", and agreeing not being as common as I'd like relates to men's viewpoints rather than yours personally. Should not comment while I'm watching TV!)

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Shim

at 21:27 on 2009-02-23

Not only does Mal (which means bad, in the Latin, by the way) constantly condemn her profession, but most of her clients treat her like property, or try to “take her away” from her fantastically prestigious career, or just generally treat her like shit. This is completely stupid.

Agreed. Actually, if it were just Mal, I could sort of forgive it. You could construct some... thing... where Mal was meant to be unconsciously hypocritical about his sexism, being as he is a bit erratic anyway, and disliked the "Companions" bit as part of the culture he's rejected, so kept undermining it (which... isn't that difficult). Trouble is, as you said, Inara

only

gets respect at the plot-convenient moments. The rest of the crew barely notice her or are entirely blasé about her, even the posh kids (who you'd expect to be inclined towards the normal hierarchy) don't seem to show any deference. And the culture shows none of the etiquette rules you'd expect, or explanations for why Companions have special status, to help suspend disbelief.

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http://descrime.livejournal.com/

at 23:24 on 2009-02-23The problem with Companion -> Geisha -> female empowerment is that geisha weren't empowered. They had status, but that's hardly the same thing. The geisha were slaves. Their knowledge/skills and their behavior was all scripted around what men wanted and would pay for. They were taught to repress emotion and reflect only what men wanted to see. It was only the top geisha "stars" who got to be choosy about their clientele. I don't find any of that particularly empowering.

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http://wormwood-pearl.livejournal.com/

at 09:42 on 2009-02-24I

submitted this to reddit"> :)

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Dan H

at 14:29 on 2009-02-24

Their knowledge/skills and their behavior was all scripted around what men wanted and would pay for.

The Companions, however, seem to live in this special magic world (or "post patriarchy society" as the "Whedon is totally feminist" crowd like to call it) where "what men want and will pay for" magically overlaps totally with "what the Companion wants to do" which also, weirdly, seems to overlap entirely with "her lying there looking motherly while the guy lies on top of her and thrusts like a sixteen year old."

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Rami

at 14:39 on 2009-02-24@wormwood-pearl: Yay! Someone actually used the bookmarking feature! I knew I put it there for a reason...

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Wardog

at 15:06 on 2009-02-24I think is a really interesting article, Dan, and I really want to say something about it ... but I'm not sure what to say. I think I'm still just traumatised by Nice Guy Syndrome... as A WOMAN I should know about this stuff, right?

Also I think it's slightly dodgy ground to try and establish what lies "behind" Whedon's presentation of women. After all, this has changed a lot over the years. Although Buffy was probably self-consciously constructed to be a "feminist" heroine, Early Season Buffy is "empowered" almost by chance. I mean, she's a bubbly 16 year old who worries about cheerleading and boys, and just happens to kill vampires competantly on the side. I suppose what I always liked about her is that being into cheerleading and worrying about boys (i.e. being a person) was never really presented as a hindrance to her being good at her job. Set that against someone like Starbuck who is "strong" only when she's pretending to be a man, and the rest of time is a nuclear-explosion sized mess. Or, for that matter, bloody Cameron in House - the fact she is a woman (and thus, inclined to be over-emotional when she should be professional) is always portrayed as some kind of hindrance to her doctoring.

Sorry, this is a heap of undigested thoughts.

Talking about Firefly is also awkward because there just isn't enough of it. I mean, we never really find out what is with the Companion Guild - if it is EVIL and OPPRESSIVE, or if they're secret ninja assassins or what. And we never really see what Whedon was trying to do with Inara - admittedly what he seems to be starting to do is rather depressing. I think there's also a lot of like in Inara, if not for the messy virgin/whore issue. None of the women in Firefly are standard hotties - Kaylee is adorable and girly, Inara is poised and graceful, Zoe is Amazonian, and all of them are clearly very good at their very different jobs. I love Kaylee's touchy-feely mechanical skills.

It's just there's so much that's awkward and unfortunate in Inara. She's gets all hot and flustered over Mal, which leads to her behaving like an idiot a lot of the time. *None* of her clients ever seem to respect her (the first guy whinges that she's sped the clock up to cheat him of his cash, Atherton Wing is an arse, the guy in Canton has an overbearing father who keeps hustling her to just get on with the bonking), except the one woman to whom she gives a back masage while they talk about the softness of each other's skin (which is, of course, what lesbians spend all their time together doing...). Kaylee is all awestruck about how wonderful companions are but, again, she's a woman.

Anyway, I'm babbling now.

But, yes, v. interesting article.

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Dan H

at 17:18 on 2009-02-24

Also I think it's slightly dodgy ground to try and establish what lies "behind" Whedon's presentation of women.

Oh absolutely, but I thrive in slightly dodgy ground.

Much like the Rowling Calvinism article I don't actually mean to say that I know for certain that Joss Whedon thinks about women this way, just that I keep getting the *creepy impression* that he does, and I know from first hand experience that thinking about women this way is in no way incompatible with self-defining as a "feminist."

Which I suppose makes this sort of a meta-article really, the whole point of which winds up being "guys who self-define as feminists, Joss Whedon included, should take a good honest look at how they actually think about women because guys, there is a non zero chance you are a creepy asshole."

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Wardog

at 16:28 on 2009-02-26Much like the Rowling Calvinism article I don't actually mean to say that I know for certain that Joss Whedon thinks about women this way, just that I keep getting the *creepy impression* that he does, and I know from first hand experience that thinking about women this way is in no way incompatible with self-defining as a "feminist."

To be fair to you, there is definitely something "off" with the Whedonverse.

I am more forcibly struck by it than ever since embarking upon the second series of Veronica Mars - of may be one of the most successful "empowered" women I have seen on television. Veronica has a lot of strengths and a lot of, quite interesting, weaknesses to balance them out. I think what I like best about it, actually, is that she is a *person* I can admire and, in some respects, aspire to be more like. The key word being "person" not "WOMAN".

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Sonia Mitchell

at 23:05 on 2009-02-27

I think what I like best about it, actually, is that she is a *person* I can admire and, in some respects, aspire to be more like. The key word being "person" not "WOMAN".

Reminds me of the comments beneath your article on

Mesuline

(I've been playing with the random button too) re. gay characters in fantasy. The OMG we're including empowered women/gay people/disabled people/etc! being a step up from invisible but still some way off Veronica Mars (as you describe her - not that I've seen VM). Not sure if I'm in total agreement as it applies to Firefly (not seen enough of Buffy to comment) but this is definitely an interesting article.

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http://arkan2.livejournal.com/

at 15:30 on 2009-02-28Just when I think your reviews can't get any more brilliant, you come out with something like this. Your insight and clarity are matched by few others of my acquaintance (and several of the rest are also on this site, I might add). I salute.

There are a lot of specifics to this article which I will address later, when I have more time and cognitive energy at my disposal to give this wonderful essay they intelligent response it deserves.

For now, I feel obligated to render Kyra a friendly warning re:

Veronica Mars

. Warning: the following material is heavily biased, and if you really want to continue watching with an open mind, I suggest you don't read it, I just thought I should give you the option of knowing what you're (probably) in for. (Like I said, very biased, you might find yourself disagreeing when you see it yourself.)

