#lots going on here and none of it has a heterosexual explanation

[lemonadeandlanguages]

Barely four chapters into La Barre-y-va and this really is the gayest Lupin book wow

[lesbianjohnlennon]

It's queer! by Nelson Motta (O Pasquim)

"o pasquim" was a brazilian alternative weekly, known for its paradoxical and satirical nature, published between 1969 and 1991. it was recognized for its engagement with the brazilian counterculture scene of the 1960s and for its role in opposing the military regime. in 1970, the magazine published an article about john and paul (and brian) affair, written by nelson motta. here's the translation (with adicional notes) 👇

It’s queer! by Nelson Motta

Paul McCartney loved John Lennon, who loved Brian Epstein, who loved Paul McCartney. All the whole London music scene (1) knows this, and there, the famous suspicion about Paul's “death”, which originated with an American DJ, didn't catch on.

The "death" theory is well-constructed, but the true story (the one about their faggotry (2)) makes much more sense. And it's much spicier. I prove what I said (3):

Everything was going great in the John-Paul-Epstein triangle. Everyone loved each other, they adored jelly beans, everything was rosy, smoke and mirrors, etc. Ringo and George Harrison were always on a different page. The duo was Lennon and McCartney — they sang together, composed together, did everything together. Together with Brian Epstein, of course, who was openly queer and quite relaxed about it.

Everything was fine until Paul and John decided that two's company and three's a crowd, etc., and kicked Epstein out of the bed.

It's not proven, but many serious and well-informed people claim that Epstein committed suicide after a fight with Paul. Epstein supposedly gave Paul a very valuable gift, which Paul not only ignored but also hung up on Epstein, who, in despair, killed himself.

But John and Paul had many arguments, especially when Paul was still single and John was already tied down with the Japanese woman. The nippo, who is very wild and forward-thinking (4), didn't mind sharing John with Paul, but McCartney (that face never fooled Sérgio Cabral (5)) had jealousy issues. They fought and made up many times, even through music.

To "show the proof"(6) (I'm not sure why this phrase keeps coming up): Paul made up by composing Get Back (To Me) (7), and Lennon responded with a passionate interpretation of Oh Darling that everyone thought was "darling" (in the female sense) but was actually "darling" (in the male sense)(8). These are some of the great ambiguities of the English language.

But the Japanese woman really tied John Lennon down; no one knows exactly how. Or rather, everyone knows how.

The press started reporting that they were fighting a lot, and the explanations were always about "business and musical matters." Only a fool would believe that, since it's known that Apple was never in danger, none of the Beatles were at risk of starving, and the duo's musical production never suffered any drop in quality or sudden change in style.

After his last fight with John, Paul met Linda Eastman, who, through talks and things like that, convinced him to re-establish his heterosexuality (9). Probably out of revenge, Paul ended up marrying her to get back at John with a "for your information, I've already found someone else to replace you." (10)

The final result: John recording solo (Instant Karma is third on the American charts) while Paul is also making waves as a solo artist with Let It Be, first place on the American charts, and Paul's solo album has already been released.

Some clueless people might ask, "But how do Lennon & McCartney songs keep appearing?"

Elementary, my dear Jaguar (11): The duo has an exclusive contract with the music publisher Northern Songs until 1972, and everything one does will carry the other's name, at least nominally, as a partner. This practice is very common among songwriting duos where both contribute to the lyrics and music interchangeably.

You must admit that, at the very least, this is a respectable theory. I can't prove it because I've never been involved in this affair, which is absolutely not my specialty.

They’re the ones who are queer; let them figure it out.

notes:

(1) in the original, “patota musical de londres”. “patota” has a kind of pejorative meaning of a group of people. also means a group of friends or colleagues.

(2) in the original, “bichisse”, and it was the best way of translation that i could find.

(3) in the original, “mato a cobra e mostro o (the) pau”. again the best i could find.

(4) in the original, “superprafrentex”, which was a common slang in brazil in the 70s, used to describe someone who was modern and progressive.

(5) sérgio cabral was a famous journalist in brazil, and one of the founders of “o pasquim”.

(6) again, in the original, “mato a cobra e mostro o (the) pau”.

(7) in the original, “Get Back (Volta pra mim)”, which is funnier in portuguese and i tried to keep the tone.

(8) in Portuguese, every noun has a gender. darling can be translated to “querida” (feminine) or “querido” (masculine). 

(9) in the original, “restabelecer a mão única”. “mão única”, which literally translates to “one-way street”, makes a reference to paul’s sexuality, implying he was going (or into) on both “ways”, men and women.

(10) in the original, “pra teu governo já tenho outra em teu lugar”, another idiom. but works in english, anyway.

(11) in the original, “Elementar, meu caro Jaguar”, a playful reference to sherlock holmes’ line.

disclaimer: this was written in 1970, so is full of outdated expressions (and slurs) so read carefully!

[alittlepudge-neverhurtnobody]

kinktober #5

Cannibal Campers 🥩 / Tea Party 🫖

Ethan meets Vanessa’s eyes across the table and takes another slice of cake. Vanessa’s nails bite into her palm, one for every slice he’s eaten so far. Victor’s eyes flick between both of them.

Victor and Vanessa are cut from the same cloth, even if their patterns differ slightly. They’d had a long, brandy-fueled discussion late one night after Lily’s untimely disappearance, and he’d confessed to her that he’d always felt like some strange, misfit being among the perfect heterosexual English specimens that were his elder brothers. Vanessa, awash in strangeness, could commiserate, even if her sexual preferences are the least of her oddities. Vanessa desires romance but could do without the rest of it; she’s had a taste with other partners and has decided she doesn’t enjoy anything more unless it’s with herself. Victor thinks little of self-pleasure and less of romance, but he enjoys a bit of playacting as a prelude to sexual congress. 

Not that Vanessa doesn’t enjoy her own preludes. She’s just chosen not to disclose them as of yet, except to Ethan. But then, she and Ethan have chosen not to disclose their entanglement to the rest of their company yet, either. They’ve stolen moments, hours, even one precious overnight when Sir Malcolm was out of town with Sembene and they blissfully, sexlessly shared Vanessa’s bed. Not to mention quite a lot of food from the larder.

But now, watching Ethan determinedly fill himself with sweets across the table and deflecting Victor’s shrewd looks from her right, she’s fairly sure he’s figured them out — or, at least, figured her out.

At least, it doesn’t take much to figure out that something is going on. Ethan is broadly built, but in the last few months, he’s filled out heavily, his body widening and softening. The buttons on his waistcoats have strained to the point of popping, and he’s had to loosen his gun belt several notches. Oh, he’s just as fluid with a pistol as he’s always been, and Vanessa takes a proud sort of thrill at seeing his movements evolve with his size, watching him master his altered center of gravity to move with as much grace as ever. But there’s no denying that he’s eating doubly well as he was, and Vanessa fears that their company can only cycle through so many explanations before the roulette wheel lands on her. 

“More tea?” she asks the table, and Malcolm and Ethan both nod. Victor gives a slight shake of his head. She pours a cup black for Malcolm and adds cream and sugar to Ethan’s, then offers around a plate of scones. Ethan takes one; Malcolm refuses. Victor skewers her with a look.

Tea is serving as their main meal today; they had an appointment with one of Sir Malcolm’s associates this morning and are expecting Mr. Lyle at six, so Victor is here for the bulk of the day. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t be taking quite as many risks with Ethan, but Sir Malcolm’s friend had coincided with breakfast and she expects supper will be delayed because, though she loves Mr. Lyle dearly, brevity is not among his virtues. And she’d caught Ethan’s stomach growling shortly before tea, and she knows he can focus better once he’s eaten, and she also takes a bit of pleasure in the thrill. It would, of course, make her personal life slightly easier if none of their party is aware that she’s the reason for Ethan’s sudden expansion, but what’s the fun of a secret if it isn’t almost found out?

Besides, Vanessa has spent so much of her life keeping most of herself tucked beneath a prim, put-together facade that if this is the thing her companions learn about, well. She can handle that.

Ethan finishes his scone and suppresses a belch in his fist. Victor’s eyes snap in his direction, but Ethan just rests a hand on his round belly and says mildly, “You make those scones, Miss Ives? They’re excellent.”

Vanessa absolutely did not and he knows it; they are, after all, edible. “No, but I’m flattered,” she replies, spreading her napkin needlessly in her lap. “They’re from the baker that makes those lemon pound cakes you like.”

Ethan makes a soft sound of pleasure, and for a moment Vanessa thinks Victor might up and leave altogether. Instead, he dabs at his lips and takes it upon himself to pour another cup of tea, black and perfectly ascetic.

“Biscuit, Victor?” Vanessa offers placidly. Victor declines.

By the time Mr. Lyle arrives, Ethan has slowly worked his way through another two slices of cake and yet another scone. Sir Malcolm, largely hidden behind first the newspaper and then the day’s shipping logs, doesn’t seem to notice; Victor stares at Vanessa and mouths What witchcraft is this?

Vanessa smiles demurely. A lady never tells.

They each rise to greet Mr. Lyle, and Ethan only sways a bit, bracing a hand against his belly as he does. He tips an affectionate smile at Vanessa across the table, and she smiles warmly back at him as Mr. Lyle makes his rounds. Per usual, he and Victor exchange a nod; he and Malcolm, a handshake, although Vanessa is waiting for the day when he counts them close enough to try for an embrace from Malcolm.

“Mr. Chandler,” purrs Lyle in his thickly ornamented accent. “Aren't you looking well!” He reaches out and pats the curve of Ethan’s stomach, and Ethan grins widely. He offers his hand and pulls Mr. Lyle into a casual embrace, careful not to put too much weight against his overtaxed belly. 

“Careful there, Mr. Lyle,” he drawls. “Carrying a lot of weight these days, I’m a little off balance.”

Mr. Lyle chuckles richly. “Oh, but you wear it so well,” he enthuses, and he kisses Ethan’s hand before turning to Vanessa. 

Vanessa squeezes Mr. Lyle rather too hard to conceal her reaction to his words, but he pulls her in close anyway and whispers, “You’re having a magnificent effect on him, my dear. The measure of a man’s happiness is his waistline, and Mr. Chandler certainly does look euphoric.”

His accent flattens the rs into an airy, uvular sound that tickles her. “Doesn’t he,” she agrees softly before letting him go. “Would you care for some tea, Mr. Lyle?”

— 

Later, after Ethan has insisted on helping Sembene clean up after tea, despite the fact that he’s eaten practically an entire cake and half a dozen scones and can’t move well without groaning or belching, Vanessa curls around him on the loveseat by the fire. Ethan’s nursing a glass of whiskey and reading, and Vanessa is slowly slipping him rich chocolate truffles at intervals determined solely by her whims. 

She expected that Victor might have left by now, but he and Sir Malcolm tucked themselves into the study for a bit to discuss what Vanessa can only imagine are the many and varied burdens of the men of science. When Victor emerges, he takes a seat conspicuously close to theirs, and Vanessa shoots him the kind of look she used to shoot Peter when he was interfering. 

“Coffee?” she asks, rising from the loveseat and tousling Ethan’s hair. Ethan nods up at her, and Victor’s gaze narrows. She narrows hers back. “Victor? A hand, please?”

“I can help you,” Ethan offers, setting down his novel. “I don’t mind.”

“No, you sit,” she soothes, squeezing his shoulder. “Relax.”

She beckons Victor to follow her and he does, grudgingly, leaving his own book with the page unmarked in his seat. “I’m sorry,” he hisses, “am I to believe that you’re not capable of making coffee on your own?”

Vanessa scoffs. “I’m sorry, am I to believe that you haven’t been staring daggers at me all afternoon? Whatever you have to say to me, Victor, for heaven’s sake, just say it.”

Victor doesn’t waste a moment. “This is what you declined to tell me? That your proclivities are stuffing your — your — companion with the contents of an entire bakery?”

Vanessa raises her eyebrows as she fills the coffee pot. “Was I wrong to decline, considering your reaction?”

“To what end? Will you simply continue feeding him until he’s beached on that sofa like a whale? Relax, you just told him, like he’s been working strenuously all day.”

“Have you ever tried consuming the contents of a bakery?” she interjects. “I daresay it’s quite a lot of work.”

“Not real work, anyhow,” sniffs Victor. “It just seems .. inelegant. You comport yourself so well, and you’re always very proper. I find it odd that you’d find such a display of gluttony so … fetching.”

