#nepty rants

[nephyria]

do people arguing about what trans dudes call their particular form of material transphobic oppression realize they’re being like. Deeply neurotic. I realize every queer community has deeply rooted inter- and intra-community trauma along with everything else and has for generations. of course we’re neurotic. but if someone is desperately trying to describe the salient ways they’re getting fucked over and you go “didn’t listen to all that bc I hate that One particular word and I Must say something” maybe open the text editor of your mind and replace the word with whatever you feel is appropriate. you are not helping your community, you are not helping their communities, you are being a pedantic asshole

[kaworusboy]

"Cinnabar. At long last, I finally have a job for you."

houseki no kuni swap au one shot ^o^

this is mostly self indulgent (like everything i do) but i figured i should at least put a note on who is who and what the swaps are although im sure you can easily figure that out from reading this

they're all (mostly) the main ships so it's not that hard to figure it out

cinnabar —> phos

phos —> cinnabar

rutile —> padpa

padpa —> rutile

the last two don't really make that much of a difference to the story, but just thought it was worth mentioning aha + also other characters got swappity swapped as well

btw, the swaps aren't just character wise. everyone will be acting ooc

i.

A soft wind blew the crimson red bangs out of Cinnabar's face as two figures, one with pink hair and the other grey, ran past them, only to stop and turn around towards the brunette.

"Oh, Cinnabar. You're there," said Morganite, a meek smile on their face. Goshenite had one hand on their hip as they eyed Cinnabar who was sitting in the grass, some pieces of grass stuck on their hair.

"Sensei called for you."

"Huh?"

"Heh, it's probably a new job offer or something. You might wanna check that out, laters." Goshenite waved at Cinnabar, before continuing to run across the field, leaving Cinnabar to their own thoughts.

The mercury all around them shone silver in the almost blinding sunlight, moving according to their emotions.

Right now, Cinnabar is excited.

ii.

"At long last, I have a job for you. And that job is to make this boring ass encyclopedia or whatever you call it. I don't even know half of what's going on! How the heck am I supposed to write an ENCYCLEPOD??!"

"Yes..." Neptunite said, tone flatter than their chest.

Cinnabar huffed, finally seeming like they'd finish their hour long rant. "Now, Nepti-kun, I do believe your room is right next to Phos'?"

The purple haired gem buried their face into their hands. "We're one hour in and you choose to ask that just now. Imagine how much time I could've saved. I have a life to live, you now."

"Aren't we immortal? You have all the time in the world." Cinnabar deadpanned.

"Yes, but I also have places to go."

Clicking their tongue, Cinnabar scoffed. "Whatever, whatever. Just show me to Phos."

"Well, I didn't know I was your personal servant."

iii.

Phos' room was nothing like what Cinnabar had ever expected. The whole place was covered in... gold liquid? They flashed a look at their mercury, which floated close towards them, then back at the liquid in Phos' room.

"That one can't control the alloy, you know."

"What do you mean?" Cinnabar raised an eyebrow.

Neptunite sighed. "Well, you know how you used to lose control over your mercury and end up poisoning all the greenery?"

"And what about that?"

The purple gem shook their head. "This is like that, but instead of mercury, it's gold alloy. Phos tends to lose control."

"Wasn't... Actually, nevermind."

"Spit it out, now that you've started."

"Uhm. I just thought that... didn't everyone used to talk about how good a fighter Phos is? Or was?"

Neptunite paused.

"Yeah. They were a good fighter. But after losing Antarc, that all changed."

"Antarc..."

"Phos kept blaming themselves for the loss of Antarc. As a result they have become mentally unstable. I suggest you don't go near them, but if there's anyone who would know about the life here, it would be them."

"Were they that lonely, spending all that time alone that they just know everything from watching them out of pure boredom?"

"Perhaps. Maybe all those winter patrols weren't for nothing."

iv.

The first time Cinnabar met Phos, was with the latter's back turned towards them.

