#probably because we're women

[deadlydelicious]

really great that our designer (lets call him Tim) was two weeks late getting this mock-up together for the illustrator and so instead of doing the agree upon format that we used for the last 3 books he just decided without consulting me at all to go off and do something experimental

'Tim', you have already caused 2 weeks of delays on this series because you were overdesigning something else, and now you just ONCE AGAIN made a unilateral decision without consulting anyone else to just completely change the concept of something because you 'thought it might be fun'

i don't fucking care 'Tim'. I'm the editor for fucks sake, this is like the 5th time in the past 2 months you have just made a creative decision without consulting any of the rest of us and WHEN WE'RE ALREADY DELAYED

the egocentric narcassism on this man I stg. He clearly thinks he's the boss, that he can just swan off and make choices without consulting us, being a patronising stroppy dick whenever we push back and its fucking exhausting that we have to remind him every single fucking week that he isn't, he is not in charge. we have a creative meeting EVERY WEEK where he could discuss his ideas, like the rest of us do, but not he just does them without discussing it with us at all, wasting an entire days worth of work to give me something i have been waiting on FOR WEEKS, AND ITS THE WRONG FUCKING THING BECAUSE HE DECIDED TO DO HIS OWN LITTLE IDEA INSTEAD OF THE AGREED UPON CONCEPT

[deadnatura11]

Thinking about how similar Ryan and Oliver's answers about Buddie are, almost like they had prepared them beforehand to not give anything away, show support, and also cover bases against the arguments people might make regarding the writers "turning another straight character gay".

[cogentranting]

The Hunger Games succeeds (and more so achieves sort of mythic effect) because it approaches dystopia through the timeless-- it (and Ballad) brings these universal ideas to a very personal lens and asks questions like "how do we begin to excuse evil in our lives" or "how do you hold on to goodness in the midst of oppression". And because it is so invested in the transcendent it lends itself to very powerful symbols, which give it that mythic feel.

Orwell's books (Animal Farm and 1984) both succeed through a very different approach to dystopia (Animal Farm isn't really a dystopia in the traditional sense but it has a lot of the elements). Orwell succeeds through real perceptive insight into the inner mechanisms of the subjects of his critiques. Orwell has vision that can cut deep into the way that things like propaganda or 'controlling the narrative' work and then, having dissected them, hold those tactics up for all to see.

And I think a lot of dystopias fall short because they get tangled up in the Idea of their story. The "what if" they've created. Either focused too much on the Issue-- too narrowly to be universal, too broadly to be revealing-- or too disconnected from anything genuine. And because they get stuck at that particular point they don't have much more to offer than "wouldn't this be bad?" And if you get a pretty good writer they can make that feel insightful but really it doesn't have much more to offer than whatever absurd YA book comes to mind first when you hear "bad dystopian novel".

[poisonousquinzel]

"a dude in Texas legally changed his name to "Literally Anyone Else" and he's attempting to run for President against Biden & Trump" [source]

okay, but putting aside the comedic aspect of this, it is concerning the amount of people who are prompted to vote for candidates just because it's funny. I'm not the biggest fan of how his policy about the boarder sounds [Site], but I do implore anyone who is able to vote in the 2024 US election to please research other candidates.

The media is only going to continue pushing the idea it's inevitably going to be Trump vs Biden 2.0 and we have no other options, that we have to vote for Biden again because of Project 2025. Is that whole thing terrifying?

Yeah, fucking absolutely.

But voting for Biden will not solidify our safety from that. Biden is exactly like the rest of them. He always has been. You can't make the lesser of two evils argument when they're both just plain evil.

You cannot say that Biden is even mildly a better choice than Trump when he is currently directly involved in a genocide. That is not some little fucking thing. That in and of itself disqualifies him as a lesser evil. Biden is just as bad as him and he will not save us because he doesn't fucking care.

Cornel West [Site] is an Independent candidate running for President in the 2024 Election. [Policies]

Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia [Site] are running for President and Vice-President as the candidates of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in the 2024 Election. [Policies]

There are options.

There are people trying to change the corrupt foundation our system is built on, but we have to help amplify them because the mainstream media will not.