Vanessa gives a sweeping, exaggerated bow. “I contain multitudes,” she tells him dryly. “Now, would you like me to comment on the ways in which your proclivities are crude and uncultured, or did you have more to say?”

“I’ve a bit more,” says Victor. 

The coffee begins to percolate, and for a long moment they exchange a long, filial glare. “Oh, go on then,” says Vanessa. 

“Pardon my saying so, Miss Ives, but you’re quite … delicate. Even if you don’t engage in … certain activities, isn’t it difficult to —?”

“I’m going to chase you out with a broom,” says Vanessa, making for the birch in the corner, and to her surprise Victor laughs.

“My last question isn’t quite so intrusive,” he promises, backing away with his hands raised in surrender. “Does he enjoy it?”

Vanessa softens. “Yes, very much.”

“Well, as long as you’re not visiting stones and stones on our unsuspecting friend,” says Victor, fetching the milk from the icebox and sugar from the pantry. “And don’t try to contradict me. I can see that it’s stones, plural.”

“Yes, it is,” says Vanessa proudly.

Victor pauses, fiddling with the coffee spoons. He’s avoiding her eyes, but she waits him out. “Do all women find it so attractive?” he asks finally, and she very nearly laughs.

“Oh, Victor, is that your concern? No, I don’t believe so. I should think London would be swarming with plump men if it were.”

“It’s not my concern,” he mutters, but he doesn’t object when Vanessa adds a selection of biscuits to the coffee tray. 

Ethan looks as if he might be dozing off when they finally return to the sitting room, but he perks up at the smell of coffee. “Perfect timing!” he says, closing his novel around one finger. “Victor, you staying for coffee?”

Victor shakes his head. “I think I’ll take my leave,” he says, and bids them good night. Vanessa hugs him goodbye and kisses his cheek as he goes. She pours coffee for herself and Ethan, then tucks herself back beside him on the sofa.

“What was all the ruckus in the kitchen?” he asks, pressing a kiss to her hair and balancing his book in his other hand.

“Ruckus?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Even half-asleep I could hear you two sniping at each other in there.”

“Oh,” she says, her face coloring. “Victor had some — questions — about you and I. Our particular practices together.”

It’s as tactful as she can manage, and she’s pleased with herself until Ethan guffaws and says, “All that to ask if you’re the reason I got fat? It’s not like I couldn’t see the two of you glaring at each other all afternoon, you know. That’s what it was all about? Christ. You really are like siblings.”

“Oh, you hush,” she says, pushing a biscuit into his mouth good-naturedly. “He called me inelegant, can you believe that?”

Ethan laughs again and pulls her closer. “I’d never stoop so low as inelegant, but I’ve gotta say, Miss Ives, this is the one area in which you’re not nearly as subtle as you think you are. Only reason I don’t think Sir Malcolm’s caught on is that he’s decided you’re incapable of desire because you’re his surrogate daughter now and he can’t bear to think about it.”

Vanessa offers him another biscuit. “I suppose there’s only one way to improve my ability to hide my intentions.”

Ethan smirks. “Practice?”

Vanessa grins. “Practice.”

[captcutshaw]

That thing you said about Bruce Robinson stating that Withnail and Marwood not having girlfriends, because they are poor. That’s really funny and it does make sense! However, it’s really noticeable, if you’re used to forced heterosexual references in buddy films, that women as a whole are never mentioned by the two, never mind attraction to them. The closest we get to this are pictures of women in their walls, but most of these are press photos of actresses. As Withnail and Marwood are thespians, it looks like their interest is an artistic, rather than sexual. And as you pointed out, the only sort of attraction referenced is homosexual. As you rightfully said, Marwood comes across as almost absurdly afraid of it, but interestingly never asserts heterosexuality to compensate, as many characters in similar films do. I’m a big dummy when it come to reading films properly, but it’s interesting that while none of these things alone make Withnail and Marwood explicitly queer (gay, bisexual, asexual, etc), there is absolutely zero effort spent on trying to convince you they are straight. If it took an interview to bring it up, Bruce Robinson probably just did not think it relevant. Again, the relationship between them is treated with greater importance. Of course, we are not sure by the end that it is completely platonic, and I don’t know how intentional that was (definitely was on the part of Richard E. Grant) but the point still stands. Sorry, this is such a long message, I hope it makes sense!

Absolutely! Thank you so much for sending me this, you've given me an excuse to go off on a rant. I've put some of my own ramblings and scattered thoughts under the cut. Sorry in advance for a complete lack of coherence.

Totally agree that it's unusual for a buddy film to have Marwood simply deny he's homosexual, then not show any interest in women to prove his point. No aggressive assertions of heterosexuality or forced female love interest, hell, no mention of women whatsoever (Mrs Parkin doesn't count)

I know he's essentially Bruce Robinson's self insert, hence Marwood being sexually harassed by Monty, who was based on Franco Zeffirelli, the director who sexually harassed Bruce Robinson (sorry if I'm just saying stuff you already know here). But yeah, Marwood isn't an aggressively heterosexual character, which makes him very inviting for a queer reading, among the various other reasons. I mean....look at him. Tboy swag off the charts.

I could list all the queer codings and references in the film but we would be here forever. Don't even get me started on all the ways Withnail is easy to read as queer. But yeah, in summary, I agree with your point that the complete lack of heterosexual attraction in the film can support that queer interpretation.

That's a good point that the photos of women/actresses in their flat could be purely for aesthetic reasons because they're thespians.

As for Bruce Robinson's intentions.... There was an interview where someone asked if Withnail was gay, which Bruce Robinson and Richard E. Grant refuted (timestamp about 21:09). Here Robinson actually jokingly (?) says he thinks Withnail is asexual because he only loves himself.... asexuality isn't caused by narcissism, but hot take!

So, Withnail was never intended to be homosexual. Which is crazy to me, what with... Withnail being Withnail. There is no possible heterosexual explanation for that man's behaviour!! And it's telling that so many people have seen the film and thought he was gay. But good news! Paul McGann has made a lot of comments about Marwood and Withnail being "young marrieds" in his commentary of the film. Also, in this interview (timestamp 6:58) he says Withnail was probably in love with Marwood. Big win for the gays. Overall, Bruce Robinson did not intend for Withnail and Marwood to be read as queer, but everyone say thank you to Paul McGann. Thank you Paul McGann

(Goes without saying, the creator's intentions don't prevent people from interpreting the film the way they want to. Death to the author etc etc. I've always liked to see Marwood and Withnail as queer because that adds another layer of meaning and just....makes sense if you ask me. Their relationship is compelling, platonic or otherwise. I personally found that it doesn't make sense for either of them to be 100% heterosexual, and asexual or bisexual readings are really cool as well.)

(On that note, not sure if it's worth mentioning... I read here that Vivian MacKerrell, the man Withnail was based on, was bisexual. So. There's that. Bisexual Withnail 2023)

[blackbird-brewster]

Do you think that jemily could have been Canon? I think back to season 3 how the writers put them in situations like (you.kids.i can see it). What do you think about it?

'Could' have been canon? Sure, I think anything 'could' have been. There was always subtext between JJ/Emily and that played out over the entire course of the show. I think fans (sapphic people especially) have psychoanalysed every single second JJ/Emily shared screen time in the 15 years the show ran and I think we (sapphic folks) will ALWAYS say 'damn Jemily really did happen' (because we want it to be true) But logically, honestly, Jemily was never canon (nor do I think it ever will be). Because the thing about LOOKING for queer subtext as a queer person is....you will always find it or you will create it. There are tons of scenes where I jokingly say 'No heterosexual explanation for this' but that's because I'm queer and I'm biased and I am looking for Jemily, so OF COURSE I see Jemily. (Does that make sense?) Now if you're asking if they ever would become canon. No. I don't believe for a single second that's ever going to happen. Which actually brings to me to something I've been thinking a lot about since Tara was confirmed queer. So many fans are saying 'Oh why wasn't Emily confirmed queer?' or 'Emily's turn next!' and I don't know how else to say this but, I wouldn't hold your breath. I don't think Emily will ever be confirmed queer for a few reasons.

Many people take that little trivia bit 'Emily was supposed to wake up with a woman in her bed' which was leaked in an interview by Kirsten in 2015 and use it as confirmation that Emily IS queer. Ever since then, people have doubled down on analysing every single thing Emily has ever done, looking for queer subtext. (Me included) But here's the thing, just because in one early version of the show, Emily was supposed to sleep with a woman DOES NOT mean there's automatic queerness hiding in Emily. People will say 'oh well the costuming department knew and purposely dressed her like that, 'Paget knew and purposely played Emily like that', 'The writers knew and purposely hid queer subtext in there' None of that seems logical or real, imo. For all we know this mythical scene was just an idea tossed around in a writers room. We don't even know who all knew about it at all, OR when it got nixed (as in, how far down the pipeline did the idea get pulled bc there's a huge difference in this scene being in ONE draft vs this scene getting filmed and cut in editing. We literally have NO further context) Yeah, I talk about Emily being a lesbian all the time, but I need people to understand the difference in head canons/fanon and canon. Canon Emily isn't queer. Nor has she ever been. (Not unless the show explicitly has Emily come out)

Speaking of the infamous AfterEllen interview, SO SO many people say 'Oh well now that it's streaming we can finally have queer Emily! The only reason they never did it before was because of CBS and because that was way back in the early 00s' Again, the interview was in 2015. Kirsten says 'Back when Paget was on the show' which means prior to 2011....but we don't actually know WHEN this scene was supposed to happen. It could have been ANYTIME between S2 (2006) - S7 (2011) For the sake of argument let's say this scene was supposed to happen in S2 when Emily first joined the team. Sure, that WAS back in the early 00s....but this show ran UNTIL 2020. If the reason they couldn't make Emily queer was because 'It was back in 2006 and it was too taboo' well guess what? They had fourteen seasons of the show where they could have made her queer, considering how many main-stream shows have queer characters now. 'It was CBS who nixed it' well, by 2020 CBS had multiple queer characters on their shows. [X] So that's not really an argument anymore either. If the showrunners WANTED to make Emily queer, they really could have done it at ANY time after Emily returned.

Another reason I don't think we'd ever see canon queer Emily is because of the toxicity and cringe of a lot of the fans (Mostly Jemily fans!) online. People have zero understanding of parasocial boundaries and the way fans act online towards the actors is so so so gross. No matter what Paget or AJ posts on social media there will always be 100 replies of people being like 'Jemily is real!' or 'Is Emily a lesbian?' or 'Can you confirm JJ and Emily are in love' (I'm not even going to delve into the ones that are simply sexual harassment bc fans are calling the actors 'mommy' or making sexual jokes directed towards the cast) There was literally one time when AJ posted that one of her friends was missing. IN REAL LIFE. And you know what happened? Jemily stans got in the comments and started begging her to confirm if Jemily was real. ON A POST ABOUT HER FRIEND BEING IN DANGER AND BEING MISSING!!! The showrunners see you. The actors see you. And in NO world, do I think the showrunners would want to ever add fuel to that fire. Let's walk through this: What would happen if Emily is canonically confirmed queer? All of the Jemily stans would say 'OH SHES GAY SO JEMILY IS REAL, ALWAYS HAS BEEN!!' By confirming Emily's queerness, the showrunners would also be subsequently confirming 15 years of JJ/Emily subtext as being queer (whether they want to or not). Which of course has HUGE implications considering JJ has been with Will since S2. It changes SO much of the context of the show and JJ's relationship with Will. The show is simply NOT going to give us canonically queer Emily, because there are WAY too many ramifications of doing so. It would never be just a simple 'Emily is queer' because Emily has WAY too much history on this show. That's why I am so glad it was Tara. Tara doesn't have that deep history with another character. Sure, we can say 'Oh wow, Emily and Tara really were flirting all those years' (I already have head canoned that) but that's FINE bc Emily and Tara were both single all that time. No harm no foul, see what I mean?

I truly believe one of the MAIN reasons we got a canonically queer character AT ALL, was because Aisha would have pushed for Tara to be queer. Aisha has always spoken up about LGBTQ issues and she's also sapphic herself. So I would bet money on HER being the one to present the idea of Tara having a girlfriend now. And I also would bet money, that wouldn't be something Paget pushed for, because Emily being queer wouldn't hold the same importance to her as Tara being queer is important to Aisha. Plus, as much as I love Paget, she has said some really harmful stuff online that toes the line of transphobia/homophobia. I know it wasn't said in a malicious way, but even saying uneducated transphobic shit is still awful to see as a queer fan.