Mint-green hair. Golden arms. Striped legs. This has gotta be the all too infamous Phosphophyllite-senpai Cinnabar had heard of. But never actually met, until just now, that is.

"I know you're there."

"Meep."

Cinnabar almost jumped from the sudden callout, and stood up from their crouching position.

"Cinnabar, right? I've heard all about you. What do you want?"

The red gem took a few steps closer, admiring how the wind blew Phos' hair, and the way it looked almost magical. They clutched the clipboard in their hand.

"Actually, I was wondering if..."

Neptunite's words echoed in Cinnabar's mind.

"...if you feel lonely, being all alone like this."

Phos seemed startled at this, and Cinnabar could see the older gem slowly turn their head towards them. "What do you mean?"

The mercury floating around Cinnabar had started to slowly lose control. Their shapes started becoming random, but Cinnabar kept everything together. They didn't want to poison all the grass and flowers and little creatures again.

They gingerly set down the clipboard in their hands on the dewy grass, before walking towards Phos and stopping when they were right next to the mint green gem.

"Aren't you scared of me?" said Phos, voice lowering down a bit. Cinnabar simply shook their head.

"No, senpai. It's okay. I understand what it feels like, when everyone else is scared of you. But I'm not. I understand how it feels... to... to be feared."

Phos looked down at their alloy hands. Memories of stabbing their fellow gems with sharp, out-of-control golden alloy hit them like a wave.

"Cinnabar... I—"

"Actually, now that I'm here, can I ask you something?"

"S-sure, what is it?"

Cinnabar mentally prepared themself, before letting out all the questions they had about the species inhabiting this small, small island they were on. The first, but not actual reason they came to visit Phos.

The older gem held back their tongue from what they originally wanted to say, and patiently listened to every single one of the younger's questions while giving clear and easy to understand answers.

v.

"How did talking to Phos go?" Padparadscha asked with a quizzical look, one arm over their eyes as they laid on the infirmary floor.

"Great! They were a surprisingly good listener. I was flabbergasted." Cinnabar looked down at the pages full of scribbling and writing thanks to Phos' very, very informative infodumps, as per Cinnabar's request.

They looked over at the wooden box right next to Padparadscha, and the line of gems skillfully shaped so that it would fit holes in a torso.

"You're sleeping already? Usually you'd still be up and about, working on Rutile."

Padparadscha let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, well, I've been so tired these past few days, what with the constant accidents here and there." They paused to yawn. "If you need me, just wake me up."

"Okay. Goodnight, senpai."

"Mhm."

A warm smile found itself onto Cinnabar's face as they looked down at the clipboard once again.

[nephyria]

yeah I know there are financial barriers to ppl wearing n95s or equivalent masks all the time but for ppl who are “just tired of taking precautions and not being able to live their lives for the sake of strangers, who want to go back to normal,” given the recent announcement revoking the pandemic emergency and public health emergency in the US, which is a farce when 4,000 ppl weekly are still dying (2 1/2 Boeing 737-7 MAXs crashing into each other per day) and the 9-11 public safety emergency has been extended another year, I really am just like I Hope You Die, I Hope All Of Your Loved Ones Die, I Hope Your Lungs Slowly Drown You At Home Bc The Hospital System Is Overburdened, I Hope No One Is Left To Attend Your Funeral about it

[nephyria]

The only changes I actually want tumblr to import from the bird app is “this post/reblog was created by a user you blocked” without needing to unfollow or block the person who reblogged it, and/or the “mute user” button applying to people you do not follow.