Veronica Mars

starts out good, but somewhere by the beginning of the third season the main character devolves into (and this is my feminist cred taking one for the team, but some things have to be said) a real

bitch

. She treats the people who love her like crap, even when they go to heroic lengths for her benefit, and constantly plays the victim whenever they do not comply with her wishes (well, that last one may just be her boyfriend). Oh, and she keeps making the same mistakes about mistrusting people based on total hearsay (the way she dumped Logan at the end of season 1) over and over and

over

and over again.

On a show where at least half the cast are lovable jerks, you wouldn't think this would be a problem, and it probably wouldn't: except that the writers obviously intend us to ascribe to Veronica's view of reality. Logan and Dick and Vinnie and all the other jerks are lovable

because

they act like jerks, and the writers make it clear to the audience that they're supposed to be jerks. Veronica is vile because she's a jerk, and the writers make it clear to the audience that she's supposed to be heroic.

To invert your message, Kyra, and use Whedon to illustrate a point about

Veronica Mars

: the difference between Veronica and all the other jerks in the cast is like the difference between Mal and Jayne on

Firefly

. They're both jerks, but Jayne is an admitted jerk, whereas the writers keep trying to tell us, despite all the evidence, that Mal is a Nice Guy, who's maybe just a little rough around the edges.

Also, in season 3, Veronica goes off to college, and one of the overarching themes of the season is her interactions with campus feminazis. I wish I were making that up.

... Wow, I didn't expect that to turn into a rant. [insert chagrined smile emoticon here]

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http://miss-morland.livejournal.com/

at 14:49 on 2009-03-02I'll confess to not being very familiar with Whedon's shows, but I still found this article very interesting - the Nice Guy logic seems to be fairly common in popular culture (and society in general). Then again, the Whore/Madonna logic isn't exactly new...

One of the things that annoy me the most, is that Nice Guy logic gives women basically two options: you can be with a Jerk who may do things like beat or rape you, or you can be with a Nice Guy, who'll never do that sort of thing, but who is just as controlling as the Jerk. Either way, you can't win, because having a partner that treats you like an equal is out of the question. (Unless you're a lesbian, of course, and then you don't have to have any nasty sex, because women are totally sexless, you know.)

Also, when women choose macho Jerks, it's seen as a proof that 'we want men who treat us badly', because that's the way of nature, isn't it? [insert eyeroll here]

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Dan H

at 14:55 on 2009-03-02

Also, when women choose macho Jerks, it's seen as a proof that 'we want men who treat us badly', because that's the way of nature, isn't it? [insert eyeroll here]

It's *science*. You can't argue with *science*.

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http://arkan2.livejournal.com/

at 00:30 on 2009-03-25Reply to “I, Whedon”

For someone so obsessed with punctuality in person, I always seem to join these parties at about the time the music has gone on its fourth repeat, the refreshments are down to the crumbs, the organizers are beginning to put away the balloons and decorations, and even the diehards are beginning to think it's time to go home.

Still, now that I've finally put together the time to say what I have to say, I'm damn well going to say it.

So first, I'm linking Kyra's article

Consuming Problems

, which I just read last week. In Kyra's first comment she says:

Possibly it's the weird transaction to which popular culture tends to reduce relationships: the man gives the woman romance, in return she gives him sex. When both should surely be mutual activities =P

Which is an interesting perspective on the those Nice Guy assumptions. (Personally, I'm all in favor of romance, although “embarrassing and awkward”? Yeah, definitely.)

As for the main argument … well, that's about six hits to the self-esteem in rapid succession, especially that “Heartless Bitches” essay. As if I didn't have enough problems with insecurity. Oh well.

The really dangerous thing about the Nice Guy ethos is that it leads you down circular lines of argument like “I'm a nice guy, so there's nothing wrong with the way I'm acting towards this girl” or – to relate this back to good old JW “Joss got an award from Equality Now! That means nothing he creates could ever be sexist in any way”.

It's just a slightly modified version of the privilege self-defense mechanism “I'm not sexist/racist/heterosexist/classist/ableist/ageist/whatever, therefore I'm not part of the problem and I don't need to do anything differently.” The upgraded version is “I support women's rights/the NAACP/give money to charity/etc. therefore I'm doing my part for equality and I don't need to do anything differently.”

Whedon's portrayal of sexism as being the sole province of the Misogynist-of-the-Week makes him an enabler. The none batshit-crazy misogynists in his audience (i.e. more than 99.9% of them) can breathe a sigh of relief, suitably assured that they are not in any way a part of the problem.

To put it yet another way, Nice Guys believe that there are Good People and Bad People, and everything the Good People do is Good and everything the Bad People do is Bad.

I think that basically sums up what I just said in the last two paragraphs. And maybe that explains Mal and his behavior: sure he's objectively no better than Jayne, but because he's Good/a member of the

Elect

(yay for referencing my first ever ferretbrain essay!) everything he does—including insulting Inara and kicking helpless prisoners into engines—is automatically Good, too.

Nathalie H, notice also in that one scene where Inara is with another woman, they talk about how great it is to be “just us girls,” away from men where they can “be themselves.” (As my sister pointed out, apparently Inara

really is

that melodramatic when she's just being herself.)

Which I suppose makes this sort of a meta-article really, the whole point of which winds up being "guys who self-define as feminists, Joss Whedon included, should take a good honest look at how they actually think about women because guys, there is a non zero chance you are a creepy asshole."

Exactly.

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http://arkan2.livejournal.com/

at 15:06 on 2009-03-26Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this. A while ago I read an

essay

by internet columnist Karen Healey about the portrayal of "strong women" in

Buffy

,

Angel

, and

Firefly

. As I recall, the comment thread also contained something about female sexuality in particular being depicted negatively.

From what I saw, it doesn't exactly fit the Nice Guy Syndrome model, but it's another way of looking at the portrayal of women and sexuality in Whedon's work that doesn't come from either the "Whedon can do no wrong" or the "Whedon is a rapist and everything he does is misogynistic" camps.

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Wardog

at 16:17 on 2009-03-26Interesting post, thanks for the link.

There's also a link to

to this

in the article ... which makes me hit the wtf button.

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Arthur B

at 16:24 on 2009-03-26Kyra, that link is incredible. Curse the day that

Firefly

was cancelled and we were denied this genius.

Inara: NOOOOOOOOOO DON'T LOOK AT ME I HAVE THE DEATH CUNT

Mal: I KISS YOUR DAINTY HAND FOR I AM YOUR PURE WHITE KNIGHT WHO RESPECTS YOU, EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE THE DEATH CUNT

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Wardog

at 16:28 on 2009-03-26I *know*, I *know* - it's awful! Makes me actually relieved they stopped Firefly when they did - and that's heresy!

What gets me is:

Mal: INARA, YOU FILTHY WHORE ... oh, you've been gang-raped ... my mistake, you're not a filthy whore.

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Arthur B

at 16:39 on 2009-03-26It reads more to me like:

MAL: Inara, I do not like you, because you are a slutty slut who sluts about the place.

INARA: Oh no, Reavers! I must turn myself into a chemical weapon so that none may touch my venomous DEATH CUNT.

MAL: Inara, I like you now, because you can't slut about the place thanks to the DEATH CUNT which

beckons to me in my dreams but I can never ever have it because it is unattainable, unattainable like you are, sweet Inara, let me place you on this pedestal and kiss your sweet hand, yes, let Mal take care of it, let Joss Mal take care of it all...

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Dan H

at 23:27 on 2009-03-26Tragically it's even worse than that. Comedy DEATH CUNT jokes aside it's basically

MAL: Inara, you may think you're a strong independent woman who is able to make her own choices, but really you just want a man to treat you like a woman.