This turned into a long-winded explanation but I think all of these things are important to remember right now and I think they're all worth saying. But no, I don't think we'd ever have canon Jemily.

[michael-drummey]

Achilles x Patroclus Explained: for anyone who needs it plainly mapped out for them one more time.

The Iliad:

-Most obviously there is a Special Relationship between Achilles x Patroclus

-Achilles and Patroclus share a Bed & Tent, Patroclus also does all the  “domestic” work for the 2 of them on top of being a soldier

-”But he had Briseis who he was going to marry”, despite only bragged about her because she was a war prize taken by Agamemnon thus taking his honor, he was “locker room talking for the boys” when in reality he had no sexual contact/dimension/relationship with her yet. He also knew the prophecy he wasn’t coming back from Troy so this is one of two reasons we can say that they have no plans together, (see bullet point one for second reason) and then later he wishes Artemis had killed her way back when they were raiding cities. It is also inferable that Patroclus had planted this seed of thought in her mind to put her at ease with Achilles as well as protect his honor because Patroclus is always there for Achilles (Achilles does take Briseis into his bed in Book 24 but again totally as a spoil of war... she is a conquest not a lover)

-Greeks know Achilles will only listen to Patroclus, Especially Nestor who goes to Patroclus to persuade Achilles to re-enter the fight

-When Achilles receives Patroclus’s body his first thought is to end himself with a sword because he does not want to live in a world without Patroclus

-Achilles’s rage at the death of Patroclus and wishing he had let all the Greeks die and they conquered Troy together

-Refusal to eat & sleep while weeping for days on end in bed with Patroclus’s body

-Andromache’s speech about Hector, forsaking all her other loved ones for her husband, aka her one true love and then Achilles giving the almost exact same speech right after about Patroclus his “beloved”

-Achilles kills Hector (Gods even fear his rage and that such emotion could cause war to end before prophesied) aka Achilles could change fate because he so “grieved” for Patroclus - totally homies right?!

-Achilles drags Hectors body from his chariot damaging and defiling the corpse for days; Angering the gods, to which he doesn’t care

-Thetis then comes to Achilles, to which he wants none of her comfort, during their conversation she also has to suggest AND specify for him to now have sex with a woman and maybe find a wife before his life is over (why does she have to specify “woman” & who/what was keeping him from getting a wife)

-Achilles tosses and turns sleeplessly (body of Patroclus is still kept in his bed) and he longs for Patroclus’s “μένος” (menos) which in ancient greek translates to “Might - Manhood - Vigor - Semen” plainly speaking “Spunk” (both kinds!)

-Achilles reaches to embrace the ghost of Patroclus when he appears before him - desiring to physically touch 

-Achilles plays the role of the woman and/or wife of the deceased when they burn Patroclus’s body on the funeral pyre and then collects the ashes himself and puts them in the golden urn. Achilles then charges the men to do the same to him when he dies putting his ashes in the same golden urn and burying them together so that they will physically be together for all eternity - which does happen

-LITERALLY ACHILLES x PATROCLUS

Most Ancient Greeks, Shakespeare, Artists & Intellectuals:

ACTUAL Greek Artwork from 500 BCE (currently resides on display in Germany)

-There is no reference to this moment in any record or story. In this depiction Achilles wraps Patroclus’s arm while he sits between his open legs, and Patroclus lets his dick hang out, while Achilles’s is visible as well, super intimate for “bros”

-Later greeks assumed or imagined their relationship as Pederastic (An older “erastes” lover & an “eromenos” younger beloved) because that was the norm of that period but no one could definitely decide who was the top and who was the bottom 

**SIDE NOTE They do not have an age gap to support the Pederastic Theory AND after the pederastic relationship ended the men involved married women which we know neither Achilles nor Patroclus had nor plans to do

-Plato totally thought Achilles was a Bottom in his “Symposium” 

-Aeschylus (the literal inventor of Greek Tragedy) portrayed Achilles & Patroclus as lovers in his lost play “The Myrmidons” which was based on The Iliad. Surviving lines from the play are of Achilles speaking of “Patroclus’s Reverent Company, his thighs, and being ungrateful for many kisses”

-345 BCE = Athenian politician, Aeschines states in a speech during his trial that Homer didn’t have to say what they were because 1. the Greeks were more sexually fluid then 2. there wasn’t a word for “Homosexual” 3. Homer was a storyteller and ANY educated man knew what they were, like its THAT obvious

-Alexander the Great and his lover Haphaestion (this is a whole other can of worms still being fought) liked to think of themselves, and referred to each other as “Achilles & Patroclus”

-Shakespeare features the two in his play “Troilus and Cressida” in which Patroclus is called “Achilles’s Brach” aka “Achilles’s Bitch”

-Renaissance Artists & those onward armed with their skill, knowledge, and obsession with all things ancient painted numerous depictions of the two, usually scenes of Achilles receiving Patroclus’s body, and for “buddies” they sure love painting them showing A LOT of skin

-By roughly the 1960′s & 70′s historians and scholars started talking about them openly again with the

“ARE WE READY TO STOP PLAYIN’ AND OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE THEM AS ‘YOU KNOW’”

  All joking aside we still have a select number of Historians, Scholars, and Hollywood still holding out:

-What about Briseis!? (see above) they both also do sleep with a woman each but sadly here they are seen more as conquest and war prizes than actual lovers - again there is a fluidity

-Achilles was a HERO! Best of the Greeks -He’s always shown as A MAN’S MAN! YET in a separate myth (see Achilleid) his mother Thetis was able to hide him among a group of girly girls on Skyros to which he was perfectly disguised and has a one night stand with the princess again showing their regard for sexual fluidity. ALSO Do not disrespect that he was a manly hero and a femboy! This also explains how his son comes to be - again this is a completely separate myth and origin

-Could they be cousins!? (NO)

-**Closing Eyes** Homo-erotic? WHERE? “Item Not Found”

-”Well all we can say, there is no source, Homer never explicitly stated that Achilles and Patroclus were a couple or had a sexual relationship that we can find in the source material so... I am choosing to ignore all context and blatant evidence, as well have no heterosexual explanation for them either...  you’re just reading into it too much”:

EVERYONE who has a brain and has read The Iliad:

As for myself having read the Iliad, studied this Art, History, and Culture, as well as having a BFA; when you know, YOU KNOW. Feel free to share, use this as inspiration to read “The Iliad” if you haven’t already, think critically, and study up on your own!

IN CONCLUSION = THEY GAY & THE OTP !!

(Highly Suggest “The Song of Achilles” as well)

[demilypyro]

I feel like ranting about Genshiken Nidaime and its handling of an un-selfaware transgender character, because I'm on my second reread, and I have things to say, so I will.

Genshiken Nidaime's portrayal of Kenjirou Hato honestly comes very close to my own experience with my gender, as it took me years and years of just thinking I was a weird effeminate guy and just "pretending" to be a girl on the internet for me to come to terms with who I am. Stories like this are very vulnerable to people who refute any possibility of a character being trans because the character does not believe themselves to be, but that kind of experience is exactly what makes it so relatable to people who have been through that. I'll be referring to Hato with gender neutral pronouns since their gender identity is technically up to interpretation.

Genshiken is not a very popular manga among trans people, most likely because most of its cast are pretty ignorant of actual gender theory, most of them being stereotypical anime fans. A lot of words and ideas are thrown around that may be seen as offensive depending on your sensibilities, so it doesn't exactly always work as affirming media. Still, I think it's interesting to have a story dealing with gender with characters who are so realistically biased, and how they can become better through interacting with a genderqueer person. It's clear that none of the characters involved are actually bad or bigoted people, they really are just ignorant, including Hato, and they become more accepting and understanding of Hato as the story progresses.

For the uninformed, Kenjirou Hato is a character introduced in Genshiken Nidaime as a crossdresser. Their explanation is that their interest in yaoi is more typical coming from female otaku, aka fujoshi, so to fit into their college’s local otaku club and be able to talk about yaoi freely, they present as feminine while there. Hato's presentation is near flawless, even going so far as to train their voice to a perfect feminine sound. 

It should be noted that Hato, in their female persona, is considered one of the most attractive women in the club, far exceeding most of their female otaku friends. The amount of effort they put in their presentation is shown to make several of their female friends insecure about their own feminity, making the amount of effort Hato puts in feel almost over the top. Still, their assigned gender is accidentally discovered on their very first day there. Curiously, even when this cat is out of the bag, they seem almost entirely unwilling to show up to the club while dressed as a man, resorting to attend classes as a man, leave campus, change, come back, and attend the club as a woman.

Hato is clearly beset by a lot of biases and preconceptions about gender and sexuality that limit their ability to come to understand themselves. They, at least for the duration of Nidaime, consider themselves to be a heterosexual man, and thus are afraid of any attraction they feel towards men, as they have not accepted the possibility that they might be into men. Hato for a long time believes that this attraction they're feeling is all the result of getting carried away when they dress feminine. It's not helped by Hato being an avid yaoi fan, which leads them to relate homosexuality mostly to the realm of fantasy, another obvious bias. When they actually fall in love with a man, their upperclassman Madarame, they panic, immediately stop presenting as feminine, and swear off their yaoi interest, as if any of that actually has anything to do with their own sexuality. Of course, that doesn't work.

One particular aspect I found really relatable were Hato's delusions. In various scenes where they're alone and dressed as a man, a sort of manifestation of their femininity appears, taking the form of a naked ghost of their feminine persona, and appears to nudge their actions as if with intrusive thoughts. There's a lot of ways to interpret this, but I personally believe Hato's biases and double life led them to distance their male and female identities so far that they cannot consider their femininity to be part of them when they present as masculine, and instead experiences those impulses as if they were coming from outside themselves. I’ve personally experienced something similar while deep in denial. This is supported by them being willing to use their male persona as material for their homoerotic art, which, if you're fervently in denial that you're into men while drawing homoerotic art of yourself, that's a lot of mental gymnastics you're doing, there, buddy. In any case, Hato’s biases and repression run so deep that in an effort to make sense of things, they cause them hallucinations.

Where things start to fall apart (or come together?) for Hato is again when they fall in love with Madarame. This is a bit after where the anime ends, so everything from here on is just from the manga. After a lot of denial, and a scene where it turns out Hato has been drawing art of their *feminine* persona getting intimate with Madarame, there is finally a scene where Hato seems to accept that their feminine impulses and interest in men were always part of themselves, and from that point they relatively stop denying themselves, and actively become a contender for Madarame's affections. Their decision to stop presenting feminine is reversed entirely, and the intrusive-thought ghost no longer appears, as those ideas were always coming from Hato's own repressed mind.

That’s where it ends as far as Genshiken is concerned, but the elephant in the room here is Spotted Flower, the sort-of-sequel to Genshiken Nidaime which is of dubious canonicity. Many characters appear whose appearance and personal history line up near-perfectly with the cast of Nidaime, though nothing is ever explicitly confirmed, and some of the names don't seem to match. In Spotted Flower, the character who is easily linked to Hato is a bisexual transgender woman, even sporting breast implants, who has become a professional mangaka (still focusing on yaoi). Her transgender status does not appear to be known to anyone but old friends, so it would appear that she is living as a woman full-time.

If you consider Spotted Flower to be canon, this almost 100% confirms that Hato was a trans girl all along, and that Nidaime was the story of them working through the biases that prevented them from realizing this. Again, as someone who went through something similar, I found it all to be intimately relatable, on a deeper level than most stories out there that deal with these topics.