Because I get it! Not everybody is clued into the various manifestations of Dogwhistler-McBloggy, especially if the posts that show up on your dash from them seem like Tumblr Internet Humor (also: EXAMINE WHAT YOU THINK THAT IS IMMEDIATELY) or it’s something you’d normally agree with (“yes NaturalWoman269, I do think menstrual supplies should be assessed for consumer safety and also free. Surely If I go to your profile I won’t see a series of statements so appalling and blatantly dangerous on multiple fronts that they make my reasons for quitting Facebook seem tame.”). It is disheartening and annoying to constantly tell people whom you like that they’ve reblogged a shithead on their Community And Fun Stuff social media platform, for the 8th time in a row that day, because they requested ppl do that bc they ALSO don’t wanna rb bigots. It makes people go, “actually? like actually? fuck using this platform, this is untenable” which is not the intended purpose of informing them about the shitheads! They just wind up somewhere else repeating the same goddamn pattern of behavior or giving up social media altogether. Which, believe it or not, can actually be bad for people if they’re isolated and vulnerable!

Sometimes you’re just not reading usernames! Shinigami eyes doesn’t work for app users! It would be nice to not have to say “user x whom I follow, I don’t think you’re malicious, but judging from the people in this reblog chain, if someone limp wristed the n*zi salute you would Not figure it out” multiple different times for multiple different issues. It would be nice to not be that oblivious person sometimes!! I could memorize the username of every shithead terf I’ve blocked, but there will always be a new one, and yep, they’re both on my goddamn dashboard anyway!!!

Like we can complain about the layout aping all year. I don’t care. It’s fuckin’ Neopets shit to me. 2005-2014 dial-up ass complaint. Every social media website can look the same if management wants, especially if it’s also aping the accessibility options, so long as they don’t pull a Ravelry Migraines And Seizures Fiasco. But it is actively frustrating and infuriating that Tumblr is making useless aesthetic changes instead of doing anything to improve their user experience. It is a stupid fucking business decision to paint over the water damage, which people wanted fixed, while pouting in the corner like “I ‘unno folks, we worked hard on that paint. I mean, we liked it. Don’tcha think it’s worth pitching us a couple more bucks? For upkeep? 🥺”

What upkeep bitch??? Get drawn and quartered!!!

[nephyria]

“We have made this bag with a built-in opaque covering so nobody else feels uncomfortable looking at your surgical site” unfortunately you made it so that I’m unable to apply it Even A Little Bit, so I took a pair of scissors to the covering. people can handle seeing a little intestine. please die in a hole while on fire

[nephyria]

fanfic was such a bad hobby for my brain to choose. i wanted to make a point abt a character’s core motivations but i just HAD to be philosophical abt it. which meant research.

now i’m mad bc APPARENTLY scientists HAVE NOT figured out why life’s core trait is self-maintenance and perpetuation, and no, they don’t necessarily know which of the seven characteristics of life developed first or concurrently, why are you asking???? it’s because someone wrote a fictional character bad and i’m a whole dumbass on a quest for justice

[nephyria]

I didn’t wanna put it on that football field length clusterfuck of a post, because this is looking like it’s getting there all by itself, but preheating your shit before cooking/baking/grilling is so important. It’s also not something that’s really.....taught. Heck, it’s easy to overlook when you ARE taught, because people don’t think to teach routine food safety when they’re teaching the Actual Making of The Thing. It’s assumed that most people know to do that, because “Of COURSE you preheat the oven, everyone knows that!”

Looking back, it turns I only know ANY food safety stuff because mom subtly drilled that shit into me before I was ten (via baking participation), and LONG before I was ever allowed to cook things with the potential to be dangerous when raw or with multiple elements (meat, vegetables, etc). It’s all oral tradition, and it’s all good until someone three generations in slips up on teaching the prep.

So most of my food safety shit started early as five years old (which was about when I began to reach countertops), with mom strong-arming me to the sink to wash my hands with hot soapy water if I touched anything that touched the raw chicken she was making. The chicken, the pan, the cutting board, the countertop--it she hadn’t washed it with strong dish soap/a bleach solution, and I touched it, I was immediately pulled over to the sink to decontaminate everything up to the elbow.

The whole time she’d be telling me that I touched germs that could make me sick, and that I couldn’t touch anything else or put my hands near my mouth until they were clean (I had a nail-biting habit that still hasn’t completely gone away, so I guess she knew if anyone was gonna die from food poisoning, it was gonna be me). I hated it, but she let me help wash the countertops later, which was fun and soothing, so it was fine.