INARA: No Mal, I really am a strong independent woman and I make my own choices and am totally empowered.

[ INARA gets GANG RAPED by REAVERS ]

MAL: See!

INARA: You're right! My horrific abuse experience has made me realize that your perception of me is more accurate than my own!

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Dan H

at 23:28 on 2009-03-26(Of course, it's not Joss Whedon, it's Tim Minnear. I bet Joss Whedon was all like "no Tim, don't do that, it would be totally fucked up", but then the networks were all like "no, put it in, we want to mess your show up" - this being of course the only possible interpretation of any flaw in the works of the Great Man).

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Arthur B

at 23:42 on 2009-03-26I think we're agreed that the story requires one or both of Inara and Mal being completely pathetic, just in different ways; given that it was never filmed, I suppose we'll never find out for sure...

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Wardog

at 09:29 on 2009-03-27Of course, the other rather indicative thing about this idea is that it's an anti-rape weapon that only works *after* you've been raped. Flaw, much?

It seems to me rather illustrative of much of Whedon's thinking on this issue - i.e. that punishing people for committing rape is more important than preventing rape happening.

Sigh.

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http://fintinobrien.livejournal.com/

at 10:02 on 2009-03-27I like how its effectiveness as a deterrent is completely undercut by the fact that nobody knows she has the frackin' weapon. Way to prevent rape, jackass.

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Dan H

at 11:30 on 2009-03-27

It seems to me rather illustrative of much of Whedon's thinking on this issue - i.e. that punishing people for committing rape is more important than preventing rape happening.

This, again, is why I'm so iffy about Joss Whedon's attitude towards women. It's not that he hates women or is anti-woman, it's that he's the kind of guy (as are a great many of us, I think) who is really into the idea of protecting women or, better still, punishing men who don't treat women "right".

For a lot of guys "girl gets horribly abused, I beat up the abuser, she is eternally grateful and we have teh hot secks" is a fantasy and, as a fantasy, it's relatively harmless (in the sense that fantasies aren't real, and any guy with half a brain eventually works out that other people's abuse experiences aren't about you). The problem comes when you try to dress that fantasy up as feminism.

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Arthur B

at 12:54 on 2009-03-27

I like how its effectiveness as a deterrent is completely undercut by the fact that nobody knows she has the frackin' weapon. Way to prevent rape, jackass.

This is almost precisely like the anti-rape device in

Snow Crash

, which fails horribly for similar reasons. Supposedly, the idea is that if Mr Potential Rapist doesn't

know

whether any particular woman possesses a vagina dentata, or whatever the hell it is the weapon is meant to be, then he's going to play it safe and not rape anyone.

This doesn't really work in universes with insane space rapists (especially insane space rapists who are perfectly willing to continue gang-raping someone after the first few guys drop dead screaming OH GOD IT'S A TRAP SAVE YOURSELF). The whole point of a deterrent (other than you don't keep it secret -

vhy didn't you tell the world, eh?

) is that the person it's deterring needs to have some kind of self-preservation instinct and the capacity to understand the threat, and as I understand it it's debatable as to whether the Reavers possess either.

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Arthur B

at 12:56 on 2009-03-27(I should add that it doesn't work in our world either, because a potential rapist never knows whether a woman is carrying a gun, or a knife, or whether he'll be caught for his crimes and shanked in a grimy jail cell.)

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Viorica

at 16:05 on 2009-03-27I . . . I . . .

. . . I have no words. So after Inara has learned her place and understands that Mal will only respect her if she's had her sexual freedom taken away, what? They have sex?

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Dan H

at 16:47 on 2009-03-27I don't think that the implication is that they have sex (can't blow that good ol' will-they-won't-they now can you), but it's still clearly supposed to be a touching, romantic scene and not

as creepy as all fuck

.

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Viorica

at 22:19 on 2009-03-27I . . . okay, I'm not at all averse to hurt/comfort, but the idea of people being drawn together due to the girl being sexually abused is just . . . EW. EW. EW.

(Incidentally, this far from the only instance of this sort of thing in Joss's work- last week's episode of Dollhouse had a women sobbing on the floor as her boyfriend cradled her after a fairly sexualised attack. It wasn't nearly as bad as this, but it was still kind of creepy.)

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Dan H

at 22:29 on 2009-03-27As ever it's all about context and awareness. Ultimately there's nothing intrinsically wrong with hurt/comfort (as I understand it is called in fandom), there's not even anything *specifically* wrong with a guy who likes the idea of "comforting" vulnerable women (with his PENIS).

It's when he lies to himself about the "with his PENIS" bit and pretends that his attraction to hurt and abused women comes from his EMPATHY with the FEMALE CONDITION that it gets skeevy.

Incidentally I'm really loving typing "with his PENIS".

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Viorica

at 23:24 on 2009-03-27Well in the Dollhouse example there had quite a bit of comforting done (with his PENIS) before the attack or the cuddling, so as I said- not nearly on the same level.

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Wardog

at 21:53 on 2009-03-28I really really badly want to participate in this discussion because I want an excuse to say 'with his PENIS' ... but I can't think of anything ...

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http://fintinobrien.livejournal.com/

at 09:35 on 2009-03-29I'm just enjoying mentally removing the quotation marks.

Incidentally I'm really loving typing with his PENIS.

Heehee, I'm a child. :D

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Morgus

at 18:33 on 2009-12-06I think the problems that you have with sexuality in the Whedonverse stem from the fact that the sensibility portrayed is essentially traditional. Everybody's monogamous, the only lesbian couple is an outlier in every way, and the protagonist wants nothing more than to be normal. The symptoms of "nice guy syndrome" overlap with "traditional, 'safe' relationship syndrome."

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Morgus

at 18:34 on 2009-12-06Now that I think of it, I have never seen a genuine polyamorous group potrayed in media outside of porn. Whedon's "problem" may not be that he's a "nice guy," but that he's a product of Western society.

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Morgus

at 19:00 on 2009-12-06This gave me a great thought about liberalism in general. It's not really about accepting people who are marginal, it's about creating an ideal of normalcy that everyone, presumably, can agree with and conform to. Or at least that's the goal of "mainstream" liberalism.

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Wardog

at 09:25 on 2009-12-07I'm not sure more polyamory in the Whedonverse would help with his portrayal of sexuality.

Also maybe I'm being down on pornography here, and admittedly my knowledge of it is perhaps less than yours, but I can't really recall many genuine, functional and loving polyamorous groups portrayed in porn either. Unless you are counting the device that everyone fucks everyone else as polyamory (something, I suspect, most practising polyamorists would take issue with).

And finally saying the problems with somebody's atttiude to / portrayal of something springs from the fact they are "a product of Western society" is about as helpful as pointing out they wrote their text a certain way because they had two arms. We are all products of the ideologies that shape us - that's, uh, kind of the way it is.

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Morgus

at 00:10 on 2009-12-09>Also maybe I'm being down on pornography here, and admittedly my knowledge of it is perhaps less than yours, but I can't really recall many genuine, functional and loving polyamorous groups portrayed in porn either.

That kind of strengthens my point about truly alternative relationships being completely foreign to society as a whole. And no, I have never seen any such relationship in porn.

>And finally saying the problems with somebody's atttiude to / portrayal of something springs from the fact they are "a product of Western society" is about as helpful as pointing out they wrote their text a certain way because they had two arms. We are all products of the ideologies that shape us - that's, uh, kind of the way it is.