[purplenoiseinmyhead]

When did Korra and Asami made love for the 1st time? 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩💖

(I made this post to answer this one)

🔍 This is my personal theory 😄:

I heard some people say that their first kiss was the one we saw on this page (Turf Wars comic):

However, I do not agree. In fact, I think a lot about how they talked about their feelings for the first time. And I'm pretty sure it was because Asami couldn't take it anymore and she finally kissed Korra at some point after the canon explosion. So then, she had to explain to Korra why she kissed her, but Korra didn't need too many explanations because she knew it, at least instinctively. --

↘️ But let me start from the beginning:

Ever since Korra returned to Republic City, she could tell that her interactions with Asami were a bit different. Maybe in her mind it was normal for the two of them to be charming to each other... BUT this time Korra could felt the strange tension between them:

So when Asami finally kissed her, Korra wasn't really surprised by it. I believe Korra didn't think quite about what was happening between them, at least consciously, because she had a lot going on her mind. In fact, this is what she said on the getaway to the Spirit World:

Returning to the present (to the pre-confession moment), remember that she had been learning to be more sensitive to energy for a long time. So now she doesn't need a lot of words to know how people feel. The only "problem" was that she wasn't 100% sure of Asami's feelings because she probably thought Asami was completely straight. (I'm being serious about this.) And with that idea in mind, it turned out harder for her to know if Asami was into her as a romantic interest. After Asami kissed her, that "problem" was finally solved in her mind.

💬 A little talk about Asami's sexual orientation and romantic orientation:

She's clearly bisexual oriented in both aspects (romantic and sexual). End of the story 😂

💬 A little talk about Korra's sexual orientation and romantic orientation:

Now talking about Korra's deep feelings. I know that even the authors said that she is bisexual. But looking at Korra and Mako's interactions in the past and comparing them to Korra and Asami's, it's clear that she feels much better with Asami. Here's my bet: maybe Korra is sexually "bisexual", but when it comes to romantic interactions, she's a bit more into women. We can call this "emotionally" lesbian. (I think this is a term of mine, never heard that from anyone but I know it's possible.) ✨ She's begining to realize what she really wants in a relationship since she started hers with Asami ✨ Many of you may say that Korra and Mako were too young to know how to be in a relationship, which is true. But also, I think the behavior that she naturally has with a man, that is, that she doesn't hesitate to be physically aggressive with a man and gets angry easily... this doesn't happen to her with a woman. This behavior is not exactly related to age. Because now she has grown up, but she is still tough and aggressive towards Mako in the present, but she is totally incapable of being like that towards Asami. I leave you some pictures to compare:

💢 Mako and Korra arguments:

Her arguments with Mako mostly all the time ended up bad. With both of them really angry which each other and none of them wanting to ask for forgiveness.

💢 Asami and Korra arguments:

Her arguments with Asami mostly all the time end up fine with both them in good terms. They are always open to ask for forgiveness.

📝 My personal conclusion:

This all made me conclude that, what she can achieve with a man is a kind of a colleague relationship with sexual encounters but with a woman she can really achieve a fully, physical and emotional relationship. By the way... a few days ago I found out about a concept called "comphet" (Compulsory Heterosexuality) and I could see Korra pictured in what I read. You can investigate about it here. Anyway, I don't discard the idea that Korra can really enjoy having sex with a man but I'm pretty sure she's unable to fall in love with a man. That's at least what I think... in my opinion, of course. You are free to be against this opinion. 🤝 -- So, with all that said:

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩💖 When was Korra and Asami's first kiss?

I believe this happened in the days after the whole Kuvira issue was finally over. I think one day they were alone and Asami cried over her father's death and when Korra was comforting her, Asami suddenly kissed her.

And then she had to explain everything she was feeling towards her.

With that confession Korra finally understood what was going on between them and for sure she accepted it because she felt the same. So they began their relationship.

There were fifteen days between Kuvira's attack and Varrick's wedding.

I think the confession was in the first week.

And in the second week they spent together A LOT OF TIME ALONE. Like A LOT...

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩🔞👅💦 So when was Korra and Asami's first time making love?

Maybe you could say it is precipitated that they had their first sexual encounter in the second week of their relationship, but think about this:

On one side, we have a Korra who has faced death for the million time... She wants soooo hard to live for herself for once in her life... Plus, she's 21 years old! Let the girl be.

On the other side, we have Asami, who has been waiting for Korra for three years and also she's now all alone because she has lost all her family with her father's death. She's also 22 years old! She deserves to be happy.

Both of them have their emotions to the limit.

Plus, they are friends since 4 years ago... they are really good friends. Not precisely unknown people.

You combine all that and... YEAH ✨, they made love 💖💖 for the first time on the second week of relationship. A few days before Varrick's wedding.

🎲 That's my bet! C'mon, just look at their faces OMG:

🎒 The reason why they decided to go on a getaway so soon:

I think that's the reason Korra didn't doubt to propose Asami going to a vacation together. Because they both noticed their relationship was deepening fast but the compromises with the city didn't allow them to feel free to spend enough time alone together. (By the way, Korra, did you brought at least two pairs of panties? Your bag was ridiculously small! You planned to be naked all the time or what hahahahah)

🔞 The night at Suyin's house 🌚🌝

So, with all the previous text, now we can understand why they are on a room on the guest house on Suyin's place, and Korra doesn't doubt to lead Asami to bed with a smirk on her face 😏

With this panel and all the text above, we have finally confirmed: ✅ They both are sexually active for sure since a loooooong time ago. Even before the Spirit World getaway... 😏😏 Just look at those faces! Hahaha Ps. Btw, is Asami bitting her lip????? Oh my gosh 🔞 Let's discuss this please. Tag me..... -- Hope you liked this testament. 😂😂😂 Bye 💖💖💖💖

[dxppercxdxver]

hey i was thinking about when orpheus!curt and eurydice!owen change over to hades and persephone and just… how does that happen? like how do they go from just a couple of guys to gods? do you think you’d write a vignette about it? bc i’d love to know more about that part of spytown!! (also the original deal eurydice!owen made to get to hadestown in the first place lol)

oh oh oh i've been thinking about this actually!! and i for sure am gonna write a vignette about it (i already have one in my to do list shjshjs) because i really enjoy thinking about how this works.

so i think the reasoning is legitimately like. the sway that the concept of Narrative has on this world? all of the rules are based on the fact that it operates on what makes a good story. so there are a couple ways people become gods and it all comes down to diegetic and non-diegetic belief.

in universe, the characters go from mortals to gods because they curate the belief that they are gods. people who remember them from before either believe they're dead (eurydice) or disappeared forever (orpheus) so they continue to worship the figures of hades and persephone. even though the people have technically changed, the belief basically elevates them to the status of gods and gives them the power that title comes with. essentially, "orpheus is gone, here's persephone, i'll continue to treat him as such" and that devotion becomes the truth. names mean a lot in this universe.

as for non-diegetic belief, at the end of the day spytown is based on two stage shows, both of which play a lot with audience expectations. without these expectations, neither of the shows have any power. hadestown loses all tragedy the minute people disregard the whole “in spite of everything we think this time he won’t look back” mentality; if you go into hadestown without that hope, that expectation, it doesn’t hit nearly as hard. with spies are forever, the audience expectations set up a plot twist. when you assume your super spy main character is heterosexual, the torrid romance that drives the entire conflict remains lost to you until they spell it out. both shows derive their punch from playing up and playing with what the audience expects and wants to see. in this way, with spytown, we tell the audience curt and owen are gods? then curt and owen are gods. in a way, the explanation and the mechanic doesn’t really matter because at the end of the day, they are gods, they have this power, and that’s all we need to know.

essentially, the answer really is kinda. ‘”idk it just happens.” except it’s about collective belief willing a truth into existence. the entire point of these stories is that these characters are behaving like they think they’re supposed to. at any point, any one of them could ignore their narrative role and break everything, but none of them are going to do that because the narrative demands they don’t. it really is all based on one collective expectation.

i hope that answer made sense!! ty for letting me try to spell it out shjshjs

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 06 part two

(Masterpost)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Bathing Boy Beauties

So, now we and Wei Wuxian get to see Lan Wangji with his shirt off. Eventually Lan Wangji will realize that his brother set this up, and will think of some way to get back at him, possibly by spending three years being stubborn in a cave or maybe by chopping an arm off of someone his brother cares about. 

This is A+ Yibo fanservice but it's also a male-male version of a trope that's ubiquitous in c-drama, in which the male lead takes a bath and the female lead sees him. The purpose of the scene is almost always so a woman can look a man’s body over and decide, not to put too fine a point on it, whether she wants to fuck him. 

Examples:

The Pillow Book - “Which part of Shen Ye is better than me?”

Women’s sexual agency is not often at the forefront in c-dramas, but the bathtub scenes are an acknowledgement of the female gaze, and of male objects of desire being subject to evaluation & approval.

Tientsin Mystic is a show with a lot of muscley swimming in it, In case you’re looking for your next Netflix show. 

As a CGI artist I have to mention that water does not reflect or refract 100% of light. If you look at a naked dingle-having person in a bathtub full of clear water you will definitely be able to see their dingle. But C-drama water is magic and nothing is visible below the waterline, to the point that Bai Yu is modestly covering his thoracic surgery scar chest in Detective L while leaving his lower half uncovered.

Note: that caption isn’t fake; she is really saying this on her way out the door, after having a long chat with him in the bathroom. You can find the whole series on YouTube.

Seen in this context, The Untamed’s two bathing scenes are saying quite a lot. Wei Wuxian, being a boy, doesn’t display any female-encoded shyness or modesty, but he and his sword pause for a moment of admiration.

(more after the cut!)

16 years later, Lan Wangji will sit quietly in this pool and let Wei Wuxian examine his wet body thoroughly from multiple angles, in a more prolonged invocation of this C-drama mating ritual.

Carrying on - was Xiao Zhan supposed to kick his boot in the water like that? Because if not, he rolls with it like a champ.

Wei Wuxian starts trying to be direct with Lan Wangji, giving him the worst, most neg-filled compliment ever, bless his heart.  

Then he says that there are benefits to being his friend, and starts taking off his clothes.

Wei Wuxian here takes his first step into the bold new world of respecting Lan Wangji’s boundaries, asking Lan Wangji to stay and saying he will keep his clothes on. 

Lan Wangji actually does stay, so he's apparently not too angry with Wei Wuxian about the drinking. Wei Wuxian invites him to visit Lotus Pier sometime (see my gifset here), but the promise of lotus pods doesn’t impress him. Then Wei Wuxian tries to tell him that the Yunmeng chicks really knock me out, they leave the rest behind. This also doesn’t impress him. 

You could read this macking-on-ladies talk as a sign that Wei Wuxian is oblivious to LWJ's feelings for him. But I read it as a bisexual boy being horny on main with a boy he likes, not  understanding yet that some boys don’t share all of his turn-ons.

Lan Wangji is sort of mildly startled when Wei Wuxian disappears under the water. His eye makeup is good here, isn’t it?.

Ice Cave

They end up in an ice cave and both spend the rest of the episode showing how good they look with wet hair. 

When the guqin starts attacking, Lan Wangji is only mildly perturbed about Wei Wuxian getting his shit rocked over and over.

Eventually he sends Bichen to protect his very bedraggled date. Lan Wangji’s sword is faster than the speed of a very slow sound wave.

Beauty's where you find it not just where you bump and grind it 

Gusuship Down

I feel like there are a couple of things in this show that are so problematic the fandom has silently agreed to never discuss them. Well, I’m here to talk about this one:

There are rabbits in this ice cave and they are wearing headbands. HEADbands. On RABBits.  

EXCELLENT FUCKING QUESTION, LAN WANGJI

*deep breath*

Are these rabbits lineal Lan descendants? Who makes the headbands? How do they stay on because “headband” here means “glowing cloud on forehead” without any actual band.  When rabbit babies are born, how do they stay safe while they’re waiting for someone to make them baby-sized headbands? Do these rabbits adhere to the other 3499 Lan Clan principles or just the headband one? Is any ol' rabbit allowed to touch a rabbit’s headband or is it limited to parents and significant others and is that even relevant when presumably these bunnies are all fucking each other like...bunnies?

The characters are like “oh, the rabbits are wearing headbands; killer guqin problem solved.” And then they move right the fuck along with their lives and the rabbit headbands are never seen or discussed again and I just want a hit of whatever the author or creative team was smoking when they came up with this whole idea.

Headband Sharing

When Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji to hand over his headband, Lan Wangji understands his entire rabbit-based thought process without asking

Gen-X Joke Alert

Wei Wuxian is awfully impressed by this sword-recall trick, considering that he did it himself when they went to the lake.

I see you know your way around a sheath

Killer Guqin

When they approach the guqin I hope that the subtitles are mistranslated, because Wei Wuxian keeps promising not to touch it and then says he can't look at it without touching it. I'm not going to touch it, I just need to touch it. 