Maybe a year later she indoctrinated me into baking by getting me to realize that if I helped to make the peanut butter cookies (and we all still use the same recipe, it’s Superior to all others), biscuits, cake, and bread, I’d get first dibs on the results. That meant getting boosted up to help set the oven preheat, prewashing any working surfaces, measuring things (and learning the order in which to measure them and when to wash in between, bc it turns out if you use a 1/4 measuring cup for milk, you cannot later use it for anything dry), mixing until the arms were too tired (which was when it was handed off to someone else), powdering surfaces, rolling stuff out/shaping dough, and cleaning up while everything baked. I didn’t really get why we (me and my siblings) weren’t allowed to lick spoons (because what the fuck is a salmonella) but we coped okay.

Somewhere in between this I realized that some days meat would be in the fridge but it wouldn’t be used until a day or two later. When I asked mom about it, she said it had to defrost, or it’d be frozen in the middle and it wouldn’t cook. Sounded legit.

Later (maybe when I was twelve), she gave me a quick rundown on The Making of the Egg. Preheat the pan, melt the butter, when the butter is white instead of clear you can crack the egg, cook it until the bottom is solid and stable to flip (edges somewhat crispy), flip it over (I never learned how to make sunny side up eggs, they’ve always been over medium), cook it for about half a minute to a minute more, and if the yolk breaks you’ll still get a tasty sandwich from it. It was the first thing I learned to cook on my own. The only failed eggs I’ve ever done are poached and hard boiled; poached because I just sort of TRIED making them with no instructions, and hard boiled because mom’s method is “just boil the hell outta them” and I somehow always fall just short of that.

Somewhere in between, when she started letting us cut and peel things (mostly potatoes and carrots and celery and corn on the cob), she brought out the whole method. Preheat the oven, then begin prepping the food. Scrub the outsides, rinse before after peeling, you can’t use a knife that’s been used to cut raw meat unless you’ve washed it with soap in between, same thing for cutting boards, and everything gets washed with soap or bleach water while the thing is in the over. For poultry it was even stricter. You rinse the outside of the bird. You rinse the inside of the bird. You wash your hands after touching the bird. You don’t reuse anything that has touched the bird. It all goes in the sink. The whole kitchen got power washed, courtesy of many human arms.

I started getting asked to make major parts of meals in my mid to late teens, because at that point mom had taught me the putting-stove-fires-out-with-baking-soda trick and determined that if I set anything on fire I could handle it, and eventually I worked my way up to making whole meals with some measure of success (time management is very tricky and I hate making multiple things at once. she put me in charge of doing The Whole Thanksgiving last year as a surprise and I nearly had a nervous breakdown. my sisters saved my goddamn life).

I thought that whole “x parent is such a bad cook that the whole family gets food poisoning and has to go to the hospital” trope was just like. a film gimmick. It couldn’t actually HAPPEN to people. Like, you obviously wouldn’t eat raw food, right? Right?!

And then. College.

What you need to know about my college: It was involved in a huge lawsuit, which I found out about too late to get a refund on my tuition and/or get student loan forgiveness (yeah. it’s bad and it sucks.), and its two main majors were fashion design and culinary arts.

I was in a classroom that was mostly empty because most of the students had stepped out for lunch, and my teacher and a teacher on break were talking to each other. I was in the classroom because I wasn’t blessed with the good sense god gave a squirrel and I was last-minute rushing an assignment. And one of the other students (not working, just chillin’), asked them:

“Hey, we’re right next to the culinary classroom, right? What do they do with the food when they’re finished making it? Can WE eat it?”

(I privately agreed. It smelled really good and I wanted some.)

“Well, they actually have to throw it out,” My teacher replied..

Well, that seemed a little extreme.

“Yeah,” Said the other one. “They used to let other students eat the practice dishes, but they banned it about a year ago.”