I guess I really should have been more clear about my "thesis." Marriage exists more or less to inhibit sexual competition, and that, I think, is also the core of "nice guy" syndrome.

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Arthur B

at 00:18 on 2009-12-09Woah! That's an awfully simple explanation you're offer for an awfully big concept. Is marriage

really

that simple?

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Morgus

at 07:13 on 2009-12-09Anything on top of what I said is purely subjective, IMO. Kind of like Marx's "false consciousness." Economic motives are everything, questions of race and religion are distractions.

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Arthur B

at 11:23 on 2009-12-09Yes, but even if you restrict yourself to the material benefits of marriage it's still more complex than reducing competition. What about children? Obligating people to look after their own kids through a powerful social expectation that people should only have children within a marriage has historically been a big deal, for example.

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Rami

at 19:36 on 2009-12-09

Economic motives are everything, questions of race and religion are distractions.

There's a lot more to the 'economic' motives of marriage, IMO (including financial motives) than sexual competition. And inhibition of sexual competition is just as subjective as other motives (like those Arthur mentions).

That kind of strengthens my point about truly alternative relationships being completely foreign to society as a whole. And no, I have never seen any such relationship in porn.

Surely by definition an 'alternative' relationship is one that is foreign to society as a whole ;-)?

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Morgus

at 02:52 on 2009-12-12>What about children? Obligating people to look after their own kids through a powerful social expectation that people should only have children within a marriage has historically been a big deal, for example.

I view the desire to increase the size of one's herd the ultimate manifestation of material greed.

>There's a lot more to the 'economic' motives of marriage, IMO (including financial motives) than sexual competition.

By "economic" I mean "materialistic." Status within society, building up of one's social group, etc.

>Surely by definition an 'alternative' relationship is one that is foreign to society as a whole ;-)?

My point (which you are distracting yourself from perhaps on purpose) is that relationships are essentially homogeneous. That is also the great lie of our "consumer choice." Yes, there is, on the surface, great variety, but our place as a consumer and the seller's place as a seller is essentially the same regardless of one's choice of product or venue. One's desire does not make one an individual, especially if it's for what everyone else wants. Vast resources are wasted to hide this fact.

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Guy

at 03:39 on 2009-12-12@Morgus: I'm not entirely unsympathetic to the Marxist/Materialist worldview, but I also think there's a problem with evaluating it as an ideology if you don't have some sense of what it would take to demonstrate it to be incorrect. I mean, OK, we can start by looking at various social phenomena and saying, "Yep, that's part of the economic base, that's only part of the social superstructure, that thing over there is base..." &c &c. But if somebody picks out some example and wants to argue that it shows that not all relationships are fundamentally driven by economic motives or structures, how are you going to respond? By what criteria are you going to judge the validity of their counter-example? If you say it's "self-evident" that it's invalid, or the criteria of validity boils down to "proper materialist interpretation = valid, other = not valid", then you end up stuck in the bubble of a self-validating ideology. I know it's a big ask, but, can you say anything about what your criteria of falsification would be?

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Morgus

at 07:27 on 2009-12-12>I know it's a big ask, but, can you say anything about what your criteria of falsification would be?

Self-sacrifice of one sort or another. Priesthood doesn't count, that brings great status. (and wealth) Kind of like Yukio Mishima, he said that he did not believe in the sincerity of Westerners, since they kept their sincerity locked within their torsos. He was referring, of course, to seppuku, which he ended up committing quite publicly.

Another less gruesome criteria would be the degree to which a person is individuated. If he/she pursued goals or had a way of thinking that had nothing to do with the world of the "people" or any established group or immediate, simple-minded self-interest. In short, I would accept a person who had displayed an ability to transcend the linearity that arbitrarily limits the human condition.

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Wardog

at 15:51 on 2009-12-12Lol!Rand.

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Morgus

at 19:59 on 2009-12-12Nope, Ayn Rand only acknowledged "rational" self-interest, IOW simplistic money-grubbing. Even if there were rules governing this idealized quest for money, the basic motive was inherently banal.

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Rami

at 22:44 on 2009-12-12Still don't quite follow. But...

By "economic" I mean "materialistic." Status within society, building up of one's social group, etc.

given the above and your implication that "rational" self-interest != self-interest, I'm thinking our basic definitions of key terms differ too much for me to understand your point unless you expand further.

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Morgus

at 22:55 on 2009-12-12I really don't know where your confusion's coming from. I'm not a proponent of simple-minded self-interest, and I've said so repeatedly. "Rational" self-interest is another form of simple-minded self-interest dressed up as logical positivism. Long story short, I dislike banal motivations veiled as heroic, transcendent things.

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Arthur B

at 23:02 on 2009-12-12But given your views on the purpose of marriage, it sounds like you don't believe that people by and large have any non-banal motives...

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Rami

at 23:47 on 2009-12-12

I really don't know where your confusion's coming from.

Well, for instance, you said "economic interest", and seemed to mean by it something different from what I mean when I say "economic interest". You also seem to understand "rational" self-interest differently. Extrapolating from that, I would expect that your definition of "simple-minded self-interest" would differ from mine too, so I have no definite idea of what you mean when you say it. How are you defining "simple-minded"?

I dislike banal motivations veiled as heroic, transcendent things

I don't know which culture you grew up in, but in mine marriage is always understood as a useful thing that serves certain functions. Not heroic or transcendent.

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Morgus

at 01:14 on 2009-12-13>But given your views on the purpose of marriage, it sounds like you don't believe that people by and large have any non-banal motives...

Yes, that is precisely my point. Those who conceive of better things are great people.

>How are you defining "simple-minded"?

Linear, unimaginative, gotten from some other, still more mundane source like your church, your parents, or corporate America.

>I don't know which culture you grew up in, but in mine marriage is always understood as a useful thing that serves certain functions. Not heroic or transcendent.

"But marriage is about love! And sanctity and shit!"

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Morgus

at 06:34 on 2009-12-13And back to the point. Nobody's disputed that Whedon's sensibility is traditional, they've disputed only my wording of my criticisms.

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Rami

at 07:01 on 2009-12-13

Nobody's disputed that Whedon's sensibility is traditional

Well, I'd not call it traditional per se

1

, but I don't think anyone was arguing about that to begin with -- I think we're mostly agreed that it's problematic.

they've disputed only my wording of my criticisms.

Well you did make a few other assertions beyond "the sensibility Whedon portrays is traditional" ;-)

[1]: Assuming Anglo-American 'tradition', yes, there's a good deal of overlap with Nice Guy but I really don't think either is a pure superset of the other...

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Wardog

at 19:33 on 2009-12-13I also rather think this discussion that wandered rather far from the original article. Shall we rein it in?

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Morgus

at 23:12 on 2009-12-13yeah okay mom

And btw all the 4 bulletpoints at the beginning of the article could easily describe the Victorian view of human sexuality. Just sayin'.

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Melissa G.

at 00:19 on 2009-12-14

yeah okay mom

Um, that was rather rude. And Kyra makes a valid point. This has nothing to do with the original article anymore. And the discussion doesn't seem to be going anywhere so why not just put an end to it?

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Morgus

at 00:58 on 2009-12-14Strange how the Internet both disinhibits people and makes them more overly sensitive. That was really my way of jokingly backing out of this while reiterating my point.

If you don't want to move us off track any more, then don't respond to this. I am done.

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Rami

at 02:36 on 2009-12-14

That was really my way of jokingly backing out of this while reiterating my point.