Lan Wangji is going to teach Wei Wuxian some goddamn boundaries no matter how many times he has to make him fondle his sword.

Nothing suggestive here

Lan Wangji sits down to play the guqin and immediately goes off into the ether where there are seagull noises and plenty of fans. This is either a state of pure bliss, or he just really likes seagulls.

Did Lan Wangji just have a stealth orgasm?

Speaking of getting off, get your ass off of my desk

The Yin Iron

Lan Wangji does some spirit whispering, and suddenly the cave starts yelling at them. A bunch of clans are chanting in unison about a plan, which is the cultivator version of a battle cry.

Lancestor Lan Yi shows up. She is elegant and has a combination of sweetness and gravity that is similar to Lan Xichen’s. And none of Lan Qiren’s douchiness.

Search Party

Lan Qiren is worried and Lan Xichen is worried and they have sent people to look for the boys. It's really too bad nobody around here knows magic.

All these powerful cultivators search for missing people by running around outdoors yelling for them. 

Yanli is excused from PE class because she’s not feeling well, so she sits on a rock in the woods instead of, you know, staying home in the first place. She gets bored sitting down and unwisely decides to walk two or three steps. Xuan Lu, seen here competing in a gymnastics event, gamely pretends she can’t climb a small rock. 

Yanli falls into Jin Zixuan's arms and they gaze at each other for a long heterosexual moment. 

No homosexual explanation possible

This means two things: 1. he isn't looking very hard for her brother if he's hanging out here catching wobbly girls 2. soulful longing looks from him ain't shit, because he's going to dump her in the next episode.

Lanny Granny

Lan Wangji intros himself to Lan Yi and does a full prostrate bow. Wei Wuxian does a standing bow since he's not a descendant, just a future in-law.

No I mean come on, HEADBANDS

Lan Gran explains the entire history of the yin iron. It's bad, it's full of resentful energy, no-one should use it. She’s going to dump it on a couple of 16 year old boys, one of whom has a woody for using resentful energy, because it’s destiny and her battery is about to run out. 

Props to the Prop Department; this thing does look pretty cool

Xue Chonghai was the most problematic cultivator back in the old days. He killed a lot of dudes and fed their resentment to...a turtle? To the disk? I don’t know; I literally am unable to pay attention when anyone is explaining the intricacies of the unobtanium Yin Iron. 

Anyway there’s a disk and it’s soaked up a lot of resentment.  

Using it makes people evil. Well except..clearly this dude started off evil, yeah? If he was feeding people to his turtle.

Side effects may include: being fucking crazy

Here Wei Wuxian brings out his "resentful energy is awesome" theory and has an experienced grown-up grand master tell him that she also thought this, and has spent 100 years locked in a cave with headband-wearing rabbits because she was super fucking wrong. Does this deter him? ...nope

Baoshan Sanren

Now she name checks Baoshan Sanren, and Wei Wuxian has a big reaction and Lan Wangji has a big noticing of Wei Wuxian’s reaction. He’s very attuned to Wei Wuxian’s emotional state, in the moments where WWX lets his actual feelings show through the sass and swagger.  

Lan Gran talks about her search for the Yin iron, and Lan Wangji wisely says, if you can't neutralize it, why look for it? And she says, I was filled with hubris just like ya boi Wei Wuxian.  Lan Wangji points out the exact same shit he will later point out to Wei Wuxian.

So now we have a parallel in which Lan Yi is just like Wei Wuxian and Baoshan Sanren is just like Lan Wangji, yeah? Which is kind of sweet; it shows how these types are drawn together and how your clan doesn't determine your personality. Also it shows how the Lan clan has room for an unorthodox clan leader. Also it shows how the Yin Iron causes some really bad breakups. 

These boys are standing on snow barefoot which has got to take a pretty high cultivation level. Look how short Lan Wangji is without his stilettos, aww.

Flashback to Baoshan Sanren, just long enough to appreciate how beautiful she is.

Did OP give up on recoloring that flashback-blue-hazed image and just start fucking around with random filters? Yes she did. 

We also get to see that Lan Yi and Lan Wangji have more common than just guqin, because they both like to solve problems by kicking them.  

So after breaking up with her girlfriend, Lan Gran became invisible in this cave for 100 years while trying to contain the Yin iron and put headbands on rabbits. 

Soundtrack: Vogue by Madonna Writing prompt: Watership Down rabbits meet Lan rabbits

Bonus extended bath clip:

Bai Yu, Detective L

[nightswithkookmin]

So every member has been posting on weverse or Twitter lately, they've been coming on vlive. But Jk has done none of this. Do you see his social media absence as a silent rebellion against BH for them trying to hide Jikook or do you think he's probably just staying away for like mental health reasons or something.

Run that by me one more time???

Are you asking for my opinion on why JK might be absent from social media or are you asking me to choose between those two opinions as explanation as to why Jungkook might be absent from social media???

Is it for his mental health or relationship??? Lol. You are juxtaposing two extremely opposite theories so one sounds more appealing and plausible to highlight the other as outlandish and ridiculous. But that's a fallacy ma'am. Nice try though.

Also, the part about BigHit hiding Jikook...

I object. You is leading the witness sir/ma'am.

It's a little bit silly and presumptuous to assume whenever a member is absent from social media that the only possible reason I could possibly think of is that they are rebelling against their company.

Sometimes it's just a case of volition and personal interests. Sometimes you just don't wanna be social on social media. Sometimes you have work, family, chores, practice. Sometimes you've outgrown the space or lost track of why you wanted to be apart of an online community in the first place. Sometimes it's the toxicity and wanting to take a break from it for your mental health. Literally a plethora of reasons all of which could be valid depending on the context.

I try to give my theories context by sharing as much of my thought process as possible. It's asinine to strip those contexts away and present me with a skinned theory devoid of context.

About his mental health-

Let's try it this way...

Your first Ask: is there ever a moment I wonder if Jikook are just platonic brothers or something along those lines.

Yes. When they are not together romantically. I look at them and go huh... that's a very platonic hug, or interaction. I still uWu over their interactions though.

Cute. Next.

Is he rebelling against BigHit....

Why would he?? What's the context?

Do you think BigHit is making changes JK and the others might not be happy with in the company? Do you think the company or the members are interfering in his self autonomy and determination within the group or suppressing him in anyway in regards to what he says, what he does or who he does it with?

If so then him rebelling in that way would make sense to me because he wouldn't be the first idol to have used that tactic. A lot of idols do these and worse to assert themselves against their company.

If there's no such underling subtext then him rebelling makes no fucking sense to me.

Is he staying away for his mental health

Again, do you think he's been exposed to severe amounts of toxicity and hate online beyond what all the members experience on a daily such that he would need a break from the internet to rejuvenate like we saw around 2019? If so then taking a break for his mental health would make a lot of sense too.

But for someone who keeps reiterating how important connecting with his fans is to him, you gotta wonder how he strikes a balance between his mental health needs, his emotional needs and his professional deeds.

This is the last he was seen on Weverse.

Relatively recent I'd say. So when you say he's absent from social media which timeframes do you mean? They were all pretty much off the grid until recent times post PTD not just him. Are they all dealing with mental health issues or are they all rebelling against their company or something?

You have all these tiktok trends and memes he's been referring to here and there and incorporating into their freestyle dance- seems to me he's active online alright. Just not in the way we are used to them being 'active' online. He is fulfilling that need to connect with his fans just not in a way you'd expect. I can say same for Jimin.

Just gonna have to observe things for a while to form a definitive opinion. If you know what I mean.

BigHit hiding Jikook

Sigh. Sounds like shade when you put it like that honestly and so I didn't want to touch it but also I don't think anyone in Bangtan has had an out in the open romantic relationship with anyone yet💀

Show me RMs partner or Suga's girlfriend.

BTS are hiding their relationships gay or straight. If you can see it from that angle then I think the idea of Jikook hiding their relationship or Bighit aiding them or asking them to privatize their relationship isn't so outlandish and ridiculous like you make it seem. BTS are allowed to date, they are just not allowed to make those relationships public💀

If Jikook were heterosexuals and in different bands I think a lot of people would have entertained the thought. Hell people are convinced they are each dating female idols and keeping it a secret. People are convinced JK is dating Mijoo and keeping that a secret but him dating a boy in the same band and keeping it a secret is kapushkalava😌

Theories of RM married and raising a kid abounds in this fandom and people entertain the idea. However, because Jikook are in the same band and play out certain interactions in front of the cameras the thought that they may be hiding sounds funny in y'alls ears? Jokers💀

Most idols hide their relationships and are required by their companies to keep that out of the public eye. Jikook are idols ergo they are required to hide and are hiding their relationships be it with themselves or with others.

And yes BigHit does aid them in doing so when they issue statements about that "this relationship rumor is false" or when the members evade questions about their relationships in a way to insinuate they are single and not in relationships.

How Jikook feel about being required by the company to keep their relationships to themselves or their peers taking it upon themselves to enforce those company policies of private relationships is up for debate and speculation.

BTS wrote a whole ass song dissing the company and calling them out for having a no dating policy yet expecting them to write love songs and yet somehow we think it's ridiculous that Jikook who are part of BTS would rebel against their company from time to time over certain mandates? Lmho.

Edit:

This ask was sent in a few days before JK's recent VLive. I started answering it and let it go to draft because I felt it was pointless to answer it. Especially since a lot of my thoughts on this were regurgitative, abstract, and based on my own subjective opinion and assumptions about the boys. I feel I keep repeating myself and repeating the same things I've been saying over and over with these kinds of shady trolling asks. Sigh.

However, due to recent events that gives more credit to my thoughts and feelings on the matter, I'll attempt to answer it again.

In JK's VLive he said he noticed it's been a while he interacted with Fans which is why he jumped on the Live to see Army- if we take his word for it and at face value then he said nothing about his mental health ergo it can't be because of that😌

Tae equally said in his VLive he noticed the others coming on VLive and so he thought he would come too.

Now, don't you think they wouldn't have come so spontaneously if they were dealing with mental health issues or trying to take care of their mental health???

There was a time Tae was constantly online interacting with Fans and I think I was one of the few people out here who speculated he was lonely and wasn't dating anyone at the time- which he confirmed in Soop by the way when he told JK he being online constantly was because he was lonely.

Do you think he staying off Social media in recent times is because of his mental or that he doesn't feel as lonely anymore??

I stay off line sometimes for my mental health, sometimes too it's because I feel there are people and things in my life I've neglected and need to spend time with and pay equal attention to them.

Sometimes it's because there's death in the family or studies, or work or a film I need to catch up on...

As to the relationship between campanies and artists- in case you can't pick up on the subtle cues some of the members leave- Suga captures it so well in his Weverse magazine interview.

We made you, as long as you follow our instructions you will be good. Idols are expected to be subservient and sycophantic. As Suga points out it's a thing in the industry and it's destroying the industry.

As to whether or not you think BTS are fully and totally exempt from this harsh reality because BigHit is different is up to you frankly. As to whether or not you think this type of attitude from companies can create friction and tensions between them and the bands is equally up to you.

As to whether you think certain members in BTS are more obsequious than others, more rebellious than others is equally up to you.

In what ways they rebel is up to you too.

That's part A.

Part B. Lol

I answered the first part of this Ask based on the assumption you were being shady. But just in case you were not then here is an alternative response.

Like I said, JK is not the only member who's been absent from SNS in recent times. They all were at one point.

It's interesting how they will promise to come on Vlive whenever they have some to sell us and only recently started showing up on Vlive consistently when Permission to Dance received such mixed reactions from the audience.

It seems their disconnect from their fanbase and its subsequent consequences is becoming much more apparent to them...

For Jungkook, I think the members discussed his rebellious phase at the beginning of the year when they talked about him not posting for the members's birthday, how they expect his post for Hobi to be a start of something new and Jimin even said he was gonna cut his head off if he didn't post for his birthday- I don't think in all the times he didn't post for the members it's because he was grappling with mental health issues. It's just a post. It doesn't take more than a minute to wish your bandmate a happy birthday on their birthdays.

Especially not when he was posting relatively regularly on SNS but would go radio silent on their birthdays... Forget mental health that's antisocial and we saw how the members felt about that from the VLive.