Excuse me?? That seems??? VERY extreme???? The fuck???????

When they were asked for the whole story, they explained that THAT year, multiple (!!!!) students hadn’t fully cooked their chicken/cross-contaminated their tools (which meant that greens were covered in RAW CHICKEN JUICE), and about A QUARTER OF THE STAFF AND STUDENT BODY HAD TO BE SENT TO THE HOSPITAL WITH SEVERE FOOD POISONING.

I COULDN’T FUCKING BELIEVE IT. I COULDN’T IMAGINE ANYONE FUCKING UP THAT BAD.

I thought it couldn’t get any worse. I really hoped it couldn’t get worse.

“Yeah, that’s why I won’t eat at the food truck,” said my teacher, about the food truck that came every Thursday, which was feeding maybe a third of my current class as we spoke.

Please explain, teacher of graphic design principles. Please assuage my building fears.

“Oh, god, I once got a chicken salad from there for lunch and all the chicken is raw in the middle,” said teacher of graphic design principles. “I mean, it’s run by school graduates, I can’t believe people eat there.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s gross,” said visiting color theory teacher. “One of my students had a fish taco from there that was mostly raw.”

Meanwhile, my entire existence was appalled and I was on the verge of hyperventilation and I was never, never going to finish the thing that was due at the end of the class, because it was the most cursed fucking thing I’d ever heard. My soul was trying to combat the horror of the situation and failing.

I had to stay after the class to finish the project because honestly, there’s no way to recover from thirty minutes of standstill due to tales of negligent food safety. Especially when you’d think you’d TEACH THAT SHIT IN A CULINARY MAJOR, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS???? WHY WOULD YOU LET PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO COOK CHICKEN ALL THE WAY GRADUATE??????? WHAT THE FUCK.

(My college? VERY BAD.)

I mean. I know now that a lot of my food safety skills are shit they don’t teach on cooking shows (or. y’know those short little cooking/baking things they put on buzzfeed. the ones that are like a few minutes long. they put the bake temperature AFTER all the prep is done I’m PISSED at them) or in recipes. Maybe they teach them in home equity classes but as far as I know, home equity was taught in 6th grade as an elective and I entered the public school system in 8th grade. Who the fuck remembers skills from 6th grade if they don’t use them consistently? Nobody, that’s who.

And it gave me a HUGE leg up that dad was the sole breadwinner in our home for YEARS, and even when mom did start working, it was from home for about three more years. If they’d both been working, I definitely never would’ve learned anything about the process, especially if I had to figure it out on my own. I’d get out a recipe and follow all of the directions and they would all put me in danger, because no recipe tells you that using the wrong knife in the wrong order could kill you, or that not preheating the oven is dangerous, or to wash your hands after handling the raw meat before handling anything else, and to wash the surfaces and anything you might’ve touched after the stuff is in the oven. Only people and maybe youtube teach you that.

It’s also expected of and systematically taught to people who are perceived to be female (and straight. and cis). (Unless you’re from a family of professional bakers! Then you’re expected to take over the family business.) I’m almost certain that my older brothers don’t know half of the cooking/baking/food safety stuff I know, because our mom stopped at quick-mix baked goods, eggs, and mostly-safe sides with them (remember. five to eleven years old. they’re both in their thirties/forties now). My oldest brother might’ve learned some stuff from his wife. My other older brother just refuses to make anything more complicated than eggs. They both know how to grill, because that’s a Dude Thing, I guess.

Like I was definitely, definitely taught this because mom assumed that I was straight cis girl and was one day going to have a family that I would have to do those things for. 

(I’m neither of those things, and I only ever plan on cooking for my friends/in a volunteer sense, and she kind of really hates it, but at least I know how to make a fucking quiche whenever I want, I guess.)

She didn’t teach my brothers this because she assumed that they were straight cis boys who would one day have wives and families to do that for them. (She also complains constantly that bro gets fast food and won’t cook healthy food for himself.)

(Enforced gender roles suck and give people food poisoning.)