[bonebabbles]

Ill get into this later but the Star Flower x Clear Sky romance shit is legitimately some of the most rancid canon ship stuff in WC without full out having an on-screen Bramblesquirrel argument. I can't believe people legitimately take away that Star Flower has any canonical agency here and try to spin this like girlboss shit

You understand that what Clear Sky likes about this very young adult is that she "obeys" him, subjects herself to bad conditions, and tells him that she's soso loyal that she promises to never leave, yes? While holding up her 1 absolutely insignificant ""betrayal"" as morally equivalent to Clear Sky's murders, beatings, and starvations?

Played as a manipulation this would be interesting. But it's not. She is basically an 18 year old who thinks she's so awful she deserves a serial killer, while his mouth starts watering that his reward has finally come. In their second interaction.

[charmikarma]

i'm ngl it is really starting to piss me off that i'm green on shinigami eyes because i too, as a transmasc person, take issue with the way the struggles of transmasc people are often joked about as if they are nonexistent, i just don't really talk about it. i hate being marked as a ✨good little trans boy who is nice and subservient and doesn't make waves in his community✨ as if i haven't been doing that my whole life to my detriment already

[sunshineneedsaplacetokeephernsfw]

Once upon a time I found vampires as a boring option as a monster fucker/lover. Mainly because I just saw them as pale humans who drink blood and had yet to see a piece of media take full advantage of the differences between humans and vampires and all the interesting things a vampire/human relationship could offer.

Mainly because I hadn't seen a lot and only exposure was a few posts in the teratophilia tag that didn’t sell me. But having recently consumed a piece of media that sold me on just how interesting a vampire/human relationship could be and all of the fun things that could be done with it. (If you've seen my blog at all recently, you know exactly what I'm talking about)

So since my adhd brain won't shut up about all the things that could be done with it, I will ran about the things that can be done with it here.

Sorry that it's probably disorganized and certain words might be repeated a lot. This is just me writing down all of my thoughts.

First of all there's all of the different features of vampires that different tellings of them offer. There's the obvious stuff like fangs and drinking blood to survive, sunlight being harmful to them, being able to turn into a bat, them being immortal. And there's also some things someone might forget at first like not being able to see them in mirrors, or even garlic being harmful to them. Maybe these things wouldn't be that useful to consider when writing a smut oneshot, but they are small details that would effect their life and interactions they might have with a human.

Like, maybe the human is inspecting themselves in the mirror and the vampire sneaks up behind them and whispers "Boo". The human jumps before laughing and playfully shoving the vampire away but leans into their touch after they snake their arms around the human's waist. Or maybe vampires can't be seen in pictures, much to the human's dismay because they want to remember what the vampire looks like, so they teach themselves to draw so they can draw what the vampire looks like and can always look back at that picture.

Or them trying to figure out what to do when they realize the vampire will outlive the human by a lot.

Or since vampires are stereotyped to live in gothic mansions (at least from what I can tell), lean into that gothic aesthetic. Or have them live somewhere else and lean into the aspects or aesthetic that would come with that.

But my favorite thing of all about vampire/human relationships is the dynamic and potential power dynamic or imbalance that could present.

Of course, if someone wants to write a healthy romance, they might not want to lean into that. But it could still be done in an interesting way of the characters doing their best to figure out how to have a healthy relationship and communicate with each other if they see something that could potentially become an issue and come up with a solution.

The fact that they rely on blood to survive and are much stronger and faster than humans immediately introduces a predator aspect to them which could create an interesting dynamic between the vampire and what they would usually consider food.

And even then, the abilities that make vampires so much more stronger and dangerous to humans could lead to a feeling of superiority over humans in vampire society and make it even more difficult for a vampire to interact with a human without treating them as food or a pet, or simple amusement. But humans and vampires still have the same mental capacity and ability to make connections, and potentially long for someone to be with. And how those two sides could mix or collide or be at war with each other.

It would be interesting to see how the relationship starts off like with the vampire only seeing them as a future snack or amusement, and how it slowly changes as they interact and then the journey of how it blossoms into a legitimate romance. Or it could be an exploration of the toxic elements and power imbalance in the relationship and how it effects the characters (like in Castlevania how Lenore legitimately cares about and is attracted to Hector, but still treats him like a pet in some cases).

Of course, you don't have to write vampires like this. Your world building and the ways vampires see or interact with humans could be completely different and that's okay, just make sure to explore it.