Also, I think it would be insensitive for the members to expect Jungkook to post on their birthdays or for Jimin to hold him to such high expectations when they know very well that he deals with mental health problems or was dealing with mental health issues in those periods he didn't post for them- whoever says Jungkook didn't post for the members because he was dealing with mental health issues is a fraud. Yea I said it. If I ever spewed that nonsense out here then I'm a fraud too chilee💀

His other forms of silent rebelliousness has been in passive aggressive backhanded remarks aimed at the company and at times certain members. In my opinion of course. He won't do what he won't do and if he has to do it he will do it huffing and puffing and later chat shit about it during pillow talks at night with his boyfriend.

So I don't know what it is he might zeffbe rebelling against now. Like I said, being asked to tone down does not mean he can't Jikook. They are Jikooking. It's just on the low low.

And when you say he is reacting to BigHit hiding Jikook, you have to take into account if Jungkook himself wants to keep things hidden and private. Why would he rebel against something if it's what he wants too?? Know what I mean?

This is why I was talking about context. Jungkook of 2018 and 2019 is not the same Jungkook now. He's pretty much the same person, has the same values but he is learning and growing and that is equally important in the way he sees the world around him.

For instance, he wasn't one to think much about the future when he made certain choices and this is something I've talked about a lot in my blogs. Carpedium, make hay while the sun shines etc used to be his values but now he places a lot of emphasis on thinking about the future, being considerate and about how his actions could impact his future.

Those two mindsets produce totally different actions. One is likely to do very childish things, one is not. One is likely to be reckless, not very ambitious, and less serious, while one is likely to be thoughtful, calculative, intentional and less impulsive. He talks a lot about growing up fast but now it seems to me he's catching up with the times.

This is not to say he is a different person but more so he is becoming. He is learning and unlearning. He is not there yet but he is getting there.

If he wants to sit with Jimin, Vlive with Jimin, post on his birthday and not the others, if he wants to stand in a line up next to him but he can't then definitely he's gonna react strongly to that. But as it stands he is not doing any of that in my opinion- not that I'm aware of. Dude is living his best life out here.

I think I've said this, he is happy with where they are at now. If he is not we will know. That's when they ghetto jumps out of him. Don't know if I'm making sense chilee. Lol.

On the part of the company, I can only speculate to the effect that they are looking for various means to optimize and leverage the bands high demand. That they are trying to monetize their platforms and so restricting access to the boys is part of their mid pandemic marketing strategy- something I have been saying from day dot since the pandemic hit.

Like Suga says, monetization is a huge problem in Kpop and the Pandemic has only exacerbated it.

Showing up on Vlive gives us free access to the boys. As often as we would like to see them through that medium it doesn't pay their bills- doesn't pay much especially if they earn money in Won or whatever currency Naver uses.

YouTube is great. However it comes with restrictions and challenges especially with censorship- videos can be demonetized easily and willy nilly, You have to comply with Coppa and YT guidelines. There's CPM- whixh I don't know if it's high for BTS...

Then there's that whole breaching into Korea/China market agenda going on with them etc

Bighit is a business. BTS is not a nonprofit organization. I think the members can understand that much should the company explain to them why they all- not just Jikook- need to limit access to them.

Bighit made them and holds a contract over their heads. There's a certain amount of control they have over them yet a certain level of autonomy they reserve within such a transaction or business relationship.

Take Tae's appearance in Peakboy's MV for example. It's indication BTS does have a ree will to embark on such out of company adventures. There's Hwarang and features and all these side hustles they do...

Yet in the same breath they were at one point prohibited from taking photos with fans on the streets and stuff like that- I guess I should say allegedly.

If they want to VLive they will- as to whether or not they can VLive outside schedule is another thing all together.

As spontaneous as their VLives can be, a lot of them are scheduled too. So it's interesting how they all went MIA for a noticeable minute without the company officially scheduling these 'compulsory' Fan interactions via Vlive or even YT.

Let's not pretend they don't post sometimes on behalf of certain members. Let's not pretend that that doesn't happen💀

Jungkook showed up on YT grumpy and passive aggressive talking about that he didn't know he was supposed to do a VLive, he wasn't prepared, his hair was messy, he didn't know how to operate things- sigh.

Then he nagged us to death about the arts and crafts thingy... but in his recent live he said singing is all he can do so he sang and thrust his hips away- we can't be mad at that.

So if your question is whether I think there's something up with BTS and how they are interacting with fans or not interacting with fans my answer is yes. I mean that much is obvious...

Money is the root of all evil blink blink. Lol.

Do I think there's something up with Jikook and BigHit my answer is yes still- my theory?? Well I'm still observing things and hoarding information. Can't put out half baked theories you know?

I'm a professional ship delulu theorist and I take my delusions seriously😐

I can say this though, I think BigHit has a lot to lose now that they are a publicly traded company. They have investors and stockholders they hold themselves accountable to- how the fear of a scandal or the stigma of a queer relationship plays into all that is yet to be seen.

They are trying to mitigate that risk through strategic marketing and business models- separating BigHit under Hybe is one, their partnership with Dispatch has always been one. There's just so much they are doing we don't know and can only assume or infer.

If their recent interviews and line of questioning has taught me anything, it's that they are all well aware of our theories on BTS and speculations on their sexuality and if Taemin's manager can ask him or was asked if he was dating Kai to his face then others can equally speculate, wonder and ask BigHit directly if Jikook being the sticky ones in the group are dating fueled by all the fandom theories out there.

Rumour says Jikook is gay and are dating eachother. How Bighit feels about this, how BTS feel about it, how Jikook feel about it open for discussion.

There are those who just want to nip all such rumours in the bud and those who want to lean into it and and profit off of it because negative attention is still attention.

Which brings me to your question about Jikook, because I see you sent that Ask in twice, they sure as hell are goofy and dorky. Jungkook admitted that much in his interview.

They are the ones to troll the lives out of us and feed into our delusions of them. It's why most people dismiss them as messing with fans and playful and fanservicey.

So I find it interesting that the members calling them a couple because of their outfits isn't being taken as goofy, dorky, fanservicey but as a reason to further invalidate their relationship.

If you can't take whatever Jikook says and does seriously then you certainly can't take whatever anyone says and does concerning them seriously either.

I will answer the rest of it under the Ask you sent in. This post is getting longer already.

I hope this helps.

GOLDY

[runephoenix6769]

“What is with the Blake / Yang hate this week? Folks seem particularly fired up.” I asked this question on a forum because of something I’ve noticed the last few days on discussions about Blake and Yang/Bumbleby/shipping in general. I keep seeing the same answers.  “It ruins the team’s dynamic.”

Welp, I’m pretty certain none of those people would say that Raven/Tai and Tai/Summer ruined the team’s dynamic. Or that Ren and Nora are currently  ruining the team’s dynamic.  What is this holy than thou crusading to protect the sanctity of the team dynamic? Rwby has always been first and foremost about interpersonal relationships. It’s what drives the actual plot. Character growth, failing relationships/friendships. How they change over time, either to grow or crumble. 

“It’s being shoehorned in, for fanwank.” How? How is it being shoehorned in? Give me a narrative breakdown as to where/how/when this occurs? Compare it to the Sun/Blake narrative and show me the glaring differences between the Yang/Blake narrative to prove that bumbleby was never planned yet blacksun was?  (Sidenote. Anyone that has been asked to do this on the forum has yet to do it.)

“Yang showed interest in boys.”“ Yes, yes she passed comment once. In vol 1 episode 1. 8 VOLUMES AGO. She has shown not a lick of interest in guys since. Its almost as if she’s like any normal 17 year old girl who is growing into adulthood and figuring herself out, who might be realising her interest in Blake isn’t strictly platonic and is trying to navigate that whilst also grappling with what that means with regards to their friendship. And dealing with an over arching situation that is, ya know, potentially the end of the world as they know it.  It’s about two years in universe, right? Which is about right of an amount of time for what its happening between them to play out. It only feels like longer to the audience because, well, its taken 8/9 years to tell the story up until that point. 

“The Fans are too loud/vocal/come on too strong.��� Ok, this one I agree with, we are loud and vocal and that might come across as coming on strong  (here’s a huge) BUT, there is actually a genuine explanation for why it seems that way.   If you really think about it, objectively. 

Hear me out.  Fans are excited about the potential representation we don't otherwise usually get in media. I mean, if you have 10,000 pieces of media and only ONE of them represents lgbtq people, of course we’re gonna be excited and talk about the ONE quite a bit with others who are like us. This might also be the first time we’ve seen anything like this, or seen ourselves represented in a somewhat positive light. It stands to reason that the other 9999 pieces aren't going to hold our attention as much, esp if its the same hetero romance played out a bajillion times before, right? I mean, if you have a group of people who are constantly represented in the 9999 other shows, their voices are going to spread thinner, right? They aren’t going to be gathered all on one place, talking about the same thing because there are 9999 other choices to connect them to other people. They aren’t going to care as much if their straight ship happens/doesnt happen 

“Hey, I can move onto another piece of media that is churned out by the status quo. No big deal.”

Hetero romances are ten a penny. Flick through netflix, hulu, crunchy roll etc.  Where as if you have a group of people who are only represented in ONE show out of the 10,000 those people are going to gather in one place to connect with others and its only going to seem like they are louder due to the densely packed space.  These same people have been majority silent about the other 9999 pieces of media as their voice isn't usually represented in a positive light - being queer characters are usually brutally murdered or sidelined. (Thankyou Hays Code.)- or not even represented at all. (Bury Your Gays is a trope for a reason, folks.) And we are NEVER the titular characters. We’ve been living on crumbs and subtext for decades! Not to mention showrunners who actively queerbait the hell out of us for ratings and viewership. The almighty Pink Pound as its often referred to in business. “But why do they have to make them gay?” You’re not made gay, you’re born gay. It just takes longer for some people to realise than others. It can be a gradual realisation. And this is quite possibly the case with Yang/Blake, slowly coming to realise their own burgeoning sexualities and attraction to each other.

”Why do they have to be gay?” They don't need a reason to be queer! They just are! Queerness is only a part of a person, not their everything. It’s actually quite refreshing to see Yang/Blake being portrayed as much more than their potential sexuality.  Ask yourself, ‘Why does a character have to be straight? And why doesn’t a straight character have to constantly reaffirm their sexuality? Why is ‘straightness’ assumed by default?’ Heteronormativity, is something that has been perpetuated by decades of media. (helped by the Hays Code with its out of date moral code. To be other is to be punished within the narrative.) That straight is the default setting. It’s not! We exist! Everywhere! We always have and we are going to talk to each other about it when we see a glimpse of ourselves represented in what has been a relative Sahara Desert when it comes to queer content were we are not villainised.   “The romance is detracting from the plot.” Two seconds ago, people were claiming that the romance was none existent. Which is it? But Nora and Ren’s romance that is being held up as a mirror to bumbleby is fine? That Jaune relentlessly pursuing Weiss was perfectly ok. Neptune openly hitting on female characters is fine. 

“I don’t have a problem with LGBT. I just don’t want it forced down my throat.” Again, out of 10,000 pieces of media, this is just ONE show. Nobody is forcing anyone to watch it or participate.  Queer people have had to stomach literal 100′s of years of straight media forced upon them. Since the very conception of the written word and narrative storytelling. In plays, theatre, art, music, tv, film, on billboards, advertising, in places of education and learning etc etc. Queer people are bombarded with it whilst also being surrounded by negativity towards queerness. 

“They are shoving it down my throat!” part two Is hand holding, compassion and expressing concern for another person and comforting them somehow offensive? Renora kissed, not a problem. Arkos kissed, not a problem. Show me in the sand where the line is drawn. What is the difference? Please explain this to me? Why is the expression of queerness somehow offensive? Is this because decades of media have perpetuated the false idea that all queer people are sex crazed perverts? That you’ve been groomed into thinking that queer sexuality is only based in the act of sex itself? That queer sexuality couldn’t possibly be similar to heterosexuality in its expression?

That it couldn’t possibly be about attraction, emotional, mental and maybe one day blossom into physical between two consenting adults, a pure expression of love the exact same as heterosexuality. 

That some how queer love stems from some sort of deviancy or mental health issue. That queer people are some how bad or evil, and therefore their expression of affection is wrong? Oh, I wonder where those beliefs have possibly stemmed from?  “Why are they in my face?” part three.  50% of of the titular cast are potentially queer. Blake and Yang. But if you look at the overall cast ensemble that runs at minimum 16 any given volume, that’s a measly 12.5% (prolly a lot smaller if you actually counted the whole cast that appears in rotation each volume) Also, someone did the math. Blake - a titular character- actually has less spoken lines that Jaune. ffs. B&Y spent neatly a whole two volumes of 8 apart. 25% of the narrative as it stands on entirely different continents. 