And you know what? She didn’t learn it from her mom, or her grandmother, because her single mom (with five kids) worked full time as a nurse, and her grandmother died when mom was young. She took a cooking class, which she paid for with money, when she was a single mom. She took a sewing class too. Because not only did she know that she had to know these things to survive on her own, she knew it was gonna be EXPECTED of her to do these things if she was gonna be considered marriageable. Like I’m glad she knows how to do these things, and I’m glad I know (some of) these things now too, but the reasons behind learning and teaching them are heinous and insidious as fuck.

And again: If one relative in the long line of Making Food For the Straight Family misses a prep step, or is coming from the before times of preheated ovens, someone’s gonna just. straight up poison a quarter of the student body of a college that offers culinary arts as a major. I guess. I GUESS.

Preheat your ovens, for the love of GOD. If you keep your pots and pans in there, take them out. Preheat during or before the prep, wash your knives and surfaces regularly, and PLEASE don’t poison yourself, your family, your friends, and the collective student body.

[nephyria]

when you make a post on twitter that gently bashes A Really Racist Anime Made By An Imperialist And Neonazi by saying that it applies to the Your Mom Would Be Ashamed hashtag below it and 50 million rightwing neonazi anime fans Misunderstand The Joke and RT it endlessly

[nephyria]

“Poor people can’t save money bc they keep spending it on luxury items and technology and if they deprived themselves of any and all temptations they could Make It Like Me” that’s a nice speech, Brett. a 30-day supply of one (1) of my meds, which is keeping me alive, costs 2 Nintendo Switches and 3 new games, but I’m sure the reason I can’t save money is bc I desperatly want to play Animal Crossing in my last few years

[nephyria]

like i guess i’m glad that my chronic anxiety kicks my dissociation reflexes in like a goddamn fire drill for my whole body

brain: hey the emotion klaxons are blaring BAD BAD BAD what are you gonna do about it? me: uhhhh i’m gonna....exit the building??? brain: yeah, exit the building, don’t take anything with you, go go go go. me: but this isn’t really happening????? nothing has happened yet brain: BUT IT COULD HAPPEN!!!! YOU GOTTA BE READY WHEN IT HAPPENS!!!!!! EXIT THE BUILDING

[nephyria]

u ever see a post so bad that u make all the exaggerated faces they teach u to make while ur learning to brush & floss ur teeth

[nephyria]

I still don't have replies back so I guess this is tumblr's Prank Of The Day on me, since I ad-blocked the Lizard (and a newt) Elections

[nephyria]

some announcements

so I had to get my school schedule swapped around to accommodate a retake of a failed class, and my best option was to completely destroy myself and hope that it works out.

currently, I've gotta take five classes rather than the usual four, because the class I failed is only offered online, and isn't offered next quarter.  So, they changed it so that I take that class on a separate campus! that is further away from home than my normal campus. and cuts into your normal campus class time. and actually, we'll move one of your other classes out there, so you can take it on your days off.  so, you're okay with five days and two campuses, right?

I'm also taking an online accelerated course, so I've gotta devote home time to that as well.

also, I've gotta do a required portfolio show! it can cost $500+ to put together for required merchandise alone, not including the professional clothing, the setup, and the not-officially-required digital equipment "for your online portfolio". also, because the last show was the biggest success in the history of the school, they want you to be better than ever! standards are a whole lot more rigid than last quarters' graduates, because the school needs to constantly and consistently improve the image of their graduates! so have fun meeting these extra requirements and expectations, guys!

I'm also supposed to be working on stuff to put into my resume, because I have nothing to put in there, but I probably won't have the time to do that.

this is all in addition to other problems that I'm going to have to face along the line, and will probably extend beyond these last three months of hell, but would be easier to deal with on their own instead of with everything else.