Try appending a ;-) to indicate humorous intent, it works better on the Internets :-)

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Morgus

at 03:06 on 2009-12-14noooo you are off track

oh shit so am i

edit: I just looked at my first post. It comes like 9 months after the one before. It appears that digression is healthy.

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Rami

at 03:29 on 2009-12-14

noooo you are off track oh shit so am i

WTF???

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Arthur B

at 03:41 on 2009-12-14

I just looked at my first post. It comes like 9 months after the one before. It appears that digression is healthy.

Here on FB, we don't mind if the conversation on an article peters out. We're not against someone resurrecting a discussion if they have a new point to make, but we also recognise that there are times when nobody has anything useful to say and it's best if people stop posting for a while.

This is one of those times.

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Arthur B

at 20:36 on 2012-11-30Super-special three year necro because I finally started watching

Firefly

and uuuuuuh...

I mean, maybe I'm not being fair and I'm judging it in the light of the article but the Inara/Companion stuff is just toe-curling and I 100% see Dan's point about it being a kind of Nice Guy fantasy (right down to several of her clients apparently being Nice Guys).

On top of that I'm having trouble sussing how she even fits into this culture. Most people think Companions are awesome, but they only seem to mention their existence when Inara happens to be in the room - so far I've yet to see an Alliance officer griping about his long tour of duty and daydreaming about hooking up with a Companion he'd employed back home or anything like that. On top of Mal being unceasingly unpleasant about her profession, Shepherd seems to disapprove when he first meets her, so even though Shepherd comes around fairly quickly it still seems as though there's some social stigma attached to it (because where else did Mal learn that "whore" was a word you could use to insult people with?) but this only seems to come up when Whedon needs Mal to be unpleasant to Inara. Unless there's an episode which unpacks all this late in the series (or a diversion revolving around it in the movie) it doesn't seem we ever get any insight into the history of the institution and how it came into being and got to the level of social acceptance it has, which would seem to be an obvious and necessary thing to work out considering the amount of work which has clearly gone into figuring out other aspects of the future history here. On top of that, I don't feel that I'm getting enough indications as to whether Mal and Shepherd's disapproval of the concept pegs them as conservative but in line with a substantial body of feeling in the general population, or markedly old-fashioned in a way which makes their view of the subject eccentric or extreme, or so far out of step with public opinion that they're being kind of nuts about it - in other words, I haven't the slightest idea what level of social acceptance the Companions are meant to have.

It feels, in fact, like something Whedon ham-fistedly patched in because he wanted prostitutes in his space Western without the consequences of having prostitutes, in the same way that the Reavers are his way of having a culture of people living out in the wasteland with a reputation for brutal atrocities against settlers without having Native Americans portrayed in the way they were often portrayed in the nastier sort of golden age Westerns, and how the Browncoats were a way to have a Confederacy analogue without the slavery angle.

I dunno how I feel about all that. On the one hand it's obviously a step up from having an unreconstructed Western with all the nastier setting elements intact. On the other hand, seeing the main character giving the old "We [the South] Will Rise Again!" line and having his belief that the war was about freedom from central government meddling be actually justified gives me shivers.

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Arthur B

at 20:43 on 2012-11-30Ew, I'm watching the "I don't respect your job but he doesn't respect

you

" episode.

Between this and the fact I have seen literally nothing so far to make me imagine that the Alliance as a whole are evil aside from the River thing (and nothing to suggest that that isn't the responsibility of a small conspiracy within an otherwise benign society rather than evidence of all-pervasive corruption) and I'm beginning to think that the only way I'm going to enjoy this show is if I regard Mal as an unutterable prick who deserves whatever horrible stuff happens to him.

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Michal

at 00:24 on 2012-12-01Well Arthur, there's a certain a "major" plot twist in

Serenity

that bears a striking resemblance to a short story by Michael Moorcock. Which means you'll just have to watch it to the end now to find out what that resemblance is.

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Arthur B

at 01:25 on 2012-12-01Unless it involves Simon and Inara merging to become an androgynous Antichrist who consumes the world, or Mal having a breakdown where he almost but not quite accepts the fact that he murdered the whole crew and dumped the bodies in the cryo-berths, or Vera the assault rifle killing Jayne, turning into a humanoid form and declaring "Farewell, friend, I was a thousand times more evil than thou", I think I'm going to be disappointed. ;)

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James D

at 06:39 on 2012-12-01

On top of that I'm having trouble sussing how she even fits into this culture.

Well first of all it's important to note that there are regular ol' prostitutes in Firefly too (as you'll see in one of the later episodes), and the Companions look down on them just as much as Mal does. I get the idea that Companions are basically just like highly-trained, high-priced prostitutes controlled by a central body who requires them to undergo regular health checkups and pass various tests before 'licensing' them (these details are mentioned). Regular prostitutes can't get these licenses, thus they're looked down upon. Because of how beautiful/smart/good in bed the Companions are, they're in absurdly high demand and can basically pick and choose from a large pool of potential clients. More cultured types give them a moral pass, more conservative, old-fashioned types like Mal and Shepherd Book (who have presumably had little exposure to Companions due to living out in the boonies) tend to be less approving. It seems like the whole "Companion" thing is Whedon's ideal for legal prostitution, rather than a separate thing altogether.

In principle I don't really see anything wrong with it, but the whole Nice Guy angle is definitely creepy. Also, I think Mal taking issue with Inara's profession was set up as a conflict that would initially keep them from getting romantically involved despite obvious chemistry, but would eventually resolve - Mal would later loosen the stick up his butt, come to terms with Inara's profession, and they'd finally hook up. Of course, it ended after only one season, so who knows what would have happened otherwise.

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http://jmkmagnum.blogspot.com/

at 07:20 on 2012-12-01I could see that working, but they went WAY overboard on making Mal disgustingly judgmental and disrespectful toward Inara. It doesn't feel like they have great chemistry that if Mal could just get over his superficial hangups they would be great together; it feels like Mal is sexually attracted to her and has an attitude of "If all your life choices and personality were different, I wouldn't have to look down at you." And so more than rooting for him to modernize his views, I root for him to get the hell away from Inara and let her live her life.

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Dan H

at 13:44 on 2012-12-01@Arthur

On top of Mal being unceasingly unpleasant about her profession, Shepherd seems to disapprove when he first meets her, so even though Shepherd comes around fairly quickly it still seems as though there's some social stigma attached to it (because where else did Mal learn that "whore" was a word you could use to insult people with?) but this only seems to come up when Whedon needs Mal to be unpleasant to Inara.

It should come as no surprise to those who know anything about Whedon fandom that I've heard people cite this very issue as evidence that the way Mal treats Inara is *one hundred percent okay*.

Because, you see, Firefly is set in a post-patriarchy society, and so when Mal calls Inara a whore, he isn't using a misogynistic, gendered insult in order to assert his superiority over her, he's just expressing his entirely rational, entirely well-founded disregard for her profession - just as you might call Jane "mercenary" or Book "preacher" or for that matter call Simon a "quack".

This, after all, is the ideal of all social justice movements - to get to the point where we can be as racist and misogynistic as we like but it will be okay because everybody will be equal anyway.

@James D

Regular prostitutes can't get these licenses, thus they're looked down upon.