I fail to see how it being in someone’s face could be the case.

  “I just don't see it!”

That’s ok and perfectly valid But listen when people who have lived this experience are telling you that their experience is being portrayed on the screen. That they see themselves being represented.  OK, This completely got away from me. In conclusion. They are more straight people than queer people and media often reflects that.   We are usually the silent minority, we are sick of it but we are used to it and we are very excited that things seem to be finally changing.

It’s two characters in an large cast in ONE show out of 10,000. Its a piece of media that, for a change, hasn’t been 100% curated for straight people.  We are often not allowed to play in the sand box and if we are, we’re told to play with the broken toys, be grateful and quiet. So when we are given a sandbox to play in with new unbroken toys, we are gonna dog pile in there and make a ruckas, calling our friends over. What I’m trying to say is, it’s gonna get rowdy.  and here’s something to think about.  “When you are used to privilege, equality feels like deprivation.”  

[soupthatistohot]

Why do I write primarily mlm fanfic?

This was something I asked myself the other day. I am a girl, I think I'm queer (but I am attracted to men, whatever I am), so why do I fixate on mlm relationships? Why do I never feel compelled to write wlw or even just some good 'ol straight stuff? I brought this up to a few friends of mine who also watch anime. One of them said that it’s because lots of popular media only really focuses on developing their male characters well, and I think this to be a very suitable explanation (as well as the fact that I’m queer and thus gravitate towards queer stories).

Take Sk8 the Infinity for example. I could count the number of female characters in this anime on one hand, and one of them is a robot. The others are supporting roles who only serve to support the male main characters. I love Sk8 very much, and with the possibility of a 2nd season I’d love to see a prominent, well-developed female character (but if they make her Reki’s love interest I will literally stab someone). But as the anime stands right now, there are no female characters that aren't just basically plot devices.

Another show I love dearly, Yuri!!! on Ice, is much the same. While there can be more of an argument made here because 1) competitive figure skating is split up between men and women, and 2) I believe that the story Yuuri and Victor is absolutely meant to be a romance, so having the two men as the focus is somewhat necessary, there's an overwhelming lack of fleshed-out women in the story. All the female characters are supporting members that only exist for the benefit of male characters. Yuuko and Minako support Yuuri, Lilia exists so Yuri P. can improve, Mila is just... kind of there, and Sara's whole character is centered around her brother being overprotective of her.

Okay, so let's look at something a little less... fruity. Horimiya. I've only watched the anime, so if there's stuff I miss from not having read the manga (yet), please forgive me. I still think this is a valid perspective, though, because if there's female development that the creators decided was so unimportant that it could be cut, that still supports my point here. In my opinion, Miyamura is a lot more developed than Hori. He has his tragic backstory of being a loner, and having his secret piercings and tattoos and all that. A lot of the story ends up focusing on his side of things... despite the fact that Hori is the protagonist. The story follows her perspective for the most part, we learn things about Miyamura as she does, yet I feel like she's a bit dull. She has a uncommon home life and has to take care of her younger brother, that's her big bad secret? I get that it's kind of unexpected since she's the pretty, perfect, popular girl, but I still feel like it's a tad anticlimactic. It's hardly ever addressed beyond the first few episodes, too, and it just kind of exists as a fact within the story. Even beyond our main couple, it seems like the other female characters development and stories are all focused on the boy they're interested in (except for Sawada, but she's there for like a couple of episodes and then doesn't really show up all that much again... and her crush on Hori is handled really weird, I didn't exactly love it). Remi's entire character is pretty much centered around her boyfriend, and Sakura and Yuki are basically competing for Toru. Meanwhile, the guys have story beats themed around the girls they're interested in, but I feel like it's not as obsessive or dramatic as how the girls are depicted.

So, we're given these female characters, who are really watered-down and honestly kind of boring, and we're not super compelled to write about them. When we are given flat female characters, there's nothing to work with. It's more fun to use the characters who have had development and play around with the "what ifs" and our own personal headcannons. The characters who get this special treatment are primarily male. And while I commend a lot of shows for developing their male characters in such a way that doesn't exactly fit with society's idea of masculinity (ex: Reki's insecurities and depression, Yuuri's anxiety and femininity, Miyamura's isolation and depression), in the end these characters are still boys, men, males.

I also think mlm is so prominent because of both straight girls and queer people. For straight girls, it can often be fetishization (forgive my generalizing, I'm sure not all straight girls are like that, but an overwhelming amount definitely are). I think one of the best examples I can give for this is Phan. This is a bit different since it's not anime, but instead real people, but if anything that really drives home the point even more. The way Dan and Phil were (and probably still are) treated in the fandom internet space is disturbing, to say the least. Their audience, while much of it was queer, was also made up of an overwhelming amount of heterosexual girls who not only shipped them intensely, but also often sexualized them. And look, there's nothing inherently wrong with being a straight girl and writing smut, but it gets to a point where it can be kind of weird if its excessive. Like, if that's all the relationship is really about, and if the people you're writing about are real human beings, that's definitely overstepping. I will admit that I had a Wattpad and that I wrote Phanfic way back when, and this is something I'm not exactly proud of. Granted, I did not write anything explicit, it was still super weird, whether or not I was queer. And I'm not saying all the problematic aspects of the Phandom were because of straight girls, because what I contributed was arguably problematic, and I did not identify as straight at the time. At the same time, though, there were straight girls who wrote exclusively smut (or "lemons" as they might've been referred to at the time). There were those who analyzed every post, every bit of information they could find about these men on the internet. They obsessed over the fact that they occasionally shared clothes (which is fairly common for roomates of similar sizes to do), and gathered evidence to support the theory that they shared a bed. It was bad. It was invasive, and it got to the point where it wasn't about the people, it was about the fetishized fantasy these girls made up in their heads about these real, actual men.

Dan and Phil's online presence kind of disappeared for a few years... and I don't blame them.

Getting back on track, mlm is prominent for queer people because it's the LGBT representation they so desperately want to see actualized in media. If a show doesn't make their favorite queer ship canon (and they often don't), they'll do it themselves! That's what fanfic is for! I also know that queer people project onto these characters a lot, and that writing about them is almost like a form of therapy. They see these characters as queer, and they see themselves in these characters, so they write about these characters experiencing similar emotions to them. The thing is, the most compelling characters are male, so those are the characters they end up focusing on, even if the person in question is strictly sapphic. My best example is how I project onto Reki. Personally, I end up thinking of him as (and thus end up writing him as) having some internalized homophobia around being bisexual. That's literally what I am currently going through. I can't project this onto any of the female characters in Sk8, because I couldn't see them going through this experience because they're not developed enough to.

Despite all of this, I still enjoy all of the shows I mention a lot. I think it's just an interesting topic that I was thinking about. I'm not trying to bash anything that I used as an example, these were just my personal observations based off of what I know about these shows and their fandoms. I do, though, believe shipping real people isn't super cool, and I stand by that as someone who used to do it. I'm not going to stop you... I just think it's intrusive and inappropriate to pretend like you know enough about influencers to dictate who they should be involved with romantically. Their love life is, frankly, none of your damn business.

So, long story short, we should make anime (and popular media in general) less misogynistic.

(Also, please leave Dan and Phil alone, they deserve privacy)

[absynthe--minded]

Generally I have some diverging hcs concerning LaCE but assuming it's just like Tolkien stated: how does sex ed work in a society where sex=marriage? Or in other words: US american style abstinence only sex ed and teen elves accidentally marrying each other left and right lmao. (like yes because of that it's to be assumed that parents would have 'the talk' with their children pretty early on to avoid exactly that from happening but the thought is just too funny for me)

So while that mental image is funny (I’m picturing some poor harried Tirion High teacher now), it’s not quite how I picture sex ed working for elves. I’m so so sorry because I get the feeling this was meant to be a shitpost and instead you’re getting a long and meandering series of thoughts.

(tw: brief discussions of sexual abuse below the cut)

There are a lot of different ways to read LaCE, but here’s mine, to sort of set a baseline for how I interpret things (I’m also drawing from other drafts and published material here):

The existence of the marriage bond is the foundation of elvish marriage. Ceremonies, formalities, social perception - none of that truly matters, unlike with humans. If two elves have a marriage-bond, and therefore have either had sex or taken steps to form that intimate bond other than having sex, they’re married, and that’s that.

Elves not only aren’t human, we have zero indication that they experience sexual arousal or desire in the same way humans do. They genuinely do seem to mate for life, so to speak, and the first person that they feel any long term serious attraction for is The One For Them. We see zero canonical evidence of sexual promiscuity, and it’s not because we’re told that socially it’s forbidden - it’s as if it hasn’t occurred to them to be promiscuous in the first place.

There’s also zero evidence that elves see sex as something that’s inherently taboo or dangerous. Sex = marriage, and except in three cases (Celegorm, Eöl, Maeglin) across several thousand years, we don’t have any sexual predators or sexual abuse to contend with as a serious threat. Not only that, but there’s no wrong way to have sex except as an act of violence. Elves have no organized religion and their societal taboos stem from doing harm to others or threatening harm, not from failing to adhere to a strict series of codes of conduct. As a result, the idea of sex as something that’s inherently more “adult” and must be kept behind a locked door for fear that it’s abused or misused probably doesn’t exist for them except as an extension of “don’t hurt other people”.

I don’t think we have any evidence in-canon of homophobia, transphobia, aphobia, arophobia, or any kind of exclusion or philosophy regarding the “right” way to have sex or form lasting relationships. At no point are we told that any elf is expected to marry or to procreate, and the existence of elves who remain single for millennia is not unusual enough to be remarked upon in the text. We also see zero textual proof that elves have prohibitions against same-sex marriage. (Tolkien can be presumed to intend for us to perceive elvish marriage as heterosexual, but he never said this on the page or in any of his commentary or letters, so we don’t have to include that as a default.)

There’s also no explicit proof of gendered power dynamics as a societal norm in any elvish culture. Again, we can perhaps presume Tolkien was implying these things, but to my eyes he comes across more as someone who’s attempting to describe an egalitarian society but doesn’t have the words or the framework to do so because he himself is sexist and not examining this sexism.

With that out of the way -

What can we assume about the sex ed of a culture that isn’t human, that doesn’t experience sexuality as humans do, that has zero institutional prejudice against different ways of doing relationships or marriage or sex, that has zero on-page sexism or gendered power dynamics, that has zero evidence of sexual abuse or violence as a chronic and serious social ill and a strict taboo against even the threat of harm to someone else?

Well, first off, I don’t think that formal sex education is something that really exists. You’d learn about it from your parents, or grandparents, or other relatives and trusted adults, and they’d have no reason to hide things or cut corners. Questions would presumably be answered as they come, starting with simple age-appropriate answers to things like “where do babies come from?” and “how do they get made?” and progressing as you aged. You’d probably have the opportunity as an adolescent elf to ask questions of all kinds of people about their marriages or single lives. You’d also learn as you were growing up that not everyone gets married, and not everyone wants to have sex, and not everyone experiences romantic love, and that two néri or two níssi might marry in the same way that a nér and a nís do, and all of these are normal ways to live.

And as to the mechanics of sex - yeah, it probably would be relatively early in adolescence that you’d find out about how it works, because that way you’d be empowered to make the right decisions going forward about love and marriage. I’m picturing anatomical models, drawn charts, maybe an elvish version of the ever-present “condom on a cucumber” explanation (even though prophylaxis and contraceptives are unnecessary as elves can’t get STIs and only have kids if they want to, I can’t resist the analogy). Also whatever talk you got as a young elf would include things like “use lubricant” and other queer-friendly education that most US schools are averse to including in their curricula, and there wouldn’t be any shame in hunting down someone to give a better answer to a question if (for example) your parents were straight and you were gay and wanted to better understand how that would differ from heterosexual PIV intercourse.

Ultimately I think the goal of any talks you got or questions you had answered would be to prepare you to make safe, autonomous decisions about your body and your potential marriage (including the right to say no to anything for any reason, and the knowledge that “no” will be respected by your family), empower you so that you felt confident those decisions were the right ones, and tell you that you had a safe social framework to turn to in the event of some kind of confusion or uncertainty. You’d be given all the tools you needed and all the necessary knowledge beforehand, and that would enable you to make whatever calls were right for you.