So, what I'm trying to say is that I probably won't be on here as often because of the time constraints and the emotional stress and the workload. If you try to contact me in that time, I'll reply as soon as I'm able, whenever that is. If I do get on here, I'll probably end up melting down a little bit, and in that case, I'll tag it as "nepty rants" so that you don't have to listen to it.  I'll also have a queue set up, because my likes are nearing 18,000 and there's plenty of content to last at least a month.

[nephyria]

like just

that entire set of episodes

it is me, the constantly concerned and really confused but kind of hopeful research assistant. oh fuck everyone fucked up. well someone has to pay for this shit. what are you doing with that spell. don't you dare. DON'T YOU DARE. I DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE A SUGGESTION FOR WHAT TO DO INSTEAD BUT DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE,,,,,,..,,,........

[nephyria]

if I just stereotypically summed up why people on tumblr are upset about Things, I could just as easily say it's just "non-straight POC nonbinary bitching" anD THAT WOULD NOT BE OKAY BECAUSE IT IS PERCEIVED BY SOCIETY THAT THESE THINGS ARE NOT OKAY

AND THEN YOU JUST???? TURN AROUND AND DO THE THING TO THE REST OF EVERYONE WHO FALLS INTO THAT FORMER GROUP????? no let's not

yes people who fall into that second group of people are hella more oppressed than the former group of people but that does not give you a free pass to make the former group of people feel shitty about themselves because they are what they are and they feel how they feel

and yeah some people are pretty shitty about stuff in both groups of people

let's take the swimming anime because that's what's pissed me off

people are like "uhuhuhu i'm loving how this anime is making straight cisdudes uncomfortable and angry it's fuckin great" and someone is like "i'm deeply troubled because not everyone who is cis or straight or male is upset about this anime and the idea that straight cis men are enemies that are made to be punished makes me concerned for myself and/or people i know, please stop" and people make fun of this someone because they didn't use the correct terms or misused terms and in general are terrible to this someone and that is not the way to go

and anyone could step up and say "these are the terms you used incorrectly, let me teach you how to use them correctly. let me explain to you why it's generally cis men that find this anime upsetting, and why it's not really justified, considering that it's one of the few well-animated pieces of media from this company (or just animation companies in general) that's primarily aimed at women, while men typically have a huge selection of well-animated media from a variety of companies, and the male fan-service makes them uncomfortable despite the fact that female fan-service tends to be common in male-demographic media. they are be under the impression that to watch this media, you must either be female, questioning one's gender, or gay, which is an incorrect and terrible assumption to make, as that while media may be directed to a particular demographic, the people who actually make up that demographic are the audience, which may vary in gender, sexuality, race, and income rate no matter what it is. women and nonbinary consider this unfair, because, as an analogy, 'we get yelled at when we kick down their sandcastles, but when they kick down ours we're expected to make a new one that they like too.' we support this show because it questions the typical media presentation and the audience it attracts, and because it forces others to look at their roles in society when it brings them to attention. we are possessive of it, and don't like it when it is criticized by people who haven't looked into it." and I did not write this because I thought this way, because frankly i have Free! and Swimming Anime tumblr saviored due to all the fandom wank it's getting paired with "i'm not all that interested in seeing naked people swimming," but because that is how many people feel about it and I respect that opinion

ANYONE COULD STEP UP AND SAY THAT

PROBABLY IN A BETTER WAY THAN I DID

BUT THEY DON'T

AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY

BECAUSE PEOPLE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND A THING ARE CONFUSED AND UPSET BY PEOPLE WHO ARE OVERLY AGGRESSIVE ABOUT IT AND THEY VOICE THEIR CONCERNS HONESTLY

BUT THEN PEOPLE WHO PERCEIVE THAT CONCERN AS WRONG GANG UP ON THEM AND REINFORCE THAT THEIR BEHAVIOR IS SOMETHING THAT IS SHAMEFUL AND SHOULD NEVER BE MENTIONED

AND AM I TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE ON TUMBLR

OR AM I TALKING ABOUT SOCIETY

BECAUSE FRANKLY I CAN'T TELL THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THOSE TWO BLOCKS OF TEXT

"hey dad what's a 'tranny'?"