I agree that that's how it seems to work in the setting (and I'm aware that all you're doing here is pointing out how things work in-universe, not arguing for any particular interpretation of it), it's just that this makes things *even more* fucked up, because it means that Mal's attitude problem goes from being "looks down Inara because she is a prostitute, which is wrong because it is none of his damned business whether she is a prostitute or not" to "looks down on Inara because he *mistakenly believes* her to be a prostitute, when in fact she is a Companion, which is okay because Companions are special."

Kyra and I have just watched Easy A, which suffers from exactly this problem. It's about a girl who gets a reputation for being a slut because she lies about losing her virginity. She spends the entire movie being horrendously slut-shamed, which the movie seems to feel is wrong *only* because it is based on a factual error - as in the reason it's wrong to slut-shame this girl is because she isn't a slut, not because slut-shaming is wrong *in general*. It's full of horrible scenes where she pontificates whether maybe pretending to be a slut is as bad as really being a slut, and people say things like "I know you're not really a whore, because a real whore doesn't know she's a whore".

It seems like the whole "Companion" thing is Whedon's ideal for legal prostitution, rather than a separate thing altogether.

Pretty much this, but once again that just creeps me out even more. Ironically, Whedon here is arguing for exactly the kind of ridiculous straw man "legalized prostitution" that Chester Brown was arguing against in

Paying For It

, where legalization isn't about providing prostitutes with better working conditions, or proper legal protection, or any level of social acceptability *as a whole* - it's just about making sure that the only people who are allowed to be prostitutes are really hot.

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Fishing in the Mud

at 14:33 on 2012-12-01

the reason it's wrong to slut-shame this girl is because she isn't a slut, not because slut-shaming is wrong *in general*.

It's been years since I saw

Easy A

, but I still get slightly sick thinking about it. What a disgusting piece of filth. It's strange the way it seemed to completely miss what's actually wrong with slut-shaming, as you outlined, but to clearly understand how gross slut-shaming is and how pathetic and hypocritical slut-shamers are. It's all the worse for almost managing to be decent.

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Dan H

at 15:04 on 2012-12-01It kept coming *so close* to redeeming itself. There's the bit towards the end when she talks to her mother, and she's like "oh yeah, I was a total slut in high school" and you believe for about ten seconds that it's going to point out that there would have been *nothing wrong with that*. Then she follow up with "I had a very low sense of self-worth."

The very last line is, in fact "it's none of your damned business" but in the context of the wider film it seems a lot like she's saying "it's none of your business whether I have sex with my current boyfriend, because what goes on in a conventional monogamous relationship is understood to be private, in a way that the broader details of my sexual behaviour are not."

Gah.

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Arthur B

at 15:59 on 2012-12-01Watched

Our Mrs Reynolds

last night and yeeeeeeeeeah I think I'm done.

Note to

Firefly

fans about to write in with "but it gets so good in episode 7/10/14/the movie!" - I'm not interested and I'm not going to read what you have to say. The series is just too much of a slog and too prone to fall over its own incoherent setting and Minority Warring for me to devote any more time to it.

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James D

at 17:49 on 2012-12-01

Pretty much this, but once again that just creeps me out even more. Ironically, Whedon here is arguing for exactly the kind of ridiculous straw man "legalized prostitution" that Chester Brown was arguing against in Paying For It, where legalization isn't about providing prostitutes with better working conditions, or proper legal protection, or any level of social acceptability *as a whole* - it's just about making sure that the only people who are allowed to be prostitutes are really hot.

Yeah, it also would have been nice to see, say, a male Companion, or a Companion that isn't traditionally attractive. To be honest the whole thing just doesn't seem terribly thought-out; it seems like he just wanted one of the crew members to be a prostitute, since it's unusual/shocking/challenging/etc. at least for the basic cable crowd.

You have to remember who his initial audience was here; I don't know how much you non-American types know about regular Fox programming, but it's generally "edgy" in certain specific ways (see: the Simpsons, Family Guy) and very conservative in others. You might even say they're edgy in a reactionary way, what with Family Guy often pushing the line in terms of what racist/sexist/homophobic jokes it can get away with (despite its superficial white guy liberal leanings in general).

So Whedon decided he didn't want to make her just a regular prostitute, that would be too gritty and/or unsympathetic (either for his taste or for Fox's), instead making her a "special" prostitute, and attached some half-assed ideas about the sex trade in general. But really he never does anything with those ideas - Mal never has to explain his fundamental assumptions about prostitution being immoral, because I think his attitude was meant to be a stand-in for the average Fox viewer's. Not that that excuses Whedon or anything - just that I think he bit off way more than he could chew given his medium, and probably should have scrapped the whole idea.

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Fishing in the Mud

at 18:04 on 2012-12-01

it's generally "edgy" in certain specific ways (see: the Simpsons, Family Guy) and very conservative in others.

Not to mention

Glee

, created especially for the mainstream America that most certainly is not homophobic, racist, sexist, or bigoted in any way, but does think it's a bit unfair that minorities get treated better than everyone else and should really stop whining.

"I had a very low sense of self-worth."

There's nothing wrong with being a slut as long as you hate yourself for it. That way the Nice Guy you decide to settle down with when you get tired of sex with Alpha Jerks can reassure you that you're a good person after all for seeing the light and deciding to devote yourself to him. He will be in charge of your virtue from then on, you'll have his permission to feel good about yourself.

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Jules V.O.

at 02:20 on 2012-12-02

Of course, it ended after only one season, so who knows what would have happened otherwise.

Actually, we *do* know what would have happened otherwise:

gang rape by reavers.

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Daniel F

at 11:23 on 2012-12-02

Watched Our Mrs Reynolds last night and yeeeeeeeeeah I think I'm done.

But you didn't even get to

Heart of Gold

or

Objects in Space

!

It got worse, I'm afraid.

Quite early on while watching

Buffy

, I reached the conclusion that Joss Whedon is at his best when he's not consciously trying to be feminist, and when he's not thinking about gender issues at all. The more he tries, the worse the end result. In the context of

Firefly

, I found that the show is at its best when Inara is not in the plot. I don't know about the best, but

Ariel

is still the episode I enjoyed the most, and it starts by inventing an excuse to exclude Inara for the duration of the episode.

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Dan H

at 11:35 on 2012-12-02

Actually, we *do* know what would have happened otherwise: gang rape by reavers.

Worse: Gang rape by Reavers, the primary narrative purpose of which was to allow Mal to demonstrate *how good he would be for Inara* by *not being disgusted by the fact that she had been raped*.

This little titbit made me particularly uncomfortable because I suspect that "girl I fancy gets raped, I am totally supportive about it, she totally has sex with me" is a far more common fantasy than any of us would like to admit.

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Michal

at 13:49 on 2012-12-02What is up with anti-rape devices in science fiction that only work while you're being raped? First the dentata in Snowcrash, then this thing.

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http://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/

at 14:51 on 2012-12-02Well, I don't know if this is what Stephenson or Minear had in mind, but what occurs to me in the face of both of these stories is that if you're in a situation where you're going to get raped, there's no reason to believe that that's where it will end, and a device that doesn't protect you from rape but does incapacitate or kill your attacker might save your life. In theory, anyway. In practice, that kind of thinking assumes that there's only one attacker and that you're going to be in a position (and in a state) to escape once they're taken care of, neither of which strike me as reasonable assumptions for the sort of situation where such a device might conceivably be of use. I suspect the actual appeal for writers is the ironic reversal - the attribute that supposedly makes women vulnerable makes them dangerous - hence the popularity of the vagina dentata trope in general.