So, basically, the opposite of US abstinence-only ed? which. good.

[8ightism]

for the kyman post, I’ll bite: the reason why I ship this is because it’s really fucking funny to see people get pissed off over south park ships that aren’t even as bad as other shit. I like to ship stuff out of spite, and them being a couple opens up a lot of comedic opportunities. Plus, both Kyle and Cartman are just really weird about each other and there’s sincerely no heterosexual explanation to it. Even my parents, who are around 40-50, believe they are gay as fuck for each other and they never grew up around shipping culture. if you want to talk morality none of the south park ships are valid at all, they’re all really morally toxic. style is a ship where as much as they have a cute friendship, it doesn’t change the fact that Kyle literally sent hitman after Stan for not voting his school mascot (hitman that almost KILLED stan). In K2, Kyle has murdered Kenny and wanted to create camps for poor people. The only really “valid” south park ships are any that are canon. I’d go on and on, but I don’t want to take up too much of your time. Five times Kyman as been shown are: the entirety of Cartman finds Love, In Wieners Out where Kyle reacted like that to Heidi and Cartman holding hands (he hasn’t even talked to Heidi prior to that episode so he really didn’t have any reason to be upset), Doubling Down where Kyle was so against Heiman and questioned himself if the reason he cared so much was because he had a crush on Heidi (once again, he barely knows Heidi and only began to think that because the girls told him he did. the boy has always been self assured about his crushes. He has never questioned his crushes on Rebecca, Leslie, Nichole (who was dating Tolkien so the “he’s confused since she’s in a relationship” argument isn’t really that valid), In FunnyBot where the german words that Cartman uses to describe Kyle to the germans are (and this is from the actual script): “"We can offer the child... here. […] He's a Jew. Eh? A handsome soft Jew. He's freeesh. And beauuutiful, beauuutiful.”, and although I have more examples, another particular piece is just the straight up fact of how much those two are obsessed with each other. Cartman does things to make Kyle angry, Kyle constantly tried to fix Cartman’s messes. Both of them need each other, as much as they hate to admit it (Jewpacabra and Smug Alert can back me up on that). In Post Covid, Kyle even said “He gave me aids” to Cartman’s wife and then apologized the next day, which means he knew EXACTLY what that insinuated and said it anyways. You can disagree and that’s perfectly alright dude! I just wanted to give a sort of explanation as to why I enjoy their ship and I’m always willing to hear out any rebuttals!

actually though, that's an amazing explanation.

the only reason why i don't ship it is.........

i don't think cartman is gay

period, thats it

thats all

BUT TY IM MORE OPEN TO IT NOW <333

bye whoever u are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kinetic-elaboration]

July 28: 3x01 Spock’s Brain

Today’s ep was the infamous Spock’s Brain. I’d never seen it before and always insisted I didn’t want to but...this is a complete rewatch so I guess I kinda had to.

As predicted, it was bad. Utter nonsense for a premise and the actual execution shot through with sexism. There were some aspects that I did like but most of them have been done better by other eps--and in any case were not worth the ridiculous basis of the ep itself. Honestly, if I were watching all this live, and I waited months for this, I might have wondered if the show weren’t better off cancelled.

But I would have been wrong because the next ep is The Enterprise Incident so! Sometimes you just need to be patient.

This episode is starting out so strangely. Why is the bridge being shot from all these weird angles? And why do the colors seem...duller?

They really can spy on these other ships, huh?

“My name is Captain James Kirk.” Not breaking out the middle initial today, I see.

Chapel going for the drama as she falls down.

Kirk too, sprawled over his chair. (Makes me think of “The chair is, in fact, not bolted to the ground.”)

This honestly reads like a bad parody of Star Trek.

Ridiculous lines include: “His brain is gone.” “His incredible Vulcan physique.” “In search of his brain.” “Where are you going to look for his brain?” “It was taken out, it can be put back in.”

“Spock’s body is more dependent on his brain” than a human’s. Ummmm I feel like there’s something suspicious in there.

The only good thing about this ep is Kirk’s devotion to Spock.

Seriously why does the bridge look so different? Filming it from a different location changes everything.

When Kirk paces in front of the view screen, it really shows off how small it is.

“The spaceship that has Spock’s brain.”

I like these schematics and Chekov’s little presentation here. Also Kirk can automatically put years to all the planet evolution codes or whatever--like on the one hand, of course he can, that’s his job, but on another... what a nerd.

Honestly these people--obviously, they are underground on the ice planet. Obviously!!! I actually do appreciate this scene in general, with the bridge crew working out a problem on the bridge, which actually almost never happens--it’s definitely the best scene of the ep--but still. It’s obviously the ice planet.

Also, I like that Uhura gets to contribute. She thinks outside of the box, asks the good questions. Don’t just look at the outside evolution of the planet--ask about what the brain could be used for, and where it might be.

“Get there, find the brain.”

Oh no, he accidentally called Scotty Spock :(

“High of 40. Livable.” I realize this is a Russian joke but that’s really not that bad lol. Definitely not an ice age anymore.

“They give pain and delight.” So they’re dominatrixes?

“You are small.” Well no need to be mean about it.

Don’t you have a companion?? Love that that’s one of their synonyms for “spouse” or “partner.”

The alien men look like they’re wearing short jean skirts.

“A dead and buried city on a planet in a glacial age.” That’s a good idea. Could have done something better with that.

Chekov’s still stuck on the no women thing, I think.

Why did they dress Spock in a leftover outfit from This Side of Paradise?

McCoy and his stimulants again, waking up the alien lady after they stunned her. Multi-purpose.

“I know nothing about a brain.” Clearly.

So all the women live below ground, and all the men live above...

Ah-ha, they have found Spock’s voice.

“There is a definite pleasurable experience connected with the hearing of your voice.” This ep is almost worth it for that line.

Also Kirk’s face when he hears Spock’s voice.

I like that Spock is still funny. Honestly he’s probably funnier disembodied. This is a very humorous Spock characterization. “That is a practical idea. It seems unlikely that I shall be able to get to you.”

WHAT IS BRAIN.

They’re being quite sexist, aren’t they? “No engineering geniuses here. Only women. None of these women could ever have done surgery on Spock’s brain.” Like I know it’s that they’re obviously (or supposedly obviously) naive and childlike but like combining that with the sex segregated society and the actual phrasing of these lines (WOMEN?? Engineers?? Doctors??) plus Kirk assuming the Controller is a man (who says?) all creates this like definite sexist vibe while watching. Ugh make it stop.

How can Spock’s brain control everything? They’ve only had it for 5 minutes.

“Mistress.” I told you they were dominatrixes.

Oh yeah Captain Sulu!!

More sexist quotes: “What a way to maintain control over a man.” “I’ve certainly noticed their delightful aspects.” Please stop talking; you’re digging yourselves in a deeper hole.

(Seriously though--I feel like the unspoken world building fact here is that the women need the men for procreation specifically, which is why they capture the men, and then control them--using the “pain belts”--to have sex--the “pleasure.” They probably also use them for other labor, given the presence of the male guards and the line “they won’t help us if we don’t control them” or whatever it was. But surely the delightfulness of the women is more than their physical appearance, is what I’m saying.)

What is the commentary on gender here? Women = scary, dumb, and hot?

Yeah, how DOES Spock’s brain fit into this?

Lol at Spock’s empty body calmly watching them all fighting.

“Science will triumph.” A real lost opportunity in the AOS-verse to have Kirk say this after a bar brawl.

“You are a disembodied brain.” I feel like there’s a (McCoy) joke in here about how he’s reached his ideal state.

His body is the building. (I was right, I totally called this plot point as soon as Spock started talking about his incredibly large body and how his brain was still doing things like regulating oxygen. I must say... this is not a bad idea, except for the brain stealing part. Like there’s something in there, the idea of the complex as a body, powered by a brain. Idk.)

So basically Spock is taking another opportunity to insult Bones’ medical skills. Oh Spock, never change.

I feel like Bones is enjoying his Spock puppet, on some level.

“Pain bands.”

Use the Spock puppet, Kirk! Use it to fight the lady alien!

“The controller is young and powerful, perfect.” / “How very flattering.” LOL I can’t believe this is real.

“You took his brain. You will put it back.”

So the alien lady puts on the spiky helmet and now she’s suddenly smart. I hate thissssssssssss.

(I actually do think the idea of old knowledge stored outside of the... brains...of the current generation, for their own protection, as decided by the paternalist elders... is not itself a bad concept. Of course it’s also a concept that other eps did better, like The Apple or For the World is Hollow or even Return of the Archons. Again, combining it with all the gross things they said about women earlier just leaves a bad taste. Even though--even though!!--we don’t know who the elder people were. Like, was this a matriarchal society that saved the women in the underground because they were better? Or was it a patriarchal society that put the women in the underground because they were considered weak and in need of protection? I rather assumed the second, but I think there’s some evidence for the first, in particular, that the story reeks of Sexualized Male Fear. What’s a better combination of hot and scary than a matriarchy of women in short skirts?)

“Got your gun.” (But the other way around.)

“Our need for the Controller is more important than your need for your friend.” That sounds an awful lot like “The needs of the many outweigh needs of the one” and we all know what Kirk thinks about that. That said, he’s really not...engaging with her facially fair argument at all.

“No one may kill a man. Not for any purpose. It cannot be condoned.”

Love Scotty’s acting skills. Gotta get this gun back really fast--create a diversion by fainting! But not too much!

I do love McCoy. He’s an adventurer too. He pretends he’s not but he jumps at the chance to discover and learn. He will not hesitate to put himself in danger if it’s for the common good or to protect his friends.

“Put the teacher on.”

Now finally Kirk is engaging with the fate of the society he’s encountered lol. Like, again, he’s not wrong; they’ve stagnated under the computer/controller and it’s not moral to steal from someone else to keep your comfortable and boring life going when you could just do the work yourself, but coming this late, it feels like an afterthought. It’s also weird that she just like stood by and let them take Spock and his brain after all that to do about...not letting them have the brain. Like at the end of the day she was not so inept. Also, they never explained what happens to all the knowledge in the teacher. One would assume they’d have to access it--or not? They’re just to start from scratch? Also legit I guess. And finally... all I can really hear, in the emphasis on integrating with the men again, is “You’ll learn how to develop a society naturally and also about heterosexual sex wink wink.” (Except that as I said... I think they know about that.)

I see McCoy’s regretting that “child’s play” talk now.

“Give priority to reconnecting Spock’s vocal cords.” Yep that’s how the brain works for sure.

Wow Spock really does have to do everything himself. Including operate on himself.

“This Vulcan is telling me how to operate.”

How did he operate without...opening Spock’s skull... in any way??

Not to question the verisimilitude of Spock’s Brain lol.

Everyone’s being so rude--Spock is providing valuable last minute exposition/explanation about this weird-ass society!

It’s always odd when they don’t return to the bridge. Like, they’re not going to collect Chekov?

That was... something.

I liked a few things: any excuse for Kirk to be devoted to Spock; the humor Spock showed; I liked the bridge scene where they looked at the map of the planets; and I liked certain things about the premise of the episode, although, like I said, most of the general aspects (post-disaster society, reliance on computers, etc.) had been done better in other episodes. I liked the look into the Male Brain lol.

What I didn’t like was how outright ridiculous the basic catalyzing event was--Spock’s brain has been literally stolen like??? Are you kidding me? That led to a considerable amount of dialogue that read like a Star Trek parody. Did not like that. And of course, as I said... the sexism. I think I’ve unpacked that enough. It didn’t need to be sexist, and you can explain it in a way that’s not, but the vibe sure was. It was like... well a lot of TOS is like this imo. You can give it an A (or at least a B) for effort, but what comes out is so obviously tainted by the sexism of the creators. Like, for example, how they say they believe in women who are just as capable and professional as men, but struggle to show it. This ep wanted to show a matriarchal society but it wasn’t really a matriarchal society--it was a Freudian dream that was all about the male psyche and what it most fears and wants.

All that said.. the next ep is a D.C. Fontana creation featuring one of my favorite TOS Ladies, the Female Romulan Commander, so I will be receiving a consolation prize.

Also the AOS verse is still more sexist and doesn’t have an excuse I said what I said.