And obviously not all vampires will act the same, each will have their own personalities, ways they decide to feed, and how they decide to interact with humans. You could have a world where most vampires despise humans, but have a vampire that's never interact with much other vampires and tries to live in hiding amongst humans instead and does their best to gain their blood through methods that won't hurt others. Or maybe if there's a vampire that doesn’t realize they’re treating their human friend like a pet. Or a vampire that plans on keeping the human around until their bored or hungry, but end up developing actual feelings along the way and can't imagine a life without them (which could either develop into a sweet love confession or them becoming even more possessive).

Overall, I just really like it when vampire/human stories really explore aspects like these. And stories when it would be impossible to switch out the vampire with a human without the story not making sense.

And while the main dynamic I talked about is very good for dark romances, it's also really sweet if it's about a love so strong that it overcomes all of these obstacles any vampire/human interaction would come across

[dazzle02]

Ya know, I'd be genuinely interested in what the reaction would've been if Buck had got with another male character on the show other than Eddie. Like, one that the fans already loved. Someone like Ravi or Albert. A character who people already love and were wanting more of, but ISN'T Eddie. And like, have pretty much the same exact story of Buck not really understanding why he wants this persons attention, maiming Eddie and all that. All the "controversial" moments still happen. But here, Buck is the older one. In fact, with Albert they've got about the same age gap as Buck and Tommy, only Buck is the older one. Albert was 20 when he first appeared in the show in S3 and Buck would've been 28/29ish. So it would've been a similar age difference. But we would never have them calling Buck a predator or anything. Because they're very aware that they're all adults. But it does make me wonder what the reaction would've been.

Having Buck realise he's bisexual and start dating a guy, and it's not Eddie, but it IS a character they claim to love. And there's no sign of it not lasting. No actual sign of Bvdd!e happening. All signs point towards this relationship lasting a while.

Would they start hating on this character they've always loved beforehand? Because we all know that the main reason so many of them hate Tommy is because they see him as a threat to their ship.

But like, imagine Buck and Albert for some reason started dating (which I could never actually see but I do know some people have shipped this...) and BUCK said the things that made people decide they wanted Tommy to be killed. They'd have a completely different reaction.

This is just something I was thinking about last night while I was trying to go to sleep... 🤣

[thr4shit]

how do you explain to someone what bisexuality is.

asking for a friend, totes :3

[amouthfulofopals]

I think there is kinda something to be said about how tumblr will go "oh yeah we love and accept trans men! but don't forget, the trans man reading this, to feel constantly guilty over your identity, always triple check everything you do in case you're offending someone halfway across the planet whom you will never meet, never forget you were Born A Woman and therefore Privileged (???), never project yourself onto things unless the majority approve of it, and also we're going to use neurodivergent and transmasc in derogatory ways"

like you're not slick. we know you don't really like us. just because we're men (or masc aligned) doesn't mean you get to take out your frustration with masculinity on us.

[breserker]

the reason why shaming bi women for dating men when they can "do so much better by dating a woman" upsets me so much is because the last relationship i had destroyed any belief in personal love, it caused aural migraines and kidney stones in the months after the breakup, and i'm seriously terrified that no, i never will date again because my trust is so irrevocably ruined, and this ex-fiancee of mine was a woman lmfao

like i'm so serious if you get it in your head that women will always be a net better relationship you are going to get yourself so fucking hurt by being blind to the actual real problems in the relationship and writing it off as "well it's better because it's sapphic". no!!! that's not even what happened to me but i'm BEGGING you guys NO DON'T DO THIS TO YOURSELF, anyone is capable of harm even if they aren't abusive, real harm can still be done!!

and no, i haven't healed, i have been triggered multiple times by innocuous things that send me spiraling into uncontrollable sobbing, just my god please accept that heartbreak has nothing to do with the gender makeup of the relationship