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Arthur B

at 15:27 on 2012-12-02I seem to remember that in

Snow Crash

the dentata is mentioned as being there for deterrent purposes - because rapists never know who's got a dentata, they don't know whether they're going to lose a dick in a rape attempt.

In practice, as I mentioned upthread, rapists these days never know whether someone they're targeting is carrying a gun or a knife or mace or whatever. Doesn't stop 'em!

Also the discussion of the device in

Snow Crash

seems to assume that rape always consists of complete strangers attacking you and humping you briefly in an alleyway.

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Fishing in the Mud

at 16:12 on 2012-12-02Knowing that a potential victim might be armed probably fails to move them because they can't actually imagine a weak, helpless woman knowing how to use a gun or knife properly. I would guess the image of vagina dentata working effectively is exponentially more vivid.

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James D

at 20:12 on 2012-12-02Also you have to be in a position to use a knife/gun/mace/whatever effectively, which if the rapist gets the jump on you might not be an option. From what I understand, the dentata just works without you having to do anything except insert it beforehand.

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Dan H

at 23:30 on 2012-12-02

Also you have to be in a position to use a knife/gun/mace/whatever effectively, which if the rapist gets the jump on you might not be an option. From what I understand, the dentata just works without you having to do anything except insert it beforehand.

Of course the flip side of that is that the dentata only works in the case of actual vaginal penetration. If it's meant to be used as a way of incapacitating a rapist so that they can't harm you *after* they've raped you, it's still in practice far less reliable than pretty much every other kind of cybernetic weapon implant you might want to get. If it's meant to be a deterrent, it's one that is - without wanting to think too deeply about the details - easily circumvented.

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James D

at 23:39 on 2012-12-02

If it's meant to be a deterrent, it's one that is - without wanting to think too deeply about the details - easily circumvented.

The obvious solution is to have dentata in every part of your body. FOOL PROOF

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Arthur B

at 01:23 on 2012-12-03Uh, is it just me or is this getting kind of unnecessary?

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Wardog

at 10:06 on 2012-12-03Well, it's slightly more entertaining that thinking too hard about the doomed hypothetical future of Firefly. I mean, I know there's lots to dislike about the show, and the gender politics are all Whedony and unpleasant, but ... uh ... I quite liked it.

That doesn't mean it's not wildly problematic in very many ways, and perhaps the only reason I like it so much is because it didn't have a chance to go horribly wrong, but I thought it was fun and witty, and actually I was pretty passionate about it when it first aired. Or rather after it was aired and cancelled.

I think it's harder to watch in retrospect because The Whedon Problems have sort of developed over time. It's easy to downplay how fucking awesome Buffy, and some of Angel, was in the light of, well, Dollhouse and Whedon deciding he was god's gift to feminism. Before he basically decided that liking to watch hot women run around in tight fitting clothing was morally equivalent to raping them and that sent him off on a Nice Guy Minority Warrior spin ... he did good stuff.

I miss that guy.

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Arthur B

at 10:40 on 2012-12-03Eh, I find Whedon's wit to be kind of grating personally. (In particular, I find that the more it comes out in his writing the more the characters end up sounding like the stock Whedon characters he's been using since the early days rather than distinct individuals.)

Possibly this is a "you had to be there at the time" thing because I came onboard

Buffy

fairly late (mainly catching episodes when I happened to be in Dan's presence and the show happened to be on) and I don't recall having a reaction more positive than "eh, this is OK". I guess maybe I'd be more appreciative of his stuff if I'd got on the Whedon train earlier (say, during the early

Buffy

period or something) but as it is my first exposure to him involved more mediocre stuff so even his better material just ends up reminding me of the mediocre stuff, if you see what I mean.

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Robinson L

at 15:30 on 2012-12-03

Arthur: as it is my first exposure to him involved more mediocre stuff so even his better material just ends up reminding me of the mediocre stuff, if you see what I mean.

Yeah, that makes sense. Ptolemaeus and I recently re-watched the first three seasons of

Buffy

, and even that wasn't as great as we remembered. (Even in his early years, Whedon had an inflated sense of his own profundity.)

I also am quite fond of

Firefly

, despite its more deplorable elements (e.g. the protagonist), but I can see how you'd come to the conclusion that it's not worth your while, and it really doesn't get significantly better. As Dan has already mentioned, in some places it gets even worse.

Kyra: Before he basically decided that liking to watch hot women run around in tight fitting clothing was morally equivalent to raping them and that sent him off on a Nice Guy Minority Warrior spin ... he did good stuff. I miss that guy.

Me too. Still, there's always the

Avengers

movie/

Avengers Assemble

.

Dan: Because, you see, Firefly is set in a post-patriarchy society, and so when Mal calls Inara a whore, he isn't using a misogynistic, gendered insult in order to assert his superiority over her, he's just expressing his entirely rational, entirely well-founded disregard for her profession - just as you might call Jane "mercenary" or Book "preacher" or for that matter call Simon a "quack".

Apart from not really being an at all accurate picture of what social justice movements struggle for (as you point out), this argument is also ludicrous just on the face of it, considering how many villainous cartoon misogynists Whedon populates the

Firefly

'Verse with to make his hamfisted gender commentaries.

This little titbit made me particularly uncomfortable because I suspect that "girl I fancy gets raped, I am totally supportive about it, she totally has sex with me" is a far more common fantasy than any of us would like to admit.

Well, there's nothing wrong with fantasies, even about stuff that would be highly messed up in the real world, so long as you don't try projecting those fantasies onto the real world ... like by portraying such a fantasy as series drama, for instance.

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Fishing in the Mud

at 18:04 on 2012-12-03

Buffy

worked for me when I first watched it because I'd never seen anything like it before, and I often had no idea where it was going. There was a brightness and innocence to it that made it genuinely fun. Buffy's pathos felt warm and real and unavoidable, not hard and dry and bloodless like it did in the later seasons. I don't think this is all hindsight on my part, even though I haven't seen the show in at least five or six years.

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Bookwyrm

at 04:54 on 2013-01-27Hi! This is my first time commenting here. I came across this short story after reading this article. Its probably unintentional but it kind of reads like a cautionary tale against this sort of behavior.

http://www.halloweenghoststories.com/featured/index.html

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https://me.yahoo.com/a/yeKsQ_cNqux16s489peIhdzZ2dSaOlA-#da226

at 03:40 on 2013-08-05I will use Buffy for most examples as I am more familiar with this, his longest running project. . .

Rape is all about power. The rape scenes in Buffy are no different. Buffy was the one with the power. The chosen. The heavenly, loved, good one. She trained Spike to be sexually violent with the rapes she performed on him. Pushing and degrading him; beating him and demanding he perform sexual acts. She was the one in control, with all power. When Spike broke emotionally and reciprocated, he was judged to have shown how evil he had been, was, and always would be. A double standard that is dangerous to encourage.

Wheton's simplistic view that Buffy is justified in her treatment of Spike because he is all evil, encourages the viewer to subconsciously believe that anything they do to a person they define as "evil" is justified. The slayer and the vampire are on fairly equal footing physically. They should both have been judged as rapist or neither should have been judged as such. It doesn't matter that Spike was an evil vampire without a soul, for the character arch had already surpassed that basic premise.

The positive message of equality and forgiveness, even atonement for past acts, are given lip service in the series but they become superimposed with the concept that one evil act makes us, and everything we do, always and forever evil. The second message is even more simplistic, juvenile, and dangerous, for it demonstrates that certain chosen few are not to be judged by the same criteria as everyone else. It stereotypically enhances the fact that, in Whedon's world, the privileged, regardless of their sex, is all-powerful. Evil men show it, good men keep it hidden, and those with power don't even have to acknowledge it. Huge fallacies.