"well son it's someone that should be burned at the stake because they're a fucking sissy"

"guys what the fuck does cis even mean like why does it matter?"

"you deserve any amount of hate and death threats you receive here on tumblr dot com from now on"

WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL

THOSE QUESTIONS ARE BOTH OFFENSIVE IN THEIR OWN WAYS BUT IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT'S ACTUAL QUESTION-SEEKING BEHAVIOR AND NOT A DIRECT AN ATTEMPT TO BE OFFENSIVE

AND LOOK BOTH ANSWERS REINFORCE THE IDEA THAT BEING ONE OF THOSE THINGS IS WRONG BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE THINGS YOU DESERVE TO DIE

NOT TO MENTION THAT NEITHER ONE OF THOSE ANSWERS ACTUALLY STATE WHAT THOSE THINGS ARE, BESIDES THE MESSAGE OF "it's Bad, and if you're it i'm going to kill you" WHICH IS NOT OKAY

"hey dad what's a 'tranny'?"

"well son you probably shouldn't call them 'tranny' because that's about as offensive as calling a woman a 'cunt' and that's not a thing to repeat in front of your mother or (any woman really), because she'll go to me and we'll both get in trouble. transsexuals are people who feel that they were born in a body with the wrong parts, and feel that they should have the other parts instead. call em how they like to be called because that's a good thing to do."

"guys what the fuck does cis even mean like why does it matter?"

"cis identifies people whose bodies have matched their gender from birth, and helps to differentiate between people who are trans* that fall into those same gender categories. this is helpful because trans* issues tend to be of a different nature than those issues of cis women/men, and must be addressed accordingly. now go forth through the internet with your new found knowledge and understanding."

goddamn. look at those fine explanations. I haven't gotten any sleep and they're still better than some of the shit I see on here.

and yeah that doesn't change the fact that one is really concerning because people have actually burned non-straight non-cis people to death and got little justice in the matter because people are awful

and it also doesn't change the fact that telling a straight cis person that they're always going to be wrong and don't deserve to be alive because they'll never understand what it's like has probably driven someone into depression and has definitely caused them to delete their blog and perhaps caused them to attempt or commit suicide

what i'm trying to say here is:

don't be shitty to each other

sometimes innocent statements may come off as offensive

educate people so that they know what's offensive and how to avoid being offensive

do not stop educating people just because some people are stubborn or lack the capacity to understand why something is offensive

don't blame people for identifying the way they do, and try to respect the opinions they have

because that's what society's been flipping around on you, and you know what kind of bullshit that is

[nephyria]

no seriously. why?

it's like people think that friendships are lesser???? like it's a step down????? because there's not a potential for marriage???????????? i GUEss??

jesus christ I don't have to wanna make out with someone or marry someone to be willing to do anything for them, or consider them a very important part of my life.

like maybe it's because I don't see things the same way as other people???? like if you tell me "you're the most important part of my life" in a show of romanticism or friendship or whatever i'm just gonna be like "okay that's...that seems pretty unhealthy" because like.........putting all your bets on me and only me for the positive input in your life seems really impractical, because there is absolutely no way I can make you happy 100% of the time. that's just a fact of life. yeah.

and okay even if someone tells me "you're the most important person in my life" and I somehow reciprocate that feeling and say "you're the most important person to me, too" and they follow up with "so you'll go out with me right" my entire thought process is going to go "?????? how are those two things related"

like okay people's romantic interests will not be the sole "most important person" in their lives. they might be??? at some point???? but no not all the time.

someone's "most important person" might be their parent. someone else's might be their kid. or their teacher. or their roll model. or their spouse. or their friend.

and these people shift places through time, whether or not you're in a romantic relationship with a person at the time. this doesn't mean that any of these people aren't important to you, or even less important. just different important.

tl;dr friendships aren't any less important than romantic relationships, and the person you're in a romantic relationship with may not necessarily be the most important person in your life; all that's a-okay