[mejomonster]

i'm stressed for the day the govt decides to make pronouns illegal, by which the law will actually be implemented as "if someone decides you don't look like the gender THEY think you are, you will be charged with a crime"

and how in some workplaces like mine, where people show their preferred pronouns in work emails, that'll result in many people with digital email trails that could get them arrested (which of course means trans people in the workplace get charged, people who look cis and use he/him and she/her in their emails to be supportive probably will just be told to stop putting it in their emails)

and like. i know i probably can't do anything, except maybe stay in the closet. i know the workplace is not guaranteed to fucking warn their employees to maybe remove the digital proof of their pronouns if there's a law at risk of existing soon. and i know people's gender identity is really personal and important to a lot of people, including cis people. But i kind of wish there was a widespread trend in these workplace situations of EVERY (or at least a majority) of cis people putting "they/them/their" in their email signatures. The cis people (particularly those who look very gender conforming) will be the ones in the least danger of being charged with a crime. They are at very low risk of being charged with a crime, so they're the perfect people to break the law by saying their preferred pronouns are "they/them" and then taking the law to court if such a law restricting preferred pronouns passes. And if a trans employee is charged with a crime, the cis employees all using they/them can say their trans coworker is only doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING ALL THESE CIS PEOPLE ARE (using a pronoun someone thinks doesn't align with the gender they're assumed to be), and then saying either ALL employees need to be charged with a crime (which can then go to court) or none of them should be. Yeah that would require solidarity... I know I can't convince a bunch of cis people to start putting "they" as a pronoun in their emails (or some other pronoun that would result in them breaking the same 'preferred pronoun' type of law like "ze/zim"). But god, I wish I could.

I think about this because in the last few years, my state tried to make a law against using preferred pronouns in schools and government jobs (you know... which likely won't charge any cis person using the pronouns that match their gender even though that's a preferred pronoun too). And now that my state govt is a majority republican, they'll probably try to pass it again. I worry about all my coworkers with massive email trails, because they were TOLD to tell people their preferred pronouns, because the workplace said it would respect them, but I doubt the workplace will Protect them if it's no longer legal. My workplace had the shittiest answer when I raised my concerns, they said "don't worry about it until it happens"... once it happens, a bunch of trans people will be breaking the law by existing, and they will not have had the chance to protect themselves in advance (and their workplace will have done nothing in advance to protect them - such as warn them not to leave proof of their preferred identity after X date, and promising the workplace won't consider any pronouns said before X date to be breaking the law as far as reporting goes).

[austin-friars]

It always interests me how a lot of Tudor women are seen as like, feminist icons, but a lot of them tear down or are absolutely repugnant toward other women.

tbh, i don't think any of the tudor queens can be considered feminist by 21st century standards, but some are a lot kinder to women than others are....

[zevranunderstander]

idk how to phrase this but like. people retroactively calling Fleabag a privileged, dissociative portrayal of feminism which is Bad, Actually, are lowkey deranged to me because, yeah, Fleabag IS about the expierience of womanhood. but like. through the lens of ONE woman? like, nowhere in the show is it ever implied that fleabag's expieriences are supposed to be universal, relateable core pillars to womanhood?

its almost like half of the population of the world is female and I think it's kind of weird that all stories about women always have to be feminist and activist, and can not just be an exploration of an imperfect woman, they have to be correct about *all* of womanhood?

i also think that the people saying this don't really understand the character of fleabag and i do think that the show is feminist in many ways, but even when no person working on this show would have had any intention of making this a "feminist story", i think that would have been their right to do that?

breaking bad, fight club, american psycho, lolita, etc. all tell the stories of white men who are objectively horrible people. and these stories still treat these characters with a level of empathy and understanding of how they got there and why they are like that. the stories don't excuse their behavior because of that, they are simply a fictional analysis of a person who is not virtuous or good in a lot of ways.

but women, people of color, disabled people, and other minorities are never given the same right to just tell a story about a character, the character has to be virtuous, a good role model, a representation of their whole group, likeable, flawed only in an "unproblematic" way, never make a bad decision, and its insanely limiting in what stories can be told by writers, when they want the approval of the general audience

and i so genuinely want more fleabag women, who may interact with feminism, but who are actual human beings in a real world, who have real flaws and who can be selfish and cruel, but who are still treated with empathy by the story

[soldierandawar]

Really, the issue is that people cannot hold two conflicting thoughts in their heads at the same time. That's why arguments online are so frustrating. Most of the time, it's like, "Yes! Both of these things are true!" But no one wants to hear that. Everyone has to be right. We have to prove ourselves as better than others, so we start using identifiers, "Oh, so you're a <insert term here>." to separate ourselves, and it's exhausting.

If you lack conflict management skills and refuse to look inward, how can you create community?

[tumbloggingattheendofitall]

... Having some Feelings, and I can't entirely even blame the shitty sleep I've been getting this week lol