A good man can perform acts of evil, and an evil man can perform acts of good. It is the nature of the beast. Therefore man, being defined in this context to include both sexes, is neither good nor evil. There is just man, in all his imperfections. If you attempt to judge a man's entire moral compass by one single act, or even a lot of acts during one period of his growth and development, then you do not judge the man. A man should be judged on the total sum of his parts for the development he has achieved to date, with the understanding that new experiences will have an effect and will alter and change him. Man is not a stagnate creature. He is not the man he was; nor is he the man he will become.

Though Whedon had ample time, in Spike's character arch, this level of development was never achieved and any time the journey was begun, the Spike character was reset to ground zero. Almost like James Marsters brought more depth to the role than was intended and so the character was punished for the transgression. The same hold's true in all Whedon's excellently casted series.

I wasn't sold on the rape concept and couldn't even suspend my disbelief long enough to see the scene as anything more than an end of season rating ploy. I viewed Inara's rape episode in Firefly with similar trepidation, and there are numerous instances in Whedon's work from which to extrapolate.

I won't even get into the glaring inequality that appears when you view that both Angel and Spike were working to become “champions”, a telling word that. Whereas, if she hadn't been chosen by outside forces, Buffy would have been an airhead. Other than to say the men were the “earners” while the woman was “the little girl to bestow gifts upon but not capable of walking the path on her own.” Which is further demonstrated by the fact that the slayers had watchers and the champions choose their own path.

As for empowering women, the all powerful slayer, does not even have the strength of character to live her life in the open and instead hides in the shadows to obtain the sexual relief that Wheton's male characters flaunt and mostly take for granted. The message being that women should be ashamed of their sexual appetites and must work to suppress and hide them, least they be found out and the woman subsequently fall from grace. Inara is allowed to have sex, but not to enjoy it, and has to be paid to perform it. Faith, being Buffy's foil, is showed as the unstable and nasty, common, girl, who repeatedly falls outside of the norms and morays society demands. Thus, is she to be despised, because she openly pursues such sexual liaisons. Faith is also written as crude and unacceptable because she isn't diplomatic and she repeatedly shows human qualities that keep her from being chosen one material.

Even employment is harangued. Their are many women in food service who are intelligent, warm, and friendly. That are working to better themselves because they were not born into privileged circumstances. Many are working for their families survival, and if that isn't a noble act, I don't know what is! Joss portrays them as end of the line, throw away characters. Social services is also not immune to his prosaic view of woman. He had an opportunity to show that we all fall on hard times and can struggle and overcome. He failed to do so.

True empowerment comes from knowing if we do what is necessary, with dignity and decency, even if we never climb any higher on society's perceived social ladder, we are worthy and have overcome, regardless of the outer trappings of our souls.

His views are too cut and dry, to one-sided and are mired too much in the upper crust motif of his life. Good actors of both sexes, who journey outside Whedon's work morality, appear to be left behind because they manage to raise questions, to shine the light of inquiry into the character they portray in ways that Joss Whedon will grudgingly capitalize upon, while he reins in the character to assure that those questions remain out of focus and unexamined. Then, those actors seem to be condemned and dropped by the wayside as quickly as feasibly possible. I would question his level of devotion to his supporters who constantly ask for, but never see, the actors they have grown to love receive any roles with substance. The individual talent pool that is not being taped seems to grow exponentially.

So, is this all evil/all good concept he repeatedly embodies in his work, Joss Whedon's internal beliefs manifested? Scary thought. I watch Joss Whedon's projects for enjoyable escapism. His works are not my answer to the feminine mystique. Nor is he my guru.

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Arthur B

at 13:14 on 2017-08-31It feels timely to dust this one off since

this wave just broke

.

To be fair, by this point

even the Torygraph kind of gets that Joss isn't as good an ally as he proclaims himself to be

. But it kind of feels like a sea change has happened.

Whedonesque has shuttered

, and whilst the decision to close isn't overtly connected to the open letter the fact that they suggest donations to a C-PTSD charity when Kai's open letter talks about how she had to work through that kind of points to it being a factor.

There's separating the art from the artist, of course, and more power to you if you feel able to do that, but Whedon's proclamation of his woke bae nature isn't art, it's self-promotional rhetoric, and whilst the fact that someone has behaved badly and caused harm to others shouldn't in principle have any effect on the validity of their arguments - truth is truth even if Hitler is saying it - it's hard to look past the hypocrisy, especially when his feminist talking points are so tied to the image of himself he promotes.

You don't get to claim the brownie points for being One Of The Good Guys unless you actually are a good guy, and Dan's diagnosis of Whedon with Nice Guy Syndrome in retrospect seems dead on.

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Robinson L

at 00:00 on 2017-10-31On the one hand, this is sadly consistent with the increasingly dubious quality of the feminist discourse in his works—and makes all the messed up sexual politics, especially concerning consent, in

Dollhouse

that much creepier. (I’m a little amazed that

Telegraph

article didn’t cite any examples from

Dollhouse

; it seems such a natural choice.)

On the other hand, up to this point I could’ve seen Whedon as basically a decent guy whose feminist analysis isn’t as sophisticated as he thinks it is. I didn’t think the occasional bouts of awfulness in his storytelling necessarily reflected back on him as a person. Maybe I’m too naive.

In any event, I’m sure I’ll still retain a soft spot for

Buffy

,

Angel

, certain elements of

Firefly

which don’t involve the main character, and the first

Avengers

movie. But, well, yeah, this really sucks, no pun intended.

(By the way, I clicked the link for the

Telegraph

article and it took me to the donotlink site. I copy-pasted the tinyurl provided on the donotlink site into url bar, and it took me directly to the

Telegraph

article, complete with the regular url. Does that mean I did something wrong?)

Oh yeah, final thought:

While none of us would go so far as actually calling him a rapist

I remember at the time, we generally agreed this accusation was a tad overblown—I certainly thought so. In light of Ms. Cole’s revelation, though, it seems eerily close to the truth.

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Arthur B

at 10:25 on 2017-10-31

I remember at the time, we generally agreed this accusation was a tad overblown—I certainly thought so. In light of Ms. Cole’s revelation, though, it seems eerily close to the truth.

Yeah, in retrospect I still can't get onboard with, eg, assuming a particular character is a rapist and an abuser based solely on the fact that they're the white partner in an interracial relationship, or for that matter armchair diagnosing Whedon as a rapist based solely on the content of his work.

That said, I can totally see merit in saying that a particular work expresses a rape culture worldview, and doing so doesn't necessarily amount to accusing the creator of rape. It is unfortunately the case that it's completely possible for someone to perpetuate rape culture and rape apologetics without themselves being a rapist; that's kind of how rape culture perpetuates itself to begin with. And it's going to be pretty hard to keep what Kai's had to say out of mind when tackling Whedon's work from here on out.

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Robinson L

at 20:30 on 2017-10-31Oh yeah, I didn't mean to imply I agree with the

reasoning

in that post, even in hindsight. You're absolutely right that an artistic work can promote rape culture without the artist(s) behind it being rapists - there are numerous such works out there.

I just find it morbidly interesting that, even though I still find the logic which led up to it faulty, the accusation itself ultimately proved not so far off the mark as I originally assumed.